Gamers often talk about E3 in terms of which publisher "won" the event, based on their conference showcases and which one wows audiences the most. With chief rival Sony absent from the show this year and Nintendo once again choosing not to be drawn into the fray, 2019 seemed almost tailor-made to hand Microsoft an easy victory for its Xbox preview. The company could have rested on its laurels knowing that it had little competition. Instead, it showed off a slate of dozens of games, upcoming services, and even new hardware that impressed – if not quite surprising.
In terms of pure gaming content, Xbox's conference was unrivalled. Over the course of a breezy two-hour show guided by Phil Spencer, Microsoft's head of Xbox, attendees saw 60 games in the spotlight, ranging from quirky indie titles to the platform's biggest exclusives. While there was an element of housekeeping for some previously known titles – such as revealing long-awaited release dates for the likes of puzzle-platformer Ori and the Will of the Wisps (out February 11 2020), and shooter Gears 5 (September 10 2019) – the Xbox stage also saw 14 world premieres of brand new titles.
Sadly, pre-E3 leaks stole much of the thunder. The Elden Ring, a collaboration between Dark Souls' Hidetaka Miyazaki and Game of Thrones' George R.R. Martin would likely have been the talk of the show had the early spoiler not hit the internet last week, while fans of more traditional Japanese RPGs would likely have heard tell of Tales of Arise before it officially debuted here.
Still, Xbox managed to hold back a few secrets. Flight Simulator is set to return, now a stunning 4K aerial tour of the world, powered by satellite data and Microsoft's Azure AI systems to provide dynamic piloting experiences in unpredictable weather patterns and environments.
A chilling Blair Witch game was revealed, set in 1996 and utilising an in-game camcorder in similarly effective ways to the classic horror movie, while 12 Minutes presents a tight, claustrophobic thriller where a married couple is trapped in an apparent time loop constantly leading to their deaths. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga also drew applause, set to retell all nine core Star Wars films in adorable brick form in 2020, while developer Ninja Theory proved itself one of the most diverse studios around with the announcement of Bleeding Edge, a 4-vs-4 melee combat game – think Overwatch with more punching, and a cast of warped, cybernetically augmented misfits.
A major win for Microsoft was the announcement it had signed Double Fine Productions as the newest Xbox Game Studios company. Formed by adventure game legend Tim Schafer, the studio is now the 14th exclusive developer creating for the Xbox, and its upcoming Psychonauts 2 was given a new trailer to celebrate. That game, and Double Fine's previously announced Rad will still be published cross-platform, but new games going forward will be exclusive to Xbox.
Indisputably the biggest moment of the Xbox show, though, was a twin reveal for CDProjektRed's Cyberpunk 2077. Not only did the long-awaited game get a release date – it's finally launching April 16, 2020 – but attendees were treated to an on-stage appearance from Keanu Reeves, announcing he would be appearing in the game itself.
While the games deliver the bombast and grab most people's attention, what was more interesting about Microsoft's showcase was seeing the company expanding its service provision. While Game Pass for PC was announced a month ago, offering desktop gamers access to a library of games for a monthly fee, Xbox's Sarah Bond revealed that there will be more than 100 titles available for PC players by August. The Game Pass offering itself is growing too; Microsoft will now also offer Game Pass Ultimate, a hybrid subscription that bundles together both Xbox and PC versions of Game Pass, plus Xbox Live Gold, for £10.99 per month.
At the moment, it seems to just represent a financial saving over buying the services separately, but it becomes more intriguing when Microsoft's plans in other areas are factored in – chiefly game streaming. The company has made no secret of its plans to utilise cloud computing in its Xbox products, whether it was the planned (but never quite executed as intended) enhanced physics-based destruction in Crackdown 3 or its xCloud streaming ambitions.
It's the latter that Xbox had been widely expected to reveal more information on at this E3, particularly following more details being revealed on Google's Stadia, its own upcoming streaming platform. Expectations be damned, though – Xbox offered a technical rather than consumer-oriented insight, explaining how developers have been able to connect to the xCloud for a few months and were planning how future games might benefit from it.
Firm plans for any Stadia-rivalling subscription service weren't forthcoming but, from October, players will have access to "Console Streaming", using xCloud technology. This will allow them to turn their own Xbox Ones into a personal console server, streaming their personal library of games – including titles included in Xbox Game Pass – to any device. Pointedly, Spencer made note that this would be free of charge – a subtle dig, perhaps, at Stadia's monthly fee.
However, it's not hard to imagine that in the near future, we could see further amalgamation of Xbox's service offerings, with a streaming subscription added to Game Pass Ultimate.
This could also factor into future hardware plans. Microsoft confirmed a new Xbox was in development back at E3 2018, and this year revealed more details on the Xbox One's successor. The console, codenamed Project Scarlett, will be four times as powerful as the Xbox One X, with a custom processor co-designed with AMD sitting at its heart. Microsoft claimed the advanced chip will deliver 8K resolutions at up to 120fps, and allow for ray tracing. It packs in super-fast GDDR6 RAM and will load far faster thanks to an SSD drive – which can also be used as virtual RAM. Microsoft says it will "usher in resolution and framerates we’ve never seen before."
There was no mention of an optical media format though, and curiously Spencer also said that "a console should be built and optimised for one thing and one thing only: "gaming". Could Project Scarlett drop the disc drive – and therefore no longer be able to play Blu-rays? If so, a hybrid of digital downloads and streaming games could provide a roadmap for how gaming evolves in the next console generation, an all-in-one subscription could become increasingly necessary, and Xbox would take one step closer to becoming a service, rather than a platform.
More curious was the official Xbox account tweeting out a schedule with the header" "Here’s where you need to be for #XboxE3", which included a slot at Nintendo's E3 stream. Rumours have been circulating for a while that the companies may have some form of collaboration planned, and allowing 'Console Streaming' to the Switch could be the first real test of xCloud while allowing Switch players to experience games Nintendo's hardware isn't powerful enough to run.
Whether Microsoft's gaming future lies with a cloud-based service or an ultra-powerful Project Scarlett box under your TV, we'll have a while to find out – the next Xbox is set to launch at the end of 2020, joined at launch by Halo Infinite. While some of Microsoft's E3 2019 surprises were ruined through leaks – and indeed, from its own hyping of xCloud and Project Scarlett at last year's E3, robbing itself of a 'mic drop' reveal this year – it's clear that whichever direction wins out, thanks to a wealth of exclusive studios and stronger third party developers than ever, Xbox gamers won't be left wanting for something to play.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK