Xbox has had some ups and downs over the past 25 years, but they’ve never been in a position more precarious than the one they are in today. This isn’t hyperbole; the entire business is balanced on a knife’s edge, and honestly, the vibes are bad. I’ve been a fan since the original Xbox and the 360 may be my favorite console of time, but it’s been a rough decade. From boycotts to declining sales to questionable acquisitions to confusing messaging, I don’t think things have ever been worse for Xbox.
So why even care? Why spend two hours on a Sunday watching a showcase? Well, habit for one. I’ve been watching these since the cringe days of E3 and am not about to stop now. Secondly, I’m invested. Not just in the platform (I like achievements and the controller, and Play Anywhere and whatever), but the franchises and studios owned by Microsoft. I love Halo, Gears, and Forza, but Blizzard, Rare, and id are three of my favorite developers of all time: a game from any of those studios is an event to me. And yeah, I want to maybe see what Obsidian, Double Fine, Machine Games, Turn 10, Playground, Bethesda, Raven, High Moon, Ninja Theory, inXile, etc. are cooking.
I don’t want to be over-dramatic and say it’s do or die time, but it kinda is? Hopefully the games are good, but also the showcase gives signs of sustainable studios and a healthy platform.
Here’s to a good show!
Gears E-Day really leaning into the action / survival horror vibes. Stoked!
Controversial! I’m not running a console business and I play on everything so I don’t really have any opinion about exclusives. Moving on!
Fable looks great, and the writing is as sharp as ever. Also, F-bombs??? I have full faith in Playground Games. Should be awesome.
Looks like Halo Campaign Evolved is actually adding some story stuff and mechanics from the later games. I’m down. July 28th is soon!!
I (mostly) love Persona 4, and the remake looks great! I’ll check it out at some point, but February is going to be all about Fable for me.
Despite the technical issues, I had a good time with the first State of Decay (and an even better time playing the sequel co-op with my wife). Will definitely check out SoD 3.
The WORLD PREMIERE drop is very silly but still gets me pumped.
I really liked the first Hellblade, but still haven’t played the sequel. I need to get around to that before this drops; Ninja Theory is great.
THE WAY I POPPED FOR THAT OFFSPRING
oh no I want it
Magicians looks siiiiiiick
<section of games that didn’t quite grab me / updates for live service games I don’t play>
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse looks like it plays well, but I’m still not feeling the visual style (in game at least, this key art is sick as hell). I do appreciate that it’s Play Anywhere at least. Could be a cool game to play on my ROG.
Vivarium looks incredible! Now THIS is an art style!
Well that was a tease (and little else) . Kinda wild that it’s day one on GamePass!
New Spyro from Toys for Bob is exciting!!
Clockwork Revolution hell fucking yeah
Ending on Call of Duty was kinda deflating, but overall a pretty great showcase. Not a ton of huge reveals, but there is A LOT I want to play. I don’t know how things will shake out for Xbox over the next decade, but the next year or so is going to be sick.
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