While it’s not exactly a secret how ambitious Xbox is for its upcoming presence at E3, Xbox Head Phil Spencer has detailed just how ambitious it really is.
In a tweet yesterday, Spencer revealed that Xbox Game Studios has 14 titles to show at this year’s Xbox E3 briefing. That’s more first-party titles than they’ve ever had in their history at E3. Check out the tweet below.
Just finishing our final E3 rehearsal here with the team in Redmond. Feel really good about the briefing. Lots to show. We have 14 Xbox Game Studios games in the show this year, more first party games than we've ever had in the show. Fun times. #XboxE3
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) May 30, 2019
It’s not exactly surprising that Xbox has begun on a road to produce more and more exclusive titles, seeing as it’s this same aspect that made them trail behind Sony during this generation. Going by the NeoGAF leak that circulated a week ago, it’s not going to be a slouch job, either; the Microsoft Xbox presentation will be absolutely loaded with big names and incredible surprises, with the company doing its best to capitalize on the void left behind by Sony and PlayStation, who won’t be at E3 this year.
So, that brings us to the question of games. What is Phil Spencer talking about? Realistically speaking, we’ve got six possible new titles to be announced at the Xbox E3 stage.
- Halo Infinite – would be very surprising if they did not dump this at E3. All signs point to an imminent update to the long-running franchise, and a Sony-less E3 2019 would be the prime place to officially reveal it.
- Gears 5 – one of the key titles mentioned in the leak, up there with Halo Infinite. If that is to be believed, we could get a proper release date for it during the event, as well as a full gameplay reveal.
- Ori and the Will of the Wisps – a sequel to one of the best smaller titles Microsoft and Xbox have ever produced. It won’t be surprising if it’s at this year’s E3, given that it’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from it.
- Bleeding Edge (New Ninja Theory IP) – take this one with a big grain of salt. According to the Neo GAF leak, this sci-fi title is a big, secret IP to be released as a cross-gen title for 2020.
- The Outer Worlds – more information dump for Obisidian’s upcoming title as its release date approaches.
- Fable – another possible surprise title. The leak states that this game will be a new beginning for the franchise, rather than a fourth iteration in the previous series. Interestingly, it’s also mentioned that it’s being developed solely for next-gen, so we might get some new information with regards to that as well.
As for the eight more titles, well it could be anything and everything. The NeoGAF leak stated that CD Projekt Red will showcase Cyberpunk 2077 on the Xbox E3 stage, but it’s not an Xbox Game Studios title either. The same goes for Great Rune, FromSoftware’s rumored next title made in conjunction with famed author George R.R. Martin, which the leak also says will make its official debut on the Xbox E3 stage.
In any case, it will be a very exciting stage for Microsoft and Xbox this year, and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for players.
