It’s that time again for speculations, rumors and possible leaks about one of the biggest gaming shows of the year. E3 is less than a month away, and it looks like it’s going to be one of the biggest, too, as we are now starting to move into a newer generation of consoles.
While some companies have outright stated that they will not be attending the event – Sony is banking on their State of Play video series moving forward, Rockstar Games have never been in attendance, and EA is doing its own thing with EA Play – it’s still expected to be packed with announcements, new releases, gameplay trailers and gameplay footage for all the newest and biggest upcoming releases in the industry.
One of the its biggest companies, Microsoft, has not made any specific announcements as to what we will see at its presentation and overall E3 conference. However, it’s safe to say that with Sony and PlayStation not at the event, Microsoft and Xbox will be looking to make the most out of the spotlight and gain some goodwill going into the next generation of consoles, which we can most probably expect to come sometime next year. That said, we do have a massive leak coming from gaming forum NeoGAF, outlining the things that are sure to come, what we can expect, and what we shouldn’t count on for Microsoft’s E3 presentation.
Please note that these leaks are possible rumors or speculation only, coming from unverified sources. Everything written in it should be taken with a big grain of salt. We will link back to this once it has been verified in some manner or another.
The leak has been provided by a user Braldyr for NeoGAF, explaining that he knows “too many people” in the industry, and he attributes these as his sources. At the end of his post, he also provided some proof as to his connections with the industry, such as various business cards and tags for other companies. He also broke down the posts into sections of what is going to happen, what has a high chance of happening, what has a smaller chance of happening, and things that won’t happen at all. It’s also important to note that a leak with the same magnitude already made its way some months ago, but with less details, so keep that in mind if you’ve already read some of these.
With that in mind, let’s get down to some very interesting speculative information.
Games, new things to be showcased
All of these were basically confirmed by Braldyr, putting it in one whole ‘what is going to happen’ section. These are the titles we can expect to see during Microsoft’s big presentation in E3 2019 (not in any particular order of appearance).
- Halo Infinite – expect a huge information dump along with a brand-new trailer. The leak also specifies a Holiday 2020 release as a cross-generational title for the upcoming next-gen Xbox.
- Gears 5 – full gameplay reveal plus a demo walkthrough and multiplayer gameplay. It’s also slated for a September release this year, which may hold some actual weight seeing as the cover art for the title may have officially leaked a few weeks ago.
- Gears Tactics – a spinoff for the Gears series. Information dump plus a new trailer will be released. Launch date is also set for later this year, including a release on the PC.
- Ori and the Will of the Wisps – a final trailer for the title, along with a finalized release date for later this year.
- Bleeding Edge – this one is kind of interesting. Bleeding Edge is supposedly Ninja Theory’s latest title. It’s set in a sci-fi universe and will most likely be a cross-gen title for 2020 as well.
- The Outer Worlds – information dump, a new gameplay trailer, and a release date are all set for Obsidian’s next title.
- Cyberpunk 2077 – progress update for CD Projekt RED’s most anticipated title, a new gameplay trailer and a target release date.
- Age of Empires IV – information dump plus a gameplay reveal. It’s also set for a 2020 release date.
- Fable – an open-world title that isn’t exactly Fable 4. It’s said to be the beginning of a new franchise, and is only a next-gen title, so the release date for it is not until 2021.
- Sea of Thieves – developers Joe Neate and Mike Chapman have basically all but confirmed their appearance for E3 during the most recent dev update. Expect to hear about upcoming new content for the title to debut at E3.
- Battletoads – announced last year with a 2019 release date. Gameplay footage will finally debut and there may be a demo involved, judging by the words of the poster. The targeted release date will be announced as well.
- Project xCloud – information dump, and mostly some public test dates and rollouts. This is said to be the defining moment for Microsoft at this year’s E3. Until the next-gen consoles launch, Microsoft is focusing everything on their streaming service. It looks like the public beta will be out for some time in order to get them ready for the next-gen launch.
- Xbox Lockhart/Xbox Anaconda – expect a reveal closer to the Scorpio (Xbox One X) in E3 2016. No physical look at the console, and it will most likely just be the specs for the next-gen beast. The console will also have an SSD plus ray-tracing capabilities, according to the leak. This will be considered a soft reveal before the full reveal in a year and a half, when the new consoles start arriving.
Titles with high chances of happening
None of these were actually confirmed by the poster’s sources, yet they still have a pretty high chance of happening.
- MechAssault – a reveal for the next MechAssault title, as Microsoft actually owns the rights to the series. There appears to be a very high chance that the game has been in the works for quite some time, and Microsoft has already set its reveal at E3.
- Forza Motorsport – a reveal for Turn 10’s newest Forza game. E3 2019 is a good chance for a reveal, seeing as it looks like they are readying for the next-gen consoles, and the upcoming Forza may be Microsoft’s first party racing experience for such.
- A big title from Capcom – a reveal for Capcom’s next title, which will debut on the Microsoft stage. Capcom has been on a roll for quite some time, and with their confirmation that they have been working on multiple titles with the RE Engine, the stage seems set for another big one from them. The poster noted several possible titles, based on fan recognition, which is what Capcom has been aiming for with some of its most recent releases. The possible titles are: Resident Evil 3 Remake, Resident Evil 8, Dino Crisis or possibly a new Dead Rising.
- More Japanese Games/Teams – the poster expects more teams of Japanese developers for E3 at the Microsoft stage, just like last year’s presentation.
Small to no chance of happening
These are the titles we should probably expect in the future, rather than E3.
- Next-gen Rare IP – the next IP from Rare has been described as "If you enjoy a game like Sea of Thieves, then you will be looking forward to their next project.” This is as vague as descriptions go, and there’s not much more info to go on other than there’s not much to know about it at the moment.
- Perfect Dark Reboot – a complete reboot of the franchise, only this time set in third-person as opposed to first-person. As Rare does not work on old IPs anymore, they are not developing this one, only supervising. A studio called Dlala Studios is handling the development, and we will most likely hear more about this next year.
It’s interesting to see which one of these will hold up, especially as we’re nearing E3 2019. Expect to see our coverage once more information drops as well.
