Microsoft will hold a second Xbox showcase this week

By Andrew Zucosky June 14, 2021

Xbox and Bethesda’s big E3 press conference on Sunday featured a ton of game announcements. However, Xbox isn’t quite done just yet. Microsoft announced a second showcase this week at 10 a.m. PT on Thursday, June 17.

Xbox Games Conference: Extended will take a deeper look at the Xbox and Bethesda games that were announced this past Sunday. It has already been confirmed that Double Fine, Rare, Ninja Theory, and many other developers will have representation at this showcase. This means we will hopefully get more information about games like Psychonauts 2 and the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean-themed season 3 for Sea of Thieves.

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Ninja Theory is an interesting addition to the showcase, as it’s only announcement came during the Square Enix conference with its Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins. This likely means that the developer will be talking about Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, a game that was heavily hinted to be shown off at this year’s E3 but hasn’t been yet.

Obsidian is also slated to appear at the Xbox Games Conference: Extended event. During the first showcase, Obsidian only had a teaser trailer for its upcoming game The Outer Wilds 2. The teaser trailer even claimed that the game has practically nothing prepared yet, so don’t expect to see anything new about The Outer Wilds 2. Expect a developer interview focused on the potential road map for the game.

Not much else is known about this upcoming showcase happening this Thursday. It has not been confirmed if we will see anything new from the showcase in terms of game footage. It is possible that the stream will only show the same trailers that were revealed on Sunday, plus the added bonus of an in-depth interview with some of the developers of the game.

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Gaming

Microsoft pledges to bring Xbox PC games to Nvidia GeForce Now

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Microsoft has announced a 10-year partnership with Nvidia aimed at bringing Xbox PC games to its cloud gaming service competitor Nvidia GeForce Now as part of its ongoing efforts to win over companies skeptical of its potebtial Activision Blizzard acquisition.
This means that players can use Nvidia GeForce Now to play the Steam, Epic Games Store, or Windows versions of titles like Halo Infinite, Redfall, and eventually, Call of Duty through the cloud on GeForce Now. Third-party publishers with games on the Windows Store can also now grant streaming rights to Nvidia. This announcement came during a European Commission hearing where Microsoft tried to convince regulators that its impending acquisition should bne allowed.
Microsoft has been under a lot of regulatory scrutiny even since it announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard in January 2022. It's trying to win over industry peers with deals like this one with Nvidia. This week, the Communications Workers of America voiced its approval of the deal, and Microsoft has signed a binding agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms as well. Previously, Nvidia had raised concerns about Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition, but the press release announcing this agreement states that the deal "resolves Nvidia's concerns," and that Nvidia now gives "full support for regulatory approval of the acquisition."
Regulatory bodies in the U.S., U.K., and Europe are worried that Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard will hurt the game industry and sabotage Microsoft's competitors in both console and cloud gaming. Nvidia GeForce Now is seen as one of the biggest competitors to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's cloud service offerings, which makes it surprising that it reached an agreement with Nvidia. However, this deal also demonstrates how Microsoft is willing to make concessions so that its acquisition of Activision Blizzard is approved.

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Here’s what E3 2023 could look like without Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft

Playstation character wall at E3 2018

Let's start with the good news: E3 2023 will be held in its in-person format once again after three long years of digital events necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this time with ReedPop at the helm. The bad news is that Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo -- gaming's "Big 3" -- may not show up at the industry’s biggest convention this summer.

This is according to a report from IGN citing multiple sources, who claimd the companies won’t be a part of the show or make appearances on the floor at the Los Angeles Convention Center in any way. Their absence from this year’s E3, especially Nintendo’s, may come as a shock to the gaming community, but it's not such a surprise when looking at the past few iterations of E3. Even before the pandemic locked everyone down in 2020, Sony and Xbox had been hosting their own E3-style livestreams, so it was more likely they would do it again this year anyway. Nintendo, on the other hand, managed to show off its upcoming games via Nintendo Direct streams and at its booth, console kiosks and all.

Gaming

Xbox and Bethesda’s Developer_Direct is their most important showcase ever

A screen capture from the Redfall gameplay reveal.

Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda just announced that their first-ever Developer_Direct showcase will be held January 25, giving Microsoft footing in the game showcase space outside of events like E3 and Gamescom. After a rough year for Xbox first-party studios, this Developer_Direct will finally give us another very deep look at games like Redfall, Forza Motorsport, and Minecraft Legends, whichwill start to form its game lineup for this year, whetting our appetites for what's to come to Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Game Pass in 2023. Although the seeming lack of any brand new first-party announcement might make this Developer_Direct not feel that exciting to the average player, this is a critical showcase for Microsoft if it wants to win jaded fans back.
So far this console generation, Microsoft has been inconsistent in terms of both content and transparency about the state of its games. We've gotten a couple of exhilarating bursts of info on new upcoming exclusives at the past couple of Xbox summer showcases, and fall 2021 had a solid lineup of releases in Deathloop, Forza Horizon 5, and Halo Infinite. But these flurries of excitement are overshadowed by large droughts in terms of releases and reports that cast doubt over the state of some first-party games' development. That's why Developer_Direct will be so crucial for Microsoft. This show will allow it to refocus players on a (hopefully) more consistent release lineup and start to give fans a consistent showcase cadence to be excited for.

The content factor
Digital Trends has done plenty of writing highlighting how 2022 was a very weak year for Microsoft. The delay of Redfall and Starfield in 2022 really ruined that year, even though Pentiment and As Dusk Falls were good games. For more mainstream gaming fans, though, Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda's 2023 looks way more exciting. Games like Redfall, Forza Motorsport, Minecraft Legends, and Starfield have 2023 release windows, while long-announced games like Senua's Sacrifice: Hellblade II, Contraband, and Avowed seem like they've been in development long enough to not be too far off. However, Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda haven't shown us how this year will be paced out in terms of releases, and players were not pleased with Microsoft's lackluster presence at The Game Awards 2022
That's the first major task of Developer_Direct. While no release dates were technically promised in its announcement, this show is a prime spot to let Xbox fans know precisely when they can get their hands on these long-awaited first-party titles. One of the most exciting parts of a Nintendo Direct is consistently seeing Nintendo's lineup for the next few months take form in real time, giving fans a bunch of neat titles to experience before the next inevitable showcase. Xbox is sorely in need of something like that, and Developer_Direct provides the perfect opportunity to do so, mainly because it seems to be focused less on the number of announcements and more on delivering info about games people are already interested in.