Yesterday Microsoft held their Xbox Games Showcase and the reaction coming out of it has been mixed. In this article, I’m going to break down a few of my thoughts on what Microsoft showed as well as tally up my points from the predictions article I did earlier in the week. Before we start, if you haven’t seen the conference yet you can view the entire show, including the pre-show, below.
The showcase started off with a deep dive into Halo Infinite. Halo has never been a series that has grabbed me, but looking at it from an outsiders perspective the gameplay looked cool – almost DOOM like. The world looked open but not too daunting and the grappling hook looked like it added a new element to the game that will expand on combat.
I saw a few tweets saying this looked more like a 360 game – which is harsh. I’m not going to sit here and say the graphics looked great, because they didn’t. I’m also not going to sit here and make excuses about the demo being an old build, because they had plenty of time to put together an impressive demo.
I think the problem we have here is one that I have mentioned before. 343 Industries are making a game for the Xbox Series X that also has to run on the original Xbox One (that was underpowered in 2013). This causes limitations. Despite what many seem to think, you don’t just make a next-gen game and then turn some graphics slider down so that it works on lower-power hardware.
If anything, it’s the opposite. You have to design for the lowest powered device and scale-up. Making something shiny doesn’t necessarily improve graphical fidelity and in this case, I fear the result is going to be a game that plays great but gets a rough ride based on how it looks. Gameplay is king, but first impressions count for a lot and this showing has done some serious damage to the game’s hype.
Another potential negative, although we will need to wait and see how it plays out – is that we found out after the conference that the game is being built more as a platform. This means developers plan to use Halo Infinite as a launcher and add more content in over time. New multiplayer maps, new modes and potentially even full new campaigns. In essence, Halo 6 is inside Halo Infinite, and likely so will Halo 7 be – whatever form that takes.
Another rather strange announcement was Forza Motorsport. Everyone just assumed that we’d see a new Forza this year in time for the launch of the Series X but instead Phil Spencer told us that the game is currently “early in development” leading many to believe the game is either a year, or perhaps two years off. Playground Games took 2019 off, so the news that they are early in development on the next title is a strange one to say the least.
It should also be noted that the game was announced as Forza Motorsport rather than a numbered sequel. This would suggest that as with Halo, the new Forza is going to be a platform for years to come. This makes perfect sense, as if they can continue to add new tracks, cars, challenges and more the game will grow into the ultimate racing game. Plus the Forza gameplay is so good at this point that there are very minimal improvements that can be made.
This takes me on to what really was the theme of the whole show – Game Pass. Everything that was shown during the Xbox Games Showcase is going to be available as part of your Game Pass subscription, which is a superb deal. This is also the reason for these huge Xbox franchises becoming platforms though. When your aim is to get people to pay a monthly subscription, you don’t want to drop a Halo game every three years. You want to drip feed content to keep people subscribing.
It seems pretty clear to me that going forward Xbox will be taking a much different path than Sony. You won’t be getting three or four AAA blockbusters a year. Instead you’ll have the odd big release like Fable and Avowed, then some of the smaller studios Microsoft have bought releasing more experimental games like Hellblade 2, State of Decay 3, Grounded, Everwild etc.
As shown above, I have thought for some time now that Microsoft were looking to turn Xbox into a platform and I get more sure of this by the day. I played my Xbox 360 all the time, but I never upgraded to the Xbox One. With the Xbox app I have on my PC I have absolutely no need to own one. Game Pass allows me to play all Xbox exclusives day one from that app and that’s how I will continue to enjoy the Xbox catalogue.
So aside from Halo and Forza, there wasn’t too much that caught my eye. The Fable reveal at the end was a real mixed bag. I was delighted to finally get confirmation that it is in development, but they honestly couldn’t have shown any less. The rumours are that the game has been in active development since late 2017, so it was disappointing to see that it’s likely still at least a few years from seeing the light of day.
Avowed was obviously a big reveal for many, but I am one of the few gamers who didn’t care less about Skyrim and so while I have full confidence in Obsidian to make a great game, I was more interested in the DLC for Outer Worlds. Everwild from Rare looked kinda cool, but it appears that the studio making the game don’t even know what it is yet, so it’s hard to really gravitate towards that either.
Then there was State of Decay 3. I loved the first game, but there’s no denying that it was pretty janky experience that at times got in the way of itself. I didn’t get around to playing the second one but various people I know and trust told me it was more of the same with an emphasis on co-op. So watching that highly polished CG trailer did very little for me, because you know that it is in no way going to be representitive of the final product.
In truth, probably my most anticipated game coming out of the event was a current gen offering. Tell Me Way by Dontnod – which is a three part narrative adventure. The trailer was great and as a fan of pretty much everything Dontnod have done, I expect it’s going to be a hit. Best of all, unlike Life is Strange 2 we won’t be waiting months for the next chapter. It has been announced that chapter one will launch on August 27th, with the following two chapters coming in one week intervals.
So overall what I would say is that minus the graphics issues in Halo Infinite, Microsoft executed their vision for the future well during the Xbox Games Showcase. It’s just not anything that is going to pull me towards buying an Xbox Series X. Sony’s first party is just too strong for me not to remain primarily on PlayStation hardware, however as I always have done, I will source and play any game that looks fun.
Now lets take a look at my predictions and break them down.
1 Halo Infinite Delay
This prediction was that Halo Infinite would either be delayed or release incomplete with content to be added later. While this wasn’t confirmed I think there’s a high chance that the game will release light on content and could still be delayed after the recent negativity, so based on both of these factors I feel like half a point is fair.
2 New Fable Shown And Dated
Again I’m gonna go with half a point here. Fable was indeed shown, but unfortunately it wasn’t dated. My thinking was based on the rumour that the game had been in development since late 2017, but if that’s the case there must have been some internal delays.
3 Battletoads Shown And Dated
Incredibly, Battletoads was ignored. It feels like this game has been coming forever, originally scheduled to release in 2019 but things just went quiet. No points.
4 Perfect Dark Will Not Be Announced
This was an easy point for me. All the signs pointing to Perfect Dark being announced at this show could be easily discredited, but the hype remained due to fans appetite for a new game. I do think there’s a chance Microsoft take notice of the interest in recent weeks and put something in place that may be announced next year though.
5 Date And Pricing Revealed
During this prediction I stated that if Microsoft had a strong showing they would be wise to allow people to pre-order right away where if it was underwhelming it would be best to hold off. While this wasn’t a bad show, it was disappointing to the majority of fans and so in the end I think they did the right thing not announcing this at the end of the show. No points.
So in the end I have given myself one full point along with two halves. 2/5 isn’t great, but I’ll take it. This will also conclude my lengthy review of the Xbox Games Showcase. I had initially planned for this to go live closer to the showcase, but a combination of having too many games to play and a lot of stuff to write delayed proceedings.
What did you think of the showcase? What was the one thing you wish had been shown that wasn’t? Get in touch on Twitter @VizualDze and let me know. All comments about me being a Commodore 64 fanboy can be thrown at me there as well. Peace.
-VDZE ✌️
