The second E3 press conference started with a bang and managed to maintain the hype train throughout the entire conference. This has got to be Microsoft’s strongest showing in a long time and they’re sending a clear message to Sony that they’re coming for the crown. For the first time in years, Microsoft has executed a near perfect E3 conference that fulfilled some expectations and surpassed many more. The conference was so good in fact, that it’s a little hard to pick out the lows during the conference. But hey, let’s be nitpicky. Hit the jump to read on!
HIGH – Games, games, games!
Microsoft entered the E3 ring swinging by announcing game, after game, after game. After Microsoft’s legendarily bad Xbox ONE reveal event the console giant has finally found their footing and is doing what gamers have been begging them to do: focus on the games. And that’s exactly what Microsoft did, by having fifty (50) games shown during their conference. A vast majority of the games were from third party developers, but a good amount were from Microsoft studios as well. Some of the biggest highlights were the reveal for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Devil May Cry 5, Halo Infinite, Dying Light 2, Gears of War 5, and the biggest reveal of all Cyberpunk 2077. All of which are not exclusive to Xbox aside for Halo and Gears, but it was an incredibly good move on Microsoft to have these reveals at there conference.
LOW – Forza Horizon 4 Stage Demo
Look, there’s nothing wrong with the Forza series. I’m sure there’s a lot of fans for the game out there that are salivating at the fact that the game takes place in a shared world and that there’s a dynamic weather system that modifies game play. Both of those things are cool, I’m sure Forza fans dig it. The problem was that it brought Microsoft’s conference to grinding halt. There are much better ways to demo a game on stage, but this is not one of those ways.
HIGH – XBOX Game Pass and Play Anywhere
Xbox offers a few features and services that are net positives for the gaming industry as a whole. Two of those services and features are Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere. Game Pass is a Netflix style streaming and renting services that let’s players pay a monthly fee and give them access to a number of titles to download to their Xbox’s and play for as long as they subscribe to the service. Xbox Play Anywhere is an initiative that allows gamers to play Xbox games on their PCs, effectively making every Xbox exclusive a PC title as well. At this year’s press conference Microsoft revealed a handful of new games to the Game Pass service, as well as announcing that many of the games shown on stage would be available for both Games Pass and Play anywhere at some point. Although not as flashy as a new game reveal, the strides Microsoft is taking are good for gamers everywhere.
LOW – Gears POP!
Another way to kill the momentum of a press conference is to build up your crowd into thinking that they are about to get their first look at a highly anticipated game, and then proceed to unveil a mobile spin-off of that game instead. This is exactly what happened when Microsoft announced Gears Pop!, a mobile game that takes place in the Gears of War universe that has you playing as Funko POP versions of the Gears of War cast. Now granted, Microsoft eventually got around to revealing Gears 5, but showing off POP! first is a textbook example of burying the lead.
HIGH – Cyberpunk 2077
It’s been five years since the last time we saw anything about CyberPunk 2077, and Microsoft smartly ended their conference on it. Although we didn’t get anything by way of game play footage, the trailer shown on Microsoft’s stage definitely set the tone for the game. A definite point I should make is that everything that was shown was rendered from the in-game engine. If there’s any company you can trust with that statement, it’s developer CD Projeckt Red. Although nothing was said about who you would be playing as in the game, reports have since come out saying that players will get to create their own character and experience the story through that character’s eyes. It definitely says a lot about a game if two teaser trailers is enough to set the world on fire, but Cyberpunk 2077 has a lot of expectations to meet. Since CD Projeckt Red is making the game, however, it may very well might surpass those expectations.
What did you think about the Microsoft Press Conference? Was there something they wish they announced? Let us know in the comments below!