What To Expect From The Xbox Series X Games Showcase

July 18, 2020

The next generation of gaming consoles is getting closer and closer. We know the specs of both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, we’ve seen first and third party PlayStation 5 games and we’ve also seen a few third party Xbox Series X games. What’s missing in that equation? Other than a price and release date, we still haven’t seen a whole lot in the way of first party Xbox Series X games. Enter the Xbox Series X Games Showcase, a show sure to show us a plethora of first party Series X games.

While we don’t know everything that will be shown at the Xbox Series X Games Showcase, a couple of things have been confirmed and some potential hints dropped over the last week or so. We’ve collected that information here, as well as some of our own predictions on what could be revealed at the show. Without further ado, here is what you can likely expect from the Xbox Series X Games Showcase:

No Hardware or Business Details

Aaron Greenberg, Director of Marketing for Xbox, has already gotten out ahead of the show to confirm that there will be no hardware or business details shared at the show. What does that mean? The obvious answer is to not expect a price or release date for the Xbox Series X there, but it also extends to things like the long-rumoured Lockhart console and further studio acquisitions. Expect games, games and games over the hour the show will run.

Everything Shown Is Coming To PC and Xbox One

After previously stating that all games from Xbox Game Studios over the next couple of years will come to Xbox One, Phil Spencer came out again this week to reiterate that message. Games will obviously look and run better on an Xbox Series X compared to Xbox One, but you’ll have plenty of options on where you play any and every game shown at the Xbox Series X Showcase.

A Few Third Party Games

Xbox had previously set the expectation before that this show was a showcase for first party games, but they’ve since revealed that the show will have some world premiers from their partners so we wouldn’t be surprised if one or two big-name third party games manage to sneak their way into the show. It wouldn’t likely be something big, like a Call of Duty, but don’t go in expecting there to be no third party games.

Halo Infinite Campaign

This is the one and only explicit game confirmation that has come out prior to the show. We won’t get any multiplayer footage, but following on from a couple of E3’s worth of reveals so far, we’ll finally get our first good look at the campaign of Halo Infinite. With the game scheduled to release later this year, most likely as an Xbox Series X launch game, there’s no doubt this could be a chunky gameplay demo.

Forza Motorsport 8

While the series is normally an annual franchise, Forza took a year off last year to focus on improving the game quality of Forza Motorspot 7 and improving the game’s engine. It’s totally expected that Forza Motorsport 8 will likely be another launch game for the Xbox Series X, so we expect the title to be revealed at the Xbox Series X Games Showcase.

Fable Finally Returns

There have been rumours for at least a couple of years now that Playground Games, developers of the Forza Horizon, series have been developing an open world RPG for Xbox. These rumours eventually evolved to say that the game would in fact be a reboot to the Fable series. With Playground Games  expanding to include a second team, and no game released in almost a couple of years, now would be the perfect time to reveal Fable to the world.

Everwild and Hellblade Senua’s Saga Look Amazing

Rare’s new IP Everwild and Ninja theory’s continuation of Hellblade both looked fantastic when we caught short glimpses of them last year. We expect both games to make an appearance at the show and look absolutely fantastic visually.

Japanese Games Are Coming

What are they? We have absolutely no idea, but when asked about Japanese games in an interview this week, Phil Spencer commented that he was proud of what would be shown on July 23rd. Spencer isn’t one to tease details like this without something to back them up, so expect something from Japanese studios at the show. Given this is a first party showcase, this would mean that Xbox are publishing some exclusive games from Japan.

The Xbox One Ports Are Coming

Xbox has made it clear that they believe in blurring the lines between console generations, and we expect this to translate into showing off a number of first party games that are getting conversions and improvements for Xbox Series X. Gears 5, Minecraft, Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Sea of Thieves are the first games to come to mind for this.

There’s Plenty More To Come

With an hour to show off games we’re expecting Xbox to focus in on longer looks at a few titles, as opposed to giving short, shallow looks at a large number of games. With that said, we expect there’s plenty more games to show, and fully expect another show to be confirmed for August/September soon and for confirmation of more games to come to be dropped during this show.

 

There you have it, everything we believe you should expect from the Xbox Series X Games Showcase, from confirmed details to some rumours and predictions. If you feel like getting up super early, the show starts at 2AM AEST on Friday July 24th and can be viewed at the below channels, otherwise, stay tuned to Rocket Chainsaw for all the news: