Xbox E3 Briefing 2018 — The Exclusive Gears Are in Motion

Microsoft went into this year’s E3 conference with heavy questions to answer about the future of the Xbox brand. Prior to this, they were being criticized for the dwindling number of exclusives coming to Xbox One, in a phenomenon worse than what happened with the Xbox 360 late in its lifetime. It was bad enough that several were wondering if there would even be another Xbox console after this generation, because the company overall seemed to be reducing their focus on gaming. This was their opportunity to debunk that speculation.

Heck, they even started off with one of those exclusives. After some mystery (a theme for several reveals at this conference), the conference commenced with the reveal of Halo Infinite. The game will once again star Master Chief, who might have been installing the Cortana AI in his helmet in the trailer. Unfortunately, no details were given about the game, nor was a release timeframe provided.

This was followed with a proper introduction from Xbox Studios head Phil Spencer, who welcomed everyone by confirming how they’d show 50 games. This included 18 exclusives and 15 world premieres. It was a long conference, and was proof that I’d be writing a long goddamned post about this. Strap in.

The first exclusive was Ori and the Will of the Wisps, a sequel to previous Metrodvania platformer Ori and the Blind Forest from 2015. It will release for Xbox One and PC sometime next year. Note that all exclusives are for XB1 and PC, just so I won’t have to say it every time.

The first multiplatform debut was a big one: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. This is a ninja action-adventure with RPG elements developed by FromSoftware. which takes place in late-1500s Japan. It’s being directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, who handled Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne, and the first and third Dark Souls games. Even more surprising is how Activision is publishing it, something they haven’t done since the Lost Kingdoms games on Gamecube, back when they were a very different Activision. Sekiro looks to combine elements from Bloodborne, the Otogi games (action-adventure games From made for Xbox), and the Tenchu stealth series, and it looks fantastic. It will release sometime next year for PS4, XB1, and PC, and more info should come on Tuesday morning. Look forward to a separate post from me about it.

Fallout 4 has now joined the Xbox Game Pass service, news which preceded the first trailer for Fallout 76, a new title that will be four times larger than Fallout 4. It’s also an online game, something officially left secret until the Bethesda conference later. It was also confirmed there that it will release on November 14th.

The next reveal was for The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, a spinoff set in the Life is Strange universe from Dontnod Entertainment and publisher Square Enix. It will arrive on June 26th, and Dontnod says the game will contain clues for Life is Strange 2 for anyone clever enough to find them.

The perpetually-delayed Crackdown 3 reappeared with another Terry Crews-fueled trailer. The game still looks great in motion, and they appear to have polished its performance. It also received a release date of February 29th, so cross your fingers and hope it won’t get delayed again — though they might want to consider it given how crowded February is getting.

NieR: Automata Become as Gods Edition is coming to Xbox One on June 26th as a digital download, an announcement that would have been a complete surprise if Square Enix didn’t accidentally upload their blog post right before the conference. It will include the game and all the DLC for $50, a good price considering it still retails for $60 by itself on PS4.

Metro Exodus was announced at the Microsoft conference last year, and this year’s trailer provided a much better look at the game. Its delay was confirmed earlier in the year, but it was announced here that it will arrive on February 22nd, making this the third AAA game planned to arrive on this date behind Anthem and Days Gone. February will be hell for game releases.

A new Kingdom Hearts III trailer was shown, which will mark the series’ debut on Xbox, since the string of remasters were released only on PlayStation platforms. This newest trailer confirmed that Frozen will be in the game, though let’s be honest, there was no way it was being left out given its overwhelming popularity. It was confirmed before the conference that the game will release on January 29th, slipping past the previous late 2018 timeframe, though only slightly.

Sea of Thieves will receive two expansions called “Cursed Sails” and “Forsaken Shores,” due to arrive in July and September, respectively. This game will likely be updated for years, unless its popularity steeply drops in the next several months.

EA delivered on their promise to show a trailer for Battlefield V’s single-player campaign at the conference, dubbed the “War Story” campaign. But it still didn’t show much, which could be due to its potentially-short length. The game will arrive on October 19th.

Forza Horizon 4 was announced, a title whose existence was somewhat revealed as part of the Walmart Canada leaks, though under the name “Forza Horizon 5.” Its courses will take place in the United Kingdom, and its sense of realism will be increased with the introduction of seasons in this installment. It will arrive on October 2nd.

Microsoft laid out their new plans for first-party development by confirming the existence of five new studios. First is The Initiative, a studio in Santa Monica whose projects will be shown in the presumably near future. The second is Undead Labs, who handled the State of Decay games. Third, they confirmed that they’ve acquired Forza Horizon developer Playground Games, which is also working on an open world game that will be shown soon. (Rumors say it’s a Fable reboot inspired by Horizon Zero Dawn.) The fourth is… Ninja Theory, who they’ve purchased. It’s a heck of a fate for a developer that handled one of the most heavily promoted PS3 exclusives in Heavenly Sword over a decade ago. The fifth is Compulsion Games, who’s working on We Happy Few, a title confirmed for an August 18th release date.

This should be good for Microsoft’s future first-party output, but they have a sordid history of killing studios before their prime, so I hope they’ve changed their business strategy here. But I won’t be confident that they have until I see certifiable proof.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ Sanhok map will be coming to Xbox One in the winter, along with the “War Mode,” a squad deathmatch mode already available in the PC version. A winter map was also teased, which could be shown soon.

The rumored Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition was shown at this conference, likely due to the original game releasing exclusively on the console in western territories. This version will be based on the Japan-only enhanced PS3 version, whose localization has been heavily requested by Tales fans over the years. It’s also being remastered for the game’s 10th anniversary this year. It will also arrive on PS4, Switch, and PC in addition to XB1 in the winter.

Ubisoft previously announced Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, but showed it off in far more detail here. The game will take place in Washington DC this time, in an era where America has collapsed upon itself, which isn’t at all a realistic scenario. The game will retain many of the co-op features of the previous game, and should be enjoyable for those who enjoyed it. The final game won’t have the annoying fake voice chat either, which Ubisoft insists on having in these trailers. It will arrive on March 15th.

Xbox Game Pass will receive a “FastStart” option as part of the June update, where games will, uh, start twice as fast. New games are also being added, including Fallout 4, The Elder Scrolls Online, and Tom Clancy’s The Division.

Though Shadow of the Tomb Raider won’t be a temporary exclusive like Rise of the Tomb Raider, the new Tomb Raider brand still has some association with the Xbox brand, which explains why it was shown here. This was the first opportunity for the public to see gameplay, which looks mostly identical to previous games. But that’s fine when they were enjoyable. It will release on September 14th.

Session was shown, a new skating simulator that definitely isn’t Skate 4, like some were hoping it would be. This crowdfunded game, however, does play like the Skate titles, and could be a replacement. It will release through Steam Early Access later this year, and its final release will arrive next year.

Korean MMORPG Black Desert was featured through a trailer, a title that’s been on PC for around four years that has some of the best character customization seen in video games. The beta will arrive this fall, and the final release will likely depend on how the beta handles.

The rumors that Devil May Cry 5 exists were true after all, though the reveal trailer here disproved some (but not all) rumors that existed for months. The protagonist shown in the trailer was Devil May Cry 4’s Nero with a look that makes him somewhat resemble Dante from DmC: Devil May Cry, but definitely resembled Drew from cancelled PlatinumGames title Scalebound. It ended with showing previous protagonist Dante, who’s now grown a beard. It will feature action similar to Capcom’s internally-developed DMC games, and will have three playable characters, though the identity of the third one has yet to be revealed. It’s due for release in spring 2019 for PS4, XB1, and PC, and more will be shown at Gamescom in August.

The popular Cuphead is receiving a DLC expansion known as “The Delicious Last Course,” which promises to be just as hard as the main game, if not harder. It will feature Ms. Chalice as a playable character, and will release next year. Also, Zelda-inspired action-adventure Tunic, shown at last year’s conference, made another appearance this year. This will also release sometime next year.

Jump Force from Bandai Namco was revealed at the show, a crossover 3D fighting game that will feature characters from various Shonen Jump franchises, like Naruto, One Piece, and Dragon Ball. Death Note’s Light Yagami was shown within the shadows at the end of the trailer. It looks like a successor to J-Stars Victory VS, since this will be handled by Spike Chunsoft. The game looks like it needs some serious polishing before release, which it will hopefully receive when it arrives on PS4, XB1, and PC next year.

Techland is working on Dying Light 2, a sequel to the hit first-person co-op survival zombie game. (Note: A lot of post-apocalyptic survival games have been shown this year.) The game was also demoed, to show how it will take place in a large city this time around instead of throughout several villages and jungles. The game will also have choice-based mechanics this time around. It will arrive on PS4, XB1, and PC at some unspecified point in the future.

As it turns out, there really is a Battletoads game coming. The game will have three-player co-op and, surprisingly enough, hand-drawn graphics, the latter of which shows that developer Dlala Studios could be putting effort into this. Unfortunately, the game wasn’t shown, but I’ll go out on a limb and say we’ll see it before its vague “2019” release timeframe. Make sure you call GameStop and preorder.

Square Enix’s Just Cause 4 was officially revealed, though it didn’t happen before an ad for the game on Steam leaked, followed by screenshots. This installment will take place in the fictional South American country of Solis, and the trailer showed how it promises to bring back all the crazy gameplay antics from previous titles. The story noticeably seems more serious compared to previous titles, however. The game will release on December 4th, also on PS4 and PC.

Microsoft introduced Gears of War by showing… Gears POP!? In one of the best fake-outs this year so far, Gears Pop! (yes, the title has an exclamation point) is a game presumably with some Gears-like gameplay (though some rumors suggest it’s a — wait for it — battle royale game), but with Funko Pop-style character models for mobile phones. Not much was shown (another trend here, noticeably), but it will release sometime next year. Also revealed was Gears Tactics for Windows 10, a turn-based strategy game developed by Splash Damage.

Microsoft didn’t leave without revealing the real thing, though: Gears 5, which drops the “of War” part of the title, for some reason. It will take place after Gears of War 4, and that game’s Kate Diaz will take over as the protagonist now. She’s also seeing visions, and is crying over the potential death of a main character in the trailer, making her the lone emotional female among a bunch of strong guys. No one ever looked to the Gears franchise for originality. The game will release sometime next year, and the three titles show how Microsoft wants to make this franchise into a Halo-like phenomenon.

Microsoft is internally working on several new initiatives, including the Microsoft AI, a game streaming network (following up on the mention of this from EA’s conference), and the next Xbox console. Companies are always working on new platforms, but the mention of this upset a few people due to the Xbox One X releasing less than a year ago. Chances are, this new platform isn’t close to releasing, and could perhaps arrive with the next PlayStation platform in around three years. But these people aren’t alone in thinking that it feels early to talk about the next generation of gaming platforms.

Before the conference could end, Spencer was cut off by a mysterious glitch out, which was for CD Projekt Red’s previously MIA Cyberpunk 2077. The trailer showed features the game will have, and the cyberpunk-suffused world it will occur in, though no actual gameplay was shown. It’s already been in development for a good while, as planning for it started around the time the PS4 and XB1 launched on the market, and there are signs that it’s still not quite ready for release. No release date was provided either, but it was nice to see something.

This was the best conference Microsoft’s had in years, as several great games were shown within a quick pace. That’s despite how we’re only starting to see how they’ll address the issue of not having many exclusives, since several games that debuted here are also coming to PS4 — though they were presented in a way to make watchers think they weren’t. We’ll see what those new studios will have in store for Microsoft’s platforms starting in, say, E3 2019, but let’s hope they don’t meet an untimely end.

If you want to watch the conference, feel free to do so here. You can also see the trailers separately on the Xbox YouTube channel.