After landing the “Publisher of the Year” award from Metacritic in 2021, Xbox followed it up with a very silent 2022 that saw few first party releases, as delays continued to hamper the video game industry. There is light at the end of the Xbox tunnel though and Microsoft wants to make that very clear to both its loyal fans and other intrigued players to kick off 2023.
Traditional big showcases such as E3, Gamescom, PAX, and others continue to exist throughout the year, but we’ve continued to see more and more publishers lean away from those larger events or at least supplement them with smaller, more direct showcases of their own. It looks like Xbox is set to take a page out of their competitors’ playbooks, adapting their own Nintendo Direct/Playstation State of Play showcase format for the year ahead (yes, Xbox will most likely still make an appearance at all of the bigger ones as well). Xbox and Bethesda will be hosting a “Developer_Direct” livestream on January 25th on Twitch and YouTube.
Not only will they be trying out a new format, Xbox is also going into this one with clearly set expectations being stated to fans as well. The Developer_Direct will focus on “big features, extended gameplay showcases, and the latest info for Xbox games launching in the next few months including The Elder Scrolls Online [major chapter reveal], Forza Motorsport, Minecraft Legends, and Redfall.” Additionally, the blog post on Xbox wire goes on to address Starfield, stating, “To dedicate the proper amount of time for a deep dive into Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield, a standalone show in the works.”
While the expectations have been pretty clearly set, it should still be safe to expect a small surprise or two as well…and it would be safe to wager that those surprises would be Game Pass-related. Tune in on Wednesday, January 25th at 3pm ET/12pm PT to find out!
Image from: Xbox
