Xbox Games Showcase – Where to watch and what to expect
The Xbox Games Showcase July 2020 kicks off tomorrow. So what can you expect to see from Microsoft’s Games Extravaganza?
First off, the event takes place at 5 PM UK time, although if you are in a different region then you can find out what time to watch thanks to the handy Xbox Games Showcase Worldwide watch times tweet below.
We feel pretty sorry for Tokyo and Sydney to be honest, but hey, they can always watch again in the morning.
Thursday, July 23
🇺🇸 9 AM PT
🇲🇽 11 AM Mexico City
🇺🇸 12 PM ET
🇧🇷 1 PM São Paulo
🇬🇧 5 PM UK
🇿🇦 6 PM Cape Town
🇪🇺 6 PM Western Europe
🇷🇺 7 PM Moscow
🇮🇳 9:30 AM Mumbai
🇯🇵 1 AM Tokyo (July 24)
🇦🇺 2 AM Sydney (July 24)https://t.co/2McKgywm8i— Xbox (@Xbox) July 22, 2020
So where can you watch?
Well as you would expect, Microsoft will be streaming the event on its YouTube Channel. If you prefer Twitch then Microsoft will also stream live there too. Of course, you can also watch live on Facebook and Twitter too.
So Microsoft pretty much has you covered wherever you want to watch.
Here are the links:Â
Xbox Games Showcase Predictions
There’s hoping and then there is expecting.
The Xbox Games Showcase rumours are all around us, but what do we know for sure?
Halo Infinite
Well, judging by the picture above and from social media talk, we are sure to see a large focus on Halo Infinite. The reason for this? Well, it’s Microsoft’s big hope for the launch of the Xbox Series X.
Not many other games from Microsoft are likely to make as big an impact at launch like this one. Therefore you can expect to see plenty of gameplay surrounding the campaign, as well as revelations surrounding the multiplayer mode – which is rumoured to be designed in such a way that it’s ever-changing.
So what else can we expect to see at The Xbox Games July Showcase?
Everwild
It does seem likely that Microsoft will take time to show off some of the games already announced. For Instance, Rare is working on a game known as Everwild and it has been a little while since we’ve seen news of it, so expect to see gameplay during the event.
As you would expect from a Rare game, the graphical style looks stunning, so it seems likely we’ll hear a lot more, as this is certainly a more family orientated game and Microsoft needs to show a diverse line up of first-party studio games in order to appeal to everyone.
Fable Reboot
It’s long been rumoured we’ll see a new Fable by Playground Games at this event and it seems almost certain we will.
Fable is one of Microsoft’s most beloved franchises and everyone is expecting this to be an absolute show-stealer. There’s no point in us speculating what it will be like, so this one is a wait and see.
Forza 8
A new Forza game seems almost certain.
Sony is releasing Gran Turismo at some point as its flagship racing sim and Microsoft normally likes to counter this with a sim racer of its own – namely Forza.
Forza Motorsport 8 is once again rumoured to bring the bling, with atmospheric physics, tyre pressure models and ultra-realistic car models. According to rumours Microsoft will be really doubling down on realism to make it feel like you really are behind the wheel and will need to think about the surrounding environment and the car physics when trying to win a race.
Double this up with a new ranked online system and new off-road racing and we could be looking at the most realistic Forza Motorsport game yet.
Gears of War and Sea of Thieves
We suspect we’ll get an update on how Gears of War will adapt to the new Xbox Series X hardware. All those technical details like frame per second and 4K Ultra HDR graphics are likely to be banded around and we suspect this will also happen for Sea of Thieves too, given that it was recently announced that Rare’s game has now reached over 15 Million players.
What else will we see?
What else we will see is anyone’s guess.
The Coalition is a huge Microsoft studio and its working on something very special apparently.
There’s a lot of talented individuals at the studio but it also rumours that The Coalition’s game will not appear at this event – which does seem like a very unlikely rumour to us.
Even if we just see a trailer, we expect to see something.
Double Fine is working on Psyconaughts 2 and while this was made for current generation consoles (yes all of them), we suspect there will be some sort of Xbox Series X update on this, although we can’t really see it making too much of a difference to this game in all honesty.
Expect to see the lovely Tim Schafer in any case.
Ninja Theory is working on Hellblade 2, so once again we expect to see an update on this game.
Hellblade 2, coming from such a prolific developer, is sure to look stunning, so we know that you’ll want to keep an eye out for this one.
Obsidian will likely show whatever it is working on next, although with The Outer Worlds released recently we don’t expect a game which will be released any time soon
It is possible we’ll see an Xbox Series X update for The Outer Worlds, which wouldn’t be a bad thing.
There are plenty more studios we may hear something from too, such as Inxile Entertainment, Compulsion Games, The Initiative, Mojang and Undead Labs.
Microsoft certainly has a huge amount of studios now, so expect a lack of exclusives to be a thing of the past.
The only thing we will say is that it may take at least two years before we see what the majority of its new studios are working on. There will still likely be plenty to keep Xbox One and Xbox Series X fans happy until then though.
That sound a lot. So what else would we like to see?
Well that is a question.
As for our wishlist, how about:
- Kameo
- Project Gotham Racing
- Perfect Dark
- Viva Pinata
What would you like to see?
Third Parties
With Microsoft holding the Xbox Games Showcase, as well as a pre-show, we expect there will be plenty of third party publishers ready to show off titles which are ‘Enhanced for Xbox Series X.
Even though these games will come to PS5 too, we suspect Microsoft will want to try and push the fact it has a power advantage over the PS5 and therefore we may hear from developers who are talking up the properties of the Xbox Series X.
FIFA 21 is one game which will release a new gameplay trailer tomorrow and it seems likely we’ll hear from other big publishers too. Cyberpunk 2077 is almost certain to make another appearance and most likely other third party titles will too.
So there we have it. Just from what we have written above it would seem foolish to not watch the Xbox Series X Showcase, because it’s going to be an amazing show packed with quality games, just like last month’s PS5 showcase was.
The most exciting thing is that this won’t be the last we’ll hear from both Microsoft or Sony before the launch of Xbox Series X and PS5. So expect even more exciting reveals between now and launch.
Until then, enjoy the Xbox Series X Showcase on July 23 at 5 pm UK.