The Xbox Games Showcase has already gone down in history as one of the most powerful and varied of this new E3-less era. Expectations were high for what Sarah Bond, Phil Spencer and the entire company were going to unveil to gamers for the future. Not only to cement their long-term plan with Game Pass, but to restore confidence to a community of gamers who were increasingly wary of the Xbox platform, especially in the wake of recent staff layoffs and studio closures.
Xbox needed to make a splash, and we really think it did, but we couldn't help but miss a few announcements at the conference. That's why we've compiled a list of the big absentees from the Xbox Games Showcase, and researched (as much as possible) the latest information on each of them.
Rare's next original IP was first announced in 2019, and since then its development has been handled rather quietly. It seems that Sea of Thieves has kept the team very busy as this project has been running into technical challenges. The development of the PS5 version of Sea of Thieves sure hasn't helped either, though recent rumours suggest it's still on track, and Xbox maintains on its site that it will be coming to current Xbox consoles and Game Pass.
Yes, we know, there's no official confirmation that there's a new Halo in development, but we all know what's going on. It's unclear whether it's a numbered sixth instalment or a reboot (it's all based on disjointed information and rumours), but we're reluctant to think that Xbox has forgotten about its most important franchise. The only thing that's clear to us is that last night's conference would have been much more complete if we'd seen proof of life from Halo, and we're still smarting from its absence.
Remember Contraband? It was one of Xbox Game Studios' big bets during E3 in 2018. It was apparently a very rushed announcement, as it had only just started its development cycle. It's been six years since that trailer that promised us an open-world co-op experience, but Avalanche Studios hasn't said a word about it. Although figures such as Tom Henderson claim that it is "still alive" (which is not at all reassuring), it is likely that Contraband has fallen victim to the current industry crisis, especially after Avalanche's layoffs and the closure of two offices in recent weeks.
Many of us were surprised not to see Hideo Kojima take the stage directly from his good friend Geoff Keighley on the night of Summer Game Fest, but we were confident that the reason was that Overdose (or OD) was saving its cards for the Xbox Games Showcase presentation, as it's planned as an Xbox exclusive. But yesterday the show was over and there was no sign of either the Japanese creative or the game. Is there any reason to worry? Not at all. Kojima is very active on social media and we know he's touring the world looking for familiar faces to include in OD. Besides, the game was officially unveiled to the world at The Game Awards last year, so we still have a long way to go.
Okay, so maybe this wasn't the best time for Ninja Theory to show off their new horror IP, with the fires of Hellblade II still smouldering, but it would have been a relief to see even a brief teaser at the event and it reinforces the idea that the studio is "out of the woods". Project Mara was unveiled four years ago, and we know that Xbox has greenlit a new project at Ninja Theory. Will the heavy machinery now be in motion with the game? Maybe. We'll forgive you for this one.
As far as we can read on Xbox's site, Towerborne is still set to release in 2024. It does seem strange then, that the action-adventure from Stoic didn't even get a nod at the Xbox Games Showcase. People were playing it last year at Gamescom, and considering the good faith Stoic built up with The Banner Saga, you'd think the game is big enough and ready enough to at least feature for a couple of minutes. Apparently not. Let's just hope this doesn't mean anything bad for its development/release.
Xbox's answer to Civilisation, Ara: History Untold is a 4X strategy game that looks to take a shot at the king, made by experts on the genre. We played it last year at Gamescom, and yet it didn't get the chance for a showing here. Again, strange considering it appeared at one time one of Xbox's biggest releases for this year.
Giving us serious Bioshock vibes when it was first revealed last year, this year felt like the perfect time to find out more about InXile's Clockwork Revolution. Yet, without any nod this year, our questions will go unanswered for a while longer, it seems. Unlike the prior couple of entries above, at least this one didn't have a release window attached.
Okay, this one is a bit more of a pipe dream, especially considering Obsidian is already working on Avowed to release this year, but it would have been nice to know the studio has multiple irons in the fire. The Outer Worlds 2 wasn't necessarily a likely showing, but it is one we'd expect to see sometime soon. After all, with The Elder Scrolls VI still years and years away, Obsidian is going to be relied upon to give us RPG fans some good eats for the time until Tamriel's return.
Is it even a gaming showcase if you don't have people clamouring for the ever-elusive Hollow Knight: Silksong. A lot of people believe it'll be shown next at a Nintendo Direct, but considering it last appeared during the 2022 Xbox presentation, there were some expectations last night, too. Sadly, it wasn't to be last night, which led to further despair among Team Cherry's fans, as it seems yet another year could go by without any substantial news.
We wanted to save for last the icing on the cake that yesterday was "so close" to being unveiled as Sarah Bond talked about the future of hardware. In the end she only showed the new Xbox Series models for next Christmas, but repeated the mantra of playing Game Pass games "anywhere". Come on Sarah, just tell us if it's really happening so we can start saving, OK?