Opinion | Focusing on strong first-party reveals will be enough to overshadow Sony and their surprisingly light showcase.
What exactly needs to happen at the Xbox showcase to make it a success? With rational predictions and unrealistic rumours swirling around and the inevitable speculation hyping up the event more than it reasonably should, it's hard not to get excited by Xbox's upcoming show, despite a couple of hiccups that slowed down the momentum for Microsoft's platform over the recent weeks.
When one publisher doesn't quite deliver like Sony didn't last night, the spotlight immediately turns to competitors, who promise their own slate of exciting reveals and surprises. Sony had a chance to make the Xbox Showcase look inferior and unappealing to the masses but instead, they handed Xbox a 2 v 1 alley-oop opportunity.
All these things crossed my mind as I stared at my TV screen where Jim Ryan was giving his closing speech at the PlayStation Showcase . PlayStation boss reportedly wanted to send a message with an incredible show that would leave social media and the gaming industry in awe for days, making them forget that the Xbox event even exists.
And indeed he did send a message, but one that resulted in the most savage Xbox response in recent memory. The last night's show hence made me wonder that Xbox really don't even have to try their hardest to beat the first PlayStation Showcase in 600 days.
Xbox have been cooking for a while...
They could show Avowed , Hellblade 2 , and Forza Motorsport , to name a few nearest Xbox "phase 2" games. Or perhaps opt for titles that we haven't seen since the 2020 reveal like State of Decay 3, Everwild , and Perfect Dark ?
And then there's Starfield , which aims to be one of the greatest RPGs of this generation but somehow keeps getting picked on over and over again, which makes me think that some would actually love to see it fail.
Obsidian Entertainment
The possibilities are abounding and even if Xbox only showed a couple of these above-mentioned first-party titles and make them really shine, impressing millions of gamers worldwide, it would be enough to beat Sony's average stream.
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And let's not get started on the fact that the show should be 90 minutes long with many other surprises, teases and world premieres. Add 20 to 30 minutes of Starfield Direct and it's a potential bloodbath.
By simply showing up to this event with a handful of first-party titles, Xbox is already in the driving seat to take the crown for the best showcase this year, as we head into the busy summer for video game reveals.
It's been a rough couple of weeks for Sony
For Sony, an impressive Xbox event would be a huge bummer since they didn't really have the greatest month ever. We learned that one of their upcoming games
has been cancelled
and the studio they are backing, Deviation Games, has suffered massive layoffs.
Furthermore, PlayStation 5 exclusive RPG
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
seems to be in a rough shape too, with
Embracer CEO refusing to even comment on the state of the game.
Sony also recently shut down PixelOpus, a first-party studio known for action-adventure Concrete Genie. All these events are certainly taking away from the momentum Sony have built since the launch of PlayStation 5 with major first-party bangers and give Xbox a golden opportunity to recover from the underwhelming launch of Redfall and pick up the pace in this next-gen race.
Xbox need to give the people what they want to see with solid gameplay reveals, Game Pass drops and one or two big surprises and walk off stage, leaving everyone thinking "That was one hell of a show" and "Why couldn't Sony do that?"
DON'T MISS:
- Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater remake officially announced, with a kink
- Sony revealed new Marvel's Spider-Man 2 gameplay trailer with no exact release date
- Final Fantasy 16 PlayStation 5 demo: All you need to know
- Starfield's ESRB rating reveals new details about gameplay, quests and combat
- We'll let you know if Starfield doesn't have 60 FPS, says Phil Spencer
