The first of the big three has announced their E3 showcase for 2021, and they’re unsurprisingly merging two conferences into one with the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase.
The title infers that there may not be any new hardware to speak of. While Xbox saw two new consoles release about six months ago, it is not uncommon for Phil Spencer to come on stage to announce accessories and peripherals such as the Elite Controller, for example.
In fact, the name of the event also eschews the E3 name that it has used every year since joining the gaming world over two decades ago. (Despite their media briefing being hosted separately from E3 proper, it has always been connected and shared its name.)
The press release announcing the event lets us know that the show will be 90 minutes in length, or roughly the same length as previous Xbox press events. With Bethesda’s content mixed in there, this may not seem like a lot of time, but given that the show will be pre-produced rather than hosted in front of a live audience, there will likely be a lot more wiggle room to pack the show more densely with content instead of stage transitions.
The invite itself shows off a bunch of Spartans from Halo, as well as the planet from Starfield. Interestingly, the Spartans are not from Blue Team or Fireteam Osiris, but rather a mix of Halo games including Emile from Halo: Reach and of course, Master Chief himself, front and centre.
What else is going to be shown off at the showcase is anyone’s guess. Even the presentation quality is up in the air, as last year’s series of Xbox Games showcases weren’t exactly known for raising the production quality bar.
What we do not expect to decrease, however, is the density of announcements. The Xbox team usually has north of 50 games up it sleeves to show off at E3, and with a densely-packed 90 minute presentation, we’re expecting no less than that here, either.
We’ll find out how it all goes down on June 13th at 10 AM Pacific, 1 PM Eastern.