While it has been a while since the Xbox Series X and its specs were revealed, with the PlayStation 5 reveal following soon after, recently Microsoft officially released the date for their Xbox Games Showcase. This showcase is a part of the Xbox 20/20 events, which are monthly Xbox-centered events. June was noticeably skipped, which can likely be chalked up to Microsoft trying not to compete with Sony’s big PS5 reveal event.
🎮 Xbox Games Showcase
📅 July 23rd
⏰ 9am PT@SummerGameFest Pre-Show at 8am PT with @GeoffKeighley on @YouTubeGaming#XboxGamesShowcase pic.twitter.com/zGr5AnFwic— Xbox (@Xbox) July 6, 2020
20/20 was originally created for Microsoft to be able to show all the content planned for E3 2020 before its cancellation. Developer 343 Industries has already confirmed that the event will showcase Halo: Infinite.
Get ready. https://t.co/ktmpzdysZ2 pic.twitter.com/1KJh8pMF4M
— Halo (@Halo) July 6, 2020
Other than that, things are up to speculation. Playground Games recently opened a second studio that is developing an open-world game, widely believed to be a new Fable game, so maybe we’ll get a sneak peek at that. Besides that, Microsoft recently created The Initiative back in 2018, a Santa Monica-based “AAAA” studio built specifically to bring in the best talent to create the biggest games, so perhaps they have something in store for the Series X (rumors point to them developing a new Perfect Dark). Rare, the company known for creating the Banjo-Kazooie franchise, also recently revealed a game called Everwild that looked absolutely gorgeous, so that’s a definite contender for a slot on the showcase.
After Sony’s PS5 event dropped titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon: Forbidden West, and Microsoft’s third-party focused May Inside Xbox Event proved to be quite lackluster (it was mainly criticized for its usage of game trailers in lieu of gameplay), Microsoft really needs to recapture the gaming community’s attention and gain some momentum. There’s a whole lot of possibilities for what this event may showcase, from long-awaited sequels like Double Fine’s Psychonauts 2 to brand-new IPs and projects that can really show off the power behind the Series X’s.
The Xbox Games Showcase will be viewable on the Xbox website, as well as YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, and Twitter.