Today, Xbox has announced a new initiative where they will talk about something new in the world of Xbox every month. Dubbed Xbox 20/20, the initiative will start on May 7 where Xbox will showcase the first look at Xbox Series X gameplay on Inside Xbox. Then, in the coming months, Xbox plans to talk about what’s next for Xbox Series X, Xbox Game Studios, Xbox Game Pass, and Project xCloud.
Speaking on how this initiative came together, Jerret West, CVP, Game Marketing talked about how everyone is dealing with the current Coronavirus pandemic and how that affected their decisions leading up to the launch of Xbox Series X. “What was already going to be a once-in-a-generation year for gaming – a new generation of consoles, a wave of new next-generation games, and the launch of new ways to play with game streaming – 2020 has become the year that challenged us all and tested every commitment we’ve made in the face of COVID-19. Difficult tests tend to reveal your true priorities, and for us, they are the health and safety of our employees, our fans, and partners. We also want to be transparent in letting our players know what we are doing and what we are thinking during such a crucial time.”
Xbox has outlined what’s in store for the rest of 2020 revealing that the goal is still set to launch Xbox Series X and Halo Infinite this Holiday. All 15 Xbox Game Studios teams are hard at work on new games for Xbox Series X and Xbox Game Pass. Other companies are making sure that their games are ready to play on Xbox Series X. Xbox will make all of their major releases available for Xbox Game Pass for PC at launch including Halo Infinite, Wasteland 3, Minecraft Dungeons, and Microsoft Flight Simulator. New updates and games will be revealed for Xbox Game Pass for console and PC. Project Cloud will keep expanding to new countries and on new devices and later in the year, Cloud and Xbox Game Pass will come together, enabling you and your friends to play together in more ways.
Everything starts this Thursday on Inside Xbox where we’ll get look at next-gen gameplay from a wide variety of publishing partners such as Ubisoft and the recently revealed Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The May update will also include confirmation of games set to utilize the new Smart Delivery feature which makes it so you play the best version of the game for the console you own. It also means that you only have to buy the game once. All the games that will be revealed during the event will be Xbox Series X Optimized which means that they will take full advantage of all the features that the console is offering including 4k resolution, up to 120 FPS, DirectStorage, hardware-accelerated DirectX attracting, super-fast load times, and more. In July, Xbox will preview first looks at First-Party games from a number of Xbox Game Studios teams.
“As we’ve seen in recent weeks, gaming is being used for entertaining, for inspiration, and for strengthening social connections between you and your friends through shared adventures,” Jerret West said. “As you continue to connect with your friends around the world through gaming, we look forward to sharing more of our plans on Xbox Wire so you can all join us as we look into the future of Xbox”