Will Nintendo and Xbox reveal a new partnership at E3 2019?

Could the biggest surprise of E3 2019 be a collaboration between Microsoft and Nintendo? A few too many coincidences are beginning to pile up, and a few signs are pointing towards Nintendo taking to the stage at Microsoft's Xbox E3 2019 conference to announce… something.

A few eyebrows were raised when the official Xbox account tweeted out a branded E3 2019 schedule (in the Xbox green, obviously) along with the following text: "Here’s where you need to be for #XboxE3." 

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Take a close look at it. No, no, a little closer. Yep! That's right: Microsoft is pointing people towards the Nintendo Briefing on Tuesday morning. Now, sure, it also mentions the likes of Bethesda, Devolver, and Ubisoft. But those publishers make games for Xbox One and will, presumably, have titles to announce for the next-gen Xbox Project Scarlett. Nintendo, on the other hand, does not publish games on Xbox. 

But Xbox does publish games on Switch. Well, it has done once. Cuphead for Switch launched earlier this year, and showed the beginnings of a beautiful partnership, one I believe will be fully realized at E3. Need more evidence? We also have Jeux Video reporting from the show that Nintendo legend and Mario architect  Shigeru Miyamoto will appear on stage at the Xbox Briefing. If that isn't enough, Game Awards host and creator Geoff Keighley tweeted the following earlier today: 

"I hope this year's #e3 is an extension of the message we sent to kick off @thegameawards last year - we're all better and stronger when we come together to celebrate games. It's not about the platforms, it's about the content. And getting games to more people in more places."

With all that evidence, I'm going to make a wild guess that Xbox Game Pass - Switch Edition is going to get announced. That, or Nintendo will be one of the first external partners to really jump on board with the Project X Cloud initiative, which gives you the chance to stream your Xbox games from the cloud onto any device with a screen. You know, like a tablet, an iPhone… or a Nintendo Switch? 

We'll know for sure one way or the other soon enough, with the Xbox E3 2019 media briefing set to kick off shortly. This is how to watch the Xbox E3 2019 press conference live. 

Josh West
UK Managing Editor, GamesRadar+

Josh West is the UK Managing Editor of GamesRadar+. He has over 10 years experience in online and print journalism, and holds a BA (Hons) in Journalism and Feature Writing. Prior to starting his current position, Josh has served as GR+'s Features Editor and Deputy Editor of games™ magazine, and has freelanced for numerous publications including 3D Artist, Edge magazine, iCreate, Metal Hammer, Play, Retro Gamer, and SFX. Additionally, he has appeared on the BBC and ITV to provide expert comment, written for Scholastic books, edited a book for Hachette, and worked as the Assistant Producer of the Future Games Show. In his spare time, Josh likes to play bass guitar and video games. Years ago, he was in a few movies and TV shows that you've definitely seen but will never be able to spot him in.