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With Starfield dominating proceedings and Redfall pretty firmly in the rear-view, it's easy to forget that, across the Xbox Game Studios, there is still a lot in development. I'm not talking about those secret projects we've yet to be briefed on, the mysteries that may or may not reveal themselves this June. For me, it's all about the gems that were teased and revealed at the stellar 2020 Xbox Games Showcase – and now I'd love the 2023 Showcase to be that all over again.
Now, there are many, many reasons to forget 2020 existed, but the Xbox E3 2020 showcase was not one of them. If you cast your minds back three years, it was the summer before the Xbox Series X launch and fans were ready to see what that big summer presentation would reveal for their then-incoming new machines. Microsoft did not disappoint. It showcased titles from nine of its (then) 15 Xbox Game Studios, with five new first-party game reveals – and this was pre-Bethesda buyout too.
Good 2020 memories
In just an hour (and change), Xbox served up an excellent preview of what it had cooking. First up was the third entry in the zombie survival series, State of Decay 3, with an excellently tense teaser trailer featuring a screaming zombie deer and blood-stained winter wonderland. But, that was followed by a very early look at Turn 10's Forza Motorsport, with all its shiny cars and hyper-realistic tracks. Without missing a beat the showcase transition from tarmac to wilderness as Rare gave us our first taste of Everwild, a game inspired by the natural world and our connection to it.
Later on, though, Xbox dropped the world premiere for Obsidian's next game. The apparently expansive RPG, Avowed, wowed fans with its Skyrim / Game of Thrones vibe – even if the trailer was tantalizingly short. This was followed shortly after by another short but sweet reveal in Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl, from Ukrainian developers GSC Game World. And that one final thing? Fable. The long-awaited return to the beloved series made famous by Lionhead and now under PlayGround Games' control.
It was a huge showcase, and one that really brought the hype for the as-then-unreleased Xbox Series X (and Xbox Series S of course). But, although some of the games featured have since been released (such as Halo Infinite, Grounded, and Interior/Night's As Dusk Falls just to name a few), the grand majority are still yet to grace our Xbox Series X hard drive. Nearly all in fact, beyond Forza Motorsport appearing in the recent Xbox Developer Direct and Stalker 2's development being impacted by the ongoing war in Ukraine, have pretty much gone unmentioned since then.
That's the reason we need a repeat of 2020's excellent showcase. Bring us updates on these first-party titles and how they're all getting on so far down the development line. Radio silence on such huge titles feels remiss now we're without release dates for any big Xbox exclusives bar Starfield. It's time for the Xbox Games Showcase 2023 to fill some gaps.
Even just updates on those 2020 titles would make for a potentially stellar line-up alone without even roping in other Xbox Game Studios we know are in development, such as Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, which also appeared in the 2020 line-up. Of course, we also know that there's also Contraband in development at Avalanche Studios, a new Perfect Dark over at new studio, The Initiative, The Outer Worlds 2 coming from Obsidian Entertainment, and of course The Elder Scrolls 6 coming after Starfield – although we all know it's too early on an update on that just yet.
All these titles sit amongst the games we want to see at the Xbox Games Showcase, and if Microsoft wants to hit big this year, it should start by giving us the latest on its work-in-progress projects rather than focusing on something new.
For now, let's take a look at all the upcoming Xbox Series X games confirmed so far, and pin our hopes on what we want to see come June 11 when Xbox's duo of showcases hit the E3 2023 schedule.
