There was a lot of excitement in the days leading up to today’s Xbox presentation at Gamescom, but when the dust settled following the event, a lot of fans felt taken aback as it wasn’t the jam-packed exciting showcase that many believed it to be. While there was very little known about which games would be featured at the showcase, fan expectations might have been set a little too high by the Xbox Showcase at E3 2021. Yes, today’s omission of the highly anticipated Halo Infinite was odd, but there was still a lot to appreciate about the showcase, even though it wasn’t as packed as the company’s E3 announcements.
Although it might be a hard pill to swallow, it’s important for Xbox fans to recognize and accept that not every presentation that the company puts on is going to be as solid and exciting as its recent E3 presentation. While it would be nice for each showcase to completely blow away the audience, it almost seems like Xbox put itself in something of a poor position in the eyes of its fans because of the bar of quality it set earlier this year.
Xbox’s E3 2021 Showcase is Hard to Top
It seems like most viewers would agree that Xbox’s E3 2021 showcase was something of a banger and absolutely a standout event from this year’s conference. After all, the company showed off 30 games back-to-back, 27 of which would be going live on Xbox Game Pass the day they launch. For Xbox owners, there’s not much more one could ask for as on top of the sheer number of titles announced, the company also provided more in-depth looks into games like Starfield, Halo Infinite, and Forza Horizon 5.
It’s hard to imagine what more fans could want out of a conference (except maybe Halo Infinite’s release date, of course) so it’s also hard to imagine how Xbox could follow up a showcase of that caliber. As an event like Gamescom continues to grow in popularity, it would make sense that Microsoft would want to have a showcase at it, however, Gamescom doesn’t quite carry the same level of clout as E3 does. It makes sense then, that Microsoft would be bringing its best possible presentation to E3 and Gamescom would get something a little bit less exciting.
Xbox’s Gamescom Showcase Was About Developers
Fans tend to love presentations packed with exciting reveals and announcements on the most hotly anticipated AAA games. Today’s Xbox showcase didn’t include a whole lot of those things. Instead, it focused primarily on games coming soon to the platform and on interviews with the people making them. Titles like Psychonauts 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Age of Empires 4 took center stage as their either releasing soon or getting major updates in the coming months. Because the updates and releases have been public knowledge for a while, fans might have been less excited to hear more about them as they weren’t packed with mind-blowing new information.
It’s important to appreciate what today’s Xbox showcase was about: the developers of upcoming titles. There seems to be this notion that all presentations from major games companies need to completely wow audiences at every turn, but Xbox brought a more lowkey conference that, while less exciting than showing off 30 titles back-to-back, still had its own merits. It’s not every day that studios are able to put some of their employees on screen and talk directly to their gaming audiences. In a year full of exciting announcements, it was nice to be able to slow down for an hour and a half to simply hear from the people making games.