Whether or not Microsoft fully reveals the next-generation Xbox ahead of E3 2020, we can at least expect a massive show from the company during the trade event this summer. Not only will this likely be the first time the press and the general public will be able to get their hands on the Xbox Series X, but Sony has already confirmed that it is skipping the show this year, which means Microsoft will have the airwaves all to itself.
Unsurprisingly, Xbox boss Phil Spencer wants to take full advantage of Sony’s absence this summer.
Responding to a fan on Twitter, Spencer revealed that he and his team had a meeting to talk about their plans for E3 2020 back on Valentine’s Day, and then reiterated just how exciting the press briefing will be:
.@OriTheGame is special, reading internal notes from people playing through, another amazing game by Moon. Next E3 meeting is today, tons to talk about between now and E3 & deep portfolio of XGS games for E3. @aarongreenberg doing work. Console launch years are just special.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) February 14, 2020
XGS, of course, stands for Xbox Game Studios, which is the first-party game publishing and development arm of the Xbox team. With the Xbox Series X just months away from release, we always assumed E3 2020 would be the event where we would see many of the launch window titles for the first time, but Spencer’s tweet confirms it. Even if Sony is ditching E3, it should still be packed with news and announcements about the next generation.
As for the full reveal of the new Xbox, we probably won’t have to wait until June for more information. On January 1st, The Verge senior editor Tom Warren said pretty definitively in a forum thread on ResetEra that a full reveal is coming “before E3.” That seemed obvious at the time, but as we come to the end of February with hardly a peep from either Sony or Microsoft, some gamers were starting to become concerned.
We still have no idea how long we’re going to have to wait to see everything the Xbox Series X has to offer, but the good news for Xbox fans is that a highly-anticipated sequel is coming to Xbox One is just a few weeks. As Spencer alluded to in his tweet, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is launching on March 11th.
