E3 2014 Predictions Microsoft
This past year has literally been all change for Microsoft. Following some stinking bad press after last year's show, Microsoft had a few hard months ahead of it, eventually resulting in a step-back from the majority of its policies for the machine it had announced at E3 - culminating in the recent withdrawal of Kinect as a mandatory part of purchasing the console. The head of the Xbox division stepped down pretty quickly after the E3 debacle, and the company as a whole elected a new CEO - one who was faced with almost immediate calls to spin the Xbox division off and sell it to the highest bidder.
This year's E3, really, is about setting the message straight for Xbox. Gamers were dismayed when the system was originally revealed because so much of the night was dedicated to highlighting its non-gaming features. It was a stupid, petty reason to get uppity about a games console (did they think it WASN'T going to play games?), but it highlighted the central issue the Xbox One has faced since that day - Microsoft had no idea how to communicate to the audience they were talking to (it's unlikely that people looking for a media centre box were streaming that event, after all...). Phil Spencer, however, does. Since taking over the lead of the Xbox division, he's communicated directly with gamers about many things that matter to them about the Xbox. He's also made the statement that this year's E3 is all about games, games, games.
In fact, so loaded is their E3 conference, Microsoft claim, that they've spent the best part of the past few weeks spilling out plenty of E3-standard reveals well in advance. From dropping Kinect and competing penny-for-penny with the PS4, to detailing the upcoming Sunset Overdrive and revealing Halo 5 (the latter of which will not be heavily featured at E3 as it won't be out until late next year). They've even detailed what apps will be coming to the console over the next year, including Twitter integration. They spent about 20 minutes on stage going on about that when they revealed it for the 360...
Microsoft promise plenty of new exclusive titles to be announced at the show, as well as new multi-platform titles shown first on Xbox. Like Sony, however, there's a fair amount of what's going to be on show that will be at least a year off.
Quantum Break was recently confirmed to have moved into 2015 - and is teasing more reveals at Gamescom in August rather than E3, so may not even be more than part of a general sizzle reel -
Halo 5 was announced for 2015 and Black Tusk's
Gears of War revival has only been in development for a few months and is unlikely to be present in any form other than a pre-rendered trailer.
What we can expect, however, is a shitton of Halo to go along with the wait for Halo 5. Along with a new 'digital feature' being filmed right now in
Belfast of all places, there's pretty certainly a Halo game (or more) coming this year to fill the gap on Xbox One. Originally starting out as a pretty solid report that
Halo 2 was being remade for its anniversary this year, as Combat Evolved was for its on the 360, that has snowballed into a number of reports indicating that there'll in fact be a re-release of
all 4 main series Halo games on the Xbox One this year. It's pretty certain that we will be getting some updated Halo action on the Xbone this year one way or another, but we'll have to wait until Monday to see just what that'll entail for sure.
There's a possibility of a new
Conker game, following up the foul-mouthed rodent's adventures way back on the N64. After Microsoft renewed the domain name and Phil Spencer took the time to
compliment a Twitter commenter on their Conker avatar, tongues were set wagging all over the internet. It's probably reading a lot into nothing, but there's definitely a kernel of reality here. Last year's Killer Instinct revival was a strong and effective use of the IP that Microsoft has owned for some time through RARE - and there's a lot of affection for those IPs waiting to be tapped back into with some quality titles. RARE itself is effectively a completely different studio with only the name having hung around since their Nintendo days, but as demonstrated by Killer Instinct, those IPs can be taken up by any other capable studio. RARE themselves, meanwhile, may be looking ahead to a new
Viva Pinata project now that they have wrapped up Kinect Sports - but if that's the case, don't be expecting a lot from this year's E3 as they'll be no further into development with that than Black Tusk is with Gears.
Lionhead, post Peter Molyneux, will be detailing their upcoming
Fable Legends online multiplayer game - presumably with the first in-game footage of it in action. Hopefully it's enough to revitalise the franchise after a number of lacklustre performances since the Xbox original.
The other Microsoft franchise we may well hear from at the show is
Crackdown 3. After teasing the game way back in the initial Xbox One reveal last year by having a tile for it on a dummy home screen, Microsoft came clean with the news that there was no active development on the game yet - and that they hadn't even determined a studio to work on it now that Realtime Worlds is no more (though Spencer is keen to
keep the series developed within the UK - perhaps even taking advantage of the
recently cleared tax breaks for passing certain cultural criteria). There's absolutely no way that this game could possibly be any sooner than late next year, or even later still, but announcing its active development would be a big step for Microsoft that could only score them points.
Of the other publishers, you can expect plenty of Activision's Call of Duty to be played for the first time on stage (again) - though Sony will be competing head to head with some live Battlefield Hardline demoing later on, and a healthy amount of love from EA and EA Sports. I'm unsure as to whether Microsoft will really be showing off any of EA's key new titles from their own conference beforehand - but you can expect plenty of Xbox One timed exclusives and extra DLC one way or another.
Something Microsoft will be acutely aware of is their impending Japanese Xbox One release later in the year. They will be attending the Tokyo Game Show just beforehand, but it certainly wouldn't hurt for there to be something for that audience at E3 - especially since the same games will get a decent reception back home as well. Microsoft's tactics with this last time revolved heavily around JRPGs and Hideo Kojima. I'd consider it likely we'll actually get a decent dose of both - with the new Metal Gear game on the way, Microsoft are going to want to make the Xbox One the system of choice for it one way or another. We already know that Final Fantasy XV won't be at the show, but that doesn't stop Square Enix from bringing other titles to the Xbox One, or from follow ups to the Xbox 360's attempts at sparking some JRPG life into its market such as Mistwalker's Blue Dragon or Lost Odyssey games. All of these are traditionally Sony's home turf, especially in Japan and it's really up to Microsoft to chase this hard if they want to ever find an inroad into the market there. A new and exclusive
iDOLM@STER game probably wouldn't hurt them in Japan, either....
Rockstar have been appreciative of Microsoft's large wallet in the past, and it's hard to deny the positive effect for the show if they pull off a stunt with them again (though I doubt anyone will be getting tattoos for it this time), but short of bringing Agent back from the dead on Xbox One, I'm not sure there's a lot that can be brought to the table from Rockstar that'd be mic-dropping level. Even showing off an updated GTA V would be somewhat limited by the game being three quarters of a year old and in no way console exclusive.
What could be interesting from Microsoft is if we see more than just Xbox on show at the event. Spencer has also made a point recently of recommitting the company to PC gaming - despite the recent purge of Games For Windows Live. This is unlikely to be in the form of yet another client - or even the holy grail of cross-platform cross-play, but might we see the return of
Age of Empires at the show? A new game in the series is rumoured to be in development, and it'd be something of a coup for Microsoft to include such a high profile play for the PC market in their show (afterall, none of the other big 3 will be). It's possibly a long-run, but if we were ever going to see any PC focus from Microsoft at E3, it'd be with this game and this year.
Outside of games, Microsoft will have a lot of information about the Xbox One's media centre side, despite it being something of a PR poisoned chalice at the moment. So long as it's balanced out by a lot more gaming content, though, I think they'll have a good response. Either way, Microsoft's big entertainment content push begins this summer, with the
documentary surrounding the infamous Atari ET landfill kicking things off in a series called 'Signal to Noise' following a somewhat softer launch providing interactive coverage of the Tennessee
Bonnaroo music festival just after E3 between the 13th and 15th of June. Microsoft is pushing this exclusive content hard, with an Entertainment Division set up specifically to develop and produce such content. Some will be on both conventional TV, such as the collaboration with Channel 4, as well as the Xbox platform - but some of it will be completely exclusive. It's both a sign of exactly what the people pushing Microsoft to get rid of Xbox feel is the wrong path for the company and the biggest, boldest way that those in the Xbox division can justify that path if they make it a success. It actually couldn't be more crucial to the future of the Xbox itself that this endeavour succeeds - so Microsoft need to support it 110%.
There's an outlying chance that Microsoft will combat Sony's Morpheus focus with an announcement either of their
own VR headset or a collaboration with
Oculus Rift. The latter is arguably the best deal for everyone involved - but the Facebook purchase may have thrown a spanner in those particular works. It'd certainly be good for both OR and Kinect, though - as the latest Oculus Rift kits require a camera for tracking your movement, and Project Morpheus requires not only the PS4 camera, but a full set of Move controllers. Having an actual gaming reason to own a Kinect, even if it requires further hardware may be the lifeline the Kinect needs once it has to go it alone next week. It is highly unlikely that Microsoft WON'T have an answer to Morpheus, but they may not feel it necessary to expend much time and energy on it this year when neither the Oculus Rift, nor Morpheus, will be strapped to any consumers' heads for some time to come.
The key thing is that Microsoft's show should be a reversal of 'TV, TV, TV' from that fateful announcement show last year. I reckon that so long as there's enough new content on show, they'll get the sway of popular opinion. Phil Spencer is a genuine enough front-man to guarantee that if they pull it off. If they mess it up, though, they've got a lot left to lose.
