Xbox Showcase 2023 - Top 6 Missing

The Xbox 2023 showcase had plenty of first party updates, some great looking third party announcements and obviously a huge Starfield Direct that looked amazing, but there were six announcements or updates that we would have loved to see.

State of Decay

Originally revealed back in June of 2020, State of Decay 3 from Undead Labs has been completely silent. There were some reports about a troubled development from Kotaku, and we speculated that based on these reports and the release history of the studio that 2024 would be the earliest and it seems like even that might be a long shot because a lot of the games shown at the showcase were listed for 2024, which means that the release calendar is already getting a little full. State of Decay is a live service game and it’s hard to get people to come back if the launch is rough, so making sure it’s in the best possible shape on launch day is crucial.

ID Games

Everyone remembers what happened in March 2020. The world shut down because Doom Eternal went head to head with Animal Crossing New Horizons. However, since then Id Software, one of the godfathers of the FPS have been very quiet. Doom was released in 2016 and Doom Eternal was released in 2020, which would make sense that a new title from the studio would be in the 2024 ballpark. With Id showing some love towards the Quake IP with the remaster as well as turning Quake Champions free to play in 2022, it seems like a reboot makes plenty of sense, especially with the directions you could take the series. There is also the possibility of a new entry in the Doom Series or even a brand new IP. All of these options would likely be built from the id tech engine, which means that the heavy lifting of engine design is already done.

MachineGames

With Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny due out this summer, it seemed like the stars might have aligned for MachineGames because in early 2021, it was announced that the studio was working on a new entry in the fabled adventurer series. By the sounds of it, the new game won’t be a traditional shooter as you might expect from the studio, instead Todd Howard, who will be serving as executive producer said “I will just say it’s a mash up, it isn’t one thing”

With Todd Howard likely hands very full with Starfield and the launch, it seems that late 2024 would be the earliest this might happen. Machine released Wolfenstein: The New Order in 2014, Old Blood in 2015, New Colossus in 2017 and co developed Youngblood and Cyberpilot in 2019, which seems strange that they haven’t released anything in 4 years since. With that in mind it would seem likely that they are currently co developing different projects, which includes Indiana Jones and Wolf 3, so hopefully 2024 is the year of MachineGames.

Third Party Indie Game Changers

One thing that Xbox has done over the years during the slower times between premium releases is land exclusive deals with some of the most innovative and original indie games. Ori from Moon Studios, Cuphead from MDHR and Limbo and Inside from Playdead all come to mind. Ori and The Blind Forest is one of the best memories that I have from with my Xbox One from the time I bought it on Day One until the time I bought my Xbox Series X in 2020.

With Xbox having Silksong at last years conference and Team Cherry just recently delaying the game, I thought they might have went out to get the exclusive rights to a high profile indie title. Crowsworn from Mongoose Rodeo has been getting plenty of attention. Replaced is another one that is already confirmed for Xbox Game Pass and getting a release date or release window could have been good. There is also whatever Evil Empire or Motion Twin is working on after Dead Cells. These are just a few indie titles that come to mind when thinking about the next big indie thing.

Halo Infinite: Project Tatanka

Everyone knows about Halo not needing a BR, but it definitely needed more content than it had at launch. With such an open sandbox to play in with the amazing world created from 343, there was plenty of opportunity and that is where Certain Affinity comes in with their addition to Halo Infinite, which is currently codenamed Project Tatanka.

Whether the speculation is true and the mode will be a Battle Royale or a extraction type mode, or even something similar to Warzone from Halo Guardians, it would have been nice to get a small update to ensure the fans of Halo that Infinite is still a large part of the Xbox future, especially after Joseph Staten left. At one point Halo was the most important part of the Xbox portfolio and maybe that time will come again but not saying anything speaks towards a different result.

Gears 6?

Gears 5 came out in 2019 and with Halo Infinite not reestablishing itself as the premier console shooter, you could argue that the Gears IP is the most valuable in the Xbox portfolio. There were plenty of options for Gears to make a return. Gears Tactics came out in 2020 and expanded the IP into another genre effortlessly and is due a sequel. Gears 6 is obviously in development with the ending of Gears 5, along with the success the game saw both critically and commercially.

Finally, you have Hivebusters, which started to scratch the surface of extraction style mode for the series. With huge franchises like Battlefield and Call of Duty trying to emulate Escape from Tarkov, there is something here with Gears and Hivebusters. If the Coalition is able to incorporate other teams along with Hivebusting, there is something special here and Gears would have a standalone live service game that would complement the main entries.