There’s a good reason the Xbox execs look so happy (Picture: AP Images for Xbox)

GameCentral gives its verdict on the Xbox Showcase and tries to work out why Sony allowed Microsoft such an open goal in the first place.

Sunday, June 11 may end up being one of the most important turning points in modern gaming history. It was the date of the Xbox Games Showcase and if Microsoft had put on an event anywhere near as disappointing as the PlayStation Showcase two weeks earlier, then they would have had almost no chance of gaining any ground for the rest of the generation. If they did well though, they would be able to take advantage of a serious mistake by PlayStation and for once have Sony on the back foot.

If you watched the showcase, you’ll know that it’s scenario two that happened. In fact, it exceeded expectations with a highly impressive line-up of diverse first and third party games, almost all of which seemed interesting in some way. Not only that but at two hours long – including the Starfield Direct – the time flew by, with a well presented livestream that only featured Xbox boss Phil Spencer and other execs right at the very end.

It was reminiscent of Sony at their best, which is a major achievement as traditionally Microsoft isn’t very good at these sorts of events. It may be going overboard to compare this to the iconic 2015 PlayStation Showcase but it’s certainly the closest Xbox has ever come to providing the same level of spectacle, while also presenting itself as a dominant market leader.

As much praise as Microsoft deserves, they were really just doing the obvious – correctly executing on a very straightforward formula for preview showcases. The real question is not how Microsoft managed to have such a good showcase but why Sony allowed themselves to have such a terrible one. Especially as they then, inexplicably, gave Microsoft two weeks to prepare a response.

There’s a conspiracy theory that Sony is setting a trap for Microsoft, by tempting them into revealing so much that it makes it obvious to monopoly regulators, investigating the Activision Blizzard acquisition, that Microsoft doesn’t need to buy any more companies in order to compete and that it’s actually Sony who is the poor, vulnerable innocent with no games.

However, neither company has ever demonstrated any aptitude for that sort of Machiavellian manoeuvring and, besides, even if that is what’s going on, it’d be Pyrrhic victory for Sony, because Xbox still has the success of this week to prove that they’re a force to be reckoned with.

Fable – they didn’t actually show any proper gameplay (Picture: Microsoft)

If you were to nit-pick the Xbox showcase you might point out that almost all the new games were only coming out in 2024 or later and that Microsoft’s promising of not relying on pre-rendered trailers was only kept in the loosest sense. There was very little actual gameplay shown for anything and a lot of reliance on using ‘in-game assets’ to simulate what the game would look like, rather than just showing it

For us though the only real concern was the nominal showstopper: Starfield. It did look fantastic, but then it was clearly very carefully edited and curated to look as good as possible. How the actual game will turn out remains to be seen, especially given Bethesda’s reputation for bugs and general jank. Bethesda spent several minutes talking about how good their facial animation was and yet it was still clearly sub-par, to an almost laughable degree.

If Bethesda thinks that looks good then it becomes difficult to take any of their other comments seriously, especially for things they’re traditionally not very good at, like gunplay, or new action elements like space combat. Especially as other recurring flaws, like wooden dialogue, still seemed as bad as ever.

These concerns could have been assuaged if only the game was playable but despite being only three months away it was not, which is very odd. A lot of people have compared Starfield to No Man’s Sky, and there are obvious similarities, but the one that worries us is that no one was allowed to play that either, until after it came out, and it subsequently had the sort of launch that makes Cyberpunk 2077 seem like smooth sailing.

We don’t think that’s what’s going to happen, but we don’t know and, once again, we can only point out that E3 was much better at not only unveiling new games but allowing you to play them and talk to the developers. Apart from Forza Motorsport and an unconfirmed action role-playing game (scuttlebutt around our hotel suggests it’s indie game Towerborne) nothing else is playable this week from Xbox.

The world’s press is right here in LA and yet the showcase itself wasn’t even filmed live. We, and hundreds of howling Xbox fans, were all just watching a pre-recording, as Phil Spencer and co. shuffled on and off stage at the beginning and end. It’s a shame Microsoft didn’t go that extra mile, and earn themselves an S-rank for the showcase, but in terms of their marketing war with Sony it won’t matter.

Especially when they managed to put on such a good show without ever mentioning previous mainstays such as Halo or Gears of War. They were wise not too, though, as both franchises are beginning to seem past their sell-by-date and by leaving them out Xbox was also able to shed its ShooterBox image, to the point that when a shooter did appear in the line-up (Payday 3, a multiformat game that has nothing to do with Microsoft themselves) it seemed surprisingly out of place.

Starfield – is it really as good as it looks? (Picture: Bethesda)

Not to mention the fact of how and why there were so many multiformat games making their debut at the Xbox event. You really would’ve have thought that games such as Ubisoft’s Star Wars: Outlaws, all the Persona and Atlus games, and Capcom’s Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess were exactly the sort of titles for Sony to debut, and yet here was Xbox stealing their thunder.

It truly was an impressive performance and may well end up changing the whole power balance of the games industry, especially if Microsoft can execute its plan of four new first party titles a year from now on. How Sony will respond remains to be seen but going by their recent form there’s a good chance they won’t do or say anything at all.

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GameCentral gives its verdict on the Xbox Showcase and tries to work out why Sony allowed Microsoft such an open goal in the first place.