X019: all the news from Microsoft’s big Xbox event

Microsoft isn’t going to repeat its mistakes from the Xbox One with its next-generation Xbox console. “I would say a learning from the Xbox One generation is we will not be out of position on power or price,” says Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s Xbox and gaming chief, in an interview with The Verge. “If you remember the beginning of this generation we were a hundred dollars more expensive and yes, we were less powerful. And we started Project Scarlett with this leadership team in place with a goal of having market success.”

That market success will be key for Xbox, after years of falling behind PlayStation sales and questions over its games lineup. Either way, Spencer thinks there are plenty of generations of Xbox ahead. “We had the discussion years ago ‘do we want to go do another generation?’ Yes, and do we think there will be multiple generations ahead of us? I actually think there probably is,” says Spencer. “So we’re going all in. We’re all-in on Project Scarlett and I want to compete, and I want to compete in the right ways which is why we’re focused on cross-play and backward compatibility.”

Among the 50-plus new games that Microsoft is bringing to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service over the next year are ten Final Fantasy games. The list encompasses every single-player mainline game released in the series since 1997’s Final Fantasy VII, including select spinoff games like Final Fantasy X-2, and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Microsoft included the games in a list of titles that will start appearing “this holiday,” and said that they’ll be added over the course of 2020.

There have been a bunch of different remasters of these games over the years, and in most cases it seems like Xbox Games Pass subscribers are getting the most recent version of each title. There are the HD remasters of X and X-2, and you’re also getting the Zodiac Age version of Final Fantasy XII. Here’s the complete list of Final Fantasy games coming to the service: 

Microsoft revealed earlier this year that it’s bringing its classic Halo game collection to PC, and adding Halo: Reach to the entire Halo: The Master Chief Collection. While the company has been running beta tests for Halo: Reach on PC in recent months, it’s now arriving on PC on December 3rd.

Microsoft is taking its time to get Halo on PC right, and that means games will appear in stages. Halo: Reach is the first, and the rest will follow in chronological order. Microsoft is also tweaking the games to include field of view sliders and make sure the mouse and keyboard controls feel good.

Microsoft has announced its Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals at its XO19 conference in London. The company will be offering the biggest discounts yet on Xbox One consoles, as well as price cuts on controllers and several games.

The deals will run on the Microsoft Store from November 24th to December 2nd (that’s a few days earlier than other retailers will kick things off), but Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox Live Gold members will be able to access these deals even earlier, starting on November 21st.

Microsoft is planning to launch its xCloud game streaming service in 2020, and the company is expanding it to Windows 10 PCs next year, too. “My expectation is that it will be generally available in 2020,” says Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s head of gaming, in an interview with The Verge. Microsoft is planning to integrate Project xCloud with Xbox Game Pass next year, allowing players to stream games from the company’s subscription service direct from the cloud.

While Microsoft is committing to some type of launch next year, it’s not ready to talk about price or exact launch dates yet, but the company is also planning to bring xCloud to Windows 10 PCs and it sounds like PC games could be streamed here in the future.

Microsoft is expanding its Project xCloud preview today, with the addition of 50 games. The software maker originally launched the xCloud preview with just five titles exactly a month ago, and it’s now working with more than 25 partners to launch 50 games today. Titles include Madden NFL 20, Devil May Cry 5, Tekken 7, and Forza Horizon 4. This will give xCloud testers a lot more games to play, but also provide us with a better understanding of how the service will run for more demanding titles.

Microsoft isn’t at the point where it’s ready to launch Project xCloud as a full service with a monthly cost or subscription model, but the company has also committed to launching xCloud in 2020. The new games arrive just as Google prepares to launch its Stadia game streaming service next week. Google’s Stadia has 44 games lined up from a wide array of publishers, but only 12 of them will be available at launch, for an initial price of $130 for the hardware starter kit with three months of service, which will be $10 a month afterward.

Dontnod Entertainment, the developer behind award-winning episodic series Life is Strange, is working on a new narrative-based, “true-to-life” game called Tell Me Why. The game focuses on a pair of twins, Tyler and Alyson, untangling the memories of their troubled childhood.

Tyler and Alyson’s relationship will act as the backbone of the game as they navigate life in small-town Alaska. It will also tell the story of Tyler’s life as a trans man. The developer worked closely with LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD to help craft the character.

British video game developer Rare, creator of classics like Battletoads, GoldenEye 007, and Banjo-Kazooie, is revealing its next big game, Everwild, at Microsoft’s X019 event today. Rare is only providing a small glimpse at Everwild, but the brief trailer makes it look like it’s going to be some type of action adventure game.

Banjo-Kazooie fans will have been hoping for a sequel, or at least a new Banjo game, but Everwild looks more like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The world is full of different species of animals, all with Rare’s classic cartoon-style look and feel. Rare and Microsoft haven’t revealed much more about the game, nor when it will be released.