Xbox Games Showcase: all the news from Microsoft’s July 2020 event

Microsoft has thoroughly convinced me: I don’t need to buy an Xbox Series X. The games don’t look “next-gen” enough. There aren’t enough titles I actually want to play. Yesterday, the company announced its flagship game, Halo Infinite, won’t even arrive until 2021. Besides, almost all of Microsoft’s key games are also coming to Windows PCs, and some may even come to the PS5 as well. And while I have a sneaking suspicion that Microsoft is breaking a big promise by not bringing some Xbox Series X games to the Xbox One, another possibility is many of the biggest reasons to buy a new Xbox won’t be available until long after its November launch.

But intriguingly, I don’t think Microsoft will mind me skipping the Xbox this gen. The company will be too busy laughing all the way to the bank. 

Did Microsoft convince you that you wouldn’t need next-gen hardware to play Xbox Series X games? Think again: fully half of the next-gen games that Microsoft showcased at its Xbox Series X showcase today, including Forza, probably aren’t coming to Xbox One.

Which suggests either some of those games aren’t actually coming out for a long time — or Microsoft has already broken a big promise it made just last week.

Microsoft showed off a lot of games coming to the Xbox Series X, including exclusives and brand-new titles, at its July showcase event. We now have a much better idea of what’s in store for Microsoft’s upcoming console.

If you weren’t able to watch the event live, we’ve collected some of the biggest trailers from the show right here, and you can catch a replay of the whole event on YouTube.

Around five years ago, Remedy Entertainment — the Finnish developer best-known for supernatural thrillers like Alan Wake and Control — decided it wanted to become the kind of studio that worked on multiple projects at once. Meanwhile, many on the team were interested in expanding into first-person shooters and finding a way to tell Remedy-style shooters in the pervasive genre.

So when Smilegate, the Korean developer behind the massively popular FPS Crossfire, reached out, it made a lot of sense. “They were looking for a studio to help them on the narrative side on the Crossfire franchise,” Remedy executive producer Tuukka Taipalvesi tells The Verge.

A new Fable game is heading to the Xbox Series X and Windows 10. Playground Games is developing the upcoming title, which will be a “new beginning” for the longtime franchise.

Microsoft announced the game today as part of its July showcase. Fable was originally released in 2004 for Xbox; the last game in the main series, Fable III, launched in 2010. The series is a choice-driven roleplaying game in which the player’s actions will impact their reputation and role in the game’s world. Mediatonic also released Fable Fortune, a free-to-play collectible card game, in 2018.

Microsoft isn’t just announcing new games for the upcoming Xbox Series X; the company also announced that several recent Xbox One games will be getting upgraded for the next-gen console with new features and better graphics.

Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Sea of Thieves, and Gears Tactics are the five games that Microsoft has announced will be getting the “Optimized for Xbox Series X” badge this holiday season, with a variety of upgrades coming to each of those games. Players who already own a copy of any of these titles on Xbox One will get the optimized Xbox Series X for free whenever they do launch, thanks to Microsoft’s Smart Delivery program.

The excellent Tetris Effect, a mesmerizing audio-visual spin on the classic puzzle game, is getting a full multiplayer expansion this fall called Tetris Effect: Connected, which is releasing as a timed exclusive on PC (on the Microsoft Store) and Xbox platforms. The original game was a PlayStation 4 exclusive released in fall 2018 before it came to PC the following year via the Epic Game Store and Oculus’ VR platform back in May.

The expansion, developed by the same Japanese development duo of Monstars and Resonair with additional help from Stage Games, was announced today as part of Microsoft’s Xbox Series X next-gen game showcase. Publisher Enhance says to think of it as “the 2.0 version of Tetris Effect.” It will be made available as part of the Xbox Game Pass subscription service and as a standalone purchase, and it will support Smart Delivery for a free upgrade to the Xbox Series X version. The game is launching sometime this holiday season to coincide with the next-gen console’s release.

Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds studio Obsidian Entertainment has announced a new fantasy roleplaying game called Avowed for Xbox Series X and PC. Avowed takes place in Eora, the setting of Obsidian’s 2015 game Pillars of Eternity and its 2018 sequel. But it’s swapping Pillars of Eternity’s old-school isometric perspective for first-person gameplay, apparently including swordplay and spellcasting. A trailer doesn’t give away much detail, but it offers a sense of the game’s aesthetic and tone.

Avowed is Obsidian’s third game since its acquisition by Microsoft, following Outer Worlds and Grounded, a cooperative survival game where shrunken players navigate the dangers of a backyard. Grounded is set to be released through Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview on July 28th. Today, Obsidian also announced a noir-influenced expansion to The Outer Worlds, called Peril on Gorgon, for release on September 9th.

Microsoft and Bungie are partnering to bring Destiny 2 to Xbox Game Pass. The original Halo developer will launch Destiny 2 at no additional cost to Xbox Game Pass subscribers in September, and it will include access to previous expansions and the upcoming Destiny 2: Beyond Light DLC.

The standard editions of Destiny 2 DLCs will all be available, with Destiny 2’s season pass sold separately. Bungie’s launch of Destiny 2 into Xbox Game Pass will initially be limited to the console version of the subscription, but Microsoft says it’s working to bring this to the PC subscription “later in 2021.”

Dontnod’s latest narrative-driven game, Tell Me Why, will launch on August 27th. Microsoft announced the news today during its July showcase, alongside several game premieres and updates.

Dontnod announced Tell Me Why last November for the Xbox One and PC. The game, set in Alaska, follows a set of twins working through memories of their childhood. The two share a “supernatural bond” that grants them the power to interact with their past memories. As with Life is Strange, a player’s choices will affect the outcome of the story. Along with the release date, Dontnod also dropped a new trailer offering a look at the game’s story.

Two of the original creators of Sonic the Hedgehog — lead programmer Yuji Naka and character designer Naoto Ohshima — are reuniting to create a new “theatrical” action platformer called Balan Wonderworld, which is set to release on the Xbox Series X and Xbox One in spring 2021.

Balan Wonderworld marks the first time that the duo has worked together on a project since they created Sonic over two years ago. Yuji Naka will be directing the upcoming title, while Naoto Ohshima — who originally designed characters like Sonic and Dr. Eggman — will be working on the title, too.

The Forza series is coming to the Xbox Series X, with Microsoft officially announcing the next title in its mainline Forza Motorsport simulation series of racing titles developed by Turn 10 studios for the upcoming console at its Xbox game preview event.

Microsoft says that the new Forza Motorsport title is still in “early development,” and the company has yet to announce a release window. It’s not even clear whether the new entry in the series will be called Forza Motorsport 8 at this point.

Microsoft is finally giving us a better look at Halo Infinite today. After promising and teasing Halo Infinite gameplay for the past few weeks, the game certainly looks like an ambitious bet from 343 Industries. Halo Infinite is a “spiritual reboot” of Halo, designed so that players new to the franchise can jump into the story.

We got our first look at the Halo Infinite campaign today, running at a locked 60fps on the Xbox Series X. The open-world environment looks a lot like the original Halo: Combat Evolved, and the 8-minute gameplay even includes Halo’s Warthog vehicle and the Banished enemies (including Brutes). The gameplay, which starts several hours into the Halo Infinite campaign, also includes new mechanics like Master Chief’s new grappling hook and a “Drop Wall” cover.