One of the big topics in the Xbox community is the need for Xbox to diversify their yearly events from “E3 E3 E3” to a more regular repeated showcase throughout the year. The “Xbox Direct” has been suggested as a play on words on Nintendo’s very succesful semi-regular showcase event where they present all the best first and third party content coming to the Switch.
Xbox has a ton of games in the works from dozens of studios, and it is inevitable that the dam will break and there will be too many games for Xbox to rely on E3 as their only yearly games showcase.
Jeff Grubb was kind enough to join our podcast yesterday and suggested that Xbox may look to diversify their showcase schedule as soon as next year.
Our friend Miles Dompier wrote a great piece explaining his ideas for an Xbox Direct as well
Coincidentally, Xbox is also hiring for a position as “Broadcast and Events Strategy Lead”
It seems inevitable that Xbox will begin to diversify their showcase strategy and will have multiple showcases per year to show off what their studios and partners are working on. The question is, what will that look like. What do YOU think it should look like? What is the format? How long is it? Any and all ideas you have, post below.
Just rip off Direct, State of Play already did. It’s the format everyone likes. Little to no bullshit, just games games games (Xbox E3 events also mainly followed this already).
I quite liked how Microsoft handled E3 last year - they had the main show which was short and concise and then they followed it up a few days later with a longer show where they sat down and talked to devs and did all the slow stuff. I’d say keep doing that but on a smaller more regular scale, or merge them and have a cut off point of “hey, we’re done announcing new stuff for now - we’re gonna circle back and talk to some developers and dig deeper into everything we’ve already showed”.
Just replicate the showcase of last E32021, it was one of the best conferences ever, period. No more talk-heavy shows like the Gamescom event or the old Inside Xbox format.
I know, im sounding like a Broken Record, but they should just replicate the Nintendo Direct Style. If the ActBlizz Deal goes through, Xbox should have 2-3 shows a year, showing off what’s coming from not only first-party, but from 3rd party and gamepass additions as well.
Most important of all is to have the shows spread out over the year, just like the games shouldn’t be concentrated to the back half neither should the shows. Fill that first half of the year pre-E3 with both games and events!
As for the format, I think the Inside Xbox format was ok but it lacked content. With that no longer a problem, we could get something really great with trailers, gameplay, devtalk and interviews. Maybe have a shorter, flashy version for the kids, and for those of us who enjoy hearing from the people behind the games a more in depth post-show or something.
For the sake of the thread, wanted to identify some of the other events that Xbox has (or will have post acquisition)
BlizzCon - February
Xbox Summer Showcase - June/July
Quake Con - August
XO - November
I think they have it covered to a degree. Blizzcon will fill the Q1 gap and we haven’t had XO since the pandemic, but I don’t think it’ll be that bad from just the shows that already exist.
I’d like to see them do the following though
State of Play like shows with a focus/deep dive on a particular game
Quarterly Game Pass focused show with the focus on Day 1 games hitting the service
45-60 minute “Overtime” with indepth interviews, playthroughs, details, and contests
Instead of separating Indies, 1st party, and 3rd party tiles they should combine them all in these episodes like Nintendo does. I think it should cover hardware news as well. Whether it’s storage devices, headsets, or controller news because I imagine such segments to be 30 seconds to a minute long, max. “Overtime” can get into details.
A lot of games do not appear on Game Pass in advance so it is better two have bi-weekly Game Pass shows with the upcoming games paired with a blog post. Developers usually have some trailers of their games anyway.
Xbox E3 last year was good - aside lackluster ending - but without crowd reaction, it is probably not interesting to follow a single person talking on stage alone. This year, we might get crowds potentially. Because it would be a bummer to have a lonenly Godd talking about Starfield but no crowd reactions.
I like how they did the shows with parris how they had a show that was pretty much all trailers and the next day they did the same show but with more developer commentary andi nterviews. I like that approach. I honestly would like just more shows with big games mixed with smaller games.set expectations ahead of time. I think also when a big 1st party game comes out thats when they should bring back inside xbox but make it about 1 game so when grounded comes out do Inside grounded and its 30 min about that one game. Inside redfall, gears, starfield etc. go deep on one game. then every couple of months do a direct style event in a video form. in june or summer they can still have a big show but more shows like how sony has been doing is more prefered
I think they need to follow Nintendo’s pacing and strategy
Three shows/year, one at start of year, one at E3 season and one in Late August/September. These events should focus on XGS announcements and new trailers. Gamescom should exist, but focused on game pass releases. PLEASE no interviews, no celebrities, nobody cares anymore.
Before the biggest releases, announce minor streams detailing what that game will offer.
Keep Game Pass announcements the way it is, they are doing great.
They really shouldn’t overthink things here and it shouldn’t be hard to do. Basically copy Nintendo and Sony. Show updates of upcoming games with trailers, preferably those containing gameplay, have a voice over explain a few things and done.
No awkward, annoying hosts, all that is not needed at all.
They should definitely highlight game pass games coming to the service it would give them a chance to spotlight a game that people can play right away. For instance, someone can see an indie, AA game or even a bigger budget game that was ignored (Guardians of the Galaxy, Scarlet Nexus), etc that catches their eye during the direct event and give it a try.
I still think INSIDE XBOX or XBOX INSIDE is a great name. Just overhaul the formula and content presentation. It can even be purposed for individual games:
