Microsoft reaffirms first-party ambitions with impressive Xbox Games Showcase

gamedeveloper.com:

Microsoft delivered a bumper Xbox Games Showcase that suggests the company will continue swinging for the fences to finally make good on its promise of a first-party renaissance for Xbox players.

Despite some clear wins–such as the surprise launch of Hi-Fi Rush earlier this year–Microsoft's recent attempts to reinvigorate its roster of high-profile Xbox exclusives has so far yielded mixed results. The disappointing launch of Redfall just weeks ago only fuelled the narrative that, for whatever reason, the company is struggling to get the most out of internal studios that clearly aren't lacking in talent.

In many ways, the Xbox Games Showcase felt like rebuttal to critics who've suggested Microsoft is running out of time to get its house in order. The company put together a kaleidoscopic showreel brimming with exclusive reveals, long-awaited updates on fan-favourite projects such as Fable, more than a few unexpected surprises (Sea of Thieves meets Monkey Island), and an extensive look at Starfield that indicates Microsoft's purchase of Bethesda is about to bring home the bacon.

Microsoft kicked off the show with a trailer that might have closed in another year. Fable is back and more British than ever, but before we'd had chance to process the fact that Playground Games' franchise reboot will seemingly allow us to tussle with a gigantic Richard Ayoade, Microsoft completed a triple-threat of reveals by providing first-looks at Compulsion's moody third-person action-adventure title, South of Midnight, and Ubisoft Massive's open-world Star Wars project, Star Wars: Outlaws.

It was a diverse and vibrant sequence that set the tone for the rest of the presentation. There were even more first-party offerings from Xbox Game Studios