Congrats to @eukara for claiming victory here on this year's Xbox & Bethesda banner.

Our runners-up were willin's avatar BAM and panicswitch's garage couch banners.

The Official MICROSOFT & BETHESDA Thread

This year's E3 is obviously a weird one. Adding to that weirdness is the first ever combined showcase of Xbox and Bethesda. Microsoft's purchase of Bethesda Softworks for over $7 billion was one of the biggest news stories in the last year. Now, we get to find out what they've both been doing and maybe get some questions answered.

In an attempt to keep the E3 shenanigans organized, the mods institute these official discussion threads for each conference so that everybody has a go-to place to discuss them before, during, and after the show.

Despite the insanity of E3, keep in mind that the general site rules still apply. So, don't be a dick. If you need a refresher on to conduct yourself like an upstanding citizen of the Giant Bomb community, check out the FAQ.

Keep Discussions On Topic

This thread is exclusively for the general discussion of the Xbox & Bethesda show. Discussion involving the other company's conferences should be taken to their respective threads (once they're posted).

Specific Announcements

To help you get where you need to go to talk about anything announced or shown during this press conference, we have created a list of them right here:

• Halo Infinite
• ???

Where Can I Watch?

Sunday, June 13 @ 10:00 AM PDT (Your Local Time)

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Wooo! Thank you all so much :D Was a lot of fun doing that banner in GIMP.

I can't wait to see either Forza Horizon 5 or Forza Motorsport!

lets gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

As a hardcore Xbox fan, I don't really hope for much at these events. They'll probably just continue to milk franchises like Forza into oblivion while promising new IPs and/or sequels that never come to light (Scalebound and Phantom Dust 2, for example).

@mechashadow84: They also need to bring back Project Gotham Racing, Rallisport Challenge, Monster Truck Madness, Midtown Madness, and Motocross Madness.

@gtxforza: It'll never happen, sadly. Those games are gone forever, besides dry backward compatibility announcements (no Xbox Live support, of course). Besides PGR, I really loved Midtown Madness back on the original Xbox.

I'm looking forward to a Psychonauts 2 release date. Fingers crossed for it to be sooner rather than later.

Other than that I'm excited to see what surprises they bring!

@noboners: Last year, Xbox confirmed that it was going to be a 2021 release. I think they also reaffirmed that earlier this year. I hope you are pleasantly surprised by what else they show. I gave up hoping for that years ago myself.

So I'm personally more interested in the Bethesda side, since that's at least a smaller pool of possibilities to pull from.

I'm actually wondering if MS hadn't bought them if they would even have a show. I imagine they'll show one more small trailer for Deathloop before release, updates for Fallout 76 and ESO, and then MAYBE a trailer at least, if not gameplay for Starfield? If they do show Starfield I can seem them pulling what they did with Fallout 4, surprise drop and then a like 20 minute showcase of it.

Starfield teaser is here. However, it has no gameplay footage and reveals basically nothing except the overall tone it evokes.

Still... I'm probably more excited about this game than any other. I just love space exploration stuff. As much as I enjoyed the Mass Effect games, they weren't nearly as open as Elder Scrolls-style games - while not linear, you basically just had 2-3 missions to choose from at any given point and there wasn't very much in the way of open exploration. If the basic gameplay of Starfield is in the mould of "Elder Scrolls in space" I'm definitely down. It seems from the trailer that it will have more emphasis on semi-realistic space flight, which sounds even more intriguing.

Very curious how the story will work out. Personally, I am very much hoping that you are NOT going to be the Chosen One to save the galaxy, and that there is NOT going to be an Ultimate Evil to defeat. I just want to be an average person with a cool spaceship who can explore various phenomena and talk to people about their problems on many different planets.

I haven't decided on a next-gen console yet, but if this one is as good as I hope it will be, Xbox it will be.

Man, XBox has continued to put out a really enticing package for about three years now. I used to watch their conferences mostly to see the console exclusives I wouldn't be all that bummed out to miss, but with Bethesda rolled into their first party and the undeniable value of Game Pass, I'm really starting to wonder if I ought to be looking for a Series S and just wait for an inevitable mid-gen PS5 upgrade...really sucks that there's no Sony rebuttal today/this week. It just seems more and more that it'd be silly to consider a Playstation your general use console from a budget perspective, but I also really, really don't want to be split across two marketplaces, either.

Anyway, great show out of Microsoft IMO, as someone who's always kept XBox at a distance I'm more tempted than ever to join the party.

As expected, nothing blew me away at Xbox's show. It's great if there are fans that are excited. I just saw nothing that really excited me. I'm done with Forza. Xbox just churns out formulaic title after formulaic title. I jumped off after Forza Horizon 2. Halo Infinite still looks like an Xbox One game, but that's of course because it is an Xbox One game. Oh well.

@mechashadow84: oh yeah, I knew it was still 2021. Game Informer ran a ton of videos for it in May though, so I could tell it was close to finish. Just wanted to see a cemented date for it and was hoping it would be July/August as opposed to "Holiday 2021" like everything else. And it was! I'm pumped.

Forza Horizon also looked great. Like just stunning. And adding Jets to Flight Simulator is perfect for me who just boots that game up to see what places look like from the sky as opposed to actually wanting to learn how to fly.

Everything else felt a little too far away datewise to really get a feel for it though. Like the announcements were cool, but I need gameplay reveals before I join the hype train.

Mixed on this one. I wound up being markedly more excited for things I was expecting to be bored by than the games I ostensibly am looking forward to. The physics and verticality focus of the Halo Infinite multiplayer seemed really cool and I’m pretty sure Forza Horizon 5 is the best looking video game I’ve ever seen. Can’t wait to drive to scenic vistas and take a bunch of screenshots.

Kinda weird how they had a day and date for Starfield a year and a half out but not one for Halo which is this year. Also I sure hope Starfield is actually doing something more than “big studio does No Man’s Sky/Elite”. Bethesda’s my favorite developer and I have been a Known Apologist for their shtick for years but I could not care less about another proc gen space exploration game no matter who’s making it.

Seems real soon to trot out Outer Worlds 2 when the first one’s DLC is barely finished and Avowed is still just a CG trailer with no additional information. Can’t imagine that’s coming out until at least 2024.

I trust Arkane Austin to do something interesting, but I can’t help but be disappointed that their followup to Prey is yet another four player co-op shootfest. Between Suicide Squad, Back 4 Blood, Darktide, that alien shooter thing that got announced at Keighley’s show, and probably a handful of others I’m forgetting there are too many of those coming out while immersive sims are still painfully underserved, especially in the wake of Vampire 2 getting shitcanned. Oh well.

@noboners: I agree about Forza's graphics. They're great. It's just that the game hasn't really changed that much since the beginning of the Xbox One generation. I could play Forza Horizon 2 and 5 back to back, and only tell the difference from the graphics. Regarding Flight Sim, it's a PC game that will be constrained to run on the Series consoles. As expected, the Xbox One version will never see the light of day. I personally just feel that Xbox just isn't capable of doing what fans like me want. It's not like I fully expect them to cater to my every desire, but it's very strange to know that they realize what fans want but continue to skate around it. Sony is out there killing it and Xbox is sauntering around like it doesn't matter. I guess it doesn't due to Game Pass and X Cloud. For several years, it has felt like Xbox just doesn't have the desire to blow gamers out of the water any more.

Forza Horizon 5 looks amazing!

Man, Bethesda is showing the world what it means to be a part of Microsoft family. As a player who don't like Gears, Forza and Halo, I'm now interested in their first party lineup.

But seriously guys! Devs need to stop trying to be funny when they aren't!!

I'm mean Outworlds 2 trailer was so lame that I almost went blind after I rolled my eyes.

Flight Simulator, Diablo 2, and Horizon 5 are on the top of my most anticipated.

A bit disappointed but not surprised by the releasing 2022, and the lack of in game footage.

@mechashadow84: yeah it totally feels like Xbox is focusing more on catching a wide net to attract all gamers to their platform as opposed to focusing on big tent pole games like Sony has been. As someone who doesn't own an Xbox console (and really doesn't see the point in owning one so long as I'm continuing to upgrade my PC for my partner's work), this all works out in my favor.

But yeah, none of those titles were "system sellers" in my eyes. Which is fine! And also doesn't seem to be what they are even going for nowadays anyways!

One of the better showcases I've seen in the past few years. I'm really excited for battlefield.

I counted about 12 games I'll at least try on gamepass in the next year and a half. Woop.

@noboners said:

I think it might be time to move away from thinking of it as a "system seller" and more of a "service seller." I mean, how many trailers in that presentation had "play it on day one with XBOX GamePass" somewhere?

It's a little concerning that they didn't show any Halo single player gameplay, being that they already showed gameplay last year and now didn't give us a chance to compare the footage. The multiplayer I'm sure will be fine, I don't know what that footage did to anybody.

Microsoft has consistently had good shows ever since Spencer came along, but I feel they now have too many games, some of which have no business being announced this early in development. I would rather they cut some of those CGI trailers and take a deeper look at games that are closer to release. Microsoft feels like it's compensating a little too hard for not having enough games earlier.

What I've learned from this conference is that Microsoft pretty much makes two games. And both have guns. So if you want to shoot guns with up to 4 people or play Fallout 4 in seven different ways, you're good to go.

That said, cool spread. Lots of cool things coming down the line. Obv. Game Pass is huge. And they showed Eiyuden Chronicle, which was definitely a highlight. Good run.

@therealturk: Totally! Especially with the inclusion of the Cloud stuff that they didn't even talk about. I didn't count, but they did say at the beginning that 27/30 games shown were Gamepass Day 1. That being said, I still have a hard time convincing friends who play games on Steam that Gamepass is worth it. I think Bethesda will end up helping persuade them though.

It was a really solid conference but nothing really stuck out for me. Really surprising that they didn't have like an extensive gameplay walkthrough for Halo though. After the previous gameplay demo was mocked so much you'd think this was their moment to prove everyone wrong. If anything I'm even more worried about the state of the game.

I forget if it was 2020 or 2019 but this largely left me the same way that MS press conference did

Gamepass is a fucking mental value and makes me want an xbox (but having a modern gpu makes that a hard sell)

None of their games specifically wowed me outside of the ones that were expected. Forza Horizon is always good. More MSFS is nice and I am curious if the Top Gun dlc has anything on DCS for "yo, taking off from an aircraft carrier is cool". Yakuza is nice and I'll probably play Halo

But that is more or less all I expect (from any publisher that is not Bethesda's iD, Arkane, and Machinegames branches). But gamepass kind of elevates that anyway. Because Redrum looks... okay. Starfall seems fine and I'll probably enjoy another two thirds of an Outer Worlds game (there ,something that isn't Bethesda!). But it is those being "free" with gamepass that make it so great because if I don't really like it? Who cares?!? And if I do? Sweet!

Which I guess is kind of the Netflix thing. Wu Assassins was a... weird show that I really want to know what production mess it went through because it was like four different shows with no flow between the different stages. But... whatever. If I want some ultraviolence with Iko and an asian beefcake I can just rewatch The Night Comes for Us instead. You don't need constant home runs so long as you have... I don't know enough baseball to finish that metaphor so 7/10 or 8/10 games.

Forza looked good, but there's an increasing part of me that also can't help looking at that and go "Wow. Look it all these assholes driving through all this beautiful nature." I have very little interest in any of Microsoft's other IP, outside of Gears which wasn't there, so this wasn't much of a show for me. Cool that all of Yakuza is on Gamepass now, but I've already played them all. I'm not a huge fan of Psychonauts, but I'll probably play the sequel if it's going to be on Gamepass.

Looks like Forza Horizon is pivoting more and more to arcade off-road. I didn't see a single stretch of road that I would actually want to drive a sports/super car on. I really don't get the point of having licensed cars that look and sound like the real thing, but require you to fantasy mod them to AWD and make them drive unlike actual cars.

@noboners: Yeah, I agree that Xbox is not trying to have big "must own" games for their console anymore. It feels strange, especially since that's exactly what Sony is doing very successfully. Then again, you're right about Xbox being a service now. They'll put out statements about really wanting to drive home their core console strategy, but all they really care about is Game Pass and X Cloud.

@humanity: Halo is just an Xbox One game at heart, so they don't want to emphasize its graphics too much. Nothing stood out to me about it more than Halo 5's graphics, to be honest. The art style is different, but the core graphics engine largely seems to be the same. The campaign has reportedly been finished for nearly a year now. They're just focusing on trying to improve the graphics any way they can, which is a tall order since Xbox One limitations are at the core of the game engine. Regarding multiplayer, it'll have a larger audience being free, but the entry price does have me questioning how good it is. If it was great multiplayer, it probably wouldn't be free.

yeah, that's a concise way of putting how i feel. the conference indicates that the xbox division seems to be in a healthier spot than ever- and that seems like a net win for the industry (let the big companies spend their way into acquiring games and IP if it means devs continue to get their projects greenlit, i say).

unfortunately there just wasn't any one thing that makes me want to pony up for dat xbox- and i really don't want another sub by way of game pass. my interest in games tends to be specific, sporadic and intensive, and i'm already not watching the netflix and hbo i'm paying for (to be fair, that's on me though :-/ )

Will these all come to Xbox One?

@mechashadow84: Well bringing this back around to the point above about Microsoft seemingly pulling away from "system seller" titles, Halo was always that for them. Halo has the potential to look amazing and was always the flagship shooter for the Xbox.

I think the services approach is great. I'm a Game Pass subscriber and I look at that roadmap and see dozens of games I am happy to at least try in the future. But public perception is huge when selling these boxes. Microsoft showed around 30 interesting new games and a great value proposition with their subscription service, and yet I feel like all it would take is for Sony to show one or two of their "prestige" first party titles for early 2023 and the general public would declare Sony the "winner" of E3. As much as we all hate the phrase it's a very real thing for business as word of mouth drives a lot of sales and I just don't think there is a whole lot of excitement around Xbox. It's a very solid brand that gets you a ton of bang for your buck in terms of titles, variety, backwards compatability etc. Yet everyone keeps talking about Playstation because they have the fancy new controller and a few really great looking games out.

Microsoft really does need a few prestige titles under their belt to get people excited for their console. Horizon 5 is the closest they have to a game that really stands out as nextgen. Halo should technically be in that roster, but as you said it is weirdly falling to the side as this value pack-in.

I enjoyed it a lot, Stalker looks really intriguing and I might actually buy my first battlefield game. I am definitely disappointed that Arkane are making a co-op shooter. Such a waste of their immersive sim potential.

I enjoyed it a lot, Stalker looks really intriguing and I might actually buy my first battlefield game. I am definitely disappointed that Arkane are making a co-op shooter. Such a waste of their immersive sim potential.

Maybe there is more too the game, only time will tell I suppose.

No real complaints about the conference, the past few had been good too.

That bitrate during Horizon 5 though...

The variety of first-party games on Xbox is pretty strong, new IP too - not just sequels that'll throw newcomers off.

I didn't take part in the PS3/360 & PS4/XB1 gen but to me most of the first-party stuff Sony puts out feels a lot samey in that they're all of the story-driven, third-person, action-adventure variety.

I'd feel different if they'd at least get Gran Turismo sorted out and perhaps something else...

When I had to make the choice last year as to what platform I wanted to get I kinda felt alienated by the amount of stuff I didn't know that already had sequels attached to them. It's also why I didn't play Gears. Not gonna find the time to play through that slog...

But hey, we no longer have to endure Bethesdaland at E3! I hope future Xbox conferences are more like this one in tone and pacing.

@hizang: I doubt it. Flight Sim was supposed to come to Xbox One when it was announced last year. I noticed how Xbox One was missing from the list in the trailer. There's no way it would run well on the original Xbox One hardware. As for some of the others, perhaps. As of right now, I believe Psychonauts 2 and Halo Infinite are the only big titles coming for Xbox One as well. There's probably others, but a lot of the footage here didn't look like stuff that could run on base Xbox One hardware.

It looks like Xbox's generation to lose.

It was an incredible conference. I think Sony not doing a conference makes them look kinda stupid, cause now all I can think about is how much I want an Xbox and how "What the hell is even coming out" on Playstation

Cor there's some miserable people in here.

just wait til you see what some people are talking about on twitter, they're doing pixelpeeping and moaning about this:

literally unplayable, zomg

Neat. I cannot wait to check out FH5 and Microsoft Flight Sim. Now with guns!

@eukara said:

Replace the obvious WW2 P51 Mustang fighter plane with a Delta Boeing 747 with guns and I am all in.

I hope the Halo bots are going to have personalities like the bots in Perfect Dark.

Probably wishing for too much, but a solo horde/firefight mode would be perfect as well.