Summer Game Fest – Day 4: Starfield and Forza Motorsport featured in near-future Xbox Showcase

The only console manufacturer to have played the game of a major conference as part of Summer Game Fest 2022 – barring a very last minute surprise from Nintendo – Microsoft had the field free to prepare a breaking event. the codes of the genre, and taking advantage of the absence of big competition to get people talking about it all the same. And that’s exactly what the American giant has done, choosing to show exclusively the titles that will be available in Xbox Game Pass over the next 12 months – with one small exception, which we will come back to.

This unusual strategy was perhaps a way of applying lessons learned from many games that were obviously revealed far too early, and whose development is known to be in a very complex situation today. We were therefore not in the least surprised at the absence of the Everwild of Rare, or of reboot of Perfect Dark entrusted to The Initiative. But deep down, it was refreshing to see a lot of very concrete stuff, giving a real sense of what the Xbox catalog will look like over the next few months. Especially since this calendar seems to be of quite remarkable density, thanks in particular to the studios recently acquired by Microsoft… whether the acquisition in question is finalized or not.

Bethesda and Blizzard as leaders

It was Bethesda Game Studio that provided the show with its highlight, with Starfield. The space adventure game from the developers of Skyrim recently had its release pushed back to the first half of 2023 from November 2022, but it still took the time to reveal itself during a long streak of gameplay flaunting his immense ambitions. Between exploration on foot on any of the thousands of planets that make up the game universe, mechanics for customizing the player’s bases and ships, and space combat, the title is intended to be of a monumental scale – while already showing, it has to be said, some of the recurring weaknesses of Bethesda games (very dated facial animations in dialogue, gunshot sequences looking sadly mushy).

Still within the Bethesda team, Arkane Austin had closed the Summer Game Fest 2021 Xbox conference with red fall, and it is therefore in perfect continuity that this same game opened the 2022 edition. It will be a question of surviving, in cooperation, the invasion of vampires suffered by the eponymous city in Massachusetts. The title should be released at the very beginning of 2023.

On the other hand, we wondered how the Activision Blizzard case would be treated, since the takeover of Microsoft by the latter is not yet effective or even approved by the competition regulatory authorities. Answer: even though the presentations of its games are still not preceded by the “Xbox Game Studios” box, the publisher has already offered itself a presence perfectly worthy of that of an organization first party, at least on the Blizzard side. In addition to confirmation that the single-player campaign ofOverwatch 2 will arrive in Game Pass as soon as the game is released in early access on October 4, Diablo IV was also given the spotlight for a long time, before being confirmed for the first half of 2023 – still in Game Pass from day one, of course. It should be noted, however, that these games will be released not only on Xbox and PC, but also on PlayStation 4 and 5.

Forza Motorsport finally preparing for his big comeback

Besides that, a small place has also been made for Microsoft’s historical licenses. The name Forza offered a double presence: Forza Horizon 5 will receive additional Hot Wheels content (such as Forza Horizon 3 before him) on July 19, but we were especially delighted to finally see the 8th episode of the “main” series – a new episode simply called Forza Motorsport, with no number attached. Scheduled for spring 2023 on Xbox Series X / S and PC (but not on Xbox One, contrary to what recent rumors suggested), Turn10’s automotive simulation is undeniably shaping up to be a superb technical demonstration. As far as driving is concerned, on the other hand, we have to concede that we were unable to hold back an annoyed smile when we heard the developers promise physical simulations with fidelity. “multiplied by 48”whatever that may mean.

2023 will also see a new version of the license Minecraftwhich this time will explore the action/strategy genre, after having previously tried the narrative adventure then the hack ‘n slash. Minecraft Legendssince it is its name, is developed by Mojang in collaboration with Blackbird Interactive.

Key partnerships with Riot (League of Legends, Valorant…) and Hideo Kojima

The set would obviously not be complete without a few prestigious partnerships signed with third-party publishers and developers. Riot Games will bring its very popular competitive multiplayer games (League of Legendsincluding its variation wild rift, Valorant, Legends of Runeterra and Teamfight Tactics) on Game Pass in 2023, in versions with fully unlocked content from the start.

And then of course, the one we were all waiting for finally appeared… to finally offer us nothing but a note of intent. Yes, Hideo Kojima has finally formalized his partnership with the Xbox Game Studios organization, which the rumors of the corridors have been talking about for many months now. But even though very reliable sources say they already know some elements of the nature of the game – it would be a horror game codenamed Overdose —, Kojima himself didn’t say anything about it. We will therefore simply know that it is “a whole new game” of a kind that “no one has known or seen until now”a game he has “always wanted to create” without ever being able to, until cloud technology “avant-garde” from Microsoft finally releases it. For the concrete, we will come back later – and even probably much later, the creator himself conceding that the development of this project could take a long time.

Finally, many other games a little more modest also deserved a look. For lack of being able to make a complete inventory, here are the ones that caught our eye the most: Hollow Knight: Silksongthe highly anticipated sequel to the marvelous metroidvania designed by Team Cherry; The Last Case of Benedict Fox, a side-scrolling action/adventure game set in 1920s Boston with a strong taste of film noir and Lovecraft; or cocoonthe new puzzle game from the lead designer of Limbo and Inside. All of these titles are expected on Xbox and PC in 2023.

For complete details of all the announcements for this Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, go to the newsfeed of our comrades at gamekult.