Microsoft may be preparing a dedicated event to share news about Xbox Game Studios’ line of titles for the year 2023.
According to Windows Central’s Jez Corden, Microsoft may be exploring some sort of event for the first quarter of 2023 to showcase its next Xbox lineup, possibly along the lines of its X0 events from the pre-pandemic era.
The previous X0 event took place in 2019 and provided a preview of some of the games that had yet to be announced, including Grounded. Corden added that this information is based on tentative and unverifiable rumors that he hopes are true for the sake of Xbox fans.
Corden stressed that Microsoft’s presence, or lack thereof, in the 2022 Game Awards caps has resulted in one of the slowest years for Xbox in recent memory. However, Corden himself previously suggested that Microsoft would possibly refrain from new Xbox announcements at The Game Awards 2022 due to regulatory reasons.
Based on what he had heard, Microsoft would deliberately withhold new game announcements at The Game Awards 2022 due to regulatory reasons. While it may not be due to regulatory reasons, the software giant in fact had nothing to show at the event, lending credibility to what Corden had heard.
Corden also mentioned that according to another rumor, Sony had canceled its own showcase because it didn’t want to confuse its messages to regulators, and Xbox might do the same in the case of The Game Awards. He recalled that the CMA had used Corden’s article as an example that Xbox has a lot of exclusive games. Regulators are currently investigating Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, and Sony has been arguing that it negatively affects competition.
On a more positive note, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer remains excited about the 2023 lineup and is even thinking about future hardware.