Xbox Games Marketing head Aaron Greenberg made some big promises when it comes to the upcoming Xbox Games Showcase for this coming E3 week.
Replying to a fan asking for gameplay footage for the show, he said this:
“None of our first party games in the show are full CG trailers. Everything is either in-game footage, in-engine footage, or in-game footage with some cinematics. Each of our trailers will be labeled so it is hopefully clear for our fans.”
It’s a promise made knowing the contentious issues gamers have with video game marketing and the hype machine. Often, what game companies promise and deliver don’t match.
While that has somewhat been an occasional issue since the start of the seventh generation of consoles, it’s been a particularly pertinent issue in this age of live service games.
While it’s generally understood that live service games can be updated in time, so missing or broken features should not be considered deal breakers in comparison to full retail games, the games industry has swung too far to the other side.
The elephant in the room here, of course, would be Redfall. We did get a combination of trailers and real gameplay footage for Redfall in the months and years leading to its release.
However, it is now quite clear that the state of Redfall’s development has been completely misrepresented, even with the addition of gameplay footage. We won’t rehash all the issues that Redfall faced in development here (read it here instead). We will say that now Microsoft’s own fans are more wary of buying into Xbox’s hype machine.
It obviously hasn’t gotten so bad that they won’t be getting another chance. There are still things Microsoft did recently, such as the excellent ongoing curation of Game Pass, or the successful release of Hi-Fi Rush, that keep some of that trust going.
But now, Microsoft has to really wow fans and observers with what they have to show. And given the pent up demand that Microsoft show something, fans are now calling for previews of games even if they won’t be read for two to three years.
And that’s why Aaron’s promise is so important. It means that the games we will see are well into development, and will be releasing closer to now than to three years from now. And with that, this is all now Microsoft’s to win, or lose.
Xbox Games Showcase will be a double bill with the Starfield Direct this coming June 11, 2023. You can even book free tickets to watch the show live in US theaters, courtesy of Fathom Events.
