Xbox have dubbed their E3 2018 to be their biggest and best E3 for quite some time. That’s a big, bold statement for a company that has been lagging behind in this console generation. Albeit, Microsoft have done a lot to keep the Xbox brand going and still have a dedicated audience awaiting to hear what surprise they have in store for their fans. Not much is known at this stage and there are plenty of rumours flying around. So let’s speculate ahead of Microsoft’s conference on 10th June, 1pm PT/4PM ET/9pm BST!
What Do We Already Know?
Xbox have been playing their cards a bit closer to their chest in comparison to PlayStation. Whilst nothing has been confirmed at this stage there are a few things that we will most likely hear about. First on the list is Crackdown 3. Amongst all of the rumours that the game could have been delayed, Microsoft have confirmed that is not the case with more details about a release date likely to surface at E3 2018. We have already seen a fair amount of game play for this game so a release date is all we really need at this point.
On top of that, we know that a new Forza game should be coming and this time it should be Forza Horizon 4. Rumoured to be set in Japan, this will most likely be much of the same as the previous Forza Horizon games which is by no means a bad thing, why fix something if it ain’t broke! The only downside to that is it does take away some of the excitement of not knowing. Still it is what it is!
Whilst not officially announced, Phil Spencer did suggest a new Halo and new Gears Of War would be coming, only Microsoft would not show anything until they were sure on what they were showing. I’ll move onto Gears Of War later but a year on, many people are expecting to see Halo 6 at this year’s E3 presentation, especially since the last Halo launched in 2015. No surprises here but a new Halo game wouldn’t go amiss.
There are also some games from last year’s presentation that may get updates. I’m namely talking about Ashen and Metro Exodus. Ashen looks like an interesting game that is at the very least a console launch exclusive so players looking for exclusives can be excited for this one. Metro Exodus also looked good at last year’s E3 so whilst not a console exclusive, it will definitely help bolster the Xbox line up.
Finally, a couple of third party games have been announced recently and these could make a larger appearance at E3. There are specifically 3 games I am referring to here. Up first is Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Only the name has been revealed by Ubisoft with more details teased for E3. Bethesda have also revealed Fallout 76 which could be shown at the Xbox presentation but more likely to be contained within the Bethesda presentation at E3. The other game is CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077. Developed by the same people who created the hugely popular Witcher series, this game could be a huge reveal if Microsoft end up showing this. No plans have been confirmed by CD Porjekt Red yet and they do have another AAA RPG in the works so surely they will be showing something off at E3.
The Downright Nutty
Ok, so everything mentioned above has some logic behind it so it at least seems plausible. However, some of these rumors will seem a little adventurous. Let’s revisit the Gears Of War conversation from earlier. We all know a new game in the series will eventually come to console and maybe E3 2018 is too early to announce a fully-fledged Gear Of War game to the series but the rumours have been circulating that Microsoft could be about to reveal a Battle Royale Gears Of War spin-off. In fact, there could even be a third Gears Of War title on the horizon with a Halo Wars style version of Gears of War set to appear. If this is all true then looks like Gear Of War will be the flagship for Xbox in the near future.
Speaking of horizons (very tenuous link incoming!), the developers behind Forza Horizon have reportedly been developing a new Fable game with Fable 4 rumoured to be shown at E3. This rumour has been building for quite some time and I am quietly confident this will prove to be correct but like with all rumours, they are just that until proven otherwise! If it is a Fable game though then that will definitely help bolster the Xbox exclusive catalogue which only has Crackdown 3 in the pipeline.
Another Xbox exclusive game that is supposedly going to be announced at E3 is Splinter Cell. It is unknown if the rumors are referring to a completely new game or a remaster of an old game but a resurrection of this title would be a smart move for Xbox and could help bring back some players. One thing that would help strengthen this rumour is Ubisoft released a Splinter Cell themed update for Ghost Recon Wildlands earlier this year which could be hinting towards a game in the future. Maybe?
One game that I would like to see revived but has almost no chance of being revived is Viva Piñata. Admittedly, I didn’t know about this game when it first came out but it would be nice to see Rare working on another console exclusive for Xbox considering how disappointed I was in Sea Of Thieves. Anything else outside of this would be a complete surprise so hopefully we have a couple of nice surprises in store for Xbox!
TJSimpsonz Gaming 
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