Even after the loss of E3, the console manufacturers are soldiering on with traditional summer showcases direct to our home screens. With PlayStation wrapped and Nintendo yet to come, it’s time to tune in for the Xbox Games Showcase to cap off the Summer Game Fest weekend.
When to watch the Xbox Games Showcase
The Xbox Games Showcase will premiere at 9 am Pacific / Noon Eastern on Sunday, June 9 this year. Check your local equivalent here or see how that breaks down in other timezones:
- 9 am PDT (Los Angeles)
- 12 pm EDT (New York)
- 5 pm BST (London)
- 6 pm CEST (Berlin)
- 2 am Monday, June 10 AEST (Sydney)
- 4 am Monday, June 10 NZST (Auckland)
As for what to expect during the showcase, “This will also be our first Showcase featuring games from our portfolio of studios across Activision, Blizzard, Bethesda, and Xbox Game Studios, in addition to titles from our third-party partners,” Xbox says.
Your guess is as good as ours. Will we see more of Fable or Avowed? What about Starfield’s first Shattered Space DLC? Personally, I’d love to see something from that lovely creature befriending game Everwild that Rare has been working on. Okay yes, it is technically possible that we hear about The Elder Scrolls 6 finally. I wouldn’t hold your breath though.
Xbox has also confirmed that it will be hosting a Black Ops 6 direct immediately after the main show, the way it did with Starfield previously. It’s calling that “a special deep-dive into the next installment in the beloved Call of Duty franchise.”
More seriously, I wonder if Microsoft will make any mention during the presentation of the numerous studio closures it has made this year. Layoffs and closures around the industry have been incessant since the beginning of 2023 and the sizable contribution that Micorosft has made to that total has been on our own minds, as well as those of other developers. Some of them went so far as to eulogize shuttered studios —including former Microsoft stalwarts Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks—with a billboard near the Summer Game Fest.