On Wednesday, Xbox held a showcase called Developer Direct where the devs of five games releasing in 2023 were able to talk directly to viewers about their games through a pre-recorded event — think Nintendo Direct but fewer trailers and more talking. The result was a fairly interesting showcase where we got to hear from the creators themselves what they felt about the games they were working on.
Of course, while hearing from the devs was a nice part of the show, what everyone was really viewing for was to find out what Xbox had planned for everyone in 2023. While all but one of the games on the list weren’t really a surprise we can still say the event left us anticipating a big year for Xbox in 2023. Especially because we know they have even bigger titles on the way that haven’t been shown off yet.
Minecraft Legends – April 18
The event led off with Minecraft Legends, an RTS Minecraft game which sounds kind of weird until you start hearing them talk about it, then it becomes clear that no franchise needed an RTS more than Minecraft. Think about it. What is the point of RTS games? Resource gathering, base building, and destroying opposing forces by being better at resource gathering and base building. The only non-Minecraft thing in there was the Player vs. Player element of it and that is basically what Minecraft Legends is adding. It should be out in April and I am way more excited about this now than I was before the showcase.
Forza Motorsport – 2023
Probably the big disappointment of the day was Forza Motorsport. There wasn’t anything wrong with the game itself! It looks great, sounds great, and is probably going to be yet another fantastic entry into the Forza Motorsport franchise. The disappointment is it was the only game shown off that didn’t get an official release date, and it might even be delayed past the expected spring release it was initially announced for. It’s Forza Motorsport so we know it’s going to be a great game, but it was the odd game out among a series of release dates to be excited about.
Hi-Fi Rush – January 25 (Today)
Well, this was a pleasant surprise! Usually when a brand new game gets announced the best you can hope for is a release date that same year. Instead, Hi-Fi Rush was announced and shown off to an increasingly excited public before we were blindsided by the announcement that it was ready to go and would be released shortly after the end of the presentation. So if you go to the Microsoft Store or GamePass right now the game is available to purchase or download. Now that’s how you make an entrance.
Elder Scrolls Online – June 20
It’s kind of hard to believe this is the same franchise that, upon release, was quickly ignored by plenty as they moved on to better games. Give the developers over at ZeniMax Online Studios credit, they have stayed firm and created an MMO that many fans have continued coming back to over the years. For fans of the series, a major expansion was announced during the presentation and it featured a new class and story for fans to jump into. For those of us who have never played before, maybe this will be the catalyst we need to jump into the series this June.
Redfall – May 2
Redfall, the vampire FPS game from Arkane Studios has been a point of intrigue ever since it was first announced. Its struggled to capture the interest of fans though through most of its trailers, and maybe the devs noticed that because the game was delayed alongside Starfield back in May. Turns out, this May will be the time for redemption when the game hopefully releases. There’s a lot of potential with the multiplayer aspects of the game, and maybe the gameplay we saw today will be what pushes people to finally get excited about it as a AAA title.