Xbox E3 2018 Media Briefing wrap-up and impressions

Microsoft had a lot to announce and show off during their E3 2018 media briefing.

See the replay of the livestream below, and read on for our impressions and details from the event… with more to come!

To kick off the media briefing, Microsoft revealed a trailer for Halo Infinite. A brand new Halo title for the Xbox One, duh. It’s announced that there will be 50 games on display, with 18 exclusives and 15 world premiers.

To start the flood of trailers, we got a look at the magical Ori: The Will of Wisps, a look at Activision and From Software’s ancient Japan-themed Soulsborne title Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Then we got an exclusive world premiere look of the Fallout prequel, Fallout 76 from Bethesda. Square Enix then showed off a new game in the Life is Strange universe by DONTNOD Entertainment titled The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, which will be 100% free to download on June 26th, 2018.

We got a look at Crackdown 3 which is officially coming also in February 2019… which is a very busy month of high profile new releases. Nier: Auotmata is coming to the Xbox One finally too, enhanced for the Xbox One X. Metro Exodus is looking good too, but it also is also coming in February 2019. And hey Kingdom Hearts III is still coming and we got a new look at it.

We got a look at what Rare is working on for Seas of Thieves thankfully — Cursed Sales expansion is set for July 2018 and Forsaken Shores for September 2018. Forza Horizon 4 was revealed, as kinda expected too. We got a demo of the great looking open/shared world racing experience including weather, season and time of day changes and all. Horizon 4 is headed to the Xbox One and PC on October 2nd, 2018 and will be part of the Xbox Game Pass.

Taking a break from the trailers, Microsoft has announced that they are opening up a new Santa Monica-based studio known as The Initiative and has officially picked up Playground Games, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs and Compulsion Studios. Compulsion Studios then showed off We Happy Few.

Next we got a look at PUBG’s new tropical island map, due out in Summer 2018, a new “war” mode and a new winter map coming in winter 2018. There was also a world premiere for Ubisoft’s The Division 2, which is looking mighty fine and coming on March 15th, 2019. Oh and the original The Division will come to Xbox Game Pass also.

Then we had a nice sizzle reel of additional upcoming id@Xbox titles and then a look at Shadow of the Tomb Raider which is also looking rather fantastic. There’s an timed exclusive skating title by the name of Session coming to the Xbox One which seems like a spiritual successor to EA’s Skate series. And then an adventure title by the name of Black Desert.

And finally, we get a look at Devil May Cry 5, which is looking… different again, but awesome. Which is coming Spring 2019 surprisingly and is being handled internally at Capcom.

Cuphead is back too with a brand new DLC isle known as “The Delicious Last Course” complete with a new playable character named Ms. Chalice — and that is set for 2019. Also on display was a charming new action RPG starring a little fox known as Tunic.

We also had a number of additional world premieres for a number of titles including Bandai Namco’s Jump Force, Techland’s Dying Light 2 in trailer and demo form, and finally a brand new Battletoads! Then Square Enix’s Just Cause 4, which certainly seems like a lot of destructive fun and set for a December 2018 release.

And a big surprise… Gears Pop! (as in Funko Pop) and then a new strategy title known as Gears Tactics. And finally (not quite a surprise at this point), a very impressive looking Gears (of War) 5 which picks up after the event of Gears 4. As promised it will join the Xbox Game Pass when it launches.

Last but not least, Microsoft revealed they are working on a any-device cloud gaming service which they will reveal in the future.

Oh, and their “just one more thing” surprise we got a look at a Cyberpunk 2077 from CD Projekt RED in trailer form. But that’s about it.

Stay tuned for more details, announcements, media and more.