Well, folks, it’s that time of year again. E3 is only a week away and rumors and predictions have been spreading around the internet like a bad rash (you know what I’m talking about * wink * ). Good news is, we have a cream for that. Our OWN E3 predictions that will not only blow your mind but are ENTIRELY ACCURATE… sort of. Time to break out the decorations and begin the celebration. The eve of our favorite annual holiday is upon us yet again. Whether you are a fan of one particular platform or just love games in general, the Electronics Entertainment Expo has plenty of gifts for all gamers.

Join us as we prepare for the latest peek into the future of our industry at E3 2019. We’ll be starting off the pre-E3 festivities by taking a look at the Microsoft Xbox. Last year Microsoft had a full orgy of games on display showing over 50 titles on their stage and announcing several new studio acquisitions. Phil Spencer has already promised to share new information from 14 Xbox Game Studio titles this year, more than any other past E3, and nothing makes the fanboy moist like new first-party content. If you haven’t filled your shorts yet than you may want to grab a tissue cause details on the new Xbox Scarlett family of consoles is almost a guaranteed nerdgasm. Whether you’re an Xbox fan or just a game fan in general, you will leave this conference needing a shower and some cuddles.

Year 5 of the Phil Spencer project is a go!

If you’re eager to ruin E3 2019 then I suggest you join us as we take a look a few of the things we already know, a few things we believe will be shown and toss in a few predictions, including at least one ‘crazy’ prediction from each of us.

What we know:

Microsoft will be showing off 14 games from Xbox Game Studios at the show. That’s like a gang bang of video games. You can’t help but feel just a little slutty fantasizing about all those first-party video games. At this point we can be fairly certain of 11.5 of those titles, Gears 5, Gears Tactics, Gears Pop!, Halo: Infinite, Battletoads, Ori and the Will of the Wisps are all definites. Then there’s a pretty good chance that Outer Worlds will be shown off, though it’s 50/50 on whether that counts since technically it’s being published by 2K Games. We might see some new footage of Wasteland 3 too. And we can’t forget the inevitable DLC updates for Minecraft, Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon 4, not that we asked for that. At this point, that alone covers 12 of the 14 Xbox Game Studio titles. That still leaves 2 to go.

So what else is there? Well, you can count on Cyberpunk 2077 making another appearance at the show, though CD Projekt Red has stated that the game will look different compared to last years reveal. Highly likely that EA and Respawn continue their partnership with Microsoft to show a brand new trailer for Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. Other 3rd party showings are likely to include Ubisoft with some new footage of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Bethesda with some new and juicy footage of Doom: Eternal and Techland with new details for Dying Light 2.

Lastly, while the best conferences hit you with a barrage of games from start to finish Microsoft has a few important hardware and service updates that deserve some attention. New Xbox Game Pass announcements are almost a given,  but Project xCloud, and of course, some basic information regarding the next generation of Xbox consoles are also incredibly likely for this year’s showcase.

What we ‘think’ we know:

Quite a few of those 14 Xbox Game Studio games are known quantities from last years Xbox press conference, so it should come as no surprise that this year we’ll be getting a few release dates for the games yet to be released such as Gears 5(September), Ori and the Will of the Wisps(August) as well as a release window for Halo: Infinite(which may also indicate the release of the Xbox Scarlett devices).

With 10 of the 14 titles fairly easy to pinpoint plus 2 others expected to be there we are still left with potentially 2 as of yet unannounced titles. Although speculation is that a new Fable game won’t be ready until 2021 at the earliest it’d be a pretty good bet that we at least get a teaser for the next game, either a sequel or a reboot, and confirmation that it is being developed by Playground Games. The other game we’ve been hearing about is the newest title from Ninja Theory code-named Bleeding Edge, a 4-player sci-fi cooperative that stays close to Ninja Theory’s story-driven roots.

With all the success Japanese games have been having in the west it won’t be a shock to anyone if a few more Japanese games get some screentime as well. Microsoft fully understands that they need to shed the image that Xbox is only good for shooters and sports/racing games. So it wouldn’t shock anyone if Xbox had some new trailers from their Japanese allies in Bandai Namco(Code Vein?), Square-Enix, Capcom and maybe even Sega.

On the services side, we expect to see some more titles added to the backward compatibility program. We haven’t had any new announcements in a while, it’s time to change that.

Predictions:

Way back at the beginning of last year a bunch of information leaked relating to the Xbox and some of the games that were in production. So far, everything in that leak has been announced with the exception of two games, Perfect Dark and Mech Assault. Of the two Perfect Dark is most likely to be ready to show off, while it is also possible that Microsoft shows off Age of Empires 4 on PC, and possibly Xbox One/Scarlett.

Now keep your panties on because this is a two-headed prediction. While it is highly likely that Microsoft shares a small number of details regarding Xbox Scarlett during e3, they may take some time to announce another X0 event for this year. Should they announce X019 at E3 2019, then we predict that not only do they show off the Xbox Scarlett devices at X019, they’re also prepping for release next year around the end of March or early April.

I’ve often wondered why the Yakuza franchise has been exclusive to PlayStation platforms. When the series first came out it seemed like the perfect fit for the Xbox platform. It was wacky yet full of action and would fit in next to the other incredibly Sega franchises from their early partnership with Xbox following the demise of the Dreamcast. Pair that with the discussion earlier in the year where Sega appeared to be gauging interest in the Yakuza franchise coming to Xbox and we think there’s a chance that we could see some kind of port of the entire series to Xbox One.

Crazy Predictions:

Are you prepared for the absurd, wacky and downright audacious? No? Well, OK, we didn’t have any of that anyway. These are a few things we would like to see but have absolutely no idea if they will ever happen. Let’s start with the rant… Where the FUCK is the new Banjo/Kazooie or Conker’s Bad Fur Day title we’ve been begging for? I don’t see any reason why Phil Spencer hasn’t taken a trip to the offices of Playtonic, got down on his knees, and rendered whatever services it would take to get them to reboot Banjo, Conker, or both.

Microsoft and Capcom got real friendly last year when they brought Devil May Cry V to the Xbox stage, so why not continue this relationship with another classic Capcom franchise fans have been begging for? Dino Crisis. It’s no secret that Capcom has been digging into their backlog and revitalizing old franchises with a variety of ports and reboots. Dino Crisis is one of the few franchises that Capcom hasn’t shown any attention… yet! The series was last seen on the original Xbox and is long overdue for a return.

Microsoft has not forgotten the advantage they got launching a year ahead of the PS3 back in 2005, so why not drop the new system this year, in September 2019, with Gears 5 as the primary launch title.

But that’s not all, we’ve also got an ANTI-prediction here. Many expect to see Borderlands 3 at the Xbox conference. Gearbox has a great relationship with Microsoft and have partnered with them in the past. It’s a no brainer right? Nahhhh. We think Gearbox will skip the Xbox conference in favor of the PC Gaming show due to their partnership with the Epic Games Store.

These are the wildest ideas we came up with and we are fairly certain will not happen any time soon. It’s fun to dream though. If you think we are absolutely batshit crazy and want to send us hate-filled messages give us a follow on Twitter so we can share your disgust with all 5 of our fans. No really, we’re begging for that hate mail here! Please be gentle!

If you enjoyed this article let us know in the comments below, be sure to share your thoughts/predictions for the Xbox conference and don’t forget to join us for the live streams on our E3 2019 page. If you’re feeling especially saucy and want to stalk us be sure to join us on Discord where we will be chatting live during each conference starting with the Xbox Press Conference this Sunday.