Xbox/Bethesda Showcase Confirmed for January 25th
Recently, we covered a rumour that an Xbox/Bethesda conference showcasing upcoming 2023 games was coming towards the end of January. Well, Microsoft has now confirmed this in a tweet slating January 25th as the day of Xbox’s first showcase this year. This isn’t too much of a surprise- especially considering the reliability of the sources leaking this information and Xbox’s lack of showing recently at events such as the Game Awards. Consisting of a mix of first party Microsoft and Bethesda titles such as Redfall, Minecraft Legends and Forza Motorsport, the event will likely give a general overview on what Xbox has in store for the first half of this year- along with a couple potential surprises.
One game noticeably left out of the announcement tweet was Bethesda’s next RPG epic: Starfield. Now, Bethesda quickly added a comment to their original tweet confirming a full-blown Starfield conference all to itself later this year:
Undoubtedly Xbox’s biggest game (so far) slated for 2023, Starfield was the reason a lot of gamers bought a next-gen Xbox console. It makes sense, then, why Bethesda want to give the game its own individual conference in a similar vein to Fallout 4’s announcement at E3 2015- which had a 30-minute demo helmed by Todd Howard all to itself. Given how large the game is (as well as the overwhelming hype surrounding it), a full-blown 30+ minute conference really is needed to delve deep into what Starfield will offer RPG and Bethesda fans alike.
As for what will be shown at the direct, it is expected that this will be a smaller conference than the likes of E3 or Summer Games Fest. Instead, this will just cover Xbox's first-party releases. That means no Hollow Knight: Silksong (sorry Team Cherry fans). It’s likely that Xbox is saving its heavy hitters for E3 this summer- which will also act as the breaking point for a lot of fans. Since June, there’s been a noticeable drought of Xbox news, which has left many fans worried about Xbox’s 2023. While already guaranteed to be no E3, hopefully, this smaller direct will be enough to tide fans over until the big reveal later on in the year. Let’s just hope (for Xbox’s sake) that these reveals will actually happen. Until then, look forward to the direct on January 25th- it may end up surprising you more than you think.
