Everything Xbox Announced During XO18

Everything Xbox Announced During XO18

Today there was a special edition of the Inside Xbox show as part of X018, an event which is “a global celebration of all things Xbox,” and lots of things were announced for the Xbox universe of games. There were a lot of moving parts to the two-hour episode, so here’s a breakdown of what we learned.

Microsoft Studios has acquired both Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment.

Matt Booty, Head of Microsoft Studios, announced the acquisition of these two major role-playing game studios at the end of the show. While both are known for making games in similar genres, Booty stressed that Microsoft wants to keep them unique. Kotaku first reported on the potential purchase of Obsidian last month.

Crackdown 3 is releasing on February 15, 2019.

It’s coming to Xbox Game Pass on the day it releases. Alongside the campaign it will have a multiplayer mode called Wrecking Zone, which pits two teams of five up against each other in large, completely destructible battle arenas. It will launch with two maps, Blackout Zone and Nova Station, as well as two game modes. Developer Joseph Staten said that everyone involved with the game is “busting arse” working on it.

The original Crackdown is free in Microsoft Store until November 30.

You can go get it right now.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is coming to Xbox Game Pass.

The battle royale combat game where 100 enter and only one leaves is hitting the Game Pass. It’s coming soon, too. It’s going to be available November 12.

Phil Spencer said there would be some improvements to the Windows Store.

Anyone who deals with Xbox Play Anywhere titles knows that there are some complications that could be smoothed out regarding the Windows Store, and Spencer spoke about taking on a “bigger leadership role” to implement some improvements to make it “tailored towards the gamers.”

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is getting a physical edition.

Ninja Theory’s game about the mind and mythology is going to be on store shelves. It’s also coming to Game Pass in December.

Kingdom Hearts 3 is going to have Winnie the Pooh minigames.

This might not be all that surprising, but that dang bear is coming back, and you’re going to play some minigames with (or for) him.

The Final Fantasy XIII series is getting backwards compatibility.

Starting next week, you’ll be able to play Final Fantasy XIII, XIII-2, and Lightning Returns for the Xbox 360 on an Xbox One using the console’s backward compatibility feature.

An entire suite of Final Fantasy games are coming to Xbox One.

Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, and Final Fantasy XII will all come to Xbox One sometime in 2019.

Civilization Revolution is enhanced for Xbox One.

While you can already play Civilization Revolution using Xbox One backward compatibility, but there’s a version that’s enhanced with the Xbox One coming soon.

Sea of Thieves is getting a new game mode.

The Arena is a new way of playing Seas of Thieves that pits crews against each other to see who can get the most treasure and, therefore, the most pirate glory. It will appear in the game sometime in “early 2019.”

Xbox with a hat.

There was an Xbox with a hat.

State of Decay 2 is adding some new weapons, gear, and enemies in the Zed Hunter update.

Weapons include crossbows, new quiet melee weapons, and some equipment. The team also teased a return to Trumbull Valley, the location from the original State of Decay.

Just Cause 4 has Rico doing more stuff… just ’cause.

The familiar grappling hooks and parachutes are making a return, but there are also super storms. Tornadoes roam the open world. The new trailer has some story beats in there, and everything looks neat.

Devil May Cry 5 has a mode called “The Void” for practising.

Players will be able to use The Void as a training space for fine-tuning their Devil May Cry skills. They’ll be able to spawn enemies, change some of the game parameters, and generally just do training mode stuff.

Cats and pandas are coming to Minecraft.

If you like those two animals, it’s going to be a great time for you.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is getting a new challenge tomb.

It is a big lava forge. There are some new weapons, you can play it single player or co-op, and there’s a time attack mode.

Mouse and keyboard support are coming to 14 titles.

Bomber Crew, Warface, Children of Morta, Minion Master, DayZ, Warframe, Strange Brigade, Deep Rock Galactic, Warhammer Vermintide 2, Moonlighter, Wargroove, Vigour, War Thunder, X-Morph: Defence, and Fortnite are all taking advantage of the Xbox One’s new ability to use mouse and keyboard. Those games will implement the new inputs on November 14.

Winter of Arcade, a throwback to Summer of Arcade, is coming to Xbox later this year.

The stream announced that it exists, but not what the games will be.

Forza Horizon 4 has a new expansion coming out later this year.

It takes players to Fortune Island, where they can see lightning storms and the aurora borealis on a big, rocky mountain covered by winding roads. I bet the seasons will mix it up as well.

16 games were announced for Xbox Game Pass.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Thief of Thieves Season 1, Void Bastards, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, The Good Life, Kingdom: Two Crowns, Aftercharge, Supermarket Shriek, Mutant Year Zero, Pathologic 2, Secret Neighbour, The Good Life, Agents of Mayhem, MXGP 3, and Thomas Was Alone.

Not all of these are available currently, and some are not even released yet, but they were all announced as Game Pass games either currently, in the next few months, or on release.


You can watch the video of the entire two hour show on the official Xbox YouTube:


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