Aaron Greenberg, VP of Xbox Games Marketing, has made some bold claims regarding the upcoming Xbox Games Showcase, that the majority of the content shown will be in engine footage.
It's great news for Xbox Series X and PC gamers as it means that all the upcoming games revealed in the upcoming Xbox Games Showcase should be largely representative of the playable end product. Greenberg wrote on Twitter that: "None of our first party games in the show are full CG trailers" and "Everything is either in-game footage, in-engine footage, or in-game footage with some cinematics".
At a time when the industry has come under fire for vertical slices of gameplay demonstrated at summer games events, promising transparency in what we can expect is certainly appreciated. Often times, games are revealed with nothing but full CG trailers which, while exciting in their own way, don't fully convey the type of experience they are. Showing actual in-engine footage will also give an indication as to how far along these first party games are as well.
None of our first party games in the show are full CG trailers. Everything is either in-game footage, in-engine footage, or in-game footage with some cinematics. Each of our trailers will be labeled so it is hopefully clear for our fans.June 4, 2023
It's been claimed that there will be a mixture of in-game and in-engine footage with some smaller cinematics, so it remains to be seen exactly how true this ends up being on the day. Looking at recent examples of Xbox's first party reveals, such as Redfall in 2021, which was showcased to the world during E3 2021 with a Cinematic Reveal Trailer, taking a more direct approach and showing gameplay is definitely the right call.
It's currently unknown exactly how many first party Xbox titles that we'll see at the event, but Microsoft previously tried a format where every game that they showed was playable within the next 12 months. It seems they're consistently trying to rebuild faith in their events through new formats.
It'll be interesting to see which future best Xbox Series X games are debuted in their early stages. We'll be bringing you everything you need to know about the upcoming showcase event next week.
