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Do you think Microsoft really had an event planned for Jan?

Did Microsoft have an event planned for Jan?

  • Yes, of course.

    Votes: 42 29.6%
  • Hell no.

    Votes: 100 70.4%

  • Total voters
    142
After the backlash of Microsoft not showing anything at the game awards, they hinted that they will be having an event shortly to show some of their games, which is why they were a no show at the game awards.

Some people think that this was horseshit, that MS had nothing planned and were just saying this to take some of the heat off them.
As it stands a few studios are busy trying to make some demo's and gameplay captures of their games to get some content for this less than planned for event.

On the other hand some people believe it was always planned as they needed a show to announce the arrival dates for Starfield, Forza and Redfall (all games due out before the MS E3 showcase).


My take is they have been laying low due to the ABK deal and didn't have anything planned. Once they got told that the FTC was going to try and block the deal anyway, and the amount of backlash from the Xbox community for their no show at the awards show, they are now busy trying to set up an event.
If it's announced that a show will be happening in a couple of weeks then it would have been planned, if it's in Feb then it wasn't planned.
 

Del_X

Member
Man the games will just never come out, huh. Just never ever. Wow…. Microsoft can not just release games is that right? Hmmm???
 
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diffusionx

Gold Member
Sounds like cope to me. Greenberg said some BS about "the time is right", nothing about an upcoming event or "hard" dates for those games.

The idea that they totally skipped TGA, to the point where MS might as well have not existed during it, because they are planning to blow it all out a month later in a showcase, does not make sense.
 
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Mr Hyde

Member
I think we're in due for a show soon. MS has loads of games they need to showcase ASAP, games that are far along in development, such as Hellblade, Perfect Dark, Redfall, Fable, Awowed, State of Decay 3, Starfield. They cannot linger on these games any longer. It's not feasible. They need to show gameplay and set dates.
 

Rex_DX

Gold Member
what? and theyve cancelled it? I mean we'd know about it by now, shirley?
Serious Leslie Nielsen GIF by filmeditor
 

johnjohn

Member
Yes, they rushed to throw together a show after being surprised by fans being disappointed they didn't show anything at TGA... Some of you re deluded lmao. They have 3-4 AAA games releasing first half of 2023, of course the show has been planned for months. You don't put together a bunch of trailers and demos in a few weeks.
 
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3liteDragon

Member
At first it sounds like damage control but then with Starfield coming in the first half of the year, they gotta show something soon to get people hyped up. So it wouldn't really be surprising if there was an event this month or in February.
 

Chukhopops

Member
It’s a safe assumption that they planned to launch at least one of their first party games before E3, and therefore would plan some form of marketing around it.

After that it’s just a matter of semantics if you consider it an event or not, and whether MS changed their plans to « upgrade » what was planned.
 

Godot25

Banned
I don't think that they will manage to do something in January. I checked Twitter, and many Xbox guys just visited their office first time yesterday. And I guess many more are still on vacation.

So I think that start of February is more probable for showcase. Show us release dates for Starfield, Redfall, Minecraft Legends, Forza Motorsport and ARA, show us some upcoming Game Pass games and then tease something for upcoming "E3 style" showcase in June.
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
At first it sounds like damage control but then with Starfield coming in the first half of the year, they gotta show something soon to get people hyped up. So it wouldn't really be surprising if there was an event this month or in February.
It all depends on how many games are actually gonna hit their release dates and launch before June 30.

If Forza, Redfall, and Starfield are all releasing before June 30 ends, they will have a small show around EOM or early February. I say small because they would want to keep more stuff for their June show which would be just ~4 months away by then.

On the other hand, if it's only Redfall releasing in May, and Forza and Starfield are gonna get delayed to Q3 and Q4 respectively, then I don't think they will have a show. They could just announce the release date with a gameplay trailer on Twitter and their blog.
 

Godot25

Banned
On the other hand, if it's only Redfall releasing in May, and Forza and Starfield are gonna get delayed to Q3 and Q4 respectively, then I don't think they will have a show.
I honestly don't understand the corelation between "Redfall is releasing in may, therefore Forza and Starfield are delayed."

Who ever said that Redfall is first first-party game in 2023 for Microsoft? All projects are independent from each other and internal delay for Redfall does not mean anything for Starfield and Forza. And Microsoft already showed, that they really don't care that much in stuffing their games in same months. They released Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite in span of 2 weeks.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
I honestly don't understand the corelation between "Redfall is releasing in may, therefore Forza and Starfield are delayed."

Who ever said that Redfall is first first-party game in 2023 for Microsoft? All projects are independent from each other and internal delay for Redfall does not mean anything for Starfield and Forza. And Microsoft already showed, that they really don't care that much in stuffing their games in same months. They released Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite in span of 2 weeks.
Forza and Halo Infinite were released during the Holiday seasons, and those games are extremely different than each other.

The entire premise of a subscription service is to drip-feed content (or create a cadence) to keep users engaged and subscribed. Microsoft will not be releasing Starfield and Redfall in the same month. Forza is its own thing and can be released close to either game. I only mentioned the Forza delay as an example.

Besides, Redfall is supposed to release before Starfield. Unless something changed, of which we have no information or evidence, Redfall's internal delay also means a further delay for Starfield.

 

Godot25

Banned
Forza and Halo Infinite were released during the Holiday seasons, and those games are extremely different than each other.

The entire premise of a subscription service is to drip-feed content (or create a cadence) to keep users engaged and subscribed. Microsoft will not be releasing Starfield and Redfall in the same month. Forza is its own thing and can be released close to either game. I only mentioned the Forza delay as an example.

Besides, Redfall is supposed to release before Starfield. Unless something changed, of which we have no information or evidence, Redfall's internal delay also means a further delay for Starfield.

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Nope. Because Microsoft have history of not giving a fuck about dates lately. They released Tell Me Why, Battletoads, Wasteland 3 and Microsoft Flight Simulator in span of one week in 2020. In same year, they released Ori and Bleeding Edge in 2 weeks of each other. It's not just about Halo Infinite and Forza. And you can't argue that they are extremely different, because I'm sure there is plenty of people that wanted to play both of them.

Yes, Game Pass is reliant on drip fed content, but that is also thanks to third-party. In next months Game Pass has several huge day one games (Wo Long, Monster Hunter Rise, Atomic Heart for example), so there is almost no "clean window" to put your games in. Especially when you consider non-Game Pass releases in first few months of 2023 and also fact that Microsoft also has Minecraft Legends, ARA and Age Of Empires II DE console port in next six months.

And yes, first plan maybe was to release Starfield after Redfall. But I still don't understand why would internal delay of Redfall affected release of Starfield. It's not like devs that are working on Redfall will be also developing Starfield after they are finished in Redfall. Rumor is that internal delay of Redfall was for 6 weeks and now game is slated for 2. May. So previous release date was supposed to be around 21. March. It is entirely possible that Starfield will come out in April (since April is quieter month). So it was supposed to come out after Redfall, but now it will come out before Redfall thanks to internal delay.
 
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Evil Calvin

Afraid of Boobs
1. I doubt they had it planned originally for Jan......
2. I do recall a few articles stating there will be an event in January. (came out after TGA show)
 

gothmog

Gold Member
Nope. Because Microsoft have history of not giving a fuck about dates lately. They released Tell Me Why, Battletoads, Wasteland 3 and Microsoft Flight Simulator in span of one week in 2020. In same year, they released Ori and Bleeding Edge in 2 weeks of each other. It's not just about Halo Infinite and Forza. And you can't argue that they are extremely different, because I'm sure there is plenty of people that wanted to play both of them.

Yes, Game Pass is reliant on drip fed content, but that is also thanks to third-party. In next months Game Pass has several huge day one games (Wo Long, Monster Hunter Rise, Atomic Heart for example), so there is almost no "clean window" to put your games in. Especially when you consider non-Game Pass releases in first few months of 2023 and also fact that Microsoft also has Minecraft Legends, ARA and Age Of Empires II DE console port in next six months.

And yes, first plan maybe was to release Starfield after Redfall. But I still don't understand why would internal delay of Redfall affected release of Starfield. It's not like devs that are working on Redfall will be also developing Starfield after they are finished in Redfall. Rumor is that internal delay of Redfall was for 6 weeks and now game is slated for 2. May. So previous release date was supposed to be around 21. March. It is entirely possible that Starfield will come out in April (since April is quieter month). So it was supposed to come out after Redfall, but now it will come out before Redfall thanks to internal delay.
Lol. I hope Microsoft is thinking about dates a bit more now given some of the shit they got for 2022. If not, then it's another bit of ammo for those that think Xbox is mismanaged.

I don't think it is necessarily the development of any game that impacts releases, although sometimes support to get a game shipped can cause some delays. The roadmap considerations are where we would probably see a delay. I imagine Microsoft wants to have something good monthly to drop in GamePass. Having one of their first party games get delayed a month in one direction or another causes them to have to rethink the roadmap. That may end up moving some release dates around in order to make a bigger splash.

People may not want to hear this but if Microsoft wants to avoid a repeat of 2022 they need to think about pacing their releases and that means in some cases artificial delays.
 

Godot25

Banned
Lol. I hope Microsoft is thinking about dates a bit more now given some of the shit they got for 2022. If not, then it's another bit of ammo for those that think Xbox is mismanaged.

I don't think it is necessarily the development of any game that impacts releases, although sometimes support to get a game shipped can cause some delays. The roadmap considerations are where we would probably see a delay. I imagine Microsoft wants to have something good monthly to drop in GamePass. Having one of their first party games get delayed a month in one direction or another causes them to have to rethink the roadmap. That may end up moving some release dates around in order to make a bigger splash.

People may not want to hear this but if Microsoft wants to avoid a repeat of 2022 they need to think about pacing their releases and that means in some cases artificial delays.
I think that Microsoft already have a dates. But I think that they are smart with their reveal because they learned their lesson. Like every publisher. Even EA announced Jedi Survivor date 3 months before game will be out. In this fucked up times anything can happen so unless Microsoft is 100% sure they will hit those dates, they would rather say nothing.

Hell, even now with that rumor about Redfall. Game was supposed to be out in second half of march and it was moved 6 weeks later to start of may. If that march date was public, people would bitch and moan like usual. I hope that they will keep this tradition at a later date. I really don't need to know release date half of a year in advance.

Microsoft already has every month with great Game Pass game in first quarter - January with Monster Hunter Rise, february with Atomic Heart, march with Wo Long. And there are other confirmed games for those months too. So realistically, they have 6 first party games (Age console port, ARA, Starfield, Redfall, Forza Motorsport and Minecraft Legends) and they need to spread them out while getting out of the way of big releases like Jedi Survivor, Hogwarts Legacy, Zelda, Suicide Squad etc. That's why I said that they probably won't have a problem to buch couple of games together. Artificial delays are Nintendo thing...
 
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gothmog

Gold Member
I think that Microsoft already have a dates. But I think that they are smart with their reveal because they learned their lesson. Like every publisher. Even EA announced Jedi Survivor date 3 months before game will be out. In this fucked up times anything can happen so unless Microsoft is 100% sure they will hit those dates, they would rather say nothing.

Hell, even now with that rumor about Redfall. Game was supposed to be out in second half of march and it was moved 6 weeks later to start of may. If that march date was public, people would bitch and moan like usual. I hope that they will keep this tradition at a later date. I really don't need to know release date half of a year in advance.

Microsoft already has every month with great Game Pass game in first quarter - January with Monster Hunter Rise, february with Atomic Heart, march with Wo Long. And there are other confirmed games for those months too. So realistically, they have 6 first party games (Age console port, ARA, Starfield, Redfall, Forza Motorsport and Minecraft Legends) and they need to spread them out while getting out of the way of big releases like Jedi Survivor, Hogwarts Legacy, Zelda, Suicide Squad etc. That's why I said that they probably won't have a problem to buch couple of games together. Artificial delays are Nintendo thing...
Good point. Might be one of those positive aspects of the pandemic. Personally, I feel much better about hype when it's a 2-3 month wait. This whole hearing about games years ahead sucks.
 
The real show begins when the FTC/ActiBliz sideshow is over. I expect to see MS unleash their marketing team post acquisition; whom in my opinion are currently under gag order. We're not seeing the real shit until that is done and dusted.
 

johnjohn

Member
The real show begins when the FTC/ActiBliz sideshow is over. I expect to see MS unleash their marketing team post acquisition; whom in my opinion are currently under gag order. We're not seeing the real shit until that is done and dusted.
Meh, FTC is irrelevant at this point. Once we get the CMA provisional findings at the end of the month MS is pretty much in the clear.
 

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
After the backlash of Microsoft not showing anything at the game awards, they hinted that they will be having an event shortly to show some of their games, which is why they were a no show at the game awards.

Some people think that this was horseshit, that MS had nothing planned and were just saying this to take some of the heat off them.
As it stands a few studios are busy trying to make some demo's and gameplay captures of their games to get some content for this less than planned for event.

On the other hand some people believe it was always planned as they needed a show to announce the arrival dates for Starfield, Forza and Redfall (all games due out before the MS E3 showcase).


My take is they have been laying low due to the ABK deal and didn't have anything planned. Once they got told that the FTC was going to try and block the deal anyway, and the amount of backlash from the Xbox community for their no show at the awards show, they are now busy trying to set up an event.
If it's announced that a show will be happening in a couple of weeks then it would have been planned, if it's in Feb then it wasn't planned.
Mega corporations like Microsoft don't make hasty, last minute decisions. Especially to be reactionary. More than likely they had something like this planned a while ago. Not sure about what date they actually had planned but, no doubt they planned for an event months before hand.
 

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Sounds like cope to me. Greenberg said some BS about "the time is right", nothing about an upcoming event or "hard" dates for those games.

The idea that they totally skipped TGA, to the point where MS might as well have not existed during it, because they are planning to blow it all out a month later in a showcase, does not make sense.
You really believe they didn't anticipate the gaming community response after showing NOTHING at the TGA?? Much less have a remedy? Microsoft knows they aren't Sony. Come on, bro.....
 
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