Xbox E3 2019 fails to capitalize on Sony's absence with no console reveal

The stage was set for Microsoft to capitalize on Sony‘s absence from E3 2019. With the company having a console lined up for launch in the near future, many were expecting that Project Scarlett would be officially debuted during its presentation earlier today. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, and it felt like Microsoft missed the perfect opportunity to get the leg up on its competitor.

The Xbox E3 2019 event was a disappointing start to the week-long gaming event. While there were a selection of exciting announcements, most of them from indie developers, it was mostly just a retreading of games we already knew were coming with shiny — but ultimately uninformative — trailers.

We’ve yet to see Halo Infinite gameplay footage. While Microsoft revealed that it would launch alongside the next Xbox, which is still being referred to as Project Scarlett, around Holiday 2020, we’ve still yet to see how it’ll play. The biggest announcement was Keanu Reeves’ appearance in Cyberpunk 2077, but this is a multi-platform game that will also be releasing on PS4. Considering that most multi-platform games perform better on Sony’s console, this didn’t exactly feel like a “win” for Xbox.

Xbox E3 2019 | Still no Project Scarlett name

microsoft e3 2019 project scarlett

Microsoft did go into detail a little more about Project Scarlett. Developers praised its SSD and its swift loading times, but unfortunately, these are all things that Sony has already championed about its PS5. Similarly, Microsoft’s brief overview of Project xCloud felt underwhelming when we’re all still talking about the Stadia, Google’s own game streaming service.

Many are hoping that Microsoft will eventually go in all guns blazing with its next console. However, its E3 2019 presentation felt like a small update on a variety of projects that we already know are in the works. Most have already resigned in the knowledge that the Xbox One isn’t going to suddenly improve its fortunes within the next year or so, but it was still hoped that this E3 would be the one in which we found out more about Microsoft’s next hardware. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be the case.

There were a few games that were already spoiled ahead of Microsoft going live. Elden Ring, the new From Software game developed in collaboration with Game of Thrones author George RR Martin, was revealed in a leak ahead of schedule. Bleeding Edge, the new multiplayer game from Ninja Theory, was also leaked before the Xbox E3 event.

Xbox E3 2019 | A repeat of last year’s E3

xbox e3 2019 elden ring

While the latter certainly looks intriguing, it’s the former that has garnered the most interest given the names involved. However, as is routinely the case with games advertised by Xbox, it’s a multi-platform game that will also be coming to the PS4. Microsoft’s struggle with exclusives continues, but it was hoped that this year it would at least be counter-balanced by discussions pertaining to the new Xbox.

Instead, we got a repeat of E3 2018, but far less surprising. Rather than Microsoft catching us off-guard by discussing the next Xbox ahead of schedule, this year we instead anticipated more information regarding the system. Unfortunately, Microsoft didn’t really deliver in any meaningful capacity.

Sony not being at E3 2019 left the red carpet wide open for Microsoft to blow the doors off their hinges. Instead, what we got was a reasonable but somewhat muted E3 2019 presentation, considering the circumstances.