Daniel's E3 Predictions 2015: Microsoft

Xbox had a lot to prove a couple of years ago after a disastrous E3 almost toppled the console. Since handing the reigns over to Phil Spencer he and the company have focused on one thing: games. The dedication has paid off as Microsoft is slowly catching up with the PlayStation 4 and beating them some months in sales numbers.  Cutting the required Kinect, aggressive price cuts, constant high quality updates for the console and a focus on quality exclusives have launched this console from a laughing stock to, what I believe, is the best of the two big consoles currently. I think that this year that trend will continue with the head of Xbox stating this E3 will show their best lineup of first party games ever. With all the writing on the wall, I tend to agree with him.

• Battletoads will be announced and will be being worked on by Rare. What kind of game it will be is anyones guess, as the game is so old that bringing it into modern gaming will be like a completely new IP.

• The oft rumored Gears of War Trilogy on Xbox One will be announced with a Beta rolling out for all Gold members at the show or in the coming months. Gears 4 will be hinted at, and maybe a CG trailer, but we won’t see anything else.

• We will see gameplay of the big trailer reveals of last year namely Crackdown 3 and Scalebound. Hopefully they both still come out 2015, but unlikely considering we haven’t seen anything yet.

• Microsoft will either cancel Phantom Dust proper or stick by their statement that it’s still in development by showing a small amount of gameplay and announcing a new developer. Will likely be bumped to 2016 and will be a free to play game.

• This is guaranteed by the newest trailer, but we will see an extensive playthrough of Rise of the Tomb Raider. It will be awesome.

• A new Forza game will be announced with a 2016 release date and trailer only.

• Fable Legends release date announced with a physical edition available that will unlock a number of characters and items for those who want to commit up front. As they’ve previously disclosed everyone else can grab the game for free, perhaps we will also see an idea of pricing but doubtful.

• Quantum Break will get a short gameplay demo with announcement it won’t be coming till early 2016.

• Halo 5 campaign demo shown with an announcement that the Beta is being rolled out again to everyone with more options available.

• This one is pure fantasy: Xbox announces a sequel to Lost Odyssey and a rebirth of True Fantasy Online. JRPG fans weep tears of joy.

• An indie showcase reel is shown with some time exclusives.

• Since Phil Spencer is interested in keeping it on first party we will see a brief parade of all the coming first and exclusive timed DLD that Xbox has up it’s sleeves.
• Kinectimals 2, because we have to have a slow part somewhere in the conference.

What do you think of my predictions? Any of them likely to come true? Any you want to see come true? Hit us up in the comments below. I’ll be back later this week with my PlayStation predictions.