Everything Confirmed to Be Showcased by Microsoft for E3 2017

Project Scorpio

E3 is coming fast and with that is a flood of rumors and speculation on what we will be seeing at various press conferences. Here is everything that we know we will be seeing at this years E3 from Microsoft.

Let’s start with the forefront of Microsoft’s presentation, their highly anticipated console to compete with the PS4 Pro. Dubbed the Project Scorpio, plan on a new name taking over, as well as a some new games to support the hardware’s launch. Like the PS4 Pro, it is designed to be a mid-generation upgrade of the Xbox One. Where the Xbox One S was able to add HDR gaming and a 4K Blu-Ray player, Scorpio pushes the bar to play all titles that support it natively in 4K.

Last month at an exclusive event for the console, Microsoft fans received a heap of information pertaining to its robust processing power. Microsoft insists that this will be the most powerful console around once it launches. We won’t have to wait too long to see just how impressive the Scorpio will be as Microsoft’s conference will be this Sunday at 5 p.m. EDT.

This post was originally authored by Forbes Jones.

No Halo 6

While at most Microsoft conferences we can expect to get a bit of nostalgia from older franchises like Gears of War and Halo, we already know for sure that Halo 6 won’t be making an appearance at this year’s presser.

Community Manager Brian Jarrard had this to say about Halo 6:

“I’ll slip into my Dreamcrusher persona for a minute in the name of realistic expectations: We’ve said this already but we’ll have a little something at E3 but it’s not related to the next major entry in the franchise.”

Halo 5: Guardians, ended on a big cliffhanger but fans will have to wait longer to see what happens. If it’s any consolation, 343 has stated that Master Chief will be the central focus of Halo 6 after some fans were disappointed with the abundance of missions featuring fireteam Osiris and newcomer to the franchise, Spartan Locke.

Crackdown 3

Crackdown 3 has endured a very eventful development with delays and developer changes abundant. That said, it seems that we are finally at the point where more definitive information about the game is now looming on the horizon.

There’s no doubt across the board that Microsoft’s main mission is to show off the power of Project Scorpio, and Crackdown’s titular destructive gameplay is likely the perfect game to do just that. With a full reveal of Crackdown 3’s imminent, it’s best you strap in for one hell of a reveal and most likely a release date. The developers have told people that 2017 is the year of Crackdown so for all of you that have patiently waited, this one’s for you.

Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves, the first non-Kinect or compilation related project from Rare in quite some time, will be at Microsoft’s press conference this year and it’s likely we’ll get a BOATload of new information. It’s another title that will likely be heavily tied together with the launch of the Scorpio so don’t be surprised if a release date for this pirate sim is announced there as well.

We previewed Sea of Thieves last year and found it to be fun, and surprisingly strategic:  “The hull started filling up with water, the ship began to sink, and there was no way to salvage the beautiful vessel. Things weren’t all bad; our crew managed to swim to shore, laughing, joking about our pirate exploits, and we went back to simply singing and drinking rum again. Life was good.”

State of Decay 2

It’s been four years since we’ve had anything from the team behind one of the most popular zombie survivalist games State of Decay. While the original held a unique experience of taking on the zombie apocalypse, its sequel aims to push that bar even more. And, if you so choose, you can add up to three friends into your group via co-op to survive this new world as a team.

Undead Labs has confirmed that not only will a release date be coming for State of Decay 2 at E3 2017, but they will be featured as part of Microsoft’s press briefing. This isn’t entirely surprising given that the reveal trailer was shown on the main stage during last year’s event.