Microsoft showcased 30 upcoming games. In that most of those titles will be available on its monthly subscription service, Xbox Game Pass. The company said it would launch new games on Game Pass every month through the end of the year. That includes titles such as PC strategy series “Age of Empires IV” and racing game “Forza Horizon 5.”
Halo Infinite is one of the Microsoft’s big-ticket games. It is now set for a holiday launch this year. This delay is because the developers were struck at home due to the pandemic restrictions. Several of the game launches announced by Microsoft at the E3 conference came from video game publisher Bethesda. Last year ZeniMax Media was bought by Microsoft. This is the parent company of Bethesda, for $7.5 billion. Microsoft also announced launch dates of two big budget games. Those are exclusive to Xbox and PC – role playing game “Starfield”, which will be launched on Nov 11, 2022 and vampire themed shooting game “Redfall” next Summer. Both Microsoft and Sony launched their next-generation gaming devices in November last year. They have seen heightened demand for the consoles. This is also because of this lockdown situation. Gaming analytics firm Newzoo forecasts that the global games market will generate revenue of $175.8 billion in 2021, with 2.9 billion players, and surpass $200 billion in 2023. Microsoft has also been developing its cloud gaming service. This is to attract casual gamers and its own streaming devices. Game Pass has hundreds of games playable on Xbox consoles, Android devices and PCs. This is with a $9.99 monthly fee. Phil Spencer, head of Xbox said that what makes them different from a service like Netflix is that they give players both options, a subscription package and also a full retail store.
