E3 2018: 10 Xbox-Saving Announcements Microsoft Must Make

Down, but not out.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Moon Studios

Is Microsoft in such dire straits that next month's E3 represents something of a make or break situation for its continued presence in the console industry? Absolutely not, but neither is it a flourishing brand effortlessly swatting away the competition like gnats.

No, the days of dominance spearheaded by the Xbox One's predecessor are long gone and Microsoft's flagship gaming device is floundering in a market that, at this point, is borderline monopolised by the PlayStation 4. Sony continues to roll out one multi-million dollar triple-A hit after another, each one putting Xbox One even further on the back foot.

At the rate it's going now, Microsoft will close out the eighth console generation with nought but a handful of memorable exclusives and the meagre (relative to the PS4, anyway) hardware sales to show it, a trajectory that needs to make a sharp u-turn posthaste.

But even taking exclusive software (or lack thereof) out of the equation, there's a varied platter of announcements the software giant could blindside us with next month that could reignite consumer confidence in its product.

An answer to Sony's entry into the VR market or a particularly lucrative deal with third-party publishers could just as easily right the ship and put Xbox back on its intended path, Microsoft just needs to rediscover its lost sense of urgency.

10. Future Sea Of Thieves Content

Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Rare

For the same reasons that Hello Games can attest to, Rare suffered some hefty blowback following Sea of Thieves' launch. The latter's absurdly overhyped spacefaring sim arrived, only to reveal a universe as wide as an ocean but only as deep as a puddle and that, combined with Sean Murray's poorly-worded pre-release interviews resulted in inevitable disappointment.

No Man's Sky is in a better place now than it was two years ago, able to somewhat put its money where its mouth is, and there's no reason why Rare can't do the same, especially as it has the financial backing of Microsoft.

Sea of Thieves isn't great, but it can be, as long as those holding the reigns commit the time and money necessary to help it get there. Rare has already affirmed since April that launch was just the beginning for its swashbuckling sandbox world - at least two expansions are on the way - but we need to see their content in action.

Sea of Thieves is bursting with potential: we only hope Rare can tap into it before the ship sinks.

Contributor
Contributor

Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.