Hey gang, it's that time again. Geoff Keighley is out in force this year for The Game Awards, and the excitement is reaching fever pitch.
There are rumors of all shapes and sizes flying around, and I've already posted some expectations on socials, but I want to add here what Xbox and Windows PC gamers can expect from Microsoft and its partners at this year's show.
NO SPOILERS, though.
From what I'm hearing, there will indeed be at least a couple blockbuster announcements (initially shared by Jason Schrier on KindaFunny). At least one is a PlayStation exclusive fans should be very excited to see. However, at least another one of the other major announcements should indeed represent a full multiplatform release across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. It should spark a ton of excitement if true — although I'm not sure whether to expect this particular game to launch in the near term.
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As for Xbox itself, I expect the vast majority, if not every announcement relevant to Xbox to be a multiplatform affair. As I previously discussed in tweets, for exclusive titles, Microsoft has its own events coming later. I've heard Xbox is very happy with the programming schedule that has been developed, with the Xbox Showcase and Developer Direct events through their own channels. We should be getting a Developer Direct early in 2025, as has become tradition. However, there could be at least one announcement at The Game Awards for an Xbox first-party title that may be coming sooner than some may have previously expected.
I'm not expecting Microsoft's first party studios to announce any new titles at this event — many of those projects are instead slated for Xbox's own showcases and events. We maybe could see Microsoft show new footage of previously-announced games, though. Next year's upcoming Xbox roadmap is quite stacked for Xbox first party, and they may want to remind everyone of that fact here.
I expect at this event, Microsoft's third-party publishing partners will do a lot of the heavy lifting, but I think we can expect some fun beats regardless. Microsoft and its partners may have some Xbox Game Pass announcements for example, and we do have Bethesda's Todd Howard appearing on stage as a guest, which could indicate some kind of announcement from him — even if it's not necessarily a new game trailer.
The key takeaway Xbox may be looking to weave here is that they have their own plans for content reveals in the near future. From Xbox's first party, we have Avowed, South of Midnight, Fable, DOOM: The Dark Ages, and other surprises hitting the ground in the next calendar year. Not to mention the service slate from Activision-Blizzard, which should include new expansions for World of Warcraft, Diablo IV, and a new entry for Call of Duty.
RELATED: For our full The Game Awards 2024 live blog, head here.
Either way, regardless of what platform you play on — prepare your backlogs, because they're not going to be shrinking any time soon. Kudos to Geoff Keighley and the team there for putting together what should be a pretty exciting show.
