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Evening Standard

Lifestyle

Saqib Shah

Xbox is bringing more than 50 games to Gamescom this month including Starfield Shattered Space

Xbox Gamescom (Event) Ubisoft Blizzard Entertainment Microsoft PlayStation

Xbox is flexing its muscles at this year’s Gamescom with a colossal booth and a large lineup of upcoming releases, including playable demos of its exclusive and third-party games.

Attenders at the gaming extravaganza in Cologne, Germany later this month will be among the first to go hands-on with the likes of Star Wars: Outlaws, Warhammer’s Space Marines 2 and new DLCs for Diablo 4 and Fallout 76.

Visitors will also be treated to new footage from a crop of would-be blockbusters, including Starfield’s Shattered Space story expansion, Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl, Forza Horizon 5 and Doom: The Dark Ages.

If the big budget fare isn’t to your liking, there will also be plenty of smaller indie gems to sample, from viral sensation Squirrel with a Gun to the AI trapped in a human body parable Replaced (which sounds like Cyberpunk 2077 if it was a side-scrolling platformer). We’ve listed all the Xbox games slated for Gamescom below.

Don’t fret if you can’t make it to the show as Xbox is promising to livestream its presentations on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook. The broadcasts should be similar to the developer deep dives Xbox does during its Direct shows online.

With its massive roster of playable demos and first looks, Xbox is throwing down the gauntlet to rivals at this year’s Gamescom. The gaming giant clearly feels it has something to prove after a turbulent in which its parent, Microsoft, slashed jobs in its gaming division, scuppered games and shuttered studios.

Fans, meanwhile, are furiously debating Xbox’s future following its recent decision to bring a batch of exclusive games to PlayStation, including smash hit pirate adventure Sea of Thieves. More broadly, Xbox console sales have been tanking in recent months as the company continues to push players towards its Game Pass subscription service, which works across multiple platforms including phones and laptops.

What is Gamescom and when is it?

Following the demise of E3 last year, Gamescom has become the defacto must-attend event for gamers, developers and publishers alike. This year, the festivities will feature more exhibitors than ever before and a bigger international presence than in previous years, according to organiser Koelnmesse.

Confirmed exhibitors include Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco, The Pokemon Company International, Ubisoft, Square Enix and Capcom, among others. However, both PlayStation and Nintendo have decided to shun the convention once again in favour of their own events.

Set during the events of the original film trilogy, Star Wars Outlaws is fronted by a brand new character named Kay Vess (Ubisoft)

Gamescom will kick off on August 20 with the return of Gamescom Opening Night Live, the showcase hosted and produced by The Game Awards presenter Geoff Keighley, with the main event running from August 21-25.