If it wasn’t for Microsoft’s recent acquisitions, last night’s showcase would have been the Fyre Festival of video games, minus the ball pit. Sure, there’s a new Forza Motorsport coming – it looks lovely, too – and there’s a big update coming for Sea of Thieves and Microsoft Flight Simulator, but almost everything else at the show was a direct result of the company’s aggressive acquisition strategy. The conference was bookended by Bethesda – opening with Redfall and closing with Starfield, both of which were highlights of the show – proving how needed those buyouts were.
It was a good show for Microsoft – certainly the best it has had in a while – with a large focus on games coming to its subscription service, Game Pass. Almost every title on show will be available on the service on day one, and it’s clear that retaining subscribers, as well as bringing in new ones, is a major objective for Microsoft.
