Xbox Showcase Rumors: Gears of War and Doom Look Likely, With One Potentially on PS5
What are the two major first-party games announced to be revealed at the upcoming Xbox Showcase?
The two major first-party games announced to be revealed at the upcoming Xbox Showcase are a new Doom installment, titled "Doom: The Dark Ages," and "Gears of War 6." According to Tom Warren's Notepad newsletter, "Doom: The Dark Ages" has been earmarked as a Project Latitude game, which suggests it will launch simultaneously on PS5 in 2025. The next installment of Gears of War, on the other hand, is expected to be exclusive to Xbox and PC.
Can you describe the new installment of the Doom series that will be announced at the showcase?
The new installment of the Doom series that is expected to be announced at the Xbox Showcase is reportedly titled "Doom: The Dark Ages." According to Insider Gaming, this upcoming game has been in development for four years and will be set in a medieval-inspired Doom world3. The game may delve deeper into Doomguy's backstory on Argent D'Nur, exploring fantasy themes and early human history. It is speculated that the game could be revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase on June 9, aligning with previous hints and leaks surrounding the project.
What is "Project Latitude" and how does it relate to Xbox's strategy for its first-party titles?
"Project Latitude" is the internal name for Xbox's strategy to bring its first-party titles to rival consoles, such as PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. This initiative started earlier this year with previous console exclusives like Grounded, Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, and Sea of Thieves going multi-platform. The goal of this strategy is to increase the company's overall margins by making their games available to a wider audience.
According to a report by Windows Central, the Xbox parent is planning to make a multi-platform push for more of its games2. The report claims that the company is developing more upcoming first-party Xbox titles for PS5 and other platforms under the plan which is internally codenamed “Latitude”. The report didn’t specify the names of the Xbox titles that are planned for a PS5 release. However, it claimed that the titles were “potentially obvious games” that one would expect to release on rival platforms. “More upcoming Microsoft-owned games slated for PlayStation are already being developed,” the report noted.
This move comes after the company’s CEO Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood's mandate to increase every department's margins, the report added. Earlier this year, Microsoft released titles including Grounded, Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment on rival consoles. More upcoming games for PS5 and Nintendo Switch will help the company find new players for its games beyond its Xbox ecosystem.