There’s no doubt about it, Xbox delivered one of their best E3 Media Briefings in years. Including tons of new games coming to the current generation of Xbox consoles, gamers worldwide have something to look forward to. But, that’s not all they revealed, Xbox finally revealed the first details of Project Scarlett, which was rather underwhelming.
Did they reveal it too soon?
One of the crucial moments Xbox fans were waiting for during the Xbox Media Briefing, was the full reveal of Project Scarlett, the next generation Xbox. Just like many thought, the company delivered and revealed their next project with this video:
Now, what this trailer tells us, isn’t much. We don’t know a lot about the new console besides some people talking about how great it will be. It will eat monsters as breakfast, referring to its supreme power over the Xbox One X, it will give us the highest definition in games without loading times and it somehow wants to combine console, PC, and mobile gaming into one system. These are a lot of promises and the main issue I have with this is the lack of true details. Why didn’t they show hard specs? Why didn’t they even bother to show the design of the console?
The answer to this lies in the current Xbox One console family. During the E3 Media Briefing, Xbox really went all-out to make up for the lack of exclusive Xbox game during the last months. During their briefing, they wanted to show new upcoming games for everyone. Although this was certainly the strength of the showcase, it did make us wonder if they didn’t reveal Project Scarlett a bit too soon? It’s clear that their attention is going to the current generation, so why give us a vague glimpse of the future at the very end of the presentation? Is Xbox wanted us to really become hyped for their new console, they would have showcased it during the middle of the Briefing, with tons of upcoming jaw-dropping games. Now, we just have a date and one special launch game.
Halo: Infinite couldn’t save the reveal
If one game could save a reveal, it’s Halo. Years after the launch of the original Xbox, Microsoft decided it’s time to launch a new system with a new Halo game once more. Halo: Infinite has to be one of the most anticipated games out there and the reveal trailer as a Scarlett exclusive didn’t disappoint unless you were expecting some actual gameplay of course.
Certainly, there’s no doubt about it that this is one of the best looking reveal trailers out there, but is it enough? Wouldn’t it have been better if we could actually see the game in action instead of some in-game rendered cutscene? I simply don’t really understand why Microsoft bothered in revealing the date of Project Scarlett and its first launch game if they didn’t want to share more details about it.
Stay ahead of the competition
So why did they reveal the next console this soon? Well, I think they want to stay ahead of the competition. By announcing it now, during an E3 where PlayStation remains absence, it’s easy to steal all the thunder. It’s clear that Microsoft wants people to talk about the next Xbox and the potential next big thing. The lack of details might also point out that this will be a different kind of console, a console that does things in unimaginable ways, perhaps that’s the true reason for this soft reveal. Maybe Project Scarlett wants to become a truly unique console and Microsoft, therefore, might be afraid others will copy the console before it officially launches during Holidays 2020. To conclude, there’s no denying the reveal could have been a lot better but I can’t wait to see which direction Microsoft will take with their new home console.
