Instead of just hosting the Xbox Games Showcase this year, it’s going to host that event, then immediately after, Obsidian Entertainment will host its The Outer Worlds 2 Direct, which will give viewers a deep-dive look at the upcoming sequel. Xbox Games Showcase 2025 is set to kick off at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK on Sunday, June 8, followed immediately by The Outer Worlds 2 Direct.
This year, Microsoft said it’ll expand its streaming presence. If you look at any young person, there is a good chance they’re scrolling TikTok and Microsoft wants to cater to these people especially. To do this, it will live stream the whole event on TikTok and feature popular creators. Aside from TikTok, the events will also be streamed on YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook.
As it pushes to include more young viewers, Microsoft is also ensuring gamers with accessibility needs are catered to. Its streams will feature audio descriptions, American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL). There is also going to be live language support for various languages.
When the live streams are done, that won’t be the end of the event. Starting Sunday, the Official Xbox Podcast will be launching a series of special episodes providing updates and deeper dives into the announcements unveiled during the Xbox Games Showcase. The podcast will be available on the Xbox YouTube channel and podcast services. Microsoft’s social accounts will also share their own post-show content.
Who it affects, and how
Anyone who is interested in upcoming Xbox titles, Game Pass additions, or potential hardware news should definitely tune into the event as they will be directly impacted by the announcements that Microsoft makes.
If you’re a fan of the award-winning The Outer Worlds, then be sure to stick around for The Outer Worlds 2 Direct event where you’ll likely see new gameplay and story details for the sequel. We could also potentially hear about a concrete arrival date for the game, as one has not yet been announced.
Why it's happening
Xbox Games Showcase is now Microsoft's primary event for everything Xbox, following its pullout of E3 several years ago. In previous years, the event has focused heavily on new games and sometimes there are hardware announcements. Last year’s hardware announcements saw Microsoft unveil three new Xbox Series X|S console options and in 2023 it unveiled a new Xbox Series S variant.
Another thing delivered at these events are Game Pass announcements. Over the years, Microsoft has found out that it can extract more money from players by offering subscriptions. At this event, we will probably learn more about new games coming to Game Pass on day one.
What to watch for
In terms of what to look out for this year, The Outer Worlds 2 deep dive should be interesting and any hardware news would be welcome but isn’t guaranteed. It could also be interesting to watch the event on TikTok to see how Microsoft adapts for the vertical form factor.
Are you looking forward to any news on particular games you think could be shown off at the event? Leave a comment down below.
Source: Xbox
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