A big budget follow-up to Metro Exodus will be unveiled this week but there are still rumours of a State of Play and Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag that same day.
E3 may be long gone but its shadow still looms large over the video games industry, with most companies still choosing to host their biggest preview showcases of the year in early June. That’s still likely to be the case this year, especially with Summer Game Fest also taking place at the same time, but it also seems as if there are a number of smaller events being planned before that.
Last month there were rumours that not only would Nintendo announce a new Star Fox game this month but that Sony is planning a third party State Of Play this week, on Thursday, April 16.
That all seemed perfectly believable, but it’s now been announced that an Xbox event will take place that day, with 4A Games confirming they will announce a new Metro game in conjunction with Microsoft. Which raises the odd possibility that there could be both a PlayStation and Xbox event on the same day – plus a separate unveiling of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Recycled.
In terms of what is confirmed, an event called Xbox First Look: Metro 2039, is planned for Thursday at 6pm BST. Given the name, it seems unlikely any other games will be mentioned but this will be the fourth mainline entry in the series inspired, and overseen, by the novels of Dmitry Glukhovsky.
‘Xbox has always been a home for the franchise, and we’re honoured to continue that relationship by bringing you a first look at this next exciting chapter,’ says Xbox Wire.
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The original game, 2010’s Metro 2033, was, like many PC-orientated franchises, an Xbox console exclusive, although all subsequent games have been multiformat and it’s unlikely this new one will be any different.
There’s no further information but since Metro Exodus was very good, we’ve high hopes for this one. Especially as Glukhovsky has no doubt been influenced a lot by world events in the seven years since the release of Exodus – not least because he faces an eight year jail sentence if he ever returns to Russia, after speaking out against the Ukraine war.
As for whether the State of Play rumour is still accurate, there doesn’t seem to be any new information. Metro 2039 and its connection to Xbox was rumoured in advance by NateTheHate and others but he admits he has no update on the Sony event.
The original rumour could simply be wrong but it’s also possible that Sony picked that date relatively at random and now, after they find out Xbox is also doing something that same day, they may just move it.
To complicate things further though, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced was specifically rumoured to be having its reveal on the 16th, which everyone naturally assumed meant it was part of the State of Play.
However, NateTheHate, who is widely regarded as one of the industry’s most reliable insiders, has suggested it may actually be unveiled on its own, and not part of a wider presentation, which muddies the waters further.
It would certainly be bizarre if we ended up with three separate reveal events on the same day, plus Star Fox, but it’s possible that all four companies could’ve picked the same day by coincidence and are only now finding out about it.
Whether Sony would actually change its plans, since Xbox announced its event first, is unclear, but this could be a case of waiting ages for one Direct style showcase and having three arrive at once.
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