E3 2019 preview: Xbox predictions, rumors and expectations

What we won’t see: Microsoft and Nintendo’s budding partnership

It seems like Microsoft and Nintendo are very friendly these days. You can access Xbox Live on Nintendo Switch, they heavily support cross-play with each other.

Cuphead, while not technically a Microsoft exclusive, is a game closely associated with Microsoft and now it’s on Nintendo Switch. It’s virtually expected that if it’s a Microsoft game that can work on Switch, there’s a good chance it’ll come to that system. Gears of War 5? Probably not. But Ori and the Blind Forest is a distinct possibility.

It’s even completely possible that at some point you’ll be playing Sea of Thieves from your Xbox Game Pass on a Nintendo Switch through Project X Cloud. That’s a thing that is totally possible in the near future and it’s kind of nuts.

However, I really don’t think you’ll see much, if anything, of this budding relationship between these two video game console titans during Microsoft’s E3 2019 presentation. It’s not that the relationship is done, far from it. It’s just that this presentation is a Microsoft presentation about their games, their hardware, and their services. It’s honestly not really the best place to promote things they have in the works with other console-makers that are still competitors.

There’s a chance we will see something during Nintendo’s E3 direct later in the week, especially if it’s an announcement of a formerly exclusive Microsoft Xbox game coming to the Nintendo Switch. And unless something goes horribly wrong, this will continue to be a thing for the foreseeable future.

It’s just that there are better times and places to promote it than this year’s Microsoft E3 presentation, which given all they potentially have to show, doesn’t need a boost from outside companies.