E3 2019 preview: Xbox predictions, rumors and expectations

What we will see: The specs for NextXbox/Xbox 2/whatever

Sony might not be ready to really talk to the public about their new console just yet (aside from the one really random interview earlier this year), but Microsoft is seemingly chomping at the bit and will certainly give us some details about what exactly is next for the Xbox family of consoles.

It would be hard to imagine a major pivot from what they’ve been doing that’s been garnering some pretty goodwill and positive mindshare over the last few years. Surely, streaming will be a focus of their next steps, but more on that in a bit.

For people who want to buy a physical box I’d imagine most of your games will still be backward compatible (at least the Xbox 360 ones digitally for certain). It will likely still play discs, and you will probably still be able to download games and play them offline. Some sort of online verification may be required, but likely minimal (every 30 days?).

The next Xbox physical console is arguably something geared towards a more hardcore gamer, and it will keep the features that those people want because otherwise why would they buy it?

We will get numbers — so many numbers. Maybe it’ll be 8K ready (not that any TVs or games will support that for years). They will certainly boast about how powerful these new systems are. We’ll probably hear the phrase: “most powerful systems on the market.”

While I think it will be unlikely that we’ll see any footage of actual games for the next Xbox, we will likely see some sort of footage. Whether it’s comparing a game running on current hardware to next-generation hardware, or simply some sort of impressive tech demo; it likely won’t be an actual game but will give us an idea of what the system is capable of.

Microsoft is pretty well-poised to come out of E3 2019 with gamers really excited about their next console and I think they’ll accomplish that handily — especially with no competition from Sony.