Grubb Suggests Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase Will Focus on Gameplay

A screenshot from Avowed's reveal trailer.

A screenshot from Avowed's reveal trailer.

While many in the gaming space are still recovering from last night's Playstation State of Play June 2022 broadcast, which premiered several high-profile trailers, others have already switched focus to the other presentations coming up soon.

One of these is the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase set to take place on June 12. The event has already seen its fair share of speculation and hype, with Sony's strong start fanning the flames of Xbox gamers hoping to see a similarly impressive lineup of upcoming titles.

Regardless of which particular titles and studios end up taking centre stage, one thing that it seems we can be sure of (if Xbox gets its way, at least) is that the presentation will feature a lot of gameplay.

Jeff Grubb Suggests Xbox and Bethesda Showcase Will Be Gameplay-Heavy

Speaking on his GrubbSnax show for Giant Bomb, Grubb answered a fan question about Contraband, a game which was announced during last year’s Xbox Showcase.

While he couldn’t provide any concrete information on whether that game will also feature in this year’s event, Grubb did provide a glimpse into what Xbox’s vision for the 2022 showcase might look like.

“When it comes to Xbox, I know what the expectation has been. The expectation has been this entire time that we are going to do an E3 show in 2022 and we want a lot of gameplay,” said Grubb, adding: “that’s been the marching orders since last year.”

In terms of the games he believes are likely to have gameplay revealed during the broadcast, Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming RPG Avowed was singled out as a likely option.

He also said there’s a “strong possibility” that Avalanche Studios, the developers behind Contraband, may have been given enough notice of its inclusion in the showcase to have some gameplay prepared for it in time.

Grubb also hinted that the lineup will likely also depend on whether Microsoft wants to save any big reveals for later this year or make the largest splash possible with this particular E3-style showcase, the latter of which Grubb suggests the company has been working to improve upon in recent years.

Users on Reddit seemed to react positively to the news, with many looking forward to learning more about Avowed in particular. Despite them both having been recently delayed to 2023, some are still holding out hope that we may see some more of Bethesda’s Starfield and Redfall in the showcase this time around.

Make sure to follow us for more coverage of the intense few weeks of showcases that kicked off yesterday with Playstation’s State of Play presentation.