It’s that time of the year again: X019, Microsoft’s annual celebration of all things Xbox, is upon us once more. This year the global Xbox celebration is taking place in the Copper Box Arena, London with Microsoft promising the event will be “filled with news, first looks and surprises, and Xbox FanFest, all livestreamed and starting on Inside Xbox”.
Last year’s event saw Microsoft announce the big news that Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment had joined Microsoft Studios, alongside Xbox Game Pass updates, some Black Friday deals news and a bunch of new Xbox One game reveals.
However, with Xbox Project Scarlett due for release in late 2020, we’re expecting X019 to be a much bigger show – we may even get a closer look at Microsoft’s next-generation hardware.
TechRadar will be reporting live from X019 in London, bringing you the biggest announcements as they happen.
X019: what is it?
Outside of E3 2019, X019 is Microsoft’s biggest event of the year. Marketed as “the annual global celebration of all things Xbox”, the event is typically Microsoft’s way of updating fans on the things it announced at E3 as well as making big new announcements or providing first looks at upcoming games and/or hardware.
With Xbox Project Scarlett releasing in late 2020, we think (and hope) X019 will be dominated by news on Microsoft’s next-generation console.
X019: when is it?
X019 runs from November 14 to November 16. The annual celebration begins with the fifth anniversary of Xbox FanFest, which kicks off at the Copper Box Arena, London at 7pm GMT / 2pm EST / 11am PST on November 14. This is a ticketed event, but it will be streamed as well.
Shortly after, a special Inside Xbox stream will take place at 8pm GMT / 3pm EST / 12pm PST on November 14.
The rest of the annual event is broken into sessions – which tickets are required for. Morning sessions will run from 10am to 2pm GMT / 5am to 9am EST / 2am to 6am PST, while afternoon sessions will run from 3pm to 7pm GMT / 10am to 2pm EST / 7am to 11am PST.
Most of X019 will be available to watch online.
X019: how to watch
If you haven’t got a ticket, you can watch X019 from the comfort of your own home (or sneakily at work).
X019: what we’re expecting
Here’s everything we’re expecting from Microsoft’s Xbox X019 (and what we’re not):
Xbox Project Scarlett
As much as we’re hoping we’ll hear more about Xbox Project Scarlett, it doesn’t actually look all that likely. For one, it’s probably not a great plan for Microsoft to reveal Xbox Scarlett this close to Black Friday and Christmas when the company will be aiming to shift as many current-gen consoles as possible.
Secondly, in reply to a fan asking if X019 will focus on games or just controllers, Xbox Games Marketing general manager Aaron Greenberg replied with the following:
Whether that means X019 will have a primarily games focus is up for speculation, but that has often been the case in previous years. However, we’re still holding out hope for some juicy new details on Xbox Project Scarlett – and its launch title, Halo Infinte.
Black Friday deals
Yep, every year Microsoft uses the event to announce its annual Black Friday Xbox One deals.
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Game announcements/first looks
We’re definitely expecting some game announcements at X019, especially based on Greenberg’s tweet. We’re hoping for a closer look at Halo Infinite and maybe even a few surprise announcements, alongside DLC for the likes of Gears 5.
Surprises?
In an interview with Twinfiniteat Gamescom 2019, Xbox’s Aaron Greenberg stated that there is some big news coming at X019 for titles coming in early-mid 2020.
“We have some surprises planned,” he said. “I’ll just leave it at that. But yeah, I think that we’ll have a great show. We also have a lot of games coming out in the spring. It’s I think the biggest lineup of games we’ve ever had in the spring. In that window of time between X019 and E3, we have a lot of stuff to show, and people can get hands-on with it and talk about it.”
Related product: Microsoft Xbox One X
Our Verdict:
☆☆☆☆☆
The Xbox One X does what no console has done before: native 4K HDR gaming. However, while games look stunning – with a fantastic level of detail accentuated by the console’s HDR support – their larger file sizes will mean that the 1TB hard drive fills up fast. Memory issues aside, the Xbox One X fulfills the promise of 4K HDR gaming and offers the most premium gaming experience on a console, bar none.
FOR Native 4K HDR gaming
4K Blu-ray player built-in
Improves 1080p experience
AGAINST 1TB HDD fills up fast
Games aren’t always 60fps
Skewed price-performance ratio