Xbox is "planning for an E3-style show in June," says industry insider

Xbox Series X
(Image credit: Future)

It looks like Xbox is holding an E3-style showcase later this year.

Whilst not formally confirmed by Microsoft, the rumor comes courtesy of industry insider Jeff Grubb, who recently claimed that the show's organizers are talking to publishers about its own digital event expected to be held sometime in June.

The ESA has announced that E3 2022 will be an online-only event due to the ongoing pandemic (if it's running at all, that is - recent reports have thrown doubt on the news).

"I’ll probably have more to say on this soon, but it’s in June, not May," Grubb said (thanks, VGC). "Well, they might do something in May or September, I don’t know, but I know that they’re planning for an E3-style show in June.

"They’re talking to partners to get big games in there. That is ongoing right now and it’s March, so it’s not like they can change that train or turn that big ship around. They are heading in that direction and they’re going to do something in that timeframe."

If that's too long to wait for your next dose of Xbox-flavored news, ID@Xbox is once again teaming up with Twitch to launch a new indie showcase later this month. Featuring news and announcements on upcoming indie treats on Xbox, PC, and Xbox Game Pass, of course, the livestream kicks off 10AM PT / 1PM ET / 6PM BST on March 16, 2022.

Did you catch the news that a new Xbox-related product called "Keystone" has been datamined? Earlier this week, dataminer Tero Alhonen claimed they'd unearthed details of a new Xbox product codenamed "Keystone" and said it has been explicitly highlighted as a "product" in the datamine rather than an event or game. 

Most curiously of all, though, the mysterious name is listed directly after two codenames we've seen given to Xbox consoles in the past: the Xbox One was known as Durango ahead of release, whilst the Xbox Series X had been widely known as "Scarlett" before the final name was formally confirmed. Let's watch this space, eh?

Here are our picks of the best Xbox Game Pass games.

Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, 12DOVE

Vikki Blake is 12DOVE's Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.