The biggest announcements of Microsoft’s XO18 event

MANILA, Philippines – Microsoft dropped some major announcements on Saturday, November 10, when it kicked off its Xbox fan event, XO18, in Mexico City.

We’ve rounded up some of the biggest announcements Microsoft fans should expect on the Xbox.

Crackdown 3

After a number of delays, the highly-anticipated third installment to the Crackdown series finally got a release date. Microsoft revealed Crackdown 3 will come out for the Xbox One on February 15, 2019.

A new competitive multiplayer mode called Wrecking Zone was also unveiled which provides fans a first look at the game’s destruction mechanics.

Acquisitions

Microsoft announced it has acquired inXile Entertainment and Obsidian Entertainment, two studios renowned for their RPG games.

Obsidian Entertainment is the studio behind games like Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity. inXile Entertainment is known for the Wasteland series.

The two studios will, according to a report from The Verge, continue to operate independently with their talents and their intellectual properties.

These acquisitions are part of Microsoft’s push to put out first party titles for the Xbox. The company similarly announced it had acquired The Initiative, Undead Labs, Playground Games, Ninja Theory, and Compulsion Games at E3 2018.

Mouse and keyboard support

Back in September, Microsoft announced that it had plans to add mouse and keyboard support for the Xbox One. It’s finally coming this November 14 for a select number of games including Fortnite, Strange Brigade, and Warframe, to name a few.

Microsoft also revealed it has partnered with gaming hardware manufacturer Razer to make official Xbox branded wireless mice and keyboards.

New Game Pass games

Microsoft announced 16 games that will soon be available in its Xbox Game Pass subscription service. These include games already out and some in-development titles as well. The following are the new games headed to Xbox Game Pass:

• PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
• Ori and the Blind Forest
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps,
• Thief of Thieves Season 1 
• Void Bastards
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice,
• Kingdom: Two Crowns
• The Good Life
• Aftercharge
• Agents of Mayhem
• Supermarket Shriek
• Mutant Year Zero
• Pathologic 2
• Secret Neighbor
• MXGP 3 
• Thomas Was Alone

The full stream from XO18 is available here. – Rappler.com