Yesterday, Microsoft announced the return of the Xbox broadcast for this year’s Tokyo Game Show. The broadcast is set to go live on Thursday, September 26 at 7 PM JST / 3 AM Pacific Time / 6 AM Eastern Time / 11 AM UK Time / Noon Central European Time on the Tokyo Game Show YouTube channel and select Xbox social channels. It will feature the following languages: Japanese, English, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, French, French Canadian, German, Arabic (MSA), Filipino, Hindi, Italian, Maori, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Castilian Spanish, Mexican Spanish and Turkish. It will also be broadcast with Japanese Sign Language (JSL), Australian Sign Language (AusLan), and American Sign Language (ASL), with audio descriptions in both Japanese and English.
Unsurprisingly given the host and the occasion, the broadcast will feature updates from Microsoft’s internal development teams (Xbox Game Studios, Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, and Bethesda) as well as an ‘exciting’ lineup of third-party titles mostly based in Japan or Asia.
Fans were not expecting big news to come out of the broadcast. However, The Verge journalist Tom Warren, who has proven to have access to solid sources inside Microsoft, has just tweeted that it will be ‘worth tuning into’ the broadcast.
gonna be worth tuning into the Xbox Tokyo game show stream next week pic.twitter.com/OfmMZzaOUm
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) September 20, 2024
Of course, it’s always a good idea to keep expectations in check. It is unlikely that Microsoft would choose this event to deliver truly groundbreaking news, such as the company acquiring a Japanese or Asian developer (they’ve long wanted to, and they recently closed Tango Gameworks, so they have none right now). However, it could be the right venue to announce something like the rumored Final Fantasy XVI Xbox port. Square Enix just complained about FFXVI (and FFVII Rebirth’s) not selling enough, and they also reiterated their commitment to Xbox following the release of Final Fantasy XIV earlier this year.
At TGS 2023, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer teased unannounced Japanese games in development, so we could see some of those, too.
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