The headline event for Bethesda at this showcase will ultimately be Starfield.
We've heard some whispers that Wolfenstein III could potentially be teased or announced, although it's uncertain whether or not this will show up. Machine Games is currently working on Indiana Jones in partnership with Disney. There's not a great deal of evidence to suggest that will show up at the Xbox show, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.
Psychonauts 2 will have a showcase as well, since Double Fine now sits under the Microsoft family. Psychonauts 2 is a 3D platformer, playing the sequel to 2005's Psychonauts. Exploring psychological themes across Tim Burton-esque mindscapes, Psychonauts is a renowned cult classic, and we've heard the sequel may be beefier than many are probably expecting.
We're also expecting Forza Horizon 5 to be revealed at the show, alongside a 2021 launch date. Forza Horizon 5 is expected to be set in Mexico, across the diverse urban, desert, mountain, and potentially coastal landscapes of central America. Forza Horizon 5 will likely be a technical showcase for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles as well, pushing photorealism to new heights. Speaking of photorealism, we also expect a new trailer for Flight Simulator for consoles too, also proving its visual chops when it hits Xbox's latest consoles later in 2021.
We've heard Sea of Thieves may appear at the show to tease a substantial content collaboration, with new adventures for its millions of players. Age of Empires 4 will likely be at the show too, potentially with a new gameplay trailer and a hard-launch date for the latest entry in the legendary strategy series.
What about Perfect Dark, Fable, State of Decay 3, or Hellblade 2? Microsoft showcased these games at previous shows, but we've heard most of these won't appear. There's a chance of Hellblade 2 getting some form of teaser or update vid-doc, just to remind people that it's coming. However, we've heard a full in-engine gameplay demo slice isn't in the cards. Building content for E3 takes a huge chunk of dev time, and many of these games are just in deep content development right now, rather than being prepped for marketing materials.
Obsidian, however, could appear in a big way. I've been told conflicting information about the possibility of Avowed being at the show, which is Obsidian's first-person RPG set in the Pillars of Eternity universe, making me think there's a 50/50 chance we could see something on it. I've also been told that, surprisingly, Outer Worlds 2 may be announced. Grounded has also been cited for a potential content showcase, detailing some big upcoming new features.
What about some of Microsoft's other rumored titles? I've previously teased Project Typhoon, which is an upcoming open-world co-op action game from a AAA partner studio. We've heard this game may be shown off at E3 2021. It is fairly far along in development and could be slated for 2022. Project Dragon from IO Interactive is only just entering production from what we understand, and may simply be too far away to reveal. That said, given that information about the game is out there, a CGI announcement trailer seems at least vaguely possible.
We expect third-party developers to be in attendance as well. Battlefield 6 seems a likely candidate for some sort of trailer at E3, alongside Scarlet Nexus, and other games Microsoft has marketing deals with. We've heard both Activision and Ubisoft may be at the show as well with trailers or announcements of their own. Although the "size" of these trailers and announcements could be anyone's guess (and indeed, may not even be true).
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