Matt Booty: There Will be More Xbox Reveals Before Christmas and in Early 2020 - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 December 2019 / 3,102 Views

Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, speaking with GamesIndustry revealed their studios have so many games in development it is about finding the right time to announce them. The Xbox team will have more reveals before Christmas and even more in early 2020.

The reveals before Christmas will likely take place at the Game Awards 2019, which takes place on December 12, 2019 in Los Angeles at the Microsoft Theater. The early 2020 announcements will likely tie into the full unveiling of Microsoft's next generation console, codenamed Xbox Scarlett.

"You will see one of the most exciting line-ups that we've had coming from Xbox Game Studios in as long as I can remember," said Booty. "For the first time ever, we really have way more games than we know what to do with in terms of knowing when they'll be announced."

"Our studios are very creator-led," he added. "But honestly, especially where we are right now, we have a very unique advantage that so many of our studio heads are very senior, very experienced, and very creator-led. We're really trying to stay out of the way and let them make the games that they want to make. And so it's for them to say: 'Hey, when I look at Game Pass, this is what I see'.

"They might see a game that can bring a bigger audience than they had before, or they see the ability to make a game that might be more built around community, because they know that the second that it goes into Game Pass they have this ready-made community of players. But that's really up for them to figure out."

Developer Dontnod came to Microsoft with the story of Tell Me Why, revealed Booty. He said the game coming to Game Pass will bring it to a wider audience and people who might not have bought the game will get the chance to play it.

"Dontnod came to us for the story of Tell Me Why," he said. "It's a very compelling story and we love it. It's inclusive and it's got a take on a modern storyline. We wanted them to go make that game. Whether there's two people or two million people who will play it, we wanted to get behind it.

"Now what I think the advantage of Game Pass is here, is that an audience that might not have ever discovered that game or might not have been interested in it now will certainly have an almost frictionless ability to go check it out. From the beginning we were very supportive of Dontnod, regardless of subject matter.

"We also love that there's an inclusive aspect of that game. It wasn't like, 'Hey, we need to depend on Game Pass to justify that'. We would have supported them no matter what. However, I hope that Game Pass opens up a much bigger audience that'll be able to experience the game."

Microsoft's next generation console, codenamed Xbox Scarlett, will launch in Holiday 2020.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.