Today Microsoft had its big livestream at their X018 event in Mexico City and after watching it on Mixer and YouTube I’ve got to say the crowd’s energy really elevated it and could give E3 a run for its money. The stream is below for you to watch in its entirety. Jump ahead to the 30 minute mark for the beginning.

With the raft of Xbox Game Pass announcements two things stood out for me in particular and the first was that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is days away from appearing on the service. That’s a massive change for the game and puts it in a position that more closely aligns it with the free to play Fortnite. Recent patches to the game have helped shift it in that direction so this seems like confirmation of what the game is intending to become.

The other was the announcement of two new studios joining the Microsoft Studios team. Obsidian Entertainment (Pillars of Eternity) had long been rumoured to be making the jump but when inXile Entertainment (The Bard’s Tale 4) was announced too I was genuinely surprised. The end result is that there are two RPG developers of considerable experience now dedicated to making games for Windows and Xbox. Hopefully in the coming months we’ll see signs of the new games that are going to be borne from this and that Microsoft’s backing will allow them to make the best games possible.

What did you think of the announcements? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.