If there isn't a console launch in the near future, E3 is usually all about the games and this year Microsoft certainly delivered on that front. During its E3 press conference, Microsoft showed footage from many new titles including Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 4, Gears of War 5, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Fallout 76, Metro Exodus, and Kingdom Hearts 3. But there was also a hint as to what comes next.

As Polygon reports, away from games Microsoft made two significant announcements. The first is the acquisition of four independent games studios. Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, Playground Games, and Undead Labs are now Microsoft studios and therefore future games from them will be exclusive to Xbox.

Between them, these four studios have given us Heavenly Sword, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, the Forza series, two State of Decay games, and the forthcoming We Happy Few. We should therefore expect many more Forza and State of Decay games, but hopefully some interesting new IP coming out of Ninja Theory and Compulsion for Xbox One and then the next Xbox.

Speaking of what comes next for Xbox, Phil Spencer confirmed in his closing conference speech that the hardware team behind the Xbox One X is now "deep into architecting the next Xbox consoles." Notice the plural there? Does that mean we won't see just one Xbox model launch next time? Or is it the case that Microsoft intends to repeat what it did with Xbox One and update the hardware over the course of several years?

One thing is clear: Microsoft is determined to avoid a repeat of its disastrous E3 2013 Xbox One announcement. With likely another three years before a new Xbox arrives, the groundwork is being laid for it to launch with a slew of exclusive titles from studios with great track records that are now owned by Microsoft.