“Afterparty” will be profiled in the first ID@Xbox Game Pass episode. Image: Night School Studio via AFP Relaxnews
After eight years of pre-recorded Nintendo Direct updates, both Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox are launching new video series this week — starting with PlayStation’s general PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR State of Play on March 25, followed by Xbox’s indie game special ID@Xbox Game Pass on March 26.
Promising “updates and announcements from the world of PlayStation,” State of Play is launching with a first episode on March 25, at 2 p.m. Pacific Time.
A live broadcast through PlayStation channels on Amazon’s Twitch, Google’s YouTube, Twitter and Facebook would therefore begin at 5 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Universal Time Coordinated/United Kingdom; 10 p.m. Central Europe; 11 p.m. South Africa; and then the morning of March 26 at 2:30 a.m. India; 5 a.m. Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Beijing, China; 6 a.m. South Korea and Japan; and 8 a.m. Sydney, Australia.
An on-demand edition will be made available shortly after the episode concludes.
Episode one is to focus on upcoming PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR software, with new trailers, game announcements, and gameplay footage in the offing.
Xbox has likewise announced plans for its own showcase regular, ID@Xbox Game Pass, “a stream highlighting great indie games coming soon to [games subscription service] Xbox Game Pass.”
The show will contain new reveals, gameplay highlights and conversations with game developers.
In particular, there will be segments focusing on the upcoming “Afterparty”, “Void Bastards” and “Supermarket Shriek”, with a further look at Night School, the studio behind “Afterparty” and previous hit “Oxenfree”.
Its debut episode starts on March 26 at 9 a.m. Pacific, or at noon Eastern, 4 p.m. UTC, 5 p.m. Central Europe; 6 p.m. South Africa; 9:30 p.m India; and then the next day at midnight for Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Beijing, China; 1 a.m. in South Korea and Japan; and 3 a.m. in Sydney, Australia.
Considering that Xbox owns live streaming platform Mixer, ID@XGP will be made available through the company’s YouTube channel, indicating a pre-recorded video closer in line to the established Nintendo Direct model.
The show’s title combines those of two existing Xbox programs.
ID@Xbox boosts the visibility of enrolled games and development support for participating studios, often in exchange for console or platform launch date exclusivity, a condition that eventually proved cumbersome for some teams.
Xbox Game Pass is Xbox’s popular subscription service that provides access to a growing library of 200+ games, including launch day first-party releases such as those in the prestige “Halo” and “Forza Motorsport” franchises, plus the recent launches of “Sea of Thieves” and “Crackdown 3”.
Neither console company announced how frequently their State of Play or ID@XGP shows would release, again in line with Nintendo’s approach.
While Nintendo Directs were first distributed roughly every two months (less if discounting those made only for Japan), they have since become much more frequent, often releasing multiple times a month with individual episodes focusing on updates to particular franchises such as “Pokémon”, “Fire Emblem”, “Super Smash Bros.” or “Animal Crossing”. CE/JB
RELATED STORIES:
Xbox Live for mobile paves way for Game Pass mobile expansion
PlayStation counts ‘bigger, fewer games’ among E3 skip reasoning