Yesterday’s Inside Xbox event promised our first look at next-generation gameplay footage across a variety of titles, including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. We got it, but only barely. While players expected substantial gameplay walkthroughs like we’d see at, say, an E3 press conference, what we got were a selection of short in-game snippets cut together into cinematic trailers.
The folks at both Xbox and Ubisoft have acknowledged the criticism. Xbox marketing GM Aaron Greenberg says on Twitter that “clearly we set some wrong expectations and that’s on us. We appreciate all the feedback and can assure you we will take it all in and learn as a team.”
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla creative director Ashraf Ismail similarly says “you rightfully expected to see more today. We have a long marketing campaign ahead of us, you will see in-depth gameplay and get a lot more info about the game. Thank you for your excitement and passion! Be patient with us and be kind. It will be worth it.” Ismail tried to get out ahead of the stream to clarify that they’d debut a “first look teaser” at the show – not a full Assassin’s Creed Valhalla demo – but by then, the messaging war had already been lost.
Yesterday’s Inside Xbox news did indeed provide plenty of insight into how games will be delivered on the Xbox Series X, but didn’t give much of an impression about why the games we saw were next-gen titles. Even as PC fans, the hope is that an improved hardware baseline will lead to bigger and better titles across the board, but while we all kind of expected the answers at Inside Xbox, we did not get them.
Hello all❤️
You rightfully expected to see more today. We have a long marketing campaign ahead of us, you will see in-depth gameplay and get a lot more info about the game.
Thank you for your excitement and passion! Be patient with us and be kind. It will be worth it!🙂
— Ashraf Ismail (@AshrafAIsmail) May 7, 2020
To get the pulse of the community’s response, you need look no further than the YouTube videos themselves – both the Xbox stream and the individual AC Valhalla trailer are burdened under monstrous piles of dislikes. That metric alone doesn’t really mean a lot in the end, but regardless, it’s good to see both Microsoft and Ubisoft facing the disappointment head-on.
Had we not said anything & just shown May Inside Xbox show like we did last month, I suspect reactions might have been different. Clearly we set some wrong expectations & that’s on us. We appreciate all the feedback & can assure you we will take it all in & learn as a team. 🙏🏻💚
— Aaron Greenberg 🙅🏼♂️❎ (@aarongreenberg) May 8, 2020
Microsoft has a smaller event planned for June, but will show its Xbox first-party lineup in greater detail in a July Inside Xbox event. We’ll see more of all these upcoming PC games soon – hopefully in much greater detail.