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Microsoft has confirmed X019, the company’s “global celebration of everything Xbox”, is coming to London in November 2019.
Scheduled to take place over November 14th – 16th at the Copper Box Arena, X019 is described as “the biggest Xbox event ever hosted in the UK” and will include “a world-class Xbox experience”, world premiere hands-on gameplay, panels with “the brightest and best creative minds from our Xbox Game Studio teams”, “unique activations and experiences”, developer meet-and-greets and autograph sessions, and an on-site Xbox Official Gear Store featuring exclusive X019 gear. The show will be followed by the company’s first-ever UK-based Xbox FanFest, too.
Tickets go on sale Tuesday, September 24th price at £19 per session on a first-come, first-served basis via www.Xbox.com/X019. The event will be split into five sessions: Thursday evening (including Inside Xbox and Xbox FanFest), Friday morning and afternoon, and Saturday morning and afternoon. Only people aged 18+ can attend the Thursday session, but 13+ years olds can attend the others providing they’re accompanied by an adult.
All proceeds will go to an unannounced charity and for those unable to attend in person, X019 direct will be streamed live.
In related Xbox news, Microsoft’s recent financial report showed hardware revenue dropped 48 per cent year-on-year (YoY) for its fourth fiscal quarter, but 65 million monthly active users are subscribing to its Xbox Live services – a boost of 14 per cent YoY as it jumps from 57 to 65 million – which in part offset the fall.
It seems likely the hardware decline comes as players hold back from purchasing an Xbox One following the announcement of the company’s next-gen system, codenamed Project Scarlett, at E3 2019, which is expected to release at the end of 2020.
Gaming revenue as a whole and Xbox software and services were down 10 and 3 per cent respectively (though only 8 per cent and one per cent when currency variations were factored in). The overall category Xbox sits within, however, entitled More Personal Computing, was up 4 per cent YoY, jumping to $11.3bn.
