Although E3 2019 is still a few months away, it's clear Xbox has started making plans early. In fact, it appears that the gaming giant has been working on something since its primary competitor, Sony, confirmed it won't be at the prestigious game reveal show a few months back. And according to the head of Xbox Phil Spencer, the company is pulling out all the stops.

Speaking to gaming personality Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, the two discussed an internal conversation about the event and even briefly mentioned the lineup. Simply stating the lineup was "great," Spencer mentioned plans to talk about the future of Xbox and also stated that 2019 was "go time" for the company. During this conversation, it was made clear that Sony's decision to not attend the show directly affected the company's approach to E3 2019:

"There was some news about E3 back in the fall. We had a discussion internally about, 'Should we go big?' 'Should we save some money?' 'What does that mean?' We decided, no, we're going to do our thing...We're going to go and be as big at E3 as we've ever been. I love that opportunity."

Notably, Xbox has been on the heels of Sony for most of this current gaming generation, with recent reports suggesting that PlayStation 4 sales have nearly doubled those of the Xbox One. That said, Xbox has made several moves here lately — various studio acquisitions, for example — that have increased the company's momentum moving into the next console generation. And with everything in the air concerning the forthcoming event, game releases, and next-gen consoles, it'll definitely be interesting to see what Xbox showcases at E3 2019.

One aspect many may be looking forward to is more information on Project xCloud, a streaming service allowing gamers to play from practically any device such as a laptop. Considering Microsoft wants to be the Netflix of gaming, it would definitely make sense to see the project discussed at E3 2019.

Taking all of this into consideration, Xbox is surely aware that despite hardware and cool streaming services, gamers want to see games. If Xbox can combine its forward-thinking streaming service and powerful gaming consoles with a solid game reveal and exclusive lineup, then the narrative surrounding Xbox and Sony next-generation may not be as clear-cut.

E3 2019 is set to begin on June 11, 2019.

Source: Major Nelson Podcast