First Assassin's Creed Valhalla gameplay coming Thursday in Microsoft's stream

We'll see Assassin's Creed Valhalla gameplay and learn about other upcoming games in a Microsoft stream on Thursday. With E3 off and everything topsy-turvy, Microsoft are planning to hold monthly showcase streams in the run-up to the launch of their new Xbox Series X later this year. Which effectively means they're also hosting monthly streams showing off PC games, in these blessed days when Microsoft care about PC gaming again.

With their first 'Xbox 20/20' stream on Thursday, Microsoft say they "will focus on giving you a first look at next-gen gameplay, trailers and sneak peeks from a wide variety of publishing partners and independent developers across the globe and industry, including Ubisoft's recently announced Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and hear from game creators about what they're doing with their games on Xbox Series X."

Ubisoft confirmed that the first Valhalla "gameplay trailer" is what will be shown. Whatever "gameplay trailer" means these days. Let's see how many of Alice Bee's demands for Assassin's Creed Valhalla are met. They've had days and days to react, so I assume it's all of them.

Most of the other games on Microsoft's stream will surely be on PC too. Even PlayStation exclusives are looking rarer these days, now Horizon: Zero Dawn is coming to PC. Only Nintendo remain steadfast, determined to not let us post about Animal Crossing all day.

The stream will start at 4pm (8am Pacific) on YouTube, Twitch, and other, worse livestreaming sites.

With E3 off and everyone indoors, companies are announcing and showing things all over the place. "Clearly, this year has challenged us to rethink the way we come together to celebrate the important milestones in gaming, and that means working with the knowledge that we may not be able to come together in the same place," Microsoft say. So they're planning monthly Xbox 20/20 streams to look at what's next.

They say July's stream will focus on games from Xbox Game Studios, with gameplay, chat, and announcements of new games. I might expect some Halo Infinite, which we've still not seen despite it being due later this year.

Whatever you call it, hit our E3 2020 tag for more from this summer's blast of gaming announcements, trailers, and miscellaneous marketing. Check out the PC games at the PlayStation 5 show, everything at the PC Gaming Show, and all the trailers from the Xbox showcase, for starters.