Microsoft Showed Off Amazing New Crackdown Tech Months Ago, But We Didn't Know It

During Microsoft's E3 press conference in Los Angeles, the company officially announced a new Crackdown game for Xbox One. The cinematic was our first official look at the game, but we actually saw some of the tech it might end up using months ago. We just didn't know it at the time.

Responding to a question from a fan on Twitter, Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed that the above video, showing off how Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform can be used in games to create amazing destructible environments, came out of Crackdown’s development. “Yes,” Spencer said, “build demo was early Crackdown work.” The demo was shown at Microsoft's developer-centric Build conference in San Francisco, and was presented as a new prototype for PC.

It would be great to see this level of destructibility in the new Crackdown when it comes out, but it doesn't mean we will. At this stage in development, whatever we've seen from an early prototype could be cut from the final product. On the other hand, the teaser trailer did imply the game will feature destructible environments.

Spencer said that Microsoft has the "right team" in place to develop the new Crackdown, though he did not name a specific studio. Leading the team, however, is Dave Jones, who worked on the original Crackdown.

The new Crackdown game will have a co-op campaign, online multiplayer, and it will retain the franchise's stylized presentations style.