E3 2019: Ten predictions for this year's show

Xbox Game Pass... on Nintendo Switch

Maybe... possibly?

Read that again for a second. Now, imagine you're reading this same list, but just a couple of years ago. Say, I dunno, E3 2017 - the year Game Pass debued - instead of E3 2019. Yeah, seems like it would completely out of the question, wouldn't it?

And yet, with the way the gaming business has changed and evolved just in these past two years, it now doesn't just seem like it's in the realm of possibility, but that it's extremely likely - if not now, at least within the next few years.

From being all about that cross-platform multiplayer, debuting a console without a disc drive, and putting a lot of resources into their xCloud service, Microsoft has been shifting their focus away from hardware and more towards, well, platforms.

This was how Phil Spencer, Microsoft's head honcho of Xbox, put it while talking to Polygon shortly after acquiring the company's own cross-platform him, Minecraft.

We also know there are millions and millions of gamers who access Microsoft [in other ways,] whether it’s Windows, their phone, Skype — it could be many different things every day [...] I don’t want to dilute what the Xbox console customer feels. I want to expand what we’re able to do for more customers.”

Now, Microsoft has already started the process of helping developers connect their game communities through Xbox Live, no matter the platform. And while they've been coy about bringing that same functionality to Nintendo's console, they haven't outright confirmed out denied it, either.

Xbox Game Pass on Switch would be a win-win for both companies. It would bring more console-friendly games to the admittedly unique system (although some of those games would have to be tweaked a little bit, we imagine) without having to publish and market whole new versions of them. That could certainly mean getting the Switch into more homes. And Microsoft would also increase their Game Pass subscriber base - something they clearly find important for their future.

With Nintendo rumored to be announcing two new versions of the Switch - one of which supposedly an "enhanced" version - at E3 2019 (despite outright denying that's the case), a faster, more powerful version of Nintendo's popular sort-of-a-handheld could be just the thing to bring Microsoft games into the homes of more people.

It's certainly a long shot for this to happen, with Sony staying out of the show this year, both companies are going to be looking to use that absence to make a real splash - and this could be just the thing.

Speaking of Sony...