Fable, Forza Horizon 6, and Game Freaks' Beast of Reincarnation Headline the Upcoming Xbox Developer_Direct

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Jake brings two decades of experience with him, having covered major industry events, breaking news, one-on-one interviews, and more.

When he's not playing World of Warcraft, he's usually on the hunt for good food and a refreshing beer to wash it down.

Since 2023, the Xbox Developer Direct has been a showcase of upcoming first-party Xbox games.

This is where games like Hi-Fi Rush and Ninja Gaiden 2 Black made their shadow drop. These events, which are essentially the Xbox version of a Nintendo Direct or Sony State of Play, are also where we saw gameplay reveals and deep dives for Doom: The Dark Ages, Ninja Gaiden 4, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, among others.

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After a beefy Developer Direct last year, featuring a total of five games, we were wondering what Xbox would have in store this year. 2026 is a pivotal year for the Xbox brand. Following a tumultuous 2025, which was headlined by layoffs and studio closures, 2026 is the year Xbox aims to bring back major franchises, such as Gears of War and Fable.

Only one of those will be making an appearance at the upcoming 2026 Developer Direct, though. Microsoft announced this morning that Fable, Forza Horizon 6, and Beast of Reincarnation will be seeing gameplay reveals on January 22nd at 1:00 PM Eastern.

This is the Smallest Xbox Developer Direct to Date

Before this year, every Xbox Developer Direct has featured five games:

2023: Minecraft Legends, Forza Motorsport, Hi-Fi Rush, The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom, Redfall
2024: Avowed, Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Visions of Mana, Ara: History Untold, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
2025: Ninja Gaiden 4, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, South of Midnight, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Doom: The Dark Ages

Each Developer Direct has also run for at least 44 minutes (2023 was 44 minutes, 2024 was 48 minutes and 42 seconds, and 2025 was 52 minutes and 29 seconds). Now, I'm sure that you can easily get 45 minutes of footage from these three games, but it's a curious decision to leave out some notable planned 2026 titles from Xbox Games Studios.

In addition to the three games mentioned, 2026 will see the release of Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day, and World of Warcraft Midnight (Blizzard Entertainment, but Microsoft owns them). There are also several games without a release date, notably Clockwork Revolution, State of Decay 3, and the untitled Toys for Bob game.

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The fact that these games, particularly those without a release date, will not be part of the upcoming Developer Direct will undoubtedly fuel speculation about their current status. You can excuse the Toys for Bob game, as it hasn't been officially announced yet. As for the other two, that's a different story.

Clockwork Revolution was announced in 2023 and saw a five-minute gameplay trailer at last year's Xbox Games Showcase. State of Decay 3 was announced in July 2020, but has been missing in action since. We had assumed that maybe 2026 would be the year we would learn more about these games, possibly even getting a release date for one of them. As of now, however, that does not seem to be the case.

Of course, Microsoft and Team Xbox could have some surprises up their sleeve, as they did last year with the surprise announcement of Ninja Gaiden 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. That was teased beforehand, though. This year, we'll all find out together what Xbox is willing to reveal at the start of 2026.