Modern Warfare 4 is the Call of Duty I have been waiting all generation to play. It's a slickly produced first-person shooter that truly feels as if it is pushing at the boundaries of what this series can achieve when it's firing on all cylinders.

Activision has finally allowed its vast network of video game studios (who keep the gears of this annualized machine turning) to cease support for the PS4 and Xbox One, and the results are astonishing. There's a fluidity to the movement systems; weight to the weapon handling; a density of detail to the visual and auditory design that's apparent from the first kill to the last. You love to see it.

Jack O'Hara, the co-studio head of Infinity Ward and game director of Modern Warfare 4, believes the decision to leave last-gen systems behind has had a transformative effect on ideation and execution. "The processing power of the PS4 was great in its time, but it was starting to get in the way when it came to certain innovations. Support was making the development of new features harder, because you have to account for the differences between platforms."

"Console generations have been living for longer and longer, so we got better and better at optimization, but it does reach a point where you might be optimizing more than you're making something new. So, once you reach that threshold, you have to make the call," O'Hara adds. It's an exceptionally reasonable argument that has led to compelling results.

I'm told that Infinity Ward has engineered a lot of technology to deliver better balanced firefights. "Every shot should tell the truth" is a phrase I have heard more than once. Basically, there's a stronger alignment between bullet trajectory, weapon motion, and operator stance. Target visibility has been refined as IW introduces solutions to longstanding issues with bloom and depth of field. Weapons now make micro-adjustments as you push into tight spaces and begin to peek corners. It's wonderfully immersive, and feels utterly fantastic.

There's a control and a stability to the way that Modern Warfare 4 plays that simply wasn't present in Sledgehammer Games' disastrous Modern Warfare 3. Infinity Ward has effectively picked up from where it left off with MW2 in 2022. The recoil patterns and damage profiles are familiar, so too is the snappy TTK – though IW promises it's slightly less severe this time around.

"We are dialing in on the details to make that TTK feel consistent and strong," says Jacky Reynolds, multiplayer design lead. "One thing I'm really stoked about is that we made the TTK slightly longer at further ranges. If you played MW2, you probably felt yourself getting beamed across the map a lot. You'll feel that a lot less in Modern Warfare 4." Fighting at range requires more precision aiming than before, but Call of Duty is as lethal as it's always been once you're within sprinting distance of an enemy.

Consecutive Black Ops releases means Call of Duty has been saddled with hyper-mobility for two years. While I was certainly a fan of the omni-movement system within certain contexts, I was worried its introduction had defined a new direction for the wider franchise. IW has leveraged elements of this system to generate more fluid transitions around maps, and to give you new ways to change angles or adapt to pressure. So while you can't sprint, slide, or dive in any lateral direction like you could in BO7, you can now take advantage of backwards slides, mantle cancels, and faster climbing.

Combat Ready

I'm impressed with what Modern Warfare 4 is shooting for. I was able to play two multiplayer maps, and they are very in-keeping with the traditional Infinity Ward style – largely designed around three distinct lanes, promoting constant engagement and shifting momentums. There are some nice tweaks elsewhere too. The Riot Shield being reclassified as 'Equipment' and degrading through repeated use. There's now two Prestige paths, and IW is also very proud of a new Apex Attachment system – a set of unlocks that drastically transform a weapon's lethality and adaptability. Absurd incentives for weapon progression meet a more robust Gunsmith, enhanced customization, and a redesigned Create-a-Class system. There are more maps, modes, weapons, killstreaks, skins, and so it goes on and on.

All told, Modern Warfare 4 recalls memories of Call of Duty at its finest, albeit with a slick new-gen set of refinements, evolutions, and improvements. Beyond multiplayer, Infinity Ward has a lush campaign offering, following the exploits of Task Force 141 in the western hemisphere and a team of ordinary soldiers battling on the frontlines of a Korean war, and a returning DMZ mode that seems primed to take the fight right to Arc Raiders and Marathon. It's still early days, but I can't shake this feeling that Modern Warfare 4 couldn't have come at a better time for Call of Duty.

The series had clearly reached a breaking point. Back-to-back instalments of Black Ops and Modern Warfare titles created fatigue. Overbearing integration between mainline games and Warzone sowed frustration. There's a general sense that Sledgehammer and Treyarch (with three and two contributions this generation, respectively) haven't done enough to push the series forward – problematic as Arc Raiders, Battlefield 6, and a resurgent Overwatch offer competition elsewhere. But there's a quality to Modern Warfare 4 that is undeniable, and I'm desperate to play more.

Modern Warfare 4 is set to release on October 23 for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X. However, the new game for 2026 will no longer land day one on Xbox Game Pass.

If you came away from Fable's demo thinking the upcoming trip to Albion looked a tad easy, then Playground Games has some words of reassurance. What you saw was the open-world RPG in Story Mode, and nastier options are available if you so desire.

Following the game's latest showcase, several people have taken to Fable's Twitter mentions to note that the combat in the demo looked a tad easy. Now, Playground Games has started replying to assure fans that what you've seen isn't the game at its hardest.

"We promise the guards haven't all taken up tea drinking mid-shift," the account says in reply to one fan. "Our team was playing on 'Story' difficulty. This is the gentlest way to wander through Albion.

"Should you prefer a sterner welcome, other difficulty levels will ensure the guards remember their training and are less... polite."

At the time of writing, there are several replies to other folk who have said something similar, but each reply more or less gets across what's been said above. While the Fable series isn't greatly known for difficulty – that would be British humor and fairytale vibes, as I'm sure you've noticed – it's nice that you can morph this one into some dark fantasy if that's your jam.

Clearly in the mood to set the record straight, the Fable developers have also clarified that Blacksmiths won't be as generous in the game as they appear in the demo. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that you could basically buy a house after one go at blacksmithing. Once again, Playground Games says to rest assured – not everything is as it appears in the demo.

"You're not wrong, that was a very profitable afternoon at the forge," the developer says to one online onlooker. "For this demo, the team tweaked their jobs at the Blacksmith to showcase the system quickly as we were presenting within a time-slot. At launch, you can expect more work to earn similar amounts of gold!"

So there you have it. Once Fable releases, gold will be harder to come by, and the world of Albion can be all the meaner if you want it to be. As ever, you'll just have to see for yourself when Fable releases February 23, 2027.

Fable drops the original games' good and evil binary for a "subjective and multifaceted" reputation system, which is why you don't have horns or halos.

Toys for Bob developers have explained why they returned to Spyro instead of tackling a certain other Microsoft platformer series.

Speaking to GamesRadar+, Lou Studdert, associate creative director on Spyro: A Realm Beyond, and Paul Yan, studio head at Toys for Bob, were asked why the studio chose to return to the Spyro series for its collaboration with Microsoft. While the team has worked on the franchise before, many wondered if the previously announced collab would be a new Banjo-Kazooie or any other game franchise Microsoft owns (including Crash Bandicoot, which Toys for Bob led development of for its last two games).

"Honestly, Spyro has kind of a deep place in our studio's heart," Studdert explains, referencing work on the Skylanders franchise, as well as the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. He adds, "We've always admired that kind of small but mighty underdog story of the character that's taking on these overwhelming odds, you know, we see ourselves in that a little bit, and honestly, it just was a no-brainer."

Studdert adds that "since we made Reignited, we have had the hope to take him further," and that "we always wanted to return to the world of Spyro, to bring that character forward, and so time was right, and we left it to chance."

Meanwhile, Yan notes that the studio was a bit more confident with the idea of taking on Spyro. "Going independent was taking on massive, massive risk, right? It's taking a bet on ourselves," he says, adding: "We knew coming out of Reignited – that title sold over 11 million copies, so there's an audience that woke up to show up for that series."

"Every year, every gaming event we hear the fanbase show up, like, 'when is there going to be a new Spyro title?' even before we had even pitched this," Yan explains. This in turn helped the studio in pitching the new title. "When we came up to Xbox and said, listen, here's our plan, we said, 'look, there's a community, it's loud and consistent, they know what they want, you're here to make this game, what else do you need, let's get this thing going."

Yan adds, "I'll say that we love Spyro, love Banjo, love all these types of titles," while shouting out the recent resurgence of platformer icons through Rayman Legends Retold and Astro Bot. "We've been doing this all along. It's not a new thing that we're shifting to, but we want to carry that type of experience into the world." He explains: "We think that the world needs these types of experiences, and we want to make them."

Spyro: A Realm Beyond devs "hope that this is the first of many" new games in the series: "We want Spyro to live on for a long time."

Today marks exactly eight years since Bethesda revealed the Elder Scrolls 6 teaser from 2018, and all this time later, we've seen virtually nothing else from the project. Bethesda and Xbox's silence on the long, long, long-awaited follow-up to Skyrim is remarkable, but Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty has broken his silence with the tiniest of updates on one of the biggest games on the release date calendar.

BGS executive producer and game director Todd Howard has gone on the record to say Elder Scrolls 6 was announced too early, which seems like a bit of an understatement as we approach 10 years from that infamously vague teaser, but Booty tells Variety that the decision to reveal such a massively anticipated project is one of the trickier parts of his job.

"I would say one of the more challenging balancing acts of someone in a job like mine is balancing that you want to go show the world all the cool stuff you're working on, and you want to get them excited early, but we also know that we want to wait till the right moment," says Booty. "And when you decide to show it, you want it to be the best you've got. And also that when you show the game, you're also giving them a promise of, hey, it's coming soon."

Booty seems to be directly acknowledging the aforementioned premature reveal of The Elder Scrolls 6 here. With every day that passes without a significant update on the game, the big green elephant in the room at Xbox gradually swells, as does frustration from the RPG community who's been waiting almost a decade. That said, Booty assures that what he's seen from gameplay footage will be worth the wait.

"I can tell you, having visited Bethesda and sat with Todd and seen 'Elder Scrolls' playing, it looks amazing, and it's coming along well," he says. "And we'll make sure to announce it and really reveal it at the right time."

"The majority of this building is working on The Elder Scrolls 6": Todd Howard says Bethesda's full focus is on the RPG it announced in 2018, and "it's so different than Starfield, so different than Fallout"

Playground general manager Ralph Fulton admits that delaying Fable initially led to a "bit of disappointment" among the developers, but hopes that getting out of the way of GTA 6 and other games maneuvering around it can help give the RPG the moment it deserves.

Xbox had plenty to show during the latest run of video game conferences, though one announcement that caught the eye was the confirmation that Fable is indeed delayed. Rumors of just that had persisted before the event, though the original release window of late 2026 was reaffirmed until now.

Speaking to GamesRadar+, Fulton says that, naturally, developers working on Fable were initially a bit bummed about delaying the game.

"The team has spent this year absolutely gunning for a date, which is, you know, no longer in this year," he says. "I think there was initially a little bit of disappointment around that. You know, a team gets really focused on that."

Now that everyone has had "a little bit of time to digest it," though, some positives are coming through. Even if it doesn't feel the best.

"We could all absolutely see the benefits of that movement," Fulton says. "First of all, moving out of that really congested period towards the end of this year, obviously avoiding Grand Theft Auto. And honestly, the thing I love about it now, and the thing I've tried to sell the team on, is going in February, having a much less contested window allows us the opportunity to go out and really make a moment for ourselves, and I think the attention this game deserves."

Delaying a game to get out of the way of another has been somewhat of an evergreen topic over the past year or so. On the indie level, the likes of Silksong and Slay the Spire 2 have made many games change their release plans.

Naturally, on a triple-A level, GTA 6 has been the one to make publishers think twice about their plans. The result has been a very congested September and, to be honest, February, as everyone has tried to avoid Rockstar's behemoth at the same time.

I can't imagine delaying your game because another might take all the oxygen out of the room is easy, though we'll just have to wait and see if such a delay gives Fable the "moment" that Xbox is hoping for. Let's just hope, for the sake of Xbox and many more, that Rockstar doesn't delay GTA 6 again, hm?

Check out our GamesRadar+ Summer Preview for a glimpse at everything we've seen and played.

During Summer Game Fest, the annual Xbox Games Showcase brought us some very cool reveals – including the long-awaited Spyro: A Realm Beyond.

The upcoming Spyro game from Activision and Toys for Bob is the first big mainline entry in nearly two decades, and it's just as brilliantly vibrant as its nostalgia-inducing predecessors. In the new trailer, we see everything from bright purples to glowing oranges, green grasses to blue skies – you name it. It feels like a childhood fever dream in the best way, and I have a feeling that the developers wanted it to. They certainly weren't shying away from colors, anyway.

In a new online post, the official Toys for Bob account puts it best: "The world needs more radically joyful, colorful games," asking fans if they agree. I absolutely would.

The devs' statement here lines up well with what they recently said in an interview posted on Xbox Wire, too, that A Realm Beyond is one of those much-needed games the world is calling for now, and that it'll be as whimsical as the old Spyro gems we know and love.

"We know first-hand that a big part of what makes a Spyro game really resonate is having a wide variety of colorful, whimsical spaces with activities, characters, and treasures that motivate you to explore every nook and cranny," studio head Paul Yan explained.

We do get a taste of these spaces in the trailer, and so far, and I'm personally impressed. It's like a modernized step back into the early 2000s, old PlayStation hues and all.

That's not to say that the new Spyro game won't be… well, new. Yan also admitted "the sense of discovery is absolutely core to this new adventure," which translates into some very exciting features – like free flight and such.

All in all, A Realm Beyond sounds like a blend of both familiar and fresh Spyro mechanics (and aesthetics, apparently). We'll get to witness it first-hand come its spring 2027 release date.

Fingers crossed that Spyro: A Realm Beyond delivers on all of its promising visuals, features, and more when it does finally launch. I'll be eagerly awaiting it, anyway.

Searching for something else to wishlist? Here are the best new games coming this year and beyond to look forward to.

A Sega leaker has hinted that Persona 6 is probably still coming in 2027, despite the teaser trailer showing nothing about the game.

It feels weird to say it, but Atlus has announced Persona 6. It's been almost a decade since Persona 5 released in Japan, and we've been waiting so long for the next numbered entry. But really, it being announced hasn't changed much, since the trailer proceeded to show us absolutely nothing about the game. It had some spooky visuals, a logo and release platforms, and that was it! I'm excited, but I knew as much about it around 10 years ago as I do now, and some are concerned we'll have a long wait ahead of us like we did after Persona 5's first teaser.

But ResetEra user lolilolailo, who has been known for leaking info about Sega games for a few years (them teasing the theme of the too-silly-to-be-leaked Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was enough to get my trust, personally) has commented on the teaser. When asked if 2027 was still the planned release date, they respond: "Don't read too much on the teaser not having 2027 in it, especially considering P4R is launching before."

And granted, it makes sense for Atlus to not overshadow the upcoming remake of Persona 4 with news about the next game in the series, with an Atlus lead suggesting we shouldn't expect more Persona 6 info until after Persona 4 Revival releases. Many are predicting we'll see a repeat of Atlus' 2024, where the Persona 3 remake released in early 2024 while the Persona-adjacent Metaphor: ReFantazio released in October.

So, despite Atlus giving us nothing, it sounds like the dream may still be on the cards and we could be playing Persona 6 next year. At least I hope so – it's been too long.

Persona 4 Revival finally gets a release date, and boy does it look good.

Xbox has confirmed there will be more opportunities to playtest State of Decay 3 ahead of its release next year, with an "expanding" list of participants for alpha and beta playtests planned "throughout the year."

Xbox and developer Undead Labs took the stage during this weekend's Xbox Games Showcase 2026 with brand new State of Decay 3 gameplay footage and a fresh 2027 release window. It's been six long years since the game was announced, which led to the false assumption that an actual release date was imminent, but it seems Xbox isn't ready to set that in stone just yet.

That said, it appears feedback from last month's alpha playtest has been encouraging, as the developers are confidently urging fans to sign up for upcoming tests.

"We're going to be expanding our Alpha and then Beta list over time and we are dying for players to come play. We've got an audience that's hungry for this game, the signups were fantastic, they're going to keep growing and we want to get more," says State of Decay 3 creative director Kevin Patzelt in an Xbox Wire writeup.

Xbox and Undead have been fairly vague about the scope and amount of State of Decay 3 playtests that'll be held, but Patzelt says "the first wave" will be "limited" and "there will be more opportunities throughout the year."

In any case, if you want to see what the next iteration of the long-running open-world survival series is all about, you'll want to throw your hat into the ring on the official playtest website, where you can quickly submit your details for a chance to get in.

State of Decay 3 is coming out next year on Xbox, PC, and PS5.

In the meantime, here are the best Xbox games you can play right now.

After years of theories, leaks, and endless waiting, Atlus finally announced Persona 6 to the world at Summer Game Fest. That is to say the world except for singer and noted video game lover The Weeknd.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on June 8, The Weeknd revealed that he got a sneak peak at the Persona 6 reveal "a while back." The post is accompanied by four photos, none of which show anything about the highly anticipated JRPG we didn't see much of in the short teaser that appeared at Summer Game Fest.

The photos do show The Weeknd playing a build of Persona 4 Revival, which announced a February 2027 release date at Summer Game Fest as well. It looks like he got to at least play through part of Yukiko's Castle, the first real dungeon in the game.

If you are wondering why in the world The Weeknd of all people got an early look at these titles you wouldn't be alone, though it's worth noting the singer has been a vocal lover of video games and constantly rubs shoulders with developers whenever he gets the chance. In the past that has included posting photos with the likes of Nier creator Yoko Taro and Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki.

His relationship with the Persona series has also been well documented, perhaps most famously when he posted about fumbling the hot goth doctor Tae Takemi after putting over 90 hours into Persona 5. If we are lucky we will all be able to follow along with him fumbling his romance option of choice in Persona 4 Revival when the game releases next year.

The Persona series has sold 30 million copies, and an absurd chunk of that is from Persona 5.

Halo: Campaign Evolved has a release date thanks to yesterday's Xbox Games Showcase, and we've also now been shown what we can expect from the game's various different editions, including one slightly baffling choice to make a digital game manual a Premium item.

Depending on how much money you want to spend on Halo: Campaign Evolved, Halo Studios has a number of different options for you when the game launches next month. As well as the Standard Edition, which just includes the game, there's the Premium Edition – which comes with five days of early access as well as some cosmetics, a digital short story, art book, and game manual. The $200 Collector's Edition includes all of those things, too, alongside some physical goodies – "a 12-inch Dark Horse Master Chief statue, light-up LED Cortana chip, Steelbook, three original concept art prints, physical version of the reimagined game manual," and the physical game (if you're on Xbox Series X or PS5, anyway).

As Prima Games points out, it's the digital game manual that's sticking out like a sore thumb here when it comes to the bonus content on offer for the more expensive editions. To give it a bit of room here, Xbox describes it as "a lovingly crafted modern homage to the original Halo: Combat Evolved game manual" that "blends classic presentation with contemporary detail." It adds: "Featuring updated gameplay information, controls, and background lore, the Halo: Campaign Evolved digital game manual is a nostalgic companion for longtime fans and a helpful introductory guide for newcomers stepping onto Alpha Halo for the first time."

So, you'd hope that it has a cool design that makes it feel a bit more like a digital collector's item like the art collections that Deluxe Editions of games – including this Premium Edition – often include. However, it's probably because it's a game manual – you know, a little booklet of information telling you how to play the game, which was once a standard thing included with all titles – that some fans are a bit annoyed, to put it lightly.

"Don't give me something that was industry-standard 20+ years ago under the guise of it being a 'feature.' If shoving it in a premium version is the only way it can be affordable, then don't do it at all. Really dislike this," one user on Reddit writes. "Oh fuck all the way off with this shit. My god. A fucking game manual and you have to pay more for it? An art book makes sense but a game manual?!" says another.

I suspect that most people opting for the Premium Edition will likely be in it for the five days of early access, making Halo: Campaign Evolved playable from July 23 rather than July 28, in which case the digital manual will just appear as a bonus. Bearing in mind that the Premium Edition is an extra $20 on top of the standard price (making it $70), it's a considerable price increase for anyone who does simply want to own all the bonus goodies.

Halo: Campaign Evolved prequel story was written by the award-winning sci-fi author behind some of the best Halo novels.

Persona 6 is finally happening, but its big Xbox Games Showcase announcement was incredibly vague, and according to Kazuhisa Wada, director at Atlus's P-Studio, it doesn't sound like we can expect more details anytime soon, either.

I'm sure I'm not the only one whose highlight of the big Xbox show yesterday was the Persona 6 reveal, but, uh, Atlus really didn't give much away. We got a few extended, dark shots of the camera panning over what looks like a rainy graveyard, before moving to a green sky, some slightly creepy imagery of pointing hands, letters, and facial features, and then – bam – Persona 6 logo. It exists, it's coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and it's green.

Hoping to find out more? Well, too bad – at least, for now. In a press release, Wada – one of the leads on Persona 4 Golden, Persona 5 Royal, Persona 3 Reload, and more – says: "We are delighted to officially announce our work on the next installment of the Persona series and look forward to sharing the incredible efforts that the entire team is putting into Persona 6 for its release after Persona 4 Revival."

That certainly sounds like we shouldn't expect any more news until we're past Persona 4 Revival's release, which is now set for February 18, 2027. Painful though that may be for anyone desperate for more information, it's not particularly surprising, either – the lack of significant footage and any indication of a release window suggests that we might be waiting some time for the game. I just hope we don't have an Elder Scrolls 6-style wait ahead of us – poor Bethesda fans have gone eight full years without a look at the upcoming RPG now.

At least Persona 6's Xbox store page has given a little more away about the Atlus JRPG, teasing that "the signature blend of heartfelt daily life and pulse-pounding supernatural adventure returns, wrapped around a completely fresh, standalone story and new cast of characters," set in modern-day Japan.

"Navigate the rhythms of everyday school life and build friendships, pursue romance, and cultivate memories that matter," it continues. "But beneath the surface of familiar streets and quiet neighborhoods lies something darker: strange rumors, unsettling urban legends, and occult incidents that only you and your closest allies can face."

Frankly, that descriptor could be used for Persona 3, 4, and 5, so there's nothing unusual here – if anything, it confirms that Atlus is sticking to a formula it knows works, because why mess with a good thing? Clearly, though, for now, we'll just have to focus on Persona 4 Revival, which is now confirmed to be a remake of the expanded Persona 4 Golden, in turn avoiding Persona 3 Reload's biggest mistake.

The Persona series has sold 30 million copies, and an absurd chunk of that is from Persona 5.

The end of Summer Game Fest 2026 is upon us, and Bethesda Game Studios was a no-show in most fans' minds as it (once again) gave us nothing about The Elder Scrolls 6.

Yes, that's – sadly – right. The Elder Scrolls 6 did not, in fact, make an appearance during last night's Xbox Games Showcase, despite many of us huffing on the hopium that it would.

It comes as no surprise that reactions to the event, which saw only evergreen Bethesda titles like Fallout 76 and Elder Scrolls Online get some screen time, aren't exactly positive. Heck, it's been a whopping eight years since The Elder Scrolls 6 debuted at E3 in 2018... If you can call it "debuted," anyway, seeing as it was just a sub-minute teaser

Xbox showcase just wrapped up, still no TES VI from r/ElderScrolls

Over on Reddit, the conversation is taking off, with one person writing, "The one thing I was hoping for, even if it was just something small, was TES 6, and we still have nothing after eight years. I don't want to be negative, but at this point, I'm sick of waiting to hear nothing."

A comment jokes, "I can't wait to be a gaming grandpa to play this." I mean, I was a teenager when Bethesda unveiled its "trailer" myself, and now I'm 26… so, yeah.

Over on a separate thread, someone declared they"re "so depressed" after SGF. "It's been almost 15 years since the last Elder Scrolls game and nine years since the teaser for the new game. I'm so tired, man.... I'm at an all-time low." Replies see folks agree, with one reading, "I hate that I feel this way now, but I almost don’t care about it anymore."

Give it up for year 9 from r/ElderScrolls

That's how long it's been – and, as one user puts it, "At this point, it is more likely we will get the announcement of Skyrim for PS6 before TES 6." A painful but increasingly possible reality, I'd say… We did just get Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch 2, after all.

Another tired Elder Scrolls fan sums the entire situation and vibe up perfectly in their own post: "Give it up for year nine." They then jest: "See you all next year."

Will we see anything next year? I'm not sure, honestly, and I'm losing hope. Even Todd Howard himself told us to "just pretend we didn't didn't announce it" – so, um, yeah. He also admitted The Elder Scrolls 6 is still "a while" off, shooting down our hopes and dreams.

It's rough out here as an Elder Scrolls fan, honestly, and I'm growing tired of browsing the best Skyrim mods in hopes of spicing up the fifth entry for the hundredth time.

Fingers crossed that we get something… anything… soon from Bethesda. I'm not sure that the community can hang on much longer without more Elder Scrolls 6.

Searching for something else to wishlist? Here are the best new games coming this year and beyond to look forward to.

Infinity Ward has been watching the rise of extraction shooters, like Arc Raiders and Marathon, as it put together its own version of the genre in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's DMZ mode.

Multiplayer creative director Joe Cecot tells Xbox Wire that the team has been "paying attention to the genre," playing popular games to find out "what's clicking with players, what feels good, what doesn't feel good."

Cecot specifically says that the beta for DMZ lacked "meaningful player growth," which happens to be a major part of Arc Raiders' appeal. To fix that, the updated DMZ mode will give you a persistent inventory of gear and a central base to augment and upgrade your loadouts.

That said, extraction shooters require a level of commitment from players that can make it hard for new games to succeed. Cecot seems confident that won't be a problem for DMZ in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, though. He touts its open world full of mini events and unique locations as well as the pace and aesthetic of its combat as the kind of things you won't find in other games.

"Our rich sandbox combined with our first-person military theme is something that's going to really resonate with people," Cecot explains. "And I think our weapon feel and our movement are a step above most of the games."

We may be talking about Call of Duty here, the first-person shooter series of the last decade and change, but those are still some fighting words for popular games like Arc Raiders. I don't think the other games would've stuck so hard if their weapon feel was bad, which just means Infinity Ward is going to have to knock it out of the park to live up to those claims.

Luckily, if DMZ isn't cutting it right away, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will also have a full campaign and suite of multiplayer modes to play while the kinks get ironed out. You'll be able to see how it fares on October 23 for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 boss promises transparency over SBMM: "All will be revealed soon"

Persona 4 Revival's first proper gameplay trailer is upon us, and as well as confirming that Atlus's upcoming remake looks stunning, it also showed off the return of content from Persona 4 Golden.

During today's Xbox Games Showcase, Persona 4 Revival's latest trailer confirmed a February 18 release date for the upcoming JRPG remake, and also showed a very important character. Around 50 seconds in, we see Velvet Room assistant Marie – a character who was added to Persona 4's expanded Golden re-release in 2012 along with her Aeon Social Link. Without getting into any spoilers, she also plays a big role in the new story content added to Golden, which was absent from the original 2008 game.

Up until now, it's not been clear if Persona 4 Revival was going to be a remake of the original or Golden. Notably, Persona 3 Reload fell into the former camp, controversially opting to remove the female protagonist introduced in Persona 3 Portable, as well as The Answer epilogue added to Persona 3 FES, though that did get added as post-launch paid DLC.

Persona 4 Golden's extra content couldn't really have been added as DLC in the remake given how interwoven it is throughout the main story, so I'm glad to see that it's made the cut. There were a couple of hints in the first reveal trailer last year to suggest this would be the case, namely, the use of the Golden-exclusive song, Time To Make History, and what appeared to be the protagonist's scooter outside the Dojima residence (which he didn't have in the OG release).

All in all, it seems like this has the potential to be the definitive way to experience Persona 4, which, really, is exactly what you'd want from a remake, and I couldn't be happier that Atlus is avoiding what I'd argue was its biggest mistake in its last remake.

Today's Xbox Games Showcase was a real treat for Persona fans – we also got confirmation that Persona 6 is real, green, and on its way to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC… at some point. Yeah, we really don't know much for now, but that didn't stop me from jumping out of my seat at the reveal.

The Persona series has sold 30 million copies, and an absurd chunk of that is from Persona 5.

As the Persona series turns 30 and we finally have confirmation of Persona 6, Atlus has revealed that the Persona series has sold over 30 million copies.

The day has finally arrived – Atlus has announced Persona 6 and, sure, the publisher proceeded to show us absolutely nothing about the game, but now we have official word that the game actually exists following some art seemingly leaking online last week (which has been inadvertently strengthened by the game's official logo). For now though, all eyes are on Persona 4 Revival which finally got a release date of February 18, 2027, alongside a new trailer which confirms it'll be a remake of Persona 4 Golden, avoiding Persona 3 Reload's approach of remaking the base game.

Alongside its dual announcements, Atlus released a new piece of artwork featuring Persona 4 protagonist Yu Narukami to announce that the series' 30th anniversary has coincidentally coincided with the series selling over 30 million units. The Atlus Twitter account adds, "Thank you to everyone who has supported us – we wouldn't be here without you!"

Notably, Persona 5 is unsurprisingly responsible for a huge chunk of that. Back in 2023 – around the time Persona 5 Tactica released – Atlus confirmed that the "Persona 5 series" which consists of Persona 5, Royal, Dancing in Starlight, Strikers, and Tactica, had sold over 10 million copies. More recent numbers confirm Persona 5 Royal alone has passed seven million sales, on top of the 3.2 million sales that base Persona 5 sold by the end of 2019. And, undoubtedly, the spinoffs have sold even more in the years since, too.

So, the next time you ask "why is Persona 5 still being milked by Atlus" (and somehow don't remember how much Persona 4 was milked beforehand), that's probably why.

Hopes for Persona 1 and 2 remakes crushed as Atlus mysteriously alters the JRPGs' new merch listings.

Tonight's hotly anticipated Summer Game Fest event was the annual Xbox Games Showcase, and boy, did it bring us some cool reveals – including one of Spyro: A Realm Beyond, a title we've waited nearly two decades for.

The last proper Spyro entry landed a whopping 18 years ago with The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, but Activision and Toys for Bob are finally back with a new entry in the beloved series... one that sounds like it's shaping up to be the biggest we've ever seen – free-flying and all.

Speaking in a new interview with Xbox itself, Toys for Bob studio head Paul Yan seems to tease as much, first admitting that A Realm Beyond is just what the nostalgia doctor ordered.

Admitting that it'll be just as colorful and whimsical as predecessors, he says, "In Spyro: A Realm Beyond, the sense of discovery is absolutely core to this new adventure."

This whole "sense of discovery" that the lead mentions here is made all the better by one stand-out fact: you can fly freely about the skies as Spyro in A Realm Beyond. Yes, freely... and that's a lot for both the developers and fans.

As Yan describes, "For now, I can tell you that our biggest ambition in Spyro: A Realm Beyond is to give the player the freedom and fantasy of dragon flight – to be able to take the skies at a moment's notice and make interesting and active decisions to flow through the spaces as you charge on the ground and now soar through the air."

In fact, "This is such a significant addition to the game" that "we've built a whole world around that promise." That's... exciting, to say the least. It almost feels like the jump that the Super Mario series saw in Odyssey – but Spyro. I am so here for that.

If you're looking forward to soaring the skies as everyone's favorite little purple dragon like I am, it'll be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S – and, of course, Xbox Game Pass, too.

Searching for something else to wishlist? Here are the best new games coming this year and beyond to look forward to.

The Persona 6 reveal could hardly have been less informative, so we've no choice but to scrounge the newly minted store page for something of substance. At a glance: not a lot, but not nothing.

For my money, the main takeaway for the Persona 6 store page is what Atlus isn't doing – namely, fixing what isn't broken. Compared to previous releases, the studio is also strongly emphasizing approachability – presumably hoping to bring all the people who bought Persona 5 back for another game.

"Persona 6 brings everything beloved about the series into a bold new story," the description reads. "The signature blend of heartfelt daily life and pulse-pounding supernatural adventure returns, wrapped around a completely fresh, standalone story and new cast of characters. Whether you've been with the series since the beginning or this is your very first Persona experience, you belong here."

Persona has almost always been a series of standalone games, with the exception of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, the only direct sequel in the mainline lineup. Obviously, you'd want to play Persona 5 before playing a spinoff like Persona 5 Strikers – if only because hanging out with the Phantom Thieves does a lot of heavy lifting in that game – but you can start with any of the core games. At most, you might miss an extremely minor reference or two if you play them out of order.

With Persona 6. Atlus is really banging this drum. A dedicated subsection reads: "New to the Series? Learn about the journey." The closer adds: "Now, Persona 6 promises the perfect entry point into one of gaming's most beloved franchises for newcomers and a haunting, profound new mystery for those who have been waiting."

For Persona 6, Atlus seems to be playing the classics. "Everyday school life" returns, sending us back to the formative, awkward high school years. You'll "build friendships, pursue romance, and cultivate memories that matter" in more social links. The backdrop to this is a "double life in modern-day Japan," with "strange rumors, unsettling urban legends, and occult incidents" creeping into your routine.

After Persona 5 and its many children – Royal, Tactica, Strikers, Dancing, a big happy family – broke records for the series, it seemed unlikely that Atlus would suddenly change course and release a dramatically different installment. The dreary, graveyard-set Persona 6 reveal trailer does suggest a return to dimmer Persona 3 vibes compared to the more bubbly energy of Persona 4 and 5, but that's about all we can say, and even that is speculation. It's looking like Another Persona Game, and you won't hear any complaints from me.

Persona 4 Revival finally gets a release date, and boy does it look good.

Clockwork Revolution - the next game from a veteran Fallout developer - has time travel so impactful that your RPG consequences can unfold throughout the game, and your party may even return changed after a romp across time and space.

Game director Chad Moore detailed Clockwork Revolution's choices and consequences in a recent blog post, following on from the steampunk game's impressive showing at the Xbox Games Showcase, and suddenly its lofty promises have become a whole lot more concrete.

Clockwork Revolution lets players toy with time thanks to a gadget called The Chronometer. One of the powers shown off earlier tonight was Displace, an ability that, as the name implies, lets you grab an object before plopping it somewhere else. Useful for repositioning explosive barrels behind a group of enemies or getting a friendly turret within line of sight of enemies, say.

But the Chronometer also opens the door to decisions that can have far ranging consequences. Change the past, change the future - that kinda deal.

"When you reach into the past and start pulling threads, the people closest to you feel it first," Moore writes in an Xbox Wire post. "Their lives change in ways you don't always see coming, and the crew you come back to might not be the same one you left. Unfortunately for you, you're not the only one changing history."

The steampunk city's ruler and seemingly the game's antagonist Lady Ironwood can rewinds the clocks to some extend, as well. Bad news for us, "she's been using time travel to keep her grip on power, reshaping the past to make sure her future stays exactly the way she wants it."

"Staying ahead of her is going to be a constant push. You'll need to be cunning and try to build something better for you, your friends, and the people of Avalon. This is a world built on consequences. Some are big, some are small, some hit right away, and some take a long time to catch up with you. But every choice you make will matter," Moore adds.

Developer inXile Entertainment's last game, Wasteland 3, was already wildly flexible and reactive to player choices even without a time-rewinding gimmick, and based on the studios' pedigree, I'm inclined to believe it can pull off a concept this outlandish. For those out of the loop, original Fallout boss Brian Fargo is the founder and head of Clockwork Revolution's studio.

Elsewhere during the showcase, Microsoft announced Clockwork Revolution is set to launch in 2027 for Xbox Series X|S and PC. This time, it's one of two upcoming permanent Xbox console exclusives, along with Gears of War: E-Day, as the company peels back its multiplatform strategy.

For more, check out the upcoming Xbox Series X|S games or see everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2026.

The Xbox Showcase had a lot of big announcements. Gears of War: E-Day has a release date, console exclusivity is back, Persona 6 is real even if it didn't give us much. Though none of those actually matter because I was too busy getting dazzled by life-sim Vivarium.

If you thought you saw a Studio Ghibli movie in the middle of the showcase then you were mistaken, but you do know what game I'm talking about now. First announced in 2023, Vivarium is now set for a 2027 release, as revealed in the latest trailer, and it still looks as gorgeous as ever. The Ghibli vibes are largely owed to the game's lovely art, which the trailer notes is hand-illustrated.

Vivarium follows the story of Jenny, an 11-year-old that lives within a terrarium. The game takes place in this perfect pocket world, draped in a nostalgic atmosphere of verdant foliage and sunlight. The game's official site hints that while you'll spend most of your time doing the expected cozy activities of a life-sim, there is a hidden truth that lies beneath.

A fun twist on the life-sim formula that Vivarium brings is its approach to days. According to the game's official site, "days in Vivarium are synced to the player's real-world calendar." This will allow for new unique discoveries. Some of the cozy tasks you'll be able to get up to include cooking, collecting vinyl records, and crafting items to decorate your home. If you've ever wanted to live inside of a Ghibli film, Vivarium is a game that should be on your radar.

Vivarium is set to release in 2027 for Xbox Series consoles and PC.

My favorite indie game of 2024, a perfect mashup of Sailor Moon and Stardew Valley, just got a massive new update adding romance – and I already know who I’m dating

The Xbox Game Showcase's best announcement was undoubtedly the actual announcement of Crazy Taxi: World Tour after it was teased three years ago. So, of course Sega has immediately killed all of that goodwill by confirming it used generative AI for it.

During the showcase, a trailer kicked off with someone stacking cans before the dulcet tones of The Offspring's Dexter Holland shouting "YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH," and everyone whose knees currently hurt was immediately struck with excitement. While Sega did announce that Crazy Taxi was coming back during The Game Awards 2023 (alongside Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe, and a ton of other franchises Sega hasn't touched in years), this is our first look at the game now dubbed Crazy Taxi: World Tour.

We got some gameplay of the new game interspersed with CGI footage, with it teasing new types of Crazy Taxi-ing as your passengers are fishing for sharks, holding a tower of pizza, or playing air guitar. The trailer takes place throughout what seems to be a recreation of the original arcade game's map, however, a character invited Axel to new countries, implying there's going to be many more as part of the World Tour.

The Steam page explains the plot: "Embark on a globetrotting adventure to recover Axel's stolen car from a mysterious group of international car thieves in a compelling story-driven campaign." However, for those elderly people among us (anyone over 30), Sega promises a classic Arcade-style mode too "featuring a pulse-pounding race against the clock to earn the most cash possible".

Exciting, right? Well, unfortunately Sega has immediately put a big damp cloth on the hype, as that same Steam page unfortunately includes the dreaded "AI Generated Content Disclosure." The disclosure reads, "At SEGA Corporation, we utilize generative AI as a support tool for developers, aiming to provide better content to our users and enable developers to focus more on creative tasks. We have used such generative AI support tools during development of Crazy Taxi: World Tour. No AI was used in reference to the performers in the game."

The description is a little vague, however from the line about enabling "developers to focus more on creative tasks" Sega is presumably using the tech for behind-the-scenes tasks rather than flooding the game with AI slop artwork. There being a disclosure, however, has many thinking it's more than simply using AI support tools for coding – but the vagueness now allows people to assume the worst. And now, sadly one of the most exciting announcements of the showcase has been spoiled for many.

Of course, generative AI has become more commonplace in games as of late, with publishers like Ubisoft and Krafton openly talking about using the tech. However, players seem to be outright rejecting it, as the outcry over Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian using it for Divinity caused the studio to u-turn on the using it in concept art.

Speaking of Sega and disappointment, Atlus announced Persona 6 and proceeded to show us absolutely nothing.

Halo: Campaign Evolved isn't just a ground-up remake of one of the most formative first-person shooters of all time, it's also an expansion of an iconic story with a separate prequel story titled Operation: Meteorite, and Halo Studios brought in an award-winning sci-fi author to make sure it lives up to the name.

During today's Xbox Showcase 2026 for Summer Game Fest, some footage was shown of Operation: Meteorite's new prequel missions, which will send the Chief and Sgt. Johnson across enemy lines onto a Covenant research vessel for the UNSC and into some sweet looking space combat. "What starts as a simple smash and grab turns more complicated as they encounter more than they bargained for," says community director Brian Jarrard of the three new missions in an Xbox Wire post.

It's natural to be wary of a new team adding chunky narrative elements to such a beloved story, especially when original Halo developer Bungie has long, long moved on, but if anyone's up to the task, it would be NYT bestselling sci-fi author Troy Denning. Denning has written dozens of acclaimed novels going back to the '80s including almost 30 D&D novels, more than a dozen books in the Star Wars expanded universe, and most importantly here, some of the best Halo tie-in novels out there. From 2015 to 2023, Denning wrote the Halo novels Last Light, Retribution, Silent Storm, Oblivion, Shadows of Reach, Divine Wind, and Outcasts.

Jarrard says Denning's "work has helped shape some of the most memorable corners of the Halo universe across multiple acclaimed novels," and that "his involvement helped us ground Operation: METEORITE in the tone, stakes, and military sci-fi texture that players expect from Halo." Basically, they brought in the big guns for these prequel missions, guys, so don't worry.

Halo: Campaign Evolved launches July 28 for PC, Xbox Series X, Game Pass, and PS5.

Here are the best Xbox games you can play right now.

Xbox started off its latest showcase with Gears of War: E-Day, a prequel to a series synonymous with the console. That was intentional, as the announcement of a release date was accompanied by the news that E-Day will be a true Xbox exclusive.

In recent years Xbox and PlayStation have both sought to bring their first-party games to as wide an audience as possible. For Xbox, that has meant releasing titles like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 on PS5. That era seems to be over now under new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who took over the role from Phil Spencer in February 2026.

As noted in an Xbox Wire blog, Gears of War: E-Day will be an Xbox console exclusive, "as part of our focus on the return of Xbox." That also goes for time-bending action RPG Clockwork Revolution. "These are not timed exclusives," continues the blog, referencing the practice of releasing first-party Xbox titles on other consoles after the game's initial release.

Halo: Campaign Evolved, on the other hand, will still release on PS5 as well as Xbox and PC. According to Xbox Wire, "games already announced for multiplatform releases will stick to that plan – we're committed to investing in and growing Xbox both on console and beyond." While that may be true for previously announced titles, it seems that E-Day marks a new direction.

"The return of exclusives," as Xbox calls it in the headline of the blog post, follows a similar move made by PlayStation just a few months ago. In March, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reported that going forward, "the company's narrative single-player games will now be PlayStation exclusive." The notable exception to that rule are PlayStation's multiplayer titles, such as Marathon. The move to console exclusivity may be a little easier for Xbox as the company will still release games on Microsoft computers.

Gears of War: E-Day – Everything we know about the upcoming shooter

Veteran Fallout developers are prepping to release their next RPG Clockwork Revolution sometime in 2027 only on PC and Xbox Series X|S because Microsoft is dabbling with console exclusives again, apparently.

Clockwork Revolution is the next game from inXile Entertainment, the studio headed by Brain Fargo, the founder of original Fallout and Wasteland developer Interplay Entertainment - and we got a good look at its steampunk-y world and time-bending chaos during the Xbox Games Showcase.

The trailer shows a heist gone wrong, a sassy mechanical puppet, and how messing with time can lead to both fun combat results and unexpected changes in the world

Game director Chad Moore went more into the nitty gritty of the game's RPG mechanics. "You are Morgan Vanette and your look, your skills, and your choices can shape you throughout the game — who you're seeing in the trailer is just one version, not the version. At the start of Clockwork Revolution, you'll customize who Morgan is, and through your decisions during the game, who Morgan becomes," he writes in a new Xbox Wire post.

Along for the ride is a flying friendly automaton called Prentice, and Moore teases that she's an essential part of why your character ends up with the device that lets you jump across the timescape. "She's got her own abilities and her own skill tree, and she'll give you new ways to see and interact with the world."

The studio previously called Clockwork Revolution about ten times more ambitious than anything the developer has made before, and that doesn't surprise me any time I try to wrap my head around all those time-y rewind-y possibilities.

Xbox CCO Matt Booty also appeared on stage shortly after Clockwork Revolution's time slot to announce that it's another console exclusive, joining Gears of War: E-Day. Under its previous leadership, the firm began porting a lot of its portfolio to rival consoles, though the upcoming game is seemingly part of the company's return to exclusives.

Here's everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2026.

If you think about it, the Metro series is really just about inopportune timing. Nobody in any of the games asked to be around after a nuclear apocalypse, stuck fighting monsters with shoddy weapons, and dealing with greedy traitors. That's why it's no surprise that the newest game, Metro 2039, will continue the theme by releasing in the most crowded month next year.

Right alongside Fable, State of Decay 3, Persona 4 Revival, and probably Wo Long 2, Metro 2039 will arrive in February 2027.

The trailer developer 4A Games put together is unmistakably Metro-coded: Gas masks, fog, barbed wire, night vision goggles, and weapons with gauges on them take the spotlight like returning characters in a long-running series. And because it's a Metro game, you know that its ravaged world is full of monsters who screech and growl in the night and hold you at gunpoint.

Everything in Metro 2039 has that signature coat of rust you expect from these games even if there are quite a few new things hinted at in the footage, like new weapons and tools to survive the wasteland. As we see all the new gear, the narrator reveals the game's main antagonist will be Hunter, a returning character from Metro 2033 who was noticeably absent in Metro: Last Light.

While all of it looks like exactly what Metro fans have been waiting for, it's going to be fighting for their time amongst all the other big games dropping in the same month. Although that might also play to its strengths. Nobody makes shooters like 4A Games and I'm sure diehard Metro heads will gladly hold off on the fairytales in Fable to scavenge for bullets and unlikely alliances in an irradiated Moscow.

Metro 2039 takes on tunnel Nazis in a story shaped by the Ukraine war: "Sheltering from rocket attacks are interrupting but not stopping us"

Tonight's big Summer Game Fest event, the annual Xbox Games Showcase, brought us a release date for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse – you know, the game we've been waiting 12 years for now.

In case you're out of the loop, Castlevania: Belmont's Curse was first unveiled earlier this year during a February PlayStation State of Play – but since then, we've not really received much news on the new 2D action game... until now, that is.

Today has brought with it a new trailer and word from Konami on the hotly anticipated Castlevania: Belmont's Curse release date. That's right, it's no longer just a general "2026" launch window... the game is coming October 15 this year, right on time for Halloween.

That's not all, though. The trailer gives us a longer look at actual gameplay, and it's pretty impressive. Contemporary visuals paired with ye olde Metroidvania mechanics make for quite a compelling combo – and I'm personally sold.

If you're just as excited as I am to step into the shoes of the young Belmont protagonist, you'll be able to play Castlevania: Belmont's Curse on PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X|S come October.

Here's hoping the new Castlevania adventure we've waited over a decade for is a good one.

Searching for something else to wishlist? Here are the best new games coming this year and beyond to look forward to.

Almost 18 full years since the last all-new Spyro the Dragon game, everyone's favorite purple dragon is back with Spyro: A Realm Beyond, launching early next year.

Announced during today's Xbox Games Showcase, Spyro: A Realm Beyond is an all-new Spyro adventure from Toys for Bob. While we got the Reignited Trilogy in 2018, the last totally new game we got was 2008's The Legend of Spyro: The Dawn of the Dragon, so to say it's been a while would be an understatement. You can check out the trailer below.

As for what we can expect from A Realm Beyond, the trailer's video description reveals that Spyro finds himself stranded (presumably, in a realm beyond), but soon finds himself taking on "a vicious invading force known as the Scavs." It's called "Spyro's boldest evolution yet," which sounds very promising.

Rumors of a new Spyro game have been circulating for some time now – in 2024, it was rumored that Toys for Bob had signed a deal with Microsoft, shortly after splitting away from Activision. It didn't take long for these rumors to be confirmed – a couple of months later, Toys for Bob announced that it was "partnering with Xbox to publish our next new game," which was "still very early in development" at the time.

The studio didn't confirm what game it was working on, though given that the announcement was accompanied by the Toys for Bob and Xbox logos on a purple background, many fans were hopeful that Spyro was set to return. Now then, here we are – A Realm Beyond is set to launch in spring 2027 on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Switch 2, and PC.

While you're here, be sure to take a look at our Xbox Games Showcase 2026 live coverage to keep up with all the other announcements from today's stream.

Persona 6 is real, folks. Atlus announced it during today's Xbox Games Showcase live stream, and it was by far the thinnest announcement of the entire show.

The trailer is a dreary shot of a graveyard punctuated with a neon green "P6" logo, and that's about it. At least we have platforms to go on: Xbox Series X, PS5, and PC (Steam).

That's genuinely it for now. We have no release date, no characters (though some purported leaks would disagree), not even themes. But as of today, Persona 6 is a real, official, in-development JRPG to look forward to.

The trailer blurb reads: "The highly anticipated next chapter of the iconic RPG series delivers a bold, new standalone story blending heartfelt daily life and new characters with pulse-pounding, supernatural adventure. Whether it's your first Persona game or you've been here since the beginning, this one's for you."

To interrogate the trailer itself a little more closely, the vibes appear closer to the likes of Persona 3, the darkest of the modern installments. Persona 4 Revival, also shown during today's show, is a bundle of pop, and Persona 5 has jazz in its blood – not what I'd play at a graveyard.

About a minute in, right before the big P6 logo crashes down, a series of rapid cuts displays a message with broken lettering: "WHO ARE YOU". This could be another Persona-standard riff on identity and the self, or it could tie into a larger, more unique plot point of Persona 6. For now, we can only speculate.

Persona 4 Revival finally gets a release date, and boy does it look good

Mojang has announced that Minecraft Dungeons 2 will be joining the ever-growing pile of late September releases.

Being announced earlier this year at Minecraft Live 2026, Minecraft Dungeons 2 follows-up the 2020 dungeon crawler with a new game for PC, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. And now we've got our first proper look at the game with a sleek new trailer that feels like the closest thing to a Minecraft anime that we'll ever get as we see our cuboid warriors take on the usual roster of enemies.

We also got an actual look at gameplay, with the game looking a lot better than its predecessor, both visually, and in terms of the action on screen. The trailer also ended with a teaser of something to come, with a portal opening in front of a zombie. Howeveer, we didn't get a look at anything coming out of it, but I choose to believe it's going to be Jack Black.

However, good luck getting time to play it, as it's releasing on September 29, 2026. So unless you're not interested in Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Ace Combat 8, Silent Hill: Townfall, Control Resonant and the 500 other games coming out in September and October, you may be busy when it releases.

Unfortunately for Microsoft and Mojang, this release date wasn't exactly a surprise, as the Nintendo eShop accidentally spilled the beans earlier this week. The Switch 2 version of the game appeared on the store, with the September 29 release date, and a $29.99 pricepoint being included in the leak.

Spyro: A Realm Beyond is the series' first all-new game in 18 years, and it's launching next year

Doom: The Dark Ages' first big expansion is officially called (cold) Revelations, a snowy trek that gives Doomguy a sick-looking spear to further juggle demons and, as a jolly frozen departure from the blistering heat of summer, it's coming out in July. Developer id Software's also releasing a free update on the same day with a bunch of improvements.

Bethesda released the first trailer for Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations during tonight's Xbox Games Showcase, and the publisher is "unleashing a brutal new chapter of the Slayer's saga on July 7" across all platforms the game's already available on – PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.

"Featuring new levels with deeper puzzles, new demons and new mysteries, Revelations also adds new dimensions to combat with the deadly Chain Spear, offering returning Slayers a uniquely satisfying combat system that rewards mastery with a potent combination of power and mobility," the publisher writes in a recent blog post.

We're also getting a bigger, longer look at Doom Slayer's full face, which sort of feels wrong in the same way seeing a dog without its collars does, but it makes sense considering Revelations promises to be a more lore-heavy adventure.

As for the free Ripatorium 3.0 update that's also launching July 7, id Software is adding "deeper customization, improved pass code generation, and personal preset options to the game’s customizable arena challenge mode." Players who buy the Revelations expansion will get three new maps, demons, and access to fully upgraded weapons to use in the Ripatorium, as long as you've completed the main campaign.

Revelations costs $19.99. Base game owners can also upgrade to the Premium Edition to get access to the DLC for $34.99.

Here's everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2026.

During tonight's Summer Game Fest event, the annual Xbox Games Showcase, we saw a new sneak peek of Fable and finally got word of its release date.

So, we know that Fable is coming February 23, 2027... but that's apparently not all that Playground Games and Xbox Game Studios had to reveal about the long-awaited RPG tonight.

We actually caught wind of the game's first DLC, believe it or not – just have a look at the trailer, and you'll see the short bit toward the end highlighting pre-order and Premium Edition bonuses.

In the little section noting all of the Premium Edition perks, you'll find that folks who buy it – the $99.99 version only, that is, and not the standard $69.99 copy – will get the "first post-launch expansion" for Fable... one that's evidently called Order of the Hero.

That sure sounds like a (potentially unintentional) Fable DLC reveal to me, although it admittedly doesn't tell us much about what the expansion will actually be about. It makes sense, I suppose, seeing as the game itself isn't out yet... and won't be for a good eight months or so.

The other listed Premium Edition goodies include two special cosmetic outfits, the digital artbook and soundtrack, and nine in-game gifts to help us out on our journeys, while a pre-order of the normal version comes with an amusing chicken suit and three freebie items.

This also means that those of us who opt for the normal edition will have to purchase Order of the Hero whenever it might come – but there's no word on how much that may cost.

Regardless, I'm just hopeful that Fable in its entirety is fun – we've been waiting a long, long time, after all.

Searching for something else to wishlist? Here are the best new games coming this year and beyond to look forward to.

After six long years, Xbox has finally decided it's time to share more on State of Decay 3, the long-awaited next game in Undead Labs' open-world survival zombie series.

When footage of a zombie apocalypse game emerged during June's Xbox Games Showcase 2026, showing all manner of freaks like juggernauts and bloaters getting blown up and run over by players, I was sure we were getting the State of Decay 3 release date. I mean, again, it's been six years since the game was announced.

Alas, we got something ever so slightly less exciting: a 2027 release window. No exact date, but we know the game is coming out next year, which is cool! It would just be slightly more cool if we knew exactly when. Regardless, check out the new trailer and first gameplay reveal:

As far as the big gameplay reveal, well, it didn't actually reveal a whole lot. We see gangs of zombies lumbering around, we see abandoned towns being reclaimed by nature, we see player characters running around base camps and slamming into zombies with trucks, we see freaks get their heads popped, and lots of stuff on fire.

That's pretty much what every self-respecting State of Decay fan would want in a sequel, but nothing groundbreaking was revealed... with the exception of what appears to be both a jump and a dodge mechanic, which in hindsight is pretty revolutionary for this series. We also get a very limited sneak peek at the new Plague Nest areas, which Xbox calls "tough, dungeon-like" zones.

State of Decay 3 hits Xbox, PC, and PS5 in 2027.

Here are the best Xbox games you can play right now.

The wait for Persona 4's remake will be over soon. During the Xbox Games Showcase, Atlus announced the RPG will release on February 18 2027. Though fans waiting for Persona 6 news will have hope more good news breaks for the show is over.

Persona 4 Revival, which was first revealed last year following the success of Persona 3 Reload is a remake of the 2008 original. The fourth entry in Atlus' beloved RPG series is considered one of the best entries. It had a large role in boosting the series' popularity thanks to Persona 4 Golden, an updated version of the game for PS Vita released in 2012.

Persona 4 Revival will follow the same story as the original. You'll take control of a young man who recently moved to the countryside town of Inaba and finds himself investigating a series of mysterious murders related to the supernatural Midnight Channel. Like other entries in the series the game will involve dungeon-crawling turn-based combat and an emphasis on social links with party members.

Just like Persona 3 Reload, Revival boasts impressive new graphics. It also features an overhauled user interface with the style Atlus has become known for. One of the most interesting tidbits the latest trailer reveales is that Revival will feature content from the Golden release of the game, as we see Marie's S-Link. This marks a departure from how Atlus approached Persona 3 Reload, which only contained content from the original release of Persona 3 and not it's multiple subsequent versions.

Another detail that will disappoint some fans is the confirmation at the trailer's end of Revival's platforms. The remake will release on Xbox consoles, PS5, and PC. Notably it will be skipping Nintendo Switch 2, at least on release. Of course, Nintendo players can still get their hands on Golden right now, though it won't have all the new bells and whistles.

Persona 4 Revival - Everything we know so far about the new Persona 4 remake

Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja announced Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember at today's Xbox Games Showcase live stream, giving Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty a sequel after three years.

Wo Long 2 is coming in 2027 to all platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X, PC, and even Nintendo Switch 2. Team Ninja says it will launch in "early 2027," though we don't have an exact date to put to that just yet.

February is looking like a safe bet, as it's also looking like the next September: a jam-packed month of releases, only this time it's publishers squeezing games into the fiscal calendar rather than fleeing GTA 6's November launch.

The Wo Long 2 trailer description reads: "In this long-awaited sequel to Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, which has surpassed over 5 million players worldwide, players must master the evolved Chinese martial arts and conquer battlefields of the Three Kingdoms overrun by monstrous demons alongside renowned heroes who left their mark on history."

Our Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty review put it among the upper echelons of the Soulslike space, praising its parry-focused combat and strong aesthetic.

There's a lot of Team Ninja's Nioh series in Wo Long, for good and bad. The shared bones of combat are great, but the loot system can be hit-and-miss. In Wo Long, especially, it was hit-and-miss-and-miss-and-miss. But the Nioh series has improved this and other aspects over time, with Nioh 3 striking a much better balance. Here's hoping Wo Long 2 was taking notes.

Senua revealed: Ninja Theory announced a new action-adventure game at Xbox Games Showcase 2026 – and it isn't Hellblade 3.

The Xbox Games Showcase just showed us our first look at Halo: Campaign Evolved's prequel missions, which we'll finally get to play this July.

Halo: Campaign Evolved is billed as a faithful remake of the iconic shooter, but Halo Studios is still taking a few nice liberties with Master Chief's first adventure. Most notably, the game's taking us on a three-mission romp, called Operation: METEORITE, set a year before Master Chief's awakens from cryo-slumber and gets dropped onto an alien ring.

Dear old Sergeant Johnson's along for the ride, Cortana looks much different than her original 2001 counterpart, and, oh, you can pilot alien vehicles in massive space battles. Take a look in the trailer below.

We already got a brief glimpse at the remake's brand-new additions via an accidental leak on the Xbox Store (quick, act surprised) alongside a few paid cosmetic DLC packs that weren't shown off in the trailer. So expect some customization options that weren't present in the OG Xbox original, too.

"Sneak into a Covenant science fair in Operation: METEORITE," the game's Steam page explains. "Before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, these all-new, action-packed missions follow the Master Chief and his most stalwart ally, Sgt. Major Avery Johnson, as they encounter new threats, new allies, and untold surprises aboard a Covenant vessel."

Halo: Campaign Evolved launches July 28, 2026 on PC, Xbox Series X|S, Game Pass, and PS5.

Pre-orders for the remake are up now with a Standard Edition that costs £50/$50, and a Premium Edition that costs £60/$60 and comes with five days of advanced access, a cosmetic pack, and some extra digital goodies.

Here's everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2026.

It's Summer Game Fest time, which means that Microsoft is back for its annual Xbox Games Showcase with plenty of big reveals and sneak peeks... including the new Fable – a title that perhaps stands as one of the most highly anticipated RPGs ever.

That's right – we got a new look at Fable, as well as an actual release date. After facing a delay from Xbox just last month, the game felt further out of reach than ever... but 2027 is truly the year it's coming out, it appears, and there's not too long left to wait.

As per tonight's trailer from Playground Games, Fable is launching next year on February 23. In other words, eight months or so from now.

Not only that, but it'll be available on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S – and, of course, via Xbox Game Pass. Pre-orders are already open now as well, with an optional (and unsurprisingly more expensive) Premium Edition to boot.

For reference, the standard version appears to cost $69.99 while the Premium Edition is a whopping $99.99. So, a solid hundred bucks – but we do get two special cosmetic outfits, the digital artbook and soundtrack, nine in-game gifts to help us out on our journeys, and first post-launch expansion Order of the Hero.

Even the standard edition – if pre-ordered, that is – comes with a gift: the, erm, Chicken Suit Comsetic Ouftit. Yes, it looks exactly how you probably think it looks. A pre-order also boasts three helpful in-game gifts, which isn't a bad deal if you ask me... although the chicken drip is what truly completes it.

As for the cinematic visuals we see in the new trailer, I'd say that the more modern take on Albion is shaping up to be quite something. Everything still carries the vibe of the 2004 title that started it all, cartoon-y colors, focus on story, and all.

Here's hoping Fable manages to impress as much as its predecessors come February 23, 2027.

Searching for something else to wishlist? Here are the best new games coming this year and beyond to look forward to.

Xbox has announced that Gears of War: E-Day will be releasing on October 6, 2026, and that it'll be an Xbox console exclusive.

Despite a Gears of War: E-Day Direct being the deep dive at the end of this month's Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft's show opened up with gameplay from the upcoming prequel, showing Marcus, Dom, and some new faces as they traverse the streets of Kalona as the Locust begin to emerge.

It showed off some pretty standard Gears shooting, but this time around Marcus seems a bit more nimble as the squad now has the ability to slide (despite how bulky all that armor is). I'm sure we'll see a bit more of it in the Gears of War: E-Day Direct, but from what we've seen so far it's looking like some good old Gears.

The trailer ends with news that Gears of War: E-Day will also be plunging into that crowded September/October mosh pit, with an October 6, 2026 release date confirmed. And on top of that, it's confirmed that the game will be an Xbox console exclusive, with no PS5 release is on the way.

Given that the game was rated for Xbox, PS5, and PC earlier this week, it definitely feels like a PS5 version of the next Gears game was planned (especially with the remaster arriving on PS5 last year to welcome PlayStation players to the franchise). Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb said this was the case, but now the PS5 version is no longer happening as new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma makes changes to go – as she puts it – "back to Xbox."

Gears of War 6 was considered before The Coalition decided on E-Day, JD Fenix actor says as he pitches a bonkers sequel about Marcus fighting his zombie son.

Atlus is warning users to be wary of fake accounts and misinformation amid a sea of Persona leaks.

During not-E3 season, leaks are plentiful, and if you've been paying attention as of late, you'll have no doubt seen a deluge of potential Persona 6 artwork leaks. Many were unsure of how real these leaks were, however, now that Sega has apparently issued copyright strikes against them, some are taking it as confirmation of the leaks being legitimate, especially as we approach Summer Game Fest and the Xbox Games Showcase – where prominent Switch 2 leaker Nate The Hate says he is confident the game will show up.

However, amid these leaks, Atlus has released a statement about false information spreading. In a post on Twitter, the Atlus account (via machine translation) notes that it has confirmed the existence of accounts impersonating employees of the company, which have no connection to Atlus officially. The post then notes that information will only come from the Atlus website or official social media accounts.

While Atlus doesn't call out any specific accounts, notably, an account parodying Persona and Metaphor: ReFantazio lead Katsura Hashino released a fake statement yesterday that claimed to be from Atlus, acknowledging the Persona 6 leaks. The same account made a fake post about what looked like a Metaphor: ReFantazio sequel or expansion, titled Metaphor: ReFantazio Retold.

Of course, the parody account has now chimed in, quoting Atlus's post and telling fans to be careful, prompting countless replies of that Spongebob screenshot of him looking for the maniac. However, in the time since, they have also said they are going to stop using the account (which could just as easily be a joke). But regardless, it's a good reminder to be vigilant when it comes to believing social media posts you see online.

While you're here, take a look at our Summer Game Fest schedule to keep up with this year's showcases. Wondering what new games might be announced? You can read our Summer Game Fest 2026 predictions for our thoughts.

After Sega issued copyright strikes on some supposed Persona 6 leaks, all eyes are on a potential Summer Game Fest reveal. And now, prominent leaker Nate the Hate is claiming that we should be seeing it on Sunday.

Over the last few years – after over a decade of not supporting the platform – Atlus and RGG Studio have gotten cozy with Xbox for most of its major reveals. Persona 5 ports, Persona 3 Reload, Persona 4 Revival, and Metaphor ReFantazio were all revealed at Xbox Game Showcase events, and now everyone's looking to Xbox for more news about Persona. While it feels very likely that we could see something about Persona 4 Revival, given that it's received multiple age ratings within the last few months, the unannounced Persona 6 is a bit more mysterious.

However, Nate The Hate – who most recently leaked details about the new Star Fox before its reveal alongside a whole host of Nintendo info – says in a recent episode of his podcast that "I'm confident enough to say that Persona 6 will be there," in regards to this Sunday's Xbox Games Showcase. He doubles down on this, saying: "I don't think there's any way Persona 6 does not show up at this showcase."

As for any other details, Nate The Hate adds that "I think they will put the year. I think it'll just be that generic 2027 type of thing," but that we won't be getting a release month. However, he expects a repeat of 2024, where a Persona remake releases in February, before a new game (in 2024's case, Metaphor) launches in the second half of the year. So it only took 10 years, but we may be seeing the next Persona game this week.

Be sure to check out our Summer Game Fest schedule to keep up with this year's showcases. Wondering what new games might be announced? Take a look at our Summer Game Fest 2026 predictions for our thoughts.

Fable has been delayed to 2027, and Xbox had to be sneaky about it. The news came buried in the middle of a tweet, which, despite masquerading a list of how many excellent new games are set to launch in 2026 – only three of the six being Xbox-owned IPs – turned out to be a Trojan horse.

Xbox explains its reasoning as being made with its players in mind. By moving the goalpost to February next year, the delay would help Xbox "plan [its] game launches through the holidays" and give the upcoming RPG "the dedicated moment it deserves". Launching in the shadow of Grand Theft Auto 6 is no developer's idea of a good time, but if this delay is supposed to be a great gift from Microsoft that spares us the ineffable torment of having too many good things to play all at once, it's a pretty strange gift. It has me wondering if the real reason is that Fable needs more time to cook – and if that's true, why not just say so?

War of the words

I really don't mind when games are delayed if it's done for the sake of a better experience. Cyberpunk 2077 has taught us all a lesson, and it's that if something needs more time before it's up to scratch, better it launch late than as a bug-riddled mess.

But Xbox's announcement does not tout game improvements as the reason for Fable's delay. Rather, it cites the existence of six other games, half of which still lack release dates. Something doesn't sit right with me about this: if the game is finished, surely it should just… launch. If it isn't finished, just tell us and I promise you, we will survive the disappointment. And if it's been shifted to avoid launching in the shadow of GTA 6 – which is how I read between the lines of the tweet, personally – Xbox's vague excuses make sense from a business perspective.

From a fan and player's perspective, they don't. True, we still have Gears of War: E-Day, Clockwork Revolution, and O.D. among the biggest upcoming Xbox Series X games in development right now, but only one of those is likely to get a release date in 2026. Fable was supposed to be Xbox's big game of the year for Series X/S and PC players alike, and pushing its one and only Xbox exclusive to 2027 feels strange off the back of Xbox's recent management changes.

There's also the tacit notion that GTA 6 would somehow markedly affect Fable's sale. But would it really? Xbox seems to be making a lot of inferences about its players that make it believe so. For starters, that everyone and their mother is interested in playing GTA 6 (note: personally, I could take or leave it). Secondly, that everyone has a console to play it on. According to Medium, the global number of PC players vastly outstrips that of console owners by hundreds of millions. That's millions of people who will not have access to GTA 6 at launch, not to mention the vast number of open world fantasy RPG nerds who'd rather cause havoc in Albion than rob banks in Vice City.

GTA 6 will be a huge cultural event, but that doesn't mean every single person who plays video games will want to play the exact same video games. Withholding a title just because there's a desire to launch in its own special spot does not feel like a viable way to schedule game launches; if it wasn't for GTA 6, it could be any other game, only Xbox wouldn't have quite as strong a leg to stand on in defending a delay for that specific purpose.

Whether Fable's delay is down to GTA 6 fears or a need for further polish (or a mix of both), we'll be getting a few more answers soon. There's only days to go before the Xbox Games Showcase 2026, and sadly, my top prediction now lies in semi-tatters. No, I don't think we will get a Fable release date after all – the February 2027 window might have to suffice – but we have been promised a sizable glimpse of Fable and a deep-dive into Gears of War: E-Day. It might just be enough to demonstrate why Xbox wants to zero in on Gears and the new Call of Duty game above all else right now. The changing of the guard means that this is a crucial time for Xbox to demonstrate its ability to deliver on promises, and hopefully, my worn-down patience might get a fresh lick of paint as the wait for Fable drags on.

Fable is one of the best fantasy RPG series of all time, and there's plenty more besides.

Metro 2033 author and collaborator on the video game series, Dmitry Glukhovsky, is saying the next entry, Metro 2039, will be the darkest in the series to date.

Earlier this week – after a weekend packed with rumors and leaks – Microsoft announced a new Xbox Showcase, but rather than an all-encompassing show, this one has a single purpose: to reveal the next game in the Metro series. While details about the game are slim, Glukhovsky has posted about the announcement, reiterating his involvement in the title, which was first announced back in 2020 as an unnamed sequel to Metro Exodus.

Well, after Microsoft gave us nothing, over on Twitter, Glukhovsky, out of the blue, posted another detail about the game, saying, "This Metro game will be darker than anything you’ve seen before." Of course, I assume he's talking about the actual content of the game and the story he's presumably worked on for it, but given the Metro series focuses on underground tunnels, some are taking this quite literally, wondering if the game itself will be hard to see.

We'll likely find out more about what the storyline actually is after the reveal later this week, but it's safe to say the already pretty grim series could be facing some more nasty business. Although, granted, I think it would be a pretty safe assumption that a post-apocalypse is only going to get worse as it goes along, but Glukhovsky's comment could signal an even sharper tone shift than some could be expecting.

Fallout: New Vegas praise felt "a little unfair" to one Bethesda veteran at first, but Obsidian "did a great job" of channeling the series' spirit: "In some ways better than we did."

Xbox has announced another showcase this week, with the world premiere of the next game in the Metro series: Metro 2039.

Over the weekend, a series of leaks emerged for a new Metro game, including cutscene and gameplay clips, with the videos titled Metro 2039. Later in the weekend, Nate The Hate – who is best known for their Nintendo leaks – said on Twitter that there will be an Xbox showcase on April 16, 2026, and that it will be where the new Metro game will be revealed.

And now, thanks to a well-timed Xbox Wire post – whether in reaction to the leaks or a planned reveal – we know the Xbox Showcase this week is legit, and we have an official announcement that yes, the next game in the series will be called Metro 2039. The Xbox First Look: Metro 2039 video will premiere on Thursday, April 16 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT over on the Xbox YouTube channel.

The post keeps its cards to its chest as to what Metro 2039 will actually be like in terms of story or any gameplay details – such as if it's following up on Metro Exodus' open-world stages or going back to a linear style – but it's confirmed to be a mainline entry in the series.

The game was actually first announced as an unnamed sequel to Exodus back in 2020, so presumably it's been in development for the past six years, with Dmitry Glukhovsky – author of the books and collaborator on the games – reiterating it was still coming back in 2022. He shared the announcement of the game on his instagram account, presumably confirming he's still involved in the project.

Regardless, it's been seven years since Exodus came out, and given Fallout is more popular than ever, the hunger for post-apocalyptic shooters is definitely high, and an improved version of Exodus could be a real winner.

Fallout: New Vegas praise felt "a little unfair" to one Bethesda veteran at first, but Obsidian "did a great job" of channeling the series' spirit: "In some ways better than we did"

The Xbox Games Showcase 2026 will take place on June 7 at 10am PT / 1pm ET and be immediately followed by the Gears of War: E-Day Direct, which should offer a magnifying glass look at the shooter – and Xbox's return to the red-blooded Gears of War franchise after years away.

Xbox explains in a news post on the Microsoft website, the Gears of War: E-Day Direct will be a "deep-dive" into the prequel, while its annual Games Showcase includes "first gameplay looks and huge news on upcoming titles from our first-party studios across the Xbox family, as well as our third-party partners around the globe – from the biggest franchises to soon-to-be indie darlings."

After, the Gears of War: E-Day Direct will go granular on "new details, gameplay and insights," Xbox says, "about the hugely anticipated origin story to the Gears of War saga." The game was originally announced in 2024 – but it notably does not yet have a precise release date, only a general, "2026" release window. It'll be Xbox's first new Gears of War title since it released spin-off Gears Tactics in 2020, and its first main Gears game since Gears 5 launched in 2019.

The Xbox family also brings good tidings through Xbox FanFest, the 2016 in-person community event Microsoft is now dusting off for June 7. Xbox explains in its post, "To help celebrate the Xbox 25th anniversary, we're excited to bring back Xbox FanFest at Showcase. This year's experience will include a look back at the last 25 years, alongside a forward view of what’s next." The publisher is currently hosting a sweepstakes for a trip to FanFest in Los Angeles.

Save yourself a flight: there are already a few confirmed upcoming Xbox Series X games.

Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse has announced Vaunted, the debut title from Lost Lake Games founded by former StarCraft and Guild Wars devs.

During today's Xbox Partner Preview, we got new looks at the likes of Sega's Stranger Than Heaven, a big Stalker 2 update, and some more of Mass Effect-inspired The Expanse: Osiris Reborn – but we already knew about those. One of the surprise highlights from the showcase was the announcement of Hooded Horse's Vaunted, which evokes Sega's missing in action strategy series Valkyria Chronicles, taking it from the battlefields of fictional European countries and instead going the space western route. And, it's the debut game from Lost Lake Games – founded by ex-StarCraft and Guild Wars developers.

In a press release sent to GamesRadar+, the setting is described as "a galaxy where mercenaries and treasure hunters scrap over priceless imperial relics buried in far-flung ruins," where you'll take control of a trio of "dysfunctional frenemies" and build a squad of "dubious" companions. Notably, despite being focused on three heroes on the same mission, each one of the "unreliable storytellers" has their own version of events meaning you'll be able to replay chapters from a different perspective.

For those who haven't partaken in Sega's underrated strategy classics, the game works like a regular turn-based tactical RPG, except you'll be pretty much in full control of your characters during turns. Unlike the likes of XCOM and Fire Emblem, turns play out like a third-person shooter, albeit with the strategy and planning of a tactics game. That being said, it takes a unique version of the turn system too, as players get to control which character takes their turn when (although you will have to alternate with enemies).

So far, the game is only announced for PC, with a release on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft store coming in 2026. Plus, the game is set to arrive on PC Game Pass on day one.

Star Wars Zero Company will kill story characters, Fire Emblem-style.

Ralph Fulton, Playground Games general manager and game director on the new Fable, is drawing a distinct line between what his reboot of the classic RPG series is and isn't.

For one, it's not a Lionhead game. The OG Fable developer shut down in 2016, and Playground isn't trying to simply dupe the recipe for that studio's special sauce.

In an interview with Xbox Wire, Fulton revealed that Playground received a "treasure trove of documents from Lionhead that had been in storage" to serve as a navigating star as the new developers worked on rebooting the franchise. However, Fulton also made clear, "we can't try to make a Lionhead game." The British game developer is known these days as the Forza Horizon studio, but obviously that's about to change.

"One of the things I said to the team was, 'Look, we're not Lionhead – we can't try to make a Lionhead game,'" said Fulton. "This has to be Playground game because I'm a really firm believer that the personality and the character of a team is visible in the work they do and the games they make."

Another key distinction Fulton learned from the aforementioned documents is that Lionhead didn't consider Fable a fantasy game, despite magical creatures and abilities having always been a core component of the series' world and systems.

"I guess our interpretation of what that means is that fairytale and fantasy probably exist on opposite ends of a spectrum," Fulton said. "I think we all know what fantasy is – it's The Witcher, it's Skyrim, it's Lord of the Rings, it's Game of Thrones. And I think tonally it's quite grand, it's sweeping, it's geopolitical, it's serious. You know, you can almost picture the color palette of fantasy."

One of the standouts from the Fable segment of today's Xbox Developer Direct was the focus on NPCs, of which there are more than 1000, almost all of which you can interact with in a myriad of different ways, from marrying them to divorcing them and even employing them. Fulton recently sat down with GamesRadar+ and explained how Fable's ambitiously designed NPCs are at the core of the game's open world fantasy – erm, fairytale.

"We felt we needed to reboot the franchise and put our own stamp on it. This had to be Playground's Fable," Fulton told us.

Sorry, the Fable reboot doesn't feature a dog companion, Playground lead confirms: "I was hoping that nobody would ask that question"

Beast of Reincarnation, the new action-RPG with big Sekiro and Nier vibes from longtime Pokemon developer Game Freak, is releasing on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC this summer. It'll also be available day one on Xbox Game Pass.

Game Freak announced the date during today's Xbox Developer Direct alongside a developer presentation and some flashy new gameplay sequences. Beast of Reincarnation is the first full-blown AAA game outside of the Pokemon series to be developed by Game Freak, and untraditionally, it's releasing on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox instead of Nintendo hardware.

The game takes place in post-apocalyptic Japan in the year 4046, following a blight that parasitizes all forms of life and turns them into corrupted creatures called malefacts. Fortunately, you play as a gifted young woman named Emma, who has special powers that let her manipulate plant life to traverse unforgiving terrain and fight back against the malefacts. Emma is aided in exploration and combat by her fiercely loyal dog friend Koo, who can carry out ability commands in battle while Emma fights using real-time sword-based action. Here's hoping you can pet Koo endlessly.

Director Kota Furushima tells GamesRadar+ that when you manage to pull off parries, you earn points that can be used to activate Koo's abilities. "The command menu for Koo can be opened at any time, allowing players to move seamlessly between action and command-based combat. Through this flow, Koo's presence is constantly felt by your side," says Furushima.

Beast of Reincarnation is billed as a "one-person, one-dog action-RPG," and I can't wait to see what Game Freak is capable of outside of the Pokemon IP (and the lackluster Little Town Hero) when it releases this summer.

Here are the best RPGs worth playing in 2026.

Xbox is showing off Fable, Forza Horizon 6, and more at the Xbox Developer Direct later today. We've got you covered with when, where, and how to watch it live.

Earlier this month, Xbox confirmed that its now seemingly annual January Developer Direct would be returning for 2026. This time around, we'll be treated to the first deep dive into Fable and Forza Horizon 6 from Playground Games, and a look at gameplay for Pokemon developer Game Freak's new action RPG, Beast of Reincarnation, which was announced last year at the Xbox Showcase.

While unconfirmed, Forza Horizon 6's release date was seemingly leaked in Horizon 5 last week, so there's a pretty good chance we could see that surface here. Plus, January Xbox showcases also have a track record of surprising us – 2023 had the surprise announcement and release of Hi-Fi Rush, while last year had the reveal of Ninja Gaiden 4 and an announcement and shadowdrop of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. For now, we can only speculate whether or not Xbox might continue that trend today.

How to watch the Xbox Developer Direct January 2026 stream

You can watch the Xbox Developer Direct January 2026 stream on YouTube this Thursday, January 22, at 10am PT, 1pm ET, or 6pm GMT.

Xbox will be streaming the show on YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook, and alternate versions with audio descriptions and ASL will also be available, streaming simultaneously on YouTube. These will be streaming at the same time, so it really is up to you to decide which streaming platform you like best.

Be sure to check out our roundup of upcoming Xbox Series X games to see what's on the horizon for this year and beyond.

Xbox has confirmed that it will once again be having a Developer Direct showcase with the first deep dive into Fable and and Forza Horizon 6 planned for January 22.

Just like Nintendo typically does a major Direct in February, June, and September (ignoring last year, it had a lot going on), Xbox is making January its home as once again we'll be getting an Xbox Developer Direct this month. The news was confirmed on Xbox Wire today after Matt Booty said the company was gearing up for one.

Headlining the show is "a first extended look at Fable." After being in development at Playground Games for what seems like forever, and being totally MIA throughout 2025 – barring a delay announcement – we're finally getting a proper look at what the game is actually like.

The blog says "Devs from the Playground team will unveil the magic and mischief that awaits players in this fresh new beginning for the franchise, including a first look at some stunning new gameplay." Meanwhile the Fable Twitter account describes it as "our first deep dive into the game."

Playground Games will be pulling double duty at this show, as it is also set to "share a deep-dive on the much-anticipated Forza Horizon 6." The open world racer was announced last year with a Japan setting confirmed, but we don't know much more than that, so this will be our first time seeing what arguably the best driving game series has in store for the Japanese landscape.

Finally we'll see Pokemon developer Game Freak's "intense one-person, one-dog action RPG" Beast of Reincarnation. The game was announced last year at the Xbox Showcase, and Game Freak is set to show off "our protagonist Emma's innovative plant manipulation actions and gameplay with her canine companion, Koo."

It's also worth noting that for the past two years, Xbox Developer Directs in January have featured a surprise game drop, with Hi-Fi Rush in 2023, and Ninja Gaiden 2 Black joining the announcement of Ninja Gaiden 4 last year, so perhaps a surprise is in the cards too.

"We would look at all the American RPGs and the JRPGs at the time and just go, 'Right, if they're doing it, we're not": Peter Molyneux and John McCormack talk the development of Fable 20 years on

Xbox has confirmed that there will be an Xbox Partner Preview showcase later this week on Thursday, November 20 with 007: First Light confirmed to be headlining the show.

This was confirmed on a post on the Xbox Wire blog which says the show "will include news on upcoming games from partners including IO Interactive, Tencent and THQ Nordic, plus some brand-new reveals and Game Pass announcements."

While not hyper-specific about everything being shown by any means, three games are announced for the lineup so far. First off is "an exciting first look at content coming to 007 First Light." Which frankly, is very weird wording to me that makes it sound like we're going to be seeing some DLC or post-launch content, which would be very strange given that the game isn't out until March 26, 2026.

Joining James Bond is "an electrifying extended gameplay trailer" for dark fantasy action game Tides of Annihilation. We saw this game for the first time during a PlayStation State of Play back in February, and given that the game is set to release in 2026, hopefully a release date is in the cards.

Finally there's "a fresh look" at Reanimal, the upcoming horror game from the original developer of Little Nightmares that feels like a spiritual successor to those games (and will hopefully be better than the Little Nightmares 3 we got). Xbox has also promised reveals for unannounced games will be included, so the stream won't be fully dedicated to these three.

And to go along with her leading role in Tides of Annihilation, Baldur's Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actor Jennifer English is going to be the voice over for the broadcast.

Arc Raiders sets another Steam record for a third weekend in a row, surpassing 481,000 concurrent players despite competition from Call of Duty and Escape from Tarkov

2025 is the year of Obsidian Entertainment. Formed 22 years ago, the legendary RPG maker responsible for Pillars of Eternity, Fallout: New Vegas, Alpha Protocol and countless other video games is on something of a hot streak.

Microsoft Gaming purchased Obsidian in 2018, folding the team into the Xbox Game Studios group. Since then it has wrapped production of The Outer Worlds; released Grounded, supporting it through years of early access and regular content drops; released Pentiment in 2022, and Avowed in 2025 following a short delay; and managed to bring Grounded and Pentiment to PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch as part of Microsoft's multiplatform initiative. If that weren't enough, it also has The Outer Worlds 2 and Grounded 2 set to release this year.

It's a lot, particularly for a first-party studio operating within the Xbox ecosystem. I was keen to understand how the studio has managed this flood of new releases, and thankfully the teams at Obsidian Entertainment were only too happy to answer.

Inside Grounded 2

When Xbox revealed Grounded 2 at the Xbox Showcase, it announced that "Obsidian and Eidos Montréal have joined forces to bring you the next chapter with even more depth, danger, and discovery to experience." The way development responsibilities have been split between the two award-winning teams says a lot about the flexibility Obsidian has been afforded by Xbox Game Studios.

"Grounded 2 is actually a good example of our growth as a developer. We could not do what we're doing right now if we didn't have great development partners and co-dev partners," says Feargus Urquhart, studio head and CEO at Obsidian. "That's one of the big transitions for us"

Urquhart says that it has long been his ambition for Obsidian to scale beyond the boundaries of a traditional studio, simply shifting from one project to the next. "With Pillars of Eternity 2, we signed up a publisher late because we really wanted to start publishing games ourselves. We didn't really have the people internally, so we hired some people in but it didn't really work out. So unlike CD Projekt RED, BioWare, and others who were on the cusp of becoming publishers we weren't getting there."

"This isn't me saying that Microsoft is allowing us to become a publisher," he laughs. "It's more that the acquisition has allowed us to become a more multi-faceted developer, which is what I've always wanted to do." This is a key component behind how Obsidian has been able to scale so quickly, and maintain such a rapid-fire release schedule. Urquhart adds: "It's allowed us to sign up external teams. There's not a lot of studios at Microsoft that have an entire external developer making the whole game for them."

Grounded 2 has been in development for just under two years, meaning it entered production around a year after the release of Grounded 1.0 and a year before the survival-adventure made its way to PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. Around this same time, Obsidian was juggling development of Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2. Grounded attracted over 25 million players into the backyard, it's popular and there were demands for more; but how could Obsidian have possibly squeezed in a sequel?

"The Grounded team was relatively small, it maxed out in the 20s," says Chris Parker, Obsidian co-founder and Grounded 2 game director. "When we started thinking about doing Grounded 2 it was fortuitous how it worked out, actually, because we wound up talking to Eidos about some other stuff and it turned out that they had a small team who absolutely loved Grounded. They were almost pitching us on the sequel."

From there a "significant team up at Eidos" and a "relatively large group at Obsidian" came together to push Grounded 2 through production. Grounded 1's game director Adam Brennecke, its lead programmer Roby Atadero, art director Kazunori Aruga, along with six other principal leads and a small internal steering group at Obsidian joined Parker to collaborate closely with Eidos. "We are constantly at each other's offices. We're talking about stuff daily. It's a really healthy relationship. And because they actually love the game at Eidos, it's not like this dispassionate contractor that we've hired. They are bringing all their own stuff to the table," says Parker.

Grounded 2 producer Miles Winzeler adds: "Obsidian and Eidos have similar design goals as studios. We mesh really well together. It's also the difference between the two of them that's been a big strength. It means Grounded 2 will feel like its own piece, as they are able to flex what they're best at, too."

Enduring Relationships

Urquhart uses Voltron as his point of reference to describe how external teams join together with Obsidian to create something bigger, more powerful. He tells me that before the 2018 acquisition into the Xbox Game Studios group, Obsidian largely handled work in-house outside of VO, QA, and localization departments. But support from Xbox has allowed the studio to expand here in all areas of design, and reconnect with friends and former developers from across the years.

Obsidian is collaborating with Aspiring Unicorn, UI and UX experts working across The Outer Worlds 2. There's a relationship with Digimancy Entertainment, founded by Obsidian veteran George Ziets, and with Beamdog – co-founded by Trent Oster of BioWare, who Urquhart first encountered while working on Shattered Steel at Interplay two decades ago. Urquhart is quick to shout about these relationships (and plenty more of them). Both as an example of the ensuring legacy of Obsidian and how the studio is able to grow the scope of its projects without growing the studio too quickly.

Still, I wonder whether an increasing reliance on co-dev and outsourcing risks diminishing the identity of an Obsidian game. Urquhart says it's better to think of it as augmenting. With the right people in place, scaling this way is only to the benefit of the games coming out of the studio. "The person in charge of the day-to-day collaboration with Eidos Montreal is Chris Parker, right. He was the producer on Baldur's Gate 2 and he has this length of experience working with external developers. It comes back to this question of, 'What are our strengths?' 'Do we have the people who do these things?'"

"The idea is not to be doing way more than what we're doing right now, but I think we've hit a really good size and a really good amount of things we can do. I can still be involved in all of it too, and not lose my mind – at least no more than I already have," he laughs. "You know, Obsidian was founded by three producers, a designer, and a programmer. The intent was always to do this with our projects. Back then it was a little bit more for survival, now it's because I think it makes us better game makers."

The Heart of Obsidian

Working with external development partners is one piece of the puzzle, but not the entire picture. One way Obsidian is able to unleash Avowed, Grounded 2, and The Outer Worlds 2 within a single year is partly because of its ethos as a group: "Perfect is the enemy of the good," says Urquhart. "Our job is to make amazing games, not perfect games."

In a world where six-to-eight years is threatening to become the standard timeframe for AAA, first-party game development, seeing Obsidian become so prolific has been great to watch from a distance. Taken at an individual level, the studio is delivering exceptionally fun titles that share a consistent quality – they aren't necessarily changing the video game industry in a fundamental way, but then I suspect that they aren't supposed to.

"There was a big push for a long time of everything needing to be bigger, better, and perfect, and 'ahhhh'," screams Urquhart, before chuckling: "hey, you know what 'ahhhh' means." What he's saying here is that this need for first-party studios to be operating on a level above the rest of the industry "can lead to trying to move on too many fronts at once." He adds: "That's the biggest thing for us, identifying what we are good at, what we can do with the time that we have, and then just focus on the content that we're creating – because that's what the player actually plays!"

The sentiment that "our job is to make amazing games, not perfect games" feels like a healthy outlook to have. The industry is in a bit of a difficult position right now. The cost of video game development is spiralling, with some of that cost starting to come back on the consumer – The Outer Worlds 2 will be Xbox's first game priced at $80. The playerbase is increasing, albeit focused on a smaller selection of titles thanks in no small part to the live-service explosion in 2017. And it seems like we're barely able to go a month without some prominent, legendary development studio suffering layoffs (something the Xbox Game Studios group hasn't been immune to either). Is there not a pressure to deliver "perfect" in this environment?

"Nobody at Xbox is putting that pressure on us," says Marcus Morgan, executive producer of Grounded 2. "But it's there in the back of our minds, right? It's something we think about, and something we talked a lot about early on. There were even some moments of like, teenage years, growing through becoming a first-party studio where we wrestled with that pressure."

"In one of the first meetings that we had with [Matt Booty, president of game content and studios] and the rest of Xbox after the acquisition, they asked us to continue being true to who we are and they have given us the space to do that. We've made sure to never lose the muscle memory of having multiple teams, and of having the teams build off of each other. We haven't lost that rhythm post-acquisition," adds Justin Britch, executive producer of The Outer Worlds 2.

"Every studio has its own role to play in the industry, and its own role to play within the organization that it's in… We want to make games that we're really proud of and get them out into the world. That's our role, and we've been really fortunate to be able to do that within the Xbox ecosystem."

Building On The Past

Both Morgan and Britch point to Obsidian operating with multiple teams shifting between projects as a point of pride. "We've always been a multi-project studio," says Morgan. "We always have multiple teams working on multiple games, which is somewhat unique – especially in the first-party ecosystem."

This way of operating, Britch tells me, intersects directly with another focus for Obsidian: "We have a principal at the studio about building on past success. Some of the studios who I really admire have this iterative approach and keep building on a formula. We try to do the same. We try to keep pushing things forward while recognizing what really worked well; we don't need to reinvent the things that really matter."

"That's a component of how we're able to ship multiple games and keep shipping them, because we're so focused on building on our past successes, making them better while making sure that we aren't throwing everything out and starting over every time, because that can make it take a really long time to bring out new games," he adds.

"Another major thing is that you learn when you ship," says Urquhart, speaking to Obsidian's dedication to shorter development cycles. "Not only do you learn because you actually finish a project, but you learn because your game goes out there and people tell you what they really think of it. The longer you go between those cycles, the less you're learning."

At this point Urquhart points to Baldur's Gate 3 as an example, something that happens countless times during our conversation – clearly the Larian RPG is on the veteran RPG maker's mind. "The only reason Baldur's Gate 3 can exist is because Divinity Original Sin 2 existed. If Larian took 10 years to develop Original Sin and then 10 years to develop Original Sin 2, then there's no Baldur's gate 3. That's what's super important to me. The idea is that when we ship, we learn; the pursuit of perfection leads to not shipping."

A phrase that Urquhart likes to wheel out is "constraints breed creativity." What's interesting here is that, for Obsidian, the constraints seem self-imposed. There's a strong impulse to continue iterating on its foundations, rather than rip them up to try and build something more audacious. A desire to work with external developers and partners rather than grow too quickly, a mind-share of expertise internally and across the industry. And it's in the combination of all of these things which has allowed Obsidian to become the most prolific studio within the Xbox Game Studios group.

"Remember, even the work that's done outside of Obsidian comes back inside the building, and that builds on what we're doing" says Urquhart. "There's technology from Grounded that's in Avowed, technology from Avowed that's in Grounded 2, and so on. I'm super thankful that Microsoft has allowed us to build out this group of developers and support networks, and that it just lets us be… Obsidian. We're just becoming what we've always wanted to become, which is this more well-rounded group who is able to take on a lot more of the stuff that we've always wanted to do."

The upcoming Xbox Series X games lineup includes Grounded 2, which launches into Game Preview, Game Pass, and Steam Early Access on July 29, 2025. It is followed by upcoming Obsidian game The Outer Worlds 2 on October 29, 2025 where it will release for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Game Pass. Avowed launched on PC and Xbox Series X on February 13, 2025.

Xbox Special | Our exclusive look at Xbox in 2025 and beyond continues...

When I sat down with leaders from the Xbox hardware and Xbox ecosystem divisions a couple of weeks ago, it was to get an early look at two new consoles. The ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X, gaming handhelds that have been brought to life as part of a surprise collaboration between ASUS, Xbox, AMD, and the Windows division at Microsoft.

What became clear is that this isn't the existing ROG Ally systems with a simple Xbox rebrand, but rather an effort to finely tune the internal hardware and operating system to make a Windows-powered handheld feel as if it's a part of the broader Xbox ecosystem. I also started to wonder whether this work was a sign of what's to come from Xbox – an open borders approach to building a sustainable platform, unlike anything we've seen from any of the primary competitors in the console market.

What I didn't expect was for Xbox president Sarah Bond to come out this week and suggest exactly that. "At Xbox, our vision is for you to play the games that you want, with the people you want, anywhere you want. That's why we're investing in our next generation hardware lineup across console, PC, cloud, and accessories," says Bond. "This is all about building you a gaming platform that always stays with you. So that you can play the games that you want, across devices, anywhere you want, delivering you an Xbox experience not locked to a single store, or tied to one device."

With this statement, and news that Xbox entered into a "multi-year partnership with AMD to co-engineer silicone across a platform of devices, including our next-generation Xbox consoles", it's worth reevaluating the ROG Xbox Ally X to see what it may suggest about the future of Xbox hardware.

The AI Of It All

Let's start with what we know. The next Xbox console will be powered by AMD chips, just like the Xbox Series X. What we don't know is why artificial intelligence is part of the conversation. "Together with AMD, we are advancing the state of art in gaming silicon to deliver the next-generation in graphics innovation to unlock a deeper level of visual quality, immersive gameplay, and player experiences enhanced with the power of AI," says Bond.

It remains unclear how artificial intelligence is going to enhance the way games play or how we play them, but this isn't the first time that I've heard an Xbox leader talk about AI this month. The ROG Xbox Ally X is powered by an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, which Roanne Sones – the CVP of gaming devices and ecosystem at Xbox – explains was a "proactive decision on our part to put AI acceleration with dedicated silicon into a handheld form factor."

As for the benefits of AI-powered gaming, I'm still a little fuzzy on the details – just like everybody else – although this AMD partnership does mean that the next-gen Xbox won't have DLSS support, which is the AI upscaling technology Nvidia has deployed on PC and Switch 2 with solid results in boosting performance and system efficiency.

"Fundamentally, it's hardware's job to push the boundaries of what could be possible, put that into the hands of players, and then just let developers dream about what can now be done," says Sones of the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor. "It's a little bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, because until we forward bet with the hardware you're never going to get the experiences to really be realized."

Sones also points to the importance of AI being introduced through dedicated silicon, so that "as the innovations come, it's not going to take away from the processing power of the hardware and the performance of the actual gameplay, which is so fundamentally important to what we're building with these products." Another AI element coming to ROG Xbox Ally systems is via a microphone built into the console, a future-proofing mechanism. "We do believe that the way you will interact with AI is through the voice. It's the natural way that I think all humans are going to talk to devices in the future."

I can only speculate here, but I do get the sense that the work being done on the ROG Xbox Ally X is an early indication of the direction Xbox is moving. Does that mean that next-generation Xbox controllers will come with a microphone built-in as standard, allowing you to interface directly with a console in a strange sort-of revival of some Kinect functionality? Not necessarily, Sones is talking specifically about application of AI in a handheld form-factor here; but I also know that it's rare for large companies to invest in (and iterate) new technologies unless it has long-term strategic value.

The Next-Gen Of Windows

While the operating system that powers your Xbox Series X is undoubtedly based on Windows, it is worlds apart from the experience of interfacing with the Xbox app on PC or handheld PCs right now. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that one of the biggest impediments to the Game Pass and Play Anywhere initiatives proliferating more widely to PC players – enough to attract them away from Steam or the Epic Games Store – is because of the quality of that Xbox app experience. It can be rough.

The ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, running on an optimized Windows 11 OS, may change this. "Windows and Xbox, arguably these two organizations have existed separately," says Sones. "So this product has really brought the teams together to work in a very meaningful way." Jason Beaumont, VP of experiences and platforms at Xbox, adds: "We took a lot of the devs who have been working for 20-plus years on the Xbox OS, and they began working on the Windows code base."

When you power on either of the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, you're met with a new full-screen Xbox experience that is exceptionally similar to the one you'd find on Series X. You can easily navigate between your library, recently played games, and more. It also disables a lot of the functions of Windows that are surplus to gaming until you need them. This streamlined OS is one of the reasons why I'm choosing to invest in the ROG Xbox Ally X later this year, rather than just jump at the standard ROG Ally X right now.

"The full screen experience is really a game changer that we've developed in partnership with Windows. It lets Xbox be your gaming home," says Dominique Gordon, senior product manager lead at Xbox. "This isn't just like the Xbox app running on top of Windows. What's actually happening behind the scenes here is that a bunch of components of Windows that don't have to be required for gaming aren't even loaded, giving all of that power back to your games."

This, Gordon says, is "the power of Xbox with the full freedom you expect from Windows." It's also an exceptional amount of work. Everybody I've spoken to at Xbox says that this sort of cross-collaboration was necessary to realize its ambition of moving into the handheld space, but there's a part of me that wonders whether it's an early indicator of the future of Xbox's platform – potentially even stretching into home console territory.

Here's Beaumont again, speaking about this collaboration between Xbox, Windows, AMD, and ASUS. "We have these four teams working together to continually iterate and refine this [handheld PC] experience. If you've played Xbox in the past, you'll know that the features you see on day one aren't the ones that you see on day 30, let alone 60 or 90… As excited as I am for the launch of these handhelds, I'm actually more excited for all the updates that are going to keep coming from our collaboration."

The idea that Xbox's next home console will essentially be a PC is sure to leave some feeling a little uneasy. I know that I've always veered towards console gaming because of the simplicity; where new games come out of the box optimized and ready to go on my hardware, and the only distraction from my gaming experience is a few notifications that friends want to party up and play. Still, if the Windows and Xbox teams have genuinely found a way to combine the flexibility of Windows with the focus of the Xbox platform then I'm willing to keep an open mind here.

The Aggregated Gaming Library

Of everything that Bond had to say about 'next-generation Xbox' there was one comment that really caught my attention. "This is all about building you a gaming platform that always stays with you. So that you can play the games that you want, across devices, anywhere you want, delivering you an Xbox experience not locked to a single store, or tied to one device."

It's that last line, hinting towards a single point of entry for all of your games, which is where I really wonder whether Xbox's next-gen home console will take the final form of this newfound collaboration between the Xbox and Windows divisions. One of the best features of the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds is this aggregated gaming library, giving you quick access to all of your games from Xbox, Game Pass, Battle.net, Steam, and other PC-based storefronts.

"Because the ROG Xbox Ally is Windows, you can launch and play your PC games natively from both Xbox as well as other PC game stores," says Brianna Potvin, principal software engineering lead at Xbox. "You can also stream your console games through cloud gaming or remote play. What this means is that your whole library, including hundreds of Game Pass games, all of your installed games from leading third-party storefronts, is with you everywhere you go."

While the ROG Xbox Ally will only play Xbox games that have PC versions natively, that won't be true of Xbox's next-gen hardware. Bond has already confirmed that Microsoft is "maintaining compatibility with your existing library of Xbox games" so there is still a console component in place here for whatever Xbox ultimately does next.

Still, this aggregated gaming library is a feature that really sells me on the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds over Valve's Steam Deck. All of my games, no matter which storefronts they are scattered between, available from within one ecosystem at the press of a button. It's the sort of featureset that could prove to be a real differentiator in the market if Xbox is able to bring all of this work to a home console environment.

Is there a world in which I could, from the comfort of my couch, stream or remote play video games I just so happen to own from one of the various PC storefronts? Let's push it one step further. If the hardware and OS powering a next-gen Xbox console is more aligned with a Windows-based machine, is there a world in which my PC games could play natively, upscaled by AI automated systems, while I still enjoy the benefits of titles that are optimized specifically for console hardware?

Xbox, Windows, AMD, and ASUS are already putting the work in. The question we should all be asking now is where it will materialize next. This is what I'll be looking out for in the years ahead. I suspect we won't see the Xbox Series X successor arrive until 2028 at the earliest, although maybe – just maybe – it's the ROG Xbox Ally X and Xbox app for PC that could provide a light in the dark while we wait.

Xbox Special | Our exclusive look at Xbox in 2025 and beyond continues...