Xbox Developer Direct 2026 live report – all the Fable, Forza Horizon 6, and Beast of Reincarnation updates as they happen

Plants became a core motif, which isn't shocking given Game Freak's frequent natural themes. The game's also got creatures fused from plants and animals called "malefacts," which can be found around the naturally overgrown Japan of 4096. Emma, the protagonist, can hunt malefacts and store their blight within her body, which is why she lives apart from the rest of people. The dog apparently has a mysterious purpose, because of course.

Game began by searching for the right feeling which was, in the end, warmth, trust, and loneliness. Again hitting on the fact that the devs know how to journey with critters, but this world specifically is quite harsh. Ruins of human civilization requires lots of traversal, which is where the protagonist's vine-like hair comes into play. Avatar, eat your heart out.

And that's that! Onto Beast of Reincarnation from Game Freak. Devs noting that it doesn't just do Pokemon! It does other original games like Pocket Card Jockey.

Beast of Reincarnation is specifically a post-apocalyptic "one-person one-dog action RPG" set in Japan.

...a Gundam tease right at the end?

Forza Horizon 6 building is also fully multiplayer. You can collab together with friends to make all your stuff. Nice.

Forza Horizon 6 launches May 19, 2026. PS5 comes "later this year" with Xbox and PC first.

Open world car meets allow folks to buy cars and head out to events together. "There's more to do in the open world than ever before," the devs say, such as new shared experiences. I want to believe.

Proximity radar, autodrive, and customizable high-contract mode are new accessibility options on top of all the previous Forza accessibility features. Nice.

New customizable garages at every player house that can fit multiple cars. You can decorate it and invite friends over to check it out. "The Estate" is apparently the place to do your customization, however, as the mountain valley is originally empty and you fully construct and build there – allowing friends to then visit.

Aftermarket cars can be found parked in driveways around the world, which can be unique and rare. GR GT is the Forza Horizon 6 cover car, if that's the sort of thing you're invested in. Cars also sound better than ever, according to Playground. Sure sounds like a car to me! (I know this is important to people.)

Tokyo City is five times larger than anything the devs have made before and is the largest urban area yet. Forza Horizon 6 also tries to capture the celebration of seasonal changes. You can collect cars, houses, landmarks, stamps, and more as you explore. More than 550 cars at launch. Better balanced roster across levels. New cosmetic tire wear!

The devs specifically sought out folks that grew up in and with Japanese car culture to get it right. As one example, player home options intentionally reference a number associated with good fortune. The team also went and captured a whole lot of reference to, well, refer back to while developer the game.

Players start off as a tourist in Japan before climbing the ranks. Apparently there are obstacle courses, races, and so on. "Legend Island" gets unlocked later with its own unique races and the like. Sounds like a whole lot of Japan is available to zoom around in and explore? "This is our largest map, full of verticality" and biomes and so on. Nice.

First up: Playground Games. Makes sense given it's set to appear twice. Forza Horizon 6! Torben Ellert, design director, is excited to show us some cars.

And there they are! Cars! Strap in, everyone, we're going to Japan.

Final note before we get into dev hype montage: everything here is still a work in progress and not representative of a final product. So, you know, many grains of salt.

Starting off with a note that all games being shown are day one on Game Pass, also Xbox Play Anywhere. Also, this year marks 25 years of Xbox. Text moving pretty fast, though.

And here we go...

5 minutes remain! Soon, all (maybe) our questions could be answered. Will Fable still be British? Will Forza Horizon 6 have cars? Will Game Freak's Beast of Reincarnation actually reincarnate a beast, and if so, how many? Stay tuned to find out...

With less than 15 minutes to go, now's the time for any last-minute predictions. What do you think? Does Xbox have any surprises in store this time around? Here's hoping this showcase is a whopper considering the high-profile cancellations last year like Perfect Dark.

Less than 30 minutes to go until the Xbox Developer Direct kicks off in earnest! Still plenty of time to grab a snack and drink or take a bathroom break. Speaking of leaks, there's still time for something to unexpectedly go live early, though it does appear like Xbox might have things fairly locked down today after some previous oopsies earlier in the week.

Another titbit for you - Forza Horizon 6's map is "also dense" with "always something around the corner," despite being much larger than what you get in FH5.

Of course, if you'd like to read more, you can check out our interview with Playground Games from last September. The developers tease the series' "biggest map yet," and say "we can only do Japan once and we want to do it right."

Of course, it's not all about Fable today. We're also due to see Forza Horizon 6. If a recent leak is to be believed, a release date might not be far away at all. A leak that came within Forza 5, amusingly enough.

If you're looking for a quick debrief on Fable, think of an RPG with some ye olde English charm and humor. Here's the blurb:

"What does it mean to be a Hero? Well, in the fairytale land of Albion, that is entirely up to you. With a dark threat looming, your choices will change Albion forever."

We've not had heaps of news on it, to be honest. We did find out last year that Eidos-Montréal is supporting Playground Games with the RPG's development. Aside from that, your best bet is to check when it was last shown off. One Fable lead was very amused to find out that plenty couldn't believe a 2023 trailer was, in fact, real gameplay. It's been a few years since, so hopefully it's only looking better.

One of the biggest intrigues of the night is none other than Fable. It's been 16 years since the last game, and 6 years since Playground's take on the series was announced. The game was supposed to arrive last year, but alas, as often happens, the release date has slipped to this year. Here's hoping we get a more specific date locked in later today.

Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan has assured fans "it's definitely worth the wait," so we can only hope that's true.

And away we go! Thankfully, we've still got under two hours until the broadcast kicks off, so you've still got time before one of the first big broadcasts of the year begins.