It’s almost that time again. Xbox’s annual summer showcase is right around the corner and that means it’s upon us to predict what we think will be at the show. Interestingly, rumors about what will be shown off have been extremely light, meaning this is the first year in a while we don’t know much about what will be at Xbox’s event. Considering they’ve spent much of April and May dropping showcase worthy surprises like the Oblivion remaster and Gears of War: Reloaded, it does make you think.. – ‘What have they got to show this time?’
Xbox has more or less taken the crown for best annual showcase as many companies have bowed out of the “E3” style event. With a slew of already announced titles, many studios quietly working on what they have next, and guaranteed third party partners and game pass deals, we expect June 8th to be yet another big day for team Green.
As usual, we’ve split our predictions (and these are all just that, predictions,) into three categories: Games we essentially know will almost certainly be there, games we think have a high chance of being there, and games we’d love to see there. Now, without further rambling, let’s dive into our Xbox Games Showcase 2025 Predictions!
Games We Know
The Outer Worlds 2
This is the third year in a row where Xbox will attach a secondary show to their overall showcase, a “Direct” that focuses specially on one upcoming highly anticipated title. In 2023, it was Starfield. In 2024, it was Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. This year, it’s The Outer Worlds 2 from Obsidian Entertainment. This acclaimed RPG studio is on a roll, recently releasing the well received Avowed back in February. The Outer Worlds 2 is a sequel to the critically acclaimed The Outer Worlds which was released prior to Xbox’s acquisition of Obsidian.
We’ve already gotten some gameplay snippets and details about the game which showcase just how much the sequel is aiming to improve off of the first game. We expect to see in depth gameplay and developer interviews and a release date confirmed for later this year.
The Next Call of Duty
Rumors abound that this year’s Call of Duty is more of the “expandalone” type, similar to Modern Warfare III was a few years ago. Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming has reported that it is set to be a sequel to Black Ops 2, taking place in the near future. A big part of the multiplayer will be remastered versions of the maps from Black Ops 2. We will have to wait and find out if it’s shown here or left for a July reveal like the series had before Microsoft bought Activision.
Ninja Gaiden 4
A few years after our own Nick Baker leaked it, Platinum Games was confirmed to be making a new Ninja Gaiden. The game was a surprise announcement at this years Xbox Developer Direct back in January. Featuring Platinum’s signature look and combat, it is set for a release in the second half of 2025. Will we get a big gameplay blowout? We reckon so.
“Day One on Game Pass”
It’s been tradition for the last several years that Xbox makes the vast majority of the games featured on the showcase to be available via Xbox Game Pass. And they’ve been pretty good with that promise otherwise—it’s not unreasonable to expect the same thing this time around.
Games We Expect
Microsoft have so much already announced, it’s honestly kind of insane. Any of the below games we mention here are a likely shoo-in to appear at the show, be it with a new ‘first gameplay’ reveal, or a final release window being given. In some measure, it wouldn’t surprise us to see all of these in some fashion.
Gears of War: E-Day
It’d be pretty surprising if we didn’t see Gears of War: E-Day at this show. The game was announced at Xbox’s last showcase in 2024, and The Coalition have been silent ever since. All reports and rumors suggest the game is coming in 2026, with some insiders initially believing the game could have released as soon as this year. The Coalition have been cooking for a long time, and we think it’s time to finally see the game in action, with actual gameplay and a release year of 2026.
State of Decay 3
Another game from Xbox that has been in the works for a long time. The game was announced back in 2020 and it wasn’t until 2024 until we saw anything more. It feels like it’s high time to get a true look at gameplay as well as a release window. We’re leaning towards 2026, but that’s just a gut feeling.
State of Decay has the potential to be a massive franchise. The zombie open world genre is huge but simultaneously feels untapped as there hasn’t really been a game that’s fully fulfilled the post apocalypse fantasy. Can State of Decay 3 finally be that game… we’ll have to wait and see.
Contraband
Little is known about this car-focused PVPVE title. Contraband was originally shown years ago in the days of promissory Xbox Games Showcases. A CGI trailer with a catchy tune is all we’ve seen of this game for years, and it feels like it is about time to finally get a full reveal on this XGS published title.
Everwild
Everwild stunned with an initial trailer when the game was announced back in 2019. The art style and usual Rare flair gave fans hope that the studio was on track to create something unique once again. It will be six years this fall since the game was announced, and we know about as much now as we knew back then. The game has gone quiet, with very few updates from official sources about its development. We know from reports that the game has undergone reboots and leadership changes, but recent word suggests the game is now steady, and we have a feeling we may hear from the game soon.
Fable
Fable was supposed to launch later this year, but was recently delayed into 2026. If the game didn’t see a delay, it would undoubtedly be at the showcase, but now we are not so sure. If Fable is to show up, it would have to be a meaningful chunk of gameplay. We’ve already had two story trailers interspersed with snippets of “in-game” footage, but what we really want to see is a few minutes of unedited gameplay that represents what the end product will look like. Xbox may choose to hold off on showing this until next year, but for a game as big as Fable, it may be worth it to remind players that the game is still on track.
Perfect Dark
A reboot of a Rare classic, this new take on Perfect Dark is being developed by The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics. We were treated to some gameplay for the first time last year – is it time to see a little more and perhaps, if we’re lucky, a 2026 release date? Sure would be nice!
Clockwork Revolution
inXile showed off Clockwork Revolution two years ago. Featuring a steampunk aesthetic, this “full-on RPG” is a dream for fans of the company. After the incredible work they put in with Wasteland 3 the move to a first-person title without budgetary issues has us extremely hyped for more info, proper gameplay footage, and a release window.
Double Fine’s next game
Double Fine haven’t had much to say since Psychonauts 2, but as they’re now celebrating 20 years of existing, we’ve got high hopes they’ve been hard at work at something awesome, and we can’t wait to see what Tim Schafer and team have been cooking up. And no, we don’t think it’s Psychonauts 3.
More Announcements for Rival Consoles
Anyone hoping to not see a competitors logo – i.e. PlayStation and Nintendo – during the Xbox Summer Showcase better buckle up and brace for disappointment, because you can be assured it’s going to happen. As per our interview with Phil earlier this year, it was discussed for last years showcase but didn’t happen for technical/timing reasons – We expect they will have sorted those out this time around.
As for what they’ll announce, we’ll put good money on some DLC for Indiana Jones and The Great Circle and perhaps Bethesda’s Starfield will finally head over to PlayStation 5 to align with some new DLC for everyone else.
Live-Service Game Updates!
Microsoft is no stranger to bringing their long-running games-as-a-service titles to showcase—and who could blame them? With millions of eyeballs on their show, it’s a great way to get people to hop on and check out the major amounts of content that the games have loaded up on over their decade plus runtime. The Elder Scrolls Online, Sea of Thieves, Minecraft, Fallout 76, Age of Empires, etcetera etcetera. Don’t be surprised if at least two of these games pop up for a couple of minutes.
3rd Party Partners – From Indies to AAA
Xbox has an eye for good looking third party games, and we expect this showcase to be no different. Beyond showcasing new entries from the big publishers like EA, Ubisoft and more, we’re all sort of desperate for some updates on games that have seen some delays, be it the fantastic looking REPLACED or the much desired Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Games We Hope For
It’s okay to dream, so dream we shall. While some of these are certainly possible, they’re not necessarily likely.
The Elder Scrolls VI
Starfield, Bethesda Game Studios’ last release, will be going on two years old. The engine upgrade work done for that should help TES VI take less time in active development. Will that mean we get a full proper tease or even reveal this year? The rumors are flying, lots of in the know people are “predicting” it may show up, and we can only hope that it does.
Final Fantasy
No Comment.
Actually no, while Final Fantasy VII Remake/Rebirth may continue to elude us, Square continues to show that they’re moving away from platform exclusivity, meaning surely this is the year we get the franchise back on Xbox.
Right?
Forza Horizon 6
We haven’t had a new Forza Horizon title since 2021, when the extremely successful FH5 first launched. Now sitting with nearly 50 million players, it feels like the time could be right to finally see a new iteration of the franchise. What gives us pause is how Playground Games, now a two-team studio, have been full steam ahead on Fable that entire time. Is Fable holding back development on Forza Horizon? We may never know for sure, but the formerly bi-yearly release cadence has us jonesing for more.
Banjo Kazooie
Just…look…it’s such an easy thing to make happen Xbox. Just do it already.
Halo CE Remake
Tom Warren, Senior Editor over at the Verge reported on some information he’d gathered on Halo as part of his ongoing “notepad” subscription series. In it, he wrote, ““One game that is being considered for release on PS5 is Halo, though. Sources tell me Microsoft is working on some form of a Halo: Combat Evolved remaster that is also being considered for rival consoles. I don’t expect Microsoft to announce this during the showcase, as it’s early days for this remaster.“ Obviously that was back in 2024, so is 2025’s showcase the time to reveal the next iteration of Halo? Maybe.
There are also rumours that this year’s HCS Worlds in October will have another big announcement (last year that’s where they announced the studio name change and the switch to Unreal Engine.) If so, we may not see the Chief next week.
A Greater Push into Eurasian Gaming
A point that Microsoft has traditionally struggled with is being able to attract EMEA and SEA developers to the Xbox platform without having to go out of their way to contact the developers themselves. While it’s not out of the realm to expect one or two titles from the region, Microsoft has a lot of work ahead of themselves to woo these game makers to Xbox and we’d really love to see day-and-date releases of games that have and will go on to become great successes from these regions. Especially since they’re a hotbed of incredible talent that already have and will continue to make their way to the front stage of the gaming industry. Maybe Black Myth Wukong will finally show up?
Hardware
Remember when they pre-announced Project Scorpio – aka The Xbox One X? What if they were to do that this year, but instead finally lift the lid on their vision for what console gaming could be?
Now we admit, it’ll probably just be the ASUS Partnered Xbox ROG Ally 2, but any indication on the actual direction of ‘what’s next for Xbox’ rather than a collection of rumours and conjecture would be sorely appreciated by Xbox fans the world over. Especially now that we’ve all heard that the native 1st party handheld side of things is on the back burner… for now.
So there you have it! That’s our hitlist of educated guesses and wild hopes and dreams for this years summer showcase. Do you think we’re right or have we missed something obvious? Let us know in the comments below or make some noise in our Community Discord.
