For the last four years running Xbox have kicked off the year with a more intimate style of showcase. One that puts the attention on the people who create the art form we love as they work in their space and give viewers a behind the scenes look at some of the biggest games coming from its studios.
Today, Microsoft announced that the 2026 edition of the Developer Direct takes place on Thursday January 22 and will feature two of their biggest and most historic franchises, both developed by Playground Games, Fable and Forza Horizon 6. Plus, famed Pokemon developer, Game Freak, brings Beast of Reincarnation as a third-party title as well.
Just Call It the Playground Games Developer Direct
Its interesting the dichotomy between the two titles being worked on by the UK based Playground Games. The team has three studios at their Royal Leamington Spa headquarters. One of them is working on their original franchise, the newest title in their world famous game series they Forza Horizon 6. The other two studios are working on a major franchise as well, but its one they inherited and in a genre foreign to them.
This is of course Fable, a reboot of the series that’s been around since the original Xbox where the first Fable title released in 2004. This version of Fable was first announced during the Xbox Games Showcase in 2020 and since then its been a rocky road with numerous delays. Despite the game receiving a few major trailers featuring lead characters played by Richard Ayoade and Matt King, there’s still so much unknown about it. Hopefully, this Developer Direct can help assuage the fears of Fable fans and give them the confidence that Playground will deliver a great game, much like they have all these years with Forza Horizon.
Let’s Go to Japan
What’s there left to say about the Forza Horizon series? Its incredible to see what the team at Playground has done with what’s supposed to be the sister series to its much more established big brother in Forza Motorsport from Turn 10 Studios. Undoubtedly, Forza Horizon has become Xbox’s most valuable franchise and thanks to the successful launch of Forza Horizon 5 on PlayStation 5 it has an entire new audience waiting for the sixth installment to arrive on that console. And what an installment it promises to be, as the Forza series heads to Japan for the first time ever. Its most likely that the Developer Direct won’t just show us gameplay, but also unveil its release date too.
Speaking of Japan, the third announced title is a third-party venture from a development studio that needs little introduction. Game Freak, are of course known as the Pokemon developers, but they’ve also made other games such as the successful Pocket Card Jockey, Drill Dozer, and Little Town Hero. But none of them quite compare to the ambitious nature of their newest title Beast of Reincarnation. Their first non-Pokemon AAA title is set in a post apocalyptic Japan featuring a girl named Emma the Sealer and her dog. A debut trailer for the game appeared during last year’s Xbox Summer Showcase and this Developer Direct promises to show off quite a lot more on the game.
Could there be More Games?
The Developer Direct has been known to deliver surprises whether they be the appearance of third-party titles such as Visions of Mana, or shadow drops like Hi-Fi Rush and Ninja Gaiden 2 Black.
Xbox certainly has plenty of games that are both well known such as the star of the 2025 Xbox Summer Showcase Clockwork Revolution, the prequel Marcus and Dom story of Gears E-Day, the recently revealed Halo: Campaign Evolved, the dormant State of Decay 3, expansions for both Diablo IV and World of Warcraft and even the presumptive next title in the Call of Duty series they could reveal.
But perhaps it will be something no one is expecting at all? Will there be a shadow drop title this year? We’ll have to tune in and find out when the 2026 Xbox Developer Direct airs on January 22 at 1pm ET/10PT/6pm GMT on the various Xbox Youtube channels and Twitch.
