Although Microsoft kept a low profile at this year’s Game Awards, the American company still plans to make an announcement in a few weeks’ time.
In an interview with Variety, Matt Booty, head of the company’s internal studios, confirmed that an Xbox Developer Direct will take place next January. He even indicated that Playground Games will be involved (no doubt with Forza Horizon 6). Booty added that the 2026 edition will be the most important in the program’s history.
“I can’t reveal everything yet, but we have a lot of new things planned for next year. In general, Dev Direct is an opportunity to showcase what’s new for the coming year. This year, we have so much coming up that we can’t cover it all in a single event.
So I can tell you that Playground Games will be at Dev Direct, but we’ll have more to release next year than we can include in a single Dev Direct. That’s a good thing.”
Matt Booty also teased all the great things coming to Xbox in 2026.
“For us, this will truly be an exceptional year. We will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of Xbox, and several of our franchises will soon be celebrating their tenth anniversary.
It’s Bethesda’s 40th anniversary, Blizzard’s 35th, and Diablo was released 30 years ago. We’ve announced projects like Halo Remastered, and we have a lot more that we’ll be talking about soon, coming out next year. So it’s going to be an exceptional year for the brand and a landmark year for some of our biggest franchises, which will be highlighted across the industry.”
It’s exciting to hear about the upcoming Xbox Developer Direct! It’s always interesting to see what new developments and surprises Microsoft has in store for gamers. Looking forward to the announcements in January 2026!
new features and games they have in store. I’m curious if they’ll reveal any surprises or updates on previously announced titles. It could be a great opportunity for them to showcase advancements in technology as well!