Xbox Developer_Direct ’26 recap

Announced yesterday, Xbox scheduled a Developer_Direct livestream event for today, January 22nd, 2026 to showcase the big titles that some of their developers and partners have been working on. The YouTube thumbnail showed off the long-missing Fable, the new GameFreak game “Beast of Reincarnation”, and my personal most exciting showcase, Forza Horizon 6. They even slipped in a little surprise reveal by wondrous developer Double Fine Productions. The full presentation is chock full of details about upcoming releases, but we’ll just go over the gist of it here.

Forza Horizon 6

The presentation opened with an introduction by Playground Games, who we know for the Forza series and the currently in-development Fable title. They went in immediately by talking about the effort put into Horizon 6 with the team’s time spent in Japan scanning buildings, roads, and recording audio in various locations to truly level up immersion. Playground Games also showed off some new accessibility options, talked about the freedom of build mode, and discussed details about the new garage and valley area players can customize to their liking and hang out at with their friends. There’s a whole slew of detailed information to sink your teeth into, so be sure to check out the full Developer Direct content on official channels. Forza Horizon was given a release date finally, so expect to get back in the driver’s seat on May 19th, 2026. Day 1 it will be released on PC and Xbox, but later on in the year they will have a PS5 version available for PlayStation players.

Beast of Reincarnation

Following Forza Horizon 6 news, the torch was passed over to GameFreak to talk about details of their upcoming title Beast of Reincarnation. Some of the staff shared statements about lessons they’ve learned while working on the Pokémon franchise and how they’re applying those to the development of this game. Set in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi Japan, Beast of Reincarnation takes a seemingly Souls-lite approach to its combat. Additionally, you can use the powers of your dog companion to attack enemies or help maneuver in battles. This definitely marks the furthest departure we’ve seen from GameFreak’s storied history with Pokémon, and I think it definitely deserves some eyes. It’ll be playable day one on Game Pass, so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re intrigued.

Just before the presentation cut back to Playground Games, a surprise intervention from Double Fine popped out to us. Tim Schafer’s making pottery, talking to us about Double Fine’s shtick of throwing game ideas out at the studio and seeing what sticks, and suddenly smashes his compatriot’s pot. This leads into their new title, “Kiln”. The gameplay demo and overview from Schafer himself tell us that it’s a multiplayer brawler but with a unique twist. You’ll be making your own pottery and weaponizing it against your friends! Based on the shape of your pot you’ll have different capabilities and movement, so finding the perfect ceramic shape is key to, well, shattering the competition. There’s no concrete release date, but it’s set to release sometime this year.

Kiln

Finally, after many years, Xbox wrapped up today’s Developer Direct with a relatively detailed look at Playground Games’ “Fable”. It’s been quite a while since we’ve last gotten our eyes on it, so it was a welcome surprise to see it on the thumbnail. Playground Games gave us a really good look at the morality system and how it plays into NPCs and their reactions to the player, an example of a change that can permanently alter the state of the world you’re in, a glimpse into the character creator, and more. It’s certainly nice to know that the game is very much under way in development, and especially so that we even have a release window. According to Playground Games, we can expect Fable to release some time in Autumn (or Fall, if that’s your preference) for PC, Xbox, and PS5. After all this time we can finally live out our slumlord dreams and become the “rich twat” that the NPCs think we are!

Today’s Xbox Developer Direct offered some great insights into just a few of the upcoming titles Xbox is proud to offer. With Fable being multiplatform, Beast of Reincarnation being on Game Pass, Double Fine’s new game on the horizon, and Forza Horizon 6’s release on Xbox and PC with a PS5 release later, it was a packed direct focusing heavily on only a handful of titles. While the titles might have been few, the depth of what we got to see was an exciting look at what’s coming up soon for gamers.

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