A reliable insider claims Microsoft’s show won’t stop at the three announced titles – and that another surprise reveal may be waiting in the wings.
Microsoft has officially confirmed that Xbox Developer Direct 2026 will showcase three games: Playground’s Fable reboot, Forza Horizon 6, and Game Freak’s new IP, Beast of Reincarnation. That said, two of the three Xbox Developer Direct broadcasts so far have included secret announcements that Microsoft kept under wraps until the show itself.
The first instance was in 2023, when Tango Gameworks suddenly announced and released Hi-Fi Rush as a shadowdrop. The game was critically acclaimed, but it still wasn’t enough to stop Microsoft from closing the studio a little over a year later. Fortunately, the Japanese developer was later revived by Krafton, which also acquired the Hi-Fi Rush IP.
Last year, the surprise again came from Japan, when Microsoft revealed and released Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, a Unreal Engine 5 remaster of the acclaimed action game, and also announced Ninja Gaiden 4, which went on to find major success later in the year. Now, reliable insider shinobi602 says another surprise is expected at Xbox Developer Direct 2026. On the ResetEra forums, he wrote that there’s a “secret” fourth game.
When another user asked whether he was excited about it, he replied that he wasn’t particularly excited about the game itself, and that it mostly came down to personal taste. At the moment, nobody knows what the mystery title could be, so anything is on the table.
If Playground continues its upward trajectory with Forza Horizon 6, we could be in for a strong showing, and the studio’s promise that its open-world take on Japan will captivate fans has only added fuel to the hype. Fable has a few more cards to play as well. Playground has been working on the project for eight years, and we still know very little, though rumors suggest the game is reminiscent of The Witcher 3 in certain respects.
Microsoft’s announcement blog post did note that we’ll get our first detailed look at the new, impressive gameplay, which is said to highlight the franchise’s core pillars: British humor, choices and consequences, drama, and chickens. Then there’s Game Freak’s first non-Pokémon project, Beast of Reincarnation. Anticipation is high, even if details remain scarce, beyond the fact that it follows a man and his dog traveling through post-apocalyptic Japan.
Like the other two, the game is set to launch this year on PC and consoles. Xbox Developer Direct will air on January 22 at 10 AM Pacific on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch.
