We’re pretty hyped for the return of the Xbox Developer Direct showcase at some point later this January (a date hasn’t been announced yet), as it’s one of our favourite events of the year — and this is a particularly special year!

As part of Xbox’s 25th anniversary celebrations, we’re getting Halo: Campaign Evolved, Fable, Forza Horizon 6 and Gears of War: E-Day this year, along with seemingly a lot more releases we aren’t privy to just yet.

For what it’s worth, Fable and Forza Horizon developer Playground Games has already been confirmed for Dev Direct.

Microsoft will give us most of the lineup for Xbox Developer Direct 2026 very soon (probably next week), but it’s worth noting that there’s been a surprise every year so far. The first Developer Direct in 2023 gave us the shadow drop of Hi-Fi RUSH, Developer Direct 2024 saw Square Enix making a surprise appearance with Visions of Mana, and Developer Direct 2025 unveiled Ninja Gaiden 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2 Black — the latter being a shadow drop.

Here’s the lineup of games for each edition so far, along with those surprises:

• Dev Direct 2023: Minecraft Legends, Forza Motorsport, Hi-Fi Rush (surprise!), Elder Scrolls Online, Redfall
• Dev Direct 2024: Avowed, Hellblade 2, Visions of Mana (surprise!), Ara: History Untold, Indiana Jones
• Dev Direct 2025: Ninja Gaiden 4 (surprise!), Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (surprise!), South of Midnight, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, DOOM: The Dark Ages

So, it stands to reason that we’re almost certainly going to get another surprise at January 2026’s Xbox Developer Direct showcase, and the odds are pretty high that a shadow drop could be involved.

What that might be? Eh, we have no idea. There’s obviously the Fallout 3 Remaster that’s been talked about for multiple years now, but who knows if that’s ready to go yet. Perhaps Halo Studios has a little extra something for us to celebrate the 25th anniversary… what if Halo 5 got added to the Master Chief Collection? That’d be cool, right?

We’re just spitballing here, but we’d love to hear your thoughts about what might show up at the Xbox Developer Direct 2026 showcase. Will it be another low-key surprise like Visions of Mana, or something huge like Hi-Fi RUSH?!

Tell us what you think down in the comments below.