Xbox showcase Developer_Direct will air later this month, showing Redfall, Forza and more
Xbox showcase Developer_Direct will air later this month, showing Redfall, Forza and more
Microsoft has a new type of Xbox showcase, and it's coming soon
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Developr_Direct
😲 Microsoft has a new Xbox showcase for later this month
🎥 Developer_Direct is a new type of Xbox broadcast
📅 It’ll debut later this month on January 25
🥳 Giving us a look at Redfall, Forza Motorsport, and Minecraft Legends
Update: It’s official: Microsoft has confirmed its first Developer_Direct livestream will air on January 25 at 12pm PT / 3pm ET, giving fans “an inside look at some of the games coming to Xbox, PC and Game Pass over the next few months”.
Various first-party Xbox games will make an appearance, with special attention paid to The Elder Scrolls Online, Forza Motorsport, Minecraft Legends and Redfall. Bethesda’s much-anticipated Starfield, meanwhile, will receive a whole standalone show to itself in the future.
You can watch by tuning in to Xbox’s Twitch or YouTube channel.
Original story: Microsoft reportedly has a major gaming showcase planned for later this month, which will give us a glimpse of several of the year’s biggest upcoming Xbox games including Redfall, the next Forza Motorsport and Minecraft Legends.
According to Windows Central, citing sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans, the show is scheduled for 12pm PST / 3pm ET on January 25. Titled Digital_Direct It will likely be the first of a new wave of semi-regular showcases, which Microsoft plans to run outside of the usual Summer Game Fest and end-of-year publicity cycles.
While it’s not expected to be a massive showcase on the scale of E3 2023, several major first-party Xbox games will be shown, although Starfield likely won’t be among them. It sounds similar in scale (and name, perhaps tellingly) to a Nintendo Direct and Sony’s State of Play showcases. The broadcasts usually run for half an hour and show off a variety of games coming to Nintendo in the near future, or focus the spotlight on a specific, big game.
It’s also possible we’ll get a look at what’s coming next to Xbox Game Pass. It’s been five weeks since Microsoft announced any new games for the subscription service – the longest period the service has gone without any new game announcements since it launched in 2017.
Additions are usually announced twice a month, but Microsoft hasn't revealed any since early December. It did however, rather bizarrely, reveal a slate of games that will be leaving the service this month, including Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Anniversary Edition, Nobody Saves the World, Pupperazi, The Anacrusis, and Windjammers 2.
It’s likely the absent announcements, and future plans of Game Pass, will be revealed at this rumored Developer_Direct. Despite missing its Xbox Game Pass growth target last year, Microsoft is still pitching the platform as key to its gaming future, and with surprise hits like High on Life taking the service by storm, it’s easy to understand why. We expect a host of Game Pass reveals will be made at the upcoming showcase, as Microsoft looks to shore up the platform even further.
If the Developer_Direct format takes off, we’d also expect future showcases to focus on Xbox hardware and broader services like Xbox Cloud Gaming, too, much as Sony has started using its State of Play broadcasts to focus on new kit like the PSVR 2.
Windows Central expects Microsoft to make an announcement this week, so keep your eyes peeled for official confirmation of a time and place.
First published: January 10, 2023
Updated: January 11, 2023