The Xbox Developer_Direct 2026 has just wrapped. Check out everything announced / shown and revealed from the event below.
Xbox’s 4th annual Developer_Direct is now a staple on the calendar; getting a deep dive into an upcoming game with the developers. Showcasing three or four titles, it’s an opportunity to spend more time with a game than the usual showcases would afford. We already know that Forza Horizon 6, Fable and Beast of Reincarnation were in the offing, but what information was given? What gameplay shown?
Read on to find out, or watch the whole show below.
Xbox Developer_Direct 2026 – 22 January 2026
It has been confirmed that all titles will be day one on Xbox Game Pass, and will be Xbox Play Anywhere titles.
Where possible, we have included all known formats, release dates, demo info and trailers.
Forza Horizon 6 (PC, PS5, Xbox Series)
You start Forza Horizon 6 not as a professional driver, but as a tourist, with a dream to one day attend the Horizon Festival in Japan. It’s a slightly different approach compared with previous Horizon games; in Horizon 4, you’re rising through the ranks in the UK, and in Horizon 5’s Mexico, you’re at the apex of the career you built in the epilogue of the previous game. Horizon 6 almost feels like a fresh start, and one designed to appeal not just to car enthusiasts but to anyone with a big goal.
Forza Horizon 6 takes us to a new destination for the series – the beautiful mountains and urban spaces of Japan. It’s the team’s most impressive destination yet – breathtaking mountain vistas and passes, neon-soaked city plazas and brooding dockland strips – masterfully designed. However, the goal wasn’t to accurately recreate Japan’s roads and spaces mile for mile, but to capture the essence of the place in a smoother, condensed reality.
Forza Horizon 6 will release on 19 May, with 4 days of early access (15 May) being available for those who purchase the Premium edition. It will release on PS5 later in the year.
Beast of Reincarnation (PC, PS5, Xbox Series)
Beast of Reincarnation is a “one-person, one-dog action RPG.”
The gameplay blends two styles: the protagonist, Emma, fights using fast-paced katana action, while Koo supports her with powerful skills triggered via a command-based system, similar to a turn-based RPG.
In this game, you don’t have to rely on raw action skills alone to survive. By performing a parry against enemy attacks with Emma, you earn points that can be used to unleash Koo’s abilities.
It will be released in the Summer of 2026.
Kiln (PC, PS5, Xbox Series)
Kiln is a pottery power-fantasy that celebrates both Creativity and Destruction. The pleasure that comes from both making beautiful things and then smashing those things to smithereens.
Create your pot, grab your friends, and join a team of colourful spirits who face off against one another in online arenas, where the ceramic creations you sculpt on a pottery wheel become the bodies you bring into battle.
It will launch in Spring 2026. A closed beta will start soon.
Fable (PC, PS5, Xbox Series)
What does it mean to be a Hero? Well, in the fairytale land of Albion, that is entirely up to you. With a dark threat looming, your choices will change Albion forever.
Fable will release in Autumn 2026.
And that’s everything from the Xbox _Developer Direct 2026. What did you think? What are you most excited for?
