So we’ve rounded up some of our best predictions for the big Xbox 2024 event. These aren’t locked in by any means… we’ve just put together a few ideas that we hope will come true.
The last three of these are “placeholders” so expect them to be a bit less realistic than the others. Nevertheless, we still hope and pray that they will come true!
Forza Horizon 6 makes a surprising appearance
We weren’t actually in 2021 expects the reveal of Forza Horizon 5 due to the impending arrival of the new Forza Motorsport, but it happened anyway – and the game came out within six months of its launch that year.
Now, we are not saying that this exact cadence will occur againbut we sure saw it Forza Horizon 6 get some revelation sooner than we might expect. Sure, Fable is in the works at Playground Games, but they’re running as a two-team studio these days, so who knows? All we’re saying is that if the lights go down on a neon-soaked Japan crammed with drifting sports cars, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a Forza Horizon 6 title card soon follow.
Xbox Game Pass is getting a big ActiBlizz Shadow Drop
Okay, this is probably pretty obvious, but we think it’s high time for some kind of Activision Blizzard Xbox Game Pass drop during the show. We’ve already had Diablo 4 here as a one-off addition, and there have been hints of other titles floating around recently, but nothing from Call of Duty, Crash or Spyro has actually been added to the service yet.
While we’re not entirely sure how the team will handle it, the showcase is pretty focused on Call of Duty this year with Black Ops 6 direct, so we wouldn’t be surprised if ActiBlizz’s first drop revolved around CoD. Maybe the entire Black Ops series was relegated to the library? We definitely wouldn’t say no to that as a starting point!
Gears Of War 6 Trailer Introduces Fall 2025 Release Window
Believe it or not, we’re only a few months away from the final release of the main Gears series, which will be five years old. Yes, Gears 5 launched in September 2019, and even though that time flew by, we still think it’s about time we saw something Gears 6 at this year’s Xbox Games Showcase.
Recent rumors help our case here as well. In early April, several well-known insiders began talking about a potential Gears 6 reveal this summer, and later that month, one of the series’ voice actors also expressed that we’re likely to have an announcement in June. Xbox hasn’t really talked about the next Gears game yet, but it’s coming – it’s a matter of when, not if. Hopefully it will be during showcase 2024!
The highly anticipated REPLACED gets a launch date
When we first heard about the fantastic looking retro-futuristic platformer REPLACED in 2021, we never thought we’d still be waiting for a 2024 release date – but here we are. Sad Cat Studios’ indie stunner has been delayed several times before, leading people to wonder if the game actually exists.
Well, indeed – last year we had an update that pushed the game’s release window back to 2024. We’re now almost halfway through the year, and we reckon it’s about time this one was properly dated. Remember, the 2021 reveal was at the Xbox Summer Show that year, so REPLACED has a history of showing up at Xbox events. We just hope not replaced this year again with something different.
Xbox announces its hardware plans for Fall 2024
Back in February, you know, when Xbox hosted its special ‘business update podcast’, Sarah Bond dropped some pretty major details about the team’s hardware plans. In addition to boasting that Microsoft’s next-gen console provides the biggest technological leap ever, Bond also announced that Holiday 2024 will bring some form of new Xbox hardware.
It is now unclear whether the team intends to do so announce they’ll release that hardware later this year or after, but we’re assuming they meant it would be released in late 2024 — which is usually when new hardware drops. Who knows if this will be another Xbox Series update or even potentially this rumored handheld, but we’re excited to hear about it either way – and the Xbox Showcase seems like a great place for such a big announcement.
Starfield: Shattered Space gets a full gameplay reveal
Okay, okay, this is a pretty safe prediction, but we’re saying that Bethesda’s big Starfield expansion will be fully revealed during the show. We know it’s coming, and Todd Howard says the team is aiming for a fall 2024 release, so we can’t see why it won’t be ready to show off. fully during the showcase.
We’re not sure what to expect from this expansion, but we’re counting on the team at Bethesda Game Studios to take feedback from Starfield and build it into this DLC. Expect a tighter, more focused affair than the main game – and perhaps, just maybe we could see that a new transport tease has worked its way into Shattered Space. We’ll see what happens and hopefully get an exact launch date as well!
The remaining Xbox developer games will get release dates
As early as January 2024, the second Xbox Developer Direct showcased four first-party Xbox games, along with Square Enix’s Visions of Mana. One of those first-party games is now out in Hellblade 2, but three more are still planned for this year — and we think they’ll all have dates during the show.
That would mean Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed and Ara: History Untold would make for a pretty busy end of the year for Team Xbox – if none of them slip into next year. If that happens, along with some of our other predictions here, we’re in for a pretty awesome 2024 on Xbox. Bring them on!
Xbox announces the revival of the Gotham Racing project
That’s right, our last three predictions will be “wildcard” picks – and we’re kicking it off with a pretty crazy prediction from Ben. After nearly 20 years in the shadows, Project Gotham Racing will return at Xbox Games Showcase 2024.
Look, well, we’re trying our best to make it happen, given how popular Forza is these days, but we still think there’s room for PGR in the Xbox racing games menu. Horizon brings the open world cheats, Motorsport is for the more serious racers among us, and PGR might be for those of us who crave a closed-circuit arcade racetrack to race around. PGR 4 is still one of the best racing games on Xbox and we hope and pray that one day there will be a fifth game. Microsoft, do it!
Blinx is back baby
PX Video producer Craig believes it’s about time Blinx made a comeback and is pinning his hopes on an Xbox Games Showcase performance this year. Yeah, he’s a little pissed off, but honestly, we’d be ready for a big Blinx reboot.
Think about it. Sony just announced it Astro Bot is making its proper debut on the PS5 later this year, Nintendo of course continues to pump out fantastic family-friendly platformers, and Xbox doesn’t really have much to compete with. Yes, the team now has Crash and Spyro under their wings, but that doesn’t mean everyone’s favorite feline can’t make an appearance again. Hardcore Xbox fans deserve to be thrown a bone this year, and Blinx could be the frothy cat treat we’ve all been craving.
After a few teases, Banjo-Kazooie closes the show
Okay, look, we know that Xbox fans probably think that Banjo-Kazooie will be making a comeback Each year, but this time Fraser thinks it will actually happen. We might call him crazy, but Rare’s classic IP may finally be making a comeback in 2024…
At the end of last year, Phil Spencer commented that he was “hearing” Banjo fans wanting a new game in the series, and then just this year we heard rumors that a Banjo-Kazooie game had been greenlit as early as 2022. Neither of those are guarantees about the 2024 look, of course, but there are definitely rumblings now and crazier things have happened. We say this ever-popular mascot duo will indeed close the show in 2024!