Microsoft has a big year ahead for Xbox as it marks its 25-year milestone. After the tough decision to release more Xbox games on rival consoles two years ago, 2026 is a chance to refocus on the platform and celebrate some of Xbox’s biggest franchises. It’s also an opportunity for Microsoft to define its vision for the future of Xbox, after months of confusion from fans and plummeting Xbox hardware sales.
Xbox kicked off 2026 with its annual Developer Direct last month, a preview of some of the games it’s publishing this year. Microsoft is lining up its “four horsemen” for 2026: Forza, Halo, Fable, and Gears of War. These franchises have been the driving force behind Microsoft’s own Xbox games over the past 25 years, and I’m told there’s a big effort internally to ensure all four games debut on time this year.
Forza Horizon 6 is first up on May 19th, and sources at Microsoft tell me that Halo: Campaign Evolved is tentatively targeting release over the summer. Microsoft is planning to release Fable in the fall, with Gears of War: E-Day also scheduled for the second half of 2026. I understand Microsoft has a good idea of when both should launch, but it’s also keen to avoid being too close to Grand Theft Auto VI’s November 19th date. Rockstar’s modern day Vice City could still slip further, but Take-Two announced this week that marketing for Grand Theft Auto VI is due to start in the summer.
Outside of the big four, I understand Double Fine is also preparing to launch its new Kiln game in April. Bethesda is also working on new content for Starfield that looks set to debut soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if we also hear about a PS5 version of Starfield, years after it was first rumored. Don’t be surprised if any of these game dates slip or change — such is the reality of video game development.
Blizzard is also celebrating 35 years, with a series of showcases for World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Diablo. Overwatch 2 is now back to being just Overwatch, and there are plans for 10 new heroes over the course of the year, new maps, and more.
Fallout fans are also desperate for news about the Fallout 3 remaster we heard about in FTC documents from 2023, or news of a Fallout: New Vegas remaster. The Fallout season 2 TV show finale debuted on Tuesday, and many fans were hoping a countdown website was hinting at a Fallout 3 remaster. The game is still in active development, and I understand Bethesda is keen to ensure it’s as well polished as the surprise release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered last year.
Beyond Xbox games, 2026 is also an important year for Microsoft’s Xbox hardware and software platforms. The release of the Xbox Ally handhelds from Asus last year marked a new effort to bring Windows and Xbox closer together. This model of third-party devices now looks like the future of Xbox hardware and software.
Microsoft is working on several improvements to the Xbox “full screen experience” that powers the Xbox Ally devices. An Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR) feature, which uses an NPU to upscale games, is set to debut in the coming months for the Xbox Ally X. Microsoft is also planning to use the NPU inside the Xbox Ally X to launch a new highlight reel feature that uses AI models to automatically capture gameplay and make it easy to share the footage on social media.
An improved Xbox PC UI is also being developed. It’s based on the changes Microsoft has been testing in the new desktop mode for Xbox Cloud Gaming. It features a floating Xbox guide interface and smooth animations, and I expect to see this UI unified across Xbox consoles, PC, and cloud.
We’ll probably hear more about Xbox PC plans and further hints at the direction of Xbox consoles at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) next month. Microsoft has used GDC in the past to detail key developer changes to Xbox, as well as next-gen Xbox development plans. While I’m not expecting to hear full details about the next Xbox, I’d expect the various sessions will shed further light on the plans to merge Xbox and Windows, as well as more of Microsoft’s AI work in gaming.
We won’t be seeing a next-gen Xbox release this year, though. AMD CEO Lisa Su hinted this week that Microsoft could launch its next-gen Xbox in 2027. “Development of Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox, featuring an AMD semi-custom SoC, is progressing well to support a launch in 2027,” said Su in an earnings call on Tuesday. Microsoft has only vaguely teased its next-gen Xbox plans so far, and I’m hoping that a bigger teaser is set for later this year.
Xbox fans will get a new controller this year, though. I’m hearing that Microsoft has greenlit next-gen Xbox controllers that include Wi-Fi connectivity to reduce Xbox Cloud Gaming latency. A new Xbox controller was originally planned for 2024, alongside a canceled Xbox Series X refresh. Windows Central also expects an Xbox Elite Controller Series 3 debut in 2026, which would align with a rollout of next-gen Xbox controllers.
New Xbox controllers that connect directly to Xbox Cloud Gaming could help boost Microsoft’s Game Pass numbers and complement plans for free ad-supported access to cloud games. I understand Microsoft is getting close to testing free Xbox Cloud Gaming streaming with Xbox Insiders, ahead of a broader rollout this year.
While the free Xbox Cloud Gaming won’t be a new Game Pass tier, sources tell me Microsoft is in the early stages of exploring ways to expand its Game Pass subscription lineup. After a Game Pass Ultimate price hike in October, I understand that Microsoft is looking at ways to bundle third-party services with Game Pass subscriptions and potentially even merge Xbox Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass together. I wouldn’t expect to see any major changes to Game Pass this year, though.
Microsoft already added PC games to its various Xbox Game Pass subscriptions in October, with the dedicated PC Game Pass subscription rising by nearly 40 percent to cover the cost of day one releases. Microsoft is still seeing growth in PC Game Pass subscriptions, but it needs to clear up its fragmented subscription options if the future of Xbox consoles is PC.
All of the Xbox platform changes and pressure on big game releases add up to an important year for Xbox as it marks its 25-year anniversary. I’m certainly hoping that by the end of the year we’ll have a much better idea of Microsoft’s vision for the next 25 years of Xbox.
- Microsoft is experimenting with a top menu bar for Windows 11. Microsoft’s PowerToys team is contemplating building a top menu bar for Windows 11, much like Linux, macOS, or older versions of Windows. The menu bar is actually a dock for Microsoft’s Command Palette PowerToy, and will provide quick access to tools, monitoring of system resources, and much more. You’ll be able to position this dock at the top, left, right, or bottom edge of a screen, which already makes it more flexible than the Windows 11 Start menu. We’re now waiting to see if Microsoft goes ahead and fully builds this dock or not.
- Jeffrey Epstein was permanently banned from Xbox Live. Microsoft booted Jeffrey Epstein from its online gaming platform in 2013. It was part of a ban wave of registered sex offenders. It’s not clear if Epstein ever played Xbox, and the rest of the so-called Epstein files don’t reveal much more about Epstein’s Xbox habits.
- Former Windows 8 boss recruited Epstein to help negotiate his messy Microsoft exit. Not only did the Epstein files reveal an Xbox ban for Epstein and claims that Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates allegedly contracted an STD, they also appear to show how former Windows 8 boss Steven Sinofsky recruited Epstein to negotiate his messy exit from Microsoft. The emails appear to show that Sinofsky constantly sought Epstein’s advice as he negotiated his surprise exit from Microsoft in November 2012, forwarding emails to him in nearly real time as talks progressed. Sinofsky also appears to have forwarded a confidential email between Microsoft executives to Epstein in July 2013 that details the issues around the launch of Surface, warning that the Surface RT tablet was “about to catastrophically fail in a very public way.”
- Microsoft says it’s building an app store for AI content licensing. Microsoft is creating a new Publisher Content Marketplace (PCM), a licensing hub that could make it easier for AI companies to pay for “premium” content. Microsoft says it’s been codesigning PCM with companies including Verge parent Vox Media, The Associated Press, Condé Nast, People, and others. It’s certainly an improvement over scraping and ingesting content into AI models without payment, but The New York Times is still in the middle of a copyright lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI, claiming that the companies built their AI models by “copying and using millions” of the publication’s articles.
- Call of Duty tries to block XIM and Cronus cheaters again. Activision is trying to crack down on third-party hardware cheating devices in Call of Duty again. Devices like XIM, Cronus Zen, and ReaSnow S1 can enable unfair advantages that exploit aim assist, and now Activision is introducing new detections to ban the devices. Activision attempted to detect the devices in the past, but it’s now switching its detection software to focus on player inputs, rather than attempt to detect devices that are designed to be hidden. The new detections will go live with season 2 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 this week.
- Google Cloud’s customer chief returns to Microsoft as head of security. In a surprise move, Microsoft announced a new head of security this week. Hayete Gallot, who left Microsoft in October 2024 to become the president of Google Cloud’s customer experience, is returning to the software giant as the executive vice president of security, reporting directly to CEO Satya Nadella. This leaves Charlie Bell, Microsoft’s former security chief, in a new role at the company. While Bell and Nadella claim this move was planned, Microsoft’s security record over Bell’s four years in charge speaks for itself. In 2024, the Cyber Safety Review Board concluded that “Microsoft’s security culture was inadequate and requires an overhaul,” after a series of high-profile security issues. Microsoft has been focused on cybersecurity ever since, in a bid to win back trust.
- GitHub adds Claude and Codex AI coding agents. GitHub is making Claude by Anthropic and OpenAI’s Codex AI coding agents directly available inside GitHub this week. A new public preview adds Claude and Codex to GitHub, GitHub Mobile, and Visual Studio Code, for users with a Copilot Pro Plus or Copilot Enterprise subscription. GitHub is increasingly embracing multiple AI models to build its Copilot offering. Developers are already able to access models from Anthropic, Google, xAI, and OpenAI in GitHub Copilot, so integrating in rival AI coding agents feels like a natural next step.
- Windows 11 testers can now try out built-in Sysmon. Microsoft announced at Ignite in November that it was planning to add Sysmon into Windows, and now Windows Insiders can test this integration. Sysmon was first released in 2014 as a utility for security analysis into the Windows Event Log, and adding it to Windows will make it easier for security teams to detect and respond to threats.
- Inside Xbox, a game studio is trying to reinvent itself. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier takes an inside look at Microsoft-owned Obsidian Entertainment this week, profiling the prolific Xbox game developer. Studio head Feargus Urquhart reveals that Obsidian is trying to cut game development timelines to three or four years per title, instead of the more than six years it took to ship Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2. Urquhart also appears to acknowledge Microsoft’s aggressive 30 percent profit margins for games and hopes Microsoft will still fund riskier projects and accept that “maybe where we are going to be from a profitability standpoint isn’t going to be 30 percent.”
- Nvidia is investigating PC gaming issues with Microsoft’s latest Windows update. The ongoing saga of the January 2026 Windows 11 update isn’t slowing down. After shutdown issues, Dropbox crashes, and boot failures, Nvidia now says shadow artifacts in games like Forza Horizon 5 could be related to the January 2026 update. “Even though it started after a Windows 11 update, we are looking into it,” says Manuel Guzman, a software QA at Nvidia. “As far as I know, the only way to resolve it appears to be uninstalling KB5074109.”
- Xbox achievement redesign spotted in Xbox Cloud Gaming UI refresh. Microsoft appears to be redesigning its Xbox achievements system. Xbox fans have spotted a new achievement design inside the Xbox Cloud Gaming overhaul. Rare achievements have an updated purple diamond icon, and regular ones have a new trophy surrounded by a wreath. It’s not clear if this same design will appear on Xbox consoles anytime soon, though.
I’m always keen to hear from readers, so please drop a comment here, or you can reach me at [email protected] if you want to discuss anything else. If you’ve heard about any of Microsoft’s secret projects, you can reach me via email at [email protected] or speak to me confidentially on the Signal messaging app, where I’m tomwarren.01. I’m also tomwarren on Telegram, if you’d prefer to chat there.
Thanks for subscribing to Notepad.
Correction, February 5th: Removed mention of special edition consoles as they’re unlikely to launch this year.
