Breaking news here, as a trusted industry insider claims there will be a major Xbox announcement today.
Tom Henderson shared this message on Twitter:
“Sorry for no vagueness, but yeah, I’m hearing that there’s an Xbox announcement today – Probably the direct.”
Tom may know what announcement is coming up, but is not free to reveal it.
At the start of this year, we have already been experiencing quite the cycle of Xbox news and rumors, so we do have a few candidates on what this announcement could be.
As Tom mentioned, earlier rumors have been going around about an Xbox Developer Direct to start the year off. Last year, Microsoft held an Xbox Developer Direct on January 25, 2023. Among other things, this was the date that Microsoft successfully shadow dropped Hi-Fi Rush. They also shared previews of Minecraft Legends, The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom, Forza Motorsport, and the now notorious Redfall. All of these games and expansions released on that year.
Speaking of Hi-Fi Rush, the rumors have been swirling around that the title will soon be coming to the Nintendo Switch. In fact, we just reported on the Australian ratings board revealing that the game could be coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, mobile, and arcades as well.
Now all this talk has been making some Xbox fans mad, as discourse has come up once again that Microsoft is turning into a third party company. It’s even led to baseless speculation that Microsoft will no longer be making a new console. The actual rumors claim that Microsoft will jump into a new generation of Xboxes early, in 2026.
That talk has heated up over other rumors, that Microsoft is investigating how they can bring their legacy IP to other platforms. While Xbox owners seem to be worried that these games will come to PlayStation, it’s more likely these refer to Microsoft’s plans to create a third party mobile store.
There are some other rumors that have been going around regarding Xbox. One is that Microsoft has greenlit a new Banjo-Kazooie game, after 16 years. The other is that id Software has managed to snag the Star Wars: The Mandalorian license, to make an Xbox exclusive game with it.
The upcoming announcement could be a combination of several of these rumors, or something entirely new that Microsoft managed to keep under wraps. Whatever it will be, it may be the first big announcement for video games in 2024.
