by Michael McWhertor
Microsoft’s 2025 Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday promises a look at new and upcoming games from Xbox Games Studios — including studios like Activision Blizzard, Bethesda Softworks, Obsidian Entertainment, and Playground Games — and third-party partners from around the globe.
This year’s Xbox Games Showcase will dedicate a separate presentation to first-person sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds 2. Developer Obsidian Entertainment will offer a deeper look into the sequel to the award-winning Outer Worlds after the main show.
For every big announcement at Xbox Games Showcase 2025, including new trailers and major game announcements, check out Polygon’s StoryStream below. You can also watch the Xbox Games Showcase 2025 and Outer Worlds 2 Direct live right here.
Pinned
Marloes Valentina Stella
Microsoft’s annual Xbox Games Showcase is a double header this year: It’s directly followed by the Outer Worlds 2 Direct, a livestream focused on Obsidian Entertainment’s forthcoming space-faring RPG.
Here’s everything we know about the two events, including where to watch Xbox Games Showcase 2025 (and the Outer Worlds 2 Direct), what time the shows start, and what to expect from the streams.
Josh Broadwell
Microsoft and Activision revealed Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in a dramatic cinematic trailer during the 2025 Xbox Games Showcase. Having two Black Ops games release consecutively is a first for the franchise, and Activision’s Treyarch and Raven studios teamed up to make it happen following 2024’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
The Black Ops 7 trailer is a trippy thing, like something you might expect out of Remedy’s Alan Wake series, with scenes of the protagonist appearing to experience a fragmented consciousness, a moment where a cityscape folds in on itself Inception-style, laughing TV sets, red butterflies made of data, and talking robot butlers escorting someone through a suspiciously, eerily calm executive suite. While we’re not entirely sure what’s going on, we do know who’s leading the charge this time: David Mason, the lead from Black Ops 2 whose last appearance was in 2018’s Black Ops 4.
Marc Griffin
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4 is going to need a lot of pizza, because Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Michelangelo, is headed to the skate park. A new trailer, presented by Tony Hawk himself, was shown at the Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday, providing another peak at the revamped tricks, characters, and locales.
In the trailer, the orange-clad turtle could be seen underneath a skate park in the Los Angeles sewers, examining a piece of pizza and then spinning on his shell before whipping out his own skateboard. The trailer also showed off a look at the return of Bam Margera, guest character the Doom Slayer, and more skaters ripping up the halfpipe. Other skaters to be featured in the game include Nyjah Huston, Riley Hawk, Lizzie Armanto, Leticia Bufoni, Tyshawn Jones, and more. Pro Skater 3 and 4 will have online multiplayer, allowing players to play with seven additional friends in a virtual skatepark. Fans can also expect fan-favorite levels like Rio, Tokyo, the Foundry, Airport, and Canada to return to the game.
Austin Manchester
Double Fine Productions’ Keeper was revealed Sunday at the Xbox Games Showcase and will launch Oct. 17 for Xbox Series X and Windows PC. It’ll also be available day one on Xbox Game Pass.
In Keeper, you’ll play as a weathered lighthouse aged by time. It sprouts legs, and you and a bird companion will then explore various environments together. The trailer showcased a forest, an illuminated cave, and a village populated by robotic characters on wheels. Double Fine’s games are known for being full of heart, and judging by its reveal trailer, Keeper will have plenty of it.
Michael McWhertor
Microsoft brought out some big guns at its annual Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday, revealing a new Xbox-branded handheld, an important update on Hollow Knight: Silksong, Double Fine’s new game Keeper, the long-rumored Persona 4 remake, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. There were also plenty of lower-key surprises, including the reveals of some sharp-looking indie games.
Xbox head Phil Spencer also promised that, in 2026, “players will get to celebrate 25 years of Xbox with a new Fable, the next Forza, Gears of War: E-Day, and the return of a classic that’s been with us since the beginning.” Presumably, Spencer means Halo with the latter tease.
Michael McWhertor
Skybound Games revealed Invincible VS, an original 2D tag-fighting game, on Sunday at Microsoft’s Xbox Games Showcase. Invincible VS will bring together heroes and villains like Omni-Man, Invincible, Atom Eve, Thula, and Bulletproof for highly destructive, three-versus-three action when it’s released in 2026 on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
And, yes, as demonstrated in the reveal trailer for Invincible VS, Skybound’s new fighting game will be just as bloody as the Robert Kirkman-created Invincible comic book and animated series from which it’s adapted. Based on the game’s debut trailer, it also appears that some voice actors, like J.K. Simmons, will reprise their onscreen roles.
Isaac Rouse
Atlus announced a full remake of its ever-popular role-playing game Persona 4 at Sunday’s Xbox Games Showcase. The new version of the role-playing game is officially named Persona 4 Revival and will be released on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
Microsoft and Atlus did not reveal a release date for Persona 4 Revival, but confirmed the remake will be available on day one with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
Austin Manchester
Spiritfarer developer Thunder Lotus Games announced its next project during the Xbox Games Showcase Sunday, At Fate’s End. It’s an action-adventure game where you’ll fight family via emotional sword-fighting and dialogue duels. At Fate’s End is due out sometime in 2026 for Windows PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Game Pass. Notably, neither the Nintendo Switch or the Switch 2 were listed as platforms, though that may change in the future.
In At Fate’s End you’ll play as princess Shan, who wields the God Sword Aesus (which already sounds like a very cool sword). She’ll fight her siblings in duels “where combat is waged not only through swordplay, but through dialogue, psychological insight, and hard-won knowledge of shared history,” according to the press release revealing the game. It’ll feature various endings, meaning your family’s future sinks or swims depending on your choices.
Austin Manchester
Game Freak, best known for its work on Pokémon games, unveiled a new look and title for its upcoming project on Sunday during the Xbox Games Showcase. Beast of Reincarnation is headed to Xbox Series X, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5 sometime in 2026.
Beast of Reincarnation has you playing as Emma the Sealer in the far-off future of 4026 as “humanity awaits its inevitable extinction,” according to the trailer’s voiceover. Emma is “the blade that will destroy the Beast of Reincarnation” through some sick-looking, action-focused gameplay.
Marc Griffin
Squanch Games is keeping the party going — it announced Sunday that High on Life 2 is coming in winter 2025. The reveal went down at the Xbox Games Showcase, with a glimpse at some of the gameplay in the second installment in the wacky intergalactic franchise.
The comical trailer shows off the protagonist skateboarding in a futuristic building as Tobacco’s “Constellation Dirtbike Head” blares in the background. Scenes switch, with the player skateboarding and blasting through a couple of robotic monstrosities, all with the handy, talking alien gun. Additionally, scenes show off strange weaponry, such as a flame-spewing lizard and a pair of reality-bending pistols.
Michael McWhertor
Congrats, patient bug lovers: Hollow Knight: Silksong will be out later this year, Microsoft confirmed Sunday at its Xbox Games Showcase. Microsoft’s Sarah Bond announced that release window alongside the reveal of Xbox Ally, a portable gaming device coming as part of a collaboration with Asus.
Bond said that Hollow Knight: Silksong will be released and playable for the launch of the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, two handhelds that will launch sometime in holiday 2025. Silksong was prominently featured in a reveal trailer for the Ally handhelds.
Josh Broadwell
Xbox announced two Asus ROG Xbox Ally variations during the summer 2025 Xbox Games Showcase, both of which include more powerful AMD processors and a native Xbox app, among other things. Both Xbox handhelds will launch in the holiday 2025 window, though Xbox didn’t mention pricing during the reveal.
The ROG Xbox Ally X comes with:
Claire Lewis
Asobo Studio — the developer behind A Plague Tale: Innocence and its sequel, A Plague Tale: Requiem — has revealed the next game in the A Plague Tale franchise: a prequel called Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy. The news was shared during the Xbox Games Showcase via a reveal trailer that gave players their first look at the game.
Set 15 years before the events of the first game, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy naturally features a new protagonist. Resonance follows the story of Sophia, a treasure-hunter who is determined to discover the secrets of her past, despite being on the run from an army of mysterious pursuers.
Michael McWhertor
Summer Game Fest 2025 returns in June to fill the vacuum left by E3 — may it rest in peace — and will be joined by a long list of showcases from the likes of Xbox and tireless independent organizers who will put on shows like Day of the Devs and Wholesome Direct.
This year’s Summer Game Fest and “Not-E3” extravaganza may look a little lighter, though. Publishers like Nintendo and Ubisoft haven’t yet announced their brand of events — Nintendo Direct and Ubisoft Forward, respectively — but some of that may change as we approach what would normally be E3 season. Sony was a late addition to the list of summer showcases, announcing a new State of Play the day before it was scheduled to stream.
Marc Griffin
After letting slip that the company was working on a new Rayman title, Ubisoft is now teasing something Splinter Cell-related, just days before Summer Game Fest kicks off.
The company uploaded a cryptic post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday with an image of what appears to be Sam Fisher, the beloved main character from the stealth action-adventure franchise. Using eye and mouth emojis, the social account typed “#SplinterCell” with no further context.
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