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Xbox’s next Developer Direct will spotlight Doom: The Dark Ages and more

Key art for January 2026's Xbox Developer Direct.
Microsoft

Xbox has confirmed that another Developer_Direct will take place later this month, offering use new looks at games like Doom: The Dark Ages, South of Midnight, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Plus, we’ll see a “brand new game” from a mystery studio sometime during the showcase.

January 2025’s Developer_Direct will take place on official Xbox social media channels at 10 a.m. PT on January 23. It’s the latest iteration of a type of showcase that Xbox began in 2023, which is meant to give us a deeper look at upcoming Xbox games and the studios behind them. Hi-Fi Rush famously shadow-dropped after the first Developer_Direct, and previous shows have also featured games like Indiana Jones and the Great Ciricle, Minecraft Legends, Forza Motorsport, Redfall, Avowed, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Visions of Mana, and Ara: History Untold.

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This show focuses on titles we know are coming later this year, with an Xbox Wire post teasing details on each. We’ll finally get the “full reveal” of Doom: The Dark Ages, iD Software’s latest shooter, first announced at 2024’s Xbox Games Showcase. A “deep dive” into South of Midnight is also confirmed, giving us another look at the American Deep South folklore-inspired action-adventure game that impressed Digital Trends when we saw it in action at Complusion Games’ studio last November.

Hazel sits cross-legged in South of Midnight.
Compulsion Games

On the third-party front, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will also show up. This gorgeous RPG impressed at the latest Xbox showcase, and developer Sandfall Interactive is poised to give us a behind-the-scenes look at the game and “will share more about the game’s creation and how they plan to deliver an incredible story in a gorgeous fantasy world.” Hopefully, we get release dates for these highly anticipated Game Pass titles.

The most exciting part of this Developer_Direct is that the Xbox Wire post teases that it will “visit a surprise location to see another studio’s brand new game.” Although Xbox isn’t saying anything more about it, rumors suggest it could be an Unreal Engine 5 remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The phrasing of “brand new game” seems to dispel that possibility, though, so we’ll have to tune into the show when it takes place in a couple of weeks to see if that’s true.

Tomas Franzese
A former Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese now reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
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