Skip to main content

Xbox Games Showcase coming this summer alongside mysterious game reveal

Key art for the Xbox Games Showcase 2024.
Microsoft

Microsoft has set the date for its Xbox Games Showcase this June. It’s also teasing a Direct that will immediately follow the showcase, but won’t say what that’s for just yet.

Recommended Videos

The Xbox Games Showcase will return at 10 a.m. PT on June 9. Like all of its showcases, Microsoft plans to stream this presentation across its YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook, although it will also give away tickets to see the show in person via Xbox FanFest. According to the Xbox Wire post announcing the livestream, this is Microsoft’s “first Showcase featuring games from our portfolio of studios across Activision, Blizzard, Bethesda, and Xbox Game Studios, in addition to titles from our third-party partners.”

Xbox has a strong lineup for the back half of 2024 that includes games like Ara: History Untold, Avowed, Age of Mythology: Retold, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Towerborne, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, so it has quite a bit to show this year. The biggest mystery surrounding the showcase right now is what unannounced game is taking the Direct slot immediately following the Xbox Game Showcase. Last year, that slot went to Starfield, so whatever game it is has big shoes to fill.

The “Redacted Direct,” as Microsoft is currently calling it, will begin right after the Xbox Game Showcase wraps up. The Xbox Wire post teases that it will be “a special deep dive into the next installment of a beloved franchise.” The most likely candidates for something like this would be a new Gears or Call of Duty title, but for now, we just have to wait on an official announcement from Xbox, Bethesda, or Activision Blizzard.

The Xbox Games Showcase followed by Redacted Direct begins at 10 a.m. PT on June 9.

Tomas Franzese
A former Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese now reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
3 Xbox Game Pass games to play this weekend (April 4-6)
We Happy Few

The big news of the week was easily the full reveal and details for the Nintendo Switch 2. While there were a lot of exciting upcoming Switch 2 games shown off for later in the year, us Game Pass players don't have to wait long at all for some great upcoming Xbox Series X games. South of Midnight is right around the corner, and Clair Obscur is not far behind. This weekend, we got creative and fun to give you a nice trio of options on Game Pass you probably didn't get to when they came out. These are the best Game Pass games you should be playing this weekend.
We Happy Few
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGRHLmBNO_w&pp=ygUUV2UgSGFwcHkgRmV3IHRyYWlsZXLSBwkJvwCDtaTen9Q%3D

The last game Compulsion Games made before South of Midnight was the misunderstood We Happy Few. The initial trailers gave off the impression of a linear, BioShock-like experience which ended up not being the case. That said, if you take We Happy Few for what it is then you can start to appreciate it. Set in an alternate history 1960s England with various sci-fi elements tossed in. What players weren't expecting was a first-person survival game with some roguelike elements, but still has a distinct structure. You go through three acts as three different characters who are all trying to escape the city for various reasons. It's not perfect, but certainly worth a revisit before the team's next game to see how it stacks up.

Read more
Microsoft may be testing a handheld-focused Xbox UI for Windows 11
D-pad on the Asus ROG Ally X.

Gaming on your Windows PC or gaming handheld could soon feel a lot more like firing up an Xbox. Recent clues hidden within the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview hint at Microsoft's plans to introduce a dedicated Xbox interface designed to bring console-like simplicity directly to PCs.

An insider on BlueSky named XenoPanther discovered references to an "Xbox UI" hidden within Windows 11's latest build, suggesting users may soon be able to boot directly into a full-screen gaming experience. Specifically, the references found by XenoPanther, discovered in a "Gaming_GamingPosture_ChooseHomeApp" area, include options to boot into a full screen experience at the device's startup, and "Choose your full screen experience".

Read more
3 new Xbox Game Pass games to play this weekend (March 28-30)
A man stands on a rock in Atomfall.

Xbox isn't letting March run out without giving Game Pass subscribers one last batch of titles fresh to the service. April will be a huge month for upcoming Xbox Series X games, kicking things off with South of Midnight early and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 both arriving on Game Pass day one. But before we get too caught up in the future, let's focus on the here and now. We have one big day one addition that will be of interest to Fallout fans, plus two other games arriving in Core that everyone should play. Don't let this weekend go to waste and check out these Game Pass hits.
Atomfall
Atomfall Gamescom Trailer

Atomfall has more differences to a Fallout game than it might look, but bugs aren't one of them. That's an annoyance for certain, but not enough to pass on the entire experience. You are let loose in a quarantine zone in an alternate history version of 1957 where the real-life Windscale fire was far worse than it was in reality. This game is brutal in almost every way, but also incredibly flexible. Quests are referred to as Investigations, meaning you have to do a lot of the legwork figuring out where to go and how you want to solve them. It has moments of brilliance with its almost immersive sim-like design, but don't expect a polished shooter or RPG.

Read more