The Xbox Games Showcase is on June 7, and honestly I am more excited about this year’s showcase than I have been in the last few years. The vibe around Xbox right now is genuinely different since Asha Sharma took over and with the possibility of Project Helix and Windows gaming announcements, this has the potential to be Xbox’s biggest year ever. Considering it’s their 25th anniversary, that makes sense though. June 7 is coming fast and let’s see if they are going to put it all on the table or if they will be holding back.
Here is my wishlist, the stuff I genuinely need to see before I can call this showcase a win.
A Real Fable Release Date
We have been waiting on Fable since the 2020 announcement, which means this reboot has been in the pipeline for six years. The Developer Direct in January showed us gameplay and confirmed autumn 2026, but autumn is a wide window and there are rumors floating around that the GTA 6 November release has spooked Playground Games into delaying the game.
I loved the original trilogy. There’s just something about kicking the chickens that is so much fun! The footage from January looked genuinely good, better than I expected honestly, but I need a date. Give me September. Give me October. Just give me something I can put in my calendar, because “autumn 2026” is not a release date, it is a 3 month long potential release date.
The June 7 showcase is the right moment to lock this in. If they come and go without a firm date, that is a big red flag.
A First Real Look at Marvel’s Blade
This one is a long shot, but it is on the list.
Marvel’s Blade was first revealed at The Game Awards in December 2023 and has barely been heard about since. That is over two years of silence from Arkane Lyon, and the reason for that silence is not a mystery. Financial statements from the studio confirmed that full production on the game only launched at the end of 2024, meaning it has been in active development for less than two years at this point. A 2026 release was never realistic, and nobody serious expected one.
What I do want is a trailer. Not gameplay necessarily, just proof that this thing is alive and moving. A release year would be icing on the cake. If Blade shows up on June 7, even just as a cinematic teaser, that is going to be a huge moment. If it does not, the next realistic window is probably The Game Awards in December.
Something Concrete on Project Helix
Jason Ronald confirmed that Xbox will have more to share on Project Helix later this year, and the June showcase is the most logical place for that to happen. Right now all we really know is that it is a PC-console hybrid, it is pushing AMD FSR Next, and it is expected to succeed the Series X family. That is not enough.
I am not expecting a full reveal with pricing and a launch trailer. What I want is a real look at what this thing actually is, what the experience feels like, whether the hybrid angle means that Helix games are PC games. If they are, a game releasing on Helix would effectively be a PC release too, same code, same ecosystem, no separate version. The idea of a device that gives you console simplicity but lets you tap into the PC ecosystem is genuinely interesting to me, and I want to know if Microsoft is actually building that or just marketing in that direction.
If they show nothing on Helix at all, the showcase becomes entirely software-focused and the next hardware conversation probably gets pushed to Gamescom. I would rather they rip the bandage off now, especially after their recent developer showcase.
Backward Compatibility Expansion, Specifically These Games
This one is personal. Xbox has done incredible work with backward compatibility over the years and I still think it is one of the most underrated things they do, but there are gaps that have bothered me for a long time.
X-Men Legends, X-Men Legends II, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance are still not backward compatible, and those games were a lot of fun. There is obviously a licensing mess sitting behind all of that, Marvel on one side, Activision on another, and it has kept some genuinely great games off the platform for years. Spider-Man: Edge of Time is in the same situation, a game that basically no one talks about anymore but that I have real affection for.
I am realistic about the licensing complexity here, I know it is not just a switch Microsoft can flip. But if they announce any movement on Marvel-era Activision titles getting backward compatibility support, that would make my day in a way that a big flashy new announcement probably would not.
One Thing Nobody Saw Coming
Every great showcase has at least one moment where the room goes quiet because something showed up that nobody had on their bingo card. That is the moment I am always chasing when I sit down to watch these things live.
I am not going to pretend I have a specific wish for this slot because that defeats the point. What I will say is that Xbox’s first-party lineup has been deep enough lately that there are studios and projects we probably know nothing about, and June 7 feels like the right time for one of those to surface. A surprise announcement that connects to a franchise people stopped expecting to come back, or something genuinely new from a studio that has been quiet, that is what separates a good showcase from a great one.
What I Am Not Expecting But Would Not Complain About
Halo: Campaign Evolved is almost certainly showing up in some capacity, and while I am curious I would put that in the “expected” column rather than the wishlist. Same with Gears of War: E-Day, which is getting its own dedicated Direct immediately after the showcase anyway.
The one thing I would not complain about seeing, even if I have zero expectation of it, is any hint at what the next Halo is going to be. Yes, Campaign Evolved is coming this year, but what’s next after Infinite?
