2026 is the 25th anniversary of Xbox. In honor of their 25th year, Xbox and Microsoft are doing big things. The biggest thing they’ve done so far is replace the CEO, Phil Spencer, with a new one, Asha Sharma. In the short time that she’s been CEO, they have announced a new console, overhauled Achievements, and had a partner preview, showing upcoming games from their partners. Their next showcase was thought to be their annual June one, but that may not be the case. In a new rumor from Nate The Hate, there may be another showcase this Thursday, April 16th. It’s rumored to be showing off a new Metro game, the long rumored Metro 2039. Metro is a post-apocalyptic franchise that spans across video games and novels.
What Happens in June?
If this does happen and it’s not just an announcement, this would be Xbox’s third showcase of the year, including one last month and one in January. With it being their 25th anniversary, it makes sense why they are pushing out so much, but that makes me question what will they show in June? June is usually their biggest showcase of the year, so if they are showing off all the new stuff now, what do they have planned for June? Could they be showing off more of Project Helix? Will their be longer game trailers with less games? Will they focus more on services than they have in the past few years? One thing is clear, Xbox is determined to make a big comeback.
After years of mixed messaging, losing exclusives, and bad ad campaigns, Xbox is trying to steer the ship. Asha Sharma may be new to the games industry, but from the outside, it looks like she is listening to fans and trying to give them what they’ve been asking for. Will there be more exclusives, like many have been asking for? We will have to wait and see. It’s very possible that they will have timed exclusives like they did with Indiana Jones. It’s also possible, since Project Helix will play PC games, they won’t need first party exclusives. There have been thousands if not millions of games released exclusively on PC. Project Helix could make those games playable, for the first time, on a console.
Either way, we will need to wait and see what happens, both on Thursday and on June 7th when they have their annual showcase.
