Head of Xbox Phil Spencer Confirms 4 Massive First-Party Games Coming in 2026

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has confirmed that the brand will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2026 with the return of some of its biggest franchises. Xbox recently hosted its annual Xbox Game Showcase, and as usual, the event was full of exciting announcements. In particular, this year’s Xbox Games Showcase was exciting for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, as it featured a nonstop barrage of day one Game Pass announcements.

Multiple day one Xbox Game Pass games were featured at the Xbox Games Showcase, ranging from titles that we already knew about, like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4, to surprise announcements like High on Life 2. Xbox Game Pass subscribers should have no shortage of games to play in the months ahead, but they may be especially excited about what’s on deck in 2026.

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At the end of the Xbox Games Showcase, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer confirmed that the new Fable game, a new Forza game, and Gears of War: E-Day will all be launching in 2026 as part of the company’s 25-year anniversary celebration. On top of those three games, Spencer teased that 2026 will also see the “return of a classic that’s been with us since the beginning.” Unless Spencer is referring to one of the Xbox’s lesser-known launch titles, many have taken this to mean that Halo is making a comeback in 2026 as well.

4 Huge Xbox Franchises Are Coming Back in 2026

• Fable
• Forza
• Gears of War: E-Day
• Returning classic

Fable, Halo, Gears of War, and Forza are easily four of the biggest Xbox franchises, and so all of them returning in the same year should be absolutely massive for the brand. We know that the new Fable game is being developed by Playground Games and will play like a natural evolution of the franchise’s quirky action-RPG framework, and Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel starring fan-favorite characters Dom and Marcus. However, Forza is a bit more mysterious, as is the “returning classic” Spencer has alluded to.

As far as Forza goes, it’s entirely possible that the new game is the long-awaited Forza Horizon 6, but with Playground Games busy with Fable, it may be a new Forza Motorsport game instead. Then again, the new Forza coming in 2026 could be something else entirely. Until Xbox itself decides to divulge more information, all fans can do is speculate.

Assuming the returning classic is indeed Halo, the smart money is on the Halo: Combat Evolved remake being real. According to the leaks, the Halo 1 remake is being built with Unreal Engine 5, but otherwise there aren’t many details about what it will entail. Just like with Forza, fans will have to wait and see when it comes to the new Halo, but regardless, Xbox’s four biggest franchises are all coming back next year, and that is incredibly exciting.

Brand

Microsoft

Operating System

Proprietary (Windows-based)

Storage

1TB WD SN530 NVMe SSD

VR Support

No

Resolution

720p – 4K UHD

App Store

Microsoft Store