The January 22 Xbox Developer Direct has rapidly become one of the more anticipated events of the year, with the lineup already confirmed to include deep dives into Playground Games’ Fable and Forza Horizon 6, as well as Game Freak’s action RPG Beast of Reincarnation. Fans have plenty to look forward to from those reveals alone at the upcoming Xbox event, especially with Fable finally getting a substantial look and Forza Horizon 6 promising a fresh open-world racing experience.
However, alongside the three major games that have been confirmed to show up for the event, industry chatter has sparked rumors of a so-called “secret” fourth game that will be making an appearance, and that has naturally led to wild speculation from some corners of the community. While insider shinobi602 teased the reveal of this extra title on ResetEra and sites like VGC have even reported on it, details are scarce and unverified at the moment, and leaning heavily on the notion that there is another slot left in the showcase waiting to be filled. Rumors like this are prime real estate for fans to begin throwing all of their egg-spectations into one basket, but that might not be wise after sources made some clarifications regarding the “secret” fourth title.
Every Game Confirmed for the Xbox Developer Direct
- Fable (Playground Games)
- Forza Horizon 6 (Playground Games)
- Beast of Reincarnation (Game Freak)
The Xbox Developer Direct’s “Secret” Fourth Game Is Probably Not What You Think It Is
When a platform holder leaves an extra slot open, especially at a first-party focused event, fans tend to fill that silence with the biggest name they can think of rather than the most realistic one. In Xbox’s case, that almost always means The Elder Scrolls 6, a game that has loomed over the industry for years as one of its most anticipated releases despite having very little concrete information attached to it. After all, it has not only been almost 15 years since the last Elder Scrolls game was released, but with constant chatter surrounding both the ongoing development of the sixth mainline entry and even a possible shadow drop after Bethesda launched Oblivion Remastered in that manner, the tease of an extra, unnamed game in the Xbox Developer Direct naturally creates hype for the titles fans are most looking forward to.
However, while VGC initially reported on the “secret” fourth game, saying that it was in development at a third-party indie studio, it has since corrected that statement to indicate that it is, in fact, another first-party title. The catch, though, is that it is a “smaller-scale original game from one of Xbox Game Studios’ first-party developers.” This statement offers two big reasons why the fourth game to reportedly be featured in the Xbox Developer Direct is, unfortunately, not The Elder Scrolls 6.
The Rumored “Secret” Fourth Game Will Be Original and Smaller in Scale
Firstly, “smaller-scale” is the furthest one can get from accurately describing an Elder Scrolls game, especially after Skyrim‘s open world revolutionized the industry and set standards for both scale and immersion. Needless to say, The Elder Scrolls 6 is expected to follow in those footsteps with its own world. Secondly, with the fourth title being an “original game,” it can’t be The Elder Scrolls 6. In industry language, an “original game” almost always means a new IP or a project that is not tied to an existing franchise. The only way that the fourth game could be the highly anticipated Elder Scrolls game, then, is if these rumors are inaccurate or the wording is intentionally wrong to throw fans off the scent.
At the very least, should the rumors of a “secret” fourth game in the Xbox Developer Direct prove to be true, fans will be treated to the reveal of a brand-new first-party Xbox game that, though smaller in scale, could be exciting news. That matters because the size of the Xbox Developer Direct’s confirmed lineup actually helps contextualize where this rumored fourth game fits. Fable, Forza Horizon 6, and Beast of Reincarnation already cover Xbox’s major first-party ambitions for the event. With those in place, the remaining slot is far more likely to serve as a complement to the showcase rather than its centerpiece.
In other words, expectations around something like The Elder Scrolls 6 should probably be tempered. A game of that scale would not round out an already stacked presentation very well, nor would it share oxygen with other deep dives if Xbox wanted to give it a proper introduction. When January 22 arrives, the focus of the Xbox Developer Direct will rightly remain on Fable, Forza Horizon 6, and Beast of Reincarnation, all of which already have momentum behind them. If the rumored fourth game does appear, it is more likely to be an opportunity for Xbox to reveal something new.
Source: VGC
