Our Predictions For The 2025 Xbox Games Showcase

So, the team here at Pure Xbox have gathered up a bunch of predictions for Microsoft’s 2025 summer showcase – featuring some realistic expectations, some hopes and dreams, and maybe even a pie-in-the-sky prediction-or-two thrown in there for good measure.

Without further ado, here are our predictions for the 2025 Xbox Games Showcase:

1. Xbox’s 2025 ASUS Handheld Is Announced

So far in 2025, we’ve heard plenty about this supposed ‘partner handheld’ coming from Xbox and ASUS this year, but no formal announcement has been made as we head into showcase time. Surely that means a reveal during the Xbox event, right?

It certainly feels like the timing is right, so, we’re going to say that this is where we see it – with a fairly short turnaround until release. We’ve seen leaked images and details of the system so we’re confident that plans are fairly far along, and we’re hoping Microsoft makes a big splash with this thing during the Xbox Games Showcase 2025.

2. Gears Of War: Reloaded Beta Shadow Drops During The Event

The announcement of Gears of War: Reloaded was a pretty surprising one last month, with the game arriving very soon in August 2025. Despite feeling a bit like this whole move is purely to get the game on PS5, we are looking forward to playing it – and to see a more active player base on Gears of War.

Very recently, we’ve seen Steam listings for a Gears: Reloaded beta, which we definitely think shows up at the Xbox Games Showcase this weekend. And, with the full game launching in just a few short months, why not shadow drop this beta? That’ll be a great way to get more excitement out of the show, and it’ll certainly get us curb stomping some grubs very, very soon.

3. State Of Decay 3 Gets Big Blowout, Launching 2026

Last year, State of Decay 3 finally re-emerged alongside a brand-new mission statement from development studio Undead Labs, and we think 2025 is the year we get a proper detailed look at the upcoming State of Decay sequel.

We’re less confident in the game actually coming out this year (reports have also suggested 2026 as the launch year), but we do think it’s time for some extended gameplay. Remember, State of Decay 3 was revealed all the way back in 2020 – it really is high time we see more from the next Undead Labs title.

4. The Xbox Elite Series 3 Is Formally Announced

In recent weeks, we’ve heard reports that a new Xbox Elite controller is very much a real thing, and it could be quite far along in development too. While this might feel like an odd time to introduce a new high-end controller for Xbox Series X|S, we think there’s a good chance it happens this year.

The Elite Series 2 was introduced in 2019 just before Series X and S, so Microsoft hasn’t been bothered about saving this sort of accessory for a new console in the past – and it just feels like the time is right for this controller. The DualSense and its Edge variant have been around for a while now on PS5, and we think it’s about time Microsoft provided a more up-to-date competitor on Xbox. We hope it launches this year as well!

5. Halo Studios Shows A Glimpse Of Its First Project

Late last year, 343 Industries rebranded to Halo Studios amidst huge internal changes for the long-time Halo developer – and that announcement also brought news of a game engine change and multiple projects in development. Here at the Xbox Games Showcase 2025, we think we’ll get a tiny tease of the first of those projects.

With this big switch to Unreal Engine 5 only happening fairly recently, the next Halo game probably isn’t very far along, but we still think Microsoft will want to tease us with it ASAP. It’ll be four years this fall since Halo Infinite, and this is Xbox’s marquee franchise after all. As for where exactly Halo goes next? That’s anyone’s guess!

6. Toys For Bob Appears With New Spyro Game

Shortly after Xbox finally wrapped up its big Activision Blizzard buyout, one of the ABK studios actually split away from the team – that being Spyro developer Toys for Bob. Since that announcement, the dev signed an agreement to make another game for Xbox as an independent studio – and we reckon it could be more Spyro, despite the split.

We’ve seen lots of Spyro hints in recent years, both directly from TFB and also from outside sources, and it very much sounds like the team simply wanted to become indie rather than stop working on Spyro. Only time will tell what’s next for gaming’s cherished purple dragon, but we hope and pray that it makes a return this year.

7. Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Story DLC Revealed

Even before the release of The Great Circle, we’ve known that MachineGames has committed to a story DLC for its 2024 Indiana Jones title, and the Xbox Games Showcase feels like a great place to show that off.

We already have a name for it — The Order of Giants — and with the PS5 release now out and in the wild, the Bethesda developer is probably fully focused on this expansion. That PS5 port only arrived in April so we don’t think it’s a shadow drop or anything like that, but we could easily see The Order of Giants being ready later this year – before the team inevitably moves on to its next project.

8. Double Fine Shows Up And Announces Its Next Major Game

One of the Xbox studios that’s been fairly quiet as of late is Double Fine Productions; the team behind Psychonauts 2. This developer really does feel like a gem within Xbox Game Studios, and they’re likely being given all the time they need to craft their next uniquely Double Fine experience.

With that being said, we do think it’s getting to the point where Tim Schafer and co. will want to show off their next game soon. Back in 2023, we heard from Tim himself that Psychonauts 3 isn’t in the works right now, so you can probably take that one off the table. To be honest though, we’ll take absolutely anything from Double Fine – and we hope whatever that next game is gets a big reveal this year.

9. Perfect Dark Follows Up Impressive 2024 Showing With 2026 Launch Window

Last year, Perfect Dark came back out of the woodwork to showcase a proper gameplay trailer to us all, and it was a pretty impressive showing we must admit. Even so, we’re none the wiser on when this Crystal Dynamics / The Initiative collaboration will release – until hopefully, this time next week.

Another victim of a super-early announcement (The Game Awards 2020, to be exact), Perfect Dark’s pre-launch cycle has been a bit long-in-the-tooth, but we reckon we’re almost there. The team’s 2024 showcase looked pretty far along, so we’re going to say ‘some point in 2026’ for this one releasing. We’re not the only ones who think that either!

10. Microsoft Will Tease Its Xbox Series X Successor

Okay, this is a pretty bold one to close out on here, but we think Xbox will tease its next console in some fashion during the showcase. With PS5 Pro now out in the wild and Switch 2 launching this week, Microsoft will want to remind us that it too has another home console in the works.

Now, it probably won’t be like the The Game Awards 2019 where an actual Series X trailer was revealed, but we think it will be referred to in some way. Early last year, Sarah Bond suggested that the system was in the works, and there could be a little nod to that again somewhere along the line. Possibly in an introductory speech, maybe when talking about the future of the business, or even as a sidenote to the ASUS handheld announce – Microsoft will mention its all-powerful next-gen console, somewhere in the show.