Xbox Has Reportedly Delayed 'A Big Game' Into 2026

Wasn’t Fable a 2025 game or was I over optimistic….

Probably to get it ready to be brought onto the PS5 no doubt.

If it is perfect dark, it is annoying that he is calling it a "delay." They need to announce it as a 2025 release before I consider that a proper delay.

There is a massive difference between setting a date publicly and missing it and an internal target they weren't confident in to begin with being missed.

It’s probably E-day. People heard it was supposed to be 2025 but 2026 is the anniversary and it most likely needs more time.

MS needs to invest in a support team that can help games across the finish line.

They’re biggest releases (Indy excluded) we’re all good to great games at their core, but we’re muddied down by bugs and technical issues.

Anyway, take your time and polish the game to a shine!

They could be gearing up for big releases for the next gen console if they launch it in 2026.

My guess is Fable (swapping an RPG for another RPG).

Fable perfect dark or gears would be my guess

Perfect dark was never a 2025 release.
The smart money will be on Fable 2026.
As I think Fable would have late 2025 and got eaten up by COD, FIFA and mostly GTA6.

2026 is when the NeXtBoX is rumoured to be coming out. Four games at this Summer's Xbox Showcase had no Xbox logo;

• Gears of War: E-Day
• Perfect Dark
• State of Decay 3
• Blade

So, if you extrapolate from that each of these games is a NeXtBoX launch title, then it also follows that it is not one of these games that has been delayed.

Therefore, my money is on Fable as at one time that game was rumoured to be coming out this year, and the current rumours say 2025. Making Fable a 2026 launch title for the NeXtBoX does make some sense, though if each of these games is also going to release simultaneously on the PlayStation, then having any game as a launch title is pretty moot really...

@S1ayeR74
I’m really not sure we will get a new Xbox home console is 2026.
I’m all for it but that is optimistic.

@Fiendish-Beaver
I’m really not sure we will get a new Xbox home console is 2026.
I’m all for it but that is optimistic.

You may well be right, @OldGamer999, however, the rumours are persistent, and encompass why Microsoft decided not to do a 'Pro' this generation, and instead bring forward the NeXtBoX with an even bigger step up on the technical front, but most importantly, beating Sony to the release of the PS6 by two years. Apparently, the execs at Microsoft see getting the march on the PS6 (as they did with the 360 and the PS3) as giving the NeXtBoX the biggest chance of success.

That's the rumour, anyway, and in all honesty, it make a lot of sense. I think if the PS6 and the NeXtBoX release at the same time (as with the two most recent generations) then the NeXtBoX will likely suffer terribly, as given the choice I think many more people will opt for the PS6 over the NeXtBoX. That , I think, is a situation that Microsoft want to avoid at all costs...

So the speculation from Grubb is that Perfect Dark, a game that has no date so far was... delayed?!

There is no such a thing as delay of game without a date. Speculation is speculation. If the publisher have no date there is no delay.

Perfect Dark was never confirmed for 2025.

Must be Fable since it’s my most anticipated game of the group lol.

Avowed was most anticipated this year and of course it was already bumped 🤬.

@Fiendish-Beaver
It makes sense what you say about a next Xbox in 2026 to get the lead over PS6.
There is a but, I don’t think Microsoft really care about consoles anymore and I would not be at all surprised if they didn’t bother next generation.

Remember as far as we can tell, the console is nowhere near Microsoft’s focus anymore. So why bother getting the jump on PS6 what is the point.

My guess is Fable. I think they are waiting for GTA6's release date. If it's 2025 they will move Fable, if GTA is delayed then they will release it this November. That's what I believe. I hope it's something else tho... I'm so excited for 2025 with Avowed, Outer Worlds 2, Fable, Doom, a new COD and FF7 Rebirth! And I only need to buy Rebirth and I already did coz SE was so kind to give us a 30% discount for pre-orders!

@Fiendish-Beaver isn't it just as risky to play your hand so Sony know what your machine can do. They can also look at public feedback on what they do and don't like feature wise and make changes accordingly for their machine.
Then you have the software side with the possibility of most Xbox published games coming across to the Sony machine as well as an increasingly longer cross generation to cater for.
I agree that releasing at the same time that the outcome is inevitable but taking this risk might end up biting them even harder. Time will tell, I just hope Sony continues to have some form of competition in the console space

Hope it’s not Fable, that’s the 2025 release I was interested in the most

I’m looking forward to South of Midnight but I don’t see it being high profile enough to be classified as a ‘big’ game.

@Fiendish-Beaver What’s the advantage in releasing before Sony? Those first two years will just be filled with cross-gen games with PS5 still as the lead platform. So no game will take full advantage of the new hardware, not even Microsoft’s because of their new multiplatform strategy. Then Sony swoops in in 2028 with a more powerful PS6, leapfrogs Xbox, and then they’re at a hardware disadvantage for the remainder of the generation. I don’t see how this goes in Microsoft’s favour.

Ya know, The Last Guardian had this same kind of problem. Came out, didn't do anywhere near as good as they thought and now Ueda is making his game being published by Epic Games.

Perfect Darks gonna flop horrendously. This has been going on for some time. HOW IS IT THIS HARD!?!? They should've just left IP alone of Rare wasn't willing to do it. How many Game Directors have they lost over this? And they got a Naughty Dog dev or something? Well, he's gone

@Llamageddon it sorta depends what the NextBox is. If it's the rumoured open storefront thing then early sales will be key, but agree with pretty much every commenter that on a side by side release the ps6 will beat it 7 ways from Sunday.

Still, as consumers we will have the choice of either, so it's on MS to make a compelling product really!

All this info leaking, Xbox employees must really hate their jobs and hate working for Xbox. Even with all that Microsoft money, don't you find it rather strange with all the hell Xbox is going through, all the leaks? PS3 had that issue for a time and Jack Tretton joked about it one E3 that he was surprised everyone actually showed up considering the industries ability to keep information confidential. After that, BAM! But, with all those leaks, they really must hate working for Xbox

Another article states that the game in question never had a 2025 release date publically stated so that rules out games that already had the 2025 release window

They've delayed a game BEFORE announcing its original release date.

That's gotta be a record 😆