17 January 2024 , 13:00
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Ahead of this week's Xbox Developer Direct livestream, Microsoft has elected to douse any hopes that another first-party game will be surprise released.
With 2023 being extremely disappointing on the Xbox first-party exclusives front – for people who didn’t care for Starfield, anyway – hopes are high for this week's Xbox Developer Direct 2024 livestream to deliver an exciting look at what Microsoft has planned for Xbox Series X|S this year. The publisher has already announced players can expect deep dives into Indiana Jones, Avowed, Ara: History Untold and Hellblade 2: Senua’s Sacrifice. However, the publisher has now tempered expectations.
In a post published on the Xbox Wire ahead of the livestream, Xbox’s editorial team has told players not to expect a surprise game to be shadowdropped as was the case with Bethesda’s Hi-Fi Rush last year. “All the games in this year’s Developer_Direct will be arriving later, with more details to be shared in the program,” it reads, definitely ruling out the possibility that anything shown tonight will launch immediately after the Xbox Developer Direct’s airing.
Though extremely disappointing to hear, news that this year’s Xbox Developer Direct won’t see a first-party game surprise released isn’t especially surprising either. Leaks are so prescient leading up to video games releasing these days, it was a genuine shock to see that Xbox and Bethesda managed to pull it off last year with Hi-Fi Rush at all. The only possible leak discovered so far before this week's show is the potential name reveal for the Indiana Jones game set to be shown.
X- traordinary
The Xbox Developer Direct is set to begin on Thursday, January 18 at 8pm GMT/ 3pm EST / 12pm PST, where players will be given their first proper look at three of the four games. Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga, meanwhile, was announced before the Xbox Series X|S’s release, so there’s more likelihood that the game will get a hard release date. Aside from this, I’m happy to see Xbox manage expectations accordingly.
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Another game you won’t see at the show is Diablo 4, despite the game now being technically a first-party Xbox title as a result of the Microsoft Activision deal’s final approval last year. Activision Blizzard will instead be hosting its own Diablo 4 Season 3 campfire chat just ahead of the Xbox Developer Direct, where all things about the recently revealed Season of the Construct will be revealed.