2026 is set to be a major year for Xbox Game Studios, with multiple tentpole franchises receiving new releases over the next 12 months, and studios boss Craig Duncan is hyper-aware of how important it is to schedule these correctly.
In an interview with GamesRadar, Duncan admitted that releasing Keeper, The Outer Worlds 2 and Ninja Gaiden 4 so close to each other in October was perhaps a bit too hectic, but they were intended to suit different audiences. Nevertheless, he's hoping to "space out" the new Xbox games in 2026 as much as possible:
"I think that we ideally want to space things out and make sure games have their own, as we like to call it, oxygen in those moments. It's just super busy. Our own release schedule is one thing, but then you have everyone else's release schedule at the same time."
"So the learning was this: let's not put stuff on top of our stuff, and I think we have done that. Let our games have a bit of oxygen, even though it's always busy and there's never really a free time to launch something."
Of course, the elephant in the room is GTA 6, which not only is releasing in a prime window for new games — bang in the middle of November — but also happens to be releasing four days after the 25th anniversary of Xbox.
Duncan is obviously keeping an eye on whether Rockstar Games chooses to delay GTA 6 or not, but insists there are "always" other games that have to be considered when scheduling new titles, along with other factors.
"I mean, it's more that [Rockstar Games are] going to do what they're going to do. My job is to do what we should do for the best of our games. So yeah, we don't… there's always other games, and there's always other things we have to consider."
Honestly, we don't envy Duncan's task of trying to schedule everything perfectly in 2026, especially when games like Fable and Halo: Campaign Evolved are still very much in active development and might not be ready when planned.
It's also a nice problem to have though — Xbox simply has too many major games to try and release this year, and it's just a case of trying to fit them into the perfect slot. If GTA 6 gets delayed to 2027, that might solve quite a few issues!