by 
Last week, Xbox's Matt Booty appeared on the Official Xbox Podcast to discuss the Xbox Games Showcase along with the delay of Fable to February 2027, and he might have actually revealed Xbox's first-party order for late 2026.
This was picked up by Windows Central the other day, and it certainly sounds quite definitive — the Xbox CCO mentions that "we start out with Halo: Campaign Evolved", followed by Minecraft Dungeons 2, Gears of War: E-Day and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.
Here's the exact quote from the podcast:
"Yeah, well, just even talking about portfolio, to start out, we've got so many games for XBOX players to play coming up. We start out with Halo: Campaign Evolved. We go to Minecraft Dungeons II. We've got Gears of War: E-Day. Then we go into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. And then we've got more after that. So it's just, to start, a really great lineup for XBOX."
This order would actually make a lot of sense. The rumour mill has suggested that Halo: Campaign Evolved could be releasing in July 2026, and Gears of War: E-Day has been rumoured for September 2026. Minecraft Dungeons 2 could slot into the August window, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 already confirmed for October.
That would only leave November and December without anything new from Xbox, which isn't surprising considering how GTA 6 is expected to dominate the industry during that period anyway.
Of course, there's always the potential for surprises during the Xbox Games Showcase, and the Xbox CCO wouldn't want to spoil those ahead of time. It's hard to see how anything else will fit into 2026 though, especially after Xbox Game Studios boss Craig Duncan admitted that the end of last year was almost too hectic for new first-party releases.
We'll find out soon enough, anyway! Don't forget to check in this Sunday for the big Xbox Showcase.