E3 is long-dead, but Microsoft’s big annual gaming event returns to its normal Sunday slot on June 8, 2025, the company announced today. The summer Xbox Games Showcase is promising surprise reveals and a full second The Outer Worlds 2 Direct livestream afterwards dedicated to the upcoming space RPG coming out later this year.
“It all begins with our annual Xbox Games Showcase, bringing you a look at upcoming titles from across our first-party studios, in addition to incredible new titles from our third-party partners across the globe,” reads a post about the event over on the Xbox blog. “This year, the show will be digital-only – our livestream will bring you everything you’ll need to know about what’s next for Xbox, no matter where in the world you’re watching.”
While Microsoft didn’t tease anything specific, fans will be looking for updates on Fable, Gears of War: E-Day, State of Decay 3, and the next Call of Duty. They’d love to get an update on how the long-awaited The Elder Scrolls VI is coming along too, but a new expansion for Starfield feels more likely. Blizzcon isn’t returning until 2026 either, so we’ll probably get some updates on Diablo IV and other projects from that set of teams as well.
The Outer Worlds 2 Direct, meanwhile, will feature “new gameplay, details, and developer insights” about the sequel to the 2019 sci-fi RPG shooter about futuristic space colonies dominated by rogue pirate gangs and corporate profiteers. It’s set to arrive before the end of the year on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. Maybe a Switch 2 version will get announced by then as well.
The main event will begin streaming at 1:00 p.m. ET with the Outer Worlds 2 showcase following directly afterwards. Microsoft also notes that this year’s show will be “digital-only,” suggesting it’s fully committed to the trail first blazed by Nintendo and won’t be holding an in-person component for the showcase (in past years the company had filled auditoriums with media, content creators, and fans to watch the streamed event in person).
The Outer Worlds 2 is taking center stage this year presumably because Fable was delayed until 2026. Microsoft’s supplementary showcase Directs began in 2023 with Starfield and continued the following year with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. But Xbox still has a bunch of other rumored projects it could still reveal for 2025, including a Gears of War collection, as well as a new raft of ports for PS5 as well as Switch 1 and 2 as it continues its multiplatform pivot.
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