XBOX's Big Week of Game Pass Releases, Fable Updates, Warhammer News, and Leadership Changes

This last week, XBOX news has certainly picked up again. Just this last week, you've gotten new announcements about the future of XBOX Game Pass, community-requested features coming right away, a significant leadership change within Microsoft's gaming division, and even that the newest title in the Modern Warfare series is on the way this year.

Two new titles have just now joined the lineup for XBOX Game Pass for next month. One of these games is called Are We There Yet? This title was initially scheduled to launch in May but was postponed due to a handful of bugs that needed fixing. The developers say the game will now launch sometime in early June, possibly around the first week of the month, but there will only be a small delay before launch.

In addition, Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions will finally get its much-awaited official release date. While staying on fans' radar since its first announcement, the sequel to Astroneer is now set to make its way into players' lives as of June 11. It seems this upcoming game will feature cooperative elements, along with improvements to larger, more robust exploration and discovery.

On another note, the XBOX team has been actively addressing the Player Voice community's suggestions and needs right after the program's start.

Among other things, one of the most popular requests from XBOX gamers was to implement a new approach to displaying the time spent playing games on their devices. To be more precise, players asked to provide a clearer hour-count system rather than separate day and hour displays. This idea has just been implemented for XBOX Alpha Insiders.

While not being a huge update, its speed is certainly notable. It seems that the new Player Voice program hasn’t even gotten up to speed before XBOX implemented one of the community-requested changes. Moreover, Jason Ronald from XBOX made a public statement expressing gratitude to the community for bringing the program's first feature to fruition.

It remains to be seen whether XBOX can implement larger changes within the same time frame. While some issues in the gaming community, especially exclusives, are clearly not easy to solve quickly, the fact that these initial changes have already been implemented suggests that Microsoft wants players to have their voices heard.

This renewed emphasis on XBOX hardware seems to be manifesting itself within Microsoft as well. In fact, during the week, it was announced that Microsoft has recruited two new executives whose roles will directly impact the future of the XBOX brand.

One of the key appointments at Microsoft is Matthew Ball, who has been named chief strategy officer.

Ball is well known across the gaming industry for publishing the annual State of Video Gaming report. According to the news, Ball will play an important role in setting the future strategy for the XBOX Console business as they invest heavily in the XBOX Series X platform and other future hardware, such as Project Helix.

The hiring process has already garnered interest within the industry, with Epic Games' CEO, Tim Sweeney, expressing positive remarks about the hire. Ball's involvement is thought to have a significant influence on areas such as the platform's growth, expansion into new markets like China, and even the future of XBOX exclusives.

Microsoft also added Scott Van Vliet to its team as chief technology officer. It is said that the man will be working to speed up development and improve efficiency by refining how XBOX developers create new products. Even though his name might be unfamiliar to XBOX fans, his addition to Microsoft's ranks shows that the company is still building the foundation of its gaming segment.

The new head of XBOX, Asha Sharma, also mentioned the XBOX Game Showcase in connection with the new appointments, which has only further increased interest in next month’s showcase. On a different note, Call of Duty players have received confirmation from Infinity Ward about their new Modern Warfare title coming out this year.

Speculation and hints had already been surfacing on the Internet for quite some time, including a few surprising associations with third-party marketing. Still, the developers have now officially confirmed it. This leak initially came to light via the reactivated Call of Duty podcast before Infinity Ward made an announcement about it on social media.

At present, it is difficult to share details of the game, as very little has been revealed yet.

However, based on what the studio says about this, it seems the game is meant to be more ambitious than other titles in the franchise. Given that Black Ops 7 has failed to make any mark on its campaign and multiplayer, it is clear that the next Modern Warfare game must restore the franchise's reputation.

It has also been revealed that this game may prove to be the first Call of Duty title without PS4 and XBOX One hardware. A full reveal of the game is likely to happen during the Xbox Game Showcase in June. On the other hand, the Warhammer Skulls Showcase 2026 event brought yet another batch of exciting announcements, some of which are likely going to grab the attention of XBOX users.

In this case, one of the most exciting collaborations announced was that between Helldivers 2 and Warhammer 40K. Very few details have been given so far about what this collaboration will entail. Nevertheless, it seems many people believe we will get a glimpse of the Krieg characters because of their unique appearance.

Finally, we were given updates on the new Purgation patch in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, along with two completely new games: Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster and Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate – Deathwatch. It seems that Deathmaster would be leaning towards a 2D action-adventure with a strong emphasis on the Skaven race, giving it a feel much akin to Tails of Iron.

In contrast, Deathwatch looks ready to keep up with the turn-based RPG genre, with Deathwatch Space Marines taking center stage instead of Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters.

Even if there were no Game Pass titles revealed during the showcase, it nonetheless did reveal quite an impressive list of Warhammer games coming up. Fable, on the other hand, is now starting to appear on ratings boards across the web, suggesting it may be in its final stages of development, with some reports saying it even appeared in Korea and Australia before the XBOX June event.

The actual release date of the title remains unknown at the moment, with the latest estimate being mid-2026, but the positive rating suggests that development is proceeding smoothly behind the scenes. Another noteworthy rumor recently is that Playground Games may postpone Fable's release to avoid competing directly with GTA 6 when it launches in November.

Playground Games has been experiencing immense success over the years with its game called Forza Horizon 6, which is why everyone expects nothing less from Fabl,e too. Once again, it should be noted by the developers that the game will be released next year, and that new developers are being hired as we speak.

From here, it seems that there is a possibility of release in either October or December, but as of yet, Microsoft has not announced anything. In addition, there are two fairly major reviews of XBOX titles currently in the works: the XBOX versions of both Echo Generation 2 and 007 First Light. Analysis for these games will be conducted before their release date, as part of XBOX reviews of upcoming titles.