By Jon Scarr
Microsoft has 10 nominations at The Game Awards 2025 and a few surprises sitting just under the surface. Variety’s new interview with Matt Booty gives a clearer look at how Xbox is closing out the year and how big next year might actually be. It is a packed conversation. You can feel how confident the teams are about what they shipped in 2025 and what comes next. I was reading through the interview and kept thinking about how much ground they covered in a single chat.
Booty framed 2025 as a year focused on consistency and meeting the goals Xbox set years ago. That alone would have been enough to talk about. Then he dropped several details that point directly to the xbox 2026 lineup. Some of it is tied to The Game Awards 2025. Some of it points straight to Xbox’s Dev Direct showcase in January. The tone felt almost casual, which made the news land even harder.
He also talked about Fallout Season 2 promotion and how the show fits into their wider plans this week. The interview moves fast. You can tell the team sees 2026 as a milestone year for the brand. I could almost feel Booty holding back details for the showcase.
There is a lot to cover, so let’s go through the biggest points Xbox confirmed.
South of Midnight Hits PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2
Variety confirmed one of Xbox’s biggest surprises before the show even started. South of Midnight, previously positioned as an Xbox exclusive, is launching on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2 next spring. It was a straightforward announcement, but it landed with some weight. I did a double take since Xbox keeps putting more of its games on other consoles now.
The timing feels intentional. The Game Awards 2025 always brings a flood of reveals, and dropping this news ahead of the show helped it stand out. It also fits the wider pattern that Booty talked about during the interview. Xbox wants its worlds in more hands. That was clear from how openly he discussed the strategy around expanding availability across consoles.
Seeing South of Midnight join that list adds another interesting piece to the xbox 2026 lineup story. It shows how flexible Xbox is willing to be with big releases right now. It also sets the stage for whatever updates are waiting for the Dev Direct in January.
What Xbox Shared About its 2026 Slate
Booty opened up about how busy next year looks for Xbox. He said the teams have so much shipping in 2026 that they cannot fit everything into one Dev Direct. Hearing that was a bit surprising. You do not usually hear an exec say there is too much to show in a single event. It gives you a sense of how stacked the schedule might be.
Playground Games will be part of the January presentation. I perked up at that since many of us have been hanging on updates for Fable and Forza Horizon 6. Booty also mentioned other major releases already confirmed for 2026, including Gears of War E Day and Halo Campaign Evolved. These sit alongside the larger Halo Remastered collection. It is a lot.
He pointed out that 2026 marks Xbox’s twenty fifth anniversary. Bethesda celebrates forty years. Blizzard reaches thirty five. Diablo turns thirty. It almost feels like every part of the company hits a milestone at the same time. The xbox 2026 lineup lands right in the center of all those anniversaries, which adds even more weight to the year.
There is still plenty they are holding for the showcase. January should be a busy month.
Call of Duty Movie and Transmedia Projects
Booty also talked about how Xbox is handling its growing list of film and TV projects. The biggest update is the first Call of Duty movie, written by Taylor Sheridan and produced by Paramount. Activision felt the team understood the series well enough to take a shot at a story they had not heard before. It started with direct conversations between the Call of Duty group and Paramount, which Booty said is how these things usually happen. No plot details were shared yet. Still, the idea of Sheridan stepping into this world caught my interest fast.
He compared the challenge to Fallout. There is so much history behind these franchises that choosing where to begin is not simple. Call of Duty has two decades of characters and settings. He said the team has a direction in mind and believes Sheridan is a good fit.
The interview also confirmed other projects already in motion. A Minecraft Movie sequel with Warner Bros is set for July 2027. A Gears of War live action movie and animated series are moving forward at Netflix. It feels like every major Xbox universe is spreading into something new right now.
Xbox’s Ongoing Multiplatform Push
Booty also talked about how Xbox games are reaching more consoles than ever. He pointed to a stretch earlier this year where six of the top ten games on PlayStation were Xbox titles. That number surprised me. It shows how much things have changed. Flight Simulator 2024 arrived on PS5. Halo will do the same. It is a different Xbox than the one we knew a few years ago.
Booty said the goal is simple. They want more people spending time inside their worlds. The reaction he described from Halo fans during the announcement made that pretty clear. He said the crowd at the Halo Championship Series event lit up when they saw the remastered version running on the show floor. You could almost feel that excitement through his retelling.
He sees this approach as a way to bring in more fans without losing what makes those series special. It keeps their games visible across communities that might not pick up an Xbox system. It also adds another angle to the Xbox 2026 lineup since several franchises are now reaching new platforms at the same time.
Closing Thoughts
After going through the full interview, it feels like Xbox is heading into a busy stretch. Booty kept circling back to how much is locked in for 2026. The tone almost sounded calm about it, which made the scale of the year stand out even more. I kept thinking about how different this moment feels compared to a few years ago. The amount of confirmed work is huge.
You can sense how the anniversaries play into it too. Xbox turns twenty five. Bethesda hits forty. Blizzard reaches thirty five. Diablo turns thirty. The timing lines up in a way that makes the xbox 2026 lineup feel tied to the past while pushing into something new. It gives next year a bit of extra weight.
The multiplatform push also changes things. Seeing titles hit PS5 and Nintendo platforms makes the whole ecosystem feel wider. Booty sounded excited about the response from communities outside the usual Xbox space. I get it. It brings more voices into the conversation.
All eyes now shift to the Dev Direct in January. Booty said they have more to show than one event can hold. That alone sets expectations. It should be a busy month for anyone following Xbox. I know I will be watching for every update.