Xbox's first next-gen game quietly teased

It’s that time again. We’re a couple of years away from welcoming the next generation of gaming consoles, but conversations regarding them are already beginning to arise.

Well, it was actually last year that Xbox first addressed its next-gen console.

You may have seen Microsoft’s ‘This is an Xbox’ campaign, which advertises that TVs, laptops, and Amazon devices can all now be an ‘Xbox’ thanks to cloud gaming.

This led to concern from fans though who thought Microsoft may leave the console race behind for good.

Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, put a stop to that concern, teasing that the next-gen will feature “the largest technical leap you've ever seen in a hardware generation".

Initially, it was believed that Microsoft would launch its next-gen console in 2028, as per a previously leaked internal document.

In a new report though, it’s claimed that the console could now instead launch as early as next year, with one of the first next-gen games also having been teased.

You can take a look at the ‘This is an Xbox’ campaign below.

This information comes from Call of Duty leaker TheGhostofHope and while I have to urge you to take unconfirmed rumours with a pinch of salt, TheGhostofHope has proved reliable several times in the past.

They claimed that 2026’s Call of Duty title will be Modern Warfare IV, adding that it’ll have “no old gen support” and is being “developed on dev kits for the next Xbox”.

The game is additionally said to have “traditional UI like the older games” with the “engine being overhauled to address MWII problems like ‘visual clutter’”.

TheGhostofHope also added that there will be no “Warzone 3” if Verdansk “fails to retain current/returning players”.

This all largely sounds very plausible, even if that next-gen tease is a tad surprising.

As I said, it was assumed that Microsoft and Sony would both be eying up 2027 or 2028, but there is logic in an early release.

The PlayStation 4 outsold the Xbox One and the PlayStation 5 outsold the Xbox series X/S.

Typically, Sony and Microsoft have launched consoles within a month or so of one another.

If Xbox could speed their next-gen console’s development through, launching years ahead of the PlayStation 6, it could finally give the company the tech boost it needs.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on developments.