Xbox Games Showcase no-shows: Xbox exclusives we're hoping to hear about in 2024 The Xbox Games Showcase had many excellent announcements, but of those missing from the line-up, here are the Xbox exclusives we're hoping to hear about in 2024.Heidi Nicholas Published 11 Jun 2024 FollowtopicsXbox Series X|SArticleHeidi Nicholas The 2024 Xbox Games Showcase was packed with announcements and new info on a number of upcoming Game Pass games. We saw new footage and release windows for the likes of Fable, South of Midnight, Call of Duty Black Ops 6, and more. It was a great showcase, and gave us a better idea of Xbox’s line-up for the next two years and beyond. This was especially good to see since there hadn't been much said about when we could expect all those upcoming Xbox exclusives for some time. Many of those on the list were likely still too far out to have been shown at the Xbox Games Showcase, but there are still several we’re keen to hear news on this year. Here are the upcoming Xbox exclusives we’re very much hoping to hear more on soon…Xbox exclusives we're hoping to hear about in 2024The Outer Worlds 2It was almost exactly three years ago when The Outer Worlds 2 was announced at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase. Now, the first thing to mention here is how brilliant that announcement trailer was. Sticking to The Outer Worlds sense of humor, it was happily truthful about how nothing was actually finished in the game yet. The narrator, going frame by frame, mentioned the kind of things they were adding to make the trailer impressive: “Suddenly, and for no reason, people running. These pointless, slow-motion shots make everything seem cool and should bolster pre-sale numbers.” It was a great trailer, which was very honest about the fact that The Outer Worlds was still in the early stages: “Now we see our hero, but only their silhouette, because the developers haven't finished the design, or finished the story, or finished any gameplay that's actually ready to show. In fact, the only thing they have finished is the title.” That title is of course The Outer Worlds 2, which does indeed do a good job of getting the point across about what this game is.Obsidian is also working on Avowed, which we saw a lot more of during 2024’s Xbox Games Showcase, with new gameplay info and trailers. Since Avowed is expected to launch this year, it makes sense that Obsidian will already have its hands full. However, that announcement trailer for The Outer Worlds 2 was three years ago, so perhaps we can still hope to hear some sort of update on that front this year — even if it is, once again, “the only thing they have finished is the title.” If it came with another great tongue-in-cheek trailer like the first, that’d be more than enough for now.EverwildThis was one of my Xbox Games Showcase 2024 predictions that definitely wasn’t successful. It feels like I’ve written a lot about this game considering it hasn’t had an update in a while, but I can’t help holding out hope of seeing Everwild at every Xbox event, simply because it looked so good when it was announced (and in the few glimpses we’ve seen since). On the one hand, it seemed possible Everwild might appear at the Xbox showcase simply because it’s been so many years since that X019 announcement. On the other hand, we’ve had radio silence about Everwild pretty much ever since. A report in 2021 suggested Everwild targeting was targeting a 2024 release after being "restarted from scratch", but the only official word we’ve had on Rare’s new IP was when the Everwild team commented last year that they were looking to “warm up... for our year ahead." All that to say, some sign of life from the gorgeous Everwild this year would be very welcome, although I also definitely wouldn’t say no to some more definitive info on what this game will actually be like. It looks incredibly beautiful, but how will it play? We know we’ll be playing as an Eternal, empowered by a mystical connection with nature, but what’s the story there? And please, Everwild, when might we see a release window?ContrabandContraband was another surprising reveal from Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2021. Like with The Outer Worlds 2, the announcement didn’t tell us much, but what it did share was enough to get us eagerly anticipating more about the game. Contraband is an open-world action-adventure game from Avalanche Studios and “a co-op smuggler’s paradise set in the fictional world of 1970s Bayan.” Its announcement trailer was actually a little reminiscent of the reveal of the next Indiana Jones game. Both didn’t reveal their protagonists but showed off tables filled with maps and adventuring equipment, with Contraband’s obviously being more smuggling-focused: maps, getaway routes, and hints of a plan for the “Sun River job.”It’s hard to judge from that announcement alone just how far along in development Contraband might be, but with three years now between us and that first reveal, we’re hoping to see more Contraband news soon.Ark 2Ark 2 is much more firmly placed on the Xbox horizon, with a current set release window of late 2024 (having initially been down for launch in 2023). “Late 2024” is looking a lot closer now we’re this side of the Xbox Games Showcase, and after several trailers showing Vin Diesel doing a good job of managing his dinosaur-filled world, we’re hoping to see more from Studio Wildcard about what to expect from Ark 2 this year. We do know a fair amount already — check out our round-up of everything we know about Ark 2 for more!Those are just a few of the Xbox exclusives on the horizon which we’re hoping to hear more of this year. There are plenty more on the list, but most are either way too far away or already have release dates or windows. For instance, there’s OD, but Hideo Kojima only teased OD as an upcoming Xbox horror game late last year, and given how long we had to wait before we knew anything for certain about what was going on in Death Stranding, it’s hard to tell when we might see more on this particular project. Then there’s Clockwork Revolution, which was also announced just last year. inXile did specify at the time that the steampunk time-traveling first-person action-RPG was still “early in development,” so there’s likely a bit of a wait before we hear more of that.Then there’s Ninja Theory’s Project Mara, announced as a "representation of mental terror" back in 2020, which we’ve scarcely seen since. Ninja Theory has of course been busy with the excellent Hellblade 2 which is out now (Sean loved it in his Hellblade 2 review), but even if this did mean more of a focus on Project Mara, it looks like that one’s still way off. Another mysterious project is Project Maverick, which was again only announced last year. Then we’ve got the juggernaut of The Elder Scrolls VI, which seems only to be mentioned in connection with how far away it is. Things are, however, very much looking up on the Xbox exclusives front. That Xbox Games Showcase was excellent (in fact, Sean reckons there was only one thing missing), and we’ve still got the likes of Gamescom on the way, so we’ll be on the lookout for any exclusives news. Which of these are you hoping to hear from this year?Xbox Series X|SXbox One Written by Heidi NicholasHeidi tends to lean towards indie games, RPGs, and open-world games on Xbox, and when not playing Disney Dreamlight Valley, happily installs every new wholesome game that appears on Xbox Game Pass, before diving back into favorites like The Witcher 3. She's looking forward to Age of Mythology Retold, Everwild, Fable, and Avowed on the Xbox horizon. Heidi graduated with an MA in English Literature before joining the TrueAchievements team.