The secret redacted game at the Xbox Games Showcase is Call Of Duty

The not-E3 summer showcase from Xbox was supposed to feature a secret game but fans have already proven that it’s this year’s Call Of Duty.

Last year’s Xbox Games Showcase in June was undoubtedly the most successful piece of marketing Xbox has enjoyed in years, perhaps ever. It easily eclipsed PlayStation’s anaemic equivalent and showcased a number of new and previously announced titles – including a 30 minute showcase for Starfield.

The position Microsoft finds itself in now is almost certainly not the one it was expecting in the immediate aftermath of the showcase, but they’ve just announced that this year’s event will take place on June 9, at 6pm BST.

It will also be accompanied by a separate ‘Direct’ dedicated to one specific game, just as happened last year with Starfield, but while this was meant to be kept a secret fans have already worked out what it is.

Given Fable is probably Xbox’s next biggest game after Starfield, you might’ve expected that to be the focus this year. But that has already been announced, with a substantial trailer in 2023, so there’s no reason to redact its identity.

There have been substantial rumours about Gears 6 being at the event, but it seems strange to treat such an old franchise in this way, especially when a sequel is a given.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, the mystery was solved within minutes, with fans quickly identifying the logo as relating to this year’s new Call Of Duty game.

The same logo was already datamined from Modern Warfare 3 and seems to relate to a military group called Cerberus, hence the three-headed dog. Although Cerberus is also believed to be the codename of the game itself.

The secrecy is likely because rumours suggest the game will be unveiled sometime this month, before the summer showcase, so while it’s ‘secret’ now it won’t be by June.

As always happens with Call Of Duty, details of the game long ago leaked out and it’s believed to be a Black Ops title taking place during the Gulf War, probably called Call Of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War.

This will be the first summer showcase since Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard, although whether Call Of Duty will always get the 30-minute showcase slot remains to be seen.