Call of Duty 2024 and Gears 6 to get June reveal alongside Avowed and Indiana Jones release dates, claims report

Microsoft's Xbox summer showcase in June will reportedly include a hefty post-show segment on the next and currently untitled Call Of Duty, alongside release dates for such first-party headliners as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Avowed and Indiana Jones And The Great Circle. As rumoured in April, they're also apparently going to show off a new Gears Of War game. Nice to see the COG and Locust still getting work.

As with the April report, all that's according to the Verge, a paper of some note, who also say that the show will give us a release date for Starfield expansion Shattered Space - teased but yesterday by Master Todd of the Howard clan - which the Verge further claims will be sometime in September. They're pegging the next Call of Duty for late October, while Avowed and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 are apparently landing in November and Indiana Jones in December. All the ingredients for a classic Xbox Xmas, there: planes, whips and fireballs.

A new Gears game, eh? By gar, it's been a while. The series has been at low ebb since Gears 5 and frankly, I'd question its on-going relevance - everything Gears did well has long since been nicked and incorporated into a bunch of other shooters, not least its legendary (yes, I know Kill.Switch got there first) cover system. I do love me a good Gears campaign, though - that atmosphere of perpetual imminent ambush, the winding canyon level design, "destroyed beauty", etc - and it's been a while since Gears 5, which Matt Castle (RPS in peace) liked, and which remains one of our best PC co-op games. Who knows what The Coalition are doing with it right now? Even fancier dynamic weather? Expanded open worldy bits? Locusts with wasps coming out of their mouths? I'm curious to see more.

As for this year's Call of Duty, it's rumoured to be a new Black Ops game set during the first Gulf War - one codename is or was "Cerberus", and the official title likely won't be Black Ops 6. The story is apparently an ensemble affair, as is often the case for COD.

The showcase will run on Sunday, June 9th at 10AM PT, 1pm ET, or 6pm UK. We'll be at the show itself and also, reporting from afar. Expect lots of sneery remarks about interlude music.