Microsoft's October 2024 'Xbox Partner Preview' event revealed: Alan Wake II expansion, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and much more

Xbox Partner Preview October 2024 banner
Time for more details from Xbox's creator partners. (Image credit: Microsoft | Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Xbox's Partner Preview events are semi-regular showcases of upcoming games for Xbox and Windows PC.
  • Typically showcasing third-party titles, the show offers a platform for developers of all sizes to give us a glimpse of what they've been working on.
  • We understand that the showcase will detail titles like Alan Wake II's next expansion, "The Lake House," as well as new trailers for Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, the soulslike Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, "multiple world premiers," and much more.
  • It all goes down on Thursday, October 17, 2024, at 1PM ET and 6PM BST (UK) across Xbox's channels on YouTube and Twitch.

The rumors are true! Xbox is having a shiny new Partner Preview showcase on October 17, 2024, at 1PM ET / 6PM UK.

Microsoft's most recent Xbox Partner Preview event took place last March if you're not counting the third-party heavy Xbox Showcase from last June. The difference here is that these Partner Preview events are usually entirely comprised of third-party content, giving Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC players a glimpse at the future of the platform.

Last March, Microsoft showed off games like Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, Frostpunk 2, The Alters, Persona 3 Reload DLC, and The First Berserker, which should give you an idea of the expectations you should set for this event. To that end, Microsoft also offered a glimpse at what is on the docket for this October's event.

We should be getting new trailers for Alan Wake II DLC, "The Lake House," as well as Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. We're getting a boss battle trailer for the dark Chinese soulslike Wuchang: Fallen Feathers and a range of new Xbox Game Pass inserts to boot. Microsoft says there will be "multiple world premieres," too.

Alan Wake 2 is a survival-horror and investigative narrative adventure from Remedy of Max Payne and Control fame. The game has been grabbing a steady stream of DLC post-launch to pack in additional story beats, and The Lake House is the latest part. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a soulslike in essence set during the Ming Dynasty period in China and could be Xbox's answer to Black Myth Wukong, which is still conspicuously missing from the Xbox platform.

There's every possibility that Microsoft may use the event to drop some hints about upcoming Xbox platform features as well. Xbox president Sarah Bond recently revealed that Xbox Cloud Gaming will finally get "bring your own game" and buy-to-own Xbox game features starting in November. Perhaps Microsoft will detail exactly which games will be included in the first wave of accessible titles will be, given that our sources indicate it won't be the full library of Xbox games, at least not to start with.

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So, how can I watch the Xbox Partner Preview October 2024 event?

It's a pirate's life for me. A Yakuza pirate, that is. (Image credit: SEGA)

The Xbox Partner Preview (October 2024) event goes live on Thursday, October 17, 2024, at 10AM PT / 1PM ET / 6PM BST, across all of Xbox's main streaming platforms. You can watch it on YouTube.com/Xbox as well as Twitch.tv/Xbox, and across all the regional Xbox channels on YouTube as well. Microsoft is also streaming the event on LinkedIn for all you 'LinkedInfluencers' out there at LinkedIn.com/showcase/Xbox.

For accessibility, Microsoft will also have an American Sign Language offering at Twitch.tv/XboxASL. There will be a British Sign Language version up on YouTube.com/XboxOn. Subtitles will be offered in: Arabic (MSA), Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Czech, French, Canadian French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Castilian Spanish, Mexican Spanish, and Turkish.

If you can't watch the stream live, we'll be running a blog post here on Windows Central to capture all of the Xbox and Windows PC trailers and details for you, so stay tuned for that.

Microsoft might be saving the truly "huge" Xbox game announcements for The Game Awards, which is slated for December 12, 2024. Microsoft has a variety of upcoming Xbox games from first-party for the near future, including Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Avowed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, as well as a major timed exclusive in Stalker 2.

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Jez Corden
Co-Managing Editor

Jez Corden is a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow on Twitter (X) and Threads, and listen to his XB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!