Xbox has confirmed its July 23 first-party games event

Microsoft has confirmed an earlier VGC report that it will hold its Xbox Games Showcase on Thursday, July 23.

The first-party games showcase will take place at 9am PT / 5pm BST and include a one-hour pre-show hosted by gaming personality Geoff Keighley, the platform holder said on Monday.

The July event will focus primarily on Series X games coming from Xbox Game Studios, but it will also confirm additional titles coming from third-party publishers, people with knowledge of Microsoft’s plans told VGC.

Watch the live stream:

Xbox live stream: How to watch today’s Games Showcase featuring Halo

Halo and more to be shown on Xbox live stream

Notably, Xbox will premiere the first Halo Infinite gameplay during the event, with the 343 shooter set to launch alongside Xbox Series X during the 2020 holiday season.

New Xbox studio The Initiative, the company formed in 2018 by veteran Tomb Raider, God of War and Uncharted creatives, could also unveil its first game during the July event, sources told VGC.

Xbox had previously indicated that it would announce The Initiative’s project sometime in 2020.

Xbox has significantly expanded its first-party games production ahead of the next console generation and at least one franchise, RPG series Fable, is understood to be the subject of a revival at Microsoft’s Playground studio.

Xbox Series X is scheduled to launch during the 2020 holiday season.

According to Microsoft, Xbox Series X will be able to play thousands of games thanks to its advanced backwards compatibility support, with older titles looking and playing “better than ever before”.