November 12 Is Officially The End Of An Era For Xbox

Published Oct 6, 2026, 10:56 AM EDT

Chris is a Gaming Editor at ScreenRant. He has been a professional writer since 2009, and has written for top TV, comics, movie, and video game outlets like Engadget, Polygon, Destructoid, and more. He brings with him an expertise in every game genre, no matter how niche or mainstream.

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The Xbox brand is at a crossroads. While Xbox Game Pass is currently experiencing some push and pull around pricing and value, many studios have been fully jettisoned or folded into existing developers. It's a decidedly different era for the company, and right now, fans aren't thrilled with the canceling of some long-awaited games alongside reshuffling.

Still, Xbox has been around for 25 years at this point, and in addition to everything coming on the horizon, the company wants to celebrate everything that they've done in the past. Xbox has officially confirmed when one of its final major events will take place.

Earlier this year, Xbox announced tour dates for its FanFest event across multiple countries. For reference, the tour started in Germany, and has run through Canada so far:

• Cologne, Germany - August 26
• Tokyo, Japan - September 17
• London, U.K. - September 26
• Mexico City, Mexico - October 17
• Sydney, Australia - October 17
• Toronto, Canada - November 6

For reference, Germany was held during gamescom, and Tokyo was held during Tokyo Game Show (TGS), which means they're part of bigger events. The others are completely separate and will just be focused on Xbox.

However, one more location will cap off the event: Seattle. In the birthplace of the Xbox on November 12, 2026, the eight-city FanFest tour will end. The intent is to celebrate 25 years of Xbox, which will technically hit its anniversary on November 15, a few days later.

If you want to go, you can enter a sweepstakes on the official site, but contest entries will end on October 11 at 11:59PM PT. If you win, you can attend with a friend.

Here's what Microsoft says it has planned for the 25th anniversary bash in Seattle: "25 years of Xbox is a story we share with you. Thank you for the friendships, the enthusiasm, and the joy you bring to play. We can’t wait to mark this milestone together. Fans joining us at MoPOP can expect a celebration of Xbox past, present and future, with hands on gameplay, Xbox history and artifacts, opportunities to connect with the people behind the games and fellow players, Xbox trivia, collectibles, fan activities, an XBOX Gear pop-up shop, and plenty of surprises along the way."

I had the chance to check out a FanFest-adjacent tour date earlier this year at Summer Game Fest (SGF), where the publisher had an array of console generation rooms to explore and photograph. It's a journey through multiple console eras in locations adorned with classic Xbox art, plus tons of activities to do.

If you're local and have been an Xbox fanfor a while, it's worth checking out just for those art-like installations alone.

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