Unlocked

This week on Unlocked, we dive into the finer details of Battlefield 6 after a hands-on preview and find a return to form for EA’s long-running shooter franchise. But we also dig into Grounded 2’s early access to see how Obsidian keeps cooking up good games for 2025. We also look at the latest Game Pass revenue numbers in contrast to the recent layoffs across Xbox’s game studios. And we couldn’t have done this without our esteemed guest Niki Grayson who you can find on podcasts such as If You’re Driving, Close Your Eyes and VGBees. #Xbox #GamePass...

Lots to talk about this week! We start by discussing the latest releases and games we're previewing, including Grounded 2, Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. Then we hit on Helldivers 2 making a surprise jump to Xbox, chat about the rumored pricing for the Xbox ROG Ally handheld, celebrate Hollow Knight: Silksong being playable at Gamescom in a few weeks, express relief at Xbox backing down from its $80 first-party game pricing plan, and then go through a few Bethesda/Elder Scrolls-related stories.

00:00:00 - Intro & July Humble Bundle 00:05:15 - Grounded 2, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, Helldivers 2 00:17:24 - Xbox...

Former Xbox executive Greg Canessa – creator of Xbox Live Arcade – joins us for our 700th episode to share some awesome inside-baseball stories from his days at Xbox. He also talks about his perspective on Xbox today from the business side of things (including his thoughts on the Activision-Blizzard acquisition), as well as how he feels about Xbox's future. You're not gonna want to miss this one!

This weeks episode is Ryan McCaffrey, Michael Higham, Greg Canessa, Parris Lilly, and is Produced by Nick Maillet

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We sort through the aftermath of Xbox's devastating layoffs from last week, including updates on the status of where Perfect Dark was, what's left of the Turn 10 team, how Microsoft's AI investments may have played a part in all of this, and much more.

00:00:00 - Intro 00:03:42 - Perfect Dark
00:16:40 - The Future for Halo
00:26:05 - Elder Scrolls Online Dev's Comment on Cancelled MMO
00:34:37 - Xbox Layoffs Updates & Turn 10
00:49:35 - Romero Games' Unannounced Cancelled Project
00:56:12 - Founder of Dishonored and Prey Dev Arkane Slams Game Pass
01:06:52 - What Now?
01:18:31 - Outro<...

As expected, layoffs at Microsoft and Xbox did happen this week, and they were unbelievably brutal. Approximately 9,000 people reportedly got laid off, multiple games were canceled, and entire studios were shut down. We sort through the wreckage on this week's Unlocked.

00:00 - Intro

00:11:12 - Assessing Xbox’s Layoffs 00:24:33 - ZeniMax Online’s New MMORPG Has Been Canceled

00:29:55 - Perfect Dark and Game Cancellations 00:44:41 - The Damage to Xbox's Brand 00:52:21 - Xbox's Future & Phil Spencer's Rumored Retirement 01:10:14 - Mafia: The Old Country, LV1 Gaming, & Outro

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This year's Xbox Showcase was very good, but next year's Showcase should be absolutely jam-packed with Xbox's A-listers, from Halo to Gears of War to Fable and Forza Horizon. And not just that, Fall 2026 should be one of the biggest quarter of releases in Xbox history. Plus: Xbox's curious collab with Meta Quest, our bigger-picture perspective on reportedly imminent Xbox layoffs, and more!

00:08:34 - Let’s talk about NEXT year’s Xbox Showcase 00:27:35 - What is Xbox's Genre Identity?

00:30:45 - What does Fall 2026 look like for Xbox?

00:43:54 - What does 2027 look like for...

We kick off by talking about the games we got to play behind closed doors after the Xbox Showcase: The Outer Worlds 2, Gears of War Reloaded, and Ninja Gaiden 4. And then we dig into our main topic: Xbox's next-gen hardware announcement. We analyze what it means, what it doesn't, and discuss where Xbox is going.

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00:00 - Intro

03:00 - Outer Worlds, Gears of War Reloaded, & Summer Game Fest

13:50 - Handhelds Are Clearly Important to the Future of Xbox

21:20 - Ninja Gaiden 4 is Pretty Rad

34:43 - Dissecting Xbox’s Ne...

In this jam-packed IGN Live 2025 special, we’re diving into three games revealed in the Xbox Games Showcase 2025. First, Daemon Hatfield joins Obsidian Entertainment for a deep dive into The Outer Worlds 2, then Remedy stops by to talk FBC: Firebreak. Finally, Tom Jorgenson sits down with Iron Galaxy to break down the long-awaited Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 Remaster. You don't wanna miss it!

00:00:00 - The Outer Worlds 2

00:12:01 - FBC: Firebreak

00:21:40 - Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 Remaster

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The Xbox Games Showcase delivered big reveals and we’ve got thoughts. In this episode, we break down the biggest surprises and top takeaways from the show, including the ROG Ally Xbox handheld, Clockwork Revolution, Call of Duty Black Ops 7, the return of Persona 4, and Final Fantasy’s Xbox debut.

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IGN Live is nearly here and we have a limited number of complimentary tickets for it! Head here and use the code "UNLOCKEDGUEST" to get a complimentary GA ticket for Saturday or Sunday: ⁠www.ign.com/live We kick off by discussing the specific Xbox eras we'd most like to go back in time to and relive – from Halo 2 to Rock Band, among others – before chatting about Bungie's latest blunder and the state of the once-great studio, Randy Pitchford's spicy message to fans in regards to Borderlands 4 possibly being priced at $80, Microsoft's new additions to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's domina...

IGN's Doom: The Dark Ages reviewer (and Doom superfan) Mitchell Saltzman joins fellow Doom superfan Ryan McCaffrey to discuss id software's just-released prequel: how it compares to Doom Eternal, why we love it, where the series goes from here, and more. Plus: Mitchell talks about his visit to From Software to play a ton of Elden Ring Nightreign as part of our exclusive IGN First coverage, Mafia: The Old Country makes a surprising pivot on price and game direction, and more!

00:00:00 - Intro 00:04:16 - IGN Live & Xbox Games Studio Publisher Bundle 00:07:53 - Doom: The...

In a huge week of Xbox news, we're discussing Xbox's massive, demoralizing, and unprecedented price increases five years into the console generation. Plus: we gush over the new GTA 6 trailer, celebrate the return of Gears of War 1 via a new remaster, discuss the just-leaked images of ROG's officially licensed Xbox handheld PC, and more! 00:00:00 - Intro & Welcome Lord Cognito 00:03:54 - Xbox Price Hike 00:45:01 - IGN Live Is Back! & Humble Bundle 00:48:19 - GTA 6 Trailer 2 Impressions 01:03:41 - Would you pay $100 for GTA 6? 01:09:28 - Gears of War: Reloaded Announced 01:20:36 - First Pictures of Asus' Xbox-branded Handheld Leak Online 01:30:17 - Outro & Where to...

On this week's Xbox show, we discuss how Borderlands 4's release date just moved up, and whether or not it means it's getting out of GTA 6...possibly in October? But maybe there's another game it's avoiding... Plus: Assassin's Creed Shadows' strong sales debut, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 gets a hilarious new playable Operator, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is selling great, and more – including a bonus interview with the Obsidian team about The Outer Worlds 2 at the end of the podcast!

0:00:00 - Intro , IGN Live, Humble Bundle Deals

00:04:45 - Borderlands 4’s Release Date Moves Up, Marathon, & GTA...

It's raining RPGs on Xbox Game Pass this week as the long-rumored/leaked Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered finally got released – and it's even better than we'd hoped. We discuss why it's fantastic and what it means for other Bethesda remasters (Fallout 3, anyone?) and The Elder Scrolls VI. Plus: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has also arrived and it is amazing! Michael reviewed it, and he tells you why it's his Game of the Year so far as we approach the one-third mark of 2025. Happy role-playing gaming!

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Bethesda's "secret" remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion keeps leaking. We'll talk about what we learned from this week's leak, when you can play it (hint: VERY SOON), how it'll hit for a generation of Elder Scrolls fans that have only ever known Skyrim, and more. Plus: our Mount Rushmore of RPGs, Xbox Game Pass's incredible second wave in April, the new Star Wars game and the somewhat surprising developer involved, and more!

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We covered a ton of ground this week, from The Outer Worlds 2 looking awesome so far after we got to visit Obsidian for our exclusive IGN First coverage, to Doom: The Dark Ages being fantastic but very different from Doom Eternal based on our four hours of hands-on time with it, to the Minecraft movie's big opening weekend and what other Xbox properties we'd like to see adapted to film and TV, to the grossness and danger that Microsoft's new Copilot AI-powered Quake 2 tech demo introduces, and much more!

00:00 - Intro

05:58...

This week on Unlocked, Michael and Miranda are joined by GameSpot's Jordan Ramée to talk all about the latest Xbox exclusive, South of Midnight, now that we have reviewed it and we explore our own connections to American South. We also touch on previews for Doom: The Dark Ages and the ongoing saga of where Hollow Knight Silksong is. And we find a way to make the Nintendo Direct about Xbox (lol) before talking about Asus and Xbox teasing their handheld collaboration.

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This week on Unlocked, Michael and Miranda are joined by GameSpot's Jordan Ramée to talk all about the latest Xbox exclusive, South of Midnight, now that we have reviewed it and we explore our own connections to American South. We also touch on previews for Doom: The Dark Ages and the ongoing saga of where Hollow Knight Silksong is. And we find a way to make the Nintendo Direct about Xbox (lol) before talking about Asus and Xbox teasing their handheld collaboration.

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This week on Unlocked, Miranda and Michael go over the biggest reveals for Minecraft Live 2025 (new mobs!), discuss the Backbone One Xbox Edition and how they hope Xbox's latest neat peripheral designs influence their next major device releases, and round out the show by discussing two games coming to Xbox shown during the Nintendo Direct. 

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This week, Michael and Ryan give first impressions of this week's big new game release, Assassin's Creed Shadows. And then we delve into our main topic: MORE rumors about the remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and how close to release it apparently is (hint: it's really close!). Plus: Split Fiction's continued success, reassurances from Saber Interactive about the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake, and more!

This week’s show is Ryan McCaffrey, Michael Higham, and was produced by Nick Maillet

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The crew is joined by Ash Parrish from The Verge to discuss the reports of Xbox handhelds (from OEMs) coming later this year and the prospect of a next-gen Xbox coming in 2027 (and how weird time works because it feels like the Series X|S came out just yesterday). But first, we revisit Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 demo for Miranda's final thoughts, and get Ash's insights on South of Midnight from her preview and interview with actor and developer Ahmed Best.

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Our Xbox crew discusses the awful news of WB Games closing down Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith Productions along with two other studios. Is their patented Nemesis System dead forever? But first, we spend a happy first half of the podcast gushing over a few new games we've been playing: Split Fiction, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Monster Hunter Wilds.

00:00:00 - Intro

00:03:00 - Spilt Fiction Impressions

00:13:52 - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Preview Impressions

00:33:48 - Monster Hunter Wilds Impressions

00:38:15 - Is Hazelight Studios the new Telltale?

00:43:26...

Our Xbox crew reacts to all of the new and cool games we got to see at the latest ID@Xbox Showcase, from Jump Ship to Herding to Outbound to 33 Immortals and more! And joining us to shed a bit more light on the ID@Xbox program and all of these games is ID@Xbox Director Guy Richards.

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As Avowed officially launches this week, its Game Director, Carrie Patel, and the studio head at developer Obsidian Entertainment, Feargus Urquhart, join us for a conversation about their big new first-person fantasy RPG. They discuss how the project evolved since its original unveiling, what they did with the extra development time when its release date moved to February, and much more! Plus: Feargus talks Fallout, shares a Matt Stone and Trey Parker story from making South Park: The Stick of Truth, and more!

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We've been waiting for this moment: to be swimming in new first-party Xbox games. We have all been playing both Avowed and South of Midnight, and we discuss our thoughts on each of them. We also spend time talking about our experiences with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 so far and why we love its grounded medieval RPG world. Finally, we discuss Bloomberg's new report about WB Games and what's next for Rocksteady, Monolith, and Avalanche with regard to Batman, Wonder Woman, and Hogwarts Legacy, respectively.

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The OG Xbox podcaster Danny Peña from Gamertag Radio joins us to discuss one of Xbox's "core four" franchises, Forza, heading to PlayStation 5 in the form of Forza Horizon 5. What does it mean for Xbox? And is any franchise "safe"? Plus: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is out and awesome (and successful), we show some love to one of the newest games on Xbox Game Pass that you might not be familiar with, and more!

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As Xbox boss Phil Spencer visits two of our friends' podcasts, we discuss his clarifying comments on the future (not to mention present!) of Xbox. Plus: why we love Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, we talk about BioWare getting restructured and what it means for Mass Effect 5, and more!

00:00:00 - LA Fires Support & Intro

00:02:51 - Poll Results from last week's Xbox Direct

00:09:04 - Ninja Gaiden 2 Black Impressions

00:18:30 - Phill Spencer Talks the Future of Xbox

00:43:45 - BioWare getting restructured & Mass Effect 5

00:56:45 - Outro

We recorded live immediately following this week's fantastic Xbox Developer Direct, so our reactions are very real, highlighted by the stunning announcement of not just the LONG-awaited Ninja Gaiden 4, but also the surprise shadow drop of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. We've also got plenty of thoughts on Doom: The Dark Ages, South of Midnight, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33!

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With the corroborated rumors that Microsoft is bringing Halo: The Master Chief Collection to PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2, is Xbox now officially a Sega-like third-party publisher? We discuss the complicated (and weird) idea of Halo heading to other platforms. Leading up to that, though, we discuss the rumored details of the Unreal Engine 5 remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, what the mystery game in next week's third annual Xbox Developer Direct might be, and more!

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Happy New Year! We begin our first episode of 2025 by discussing some changes happening on the podcast before getting into what you really care about: Xbox games! We talk about what we played over the holidays and then talk about two sequels that are likely still pretty far away: The Elder Scrolls 6 and Mass Effect 5. When will we see TES6 next when it's already been over six years since its official announcement? And will the Paragon/Renegade system return for Mass Effect 5? Join us to discuss it all!

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In our final show of 2024, we look ahead to 2025 and give Microsoft some advice in the form of do's and dont's for Xbox in the new year. Thanks so much for listening all year long, and we'll see you next week for the start of a new and exciting year of Xbox!

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IGN has announced its Xbox Game of the Year, so now it's our turn to talk about our individual picks for best Xbox game of the year. And then we look ahead and discuss our personal most anticipated Xbox games for 2025.

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We react to this week's big event, The Game Awards, and the many reveals it brought with it, including The Witcher 4, Elden Ring Nightreign, gameplay for The Outer Worlds 2, and so, so much more!

#GOTYWatch

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is here, and we discuss in great (spoiler-free) detail why we think it's the best Xbox exclusive in years. Plus: our predictions for reveals we'll get at next week's Game Awards, Xbox Game Pass's December lineup, and more!

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Happy Thanksgiving to our USA listeners! In the spirit of the holiday this week, we're discussing the Xbox games we're most thankful for. Not necessarily the very best ones, but the ones that mean a lot to us that we're thankful for. Special guest: David "Fame2K" Whitaker from LV1 Gaming.

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Our STALKER 2 reviewer Michael Higham joins us to discuss his thoughts so far as he's neck-deep in Xbox's big new exclusive first-person shooter. Plus: we discuss the Game of the Year nominees announced for this year's Game Awards, including whether or not an expansion pack should be included. We also talk about what we want from Amazon's live-action Mass Effect TV show, lament how Splinter Cell remains cursed after the long-gestating Tom Hardy-led live-action movie is announced as officially dead, and more!

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Take-Two's CEO keeps insisting that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be released in 2025. Do we believe him? We discuss why (spoiler) we don't. Plus: a new Phil Spencer interview sees the Xbox boss being quite candid about both an Xbox handheld and the future of exclusives on Xbox hardware, and we have a LOT of thoughts. And we kick things off with a report from IGN contributor Travis Northup, who just got back from Montreal to preview Compulsion Games' new game South of Midnight. Join us! This week's show is Ryan McCaffrey, Stella Chung, Travis Northup, and is produced by...

November 9 marks the 20th anniversary of Halo 2's release. We celebrate one of the greatest Xbox games ever by welcoming fellow veteran Xbox gamer Danny Peña from Gamertag Radio to share memories of playing it for the first time, ranking the original dozen multiplayer maps, plus a little surprise from a special guest. This week’s show is Ryan McCaffrey, Destin Legarie, Danny Peña from Gamertag Radio, and is produced by Nick Maillet.

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We celebrate our perfectly-timed-for-Halloween episode 666 with Rod Fergusson, the super-nice franchise head of one of gaming's most evil franchises, Diablo. Rod talks about the new Diablo 4 expansion pack, Vessel of Hatred, the new Spiritborn character class, his reaction to Gears of War: E-Day as the former studio head at The Coalition, and even what his Gears 6 would've looked like.

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With STALKER 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle all releasing one right after another later this Fall, Xbox is set to seriously cook at the end of 2024. Destin gives his glowing hands-on impressions of his recent STALKER 2 preview session, Seth Macy joins us to gush about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and Ryan will give his hands-on impressions of Indy...soon. Plus: former Halo senior developer Joseph Staten is back on the free agent market after Netflix shut down its AAA gaming studio, Halo Infinite's rumored battle royale mode was real before getting canceled, and more!