Unlocked

Unlocked

These days, practically everything is an Xbox, and Xbox fans deserve to celebrate their passion for Xbox everywhere. Unlocked is the definitive Xbox podcast, hosted by Ryan McCaffrey alongside a panel of expert guests. Each week, they dive deep into breaking Xbox news, exclusive game reveals, and heated debates on the future of Xbox—covering everything from consoles and PC to Game Pass and cloud gaming. Whether you're a longtime Xbox fan or just jumping in, Unlocked is your go-to source for all things Xbox. Unlocked is a part of Geek Media Podcast Network, an IGN Entertainment Brand. Visit Geek.com for more information.

Episodes

Splinter Cell Might Not Be Dead After All – Unlocked 718

December 4, 2025 • 79 mins
On this week's Xbox show, we've got good news on the long-dormant Splinter Cell Remake project that has us optimistic that a new Sam Fisher adventure might actually see the light of day. Plus: GTA 6 suffers a small but very weird leak, IO Interactive has a full plate that includes Hitman 4, CD Projekt Red has set a very ambitious schedule for its upcoming The Witcher trilogy, and more! 00:00:00 - Intro 00:13:30 - Splinter Cell R...
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Major Nelson Shares His Xbox 360 Memories – Unlocked 717

November 22, 2025 • 86 mins
Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, the longtime public face of Xbox at Microsoft, joins us for a special Xbox 360 episode as the most successful Xbox console ever celebrates its 20th anniversary. Larry shares a ton of great stories and even shows off a bunch of rare souvenirs from that era. You're not going to want to miss this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Winners from Xbox’s Partner Showcase (Fall 2025) – Unlocked 716

November 20, 2025 • 54 mins
The Winners from Xbox’s Partner Showcase (Fall 2025) – Unlocked 716We recorded this week's episode live immediately following Xbox's Fall 2025 Partner Preview showcase, where we got updated looks at known quantities like Reanimal, Tides of Annihilation, and 007: First Light. But we also got a number of reveals from intriguing new games like Erosion, Echo Generation 2, Vampire Crawlers, and more. Enjoy our reactions! 00:03:17 - V...
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GTA 6’s Delay Hits Xbox Extra Hard – Unlocked 715

November 13, 2025 • 94 mins
In a jam-packed episode of our Xbox show, we discuss Grand Theft Auto 6's delay and how it hits Xbox harder than any other publisher. Plus: Valve's new Steam Machine will seemingly be competing directly with Xbox's next-gen console/PC hybrid efforts, Halo Infinite's support is in fact finite, why we think Mass Effect 5 is BioWare's last chance as a studio, our confidence level in The Elder Scrolls 6 despite it being many years away...
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The Outer Worlds 2’s Game Director Joins the Podcast! – Unlocked 714

November 6, 2025 • 50 mins
Our special guest this week is Obsidian's Brandon Adler, the Game Director on The Outer Worlds 2. He tells us about how the team's new RPG has been received so far, what kind of stuff hit the cutting room floor, what got prototyped but never made it into the game, how other games influence them, getting advice from the RPG legends in the building, and more! This weeks show is Ryan McCaffrey, Michael Higham, and is produced by Ni...
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From Playing Mortal Kombat to Preserving It – Unlocked 713

October 30, 2025 • 96 mins
Old-school Xbox fans will get a little extra enjoyment out of this week's episode, which welcomes Ryan's old Official Xbox Magazine podcasting partner Dan Amrich, now a developer at Digital Eclipse, for a KOXM Radio reunion to discuss his team's comprehensive new release, Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection. Dan goes into great detail about how much meticulous care and effort went into the Legacy Kollection in order to make it into a ...
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What We Think of Ninja Gaiden 4 and the Halo 1 Remake – Unlocked 712

October 24, 2025 • 98 mins
We remember original Xbox Ninja Gaiden director Tomonobu Itagaki upon the unfortunate news of his passing before discussing the first new mainline Ninja Gaiden game in 13 years, NInja Gaiden 4. Plus: Ryan went on a field trip to Halo Studios and brought back hands-on impressions of Halo: Campaign Evolved, the just-announced remake of Halo: Combat Evolved done in Unreal Engine 5. Finally, Xbox President Sarah Bond gives us a cryptic...
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Keeper Devs Tim Schafer and Lee Petty Stop By! – Unlocked 711

October 17, 2025 • 72 mins
Game design legend and Double Fine Productions Studio Head Tim Schafer returns to Unlocked along with Keeper Project Director Lee Petty to talk about their new living-lighthouse game, Keeper! It's out now and it's awesome. In our spoiler-free conversation, Lee and Tim tell us about the project's origins, using Unreal Engine 5, the importance of making games artists want to make, and more! And afterwards we talk about the fantastic ...
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How We’d Fix Xbox’s Game Pass Pricing Problem – Unlocked 710

October 9, 2025 • 92 mins
More fallout from last week's Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price hike as DLC discounts on Game Pass get eliminated in favor of Rewards points, as well as a possible cause of the 50% price increase. We discuss how we'd fix this pricing problem Microsoft's created. Plus: Microsoft squashes a rumor about its future hardware intentions, a free version of Xbox Cloud Gaming is reportedly on the way, and more! Learn more about your ad choices....
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And Now Game Pass Prices Are Going Up Too – Unlocked 709

October 2, 2025 • 88 mins
It's all about dollars and cents (sense?) on this week's episode of IGN's weekly Xbox show, as we're discussing Microsoft's massive price hike on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, along with the final tough-to-stomach price of the Xbox ROG Ally X, and EA's record-breaking $55 billion go-private deal. 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:53 - Xbox ROG Ally X Price Revealed 00:12:58 - Game Pass Price Hike 00:54:08 - EA's record-breaking $55 billion go-...
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Xbox Raises Console Prices…Again – Unlocked 708

September 25, 2025 • 77 mins
Our main topic is one we'd rather not have to discuss, but unfortunately, here we go again with Xbox console price hikes. We talk about our thoughts on the bigger picture of these higher-than-ever prices five years into this console generation. Plus: we've got fun stuff to talk about too, such as Forza Horizon 6's reveal and Japan setting, plus Hideo Kojima's creepy Xbox exclusive OD, which appears to be a spiritual successor to th...
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GTA 6: How Big Will its Pop Culture Impact Be? – Unlocked 707

September 18, 2025 • 67 mins
We begin IGN's Xbox show this week by discussing the alleged (but still unconfirmed as of recording) pricing of the Xbox ROG Ally X handheld gaming PC, including what the huge apparent gap in price between the base model and the top-end model means for each one. And then our main topic is around GTA 6: a new Rockstar job listing makes a big but fair claim, and we debate just how far and wide its pop-culture reach and impact will be...
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Is Forza Horizon 6’s Reveal Imminent? – Unlocked 706

September 11, 2025 • 79 mins
With rumors swirling and Microsoft confirming a Tokyo Game Show livestream, we discuss whether or not we might be about to get a reveal of Forza Horizon 6. Plus: Hollow Knight: Silksong and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle DLC impressions, former Xbox and industry execs weigh in on Xbox Game Pass, and more! 00:00:00 - Intro & Humble Bundle 00:03:42 - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants DLC 00:12:02 - Borderl...
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Hollow Knight: Silksong First Impressions – Unlocked 705

September 4, 2025 • 68 mins
The long-anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong is finally out the day this episode publishes, and so we brought in Logan Plant from our Nintendo Voice chat to discuss his thoughts so far after he played it at a recent Xbox event and PAX West. Plus: our reactions to the first gameplay deep-dive of IO Interactive's 007: First Light, a discussion around the near-resurrection of The Initiative's and Crystal Dynamics's Perfect Dark, and m...
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5 Rad Games We’re Playing Right Now – Unlocked 704

August 28, 2025 • 64 mins
We're drowning in a sea of awesome games this week! Between the three of us, we've been playing a couple of big new releases (Gears of War Reloaded and Metal Gear Solid Delta) and a few hot upcoming games we want to tell you about (Replaced, The Outer Worlds 2, and LEGO Voyagers). Join us! 00:00 - Intro 02:02 - A Bioshock Update 12:15 - Gears of War Reloaded 25:39 - Keep Replaced on your Radars 32:19 - Metal Gear Solid Delt...
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BioShock 4’s Development Hell – Unlocked 703

August 14, 2025 • 78 mins
We react to a new since-confirmed report that 2K's new BioShock game continues to find its footing. We discuss where the project is and what the BioShock IP still means to gamers. Plus: Helldivers 2's upcoming Xbox release looks to be extra special thanks to an apparent Halo: ODST crossover, another Xbox exclusive appears to be canceled, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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We’re Eating Good With Battlefield 6 and Grounded 2 – Unlocked 702

August 7, 2025 • 82 mins
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 ...
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Xbox Backs Off of $80 Games…For Now – Unlocked 701

July 31, 2025 • 83 mins
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-pa...
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Former Xbox Exec on the Past, Present, and Future of Xbox – Unlocked 700

July 18, 2025 • 88 mins
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 McCaf...
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The Depressing Aftermath of Xbox’s Huge Layoffs – Unlocked 699

July 10, 2025 • 83 mins
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 Dark00:16:40 - The Future for Halo00:26:05 - Elder Scrolls Online Dev's Comment on Cancelled MMO00:34:37 - Xbox Layoffs Updates & Turn 1000:49:3...
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