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

July 30, 2026 84 mins
It's all about Halo this week – save for our first hands-on impressions of Gears of War: E-Day's impressive Horde Siege multiplayer mode at the end of the episode – as we discuss not only our thoughts on the just-released Halo 1 remake, Campaign Evolved, but also the future of Steve Downes in the role of Master Chief, what we'd want (and in Halo 2's case, demand!) from potential remakes of Halo 2 and Halo 3, where the m...
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Fallout: New Vegas game director Josh Sawyer will lead a new Fallout game at Obsidian, giving RPG fans what they've wanted for a long time, even if it's under less-than-ideal industry circumstances. We talk all about this huge new development for Xbox, including what engine it might run on. Plus: id Software is still very much alive, but what will they do next? We debate that before we conclude by lamenting the reported cancellatio...
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The axe has fallen at Xbox, and while the result is thousands more job losses, the silver lining is that no studios are being closed. We try to figure out who might've bought Undead Labs (State of Decay 3) and Ninja Theory (Senua), as well as what the now-independent Double Fine might be working on. Plus: Game Pass's failures and how it might evolve moving forward, and more! 00:00:00 - Intro & Xbox Layoffs 00:20:52 - Future...
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Join the IGN Discord https://discord.com/invite/h2T45nkkm6 Another dreadful week of Xbox news brings reports that State of Decay 3 may get canceled and developer Undead Labs might be shut down, with Arkane and its Marvel's Blade project potentially suffering the same fate. We give our reactions, and also discuss how we'd "reboot" Xbox around its biggest franchises, as it's reported that new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma wants to do. ...
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Money is the name of the game this week, from Xbox's third round of price cuts that see the Series S now start at $500 and the Series X start at $750 to GTA coming in at $80 for the base game and $100 for the Ultimate Edition to the Steam Machine pricing reveal and what it might mean for Project Helix. Plus: brutal Bungie layoffs, our "Game of the Year So Far" picks, and more. This weeks show is hosted by Ryan McCaffrey, MIchael...
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All of Xbox's good energy and community goodwill instantly evaporated as the honeymoon phase for new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma came to a quick end this week. Her new publicly released memo talked of a "resetting" of Xbox and narrowing profit margins, which has resulted in reports of multiple Xbox studios being either shut down or perhaps spun out independently. We discuss Xbox Game Pass's role in Xbox's problems, Xbox's mismanagement of...
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We've got SO much more to talk about since the Xbox Showcase last weekend. Namely: we got behind-closed-doors looks at Gears of War: E-Day, Fable, and Halo: Campaign Evolved – the latter of which we got to play! 00:00:00 - Intro & Gears of War: E-Day00:22:07 - Fable00:42:21 - Halo: Campaign Evolved00:58:55 - Bad Magpie & Outro #halo #gearsofwar #xbox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Xbox Games Showcase 2026 was packed with major reveals, world premieres, release dates, and surprise announcements. In this complete recap, we cover everything shown, including Gears of War: E-Day launching October 6, Halo: Campaign Evolved and its prequel missions arriving July 28, Fable releasing February 23, 2027, Persona 4 Revival, Persona 6, State of Decay 3, Metro 2039, Wo Long 2, Minecraft Dungeons 2, Spyro: A Realm Beyo...
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New comments by Take-Two's CEO suggest that Grand Theft Auto 6 is looking like it's really going to be released on November 19. So what does that mean for Xbox and its packed Fall slate of games? We lay out two likely scenarios. Plus: what's next for Bungie now that Destiny support is ceasing, The Witcher 3 gets a surprise new expansion pack over a decade after its last one, the developer of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 making a Mid...
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While we’re together, and before it gets so close to the Xbox Showcase that things start leaking (hopefully not) – the event is just barely over two weeks away! – we thought we’d have fun this week and make our annual Xbox Showcase predictions. You can listen along at home, make your predictions in the Comments section below, and then we can all see how accurate (or not) we were when the Showcase airs on Jun...
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Our friend Mark Medina makes his long-awaited return to Unlocked to join our discussion on Forza Horizon 6, the latest open-world driving game masterpiece from Playground Games. We give our thoughts on what we've played so far and where we think Horizon might go next. Plus: new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is reportedly thinking carefully about exclusivity for Xbox moving forward, and big surprise: we've got thoughts! All that and more on ...
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It's another busy week of Xbox news as new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma continues to make moves, shaking up the Xbox leadership team and killing Xbox's Copilot AI program in the process. Plus: we geek out over Yakuza developer RGG Studio's new showcase – presented by Microsoft – for its new game Stranger Than Heaven. Plus: Mixtape is a 10 out of 10 and on Game Pass right now, the rest of what's hitting Game Pass over the next w...
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After Michael tells us about the fun time he had at this year's Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival, we spend the rest of the episode discussing Xbox's logo refresh and its new "We Are Xbox" mission statement. There's a LOT to get into here, from affordability to exclusivity to mergers and acquisitions and a whole lot more. Enjoy! #xbox #gaming #unlocked Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Microsoft has walked back its wild 50% Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price increase from six months ago...mostly. We discuss the bold change and what it means moving forward. Plus: our favorite games from this week's ID@Xbox Showcase, and more! 00:00:00 - Intro & Game Pass Price Decrease 00:18:19 - PC Game Pass & The Future of Game Pass Exclusives 00:42:53 - ID@Xbox 2026 ( Tears of Metal & Crashout Crew) 00:46:56 - RV Ther...
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Replaced game director Yura Zhdanovich joins us to discuss his just-released Xbox exclusive. He shares insights into the project's origin, getting offered an exclusivity deal from Microsoft, what's next for Sad Cat Studios, and much more! Plus: Pragmata impressions amidst a huge week of awesome new game releases! 00:00:00 - Intro & Replaced Director Interview 00:57:13 - Pragmata Review Discussion #xbox #replaced #pragmata...
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After we brought it up on last week's podcast, State of Decay 3 has awoken from its slumber and announced an upcoming community playtest! We talk all about what we want from the upcoming zombie survival/RPG. Plus: our hands-on impressions of the preview version of Forza Horizon 6, Xbox Achievements are getting some welcome improvements, Game Pass has a ton to offer in April, and more! 00:00:00 - Intro & Forza Horizon 6 Talk 0...
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After talking about our favorite games from PAX East, we discuss Microsoft's Xbox Showcase announcement – which included news that Gears of War: E-Day will get the coveted "Direct" slot immediately following the event. We dig deep into what that means for the Gears prequel, why Fable might end up being the game that gets bumped to 2027 out of Xbox's stacked 2026 lineup, which studios we might and might not hear from at the Xb...
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In episode 734 of Podcast Unlocked, the crew takes the stage to react to the incredibly packed Xbox Partner Showcase. We discuss the biggest reveals, including the new STALKER 2: Cost of Hope DLC, Hades 2 dropping next month, Wuthering Waves finally coming to Xbox, the Yakuza-inspired Stranger than Heaven, and the surprise drop of Super Meat Boy 3D! Plus, we share our favorite hidden indie gems that we went hands-on with on the ...
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We all played cool games at the Game Developers' Conference last week, and we'd like to tell you about them! Plus: Michael gushes about all the fun he's been having with Marathon before talking to us about his trip to Bethesda to see Starfield's new expansion and interview Todd Howard, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight gets a new release date, April and May are unbelievably jam-packed full of games we're excited about, and mor...
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Microsoft has confirmed the rumor that its next-gen console will play PC games. The machine is codenamed Project Helix, and we discuss potential names for the device, how Microsoft must get its messaging right, the advantages it might have over the competition, and much more! 00:00:00 - Intro & Welcome Nugg and MC Fixer 00:04:24 - Project Helix Announcement Reactions & Potential Names 00:24:45 - Sony Returns to Console...
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