Shows / 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…
Episodes
UnlockedGTA 6: It’s Time to Clear Your Hard Drive – Unlocked 758
Grand Theft Auto 6 is nearly upon us, and it's time to preload the game on your hard drive. And it'll require a LOT of your hard drive space. Plus: GTA 6 beer…
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Xbox Handheld in 2027? Project Helix in 2028? Game Pass Revamp? Whoa! – Unlocked 757
A new report suggests that not only is Xbox's next-gen Project Helix console coming out in Fall of 2028, but that Microsoft is developing its own first-party…
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Gears of War: E-Day Is Awesome (No Spoilers) – Unlocked 756
In a spoiler-free discussion, Ryan and Michael talk about how much they love Gears of War: E-Day, which Ryan reviewed for IGN. Plus: Halo's former Franchise…
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Halo Studios Is No Longer Making Halo – Unlocked 755
Xbox's "reset" continued this week, and we discussed and analyzed all of the newest changes, including the big one of Activision taking over on Halo from Halo…
UnlockedSony's Loss Is Xbox's Gain: Hideo Kojima Signs With Xbox for Physint – Unlocked 754
Our hiatus is over and we've got a LOT to talk about this week, starting with Sony's shocking decision to drop Hideo Kojima's next-gen tactical espionage game…
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Kingdom Hearts 4 in Late 2027. Can it Really Be True? – Unlocked 753
Join the IGN Discord https://discord.gg/h2T45nkkm6 The director of Kingdom Hearts 4 promises a late 2027 release window for the eagerly awaited Kingdom Hearts…
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Xbox Reportedly Won’t Let Discs Die – Unlocked 752
Join the IGN Discord https://discord.gg/h2T45nkkm6 One well-sourced rumor suggests that Xbox won't be backing away from physical media, in the name of…
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Where Does Halo Go From Here? + Gears E-Day Multiplayer Thoughts – Unlocked 751
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…
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Obsidian Returns to Fallout – Unlocked 750
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…
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Xbox’s Brutal ‘Reset’ + Who Bought State of Decay 3 and Senua? – Unlocked 749
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…
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What’s Left of/at Xbox? – Unlocked 748
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…
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Xbox's Third Price Increase Is the Biggest Yet – Unlocked 747
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…
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Hello Darkness My Old Friend – Unlocked 746
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…
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Fable, Gears of War, and Halo: Our Behind Closed Doors Reactions – Unlocked 745
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…
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Xbox Games Showcase 2026 Recap: Gears E-Day, Clockwork Revolution and New Xbox Console | IGN Live 2026 - Unlocked 744
The Xbox Games Showcase 2026 was packed with major reveals, world premieres, release dates, and surprise announcements. In this complete recap, we cover…
UnlockedGTA 6 Looks Likely for November, So What Does it Mean for Xbox? – Unlocked 743
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…
UnlockedOur 12 Xbox Showcase Predictions – Unlocked 742
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…
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Forza Horizon 6 Rocks! – Unlocked 741
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…
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New Xbox CEO Kills Copilot AI – Unlocked 740
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…
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New Xbox Logo and Attitude: Is Xbox Back to Being Green and Mean? – Unlocked 739
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…
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Xbox Game Pass Gets a Price…Decrease! – Unlocked 738
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…
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Replaced Director Shares Insights, Origins, and What's Next After Xbox Debut – Unlocked 737
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…
UnlockedState of Decay 3 Is Back from the (Un)Dead – Unlocked 736
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…
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What Xbox’s Showcase Announcement Tells Us About its 2026 Lineup – Unlocked 735
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…
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Xbox Showcase Goes Crazy and We Find Hidden Gems Live at PAX East 2026 – Unlocked 734
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…
UnlockedOur Favorite New Games You Might Not Have Heard of Yet – Unlocked 733
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…
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Project Helix Reactions: Name Ideas, Messaging Musts, and More – Unlocked 732
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…
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Resident Evil Requiem Tops a Big Games Week – Unlocked 731
We've spent time with several big new games that we had a blast with this week, and we'd like to tell you all about them: Resident Evil Requiem, Marathon…
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Phil Spencer’s Retirement and the Future of Xbox – Unlocked 730
Longtime Xbox executive Greg Canessa, aka the Creator of Xbox Live Arcade, joins us to react to, analyze, and quite honestly just process this week's seismic…
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Are Hard Drives the Next-Gen Xbox’s Latest Roadblock? – Unlocked 729
Just as we thought things might be lining up for a next-gen Xbox launch in 2027, a new story on hard drive availability has left us wondering if that option…
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Next-Gen Xbox in 2027…or Not Until 2028? – Unlocked 728
Remember last week's comments from AMD's CEO about being ready to support a next-gen Xbox launch in 2027? It turns out there's more to the story, so we're…
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Resident Evil Requiem Looks Ready to Cook – Unlocked 727
Two big topics dominate our Xbox show this week: first, Resident Evil Requiem. Our own Michael Higham got to play a few hours of a near-final build, and he…
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Top 100 Xbox Games Ever: The Top 20 – Unlocked 726
In a marathon two-hour episode, our friends from Outside Xbox join us to discuss the Top 20 games in our collaborative Top 100 Xbox Games of All Time list. We…
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Top 100 Xbox Games Debate: The Obscure Ones – Unlocked 725
Part one of our Top 100 Xbox Games of All Time conversation is here! We're talking about the games that mean a lot to us from 100-26 on our list. There will be…
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Xbox Developer Direct Reactions – Unlocked 724
In this episode, we react to everything shown at Xbox’s latest Developer Direct, with deep dives into Fable, Forza Horizon 6, a surprise reveal from Double…
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Xbox Developer Direct Predictions – Unlocked 723
Xbox's now-annual early-year showcase returns next week! We know Fable and Forza Horizon 6 will be there, but what else will show up? We've got predictions…
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Remembering 2 Xbox Greats – Unlocked 722
The Xbox world lost two wonderful people over the holidays: longtime Microsoft hardware team member Albert Penello and game industry legend Vince Zampella…
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Ranking Every Xbox’s Day-One Launch Lineups – Unlocked 721
What to do during a quiet holiday week with no news? How about we argue amongst ourselves? Haha well sort of: we decided to rank the four Xbox console day-one…
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Xbox No-Showed at The Game Awards, but There’s Good News – Unlocked 720
We didn't get any reveals from Xbox at this year's Game Awards, but there's some very good news: we're going to see a lot more from them very soon. We talk all…
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Does Xbox’s Next Gen Start in 2026? – Unlocked 719
Our Xbox crew kicks off by going over IGN's nominees for Best Xbox Game of 2025 before giving our individual picks, and then we get to the big topic this week…
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Splinter Cell Might Not Be Dead After All – Unlocked 718
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…
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Major Nelson Shares His Xbox 360 Memories – Unlocked 717
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…
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The Winners from Xbox’s Partner Showcase (Fall 2025) – Unlocked 716
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…
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GTA 6’s Delay Hits Xbox Extra Hard – Unlocked 715
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…
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The Outer Worlds 2’s Game Director Joins the Podcast! – Unlocked 714
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…
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From Playing Mortal Kombat to Preserving It – Unlocked 713
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…
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What We Think of Ninja Gaiden 4 and the Halo 1 Remake – Unlocked 712
We remember original Xbox Ninja Gaiden director Tomonobu Itagaki upon the unfortunate news of his passing before discussing the first new mainline Ninja Gaiden…
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Keeper Devs Tim Schafer and Lee Petty Stop By! – Unlocked 711
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…
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How We’d Fix Xbox’s Game Pass Pricing Problem – Unlocked 710
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…
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And Now Game Pass Prices Are Going Up Too – Unlocked 709
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…
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Xbox Raises Console Prices…Again – Unlocked 708
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…
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GTA 6: How Big Will its Pop Culture Impact Be? – Unlocked 707
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…
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Is Forza Horizon 6’s Reveal Imminent? – Unlocked 706
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…
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Hollow Knight: Silksong First Impressions – Unlocked 705
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…
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5 Rad Games We’re Playing Right Now – Unlocked 704
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…
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BioShock 4’s Development Hell – Unlocked 703
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…
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We’re Eating Good With Battlefield 6 and Grounded 2 – Unlocked 702
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…
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Xbox Backs Off of $80 Games…For Now – Unlocked 701
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…
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Former Xbox Exec on the Past, Present, and Future of Xbox – Unlocked 700
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…
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The Depressing Aftermath of Xbox’s Huge Layoffs – Unlocked 699
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…