The XB2 — An Xbox & Gaming Podcast

Rand is healed! Join him and Jez for this week's latest XB2 show, where we talk ES6 Sentinel, Ubisoft potential interest in Arkane, Xbox's 25th anniversary coming up, and much more.

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TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00: Intro, Jez's busy week, Christmas coming up. Call of Duty MW4 campaign, game review discussions.00:20:00: Gears of War: E-Day budget drama, Xbox PC app updated, Arkane Studio to be acquired by Ubisoft?01:07:00: Zelda remake scores big, Xbox 25th anniversary expectations, Xbox crocodile. 01:23:00: Xbox FSR 4.1, Xbox hardware continues to struggle, Xbox sales data debated.01:55:00: Helen Chiang Minecraft departure drama, Elder Scrolls 6 reveal drama, Mass Effect shut down drama.02:26:00: Fable release window, God of War delayed, South of Midnight comments.02:44:00: Patreon Q&A.

💚SUPPORT US on PATREON from $1.99: Extra shows, ad-free, Q&A section weekly, and MORE! ⁠http://patreon.com/XB2⁠ | Now cheaper!💚

Black Friday Patreon deal: use code XB2FRI to get 50% off through Nov!
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Rand is sick right now, so I went solo to talk a range of stuff in recent Xbox news, the Gears of War: E-Day budget drama, Helen Chiang's post about her firing from Xbox, and much more. We also get the Patreon Q&A topics here as well. Back to normal this week hopefully.

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💚SUPPORT US on PATREON from $1.99: Extra shows, ad-free, Q&A section weekly, and MORE! ⁠http://patreon.com/XB2⁠ | Now cheaper!💚
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Originally aired on http://PATREON.com/XB2, Tuesday Oct 20, 2026.

This week, we hang out with Samuel Tolbert, Windows Central alumni and damn fine writer, now working on Campaign Mode newsletter.
We'll talk Xboxxy things, Xbox's crazy summer, our top games of the "right now," and much more.

FIND SAM: https://bsky.app/profile/samueltolbert.bsky.social
CAMPAIGN MODE: https://campaign-mode.ghost.io/
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🥇WIN Call of Duty MW4 for Xbox/PC via: ⁠http://discord.gg/XB2

Jez and Rand are back in the hot seat, discussing what has been a pretty eventful week in Xbox and industry news. BioWare was killed by EA, Gears E-Day budget rumors create headlines, Fortune claims Xbox Helix is targeting 2028 ... at $1800 max?! What's going on?

🦈 SPONSOR: http://SURFSHARK.com/XB2 | SurfShark VPN! Get 86% OFF a two year plan, working out to just $2 a month! 🦈

TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00: Intro, Silver Pines impressions, Hellraiser impressions. 00:20:00: BioWare dead, Gears of War: E-Day budget, Arkane to be saved?01:05:00: Stellar Blade coming to Xbox? Call of Duty campaign reviews. 01:55:00: Fortune covers Xbox, Helix coming in 2028? $1800 dollars?! Xbox Cloud Gaming pricing.02:35:00: Xbox private equity rumors, Xbox COO leaves?! Battlefront 3 rumors. Patreon Q&A segment.

💚SUPPORT US on PATREON from $1.99: Extra shows, ad-free, Q&A section weekly, and MORE! ⁠http://patreon.com/XB2⁠ | Now cheaper!

A huge thank you to our Patreon members!

PATREON PRODUCERS 🥇:Jason Dorson: https://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Fool-J-Dorson-ebook/dp/B0GSRP2TLLInner MachineDEKU2511James Wezo

PATREON MVPS 🏅:Adam Bartolo, AloraanGrogu, Asa-T & Madison, Battered Haddock, Briggz Country, BrightTundra1, ChrisM, Conker1031, CWoody, Cyllis, DEKU2511, DiscardedCabose, Ennex, Fantesticles, Frank from WildStarGaming, Good Old Collingwood, GovernerGrim, iamchuckdub, iMikeZero, Inner Machine, J F0LEY, James Moore, James Wezo, Jessica-Star, Jonathan Dorson, Justin Duell, KAYTRIOX, Lazar Wolf, matt, Murray, PatRock, Phrosty, Rand al Thor 19, Ronmar the Only, Rs Donks, Sean Kramer, Shay Elephant, Shrapnel, TrixR4Trey, Vito Chiaramonte, Woggerman, WolfgangKPZ, youngbl00d8.
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This week, Rand and Jez talk up Xbox's surveys on exclusive games. Could they really pull the trigger on going fully exclusive? We have the Xbox Labs announcement, what exactly is it? And we talk more leaks from Asha's Xbox Town Hall.

🦈 SPONSOR: http://SURFSHARK.com/XB2 | SurfShark VPN! Get 86% OFF a two year plan, working out to just $2 a month! 🦈

TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00: Intro, WoW writing backlash and AI coding controversy, PS5 jailbroken. Xbox Labs announcement. Game discovery and storefront saturation. AI slopocalypse?00:40:00: Minecraft vs. Roblox, gen-AI, Draconia Malfoid. Rand plays Hellraiser. Jez plays Castlevania. 01:00:00: GTA 6 marketing and Xbox Play Anywhere deal? Game Awards controversy.01:30:00: Call of Duty MW4 is ... good? Gears: E-Day flopped? Asha wants new IP. Will Kojima retire after Physint?02:00:00: Xbox exclusivity survey. Big platform shift?02:30:00: Patreon Q&A segment.

💚SUPPORT US on PATREON from $1.99: Extra shows, ad-free, Q&A section weekly, and MORE! ⁠http://patreon.com/XB2⁠ | Now cheaper!💚
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