The XB2 — An Xbox & Gaming Podcast

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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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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Hey Xbox gang, as usual, Rand and Jez are back talking all of this week's major Xboxxy news, including the new Xbox PC app, the rumored GTA 6 deal for Xbox Cloud Gaming, Project Helix comments from Asha, Xbox's new XP division for movies and TV and theme parks, and much more.

🦈 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, Xbox Mythics "thiccs," ID@Xbox changes, leaked Xbox PC app, Don Mattrick was crazy? Xbox's new "XP" division.00:30:00: Core gamer problem, and growing the hobby, BlizzCon becomes XboxCon? Hollywood embraces gaming. 00:50:00: Control Resonant impressions, Nick skips all the cutscenes?! Gears of War: E-Day sales fallout.01:55:00: Xbox gets GTA 6 cloud streaming rights? Xbox Elite Series 3 imminent, FSR 4 coming to Xbox? 02:20:00: Xbox Helix, Asha's Town Hall presentation. 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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