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Defining Duke, Episode 234 | It's Happening AGAIN - More Xbox Layoffs Inbound...
🕑 Added 2025-06-26 16:00:18 +0000 UTCIt was supposed to be a slow news week, so naturally we talked for almost four hours on the latest in gaming. Heading up our show is a recurrent subject: layoffs at Xbox. Despite Phil's claims about a sustainable business, the cuts keep coming. Of course, that leaves us in a bit of a pickle. What parts of Xbox business are faltering? We're about a year removed from last year where Xbox began shutting down multiple teams, so it's not a far cry to say we may be approaching that point. We haven't seen Game Pass numbers in a hot minute, titles like South Of Midnight and Hellblade 2 have questionable sales at best, and the green team is all but officially confirmed to be out on physical games. So, which is it, if any? We gab quite a bit before leaving it to next week where we'll get official confirmation. Plus, Xbox integrating other PC storefronts into their app, righting the record on Final Fantasy XVI, diving into Lies Of P sales figures, and so much more in what was an unexpectedly meaty (oh!) episode of Defining Duke.
Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:16:24 - Health Is Wealth
0:32:22 - Correcting FF16 information from last week
0:41:52 - A new Halo game is releasing… kinda
0:54:16 - Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition announced
1:01:46 - SEGA sales data leaks
1:14:08 - Persona 4 Revival & Stranger Than Heaven release info
1:17:35 - Blood Of Dawnwalker Gameplay deep dive
1:22:58 - Cyberpunk 2077 update 2.3 has been delayed
1:27:54 - Layoffs headed for Mindseye developer
1:40:01 - Blood Message reveal reaction
1:43:03 - Rematch devs respond to crossplay issues
1:48:34 - Third party Switch 2 sales below estimates
1:59:03 - Splitgate 2 devs face layoffs
2:12:25 - Lies Of P difficulty settings
2:23:24 - What We’re Playing
3:08:15 - Major Xbox layoffs inbound
3:33:13 - Steam library comes to Xbox PC App
3:45:03 - Game Pass Pick Of The Week
Comments
Gooch Gobbler
For real, currently playing Expedition 33 on easy and may come back to Lies of P now! I love the world of soulslikes but I do not have the skill or more importantly like you say: the time
NeO JD
I expected those Sega sales to be bigger. Metaphor only hitting 2M feels like a crime. To Cog’s thing on difficulty: I almost always play games on “baby ass baby mode” as the What’s Good Games ladies used to say. I’m there for the story. I’m like you Cog, I don’t wanna be in a bad mood playing games, or worse feeling like I’m wasting my time. The more options the better. I might go and play Lies of P now myself. #DDStorefront
Daddy T
Quick correction Matty, that was only P5R! Combined with the original it’s over 10 million copies, fucking bonkers numbers
Big titty drinker
Also in terms of gamepass I’ll say this. I used to think they just put out fodder but the content this year has been insane. That being said the numbers being stagnant don’t surprise me because it’s not a content thing. The reality of the situation to me is that most people don’t burn through games rapidly enough to even justify something like a game pass. Like take me for example. I’m way more into games than the average person but also a normal consumer compared to most in the industry. I play one game at a time and most of the time that takes atleast 2 months to get through… unless you just enjoy trying new games constantly and never finishing anything gamepass just isn’t that attractive because of the utility of it just isn’t there for REGULAR gamers. I get the value aspect of it and if your broke do what you gotta do but for me the time and options is more of the issue not the money and gamepass does nothing to solve that.
Seany Mac
Wilmington is a gem. Great food and great breweries in spitting distance to a bunch of awesome beaches. Never knew the retro scene was so strong, gotta check it out
