The Dukes are finally reunited and what a week to do that! In a massive writeup on the Xbox Wire, we are seeing Asha Sharma and Matt Booty practically walk back on everything that the old regime stood for. Exclusivity is back under consideration, the "Microsoft Gaming" label is being ditched, and Xbox is focusing on their console. Just like old times! Perhaps most surprising with this blog post is the clear addressing of pain points for this brand: High prices, lacking PC presence, poor discovery tools, and most notably, disenchanted, frustrated players. The focus now for Xbox is daily active players. What does all of this mean and is this enough word salad to buy into? The globetrotting Dukes have you fine folks covered, so let's dig in.

Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement.
0:00:00 - Intro
0:42:20 - Xbox Game Pass “Starter Edition” leaks
0:49:16 - Asha Sharma on Xbox Helix timing and pricing
0:54:41 - PS5 DRM drama
1:07:15 - Valve drops updates on Steam Machine, Controller, and Deck 2
1:12:56 - Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced officially revealed
1:22:51 - Far Cry show director says the worst things imaginable
1:27:23 - Assassin’s Creed Hexe loses a ton of key staff
1:32:56 - RPG developer Spiders is shutting down
1:41:30 - New information on Blood Of Dawnwalker
1:50:26 - Alien Isolation 2 teaser
1:51:46 - What We’re Playing
2:30:29 - Xbox shares massive update on the future of the brand

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#278 | Xbox Is Wavering On Exclusivity Again... - Will They Do It?