The DayOne Show | A Video Games Podcast

What was perhaps going to be an uneventful week, instead became a little more dramatic. A new report from Bloomberg's Jason Schrier suggested PlayStation have decided to 'pull back' from PC releases for their tentpole first party games, which has caused a fair bit of discussion. Perhaps not wanting to be left out, Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma casually revealed Project Helix, the next generation of Xbox hardware. All this and more in the DayOne Show Episode 304 with special guest Rand Al Thor 19!
I'm out this week, so I'm hastily putting together the podcast episode before I head off to the airport to attend GDC. But for now you can check out all the latest video game reviews from us, and many of them are discussed on the show. This week saw Planet of Lana II release on all platforms, which I reviewed. For some bonus content, I sat down with the developers at Wishfully for a spoiler filled chat.
Jesse reviewed WWE 2K26, which is out now, and previewed Mouse P.I For Hire, which is coming next month. Nick took a spin on Scott Pilgrim EX for his latest review. Kat reviewed Vampire Therapist, which is finally releasing on Xbox and Gyozo took iRacing Arcade for a spin. And of course, everyone (except me!) has been playing Resident Evil Requiem.
Outside of all the games we've been playing, it's fair to say that news has really been focused on two major topics this week. Firstly, the report from Bloomberg on Sony's change of direction for their relationship with PC releases, as they reportedly 'pull back' from releasing their big games on PC - outside of live service and multiplayer games.
Not to be one-upped in taking their share of the headlines, the new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma had a little something to share before GDC kicked off next week. Project Helix is the name of the next-generation of Xbox hardware, and it will play your Xbox console games...and PC games too! In other news, Highguard is shutting down on March 12th, which is a sad end for the game and the studio, and despite reports to the contrary, Valve recommit to shipping the Steam Machine at some point this year.
Plenty of conversation, laughter and gaming chit chat, as well as your community questions, so as always - jump in!

When it comes to video games, we all know it's very serious business. And that's absolutely still the case this week, as we see the release of yet more cool video games to play, and some in-fighting among the remnants of what remain of video game media. We're here to talk about it all in the DayOne Show Episode 303!
Lots to talk about this week, but as always, we simply have to start with what really matters - video games! This week saw the release of what many are proclaiming to be one of the best in the series - Resident Evil Requiem is here, and Jesse loved it, and Nick is scared of it. We also saw the 1.0 release of Stoic's Towerborne, now available as a finished product across Steam, PlayStation 5 and of course, Xbox - including Game Pass Ultimate. We also spoke to Stoic about that journey, and just why they turned away from the original plan of a live-service, free-to-play side scrolling brawler.
Speaking of Game Pass, Jesse also took a look at Dice A Million, which is available on Game Pass PC. Gyozo has shared his impressions on Season 2 of Black Ops 7, and Genghis dived in everything Steam Next Fest. We had a ganders at the demo of Vampire Crawlers, there's a WWE 2K26 Preview to enjoy, a review of Pools on Nintendo Switch 2, Rayman: 30th Anniversary edition and games like Tales of Berseria and Super Bomberman Collection too. Phew! We've been busy!
But hey! Enough about all that cool fun stuff - there's been plenty of industry happenings this week. Our friend Jez Corden of Windows Central interviewed the new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma, and it seems plenty of folks across the games media side of the industry had plenty to say about it, and some of it just wasn't very nice, nor particularly professional (Brace yourself for a few rants from the team and general commentary on discussion on this industry and what it's like being a small, independent outlet in this space).
In other news, we chat about the rumor-mill surrounding both Xbox's new strategy, and Jason Schrier's comments on PlayStation 'backing away' from PC ports of their biggest games. Insider Gaming announced a really cool showcase happening later this year, we got a first look at the God of War TV Show and Netflix backed away from acquiring Warner Bros, as Paramount emerges victorious.
All this and more, so enjoy the show!

While we're only two months into 2026, it's already been a crazy year, and this week brought with it some absolute bombshells that shook the video game industry. Join the crew as we break it all down in the The DayOne Show Episode 302!
This week, the news is nothing if not seismic! Before we get to all the industry happenings, we have to acknowledge all the lovely video games we've been playing this week!
On the review front, Jesse tackled the newly released God of War: Sons of Sparta before heading off to a WWE event. You can find this thoughts on this new PlayStation metroidvania right here.
Beyond indulging his usual obsession with both Fortnite and Rocket League, Nick's also been playing the new God of War, in addition to getting thoroughly stuck in with Mario Tennis Fever and BlazeBlue Entropy Effect X, the latter of which is available right now on Game Pass.
I am working on several reviews at the moment, so can't talk just yet about what I've been playing on that front, but I did release my hands-on preview for DON'T NOD's Aphelion, and have been thoroughly enjoying High on Life 2. I also released my review for Razer's Premium PlayStation controller, the Raiju V3 Pro.
Site wise, we're delighted to announce the new website design for playday.one is now live - we'd love your feedback, so give us a shout and let us know what you think on our forums in this thread. From the team, you can enjoy several pieces of new content, from hands on previews on Milestone's Screamer (alongside an interview) and NTE: Neverness to Everness.
On the news front, and certainly the big topics of discussion this week were some of the craziest occurences in the industry that we've seen in some time. The first was Sony's shocking announcement that saw the closure of beloved studio Bluepoint Games, known for their incredible work on remakes of Demon's Souls, and of course the minor miracle that was Titanfall on the Xbox 360.
Not to be outdone with being the continued focus of the gaming industry's scorn and general derision, Microsoft decided they just had to up the ante. On Friday, they dropped the bombshell - Phil Spencer, after 38 years at Microsoft is retiring, and his replacement is newcomer Asha Sharma, a Microsoft internal promotion from the CoreAI team. Perhaps more shockingly, the announcement saw Sarah Bond, Xbox President leave the business entirely, and Matt Booty getting a promotion to EVP and Chief Content Officer. Crazy times.
We break it all down, in addition to taking all of your community questions and thoughts live in The DayOne Show Episode 302!

It's a new look, and a new week to talk about video games - and there sure are a lot of them on the way! I'm aware we're cheating the count a little here, but this is the DayOne Podcast Episode 301!
This week, I've been at DICE in Las Vegas but we've still managed to play plenty and of course bring you all the latest reviews. I checked out REANIMAL, which is a mesmerizing experience, so much so that I had to reach out to the developers for a chat once I'd rolled credits. Jesse was hard at work on the review for High on Life 2, which we've all been playing once it launched into Xbox Game Pass.
Elsewhere in gaming news, we announced a big rebrand, which saw most folks take the news pretty well. Gyozo went to London to go hand on with Milestone's new racer Screamer, which had a big gameplay overview reveal. The biggest news was of course, Sony's new State of Play which saw a bevvy of cool game announcements and updates.
All of this, plus your community questions in the DayOne Podcast Episode 301! Jump in and say hello!

Well, we did it! 300 Episodes - which equates to over 45 days of listening time! To celebrate this milestone, we made some big announcements that saw The XboxEra Podcast Episode 300 change before your very eyes. Welcome to DayOne!
This week saw some big news, some great games and of course our own big announcement. XboxEra is rebranding, bringing a new name and a new website to our readers, alongside new features like memberships and additional platform coverage. You can read about all of that here - take it in! If you've got questions, we've got answers - hit us up on our Discord and the forums, and we'll do our best to help.
In the meantime, this week saw some cool games, and plenty of news to get stuck into. 34BigThings released Carmageddon Rogue Shift, and we sat down to chat with the game director to learn about how the game came to be. We also enjoyed a great conversation with the Narrative Director at Squanch Games and chatted about High on Life 2, which is heading our way next week alongside a great looking first drop of games for February.
In gaming news, Nintendo had a massive 3rd Party focused Direct with tons of announcements of ports and other releases that look great for Switch 2 owners. Sony announced a new Horizon game, 'Hunters Gathering', and Valve delayed the Steam Machine pricing reveal, with the units now coming at some point in the first half of this year. Epic games shared they want their store to be available on the new Xbox on 'Day One', and indeed AMD's Dr Lisa Su confirmed the chip maker is on target to support a new Xbox in 2027. Lots of this, and more in the XboxEra Podcast Episode 300!