Defining Duke, Episode 266 | Obsidian Opens Up On Their Future...
Added 2026-02-05 17:00:17 +0000 UTCXbox's marketing beat for 2025 was "The Year Of Obsidian Entertainment." Frankly, it made sense. No matter how you feel about the quality of these games, the fact that this team shipped Avowed, Outer Worlds 2, and Grounded 2 all within a calendar year (while many other teams within the first party fold continue to stumble around) was worthy of all the praise. Well, Obsidian has some thoughts on that marketing tagline. Indeed of it being a rallying cry, Obsidian's own Josh Sawyer defined as a "sign that something went wrong." Both Avowed and Outer Worlds 2 were in development for over six years and the result is that both these games failed to meet financial expectations. What lessons can they learn after shipping so many games? What can they do to cut development costs? What games should they make to meet Xbox's new profit margins? Part of the solution to the team at Obsidian is Avowed 2, but it's anyone's guess what lies beyond that. Thanks to a transparent conversation with Obsidian, the Dukes now dig into the company with this new perspective.
Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:06:36 - Reading Recs
0:14:58 - Ashes Of Creation is the latest scam in gaming
0:28:31 - The suspicious Dispatch censorship situation
0:36:02 - Is Nioh finally coming to Xbox?
0:45:17 - Tekken Season 3 revealed
0:51:03 - Forza Horizon 6 supports cross save
0:54:24 - Highguard moves up to Mixed on Steam as it gets 5v5 mode
0:57:26 - Ex Bethesda dev talks Morrowind Remaster
1:14:06 - The Amazon Fallout countdown ends
1:21:29 - Epic Games plans to take on Steam
1:26:59 - AI surveys conducted at GDC
1:34:33 - Ubisoft says volunteer to get fired or get fired
1:39:39 - The Division: Definitive Edition isn’t what we expected
1:42:10 - Beyond Good & Evil 2 officially has a pulse
1:43:58 - RIP Comcept
1:48:04 - Cairn passes 200K copies sold
1:50:49 - Nintendo sales update
1:56:53 - What We’re Playing
2:22:05 - The Year Of Obsidian isn’t quite what we made it out to be
2:55:22 - AMD hints at next gen launch plans
3:04:39 - Xbox is the least desired console to develop for
Comments
Epic would have to give me my entire Steam library for free, completely rework their UI, and have most of Steam’s features for me to consider switching to it. Also Steam would have to drastically fall off. It’s just not gonna happen Epic
Anthony Palerino
2026-02-11 15:53:53 +0000 UTCMy bad Dukes, been forgetting to write in to all the LSM shows. But I still listen. Another solid ep. #DDBandwidth
NeO JD
2026-02-09 05:49:30 +0000 UTCI’m gonna take a wild guess and assume that you’re 30-something and still haven’t touched a girl with her consent?
Marko Krnic
2026-02-08 18:13:41 +0000 UTCCosmo Kramer’s Skinny Jeans
2026-02-08 08:45:21 +0000 UTCMatt you will never be a writer. You’re garbage. You think you’re talented. You’re not.
Cosmo Kramer’s Skinny Jeans
2026-02-08 08:24:18 +0000 UTCGreat episode Gents! That survey didn't shock me at all. It almost mirrors install base perfectly. It also signals heir strategy of going PC was the right call. Have a good one boys!! #DDBandwidth
Mr. Scott If You're Nasty
2026-02-07 12:28:31 +0000 UTCBob is great! Cannot wait for more Bob in Tekken!
Josh Walker
2026-02-07 01:01:44 +0000 UTCThose who actually engage and take advantage of the entire Xbox ecosystem know how incredible it is. There's legit no other that offers the amount features, value, benefits, etc. Yeah there are quarks and issues that pop up and things are very much still in the tweaking and building up phase when we're talking about the vision being fully realized, but its an incredible experience if you are someone who games on more than one screen.
MachineXp
2026-02-07 00:56:39 +0000 UTCHaha it's written on the wall in blood Matty...
Mr. Scott If You're Nasty
2026-02-07 00:05:05 +0000 UTCIt's great for the consumer soooooo???
Mr. Scott If You're Nasty
2026-02-07 00:04:12 +0000 UTCI love the Xbox strategy. We're hardly making money on our storefront. So we're gonna put steam and Epic on Xbox so we can make no money from our storefront. Lol, its laughable at this point.
Jacob Lesperance
2026-02-06 14:41:53 +0000 UTC💀
The Iron Lords Podcast
2026-02-06 05:21:15 +0000 UTCMario told Sonic when you come for the king you best not miss 😂
Risen
2026-02-06 01:39:42 +0000 UTCNever mind! COG just bailed Matty out the second I commented
BigDumbStupidIdiot
2026-02-05 23:42:01 +0000 UTCUm ACTUALLY a Nintendo rep said Prime 4 sold a million between the Switch and Switch 2
BigDumbStupidIdiot
2026-02-05 23:38:15 +0000 UTCMatty- "Dead Space, I shoot you in the head, dead as a doornail" that is the complete opposite of Dead Space. In the past you've credited burning bodies in Cronos to The Evil Within... which is from Resident Evil 1 Remake. Are you sure you play horror games sir?
Justin Marion
2026-02-05 22:24:34 +0000 UTC
