Xbox Is Dead, Long Live NEX Playground

This week, Rahul and Rishi discuss the decline of Xbox in the US, making room for a new contender — the NEX Playground. And while it might seem like just a slap in the face for the gaming division of one of the world’s biggest companies, there’s more to it. The market has decided on value-conscious offerings. We discuss why affordable gaming options are a necessity for the games industry to survive before it can even think about beginning to thrive, even if sections of the community and the business itself may frown on the liberties some of these options take in terms of IP and legitimacy, including the likes of Mitashi and Sameo, some of which exist due to the lack of an official presence from the likes of Nintendo.Along with this, we look into Sony’s cancelled game, Project Draconis and parse why leaks like these see the light of day in a business that’s obsessed with secrecy, touching on some of our personal experiences with leaks in the industry.Finally we talk about what we’ve been playing this week including the likes of The Outer Worlds 2, Dispatch, the Fishbowl demo, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, and a whole lot more.If you’re new here, Day Zero is a podcast on video games featuring Rahul Majumdar and Rishi Alwani breaking down the bytes and bits behind the decisions that make and break the world’s greatest entertainment industry.We’d love to hear your objectively good takes — they surely can’t be worse than some of ours. Find us with yours at the handles below:* Twitter/X - @RishiAlwani* Threads - @rishi.alwani* Instagram - @rishi.alwani* Twitter/X - @darthrahul* Threads - @darthrahul* Instagram - @darthrahul This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dayzeromedia.substack.com