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More Layoffs at Bungie While CEO Buys Cars | Firelink Podcast
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This week on Firelink, Nick and KC discuss the Bungie layoffs and the fixation on dead games currently holding the industry.
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Introduction and Listener Support
00:00:00
Speaker
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Episode Introduction: Layoffs in Gaming
00:00:33
Speaker
All right. Well, hello, everybody. Welcome back to Firelink, episode number 31. My name is Nick Langer, the editor in chief of Second Wind, joined by Casey Wosu and Ty. It's another day, another day of layoffs. How many podcasts have we started off this year with that?
Bungie's Layoffs and Industry Impact
00:00:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's kind of a running game.
00:00:54
Speaker
And if Marty was here, Marty's down with the Rona, so he won't be here today. But if Marty was here, he'd be like, I don't want to talk about this. We've talked about this too many times. in Which is just fair. like it's it's exhausting get this It's an exhausting topic that frankly, yeah, like we will probably be talking about this again in the future at some point. yeah ah But this this one I think is a little Notable ah for a couple of reasons. It's Bungie. And Bungie's owned by Sony. And last week we were talking about, ah you know, unions. And we specifically named Sony as one of the companies whose devs could use one of these. So it does seem pretty timely. And what what was it? What was it? Bungie said two years ago.
00:01:44
Speaker
that the layoffs and restructuring the acquisition. And yeah, two rounds of layoffs now. ah Yes, I was distracted because I guess a really bad storm just ran came through Nebraska and ah one of our big trees in our yard fell. I don't know if you can see like just now. Yeah. Not not in my house, my parents house. Oh, yeah big tree. He went down. I guess we're supposed to get through your storms tonight, too. So I was like, Oh, shit. I thought my dad like forgot to send me the picture because he said this just happened. And then the picture didn't show for like five minutes. And I was like, Did you you forget that then?
00:02:23
Speaker
But yes, we will be discussing the ah really bad layoffs at Bungie. Almost almost 40 percent of that studio has pretty much been let go or move within the last year and a half.
Media Narratives on 'Dead Games'
00:02:37
Speaker
And then we'll be talking about. Well, that's our main topic tonight, but we'll also be talking about the power old community manager who has been in the news a few times for ah their opinions. But this time it's one that's a good one and ah about dead game fixation is ruining the games industry. Which ah I agree with. I think that fixation on a dead game is real dumb and we need to stop it. It's in line with ah one of Frost's recent videos, actually, in terms of like the the player count numbers thing. So, yeah.
00:03:09
Speaker
And then, of course, a game that really is a dead game, Suicide Squad. It came out with Season 2, and it's still not doing well, and I'm very curious of what what's going on with the rocks to do over there, Warner Bros. And lastly, another dead thing, I guess, is the Xbox 360 store is officially done and gone. Yeah, that closed this earlier this week. Which I know people are slightly upset about, but I haven't. I don't even own a 360 anymore, so I don't know who's using the store. So yeah, this yeah this is, but we we'll we'll get to it. Do we want to start there or?
00:03:43
Speaker
I think we can. But yes, ah is Drago's asking, whereas Marty Marty is out sick this week with Covid. We a bunch of other people are busy at second wind today. So it's just Casey and I today. So we're going to keep this one relatively short or we'll see. And I will get into a brawl and, you know, argue for two hours about stuff. But I would definitely like car vintage cars. It get out of here. You you and your stock and fuck off. Uh, let's talk about this power world community manager story first. So, uh, cause I think, I think that kind of leads us into the larger discussion about, uh, live service and just what the fuck does success even mean in the games industry at this point? Because that's a conversation I feel like we've had a couple of times, but I mean,
00:04:26
Speaker
I don't know, you look at, uh, Disney two and their most recent expansion and the super good high praise behind it. It sold really well. And what's the reward for it layoff. So right powers community manager this from PC gamer power world's community manager says our dead game fixation is ruining gaming. I don't think it really serves anyone to push gamers to play the same game day in and and day out. So one of the, like the. Media's like fixation on dead games kind of is like the kind of the clickbait story of this generation, I would say, and it kind of ties in with life service games a lot where basically games like Power World or Helldivers or The Rising or whatever it is come out. Just kind of any new thing, really.
00:05:13
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Just
Pressure on Game Developers
00:05:14
Speaker
really get when they come out ah get major player count numbers cuz everybody's like this is the type new thing. And then after a week or two like i don't know sixty seventy percent of the drop of people drop off and go move on to the next game cuz we're getting new games all the time. And the media and social media and all that kind of take that and say, Oh, this game lost 80 percent of its players over the last two weeks or two months or whatever time frame has been. And it's basically the power community manager saying like, Yeah, that's normal. Like people play a game for a couple of weeks and then move on. I mean, look how many games are released every year and every week at this point.
00:05:48
Speaker
Yeah, like that's that's a a normal trait of the kind of video game ebb and flow. ah The fact that most games, well, I want to say like ill oh back in my day, right? Most games weren't like so multiplayer focused. They were, they strictly had either single player or local multiplayer, like priorities. And then like online multiplayer was kind of a more new burgeoning thing. Um,
00:06:20
Speaker
So yeah, like people just played games differently. Like that has changed today. Whereas the biggest games kind of consistently across the board are big live service multiplayer games. And so I want to say like a great majority of probably the video game playing populace are probably made up of those folks who just play those big live service games. So like we hear kind of specialize Exactly. Like we hear specialize in video games of all types. So like, we, we kind of can see both sides of this, but most true to life gamers, like I noticed some folks like to try to divide themselves one way or another way. But like most people who play video games, probably only see it through that lens. And so they don't really have the frame of reference for walking away
00:07:08
Speaker
yeah video game for a time. And that's new. and That's a new thing. So I want to say it's possible that some of these because you're right, the the media, as well as like folks on social media are super guilty of these sort of baby headlines that kind of sell doom and gloom when they just watch a player count drop after a couple of weeks ah following release. But maybe they just don't know. like i'm I'm wondering if it's the case where like they do think that that's a problem like legitimately and that if they're not you know signaling something that they don't actually believe in. They might just have a fully different perspective, which is kind of sad because I like i don't think i don't think the the landscape of gaming has changed so much
00:07:49
Speaker
that that still holds water, like maybe for a live service game. Yes. But like they were doing, like we saw headlines like this for Elden ring and that's, that's ridiculous. Yeah. Well, a lot of this started because like, Uh, Skyrim just never dropped its player count as a single player game. There were hundreds of thousands. There's like a hundred thousand people playing that forever. And I remember stories starting to come out about like, man, and when when are people just going to stop playing Skyrim? And it's like, well, it's a forever game because it's got the modding community behind it. There's always something new to know. A huge part of it. Uh, but at the, the stories and all that are, you're kind of whatever to me. What, what's.
00:08:30
Speaker
I think getting into a lot of developers heads is like that they have to keep working on their games. And this is a conversation I had with Yahtzee too, where he's like, he even feels the pull to keep updating Starstruck Megabond now. And it feels like it's not just multiplayer game stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Like how many, but I can't, it feels like most single player games have a roadmap that they've launched with now too. And it's weird. Like I'm like, great. Like you want to keep supporting the game, but like, you know how many people are actually going to play out those all those updates that you're doing at some point? like that That would be the the dream, but like yeah there's like there's way too many options.
00:09:07
Speaker
there there's There's not as enough bandwidth for people to stick with something that long. And the ones who get away with it are breaking the mold in that way and like ah kind of spoiling pull it for everybody else almost. Yeah, uh, and Cody in chat asked, I mean, kind of asked a good question, like where I don't think through it. It almost doesn't feel like there is a line anymore. It's like, where's the line between DLC and an update and a DLC to me these days is basically a major expansion, like shadow of the earth tree.
Game Life Cycles and Financial Outcomes
00:09:40
Speaker
And like, yeah, updates, updates, free updates are new content, which used to be expansions. So it's like, ah you know, this, and it it just kind of ties into the, the layoffs with Destiny's story, Bungie's story is like, these games are expected to be worked on until you're done. Like, when are you done? When the money dries up and then the layoffs happen, right? Like, I just. you know, power world. Yeah. The stories about power world like dropping player count. It it was like if there's a finite amount of content at game, you do this. The game's not even finished. Yeah, it's not done. like It's not even finished. So yeah, it's like, you know, a lot of those stories are like, well, no shit. The numbers dropped. It's like people got through the finite content moved on. ah And like, I don't know, like just the way the it's one of the one of the most like critical things I've been on the media, especially games, media, like writing these stories. It's just like,
00:10:34
Speaker
This is normal. And that's kind of what this community manager is saying. I mean, you know, we've explained that when we started this conversation, we're like player drop off is normal and not every game needs to be your forever a game. And like so many developers are trying to make those get your their game, the forever game, whether it's adding a new game plus or roblox mechanics or whatever they want to keep you there. But yeah, I'm not sure unless you're a life service game like. And driving whales to microtransactions like You don't need to. And and the thing is, because a lot a lot of big companies are still chasing that goalpost.
00:11:14
Speaker
ah like We've seen Sony announce 11. They were so gung-ho, they're like, hey, one of these is going to hit. right And like since then, they've canceled a bunch. And the the one that seems like it's going to see the light of day kind of is already feeling a little dead on arrival based on like how they've you know planned to release it, just regardless of its quality. like I've not gotten the chance to check it out, but I've heard good things about its quality, but it just seems the audience isn't there because they have other options. like It's too similar to other stuff that's out there. so
00:11:44
Speaker
like where i'm like ah That's why I'm really sad that like New World Interactive basically essentially got shuttered. They're the developers of the Insurgency series. right so They were independent until the they got bought up by Embracer. And when they were at know how they had went you know, like an average daily player count of like five to eight thousand people and When I went and shot that documentary, you know, I kind of asked about that Like is that a good player count and like they're like, yeah, like that means five five to eight thousand people are always playing our game That's a lot of people ah so they can fill lobbies and you know people are continuing to play it and
00:12:18
Speaker
spending a little bit of money. And then as soon as they went to embrace there, that wasn't enough. And then now they're gone. Right. And it's like, yeah, you know, the only company, the only companies that care about keeping those massive player counts are one. If you're running a live service game and you need to keep the microtransactions flowing to keep that game online. And how many of those have we seen close rocket arena ah knockout city? You know, even even some of those were owned by the bigger companies. ah Spell breaks. Yeah, Insurgency's case. Insurgency's still online. New World isn't really running it. They've apparently like shopped out the development of it to like third-party contractors at this point. i But like New World, as it was, is is gone.
00:12:58
Speaker
so yeah it's just yet It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. of like Keep your game online until you can anymore, and then what do you do after that? You've you know sunk all this money into it. yeah so is because like yeah like and when And when we come and we talk about these sorts of things, like it is a fixation because on some level, there is truth to it. like when Clearly, the the goal for a lot of these companies is to make a live service game, which you know joins the pantheon of the other big ones. And they fall short. like that they A lot of times,
Market Challenges for Multiplayer Games
00:13:36
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they very publicly
00:13:38
Speaker
they very publicly basically say like, this is gonna be a ah ah Call of Duty killer or a Apex, you know, fighter, whatever. And it comes out and then it's easy to mock because I know you didn't do this lofty goal that you achieved. Is the answer then to just not make any more of those games? They're like, all right, well, we have our kings and queens sitting at the top. ah The players have chosen what they wanna play. Everyone else do something else. Like, is that a is that a solution? Because, I think you could have made that argument until before Apex launched and kind of ate a lot of Call of Duty's share. I think a I think we're about to see that question in real time with Concord because it's a premium competitive game. And when's the last time we've got like a non free to play competitive multiplayer shooter?
00:14:27
Speaker
It hasn't happened in a long time. Yeah, it's been. Overwatch 2 is free. I guess Call of Duty multiplayer. But let's let's focus on a new a new franchise trying it. Yeah, that that Foam Stars game came out recently, but that was technically. Yeah. Well, it wasn't free to play. It was like subscription tied, right? Like, yeah, you could only get it on PlayStation Plus. Yeah. So like that, that was close. But yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's, you know, every everybody's kind of look at the at the steam player count numbers for Concord, the beta didn't do the numbers that it should have for sure. And I guess like someone he's about to find out like. the Can can a premium competitive multiplayer FPS is not free to play? Make its money back or even survive in today's market? And they've already said there's there's no ah
00:15:20
Speaker
There's no battle pass or anything. They're just going to release content updates for free. So they're not. They're not looking to make endless money with it. They're looking to sell it to you once and then update and keep people there. I don't know. how So how are you going to pay for that tail end? Like, is there? and I don't know, because I keep it a service up and like paying the debt to keep making can do content like that. Do they expect to keep selling copies? Yeah, I don't know. i like and Word of mouth is going to sell that game or or nothing. And so far, the word of mouth is you know caught up in culture war garbage and you know whatever. So this is going to be a really, really interesting release for that game.
00:16:01
Speaker
so So essentially, if if this game does not do well, that's kind of a a siren call for everyone to just stop. They're like, all right, this doesn't work anymore. Let's not try this. No, maybe not that, because I mean, like. i'm I'm thinking back a little bit because I said one of the last like competitive, non free to play FPS. And, i you know, I guess Greyzone Warfare is kind of in the middle there because there's an extraction p v PV, PV, PV, EVP, PV, EVV, and that sold extremely well. You know, Tarkov sells very well and it's a premium FPS. ah So like, i you know,
00:16:46
Speaker
I don't know, maybe this is the hero shooter genre, maybe it's... something. this yeah yeah i say like i I don't want to I don't envy being in fireworks position with Concord right now because you're like people don't want free to play shooters, but they also don't want to pay for a premium shooter where do you have to pay for the DLC. So like where is the middle ground on all this? No, no, one no, they're happy. That's the thing. because That's the thing. It's always different groups who start yelling at you whenever you do a thing like the people who are happy stay quiet and maybe yeah maybe that's on us. but
00:17:19
Speaker
Maybe speak up a little bit more when you like something so folks know what you like. But I guess just buying it also helps as well.
Insurgency's Steady Player Base
00:17:27
Speaker
Yeah, but I mean, you know, the Concord is, ah according to social media, a dead game already before it's even launched. And I don't you know that that kind of word of mouth can definitely hurt a game. But yeah, that just that that stink on it is definitely going to shoo a bunch of people away like they wouldn't even bother giving it a try because it costs money upfront. But it's also not free to play, so and they're not like looking to make money from continuous microtransactions. So like does it matter if it does 100,000 players? what if What if it is just like Insurgency, and it's a premium game that you pay for once, and it's got concurrent players of 5,000 to 8,000 daily? like Is that successful now? I don't know.
00:18:07
Speaker
Well, yeah. that And yeah. And that goes to the bungee topic is that like literally nothing is a metric for success. Like it doesn't matter what you do. Yes. Yeah, so a similar game and a similar about to Concord kind of is the Suicide Squad game which has got us season two update for the stock not dead game is alive and kicking content they so They said ah they were going to finish out what they promised which was for updates four or season
Suicide Squad's Struggles and Rocksteady's Future
00:18:41
Speaker
four. So which one is this the second one? This is to this is to this is the second. Okay. Yep. I And ah I guess player count on Steam didn't even surpass like 700 people, which no surprise there. I don't think there's I don't think there's anything that's going to draw people back to that Suicide Squad game at this point. And yeah. Great. You're following through on what you promised on what you sold, which is more than you can say for a lot of other companies that have sold. ah so This is currently all through is currently on Game Pass at the moment as well, though, right? Suicide Squad? I don't think so. I think it is. No.
00:19:17
Speaker
Maybe I'm wrong. I think you're wrong. Suicide Squad on Game Pass. Maybe I'm thinking of a Gotham Knights. Gotham Knights was on Game Pass. Yes. Right. OK. Yeah. Also, yeah. So that maybe that would have given it a boost, but like. Just kind of but because of the reception, like why why would Microsoft even bother? su Suicide Squad was given for free to all on Amazon and Twitch Prime on Prime Day, says Eric. Oh. Did that, and that, and it and so via Prime Day, they're giving out the PC code, right? I don't know if they give you, that I'm assuming they gave you Steam code. I don't know what they give you on Amazon Prime for free games. Yeah, I'm wondering, because like because even with a free give out like that, like the Play account was still this.
00:20:04
Speaker
it's It's this time. Epic. It's on Epic Store is what he said. Epic. Okay. Well, I bet you people got those codes for free and still said they don't want it. Epic doesn't have any way to track this sort of thing, do they? Like they don't have a thing that people go look at in terms of like steam, like, uh, I don't play your numbers. Yeah. I've never really, never really looked at it. But but either way the the sentiment, like regardless of how many people actually played it, the the sentiment is just rock bottom for this game. like Folks, we're not happy with it. They're not happy with the content that's coming for it. No excitement around it. No hope that there's something that can be turned around regarding this game either. No, no. I mean, the Joker the Joker update was a joke.
00:20:49
Speaker
and Sorry, I got to be the pun guy since Darren's the smartest pun here. But, ah you know, and maybe i'm I'm like I said, I'm kind of interested that they keep they keep trying to work on it. I bet they have like an absolute skeleton crew at Rock Study, like just getting the bare minimum done didn and do what they said they would do. But it's a game that ah is definitely on ice at this point. yeah I mean, what what happens after this? Like Rocksteady? Oh, Rocksteady said they're going back to their single-player stuff. That's what their plan is. But I don't know what... Would it still be like... Uh-huh. Well, I just don't know what Rocksteady looks like anymore. Like, Rocksteady, the founders have left, a lot of the core people left to go work at that new 100-store studio. And that was prior to Suicide Spatial Release? Suicide Spatial Release, yeah.
00:21:42
Speaker
And so I don't really know who knows what one of us plan is for it. And I'm shocked. I am absolutely shocked that like they haven't had layoffs. and ah But I won't be shocked when they do, because knowing corporate malarkey stuff, my gut tells me, hey, the seasonal updates will bring players back to the game. And if we discount it, and people will pick it up, and it's still not happening. Yeah, and then they they blame the studio for basically following through with the mandates that corporate gave them, and then, you know, they cut staff. yeah like going but Like Jason Schreier did the story on on Suicide Squad, and like this was a game that Rocksteady kind of wanted to make, like the founders did want to make a multiplayer something, but I don't, like, you know, they were basically the kind of handed Suicide Squad from ah Warner Bros. Montreal, and then Warner Bros. Montreal went on to make Gotham Knights, and both games were just bad.
00:22:39
Speaker
So hold on. I didn't I didn't realize that a different studio started on this and then made the same game again. Like they just did it. and I was wondering why those two games were so similar and it's weird that they're both bad. And then and then Hogwarts Legacy is the best selling single player games. I don't know. Maybe it's just a single player. Wonder Bros. Maybe you know what they're doing. and I'm very um' like I'm really concerned for Monolith. That Harry Potter on that Wonder Woman game. Oh, is that still a thing that is still a thing? Yeah. I've heard nothing about that since. Oh, but who's making the the Black Panther Captain America joint? That is a motive. Because that stuff they showed from EA created a new studio for that.
00:23:31
Speaker
Cause the stuff from that has looked really good. Like they, I think it was a a dev talk or a GDC showcase. You're talking about, Oh, Oh, you're talking about the Amy Hennings game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Captain America and black Panther 1941 something. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Cause cliffhanger games is an EA studio also working on a black Panther game. Yeah. Not, not that one. Yeah. We haven't seen that one yet. The double billing one. with like black panther. You always seem from that as like a nice UE5 cutscene. And it was really nice. um' um maybe's really nice yeah It was kind of really nice. i'm I'm very curious to see what else they got cooking on that joint.
00:24:12
Speaker
But, uh, yeah, you know, I hope, I hope rock steady comes out of suicide squad. Like, okay. I just knowing, knowing how the triple A industry is right now, it's like, my gut tells me is that they're trying to save, save face and save numbers by continuing to do those seasonal updates with these, this new content packs, hoping to drive more people to the game. Cause they did try to give it away for free. Yeah. crime As Eric said, and like what. If it's not doing anything, like do we? My the corporate brain is telling me, like, do we need all these people to make the next single player game?
00:24:52
Speaker
Yeah, i yeah, I see it, too. It's it's shitty. It's the shitty like. they're they're really kind of stuck with this ah kind of egg right now that they can only do so much with. yeah um So yeah, i'm i'm still I'm still very curious as to what they do next. like Will they even get an opportunity? like it could be It could be so dire that they shutter everything. like They just go, we're not.
00:25:25
Speaker
And now I don't think, yeah, I don't think they ever, I don't think they'll shutter rock steady, but I mean, if you're going, but if you're, if you staffed up a ton for, to support a life service game and you're not making a life service game, then the trend seems to be downsize.
Bungie's Financial Troubles and Layoffs
00:25:44
Speaker
So, uh, speaking of downsizing, well, that's where we get to the bungee story where, uh, unfortunately they have laid off a lot of people today. Uh, they laid off 220 people today, which is 17% of their workforce. They also laid off a bunch of people, uh, at the end of last year, October of last year. yeah And then more, not only 220 people were laid off like another hundred. 50, some people are moving to SIE Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment Studios, and then another, some amount of people, Jason Scharr is kind of updated the number a couple of times, I think it's 45 now, have them move to a new PlayStation Studio, and they're forming a new studio within PlayStation to work on an action game that they had in Incubation at Bungie.
00:26:33
Speaker
Okay. So I guess something they saw internally had enough promise that they were like, all right, use you guys splinter off and keep developing this to possibly staff it up. If it turns into something else is my guess. but Yes. So and yeah, Bungie, you know, as we kind of mentioned at the start of this thing, Bungie was acquired by Sony about two years ago and it was literally a new story that came out from Sony's leadership. I mean, Bungie's leadership talking about how there weren't going to be layoffs and restructuring at Sony, but then some internal reporting came out a that was essentially saying like, Sony has a right to take over the board of Bungie if they don't hit certain financial goals.
00:27:14
Speaker
ah So under Sony destiny lightfall came out and that performed poorly and then now we're at The most latest up the way this update which So is it is it light or all that possibly triggered this clause or something? Well, I guess that kind of speculation and that's kind of that's kind of what their PR press is kind of saying So I'll just kind of read this out verbatim so new path for Bungie from Bungie CEO Pete Parsons who we'll get into in a little bit because that's what the title refers to and This morning I'm sharing with all of you some of the some of the most difficult changes we've ever had to make as a studio due to rising costs of development and industry shifts as well as enduring economic conditions. How many times have we heard that this past year? It has become clear that we need to make substantial changes to our cost structure and focus development efforts entirely on Destiny and Marathon.
00:28:02
Speaker
That means beginning today, 220 of our roles will be eliminated, representing roughly 17% of our studio's workforce. These actions will affect every level of the company, includ including most of our executive and senior like leader roles. Today is a difficult and painful day, especially if for our departing colleagues, all of which have made important, valuable contributions to Bungie. Our goal is to support them with the utmost care and respect. For everyone who is affected by this job reduction, we will be offering a generous exit pagedgant exit package, including severance, bonus, and health coverage. Uh, so they had, yeah, they had a lot of, uh, projects in development. Uh, you know, destiny has kind of. Kind of been struggling even before the final shape. Uh, you know, he's heard a lot of these stories about, you know, the player counts, dropping revenue, dropping all that. I mean, it's a 10 year old game at this point. Like, obviously, you know, that's going to happen. if People are going to get tired and move on. Uh, and it's just.
00:29:00
Speaker
I don't think the after the final shape they're doing like this weird kind of seasonal model which people I don't think have responded to positively to because it seems like every time Bungie changes something like this like the content well kind of starts to dry up for destiny each time and yeah folks weren't happy with the the rollout prior to that either so Like it seems like they've just struggled to just please their player base, which always ends up being the case when you have a long in the tooth live service thing. Like your most diehard people end up never happy. They still love the game. They play it all the time. It's their forever game, but they're just never happy about it. Yeah. You know, the finals, I really liked the final shape. It was received really well. It sold well, but you know, when you're looking at.
00:29:50
Speaker
This kind of game, I just don't I don't know. And none of the people working on these things can seem to know what success is anymore for a life service game. I just. Where where where is the like, what is your goal? How do you how do you keep players on these games forever that anymore? There's too many of them. I think they're all like, all especially the ones who are as who are as close to the big guys as possible without being one of the big guys themselves. I think they're holding themselves to the that literal standard of the biggest guy. Right. Like, what is Call of Duty doing? And then when you don't hit those numbers, you're like, why aren't you doing what Call of Duty is doing?
00:30:30
Speaker
And that's that's so damaging because like they're there. There could be a place for you somewhere in the middle, but that they never aim for the middle. Yeah, well, like Destiny. Destiny is just so. Ambitious with what they want to do, because it's not like Fortnite, right? Where you can just keep people coming back and spending money by. Oh, we put, you know, Deadpool and Wolverine and his character skins that you can buy now. Yeah, whatever new hot thing. Changing them. Yeah, changing them up a little bit like they're not adding. may What they are, like they're doing like their expansions like Lego Fortnite and the driving, the racing game and all that, but those are whole other studios making those things and putting them into Fortnite where Fortnite itself, you know, is a map update every once in a while and then new characters and a new battle pass. i mean They throw new mechanics in there. i'll i'll I'll be fair. Like every time they have like a new event, it's like, oh, all of a sudden web swings in a game, all of a sudden you can teleport and fly and it's,
00:31:28
Speaker
It's not the level of they need to do cinematics and a whole new story and everything like Destiny. Those are expansions every single time. I think they do. I think they do. Fortnite is stupid big. They do cinematics and story within that world on top of all the crossover times. And that's why it's so difficult to keep up with. Any of these other companies who try to emulate this sort of thing, they're working against like just so much money and manpower. And like you, you got to carve out your own unique space, but like these, these corporate models are built to replicate, not to innovate. So like they see that, that success. You don't hit that. Everybody gets cut. Yeah. Uh, I just,
00:32:21
Speaker
Yeah, I would talk to I was working on a story back at the escape is like talking to a bunch of people at live service games and like a lot of people like told me they'd like working on live service games because it offers stability where you know a game. A new IP may not write, a new IP may not sell, and then the studio yeah is half you know closed down or whatever it is. So that would send the studios and the Immortals of Avium. right It's a much bigger risk to work on a new IP than it is to go work on Call of Duty or Fortnite or Destiny or whatever.
00:32:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's a definite sense of comfort knowing because you because you have like, you know, milestones and reoccurring cycles that you basically just hitting year after year. And if your game is in that pantheon, yeah, that's super ah that's just really solid in terms of just like your, yeah, your job security. Like everything else is just up for grabs. Yeah, so I think the the part that's unique about Bungie's situation is kind of the messaging that came along with it, where almost kind of like what happened with Escapist in Gamers is they're acquired and they're like, hey, everything's gonna be great. you know No layoffs, no restructuring, none of this stuff. You're gonna get what you need to be supported,
Criticism of Corporate Spending Amid Layoffs
00:33:42
Speaker
blah, blah, blah. Also behind the scenes are, hey, these are internal targets they need to hit, or we are going to come in there and yeah just lie rip out your pants from under you.
00:33:50
Speaker
just totally lie yeah One of the the story that's kind of being called out today is the CEO of Bungie, Pete Parsons. ah I don't know a lot of nice things being said about him on social media, which, you know, when things go wrong at your company, you're the person to be targeted. But ah apparently he likes to buy a lot of cars. I'll just read out the stories from Ethan Gacho around Kotaku. Bungie CEO seemingly spent over 2.3 million on classic cars after Sony acquisition. Some are calling on Pete Parsons to resign after another round of devastating layoffs.
00:34:25
Speaker
Sony purchased Bungie, the original studio on Halo, and the maker of Destiny 2 for a whopping $3.6 billion in 2022. Following the sale, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons purchased over 20 classic cars in online auction, costing millions of dollars. According to his account on the website, Bring a Trailer. He continued buying them even after mass layoffs at the studio. Parsons, who has been an executive of Bungie for over two decades, has faced lots of public criticism over the last year for Bungie's struggles around the evolution of Destiny 2 and leadership decisions that led 100 staff to be laid off last October. A tweet from the CEO thanking those cut for their contribution to the company was accused of being tone deaf at the time.
00:35:05
Speaker
ah you know he He couldn't have meant thank you for your contribution in terms of now that we've cut you, you're contributing to our success, right? That's not what he meant. He meant like you made like the contributions while you were still here, right? Yeah, right but also like, man, the optics of buying cars. That's utterly ridiculous. When you can't if you can't afford to keep the people on your staff. And then like some of the people that I follow on Twitter, ah you know, are basically like, yeah, like he goes around and he wants his money to the people that are about to be laid off. And it's like telling them like, oh yeah, like I bought these cars, you should come see them. And it's like, Jesus Christ. like
00:35:49
Speaker
You know, like, yeah, he's he's you know leadership two two decades of ah that senior level leadership stuff. Like he's, he's in a different world now. Like he's super rich and like the world changes for you. I assume at that stage where like you just don't have a frame of reference for like the struggles of all the other people who aren't in that tax bracket. Cause that's insane. Like the, and this is a cultural problem. Like this country in particular is so, like does not give a shit about the poor. And like. I'll i'll admit it, like I'm guilty, this sort of stuff, too, like it's it's at all levels, like if you're at this level, you care about you and everything around you, and then below that, you're still blind, right? Like you walk past a dude who's like on the corner street is like, I got some place to be. I'm not going to handle the change in my pocket because I don't feel like it. Like I do that dickhead shit, too.
00:36:46
Speaker
So like, yeah we heard that high up player yeah, you have to take care of yourself, but also like you can't. It's so every, every CEO statement where these layoffs have happened, it's just read the same. Thank you for your contributions. Thanks for yeah like other bullshit like thanks for putting out this 9.5 rated Destiny expansion. See you later. Like I literally saw did the the final shape story was like the best received Destiny story content I've seen in a long time on social media. People were really into it. Yeah. like I was excited to try and jump in. Who do you think got laid off?
00:37:21
Speaker
the The story, the story team. Lead narrative designer. You just laid off the lead narrative designer that put out the best rated story Destiny has had in their expansions and a along. Like, what is the point? Is Destiny 2 finished now? Like, is that is that a clue that they're like, we're done making story in Destiny? Yeah. No, they're now they're doing those new those new seasons. I forget what they're called. i I'll look it up, but. They were they're continuing to add things after the final shape. and i think but i don't know ah Starting in 2024, episodes will be replacing seasons as our new way of storytelling and content update format for Destiny 2.
00:38:07
Speaker
Each episode will contain new story content rewards, including a new exotic mission, exotic weapon and armor. So, I mean, like, it doesn't sound like we're getting any major expansions going forward for Destiny. And, you know, most of their focus is moving on the marathon. And I think that there were rumors about like Destiny 3, you know, moving everything to a new engine so that they can update it better, all
Destiny 2's Future Plans and Strategy
00:38:28
Speaker
that kind of stuff. But yeah, Destiny 2 is a really, really old game. Like it's about that time if you were going to to keep pushing it. Yeah. uh, Ben G 29 says, Nope, they dropped a new project for next year called frontiers. Yeah. Frontiers, whatever. We don't know what that is yet. Um,
00:38:49
Speaker
but yeah like I just, uh, I read these corporate statements now and I'm like, you know, I got the same. We got the same thing when I got let go from escapist. We're like, but thanks. Thanks for your time. Fuck off. See you later. And it's it's just like you've served your purpose. Yeah, you served your purpose. Now get out of here. And I just the amount of like talent you let go when you do these types of acquisitions. And layoffs, I don't understand. I don't understand.
00:39:21
Speaker
how you're future-proofing your studio by laying off like the people that make your studio these great games and then you bring in new contractors that you pay less and work them up and then they become senior leadership and then then you pay them too much and then they get laid off while the CEO continues to make the fucking bag. Like the the natural like ecosystem of that sort of thing would be that those really big games start to suffer because they don't have you know the talent pool and experience to kind of keep making that quality level of content. And then all those people who were laid off managed to form you know smaller studios that do have the talent and the
00:39:58
Speaker
the the chip on their shoulder to be like, all right, the next thing I make is going to be way better than the last thing. And then they show them up and that's a big deal. And then the quality, you know, comes back and those that talent persists. and But don yeah, people that are saying that the purpose is number go up now later doesn't matter. Well, that's my point, though, is like, they want to be making more money in the long run and you lay off the experienced people that will bring you that money by making a better team. That's how you make the money is like you let them make the good game and they refuse to put any stock in that. The people who rise to these positions so often just don't care about art. They don't know where it comes from. They don't know how it gets made. They just see that
00:40:42
Speaker
you know, these people under me have produced a product, I'm going to sell this product and reap the benefits. And once there's any, any issue with the benefits that I reap, then I gotta, I gotta save that by, you know, cleaning the house. No, which I mean, the, end the, because that's just capital, the real, we keep you keeping the records we just get become real, the real, uh, problem is the shareholders who are like, Oh, your number went down, we're going to start pulling our money and investment. You know, so we need to, we need to flip those charts to make the number look better. And it just all cursed. It never works out in the long run. It just never does. But that but in in that case, that's good, right? Because that's, that's end stage capitalism where everything is in decay. And then you see the you know the skeleton of what you know creativity and actual hard work has built fall away because they've gutted all the insides. But then those insides managed to go somewhere else and continue to flourish.
00:41:41
Speaker
Like my fear is the the vast amount of the layoffs and stuff. Like it's so discouraging at this point. So many people are being laid off in in such numbers that like the the act of coming back to it feels daunting. Like a lot of people just leave. Like they don't want to do it over again at any capacity. I think the silver lining to that, if there is one, ah is that we've like just really seen the private sector of games kind of come back. A lot of, ah you know, unfortunately Humble Humble Games it wasn't a private sector is under Ziff Davis, right? So and it wasn't a it wasn't a publisher that could afford to not continue growing because they got to please the shareholders again. Right. And a lot of these indie publishers now don't have that kind of pressure on them to constantly just grow their money pools and make a rich CEO.
00:42:33
Speaker
um
00:42:36
Speaker
You know, there's kind of a mix of like a lot of the dice guys, right? They left dice and then they went and formed Embark Studios. And now they're working on the finals and yeah the ah that other game or something. Uh, not the Vin Diesel one. No, no, no, not art, not art too. That's something that's on the Studio Well card. Uh, I'm, I'm blanking on it, but they're, they're working on that like PVE extraction shooter. Uh, but of course now they're, you know, a lot of their games are being published by Nexon. So they have shareholders to respond to. And so.
00:43:11
Speaker
It's kind of this continuous cycle of like either studios go independent and are like, OK, we're just making a game, making enough money to make the next game and continuing to do their thing. Then you get those other bigger, these bigger independent AAA studios that ended up working with publishers. Maybe they're getting better deals. I don't know. I can't imagine deal with Nexon is. Is that great? ah Yeah, our creators speak easy. Thank you. Nobody to know. ah And then, yeah, the AAA industry. I just don't know what it's going to look like in 10 more years because so much talent has been lost because of these layoffs.
Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on Studios
00:43:52
Speaker
People don't want to work at those studios anymore. Yeah, it's because like you sit there and watch you sit there and watch shareholders and executives and everybody reap the benefits. You make a really good game and then you get laid off for it.
00:44:03
Speaker
and and they And like this story, they publicly flaunt in your face how little they care about you. like they They don't even fake... like Because that's that's a line I have to use often very much too. It's like, oh, it's it's really hard to cut it. Like, like um like that have pity on us for having to fire all these people. yeah like They don't even pretend to do that when you see them buying all these classic cars and stuff. like They're not going to go work for that guy or that company. Like it's, it's scary. Like people, like the, all the passion that it takes to go and look for a job in the games industry can a hundred percent be outweighed by the fear of just not being able to make a living. Like yeah a lot, a lot of these companies bank on that passion and they exploit people based on that passion. But like yeah you, you can't play in their face like that. Like they're just not going to mess with you. know And like acquisitions too, like hell, I mean, it was only,
00:45:00
Speaker
2018 when Xbox started to make the the big acquisitions and everybody was kind of excited about it. Cause like, Oh man, these in these studios are getting bought up. They're going to get, you know, uh, funding or the need and the funding they need. And then the high five rush happens and then they're like, Oh, it's like now when I see an acquisition, it's like, Oh, You're just going to gut the studio and and do what they want with it. And I'll be honest, folks were telling us from the get go, like, yo, mergers are always bad. Don't, don't, uh, celebrate this or whatever. It's like, but no, but think of the good that could come from it. Like I was a night fool. I'll admit it. Yeah. Like, cause any, any of the possible good has been outweighed by the ending of that story, which is like, they just stopped caring at some point because that that line stops going up and then they, they cut everything like mercilessly. Yeah. Uh,
00:45:46
Speaker
the one that says back in 2018, I said that was bad. i'd like and Live service wasn't as big back then. it like We kind of used to know what success meant for a game where you could sell 5 million copies in this platinum game at that point. and you've You made it kind of thing. Now it's like you have to make endless, endless revenue. It just never ends, even for single player games. where If like people have to keep buying it, people have to buy microtransactions, and it ah has to be a game that we've invested all this money into. We have to make X amount of profit back, whatever that is. but If it's under like you know a big publisher, right?
00:46:26
Speaker
And like we were talking about last week, like your own, your own defense, if you're under that, a publisher seems like unionization. Like yeah there might still be, you know, a world where you're successful making like ah a smaller scoped game if you're independent, but like those big labels, they're going to start to require. if anyone's gonna bother to try and work for them, like they're gonna need some level of protection. And then that's kind of where the unions come in. Like this might be another catalyst. Like this is right on the heels of ah Blizzard and Bethesda doing their big unions. Like i I can't imagine the staff left at Bungie are not getting phone calls right now from all the organizers. Well, it just, it still doesn't solve the problem of working at these companies that just need to generate endless revenue.
00:47:15
Speaker
No, I mean, it doesn't even but it does you you get better protections. Leave it give you some pushback. Like right now they've got nothing yeah like it gives you some leverage at at the very least, which is better than nothing, which is what they have right now. Yeah. So one of the one of the bigger updates to come out of this is, as I said, it's kind of at the start of the show is some of the internal reporting that came out when Sony acquired Bungie was that they had like clauses in there. there If Bungie doesn't hit certain goals, revenue targets, whatever it is, player retention, we don't know, then Sony would have the right to basically take over the company, the board. And so some of the reporting right now is that
00:47:57
Speaker
Pete Parsons, Bungie leadership, whoever it was, basically laid off these people to try to get those numbers up so that they could avoid this takeover. ah you know and i don't We don't know that the internal details are like, who's laid off? Who's Sony laying off people? Is it Bungie laying off people? Bungie's still technically independent under Sony. Yeah. And I think they made statements during the first round that it wasn't Sony's fault, that Bungie's leadership, like they blame themselves even. They were like, Oh, we made decisions and things didn't work out. And so we had to like, it wasn't on Sony. Yep. ah So Jeff Grub is reporting as of seven hours hours ago that Hermann Holst, who's
00:48:35
Speaker
the the head of PlayStation at this point, PlayStation Studios, runs Bungie now. And ah said ah also they attempted to soften the blow by sending many people from Bungie into SIE instead of just cutting them. I thought the number of jobs lost was going to be closer to 350. I'll put it as far as I know, which isn't everything by a long shot. In time, Bungie will lose its autonomy and will become like any other PlayStation worldwide studio under SIE and Hermann Holst. That's pretty upsetting. He says it's a process of starting now. that Yeah, that's upsetting. Yeah. like So it was essentially kind of a coin flip, whether Bungie would stay independent or not based on that clause. And like um I feel like that 220 number keeps getting muddy. like Can we clarify? So the 220 that were let go, these were people who were fully removed from the company, not counting anyone who was absorbed by SIE.
00:49:30
Speaker
Yeah 220 220 is the number let go completely like fully okay so then so that was still a huge number of people who they took away from bungee outside of the 220 that just went to sie and then another like 45 medium number who did it so yeah bungee itself has been absolutely devastated in terms of like uh staff there's 850 left yeah there's still 850 people there um but like numbers numbers aside like it just like I said the lead narrative guy was like oh that just worked on the final shape and yeah I've seen like other people other senior people that were let go and so I you know it's more of like how much talent that they just lose at that studio
00:50:14
Speaker
ah I don't know. Like there's a sad situation where it's unclear what. Yeah. Yeah. Bungie used to be my favorite studio, like working on Halo and everything like that. But I mean, that studio, though, has a long history of issues. Like, uh, Martin O'Donnell and the them have big fight and that's why he's not there anymore. A lot of the leadership there, a lot there's a lot of stories about leadership there that have had issues. Uh, you know, Joseph state and leave in the studio was kind of a quiet thing that happened. So yeah, I don't know. yeah I mean, like, yeah, bun, bungee isn't.
00:50:52
Speaker
the same bungee. Like, yeah, we've, we've known that for a while, but well, this the executive team that seems to cause the problems is the same bungee. I've been there 20 years, but, but like now, now that's changing, right? Like, is it now they have overhead? Like, but sorry, Sony hasn't been, you know, great at this sort of thing either. So like, it's the it's still, it's the same mindset up top. Yeah. i Yeah. Just, I don't know.
00:51:24
Speaker
but What a, what a weird story of Bungie getting acquired by Sony and, and the whole thing is they're going to stay independent and then not do layoffs, not to restructuring. And then BAM. And then they do layoffs and restructuring. And everything they already wouldn't agree then art won't even be independent. Like, yeah, every single, gar every single thing they promise is not happening, which is crazy. So, I mean, the, Does that reflect more poorly on Bungie management who ah accepted this deal or Sony who... like is like is this sort Is this level of control expected from like a big-ass company like Sony? like Is Bungie at fault for taking the money?
00:52:05
Speaker
I think is, yeah, I think it's absolutely bungee of over taking the money. I mean, like you're playing with Sony. Would they would they have survived this long without that, though? Because I'm assuming they would have needed to to get that sort of backing to keep making Destiny two because they were independent by the time to ran around. Like they were. I think they had that deal with Activision for Destiny one and then they were able to get out of it early because I think it was supposed to be like a 10 year deal or something. Yeah, it's a fact check that. and yeah like cause they cause they were Like before Sony bought them, like they were independent. But prior to that, like they had that deal with Activision. ah activision split Activision split with Bungie because Destiny was not meeting financial expectations. oh great So this is a familiar story. yeah ah a c right for yeah they' So it's it's interesting things.
00:53:02
Speaker
I don't know what that deal was, that despite them disappointing Activision based on financial markers, whatever, Activision didn't have the authority to like either take the IP or change anything. Bungie, they were able to just separate and leave Bungie to possibly falter on their own like without Activision having to like foot that bill. but then Sony swooped in and essentially saved them. Like we probably never would have got the amount of destiny we got if Sony hadn't shown up to do this. And so like, it was kind of like a a deal with the devil almost. Yeah. Well, that's what they said. It was like, they can't release forsaken level quality expansions without that backing. Yeah. Yeah. ah Which what lightfall was the last one that they kind of developed on their own before they were bought by Sony. When was that released?
00:53:55
Speaker
That was released in twenty twenty three. Oh, that was only a year ago. What?
00:54:04
Speaker
Well, yeah I don't know. I guess it is a weird one. Like you always think of it as like the big monolith of life service, and it's not. its its It is weird, yeah, it. It's one of those things, because that game has always hit a... Yeah, like it's ah it's a quality bar that they hit. but even Even the shakiness at the start and like the certain expansions that were sort of let downs. it would always come back and be this sort of model of like other games should do it like this. Like Destiny 2 is doing it right in terms of like gameplay and structure or whatever. Like it's always been a mark of quality in that way. And I feel like, yeah, maybe that has blinded a lot of players and maybe even folks in the industry to just how
00:54:49
Speaker
how burdensome it is to maintain something at that stage. Cause like a company was like, Sony was eager to get into bed with destiny siding with a bungee, you know, knowing their history with halo, knowing the, you know, the success with destiny or perceived success with destiny. And then quickly found out like all these mass skeletons in his closet. Yeah. so You know who has it right? It's unfortunate. You know who has really has it right?
Successful Monetization: Genshin Impact vs. Traditional Models
00:55:17
Speaker
No. Genshin, Genshin impact. Shit. you know mechanic Yeah. The thing is you're right because they are, they, they offset like the quality is there, but they offset that huge cost by exploiting the shit out of people. That is.
00:55:36
Speaker
it's It's just evil enough to work. Yeah. Dang. Should put a casino in destiny. Oh, man. Gotcha. Mechanics for like weapon skins and all. God, I'm putting bad ideas out in the world. Sorry, Jet. Like that would work. Like Pete, like people cannot control themselves. Yeah. they they it It preys on that lizard brain part of you that says, like, I need the next shiny thing, especially when they're they're super invested in a game. Destiny has that sort of loop that would have the people who want that stuff. Well, they had the bits. Well, they had more egregious monetization in the game. They removed it because of the player backlash because then they had like all those different currencies that they that they removed.
00:56:23
Speaker
I think like 2020, 2021 maybe. Yeah, I don't remember. I do. I remember when the like that, I can't remember what the currency is called, but like that engagement, legendary shards, the legendary stars was was the the basic thing. Like they had some weird like, uh, strange coins. those were all death start and earlier year and definite million currencies like ah But yeah, one of them was all about premium stuff and that came late like that silver ah Yeah, Tyree, I think it was like silver silver something
00:57:01
Speaker
And I came super late and like I didn't mind it. like it was It was kind of off to the side. like There was a specific NPC and a shout that you would talk to where you could see all that stuff. It had some cool stuff in it. um Breaking down certain things would give you some of the... Bright dust. Yes. Bright dust. That's what it was. crazy Breaking down certain things would give you like little amounts of bright dust. And if you saved up enough, then you could just buy something via the game. But like you could just absolutely ignore it entirely and be perfectly fine. Whereas, built into the model of these gacha games, it's like, hey, you want new characters, new fun mechanics? Roll the dice. And it's like, I'll be wanting these new characters. I don't spend any money, but I feel that pull, and someone who's a lot more loose with their pockets are gonna get gacha. I see it. Have you used any money on Xeno Zone Zero yet? No, not yet, but I am still playing Xeno Zone Zero. Have you been enticed?
00:57:56
Speaker
ah No, because because I know I know how that ends. like what What I might do, because i I do the Google survey thing on my phone, like every now and then will ask me a question like, oh, did you buy something when you went to this store? whatever I'll be like, no, I know. And I didn't get a receipt. I just lie. But then they give you like a little bit, a little bit of in game, like Google Store currency, whatever. Since it's also a mobile game, I can convert that into whatever. So like, once I've saved up enough of that fake money, I can use that to buy stuff in game. So like, that's my workaround. But like, no, I've never like, used my actual credit card in any hoyo verse joint.
00:58:29
Speaker
you know what a You know what money I like to earn? Bing search points. What? I'm not used enough Bing to know that they give you points for you to get. I have like enough points to like make $10. I don't know when I use Bing, but it's like, it's like, it's like being money or is it like 10 US dollars that you can like take to Amazon or something? Yeah. Yeah. I can like turn in my Bing points to get a gift card, like a five dollar gift card to Amazon or or Xbox or whatever. So I guess, oh, yeah, ah you know, it's the kind of currency I want to earn.
00:59:08
Speaker
of Just have you been keeping track of ah these super chats? Because don't I can't see the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. I've got them in the back end. And we'll get to those in a second. I got to pull it up, but God, maybe. Maybe next week when I'm going film filming the animal documentary, we don't have a we won't have a story about layoffs or some other bullshit in the industry, but that's we'll see. Here's hoping. ah My so audio donated five dollars as I know you're holding Marty hostage in the sound booth. This is for the random money fund. The money fund is going towards it's his broken closet door. He's got some he's got some boards back there.
00:59:52
Speaker
And uh, it's my audio again with $2 make this picture. What is that? Oh, oh, is he in a hospital bed? Yeah. I guess because he's sick, he put him in a hospital bed. Yeah. Oh, that picture is from a, when we were at GDC showcasing star shark vagabond. I don't know why they didn't use that. Did they use that one? I mean, the thumbnails they made in me or they're yelling at me. I didn't see that one, that would have been a good one to use. They used a fairly nice profile picture of you, I think. Oh yeah, they used like, I was in like a suit in one of them. Talk about my wife is going to beat me up or beat them up. I don't remember, but I was at a wedding this past weekend and my friends were telling some of the bridesmaids about those thumbnails that were made of me.
01:00:38
Speaker
You gotta you gotta show us these like we're all drunk like looking at these and just laughing our asses off with those Like was going around just calling me a scumbag all night it's like it's me
01:00:54
Speaker
Uh, audio, I donated $2 because that's supposed to be a ransom money auto-correct. What did you say? Oh, random, random money. Uh, Joe Raw doing this two euros is a little Mountain Dew allowance for Nick. This is actually my second one today. And I had it earlier. So I decided more caffeine would put that away. Yeah. That's not how you treat that. Yeah. No. It was good. It's my daughter says you got to give him some slack. He is suffering, too. I bet he had to. Yes. Agle for some of those cars. ah Yeah, he did. There's there's like comments from his wife on that page. They're like, and what's another six to eight that eight grand on a car? I'm like. Doesn't look good. Yeah, no one does not.
01:01:36
Speaker
ah a bit do did they I got to find this one from Dara Dodger. Donate's 1191, which I think took us over the goal. Does look forward. Oh, did we? We're looking forward to the prime trilogy. Good taste. You'll be starting that in a few weeks. Yeah. And then before before we move on to what we've been playing, I think you missed one. Benji, Benji, twenty nine, ten dollars as new news comes as a major gut punch, especially after first layoffs in October twenty twenty three. into the light update and final shape seemed like a brighter turn since then. Thanks for talking about the second one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sucks. I guess like I guess we can re relate because like escapist was in a really good spot when all that went down.
Personal Experiences with Layoffs
01:02:22
Speaker
ah Yeah. You know, just just having that all ripped out from under you is like you don't even get to celebrate the success of what you're doing before. Like some corporate dick bag is like, see you later. Have fun.
01:02:35
Speaker
Uh, and then, yeah, we also got a Kofi don't know from, uh, sinus sinusoid deal with, uh, waves gave support just now used to buying a similar car to the bungee CEO. I don't even know what car he has.
01:02:49
Speaker
Look, I get annoyed. My car's paid off. yeah he had several cars so like Yeah, it's hard to guess what car he has because there are lots of them. Yeah. Yahtzee. Yahtzee and I were talking about that after the stream. They're like, he's like, where do you, where do you even put all those cars? Like, well, he's got enough money to buy all those cars. He's probably got enough money to put them somewhere. Yeah. It's a store. Yeah. He's got a big like probably shed to put them all in.
01:03:13
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. If you were like a dick bag, uh, million, million billionaire, what would be the thing you just buy a lot of? Like, what's your collection, your dick bag collection? My dick bag collection. I don't want to spend that money on dick bags. Uh,
01:03:32
Speaker
ah no, I wouldn't collect anything. I'd want to open a game studio and make games. You would collect game devs. Got it. Yeah. Yeah, I don't collect their skulls.
01:03:47
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. There is nothing in my life that I'm like, I need to spend this much money to collect and just hold on to. Also, because I i was always was saying my car is paid off and I still have to pay property taxes on it. Why the fuck would I own 20 cars to pay property taxes on 20 cars? that because i i don't have to give a shit there's that property tax on a car. We don't do that here. Like we pay a shit ton of property tax in Jersey, but luckily that does not apply to your vehicle. All right, I've talked a lot of a lot of shit on New Jersey, but I'm moving there. I'll see you in a couple of weeks. You don't know, Nick, the the call limit is so much higher over here. I'm trying to get I'm trying to get my car registered and I can't do it because I can't find out where my car taxes went because I moved houses. They didn't send it to me. Missouri government sucks. You're probably right. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of card is in the cave. I'd be doxxing myself. You'd find me. No.
01:04:48
Speaker
I drive a bike. You're welcome. um Unmotorized by his motorcycle. Yeah, I drive. like I drive one of those little tight cars. I use my ah those power wheels. No, not even the power wheels, just the yellow, the red one, the yellow roof, the one, the one I think. Attached to the front of a shopping cart. Yeah, exactly. All right. I guess we'll move on to what we've been up to this week. You see. have you been up to Yeah, I've been uh, I just, I just read the thing and I saw a suicide squad and I was like, why? And then I read the second part of this guy. Yeah. That's why, i that's why when I wrote the thing, I wrote suicide squad game season two, it's laughing. Yeah.
01:05:36
Speaker
that's a lot of shit to but yeah game you're and playing join I did. I did start the Suicide Squad isekai anime. um I've only watched the first two and like a half episodes because I was interrupted when I started watching the third one. um that's ah That's a fun-ass show, in all honesty. um it's It's a Warner Bros. joint, but it's Warner Bros. Japan. And I don't know how long that animation studio has existed because it is... Well, no, okay. it's the The stuff is done by wit.
01:06:07
Speaker
which is ah a well-known animation studio. I can't tell you off the top of my head right now what other big series they have, but WIT is a known entity. But One of Bro's Japan is, I guess, like the producer, the the the ah house that they're a contract network work to WIT from. So you can very much feel that this is a joint Western ah Eastern product because everything has the look, the feel, the sound of like a very high quality anime product. But it's very much making commentary on the genre as if it's not a part of it.
01:06:40
Speaker
like they use the word isekai in the isekai, like they get isekai and like ah one of the characters is Clayface and he's he you know he's an actor or whatever. So he's he's like the TV buff, he knows the tropes and he basically comments on like, oh, this is this is what they call it. I think the kids call it isekai nowadays where like we're in a new world or whatever. So like it has that sense of humor where like it knows it's kind of being this mashup of like the fun concepts. um And like it it's like I'm really intrigued by the story. like There's like good um character dynamics that we've known this for a while. like the like the The James Gunn movies kind of prove the concept of like those characters interacting with each other on screen. um And it's pretty much the same lineup. like You got King Shark, you got um
01:07:29
Speaker
but Clayface wasn't in the movies, but Clayface hangs around in the Harley Quinn show, which is another good animated series. So like they got Clayface, King Shark, Peacemaker, Deadshot, and Harley Quinn. and i ri They meet Rick Flag a little later. um And like they're just fun. like they They all get on each other's nerves, but they're in such a dire situation that you know they have to stick together, they have to make it work. And they're in such a weird fish out of water place that their dynamics with each other clash heavily with just the dynamics of the location they're in and like people having to deal with them now being in their space. ah It's a really, really fun premise. and like The isekai genre is so
01:08:10
Speaker
oversaturated and like they know that, but they still did this playing that. Finding a way to have fun with it. Right. Yeah. They found a way to basically be like, Hey, yes, we know this is another one of these, but we can do it too. The same way they do it over and over and over again. And they all still seem to be pretty good. So I'm having a good time watching it. Um, they, they have, the end credits has a, uh, a sexy Amanda Waller dance sequence. And it is is that i funny so and twitter and as what is funny as shit. Like they know exactly what they're doing. Like they're poking fun at just anime in general. And like, I love it. Hmm. And what's that on? Uh, I'm watched. It's weirdly enough. It's on Hulu, but Hulu through Disney plus.
01:08:55
Speaker
Right. If you go to if you go straight to Hulu, you're not going to find it, but you have to go to Disney Plus's Hulu thing. Yeah. There's a lot of weird like that's how i done that's how I started to watch a Shogun. Yeah. DC is being weird because that new Batman shows on Amazon Prime. Yeah. Like they've completely given up all their stuff. Yeah. Like they don't give a shit anymore. I guess. Like I've heard ah that some rumblings have gone out that they're planning on maybe demerging Warner bros from discovery now because like they, they have not figured out how to make any of that stuff work. And like, that's going to be a train wreck if that goes through.
01:09:33
Speaker
Because one of those two entities is going to get saddled, I'm assuming, with all of the debt. Discovery. Probably. what's What's even on Discovery anymore? Is that just the... It was like all the, yeah, all the Shark Week stuff, right? All the, like, what are the ancient aliens? YouTubers took over all that. But that's the thing, like, that that stuff is incredibly popular to, like, just everyone else. Like, like we niche-ass gamer people, like, we're the ones who, like, watch all the other stuff that's on Mac. like Discovery has like all the the true crime bullshit. like That's way more popular in the grand scheme of things. Oh, yeah. No, I know. My mom subscribes to Discovery for that shit. yeah There you go. I get real worried because like she's constantly watching how to murder people. I'm like, I'm just not going to piss you off today. It's fine. Yeah, this can't be healthy. I mean, I'm moving her into my house for a little bit, but I'm like, you know, you know, no TV in your room. I don't want to be hearing people getting murdered all night. which is Well, you play Call of Duty, you know, like, yeah, but it's like, Oh, you know what? She got you there. That's a, that's a quality to me that all the time when I was growing up, every shooter game is the same. And I fire back like, will you watch people literally get like just,
01:10:42
Speaker
everything bad possibly in the world happened. and then These street are just records. Yeah. ah Also, you were the Joker for a little bit. I don't know if you saw that. I i did not see that. OK, well, you'll get to see them. Oh, that's horrific. I see. I see you as Harley. right Oh, fuck. That's wild. Oh, I know there's no beard, though. You look like a juggalo right now is what like the same clown posse member. That's what it looked like every Monday.
01:11:13
Speaker
The outside of a Suicide Squad, um you guys might have seen earlier in the week, I checked out Spark the Electric Jester, which is, oh, no, gary this is frightening. This is like Heath Ledger Joker.
01:11:29
Speaker
That's bad. yeah real white teeth yes ah But yeah, spark electric gesture. It's, it's basically a Sonic fan game by someone who decided to make Sonic but better. And someone in this work described it as Sonic. and ah Meets Kirby and like that's a perfect description Because my beef with Sonic has always been and I wrote a whole thing back on the escapist about ah my beef sonic Sonic meets Kirby Sonic's sucking a lot of things off. No. Oh my god
01:12:05
Speaker
and real fast you just that what they're really
01:12:10
Speaker
and You're, you're right in league with all the Sonic furries on the internet. Cause you know that exactly what you're saying just exists out there on the internet. Uh, Siri, I didn't say that. I'm sorry. shit He's answering me. No, I didn't.
Game Design Critiques: Sonic and Others
01:12:27
Speaker
Have fun with those search returns. But, um, but no, yeah, it's. Like, right my beef with Sonic is that it's it's whole ethos is that you're supposed to go fast. It's a platformer that prides itself on his speed. Boost processing, they called it back in the day, right?
01:12:43
Speaker
but the level design stops you dead in your tracks so often. like Sonic is designed to actually take a lot of time because you need to memorize the level layout, and that's the only way you're able to achieve like that flow of just zooming through the whole level because you know everything before it's there. and like It's a miserable experience when you just want to go fast. Spark the electric jester fixes that because one, Spark is an entirely different thing. His ethos is not go fast, right? So like, you can just throw that out of the window. But
01:13:16
Speaker
Instead of all of these stopgaps, it gives you like Kirby-esque power-ups where like you just completely change what kind of character you are. Like you either have different attacks, different movement abilities based on what power-ups you have, and you can juggle between two different ones, and they just change how do you interact with the level. So you're not so preoccupied with zooming through everything. You actually end up doing regular platforming or some regular combat encounters where like you're shooting at stuff like it's a Mega Man game or you're slashing at something like it's, um and a Ninja Gaiden on SNES or something. And like it's like the the levels aren't great. like They're still pretty confusing in in that Sonic style. But you just have more options to deal with that all, as opposed to just meandering Sonic when he stops Flow and then like running immediately into something, stopping you dead when you're going fast. There's only two two levels to old school Sonic. And this just does everything better by opening up what you can do with the character.
01:14:16
Speaker
I have a really good time in the short two hours. No, no, no. I'm going to go through the whole trilogy eventually. OK. So, yeah, at two weeks time when it's my go again, I'll try the second one and then two weeks after that, I'll try the third one. So I'll probably report back on how how those stack up. Running almost reminds me of like Pizza Tower. and Then you add in all the other mechanics. Yeah, it's not bad. It's a good time. And then also, you guys might have seen earlier in the week, I played a Earth Defense 4-6 with Jesse, Jess, and Will, so we had a full squad. um That game is dumb fun. like It is just as janky as you would want it to be, because that's kind of what those games go for. It's a very B-movie vibe. ah It's a co-op shooter. You fight like big bugs and like weird aliens. like There's like like these giant frogs that break up into pieces when you kill them. like
01:15:05
Speaker
like The dialogue is bad, but like in in the in like a funny way. like they They give you like a description and at the start that says, all this stuff happened, and then soon after, three years later. like that Those are the words they write. It's like, what? That doesn't fucking make any any sense. so Soon after three years later, like what are you talking about? But like it's it's silly it's just silly enough to pull you in, to like be curious about what this story is. like At the end of our stream, we were in a very big battle. like they They throw a ton of stuff on the screen because like yeah they don't push your graphics to the the extreme. like Everything is very jank on purpose. yeah But like a massive like halo ring appeared in the sky and then sucked everything that was left on the battlefield up into the sky. And we're just standing there like, what the F was that?
01:15:52
Speaker
Like, what is what is happening in this story? um And honestly, ah if if Marty's still out, we're probably just going to regroup and and keep going through it tomorrow. So look forward to that if you guys are were interested or missed the last one. ah But it was a good time. Like, I really, really like Earth Defense Force 6. um if I don't know how many how how much um how many legs it would have. I'd say it does not make any sense. I don't know how much mileage you get out of it if you're playing it by yourself. no You don't get any mileage out of those games playing it by yourself. like phrase might much happens yeah ah you You need your friends and the silly banter to sell that. but like
01:16:35
Speaker
It's not the case where because your friends are there, the game is fun. This game definitely enhances the fact that you are playing it with people you like. So it's a really good mashup of getting your friends together and playing something fun. I had a great time with that. I mean, the last time I played an Earth Defense Force game was, I think, the one on the 360, maybe Earth Defense Force 3 or something. Maybe that's what it was. Yeah, I think 4 was the last one before this one I messed with. Yeah. Tower Dodger Esquire remember for eight months in the green game says the game only works when you four are playing it. That's probably true because I just find a way to blow up our entire team every time. Are there ragdolls? The player characters have ragdolls? Yes, absolutely. All right, we'll see you tomorrow.
01:17:24
Speaker
it was It was such stupid fun. ah Well, as far as what I've been watching and playing, probably gonna piss off a chat with this one.
Entertainment Recommendations
01:17:32
Speaker
But I have continued watching The Wheel of Time season two on Amazon. ah And I'm actually having a really good time with it. I actually really enjoy it. I've never read the books, so I don't give a shit what it changed. I'm sorry to say. I don't know. It's but the writing has been a lot more interesting this season. The actors are better. And I just. Yeah, they've grown into their their roles a little little more. Yeah, they've grown into their roles and a lot a lot darker tone to the season, which, you know, as you all know, I'm a fan of the darker fantasy stuff.
01:18:08
Speaker
Yeah, it's just like it's a show that like I started season two a while back and like season or episode one and two didn't really catch me. And then I you know finally just said, all right, sit down and watch this now. And if I finally ah yeah finally like clicked for me and I've been minging it through, I'm going to finish up the season finale tonight. And then i'm I'm looking forward to that. They already confirmed season three. So at least it's a show that I can watch. OK, so I guess people are are tuning in. Yeah, I think the general audience likes it. Like the heart, you know, the hardcore audience is never into these adaptations unless they're perfect. Yeah, because they are read the books. Yeah, that's true. i read I'm like, Marty, I don't read this readings. I also do not read. Yeah, I put it on TV.
01:18:51
Speaker
John when we says no House of the Dragon, I've been keeping up with House of the Dragon. I'm waiting for that season finale this Sunday. Lots of lots of good TV to watch right now. wait We'll talk about finale's Sunday already. Yeah. Yeah. How many episodes were there? There's only eight episodes a season. That that went fast. Yeah, I know. Right. It's like, yeah, this this is rapid. The boys wrapped up ah two weeks ago. House of the Dragons wrapping up this week. And then in like three weeks, the the next season or the ring starts. Hmm. So I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to rewatch the rings of power and bench through it and see if I like it more. really't weren okay You weren't a big fan of it. The first watch through, right? Yeah, it it was kind of like one of those. I was like, it's OK. It's not it's not bad. It's not terrible. It's not great. It's like just fun, I guess. There's definitely a.
01:19:47
Speaker
And Marano says wheel of time is not dark. What are you not watching? Have you watched season two? Women's being tortured half the season. It's bad and dark. but is it Is it dark torture? Maybe a light torture. No, it's dark. Brutal. season The season two is brutal. Well, in season one, wasn't it that that big pregnant lady fight? That was right at the start. Yeah, that was pretty, pretty visceral. Yeah, but she birthed the dragon boy. I don't remember that part. the de That's going to save the world. yeah It's school interest season season one.
01:20:26
Speaker
Well, I mean, the entire plot is around that. You like literally know that within the first episode. But then they they try to play like you don't know that throughout the whole show and then come back around and say like, well, yeah, you were right. Yeah, but you don't know which boy is the baby. So get over it. Then G20 says, Nick, does that sound familiar? Halo? Hey, listen, ah they're trying to they're trying to do season three. I don't know. i I'm not going to shed a tear if it's gone. I don't really care at this point. I just. whatever Whatever reboot the damn thing.
01:20:58
Speaker
ah
01:21:01
Speaker
That's the thing. He's got to get rebooted everywhere, like everywhere. Halo is the product to reboot it. Yeah. They said they they just like said the other day they're working on the next game, whatever it is. I don't know. Yeah. Who knows what that is? hey You know, when Halo. review on the next game. Unless I see a gameplay and not this bullshit. Look at this cool world we made in this engine. We made trailer. I'm not believing shit. You're not catching me. You're not hurting me again. Halo. I've got like three different times in a row now and I'm tired of it. The other game I played much brighter in ah attitude and tone and all that good stuff is I've actually played two games that are kind of like that. Thank goodness you're here.
01:21:44
Speaker
Which maybe I call supper and panic. It's like a very, very simple game. It's got like, it's really, it's almost really not even a game. It's, it's like a, I guess so you want to call it a walking simulator, but it's a a little bit of platforming and some little.
01:22:05
Speaker
animations that you move through. But the the the game is like just the comedy of it. It's it's sort of right. It's just full of jokes. It's just yeah, full of jokes throughout the entire thing. And I just had a smile on my face the entire time I play this game is it's only a few hours, but it's funny as fuck. Like I was I was it I don't crack like there's not very many games that I consider very funny. This game I consider very funny and I was constantly cracking up at it. ah Yeah, it looks sound looks like a fun time. Yeah, the sound design for it is incredible. It's weird.
01:22:41
Speaker
And that's all I can really say about it. But yeah, also, yeah, it's in a stream today, not knowing that the embargo is for livestream is tomorrow. So, you know, we had to stop about 30 minutes into it. But the devs didn't see that. I don't know if any of those are in chat. Sorry. Sorry. you're gonna We apologize. A bunch of people said they're going to buy the game anyway. So, you know, you're welcome. Our mistake. Margot busting for your your goodwill sales. so Don't china but try to twist the lines if we did a good thing, like apologize. But ah yeah, if if this game interests you at all, go play it because it is just it's just a good time. Yeah, I think I think i will. this This might be a good one for the the wedding streams down the road. Oh, absolutely. it's Yeah, it's super, super funny. ah And then the other game,
01:23:29
Speaker
that I had I had Eric get a trailer ready for this one. This is kind of a game that you need to hear and see to understand what it is. So I'm just going to let them play this trailer and then I'm going to shut up for a second. ah Let me let me try to hear it. Then if we're going to do that. And you've been you've been playing this. I bought it today. better not be thinking what i think you're
01:23:56
Speaker
my You smell like fissed. What do you think you're doing? Hey, I'm not just some point!
01:24:27
Speaker
Igor is coming up again. Quick, fruits of the cow.
01:24:36
Speaker
Joe, I just told you what that is. Joe, why are you swinging me? I was meant for greater things.
01:25:00
Speaker
orlin's spear So, yeah, that's called Walt of the Wizard. And. ah It's a. yeah You're like mixing potions, like if you like, if you like VR games, we just get to interact with everything. This is that kind of game. And also, like, I think the the skull talking to you is like this new update. And I kept seeing people like playing it on TikTok and Instagram. Maybe we should do more of that stuff, Casey, but ah It's it's like super, super reactive to like everything you do. and so like sos like so the The game is really just testing what this this thing will react to. but there's there's like a I think there's a story in there and there's like all kinds of mixing potions and stuff like that. and Like I said, I just started it today, so I'm still figuring it out, like what's going on, but it's like a little adventure kind of game.
01:25:50
Speaker
but like there's and yeah I was just testing it earlier and I threw him, I threw the skull and he landed on the edge of the window and he just kind of he staed he stayed there and he's like, I i shouldn't be here. I'm too close to the window. This this is bad. And then I i took the crossbow and shot him off and he reacted to all of it. It was really weird. It's really funny though. do Do we like, cause a lot, a lot of games that do this sort of thing, like they'll, they'll champion like their pages or lines of dialogue. Like, do we have like some sort of estimate as to how much writing they've done for this thing? I don't, I don't know, but like the, the TikToks and Instagrams I've saw of it, like there's, he has a lot of different reactions that like. the That's not, that's not like a fun time, especially as for, as a VR toy. Yeah. That's perfect. where you ever you are Yeah. Yeah. down tree
01:26:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's on. People are asking what it's on. It's on Steam. You can also get it on Oculus Quest. And it's it's a mixed reality game, too. So like it things, different things happen. Like you move throughout the world. Yeah, it's on PS VR, too. So ah yeah, if that if that trailer interested you, and it's like only 20 bucks. Like, go check it out. It's it's pretty fucking funny. OK, yeah, that sounds fun. And then the ah yeah the last last thing I have been playing yet again, because it seems to happen any time I get on a plane, I am addicted to Bellatro again. ah Every time I open that game, it just you start playing that game and it's like, I got to keep coming back to it. I haven't gotten the. The roguelike deck builder bug yet.
01:27:33
Speaker
Yeah, like I try to slay the spider a little while ago because I know that that was like the the big one and like that did nothing for me. I was like, Oh, but um you said, yeah, you said Wildfrost was ah another one. I want to try that one for us. I also wanted to try monster train because I had a friend who was like super addicted to that and he was selling me on that. So like I'll try those before like I really swear them off. But like I don't want to jump into Bellatro because like I don't like cards or roguelikes or deck builders right now. So i want I want to start somewhere else. No, then you will like it. Then I will like it. Yes. It takes all those boring things. It makes it stupid, addicting and fun. I don't know. It'll be on your phone and then you can play it on the toilet and you'll never leave. They're getting ready to make a mobile one. Yeah.
01:28:20
Speaker
I don't know. I'm skeptical. It's going to make a fuck ton. um That game is going to make a fuck ton. i I'm not sure. Well, yeah, folks are going to love Bellattro. Yeah, they're going to make Fortnite look like baby food. All right. I don't i don't know about that.
01:28:34
Speaker
and is They will be because I'll buy it like a billion times. But, you know, honestly, and Marvel Snap probably makes Fortnite look like baby food because, you know, fifty five dollars for gold in that game to get fake digital cards. You scam. They're not all paying fifty five dollars for for gold. It's like a handful of people on the store after two years means people are buying them and they're still there like not all the people, just some of the people, just all the dumb people. They don't got to be dumb. They could just be very rich.
01:29:10
Speaker
Most rich people are dumb. We've learned this through Elon Musk. I don't know. I don't want to the more more money you have, the dumber you might be. I don't want to make a generalized statement like that. And I especially don't want to say that Elon Musk has taught us anything about people. ah But I don't think that wrong the people. I don't think that man does anything like other people do.
01:29:37
Speaker
Listen, I saw my first cyber truck on the road in Salt Lake City and I just left. it just but yeah i'm um' I'm starting to see them now. yeah they're They're out there in the wild. That thing is so dumb looking. Also, I want to do like an illegal U-turn. That thing doesn't even look like it should turn. ah yeah then Every turn it makes is illegal. Thanks for reminding us of that, Eric. ah but yeah If you want to play a deck building in Rogue Lake, start with Wild Thrust. I think you'll love that. not really I will. yeah I will try that. Well, good. I'm glad. I'm glad it only took almost a year for you to finally try it after it screamed at all. I mean, I haven't yet. I'm still just saying that I'm going to try it. All of you during the adventure is nice. You to go try that game and y'all does a yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll get to it. I was busy playing smash. Excuse me. You're always busy playing smash. I can fucking hear that. Clicking that controller from here.
01:30:28
Speaker
And I will never not be busy playing special. It's like in my dreams, I hear that controller clicking. Good. Even while you sleep, I'm getting good.
01:30:38
Speaker
OK. Well, seven thirty on the dot. 733, but whatever. I think we can wrap it up there. Marty's not here. I don't know what Marty's been playing. I'll assume it's some game from a long time ago that he's already played five different times. So I think he's playing Pokemon snap the other day. Jesus. Is he playing it on the plane? Is that why you got COVID? Like trying to catch things up there. I don't know how those are related, but capture sure, why not? We'll make them related. All right. and So from that, tomorrow is Thursday, which means you're getting a new semi-ramble medic. And then it sounds like the crew will be back to possibly do more of the defense force. like Having seen Marty in meetings today, I don't think he will be ready tomorrow. So just on wishing Marty well. Yeah. And then Friday.
01:31:31
Speaker
Uh, it'll be new dev heads. We have a special guest coming on for that again. Nice. Should be a fun topic. Indie developer this time. Uh, and then Saturday we may or may not do a game night for a mecha break since the open beta or the. who's open something beta will start this weekend. ah It's a multiplayer mech action game. It looks really cool. We'll see if it yeah actually is. It was a game that I saw lots of advertising for when I was in San Francisco for GDC, and I had no idea they had that much money to spend. So yeah. andmit Can you stop? That's my elbow. Thank you.
01:32:06
Speaker
Uh, then, uh, yeah, next week, uh, next week's going to be kind of a weird week. Cause, uh, I will be gone. Jack will be gone. Yahtzee will be gone. So no player emblematic next week. Uh, we also be out on vacation and then, uh, Jesse Schwab, Jack Packard, and I will be out filming the animal world documentary. Yeah. Oh, apparently one cent away from the goal. yes Seriously? What is this? That's funny. yeah Who did this?
01:32:39
Speaker
okay see that's something else but um Yeah, all all the my usual stuff on the channel, ah you should be able to check out. Like Nick mentioned, ah probably no DMC because Marty is still unwell, but we'll probably more than likely have ah EDF six again. ah So look forward to that same time as DMC eight p.m. ah seven p.m. Central. um
01:33:02
Speaker
Friday, wedding streams are back. We did hit our 60% goal, which means you guys are getting a karaoke stream in the near future because my son has not ah left the state yet. So probably not this Friday, because I need to get some stuff to make that work. um And ah there's gonna be a sheet that goes around probably to like the Discord, probably to my Twitter for you to throw in song suggestions. So you can like give us stuff to to pull up and sing when we do the karaoke stuff. So my guess is not this Friday, but the following Friday will be the big karaoke stream. ah But we're still going. We're still playing Stardew Valley. And they're my son and fiance having a great time ah making playing that game and like boosting their farm and like raising animals and stuff. They're actually they're absolutely addicted. um And I'll probably have like a review next week for the 4K Xbox experience because I've been using my feet I've had my fiance be a guinea pig where she's playing it on the upstairs TV ah using the 4K.
01:33:58
Speaker
Um, the fires, the fire stick, the 4k fire stick, whatever they call it. Um, so yeah, outside of that following Twitter, same gears nine, um, and get all the deets also. Yeah. The, the shorts series that we're doing where I'm curating, uh, kind of just giving you shout outs to just cool indie games, uh, that are either out or soon to be out. Uh, check out the, um, I was going to say escapist, the second wind TikTok check out the second wind Instagram or YouTube shorts for second wind. And you should see those, those pop it up. Good stuff. All right. You know, on that note, I'm going to go finish up wheel of time season two, just to make you all angry. And then I will see. you It'll be probably Casey, maybe Casey and Marty next week and some other person. That's not me.
01:34:51
Speaker
Hmm. So we'll see that, you know. Oh, did you read this last super chat? Oh, I donated two dollars to get us over that goal. I was kind of waiting for somebody to donate a penny. I don't know if you can do that. Yeah, they're not able to. You can pay Pellas a penny. Please don't. I don't want to that email. And yes, of course, go check out our page around if you aren't already. I don't know. Yeah. Oh yeah. Be on the lookout for a new merch next week. Those plushies next week. Finally. And they are. Yes. See you all. That's going to be good. That's good stuff. Bye guys. i