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Episode 4
7 Plays3 months ago
Bioware's Future, Playstation Showcase Predictions, Game Pass in 2025, Phantom Blade Zero
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Transcript
Introductions and Discussion Topics
00:00:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
Hey, everyone. It's the Jerk game store at Gamesters for episode four. It's you know me, Shamir. I'm here with my buddy, Arjun, and you know to talk about some games, anime, movies, you know getting back to it. So I know, Arjun, you got a lot of stuff on your mind that you wanted to talk about. So ah know I'll turn it over to you and you know say you know what's been catching your attention when it comes to the world of media.
Sony State of Play Speculations
00:00:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, yeah, for sure. First of all, hey, everyone has spent some time I think there's a lot going on in February. I can't believe we're already ah in the second month of the year, but I definitely want to start off with Sony. You know, there's been some rumors potentially about a state of play this upcoming week. And if that's the case, I'll be interested to know what's going to be announced. Is it going to be a big state of play? Is it going to be something to set us off for only the first you know four to six months of the year? Or will they show off something new potentially coming down the line? There's been some rumors from Tom Henderson.
00:00:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
talking about potentially an unannounced studio and announcing their game for their first time. So I'll be curious to to see what happens there. But I'm curious curious to know from your end, what do you like to see if there's a potential state of play this week? Yeah, yeah. So I actually ironically enough, even before you brought this up to me, you know, I was thinking about this during the shower. I don't know if this is just me, but a lot of times I just like really start thinking about video games and video main news. No, I'm just taking a hot shower. No, didy but I was thinking about it. I was like, you know, like for so long, there's been so much negative press, you know, towards Microsoft. And, you know, for one way or and reason or another, we could talk about how that conversation is changing a little bit. And ironically, I think it is kind of their multi platform strategy is causing them to get a lot less hate from people outside of the Xbox cam. But now I'm seeing a lot more like kind of anger and like, you know, people like
00:01:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
not feeling the same way about PlayStation, which is kind of weird for me because I feel like, you know, PlayStation has been the golden egg for so long, right? That like, now I'm like, okay, there's like corners of the internet that are starting to express some dissatisfaction, right? And so I say that because originally going into a state of play in the beginning of the year, I would expect Sony to just talk about, you know, things that are going to be immediately released, right? Like in the next six months, because I feel like that's normally their strategy.
00:02:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
They really focus on just a handful of games you're going to get right away that are really high quality.
Game Development and Platform Challenges
00:02:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I'm almost thinking back to now the state of play they had kind of early in the generation, if you remember the one with.
00:02:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
I don't remember what year it was, but then they showed off Knights of the Old Republic, right? Their remake. And they kind of like hinted at stuff that was coming further down the line. So what I'm really curious about is what Sony, are they going to kind of do their usual strategy when they only focus on the next few months, right? Which to me would be indicative of a very confident Sony, or are you going to be see a Sony that is going to focus more as well on the future? And I think that's a little more telling,
00:02:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
And it might actually be showing that Sony is starting to kind of take some of this criticism you know to heart, and maybe they're even trying to push back a little bit and say, hey, like we're still Sony. I know everyone is concerned about these live service games and things getting canceled and this or that, but did you forget who we are? you know And like showing some of the aces up their sleeves a little bit more, because I know they have them. But you know to answer your you know your question, I think what I absolutely am expecting I think Death Stranding 2 is going to be on play because you know I really expected that near the end of last year and it wasn't there and we know it shouldn't be coming out on our own now. right So I do expect them to show that off.
00:03:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
I do expect them to show off Ghost of Yotai. I think those are going to be like the two main focuses. And then after that, I think the big question mark is going to be, are they going to show off Wolverine? Because to me, like some of these other exclusives are probably pretty far down the line, right? Like whatever Sony San Monica doing and this and that. And in terms of like that potential, like who knows game, like I have no idea, you know, I feel like You know, I couldn't even take a random guess of what is this new studio and what could possibly be shown. So, you know, I'm terrible at speculating. But I think for me, what I'm really going to be curious to see is, is Sony going to show off Wolverine? And like, if they show off Wolverine, but it's coming out in six months, OK, that's kind of in line with their strategy. But they they show off Wolverine and it's still no estimate on when it's going to come out. I think that's going to be pretty telling of what Sony's thinking.
00:04:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I mean, you made some really good points. I think this is not going to be a huge state of play. I think it's going to be a mid-sized presentation, maybe 20, 25 minutes long. I don't think we're going to see Wolverine. From what I've heard, I think there were rumors or maybe it was confirmed, but I think the creative director either left or was dropped from the project last year. and Yeah, too i actually I think he went to perfect Yeah, due to some maybe creative differences, hard to say. So I don't know if the game is in trouble at this moment, but with Ted Price now leaving, he's basically saying that all the games are are supposedly in good shape. o I'll wait to see it before I can believe it. And then when it comes to what could they show, I don't think they're going to show Ghost of Yotai. I think they're going to want to wait till the summer to show it off because Death Stranding 2 was just rated by the ESRB in, I think, Korea.
00:05:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
are or Taiwan. So when normally when that happens, it's a good indication that it's like three to four months away for a game being released. So I think this is their first half game. So they don't want to take away from it. And then Metal Gear Solid Delta, the trailer was just leaked last week and it has not been officially acknowledged by PlayStation. So most likely that was supposed to be at their state of play and then someone accidentally uploaded it by accident too early or it was automated to go up a week prior when Yeah, I feel like that's kind of a strategy Sony does where like, it'll be a third party game, but they'll market it so hard, you know, that, you know, it seems like it's a Sony exclusive. right sound and Microsoft tries to do the same thing. I just feel like Sony is very successful at that. But Microsoft is transparent. So when they just announced Ninja Gaiden or Indiana Jones, they said, and PlayStation. Oh, yeah, even actually, it's a good point. Even on the slide, it said PS5. And I feel like sometimes like
00:06:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
They'll only, you know, I'll see like Sony trailers and I'll only say, oh, PS5, all these. So stupid. But I, so with Metal Gear, the date was already leaked and the trailer too. And it says, I think August 28th. So again, it gives you an indication that we're getting maybe the first six to eight months worth of games potentially in this state of play. So I think we'll see Death Stranding for sure. And I think Kojima or the day of Kojima.
00:06:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
had hinted on Twitter that he was working on a new trailer, and whenever he does that, it's an indication of, hey, something's going to show up sooner rather than later. So I don't think we're going to get Ghost of Yotai. I just don't think they want to get away from or they want to get away from this. Plus, in prior years, when first-party games have come out, they've had dedicated state of plays for their first-party games, like Horizon you're right and Last of Us and what other games I've come up with. You know, you make a really good point. I feel like, you know, what Sony really does is like a one, two punch. They'll have like a banger in the first six months, a banger in the second six months. And then, you know, they'll pad that with like other things. Right. So like last year they focused really on Final Fantasy 7. Right. And then Helldivers. Exactly. I don't think they expected Helldivers to be as big as they thought. Yeah. They would be right. So so that kind of surprised them. But their idea was, all right, let's just keep the news going for Final Fantasy 7.
00:07:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
because they probably want the new cycle to still be focused on that game even after it releases, right? For continued sales. And then, yeah, think about it. Like Astrobot, they only talked about it like... right before. Right before. And same with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. They did a dedicated state of play, 15-minute gameplay featurette. So I... But that also makes me wonder then, why did they even announce Ghost of Yotai with Destiny 2? I think the reason why is because they literally had nothing on their slate. So like, this is a good way to transition the topic to two different things. One is, first of all, I think it's been basically seen with all the data in the last several months in the last quarter. Xbox is the biggest publisher
00:07:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
on PlayStation by dollar amount, by revenue, which is utterly insane so based on the amount of games they're starting to release. And the second thing to that is they're now announced for Forza Horizon coming to PlayStation, which would be hilarious if they announced another game at the state of play. Do you think there's going to be any Xbox published games at the state of play?
00:08:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. But I was actually thinking about this as well. And, you know, if you just list out the Xbox games that are coming to PlayStation this year, like that would seem like a like an insane year, right? Because you have four of the five banger, Indiana Jones banger, right? And then, you know, you have, you know, simultaneous releases, right? So you have Doom banger, right?
00:08:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
And, you know, Ninja Gaiden 4, which is technically Xbox game publishing, Bangor. And that's just what we've been, ah ah what's been announced so far. And if, you know, Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remake ends up becoming true, you got another one. Then you got... Fable Potentially. Fable Potentially. Then Outer Worlds 2, I think, is pretty much confirmed. Yeah, they've already confirmed that that's gonna come out on the PlayStation.
00:08:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then who knows what other ports you're going to have, right? Whether that's a years collection. it's all potential It's kind of ironic, but it's like, you know, it's like the whole conversation of what our PlayStation player is going to play. It seems like it's all Xbox xboxbox games, right? Or like, even if they're not traditionally considered Xbox games, Microsoft now owns them, right? And so it's like, I guess if you flood someone with enough good games and you just keep them busy, you know, that's how... I actually think some of these Xbox games might be better than Ghost of Yota and Death Stranding.
00:09:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like legitimately, I do think Fable or potentially Outer Worlds 2 or Revowed, they could all end up being easily yeah better. So like that that's really interesting. so do So going back to my question, I don't think there'll be any Xbox published games announced at a state of play. I just don't think Sony would want to do that. They would wait till afterwards a week later saying again, hey, this game is coming on, drop it on their blog or something. They just don't want their competition to get that split. Yeah, I really don't know how much.
00:09:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
uh playstation feels about all these games being released on their platform you know like how do they feel about forza and cf thieves and all this stuff and you know i feel like they're happy because in the short term it seems like oh man console war is done you know we're gonna be milking even more money but i wonder if will eventually reach a point where Sony will actively want to stop games coming to their platform from Xbox, right? Yeah, well, I don't think they will because you're getting a massive cut. You're getting a 30% cut. It's free money, especially Call of Duty. the there is money Yeah, actually, now that I think about my take this back.
00:10:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
I am going to put a Baja Blast on it. I think there'll be an Xbox published game showing off. I think it's going to be Indiana Jones because it's slated for spring of 2025. Yeah, that's a good point. I didn't even think about that. They might show off the first DLC trailer for the game and then say it's coming out the same time with the release of the PlayStation. Oh man, that would be really good marketing. Yeah, and this is the definitive version. Oh yeah, that would make so many people pissed off on it. Yeah, I could definitely see that.
00:10:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
getting them more coverage is that totally a soing yeah and mike help wouldn care mikes so absolutely would not give her shit there we go you know what We need as many people having eyes on this. So I'm taking that back. I'll put a little money on that. And then in terms of going back to your question earlier, but like why has only been only showing trailers very close to the launcher games and why has there only been a couple of them?
00:11:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
Well, here's another another thing to talk about. Herman Hulse has, looks like has been demoted. So they just announced some Hideaki Nishino has now the sole CEO of SIE. They basically demoted Herman Hulse to now be like the quote unquote CEO or president overall of their gaming division. But to me, like that says a lot because they just announced his co-CEO partnership last May. So it's only been six months. And they announced it just prior to them canceling Concord the God of War live service game and the Blue Point game. So what do you feel like they're unhappy about with his work? Because you would know this better than me, but couldn't you like say a lot of that push was Jim Ryan? Maybe. Not necessarily human. They're going to look at Jim Ryan as the guy who ushered the PS5 through COVID. Now, did he sign off on a bunch of these live service games? Absolutely.
00:12:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
but through a ton of leadership discussions with multiple people. But you could probably assume that Herman Hulse was steering that trip because he was the head of PlayStation Studios at the time. And he started that because we know he took over for Shuhei Yoshida, he left five years ago just when God of War was releasing. So there wasn't that push yet for live service. So you can definitely say, without a doubt, Herman Hulse was steering the ship for like 10 studios trying to go live service. You know, that's a good point. And I feel like Japanese companies are very risk adverse, right? So I feel like Concord probably really bothered them, right? Because, I mean, they probably looked at those numbers and how much money that lost and, you know, Sony cuts their losses early, you know, they pivot, you know, like, they're like, no, we're not going to try and repeat that.
00:12:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
And now when you think about with Blue Point and Sony Ben, both just not having anything to show, unless they had two teams in parallel working, which I doubt because both teams are small, less than 100 people, they're going to have to wait another couple of years to get something on. This time they can't be risk averse. They're going to have to say, you're going to have to do something tried and true. Blue Point, I bet you will do a remake this time. And I bet you Sony Ben might go back to a siphon filter or maybe they will do days gone to this time. Who the hell knows?
00:13:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
So otherwise they're going to shut down one or two of those or both studios. So I do think this is you can put a lot of blame on Herman and you can put a lot of blame on other people within the company for accepting that decision. And they have to live with it now. And they said, hey, this isn't working. And we want someone more business oriented as the CEO instead of Herman who potentially pushed and didn't say, hey, we're so risk averse that if we lose on all these bets, we might still be in a good position. And they weren't obviously they fumbled it super hard. It was the right decision at the time five years ago to focus on live service. But the way they executed it was horrible. So you know, I was just actually talking to a family friend of mine who's like, absolutely not to gaming at all. But his son is really into gaming.
00:13:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
and so because of that I've noticed that he's gotten more and more interested in it and just hearing about it and know he talks to me a lot about like movies and like you know what kind of things he's looking forward to and I was telling him I was like You know, at the start of each year, I find it more interesting to look into gaming news and things like that than movies. Right. And like, I feel like now a lot of that, like, interesting conversation is gaming. And then after that, it's TV shows and movies are like the bottom rung. Because if you think about it, like the gaming industry moves relatively fast. Right. Like, for instance, like Jurassic Park, like the new Jurassic World movie, whether that came out this year or three years before or three years before then. Like, honestly, how different does Jurassic World need to be? Right.
00:14:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's kind of the same thing over and over again, and it works. But in gaming, like, and also think about how long it takes to make a drastic world, right? Like you probably coming up with a script, you know, filming it two years, maybe three years, something like that. yeah Great games are taking like five, six years. And then on the onset of the idea, right, by the time you finished creating it, it could be a completely different landscape. And so that makes it so hard to like, know what to green light light, right? Because It could be like, wow, like 180. Yeah. It's, it's funny you say this because I was just reading about Warner Brothers studios and everything going on there, which has been an utter disaster with Rocksteady Studios, right. And we're raising Suicide Squad, but more so Jason Schreier just said as well that the Wonder Woman game, which was announced three years ago is in development hell.
00:15:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
So they basically rebooted the game last year. They've already spent over a hundred million on the game with nothing to show. And the Nemesis system, which they were using for the game, which they had patented in the Lord of the Rings games, the Shadow of War, Shadow of Murder, is no longer being considered enough for this reboot of the game, crazy which is insane. So you have these studios that are literally fumbling. They can't get anyone else to take the IP or license it. And they go either we double down, which is what,
00:15:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
This is where I can give Microsoft credit for. They doubled down. They said, fine, if we're going to do it, we're going to do it everywhere, and we're going to just give the best content we can. You have to sometimes double down. like yeah Well, the thing is, like with gaming, like you know we're not game developers. I know like you know, since you're an engineer, you have a better understanding of this than I do. But I read online that games really only come together in the last six months. so i A lot of times, yeah. Right? And then the thing is, like with a movie, like I'm sure if you have a fire script, you show it to somebody, and they're like, oh, man, that's going to be fire. then you got a great actor on board, you got a great director on board, and you know, you're probably fairly confident it's gonna do well, right? Or you have these franchises where you just keep releasing things, and you're fairly confident it's gonna do well. But for gaming, like, you know, if you're trying to, you know, say, Oh, yeah, it's gonna be a banger, right? And it's six, six years into development,
00:16:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
And now it's been five, you know, it's been that long and you're like on the finish line, the game still looks like crap, you know, because it's only going to come together in the end. That's kind of hard. You know, it is. Well, I'll say this all forms of media are susceptible to the same, like the same concept you're saying, but it's less frequent in movies, especially when you know you have a good writer, a good script, a good actor and a good director. They all normally work together well unless someone's toxic or something. I feel like you can actually in real time kind of see how it's.
00:16:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
like growing as opposed to like a video game. Like you're really looking at like what the developers are looking at. Yeah. And it's like just a bunch of like blocks. Well, yeah, because it's the way gaming development works. Now, like you said, it takes five or seven years. It's segmented in so many different sections that the UI artists, the HMI artists can get together very late with the people with the underlying drivers, with the people that are developing gameplay. And when you put it all together, it comes up like a shitty peanut butter and jelly sandwich when they really meant it to be like a turkey sandwich. And it's like, bro, this is not what you envisioned. So we need to like make do with what we got. Yeah, I got to pivot, pivot. So yeah, that's it happens more often in gaming because the parts are just so much bigger and then they have to scope creep. Right. So it's it's just interesting that, again, I can give a little more credit to Microsoft for for some of the decisions right now. So the I guess the other thing, too, is that like
00:17:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, with Sony again pivoting into PC a bit, you know, another thing to talk about is Spider-Man, which Spider-Man 2, which recently released on PC, right? Which is a great thing. Some of their ports as of late have been good. That's what's been, I think, maybe... holding people over a bit because they normally beef up the ports with a lot of pc features and people will double dip sometimes but the spider-man 2 port has been so bad apparently there's been really bad reviews stutters crashes even on high-end pcs that it's like guys like what really just do not understand like why is sony having such a hard time with consistency when it comes to the pc right when you know
00:18:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
Even if you're a Sony hater, you have to admit they have really good consistency with their first part of games, right? And why aren't they struggling so much in the PC space, right? And they have Valkyrie at the camera, right? They have like specific studios meant to just do this. Yeah. It's weird, man. And it's like, I'm sure they give him such a small window to port that there's probably a lot of pressure. And when you take a really highly customized game for the PS5 and go, wow, like we really need to iron this out.
00:19:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's just a lot of pressure. Yeah. But like, isn't it also kind of strange? Because like, why are you in such a hurry? Right? Like, I understand, like, okay, PlayStation, like we got to make like two bangers come on every year, because that's what's our driving motivation. So you want to keep on that cadence. But if the game has already come out, like, is anyone really going to be furious if Last of Us Part Two You know, remake 10 comes out six months later, eight months later. I mean, know but I think it's data analytics. I think they looked at a bunch of trends and they said at a certain point past this.
00:19:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
we're probably losing out and maximizing profit. Oh, like losing steam, like people don't play anymore. if you Honestly, if you get to the one, the two, the three-year mark, and then you release Spider-Man 2, well, by the time the sequel could already have come out, and then everyone says, I don't want to play the second one anymore. I just want to play the newest one. So I think they're looking at those trends and saying, we need to get it out within six to nine months, or six to 12 months. And it's unfortunate, because some games are so complex. Like Spider-Man, we know how optimized that game is for PlayStation. Specifically, the ray tracing, all the fidelity modes, you've got the different ah ah performance modes, you got all this stuff going on. And I wonder if it's even their pipeline, because if you think about it, you know, Xbox, PC, PlayStation, they should be fairly similar in their development. yeah you would think And I wonder if like, because for Microsoft, I imagine most of their studios, like from the get go, they're doing Xbox, PC together, like for Sony, it's like they're just doing PlayStation five for like
00:20:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
90% of the time, and now they're trying to tack on the PC version, right? like That's exactly it. They should probably do both in parallel, but focus and have more resources on the PlayStation side. But if you do that, you're in a better position in the long run. You can take that extra time. Well, ironically, I feel like that's the argument Microsoft's been making, because everyone like gives them crap for like the Series S, right? And then they're like, well, you have to learn how to optimize, because if you're able to optimize on the Series S,
00:20:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
everything else will benefit. Look at Baldur's Gate 3. They actually have split screen now, yeah which apparently was supposed to be impossible with the 10 gigabytes of ram yeah maybe RAM. They made it happen. And and and pc ah pfe PC performance went up quite a bit. yeah So in a way... And Xbox Series X, they've they've already admitted that the bugs they found on the Series S that prevented them from releasing originally helped them find new optimized solutions to then cascade upstream to the other consoles. And they were like, wow, it actually made more sense. efficient and better running. Yeah, so I wonder if ironically like if they had actually started from
00:21:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
with PC in the first place, if the Sony games would be even better? I think so. i I mean, I'm not saying Sony games are bad, because obviously they look freaking amazing. They run amazing, but they could run even better. Here's another example. So Square Enix just released Final Fantasy 7, was it Rebirth or Remake on PC? Rebirth, I think. I think it's Rebirth, yeah. And again, that had mixed reviews. So while the future is low-grade and they create a trailer to show all the great things, everyone's complaining about, again, stutters and crashes on a wide-ranging ah Set of pc harder so it's like they do the same thing they release their games like six to nine months or twelve months now and they're Square Enix is announcing they will prioritize more platforms going forward so I think we'll get better ports as time goes on but this is another case of you optimized for one hardware and now you're running into these issues so
00:22:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I guess that's just kind of ironic because, you know, back when I was a much younger gamer, like, you know, all of my older cousins were so PC centric, like, I just considered it was like, you start off with a PC and everything trickles from there. And it feels like over the course of like,
00:22:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
10, 20 years, now it's the opposite. It's like you start off with a console and now everything trickles from there. Yeah, that's literally, and that's why it's so weird because sometimes you could keep throwing more resources and more power and more VRAM. It might not make a difference, right? Now it's just like, wow, there's actually the best experiences on a PS5 or a Series X. I'll just play it there. Very odd. It's very strange.
00:22:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so that's another thing to kind of pivot into is, you know, again, looking at Sony's strategy for releasing games, like there's a particular example here where I think MLB, the show 2025 was just announced and so and it's coming off. It's multi-platform, but it's not coming on the PS4, but for some reason it's coming on the Nintendo Switch. Yeah, I can't even make sense of that. I think maybe Sony is just trying to convince people to make the jump at this point because they're like, yeah, we got to move on past the PS4. We need to sell hardware.
00:23:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think so. I think Sony, because that studio was originally working with Sony for so long, they might be subsidizing the cost of developments and we don't want people to keep playing on the PS4, but you might be missing on millions of sales. they just This could be your quote unquote system seller now, right? people There's a subset of millions of people that used to play the show and they go,
00:23:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
frick we need to go down to the PS5 it could sell two three million consoles and that's not the traditions traditional system seller traditional system sellers used to be like lassos and halo now people look at MLB the show ironically i feel like as much as we kind of laughed at sony for you know releasing MLB on Xbox game pass i feel like by
00:24:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
what happened you know they pulled it off a game pass because they probably got the numbers and attention they wanted so lot and now they're like all right all right go buy ps5 now yeah exactly and you know it's funny i think they've already released three versions of mlb the show on the switch already and it runs like ass guard I guess people are buying it and I'll say this like I see I'm an advocate of games releasing cross-gen more so than ever now so in the past I wasn't I was like I want them to drop the prior generations as soon as possible but now that I'm ingrained in this stupid PC ecosystem with portable gaming I want them to scale down as much as possible so games will be available on Nintendo Switch too so they will be available on Steam Deck so they will be available actually that's a good point right because if you have something that's just
00:24:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know, like the crisis of the modern era, like that's not going to work on your hands. Yeah. Unless you have one pixel, then you have like one frame and you're generating 29. Yeah. with Yeah. Like a multi frame generation, right? Or something with nvidia like, that's why I do want to say I'm the complete opposite now. So it's just like the same thing with the Horizon Lego game that came out PS5 and Switch only, but not PS4. That game could have easily ran on the PS4.
00:25:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, like I do like it when it is just with the current generation because you know then you're really pushing the hardware to its limits, right? Theoretically. But I think a good enough developer can make it work. you know And I think that's just kind of the reality of where we're at now. I just want people to be gaming. And like I was just thinking about it. like you know I've been you know an Xbox fan boy for a very long time. you know And I know we've talked about how, you know really, I kind of took an emotional hit when I was like, oh, man, the Xbox I grew up with is not the Xbox I grew up with. I want to see Halo and Gears on everything. you know
00:25:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
And now I'm like over that and I'm like, all right, console war is
Console Wars and Future Gaming Ecosystems
00:25:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
dead. If you want to say PlayStation one, be happy. If you want to say Nintendo one, be happy. But now that to me, that conversation of the console wars is done. Right. Uh, at least to me, I think the post console war, right, is a lot more interesting, right? Because we're starting to see, you know, this like blurring of the generation. We're starting to see like moves to expand, you know, gaming, right? To like people who wouldn't traditionally game, right?
00:26:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like I have buddies of mine who aren't big gamers, but they're still gaming because they have their PS4s, right? And they're like, you know, this name's still coming out. I'll play it. yeah exactly So I think two things. First of all, again, I'll bet another Baja Blast that by the time the PS6 comes out, there's going to be a.
00:26:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
triple cross-generation game that's ps4 or 5 and 6. i think this is going to be the first time there's a triple cross-gen game like that so that's one.
00:26:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
Second, to to you talking about the console is potentially being dead and over. I don't think that's the case yet. I still think Microsoft has a chance to really revive or really upskill this war, I guess you want to call it, or make it more of competition. And here's what I think, because I was thinking about this on my way over here. So I think if Microsoft comes up with a unique console reason in the next generation to Convert and pivot more people to their ecosystem. So what I'm talking about is handheld, right? I've been saying that so much Microsoft's gonna go hard on that I think if they make a handheld that allows you to launch PC on launchers. So pay PC games ah ah Streamline your PC focus on the handheld
00:27:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
and basically say here's the system for you to play third-party games and if they beat out Sony because we know at this point Sony is probably also working on handheld you will now reset the paradigm and reset parity so you'll say hey I'm gonna get an Xbox handheld now for Xbox IP because we have so many already and to play third-party games portably because it's comfortable I'm now gonna continue getting a Nintendo console because I have Nintendo IP and I'm now going to continue getting or still get playstation hardware because there's still playstation ip so i still actually think there's a chance to reset the paradigm and reset parity to all three in the next generation but they're gonna have to go all in on a handheld i think that's the only way i don't think releasing a um powerful enough console will do the trick i think it's supplemental this at this time going forward
00:28:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
So there's still a chance no and I hear what you're saying. But I guess the the reason I'm saying that and if you want to call it more of an evolution versus a revolution, that's fine. Right. But for me, like as someone who's really been looking at the console race and how we're grading things and who's winning and who's up, you know, how do I grade who's one at the end of the year? Right. Like console exclusives don't mean what they used to write. Sales figures don't mean what they used to because just because you have more sales figures doesn't necessarily mean your bottom line is better. yeah I think if you want to reframe the conversation, instead of saying console wars, call it ecosystem wars, right? Just like you have the Apple ecosystem and, you know, the wild garden versus the Android ecosystem. Absolutely true, right? Because, you know, Sony wants to keep people in their ecosystem because then they can make that, you know, profit off of the PlayStation store, which is, you know, a big thing nowadays, right?
00:29:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
Because if you think about it, the most successful person in gaming is Apple. What are they even doing? They're doing nothing, right? And they're making so much money, but that's because they're keeping people within their walled garden in the ecosystem. So I feel like in that way, like I can see the competition. But otherwise, like if i if Microsoft wanted to play like that game still, they could have just said, you know Doom and all these games, there are going to be exclusives on you know my you know the Xbox for this year, and then their list would have looked like totally bangers. But like at the end of the year now, like How do I grade which console did better if the Xbox games are on PlayStation and the PlayStation games might even end up starting to go on Xbox as well? It's a good question to really think about. I mean, if you again, to what you said earlier about like Apple and I think it was like Android, right? The market share between the two is almost split 50-50 in the US. s Maybe it's like 47-53% or something.
00:30:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
But the hardware, they almost support really similar hardware features. It's really about that ecosystem. What kind of people in your ecosystem? Yeah. What kind of music can I play here? Like I have Apple music, I have, Apple arcade, I have all this stuff. And then on Android, I have some other things I can do. So when I look at Xbox, I think the things they need to focus on, first of all, to continue to keep people in their ecosystem is when they look at their hardware, it might have to be an evolution. And I think two things they should focus on is hardware, hardware accelerated ray tracing. They have to make improvements in that area.
00:30:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I think they need to really utilize this new you DNA architecture from AMD because we know most likely Microsoft's gonna stick with AMD and so is Sony. So again, from a hardware perspective, you know, you're making a good point because now I'm thinking about it. Maybe this is like an abstract comparison between like Apple and Android and Microsoft and Sony, but like what is the walled garden going to be for Sony and Microsoft, right? Because think about it. Like what are the most successful things right now? YouTube, right? Like Google could have made it just on Android phones, but they didn't. And look at how much more successful they are. What's that?
00:31:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know, Facebook, all of these things are cross, you know, platform and they make so much money. So I think Microsoft wants to do that with their games because they realize like the big money is what everyone's playing. Right. And that's what they want to do under the guise of inclusivity. Yeah, that's true. But they also want to just make money. yeah But then what is going to be your walled garden feature? And I think Sony, it's always been you are going to get the cream of the crop when it comes to your exclusive games. Right. And I think Microsoft is saying, well, screw that. You know, we just want to like have everyone play and make more money off of them. Right.
00:31:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
So what is going to be their wall in the future? So that's when they kind of start, if you start focusing a little bit more on this next generation, again, on some of these architectures and saying, hey, maybe customizable architectures are no longer feasible if we're going to have multiple SKUs, like a portable and a set top box, like Series X, we have to go slightly different round. That could be your walled garden. OK, it's unique enough. But overall, like you said, you're going to expand all the games to every platform possible. So there'll still be reasons to get the harder in the next generation.
00:32:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I think once we get through that point, which will probably be in two years from now, when it starts, we'll have a better idea if they go away from hardware in totality when if they just say we just want to be a software. publisher We don't know. yeah I kind of feel like Microsoft won't do that. Because if you think about it, like, and I don't know the financial breakdowns, but I'll probably bet that Apple makes in a killing off of Apple Music. Yes. Apple. autoruies off of the Apple store, that's probably their biggest revenue driver. yeah And yet they're still selling iPhones, right? And so i with Microsoft, I can imagine they'll still be selling Xboxes, but they have to just figure out like, what is the future about this that is going to make people stick with Xbox? So I think 80 to 90% of people who have an Xbox have Game Pass.
00:32:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
or I think 80 to 90% of Game Pass users are on Xbox. I mean, I agree with you. I think Game Pass is a hell of a reason to stay in the wall guard and... Yeah, so I think you're right. I don't think they stop the hardware because if they do, they lose 30 to 40 million subscribers. You would never want to do that. yeah Now the question is, again, do they just pivot and say our main focus is handheld and that's what we market going forward? Maybe.
00:33:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
my nintendo's had to made those pivots in the last decade because they were losing too yeah it's okay i think if i feel like they're going to pivot hard into ai as well like yes i'm sorry if i was microsoft i'd be like all right we're gonna make a handle we're gonna make like basically a series s that runs like a series x and it's all gonna be based off of ai it's gonna make you have a super seamless software experience yeah so that was the second one i wanted to mention was on top of maybe making some improvements in ray tracing was ai and machine learning upscaling and i think If they focus on maybe potentially creating their own custom solution like Sony did with Pisser. What's it called? PSSR. Yeah, it's called Pisser. If they do that, there's the innovation. But the the is the juice worth the squeeze? I think it's going to be minuscule. We've made huge leaps from PS2 to 3 to 4 and now up to 5. It's going to be hard to get the same types of increase in
00:34:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, and I really wonder how AI upscaling is going to affect the next generation too, right? Because like, you know this better than me, but like, it's all based off of AMD. And AMD has pretty good AI upscaling, right? But isn't like kind of like the leader right now in the space like Nvidia? Yeah, it's Nvidia still. Intel now has their own solution with XCSS, but it's all right. AMD is on the fourth iteration of FSR. But even with that, Sony still said we want to make our own solution. So it tells you that even Sony was like, they're not happy with they're not happy with it. So I think Microsoft will come up with their own solution. And that's what's going to make the difference for their handhelds. And I think that's going to be a game changer. Honestly, you'll be able to play some really great games on handheld. You'll be able to play a fable on handheld. Yeah, that'd be sick, man. I mean, like, if they release an X, well, let me ask you this. If they release an Xbox handheld and basically Xbox Series X2,
00:34:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
Are you buying both? Are you buying one? I think if they did that, I'm only buying one because I'll be able to get most of their games on PlayStation months later. And then if I really want to play, it I'll just get the handheld. You are all in on the handheld. life Dude, I'm telling you it's so convenient. I didn't realize like how good it would be until I realized like, hey, if I just want to go to sleep, just play 30 minutes before you pass out.
00:35:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
And if I do that consistently, it's better than me thinking about playing a game for two hours. This is what I'm always telling you. This is how I get through my games. You know, if you just play for 30 minutes a day, rather than watching YouTube video, about it for thirty minutes just slowly work it through. it you know Yeah, but it's more comfortable that I'm already in the position of sleeping. So if I'm literally have a blanket over me, I can play, put my game to sleep, throw it next next to me and just pass out right away. Instead of having to get up from my couch downstairs, walk all the way upstairs.
00:35:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
get into the bed. Oh my God. It is this first world problems, but I'm telling you it's a pain. That's what unmotivates me from. what you mean it's kind of your barrier to get in yeah like Exactly. So I think that will begin. And again,
00:35:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
We already have an example. Nintendo Switch has sold 150 million units. So there's no, it's not like there isn't any precedent. People fucking do it all the time. People have babies and kids. They'll be able to play, they're playing their switch all the time while they're taking care of their babies. You know that people will do that. You know, people take it on a trip to a cross country or going out of state or wherever. So, I mean, it's going to be so funny to me if the next generation is all hotels, you know, it's all like new themed decks and new,
00:36:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
everything and you know it it will be and people are going to have like four handhelds now they have an Xbox, a Sony, a Nintendo, a Steam handheld. I already have four handhelds so I'll probably have eight at the time the next generation rolls around. It's like collecting infinity stones. Yeah it's like the infinity stones seriously.
00:36:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
the The other thing I wanted to talk about since we're kind of on this topic about software strategies and expectations of sales is with Bioware. I know we've talked about them so often in the last several months, but apparently Dragon Age didn't live up to expectations. It might have only sold one to two million units. And so as a result, Bioware has been downsized. So originally reports came out in the past couple of weeks where employees were shifted to the team temporarily to other teams in Bioware.
00:37:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
or not BioWare and EA to support DICE and specifically Battlefield, which was just announced the new Battlefield game. However, now they've been notified that they're not temporary assignments, they're permanent assignments, A. And B, BioWare now has less than 100 employees working on the new Mass Effect game. And it seems to be not even into pre-production at this point, which is sad. I mean, I guess with me, like, and I don't know, maybe I have an unpopular opinion about this, but especially with Biowire and Dragon Age, like the whole conversation around them just really pisses me off. Like, and you know, I was really critical of Dragon Age Valeguard, you know, when we talked about, I think in our first show, because I was talking about how the writing was inconsistent. To me, it's still my Game of the Year for last year. And I think a lot of people kind of get a crack about that. But even with the writing being inconsistent, it was still a good game. And like most writing in gaming is inconsistent. But what kind of bothers me now, especially with like the social media age of gaming,
00:38:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
is it's like somehow maybe it's the content creators. I don't know. there's like an overarching narrative of who's a good guy and who's a bad guy in gaming, you know? And if it's someone who is a bad guy in gaming, then it's like a negative one for all of their releases. And then they have to like climb over a hill and go above and beyond expectations just to get your attention. Right.
00:38:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
And if it's the good guy of gaming, you don't even have to do much. And you're already getting like praise like thrown at you, right? So like, you know, the good guys of gaming, Baldur's Gate, right? Helldivers 2, you know, like a kingdom come deliverance. And look, I'm not trying to take away from these teams as well, but I think people are walking into these games with these cognitive biases because everyone is hyping them up. And like, for instance, the bad guys are gaming Ubisoft. It's like no matter what Ubisoft does, people are going to crap on them, right?
00:38:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
And, you know, so many people are just destroying Assassin's Creed shadows. Why do people hate Assassin's Creed shadows so much? Because there's a black guy in it. yeah Like, have you guys played any Assassin's Creed games? Like, yeah, they're historical, but who in the world thinks that, like, this is the real world? Literally, you're in illness, and you're, like, reliving experiences based off your memories, based off genetic data, which is impossible. And and and ah the first game, you're, like, dealing with, like,
00:39:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
like Apples of immortality yeah aliens ridiculous. There's literally aliens in the third game. I didn't even realize just absolute ridiculous stuff and like you're pissed off because there's a black guy in the game like Really like okay fine, but maybe it's culture. It's insensitive and you could have like better things but like Are we all collectively just going to give this game eternal crap and expect it to fail just or want it to fail just because of that? And then it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy where I feel like, you know, really, YouTubers are just like profiting off of it because they're like, oh, yeah, it's the death of AAA gaming. Let's like, you know, make the self-fulfilling prophecy that these studios and these games suck and they're going to like, you know, be tarnished. And then the games come and no one buys them and they do do terrible.
00:39:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
and then we hype up like you know the bad games. or ah we we Sorry, we hype up like the good people and the good games. And I guess I say all this in a roundabout way because you know as I've gotten older, I've realized like I should just play what I want to play. you like I got Dragon's dogma too. Everyone was hyping up that game so much when it came out. It's just not for me. you know Which is fine. And I convinced myself I would like the game because the graphics look amazing and this and that. And I played it and I'm like,
00:40:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
dude i hate skyrim i hate just exploring and finding what to do i like starfield i like going a story from one point to the other i don't mind checking button three times just to
00:40:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I know I agree with that. Well, see, I think there needs to be more a just more demos in general before a game releases. So we get an idea because you probably spent $40 to $70 on Dragon's Dog. And then you're like, I can't return this now. Yeah, and I feel burn because of that game. And now I feel like I have to beat it yeah to make up for the money.
00:40:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
But my point is Capcom is like the savior of like gaming right now. yeah And so everyone's hyping their stuff up. But then that's ah ah an example of a positive bias towards because they've delivered so much. So the the cognitive or negative bias towards not only Bioware because they haven't delivered in the last 10 years, but also EA. So that's it's compounded times too. Exactly. I get what you mean. But like you know the amount of hate people have towards Dragon Age, you know it's like it just keeps echoing in ah an an echo chamber. And I can argue. like As angry as people are at you know Dragon Age because the chosen consequence of old Bioware is not there, I can say I'm really pissed off about you know Dragon's Dogma, not because they didn't give me what I expected, because it really is Dragon's Dogma 1, but better, but because I was misled and I got something that I didn't want. right I could just be really pissed off about that. but
00:41:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's like, dude, it's it's a game. It's someone's creative project. Like they don't owe you anything. You know, like if this is what they wanted to do and you don't enjoy it or vibe with it, go somewhere else. but Yeah, no, I agree. It's just that people have limited time and money and resources. So if someone's going to hype up this game that's being talked about, like Dragon's Island when it kind of came out, it sold like three million units within the first month. Everyone was talking about it. So i I'm going based off other people's perceptions to make my decision, hopefully an informed decision on what games to buy, but it sucks that it doesn't turn out to be the game I want. i think My problem is you don't hear contrary apparent opinions. yeah like Most of the stuff you hear is just like... It's an echo chamber. It's an echo chamber, and if someone has a contrary opinion, it's like... You'll barely see it. You're barely seeing it. You're not really going to have like a conversation like, oh, I love Dragon's Dogma. I hate Dragon's Dogma. Let's talk about it. It's actually interesting you say this because this does pertain to Dragon Age, but
00:42:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
Okay, when the initial previews came out, maddie Mr. Mattie plays, talked highly of it. It was this chunk of gameplay. When he reviewed the game, he shat on it, absolutely, when other people were talking greatly of it. And it was fair because he's like, hey, this is just the type of game I'm not looking for from a Bioware game.
00:42:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
But i don't I think he has so much shit for it. People are like, oh, maybe we will check the game out because we don't believe what you're saying. you know it was some It was really weird about yeah how that went about. Or maybe his negative perception of the game actually influenced people not to get it. It was hard to say. But it's interesting because he was like one of the only few that was very outspoken about it. I couldn't find it.
00:43:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
whole other I mean, that's what they're like, you know, with me, like, I still really respect Mr. Manny's plays opinion. I really disagree with him on Dragon Age. And I think the main reason he feels as strongly as he does is he's like a hardcore Bioware fan and, you know, old school Bioware fan. And he likes that type of RPG. But for me, like, I did not like Bulger's Gate 3. Like, I didn't even want to rank it in my top 10, because to me, the pacing is terrible. It's such a slow game, right? right But other people would say, man, that level of choice is amazing. right I want that choice and consequence.
00:43:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
I don't care for that chosen consequence. you know I just want a good story. you know I don't need to craft my own story. And so that's what I mean, like, you know, different strokes for different pokes, right? Yeah. did yeah But no, I mean, I say all that because to me, like, you know, Dragon Age is kind of, you know, a victim of that, because even if there are some things that I'll agree are objectively wrong with that game, I went in length about it in the first, you know, you know, episode, like, there is inconsistent writing. I think they really tackled a ah difficult topic, you know, with like trans issues. And, you know, to me, I'm happy to see that representation. But I still stand by what I said, like,
00:44:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
if you're going to tackle a very divisive topic, you know I'll applaud you for doing that. I think it gets boring if we are all playing games from the same perspective of the same protagonist. right And so different perspectives, I'm always going to be up for that because that's interesting. But if you're going to take on a divisive topic, make sure you assign your best writer to it. And I just felt like that storyline, like that side storyline with Tash did not have the best writers. And I know there was good writers on that team because some of the dialogue that you have for Rook is actually really well done. And some of the interactions you have with some of the characters are really well done. And even Mr. Maddie's and you know a lot of people will say, well, I think his name was Emmerich, you know, the necromancer. That was such a fascinating twist on your traditional necromancer, right? Really good writing for his side storyline across the board. And yet,
00:45:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
people are acting like it's all bad when it's not, you know, it's a mixed bag. It's good and bad. So I say all that because I'm really disappointed to hear this news because yeah, Bioware got gutted, man. And like, at least that's what it looks like. And you know, yeah, you know, they're, they're going to be very unhappy about these things. And I think it's stupid to kind of save face and say that it it's because they didn't have, you know, a live service, live service. No, which is basically let's see they're trying to save face. Yeah. They basically came out and said,
00:45:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
Hey, maybe if we had gone live service, this is what the audience wants. And everyone's like, no, because before I get to this topic, if you look at kingdom come deliverance to sold 1 million within the first couple of days. But I also think that's because people are hyping that game up. Like, look, kingdom come with different deliverance objectively looks like a very good game, but I think it started off the conversation with a plus one. You know, when I was watching, like you know, like people talking about the trailers for that game or people even anticipating what the game was going to look like. It's like a neat, like people love it when a niche game goes mainstream. And so like people were already hyping it up before we even got much. But think think about, okay, you're right. i got It got a plus one. The think about thing about thinking didn't deliver when it released with all the hype that also could have potentially crashed and i hit rock bottom too. yeah So they're lucky that it delivered. um well yeah i mean And I, and I give kudos to that team, but
00:46:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
I guess for me, like, and I know you asked me this the other day, like, you know, I'm looking for a new game, like maybe I should get kingdom come and no, I'm not going to get it because, you know, objectively the game looks terrific. And the, you know, from what I hear, the writing seems very strong, right?
BioWare's Evolution and Challenges
00:46:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
And that seems like it's my up my alley, but I just don't want to invest in an 80 hour game where like a lot of the fun is like the Skyrim like exploration because that's not for me. You know, I want to go straight through the main path. That's fair.
00:46:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, I guess that's another thing related to Bioware that now with this downsizing, the director just got a job. I forgot what developer, but overall, seeing with what's happened to Bioware, are you excited still for a new Mass Effect game? Or would you rather them cancel and just shut it? No, absolutely. I'm still excited for it.
00:47:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like I think like we want to create these narratives where like all doom and gloom because like that like activates our windows and we get like also like hyped up in such a sensationalized about it. But I think for me now I just want to I just want to live in these fantasy worlds that I love, you know, and so like.
00:47:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
to me like even if the next table comes out and it's not like you know the most amazing thing on the planet like at least what i love is continuing and so i feel the same way with mass effect you know and not everyone's gonna feel that same way like some people are just gonna want to live in the nostalgic memory of what was amazing right but for me i'm like you know i feel like i've been around long enough like obviously i'm not in like 60 But I've seen the death and rebirth and eventually a full death of enough franchises that to me, like, if you're still able to like have that franchise be a part of, you know, the culture right and like people's conversations, there's some noaltic still you know, I love that, you know, because like.
00:48:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
Really, a lot of these franchises just die and they never come back. Like Resistance, you know, like it's died and it's never come back. Speaking of, ah Ted Price just announced they had an interview, kind of funny. They ah pitched up Resistance 4 to Sony and they got shot down. Right, and you know, it pisses me off. I'd love to play Resistance 4, but... They said it also spent a lot of time fleshing out the whole backstory for what a fourth game could have been and the origins of the Chimera.
00:48:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then he's like, I was very disappointed we couldn't go forward. And, you know, I think eventually Sony will pivot back to that because they'll realize they have a banger and it's, you know, why did they leave it? But, you know, look, another thing you think about, like, I have a niece now, right? And like, she's she just turned three. She loves Spider-Man. And it's like, now I'm starting to you know enter that zone where it's like, oh, man, the things I loved, I'm seeing like, you know, another new people I love, love those things. And like, now I know how, like, you know, I don't have kids yet, but like how people with kids add up feel and when the game with their kids. And so To me, bringing it back to mass effect, if they can do another mass effect and it's good, then I'll be happy. If they release a mass effect and it's trash, then of course, everyone's going to be pissed. But to me, I expect a bare minimum of quality. Even if it's an 8 out of 10, I'm going to be happy with that. I don't need a 9 or 10 out of 10. But I think based on... And like objectively to me, Dragon Age is an 8 out of 10. Which is a solid gain. It's a solid gain. Keep complaining. I just picked up for $25. So I cannot complain about that. I will probably keep it. I will not trade it in for that cheap. I'll keep it.
00:49:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
I'll say this about the studio going forward. yeah Obviously, I'm very concerned with the downsizing, but if they're not in pre-production yet or they're barely there, it makes sense to optimize your resources until you ramp back up and get into production. I think, too full, I think there's a good possibility Mass Effect never gets released. I think if they take too long to figure out what the direction of that game is based on what they've now seen with Dragon Age, and maybe if they're asked to incorporate live service elements,
00:49:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
There's a potential that they never get off the the ground potentially with this game. i That's one. And even if they do, if they do not meet financial expectations, I think they officially get shut down. I think Bioware will no longer exist after Mass Effect if it's not a big hit. And by big hit, it has to be like a 10 million seller type of game. It can't be a five million, it can't be a seven million, it can't be a three million. It has to sell a lot enough for them to make sequels to. There's no way because if it they take another five to seven years to make another game after Mass Effect,
00:50:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
They're screwed. they're go I think what they're doing, I mean, I would think what they would do is just a really massive swing, right? I don't know. I mean, I just can't see Iowa being shut down. They just have such a long history. And like you saw, honestly, I think if it gets that point, someone buys them out because like, if there was enough love for HiFi Rush,
00:50:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
That someone swooped in and bottom and they're like, honestly, we don't even know if this would be financially viable, but we just couldn't let it go. I can't see like, like Bioware just died. Like I feel like Sony or Microsoft or even Tencent or someone will swoop in because that name alone.
00:51:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
those fran Even those franchise names along, even if EA is like dead with it and done with it, like someone is going to pick that up. I don't think so. I think what will happen, the reason why Hi-Fi Rush got picked up was that for the most part of that team that made the game was still intact and they picked up all the same people.
00:51:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
With Bioware, over the last decade and more, especially since Anthem was a failure, so many of the veterans have left. And even the B tier talent they had that was there a decade ago, they're slowly going off to other projects within, like I said, DICE and Criterion and whatever. So that's like, they will shelve the studio, in my opinion, they'll hold on to the IP.
00:51:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
And they get a new studio in America. Yeah, no brand you might be right with that because like I don't think I can think of and maybe we'll have to think about this like was there a franchise where like everyone was leaving and you know, they kept trying to make it happen and I did it and they just kept going with it or that ah only franchise I can think of is Halo, right? And yeah, halo they tried with 343, they tried with Halo and Halo Studios, and even though I still love every Halo game that's come out, I'm just really, I can say that people are not happy with the quality. Yeah, but think about it this way. They did incorporate live service elements into that game by making the multiplayer free to play. And then guess what? That didn't work out for them at all. It didn't, but they announced that since the launch, they had millions of people at least try it. So that probably means they at least made their money back to some degree based on all the microtransactions.
00:52:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
I wouldn't be surprised if were like if we didn't even get close to that. We could have can't like closed this whole studio down. you're like net You never know, right? You know, I will say that numbers on Halo really confuse me because like, you know,
00:52:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
As far as I can tell, there's like no one really updating Halo Infinite, but it's still getting a lot of content and it's pretty much all Forge people. That's what I'm saying. it i know you saw like It's literally bare bones. And like the thing is, it's bare bones, but somehow they're still delivering objectively a lot of content because there's like, I haven't played in a long time and you know, like I put in like probably like two, 300 hours. I played that game so much. And,
00:53:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
there's still like a bunch of new modes to try right and somehow they're still updating it but i really think for them it's it's forge yeah it has look this game is so unique no other game has a community like that where you can create assets and modes and games and keep the community alive so they're in such a unique position where they literally don't have to touch it yeah for months on end and they can continue to focus on your halo project but there's no other fucking game like that. Yeah, and honestly, ah you say that, when you say that, like, I really don't know how it's gonna be for Mass Effect, because I can't think of a franchise in the studio that I could look at and compare. I mean, to me, I just think Bioware is such a legendary name, you know? It is, for one. Because, honestly, Bioware is the reason I got into RPGs, and I'm still my happy with Dragon Age Millguard, so I really want to see a new Mass Effect. Yeah. But, man, if they got canned, that'll be a depressing day for me.
00:53:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
Look, I still haven't played the original three Mass Effect games. I have it now on... Wait, did you play the first one? I mean, I played it for like a minute when I was a kid and I bought the trilogy. So I have it on Steam and I have it on obviously Game Pass. So I will play it one day, but like, and I've seen my brother play it. So it looks fun. I think it's a game I'll get into for sure, but I don't have an attachment to it. So even if it never came out, the new Mass Effect, I'd be like, eh, because Andromeda didn't have any hype either. And I was just like,
00:54:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, sure, combat was good. I think for me like Mass Effect 1 is like top 10 game, you know, like I love Mass Effect 1. I think most people say 2 is better, probably almost everyone, but man, 1 just was too good. Well, for the time of its release, what it did, the way it looked, the actual RPG elements, like there was depth to that game. I was shocked, like we like that game released what early? like Like 2006 or 2007? That's insane for a game like that. No, I think actually 2008, because I think it came out after Hero 3, yeah. Yeah, that's insane for a type of game like that, that caliber to release back then, insane. And the thing is, like, actually, if you think about, like, how many really big, like, sci-fi, story-driven games are there? You know, there's really not a lot, because there's not a lot of big story-driven games, right? Yeah. And so I think that's, like, a big niche, like that, and, like, honestly, like, Spy games, right? Like that's what I feel like cyber cyberpunk was successful. But like there's just not enough of those games There's not there's not but I'll say this EA has done a good job in giving and buyer a lot of chances They gave them a long leash and in other examples when they did anthem and how poorly that was Like it wasn't meeting their expectations still sold five million units. Okay, fine But at the time they had like a 10 to 20 million
00:55:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
expectation. It was crazy. But well I also think it's these people who just have these, ah ah like these crazy expectations, you know, like, like a square, yeah they're all stupid. But my point being is they even gave him a chance to reform and completely redo Anthem. And they called it Anthem 2.0. It was like a new initiative, but they took so long just to change some UI elements. They're like,
00:55:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
Okay. We're gonna have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for you to remake this game. No way. So they canceled it, but they at least gave them the chance. They checked in regularly, gave them frequent options for like, no, this isn't working. You're seeing way too long to change. It would have to be a brand new game. I guess like kind of in that ironic way. Like I feel like the, you know,
00:56:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
The gaming industry has went back to where they used to be. You know, like we really are going back to like what was working in the early 2000s, right? Like story driven games or like games that aren't like $500 million dollars to make. You know, games you can release more often, like games that are like yeah maybe even 10 or 15 hours. yeah I like that change. I like the change too. I can't keep having a backlog of 200 games when each game is 80 hours long. I can't do that. You give me a game that's 10 to maybe 20 to 25. I think about is going to be like a 20 hour game that that will be perfect. That's what I need. I can beat that in a year. I can't do an 80 hour game. I kingdom come.
00:56:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, yeah. I mean, honestly, like, I'm happy to run up a lot because I'm very excited for the continent to come out. what's What's that? How many days away is that? I think we're... A week and a half? A week and a half? A two-seventeen early access or something? You know, I thought it was kind of funny. Like, I didn't watch the whole interview, but they interviewed the the director of that game and she was basically saying, yeah, let's do some jank. You need to substitute in order to make the game creative. Thanks. Well, you know what's funny? So, look, here's what I can say. is The interview they gave, I think, to What's it called? Uh, incognito and Mr. Matty plays last November. They said they weren't going to have 60 FPS when it releases and guess what? They just confirmed. Yeah, they're doing 60 FPS on series X. So, you know, again, for them to put in all this effort to polish it and provide all these options. Like I am really curious how this game performs and they already have, like you said, two games releasing in in a single year. So I think overall, regardless of how well they perform financially or commercially, like this is an achievement in and of itself. And we need those types of games for Microsoft.
00:57:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
And, you know, I'm happy you brought that up too, because, you know, Obsidian, right? Like, you know, Obsidian for a while was kind of, you know, struggling, you know, it's not like they were doing bad, but because, like, they did have, like, a good financial backing, right? And now that they have they're on the pipeline of, you know, you know, Microsoft and unlimited money, like, look at how many games they've released, you know? And I say that because I know this would probably not happen, but in in a world where we're dreaming, you know, and I was thinking about, like, the next acquisition for Microsoft.
00:58:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
Man, I feel like a really good fit for them is EA. I know it sounds ridiculous and it sounds massive, but think about it. youre you know Microsoft wants games that are you know easy to advertise, that everyone wants. Why did they buy Activision? Well, it was like $69 billion, dollars something ridiculous, because Call of Duty is going to be a household name, right?
00:58:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
one company owned Battlefield Halo in Colorado. Yeah, but like that's like literally what we grew up on. Can you imagine one person have all these shooters and then I feel like, you know ah ah the kind you know, the studios that are maybe struggling for one reason or another like Bioware, you know, I actually feel like you know, maybe with Microsoft, you know, helping them out.
00:59:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
maybe that can start achieving more because, you know, Microsoft has been kind of good for that for some of their studios. They have. But again, even if they took over EA, they would immediately try to consolidate as many groups as possible to focus on the things that make them the most money. That's what they did. As soon as they took over Activision, they laid out 17 or 20 percent of the workforce and said, hey, you guys are all going to help with these studios. Even if we give more time for Call of Duty games going forward to help with that, we'll try to revive some dead IP.
00:59:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
but we'll selectively choose one or two developers within their group. I mean, the thing is, like, yeah, those, you know, from a consumer perspective, that might piss us off, but sometimes you do have to make those hard decisions, you know? And, like, I give Sony a lot of crap, you know, and I'm really pissed off with them for, you know, canceling Order 1886, right? And stuff like that, but sometimes you gotta make those hard decisions, right? And, look, I don't think Microsoft's gonna buy EA anytime soon, but, look, like, if Microsoft is really big on making the Netflix of gaming, like,
01:00:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
10 years from now, you know what's going to happen if Microsoft is still doing the Game Pass game? and like Game Pass has been around for a while and you really want to take it to the next level. act Activation Blizzard. Oh man, can you imagine EA as well? Look, you know how many discussions there's been about someone acquiring Nintendo? Disney wanted to acquire Nintendo. That and i just came out. Microsoft wanted to acquire ninten Nintendo. Nintendo was never selling. Sony wanted to partner with Nintendo 25 years ago to make a console. Dude, it... You think EA will never sell? I don't think EA will ever sell.
01:00:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, I guess EA isn't a good financial position. Like, Resmod has been doing good for them. The sports games have been doing good for them. I know Ubisoft is the only one that's gonna probably be bought out. Well, and what's the indie studio that they they created for Joseph Ferris or Hazelite Studios? yeah, Hazelite, they've been doing good for them. They're doing amazing. They surprisingly have been doing great. Yeah, they've changed the the stigma around them in the last 10 to 15 years. so I don't really care where EA goes. My thing is, I think Mass Effect will be released. I think this new one will get out the door. if with and I say when PS6 releases and the new Xbox releases, I'll say 2027 at the earliest. Oh yeah, that's going to be far out. And I think it's not going to meet expectations. And I think they're going to get shut down shortly after. I just see it. They've gotten too many chances.
01:01:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
This buyer is not the same buyer we once knew, and it's time to put him to rest. I just don't want to hear about them anymore. you really i I don't hate them. It's just, if you're gonna keep putting out stuff like controversial shit like Games and Dragon Age where the writing is so controversial and then you can't back it up and then everyone leaves and then you talk shit up to people on Twitter, like, okay, just die already. Like, we don't need these shitty games that sell a million units because most people are gonna say it wasn't even worth it to begin with. They remember the older stuff better than the newer output.
01:01:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
So people will always remember that and we have remasters of all the old games. so That's what I want to remember them by. I mean, I guess I give Bioware a little more credit because with me and for and Anthem, I don't think I can really blame them for Anthem. I really feel like that was just a management at the time. Like, for instance, like, how hard can you be on, you know, Sony Band and how hard can you be on, you know, Ready at Dawn and how hard can you be on those studios when, you know, management is pushing them in a certain direction. Or even with, you know, Microsoft, like, look at what they did to Fable. You know, how hard can you be on Lionhead Studios when, what the heck were they doing in the last couple of years, you know? Get them all on you.
01:02:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. So I don't know. I mean, I guess maybe I just love Bioware too much and I give them too much credit. but and you know You're in love with an older Bioware. You're in love with the you're in love with the the idea of what Bioware could put up because of what they've done before. I'd be pretty consistent. I mean, I still love the new Dragon Age, you know? like It's like my game of the year. Look, it's like saying you like cheesecake, but they don't put cheese and cheesecake anymore. You go like, I love the idea of what a cheesecake used to be. They don't even put cheese and cheesecake. They put cream cheese. What are you talking about? i five yeah But instead they filled it with peanut butter or freaking grape jelly juice and some shit. And you're like, wait a minute. I used to love it. I want to keep eating it. It's not the same cheesecake that it once was. That's what buyers, it's a shell of itself. They, they no longer have almost any of the veterans that were like came up with the concepts of Mass Effect and Dragon Age, the ones that were very popular. That sold well.
01:03:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
even up to Dragon Age 3, which was controversial. Should we expect that from any studio? Because if you think about it, like, if these games are maybe five, six years to come out, I mean, but like, even with Naughty Dog, a lot of the big people have left. Yeah, but they've they've maintained enough talent since their original games from not only Uncharted 1, but Crash Bandicoot that, like, they've evolved their games. They've maintained it. I feel like Naughty Dog is one of the, i probably the only example in Sony ma Santa Monica. Yeah. They're the only examples, but You know, are people really going to want to stay put for 10, 20 years? No, of course not. Even if people are, if like the studio is successful, like, you know, I forgot the girl who made Uncharted, but she- Amy Hamming. Yeah, she left and now she's doing Captain America's because people are going to want to do different things too. So, you know, I can't necessarily blame the people for like leaving Byron. You know, studios are going to have a lot of people coming in and out, you know? There's turn always.
01:04:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, but I guess like the the biggest point is like, you know, there has to be quality control, you know, yeah and regardless of who's leaving and who's coming in, you know, it's just sad to see where like, you know, that quality control doesn't last. So then, in terms of quality control, do you put a date and a limit now to mass effect and tell the developers and say, you have two years to finish this up? No, get it out the door? No, I don't give a complete freedom and say, Hey,
01:04:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
When you, you tell us when it's ready and bullshit, whatever you really, first off, I think any creative project, if you do that, if there's no deadlines, then you're setting up that team for failure. I don't think there's any creative project that you can release. Well, if there's no pressure to deliver in a certain timeframe, because a lot of times, I mean, at least most of the creative types I talk to, like they're just going to get lost in their creativity, you know, and they're not going to really like.
01:05:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
Think about these grounded things. So you really need both. like You need good management and then great good creative inspiration. I think the biggest thing for like the direction of what the new game is going to be like, new Mass Effect is going to be budget. you know like I think that's the bigger question. like Are you going to do like a $100 million dollar budget, you know a $50 million dollars budget?
01:05:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
that you know That might mean that you could be you know less heavy-handed, give them more time. If you're investing like 150, 200 million dollars, like something crazy like that, then really you're going to want to be very heavy-handed. Then you're going to want to say, no, like this you have to you know meet these expectations and you know this deadline and stuff like that. and You know, honestly, like as much as I would love, you know, like just a quadruple a mass effect, you know, unless I think you can bring some of those old writers back in the old directors or you find people who are that equally good. I think that you should just.
01:05:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
Deliver like a game with a smaller budget. That's what I said. I want a smaller scoped game So I'll like give give them just a hundred million say hey again I want this game to be 30 hours on that 60 or 50 or 80 and then if it does well like yeah Make a sequel that's a little larger because you now know that like you can take the gamble It's also funny some of the veterans that left by where are making that sci-fi game that's coming out Well, I'm actually, I'm happy to brought that up too, because like, you know, people just hype up like, you know, the person who, you know, made that project, they're like, Oh, yeah, you have this one Mass Effect writer and this, mass you know, Mass Effect person, but like, even when they go to make new studios, that doesn't always translate into a game, you know, like, I just played internal strands, and I was really hyped up for that game, you know, and they're like, Oh, man, it's gonna be like a bioware killer. I played it, and I was like, yeah You know, like there's some good elements of it, but man, it's janky, you know, like the animations are terrible. And, you know, it's just I don't think I can play the whole thing. Like to me, like I think a seven out of 10 is, you know, totally appropriate. And, you know, if I didn't have like games like around on the horizon, I probably, you know, play eternal strands.
01:07:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
But right now, I don't think I'm going to get back into it. And I say that because like, you know, it's it's kind of the same narrative. It's like, oh, man, like, you know, fire is dead. All the good people left because they hate Bioware because Bioware sucks. But they might not necessarily make, you know, amazing projects in the new places they go to. Right. It's not guaranteed. It's not guaranteed. So it's like,
01:07:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, like, buyer ware downsizing doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. It doesn't have to necessarily mean, oh, they're gutted and over. It's, it's all a matter of like, who is going to be taking the helm from here? You know? Yeah. And I think that's why it's funny again, you mentioned that like Ted, now that he's Now it says retirement from Insomniac. He's like, I have three people taking over for me. It might not be one, but I think these three are the most positioned to to be successful and to continue to drive this company towards a successful future. So you're right. It's all about who you have that takes over. And if you're competent with that talent, then great, but it comes back to leadership. They have to find the the right people. But you know, if if you if I had to be a betting man,
01:08:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
i I would say that the future doesn't look that bright. you know I would agree with you on that. Even though I want the future to be bright, if I had to be a betting man, I would say yeah. So you think the game releases? Mass Effect? Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, they're trying to go in the TV as well. There's no way they're not going to release another Mass Effect there. But the question is, you know, you might get the question, is it going to be by or is it going to be another studio? And I think it's all going to be a matter of budget and how things are progressing. I think it's impossible for us to speculate now. Two years from now, we'll know better, you know, because you have to give them a chance to do something, you know. They gave them so many chances to make Dragon Age of Anthem. Yeah, yeah, or did I did. I'm just saying.
01:08:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
How many more chances do you wanna give? Yeah, I mean, I think also it's a matter of expectations, right? Like people expected such a high bar for those games, right? And they didn't deliver. Now, people are probably gonna not expect the same high bar for Mass Effect. I wouldn't, I wouldn't. Look, you released Mass Effect Andromeda, not good. Anthem, not good. Dragon Age, debatable, but not good. I don't know, so like...
01:09:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
three That's three times like three strikes, man. like I don't understand. a fourth You want to give them a fourth chance? I don't know, man. Yeah. I mean, we'll see. We'll see. It's like saying that Halo 4, 5, and Infinite were shit, which they kind of were. Would you want them to make a new Halo game? I don't know. I guess like that's the that's where we disagree, because I think there's a difference between like a game that's objectively bad and a game that's debatable. you know like Anthem ah ah objectively bad.
01:09:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
Andromeda, objectively black. Vailguard, debatable. I would say good. Other people would say bad. So two in the negative, and so two one in the middle. And so with Halo, you know, like I would say four or five and infinite are all debatable. I think, fair I think none of them are just ah ah objectively terrible, but it's a narrative that surrounds that because it's like you had this nostalgia of like, Oh, you need a 10 out of 10 cream of the crop game. Cause that's what we used to have. And we're just not getting them.
01:09:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so you're constantly chasing like the shadow of what you used to be. And like, that's just like ah death prophecy. It's like a death spiral in a way. Like, you know, you look at like, you know, the the studios that are like doing amazing right now, like Larian or Kingdom Comes, you know, studio and stuff like that. People, you know, the things people hype up.
01:10:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
How are people going to talk about them 10 years from now or 15 years? like Look at the way we're talking about Sony. you know like We were so happy with Sony and now mean and you're like you know kind of chilling out. like What's going on? Look at the way people are talking about Naughty Dog. so it's like I feel like success with it. like brings like, you know, kind of like a, like a death spiral. And I feel like the only one who's really been good at avoiding that has been Naughty Dog and Santa Monica. And that's only because like when they were on their cusp of like dealing with those types of things, they found a way to pivot and persevere. yeah well
01:10:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
do not not get a ton of grace and the benefit of the doubt anytime they release a game because rightfully so the last five plus games they released have all been great so even if this new game by them isn't as debatable like you said I'm still goingnna gonna actually try it like It would have been the opposite if their last five games were not delivering to some extent to me and speaking to me in any fashion. Even objectively, if the performance wasn't good or writing was objectively bad. But no, they have delivered. So even though I don't like Last of Us as much as you do, I can objectively say it's a well-written game. So that's why they get so much more grace. But iWear doesn't get the grace now anymore because they've now released three games that are whole almost bad in the sense. Yeah.
01:11:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
so I mean, I think it it sucks to me to see like, you know, any really legendary studio just kind of going through the ringer, you know, going through the Turner. So well, you know, what i I'll be hoping for the best. We'll see. Well, here's what I can say. The optimistic side of me is when one developer or studio dies, another shall rise in its ashes. So there will one day be
Xbox Game Pass Strategy and Asian Market Influence
01:11:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
another studio from a different publisher, from a different group that fills out and feels that niche. So well, I'm not too worried.
01:11:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, but then it's like, it's the, it's the franchise. You know what I mean? It's like the, the tie you have to am mass effect. Like someone, you know, if Bioware dies, you know, there will be another studio that does Bioware games, right? Um, mean, like Marion could probably make Bioware games if they wanted to do it. They just, that's not their type of game. You know, they don't like action RPGs.
01:12:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
But then, you know, they'll probably make their own franchise, you know, and then you're not going to have those memories with Mass Effect and the the death of the nostalgia. Yeah, it's death and nostalgia. But besides that, I don't really have much else to talk about. Anything else you wanted to talk about today? Well, I guess like one thing I want to talk about was just Game Pass in general and like kind of the the games that we have look to look forward to.
01:12:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I think one of the things I've really been liking about Xbox's strategy and I think it just kind of like resonated and hit me now is that like they've really diversified like their offerings and in the fact that like You have their first party games, right? And then you have their like mainstream first party stuff, right? Like Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard and stuff. But man, they're really getting good at these like gems, you know, that are like kind of overperforming. So for instance, like I was just talking about internal strands, like, you know, for me, that's a 7 out of 10 game, right? But you get enough of those 7 out of 10 and 8 out of 10 games and they start adding up, you know?
01:13:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, you know, I would say Far Cry, you know, what is it, New Age on its own or Five Cry Six, like people aren't going to get hyped for it, you know. But when you already have like a banger coming out every two months and now you're interspersing like other seven out of 10, eight out of 10 games, like it really kind of just buoys up the whole service. And I feel like Microsoft's been slowly toiling away at that. And, you know, it just kind of hit me like,
01:13:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
I was showing you that video for like Wu-chan, right? And like a lot of these like Korean developers, these Chinese developers, they're really making these gems and they're probably making them for low budgets. And it's nice that like- Or some of these from their government. Yeah, yeah probably. And it's nice that like, as I'm waiting for like, you know, these big marquee titles, like I can just hop on a game pass and have something like that, you know? And then I was even looking at like some of the new drops, like they got that Citizen Sleeper game too, right? Not my you know genre at all. It's going well. It's like 86. That's pretty good. Last year, they had like InBees that really outperformed. Look at Dungeons of the Hidden Bird. People really love that. So I really... And they're gonna get, I don't think they get Brawlhalla or whatever. Yeah, I don't even know that. so And it's like a lot of these like games that like kind of go under the radar, but they're just they're really expanding the portfolio, right? And like now Platformer's like, okay, you've got Spyro trilogy. You've got Crash Bandicoot trilogy.
01:14:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
but now even a game like, you know, maybe it's that cognitive bias, but even a game like Lucky's Tale. I'm like, oh man, that's like another game on the surface. Like if all you have is seven out of tens, then you're like doom and gloom. But if you have a lot of nine out of tens or you're trying to get them and now you're booed up by the sevens, sevens don't seem so bad. yeah So I guess like it might seem like kind of a ah ah weird thing to say, but like, I feel like I'm starting to see that strategy, right? Where it's like, it's starting to play out and like,
01:15:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
If you think about it, like, you know, ah ah especially some of these games, like if you're not going for like triple eight games and have the best graphics, right? Like kind of like more indie games or like that fill in certain niche. It actually ages better. It matures better, right? Like when you have these cel-shaded games or these Metroidvania type games, you know?
01:15:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
Even if people are looking at that game five or six years later, right you know like vampire survivors, you know like that's that's another little gem you can start adding on to your portfolio. I think, again, the value proposition of Game Pass is not only just about how much you get for the subscription. It does a lot for creative developers to say, let me get my game across to a broader audience when in the past I would not have been able to. It would have flown under the radar. So this is why Game Pass is so good and much better than PlayStation and their subscription services. is it encourages people to just be creative and say, we'll highlight it. It's just like Steam, where in the Steam store, you can pay for a big banner, an ad that will showcase on the front store page. And it's like kind of doing that with Game Pass, like, hey, there's this small, very gem coming out, try it out. Where else would you get that exposure? yeah Yeah. Yeah. And it's kind of interesting when I like compare the strategy between like Sony and Microsoft, because one thing I've always been really critical of Microsoft for, I'm like, man, you have like,
01:16:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
and of these gems, but you don't really advertise them that much. And you know maybe they're trying to save on marketing dollars, but like you know things like Warhammer Darktide, that kind of went under the radar, even though it scored pretty well. It was a pretty good game. mean You tried that out for a bit, but like people were really talking about it. And I you know bet your butt, or you say a bottle of glass.
01:16:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know if If Sony, you know, had the marketing rights for that, they would have really hyped that up into like, like a whole event. So, you know, I guess in a way, like what I used to like crap on Microsoft four is slowly starting to change my opinion. Like, don't get me wrong. I still think Sony does a better job of hyping up their third parties, yeah their little gems. Microsoft still could do a better job of that. And I feel like what they did with, uh, what is it? The expedition name? Like that's the right rep to go, you know, like you really want to make those feel like marquee titles, right? So there's some improvement there, but even if Microsoft kind of fumbled the marketing for a lot of the little gems, you know, there's enough of them that like, you know, the service is really starting to feel more padded out. And I guess that makes me think of like the the two games we were just talking about, Wu Cheng and, you know, Phantom, Phantom Fight Zero. hams around and
01:17:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I think they're both being made by Chinese developers. And wow, they're looking really promising, like both of them. And, you know, Wu Cheng for me, like that one I can really appreciate, because that's a game that was kind of going under the radar, you know, and I said the term, you know, I don't mean this offensive, but like bottom of the barrel to me, meaning that like, when I looked at 2025, I looked at the games that I'm so hyped for, and the quality of those games,
01:18:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
like I thought of blockchain as an afterthought. And now that I'm looking more at the gameplay, the mechanics, the story, I'm like, Oh my God, this is shooting up like right into like the top of the list. Like I'm super hyped for this. And it's like Microsoft did an amazing job with that. Well, like finding a game that might seem like it's more, you know, under the radar, but man, it's really high quality. but Let's just talk about this too, because it is interesting. That's not a coincidence, but yes, there's very talented looking in great looking games coming out of Asia.
01:18:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
But the fact that Microsoft has re-engaged that region, like oh yeah it's not a coincidence that they're now saying we want a Ninja Gaiden from you know Japan, we want Wuchang, we want... We're trying to get those gamers, yeah. oh Because they gave up on those gamers and yeah I'm happy you brought that up because I think if you look at the console sales, like even though Xbox is all doom and gloom,
01:18:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
they're actually still selling pretty well in North America. Well, okay. There's a decline every quarter, like year over year, but like overall sales, like where Microsoft, Microsoft is getting beat in North America, like pretty bad. The way they're getting demolished is Asia and Europe. Yeah. Yeah. So well, let's not forget that there's a very actually small presence for all three OEMs and they're all in, in Asia. Like it's as weird as it is like PlayStation five and switch don't sell extremely well, even in, in Asia too. That's only like,
01:19:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
couple million units. That's because they're so mobile. Yeah, they're so mobile. But I just, I want to like give credit again to Phil because this was probably his directive to say we still want to encourage development out of this region, even though we don't sell well, but we know that that market for games that they made up on it, I felt like they had given up on it after high five. Yeah, but but what I was gonna say is that market for games of those caliber is still appealing to people in Europe and in North America. So it's like, there's still an appetite for it.
01:19:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
and they want everyone to have a place to play it and if they can expand it to PC as well so like if you got what's the game that you have Wukong right there you're just playing sold better on PC than it did in PlayStation but maybe when Nuja Gaiden comes out or Wu Chang maybe it might sell just as well on PC as it does on the Xbox platform so again Just the fact that they just said we're still gonna go. I don't know what's gonna you know, so like hotcakes on the PC Yeah, I just I don't know. I again. This is one pivot I can give credit still for he's talked about it his first five years of his tenure did not deliver on You know, I wonder if they're gonna start acquiring, you know, it's only two. I wonder if they're gonna start acquiring Korean and Chinese developers I don't know. I mean lies of pee was a banger that came out it was how world I I mean, not for us, but banger, right? Yeah, I feel like they're they're okay with subsidizing the cost of the development through these initiatives and programs. I forgot what they're called. They're called like the hero initiative or something weird where they will give some money to the developer. The developer itself, especially when they're in China, gets money from the government as well.
01:20:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
so I don't know. There's probably a lot going on there where they might not be able to buy the companies. It's probably something weird like that. And there's a lot of politics around that. But can they keep coming back saying we'll keep subsidizing more games because they're selling so well. Like someone's going to come back to the Wukong developers and say, we want a sequel. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, and someone's going to subsidize that cost. So the first time through, maybe it was all like a mess and it was because there was talks about that being timed exclusive for some PlayStation, then an actual exclusive and it was like no no no it is kind of interesting because a lot of these like double A games that are coming off looking as good as like triple A really polished games they're kind of coming from like Korea and China like
01:21:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, Kingdom Come deliverance too. I don't
Cross-Cultural Collaborations in Gaming
01:21:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
know where that studio is that makes it. I kind of feel like they're from Europe because it's so British. But, you know, I mean, I feel like that's kind of the exception because like, man, they like hit it on the ballpark, right? But like, now I look back at the last couple of years, like really those like massive hits that we didn't necessarily expect.
01:21:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
I feel like they're coming from Korea. Yeah. I mean, I'm also excited because I think there's an initiative in India that's been established and there's going to be a game coming out of a program from there soon. So hopefully it's like a really good game. Oh, I wonder what that's going to look like. Yeah. Don't they have like an Indian anime as well? Like the first one. They do. Yeah. So like they're going, man. Like my cousin actually worked, I think for Rockstar. in India a couple years ago. So I don't know if he was working on like Red Dead at the time, but it was like very interesting. I mean, I feel like that would be a market where you could actually make games for pretty cheap, right? And like, you know, everyone knows English. Yeah. That is like a really good idea to make a studio. Also for your development pipeline, it makes sense because you can work around the clock 24 seven. So when your American counterparts are going to sleep,
01:22:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
That's when India is waking up. So you say continue what we left off with. You might not give them all the responsibilities that you would have with the creative decision. But you go, we just need people with manpower to just start. Oh, yeah. And if you can get defects and bugs and software development, I feel like if you get into like Indian mythology and stuff like that, you would make some amazing stuff. You got you got so many different kind of really random. But I don't know if you ever heard of bloody wood. No.
01:23:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
Okay. So they're like, uh, you know, I think I sent you a video link of it, but probably I sent you so much stuff. You didn't notice it. But, so they are a metal Indian man, right? Yeah. They're like, you know, from New Delhi and they're like,
01:23:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
like properly like metal like yeah screamo all that and they're actually like really good and i was like you know watching a lot of like americans and stuff like reacting to them and you know and my wife finds that hilarious that's why you're doing that but i bring it up because they just did like a a feature i think with uh maybe like a year ago in the last year with uh this uh this uh japanese um band band it's like a girl band rock metal band oh yeah those two baby yeah yeah it's like anime it's like you know you have like you know metal indian music with like ja it japanese like synth like poppy female singers and it's like the videos anime style and i'm like oh my god this is like the fusion i didn't even know i wanted so far so i say that because like it's almost like we're reaching this like like
Sony's Marketing and Game Announcements
01:24:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
this you know
01:24:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
Point where all these different cultures across the world are all kind of getting into the same stuff and they're all getting to the same room, you know? Yeah, that's that's the nice thing again. That wasn't like the case the last 10 or 20 years Yeah, so it's just to see the diversity the culture is coming together and giving people opportunities people that I said was slide under the radar that you never knew had the talent in these other region you're like Yeah, let's let's get your stuff onto this platform. So it's great overall for the for the industry. and you know And the reason I wanted to bring it up is because like and you know Phantom Blade Zero, I just watched that gameplay video with you you know for the first time. And I think when I first saw the trailer, I was like, oh, man, another like you know Asian game. It feels like it's a dime a dozen. Like, oh, do I really want to play this? And now I'm watching more and more of this game. I'm like, dang. they're really delivering. Like this looks dope. Like I think, and I have a feeling Sony's going to really hype that game up, you know, just like they hyped up like Stella Blade, like they're really going to hype that game up. Well, they have an a keen eye to find these types of gems again, because when they found c Celebrate, I'm like, that game never comes out. When they first showed it off, I'm like, it looks so good. And obviously this the game changed so much since its initial unveiling, but they still went forward through it. And I think Sony developed. Sony does an amazing job of knowing what's a Sony game. Yes. Even if they didn't make a Sony game, they can like just follow. And this is what our fans want. And I think they ended up helping the Stellar Blade developers to the finish line and developing and polishing up the game. And they got that quality control and all that. So I think they're going to do the same with this. And I feel like that's going to help them pad out the year because, like like we talked about, like I think this year is going to be Death Stranding too. They get a couple months. And later in the year,
01:25:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then you have Phantom blade, like overperforming, let's say, you know, and like basically, you know, selling and having the same type of attention as like a first party, like Sony game. And this year is going to feel stacked for Sony and people are going to walk away happy. Cause it's like somehow Sony manages like to make their fan base happy by the end of the year. And by the end of the year, everyone is always like, man, Sony did again, they delivered somehow they delivered. Like when I went into 2020.
01:26:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
for skeptical like, oh man, Sony's not delivering this year. And they found a way, you know? When all hope seems lost, they seem to pull a hat trick out. So, you know, again, I think I might've mentioned this earlier, but Tom Henderson is saying that a new game from an unannounced studio, so the studio hasn't even been unveiled yet, will announce their new project at the Sony State of Play. I won't be surprised if it's a second party studio in collaboration and it's gonna be some banger of a game. Like, why should it be that case? And that's what Tom Henderson was kind of alluding to, like the project looked really good. So, we'll see.
01:26:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
Okay, and I know we've been going on for a while, but I just wanted to pivot a little bit because, you know, we want to cover a little bit more than just video games, right? We want to talk about TV shows and anime and things like that. So I know
TV Shows and Anime Discussions
01:26:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
you've probably been watching a little bit more stuff than I have, because I think the only thing I've been watching lately is Severance. And I know you you just watched your first two episodes of that too, right?
01:27:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
So yeah, like, what have you been watching or what have you been enjoying? Yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah, there's a couple things I'll try to make it quick here. But so, you know, I started watching Severance season two, got into the first job. So I've been enjoying it. We talked about this a little earlier about how in two episodes, it's literally the same thing, but a different perspective. So I don't know how many episodes there are for this season and I hope it progresses much faster as we get through this season because if they do it this way, not a whole lot's going to happen. And then I don't know if there's going to be a season three or not. I think with how popular it is though, they'll they'll continue the show. I'm liking it though. I like the pace. Like there's something to be said about how skeptical the show is and how like it keeps you in very much suspense.
01:27:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then every angle that they're trying to tackle is like, okay, well, what's really going on here? Can you trust anything that's being said? It's actually interesting because they have a scene, I think on episode two or one where they're like, Hey, we made a new break room. There's no microphones that you can talk to. You'll be safe. But is that really the case? Like that just encompasses the whole show about the secrecy and the suspense parts. Like we don't really trust that there's microphones here. I like that they're doubling down on what made the show pretty great in the first season.
01:28:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
then, besides that, i watched I've been watching solo leveling Season 2, which I think Season 2 has been way better than Season 1. This is what reminds me of the the Manua, like what I imagined the show would look like. The pacing has been a lot better, and I know the writing isn't good at all. It's very typical Shounen, but I think this is what we've needed in the anime industry. Like, it's always too extreme. It's either this like really complex anime like Attack on Titan that's just Oh my god, this is the best anime ever released. Yeah, or you get these weird animes that might have decent action, but literally no story. There's a lot of what what do you call like fan service and there's like
01:28:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
no meat to it like there's no substance this is the perfect middle ground there's not that much fan service they'll do some stuff here and there but overall like they're progressing towards a specific objective and they'll get there within 48 episodes and it will conclude and it'll be great because the animations i mean i really do like the shorter animates and i guess for me like after i finished watching dom the dom like i just really haven't watched any anime and i just feel like it's harder for me to get into like shonen type anime and you know i watched solo leveling like i think i only got up to like episode seven of the first season and i was like it's kind of interesting like fights are good you know the story's kind of interesting but then he just like seemed to just get so crazy powerful when i was just like i feel like i'm watching superman but like there's no kryptonite you know like
01:29:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then like there was this one episode where it kind of seemed like he was in a dungeon that was a cow base and it was all fired. And I was like, all right, okay, why am I watching this? He's going to just destroy everything. So yeah, but I've been hearing really good things about season two just across the board. Yeah. So the last episode, which was by far the best episode in the whole series, it crashed all of Crunchyroll servers, including the yeah there's a really popular piracy website that you can use to watch for free that also crashed a bunch of their servers that's how good like and this is crazy so i did some research like it's like the biggest anime right now oh yeah 100 post that they put on crunchyroll's website got a hundred thousand likes within a day like that's the most they've ever had
01:30:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
So here's a couple things I did. I did some research into it. They always release the key animators and directors just before the episode releases. They don't even have their top tier animators yet doing an episode for the season. So there's two more episodes. Apparently they're going to have amazing animations.
01:30:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
And they're saving their A-list ah ah animators for. So this episode was so good by their B-tier animators. I was shocked how good it was that I can't wait till the end of the season. I think there's six episodes left. So I'm just hyped there. The second thing is, related to the show, I was kind of thinking about it too. It's like, he kind of feels like Superman. But if I had to compare this to another anime that was similar, it was One Punch Man.
01:30:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
But One Punch Man has been so much worse because I feel like Saitama became comedic relief to the point where like... well I feel like that's kind of like the hook of One Punch Man because like the action is kind of cool and it's like the side characters and seeing how they progress. But you know Saitama. He just comes in to say that. Yeah, it's just a satire. Like yeah the whole point of him is it's a satire. Yeah. And I okay, there's there's something to be said about that. Like it's great in its in it of its sense, but it's not enough phenomenal anime by any means.
01:31:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
with this there's at least progression and i know that by the time they get to the middle of the series there will be a moment where he finally loses it's only it only happens once since it's the climax but it's okay because