Report: Microsoft Is Cracking Down On Xbox With Absurd Profit Requirements

<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody, welcome to Game Mass Mornings with Me Jeff Grubb,
<v Speaker 1>your host from giant bomb dot com. Thank you for
<v Speaker 1>tuning in. In this episode, we're going to be talking
<v Speaker 1>about reviews for the Outer Worlds too, and how Microsoft
<v Speaker 1>might be sabotaging Xbox. That's right, Microsoft sabotaging Xbox. It's
<v Speaker 1>gonna be a good one because we have Rachel Kaser
<v Speaker 1>on the show. Rachel, how are you doing.
<v Speaker 2>I'm good. I had to quickly slap a little bit
<v Speaker 2>of blush on these cheeks because I look so dead
<v Speaker 2>this morning.
<v Speaker 1>Well, I appreciate you you spelling Jan who is out today?
<v Speaker 1>Glad you were able to come in and do the show.
<v Speaker 1>Love having you on. And I appreciate that it was.
<v Speaker 1>It was a last minute thing, so I always appreciate
<v Speaker 1>when people come through that way, I mean immediably.
<v Speaker 2>Like get let me have my coffee and I'll be ready.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And I'm like, I didn't have anything any coffee
<v Speaker 1>this morning, and I'm feeling it right now.
<v Speaker 3>So we'll do a we'll do a low key show.
<v Speaker 1>We'll hang back, we'll talk about a few of these
<v Speaker 1>new stories and see how things are going. But first,
<v Speaker 1>how have you been keeping up with games, keeping up
<v Speaker 1>with all the goings on over at games Beat.
<v Speaker 3>How are things pretty good?
<v Speaker 2>We just got our Alexander Lee just started properly. He
<v Speaker 2>was on PTO for a little while at the start,
<v Speaker 2>but we just got Alexander Lee starting over at games
<v Speaker 2>Beat and he's he's doing really great. I'm a big fan.
<v Speaker 2>We were talking. We talked for about an hour about
<v Speaker 2>book Thrifting when he first started, So that was fun. Games. Oh,
<v Speaker 2>I've been playing those, haven't I. Ghost of Ota That's
<v Speaker 2>what I've been playing.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, how are you finding that? It seems super solid.
<v Speaker 1>It seems like a really just well made game.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I love that. It's basically it really feels like
<v Speaker 2>they took Ghost of Social Mode. Are like, Okay, what
<v Speaker 2>other Japanese director, classic Japanese film do we want to
<v Speaker 2>emulate here? And really it feels like we kind of
<v Speaker 2>were doing like an inverse Magnificent Seven here.
<v Speaker 3>Sure, okay, Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Which I'm really enjoying. I haven't played. I haven't played through, like,
<v Speaker 2>I've played less than half of it so far.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I haven't even touched it.
<v Speaker 1>I watched Dan play some for our quick look, and
<v Speaker 1>it's like, you know, it's a game I want to play,
<v Speaker 1>but it's also a game I want to dedicate like
<v Speaker 1>five hours to getting started with, and I don't have
<v Speaker 1>that time right now cause I'm playing so many other games.
<v Speaker 1>So it's like, once I get that segment, I'll hop
<v Speaker 1>in there and play some of that because I.
<v Speaker 3>Was in the mood for it.
<v Speaker 2>Oh and also last weekend I went to Dungeons and
<v Speaker 2>Dragons Immersive Experience here in Dallas, which is so usually
<v Speaker 2>when people message me to come to things, it's not
<v Speaker 2>something that's really local to me. So this one, it
<v Speaker 2>was just a short drive to go see it, and
<v Speaker 2>so I was like, yeah, absolutely, I want to do this,
<v Speaker 2>and it was. It was awesome. It's basically like a
<v Speaker 2>Dungeons and Dragons themed escape room where you pick your
<v Speaker 2>class and your difficulty and then you have a series
<v Speaker 2>of challenges you have to overcome in order to escape
<v Speaker 2>the dungeon and battle the great Dragon at the end.
<v Speaker 2>So literally there were literally we were in a dungeon
<v Speaker 2>and there was a dragon. So classic.
<v Speaker 3>But it lived up to the building.
<v Speaker 2>Yes it did, it did absolutely. We were there for
<v Speaker 2>my friend's birthday.
<v Speaker 1>This was like an activation for just the brand, like
<v Speaker 1>what what was this all about?
<v Speaker 2>I believe, yeah, it was. It was an official Wizards
<v Speaker 2>of the Coast activation, I believe. I don't think it
<v Speaker 2>was for anything in particular, but I think maybe they're
<v Speaker 2>I suspect they might want to expand it to other
<v Speaker 2>areas as well. It's because it's it's seemed great popularity.
<v Speaker 2>It was very crowded when I was there, and it
<v Speaker 2>seems very easy to find like local talent who are
<v Speaker 2>interested in being part of it. Everybody was very in
<v Speaker 2>character and very very dedicated to the storyline that.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's that's what you want when you're when you're
<v Speaker 1>doing the role playing thing.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I wonder if, like maybe this is just about growing
<v Speaker 1>this specific thing, because there's no reason Dungeons and Dragons
<v Speaker 1>Escape Room couldn't be popular in every city.
<v Speaker 3>So absolutely, that would be that would be very cool
<v Speaker 3>to see.
<v Speaker 1>All right, let's explain ourselves were Giant Bomb video game dufaces.
<v Speaker 1>We are independent games media. I didn't include a story
<v Speaker 1>today just because you know, we're gonna usually not do
<v Speaker 1>too many stories about ourselves. But like something like twelve
<v Speaker 1>hundred two thousand games journalists have left the industry in
<v Speaker 1>the last two years, or something like that. Really, the
<v Speaker 1>only way to keep people around right now is to
<v Speaker 1>support them yourself. And hey, you've been doing that over
<v Speaker 1>here by going to Giant bomb dot com, slash join
<v Speaker 1>and becoming a premium member. Everyone that has come through
<v Speaker 1>to do that, you have made a huge difference to
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<v Speaker 1>get the satisfaction knowing you're going to keep us keeping
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<v Speaker 1>five pm Eastern live from the East Coast.
<v Speaker 3>Everybody, it's going to be a really good time. Don't
<v Speaker 3>miss out on that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I can't wait. I am a premium member. That
<v Speaker 2>means you should do it because all of the batties
<v Speaker 2>are premium members. So that's right, you should absolutely join.
<v Speaker 3>That's what we say, everybody.
<v Speaker 1>All the pre members are baddies and all the batties
<v Speaker 1>are premium members.
<v Speaker 3>So are you.
<v Speaker 1>Inside of that vin diagram? You better hope. So, all right,
<v Speaker 1>as far as this show goes most weekdays, I Jeff
<v Speaker 1>Grubb will help piece your gaming life back together. That
<v Speaker 1>includes breaking news and maybe even some of our own
<v Speaker 1>original reporting. For all these topics, I'll get the input
<v Speaker 1>of a bona fide expert who will make me look smart.
<v Speaker 1>If you are watching live on Twitch, welcome. You can
<v Speaker 1>always listen to the show later on podcast feeds by
<v Speaker 1>searching for Game Best Mornings, or find the RSS feed
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<v Speaker 1>show later with chapters and timestamps on YouTube. Hello YouTube,
<v Speaker 1>all right, by.
<v Speaker 2>Putting on some more blush because I just I just
<v Speaker 2>saw myself in the camera and I'm like, oh my god, No,
<v Speaker 2>I look like the moon.
<v Speaker 1>No, We're it's perfect looking great, We're gonna we are
<v Speaker 1>good to talk about news.
<v Speaker 3>Heylmorph needed. Here we go.
<v Speaker 1>The Outer World's two reviews are in. They came out
<v Speaker 1>this morning. I've been playing this game. I've really, really
<v Speaker 1>really been enjoying it. I think if I were to
<v Speaker 1>like put it somewhere on the Giant Bomb star system
<v Speaker 1>right now, it'd be a four out of five four stars,
<v Speaker 1>I think. But it's one that it's like a really
<v Speaker 1>strong four star game, something that I'm really just having
<v Speaker 1>a good time playing and excited to go back to.
<v Speaker 1>And it has enough of the not enough. It's got
<v Speaker 1>a lot of the Obsidian emergent sort of storytelling, or
<v Speaker 1>what feels like a merchant storytelling, like I made a
<v Speaker 1>decision and that led me to going on this quest.
<v Speaker 1>And because I made this decision over there about specing
<v Speaker 1>my character in a certain way, or I picked up
<v Speaker 1>this certain item, now I have a very specific available
<v Speaker 1>option here on this mission that felt disconnected and all
<v Speaker 1>that stuff always just feels really.
<v Speaker 3>Good in one of these open world RPGs.
<v Speaker 1>And they nail it here, and then it's got, you know,
<v Speaker 1>strong writing, a really good look, and it has an
<v Speaker 1>eighty one unopen critic right now. Steve Watts said GameSpot
<v Speaker 1>gave it an eight out of ten and said the
<v Speaker 1>Outer Worlds to imbuse Obsidian's space faring RPG series with
<v Speaker 1>its own identity, letting you bubble your way through corporate
<v Speaker 1>and cultish intrigue in space. It has a seven out
<v Speaker 1>of ten from Robert Ramsey at Push Square, who says
<v Speaker 1>the Outer World's two succeeds in being a bigger and
<v Speaker 1>better sequel, buoyed by an even greater emphasis on player
<v Speaker 1>choice and freedom in RPG mechanics. It's RPG mechanics, I
<v Speaker 1>should say, are largely fantastic, and there are key improvements
<v Speaker 1>to both combat and exploration. However, despite Obsidian's clever writing,
<v Speaker 1>there's an underlying dreariness to the property that I just
<v Speaker 1>can't seem to escape. These doll characters in their one
<v Speaker 1>note factions are difficult to truly care for. As a
<v Speaker 1>nine out of ten from Timothy Nunez at PlayStation Universe,
<v Speaker 1>who says the Outer World's two excels on almost all fronts,
<v Speaker 1>presenting you with an open RPG that lets you choose
<v Speaker 1>how you progress while you still keep while still keeping
<v Speaker 1>you on a clear path. The in game systems allow
<v Speaker 1>you to customize how you play and give you versatility
<v Speaker 1>and the choices you make along the way. Rachel, I'm
<v Speaker 1>like I said, I'm super into it. I'm playing it
<v Speaker 1>also on the Steam Deck, where it runs immaculately. I'm
<v Speaker 1>so surprised how well it works on the Steam Deck.
<v Speaker 1>You know, thirty frames per second. But it's it just
<v Speaker 1>looks fine. Look, it plays great. Doesn't look like a
<v Speaker 1>super reduced version of the game, which is surprising because
<v Speaker 1>when I was playing it on the PC with like
<v Speaker 1>ray tracing, it was gorgeous, like eye popping, really, like
<v Speaker 1>they kind of lean into the fact that it's a
<v Speaker 1>sort of over the top sci fi setting, so they're
<v Speaker 1>happy using like colored lighting and that stuff really works
<v Speaker 1>very well with ray trace lighting. So yeah, it's a
<v Speaker 1>nice looking game, and I think it is obsidian in
<v Speaker 1>their bag, is how I would describe it down to.
<v Speaker 1>Like one of those criticisms in there was the factions,
<v Speaker 1>the one note factions, Like, yes they are, but that
<v Speaker 1>to me, that's like them trying to kind of pay
<v Speaker 1>homage to a new vague where the New Vegas factions
<v Speaker 1>were kind of very famous and like there were no
<v Speaker 1>good options. The same is true here, and I think
<v Speaker 1>they kind of wanted to like stay in that zone.
<v Speaker 1>I don't disagree with that criticism either, though. Is Outer
<v Speaker 1>Worlds to something like that you've been playing and if not, like,
<v Speaker 1>how do these reviews make it sound to you?
<v Speaker 2>I haven't played it yet, I do it. I am
<v Speaker 2>a little surprised. It's not so much that the factions
<v Speaker 2>they say they don't care about, because I'll be honest
<v Speaker 2>that that's kind of a recurring problem with RPGs. For me,
<v Speaker 2>I don't really care about the factions. I care about
<v Speaker 2>the characters, and it kind of surprises me that they
<v Speaker 2>say that Robert said that the characters are dull, because
<v Speaker 2>I don't. It's been a long time since I played
<v Speaker 2>the Outer Worlds, but I remember really liking the characters,
<v Speaker 2>so I'd be.
<v Speaker 3>A little disappointed.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, Okay, yeah, hopefully that's I mean, do you agree
<v Speaker 2>with that part of Robert's criticism?
<v Speaker 1>Not necessarily, but I do understand what they're getting at.
<v Speaker 1>I think there is a stand and talk sort of
<v Speaker 1>technology for the commonversations you have in these games that
<v Speaker 1>feels very familiar at this point, and that they do
<v Speaker 1>the characters often kind of feel like they are puppets
<v Speaker 1>reading lines that have been written into an Excel spreadsheet
<v Speaker 1>by a game developer. And I'll say that this one
<v Speaker 1>was It's got a little bit more going on in
<v Speaker 1>terms of its presentation during the dialogue scenes than Starfield did.
<v Speaker 1>Like It's it is legitimately better than that. There's more animation.
<v Speaker 1>The characters, like mouths move in a more naturalistic way,
<v Speaker 1>and then the things they're saying are very similar to
<v Speaker 1>what you heard in Outer Worlds, like it's it's over
<v Speaker 1>the top, like, Oh, if I am part of the
<v Speaker 1>capitalist faction, all I talk about is moving up the
<v Speaker 1>corporate ladder and doing right by the company's bottom line.
<v Speaker 1>And then if I am in the opposite faction, which
<v Speaker 1>is fascist in a death cult, I will everything is
<v Speaker 1>about making sure that I die for this faction, and
<v Speaker 1>if anyone else was fighting alongside me and they did
<v Speaker 1>not die in battle, I'm going to punish them and
<v Speaker 1>kill them myself. And it's like that's every conversation with
<v Speaker 1>these people in these factions until you sort of use
<v Speaker 1>your abilities to break through and then you can like try.
<v Speaker 3>To manipulate them as best you can to maybe make
<v Speaker 3>things a little bit better.
<v Speaker 1>Although very similar to New Vegas, no obvious good options
<v Speaker 1>in a lot of these situations, which I appreciate.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I yeah. In that case, Yeah, everything else sounds
<v Speaker 2>everything else sounds very much like Outer World one, which
<v Speaker 2>I liked, so I would be So I think I
<v Speaker 2>definitely give it a try once I once I make
<v Speaker 2>time on the schedule for it. That's the hard part
<v Speaker 2>about RPGs. It's like, I'm going to play this for
<v Speaker 2>ten hours and then I'm probably gonna get distracted by
<v Speaker 2>a shiny object and have to move on to something else.
<v Speaker 2>But you know, I will, I will give it. I'll
<v Speaker 2>give it the old college try, which, actually, considering I
<v Speaker 2>played a lot of RPGs in college, that's probably appropriate.
<v Speaker 2>But the way it actually I think the I think
<v Speaker 2>what might be the make or break is usually when
<v Speaker 2>it comes to RPG companions, I feel like the voice
<v Speaker 2>act is always the make or break, because a sufficiently
<v Speaker 2>charming voice actor can make even the most puppet lines
<v Speaker 2>sound really good and really appealing. So I think I
<v Speaker 2>think it's because I'm remembering all of the past, like
<v Speaker 2>who is the I'm trying to recall the names of
<v Speaker 2>Maybe well, this is probably not a good thing, but
<v Speaker 2>I can't recall the names of the companions in the
<v Speaker 2>outer worlds.
<v Speaker 3>But no, that's fine.
<v Speaker 1>I can barely remember the name of my own pets sometimes,
<v Speaker 1>So you're you're doing great over there.
<v Speaker 2>I thought you're about to say your children, and I
<v Speaker 2>was like, wait a minute, now.
<v Speaker 1>Well I always just call them the gimmicks. So that's
<v Speaker 1>that's fine.
<v Speaker 2>That's what Ravodi parvody, That's what I was.
<v Speaker 3>Thinking, right, Yeah, that was a great character.
<v Speaker 1>I've met, like a third, Like you start off with
<v Speaker 1>two companions. I've met a third so far, and I
<v Speaker 1>think these companions are well written, and of course you
<v Speaker 1>can do fun things with them in terms of maybe
<v Speaker 1>sometimes they could be a bargaining chip for when you're
<v Speaker 1>talking to these factions and you can try to like.
<v Speaker 3>Navigate that or whatever. I'll say.
<v Speaker 1>That's the thing that's been the best about this game.
<v Speaker 1>It's just feeling like you have so many options in
<v Speaker 1>every scenario. And then the other thing is I think
<v Speaker 1>the exploration of the world is surprisingly good. You start
<v Speaker 1>off maybe I haven't traveled to any other planets yet,
<v Speaker 1>but you start off on this one planet that is
<v Speaker 1>like this.
<v Speaker 3>There's this island that's.
<v Speaker 1>Habitated by habitated by people, inhabited by people, I should say,
<v Speaker 1>And then I got lost trying to solve this problem
<v Speaker 1>of I'm on one side of the island. There's a
<v Speaker 1>big ravine, and then there's a bridge across the ravine
<v Speaker 1>to the other side of the island, where many of
<v Speaker 1>the quest I'm doing, including some side quests, including some
<v Speaker 1>some of my companion quest are on the other side
<v Speaker 1>of this island, on the other side of this ravine. Now,
<v Speaker 1>and I can't get there because there's someone crazy guarding
<v Speaker 1>the bridge who's in one of these factions, saying that
<v Speaker 1>if you don't bring me these people who did not
<v Speaker 1>live up to the oath of dying for the faction,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not gonna let you through and say, well, I
<v Speaker 1>don't really want to give these people over to a
<v Speaker 1>death called if I can avoid it, And then even then, I.
<v Speaker 2>Like, it seems all of the cadence of that sentence,
<v Speaker 2>then yes.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know if I can avoid it. All right,
<v Speaker 3>I can avoid it.
<v Speaker 1>I got to a point where I'm like, I might
<v Speaker 1>not be able to avoid it, and I want to
<v Speaker 1>continue playing this game, so whatever the game is going
<v Speaker 1>to make me be a bad person, maybe that's just
<v Speaker 1>the art I'm going to have to go on. But
<v Speaker 1>even then, I'm like, I can't necessarily figure out how
<v Speaker 1>to get things done here.
<v Speaker 3>And then so I looked at the map.
<v Speaker 1>I saw some other options, like maybe if I go
<v Speaker 1>this way, and I did, and it was like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>this feels like, you know, finding another solution and kind
<v Speaker 1>of getting to the back door of this area that
<v Speaker 1>I was supposed to be going to anyhow, And it
<v Speaker 1>just felt really good to be like I have hit
<v Speaker 1>these walls dealing with people, Now, can I just use
<v Speaker 1>this actual islands and some of my abilities to get
<v Speaker 1>around instead?
<v Speaker 3>And that felt very rewarding, so nice, I'm like it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I like that. Yeah, that's definitely a recommendation. It's
<v Speaker 2>definitely that definitely feels more RPG ish to me. So yeah,
<v Speaker 2>that's that's You've recommended the game to be very strongly
<v Speaker 2>right there.
<v Speaker 1>And then I think the final thing I would say, Rachel,
<v Speaker 1>is that if people are still wondering about the characterization,
<v Speaker 1>the writing, the present presentation of the characters, if you
<v Speaker 1>like Fallout, this feels very much like Fallout in space,
<v Speaker 1>like even more so than Outer Worlds one did, So okay, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that if that sort of writing of characters where they
<v Speaker 1>are sort of chip like chirpy Chippy, they have that
<v Speaker 1>sort of happy attitude about stuff all the times, even
<v Speaker 1>though there's all kinds of terrible things happening.
<v Speaker 3>They strike a similar tone here.
<v Speaker 1>So and once I started recognizing as like, oh, this
<v Speaker 1>is just them continuing to do Fallout, then I'm going
<v Speaker 1>to I'm going to get into it and kind of
<v Speaker 1>recognize that's what they're going for and judge it on
<v Speaker 1>those terms, and on those terms, it's doing very well.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, good, all right, let's get onto the next story.
<v Speaker 1>A report says Microsoft is cracking down on Xbox with
<v Speaker 1>absurd profit requirements. This is from Kenneth Sheppard at Kotaku.
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg has published a new report about the state of
<v Speaker 1>Microsoft's Xbox division, providing some potential insight into the reasoning
<v Speaker 1>behind so many baffling decisions the company has made.
<v Speaker 3>In the past two years.
<v Speaker 1>Microsoft leadership has been pushing Xbox to reach a much
<v Speaker 1>higher profit margin than is typically expected in the video
<v Speaker 1>game industry, and the result is a fundamental shakeup in
<v Speaker 1>everything the company has been building, leading to raising prices,
<v Speaker 1>canceling games, and sweeping layoffs across its many acquired studios.
<v Speaker 1>According to the report, Microsoft set a goal for Xbox
<v Speaker 1>of thirty percent accountability margins is what they're called, which
<v Speaker 1>is apparently the term the company us to make a
<v Speaker 1>place of profit margins. It feels like ooh, it feels
<v Speaker 1>like double speak. It feels like we're going to get
<v Speaker 1>a lot of that today. Actually, actually, yeah, it won't.
<v Speaker 3>Be the last time. Won't be the last time we
<v Speaker 3>talked about Orwellian language. Today by the.
<v Speaker 1>Way, Yeah, so thirty percent profit margins. Basically, let's explain
<v Speaker 1>it very simply. I'm sure most people listening and understand
<v Speaker 1>what's happening here. But you spend a certain amount of
<v Speaker 1>money to make a thing, and then you get a
<v Speaker 1>certain amount of revenue from selling the thing, and then
<v Speaker 1>you subtract the making price from the rev a new price,
<v Speaker 1>and that's your profit margin. And the profit margin is
<v Speaker 1>you know, judge this a percentage based of that of
<v Speaker 1>the cost to produce the product. Usually in video games,
<v Speaker 1>is around fifteen percent. That is maybe that's maybe the
<v Speaker 1>best way to put that is that that's the floor
<v Speaker 1>a lot of these publishers are looking for when they
<v Speaker 1>green light a project. Hey put together a spreadsheet and
<v Speaker 1>explain to me what like how this game is going
<v Speaker 1>to sell and how much it's going to cost, And
<v Speaker 1>as long as that floor is around fifteen percent, there's
<v Speaker 1>a chance you could get a green light from a publisher.
<v Speaker 1>Now that's changed a lot, because you know, a game
<v Speaker 1>can make infinitely more than its budget, because it could
<v Speaker 1>just go on for years and years and years. It
<v Speaker 1>could be a fortnit where it's like that doesn't make
<v Speaker 1>any sense to expect fifteen percent return. No, it could
<v Speaker 1>be way more than that. But generally, when a company
<v Speaker 1>like EA is looking to green light a project I've
<v Speaker 1>heard over and over again, they are looking for that
<v Speaker 1>magic number of fifteen percent. Thirty percent is double that.
<v Speaker 1>That's twice as much money. Rachel, Right, I'm gonna my
<v Speaker 1>math is not wrong.
<v Speaker 2>No, I'm trying to think if I've ever heard of
<v Speaker 2>a company, maybe rock Star, making a thirty percent profit
<v Speaker 2>margin on anything, or reporting a thirty percent profit margin
<v Speaker 2>in any quarter. I mean I've I've I've read like
<v Speaker 2>I've read hundreds of quarterly reports since I started in
<v Speaker 2>this industry, and I am trying to think, if I've
<v Speaker 2>ever heard of a company reporting a thirty percent accountability
<v Speaker 2>margin on any in any quarter, and even if it's
<v Speaker 2>even if it's most favorable quarters, like maybe once or twice.
<v Speaker 2>Have I ever heard of a company making that much profit?
<v Speaker 2>But it's very rare and very difficult to achieve.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, So this is this is the keystone understanding everything
<v Speaker 1>that's been happening at Xbox, isn't it?
<v Speaker 2>Like?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it makes sense now that we know this, It's like, oh, okay,
<v Speaker 1>this is why they can't just eat the costs of tariffs,
<v Speaker 1>because tariffs are eating into a margin that is already
<v Speaker 1>going to be impossible for them to meet. And then
<v Speaker 1>you know a studio getting close, like you know, the
<v Speaker 1>initiative getting closed, making Perfect Dark and shutting down that project.
<v Speaker 1>That's a project that probably out of the gate, doesn't
<v Speaker 1>make it. It's gonna be expensive to make, and it's
<v Speaker 1>probably gonna have an uphill battle, like to fight to
<v Speaker 1>like really win people over, because it's a new game
<v Speaker 1>and the developer is going to take time to really
<v Speaker 1>figure it out. Usually it's the sequel that delivers and
<v Speaker 1>does not seem like they're interested in weathering any sort
<v Speaker 1>of like, oh well, let's invest now in a series
<v Speaker 1>and expect maybe five percent return, because maybe we'll get
<v Speaker 1>twenty five percent the next time around. Turns out that
<v Speaker 1>entire scenario is not good enough. It's like far from
<v Speaker 1>good enough for them, So of course, cancel that game,
<v Speaker 1>Cancel all these other games, shut down a bunch of studios.
<v Speaker 3>I think the question, Rachel.
<v Speaker 1>Is what you know Obviously we know what this thirty
<v Speaker 1>percent profit march it says about many of the decisions
<v Speaker 1>they've already made. What does it say to you about
<v Speaker 1>Microsoft's patience for the Xbox brand going forward.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, well, first of all, I'm just gonna say,
<v Speaker 2>this feels almost like we were saying the quiet part
<v Speaker 2>out loud because we've known that there is something so
<v Speaker 2>something's wrotten in the state of Denmark, and every.
<v Speaker 1>Time we had this conversation, I think that there's always
<v Speaker 1>at least one comment from either media or the guests
<v Speaker 1>where we say, we're sure there is pressure being put
<v Speaker 1>on Phil and his team by people above him at Microsoft,
<v Speaker 1>and this is the exact thing that we were all
<v Speaker 1>imagining something along these lines. I think having him put
<v Speaker 1>it in stark numbers like this is still shocking.
<v Speaker 3>It is. Yeah, it's not surprising.
<v Speaker 2>Though I wouldn't have I wouldn't have put it to
<v Speaker 2>a thirty percent profit margin. Let's just call it what
<v Speaker 2>it is. I wouldn't have put that number down in
<v Speaker 2>my wildest suppositions. But yeah, that it feels like this
<v Speaker 2>almost is like more of a validation than a revelation here.
<v Speaker 2>But I think also, I guess I'm kind of wondering, like,
<v Speaker 2>why is it putting this much pressure on Xbox? And
<v Speaker 2>I think what the story we're going to get to
<v Speaker 2>next is also kind of a little bit of an
<v Speaker 2>explainer of that. I think it's that they want Xbox
<v Speaker 2>to do to make very particular kinds of projects, and
<v Speaker 2>Xbox has never necessarily been about those particular kinds of projects.
<v Speaker 2>So I think, yeah, this, now, this kind of recasts
<v Speaker 2>all of Xbox's decisions as you know, we're scrambling to
<v Speaker 2>meet this impossible watermark that you know, and so we
<v Speaker 2>just have to cut as much ballast as we can
<v Speaker 2>so that we can just get up as high, get
<v Speaker 2>try to reach this, do whatever we can to reach this,
<v Speaker 2>so that we can at least show them that we're trying. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>because I think I think even they know that it's
<v Speaker 2>not possible to meet those numbers. I mean, I don't
<v Speaker 2>even want to imagine what they would have to do
<v Speaker 2>in order to meet those numbers. It doesn't seem financially possible, right.
<v Speaker 1>So I remember years ago Phil Spencer talking about how
<v Speaker 1>he liked setting high expectations internally because it forces everyone
<v Speaker 1>to look at every decision they're making about like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>is this going to help get to this?
<v Speaker 3>Really to have to reach number?
<v Speaker 1>And you know, the obvious implication there is maybe we
<v Speaker 1>won't reach that impossible number, but.
<v Speaker 3>We'll have the best. We'll still have like the best that.
<v Speaker 1>We can get out of these people and out of
<v Speaker 1>our projects in terms of a you know, risk to
<v Speaker 1>profit a ratio like we're going to really.
<v Speaker 3>Get the best.
<v Speaker 1>And I think they're like for Microsoft and it gets like, hey,
<v Speaker 1>we don't necessarily want to get into micromanaging you over Xbox,
<v Speaker 1>but you need to reach this number because we just
<v Speaker 1>need you to cut off anything that you don't think
<v Speaker 1>is contributing in a significant way to making us a
<v Speaker 1>lot of money.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, because they're not even necessarily expecting all of the
<v Speaker 2>profits to make that amount of money. What they I
<v Speaker 2>think the other part is that they want these projects
<v Speaker 2>to be made for much less money. They want to
<v Speaker 2>drive the cost that's everything. That's that's the real reason
<v Speaker 2>why that that's the real way to make profit margins
<v Speaker 2>go up is that you bring operating expenses down as
<v Speaker 2>low as you can and then profit margins shoot up
<v Speaker 2>even if your product is making the exactact same amount
<v Speaker 2>of money as it was.
<v Speaker 1>Right, this is Microsoft saying, we're not telling you to
<v Speaker 1>necessarily go out there and fire this person or that person.
<v Speaker 1>We're telling you got a thirty percent profit margin, you've
<v Speaker 1>got to meet what is it going to take to
<v Speaker 1>get there? And then that it's basically forcing them in
<v Speaker 1>a situation where like they have to consider cutting every job,
<v Speaker 1>and they have to consider cutting every project.
<v Speaker 2>And they replaced with AI.
<v Speaker 3>And then what can they replace with AI? Exactly?
<v Speaker 1>So it forces this big team that is kind of unwieldy,
<v Speaker 1>spread all over the globe, divided amongst not just many
<v Speaker 1>different studios, but many different brands under the Xbox label
<v Speaker 1>of at Activision and Bethesda over here, and those companies
<v Speaker 1>kind of still operating in their own silos in a
<v Speaker 1>lot of way. Is that cost the less money? Maybe
<v Speaker 1>we should bring everything in house over here? And it's
<v Speaker 1>like this is going to force you to figure that
<v Speaker 1>out because it's not something that would happen naturally. But
<v Speaker 1>if you have to make those cuts because we are
<v Speaker 1>putting this thirty percent number on top of you, maybe
<v Speaker 1>you'll finally do it. It feels throat and really bad
<v Speaker 1>for video games. It feels like this is not the
<v Speaker 1>way that the biggest American video game company should be
<v Speaker 1>operating if we want a healthy future for video games.
<v Speaker 2>Right, I don't think Microsoft sees itself as the biggest
<v Speaker 2>American video game company. It's so, I mean, maybe it
<v Speaker 2>sees Xbox that way, but it doesn't think of itself
<v Speaker 2>as a video game company. And I think that's the
<v Speaker 2>I think that's the issue here is that they're they're
<v Speaker 2>not looking at this and saying, you know, what can
<v Speaker 2>we do to serve the video game market? They're like,
<v Speaker 2>how can we make the video game market serve our
<v Speaker 2>greater our greater purposes? Yep, which I which I think
<v Speaker 2>in this case is is you know, investing a lot
<v Speaker 2>in AI.
<v Speaker 1>Uh, well you mentioned this. We do have the other
<v Speaker 1>story here. Let's hit this pretty quickly. Microsoft is cracking
<v Speaker 1>down on Xbox with absurd profit requirements. From Kenneth shot,
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry, that's I just repeated this U Xbox is
<v Speaker 1>Sarah Bond says, the idea of exclusives outdated is what
<v Speaker 1>I meant to read there.
<v Speaker 3>From Chris calling at VGC. Uh.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so the story here is just like, oh, now,
<v Speaker 1>every time one of these things happens or one of
<v Speaker 1>these comments is made, we could just draw a direct
<v Speaker 1>line to well, of course, exclusives are outdated in a
<v Speaker 1>world where you have to make a thirty percent profit margin.
<v Speaker 1>You can't do that just on Xbox and PC. You
<v Speaker 1>have to put it out in more places, especially places
<v Speaker 1>where people buy video games and don't just get game
<v Speaker 1>pass because you know, this is probably something we don't
<v Speaker 1>know exactly the answer to, but that's thirty percent profit margin.
<v Speaker 3>I don't think it's just like an Xbox thing.
<v Speaker 1>I think it's like studio to studio, and I think
<v Speaker 1>the studio's profit margin is calculated by how much revenue
<v Speaker 1>their game makes, and the game pass revenue doesn't really
<v Speaker 1>get sliced up in a divided among these studios, so
<v Speaker 1>they have to make their money separately from the primary
<v Speaker 1>way for many years that Microsoft was telling people to
<v Speaker 1>consume video games. So it's like, oh, of course every
<v Speaker 1>game has to go to all platforms because we could
<v Speaker 1>just see why now right.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And to be fair, I do think that is
<v Speaker 2>a fiscally responsible move to go multi platform because and
<v Speaker 2>I've told people this before, it really that's a very
<v Speaker 2>early two thousand the whole, like Xbox versus PlayStation. It's like,
<v Speaker 2>we're that's a very stuck in the early two thousands
<v Speaker 2>mindset for video games. I don't feel it doesn't feel
<v Speaker 2>like reflective of what the industry is now. But I
<v Speaker 2>think what Sarah says here about seeing people of all
<v Speaker 2>past that the biggest games in the world are this.
<v Speaker 2>She mentions Roadblocks, Fortnite, Minecraft, Call of Duty, and I
<v Speaker 2>think Minecraft, not Minecraft, Sorry, Fortnite and Roadblocks are the
<v Speaker 2>key names in there. I think that is more reflective
<v Speaker 2>of what the higher ups in the industry want. They
<v Speaker 2>don't want, you know, they don't want let's just just
<v Speaker 2>to pull a name out of the out of the
<v Speaker 2>air here. They don't want a Ghost of Yota. You know,
<v Speaker 2>Ghost of Yota. It's a great, great game, critically acclaimed,
<v Speaker 2>has a very narrow window where it's going to be
<v Speaker 2>culturally and financially relevant. And they want Fortnite, a game
<v Speaker 2>that is culturally and financially relevant for going on nearly
<v Speaker 2>a decade now.
<v Speaker 1>And those are platforms now, those that's where games get
<v Speaker 1>made inside those things, and you can maybe control the
<v Speaker 1>economics of that in an even more to Cronian way
<v Speaker 1>than you could on a console platform. So it's I mean,
<v Speaker 1>look at the Roadblocks is split. It's way worse than
<v Speaker 1>what someone gets from making a game for Xbox. And
<v Speaker 1>yet the games are getting made on roadblocks now and
<v Speaker 1>they become global hits, and I see the toys at McDonald's.
<v Speaker 1>So that's I mean, we're far past the point where
<v Speaker 1>this is really even a conversation.
<v Speaker 3>It's like, yeah, obviously those are the platforms now.
<v Speaker 2>You want to know the funny part, I'm pretty sure
<v Speaker 2>when Fortnite Battle Royale was pitched to Epic, I'm pretty
<v Speaker 2>sure they did get that spreadsheet where it's like, this
<v Speaker 2>is the profit we could expect for the next like
<v Speaker 2>twelve months after this project project launches, because I don't
<v Speaker 2>think they went into Fortnite Battle Royale thinking this is
<v Speaker 2>going to be a cultural phenomenon that is going to,
<v Speaker 2>you know, be a major part of our business for
<v Speaker 2>the next decade.
<v Speaker 3>All right, let's take a quick break.
<v Speaker 1>If you want to skip out on these, we have
<v Speaker 1>a premium version of the audio show and video show.
<v Speaker 1>You it by going to giant bomb dot com slash
<v Speaker 1>join become a premium member.
<v Speaker 3>If you didn't do that, though, we will be right back.
<v Speaker 3>What's that. Can you hear that? Folks?
<v Speaker 4>It's oh god, it's coming down the pike. It's the
<v Speaker 4>Giant Bambathon. My goodness, folks. We are one week away
<v Speaker 4>or less, depending on when you're hearing this. That's right,
<v Speaker 4>The Giant Bambathon is coming your way live from the
<v Speaker 4>East Coast five pm Eastern on Monday October twenty seventh
<v Speaker 4>to five pm Eastern on Tuesday, October twenty eighth.
<v Speaker 3>Take Tuesday off listen.
<v Speaker 4>We had to do this on a Monday night. We
<v Speaker 4>know it's during the week. Take Tuesday off, Take it
<v Speaker 4>off now, get your request in.
<v Speaker 3>That's right.
<v Speaker 4>Twenty four hours of local multiplayer Shenanigans, gimmicks, fun, Hullablu,
<v Speaker 4>all this uff, Pyroballey.
<v Speaker 3>Who know no Pyro.
<v Speaker 4>We had the confetti canon last time. That didn't work. Well,
<v Speaker 4>We're gonna have a lot of fun, folks. It's gonna
<v Speaker 4>be the five owners of Giant Bomb. You know who
<v Speaker 4>we are. And we also have Chuck and Sean flying
<v Speaker 4>out to join the festivities. That's right. Remember Monday at
<v Speaker 4>five pm and to Tuesday at five pm. Take Tuesday
<v Speaker 4>off work. We're gonna be there live on Twitch on YouTube.
<v Speaker 4>Check us out. It's gonna be a lot of fun
<v Speaker 4>and uh we'll make it worth your while. We got
<v Speaker 4>some incentives, we got we got some stuff you might
<v Speaker 4>like to see.
<v Speaker 3>I got things.
<v Speaker 4>I'm biting my tongue on. I'd like to say some
<v Speaker 4>of these incentives, but you'll have to tune in Monday night,
<v Speaker 4>five pm Eastern.
<v Speaker 3>Be there the Giant Bamathon.
<v Speaker 1>All Right, Game Mess Mornings, Rachel Kazer, Jeff Grubb back
<v Speaker 1>at it. That means more headlines starting here with Kirby
<v Speaker 1>air Riders Global test Ride.
<v Speaker 3>Demo kicks off next month.
<v Speaker 1>I did watch this second sixty minute direct this morning
<v Speaker 1>with Mike Manati that that's up on Giant Bomb. If
<v Speaker 1>anyone wants good watch us react to that.
<v Speaker 2>I got that name.
<v Speaker 1>It was certainly it was surprisingly well done.
<v Speaker 3>Like it was.
<v Speaker 1>It didn't feel like sixty minutes by the end, I'm
<v Speaker 1>I got that kind of flew by. But he really
<v Speaker 1>did go into every detail. He talked about the main menu.
<v Speaker 1>He spent some time talking about that, going into the
<v Speaker 1>settings and some of that stuff. Was like, oh wow,
<v Speaker 1>they're doing some extra stuff here, like they have some
<v Speaker 1>accessibility options that I wasn't expecting. Mostly was just happy
<v Speaker 1>for Sakarai that he was able to just talk about
<v Speaker 1>his game in a way that he clearly very much
<v Speaker 1>cares about. Like he's like all these details matter to me.
<v Speaker 1>I'm glad he could just come out and express that
<v Speaker 1>that was fun. But this Kirby Air Riders direct or,
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry, Career Writers Global Test Ride Demo is come. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>it is coming next month. It is like a limited
<v Speaker 1>time thing, so I think it starts and they want
<v Speaker 1>people to all hop online at the same time to
<v Speaker 1>test it and that. So that's happening on the eighth
<v Speaker 1>of November at midnight Pacific time, and then there will
<v Speaker 1>be another one at like four pm that day, and
<v Speaker 1>then the next day there'll be more, and then the
<v Speaker 1>next week on the fifteenth, they'll kind of start that
<v Speaker 1>schedule all over again.
<v Speaker 3>So on the eighth and.
<v Speaker 1>The fifteenth, let's see here at midnight four pm, and
<v Speaker 1>then seven am on the following day. So, yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>want to check this out because I need to know, like,
<v Speaker 1>does the game feel any different, because as far as
<v Speaker 1>I can tell, it looks a lot like Kirby Air
<v Speaker 1>Ride for GameCube. Was that a game you ever spent
<v Speaker 1>any time with?
<v Speaker 2>I didn't have a game cube, so no, I never
<v Speaker 2>actually played it. So I'm actually looking forward to getting
<v Speaker 2>a chance to play a Kirby Air just game.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and this one looks like he's putting everything into it.
<v Speaker 1>And he did say that, actually that he's like.
<v Speaker 2>He seemed very enthusiastic about it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, he's cute.
<v Speaker 1>Actually, yeah, it's you know what it's he says. It's
<v Speaker 1>not there's not going to plan a sequel. They're not
<v Speaker 1>playing in any DLC.
<v Speaker 3>This is just it. He's putting everything into this game,
<v Speaker 3>and I respect that. That is very cool.
<v Speaker 1>All right, Well, that's some good news for an upcoming
<v Speaker 1>switch two game. There's some bad news for elden Ring
<v Speaker 1>on the switch To. It has been delayed officially to
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty six. Although I doubt many people are surprised.
<v Speaker 1>Oh they had just they just have not talked about
<v Speaker 1>that thing at all since they announced it. This is
<v Speaker 1>from Nintendo Everything. Elden Ring Tarnished Edition has been delayed
<v Speaker 1>on Nintendo Switch To and the game won't be launching
<v Speaker 1>this year. Originally, the plan was to have the title
<v Speaker 1>ready to go this year, but as we're a couple
<v Speaker 1>months out before the end of twenty twenty five, the
<v Speaker 1>delay won't come as much of surprise, and a statement
<v Speaker 1>from Software confirmed that it's working on performance adjustments and
<v Speaker 1>that's the.
<v Speaker 3>Real reason for the delay.
<v Speaker 1>The statement here kind of reads regarding the Nintendo switch
<v Speaker 1>To version of Elder Ring Tarnished Edition, which was scheduled
<v Speaker 1>for release in twenty twenty five. We have determined that
<v Speaker 1>additional time is required for game performance adjustments, and we
<v Speaker 1>will therefore be changing the release to twenty twenty six.
<v Speaker 1>Nothing more specific than that. Yeah, I'm glad that they
<v Speaker 1>made this decision. Right Like there, if you get a
<v Speaker 1>game running well on switch to, even if it's a
<v Speaker 1>port of a game several years old, at this point,
<v Speaker 1>it seems like the audience is ready to reward you.
<v Speaker 1>Something I'll point out over and over again happen to
<v Speaker 1>start Outlaws, although it didn't seem like enough to save
<v Speaker 1>that studio from Ubisoft, but they they still like that game.
<v Speaker 1>Seemed like it did better on switch to because it
<v Speaker 1>ran well, like pop back up into the Sircanas Monthly
<v Speaker 1>Report and.
<v Speaker 3>Stuff like that.
<v Speaker 1>So don't put out a version of Elden Ring that
<v Speaker 1>runs like shit on switch to. There's no reason for that.
<v Speaker 1>They should be able to get it together, right Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>My only comment is just that then I can already
<v Speaker 2>see it now. Somewhere, somehow there's a comment saying it's
<v Speaker 2>like it's delayed because they're working on Bloodborne Remastered. It's
<v Speaker 2>probably they're probably they're going to they're going to make
<v Speaker 2>a Bloodborn for switch To.
<v Speaker 1>Well, what there is you know, there's that game that
<v Speaker 1>they are making for switch To that has blood in
<v Speaker 1>the name.
<v Speaker 3>Now I can't remember what it is.
<v Speaker 2>I know what you mean, but I can't remember.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, when is that blood of Dust Bloods?
<v Speaker 1>When is that coming as that next year as well?
<v Speaker 1>Did they maybe say most Bloods release date?
<v Speaker 2>Trying to like going back in the mental library, Uh,
<v Speaker 2>Dusk Blood's.
<v Speaker 1>Is scheduled to be released in twenty twenty six, but
<v Speaker 1>it doesn't have an exact release date. Okay, Yeah, that
<v Speaker 1>one never felt like it was early twenty twenty six though, So.
<v Speaker 2>No, I think they'd be talking about it more if
<v Speaker 2>it were.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, agreed, so we probably we probably could hear about
<v Speaker 1>it early next year, but for something in the summer
<v Speaker 1>or beyond. Still want to see what that game is
<v Speaker 1>all about, because it's another sort of seemingly multiplayer infused
<v Speaker 1>from software game right the night Rain.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they seem to be that seems to be there,
<v Speaker 2>I mean to be fair. Elden Ring is where Night
<v Speaker 2>Rain is working out really well for them, So I
<v Speaker 2>understand if they that's the direction.
<v Speaker 1>Their games have multiplayer of some form or another, so
<v Speaker 1>it's like, yeah, something they're clearly curious about and want
<v Speaker 1>to explore more. All right, we mentioned it, but let's uh,
<v Speaker 1>let's go ahead and talk about it. You'd be soft
<v Speaker 1>roasted for asking devs to accept quote voluntary career transition.
<v Speaker 3>This is from Blair mar Now at game Spot.
<v Speaker 1>Earlier this year, You'bisoft laid off laid off devs at
<v Speaker 1>Redstorm Entertainment amid a larger restructuring of the company, including
<v Speaker 1>the been off subsidy with Tencent that will focus on
<v Speaker 1>Assassin's Creed, far Cry and Rainbow six. Now Ubisoft is
<v Speaker 1>looking to sheddy even more developers, and it's been called
<v Speaker 1>out online by fans and industry figures for the way
<v Speaker 1>it characterized layoffs as a quote voluntary career transition. The
<v Speaker 1>affected studio is Massive Entertainment, the developer behind Star Wars Outlaws.
<v Speaker 1>The game did fail to meet Ubisoft's sales expectations, but
<v Speaker 1>Ubisoft did not say if that's why staff are being
<v Speaker 1>let go. In the message shared below, the Ubisoft states
<v Speaker 1>that it has introduced a voluntary career transition program, giving
<v Speaker 1>eligible team members the opportunity to take their career or
<v Speaker 1>their next grew step on their own terms, supported by
<v Speaker 1>a comprehensive package that includes financial and career assistance. Some
<v Speaker 1>observers have called that corporate speak, but it's also reminiscent
<v Speaker 1>of new speak from nineteen eighty four, where it certainly
<v Speaker 1>is don't ye people call it chocolate cake. Don't like
<v Speaker 1>just ruin people's day and go in there and talk
<v Speaker 1>about how it's going to be this chipper opportunity for them.
<v Speaker 1>You got to have some respect when you're And I
<v Speaker 1>get it's a voluntary thing actually, so it's like people
<v Speaker 1>can volunteer to lose their job and get a package
<v Speaker 1>and stuff like that. It's voluntary voluntary layoffs essentially, but
<v Speaker 1>that we all know what that that that's what this
<v Speaker 1>this is. So don't go through this rigamarole to position
<v Speaker 1>it as somewhat in some way it's a positive thing.
<v Speaker 2>I also discovery I feel like a shower right now.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, this was clearly written by AI, which at
<v Speaker 1>this point it's like we can always tell I might
<v Speaker 1>get that maybe it's saved you some time and you
<v Speaker 1>don't want to have to write the icky thing about
<v Speaker 1>laying people off. But this shows why it requires the
<v Speaker 1>deft hand of a real human who actually has some
<v Speaker 1>humanity left inside them, because otherwise you get some dribble
<v Speaker 1>like this.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah it's and yeah didn't Mark Mark Alexei Kote also
<v Speaker 2>say that that was of like he was offered the
<v Speaker 2>chance to work in a diminist role at the you know,
<v Speaker 2>when the franchise that he's been like the leader of for.
<v Speaker 1>The lasted, right, he was he oversaw the Assassin's Creed
<v Speaker 1>and uh, yeah, they left and then he was like,
<v Speaker 1>I was not. I didn't leave voluntarily. I was pushed out.
<v Speaker 1>And it's basically he was like he was gonna, I'm
<v Speaker 1>gona keep my job, and they're like, well, unless you
<v Speaker 1>come do this diminished, reduced job over here at this
<v Speaker 1>studio that's going to oversee Assassin's Creed.
<v Speaker 3>Now, uh, we're not, we don't want you.
<v Speaker 2>And so they yeah, that was, Yeah, that was that
<v Speaker 2>was a horrible like thing because if you look back
<v Speaker 2>on the statements from I guess it was from like
<v Speaker 2>their their the Creative House, the was it bandage studios
<v Speaker 2>where they say like, oh, we're so sorry to see
<v Speaker 2>Mark go. He We're gonna miss him so much, And
<v Speaker 2>in retrospect that just feels really my insurance company is
<v Speaker 2>calling me go away in retrospect speaking of Warwillian. But
<v Speaker 2>in retrospect that just feels so again, like you said,
<v Speaker 2>written by Ai, like we're so sorry to see this
<v Speaker 2>very important member of our team go. If only there
<v Speaker 2>was something we could have done to keep him around.
<v Speaker 1>So I got a I got a new cat, and
<v Speaker 1>he's I think I think I hear him ollen.
<v Speaker 3>He's been hiding since yesterday.
<v Speaker 1>His name is Brooks's rat, and we we're just trying
<v Speaker 1>to make a nice home for him, but so far
<v Speaker 1>he's just been like hiding under couches, which is what
<v Speaker 1>cats do.
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to show you the pictures of the box
<v Speaker 2>sport that I made for my cat.
<v Speaker 3>Please, I would love that.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, Brooks was here, that's right, all right, I've that
<v Speaker 1>yes Orwellian story and you said it right, Rachel, and
<v Speaker 1>I just you'd best continues to be a real hot mess.
<v Speaker 1>And the faith I have in their ability to like
<v Speaker 1>figure this out is very very tiny.
<v Speaker 3>So we'll see what happens with that. Company.
<v Speaker 1>Meanwhile, Crafton announces admits a transition to AI first dystopia,
<v Speaker 1>including automated HR. This is from Jake Valentine at Duel Shockers,
<v Speaker 1>South Korean video game publisherton is best known for being
<v Speaker 1>behind pubg Battlegrounds and more recently Dead Space's.
<v Speaker 3>Spiritual successor the Callisto Protocol.
<v Speaker 1>Starting today, however, they're going to be known for something else,
<v Speaker 1>becoming an AI first company. The company has announced a
<v Speaker 1>complete reorganization of its operational development system with AI front
<v Speaker 1>and center. The goal, which is filled with buzzwords is
<v Speaker 1>to yeah, is to and I promise I'm paraphrasing here
<v Speaker 1>transform how Crafton works with agentic AI based automation while
<v Speaker 1>also enhancing employee growth and corporate competitiveness.
<v Speaker 3>Here's like where a real quote starts.
<v Speaker 1>Starting today, craft will automate work centered on agentic AI
<v Speaker 1>and fully implement an AI centered management system where members
<v Speaker 1>focus on creative activities and complex problem solving. They go
<v Speaker 1>on to say, like everything is going to be infused
<v Speaker 1>or done straight up by AI, including, as the story
<v Speaker 1>points out, human resources, human resources.
<v Speaker 2>Human resources? Why did you bring me on here? And
<v Speaker 2>I just want to go take a shower.
<v Speaker 1>After that, I knew, like, I'm like, who can I
<v Speaker 1>really make miserable today?
<v Speaker 2>This is why I got you brought Yeah, you brought
<v Speaker 2>me on so I could like try to lend a
<v Speaker 2>little bit of like life and uh, you know, maybe
<v Speaker 2>maybe a little bit of cynical humor to this. I
<v Speaker 2>don't know, but yeah, this is a I mean, I
<v Speaker 2>don't know if they were they expecting applause for this. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>why this feels like something that you would do quietly
<v Speaker 2>behind the scenes, not say that you're doing because you're
<v Speaker 2>you know, you know, you're excited about the new direction
<v Speaker 2>your company is taking, where we're gonna let AI guide
<v Speaker 2>the you know, guide the path here, cut the stream
<v Speaker 2>for us, and yeah, just what are we Yeah, I'm
<v Speaker 2>looking at this, I'm like, what are you excited here? What?
<v Speaker 2>What's to be excited about? You're not even saying like,
<v Speaker 2>we're gonna build out AI and make it this amazing
<v Speaker 2>new technology and make it so useful for everyone. They're
<v Speaker 2>not even saying that. They're saying, we're fully gonna let
<v Speaker 2>AI do everything for us. Yep, It's that's how I'm
<v Speaker 2>reading it here anyway.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean right, and it's like we say, like
<v Speaker 1>why announce this? And of course we know why because
<v Speaker 1>it's like who would get excited to hear this?
<v Speaker 3>And then to what end would that benefit? Craft?
<v Speaker 1>And it's a well investors are still believing in AI
<v Speaker 1>and and a company's shareholders, Yeah, shareholders and telling that
<v Speaker 1>that class that hey, we are doing this and that's
<v Speaker 1>going to cut cost fewer humans.
<v Speaker 3>That's just better for you.
<v Speaker 1>That is the kind of thing where it's like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>now we can go present ourselves to even more investors
<v Speaker 1>and be like, look, we already have made successful games
<v Speaker 1>and going forward, we're gonna be able to do it
<v Speaker 1>even cheaper and more efficiently because we are an AI
<v Speaker 1>first company.
<v Speaker 3>You can trust us with your money. To me, Yeah, desperate.
<v Speaker 3>I think it's sad and desperate that that that.
<v Speaker 1>You know, what, if you're a video game company, if
<v Speaker 1>you want to get people to give you money, talk
<v Speaker 1>about your video games. Don't talk about this bullshit. This
<v Speaker 1>is so desperate.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, But I mean, what video games do they have
<v Speaker 2>on the slate that I think would differentiate them from
<v Speaker 2>everyone else out there? I mean it sucks to say,
<v Speaker 2>but PUBG has been beaten at its own game already.
<v Speaker 2>The Calisto protocol. The less said about that, the better,
<v Speaker 2>And I need to remember what.
<v Speaker 1>They acquired Tango game Works right through that Tango.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I haven't heard from Tango in a while.
<v Speaker 1>Whatever Hi Fi rush thing they're going to do next will.
<v Speaker 2>Pop up on Life Life check on Tango. Hello, can
<v Speaker 2>somebody please check on Tango make sure they're okay. We
<v Speaker 2>were happy for them because they weren't being shut down anymore,
<v Speaker 2>But now I'm like, what did we resurrect them to become?
<v Speaker 3>Yeaw that terror?
<v Speaker 2>That's terrifying.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'm right in chat here, mister Aristocrats says Tango's
<v Speaker 1>dead fam, and it's like, yeah, like, well, I don't
<v Speaker 1>Why would I walk around assuming that a company behaving
<v Speaker 1>and talking like this would he through whatever Tango game
<v Speaker 1>Works is going to be working on next. Like, I'm
<v Speaker 1>sure they bought Tango game Works and rescued him rescue them,
<v Speaker 1>but that that has to sustain itself throughout an entire
<v Speaker 1>development cycle for a game that I just don't think
<v Speaker 1>is gonna be like make billions of dollars, So they're
<v Speaker 1>gonna lose interest.
<v Speaker 3>I just think they're gonna lose interest.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, either, your chair was squeaking just now, or I
<v Speaker 2>heard Brooks me out.
<v Speaker 3>I think I think I think you heard Brooks.
<v Speaker 2>Brooks here, Hey buddy, okay, hi, are you okay? It's
<v Speaker 2>all right, honey, We're we're friendly.
<v Speaker 3>I swear there's food in a place to poop in there.
<v Speaker 2>Oh okay, that's fair. I can't. I can't compete with
<v Speaker 2>food in a litter box.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think I want to make sure he knows
<v Speaker 1>I showed him the litter box. We've got like a
<v Speaker 1>little bit of like some of his previously used litter,
<v Speaker 1>like a tiny little bit from his previous box, and
<v Speaker 1>put it in the new one to be like, hey man,
<v Speaker 1>this is home.
<v Speaker 3>But I'm not sure if he's used it yet.
<v Speaker 2>Kills right, Yeah, cat, he'll figure it out. I mean
<v Speaker 2>he'll he will settle in when he has decided he'll
<v Speaker 2>settle in. It's just like one day he'll just walk up,
<v Speaker 2>flop down on your lap and say, like, I live
<v Speaker 2>here now.
<v Speaker 1>So I'll pay the cat tax once I'm able to
<v Speaker 1>capture Brooks and show everybody.
<v Speaker 2>But for now, show him when he's comfortable. Let's wait
<v Speaker 2>until he don't. Don't just drag him out and hold
<v Speaker 2>him up in front of the camera like he's baby
<v Speaker 2>Simba exactly.
<v Speaker 3>All right. I think that does it for the headlines. Rachel.
<v Speaker 1>Let's go ahead and get to yesterday's poll question.
<v Speaker 3>I have the results over here. Let me make sure
<v Speaker 3>I can refresh and have them ready for this. Are
<v Speaker 3>you right? Are I don't know if I am ready? Sean, Okay,
<v Speaker 3>go prove that I'm ready. I'm putting the poll up
<v Speaker 3>on screen.
<v Speaker 1>And can they still hear me though? That's the thing
<v Speaker 1>I'm wondering about.
<v Speaker 3>They can still hear us? We did it? Everybody us
<v Speaker 3>say you never mind.
<v Speaker 2>I was considering pranking you just now where I was like, that'd.
<v Speaker 3>Be pretty good.
<v Speaker 1>Actually, uh, yesterday I asked, did you play Remedies f
<v Speaker 1>see fire Break?
<v Speaker 2>And I didn't? Am I bad? I didn't.
<v Speaker 1>You are joined by a crowd of eighty nine percent
<v Speaker 1>of respondents who said no. Eleven percent said yes. This
<v Speaker 1>is a game that was on game Pass, was on
<v Speaker 1>PlayStation plus. Uh and I think you know some people
<v Speaker 1>probably played it there. But what that says, what this
<v Speaker 1>number says to me is then nobody went out and
<v Speaker 1>bought it separately from that, which is kind of what
<v Speaker 1>we know. Yeah, that that game's fate.
<v Speaker 3>Uh, I mean it was all right.
<v Speaker 2>I didn't even I didn't even play it when it
<v Speaker 2>was like accessible to me. I think it was because
<v Speaker 2>I didn't really understand the point of it. It was
<v Speaker 2>kind of a you know, I I love control. I
<v Speaker 2>love control so much FBC Firebreak didn't really feel like
<v Speaker 2>it felt like it was the wrong genre, if you will.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it was.
<v Speaker 1>It's like Ghostbusters in what's the house called the old
<v Speaker 1>Oldest House?
<v Speaker 3>Is that how they refer to us?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it felt like a team of Ghostbusters, kind of
<v Speaker 1>generic Ghostbusters in the Oldest House, and it like that
<v Speaker 1>idea sounds better than they kind of, I think execute.
<v Speaker 1>I think they needed to go a little bit further
<v Speaker 1>towards that like whimsical side of what that would entail.
<v Speaker 1>There were some cool ideas. Anytime, like an object of
<v Speaker 1>power showed up, I was like, yeah, objects of power cool?
<v Speaker 1>All right, we have a new Poole question. We'll get
<v Speaker 1>to it here in a second. Before we do that, though, Rachel,
<v Speaker 1>why don't you tell people where they can find you
<v Speaker 1>on the internet, what you have going on and all
<v Speaker 1>that good stuff.
<v Speaker 2>Well, right now, you can find me on gamespeed dot com.
<v Speaker 2>That's where all of my professional writing is. And I
<v Speaker 2>actually have just started a new feature series called Boss
<v Speaker 2>Mode where we amplify the success, where we examine and
<v Speaker 2>amplify the success of women in the games and tech
<v Speaker 2>and entertainment industries. So we had our first Boss Mode
<v Speaker 2>with Aubrey Quinn from the Electronic from the Electronic the
<v Speaker 2>Entertainment Software Association. So she was amazing and we spent
<v Speaker 2>like a good like five minutes in there talking about
<v Speaker 2>doctor playing Doctor Mario and seventh guest as children, So
<v Speaker 2>which didn't make it into the official transcript that I
<v Speaker 2>used for the article, but I did put it in
<v Speaker 2>my newsletter as like a little bonus. So I actually
<v Speaker 2>do have a newsletter called Inside the Industry that is
<v Speaker 2>exclusive to GB max subscribers. And I don't necessarily expect
<v Speaker 2>anyone here to be a GB max subscriber, because it's it's.
<v Speaker 1>It's we got some premium of first Listen and some
<v Speaker 1>chief marketing offices are out there.
<v Speaker 3>Go check out gb mas. Yes, everybody, get a.
<v Speaker 2>Subscription for your whole company, and you know, read our
<v Speaker 2>and read the exclusive stuff. But for those of you
<v Speaker 2>who are not GB max subscribers, I am making videos
<v Speaker 2>on TikTok, which are eventually going to be elsewhere on
<v Speaker 2>the internet. I've just been using TikTok because the editing
<v Speaker 2>tools are pretty idiot proof, so I can make videos
<v Speaker 2>pretty easily on that platform. But yeah, look for us
<v Speaker 2>on TikTok as gamespeed Official and my account which is
<v Speaker 2>Rachel Kaser.
<v Speaker 3>Excellent, Thank you so much.
<v Speaker 1>We have the new poll question are you going to
<v Speaker 1>play the Outer Worlds too Simple?
<v Speaker 3>Yes or no? We'll get the results of that.
<v Speaker 1>Talk about it on Game mess Mornings here on giant
<v Speaker 1>Bomb tomorrow. Speaking to Giant Bomb tomorrow's show, we'll have
<v Speaker 1>the Bomb twelve. I put a link out for the
<v Speaker 1>form on Blue Sky and here in chat so people
<v Speaker 1>can go ahead and submit your game for the bottom
<v Speaker 1>twelve for tomorrow. That kind of came out late. I
<v Speaker 1>was busy yesterday. I was gonna do it yesterday, I
<v Speaker 1>couldn't get around to it, but I'll get I'll get
<v Speaker 1>a blog post posted as well for last week's results,
<v Speaker 1>so people could still find that, and then you could
<v Speaker 1>find the link on giant bomb dot com.
<v Speaker 3>I'll get that done today.
<v Speaker 1>And then let's see, it's Thursday, so I think we're
<v Speaker 1>gonna be back with voicemail dump truck. That's probably what
<v Speaker 1>is next. Might do something before that, but there are
<v Speaker 1>some other things. Well, if we do anything, it'll be
<v Speaker 1>this is the Run, which you know, me and Dan
<v Speaker 1>decided we're gonna we're gonna just beat Absolute in one go.
<v Speaker 1>So we're gonna play that today likely and take that
<v Speaker 1>on and then tomorrow.
<v Speaker 3>Thank you appreciate it.
<v Speaker 1>Tomorrow power Powerwatch Simulator two for UPF and maybe a
<v Speaker 1>few other things as well. In the meantime, we'll have
<v Speaker 1>some some quick looks popping off. I think the Outer
<v Speaker 1>World's Too Quick Looks should go up tomorrow because I
<v Speaker 1>think there's a streaming embargo We're gonna try to abide
<v Speaker 1>by there. All right, With all that out of the way,
<v Speaker 1>I think I gotta say, Rachel, thank you so much
<v Speaker 1>for hanging out with me today and talking about video games.
<v Speaker 3>I really appreciate it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I always, I always love coming on. Get me
<v Speaker 2>into a show with Mike again soon because that man,
<v Speaker 2>that man, that man needs to he needs to account
<v Speaker 2>for leaving me alone with Dean for a few weeks.
<v Speaker 3>He needs to answer for his sins. Absolutely, I agree, No,
<v Speaker 3>I'm kidding Thank you so much.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you everybody for watching and listening. You're the best
<v Speaker 1>audience in gaming. Until next time, have a good one,
<v Speaker 1>take care of yourself and goodbye bye