Warner Bros. is Considering Selling Stakes in its Video Game Business

<v Speaker 1>You know he got me bit, it's the Internet. You're busy.
<v Speaker 1>Let's do this for August seventh, twenty twenty four. For
<v Speaker 1>the next hour or so, let me help you sort
<v Speaker 1>through the world of gaming on Game Mess Mornings Live
<v Speaker 1>with me Jeff Grubb. Today, Warner Brothers is trying to
<v Speaker 1>get out of video games yet again. But will anyone
<v Speaker 1>want to buy? But first please join me and welcomeing
<v Speaker 1>today's co host the Game Mess Mornings. It's jan A Choa. Everybody,
<v Speaker 1>jan how are you doing? If I had to put
<v Speaker 1>money on it, I would say it's Wednesday? But I
<v Speaker 1>really Oh no, no, he's muted. Okay, all right, well jan.
<v Speaker 2>A shoa everybody. I don't know what day it is.
<v Speaker 1>Grub.
<v Speaker 2>I'm just gonna repeat the bit because no one heard.
<v Speaker 1>The No one heard it's it's still fresh.
<v Speaker 2>No one heard it. It's still fresh bits, Grub. I
<v Speaker 2>know we don't talk about politics too much on this
<v Speaker 2>website because we try and keep it as light as possible.
<v Speaker 1>Right sure, here and there?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, can I share a stupid joke?
<v Speaker 1>Oh? Please? I would love to hear it.
<v Speaker 2>H I you know. Uh. Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee
<v Speaker 2>for presidential whatever fuzz it's right, yeah, she she uh
<v Speaker 2>crowned or chose her VP, right, the chosen one, the
<v Speaker 2>chosen one. Coach Tim Walls, That's what I'm gonna call
<v Speaker 2>him affectionately, Walls out decked the Walls instead of being
<v Speaker 2>I know, Kamala gets uh criticized for being a d E.
<v Speaker 2>I higher. I think Tim Walls is an r E
<v Speaker 2>I higher.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, there it is, oh boys wearing the wearing the camera.
<v Speaker 1>She get the hook on this guy, drag him off
<v Speaker 1>this Oh man, you put on a shirt for that.
<v Speaker 2>I was so proud. I got my ari I coupon
<v Speaker 2>yesterday and it's just okay, this guy the fuck out
<v Speaker 2>in here.
<v Speaker 1>Boy, thank you Nick here. We needed that, all right.
<v Speaker 1>I'm feeling pretty good over here though.
<v Speaker 2>Uh.
<v Speaker 1>Tim Wall's guy seems pretty nice. I like him quite
<v Speaker 1>a bit. How are you, Jeff Grubb? Otherwise I'm pretty good.
<v Speaker 1>I'm uh busy, but like last night the power went
<v Speaker 1>out and it's like I can't Hindu can't do yeah,
<v Speaker 1>just about anything. So I just kind of it was
<v Speaker 1>like a good reset. It was out for a few hours,
<v Speaker 1>so it wasn't too bad.
<v Speaker 2>Are are you like full on Glenn Powelling right now
<v Speaker 2>are you?
<v Speaker 1>Are you Jason same as twister p Glenn Powelling, Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I was. Uh the twister came right at me. I
<v Speaker 1>guess it was like the the map of like where
<v Speaker 1>things started to go bad basically started right over my
<v Speaker 1>house and then went east. Uh, and so the good
<v Speaker 1>news there. It's like when I was like, oh, I
<v Speaker 1>gotta go get food, I could like just go a
<v Speaker 1>little bit west and everyone was fine and all the
<v Speaker 1>restaurants were open and stuff like that. But over here
<v Speaker 1>everyone all the power was out and hit me. And
<v Speaker 1>then it's like I was telling Mike, Mike, Mike power
<v Speaker 1>powers out, I don't know if we could do our
<v Speaker 1>podcast tonight, and then uh, his power went out as well. Thankfully,
<v Speaker 1>it all got restored relatively quickly, so no big deal,
<v Speaker 1>and the internet was back and all that. So yep,
<v Speaker 1>it was we were able to get it done, but
<v Speaker 1>it was it was a little scary. Other than that, though.
<v Speaker 1>The you know, the kids did not like being like, hey,
<v Speaker 1>the weather's so bad, you have to go in the basement,
<v Speaker 1>because then they're like, that's the end of the world. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>Like they cannot parse that that's probably gonna be okay,
<v Speaker 1>although they took them into that by the end.
<v Speaker 2>Are the Gimmicks too young to watch the original Twister?
<v Speaker 1>I don't think they're too young. They too young maybe
<v Speaker 1>to care. There's still very much in that age where
<v Speaker 1>if it's not animated, they almost don't want to watch.
<v Speaker 1>They're like, if it's live action, that is for adults.
<v Speaker 1>They're in that mindset in a lot of ways. It's
<v Speaker 1>that changes a little bit every once in a while,
<v Speaker 1>but for the most part, if it's live action, they
<v Speaker 1>sort of just tune out immediately. It's okay, Yeah, it's
<v Speaker 1>it's still all about Bluey and SpongeBob and now Peppa
<v Speaker 1>Pig is coming out of nowhere. Oh no, yeah, hell
<v Speaker 1>those Surly are winklets. It's it's wild over here now.
<v Speaker 1>So I don't know, we're we're enjoying ourselves still. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I know, I'm hanging in there. Jan How about you?
<v Speaker 1>You think things going well for you?
<v Speaker 2>No? Terrible, shoot terrible, but you know we're hanging and clanging. Baby,
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<v Speaker 2>four of well I guess six of us are headed
<v Speaker 2>to games called yep, So everyone.
<v Speaker 1>Get everything's like booked and good to go. Oh, I
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<v Speaker 1>to be on a train. I think that's that's pretty
<v Speaker 1>normal for Germany, right, Like, yeah, I don't know, it's.
<v Speaker 2>Pretty The only time I've ever been in Europe was
<v Speaker 2>eighteen hours in Copenhagen with Dan And yes, that is
<v Speaker 2>the that is the name of my indie feature. It's
<v Speaker 2>on indie Gogo right now. Please please fund it, please.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'm excited. I won't be able to make it.
<v Speaker 1>I was trying to make it happen, but it's conflicted
<v Speaker 1>with the first week of school and Steph also has
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<v Speaker 1>I think.
<v Speaker 2>I think about it and I don't know why. I
<v Speaker 2>wind up blumping myself and get lumped with being having
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<v Speaker 2>When we go on these trips, Tam and Lucy are
<v Speaker 2>of course going to be there representing Game Spot. We're
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<v Speaker 2>Manatti and Bailey My headed out to Cologne, Germany. So
<v Speaker 2>I'm if y'all got any REX for any miscellaneous touristy things,
<v Speaker 2>non touristy things, sketchy alleys, holler at your boy.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, I'm looking forward to it. There was a chance
<v Speaker 1>we could have done some stuff with them, but like
<v Speaker 1>we're out there on like on four games, Colm, like
<v Speaker 1>they like, hey you should come, Like, okay, that's great,
<v Speaker 1>but it was such a last minute thing, like we
<v Speaker 1>won't have like a stage precence or anything like that,
<v Speaker 1>but we'll be there hanging The team will be there
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<v Speaker 2>Also, I'm ninety percent sure PAX West is happening. We
<v Speaker 2>will have at least one panel there if you were
<v Speaker 2>interested in seeing some of the crew at PAS West this.
<v Speaker 1>Year, yep. And that's kind of pretty back to back,
<v Speaker 1>so a lot of the crew will be getting home
<v Speaker 1>and then immediately heading right back out. But we'll have
<v Speaker 1>more details on that here pretty soon. Let's go ahead
<v Speaker 1>and explain what we do here most weekdays. I Jeff Grubb,
<v Speaker 1>will help piece your gaming life back together. That includes
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<v Speaker 1>If you were watching live on twitch welcome, You can
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<v Speaker 1>we have a lot to get into, so let's start
<v Speaker 1>with PS five. Hardware sales are on the decline, but
<v Speaker 1>Sony is still looking healthy. This comes from Darren BoNT
<v Speaker 1>Us at GameSpot. Sony's latest financial financial results for the
<v Speaker 1>Q one period of its twenty twenty four financial year,
<v Speaker 1>which run through April first run from April first to
<v Speaker 1>June thirtieth, are in and the companies revealed that the
<v Speaker 1>PS five has reached sixty one point seven million lifetime
<v Speaker 1>sales so far. In this quarter, two point four million
<v Speaker 1>PS five consoles were sold, a figure that's down by
<v Speaker 1>twenty seven percent when compared to three point three million
<v Speaker 1>PS five consoles sold during the same period in the
<v Speaker 1>previousco year. Overall, Sony says Q one sales and its
<v Speaker 1>Games and Network Services section were still up twelve percent
<v Speaker 1>year on year, resulting in a thirty two percent increase
<v Speaker 1>in operating income. The company added that first party sales
<v Speaker 1>and PlayStation Plus subscriptions grew, with eighty percent of the
<v Speaker 1>fifty three point six million PS five games sold in
<v Speaker 1>Q one being digital purchases. Software sales broad in three
<v Speaker 1>point three billion in revenue, almost twenty percent growth year
<v Speaker 1>on year, but hardware revenue did decline by twenty one
<v Speaker 1>percent to nine hundred and ninety million. Sony also reported
<v Speaker 1>one hundred and sixteen million registered monthly active users, and
<v Speaker 1>increase when compared to one hundred and eight million last year,
<v Speaker 1>but a decrease from Q four Q four fiscal year
<v Speaker 1>twenty three is one hundred and eighteen million. So a
<v Speaker 1>lot of just like small facts and figures in there
<v Speaker 1>that we can pick apart a little bit. Mostly, I
<v Speaker 1>think we could start with hardware down, Console sales down,
<v Speaker 1>something that we've heard over and over again. Now across
<v Speaker 1>the board, it's down for the Switch, it's down a
<v Speaker 1>lot for the Xbox, and now it's down quite a
<v Speaker 1>bit for the PlayStation five as well. I think that
<v Speaker 1>when we look at the rest of the numbers, though,
<v Speaker 1>compared to that, like game sales are up, people subscribing
<v Speaker 1>to PlayStation Plus that is also up. You know, just
<v Speaker 1>raw a number of dollars made from all of these
<v Speaker 1>other segments in the gaming section four Sony are all up.
<v Speaker 1>I think that speaks to what's really happening here, and
<v Speaker 1>that that is a lot of people bought a lot
<v Speaker 1>of PS fives very quickly, maybe more quickly quickly than
<v Speaker 1>they would have in the past, because they felt a
<v Speaker 1>pressure to get it because there was that fomo it
<v Speaker 1>was so hard to find. It was the pandemic, it was.
<v Speaker 1>There was a lot of factors that that fed into
<v Speaker 1>people wanting to get on the PS five train a
<v Speaker 1>little bit or as quickly as possible. And now those
<v Speaker 1>people are still here spending money on games, and so
<v Speaker 1>overall PlayStation is pretty healthy, right. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I think that also speaks to the trend that we've
<v Speaker 2>seen grub of people are still on their PS fours.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>One the news that we that popped up on the
<v Speaker 2>bud test yesterday, Star Wars Jedi Survivor, an older game
<v Speaker 2>popping out on Xbox One and the PS four is
<v Speaker 2>eye opening. And seeing that GTA online or at least
<v Speaker 2>GTA five, a lot of their players are still on
<v Speaker 2>PS four. I think there hasn't been an incentive yet
<v Speaker 2>for maybe the mass gaming populist that didn't buy into
<v Speaker 2>the PS five zeitgeist to adopt the PS five that
<v Speaker 2>they're still on the PS four. They can still play Fortnite,
<v Speaker 2>they can still play Call of Duty GTA, that they
<v Speaker 2>don't see the specific need just yet to upgrade, and
<v Speaker 2>especially if they are getting some of the newer titles
<v Speaker 2>trickle down to them eventually. And I'm assuming another factor
<v Speaker 2>that maybe we haven't necessarily considered for people sticking with
<v Speaker 2>the PS four is that it can play games like
<v Speaker 2>gensch An Impact and hon Ki Starrail absolutely no problem.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it doesn't struggle with those at all. And all
<v Speaker 1>those free to play games are definitely all out on
<v Speaker 1>PS four, Like you would be kind of a fool
<v Speaker 1>to have a big free to play game that's not
<v Speaker 1>on on PS four at this moment. Yeah, And I
<v Speaker 1>think that speaks to like there will have to be
<v Speaker 1>some consideration about what the future of console generations look like,
<v Speaker 1>because there's probably gonna be it's gonna feel a lot
<v Speaker 1>more like this going forward than the stark jump from
<v Speaker 1>PS three to PS four, which was just so many
<v Speaker 1>people left the PS three behind to get on the
<v Speaker 1>PS four. Same with the Xbox three, sixty, Xbox one even,
<v Speaker 1>and it's very easy to forget about those old consoles
<v Speaker 1>very quickly. And now in this ongoing live service games
<v Speaker 1>as a service subscription world that the companies have been like, well,
<v Speaker 1>we wanted that continuity of revenue from our players, and
<v Speaker 1>that comes at a cost that these players are going
<v Speaker 1>to feel more of an attachment to those systems where
<v Speaker 1>they are playing their hobby more than just the next
<v Speaker 1>new big.
<v Speaker 2>Blockbuster release, right, and you know, factor in Destiny into
<v Speaker 2>that as well, because there hasn't really been that killer
<v Speaker 2>app for the PS five for people to jump to,
<v Speaker 2>at least in terms of like a multiplayer game. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>sure there's Final Fantasy seven Rebirth of Valhalla, but even
<v Speaker 2>I Valhalla got trickled down to the PS four.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but like Call of Duty's like coming out every
<v Speaker 1>year on PS four still like including.
<v Speaker 2>This year, and I don't even necessarily see I'd love
<v Speaker 2>to see Astrobot push the needle in terms of PS
<v Speaker 2>five sales, but I think that is something aimed towards
<v Speaker 2>the audience that already has PS five's, it'll move the
<v Speaker 2>needle for sure, the PS five pro whenever that drops.
<v Speaker 1>It's still this year, apparently, that's what I've still this
<v Speaker 1>year a couple of weeks ago.
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, and I really hate to put all our
<v Speaker 2>eggs the GTA six basket.
<v Speaker 1>I know it seems unhealthy, but yeah, it seems like
<v Speaker 1>that's where they are, though. I it feels like no
<v Speaker 1>one is like making that choice, but like it just
<v Speaker 1>is the way it is, and everyone else to deal
<v Speaker 1>with it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, but it is at least we do see
<v Speaker 2>a bump in software sales, and that at least informs
<v Speaker 2>us that gaming can still be healthy. Just in terms
<v Speaker 2>of hardware, it's a little sketch. I'd love to see
<v Speaker 2>the PSVR two numbers actually grow.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think we like, we know they're pretty rough,
<v Speaker 1>right then if we've saw them, it'd be like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>that is pretty grim. In terms of hardware, hardware sells
<v Speaker 1>for that headset, and then very likely the games, maybe
<v Speaker 1>there's a one or two that have stood out, and
<v Speaker 1>we're able to sell tens of thousands of copies, maybe
<v Speaker 1>hundreds of thousands of copies, probably not a million copies. Anywhere,
<v Speaker 1>but most of those are probably going to be in
<v Speaker 1>the very low like five digits.
<v Speaker 2>If that, yeah, I think that.
<v Speaker 1>What like when it comes to like what's the plan
<v Speaker 1>for Sony, I mean, they really are biding their time
<v Speaker 1>until a lot of their studios are ready to reload.
<v Speaker 1>They are likely trying to rethink a lot of stuff
<v Speaker 1>so they can void droughts like this in the future,
<v Speaker 1>as you know, as much of a drought as is.
<v Speaker 1>They had a great games last year, they have great
<v Speaker 1>games this year. You know, Astro is coming out this holiday,
<v Speaker 1>stuff to look forward to. And then if you like,
<v Speaker 1>sit down and you do the game of this, what
<v Speaker 1>is this studio working on? Well, when did their last
<v Speaker 1>game come out? What have we heard from them? A
<v Speaker 1>lot of those studios are going to be ready and
<v Speaker 1>rare in to go in the next couple of years,
<v Speaker 1>So there's a lot to look forward to. Like, it's
<v Speaker 1>not grim for PlayStation, it's just they don't like this
<v Speaker 1>moment right here where they they are in one of
<v Speaker 1>these situations where they have to kind of explain to
<v Speaker 1>their fans you need to wait because no one wants
<v Speaker 1>to hear that they spend five hundred dollars quicker. We
<v Speaker 1>just talked about that more quickly than they would have
<v Speaker 1>in the past because they felt a fomo and now
<v Speaker 1>that fomo is maybe sort of fizzling a little bit,
<v Speaker 1>and they're like, oh, do I regret getting this? Most
<v Speaker 1>people probably don't, but Sony doesn't even want people asking
<v Speaker 1>that question. So I think that they they'll get to
<v Speaker 1>a point where they will try to continue to put
<v Speaker 1>out more of these live service games to give people
<v Speaker 1>something new in between. But I don't know. I don't
<v Speaker 1>know if there's a solution beyond that, because I don't don't.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think we expect these studios to start making
<v Speaker 1>smaller games. No.
<v Speaker 2>I start to wonder also who PlayStation could kind of
<v Speaker 2>put themselves in bed with, because I had a lot
<v Speaker 2>of acquaintances that want to picking up a PS five
<v Speaker 2>because they thought that was the only machine that could
<v Speaker 2>play Hogwarts Legacy, And I feel like PlayStation was hoping
<v Speaker 2>and betting that Final Fantasy sixteen and f F seven
<v Speaker 2>Rebirth could have that same impact on hardware sales, but
<v Speaker 2>I didn't see that with like my normy friends that
<v Speaker 2>play games, and I can definitely see the forecast saying
<v Speaker 2>that that next game that people associate that they need
<v Speaker 2>a PS five four would be a GTA six. But
<v Speaker 2>I'm trying to think what else PlayStation could kind of
<v Speaker 2>position themselves with. You know, the answer is greb. We
<v Speaker 2>keep saying GTA six, GTA six. I think the real
<v Speaker 2>answer is we need to open our hearts in our doors.
<v Speaker 2>The Kingdom Hearts for Yeah, I'll see if I have
<v Speaker 2>a heart still when I look at that game, I
<v Speaker 2>don't know if that's possible. I yeah, I think that
<v Speaker 2>they're like part of mean it's like a Final Fantasy
<v Speaker 2>seven remake.
<v Speaker 1>And Rebirth aren't doing it. Is Kingdom Heart's going to
<v Speaker 1>do it. But Kingdom Hearts has does have that dedicated
<v Speaker 1>audience that is that's all they think about is Kingdom Hearts.
<v Speaker 2>It's almost dozens of us.
<v Speaker 1>It's Pokemon in that way to a certain extent. And
<v Speaker 1>I don't know if it's not on the level of
<v Speaker 1>Pokemon in terms of being able to move markets and
<v Speaker 1>things like that. But I think that is when we
<v Speaker 1>look back at this generation and these companies are like, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>how do we improve what we did this generation? I
<v Speaker 1>think a lot like especially Sony, We'll be looking at, hey,
<v Speaker 1>we have these big franchises, But do we have a Pokemon.
<v Speaker 1>Do we have something where it's like you have to
<v Speaker 1>get again a Nintendo system if you're into Pokemon, And
<v Speaker 1>there's millions of people in the Pokemon and there's a
<v Speaker 1>millions more getting in every year because kids are growing
<v Speaker 1>up into Pokemon constantly, and you can't just manufacture one
<v Speaker 1>of those. But it doesn't even feel like Sony's working
<v Speaker 1>toward that idea in any real way. They just keep
<v Speaker 1>doing the prestige game, and they might be trying to
<v Speaker 1>I think they're gonna try to diversify in a new way.
<v Speaker 1>I just don't know what that looks like because it's
<v Speaker 1>very expensive to make games right now.
<v Speaker 2>I honestly think they should try and diversify in a
<v Speaker 2>way where they are trying to target that younger audience,
<v Speaker 2>because that younger audience is and I'm speaking about like
<v Speaker 2>maybe Dibb's age group right where Fortnite is like a
<v Speaker 2>lot of flash in the pants. So it's appealing in
<v Speaker 2>that sense. But I don't know how much dib is
<v Speaker 2>interested in playing Horizon, God of War Uncharted, even especially
<v Speaker 2>not the Last of Us Yo.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know.
<v Speaker 2>Sony throws some money at Nickelodeon. Give me a triple
<v Speaker 2>a Patrick Star SpongeBob title, Give me splinter Cell, Chaos theory,
<v Speaker 2>the co op mode in that, but SpongeBob and Patrick.
<v Speaker 1>Holy shit, that would be amazing.
<v Speaker 2>I would play the hell out of that. Someone cut
<v Speaker 2>the check. Be a game producer. I don't know what
<v Speaker 2>to do. I just have fun ideas once guy. Yeah. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>The story from Darren over Game Spot ends with like,
<v Speaker 1>there are several big third party games scheduled to arrive
<v Speaker 1>later this year on PS five, but it's like Star
<v Speaker 1>Wars Outlaws, which I think is exclusive to the new gen,
<v Speaker 1>But then Call Duty and thea Sports Football Club, and
<v Speaker 1>so many of those biggest games are just still coming
<v Speaker 1>out on both platforms, and that beat that being PS
<v Speaker 1>five and PS four. So it's so it's so easy
<v Speaker 1>for so many people to just keep pushing it off
<v Speaker 1>and pushing it off, and it's just like we're in
<v Speaker 1>that gap right now, all right. Next story here, Warner
<v Speaker 1>Brothers is reportedly considering sewing a steak in its video
<v Speaker 1>game business. This is from Tom Ivan at VGC. Warner
<v Speaker 1>Brothers Discovery is reportedly considering selling a steak in its
<v Speaker 1>video game business. That's according to Financial Times sources, who
<v Speaker 1>claim the media giant is looking to offload smaller assets
<v Speaker 1>in an attempt to help reverse a near seventy percent
<v Speaker 1>decline in stock price since WarnerMedia and Discovery merged in
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty two. It's said to be considering offers to
<v Speaker 1>sell Polish broadcaster TVN or a stake in its video
<v Speaker 1>game arm which is home to a dozen studios that
<v Speaker 1>includes Avalanche Software, which made Hogwarts, Legacy, rock Steady, which
<v Speaker 1>made Suicide Squad, TT Games, which makes the Lego games,
<v Speaker 1>Mortal Kombats, Another Realm, Monolith Productions, which has done Middle Earth.
<v Speaker 1>I think they are working on that Wonder Woman game now,
<v Speaker 1>if I'm not mistaken, and Warner Brothers Games Montreal, which
<v Speaker 1>has done Gotham Knights and a previous Batman game. Last month,
<v Speaker 1>Warner announced that it had acquired Player First Games, the
<v Speaker 1>studio behind free to play platform fighter multiverses, for an
<v Speaker 1>undisclosed sum. Warner Brothers Discovery exec JB. Parrott said earlier
<v Speaker 1>this year that the company's games business revolves around four
<v Speaker 1>main intellectual properties, which are all billion dollar plus businesses themselves.
<v Speaker 1>They are Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones DC and Harry
<v Speaker 1>Potter will Last Year'srry Potter spin off, Hogwarts Legacy, was
<v Speaker 1>twenty two one of three's best selling games. Warner Brothers
<v Speaker 1>took a two hundred million dollar loss on this year.
<v Speaker 1>This year's once highly anticipated Suicide Squad killed that Justice
<v Speaker 1>League came out. So volatile business that they're in in
<v Speaker 1>games that I think is how they're viewing it, where
<v Speaker 1>even when they have the biggest game, the biggest sort
<v Speaker 1>of miss is so big that it can swallow up
<v Speaker 1>all of the revenue made by Hogwarts Legacy, which is
<v Speaker 1>not probably is very frustrating for them.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm getting the vibe grub that folks at the
<v Speaker 2>top of Warner Brothers don't know how to business.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it smells like that, huh.
<v Speaker 2>It definitely smells like that, especially when you have Hogwarts
<v Speaker 2>Legacy and Nether Realm on your roster, let alone the
<v Speaker 2>Lego games, because like the Lego games are just like
<v Speaker 2>money printing machine.
<v Speaker 1>I mean at this point that Star Wars Complete Star
<v Speaker 1>Wars Skywalker Saga game was very Hogwarts Legacy like in
<v Speaker 1>terms of its sales numbers. It was massive.
<v Speaker 2>Legitimately, it is one of the better lego any games
<v Speaker 2>a very long time. Yeah, and sure, Suicide Squad Gotham
<v Speaker 2>Knight's major major misses. But I think that is because
<v Speaker 2>people at the top had too much oversight and put
<v Speaker 2>too much of their capitalistic dirty hands on the game
<v Speaker 2>rather than just letting the devs do what they gotta do.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it was these studios are magic, and we have
<v Speaker 1>an idea that we want to have to make a
<v Speaker 1>live service game or something that's more going to be
<v Speaker 1>more ongoing. We want the studio to work on that,
<v Speaker 1>and all the problems that are inherent to that idea. Well,
<v Speaker 1>the studio's magic, so they're gonna make it work, and
<v Speaker 1>it's gonna come together in the last minute, and it
<v Speaker 1>didn't work.
<v Speaker 2>Again, that's a too much trust and be too much
<v Speaker 2>pressure on that relationship between studio and that people at
<v Speaker 2>the top, like the folks at Rock Study, do do magic,
<v Speaker 2>but when you were forcing them to ham fist a
<v Speaker 2>live service game into a Suicide Squad game, let alone,
<v Speaker 2>the idea of a Suicide Squad game in twenty twenty
<v Speaker 2>three feels a little bit dated, especially after I mean
<v Speaker 2>that original movie was poorly received. The second Suicide Squad
<v Speaker 2>movie just didn't perform well because of still being amidst
<v Speaker 2>the pandemic and having the name confusion. So I don't
<v Speaker 2>think there was too much excitement for a specific suicide
<v Speaker 2>squad game so many years after the original movie, So
<v Speaker 2>it kind of felt like it was doomed from the start.
<v Speaker 1>Grub yep. It definitely also has that stench about it.
<v Speaker 1>It's so okay. Warner Brothers not in love with the
<v Speaker 1>gaming business. I think that if everything was going great
<v Speaker 1>for them, I think they'd be like, look, we hit
<v Speaker 1>so hard with Hogwarts Legacy. Sure we lost money this
<v Speaker 1>past year, but oh look at it, We're doing find
<v Speaker 1>everywhere else. Let's keep taking this risk because we think
<v Speaker 1>when we do hit pay dirt on a good year,
<v Speaker 1>it could be a big, big win. But they're not
<v Speaker 1>in that position. Warner Brothers is falling apart constantly. As
<v Speaker 1>the story says, the yes, the stock price down seventy
<v Speaker 1>percent since the Warner Discovery merger or murder, and it's,
<v Speaker 1>you know, David Saslov just making bad choice after bad
<v Speaker 1>choice and not understanding any of the businesses that he's in.
<v Speaker 1>They are going to start rebranding Max Originals back to
<v Speaker 1>HBO originals for example, It's like they make a decision,
<v Speaker 1>they it doesn't work out, big surprise. All sitting around
<v Speaker 1>be like HBO is a great brand. Why why is
<v Speaker 1>Max the one to watch for HBO? Either way, they're
<v Speaker 1>in dire straits and so they got to get some
<v Speaker 1>money back and so they're they're selling stuff and this
<v Speaker 1>is not new if if people think this story is familiar.
<v Speaker 1>Warner Brothers was going to solve the gaming business a
<v Speaker 1>few years ago and there were a lot of runners.
<v Speaker 1>There were a lot of conversations with place like Microsoft
<v Speaker 1>about hey, we're we maybe we might buy one of
<v Speaker 1>these things. What do you think in Morder Brothers and
<v Speaker 1>Warder Brothers is like, buy the studio, pay for everyone
<v Speaker 1>to make these games, and then license Batman from us.
<v Speaker 1>And everyone was like that sucks, We're not gonna pay
<v Speaker 1>that money. That's crazy.
<v Speaker 2>I don't how do they make money? How did they
<v Speaker 2>make money? Grub It doesn't seem right. Also, where am
<v Speaker 2>I supposed to go to if Max is gone the
<v Speaker 2>one to watch for HBO? Where am I gonna go?
<v Speaker 2>I don't even really get to come up with a
<v Speaker 2>dumb brand called HBO Max.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's that's absurd. I can't do that. They're also
<v Speaker 1>in the process of suing the NBA for leaving them
<v Speaker 1>to go to Amazon, which was a lot of their
<v Speaker 1>TV money. Yeah well, oh well, Rner Corner fucking you
<v Speaker 1>couldn't make it. Apparently, wonder We offered about the same
<v Speaker 1>amount of money as Amazon. But they're like, NBA is
<v Speaker 1>like Amazon, Amazon's the future, not Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley,
<v Speaker 1>I like, yeah, they're the future in my heart. Absolutely. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>So I think everyone listening to the show understands that
<v Speaker 1>they wouldn't make that deal. If you're like someone like
<v Speaker 1>a Microsoft or a Sony or eat Activision anymore, any
<v Speaker 1>one of these companies that might be in a position
<v Speaker 1>or even like a Google or one of that massive
<v Speaker 1>big companies Amazon, If you are in a position to
<v Speaker 1>spend that much money, what is valuable is the IP
<v Speaker 1>because look what's happening with Bungie, where they spend a
<v Speaker 1>billion dollars on on employee retention only to lay people
<v Speaker 1>off a few years later because things are unpredictable. But
<v Speaker 1>what is what these companies can understand is an investment
<v Speaker 1>in IP has a long term value that they don't
<v Speaker 1>have to figure out right now. They can figure it
<v Speaker 1>out in the future, and that makes it slightly safer.
<v Speaker 1>So buying a studio to then have to take on
<v Speaker 1>that payroll and the insurance and all those headaches is
<v Speaker 1>very difficult and it's almost never worth it to these
<v Speaker 1>companies if they don't get the ip with it now.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe there is one that could go, maybe Mortal Combat
<v Speaker 1>with nether Realm, but otherwise I don't see how this
<v Speaker 1>could really work for most of these companies, And don't
<v Speaker 1>know unless there's a fire sale here, unless they're like, well,
<v Speaker 1>we're sure you know some in football that you know
<v Speaker 1>we got the salary cap, right, So sometimes a team
<v Speaker 1>mixed deal, werre like, just take this player and give us,
<v Speaker 1>you know, future considerations or some shit, so we can
<v Speaker 1>get this player salary off of our books. Because we're
<v Speaker 1>just trying to save money. We have to move things
<v Speaker 1>around to make these pieces fit. There is a situation
<v Speaker 1>where that could happen with Warner, where they're like, we're
<v Speaker 1>spending so much money on these studios that we just
<v Speaker 1>want to we don't want to close them. They have
<v Speaker 1>to have some value and we want them to work
<v Speaker 1>on our games. So we'll give you a sweetheart deal
<v Speaker 1>on the licensing and buying the studio, but you just
<v Speaker 1>have to pay these people to make the game. I
<v Speaker 1>could see that may be happening, but Warner's trying to
<v Speaker 1>make money to pay their bills right now. They have
<v Speaker 1>a lot of debt. Yeah, so it doesn't seem like
<v Speaker 1>that's the route it's going to go. I don't know
<v Speaker 1>what do you think.
<v Speaker 2>I could see that sweetheart deal rocking with Sony in
<v Speaker 2>PlayStation trying to grab Avalanche Avalanche off of Warner Brothers hands.
<v Speaker 2>With how much Hogwarts Legacy did for the PS five
<v Speaker 2>we were just talking about that. I could also see
<v Speaker 2>maybe PlayStation trying to pick up a studio PlayStation, or
<v Speaker 2>maybe a Ubisoft trying to pick up a rock Steady,
<v Speaker 2>even without the IP attached. Because so many of PlayStation's games,
<v Speaker 2>specifically Spider Man, UBI softs Assassin's Creed, get compared to
<v Speaker 2>the Arkham style of combat. So why don't you just
<v Speaker 2>get that team in house. You don't need the Batman
<v Speaker 2>IP because you have you have Assassin's Creed. Just throw
<v Speaker 2>a hood on someone in PlayStation, make a new superhero,
<v Speaker 2>or have any of your existing friend Ip be adopted.
<v Speaker 2>Give me a Blade game. I know we have a
<v Speaker 2>Blade game coming up. I just want more Blade.
<v Speaker 1>I mean then, like Sony has the extended Spider Man universe, right,
<v Speaker 1>so they you know, they or they have a deal
<v Speaker 1>to like our goods relationship with Marvel to be able
<v Speaker 1>to get that if they wanted to. I know it's
<v Speaker 1>different between the games and the movies, but there's always
<v Speaker 1>they're always investing in that stuff on the movie side.
<v Speaker 1>So maybe like having a team like that ready to go, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>maybe so much chatting, Like we've definitely talked about this before.
<v Speaker 1>Dizzy Hippos pointed out a good point that Superman and
<v Speaker 1>Batman are both about nine to eleven years away, about
<v Speaker 1>a decade out from being in the public domain. So
<v Speaker 1>it's kind of if you're gonna, like sell a team
<v Speaker 1>that's known for making Batman games, and you're gonna have
<v Speaker 1>them make Batman games, like that's part of the deal.
<v Speaker 1>You kind of have to do it now. You have
<v Speaker 1>to do it now because this game's gonna take five
<v Speaker 1>to seven years to make, and then that they get
<v Speaker 1>maybe one more bite of the apple maybe after that,
<v Speaker 1>and then it's open season on Superman. And Batman, and
<v Speaker 1>they'll ever everyone won't be making those games. I can't
<v Speaker 1>wait till we get there. I gotta be honest, like
<v Speaker 1>that will be so exciting. It's been there. There are
<v Speaker 1>a lot of like public domain characters like Charlock Holmes
<v Speaker 1>and stuff like that, but uh, they they and we
<v Speaker 1>get a ton of great Charlot Holmes stuff. But I
<v Speaker 1>feel like Superman and Batman feel like another level above that.
<v Speaker 1>So I'm interested to see how it comes.
<v Speaker 2>You know, I can't wait until we spin off into
<v Speaker 2>a movie production company, Grub and we make Bat Grub
<v Speaker 2>and super Dan. There it is movies, you know.
<v Speaker 1>Go, yeah, super Dan, his name was Mike game sent
<v Speaker 1>Why did you say that name? All right?
<v Speaker 2>Oh god, yeah, I'll be I'll be the Alfred h
<v Speaker 2>Perfect Yes that without a doubt.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'll have the have you in the bat, the
<v Speaker 1>Bat the Grub, k It'll be a good time. There's Hey,
<v Speaker 1>I'm taking a new medicine and I don't like the
<v Speaker 1>way that liquid death or prime tastes anymore. It tastes
<v Speaker 1>weird to me. I don't know what's going on.
<v Speaker 2>Medicine's weird.
<v Speaker 1>Medicine is weird, and or maybe maybe Prime and Liquid
<v Speaker 1>Death are weird.
<v Speaker 2>Actually, you know what, you know what, I think you're
<v Speaker 2>onto something.
<v Speaker 1>G Yeah, I think it might be cured. All right,
<v Speaker 1>let's uh, let's keep going here. Actually, know what, let's
<v Speaker 1>take a quick break. We got plenty more headlines. In fact,
<v Speaker 1>that was gonna We're gonna skip this Half Life three
<v Speaker 1>months we mostly talked about this stuff, but Half Life
<v Speaker 1>three could be happening. I don't know. We'll talk about
<v Speaker 1>other news right after this. All right, we are back.
<v Speaker 1>Let's get into this story right here. Star Wars Jedi
<v Speaker 1>Survivor for PS four and Xbox one does launch on
<v Speaker 1>September seventeenth. This is from sal Ramano at Kamatsu. The
<v Speaker 1>PlayStation four and Xbox versions of Star Wars Jedi Survivor
<v Speaker 1>will launch on September seventeenth for fifty dollars. This is
<v Speaker 1>from publisher Electronic Arts and developer Respawn Entertainment. Of course,
<v Speaker 1>they announced this and digital pre orders are available. Now.
<v Speaker 1>We've definitely had this conversation because this has been rumored
<v Speaker 1>for a long time, but now it's here fifty dollars.
<v Speaker 1>You know this feels I mean, if those consoles are
<v Speaker 1>still around and so many people are using them. This
<v Speaker 1>makes some sense to me. I just it's such a
<v Speaker 1>weird case because this game was a kind of a
<v Speaker 1>technical mess on the current gen consoles and still is
<v Speaker 1>to some extent on PC. And what I'm hoping is
<v Speaker 1>is like this this comes out, and it gets updated
<v Speaker 1>everywhere else, and it just runs better everywhere, and I'll
<v Speaker 1>just keep playing it where I have been playing it,
<v Speaker 1>and then people on these older consoles will get a
<v Speaker 1>chance to jump in. I don't know any expectations for
<v Speaker 1>these things whatsoever.
<v Speaker 2>I'm definitely worried about the performance of this. But for
<v Speaker 2>folks that the Star Wars freaks out there that have
<v Speaker 2>been curious and feeling fomo, I'm happy for them for sure.
<v Speaker 2>I want to say, maybe this shouldn't be fifty dollars title.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, like the budget title, now right.
<v Speaker 2>I know that's the that's the thing that hurts me
<v Speaker 2>inside grub. But for that install base that you know
<v Speaker 2>for sure is a sizable audience, charging fifty is a
<v Speaker 2>no brainer, especially folks have been clamoring for it, and
<v Speaker 2>you know, this is a good game that's just been
<v Speaker 2>mired by like performance issues. I haven't checked it out
<v Speaker 2>on the Steam deck in a long time, and I
<v Speaker 2>hope it's been improved.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, me too, don't I don't think it. I don't
<v Speaker 1>think it's ever going to run on a Steam deck.
<v Speaker 1>I got it running somewhat on a Roger, but even
<v Speaker 1>that wasn't great.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, I hope that. I hope the game is
<v Speaker 2>in a workable state where folks that pick it up
<v Speaker 2>on a PS four or Xbox one are not boned
<v Speaker 2>by the performance.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, I hope that that they wouldn't do this if
<v Speaker 1>that was the case, But who knows. You know, this
<v Speaker 1>clearly feels like this game did pretty well to very
<v Speaker 1>well and I and also they are making a third one,
<v Speaker 1>so they want these people who will probably be showing
<v Speaker 1>up to the PS five party over the next few
<v Speaker 1>years and could be arriving right as the next one's
<v Speaker 1>coming out. They want them to feel like we'll already
<v Speaker 1>caught up, instead of being like, well, I didn't get that.
<v Speaker 1>Didn't play the second one because it wasn't on the
<v Speaker 1>PS four and I didn't have a PS five, So
<v Speaker 1>all the strategic reasons make sense. But yeah, I think
<v Speaker 1>there's also a chance that they're like, man, it'd be
<v Speaker 1>nice if this was on the switch to at launch,
<v Speaker 1>and let's get the work done on that. And by
<v Speaker 1>doing that, they just had the game ready to go
<v Speaker 1>for these consoles, because it's probably going to be a
<v Speaker 1>pretty similar spec at least on the a PS four
<v Speaker 1>Pro level for the switch To. So yeah, all that
<v Speaker 1>stuff lines up and makes sense. I think all that
<v Speaker 1>will fly out the window, though, if we get those
<v Speaker 1>first few gifts of the game breaking down, or the
<v Speaker 1>first few like Digital Foundery videos of like this is
<v Speaker 1>an unplayable mess which feels like it's in the card still,
<v Speaker 1>so I'll be very curious to see how it all
<v Speaker 1>plays out. Ballatro creator stipulates in will that game can't
<v Speaker 1>be used for gambling. This is from Georgia in a
<v Speaker 1>game spot, and I think we did bring this up
<v Speaker 1>either on a BombCast or something else. Yesterday, Bilotro creator
<v Speaker 1>Local Funk said that they have put it in put
<v Speaker 1>in measures to prevent the game from becoming a real
<v Speaker 1>gambling game, even after their death. From the outside, this
<v Speaker 1>might make zero sense, but I hate the thought of
<v Speaker 1>Biloatro becoming a true gambling game so much that when
<v Speaker 1>I recently created my will, I stipulated that that the
<v Speaker 1>Ballottro IP may never be sold or licensed to any
<v Speaker 1>gambling company Slash casino they posted on Twitter. Now that
<v Speaker 1>is a really cool move, and it's also something like
<v Speaker 1>these casino companies would would give a lot of money
<v Speaker 1>for that because they would that they are trying to
<v Speaker 1>use video game IP to attract younger audiences and Pilatros
<v Speaker 1>is definitely a cool thing and would have that appeal
<v Speaker 1>in there, and it has a mass appeal because Platro
<v Speaker 1>is that is that successful? It just sold two million copies, yes,
<v Speaker 1>and also it's getting a big update. Someone in chat
<v Speaker 1>through this in here I think was Jamie H Christmas
<v Speaker 1>Eve who said, uh who who shared this from VGC
<v Speaker 1>Loatro's first major gameplay update is teased as it hits
<v Speaker 1>that two million milestone. Uh yeah, there's stuff coming this
<v Speaker 1>summer that will be a big surprises for the game,
<v Speaker 1>is what the developer is saying. Uh so, yeah, Blatro
<v Speaker 1>is chugging right along, but won't be in casinos. And
<v Speaker 1>I think that's very cool. What do you think, jan.
<v Speaker 2>Uh grub I was gonna discords kind of being funky
<v Speaker 2>but beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. It feels like adopting video game
<v Speaker 2>IP into gambling casino games should be illegal.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it feels like that's something that would have been
<v Speaker 1>against the law, like before Ronald Reagan, right like, yeah.
<v Speaker 2>It feels there, repreditor.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, look, well you can make these commercials that are
<v Speaker 1>just TV shows to sell kids toys. And hey, I'm
<v Speaker 1>not complaining. I love Transformers, but that slippery slope leads
<v Speaker 1>to this. Yeah, I think I know what you mean.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but but yes, if I was any of those
<v Speaker 2>video poker gambling machines and I see that Bolotro is
<v Speaker 2>a poker themed ish game selling two million copies, I
<v Speaker 2>would have been rubbing my hands and trying to pay
<v Speaker 2>local funk millions of dollars to get that ip into casinos.
<v Speaker 2>But good on, good on the dev for putting the
<v Speaker 2>stop to that, because Jesus Christ I would be dead,
<v Speaker 2>And also for.
<v Speaker 1>Like carving out of space of saying no gameplay and
<v Speaker 1>gaming and video games and card games are fun on
<v Speaker 1>their own, and and poker is, despite it being one
<v Speaker 1>casino game and something people can lose a lot of
<v Speaker 1>money playing, it is kind of a pure game in
<v Speaker 1>the way that it just works, and it's and the
<v Speaker 1>bluffing and all this stuff, and let's take that feeling
<v Speaker 1>and play around in that space, and we should be
<v Speaker 1>allowed to do that without having to have considerations of
<v Speaker 1>like what's going on with casinos and gambling. In fact,
<v Speaker 1>we want to cut them out completely. So I really
<v Speaker 1>have a real soft spot for poker. I like poker
<v Speaker 1>a lot, and it's not something I'm going to spend
<v Speaker 1>a lot of time playing because it could be a
<v Speaker 1>slippery slope for me personally. So having this fun little
<v Speaker 1>game that has all of those elements built into it,
<v Speaker 1>I just really find that very appealing, and I'm glad
<v Speaker 1>that the game exists.
<v Speaker 2>Honestly, I probably would be trying to play more poker
<v Speaker 2>if it wasn't for the gambling attachment to it. Don't worry, folks,
<v Speaker 2>I haven't been invited to any underground poker dens. But
<v Speaker 2>also TFTI if you run one and you know me.
<v Speaker 2>But it is that gambling aspect, that gambling stink that
<v Speaker 2>has kind of I understand why folks would be put
<v Speaker 2>off by Blotch, but seeing that, like you know, this
<v Speaker 2>is just a game you play by yourself, that could
<v Speaker 2>be super enticing. And I mean you and I grub
<v Speaker 2>and also are coworkers friends, No people have lost hours
<v Speaker 2>to that game.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, yes, a dozens hundreds of hours. I know
<v Speaker 1>some people are just still playing it NonStop and it's
<v Speaker 1>that good. It really is that good. Someone did mention
<v Speaker 1>that who knows if they're able to enforce this imperpetuity,
<v Speaker 1>Because once you're dead and you say, well, you can't
<v Speaker 1>use this and your family takes over the IP or whatever,
<v Speaker 1>you can't control them anymore. So I'm sure that's not
<v Speaker 1>really with the point here, though, I think at a
<v Speaker 1>certain certain to a certain degree, and I'm sure there's
<v Speaker 1>like lawyers listening that want to chime in and say,
<v Speaker 1>here's how it works, and you could do that, you
<v Speaker 1>can always do that, but understand that the point here
<v Speaker 1>is more human than than than you know, than legal,
<v Speaker 1>and it is that the creator wants to take ownership
<v Speaker 1>and and draw a line in the sand, and we're
<v Speaker 1>all respecting that now. Who knows what happens in the future.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean part of the appeal when it comes
<v Speaker 2>to card games like Sabac is just screwing over people. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>how man, it's cheating.
<v Speaker 1>Can't wait to play some Sabbah and get an idiot's
<v Speaker 1>array and under and be like I know what an
<v Speaker 1>idiot's array is because I'm that nerd.
<v Speaker 2>I'm telling you if if we ever all play a
<v Speaker 2>BAC in person and I don't actually know how to
<v Speaker 2>play a bak, if that right, I will just turn
<v Speaker 2>into Lando kel Recilaz Jando cal Rizzian.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, I want that real bad.
<v Speaker 2>Oh No, this is bad.
<v Speaker 1>Dan's got a Sabac table. I think I've in his place.
<v Speaker 1>He's got everything, So I think he's got one of those.
<v Speaker 2>Uh all right.
<v Speaker 1>Retro re release studio Digital Clips says it is up
<v Speaker 1>for a collab with Nintendo. This is from Liam Dulan
<v Speaker 1>at Nintendo Life. Digital eclips might not necessarily necessarily be
<v Speaker 1>a household name for like certain other game studios, but
<v Speaker 1>the retro specialist has made a name for itself in
<v Speaker 1>more recent years with compilations like the Mega Man Legacy
<v Speaker 1>a Collection and Atari fifty the Anniversary Celebration, as well
<v Speaker 1>as TMNT the Cowabunga Collection. The company is teamed up
<v Speaker 1>with Japanese companies previously, so could we see it work
<v Speaker 1>on something related to Nintendo's first party releases in the future.
<v Speaker 1>According to Digital Eclipses, Chris Kohler shout outs to Chris,
<v Speaker 1>a big fan of you. Although nothing is in development,
<v Speaker 1>he says, the door is on a possible partnership hasn't closed,
<v Speaker 1>and historically speaking, there are already some links. He spoke
<v Speaker 1>to VGC saying, speaking of whit gloves, this is the question.
<v Speaker 1>Presumably Nintendo isn't interested in a collaboration yet, and then
<v Speaker 1>Chris responded, well, you know, historically other Ocean who previously
<v Speaker 1>owned Digital Clips did Minecraft three DS Edition for Nintendo,
<v Speaker 1>and we've done stuff with Nintendo as a company historically
<v Speaker 1>in the past, So I don't think that door the
<v Speaker 1>door has closed. So you know, we'll see what the
<v Speaker 1>future will bring, but certainly nothing is in development at
<v Speaker 1>this time Nintendo, you know. And Chris I think mentioned
<v Speaker 1>this later on in the interview. So the Nintendo handles
<v Speaker 1>its retro stuff on its own, clearly had any s
<v Speaker 1>World Championship recently, It's got the new virtual console, Nintendo
<v Speaker 1>Switch Online and stuff like that. But hey, an Atari
<v Speaker 1>fifty four Nintendo games or what for one Nintendo game?
<v Speaker 1>Just like Donkey Kong, I would I would pee my pants.
<v Speaker 1>I would be so.
<v Speaker 2>Excited I would also pee your pants. Thank you, Yes, everyone,
<v Speaker 2>come over, We're peeing my pants.
<v Speaker 1>I want to see this.
<v Speaker 2>It's funny because I do prior to the Atari fifty
<v Speaker 2>stuff in my head el least, I associated Digital Eclipse
<v Speaker 2>with a bunch of miscellaneous GBA titles, So I do
<v Speaker 2>too that in my head, that relationship is already there
<v Speaker 2>in God, I don't know. I know Donkey Kong or
<v Speaker 2>Mario Zelda Metroid is obviously like the big choices, but
<v Speaker 2>I don't know. Let's go something weird, grub, Let's go
<v Speaker 2>kidd chorus.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah kid, I mean even weird, like the early arcade
<v Speaker 1>games like Radar Scope, Like let's hey, what how like
<v Speaker 1>this game that turned into like all the cabinets got
<v Speaker 1>turned into Donkey Kong or whatever?
<v Speaker 2>Like what was that story? Are there pictures? What was
<v Speaker 2>that process? Like?
<v Speaker 1>Like talk to the people that were there. They're still
<v Speaker 1>working at Nintendo. For the most part. Miyamoto, you know,
<v Speaker 1>was directly involved in that. I would love one of
<v Speaker 1>these interactive documentaries. And that's for people that are like,
<v Speaker 1>you know, what are they talking about exactly? If you
<v Speaker 1>don't remember Atari fifty? Is that? And the Digital Clips
<v Speaker 1>has done that with a handful of other things. Yes, Karateica,
<v Speaker 1>there was the lambasft one. They've done this a couple
<v Speaker 1>few times now, and it would be I think very
<v Speaker 1>excellent for them to do that for Nintendo as well.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, maybe it's not the kind of thing
<v Speaker 1>where digital Clips makes the whole project. Maybe it is.
<v Speaker 1>Sure they'd have a feature built into one of these
<v Speaker 1>re releases. We're coming up on forty years for Super
<v Speaker 1>Mario Brothers, right if, just like you know, let digital
<v Speaker 1>Clips contribute to that project.
<v Speaker 2>I would love to see like a deep dive into Warrio. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>you know the Warrio so much Kirby, Right, let's do
<v Speaker 2>Kirby Kirby makes sense. And you know, we would hit
<v Speaker 2>the fortieth anniversary of Super Mario. But I'm sure like
<v Speaker 2>Nintendo puld give digitally Clips the bag and just to
<v Speaker 2>like really prop up a tent poll to around some
<v Speaker 2>miscellaneous anniversary of a Nintendo IP and let them cook.
<v Speaker 1>Let him cook. I would be I would be very
<v Speaker 1>excited about that. Uh all right. Arkane founder says pray
<v Speaker 1>and Dishonored fans will be happy with his new game.
<v Speaker 1>This is from Tom Ivan at VGC. Arcane founder Raphael
<v Speaker 1>col Antonio thinks fans of Dishonored Prey will be Pleased
<v Speaker 1>with the next game from his current studio. Following eighteen
<v Speaker 1>years at Arcane, during which he served as president and
<v Speaker 1>co creative director, col Antonio announced in twenty nineteen that
<v Speaker 1>he'd formed a new outfit called Wolfie Studios. The studio's
<v Speaker 1>debut title, Weird West was released in twenty twenty two.
<v Speaker 1>The dark fantasy reimagining of the Wild West is a
<v Speaker 1>top down action RPG and immersive sim that earned scores
<v Speaker 1>of seventy six on PC and blah blah blah Well.
<v Speaker 1>Antonio began teasing wolf I's next game in March, when
<v Speaker 1>it was described as a first person retro sci fi RPG,
<v Speaker 1>and on Tuesday he said players will learn a bit
<v Speaker 1>more about the title imminently, so it feels like maybe
<v Speaker 1>Opening Night Live could be a place for that. As
<v Speaker 1>part of Games Come, We'll reveal a bit more about
<v Speaker 1>our next game in a few days. Fans of the
<v Speaker 1>previous first person games I was involved with like desondered
<v Speaker 1>and Prey Will be Happy. Will vice president and creative director,
<v Speaker 1>wrote on Twitter, this feels like the future of immersive sims.
<v Speaker 1>Jan and I'm someone who's like hot and cold with
<v Speaker 1>immersive sims. It feels like it should be very much
<v Speaker 1>my game, and then I'll try some of them and
<v Speaker 1>it doesn't click right away. I think that happened with Prey,
<v Speaker 1>and I've gone back to Pray a couple of times
<v Speaker 1>now and it has clicked more. But immersive sims is
<v Speaker 1>a beloved genre. It is something that people who like
<v Speaker 1>those games really like. And Arcane was one of the
<v Speaker 1>one outfits in town making big budget immersive sim games,
<v Speaker 1>and now immersive sim has kind of done that thing
<v Speaker 1>that RPG's where it's like it's finding itself into a
<v Speaker 1>lot of games in a lot of different ways, in
<v Speaker 1>a lighter sort of way. But if people want one
<v Speaker 1>of those pure immersive sims, they might have to turn
<v Speaker 1>to more independent studios like Wolfe I and a bunch
<v Speaker 1>of people who are inspired by people like coll Antonio.
<v Speaker 1>And again, I find this something that is exciting that
<v Speaker 1>I'm glad that we're here where the tools are available
<v Speaker 1>for people to take to take these genre torches and
<v Speaker 1>keep carrying them forward. And in this case, it's one
<v Speaker 1>of the people that with the torches originally, So I'm
<v Speaker 1>very happy to hear this.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I can't say that all of these games have
<v Speaker 2>hit with me each each and every time. I've always
<v Speaker 2>been very curious as well. But I'm happy the fans
<v Speaker 2>of the genre can continue to follow one of the
<v Speaker 2>people that really put the genre again on the map.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know. I just want some weird stuff, Greb.
<v Speaker 2>I want some weird stuff without the stakes that Dishonored
<v Speaker 2>feels like it has. Because there are times where Dishonored
<v Speaker 2>feels very super duper serious. I kind of want goofy
<v Speaker 2>crap like Hitman.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and that's what I was kind of looking for
<v Speaker 1>from Death Loop, and I mostly got it. I'm someone
<v Speaker 1>who really enjoyed Death Loop because what I want is
<v Speaker 1>a chance to go in the world and learn it
<v Speaker 1>and then have a chance to use that knowledge. And
<v Speaker 1>Death Loop was exactly that game. Like, Hey, let's go
<v Speaker 1>through this multiple times so you can do the bumbling
<v Speaker 1>first run where you like you noticed the window that
<v Speaker 1>if you had done a little bit more exploring, like oh,
<v Speaker 1>I could have came in through that window and came
<v Speaker 1>behind those guys and like and took them out and
<v Speaker 1>don't clip that. But you could on the next run.
<v Speaker 1>So it feels like there is an opportunity to mess
<v Speaker 1>around with the structure of MSMs and you know, they
<v Speaker 1>did that with the Prey DLC Moon Crash that people
<v Speaker 1>really like, So you could do that, but it feels
<v Speaker 1>like that it's not something that's going to be paid
<v Speaker 1>for by one of these big companies to be a
<v Speaker 1>big Triple A game anymore. And again, I think that's
<v Speaker 1>fine because I don't think that genre needs to look
<v Speaker 1>like the most expensive game ever made. It just needs
<v Speaker 1>to have all of those immersive elements where just you
<v Speaker 1>could stumble across someone's email, learn something, and use that
<v Speaker 1>knowledge in the game, and that's what people want.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, God, death Loop huh yeah, uh yeah, I like
<v Speaker 2>Death Loop. I kind of wish that game didn't have
<v Speaker 2>the multiplayer aspect of invading someone else's world.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I get that kind of felt like the thing
<v Speaker 1>where this works in these other games, why the just
<v Speaker 1>should work here. Yeah, that was a little strange. I
<v Speaker 1>think you couldn't turn that off, right, but it was
<v Speaker 1>like they had they faked it then, right, it was
<v Speaker 1>like an ai AI NPC that would play as the
<v Speaker 1>enemy instead. Yeah, I don't know. There is a death
<v Speaker 1>Loop too. I think that is very refined. That sort
<v Speaker 1>of gets everyone on board. But okay, but I don't
<v Speaker 1>know if you know, that game is probably never gonna
<v Speaker 1>get made. All right, finally here, so Soft is Back
<v Speaker 1>Retro Game Selection confirmed for English release in the West.
<v Speaker 1>I think that's the name of the collection is sun
<v Speaker 1>Softest Back Colon Retro Game Selection. This was previously that's
<v Speaker 1>for Switch and Japan is now confirmed it for English
<v Speaker 1>release in the West as well. It'll come to North
<v Speaker 1>America and Europe on September sixth, twenty twenty four. It'll
<v Speaker 1>have a selection of games, Ripple Island, The Wing of Medulla,
<v Speaker 1>a whole bunch of other stuff, and that will have
<v Speaker 1>quality of life features, safe states, rewind gallery mode, things
<v Speaker 1>like that. I like these old studios getting a chance
<v Speaker 1>to bring these things back. Switch seems like a good
<v Speaker 1>platform for that. It's worked a bunch of times, so
<v Speaker 1>very cool. Yeah, Oh, those bangers exactly mechanized. It's probably
<v Speaker 1>not the old like a ney s Batman game, because
<v Speaker 1>the licensing that, hey, sun Soft did a good job.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, okay, that's where the name Sunsoft feels familiar.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, that's where you've definitely would have once seen it
<v Speaker 1>is the sun Soft logo before that Batman with the
<v Speaker 1>digitized joker image or whatever. Yeah, Wing of Madulah Oblungata
<v Speaker 1>English is not supported on this on Steam sys dizzy hippos. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>well that's a bummer. I guess get it on. Switch them. Uh,
<v Speaker 1>that does it for the news. We got a pull
<v Speaker 1>question I'm going to bring up here in a second.
<v Speaker 1>In fact, I think I got it right here. Nope, no,
<v Speaker 1>I got it. There we go. The question was do
<v Speaker 1>you feel like pso that's the new one from four
<v Speaker 1>minutes ago? Do you think we'll ever get a Half
<v Speaker 1>Life three? Seventy three percent said no, twenty seven percent
<v Speaker 1>said yes. People have lost the faith on this one. Chan.
<v Speaker 1>I don't blame.
<v Speaker 2>Them, No, no, of course, I definitely don't blame them.
<v Speaker 2>I feel like we're closer to a Portal three than
<v Speaker 2>we are to a Half Life episode three, right.
<v Speaker 1>I think they just put so much on what half
<v Speaker 1>Life needs to be, and there was diminishing returns, and
<v Speaker 1>Half Life three can't be the victim of diminishing returns.
<v Speaker 1>I think in Valve's eyes, at a certain point, get
<v Speaker 1>over that though, and I think we might maybe we
<v Speaker 1>might be here there is uh, you know, the story
<v Speaker 1>is there are there's leaked data that suggests a new
<v Speaker 1>Half Life could be made, and more data was found
<v Speaker 1>by Tyler McVicker, who does a Valve news channel on
<v Speaker 1>YouTube that says, uh, it's probably not a VR game
<v Speaker 1>and could be the full new like follow up, like
<v Speaker 1>brand new, big Half Life thing. And if that's not
<v Speaker 1>Half Life three, it's something else, like equivalent to like
<v Speaker 1>an Alex but not in VR. And that's pretty cool.
<v Speaker 1>So I'm I'm getting my hopes up yet again. But
<v Speaker 1>I don't blame people who are not ready to do
<v Speaker 1>that until you.
<v Speaker 2>Know, yeah, I did that. My only real exposure to
<v Speaker 2>Half Life is just playing Half Life two on the
<v Speaker 2>Orange Box. Yeah that's right, And I can't say that
<v Speaker 2>it grabbed me as a youth. I wound up jumping
<v Speaker 2>to TF two and portal more. Sure, Hey, eventually it'll
<v Speaker 2>come out eventually, I.
<v Speaker 1>Say when I said I I will play that Black
<v Speaker 1>Mesa that was the remake, right, Yeah, I'll do that.
<v Speaker 2>Impromptu poll for the folks watching live grub. What do
<v Speaker 2>y'all think we will see sooner a Half Life episode
<v Speaker 2>three or Beyond Good and Evil two? And I just
<v Speaker 2>want to, you know, just just throw what y'all think
<v Speaker 2>in the chat and I'm curious.
<v Speaker 1>Yea half the new half Life for the new Beyond Good,
<v Speaker 1>good and Evil. Yeah, I kind of lean towards Beyond
<v Speaker 1>Good and evil as well, everybody. Most people are saying.
<v Speaker 2>That funny, funny.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, there's a few, there's there's a handful of Half
<v Speaker 1>Life threes in here. Yeah, I don't know. We'll see.
<v Speaker 1>Like I said, I'm get my hopes up, but I'm
<v Speaker 1>not expecting this game to be out like next year
<v Speaker 1>or anything.
<v Speaker 2>So whatever, the public expectation of Half Life episode three
<v Speaker 2>is going to be radically different than what we will
<v Speaker 2>eventually get because there is no way whatever was on
<v Speaker 2>the design docs and the blueprints for Half Life three
<v Speaker 2>is the same as it would be now.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, after Half Left two episode two, they probably did
<v Speaker 1>have a blueprint and all that stuff certainly is out
<v Speaker 1>the window now, Okay, new pole question. Do you feel
<v Speaker 1>like PS four slash Xbox one support is still holding
<v Speaker 1>back new gen game releases? Yes? No, And I never
<v Speaker 1>felt that way. I'm kinda yeah. I'm like, that's the
<v Speaker 1>gin for audio listeners is like rocking back and forth
<v Speaker 1>like unsure, and I'm like kind of in that Zone
<v Speaker 1>too now, but we can we can talk about it
<v Speaker 1>on the show when we get the results tomorrow. Speaking
<v Speaker 1>of tomorrow, we'll have plenty of stuff on Giant Bomb.
<v Speaker 1>Between now and then, we're gonna have Blake Club like
<v Speaker 1>Grubba Grubba is today. There is a chance I could
<v Speaker 1>finish the game today. We'll see. I'm hopeful because I'm
<v Speaker 1>ready for Mike's game. I'm ready for him to play instead. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>and we've I've been been getting the art, good work
<v Speaker 1>from Jerum. I've been sharing it immediately and yeah, I'm
<v Speaker 1>just so excited. I don't want to spoil. We did
<v Speaker 1>mention on Bomb it's it's for the Wei, so it's
<v Speaker 1>gonna be waggle. Oh. Dan got confirmation it was delivered today.
<v Speaker 1>So as long as Mike mcwanchi sees that's addressed to
<v Speaker 1>him and doesn't open it, I'll be surprised when that
<v Speaker 1>happens on Blake Club very soon. But plenty of other
<v Speaker 1>stuff happening on the site. We'll voicemail dump truck upf BCR,
<v Speaker 1>Power BombCast tomorrow, our Bomb guest tomorrow. We will talk
<v Speaker 1>about BCR this week. Oh no, okay, no, BC, that's right.
<v Speaker 1>Power BombCast week everybody, so tune in for that. All right,
<v Speaker 1>anything else Jan that I missed that we should talk about.
<v Speaker 2>Uh No, Just as you say at the end of
<v Speaker 2>the show, Greb, we have a lovely audience and ams
<v Speaker 2>coming into work.
<v Speaker 1>Great. That's exactly right. Until next time, everybody, have a
<v Speaker 1>good one, take care of yourself and goodbye.
<v Speaker 2>It's for you.