Ubisoft Announces Yves Guillemot's Son as New Co-CEO of Subsidiary

<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody, welcome the Game Mess Mornings with Me Jeff Grub,
<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 that cong DK Bonanza is out now. And also
<v Speaker 1>what if we tried putting a Gimo in charge of
<v Speaker 1>youb software once? Son? Why don't we try that? You
<v Speaker 1>know what's gonna be a good one because we have
<v Speaker 1>Janet Shoe on the show. Jan how are you doing?
<v Speaker 2>I'm doing? Okay, Grub, some maniac outside of my apartment
<v Speaker 2>decided to use a leaf blower for a good two
<v Speaker 2>hours starting at eleven pm last night. I felt like
<v Speaker 2>going outside and asking him some questions because why.
<v Speaker 1>These are one of the big backpack leaf blowers. Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so I think, and I think this is in my state,
<v Speaker 1>but maybe it was just my city. They are talking
<v Speaker 1>about banning those things really, yeah, because apparently they put
<v Speaker 1>out more or like CO two or something, they put
<v Speaker 1>out more emissions than like a thousand hour drive in
<v Speaker 1>a standard car or something like that, and they do
<v Speaker 1>that in an hour, So it's like this really wasteful thing.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, maybe we shouldn't strapped that to someone's back. Also,
<v Speaker 2>then yeah, it's yeah, exactly right.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they should be wearing like personal protection gear or
<v Speaker 1>whatever to use those things. They're probably getting hurt. Yeah
<v Speaker 1>that's crazy. But they're super loud and annoying and I
<v Speaker 1>also hate them.
<v Speaker 2>Jan Yes, I also made jello yesterday after talking about
<v Speaker 2>it so much. I'll send picks.
<v Speaker 1>You're the Jello king, right, that's what we That's what
<v Speaker 1>we said, You're the king of the Jello.
<v Speaker 2>That's right. Wiggley and Thickly.
<v Speaker 1>Well, we wouldn't have it any other way.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I played some Donkey Kong. That's that's been pretty good
<v Speaker 1>so far. I have to say it's it launched last night.
<v Speaker 1>You could get it last night, and it was like
<v Speaker 1>midnight here Eastern time. I started playing some and it
<v Speaker 1>just it immediately clicks, feels fantastic, is the thing. And
<v Speaker 1>that's just moving DK around and you get the sense
<v Speaker 1>of like, oh, there is a reason for this team
<v Speaker 1>to kind of go do a DK game as opposed
<v Speaker 1>to a Mario game, because he just moves so different
<v Speaker 1>and it's like a little bit more kinetic and then
<v Speaker 1>a little obviously like his destructive powers. The strength punching
<v Speaker 1>stuff really comes through as well, and that feels amazing.
<v Speaker 1>It feels very distinct from Mario. And then yeah, it
<v Speaker 1>just is I could see my problem with this game,
<v Speaker 1>jan Beam. There are like shiny little bits of gold
<v Speaker 1>buried all over the place. My brain's just like, get
<v Speaker 1>that gold. You gotta go get that gold. You can't
<v Speaker 1>ignore that gold, and so like I could be progressing,
<v Speaker 1>but I just found myself continuously punching the hell out
<v Speaker 1>of the entire earth so that I can get more gold.
<v Speaker 1>And I feel like my progress here is going to
<v Speaker 1>be pretty slow. Have you checked us out yet? You're
<v Speaker 1>going to save it for the weekend you're getting anytime soon?
<v Speaker 2>I may save it for the weekend, grub, I will say,
<v Speaker 2>I know, I know that the game launched last night. However,
<v Speaker 2>as I was scrolling through social media and I guess
<v Speaker 2>like Twitch, I saw people streaming that very early yesterday.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think it was. I think it was people
<v Speaker 1>in Europe and other regions where they were getting it
<v Speaker 1>a little bit early.
<v Speaker 2>These people didn't have the Cheerio accents. They spoke closer
<v Speaker 2>to you and I where who's breaking street date? I
<v Speaker 2>need to know?
<v Speaker 1>Let me, yeah for real, let me know. Tell me
<v Speaker 1>when that happens.
<v Speaker 2>Is from everything I've seen so far and the reaction
<v Speaker 2>and the reviews that have dropped, I am very excited
<v Speaker 2>to get my hands and have myself a little bonanza.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, is going to be a bit okay. The game
<v Speaker 1>came out got a ninety one on Open Critic. I
<v Speaker 1>think same on Metacritic. It was not the best reviewed
<v Speaker 1>game that launched yesterday. I guess today is when it
<v Speaker 1>actually is out. So but that's the yes, it was
<v Speaker 1>not the best reviewed game that came out. There's this
<v Speaker 1>game called The Drifter, which is it has a fair
<v Speaker 1>amount of reviews. It's got like close to like twenty reviews.
<v Speaker 1>But it's a like fast paced point and click adventure
<v Speaker 1>where you play as a drifter that died and you
<v Speaker 1>come back to life moments before your death and you
<v Speaker 1>have to like investigate it and find out what happened.
<v Speaker 1>It's got a pixel art graphic style ninety two on
<v Speaker 1>Metacritic or on Open Critic. I should say, pretty good
<v Speaker 1>for even you know, you know, that's not a ton
<v Speaker 1>of reviews, but it's very hard to get into the
<v Speaker 1>nineties even with twenty reviews. So yeah, I'm going to
<v Speaker 1>check that out as well. I think, yeah, interested.
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna give it a zero out of ten grub.
<v Speaker 2>I thought this was going to be a drifting cars game,
<v Speaker 2>and I'm sorely disappointed.
<v Speaker 1>That's fair, you know, that's that's just your opinion and
<v Speaker 1>it's subjective and you're allowed to have it. Yeah, we'll
<v Speaker 1>do some stuff with DK on this website at some
<v Speaker 1>point very soon. Might try to sneak it in at
<v Speaker 1>some point, either tonight or tomorrow during the day. We'll see.
<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, though, let's explain ourselves and what we
<v Speaker 1>do here. This is Giant Bomb. Go to giant bomb
<v Speaker 1>dot com slash join to help us out. You become
<v Speaker 1>a member there, you get ad free shows, you get
<v Speaker 1>some goodies, and it really just makes the whole thing
<v Speaker 1>go round. Helps us do what we need to do here.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, you could join the discord and hang
<v Speaker 1>out with an awesome community, find a home base. I'm
<v Speaker 1>you know, up and down with how like the future
<v Speaker 1>of gaming jam. But one thing I'm like not up
<v Speaker 1>and down about is like the I still want to
<v Speaker 1>hang out with the people who like games the way
<v Speaker 1>that we do, and we're trying to create a space
<v Speaker 1>to do that. Giant bomb dot com, slash Join. As
<v Speaker 1>far as this show goes most weekdays, I Jeff Grub
<v Speaker 1>will help piece your gaming life back together. That includes
<v Speaker 1>breaking news and maybe even some of our own original reporting.
<v Speaker 1>For all these topics, I'll get the input of a
<v Speaker 1>bona fide expert who will make me look smart. You
<v Speaker 1>are watching live on twitch Welcome. You can always listen
<v Speaker 1>to the show later on podcast feeds by searching for
<v Speaker 1>game Mes Mornings, or find the RSS feed on GiantBomb
<v Speaker 1>dot com. You can also catch the show later with
<v Speaker 1>chapters and timestamps on YouTube. Thank you, Sean, Hello YouTube.
<v Speaker 1>All right, we have a lot to get into, so
<v Speaker 1>let's start the morning mess with Shadow Labyrinth reviews. This
<v Speaker 1>is that pac Man game, jan It's been talked up
<v Speaker 1>here and there. You know, I think Jason Finelli really
<v Speaker 1>enjoyed what he played of it, and it sounds like
<v Speaker 1>people enjoyed some quite a few aspects of it. But
<v Speaker 1>it got around a seventy five on Open Critic, and
<v Speaker 1>I think Jordan be already here at CG Magazine has
<v Speaker 1>a succinct way of saying kind of like what this
<v Speaker 1>game is offering up in his six out of ten review.
<v Speaker 1>Shadow Labyrinth has a few interesting ideas, but it's but
<v Speaker 1>this dark interpretation of Pacman fails to deliver on the
<v Speaker 1>fundamentals of a Metroid like experience. So it sounds like
<v Speaker 1>this is what I've heard about this game, Jane is.
<v Speaker 1>It does have a pretty cool, interesting edge lordy style
<v Speaker 1>that works to a certain degree, and then it has
<v Speaker 1>a lot of great references to the Bandai Namco you know,
<v Speaker 1>I guess the Namco universe primarily, and so like classic games,
<v Speaker 1>classic arcade games that would have been for like a
<v Speaker 1>contemporary two pac Man. Things like that they show up
<v Speaker 1>in this game. I like that stuff, that Yars Rising
<v Speaker 1>game that was based on the Atari Yars Revenge. Like
<v Speaker 1>one of the enemies in that game was called Missile Commander, right,
<v Speaker 1>and that's based on Missile Command. They're doing something similar
<v Speaker 1>with this game, but maybe like even more of a
<v Speaker 1>production like some more production values. Now. I was kind
<v Speaker 1>of hoping you pair that up with a really good
<v Speaker 1>metroidvania and that sounds like a really good time to me,
<v Speaker 1>But it doesn't sound like I was quite able to
<v Speaker 1>pull that off. Genghis Hussmedin from Xbox Era gave it
<v Speaker 1>a seven point five and said Shadow Labyrinth is a
<v Speaker 1>solid two D metroid venue and I enjoyed it quite
<v Speaker 1>a bit. It's edginess, has a lot of spunk and charm.
<v Speaker 1>Level design is solid. Platforming is varied in progression as
<v Speaker 1>well paced. If you dig the idea of pac Man
<v Speaker 1>eating people as you explore a world pervaded in turmoil
<v Speaker 1>this once we're checking out, it's also probably worth pointing out, Janet,
<v Speaker 1>this is the a tie into that show that I
<v Speaker 1>can never remember the name of an on Amazon Prime.
<v Speaker 2>They had a Concord episode.
<v Speaker 1>There was a Mega Concord episode, Secret Level.
<v Speaker 2>There we go, we got there, secret level.
<v Speaker 1>Secret level, So there was you know, the Shadow Labyrinth
<v Speaker 1>episode was based on this game. Apparently they were making
<v Speaker 1>this game already and the show was like, oh, well,
<v Speaker 1>just we'll make an episode based on that. But that's
<v Speaker 1>where most people are gonna have seen it first. You
<v Speaker 1>are you plays a character where you're you're pac Man
<v Speaker 1>following following you around kind of on a chain, and
<v Speaker 1>he sometimes eats people. He's kind of a menace. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know the interest in this game after these reviews,
<v Speaker 1>because I was like, I will probably get to this
<v Speaker 1>one when I have time.
<v Speaker 2>I think I'm in the same the same boat, Jeff. I.
<v Speaker 2>It didn't seem like anything that was specifically up my alley.
<v Speaker 2>I do enjoy, however, when well, we'll take an ip
<v Speaker 2>and put a new twist on it. So sure, let's
<v Speaker 2>have pac Man eat people. I guess I can't say
<v Speaker 2>that I have the appetite however, for more Metroidvania style
<v Speaker 2>games right now, but having pac Man on a leash
<v Speaker 2>of sorts does sound kind of fun.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it looked interesting. I just kind of want to
<v Speaker 1>play it for myself a little bit. So that's where
<v Speaker 1>I'll maybe when I my replacement Steam deck is on
<v Speaker 1>the way from Evolve, so that's where we ended up
<v Speaker 1>with that. When that gets here, I will load this
<v Speaker 1>up on that and try it out a little bit.
<v Speaker 1>So that's my metroid Vnium machine, and I'm gonna keep
<v Speaker 1>it that way. Oh, Mick Abers Abraham Abramson, there we go.
<v Speaker 1>Gave it a seven out of ten. Shout out to Mick.
<v Speaker 1>He said, Shadow Labyrinth, there's a great idea. However, poorly
<v Speaker 1>defined hip boxes, inconsistent mechanics, and over inflated difficulty bogged
<v Speaker 1>down what could have been a great experience. Seven out
<v Speaker 1>of ten sounds about right for this game. People seem
<v Speaker 1>to just like like it, and that's fair, all right.
<v Speaker 1>Ubisoft names Yieves Gimo's son as new co CEO of
<v Speaker 1>Tencent backed subsidiary. This is from Andy Robinson at VGC.
<v Speaker 1>Ubisoft is named the co CEOs of its new Tencent
<v Speaker 1>backed subsidiary, including current Ubisoft CEO Yeves Gimo's son, Charlie Guimo.
<v Speaker 1>The French publisher announced its unnamed subsidiary, which is partly
<v Speaker 1>owned by ten Cent after a one point sixteen billion
<v Speaker 1>euro investment earlier this year. The aim is for the
<v Speaker 1>subsidiary to oversee Ubisoft's three biggest ips, Assassin's Creed, Farcry
<v Speaker 1>and Tom Clancy's Rainbow six and Act and they're going
<v Speaker 1>to act autonomously. Man I can. I always struggle with
<v Speaker 1>that word from its parent. On Wednesday, Ubisoft named Charlie
<v Speaker 1>Gimo as co CEO of the new venture. Charlie previously
<v Speaker 1>led Ubisoft owned a mobile studio, Aliant, before leaving to
<v Speaker 1>co found a Web three indie firm, Unagi and rejoining
<v Speaker 1>Ubisoft earlier this year. I kind of vaguely excuse me,
<v Speaker 1>vaguely remember that Unagi company from the Web three weirdness,
<v Speaker 1>don't really remember what they ever did. Charlie Gemo acknowledged
<v Speaker 1>the nepotism. I was like, yeah, but I've I've worked
<v Speaker 1>in games for ten years. That's well, how'd you get
<v Speaker 1>those jobs? Look, Jan, I think the story here is
<v Speaker 1>clear right that we have talked about you be Soft
<v Speaker 1>a lot over the last few years, and the story
<v Speaker 1>out of them has been, Hey, we need to have
<v Speaker 1>a hit, We need to kind of get back on track,
<v Speaker 1>and we need to take what we've done in the
<v Speaker 1>past and find some new ways to express it and
<v Speaker 1>new ways to make it work in the market and
<v Speaker 1>find an audience, and to do those things that are
<v Speaker 1>our new ideas. We're going to continuously turn to the
<v Speaker 1>same family, the Gemo family, to be in charge, and
<v Speaker 1>everyone else will get either punished or laid off or
<v Speaker 1>their game will get canceled, but we're still going to
<v Speaker 1>be in charge. To the point where, even when the
<v Speaker 1>company was clearly clearly falling apart and needed a lifeline,
<v Speaker 1>we are going to create a subsidiary and yet again
<v Speaker 1>put a Gemil in charge.
<v Speaker 2>It's insane, right, Yeah, one hundred percent grub, the screams
<v Speaker 2>of nepotism, the screams of corruption to continue to have
<v Speaker 2>Why even split up the company at this point if
<v Speaker 2>you're just going to put another gimont in charge is
<v Speaker 2>specifically Eve's son, and hey, you can work ten years
<v Speaker 2>in any industry, it's still not necessarily be good at
<v Speaker 2>the specific job grub, you know, like that doesn't enable
<v Speaker 2>him to lead a company. Per se. This whole thing stinks.
<v Speaker 2>And again, like I feel for everyone and everyone else,
<v Speaker 2>but like everyone on the dev side low, way lower
<v Speaker 2>on the ladder at Youbsoft than anyone at the c
<v Speaker 2>suite level, because it seems like they're still finding ways
<v Speaker 2>to continue to have their weird boys club at the
<v Speaker 2>very top and protect the people that shouldn't be protected.
<v Speaker 2>And it stinks like we did that story maybe a
<v Speaker 2>week or two weeks ago about people getting their sentences
<v Speaker 2>reduced or terrible things that they had done to their employees,
<v Speaker 2>and that was under Eve's watch. Right, he knows what
<v Speaker 2>a whole new generation of terrible garbage people may be enabled,
<v Speaker 2>or an existing toxic work called sure it can continue
<v Speaker 2>to be enabled because of that family. Yeah, on top
<v Speaker 2>of the making shitty decisions.
<v Speaker 1>Right, and that you know there, that's been the history there,
<v Speaker 1>and it really to me if it makes the whole
<v Speaker 1>thing feel pretty cooked. Where Assassin's created, you know, that's
<v Speaker 1>been all right, But like Far Cry, Rainbow six, these
<v Speaker 1>are things that have like anytime they try to like
<v Speaker 1>veer off or try something new, or or maybe they
<v Speaker 1>don't even try something new. In the case of Far Cry,
<v Speaker 1>it doesn't seem to work and they are struggling to like,
<v Speaker 1>or if they try to go a big live service
<v Speaker 1>game there and they are incapable of finding that, and
<v Speaker 1>instead of getting bold and trying new ideas, You're right
<v Speaker 1>that the kind of the place they return to is
<v Speaker 1>let's protect the people we've always protected, which are the
<v Speaker 1>people in charge and the people that they have shielded
<v Speaker 1>from any real consequences to their actions. It's like, okay,
<v Speaker 1>so is that the whole enterprise here is that with
<v Speaker 1>this business is really about is about making money for
<v Speaker 1>these specific people and protecting these people and not necessarily
<v Speaker 1>about making good video games. It especially feels that way
<v Speaker 1>at this point for a company like Ubi Soft.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I like you said, grub it always they've been
<v Speaker 2>leaning on Assassin's Creed for However, long now and there
<v Speaker 2>are different ip different games at Ubisoft that they could
<v Speaker 2>be using to cater to the actual player, but they're
<v Speaker 2>actively choosing not to. I don't know, I still feel
<v Speaker 2>like it is insane how Rainbow six Siege initially released
<v Speaker 2>to some excitement but then kind of picked up that
<v Speaker 2>teach audience and then it kind of blew up for
<v Speaker 2>a couple of years grub and they were never really
<v Speaker 2>able to capitalize off of that. Instead, they continue to
<v Speaker 2>put their focus towards putting NFTs into games and making
<v Speaker 2>like the twelve extraction shooter in like a genre that
<v Speaker 2>people already really weren't that interested in, or at least
<v Speaker 2>like the wider video game audience wasn't interested in. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>and hey, where the fuck is splinter selk rub.
<v Speaker 1>I mean all those, like all those games that they
<v Speaker 1>were making from I mean, okay, to me, it's like
<v Speaker 1>the party feels a little bit over for these kinds
<v Speaker 1>of companies making games for the audience that we're in
<v Speaker 1>where it's like it felt like through the pandemic they
<v Speaker 1>got in the idea in their heads, like let's really
<v Speaker 1>use all of this like free cash. It's out there
<v Speaker 1>that we can get at zero percent interest rates, and
<v Speaker 1>let's beef up. Because when we come out of this
<v Speaker 1>the business that we're in of making big trip a
<v Speaker 1>blockbuster games for an audience that wants to pay sixty
<v Speaker 1>to seventy to eighty dollars for a game, they're gonna
<v Speaker 1>be waiting there and it's actually gonna be growing super
<v Speaker 1>fast on the other side. And then we got on
<v Speaker 1>the other side and it's like, well, no, that audience
<v Speaker 1>is what it was before. Why did you think it
<v Speaker 1>was going to grow? And now now I think they
<v Speaker 1>don't believe in like that were the answer that were
<v Speaker 1>that were the solution to to their growth problems. And
<v Speaker 1>so it's like, you know, you hear talks of there's
<v Speaker 1>a there's a billion gamers coming online in places like
<v Speaker 1>Southeast Asia on mobile and that's where the focus should be,
<v Speaker 1>and it's like, yeah, I don't how can I possibly
<v Speaker 1>argue with that? Like that sounds like a lot of
<v Speaker 1>people that could spend a lot of money on your games.
<v Speaker 1>A billion there's a billion coming up. Okay, that's more
<v Speaker 1>than the one hundred million that buy a switch to
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, I get it, but you know, so what
<v Speaker 1>what like Ubi stuff you're going to keep making Assassin's Creed,
<v Speaker 1>a Far Cry and whatever else, Tom Clancy's Rainbow six.
<v Speaker 1>To me, that sounds like we're just doing these these
<v Speaker 1>because these are predictable money makers and we're going to
<v Speaker 1>ride that out. But we're not really trying to do
<v Speaker 1>new stuff in the space. And when we were doing
<v Speaker 1>fun stuff like making the Splinter Cell remake, that was
<v Speaker 1>for a different time when we thought this was going
<v Speaker 1>to be a growing space, and now that it's not,
<v Speaker 1>is that really worth it? So look, maybe that game
<v Speaker 1>does come out, but I would not be surprised at
<v Speaker 1>this point if they just let it fizzle away and
<v Speaker 1>it never it just ends up getting canceled.
<v Speaker 2>Marino points out a very interesting fun fact here in
<v Speaker 2>our Top one hundred games of the twenty first century,
<v Speaker 2>there were zero games from Ubisoft in that top one hundred.
<v Speaker 2>Holy shit, that's crazy, That's that's insane. And sure, you
<v Speaker 2>know we're pulling a very specific audience, like primarily our audience,
<v Speaker 2>but yeah, yeah, that top tens that everyone was submitting
<v Speaker 2>it eventually broke containment and got out of this initial bubble, right,
<v Speaker 2>But I think grub Ubisoft is also poisoned their own well,
<v Speaker 2>where oh yeah, a sentiment around the games is also
<v Speaker 2>just so dour, even for like their existing backlog of games.
<v Speaker 2>And we all have the sentiment whenever a new Ubisoft
<v Speaker 2>game that comes at full price, everyone grub Everyone will think,
<v Speaker 2>I'll just wait a couple of months. Okay, I'll wait
<v Speaker 2>a couple of weeks, and then it'll get dramatically reduced
<v Speaker 2>in price. It'll go on like a fire sale, and
<v Speaker 2>what was a sixty dollars game, I'll be able to
<v Speaker 2>get for twenty dollars if I just wait.
<v Speaker 1>If that yeah, And I mean those tactics are maybe
<v Speaker 1>they are okay, maybe they have to do that because
<v Speaker 1>it's a byproduct of the way that they're viewed. And
<v Speaker 1>now it's this ora boros of like, well, we can't
<v Speaker 1>not reduce the price because there are people who just
<v Speaker 1>have grown and to learn that they won't buy our
<v Speaker 1>games until it hits this certain threshold. And we could
<v Speaker 1>try to be like, well, let's reteach them that Ubisoft
<v Speaker 1>games are higher value. How do you do that? That
<v Speaker 1>seems really challenging, But whatever, They keep doing the same
<v Speaker 1>stuff over and over again because they have the same
<v Speaker 1>people in charge, and results are aren't gonna change, and really,
<v Speaker 1>like I think entropy has just happened where you talk
<v Speaker 1>about they've kind of poisoned the well for themselves and
<v Speaker 1>no games in the top one hundred. To me, that
<v Speaker 1>says like people just have bad vibes around you be
<v Speaker 1>soft to the point where even when they think back
<v Speaker 1>on the games they really liked from them, like the
<v Speaker 1>Assassin's Creed trilogy, the Zoe trilogy in Zio like, they
<v Speaker 1>were like, hey, I don't even feel that great about
<v Speaker 1>that anymore, and you kind of can't shift over. You
<v Speaker 1>can't repair that by doing the same stuff again. So
<v Speaker 1>it's like, well, maybe you do got to get a
<v Speaker 1>new team in there. And that is not their actual interest.
<v Speaker 1>Their interest is in making Eve Schemo money Like.
<v Speaker 2>It's wild grub. Like they also just fumble the bag
<v Speaker 2>so many times with Prince of Persia. Prince of Persia
<v Speaker 2>The Lost Crowd was our game of the Year last year,
<v Speaker 2>And what has Ubisoft done since then? Not only there
<v Speaker 2>they they messing up stuff with Sam Fisher, the Prince
<v Speaker 2>of Persia ray Man, They've also made the Rabbits not
<v Speaker 2>matter anymore grub.
<v Speaker 1>And that that is a legit bag fumble because in
<v Speaker 1>a world where Pigman four did better than ever with
<v Speaker 1>that one, and then obviously the minions like kind of
<v Speaker 1>just be basically just taking the torch from the Rabbits
<v Speaker 1>and running with it. They had something that really should
<v Speaker 1>have worked. And the fact that, I mean they had
<v Speaker 1>a Nickelodeon cartoon show, all right, it's like, well, keep
<v Speaker 1>turning that into something more. They couldn't even figure that out. Also,
<v Speaker 1>et CEO, his name's etc.
<v Speaker 2>I didn't want to correct your grub.
<v Speaker 1>That's all right.
<v Speaker 2>At least, you know, out of everyone out there, Grub,
<v Speaker 2>I know, Ubisoft has had its problems. At least they
<v Speaker 2>were able to publish a quadruple A game.
<v Speaker 1>Wait, what what's the quadruple A game? Owen Bones, You're right,
<v Speaker 1>You're right, you know what that they just need to
<v Speaker 1>turn back to Skull and Bones and that's going to
<v Speaker 1>be the answer their quadruple game. I forgot they said that. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>let's keep moving here. Former Unknown World's leadership legal complaint
<v Speaker 1>alleges that pressure tactics by Kraft and Inc. Were used
<v Speaker 1>to delay sub Nautica to basically to avoid paying the
<v Speaker 1>two hundred and fifty million dollars we've talked about as
<v Speaker 1>a bonus that would be owed if they reached certain
<v Speaker 1>revenue targets for twenty twenty five. The story comes from
<v Speaker 1>Samuel Roberts at Games Industry dotiz. The complaint concerns that
<v Speaker 1>two hundred and fifty million dollars bonus and alleges owners
<v Speaker 1>Craft and Inc. Sought to avoid paying out by delaying
<v Speaker 1>the games the game using pressure tactics, Crafting engaged in
<v Speaker 1>a month's a long campaign to delay Subnautica two's release.
<v Speaker 1>The complaint, which was filed in Delaware's Chancery Court, alleges
<v Speaker 1>it pulled key marketing materials, refused to follow through with
<v Speaker 1>crucial partnerships, and renegged on long standing commitments to handle
<v Speaker 1>important pre launched tasks. Actually, what happened here is there
<v Speaker 1>was an agreement, there was a contract, and now the
<v Speaker 1>people that were in charge of Unknown Worlds making Subnautica
<v Speaker 1>two are suing because they're saying, Hey, we were in
<v Speaker 1>charge of this game, we wanted to launch it this year.
<v Speaker 1>We knew that we could, and we knew it would
<v Speaker 1>get us that bonus. And also we had full control
<v Speaker 1>of the game according to our contract. So we were
<v Speaker 1>able to put it out even if you disagreed that
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't like in a good place. So what did
<v Speaker 1>you do is like, well, first of all, we do
<v Speaker 1>think the game was ready to launch in early access.
<v Speaker 1>And this is the position of the people that were
<v Speaker 1>in charge of Unknown Worlds before Crafton fired them. They
<v Speaker 1>believed it was ready to go and they were going
<v Speaker 1>to launch it, and so they're like, let's do this,
<v Speaker 1>and Crafton basically was like, uh, who, we don't know
<v Speaker 1>about that, and then did not help in any way
<v Speaker 1>do any of the stuff that a publisher would traditionally do.
<v Speaker 1>So this left Unknown World's leadership team responsible for all
<v Speaker 1>that those things, and they were going through and they
<v Speaker 1>were doing it until Crafton fired them, and they fired
<v Speaker 1>him for you know cause, and they were what is
<v Speaker 1>the cause? It's it doesn't like they said a bunch
<v Speaker 1>of stuff like oh, they were negligent and weren't doing
<v Speaker 1>their job, although it sounds like just the opposite, sounds
<v Speaker 1>like they were doing Crafton's job on top of everything.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, this is all alleged by this complaint. The
<v Speaker 1>you know, the real crux of it here is that
<v Speaker 1>the contract has a bunch of language in there about
<v Speaker 1>how Crafton can't do anything with the specific goal of
<v Speaker 1>not having to pay that two hundred and fifty million
<v Speaker 1>dollar bonus. Uh, Like they can't. That cannot be the
<v Speaker 1>motivation here. So if they are able to prove even
<v Speaker 1>like get pretty close to proving that Crafton acted in
<v Speaker 1>bad faith, then these people that were fired because Crafton
<v Speaker 1>wanted to take control of the studio so they could
<v Speaker 1>stop them from putting the game out this year, they're
<v Speaker 1>gonna have a good chance of probably winning that money
<v Speaker 1>and going a long way. Now, Crafton has made some
<v Speaker 1>public statements like, hey, all the money was going to
<v Speaker 1>go to the employees, We're still going to actually elongate
<v Speaker 1>the timeframe where we're going to pay that out. That's
<v Speaker 1>ten percent of the total of the two hundred and
<v Speaker 1>fifty million dollars twenty five million dollars. They might still
<v Speaker 1>be on the hook for the rest. That money was
<v Speaker 1>going to go to the leadership team who they fired,
<v Speaker 1>So sounds like a big savings if they can get
<v Speaker 1>away with it. This story just continues to be like,
<v Speaker 1>oh man, publishers are back to just being full on
<v Speaker 1>evil across the board.
<v Speaker 2>Huh Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that grub because I
<v Speaker 2>feel like when I was gaining sentience in the video
<v Speaker 2>game industry, when I started listening to like all the
<v Speaker 2>podcasts and like really following specific writers, that was kind
<v Speaker 2>of the sentiment even back then. And that was what
<v Speaker 2>maybe twenty something years ago, where yeah, publishers really did
<v Speaker 2>feel like the enemy to some degree because they were
<v Speaker 2>just constantly making boneheaded decisions that screwed over the developers,
<v Speaker 2>screwed over the audiences as well. And it is wild
<v Speaker 2>to see that across the board, that publishers are just
<v Speaker 2>in a race with each other and in a race
<v Speaker 2>with themselves to see who can be more shitty. This
<v Speaker 2>is terrible for the folks that work at craft and
<v Speaker 2>and and we talked about it last time we brought
<v Speaker 2>up the story. But Subnotica I think easily could have
<v Speaker 2>cleared the specific goal because of that very dedicated audience
<v Speaker 2>from the first game. This isn't an instance where like
<v Speaker 2>a sequel is coming too soon, or where the original
<v Speaker 2>base game could have just been updated in such a way.
<v Speaker 2>Folks wanted another Subnautical game and it was on the way,
<v Speaker 2>and the financial bonus incentive was also there, and you know,
<v Speaker 2>new people in charge just said, fuck it, we're we're
<v Speaker 2>gonna do whatever we can to to take this away
<v Speaker 2>from them. It's to kneecap them. So they don't mean
<v Speaker 2>this race. They're they're not part of the umusume pretty derby.
<v Speaker 2>You know, they're not trained, they're they're bad trainers.
<v Speaker 1>Grub. Yeah, people in CHEDD are like wondering, like, is
<v Speaker 1>there something to the Hey, they worked on personal projects
<v Speaker 1>and stopped working on the game. Look, maybe I'll say
<v Speaker 1>what I've heard from people, like the word has gotten
<v Speaker 1>to me from people actually working on the game below
<v Speaker 1>the leadership team. They are all of the opinion, even
<v Speaker 1>after the crafting's promising to do the good guys stuff
<v Speaker 1>and give the ten percent. Still of the people that
<v Speaker 1>I would be talking about that this is all about
<v Speaker 1>stop not paying that two hundred and fifty million dollars.
<v Speaker 1>That is the entirety of the motivation here. So you know,
<v Speaker 1>that doesn't mean that there weren't mistakes made by the
<v Speaker 1>Unknown World's leadership team. Maybe there were, but that's not
<v Speaker 1>what anyone I shouldn't say it. That's not what I've
<v Speaker 1>heard that people are concerned about who are actually making
<v Speaker 1>this video game. So you know, maybe there's more to it,
<v Speaker 1>Maybe we'll get more from that story. I would look
<v Speaker 1>forward to kind of keeping track with it. But the
<v Speaker 1>very least, I think the motivations of crafting seemed very
<v Speaker 1>clear to me here, and the way that they're behaving
<v Speaker 1>seems to back up the the what has been alleged
<v Speaker 1>in this complaint, like all right, oh yeah, go.
<v Speaker 2>Ahead, just real quick grub. It just feels like, from
<v Speaker 2>the tippy top, it seems insane to offer that as
<v Speaker 2>a bonus if the intent was never to pay it.
<v Speaker 2>And also that just feels like such a such a
<v Speaker 2>slap to the face of the developers that you employ
<v Speaker 2>that like, hey, we're going to offer this. We don't
<v Speaker 2>think you can do it. Oh shit, you're doing it.
<v Speaker 2>Oh no, It's very scummy, And I hate that the
<v Speaker 2>theme of the stories for the last couple of weeks
<v Speaker 2>has been like a hot potato of publishers just making
<v Speaker 2>these terrible decisions, Like we were just talking about You'bisoft.
<v Speaker 2>Then it was EA, then it was Microsoft. I don't
<v Speaker 2>want to see who is next in terms of shape publisher.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's you know, I always get frustrated when I
<v Speaker 1>hear people have complaints about the way a company is behaving,
<v Speaker 1>because it's like, man, the company just sounds like it's
<v Speaker 1>behaving the way that all companies behave under our system.
<v Speaker 1>So as always, fuck capitalism, just as a reminder, all right,
<v Speaker 1>so let's take a quick break. When we come back,
<v Speaker 1>plenty more headlines. You can miss out on these ad
<v Speaker 1>breaks if you go to GiantBomb dot com slash join
<v Speaker 1>for the podcast versions for later versions of the show.
<v Speaker 1>But in the meantime, let's go to this. This episode
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<v Speaker 1>Now all right, we're back. It's Game Mess Mornings. That's Janachilla.
<v Speaker 1>I'm Jeff Grubb. I don't know. If I pointed in
<v Speaker 1>the right direction, he could be over there. He could
<v Speaker 1>be over there. All right, let's get back into the headlines.
<v Speaker 1>Sonic Racing Crossworlds switch to version will have cross progression
<v Speaker 1>and the full game will be on the card, which
<v Speaker 1>is interesting because it's going to be a sixty four
<v Speaker 1>gigabyte card. So this tells us a few things that
<v Speaker 1>the story comes from Andy Robinson at VGC that I
<v Speaker 1>think publishers are being like, whatever, Okay, this is going
<v Speaker 1>to cost us a little bit more, but our game
<v Speaker 1>might actually sell to people if we put it on
<v Speaker 1>a sixty four gigabyte card. And also, you know, this
<v Speaker 1>game probably is big enough for this. But still we
<v Speaker 1>have not heard about a third party publisher getting access
<v Speaker 1>to any size switch to game card smaller smaller than
<v Speaker 1>sixty four gigabytes. And as a reminder here, so the
<v Speaker 1>game key card thing has been a real problem for
<v Speaker 1>a lot of people. There's a lot of criticisms of it.
<v Speaker 1>I also kind of feel that way where it's like
<v Speaker 1>I would never buy one of those. I don't buy
<v Speaker 1>a lot of physical so what does that mean? But
<v Speaker 1>I just feel my guts like if I were excited about,
<v Speaker 1>Like I bought Metroid Prime on Switch one and Links
<v Speaker 1>Awakening and things like that. If any of those games
<v Speaker 1>had been game key cards, I would not have bought that.
<v Speaker 1>So it's like, if it's affecting me, people who really
<v Speaker 1>care about physical must be hating these things, and maybe
<v Speaker 1>that's being reflected in early sales data. Who knows. But
<v Speaker 1>Sega kind of following up what Cyberpunk did and it
<v Speaker 1>did really well on the Switch to by having the
<v Speaker 1>full game on the card. Now they're doing that with
<v Speaker 1>Sognic Cross Worlds, which I think is just for a
<v Speaker 1>game aimed maybe primarily at kids. To me, this is
<v Speaker 1>table stakes. You gotta do this, even if that card
<v Speaker 1>is a bit more expensive.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I I this this whole game cart debacle rub
<v Speaker 2>It still baffles my mind and I just think of
<v Speaker 2>I don't know why my mind always goes to the
<v Speaker 2>poor grandma or the poor cousins or siblings sharing a
<v Speaker 2>game at Christmas time, even though we're so far away
<v Speaker 2>from Christmas. But big box retailers would beg to disagree, Yes,
<v Speaker 2>please just put the full game on the game cart,
<v Speaker 2>because I don't know that is such an integral memory
<v Speaker 2>for me, Grub, just sharing cartridges at recess or we're
<v Speaker 2>swapping that, or even just saving a couple bucks please,
<v Speaker 2>and hey, cross cross progression on as many games as possible, please.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, it's that. I mean, I know we're in like
<v Speaker 1>specific positions to take advantage of cross progression, but still like,
<v Speaker 1>just do it because who knows who this is going
<v Speaker 1>to be in a situation like that. And I always
<v Speaker 1>appreciate especially It's like when I come back to a
<v Speaker 1>game after a year or something like that and now
<v Speaker 1>I am playing on a different device and my saves
<v Speaker 1>are there. That's always so pleasant to see that I
<v Speaker 1>really appreciate it. But yeah, I think I do think
<v Speaker 1>eventually Nintendo will offer up smaller game cards to developers
<v Speaker 1>and publishers, but it's early days and it just feels
<v Speaker 1>like Nintendo is in their especially weird zone. I think
<v Speaker 1>launching a new console has just got them in their
<v Speaker 1>feelings and they're being odd about everything that could be
<v Speaker 1>odd about.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm wondering, Grub, when do you think they're going
<v Speaker 2>to get less weird? Is it? Do you think it
<v Speaker 2>will be a full calendar year or maybe now that
<v Speaker 2>Bonanza's out, maybe after Matrid Prime four, will they like
<v Speaker 2>start getting normal and they'll like give deficates to get
<v Speaker 2>doubt developers.
<v Speaker 1>I think the overall, like the Overton window of Nintendo's
<v Speaker 1>weirdness is still going to be on the far weirder
<v Speaker 1>side of all these like other companies that are in
<v Speaker 1>the business, but they will become within their own like
<v Speaker 1>zone of weirdness. I think they will come down and
<v Speaker 1>be a little bit less weird after these holidays. So
<v Speaker 1>once they get through this first holiday season with the
<v Speaker 1>switch to I think they'll take a breath and reassess
<v Speaker 1>some of their policies and other things, like you know,
<v Speaker 1>like you said with the dev kits, that will probably
<v Speaker 1>start to loosen up. Part of it could just be
<v Speaker 1>like they are restricted on how many of these things
<v Speaker 1>they have available, like maybe maybe the third thirty two
<v Speaker 1>gigabyte cards. They're using new kinds of cards compared to
<v Speaker 1>the Switch one. Maybe it's just like, oh, that stuff
<v Speaker 1>is pretty limited and we're saving it for all Nintendo's games,
<v Speaker 1>and as we get economies of scale coming into play,
<v Speaker 1>that will open things up here in due course. And
<v Speaker 1>maybe that due course will happen later this year. But
<v Speaker 1>I think it's like they're probably gonna just be heads
<v Speaker 1>down on having a really solid first holiday and they
<v Speaker 1>aren't gonna worry about reassessing any of their behaviorsuntil they
<v Speaker 1>get on the other side of that. So yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>think after these holidays they they'll calm down a little
<v Speaker 1>bit on some of these weird things that they've been doing.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, Nintendo, I'll throw you a bone here, all right,
<v Speaker 2>you got a busy season ahead of you, as as
<v Speaker 2>another as we another entity that have had a busy season.
<v Speaker 2>And uh, okay, fine, fine, Fine, However, Nintendo, just you know,
<v Speaker 2>just give me the tiles. Please, just just give me
<v Speaker 2>the final.
<v Speaker 1>Give them the tiles. Uh, you know that direct that
<v Speaker 1>is allegedly happening. Maybe next week or the week after that.
<v Speaker 1>People are Balder's Kate three gets announced, we get an
<v Speaker 1>Elder Ring release date or something for the switch to,
<v Speaker 1>we start getting a bunch of these other things. I'm like, okay, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>Like in Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy nine gets announced finally
<v Speaker 1>and everyone could take a deep breath. Yeah, I think
<v Speaker 1>people are going to be in a good mood about
<v Speaker 1>the system overall.
<v Speaker 2>You know what, I'm mostly want that for Mike. I
<v Speaker 2>don't have the biggest fondness for Final Fantasy nine, But
<v Speaker 2>I just want that for Mike Yep.
<v Speaker 1>I think he's earned it at this point. He he
<v Speaker 1>had a good Wega man yesterday. Don Bluth, even if
<v Speaker 1>he is appreciating some games that are pretty bad, I
<v Speaker 1>think he did good work regarding it.
<v Speaker 2>This is gonna like that Don Bluth appreciation night is
<v Speaker 2>gonna look very bad. If anything funky ever comes out
<v Speaker 2>about Don Bluth.
<v Speaker 1>We will we would never take it out of context
<v Speaker 1>to make it sound like he is appreciating the worst
<v Speaker 1>sides of anyone.
<v Speaker 2>All right.
<v Speaker 1>Next story, Virtuous Nax mass layoffs as gaming giant undergoes restructure.
<v Speaker 1>This is from Eddie Mcowit game spot. We talked a
<v Speaker 1>little bit about this yesterday, but we got some like
<v Speaker 1>details about numbers. Eurogamer reported that, you know, according to
<v Speaker 1>a spokesperson, around seven percent of the company's global staff
<v Speaker 1>are facing layoffs. I think it's like around three hundred
<v Speaker 1>people total, maybe two hundred eighty people. Two hundred people
<v Speaker 1>in Asia were impacted, along with seventy in Europe, and yes,
<v Speaker 1>two hundred eighty people and then fewer than ten people
<v Speaker 1>at Virtuous's French office, which worked on Oblivion Remastered were impacted.
<v Speaker 1>The company said, why is this happening, especially for a
<v Speaker 1>company that just put out one of the more highly
<v Speaker 1>regarded remasters of the year with Oblivion, Because Microsoft is
<v Speaker 1>cutting back on spending. Microsoft is a massive player in
<v Speaker 1>the space. They did a bunch of layoffs internally. They
<v Speaker 1>also cut back on spending on contract work and other
<v Speaker 1>things like that. So going from one project like Oblivion
<v Speaker 1>to the next project, well, the next project probably isn't
<v Speaker 1>there because or if it was, could have got canceled.
<v Speaker 1>And that's kind of not just affecting Virtuous, it's affecting
<v Speaker 1>a lot of these contract studios because one of their
<v Speaker 1>bigger clients was Microsoft. So the fallout from that continues.
<v Speaker 1>And it's one of the reasons like where I'm like,
<v Speaker 1>I am viewing all these stories through the lens jan
<v Speaker 1>of things just generally feel pretty cooked. Like it feels
<v Speaker 1>like the video game industry is having a correction where
<v Speaker 1>we were in one place where we thought the sky
<v Speaker 1>was the limit. Game Pass could get to one hundred
<v Speaker 1>million subscribers, a new generation of gamers will come in
<v Speaker 1>because of Fortnite, and then they will start buying games
<v Speaker 1>and none of that has really panned out, So like,
<v Speaker 1>where are we actually, like in the corrected a view
<v Speaker 1>of this overall market? You know, it feels like a
<v Speaker 1>bigger version of the board game industry. It's kind of
<v Speaker 1>like how I'm looking at it now, where it's like
<v Speaker 1>there are people who are passionate about this, who want
<v Speaker 1>to make games and do cool stuff, and they will
<v Speaker 1>do a lot of the work themselves to get the
<v Speaker 1>ship made and out to people, and that side of
<v Speaker 1>the industry will continue. The big massive corporations coming into
<v Speaker 1>that space. Is there room for them or enough money
<v Speaker 1>to satiate them that? No, probably probably not here, Probably
<v Speaker 1>not right now for the amount of money they think
<v Speaker 1>that they think they should be making. And is that
<v Speaker 1>because we aren't spending enough money? Certainly doesn't feel that way,
<v Speaker 1>because it's not. It's really those companies just got so
<v Speaker 1>big that they can't justify wasting their time making something
<v Speaker 1>that only makes a billion dollars as opposed to ten
<v Speaker 1>billion dollars. Yeah, that's That's where I'm at with all
<v Speaker 1>this jan any thoughts about virtuous you know, having to
<v Speaker 1>lay people off after oblivion.
<v Speaker 2>I this bums me out, just like every layoff that
<v Speaker 2>we've covered, and every layoff that that winds up missing
<v Speaker 2>us on the show, my heart goes out to those affected.
<v Speaker 2>Of course, I just think that there has to be
<v Speaker 2>better protections Greb for these employees across the board, to
<v Speaker 2>protect them from the fucking terrible parent companies that they have.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, a layoff is not just losing your job,
<v Speaker 2>is losing proper footing underneath you. And God, it is
<v Speaker 2>so difficult for folks. I know for a fact that
<v Speaker 2>it is difficult in the US for game devs that
<v Speaker 2>have been laid off. Do you find a new gig?
<v Speaker 2>I have no idea what the scene is like in
<v Speaker 2>Europe In Asia? Yeah, I don't know if it's just
<v Speaker 2>as easy, or if it's any easier to get a
<v Speaker 2>job in Asia, or if some of those jobs are
<v Speaker 2>going to be sent to like a place where they
<v Speaker 2>exploit their workers. I have no idea, And I just
<v Speaker 2>think that you know, maybe now you know what I
<v Speaker 2>thought about what I was going to say. I'm not
<v Speaker 2>going to say that. Let's just say eat the rich.
<v Speaker 1>Sounds good, Yeah, we can do that. Yeah, let's see here.
<v Speaker 1>People are just mentioning real quick that square Enix is
<v Speaker 1>announced they're going to in support for Final Fantasy fourteen
<v Speaker 1>on Windows ten. And yeah, I mean, look, if Windows
<v Speaker 1>ten is getting its security support is ending, you have
<v Speaker 1>to move on from Windows ten because that went. Like, Look,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not saying that's a good thing Microsoft. I'm at
<v Speaker 1>a low point with my love of Windows right now.
<v Speaker 1>I do not love it at all. I'm very frustrated
<v Speaker 1>by that operating system. But if we're going to keep
<v Speaker 1>using Windows and not going to be the kinds of
<v Speaker 1>people that go to Linux or whatever, at a certain
<v Speaker 1>point you just have to recognize you're on this ride
<v Speaker 1>that Microsoft to put you on, and when they end
<v Speaker 1>security support for Windows ten, you got to move on
<v Speaker 1>because your system will just be compromised if you do not.
<v Speaker 1>So there's no reason to stay on Windows ten to
<v Speaker 1>play Final Fantasy fourteen. You got to move on. So
<v Speaker 1>that's that side. It stinks, but that's where we're at
<v Speaker 1>with Microsoft Windows and everything. Apparently all right. Zinga Boss
<v Speaker 1>says Star Wars Hunters was no failure despite imminent shutdown.
<v Speaker 1>This is from Jason Finelli at GameSpot. Shut out to Jason. Typically,
<v Speaker 1>when a live service game is shut down by its publisher,
<v Speaker 1>the assumption is the game failed to perform in some way,
<v Speaker 1>usually financially, and that its underwhelming performance resulted in its discontinuation.
<v Speaker 1>Star Wars Hunters, Zinga's multiplayer shooter set in the Star
<v Speaker 1>Wars universe, is being shut down in October, but despite
<v Speaker 1>a lower than anticipated attach rate, Zinga CEO Frank Jebo
<v Speaker 1>said it was no failure at all. Speaking with the
<v Speaker 1>game's business, Jebo said that the term at that the
<v Speaker 1>team at Zinga built a great tech base in a
<v Speaker 1>fun game with Hunters, but the game did not emerge
<v Speaker 1>as a viable business. Specifically, Jibo's cites a lack of
<v Speaker 1>organic installs from the license as a contributing factor and
<v Speaker 1>its imminent discontinuation. We had some issues with how we
<v Speaker 1>could explore intellectual property. Could you play Darth Vader or
<v Speaker 1>could you not? That sort of thing, Jibo said. We
<v Speaker 1>ended up with a cross platform game on switch and
<v Speaker 1>mobile that ran perfectly. It was fun, but it didn't
<v Speaker 1>engage over the long term, and it wasn't a viable business.
<v Speaker 1>Sounds like a failure to me, but whatever. I think
<v Speaker 1>what he's getting at here is that they're happy with
<v Speaker 1>how the game looked and formed and like how they
<v Speaker 1>were able to navigate happy to use a license that
<v Speaker 1>is pretty restrictive, but the game still did not find
<v Speaker 1>you know, purchase or whatever. I guess. Really, what I
<v Speaker 1>would ask you here, Jan is what do you think
<v Speaker 1>the state is of a company like Zinga or really
<v Speaker 1>any publisher going to get a licensed property at this moment,
<v Speaker 1>especially one like Star Wars that seems fraud and difficult
<v Speaker 1>to handle grub.
<v Speaker 2>This is such a weird instance because for a while
<v Speaker 2>it felt like Star Wars was an ip that you
<v Speaker 2>could throw into a game and it would bank on,
<v Speaker 2>and it could bank on. And I remember when this
<v Speaker 2>came out. I remember you specifically had checked it out
<v Speaker 2>and you said it's perfectly fine and maybe we should
<v Speaker 2>check it out. That never came to fruition because of
<v Speaker 2>scheduling stuff, but this was kind of always way way
<v Speaker 2>way back on my radar as a game to check
<v Speaker 2>out because of my appreciation, in my fondness for Star Wars.
<v Speaker 2>And I think the Star Wars video, the Star Wars
<v Speaker 2>gamer audience has become so pickle, I guess. And maybe
<v Speaker 2>that's just the Star Wars audience in general feeling like
<v Speaker 2>they've been oversaturated in more of a way than the
<v Speaker 2>Marvel audience has, where with Star Wars we're just seeing
<v Speaker 2>canceled project after canceled project, and then like the game's
<v Speaker 2>just not measuring up to what the audience is after.
<v Speaker 2>But we will see a boom with something like Star
<v Speaker 2>Wars Battlefront two yep, and and then like you know,
<v Speaker 2>I I know that and Or is Star Wars, but
<v Speaker 2>for some reason to me, it exists with it in
<v Speaker 2>its own bubble in that universe.
<v Speaker 1>It's not showing up at like the theme parks in
<v Speaker 1>any way, right, like all the Filony verse stuff does,
<v Speaker 1>but the and Or stuff, and like you know, and
<v Speaker 1>that's part of that is then maybe not anticipating a
<v Speaker 1>huge desire for merch or whatever. But there's just no
<v Speaker 1>crossover between and Or and the other Star Wars stuff
<v Speaker 1>that exists. I think you're right, you know, it's definitely
<v Speaker 1>Star Wars, but it's not having that effect. Now, jan
<v Speaker 1>I think I have an answer here for a Star
<v Speaker 1>Wars game that would work. A pod racing game, but
<v Speaker 1>instead of pods, all of all of the racers are
<v Speaker 1>Star Wars characters that have been turned into pod racing machines,
<v Speaker 1>and they are also they're also anime girls. So it's
<v Speaker 1>a Han solo, but it's an anime girl version of
<v Speaker 1>Han solo with pod racing parts sticking off her. Do
<v Speaker 1>you think that there's something there.
<v Speaker 2>Say less grub. I my bag account doesn't look good
<v Speaker 2>right now, but I will cut and check.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, let's do it. Let's let's get this made.
<v Speaker 1>You know what, you make that game, John Drake, look
<v Speaker 1>at me. You make that game guarantee smash hit one
<v Speaker 1>million percent. You are sitting on a beach within a
<v Speaker 1>year of that game coming out and never working another
<v Speaker 1>day in your life. DRAI make it happen.
<v Speaker 3>Drakie pooh, come over here, bud Yo, Diet Cox on
<v Speaker 3>the fucking beach, drink umbrellas all day every day, Star Wars,
<v Speaker 3>Wife Wu pod Racer games.
<v Speaker 1>It's just a license to print money, it really, I mean,
<v Speaker 1>go to town. Come on, are you kidding me?
<v Speaker 2>No one will care if Watto is racially insensitive.
<v Speaker 1>If if Watto's hot, yeah, they won't care.
<v Speaker 2>Even if Watto it still has a weird beard, belly
<v Speaker 2>and that accent. I will let him guide me down
<v Speaker 2>all the way to unleash a bunch of wife Wu
<v Speaker 2>pod racers.
<v Speaker 1>Just the little pod droids or whatever, just like they
<v Speaker 1>explode into animeg or yeah, make it happen, all right,
<v Speaker 1>last handful of stories here. That staple Nintendo Switch two,
<v Speaker 1>that game stop was accidentally sold to people. They would
<v Speaker 1>staple the receipt under the box, and in doing so,
<v Speaker 1>the staple would go through the box and latch into
<v Speaker 1>the screen of the switch to, and everyone got really
<v Speaker 1>mad at GameStop for doing it. Was like one in
<v Speaker 1>New York that happened on launch day. They took that
<v Speaker 1>system back, they gave someone a repaired one, and they
<v Speaker 1>have the stapler, and they auctioned off the stapler and
<v Speaker 1>raised two hundred and fifty thousand dollars along with the
<v Speaker 1>switch to that had the staples in it.
<v Speaker 2>That's amazing, Grub. I'm sorry we'd have to rewind a bit.
<v Speaker 2>Someone in shady Yeah come back with with like the
<v Speaker 2>best idea. And I'm sorry folks for derailing let's do
<v Speaker 2>it game mess mornings. And I'm sorry for inserting a
<v Speaker 2>bit of myself here.
<v Speaker 1>Now it's time, it's the time to do it.
<v Speaker 2>Hoog racers, thank you, doomed somehow.
<v Speaker 1>Well, I'm never gonna think about anything else ever again.
<v Speaker 1>That's that's just gonna be it up there now. Huh.
<v Speaker 1>And the old Noggin paw gracer is great. Never gonna
<v Speaker 1>be watched that scene again.
<v Speaker 2>Cool.
<v Speaker 1>This is what we do on this show. Welcome everybody,
<v Speaker 1>It's Game Best Mornings. We should this should be the
<v Speaker 1>serious finale. For some reason, We're going to keep doing
<v Speaker 1>episodes though. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for charity.
<v Speaker 1>Good job, game stop, I guess. And then Minecraft Movie
<v Speaker 1>is gonna get the Lava Chicken song, which my kids
<v Speaker 1>still sing constantly. You have to like you have to do,
<v Speaker 1>you have to do like some challenge or whatever to
<v Speaker 1>unlock it in there. Kids have been playing a lot
<v Speaker 1>of Minecraft, and I think I'm at a point now, Jim,
<v Speaker 1>where I'm paying for a server on realms. Oh, and
<v Speaker 1>I'm like I'm thinking, like, oh, I need to get
<v Speaker 1>you all in there to justify the money I'm spending
<v Speaker 1>on this thing. Because I'm not just spending money on realms.
<v Speaker 1>They are also getting mine coins pretty frequently, and yeah,
<v Speaker 1>we're getting skin packs and like different like mods and
<v Speaker 1>stuff like that, and I'm like, I might just do
<v Speaker 1>something to one of these realms and then invite you
<v Speaker 1>all in there. Maybe we could do a Minecraft stream
<v Speaker 1>or something, because I'm in the mood for it.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, I'm always in the mood for more Minecraft, even
<v Speaker 2>if it's checking in or if it's just a camera
<v Speaker 2>that is pointed at the server a specific part of
<v Speaker 2>it that we just run somewhere.
<v Speaker 1>That'd be great, That'd be fun. Yeah, I think it'd
<v Speaker 1>be cool to even just to like have us all
<v Speaker 1>go in there and build something and then let my
<v Speaker 1>kids see it and so like let them judge it
<v Speaker 1>or something like that, and I could report back what
<v Speaker 1>they think. And then Super Mario Run is still a thing,
<v Speaker 1>and it's starting a Donkey Kong Bonanza event. This is
<v Speaker 1>from Nintendo Everything. Donkey Kong Bonanza is out on switch
<v Speaker 1>to today and to celebrate, a brand new event has
<v Speaker 1>started up in Super Mario Run. New rewards are available
<v Speaker 1>that could be earned by completing different missions. You'll clear
<v Speaker 1>your first one first once by simply booting up the
<v Speaker 1>mobile game and visiting your kingdom. Other missions involve collecting coins,
<v Speaker 1>defeating a certain amount of enemies, and more. Players can
<v Speaker 1>fill out three mission sheets in total, which provide different statues.
<v Speaker 1>Super Mario Run has seen some new life over the
<v Speaker 1>past decade or the past couple of years thanks to
<v Speaker 1>these collaborative events. This is the first time I'm hearing
<v Speaker 1>about this. Apparently they've done events for Super Mario Party, Jamboree,
<v Speaker 1>Luigi's Mansion, two HD, Super Mario Brothers Wonder, Princess Peach's Showtime,
<v Speaker 1>and A thousand Year Door and brother Ship. I had
<v Speaker 1>no idea they did that for Super Mario Brothers Run.
<v Speaker 1>I have not played the Run since it came out,
<v Speaker 1>and I don't think I ever actually even bought it
<v Speaker 1>jan it was ten dollars. I think I just did
<v Speaker 1>the demo version and never actually converted my purchase there.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>It sounds pretty basic. It doesn't sound like they're bringing
<v Speaker 1>in a ton of like Bonanza Theming or anything like that.
<v Speaker 2>So, yeah, I could have sworn they killed this game.
<v Speaker 2>I guess not.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I like, had you asked me like last week,
<v Speaker 1>I would have been like, I don't know if that's
<v Speaker 1>still going, I'd have to actually look. But apparently apparently
<v Speaker 1>it's still running, and then this is a good use
<v Speaker 1>for it. I mean, I don't think anyone like loves
<v Speaker 1>this game, but I'm sure someone would maybe play it
<v Speaker 1>because or maybe people are just playing it casually. And
<v Speaker 1>if this is the way they found out to find
<v Speaker 1>out about new Nintendo games, cool, Yeah, fair enough.
<v Speaker 2>It's no subway surfers. But I always thought it was
<v Speaker 2>a missed opportunity.
<v Speaker 1>Thousand times resist sure, yeah, gone, yes.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, yes, I always thought it was a missed opportunity
<v Speaker 2>for for the lack of cross pollination in some of
<v Speaker 2>Nintendo's games grubs. So it's cool to see this being implemented,
<v Speaker 2>even if it isn't Mario Run. But I don't know.
<v Speaker 2>It'd be really cool in Splittoon three, for instance, if
<v Speaker 2>now suddenly there's a bunch of bananas everywhere.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's not bad.
<v Speaker 2>I'd like that because of Donkey Kong Bonanza crub. This
<v Speaker 2>story popped up from Eurogamer. Can I just read you
<v Speaker 2>the headline? Please?
<v Speaker 1>Yes? Please?
<v Speaker 2>And this makes me want to throw up Eurogamer. This
<v Speaker 2>is from Matt Wale's GTA six will earn seven point
<v Speaker 2>six billion dollars in two months and will be the
<v Speaker 2>largest gaming release of all time, investment firm predicts.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. I saw that, and I was just like, I mean,
<v Speaker 1>who knows the analysts? Right? They got to just kind
<v Speaker 1>of do their math and put stuff out there. But
<v Speaker 1>that doesn't sound impossible, and that's insane to me seven
<v Speaker 1>point six because, like you know, I get the difference.
<v Speaker 1>A game is much more expensive than a movie, but
<v Speaker 1>dollars are dollars, right. A dollar is a dollar. It's
<v Speaker 1>equivalent whether you're spending on a movie or a game.
<v Speaker 1>And so something be able to come out and generate
<v Speaker 1>seven point six billion dollars in spending in two months,
<v Speaker 1>that's I guess, you know what speaks to the haves
<v Speaker 1>and have nots of this industry. And that's kind of
<v Speaker 1>maybe where we're at with like this over all take
<v Speaker 1>on how this stuff is going. When we talk about, hey,
<v Speaker 1>is this space growing, We're not talking about grand theft
<v Speaker 1>auto no, like that is clearly going to do just fine.
<v Speaker 1>It will grow. It has a life of its own.
<v Speaker 1>It has a sort of attractions of its own in
<v Speaker 1>terms of just bringing people in through social media and
<v Speaker 1>through a video, live video, Twitch streaming, all this stuff influencers.
<v Speaker 1>It's its own sort of economy, and that's what you
<v Speaker 1>need to be one of the massive games in this industry,
<v Speaker 1>and there's only room for a couple of those. So Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that's just a massive number Shan.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I with each new story like this that pops up,
<v Speaker 2>and I completely understand a lot of these are driven
<v Speaker 2>by analysts that may be kind of like outside of
<v Speaker 2>the video game industry, or people like writing inwards and
<v Speaker 2>like saying like, oh, hey, we could make a bunch
<v Speaker 2>of money over there. This really takes the wind out
<v Speaker 2>of my sales. For any excitement for GTA six. I'm
<v Speaker 2>not the biggest GTA fan to begin with, but like
<v Speaker 2>every time one of these stories makes the rounds, I
<v Speaker 2>care less about the game.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean when it feels like it's going to
<v Speaker 1>take all I mean we've known this for forever. Every
<v Speaker 1>time it comes up, we were like, oh, games are
<v Speaker 1>moving out of the way of that game because it's
<v Speaker 1>going to take all the oxygen out of the room.
<v Speaker 1>But it really does feel like there's just gonna be
<v Speaker 1>no money left for anyone else when this game comes out,
<v Speaker 1>And you know that's obviously not going to be exactly
<v Speaker 1>how it works, but it sure feels that way. And Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I think I'm with you where it's like I've never
<v Speaker 1>like loved loved any Grand Theft Auto since three that
<v Speaker 1>they've been good, and they've been proved in quality. But
<v Speaker 1>there was that moment, at a moment of time when
<v Speaker 1>three came out where it was like just this cultural
<v Speaker 1>thing and passing the controller back and forth with friends
<v Speaker 1>at a friend's house right as I was getting out
<v Speaker 1>of high school. That was really magical. And then the
<v Speaker 1>game's kind of in a direction that was not how
<v Speaker 1>I was playing the game. Not that I dislike them
<v Speaker 1>or anything like that, but I just this just feels
<v Speaker 1>like something we talk about because of its effect on
<v Speaker 1>the industry, and not necessarily because I'm infatuated with Grand
<v Speaker 1>Theft Auto. All Right, you know what, we did not
<v Speaker 1>put the pull up from yesterday, but I'm gonna have
<v Speaker 1>you all vote on it right now. Go vote on it.
<v Speaker 1>Just went live. Their link is there. Do you like
<v Speaker 1>the casting for the Zelda movie. Let's see if we
<v Speaker 1>can get to one hundred votes real quick. I just
<v Speaker 1>posted it so it's at six.
<v Speaker 2>Hell yeah, we're gonna get to seven point six billion
<v Speaker 2>dollars grub just from.
<v Speaker 1>This poll alone. I'm gonna vote both are great because
<v Speaker 1>I like it? So yeah, do you like the casting
<v Speaker 1>for the Zelda movie? Both are great? Link is great?
<v Speaker 1>Zelda is great or I don't like either. I posted
<v Speaker 1>the link in chat. Let's see here. How old is
<v Speaker 1>grub snacksheck asks, I'm forty two years old. Also's early.
<v Speaker 1>I remember someone asking did Invert just lay people off?
<v Speaker 1>Because they just finished two major projects middle Gear Solid
<v Speaker 1>Delta and then the Oblivion, And it's like, well, they
<v Speaker 1>specifically said it was about the changing landscape from a
<v Speaker 1>big player. They basically say Microsoft without Microsoft, but also
<v Speaker 1>beyond that, I've been told contract companies like Virtuos specifically
<v Speaker 1>are feeling the pain of Microsoft cutting back on spending
<v Speaker 1>and ending contracts. So I think it's a little bit
<v Speaker 1>more than just they finished two projects. They naturally would
<v Speaker 1>have had other projects and they were like counting on
<v Speaker 1>Microsoft or already had agreements and now those things have
<v Speaker 1>been cut off. All right, I'm gonna refresh, and however
<v Speaker 1>many votes we get, we get Let's see here. Okay, okay,
<v Speaker 1>one hundred and twenty one votes. That's good enough. That's
<v Speaker 1>a critical mass. Thank you everybody. All Right, the results
<v Speaker 1>are for do you like the casting for the Zelda movie?
<v Speaker 1>Zero percent think said link is great. Don't worry. That's
<v Speaker 1>because eighty four percent like both. They said both are great,
<v Speaker 1>eight percent are not happy with Link but like Zelda,
<v Speaker 1>and then seven percent don't like either. I'm hey, that
<v Speaker 1>sounds that's pretty good for a first casting announcement. That's
<v Speaker 1>when like all of the anxieties come out. Yeah, Like
<v Speaker 1>I always go back to Chris what's his name is
<v Speaker 1>going to play Captain America? Chris not Pine Evans, thank you,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm like the human torch from the bad Fantastic
<v Speaker 1>Four movies. That's gonna suck. And I was wrong. I
<v Speaker 1>really thought he did a great job. And ever since then,
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, I just I just don't let these casting
<v Speaker 1>announcements affect me one way or another. I have to
<v Speaker 1>see these actors in context. But that reaction is something
<v Speaker 1>that everyone still has, including me. I just kind of
<v Speaker 1>have to put it to put it aside. And having
<v Speaker 1>eighty four percent go no, this is good is an
<v Speaker 1>early win for that movie. Jan Let me ask you
<v Speaker 1>before we move on. Do you still like what are
<v Speaker 1>the chances of this movie at this point actually coming out?
<v Speaker 1>Have they improved? How are you feeling?
<v Speaker 2>I think it's something for me a moto at least
<v Speaker 2>to announce the casting for Lincoln, Zelda and I think
<v Speaker 2>Lex was talking about this yesterday, but Wes Ball has
<v Speaker 2>been very vocal about working on this film, and.
<v Speaker 1>It seems like a guy that delivers as well.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, I think it's gonna come out. I still
<v Speaker 2>don't know what it's gonna look like. I don't know
<v Speaker 2>what the tone is gonna be. I'd be interested to
<v Speaker 2>see what leaked scripts may come out of this, because
<v Speaker 2>I just don't know what Zeldas story you tell, especially
<v Speaker 2>when the actors that have been casted are so young.
<v Speaker 2>Because when I when I saw the baby faces of
<v Speaker 2>Lincoln Zelda, I think, all right, we're doing win Waker,
<v Speaker 2>which I wouldn't mind. It'd be cool.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think that'd be a pretty good story to
<v Speaker 1>adapt as well. I don't I think they will have
<v Speaker 1>to me. It feels like it's gonna be an amalgamation.
<v Speaker 1>They will take tidbits from all the different stories and
<v Speaker 1>kind of put them all together. I'm finishing my show
<v Speaker 1>and they'll be done second.
<v Speaker 2>All right.
<v Speaker 1>So new poll question, Well, let's get to that real quick.
<v Speaker 1>Have you played Super Mario Run? Yes? Recently? Yes, but
<v Speaker 1>years ago? And no. We'll get the results of that.
<v Speaker 1>Talk about it on Game mess warnings here on Giant
<v Speaker 1>Bomb tomorrow speaking a Giant Bomb. Janet's Thursday, right, So
<v Speaker 1>we've got voicemail dump truck later. We got some other
<v Speaker 1>stuff we're doing internally, so it might not have anything
<v Speaker 1>until dump truck, Is that right?
<v Speaker 2>I believe, so a couple meetings, but then we will
<v Speaker 2>see y'all later for the dump truck. And then we
<v Speaker 2>got some fun stuff planned for tomorrow as well.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, we have some fun stuff. Let's see tomorrow, Game
<v Speaker 1>mess Mornings will return, and then we have the U
<v Speaker 1>Peak f we're gonna play Peak again. We're gonna try
<v Speaker 1>to get a bigger crew together because we're gonna use
<v Speaker 1>a mod that lets you have an unlimited number of
<v Speaker 1>people playing multiplayer. It might not be like ten people,
<v Speaker 1>but I think we might have five or six. And
<v Speaker 1>then before that, I might I might do some Donkey
<v Speaker 1>Kong h because yeah, I'm like looking at it. I
<v Speaker 1>think the schedule's open, so I might play some Donkey
<v Speaker 1>Kong Bonanza for the people, and then we'll, you know,
<v Speaker 1>we'll still do like a quick look at that and
<v Speaker 1>everything is such such a big game. Maybe you can
<v Speaker 1>get that recorded around the same time. We'll see, all right, Janatchoa.
<v Speaker 1>I think that's gonna do it. Thank you so much
<v Speaker 1>for hanging out with me today and talk about video games. Man,
<v Speaker 1>I really appreciate it.
<v Speaker 2>It's the only way to start a Thursday. Greb uh
<v Speaker 2>and uh.
<v Speaker 1>The shout outs to the girls man handling that cab
<v Speaker 1>back there. She's feisty, she can handle it. Everybody, don't worry,
<v Speaker 1>all right. Thank you everyone for listening and watching. You're
<v Speaker 1>the best audience in gaming. Until next time, have a
<v Speaker 1>good one, take care of yourself and goodbye. He'll be
<v Speaker 1>like a got me bed