Updates on the Future of the Assassin's Creed Franchise

<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody, Welcome to Games Mornings with Me Jeff grub
<v Speaker 1>your host from GiantBomb dot com. Thank you for tuning in.
<v Speaker 1>In this episode, we're gonna be talking about what the
<v Speaker 1>hell is going on with Crimson Desert and another first
<v Speaker 1>party PlayStation game makes.
<v Speaker 2>Its jump to the Nintendo Switch.
<v Speaker 1>It's gonna be a good one because we have Jan
<v Speaker 1>Ochoa on the show two days in a row.
<v Speaker 2>Jan, how are you doing.
<v Speaker 3>I'm doing well, Grubbed, despite not celebrating Sandwich Wednesday.
<v Speaker 1>I failed as well. I believe I had a sandwich
<v Speaker 1>the day before, so I just wanted to, like, I'm
<v Speaker 1>gonna count that towards my sandwich Wednesday.
<v Speaker 3>You were celebrating Sandwich Wednesday by having a preemptive sandwich,
<v Speaker 3>and I think that's better.
<v Speaker 1>I also, like I did, I did the patriotic sandwich
<v Speaker 1>Wednesday thing. And I watched a video about how people
<v Speaker 1>in New Orleans are better at using the baguette than
<v Speaker 1>anyone in France, and they're very proud of that. Like
<v Speaker 1>we make po boys, we make bombs and stuff. It's like, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>you guys know what you're doing down there.
<v Speaker 3>Let's keep sticking it to the French. They don't. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>like the beef has ended quite a while ago.
<v Speaker 2>But step it up. Yeah, you've invented this thing. Let's
<v Speaker 2>use it in some cool ways.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, we're delicious, you know, I'm gonna say it. I
<v Speaker 3>think we do fries better as well. I think a
<v Speaker 3>lot of places do fries better.
<v Speaker 1>Actually, yeah, I think they just take it on like on, like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>we it's in our name, so we don't have to try.
<v Speaker 2>You gotta try. Come on, friends, what are you doing?
<v Speaker 2>Please try? How you doing otherwise? Jane? You hang it
<v Speaker 2>in there? Get you get your coffee? You good to go, grub.
<v Speaker 3>There's like a lot of things coming out, like emails
<v Speaker 3>every hour about here's a new code for this thing.
<v Speaker 3>Hey do Yeah, disappointment at GDC. I'm like, I'll try,
<v Speaker 3>I'll try.
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, I don't know, honestly, I'm like not even
<v Speaker 1>exactly sure how to navigate GDC's been so long since
<v Speaker 1>I've been there, so I'm kind of trying to keep
<v Speaker 1>it pretty chill.
<v Speaker 2>Was the last time you went a long time ago?
<v Speaker 1>It was before Emmy was born, so it must have
<v Speaker 1>been about eleven years ago into eleven years ago. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>holy smoke, Yeah, I remember enjoying it. Uh, and I'll
<v Speaker 1>be there everybody, So I'll at least be there through
<v Speaker 1>the first half of the week. So if you see me,
<v Speaker 1>say hi. If you're listening, you're in the industry and
<v Speaker 1>you're going to be there. Very cool, but yeah, it's
<v Speaker 1>beyond that.
<v Speaker 2>You're right.
<v Speaker 1>It's like, okay, people asking for time at GDC and
<v Speaker 1>then a lot of studios were just like, yeah, we're
<v Speaker 1>launching our game right now. That's oh yeah, I remember
<v Speaker 1>that one. I was going to check that out, and
<v Speaker 1>then a bunch of other ones. I'm like getting more
<v Speaker 1>curious about that. Uh, what is it? I have Steam
<v Speaker 1>open right here. Let me just take a look. It's
<v Speaker 1>one that Will was reminded me existed. Yes, yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's the the Legend of Kimori. It's that like delivery.
<v Speaker 1>It looks like it takes place in Mongolia. I have
<v Speaker 1>not looked any closer than that, but it looks like
<v Speaker 1>a delivery game set in Mongolia where you're on horseback
<v Speaker 1>with a with you know, a bow, and it's like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>that looks really cool. I want to spend time with that. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>horse game, but I gotta I gotta play doct which
<v Speaker 1>we'll talk about of course. All right, let's get into it, everybody.
<v Speaker 1>Let's explain ourselves. We're Giant Bomb or Independent Games Media.
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<v Speaker 1>which I do still need to record for this week,
<v Speaker 1>but that plan is I'll do that today and a
<v Speaker 1>bunch of other stuff. We're working on all kinds of things.
<v Speaker 1>Nine Lives, mister Mastopheles, this is the run we're doing.
<v Speaker 1>Who wants to be a millionaire right now. A new
<v Speaker 1>episode of that just went up yesterday.
<v Speaker 2>We'll have you know. Of course, that's the run, so
<v Speaker 2>who knows when we'll have another episode.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>And in the mean time, though, everybody, thank you for
<v Speaker 1>your support, we really appreciate it. As far as this
<v Speaker 1>show goes, most weekdays, I Jeff grab will help peace
<v Speaker 1>your gaming life back together. That includes breaking news and
<v Speaker 1>maybe even some of our own original reporting. For all
<v Speaker 1>these topics, I'll get the input of a bona fide
<v Speaker 1>expert who will make me look smart. If you were
<v Speaker 1>watching live on Twitch, welcome. You can always listen to
<v Speaker 1>the show later on podcast feeds by searching for game
<v Speaker 1>Mes Mornings, or find the RSS feed on giant bomb
<v Speaker 1>dot com. You can also catch the show later with
<v Speaker 1>chapters and timestamps on YouTube. Hello YouTube. All right, we
<v Speaker 1>have a lot to get into, so let's start the
<v Speaker 1>morning mess with doctor Reviews. I'm the it's my show,
<v Speaker 1>jan I'm just gonna do things how I want.
<v Speaker 2>This is the new.
<v Speaker 1>Game from Saber where it's like one of their sim games,
<v Speaker 1>but it's got like a little bit more going on
<v Speaker 1>in terms of like not just being a sim there's
<v Speaker 1>like voice acting and stories and stuff like that that
<v Speaker 1>like characters she'll interact with.
<v Speaker 2>And it's about running a dockyard.
<v Speaker 1>So you got one of those big cranes and you're
<v Speaker 1>taking stuff off the ships, you're putting it onto the
<v Speaker 1>dock and you're loading it into the country.
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna play this.
<v Speaker 1>It has a seventy eight on Open Critic right now,
<v Speaker 1>but generally positive sentiment from a lot of these reviews.
<v Speaker 1>Seven point five out of ten from Fraser Billington at
<v Speaker 1>gamer Social Club. Doc is a solid next step in
<v Speaker 1>the sim category for Saber Interactive. I loved every second
<v Speaker 1>learning about all the new machinery and how best to
<v Speaker 1>use it. The introduction of a story was a nice
<v Speaker 1>touch that a lot of simulation games don't have. The
<v Speaker 1>few performance issues didn't take away from the fun I
<v Speaker 1>had with Doc. How for, the lack of continuing to
<v Speaker 1>play after I finished was a bit of a letdown.
<v Speaker 1>Working so hard to get my port fully upgraded and
<v Speaker 1>not being able to really use it. And that seems
<v Speaker 1>to be like the key thing here which people are like,
<v Speaker 1>I'm enjoying this game, it feels like there's something like
<v Speaker 1>missing there, like as a culmination at the end, and
<v Speaker 1>it's like, it sounds like that's kind of hurting people
<v Speaker 1>or hurting people's estimation of the game when it comes
<v Speaker 1>time to actually score this thing. But eighty five from
<v Speaker 1>Asmir Covid Chivuk. Yeah, Kovecovic, there we go at alt Charu.
<v Speaker 1>DOC turned out to be the exact opposite of what
<v Speaker 1>I expected.
<v Speaker 2>What I find.
<v Speaker 1>What I initially dismissed as me just another I'm not
<v Speaker 1>looking at chat. I knew I shouldn't during this, so
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure they're having fun. DOC turned out to be
<v Speaker 1>the exact opposite of what I expected. What I initially
<v Speaker 1>dismissed as just another simulator ended up being a surprisingly
<v Speaker 1>interesting experience, backed by strong writing, solid voice acting, and
<v Speaker 1>a gameplay loop that is dangerously addictive.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I love all of Sabers games like this, mud Runner,
<v Speaker 1>snow Runner Expeditions. They're going to be doing their version
<v Speaker 1>of an American truck simulator here pretty soon. That looks
<v Speaker 1>very promising. Again, it has these story elements where you're
<v Speaker 1>you know, very very like light light RPG stuff of
<v Speaker 1>talking to characters getting jobs, and that stuff always worked
<v Speaker 1>really well, even early on in something like mud runner
<v Speaker 1>Jam where it's like, hey, there was a big flood
<v Speaker 1>in this town in Michigan. Go get a truck together
<v Speaker 1>and start working with the people there to rebuild the town.
<v Speaker 2>And it always felt like, Oh, I have this purpose
<v Speaker 2>to the.
<v Speaker 1>Stuff I like doing in these simulation games, and it
<v Speaker 1>just gave it a little bit more meaning. So I'm
<v Speaker 1>I'm happy to hear this game is kind of getting
<v Speaker 1>into the high seventies. One thing I would say about
<v Speaker 1>Sabers games in this genre, they get a ton of support. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so this primary criticism of the game like kind of
<v Speaker 1>falling off right at the end.
<v Speaker 2>I hope that gets addressed.
<v Speaker 1>It's no excuse like people should be mindful as they're
<v Speaker 1>going to spend their money. But I hope, and I'm
<v Speaker 1>pretty confident that they're going to come in with more
<v Speaker 1>stuff here pretty soon and improve the game.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I'm confident in that, Greb. I'm these games generally
<v Speaker 3>aren't for me, but I appreciate when they do review
<v Speaker 3>well because that means they are landing amongst its audience
<v Speaker 3>very well. And sometimes I think, like, who is even
<v Speaker 3>playing these games? But then I remember I went through
<v Speaker 3>a phase during the pandemic where there was a phishing
<v Speaker 3>show about catching big tuna that I fell in love with,
<v Speaker 3>So I can one hundred percent see the fascination in
<v Speaker 3>playing these styles of games. Also, that trucking game that
<v Speaker 3>you were talking about, Greb, that's I think I smell
<v Speaker 3>a feature.
<v Speaker 1>Oh, we'll have some fun with that. I think it's
<v Speaker 1>time we get back in those trucks. I'm missing truck
<v Speaker 1>driver Jeff Baklar that we kind of just met very
<v Speaker 1>briefly when we played some of I think it was Expeditions.
<v Speaker 1>I'm pretty sure it was Expeditions. Oh no, that was
<v Speaker 1>Roadcraft actually road Roadcraft, which is another great one. So yeah,
<v Speaker 1>they know what they're doing with these. They they've found
<v Speaker 1>their own niche off to the side from something like
<v Speaker 1>an American truck simulator or a farming simulator, and their
<v Speaker 1>tone always works really well. Saber's got a ton of studios,
<v Speaker 1>but they are marked as the developer of this game.
<v Speaker 1>It's Saber Interactive as to the developer and publishers. So again,
<v Speaker 1>pretty confident they'll come at it with the same kind
<v Speaker 1>of support that they did for mud Runners and snow Runners.
<v Speaker 3>Grubb. I believe they're called I think they're illegal at
<v Speaker 3>least here in California. But I believe they're called a suicide,
<v Speaker 3>which is that attachment that you put on a wheel
<v Speaker 3>that is just like the ball that lets you just
<v Speaker 3>turn the steering wheel around. I feel like in another
<v Speaker 3>life you would have that.
<v Speaker 1>Oh absolutely, yes, yeah, I know what you mean, like
<v Speaker 1>the suicide something. I can't remember what it is exactly,
<v Speaker 1>but yeah, I've always wanted one of those. I basically
<v Speaker 1>that's basically how I drive anyhow, one hand kind of
<v Speaker 1>pretending it's on one of those things.
<v Speaker 2>All right.
<v Speaker 1>Other reviews WWE two K twenty six reviews came in
<v Speaker 1>way higher than I was backing, especially after doing that
<v Speaker 1>quick look right jam with Dan. That's up now right,
<v Speaker 1>people can check that out if you are skeptical of
<v Speaker 1>that game.
<v Speaker 2>Our Quick Look is the one to watch.
<v Speaker 1>DA eighty three on Open Critic, it's got four stars
<v Speaker 1>from Chris Scullion at VGC, who says WW two K
<v Speaker 1>twenty six offers another net gain over its predecessor, ensuring
<v Speaker 1>the series continues to evolve in a positive direction, while
<v Speaker 1>its new reversal system will initially divide players and the
<v Speaker 1>specter of micro transactions continues to loom over my faction.
<v Speaker 1>The overall package introduces more quality of life features to
<v Speaker 1>ensure each of its numerous modes is better than it
<v Speaker 1>was last time. Eight out of ten from Jack Valentine
<v Speaker 1>at Dual Shockers, Cmpunk's Showcase is an excellent presentation and
<v Speaker 1>My Rise is another successful story overall. WWE two K
<v Speaker 1>twenty six is still another solid entry in the two
<v Speaker 1>K franchise. But I can't help but wonder where it
<v Speaker 1>could have landed. It reminded me of the recent and
<v Speaker 1>he goes on and talk about that La Night spot
<v Speaker 1>from Elimination Chamber where he had the crowd in the
<v Speaker 1>palm of his hand and then he slipped a little bit,
<v Speaker 1>and he's like people still were on his side.
<v Speaker 2>He was still over, but it's like what could have been?
<v Speaker 1>And it's like, Okay, I could kind of see that
<v Speaker 1>there's people who like these games, obviously, and the last
<v Speaker 1>one was the most well received until now this one.
<v Speaker 1>For me, joan when I'm looking at this thing as
<v Speaker 1>someone who's kind of played it a little bit, and
<v Speaker 1>almost never in any role, I've never like played any
<v Speaker 1>of the the story showcase modes or things like that.
<v Speaker 1>I'll play some multiplayer with friends that the rest the
<v Speaker 1>core wrestling is just not fun to me. No, and
<v Speaker 1>I and I wonder if people are like, well, this
<v Speaker 1>is just what wrestling games are, So as long as
<v Speaker 1>I like all this stuff around it, I'm gonna forgive.
<v Speaker 2>Like, is it Stockholm syndrome?
<v Speaker 1>Have they been held hostage by WWE so long that
<v Speaker 1>they're just kind of going.
<v Speaker 2>Along with it?
<v Speaker 1>It's probably not that they probably legitimately like it. It's
<v Speaker 1>just hard for me to see that because I so
<v Speaker 1>dislike what I see from this game.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, one hundred percent grub despite the vibes being rancid
<v Speaker 3>with the WWE, and like, I don't feel good watching
<v Speaker 3>the product at all anymore.
<v Speaker 1>Bringing Brock Listener is like there's several bridges too far
<v Speaker 1>said somewhere else. That one is so so so far
<v Speaker 1>beyond the pale.
<v Speaker 3>It's unacceptable and almost like bringing him back with a
<v Speaker 3>wink and a nod saying like, oh, we did it anyway,
<v Speaker 3>fuck off, look off. But the games themselves, I just
<v Speaker 3>have not vibed or meshed with them at all. The
<v Speaker 3>wrestling component, like you said, grub doesn't feel fun. It
<v Speaker 3>feels very clunky. It doesn't feel like a smooth sports
<v Speaker 3>game even with what I feel like, they've always had
<v Speaker 3>this trouble of trying to appeal to these systems heavy
<v Speaker 3>people that want all of these random little mini games
<v Speaker 3>during the wrestling match, and then someone that just wants
<v Speaker 3>to pick it up and play something like a fame.
<v Speaker 3>And I don't know where these WW two K games
<v Speaker 3>are trying to ride that line, because also on top
<v Speaker 3>of the wrestling not being for me, there's so much
<v Speaker 3>in these games, Greb that is definitely not for me.
<v Speaker 3>I suggest people do check out the Quick Look because
<v Speaker 3>you can check out the batshit insane.
<v Speaker 2>Card Superstar super Card.
<v Speaker 3>Stuff that they have in there, as well as like
<v Speaker 3>the weird Mortal Kombat style Island mode that also does
<v Speaker 3>not seem particularly fun. And it's interesting, Grevy, you we're
<v Speaker 3>talking about like these people maybe they have the Stockholm syndrome,
<v Speaker 3>because sometimes I feel that way with Pokemon games, right
<v Speaker 3>where a lot of people will excuse a lot of
<v Speaker 3>inconsistencies and the games falling short because they've made improvements
<v Speaker 3>in other and it makes rise in other aspects of it.
<v Speaker 3>But for me personally, like you can only excuse so
<v Speaker 3>much so many times, and yeah, I'm very surprised to
<v Speaker 3>see this game reviewed that highly because I think all
<v Speaker 3>three of us on that quick look, we're fairly willing
<v Speaker 3>to give it a shot. But then even just from
<v Speaker 3>watching it be being played and the visual inconsistencies of
<v Speaker 3>the models being up and down kind yeah right, like
<v Speaker 3>if see them Punk is your poster child for this game,
<v Speaker 3>shouldn't his models be extra good?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>And like one of them is not was like terrible. Yep,
<v Speaker 1>it's uh yeah, so weirdness there, you know. And it
<v Speaker 1>sounds like the people who like this game, there's a
<v Speaker 1>couple of factions, and it is the people who really
<v Speaker 1>enjoy the GM mode and My Rise, and then maybe
<v Speaker 1>there's maybe like one other mode that I'm just forgetting.
<v Speaker 2>Again, I haven't really played much of this game, and.
<v Speaker 1>It sounds like they like any mode where they can
<v Speaker 1>be creative, like as if they are a not a
<v Speaker 1>shoot wrestler, but like behind k fabe and like they
<v Speaker 1>can you know, Damn was telling a story about how
<v Speaker 1>the guys.
<v Speaker 2>Over at at what is it the new Legacy? Yea
<v Speaker 2>new Legacy, that's right.
<v Speaker 1>New Legacy is the Wrestling Channel, where like they were
<v Speaker 1>calling out spots and doing like like actually working with
<v Speaker 1>each other to kind of make a cool looking wrestling match.
<v Speaker 1>And I'm like, okay, I can see that, but that
<v Speaker 1>feels like I want to get to that point eventually.
<v Speaker 1>I want all this stuff from from here to getting
<v Speaker 1>to that point to be fun as well to sort
<v Speaker 1>of onboard me into being creative. That's like a game
<v Speaker 1>like Hitman is what I think of in a situation
<v Speaker 1>like that, where there is all of this, all this
<v Speaker 1>stuff where you can make your own levels or like
<v Speaker 1>send levels to friends or try these fun challenges and
<v Speaker 1>that you create on your own, uh, and that you
<v Speaker 1>make your own fun. But everything up to that point
<v Speaker 1>is also extremely fun, and you can play in a
<v Speaker 1>variety of different ways, and if you take it seriously,
<v Speaker 1>it works, and if you try to be goofy, it works.
<v Speaker 2>And it's like the WWE experience.
<v Speaker 1>It's just like, Okay, you'll find the thing that you
<v Speaker 1>think is fun and the rest of it might be
<v Speaker 1>straight up trash to you. That's that's rough, especially as
<v Speaker 1>we're like looking at the price of this game when
<v Speaker 1>you get up into any of those higher one hundred
<v Speaker 1>and fifty dollars and to see so many things still
<v Speaker 1>locked behind micro transactions. After spending one hundred and fifty
<v Speaker 1>dollars on this game, it was very easy to be like,
<v Speaker 1>anything that was bothering me is now sort of nuclear
<v Speaker 1>and I just want to walk away. And that's before,
<v Speaker 1>of course, I don't want to play this game anyhow,
<v Speaker 1>because it's the WWE, and fuck the WWE.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, we were near the tail end of the Quick Look, folks.
<v Speaker 3>We were thumbing through the roster, and sometimes like that
<v Speaker 3>is the most fun in a ww quick Look is
<v Speaker 3>just thumbing through the roster seeing what wrestlers are available,
<v Speaker 3>also seeing like what power ranking they have this year.
<v Speaker 3>But there were so many that are locked behind in
<v Speaker 3>different battle passes or different modes. So if you were
<v Speaker 3>spending one hundred and fifty dollars and you can't get
<v Speaker 3>to your favorite wrestler from the jump, it feels it
<v Speaker 3>just leaves an incredibly bad taste in my mouth.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, all right, so let's keep going here. Those are
<v Speaker 1>the reviews that popped off today. That's why we talk
<v Speaker 1>about it, everybody. It's a news show.
<v Speaker 2>It's how it works.
<v Speaker 1>Ubisoft Gibbs updates on Assassin's Creed franchise, including Hex and
<v Speaker 1>Invictus alongside Black Flag remake tease. This from Wesley LeBlanc
<v Speaker 1>at Game Informer. Last week, you appointed three developers to
<v Speaker 1>a new leadership team in charge of the Assassin's Creed franchise,
<v Speaker 1>including making Assassin's Creed fours and Assassin's Creed Origins. Creative
<v Speaker 1>director Joan Gusensen Gustin the new head of content for
<v Speaker 1>the series.
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna get these names right eventually. Now.
<v Speaker 1>Ubisoft has delivered an overview of the Assassin's Creed series
<v Speaker 1>from Gusten that details updates on Assassin's Creed Shadows, Assassin's
<v Speaker 1>Creed code name Heck's, Assassin's Creed code name Invictus, and more,
<v Speaker 1>alongside the teas of a remake of Assassin's Creed four
<v Speaker 1>for Shadows. It launched on March twent last year. On
<v Speaker 1>March twentieth, so it's approaching its one year anniversary. They
<v Speaker 1>said they'll have more surprise is in store for that
<v Speaker 1>game for a code name Hex, which is like the
<v Speaker 1>next big game from them. It's the one that takes
<v Speaker 1>place in the Holy Roman Empire. It is this is
<v Speaker 1>the one that creative doctor Gusden is working on directly.
<v Speaker 1>He says He's promising something unique, darker and narrative driven
<v Speaker 1>for the Assassin's Creed, kind of a fresh Assassin's Creed experience.
<v Speaker 1>Is that something that entices you? Or can anything entice
<v Speaker 1>you in the Assassin's create At this point, I'm always
<v Speaker 1>wanting to check one out, but it's like, I don't
<v Speaker 1>know until I see it.
<v Speaker 2>Really.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I liked shadows well enough, and I think I
<v Speaker 3>am just more of a fan. Gosh, what was the
<v Speaker 3>one said in London with the two twins? That was
<v Speaker 3>Syndicate Syndicate. I think Syndicate was like the last one
<v Speaker 3>I really enjoyed. If I had started started up on
<v Speaker 3>the website and then I picked up on my own time,
<v Speaker 3>I don't know if I trust you be soft as
<v Speaker 3>the problem Greb Yep.
<v Speaker 2>People who liked shadow really like shadow.
<v Speaker 1>Shadows, I think plural, and they have kind of gone
<v Speaker 1>back and forth between, Hey, here's mirage more like the
<v Speaker 1>old ones, here's the ones that are much more RPG,
<v Speaker 1>sometimes more, sometimes less RPG, but often a lot more.
<v Speaker 2>And yeah, I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>I see an Assassin's Creed and a lot of it
<v Speaker 1>is going to be based on the setting and the character.
<v Speaker 1>If I think those things are cool. I'll at least
<v Speaker 1>maybe glance at it, and that's like glance. I mean glance.
<v Speaker 1>I'm probably not even gonna play Shadows. I got around,
<v Speaker 1>I tried, played for a few hours, got what I
<v Speaker 1>wanted out of it. Was like they're doing all those
<v Speaker 1>situations where it's like, oh, I get it. I don't
<v Speaker 1>need to play anymore to get more of it. And
<v Speaker 1>that's where that franchise is at for me. So when
<v Speaker 1>I hear this stuff, it's like, I don't know if
<v Speaker 1>that's gonna win me over, But it sounds like the
<v Speaker 1>kind of thing that people who are super into Assassin's
<v Speaker 1>creed and have the tattoos and played the games, and
<v Speaker 1>there are a lot of those people out there. This
<v Speaker 1>sounds like something that might get them excited. I don't
<v Speaker 1>know for sure. There's other stuff from Assassins though. Code
<v Speaker 1>name Invictis is the PvP multiplayer experience that's being led
<v Speaker 1>by the former four Honor veterans at Ubisoft Montreal.
<v Speaker 2>Interesting. Right, there were.
<v Speaker 1>Rumors jan that this was going to be a Fall
<v Speaker 1>Guys like game. Apparently apparently that's not real, at least
<v Speaker 1>he says in this right up the rumors out there
<v Speaker 1>about what this.
<v Speaker 2>Game is are wrong.
<v Speaker 1>It's basically what he says, and that seems like a
<v Speaker 1>direct target at this idea that it was going to
<v Speaker 1>be an Assassin's Creed Fall guys game.
<v Speaker 2>Jane, I think that sounds fun.
<v Speaker 1>I think that sounds absurd, and I would love to
<v Speaker 1>see that be real.
<v Speaker 2>But hey, give the four Honor team a chance as well.
<v Speaker 3>Right, Yeah, for all, Honor is one of those games,
<v Speaker 3>Greb that I've always been super curious about checking out
<v Speaker 3>like I've wanted to. It is always looked enticing. And
<v Speaker 3>that's not just because of the Eric Pope of it all,
<v Speaker 3>of course, but for Honor it just seems like a
<v Speaker 3>I'll see games on my algorithms, just clips of them,
<v Speaker 3>but clip from for Honor always look the coolest.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I like Four Honors look a lot. I enjoyed
<v Speaker 1>playing that game. It was not one I got into.
<v Speaker 1>It's like, oh this is one of my hobby games,
<v Speaker 1>but definitely one that I respected and was like, oh
<v Speaker 1>that went for a long time.
<v Speaker 2>It must have found its audience, And that's saying something.
<v Speaker 2>In that moment.
<v Speaker 1>It wasn't like a guarantee that a game like that
<v Speaker 1>would be able to find its player base, and it did,
<v Speaker 1>and that's because that team knew what they were doing,
<v Speaker 1>so giving them another chance to sort of explore multiplayer
<v Speaker 1>ideas in a like the safe haven of Assassin's Creed
<v Speaker 1>where it's like that gives you something of a leg up.
<v Speaker 1>I'm interested to see what they come up with there.
<v Speaker 1>And then they did kind of basically confirm the Assassin's
<v Speaker 1>Creed for Black Flag remake. They didn't just explicitly say it,
<v Speaker 1>but they did everything except for explicitly say it. Gusden
<v Speaker 1>did not officially announce or confirm the remake. He did
<v Speaker 1>tease its existence by quoting the Assassin mantra and saying
<v Speaker 1>some whispers have a little bit more wind in their sales,
<v Speaker 1>keep your spyglass on the horizon. And that's right after
<v Speaker 1>he said one of the rumors was wrong, and then
<v Speaker 1>he said others have more winning in their sales. They
<v Speaker 1>also just like had an official art piece that set
<v Speaker 1>us Assassin's Creed black Flag Recinct, which is the name,
<v Speaker 1>the rumor name of this game.
<v Speaker 2>So it's coming. I would expect to get it announced soon.
<v Speaker 1>They also talked about the live action Netflix series being
<v Speaker 1>from the producers of Westworld and the Halo Show. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>Assassin's Creed Unity getting a sixty frames per second patch
<v Speaker 1>on the PlayStation five and Xbox, that's pretty wild. That's
<v Speaker 1>the one before Syndicate that caused everything to start going
<v Speaker 1>haywire for them. And then and then yeah, there's some
<v Speaker 1>smaller news. Assassin's Creed obviously very important to you besoft Jan.
<v Speaker 1>For me, it's like, I don't get excited about Assassin's
<v Speaker 1>Creed just sort of at a baseline level anymore.
<v Speaker 2>It really has to sort of earn it.
<v Speaker 1>I wonder if it has enough juice left over to
<v Speaker 1>sort of be their crown jewel.
<v Speaker 2>What do you think.
<v Speaker 3>I For me personally, grab I just feel a lot
<v Speaker 3>of exhaustion and fatigue when I think of Assassin's Creed
<v Speaker 3>at this point, just because it feels like they have
<v Speaker 3>trotted it out as their poster child to carry ub
<v Speaker 3>soft as a brand, And not that the games have
<v Speaker 3>been bad or anything, it just feels like there's way
<v Speaker 3>too many of them. And then now I'm experiencing a
<v Speaker 3>little bit of like brand confusion, and also with u
<v Speaker 3>be Soft as a whole, there's already a brewing level
<v Speaker 3>of mistrust with them, and I just see how they
<v Speaker 3>kind of fumble the bag with a lot of different
<v Speaker 3>franchises that they own. They're different miscellaneous ip but specifically
<v Speaker 3>the Prince of Persian One kind of left a very
<v Speaker 3>poor taste in my mouth, where, yeah, I'm treating ub
<v Speaker 3>Soft and also mismanagement across the board as well, right
<v Speaker 3>with the Kumont family that I am like tentatively looking
<v Speaker 3>over at ub Soft of like, okay, I'll I'll wait
<v Speaker 3>for y'all to do your thing.
<v Speaker 1>Could you Like I can imagine a world where Ubisoft
<v Speaker 1>got on their ship a few years ago after like
<v Speaker 1>looking like a lot of other publishers did, looking at Capcom,
<v Speaker 1>and it's like, had they got their shit together and
<v Speaker 1>delivered that splinter Cell remake, they could have started like
<v Speaker 1>a like splinter Cells, not Resident Evil. But it's not
<v Speaker 1>that far away from like having the maybe having a
<v Speaker 1>similar effect.
<v Speaker 2>For Ubi Software.
<v Speaker 1>It's like we deliver a really good remake, then maybe
<v Speaker 1>do a new one, then remake the second game or
<v Speaker 1>something like that, bring back Spies versus Merks in some
<v Speaker 1>new free to play way as one of the multiplayer things.
<v Speaker 1>It's like they just have all these things they could
<v Speaker 1>have done, and instead it was like a lot of
<v Speaker 1>of befuddeling projects like see not see a Thieves, the
<v Speaker 1>other sailing game that's bad. I want to say Starship
<v Speaker 1>Troopers that's also just wrong, but either yeah, the one
<v Speaker 1>from Ubisoft Singapore. And then there's the there the like
<v Speaker 1>the Prince of Persias and getting canceled Skull and Bones,
<v Speaker 1>thank you yes, and then the yeah Prince of Person
<v Speaker 1>getting canceled and then talking about just a few weeks
<v Speaker 1>ago canceling three games, postponing three others, or maybe it
<v Speaker 1>was like six games that got canceled and several others
<v Speaker 1>getting postponed.
<v Speaker 2>Oh boy, you just didn't.
<v Speaker 1>It's not only did you like miss some awesome opportunities
<v Speaker 1>by getting on top of splinter Cell earlier, which is
<v Speaker 1>I guess still happening. You fucked everything up so bad
<v Speaker 1>that it's like, yeah, I just don't get excited about
<v Speaker 1>anything you do until it's proven to be excellent, and.
<v Speaker 2>So far it's like, at best, it's been very good. Greg.
<v Speaker 3>We had we had the talk. I believe it was
<v Speaker 3>yesterday on the U not yesterday, but on the BombCast
<v Speaker 3>where Resident Evil Requiem just fulfills that kind of like
<v Speaker 3>Hollywood blockbuster role in video games, and I think you
<v Speaker 3>you're right, splinter Cell could have been completely filling that
<v Speaker 3>void for you be soft of like, hey, this is
<v Speaker 3>not a gigantic Triple A blockbuster, like Sony is trying
<v Speaker 3>to make game turn games in great, but it's at
<v Speaker 3>that far for like a silent hill, right, yeah, exactly,
<v Speaker 3>Like here is this game that is like not in
<v Speaker 3>a Triple A, but this is an A plus game
<v Speaker 3>where you were appealing to your Tom Clancy siccos out there,
<v Speaker 3>but also just someone diving in and wanting to check out,
<v Speaker 3>like a cool stealth game.
<v Speaker 2>Yep.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And it's like, yeah, the death mental Dan Arton chesses.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think splinter Cell has the juice. It's like, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>in this moment, it doesn't. But I think they could
<v Speaker 1>sort of. They could sort of make it feel like
<v Speaker 1>it does to a lot of people, and there's plenty
<v Speaker 1>of people who like those games would be interested to
<v Speaker 1>go back, and you kind of make it feel like
<v Speaker 1>a big deal, people will treat it like a big deal.
<v Speaker 1>At a certain point, you kind of have to just
<v Speaker 1>tell people what has the juice and then go on
<v Speaker 1>and prove it. I think that's actually been Capcom strategy
<v Speaker 1>and it's worked for them. Yeah, all right, let's take
<v Speaker 1>a break. When we come back, no more Assassin's Creed talk.
<v Speaker 1>Let's talk about what's going on with that Crimson Desert game. Oh,
<v Speaker 1>we'll get to that after these messages. If you want
<v Speaker 1>to skip out on these ads, you can do so.
<v Speaker 1>You got to go to giant bomb dot com slash
<v Speaker 1>Join become a premium member. If you do that there
<v Speaker 1>on the website, you could find ad free versions of
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<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, we will be right back. All right,
<v Speaker 1>We're back with Game mess Mornings. Jeff Grubb, Janachoa.
<v Speaker 2>Hello, Hi everybody, we're back. Let's do this.
<v Speaker 1>Crimson Desert confirms Pisser two on PS five pro, but
<v Speaker 1>glowing previews are all based on the PC version. This
<v Speaker 1>is from Robert Ramsey at push Square. So recently, Jam
<v Speaker 1>we've been talking about this this game as it gets
<v Speaker 1>a lot more hype, it feels like one of those
<v Speaker 1>ones that's like done the end around. By that, I
<v Speaker 1>mean like we have not declared as games journalists or
<v Speaker 1>media personalities.
<v Speaker 2>This is the next game to care about.
<v Speaker 1>They have like used the other means of getting people
<v Speaker 1>hyped about it.
<v Speaker 2>You should like cool.
<v Speaker 1>Clips on social media or whatever, or getting very popular
<v Speaker 1>on Reddit. And the mass audience has taken notice of
<v Speaker 1>this game because it looks very cool. Some would just well,
<v Speaker 1>some would say it too good to be true. And
<v Speaker 1>now that's coming to a head a little bit recently
<v Speaker 1>because the studio has not shown the game in any
<v Speaker 1>real way running on console, and so people say, hey,
<v Speaker 1>when is that going to happen. Well, there's some news there,
<v Speaker 1>let's talk about it. A bunch of previews for Crimson
<v Speaker 1>Desert have just dropped, and most are raving about what
<v Speaker 1>could be one of the most impressive open world games
<v Speaker 1>of the generation. But guess what, We're still waiting on
<v Speaker 1>that all important console footage. PS five players are currently
<v Speaker 1>sitting new footage that's taken from the official PlayStation blog,
<v Speaker 1>which features a collection of fairly short clips, but there's
<v Speaker 1>no clarification of what platform the open world adventure Excuse
<v Speaker 1>Me is actually running on. Concerns over console performance have
<v Speaker 1>been rampant, primarily because we're yet to see any uncut
<v Speaker 1>gameplay running on anything other than high end PC. So
<v Speaker 1>the PlayStation block posts went up. That's where we talked
<v Speaker 1>about it's going to have Pisser two tech, so it's
<v Speaker 1>going to have the new piss Or two tech. So
<v Speaker 1>it's going to have the same stuff that was in
<v Speaker 1>Residentiabal Requiem that that game look sharper than ever, using
<v Speaker 1>basically the new upscaling tech that's been in like DLSS
<v Speaker 1>for the last couple of years.
<v Speaker 2>All right, cool.
<v Speaker 1>So you go to that blog post expecting to see
<v Speaker 1>examples of that, and people seem pretty confident that that
<v Speaker 1>is still just the PC version. I don't know if
<v Speaker 1>we've had any updates there since I looked earlier this morning.
<v Speaker 1>So we're kind of like, oh, okay, now we are
<v Speaker 1>just coming off of the marketing director over there saying, hey,
<v Speaker 1>I've said one hundred times we're gonna show console footage
<v Speaker 1>before you go, before the game comes out, so you
<v Speaker 1>have time to pre order it. It's okay, it's coming
<v Speaker 1>out pretty soon, like when like, do I have the
<v Speaker 1>date here? I had it earlier, but it's coming out
<v Speaker 1>pretty soon, like in the next couple of weeks. And
<v Speaker 1>we're still waiting on the console footage or where is
<v Speaker 1>like your meter at for concern for this game. Like,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not at full blown Cyberpunk twenty seventy seven launch fire,
<v Speaker 1>but I could see that possibly being a case here.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I think I'm less of a meter and more
<v Speaker 3>of like a pendul at this point, Grub, just because
<v Speaker 3>every new little thing will swing me back and forth
<v Speaker 3>of like to concern to like. Ah, let's see, the
<v Speaker 3>lack of console footage is a little bit concerning, just
<v Speaker 3>for folks that only have access to consoles and are
<v Speaker 3>very curious about this game. And then the other aspect
<v Speaker 3>of it is we talked about this yesterday, but this
<v Speaker 3>studio primarily being used to making MMOs on the PC,
<v Speaker 3>so perhaps console certification is not their strongest forte and
<v Speaker 3>that is something they are dealing with for the first time.
<v Speaker 3>So I don't know, Grub. Also, I'm still confused about
<v Speaker 3>what this game really is. Before we started the show,
<v Speaker 3>I was still thinking, even though I watched the trailer
<v Speaker 3>for this yesterday, that this was a helicopter game.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's not Crimson Desert Strike. It is a follow
<v Speaker 1>up to Black Desert.
<v Speaker 2>Online, but this one is not an MMO. It's an open.
<v Speaker 1>World action RPG with like a bunch of different gameplay
<v Speaker 1>mechanics like stuffed in there, and it's got like a strong,
<v Speaker 1>impressive physics system and stuff like that. The reason this
<v Speaker 1>game is getting so much attention is because it just
<v Speaker 1>it looks shockingly good, Like the animations look like next
<v Speaker 1>next level, they look next gen, and the world has
<v Speaker 1>a ton of detail in it, and that detail goes
<v Speaker 1>on for miles and miles in all directions. And the
<v Speaker 1>detail is not just in like the visual specifics, but
<v Speaker 1>also in the way the characters move and interact with
<v Speaker 1>one another another. It all feels like, Okay, all the
<v Speaker 1>money in the world must have gone into making this game,
<v Speaker 1>and then it's like, okay, we haven't seen something like
<v Speaker 1>that then get delivered on this generation of consoles yet.
<v Speaker 1>So it's like, okay, is that even going to be
<v Speaker 1>possible or at least will it be diminished compared to
<v Speaker 1>the video we've seen so far, and we just we
<v Speaker 1>just don't know because there's just been no other evidence.
<v Speaker 1>And it's the story mirror Cyberpunk twenty seven at twenty
<v Speaker 1>seventy seven in a lot of ways, where it's like
<v Speaker 1>the early word is review code is not going out
<v Speaker 1>for the consoles, It will just be on PC yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>I'm kind of curious if this game is even gonna
<v Speaker 1>hit in the way that people are expecting to do
<v Speaker 1>in the first place. And then we'll see if it
<v Speaker 1>even runs on the consoles in any real way. But yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it if it does it, it feels like it's set up
<v Speaker 1>to be one of the bigger surprises of this year,
<v Speaker 1>you know, this year's Kingdom Come Deliverance too or whatever.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's yeah, I can easily deliver that.
<v Speaker 3>I see some folks talking that it's like number six
<v Speaker 3>on Steam top wish lists right now, and that's huge.
<v Speaker 2>Yes. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Like Dan was saying like he had a friend who
<v Speaker 1>like does not ask about games much unless it's like
<v Speaker 1>the biggest games in the world, and that he asked
<v Speaker 1>about Crimson Desert, so like that it has like gotten
<v Speaker 1>out into the wild and people are wondering about it.
<v Speaker 2>I'm I hope it's good.
<v Speaker 1>If it is, like it looks like it could be
<v Speaker 1>like one of those magical games that just has this
<v Speaker 1>new juice that we haven't seen in games before, and
<v Speaker 1>that would be very excellent. I would love that to happen,
<v Speaker 1>kind of light a fire under some of these big
<v Speaker 1>publishers being like, why can't you do this as well?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we'll have what to see.
<v Speaker 3>And I'm all for game development being more global.
<v Speaker 2>Oh absolutely.
<v Speaker 1>It's every time one of these studios that previously did
<v Speaker 1>something where it's like, hey, we are going to spin
<v Speaker 1>up our studio to make games in a place where
<v Speaker 1>we know we can make money mobile and MMOs.
<v Speaker 2>In Asia or wherever. It's like yeah, cool.
<v Speaker 1>And then they're like, well, yeah, but we all grew
<v Speaker 1>up loving these console games or these very specific publishers
<v Speaker 1>and we want to make games like them. It's like,
<v Speaker 1>oh cool, and then they deliver. It's like, oh, you
<v Speaker 1>love this stuff and put your whole entire body and
<v Speaker 1>heart into it, and it's obvious from the quality, and
<v Speaker 1>it's okay. Yeah, I want more of the studios like that,
<v Speaker 1>and they can come from anywhere, and it's kind of
<v Speaker 1>better when they come from anywhere, all right, So let's
<v Speaker 1>keep going here. Mind's I Studio announces more layoffs as
<v Speaker 1>CEO sites Organized Espionage and criminal sabotage. This is from
<v Speaker 1>Chris Scullion at vgc MEINZI studio Build a Rocket Boy
<v Speaker 1>has announced that it will be laying off more staff
<v Speaker 1>as its CEO suggested criminal activity played a part in
<v Speaker 1>the game's downfall. In a statement on the studio's official
<v Speaker 1>LinkedIn page, CEO Mark Gerhard announced that more staff are
<v Speaker 1>being made redundant. Over the past few years, the games
<v Speaker 1>industry has gone through one of the most difficult periods
<v Speaker 1>in its history. Gearhard wrote, many talented developers across the
<v Speaker 1>world have been affected by layoffs and restructuring. Unfortunately, today
<v Speaker 1>we have to share that Build a Rocket Boy is
<v Speaker 1>not immune to those pressures. Today we are announcing a
<v Speaker 1>further number of redundancies at the studio. This is a
<v Speaker 1>deeply painful decision. The people leaving our team have invested
<v Speaker 1>enormous talent, passion, and long hours into building what we
<v Speaker 1>believe in. Letting colleagues go is never something any leader
<v Speaker 1>wants to do, and I know the impact this will
<v Speaker 1>have on individuals, families in our wider community. As leaders,
<v Speaker 1>we take responsibility for the outcome of our project and
<v Speaker 1>the decisions that follow. This is a good statement so far,
<v Speaker 1>like it's bad because you put out a bad game,
<v Speaker 1>and they're not necessarily saying that. They're kind of just
<v Speaker 1>they're not throwing people under the bus. They're just say, hey,
<v Speaker 1>we're taking responsibility and we have a bunch of people
<v Speaker 1>that we're letting go who poured them themselves into this game.
<v Speaker 2>This stinks.
<v Speaker 1>It's like, yeah, okay, let's see if things take a
<v Speaker 1>turn jam. At the same time, the launch period was
<v Speaker 1>affected by factors beyond normal operational challenges and a competitive environment.
<v Speaker 1>Gearhard then suggested that one of the main reasons behind
<v Speaker 1>the minds I commercial failure was quote criminal activity, including
<v Speaker 1>espionage and sabotage. Over the past months, we have been
<v Speaker 1>working with external partners and legal advisors to investigate the
<v Speaker 1>criminal activity that took place around our launch. He wrote
<v Speaker 1>that work has taken far longer than expected, but it
<v Speaker 1>has now resulted in overwhelming evidence of organized espionage in
<v Speaker 1>corporate sabag affecting Mind's Eye. Because of this matter is
<v Speaker 1>moving toward prosecution, we cannot share the full details publicly yet.
<v Speaker 1>While the investigation has progressed, the team has worked relentlessly
<v Speaker 1>to evolve the game and to serve our player.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, they're going to get back to don't worry.
<v Speaker 1>We're also spending some time working on the game while
<v Speaker 1>we investigate sabotage and espionage, and then yeah, kind of
<v Speaker 1>talk about game some more. Okay, to be fair, before
<v Speaker 1>we get started here, Jan there was a developer who said, okay,
<v Speaker 1>I was working at BARB and was implied with embedded
<v Speaker 1>maybe with web and Discord related stuff, a Discord account
<v Speaker 1>linking official server bot. I was myself targeted by a
<v Speaker 1>group of people that made a secret Discord server to
<v Speaker 1>docs and insult Build a Rocket Boy. This went as
<v Speaker 1>far as swatting my personal home in France. Even though
<v Speaker 1>I know BARB is not fully transparent on mind's eye launch,
<v Speaker 1>I know for a fact that criminal activity took place
<v Speaker 1>to target Build.
<v Speaker 2>A Rocket Boy. Something happened here.
<v Speaker 1>Sure, I think my issue, even though something probably happened here,
<v Speaker 1>is this idea that any of this criminal activity or
<v Speaker 1>corporate espionage or sabotage actually sabotaged the game.
<v Speaker 2>I think the game was bad because they made a
<v Speaker 2>bad game.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And I don't think like someone could go into
<v Speaker 1>the co and be like he he, I'm gonna flip
<v Speaker 1>the make it bad switch.
<v Speaker 2>That seems very unlikely.
<v Speaker 1>Doesn't even sound like the person said that the doxed
<v Speaker 1>and harassed.
<v Speaker 2>I could see that happening.
<v Speaker 1>Whether or not I believe that came from Rockstar, which
<v Speaker 1>is the obvious implication here from what they're saying. You know,
<v Speaker 1>they aren't saying that, but it's the obvious implication that
<v Speaker 1>Rockstar is trying to sabotage them because Leslie Benzy's left
<v Speaker 1>and sued them and all this stuff. I think it's
<v Speaker 1>probably much more likely, and this is my opinion. I
<v Speaker 1>could be wrong that it's crazy Rockstar grand theft auto fans.
<v Speaker 3>Instead, I did not get from any of that grub
<v Speaker 3>that he was implying that it was the company rock
<v Speaker 3>Star doing that.
<v Speaker 1>That's been that goes back to like their original times
<v Speaker 1>that they were talking about espionage and this stuff. It
<v Speaker 1>is the idea here is that Leslie Binsey's and rock
<v Speaker 1>Star got into that legal battle, long protracted legal battle
<v Speaker 1>with a lot of money on the line, and so
<v Speaker 1>Rockstar is continuing to go after him and trying to
<v Speaker 1>undermine his success and hurt his company, and all that's
<v Speaker 1>being funded or explicitly done by rock Star. Again, this
<v Speaker 1>is what he's suggesting, but like it's it's pretty obvious
<v Speaker 1>that that's what he's going for grub.
<v Speaker 3>I think rock Star is too busy busting their own
<v Speaker 3>unions to Uh.
<v Speaker 1>I mean yes, Like I will say that that is
<v Speaker 1>like evidence that they are not afraid of doing stuff
<v Speaker 1>that is obviously illegal because they feel like they're untouchable.
<v Speaker 1>You're right, I bet they are. They have their own
<v Speaker 1>fish to fry. I don't know they could do this.
<v Speaker 1>Rock Star's crazy. I have no idea, but but I
<v Speaker 1>just think that using that is the reason that your
<v Speaker 1>game failed is a bad look. No matter what, if
<v Speaker 1>this is happening going out there insane, it makes still
<v Speaker 1>makes you look incompetent. It makes you look like, hey,
<v Speaker 1>you couldn't handle like a secret discord server, and you're
<v Speaker 1>like your employees are now paying the price because you
<v Speaker 1>couldn't protect them. This is not a defense of your company.
<v Speaker 1>Is this continues to be a failure of Build a
<v Speaker 1>Rocket Boy?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah? If anything, this is further showing how incompetent is
<v Speaker 3>probably too strong of a word, but like just poor,
<v Speaker 3>how poor the Benz may have been at leading this
<v Speaker 3>studio post Benz, the Benz leaving rock Star. And I'm
<v Speaker 3>not discounting at all how dosing and harassment can affect
<v Speaker 3>a workplace.
<v Speaker 2>Oh for sure, we've worked with.
<v Speaker 1>People the people I did that should get in trouble. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>I'm glad that they're doing something about it.
<v Speaker 3>Exactly right. We've worked with people that have continuously been docks,
<v Speaker 3>continuously been harassed, and that takes a strong to on someone. However,
<v Speaker 3>there are many measures they get put into place to
<v Speaker 3>protect the employee, to protect the team member, and also
<v Speaker 3>management at that point then thankfully steps in to protect
<v Speaker 3>that person so that is not affecting their overall work
<v Speaker 3>and to blame that as to why the game came
<v Speaker 3>out in the state and the way that it did. Again,
<v Speaker 3>those two things don't match up for me.
<v Speaker 2>Greb.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think like this is part of a wider
<v Speaker 1>story the Leslie Benci's side of this about you know,
<v Speaker 1>some stuff I've seen going around on Blue Sky and
<v Speaker 1>stuff people having this conversation of the world has changed,
<v Speaker 1>and the people that had success in the previous version
<v Speaker 1>of the video game development world are not necessarily and
<v Speaker 1>sometimes because they come from that world not ready for
<v Speaker 1>how things have changed. The way people spend time on gaming,
<v Speaker 1>the way they spend money on gaming, the increased cost driving,
<v Speaker 1>like increased competition for people's.
<v Speaker 2>Time and money.
<v Speaker 1>All that stuff is like, Okay, I think a lot
<v Speaker 1>of these people who had success previously are like.
<v Speaker 2>We're gonna repeat what we did. It's going to work again. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>and that has.
<v Speaker 1>Led to the high guards of the world collapsing immediately,
<v Speaker 1>and like Jade Raymond having to leave her studio and
<v Speaker 1>these people that come from this old world, and I'd say, oh, you,
<v Speaker 1>the only thing that's common or that is you know,
<v Speaker 1>stable about video games is it's always changing and things
<v Speaker 1>are and your games are taking so long from the
<v Speaker 1>world you started them into the world you're releasing them
<v Speaker 1>in is so different that you could never have even
<v Speaker 1>prepared for this. So it's just like, I don't know
<v Speaker 1>what we do about that, but it feels like this
<v Speaker 1>is part of that story.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and.
<v Speaker 2>Gosh, do to people.
<v Speaker 3>I'm still caught up grub on the fact that a
<v Speaker 3>lot of people and you know, the more I'm thinking
<v Speaker 3>about it, it would make sense that Rockstar could implement these
<v Speaker 3>very shady tactics to take down competition, especially if they've
<v Speaker 3>done that to their own employees. But for a company
<v Speaker 3>to stoop that low or to get to that point,
<v Speaker 3>I feel like they have taken the fact that they
<v Speaker 3>make and publish GTA too seriously.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, Yeah, absolutely, all that stuff that we said about
<v Speaker 1>the old world and the new world and how things
<v Speaker 1>have changed also applies to games media, and it's like,
<v Speaker 1>oh yeah, we got to keep adapting and stay on
<v Speaker 1>top of stuff and try new things. And we are
<v Speaker 1>so hopefully we can keep up. And if we can't,
<v Speaker 1>we got you guys right, We'll keep doing things your way,
<v Speaker 1>all right, Let's keep going here. PlayStation indie hit Kana
<v Speaker 1>Bridge of Spirits. That's the first game in the series.
<v Speaker 1>The new one just got announced at that PlayStation state
<v Speaker 1>of play. That original one, Bridge of Spirits is headed
<v Speaker 1>to switch too soon. This is from Gavin Lane at
<v Speaker 1>Nintendo Life. Back in twenty twenty one, you may recall
<v Speaker 1>the release of Imber Labs celebrated Kana Bridge of Spirits
<v Speaker 1>on PS five. Perhaps you even played it on Sony's
<v Speaker 1>consoles or PC. This lovely looking indie adventure was snapped
<v Speaker 1>up by PlayStation in a timed exclusivity deal on consoles
<v Speaker 1>until it came to Xbox in twenty twenty four, and
<v Speaker 1>it's coming to switch to this spring. The switch to
<v Speaker 1>version will come with the anniversary DLC and new game
<v Speaker 1>Plus mode included. And then there's a trailer and all
<v Speaker 1>that stuff. Yeah, this is a game that PlayStation published.
<v Speaker 1>It's a first party game because they published it.
<v Speaker 2>That's how it works.
<v Speaker 1>They're not involved in the release on Switch. They weren't
<v Speaker 1>involved in the release on.
<v Speaker 2>Xbox. But it's like, oh yeah, this is one of
<v Speaker 2>those you know.
<v Speaker 1>What people call second party situation, which just means an
<v Speaker 1>external third party studio making a first party deal to
<v Speaker 1>release a game exclusively for a time being and then
<v Speaker 1>being able to take that game and do like what
<v Speaker 1>Kojum has done with desk Stranding and kind of put
<v Speaker 1>it out wherever else he wants afterward. Yeah, and it's
<v Speaker 1>oh yeah, this is a game that makes a lot
<v Speaker 1>of sense on Switch. It probably was a bit too
<v Speaker 1>much to run on the original Switch, that's why it's
<v Speaker 1>now coming to Switch.
<v Speaker 2>To but it's a good fit.
<v Speaker 1>It is a Zelda light sort of game with a
<v Speaker 1>really strong pixary visual style. Interested in checking this one
<v Speaker 1>out on Switch too? Did you play it originally on PlayStation?
<v Speaker 3>I played the original one on the PlayStation grub and
<v Speaker 3>I liked it well enough.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>It has a very strong, distinct visual art style that
<v Speaker 3>is reminiscent of like those DreamWorks movie animated movies and Pixar,
<v Speaker 3>but very cool for it to come out on the
<v Speaker 3>Switch too.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, yes, this is a cool thing, I'd say. I
<v Speaker 1>hope it runs really well after Resident Evo. I'm kind
<v Speaker 1>of I have a high bar for reports to the
<v Speaker 1>Switch to. Now, all right, let's see here, last couple
<v Speaker 1>of stories. Uh oh no, wait, hang on, I got
<v Speaker 1>this one first. Konami says Castlevania Belmont's Curse isn't going
<v Speaker 1>to be a Rogue Light game, So then, Jim, what
<v Speaker 1>the hell is it going to be? They kind of
<v Speaker 1>basically confirmed for the most part what it's going to
<v Speaker 1>be here in this story from my Nintendo News, Konamia
<v Speaker 1>has set the record straight when it comes to the
<v Speaker 1>recently announced Castlevania Belmont's Curse, and it won't.
<v Speaker 2>Be a roguelike or Rogue Light game.
<v Speaker 1>The company says that it's a two D action exploration
<v Speaker 1>like the previous games in the series, with vast maps
<v Speaker 1>for you to explore and the opportunity to slay all
<v Speaker 1>manners of vampire demons and the likes. Hey, that sounds
<v Speaker 1>like a Metroidvania. That sounds like an Igavana or Symphony
<v Speaker 1>of the Night. Vast mapp action exploration. They're not saying Metroidvania,
<v Speaker 1>they're not saying search action, but they're they're describing that
<v Speaker 1>for sure fantastic.
<v Speaker 2>This is from It's Motion twin.
<v Speaker 1>And then the other team that worked on Dead Cells,
<v Speaker 1>the one that kind of spun off, they're kind of
<v Speaker 1>working in conjunction with one another, although one of the
<v Speaker 1>teams is the lead and I can't remember which one,
<v Speaker 1>but they did an excellent job with like Castlevania stuff
<v Speaker 1>in their Metroidvania Light Rogue Light game, and so people
<v Speaker 1>are like, is that going to be one of those
<v Speaker 1>again this Castlevania game? Fair to assume that, No, it's
<v Speaker 1>going to be much more like the classic not the
<v Speaker 1>classic classic, but the still classic metro Avinia Castlevania games.
<v Speaker 1>That's music to my ears. Jan, Is that you think
<v Speaker 1>that's the right for this game?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, one hundred percent. Grub Also, very very cool for
<v Speaker 3>the Dead Cells team to make the Castle Vania DLC
<v Speaker 3>and then just straight up make a new Castlevania. This
<v Speaker 3>was probably the thing I was most excited for after
<v Speaker 3>that State of play where they revealed this just because
<v Speaker 3>like very again very distinct visual art style, and you know,
<v Speaker 3>because of because of working with you guys so much.
<v Speaker 3>I just I'm just ankoring, just ha for some more
<v Speaker 3>Metroid vanas.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>The other studio is Evil Empire, and I do believe
<v Speaker 1>it's Evil Empire leading the way. And then they said
<v Speaker 1>we are working with Motion Twin. They're providing insight and
<v Speaker 1>consultation basically, And those are both the studios that did
<v Speaker 1>a lot of work on Dead Cells, did all the
<v Speaker 1>work on Dead Cells. Yeah, Hey, we get get a
<v Speaker 1>lot of metro Venias now we we occasionally, actually quite
<v Speaker 1>frequently get them from big companies. Nintendo still puts out
<v Speaker 1>metroidread and Sony just put out Sons of Sparta, which
<v Speaker 1>is just a straight up Metroidvania games. Yeah, yeah, Prince
<v Speaker 1>of Persia exactly right, And it's okay. We still get
<v Speaker 1>a lot of these, and honestly, the big publishers have
<v Speaker 1>been delivering ones that have been pretty good, even Sins
<v Speaker 1>of Spartas alright, despite it looking like like trash, I
<v Speaker 1>don't like looking at it and it's oh, yeah, there's this.
<v Speaker 1>This is a space that I think. I don't know
<v Speaker 1>how they do sales wise. They never seem to like
<v Speaker 1>blow up except for a silk song. Yeah, but I
<v Speaker 1>think the developers at these companies just want to make
<v Speaker 1>these games, and Konami recognizing like there's a chance here
<v Speaker 1>to kind of get Castlevania back into the game realm
<v Speaker 1>after having a lot of success with it on Netflix.
<v Speaker 1>I'm glad that they are going for it and just
<v Speaker 1>doing the thing they probably should do first. I hope
<v Speaker 1>this eventually leads to a big, new three D Caslevania,
<v Speaker 1>kind of like a Frumsoft game that would be awesome,
<v Speaker 1>A new classic style Caslvania that plays like the nes
<v Speaker 1>or Super Nintendo games or Genesis games that would be welcome.
<v Speaker 2>But this is the one to start with.
<v Speaker 1>And do you think it can act as a springboard
<v Speaker 1>or does it kind of just be like a one off.
<v Speaker 3>I hope it acts as a springboard, greb Like, I
<v Speaker 3>feel like the anime revitalized the interest in Castlevania and
<v Speaker 3>brought that to people's peepers for the first time in
<v Speaker 3>a while. I hope this game does the same thing.
<v Speaker 3>I know the Castlevania DLC was kind of more of
<v Speaker 3>like an homage and more of like, hey, long, long
<v Speaker 3>time fans of Castlevania, this one's for you. But I
<v Speaker 3>hope this game is able to bring in old and
<v Speaker 3>new alike.
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely all right, let's keep going here.
<v Speaker 1>The National Video Game Museum has acquired a mythical Nintendo PlayStation.
<v Speaker 1>This is from Damian McFerrin at time extension. Once upon
<v Speaker 1>a time, Nintendo and Sony were such close buddies that
<v Speaker 1>they decided to create a console together, the legendary Nintendo PlayStation.
<v Speaker 1>As we all know, the arrangement was short lived and
<v Speaker 1>Nintendo backed out of the deal. I think you could
<v Speaker 1>even say stabbed Sony in the leaving Sony feeling like
<v Speaker 1>a jilted lover. But it would arguably have the last laugh,
<v Speaker 1>as it would continue development of the PlayStation on its own,
<v Speaker 1>eventually creating the famous brand we know and love today.
<v Speaker 1>A few years back, a prototype of the Nintendo PlayStation
<v Speaker 1>was auctioned off, and it's known that others exist in
<v Speaker 1>the wild. However, the National Video Game Museum has acquired
<v Speaker 1>what seems to be the earliest example of this particular
<v Speaker 1>piece of hardware, and this is quote now. This Sony
<v Speaker 1>MSF one is the oldest known existing place a Nintendo
<v Speaker 1>PlayStation hardware artifact, and it's the original development system for
<v Speaker 1>Sony's planned Super Nintendo CD. Attachment, says the National Video
<v Speaker 1>Game Museum. It is the only known unit to exist,
<v Speaker 1>so people might being like, wasn't there that other one?
<v Speaker 1>Didn't the story talk about the other one? So that
<v Speaker 1>was much more close to a retail version of the
<v Speaker 1>Nintendo PlayStation.
<v Speaker 2>That was one that, like you.
<v Speaker 1>Basically, it was probably a prototype for the final build
<v Speaker 1>of what would have ended up in stores. This is
<v Speaker 1>much more of a dev kit. You can kind of
<v Speaker 1>look at it. It's like a lot plainer. It just
<v Speaker 1>looks like a developed development kip and they're saying it's
<v Speaker 1>like one of the early ones actually used for that purpose,
<v Speaker 1>so it has a lot of historical relevancy.
<v Speaker 2>I love this stuff. This is pretty cool.
<v Speaker 1>The video game Yeah, the Video Game Museum I think
<v Speaker 1>is based down in Texas. I know that doesn't narrow
<v Speaker 1>down Texas as big, but I can't remember what city
<v Speaker 1>it's in. It's like, oh, yeah, that's the thing where
<v Speaker 1>it's like eventually, now I kind of want to get
<v Speaker 1>down there. This is the kind of thing I would
<v Speaker 1>want to eventually see it in person at one point in.
<v Speaker 2>My life because it is mythical and it is the.
<v Speaker 1>Kind of thing where at the time it's like they're
<v Speaker 1>going to do this, that's crazy superin Nintendo's going to
<v Speaker 1>have their CD attachment just like the Sega CD, and
<v Speaker 1>they're working with Sony, you know, the granddaddy of CDs,
<v Speaker 1>on this, so it's gonna be even better in all
<v Speaker 1>these ways. And it's like eventually one day that just
<v Speaker 1>doesn't happen, and now Zelda's on the Phillips CD. I
<v Speaker 1>you know, what the what happened to Sony? And so
<v Speaker 1>getting a chance to go see that and live a
<v Speaker 1>part of that history would be pretty cool for me.
<v Speaker 2>What do you think of this?
<v Speaker 3>I think it's very neat. I am a big fan
<v Speaker 3>grub of seeing this older tech of like you know,
<v Speaker 3>prototypes of things that never quite made it out, even
<v Speaker 3>like specifically development stuff. Right, Like, I would love it
<v Speaker 3>if more folks saw how intricate and convoluted the three
<v Speaker 3>DS capture kit was, because right it is not just
<v Speaker 3>a three DS but it is like tethered to something
<v Speaker 3>that looks like a c PAP machine that you then
<v Speaker 3>have to plug in to your actual capture like cards
<v Speaker 3>and everything. So more behind the scenes stuff like that
<v Speaker 3>I am all for. I also like retro tech as well.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I saw one of those amazing like all red Ferrari
<v Speaker 1>looking Sony computers a couple of days ago, where it's like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>that was doing the rounds again, and it's like, you know,
<v Speaker 1>a class like nineteen eighties computer or something like that. Man,
<v Speaker 1>if I had the money, I would get that. I
<v Speaker 1>would just put a real computer in there and break
<v Speaker 1>it and stuff. So I probably shouldn't have it. All right,
<v Speaker 1>let's keep going here. Despite the lack of mass layoffs
<v Speaker 1>in Japan, game developers say their numbers are still reducing
<v Speaker 1>in quote less visible manners. This is from Chris Scullion
<v Speaker 1>at VGC. A number of Japanese game developers have warned
<v Speaker 1>that while there haven't been reports of mass layoffs in
<v Speaker 1>Japan like there have been in the West, staff reductions
<v Speaker 1>are still taking place in less immediately visible ways. While
<v Speaker 1>the games industry has seen countless cases of mass layoffs
<v Speaker 1>across the West for the past few years, there have
<v Speaker 1>been significantly fewer examples of this happening in Japan, leading
<v Speaker 1>to speculation as to why things are so different there.
<v Speaker 1>SEGA producer Tara Nakamura posted his views on the situation
<v Speaker 1>on Twitter. As originally spotted by Automaton, suggesting that mass
<v Speaker 1>layoffs aren't as widespread in the Japanese games industry because
<v Speaker 1>Japanese employment law labor laws makes it harder for companies
<v Speaker 1>to carry them out. Instead, Nakamura says the companies have
<v Speaker 1>been reducing costs by hiring new staff. I think one
<v Speaker 1>of the reasons why Japanese companies, even when facing similar
<v Speaker 1>cost pressures, appear to have fewer visible layoffs is due
<v Speaker 1>to Japan's employment regulations.
<v Speaker 2>He said.
<v Speaker 1>However, difficulty in letting staff go simply transforms into not
<v Speaker 1>hiring in the first place. New graduate hiring quotas are shrinking,
<v Speaker 1>and the door for mid career hires is narrowing. An
<v Speaker 1>era may come when it's even harder to get into
<v Speaker 1>a game company in Japan than it is now. So
<v Speaker 1>idees it's just kind of it's flipped on its head
<v Speaker 1>a little bit. Instead of hiring up a million people
<v Speaker 1>and then cutting a million jobs when you don't need
<v Speaker 1>them more, Japanese companies have to think very carefully if
<v Speaker 1>it's worth all of the effort to hire someone, because
<v Speaker 1>you're not going to be able to fire them or
<v Speaker 1>lay them off very very easily or effectively at all,
<v Speaker 1>and so they just kind of hire much more slowly
<v Speaker 1>and build up slowly over time. Now, Jen, okay, so
<v Speaker 1>one side's not hiring as many people, and I like,
<v Speaker 1>you can hear the chainnumber of commerces all around the
<v Speaker 1>United States going like this is why regulation is bad.
<v Speaker 1>There are fewer jobs. But like, let's look at the
<v Speaker 1>reality on the ground, Like, what actually has.
<v Speaker 2>This led to me?
<v Speaker 1>It has like if I were to like say, which
<v Speaker 1>way of making games is more sustainable right now, the
<v Speaker 1>way things are done in Japan or the way things
<v Speaker 1>are done in the United States, and it feels like,
<v Speaker 1>no contests. We know Japan's doing much better at handling
<v Speaker 1>these tough situations because the law has forced them to
<v Speaker 1>be more considerate. Yes, okay, so they can't hire as
<v Speaker 1>many people as quickly, and that, of course is a
<v Speaker 1>con of course, that is a negative, but it seems
<v Speaker 1>like a fair price to pay if once you get
<v Speaker 1>the job, you're much more protected. And these companies have
<v Speaker 1>to think long and hard before making decisions because they
<v Speaker 1>know they're the ones they have to deal with the
<v Speaker 1>red tape. And you don't have to deal with the
<v Speaker 1>fact that there's no red tap and you could be
<v Speaker 1>thrown to the wolves at any second. So how do
<v Speaker 1>you feel about this?
<v Speaker 3>I think I'm one hundred percent with you. Longevity and
<v Speaker 3>security go a very long way in terms of careers, right,
<v Speaker 3>and if you are somewhat guaranteed that at least you
<v Speaker 3>have the safety of being able to launch not just
<v Speaker 3>one game, maybe two games grub that will pay off
<v Speaker 3>in dividends of the initial struggle and a slog it
<v Speaker 3>is to get in the door to begin with. Now,
<v Speaker 3>something I'm curious about Grub that I don't know if
<v Speaker 3>you know, if anyone listening has any insight, what is
<v Speaker 3>the indie scene in Japan? Like, how how difficult is
<v Speaker 3>it to get to spin up a studio with younger
<v Speaker 3>talent or older talent that is perhaps left a studio
<v Speaker 3>or actually gotten laid off at a studio. What is
<v Speaker 3>that process like? Because if anything, the Western indie side
<v Speaker 3>is like the only not the only positive of game development,
<v Speaker 3>but something that like I enjoy seeing get cultivated, right
<v Speaker 3>versus Yeah, like the big publisher Triple A studios that
<v Speaker 3>will you know, treat their employees like dirt.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, exactly, and it's yeah, my understanding is like the
<v Speaker 1>indie scene in Japan was kind of.
<v Speaker 2>Pretty derelictor for a while, you know, there was a dearth.
<v Speaker 1>Of that sort of thing happening where uh, just not
<v Speaker 1>the way people did things. And then over time that
<v Speaker 1>has changed steadily and it's grown I would I'm not
<v Speaker 1>gonna say rapidly, I don't know, but steadily and things
<v Speaker 1>like you know, around the time of Tokyo Game Show.
<v Speaker 2>There is I can't remember the name of it, but
<v Speaker 2>there is.
<v Speaker 1>Another sort of satellite event focused on indie games. James
<v Speaker 1>Milkie was always involved in it, in it for a
<v Speaker 1>long time, so maybe eight yeah bit something, it's bit something.
<v Speaker 1>I wanted to say eight bit some and that didn't
<v Speaker 1>sound right bit some And that has become a space
<v Speaker 1>where it's like, oh, you start seeing more and more
<v Speaker 1>people attending that every year, to the point where now
<v Speaker 1>it's jam packed. Is my understanding with people, and that's
<v Speaker 1>all about indie games in Japan and the sort of
<v Speaker 1>pipeline to provide those studios with the resources they need.
<v Speaker 2>To like get their games worldwide.
<v Speaker 1>That has grown up over time, where you know, eight
<v Speaker 1>to four has shown a lot of those studios how
<v Speaker 1>to like, hey, we could translate your games into English
<v Speaker 1>and get it put out around the world and we
<v Speaker 1>can help you with that. And that's something that's happened
<v Speaker 1>more frequently, and now these studios see a pathway to
<v Speaker 1>doing that, and so that encourages even more people to
<v Speaker 1>go and start their indie studios. I think, you know,
<v Speaker 1>there was a time when some of those bigger Japanese
<v Speaker 1>creators at the publishers, we're seeing Kickstarter as their sort
<v Speaker 1>of pathway to doing that, and that trend is obviously
<v Speaker 1>over now a lot of them have like gone back
<v Speaker 1>to big publishers. But then there was another recent sort
<v Speaker 1>of exodus of like, hey, go start your own studio
<v Speaker 1>under nexon or under a net ease.
<v Speaker 2>It's one of those.
<v Speaker 1>I think it might be net Ease, And now that
<v Speaker 1>has already been like running into a wall because net
<v Speaker 1>ease has lost interest in these studios that it still owns.
<v Speaker 1>Has started like you could put out the games yourself
<v Speaker 1>if you want, so. I think that might lead to
<v Speaker 1>like the guys that from the guy that was at RGG,
<v Speaker 1>he might go back and start his own studio again
<v Speaker 1>if this if the one he has under net ease
<v Speaker 1>right now collapses, got it?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>Overall, though, it feels like, yeah, this is the kind
<v Speaker 1>of thing where people are hurting across the board no
<v Speaker 1>matter what, and it manifests in different ways. I think
<v Speaker 1>if we are looking for what can we do about
<v Speaker 1>it to mitigate the most damage from stuff like this,
<v Speaker 1>It's like, oh, I think Japan has done that somewhat.
<v Speaker 1>It's not perfect. Their work culture is, you know, like ours,
<v Speaker 1>it's about pounding people into into perfect employees, so they
<v Speaker 1>work constantly, you know, but you know they've done something
<v Speaker 1>at least to protect employees and that has manifested in
<v Speaker 1>some positive ways. And the evidence based on the games
<v Speaker 1>that they're putting out feels like, oh, they have found
<v Speaker 1>some way to be somewhat more sustainable.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Cool employee protection what Yeah, that's it's not just a
<v Speaker 1>foreign concept. It's an alien concept to me. It feels
<v Speaker 1>like from another world. Okay, next story and the final
<v Speaker 1>one I have here. Female players are an overlooked opportunity
<v Speaker 1>for growth in the industry. Research firm says. This is
<v Speaker 1>from Chris Golling at VGC. The game's industry is overlooking
<v Speaker 1>potential growth by not fully accommodating female players. According to
<v Speaker 1>new research by Mpeer Analysis Basically, they looked at it
<v Speaker 1>and they're like, hey, there are a huge number of
<v Speaker 1>female players, around nine hundred and twenty two million, but
<v Speaker 1>that is ninety three million less than men. And when
<v Speaker 1>we look at hobbies and activities by gender, you know,
<v Speaker 1>generally speaking, typically a similar number of these of people
<v Speaker 1>in between these two genders like to participate in these
<v Speaker 1>activities at a similar rate.
<v Speaker 2>So what's happened here?
<v Speaker 1>And they kind of point to, hey, when you look
<v Speaker 1>at mobile and a handful of other places, women show
<v Speaker 1>up a lot to these video games, just like anyone
<v Speaker 1>else does. And it's in these console in PC spaces
<v Speaker 1>where they either be been gate kept or or harassed
<v Speaker 1>out or any number of other things. Or they they've
<v Speaker 1>obviously not been catered to. In fact, they've the exact
<v Speaker 1>opposite of their of their likes and interest have been
<v Speaker 1>catered to, and so they felt naturally pushed out and
<v Speaker 1>that was a missed opportunity, and it's shown up in
<v Speaker 1>a huge amount of money that these companies that could
<v Speaker 1>have appealed to them and did not missed out on.
<v Speaker 2>Do you think that's something.
<v Speaker 1>That can be repaired jin or because I just can't
<v Speaker 1>imagine a world where Xbox suddenly figures that out.
<v Speaker 3>Right, Sorry, Greb, just this whole story is just kind
<v Speaker 3>of stunlocking me, of like, yes, no shit, of course.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>You make games that appeal to people, they will show up.
<v Speaker 3>You make games that appeal to women, they will show up.
<v Speaker 3>But it is a you know, speaking from from our side,
<v Speaker 3>it is a big challenge to create content, to make
<v Speaker 3>things to attract that audience, and not just attract that audience,
<v Speaker 3>but to sustain that audience and grow that audience. Is
<v Speaker 3>that something that a big publisher like Xbox will be
<v Speaker 3>able to do. I'm not so sure. I feel like
<v Speaker 3>they have their eggs in so many different baskets that
<v Speaker 3>they didn't know that what a basket was. That that's
<v Speaker 3>going to be a challenge, and I feel like that
<v Speaker 3>is something that is easier to address and attack on
<v Speaker 3>different scales than from like an Xbox or a big
<v Speaker 3>PlayStation side.
<v Speaker 2>Yep, yep.
<v Speaker 1>It's the kind of thing where they are always concerned
<v Speaker 1>about risk mitigation, and so that leads them to naturally
<v Speaker 1>go to safe havens where they've seen success before, and
<v Speaker 1>that's the kind of stuff where that actually gets green lighted,
<v Speaker 1>especially as they understand these days, a big game can
<v Speaker 1>cost anywhere from fifty million to two hundred and fifty
<v Speaker 1>million dollars more than that even and when they're when
<v Speaker 1>they're spending that much money, they're like, well, who are
<v Speaker 1>the kinds of people that spend money on our games?
<v Speaker 1>And they see the things of the people that spent
<v Speaker 1>money on their games that have previously been targeted at men,
<v Speaker 1>and so it's just easy for them to bring like
<v Speaker 1>those projects again and again and again, and it's and
<v Speaker 1>now the space feels like it's not welcoming, and.
<v Speaker 2>Oh it's hard. It's hard to do much about that.
<v Speaker 1>Now we got like stuff like Pacopia that is appealing
<v Speaker 1>to everybody on Earth, and it's going to and it's
<v Speaker 1>going to be obvious that that is going to succeed,
<v Speaker 1>largely because anyone can be happy playing that. And that's
<v Speaker 1>not to say that the game the games have to
<v Speaker 1>be like that to appeal to women. It's like residentval nine,
<v Speaker 1>I think is also appealing to a wide audience of
<v Speaker 1>like every kind of player. And a similar thing is
<v Speaker 1>happening there where it's getting huge success because everyone's showing
<v Speaker 1>up for Lyon, mostly for Leon and I get that.
<v Speaker 2>Of course, we all get that. Ye, you're right.
<v Speaker 1>Mostly this is like no shit, uh and and that's
<v Speaker 1>are people going to do something about it now? Probably
<v Speaker 1>not right.
<v Speaker 3>That's the other aspect of this, Grub is like, okay, well,
<v Speaker 3>what are you going to do then, because it's not
<v Speaker 3>like some of these big studios will even do will
<v Speaker 3>have any proper protections of when a game winds up
<v Speaker 3>having a female protagonist. It's not like that they wind
<v Speaker 3>up supporting the female talent behind like the voice cast
<v Speaker 3>or whatever, or even like front facing female developers or
<v Speaker 3>producers on a game. Right, it kind of feels like
<v Speaker 3>they're hung to dry and Grub, I think you said
<v Speaker 3>it best, Like the vibe is kind of like Garbo
<v Speaker 3>from the outside looking in. So why would you even
<v Speaker 3>want to go in to begin with?
<v Speaker 2>Right?
<v Speaker 1>It's I mean, you have to spend so much money
<v Speaker 1>to just begin participating.
<v Speaker 2>It's hard, hard to justify.
<v Speaker 1>And it's like, you know, that's where a couple of
<v Speaker 1>good games pushes the switch and gets gets into a
<v Speaker 1>wider audience's hands. And okay, you can build on that,
<v Speaker 1>but I don't blame anyone who is sitting on the
<v Speaker 1>sideline being like I really do like these games, and
<v Speaker 1>I want to try to play some more complex games
<v Speaker 1>than than what I have on my phone.
<v Speaker 2>I what can I do?
<v Speaker 1>And it's like, oh, man, five hundred dollars for a
<v Speaker 1>switch to or four fifty and then you have to
<v Speaker 1>buy a game. It's a lot.
<v Speaker 2>Do I want to deal with that space? And it's
<v Speaker 2>so easy just to say no.
<v Speaker 3>Like, I have a lot of female friends, and that's
<v Speaker 3>where I'm gonna end the sentence. I'm just kidding. I
<v Speaker 3>have a lot of female friends that enjoy playing Valorant,
<v Speaker 3>enjoy playing Overwatch, to other character shooters like that. But
<v Speaker 3>the second that they are even perceived as a female online,
<v Speaker 3>they just receive so much unnecessary grief for no reason
<v Speaker 3>other than the fact that, like they have piss babies. Yes, yes, yes,
<v Speaker 3>the reason yeah, stupid little piss babies online that need.
<v Speaker 2>Just yeah, insecurity.
<v Speaker 1>It's like the insecurity coming out, and it's like, it's
<v Speaker 1>really the only reason that anyone's ever yelled at a
<v Speaker 1>woman online for playing a video game. It's because the
<v Speaker 1>guy on the other side of that microphone is deeply,
<v Speaker 1>deeply insecure.
<v Speaker 3>Can I name a hundred women?
<v Speaker 2>No, I'm sorry, of course not. That's crazy. People need
<v Speaker 2>to stop being absurd.
<v Speaker 3>I could name one hundred and one.
<v Speaker 2>All right, that does it for the headlines.
<v Speaker 1>I will get on to what's next, which is the
<v Speaker 1>poll question from yesterday. Let's go ahead and refresh the results,
<v Speaker 1>make sure that we are up to date on what
<v Speaker 1>y'all have to say.
<v Speaker 2>Let's see I have it right here.
<v Speaker 1>How many PlayStation games have you purchased four PC? Your
<v Speaker 1>options were zero, one, two, three or more. Fifty eight
<v Speaker 1>percent said zero, twelve percent said one, twelve percent said two,
<v Speaker 1>eighteen percent said three or more. And say, okay, so
<v Speaker 1>there are those hardcore that are showing up for a
<v Speaker 1>lot of these games. I bet that eighteen percent number,
<v Speaker 1>which this is our audience four thousand votes. These are
<v Speaker 1>people who are very into games. So maybe you would
<v Speaker 1>want that eighteen percent number the whales to sort of
<v Speaker 1>be a little bit higher to justify this. If it's like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>more than half of people that are super into games
<v Speaker 1>are not buying these games on PC, and it's largely
<v Speaker 1>probably because they already played them on PlayStation. But they
<v Speaker 1>already played them on PlayStation, and you get huge benefits
<v Speaker 1>when you put your games out there. So Sony's decision
<v Speaker 1>to sort of cut back from there. Begins to make
<v Speaker 1>sense when I look at something like this, which again
<v Speaker 1>not scientific.
<v Speaker 3>The thing if if PlayStation winds up, I mean they
<v Speaker 3>said they were going to refocus and just do that.
<v Speaker 3>I hear something on your side.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I know.
<v Speaker 1>I went to another tab and it's playing something. I'm
<v Speaker 1>gonna close that and said sorry about that.
<v Speaker 3>No, no, it's no worries U stupid computer god. The
<v Speaker 3>part that I'm going to be bummed out about is
<v Speaker 3>that something. If a game like Soros doesn't release on PC,
<v Speaker 3>I won't be able to just like pick up and
<v Speaker 3>play it. I have to go set up the PS
<v Speaker 3>five and detangle it from my capture setup and everything, right,
<v Speaker 3>because I.
<v Speaker 2>Have the same thought.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know why Grub. I've been wanting to play
<v Speaker 3>Returnal lately and I didn't get to play.
<v Speaker 2>I didn't play with you. Let's do some multiplayer Returnal.
<v Speaker 3>I agree, Yeah, let's return to Praternal.
<v Speaker 1>I like that good video game. Please stop your telling
<v Speaker 1>me amy about it. No one nails at me about it,
<v Speaker 1>to be fair. All right, that was the last poll question.
<v Speaker 1>We have another poll question. Let's do that right now.
<v Speaker 1>Where are you at with Crimson Desert. Your options are
<v Speaker 1>I'm getting it. I need to see more of it.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know what that is and not for me.
<v Speaker 1>Those your options. Go ahead and vote on that. We'll
<v Speaker 1>get the results talk about it on tomorrow's show as
<v Speaker 1>we wrap up the week. It's also your reminder get
<v Speaker 1>into Giant bomb dot com. Scroll down you'll see a
<v Speaker 1>vote here button. Vote for your game for the Bomb twelve.
<v Speaker 1>We're going to wrap the game up with that list
<v Speaker 1>of the twelve games that really matter to people who
<v Speaker 1>are really playing video games, and I want to get
<v Speaker 1>your responses in there so we can have the most
<v Speaker 1>accurate Bomb twelve ever.
<v Speaker 2>All right, Jam, what's happening on the website?
<v Speaker 3>Later today we have voicemail dump Truck and for folks
<v Speaker 3>that don't remember, the dump Truck has been moved up
<v Speaker 3>an hour to accommodate for Mary me Tomadacci. That's right,
<v Speaker 3>The Internet's Best Dating Game Show is back up online
<v Speaker 3>today and then tomorrow. Tomorrow's of packed day because we
<v Speaker 3>got gamis mornings. Some of the crews going to try
<v Speaker 3>and do a multiplayer Pacopia stream. We're gonna dip into
<v Speaker 3>Marathon for upf and then Mikey is gonna end the
<v Speaker 3>day and the week by doing another his second launch
<v Speaker 3>day stream of this week with Pacopia. From the very start,
<v Speaker 3>I'm so excited for more people to get their hands
<v Speaker 3>on Pacopia because it is such a silly, goofy game.
<v Speaker 1>You're out on assignment when we're doing that multiplayer stream,
<v Speaker 1>But if you happen to find yourself with your switch
<v Speaker 1>to and you can just hop on from like a
<v Speaker 1>bus station or something, you can like join us or
<v Speaker 1>something the multiplayer and I just want to hang out
<v Speaker 1>in that world with you. I started playing a jan
<v Speaker 1>It's got something going on. It's doing some stuff for
<v Speaker 1>me already there.
<v Speaker 3>I don't want to spoil too much of the game,
<v Speaker 3>and I know that it's out now, so I don't
<v Speaker 3>have to like tiptoe around any embargo stuff. It's so silly,
<v Speaker 3>but like they're just I'm having as serious of a
<v Speaker 3>conversation as you can have in the game, right Okay,
<v Speaker 3>And then like because the Pokemon are just roaming around
<v Speaker 3>as you are having these conversations, I'm talking to the
<v Speaker 3>very important character that you meet at the beginning of
<v Speaker 3>the game. And then there's just like a hit moh Lee,
<v Speaker 3>a hit Moone Champ and then a bell sprout and
<v Speaker 3>then an audish just hanging out on a bed in
<v Speaker 3>the background. Meanwhile there's like a hair across and a
<v Speaker 3>pincer just like shoot angry at each other.
<v Speaker 2>Hell yeah it is. Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, folks, if you're you're still on the fence after
<v Speaker 3>reading all the reviews that have come out, definitely check
<v Speaker 3>out all the Pocopia stuff we'll be putting out tomorrow.
<v Speaker 2>Yep, look out for that. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I've been doing the tutorial everybody, so I'll be ready
<v Speaker 1>for that for the multiplayer stream. Look out for that
<v Speaker 1>after Games Mornings tomorrow. Uh okay, yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Man.
<v Speaker 1>As soon as I was like, hey, okay, go go
<v Speaker 1>knock down that tree or knocknna apple out of that tree,
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, well, how do I do that? And it's like,
<v Speaker 1>oh you head bought the tree game of the Year. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that's incredible, just so amazing. I love this ditto so much.
<v Speaker 1>All right that, Uh, that's gonna do it. Everybody. We've
<v Speaker 1>done all the things we have to do. So what
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna do now is thank Janichoa for hanging out
<v Speaker 1>with me and talking about video games.
<v Speaker 2>Man. I appreciate it.
<v Speaker 3>It's the only way to start a Thursday.
<v Speaker 1>Greb, thank you all for watching and listening. You are
<v Speaker 1>the best audience in gaming. Until next time, have a
<v Speaker 1>good one, take care of yourself and goodbye.