WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:15.720 Um, it's the Internet. You're busy. Let's do this for July twenty, 2 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:18.839 twenty twenty three. For the next hour or so, let me help 3 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:22.519 you sort through the world of gaming on Game Mess Mornings Live with me Jeff 4 00:00:22.519 --> 00:00:27.280 Grub Today activisual Wizard Earnings provide a ton of news, and another live service 5 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:30.800 game is shutting down. But first please join me and welcoming today's co host 6 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:33.960 a Game Mess Mornings. It's Jane Choa. Everybody, Jan, how are 7 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:38.759 you doing? Ice cream is so yummy? Um, yeah, yummy. 8 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:46.399 I'm chopsticks here. Uh let me monetize yeehaw. Let me monetize other ethnicities. 9 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:49.960 Yeah, hell yeah, here we go. That's what I'm all about. 10 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:53.359 Hell yeah, of course, that's just that's the only ethical thing to 11 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:57.119 do. Uh yeah, Jan, How's how's it going over there? You 12 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:00.159 you keep it up? This week? I feel like, uh like, 13 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:02.840 man, it's already Thursday, the weakest flown by. And also I feel 14 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:04.719 like, man, I got so much I have to do. I made 15 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:07.400 a list of things I have to do last night, and then I was 16 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:12.040 like, oh no, the film and forties double feature, and then it's 17 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:17.159 just it's just hilarious. Trying to find a good starting point for the three 18 00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:22.280 of you hooligans, figuring out what movie to watch, and then arguing should 19 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:25.879 we annet? And then you know what, I'm glad you annetted. I 20 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:27.480 think I do. At some point I yelled at them and say, we 21 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:30.719 got to have an intro, So there is like a real good intro point 22 00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:34.159 at some point there is. Yeah, But yes, I bet that was 23 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:37.079 pretty fun to go through and be like, what are these? What you 24 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:40.439 said? He it's doing? Oh my god, because you had I think 25 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:45.719 either you or Dan had suggested a net and then ten minutes later you clinally 26 00:01:45.799 --> 00:01:49.239 came to the conclusion, Yeah, we had a whole bunch of options. 27 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:56.680 We let chat actually vote and twenty twelve Battleship Almost one, Almost One got 28 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:59.359 very close and it was in the lead until the last second, and then 29 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:02.120 a net ahead and we had to watch a net instead. So here, 30 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:07.359 here's my here's my pitch. Maybe this is a film in forties. But 31 00:02:07.039 --> 00:02:12.479 Nicky Grayson had tweeted about the show Psych. I thinks earlier this week I 32 00:02:12.520 --> 00:02:15.080 did see that, and then I realize, you know what, I'm a 33 00:02:15.159 --> 00:02:23.919 psycho. I love Psych, I love Sean and Gus Lasseter, h Juliet. 34 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:28.000 I love these whole this whole cavalcade of fun characters, and then all 35 00:02:28.039 --> 00:02:31.840 of it is on Amazon Prime. Yeah, here's here are we on a 36 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:38.199 USA? Like characters are welcome assants because all of these shows are popping off 37 00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:44.520 right now, yo yo psych burn Notice Monk, I've watched so I'm not 38 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:49.400 this is not a bit. I've watched so many tiktoks of suits, so 39 00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:53.919 many suits tiktoks Jan It's it's like you're talking. I'm on Suit Talk and 40 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.800 it's like, man, these guys, these guys are wearing nice suits and 41 00:02:57.879 --> 00:03:00.919 boy, but the thing they just said was really cool. These are cool 42 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.840 dudes. And then I'll like scroll but all right, I'm never gonna watch 43 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:05.680 that show. And another technic will come up and I'm like, fuck, 44 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:10.280 yeah, let's go. Uh so listen. I always like USA always felt 45 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:15.960 like a cheap, prestige TV, And now I'm like, maybe that's exactly 46 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:19.800 what I need. I don't need any of this, Like yah, it's 47 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:23.199 asked, bullshit, give me our characters are welcome in this house. I 48 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:27.759 was thinking that because I was thinking like, oh, maybe I'll finally watch 49 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:34.039 Better Call Saul or I'll rewatch Breaking Bad or some other eight is any Anny 50 00:03:34.919 --> 00:03:38.919 show, amc amc amcy not Anny. I was about to say a and 51 00:03:38.039 --> 00:03:44.240 w uh, well that's it's good repet. Yeah that's high drama right there. 52 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:46.919 And then I saw Nikki's tweet about psych and I was like, you 53 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:50.960 know what, they may be up to something here. Yep, they may 54 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:53.919 have they may have something that So I told me in Chad watch White Collar. 55 00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:57.680 That is the one USA show I definitely watched list a couple. I 56 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:00.759 think I watched all the first season probably a little bit beyond that, and 57 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:03.639 that was Yeah, I think they're all similar to that. And if that's 58 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:09.479 the case, that's fine. Just like cool characters doing cool stuff. I'm 59 00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:13.560 down. Can we do they drop that slogan? Can we adopt? And 60 00:04:14.199 --> 00:04:16.360 yeah, I don't think I don't. While yeah, so like characters are 61 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:23.720 welcome at Giant Bomb, like yeah, I need I need that shirt. 62 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:28.480 I need that shirt above where characters are welcome. So you said this could 63 00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:30.120 be a film in forties, are you like, do we watch the whole 64 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:34.439 series or we just kick an episode? We cannot watch the full series? 65 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:39.680 I was I was thinking maybe like, hey, one once a week, 66 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:43.120 maybe once a month. We just picked three episodes. Okay, I would 67 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:45.720 like that. That would be fun, That would be good. Yeah, 68 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:53.560 yeah, just one episode a day the rest of the year. Oh my 69 00:04:53.639 --> 00:05:00.600 god, that's our lunch break. Is all right, let's getting this mess. 70 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:02.079 But before we do, let's explain what we do here most weekdays. 71 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:04.920 I, Jeff grab will help peace here, gaming life back together. That 72 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:10.199 includes breaking news and maybe even some of our own original reporting. For all 73 00:05:10.199 --> 00:05:13.000 these topics, I'll get the input of a bona fide expert who will make 74 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.000 me look smart. If you were watching live on Twitch welcome. You can 75 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:18.720 always listen to the show later on podcast feeds by searching for Game Mess Mornings, 76 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:24.120 or find the RSS on GiantBomb dot com. You can also catch the 77 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:29.399 show later with chapters and timestamps on YouTube. Hello YouTube. Okay, we 78 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:32.040 have a lot to get into, so let's start the morning mess with Blizzard 79 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:36.040 games are coming to Steam starting in August with Overwatch two. This comes from 80 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:42.360 Tom the Machine Ivan at VGC. Blizzard Entertainment has announced plans to make a 81 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:46.319 selection of its PC games available on Steam. The first Blizzard title to launch 82 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:49.199 on Valve's digital marketplace will be the free to play, team based hero shooter 83 00:05:49.319 --> 00:05:53.920 Overwatch two, which is available to wish list now ahead of its August tenth 84 00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:57.399 release. Steam. Players will need to connect to a battle dot Net account 85 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:00.439 in order to play the game, as is the case on all platform which 86 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:03.920 Blizzards said enables features like cross play. It's our goal at Blizzard to listen 87 00:06:03.959 --> 00:06:09.000 to players and try to exceed their expectations and everything we do, said Blizzard 88 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:14.839 president mikey Bara. While while Battle dot Net remains a priority for us now 89 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:17.639 and into the future, we've heard players want the choice of Steam first selection 90 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:21.199 of our games, starting with Overwatch two in August tenth. We're happy to 91 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:26.000 work with Valve to make that happen. Gamers and developers are both going to 92 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:29.360 benefit from Overwatch two coming to Steam, said Valve. Boss Game Newell. 93 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:32.879 Gamers will have another platform where they can play a beloved game that utilizes the 94 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:36.160 capabilities of Steam, and developers will benefit from the effects of having the talented 95 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:43.240 team at Blizzard helping us evolve our supportive features and functionality for Overwatch two. 96 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:46.879 That's that's another quote from me. Bar there this a little surprising, but 97 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:53.319 I think like looking at the reality of you know, specific launchers for games, 98 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:58.040 even battle neet. It is not that surprising, right Jan Yeah. 99 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:01.040 I think someone said it earlier on a game Miss this week that the war 100 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:08.240 for our bottom row on our desk desktops is maybe finally done, at least 101 00:07:08.279 --> 00:07:10.959 for now. It's a season, at least for now. And I was 102 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:15.120 I was abouted up Steam yesterday and I was very very confused to see Overwatch 103 00:07:15.399 --> 00:07:17.800 being advertised straight up on the front page or at least one of like the 104 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:23.920 pop up ads. I think this has always been inevitable. I think also 105 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:28.720 just access to games in general will do a game so much more favors. 106 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:32.879 And who knows, maybe popping onto Steam, I don't know. I feel 107 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:38.720 like the crossover the ven diagram is very close of the folks that would have 108 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:43.319 already played Overwatch two and are big on Steam. But who knows, maybe 109 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.120 being on Steam will help garner and inject a whole new audience into the game. 110 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:53.399 Yeah, and Gabe Newell commenting on this makes me wonder if this was 111 00:07:53.439 --> 00:08:00.240 a similar sort of deal as as what happened with Apex Legends. Like in 112 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:03.800 that case, I know that EA and and Stin Valve talked and it was 113 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:07.759 like basically was a mutual like request of Valve was asking, Hey, what 114 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:11.279 do we need to do to get apex Legends on Steam? And EA's like, 115 00:08:11.319 --> 00:08:16.199 Hey, what do we need to do to get EA access EA play 116 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:20.079 excuse me onto steams the people can subscribe to that. And both sides were 117 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:20.879 like, hey, well, if you do one, then we'll do the 118 00:08:20.920 --> 00:08:24.279 other. Like if you can get one on here, then we'll do the 119 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:26.879 other thing. So there was like a mutual agreement. I wonder if, 120 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:31.199 like Valve is like, hey, yeah, Overatch too, why hey put 121 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:33.200 that on Steam? Like that's the kind of thing that would do best on 122 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:37.120 Steam. And so yeah, I mean especially a game like Overwatch two that 123 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:41.279 is in such a rough patch right now that they're you know, definitely issues 124 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:45.440 with that game. We'll talk about some what they're doing with the Overwatch League 125 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:48.159 here in a second. This seems like a pretty good move. My question, 126 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:52.440 Jane is do you think like World of Warcraft ever ends up on Steam? 127 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:56.519 That seems wild to me? Oh man, well, I Final Fantasy 128 00:08:56.600 --> 00:09:01.240 fourteen is technically on Steam. You still have to download squares weird PC launcher, 129 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:05.159 and I think that has been the main stopping point for me to fully 130 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:11.000 diving into fourteen. But I think it's I think, I think there's a 131 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:16.279 possibility. Yeah, I did. I did not think of a world where 132 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:22.000 World of Warcraft would be available on Steam, but I think after all of 133 00:09:22.039 --> 00:09:26.519 the hullabaloo with Activision, Blizzard and Microsoft, I think it is distinctly possible. 134 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:33.120 I am now thinking of the poor, poor people playing Wow on a 135 00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:37.679 Steam deck. That's terrifying. Yes it doesn't, uh yeah, but require 136 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:41.559 a lot of work put into getting those touch pads to have like those radial 137 00:09:41.639 --> 00:09:45.159 menus for all the different commands you'd have to do, it's possible. But 138 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:48.799 yeah, yeah, a lot of people play like FF fourteen on a controller 139 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:54.159 primarily, so you could probably adapt it. Yeah. I mean I think 140 00:09:54.200 --> 00:09:56.200 Final Fantasy fourteen was made with that stuff in mind. But I think at 141 00:09:56.200 --> 00:10:00.360 this point you could figure it out for World war Craft after. I mean, 142 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:03.600 it wouldn't be easy, but they could figure something out there. Uh 143 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:07.720 and and I think they'd be pretty cool. But yeah, I mean, 144 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:13.960 we we know that. Uh. Microsoft revealed during the case that putting Call 145 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:18.720 of Duty into Battlenet was a big mistake. According to Microsoft, they said 146 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:20.960 like, hey, look at Activision numbers. That was a huge mistake. 147 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:24.240 And now we know we see Call of Duty is back on Steam since Modern 148 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:28.639 Warfare two. Uh. And it's like, oh, and you know that's 149 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:33.320 not the only example all Ubisoft going back and forth between Ubisoft Forward and then 150 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:35.519 now they're back and Steam with most of their games. Although that's not like 151 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:37.799 it doesn't seem like it's a full embracive Steam again. Every once in a 152 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:41.519 while it seems like there's a game that doesn't come to Steam. Maybe either 153 00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:45.120 that's because of Epic deal or they do want to try Ubisoft Forward or whatever 154 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:48.799 the hell their their services called. Again, it's not for that's the name 155 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:54.080 of their their their showcase, but whatever they call their thing you play it's 156 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:56.919 It's so it's like we've seen this transition go back and forth where a bunch 157 00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:01.159 of companies like, hey, we want to cut Valve out, we could 158 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:03.240 do this better on our own, and then they go and do it on 159 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:05.799 their own, and they don't sell nearly as many copies because most people just 160 00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:11.080 go Again, the path of at least resistance is I play games on Steam. 161 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:13.600 I'll just buy games on Steam and if you're not on Steam, I'll 162 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:16.720 wait till you're there. Uh. And and a lot of these companies weren't 163 00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:20.559 counting on that, and now they've seen that hard one one lesson and Valves 164 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:24.720 the entire time, Valve was just like, you'll be back. It's like, 165 00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:26.480 okay, they were right, yep, that's that's pretty wild. But 166 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:30.879 Valve's I mean, we've heard Gabe Newells say like, we won't sign that 167 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:33.399 that call of duty deal with Microsoft because we don't believe in that sort of 168 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:37.320 thing. We believe in making of Steam so good that people want to bring 169 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:41.480 their stuff there. And of course that just means having the most people spending 170 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:45.519 the most money. But if they have that, then they can wield it. 171 00:11:45.559 --> 00:11:48.840 And here we are where even Overwatch two now is coming to Steam. 172 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:54.200 It's it's pretty wild world. Yeah, a friendly monopoly, says MEDUSA lover 173 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:58.879 sixty nine. That's right, I mean, it's uh, they probably also 174 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:05.440 do give somewhat more favorable cuts to some of these companies. Oh yeah, 175 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:09.159 it's it's you know, it's probably not like eighty eight twelve like Epic Game 176 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:13.159 Store, right, but it's an eighty eight percent to the game developer twelve 177 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:16.960 percent to Epic, but they did announced like when when Epic was announcing all 178 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:20.080 that stuff, like way back when that if you sell over one hundred thousand 179 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:24.759 dollars worth of anything in the game, well then you get like a twenty 180 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:28.600 eighty split or something like that. So a lot of these companies were probably 181 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:30.559 like looking at it and be like, Okay, we're doing the math, 182 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:35.039 and with the amount of money that we could do on Steam, it probably 183 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:37.159 doesn't make sense for us to be back on there. Yeah. I also 184 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:43.120 imagine, and this is a very very very specific use case, but if 185 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:48.240 a Call of Duty player wanted or like an Overwatch two player that started on 186 00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:54.639 console suddenly got a PC and then wanted to get over and start playing those 187 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:58.360 games on the PC, that may be too many hoops rhythm to jump through 188 00:12:58.440 --> 00:13:03.399 rather than something that is more widely known than Steam of like I gotta download 189 00:13:03.399 --> 00:13:05.519 what launcher, I have to make what account now, all right? Yeah. 190 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:11.960 I remember hearing stories about from developers in the early days of Unity and 191 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:15.919 Unity working on the web where it was like, Okay, so we can 192 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:18.840 get these games working on a browser, and isn't that going to make it 193 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:22.519 like just it's gonna open it up to everybody. But what happened is you 194 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:28.399 would click on this web page like and now we're going to install Unity into 195 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:30.600 your browser and do all this stuff, and it would come up with pop 196 00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:33.919 ups excuse me, and those pop ups would be enough to discourage most people 197 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:35.399 from going through with it. They'd be like, Ah, this seems like 198 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:39.080 a headache. Is this a problem? Is it dangerous? I don't care 199 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:43.320 to learn, and so X, I'm just leaving this whatever, and that 200 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:48.799 barrier to entry, that small barrier to entry of clicking on a few dialogue 201 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:52.559 boxes and given in permission and learning about whether or not this was safe was 202 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:54.919 too much for most people. I mean, like, you know, there's 203 00:13:54.919 --> 00:14:01.840 evidence beyond games of like the way our brains work, where like organ donors, 204 00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:03.720 Like if you make that an opt in instead of an opt out, 205 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:05.759 most people be like, ah, I don't believe in that. I don't 206 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:09.960 want to do it. But if you make organ donating opt out where it's 207 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:13.559 already checked, people will be like, I'm just gonna let it go, 208 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:18.080 and they will change their opinion about their feelings about donating organs. They're like, 209 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:20.679 I've always been for that. There's like research about that where people's like 210 00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:26.559 brains actually just accept what's already on the page and then they justify it. 211 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:30.440 They like work backwards to justify it. Like that's how fundamentally lazy we are. 212 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:35.759 So yeah, in any sort of extra obstacle that you put in front 213 00:14:35.799 --> 00:14:39.559 of people is going to cost you money. And these companies have now seen 214 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:46.320 that. Even Epic has seen that despite giving away free games and all this 215 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:50.000 stuff, like spending all this money and they're not making a dent. Right, 216 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:56.639 that same value is why automatic sliding doors were created, Grub because businesses 217 00:14:56.679 --> 00:14:58.879 were losing millions and millions of money because folks were just confused, is this 218 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:03.600 the push store? Exact right? I didn't want to be embarrassed exactly. 219 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:05.879 I pulled when I should have pushed. Now I'm embarrassed. I'm gonna go 220 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:07.720 home. Now, I'm just gonna go home, go to sleep. Yeah, 221 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:11.559 today's it's a wash. We'll try. We'll try again tomorrow. Everybody, 222 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:16.440 All right, let's move on here. Activision Blizzard cuts esports staff and 223 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:22.000 uncertain future over Overwatch league. Activision Blizzard has made a round of layoffs at 224 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:26.080 its esports division, while confirming that big changes maybe in store for the Overwatch 225 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:30.240 League. On Wednesday, the company reportedly cut around fifty employees in what appeared 226 00:15:30.279 --> 00:15:35.120 to be a significant gutting and that's a quote of its esports division. One 227 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:37.960 of the affected team members told The Verge there was no warning. They said, 228 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:41.840 this was a complete shock to everyone, and none of us who were 229 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:46.919 laid off were offered any opportunity to switch roles or teams. A statement Brad 230 00:15:46.919 --> 00:15:50.360 Crawford, Senior director of Global Communications of Activision Blizzard Esports claimed, and this 231 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:54.480 is the quote. Now, we remain committed to the future of esports, 232 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:58.320 and we regularly assess how our staffing aligns with our business goals to ensure we 233 00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:03.000 can evolve with changing trends and best deliver for our teams. Blah blah blah. 234 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:07.240 Basically, they see what's what's Everyone else sees that there's just not a 235 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:11.200 ton of money in esports, and it's it's hard to turn it into this 236 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:15.240 big business. I think there is some money in esports, jan but it 237 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:19.600 does like it's gonna it's gonna take a lot longer than everyone I think so 238 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:25.279 said at first, and that's because the audience you're going for is younger. 239 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:29.000 They don't have a ton of disposable income, Like like the people who are 240 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:33.639 fans of traditional sports are they have a there's a wide age spectrum, and 241 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:37.799 you can win over younger fans while flee seeing older fans and be like, 242 00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:40.639 you're gonna want to buy this and this and this, and you have the 243 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:45.480 money to spend on that. Esports just aren't quite there yet and it might 244 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:48.600 take like another decade for that sort of thing to kick in. In the 245 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:52.360 meantime, they have to these sports leagues need to show longevity and show like 246 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:56.600 if you are a long term committed fan that you're gonna get a lot out 247 00:16:56.600 --> 00:16:59.399 of it. And that's like they're in that phase right now where it's like, 248 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:00.799 oh, it doesn't feel like they're gonna be able to pull that off. 249 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:06.720 But I don't know. Overwatch League was the big esports league. It's 250 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:11.519 like, we're gonna have city based teams and like franchise rights where you have 251 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:14.759 to spend twenty million dollars to start a franchise. In the Overwatch League, 252 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:18.440 this is gonna be it. And if that one can't really make it work, 253 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:23.319 I question what can. Yeah, I don't know, because I feel 254 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:30.839 like we're or at least I'm noticing esports coming and going in absolute waves. 255 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:37.880 And I think you nailed at GRAB where it's the investment in your time and 256 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:45.279 interest is going is hard because with all the stuff disappearing, Like I had 257 00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:52.440 several friends that bought jerseys and repped teams from the Overwatch League and now like 258 00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:57.160 those teams and the whole league is defunct. But like with stuff like StarCraft, 259 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:03.640 interest in StarCraft is going to eventually wane or like what what can keep 260 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:07.720 people interested? I feel like the FGC is like the closest I've seen people 261 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:15.200 stay interested in in like in esport. Yeah, I don't know, it's 262 00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:19.039 just hard. I feel like as soon esports is hard. Also when you 263 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:26.880 start trying to monetize every aspect of it. I don't know. I don't 264 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:30.039 know, Grub maybe they just needed a halftime show. Yeah, maybe they 265 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:32.319 needed a halftime at the hyper Bowl. Have you seen have you seen a 266 00:18:32.359 --> 00:18:33.799 neet? You've seen a net like the hyper Bowl I've seen. It's a 267 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:37.720 very important scene to me, Jane, when the baby when the baby puppet 268 00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:41.400 flies in on drones at the hyper Bowl, That's that's cinema to me. 269 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:47.799 Uh yeah, continue here the way. Affs were made amid uncertainty over the 270 00:18:47.799 --> 00:18:52.039 future of Overwatch League, with Activision announcing on Wednesday that franchise owners are set 271 00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:56.200 to vote on whether to continue the competition in its current format. Here's the 272 00:18:56.279 --> 00:18:59.839 quote again. During the second quarter, we emitted certain terms of our collaborative 273 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:03.920 arrangements with team entities participating in the Overwatch League. According to the amended terms, 274 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:07.680 following the conclusion of the current Overwatch League season, the teams will vote 275 00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:11.599 on an updated operating agreement. If the teams do not vote to continue under 276 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:15.319 an updated operating agreement, a terminat should fee of six million dollars will be 277 00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:21.559 payable to each participating team entity totally a total fee of approximately one hundred and 278 00:19:21.559 --> 00:19:23.839 fourteen million dollars. While big changes may be a foot, and this is 279 00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:26.480 no longer the quote, well, big fangers may be a foot, Overwatch 280 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:30.559 League Commissioner Sean Miller told the Verge, I want to be clear on one 281 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:34.160 thing, in particular, the Overwatch that Overwatch remains committed to a competitive ecosystem 282 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:37.759 in twenty twenty four beyond, and we're abuilding toward to revitalize global seeing that 283 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:44.200 prioritizes players and fans, and I don't know what to make of that. 284 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:48.920 Okay, you know what, Turboshan just broke my brain here in a good 285 00:19:48.920 --> 00:19:52.400 way. And you know, going back to the whole conversation about like the 286 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:56.319 FGC feeling different as an esport, and I think Sean says it perfectly that 287 00:19:56.599 --> 00:20:03.240 FGC is more of grassroots, right. I could see folks playing cash games 288 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:08.160 in a hotel at EVO at any point, or just like playing for the 289 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:14.079 pure sport of it. I feel like FGC is very similar to like basketball 290 00:20:14.119 --> 00:20:17.880 and Summer Guard because I could just play a pickup game with some friends anytime, 291 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:26.039 no pressure. But with something like Overwatch, Doda League, Valeriant CS, 292 00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:32.039 even TF two, it feels like you're forcing that into trying to legitimize 293 00:20:32.039 --> 00:20:34.000 it as a sport, and like you're trying to make it a big spectacle 294 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:38.400 and you're kind of robbing the fun from it, yep, which is how 295 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:44.279 football seems. Yes, well, I mean spectacle for like no reason, 296 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:48.440 yes and yes, and robbing the fun is the biggest complaint about Overwatch is 297 00:20:48.519 --> 00:20:55.759 that Activision, I'm sorry, Blizzard focused too much on the esports competitive scene. 298 00:20:55.799 --> 00:20:59.400 They focused on their their Overwatch League, and they built the game around 299 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:03.799 that and that ended up hurting what was otherwise a pretty fun, casual online 300 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:08.599 multiplayer game. Uh. And in the grassroots element, it's just the absolutely 301 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:15.160 these are for something like Overwatch, and for a lot of esports that aren't 302 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:22.000 the fighting game community and a handful of other things. It is the marketing 303 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:26.319 departments at these companies saying this is a marketing expense, and we will because 304 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:30.440 this is a good way to get the word out about our game. If 305 00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:33.519 people stay interested in the in the esports side of things, they'll stay interested 306 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:37.640 in playing it. And there's some truth to that, but that that makes 307 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:41.720 it a very different thing than when people are like, we are organizing to 308 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:45.039 play this because that's how much we care about it. And I think people 309 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:47.839 would create tournaments in the community for sure, and then they'd be like, 310 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:52.000 why don't we get support from the publisher. It's like there's that there's good, 311 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:53.160 good and bad with that. Once they come in there, they are 312 00:21:53.160 --> 00:21:56.079 gonna look at ways to like make it make sense to their bottom line, 313 00:21:56.599 --> 00:22:02.400 and with a dearth of any coming in from like ticket sales for events, 314 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:06.880 yes to shout out, take a drink everybody dearth. Uh, it's going 315 00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:10.000 to be the kind of thing We're like, okay, well we it's going 316 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:12.799 to be a loss leader. We're going to sell more content in the game 317 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:17.480 later. And that means that the esports teams are gonna have to kind of 318 00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:19.319 take a back seat a little bit and be treated a little bit worse than 319 00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:23.240 than that they might otherwise be. And that's just that's how it goes. 320 00:22:25.640 --> 00:22:32.799 The fundamental reality is corporations own these sports and uh, and that is you 321 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:37.039 know, no one actually owns basketball. They own the National Basketball Association. 322 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:41.440 Yes, but you can take a ball, go outside play basketball and don't 323 00:22:41.480 --> 00:22:45.400 you don't have to pay anybody anything. And that is a very different thing 324 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:51.240 than this corporatized version of sports that esports are and that's gonna always be a 325 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:53.680 problem until something gets figured out there. You know. I feel like we 326 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:57.759 even saw this when we went to DreamHack. It is a completely different vibe 327 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:08.119 when you watching a competitive game like uh, like a MOBI like like Overwatch 328 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:14.519 or whatever, versus people playing a fighting game like the fighting game, crowd 329 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.000 went wild, like an absolutely wild over any and everything. And I love 330 00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:22.240 that feeling. I felt so bad for em and Bailey that had to conduct 331 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:27.599 a serious interview with a Gun of War cast, but next door you could 332 00:23:27.640 --> 00:23:30.960 not contain their excitement. Meanwhile, you know you're looking at folks playing a 333 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:37.319 MOBI and like everyone is taking this way too seriously. Yep, it's it 334 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:41.799 is. It's a hard scene to to like pin down like exactly like Rocket 335 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:45.759 League feels like one that is kind of like writing the line of both exactly 336 00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:49.160 right, and it's and you could see the community is very passionate about it 337 00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:52.400 and they would probably find a way to continue some sort of competitive scene no 338 00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:56.640 matter what. And the developer that was behind it for a long time, 339 00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:00.279 you know, now it's epic, but for a long time it was it 340 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:03.759 was just this small studio and they Psionics, I think it's Psionics, and 341 00:24:03.799 --> 00:24:08.680 they they didn't have like some massive esports budget, but they worked with other 342 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:12.759 esports enterities to kind of make it make sense. And I think that that 343 00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:15.160 is one, like you said, Ryan's of the line, and there's gonna 344 00:24:15.160 --> 00:24:19.039 be a lot of stuff like that, but that it's just I think bottom 345 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:23.640 line here is there's just not as much money in esports as these companies thought, 346 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:29.079 and they are now recognizing that and they are gonna pull back on their 347 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:32.880 investment and make it like a diet version of what they've been doing. So 348 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:36.799 we're gonna get diet Overwatch League here pretty soon. And I believe then when 349 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:38.559 they say it's not going to go away completely, but I bet it's going 350 00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:42.839 to feel like it goes away completely compared to what it was. Yeah, 351 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:47.640 alright, Call of Duty makes a huge amount of money on mobile. Here's 352 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:51.400 how much. This comes from Eddie mccoucha at game Spot. The Call of 353 00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:55.240 Duty series is soaring right now, as Activision has announced that the series has 354 00:24:55.240 --> 00:25:00.400 climbed to around ninety million million monthly players, while Modern Warfare two we Zones 355 00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:03.200 and Slash war Zones micro transactions are putting up big numbers. Not only that, 356 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:07.440 but Activision revealed how much money Called Duty Mobile has earned so far, 357 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:11.240 and it's a lot. This information came out of activision blizzards latest earnings briefing 358 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:17.680 cold Duty Mobile saw engagement and netbookings remains stable year over year. Activision said 359 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:22.359 lifetime spending on the games since it launched in October twenty nineteen recently surpassed three 360 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:27.200 billion dollars. Yeah, that's almost almost a billion dollars per year. It's 361 00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:32.119 probably a little bit lower than that, but that is basically, if you 362 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:33.880 are one of the biggest mobile games in the world, you make about a 363 00:25:33.880 --> 00:25:37.759 billion dollars a year in revenue. And that's right where this is at. 364 00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:40.640 How do we do that? How do we do that? I think we 365 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:45.720 a giant bomb go. You just find me laying in a ditch with the 366 00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:48.079 aar and then you throw a poke ball at me and catch me. I 367 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:52.000 think right, were right in this down count kick you go to like a 368 00:25:52.039 --> 00:25:56.200 fridge and you either get back lar or like damn exactly. That's right. 369 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:00.559 That is a massive number, but it's only about half of white Pokemon Go 370 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:04.119 has earned during its lifetime. Pokemon go'spennce. It's twenty sixteen, though, 371 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:07.319 so for what it's worth, Pokemon Go was on the market for several years. 372 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:10.960 They're there, you go. According to Censor Tower, called Duty Mobile 373 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:14.880 earned one point five billion by February twenty twenty two. I figure it has 374 00:26:14.920 --> 00:26:18.240 now officially doubled in the time since. As for the console series, a 375 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:22.519 new game is coming this fall for PC and console and blah blah blah. 376 00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:32.880 But yeah, this is this is them like maximizing the return on call of 377 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:36.480 duty, and this is why they take all their studios and like, all 378 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:38.880 right, we're going to make more call of duty stuff, and they already 379 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:41.920 have called Duty Mobile and they're like, we're making other call of duty mobile 380 00:26:41.960 --> 00:26:45.880 things as well, and we're called it's just all call of duty in every 381 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:49.039 direction. And it's because it really does just make that much money. So 382 00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:55.039 I think I complain personally a lot about Hey, Activision, Blizzard doesn't seem 383 00:26:55.079 --> 00:26:56.839 to believe in all these other franchises. Tony Hawk's pro Skater one plus two 384 00:26:56.920 --> 00:27:00.920 is the best selling Tony Hawk game, and you get a sequel to that. 385 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:03.799 What are we doing here when they just put it in black and white 386 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:06.839 numbers like that? I mean, I get it, like if I had 387 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:08.480 if I was running a business and I had one product that made more money 388 00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:11.799 than everything else, of course you double down on that product. But I 389 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:15.200 think that's why again, why I go like, oh, Microsoft acquiring them, 390 00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:19.160 having different incentives, having a reason to make a lot of different games 391 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:22.839 because it supports game Pass, Like, okay, that that's good. But 392 00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:26.960 even if Microsoft, like when the deal goes through, they're not going to 393 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:30.519 suddenly give up on the investment in Call of Duty. It's still going to 394 00:27:30.599 --> 00:27:33.759 be all Call of Duty all the time for the most part, right, 395 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:37.920 Yeah, of course. But I feel like when you were a company as 396 00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:44.480 big as Activision Blizzard, you can do both, right, Like, why 397 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:48.799 can't you do both? That's how I feel. Yeah, it doesn't make 398 00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:52.680 any sense to me, especially when you and Hey grub, I don't know 399 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:56.279 how money works, of course, you know, like I chose to we 400 00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:00.119 chose to be in games media. Do you think we know how money works. 401 00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:03.920 I live in San Francisco. I'm I'm a sweet summer child. When 402 00:28:03.960 --> 00:28:08.759 it comes to finances, I am so cavalier with them. Anyway, we 403 00:28:08.759 --> 00:28:14.559 don't need to get into that. But when you when I see that a 404 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:18.880 company is taking in three billion dollars from a mobile game. Not to disparage 405 00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:23.480 the validity of a mobile game, but I feel like that gives you enough 406 00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:30.240 funds to also support another studio that can make you additional amounts of money. 407 00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:36.000 Because it wasn't Tony Hawk pro Skater one plus two the best selling Tony Hawk 408 00:28:36.039 --> 00:28:37.279 game. It is, Yes, it is the best selling Tony Hawk game. 409 00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:45.000 A franchise like notorious for selling a ton and like and like defining Activision 410 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:47.799 as this company. It's like, we're gonna do one of these every year, 411 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:49.079 and oh my god, everyone, it's selling better than the last one. 412 00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:51.920 It's selling better than last one, selling bet our last one. It's 413 00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:53.279 it's no longer selling better than last one. It's no longer selling better than 414 00:28:53.400 --> 00:28:59.839 last one, but it's it's okay. And now you have brought back this 415 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:03.920 series and it's higher than ever and and we're just not going to follow that 416 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:08.519 up. And something is broken there. If you could be making all this 417 00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:14.960 money from one franchise and you have successful versions of other franchises, but you 418 00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:18.599 can't do more of those because you've got to feed this other beast, you 419 00:29:18.680 --> 00:29:21.599 gotta there's there's something wrong. It's got to be it's got to be figured 420 00:29:21.640 --> 00:29:26.880 out. Now. Again, I get like the need to prioritize, but 421 00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:30.720 if if you can't also like diversify at the same time, then I don't 422 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:33.839 know. I feel like you gotta figure something out there. Like the Boom 423 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:36.960 is I'm sorry, no no, no, I was gonna move on, 424 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:41.480 so please go ahead. Like we've seen the Boom in several mobile games where 425 00:29:41.480 --> 00:29:45.720 they will control the cultural zeitgeist and like Pokemon Go still doing well financially, 426 00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:52.880 yes, but it's on it's it's declining in popularity. And yes, Call 427 00:29:52.920 --> 00:29:56.759 of Duty Mobile is raking in three billion dollars now, but like as you 428 00:29:56.839 --> 00:30:00.279 said, interest and Call of Duties eventually going to wayne, So those umbers 429 00:30:00.279 --> 00:30:03.160 are going to go down, and what are they gonna do afterwards? Because 430 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:07.200 they put all their eggs in this basket. It's like your children, you 431 00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:10.880 might like, I'm not speaking about your children, crub in general. Children, 432 00:30:11.079 --> 00:30:14.240 you might like one more so you're gonna give one more chicken nuggets. 433 00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:18.279 The other one still needs chicken nuggets. That's right, That's exactly right. 434 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:22.720 That's a good point. Yeah, it's they are like this earnings report was 435 00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:26.599 pretty good for Activision Blizzard, better than I think people would have expected from 436 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:29.359 a year, year and a half ago. It's like, where are they 437 00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:32.240 going to be in not in eighteen months and it's like, well, you 438 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:34.279 know, they're they're doing pretty good because Call of Duty is is succeeding, 439 00:30:34.359 --> 00:30:37.559 But that puts them in a risky position where if there is a hiccup with 440 00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:40.720 Call of Duty, if they do miss a year like that, they were 441 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:42.200 going to miss this year. They're not going to miss this year. Now 442 00:30:42.279 --> 00:30:45.559 they're gonna have Modern Warfare three as a fallow up to Modern Warfare two. 443 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:49.319 Very weird, but that's what they're doing. If they missed a year, 444 00:30:49.319 --> 00:30:52.440 though, it's like, well, Activision Blizzard Stock is just gonna fucking take 445 00:30:52.519 --> 00:30:56.880 us such a huge beating, and you gotta get back to right now. 446 00:30:56.880 --> 00:30:59.880 And now it's like a panic time and everyone like, now you really got 447 00:30:59.880 --> 00:31:02.759 to everyone working on call of duty and they're already doing that. So you 448 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:06.319 see, they are in a corner. Despite being very successful, despite making 449 00:31:06.759 --> 00:31:08.160 a ton of money from call of duty, they are backed up into a 450 00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:11.720 corner. But you know, a little bit by their own making, a 451 00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:15.319 little bit by the Hey, this is just how capitalism works. And if 452 00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:18.319 they like they do mess up, if they put out a bad call of 453 00:31:18.359 --> 00:31:22.200 duty that really, you know, gets people upset and they don't buy it 454 00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:25.279 nearly as much of it. This is a company that could in an instant 455 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:29.839 be worth significantly less and take a huge hit and Bobby Cottock's out and all 456 00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:32.240 this stuff, and look that sounds not too bad, but that's not what 457 00:31:32.279 --> 00:31:36.000 they want. So yeah, you know, they do on the other hand 458 00:31:36.039 --> 00:31:40.279 have Blizzard, and in the meantime, Diablo four has been wildly successful so 459 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:42.599 far. This is from Darren Bonthew's at game Spot. In the short time 460 00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:47.480 since its release, Diablo four has been a major earner for Activision Blizzard, 461 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:49.920 as the company revealed that the game has been one of its fastest selling titles 462 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:53.480 of all time. Overall, the game helped a help set a record quarter 463 00:31:53.640 --> 00:31:59.000 for Blizzard with over one billion dollars in net bookings. According to Activision Bizzard 464 00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:01.839 and it's second quarter to twenty three financial results, Diabolo four has sold through 465 00:32:01.880 --> 00:32:06.759 more units than any other Blizzard game at an equivalent stage of release, and 466 00:32:06.839 --> 00:32:10.680 player retention was particularly strong, with over ten million people playing the game in 467 00:32:10.759 --> 00:32:15.200 June alone. Over seven hundred million hours of activity have been logged last month 468 00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:20.359 and Europe alone, Diablo four is twenty twenty three second fastest selling games so 469 00:32:20.400 --> 00:32:23.319 far, and it's beaten only by Hogwart's Legacy. According to Games Industry dot 470 00:32:23.480 --> 00:32:29.839 Is, PC was unsurprisingly the most popular platform. A devilish sixty six percent 471 00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:32.599 of players chose to play on PC, and PlayStation five attracted twenty one percent 472 00:32:32.640 --> 00:32:38.759 of Europe's Diablo four player base. Yeah, it's again not too surprising, 473 00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:42.759 but hey, Diablo is back. They made a good one of those and 474 00:32:42.799 --> 00:32:45.519 everyone showed up, and now that the fan base is actually bigger than ever 475 00:32:45.559 --> 00:32:50.519 for Diablo four overall, So they do have other things happening. It's just 476 00:32:50.759 --> 00:32:55.599 it's Blizzard and that required them to take that the Volition team and get them 477 00:32:55.599 --> 00:33:00.079 come over here and work on Diablo and and all this was or Vicarious Visions, 478 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:04.599 excuse me, Vicarious Visions take them and have them come work on a 479 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:07.720 Diablo and they had to you know, cannibalize some of their other efforts to 480 00:33:07.799 --> 00:33:09.680 keep you know, feeding this beast. And it's just like that is the 481 00:33:09.720 --> 00:33:14.319 story over there, and it's for now. It's working. These games are 482 00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:17.880 succeeding, but there have been misteps like that world that Warcraft three reforged, 483 00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:21.480 and they were on a series of like missteps like that, and it's like, 484 00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:23.640 well, they pulled out but you know, out of that nose dive. 485 00:33:23.880 --> 00:33:27.480 But had they not done that that that this would be really bad. 486 00:33:27.480 --> 00:33:30.200 But okay, nope, they figured it out. But it's like it feels 487 00:33:30.200 --> 00:33:31.400 like, okay, now, what's what's next? Do you do? You 488 00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:37.319 have the capacity to build something new to build a new franchise that can keep 489 00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:40.960 going or is it going to be keep going back to these same wells until 490 00:33:42.039 --> 00:33:45.519 they eventually you know, the return on investment there is less and less and 491 00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:47.119 less. Again, they're kind of worked into a corner, but they are 492 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:52.000 making a lot of money for now. Yes, yeah, they're they're worked 493 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:54.559 into a corner. But I mean, hey, you can only like get 494 00:33:54.720 --> 00:33:59.640 pushed into a corner so much. We eventually, I don't know, grub. 495 00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:02.559 I feel like whenever I hear about Activision Blizzard releasing a new game, 496 00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:07.679 I think of like they're like walking on a tight rope of like, yeah, 497 00:34:07.719 --> 00:34:10.679 you're doing good so far, but like, I don't know, man, 498 00:34:10.840 --> 00:34:14.840 I've seen people slack line in the park and I've seen some people fall 499 00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:19.960 on their face yep. Yeah, and it's you know people mentioned in twitch 500 00:34:20.039 --> 00:34:23.519 chet Vilani here. I heard Blizzard a real bad talent retention problem. I 501 00:34:23.559 --> 00:34:27.440 wonder if they fixed it, and I don't think they have. And what 502 00:34:27.480 --> 00:34:31.159 they did is they just like they brought in these other teams to like fill 503 00:34:31.159 --> 00:34:35.400 in the gaps, like you know, as like just these these human beings 504 00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:37.679 just throw them at the problem. And while they're doing that, I'm sure 505 00:34:37.719 --> 00:34:40.639 they keep losing people and they're not able to bring in new people enough at 506 00:34:40.679 --> 00:34:44.559 the same time. So yeah, they might be in a situation where, 507 00:34:44.679 --> 00:34:47.400 yeah, the things have gone well with Call of Duty and and Diablo right 508 00:34:47.400 --> 00:34:52.639 now, but in the process of getting to this point, they have left 509 00:34:52.679 --> 00:34:55.960 themselves maybe more vulnerable next time around, because they don't have as many studios, 510 00:34:57.000 --> 00:34:59.320 for one, and they don't have many studios working on different kinds of 511 00:34:59.320 --> 00:35:01.199 games, and and the studios that they have brought into work on these things 512 00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:07.119 are from people who are leaving. I mean, because Activision Bizzard did the 513 00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:09.719 mandatory coming to the office, a lot of studios have done the exact opposite 514 00:35:09.719 --> 00:35:13.159 and say, hey, you can work from anywhere, and that is going 515 00:35:13.199 --> 00:35:15.360 to be very attractive, and that's going to draw people away from Activision Blizzard. 516 00:35:15.800 --> 00:35:19.480 And that's just one thing among many. Obviously, there was a toxic 517 00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:22.960 work environment and people might not be confident that they address that. So yeah, 518 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:27.320 like Activision Bizzard in an okay position right now, but there is questions 519 00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:30.599 about what's next. Yeah, I could see folks, you know, aspiring 520 00:35:30.599 --> 00:35:37.559 game developers, folks working in that space being drawn Torque specifically for the Blizzard 521 00:35:37.599 --> 00:35:40.880 side and not really being wanting to stay around for like the Shenanigans they've heard 522 00:35:40.960 --> 00:35:45.239 from the activision side, and I know that they function as one company, 523 00:35:45.320 --> 00:35:49.280 but you know, yeah, culturally and like specifically like the games that they 524 00:35:49.280 --> 00:35:53.440 would like to work on. All right. Diablo four's first season is off 525 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:57.519 to a rocky start before it even begins. This is from Ali Welsh, 526 00:35:57.559 --> 00:36:01.559 a Polygon Diable four's first season, Season of the Malignant, begins Thursday at 527 00:36:01.559 --> 00:36:06.559 one pm Eastern. This should have been an exciting moment for fans of the 528 00:36:06.599 --> 00:36:08.960 game, but instead the community finds itself in an open revolt over the hugely 529 00:36:09.039 --> 00:36:15.440 unpopular changes in Tuesday's preseason update, Patch one point one. The patch is 530 00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:19.800 short, unbuffs and long, very very long on nerves players. Defense and 531 00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:23.400 damage have been reduced, and leveling progress has been significantly slowed, especially in 532 00:36:23.480 --> 00:36:28.679 later levels and on higher world tiers. Even the Sorcerer class, which players 533 00:36:28.679 --> 00:36:32.000 agree is the most underpowered in the game and has a serious build diversity problem, 534 00:36:32.119 --> 00:36:37.559 was nerved instead of buffed. Both Diablo four and Diablo Subreds are overwhelmed 535 00:36:37.559 --> 00:36:40.280 with complaints about the patch. Now I want to say that just sounds like 536 00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:44.320 a Blizzard game to me at a certain point where oh, the players are 537 00:36:44.320 --> 00:36:45.679 complaining on the sunbred in the forum, So okay, well, now we 538 00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:50.559 got a real Blizzard game on our hands. A lot of people do seem 539 00:36:50.599 --> 00:36:54.719 to have some legitimate complaints, and it's it is pretty loud, and and 540 00:36:54.480 --> 00:37:00.760 and Blizzard has already begun rolling back some of these things. Keep reading here. 541 00:37:00.920 --> 00:37:04.119 Streamer Asthman Gould summed up the situation in the opening minutes of a video 542 00:37:04.119 --> 00:37:07.159 discussing the update, where he said, number one, everything is worse. 543 00:37:07.559 --> 00:37:10.320 Number two, everything is harder. Number three everything you were doing now you 544 00:37:10.360 --> 00:37:14.920 have to work harder to do it again. Number four, leveling is slower. 545 00:37:15.719 --> 00:37:17.760 I mean, he goes on and on. There were early signs that 546 00:37:17.800 --> 00:37:22.960 Blizzard had gone into damage control mode with a live stream addressing the changes announced 547 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:25.440 for Friday. We have been hearing feedback from players regarding some of the changes 548 00:37:25.480 --> 00:37:30.239 in one point one point zero Community developer director Adam Fletcher said late Tuesday, 549 00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:34.320 we are going to have a camp fire chat later this week on Friday to 550 00:37:34.400 --> 00:37:37.760 talk more about it. Some of the changes are already being reversed. One 551 00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:39.960 of the most controversial changes in the patch, not detailed in the patch notes, 552 00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:45.039 but quickly spotted by players, was the introduction of minimum level requirements for 553 00:37:45.119 --> 00:37:50.719 the third and fourth world tiers, which are effectively difficulty levels. This might 554 00:37:50.719 --> 00:37:53.239 have been intended to block practice of higher level characters being able to group up 555 00:37:53.280 --> 00:37:58.159 with low level players and boost them through levels at a tremendous speed by carrying 556 00:37:58.199 --> 00:38:01.719 them into the higher world tiers. And my question for that is, why 557 00:38:01.800 --> 00:38:05.960 would you want to stop that? That is part of these kinds of games. 558 00:38:06.280 --> 00:38:09.280 You just got to embrace that stuff. Uh. I mean, I 559 00:38:09.800 --> 00:38:13.400 get where some of these developers come from. We built an experience, we 560 00:38:13.440 --> 00:38:15.480 want you to do it, but players get to define. Like when you 561 00:38:15.519 --> 00:38:17.960 have a game like this, it feels like, especially an all my multiplayer 562 00:38:19.039 --> 00:38:22.719 game, that the community gets to define kind of what their experience is a 563 00:38:22.760 --> 00:38:25.840 lot of times, right, yes, one hundred percent, Like eventually a 564 00:38:25.960 --> 00:38:32.079 game will leave the initial intent of the developer right because the community will one 565 00:38:32.159 --> 00:38:37.480 hundred percent make the game what they want to make the game. This, 566 00:38:37.480 --> 00:38:42.719 This is this is what I was talking about grab where it feels like they're 567 00:38:42.800 --> 00:38:46.119 walking on a tight rope of like I don't understand you, why are you 568 00:38:46.199 --> 00:38:51.480 doing this? Like, why are you jumping on this type grow up right 569 00:38:51.519 --> 00:38:55.000 now? When you could just keep walking forward. Gablo was in a good 570 00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:59.000 position, and I mean, this is not the end of the world. 571 00:38:59.079 --> 00:39:01.760 They're gonna got to figure this out. The game's gonna be fine. But 572 00:39:02.559 --> 00:39:05.480 yeah, this is kind of like, oh, you stepped in a little 573 00:39:05.480 --> 00:39:07.960 bit of doo doo. You didn't have to do that, Like you could 574 00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:10.639 have just walked around it, And uh, I kind of I don't get 575 00:39:10.679 --> 00:39:15.679 the overcorrection so much that a lot of these developers do. Sometimes I'm very 576 00:39:15.679 --> 00:39:20.960 thankful that I never fell into World of Warcraft or like Diablo super hardcore, 577 00:39:21.119 --> 00:39:25.440 because this feels like an abusive relationship. Grow Yes, it didn't. It 578 00:39:25.440 --> 00:39:30.920 definitely does, like you're you're You're suddenly gonna send me a full text list 579 00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.400 of people I can't talk to and I can't take these fun pictures with people, 580 00:39:34.880 --> 00:39:37.280 and then like, okay, yeah, I'll just you know, okay, 581 00:39:37.320 --> 00:39:39.599 cool, Yeah, I won't do any of that anymore and we'll be 582 00:39:39.639 --> 00:39:43.199 happy. That's fine. Fine, do do on a type rope. I 583 00:39:43.239 --> 00:39:47.280 guess it is hard to walk around it, all right. Microsoft and Activision 584 00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:52.280 urge FTC to drop its legal challenge before the August hearing from James Batchelick Games 585 00:39:52.280 --> 00:39:57.440 Industry dop IS. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have filed a request to the Federal 586 00:39:57.480 --> 00:40:01.599 Trade Commission urging the body to withdraw plans for administrative hearing next month. The 587 00:40:01.599 --> 00:40:07.400 hearing was first scheduled after the FTC issued a legal challenge against Microsoft's proposed acquisition 588 00:40:07.800 --> 00:40:10.400 of Activision Blizzard back in December. While it does not have the power to 589 00:40:10.400 --> 00:40:14.480 block the merger, the hearing could lead to the case being elevated to other 590 00:40:14.559 --> 00:40:17.719 US courts. However, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard argue in their filing that the 591 00:40:17.800 --> 00:40:22.199 US courts have already demonstrated that they do not believe the acquisition to be anti 592 00:40:22.199 --> 00:40:28.320 competitive, following the FTC's failure to secure a preliminary injunction from the District Court 593 00:40:28.400 --> 00:40:32.639 and the Ninth Circuits denial of its appeal against the decision. There's more to 594 00:40:32.800 --> 00:40:37.159 this. This is to surprising. These companies don't want to deal with this. 595 00:40:37.440 --> 00:40:39.679 The FTC does seem to want to put as much pressure on as possible, 596 00:40:39.679 --> 00:40:44.119 so I think it's very unlikely that they're going to win this or convince 597 00:40:44.159 --> 00:40:46.920 the FTC especially, and I don't have the story here and I don't have 598 00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:51.800 all the details, but the FTC and Joe Biden just announced a new set 599 00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:58.480 of rules about mergers in the United States, and reading through those rules, 600 00:40:58.599 --> 00:41:04.360 it feels like they were written specifically to stop this deal. So I, 601 00:41:05.320 --> 00:41:07.400 you know, I haven't looked into too much. I don't know how like 602 00:41:07.920 --> 00:41:10.519 Joe Biden has declared all these new rules for mergers in the United States. 603 00:41:10.559 --> 00:41:14.840 How legally binding that is? I mean, I know he's the president, 604 00:41:14.880 --> 00:41:17.719 but he's not Congress, but he's also, you know, the chief enforcer 605 00:41:17.840 --> 00:41:22.679 of regulation, So I like, who knows what that could mean for this 606 00:41:22.719 --> 00:41:24.760 deal? This might apply to future stuff, or it might apply to this 607 00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:30.280 administrative hearing next month. So I'll just say it does seem like the FTC 608 00:41:30.360 --> 00:41:34.679 is still very serious about getting in the way as much as much as possible 609 00:41:34.679 --> 00:41:37.320 for this deal. So we'll see what happens. But I don't expect the 610 00:41:37.320 --> 00:41:42.239 FTC to stand down. What do you think. I don't expect them to 611 00:41:42.239 --> 00:41:45.639 stand down either. Who do you think Joe Biden mains an overwatch? Oh 612 00:41:45.679 --> 00:41:52.039 he's deffinitent. What's the big shield guy? Yes? Ryan Hard He's definitely 613 00:41:52.079 --> 00:41:57.320 a Rheinhart. He sees himself as a Rheinhart one. I was thinking that. 614 00:41:57.440 --> 00:42:00.559 Or Soldier seventy six. Oh yeah, that's true. Soldier seventy six. 615 00:42:00.599 --> 00:42:04.480 He wears an American flag outfit. Yeah, I could see it, 616 00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:08.679 definitely. Okay, Hampton the Hampster. Okay, yeah, that's pretty good 617 00:42:08.719 --> 00:42:14.559 too. That's uh, that's Hunter Biden's character. Please everybody please. A 618 00:42:14.639 --> 00:42:16.760 new King Kong game has been leaked by Amazon. This comes from Tom the 619 00:42:16.800 --> 00:42:22.400 Machine Ivan at VGC. Amazon has seemingly leaked a new King Kong game ahead 620 00:42:22.400 --> 00:42:25.400 of its official announcement. Titled Skull Island, Rise of Kong. The third 621 00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:30.239 person action adventure game is headed to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Systems, Xbox Systems, 622 00:42:30.280 --> 00:42:35.840 according to a product listing on Amazon's Spanish website. The listings, which 623 00:42:35.840 --> 00:42:38.960 were spotted by Kamatsu, also carried what is presumably a placeholder release date of 624 00:42:39.039 --> 00:42:44.440 December thirty one, twenty twenty four. Here's how the page describes it. 625 00:42:44.719 --> 00:42:47.159 Embark on a third person action adventure to avenge the death of your parents at 626 00:42:47.199 --> 00:42:52.800 the hands of the Ultimate Alpha Predator, gall conquer waves, a primal beast, 627 00:42:52.800 --> 00:42:57.519 and defeat your your arch enemy's minions to become the rightful King of Skull 628 00:42:57.519 --> 00:43:00.800 Island. Excuse me, there's more to it, but this is a game 629 00:43:00.880 --> 00:43:05.519 from game Mill. Oh there it is. So you look at you've seen 630 00:43:05.519 --> 00:43:07.360 a trailer. What is that? I can't tell it was it was a 631 00:43:07.400 --> 00:43:12.920 trailer. Uh. This is from game Mill, which is a publisher that 632 00:43:12.960 --> 00:43:16.440 does a lot of these kinds of low tier license games. So I wouldn't 633 00:43:16.440 --> 00:43:20.960 expect too much from this. Uh. They have done like I think one 634 00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:25.159 of their better games is Nickelodeon All Stars Battle Royale or whatever it's called. 635 00:43:25.599 --> 00:43:29.239 They did that, but also that game felt cheap in ways where they didn't 636 00:43:29.239 --> 00:43:31.199 have voice acting and all that stuff. So yeah, I don't know. 637 00:43:31.199 --> 00:43:37.679 Are you Are you a congstand jan, I don't know grub Grub, I 638 00:43:37.679 --> 00:43:44.039 am a Kaiju guy. I love me. You're in Godzilla. I was 639 00:43:44.079 --> 00:43:45.639 gonna say guide you, but that doesn't that's not good. I can't say 640 00:43:45.679 --> 00:43:52.000 that I love all of that. I'm one of the rare folks that loved 641 00:43:52.159 --> 00:43:58.920 cong versus Godzilla because of seeing a big monkey h Superman punch Godzilla. Yes, 642 00:43:59.159 --> 00:44:05.639 absolutely, and uh oh man. I was initially hyped because they're like, 643 00:44:05.760 --> 00:44:07.400 yeah, yeah, let's get King Kong. Let's get King Kong back 644 00:44:07.400 --> 00:44:12.840 in like the cultural zeite guards, let's make it happen again. Uh. 645 00:44:12.880 --> 00:44:16.440 But I just looked at that trailer that lex Lexi linked, and then I 646 00:44:16.440 --> 00:44:22.000 saw a game loft, and then I was filled with so much disappointment, 647 00:44:22.320 --> 00:44:25.480 probably the same level of disappointment you were filled when you talked about the Invincible 648 00:44:25.519 --> 00:44:30.800 game. That is also that is probably a very good way to put it. 649 00:44:30.920 --> 00:44:35.599 I don't feel good about that Invincible game. Let me see if I 650 00:44:35.599 --> 00:44:39.599 can bring up this Peggy eighteen here. It's not good. Yeah, I 651 00:44:39.599 --> 00:44:44.760 can get it. Everybody just a second, uh I, you know, 652 00:44:44.800 --> 00:44:50.079 we we are still in that that's that space where oh yeah, like license 653 00:44:50.159 --> 00:44:53.159 games are kind of taking over the most license games probably are still going to 654 00:44:53.199 --> 00:44:58.960 be like this, uh, where cheap cash ends like that is still gonna 655 00:44:58.960 --> 00:45:01.239 be like what, There's just not as many high quality publishers that have enough 656 00:45:01.280 --> 00:45:05.639 money to pay for the license and then still make a good game Like that 657 00:45:05.719 --> 00:45:07.480 was always the problem. Like even the companies that didn't have that money didn't 658 00:45:07.519 --> 00:45:10.440 want to make that investment. Now they do, and that's nice. That's 659 00:45:10.440 --> 00:45:14.639 a change, and that's cool. Uh, you know Star Wars Jedi Survivor. 660 00:45:14.679 --> 00:45:15.920 I'm that's the thing. I'm gonna go back to next. I can't 661 00:45:15.920 --> 00:45:22.639 wait. But most of these ips are going to get acquired by game mill 662 00:45:22.800 --> 00:45:27.000 like publishers that are gonna either put out mobile versions of these games like we 663 00:45:27.079 --> 00:45:31.920 got with Invincible or this which looks fucking rough. Oh my god, that 664 00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:37.519 looks real bad game. What kind of game is this? Yeah? I 665 00:45:37.559 --> 00:45:43.800 mean that's it's a third person action adventure game where you avenge your parents and 666 00:45:43.840 --> 00:45:47.280 it says waves of enemies, So I think it's like a wave based like 667 00:45:47.639 --> 00:45:52.360 you're just gonna your King Kong and then waves of enemies are gonna come at 668 00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:53.920 you and you're gonna take them on, and you might maybe go through the 669 00:45:54.000 --> 00:45:58.280 level and there's another wave of enemies. But I think it's probably just a 670 00:45:58.360 --> 00:46:02.000 brawler basically, Thank thank, thank the Lord. I'm not on Blake Club 671 00:46:02.239 --> 00:46:07.440 because then, like just just sharing the information that I like King Kong and 672 00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:09.800 Godzilla, this is this is Oh no, oh no, do you ever 673 00:46:09.840 --> 00:46:13.559 if you ever step in your curse, your curse, we know what you 674 00:46:13.639 --> 00:46:15.360 do. You can't get out the door. Do you know what to do 675 00:46:15.519 --> 00:46:21.480 all right, let me up. Oh hold on, I okay, yeah, 676 00:46:21.480 --> 00:46:23.079 I had a thought, but then it escaped me thinking about having to 677 00:46:23.519 --> 00:46:30.079 jump into a Godzilla costume. That's that's how it goes, you know what. 678 00:46:30.199 --> 00:46:31.519 Okay, I remember, I remember what it's going to bring up. 679 00:46:31.519 --> 00:46:35.880 I just want to give a special shout shout outs to like people like John 680 00:46:35.960 --> 00:46:40.480 Drake in his position of like making good Disney games, yeah, good licensed 681 00:46:40.480 --> 00:46:45.679 products and everything, because I feel like we're diving back in grub into very 682 00:46:45.840 --> 00:46:51.079 very bad license games, especially with like the Marvel games and Star Wars games 683 00:46:51.159 --> 00:46:53.760 on phones that look exactly the same. They're just different reskins of each other. 684 00:46:54.360 --> 00:46:58.320 But folks like John Drake, maybe John Drake specifically, it's like, 685 00:46:58.519 --> 00:47:00.960 now we're gonna make good stuff. We're gonna make great, great, great 686 00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:05.199 games. We're gonna specifically seek out folks that will make that have good ideas 687 00:47:05.679 --> 00:47:08.719 and can really execute on them well. Because even the like, you know 688 00:47:08.800 --> 00:47:14.199 me, I love Disney Dreamline Valley. I didn't mean to say it in 689 00:47:14.239 --> 00:47:17.519 that voice. I liked it. Like the the four player mobile game or 690 00:47:17.559 --> 00:47:21.639 not mobile game, the four player co op platform, a game we checked 691 00:47:21.679 --> 00:47:30.159 out at SGF Disney illusion. Oh, God does the fantasy I can't remember 692 00:47:30.159 --> 00:47:34.800 now, Jesus, but yes, I know what you mean it illusion is 693 00:47:34.800 --> 00:47:37.000 in it right, and it does the illusion is that sounds right? Yes? 694 00:47:37.280 --> 00:47:45.199 It that is a good game. The racing game you and Mitch checked 695 00:47:45.199 --> 00:47:50.320 out looked very promising. Illusion Island there we go, yes, and like, 696 00:47:50.400 --> 00:47:53.960 hey, like this, I am all for good license games, and 697 00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:58.280 I mean, hey, we also have the whole Kingdom Heart series and those 698 00:47:58.280 --> 00:48:01.840 are good games. Her guests here, Jan, I'm not gonna I'm not 699 00:48:01.840 --> 00:48:06.159 gonna stand against you. I'm not gonna stand on lay if of your perversions. 700 00:48:06.719 --> 00:48:08.320 Uh. There's also a new Armored Course six trailer out. Let's look 701 00:48:08.360 --> 00:48:12.039 at five seconds of that real quick. Together, everybody there you go this, 702 00:48:13.480 --> 00:48:15.440 this looks pretty good. Look at that art. God, what a 703 00:48:15.519 --> 00:48:21.119 good looking game. All right, let's let's get back into the news. 704 00:48:21.599 --> 00:48:23.400 Just a couple more stories here. Resident Evil four is now top to five 705 00:48:23.480 --> 00:48:25.639 million units sold. Oh you know, actually, let me dumb mail? 706 00:48:25.639 --> 00:48:29.760 How back real quick, Jan, Gundham Evolution is shutting down in November. 707 00:48:29.800 --> 00:48:32.920 Is on at Game Reactor. If you're a Gundam fan, Bandai Napco has 708 00:48:32.960 --> 00:48:37.199 some bad news for you. As noted in a blog post, Gundham Evolution 709 00:48:37.239 --> 00:48:40.440 will be officially shutting down in November, as the developers come to the conclusion 710 00:48:40.519 --> 00:48:45.000 that it is no longer possible for us to provide a service that satisfies our 711 00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:50.000 players. Man that sounds rough, specifically Bandai Napco notes that gun Day Evolution 712 00:48:50.320 --> 00:48:53.599 Gundham Evolution will be shutting down on November twenty nine, twenty twenty three, 713 00:48:53.639 --> 00:48:55.719 and with this in mind, there will be a change in how the game 714 00:48:55.800 --> 00:49:00.559 is offered. Up until then. We're told that updates will continue alongside the 715 00:49:00.599 --> 00:49:04.239 launch of the game's sixth season on August twenty three, you'll bring a new 716 00:49:04.360 --> 00:49:07.760 unit in two more maps, and it's seventh and final season on October twenty 717 00:49:07.760 --> 00:49:10.960 fifth, bringing one less unit in map, but that from July twenty six 718 00:49:12.039 --> 00:49:15.920 all Evo coins and ecpod limited sales will be stopped, and updates to ec 719 00:49:16.119 --> 00:49:20.920 pods, cap pods, and ticket pods will be stopped to two stopped as 720 00:49:20.920 --> 00:49:23.079 well. Hey, Jan, when I'm diagnosing what goes wrong with a game 721 00:49:23.119 --> 00:49:27.920 like this, fucking currencies like that, I think there's your problem right there. 722 00:49:28.079 --> 00:49:30.840 That's just it's too much. I get you. You're free to play 723 00:49:30.880 --> 00:49:34.599 game, and this is like best practices for your dark patterns and all that, 724 00:49:34.960 --> 00:49:37.119 but I don't want to hear about your EC coins and your EC pod 725 00:49:37.320 --> 00:49:42.519 limited sales. Get the fuck out of here with that stuff. Gundam Evolution 726 00:49:42.719 --> 00:49:45.199 was the Overwatch one, right, the one that just looked exactly like Overwatch 727 00:49:45.400 --> 00:49:50.159 that always seems like a cool thing. Yeah, yeah, I and you 728 00:49:50.199 --> 00:49:53.079 know that's exactly how we felt about it. It seemed like a cool thing 729 00:49:53.960 --> 00:49:59.280 exactly played at once. This is a cool thing. It's just I didn't 730 00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:02.639 I don't know what it is. Maybe it's me, but I just didn't 731 00:50:02.639 --> 00:50:07.360 want to keep check and get out. I don't know if it's I just 732 00:50:07.400 --> 00:50:10.159 don't know how you can continue supporting a game like this because it just seems 733 00:50:10.199 --> 00:50:15.079 difficult after the initial boom. Yeah right, unless, like them audience, 734 00:50:15.119 --> 00:50:19.800 there's just a bunch of freaks. They probably they are, but they're they're 735 00:50:19.840 --> 00:50:22.199 like, I get my freak on by painting a little model. I don't. 736 00:50:22.199 --> 00:50:28.000 I don't need this video game, especially when that's like an ongoing hobby. 737 00:50:28.039 --> 00:50:30.199 The Gundam fans have a million other ongoing hobbies. They don't need another 738 00:50:30.239 --> 00:50:36.679 one, So why not take a game like this and just put a price 739 00:50:36.800 --> 00:50:39.199 on it, take all the micro transactions out, and sell it to people. 740 00:50:39.880 --> 00:50:45.039 I mean, I get That's like the ceiling is lower there. I 741 00:50:45.079 --> 00:50:47.480 get it, and you want the ceiling to be infinitely high. But let's 742 00:50:47.519 --> 00:50:52.119 just be fucking realistic and say, hey, you spent so much on the 743 00:50:52.119 --> 00:50:55.360 game, set a price, and try to sell so many copies that you 744 00:50:55.440 --> 00:50:59.719 make more than that, and then you made a profit profit and we can 745 00:50:59.760 --> 00:51:04.639 all move on to the next thing. It's it's that has to be an 746 00:51:04.639 --> 00:51:07.480 option on the table too, instead of just oh, this was just another 747 00:51:07.480 --> 00:51:09.159 shitty live service game that didn't work out. I don't know. I don't 748 00:51:09.199 --> 00:51:13.679 get it. Like there has to be like a portion of that player audience 749 00:51:13.760 --> 00:51:20.920 there that is genuinely super duper bummed out. Like folks friend groups whoever got 750 00:51:20.960 --> 00:51:24.360 really really into Gundam Evolution finally had a good Gundam game. I don't know 751 00:51:24.400 --> 00:51:30.800 if there are other good Gundam games, but they had something and now it's 752 00:51:30.840 --> 00:51:35.320 gone, and I feel bad for those folks. I do as well. 753 00:51:36.000 --> 00:51:40.039 All right, Resume Before has now topped more than five million copies sold. 754 00:51:40.039 --> 00:51:44.239 It's from Ben they on at game reactor. Capcom Is revealed that resume Before 755 00:51:44.239 --> 00:51:47.159 has topped he had another impressive milestone. The Survival Horror remake has now surpassed 756 00:51:47.199 --> 00:51:52.000 five million sold copies marker, something that it hopes to expand on further with 757 00:51:52.079 --> 00:51:55.320 the release of the upcoming Resible four VR mode, thus tapping into the PSVR 758 00:51:55.400 --> 00:52:00.239 two player base. To add to this, capcom Is revealed that Resuvals series 759 00:52:00.239 --> 00:52:02.519 as a whole, it's now reached one hundred forty two million copies sold. 760 00:52:04.599 --> 00:52:07.679 Yeah, it's it's pretty good. I think I was expecting resumel for to 761 00:52:07.679 --> 00:52:13.239 sell a little bit faster than this. I think that's pretty good. But 762 00:52:13.480 --> 00:52:15.719 but I think probably what happened is most people are like, I already played 763 00:52:15.719 --> 00:52:16.639 that game. I don't need to play it again. Sorry, I saw 764 00:52:16.719 --> 00:52:20.239 my door, I saw Mike and Chatt and I just want to really hurt 765 00:52:20.280 --> 00:52:23.159 him. Now. I was like, no, I thought most people like 766 00:52:23.199 --> 00:52:25.159 I played that and it's one of my favorite games of all time, and 767 00:52:25.360 --> 00:52:28.880 now it looks better than ever I want to play it. And so it 768 00:52:28.960 --> 00:52:34.400 was gonna like rush to ten million copies sold. I guess that was obviously 769 00:52:34.519 --> 00:52:37.000 that was way too much. But five million copies sold for this game, 770 00:52:37.079 --> 00:52:40.440 that's pretty good. Anything that is going to get over five million copies is 771 00:52:40.800 --> 00:52:45.000 just, no caveats, a huge success. It just is five million copies 772 00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.280 sold is that threshold. Everything above that is like, Wow, that's that's 773 00:52:49.320 --> 00:52:52.559 even more great. That's awesome. But if you make a game that costs 774 00:52:52.599 --> 00:52:53.880 as much as it costs to make Resume four and then you sell five million 775 00:52:53.920 --> 00:52:59.239 copies, you have unequivocally succeeded. So yeah, and I don't know, 776 00:52:59.679 --> 00:53:02.039 this game probably does get to like ten million after sales and holiday sales later 777 00:53:02.079 --> 00:53:04.480 this year and all that stuff, But I don't know, what do you 778 00:53:04.559 --> 00:53:07.920 think? Yeah, you know, I have a couple of friends that I 779 00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:14.199 thought would hop on this because they loved Resident Evil four. But I think 780 00:53:14.239 --> 00:53:17.239 there is a little bit of that fatigue and maybe like lack of understanding with 781 00:53:17.360 --> 00:53:21.800 some of the gaming audience of like, well, I've played that before, 782 00:53:22.159 --> 00:53:25.639 Like I don't need to check it out again because it's since it is a 783 00:53:25.719 --> 00:53:29.920 single player experience for some people that you know, the assumption there is like 784 00:53:30.320 --> 00:53:31.679 that's the same thing, it just looks prettier. YEP. I think I 785 00:53:31.760 --> 00:53:35.880 think that does happen a little bit yeah, it's uh. I think in 786 00:53:35.960 --> 00:53:37.000 my head it was like, well, no, Resume four remake will be 787 00:53:37.199 --> 00:53:42.800 the fastest best selling resual game. And I think Resuble two remake did very 788 00:53:42.840 --> 00:53:45.239 well, but that was like, that was such a significant remake. It 789 00:53:45.320 --> 00:53:49.199 was like a completely new game, and it was like hitting an audience that 790 00:53:49.320 --> 00:53:52.639 probably mostly had never played that game before. I think Resumee four has been 791 00:53:52.679 --> 00:53:55.559 rereleased so many times most people have played it. But again, I feel 792 00:53:55.559 --> 00:53:59.639 like we're couching in terms of like, oh, it has failed in a 793 00:53:59.719 --> 00:54:01.440 clear it just has not. It is a success, like but like, 794 00:54:01.519 --> 00:54:06.440 yeah, five million units is still amazing. It's amazing. Resid Evil four 795 00:54:06.519 --> 00:54:09.519 remake is still an amazing game. Absolutely. All right. We have the 796 00:54:09.639 --> 00:54:15.079 poll from yesterday. We're asked, are you getting Pickman four this week? 797 00:54:15.480 --> 00:54:19.559 Seventeen percent said yes, uh, sixty nine percent said no, and fourteen 798 00:54:19.639 --> 00:54:22.400 percent said I don't have a switch. Uh. And then that sounds about 799 00:54:22.480 --> 00:54:28.039 right for Pickman about you know one you know, one in four one in 800 00:54:28.159 --> 00:54:30.400 five are going to pick that up. Use if it was that case, 801 00:54:30.440 --> 00:54:34.440 they would sell Hunt the tens of millions. So but yeah, that for 802 00:54:34.599 --> 00:54:37.559 for our audience, that seems about right uh, Jan, where are you 803 00:54:37.639 --> 00:54:42.000 at with pickman? I don't want to disappoint your grub. It's no, 804 00:54:42.079 --> 00:54:45.519 it's okay. Most people aren't into it, so I'm I'm I completely accept 805 00:54:45.639 --> 00:54:50.440 that. Like I think most people like look at it and don't understand where 806 00:54:50.480 --> 00:54:53.320 the fund might be. And I completely sympathize with that. I yes, 807 00:54:53.519 --> 00:54:57.519 I think even someone who plays it and understands where the fun is. When 808 00:54:57.559 --> 00:54:59.559 I see a new one get announced, I look at it and be like, 809 00:55:00.079 --> 00:55:01.280 why do I like that so much? Because it's like, yeah, 810 00:55:01.440 --> 00:55:07.159 so I completely get it for sure. I think for me it's like I 811 00:55:07.239 --> 00:55:09.960 didn't have a game cube. And then even looking at screenshots and videos growing 812 00:55:10.039 --> 00:55:14.239 up of that game, like the backgrounds looked a little too muddy and gray. 813 00:55:14.320 --> 00:55:15.599 No, I know what you mean. Yep. I think I think 814 00:55:15.599 --> 00:55:20.639 they're looking pretty good with the once they got to HD with yeah three and 815 00:55:21.000 --> 00:55:23.880 now now this, but those I know what you mean, Like the backgrounds 816 00:55:23.920 --> 00:55:28.679 were trying to look photo realistic and didn't quite get there. Yes, that's 817 00:55:28.760 --> 00:55:30.280 right, folks. I'm a Sega fanboy. Deep, That's that's right. 818 00:55:30.639 --> 00:55:35.039 I went from my love of Sonic to carry you carry you would punch the 819 00:55:35.119 --> 00:55:37.719 ship out of the pick many. He would just he would step on it, 820 00:55:37.840 --> 00:55:38.920 not even realize he did it. And if you told him, you 821 00:55:38.960 --> 00:55:43.280 wouldn't care. He'd be really nice, though, he'd be really nice to 822 00:55:43.360 --> 00:55:46.119 a pick man. He just put him in his pocket. All right, 823 00:55:46.559 --> 00:55:50.800 We're gonna put up a new poll here in a second. In the meantime, 824 00:55:50.880 --> 00:55:53.639 though, what do we have happening on Giant Bomb? There is there's 825 00:55:53.639 --> 00:55:58.800 a travelog where Dan went to Belgium with Jake Decker. That's up, now 826 00:55:58.880 --> 00:56:01.480 you show I'll watch that. Uh. We did a couple of quick looks, 827 00:56:01.559 --> 00:56:06.239 right, we got a quick look at double Dragon much other Dragon viewfinder 828 00:56:06.360 --> 00:56:08.840 viewfinder, Yes, that's up. Uh. And then yesterday we had a 829 00:56:08.920 --> 00:56:13.679 new episode of Four Sorts Fiesta where we all made each other very mad and 830 00:56:13.760 --> 00:56:16.480 supportant to watch that. And then today Blake Club is back. I of 831 00:56:16.559 --> 00:56:21.440 course I'm taking the day off. Bat Grub is coming in instead. I'm 832 00:56:21.440 --> 00:56:22.360 gonna let him come down. I can't be in the same room as that 833 00:56:22.440 --> 00:56:29.440 guy, but he'll he'll be here playing through Batman Dark tomorrow, a game 834 00:56:29.840 --> 00:56:31.559 I keep forgetting the name of because it's just a terrible It's a terrible, 835 00:56:31.679 --> 00:56:37.760 terrible name in cuffing season, Baby, so gonna be we're gonna continue the 836 00:56:37.800 --> 00:56:39.159 cuff count. I will get that set up actually, so we can have 837 00:56:39.199 --> 00:56:44.119 an on screen cuff counter back cuff counter. So look up that that's gonna 838 00:56:44.119 --> 00:56:49.239 be happening immediately. Oh no, you could probably set up a short cut 839 00:56:49.280 --> 00:56:51.800 and obs to just like you hit a thing and then it's an incriminal. 840 00:56:51.840 --> 00:56:54.239 Then I could probably do that. I might might. I think for today, 841 00:56:54.239 --> 00:56:58.119 I'm gonna just set it up in stream elements and let one of those 842 00:56:58.159 --> 00:57:01.159 guys just handle it. But uh, we'll figure it out. Also, 843 00:57:01.280 --> 00:57:07.239 shouts out to Lucy and Tam that are out down at San Diego Comic Cone 844 00:57:07.360 --> 00:57:08.800 right now. If you're heading to the show, make sure to say hi 845 00:57:08.880 --> 00:57:13.960 to them, but keep your distance because Tam does not accept hugs. Also, 846 00:57:14.039 --> 00:57:17.960 I think they have a new episode of audiologs dropping with what's his Face? 847 00:57:19.199 --> 00:57:22.079 Sam Lake? Oh? Really fantastic. Yeah, that's very cool. 848 00:57:22.119 --> 00:57:25.840 I'm gonna check that out all right, you Poul, Have you avoided Blizzard 849 00:57:25.880 --> 00:57:30.920 games because they have not been on Steam? Yes or no? Simple easy 850 00:57:30.320 --> 00:57:36.440 answer it on YouTube dot com slash at Giant Bomb. There's a community tab 851 00:57:36.519 --> 00:57:43.559 there you can you can vote there. Uh yeah, yeah, you can 852 00:57:43.559 --> 00:57:45.280 put that in there as well as one of the options to going yeah. 853 00:57:46.559 --> 00:57:51.199 Oh too late, h no, no problem, All right, Jan, 854 00:57:51.599 --> 00:57:53.199 I think we're good now. Thanks so much for hanging out with me today 855 00:57:53.239 --> 00:57:55.159 and talking about video games. Man, you know, I appreciate it. 856 00:57:55.760 --> 00:58:00.599 I appreciate you Grub, and thank you all for watching. You're the best 857 00:58:00.679 --> 00:58:04.239 audience in gaming. Until next time, have a good one, take care 858 00:58:04.239 --> 00:58:07.000 of yourself, and goodbye. M