He'll be don't be there. It's the Internet. You're busy. Let's do
this for February ninth, twenty twenty four. For the next hour or so,
let me help you sort through the world of gaming on Game mes Mornings
Live with me Jeff Grub Today it's anything but a dregs day with news about
GTA six Star Wars, Outlaws, switch to and more. But first,
please join me and welcome today's co host to Game mess Mornings. It's two
more. Who's saying, everybody, Tam, how are you doing? We
will not be helping you sort through today's gaming news. We will instead be
focusing entirely on my tech issues. What's up, big setter? Now?
This is now a tech support show. Okay, here's the thing, Lad's
I have an Asus r T a x eight ahu router is very expensive.
It's very good, Okay. My modem is the much coveted Arrest Surfboard SB
eight two hundred right, which is also very good. Okay, and it's
been amazing. I've had close to one gigab it's been I've had close to
one gigab ask for second Internet for like six months. Okay, yesterday,
Yesterday day before yesterday, actually just everything absolutely shit the bed for no reason,
Like if I leave this room, I will not have internet. If
I go to the other side of my apartment, which is not that big
because I live in San Francisco and it's expensive here, I do not have
internet. That means I cannot sit on the toilet and surf the internet.
That's terrible. And nothing I have unplugged it, replugged it unplugged, it
replugged it. And I'm just like, what's going on, Okay, what's
happening. Nothing changes everything, Nothing changes in the hardware, everything changes in
the connection, and I'm like, what do I do? So the issue
specifically is when you're the further away you get from it, or is it
like you're seeing it, it drops. It drops momentarily. Okay, yeah,
the speed like nose dives. The other day it bugged out in the
middle of Steph Curry shooting a three in the air like this, and I
was like, oh, it's unacceptable. That is always it always does happen
at the worst moment when you're watching sports. I've found that happens to me
too. Okay, A couple of ideas. So, because you're your motem's
pretty new, right, all of it is new. I got it like
like when I moved into this apartment, which is like six or seven months
ago. Now, yeah, but I would double check which because if you're
using that router the AX it probably does it have Wi Fi six E don't
think do you have a six gigahertz connection as far as you're aware for a
Wi Fi connection? No, Okay, I've been rocking. I've been rocking
that dual put two point five or maybe two point four in five? Yes,
yeah, four and five. There's a five. There's a five point
zero option, but I don't believe I'm using that. Well, try that
first of all, because that that will be well though. The other thing
are your Wi Fi went like on the computer? When it? When it?
Right now? I am. So what I'm doing is I'm testing.
So if if it screws up during this or at some point today, I
know that laptop connected via Wi Fi is impacted, then I'm gonna hard wire
it and see if. Okay, Also, so we're trouble the same thing.
Okay, yu, what's on trouble shooting this ship? You know?
Okay, Well, then the one thing I would suggest in this process is
go into the router settings and finagle the q o S the quality of service
connection settings. Maybe turn that off, see if that improves things. It's
sometime I find that that's the software that for that can get a little bit
finnicking. It's the funniest thing. They have an app which allows you to
log into it. It's the worst log in system I've ever seen. I
use. I use a password, you know bank where when I make the
password, it goes in there and nothing changes. Okay, I went in
there put my password. It's like, Nope, this ain't your password.
What are you talking about? Because I remember logging in with this, So
now it's like the only way you can get into this is factory resett fuck
it. Yeah, well, listen, you're in the middle of the troubleshooting
process. I bet by by having this whole segment here, you're going to
get some people adding you at on Twitter. You want people to just kind
of throw out through ideas at you to try. Yeah, Twitter dot com
for morehe hit me, hit me with some ideas, give me some I
went on the like asis forums and let me tell you that it's kind of
like old school neo gap in there. Everyone sucks. Man, that's rough.
That's right. Stuff. Uh, let's see see did you did you
know it's there for me? There? You froze for a good twenty seconds.
Oh really, no, I didn't notice it. Okay. I said
some stuff about neo geph. I made a fun joke, and then I
looked at you and you're just like this. Oh no, I heard the
neo GIP stuff. I responded all of it, and then then I was
finished. And then we were kind of we didn't definitely had a moment.
We were repassing ships in the sea and we didn't. We didn't connect for
a second there. Okay, all right, everyone expects some awkwardness. It's
just gonna be how it is. That's that's gonna be the one that is
going to bring the dregs today on Dregs Day. Uh. The other thing
before we get started, I was we got a message from Brian Cox to
Mitch mckwan chie, and I was up. I'm not actually frustrated with with
Mitch about it, but I do think I should put this out there so
that people can at him to fix his problem, which is he only knows
Brian Cox from dam Where do you think he knows Brian Cox from Mitch Uh,
Brian Cox. I'm trying to figure out what Disney thing right now?
Think about this. It's literally the most recent thing where we saw Brian Cox.
Uh. Is it from the cameo? It's from It's from the tech
Insion, It's from Oh my god, that's his only context? Was he
like literally like, it's that guy from the tech and end? I think
he said there was maybe one or two other things. Again, I'm not
mad. He has to be doing a bit. No one is this in
the Disney but yeah, well but Mike just doesn't care. But he's been
in a lot of great stuff. So if anyone wants to throw suggestions at
Mike to learn about who Brian Cox is, I give you full permission.
He may not he's actually yelling at me in chat, but I give you
permissions to go to town tell him where to super Troopers. Mike, you
could start there, congrab my Manhunter. Oh yeah, actually that's actually a
legit good one. All right, You know what, we got to explain
what we're doing here most weekdays, I Jeff Greb will help piece your gaming
life back together. That includes breaking news and maybe even some of our own
original reporting. For all these topics, I'll get the input of a bona
fide expert who will make me look smart. If you were watching live on
twitch welcome, You can always listen to the show later on podcast feeds by
searching for Games Mornings, or find therss on gimebomb dot com. You can
also catch the show later with chapters and timestamps on YouTube. Hello YouTube,
Hello YouTube. We have a lot to get into, so let's start the
morning mess with Take two. Earnings guidance means no GTA six before April twenty
twenty five, according to analysts. This is from tom Iban at VGC grant.
THEFT Auto six looks set to be released after March twenty twenty five,
based on publisher Take two's latest earnings guidance. That's according to Webbush Securities analysts
Nick McKay and Michael Pactor, who said on Friday that the game appears to
have slipped out of its once anticipated early twenty twenty five release window. On
Thursday, Rockstar owner Take two downwardly revised its guidance for its next fiscal year,
which runs from April to March twenty twenty five, and a research note
titled seven billion dollars means no gtaight and fiscal year twenty five, The analyst
wrote, management had said that next year's bookings number will be just over seven
billion, a far cry from its initial comments of eight billion in May and
its first revision of just under eight billion in November. The drop makes us
almost certain that GTA six will not be releasing next fiscal year. With that
said, we have no reason to believe the game will have slipped out of
calendar twenty twenty five, but it is reasonable to assume that it will launch
later in that year. Now, Sam, we do know that this game
is officially slated now for twenty twenty five. That is the date they gave
us with the trailer in December, but much of the speculation leading up to
that was we would be getting the game at the latest in March of twenty
twenty five. Because of the number of times that Take two said we are
expecting record revenues for our next fiscal year, fiscal twenty twenty five. Look
out, everybody, We're going to make up like a fuck ton of money.
It's gonna be nuts, And so them saying that got a lot of
people thinking like, the only way that is possible is if GTA six is
in that calendar year. And then we got the twenty twenty five date,
so people piece the you know, one in one makes two. We're gonna
get GTAI or GT six by March twenty twenty five. Now they have revised
their their numbers down by about a billion dollars, which seems like the kind
of money you make from a GTA six launch in the first couple of weeks.
So a lot of this lines up, but also maybe one of the
least surprising things that a GTA six game is going to take a little bit
longer. Right, he's frozen, isn't he? No, it isn't Jesus,
you're too good at it. I hate it. You're too good at
it, motherfucker read Yeah, yeah, completely unsurprising, Like I I I
fully anticipate. Like, firstly, they're in a position where they they can
be like, no, we will not release it, how about that and
take two assages go all right, man, please please don't hear us.
But yeah, I mean, I don't know what to say about this.
Is is that seems very likely. It makes a lot of sense because if
they were releasing a GTA in the period that you know that it would cover,
they'll be like, oh, yeah, we're about to make one trillion
dollars everyone, it's gonna be sick as fuck. Everyone's gonna buy it.
But no, so I feel like, conserve if it's conservative, if it's
a GTA game in existence or coming, and the kind of fiscal uh predictions
and projections are conservative, that GTA game is probably not coming out and for
during the period that they're talking about, right, and uh, like a
great fat Auto is a game they were already taking their time with the fact
that it would slip from a three month period earlier in the year to a
little bit later into twenty twenty five, it's just so a possible like them
wanting a little bit extra time to get GTA right. They're gonna want to
get GTA right, and they yeah, you know's and as much as it's
nice to like jump to GTA six and they could use like it's a big
company, they could use like that Joelton revenue, they aren't actually in any
rush to abandon GTA five. That game still makes them a ton of money.
And so when they reset the clock on like Okay, now we have
moved from GTA five to GTA six. They don't They want that to be
as seamless as possible, and so of course they're going to take their time.
I think we were already kind of a little surprised that they were giving
us the date with that trailer like right away, because that was the first
time we had seen GTA six in some time, and so oh, they're
just confirming twenty twenty five. Great, that was nice. I think a
lot of people were hoping for that, but still was like, oh,
yeah, okay, they're going to just say that. At the same time,
when that date got announced, I think one of the most common things
said among people like me and you and people that do shows like this and
people that like absorb the news is yeah, that's the that's the first date
we're going to get for this game. We will probably get several others as
this thing moves around in pinballs through the release calendar, and here we are
DoD GTA games tend to move around a lot. I think I want to
think back, and it's like maybe one five moved once, I think,
if I remember correctly, didn't did Red Dead moved a couple of times,
right, I would say very sounds right, even if it's like not common
for these franchises these days, with games being this big, it's common for
games like this of this type. You know, you know who's very very
like excited about the kind of revelation that GTA isn't coming out that soon every
other day everybody else, they're probably like, oh, these analysts are saying
that there's not likely to be a GTA in this period of time. Release
the games as quickly as you can while money still exists in this industry,
right, and if you know, we'll get into some other news here in
a little bit, but like, oh, this switch To comes out this
holiday, It's like, okay, we can put out a game in like
the launch window switch To and not have to worry about GTA six coming along
and distracting everybody from everything else that is happening, so we get completely buried.
So yeah, I think everyone else would be pretty happy to see that
this game is going to get out of their way for a little bit longer,
and then in twenty twenty five they'll have to deal with it. Then.
As far as what is leading to maybe a delay here, GTA six
is aiming for perfection, according to Take two. This is from Hayley Williams
at game Spot oh No. With Grand Theft Auto six being one of the
industry's most anticipated upcoming games, Take Too Interactive, which owns GTA six developer
rock Star, is aiming for perfection, and the company's the latest earnings call
take to acknowledge the excitement around the upcoming sequel, saying it would rather push
or perfection than rush an anticipated game out to market. During the call,
Take to CEO Strauss Zelnix discuss the ongoing success of the Grand Theft Auto series,
saying that the excitement around GTA six trailer release had a positive impact.
The Grand Theft Auto series is benefiting from meaningfully from excitement or surrounding Rockstars announcement
of GTA six and the release of its first trailer, Celnick said, adding
some some statistic and blah blah blahs around all that. Damn, you seem
to have a reaction here. How do you feel about going for perfection with
g t A six, I just imagine a bunch of rocks. Was yeah,
how many hours? How many as quintuple A? No, we didn't
say that. Oh so That is one of the funniest. It is so
funny that it has to be like he knew what he was saying when he
did got it. There's no way he did it. I think Bones.
Yeah, well, you know, we'll just talk about it now and we'll
cross it off the list later. You get them called Skull and Bones a
quadruple a game when people are like, hey, why is that? Why
is that game? Seventy? That is eva. He he knows what he's
doing. He's having a loy and his team dared him to say it.
Yeah, I dare you would have out there and called it a quadruple just
all out of touch that he is not on the planet anymore, like he
is drifting around in video game developments spaces like Albite and Pluto. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, he's like, listen, Black Flag came out six months
ago. We're about to pop off with a new ship sailing game. What
are you talking about. I've never heard of coots that doesn't exist in space?
Okay, it's fine, Okay. I do like though, and I
will not be the first person to point this out, Like how it does
like recognize the existential dread of creating a game that's like so big where it's
like the more a's you add, the more likely it sounds like you're screaming
for help. Like it's like, Okay, there's something there for sure,
yeeves. I appreciate it. I'm just very excited for when Devolver has a
moment where they like, this is a quintuple a game and it's just like
a Tetris clone. Right. The time for that is now for them to
come out and make that joke. I'm looking forward to them doing that this
year. But yeah, I don't know what you're talking about. But returning
to the to the perfection actually story, I I mean, like it's not
a surprise that rock Star would aim for perfection. Their games are. I
think they're close to as close as a game gets to perfection most times,
there's I can't think of any games that rock Star itself developed internally with its
own teams that have come out and needed significant overhauls, not counting the G
T A remasters, which were a hot mess. But yeah, they aim
for perfection usually they get close. GT The online stuff I think is the
only other part of it, but like I don't count that as I don't
play those games online that much, and like they are always I know since
the you know GT four where they had the online that's like always a work
in progress and it will get there, and once it gets there, it's
gonna make more money than any most ninety five percent of countries in this world.
But they usually aim for perfection. The question is the cost of that
perfection as always. Yeah, So obviously crunch is a big issue in the
industry. It has been for a long time. Rockstar itself has been kind
of caught up in issues around crunch and the amount of time and energy that
goes into getting a game to perfection. So that's something that they need to
be aware of because now more than ever, people will be looking to tell
that story. So if the story is yo, we made this game as
close to perfect as we could. And also look at our developers. They're
happy, they're healthy, they're getting paid well, none of them have got
anything bad to say about the working conditions. That will be amazing. It
will be a rarity in this industry as well, be rarety for Rockstar.
Yeah, it would be a rarity for Rockstar. That is the feel good
story that I want to see happen. If it's the other case whereas like,
hey, because rock Star did make changes, and for what I've heard,
it's a much better Situationally, Yes, like they are in a good
spot. People are feeling good about going to work on GTA games, working
on any of their games, which require the most out of developers in this
industry, and they feel okay about it. If it's a case where we
reach professions for GTA six, but we backslid, took two steps back in
working conditions, that is going to end very poorly. It's still going to
sell Gangbusters, obviously, but the impact it will have on Rockstar's kind of
image is going to be significant. But I feel like they're too smart to
let that happen. I think at the very least they are recognizing that that
is a potential outcome that they could pull a cyberpunk here if they were to
rush things, if they were to get things wrong, and it could be
you know, international news in the way that cyberpunk kind of beef in it
out of the gate work. And I think the thing that really helps is
cause don't have testicles, so you do not need to render all those things.
Not with that attitude, Buddy, come on, we got to do
something about that. That's that's yeah, the rear view mirror ornament, and
one of them is a horse test just a big horse, a shrink a
constantly shrinking and expanding horse test testicles depending on how many cops are off.
Do you its five? It's like small, look at the balls on this
guy this car. Yeah, listen, I think that they he Zelnick when
talking about this was just like, hey, we know there's a tension between
getting the game out to market and airing on the side of perfection, and
we are airing on the side of perfection, which is going to lead.
And it's like their game, that franchise is in that position where not only
can they do that, they probably should. I mean it's similar to what
Nintendo has done with Zelda, where it's like, hey, we think we
have the ideas that are going to be very exciting for people, and if
we take the time, we can get them right and when the game comes
out, it just works in call wait to fuse two criminals in the next
you joke. That sounds like a very good time to me. Awesome for
GTA six, maybe even more is on the line because it is such a
money printing machine for them that going from GTA five to GTA six. I
mean you talked about online being the problem. That is probably the thing that
they are thinking about here. They probably feel pretty comfortable of being able to
get a single player GTA game out to market in a way that looks really
great and plays really well, and this exciting has a lot of fun storytelling
in it. The thing that they probably don't want to mess up this time
is GTA online, and that's something that's probably going to be very difficult to
pull off, even if they err on the side of perfection. To take
all the time in the world running online live service games is challenging on its
own. Sort of having something that might be replacing something that's very popular could
be very challenging, and honestly, we don't even know how they're gonna do
it yet, So yeah, I get their wanting to take their time here.
They did say twenty twenty five. That gives them a little bit of
a buffer if they were planning in the earlier part of twenty twenty five.
Now they're like pushing it later in the year. That extra time maybe should
give them enough time to figure that out. Yeah, Yeah, like you
said, they are the company that can demand that and like and it would
come with immediate benefits, like you know, the time that they take,
the extra time that they asked for or not even asked for they say they're
going to take, will have paid dividends because the thing that they will release
will basically become a black hole of money for them, where people even in
the vicinity of video games will be like, I'm buying this done. I
also feel like, I think GTA more than any game has got, Like
I don't want to see it, but it's the only franchise where they could
release a new game that is like dog shit and it will probably sell more
than every other video game in exists. They've got like one like Mulligan.
Gimme in them before people start questioning whether there's anything like before they start getting
second guest, you know what I mean. Yes, I think it would
be a hell of a firestorm if a game it came out, but I
think you're right that it would still sell, all right. Sticky with Take
two for one last story here. Take two announces significant cost reductions, but
says that those reductions are not layoffs. This is from Luis Joshua goudierres but
it's gone. Take two has recently announced that it's working on a significant cost
reduction, but has assured the public that it won't be laying off its employees
for now. The news comes from a take to Earning Support, where the
company has stated, we are currently working on a significant cost reduction program blah
blah blah. But it was struts sound and talk to ig and later and
kind of clarify what this looks like. We haven't put any meat on the
bones of that yet. I would just note that our biggest line item of
expense is actually marketing. We do think we can optimize that. We also
have third party expenses software, other vendors supply services, and we always find
opportunity there. The hardest thing to do is to lay off colleagues, and
we have no current plans. So okay, so this is this is what
is current period? Right, Yes, the changing I mean, listen,
he's like he said, there's nobody on the bones there. Basically he has
not They haven't decided exactly what it looks like, but he has identified,
like, we give money to a bunch of other people to do stuff for
us, and we might cut back there. So while how much how much
of this do you think that is them pulling back in preparation of marketing a
GTA game. I bet saving money today means more money spent on GTA six
marketing in the future. He talks about optimizations, and you know, it's
definitely something you hear more of today, people wanting to get more more juice
out of whatevery squeeze of running an AD and want to make more effective ads.
I'm sure he's thinking about that stuff a little bit, but right now
he's straight up thinking less money on marketing, and that I mean, well,
this means Take two is not going to be laying anyone off. Them
spending less money on partners and vendors and contractors means that other companies will still
be laying people off because they're getting less money from probably a big spender like
Take two. So this is a continued reflection of where the industry is at,
where a lot of people are receding back from places where they would have
happily been spending money before, and yet hey, them trying to find a
way to avoid laying off the people that actually make these games commendable, you
know, and then finding other places to cut back. Marketing is a space
where these companies spend a lot of money about equivalent to what the budget is
to a game these days. I thought they already pulled it back on marketing
pretty bad because they pulled back on giving us money. But I don't know
about everyone else. I mean, I mean, like, I saw the
marketing for Midnight Suns, which was a good game that costs Center and Grow
Up Take two. I'm just very yeah by the fact that but it sounds
got done dirty, yep, I mean it got done dirty. I think
partially I want to blame the gamers there because they've just they heard they heard
cards and they all flipped out and lost and shot their pants. Oh god,
such a good I think that's gonna be one of those games where people
are gonna be like for years to kind of be like, Yo, did
you play these games? Can get It will show up on every like hidden
gym list from any from a YouTuber in ten years for the platforms on which
it is available. So I believe CEOs and executives as far as I can
throw them, which is very far. You're very strong. Actually I could
probably throw I reckon I could throw Strauss's only pretty, he's quite lean.
Yeah, he's built like a lawn. Yeah, yeah, I could eat
him free far. I think in any case, the vast majority of them,
I'm like, I don't. I don't trust anything that's coming out your
math, homie. But taking them for their word right now, I mean,
like if you are doing stuff like, oh, we're reducing marketing and
there's no more bananas, you have to buy your own fruit loops and orange
juice is over and as a result, we're not laying off anyone. Fantastic
love that everyone will be fine, they'll drink their own orange juice at home.
But it's also a good opportunity to keep an eye on it, like
if pay some attention to what happens, we've take two in an immediate future
and hold them accountable for it, like it is is a good opportunity to
see if they are going to stick to their guns around this stuff or if
they're just trying to grind out some positive buzz. And I mean, and
it's probably also worth noting that. Yeah, well, but he's saying there's
no layoffs coming. They already laid off people at for Axis last year,
and that was that team developed Midnight exactly right, And it's like and so
then you look around, Okay, well they're not laying off people that are
working on GTA no ship there because they got to get that game out,
and that would be that would I think it'll be a terrible signal to send
to investors that you're laying people the games. Civilization is the thing, but
what is take to currently, Like, that's the other big one that is
like, I think the other big one that the reason that they were expecting
a lot of money from this next fiscal year is that they're making Civilization seven
and that probably is out in the next calendar year or so. How much
do they think that game is going well? A Civilization does very very well.
That's they does really well, but it doesn't do like it Also,
it's one of those games where I don't think like you need a crazy amount
of mocking behind it. You just like Welfare is out and then over the
next course of five years it will just sell an absurd amount of Since Sid
Myers out there to do some tiktoks or something. Yeah, yeah, people
are pointing out Bioshot probably gets a pretty big marketing budget. Actually, if
they have any one of those. I am still not in a position to
believe that that's happening, right We've heard about it for so long that it's
like the fact that we haven't heard about it is concerning to me. But
yeah, I mean, are they're busy building a city under the sea.
That's more likely to me right now, I find that more believable than a
new BioShock game. I hope it happens, though I love by Shock.
Yeah, I'm not a huge BioShock. I hope it happens for everybody who's
out there, But like I've been paying too much attention to that. All
I see no is we've been hearing about that game for so long. It's
weird that we haven't actually seen anything from it. What if they mixed Civilization
and BioShock. You had a sieve game where you're creating these weird under sea
in the sky like civilizations and then eventually you have to send one of them
to kill Gandhi. Well, God, it needs to be stopping such a
bitch man. Just because you got you got a new does we have to
use it? Man? Come on? Yeah, he's like peace and love.
Oh Godi, what's up? What's with you? All right? So
let's move on to this last story before the break. Nintendo switched to to
be unveiled in March. According to a rumor firm, Alex Hopley, a
game reactor, the Nintendo Switch to Super Nintendo Switch or whatever Nintendo is going
to call it is not that far away. Multiple reports have pointed to us
getting at least a new look at whatever Nintado has been working on sometime this
year, and now a prominent leaker has weighed in and when we and he
thinks we might get a and he says, when he thinks we might get
a proper reveal. Of course, it's TAM's favorite, Nate the Hate.
Nate the Hate says they did. He was on a podcast game and Talk
podcast and mentioned that he believes will get a reveal of some sort in March.
And to his credit, he's been saying that for a while. He's
been saying that he thinks we'll get it, uh in March, for quite
some time. Na Hate is consistent. Yes, yeah, absolutely and consistent
and uh and he's been a pretty on point for these last few Nintendo rumors.
I Hey, this seems reasonable, especially if this Nintendo Direct that is
probably coming up next week, is a partner or a partner showcase and has
third party games. To me, that signifies we are moving on to the
Switch to very soon. I don't know, what do you think, tam
Man. I am so excited to see this, mainly because I'm very excited
for new Nintendo Hallway. I'm also so excited to see what that screen is.
I cannot wait for them to pop up and be like, we have
an l CD and everyone goes what they make a big deal the kid,
Well, they're just gonna be like so proud of it. It's a liquid
crystal display, all right, chill out, guy, Look at these colors.
They're so washed out and uh that yes? And Mike, Yes,
If they are going to have a Switch to reveal in March and they have
a partner showcase next week, you're right. Metro Prime for is probably not
coming on which one? And I have as away Mike, I've lost a
b and watched some Brian Cox stuff. Yeah, thank you, tam You
get it all right. You know what We're gonna go to quick break when
we get back. We've got a ship. My Nintendo executive set as Helldiver's
two numbers of Star Wars, Outlaws, and a lot more right after this,
and We're back. We're back, and the headline I have here is
a ship. My Nintendo executive says. Here are some things that the Nintendo
president for Ukawa discussed when talking to investors in analysts as part of their financial
earnings report. We go. It was like here we go, man,
my kids, like, let's it go constantly. Now she's five years old,
and that's all she says. Super Mario Brothers Wonder was a significant driver
of sales for Nintendo, outpacing previous Mario titles. Half of the game's players
engaged in the multiplayer mode, and the game's popularity was further boosted by the
release of the Super Mario Brothers Movie. Like that part, like we saw
that happening all throughout the year. But the Super Mario Brothers Wonder kind of
outperforming previous Mario games. I think that was the expectation. But it's definitely
like, okay, they've confirmed it there. It is that all of their
games seen to be doing better than they've ever done before. Two D Mario
kind of seemed like, of course it was gonna do that it always outperformed
everything else, so not big surprised there, right, Yeah, yeah,
I mean makes perfect sense. Uh, I do we do you reckon?
We get a full three D Murray game for the new Switch? Yeah?
I think so. I mean I did. That's a hope of mine,
mostly because I took it in our Fantasy Critic league. Like, yeah,
My question is, did they say anything about Pickman? Uh? And like
they said it they crossed three million in sales, and that's about they will.
They will never admit Pickman pops off. Well, that did change a
little bit because it did so well in Japan that whenever they're talking about in
those terms, they're like, man, Japan's pretty wild about Pickman. The
problem is, like it didn't do necessarily great everywhere else it did okay,
But yeah, I think at the very least they're like, well, with
the success of Pickman in Japan, we will be making Pickman games like probably
one per console generation for the foreseeable future. And boy, I couldn't be
happier about that. That's great. Uh. The movie significantly contributed to Nintendo's
mobile and IP related business, leading to increased revenue. However, smart device
application incomes slightly decreased the year on year. Nintendo, what do you think
Nintendo's like future in the mobile spaces? And they are they still they still
all partnered with DNA, right Dnah? Yeah? I think so are they
like maintain Mode now because I don't it's anything. Yeah, there's still stuff
coming to fire them. Yeah, but I don't know, and Mario Kart
seemed like maintain Mode. I don't know. I feel like a lot of
the kind of traction that Nintendo got in the mobile space was sadly a novelty
thing, Like it was weird that Nintendo was in that space, so that
people were more inclined to check it out. And I think they extended that
by introducing new franchises. Like it was people like, oh wow, Marios
on mobile, so that got it a boost. And then as people stopped
caring, they were like, oh, Animal Crossing and then everyone played that
and was like this kind of sucks. And then people played Fire Emblem,
and I would be I'd be interesting to see if there's a new game coming
out for it. The thing that baffles me is why don't they put out
the the kind of f zero or whatever. Of course, yeah, yeah,
can I handle that Tetras sixteen nine and that kind of stuff on.
I feel like those are a better option for I think the reason I'll do
this because that's a really good idea. Yeah, it's also they can't gatcha
the shit out of it. Yes, that's probably why. Like those games
are not intensive. The main kind of intensive quality of them is the Internet
connection they need, which just means that I can't play in my current Internet
conditions, which sucks for me, but everyone else should be fine. I
think they put private rooms in the zero ninety nine, and I had a
lot of fun when we did those races. We should try that again.
I put this the next one in here mostly because I want someone to help
me clarify. Nintendo's focus on IP expansion aims to increase the value of its
intellectual properties and create consumer touch points. Royalties from non visual content have grown,
and Nintendo intends to generate stable revenue from this initiative. What the fuck
is non visual content? I tried to like get a clarification on this and
like read up and went to multiple sites and which they just said non visual
content, which I can only think means music or smells. Nintendo's big in
the smell market. Listen, let me tell you this, all right,
and they sold you, if they sold you the ability to smell Princess Peachess,
thoughts, would you or would you not take it? I plead the
fifth You know what that means. The fifth means, gil the American Constitution
protects me in the circumstance. Dam how dare you you if that was an
option, you nose would be so cheeks? Yeah, absolutely, I'd be
buried in there. Meanwhile, Mitch is like, I don't want to put
my nose up codes, but no shame, no shame in that game.
Uh yeah, I don't know what they mean by this. I don't think
they mean peaches, but arts and music and gun running? Is it?
I don't think. I feel I feel like not like non visual basically means
anything that isn't a video game. I think that you are right. Yes,
it will be like Mario and Donkey K the Park Merchant, Absolu and
and like you know, like ring Tones and shiit like that. Yes,
not not any metro stuff, because lord knows they will never they never put
anything up. I went to the Nintendo store. I went to the Nintendo
store looking for anything Metro. They had one orange hoodie with the green visor
on it and it was an extra small Do they know their audience? So
that's really iron Metroid extra small for the only Metro fans out there. Metroid
stuff is five people like me? All right, kill those sizes up.
The success of the movie propped in Nintendo to explore promotional efforts in regions where
switch sales are currently low. Mexico saw increased hardware sales due to targeted promotions
during the holiday season. And this is like a quick aside everybody, And
I'm going to preface this by saying, I am not a financial advisor and
this show is for entertainment purposes only. If you want to like make a
pretty good investment right now, look at Mexico because with what's happening in China
in terms of them going into a depression, Mexico is going to pick up
a lot of that slack and I think that they are going to have a
pretty big boom period here pretty soon. And so Nintendo, being like,
we're selling more Nintendo's there, Nintendo switches there, we should maybe like invest
in that in a big way. I think a lot of companies are going
to end up making and end up making that same decision. Nintendo also saw
some pretty similar consumer behaviors in terms of new consumers coming to them and unknown
markets previously to them. In Southeast Asia. They're like they saw a lot
of success there as well. You heard a half. Jeff Grubbs says,
invest in Mexico. Invest in Mexico for entertainment purposes only. Uh we know,
yeah, go ahead, you know. I was thinking, are we
done with Nintendo News? Now we've got a couple more? Yeah we can,
Yeah we can. Well we we had a couple, but these are
mostly just here for color. We can. I thought like, not move
on. But I was just thinking, like, why doesn't Nintendo do a
thing where they do their directs and if it's good news, Mario presents it,
and if it's bad news, Warrior presents I think that would be really
funny. It's a really good idea. Yeah, Like if every Nintendo direct
started and then like out of the corner, you're like it was gonna come
out and it's Warrior and you're like, oh no, and that someone died
or yeah, sales now here we go. That's a good idea. Yea,
they should do it. That way, okay, Uh, and then
let's see hear anything else worthy worth bringing. I they say you switch sales
or are stable. Uh, they're having trouble finding, uh, selling new
consoles, although they said first time purchasers of Nintendo Switch were kind of up,
So I don't know. There's a lot of back and forth there.
And then then then you know, they talked in terms about like, hey,
we do have to be aggressive about the switch to or when that comes
then use the term switch to. But they're like, hey, when we're
looking at make a new hardware, we will have to have a sense of
urgency and all that stuff. We discussed that previously earlier this week. Hell
Diver two is concurrent Steam player record is PlayStation Studio's highest yet. This is
from Chris Scullion at VGC. Hell Divers two has started well on Steam with
a concurrent player record higher than any previous PC port of a PlayStation Studios game.
According to steam dB, the game's peak concurrent player count is currently eighty,
which was achieved at ten pm Eastern on Thursday. This gives it a
higher peak concurrent player count than God of War Horizons zero don Complete Edition,
The Last of Us Part one and any other Steam game published by PlayStation Studios.
Now, tam, what do you think the main difference here is play
a game that's definitely going to make a huge difference on Steam. And also,
like this, this game came out day and date. Those games were
all two three years later, right yeah. And also wasn't it straight busted
for a very long time as well, which is surprising, Like yes,
we're like, oh yes, oh, yes, yeah, this game was
having real rough time on day one. I actually don't know if it's fully
fixed now, but either way, a lot of people are playing it.
Helld avers one came out to PC and it only ever did around six thousand
concurrence, but it actually had a pretty hefty cult following that I think primed
this game to do very well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it got
a lot of really good word of mouth as well for a really long time.
It's also a PCs game. Honestly, it's like the way the way
that it works, where it's like no friendly fire is on and if you
drop something in the world, like you have to deal with the ramifications of
choosing where you dropped it. We're not going to be friendly to you.
Fuck you, like You're like, you're in war now, and that's that
sensibility is very PC to me. Yeah, and I think you know not.
That doesn't mean PlayStation audience doesn't appreciate it. I think they really do.
But a PC audience like gobbles that stuff up. So I'm not too
surprised to see you doing very well there. We will be playing for vers
two on UPF today as long as the servers hold up. Jeff Grub said,
play stagey games, the babies and PC game is all cool. Come
at me. God of War did about seventy three thousand concurrence at its peak,
and Spider Man Remastered the third highest ever for PlayStation is sixty six thousand,
so eighty one thousand. Pretty good debut for Hell Divers. If someone
chat says it's currently at seventy thousand. UBI Soft ceo, Oh yeah,
real quick, did I skip this? I put that at the bottom of
Hell Divers? Okay. Ubi Soft ceo defends Skull and Bones price tag and
calls it a quadrupley. We've already kind of talked about this, but let's
talk about you some more. Honestly, yes, what do you think he
was on? You? Do you think it was hero. He still has
a stash of barbituates that no one else has access to. He still hold
him under those before going out to speaking. Honestly, I respect it,
like he's he's holding out hope. If you know what, it would have
been worse if he came out. I was like, scape sucks. Man,
You're right, it sucks. He needs you, needs him to come
out and be like, this game is better than Half Life two. I'm
not kidding. It's better than Half Life two. That's what they need.
That is exactly what they need. Yeah, graping this other, but yeah,
I do respect it. I actually also I hope it's good. I
hope that it becomes a good game. I want to see that game do
well. I would love nothing more than to be proven wrong and and like
it is a somehow a quadruple A game. We're like, oh my god,
this is insane. It's just so good. I can't believe they pulled
it off. I love a rags to riches comeback story and play the beta.
Yeah, I was gonna ask you played it a little bit. Uh.
Definitely seems like Assassin's Creedy Black Flag was many years ago, ten years
ago, that that game came out right, like even like longer than that
now, because that was like a twenty thirteen or twenty It wasn't maybe it
was twenty fourteen. Imagine the Assassin's Creed Black Flag. But you cannot do
the thing where you jump onto someone else's boat and stab him and throw them
off the boat, right, the really fun stuff you mean, Yeah,
hey, I don't want Skalm Bones to fail, but when? But it's
hard for me, as someone who pays attention to games for a very long
time and seeing the ups and downs and to not sort of build a myth
in my mind that this is kind of a very funny game. Now at
this point where it's like, man, they really spent a lot of time
making that game, and this is what we are we ended up with,
all right, And then to have him then come out and be like,
well, it's quadruple A and that explains it. I'm like, well,
next the next month is gonna come out and be like, you know what
else is quadruple A? Beyond Good and Evil too? Yeah, they're into
the camera'd like, oh want do you have more to show up it?
No? No, no, no, no no no, just trust me.
It's quadruple A. It's quadrip play well. All the stock prices low,
it's coming on for so reek? Why is he think beyond good and
evil too? Is that is the key to keep it the stock price high?
For some reason he does. Who's trying to buy us? Okay to
out next months? He'll be fine. Uh. We've got more details from
Ubisoft's earning earning support here. This is from Eddie mccoot game Spot. Ubisoft
has revealed that it will have announcements to share about its future games lineup this
May. As part of the company's latest earnings briefing, ubi Soft said the
company will reveal the extent of its lineup for its fiscal twenty twenty four twenty
twenty five in May. This could line up with the company's scheduled a full
year earnings announcement for that month. So Far, confirmed releases for fiscal year
twenty twenty four twenty twenty five include Assassin's Creed Code Name Red, which is
the one that takes place in Japan, and Star Wars Outlaws and that's on
the premium side of things, and then The Division Resurgence and Rainbow six Mobile
are also coming out in the free to play space. So that means tam
Assassain's Creed read in Star Wars Outlaws by March twenty twenty five, and really
both those games are probably out. I mean, at least Assassin's Creed is
out by the end of this calendar year, right, Yeah, I'm more
inclined to think Assassin's Creed is out before Star Wars. I think Star Wars
probably gets as much time as they needs much fun because it's not Rockstar.
But yeah, I also like, yeah, I feel like that's the kind
of order of pecking order you want to give that game more time than an
Assassin's Creed because Assassin's Creed also kind of sells itself in a major way,
Like it's a franchise with a built in audience that is basically sustainable, and
this is a take on the game that people have been looking for for a
really long time, so it's likely to reignite like legacy fans who maybe have
dropped off, And I feel like that's enough of a built in success factor
that they can probably make the call that Star Wars gets more time even if
it's doing absolutely fine, like and it's on track and it's looking good,
extra polished time will no doubt help those developers, and they need that game
to be as good as poss They can't put our bad Star Wars because because
if it's good, there's every chance it sells very very well. Yeah,
they seen they've seen what happened with Respawn, and they were like, oh,
we can have one of those. Yeah, okay, cool, Yeah,
and they seem like the potential for a division like game to kind of
exist, you know, and it's not the same kind of experience, but
like that kind of open worldish shoot a style game that does well, it
could have a lot of legs and and the cess it's creed has almost always
come out in the holiday period, right in the fall, like October November.
I'm trying to think there's ever been one that launched outside of that window,
and I can't think of one. What's a Mirage? When did Mirage
come out? Mirage may be a little bit earlier. Maybe that was that
September. Maybe yeah, Okay, So either way though, in that like
follish period, and they have previously said that Star Wars Outlaws is twenty twenty
four, I think they said late twenty twenty four, and if they're taking
this moment to reiterate that these games are coming out as part of their fiscal
year. Maybe they would have said that was gonna slip if they knew that
already. So there's a chance that Star Wars still comes out in like November
or December. Even Ubisoft has done December releases before. I don't know if
they would do that with Star Wars. They did it with Avatar, though,
and I wonder if they view those things pretty similarly, or if Star
Wars is a notch above. Probably so, But yeah, you're right,
if that game needs more time, they'll give it more time and easily pop
it into the first quarter if next year, and not feel anything about it.
That would be totally an acceptable thing in their eyes. I think,
has there been a date for that new Star Wars movie? Oh six,
Yeah, it's twenty twenty six. They don't have any Star Wars movies happening
for quite some time, thank god, thank god. Honestly, I wish
whatever. I'm not excited about that movie. Uh. Sega revenues rise to
two point seven billion dollars. This is from Sophie macavoy at Games Industry Dabez.
Sorry, I just do that use of rise, I think increase Sega
revenues increased it whatever. Sega Sammy has released its financial report for the nine
months ended December thirty first, twenty twenty three, and experienced the rise in
overall sales short version. Everybody, Pachinko up, uh pa packy slots pack
that's patchy slots uh is what I just said? Offensive tam it's pi chi
slot all right? How dould you say it? Ah shit, let's move
on, ah shit? Fuck all right. So that's that those are up.
But the video game sales themselves are actually kind of down, and they're
like mostly because we play out games like Sonic that didn't sell very well.
Also, I think they were disappointed in like a Dragon Guide in The Man
who Erased his Name and Persona five Tactica. If hey, if you're like
trying to like tell Sega how to run their business, what do you tell
them about those games and how to release them? Or do you tell them
like, hey, you have to just sometimes accept that because Persona five or
Persona three Reload and like a Dragon Infinite Wealth are coming and they're going to
sell very well, as we've already seen that they are. What do you
say to that, I mean, yeah, like I feel like Sega,
I don't know how I mean, They're never gonna like this the kind of
like Patcheslaw, the rest of that stuff is gonna always be a major priority
for them, because it just does like the culture is based around them,
you know. I mean, like the Japanese culture is molded around that kind
of stuff, the arcade experience and games like. I think they are quietly
confident with stuff like the like a Dragon yakus A franchise and Persona to an
increasing degree. They know that. I bet you they're like that next Persona.
They are ready for that thing pop off super hard. Persona six because
they have released Persona five is Japan's sky Rim where it's like it made crazy
money. It's out on everything and everyone knows why it is globally, you
know what I mean. But yeah, I feel like the the the the
faces, the face is definitely there in those games. I just felt like
the the return on the other stuff is non gaming business. The other archhead
game is is so significant that it will always be a core focus for them.
Yeah, And like their game business is like about the same size as
their pachinko business. It seems like when I try to look at these numbers,
but the pachinko business is growing faster, and I honestly I look at
something like, hey, they're disappointed in the sales Sonic Superstars. Hey,
I played that game at disappointed in Sonic exactly constantly. But I mean like,
hey, I can imagine a world where they put out Sonic Media too,
and we are not having this conversation because Sonic Media too does I think
way better than Sonic Superstars. That team is making their game now that yees,
we've got a yo yo person where we're busy. Yes, we're not
doing that again, but I think they're just busy. I think Sega didn't
choose them, and Sega moved on from them, and we're like, we'll
handle it ourselves. Thank you for your help making Sonic relevant again. We
got it from here clearly. Well, well, now proceed to drive that
lad into the ground again, so I see you in seven years. Finally,
PS five is outsold the Xbox Series X slash s two to one,
according to data. Take two had a slide that said seventy seven million consoles
have sold this generation. That would be just for the Xbox series X and
S and PlayStation five. And if you were to use the mathematics of subtraction
and subtract fifty million that PlayStation is confirmed, that would get you about twenty
seven million for the Xbox two to one. That's actually about the ratio of
last generation. So not much has changed. I don't know, what do
you what do you think, tam? I think that you should stop trying
to make me do a mass on a Friday morning and I will not be
engaging this conversation. That's fair. I mean, like it also makes sense,
like yeah, and like, but like I think people are wondering,
Hey, things must be really bad over at Xbox for them to be wanting
to change their strategy strategy so drastically away from exclusives. I know you see
numbers like that and it's like, but that's about it. What it was
last generation? No, right, We actually talked about it, like on
today's episode of spot On, which is about the Xbox and when it's that
live work, people see that that will be out later today, it will
be on YouTube or compost last game Spot and game Spot as well, and
we'll tweet about it. But a lot of people just automatically are like,
oh, change in this change in exclusivity clearly means that things are bad at
xbox. No, that isn't necessarily the case. These businesses have a responsibility
to read the tea leis, look at the landscape of the industry they're in,
and try and think about where the business is going before they have to
make it. The turning, you know what I mean, Pivoting in a
significant way is not easy. You have to start tanning the ship. Yeah,
you have to start turning the ship. And what's problem what we discussed
it is there's probably a lot of considerations put into how much are we getting
out of exclusivity, how much do we stand to gain from making everything money
platform, what are the business conditions now and what will they be like in
two years, five years, ten years, fifteen years. What is going
to get us through that? And that's probably had a significant contribution, and
if not, was the deciding factor in changing any sort of business change that
they may or may not make. So when people are like looking at these
numbers and being like, oh, these sales don't seem all that bad,
why would they change this, it's because the sales of consoles isn't the be
all and all for a company's performance, and especially if they need to figure
out how to stay healthy going forward, it will be irresponsible of them not
to do stuff like this. And that goes for Sony and Nintendo Microsoft.
Everyone. Sony is always doing this as well. You just don't hear that
much about it. Same with Nintendo. Nintendo exists in their own bubble where
their business is entirely their own, and they're kind of like future proof to
themselves in a lot of ways. But it's very normal for consoles to sell
relatively well and business strategies to change in a significant way. Yep, Well
said, they're making some money, they want to make a lot more,
and they're looking for creative ways to do that and that's their job. So
yeah, you're onto something there. All right. We have poll questions to
get to. Let's get to this. This is from yesterday. Are you
going to go back to Spider Man two for new game plus? Eighty four
percent said no, Only sixteen percent said yes. I voted knowing this,
Hey, I like a new game plus here and there, but these days
that's not happening usually unless I'm just so invested and it's available right away like
it was with let's say Armored Core six. How about you, Tam,
You're going to go back to this hmm? Now, I might depin like
I I dip in and out of Spider Man games just because I like the
feeling of swinging around. So I'll probably pop it in at some point and
fire it up in the next few months and then be like, oh,
the DC new game plus is out wherever. I'll check it out, but
I doubt I will do a full replay of that game. I got a
new pole question that we're going to get to here in a second. But
before we do that, Tam, what do you have going on? Where
can people find you on the internet? All that good stuff? You find
me at home trying to figure out why my internet is busted. And also
I'm on Twitter at tomorrow, h And I'm also on Twitch to more age,
which I will be bringing back very soon. Since moving here. Haven't
streamed and that is partially because it's hot for me on the internet right now.
And and also yeah, everyone's after me. And also I've been working
on revamping a lot of the art stuff, and we've have been like hitting
up my good friend and our good friend friend of this the site Jerum,
who has put together some absolutely banging bits of artwork for me. So I'm
like slowly revamping that, but I hope to be back streaming very soon.
Yeah, and that's where I'm at. He's sending me potential solutions for my
bad intern and let's let's twitch dot tv slash to more h everybody, make
sure you make sure you hit up a boy here. I needed to pop
off. So then when I go to the American government and I'm like,
please let me have this visa and they look here and they're like, hey,
my kid, Yeah he's kind of popular. He's not. He ain't
no Kai Sinat, but you know he's whatever. I think you could start
a riot in central in Times Square for a PS five. You give one
week and somehow I'd be the only one that gets arrested. Everyone absolutely sting
operation coming from my boy. Let's see here, new Paul. Question.
Do you think g t A six comes to switch to? Your options are
never eventually, but not right away, and switch to will be a launch
platform for GTA six. I feel like the thing that's keeping that from happening
is Nintendo. I feel like they need to spend every new console. I
think. I feel like they have a certain period of time when they need
to invest on establishing a very specific kind of identity for their console, which
is welcoming, family friendly, anyone can buy this, it's cool and it's
it's inoffensive. And then once that kind of wave has passed, that's when
they go, like, you can also get some real nasty shit. Want
it? Look at this mad world sad song in it, and I feel
like if GTA comes out on it, it will be many years into like
the switch to his life cycle. I think. On the other side of
that, rock Star also likes to do the spreading these things out where,
hey, this year launches on these consoles, next year, it'll launch on
PC. The year after that one just on the next green consoles. In
the year after that launches on switch to UH. They could easily do that
again, and I wouldn't surprised if they pulled that move here. I want
to I want I want Rockstar to, like of all the companies, I
want Rockstar to be the weirdest with DLC, Like I I hope that they
go for this one. They're like really freaky about it, Like I hope
so we'll see Fortnite go hardcore Fortnite with GTA online like oh, GTA Online.
Uh, the Sopranos crossover, Okay, I wouldn't legit, and that
one hundred tony sopranos running around Teletubbies and stuff, and I want that too,
but no, give me Tony soprano for sure. All right, I
think that's gonna do it. Uh, Hell Divers. We're playing Hell Divers
in about thirty minutes. Everybody Hell Divers to going to get a crew in
there. See how that's going. I think I started it to get through
the tutorial. It seems like it's going to be a real good time.
It is. Whenever someone says hell Divers, I just hat Holy Diver in
my head and it just carries on, uh tam thing. Thank you so
much for hanging out with me today and talking about video games. I really
appreciate it. Man. I love being here. I will never be kept
away from here, even with bad internet. And I will see him next
Drake's Day. I think I'm at Dice next week, which is wild Man's
wild I can't believe we've already been that time. Yeah, and then it's
GDC after that. It's NonStop. Everybody look out for us doing our thing.
Go watch that catch me if you Dan, It's fantastic. It's really
good stuff. He did a really good job and chance editing is very on
point. You could tell he was having a good time with that. That's
up on YouTube, now up on the website. Thank you all for watching.
You're the best audience in gaming. Until next time, have a good
one, take care of yourself and goodbye.