WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:13.960 You'll be like a go me beer. Hey everybody, welcome 2 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:16.519 to Game Mess Mornings with Me Jeff Grub, your host 3 00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:18.960 from giant bomb dot com. Thank you for tuning in. 4 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:20.920 In this episode, we're going to be talking about one 5 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:23.559 of the year's best games, potentially going to switch to 6 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:27.760 and yet another major price increase possibly on the horizon. 7 00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:29.640 It's gonna be a good one though, because we've got 8 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:32.359 Addie epos Vox on the show. Addie, how are you 9 00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:33.640 doing doing all right? 10 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:34.119 How about you? 11 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:36.560 I'm doing great? Yeah, yeah, Like I said, I was 12 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:39.119 telling you right before we start the show. Busy lots 13 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:43.240 going on, but mostly good problems to solve, but happy 14 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:45.560 to be hanging out with you. I do have an 15 00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:48.520 initial question to kick us off. Me and Jan are 16 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:52.880 still using our goxlers with that open source interface. Now, 17 00:00:53.719 --> 00:00:56.399 how much time do we really have left on these things? Honestly, 18 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:01.719 you're you're you're good for now. 19 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:07.280 You want to change anything or make it better, and 20 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:09.359 then you're gonna run into a wall. 21 00:01:09.480 --> 00:01:12.239 Basically, Yeah, that's that. I do get that sense that 22 00:01:12.280 --> 00:01:14.000 I think I keep putting it off because I'm like 23 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:16.599 I if I want like this has been a nice 24 00:01:16.599 --> 00:01:19.280 all in one package, but I recognize its limitations and 25 00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:22.040 from the beginning, uh, and I'm like, if I want 26 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:24.079 to do more than this, it is going to be 27 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:27.159 a whole other thing I'm gonna have to get into. Uh. 28 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:29.239 To be fair, that open source software solved a lot 29 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:29.840 of the problems. 30 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:32.840 It is great and it's really nice, super stoked. It 31 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:35.000 works out of the box on my Linux rig too, 32 00:01:35.079 --> 00:01:37.239 Like you can just do that's just about whatever with it. 33 00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:39.840 But it's one of those things like when you first 34 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:41.359 get to set up with the gaux Laar, you're like, 35 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:43.280 this is amazing, and the second you want, you like 36 00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:46.239 you start getting that ear to like nitpick things and 37 00:01:46.280 --> 00:01:47.400 you can't fix anything. 38 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:48.879 Uh Huh. 39 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:51.400 You realize that it's it's built to do this one 40 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:53.640 thing for this one like market, and then that's it. 41 00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:56.359 That's it. Yep. Absolutely So the reason I asked you 42 00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:58.400 that question is that's definitely a space that you spend 43 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:01.920 a lot of time in, uh, streaming technology and stuff 44 00:02:01.959 --> 00:02:03.319 like that. What do you tell people a little bit 45 00:02:03.319 --> 00:02:06.120 about yourself if they're unfamiliar with epos FOS. 46 00:02:06.519 --> 00:02:09.000 I've been teaching people how to live stream do what 47 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:12.240 we're doing and make YouTube videos for about ten years now. 48 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:16.280 I've started out doing like obs tutorials, FRAPs tutorials back 49 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:18.719 in the day, that kind of stuff, And so mostly 50 00:02:18.759 --> 00:02:20.879 I teach tech and streaming and content creation, and then 51 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:23.800 I have a gaming channel where I do sometimes hopefully 52 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:28.680 thoughtful thoughts on retrogaming and like contextualizing where we are 53 00:02:28.680 --> 00:02:29.680 now and that kind of stuff. 54 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:34.560 How do you feel about the overall like ecosystem of 55 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:36.879 people making content and streaming and stuff right now? It 56 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:40.639 definitely seems, I guess, precarious, but it's been always been precarious. 57 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:42.360 But how do you feel about it? 58 00:02:42.360 --> 00:02:45.879 It's a train wreck at the moment. It's one of 59 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:48.240 those things where like it's reached kind of critical mass 60 00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:51.639 in terms of popularity mainstream appeal, and that comes with 61 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:57.240 a lot of personality conflicts with you know, it used 62 00:02:57.240 --> 00:03:00.639 to be the inside thing for geeks or whatever, whereas 63 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:03.800 now it's a lot more you get. The people that 64 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:08.000 do the popularity contests in any context are very much present, 65 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:11.520 and things were going great the past few years. Now 66 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:17.240 with everything going on, the economics and the algorithms behind it, 67 00:03:17.319 --> 00:03:23.840 especially with YouTube's new leadership, are not fun at the moment. 68 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:27.840 Yeah, it's I mean it was always challenging, but now 69 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:31.759 it feels like it's almost actively working against a lot 70 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:34.159 of people in a lot of ways. It's difficult to 71 00:03:34.199 --> 00:03:37.599 figure out for sure. All Right though, we got plenty 72 00:03:37.639 --> 00:03:39.400 to talk about, so let's explain what we do here 73 00:03:39.400 --> 00:03:42.199 most weekdays. I, Jeff Grubb, will help piece your gaming 74 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:45.080 life back together. That includes breaking news and maybe even 75 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:48.199 some of our own original reporting. For all these topics, 76 00:03:48.280 --> 00:03:50.560 I'll get the input of a bona fide expert. Will 77 00:03:50.599 --> 00:03:54.199 make me look smart. If you were watching live on twitch, welcome, 78 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:56.039 you can always listen to the show later on podcast 79 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:58.759 feeds by searching for Game mess Mornings. I need to 80 00:03:58.759 --> 00:04:01.879 fix that air on the RSS feed on giant bomb 81 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:05.039 dot com. You can also catch the show later on 82 00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:08.599 YouTube Hello YouTube, And of course a lot of people 83 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:10.719 are are going to giant bomb dot com slash joined 84 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:14.039 to get the ad free version. If you are having 85 00:04:14.039 --> 00:04:17.319 any trouble getting the ad free RSS feed, let us 86 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:20.000 know you know on the discord and the forums, someone's 87 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:21.240 going to be there to help you. We'll get that 88 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:23.920 all sorted. But shout outs to everybody who supported us 89 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:26.920 so far. We've gone independent and we're going to keep 90 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:30.560 doing this thing with your help, please, all right, we 91 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:32.480 have a lot to get into, so let's start the 92 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:36.480 morning mess with. Nearly five years in PS five sales 93 00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:39.000 remain neck and neck with the PS four. This is 94 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:43.240 from Andy Robinson over at VGC. Nearly five years into 95 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:45.800 its life, PlayStation five sales remain neck and neck with 96 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:49.040 its predecessor PS four, and its latest results covering the 97 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:52.920 three months ending March thirty first, twenty twenty five, Sony 98 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:55.759 said it's sold two point eight million that's two point 99 00:04:55.800 --> 00:04:58.959 eight million PlayStation five consoles for a total of eighteen 100 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:01.600 point five million for the fiscal year. That is down 101 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:04.399 from twenty point eight million in the previous fiscal year. 102 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:07.319 That means PS five is now sold seventy seven point 103 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:11.319 eight million units total since its launch in November twenty twenty, 104 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:14.600 just over one million units behind where the PS four was. 105 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:17.079 When you line up the life cycles, basically line up 106 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:21.199 the launches there, it's about one million behind. That is, 107 00:05:21.399 --> 00:05:26.360 you know, statistically basically even addie. The thing here though, 108 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:31.639 is Sony does predict it'll sell fewer PlayStation fives through 109 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:33.920 the next fiscal year than the PS four did in 110 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.199 the equivalent time, So it's it. They don't expect it 111 00:05:37.240 --> 00:05:39.199 to catch up to the PS four at this point, 112 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:42.199 and obviously, I think we can point to a million 113 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:44.959 reasons why, including something we're gonna have to talk about 114 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:48.000 in a moment on the show, prices and price increases. 115 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:50.720 I think if people were waiting on the sideline for 116 00:05:50.759 --> 00:05:53.839 this thing to become more affordable, well they've just given up, right. 117 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:58.879 Yeah, I that's always the kicker with the mid the 118 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:02.439 mid console life fan like refresh, the We've we've had 119 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:04.759 slim consoles and pro consoles, and with the PS five 120 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:07.759 we got the Pro and it did not push prices down, 121 00:06:07.879 --> 00:06:14.680 and I am I'm very curious how that will affect 122 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:19.040 continued adoption rates with regards to like we're seeing we're 123 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:21.720 finally seeing that that leap where we're not getting as 124 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:24.120 many cross generation games. We're still getting a lot, but 125 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:26.920 like they're finally starting to cut off finally in the tail, 126 00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:29.639 and I think people are going to be holding on 127 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:33.120 more than ever. So I'm curious if anyone who is 128 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:36.480 flexible enough in their production pipeline that maybe we're going 129 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:38.639 to go exclusive for an next gen or fish gin 130 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:42.920 where maybe still gonna make a PS four compatible version 131 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:43.439 at this point. 132 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:45.959 Yeah, I think for a lot of developers, they just 133 00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:48.199 looked around were like, it doesn't make any sense not 134 00:06:48.279 --> 00:06:50.319 to make this game for PS four. It's plenty powerful 135 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:53.279 for what we're doing obviously, right, we're talking about that 136 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:56.240 upper etchelon. Maybe it's not the right word, but that 137 00:06:56.600 --> 00:06:59.360 game that probably shouldn't be compatible with the last gen, 138 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:02.360 but still just doing that because it makes sense financially. Now, 139 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:05.360 you know, let's go over all the caveats that are 140 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:07.639 always important to put out here. The PS five was 141 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:10.319 definitely supply constrained early on, so it did fall behind 142 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:13.560 the PS four specifically because of that, but then it 143 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:17.000 also had a huge amount of demand throughout the pandemic, 144 00:07:17.079 --> 00:07:18.439 so they were able to make up a lot of 145 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:21.920 that during that period of time. I think another caveat 146 00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:24.879 worth pointing out is, you know, this is the PS 147 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:28.519 five sort of boxing against itself because the Xbox is 148 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:31.480 not presented much of it much in the way of competition. 149 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:33.879 I think the Xbox One Series X is a very 150 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:36.920 good console to use. I enjoy it, but everyone no 151 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:39.360 one's going around being like, you should definitely get that 152 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:41.439 instead of a PS five. When people talk about getting 153 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:43.759 a console. If you're out there in the regular, regular 154 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:46.519 audience and you say, what should I get, everyone's pointing 155 00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:48.480 you to a PS five. So there's a lot it 156 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:49.800 feels that there should be like a lot of like 157 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:53.319 tailwind pushing the PS five ahead, and yet it's kind 158 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:56.959 of just even with the PS four. Do you think 159 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:01.160 part of that is this sort of macro trend. Sure, 160 00:08:01.560 --> 00:08:04.439 us nerds who grew up with this stuff are showing 161 00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:06.319 up and we are spending a lot of money on it, 162 00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:09.319 and when we're a big enough audience that these corporations 163 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:12.360 can't ignore us, But we're not necessarily being replaced by 164 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:14.759 a lot of younger people kind of playing games in 165 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:15.639 the same way we are. 166 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:19.480 I really think that's it. I'll point to your own 167 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:23.399 video about the Xbox price increases, where you know it's 168 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:27.199 very much they are out of new people to sell 169 00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:29.680 consoles too, for the most part, and convincing you to 170 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:33.679 upgrade over their previous version with the price increases. I 171 00:08:34.039 --> 00:08:36.559 think they know that it's not a compelling offer in 172 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:40.080 all situations. And you mentioned like if you the Xbox 173 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:42.399 versus PlayStation, if you tell a normal person buy a console, 174 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:45.480 I think, honestly, for the past few years, it's just 175 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:46.720 been Switch like it. 176 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:47.519 Yeah, that's true. 177 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:50.960 It's hard. It's been harder to have that conversation when 178 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:53.679 you are talking to someone who wants the big bombastic 179 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:57.960 on your big TV games. But realistically, like the console 180 00:08:58.039 --> 00:08:59.879 offering from the Switch has been so compelling at some 181 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.279 such an affordable price that we're seeing so much shift 182 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:10.320 to Switch and PC instead of Switch versus PlayStation versus Xbox. 183 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:14.919 That to me, it is very impressive. With the stock 184 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:17.080 shortages that we had early on, with how much like 185 00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:20.000 every conversation was I really want to PlayStation five and 186 00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:22.559 I cannot find one that it caught up as much 187 00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:25.000 as they did. Like that, that speaks a lot to 188 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:29.279 not only was the demand there, but they kept people 189 00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:33.000 like fed enough that they kept coming back. They didn't 190 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:36.279 just go elsewhere. And maybe that speaks to how not 191 00:09:36.440 --> 00:09:39.320 compelling the Xbox offering was was that people could not 192 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:42.720 get PlayStations and they just waited until they could. And 193 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:44.759 I think people still waiting, like you said, for the 194 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:47.159 for the price to drop, especially with the Pro coming out, 195 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:49.120 you kind of would expect it to happen. You're not 196 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:52.120 getting that, and the Pro is just not where people 197 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:54.480 are going to buy a console these days price wise, 198 00:09:56.919 --> 00:10:00.279 I just it's it's really hard. I want to see 199 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:03.120 more people getting into gaming. I want to see, yes, 200 00:10:03.240 --> 00:10:04.960 a hobby spread like that. That's why we do what 201 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:07.480 we do. We talk about these things. But I also 202 00:10:07.559 --> 00:10:11.240 I can't convince someone to go spend six hundred dollars 203 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:14.360 for a single game to then spend you know, a 204 00:10:14.360 --> 00:10:16.720 few hundred other dollars into the other. Like it's it's 205 00:10:16.759 --> 00:10:20.000 a really hard standing point. Games are incredible, but it's 206 00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:22.759 like if you're not there already, how do you get 207 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:23.519 into it. 208 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:26.600 It's a really high barrier to entry, I think, higher 209 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:30.960 than ever, and uh, it might continue to get worse. Obviously, 210 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:34.519 the price increases that have already happened are are are noticeable. 211 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:38.759 The you know you talk about the Pro, that's I mean, 212 00:10:38.759 --> 00:10:41.320 that was such an inflection point where like last generation 213 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:43.440 we got the PS four Pro and it was very 214 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:46.039 much like this. I remember talking to someone from Sony 215 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:47.840 who basically just said, like, this is a way for 216 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:50.039 us to keep the price where it was at launch. 217 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:52.480 We're just going to replace the original PS four with this, 218 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:55.519 and and you know it's it's for a smaller audience. 219 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:57.919 But that most hardcore audience, the one that would pay 220 00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:00.279 we we know has paid this price before, pay it 221 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:03.159 again for something that's significantly better. It's like, yeah, okay, 222 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:05.399 I get it everything. You know, the whole stack moves down. 223 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:08.000 And then the PS four standard went on to sell 224 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:10.919 very well after that point for the rest of the generation. 225 00:11:11.559 --> 00:11:14.960 And you know, we've come to a point where that's 226 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:19.039 obviously not happening. And I think, you know, tariffs aside, 227 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:21.080 we'll talk, but there's more. There's tariffs to talk about 228 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:22.960 here as part of the news because stuff continues to 229 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:25.240 move there and Nintendo's talked about it a little bit. 230 00:11:25.559 --> 00:11:28.440 But you know, before the tariffs, like we were getting 231 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:31.000 price increases. Before the tariffs, we were not seeing any 232 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:34.279 more price cuts, So that was just becoming the norm. 233 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:35.799 A lot of that is just the way that these 234 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:40.639 the components seem to be sourced, don't really lend themselves 235 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:43.879 to this, to the way of cutting prices the way 236 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:46.480 they once did. Another part is I think these companies 237 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:48.879 have realized that this audience will kind of pay more 238 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:51.080 and more and more and keep showing up because we 239 00:11:51.159 --> 00:11:54.080 don't feel like we can go anywhere. I think I 240 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:57.799 have retreated to PC and switch in a lot of ways. 241 00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:00.919 But I'm still getting these consoles the most part. And 242 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:04.039 I know that that sort of stubbornness is a big 243 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:05.759 part of the way we all play games, and I 244 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:07.480 think they're just taking advantage of that. So it's those 245 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.519 two factors of you know them. The way they make 246 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:14.000 things doesn't necessarily lend itself to cutting prices, and they 247 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:16.200 know they can really come for us because we're not 248 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:18.679 going to go away if the price goes up ten 249 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:19.759 to thirty percent. 250 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:27.320 Yeah, and platform hopping is just a hard concept for 251 00:12:27.399 --> 00:12:29.039 a lot of people to get. Like I think if 252 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:33.000 it were easier, if games were inherently just cross platform, 253 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:34.679 like you bought a license and you could play it 254 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:37.159 wherever or whatever, it would be a more compelling offering. 255 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:40.639 But if you already have a massive PlayStation library, especially 256 00:12:40.679 --> 00:12:43.840 with the backwards compatibility that has been pushed forward from 257 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:46.200 PS four to PS five, you can't just abandon that, 258 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:49.720 Like you if you're trying to convince someone to stop 259 00:12:49.720 --> 00:12:53.039 buying it, it's like, Okay, I have fifteen twenty thirty, 260 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:56.480 two hundred. However, many games you have across both platforms 261 00:12:56.519 --> 00:12:58.879 and will continue to be playable forward, you want me 262 00:12:58.919 --> 00:13:01.519 to rebuy those, and like you can keep your older console, 263 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:04.399 but that means you're still not getting any money towards 264 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:07.039 your like your new system, be at Xbox or PC 265 00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:11.480 or whatever. Like, people get really locked in now on 266 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:15.320 the platform, Whereas it felt like, especially with how cheap 267 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:18.240 games could get in earlier generations, it was a lot 268 00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:20.399 easier for people to just like dump their console. Like 269 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:22.720 I remember working a game stop and people would just 270 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:24.399 bring in like their PS one and their PS two 271 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:26.720 and just dump their whole library and jump over to 272 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:28.399 Xbox for a little bit, and then they dump their 273 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:30.919 because they could get whatever games they wanted to grab 274 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:33.120 for like five or ten bucks, and the consoles were 275 00:13:33.159 --> 00:13:34.039 just everywhere. 276 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:34.720 Yep. 277 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:38.799 And I think it's a double edged sort of like 278 00:13:38.840 --> 00:13:40.200 there are a lot of cool games I think we'll 279 00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:41.679 talk about in a minute that are coming up for 280 00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:49.240 PlayStation that will be compelling, but there are so many 281 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:52.320 premium experiences you can get right now on a home 282 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:56.799 console in terms of the big budget games that are compelling, 283 00:13:57.039 --> 00:13:59.559 but they don't feel like if you try to sell 284 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:01.840 upsell a PlayStation five pro and you're like, yeah, you 285 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:06.080 can get better graphics higher framewrates whatever, it doesn't feel compelling. 286 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:07.720 But at the same time, if you try to sell 287 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:10.360 someone now on a PS four, if they've been in 288 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:13.039 the weeds, and because that used to be the thing 289 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:15.879 is like okay, you know, we're we're not gonna do 290 00:14:15.960 --> 00:14:17.879 the Xbox quote. But like, if you don't want a 291 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:20.399 PS three right now, grab a PS two for fifty bucks. 292 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:22.960 You've got so many games to play forever. But now 293 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:27.120 there's so much bigger, like Fomo for the new the 294 00:14:27.159 --> 00:14:30.279 new Doom, the new Death Stranding, the new Ghosts of Yota, 295 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:34.120 like there is you're missing out on a lot more, 296 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:37.159 it feels like, and so even though you can't upsell anymore, 297 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:40.320 no one wants to go like, no one wants to 298 00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:41.360 settle for less either. 299 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:44.039 Yeah, it's it's a kind of a miserable position in 300 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:45.639 a lot of ways where it's like, oh yeah, I 301 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:48.440 mean the business model of gaming has really encroached on 302 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:50.600 the enjoyment of gaming in a lot of ways, and 303 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:53.879 that's been very frustrating. As you point out, let's see 304 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:56.720 here there is a bunch of games. Oh yeah, there 305 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:00.759 it is, Okay, Ghost of Yota Marathon. What else did 306 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:04.159 they have for this year. Oh yes, Death Stranding two 307 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:07.000 is coming out soon, and then they were looking forward 308 00:15:07.080 --> 00:15:09.360 to a big pup with GT six. Obviously that's moved 309 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:12.960 the next year, and then Intergalactic is a couple of 310 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:14.799 years off. That's the new one from Naughty Dogs. They 311 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:17.639 got plenty of stuff that should be getting people's attention, 312 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:20.440 but nothing really is going to change the story probably 313 00:15:20.519 --> 00:15:26.519 until GTA six really maybe Intergalactic all right. Sticking with 314 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:29.279 this general theme, PS five could get more expensive as 315 00:15:29.399 --> 00:15:32.799 Sony considers plans to deal with tariff impact. This is 316 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:36.279 from Darren BoNT Use at GameSpot. Sony is bracing itself 317 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:39.039 for a six hundred and eighty million dollar impact from 318 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:41.840 US tariffs, and to compensate for those potential losses, the 319 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:45.960 PlayStation manufacturer might pass the increasing cost to its customers. 320 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:50.240 During the company's earnings call, Sony CFO Lindau told investors 321 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:53.559 that price increases on its hardware are being considered. Although 322 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:57.919 PS five console was not mentioned specifically, CEO Herokayu Totoke 323 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:01.159 did mention that PS five comp so manufacturing could be 324 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:04.519 moved to the US. Most of its consul are Yeah, maybe, 325 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:06.879 said could be. That's crazy. It won't be most of 326 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:09.159 its consoles are produced in China and are subject to 327 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:12.240 a thirty percent tariff for now, as this would be 328 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:14.960 an efficient strategy to avoid being caught in the crossfire 329 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:18.080 of US President Donald Trump's tariffs. Yeah, good luck with that. 330 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:22.279 So this is something I think we kind of knew 331 00:16:22.279 --> 00:16:26.120 when those worldwide price increases happened, things that weren't necessarily 332 00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:29.399 directly related to the tariff, although I think that was 333 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:31.480 definitely in mind when they were raising the prices in 334 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:34.399 just about every other territory other than the United States, 335 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:37.360 and they were just waiting on raising the price here 336 00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:40.960 because they didn't know exactly how much to raise the 337 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:43.279 price by because the tariffs were such a moving target. 338 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:46.399 They are still although we're in this weird ninety day 339 00:16:46.519 --> 00:16:49.080 holding period where the tariffs are only you know, quote 340 00:16:49.159 --> 00:16:54.240 unquote only thirty percent on China. So yeah, I still 341 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:56.879 think a price increase for the PS five is incoming 342 00:16:56.919 --> 00:16:58.679 for the United States, which is just another thing that 343 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:00.440 is going to make it more difficult to keep up 344 00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:04.160 with the PS four obviously and put up those barriers 345 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:05.599 of entry that we were talking about. 346 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:09.440 Right, Yeah, So I got a question for you. Yeah, Shoot, 347 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.440 do you think The shift to focus on game pass 348 00:17:14.759 --> 00:17:21.599 and PlayStation Plus subscriptions instead of purely hardware sales or 349 00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:25.440 like purely like fit and direct game sales is having 350 00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:29.440 a negative impact here because used to it was always 351 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:31.640 you sell the hardware at a loss, make it up 352 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:33.839 in games. But they are now doing games at a 353 00:17:33.880 --> 00:17:37.119 loss through the subscription effectively and not being able to 354 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:38.920 subsidize it as much. Do you think we're seeing like 355 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:42.359 a weird almost feedback loop of they cut their funding 356 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:44.319 for their hardware here and now they're having to make 357 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:45.839 it up. But then if they're not selling the hardware, 358 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:48.720 they're not going to sell the games on the hardware. Like, yeah, 359 00:17:49.480 --> 00:17:50.240 that's a cycle. 360 00:17:50.599 --> 00:17:53.519 Yeah, I definitely think that, Like they notice the pressure 361 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:57.799 from from that game sale subscription side a little bit 362 00:17:57.839 --> 00:17:59.559 when they are pricing the hardware. I think you're right 363 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:02.839 that is feeding back in to a certain extent. Now 364 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:06.359 you know the way those subscriptions work, I'm sure they 365 00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:10.279 probably do come out positive in terms of average lifetime 366 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:14.279 value per user where they are looking like down the line, 367 00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:17.400 but in the moment, at any given time, they are 368 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:19.599 definitely worried about, well, this could slip in a direction 369 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:21.240 that is going to make it feel like we're going 370 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:23.440 to take a hit, so we have to keep everything 371 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:26.480 floating as high as it possibly can in terms of 372 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:30.960 our average retail price or whatever. So yeah, I think 373 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:33.319 that's definitely a part of it. I think that these 374 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:37.720 companies are also just they are looking twenty years into 375 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:41.200 the future and being like that is a big unknown 376 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:43.039 in terms of are we going to be able to 377 00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:45.039 make the shift to whatever gaming is going to look 378 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:47.720 like when a lot of these console gamers are aging 379 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:51.559 out at a certain point, And so we have to 380 00:18:51.559 --> 00:18:54.279 make as much money now as we possibly can to 381 00:18:54.279 --> 00:18:56.799 be able to weather any possible transition that we're not 382 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:01.079 prepared for. So yeah, and you know that. Then we 383 00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:03.920 speak to Sony's other businesses, which are you know, not 384 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:06.720 in shambles, but they're definitely a lot of them are 385 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:09.240 in much rougher shape than PlayStation. So PlayStation has to 386 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:11.440 sort of lift that entire ship at a lot of 387 00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:13.200 a lot of points, so it has to make as 388 00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:15.559 much money as possible. Now, the good news there for 389 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:17.920 them is it is making a lot of money. It's uh, 390 00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:19.519 you know, they did report their earnings. It was like 391 00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:23.119 two point eight billion dollars in profits essentially operating income 392 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:28.160 and that's like, that's really really good. That gets up 393 00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:31.200 like almost fifty percent, around forty five percent from last year. 394 00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:34.640 So they are figuring things out in terms of making money. 395 00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:37.119 But I think they continue to be like, well, yeah, 396 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:38.839 but we're leaving a lot on the table because we 397 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:41.519 don't have the big live service game or whatever. And 398 00:19:41.559 --> 00:19:44.319 in the meantime, we're not going to take any hits 399 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:46.200 that we don't have to, and these people keep showing 400 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:48.160 up for our console at this price, we should just 401 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:50.680