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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Welcome to Game Mess Mornings with Me Jeff Grub,

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your host from giant bomb dot com. Thank you for

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tuning in. In this episode, we're gonna be talking about

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the future of Xbox as the industry continues to shift

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and change and more from that blue point situation. It's

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gonna be a good one because we have lex Luddi

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on the show. Lexi, how are you doing?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Pretty terribly glob but let's not talk about that.

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How you doing? Ah?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, same, I'm doing all right.

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Speaker 1: It's it's fun. It's like, you know, I really enjoy

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the Olympics. I enjoy it more when I can sort

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of just I grew up like rooting for Team USA

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at these things. It's a lot easier when you could

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like comfortably just sit back and be like, I hope

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they do all right, and not have to worry about

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them partying with fucking Cash Patel in the locker room

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after they win, and just being like, what was it

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all for?

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Speaker 3: If this is what you were gonna do? You?

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Speaker 2: So?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's a good time here.

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Speaker 1: Even the escapism, uh just crashes right into that goddamn

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wall all over again. Uh, but yeah, who am I

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to complain. I'm doing all right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we're hanging in. The good video games exist still, Yes,

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that's pretty notice notable at the moment, like despite everything

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else going on, being able to play good video games

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is still like, huh, Karen's pretty good. Huh yeah, is

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it mon pretty fun.

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Speaker 1: There's been a lot of like, oh, that's really solid

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games so far this year, which I appreciate. It's like, okay,

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like even as like no one was expecting a lot

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from the early part of this year until we get

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to like Resident Evil here in a couple of days.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, it's like, oh no, there's been several

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like paranormou site is one I keep wanting to check out.

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I know it's not for me, but I'm it just

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looks interesting enough that I want to give it a shot.

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And people are like, no, yeah, it's it's really really good.

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So and then and then every day someone like messages

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me about a new indie game, and there's going to

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be the next fest happening starting right now, right, it's

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starting today, if now it's this week, and it's like okay, yeah,

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And there's always four or five games that come out

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of there that are not just like worth checking out.

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Many of them end up being the Game of the

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Year contenders and stuff like that. So yeah, we'll play

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some video games. It's gonna be a good week on

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the website everybody for that. So just stick around. We'll

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have plenty to go on, especially as like Resident Evil

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does come out. I'm sure we'll be talking about that.

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Let's explain ourselves though, we're Giant Bomb. We're in independent

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games media out here on our own, just making dumb

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stuff on the internet. But if you want us to

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keep doing that, as we want to keep doing that,

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go to giant bomb dot com slash join, become a

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premium member. It ensures the future of this independent games

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media operation. We can keep making that kind of stuff

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and it gets you special goodies like ad free shows,

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Grubsnack's premium Marry Me Tomadaci, which I showed to the

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kids because they like Tomadaci life, and they were very

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very impressed by Abby's meme making skills. My wife like

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commented on and she's like, that's just Jeff Backlar. That

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is just Jeff Backlar's soul captured into a video game.

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Did you get a chance of checking out out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah it's messed up. How good she is at it?

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Speaker 3: Like it's messed up.

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Speaker 2: It made sense when it was the sims on the

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so many sliders and you know, configurable things that you

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can do. You can really take it to hone in

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on specific traits and stuff that. Yeah, the me is

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like it's such a limited canvas. And still I'm like, man,

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Dan does have crazy eyes.

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Speaker 1: He does, indeed, But yeah, you go to gianbomb dot

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com slash join and become a premium member and yeah

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you get all that good stuff.

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Speaker 3: Please and thank you.

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Speaker 1: As far as this show goes most weekdays, I Jeff

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Grub will help pace your gaming life back together. That

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includes breaking news and maybe even some of our own

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original reporting. For all these topics, I'll get the input

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of a bona fide expert who will make me look smart.

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If you were watching live on Twitch, welcome. You can

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always listen to the show later on podcast feeds by

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searching for Games Mornings, or find the RSS feed on

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giant bomb dot com. You can also catch the show

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later with chapters and timestamps on YouTube.

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Speaker 3: Hello YouTube.

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Speaker 1: All right, we have a lot to get into, so

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let's start the morning mess with that story.

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Speaker 2: It was a slow news. It was a slow news weekend, right, nothing, nothing.

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Speaker 3: Happened since that last game mess Mornings.

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Speaker 2: It's I actually did mean to bring this up. It's

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kind of fucked up that you keep on getting me

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on for dragstays like this, like yes, right, yeah, it's

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an hour of my time, and then there's nothing to

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talk about.

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Speaker 1: I need someone to come out there and dance for

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these people and entertain them, do something because we have

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nothing else going on, for example, nothing like Phil Spencer

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leaves Xbox new Microsoft Gaming CEO steps in.

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Speaker 3: Let's kind of cover the basics here.

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Speaker 1: Phil Spencer retiring after thirty eight years at Microsoft. He

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stated he had been planning to step down since fall

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of twenty twenty five, and will remain as special advisor

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through summer twenty twenty six to a with the transition.

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Sarah Bond, who was publicly considered his air apparent, she

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is also resigning. That is more unexpected, as many viewed

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her as Spencer's air apparent. Bond noted it was the

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quote right time to take her professional step, her next

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professional step, excuse me, and will also serve as a

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temporary advisor to Sharma who is Asha Sharma. Formerly the

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president of Microsoft's Core AI product division, Sharma has been

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named the new executive vice president and CEO of Microsoft Gaming.

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She has a background in scaling platforms at Meta and

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Instacart rather than traditional game development. That will become a

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point of contention. We'll talk about that, as I'm sure

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we talk about.

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Speaker 3: All sides of this. Meanwhile, Matt Booty continues to go up.

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Speaker 1: Matt Booty, previously the head of Xbox Game Studio, Booty

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has been promoted.

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Speaker 3: To Can't Stop the.

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Speaker 1: Booty Executive vice President and Chief Content Officer. He will

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report directly to Sharma and oversee all internal development teams

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across Xbox. But that's THEA and Activision Blizzard. So look,

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there's a lot more to get into. Tom Warren had

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a report this morning. We'll get into that.

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Speaker 3: I kind of have. I tried to grab it real quick.

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It was behind a pay well.

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Speaker 1: I paid it, so I have the story here, But

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I think I might just hit the highlights regardless before

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we do that, though, Hey, what the hell?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the five PM on Friday. Five PM on a Friday,

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when all good news stories get released.

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Speaker 3: At the Golden hours. They call it yeah, absolutely, yeah.

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Speaker 2: This it comes up in Tom Walland's reporting, But the

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scale and magnitude of how unorganized this is is maybe

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one of the more notable things about ish Well.

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Speaker 1: It just looks that way because the agentic AI is

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handling most of it and it's very organized.

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Speaker 2: I'm not sure if if you saw my Blue Sky

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post about it, but did you read Syonadella's statement?

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Speaker 3: No, I don't think. I don't know. If I did,

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I might have seen it.

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Speaker 2: Let me pull up the first line of it, because

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it is maybe the most obviously I didn't like this

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thing imaginable. This is the opening sentence Asaki and Nodella's

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statement that went up alongside this.

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Speaker 3: Games have changed a lot since pac Man. Alright, sorry,

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go ahead, don't tell me, all right, read it? Really,

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I gotta hear it.

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Speaker 2: Gaming has been a part of Microsoft from the start

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flight simulator shipped before Windows, and you can practically retrace

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the line from direct dex in the nineties to the

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accelerated computer era we're in today. The most notable thing

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about this is that nineties is done Parma ninety Parma

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s like a totally human person would write fash.

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Speaker 1: M, yeah boy, hey, that's that's some great work there,

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co pilot. Very that's very meaningful to me what you wrote.

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Uh okay, I mean that's the that's the under that's

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the subtext to this entire story, right, is that it

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seems like Microsoft, the AI company, is.

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Speaker 3: Saying we need even more AI.

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Speaker 1: In our games, to the point where that's you know,

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we need someone who is all in and gung ho

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and basically operates her entire life on that. We need

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her in charge. Let's let's hit some of this Tom

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Warre and stuff just so we can like get because

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I think he did a good job of getting some

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of the answers we've been looking for here. So let

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me just hit this on Phil Spencer, longtime head of Xbox. Internally,

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employees say Bond's departure had felt increasingly likely in recent months.

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They also said that Asha Sharma's ascendency seemed inevitable. The

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Activision Blizzard acquisition dragged on far longer than expected, which

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strained leadership. Basically, you know, it put Microsoft in the

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crosshairs of the government of governments around the world for

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a very long time, and I bet that was pretty frustrating.

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Speaker 3: This is you know what let's go back to that

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real quick.

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Speaker 1: A lot at the time, Like I think I said

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this on a lot of Game mess mornings and whatever

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wherever else I might have been talking about this, it

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never seemed like it was Lisa Khan. It's Lisa Khan, right, Lisa.

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It never seemed like Lisa kan stood a strong chance

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of winning that case. But I was always like, it's

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still worth it for her to air it out, because

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any sort of friction, any sort of frustration she puts

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in front of these companies will be something that they

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remember and factor into their costs going forward. And this

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feels like in the end, she definitely like hurt this

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company much more than they're willing to admit in terms

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of like how they felt about that whole thing. And

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so like Lena Khan, sorry, Linik, thank you Linik. I

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knew it just didn't sound right. Thank you, Lena Kon

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And just so like the fact that she kind of

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was willing to go in there and throw herself in

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their head first into fighting that without a strong case

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of or hoping to win under the way the rules

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currently operate, I think it was still shows that she's

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right that politically, you should be doing anything you can

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to stand in the way to force these companies to

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really consider every choice that they're making.

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Speaker 3: But that's that's an aside.

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Speaker 1: Microsoft shift away from Xbox exclusives towards a multi platform

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strategy can created internal tension. I think this is something

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that's like a public secret, right we've known this that

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there was constantly conversations back and forth with the like

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who fell on what side was maybe a little unclear,

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but it certainly seemed.

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Speaker 2: Like the off like Bethesda were like, yeah, actually not

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us though, you know, for a while there, and you know,

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they were like even you know, as companies were being acquired,

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some of them were staying multiplatform and some of them weren't.

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And then that quickly shifted to now everything's multiplatform, and.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's you know, I bet that was another thing,

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like you pile that on top of what was happening

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happening with Activision, those conversations probably got pretty heated. Efforts

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to redefine Xbox beyond the console produced mixed results, like

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they were, you know, everything is an Xbox these you

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sort of say that, And I think the biggest you know,

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sort of thing you can point to from that campaign

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is the meme.

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Speaker 3: It kind of became a meme. This isn't everything as an.

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Speaker 1: Xbox Uh, you know that that's Hey, look, it's hard

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to like for a corporation to manufacture even a meme. Uh,

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but I bet they were looking for more of a

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return on investment than that. Spencer's resignation triggered months of

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succession planning. They also Tom Warren reports it sounds like

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this was a mess. The leadership change was supposed to

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be announced later, but leaks forced Microsoft to reveal it early.

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Some Xbox teams learned the news from reports and news

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outlets before receiving internal communication.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 1: The article is part of like they basically, he's been

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covering this for a while.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 1: And I kind of wrote down here that Bond had

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an internal memo about leaving and this does not signify layoffs,

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is the last thing I wrote down here. Okay, let's

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kind of reassess now that we got a little bit

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of that out of the way, how do you view

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what is happening here.

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Speaker 2: I think the Phil Spencer's stuff has kind of been

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expected for a while, and I think that you know,

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it's become pretty clear that he's like, well a lot

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of people blame me for a lot of stuff, And

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you know, the more I keep doing this, the more

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I'm just ahead of the kind of final years of

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this thing, and people don't associate me with any of

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the successes that I had anymore. And so I can

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totally see him wanting to step away. And as for

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the Sarah Bond stuff, like she was his pick as

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far as I know, she was the person that like

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he wanted to replace her. I think that something that

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comes up in here is, you know, even her team's

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not being aware that this was happening that day and

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putting up that LinkedIn post asking for like feedback on

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player accessibility and stuff kind of punts to how out

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of the loop she was kept on this towards the end.

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And I think there's a lot more layers to it

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than simply she's spear hair headed one failed initiative. Yeah,

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there's a lot of executives that spearhead a lot of

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fucking dumb shit and keep their jobs. And this is

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probably an accumulation of stuff. And you know, there's everything

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that you could take into account from, Like there's stuff

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that we don't know about to you know, maybe Xbox

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or Microsoft being like, do we want a black woman

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running one of our divisions? All of these different like

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sociopolitical things and just like basic things add up to

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how Sahia makes this call. I also think it's pretty

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believable that Sahia probably asked cole Pilot at one point

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who he should replace it with. That's your speculation.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I g's a safe assumption at this point

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he talks about how he uses that stuff. But you're right,

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we're just speculating on that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Look, I think there's a lot of the argument among

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the fanboy sort of atmosphere out there is, hey, wouldn't

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Sarah Bond have been better? Didn't we want Sarah Bond?

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And it's like, no, I don't really think she makes

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much of a difference in the future of Xbox versus this.

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This a new person.

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Speaker 2: I think she was maybe more up to speed, you.

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Speaker 1: Know, yeah, maybe probably right, But like you know, the

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conversation around the idea that's as Sharma Asha Sharma does

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not play video games.

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Speaker 3: I don't think Sarah Bond played video games all that much.

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Speaker 1: Like like that, if that's the concern, you're not getting

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that much of a different person.

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Speaker 3: But I think you're right. Sarah Bond up.

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Speaker 1: To speed, and she at least was in the spirit

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of For all of Xbox's failings, even under and especially

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under Phil Spencer.

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Speaker 3: He at least made it feel like they were.

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Speaker 1: In the game by paying attention, being engaged and sort

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of talking to the audience. And so it made it

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worthwhile to sort of pay attention to this company because

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it felt like there was someone that was listening. So

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if we had these conversations, they would get back to

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him and he would maybe act on him, maybe not,

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and maybe make the right decision, probably.

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Speaker 3: Not whatever, but it just felt like, Okay, he.

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Speaker 1: Was engaged, and that's something Sarah Bond was trained under

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that and likely would have been aware of that. I

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think Microsoft was mostly done doing that in a very

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open and bold way because it's burned them so many

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times now. But the very least she would have known

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how to do that, I don't think, you know, based

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on Asha Sharma's weekend where she is clearly having Ai

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respond to these people about their their concerns about the Xbox.

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Speaker 2: She's definitely writing all of those responses herself on Twitter.

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You know, take off the landing, she says to Microsoft

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Flight simulative people or whatever, and like, let's it go,

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she says to Nintendo, fucking yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's yeah right. So so that's what she's been

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doing this weekend. I don't think, uh that Sarah Bund

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would have been like that necessarily, but I don't think

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things were going to be looking much more brighter under

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any sort of leader after Phil. So okay, so Asha

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Sharma is on Twitter and she's responding to people with

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hear you when they ask questions like hey, we want

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exclusives to come back to the Xbox platform.

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Speaker 2: She has stopped now since she was called out on this.

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By the way, there was a very clear cut off

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of hey, she stopped the plying.

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Speaker 1: Yep, I bet she has like what what does hear

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you mean when it comes to exclusives on the Xbox

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coming back?

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Speaker 3: No, they're not.

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Speaker 1: We know they're not coming back. That's that's not even

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on the table. Why would she say that?

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Speaker 2: Because she didn't say that, he's probably the answer because

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you know, ais are trained to yes and and here

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you is a very like customer support response.

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Speaker 1: Uh okay, let's just ask that question then. So how

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important is it for someone in her position to actually

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to actually play games. This has become one of the

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debates that's happened in the wake of this.

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Speaker 2: So like Reggie feesa Ma famously worked for Guinness, and

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he worked for Rebach, I think for Nintendo, and you know,

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he was a character. He was a charismatic guy, and

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he kind of got over the hump of clearly not

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being a gamer by being very charismatic. And I think

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that you could see that he at least really put

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his whole self into what he was selling. It's also

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worth noting that, you know, he was the head of

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Nintendo of America. He wasn't the head of Nintendo.

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Speaker 1: But this is twenty five years ago as well, right,

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So yeah, he comes to a different generation where it

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was very easy to grow up not playing games, especially

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for someone trying to be a black man in America

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trying to make his way in business.

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Speaker 3: Right, he was probably had probably had different priorities.

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Speaker 2: And I think that in this case, you look at

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it and you go more when you're talking about the

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head of a massive division, you usually want someone who

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understands the division and didn't start their Xbox account a

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month ago and is clearly having someone else un lock

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random achievements to make it look like they played. I

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think that that like if they're if they're aware enough

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that it looks bad that she's not a gamer. That

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kind of tells you how much of not a gamer

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she is. Of them being like, oh, we have to

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un lock some Minecraft trophies or achievements, I was like, oh,

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oh boy. But you know, I think that it is

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really important for the people in charge of these decisions

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to understand how these games actually get made, because especially

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when you put it in the perspective of you have

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the person in charge of core AI coming in who

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maybe understands a negative amount of how these get like

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inverse understanding two other people, which is like, well, I

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just be told I can do right, Yeah, h I

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just plus the bottom and the thing is in front

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of me, right Like I think, yeah, I saw that

377
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Gemini stuff. Why aren't we just doing that? And so,

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you know, I don't think that this is a great

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setup for good beginnings. And you know, we might eat

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cro here, we might totally eat cro I don't think

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we will. I would at most of my life savings

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that we wouldn't.

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Speaker 3: Well get on the poly market. Make it happen.

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Speaker 1: Then LEXI put your money on. Look, you're right. I

385
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think it's weird because in any other medium, I think

386
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we would not be having this conversation. It would be

387
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unacceptable for a book publisher cd CEO to say I

388
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don't read books. It would be unacceptable for a film company,

389
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while we know it actually might be true in the

390
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case of like a Zaslov, right, for a Zaslov to

391
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come out and say I don't watch movies, or for

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him to clearly have not ever watched a movie and

393
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then being that that role, it would just be impossible.

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Speaker 3: We're not there yet with gaming.

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Speaker 1: And I think you can point to successful people in

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the space who like outright shout they don't play games.

397
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Strausseelnik at least has made a lot of money, and

398
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so like they'd be like, okay, he's runn out of

399
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the company. He says, I don't play games. I'm not

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the consumer in chief, is his line whenever.

401
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Speaker 2: He's they've never lost money on AI.

402
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Speaker 3: Light right, exactly right.

403
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Speaker 1: And it's like you're coming from this space that is

404
00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:07,799
of questionable providence and success, and that is your sort

405
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of business card that you're dropping, and you don't have

406
00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,119
the bone of fides from the space that you're going into.

407
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It's in twenty years, this will not be acceptable, Like,

408
00:21:17,599 --> 00:21:19,519
this will clearly not be acceptable. I think you're right,

409
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she could still find success and we could be eating crow.

410
00:21:22,559 --> 00:21:25,960
But why at this point for a business that includes

411
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you know, yeah, you're trying to shift its business model

412
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away from the console, but it's clearly still a gaming

413
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business and you're going to be making Minecraft and Call

414
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of Duty and all this other stuff into the future.

415
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Speaker 2: I do.

416
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Speaker 1: There's two sides of it, Like there is the Boeing thing.

417
00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,559
Boeing is the example that involves people's lives, so I'm

418
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not going to take it easy, like take it lightly

419
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or whatever. But there is this concept where Boeing had

420
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an engineer and charged them for a very long time,

421
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and they became this very successful company, and then it

422
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sort of reached its plateau, and then they put a

423
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money person in charge, and that money person did find

424
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a way to preached the value of everything, and then

425
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,640
the planes weren't very good anymore. And it's like, I think,

426
00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:09,160
right now, Microsoft's planes aren't very good, So what kind of.

427
00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:10,359
Speaker 3: Person are you put in charge? Again?

428
00:22:10,559 --> 00:22:12,480
Speaker 1: And this does not match up with the need of

429
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this company from my point of view.

430
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:17,480
Speaker 2: And you know, I think something that came up a

431
00:22:17,519 --> 00:22:20,559
lot on social media is like, well, let's give them

432
00:22:20,559 --> 00:22:23,759
a fair shake. You know, they haven't done anything yet.

433
00:22:23,759 --> 00:22:26,319
They've they've made one public statement and you know, they

434
00:22:26,319 --> 00:22:28,559
haven't made any decisions. We don't know the direction. Like,

435
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:33,400
and my question for those people is like, what case

436
00:22:33,759 --> 00:22:37,160
has giving the benefit of the doubt to a CEO

437
00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:41,559
wound up being positive? Like at what time? How many

438
00:22:41,599 --> 00:22:44,359
times have we been like, well, they really proved us wrong.

439
00:22:44,599 --> 00:22:47,200
They really were men of the people, and you know,

440
00:22:47,319 --> 00:22:50,000
they they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and they

441
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:54,920
were right. And so it's really and like people being

442
00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:56,960
out there being like she's saying the right things and

443
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,720
I'm like, yeah, they all do.

444
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,079
Speaker 3: They are changed, not even table stakes, yep.

445
00:23:04,039 --> 00:23:06,720
Speaker 2: Like if they weren't saying the right things, they wouldn't

446
00:23:06,759 --> 00:23:09,519
have the job, they wouldn't be in the place where

447
00:23:09,519 --> 00:23:14,640
they are now. So yeah, I don't know this whole thing.

448
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:18,200
It doesn't feel good, does it. None of it feels good.

449
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,440
Speaker 1: And I think you know, for all the conversation about

450
00:23:21,759 --> 00:23:24,079
whether or not she's played games, I think you know

451
00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:26,440
they are screaming at us, what is really happening here?

452
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:30,839
She is Satia Nadella, yes man coming from AI, and

453
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:33,680
that like that is you know, they don't have to

454
00:23:33,759 --> 00:23:35,640
dangle the keys in front of us of her not

455
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,000
being a gamer or whatever, like we know what's really

456
00:23:38,039 --> 00:23:40,240
happening here. Like I said from the beginning, the subtext

457
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:43,359
of every single part of the story is Microsoft the

458
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:46,079
AI companies putting someone from AI in charge of Xbox,

459
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something that like they gestured at under Phil in a

460
00:23:49,279 --> 00:23:52,240
strong way they gestured toward AI. But now it's like, oh,

461
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the gloves will come off on this, and they think

462
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,640
that is the future and will they be transforming everything

463
00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,240
in the shape of that. What does that look like?

464
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:01,880
Itably looks like dog shit? And now we got to

465
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:04,519
see here and watch it happen in slow motion or

466
00:24:04,599 --> 00:24:07,160
I guess slightly faster motion than it was already happening,

467
00:24:09,079 --> 00:24:11,559
all right, And then I guess the last thing here

468
00:24:11,599 --> 00:24:15,039
is if you're someone at Xbox right now, my understanding

469
00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:16,759
is there's a lot of people looking around at each

470
00:24:16,759 --> 00:24:19,640
other being like, let's just go for broke, like let's

471
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,279
see what we can get away with under this new leadership,

472
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:25,920
sort of ask for forgiveness instead of permission. And I

473
00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:28,400
think that's like, that's your best hope for maybe getting

474
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:30,240
a few more good games out of this company before

475
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,720
it is fine like cook to the point that Microsoft

476
00:24:34,759 --> 00:24:35,400
abandons it.

477
00:24:36,039 --> 00:24:41,799
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean your options realistically are ask for forgiveness

478
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:45,839
rather than permission or ask for independence, similarly to Toys

479
00:24:45,839 --> 00:24:50,240
for Bob. Yeah, and that's kind of your two routes,

480
00:24:50,319 --> 00:24:54,119
cause either which way, you're probably not going to exist

481
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:59,160
underneath the Microsoft umbrella within five or ten years, genuously

482
00:25:00,039 --> 00:25:03,559
because they don't want developed They don't want a lot

483
00:25:03,559 --> 00:25:07,680
of employees. They Microsoft like is very blatantly out there

484
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,680
saying like, we want less employees, We want all of

485
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:16,119
this stuff being done by like a gentiic fucking assistance

486
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:21,319
and whatever. We can also are homage, so clearly they like, yes,

487
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:23,079
they don't want you there, So get away with what

488
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:25,279
you can get away with while you can, or get

489
00:25:25,279 --> 00:25:29,640
the fuck out while the getting's good, and you know,

490
00:25:29,839 --> 00:25:33,559
build something healthier and more sustainable outside of that ecosystem.

491
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:37,799
Speaker 3: Yep. I yeah, I don't you know.

492
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:39,599
Speaker 1: I feel bad for anyone who's stuck in this and

493
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,640
hopefully you can navigate it, especially can and find a

494
00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,839
soft exit if that's what you need to do. All right,

495
00:25:46,079 --> 00:25:49,200
So we covered most of the aspects of this. Let's

496
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:51,400
take a break. We'll come back and start talking about

497
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:53,279
Blue Point because there's a little bit more from there.

498
00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:57,119
Maybe some reporting people got talked to. We'll see what

499
00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:59,279
we have to say about then. After these messages, if

500
00:25:59,279 --> 00:26:00,680
you want to skip out on these ads, you go

501
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,359
to GiantBomb dot com slash join become a premium member.

502
00:26:03,559 --> 00:26:05,519
Once you do that on the website you can find

503
00:26:05,519 --> 00:26:07,960
the ad free versions of the video and audio show.

504
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:08,759
Speaker 3: Grab those.

505
00:26:08,799 --> 00:26:14,119
Speaker 1: In the meantime, we will be right back. All right,

506
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:17,319
it's Game mess Mornings. Jeff Grubb, lex Luddy LEXI, let's

507
00:26:17,319 --> 00:26:20,160
get back into it. Before closing, Blue Point Games pitched

508
00:26:20,279 --> 00:26:23,680
two remakes to Sony. I think you can figure out

509
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,599
what happened with that. From Instant Gaming News, one of

510
00:26:26,599 --> 00:26:29,279
the biggest news stories of the week was undoubtedly the

511
00:26:29,319 --> 00:26:32,160
closure of Blue Point Games. The studio behind the remix

512
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:35,480
of Demon Souls and Shadow of the Colossus, will close

513
00:26:35,519 --> 00:26:39,079
its doors in March. On Twitter, insider Detective Seeds said

514
00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:41,759
he managed to contact two former employees of the company

515
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:45,839
to understand what happened. So here look, we're taking on

516
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:47,680
his word that he actually talked to real people and

517
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:50,359
those employees knew what they were talking about. But this

518
00:26:50,519 --> 00:26:53,440
is out there and Jason Schreyers deepunked some stuff.

519
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:54,079
Speaker 3: Not this.

520
00:26:54,079 --> 00:26:56,279
Speaker 1: This doesn't fly in the face of anything I've heard.

521
00:26:56,799 --> 00:26:58,720
But let's just kind of put that little salt to

522
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:00,599
a grain of salt. On top of all this, the.

523
00:27:00,599 --> 00:27:02,680
Speaker 3: Two developers worked in two separate divisions.

524
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,680
Speaker 1: They obviously wish to remain anonymous, which they did in

525
00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:07,920
the story. First, the subject of the God of War

526
00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:10,720
live service game was raised. The project began during the

527
00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:15,200
production of Ragnarok, in which Bluepoint participated. Sony quickly approved

528
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:17,759
this connected title proposed by the studio, but it missed

529
00:27:17,839 --> 00:27:20,799
several deadlines. Bluepoint realized that the game was far too

530
00:27:20,839 --> 00:27:25,039
ambitious for a team of seventy or so people. Ultimately,

531
00:27:25,039 --> 00:27:28,279
the Japanese manufacturer canceled the game in early twenty twenty five.

532
00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:32,759
You know, I think we can probably suss out the

533
00:27:32,759 --> 00:27:35,519
suggestion here, being that Bluepoint Games wanted to work on this.

534
00:27:36,559 --> 00:27:38,039
It sounds like the kind of thing where it's like

535
00:27:38,079 --> 00:27:40,400
they liked working in the God of War space and

536
00:27:40,599 --> 00:27:42,799
the live service stuff was what they were able.

537
00:27:42,599 --> 00:27:44,160
Speaker 3: To do or I guess this is my reading on

538
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:44,720
the situation.

539
00:27:45,039 --> 00:27:47,359
Speaker 1: The live service stuff provided them the framework to get

540
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:49,799
the approval for a massive budget to make this game.

541
00:27:49,839 --> 00:27:51,799
Speaker 3: Does that sound right to you? Yeah?

542
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:55,599
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, like even when you say this is

543
00:27:55,599 --> 00:27:58,000
the game we want to make, you have to remember

544
00:27:58,039 --> 00:28:00,680
that this is the game we think will be allowed

545
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:02,960
to make, and this is a game that we think

546
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:07,799
will get approved by the people with perse strings. So yeah,

547
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:09,160
that totally makes sense to me.

548
00:28:10,079 --> 00:28:13,000
Speaker 1: After that, blueboyt Games did not work on any approved

549
00:28:13,039 --> 00:28:16,279
projects until it closed. The company proposed four game ideas,

550
00:28:16,279 --> 00:28:20,599
but all were rejected by PlayStation. Among these titles were

551
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:23,240
two remakes of single player games, one of which is

552
00:28:23,279 --> 00:28:27,039
currently in development at a different studio. Maybe we can

553
00:28:27,079 --> 00:28:28,640
assume that was the God of War one, two, and

554
00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:32,720
three remake. I mean, they obviously they know God of War.

555
00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:35,200
I bet they might have suggested that would have been

556
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,480
good for them. In any case, the atmosphere has deteriorated

557
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:40,960
significantly after the cancelation of the God of War Live

558
00:28:41,039 --> 00:28:43,559
service game, and employees had already decided to leave. As

559
00:28:43,599 --> 00:28:46,519
a result, only about fifty to sixty people remain when

560
00:28:46,559 --> 00:28:49,440
the closure was announced since no projects had been approved

561
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,519
by PlayStation, the studio's demise was expected by a large

562
00:28:52,559 --> 00:28:54,480
part of the team, which is definitely what I heard

563
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:59,160
that it wasn't surprising, even if it was very infuriating.

564
00:29:00,079 --> 00:29:01,880
The writing was on the wall. The writing was really

565
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:05,799
stupid on the wall. Okay, so just a little bit more.

566
00:29:05,839 --> 00:29:07,440
There kind of lines up with a lot of stuff

567
00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:09,839
I think we could have pieced together in terms of

568
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:12,480
they were pitching stuff. They were probably pitching remix, Yeah,

569
00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:15,559
they were, at least according to this reporting this story.

570
00:29:16,559 --> 00:29:18,359
After having some time to digest it, how are you

571
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,160
feeling about Sony and Bluepoint and all of this?

572
00:29:23,319 --> 00:29:26,359
Speaker 2: Infuriative was the right word? Like everything about this seems

573
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:30,240
like you really couldn't figure out something to do with

574
00:29:30,319 --> 00:29:34,960
one of the most like technically talented and like the

575
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:39,079
most institutional knowledge of any of the studios that you have.

576
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:43,079
You can find anything for them to do on any

577
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,720
other projects that you're working on, And your only solution

578
00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,000
was to get them entirely off your books was to

579
00:29:50,559 --> 00:29:52,920
basically be like, no, you actually can't make any of

580
00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:56,519
these projects, Like we are so adverse to risk that

581
00:29:56,559 --> 00:29:58,599
we're not even going to let you work on a

582
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,640
new ip that could hit or we're not gonna let

583
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,160
you work on a remaker something that will probably make

584
00:30:04,559 --> 00:30:10,200
a relatively fair amount of money, or like it, especially

585
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:13,240
if one of those remakes was Got a War. If

586
00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:16,720
that God of War actual remake is now being handled

587
00:30:16,799 --> 00:30:21,039
internally by Sony Santa Monica, that's a massive project. That's

588
00:30:21,119 --> 00:30:23,920
not a small project. That is three games, and it

589
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,880
is going to require one a lot of outsourcing and

590
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:30,279
two a lot of like Sony Santa Monica's time and attention.

591
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:34,599
And you already have a situation where things like the

592
00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:38,640
Heretic Profit and Corey Barlag's new game are taking like

593
00:30:39,079 --> 00:30:45,079
five eight years to make, and you're putting more strain

594
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:51,079
on those handful of studios that get blank checks. You know,

595
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,640
like these things don't operate at scale. We see that

596
00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:58,720
with Ubisoft. You can't just throw more employees at one

597
00:30:58,799 --> 00:31:02,519
studio or one company and make it so that they

598
00:31:02,519 --> 00:31:06,599
can make the exact same equivalent amount of more products,

599
00:31:07,559 --> 00:31:09,559
because these people have to work as a team, they

600
00:31:09,599 --> 00:31:12,519
have to integrate, they have to find workflows, they have

601
00:31:12,559 --> 00:31:15,640
to do this and that, and you want separate distinct

602
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:20,079
teams with separate distinct voices working on separate distinct projects

603
00:31:20,079 --> 00:31:23,000
because if one of them goes wrong, it doesn't affect

604
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:27,400
the other. And the idea of like, actually, let's take

605
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,759
some of these eggs out of this baskish and because

606
00:31:30,799 --> 00:31:34,000
you're so hoping that the one egg that you have

607
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:36,400
in the basket is gonna wind up being like a

608
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:41,640
golden goose is like insane. It's insane to me, Like,

609
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:44,799
I understand why it happens, but it's fucking stupid.

610
00:31:45,799 --> 00:31:48,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's This is one of the like of

611
00:31:48,039 --> 00:31:51,359
all these negative this parade of negative stories we've had

612
00:31:51,839 --> 00:31:54,599
for the last couple of years, but especially in the

613
00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:56,640
last few months and maybe even so especially in.

614
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:57,599
Speaker 3: The last couple of weeks.

615
00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:00,359
Speaker 1: Uh, this is the one that's like, oh, it really

616
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:04,000
does feel fully cooked, because what this story says up

617
00:32:04,039 --> 00:32:07,119
to us at this point is these traditional places where

618
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,920
it's not just like ah man, gaming is like only

619
00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:12,200
a certain kind of game can be made in the

620
00:32:12,319 --> 00:32:14,839
United States, Like a place like Austin, Texas is one

621
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:18,599
of the bedrocks of where video games were like turned

622
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:23,079
into a full fledged medium, and they can't make games

623
00:32:23,119 --> 00:32:26,119
there anymore, not in any like not unless you are

624
00:32:26,279 --> 00:32:28,640
id and I mean we'll see, like, how does Microsoft

625
00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:31,640
feel about ID after you know, it seems like Doom

626
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:36,599
didn't quite live up to expectations. We'll see it's it's

627
00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:40,000
very frustrated, like to know that, like it felt like okay,

628
00:32:40,039 --> 00:32:42,599
but Bluepoint is carved out a niche like it can

629
00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,759
work right, and it's like, no, we've built up an

630
00:32:45,799 --> 00:32:46,920
infrastrut around the world.

631
00:32:47,039 --> 00:32:49,759
Speaker 2: Turn on investment on that niche isn't as big as

632
00:32:50,119 --> 00:32:54,240
a potential return on investment on something that is less

633
00:32:54,319 --> 00:32:55,400
likely to hish.

634
00:32:55,759 --> 00:32:58,519
Speaker 1: And you know what like happens here is the people

635
00:32:58,519 --> 00:33:01,400
who were at Blue Point, many of them could leave

636
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:07,640
start their own like outsourcing project studio, and Sony immediately

637
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,279
immediately hires them back to help with that God of

638
00:33:10,279 --> 00:33:12,440
War remake, but at a fraction of the cost of

639
00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:13,960
what they would have had to pay them if they

640
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,119
were employed there. This is I think, you know what

641
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:20,799
we can like unions would not probably not have saved

642
00:33:20,799 --> 00:33:24,119
these people, but an industry wide union certainly would have

643
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:25,440
helped somewhat.

644
00:33:26,079 --> 00:33:28,319
Speaker 3: We have a lot of studio specific unions.

645
00:33:28,759 --> 00:33:30,680
Speaker 1: I think what when people were calling for unions in

646
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:32,759
this industry a long time ago, what we meant was

647
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,480
an industry wide union, similar to how it operates in Hollywood.

648
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,039
That's what these people really need. And short of that,

649
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:41,960
this stuff is not just going to keep happening. It's

650
00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:45,000
going to be the default for this industry. And here

651
00:33:45,039 --> 00:33:48,839
we are again, Uh, how we feeling about Sony overall?

652
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,519
Like it like they have defaulted into this space where

653
00:33:52,559 --> 00:33:55,279
they are the place that's where people are gonna play

654
00:33:55,319 --> 00:33:55,880
GTA six.

655
00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:57,519
Speaker 3: So it's like it sort of has.

656
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:01,160
Speaker 1: This bubble of vulnerability around it right now where it's

657
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,480
like any sort of bad feelings don't matter until GTA

658
00:34:03,559 --> 00:34:05,799
six happens, and then that's going to kind of take

659
00:34:05,799 --> 00:34:09,280
off like its own rocket. But Sony doesn't need to

660
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:11,280
operate that way the right They don't need to like

661
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:13,840
run their business in a way where it's like, oh, yeah,

662
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:15,280
we don't have to make the right decision or we

663
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:17,280
don't have to invest in our future because we have

664
00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,480
this big, uh, sort of the elephant in the room

665
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:21,880
happening here later this year.

666
00:34:22,599 --> 00:34:24,079
Speaker 3: How are you feeling about Sony overall?

667
00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:29,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, I'm not a CEO pretty evidently, but in

668
00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,960
a lot of ways it doesn't I've never been able

669
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:34,639
to figure out the mentality of like let's just hitch

670
00:34:34,639 --> 00:34:38,079
your wagon to another company being successful, Like if they

671
00:34:38,119 --> 00:34:41,440
do Grayish, then we'll do better than them somehow at

672
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:45,960
some point. And when they do put things in such

673
00:34:46,039 --> 00:34:50,039
hyper competitive and like when they view the world in

674
00:34:50,039 --> 00:34:52,320
such a hyper competitive way, the fact that they are

675
00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:56,719
relying on another company's product to be their boon for

676
00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:59,679
this year, to be their real like big seller and

677
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:01,559
the thing that makes them a lot of money that

678
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:04,920
doesn't seem healthy and that doesn't seem like a thing

679
00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:09,079
that they should be relying on. And yeah, like I

680
00:35:09,119 --> 00:35:11,400
don't know that. Say, the play was good, and then

681
00:35:11,679 --> 00:35:16,000
everything since then, I've been like, man, this doesn't feel

682
00:35:16,039 --> 00:35:19,679
good either. Why is it that every time I interact

683
00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:22,920
with this hobby's I will come away thinking this doesn't

684
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:25,199
feel good? Oh no, yep.

685
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,039
Speaker 1: People are at other Sony studios are kind of waiting

686
00:35:29,039 --> 00:35:31,920
for the other shoe to drop. But that's just people

687
00:35:32,079 --> 00:35:34,440
being like seeing this and being like, Okay, if we

688
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:37,480
have not gotten like over like three of our last

689
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:39,079
pitches confirmed, are we next?

690
00:35:39,199 --> 00:35:39,840
Speaker 3: Or something like that?

691
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:42,440
Speaker 1: You got to imagine like Ben's studios looking around if

692
00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:44,880
they're not working on something like are we next?

693
00:35:45,079 --> 00:35:47,039
Speaker 3: And I bet they're not the only studio feeling that way.

694
00:35:48,519 --> 00:35:52,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've these big corporations that have made their business

695
00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:54,800
consoles for a very long time. It feels like they

696
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:56,960
are at some sort of natural end and they are

697
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,360
flailing around in a way that is hurting everybody else.

698
00:35:59,679 --> 00:36:01,079
Speaker 3: Kind they could just figure.

699
00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:02,800
Speaker 1: It out and we can get back to some sort

700
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:06,440
of stable status quo, even if it's worse now, because

701
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:08,480
I think we've accepted that gaming is in a weird

702
00:36:08,599 --> 00:36:11,079
lule right now, so maybe it's just going to be worse,

703
00:36:11,119 --> 00:36:13,039
But just you don't have to like add on top

704
00:36:13,079 --> 00:36:16,280
of that with your flailing at these companies. All right,

705
00:36:16,639 --> 00:36:19,559
let's continue on. Nintendo Treehouse returns this week with a

706
00:36:19,559 --> 00:36:22,239
pair of gameplay showcases. This is from Jim Norman and

707
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:26,119
Nintendo Life. Another week, another Nintendo surprise. Perhaps this one

708
00:36:26,159 --> 00:36:28,280
isn't quite as big as those in recent memory, but

709
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:31,800
Nintendo has announced that it's bringing back its Treehouse showcase

710
00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:36,079
this week with gameplay presentations for the catcherly titled Super

711
00:36:36,119 --> 00:36:38,800
Mario Brothers Wonder, Nintendo Switch To Edition plus Meet Up

712
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:42,679
in Bella Bell Park, which is cool, and Pokemon pokag.

713
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:46,039
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, I think you mean Malo the Super Mario

714
00:36:46,119 --> 00:36:51,320
Wonder Nintendo Switch to Edition plus meet up in Bella

715
00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:52,639
Bell Park game.

716
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:58,320
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly, tam and rights reserved. Yeah, this is happening.

717
00:36:59,119 --> 00:36:59,880
Is it tomorrow?

718
00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:00,480
Speaker 3: Yes?

719
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:03,239
Speaker 1: I think it's tomorrow at two pm Pacific time, five

720
00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:07,599
pm Eastern. Okay, yeah, I think this is not the

721
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:09,840
Nintendo direct that people were hoping for.

722
00:37:10,079 --> 00:37:10,599
Speaker 3: But Nintendo.

723
00:37:10,639 --> 00:37:12,559
Speaker 1: What people keep saying Nintendo needs to start talking about

724
00:37:12,599 --> 00:37:15,559
some of the other games they have this is they're

725
00:37:15,559 --> 00:37:18,519
still focused on reminding people Pacopias coming, and they have

726
00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:22,360
a lot more Nintendo Switch two editions. I think people

727
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,320
are running out of patients with the Nintendo Switch two

728
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:26,599
Edition stuff though, LEXI, what do you think?

729
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:29,440
Speaker 2: Yeah? Did you see any of the stuff around that

730
00:37:29,559 --> 00:37:31,320
Zeno Blade Nintendo Switch two Edition?

731
00:37:31,599 --> 00:37:32,239
Speaker 3: Yeah? Did I?

732
00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:34,079
Speaker 1: I think I I meant to include it, but I

733
00:37:34,119 --> 00:37:35,280
don't think I actually did.

734
00:37:35,679 --> 00:37:35,760
Speaker 3: No.

735
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:37,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got it's two stories down, Nintendo. Let's just

736
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:41,679
hit it now. Yeah Nintendo, No, No, it's okay. Nintendo

737
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:45,599
seemingly offering refunds for poor Zeno Blade Chronicles X Switch

738
00:37:45,639 --> 00:37:49,000
two upgrade. This is for my Nintendo news. Nintendo has

739
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,840
apparently started refunding those who have asked for their money

740
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:54,960
back for the disappointing Zeno Blake Chronos X Definite Zeno

741
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:59,599
Blake Chronicles X Definitive Edition Nintendo Switch two upgrade. There

742
00:37:59,639 --> 00:38:02,079
have been humorous videos on the subject on YouTube, with

743
00:38:02,119 --> 00:38:04,960
many reporting the game looks worse than it did without

744
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:09,159
the upgrade, with poor texture issues and upscaling techniques. It's

745
00:38:09,199 --> 00:38:11,920
not clear who did the upgrade according to this story,

746
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,800
but yeah, people have been like five bucks for this

747
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:16,840
and this is bad, give me my money back in

748
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:20,159
Nintendo is starting to do that. Yeah, this is this

749
00:38:20,199 --> 00:38:22,239
is starting to feel like another straw on the camel's

750
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:24,480
back in regard to how people are feeling about their

751
00:38:24,559 --> 00:38:29,159
Nintendo Switch to if this is happening in you know,

752
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:31,880
concert with a launch of first party games like that

753
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:34,199
would feel little bit different because we it feels like

754
00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:35,920
a dearth on that side of things, or we get

755
00:38:36,199 --> 00:38:38,719
maybe the disappointing tennis game to a lot of people,

756
00:38:39,159 --> 00:38:41,119
people are like, hey, why did I spend so much

757
00:38:41,159 --> 00:38:42,440
money on the system.

758
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:46,760
Speaker 2: I'm like, without being mean or weird about it, like

759
00:38:47,079 --> 00:38:51,000
they didn't have to go about upgrading it this way.

760
00:38:51,079 --> 00:38:54,199
They had that cap in the sessions to just raise

761
00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:57,079
the frame rate cap. People did that manually on overclocked

762
00:38:57,079 --> 00:39:02,719
switches yep. And also like an emulator right now for

763
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:05,679
we you can run that game at four K with

764
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:10,079
four K assets, like you don't need to upscale those

765
00:39:10,119 --> 00:39:13,639
textures with AI, which is how I'm presuming you get

766
00:39:13,639 --> 00:39:16,960
lower quality texture detail when you're upscaling textures like that,

767
00:39:17,199 --> 00:39:20,239
Like you don't need to. You can just bump up

768
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:23,719
the internal resolution and it will probably look much more

769
00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:27,079
pleasing to the eye. And I've been thinking about this

770
00:39:27,119 --> 00:39:30,000
a lot. How fucking weird is the mood going to

771
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:31,400
be at the Game Awards this year?

772
00:39:32,159 --> 00:39:33,679
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be. It's gonna I mean it's it's

773
00:39:33,679 --> 00:39:36,039
gonna be weird. It's Summer game Fest. It's actually gonna be.

774
00:39:36,159 --> 00:39:38,599
It could be rancid at Summer game Fest, right well, yeah.

775
00:39:38,639 --> 00:39:42,199
Speaker 2: Because also no one will be at some isn't American.

776
00:39:42,559 --> 00:39:46,239
Speaker 1: Yes, it's gonna be like it's gonna stink, and then

777
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,840
you know we're gonna carry that energy into the Game Awards. Yeah,

778
00:39:50,119 --> 00:39:52,800
it's gonna feel kind of kind of bad across the board.

779
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:55,039
Speaker 2: I tell you what, though, the pubs that games calm

780
00:39:55,039 --> 00:39:56,440
are gonna be fucking wild.

781
00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:59,880
Speaker 1: Yes, maybe maybe I'll try to get out there for

782
00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:01,280
that again this year.

783
00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:03,480
Speaker 3: That would be good. Yeah.

784
00:40:03,519 --> 00:40:06,280
Speaker 1: I look, Nintendo's in a weird spot with this stuff,

785
00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:08,880
where I think this was, this stuff would be easy

786
00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:12,199
for them to gloss over if they had their three

787
00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:14,960
D Mario game ready to go, if they had Zelda,

788
00:40:15,119 --> 00:40:18,159
if you know, Pokemon Gen ten was a little bit closer.

789
00:40:18,679 --> 00:40:18,760
Speaker 3: Uh.

790
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:21,559
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, people are looking around and asking themselves,

791
00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:25,559
why why did I spend so much money on this system?

792
00:40:26,039 --> 00:40:29,079
That you know leads into the January twenty twenty six

793
00:40:29,199 --> 00:40:32,639
US Video Game Market Highlights report from Sircana. Matt Piscatel

794
00:40:32,679 --> 00:40:34,800
has shared this on Blue Sky, as he normally does.

795
00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:37,679
He does point out the industry saw an increase of

796
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:41,079
three percent sort of across the board, and this is

797
00:40:41,119 --> 00:40:45,760
for United stating it saved, We're back, you know, it's

798
00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:49,239
kind of keeping up with inflation a little bit. That

799
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:53,239
is a three percent increase for video game content as well,

800
00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:55,840
which is like just everything that is a video game

801
00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:59,000
or video game DLC or micro transactions.

802
00:40:59,400 --> 00:40:59,599
Speaker 3: Uh.

803
00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:03,320
Speaker 1: Video game hardware though, was up sixteen percent, while accessories

804
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:06,159
were down five percent. And we'll talk about that accessories

805
00:41:06,119 --> 00:41:09,519
spinning to cap this off. So yeah, let's see, the

806
00:41:09,519 --> 00:41:11,800
top selling game was called Duty Black Ops seven still,

807
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:14,599
which maybe like that game was a disappointment, so maybe

808
00:41:14,599 --> 00:41:17,039
that is like a real bad sign and that's where

809
00:41:17,079 --> 00:41:18,119
we're at, but I don't know.

810
00:41:18,159 --> 00:41:19,320
Speaker 3: Again, it's up year over year.

811
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:21,840
Speaker 1: The only new game on the chart was I think

812
00:41:22,079 --> 00:41:24,599
Code Veane two at number eleven, so it's a lot

813
00:41:24,599 --> 00:41:27,639
of games that had already released, and then like the

814
00:41:27,639 --> 00:41:30,079
the switch to and Xbox versions of Final Fantasy seven

815
00:41:30,119 --> 00:41:32,639
remake had that jump from two hundred and twenty five

816
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:35,480
to number nine on the chart, So it did all right.

817
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:38,599
Speaker 2: To be fair Codeveane two being the only new release

818
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:40,840
game there. Like we talk a lot about like, hey,

819
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:44,280
January had some good releases. Ganuary had like Cairn. You

820
00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:48,320
know that's not going to be on the Sarkana reports.

821
00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:50,599
You know that's for you and me. That's not for

822
00:41:50,679 --> 00:41:53,119
people who are buying physical games exactly.

823
00:41:53,199 --> 00:41:55,320
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, and this this does include digital but not

824
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:57,880
from like smaller publishers like Can Yeah, so that just

825
00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:00,719
would not show up on here no matter what. But

826
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:03,320
as far as hardware went, a hardware spending increased that

827
00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:06,880
aforementioned sixteen percent compared to a year ago, reaching two

828
00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:09,679
hundred and forty eight million dollars. Switch To spending was

829
00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:12,840
able to offset year on year declines across PlayStation five,

830
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:16,880
Xbox Series, and Switch. Those were down seventeen percent, twenty

831
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:19,000
seven percent, and seventy nine percent.

832
00:42:18,920 --> 00:42:20,280
Speaker 3: Percent, respectively.

833
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:24,199
Speaker 1: But despite sales falling compared to a year ago, PlayStation

834
00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:26,679
five led the hardware market in both unit and dollar

835
00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:31,280
sales for January. Nintendo switch To ranked second across both measures. Now,

836
00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:34,039
there's a couple things there. I think people are like

837
00:42:34,119 --> 00:42:36,880
PlayStation five s thoughts selling the switch to. That's probably

838
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:39,760
bad for the Switch too, and I think probably uh,

839
00:42:40,079 --> 00:42:43,840
but there is a Bell curve to hardware sales, and

840
00:42:44,239 --> 00:42:47,480
PlayStation five is still in the middle ish part of that. Yeah,

841
00:42:47,519 --> 00:42:49,400
it's declining, but it's still in the middle ish part

842
00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:51,920
where it's higher than it is at launch. Now, usually

843
00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:55,400
I would chalk that up to supply constraints earlier in

844
00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:58,679
the generation, but it's obviously not always just supply constraints.

845
00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:03,400
Sowitch which two should like sell more next January than

846
00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:04,880
it did this January, and that'll.

847
00:43:04,679 --> 00:43:07,679
Speaker 3: Be closer to the middle of the Bell curve for

848
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:08,800
its console sales.

849
00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:10,960
Speaker 1: But regardless, I mean, how do you read this is

850
00:43:11,599 --> 00:43:14,239
switch to like slipping on, and obviously that price is

851
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:15,239
hurting it, right.

852
00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:20,039
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean anecdotally, I did see sales for PlayStation

853
00:43:20,159 --> 00:43:22,199
stuff in ways that I haven't seen sales for any

854
00:43:22,239 --> 00:43:27,880
switch to things carry over past December, even if that

855
00:43:28,199 --> 00:43:31,000
is just like hey, get an extra controller with your

856
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:35,159
PS five or whatever. There are minor bump ways that

857
00:43:35,199 --> 00:43:38,559
they are getting bumps, And when you consider basically neither

858
00:43:38,599 --> 00:43:42,039
of them had like big first party releases, I can

859
00:43:42,079 --> 00:43:44,320
see how this does happen. It's not a great sign.

860
00:43:45,519 --> 00:43:48,039
But I also do think like Nintendo, out of all

861
00:43:48,119 --> 00:43:51,760
of the companies around, have the most cards to play.

862
00:43:52,159 --> 00:43:54,079
You know, they have the most cards in their hand.

863
00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:58,159
They're gonna be like the episode of The Simpsons where

864
00:43:58,159 --> 00:44:02,079
they're playing poker and they're like, Joe on you five ass,

865
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:07,199
and so you know they they do definitely have things

866
00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:09,719
that they just haven't talked about, and I think that

867
00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:12,599
the impatience is coming from, hey, why haven't you talked

868
00:44:12,599 --> 00:44:16,280
about these things, and not hey, you don't have the

869
00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:19,039
You clearly don't have these things, which is where the

870
00:44:19,159 --> 00:44:21,840
frustration with someone like Sony is coming from, is, hey,

871
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:25,599
you clearly don't have things ready right now, and you

872
00:44:25,679 --> 00:44:27,920
are relying on your third parties in a way that

873
00:44:28,079 --> 00:44:32,320
isn't healthy, whereas Nintendo can be like, no, we have Steff,

874
00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:33,840
we're just not showing it yet.

875
00:44:34,079 --> 00:44:34,320
Speaker 3: Yeah.

876
00:44:34,639 --> 00:44:36,440
Speaker 1: And I think if someone asked this recently on one

877
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:39,400
of the episodes, like like, will we get past this

878
00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:41,559
point and sort of look back at it as like, oh, yeah,

879
00:44:41,599 --> 00:44:43,760
that was that happened at the beginning of the generation

880
00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:45,119
when they when they didn't have a lot of games.

881
00:44:45,159 --> 00:44:46,719
But no one really thinks about that anymore because we

882
00:44:46,760 --> 00:44:49,199
did get Mario and Zelda and Smash Brothers and Pokemon

883
00:44:49,239 --> 00:44:52,519
and all this stuff, and then people were happy. We

884
00:44:52,559 --> 00:44:55,360
will get to that point very likely, as long as

885
00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:57,800
the games are new and interesting. I think of it

886
00:44:57,920 --> 00:44:59,440
like we end up getting a lot of stuff that

887
00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:01,400
feels like your Tennis Fever, which I think is an

888
00:45:01,440 --> 00:45:05,679
alright game, a game I liked, but very familiar. That

889
00:45:05,679 --> 00:45:08,079
that begins to add up and stack against Nintindo, where

890
00:45:08,079 --> 00:45:10,840
it's like this is very samy, and you are trying

891
00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:13,320
to justify this consol to people who already have a switch.

892
00:45:14,159 --> 00:45:16,599
You are not making a strong argument to those people.

893
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:21,840
Speaker 2: To put in perspective my godson is about seven now,

894
00:45:22,119 --> 00:45:27,199
and his uncle is a bit older than me. He's

895
00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:31,880
he's the youngest of the children on my mom's side,

896
00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:36,360
and he was like, Oh, I'm going to get him

897
00:45:36,519 --> 00:45:40,199
a switch for Christmas. I was like, oh, you should

898
00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:43,639
probably get him a switch too, because like it's all

899
00:45:43,639 --> 00:45:46,960
things considered, not a whole lot more expensive, and like

900
00:45:47,039 --> 00:45:50,079
it will keep them happy for a lot longer because

901
00:45:50,519 --> 00:45:54,880
as he kind of figures out, you know, what things

902
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:56,880
are and what these things actually are, and is he

903
00:45:56,960 --> 00:46:00,119
gets more online, you know, in that kind of in

904
00:46:00,199 --> 00:46:02,920
eleven twelve age and starts to figure out, you know,

905
00:46:03,079 --> 00:46:06,000
what new video games are and stuff like that. Himself,

906
00:46:07,280 --> 00:46:08,920
he will kind of be like, oh, I want the

907
00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:12,679
newer one, And his dad was like, yeah, but like

908
00:46:14,039 --> 00:46:16,079
there's there's enough on the switch one that I can

909
00:46:16,079 --> 00:46:18,079
just get him the switch one and he will be

910
00:46:18,079 --> 00:46:20,599
happy for so long and so quiet about it, like

911
00:46:20,679 --> 00:46:25,440
he won't care, and because he's probably not as tuned into,

912
00:46:25,599 --> 00:46:29,639
you know, things like I was when I was eleven twelve,

913
00:46:30,079 --> 00:46:32,559
that age when it comes to stuff like performance or

914
00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:35,679
you know, I remember when I was thirteen getting online

915
00:46:35,679 --> 00:46:40,840
and starting to visit game Spot every day, and yeah, yeah,

916
00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:44,159
I'm really becoming aware of who the Daniel Dwyer guy

917
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:48,880
was and stuff like that. But like, I wonder if

918
00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:51,480
he's gonna have that same thing where he goes online

919
00:46:51,519 --> 00:46:54,159
and he like seeks out that information, or if he's

920
00:46:54,199 --> 00:46:55,880
just gonna have the thing that's in front of him

921
00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:58,760
and be like, actually, this is fine, This is totally fine.

922
00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:02,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, say, get a builds characters for for a kid

923
00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:04,440
to have an older console and stuff like that, and

924
00:47:04,559 --> 00:47:08,320
I the process that the parent goes through of you know,

925
00:47:08,440 --> 00:47:10,440
that's two hundred to two hundred fifty dollars in the

926
00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:12,519
bank right now, and the kid is going to be

927
00:47:12,519 --> 00:47:14,639
happy enough for at least a couple of years.

928
00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:17,119
Speaker 3: That's an easy calculation to make in a lot of cases.

929
00:47:17,159 --> 00:47:18,519
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally fa totally fine.

930
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:23,000
Speaker 1: All right, Last thing on this, Uh, the accessory spending

931
00:47:23,159 --> 00:47:25,719
dipped five percent compared to a year ago to one

932
00:47:25,840 --> 00:47:28,320
hundred and eighty five million dollars. This is the lowest

933
00:47:28,559 --> 00:47:33,440
January accessory spending since January twenty twenty. So January right

934
00:47:33,519 --> 00:47:37,280
as the pandemic was like just very like getting started,

935
00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:40,440
like the very very beginning tip of that where there

936
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:42,800
was a lot of uncertainty. I think this is one

937
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:44,840
of those numbers you look at like, oh, yes, things

938
00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:48,760
are sort of returning back to pre pandemic levels, not just.

939
00:47:48,719 --> 00:47:52,880
Speaker 2: Like just in time, everything's going back to normal, right, yes,

940
00:47:52,920 --> 00:47:55,920
like and kind of let's just call on the last

941
00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:56,719
five years guys.

942
00:47:56,719 --> 00:47:59,920
Speaker 1: Okay, uh huh, and it's dipping below those numbers, and

943
00:48:00,079 --> 00:48:02,719
that's say, oh okay, So I think people have like

944
00:48:02,840 --> 00:48:04,960
really actually turned away. There was always that like, oh,

945
00:48:04,960 --> 00:48:07,639
maybe they'll be able to keep some gains of the pandemic,

946
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:10,119
and for a minute there they did. But as these

947
00:48:10,719 --> 00:48:12,960
new generations have dragged on and the switch to has

948
00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:15,760
sort of presented itself, people are going, I can wait,

949
00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:17,920
because you know, it's just all too expensive.

950
00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:19,960
Speaker 3: And I don't blame anyone for thinking that.

951
00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:24,079
Speaker 1: Last story here, resident evil requiem leakers deserve quote a

952
00:48:24,239 --> 00:48:27,079
thousand deaths, says Hideki Kamia.

953
00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:29,159
Speaker 3: This is from Ali Reynolds.

954
00:48:29,199 --> 00:48:31,840
Speaker 2: It's actually the usual punishment that you get for breaking

955
00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:34,440
a konamiumbago. So it's strange that someone would call for

956
00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:35,440
it for a Copcom one.

957
00:48:35,440 --> 00:48:36,920
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's right there, right there.

958
00:48:38,039 --> 00:48:41,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, these company's talking. Maybe Copcom's reading up on

959
00:48:41,559 --> 00:48:42,599
what Konami's been doing.

960
00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:46,719
Speaker 1: Yep, I'll just I'll read his message here. I'm sure

961
00:48:46,760 --> 00:48:49,400
the final developments of Residentval two were also exposed in

962
00:48:49,440 --> 00:48:53,079
the Weekly Photo magazine. For your own selfish satisfaction, you

963
00:48:53,119 --> 00:48:55,079
tramp it on the feelings of the users who were

964
00:48:55,079 --> 00:48:57,679
looking forward to the game, as well as the feelings

965
00:48:57,679 --> 00:48:59,880
of the creators who put all their effort into making

966
00:48:59,880 --> 00:49:03,840
It's a despicable act that destroys the happiness of everyone

967
00:49:04,079 --> 00:49:05,800
and deserves a thousand deaths.

968
00:49:06,159 --> 00:49:08,039
Speaker 3: May you be cursed to never be able to play

969
00:49:08,039 --> 00:49:08,719
games again.

970
00:49:10,199 --> 00:49:13,280
Speaker 1: Man, that's a bad That's some bad juju to put

971
00:49:13,320 --> 00:49:14,199
on somebody, for sure.

972
00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:17,639
Speaker 3: But yeah, I look, people.

973
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:19,519
Speaker 1: Have been spoiling this, and they've been doing it in

974
00:49:19,519 --> 00:49:21,519
some like really bold ways where they've just been going

975
00:49:21,519 --> 00:49:25,079
to social media and throwing late game stuff out there

976
00:49:25,119 --> 00:49:27,719
in video clips that are very easy to accidentally start

977
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:31,760
accidentally start watching. So I hope that people were able

978
00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:34,119
to avoid that. That game is out soon, and I'm

979
00:49:34,159 --> 00:49:35,519
looking forward to hearing what people think.

980
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:38,280
Speaker 2: Indressing Bogo on that one. I'm curious how people go

981
00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:39,840
about dealing with that Embogo.

982
00:49:40,239 --> 00:49:40,440
Speaker 3: Yep.

983
00:49:40,599 --> 00:49:45,000
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Okay, that's gonna wrap up the headlines and the

984
00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:48,079
stories for today. Let's get to the other stuff we

985
00:49:48,119 --> 00:49:50,000
got to do. There's no poll question because it was

986
00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:52,639
Friday and we did the Bomb twelve. But hey, if

987
00:49:52,679 --> 00:49:55,360
you want to submit your game for the Bomb twelve

988
00:49:55,400 --> 00:49:56,960
this week, the game that you've been playing, just go

989
00:49:56,960 --> 00:49:59,440
to giant bomb dot com, scroll down, go ahead and

990
00:49:59,639 --> 00:50:01,639
observe what was the Bomb twelve from last week. But

991
00:50:01,679 --> 00:50:03,559
there on the left hand side you'll find a button

992
00:50:03,599 --> 00:50:05,920
that is a link to a form where you could

993
00:50:05,960 --> 00:50:09,480
drop whatever game you're playing up and until through Friday.

994
00:50:09,920 --> 00:50:12,360
We'll get the results, talk about it on Friday Show

995
00:50:13,159 --> 00:50:16,280
and wrap up the week that way. In the meantime, though, Lexi,

996
00:50:16,320 --> 00:50:17,719
why don't you tell people where that can find you

997
00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:19,719
on the internet what you have going on and all

998
00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:20,760
of that good stuff.

999
00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:23,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not going to be around too much this week.

1000
00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:28,519
I'm traveling to an event in London for two days,

1001
00:50:29,199 --> 00:50:31,039
but I have to go up to Dublin first, so

1002
00:50:31,079 --> 00:50:33,320
I'm actually going to be traveling for like four days,

1003
00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:38,320
which is but yeah, you can find me on Blue

1004
00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:43,800
Sky at Lexlodi xyz, and we have a bunch of

1005
00:50:43,800 --> 00:50:45,840
really cool stuff coming up on start Menu, which is

1006
00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:47,639
the website that I wun for people trying to break

1007
00:50:47,679 --> 00:50:50,920
in two games media and the games industry. We have

1008
00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:54,920
some very cool reviews coming up. I'm sure you might

1009
00:50:54,960 --> 00:50:58,039
be able to guess what those are, and you can

1010
00:50:58,119 --> 00:50:59,840
catch me around the place talking about things.

1011
00:51:00,039 --> 00:51:01,920
Speaker 3: Yes, all right, good deal.

1012
00:51:02,639 --> 00:51:05,360
Speaker 1: We have a new poll question, if you haven't purchased

1013
00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:08,559
a switch to yet, what will get you to do so? Price,

1014
00:51:08,679 --> 00:51:12,559
drop more first party games, O led version or nothing.

1015
00:51:13,119 --> 00:51:15,000
We will get the results of that and talk about

1016
00:51:15,039 --> 00:51:18,440
it on Games Mornings here on Giant Bomb on Wednesday.

1017
00:51:18,559 --> 00:51:22,679
Speaking of Giant Bomb, we're kind of sussing things out

1018
00:51:22,719 --> 00:51:24,719
on this Monday. We're going to be going going into

1019
00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:28,559
our meeting right now and figuring everything out, but probably

1020
00:51:28,559 --> 00:51:31,039
not doing this today. There's some things in motion, but

1021
00:51:31,079 --> 00:51:33,039
we might have something else in its place, and then

1022
00:51:33,119 --> 00:51:36,719
you could expect the BombCast tomorrow. Expect coverage of a

1023
00:51:36,719 --> 00:51:39,039
bunch of new games. Just look out for that all

1024
00:51:39,039 --> 00:51:40,800
throughout the week, and we look forward.

1025
00:51:40,639 --> 00:51:42,239
Speaker 3: To hanging out with you. You guys should go to

1026
00:51:42,239 --> 00:51:43,280
giant bomb dot com.

1027
00:51:43,199 --> 00:51:45,679
Speaker 1: Right now and just bookmarkt people still do that, right,

1028
00:51:46,519 --> 00:51:49,320
All right, let's see here.

1029
00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:51,639
Speaker 3: I think we got everything all wrapped up. LEXI, thank

1030
00:51:51,679 --> 00:51:53,000
you so much for hanging out with me today and

1031
00:51:53,039 --> 00:51:55,039
talking about video games. I really appreciate it.

1032
00:51:55,719 --> 00:51:57,360
Speaker 2: Anytime Globe always a pleasure.

1033
00:51:58,199 --> 00:52:00,360
Speaker 1: Thank you all for watching and listen. I mean you

1034
00:52:00,440 --> 00:52:03,000
are the best audience in gaming. Until next time, have

1035
00:52:03,079 --> 00:52:06,760
a good one, take care of yourself and goodbye.