Game Pass bought installs, not players: what actually brings someone back

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Hey, it's Greg.
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Welcome to Player Driven.
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I want to tell you a little bit about my first job in customer support and how we ended up where we are here right now.
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So at my first job, we were working frontline customer support, and our job was to close tickets.
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And at the end of the day, we got to count how many tickets we would close.
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And in the early days, it became really easy to quantify how well I did at my job.
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And it was really fun because we would gamify it.
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And we had to do our New York office versus our Portland office.
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And since New York came in earlier, we were able to close easier tickets out right away and really get the high numbers against Portland, which have more people.
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But with all that being said, as you get to different jobs and different positions, quantifying the day-to-day work that you do becomes tougher and tougher.
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And you realize that maybe you have a project that you don't see noticeable results on a daily basis.
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But as you start chipping towards this or building towards this, the bigger picture starts to show.
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And you have to learn that how do I change my mindset and the deliverable shouldn't just be a number, but it should be something else.
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And I'm really curious on what some of your ways and some of your methodologies of how you do something like that is because again, it isn't always so clear on how we measure this success.
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A little thing that I started doing more and more often now is just writing things.
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You know, I'm a big computer dork and I love everything AI and computer, but sometimes when you just take the pen and paper and start writing, it becomes a little more permanent in your mind.
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You're taking the time to do something with multiple senses at once and it's kind of really kicking it in.
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I'd love to hear what you do.
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How do you do it?
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What's the way you learn?
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I I think there's tons of different ways out there, and I'd love to hear more and more on how people kind of resonate and understand that stuff.
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Let's talk about what we're going to listen to today.
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This is episode two of Never Entertained.
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It's also the last time you're going to hear Never Entertained on the live podcast feed.
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Don't quote me on that because I get lazy.
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And from here, if you want to hear it again, you'll be able to hear it live on Fridays at right now 10.
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It might change to 11 a.m.
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Eastern, but that will we'll see how that goes.
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Uh this week we're gonna be talking about things like Game Pass where people buying installs instead of players.
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What does good enough mean for games that are launching at this time around GTA?
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Specifically games like Control Resident, which is eight weeks away from GTA, and then game trailers.
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Which ones stay with you years later?
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Which ones get you excited?
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The rest of the player-driven schedule is moving around as well as we're finding a new rhythm here and kicking things off.
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So Tuesdays are still gonna be the podcast, Wednesdays or Thursdays, you're gonna get Design Desk.
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Friday is going to be Never Entertained, and then the live stream with Collins is gonna fluctuate until it can find a more permanent home.
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It's either gonna be on the Tuesday or the Thursday.
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And something I've really been slacking with, and I can really use your help, is with all this stuff that I'm trying to put together here, I've realized I'm neglecting my original baby, which is the podcast.
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So this is why you keep hearing some of these repeats if you listen to both.
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But I would love to find some new cool people in studios working cool jobs who do these cool day-to-day things that we can share because there's so much out there that we just don't understand.
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So if you're listening and you know anyone that works in this cool position or does something really cool, I'd love for the introduction, or you can just let me know.
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I'd love to hear that.
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Either way, this again will be the last time you'll hear this never entertained.
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And if you want to listen again, check it out Fridays.
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You can check everything out at playerdriven.io.
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The Discord is there as well.
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And let's get into this week's episode.
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GTA 6 is out in nine weeks, November 19th.
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And I keep thinking about every other game that has to ship this fall.
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You're gonna either go early, you're gonna go late, or you're telling yourself you're good enough to survive this.
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Control Resonant went early.
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It comes out on September 24th, six days from now, and the reviews are starting to come in.
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It's good.
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84 and open critic, 85% recommending it, 39 reviews in so far, and it's doing good.
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Uh, but no one really agreed on what type of good is good enough.
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One review gave it a six, one gave it a 10.
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It's the same game, same weeks.
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In a normal fall, 84 is a hit.
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Eight weeks out from GTA 6, and 84 is more of a scheduling decision.
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Which is this one?
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I'm Greg.
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This is Never Entertained.
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I'm joined by my three co-hosts here.
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I'm gonna let each of them say hi, and I want to hear their take on this.
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Simon, you want to say hi and let us know uh what is this?
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Hello, um uh Simon Pullman.
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I'm uh uh a lawyer in New York.
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Um, so uh look, I I'm excited for for this, more for personal reasons.
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It's sort of the game has crept up on me as you know, at least the three of you know I play a lot of sort of you know, sword and shield or samurai type, you know, sort of melee games.
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And this looks different, and the level design um looks incredibly cool.
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I thought the trailer, which we'll talk about uh that dropped yesterday, was absolutely fantastic.
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Um, I don't know, it's it's interesting because you you're framing this from the perspective of how does this relate to GTA?
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Whereas I think there's a bigger discussion to be had, which is why are we not seeing so much consensus in reviews now?
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You know, a lot of the the quote-unquote well-reviewed games this year have been in that sort of 82 to 88 range.
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We haven't seen a lot of a lot of 90s.
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There was the um that multiplayer game this uh that dropped on PlayStation Plus, uh Big Walk or something rides.
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Um Fire Emblem came in, I think, just under 90 perhaps.
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Um, and I I view that you know sort of um uh as a positive because something is is sort of uh idiosyncratic, maybe make make some bold decisions that might be divisive, and that's what I tend to like in in games.
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Um I look, I I think the that you know uh my hope is is that the new control game you know does well over a long period of time and sort of finds an audience much like Remedy's um prior games.
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I don't think everybody is gonna be playing GTA.
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I don't know if they'll be playing GTA exclusively, so it's a long game.
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Ah, Justin, you go up, man.
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No, no, no, Justin, Justin's middle, just in Switzerland.
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Jump in, Justin.
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I'm feeling feisty today.
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Uh hi, Justin Ruiz, uh senior race president, media research.
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Um I'm I mean I I'm sure there are a lot of people that kind of want to get their hot take and create a headline about how amazing or how awful something is.
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So I'm I'm not oblivious to that, but it does seem a little like we're you know reviewing some titles, and or some people are reviewing some titles with like very rose-tinted glasses, and then others just may not be the right people who are reviewing certain titles, like it's you know, like, hey, it's a racing game.
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Give it to the to the guy who reviews first person shooters.
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Um I I'm not I I'm I'm not convinced that any of this stuff is making it's Colin, you you agree with this a lot, but uh I'm not convinced that any of this stuff is really making like huge sales dents.
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And and so even just like anecdotally to people that I speak to, they're not outwardly just sitting there saying, you know, oh, like I'm I'm canceling my pre-order.
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Wolverine was probably the only one where I heard from friends who were like, Yeah, this seems like a I'm gonna buy it later on.
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And then all the player reviews came out, and everybody was like, This is fine.
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Let me ask you this, Justin.
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Have any of your friends who said that and and and did indeed cancel their pre-orders subsequently jumped on board through word of mouth now that they've you know perhaps heard that people are enjoying it?
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They they're a little more like they're less apprehensive, right?
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So it's like it's like, all right, you know, I'm not maybe like obviously day one passed, but I'm not gonna wait for a sale, right?
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Like this kind of felt like the initial reviews were like when this thing drops to$40, I'll totally buy it.
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Now it seems like uh people are maybe a little less forgiving about this.
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Maybe I'll give it a shot.
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That kind of that kind of thing.
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All right.
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I look, I'm gonna be the hop take guy because uh why not?
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The metacritic doesn't matter.
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I just I look at it as like a no as a metric that um, if anything, uh tells you whether or not this game has a shot for award season down the line.
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And I guess that's probably what Hollywood can come in, Hollywood.
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And I'm curious what Simon's take is, but like to me, Metacritic, I look at and I go, yeah, your reviews don't matter, this doesn't matter.
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Um, it has very like not that much impact on the ultimate kind of uh sales.
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It comes so late in the cycle that a lot of cake is banked at this point for a lot of games marketing campaigns.
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So could it create a nice little halo for a well-reviewed game, assuming nothing else is happening around it?
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Sure, I could buy that a bit, but I don't see it acting as a detriment to Wolverine.
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That game will do commercially just fine, commercially or science critically.
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It's you know, if a divisive, if anything, but at the end of the day, I don't think it hurts its numbers.
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And I'm happy that control control like needs this, so control resident and uh remedy, they need the the good reviews, so happy to them that the game is reviewed well.
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But like in terms of why the tracking versus its other games it's made, it's doing worse in Allen White 2 at the same point of time of its uh tracking.
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Um, it's doing worse in control at the same point of its time and tracking.
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And if I were to prognosticate kind of why, I mean, one, and I think anyone in the gaming industry listening to this, please just put this as like a plaque on your wall.
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Do not release your game the same day as EAFC.
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Just don't.
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Like, just don't.
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Why?
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Because you're taking a black Sharpie and you're marking off an entire continent of Europe.
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You're not going to sell in Europe that week, you're not gonna sell in Europe the first two weeks because the number one game in Europe, to my estimation, is probably gonna be EAFC every single year, even if it's on the decline.
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It is still the biggest game.
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It's like they're Call of Duty, just and that's what's crazy is like people in the gaming industry think they could release a game the same day as EAFC, but they would stay, they would like walk over lava coil, like lava to stay away from like Call of Duty.
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And I'm like, these are the same guys, they're big monster blockbuster games every year, but one's a sports sim and one's a shooter, and you just have this bias towards sports sim games.
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I just don't understand.
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Meanwhile, players love sports sim every year, even if it's the same thing, even if it's predatory and it's monetization, doesn't matter, still sells, right?
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So I would just tell every client and anyone on here don't release your game as the AFC, which by the way, they are very good about releasing at the end of September every year.
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It's not a mystery, it's the same.
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They're all very, very um consistent.
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That yeah, that's interesting.
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I mean, I assume that's what's happening is they put it in a different bucket and they think, well, not everybody likes football, etc.
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But it is a it is definitely a huge and not only in Europe, right?
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It's expanded uh beyond that.
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Just briefly on on movies.
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I think reviews matter in movies in two cases.
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Number one, if it's like really an edge case, an outlier, you know, if the reviews are superb, so one could look at Resident Evil this weekend, right?
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Very, very, very positive reviews that may sort of tip tip things slightly, although not as powerful as word of mouth.
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And then the other thing is award season.
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You know, I don't think reviews matter for Fast and Furious movie or a tent pole, but if you're going for awards and the New York Times and similar outlets pan your movie, that's gonna that matters, right?
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Oh, totally.
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And the game awards, it's the same journalists that review these things broadly speaking that also vote for the TGAs in concert with a bunch of other professionals in the industry, but it's the same crowd, so you're basically marketing it to a significant cohort of people whose voice matters when it comes to dice and after and the game awards.
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What well I sorry, no one's prepared for this, but what do you and maybe we'll we'll just we'll discuss this next week.
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But what do we think now in terms of game awards outlook?
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Um, you know, Wolverine out, control maybe possible possible.
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I think probably bot bonds good use for bonds.
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I thought Chris, I thought Chris nailed it last week.
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I saw it and I was like, I think he was pretty close when he posted on last Saturday.
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Not to be like LinkedIn commentary per se talking about another LinkedIn guy, but like I was like, oh, it's a pretty good list.
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I think WoW Forever plays spoiler.
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I think I'm looking at that going, man, if this is actually massively different than classic WoW, then I could see it being another remake that's like brought in wave of nostalgia.
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Again, the same people that in part vote for the awards are the same people that played World of Warcraft in 2004, 5, 6, 7 during its like golden era, and this is pulling them back to that with the same but new, which is actually my theme this week in my notes.
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Like patch notes, it's like, yeah, I think that is the spoiler, but um GTA Zelda, wow, would be my three guess.
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And then I think Resident Evil, given the divisiveness of Wolverine, is now issuing.
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I think Resident Evil is a good one.
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I think Resident Evil's a lock.
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I think Resident Evil's a lock.
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I think uh Bond is quite likely control possible.
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Chris, I think, had Dornwalker in his list.
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That seems to me more likely to be knocked out because fewer people have perhaps played it, but obviously you guys know I think that it would it would merit it.
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I think he nailed the indie too the big walk or whatever.
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I think that's like they want to put an indie there.
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I'm like, that one makes a lot of sense to me.
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So I think there's always gonna be a slot for indie games from Steam that kind of bubble through the critically loved and does pretty well on players, you know, kind of game.
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And yeah, then the last one is uh who knows right now.
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There's two to spawn gets nominated, but we'll see.
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There's two to me, you're gonna laugh at one of them, but the other one I think probably merits it.
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But the two that I think should be there Marathon.
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What a shock! Oh my god! Marathon, it's probably one of the best reviewed games this year.
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But but more seriously, I think the other one is Arc Raiders.
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I think Arc Raiders is another one that probably could that game held its, you know, yeah.
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I I think Arc Raiders, the challenge is to is temp is just temporal, right?
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If this if the if it had been timed six months ago, but it it seems to have lost um some steam, perhaps.
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There's also there's also the idea that like there's a category for those, right?
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Like there's a best multiple, you know, like they'll win that, or they'll they'll be nominated in that category.
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That's why Horizon, you know.
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I mean, on X course, Horizon should be in there.
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Yeah, I look my two favorite games this year are Pokopia, Pocopia, and fours of Horizon 6, and neither one will get nominated.
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Um, just come back to a game of the year because we got uh more of you.
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I won't I have a question about control, just one last thing on this one for now is you know, we keep comparing control to EAFC or GTA, but what does success look like for control resident?
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Because control, I'm looking at numbers here, sold five million copies.
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Alan Wake 2 sold 3 million copies.
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I can't imagine control 2 is gonna sell more than control sold, right?
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So, so what is success?
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What is good?
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And it leads to another question of Remedy makes great games, but why can't they find a true breakout?
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And maybe they have it.
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I'm just looking at it wrong.
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I I think the Alan Wake two story is not I think they shot themselves in the foot with the epic deal.
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I think that didn't help them, right?
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Um, but it's a fan like Remedy it makes like the X-Files, like they make the best show that no one's watching, and or I shouldn't say that because there's three or five million people out there that play and play these games, but they make these incredible titles.
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I I I don't know.
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I mean, crossing a five million copy threshold would be fantastic, and I think more people need to know what they produce and make, and some of it seems just like fringe and weird, which is probably why I like it so much.
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But I I don't know if this is the kind of one that grabs so much attention that people are like super jazzed about this universe again.
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So, so for me, Greg, it's can it get well reviewed?
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Can it hold on through the winter, and can it go on Steam sale and make up in volume where it's gonna probably lack on its first week?
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Sales is probably like the best case.
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But like my thing with these kind of questions always just boils down to the unknown, which is I don't know how much this game costs them to make.
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Like, so it ceiling could be much lower, or it's it's a need to draw an X amount of million units might be much lower than other games like Wolverine because the cost is just so different.
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They're spending less on marketing, obviously, than Wolverine.
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So I'll just put that out there.
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I think that's I don't know what Wolverine's budget is, but it's safe to assume.
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Um, so its marketing is less.
00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:50.639
Is the game cost less?
00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:51.600
Probably.
00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:55.120
Um, so then it becomes it needs to move less units to be profitable.
00:16:55.360 --> 00:17:03.279
So I think Alan Way too, and I want people to correct me if I'm wrong here, but I remember reading that it eventually hit profitability, it just took time.
00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:06.319
So it's really just about the time horizon, the cash that they have.
00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:14.000
Can they withstand a longated kind of period of unknown non-profitability till they hit profitability, and they're just gonna be fine after that, right?
00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:16.000
And kind of go back and doing the next thing.
00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:17.440
That's how I look at stuff like this.
00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:18.960
It's like, what's the cost?
00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:21.200
And that's something I just don't know.
00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:22.720
That's fair.
00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:30.160
I think you know, I we heard rumors earlier, I think this year, of uh Rockstar working on Max Payne 3 remake.
00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:44.000
I feel like that's Remedies Baby, and it was an opportunity to kind of mend those worlds and go back to the life of Max Payne, which I think we all kind of grew up in that first Max Payne era, which memories of old times.
00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:47.119
Rockstar has a lot of makeup game that's on Caranthos Dotto.
00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:49.920
Um, I I I don't know, Greg.
00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:50.319
I don't know.
00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:51.359
They are look it up.
00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:52.400
They're making uh the remake.
00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:53.920
I know I believe you, I believe you.
00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:59.680
That'd be great if they I just figure they're on the RDR uh GTA hamster wheel for the rest of time over there.
00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:06.799
But uh didn't they kind of like the way that Red Dead wraps up, didn't they kind of like say goodbye to the old West?
00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:13.920
Like that game is very when you finish all come on when you sell a gajillion copies and you there's never a goodbye.
00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:19.359
I mean it repeat off if something is successful, there must be more.
00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:38.160
So we got to control from a message that Simon sent to the group the other day when the new control trailer dropped, and it was uh an amazing mishmash of cardigans, action, interesting trailer, which we loved.
00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:44.640
And Simon, I'll let him put it in his own words, but kind of thinking of what are your top trailers of all time?
00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:55.279
And I'd love to hear each person's top three trailers of all time, and maybe I will kick things off because I'm the most vanilla person when it comes to trailers.
00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:58.160
Um, so I'm gonna kick it off here, and I'm gonna go.
00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:01.039
I know my number one, and two or three can go either way.
00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:13.200
So I'm gonna go with Dead Island, the original Dead Island, in that trailer, it's all shot in reverse, and it just tells such a cool story for a game that just was not great.
00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:21.119
But the trailer was such a fun trailer, it was colorful, it was vibrant, and it was just one of those trailers that I remembered years later.
00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:22.480
It's like, oh, that was a good one.
00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:23.759
I remember that.
00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:31.519
Second one I'm gonna go with was a tough one, but I'm gonna go with Command and Conquer Tiber or Red Alert 2.
00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:33.279
I am a huge Command and Conquer fan.
00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:35.440
Command and Conquer is one of my favorite series of all times.
00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:48.000
And in Red Alert 2, they show these big uh Zeppelins coming into New York over the Statue of Liberty, and it shows a full-on attack of America from uh the Soviets, I guess, in Red Alert.
00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:52.799
I just thought was so cool living in New Jersey at the time, seeing that thing happen in there.
00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:55.440
And my number one goes back to my college days.
00:19:55.599 --> 00:20:05.680
I feel like someone else will have to have this on their list, but I am going with Gears of War II with uh I mean, it was the perfect song, perfect time, perfect place.
00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:15.759
It was, I feel like one of the first trailers that had a real song behind it that kind of connected for me when I was uh in college, and maybe it was a core memory at the time, but those are my top three trailers.
00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:17.279
All right.
00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:18.000
That's good.
00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:19.279
You do let me jump in.
00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:20.160
I'll take a five.
00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:27.200
No, it wasn't that like dark or I forgot the name of it at the last second.
00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:28.319
Oh, Mad World.
00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:29.599
Yeah, Mad World.
00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:30.160
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:30.480
Yeah, yeah.
00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:34.799
That was almost on the original.
00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:38.720
Um, my three, I judge them based on like so.
00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:40.160
I went by the same way you did.
00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:47.440
Um, so I'm kind of like in a tie, but I'll probably lean towards San Andreas, the Walk of the Jungle trailer, because I think that just nailed exactly what that game was.
00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:53.359
And I think good songs at tied to games that have its identity in it, have like a staying power to them.
00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:56.640
So Welcome to the Jungle, um, the San Andreas trailer.
00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:03.839
Like one B would be the Vice City uh Flocka Seagulls trailer where you just nailed it, where you're like, oh, this is gonna be what it is.
00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:08.799
That's like what Rockstar does best is marrying songs and do their trailers to kind of get a mood across.
00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:12.559
So, like, I'd be kind of uh lying if I wouldn't put them on the list.
00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:19.519
Second, I have to go, and I don't, and this is like I for I cannot remember life for me off the top of my head, but like it's the Jonah Hill Call of Duty commercial.
00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:22.000
That that one is like just changed everything.
00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:25.279
You're like, oh, and it you know, sold a good million copies.
00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:32.079
It became like a kind of template for games moving forward, but that was the one that put celebrity in games and like kind of played that out.
00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:43.119
And I'm gonna cheat on the last one, and then I think this is the greatest ad campaign of all time the Nintendo Switch uh reveal, where they were playing a console and they literally walked up to their TV, picked it up, and went.
00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:47.839
And I I was at Twitch at the time, and I was like, You gotta be effing kidding me.
00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:49.440
This is this is their machine.
00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:50.880
I I bought it right then and there.
00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:52.319
I was like, I'm buying this thing now.
00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:57.279
Um, I actually worked on that campaign when I was at Twitch, but I was like, This is the creative, this is insane.
00:21:57.440 --> 00:21:59.599
So to me, that is the greatest marketing campaign of all time.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.359
Nintendo Switch game with the snap.
00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:05.039
If you remember the snap, right?
00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:06.000
The snap.
00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:07.039
Yeah.
00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:08.240
Justin?
00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:25.119
Uh, so the the one I thought of the the my number one this morning, but um the first one I go with, so I it's I still think Uncharted 2, that trailer was pretty incredible on the train, which was pretty awesome.
00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:51.759
But there's the one from Uncharted 4, where Drake is chasing after the coin, and they s they're swinging the camera around, and it's playing Where is they're playing the piano version of Where is My Mind by the Pixies, and he's talking about like you know, it's like one last treasure, like one last hunt, and the whole ground is crumbling, and like his brother's trying to save him too.
00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:53.440
It's slow motion.
00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:58.720
I thought that was really one of those things where I was like super like emotional about it.
00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:07.680
It was like, oh my god, like this is another Nathan Drake thing, and you know, I'm probably the guy that cries at too many Marvel movies, so it spoke to me too much.
00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:16.000
Um the second one, I this is gonna sound crazy, but and it it did not deliver initially.
00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:27.920
But No Man's Sky, when that first trailer came out, I was like, this is incredible, this is so cool, and then ultimately being like massively disappointed.
00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:37.440
And then my last one, another like I'm so jazzed about this, but I hated this game so I begrudgingly finished it.
00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:46.160
There was an E3 trailer, it was 2013, it was a cinematic, and it was for watchdogs.
00:23:46.319 --> 00:24:17.519
I don't know if you guys remember this, but it was I think the guy's name is Aiden Pierce or whatever, but it's him following a guy who goes into like a club and it's like clearly a cover for human trafficking, and he's like hacking the doors, and he hacks the sprinklers and he takes down everybody, and then he shows like all of the people, like all the like the women being trafficked on like the big screens in Chicago and stuff like that, and the cops come, and it ends with one of the cool I was so excited to play this game.
00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:25.119
It ends with one of the coolest lines where he said he said, They say I'm a man out of control, but I've never had so much control.
00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:27.279
I was like, this is gonna be awesome.
00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:35.440
And I remember getting my hands on that game and being like, This is so mediocre, you can't aim down sights, this game is not that good.
00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:40.160
There's way too many pop-ups all over the place, but it was an incredible trailer.
00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:42.799
I remember watching that and being like, this game's gonna rock.
00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:44.480
Wow, all right.
00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:46.319
I'm gonna check that one out afterwards.
00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:48.240
It would be soft classic right there.
00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:50.799
Can't wait for them to recitate that IP.
00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:54.640
Simon, cap it off.
00:24:54.960 --> 00:25:00.240
Well, it it's interesting to sort of hear your choices because um they suck.
00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:03.359
Yeah, I think a trade a trailer can be no, no, no, they're great.
00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:06.400
But a trailer can be good for um you know a multitude of reasons, right?
00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:13.440
Is it artistically great on its own merits, like maybe the Dead Island one, or I would argue the control one that came out this week?
00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:16.319
Does it sort of you know bring out a sense of nostalgia?
00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:19.680
Or, you know, probably from a marketing perspective, does it make you want to buy the game?
00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:26.799
I'm surprised nobody said um uh Twilight Princess E3, you know, when Miyamoto came out at the end with the sword.
00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:30.240
Like that in terms of like crowd reaction and so on.
00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:32.799
Um, you know, I think is is probably an all-timer.
00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:36.880
But my three, I'm gonna go uh number one, uh Shenmue.
00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:41.599
Um uh a world that transcends games.
00:25:41.759 --> 00:26:00.799
Just because you know, at the time I was a big sort of Sega person, Dreamcast, and what that the promise of what that game was going to be, I don't think it quite became that, but it was really it was the first, it was the first game to sort of have those kinds of ambitions, um, you know, to go beyond you know, sort of what what was normal in games at the time.
00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:06.640
Um, number two, I'm saying uh Resident Evil uh seven for different reasons.
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:11.759
Um, you know, if you record mostly the context around it, if you look where Resident Evil is now, right?
00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:16.799
Perennial, you know, as Klein says in his in his reports every year, right?
00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:19.759
It nails it sales-wise, you know, critically.
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:22.799
Wouldn't have happened probably without Resident Evil 7.
00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:25.200
We'd come off six, not well received.
00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:29.440
And that trailer, you know, at first it looks like, you know, is this like an outlast game?
00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:32.240
It seems to be first person, it's very different.
00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:36.640
Um, and that's that's probably my favorite Resident Evil um uh game.
00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:40.240
And then third is is purely again personal and emotional.
00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:47.839
I don't even know if the game will be good, but I'm a huge fan of um Shadow of the Colossus and Ico or Eco.
00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:56.720
And so I was in the audience where I think it was the year before last when the new uh Ueda game was revealed, and it just had that sort of emotional sort of moment.
00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:05.279
And that was the same year that they also announced uh did the uh the Akami remake trailer, which you know Jeff got quite uh emotional about.
00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:08.720
Uh, Jeff tends to get emotional about quite a lot of things, but but hey.
00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:12.319
Yeah, love the Shen Mu choice.
00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:14.240
That is just so out of left field.
00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:28.400
And as an Xbox fanboy, and I was Sega before this, when they released Shen Mu 3 only on PlayStation, I felt so betrayed that I went through Shen Mu 1 and 2 on driving that forklift around for so long not to be able to finish that story.
00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:36.799
And you can get you can get caught in a forklift loop for for days, slash hours on that in that that that that game.
00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:45.359
I really think it's one of the the sort of great sort of what ifs, you know, because obviously they came out with that third game and I didn't play it.
00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:49.680
My understanding is it barely moved the story forward, and we still have no resolution.
00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:58.400
But um but the time, you know, the the the weather changes in real time and it's historical weather, and you can have a job, and you can yeah, quite quite novel.
00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:01.519
I do have to comment, and I think gaming trailers are coming back to this.
00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:14.960
I made this point in my newsletter last week, uh or two weeks ago when I talked about Anata or Aneta, which is like what happened to banger songs that weren't orchestra slop that just like tied the trailer together, that if you heard the song, you're like brought back the trailer.
00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:30.240
Like, I just feel like maybe maybe we're going back more toward that, or you're leaning on existing artists' IP instead of your own kind of again orchestral stuff, which is fine, but like if everything sounds the same, then it's just really hard to break through and like click with the audience in terms of uh 30 seconds or 60 seconds.
00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:32.480
There's been a big look, you know, Elven Ring, right?
00:28:32.559 --> 00:28:34.799
A little big orchestral type type stuff.
00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:38.960
Um, I think music cues can be can be tricky, right?
00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:45.519
Because you know, going back to film and television, um uh Stranger Things running up that hill, right?
00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:49.920
Work extraordinarily well for the show and for that artist, you know.
00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:57.440
By contrast, um, Supergirl, the last cue in that movie was was was really sort of criticized.
00:28:57.599 --> 00:29:06.400
I think it's best when it's something that's that feels um uh relevant to the game, stirs an emotion, but also has that element of sort of surprise, you know.
00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:14.880
And obviously what we've seen a lot in movies recently is like like like these slow, slow covers of like a you know, or like an upbeat rock rock song.
00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:16.640
But um, if you get it right, you're right.
00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:19.599
And it can actually you know be huge for the musical artist as well.
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:44.240
Yeah, like I didn't think of the cranberries on the Nazi one, where it's like the Hong Kong like cover of that song that was in the Wang Karwai movie, is kind of what they won't flagged it as, which is like you know, means a lot to the Chinese audience, obviously, kind of signals what it's gonna be, a modern kind of uh spin on some of the Western kind of I only western kind of model, which is open world kind of city urban-based like sandbox with guns and everything else.
00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:49.039
Like that's okay, to your point, like, yeah, that signals something where like, oh, that song makes a lot of sense here.
00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:55.680
Whereas, you know, if you're gonna James Gun everything eventually it just becomes its own trope, and you're like, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
00:29:55.839 --> 00:30:00.400
That's kind of like what that's what my read of the super girl situation was, among other things.
00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:01.680
You weren't a fan of it.
00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:02.559
I get to see it.
00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:02.880
Huh?
00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:08.880
You weren't a fan of the piano rendition of Seals Crazy for Skull and Bones.
00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:11.839
I thought that worked well.
00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:17.440
I think that's on the very long, like on a long list of issues with Skull.
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:26.559
I just want to say, as the resident um attorney on this on this video, please don't break into song because then we're gonna have music clearance issues.
00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:33.839
I I know Justin, you were very keen to give us your your your addition of SEAL, but you know, we'll we'll save that for the bar.
00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:41.279
We need you to come with a list of what's in a uh whatever uh domain where we can use it.
00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:43.279
Like it doesn't matter if there's no copyright on it anymore, right?
00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:44.160
So sea shanties.
00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:46.160
Justin, you're a fair game on sea shanties.
00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:47.920
I don't think anyone owns sea shanties.
00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:50.640
Um public domain, that's absolutely fine.
00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:53.119
So prepare three sea shanties for the next one.
00:30:53.200 --> 00:30:54.160
Yeah, it's great.
00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:56.160
I live on the water, it's perfect.
00:30:56.319 --> 00:30:57.680
This works out well for me.
00:30:57.839 --> 00:30:58.799
Not on the water.
00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:01.920
I'm not, you know, like I don't live in a yacht.
00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:03.759
Although I wish I'm a barge.
00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:05.599
Yeah, all right.
00:31:05.839 --> 00:31:07.279
I can imagine you're on the barge.
00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:08.559
Uh, what's the next topic?
00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:13.440
The next topic is my favorite topic, which is always Microsoft.
00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:20.480
Uh, earlier this week, I think it was, they announced well, leaks came out about potential game pass changes.
00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:26.240
Once again, it's the annual time of year when Microsoft changes their game pass structure.
00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:36.079
Again, the current theory is that day one games will no longer be a thing on Game Pass, and they're going to start capping the number of hours you can play cloud gaming.
00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:47.359
And I'm curious, you know, for I think for a long time, a lot of indies and smaller studios looked at a good way to get distribution via the network, aka Game Pass.
00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:55.119
But now that they're maybe seeing that getting ad support is becoming a little tougher because people's audience or attention isn't necessarily theirs.
00:31:55.279 --> 00:31:59.599
So, how how do studios continue to work with Game Pass if day one isn't there?
00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:01.359
Is it really still a strategy?
00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:04.079
And I guess what's going on here?
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:08.160
I I think Xbox said they're not putting their games and they didn't say anything.
00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:17.920
So the link was suggesting their games are not going on game pass day one, doesn't that mean they're not gonna fork over a pile of money to Sega for Persona 6 to make their game on Game Pass Day One?
00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:20.160
So I think we're talking about two very different things.
00:32:20.400 --> 00:32:26.160
If you're Sega and you're looking at Persona 6 and they announce it's on Game Pass day one, who knows?
00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:34.160
But like I assume yes, then the math is what are you losing and install on Xbox uh day one by giving it away for free?
00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:45.519
And you hope the money they Xbox gave you up front covers off a significant amount of your dev cost, and you have like a nice situation like Silksong, where you make a lot of money, anyways, both from both Xbox and from the player base.
00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:52.000
But if you're Xbox and you're releasing your own games and your own devices for free on day one, then yeah, it's a losing proposition.
00:32:52.160 --> 00:33:04.960
Like we just watched Blizzard, the crowning jewel of the Xbox Empire, now uh have an amazing BlizzCon announce all these great things out in the press saying that the revenue driver outside Minecraft of the whole portfolio.
00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:05.920
You know what they don't do?
00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:07.839
They don't give their games away for free.
00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:09.200
Like it's just not hard.
00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:22.720
You have to pull money from people to make money, either money out of their pockets or or money via advertisers willing to kind of you know offset the cost of the game by putting giving the money to the to Xbox to then put ads in front of people who then get it for free.
00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:26.000
But like there's no free lunch, and that's what Xbox Game Pass effectively was.
00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:30.000
It's like some free lunch, and they're scratching their heads like and the economics doesn't work, guys.
00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:32.480
We're not seeing our bank account go up and to the right.
00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:33.599
Like, of course you're not.
00:33:33.759 --> 00:33:35.759
So, anyways, yeah.
00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:38.559
I I mean, I think you look at there are a few ways to look at this, right?
00:33:38.640 --> 00:33:48.559
There's from the viewer from the perspective of a consumer, and I think across subscription, I can understand why consumers feel like it's a bait and switch, right?
00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:53.359
Uh you'll pay ten dollars a month and you'll have access to all of these games, including day one, right?
00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:54.480
It feels like a promise.
00:33:54.720 --> 00:34:01.039
You will pay$7.99 or$9.99 and you'll get all the movies that you want to watch in in one place.
00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:12.079
But obviously, what happened, what has happened over the last decade is prices have gone up across the board, um, and you know, the service has arguably you know sort of declined in terms of the the offering.
00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:13.760
So that's the consumer perspective.
00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:15.840
I I I get it um there.
00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:22.159
You can look at it sort of an industry, an industry observer, and you can look at it as a as a developer and a publisher.
00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:30.960
And I think you know, Kalan has uh has has spelt it out precisely um correctly, which is that it's sort of a Faustian pact.
00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:39.440
If you can capture that that sort of thing where the people on Game Pass are people who weren't going to buy it anyway, and all of your core fans do buy it, right?
00:34:39.519 --> 00:34:42.719
Which I think is what happened with Silksong, then then then great.
00:34:42.960 --> 00:35:13.599
But I think more often than not, what it does is it actually cheapens it cheapens the value, the the sort of the perception of the value of of the game um in the in the audience, and you know, very often they'll tell, well, we've had you know two million players, and I'm I am absolutely convinced that a good number of those players will log on, they'll try it out for five to thirty minutes because it's quote unquote free, and then they'll and then they'll drop off.
00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:21.599
Whereas I do think psychologically, if you drop your money, right, if you buy Wolverine for$70, you're gonna get your money's worth.
00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:24.960
Whereas, you know, if it's just available and there for you.
00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:39.599
So it seems like they're going to more of a PlayStation Plus type of situation where maybe there will be some day ones, but by and large, it's gonna be more of a catalog thing with games, you know, 12 to 36 months after release, and possibly some.
00:35:39.679 --> 00:35:49.039
It'll be more like Nintendo, where they never go on sale, they never, you know, um uh go on on the subscription service, and you always have to to buy them.
00:35:49.360 --> 00:35:50.559
Never go on sale.
00:35:50.719 --> 00:35:55.280
They offered us a tariff refund in the form of a 30% discount, Simon.
00:35:55.440 --> 00:36:02.320
Nintendo does go on sale when they're giving very seldom, very seldom go on on sale.
00:36:02.719 --> 00:36:08.559
Um, yeah, I mean, Justin, I would love your thoughts, but yeah, I agree with everything Simon just said.
00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:26.719
Um you would think, like I I get knowing the the pedigree of who's leading the charge, you would think the idea behind a lot of this is highly engaged audience, lean-in activity.
00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:30.559
There's a way to monetize that past the initial price, right?
00:36:31.039 --> 00:36:32.400
Past the initial sale.
00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:41.840
And yeah, like the PlayStation Plus model, it's very the way it was always described to me by people from PlayStation was hey, you give them candy with the medicine, right?
00:36:41.920 --> 00:36:52.159
So it's like a couple of free things, some stuff to satiate, but ultimately you're paying into a system that allows you that gives you access to play these things online and with your friends, etc.
00:36:52.639 --> 00:36:55.599
So that model makes a lot of sense to me.
00:36:55.840 --> 00:37:18.639
The the the icing on the cake, Colin, to what I mean blew in the face in saying this, that the icing on the cake is hey, leverage the audience and give away, not give away, but but grant some access to those who wouldn't be your core audience, get them involved and monetize them in a in a higher margin way.
00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:42.719
And that to me is like that's why it's so exciting about where their direction is going and what they're doing, because they're ultimately trying to figure out the the biggest problem in gaming, which is, or not the biggest problem, but like the biggest catch 22 is you have a highly engaged, lean-in audience that that you know, there's no second screen, right?
00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:44.800
You don't move, the character doesn't move.
00:37:44.880 --> 00:37:46.800
You stand still, somebody guns you down.
00:37:47.199 --> 00:37:50.800
Like it's you have to monetize that further than your price tag.
00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:52.960
I'll I'm gonna touch the hot silver in the third rail.
00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:56.320
You guys all just came from ad week or uh adweek and IAB play fronts.
00:37:56.480 --> 00:37:57.199
It's ads, guys.
00:37:57.280 --> 00:37:57.760
It's ads.
00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:10.159
You know, at some point advertisers, Proctor Gamble's gonna come in with a pile of cash and say, Hey, can we subsidize these players playtime by giving you but Justin commented on Justin commented on this this week?
00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:12.000
It what's the how much is the ad tier?
00:38:12.159 --> 00:38:14.000
Is it$13 or something like that?
00:38:14.159 --> 00:38:15.119
That seems high.
00:38:15.519 --> 00:38:16.079
That's a lot.
00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:17.519
That's a lot, that's dumb.
00:38:17.679 --> 00:38:19.360
And I I fully align with that.
00:38:19.440 --> 00:38:20.079
This should be free.
00:38:20.159 --> 00:38:22.480
I I say this across all forms of entertainment medium.
00:38:22.559 --> 00:38:25.199
It's like you're competing with TikTok and YouTube and all those things are free.
00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:30.880
So if you're gonna do the end, does that does that mean that the open it actually makes it more attractive to brands for that way?
00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:43.119
Because then the Proctor and Gamble can come in and make a big a big splash about it and say, we Procter and Gamble are supporting this get called whatever Call of Duty, whatever, this game, and we will make it free for you.
00:38:43.360 --> 00:38:48.880
And so it it almost feels more benevolent of them, or or does that create like a two-tier system?
00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:50.559
I think you're running into contract.
00:38:50.800 --> 00:39:08.639
This is outside my skis, but my hunch is that you have these long-standing uh contracts with developers that they're party publishers where um they're expecting X amount of take uh within a prior time period, and Xbox can't guarantee that ad fill, so they have to hedge by having a floor price of getting in the room.
00:39:08.719 --> 00:39:09.599
That's my hunch, right?
00:39:10.079 --> 00:39:11.119
I I would agree with that.
00:39:11.199 --> 00:39:19.599
Yeah, um, so that's what it's all about is that they're they're they're waffling, and it's a fair waffle because they have not had a successful ad business.
00:39:19.679 --> 00:39:31.920
I mean, it should be embarrassing to Microsoft that uh OpenAI sprung up a billion-dollar ad business in 200 days, and Xbox and Microsoft as a company is like struggling to like get past the you know the 10 to 12 billion ad business.
00:39:32.079 --> 00:39:37.679
And just for the benefit of of anybody who's who's who's watching, what what does this look like?
00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:44.559
This is I I I I turn on the the Xbox, I select my game, then when you know we're getting the splash screens, right?
00:39:44.639 --> 00:39:45.920
The the logos and so on.
00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:51.599
It comes before then, and I I watch one advert, or does it do or does it it interrupt me and put more?
00:39:51.920 --> 00:39:58.480
Well, I'll pass off to let me describe what I think because they've already this is all rumor, but let's go to the thing that's very clearly going to be ad-driven.
00:39:58.559 --> 00:40:00.000
It's the cloud gaming hours.
00:40:00.079 --> 00:40:11.119
It's like, hey, you use up your cloud gaming hours, you could give us X amount of dollars for more, or there's another box here that says watch a five minutes of ads to get three hours like a mobile game or something.
00:40:11.599 --> 00:40:12.559
Ding ding ding.
00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:13.519
Yeah, exactly right.
00:40:13.599 --> 00:40:17.039
Um, they're setting that up as rewarded, like basically for time.
00:40:17.119 --> 00:40:18.000
That's what they're setting up.
00:40:18.079 --> 00:40:26.079
So that'll be the first version of ads and anything in Xbox that goes this high scale is gonna be some sort of earn more cloud hours by watching ads.
00:40:26.400 --> 00:40:35.039
I I think they're gonna take a lot of cues from CTV and like what Amazon's doing with pause screen ads.
00:40:35.119 --> 00:40:45.039
I think those are gonna be very popular because you can throw a QR code up there and like, hey, like download now, purchase your tickets now, order this now, right?
00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:46.079
Like it's it's right there.
00:40:46.159 --> 00:40:48.639
I think that'll be another big ticket item for them.
00:40:48.800 --> 00:41:06.800
But I wanted to jump back to what you were saying before, Colin, because like there's we talked to a lot of people on this um separately, but like you have a situation where CMOs and marketing people look at something like Roblox and they're like, this is super cool.
00:41:07.039 --> 00:41:09.119
I love that all the kids are on this.
00:41:09.360 --> 00:41:12.960
There's you know, the daily activities always continue to to skyrocket.
00:41:13.119 --> 00:41:15.039
I have no idea how to advertise here.
00:41:15.199 --> 00:41:22.000
There's no programmatic pipes, there's there's rewarded stuff, there's like integrations with Google, there's rewarded ads, things like that.
00:41:22.159 --> 00:41:28.239
But in a lot of ways, it's like this is digital billboard, it's like out of home advertising in a game, right?
00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:30.559
Like if they don't see the billboard, who like my impression?
00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:35.760
And you can build like a branded game, but a lot of those just get zero traction.
00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:46.079
They're super expensive, and the minute the like look that I've heard pray tell of this, but like the minute somebody goes in, gets their free stuff, they're out of there.
00:41:46.159 --> 00:41:48.239
Like they're you know, it's they're they're totally gone.
00:41:48.400 --> 00:41:51.039
Not to mention, you have to maintain that digital space.
00:41:51.199 --> 00:41:55.519
So it's like you have to keep the thing, you have to keep the the flywheel spinning.
00:41:55.760 --> 00:42:09.360
However, if you think about this as an opportunity for the PNGs of the world to sit there and say, like, I love gaming, I think it's the next, you know, I think it is the next CTV in retail media, etc.
00:42:09.920 --> 00:42:13.920
I understand what Roblox is, there are challenges.
00:42:14.239 --> 00:42:27.280
Microsoft looks like the biggest allegory to CTV that CMOs can wrap their heads around and be like, it's pre-roll, it's pause screen ads, there's an engaged audience.
00:42:27.440 --> 00:42:32.480
These rewarded ads, the completion times are always 100%, strangely enough, right?
00:42:32.639 --> 00:42:48.480
Like, so it's that kind of mentality that that that I'm super bullish on this because well, so following this through to its logical conclusion, um, and we'll treat Nintendo differently, but does this mean that that Sony Sony follows suit if if Microsoft does this successfully?
00:42:48.800 --> 00:42:49.679
I I see.
00:42:49.840 --> 00:42:54.480
I think there's a so to jump in this fire, because you've already seen it from the gaming industry.
00:42:54.559 --> 00:43:02.000
I mean, I I get pillared all the time and like hard and feathered on on the platforms as uh being for all the sorts of reasons.
00:43:02.639 --> 00:43:07.920
But ads being like number one, I get the most pushback on being this like ad person.
00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:10.239
Um, I'm the LinkedIn ads gaming guy.
00:43:10.320 --> 00:43:11.679
Um, am I okay?
00:43:11.840 --> 00:43:13.280
I guess I I own that now.
00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:16.400
And so I think that's a huge portion of that.
00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:20.559
So I think the gaming industry is very uh hesitant to jump in because there's no desperation.
00:43:20.639 --> 00:43:23.840
I think you have to be desperate to be willing to make a move like this.
00:43:23.920 --> 00:43:31.599
And I think Xbox, where they are right now in terms of its damage devices, is at the point of desperation to just say, this is why they brought Matt Ball in.
00:43:31.679 --> 00:43:32.960
It's like we have to try something.
00:43:33.039 --> 00:43:35.119
Let's try it's a hail Hail Mary.
00:43:35.519 --> 00:43:35.840
Yeah.
00:43:36.480 --> 00:43:38.000
Sony's not in a Hail Mary position.
00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:45.599
They're gonna make more money this year than they had any year because Grand Theft Auto 6 and the 30% tax they make on it, is just gonna make everything look great there.
00:43:45.679 --> 00:43:48.000
And they'll be like, yeah, we had a most profitable year together.
00:43:48.079 --> 00:43:49.360
What why change much, right?
00:43:49.440 --> 00:43:56.079
And we'll just kind of continue this like soft reset of we actually aren't doing live service games anymore and kind of continue on.
00:43:56.400 --> 00:43:59.039
But I I I think it'll be successful.
00:43:59.119 --> 00:43:59.679
I I had a point.
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:01.440
Point on the oh the advertising.
00:44:01.519 --> 00:44:03.920
So there's two types of advertisers for those who are listening to this.
00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:06.239
Like, and I I try to get this across in my newsletters.
00:44:06.400 --> 00:44:08.320
There is the brands that we're talking about.
00:44:08.480 --> 00:44:13.760
That's what everyone thinks about advertisers' brands of Procter Gamble, McDonald's, Chipotle.
00:44:14.000 --> 00:44:18.400
These are big brands that are have CMOs that I always call gray beards.
00:44:18.480 --> 00:44:21.599
They like what they like, they aren't going to change to chase the hot new thing.
00:44:21.679 --> 00:44:27.760
And like their ad spin is very much on they want to be on the big flat screen device in everyone's living room.
00:44:27.840 --> 00:44:28.559
That's where they want to be.
00:44:28.639 --> 00:44:30.559
That's the natural home for brand advertising.
00:44:30.800 --> 00:44:35.840
On the other side, there is D2C, small consumer brands, and basically flood meta.
00:44:36.079 --> 00:44:42.000
If you go on Instagram today, it's like a shopping mall for random shit you never knew existed for parts of the world you didn't know existed either.
00:44:42.079 --> 00:44:46.079
You're like, oh great, I could buy a poll to hang on my skeleton for Halloween out of China.
00:44:46.159 --> 00:44:46.400
Why not?
00:44:46.559 --> 00:44:47.840
Sure, bye, bye, bye, right?
00:44:48.000 --> 00:44:50.079
All powered by Shopify on the back end.
00:44:50.239 --> 00:44:52.480
Great business there, very different ad model.
00:44:52.639 --> 00:44:55.519
There, what Xbox and gaming would go after is the brand side.
00:44:55.599 --> 00:44:59.119
They're going after brands, they're trying to get the brand side, which is a very big business, too.
00:44:59.199 --> 00:45:03.199
It's not both can coexist, and that's where I see that going.
00:45:03.360 --> 00:45:12.800
But like I also think that one of the most natural uh buyers of ads on a gaming platform is going to be gaming companies, which inserts the D2C model.
00:45:12.960 --> 00:45:21.519
So when I think of D2C within gaming, I think it's going to be your small indies with very little budget who are going to put a little bit of money into the ad engine to see if they could draw people in their game.
00:45:21.760 --> 00:45:26.400
Which let's I think it'll be suggesting because the targeting will get better.
00:45:26.480 --> 00:45:28.480
So we asked this question how do you fix discovery?
00:45:28.559 --> 00:45:30.400
This is my whole point on how you fix discovery.
00:45:30.559 --> 00:45:36.159
The better the ad technology gets for Microsoft, the more they could support the DC side of gaming, which is effectively.
00:45:36.480 --> 00:45:48.960
So I so, for example, I'm launching uh you know Valamortis or some sort of indie Souls like, and I buy an ad in front of Elden Ring, for example, or yeah, pick your genre.
00:45:49.039 --> 00:45:50.400
Is it that that type of motion?
00:45:50.960 --> 00:46:05.679
Like, but Colin, you say like the the ad tech getting better, like their data should be if you think about the Xbox play, like that data should be wildly good, right?
00:46:06.079 --> 00:46:10.400
Yeah, but you you with ads, you have the interaction with ads.
00:46:10.480 --> 00:46:16.320
So the more ads you have, the the more triggers inside the basically the tech sack you have on a signal, right?
00:46:16.400 --> 00:46:19.760
So right now a game is one signal of what they play, how long they play it, right?
00:46:19.840 --> 00:46:25.039
But that's a signal, what they consume on the ad side, what they say I like, what I'm interested in, do their wish list.
00:46:25.280 --> 00:46:28.719
These become additional signals that then make the ad tech stack a lot better, Justin.
00:46:28.880 --> 00:46:34.880
So like I just think like you need to have an ad sack to make the other side better, the recommendation algorithm better.
00:46:35.039 --> 00:46:54.719
And ultimately, I do think this helps the business because right now these small indie companies, and I sympathize, and you know, I wouldn't call um I wouldn't call the um the control team necessarily small indies, but like they're gonna go out and rent a bunch of content creators on Twitch and pay them an exorbit amount of money and then hope their audience converts over to their um to their kind of game.
00:46:54.960 --> 00:47:17.360
What a better use of that money be if there was an actual ad engine inside the gaming environment where customers could buy and like wish they said kind of consume games, then yeah, like they were going to migrate their money away from these influencers eventually toward an ad engine that actually functionally works, that puts them in front of the players that need to play the game, so they don't have to spend an absorbent amount of money renting attention from the other side, right?
00:47:17.440 --> 00:47:23.199
That's I because that's what they're doing now, they're all renting attention from creators, and I don't think that worked.
00:47:23.519 --> 00:47:25.119
Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right.
00:47:25.679 --> 00:47:27.840
Color me surprised that they call you the ads guy.
00:47:28.159 --> 00:47:29.360
I'm shocked to hear that.
00:47:29.440 --> 00:47:34.719
But Simon does Sony follow suit?
00:47:34.960 --> 00:47:36.079
Uh, I don't think so.
00:47:36.239 --> 00:47:46.559
Uh, I I think we're moving into the world where Sony is gonna start competing directly with Nintendo one-on-one as being the console console, the gamers console, and Microsoft is gonna start going after Steam and mobile.
00:47:46.719 --> 00:47:54.800
I think with the news this week or last week that uh they were thinking about merging savvy and EA, or they were thinking about doing something with that.
00:47:54.880 --> 00:48:04.719
I think it's kind of the writing on the wall that it's not gonna be mobile, but the mobile stack, the mobile mindset, the same thing Asha and Xbox have, or how do you do that?
00:48:04.800 --> 00:48:16.079
So I think Sony and goes more the console route to go against Nintendo, whereas everyone But that brings us back to our conversation last week, Greg, which is where are the games, right?
00:48:16.239 --> 00:48:19.679
Like, so that's Sony's problem with competing with with Nintendo.
00:48:19.760 --> 00:48:23.840
Um, Nintendo, I think, over the last 24 months has been pretty you know fairly prolific, right?
00:48:23.920 --> 00:48:28.559
There hasn't been a new Mario, but we've got you know Zelda coming and and so on.
00:48:28.639 --> 00:48:31.760
Um, you know, there have been multiple got a 10.
00:48:31.840 --> 00:48:37.039
I mean, like all those hot Kirby games, come on, like yeah, I mean well Kirby's huge.
00:48:37.280 --> 00:48:41.440
I and Sony they all go through peaks and valleys, though.
00:48:41.519 --> 00:48:46.559
I feel like you look at every console generation and you see, hey, this one's missed a year, this one missed a year.
00:48:46.639 --> 00:48:49.599
I feel like this just happens to be the down year for Sony.
00:48:49.679 --> 00:48:51.519
They're probably building everything in next year.
00:48:51.679 --> 00:48:53.920
They have to do a better job at spreading things out.
00:48:54.000 --> 00:48:55.119
That that seems to be the thing.
00:48:55.599 --> 00:48:56.239
I disagree.
00:48:56.320 --> 00:49:08.719
Like, I just it I saw uh image of Nintendo uh Switch 2 uh exclusives that come out so far versus Sony's PS5, and you're like just floored, like how many Switch 2 exclusives there are.
00:49:08.960 --> 00:49:15.519
I just think Nintendo runs a better job at making games for cost-effective means and like just sits on them and puts them out when they want to put them out, right?
00:49:15.599 --> 00:49:21.440
Not everyone plays them because they don't have to, because they have volume, they know their audience, they know what drives people to their platform.
00:49:21.519 --> 00:49:22.159
I I don't know.
00:49:22.239 --> 00:49:23.920
I I kind of disagree with that.
00:49:24.000 --> 00:49:31.760
I do do that will say that Sony is in a bit of a desert because of the first half of this decade, they just spent it chasing games they shouldn't have been chasing.
00:49:31.840 --> 00:49:35.840
So they're in a big like kind of mini reset, and I wish them the best.
00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:43.280
But I think the challenge for Sony is I don't think they're gonna chase the platform side of the business as fast as Microsoft clearly is.
00:49:43.519 --> 00:49:53.039
I also don't think they're sitting on the IP um that um Nintendo is, and so I think they might be in the middle and they're gonna like have to figure their way out of the middle, right?
00:49:53.440 --> 00:49:59.519
Devil's advocate, then like why why would they take why would they go the anti-PC route?
00:50:00.400 --> 00:50:05.840
They have to, I mean, they have to go the anti-PC route because they're basically competing with like similarly priced.
00:50:06.079 --> 00:50:07.679
I mean, not similarly priced, it's a lie.
00:50:07.760 --> 00:50:18.559
Like gaming PCs are so expensive, but as console prices go up, you're players are gonna be gonna ask, why would I buy this machine that only plays on my TV, where I could buy this other machine that does its other things too?
00:50:18.719 --> 00:50:18.960
Yeah.
00:50:19.440 --> 00:50:20.239
Sell consoles.
00:50:20.320 --> 00:50:22.559
Uh, quick question before we move on.
00:50:22.800 --> 00:50:29.599
When by year do we think we get PlayStation 6 and the next and the next Xbox console?
00:50:32.719 --> 00:50:33.199
Two years.
00:50:33.679 --> 00:50:34.320
Two years?
00:50:34.559 --> 00:50:35.119
28?
00:50:35.440 --> 00:50:36.800
I think 28, 29.
00:50:37.280 --> 00:50:37.840
Yeah.
00:50:38.559 --> 00:50:51.360
I I think we're gonna wait out the memory crisis, and I think GTA 6 sales are gonna give them all pause to move, like, because they'll move a lot of hardware for both everyone, and I think they're gonna give them pause of like we can't just rug pull them, they're not gonna move over.
00:50:51.519 --> 00:50:52.480
So what are we doing this for?
00:50:52.800 --> 00:51:00.639
Do you think what was the gap between the three like PS3 4 PS3 and 4?
00:51:01.440 --> 00:51:06.239
And I guess it was the 360 and the Xbox One seven or eight.
00:51:06.559 --> 00:51:15.599
And when but but what and then when Grand Theft Auto came out, like did those new consoles come out like right at the tail end of when Grand Theft Auto came out?
00:51:16.239 --> 00:51:16.400
No.
00:51:16.960 --> 00:51:17.519
Uh no.
00:51:17.679 --> 00:51:19.840
I mean it did, but they planned to port it over.
00:51:19.920 --> 00:51:21.440
It's it so yes and no.
00:51:21.920 --> 00:51:34.960
They did right because that's like that would be my like if somebody's going out and buying a PlayStation 5 or a PS5 Pro, I'd be pretty upset if like three weeks later, they're like, hey, by the way, there's a new system coming out.
00:51:35.119 --> 00:51:37.519
I I yeah, I think late later is better.
00:51:37.599 --> 00:51:46.719
I I you know, and it's hard, it's hard for me, frankly, to conceive of what would be an exclusive, you know, sort of console um seller uh there.
00:51:47.039 --> 00:51:48.400
And it but it is interesting, right?
00:51:48.559 --> 00:51:55.920
GTA reportedly in most of the Western world has driven PlayStation Pros to be to be available to purchase out of stock.
00:51:56.000 --> 00:51:57.039
Yeah, so you're right, you're right.
00:51:57.440 --> 00:51:59.199
You know, Sony is benefiting already.
00:51:59.440 --> 00:52:01.599
Yeah, I can't leave Xbox conversation.
00:52:01.679 --> 00:52:05.199
I see trying to pivot Greg without throwing flowers at Blizzard and BlizzCon.
00:52:05.360 --> 00:52:06.639
What an amazing event last week.
00:52:06.719 --> 00:52:08.800
I just had the just hats off to Blizzard.
00:52:08.880 --> 00:52:17.280
I saw all the streamers like on the beta access for World of Warcraft Forever, and I didn't I was shocked.
00:52:17.360 --> 00:52:31.199
I work with Blizzard, um, and I did I know what's gonna happen, and I was just shocked about the amount of stuff they announced and showed and how fast some of it just came out, and um, they're obviously here to serve as fans and they have the means to do so.
00:52:31.360 --> 00:52:42.079
Um, right, leaning on big IP, I think is what Asha said when she came in, and Blizzard definitely was like, got it, no more noted, and they leaned in on their big IP and came out guns blazing.
00:52:42.159 --> 00:52:42.960
So this is awesome.
00:52:43.519 --> 00:52:45.920
You mentioned the word rushed, and I'm curious at some point.
00:52:46.079 --> 00:52:52.639
Do you think everyone as of a month or two ago are like, oh shit, we got to do something and come up with some some sort of video result?
00:52:53.039 --> 00:52:59.039
I still think 2030 is a far time away to be talking about a game right now, especially when Microsoft came out a few years ago.
00:52:59.119 --> 00:53:04.320
It was like, we're only gonna talk about games coming out in the next calendar year, so you don't get too excited about it.
00:53:04.480 --> 00:53:05.760
Boom, 2030.
00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:13.920
I see I mean, I disagree because they gave they gave you a Warcraft 3 expansion after 25 years.
00:53:14.079 --> 00:53:16.480
It's like I never thought I'd see the day.
00:53:16.559 --> 00:53:26.719
I'm playing, I I'm going to burn through Wolverine so fast this weekend so I could jump on Forsaken and play World of Warcraft or War Warcraft III, because that's the game I actually want to play in October now.
00:53:26.800 --> 00:53:29.440
Because I I'm so it's one of my top 10 games of all time.
00:53:29.599 --> 00:53:30.320
Warcraft 3.
00:53:30.400 --> 00:53:30.960
I love that game.
00:53:31.039 --> 00:53:31.599
I'm so excited.
00:53:32.320 --> 00:53:36.480
Oh, you mean one of the most important video games in the last like 30 years?
00:53:36.800 --> 00:53:37.440
Absolutely.
00:53:37.679 --> 00:53:43.199
An iconic video game in the Hall of Fame of video games that spun off massive genres that it itself didn't take advantage of.
00:53:43.280 --> 00:53:43.679
But that's okay.
00:53:44.639 --> 00:53:47.199
Wait, wait, are we are we talking about Sekiro now?
00:53:47.360 --> 00:54:07.119
Uh no, so so just to be clear, the the get the 2030 game is a is a StarCraft game, but it's a different genre, it's a shooter, which is that in and of itself, from a brand perspective, in terms of growing and building that that out, is yeah, because obviously there's a there is a a huge IP there.
00:54:07.199 --> 00:54:09.360
Um and one are they just doing relatively on time?
00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:10.800
Is that what they're doing?
00:54:11.039 --> 00:54:14.719
I played Ghost at E3 many, many, many, many, many years ago.
00:54:14.880 --> 00:54:17.199
Um, so I I remember that game.
00:54:17.360 --> 00:54:26.239
Um I have a a really strong wish and hope that this starcraft game is a rogue roguelike game.
00:54:26.400 --> 00:54:33.199
I feel like the way they showed that commercial off where the soldier gets built, soldier trains his whole life, comes out, dies right away.
00:54:33.440 --> 00:54:34.239
Next one comes in.
00:54:34.400 --> 00:54:36.320
I'm like, this would be a really cool roguelike.
00:54:36.639 --> 00:54:40.719
Like each time you go out, you only make it so far, but you you get stronger and stronger.
00:54:40.880 --> 00:54:43.440
I thought that could be so much.
00:54:44.559 --> 00:54:48.719
To talk about the gaming comeback, which I think is something that's happening in November.
00:54:48.880 --> 00:54:51.920
Like, you have three games coming out that are all gonna be massive.
00:54:52.000 --> 00:54:58.239
Like I Zelda uh Ocarita Town remake is pacing, outpacing Tears of the Kingdom, and it's demand tracking in our tool.
00:54:58.320 --> 00:55:01.599
Um, now I don't think it's gonna sell as well as it obviously can't.
00:55:01.679 --> 00:55:13.840
There's less devices in the universe for Switch 2, but it's just crushing through um any it broke through in a way that's like just like okay, this game is gonna be a massive game and probably move a lot of switch hardware in the holidays.
00:55:13.920 --> 00:55:16.400
And now you have Warcraft Forever for all the PC people.
00:55:16.559 --> 00:55:20.320
And so I don't know, it part of it's like millennial nostalgia wave.
00:55:20.400 --> 00:55:28.960
It's like all the things that millennials like Red Theft Auto, Zelda, Green of Time, World of Warcraft, like all coming at the same time in like uh a month.
00:55:29.039 --> 00:55:30.079
That's just like, oh my gosh.
00:55:30.159 --> 00:55:40.079
But I do think just these three so you would view that now as being the the third in the top three you know games for the remainder of the year in terms of oh yeah, I think World of Warcraft Forever is gonna be a massive game.
00:55:40.159 --> 00:55:41.360
We don't have the data to support that.
00:55:41.440 --> 00:55:45.199
I'm just seeing, and I'm like, I could I just gonna see a huge bump next week in our data.
00:55:45.280 --> 00:55:46.960
It's with the beta on top of it.
00:55:47.039 --> 00:55:48.320
It's just gonna be a monster game.
00:55:48.400 --> 00:55:59.599
I think it's the always come out like when at any time there's a World of Warcraft like up, those fans like they come out of the woodworks hard.
00:55:59.679 --> 00:56:05.920
Like they're a DLC of a story or an expansion of a story that a lot of people dropped off of.
00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:13.679
This is like, hey guys, we're bringing it back to first principles, we're changing it, it's a different game, we're adding a lot more stuff here.
00:56:13.840 --> 00:56:14.559
Um, we're making it a lot of things.
00:56:14.719 --> 00:56:16.079
Can I can I ask a question?
00:56:16.239 --> 00:56:18.719
This is a because I think this is a really, really important question.
00:56:18.800 --> 00:56:27.199
And I'm I just to be clear for yourself, for you guys, and for the audience, I know very, very little about Warcraft in in general.
00:56:27.679 --> 00:56:32.559
What is the difference between the audience between this World of Warcraft classic?
00:56:32.880 --> 00:56:33.760
I think it's called, right?
00:56:33.840 --> 00:56:39.599
The new one that's coming out that's a return to first principles, as you characterized it, and where World of Warcraft is presently.
00:56:39.679 --> 00:56:42.800
What's the different profile of those those players?
00:56:43.199 --> 00:56:54.159
It it's almost it's almost, I would say, for me as someone who's not played World of Warcraft uh in about like 15, 16 years, uh, to me, it's an honor at back and no, I didn't play Wild Classic.
00:56:54.320 --> 00:56:56.639
So they had Wild Classic come out in 2019.
00:56:56.719 --> 00:57:00.960
I memory escapes me, which was like updated graphics, but everything was the same.
00:57:01.039 --> 00:57:05.679
The quests were the same, literally the dungeons were the same, nothing changed except it just made it easier to play, right?
00:57:05.840 --> 00:57:08.320
Like, and a lot of people got excited about that and it very well.
00:57:08.480 --> 00:57:12.960
This is a almost the best kind of remake, it's a reimagining remake, right?
00:57:13.039 --> 00:57:16.719
Where it's like, yeah, we're giving you the same thing, but we're also changing it.
00:57:16.800 --> 00:57:19.039
So it's not going to be one-to-one the same.
00:57:19.280 --> 00:57:31.440
Whereas is, I think where WoW is now is just a very steady audience that declines very slowly over a long period of time because people have spent their lives basically playing this game, right?
00:57:31.599 --> 00:57:33.760
Their lives and other kids' lives are playing this game.
00:57:33.840 --> 00:57:36.079
Like, this is a multi-generational IP.
00:57:36.239 --> 00:57:41.760
But what I think the new one, World of Warcraft Forever, is doing is it's pulling everyone back in.
00:57:41.920 --> 00:57:44.719
Or as the memes on the internet said, I hope I can say this great.
00:57:44.960 --> 00:57:52.079
Like, my favorite one was, hey guys, um, I've been, you know, I got some time in my hands, and Blizzard goes, Hey, do you want some heroin?
00:57:52.480 --> 00:57:54.320
Like, oh, why not?
00:57:54.559 --> 00:58:00.559
Yeah, it makes me think, just putting on my film and TV hat, what a what a missed opportunity that that movie was.
00:58:00.639 --> 00:58:10.480
I mean, I think it did okay, especially in in China, but obviously, again, a massive, massive IP um that could support audio, visual, and and and other and other things.
00:58:10.800 --> 00:58:12.000
It should have been a TV show.
00:58:12.079 --> 00:58:13.599
There's like no way you make that movie.
00:58:13.679 --> 00:58:17.039
I just think no, well, World of Warcraft.
00:58:17.199 --> 00:58:18.159
Warcraft should have been a show.
00:58:18.239 --> 00:58:19.920
Um they needed the rock in there.
00:58:20.320 --> 00:58:22.079
And what about uh Diablo?
00:58:22.320 --> 00:58:29.920
Because that that's that that seems to me like Diablo 4 came quite quite close, you know, this is quite close on the heels of the last game.
00:58:31.519 --> 00:58:32.960
In Diablo terms, yes.
00:58:33.119 --> 00:58:46.239
Um I think Diablo's facing more competitive pressure than all the other I well I I bought so I say that and like because Path of Exile is the is the Diablo kind of competitor, I POE, PoE2, right?
00:58:46.320 --> 00:58:49.679
And they have pulled the hardcore audience over to their side, right?
00:58:49.760 --> 00:58:57.360
So those who are really into cookie games, like basically have like swear up and down by Path of Exile, including people on my team.
00:58:57.519 --> 00:58:59.039
So that is the camp over here.
00:58:59.119 --> 00:59:08.000
And I think what their complaint about Diablo 4 was was it's too easy, and everyone wants to go back to the olden Diablo era of two and maybe three, but like so.
00:59:08.239 --> 00:59:13.280
For me, and the way I think about it, is Blizzards getting aggressive to uh hold on their turf.
00:59:13.360 --> 00:59:16.000
I don't think they could let another decade go by without releasing something.
00:59:16.079 --> 00:59:31.519
So to me, it's like, guys, we gotta win back our core audience, otherwise, this innocent owned juggernaut over here in PoE um in Granding Gear Games is going to kind of slowly eat our lunch on the hardcore side, and then we're just like it's hard to bring people in on a franchise that's going on.
00:59:32.480 --> 00:59:38.320
Obviously, uh Netflix animated series, which you know is interesting, it's not live action.
00:59:38.400 --> 00:59:39.760
I think that will come eventually.
00:59:39.840 --> 00:59:48.480
But if we look at something like Devil May Cry, it's been pretty consistent with every season of that animated show that's dropped has has caused a spike a spike in in sales.
00:59:48.559 --> 00:59:51.440
So like Dota too, Dota has an animated show on Netflix.
00:59:51.519 --> 00:59:55.840
I think Netflix animation for games is like the double ground of all gaming stuff.
00:59:56.000 --> 01:00:00.559
I I wish they would do something a little not to say like all of it's bad, like DMC did really well.
01:00:00.639 --> 01:00:05.599
I really like the DMC show, um, and obviously our gang, which you know, all that sort of stuff.
01:00:05.679 --> 01:00:08.400
So, anyways, um Overwatch.
01:00:08.960 --> 01:00:13.360
Watch it Saturday mornings, it would crush that show would be so good.
01:00:13.599 --> 01:00:15.440
Saturday morning cartoons, right after Doug.
01:00:15.519 --> 01:00:16.320
I would love it.
01:00:16.639 --> 01:00:24.400
All right, we're gonna end the show with one question each week, and it's gonna be what has captured your attention for this week?
01:00:24.559 --> 01:00:29.519
It could be a show, it could be a movie, it could be a book, it could be anything, and we will wrap it with that.
01:00:29.599 --> 01:00:33.280
So we'll go around and also let us know where we can find you or follow.
01:00:33.440 --> 01:00:37.199
I'll start off by saying this week we watched Widow's Bay.
01:00:37.440 --> 01:00:43.760
I'm really shocked at one of Emmy for the best comedy series, but that's a whole nother conversation, which we can have another day.
01:00:43.840 --> 01:00:47.280
It was really a fun TV show, something I did not expect coming.
01:00:47.440 --> 01:00:53.599
Uh, I am not sure where we're gonna watch next, probably the next Ted Lasso, but I would highly recommend Widows Bay.
01:00:53.760 --> 01:00:58.159
Justin, what are you watching or reading or uh so where you can find me?
01:00:58.320 --> 01:01:00.880
The two LIs, LinkedIn and Long Island.
01:01:01.119 --> 01:01:04.480
Um uh I'm rolling with that.
01:01:04.559 --> 01:01:06.159
That's my new that's my new tag.
01:01:06.559 --> 01:01:10.079
Um Wolverine in Japan.
01:01:10.239 --> 01:01:11.840
I'm almost finished with it.
01:01:12.000 --> 01:01:18.559
I've also been playing um friend of Greg and myself, and hopefully the rest of this show.
01:01:18.800 --> 01:01:23.360
Um, my buddy Brooklyn and I are have been playing Orbitals on Switch.
01:01:23.440 --> 01:01:25.119
That game rules, it's really good.
01:01:25.280 --> 01:01:28.320
I have Fire Emblem downloaded, I can't wait to start that.
01:01:28.559 --> 01:01:35.519
And then watching, I'm trying to convince my wife to watch lanterns, but she doesn't want to.
01:01:35.679 --> 01:01:42.079
Um, so instead, we're watching Crew Girl on Netflix, which is How did I know you would?
01:01:44.320 --> 01:01:45.920
Five seasons of Virgin River.
01:01:46.000 --> 01:01:47.119
What gave it away?
01:01:47.440 --> 01:01:57.039
Um that show is like look, the Amazon high school one or college one, what was it off campus?
01:01:57.360 --> 01:01:59.679
Yeah, that one okay.
01:01:59.920 --> 01:02:01.679
That one was alright.
01:02:01.920 --> 01:02:08.559
This is like this is making crew off campus look like like like Shakespeare.
01:02:08.880 --> 01:02:10.480
Like exactly, like speaker.
01:02:10.719 --> 01:02:11.519
Oh my gosh.
01:02:11.760 --> 01:02:20.159
Um, it's not great, but it's mindless, and there's a lot of like crew terms, and I guess I'm learning a lot more about rowing than I ever wanted to.
01:02:24.159 --> 01:02:31.119
I have been traveling this week, so my my consumption has been just excitement for Warcraft, World Warcraft stuff.
01:02:31.199 --> 01:02:35.679
So I'll just say that um if you were to pin me down, I did beat 007 first light.
01:02:35.760 --> 01:02:38.079
Um, so that was on my attention.
01:02:38.239 --> 01:02:38.960
I got through it.
01:02:39.039 --> 01:02:40.000
Um, I have thoughts.
01:02:40.079 --> 01:02:41.679
Um overall, I thought it was a solid game.
01:02:41.760 --> 01:02:42.559
I hope they get a second.
01:02:42.960 --> 01:02:44.480
I would I want to see where the story goes.
01:02:44.559 --> 01:02:52.559
Um, and I hope they just bring in uh a better script writer for parts of it because I think it could have been updated, but I get what they're doing, so I'm excited for the next one.
01:02:52.719 --> 01:02:54.239
Um, and Wolverine this weekend.
01:02:54.320 --> 01:02:57.920
I gotta get through Wolverine so I can play Warcraft III.
01:02:58.000 --> 01:02:59.599
Uh Wolverine Warcraft III.
01:02:59.679 --> 01:03:01.039
That's where my attention is.
01:03:01.440 --> 01:03:03.280
I'm I'm back in the WoW universe.
01:03:03.360 --> 01:03:04.239
I never thought I'd say that.
01:03:04.320 --> 01:03:04.880
I'm back, baby.
01:03:04.960 --> 01:03:05.199
Let's go.
01:03:05.440 --> 01:03:05.920
Idea.
01:03:06.079 --> 01:03:06.719
Back to Azra.
01:03:07.039 --> 01:03:08.400
Simon, what you're watching?
01:03:08.719 --> 01:03:16.400
Well, I'm reading um Gentleman Bastards uh Loclamora Book 2, which I'm very much enjoying, fantasy uh series.
01:03:16.639 --> 01:03:23.199
Um, I restarted um Silo, which I hadn't really watched the first time around and quite enjoying it.
01:03:23.280 --> 01:03:37.039
But game-wise, the thing actually that that completely surprised me, um, and none of you will play, is the Wo Long 2 uh demo, very early beta demo that that dropped, which I've played a little bit and absolutely loved.
01:03:37.119 --> 01:03:43.360
And actually, I was planning to start uh so I plan to finish Dawnwalker tonight and start on Emousha, but that's kind of pulled me away.
01:03:43.440 --> 01:03:45.199
I I love that first game, Wo Long.
01:03:45.280 --> 01:03:55.119
It's um one of my most sort of underrated um you know games in the last few years, um, and you know, same developers as you know, Neo and similar you know games in that genre.
01:03:55.199 --> 01:03:56.400
So uh check it out.
01:03:56.719 --> 01:03:57.679
Are you in a swamp?
01:03:57.760 --> 01:03:58.880
Do you have a sword?
01:03:59.119 --> 01:04:00.719
Um You have a sword.
01:04:00.880 --> 01:04:03.440
I haven't yet I have not yet encountered a swamp.
01:04:03.519 --> 01:04:06.719
I'm certain there will be one at sort of one point in in time.
01:04:06.880 --> 01:04:14.559
It's quite parry heavy, but it has a slightly different sort of um uh mechanism to some to some other games and how it does that.
01:04:14.719 --> 01:04:18.559
So we are at time for the audience.
01:04:18.639 --> 01:04:20.639
We have more people watching this week than last week.
01:04:20.719 --> 01:04:21.920
Thank you so much for tuning in.
01:04:22.000 --> 01:04:24.559
You can come join the Discord, it's over my head.
01:04:24.639 --> 01:04:27.440
Uh we are having conversations in there, we're kicking it off.
01:04:27.519 --> 01:04:29.039
So come join the Discord.
01:04:29.119 --> 01:04:31.920
We appreciate you joining and have a great weekend, everyone.