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I'm back after nearly a month off and joined by my man, my mellow, the smoothest kind of fellow — Cam Hawkins of the Party Chat JRPG Podcast — to unpack a HEAVY few weeks in gaming.We open with the news that broke our hearts: BioWare is closing. After more than 30 years and franchises like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Anthem, EA is shutting the studio down and ending development on the next Mass Effect project. We read through BioWare's farewell statement, talk about how this one hit different than other closures, and dig into the leaked Mass Effect trailer that showed us exactly what we were going to lose — including a middle-aged Liara anchoring a brand new trilogy.Cam and I get into:• Why BioWare's influence runs through Witcher 3, Baldur's Gate 3, and basically every modern Western RPG• The "save Mass Effect" campaign and whether any publisher could realistically pick BioWare up• EA's restructuring, the Saudi buyout, and the "open world football" direction that doesn't inspire confidence• IP fatigue, Expedition 33, and whether gamers really know what they want• The "too online" problem and how it distorts what success looks like• How Japanese studios develop talent differently from the layoff-heavy US modelThen we get into WHAT WE'VE BEEN PLAYING:• Valor Mortis — the Napoleon-era Souls-adjacent first-person parry game from the Ghostrunner devs (BioShock vibes, Atomic Heart energy)• Final Fantasy Resonance — Cam makes the case that THIS might be the JRPG for me, and I'm actually convinced• Toy Story Retro Roundup — Atari going HAM on nostalgia (and I admit I've never seen a Toy Story movie, send help)• Gears of War: E-Day — I'm calling it: the best Gears game ever made. Prequel done right, Dom finally gets his moment, locusts are terrifying again• Control Resonant — probably my GOTY. Smarter than the original, better enemy diversity, that ending is WILDHeads up: Mark Grisby, co-studio head of Infinity Ward, is coming on the show this week to talk Call of Duty. Stay locked in.— FOLLOW SPAWN ON ME —X / Twitter: @SpawnOnMeInstagram: @spawnonmepodcastTikTok: @spawnonmeYouTube: youtube.com/SPAWNONMETwitch (Live Wed 6PM PST): twitch.tv/SPAWNONMEAll links: campsite.bio/spawnonmeBusiness: spawnonmepodcast@gmail.com
