Guardians of The Galaxy, Deus Ex Studio in Trouble - Kinda Funny Games Daily 12.03.25

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Guardians of The Galaxy, Deus Ex Studio in Trouble - Kinda Funny Games Daily 12.03.25
Date: December 3, 2025
Hosts: Blessing Adeoye Jr., Tim Gettys (Barrett also joins mid-show)

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Overview

This episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily dives into a tumultuous day in gaming news, led by discussion of layoffs at Eidos Montreal (the studio behind Guardians of the Galaxy and Deus Ex), industry trends on layoffs and consolidations, the significance of review scores and the online conversation around them, Kojima’s upcoming GDC keynote, and the huge news that Saudi Arabia will control 93% of EA after a buyout. The hosts also field listener questions, riff on gaming culture, and end on some lighter news items and inside jokes. The tone is conversational, energetic, sometimes irreverent—but always passionate about gaming and the state of the industry.

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Table of Contents

• Opening Banter & Review Score Discourse (01:07–09:29)
• Layoffs at Eidos Montreal & Industry Reflections (12:24–21:25)
• Kojima's GDC Keynote Announcement (21:25–26:30)
• Horses Game Bans and Artistic Censorship (32:19–40:23)
• Super Chats - Listener Interactions (31:40–47:56)
• Saudi Arabia's EA Takeover & Industry Impact (47:58–50:21)
• Call of Duty’s Underperformance & Changing Shooter Landscape (50:21–55:37)
• Marathon Art Plagiarism Controversy (55:52–56:57)
• WE News – Quickfire Headlines (57:24–64:17)
• Final Super Chats & Bionicle Tangents (64:17–71:18)
• Corrections & Wrap-Up (71:31–end)

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Opening Banter & Review Score Discourse (01:07–09:29)

• Mood: The hosts note a “bad news” day, but try to keep things lively.
• Game review polarization:
  • Tim reflects on reviewing Metroid Prime 4, noting how people get combative about review scores online.

    “I don’t understand how people can not get that everyone has a different opinion... I didn’t see a single Metroid Prime 4 review yesterday that I was like, ‘they’re off base.’” (01:52)

  • Tim argues media is not collectively trying to tank Metacritic or developers’ fortunes.
  • Blessing reminds listeners:

    "You don’t even need to look at Metacritic. You don’t need to care what anybody else thinks about a video game but yourself." (04:15)

• Fantasy Critic’s Influence:
  • The gamification of reviews is discussed.
  • Barrett and Blessing discuss whether Fantasy Critic (the fantasy league for games) is warping how reviewers and fans look at scores.
• Legacy of Review Score Madness:
  • Tim recalls backlash to Jeff Gerstmann’s infamous 8.8 for Twilight Princess, comparing it to today’s discourse.

    “GameSpot, giving that game at that time, that score threw people into a tizzy. [...] Great power, great responsibility...” (06:56)

• Game Awards Conversation:
  • Tim and Blessing refute conspiracies about Jeff Keighley picking nominees or knowing winners in advance.
  • “You can’t speak sense into a masses. That is senseless. It is Pluribus out there.” (Blessing, 07:53)

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Layoffs at Eidos Montreal & Industry Reflections (12:24–21:25)

• Headline: Eidos Montreal (Deus Ex, Guardians of the Galaxy) suffers second round of layoffs in 2025. Most projects (besides supporting Microsoft on titles like Grounded 2 and Fable) seem canceled.
• Industry malaise:
  • Tim expresses fatigue: “It just sucks that it just becomes the same story over and over and it just becomes a gesture at everything.” (14:13)
  • Blessing points out the cutthroat nature of corporate decision-making:

    "How do we make number go up? And it's by cutting people out..." (14:30)

• Support Studio Dilemma:
  • The hosts lament the fate of beloved studios turned into support/dev shops.
  • Activision’s transformation into “Call of Duty mapmakers” is cited as a warning.
  • Blessing: “In my heart already, like, [Eidos Montreal] means it’s completely gone.” (15:01)
• Lost Potential:
  • They mourn the loss of creative franchises (Tomb Raider, Guardians, Deus Ex) and question industry priorities.
  • “Deus Ex, those games are loved... If a new one was announced, people would be excited.” (16:53)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy “was such a hidden gem... We’re never going to get a Guardians 2.” (17:17-18:09)
• Broader Context:
  • Discussion of how multinationals (Square Enix, Embracer, Microsoft) restructure and cut regardless of “success”.
  • Nintendo’s acquisition of Bandai Namco’s Singapore studio is referenced as a rare case of preserving support teams.

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Kojima's GDC Keynote Announcement (21:25–26:30)

• News: Hideo Kojima will deliver the first GDC (Game Developers Conference) keynote in 5 years at the new Festival of Gaming.
• Hosts react:
  • “This is fucking cool, man. I love keynotes.” (Tim, 22:13)
  • Blessing asks if it will be Kojima solo: “...at the very least, a translator.”
  • Segue into memories of Greg Miller’s past Kojima interviews (notably the 2017 RTX Sydney encounter, playing 1-2 Switch in cowboy hats—a classic moment: 25:27–26:16).
  • Speculation and joking about how Kinda Funny could secure another Kojima segment.

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Horses Game Bans and Artistic Censorship (32:19–40:23)

• Narrative Horror Game ‘Horses’ Banned:
  • The unusual case of ‘Horses’, an indie horror game banned from Steam, Epic, and Humble for violating “sexual content policies.”
  • Developers claim lack of clarity from platforms and that the bans put the studio at risk of shutting down (35:41).
  • Content warning for Horses includes: violence, abuse, slavery, sexual assault, etc.
  • Discussion: Where is the line between mature expression and content policy? Are platforms being opaque?
    • Tim: “You gotta be clear about what the reasoning is. If you’re gonna have rules, you gotta have rules.” (39:12)
    • Blessing: "I want art to exist and art to be able to feel like it can go there..." (39:00)

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Super Chats – Listener Interactions (31:40–47:56)

• Pluribus TV Show:
  • Blessing is a big fan of ‘Pluribus’. Tim laments not having time to watch new TV shows due to his “stupid baby.” (32:10–32:18)
• More Horses Ban Commentary:
  • Barrett clarifies that the “horses” are naked people in masks, and the game is making commentary on labor (35:45–36:21)
• Personal Tales:
  • Blessing relates a funny DnD story about character creation:

    “I got shot in the shoulder because basically the way they introduced me was... a shadowy figure hanging out behind a tree...” (46:21)

• Bionicle Tangent:
  • Protracted, hilarious three-way discussion of Bionicles nostalgia (68:12–70:57), leading to the idea of a Bionicle movie reaction stream.

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Saudi Arabia's EA Takeover & Industry Impact (47:58–50:21)

• News: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will soon own 93% of EA after a $55 billion buyout, with stakes by US equity firms being a tiny minority (49:34).
• Ramifications:
  • Tim: “There's just no good news here. ...It’s very concerning.” (50:05)
  • Blessing predicts “in 10 years, the games industry’s going to look a lot different.”

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Call of Duty’s Underperformance & Changing Shooter Landscape (50:21–55:37)

• Underperforming Franchise:
  • Analyst Reese Elliott cites community burnout, creative decisions, AI, and competition as reasons for CoD’s decline (51:06).
• Meme-worthy Cosmetics:
  • Tim: “Beavis and Butthead and Nicki Minaj will forever be like the second sentence when people are talking about Call of Duty.” (52:00)
  • Blessing: “Anytime I think about what Call of Duty is nowadays, I picture Nicki Minaj...”
• Competition:
  • Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6 are now drawing away the traditional CoD audience.
• Loss of Distinct Studios:
  • The shift to all Activision studios just making Call of Duty is mourned (“...it doesn't really feel like there's unique identities...” – 55:47).

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Marathon Art Plagiarism Controversy (55:52–56:57)

• Quick Update: The artist whose work was plagiarized for Bungie’s Marathon says the art issue is “resolved... to my satisfaction.”
• Hosts’ Reactions:
  • "How many zeros are in that satisfaction?" (Blessing, 56:41)
  • "I want this to happen to me. I need to start making art and then pray that somebody—somebody steals this shit, man." (Blessing, 56:54)

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WE News – Quickfire Headlines (57:24–64:17)

Moniker for minor stories and announcements. Highlights:

• Scrap Daddies: New looter shooter announced by Other Ocean; shoutout to Jared Petty.
• MLB The Show Mobile: Announced for Android and iOS.
• Yuji Horii on Chrono Trigger Remake Rumors: “Wait, if I say that, you’ll figure it out. Don’t ask. Ask is off limits. I’ll get in trouble.” (58:39)
• Game Awards Musical Performance: Evanescence set to perform ‘Afterlife’ from the Netflix Devil May Cry series.
• Mario Kart World Patch: Finally adds music volume control—sort of (two options: "normal" and "loud", no quiet).
  • Tim: “Nintendo is the funniest company of all time.” (62:01)
• Cart Triathlon Stream Idea: Blessing pitches a stream playing Mario Kart, Sonic Racing, and Kirby Air Ride in one night.

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Final Super Chats & Bionicle Tangents (64:17–71:18)

• Mario Kart World vs. 8 Deluxe: Listeners and hosts debate whether the new World will ever supplant the classic 8 Deluxe.
• DnD Stories: Blessing recounts more first-session tales; listeners from his DnD group chime in via chat.
• Bionicle Nostalgia:
  • High demand for reviewing Bionicle media; hosts tease plans.
  • The “holes” in Bionicles are the subject of running gags and banter.
    • Tim: “Bionicles were just doing too much.” (69:55)

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Corrections & Wrap-Up (71:31–end)

• Minor Corrections:
  • The artist who resolved the Bungie/Marathon incident is a woman; the show offers congrats.
  • Yuji Horii is infamously prone to accidentally leaking info in interviews.
• Show Closes:
  • Reminders about upcoming Kinda Funny shows including movie coverage and Octopath Traveler 0 review.
  • Final thanks and outro from Blessing and Tim.

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Notable Quotes

• “Great power, great responsibility, all that stuff; people just need to think through from point A to point Z with the whole thing.” – Tim (07:08)
• “If you don’t like, like hearing other people’s opinion or hearing numbers or whatever, you don’t even need to look at Metacritic.” – Blessing (04:15)
• “It just sucks that it just becomes the same story over and over and it just becomes a gesture at everything... what is the everything?” – Tim (14:13)
• “Guardians of the Galaxy is such an interesting one… I would put down as a hidden gem… We’re never gonna get a Guardians too.” – Tim (18:09)
• “This is fucking cool, man. I love keynotes.” – Tim on Kojima’s GDC slot (22:13)
• “If we're making art here, then art should be able to exist on these platforms.” – Blessing (39:00)
• “Beavis and Butthead and Nicki Minaj will forever be like the second sentence when people are talking about Call of Duty.” – Tim (52:00)
• “Nintendo is the funniest company of all time.” – Tim (62:01)
• “In 10 years, the games industry’s going to look a lot different.” – Blessing (50:05)

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Key Segment Timestamps

• Metroid Prime 4 reviews & review scores debate: 01:07–09:29
• Layoffs at Eidos Montreal and state of AAA: 12:24–21:25
• Kojima announces GDC keynote: 21:25–26:30
• The ‘Horses’ controversy and discussion on game content policing: 32:19–40:23
• EA Saudi Arabia buyout: 47:58–50:21
• Call of Duty struggles, shooter genre shifts: 50:21–55:37
• Marathon art plagiarism resolution: 55:52–56:57
• Bionicle fan avalanche: 68:12–70:57

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Tone and Takeaways

Despite personal and industry-wide gloom over layoffs and consolidation, the hosts maintain humor and perspective. Their message—don’t obsess over review scores; worry more about industry trends affecting real people and creative opportunity—comes through strong. If you want to understand the current climate of gaming business, how it affects both big business and day-to-day fandom, this episode is a lively, insightful listen.

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End of summary.

Transcript

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[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Today's stories include Eidos, Montreal Lays off staff, Kojima is giving a keynote at GDC and Saudi Arabia will own 93% of EA. While all this more because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily.

Yo, what's up? Welcome to Kind of Funny Games daily for Wednesday, December 3, 2025. One of your host blessing, Addie Oye Jr. Joining me is the Lacroix poppy, Tim M. Yetis.

[Tim M. Yetis]

It's been one of them ones. Bless.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

You know what I mean?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

It's just, it's just crazy.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

It's one of those, it's been one of those mornings where as I've been building kfg, I was like, oh no, here we go. It just got worse and worse.

[Tim M. Yetis]

It's just a lot of, a lot of bad news. It's just like, why? What are we doing here? Yeah, at least Kojima's doing something cool, I guess.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

A keynote? No, write in with your super chats. That's what I need.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah. Give us something to talk about.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Give us stuff to talk about even.

[Tim M. Yetis]

But there was a, A, a positive negative discussion I do want to have real quick.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Okay.

[Tim M. Yetis]

And it's something that happens often in our field of work. But I feel like there are certain, certain, like lightning rod tent pole moments when certain games come out from certain publishers that just cause people to go insane. And like I, maybe it's just because I reviewed Metroid Prime 4 yesterday that my entire life's algorithm has just been the most insane people with the most insane thoughts left, right, and center. I don't understand, like, I don't understand how people can not get that everyone has a different opinion. And like I didn't see a single Metroid Prime 4 review yesterday. Not a Single one. And I read a ton of them. I watched a ton of videos. I didn't see a single one that I was like, they're off base.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Whether it was high, whether it was low, I think the numbers just drive people insane. And it's like, Eurogamer gave it a three out of five. DGC gave it a three out of five. But then people are calling that a 60 out of 100, which feels so different. You know, Giant Bomb gave it a hundred out of 100. No, they didn't. They gave it a five out of five.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Hey, that's perfect. It's a perfect video game.

[Tim M. Yetis]

No, it's not.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

It's a 10 out of 10. It's a million out of. They give it a million out of a million.

[Barrett]

Are you saying we should abolish numbers and math? Because I'm with you. I'll be behind that.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Just. Just blow it all up. You know, there's just. It's just funny, man. There's just always. There has to be conversation on conversation. And look, we're literally having the conversation here. I get it. We're part of it. But I just think that there's a due diligence to playing a game and, like, putting your opinion into a way that people can understand how you feel about the thing that all the people that reviewed the game yesterday did. And, like, an 8 out of 10 is a great score.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Oh, dude, it was fun. It was so fun, like, watching Chat as, like, Logan gave it an 8 out of 10, you gave it a 9 out of 10. Two very close. The closest you can be without being the same score. And we would have swore Logan hated the game.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Exactly. And it's. It's crazy, too, because it's like, I get it. Like, I understand that a Metroid prime game getting an 8 is a big deal. And it's like, the difference between an 8 and a 9 there for a Metroid prime game is sizable. Like, and it's something. It's worth talking about. That's what we did. Yeah, we talked about it. Right? Like, and it's. It's just so funny. And I. You know, overall, I feel like people have been pretty cool about our review, but seemingly every other review out there, like, the crazies are out. The crazies are on the Internet.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

The crazies are always out.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I know.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I noticed this with, like, every review where I'm like, man, what are people on? If you're watching a review or. Here's my thing. Here's what I'll Say you don't have to watch reviews, guys. You don't have to care about reviews. If you don't like, like hearing other people's opinion or hearing numbers or whatever. You don't even need to look at Metacritic. You don't need to care what anybody else thinks about a video game but yourself.

[Tim M. Yetis]

The thing that, like, really confuses me is I understand people wanting to listen to this because they're excited for these games or interested in these games, whatever it is. I love this. I, like I just said, I probably listened to three hours worth of Metroid Prime 4 reviews yesterday. Like, I. And I be. I myself played it, but I was interested in hearing other people's thoughts. Like, there is so much value in entertainment, in the content people are making there. But the amount of people that legitimately think that game journalists and media are trying to tank the Metacritic score.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Well, here's the thing, right? You give it an 8 out of 10 and then people are going to lose their jobs. That's the critic's fault. You know what I mean? That's all on fucking Logan or whoever.

[Tim M. Yetis]

It's just, it's. It's so.

[Barrett]

Tim, there are a lot of fantasy critic teams on the line.

[Tim M. Yetis]

How could you?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

How could you. The fantasy critic. It's a net positive. You know what I mean? Like, it's a net positive here, but also it has made me more critical of.

[Barrett]

Yeah, it's like.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I don't know if it's an net positive.

[Tim M. Yetis]

It's a fun thing, but it is.

[Barrett]

I think there is a warped framework people now have with. With fantasy.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

But also, that was before fantasy critic. Like people always. But I think it's.

[Barrett]

I think it emboldens it a little bit.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Emboldens me? Because here's the thing. You're going to tell me that to a T. Actually, no, I didn't have to. A teal my thing because that was Greg's. I got that in a different league. You're going to tell me that Wonder Stop was in a 90? Wonder stop. We got to be real about what we're giving games on the scores. All right?

[Barrett]

Did you play Wanderstop?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

No, I don't give a fuck about Wanderstop, but I had it on my thing. I had it on my fantasy critic. And so, guys, we gotta be better.

[Tim M. Yetis]

But this is the bullshit that you're spouting right now. At least it's coming from somewhere with like an end goal.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

You know what I mean? You are trying to win a game.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I ain't trying to win a metagame that ultimately I don't care about that much. People do care about video game reviews and all this shit way too much. And, like, I get it. I care about conversation. I care about art, I care about opinions. Like, I'm. I understand a certain side of it where you want to be in the discussion about, like, what a game that is coming out that you care about is doing. But at the end of the day, there's got to be a line where it's like, it can't care that deeply, man.

[Tim M. Yetis]

It's. I remember when Jeff Gerstman gave Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess an 8.8 at GameSpot, and it felt this way. It felt the way of, Whoa. Not even a 9.

The Zelda game that we've been waiting for. This is the one after Wind Waker. This is the one that when the trailer dropped, we all cried. And it's just an 8.8. You know what I mean? And it's like this review entirely backed that up. Yeah. And it's like, then you look at other reviews and other people are higher. Some people were lower, whatever it is. But GameSpot, giving that game at that time, that score threw people into a tizzy. But it's like, yeah, but that great power, great responsibility, all that stuff, it's just like, y' all need to understand. And I'm not talking to y'. All like, you get what I'm saying? People just need to think through from point A to point Z with the whole thing. And it reminds me too, of the Game Awards. Like, there's so much Game Awards conversation going on. It's like anybody that's thinking that Jeff Keighley is picking the freaking nominees.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Nobody. Grow up. People only believe that as conspiracy theory.

[Tim M. Yetis]

But. But that's the thing, though.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Is so many people blessed, but we've lost that war.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

You can't speak sense into a masses. That is senseless. It is Pluribus out there, my favorite.

[Barrett]

From last year that I. A newer one I saw when we were reacting the Game Awards were some people coming in being like, why are they even. Like, why are they acting and pretending they know all of the. The winners already? And it's like, no, we.

[Tim M. Yetis]

We don't.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

That's not how that works, man.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Simply not how that works. And it just. It concerns me because there are people that I would say I respect in the industry that I see on social media saying that Death Threatening two is there because Jeff loves.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Oh, yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

And I'm like, oh, yeah, you, you, you're putting that out there like you might be being sarcastic or something, but it doesn't read that way. And I don' that and that's very concerning to me.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Oh yeah, listen, there's a deeper conversation we'd have about like how that feeds in, into this fucking Internet, like Internet obsession, I guess, right? Like people are just too online and they believe things that they read that are just like coming from places of trying to deceive people. And people believe shit because we're too online. Let's go outside, let's touch, dress. And let's also not care that much about people's opinions on things because like, if I came to Tim and I was like, hey, Tim, how do you feel about fairly odd parents? And Tim is like, you know, I think it's great, not amazing. I'm not gonna be like you, Tim, you it. What agenda do you have? Like, no, it's like I came to you for your opinion. Y' all are doing the same thing. When you watch reviews, when you read reviews, get a couple some slack. That's the, that's the moral of the story. Cup people some slack because we got a heavy kfc. So let's get into it. Remember, this is Kind of Funny Games daily. Each and every weekday we run you through the nerdy. How do you feel about fairly odd parents?

[Tim M. Yetis]

I loved it.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Okay, good, you're safe. The nerdy news you need to know about live on YouTube, Twitch and on podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the Kind of Funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify and Apple podcasts to get all of our shows ad free, watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show for a chance to be a part of the show. Some of your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. Housekeeping for you. An 11 person business all about live talk shows. So today after kfg, you're going to get Gamescast. That's a lie. You're going to get In Review before Gamescast.

[Tim M. Yetis]

That's kind of a lie. You're getting a screencast. It's, it's interesting. So like because here's obviously we have Kind of funny In Review where we rank, review and recap different movie franchises. But then there's just a lot of times where it's like it, it's, we're just talking about movies and TV stuff but like we have Screencast but it's all on the in review feed. It gets a little messy. We're talking about movies we're talking about our most anticipated 20, 26 movies. And I'm very excited because we got some bangers. Bangers coming up next year.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Fingers crossed when we get in the Avengers movie next year. No shot.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Guess what else we get? Spider Man. Brand New Day.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

No.

[Tim M. Yetis]

And Dune.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

No.

[Tim M. Yetis]

June three.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Oh, that's exciting.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah, man. And the Odyssey. Stay tuned for screen.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

This isn't going to happen. It's going to be because I keep making promises to myself that I'll never keep. But I want to make next year. I want to try to make next year the year where I watch a lot more movies. Not just new movies. I want to watch old movies.

[Tim M. Yetis]

No, I like that for you.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I just want to watch fucking movies.

[Barrett]

You know what could guarantee that? Bless because I know there's an interview a lot of people have been asking for that I think you should be on. It's called Shrek and Review.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Oh, dude. Shrek and Review. If you ever.

[Barrett]

And that new Shrek movie, Tim, it's coming.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Is that next year?

[Tim M. Yetis]

No, it's got delayed. No, it got delayed. I promise you when the time comes, we will do Shrek and Review. They just keep pushing this thing.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Listen, Shrek and Review. That's calling my name. I love me some.

[Tim M. Yetis]

There's going to be a fight for who's on Shrek and Review and that's hilarious.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Dude, I need to be on Shrek Review. I fucking love Shrek as a kid. Oh, I also wanted to shout out of course we announced this yesterday. I want to reiterate it today. The inaugural Kind of Funny Games Daily Awards is happening. Kind of Funny Games Daily is literally nothing without the hard work of an entire industry. So we're going to celebrate the people who make the news each and every day. Nominate your favorite sites, authors and [e-mail] awards so we can show some love before the end of the year. That's kind of funny.com awards. And so like we mentioned after KFC is in review Slash games Slash Screencast which is our most anticipated movies of 2026. After that is Gamescast which is our Octopath Traveler 0 review. Then the stream is Elden Ring Night Rain getting ready for the dlc. If you're a kind of funny member. Today's Greg Way is about the relief of finally being able to talk about an embargoed video game. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm Twining. For now, let's begin with what is and forever will be The Roper Report.

It'S time for some news. We have six stories today, Becker's dozen, starting with our number one. This is a report from game developer Embracer owned Eidos Montreal lays off staff this is from Diego Arguello, Deus Ex and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Developer Eidos Montreal is reportedly laying off staff for the second time this year. According to a report by Insider Gaming published yesterday, the Embracer owned studio has laid off at least a dozen employees. Quote I was hit by the recent Eidos layoffs so I'm looking for a new design leadership role and would appreciate your Support, reads a LinkedIn post from one impacted employee. Quote Eidos Montreal got served with one of those Mondays we had to part ways with some incredible talent due to gestures at everything, said a current worker at the studio last week before listing and vouching for 12 employees. Neither Eidos Montreal nor Embracer has acknowledged the reported job cuts publicly. Back in April of this year, the developer laid off 75 workers, the reason being that one of its mandates had come to an end at the time. The studio also added that the cuts weren't a reflection of the dedication or skills of its staff. According to sources speaking to Insider gaming or Insider Gaming, most projects at the studio have reportedly been canceled. Now it seems to focus for Eidos Montreal to keep on supporting Microsoft and Xbox on games like Grounded 2 and Fable. QUOTE there's also another internal project that started development in 2019 which sources say has no way of recouping its current costs, continues the report. Once those projects are finalized, additional staff reductions are already forecasted, said the sources. To Insider Gaming it never ends and.

[Tim M. Yetis]

It just sucks that it just becomes the same story over and over and it just becomes a gesture at everything and it's like man, what is the everything? And we could look at it and we're like it's a bunch of shareholders and it's a bunch of people that are looking at just numbers and names on the spreadsheet. They're not thinking about the names right?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

How do we make number go up and it's by cutting people out and.

[Tim M. Yetis]

We are just cutting and cutting and cutting and really at a certain point and I feel like we're there already, what's left? Like how many teams are even left when we're talking about the Eidos Montreal's a couple weeks ago Crystal Dynamics like we're talking about these.

Big studios that are so key and important to the industry and they are slowly disappearing like at what point is Eidos Montreal just completely gone right now? It's support. Eidos Montreal is going to be support.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Which, like, I know that doesn't mean it's completely gone, but in my heart already, like, that means it's completely gone.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I mean, we think of like how many times have we told the story of the Activision situations with their teams where they had so many dozens it felt like of talented teams making different projects and then all of a sudden Call of Duty becomes a hit and it just becomes Call of Duty map makers over and over and over and we lost so much talent in original ideas and I mean even non original ideas. Just non Call of Duty ideas. Right.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

And now you see this. It's happening here too. And it's like you look at Crystal Dynamics and it's like, are we ever going to see this Tomb Raider game? It's been years and it's like you layoffs. Yeah, they just did.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

And it's like crazy to think about it where that list of games that we were kind of looking forward to, the Wonder Woman, Iron Man, James Bond, Tomb Raider and I mean Black Panther was one and Black Panther. Right. Of all the ones I just named, half of them are canceled.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Right. And like it seems like James Bond is actually going to come out.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yep.

[Tim M. Yetis]

That's semi surprising to me.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

But yeah, I mean I then I think that one is even less surprising just because that's a studio that's not owned by a bigger conglomerate. Right. Like they. Not that Square Enix is known for shutting all this shit down. But I feel like when we're getting into these conversations, it's a lot of these studios that are owned by publishers or owned by bigger corporations that are looking at that bottom line and looking at these teams and team like the amount of teams they own and go, okay, well, we have some games are successful, we have some games that are moderately successful and like at a certain point, success doesn't even matter anymore.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Let's cut shit. Right. Like we gotta figure out how to make that line continually go up because. Because we're a big company, we have big expectations for where we need money to go.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah. And that, that continues to happen. And here we are looking at this Deus Ex.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Oh man, don't get me started. Those games love Deus Ex.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Those games are loved.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Those games did well. Those games sold well, they reviewed well, they are talked about with reverence. If a new one was announced, people would be excited.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Would be excited.

[Tim M. Yetis]

As many people as a Call of Duty? No.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. Not even close.

[Tim M. Yetis]

How could you expect that? You know what I mean? And, like, maybe Call of Duty might be too big of a thing to bring up. It's like, well, then what are we talking about here?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I mean, their previous game being Guardians of the Galaxy, which I loved, a game that a lot of people really liked. Obviously, like the best game in the world. No, but like, a game that I don't think anybody would be, like, this game's trash.

[Barrett]

You know what I mean?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Like, either it was okay or good or great. Like, I feel like people rotate in that. And at the very least, I think if they made a Guardians of the Galaxy 2, they could have really made it shine and made it an even better game that would have done better as far as numbers and all that stuff. But I. Remind me. I don't know, I don't remember clearly, but I feel like it probably underperformed. Probably.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah. Also, it came out at the worst time imaginable. And following up Avengers, the game which, like, baggage to all of it, that was.

[Barrett]

That was also the era where every western release, Square Enix, had always. They always said this didn't hit our expectations, so. And that all that started the whole, like, what are your expectations for video games?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Avengers, though, is like a really good one to point out in the story of Guardians of the Galaxy because, like, I think if Avengers wasn't as bad as it was, I think Guardians would have had a lot more hype going.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Adventures was Crystal Dynamics. Yeah, like, there's just so many factors there, like, wow, you fucked up the Avengers brand for video games. And Crystal Dynamics, hot off of three banger Tomb Raiders to some extent. Banger. Right? Yeah. And Guardians of the Galaxy is such an interesting one where it's like, I truly feel like it is one of the games that I would put down as like a hidden gem, you know, it is one of those games that, like, I don't know a single person that's played it in recent years that hasn't been like, what the hell? Why didn't people love this game? You know? And that's so sad that, like, yeah, we're never going to get a Guardians too. And like, that makes sense to some extent, given where we're at with superheroes and video games and all of that. But at the same time, how did we get here? And how do we get to the point that now the Eidos Montreal is a support team helping out Grounded to.

Yeah, no, no shade to Grounded too.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

But I mean, no shade to that because like there's been a lot of Microsoft, their teams have been doing that a lot. Right. As far as having support studios, namely, I believe Crystal Dynamics is doing the same thing with Perfect Dark, which got canceled. Yeah, exactly.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Perfect Dark, that's another one of them, right?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. And like to I, when that, when that first started happening, I could see a bit of that vision of, okay, cool, like you got this big game that you're working on. You have a studio that's available to help you out with this thing while they're doing their own individual, you know, projects and stuff. Yeah. Work together. That's cool to see Microsoft partnering with these. I forget if they're Square Enix at the time or if this is always like post Square Enix, but seeing Microsoft partner with these non Microsoft studios to make these games cool, to see where we're at now, where it's like, I like fucking Perfect Dark isn't happening. That then leads to layoffs at Crystal Dynamics. We're at a place where we're getting layoffs at Atlas Montreal, which I like. It's hard to pinpoint exactly where, how we got here. I don't want to just blame Xbox or whatever because I'm sure there's many different factors here, but yeah, like, it feels like it all kind of fell apart in a way that it shouldn't. In a way that you hate to see.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I guess you really hate to see it. Yeah. And the support studio conversation is very interesting because a couple days ago, was it weeks ago. Time is crazy right now for me. Nintendo acquired what was formerly their Bandai Namco kind of support studio, which is now Nintendo Singapore. And that really felt like a like lateral move. Like the numbers that it was sold for and stuff were not astronomically high. And it really kind of just felt like, oh, Nintendo just made this purchase to keep the team so that they can keep supporting the projects or else this was going to happen to Bandai Namco Singapore and like the writing was on the wall. So Nintendo had to come in and be like, hey, we're essentially purchasing this just to be able to make sure that the people that we have helping us aren't gone next month. And that's a terrifying position for these support studios to be in that unless there is a company out there that sees the value and is like, we need you, you're not needed. Yeah, tough shit, man.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Real tough. Let's move on to story number two. Kojima is going to deliver GDC's first keynote in five years at the GDC Festival of Gaming as they're calling it.

[Tim M. Yetis]

This Festival of Gaming.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Festival Gaming. Fucking Alphabet and Glyndor there. This comes directly from a press release. GDC Festival of Gaming is proud to announce that acclaimed creator and studio founder Hideo Kojima will headline the event with a keynote address reflecting on the bold leap to establish Kojima Productions 10 years ago. Titled Restarting from Zero, a message to creators considering independence, the keynote marks GDC's first in five years and signals the event's transformation into the GDC Festival of Gaming, a global gathering for the full game making ecosystem returning to San Francisco March 9th through the. Through the 13th, 2026.

[Tim M. Yetis]

It's fucking cool, man. I love keynotes.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah, you're a big keynote guy.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Hell yeah, dude. Give people an opportunity to go up there and like talk about whatever the hell they want.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

You know what? I fuck with it too. Actually.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I'd watch that. This might give us headlines for a week.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Now. This is what I want. Right. Do you think they're going to have Kojima up there with a host or do you think it's just going to be Kojima Solo Dolo?

[Tim M. Yetis]

Because it'll be with a. It'll. It'll probably be. I mean, a translator at the very least.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Oh, for sure it's translator.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Because like I'm. How do we get involved?

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

This is in San Francisco. And if not even in this, how do we get Kojima to stop by?

[Tim M. Yetis]

I. I feel like that is if his schedule allows.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Of course.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I don't want to say a sure thing.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

We got to get in there early.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah. Greg's already in his DMS being incredibly annoying.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. We got to find. We got to find another person aside from Greg that has the connections. Hey, we need somebody who's like more.

[Barrett]

The man who changed his life. Refined Roger Corny. I feel like could be that new connect for us, you know.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I like that we send Roger.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah. Greg did. It wasn't a. Actually I think it was a keynote for RTX Sydney in 2017. Greg did a one on one thing with Kojima. What you're talking about like he did it and it was great.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I know you see people watch this. Run that back with Greg.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Or even if you don't want to go that far. Roger, like Barrett mentioned, had a big impact on Kojima's life. I feel like.

I feel like it's true.

[Barrett]

Posts about Caroline Polachek every other day.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yes. I feel like we can get a Roger segment and it could. It could feed in into like the Kochi. What was this? A message to creators considering independence, restarting from zero. I guess it doesn't have anything to do with that, but you can listen into, like, a creativity conversation where inspiration comes from.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I like it.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Roger Pokorny, you know, he's my inspiration. Exactly. And he's Kojima's inspiration.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Just get him on stage for a second. That's all I'm saying.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I think that we're really thinking about this the wrong way. Greg's been there, done that. Roger already got the credit. Yeah. We need to send our best.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

We're not sending Mike.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Nick Scarpino. Oh, yes.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Actually, no, we are.

Could you imagine? What do you think? Nick would talk to Kojima.

[Barrett]

He would ask him a couple of questions about metal gear solid 5, because I think that's a game that he actually played, Right?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. And then he'd talk about 80s movies.

[Barrett]

But then it would transition to Dune the game, and then Cyberpunk and then.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Heat with Sandra Bullock.

[Barrett]

Heat with Sandra Bullock.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I feel like there's something there as far as the Matrix game that Kojima never made.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

They're probably a very good conversation. Is Nick into the Matrix?

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, he's. It's not, like his thing. I associate more with Paris than Nick, but.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Oh, yeah, Paris does love Matrix, but.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah, everyone, like, you should check this out. It's, like, still really good. The definitive interview with Greg Miller with Hideo Kojima. It's on our YouTube channel. And this is from eight years ago in 2017, which was right before the Switch came out. And this was one of the first places in the world people could actually play the Switch one. And.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Oh, I remember. I know where you're gleaning this. Yeah, I remember this video.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Hold on. I'm sending one more video to Assets Barrett, because if y' all don't know, one of the greatest moments in Kind of Funny history was Greg Miller playing 1, 2 switch before it came out with Hideo Kojima. And they wore little hats, little cowboy hats.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

What a life.

[Barrett]

I didn't realize that's where this was. Was. What was this? Pax?

[Tim M. Yetis]

This is rtx.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Oh, RTX Australia. Oh, never mind. At first I thought there was a typo in the lower third, but just the F. Real quick. Looks like a J.

God.

[Tim M. Yetis]

So silly.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Could you imagine doing this with Goji? I'd be shaking.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I got him.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

That's great.

[Solo Leveling Arise Overdrive Promoter]

That's great.

[Tim M. Yetis]

He does the Revolver Ocelot thing with the Joy Con at one point.

Wow. Anyways.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

That'S Wonderful. Yeah. Exciting. Very, very exciting stuff. I hope they stream this, broadcast this. I would like to watch. I assume they would.

This is their first one in five years.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah, they probably will because they stream the awards and they stream like the concert series. They do.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah, yeah, they should. I mean it's Kojima. They should stream this. So we're gonna hop into story number three. But before we do, want to tell you about patreon.com kind of funny and YouTube.com kind of funny games where you can go and get the kind of Funny membership which allows you to get shows ad free. And speaking of ads, let us tell you about our sponsors.

[Solo Leveling Arise Overdrive Promoter]

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[Tim M. Yetis]

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[Solo Leveling Arise Overdrive Promoter]

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[Tim M. Yetis]

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[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

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[Tim M. Yetis]

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[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

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[Tim M. Yetis]

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[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

But LifeLock monitors millions of data points per second. If your identity is Stolen. Our US based restoration specialists will fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Don't face drained accounts, fraudulent loans or financial losses alone. Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with LifeLock. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com podcast terms apply. And we're back. And I was gonna open up Super Chats until I looked at my laptop and realized that I for some reason closed the tab with the Super Chats. I'm opening it back up though. We're gonna talk to you guys. I want to have a fun conversation. I want to have a back and forth with the audience. I like them. Back and forth. Here we go. It's loading.

[Tim M. Yetis]

There we go.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I thought it'd be faster. All right, here we go. Let's start from the bottom here. Jeff Bull Jr says off topic, but any of you watching Pluribus? Good stuff. I am watching Pluribus. I fucking love that show. Yeah, it's a really good show that I'm so fascinated to see how they keep this idea going for seasons of tv. It's something that I would have thought that you do in like a movie, like one and done kind of thing because it's so like weird and I think tough to build scenarios around, but they're fun in ways.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Are you. Have you.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I haven't watched it yet. It's. It's. I can't wait. It's heard a million amazing things about it, but I just. Man. Stupid baby.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I'm already blaming everything on her through causing so much chaos in my life.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I ever watched Plurivers with you. A good time. Peter Ropp writes in and says horses has been removed by Epic Games Store and Humble Store.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I am so interested in this saga. What is going to be the end result of this?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah, I'm not. It's been one that I've only seen in passing because we brought it up recently.

When IGN wrote an article about it not being included on Steam and like that happening like at the release time.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I watched Alana's video on it and it sounds from her perspective, sounds very concerning.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

But it to me there's just something weird of like now they're all like.

[Barrett]

Doing it after Steam and especially like Reb bringing up yesterday when the GOG news came out, she was like, we were Epic Game Store. I think she's like, we reviewed it on Epic. Like we had a code through Epic Game Store and now they're banning it on there. And it's. Yeah, if you haven't yet, you don't understand don't know what we're talking about. I do recommend Alana Pierce's video on it.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I do have I can read this Verge article and an unsettling indie game about Horses Keeps getting Banned from stores this is from Ash Parrish at the Verge. Horses, a first person narrative horror game, was banned from Epic Games store just hours before it was set to launch on December 2, then a day after launch, the Humble store bandit as well. The decision shocked the developers at Santa Rajon, makers of the critically respected Saturnalia, as these storefronts were the homes they had found for their game two years ago before it was preemptively banned from Steam. Valve and Epic says Horses violates their sexual content policies. Humble hasn't yet said why it banned the game after hosting it for several hours post launch. However, Santa Rajon claims neither Epic nor Valve has clearly explained what exactly in the game is objectionable and that these decisions have put the studio in peril of shutting down. The back and forth has catapulted Horses from a little known prestige indie title to the next battleground in the fight between game storefronts, indie developers, content policies and creative expression. Though all of the action kicked off late last month, Horses story officially began two years ago. In a lengthy FAQ, the developers explained that in 2023, horses was rejected during Steam's review process, which we talked about on a previous episode of kfc. I'm going to jump forward in the article to see if we can get past all that stuff. In November, after Santa Reggio shared Horse's release date and the reason why it wouldn't be sold on Steam, Valve finally responded. A statement to game developer.com read quote after our team played through the build and reviewed the content, we gave the developer feedback about why we couldn't ship the game on Steam, consistent with our onboarding rules and guidelines. A short while later, the developer asked us to rec to reconsider the review and our internal content review team discussed that extensively and communicated to the developer our final decision that we were not going to ship the game on Steam. The studio says that the Steam ban put the company in financial peril as it completely erased our ability to find an external supporting publisher or partner to fund the rest of the game. As no one in the industry considers an indie game that cannot be released on Steam to be viable, though the developer were the developers were able to continue work on Horses through investments from friends. Unless the game's a hit, they say the studio will shut down.

[Tim M. Yetis]

What are these Horses doing?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I Know, that's what I'm trying to find.

[Barrett]

So the. Yeah, the horses are actually people wearing horse masks that are completely naked.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

This was at edc, wasn't it? Yeah.

[Barrett]

And it's like, from what I understand, it's like.

Like a. It's kind of used as a commentary, I think on like labor and like that from what I can parse out from it, not having played it myself, but it gets into some dark stuff and I. But I think there's a fine line of trying to.

For these companies trying to like protect their audiences from. I don't like gratuitous like shit for, you know, just being like weird and like shitty for no reason versus what this game's trying to do, which is trying to make an adult like kind of like piece of art, having a conversation about society. And I think. Yeah, it just sucks that, you know, it's not. These companies aren't letting that happen.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. So like, to get back into some of the article that I think helps explain a little bit more. As with Steam, Epic didn't explain what in Horses triggered the band. The ban only referring to the policy on inappropriate and hateful slash abusive content and the fact that games rated AO or adults only could not be distributed on Epic Games Store.

And then jumping forward, paragraph. Santa Rajeon is very clear about the kind of content Horses contains. The lengthy content warning on the game's website lists physical violence, psychological abuse, gory imagery, mutilation, blood, depictions of slavery, physical and psychological torture, domestic abuse, sexual assault, suicide and misogyny. It also makes sense that out of an abundance of caution, Steam would ban the version of the game it saw with the father and daughter scene, which I. It's a long article, so I don't. I might have skipped over the father and daughter scene part. Maybe we'll get back there. Continuing on. Quote, the scene is not sexual in any way, but it is possible that the juxtaposition is what triggered the flag. Riva told ign. But what makes less sense is the platform's refusal to reevaluate the game, or at least explain its reasoning. Quote, we believe Steam intentionally keeps its policy opaque, so it does not have to stand by clear rules and adjust decisions to whatever best serves the platform at any given moment. Okay, there's a lot there. Yeah, this is. What I'll say is that I feel like games deserve to have the space to be art and express and have things to say. And this is me still not understanding the exact full context, but them like even reading the things that they express here. Right. As far as the content warning, obviously there's a bunch of up in the game. If they're expressing something that I think is, I guess, worthy art, that is something that feels like, you know, it is speaking from a place of we have something to say and we're using these elements not just to show off, like, not just to be like a sexy game, not just to be like a, you know, gratuitously up thing. If we're making art here, then art should be able to exist on these platforms.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah, it's complicated because there's an argument that the other sides aren't too. Right. Just. Just having something to say makes it more valuable art than an art that is just like, hey, I like naked people.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Sure.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I. And I just feel like, to me, the big problem here is you got to be clear about what the. What the reasoning is, you know, like, if you're gonna have rules, you gotta have rules and just tell them what, what it is that made it that they're banned from the stores, but then they get banned from all the other stores. It's like, well, there's something there.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. But I wonder how much of this is coming off of. Earlier in the year we had the discussions about, like, the fucking payment processing companies cracking down on certain things and like that leading to possible censorship and all that stuff. I don't know. It's a whole big conversation that I think we're going to keep continue having in the industry. I just. I just wanted to end in a place where it's agreeable. I want art to exist and art to be able to feel like it can go there. Right. And obviously, to your point, you know what, where is the line as far as sex and sex being a thing where it is like, this is purely for people to enjoy the sex of it, or this is sex that's saying something. Right. Like, that's a weird. It's a weird line. To me, it is.

[Tim M. Yetis]

And who gets to make that decision?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah, who gets to make that decision?

[Tim M. Yetis]

Not me, I'll tell you that.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah, I don't know either.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I don't.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I don't want to be the person.

More super chats for you. Junior Sherman, 67, says, Tim, do I get Metroid Dread or Prime 4man? Dread, dread, dread, dread.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Hey, real talk Metro dreads. Awesome. And like, in the wake of me playing Metroid Prime 4, I keep thinking about Metroid Dread. I'm also thinking about Metroid Prime 4. I. I think the answer is Prime 4. I think that you should play Prime 4. And I think that if you're going to fall in love with it and want to play more, I think it's better to do prime four and then Dread instead of the other way. I think Dread even just the timeline of the story of Samus, of where she is. The prime series are more like prequels. They're like kind of in between some of the earlier games. Dreads at the very end of the timeline. And I think that that is really showcased well in the game via her moveset and the way that the game kind of functions with a lot of the, like the slide and the Perry and all that stuff and just how badass Samus is. Samus has never been and probably will never be as badass as she was in Dread. She's so fucking cool.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

She was really cool.

[Tim M. Yetis]

She's so fucking cool. And she's cool in Prime 4, but she's like literally maybe one fourth as cool as she is in Metroid. Dread.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Mr. Street Fire says blessings. Right? I stand by the fact that PlayStation All Star Battle Royale is 9 out of 10. I've never. I've never loved a 74 on Meta as much. Revisit, guys. I love that. The start of like, oh yeah, you know, lessons, right? Who cares about review opinions? But Also everybody revisit PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale. I respect it. I won't.

Let's see here. Guiller Brights in. It says I went or oh, Friday went to one more time Daft Punk tribute. Dope.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Cool.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I love that. I'm slowly turning this into like a Daft Punk channel.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Hell yeah, man.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

With all these Daft Punk things I was listening to this morning. Good face to face, man. OMGLX says how long before we rechristen. We rechristen Roger as Roma.

[Barrett]

I hate that.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Think about it. Let us.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Not sure how I feel about it.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Let it sink in.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Come and think about it.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Nightlife 2025 says, Did Roger Quiet quit?

[Tim M. Yetis]

That's the big question.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

That's the conversation. Yeah, I think we can get him.

[Barrett]

Back if we can, you know, get him in for this Kojima thing, you know.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah, I think so too. Bander SN says get rid of scores and switch to beef carcass. Ratings Bonanza is a Prime. Prime four is a choice. Air Riders is a select. It won't be confusing at all.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I love it.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I love that.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I fucking love it.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Clawmaster says since you're wanting some good. Since we are on a downer today, just wanted to send you folks some sweet, nasty love thank you so much. Nitro3940 says, if Eidos lives long enough to make a game, what would you want? I want Deus example. That's my answer. Give me another Deus Ex.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I want Guardians too.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Shadow Slain says, love the KF Awards. Odds of a Sarah Bond category for most headlines generated.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Damn.

I think that this is going to be. And you correct me if I'm wrong because you and Greg are the ones kind of leading this up. But this is not snarky. This is very celebratory.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Very celebratory. It's also like a very small thing. Right? Like, it's going to be, I think right now it's planned for the last KFC of the year and it is us just giving shout outs to the people that really work hard in this industry. And so, yeah, this isn't gonna be that Smiley's. However you'll want to, Smiley's gonna be a fun time.

Let's see. Phil the Trucker says, take away your scores and just rate games good, bad or greatest hits. Tpait says, imagine if musicians were given bonuses for a higher Pitchfork score. That's what's happening with Metacritic in games and it stifles unique art. I 100% agree. I don't. I don't like the idea of like, bonuses based off of Metacritic scores and also like people losing their jobs because the game did too low on Metacritic. I don't think that's how should work.

Shadow Slain says, all I'm saying is, if every game I look forward to isn't a 10 out of 10, what's the point of journalism?

[Tim M. Yetis]

There you go.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Alex says, what are you sipping on today, Tim?

[Tim M. Yetis]

Happy Wednesday cough. It's always the same.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

And then Zeke Speak says, bless. How is dnd? Tell us everything, you nerd. DND was really fun. I. It was a little bit tough because I'm jumping into a campaign that's already been going and so this is their, I think, third session. Maybe third or fourth session. It was fun creating my character. I like, showed up early so I could actually, like, fill out a character sheet. I'm playing as a fire Genasi named Cole. He's like a fire elemental. Tim. Oh, it's like the Genasi. I don't know enough about Bionicles, just that they're cool and that's.

[Tim M. Yetis]

That is the saddest thing you've ever said to me. Yeah, I feel like shout out to.

[Barrett]

Bionicle the golden mask in an alternate.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Timeline would have been blessing your personality. Bad. Like, real talk. Up until this moment, I would have been convinced you had a bionicle tattoo.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

No, I had. I had a singular bionicle. And I hated building it, honestly. I don't know why. Like, they were just weird to put together. I was. I hated it as a kid. Honest, honestly. But they seemed all right. Like, when I seemed all right, when I saw cool guys, when I see them on tv, when I saw them on TV as a kid, I was kind of like, hey, it seems cool.

Well, I was like, all right, they're doing too much. A little bit.

[Tim M. Yetis]

But, yeah, they are.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

They were doing Bionicles, were just doing too much. I think that was the big thing for me.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I've never been a Lego Technic guy. The moment you get all crazy, yeah, bicycles.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Bionicles were getting crazy, but they were cool. But there was like, you're getting a little bit too crazy for me. But, yeah. Joined up with the main crew and the D and D thing and. Oh, I got shot in the shoulder because basically the way they introduced me was like their crew was hanging out at a camp or whatever, and then I was kind of like a shadowy figure that was like, hanging out behind a tree. And somebody had rolled for perception or whatever, and they didn't roll high enough. So they just saw me as a shadowy figure. They didn't see who I was.

[Tim M. Yetis]

And then they started shooting at the tree.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Dude, fucking Eric. Eric is not his name in the game. His name in the game is Cannonball.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Cannonball?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. Okay. A tough dwarf. Cannonball saw me and was like. He was like, I want to shoot it. And I was like, oh, you know, because they don't know it's me. I'm just sitting there, like, waiting to make my entrance. And so they shoot me. They roll, I believe, a Nat20. And so their shot connects. It hits me for 10 hp or whatever. And so now I'm like, well, the DMs like, all right, introduce yourself or whatever. Like, what do they see?

[Tim M. Yetis]

What's your name?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

And I'm like, they see me fucking bleeding out my shoulders. What they see. So it wasn't a great introduction to the crew, but I'm looking forward to the next session.

[Barrett]

That's a fun. That's a memorable introduction.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

It is a memorable introduction.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Those Cannonball. Who are you?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Cole. I'm Cole. Saw the Fire Denazi. So basically, a fire elemental I named Nicole. Cole produces fire. Come on. Come on.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Oh, I thought.

[Barrett]

I thought you named him after Cole the dog. Because now that's just who I think your character looks like now. Is this Cole?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

No, he's like, think like, look at her dog. Bear. Look at what a fire. Genasi looks like.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Genasi.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Genasi. G, E, N, A, S I see.

[Tim M. Yetis]

With a G, man.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Wouldn't have started there.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

You know what? Yeah, you know, you're right. And it's cool. The Genasi. Ganasi. I don't know how I pronounce it, but they all. It's like Avatar, Last Airbender.

[Barrett]

Okay, so imagine this Tim.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

But.

[Tim M. Yetis]

But a weird dog. Yeah, dude.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

They basically have different elements. So you could be a water. It's like the last Airbender. Water, fire, earth, whatever. The fourth air, wind, whatever it is. But yeah, DND was fun. I look forward to the next one. We ended on a really good cliffhanger. So rift opens in the sky. Hands coming out, ripping the rift open. It's a battle scene.

[Tim M. Yetis]

It's cool.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

It's really fun. Really good.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Time for you.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Story number three. Saudi Arabia will own 93. It's not funny. It's a really sad, serious story. It's just a transition. Saudi Arabia will own 93% of EA when the deal is done. This is from Ethan Gotch at Kotaku. When the dust settles on the $55 billion leveraged buyout of Electronic Arts, Saudi Arabia will be its only true owner, despite a consortium of investors being involved in the deal, including President Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner. The public investment Fund will control 93% of the company, according to filings with Brazil's antitrust regulator. As reported by the Wall Street Journal. This is the reverse of what you might usually expect for one of these deals, where a sovereign wealth fund is one of the smaller players in a buyout led by a private equity. The stakes of the other partners, Silver Lake and Affinity, are set to be 5.5% and 1.1%, respectively. It's unclear what the point of their putting up money is at all, other than to help grease the wheels of a foreign takeover. Both Silver Lake and Affinity already get some of their own investment funds from Saudi Arabia, according to the New York Times and others. Saudi Arabia's finances have grown increasingly shaky in recent years, with the public investment fund pulling investments out of several other U.S. companies. Maybe that's why it's relying on $20 billion in loans to make the EA deal work. That high interest debt will need to be serviced either through big bets on AI revolutionizing game publishing, or more likely, big budget cuts and studio sell offs. Yep, it continues.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yep, it does. And here we go. That last line there, that high interest debt will need to be serviced either through big bets on AI revolutionizing game publishing or more likely big budget cuts and studio sell offs. Yeah, that. That's the line we're going to be talking about a lot the next couple years.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Are you talking about. We're going to be talking about it a lot. In honestly, 10 years from now, games industry gonna look a lot different also. Oh yeah, I think as far as who's still around what people are doing, like this is going to have a big impact on ea. And I hope, like, I mean, I want to say I hope it doesn't.

[Tim M. Yetis]

But like, I mean there's just no way it won't. There's just simply no way that this. There's no good news here. Yeah, there's just no good news here about any of the teams at EA, any of the projects that EA. Yeah, it's very concerning.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Store number four. Call of Duty is underperforming in 2025, an analyst says, citing burnout, creative decisions and AI slop. This is Eddie at GameSpot. According to one analyst, Call of Duty as a franchise is underperforming in 2025 due to a variety of factors. Reese Elliott of Alinea analytics said in an interview that some of the factors that he believes are contributing to Call of Duty's decline include community burnout, questionable creative and business decisions by Activision and Microsoft, and strong competition. In terms of the competition, Elliott called out Battlefield 6 in Arc Raiders along with Fortnite, which recently had a popular Simpsons season. Somebody outside just fucking. I don't know what's going on out there. Oh, it might just be ice. Which recently it sounded like somebody felt not.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Not the bad one.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Oh yeah, ice cubes. So he's using ice Machine is what I'm saying.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Which recently had a popular Simpson season and launched its positively received chapter 7 quote. Xbox dropped the ball on the wrong year, as this year saw some of the most exciting shooter releases in years. Elliot told Eurogamer. Attention is scarce. Elliot went on to say that players are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with Call of Duty's lack of innovation. Prior to Black Ops 7's release, Elliot said people would buy Black Ops 7 even if they complained about a lack of innovation, because many people buy new Call of Duty games yearly as part of autopilot purchasing. Elliot also predicted that Black Ops 7 would outsell Battlefield 6, but he made this prediction prior to the release of both games. Elliot also pointed out that Call of Duty is turned toward more Fortnite like cosmetics and non military character skins like Beavis and Butthead and Nicki Minaj.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I love that. What a blunder that was. Just in the sense that Beavis and Butthead and Nicki Minaj will forever be like the second sentence when people are talking about Call of Duty.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yes.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Like it's kind of like Mercedes Benz in Mario Kart. Like there's just something so weird about it that like you're not ever going to be able to get to shake that legitimately.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Anytime I think about what Call of Duty is nowadays, I pictured Nicki Minaj every single time. I'm not joking.

Continuing on the article, those things have have have alienated a significant portion of the fan base who prefer a more grounded military aesthetic. For what it's for what it's worth, Black Ops 7 does not feature the same kind of wacky and over the top skins that Black Ops 6 had, in part because Activision said it heard concerns that Call of Duty had strayed from its identity. Warzone, however, still has those kinds of skins for Black Ops 7. Specifically, Elliot said the game's co op campaign was a major point of criticism, while the game's use of AI slop was a sore spot for some. Beyond all this beyond, Elliot said the marketing for Black Ops 7 was pretty abysmal and underwhelming, while the game's formal reveal event at Call of Duty NEXT was messy and did little to excite the community.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah, there's a lot of shooters out there, right?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

And it's, it's crazy because Battlefield 6 was the one that all the pre release numbers we heard of, the expectations were like y' all need to expect better because that's crazy. You're never gonna hit those things. And of course they didn't hit those numbers. But Battlefield six battle counts. Doing very well, right?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

And you add on the surprise hit of Arc Raiders like really kind of dominating that multiplayer space like in a direct one to one my boys group text chat that plays Call of Duty Warzone all the time. They're playing Arc Raiders now. Oh yeah. And it's like that's, that's because Arc Raiders has that positive word of mouth that is speaking to that audience of gamers. Right. And Call of Duty I do think has this weird up and down. It feels like they always do like it. Like I'll never commit it to memory of like what studio is working on what games and all that stuff. So out of my wheelhouse. But it does kind of feel like it's if not an every other year thing. Yeah, it's somewhere around that. Right. Because I just feel like there's. Last year, Call of Duty was a.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Hit, and that was. And that was the previous Black Ops, you know, which I. I think they're trying to shift towards more of like a. Okay, here's the big release now. Here's kind of a follow up on it that's more of like expansion.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Traditional sequel back in the day.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. But we treat it like a full thing. And so now it's like we're judging these against each other. And last year's thing felt full fledged and big and polished and all this stuff. And now this thing feels like DLC for the last thing a little bit in ways I don't feel that's all.

[Tim M. Yetis]

For it on game pass, day one.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. Because, like, my question is, I'm looking this up as I speak. Right. Black Ops. Black Ops games usually developed by Treyarch. Was Black Ops 7 also Treyarch?

[Solo Leveling Arise Overdrive Promoter]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Okay. It was. So then it's like, are they putting out two games like, back to back? Because that's usually not how it goes, right? Usually it is. All right, here's Treyarch's thing.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Here's Infinity Ward.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Infinity Ward's thing. Right. And then they had a third one in there.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Avalanche.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

No, not Raven. Not Raven.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Raven. Right.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

There's another Call of Duty studio.

[Barrett]

Raven, I think, on the story stuff, but there's another one.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Sledgehammer. Sledgehammer. Sledgehammer. Yeah. And like, okay, cool. That gives us three years to work on the next thing. It feels like they've been shaking that up in a way that I don't.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Know if I think it's all just blending.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

It is.

[Tim M. Yetis]

It really just feels like they're just like blending. They're coming up with new Roman numerals. It's crazy, man. Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Like, Spartan in chat says, all Activision Studios now make cod.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

And that's what it feels like.

[Tim M. Yetis]

It's just Call of Duty. It doesn't really feel like there's unique identities as much anymore.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Projects.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Raven makes War Zone is what Chad is saying. Thank you. Story number five. The marathon art issue has been resolved. This comes directly from a tweet from. I think it's pronounced anti real. There's a lot of numbers and letters, but I think it's anti real. This is the person that they plagiarized the art from in the. In marathon. They tweeted out the marathon art issue has been resolved with Bungie and Sony. Interactive entertainment to my satisfaction.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Fuck yeah, dude. I don't know what this means. I hope so awesome they got paid. But, I mean, I hope that it means, like, what, what I hope it means, but what a baller fucking way. Can you bring that tweet up again?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah, bring it up. Oh.

[Tim M. Yetis]

The marathon art issue has been resolved with Bungie and Sony Interactive Entertainment. To my satisfaction.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

How many. How many zeros are in that satisfaction?

[Tim M. Yetis]

Oh, my God.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

How many commas you got in that satisfaction? Oh, man, I know he got paid, man. I want this to happen to me. I want somebody. I need to start making art and then pray that somebody.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Somebody steal.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Somebody steal this shit, man.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Damn.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Good for you.

[Tim M. Yetis]

This might be my favorite thing that we've read on this show since that guy that was straight up calling out Nintendo, being like, fucking, find me, find me.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

And then they found him. I'm pretty sure. Fucking God damn, Tim.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Oh, man.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

The bag that this person got, I'm sure is gigantic. But if I wanted something smaller, say the tiniest news I need to know about, where would I go?

[Tim M. Yetis]

You go to our last store, the WE News Channel, where we cover all the small news items that you need to know about.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Story number six is WE News. Scrap Daddies has been announced. Grab your best friends and dive into the colorful, vibrant, and violently chaotic world of Scrap Daddies, a new looter shooter from Other Ocean. This is a game that Jared Petty is working on. Oh, he sent this to us because he watches the show, of course. And all. All y' all know who Jared Petty is. He wanted us to talk about and show it off.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Hell yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

And so here's the trailer prescribed Scrap Daddies. Everybody looks kind of cool, actually. There you go. Check it out on Steam, if you want to check out more or if you want to Wish list it. MLB the show mobile has been announced for Android and iOS.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Dude, I've been thinking so much about NBA the Run.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Like, oh, I followed them on Twitter and I just keep seeing the same trailer they're posting over and over. Yeah, Every time.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I'm like, every time it gets you. They got Bobbino Garcia, bj, cucumber slice.

[Tim M. Yetis]

This is all we need.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

That's all I've asked.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Real talk. Like, this might be the thing.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Fingers crossed. I hope so. I really hope so. From Automaton via Noble, Yuji Horii got asked if Chrono Trigger is getting a remake anytime soon. And Horii answered, quote, wait, if I say that, you'll figure it out. Don't ask Ask is off limits. I'll get in trouble.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Come on, man. I love it. I fucking love it.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Why would you say that?

[Tim M. Yetis]

I know, I know. It's just so.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

People are weird, man.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Don't talk.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Just. Just say no comment.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Just say no comment. Did you say that? And all of a sudden I'm like, oh, damn, we're getting Crone Sugar remake.

[Tim M. Yetis]

But real talk, there's no way we're not getting Chrono Trigger remake. There's no way. Inevitably at some point we're gonna get that game in HD2D style. It just. It has to happen. And when you look at everything Square has said about its multi platform plans and its IP and what its strategies, they're pumping out these Octopath Traveler games, dude. They're getting to Chrono Trigger.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

They're pumping out these HD2 beauty things, man. Yeah, I love it. I love this era that we're in. We're talking about Traveler Zero in a bit.

[Barrett]

I would love. This would be a different direction because we Talked about the HD 2D for Chrono Trigger forever.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Right.

[Barrett]

But wouldn't it be cool if they find success in like the. Is it Dragon Quest also Square? Right?

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Barrett]

If they find like success in like people enjoying this Dragon 7, Dragon Quest 7 reimagined and it also being the same original artist with Toriyama. Right. Like, I think it would be cool to see it in that art style as well. Get weird with it.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah. The game. I. I don't know. The Chrono Trigger needs to look like Chrono Trigger, which looks like HD2.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. I want this to happen also. I'm just still. I'm still on this response that he.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Everybody, can you just YouTube frog steam? Just listen to that today.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

And then assignment after that. Listen to Secret of the Forest. Yeah, that's a good one.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah, it is.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Is that what it's called? That's what it's called. Right? Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I forgot where this is a Gatos theme too.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

You know, I haven't even played all the way through Chrono Trigger and I still, still love the soundtrack.

Our next we news comes from Jeff Keighley on Twitter, who tweeted. Next Thursday, Evanescence joins us to perform Afterlife.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

From the Netflix series Devil May Cry.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Let's go. I love every single thing about that. I love that the Definitely Cry series is getting loved.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yep.

[Tim M. Yetis]

So overlooked. It's gonna win. I hope it wins because Sonic got robbed.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I hope they also perform Bring Me to Life. Just because.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Just for fun.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Just because we're here. We're on stage.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Anyway, after life kicks ass. This is rad.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

This is really cool.

Nintendo added added music volume controlled to Mario Kart World. Barrett, can you play this video?

[Barrett]

Yeah, we. Hold on, hold on. So let's go here, and then we're gonna bring this down.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

This is coming off of the new Mario Kart World update patch where they talked about all the changes.

[Barrett]

Let me get out of full screen here. This comes from KZ Excellent live on bs. That's Blue Sky, Tim, everybody.

[Tim M. Yetis]

They added a new section to the settings for Mario Kart World with this brand new patch six months after the game came out. That not only tells you what song's.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Playing, but also some volume sliding options.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I want to test it out, see. See what they got going on.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

It's crazy. They didn't have a volume slider before. Oh, man. We got main theme.

[Tim M. Yetis]

We got the. The titles up there. Let's hit the settings here, see if we can find this volume slider. What? Normal.

Loud.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Two options.

I mean, for music volume.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Nintendo is the funniest company of all time.

This is the biggest crazy WND ever.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

That's nuts.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Hell, y'.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

All. So I guess for even more context, right, like Nintendo, Mario Kart World, there's a. There's a culture around Mario Kart World, specifically around a soundtrack where people want to, like, just post the soundtrack. Right. Hey, let us mess with the volume sliders. Maybe put down the sound effects all the way down so I can just listen to the music.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah. Or even song.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Even let me choose the song. They did add the song titles to the game, which is cool.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Thank you. But, you know, it has been fun to see the official names of these things. Yeah. Right. Just given, like, YouTube names do. So far, any.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Any video game, I'll say most video games you play have sliders for volume for the different things. Nintendo, for some reason, just doesn't want to give that to you. Instead, they finally patch it, and what do they do? They give you a normal option for music volume and a loud option that is not even a quiet.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah. So bizarre. God.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Weird company.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah. So fucking weird. I will say, though, this is an exciting update just because they're making changes well beyond what I expected them to. Obviously not music. Think this is a disaster. But they're adding. They're changing up the intermissions, like the. In between the different.

Tracks, core tracks or whatever. It's like they're adding a ton more stuff to, like, make it a lot more fun. And I'm Like, I didn't expect them to like change the world.

[Barrett]

Yeah, I, I honestly, I, I want to jump back in and see, see what it's all about.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Seems like they haven't fully did it. They just said to some of them, it's not to all of them, but it's like if they're willing to do that and planning to continue to like evolve the world, I just, I did not see that coming. Based on how they've been treating this 80 game so far. $80, no support.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I got a follow up content. I got a pitch for end of year.

Cart triathlon. All right. It's for a stream because I would also like to revisit Mario Kart. We do the cart triathlon where we play Mario Kart world, Sonic racing, cross worlds and Kirby Air riders all in one stream. And it's like I don't know how to. But we got to get through all the games.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I want to be like a relay race.

[Barrett]

Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah, Mike, get on it.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Figure it out.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Figure it out, Mike. If you need help, let me know. And that is it for we news. I want to shout out some super chats before we get out of here. DJ Kento writes in and says if Mario Kart 8 was upgraded to 4K and 120Hz, how often would you pick up Mario Kart World over Mario Kart 8? 4k.

[Barrett]

Never.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Mario. I can't wait. There's so many conversations about Mario Kart that are going to be coming up in the future. I. I just think it's so funny that it's like, yo, we're in six months of Mario Kart World. We're talking about a game that had 10 years to become what it was.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Like it's gonna take a while for Mario Kart World to be the thing that you're like.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

If you had to pick a choose between the two, especially if it was 4K120, it's like, yeah, you go for like the way more complete package.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. I mean they do have dollars.

[Barrett]

Not even the, the package itself, just in terms of gameplay feel as well. Like I just, I would choose eight over.

[Tim M. Yetis]

The thing is though, Bear and like I totally get what you're saying and I agree to a certain extent. I also just think that the way that you're talking about the game, it's so different. I don't think most people even picking.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

No, I know.

[Barrett]

And that's fair.

[Tim M. Yetis]

People are the Mario Kart World conversation.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

But there are sickos like me. Tim.

[Tim M. Yetis]

No, I get it. And I'm a sickle like you too, so it's like I'm right there and I'm. Dude, fingers crossed. 200cc.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

They still don't have video game that feels so goddamn slow because the roads.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Are so wide and you feel like.

[Barrett]

You'Re going five miles an hour constantly.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Where is it? Fair point. I like Knockout Tour, so, yeah, I pick up world for Knockout Tour. Yeah. And if they added Knockout Tour to eight Deluxe, somehow, by some magic. That's a perfect video game. It's a perfect video game. Yeah. Joshy Frog says. Listen to Frog's theme. AK Dot says our DM plan to introduce Cole. Oh, this is who AKA Dot is the homie Asin who I played DND with last. He says our DM planned to introduce Cole as a badass to help us in combat. And then one of our players threw a curveball, leading to getting hit with a javelin.

[Tim M. Yetis]

That's amazing.

[Barrett]

Yeah, it's honestly the most you way to get introduced to a game. I feel like, oh, shit, I got shot.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

It was memorable.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Oh, man, oh, man, oh, man.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I need to get this fucking javelin on my shoulder. Average Joe says, good morning. Love getting a video game. Sorry. Love getting a video message from y' all during my Spotify is wrapped this morning. Keep up the great work.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Pretty cool. Yeah, I didn't expect it to work. I asked us to record a message for Spotify wrapped, and we did, and I submitted it. I'm like, we'll fucking see. But seems like tons of people are getting it.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

It's so funny because I looked at my Spotify wrapped, and I saw a message from one of the podcasts I listened to, and then it triggered my brain of like, oh, that's how ours is gonna pop up. Ah, shit. That's crazy. We should put more effort into that. We maybe should have edited that or something. I don't know. Like, did Greg just, like, fucking hit record and then hit stop and boom, send it through? Yeah, I mean, I'm sure they gave.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Us very, very clear parameters of, like, 30 seconds.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. But, yeah, once I saw the one for the podcast I watched, I was like, oh, damn, they put so much work in.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Oh, okay. Damn.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Hey, it is what it is. Nightlife says, I don't know what this means. Hellraiser revival slash, sex horror slash video game. Check it.

[Tim M. Yetis]

I think this is one of those maps. Three words into a map.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Oh, yeah, it's not bear. Put sex horror in the map. See what happens.

[Tim M. Yetis]

You're saying sex horror, but you're Saying sex horror.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

I know I can't say those two words.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah, I don't think anybody can look up sex or members for me.

[Barrett]

I think that it also just might be them using an example of like other games that are allowed on these platforms. But weirdly, Horses is being the small indie game is being targeted even though a bunch of other games do similar on these platforms.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Jeff Bull Jr says super chatting to get KF to play and review a Bionicle game specifically Blessing. I feel like you'd be doing too much though. You know, you'd get in. It's like too many button combos. I don't know. I don't know how any of these mechanics work. Bionicles just be doing too much. Dude, keep it simple, keep it simple. Stupid kiss.

[Tim M. Yetis]

You know he wants to kiss the bio.

[Barrett]

Okay, man.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Simple.

[Barrett]

There's a golden mask. It makes you cool.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

As I was so confused for such a long time as a kid with a Bionicle. I was like, how the do I put this?

What the is this thing? Zeke Speak says I wrote Bionicle fanfic in college. So cool. How many super chats do we need?

[Tim M. Yetis]

Hell yeah, dude. Oh, that makes me so happy.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

How many super chats do we need for y' all to stream Mask of Light movie or play a Bionicle game?

[Tim M. Yetis]

Honestly, like I. I've been tooling. I want to try to figure out a thing where we react to stuff and I often am thinking about me and you in my mind when I'm thinking about us reacting to it's the.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Two of us, of course.

[Tim M. Yetis]

And yeah, I want to fucking react to goddamn Bionicle movie.

[Barrett]

Why not that and the the Crystal co Legend.

[Tim M. Yetis]

The Crystal coconut we have to do that'll be the three of us @ some point. I don't know when it's happening, but we'll do.

[Barrett]

It. In terms of Bionicle game I wear when I used to Twitch stream regularly during the work from home era, one of my chat members was really into Bionicle and sent me a physical Bionicle game. But I forget if it's for the PS2 or GameCube. I'm just saying if we get one of Those backwards compatible PS3s.

That.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Shit. I love that I had a Bionicle game on Game Boy.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Advance. Damn. Maybe Bionicles are more popular than I give him credit for because like the fact that everybody here, the fact we're in multiple super chats about.

[Tim M. Yetis]

People. People get weird about Bionicles in a good way. Like I Kind of really respect, like, Andy with.

[Solo Leveling Arise Overdrive Promoter]

Dinosaurs. I.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Don'T. I don't. It is like Andy with dinosaurs. That's actually a really good point. But it's like kind of sonic.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Levels. No.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Shot. Yeah, yeah, interesting. Well, niche sonic, but, like, it's the energy. The energy people give sonic. They also give.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Bionicles.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Okay. Yeah.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Yeah. I don't know what it was with Bionicles were just like. They were.

[Tim M. Yetis]

There. Sexy. A lot of.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Holes. I mean, a lot of like. Can you bring up an image of a BIONICLE Barrett? Nigel Martin, 35, says, I didn't.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Say what I just.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Said.

Some things you just gotta leave out there something. Some things I.

[Barrett]

Just. Especially with this image I'm about to bring.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Up. I'm not.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Wrong. I mean. Yeah, that is a lot of holes. God. That was the crew.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Though. Yeah.

[Barrett]

Man. Look at.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Them. I had the Arctic one, the white. Holy God. He was my.

[Barrett]

Guy. Yeah. I had the black one in the back and I think. I think the blue one as.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Well. I had the white and the blue, and I would mix them two white and blue that looked.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Different. I think I always knew this, but I wiped it from my brain that Bionicle was a Lego product. Yeah. Were they always a Lego product? Yeah.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah. I just forgot it was Lego. Trying to, like, grow up with kids and it fucking worked because I was a kid and then I was a man. Playing with.

[Barrett]

Bionicles. A hero will be revealed.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Bless.

I'm not gonna lie. This doesn't do much for me. This doesn't do much for me at all. I want to run away from whatever that.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Is. Oh, you're gonna love.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

It.

And that is it. I forget if I read this one from Nigel Martin, who says, bless. Play Daft Punk Experience on Fortnite. We'll see what class is. Cole says, Jeffrey Kirby, barbarian. Yeah, Barbarian. I think that's it. Barbarian. Fire. Genasi. I don't know if I'm missing anything, but.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yeah. You just learned the word Genasi last.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Night.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Yes. Good for you. I just learned it.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Today. So our Aaron says Mario Kart and 3D Mario will be the same game soon. And then. Sounds like a warning. I don't know.

And then Cody. We'll close out with this one from Cody, who says 16,000 minutes of listening to KFD this year. Thanks for all the entertainment over the years. Cheers to many more. Love you.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Guys. Thank you. That's.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Awesome. Thank you. Let's hop into your wrong. Were you right in? Let us know what we got wrong as we got it.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Wrong. So we can don't with us today. I'm telling you, I don't have the.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Energy. Somebody says not are you wrong but additional context. Yuji Hori is famous. Infamous for saying things he.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Shouldn'T. Awesome. There you go, sky says the artist related to the Bungee stories. A woman, not a man. The.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Artist. Oh.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Cool. It's making money. Good for.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Her. Good for.

[Tim M. Yetis]

Her. Make that money.

Hope you're.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Satisfied. I misread Bungie's bionicle and I was like the artist of Bionicle is a woman. Why is that relevant?

But thank you. Yes. I hope she got the bag. Dude.

Missed out today Guilds War Guild Wars Reforged is out on PC and steam. We usually don't do out today but I'll take it and then.

That'S it. Everything else is not that you're wrong.

We got to do after.

[Tim M. Yetis]

This. We do. They're gonna talk about movies 2026 baby. It's me, it's Nick, it's.

[Blessing (Addie Oye Jr.)]

Joey. And then it's an Octopath review for Traveler 0 and then it's gonna be a stream playing Elden Ring Night Rain. But this has been kind of funny games daily where each and every day run you through the nerdy news he needs to know about live on YouTube, Twitch and on podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad free and get a daily exclusive show. Enjoy everything after this and until next time, game daily.