Is Halo Finally Back?! - Kinda Funny Games Daily 09.30.25

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily: "Is Halo Finally Back?!"

Podcast Summary – September 30, 2025
Hosts: Blessing Adeoye Jr. & Greg Miller

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Main Theme

This episode centers on the evolving future of Halo, sparked by Halo Studios teasing a major announcement at the upcoming October Halo World Championship. Blessing and Greg dive deep into the franchise's troubled past, its possible future, and what revitalizing Halo truly means for Xbox. They also break down fresh rumors about a large-scale Lord of the Rings game, the announcement of a new Peter Pan game from TT Games’ veterans, and discuss the latest industry news, including layoffs, hardware updates, and quick-fire news shorts—all in the Kinda Funny signature style of humor, insight, and listener interaction.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Halo Studios Tease & The Future of Halo [08:05–27:00]

Main Story:

• Halo Studios (previously 343 Industries) will hold a major panel at Halo World Championship (Oct 24, 2025) to show what they’ve been building since transitioning to Unreal Engine.
• Multiple projects are rumored, reigniting hope for the franchise.

Critical Conversation:

• Franchise Fatigue & Reboots: Greg and Blessing agree Halo needs radical innovation rather than iterative sequels. Greg speculates on a “full reboot,” while Blessing emphasizes revitalized multiplayer.
  • Greg [09:57]: “I feel like Halo used to be the crown jewel of Xbox, and it has not been that for a long time... I think you need to just blow it all up. Nothing’s sacred. Start again.”
  • Blessing [13:15]: “The big thing is video games have changed so much in the last 20 years. For Halo to get back in the zeitgeist, they need to evolve.”

Community & Business Strategies:

• Remakes (Combat Evolved/OG Trilogy) are floated as possibilities, but skepticism remains over their ability to “move the needle.”
• Blessing suggests Halo needs a “suite” of games: a remake, a battle royale mode, and traditional multiplayer to match industry trends.
• Both hosts debate a shift toward community-first, early access development, similar to current approaches with Skate and Call of Duty.

Notable Listener Interactions:

• Multiple superchats call for remakes, make comparisons to other franchises, and float ideas of bringing Infinite to PS5.

Memorable Quotes:

• Greg [17:48]: “It just feels like Groundhog Day. We keep hearing promises to ‘bring back Halo’ ... at some point, you gotta ask, why are we still trying to make this happen?”
• Blessing [18:50]: “If Nintendo failed with Mario, they wouldn’t abandon the character. You keep going to bat until you get a hit because that’s your identity.”

2. New Lord of the Rings Game Rumored [28:08–32:52]

• Insider sources claim Embracer and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office are funding a $100 million third-person action game designed to be Lord of the Rings’ answer to Hogwarts Legacy.
• Skepticism is high due to Embracer’s spotty record and the failure of Gollum, yet the idea is seen as a “slam dunk” if executed well.
  • Greg [29:42]: “In the same way Hogwarts Legacy was about living your Harry Potter dream, this is the opportunity for Lord of the Rings fans... but is Embracer up to it?”

3. Peter Pan Game from Former LEGO Devs [34:56–45:59]

• Announced by Second Star Games (ex-TT Games team), Neverland: A Peter Pan Adventure will divert all profits to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
• Developed by LEGO games veterans aiming for a healthier work culture and more focused development cycles.
• Both hosts speculate it’ll be a kid-friendly LEGO-style platformer but urge caution given how hard it is for new studios to replicate past successes.
  • Greg [40:04]: “It is so fucking hard to make a video game. When you look at game developers who are successful, it’s rarely their first game at a new studio.”
• Blessing hopes it’ll be “small, contained, and fun—for a good cause.”

4. Avalanche Studios Liverpool Closure & Industry Layoffs [46:00–48:21]

• Avalanche closing Liverpool office and making further staff reductions amid industry shrinkage.
• Reflection on the end of the studio’s expansions and doubts about a Just Cause sequel.
• Square Enix’s divestment from Western studios cited as ongoing industry trend.

5. DualSense V3 Controller Leak – Removable Battery [49:13–51:44]

• Leak suggests a revised PS5 controller with a replaceable rechargeable battery will arrive in November.
• Blessing, a self-proclaimed PlayStation controller loyalist, celebrates longer battery life.
  • Blessing [50:41]: “The battery life fucking sucks... My Xbox controller hasn’t been touched in months—it’s still alive!”
  • Greg [50:57]: “It’s never been an issue for me, but I always dock it right after playing.”

6. WE NEWS – Quickfire Headlines [51:52–54:28]

• Microsoft Rewards no longer redeemable directly for Game Pass, must use Xbox gift cards.
• Epic Games rolling out an AI chatbot for Fortnite support.
• Nintendo forms new branches in Southeast Asia.
• Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed ceases DLC support; game remains playable.
• Mario 64: Power Wash Simulator 2 demo released.
• Banter over Twinkies and "immortal" Switch controllers.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Greg on Halo’s Legacy:
  “If I become Phil... after seeing so many attempts to make Halo relevant again... at some point, you gotta go, ‘What are we doing? Now we own Call of Duty…’” [18:08]

• Blessing on Franchise Identity:
  “You keep going to bat until you get a hit because that is what your identity is.” [19:15]

• Lean-In on Peter Pan License:
  “Every game sold will help raise funds to support seriously ill children at Great Ormond Street Hospital. We can’t wait for the next chapter in our Neverland journey.” [37:04] (Reading press statement)

• Classic Greg Riff:
  “The two things that’ll survive a nuclear war: cockroaches and a charged Switch controller.” [51:43]

• Playful Banter:
  Greg [55:15]: “Tim is the first person I’ve ever met that’s just ready to die. He’s gotten every bit of enjoyment out of life.” – on Tim’s lack of holiday enthusiasm.

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Important Timestamps

• Halo Studios Deep Dive Speculation: [08:05–27:00]
• Lord of the Rings Game News: [28:08–32:52]
• Peter Pan Game / Second Star Games: [34:56–45:59]
• Avalanche Studio Closures: [46:00–48:21]
• DualSense V3 News: [49:13–51:44]
• WE NEWS Headlines: [51:52–54:28]
• End Banter & Superchats: [54:28–57:56]

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Tone & Language

• The show remains light-hearted, full of tangents, jokes, and friendly teasing, despite serious topics.
• Listener participation in the form of superchats shapes and energizes the conversation.
• Direct, honest, sometimes irreverent Kinda Funny tone.

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Summary for Non-Listeners

If you missed the episode, the Kinda Funny crew dissect what’s next for Halo—will a new game, remake, or early community-driven access finally restore it as Xbox’s crown jewel? They weigh in with skepticism and hope. Elsewhere, rumors of a big-budget open-world Lord of the Rings game spark measured optimism. The Peter Pan game from LEGO veterans looks heartwarming, with proceeds to charity, though both hosts urge caution on first-time studio ambitions. Rounding out the episode are updates on DualSense hardware, industry layoffs, and brief news hits—all delivered with Kinda Funny’s trademark mix of humor, nerdiness, and community engagement.

Transcript

[A]

Today's stories include Halo Studios teases, a deep dive coming soon. A new Lord of the Rings game might take on Hogwarts Legacy. And a Peter Pan game is coming from the people that brought you the Lego games. We'll have all this and more because this is kind of Funny Games Daily. Yo, what's up? Welcome to Kinda Funny Games daily for Tuesday, September 30, 2025. I'm one of your host, Blessing Adioye Jr. Joining is WWE legend Greg Miller.

[B]

Hello, Blessing, how are you?

[A]

I'm doing well, Greg, how are you doing?

[B]

I'm great. I want to know in your head right now, three o'. Clock?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

On a Tuesday doing Games Daily. Bizarre. Of course, we had the Call of Duty stream live from Call of Duty next. Great job, Roger. Great job, Mike. Great job. Steve Aoki, who shake their hands. Then we did Gamescast first because Tim's got to run to some stuff. Are you worried about us doing news now? That would have normally been the news tomorrow.

[A]

1,000% in fact, so much so that for the last hour there has been like a Silent Hill 1 remake news kind of looming.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I've been kind of like waiting.

[B]

Don't say anything. Don't say.

[A]

Yeah. I'm like, is it official yet? Like, I keep like refreshing pages to see, like, all right, is IGN reporting on it?

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

And it's still in that air of mystery that I'm like, thank God. Okay, this could be a headline tomorrow. Thankfully we'll have something maybe to talk about.

[B]

Historically, I would be worried as well, but I'll have you know, about three hours ago I was pre briefed on something. So I got your headline tomorrow.

[A]

Nice, nice, nice. How you doing? 3:00pm Are you off your game? Are you ready to lock?

[B]

I'm tired. Yeah, I'm tired. I, I think I, you know, I stayed up too late last night playing video games and then Ben called me in his room in the middle of the night and then he woke up early. So I was like, I was already down. And I got my, my dad and his partner in town. It's, you know, Ben's birthday party on Saturday. You got to be there.

[A]

You know, I'm playing.

[B]

We got all this. So it's like there's the, the life outside of work is very hectic right now of suddenly having to manage two of the people. And we took them to breakfast today and then I walked them. You know, my dad's always the what can I fix around the house? And I usually say, nothing, Nothing. This Time I gave him a list. So today I walked around like, this is broken. This is broken. I'm not a fix this. So he's taking. But it's like that. Then here. Then we did an awesome happy hour, but that was an hour and a half. Then it was right to meetings and it was right in the games cast.

[A]

Are you eating lunch?

[B]

I did, yeah. I ate over the sink out there for a little bit.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. Over the sink.

[B]

I'm ready. I don't want to sit back down.

[A]

What?

[B]

I mean, if I'm up, I got stress. These games.

[A]

Oh, I've missed, I guess, only two days of work.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But that's still two days of news. Did you guys talk about the PlayStation Magic cards that got announced?

[B]

We did, yeah. They were. They were put into the. The thing. I mean, of course you weren't here and Mike wasn't here, so it was Tim and Andy going through. And they look cool, but like. Yeah, we talked about them.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Are you stoked about those?

[A]

Oh, I'm so stoked. I'm just stoked about magic in general. It's been nice to. It's just been nice that, you know, in 2025, I guess it was late 2024, like, at first, where we first learned how to play magic.

[B]

Right. And why was that?

[A]

Because Ghostbusters. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got the Ghostbusters secret layer. Coming into 2025, I've never had a. I guess a new hobby dominate a year. So much for me to. Where it's just like, man, this is all.

[B]

You've been all about it.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've been all about it. I've been to two Magicons in one year, which if you had asked me back in December, I would have been like, no, I'm not going to a fucking Magicon.

[B]

Yeah. I'm not a nerd.

[A]

Yeah. Now I've been to two of them and they've been fucking awesome.

[B]

I obviously magic gets a lot of loose talk in the office, and I've been so happy to see you take to it because. Yeah, it was. I remember last year at Thanksgiving is when, like, you came over and we played, like, when we were, you know, cooking or whatever, and we were both getting into it, but I've been sidetracked by having a kid and yada, yada, yada. My question for you in this year of magic and what's happened for you is have you formed slash found new friendships, or did you just find new dialogue trees and the friendships you already had. Because I see you hosting the things here and then you're always in the weekend. Even at Magicon, there was like, you did one. Like, there was a story from 12:30 in the morning of you playing. Like, it's.

[A]

It's. It's both.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So my friends had already been playing magic.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

My friend Meg had just started dating a dude who was, like, super obsessed. And so, like, for a year, she'd already been into it. Our friend Cassie had already been playing it. Right. And so, like, magic was around me. And then once I learned it, I think it did allow our bond to, like, deepen. Now we have this very Persona. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Very Persona, Right? We had this thing where it is. All right. I get to be obsessed with. With this. About this thing with you guys. And now we're planning trips around it. Now we're planning hangouts around it. Now we're trying to infect people with it. And then. Yeah, additionally, yeah, like, I hosted a Magic the Gathering draft here. That Jake Decker of Gamespot, he had like a. An unopened Lord of the Rings brand, like, Magic set from years ago that he had never used and was just looking for people to play with. And so invite him over, invite some other people over. And it's like, cool. We're hanging out, getting to know each other. When I'm posting from Magic on the other night, that was me playing with people from games media who I had either, like, met in passing or hadn't really hung out with before. Now it's like, oh, damn. Okay. I'm hanging out with Tom from Gamespot. I'm hanging out with Joseph from Morpg.com I believe hang out with Kate from. But why, though? You know, like, I am meeting these people and actually spending extended time because we're all like, yo, let's play this thing together. Awesome. And so, yeah, it's been super cool for that. If you're somebody who's a big fan of magic, I highly recommend making it out to Magicon. It was a super cool thing. It's just such a. A deep and extensive hobby where I like, there's always more magic to enjoy. There's always new things being announced. I signed up for. And I'm sure I'll talk about this more with Mike on a stream, but I'll. I signed up for a ticketed event which are basically like, you pay money to play a magic set with people. And the one I signed up for was it's a secret layer thing. So secret layers, like their cool exclusive sets that they release. And it's a like magic mini game called Don Don which is basically like Exploding Kittens. If you've ever played Exploding Kittens where you and your opponent share a deck and there's only one creature in that deck or like one type of creature. It's like these Don Don fish that do like four damage or whatever.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And as you're sharing the deck, you're essentially like getting cards that can make it so that. Okay, no, we're going to shuffle this back type of thing. Okay. I'm going to, you know, look at the top three cards and then draw them or like rearrange them and stuff. And so like it's very much more of a casual outmaneuver your opponent sort of thing and like doing stuff like that and finding new ways to I guess like enjoy this thing that I'm already into. It was such a blast.

[B]

That's awesome.

[A]

I got stories but like I'll, I'll talk about it later. For now let's talk about video game news because remember, this is Kind of Funny Games Daily. Each and every week they will run you through the nerdy news you need to know about. Live, our 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 podcast to get all of our shows ad free, watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show. For a chance be a part of the show some of your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. Housekeeping for you. We're an 11 person business all about live talk shows. KFGD is the final thing we're recording today. Before this you had Mike and Roger streaming live from Call of Duty. Next you had our September happy hour that went live for Patreon subscribers. And you had a games cast which is our Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 review. Woo. If you're a Kind of Funny member, Today's Gregory is 15 minutes or more about when can Ben play teen rated video games? Look at our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm twining. Today we're brought to you by Kind of Funny Games Daily Episode 2000 and our new merch. But tell you about that later. For now, let's begin with what is and forever will be the Rover report. It's time for some news. We have six stories today. Ah, Baker's dozen. Starting with our number one. Halo Studios teases a deep dive on what it's been working on at an October panel you won't want to miss. This is Wesley Y Pool at at ign. Halo Studios looks set to unveil more of what it's been working on in October. In a post on Halo, Waypoint, the Microsoft owned developer said it has a panel planned for Friday, October 24th at the Halo World Championship 2025, its big esports event. Quote Back in June we let the community know that we'd be continuing the conversation from last year's Halo WC and the a New dawn video and sharing more about what we've been working on, end quote unquote. Halo Studios said right now Kevin is playing, if you're a video watcher, the New dawn video from last year's event. Quote like last year we'll be on the main stage to talk about it, but this year we've also got a deep dive panel planned for the community stage that you won't want to miss, end quote during the same event last October, Halo developer 343 Industries announced it had changed its name to Halo Studios and confirmed multiple projects were in the works in the same breath. Halo Studios said all its future games would be developed on Unreal Engine, leaving behind the Slipspace engine utilized by Halo Infinite. The announcements were unveiled in a seven minute video shown ahead of the Halo World Championships Grand Finals. This showcased the results of Project Foundry, an experimental project designed to show a Halo game built using the Unreal Engine and offered a glimpse at a fresh beginning for Xbox's flagship franchise and in the wake of 2021's Halo Infinite. Greg hi. Me and you of course are the number one Halo fans.

[B]

Yeah yeah yeah Mike on the road, you know that's bad. Tim had to go home. It's you and me here to talk Halo. So super chat in with what you think this was going to be. Again, not a Halo fan by any stretch of the imagination, but student of the game with everything that Halo has been through to this point to now have 343 rebranded as Halo Studios, right? This has got to be Am I am I crazy chat that it's a reboot? We're starting from scratch right?

[A]

You oh like start over the story.

[B]

Yeah I am I wrong? I feel like, I mean I feel like we need a big page turn for Halo and again not being in the the fandom, I don't know if that would piss more people off or do whatever but I feel like Halo used to be the crown jewel of Xbox and it has not been that for a long time and I honestly I know this might piss off Forza fans and it might piss off, you know. Oh, what about Activision, Call of Duty? Like, I think since that's fallen, there really hasn't been one. Like, what is the Xbox franchise that like, you would pull the Xbox community and they'd all be like, oh, 98% of us are all like, Horizon. Maybe that's what I'm saying. I mentioned that at the top, right. I don't think it's Gears anymore. I don't think it's Halo. But I also don't think anybody stepped up to grab that baton. And I think that's what Xbox would love to have happen and love to see happen. And I don't think that happens with Halo Infinite 2. I don't know if that happens with just another Halo numbered game. Another Halo with a subtitle. I feel like you got to go, cool. It's been literal generations, not of consoles, of human beings. It's been generations since this Halo story and Master Chief and everything started. Let's go again. Like, let's do a brand new thing. And I guess, like, it could be. I mean, if I was there, my I and not knowing anything about, you know, I would be like, we got to just, let's blow it all up. Nothing sacred. Let's start again.

[A]

See, I. I think I feel similarly, but less so about the campaign and more so about the multiplayer, which is funny because I feel like Halo Infinite was kind of already that Halo Infinite felt like it was a new step. It felt like it was a freshening up. Hey, let's kind of start from scratch. Even though it is a continuation of what's going on here, Halo Infinite felt like a new beginning right after what all already kind of felt like a tumultuous time for Halo. And so for them too, I think haveth be able to find, I think light there for maybe about a few months, right? Like, I'm somebody who. I came into Halo Infinite and fucking adored it. But then like so many other people, the updates weren't there, the content wasn't there. I fell off after like a month or so of playing, right? But I really, really dug that month. My main thing is how do you bring back that fire? How do you bring back that flair and allow. Allow it to last over time, allow it to be something that you're able to update and keep up with, which I hope and assume maybe you're going to be able to do that a bit easier with Unreal Engine. I'm hoping that the rebrand and all this stuff is trying to refocus and do all that. But it's tough because I felt like Halo Infinite was already that.

[B]

Let me bring in two super chats. All right. Mikey Mog says, I think one of them, I assume, do we talk about multiple announcements. One of them has to be announces. Yeah, Halo CE remake and what's that? Combat Evolved. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I want to say Collector's Edition. Combat Evolved. I knew that, I knew that remake and then I don't know what else they could be making, but I'm very excited. Kebab says Halo OG trilogy remake for Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

[A]

I mean, does that get. I mean, and I think the first one, if you.

[B]

Somebody who didn't care about these games ever and I guess I, no matter what they would, would do, I wouldn't care probably. Like I'm just not that guy.

[A]

I think the big thing for Halo is that video games have changed so much in the last 20 years. Right. Since Halo 1, you're talking about even 24, 25 years. It's been a very long time of multiplayer evolving, online evolving, live service evolving. And I think with that you need to evolve with the times. You look around at first person shooters, you look around at multiplayer games and what are they all doing? They're doing free to play, they're doing extraction, they're doing battle royale. And I'm not even in battle passes. I'm not even saying that those are the, those are the routes because I don't think those are necessarily the routes. I think you can find things in there though, that makes you. That allows you to kind of fit and create a suite of, of Halo. I think Halo kind of needs for a first person shooter, multiplayer focused thing and something that Microsoft and Xbox wants to treat as their big IP because it is the most, I guess, mascot Y Halo or Mascot Y Xbox ip. I think the way to do that would be to have a suite, I think that does include a Halo Combat Evolved remake. I think that includes a Halo Battle Royale game and I think that includes a Halo, like the traditional Halo multiplayer and stuff. Right. And that's going to. I think you're going to need elements of free to play there. They had that for Halo Infinite. Right. But I think you need to be able to meet people where they're at Call of Duty, like even Call of Duty, which is the most profitable first person shooter that has the paid. All right. You're getting the full single player plus multiple player stuff.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But then you also have a Free version with the battle Royale. Right. Like you then you have Call of Duty Mobile. You need to get people in and I think they got to figure out how to do that.

[B]

With Halo, I agree with you. I don't think you're wrong from a business standpoint at all. You make a lot of sense there. And I think the idea of to you and Kebabs remaking, well, Halo OG trilogy, I guess it was Mikey Mogg doing a Halo CE remake. Having that be there and then have it offset with a free to play battle Royale. Have it offset with a multiplayer thing. Okay. It's just that I don't know again, as an outsider, it almost smacks of the same argument I always make to Tim of like, how many times are you gonna fall for Nintendo telling you third party games are gonna run great on their system? You know, I mean it just doesn't happen. And we go through this every time you launch system same thing with Halo now, like as somebody again not connected to it. So I'm impossible to win. The reaction to Infinite being so tempid. The. The seemingly years of problems Master Chief collection had where it was just issue after, you know, I mean like, it just feels like we've lived this cycle already. Oh, to be like we're remaking. Like who fucking cares anymore? Like I don't. You know what I mean? You tried doing something new. You've published the old games again before. And I just nobody. It ain't moving the needle in the way you move the needle.

[A]

I feel like, you know, in the ways that I'm talking about. You need to evolve with times and all this stuff, right. I think a lot of the ways that we talk about Halo remind me a little bit of skate and where.

[B]

We are now skate. Or like when we were like begging for a new skate.

[A]

I guess like when we're begging for a new skate, right? And like trying to figure and I think even more so having the conversations of man, it's been over a decade since the last skate. Like what are we going to do with skate? Like skate's coming back. But does this even look good? Like all this shit, right? I. We look at the skate that's out now and we're having so much fun with it. And obviously there's things that you got to do, there's things they got to polish up. It's not a 10 out of 10 game by any means, but I think early access is working well for it as far as allowing it to exist in a space where people are going to Give that feedback, and it's going to build towards something that hopefully by that 1.0, is quality is what we're looking for, is all that. But what we have with Skate Early Access right now, at its very core, I think they got one thing right, and that's that skating is fun. Yeah, I think they got to do that with Halo. I think right now you have to rebuild, and I think start at the community level. You got to give people whatever this Unreal Engine version of Halo looks like. I think sooner than later, you got to put that into people's hands and really have it be a thing that we're building alongside the community. I think you have to be. You have to find, like. And I think Halo Infinite already had this, which sucks, right?

[B]

Like, exactly.

[A]

You have to have a game feel that feels great to play and then put it in the hands of the community and go, all right, how do we build this further? What do you all want out of this? Like, what are the tweaks and all the things that we need to do to make Halo the Halo that you want? Because, like, I think putting out a polished, finished first person shooter in 2025 in the. In a ecosystem where we're dealing with. So with games that have already taken up all the air, right, Everybody's already playing. Everybody's already decided on what they're playing. I think you then have to look at the audience and go, all right, we're going to build this with you. You guys are going to help us decide this.

[B]

And I hear you and you're not wrong. It just feels like Groundhog Day. Like, I feel like this was the message of Halo Infinite. Like, I feel like even 3-4-3, changing their name to Halo Studios is almost like, let's just. We. We have never nailed it as 3, 4 3. And I say this as an outsider who just sees the reaction from the Halo community, so. So let's start fresh and call ourselves Halo Studio. It's like, okay, are we really turning over a new leaf? Are we really going to get something here that is going to satisfy and get Halo back to that point? Is that even possible? Like, again, as. As Xbox? If I'm there, if I become Phil or whatever, and I'm in these meetings and I see so many at bats, and again, this is just me as an outsider seeing it, not playing it, not being in it, seeing so many attempts to make Halo relevant again and seeing them all flounder to some degree, and at some point, you got to go, okay, well, why are we still trying to make this happen. Right now we own Call of Duty. What are we doing? Like, what are we doing? Like we have the first person shooter.

[A]

But I think to that extent, right. Like, I know it's a, it's a crazy comparison to. To a large degree, but it's almost like, you know, if Nintendo failed multiple times with Mario, Mario is still Nintendo. Like you still got to figure out how to get that right. Right. If PlayStation. You know, it's funny because PlayStation has moved away from Uncharted and I would kind of say the same thing. Right. But like you look at the, I guess, Naughty Dog identity in general.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And if the next Naughty Dog game comes out and it's not great, you wouldn't then move away from the Naughty Dog. Like that style of storytelling in game, in game design, you just, I think you keep going to bat until you get a hit because that is what your identity is. I want to bring in some super chats here that we got. I mean this is coming off of kebab saying Halo OG trilogy remake for PS5 and plus Xbox Series X. I saw somebody else bringing in. Here we go. Peaceful Warhead says they could pull a Konami and ship out a master collection of remasters slash ports on PS5, then have a brand new game come out shortly after. I think my thing is Halo Master Chief collection exists and was also updated over time. And I'm pretty sure is at a place chat. Correct me if I'm wrong. Pretty sure. Is that a place? That's pretty good. And so if you're going to do a remaster or like remake collection, I feel like you would just port that. And then I think the reason why I think about Halo Combat Evolved remake is that I envision that. Envision that is almost like a reimagining sort of thing. Like we're going to Halo Combat Evolved and we're giving this the full fledged, like same story, same whatever. Right. But we're turning this into a current gen, new modern.

[B]

Yeah, that's the thing. I forget what kind of funny day it was where we hit the milestone where I would play through Halo and I did and it was like so not fun for modern gameplay mechanics and stuff. Like if you're. Is it a remake or a remaster, whatever. This needs to be a remake. Yeah, you keep.

[A]

Yeah, it needs to be a capital R remake.

[B]

Go in there and we are fixing the path, critical path. And we are making it like this and does it at all these different things.

[A]

Yeah. Some unrelated super chats. We got we got a couple from Demetrios who writes in and says birthday tax for October 1st from down under this the best month of the year has come. Excuse me. Also getting married this Saturday. Thanks for all KF does. Happy birthday. Oh, I see they wrote that in twice. Or maybe it just came in twice. I don't know what's going on.

[B]

We got two we got the money from. That's all matters. Can I give you one from here too familiar says Halo maker. Lol. Give me Forge mode but on steroids. I know I heard a lot about Forge. I remember that having a thing or whatever Halo trying to figure out what Halo needs to be right now, what your big announcement here would be and again I think you're there's two sides of the same coin but the multiplayer versus the campaign and how you do it. Halo maker could be a really cool spin on all this of like yeah, hey, we're giving you a multiplayer suite to go make stuff and it's standalone and it's free to play and it's just that the other way to get in Angry.

[A]

I want to bring in one that just came in from Mikey Mog who says you guys are both right. I loved Halo Infinite when it came out but it fell off the multiplayer because my friends got bored but love to play it every so often. I also here's my thing. I still think it might still be worth bringing Halo Infinite to PlayStation 5. I know because they're talking about the.

[B]

New if they're going to bring Starfield. Yeah, yeah. Hell yeah.

[A]

I know we're looking forward. I know we're talking about the future. But I stand by Halo Infinite is a fantastic game, at least for like the gameplay. That multiplayer is really, really fun. I think if you ported that to PlayStation 5 at the very least you would find a community there that really, really fucks with it. Even though like it didn't have the stuff to keep people around.

[B]

You got one super chat from earlier. I'm sorry, I know. I waited cherry pick some Jursten says since this is going to be the last Halo esports event, peeps expecting a new game maybe a few years down the line. A lot of the Halo pros are wanting to convert to other esports once this season ends.

[A]

Oh yeah, I could see that.

[B]

Interesting.

[A]

And a few things. I think a few things are important for this conversation. One, during the Xbox showcase they talked about all the games that are coming out in 2026 and they said Halo, didn't they? I know they said Forza.

[B]

They said Phil said something in one of the classics or some that's been with us forever or something like that.

[A]

Oh yes, I think he said it in that kind of way. And so I would expect something that I think that's I would expect Halo Combat Evolved like remake based off of that. I don't think we're in the Go for it, go for it.

[B]

You're crushing it. Windows Central, this is Brendan Lowry Published June 8, 2025 quote Celebrate 25 years of Xbox with a classic that's been with us since the beginning. End quote Did Phil Spencer just tease a new Halo game for 2026, Microsoft's big Xbox game showcased this weekend's largest gaming presentation show filed Summer Game Fest, yada yada yada. The conference was capped off by this. Then before it began, Microsoft CEO Phil Spencer came on the stream to close out the show and he might have teased the return of a flagship franchise, Halo. Quote I'm excited to share that players will get to celebrate 25 years of Xbox with a new fable, the next Forza, Gears of War E Day, and the return of a classic that's been with us since the beginning, he said. And he went on to introduce Call of duty Black Ops 7. I couldn't care less. I was still focused on the last few words when thinking of a classic that's been with us since the beginning. Halo is the only series that comes to mind, indeed. 2001's Combat Evolved famously launched right alongside the original Xbox console and Bungie's hit was Microsoft's biggest system seller for several years.

[A]

ZOVGM in chat is obviously Crimson Skies, which is really funny, but also I think Phil Spencer really likes Crimson Skies and so that'd be hilarious. And that was really the implication.

[B]

Yeah, but like late last year though, Halo Studios confirmed that Halo is moving to Unreal Engine and developers were ramping up hiring for several in progress things.

[A]

I would be shocked but very impressed if it ended up next year for Xbox ended up being Fable, Gears, Forza Horizon in Tokyo and a brand new like ground up Halo game. I think you're going to get those four to some degree, but I think that Halo thing is probably either a remake or some kind of contained thing because I also look at and this is the second part I wanted to bring in, I look at the quote unquote next generation of Xbox. They're working on whatever the new hardware shift is. We talk about the PC ecosystem, all this shit. I would think that you want to have a Halo thing at the beginning of that that is your big next step for Halo.

[B]

Gotcha.

[A]

And so I think that is. That's the way I'm framing the strategy in my head of next year.

[B]

But even then, and I'm with you on that, if I was in these rooms, I would say, cool, take your foot off the gas about talking about Halo at all. Yeah, let people want Halo. I. I feel like people want Halo and they keep getting served twists on Halo and they're like, this isn't what I want. And now I don't know if there's. I think the appetite for Halo could really be raging if people were allowed to want it.

[A]

I think the thing.

[B]

But again, I'm an outsider.

[A]

I think the easiest win, though is just remake a thing that, you know, people love. Just remake Halo Combat Evolved. And I say that even though Master Chief collection launched rough. That's basically what I'm saying.

[B]

Dean Brown super chats and says half the battle is launching a feature complete title Infinite launched without a Slayer playlist. That is criminal. Another Halo CE remake is Meh H. We'll see.

[A]

We'll see. I want to bring in some more super chats for y'. All. Jay Ballin says, love watching you guys. Thank you for the laughs. Thank you, J. Ballin. Ty Wilkins VO says we news. But big announcement for me. I voiced the new monstrous grizzly oni skin in Dead by Daylight that came out today. Hell yeah.

[B]

Ty Wilkins, always doing cool stuff out there.

[A]

Yeah. All the roars, growls and grunts. Thank you. Kind of funny for being an inspiration to chase dreams.

[B]

Get him.

[A]

But Paul says, what if you're a rescuing chief not playing as him? I think, I mean, that could be an option, right? Like a spin off. We've had those before. But Halo odst. You're not playing as Master Chief. I'm speaking out as somebody who's not played every single Halo. But like, yeah, maybe you get a non Master Chief Halo game next year. That could make sense. And then Graham Mann writes in and says, we news. But big announcement for me. I'm trans. Congratulations.

[B]

Good job on owning that.

[A]

And then peaceful. We'll do one more from Peaceful Warhead. Who says could be or could the new Halo be this year's game Awards? One more thing. I mean, if they don't got Half Life three there, then sure, why not? Damn. You know?

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I mean if you're Jeff Keighley, you.

[A]

Got a Halo in one handed Half Life three. What's your closing?

[B]

Half Life three?

[A]

Half Life three.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Again, people have been Waiting for that, wanting that. What if it's combo Halo versus Half Life.

[A]

Whoa, Halo Life. Halo Life. What if. Okay, what if PlayStation comes to you with another Wolverine like a Wolverine gameplay trailer. Another one Half Life, not. Not Half Life, but versus Halo.

[B]

No, I'd go Halo there. I mean if it's. You get to announce the Halo X thing. Yeah, you get but.

[A]

And then in that same. But this is in the same conversation, Nintendo busts down the door, they kick down the door and they're like Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time remake. Jeff, now what do you close with?

[B]

Well, again like. Well, are so like Halo Studios is set to unveil what they're working on October so game awards no longer is the first taste of it.

[A]

That would be true. Yeah, you're right.

[B]

You're right. In a fucking remake.

[A]

I think it'll happen. It better. Let's move on to story number two. New Lord of the Rings game is in development this is Mike Strahl at Insider Gaming. A brand new the Lord of the Rings game is in development and has been for some time. Sources close to the game tell Insider Gaming that a new title is set to be at least partially funded by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, AKA Adio Adio, the first half of my last name. This funding should roughly equate to $100 million, give or take. The deal has been in the works since last year and while not signed yet due to the number of moving parts, is said to be made official soon and could happen as early as next week. Regarding current funding of the game's development, it has been funded internally.

[B]

Here comes the Gollum trailer.

[A]

As far as what the game will be, sources didn't want to say too much. What was said however, is that it'll be a third person action game that is designed in a way to compete with Hogwarts Legacy. In addition to the Adio, it was said that multiple parties are involved with the game, including Embracer Revenge and other studios. Embracer has has had the rights to Lord of the Rings IP for video games since 2022 when it paid nearly $400 million. It has since licensed out those rights to other companies, reduced titles, including the much maligned Lord of the Rings Gollum. Greg.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you believe that we could get a Lord of the Rings game to go up against a Hogwarts Legacy?

[B]

Yes, like I definitely think you could and I definitely think that that's what the mood board the conference room when they wrote this out idea is. I don't know if they're up. I don't know if Embracer is up to the task of making that actually happen. I don't have much faith in Embracer as a publisher and giving the teams what they need and desire for that. But I do think that you, the pitch of that's pretty simple, right. Of like in the same way Hogwarts Legacy was live your Harry Potter dream of going to school, learning spells, blah, blah, blah. The same thing here, right. Of make a class, choose a character, run free in the, the Shire. I don't know much about Lord of the Rings either.

[A]

You know, we're out of our, out of our depth this episode.

[B]

I mean, call Lucy James. I mean, yes, I think all of that is a possibility, but Gollum was a reality.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's not to say, obviously. I mean we could go back to Shadow of War. There are great Lord of the Rings games, there are terrible Lord of the Rings games. It's, it's not, you know, one or the other, but again, Embracer and then wanting to exploit this and then Abu Dhabi investment off it, it's like, what are we doing here? Is there actually a great idea behind this one or is it let's make money off the IP we have and we don't, you know, we don't care what we're doing on the way there.

[A]

I know we're bringing in, you know, we're, I'm bringing in numbers here. Right. And numbers in this case can get weird and amorphous. Yeah. But the Lord of the Rings gollum, according to gameluster.com costs $15.9 million to make. Right. So when we're talking about this game being funded for maybe $100 million, give or take, like it's a lot of money.

[B]

It's a lot of money.

[A]

It's a lot of money.

[B]

It's a lot of money.

[A]

That's all, that's really all my take. That's a lot of money. And if the, obviously in these meetings, sure, you might say Hogwarts, like the words Hogwarts Legacy might come out of your mouth when you're talking about a third person action RPG in a fantasy world that's based off an ip, Right. Like you are going to compare it to a Hogwarts Legacy because that is one of the more successful games in the last three or four years. When you're talking about, I guess when I'm looking at the makeup of this story between the adios. Funding this thing for that much money and you know, embrace a revenge and other Embracer and all this stuff. I'm like, I guess I could see, I guess I could see it. I just got to see it before I believe it.

[B]

That's the biggest thing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think we, with, I mean, how cynical you want to be. I would say with any IP game, we've seen so many examples of just it up and not it doesn't matter. Right. It doesn't matter how much you put into it. But you could also say with any game you can see that going the same way. So games are so nebulous that this isn't enough to go on. It's a ray of hope if you're a Lord of the Rings fan.

[A]

But it's also, I think, in my opinion, it's also a slam dunk of an idea. The fact that we haven't gotten more just straight up Lord of the Rings RPGs. Yeah, people love fantasy people. I mean people love Lord of the Rings as an ip. Yeah. Like, I mean if you're, if you're going to compare anything to Harry Potter as far as fantasy that resonates with people. Lord of the Rings is what you say. Lord of the Rings is the other one.

[B]

I mean, am I missing it? It's not saying rpg, right? No, it said to be a third person action game. Right. At which point I'm always like, yeah, why again, not being the biggest fan but like why aren't you telling Aragon's tale or whatever, you know, prequels and side stories and you know, whatever fucking Bilbo was up to over there.

[A]

I don't.

[B]

There's a million things you could go do with any of these people, any of these IP anything. The gigantic timeline you have.

[A]

Pick another shadow mortar. I like that game a lot.

[B]

Rest in peace. Another great video game developer took before their time. Didn't get to put out their Wonder Woman game. Nemesis system copyrighted, sitting on a shelf somewhere.

[A]

Greg, I want to talk to you about another well known fantasy ip. But before we do, I want to talk to the audience 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. Speaking of ads, let us tell you about our sponsors Kind of Funny Games.

[C]

Daily 2000 is happening on October 6th. I can't believe it. We are 2000 episodes into this daily weekday show. Thank you so much for your support over the years. Watching us live on YouTube, Twitch, podcast services around the globe. Kindafunny.com store is where you want to go to get this shirt to celebrate Kinda Funny Games Daily 2000. But on top of that, it's not just the celebration of kind of funny Games Daily. It's kind of funny games overall. We're bringing back some retro merch. Look at this. One of the fan favorite shirts from back in the day, of course, inspired by a portable handheld system we're not going to name, you know, specifically, but you get what we got going on. And one of the most requested unreleased shirts that I used to wear all the time. You're now going to be able to get kind of funny.com store. But hey, it's not just about merch. It's about celebrating 2,000 episodes of games daily. October 6th, we're doing a mega episode of Games Daily. Be hyped, be there. We have segments, we have guests, we, we're trying to get 2,000 super chats. What's going to happen if we do that? You're going to have to tune in to find out. We'll see you there. October 6th get your shirts kindafunny.com store.

[A]

And we're back with story number three. Fantasy adventure game Neverland A Peter Pan Adventure to be first title produced by Second Star Games. What this is, this is a very interesting one. So this is from Leo Baraklo at Variety writing this.

[B]

Okay, okay, okay. I'm glad I didn't look ahead on this one. All the words you just said, like what?

[A]

Fantasy adventure game Neverland A Peter Pan Adventure will be the first title to be produced by Second Star Games, a new UK based game development studio and publishing studio. The Manchester, England based studio is headed by Tom Stone, former managing director of TT Games whose credits include LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Batman and LEGO Harry Potter. Stone's team includes many key members of the former LEGO Games development team. Great Osmond Street Hospital, which has a perpetual right to renumeration for adaptation of Peter Pan, lock in because it gets really interesting. And Great Ormond Street Hospital charity which has developed the game's new world of Neverland, have granted Second Star Games a long term worldwide exclusive license to create a suite of video games around the ip Gosh. Charity will receive royalties from all sales of the game to raise funds for the seriously ill children who are treated at Great Ormond Street. J.M. barrie donated the rights to Peter Pan to Great Ormond street in 1929 after he was asked to sit in on a committee by the hospital but thought of a better way to make a difference.

[B]

How fucking awesome is that?

[A]

Yeah. Two months later I Don't want to.

[B]

Do that, but I'll just give you the rights. I've made enough money.

[A]

Here's the ip. Two months later, the hospital learned that he had donated the rights to his much loved play and novel Peter Pan or the Boy who Wouldn't Grow up to Them. Gosh. Charity Senior Brand Licensing manager Jenny Martin said, quote, we're delighted to be working with Expert Partners Expert Partners, Second Star Games to bring the magical world of Neverland to life. For a generation of young gamers, Neverland, a place of adventure and imagination, provides an amazing backdrop to to what we know will be a first class game. What's more, every game sold will help raise funds to support seriously ill children at Great Ormond Street Hospital. We can't wait for the next chapter in our Neverland journey. End quote. That's really cool. There's a lot going on here.

[B]

Yeah yeah, yeah. There is a lot, lot lot going on here which is exciting and questionable. Not questionable in a bad way like take it with a grain of salt. We'll sure yeah we'll watch the rights in the hospital stuff. That's all really cool but it's a lot to wade through all of a sudden on a random ass Tuesday after.

[A]

And I love just look at your laptop and see that you're on LinkedIn.

[B]

I'm on LinkedIn. I went right to the bottom Stone's page. I'm like how long is the I want to make sure because obviously if you're not a Peter Pan aficionado and I am not but I am I do know Second Star is a reference.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To Peter Pan. So it's like okay this is a studio founded to make Peter Pan games. How long have they been around? Tom Stone on LinkedIn nine hours ago. Pleased to share some news. Today we're officially launching our new studio Second Star Games alongside announcing our exclusive worldwide partnership. Blah blah blah. Studio is made up of basically repurposing what you just read there. Right. And so yeah. What angle do you want to take? Bless. Where do you want to start with this one.

[A]

So I have an article from GamesIndustry Biz. They had an interview with folks from Second Star Studio. I want to bring in the part where they of them leaving TT Games.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Because that was one of the, that was one of the first questions that popped up in my head from reading the story is like so people, the people who made Lego are making a Peter Pan game. The excerpt from the article on polling reads like this. The venture is staffed by some of Stone's former colleagues from TT Games, including lead game designer Andrew Holt, art director Nicola Daly and head of engineering Chris Stanford. The last piece of the puzzle was funding. Stone is putting some of his own money into the venture. But the majority of the investment has come from Graham Chilton, who helped fund 2005's Lego star the video game. The company is still weighing up whether to partner with a publisher or go at it alone. While Second Star Games definitely has an element of bringing the band back together, Stone wants to do things slightly differently this time. Quote I think we're going to take a breath and look up occasionally. When we were making the LEGO games, it was intense. It was blood, sweat and tears. I loved every single moment of it. But upon reflection, we could have made fewer games slightly better and sold probably the same number of units we sold. I'm going to put a pin there and see if I can find another part of the article. Oh no, I can't find it. There was another part of the article where he was essentially talking about the work environment of TT Games. Talking about crunch. Talking about it was how it wasn't the best like place to work as far as like crunch and all that stuff.

[B]

Sure, sure.

[A]

Which seemingly has led to him and other people pulling away and doing their own thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Just how we end up here.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What does that do for you?

[B]

So aside from a. A new video game developer. That's awesome. Aside from hey, an ip we don't see that much from. That's awesome. As of course the profits of this are going to a children's hospital. That's awesome.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I recede back to the. Let's wait and see on this approach because how many times have we seen this story? We have left the big developer. We were at medium sized developer, whatever you want to call them and we are coming out and we are starting a new studio and we are going to make our own games. Right. We always go to right here in the Bay Area before they got bought by the Laszlo Dan Houser thing. Not Ascension Ascendant Studios and they made for Immortals, Immortals of Avium where it was like, oh, this was a flat game. There are some good things too. But it wasn't amazing. Right. Striking distance with the dead space. That wasn't dead space. Thank you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And apt to this comparison right now. Another upstart studio from The Ashes of TT Games, 1010 Studios who made Funko Fusion and that was Arthur Parsons, personal friend of mine who was the. If you ever saw me interview anybody about the LEGO games, it Was always Arthur at IGN Comic Cons. Right. And all this stuff. And he was. Went off and made 10, 10 games and made Funko Fusion. And Funko Fusion is not a well reviewed game. It is a 54 right now on Metacritic, right? It is. And I don't do that to make fun of them. I do this to point out it is so fucking hard to make a video game. Period. End of statement. When you look at game developers who are incredibly successful and they're in the studio structure, it is rarely their first game. I think you can even. I would even point to games that are great out of the bat and look at Supergiant and how good Bastion was. But look at how good Hades 2 is.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that comes from working together, having a workflow. Understand you make those mistakes on games one, one and two. So game three is easy. Even better. You learn all these different things. We see so many people leave these different studios, leave the publishing arms they knew. And we're talking about this one not having a publishing angle just yet. Right. Not having money really coming in in a certain. In a meaningful way. If that's not too mean. You get there and it's like they are going to be in bootstrap mode. They're going to be doing something, but they're. They are going to, I would bet dollars of donuts they're going to be trying to make a game as if they were still at TT with the resources of Warner Brothers. And it's easy to say, oh, we know we don't have the resources of Warner Brothers, but do you know what that actually means? Do you know when's the last time you had to want for that? This is not to be clear. I'm not talking shit. I'm not wishing them ill. I'm not saying maybe I'm completely wrong. Like, no, we got this. But I think they're still in such a nebulous place that this is a, I think twofold of. We're shooting off the flare gun of come work with us if you want to make a Peter Pan game. And also come talk to us if you want to fund a Peter Pan game. Which to me goes cool. Neverland Colon. A Peter Pan adventure is nothing right now. And so what is that actually going to shape up to be? That is, you know, I'm sure they are somewhere on a whiteboard Hogwarts legacy but for Peter Pan. And it's like you won't get to that. You're not going to get to that. Especially with game one. So what Are we really talking about here? What are we actually making?

[A]

Yeah, I mean, I do wonder if it is the if on that board they have written down Hogwarts Legacy or if they have written down LEGO gameplay. But Peter Pan. Because I, I immediately envisioned this as a kid's game.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I immediately envisioned this as we are in. I think here they mentioned somewhere the Peter. The charity folks talking about, you know, making something great or making something special for children. Right. Like. Or young gamers. Right.

[B]

Magical world of Neverland to life for a generation of young.

[A]

Of young gamers. So I, I think that is them looking at their Lego expertise and going, okay, we can make a great 3D platformer or like a great, like, you know, great action 3D, like run around.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. You have your hub of, I don't know, Peter Pan. That one character. No, the Lost Boys. I know all that. But I mean, whatever they called their treehouse hangout, right. You have that. The Lost Woods. That's not right. And you go out and you're fighting Captain Hook on a ship and you're going off and doing this and like, you go off these levels, you come back to your hub world, you build it out, you eat the invisible food. Yeah. We're talking Hook now was awesome.

[A]

Yes. I think that's the kind of scope that you're working with and to your entire point, right? Like you got. You're gonna have that and then probably have that scaled back based on budget, based on not having the resources of Harry Potter and Star wars and Warner Brothers and all this stuff, right? Like you're going to be looking at. All right, it's us and we're making a Peter Pan thing. And Peter Pan. I don't even know where we're at with Peter Pan as an IP as far as like, how much money are people spending to like buy like show up and buy the Peter Pan thing? Yeah. I have no idea. But I would venture to say, like, that's not a. That's not in the top, you know, 10 top hundred IP that we're talking about as far as, like maybe about.

[B]

I would float out that I think. Although if we were to go to Google Trends and put in Peter Pan, I don't think it's like fucking going higher than Labubu, but I do think that there is a baked in. Oh, I like Peter Pan. Like, I remember reading Peter Pan books as a kid. Not like Golden Books. Like, I remember checking out a book from Library.

[A]

Like the actual movie.

[B]

Yeah, Hook. Yeah, Hook.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, yes. So I Think there's a. Hey, we all like Peter Pan enough that if you put out a game that was a 7, 5 and 8 and it was, you know, priced appropriately and it's going. Proceeds are going to a hospital. I can see people being behind playing that and trying it.

[A]

Peter Pan. If you had told me that Peter Pan was in the Pinocchio realm of being like a. Not a free agent. Being like in the domain. Yeah. Royalty free. I would have believed. I would have believed you. I'd be like, oh, yeah. The people who made Liza P are probably making a Peter dude that.

[B]

When, when this came up, that's immediately what I jumped to too. I was like, I thought they're like Dorothy next or whatever.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. And so I don't know. I'm very fascinated to see this one. Like, I, I don't expect anything big. I expect something that's like small and contained for kids.

[B]

I hope so.

[A]

But I hope that, and I hope they nail it. If like this money is really going to the gosh charity, like, I hope they nail it. I hope it's fun. I hope it makes a lot of money for that.

[B]

100%.

[A]

I think that's a cool angle to this that you don't often see. Yeah. Let's move on to story number four. Avalanche Studios Group announces closure of Liverpool Studio. This is from Lewis Packwood at GamesIndustry Biz. Avalanche Studios Group has announced it'll close Liverpool Studio as well as reduce the workforce at its Malmo and Stockholm studios. The Swedish group, which includes the division's Avalanche Studios, Expansive Worlds and Systemic Reaction and is known for games like Just Cause and Mad Max, had opened its Liverpool studio in 2020. Avalanche published a statement on its website giving news of the studio's closure as well as reductions in headcount at its at its Swedish offices. No details were given on the number of people affected. Games industry Biz has contacted Avalanche Studios Group to ask how many people are at risk of redundancy. According to the group's website, it employs over 600 people. Back in August, Microsoft paused development on Contraband, a co op heist game being developed by Avalanche. Last year, Avalanche closed its offices in New York and Montreal, resulting in 50 people being laid off. The Montreal office had only been opened a year previously, in 2023.

[B]

This sucks.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

I mean, I think we talk about layoffs and closures far too much on the show and we all know the story and we can bring out the changing economic things, shrinkage, you know, how we've matured As a market, like it's all the same shit. It was go, go, expand, expand, expand. And now it is like, oh fuck, we're not making as much money we thought we were going to make off these games. So retract. Retract.

[A]

Yeah. Super sad story. Makes you wonder if we're ever going to see another just cause. You know what I mean? Like I want. When you're talking about a studio that already had. Had layoffs, already closed its offices previously, we're talking about that happening again. Probably because of this canceled game not looking good for.

[B]

I mean the biggest thing against it too is remember that. And this is where it gets hinky. And I'm not 1000% sure. Right. Correct me if I'm wrong, Square Enix published this. I would assume they own the rights to it. Yeah, we know how Square has been vocal about like, well, first off, getting rid of Western Studios. You know what I mean? Getting rid of Eidos Montreal, getting rid of Square Enix Montreal, getting rid of Crystal Dynamics. Right. And so it is that they. They've been divesting in their Western games and stuff. That really isn't Final Fantasy.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So like, yeah, I don't think you see a just cause from them.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I don't know. And I would imagine in the way Chris Dymx walked away with Tomb Raider. Right. And I know it's Amazon now, but yeah, they walked away with that ip. And more importantly, more importantly, IO Interactive got away with Hitman. I would imagine that Avalanche isn't in the same boat to try to get just cause and get out of there with it.

[A]

Oh yeah. I mean Avalanche. I don't know who owns Avalanche. I guess it's just Avalanche Studios Group. Some either. I guess they're independent. Unless I'm wrong, kind of com.

[B]

You're wrong. I'm opening their page right now. It's parent. Yeah. Avalanche Studios Group is a Swedish video game developer and publisher based in Stockholm. It is a parent company that includes Avalanche Studios, Expansive World. Yeah.

[A]

So that's so, yes, they're their own group. Yeah, they're their own thing. So yeah. Unless they're about to get into a conversational square of like, hey, please, please let us buy this thing. We need it. Yeah, I wonder how that could go.

[B]

But more importantly, Mad Max, remember?

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. Let's close out with story number five. Sony is reportedly set to release an updated PS5 DualSense controller with a removable battery. This is Chris Scolion at vgc. A new version of the Dualsense controller is set to be released soon, according to a new report. Polish site PPE Pl says Sony is working on a revised version of the PS5 Pro along with a revised DualSense controller. The site cites its source as Grox. Darius Hootses correctly revealed that Microsoft Flight Simulator was coming to PS5 and leaked the boxed version of the Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion Remastered. According to the source, the new DualSense controller, known internally as the DualSense V3, will launch in November and will feature a removable battery. Although this hasn't been clarified in more detail, the wording appears to suggest this doesn't mean the ability to use AA batteries, but rather. It's funny, I didn't even think that. But rather a rechargeable battery similar to that already in the current Dual Sense controllers, with the ability to replace it with a new one, or potentially one with a higher capacity if needed. That last part makes me happy.

[B]

The higher, higher capacity.

[A]

Yeah, because these Dualsense, they'd be dying. They'd be dying on me and I'm tired of it. Give me like, let this thing. That's my one. I love the DualSense controller. Like I've been team PlayStation controller ever since that ever became a conversation.

[B]

Since that team formed.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like the one knock I'll always give the PlayStation thing though, is that the battery life fucking sucks. You know, my Xbox controller at home that I've not touched in months, that shit is still alive. I turned that thing on right now.

[B]

I. This is always such a moot point to me because I'm just. I've never had it be a problem.

[A]

You're always plugged in.

[B]

Yeah, well, no, but it's just like, I just. I have never. And I play. It's not like, oh, he's got a kid. I mean, I play long sessions of games and I've never played it from start to dying because. But I think it's because I have that charger stand. So whenever I'm done, I put them right down and I walk away. And then I start playing a game. I pick it up and I go for hours, but it doesn't die. But I'm not leaving them on the couch, you know, wasting away in between possessions.

[A]

Yeah, I'm a wasting away for sure. I put that thing down, I'm like, I'll come back. And I turn it on. I'm like, ah, shit.

[B]

I got. See, that's negative battery. That's what I do with my switch controllers. But those things never Fucking die.

[A]

Oh, yeah, the Switch controller Pro controllers.

[B]

Like just fucking taking oxygen in and making batteries.

[A]

Yeah. In nuclear war, the two things that are gonna be left on Earth are cockroach and the Switch controller is still gonna be alive.

[B]

Charged. Controller charged.

[A]

Yeah. Greg.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We just talked about a lot of big news. That new battery.

[B]

Big news. That's good news.

[A]

But everyone is something smaller. Say the tiniest news I need to know about, where would I go?

[B]

You'd go to our last story, the we News channel, where we talk about all the tiny news you need to know about Shadow.

[A]

Trickster in chat said Twinkies. And I was gonna say Twinkies, except for the fact that I started off the sentence, same two things.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I was like, well, I can't say Twinkies now. So I got to commit to the PlayStation controller.

[B]

I haven't had a Twinkie in a while. I should eat one.

[A]

Yeah, I don't think I. I think maybe in my lifetime I've probably had like two Twinkies.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

I've never been.

[B]

I've definitely had more than two Twinkies, but every time I eat them, like, I should eat these more.

[A]

Really. Yeah. Fair enough. So number six is Wii News from Mario 64, an update to Microsoft Rewards. Starting October 1st, users will no longer be able to derive directly redeem reward points for Xbox game pass subscriptions. Users will need to redeem points for Xbox gift cards to cover the cost of a game pass subscription. From this week in video games, Epic Games has begun rolling out an AI powered chat bot to answer Fortnite support queries. I hate those AI bots. Like, I. I try to return something on Amazon.

[B]

They give you the three options. Like, no, none of these.

[A]

Yes. I'm like, no, you're not listening to me. Then we go into circles. It's terrible. Another one from this week in games. Nintendo has established a local entity in Singapore with the goal of accelerating business in Southeast Asia. It is considering another in Thailand. From Ghostbusters News, Ilonic confirms no new DLC for Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed. The game will remain playable. All right, I said that weird, but yeah, the game will be playable.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How does that make you feel? I.

[B]

Hey, hats off to Lafonic. They supported this thing for so long. Like so new Ghosts. They brought Sam Hain. They brought in the Boogeyman. Like they did. They did. Right by Ghostbuster fans. Like, no, I. I'm shocked. They supported this for as long as they did a great job.

[A]

Quite a bit of Twinkie hate in Chat. By the way, Hater John says don't like Twinkies. I like chocolate MTM Muppet says Twinkies ain't it. But the spike Roy here says not Twinkies is the best. But in the other chat, Captain Skelly Bone says Twinkies are dirty. Karen has been delayed to Q1 2026. My Hero Academia. All is justice launches February 6th on Xbox, PS5 and PC. And finally, Power Wash Simulator 2. The demo is up on Steam. And that is it for WE news. Let's take one more look at Super Chats, see what you guys are talking about. Angel Brown says Second Star Games clearly is looking to Kojima. I don't know, maybe this is one of the partnerships. Peter Pan. Peter Pan. Kojima. Peter Pan.

[B]

Was it a play on the name Second Star? It's a reference that we don't get. That was. You know when you read a Super chat and it's delayed. I don't know. I don't know you're talking about.

[A]

Hater John says shout out to Blessings. Cut. Again. I know it's been over a week, but I haven't seen it.

[B]

Looking good.

[A]

Thank you so much. Hater John. You got to change your name. You're not a hater. Except for Twinkies. You hate on.

[B]

Maybe he just hates Jones.

[A]

I think we got one more in here that I never got around to. I'm scrolling up.

[B]

Let me see. Thrash, man. Do we get the Halloween intro for Kind of Funny Games Daily this year or did Tim's crying from last year get rid of it?

[A]

Oh, yeah. Do you remember that?

[B]

I remember the intro. I remember Tim being a baby about it. Yeah, baby about everything.

[A]

Tim had a whole thing where he was like, I don't like the Halloween. I forget exactly what it was. I think maybe it was that it was the whole month. Chat. Remind me. What? What? Tim.

[B]

I think Tim doesn't like seasonal things.

[A]

Maybe that's it.

[B]

I mean, let's just be. Let's call it like he doesn't like Christmas, he doesn't like Halloween. Tim is the first person I've ever met who's just ready to die. You know what I mean? He's gotten all the enjoyment out of life and he's just ready to pass away. And it's not that he wants it. He's just run out everything. You know what I mean? I guess when you're getting all your fast and your furious movies and all your superheroes, there's no taste anymore to him.

[A]

Yeah. You would think that having A child would bring the joy back to.

[B]

Maybe it will. Maybe that'll be the thing. But I inevitably what's going to happen is going to be like, oh, male's excited for Halloween. Yeah, I had to get a Christmas tree again.

[A]

This kid wants to go outside. Oh, God.

[B]

I just wanted to sit here and research stereo speakers.

[A]

Let's hop into kind of fun.

[B]

It wasn't even like 40 movies.

[A]

Kind of you're wrong where you can write in. Let us know what we got wrong as we got it wrong so we can correct it. For those watching later on YouTube and listening later in podcast services around the globe. One this is even from. So we got no you're wrongs.

[B]

Nailed it. Crushed it.

[A]

We did have somebody.

[B]

Whole G spot. We got it.

[A]

We did have somebody write in last night. Maybe. Maybe it was like, maybe it was actually it's 11:58, so that might be AM. I'm going to say it's AM doesn't matter. They write in and say, read the Bible. People. Read the Bible. People in the Bible have lived hundreds of years. I don't know if that's a correction on just somebody saying that like, oh.

[B]

No one's ever lived more than 100 years. Read the Bible. People in there older than 100 years.

[A]

Hundreds of years is crazy because even in the Bible it's been thousands of years since Jesus allegedly died on the cross.

[B]

Allegedly. Allegedly. Wow. Bless him. I would give you like, allegedly was the Messiah, but allegedly died on the cross. You know what? You're doubting the records that we found for the Romans of the crucifixion with Jesus Christ.

[A]

I don't know why I said allegedly. They're going to write it again.

[B]

You're talking like. You're talking like he's a canceled Twitch streamer where it's like, well, nothing's been filed, but allegedly. My bad, Jo.

[A]

I didn't mean like that. That's it for you. Wrong and that's it. And that's it for Kind of Funny Games Daily, where each and every weekday we run you through 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 or YouTube to get all of our shows ad free. Watch, record them live and get a daily exclusive show. We did all our content already. So enjoy the Gamescast that we just recorded. Enjoy the Call of Duty next VOD that doesn't exist.

[B]

It'll be up eventually.

[A]

It'll be up eventually. And if you're on Patreon, enjoy the kind of funny happy hour that we did earlier today. But until next time, game daily. Sorry, Jesus.

[B]

We're all sorry, Jesus, for what we did here today.