PlayStation Backing Away From Single-Player PC Exclusives? - Kinda Funny Games Daily 02.26.26

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily 02.26.26 - Summary

Episode Overview

Main Theme:
The episode centers on recent shifts in PlayStation’s PC strategy and how it reflects broader industry moves around exclusivity, platform competition, and the ongoing saga of Xbox business strategies. Hosts Greg Miller and Mike ("SnowBikeMike") tackle breaking news, games media layoffs, major upcoming titles, a live “on-site” Next Fest segment, and listener/community engagement.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

---

1. PlayStation’s Potential Shift Away from Single-Player PC Ports

[05:00-15:20]

• Core Topic:
  A report from Jason Schreier (via WCCFTech and Triple Click podcast) suggests PlayStation may limit future PC releases to live service games, keeping single-player narrative games as PlayStation console exclusives.
• Summary of Evidence:
  • Recent major exclusives (e.g., The Last of Us, Spider-Man, God of War) have hit PC, but Wolverine (launching 9/15/26) is PS5-only for now.
  • Schreier: “I think for them their strategy is like live service games are coming to PC, but I think the sense I'm getting is that they're backing away from putting their exclusive console stuff, like traditional single player stuff on PC.” (06:02)
  • On if this is a permanent move: “I wouldn't be surprised if it never came to PC, said the Shry Guy. But even if it does, you have a strong idea of what that is and that you need a PlayStation to play it. At least in the indefinite future.” (06:37)

Panel Reaction:

• Mike:
  • Sees the reasoning; notes that as an “Xbox/PC guy,” PlayStation is mainly for exclusives.
  • "With Xbox stumbling and being in third place… PlayStation does have a great reason to be like hey, what if we do keep these console exclusives, that we really make a harder push to say, you got to come over here…" (08:18)
• Greg:
  • Points out that PC port sales aren’t “impressive” enough to force ongoing support.
  • “In my mind, as somebody who's bad with numbers, they've never been so impressive… It’s not what Xbox is seeing on PlayStation, which… five of the 10 or seven of the 10 [in sales charts].” (08:58)
• Community Superchats:
  • Rye Bread Art: “Their PC ports have been going downhill…hope this means more time and better quality.” (11:49)
  • Simulated Goose: Notes Sony may want to keep exclusives off a future Xbox “PC console hybrid.” (12:18)
  • Epic Open World: “PC player here, not buying a PS5 just to play your games…” (14:06)
  • Vu Fu Shu: “It's easier to preserve games on PC…” (14:25)

Big Picture:

Panel agrees PlayStation may be pulling back to reinforce its console ecosystem as Xbox’s strategy is in flux. They talk about the logic ("with a runaway lead, ...Xbox has pulled the goalie… nobody stopping us." – Greg, 10:54) and touch on game preservation, but admit it’s probably not a priority for Sony.

---

2. The Steam Next Fest “On-Location” Bit with Andy

[15:51-22:50]

• Segment Style:
  Comedic "report" from Andy “live” at Steam Next Fest (in a virtual/pretend setting).
• Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments:
  • Andy: “A lot of dancing, a lot of sweaty bodies. People are pumped up about these indie games right now.” (16:02)
  • Banter about “gaming celebrities” and game recommendations in-between musical acts.
• Indie Game Picks:
  • Wonderberg (“castle on wheels”), Vampire Crawlers (from Vampire Survivors devs), Armatus (“Returnal-like”), Farfetched Far West (“co-op, first-person Helldivers”), Cicada Mata (“Neon White vibes”), Our Lands (“cozy builder”), The Eternal Life of Goldman (side-scroller), Croak (hand-animated), and Future Night (LCD-style art).
• Community feedback & fun:
  • Mike and Greg riff on the absurdity, and listeners blow up chat with praise for Andy’s bit, with Greg giving “gold stars out there for Andy.” (23:21)

---

3. Games Media Layoffs at IGN/Eurogamer/Outside Xbox

[23:37-28:11]

• News:
  IGN-owned Eurogamer and other Gamer Network brands are facing another wave of editorial layoffs; cuts include experienced editors/the entire video team and Outside Xbox.
• Panel Reflection:
  • Greg: “It sucks that there are so few big dot coms… The best stuff seems to be happening on the independent scene. So go support someone.”
  • Mike: Expresses sympathy for those affected and plugs indie voices.
• Notable Quote:
  • “Games Press… whittled down to there being far too few jobs for this to really be the way so many of us would love it to be.” – Greg (26:55)

---

4. New York Sues Valve, Calling Loot Boxes Gambling

[34:13-38:51]

• News:
  NY’s AG sues Valve (makers of Steam/Counter Strike) over loot boxes, arguing they’re “quintessential gambling” and particularly harmful to children.
• Panel Take:
  • Mike: Shares personal spending (“$7,357” on loot boxes – 34:22), supports regulating loot boxes, highlights prevalence of gambling mechanics across games.
  • Greg: Jokes aside, supports the lawsuit and notes it’s reminiscent of similar debates from 2017 (e.g., Star Wars loot box controversy).

---

5. Wolfenstein 3 Work Reported, Casting Begins

[39:25-42:24]

• Headline:
  Casting details indicate a new Wolfenstein is underway (“codename: Valkyrie”), with performance capture set to begin April 2026.
• Panel Reaction:
  • Mike is excited: “All my friends hear that news and we say, hell yeah.” (41:36)
  • Greg: Wonders about timeline; likely 2029-2030, given how early it seems.

---

6. Warner Bros. Games: Next Big Titles & Refocused Strategy

[44:18-49:30]

• News:
  Warner Bros. plans to focus on four main franchises: Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat, and DC. Major new releases expected in 2027–2028.
• Panel Discussion:
  • Mike: “We've seen so many teams tighten their belts, focus on, here's the tent poles. This is what we need to do…” (44:18)
  • Speculation about Game of Thrones (desiring a Mordor-style game), what DC could mean (Superman game possibility).
  • Greg: “These people don’t care about art. They care about the four tent pole franchises…” (47:49)
  • Acknowledgement of publisher realities after recent high-profile studio closures despite critical successes.

---

7. PlayStation Tried to Lock In Crimson Desert as Exclusive

[49:30-51:52]

• News:
  Pearl Abyss rejected Sony’s offer for PlayStation publishing/timed exclusivity of Crimson Desert, choosing to self-publish.
• Panel Thoughts:
  • Mike: “I like the bet on yourself mentality… avoiding the fees and getting the game out to everything and everywhere...”
  • Greg: Impressed by the studio’s confidence; sees it as a positive sign for the game.

---

8. “WE News” Quick Hits & Fun

[52:45-57:24]

Short updates and small news items:

• Surgeon Studios announces Fix Force (co-op fixer game)
• Super Battle Golf sells 400,000 copies
• Insider Gaming Showcase (for games seeking funding) set for May 28
• Riot Games publishing layoffs (12 people)
• Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, Nintendo Switch 2 edition (May 28)
• Esoteric Ebb launches May 3 on PC
• Backyard Baseball gets a new Steam release July 9; Mike talks about getting Pablo Sanchez merch.

---

Listener & Community Highlights

---

Notable Quotes & Community Interactions

• On PlayStation strategy:
  • “...if they don't want to put it out anywhere, people are going to come. And that's exactly where you want to be when you're in, you know, first place in the console race here on this topic.” – Mike (11:01)
• Regarding media layoffs:
  • “...privileged and blessed we are as game fans that there are so many different voices out there right now to go to for games. And it sucks that those different voices are more often than not, if not entirely independent, self funded.” – Greg (27:09)
• About loot box lawsuit:
  • “Go get 'em, New York.” – Mike (37:30)
• On Crimson Desert:
  • Greg: “...they believe they have something here and go get them. I hope you do.” (51:52)
• Andy’s “reporting”:
  • “Andy is funny, everybody. Round of applause, everybody. Gold stars out there for Andy.” – Greg (23:21)

---

Super Chats and On-Air Corrections

• High praise and laughter for Andy’s Next Fest segment.
• Community mourning games journalism shrinkage.
• Mike and panel celebrating listener birthdays, supporting fundraisers.
• Quick reflection and apology from Blessing Adeoye Jr. regarding recent comments about Jez Corden and Windows Central, with host discussion on criticism in games media. (from 58:55-68:45)

---

Important Timestamps

| Segment | Time (MM:SS) | |---------|--------------| | PlayStation & PC Exclusivity Main Story | 05:00 – 15:20 | | Steam Next Fest “On Location” Bit | 15:51 – 22:50 | | IGN/Eurogamer Media Layoffs | 23:37 – 28:11 | | Valve Sued for Loot Boxes | 34:13 – 38:51 | | Wolfenstein 3 Casting Begins | 39:25 – 42:24 | | Warner Bros. Tentpole Strategy | 44:18 – 49:30 | | Crimson Desert Exclusive Offer Refused | 49:30 – 51:52 | | WE News, Party Mode, and Listener Chat | 52:45 – 57:24 | | Blessing’s Live Apology & Reflection | 58:55 – 68:45 |

---

Tone and Style Notes

• Typical Kinda Funny blend: insightful, energetic, irreverent, and conversational.
• Heavy banter, community engagement, deep dives, and comedic interludes.
• Speakers break news with analysis from both business and gamer perspectives, pause to recognize the real human cost of industry layoffs, and riff for comedic levity.
• Strong encouragement to support independent games journalism, given industry contraction.

---

For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

If you want the broad themes:

• PlayStation may increase focus on true exclusives as Xbox reshuffles strategies.
• Major shifts are happening in games media—jobs are disappearing, indie voices need support.
• Loot box legality is in the legal crosshairs again.
• Big AAA projects (Wolfenstein, Hogwarts Legacy sequel, Game of Thrones, DC) are years away.
• Behind-the-scenes, publishers are "tightening belts" and making bets on fewer, bigger franchises.
• Kinda Funny’s signature blend of news, humor, and audience participation ensures it’s both informative and entertaining, with strong moments of both serious reflection and comic relief.

---

End of Summary.

Transcript

[Greg Miller]

This episode is brought to you by White Claw Search.

[Mike]

Great podcast pick friend. No surprises there. After all, you're all about finding the

[Greg Miller]

tastiest flavors out there, just like White Claw Surge.

[Mike]

And with big bold flavors to enjoy like blood orange, BlackBerry, cranberry and more, it's time to go all in on taste. Unleash the flavor. Unleash White Claw Surge. Please drink responsibly.

[Greg Miller]

Hard seltzer with flavors.

[Mike]

8% alcohol by volume. White cloth seltzer works, Chicago, Illinois.

[Greg Miller]

Your candy stache just got an upgrade with fruity rainbow 5 hour energy shots. Grab the shot. Dive into that sweet boost for your sweet tooth. Order now at 5hourenergy.com or Amazon. Today in the nerdy news you need to know about PlayStation. Could be backing away from putting certain games on PC. Games Media is set for more layoffs and New York is suing Valve over gambling. We'll have all this and more because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily. What's up, everybody? Welcome to Kind of Funny Games daily for Thursday, February 26, 2026. 02 period. 2, 6. Period. 2, 6. Drink it in, Mike. That's a lot of twos and sixes.

[Mike]

All a lot of twos and sixes.

[Greg Miller]

If we had a 26 month, you could have a perfect one, you know? You ever think about that?

[Mike]

Good morning. Greg Miller.

[Greg Miller]

Good morning. How are you?

[Mike]

How are you? I'm good, I'm good.

[Greg Miller]

Don't. Don't steal my stuff.

[Mike]

How am I? I'm great. Resident Evil is set to release this week. We had a great review yesterday. You can go check it out. I think you got a fantastic panel on that. Yeah, Talking all about it. Chucks. I even beat the game. Oh, my God, Chucks. I even.

[Greg Miller]

I appreciate that you teased that last yesterday. You said we'd have a lot to talk about. Blessing was like, are you on this? You're like, no, I'm not. But I'll give you the nod. And. Okay, well, that's good enough, I guess.

[Mike]

You know what I mean? So. Yeah, that's pretty pumped. That's an event. Video game Magic the Gathering has their team up with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles this weekend. So I'm set to go to the.

[Greg Miller]

Have we talked about the fact that last three days, every afternoon you call this poor card shop from the office. Hey, homie, I was just wondering. Yeah, can I. I need to talk about that. Okay. And then they put you on a hole. And then. Hey, homie. Yeah, I was just. I've noticed the site doesn't everything. Are you Doing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles thing.

[Mike]

I'm excited.

[Greg Miller]

Did you get in last night? Cuz last night it sounded like was the night you're supposed to go.

[Mike]

This morning they finally put it up. So I signed up for three out of the six. I did. Step away from the Gauntlet. I did not do the Gauntlet this time.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Mike]

The Gauntlet, for all of you listening out there, is where participants and you know, people that enjoy magic play in all six of the events throughout the entire weekend. You're putting your own bracket and then whoever wins the Gauntlets has the most points at the ends, gets mega prizes. I will only do three out of the six, but I'm always tempted to buy more. So you never know.

[Greg Miller]

You never know what's gonna do once

[Mike]

you get that first hit on Friday. Favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

[Greg Miller]

Donnie. Yeah. What are you going to go for?

[Mike]

Michelangelo.

[Greg Miller]

That makes sense.

[Mike]

Yeah. Yeah, he rocks.

[Greg Miller]

You know what I mean? Get your shit together. Michelangelo is going to live on Splinter's couch till he's 50.

[Mike]

Marathon Server Slam as well.

[Greg Miller]

I know there's a lot of good games tonight.

[Mike]

Very excited.

[Greg Miller]

I'm excited for you.

[Mike]

Steam Next Fest.

[Greg Miller]

Been playing a bunch of great demos. And again, yeah. Res Evil out 9pm tonight for us at least. You know what I mean?

[Mike]

Crazy times.

[Greg Miller]

Big marathon stream tomorrow. Great. Fantastic. Kind of funny games cast plays coming up today where you and me, the dream team.

[Mike]

Give it to me.

[Greg Miller]

I'm showing you the switch version. You're showing me the PlayStation version.

[Mike]

Yep. I'm super excited to see it on the Switch.

[Greg Miller]

Me too.

[Mike]

I've heard you say nothing but really good things.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Jeffy Grub. Grub did the same thing.

[Mike]

Grub has been hyping it up. I'm like, there's no way. Like, this is one of those. I've come in, I go, there's no way. And I'm excited.

[Greg Miller]

The hair is not that great, but believe it, everybody, that's all right.

[Mike]

Can I tell you about my PS5 experience? About halfway through, his hair got weird. Oh, yeah. All of a sudden it just looked like his hair was wet all the time.

[Greg Miller]

Well, maybe.

[Mike]

And it was like an awkward wet. And I was like, oh, something went wrong with your hair, big dog. But it's all right.

[Greg Miller]

Fair enough. Everybody remember, of course, if you're watching live, you can be part of this episode by super chatting on YouTube.com kind of funny games with your thoughts, opinions and everything else about the daily video game news. We couldn't do the show without our producers on patreon.com kind of funny. So thank you Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney. The Psalm Twining for now. Let's begin with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. Time for some news.

[Mike]

Get it out.

[Greg Miller]

Eight items on the Roper Report. Baker's dozen. Jesus, that was a violent one there. Yeah, the cough. It's nearly stomped out.

[Mike]

Nice.

[Greg Miller]

Because you heard me singing, you heard me be loud. I got to do great. This is kind of funny, but once

[Mike]

you take it there to the peak,

[Greg Miller]

it's still when I laugh that triggers it up. Still triggers it up. Jen says I need to go to urgent care. And I'm like, that is passed. That moment is passed.

[Mike]

You know, we're on the other now.

[Greg Miller]

I'm going to go. They're gonna be like, yeah, it sounds like your coughs almost gone.

[Mike]

I'm telling that Andy all the time. Like, Andy, I've already. I'm already.

[Greg Miller]

It's like when Kevin, two years ago when I had the same cough, sent me to the doctor. The doctor said, yeah, you gotta take off. I'm like, this fucking sucks. Rather take a bullet. Number one on the rope report. PlayStation may be backing away from putting their traditional single player games on PC this is Francesco di mio at WCCFtech. Over the past few years, plenty of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 exclusive games have made their way to PC, including tentpole franchises like The Last of Us, Marvel's Spider Man Horizon and God of War. However, there is a chance that in the future, only PlayStation Live service games will launch on PC. Noted journalist Jason Schreier has suggested that traditional single player experiences may remain console exclusive for the foreseeable future. Speaking on the latest episode of the Triple Click podcast, a great podcast. Go listen to Jason there. The Bloomberg journalist commented on sie's strategy moving forward. Quote, I think for them their strategy is like live service games are coming to PC, but I think the sense I'm getting is that they're backing away from putting their exclusive console stuff, like traditional single player stuff on PC, end quote. When host Kirk Hamilton asked if Sony could truly close that door on future titles like a hypothetical ghost of Tsushima 3, Schreier pointed to the upcoming Marvel's Wolverine. The game is set to launch September 15, 2026, exclusively on PlayStation 5, with no PC version announced. I wouldn't be surprised if it never came to PC, said the shry guy. But even if it does, you have a strong idea of what that is and that you need a PlayStation to play it. At least in the indefinite future, end quote. Schreier then followed up in a thread on reset era saying quote, I mean it's not speculation, but sometimes topics come up on the show before I'm quite ready to publish a story about them. More to come soon, I'm sure. Thanks for listening to Triple Click. This week's episode was a lot of fun in quote.

[Mike]

Wow.

[Greg Miller]

Everybody go bust out your phone right now. In your podcast service of choice, subscribe to Triple Click.

[Mike]

I like that. Yeah, you're probably gonna want to give that one a listeners, right?

[Greg Miller]

You will want to get in there. Michael, we've been talking a lot in the past week about Xbox.

[Mike]

Yes, we have.

[Greg Miller]

What's going on? The plan's the plan till it's not the plan no more. The plan is currently that we're putting everything everywhere but we got a new CEO and what are we going to do in the Matt Booty?

[Mike]

Turn it to your roots.

[Greg Miller]

Are we about to see everybody say, you know what, the walls are going back up, we're rewalling the gardens. You know this cross play thing, shut that shit down. We're done with that too.

[Mike]

Okay, well let's not stop. Let's, let's continue.

[Greg Miller]

I agree on that.

[Mike]

I like cross.

[Greg Miller]

I agree on that.

[Mike]

You know Greg, reading this story and funny enough coming into work today, I was thinking about my exclusives on PlayStation and how I play them. And that's kind of like as my Xbox gamer now PC guy, I go to my PlayStation for the exclusives and so I have some thoughts about this and my thoughts are no, this wouldn't really surprise me actually. Yeah, there's some know thoughts of I've actually enjoyed PlayStation opening it up a little bit and putting their games on PC a year, six months, whatever later, I think that has been a really good test. I think it has shown that people want that. Also we'd have to look at the sales numbers because there's probably mark of like are they good enough though?

[Greg Miller]

That's the question.

[Mike]

Because a year later when it's a big story driven game, right, you usually want to be there at the beginning to see it. And sure there will be players that wait but like is it good enough a year later or is it justified to say hey let's put these walls back up? Because I'm of the mean of the mindset of this Greg, with Xbox stumbling and being in third place and really kind of falling and dropping the bag here, I think PlayStation does have a great reason to be like hey, what if we do Keep these console exclusives, that we really make a harder push to say, you got to come over here and you got to be on this. And I'm not. I'm not opposed to that. I don't think that's a crazy thing with how far in front they are. They the games that are great to exceptional, that they provide and create. I. I think you can do this.

[Greg Miller]

I think there's multiple things to talk about and why that I believe this is. Well, I think part of the thing here is exactly what you're talking about. How have these sold? We've run the numbers. We've talked about them in the show. In my mind, as somebody who's bad with numbers, they've never been so impressive that you're like, clearly, we have to be doing this. It's not what Xbox is seeing on PlayStation, which. Where they're publishing. And then the top 10 comes out and they're five of the 10 or seven of the 10 or whatever it is. So I think you look at that as PlayStation. You go, okay, cool, we're making money. But maybe not enough when we want to encourage you to come over here and invest in our console ecosystem. I think the other benefit to how PlayStation has done this is that they've never done the. This is an Xbox. Exclusives are dumb.

[Mike]

Blah, blah, blah.

[Greg Miller]

They've done the, yeah, we're trying this out. We've put this one out, but we didn't put that one out. We did this one in Getting like, there's never been the. Oh, I know that when they announce Spider Man 2, Spider Man 1 will be out nine the same day. We'll say on PC, they've never had the Xbox.

[Mike]

This is day one on everything.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Well, I was even saying, like, the sequel comes out and they put the other one out. They don't do that. There's never been that kind of message, you know what I mean, of what's going on. So you have this interesting wrinkle in it of like, okay, that's how PlayStation is handling it. Got it. That's how they want to go for it. And then you get here, it's like, yeah, I could easily see this being the move, especially as we talk about these economic headwinds. We talk about this memory loss with the RAM shortage. We talk about the fact that you're probably using your PlayStation 5 a lot longer than they thought they were. Because I would imagine by putting these games out. Yes. You're always encouraging someone of like, well, I'm enjoying this game. So Much. Maybe the sequel to the next first party game. I want to have a PlayStation 5. 4. I should jump for it. But in reality, maybe it is. You're building a generation of I really enjoyed PlayStation games on PC and now the PS6 is here and it's going to have all these things. I might as well jump right now. And if they're saying, you know what, PS6 can be further away, let's try to get you to come buy this thing and not devalue the box you have. Especially when we have a runaway lead. And now it feels like Xbox has pulled the goalie, like there's nobody stopping us.

[Mike]

Yes, of course. I totally agree with that, Craig. I mean, on the flip side, right, we do talk about games being bigger and harder to make. Budgets ballooning up to giant numbers, right? And having those sales on place or on PC might be beneficial, right? We'd have to see the numbers. But there's such a large audience over there that it is odd to be like, oh, you want to just close off away from them, right? Like, yeah, I thought we would continue down this path of PlayStation a year, year and a half later, hey, here's that game sells whatever, but it sells enough to start really helping the budget on the back end. But they have exactly what they want. Great games that justify. You have to go make a console purchase for this and if they don't want to put it out anywhere, people are going to come. And that's exactly where you want to be when you're in, you know, first place in the console race here on this topic.

[Greg Miller]

Rye Bread Art super chats in and says, to be fair, their PC ports have been going downhill with each release. Hope this just means more time in between ports, which results in better quality. Would love to play Intergalactic ultra wide. And that's the thing you're talking about. When Intergalactic is going to come out, then a year, year and a half, two years to get it on PC. Your grandkids will be in college. What are you even talking about? Simulated goose. I thought it was a stimulated goose for a second. Makes sense for PlayStation to keep single player games exclusive in the future to keep games off of the upcoming Xbox PC console hybrid. Which is another great point.

[Mike]

Wow. Yeah, that's something we didn't even.

[Greg Miller]

Can't believe we missed that.

[Mike]

Yeah, we talked about that. Great spot, very smart there.

[Greg Miller]

I feel like I miss it because right now I look at Xbox and I go, throw away what you knew. Who the fuck knows what's about to Happen there.

[Mike]

It does feel like on the Xbox side of things. We are going to hit a strong pause right now. Even though, of course, in Jazz's interview and when she was first brought on, we were very much like, we have hardware. We're going to talk about Sarah Bonds or spoken about that. We clearly got hardware. But, like, it does feel like everything is out the window. We're going to hit a hard pause

[Greg Miller]

and we'll see to go back. And I love how we cannot get away from the Xbox black hole.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Sucked right back.

[Mike]

I know.

[Greg Miller]

I again, if I am now the CEO of Xbox, if I'm also Satya Nadella coming down from on high. We're trying to get you back to the golden age of Xbox. I don't think the answer to getting you back to the golden age of Xbox is a $1,200 console, which I'm making up that price point.

[Mike]

Yeah, of course.

[Greg Miller]

But if it's this console, it was gonna be premium. It was gonna be this. I think they are like, cool. Fuck that. I wouldn't be surprised if they're saying, fuck the PC part of it. Make an Xbox. Make a game that make it. It runs Xbox Games and we're going to sell those games exclusively on it.

[Mike]

But of course, like you said, like that Super Chat just brought up, right? Those games would be on an Xbox and no, I want you to come buy this console. I want you to be here. I want you to spend your time here. Right? We always talk about, like, player engagement and time. All these single player narrative driven games are drawing you into the console. But then, of course, what's next? You're going to beat that game. You're going to stick around, you're going to buy other games. We're going to get a percentage of that. Yeah, they want to. They want you thriving in this ecosystem. Not even, not even over on PC. Right. They want you to come back over here, they don't want you to get a taste on PC and go, ah, I got everything over here too.

[Greg Miller]

Epic open world says PC player here, not buying a PS5 just to play your games. You take five to six years to make. I buy your games on PC, I just won't play them.

[Mike]

Okay, well, yeah, I mean, hey, PC player there, like, you might not get those games anymore if that's what they choose to do. So then you're going to have a, a real conversation with yourself, do I want these games or not?

[Greg Miller]

And then Vu Fu Shu super chats and says, people forget that it's Easier to preserve games on PC. Nobody likes Bloodborne or Metal Gear Solid 4 being stuck on old consoles. I think people forget that.

[Mike]

No, we talk about.

[Greg Miller]

I don't know if anybody. Is anybody celebrating right now at PlayStation pulling back and doing this? Like fanboys are dumb. It's a dumb argument to have in general, but I think it's more that PlayStation doesn't give a fuck about video game preservation. The future they don't care about. 30 years from now you being able to play their game. They want you to buy it right now on the box. They're selling you to get you to go do this damn thing. One final one, okay? Bander sn, Super Chat and I. One final one for this story. We try to keep you all together. Bander SN says PlayStation 5 about to hit 100 million units. It will surpass PlayStation 4. GTA 6 will be an Animal Crossing moment. PS5 now has enough players to make exclusives profitable again. Not a bad take. They are about to sell a lot more PlayStation fives.

[Mike]

Yes. GTA 6 right around the corner. I mean really good, really good games. That's how it goes.

[Greg Miller]

Okay, fair enough. Speaking of really good games, we go to story number two on the rope report. Something special. It just says number two. Andy talks Steam next fest. Oh, Andy. He's coming. Andy, can they hear me? We hear.

[Andy]

Hey, what's going on? Kind of funny. Games Daily.

[Mike]

What up?

[Andy]

What up? Bless. Who's there? Who's there right now?

[Greg Miller]

It's is this tape. This is Greg and Mike. I can't tell what's real and what's fake anymore.

[Andy]

Greg and Mike. Nice, dude. Okay. Awesome, man. I am so excited to be reporting live from the Steam next festival. It is a great time out here. A lot of dancing, a lot of sweaty bodies. People are pumped up about these indie games right now. That you could go download a bunch of demos of right now.

[Greg Miller]

Where are you?

[Andy]

Just had Imagine Dragons performing a little while ago. They. They actually weren't even supposed to perform. They security aggressively escorted them off stage. But it's been an awesome time so far. How y' all doing today? San Francisco?

[Mike]

We're good.

[Greg Miller]

Are. Where are you? What's Steam next fest? I didn't know there was a physical presence, Andy.

[Andy]

Yeah, yeah. Can't. You can't tell where I'm at by the. No, I can see the Rocky Mountains behind me.

[Greg Miller]

Well, I can see the banner, animated, moving in the background. That's very impressive. But where are you? What state are you in?

[Andy]

The Rocky Mountains.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, sorry.

[Andy]

I'm in San Diego, everybody.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, okay.

[Andy]

Yeah. So, I mean, it's been awesome so far here today.

[Mike]

Like, the.

[Andy]

The crowd is super stoked right now. There's a bunch of gaming celebrities that have been here. The, The. The gaming celebrities, they go on stage in between the musical acts, and they give out their recos. All the recommendations for. Like, here's what I think you should check out. It's been really cool to see the community interacting.

[Greg Miller]

Wait, do they play? Do they play? They don't play the music. They just come out and talk about the games they played. The musical people.

[Andy]

Yeah, pretty. Pretty well, you know, in between acts, you know. Well, okay. For example, Jeff Keighley just came out a little while ago, gave out some recommendations. Unfortunately, those games are now all rated at overwhelmingly negative on Steam. So it's just really. It's tragic. Unfortunately.

[Greg Miller]

That's a heartbreaking.

[Andy]

It's an awesome time so far. A lot of celebrities are out here. We got Herman Holst. I caught eyes of Herman Hussle a while ago.

[Greg Miller]

Go talk to him. Go talk to him. There's rumors that PlayStation's not going to.

[Andy]

He's busy. Herman.

[Mike]

Good.

[Andy]

Herman's out there. Herman. And Xbox CEO, the new CEO Asher Sharma is also here. They're here to scout out some new talent and some studios that they would love to shut down in the immediate future. It's a beautiful time out here. Everybody esteem Next Fest, but you can have a Steam Next fest without roguelikes. And here are some of my recommendations. We got Wonderberg, which is a really cool video game developed by Rand work. It's.

[Greg Miller]

It's.

[Andy]

You make a little castle and you ride around in the castle and you take out some cars along the way, and it's just a castle on wheels and it keeps on building up. That's a great one. Of course, we got Vampire Crawlers from the Vampire Survivors developer Punk.

[Greg Miller]

Cool.

[Andy]

This game doesn't take very long to get its hooks in you. Once I started playing that one and it was just like, wow, you immediately see the magic. And hey, for the shooters out there, Snowbike Mike shooters out there that I love. Armatus Armatis is a really cool returnal, like third person shooter. Super fun. Got a cool roguelite hook as well. We got Farfetched Far west, which is for all the hell. The Hell Divers lovers out there. This was the first person shooter of kind of Hell Divers. But you land on a map and you see the little points on the map and then you decide like, all right, let's go to here first. Let's go to this objective next. It's really, really awesome to be able to, you know, hang out and do a lot of co op with friends. And then one of my personal favorites and Bear according wherever he's at in the crowd, the neon white lovers out there, Cicada Mata.

[Greg Miller]

Oh.

[Andy]

This game looks like it kind of just ripped off some marathon assets like the gun and some of the visuals. But of course they also ripped off stuff too. So it's okay. It's all just. It's like take a penny, leave a penny, you know, double rip off.

[Mike]

And.

[Andy]

And this is a cool sort of speed running game. Awesome visuals.

[Mike]

We cut.

[Andy]

We're calling this Dreamcast Core, of course. It just kind of gives you Those sort of 90s vibes. Adult Swim, another one that I really, really enjoy. Made by one of our friends of the show, Graham of Legend. Our Lands.

[Greg Miller]

Our Lands.

[Andy]

Check out the Our Lands demo. You get to just make a little island and it's just cozy and it's all pure vibes. For the side scroller lovers out there.

[Greg Miller]

The.

[Andy]

The Secret Life of Walter Schmitty. This is a big one called the Eternal Life of Goldman from Weepy Studio. It's a side scroller with amazing art and apparently it's on yours truly's Final or Fantasy Critic. Not Final Fantasy Critic. That's a different thing. Also, Croak another hand animated beauty. Very, very pretty hand animated art style from Woodrunner Games. This is one. One I would recommend checking out.

[Greg Miller]

Bless and Mike were talking about that one yesterday.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy]

Really? How y' all like it?

[Mike]

Y' all like that one? Yeah, we heavy with that one, Andy. We're definitely. We're going crazy on that one.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. They didn't need to go to San Diego to play it. You could play it from home, Andy.

[Mike]

I lost.

[Andy]

Okay. They liked it, apparently. That's great. Future Night is also an awesome, sick little game from Studio Koba and Eternity Turn them game studios. It's like those old LED LCD games you buy as a kid. But the art style is just like, this is visual. This is visual flair and visual sauce. I love this cool little concept. I love the look of it. I want to check it out. I'd recommend everybody check out. Let me know and also let me know what sort of, you know, what sort of demos you guys are into because I. I would want to, you know, get to feedback from you all. Let me know if there's anything in the comments that I need to be checking out. Oh, we Weren't supposed to swap to the game player thing. Let me swap back. We saw it back.

[Greg Miller]

Okay. Future not looks cool, though. I'm adding it to my wish list right here. Thank you, guys.

[Andy]

Cheers. Yeah, it's. It's been a great time here at Steve Next Fest. I love hanging out with everybody. It's getting a little sweaty right now. We're gonna be getting the margaritas rolling in here a few seconds. I miss you guys. I wish you guys were here, man.

[Greg Miller]

Well, Andy, you're on the next show. Like, you're on the Gamescast, where we're gonna run through all the March games. So you gotta. You gotta fly home.

[Andy]

Nice. Nice.

[Greg Miller]

Look at that. What's on the beach wall the back.

[Andy]

Well, if people have a good time. You had a great time. People had a great time.

[Mike]

Oh. Oh, Jesus. Come on, guys.

[Andy]

Get that out of here, man.

[Greg Miller]

Go.

[Andy]

How are you doing? Jesus, Guys, thank you so much for having me.

[Greg Miller]

Games Daily.

[Andy]

Big fan of you guys. Stay tuned for gamescast. Next. And Greg and Mike, you keep the. You keep the trains on track, guys. Have a good one.

[Greg Miller]

Love you, Andy. Thank you, Andy. Great, Great.

[Andy]

Goodbye, everybody.

[Greg Miller]

Yep. Great on the location reporting.

[Andy]

Are we done?

[Mike]

He loves it. He loves.

[Greg Miller]

He can't be. He can't be that funny. When I have the cough, I said,

[Mike]

the laugh sets it off.

[Greg Miller]

The laugh is what sets off the cough.

[Mike]

I kill him. And he's gonna kill. I told Andy not to kill me. He tried to kill me one day, God damn it.

[Greg Miller]

And he's funny, God damn it. Andy is funny, everybody. Round of applause, everybody. Gold stars out there for Andy. Great job out there. Thank you for making that happen, Kevin. Good job out there. God damn. Do you want to go from really funny stuff to bad news?

[Mike]

Yeah, it's going to be a hard transition on that one.

[Greg Miller]

I'd rather do this than go from the funny stuff to an ad. And then let's just dive into the bad news, everybody. Story number three. Games media set for more layoffs as IGN owned Eurogamer cuts editorial staff. This is Andy Robinson at vgc. The game's media is set for yet more yet is set for yet more layoffs after IGN owned Eurogamer and its network of sites launched a wave of editorial cuts this week. The beloved British publication, which was sold by former owner reed pop in 2024 along with other gamer network brands, is facing at least its second round of layoffs since joining ign. VGC understands that's understood to include the brand's most experienced editors and its entire Four person video team, though at least one position will be transferred to ign, according to people with knowledge of the situation behind the camera. Cuts have also been made to the popular video channel outside Xbox. VGC understands the brand has more than 3.5 million subscribers across its channels and recently wrapped a UK stage tour. IGN Entertainment, which operates under Ziff Davis, acquired the Gamer Gamer Network group of brands and websites for an undisclosed sum in May 2024. Are you familiar with the Xbox One outside Xbox?

[Mike]

Yeah, I think me and Bless just spoke about them because they helped to build the top 100 Xbox games with IGN. So we got to be familiarized with that team and what they've been doing.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Unfortunate news there.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, of course, of course. This, you know, our heart goes out to everybody affected by this. This sucks. You know, I did a Greg Way yesterday about the best things that have happened in my career in games journalism, games criticism, games press, games media and the worst things. Right. And I talked about obviously, obviously the few and few and few amount of jobs we have now compared to where it was when I started, where there was all these websites and the dream seems so attainable. You know what I mean? When I was a kid, it never felt like a dream. It was my goal and I achieved it.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And so to be here now and see this constantly happening and not constantly, but it is constantly. It's fucked up to say not constantly because video games, every day during the show we're talking about a layoff, another layoff happens. We have to include it games, press at least it seems like there's spaces between them, but it's still far too regular. And again, we're whittled down to there being far too few jobs for this to really be the way so many of us would love it to be. You know, I talked about it yesterday of how privileged and blessed we are as game fans that there are so many different voices out there right now to go to for games. And it sucks that those different voices are more often than not, if not entirely independent, self funded. They're over there like. And I understand that. I understand more than most the intricacies and difficulties of running a business and running an editorial product and figuring out advertisements, figuring out this, figuring out that. I feel like this is an interesting one and I talking way out of turn on it. So maybe I should just stop. But it is the idea that, you know, IGN acquired these sites but I assume Ziff Davis is the one who said we should do that. You know what I mean? And now I would Imagine it's Ziff Davis being like, you got y' all as a editorial brand across every property. Need to figure out what we're doing here and make more money and try to set the scales correctly right. So I don't cast blame isn't the right word because this is all business, which sucks. And you know, business is heartless to begin with but it seems like bean counter shit going on here, which sucks. But again I've heard it both ways of like these sites that, that they acquired wouldn't have even been able to keep going if IGN hadn't stepped in to do it. And yet blah blah blah, we're getting into the weeds here of basically what I'm saying is it sucks that there are so few big dot coms and things being propped up and I am so, so embarrassingly ignorant of what the actual England space is. You know what I mean? We talk about what Games Press is here in the United States and I know it so well. But you know, I go back to when I did the Video Game History foundation magazine thing and I was like man, I've missed holding a magazine. It sucks that Prince Dead and everyone in the UK was like what are you talking about? I work in a magazine. I'm like that's not in America. I don't know anything about what's going on over there. It's a similar thing where I know there aren't as many jobs over there as well and it sucks to see something that seems to be doing so well lose his entire team like that.

[Mike]

Well said there, Greg.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, our hearts go out to them of course, everybody. But like I said, the best stuff seems to be happening on the independent scene. So go support someone. Like kind of funny of course, but maybe like I was talking about a triple click, maybe Mothership, maybe Easy Allies, maybe Min Max, maybe Giant Bomb. There's a bunch of great independent games journalism out there. Games press, games coverage, games media, whatever you want to call it. Influencers, I don't give a shit what you call us, but thank you for making it happen. Of course if you like anything in this games media landscape, you need to support it. You can pick up your Kinda funny membership on YouTube.com kindafunnygames patreon.com Kinda funny Apple, Spotify. You'd get all of our content ad free. You'd get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller in a 15 to 20 minute podcast series from my car called Greg Way. And of course you'd get good karma for supporting an 11 person 11 year old small business. But right now you're not using your benefits. So here's a word from our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by five Hour Energy Indulge your sweet tooth with a fruity Rainbow Extra Strength 5 Hour Energy Shot. It's basically a candy store in a bottle. We're talking juicy berry bursts, tangy citrus squeezes and a pop of tropical vibes. All hitting like your favorite childhood sweets but with an actual boost. The sweet treat that you won't feel guilty about. Packed with B vitamins, nutrients and that all important caffeine to keep you going. Just as pocket size as your favorite candy, but with zero sugar and zero sugar. Crash. Forget boring. Find the rainbow. Grab the shot. Dive into the sweet boost for your sweet tooth. Visit FiveHouseEnergy.com or Amazon today. We heard you. Nine years of bring back the snack wrap and you've won. But maybe you should have asked for more. Say hello to the Hot Honey Snack Wrap. Now you've really won. Go to McDonald's and get it while you can. Every act of change begins with a neighbor. With someone saying we take care of each other here.

[Andy]

In food banks and food pantries, neighbors

[Greg Miller]

pack fresh food and dignity into every

[Mike]

box, moving food from farms to families

[Greg Miller]

through Feeding America's nationwide network. So when that box reaches a home, it carries more than food.

[Mike]

It carries a promise that together we can end hunger. Feeding America led by neighbors. Give now to [e-mail] want consistent color for every job?

[Greg Miller]

Myloes Pro Rewards members get a 20% paint discount on future purchases after paint annual qualifying spend reaches $3,000 plus order eligible in stock paint and paint supplies by 2pm for free. Same day delivery by 8pm improving is easy at Lowes. Exclude spray paint and mistints. More exclusions. Terms and conditions apply. Subject to change [e-mail] terms same day delivery valid in select zip codes subject to driver availability [e-mail] same day delivery we are back. Just a quick rundown of super chats that were all about Andy because so many people super chatted. Raan says 10 out of 10 bit had to give it up for a super chat for Andy's use only. I disagree. I'll use it however I want to. Virgil Super Chats I'm going to be in San Diego in early April. Will steam next fest still be going down there. Andy giving Greg the cough says Kobe in a super chat. Excellent reporting from Andy, says Matt Buckley. Wanna wanna wanna chew up brew says this is for Andy Snavin says, donate donation here so Andy can get back to the studio in time. Zach says, waiting for my flight. And I swear I just saw Andy sprint by me with a margarita in hand. I'm glad he's gonna make the show. Jeff Bull Jr. Says the Andy Next Fest segment was the funniest, best thing I've seen on the show. Andy's the funniest of the best. I don't. I. You need to understand that. I did. And he's like, I'm gonna do a bit. I'm like, great, Cool. Let's do it. He prepped nothing for me. And so the fact that I called out the beach ball in the background, and then I get. Who is Barrett here? Did Barrett throw the beach ball at him? Barrett, Alyssa, somebody threw a beach ball at him in the fucking room. That's insane. He's a. He's an insane person, and I love him so much. While we're talking about real Next Fest stuff, though, Eric says, hope all the best friends try out my Next Fest demo for Feline Forensics and also get next month's awesome Patreon collector's item, heart or eye emoji. Oh, oh. Eric did next month's Patreon Premium [e-mail] kind of funny for next month and it is choice. I. Eric, I. Of course. This is Eric Allen K. Kevin, if you could bring up Feline Forensics on Steam. There you go. Thank you. Everybody go wish list this for Eric. But Eric did the Patreon art for next month, which is our premium tier item, and that is the one that I've gone and shown to everybody, just shown to everybody of how good it is. It's a very good piece of art, Eric. Everybody go support Eric Wishlist Feline Forensic right. Right now. And also Foxy Steve. Super Chat says, just wanted to shout out KFBF and fellow Super Demo Bros. Podcast mate, OM Jesus, who compiled an incredible spreadsheet of demos, complete with links to each Steam page.

[Mike]

Nice.

[Greg Miller]

Go post that on the subreddit. I'd like to see that. I'd like to peruse that. But for now, I'll peruse story number four. We go to Reuters, where Jonathan Stemple says New York sues video game developer Valve, says its loot boxes are gambling. New York's attorney General sued Valve in. I'm sorry. A video game developer whose franchises include Counter Strike, Team Fortress and Dota, accusing it of promoting illegal gambling and threatening to addict children through the use of loot boxes. In a complaint filed On Wednesday in state court in Manhattan, Attorney General Letitia James said Valve's loot boxes amounted to quintessential gambling, violating the state's constitutional and penal law, with valuable items often hard to win in many items worth pennies. Valve, based in Bellevue, Washington, did not immediately respond to requests for comments. Loot boxes let players use real money to buy chances to win virtual items such as decorations for characters and weapons, in an effort to convey Stat. Mike, how much have you spent on

[Mike]

loot boxes, including Mutt and FIFA Ultimate?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, that's the best, right? That's right.

[Mike]

Carry the one, drop the two. $7,357.

[Greg Miller]

A lot of money. Mike James said Valve generated billions of dollars of revenue by selling keys to open loot boxes, including in one game where the process resembled a slot machine as a wheel whirled through various items before stopping. It's important for everybody know he's not joking, the attorney general said. Key sales advanced Valve's unusual business model of letting players sell items they won on his virtual marketplace Steam community Market, and on other marketplaces. Quote Valve's loot boxes are particularly pernicious because they are. I hate when the. I understand you're a lawyer. I understand this.

[Mike]

Trying this.

[Greg Miller]

Don't be giving me a nickel word when a penny word will get it done. All right. Popular among children and adolescents, according to the complaint. Children introduced to gambling by age 12 are four times more likely to become problem gamblers as adults, the complaint added. Citing the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, James is seeking restitution for players, plus a fine of three times Valve's alleged illegal gains.

[Mike]

Ooh.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Mike]

I mean, I. I give you the okay. It's interesting because who are you giving the okay to? The state of New York. Getting after Valve. Okay, everybody.

[Greg Miller]

Valving. Hold on, boys. Lost audio. Give me one second. Did someone kick the box down there by accident? I'm gonna. I'm gonna go in there and give it a wiggle.

[Andy]

They're saying.

[Greg Miller]

Wait. Everything's fine. Just hold on.

[Andy]

Don't freak out.

[Greg Miller]

I. I can't keep narrating what he's saying and fix the problem.

[Mike]

So I'll be right back.

[Greg Miller]

I didn't do it. Oh, the cable's right next to your feet. Well, then don't put it there. Don't put the cable.

[Mike]

Exact. Don't put the lot of cable.

[Greg Miller]

Listen, I already complimented your sweater. Don't make me take it back. It's a great sweater. Can they hear me now? Okay. Hey, everybody, we're back. My fat foot got on the power cord.

[Mike]

Yeah. We might have touched the power cord again.

[Greg Miller]

You know?

[Mike]

How you supposed to know?

[Greg Miller]

Here's the thing. We built the studio. We built the studio.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

No one thought maybe we put the stage up 6 inches and run the cord underneath like Greg Miller.

[Mike]

No, you.

[Andy]

I said that.

[Greg Miller]

I said, let's add a Runway.

[Mike]

No, you do the cables.

[Greg Miller]

You want to know the biggest thing that sucks about wow Place? And Kevin's right there with me. And it's not on anyone here. It's the state slash the city. Okay. That we couldn't have a shower. Kevin, how much do you wish we had that shower here?

[Mike]

I would love to just go.

[Greg Miller]

I'd be showering there with you every day.

[Mike]

All the time. Be showering all the time.

[Greg Miller]

Back to this. Go get him, New York. Is that what you're saying?

[Mike]

Yes, New York. Yeah. Okay, let's see. Let's see where this goes. I'm all for it. New York. Standing up on that one. Interesting. My mind goes to Counter Strike on this because that's one of the few that is still doing loot boxes in a. A prominent way. Of course, Online gambling is on the rise, right? It is hard to turn on any sports TV show, any commercial on a podcast, and not just be inundated with, hey, online gambling. Gambling, gambling. Hey, what's. What state.

[Greg Miller]

You can bet on everything.

[Mike]

You can bet on this, right? And so, like, yeah, of course we're trying to help the youth not gamble. But of course there's games like Roblox. There's games everywhere that are selling some sort of weird gambling, like, mechanic that you can get involved in. Right?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Mike]

So it's like, I mean, okay, we'll see where this goes.

[Greg Miller]

We shall see where it goes. Go get them. Yeah. It's fascinating to read this article and be transported back to kind of Funny Games Daily 2017, when me and Andrea were talking about this every fucking day of loot boxes in the game Star Wars.

[Mike]

Right? Yeah, Watch was doing loot boxes. It's like, yeah, loot boxes were the thing that was the microtransaction that they had identified that works the best. That that was the move. Right. And we've moved away from that of like the random. The gambling. That's not. Okay. Let me just give you the money for whatever said skin cosmetic that I want now. Right. But yeah, Counter Strike is still doing it. Right. They seem to be above the law, and I think New York wants to stop that.

[Greg Miller]

Above the law. No one's above the law.

[Andy]

Above the law.

[Greg Miller]

Judge Dread are going to come out there and get him. Oh, interesting. Aaron Lime says, unfortunately the statement from the. Oh, it's Latisha. I would never would have spelled it that way. Oh yeah, Latisha, the name I do know also blames guns in video games for gun violence in a very Trojan Horse kind of way. Well, that sucks. Okay, I don't like that one. I don't like that. And then shout out to Kevin from wgo. Shout out to Kevin. I used to be a live sound guy in those moments when the talent fucks something up and everyone looks at you. Really suck. Winky emoji heart.

[Mike]

Was that our Kevin?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Give Kevin. Give Kevin a gold star in the chat, everybody. Number five, Wolfenstein. This is a report. Wolfenstein 3 first story details unveiled as casting begins. This is Efren over at mp. First work on the next installment of the Wolfenstein series appears to be well underway. This we know thanks to reports from outlets such as Windows Central and Kotaku, which revealed that a new entry in the Machine game series is already in the works. Earlier this month, studio director Jerk Gustafsson also added weight to these rumors. While he didn't, he didn't explicitly confirm if I'm sorry it as their next release and I recovered from that cough grade. He noted that the studio's intentions have always been to return to the iconic franchise. Let's pull the car over for one second. I know there's a lot of news today. Hold up, Jerk. Great first name.

[Mike]

Yeah, super cool.

[Greg Miller]

I didn't realize that was an option because if I do that, you'd be hearing a lot of stories about Jerk Miller right now.

[Mike]

Jerk Miller, Jerk Miller.

[Greg Miller]

Even Benjamin Jerk Miller. You know what I mean? Put it in the middle there. Just saying. Adding fuel to the fire. We have come across casting details that further corroborate the story is already hard at work on the title. Moreover, this casting call reveals the very first plot details surrounding an entirely new character. According to the casting call, we've recently uncovered the project's codename, or at least the casting codename is Valkyrie. Attached to it are two people who previously worked on several Machine Games titles, being performance director Tom Keegan and casting director Emily Schweber. Keegan is fresh off directing the performances in the studio's last game, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. While Schweber helped shape the cast for the previous Wolfenstein entries, the casting calls for the role of a character named Sophia, which might or might not be a reference to the character Zoevia Blaskowitz. The mother of BJ Blazkowicz in the game, the protagonist of the franchise. The casting call notes that performance capture is scheduled to kick off in April, with additional shooting dates planned for later in 2026 and extending into 2027. This gets you going.

[Mike]

All my friends hear that news and we say, hell yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Why you say hell yeah?

[Mike]

Because we're big Wolfenstein fans. Of course. I mean, if you go back on the X cast set, I was always yelling, who wanted Indiana Jones? We wanted more Wolfenstein. Right. And I think I ate my words on that as the world showed that, like, hey, we do vibe with Indiana.

[Greg Miller]

Not according to our review.

[Mike]

The team did nail that and like, yeah, that was a good game. But I think there's still a world that people want. They want Wolfenstein. They want to punch Nazis in the face. They want to have a good time. And you can do that in both games, actually. But yeah, we want to go back to Wolfenstein and BJ story here.

[Greg Miller]

How far out do you think you're looking at getting this then? Additional shooting dates planned later. 2026, extending into 2027. Is this a Game Awards 2027 announcement that comes out in 2028 or am I being too.

[Mike]

I thought it was 2029. 2030. Yeah. Wow.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Mike]

That's what. That's kind of where we're at. Like, where I would assume we're at. I think they probably have already had the vision or maybe started to draw the outline of it long before, either during indie or before indie. Right. Because we're coming out off of so many Wolfenstein. You probably knew where you wanted to go, but like a pause, then maybe we should reset. I could be wrong. You might be right on an earlier one, But I'm thinking 2029.

[Greg Miller]

Okay, fair enough. We'll keep our eyes peeled for it. Number six in the ROPA report. Major game releases from Warner Brothers teased for next year and beyond Beyond. This is Eddie over at gamespot. Warner Brothers Discovery boss JB Perretta Pretty Peretti has teased. Maybe it's just Paret. Yeah, I'll say. Paret teased that the company has big things in store for gaming, but not for a little bit. Speaking during the company's latest earnings call, Perrette said 2025 was, quote, a year of reset for the company's gaming ambitions. He said the company became distracted as a, quote, distracted going after too many IPs with too broad a set of studios, according to Variety, though he didn't go into any further specifics. WB has since dialed things back and is now focused on four main franchises specifically for gaming. Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat and DC Comics. The executive went on to say that the real fruits of WB games will start coming in 27:28 when we return to some of our biggest franchises. He didn't name any projects outright, but a safe bet would be that he's referring to the Hogwarts Legacy sequel. Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm is no doubt cooking up something new as well, though the company has no projects officially announced. Blatant disrespect to LEGO Batman, but I'll let it slide because that's happening this year. Some would say he's kicking it off, he's getting going, he's starting the new train.

[Mike]

He's dropping the dominoes right there. Yeah. I mean, yeah, of course. Like, we've seen so many teams tighten their belts, focus on, here's the tent poles. This is what we need to do. Right. We've over expanded. We need to snap back to reality and say, here's what we do. And Hogwarts Legacy, of course, over 40 million sales on that one. You know, they're coming back for a sequel. That'll be a big deal. Right. Lego Batman, I'm very excited for. I think that will do well. And then what is NetherRealm doing? Right. It's like they have the focus of those games. What's after that, though? What do you start really planning rights? What's inside the DC universe that you go back to? We saw they're still always talking about

[Greg Miller]

Rocksteady doing some kind of Batman game that they were. They got them back on Batman. That's what they're always kicking around for.

[Mike]

I mean, you have to get them back on Batman. You have to get them back on. Like, this is the money maker, this is what the fans want.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Let's get back to gra. Let's get back to step one here. But yeah, hearing that, it's like, yeah. That you and everybody else is figuring out their tent poles and sticking to it. You and everybody else.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah. I mean, Harry potter, obviously, whatever NetherRealm's doing over there. Obviously. And then, yeah, Game of Thrones is an interesting one because you always have some experiment in that IP somewhere dreaming

[Mike]

of a Game of Thrones game. I'm dreaming, Greg. I mean, we're just coming hot off of A Night of Seven Kingdoms. Of course, you have hot D, AKA House of Dragons, Right. It's like Game of Thrones is something that you can make something fun out of in my mind, Right. I'm looking for a Shadow of Mordor, Shadow of War, open world game. I'm thinking, calling up the people who make Kingdom Come, Deliverance to making something like that.

[Greg Miller]

Like, imagine, I want.

[Mike]

I want all of Westeros, and I want to explore that and get lost in that world. I think we had a, you know, a mobile game that came out that, of course, doesn't speak to me. I don't know what happens with that, but, like, that doesn't get me excited to be like, a Game of Thrones game.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Mike]

I think there's just so much on the table, especially right now. Like, if you watch the Night of the Seven Kingdoms, you'd be like, oh, Game of Thrones is back. And they have a lot of, like, great stuff to tell in there. If you did it right.

[Greg Miller]

Michael, tell me Tentpole is dc. Of course, that means Batman.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Greg Miller]

But we do have James Gunn making Superman, making man of Tomorrow, making sure Supergirl happens in there as well.

[Mike]

What's up, Greg?

[Greg Miller]

Could I get a Superman game, you think? Could that actually happen for me?

[Mike]

Finally, Greg, I. I think there's probably some big conversations right now with the video game side of the world of WB and James Gunn. I think, like you said, right, James Gunn came out with Superman. Superman. That. That red and blue is going to be, like, the face of this. Moving forward. How are we not doing this? What is the misstep you always talked about? It's like, how hard is it to build a Superman game? But, like, we've played Infamous, we've played Prototype. Like, just slap Superman on that. In my mind, it's like, at least we're moving forward. Right? You can refine that and do better. But, like, Infamous and Prototype, to me, feels so close. They're just, like, putting Superman in the cape and just letting him fly around punching people.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I don't know. I. You know, the chat's already popping off, like, oh, man. I just don't even. How do you do a Superman game? We've heard this forever. Video game developers are very smart. At the very fucking least, go to ad hoc and give them money and say, make a Superman game. Make me a fucking Superman Telltale game. Because that's the perfect way to do it. Of course, the fucking Daily Planet's collapsing. Are you gonna save Lois? You're gonna save Jimmy? That's the end of. You know what I mean? Like, and there's real ramifications. The story really changes.

[Mike]

Is Superman and Batman, the only two though.

[Greg Miller]

No.

[Mike]

Is there anything else that you could expand to? We did talk about Wonder Woman.

[Greg Miller]

We come back to the age old question, especially with WB, who the fuck is going to own all these IPs in three years? Is it going to be Netflix? Is it going to be WB still? Is it going to be Discovery, Paramount, whatever the like. There's so much, who the fuck knows. And the problem is, as you've heard me talk about for months, years, these people don't care about art. They care about the four tent pole franchises so that they can think, because they think that a Batman game is guaranteed to sell and it will be great. And we've seen that that's not the case with Suicide Squad. We've seen that's not the case with Gotham. So it's like, what are they actually going to do? Are, are they going to sit there like again, James Gunn, give me the phone call. Let's go and get a bunch of cool smaller studios, like an ad hoc making a Superman game, someone making a fucking Metroidvania Flash game, Green Lantern. Let's get weird with like, but let's make small games that will make you small profit. But nobody wants to hear small profit. Nobody wants to hear small profit.

[Mike]

Exactly. When we're tightening the belt strap and we're focusing on the tent poles and I only have so much small game, small profit is not the answer that they want to hear. Right. Like we might have the other side of that. It's like Prince of Persia, the Lost Ground man did really well. Then we shut down that studio. Oh, hi Fi. Rush. Cut that studio. Right. It's like there's games out there that have proven that you can make a splash and really do something with the gamer side of things and earn the goodwill and trust of gamers. But they're not going to make the giant 40 million sales of Hogwarts Legacy. And if Batman and Superman are the only ones that can do that, you're only going to do that is right.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Let's move on to story number seven. Sony tried to lock up Crimson Desert as a timed PlayStation exclusive. This is the one, the only Paul Tassi at Forbes. Crimson Desert is shaping up to be one of the most interesting games of the year. A sprawling open world that seems to be saying all the right things and showing off impressive gameplay footage. But it might have been something that PlayStation could have called its own for a while anyway. According to a translation of a resurfaced Pearl Abyss investor relations report, the studio said it was approached by Sony with the pitch that Sony would Pay to make PlayStation its publisher and in turn lock up an exclusive deal that would launch on PlayStation and avoid Xbox for an entire year. The PC distribution rights would also have been Sony's Pearl Abyss said no. Rather, despite considering the offer, it decided to self publish. They noted that this was different from Shift Up's similar deal with Stellar Blade, but that the studio didn't have a publishing team ready to go. Such a deal would mean a large chunk of revenue in addition to platform fees would go to Sony as the publisher, something Perus wanted to avoid. Okay, bet on yourself.

[Mike]

I like, I like the bet on yourself mentality here. I like the avoiding the fees and getting the game out to everything and everywhere, like that's a. A big deal there. Of course we know that console exclusivity or timed exclusivity is kind of come and gone, but it still happens occasionally with certain titles and yeah, I mean if you're number one and I'm trying to get more people to come here with the head of GTA 6 coming soon, a big title like Crimson Desert. Right. When we talk about these event titles, yeah, hell yeah. I want to lock them up and make them timed exclusives. So you have to come to me. That's what any business strategy would say. So yeah, I mean on the Sony side, understandable. On Crimson Desert side, I like betting on yourself. That's an interesting take here.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I think that's been the thing that's rang the most true about Pearl Abyss on this one. They showed us that a trailer where it was an everything game and you're like, this is going to be trash. This won't work out. And then they've committed to showing big chunks of gameplay. That SGF demo, when I sat down I was like, this is a very complicated game. But by the end I was enjoying it. And the man next to me giving the demo was clearly so passionate and talking about the team back home working on this game and you're like, damn. Like these people have put their all into this game and so to see it already go gold to see these kind of stories, like they believe they have something here and go get them. I hope you do.

[Mike]

Really excited. We're right around the corner too. This is a March game.

[Greg Miller]

I know. So like we'll be talking about the game.

[Mike]

We're talking about this today. We'll be looking at this next month. It's exciting and yeah, can you land it right? There's so much excitement. There's so much optimism of like hope that this is that everything you can do anything game. And like they've shown things on the tech side where you're like, okay, they got the tech for it. Now the question is like, is the dialogue? Is the narrative there is the mission structures fun and engaging and you hope that it is. The stuff that you've seen gets you excited. But we'll know, we'll know in a month.

[Greg Miller]

We sure this is.

[Mike]

Well, I'm hoping for the best. I'm so pumped.

[Greg Miller]

I'm pumped too. And of course, Pearl Abyss landing this ship, crushing it. This is amazing. That'd be huge news. But Mike, if I wanted something smaller, say the tiniest news I need to know about, where would I go?

[Mike]

Greg, I'd take you to our last story, the WE News channel, where we cover all the small news items you

[Greg Miller]

need to know about your transition. Yesterday into WE News was fantastic.

[Mike]

Thank you. I tried my best.

[Greg Miller]

I'd go to your back room anytime.

[Mike]

Thank you.

[Greg Miller]

Number eight, WE News Surgeon Studios have revealed their new game, Fix Force. There's a trailer. Can we toss it up? Of course. This is Haboo who popped onto the scene in terms of being a studio, right. With Tales of Kinsera. And then of course they had Dead Take and now they've already got their third game here. Fix Force. Fuck yeah. Go get them. What are we doing? We're just running out. Fix these things. Is it multiplayer? Looks like it's multiplayer. Just remember Force Find kind of.

[Mike]

What are some of those games that I've played here? I'm trying to remember the name of them. Ah, it'll come to me. The Goop Gummy guys. You know what I mean? Moving around.

[Greg Miller]

Sure. Ah, yeah, we're running around, we're flying around. We're doing stuff. Let's go. You'll play it?

[Mike]

Oh, I'll definitely be playing some fun co op games. Co op madness games are my thing.

[Greg Miller]

Super Battle Golf has sold 4,000 copies. Did I say golf? Weird again. Golf has sold 400,000 copies, which is great. We love that great party mode. Remember that.

[Mike]

I can't wait to show you the next party mode, Greg. This one was terrific though. It's gotten a lot of great press, a lot of people playing it, lot of fun. It's just shenanigans. Shenanigans on the golf course. And that's what you're looking for. It's like, what fun idea can we do? Implement it easy, quick and make something fun. Great job.

[Greg Miller]

Insider gaming showcase is set for May 28. It has a focus on games which still need funding or publisher backing.

[Mike]

Okay, nice.

[Greg Miller]

That's awesome. That's a great way to do it. Remember I always tell you when you watch these showcases. Oh, Wishlist, Wishlist, Wishlist. That's obviously because so many of these people put out demos like what you're doing at Steam next Fest. Then go have conversations with potential publishing partners. Your wish lists show that there's an interest which gets publishers able to give them money, more money, etc. Usually though, I feel like that's a bit cloak and dagger. Nobody's really talking like, hey, we need funding. So wish List, the idea that Insider Gaming is doing a showcase, that's specifically about that. That's a fucking gold star for them too. Riot game lays off 12 people within its publishing division.

[Mike]

Unfortunate.

[Greg Miller]

It still happened even at Riot. Remember when Riot was like, oh, it's video game retirement home. You just go there and you fucking. You're fine.

[Mike]

Could no could do no wrong making so much money. Has the games that people want to play.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Mike]

How could they ever fall right? How could they ever have a misstep?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Currently seeing some of it.

[Greg Miller]

Lollipop Chainsaw re Pop. Nintendo Switch 2 Edition launches May 28th. And then Esoteric Ebb launches. Launches. Fuck me. May 3rd on PC. I have that on the thing for tomorrow as well. But the thing, the show after the games cast about all the games coming March. I have that on there as well.

[Mike]

Can I show you something I bought? Yeah, because the chat's popping off about something backyard sports related. Can't find that. Right. There's a trailer for me but I'm gonna put in assets right now. Kevin. Of course. Backyard sports. Recently Greg Miller teamed up with Wilson Athletics for a full on baseball line. Mitts, bats, everything. And I could not resist. Right. I bought myself the left handed kids squishy bat with ball.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Mike]

I love this little combo right here. It arrived last night. It looks fantastic. The Pablo Sanchez bat. Oh, Chef's kiss. Beautiful. The Pablo Sanchez mitt. Amazing. I'm trying to get the actually full mitt right here. I'll bring up the full mitt right now for Kevin. Unfortunately I cannot buy the mitt, Greg, because it's right handed only. But they are selling right and left handed mitts for the kids. Just want to shout out you're a lefty. Yeah, lefty. And so couldn't buy the mint. But I want this.

[Greg Miller]

That's cool.

[Mike]

I want this bit. They have a melon heads one exclusive. They have Another Pablo one. They got a mega Juice one. They did a great job with this line. Backyard sports. We'll talk to that one day. They've done a fantastic job with the marketing, the push, getting the old sunflower style out and like free to play on mobile. Out on Steam for $7 or whatever the heck it is. The YouTube animated short was a ton of fun. It felt like watching like recess or Saturday cartoon. It's only like 22 minutes. Some great actors in that. Really good. Really good. So, yeah, I don't know what this new game is, but I'm excited. I believe it's baseball. Yeah, I think they're going back to the well of baseball, which is fun.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Backyard baseball is coming to Steam on July 9th. New reimagined game to talk about it tomorrow.

[Mike]

Big expectations, big hopes.

[Greg Miller]

And that's it for WE News. We jump now to your super chats. People who want to be part of the show chatted about things outside of the news as it was going. Or maybe it was news and I didn't get to it. Our Flying Fox says birthday tax. 48 years old. I must be one of the oldest viewers love the show. Watching from Switzerland every day. Happy birthday. Our flying fox.

[Mike]

We got Nick watching. He's old. Don't worry about it.

[Greg Miller]

I mean, we had somebody write it the other day when we were talking about something. He was like 51. So, like, no. And we skew old. That's one of the parts.

[Mike]

Happy birthday. Happy birthday, big dog. Have a wonderful day.

[Greg Miller]

Adam Cohen says, popping in to give my birthday tax for tomorrow. Here's $40 for my 40th birthday. Hope the news doesn't suck today. Love what you guys do. That wasn't.

[Mike]

Wasn't too bad. Terrible.

[Greg Miller]

The normal amount of bad in there, but, you know, that's how it is.

[Mike]

Good conversation about PlayStation. An interesting conversation. I. I look forward to seeing what they do because I. I can totally see it. They could easily close that door and I believe it.

[Greg Miller]

Apple Kid 3 became a member in Super Chats and says two years in and not going anywhere. Excited to keep up with you guys. 2026 and beyond. Beyond.

[Mike]

Thanks, Apple Kid.

[Greg Miller]

Thank you very much. Apple Kid Blade 12323. Super chat and says I was disappointed to hear. Bless disrespect jazz yesterday. The jazz on there, that caught fire.

[Andy]

Wow.

[Mike]

That caught fire. That did catch fire. A lot of Twitter notifications, a lot of Reddit posts. Saw it all over social media yesterday on that one.

[Greg Miller]

What do you think? Yeah, it's a Question. I'll start. I wasn't here on the show. Right?

[Mike]

Yeah, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

My thought on it is this. I feel like there's a fine line there that Bless was walking.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Greg Miller]

And I don't think it was on purpose to be rude, but I think he dipped below into a it. I think he dipped into the personal a bit in a way that I don't think he meant to because I think the base of his argument and stick with me because this is going to get clipped out, I'm sure for me too. Now stick with me to hear the entire thing. The base of his argument. When he said. And he was. Bless also went into a character, which he doesn't do. I'm usually the one screaming my point or whatever. But when he said I don't go to Jez for breaking or for big business news or whatever, I think that sounds more insulting than he might have meant it to. Stick with me, everybody. I think Greg Miller, nearly 20 years of doing this and having these conversations and whatever else. Right. Space dive has says, who's Jez? Jez. It works for Windows Central, a website that reports on video games.

[Mike]

One of the big managing editors in

[Greg Miller]

a big Xbox thing, right?

[Mike]

Xbox two co hosts.

[Greg Miller]

He had the Xbox CEO and Matt Boody on there. Sharma and Booty had an interview with them. 13 minutes with it, it turned out. Back to my point though, before I lose it, sorry, I don't go to. I don't go to jazz for big breaking business news or whatever. The phrasing of it was yelled and we put Jez's name in front of it, which I think then skewed the conversation into this is about Jez and not about Xbox having, as you guys said, and I agree, a nothing burger interview with Windows Central. Stick with me. I'm not. I don't know Jez and Windows Central from a hole in the wall.

[Mike]

I've.

[Greg Miller]

I think I've DMed with Jez back when I use Twitter and I've obviously reported on Windows Central stuff here before. But I mean, I'm not an avid reader. I don't follow the work and yada, yada yada. I do think as somebody who's done this a long time and I looked at that interview, I was like, windows Central, huh? And then it was. I went around looking like, oh, they must have made the rounds. No, it was just Windows Central. And I say that's an odd choice. Not because Windows Central sucks. I think you could easily take out Windows Central and insert. Kind of funny. You could Insert. If the CEO and Matt Booty showed up and only talked to us for 13 minutes, I would. I would be like, I'm going to take that opportunity, of course. But that's a weird choice. I would have gone to Bloomberg. I would have gone to ign. I would. I would have think. You would be talking to Rev Valentine, you'd be talking to Jason, you'd be talking to Patrick Kleppec. And you're going to call up a good point.

[Mike]

He also went to Variety as well.

[Greg Miller]

This wasn't their first interview. Right. They also were on Variety, which I also go, that's an interesting choice. Variety. So toss it in there. Variety, Windows Central. And again, I'm not demonizing either of those sites. I'm just tossing. Kind of funny. I'd be like, that's where we're starting the press tour of this new thing. And so then you get into what the interview was, which was a nothing burger, which, again, I'm going to be the first to call out, as somebody who's done a lot of nothing burger interviews in my day and age. I don't think that's on Jazz. That's on Xbox. And I think then you get into this argument of, well, did Xbox go to Windows Central? Variety. Kind of funny, because they knew that there wouldn't be a Jason Schreier being like, but how can you say AI isn't going to affect Xbox? You know, like, they grind the whole interview to the halt.

[Mike]

And I mean, I like, Jason, we can't ask these questions, can we, please?

[Greg Miller]

And this is where I don't like even getting into this, because I don't like criticizing anybody's work. Nobody knows. The prep work, the thing, the 13 minutes this. In this interview that went up wasn't a transcription. So it wasn't like, oh, interesting qu. Interesting answer onto my next point, like, who the fuck knows how this went down? Or whatever. All that said, that was my interpretation on it and my lens on it. So hearing Blessing talk about it yesterday and then go into a spirited Blessing rant. Very olive. Greg Miller and Game Scoop and everything else. I wasn't listening, going, oh, man, he's going for Windows Central and Jazz. I saw him going, I'm sick of nothing Burgers with this Xbox conversation. Like, what the fuck is going on? Yeah, And I think that's interpretation. You can take yours from it. You can have this whole thing. Blessing wasn't happy with the interview. And I pay all of you to have microphones and opinions. So, like, he said that part and Again, I wasn't happy with the interview too. But as somebody who's interviewed a lot of motherfuckers, I don't blame Jez for that. Without having. And again, don't know Jez from a hole in the wall. Maybe I'm missing all these other interviews where it is somebody says something outlandish, she goes, okay, but like I don't think that's what it is. But I don't know. But that's what we're talking about and that's what it was. And I understand. I was very fascinated to look around and see all this stuff going like, oh, okay. But then it's also the thing of so many people talking about it and it seemed like more people were with my perspective than other. But I don't know.

[Mike]

Yeah, Greg, I mean there's a lot to talk about and I think you said a lot of it very well. And I definitely know you don't have

[Greg Miller]

to spend the whole end of the show here.

[Mike]

No, not at all. I more on the side of, you know, for me waking up and having that conversation with. Bless it was a last night, a smile beforehand. Not last night, but the night before a smile. Seeing that. Oh, we have an actual early interview with our Asha Sharma that I didn't expect. Oh, it's from Jazz. That's great. Right? But then yes, it being a nothing burger because we know they're not going to answer a bunch of questions right now. They're not going to let.

[Greg Miller]

They don't know what the they're doing this.

[Mike]

Right. And so I think it was more of like people wanted just the quick celebration of like, hey, Jaz, got a cool interview. That's great.

[Greg Miller]

Right?

[Mike]

Unfortunately, nothing came out of it because Jaz had 15 minutes. Probably couldn't ask the hard hitting questions or couldn't deep dive. They probably weren't answering those rights. I think where I slipped up on my side of things is like I'm giving them a lot of grace. This new CEO of like, oh, you know, it's her first day, she's learning the job, she came in, she says, I don't even know the video game business. But like, unfortunately Greg, that's not true. Because here's the deal. You applied for this job, you interviewed, they interviewed you, they said, you're the one, you gotta know the business, you gotta have a plan. And you said, ah, I gotta look at a lot of data. We don't have a plan quite yet that you got a plan. That's how you got into this role. What is the plan? You probably don't have to share.

[Greg Miller]

Just say you're gonna shove AI to

[Mike]

this shit for me being so like, oh, I'm optimistic on this. It's like, okay, maybe Seamus Blackley might be a little bit old man yelling at clouds, but like, you better have a plan. You got the. I mean, I will have a plan

[Greg Miller]

that, you know, this whole jazz conversation starts the show and then you get into the Seamus Blackley thing and I'm listening, I'm like, yeah, I agree with Seamus. And this is it. This has nothing to do with the Internet. This is just like Seamus is like, yo, they're pushing Xbox off to the side. Yes, they are. These are end of care physicians that are transitioning them to death. I'm like, that's a good point.

[Mike]

I do believe that same feeling of like walking around with Roger talking about all that and it's like, yeah, the idea of like, oh, yeah, we got to look at, we got, we need data. We're going to look at years of data. We're going to get our own data. It's like, no, you came in, applied for this job. You got to have a game plan. Yeah, yeah, you have to have a vision in mind. And I know they do. They're just not ready to share that. And so unfortunately they're figuring out their. Yeah, they're not going to share it with Jazz. But yeah, that was a wild 24 hours with bless and the Internet and I think, and how people felt again,

[Greg Miller]

I think, you know, we're talking about day seven in a row of Xbox being headlines and this, that and the other. And I think that influences it as well and gets going. But again, you know, I. Everybody's open to their interpretation and have their feelings or whatever it is.

[Mike]

But when it does come to Xbox News, I do go to Jazz. I go to many Xbox influencers, press outlets. Windows Central has been one that I've gone to many of times. Xbox two podcasts with Jazz and Rand have been a very long standing podcast about Xbox. Right. And I see they have the knowledge of that.

[Greg Miller]

I see so much of me in that of I remember distinctly. I mean, you could obviously check the comments on anything. Usually not kind of funny that I do. Greg Miller is this PlayStation fanboy. Greg Miller is a Sony pony. Greg Miller, this guy. Like, I understand what that is too. And again, don't know Windows Central and Jazz is reporting from this, but I understand what it's like to be.

[Mike]

We have someone coming on the stage with him.

[Blessing]

What up?

[Greg Miller]

He's like, did I stutter?

[Blessing]

I stand by everything I said, no.

[Mike]

Do you want to sit on my seat and just. Yeah. You want to go in Mike's back room? I do not want to go in

[Blessing]

Mike's back room now.

[Greg Miller]

Hey, Greg.

[Blessing]

How's it going?

[Greg Miller]

Good. How are you? Stressed. You were the main character of the Internet for 24 hours.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I know. Like, after work, I went to my friend's place, and they're like, oh, how was your day? And I was like, you know, I don't check Twitter. Twitter is going off on me. But, yeah, it's been. It's been such an interesting one.

[Greg Miller]

Did I misinterpret? You were listening.

[Blessing]

Yeah, no, I. I listened in late because me and Barrett were handling something else. But I. For what I heard you talking about, I think you're 100% on as far as, like, you know, one of the things that you were just bringing up was the fact that we're talking about all these days of Xbox News. I've been on KFG for seven days straight. And so I want to start off with. I stand by most of the points I made, at least from the heart of the Xbox part of it, the Microsoft part of it, and, like, the outlets they're choosing to talk to. As far as, like, your opening statement. Right. Like, hey, we're going to Windows Central. I. The thing that. What I regret in my statements yesterday is I feel like maybe my frustrations, maybe, whatever. I don't want to make a bunch of excuses for it, but I think I boiled over into, like, being an asshole a little bit to Jess Corden, because I don't know Jess Corden personally. I've read his articles. I know his work, and I think there's a little bit of, like, the work that I've read of his versus, like, the how Xbox is choosing Alice. All this stuff that I think just raised frustrations in me as far as how Xbox is operating with a new CEO. And, like, I don't know, for me, it was more so frustration at Xbox, which boiled over into frustration for Jez, which, honestly was unwarranted from my part. So I want to apologize for that part.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Blessing]

But does that answer any?

[Greg Miller]

Oh, I didn't have questions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I thought was happening. So I appreciate that.

[Blessing]

Yeah, of course.

[Greg Miller]

Okay, cool.

[Blessing]

Oh, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Thank you.

[Blessing]

Oh, well, Mike's gone.

[Greg Miller]

He'll be back when you walk. I mean, I'm just gonna super chat it up. You can do it. Thank you. Blessed, though. Yeah, of course. Zach super chats and says hi, I hope this is okay here. My 18 year old son who is an avid gamer, was recently diagnosed with ALS, a terminal disease. I was hoping to share my GoFundMe to help him enjoy life and create memories for his two brothers and myself. Please let me know. Thanks. I. Well first off, Zach, I'm so sorry to hear about your son. ALS is a terrible disease and I'm sorry you have to go through that and your two brothers have to go through that or his two brothers have to go through that. You are welcome I think. I'm not. I'm not even sure how our chats work anymore about links, but if you can put a link in there, go for it. But if not, tell people where to go for it and do that. But all of our love to you and I hope that these next few years are as healthy and long as they can be. That old captain, he says the PlayStation ports thing. We already talked about the PlayStation port thing, so I'm not worried about that. Oh, I saw this too. Yeah. Kobe says speaking of games journalism is currently circulating that an AI writer's review has been posted. It made us the official Metacritic for RE9 was published by Video Gamer. This was going on. This was as we were getting ready to go live. This is happening in the KFGD Slack. It's not confirmed yet. They had the guy's profile picture and in it it says chatgpt or something. It's terrifying out there. Support the people who are doing the work you love. I can't say this enough. Everybody it is. And I don't. It does not need to be just us. Maybe you're here because you fucking hate us. Oh, Large Hog Gamer and also okay, Fuck yeah, good name. Large Hog Gamer. They removed it. They removed it. So that's. Don't worry about it. But we gotta fucking support the shit you love. Okay everybody. Graham of Legend says thanks for the shout out y' all definitely go wish list our lands and get the demo. Also keep supporting KF so we never lose them Blue heart. Keep supporting Graham of Legend who makes great games. Although he's on my shit list for this one. He does not have controller support in this yet.

[Mike]

I know how you get on that.

[Greg Miller]

You know what I mean? Listen, I'll come to the PC if I have to, but don't make it be like this for me, okay? Charlie says sending in my birthday tax. I still believe in X. I still believe Xbox is the best place to play. Much love to Mike and the rest of the X cast crew.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Greg Miller]

Big Curtis says, Greg, did you ever go back to Reigns the Witcher? It's out now, I think. Still recommend. I never finished it, but I still play it on my phone. Yeah, off that build I have. It's great. Jay Dublin says with the Valkyrie code name, I wonder if this means they're adapting the actual internal plot to kill Hitler into a Wolfenstein timeline. That'd be cool. I mean this. Alvaro says, does machine games have to tone down because of today's politics and Microsoft wanting to appease the high leader? We'll see.

[Mike]

Yeah, you would like to say no, but, like, yeah, we'll see on that one.

[Greg Miller]

Want a Cup Brew? But he spells it weird. Mike, watch the trailer for Backyard baseball. He will. Nightlife says, I'm 50. I can't stop watching. Never stop stopping. Yeah, there's. Oh, no. Brain says they're stalling for Andy's plane to land.

[Mike]

You're gonna kill him. You're gonna kill him.

[Greg Miller]

Everybody stop.

[Mike]

Don't do it.

[Greg Miller]

Great. And that's it for what's going on over there. Let's jump into the one, the only you're wrong kind of funny dot com. You're wrong. You can tell us what we screw up and where as we screw it up.

[Mike]

What is it saying over here?

[Greg Miller]

You wrote a lot there, chief. I don't know what that is. I'm not reading.

[Mike]

Keep it short. Keep it simple.

[Greg Miller]

No. Okay. We're fine. We're out here. Oh, wait, maybe not. No, no, Too long.

[Mike]

He says no.

[Greg Miller]

Everybody, that's another episode of Kind of Funny Games Daily. In the bank, Barnell says, greg, go to the doctor, please. But really, what are they gonna say other than you have a cough.

[Mike]

You got medicine?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Well, then you're good.

[Greg Miller]

I took a dayquil. I took the cough syrup. I'm doing the best I can now. It's better. It is getting better. If I was getting worse, different story. I just can't laugh. But luckily, nobody's as funny as me. Everybody has been another episode of Kind of Funny Games Daily. Thank you so much for watching it. Remember, like, subscribe, share. Of course. Go ahead and ring the bell. Of course. Give us your Twitch prime sub. If you got Amazon prime, of course, get your kind of funny membership. Patreon, YouTube, Apple and Spotify. You can get everything ad free. Of course, you get a whole bunch of bonuses. You want to get the platinum tier. Next item, next month, March. Which is so close. Horrifying. Yesterday on Games Daily, when you guys were like, oh, that comes out on March 7th. That's two weeks away. I was like, it is not. It is not.

[Mike]

Thursday.

[Greg Miller]

Next week, everybody. We got to go do a Gamescast. We got to go do another thing after that. There's a million shows today. And then the Resident Evil thing. It's going to be great. Ladies, gentlemen and bees, remember, tomorrow is a special day. We are doing a live reaction to Pokemon at 6 in the motherfucking morning. Be here at 5:40am it will be your games cast. You'll get. Then I'm gonna play Leaf Green. Then we're gonna do games daily. Then it's a marathon stream for Resident Evil. We're awesome. Until next time, everybody. It's been a pleasure to serve you.

[Mike]

Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster Zero Ultra. That's the OG it kicked off this whole zero sugar energy drink thing. But Ultra is a whole lineup now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian Sunrise, and Vice Guava. And they all bring the Monster Energy punch. So if you've been living in the White can, branch out. Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe, and every single one is Zero Sugar. Tap the banner to learn more. It's tax season, and at LifeLock, we know you're tired of numbers, but here's

[Greg Miller]

a big one you need to hear.

[Andy]

Billions.

[Mike]

That's the amount of money and refunds the IRS has flagged for possible identity fraud. Now here's another big number. 100 million. That's how many data points LifeLock monitors every second. If your identity is stolen, we'll fix it. Guaranteed. One last big number. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock. Com podcast for the threats you can't control. Terms apply.