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Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com Today's stories include a PlayStation State of Play is rumored for next week. The bioware layoffs are worse than we thought. And our first look at the next battlefield. We'll have all this and more because this is Kinda Funny Games Daily. Yo, what's up? Welcome to Kinda Funny Games daily for Monday, February 3, 2025. One of your hosts, Blessing Adioye Jr. Joining me is little Croy, Poppy, Tim Ma. Fucking Gettys.
Ryan Reynolds
What a weekend. Blessed the Royal Rumble. We were here in this room watching on this screen. Yep, incredible time. That was Congrats to Jey uso.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Congrats to Jey uso.
Ryan Reynolds
Can't believe it. Still can't believe it. So excited about it all.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I had such a good time watching the Royal Rumble last on Saturday night that yesterday I got into like I did a bunch of things right. I was supposed to go grocery shopping. I started going grocery shopping and I was like, I'm not in the mood for this. I'm going home. Literally. Like wait, what? You just, you didn't get anything? I got a few because I, it was a, a multi stop trip but it was like rainy. And then also after the rumble on Saturday night, I thought I was gonna go home and sleep. Instead I went and I got drinks with Barrett.
Ryan Reynolds
Hell yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
30Th birthday. He did like a last minute celebration. And so I went drank up until 2am Right? Closed at the bar. And then on Sunday I was like, all right, I gotta get things. Like I have planned out what my groceries are. I go to CVS and I'm like this, I'm going home. I don't feel it. I'm not feeling it today. What I did was I went home and I was like, all right, I'm giving my Sunday to myself. What do I want to do, right? It's the weekend, it's Sunday. I'm just going to do the shit that I want to do. So I grab all my magic cards, I go to the living room, I start tinkering with my magic deck. And on the tv, I put on three things, Right. First thing, I watched the most recent episode of Severance.
Ryan Reynolds
Hell, yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Severance continues to fuck. Come on. What a good show. Then I watch the first two episodes of the new season of Mythic Force. Did you know the quest? Mythic Quest, Yes. Did you know that that's out?
Ryan Reynolds
Oh, yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I didn't realize it until I finished Severance and I was like, is that Mythic Quest?
Ryan Reynolds
Mythic Quest, baby. We're back.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
So I watched those two, and then I put on the Mr. McMahon documentary.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
On Netflix. I watched the first episode and a half of that, and I gotta get back to it. Yeah, man, I had a night last night.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Mythic Quest continues to be awesome.
Ryan Reynolds
It does.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I like. I. I like the direction of the season more than I like the direction of last season.
Ryan Reynolds
Me, too.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
It's like, okay, we're back to it. I like where we're at. And also, it's the continued thing of. Man, I feel like they watch KFC straight up. Writing the show.
Ryan Reynolds
It's wild. If y'all haven't watched Mythic Quest, you should. If you have interest in this show, you're going to like that show. Like, yes. It is one of the biggest surprises ever from Ubisoft, of all things.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah. If you're unfamiliar with Mythic Quest. Right. It is a Apple TV show. It has Homie from It's Always Sunny. Is it Rob McElhenny.
Ryan Reynolds
Yes.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Rob McElhenny from It's Always Sunny, along.
Ryan Reynolds
With, like, Danny Pudi from.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah. From Community.
Ryan Reynolds
Community.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah. And quite a few people you might recognize if you watch a lot of comedies. Right. But the whole premise of the show is that it takes. It's a comedy that takes place in a video game studio that is essentially. It's essentially Ubisoft.
Ryan Reynolds
Ubisoft. If Ubisoft made World of Warcraft.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yes, exactly. And so, like, they get into, like, a lot of interesting scenarios of, like, things you deal with making live service games and just games in general and, like, creative versus business and all this shit that, like, it's a lot of talking points of KHD distilled down into a really good sitcom.
Ryan Reynolds
Yep.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
And this is actually starting off with a bang.
Ryan Reynolds
Actually one of the leads as well.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah. So I couldn't recommend the show more. Also, Mr. McMahon, Dick documentary. Very good.
Ryan Reynolds
It is very, very good. Yeah. A little inconsistent, but overall, very, very entertaining. You should definitely keep watching.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
You should also keep watching kind of funny games Daily. Because remember, this is khtd. Each and every weekday we run you through the nerdy news you need to know about live on YouTube, Twitch and on podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the Kind of Funny membership on Patreon, YouTube and now Spotify and Apple podcasts to get all of our shows ad free, watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show for a chance to be a part of the show. Some of your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. Housekeeping for you. We're an 11 person business all about live talk shows. February's Patreon platform platinum collector's item is here. You can grab this limited edition Ace off poster. That's right.
Tim Gettys
So good.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Ace. It says Ace slash off, which is that a Face off reference?
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Shout out to Nick Scarfino.
Ryan Reynolds
This is just so good.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
And this is by the Incredible Pain of Musk, so you can get it before the month ends. Patreon.com kindafunny and then today after Kind of Funny Games Daily, you're going to get Gamescast, which is Mike's Kingdom Come, Deliverance 2 and Civ 7 impressions. Then after that is the stream, which is Mike and nick playing Streamer Life 2.
Ryan Reynolds
It was so good. They had to make a sequel.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
They had to make a sequel. Who could have. Who could forget Streamer Life one that we all played? If you're a Kind of Funny member, you can get today's. You can get Greg's Royal Rumble Stories from Indianapolis on today's Greg Way. And you can get the Kind of Funny podcast this afternoon and tomorrow on YouTube and podcast services. Thank you to our Patreon producers. These might not be up to date because it is the first episode of the month, but for now I will say Delaney Twining and Carl Jacobs. Today we're brought to you by Aura Frames, but we'll tell you about that later. For now, let's begin with what is you.
Ryan Reynolds
Have we got a couple more? Yeah, yeah. So Delaney Twining, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Karen Lindner. Welcome to the squad, everybody.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Welcome, welcome. We're brought to you by OR Frames. But for now, let's begin with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. It's time for some news. We have six stories today. The Baker doesn't love that. Also, are those our first new Patreon producers in like a year? I feel like I've been saying Delaney Twining and Carl Jacobs on the game side.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah, I think those two have stuck. But yeah, the KF side has a little bit more fluctuation.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Welcome in, y'all. Welcome in. Welcome to the family. We're going to start off with story number one. PlayStation is reportedly prepping a February State of Play for Valentine's week. This is Andy Robinson at Video Games Chronicle. Sony will stream its next State of Play presentation later this month. It's been claimed. That's according to reliable Gaming Insider Nate.
Ryan Reynolds
The Hate in this house, we do not doubt Nate the Hate.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
We do not doubt Nate. I feel like every year there's always. Maybe every two years there's a new name that arises, joins the fray. Yeah. And like this year for sure, Nate the Hate is the guy to look for.
Ryan Reynolds
He's been here for years, but he's making a name. He's about to make a name for himself today.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
What was the last big thing? Because I think it was like with the last one he predicted. Well, the last one.
Ryan Reynolds
Switch.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah, Yeah, I think that's the one that really put him on the map.
Ryan Reynolds
Of like, oh, listen to this, y'all.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Listen. He's saying. Or that. That's According to reliable Gaming Insider, Nate the Hate, who frequently reveals information on the games industry ahead of official announcements. According to the user, PlayStation's next live stream is arriving in February. Asked by an X user for more exact timing info on the state of play, the insider dropped a strong hint that it would take place on the week commencing February 10th. Sony regularly puts out State of Play State of Plays in January or February to reveal some titles that is planning to release during the first half of the calendar. Last January, a state of play featured deep dives on Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin, plus looks at death, straining 2 and Silent Hill. In February 2023, a state of play focused on third party titles such as Resident Evil 4, Street Fighter 6 and Suicide Squad. Kill the Justice League. Tim 1. Do you believe it?
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah. Why not?
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I mean.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah, you know what I mean. First off, the date, the hate, there's a lot of good juice there. Besides that also stands up. Yeah. It's like, you know, we are expecting to get a state of play at some point. February, March, something like that. We need to get some updates mainly on third party things. But are you expecting this to be a good state of play or just another state?
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I think good, if you manage your expectations. That's where I'm at. Because I do. Okay, Tim, we're going to play a game.
Ryan Reynolds
Let's play game.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Tim, tell me if I'm crazy.
Ryan Reynolds
Okay?
Blessing Adioye Jr.
That's the name of the game. Tell me if I'm crazy Ghost of Yote release date. Is that. Am I crazy to expect that?
Ryan Reynolds
I. I would say so only because I don't know if they know yet. You know what I mean? Like, when you look at where PlayStation's at right now, it seems pretty clear that Ghost is their one big thing this year. There might be others that's raining too, but yeah, that's true. That is true. They. The positioning of it, I think is going to be of the utmost importance. I think that we need to know a little bit more about like the, the rest of PlayStation Studios of what they have going on. Because if it is their big thing that is Death Stranding to notwithstanding, where are they going to our PlayStation gonna want to position it and where Sucker Punch ready for it? Because I don't think that game is ready, you know, but I think that PlayStation wants it to be ready.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I don't.
Ryan Reynolds
As soon as possible.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I think I am. I have. My perception of Ghosts of Yotei has been colored so much by Ghost of Tsushima where for some reason I'm like, summer, it's gonna come summer. But I think that's just because Ghost of Tsushima came out in like July in 2020. And so like, I don't even think I even thought of it coming out in the fall because I think, I assume that the flow of it would be maybe Ghosts of Yotei July, August, and then Death Straining two comes out. October, November. Ish. If it does.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah, I'm with you there. I just think that. I don't know, something in my gut tells me that it's not ready like even before that summer date, but it could happen.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
So then tell me if I'm crazy. Death Straining to anything related to Death Straining two?
Ryan Reynolds
No, I mean I'm. I'm very surprised. We haven't been getting a lot of Death Stranding 2 in the last couple keely events. Like I, I if, correct me if I'm wrong, like both Game Awards and even Summer Game Fest, we didn't get anything from Death Stranding 2.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
And we think that's right.
Ryan Reynolds
And we kind of were expecting at the very least of some new actor or something weird or whatever. We didn't. So I think that we're, we're due for some on the beach action on the beach, you know what I mean? And yeah, I do also assume that within the next two times we hear about Death Stranding 2, it'll be the release date. So I don't know that we're ready for that quite yet, but.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
So then let's talk about. Because I think this article makes a good point of. All right. It's a February state of play, so you can probably expect them to talk about things coming in the first half of the year because you're probably going to wait until the next day to play, which usually happens in like May or June, to then talk about stuff that's coming out for the second half of the year. What from PlayStation, if anything, do we think we're getting in the first half of the year?
Ryan Reynolds
Well, looking at this article here, they're talking about what these February ones tend to be and it is third party stuff, bigger third party things. So there is a couple big third party question marks. We have Metal Gear Solid Delta being a big one.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Right.
Ryan Reynolds
We need to get that date at some point. Like, I feel like that is also overdue of like I can't believe we still don't have a date for that game.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
So we're thinking first half of the year for that one.
Ryan Reynolds
I mean. Yeah, I think so. I think that game is ready. Like, I also think that there's potential that it is going to try to align with the Switch, but I also think that a lot of the third parties aren't going to hold back to meet the Switch's launch.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah. I'm saying I think you double dip, like you can release in the first half and then when the Switch 2 is out, you're in the launch.
Ryan Reynolds
Exactly. So I feel like that's probably the strat there. But I imagine that if there's a state of play, which I believe there is, that we'll get that or Metal Gear release date there. And the biggest thing I think that we can get from it would be Resident Evil 9, but.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Oh, I like that.
Ryan Reynolds
You know what? 5050 on it. Really.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Resident Evil 9 is one of those ones where I think if we get it at this state of play, I don't. I mean, and correct me if I'm off with this, I don't expect in the first half of the year. Right. I don't think you're announcing it for fall, which is kind of rare for Resident Evil because usually those come out in the spring. But I feel like that might fit really well as an October title. Like it's actually kind of interesting that they always choose Spring for Resident for. For mainline Resident Evil games.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah. I think that again, we're. We know The Resident Evil 9 is going to happen. Yeah, it's Just a matter of when it's being announced. I do think that Capcom's in an interesting, interesting spot because. Oh, wait a minute. Capcom has their event tomorrow, don't they?
Blessing Adioye Jr.
The Capcom Spotlight. Yeah, it's this week. Yeah, I think probably tomorrow.
Ryan Reynolds
Hmm. Maybe they do it there. But if history's told me Capcom Spotlights are doo doo butter.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yes, that's true. You're spot on with that.
Ryan Reynolds
The PlayStation State of Play. We do get pretty major Capcom announcements, so maybe they're going to switch that up and try to own it a bit more. But.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Okay.
Ryan Reynolds
Because they have onimusha. But that's way later out there.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
But like Monster Hunter Wilds, they're going to get like a big gameplay showcase for that during the spotlight, you imagine. Okay.
Ryan Reynolds
I wouldn't be surprised. Resident Evil at State of Play. That. That's my. I'm leaning towards that over the Capcom thing tomorrow or whatever.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Then I guess let's talk about some third parties then.
Ryan Reynolds
Right.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Because you bring up those Split Fiction. I could see a trailer because that comes out March 6th and so like, get a last second. Oh, here's. Remember Split Fiction. It looks really cool. It's coming on our platform. Look forward to that. Maybe another Assassin's Creed Shadows trailer. Yeah, I'm kind of throwing the boring stuff out there because that's like usually stuff. Yeah, we're being realistic about it. I'd love to see the first Berserker Kazan show up. That's one that's also coming out in March. But that's also a big, exciting game that I think you want to put more eyes on it. Because after playing the demo, that is a quality action game. And I think that fills the bill of like the people who are looking for that action souls. Like something with. With good production behind a good budget behind it. Like, I think that checks a lot of boxes that you're going to want to put your audience onto.
Ryan Reynolds
I wonder if we get any Microsoft stuff. Indiana Jones trailer slash reminder or something. I feel like they don't need it. But it would be interesting to see how PlayStation themselves with. Via a state of play, their own kind of like Spotlight program. How they're going to handle the Xbox titles going forward.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Forza Horizon 5 trailer.
Ryan Reynolds
Exactly like things like that. Maybe even.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah, There's Forza Horizon 5 trailer where you put some PlayStation in it. You put like a Grand Turismo car in that thing.
Ryan Reynolds
Grand Turismo car.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I don't know if that's a thing that exists. That's very funny for The Grand T logo on a car.
Ryan Reynolds
I don't know. Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Oh, somebody in chat says Liza P. Dlc.
Ryan Reynolds
That feels like another thing that like we. We're going to get this year at some point, at least the announcement of it. So. Yeah, where does that fall? I. I don't. Liza P. I don't necessarily associate with PlayStation that way.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
You know, I think it came out on Game Pass when it launched. Yeah.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah. So I feel like that would be more of a keely event type announcement. Yeah, yeah. I feel like we're just. We're at an okay spot right now where I feel like going into a state of play. It's not like we're predicting all of the big PlayStation titles, right? Especially now the Naughty Dogs announced Interstellar. It kind of feels like, okay, cool. Like that's where they're at right now. We have ghosts to talk about. We have the known quantities. I don't think we're hearing about Sony Santa Monica's game at this February state of play. You know what I mean?
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Like, so I think the biggest or most. Oh, actually two more things I want to throw in there. Marathon and Fair Games. I think I. You know what I'm going to say?
Tim Gettys
Marathon.
Ryan Reynolds
Hold on.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Marathon is going to be there.
Ryan Reynolds
I love how the most obvious do shit. That's what it's going to be.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, Marathon feels like it's because I think the reports before. God, I've read so many reports about these multiplayer things.
Ryan Reynolds
Right.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
But like, I believe it was supposed to come out last year and then got pushed into this year. I think now's the time. I mean, if this game is coming out in 2025. Yeah, yeah. Like, let's start talking about it. Let's start promoting it, get it into people's hands. Let's start doing previews, hopefully. Like what? Let's find the ways to promote this thing in a way that like, we didn't do. We didn't do for Concord and then Fair Games. We'll see. I think right now, don't bundle those into the same thing. Like give each of those maybe its own time and like, try to build one at a time. So like, if Marathon is next, let's start talking about Marathon and see what.
Ryan Reynolds
I think. You're so right. Blessed. But I think they do it. I think they have both.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Oh, God, don't do it. Because they're like, we're going to come out of it being like, okay, which one was which one was which? Like, Andy's going to get on a talking point and be like, no, you're thinking of the other game. Like it's going to happen and I'm going to do the same thing. I want to bring in a super chat from Robby Rob, who writes in and says Resident Evil 0 is the latest remake to be leaked.
Ryan Reynolds
Interesting. I haven't seen that anywhere. We're running out of core Resident Evil games to remake, so not the biggest surprise, but for some reason I feel like we're going to get a Resident Evil 1 remake before we get a 0 remake. But I don't know.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
And then what I'll throw out there. Project Gummy Bears.
Ryan Reynolds
What's that?
Blessing Adioye Jr.
That is the smash MOBA game that was reported on a few weeks ago.
Ryan Reynolds
Things a little early for that. Yeah, but I like you throwing it out there.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I just like the idea of like, well, there's smokes. There's like it leaking now. It's like, what was the what? Why, why, why did it leak now? Yeah, because that's not something that people are like clamoring for. No, everybody's. I'm not knocking on doors being like, yo, show me gummy bears.
Ryan Reynolds
Show me gummy bears.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
So why, why, why was it reported now? Unless maybe it's about to show up somewhere. Who knows? Who knows? Let's move on. Oh, thank you so much. Roger, played by John travolta. Gummy Bears 3D the movie.
Ryan Reynolds
This is so Roger Coded.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
It is very Roger Coded. John Travolta and Crazy Frog. Let's move on to story number two. EA shares pre Alpha gameplay of the next Battlefield. This is Tom Ivan at Video Games Chronicle. And for this story, I want to welcome to the stage the one and only master of hype, Snowbike Mike.
Ryan Reynolds
Jim C brings up Days Gone Remastered.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Oh, yeah. Days Gone Remaster.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah. And I wouldn't be surprised if they did something with Last of Us, because the Last of Us two, I don't know what they could possibly do. Put them out as a bundle pack or something. I don't know. Last of Us part one and two.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Do you. Do you understand how livid the Internet would be?
Ryan Reynolds
Hey, man, but crazy things happen.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Do you wanna. Oh, what? Is your mic on? Is your mic on? He's talking into it. He's saying, yes, it is number 10.
Ryan Reynolds
Roger's on it.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
While you're figuring that out, let me get into the story I'm pulling from Tom Ivan at Video games Chronicle. Electronic Arts has shared the first pre Alpha gameplay footage of the next battlefield game. About 10 seconds of footage is included at the end of a new video introducing the studios working on the game and a new Battlefield community testing program confirming a recent leak. The new closed testing environment for the series is called Battlefield Labs. Quote Battlefield Labs is a place for us to test concepts and experiences we're excited about with you, our players. According to ea, we want our community to play a key role in the future of Battlefield and this is an opportunity for many of you to do just that. This is an unprecedented moment for Battlefield, it added. We'll start by testing the pillars of play like Core Combat and Destruction, then transition to balance and feedback for our weapons, vehicles and gadgets, ultimately leading to where all these pieces come together in our maps, modes and squad play. And yes, we'll be testing Conquest and Breakthrough, the heart and soul of our all out warfare experience. But Battlefield Labs will also be a place to explore new ideas and fine tune and improve Battlefield pillars like our Class System, Assault Engineer Support and Recon to create deeper, more strategic play. End quote Players can register for Register now for the chance to participate with initial invites set to be distributed to a few thousand players in Europe and North America. Over time, EA plans to open testing up to other territories and tens of thousands more users for internal 4 internal EA Studios, which the publisher is collectively referring to as Battlefield Studios are building for and we're going to get into that are building a connected universe set in modern day DICE is responsible for its multiplayer component. Motive is working on multiplayer maps as well as single player mission content. Criterion is mainly focused on single player and Ripple Effect is creating a new experience for the series. On top of that, I'm going to bring in a couple paragraphs from Eurogamer Tom Phillips saying Criterion will return to racing in the future. Quote the need for Speed team at Criterion are joining their colleagues working on Battlefield. Zella said in a statement to Eurogamer today, as a company, it was important to us to take the last year to listen to our need for Speed community and use their feedback to create content for Unbound. With an increased understanding of what our players want in a Need for Speed experience, we plan to bring the franchise back in new and interesting ways. A lot to attack there. I'm going to start off with Mike. Mike. Yeah, you're the Battlefield person in my life. Bless.
Tim Gettys
I love Battlefield.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
How does this strike you? It seems like they're taking this in the same direction as they have with the new skate game. As far as like getting into the audience's hands early.
Tim Gettys
Yes, I think a lot of the shooter Audience. The shooter genre is always about speaking with the community, hearing your community and trying to adjust for your community. And a lot of the player base always says, hey, you're not listening to us. Let us get involved earlier. Let us help you set the tone on what the players actually want. And I do like hearing that they want to create Battlefield Labs. They want to get out there early. Right. This whole four minute package is a bunch of hype. It's a bunch of, hey, we're coming back, we're bringing it, we're giving you the things you want to do. But there's a couple things that really stood out to me. Vince Sampella on the track. Yeah, I appreciate Vince coming out and helping this team. That's big. I really, really love single player.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Right.
Tim Gettys
You talk about the package of Battlefield. What is Battlefield in the future? We talk about chasing trends, of of course, brs, of course, of the extraction shooters. I thought before I watched this, well, what is Battlefield going to do again? Are they going to try to chase one of these? No, give me the single player mixed with just a traditional Battlefield multiplayer. That's a win in my books. And so that gets me really excited. And then of course, the brief just piece of gameplay looks like Battlefield of old. I know we always use the term boots on the ground, but you don't really see a lot of zip lining, no squirrel shoots flying. It just felt like, hey, here was just Battlefield three and four. This is what you knew us for. Let's get back to that.
Ryan Reynolds
And I'm excited for is insane. Everything is building.
Tim Gettys
And then of course, you know the four talented teams, right. You're trying to create the Avengers of your studios to make the best Battlefield. Because we know that Battlefield 2049 did not come out strong. It had a very rocky launch. There was something good at its core, but it wasn't good enough for that first impression to last and pull people away from Halo Infinite at the time, Call of Duty, Fortnite, Apex, all these other games. And so it takes a lot to move that mountain, as you know.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Bless.
Tim Gettys
And so I'm excited to see all these four teams come together and try to make Battlefield what it once was and make it really, really good.
Ryan Reynolds
Does this read concerning to you though? Like this sounds a little bit like we've seen this before of like, hey, let's take every team and throw it all at one problem. But it, the difference to me is like it seems like they're leading that with okay, we actually don't even know how to solve the problem. So we're going to kind of work with y'all to try to see if maybe we can figure it out.
Tim Gettys
I don't think so, Tim. I think, you know, you look at EA and you look at that portfolio, you look at the teams there, and you look at, like, what they need, what they want, what they want to go after. And you look at an IP like Battlefield, and it's not like we were going to drop that after 2049. We just probably needed to get the right people involved. And I think getting Vince at the head of it and probably allowing him to be like, hey, what are the teams you need? How do we best make this happen? And him to go, well, maybe I need four teams around the globe that can all be working on this. Yeah, I think that's the right move. It's just too important of an IP to lose and come out wrong again.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Right?
Tim Gettys
Like Battlefield. You can't mess this up one more time.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Well, that's where I come in is I see what you're talking about, and I see the vision. I think the thing that I wonder about is, is this over investment into Battlefield? Like, it feels like the Battlefield for the last decade feels like it's been living in the shadows of its former competitors, right? Like, it used to be Battlefield versus Call of Duty back in the day, right? Battlefield 3 would come out and it's like, oh, man. Like, really is a fight here of which franchise is killing it, which franchise is better this year, right? And, like, Call of Duty just took the ball and just fucking ran with it.
Tim Gettys
Of course.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
And now it feels like that's dominating everything. And now things have changed. Where there's that, there's Apex, there's Fortnite, there's so many others, but Valerie, there's so. And I'm naming different kinds of shooters, but, like, there's been a transition into so many players, so many successful players. And then also everything is free to play. And so even just like, in terms of monetization, the field is different. No pun intended. Or actually, I'm. I'm intending my puns.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
In 2025, I'm intending my puns. So now that things have shifted so much, it feels like the last few Battlefield games, like, post, I'll say Battlefield one because I know it seem a lot of people love Battlefield 1, but post that, it feels. Feels like they're trying to chase a former glory that seems like it's not sticking as much as they'd like to. And this seems like a, hey, we're putting all our. All our cards right, all our cards on the table. Like, we are investing into Battlefield, having all these studios work on it. Like, does that make you. Wait, what's your take on that? Just.
Ryan Reynolds
Just real quick jumping on off of that. One last little point is this is like we're talking about ea, who in the last month we've talked about, like, how they invest in their expectations for Dragon.
Tim Gettys
Of course, of course.
Ryan Reynolds
Another example of a franchise that they need to hit and it's came nowhere near sales expectations. So, like, with that in mind, Mike.
Tim Gettys
Yeah, here's the thing for me is, like, when I think of that, you bring up Battlefield one, right? Like, there was a moment where Battlefield was getting caught behind the times with the changing tides of what the shooter genre is and now is. Right? And I think Battlefield just wasn't able to correct that. But Battlefield brings something that most shooting games don't. And we've seen that. Really, Call of Duty is the only one that stood the test of time with that premium price tag. Right. No one else is charging $70 still for their price tags, but they are also one of the few that's bringing you the full package. Battlefield can do that as well. And we've seen a yearn from players that want to get off the hamster wheel of just the Fortnites, the Battle Royales, the Extraction shooters. They want that team arena shooter. Like we saw. People wanted Concord, but they didn't want it to win, of course. But we saw they wanted something different. They look at games like frag punk out there. They look at games and they go, oh, I would like to get away from what I'm just doing. Bring me something new. But I think the single player is the big one here, right? Bring us a good single player that people can rally behind. Mixed with that Battlefield, you're known for just giant maps. You're known for the team play that not other games have, right? Nobody's bringing in 32V, 32, 64 versus 64 in the landscape that you're looking at right now. So I think they have something unique here and you have to nail it. That's why you have to bring four teams and make this perfect. It's a big uphill battle. That's why you get the community involved earlier. But they have everything right, to make that happen. Right? And so will it hit expectations, Tim? No, they will have a lofty expectation that it probably won't hit unless it's really, really great. But we saw Halo had its time went by Real quick, right? Call of Duty is on an annualized cycle. That's why Call of Duty is always so great. Is I truly believe that Call of Duty figured out the yearly cycle of you play it, you have the honeymoon phase. You're into the next three to six months of, hey, this is fine. I'm just kind of going through the motions. Okay, give me something new. They hit you with it, right? No other game is doing that. Nobody has that many teams to be able to do that. Battlefield is probably going to give you like a two to three year cycle. So that means they have to nail the honeymoon period. They have to give you add on content that we know a lot of the audience is going to drop off on. But as long as you can hold it, you can come back again. But I think that single player is where they're going to try to really bring themselves to another level.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Can I ask a controversial question?
Tim Gettys
Lay it on me.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
If this succeeds, if the next Battlefield comes out and it is the best battlefield in the last decade and everybody loves it and it has like, it gets the millions and millions of players that they wanted to have. Does it like, what's the Dark Knight quote of like, you either die a hero and live long enough to see yourself become a villain at one point. Is it like, we're just not going to get a Need for Speed anymore from Criterion? Like, we're not going to get a, like the EA motive games that they're making because they're working on the Iron man game, which is going to come out. Right. But like, at what point do these, do all these studios just turn into Battlefield Studios?
Ryan Reynolds
I think we're here in the way.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
That Call of Duty. Call of Duty has like seven.
Tim Gettys
Only if it were slaps, but it's like mega slaps. And.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah, but like, that is kind of like the two situations I see of either it fails and like, cool, there's a bunch of layoffs and then like these studios go back to doing like their own things. Or it. It succeeds and all these studios are now Battlefield studios and we don't see, you know, Motive or Criterion or these.
Tim Gettys
I would push back on you and say, how important is need for Speed? How big is need for Speed? Maybe not important. I mean, but like, when you talk about hitting your metrics, really making a splash in something. Is need for Speed right now in 2025 doing that?
Blessing Adioye Jr.
No.
Tim Gettys
Has it been doing that the past six years? Right. And so I would look at that team and be like, it's clearly not working. The Audience isn't screaming, hey, I need Need For Speed anymore. This is something that we believe in. You have to come over and help.
Ryan Reynolds
This need for Speed is such an interesting thing because, like, with Unbound coming out, that honestly might have been the most bizarre game release in the history of video games. Like, how does a new Need For Speed with that much production value and that much, like, unique stuff going on kind of come and go just because, like, it felt like they were embarrassed.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
They didn't even market it.
Ryan Reynolds
They didn't market it at all.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Like, I think what, we got a trailer weeks before, a month before, like.
Ryan Reynolds
And then it just came out. Like, the worst time came and went. Didn't it come out, like, halfway through December? Like, what the hell were they doing? Like, why? There's a story there? Why'd they do that? Yeah, what the hell happened?
Blessing Adioye Jr.
And I. And I mean, that's where I look at this story and I wonder of, like, is this a result? Like, is a criterion working on this Battlefield a result of. Yeah. Unbound not performing in, like, their last two titles? Maybe not performing as much as EA would have wanted out of it? Is this a. Again, the shifting tides of the industry sort of thing of. Oh, man. All right, we need guaranteed success successes. And need for Speed right now isn't a guaranteed success, especially with how they're releasing them now nowadays, Right. Like, is this a. All hands on deck, Boom. Battlefield is what it is. We're gonna make this a success. Like, otherwise, we don't know what we're gonna do here. Here sort of thing. I hear what you're talking about, Mike, as far as. Yeah, like, you need. You need people to work on something that's going to get them money back. I just worry about. Is Battlefield the one?
Tim Gettys
Battlefield is.
Ryan Reynolds
We all know it's not. Yeah, I think that's the problem.
Tim Gettys
I don't know. I think Battlefield could be the one.
Ryan Reynolds
Battlefield is the only thing that they have that can hit like that.
Tim Gettys
Okay.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah, but we all know it's not going to.
Tim Gettys
Okay.
Ryan Reynolds
We all know, like, we know. We sit here and we get a hack. Like, oh, well, maybe. No, like, let's just be real.
Tim Gettys
No, I mean, there's a landscape here that you could hit. The issue is. Is, like, will this break the mold? What is that one? We've talked about it for years now. What is the game that gets people away from Fortnite and gets people away from these. These games that they're just entrenched in and nothing has done that?
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I. My thing is I think it can be the one. Make it free to play. I don't know if $60 or $70 is the way with these kind of games anymore. Maybe for the campaign. You can charge for a campaign. Yeah, but like the multiplayer element of this, if it's not free to play, then what are we doing? You're not going to get people away from Fortnite or these other games.
Ryan Reynolds
I almost feel like the conversation about like what's going to get people off of those games. Yeah, it's. I think that we're past that point. I think now the people playing those games want more of those games. They want more of what they already.
Tim Gettys
Are in battle royales. They want more extra updates.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah, like I, I feel like they're, they're the idea of like, I think Battlefield stuck in a very bad position where they either need to do something completely different or they need to do something that just go back to what you used to do. Do the exact same thing. And I think both are very risky because the new thing is like, all right, very unlikely to actually pay off and then just going back to what used to work. Look at Halo doesn't work anymore.
Tim Gettys
That's the issue is it just feels like it's going to be a Halo situation all over again. But it has the single player is a big deal. Having that full fledged product that we, we used to know is a big deal to I think all the generations here. Now you look at the younger generations that are making up a lot of the gaming hours that are that active player base and I don't know if they're screaming for this, but maybe if they get a taste of what Battlefield really is, that could be it. Right. But it'll be interesting to see. I'm excited. I am interested of like why they didn't pull the shot and just do Titanfall. Like why does this EA team so hands off of like, we don't want to do this. If you're assembling the Avengers team to make the ultimate shooter, just make Titanfall with Vince. Like what, what are we doing here?
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I mean it's the name recognition, right? Like that's the thing I worry about with this decision is you are looking at Battlefield as the ip because Battlefield has had the biggest peak out of all these. Right. And I think right now it is a thing of how do we reach that peak again? As, as opposed to looking at the space and going, yeah, like what if we invested either in a Titanfall or like make, make a Titanfall thing but call It Apex. Like call it Apex because Apex is your big shooter IP right now. And I think you can find ways to double down on that in ways that I think excite people a little bit more. But yeah, I think they're chasing after Battlefield because it is the only first person shooter IP I think that has ever been able to go head to head with a Call of Duty. With Call of Duty, outside of like, I don't even know if I'll put Medal of Honor back in the day in that bucket. Probably not, right? Like, I think Battlefield is the only one and they keep trying to chase that. And I think that's worrisome. Like, I don't know if that's going to work to everything Tim's talking about.
Tim Gettys
Seeing that gameplay though, gets me pretty hyped.
Ryan Reynolds
I mean, it looks great.
Tim Gettys
I mean it has my favorite gaming word in the world. And I want to see Levolution, man. I want to see destructible environments. I want to see only in Battlefield moments. I want to see that revolution of, hey, somebody did X, Y and Z to these computers and now a rocket ship is fucking flying off to the moon. And now the rest of the level is all in disaster. Like that's what Battlefield brings. And it can be very exciting. So we'll see how it goes.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
We'll see. I'm going to bring in a couple of super chats in. Gary the Third writes in and says, I think Criterion and Dice don't exist in five to seven years because of this decision. Yeah, Battlefield will never hit the numbers to justify the cost of for studios.
Ryan Reynolds
I think that's very true, man.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I, yeah, I can see it.
Ryan Reynolds
It's. It's the chicken and the egg type thing of like, we need to make more content to make it worth 70 plus dollars. So we need the single player. So we need this. It's like you're thinking about this the wrong way.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah. And then Volk Dasher. Actually, I'm going to skip Volk Dasher for now. There's another one from just Trent Ferrison who says would love to see a strong return from Battlefield.
Ryan Reynolds
It'd be amazing.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
It'd be amazing and I'm rooting for it. Like, I love to see another big first person shooter, like be one of those. Right. I think if you're putting four studios into it, this shit better hit. This shit gotta hit or else we're in trouble. Or else we're in very big trouble. Mike, thank you so much.
Ryan Reynolds
Yes.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Let's move on. But before we do, I want to tell you about patreon.com kind of funny and YouTube.com kind of funny games where you can get the Kind of Funny membership which allows you to get shows ad free. And speaking of ads, let us tell you about our sponsors.
Ryan Reynolds
This episode is brought to you by Aura Frames I'm Going to Be Real Aura Frames might be the most popular sponsored product people here have ever had. At Kind of Funny many of us have Aura Frames set up at their desks and even more of us have gifted them to friends and family to absolute rave results. Our frames was named the number one digital picture frame by Wirecutter and it's for a good reason. It's so easy to set up and they have different frameworks options. We gifted our frames to Gia's mom and dad this holiday and they're both obsessed with us being able to upload our wedding photos straight to their frames. All you need is the free ARA app and a wi fi connection and you can upload as many photos and videos as you want. And your favorite live iPhone photos will play right on the frame. Right now you can save on the perfect gift that keeps on giving by visiting auraframes.com for a limited time, listeners can get $20 off of the bestselling Carver Matte frame with code Kinda funny. That's a frames.com promo code kinda Funny don't forget to mention that we sent you to show your support for this show. Terms and conditions apply.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
And we're back. I want to fit in a few more super chats about the stories we just talked about. CJ splits and writes in and says new housemark reveal. It's been four years commenting on the state of play. I don't it doesn't feel like the time.
Ryan Reynolds
That's the thing is like it's it's time. Like at any moment we can get this reveal. I don't think we get it in a February.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
In a February state of play. I could see it in a June or May state of play. Maybe Street Shadow. Shadow writes in and says Gummy Bears wasn't leaked. Now it was reported during the Bungie layoffs last year that the project was transitioned to Sony and a new team at Sony along with 100 or so Bungie devs joining Sony. Thank you so much for that Street Shadow. We got more super chats, but we'll see if we can get to them at the end of the show. For now, let's move on to story number three. After Dragon Age the Veil Guard layoffs, BioWare has under 100 employees. This is Paul Tassi at Forbes. There's really no getting around the fact that BioWare is in dire straits at the moment. Now, at the end of a decade of three missed opportunities to create new classic RPGs. Now a new report from Jason Schreier at Bloomberg says that after layoffs and permanent transfers to other EA studios, Bioware is now down to less than 100 employees to finish Mass Effect 5, which still has an unknown release date. This comes after a bizarre statement from bioware this past week that the full studio wasn't needed for the stage of development of Mass Effect 5, which is not an uncommon practice for many games at a certain stage of development. But this was different given that in doing so, BioWare was permanently shrinking in size, moving, moving many devs over to elsewhere in ea. But the statement totally masked a number of layoffs, possibly dozens, mainly focused on the Dragon Age the Vilga team. Reportedly, the studio has shrunk from 200 employees around two years ago to less than 100 currently. The tweet or the Blue sky post from Jason Schreier reads, after the release of Dragon Age the Vilgard, dozens of Bioware employees were told they were temporarily assigned to other projects within EA this week. A twist. Those temp assignments are now permanent transfers in Bioware has shrunk, unfortunately.
Ryan Reynolds
I mean, combine this with the last story. It tells a tale. These big publishers are in trouble. It is bad. And we've seen it for the last couple years with Ubisoft and we're seeing it with ea. It is. They're in shambles, trying their best to figure out how to do we just even make money at all at this point. Like, this is so worrisome and especially after, you know, we've talked to death at this point that Dragon Age did not hit expectations. And that is so concerning because of how valuable that IP is to gamers and to ea, right? And you look at Mass Effect, one of the most marketable game franchises we've had in modern generations, like one of the few game franchises to break out and have merch. Everywhere you look you see N7s everywhere, you know, and for how bad they got Andromeda and then. And bring up all the things that we already know. This nothing about this gives me faith that the next Mass Effect is going to hit the way they need it to. And I just feel like we are broken records at this point of talking about these big games of like, is it going to do what it needs to do, whether it's Assassin's Creed, Dragon Age, any of these things, Battlefield, like, we're in a bad spot that it feels like they're like, hey, out of desperation. Just throw more and more and more at this problem. Reading this, it's like, all right, so you're throwing less at Mass Effect. Those people that are being temp. Temporarily placed, are they going to Battlefield? Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Right.
Ryan Reynolds
You know what I mean? Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
That's actually kind of wild to think about it that way. But yeah, this is, this is one where I, I don't have much more to add after kind of talking about the previous story about this one last week. But everything you mentioned there did make me just think about, like all of the EA IP that they have and how tough it has been to see them, like, capital, like, not, not be able to capitalize on it.
Ryan Reynolds
Right.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Like, it seems like there's been struggles in ways where I'm like, man, but you're ea. Like, you have. Not only do you have so many sports titles that continue to generate revenue for you year over year, but you.
Ryan Reynolds
Have not enough anymore.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
They're not enough anymore. You have access to Star Wars. You have, you have, you know, Battlefield, you have Dragon Age, you have massive.
Ryan Reynolds
Like big, big IPs and game of the Year winners.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
And Game of the Year winners. When you look at things like, it takes two, right? Like in like even Jedi. Right. Nominated all the time. Right. But it's pretty wild to see you have access to so much. But that isn't doing it. Like what, like what is the formula that's not working here? Like, what is the thing? What is the misstep? Is it just over expectations? Is the fact that when there's any dip in revenue, the whole ship just gets shaken up and like, you can't handle just a dip because, you know, yeah, like, there's less players or people aren't as engaged in video games because, like, there's not the like, work, stay at home thing. Like, what is it that's leading to all of this? Because this seems wrong.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah. And, you know, I think that this is all just a sign of a chasing of numbers going up at any cost and needing everything to double and triple and go bigger and bigger and bigger. And I think the pandemic and all that stuff is just like a blip on the radar when you really look at the cause of all of this when and when it started, which is games realizing they could monetize past their initial sale. You know, the moment that sh. Shift happened, we saw a change in EA and ubisoft in their output and in the way that they treat their games and to some level of success. And I don't necessarily think this is all a bad thing. Like I do want to give Ubisoft flowers for one thing, if anything, which is finding ways to monetize games and have even non live service games kind of live on and kind of have communities. And the amount of IP that Ubisoft are continuously supporting year after year is very impressive. I think that that's less true now. I feel like that's a little stale. But like thinking back 10 years ago, like what they were able to pull off is pretty damn commendable.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah.
Ryan Reynolds
But I think that they didn't have a next step. They didn't know what to do after they were able to come up with this. And now we're kind of seeing the well kind of dry up a bit and we see both EA and Ubisoft looking at the strategy and being like, hey, we're not making more and more and more. This is bad. What do we, what do we, how do we fix this? And I feel like there isn't really a way to fix it because the shareholders don't care about the reasons. They just need the numbers to be bigger. Right. So yeah, it's just scary with the EA in particular because of how big they are. And if they're, you know, we're seeing that their, their FIFA or their FC stuff is not making as much money as they, they're hoping or needing it to. We're just talking about need for Speed. It's just like if we're at a point now where they've kind of like fucked up all of their major IP and we're like giving up on things like need for Speed, that sure, maybe that's not going to be a 10 million plus seller, but why not? I feel like the brand is there. Like they should be able to like create a product out there that is profitable.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I mean I think it is just the more, more and more and more. Right. We need more money, we need more like you know, we, the, I guess stakes get ratcheted up more and more to where you look at something like EAFC where it is still one of the best selling games of the year. Last year, I assume I haven't. I like, I'm sure I looked at like the top 10, but I can't tell you right now where EAFC is on the top 10. I can tell you that it's there and it's probably in the top three. And to Have a game that sells that much but to still go, ah, not enough. Right. It's like the year where Call Duty Vanguard came out. And like I think it was the report after that where, where Activision was happy with the Vanguard sales, even though Vanguard number one selling game of the year that year. It's like, okay, well there's something wrong here. Like there's something deeply wrong here with the inner workings and how money is flowing if you can't make this justify. And that might just fall back to the video game business and how expensive it is to make video games, market video games and like have that balance out with sales and yeah, like, like you mentioned. Right. Like the moment video games realized the industry realized you can make money post that initial sale with, with like live monetization, the expectations balloon even more for what we need you to be able to do as a video game. And yeah, like I, we gotta, I, I pitched this to Greg in a dm, but I really want to like have an episode of Gamescast where we sit down, maybe we get Matt Piscatella and we just talk numbers of where is everything going wrong? Like what is happening. Right. I love that because it seems like shit is just out of whack in ways that it shouldn't be.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
So.
Ryan Reynolds
And ways that feel like we're going down a path that are. Is unrecoverable.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah.
Ryan Reynolds
You know.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Story number four, the Sleeping Dogs movie is in development and we're hearing Shang Chi star Simu Liu is set to play Wei Shen. This is Wesley Yinpool at ign. This week MCU star Simul got Sleeping Dogs fans excited when he tweeted to say he was working with the rights holders to bring the much loved video game to the big screen. It turns out things are a little further ahead than that. A source close to to the project has told IGN that the Sleeping Dogs movie is in development. And we're hearing Simu Liu, who plays Shangi in Shangi in the legend of the 10 rings, is producing and set to play the league role of Wei Shen. IGN has asked Square Enix for comment. Sleeping Dogs was first released in 2012 on PS3, Xbox360 and PC and tells the story of detective Wei Shen as he infiltrates one of Hong Kong's notorious triad crime syndicates. While it failed to meet publisher Square Enix lofty sales expectations. Some things never change.
Ryan Reynolds
Some things never change.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
It is.
Ryan Reynolds
Here's the thing, like, I would be very interested to know what Square's lofty sales expectations for Sleeping Dogs were because I bet if we heard that we would like die of shock for how low it is compared to what their expectations are these days.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
This is exciting stuff. There was also a tweet from Simuliu where he also mentioned like, yeah, wanting to bring the game back as well. So I hope you're successful.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah, me too. I love it. I think this could be very fun. Obviously he's got the, the chops when it comes to the type of movie and skill set you need for that, so I'd love to see that. Yeah, I want to see him punch more things. It's been way too long, dude.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Are they making a Shang Chi too?
Ryan Reynolds
Not officially, but they. They will.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I hope. I really like Shangchi.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah.
Ryan Reynolds
Amazing.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Story Number five Fallout New Vegas and Horizon Zero Dawn Lead writer John Gonzalez returns to Obsidian. This is Matt Wills at Eurogamer. John Gonzalez, lead writer on Fallout New Vegas and Horizon Zero dawn, has announced his return to Obsidian after 14 years elsewhere in the industry. But not, he suggests, to work on fallout New Vegas 2. Gonzalez originally joined Obsidian in 2008 after a two year stint as lead narrative designer at Ubisoft. He was only with Obsidian for a little over two years, but his impact as lead story guy on the hugely beloved Fallout New Vegas was significant. He was responsible for its quest and most of its dialogue, introducing characters such as Mr. House and yes Man. After that, Gonzalez spent two and a half years at Monolith Productions, working as a lead narrative designer on the acclaimed Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor. And in 2016, he made the move to Guerrilla Games, where he served as narrative director on the hugely popular Horizon Zero dawn and its sequel. Since then, he's worked on a number of smaller projects, including his ultimate video game novel, God Mode. And now he's come full circle. Gonzalez announced his return to Obsidian in a brief post on LinkedIn, and his updated profile confirms he's officially joined as the studio's new creative director. As to what he'll be working on, that, that isn't yet known beyond vague allusions to exciting times. Gonzalez did, however, append a quick note adding, no, it is not fallout New Vegas 2. And to that I say, why not?
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah, this is dope though. Like, I really like the way this was kind of announced and I like him even saying it's not Fall New Vegas too. Like just kind of getting it out of the way and like getting that speculation going that way. He could be lying. He could be lying.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
He's not though. I believe him. That's the unfortunate thing is I believe I'm like, yeah, you're not. Fallout New Vegas 3. Whoa.
Ryan Reynolds
Skip it. Why not? Dude, everybody Vegas. But yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Ghost Simulator did it.
Ryan Reynolds
We're talking about some real talent here, right?
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Dude, it's. It's pretty sick to read off like his. Yeah. Like his gameography here and being like, oh, you got the stuff. Yeah, like the games that you wrote stories on. Like, I know people will poo poo Horizon Zero dawn for whatever reason. Right. But like that story is great. Like the world they built in that game is fucking sick.
Ryan Reynolds
And so to have that narrative designer like. Yeah, all right, cool.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
And Miller, Shadow of Mordor. I like that story. Do your thing. Yeah. I can't wait to see what he. What he's doing for Obsidian, which could be anything because Obsidian just puts out games.
Ryan Reynolds
That's so true.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Crazy. That is so different types of games.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Like just this generation that studio put out Pentiment grounded. They're about to put out avowed. And maybe later this year we get.
Ryan Reynolds
Out of Worlds two Inside man.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah, Tim. Obsidian, they'd be doing big things.
Ryan Reynolds
Big things.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
But if I wanted something smaller, say the tiniest news I need to know about, where would I go?
Ryan Reynolds
You go to our last story, the Wii News Channel where we cover all the small news items that you need to know about.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Story number six, we news. Sonic 3 surpassed Detective Pikachu as the all time second highest grossing video game movie. And then Wario 64 tweets out. Ollioli World and Rollerdrome are currently delisted on Steam. Unknown if it's temporary because of the private division portfolio sale to ex Annapurna staff.
Ryan Reynolds
Interesting.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
And that is it for we news.
Ryan Reynolds
But come on, Sonic 3, Sonic 3, baby. Doing big things. What's the number one? Mario.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Mario.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah, of course.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I mean, but that's. That's so appropriate. You get Mario, Sonic and Pikachu in the top three.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah. And the Pikachu man will always kind of blow my mind for how relatively poorly it did. And I think it's just because the time it came out, like it came out right around Endgame and other giant movies like Lion King and Aladdin, which like we can look at and be like, whatever. It's like we're talking about some of the highest grossing movies of all time. It definitely got in the the way of the audience of a Detective Pikachu. But for what? That movie was a liveaction Pokemon starring Ryan Reynolds as a talking Pikachu. And it only did like what, 300 million or something.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Like that. You sound like an EA executive. Right now it's the number three highest grossing movie, the highest gross, but whatever.
Ryan Reynolds
That's. That's almost an irrelevant stat. Like, that's fun to like. Like when you're comparing it to other movies. Right. Like, if that movie came out a different time, it would have done so much better.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah. Roger, this morning, like, we're having the conversation of why didn't they. Why haven't they made a sequel to Detective Pikachu?
Ryan Reynolds
Because it didn't do that well.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah, like that surprising.
Ryan Reynolds
It did. It did. I don't think people looked at it like a failure, but they did not look at it like a. We need to greenlit a sequel now. They are working on a sequel, though.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
What? You think so?
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Like, they are.
Ryan Reynolds
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
That's the best news, I guess, thing. Or is that.
Ryan Reynolds
No, they've talked about it a long time ago, but, like, it's, you know, it's one of those things. I. I don't know we're ever actually going to see it. But yeah, they were working on a sequel to it, but it might have not been as much of the detective stuff, but it might have been more of like a core, like, more traditional type Pokemon thing. I know, but there's also the live action Netflix series that they're. They're working on.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah. Which is.
Ryan Reynolds
I don't know what's up with that.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah. Pokemon is. So I was telling Roger this as well this morning. We were talking about this. Right. Of Pokemon is just so bizarre because I feel like they have so many cool projects that come out, but they're all one and dones. Like, there was that cool. They remade Pokemon, the first movie with the coolest art style I've seen. So weird. Yeah. And it's like, you should do this a lot. Like, you do this a lot more. And they're like, all right, now we're doing another thing with another cool art style. And I'm like, okay, this is cool. Do more of this. Now we're doing another. And I'm like, what the fuck is happening? They're doing more Pokemon concierge. So that's all that matters.
Ryan Reynolds
Man. We are weeks away from Pokemon Day. I'm excited.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
What do you think?
Ryan Reynolds
Feelings. I think. I mean, clearly we'll see Zah for the first time. It's nuts. We've never. We're going to go a whole year seeing nothing about that game since it was announced. And that is not Pokemon's mo at all.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Kind of refreshing.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah. But also a lot of hype because, like, what are we going to see? Are we going to look at this and go have the same reaction we do every time we see one of these new Pokemon games where we're like.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Like, that doesn't look as cool as I wanted to look. Yeah, but I'll play the fuck out of it, though.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah, exactly.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Let's close out the show with some super chats. The Drake writes in and says, publishers remind me of a quote. Quote, poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich. Publishers always want more money.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Flying Penguin says, would you buy GTA 6 for a hundred dollars? I think we had this conversation. The answer for me is yes. I'm not gonna like it. Like, I'm not gonna like spending $100, but you put out a GTA for 100, I'm spending that. Yeah.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah, me too.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Maybe I'll wait for a sale, but then it's like, how long is that gonna. No, I'm not waiting for sale. Maybe I, like. I borrow a copy from somebody, I'm gonna find a way to play it.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
You know, fair. I'm gonna find a way to play. You're not borrowing a copy because it's gonna take months for that person to be like, hey, here's a copy of the game. It's gonna take them a week to finish the campaign, and then, like, a month to just dick around and have fun. You're gonna buy that kind copy? I'll find a way to play it. I'll still find a way to play. Claw Master says, man, that'd be a crazy saga if, like, we had, like, physical copies of GTA 6 are kind of funny, and then one person's disappeared. And, like, if it came down to a thing of, like, somebody stole somebody's copy of GTA 6. We got to figure this out.
Ryan Reynolds
We got to figure out who it is.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Clown Master says, Tim, have you seen the Netflix Devil May Cry intro? It's Tim coated to a T. I.
Ryan Reynolds
Think I've watched it a hundred times. I can't wait for this show. It's about to be bonkers, man.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Oh, yeah.
Ryan Reynolds
They had the balls to use Limp Bizkit's Rolling.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Is they really?
Ryan Reynolds
Did you not see? No, I've been.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I've. I've been holding off because I want to see it in action.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah. Bless. It's Limp Biscuits Roll.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
That's awesome.
Ryan Reynolds
And they're just. Yeah. So the whole Adi Shankar was saying that the show takes place in the early 2000s.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I love that.
Ryan Reynolds
And I throw hard into that. Oh, my God.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Can't wait. Ninja Stash writes in and says, birthday Tax. Great conversation. Bless Mike and Tim. I come for the real talk and stay for the good vibes.
Ryan Reynolds
Happy birthday.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Volkdasher says, have just done a Naughty Dog game marathon. And holy, holy, those folks know how to make a game just like the. Just platinum. Just like platinum. Oh, I see what you're saying. Just like Platinum and Ninja Gaiden. I cannot imagine a world where intergalactic is not an amazing game.
Ryan Reynolds
Hell yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
We got another one from Heroic Headgear. Birthday Tax. Love all you goobers. And then Jordan White says, do you think we'll ever get a forge like, mode for Cod? Mike, are you still back there? Do we get a forge, like, mode for cod? He's walking over. He's walking over. No, you don't. Because, like, forge, that's just like, the creative mode for Halo, right? Yeah, everybody's doing those. Even Fortnite's doing a creative. You don't think Call of Duty is going to get in on that?
Tim Gettys
Call of Duty already deals with a lot of problems. They're not going to deal with more problems.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
You know what that is? He's not thinking about it. Right. Mike, think about it, streamlined it.
Tim Gettys
They're not gonna think about it in the Halo way.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Then they could just have everybody make the maps for them.
Tim Gettys
I always appreciated that. I was like, you know what you make it. I was like, no, no.
Ryan Reynolds
You made me beaver crazy. No, no.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
You know, you're not allowed to say that. You're not allowed to say that.
Tim Gettys
Just so you know, there's always a look to forge created maps.
Ryan Reynolds
I hate it.
Tim Gettys
There's a difference.
Ryan Reynolds
Oh, I'm so with you.
Tim Gettys
Real created maps. And then there's Forbes created maps. And as much as you want to say, oh, Mike, they're really great and they're awesome. No, there's just like, they're awesome. I see it. I know.
Ryan Reynolds
It's Mike's right?
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I. I do feel that, though. It's like, in the same way where Tony hawk's Pro Skater OnePlus 2 did that have, like, online creative mode. Like, people would share their stuff. I ain't playing that.
Ryan Reynolds
I know, exactly.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I ain't playing that.
Ryan Reynolds
Some of them are fun for a second. I'm like, no, give me that.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Real Jordan Wright writes in and says, random. The Grammys were nine out of 10 this year. Every performance was amazing. Beyonce won. Dochi Kot swept with this show, the game awards and previous Xbox presentations. Are we in an award show slash showcase golden age? Did you watch the Grammys last night?
Ryan Reynolds
I watched the performances. You see Dochi.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I saw. Oh, my God.
Ryan Reynolds
Oh, my.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Oh, my God. I love. Do listen to her album all this morning.
Ryan Reynolds
She's so good and she's so good at performing.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
She's good at everything.
Ryan Reynolds
That costume change, I'm like, oh, my Lord.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
So good.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah, so that was. That was great. Yeah, I think we're in a good. A good spot with some of the better showcases and award shows, but I don't think overall we're hitting where we need to for. For something yet.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I don't think there will ever be a showcase or like a award show golden age just because like every year somebody's gonna fuck it up, like, majorly. Every. It happens every. Like, cherish the Grammys this year because next year that's just gonna be trash somehow. It's gonna happen. I don't know what's gonna happen, but something's gonna happen. We're gonna all be gonna be like, oh, really? Like, Macklemore won again. Like J. Cole and Kendrick.
Tim Gettys
He wasn't even nominated.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
How did Macklemore be Kendrick and J. Cole again? Because you know that J. Cole album's dropping this year. Come on, let's do it.
Ryan Reynolds
Come on. Put that out in the world.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
The fall off. Let's go. We got Jake Collado who writes and says, got my wisdom tooth removed this morning, but made it just in time to see today's kfgd. And Kuma Bob OMB writes in and says, can we get a second to appreciate Joe Hendry at this past weekend's Royal Rumble? I believe in Joe Hendry.
Ryan Reynolds
I believe in Joe Hendry as well. What a moment, man. That was awesome. I'm so. We all knew it was gonna happen, but it's a perfect example of sometimes things just happening is what needs to go down 1,000%. And, man, that was. It was perfect. He got eliminated by Roman Reigns. That's so cool.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
It's so fucking cool. I just. I love all the face offs of the Royal Rumble. What's his name, Jacob Fatu, facing off.
Ryan Reynolds
With like 15 different people growling at John Cena. Like, come on, man.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Freaking Jay Uso vs. John Cena to finish it out. And I know, listen, I get it, everybody. Oh, man, we saw him versus Gunther also. It was still cool. It was cool to me. Damn it, dude. It's awesome. Seamus and Joe Hendry make me laugh so hard. So that's such a good bit.
Ryan Reynolds
I want.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I hope that they continue that.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah. And that is it for super chats. I will say. Like, you want to talk about Golden Ages. Yeah. Last night's Royal Rumble. I think that was actually the first Royal Rumble that I watched from beginning to end because I never used to do pay per views as a kid. Yeah. And like it felt like peak. I don't know if they. I don't know if they're usually this good. There's no way.
Ryan Reynolds
This one, I would say was on the high end.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
This felt like very high tier for just me as a wrestling fan seeing matches. That was incredible.
Ryan Reynolds
Here's the thing. Blessed. You're saying that like you're. You're watching all these shows. You're playing your magic cards while watching stuff.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Yeah.
Ryan Reynolds
Throw on old Royal Rumbles, man. Those things age like wine.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Oh, okay.
Ryan Reynolds
It's still exciting because there's nothing better than the Royal Rumble.
Tim Gettys
We all know that.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
I mean, now I know that shit was fun. Also. Rest in peace to Kevin Owens. Oh, and Speed. And Speed. I hope he's good.
Ryan Reynolds
That was amazing.
Tim Gettys
That was.
Ryan Reynolds
Running in the back is just such a threat.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
Speed is such a small human being too. Where it's like, like I know what it's wrestling. It's wwe. So like they'll take protections. Like they'll do what they can to protect people. That looked legitimately concerning.
Ryan Reynolds
Yes.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
How hard Speed got tackled. Incredible stuff. Let's get into your wrong rewrite and let us know what we got wrong as we got it wrong so we can correct it. For those watching later on YouTube and listening later on podcast services around the globe, I am refreshing that you're wrong sheet. I'm seeing nothing, man. I think we got everything correct. Of course it's us. All right. That's it.
Ryan Reynolds
All right.
Blessing Adioye Jr.
That's been kind of funny. Games Daily. Continue watching live though, because you got a Gamescast after this. That's going to be the Civ 7 and Kingdom Come deliverance. Two impressions from the one and only Mike Howard who's sitting there in the back. Of course, this has been kfcd. Each and every weekday we run you through the nerdy news you need to know about live on YouTube, Twitch and on podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad free. Watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show enjoy Gamescast next in the stream after. But until next time game daily.
Kinda Funny Games Daily: Video Games News Podcast – Episode Summary
Title: PlayStation State of Play Rumored For Next Week
Hosts: Greg “GameOverGreggy” Miller, Tim Gettys, Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Release Date: February 3, 2025
On the February 3, 2025 episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily, hosts Blessing Adeoye Jr., Tim Gettys, and guest Mike Howard dive deep into the latest happenings in the video game industry. Skipping over the usual advertisements and introductory banter, the trio focuses on six pivotal stories shaping the gaming landscape, enriched with insightful discussions and notable quotes.
Overview:
The episode kicks off with a buzz around Sony's upcoming State of Play event, potentially scheduled for Valentine's week. According to Gaming Insider Nate the Hate, PlayStation is gearing up to unveil new titles slated for release in the first half of the year.
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The hosts discuss the likelihood of major announcements and the strategic placement of titles. They ponder whether Ghost of Yotei will meet expectations and speculate on the absence of Death Stranding 2 in recent events. The conversation underscores the importance of balancing fan expectations with realistic deliverables from Sony.
Overview:
Electronic Arts (EA) has unveiled the first pre-alpha gameplay footage for the next installment in the Battlefield series. This revelation comes alongside the introduction of Battlefield Labs, a new closed testing environment aimed at involving the gaming community in the development process.
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Hosts express excitement about the collaborative approach EA is taking with Battlefield Labs, emphasizing the potential for community-driven development to rejuvenate the series. They debate the sustainability of EA’s investment in Battlefield, given past performance and industry shifts towards free-to-play models.
Overview:
The third story delves into the troubling state of BioWare, as reports indicate the studio has been reduced to fewer than 100 employees following layoffs and transfers. This contraction primarily affects the Dragon Age: The Veil Guard team, casting uncertainty over future projects including Mass Effect 5.
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The hosts lament BioWare's shrinking capacity, highlighting concerns over the future of beloved franchises like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. They discuss the implications of such layoffs on the quality and timeliness of upcoming games, questioning EA’s strategic direction amidst these workforce reductions.
Overview:
A nostalgic twist for Sleeping Dogs fans as Simu Liu, known for his role in Shang-Chi, is set to produce and star as Wei Shen in the upcoming Sleeping Dogs movie adaptation. Despite the game's mixed commercial success, this development brings renewed hope for the franchise's revival on the big screen.
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The hosts express enthusiasm for Simu Liu’s dual role in the movie, considering his action-hero persona a perfect fit for Wei Shen. They speculate on Square Enix's expectations versus the game's actual performance, pondering whether the film adaptation will reignite interest in the Sleeping Dogs franchise.
Overview:
John Gonzalez, renowned for his storytelling in Fallout: New Vegas and Horizon Zero Dawn, is returning to Obsidian Entertainment as the studio's new Creative Director. His return marks a significant move, potentially heralding a new era of narrative-driven games for the company.
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The hosts celebrate Gonzalez’s return, anticipating his influence on Obsidian’s future projects. They discuss the potential for new narrative-rich games and express curiosity about how Gonzalez will steer the studio away from previous missteps, especially in light of the challenges faced by Mass Effect 5.
Overview:
In the final story segment, the hosts touch on the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie, surpassing Detective Pikachu as the second-highest-grossing video game film of all time. Additionally, they mention the delisting of Ollioli World and Rollerdrome on Steam amid corporate acquisitions.
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The hosts analyze the market trends illustrated by the success of the Sonic movie and the strategic removals from Steam. They contemplate the balance between franchising success and the challenges of maintaining a diverse game library amidst industry consolidations.
Wrapping up the episode, Kinda Funny Games Daily reaffirms its commitment to delivering in-depth gaming news and fostering a community-driven dialogue. The hosts encourage listeners to support the show through various platforms and tease upcoming segments like Gamescast, which promises further insights and impressions on titles like Civ 7 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.
Notable Quotes:
This episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily offers a comprehensive overview of critical developments in the gaming industry, from anticipated PlayStation announcements and EA’s strategic moves with Battlefield to BioWare’s troubling layoffs and exciting movie adaptations of beloved games. The hosts' engaging discussions provide valuable insights, making it accessible and informative for both avid gamers and casual listeners seeking to stay updated on the latest in gaming news.
Note: Advertisements, introductory remarks, and non-content segments were excluded to focus solely on the core discussions and news stories presented in the episode.