This Subnautica 2 Story is INSANE - Kinda Funny Games Daily 07.10.25

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily: Video Games News Podcast

Episode: This Subnautica 2 Story is INSANE
Release Date: July 10, 2025
Hosts: Greg “GameOverGreggy” Miller, Tim Gettys, and Blessing Adeoye Jr.

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1. Crafton Delays Subnautica 2 Release Amid Controversy

Timestamp: [13:03] – [33:52]

The episode opens with a deep dive into the shocking news surrounding the highly anticipated Subnautica 2. South Korean publisher Krafton Inc. has announced a delay of the game’s release to 2026, just months before a substantial $250 million bonus was slated for the development team. This delay stems from Krafton's decision to replace the leadership of Unknown Worlds Entertainment, the studio behind Subnautica, citing the need to enhance the game's quality based on early test feedback.

Notable Quotes:

• Blessing: “This story is so big and so insane that I was like, this is story number one.” [14:31]
• Mike: “This sucks, right? Like, no matter how you cut this, this is some shady stuff.” [20:00]
• Blessing: “The game belongs to the people that f***ing made it. It should belong to the studio that developed it.” [27:26]

The hosts express significant disappointment and frustration, highlighting the impact on the dedicated team who built Subnautica into a beloved indie hit. Blessing emphasizes the human aspect, “If you read the Reddit post... it's heart-wrenching.” Mike adds, “It's heartbreaking to see creators being ousted right before the release of their favorite game.”

The discussion also touches upon the potential financial maneuvering behind Krafton's decision, suggesting that delaying the release might prevent them from meeting the revenue targets necessary to payout the bonus.

2. Donkey Kong Bonanza’s Shift from Switch 1 to Switch 2

Timestamp: [35:52] – [41:57]

Nintendo’s upcoming title, Donkey Kong Bonanza, originally developed for the Nintendo Switch 1, has been repositioned as a Switch 2 exclusive. Producer Kenta Motokura explained that advancements in voxel technology required the enhanced capabilities of the new hardware to fully realize the game’s destructible environments.

Notable Quotes:

• Motokura: “This allowed us to engage in creating a really extremely rich variety of materials...” [39:05]
• Blessing: “We’re lying is what we’re doing.” [39:43]

The hosts humorously critique the decision to incorporate mouse controls exclusive to the Switch 2, questioning its practicality and necessity. Blessing remarks, “The mouse part ruins it,” highlighting skepticism about the feature’s integration into the gameplay experience.

3. Nintendo Ends Switch Game Voucher Service

Timestamp: [43:24] – [47:03]

In a brief segment, the hosts cover Nintendo’s decision to discontinue the Switch game voucher service, which allowed players to purchase multiple game vouchers at a discounted rate. The service will end on January 30, 2026, with unused vouchers expiring 12 months post-purchase.

Notable Quotes:

• Blessing: “For me, it was kind of a weird service...” [47:06]

They discuss the utility of the service, noting that while it offered savings for bulk purchases, it wasn’t widely adopted by casual gamers.

4. SAG-AFTRA Voice Actor Strike Concludes Successfully

Timestamp: [47:03] – [50:51]

A significant milestone is celebrated as the SAG-AFTRA video game voice actor strike officially ends with the ratification of the 2025 Interactive Media Agreement. The agreement secures a 15.17% increase in compensation for performers, along with AI protections ensuring performers’ voices aren’t exploited without consent.

Notable Quotes:

• Mike: “Very good news.” [50:06]
• Blessing: “This is really cool... it's really cool to hear that they got this done.” [50:51]

The hosts commend the union's achievements, especially the AI safeguards, which address concerns about digital replicas of performers' voices being used without authorization.

5. In-Game DLC Financing Introduced by Affirm and XSOLA

Timestamp: [50:51] – [53:57]

Affirm has partnered with gaming commerce company XSOLA to offer financing options for in-game purchases over $50. Players can choose interest-free biweekly plans or opt for longer-term installments with interest.

Notable Quotes:

• Mike: “This sounds like a bad idea. But hey, do what you do.” [54:16]

While acknowledging the potential benefits for players needing flexibility, Blessing cautions about responsible financial decisions, emphasizing, “Choose wisely... especially when it comes to like a buy now, pay later situation.”

6. WE News Quick Updates

Timestamp: [53:57] – [55:04]

The hosts briefly mention additional news items, including:

• Castle Crashers DLC Painter Boss Paradise launching on PC on August 6th.
• NBA 2K26 announces its cover athletes, featuring Angel Reese and Carmelo Anthony.
• Release of Astrobot DLC levels, adding five new levels to the existing game.

Notable Quotes:

• Blessing: “They could have just made another game... but yeah, I want to see who these characters are.” [56:34]

Also, Matthew and Mike discuss Super Chats from listeners, addressing topics like the Subnautica controversy and general gaming discussions.

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Conclusion

The episode primarily focuses on the tumultuous development and delayed release of Subnautica 2, reflecting on the broader implications for the gaming industry regarding corporate decisions and developer autonomy. Additionally, it covers significant updates from Nintendo, the successful conclusion of a major voice actor strike, new financial options for gamers, and brief mentions of other gaming news. The hosts balance serious industry news with lighthearted banter and listener interactions, providing a comprehensive overview for their audience.

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Note: For more detailed insights and continuous updates, consider listening to the full episode or visiting Kinda Funny Games Daily on your preferred podcast platform.

Transcript

[Mike]

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[Blessing]

Developers of Subnautica 2 Donkey Kong Bonanza was originally a Switch 1 game and the voice actor strike is officially over. Love all this and more because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily yo, what's up? Welcome to Kind of Funny Games daily for Thursday, July 10, 2025. I want your host blessing Addie Oye Jr joining me is the master of hype, Snowbike Mike.

[Mike]

Bless. What's good. Nice to see you on a lovely Thursday today. You almost through the work week.

[Blessing]

Almost.

[Mike]

You had a great birthday last week. You know I've been celebrating you all.

[Blessing]

Week because you have been.

[Mike]

It's your birthday month. I like to celebrate a big birthday month.

[Blessing]

We had the the weekly meeting yesterday and you're like give it up for blessings birthday. And I was like, my birthday was a week ago.

[Mike]

Yeah, but we didn't really get to celebrate it because you were off that day.

[Blessing]

Sure.

[Mike]

Me and Roger went into a a dark tunnel of Death Stranding 2 walkathon marathon stream. So I didn't get to celebrate it with you. So that was my time to celebrate.

[Blessing]

It was one of those things where I'm like, Tim's birthday is like before mine. You give me all the attention.

[Mike]

Timmy. That's going to burn.

[Blessing]

That's fair. We've not seen Tim this whole week.

[Mike]

How you feeling?

[Blessing]

I'm feeling good. Feeling good? Yeah. How you feeling?

[Mike]

I feel good. I fully recovered after the big Walkathon marathon stream. I've Been gaming. I finished Super Mario Odyssey.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I saw you were playing how you like it.

[Mike]

Great. What an exceptional experience. Got lost in the whimsy, had a ton of fun, excited for Donkey Kong Bonanza. That was kind of the lead up to it. And I know you played Tropical Freeze.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Mike]

With the lead up to it. How was that for you?

[Blessing]

Oh, it was fantastic. Yeah, it was, it was harder than I expected. But also I think brought. Oh, dude, Tropical Freeze is difficult. Yeah, that, that it make the funky mode make sense. I was like, oh, I understand why you put funky in here. To make things easier.

[Mike]

Okay, cool.

[Blessing]

But yeah, I really liked it. Of course you can go check out my review on the kind of funny games cast I a few days ago with me and Tim and it was a fun conversation because I looked at Tim and I was like, I don't know if I can talk about Tropical freeze for an hour. And then we talked about tropical freeze for an hour.

[Mike]

Yeah, you know you can is right.

[Blessing]

I love that. Okay. And so yeah, we're getting Hyp Kong Bonanza here then right around the corner. How you feeling about it?

[Mike]

I'm feeling really excited after playing Super Mario Odyssey. There's a lot of things that I'm looking forward to on the like kind of, you know, smaller open world collectathon of what can I do? Where can I explore, what worlds will they take me to? What fun, crazy, inventive boss fight mechanics will I see in this? Because of course in Mario it was a lot of throw cappy at the different things coming at you. Become it, pull on the thread and then smash that rabid looking animal in the face. So yeah, it wasn't too crazy, but.

[Blessing]

I would say boss fights is not what I look to look forward to in Mario.

[Mike]

Really.

[Blessing]

Well, at least in Mario Odyssey, no, it's like the last thing that comes to mind.

[Mike]

You're looking for the exploration, you're looking for the fun, the whimsy, the music.

[Blessing]

Right.

[Mike]

But like, I guess something did. I guess you know what it is? It's Astrobot got me really excited for like the boss fights and those big moments of like, oh, wow. And Mario has that right. You were always wowed whenever you got to the big boss fight. Sure, maybe it was a little lackluster gameplay wise, but it always made me smile.

[Blessing]

It's like they have good spectacle. Yeah, I, I always think about the ruined kingdom with the big dragon that you go fight and like you mean.

[Mike]

The Elder Scrolls or the Elden moment?

[Blessing]

Out of nowhere. I was out of nowhere. And I wish that was a whole level. Like, that was one of my things about. One of my favorite things about. About Mario Odyssey is how every level had its own, like, vibe. And it felt like almost like you were jumping between games when you're going to a new level.

[Mike]

So.

[Blessing]

So when you get to ruin Kingdom, I was like, oh, this is fucking cool. Like, I'm all about this. And then you do the one fight and it's like, oh, that's it. Like, that's all you're going to give me here. I really liked fighting this realistic ass.

[Mike]

Dragon or running to New Donk City and being like, why am I in a world that looks like the sim slash Yakuza all of a sudden? Like, what's up with this? Why is this person speaking like a sim? What a fun time, dude.

[Blessing]

I love Mario.

[Mike]

It was a great time last year.

[Blessing]

It's like a top 30 game for me.

[Mike]

It's real good.

[Blessing]

Yeah, top 30, I would think.

[Mike]

Movement's fun. Using Cappy to get the double jumps, diving into Cappy, doing all that was fun to experience, learn, and get better at every single time. And yeah, the cool parts of going into the green pipes, and all of a sudden now you're playing as 2D. Mario going up the side of the wall was really cool. So, yeah, I'm excited for Bonanza. I know we'll talk about that here soon enough, but yeah, the idea of, you know, breaking apart the environments, having this destructible world, and seeing where I can get into. I'm pumped up.

[Blessing]

Have you played a Donkey Kong before?

[Mike]

Donkey Kong 64, way back.

[Blessing]

Oh, shit. I didn't realize you played 64.

[Mike]

Yeah, that's the. That's the N64 that I still have to this day is my special Jungle Green edition. And that was the one and only one. So, yeah, it was pretty special.

[Blessing]

Nice. Well, I'm excited for this. Of course. I'm also a Donkey Kong 64 kid. Barrett's a Donkey Kong 64 kid. I feel like we're uniquely equipped here at this Donober. I mean, Dontober is every month we're doing around July. And so I'm very excited about it. You excited about Ghost of Yot?

[Mike]

You know what? I haven't played Ghost of Sushima. Ghost of Sushima. So this will be a big one for me. Do I play the first one? Do I just jump into the sequel.

[Blessing]

Without jump into this one? It's a standalone. Like, it's. You're not coming off the story of.

[Mike]

Don'T need to know.

[Blessing]

Tsushima, right? New Character, new. It's 300 years into the future, so I feel like, yeah, you can hop into this one fresh then.

[Mike]

Yeah, I'm excited. I'm a little worried though. Bless. Right now in my gaming world, I'm a little burnt out on open world RPGs that I used to love. Right. I think I've started to feel this recently with avowed outer worlds 2. I'm not overly excited about right now. Yeah. There's just something inside of me that's like I'm not jumping for joy at these. And I definitely shows of like I've asked for that. In Assassin's Creed with the cool samurai story we finally get shadows. I'm nowhere to be seen on that. I just completely fall off. We had Rise of the Ronin a couple years ago and I just fell.

[Blessing]

Off of that mike.

[Mike]

I know, but I'm just saying you're talk.

[Blessing]

You're talking about Rise of the Ronin and Assassin Creed.

[Mike]

Shadow inside of me right now where it's like I'm just not really gravitating towards these games. They're not sticking for me. I'll play the first five hours and I don't really want to play 20 more hours of exploring this open world doing kind of the samey activities. So I'm hoping that maybe something will break this trend. I don't know if it's Ghost of Yote for me personally.

[Blessing]

Okay. I, I want you to try it though. When it comes out, I want you to give it like a solid three hours.

[Mike]

They had the cool one on one battles. I remember they had the cool colorway changes in the black and white. I remember the big fuss about the first one and being excited for that. But yeah, I probably played four hours and just never went back. I think I was on that. Yeah, I think I was on that first island. I was chasing the fox. I was doing all the stuff you could do, but I never was like, hey, let's go more past that.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I'm, I'm excited for it in a way where like I almost don't want to hear about it. That's why I'm. We have the, the, the thing coming up, the state of play coming up for Ghost of Yote later today and I'm, I'm, I'm in for it. You know what I mean? But it's like it's one of those games that, that I know I'm going to play. Ghost of Tsushima was like one of my top games of the year, that year that it came out, right? And that was in a stacked year. That was Hades, that was last was two. That was a Final Fantasy 7 remake. Like that was a big year for video games and like Ghost of Sushima came out and it was a standout for me. Okay. And so I'm looking forward to Ghost of the ot But I'm also like, I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to, like, I don't want. I just want to play the game when it comes out and have fun with it and have my time.

[Mike]

But you know what happens today? You got a big 20 minute deep dive into it.

[Blessing]

I know, which is why I'm like, you're on it. That's why, that's why I brought it up. Because I'm like, all right, cool, we're going to do a fucking deep dive. I'm going to have to be forced to watch this gameplay footage for a game that I don't want to see shit about. But I'm on the opposite of you right now where I think I'm. I'm hankering a little bit for an open world, like action adventure type situation. I love that. I think this year the release slate has been paced very well for me where I, you know, blueprints I was obsessed with, but I was like a very particular, you know, puzzle, first person kind of walking sim, but also like, you know, roguelite, unique experience that. Fucking love those. I love like a game that is like you can't get this anywhere else. You know what I mean? This is a one of a kind kind of thing, right? So Blueprints gave that to me. I then got Clear Obscure, which gave me the turn based dramatic story, like really striking, like you know, themes of Dead Wife, you know, type shit. You know what I mean? I don't think it's that wife, but like, you know, Clear Obscure did that for me. But then I got Death Stranding which was like the open world thing, but it was open world in a different way. And like I, you know, binge that and fully devour, devoured it. But since Death Stranding, a magical thing has happened where my time has been split between Rematch, Tony Hawk and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, which have all been like these fun bright arcade video game ass video games and. And like I'm just flowing right now.

[Mike]

I.

[Blessing]

These things are complimenting each other so well. I'm not getting burnt out on anything.

[Mike]

In the flow right now.

[Blessing]

I'm in the flow right now, so I can't Wait for Don Kong Banana. Summer right now it's a big blessing.

[Mike]

That's why I am a little bit on the opposite side of the open worlds. For me, the big open worlds. Cuz right now I'm at such a good pace of. I'm playing a lot of backlog games right now. It's the backlog year of Mike where I'm just going backlog summer and I'm playing older games and I'm finding such a good rhythm. And after Final Fantasy 10, which was my biggest, I'm finding games like Super Mario Odyssey. I'm playing through games like Lost Planet right now where. Or Resident Evil 3, I'm finding these games where it's like two to three nights, maybe five at most. I knock out a game and I feel like I've accomplished it. I feel like I knocked off one on the backlog and I go to another one and I get this new experience and so I'm really enjoying this just like rhythm of smaller games that I can knock out in a week at most and. And I'm on to the next one. That's what I'm really vibing with right now.

[Blessing]

Oh yeah.

[Mike]

But I'm also looking at for that perfect open world game that is me. And you know what it is? Bless. It's gta. I'm a GTA kid. That's the catch.

[Blessing]

You got a year, you got.

[Mike]

Yeah, that's the problem. It's like I want an open world. Guns, violence, committing crimes, getting in cars and so like sleeping dogs. That's an open world game for Mike. Right? Like old school Saints Row. That's an open world game.

[Blessing]

You know what sucks about GTA is that GTA is so good that it makes. Whenever I, when I like I'm playing. When I play another open world City steel cars game, it just doesn't hit because I had gta. It's in the same way that like it's so hard for me to play Smash Clones. Like Smash Brothers Clones because I'm like nothing is going to be as good as Smash Brothers. Because it's one of a kind is Nintendo found a fucking bag and they threw all the money at it. And like I'm trying to play Rivals, I'm trying to play Nickelodeon Smash, Smash, whatever the it's called. And I'm like it's just not Smash Brothers. Yeah, same with Cart Racers. Even though like there are a lot of good car races, I can't wait for sonic racing later this year.

[Mike]

Kirby Air Riders.

[Blessing]

Kirby Air Riders is going to Be good, right? But like when you have Mario Kart, it's like, man, you got the top dog. You got the top dog in gta. GTA ruined open world city games for me. Which is funny because they also kind of like created it a bit. Right. But then it also ruined it where I'm like, man, last Saints Row was so bad. It was so disappointing. But enough about all that. We got a lot of news to talk about because remember, this is kind of funny games daily, each and every weekday we run you through the nerdy news and need to know about live on YouTube, Twitch and on podcast services around the globe. Except for cyberpunk though. Cyberpunk, even though it was rough, that first, you know that first launch. Yeah, came around and I was like, all right, this stands up. This, this, this comes through as an open world city, shoot them up, steel cars kind of game. I fuck with cyberpunk heavy. If you love what we do, support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify and Apple podcasts to get all of our shows ad free. Watch us accord them. 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 in 11 person business all about live talk shows. So today after KHD you're getting kind of a remixed day because of the state of play. So after KD you're going to get Superman in review where the crew reviews the new Superman movie by James Gunn. And then after that, about around the state of playtime, we'll be reacting to the state of play. I think we, we'll try to go live around 1:30 or like 1:40 after the after in review is done essentially is the thing. Right. So we have it on the calendar at 1:30. So tune in around that time to see us go live and then we're going to react and then do the games cast which is breaking down the ghost of the yote state of play. If you're kind of funny member. Today's Greg Way is blank minutes about blank. Is Greg in today?

[Mike]

Yeah, he's in.

[Blessing]

He's a busy guy, but I think he also had. You know what, I'm going to let Greg slide on this because he does have a, has a meeting right now.

[Mike]

You got to let him slide.

[Blessing]

I got, I'm going to let him slide on this one. He does have a scheduled meeting so you're going to get your Greg Way later today. But you're going to have to figure out what that's about. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm Twining. Today we're brought to you by Shady Rays, but we'll tell you about that later. 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, Baker's Dozen, starting with our number one is an interesting one. Crafton delays Subnautica 2 game ahead of $250 million payout this is Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, and this is a fascinating one because we don't usually subnautica 2 isn't like a headliner on a games daily, which is a headliner for me always. Well, I know it's a headliner for.

[Mike]

You for that game.

[Blessing]

And also it's like one of the most popular games, right? Like it's, it's, if you check the Steam Wish list, it's number two behind Hollow Knight, silksong for Subnautica 2, one.

[Mike]

Of the first early access games really, to kind of set the tone for that genre, that world that we see now with games kind of coming out and building with the community as well. That early Subnautica one.

[Blessing]

Yeah, but I think I say it's not a headline because our, I feel like our audience does intend. Our audience isn't the kind to click on a Subnautica to headline.

[Mike]

They might not.

[Blessing]

They might not, but they're going to.

[Mike]

Want to hear this story.

[Blessing]

You're going to want to hear this story is insane. This story is so big and so insane that I was like, this is, this is story number one. This is. Or I can't headline it anything else. So if this gets low views, it gets low views. But like, this is the biggest story right now. So this is Jason Schreier at Bloomberg. It's also a longer article. And so lock in. South Korean video game publisher Krafton Inc. Is delaying the release of the highly anticipated survival game Subnautica 2 just months before it was due to pay a $250 million bonus to the development team. Subnautica 2 was originally set to offer early access to players later this year. The schedule changed last week after Crafton pushed out the leadership of its unknown world's entertainment studio, according to people who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to talk to press. In a statement, Crafton said that the game has been delayed until 2026 due to feedback from early tests and if solely to improve its quality. Quote it was not influenced by any contractual or financial considerations, the company said. The first subnautica, released in 2018, was a smash indie hit, selling more than 6 million copies. Three years later, Krafton purchased Unknown Worlds at an enterprise value of $500 million and said afterwards that a sequel was in the works. The sequel's delay was against the wishes of the studio's former leadership, according to the people. The $250 million bonus was due to kick in if Unknown Worlds hit certain revenue targets by the end of 2025, according to the purchase agreement, which was reviewed by Bloomberg. By delaying Subnautica 2 into next year, the company is unlikely to hit those targets and therefore the employees may not be eligible for the payout, the people said. So to recap so far, Krafton, the publisher After Subnautica 1, they have acquired Unknown Worlds and are publishing Subnautica 2. They in agreement in an agreement allegedly right told Unknown Worlds, hey, if you hit this revenue goal, we're going to pay out $250 million for you, right? Crafton then delays the game to next year, seemingly so they don't hit that revenue goal and so they don't have to pay them out of that value. I continue Unknown World's leadership plan to share the additional money with all the studio's employees, which numbers at around 100. Staff who are at the company at the time of the acquisition were told they were eligible for bonuses from ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to seven figures, the people said. Last week, Crafted announced that it had fired Unknown World's founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, as well as Chief Executive Officer Ted Gill. It said Striking Distance Studios CEO Steve Papuzis would take that role, overseeing the studio's overall management and creative direction. Crafton didn't say why it made a leadership change, but said in a press release that quote, we owe our players nothing less than the best possible game as soon as possible, end quote. In a statement on social media several days later, Cleveland wrote that quote, the events of this week have been quite a shock in that Subnautica 2 was ready for early access release. During a company town hall this week, Papuzits told employees that Krafton didn't believe Subnautica 2 was ready to be released this year and that the delay was to add more content to the game. When asked whether Subnautica 2 was delayed so crafting could avoid paying the $250 million bonus, Papua said he was not familiar with the specifics of the contract. As a reminder, that was the CEO of Striking Distance. Who did Callisto Protocol. Right. Who's now been assigned to take lead on this project of Subnautica 2 after the founders got ousted. A lot going on here. I continue, quote, it's a good question and I would appreciate patience on this particular topic, Bobudza said, according to audio of the town hall reviewed by Bloomberg. He added that the specifics of the acquisition were, quote, beyond my current understanding at the moment. The desire of Crafton is to have the very best version of Subnautica 2 available for its early access. He said, quote, while, yes, the software that everybody worked on is in a great spot and felt like, hey, we should launch this, that wasn't where both parties aligned around, end quote. He added that, quote, it's never been told to me that we're making this change specifically to impact any earnout or anything like that, end quote. This is posted yesterday by Bloomberg. A couple hours ago, Jason Schreier followed this up with a few Blue sky posts saying update on the Subnautica 2 story today I received more documentation on the $250 million earnout. 10% of that, or up to $25 million was due to be paid to about 40 unknown world staff, each receiving different amounts, mostly six figures. Leadership had also said they'd give parts to other employees. All of that money was tied to revenue targets. It remains to be seen if Krafton will amend the contract to give Unknown Worlds more time to hit those revenue targets. Even after delaying Subnautica 2 to 2026. And of course, litigation may be looming, the story certainly isn't over yet. Mike.

[Mike]

Try Guy.

[Blessing]

Try Guy.

[Mike]

Always with the news that you need.

[Blessing]

He's at it. You know what I mean?

[Mike]

He's got it, he's investigating it, he's on top of it. And it seems like we'll definitely get more of that. We will eventually get more voices in this, as I'm sure when the leadership is ousted, they're probably told not to speak on that. That's why we haven't got more information on this, but.

[Blessing]

Oh, let me tell you, we got. They talked about.

[Mike]

Yeah, I got in the post as well. Give me some more info.

[Blessing]

Well, I want to hear your thoughts. I need a break.

[Mike]

Oh, blessing. My thoughts are. This sucks, right? Like, no matter how you cut this, this is some shady stuff. This is really unfortunate right here. Of course, as you can tell, this was a game that was being made. It seems like it's in a good spot and all of a sudden the crafting team looks around and goes, well, we don't want to pay that out. We don't want to pay out this earnout situation, no matter how well it does or if it doesn't. But let's push this till next year so we can get out of this contract. And it's very unfortunate to read. I mean, if you go a little bit deeper and start to get into Charlie's Reddit post. One of the former, you know, creators of the Subnautica brand and the founding studios, it is really sad to hear. Here's a guy and his two other friends who started with nothing in their garage during the summers of their high school days building out games with the dream of making games, be able to craft their first game and then build a team that makes Subnautica one this awesome indie hit that survives off of early access built off the back of the community and input. And they're getting ready to release Subnautica 2 and they say it's in a good place. We think this year is the year. We also were purchased by Crafton with the, you know, dream of, hey, we got the backing of this publisher, which means we get to stay in business, make the games. Also, they're giving us this cool incentive of if we sell well, they're going to pay us out and we're going to be able to pay our employees.

[Blessing]

We're going to be able to pay our employees six figures. You have 100 people working there and you have this $250 million bonus. And as leaders, you're like, yeah, we can give them a lot of money in the bonus. Right? We can pay 100 people a lot of money because we like, because we hit this goal.

[Mike]

So it becomes the development dream. Yeah, you hear this, you hear Charlie's story, I really, I want you to go read the Reddit post from Charlie, one of the founders. It's a beautiful story about how he got started in games. And then it's heart wrenching and heartbreaking at the end of it to now, him not being part of the studio and the game that he just made a week later, it's like crazy. But I mean, it's one of those of there's the dream. We have made it to the almost the finish line. We have the opportunity to pay out our employees big time if this goes well. And it seems to be going well. And all of a sudden it hit an abrupt stop because we've forced out the leadership. We have new leadership in from Crafton and they say, you know what, let's not, let's wait because it doesn't seem like we're ready for primetime yet.

[Blessing]

Did you get to read the entire Reddit post? I didn't get around the whole Reddit post because I. Yeah, there's obviously, there's so much to this story. I'm building captivity. So I didn't get to like, when I saw the Reddit post, I was like, oh, I do not have time. I got to prep the rest of these stories. Now.

[Mike]

The Reddit post I have is from six days ago, so unless there's a new one, this one is from his. What I took was.

[Blessing]

Can you scroll up? Is there an image attached to it?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Okay. Yeah, this is the one I was thinking of. Because IGN does have an article that I'm going to read that, like, sums up parts of it, but I was curious, does he say why?

[Mike]

No. This one, this one, he feels like he holds back. It does not feel like, hey, they came in knowing that we were going to get paid out. None of that is said.

[Blessing]

So they did. No reason of why they left or.

[Mike]

Why they were let go from the Reddit post. There's very much of like, they're holding it back for sure. So eventually one day, I mean, you can assume that they went to the table and they said, we're ready for prime time. They say, no, you're not ready for prime time. And they're like, yes, we are. And they clearly butted heads and they were like, you're out then, because we're not going to pay this. And yeah, that's a problem.

[Blessing]

I want to hop over to an article from Vicky Blake. Oh, yeah, this article is from like three days ago. So yeah, I guess it's sooner to the release of that Reddit article. This is Vicki Blake. An article from IGN titled Ousted Subnautica 2 Developer Breaks Silence after Shock Removal. The article reads like this. One of the co founders of Subnautica 2 studio, Unknown Worlds, has released a statement about last week's shock decision to replace the leadership team, saying the decision to oust them stings. In a heartfelt post, Charlie Cleveland revealed on Reddit that while he and his colleagues believed Subnautica 2 was ready for early release, that decision is in Crafton's hands. A recent statement from the publisher, however, intimated a release was not imminent as an update about the release schedule, including an early access timeline, would be coming soon. Though not an explicit comment, the discrepancy perhaps shows a disconnect between Crafton and the studio's original management. Crafton's statement also addressed other community concerns Such as the potential introduction of micro transactions writing quote, nothing has changed with how the game is structured. It will remain a single player first experience with optimal cooperative multiplayer. No subscriptions, no loot boxes, no battle pass, no microtransactions. End quote Crafton acquired Unknown Worlds in in October 2021 and at the time said that the Subnautica studio will continue to operate as an independent outfit. Last week, however, former Striking Distance CEO Steve Papuzas joined Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds as CEO. The shock announcement confirmed that the previous leadership team, Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire were replaced, effective immediately. Cleveland didn't explain what led to the team being removed, nor commented on Papua's anointment as CEO. Quote. You can see why for Max, Ted and myself, the Unknown Worlds team, and for our community, the events of this week have been quite a shock. Cleveland wrote on Reddit. We know that the game is ready for early access release and we know you're ready to play it. And while we thought this is going to be our decision to make, at least for now, that decision is in Krafton's hands. Man, this is heartbreaking. This actually breaks my heart, dude.

[Mike]

Two people on this team, two founders, 25 years of experience each. Bless. That's 50 years together. And then another one joined the team seven years ago. That's 57 years of experience. That's three people here with a team of, like you said, of a hundred who have crafted this world, made this hit game that people are looking forward to a sequel. And all of this is being upended by corporate greed and money.

[Blessing]

Yeah, like I for me, the thing that hits, the thing that breaks my heart here is in the story where they talk about like, hey, Crafton is acquiring them, but you're operating independently. Yeah, right. What does that mean? That means that you should operate independently. I shouldn't have to rely on Crafton to allow me to release my thing because you we when you acquired us, we trusted you motherfuckers. We trusted you did what fucking business.

[Mike]

People do blessing that you then you shouldn't read the rest of our shit. But you should know I'm going to no, no. At the top of the Reddit post. It's inspiring. It's beautiful. Like I said, the guy is crafting video games with his friends during high school summers. That's all they wanted to do. They didn't go outside, they had no books, they had no lessons to learn. They would just go into their garage and try to make games every single high school summer. And they Said their final high school summer, they made a game. And that's when he fell in love with game making, was having a game that him and his friends played. Learn the balancing, learn the fun factor and how they do that. And then they rolled it into more games and crafting the studio, it's like, wow, that's inspiring. That's beautiful. And then to finish it with, oh man, we're getting kicked out of our own studios and I won't get to see the release of my favorite game. It's like, oh, that's too. Yeah.

[Blessing]

They continue here and after all these years to find that I'm no longer able to work at the company I started, Stings quote. I want you to know that whatever happens to the founders, to the team and to the game, our priority is and has always been to make the best damn game we can for the best community in the world. With your George plushies and your hand drawn fish fan art and yes, your hard earned dollars, you supported us in every way, in every season. Cold and warm, since Half Life modding was even a thing. End quote. I might end up, I might hop into the Reddit post.

[Mike]

I'm going to send it to you right now because you want, you're going to want to read it.

[Blessing]

It's really good.

[Mike]

It's not that long of a reading. It's well worth the read. I think everybody should check it out because it is, it's a really good one and also a heartbreaking one.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Again, for me, it comes back to the thing of like, I often on the show, right? One of the things that I try to do as a pundit, as a host, as somebody who talks about shit, right? Is like, try to extrapolate and speculate and talk about like, okay, what could have this, what could this have been? What could have been the case from both sides of what could have happened, right? And like, you know, I think as I was going through the story, part of me wanted to like, be like, well, maybe Crafton played the game and they were like, yo, this ain't ready for the thing, right? Or maybe, like, maybe there's something there. For me, it keeps coming back to that. At the time, Crafton said that the Sonataka studio could continue to operate as an independent outfit. So even if the game isn't up to par, it shouldn't be up to Crafton. Obviously. Obviously, I'm reading it too. I'm reading into it, right? I'm doing all that, right? But like, at the end of this day, at the end of the day. This game belongs to the people that fucking made it. It should belong to the studio that developed it, that wanted to get acquired so they can have stability or whatever it was, right? Like, and so you have to be like. To be like, yeah, we're going to delay this probably so that we don't have to pay you out. Right. For whatever reason, and then oust the founders. Unless there's something that's not being said, unless there's like some weird shit that we just don't know. This is fogged up. On the case of Crafton, the beginning.

[Mike]

Of this is where it gets me blessed. If you go back to the top of the article you started with. In a statement, Crafton said the game is being delayed until 2026 due to feedback from early tests and solely to improve its quality. And you're like, all right, like, I get that we're in 2025, 2026. Like, it's all about making sure you give the time and the developers what they need to go make the best game. And then the next part is, quote, it was not influenced by any contractual or financial considerations, end quote. Then you go hit the pause button. Yeah, that's not what I want to hear. Following that up, right?

[Blessing]

Like, then what was it?

[Mike]

Giving the time for developers and these incredible devs to make the games. That's what I want to hear. I need that. Right? Especially with early access.

[Blessing]

Yeah, right.

[Mike]

There is a piece of me that wants to have the other conversation blessed because this is shady. This. This is not good. But there is a conversation to be had of we. There are thousands of games being developed and dropped on Steam on all storefronts, everywhere, every single day throughout each year. Right. There are also games that come into early access and don't hit. There are games that come into early access that hit but don't have enough to them enough meat on the bone for people to stick around and want that. Right now for Subnautica 2, it's a little bit different. It's the sequel to Subnautica. People kind of know the quantity. They know what they're going to get, what they can expect. They want to jump into that. But on the flip side, right, you want to make sure in 2025 and beyond, you're dropping a good product so people can get behind that and hopefully purchase it and stick around and stay with it through the long run.

[Blessing]

Right.

[Mike]

A lot of these games come out, they don't have enough. We rely on community feedback. But guess what? The initial purchasers or people that want to jump in don't. Because it takes time to make this game as good as it should be. Because they want to hear from community feedback. So you go, okay, like give them enough time, enough Runway to make it there.

[Blessing]

Right.

[Mike]

But when you hear the three founders, of course, on the flip side now when we come back to reality, when you hear the three founders go, hey, we felt like we were at the finish line. We were ready to put it out there so we could get community feedback.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And build it to make it so it's perfect. It's like, oh, well that sucks because it seems like it was ready to rock and roll.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And they just, you know, this crafting team clearly just wanted to save the money. That sucks.

[Blessing]

Yeah, yeah, dude. I feel for the hundred, you know, developers craft, especially the ones that were like, oh man, I'm about to get paid. Paid. I spent, I spent however many years, I spent four years, five years, six years working on Subnautica to like, you know, we've been having our team meetings and like they've been talking about like, yo, we're at the, we're almost at the finish line. We're going to launch this in early access. Those bonuses are looking likely now. Like imagine working for however much it is, right? Even if you are like making six figures or whatever and like thinking that at the end of the year you're going to make 500k or a million or like 100 or whatever it is and then you just don't, not by any reason. Like you're look, you see the finish line, but the fucking bigger corporation that's above your boss, all that shit, also see the finish line. They take the finish line and they move it way forward. That's crazy.

[Mike]

You should also be mindful of like Crafton Pubg Battlegrounds, PUBG Mobile, right? These are two like very popular money making machines. But of course there's never enough money so you got to make more. But these are two big names. They also currently got Tango gameworks. They supported that team after that got let go from Microsoft. So there's another team that you like root for and you're like, oh, like if they're doing this to the Subnautica team, what does Tango have in the future? I hope that that's protected. Right. So you got to start kind of looking at the bigger picture now as well. Of if this team is not doing right by the Subnautica team, what's to say they'll do right by anyone?

[Blessing]

Yeah, I'm so fascinated to see if we get more info about this. I'm also fascinated to see, like, what litigation looks like. Like if there's, if there's any sort of, like, I guess, legal movement on, like, hey, can we, can we sue for this? Like, what does that look like as far as either. Jason Schreier says that, like, this story is far from over and yeah, like, this story is far from over. I think we're gonna be talking about this for a while.

[Mike]

Yeah, this one hurts because I'm very excited for Subnautica too. This is a game that I very much anticipate. I cannot wait to share with my friends because it is a co op experience now. And it hurts because I really want this game. And now at the same time, there's a little bit of a stink to it. There's a stank to it that I don't really want to be near. But at the same time, Charlie, Max and Ted over here worked really hard with their team to make this game that a game that I know I'll love. And it's like, man, I want to see that. I want to experience that. And so, yeah, this is Gaming in 2025. There is the duality of it all. There's the business and the consumer side where the consumers, 95% of them won't ever know this story, won't ever hear this. They'll just click on that tile 90.

[Blessing]

Jump right for Subnautica to a game that again is the second most wish listed game on Steam currently. I'm sure, like week one, we're talking about millions of units sold, right? Like 99 of people aren't going to know this is happening.

[Mike]

We will unfortunately forget in the news cycle that we're currently living in. We will forget about this story in a week to two weeks and it will suck. But hopefully we'll come back to this, as Jason says, and we will hear more from it and hopefully things are done right. Maybe there is a payout. Maybe there.

[Blessing]

Maybe they amend the deal. They're like, oh, we'll extend it next year. They're not going to extend it next year. But I hope, like I would hope.

[Mike]

Same story. Oh, this is one you have to hear. You got to read up on. And yeah, that's an insane one.

[Blessing]

I might. I'm gonna see if I can throw the link to the Reddit post in the YouTube description. If people want to end up reading that, I'm gonna send it to myself. If I forget to do it, I.

[Mike]

Put it in your.

[Blessing]

Send it to me right now. And I'll add it to the perfect. Oh, smart. Yeah. Okay, I just sent. I sent the Reddit post to Cave Control. Kevin's gonna get that in the YouTube description if you wanna watch that or read through the Reddit post. Cause it's long. We don't have time for it on the show. But Mike, what we do have time for is talk about Donkey Kong Bonanza. But before we get there, I wanna talk to you about patreon.com kindafunny and YouTube.com kinda funnygames where you can get the kinda funny membership which allows you to get shows ad free. And speaking of ads, let us tell you about our sponsors.

[C]

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[Blessing]

And we're back with story number two. But before we get into story number two, we do got some super chats I want to read.

[Mike]

We got a lot of super chats.

[Blessing]

They got to do with the last story. So Claw Master writes in and says they're already. There's already a case like this to look at. For comparison, the devs who worked on Scroll Girls are currently in a lawsuit against Autumn Games for no pay in the last few months for $1.2 million. Colin Berry has become a member for 27 months. Shout out and says, doesn't it take some money to get rid of C Suite like the old CEOs? They rather spend that money to cause issues than let it trickle down. I mean come on, this is so this, it's the ever going story. Right. People are selfish is what it comes down to. Greed, all that stuff beginning in time talked about it. Demon hacker says if this wasn't financial, the deadline would extend. Yeah, and then we'll do one more from pretty dude who says not so fun fact. This basically happened to the devs of Lego island back in the 90s. The game was super successful when it launched and the execs laid everybody off to avoid paying the bonus. Hate to see it. That's the type of. That's the type of greed that they talk about in the Bible, you know what I mean? Like when they, when they, when they started talking about the fucking seven deadly Sins.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

That's what they were thinking about when they wrote that down. That's the heart of it. God damn. Story number two. Like Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bonanza was originally a Switch 1 game. Nintendo confirms this is Rebecca Valentine at IGN. Donkey Kong Bonanza, launching next week is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive. But that wasn't always the case. According to the game's developers, it was originally conceived as a Switch 1 title. Speaking to IGN in a new interview, producer Kenta Motokura told us that the game began its development cycle on Switch 1. However, as the team developed the voxel technology that lies behind Bonanza's destruction mechanic, it became clear that the best implementation of that tech would be on switch 2. Director Kazuya Takahashi continued the explanation by referencing something called continuity of destruction, essentially a philosophy behind Donkey Kong Bonanza where players are led to destroy a portion of the environment and receive a reward, which then reveals another area that can be destroyed for another reward, and so on and so forth. Takahashi said the game felt they could the said the team felt they could expand on that philosophy on the Switch too. Quote this allowed us to engage in creating a really extremely rich variety of materials in very large scale changes in the environment on that new hardware. And when destruction is your core gameplay. One really important moment that we wanted to preserve was when a player looks at a part of the terrain and thinks, can I break this? Because that creates a very important surprise that has a lot of impact for them. And that was something that was best done on Switch 2. But it's not really even just the processing power of the Switch 2 that I think attracted us and gave us some interesting possibilities. There was also the device itself that offered things like mouse control, which you can use in co op play for a second player to control Pauline's vocal blasts or DK Artist, a mode where you can sculpt a large set of voxels. End quote.

[Mike]

Notably, that was a wild one. That was a while the mouse control got me. The mouse control really threw me when I read this. I don't get it.

[Blessing]

They don't believe that.

[Mike]

Nobody believes.

[Blessing]

Nobody believes that. Oh yeah, we kept it on Switch too because we like the mouse.

[Mike]

We got really excited when they said Switch 2 is going to have mouse control. So we're like, hold up, this can't come to Switch one.

[Blessing]

We got, we got to hold. Yeah, hold the horses, cuz, you know, hold the horses.

[Mike]

You know, the second player, your little brother or sister, the small child you have in your home when they play the second player. Co op, Pauline. We got to be on the mouse control.

[Blessing]

Yeah, we got. We can only do that on the mouse.

[Mike]

Going to be doing this.

[Blessing]

We can only do that on the M mouse. You know, you can't do that on the Switch.

[Mike]

What are we doing here?

[Blessing]

We're lying is what we're doing. The article ends. Notably, another first party Switch 2 game. Mario Kart World had a similar path to release. It's so funny cuz like the first three fourths of the statement, I'm like, oh, I buy that. Yeah. Like you wanted to take advantage of the power of the switch to, to like, you know, amp up the destructibility, make everything as destructible as possible and like really lean into the experience of oh, can I break that? And then you do and it's like, oh, all right, cool. That reveals a thing that makes so much sense. I buy that. The mouse part ruins it.

[Mike]

Yeah, the mouse part we could have just kept in the back pocket is right.

[Blessing]

Yeah, that's like, that's like when you listen to like a classic album and there's like one song on it that's like when you're listening to Graduation and you get to drunken hot girls and it's like, I don't like this. Yeah, remove the song from the album.

[Mike]

I mean, minus the mouse controls. Like you said blessed so perfectly. Yeah, it totally makes sense. Right? I'm sure this game could probably be run on a Switch 1. It could have been a cross gen game if we really wanted it to. But at the same time we're trying to sell units. We want to take advantage of the hardware and that the developers can look at that and say, hey, we can make an even better game. Plus it will help us sell the Switch 2 because everybody's going to want to buy a Switch 2 to play this. Now you say, hell, yeah, that's a great idea. Let's do this.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I'm like, I, I really like the philosophy of Nintendo, obviously. They make so many weird decisions, obviously. I hate when, like, so much of their stuff is like, overpriced or at least priced in a way where it's like, man, this does not feel consumer friendly. Nothing goes on sales, right? Like all this shit, right? Like, I had all that stuff. But I think they do have such a good marriage of business and software. Sometimes when it is like, all right, we got the Switch two coming out. Like, let's put Mario Kart World on it. Let's put Don Kong Bananas on it and like, make those feel, make. Make that transition feel meaningful. As far as on the line, you.

[Mike]

Gotta come over for drawing the line.

[Blessing]

You gotta come like, these are games that you, that you can only play on the Switch too. But they back it up with the sauce to make those games feel like, no, this could only work on the Switch too. You know what I mean? Like, I look at Don Kong Bonanza and I'm like, I don't know if the Switch one can do this. I don't know. The Switch one is handling this. I played, I play Mario Kart World and like, you know, the presentation of it, the. The scope of it, like, could you have scaled that back to make it work on the Switch one? Yeah, sure. Like, you probably could have. But yeah, I think there is something special about playing that game on the Switch too. And it being a, you know, 4K 60fps, like all this and like, it feels like I'm stepping into the future with Nintendo.

[Mike]

I totally agree with you. Bless. I, I like the, I like the hard line of like, hey, you got to jump onto this next console to experience that. I would love to see the business side, though, when we flip it of like, what do you mean this couldn't be a cross gen game, right? These past two titles, you're telling me they couldn't play on the Switch, Maybe they'd look a little bit different. Is the normal Nintendo player the general audience really going to be nitpicking of like, well, this looks like this here. That looks like that over on that one. I got the, you know, inferior version. No, they would be happy to buy a brand new Mario Kart and I'm sure it would sell ridiculous as well. Right? So it's like, what is the business decision of not doing cross gen? Because, oh, you know, you could easily, but I'm saying it's like there's an install base There, though, that would easily buy Mario Kart World and bump up those sales, right? Yeah, but we're talking, you're saying there's enough people buying the console plus the hardware or the software over there to say, hey, we don't need to put it over on the Switch 1 still 1,000%. Yeah, yeah.

[Blessing]

Like you're talking about the Switch 2 is the best, is like the fastest selling console of all time. Right. Like Nintendo. It's funny because I, I, I think a lot of people in line, I get it. Right. I think a lot of people would call me hypocritical in the way that I talk about Nintendo versus the way I talk about like Xbox or PlayStation or whatever, right? But I think it is all about philosophy. It is all about what the strategy is and how much you lean into that strategy. And like, that's why even though Xbox and Nintendo are virtually opposites in how they operate, right. Like there are things about how Xbox operates that are like, obviously things I dislike when we look at the layoffs and all that.

[Mike]

Right.

[Blessing]

But like I think there's a future in platforming or making your console more of a platform and Xbox game pass and all that shit, right. Versus Nintendo, where I think you, I think Nintendo has to draw that line. I think for them it is a thing of our main commodity as Nintendo is our IP and our hardware and our IP has to sell our hardware. So what happens if we made Mario Kart cross gen and Dong Kong Bonanza cross gen? You have less people show like that feel like they have to buy the hardware.

[Mike]

You'd have me, I bought Switch 2 for Donkey Kong.

[Blessing]

Yeah, right.

[Mike]

Like, that's the only reason why I wanted to make this jump. I could have easily passed on this or played it on my Switch one.

[Blessing]

Yeah. And I, I, that's, I think their business revolves around that. That's why you look at the slate of games on each of their consoles and usually not every time, but usually for most of their big franchises, you're getting one per console. It is. All right, here's one. 3D Mario. Now you're going to have to wait a whole generation for the next one because we want to make sure we're driping this and like maintaining the cadence to make you hunger for the next 3D Mario. Here's one. Maybe this last generation. Here's two big Zeldas, right? Yeah, but we're not going to overdo it. Their advice to Ubisoft with the Mario V rabbids was that, hey, only drop one and Ubisoft dropped a second one and like, they saw that number dip, Right. Because Nintendo knows the demand that their audience has for their things.

[Mike]

Now, my question to you is, they haven't done cross gen before. I thought on the Wii U to Switch, they did. They had one that like, crossed over, right?

[Blessing]

Zelda crossed over. But Zelda was like. If you remember, it was. It took forever for that game to come out. It was originally announced for the Wii U and it was like being developed for you.

[Mike]

So that was one of those. Like, we had to put it on here because we announced it so long.

[Blessing]

I believe Metroid prime is the same way. Right? Like the new Metroid Prime, I believe, is Switch one as well. Kind of funny chat. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Mike]

Really?

[Blessing]

I believe so, yeah.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Blessing]

Chad, am I wrong about that? I think. Yeah. I think Metroid prime is on Switch 1 as well. Because they announced that forever ago on Switch 1. I think they. I don't think Nintendo wants to go back on that. Nintendo's a weird company. Because any other company would just be like, it. No, like, we're just gonna cancel the Switch 1 version. But Nintendo wants. I. I think Nintendo, like, there's an element to them where they're like, ah, no, we promised it.

[Mike]

It's such an interesting one. Yeah, I would love to dive more into the sales on that because I totally agree with you of like, you make it so you have to go buy the new hardware. But like, the install base is so big on the Switch 1. Of like, it's odd because we see PlayStation Xbox. Like the first year is like, hey, you could also get it on Xbox one. You could get it on the Switch one. You have four major titles this year that could easily most likely be played on the Switch one.

[Blessing]

Yeah, right.

[Mike]

Sure, it wouldn't be up to stuff with the Switch 2 version, but that install base probably doesn't care. They would still spend 60 to 90 bucks on it. How much more would you make? But I like drawing the hard line. I like feeling like I'm jumping into this generation for a reason. These games have to be played here, but in Nintendo's case was such a large install base. I'd love to see those numbers of, hey, DK is on both this. How much we sold.

[Blessing]

Oh yeah, that'd be fascinating. Like the A B test on that one. Story number three. Speaking of Nintendo, Nintendo is ending the Switch game voucher service. This is Jordan Midler at vgc. Nintendo has announced that it is ending the Switch game voucher service. The service will conclude on January 30, 2026, after. Excuse me. After which time it will no longer be possible to purchase the popular vouchers. Nintendo Switch game vouchers allowed players to pay a lump sum for multiple game vouchers at once, which would result in the games they redeemed them for being cheaper. Nintendo has confirmed that the unused vouchers will expire 12 months after the original date of purchase. Nintendo hasn't said if it plans to introduce a new service that it will also feature that will also feature Nintendo Switch 2 titles. Do you remember this?

[Mike]

I know. I was going to ask you. I don't even know what these are.

[Blessing]

So this was like, quite a few years ago where you would buy for, like, 100 bucks. Here's two game vouchers. And you can redeem them for first, like, Switch first party games. Okay. For, like, the ones that they. That they offered for it. And so this would be like a.

[Mike]

Good birthday present or, like, gift card. You so much.

[Blessing]

Yeah. And it's a way to, like, if you know you're going to buy two Switch games, it's a way to save.

[Mike]

20, save some money.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Okay.

[Mike]

Did you partake in some of this?

[Blessing]

No.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Blessing]

Okay. Yeah. No, I was like, there was never a time where I was like, I know, like, these are the two Switch games that I want at the same is. I think it was kind of a weird service that, like, if you knew what you're doing, you could probably get a lot of use out of this. Yeah. But for me, I'm like, I feel like there would be one or two first part, like, major first party games a year that I could think of where I'm like, oh, I know I'm going to get this, but I'm not thinking ahead far, far enough. Like, in, like, in May, I'm like, oh, man, I want Zelda. Right. And then like, in. By the time I'll get around to my next one, it's like, okay, it's fall. Do I want to buy the vouchers or do I. Do I just want to buy the game kind of thing?

[Mike]

Okay.

[Blessing]

Story number four. The SAG AFTRA video game voice actor strike is officially over. This is Claire Lewis at Polygon. After a year of negotiations, the SAG AFTRA video game voice actor strike has officially come to an end, with members of the Guild approving the 2025 Interactive Media Agreement. The strike, which had been ongoing since July 2024, was halted last month when SAG AFTRA union members and the game companies represented by the Interactive Media Agreement negotiating committee, reached a tentative agreement. This led to the strike itself ending, but SAG AFTRA members hadn't yet ratified the agreement. Now, a year after SAG AFTRA voice actors went on strike, the 2025 IMA agreement has been approved by the Guild, with 95.04% of SAG AFTRA members voting in favor of the updated agreement and 4.96% voting against it.

[Mike]

Quote.

[Blessing]

Together, we have achieved far more than many thought possible and have made important headway in our ongoing efforts to expand video game performers rights and ensure sustainable careers for those dedicated to this vibrant art form, the union said in a press release. With a contract now ratified, video game performers, including voice actors, will immediately begin receiving a 15.17% increase in compensation for their work, and that compensation will be increased by an additional 3% each November from 2025 to 2027. Health and retirement benefits have also been boosted, with the After Retirement fund increasing by 0.5% now, with another 0.5% increase going into effect this October. But arguably the biggest win for the guild in this new agreement, and one of the main reasons voice actors were striking in the first place is the implementation of AI protections for performers working in the games industry. SAG AFTRA says that the updated contract, quote, establishes foundational guard rails around AI, including informed consent requirements across various AI uses and the ability to perform the ability for performers to suspend informed consent for digital replica use during a strike. End quote.

[Mike]

Very good news.

[Blessing]

Very good news.

[Mike]

Congratulations to everybody out there for getting that done. And I know that took a long time. It's really interesting to me because I got lucky. I spoke with the Starfield acting team. If you remember, we had the voice actors on from Starfield and Sissy Jones was one of them and she had the big conversation with me of telling me what they were doing on the SAG Afro stuff of AI voices and why they were going to bat against this and for this of how they wanted to make sure everybody was being safe around this because all of a sudden her voice was being used in some crazy like PR meeting like a rent a car company. I was like how did you get my voice? What's going on?

[Blessing]

Right?

[Mike]

And so it's really cool I we got to reach back out to her and hear all the stories from this, but great to hear that they got this done.

[Blessing]

Yeah. I want to give a shout out to, I believe Chris Plant's Post Games podcast. They had an episode talking about AI, talking about the voice actors strike where he had on, I believe a representative from SAG AFTRA to break it down. I believe it's how to fight Brilliant and Stupid AI might be the episode, but I'm not positive that's the one. I'm like diving into the. Oh, here it is. Yes, it is called. It is the one. So how to fight Brilliant and Stupid AI from Post Games where they talk about where they he talks to Sarah El Mala who's the chair of the SAG AFTRA Interactive Media Agreement negotiating Committee. She breaks down a lot of the AI stuff and a lot of the concerns around AI from performers. Mainly your ownership over your voice and like not wanting to essentially like lose out on like people using your voice any which way and like you not having autonomy over that. Right. Which is very scary. So good on that. Story number five, now you can buy in game DLC and pay it off later. This is Eddie at GameSpot. By now pay later services are becoming more and more popular and now one BNPL provider has announced a deal with a gaming company to allow people to finance in game purchases. Affirm has partnered with gaming company, sorry, gaming commerce company XSOLA to allow people to use a firm to pay off in game purchases of $50 or more on payment plans. Affirm offers interest free biweekly payment plans or longer term monthly installments that incur interest. This will work similarly to how it does already where a firm is supported for supported in game content. Players can choose a firm at checkout, then a firm will run a credit check and then players can choose a payment plan that works for them. This is live now in the US and is coming to Canada and the UK soon. Interesting times we live in.

[Mike]

Yeah, bless. I mean this was only a matter of time coming. Of course we see this being used with concerts, festivals, larger purchases in your life. We've seen companies like a firm in here before. I think it was only a matter of time coming to your gaming market like this. We've had conversations with Xbox and being able to pay a little bit up front and have monthly installments for your Xbox consoles. Right. They've done that before. And so yeah, hitting the gaming landscape itself for DLC and game purchases was probably only a matter of time. It comes down to the same thing as always. Everybody's financial independence and stability is different per person. Right? So whatever that is, we're respectful for you. Please make smart financial decisions. If this is something you need be aware of it, understand what you're getting into. But I do love the opportunity of people are able to use this. Right. We live in very tough times right now and it's hard enough to do a lot of things with your money and so to have the option to do it is great. Also, be mindful of your finances. Understand what you're getting into. Make sure you're making financial decisions that hit where you need to. You shouldn't be worried about others. As I know the chat will go crazy right now talking about that.

[Blessing]

Right.

[Mike]

Like, I'm not worried about other people's finances. I hope that they just make good financial responsibility choices.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I feel like, you know, choose wisely is what I'll say when. Especially when it comes to like a buy now, pay later situation. Right. Like, I understand the uses for that. In many. In many cases, video game DLC feels like the last place you should be using that. But also like, yeah, I'm not going to tell you all how to use your money. But also I'm not. I'm never going to do this. I'm not touching this. This sounds like a bad idea. But hey, like, do what you do. Do your thing, Mike. A lot of big decisions. We're going to have to make big decisions. A lot of big decisions with their money, with small plans, small purchases, like $50 DLC. But if I wanted something smaller, say the tiniest news I need to know about.

[Mike]

Plus you go to our last story, the WE News channel where we cover all the small news items you need to know about.

[Blessing]

Story number six, we news. Castle Crashers DLC painter boss paradise for PC launches August 6th. Koei Tecmo and Omega Force have released the free demo for Wild Hearts S via the Nintendo shop. And Suda 51 in Sweary's Hotel Barcelona launches September 2025. And that is it.

[Mike]

I got a little we news, dad. One second. Coming at you. NBA 2K26 announced their cover athletes for the year. No. What's up?

[Blessing]

We did that yesterday.

[Mike]

Do you know who they are?

[Blessing]

It's like the mvp, right? Yeah.

[Mike]

You love Shay Shay.

[Blessing]

Oh, God, the other ones we only talked about Shay.

[Mike]

Oh, you want to talk about Shay?

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Angel Reese racing the women's edition. So congratulations to Angel Reese. That's a big deal. Her and Caitlin Clark, of course, making major splashes in the W. Putting a lot of eyes on that. Of course, the rivalry between the two of them back in college and her getting the credit. Being on the COVID this year is awesome. Incredible. Shout out to her and the Chicago Sky. And then of course, your legend edition, Carmelo Anthony Melo. Now Graces the COVID He's been on four different NBA video game covers from Street Home Court to NBA live. Now NBA 2K26. They're saying he's making the derby. He's hitting all of them.

[Blessing]

Good for them.

[Mike]

It's amazing.

[Blessing]

That's a. Yeah, that's a good trio right there.

[Mike]

Yeah, Very good trio. You gotta love 2k now. Shining a light on the W. I love seeing women's basketball get the highlight they deserve. And also having a women's cover athlete is awesome, right?

[Blessing]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike]

Very, very cool.

[Blessing]

You've been to Evacuate's game yet?

[Mike]

No, not yet. I hear that really good. I'm trying to go. I hear they're very fun to go watch. So. Yeah, I think it's just cool. Want to make sure we highlight that. That's exciting news. Of course.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Also, I saw somebody say something about no Astrobot news. The Astrobot DLC levels are out today. I don't want to talk about the characters that are in the DLC because I still don't know. Oh, and I want to. I want to.

[Mike]

How many levels?

[Blessing]

I believe five. What? Yeah.

[Mike]

That's a lot.

[Blessing]

Dude. They've added so many DLC levels that I'm like, you could have just made another game. You could have just made another Astrobot game today. Out today. Yes. Free. Paid free. Yeah. Okay. Exciting. Yeah, they could have made it. Made another game. Dude, I love this, like good for y' all for like you know, making it rain on us. But yeah, I want to see who these characters are. So don't ruin it for me, Chad, because I'm trying to be surprised because the headlines making it seem like they're exciting characters.

[Mike]

So I love that.

[Blessing]

Let's hop into super chats before we get out of here. Mani Bagel Boy Sanchez says Xbox and PlayStation only did that because the pandemic limited hardware availability only now are games current gen only. Nintendo almost never goes on sale. They eventually sell the software. Example Mario Kart 8 Big Boy Sanchez. I completely disagree about The Xbox and PlayStation only did that because of the pandemic limited hardware hardware availability. I think they're doing it to make more money as far as like cross gen releases. Yeah.

[Mike]

They're also utilizing their technology. Right. Of like being able to use the cloud to play next gen titles when you're still on the old gen hardware. They've been promoting that for a long time now.

[Blessing]

So I think next gen you're still going to have there be a long period of you playing of them making games that are cross gen. I don't think that's a pandemic thing. Let's see here. Clawmaster says, oh no, we already read this. Claw Master one. Let's scroll back. Okay. Well, Cody ruined the bots, but thank you for your super chat. Cody was the first super chat that came out. I really missed it. But that's exciting though. I was going to play that in the game Demon Hacker says play Evil within two semi open world. In short, you ever play those, those Evil within games?

[Mike]

I played Evil within one. Yes. I've played the first one. Never played the second one. Have you played those?

[Blessing]

I think I booted up too. And I was like, just not in the movie.

[Mike]

I just finally finished Resident Evil 3. Remember you and I talked about it before. You said, mike, you could beat it in one sitting. I enjoyed Resident Evil 3. I've now played almost all of the mainline Resident Evil games. So that's really exciting for me. And yeah, I'm always looking for more survival horror action in my life. And so, yeah, I might check out Evil within two.

[Blessing]

Oh yeah. Nick Northrup writes in and says, happy college football 26 day. Mike, when you whooping Greg's ass on stream?

[Mike]

If you remember, last year, I whooped Greg's ass last year with one hand on the controller while I was eating pizza at the same time. Kevin remembers. But here's the deal. This year we're taking a different approach. This year I'm putting on the headset, I'm grabbing my clipboard and I'm becoming Coach Mike. Next week you will see me train up Roger McCorny and then Greg Miller to become the very best in NCAA football. So next week Coach Mike hits the gridiron with Roger as he is now my all star, my player, and I'm going to coach him up to be good at football.

[Blessing]

I want to. I want to play some college football with you.

[Mike]

You want to play some college football? Okay.

[Blessing]

Competitively. I want to. I want to go against. We got to figure out a way to do like a tournament or some.

[Mike]

You heard about next week too? Not at college football, but we're having a competition. Roger versus Andy. One V one Snipers only on rust. The battle of the sweatshirt.

[Blessing]

The battle of this. Does Andy know he's in this battle? I think he's so one sided.

[Mike]

Roger's really mad at him.

[Blessing]

So this is one of those ones where my Roger's so mad and I feel like Andy doesn't realize what's going on.

[Mike]

Roger said if he loses, Andy has the hand in the sweatshirt or donated. He's never allowed to wear it again.

[Blessing]

Small HD in chat says Poor bless Always having to invite myself. I'm going to keep inviting myself because I keep seeing the streaming schedule and I'm like when are we going to play magic? When are we going to do all these things?

[Mike]

We talk about all of my magic fantasy cards. When are we opening them? Have you opened your Final Fantasy pack?

[Blessing]

I opened most of them I like during the weekend. I, I, I needed a, a lift.

[Mike]

Me up, I picked me up.

[Blessing]

I got a lot of, I think I got a lot of good like full art cards but none that like I necessarily wanted.

[Mike]

None that you were like oh snap, I got that cloud card or I.

[Blessing]

Got the nothing like that. But like I got, I got a bunch of stuff that I'm sure if I showed somebody be like oh that's cool but I just want some Final Fantasy 7 stuff. You know what I mean?

[Mike]

I love that.

[Blessing]

God damn Mike. That is it for super chats and also we have know your wrongs today. So that is it for the show. Of course. This has been kind of Funny. Games Daily each and every weekday we run you through the nerdy news you need to know about live on YouTube, Twitch and all 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 in review next and the games cast after which will be the PlayStation State of Play reactions. But until next time Game Daily.