Xbox Plans Major Job Cuts, VR Headset OUT NOW - Kinda Funny Games Daily 06.24.25

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily: Video Games News Podcast
Episode: Xbox Plans Major Job Cuts, VR Headset OUT NOW
Release Date: June 24, 2025

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1. Introduction

In the June 24, 2025, episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily, hosts Tim Gettys and Blessing Adeoye Jr. delve into significant developments within the gaming industry. The conversation covers Microsoft’s impending layoffs at Xbox, the launch of Xbox’s new VR headset, the impressive sales milestone of the game Rematch, and other noteworthy news in the gaming world.

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2. Microsoft Announces Major Layoffs in Xbox Division

[08:11] Tim Gettys: "Microsoft will conduct another round of major layoffs in its Xbox division next week as part of a company-wide reorganization."

The episode opens with a concerning report from Jason Schreier at Bloomberg about Microsoft’s decision to lay off thousands of employees within its Xbox Gaming division. This marks the fourth significant round of layoffs at Xbox in the past 18 months, following previous cuts and the closure of several subsidiaries. The pressure stems from Microsoft's ambitious acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023 for $69 billion, aimed at boosting profit margins amidst competitive market challenges.

Blessing Adeoye Jr. expresses sympathy and delves into the broader implications:

[09:07] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: "Like you know, this stuff fucking sucks every single time."

[09:58] Tim Gettys: "Xbox has for a decade now been really kind of...finding its identity."

The hosts discuss the complexities Xbox faces in integrating multiple acquisitions, such as Bethesda and Activision, leading to redundancies and management challenges. They highlight the ongoing struggle Xbox has had in solidifying its brand identity and strategic direction, suggesting that further layoffs might be imminent as Microsoft continues to streamline operations.

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3. Launch of Xbox-Meta Partnership VR Headset

[21:19] Tim Gettys: "Xbox is partnered with Meta for the limited edition Meta Quest 3S Xbox edition."

Transitioning to a more optimistic note, Tim Gettys shares exciting news about the collaboration between Xbox and Meta. The newly released Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition VR headset is now available in limited quantities. Priced at $400, this bundle includes a custom 128GB headset in Xbox Carbon Black and Velocity Green, matching Touch Plus controllers, a limited edition Xbox wireless controller, an elite strap, three months of Meta Horizon Plus, and three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with cloud gaming.

Blessing Adeoye Jr. appreciates the strategic alignment:

[23:44] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: "It reinforces the idea of hey, anything can be an Xbox."

The partnership signifies Xbox’s commitment to expanding its ecosystem and making its games more accessible across different platforms. By integrating VR capabilities with Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft aims to attract hardcore enthusiasts and broaden its user base.

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4. Rematch Hits the Million-Sale Mark

[29:00] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: "Rematch has now sold 1 million copies."

A major highlight of the episode is the celebration of the game Rematch surpassing one million sales. Initially impressive with over 2.5 million players across all platforms, the game's inclusion in Xbox Game Pass significantly contributed to its widespread adoption. Blessing Adeoye Jr. and Tim Gettys commend the game's design and market reception, drawing parallels to successful titles like Rocket League.

[32:46] Tim Gettys: "It's $30. It's on Game Pass which echoes how Rocket League launched back in the day."

The hosts praise Rematch for filling a niche in virtual football gaming, a segment that has had limited high-quality offerings. They discuss potential future developments, such as the introduction of battle passes and cosmetic collaborations, which could sustain the game’s popularity in the long term.

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5. Nintendo Switch 2 Exclusive: Dragon Drive

[37:34] Tim Gettys: "Nintendo's once again used its today app to announce news, this time a release date for Switch 2 exclusive Dragon Drive."

Nintendo fans received an update on the highly anticipated Switch 2 exclusive game, Dragon Drive. Initially shrouded in mystery with uncertain pricing, IGN later revealed the game would launch exclusively on the eShop for $20 on August 14, 2025.

[38:35] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: "I did play this game with Tim and Raj, and it felt like a $20 title."

Despite the reasonable pricing, Dragon Drive has received mixed reactions. While its innovative use of Joy-Con controllers and arcade-style gameplay offer a fresh experience, concerns linger about its appeal to a broader gaming audience. The hosts reflect on Nintendo’s history of successful IP launches, questioning whether Dragon Drive will achieve similar acclaim.

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6. Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding 2 and Domino’s Collaboration

[44:30] Tim Gettys: "Death Stranding and pizza. Kojima explains in a tweet..."

In a unique cross-promotion, Hideo Kojima has partnered with Domino's to create the Death Stranding 2 Giga Meat Pizza, complete with a can of Red Bull. This collaboration stems from Kojima's nostalgic appreciation for pizza in Hollywood films and represents a quirky blend of gaming and fast food culture.

[47:37] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: "Listening to Kojima, you're a genius."

The hosts humorously discuss the imaginative partnership, speculating on Kojima’s inspiration and the potential fan reception. While the collaboration is seen as a novelty, it underscores Kojima’s penchant for unconventional marketing strategies that resonate with his audience.

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7. The Unsustainability of AAA Game Development and the Role of Generative AI

[50:39] Tim Gettys: "AAA game development veteran Sakurai has said the current model of large-scale game development is becoming unsustainable."

Addressing a critical issue in the gaming industry, the hosts discuss Shigeru Sakurai’s perspective on the unsustainability of current AAA game development. Sakurai suggests that generative AI could be a viable solution to improve efficiency and manage the extensive resources required for large-scale projects.

[52:27] Blessing Adeoye Jr.: "Either you play the game or let the game play you and be that broke motherfucker."

Tim and Blessing explore the implications of integrating AI into game development, debating the balance between technological advancement and maintaining creative integrity. They express concerns about the potential for AI-driven layoffs and the ethical considerations surrounding its adoption in the industry.

[56:00] Tim Gettys: "We're not going to be able to be like, you know what? We're banning this. We're not using this."

While acknowledging the transformative potential of AI, the hosts remain cautious about its rapid implementation and the associated workforce challenges. They emphasize the importance of finding a sustainable model that leverages AI without compromising the quality and passion inherent in game development.

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8. Additional News Highlights

• Call of Duty Movie: Kalina Liang has joined the Legendary Street Fighter movie as Chun Li, sparking excitement among fans.

• Game Delays and Releases:

  • Combat System Shock 2 25th Anniversary Remaster delayed to early July.
  • Diablo 4: Sins of the Horror Dream launches on July 1st.

• Community Feedback: Super chats reflect audience opinions on Xbox’s strategic moves and upcoming game releases, highlighting a mixture of support and criticism.

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9. Conclusion

The episode wraps up with the hosts reiterating the ongoing challenges and exciting developments within the gaming industry. From Microsoft’s internal restructuring to innovative collaborations like Xbox and Meta’s VR headset partnership, and the sustainable future of AAA game development with AI integration, Kinda Funny Games Daily provides a comprehensive overview of the current gaming landscape. Tim Gettys and Blessing Adeoye Jr. encourage listeners to stay engaged with the latest updates and participate in upcoming shows like Gamescast and future deep dives into specific game reviews.

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Notable Quotes:

• Blessing Adeoye Jr. [09:07]: "Like you know, this stuff fucking sucks every single time."

• Tim Gettys [09:58]: "Xbox has for a decade now been really kind of...finding its identity."

• Blessing Adeoye Jr. [29:00]: "Rematch has now sold 1 million copies."

• Tim Gettys [37:34]: "Nintendo's once again used its today app to announce news..."

• Tim Gettys [50:39]: "AAA game development veteran Sakurai has said the current model of large-scale game development is becoming unsustainable."

• Tim Gettys [56:00]: "We're not going to be able to be like, you know what? We're banning this. We're not using this."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and perspectives shared by the hosts, providing listeners and non-listeners alike with a clear understanding of the episode's content.

Transcript

[Tim Gettys]

Today's stories include Microsoft plans major job cuts at Xbox Gaming division. The Xbox VR headset is out now, and Rematch sells a million copies. Okay, we'll have all this and more because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily. What's up? And welcome to Kind of Funny Games daily for Tuesday, June 24, 2025. Of course, I'm your host, Tim Gettys. I am joined on this beautiful Tuesday by Blessing. Adio, Junior.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Good day, Tim.

[Tim Gettys]

Good day to you. How you been?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I've been pretty good. Been playing different games. Of course, our guest rating to review was yesterday that people can check out now. But I. I've been spending a lot of time in this first half of June playing that going on just playing destroyed 2 and I beat it about a week ago. And since then it's all been. It's been rematch, which I've been loving. And we'll talk about. I believe the rematch review is doing.

[Tim Gettys]

Almost a million others.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, me and. Yeah, I mean me and almost 2.5 million others.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, wow.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But 2.5 million players. We'll talk about that later. But been doing a lot of that. And then yesterday I picked up the altars and like, I feel like I've just been juggling video games and it's been nice. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

So I. I missed out on the death stranding review. I don't want to spoil too much because I do want to go back and watch and see what everyone gave it. But what did you give it? Because I know I was talking to you the last couple weeks and you were kind of in flux just a little bit.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I gave it a 9.5.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay. That's where I thought you were gonna. Gonna. Amazing.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Absolutely love the. This video game. There's things here and there that I. That I wish they could have done better. But overall, I'm still like blown away by it that I say this all in the review. Right. But if you're a desk training fan, it's a must play. And if you're a Kojima person, I think it's one that you definitely should check out. I think even if you didn't like Destiny 1, it's not like this game is a different type of video game than Destiny 1 is still that type of game. But I do think they do a lot to kind of bring the barriers down and smooth out the friction that's in desktrending one. And so it's definitely one worth checking out.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, I. I was off yesterday because I just had some things I had to handle with G. But over the weekend, like, dude, I got home on Friday and I had a cold and.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I was like, this sucks.

[Tim Gettys]

So I've been home the last three days with the cold. I'm good now. Like, now I'm just on that, like, recovery stuff where my throat just sounds like, you know, But I was, like, not bedridden, but, like, I was, like, taking it real easy.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

So that just meant watching a lot of movies.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

I got all hyped because we. We ran out of time to catch up for 28 years later that just came out in theaters. And I loved 28 days later as a kid, but I never got to the sequel. So I was like, let's just say, have you. Have you watched these?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I've not watched any of them.

[Tim Gettys]

So we still haven't seen the new one. But over the weekend we caught up for Superman in review. But G and I pretty much back to back watched 28 days and then 28 weeks later. There are things that could be said about both of those films, but overall, my God.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

How ahead of their time. And, like, for the second one, like, what a great use of its time. Like, these things are crazy because, like, you watch 28 Days later and you're just like, I know that zombies are zombies. And, like, you can say, oh, well, this came from that Whatever. But, like Walking Dead and Last of Us Both. Oh, a lot.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

The most.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

The absolute most.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think now that. Because these are Garland joints. Alex Garland joints. Right now that Garland is becoming, like. And he's been that guy when it comes to, like, big releases, whether it's Dune or whether it's. What was the other one that came out not too long ago that I watched? Oh, Annihilation. And then upcoming, you have Elden Ring. I feel like I should do the thing that I did with Nolan where I just sit and just do, like, the binge through. Yeah. Go through his. His catalog.

[Tim Gettys]

I. I don't know if Garland was involved with the second one. So it was Alex Garland and Danny Bole. They did the first one. I'm pretty sure the second was like, a different group. I don't know if they were involved in. In any ways, but I know the new one. They're back.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, sorry. Dune was Villain. I don't know why I thought that was Garland.

[Tim Gettys]

Right. Yes.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But, yeah, just cool stuff all around. Civil War is what Alex Garland did.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, maybe. Yeah, maybe that's right. I'm pretty sure now. I'm just looking it up. He did Ex Machina, which I love.

[Tim Gettys]

That was Teddy. Anyways, 28 days later later in particular is phenomenal. Bless. And it's like eight seasons, the eight good seasons. And that's being generous of Walking Dead in one movie.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

Like they just go okay. Plot point to plot point and just like only the greatest hits like oh good stuff. You should check it out one time. But this is kind of Funny Games Daily. Each and every weekday we run you through the video game news that you need to live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the kind at funny membership on Patreon, YouTube and now Spotify and Apple podcast to get all of your shows ad free and a daily exclusive show. For a chance to be part of this show, submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. Remember, we are an 11 person business all about live talk shows. After Games Daily you're going to get a kind of funny gamescast breaking down all the things we've been playing. We had to punt this episode last week because the marathon news dropped. So we're now catching up with a little bit of that. Then gamescast or following gamescast is going to be more Dune Awakening streams because the boys are addicted. They're all in.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. I mean here's my thing. I. I've never had such FOMO in my life and this comes back to the thing of like me playing more games since beating Death Training 2 and kind of feeling like free to, to move around because there's not like a big review over the horizon that I got to be locked in. I imagine the next one is going to be Donkey Kong Bonanza. But like I've been seeing these games come out. I'm like Dune Awakening, I've been anticipating, I've been looking forward to. But I, I've been letting a lot of like multiplayer like live service stuff pass me by because I'm like, I guess in my brain I'm like, I don't have anybody to play with. But then I forget that like there.

[Tim Gettys]

Is literally have a dedicated group. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But it's the thing where I just got to have a sit down with Nick and Mike where I'm like, listen, I know I'm always busy in the afternoon. I'm not. I'm coming off of Games Daily and gamescast so I'm tired to be on content in the afternoons or whatever. But I got to find a way to just like weasel myself in.

[Tim Gettys]

Weasel it in, dude.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I want to play with people. I want to play.

[Tim Gettys]

I want to play peak scheduling things we could do. I'm just be like, hey, I'm just going to stream for an hour with you guys. And that way it's not a three.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Hour dedication, but then like, you know, I. I jump off of the hour and then like they get all progress, you know what I mean?

[Tim Gettys]

And they're all these levels higher and.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'm like, oh, damn, I missed the boat.

[Tim Gettys]

Well then strap in. Bless.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You're right.

[Tim Gettys]

You're going to Arrakis.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Listen, I'm going to play six hours. I'm going to be on content for six hours a day. Starting now.

[Tim Gettys]

Starting. Starting now. If you're a kind of funny member. Today's Greg Way is about Death Stranding 2 commenters actually commentators commenters actually getting under his skin.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yesterday I saw this in real time.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It's one of those things where like people are like, oh, it happens to all. Greg doesn't. But like there's, there's always like those specific things where it's like, yeah, if there's like a thing that somebody says to me, right? Like, I might not care, but there's like another thing somebody says and I'm like, oh, you. Yeah, mother. Oh, Nick. Nick is here. What's up, Nick?

[Tim Gettys]

Get in that room with us, bro.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You got it, dude. I want to, I want to. Listen, we're going to figure out a scheduling thing because I want to play Doom with y' all playing today.

[Tim Gettys]

Just come play with us.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Ah, but I'm on. I'm on this. I'm on gamescast after. I'm going be tired. I'm hungry.

[Tim Gettys]

You just sit and you. You're the le for us, man. You're the sheikh. Nick's making some really good points.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Nick's making some really good points.

[Tim Gettys]

Let's go.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Nick's making really good points.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm wrapping it up. It's time to go to Iraq.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But. But yeah, this is one of those. Those ones where I've seen in real time where I'm like, oh, yeah, this is. This, this is one of those ones that pushes Greg buns a little bit.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. My favorite is when Greg like gets bad and he starts sitting there and like you see his gears turning and he literally starts like rubbing his hands together and he goes, oh, this motherfucker.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You know what I mean?

[Tim Gettys]

And it's like, oh, he's about to ruin somebody's day. I don't know if this is one of those situations.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, God, he's here.

[Tim Gettys]

He's here. You're not on Gamescast today. We took you off right before this, remember?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, I thought you're putting me back on to talk about the other game that I talked about. Whatever. Anyway, it looks like I'll be on the stream.

[Tim Gettys]

He's streaming everybody. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Kyle Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney Twining. Today we are brought to you by Cash App and Mood. But we'll tell you all 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 seven stories today.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

There we go.

[Tim Gettys]

There we go.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I heard him say it without the mic on, so I just hear echo in the background.

[Tim Gettys]

It's good. It's good stuff. Story number one here. Not good stuff. Microsoft Plans Major Job Cuts at Xbox Gaming Division this comes from Jason Schreier at Bloomberg. Microsoft will conduct another round of major layoffs in its Xbox division next week as part of a company wide reorganization. Managers within Xbox are expecting substantial cuts across the entire group, according to people familiar with the plans who asked not to be identified discussing non public information. The company declined to comment. This will be the fourth big layoff at Xbox in the past 18 months following three major cuts last year and the closure of several subsidiaries. Xbox, which produces video game hardware and software, has been under pressure from Microsoft executives to boost profit margins since per purchasing Activision Blizzard for $69 billion in a deal that closed in 2023. Bloomberg News earlier reported that Microsoft plans to cut thousands of jobs next week, largely in sales.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I this is one that I don't have the biggest opinion on. That's separate from the opinions I've had on layoffs in the last like quite a few years slash last forever. You know what I mean? I, I read, I read earlier today that like when it comes to approaching the end of the fiscal year, usually you'll see big stuff like this coming out of Microsoft, like the big layoffs and stuff which is why you have like the largely in sales portion of like where Microsoft plans to cut thousands of jobs as well along with this. So like you know, this stuff fucking sucks every single time. We get back around to these stories when we were seeing these stories like this article mentions, right, like periodically out of the Xbox division which like I guess I'm curious from you Tim, of what is your read on that? Is that still the residual stuff of the acquisitions and like what we're seeing coming off of the Activision stuff?

[Tim Gettys]

I mean absolutely right? When you have an acquisition, you are. It's necessary for you to be prepared to figure out redundancies and to figure out redundancies. That can either mean layoff or figure out new roles or a new place, new team, something to put people. That second part's a lot harder to do. Yeah. So it's a lot less likely. There's going to be a lot of people that are fought for, but there's going to be a lot of other people that at the end of the day are just numbers on a spreadsheet. So I feel the biggest problem with all of this is it wasn't just one acquisition, it was many. Back to back to back. We are now seeing the continued ramifications of what that looks like. I've been talking about this for a long time just in terms of leadership, like Xbox has for a decade now. Really kind of. I don't wanna say struggled. That's the best word for it though. To not only find its identity, but to commit to that identity and go down that path. And I feel like they're finally fully doing that. But to get there, it did require a lot of these acquisitions and a lot of just kind of shifting around of like what the actual line of command looks like. When you're adding Bethesda, you're adding Activision. Like you're now adding not just all these teams, but teams of H, teams of middle management, teams of leadership. Like figuring out who's in control of what and how that all works together. When there needs to be a unified vision overall, there's going to be an insane amount of not just redundancies, but kind of obstacles to figure out or else the business can't succeed because they're going to be having leadership, pushing teams in different directions. Right. And that is something that I think we have seen with Xbox for a very long time. So with where we're at here, none of this is a surprise. It is incredibly unfortunate. I don't think we're quite close to being through it even after this though. Like, I still think that with Microsoft staring down the neck of Xbox leadership and looking for the profits, I do think that we are getting closer and closer to that point because we've talked about this ad nauseam. But like Xbox is finally at a place where it has its different systems in place making money and they have a steady cadence of releases coming out to back up the game. Pass subscriptions, which subscriptions is the future they keep talking about. But then also now being on PlayStation, making that money, being having multiple games in their top 10 NPD. Right. Like, the revenue is coming in for Xbox games, that's great. But I still think that the, they're gonna want more because it's, it's Microsoft and it's a company. But I think that we're just still not quite there. So next week we'll probably hear this. I believe the story, and I think that next year we'll probably get a similar story again.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I just, I mean, that sucks.

[Tim Gettys]

It does, it really does.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. I, I, I, I do wonder how much of this as well, it's just like the shifting as far as what the strategy is. Like, we're talking about the, the acquisitions and stuff, but I think Xbox going way further into the ecosystem approach. And like, I think what that does as far as your focuses and what that does as far as, like, emphasis on certain types of strategy versus other types of strategy.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like, that is a similar thing of having to shift people around as far as, like, all right, this is what our focus is. Right. Like, it is not just communications with us and our audience anymore. It is communications with third parties and partners in an entirely different way. It is you talking about it, it is you talking to Asus. It is you talking to and partnering with, like, what different types of hardware looks like as well. Right. Like, the structure of the Xbox gaming division is in real time, like, changing dynamically. And I imagine that that is going to change what roles look like and what roles are necessary and all that stuff. I hope it's successful for the people that are working at Xbox. I feel like for me, I look at layoffs and I go, oh, well, this isn't working. And like, there's growing pains. But at what point do we go, all right, the growing pains are too painful. The growing pains are taking away from like, the point of this all which is to support the people that, that work at your company.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. And I unfortunately think that that's just not how they look at it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Of course. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And yeah, I think that just the business realities of it are that, I do think that it is starting to work for them and that there is some gold in the hills that they're chasing down and have been chasing for a long time. And I think that they're on the precipice of being able to release their games, which, again, first party, third party, whatever you want to call Xbox at this point, like, that's irrelevant. As a publisher with a squad of devs, they, I mean, I don't even think it's a question at this point are the biggest, the number one. Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Publisher in terms of like just pure.

[Tim Gettys]

Scale value of ip. And like games that sell, they have Call of Duty, like that alone puts them in a different echelon than EA or Ubisoft or Capcom or Square or any of that stuff. Right. PlayStation, Nintendo, like so many of those things combined, equal to what Xbox is capable of at this point. And I do think that we are at the most interesting turning point in terms of potential sales where there are more systems and places people. People can play games than ever. Just looking at pure consoles, like, just consoles like Xbox. Games now are going to be available on more consoles than ever. And that's not just because, oh, it's also on PlayStation now that the Switch 2 is coming out, that's another library or another install base that they can tap into potentially and I imagine will sooner than later. Surprised they're not yet. But still we imagine, right. That they will. So the pure console market they now have, sure, maybe the Xbox One S isn't like the best selling system ever, but it's still sold a lot, right?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Now you add on all the PC stuff, all the this is an Xbox stuff, and they just have more places and more ways for people to purchase games and they have the most games to sell in different ways. Like, that is a winning strategy. Yeah. So you just got to kind of shave off all the losing strategies around it. And I think that's the problem. Place we're at right now is they have too many cooks in the kitchen, too many colors to paint with, and they don't need them all. And they're looking at all of this and they're like, all right, cool. What do we need to make the strategy I just talked about actually work? And don't we.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And that's the part I get fearful about is like when you're talking about shaving the fat off. Right? Like what, how, like what type of fat are we talking about? You know what I mean? Like when you're talking, when you bring up Call of Duty, as you know, you have Call of Duty, you have these big ip, you have Halo, you have whatever, whatever the thing you want to name Call of Duty Mobile, I guess at some point do you look at a double fine and go, oh, we don't, we don't need this. Like, what is this adding to it? And like, I'm not even talking about just in terms of art, in terms of. Because like adult find adds more art than arguably anybody else. Right. But like, when you're talking about the dollars and cents, the. The conversation of, you know, going back to what I said earlier about, like, you know, you want to serve and support the people that work at your company that genuinely. And like, you know, this is a, an adage that I, I've taken from Alana Pierce now. Right. Like, like the job of a company, publicly traded companies, isn't to make money for or isn't to necessarily serve the customer or serve the employees. It is to serve the market. Right. It is them. It is to feed into. All right, how do we keep afloat? How do we make money? How do we become bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Do we start looking at studios that they've even acquired? And I guess we've already done this with in the case of Tango. Tango gameworks, right. Of like, all right, we acquired the studio, but in our grand purpose here, right? Like, they don't serve our grand purpose. So peace out.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

All right. We've acquired, you know, Activision, like, Toys for Bob. Like, peace out.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like XYZ Studio. I forgot how the choice for Bob.

[Tim Gettys]

Situation that was a little different but still stands.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. Like, yeah. How much shaving off do we get to where it's like, damn, dude. Like, this is. This, is this is detrimental to how we, I guess, view our value in this as an audience.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I will say I've said this for years now, but I do think that the Tango thing to me always read as not part of the plan, but like, they didn't invest in hi Fi Rush Microsoft that just kind of like fell onto them of, oh, this was this game being made as this deal was happening and they ended up having it. Right. Because they were going after Bethesda. They were going after Bethesda for the ball out. Sky. Ball out to Skyrim. Yeah, world. So I, I do think that that's a perfect example of what I'm saying of just like, we are still and going to be for a while in this place. Of like, all right, what did. What was the value? Like, what did they purchase and what are. What is their strategy with all of that going forward? And I think that's starting to get way more clear as we're actively in it and as we are now. You know, they're talking about what their next generation console plans are, and it's like they're spelling out everything that we've been talking about about the last year when it came to every move Xbox has been making, turning it into combining PC and console more than ever, both on a handheld and A desktop conversation as well as the cloud and all of that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And what teams fit with that strategy and what don't I do think double fine does? I do think that like there's double fine to me is that type of game pass strategy of get it out there. It's not going to be a bazillion seller necessarily, but it is stuff to give people and it is one of those like more fun little projects for people to get into and have some level of identity to their projects.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

At a certain point. Yeah. What's first to go when they're looking at hey, we're not making enough money so we gotta let some team go that hasn't produced results. Yeah. Maybe double team.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean double fine is there and.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That'S what I look at when I look out. Just how, how, when we're talking about how big they are as a company right now, like we're. Yeah, you're right. Like there's nobody scale wise that's that big as a video games publisher. But is there a reason for that? Right. Like is that tenable? Is that something that you can manage or are we going to see over time then shrink back to a size that's manageable? I hope I'm wrong about that. I hope right now they're in a place that's manageable.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, that's my thing is. No, they're not. They're clearly not. Yeah, that's just the, the whole long and short of this is no, this is not manageable. Like they acquired way too much and there's way too many thousands of people that they don't know what to do with. Like they made those choices. But yeah, it is unmanageable and it's not sustainable that way. This is them trying to sustain it, which is a call.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, and it fucking sucks. And it's incredibly disrespectful to the thousands of people that have worked to help create the system to be something that they can even look at as a strategy. But I don't see this changing blessing. Like I think that we are strapping in for this same news story from Xbox multiple times to remain before we get anywhere close to oh, they got it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What does the VR headset help?

[Tim Gettys]

I, I mean I do think that it does for the point that I'm making of like the more people that are playing and the more, the more hardcore niches you can get into that want to associate with Xbox the better. Like if they can get people to want to sign up for Game Pass. Because, hey, I already have this thing and it's easier. I want to play VR games. There's multiple VR games on Game Pass. Like that would be a good thing. There's a lot of ifs here. A lot of ifs.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What if it's out now?

[Tim Gettys]

This is me trying to segue Real talk. I got so thrown off during that because I saw your thing sign out. I got logged out of Google. So the doc went away and I couldn't remember my password. I'm like, oh, like this is going to be bad. My bad. Bless. That was excellent. Yeah. Xbox is Surprise story number two. Xbox is surprise. Meta Quest 3S VR headsets out now, but supply is extremely limited. This comes from Andy Robinson at vgc. Xbox is partnered with Meta for the limited edition Meta Quest 3S Xbox edition. The special VR headsets available from today for $400 in extremely limited quantities from Meta.com, best Buy, Argos and EE. And according to Microsoft, once they're gone, they're gone. The bundle includes a custom 128 gigabyte Meta Quest 3S in Xbox Carbon black and velocity green. Hell yeah. Matching Touch plus controllers, a limited edition Xbox wireless controller, an elite strap, three months of Meta Horizon plus and three months of Xbox Game Pass ultimate quote with cloud gaming and the launch of the Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition bundle. God, I'm not saying it anymore. There have never been more ways to play with Xbox. We're proud of what we built together with Meta and we can't wait for you to dive into everything the Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition has to offer. Whether you're streaming the latest Xbox Game Pass ultimate titles, exploring the ever expanding world of VR or kicking back with immersive entertainment, it's just the beginning of what's possible when great teams and great technology come together.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Here's the thing. When we when we talked about this yesterday, I was taken aback by the idea of the Xbox partnering with Meta for a VR headset. Just because VR doesn't has never felt like something that the Xbox brand has wanted to chase after. Even though coming off of the Asus Xbox ally situation, this makes sense of why they would do this. It being a limited time thing in my brain make way more sense right of like hey, this isn't necessarily a vision that we have as far as like a way we want to build things out in a serious way. But it does help us I think help Xbox kind of reinforce the idea of hey, anything can be an Xbox. Hey, like we have an agnostic open platform here that we want to work with people to like get things happening and like whether it's asus, whether it's meta, like hey, come through, be an Xbox everybody, you can be an Xbox. It's like Oprah, a bunch of platforms in the audience being like, you can be an Xbox.

[Tim Gettys]

I could not have said it better by selling plus real talk though, I do think you're nailing it. Like yeah, this being limited on one hand a little bit weird just because like limited run products are always a little weird. But also it does make a lot of sense and I do think it goes back to what I was just saying of like you go to the hardcore niche enthusiast bases and you try to please them and you try to give them more ways to enjoy your product. Like that's going to be a win for you if you manage to pull it off. And I do think that here like how this reads it is not oh hey, we buy this for the VR necessarily. This is more use this as a way to play your games with a big ass screen. Yeah, you know, if you don't have a big ass screen, and I know there are a lot of people that do that, it's not the majority by any stretch of the imagination in terms of all gamers, but there are clearly from market driven data that they're looking at enough for them to want to be like, you know what, we should partner matters. The right partner, let's get out there. And I agree with you that like yeah, we're going to continue to see Xbox branded hardware in more and more places and I do think that their goal is to be ubiquitous with technology.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, you can play ubiquitous with screens if there's a screen you can play. And honestly I think this is a good billboard. I think, you know me, you, a sizable portion of the people watching this probably knew that you could play Xbox cloud off of a VR headset, off of the meta quest VR headset. But I think this works as a billboard to tell anybody, hey, by the way, if you have a meta quest, whether it's the Xbox One or not, like you can play Xbox games on that. And I think that made a light bulb light up in like so many people's heads. Oh shit, I can play my Xbox on my VR. Like, oh yeah, let's see, let's do it again.

[Tim Gettys]

We're still in the education process when it comes to what Xbox currently is and more importantly what is going to be in short time. Right. And there's still a lot going on and Just like we were just talking about of like the structures of everything, the marketing of everything and just the consolidation and understanding of like what the product even is. I think still is to the general consumer fairly nebulous. But I don't think it's going to take too long for them to get into a place where, yeah, the Xbox brand, the Xbox logo just means something different. And if Xbox and Microsoft can pull off that, when people just see that X on something, they know exactly what it means.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Which is you can play your game, pass games there, you can play your Xbox games there and you kind of have a full scalability whether you want to play it from the cloud actually on a system on your this, on your that. Like that's when they win, that's when they truly are in the end game of cool. The strategy is sound and now we just need to continue making games and continue supporting the platforms they have in front of them. Yeah, the meta being one. I want to get to story number three, but first I want to take a quick word from our sponsors. This episode's brought to you by Cash App. We've all had those moments getting meals out with people that always end in some kind of awkward experience of having to figure out the least complicated way to just get it done. Or even after figuring it out. Have you used an app and ended up having to wait days for your money to finally show up? What if we could solve all of that easily? Cash App is a completely different experience. Fast, easy and safe and a great way to receive and transfer money to family and friends. It's incredibly easy to set up. You just enter your phone or email and some other basic information. No bank account needed. And then there's no waiting around for days. It's your money. You shouldn't have to wait. We love using Cash App because it's fast, it's safe and it just makes life way less stressful. For a limited time only new Cash App users can use our exclusive code to earn some additional cash. For real. There's no catch. Just download Cash App and sign up. Use our exclusive referral code. Kinda funny in your profile. Send $5 to a friend within 14 days and you'll get $10 dropped right into your account. Terms apply. That's money. That's Cash App. This episode is brought to you by Mood. Let me tell you about the online cannabis company that's revolutionizing how we deal with life's challenges. From sleepless nights to stress filled days, Mood.com has created an entire line of functional gummies that target specific health concerns with 100% federally legal THC blends. They'll deliver them discreetly right to your doorstep. And you can get 20% off your first [e-mail] with promo code Kinda Funny. I've been having a great time trying out all their different gummies and I'm loving how each one feels. Their sleepy time gummies will knock you out in about 15 minutes flat. No hangovers, no grogginess, and their epic euphoria Gummies are perfect for those days when nothing's going right. And best of all, not only does Mood stand behind everything with an industry leading 100 day satisfaction guarantee, but as I mentioned, listeners get 20% off their first order with code kinda funny. So head to mood.com, browse their amazing selection of functional gummies and find the perfect gummy for whatever you are dealing with. And remember to use promo code Kinda funny at checkout to save 20% on your first order. You know that one friend who somehow.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Knows everything about money?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Now imagine they live in your phone. Say hey to a Experian, your big financial friend.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It's the app that helps you check your FICO score, find ways to save, and basically feel like a financial genius. And guess what?

[Tim Gettys]

It's totally free.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So go on, download the Experian app. Trust me, having a BFF like this.

[Tim Gettys]

Is a total game changer. Hey, what's up everybody? We're back. We're trying our best here, everyone. Things happen sometimes. Story number three. Rematch has now sold 1 million copies. This comes from Ben Lyons at Game Reactor. Rematch seems to be the answer to virtual football that so many players have been after. We say this because within a day of launch, the arcade title managed to surpass 1 million players, a figure that didn't reflect sales due to its inclusion on services like Game Pass. Clearly the sales numbers weren't too far behind though, as now it has been confirmed Rematch is a million seller too. That's freaking awesome. Also, didn't realize it was on Game Pass. Very cool. Smart call for that game. Slow Clap confirms as much in a press release. That also reveals that the total player count is now beyond 2.5 million and that the following stats are in fact accurate Examples of player tendencies. 11.78 million matches played, 58.58 million goals, 33.54 million assists, and 69.12 million goalkeeper saves.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Nice.

[Tim Gettys]

Bless you. Out of all people in the world are the special boy with this one.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh man, I feel like they made.

[Tim Gettys]

This one just for you.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I've never seen a game more constructed in a lab that was meant for me. Like the only thing left is for them to do some kind of Sonic the Hedgehog collaboration to really make it like solidified. Yeah, this is a fascinating one. I'm like, this is one I could have called from a mile away just for the fact of. In those pre launch betas that they were doing and like the pre launch tests, I saw so much fan fervor for this game already. Like so many like tick Tocks of people posting clips. So many just online, like algorithmic stuff pulling up this game of people being excited and like I would see a clip and I would see like hundreds of thousands of likes on Tick Tock and I'm like, oh, all right, they got something here with rematch. I think it's, it's simple as far as like the premise of like what, what this is, but it's also genius at the same time because guess what? We don't get many good like soccer games. You know what I mean? Like you get FIFA and that's like the, that's the one. And then you get EE Football or whatever the. They're calling the Konami one nowadays and like that shit's not good. I'm. I think the more I see of the success of this game, the more I'm surprised that we haven't seen more like this until now. I think the era of like FIFA street and like the casual arcadey soccer games and Arcady sports games.

[Tim Gettys]

Mega Man Soccer.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Mega Man Soccer, right? Like even like the Mario Sport, Mario Sports games might not be the best example, but like they kind of dropped the ball in my opinion of the last Mario Soccer game Strikers. Like the fact that that era has kind of shifted and gone away. I'm like, man, y' all leaving money on the table because soccer has the biggest audience in the world, right? Or football, if you want to call it that, right? Like that has such a large audience for it. And for the developers of Sifu to come through and go, hey, let's make something that's in our style, something that play like, plays really good in real time, right? Like we have a good feel for action and a good feel for like how a game should play. Let's do something as simple as 3v3, 4v4 5v5 soccer and make it simple and fun. Like, yeah, of course it's going to be a hit. One of the big conversations I've been seeing around this is the pricing of it because I see so many People online saying make the game free, it should be free to play. I couldn't disagree more now that I played quite a bit of this game since this launch one, they sold a million. So already they're doing great for $30, like that's fantastic.

[Tim Gettys]

So already I'm like 30 is very reasonable. Yeah, 30, not even 40.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, it's $30. It's on game Pass which echoes how Rocket League launched back in the day in 2015. Right where that launched on PS plus and then also was a paid game at the same time. This goes back to. I remember Greg talking about this of you and him having a conversation of like should you release something? Now I'm now I think about this might have been a private conversation but it was like should you release something for free or should you pay for it? And Greg told me that you were like, yeah, we can always set something to free. We can't set something that was free to something paid.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You know what I mean? And I have the same sort of idea here of hey, if they want to go free to play, like let them start off as a paid thing and then they can go free to play over time. If they launch this thing free to play and if it doesn't hit, they're fucked. They're done. They're done. So and like I've seen the battle pass, I've looked at their microtransaction stuff. That stuff in rematch is not there. If this game launched as free to play, this game would have been free. Like I'm saying this as somebody who went through Knockout City as a game that was fantastic quality. All that stuff launched as a paid, as a paid game, went free to play and like just didn't have the stuff free to play. And that game's not a thing anymore. Right. You can play it on private servers and that's it. Like I'm so happy that rematch charged for it because they're making that money. They're going to be able to sustain this game and hopefully support this game over time, get it to where it needs to be, hopefully get the Battle Pass stuff up there and get the like post launch content up there. And then if the game gets to a place where it is, oh, we got stuff that can sell in cosmetics, we have these collaborations, we have stuff that's going to keep it afloat. Let's go free to play so we can get the player base up then pull that lever. And so I'm happy this game is doing well. I want it to live forever.

[Tim Gettys]

I Know, I'm so happy for you. I still haven't got my hands on it, but I. Every time I see any clip of it, I'm just like, damn, dude. Like, I've been seeing some like, incredible tech online, like people doing in like Rocket League style, like bounces and like after overtime, like keeping the ball in play. Like, yeah, it seems like there it has the depth that it has the interest from players, which is cool. You bring up. The soccer obsession is interesting because obviously soccer, football, huge, biggest thing maybe in the entire world. Not just sports, just period. Right. I am surprised that the mar, like this didn't even lean more into. It's what it is. I feel like it's so Rocket Leaguey, you know, and I feel like the conversation tends to be more about how it's Rocket League than it is about it being soccer, which is funny because Rocket League is just. And that's soccer with cars. But yeah, there is a difference there. I. I don't know.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I. It's. What's funny is I remember when they first revealed this. One of the things that I talked about in the like, games cast after game awards was in regards to Rocket League and how in a lot of ways, in my opinion, Rocket League is more authentic to how soccer plays than even FIFA is. Because in Rocket League you think about positioning more. You have to think about like the physics of how you're hitting the ball and like how you're like maybe passing the ball to somebody. And like, it's a lot more. Rocket League feels more like how I play soccer when I'm on the pitch than FIFA is. Or FIFA is almost more of like a strategy thing of all right, pass, pass, pass position here. Like, you know, you're kind of going through the motions. But this game, I think captures more of that Rocket League vibe of, oh no, this is how soccer feels to play as opposed to like how an actual soccer game like FIFA does it. And so I think that's fine that it feels a bit more on like the Rocket League side because I think they want to invoke that as well. Like, I think the small player number and then being able to hit the ball off walls and all that stuff kind of feeds into the Rocket League nature of it. But I think people look at it and I think whether or not people think soccer or Rocket League, it's a net positive either way.

[Tim Gettys]

Absolutely. Yeah. Because we're talking about what, one of the. The biggest hit multiplayer games ever, you know, in terms of sustainability and just like interested, like, yeah, man, Staying power, like, good for them. And, and do you see this game existing three years from now? Does it need to?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I, this is gonna be a conversation for the review because I think yes, but I think they have a lot to work on. I, I, I, I feel like if I'm gonna continue the Rocket League comparison, I think Rocket League launched in a way better way than this game is launching as far as like, content and like, I'm gonna continue here in Echoes content and like, essentially like how full and how live the game feels in Rocket League. Like rematch kind of just launched with a mode and that's it. Like it has 3v3, 44, 5v5, and then a ranked 5v5 mode. And that's it. There's practice mode and there's like a cool prologue thing in that. It, it feels kind of bare bones in a way where, like, I think you really need to build if you want to last longer. But we'll talk about that more tomorrow.

[Tim Gettys]

Story number four. Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive drag and Drive has a release date, but no price. So far, this comes from WYP at ign. Wesley in full. Nintendo's once again used its today app to announce news, this time a Release date for Switch 2 exclusive Dragon Drive. Let's just talk about that for a second. Nintendo's really out here using its app.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

I am shocked.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You doubted them.

[Tim Gettys]

I did.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I believe.

[Tim Gettys]

It's so funny. They're just putting random things out there and it's like it's the most classic Nintendo. Not quite enough information.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I hate it so much, you know.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay. IGN announced they have a price. Now it's $20. Dragon Drive launches exclusively on the eShop. So that means no physical release on Switch 2 August 14, 2025, for $20. Nintendo has so far failed to confirm a price until now, everybody. The game was announced in the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal direct. Bless you. And I played this game.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Me, you, and Raj, we played this game together.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Does it, did it feel like $20 to you?

[Tim Gettys]

$20, sure.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Sure. Right.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, yeah. It's like I, I didn't love it. I thought it was a little nifty, you know, that we had the big mouse pad. We're dragon, we're driving. Right. You feel all the HD rumble and the, the mouse controls. Using two of the Joy cons as, as mice was novel.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, playing against like, we, we did like the tutorial, the kind of like taught you how to like, get the ball and then shoot the ball and pass the ball and then we actually Played a game together and we're like, passing the ball to each other and dunking it and stuff. And when it hit, it hit pretty nice.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, like when you get the ball and you're just like, yeah. But in that kind of novelty arcade thing, when you're at like an old school carnival type thing and you have the gun and you're shooting the little targets and you actually hit one and you're like, yeah, yeah. It's that same type of feeling where it's like, I don't know that this is going to necessarily connect with any group of gamers. And I think that's the problem.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I. My. Here's my issue with this is why wasn't this a launch game? I ain't playing this on August 14th. I got to do, Tim.

[Tim Gettys]

I got.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I got to do.

[Tim Gettys]

I get it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'm gonna still be collecting things in Hong Bonanza, you know what I mean?

[Tim Gettys]

Bonanza is July 17th. A week after that, we have Mario Party, Switch 2 Edition plus, or whatever in August will be a. A week away from Kirby in the forgotten land. Switch 2 edition. So, yeah, this does seem like a bizarre choice. Like, knowing everything we do now about the Switch 2 launch. This should have been there.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

This would have been. I mean, this gives, like, prime launch, like, launch day game vibes, you know, unknown quantity. It's a little cool multiplayer, like, sports thing.

[Tim Gettys]

Showing off the consoles.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Showing off, like, yeah, the gimmick of the console. And like, you know, I don't want to call it a tech demo because I think oftentimes that feels like an insult. But it. It serves that tech demo purpose of like, okay, cool. This is how this thing works. And also. Oh, it's a thing to do with this console that I launched that only has one big game. And then I can play Mario Kart World, and then in between, I'll play some Dragon Drive, you know? You know, have some fun there.

[Tim Gettys]

Totally.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I ain't playing this when Kirby in the Forgotten Land is around the corner.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, it. I got Alicon in chat says this is the definition of a launch game. Yeah, it really, really is. Like, it should have been. And I do think that I also don't know that that would have done too many favors for it necessarily, like, going back to, like. I. I'm just concerned about this game overall because having played it, it was exhausting. Like, while it was kind of cool, we were all like, we're seriously going like this constantly. Like, it's. It's a lot and, like, not in the Ring fit, adventure type way. I do think that had they maybe marketed this more as a workout, a workout type thing, I think they could have found something. And maybe they still have time. I don't know. I don't think so, though. But my biggest problem with this game is, and it's weird to compare it to something that wasn't a hit, but it lacks any of the Nintendo charm that Arms had.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Sure. Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

You know what? I feel that you look at ARMS and you're like, okay, Nintendo has a new ip.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And the music of that game, which is some of the best of all time, same composer as Mario Kart World. It makes a lot of sense. That theme song. God damn, it's good. And the game. Sure. You know, I, I am a defend, a defender of arms in the sense that, like, I enjoyed it a lot when I played it, but, like, here I am. Am I ever gonna play it again? I don't know. Maybe I will this weekend.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What you're saying is that you're not gonna see the Dragon Drive character in a future Smash Bros.

[Tim Gettys]

I don't think so.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

No. And honestly, we better not.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, it was crazy. We got Min Min from Arms, but. We did. But I don't think we get the Dragon Drive character. I just, I simply don't.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I was, I was using Minman from Arms the other day in Smash Brothers for the very first time. I just went through. I, I remember we had to talk about, like, classic mode and should I try to get go after all the, the spirits or whatever. And I looked at my classic mode. I was like, oh, you know what? I've done a big handful of these. And I saw Minman. I was like, I'll try out mine. Min. Really fun. Smash character.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Minman might be my next main. Just putting that out there.

[Tim Gettys]

I I that sounds good.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I with Min.

[Tim Gettys]

Good, good. Play some harps, you know. But yeah, I feel like it's funny because I remember when Splatoon was first announced at whatever E3, that was 2013. This was back. I was at IGN. We were in the war room. And, you know, this was the era of everyone wanting to hate Nintendo. We're still kind of there, but we were really there during the Wii U and they announced a new ip. Like, that's wild. The Nintendo announced a new IP and the overall room sentiment was, why is Nintendo making a multiplayer shooter? Essentially, right? And now look where we're at now. Three splatoons in a spin off on the way. Huge hit franchise. One of the big five For Nintendo.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

The way it ain't one of the big.

[Tim Gettys]

That's. It's up to them.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Big ten. I'll get to the side. I'll call it to decide it.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Do you think they could they look at it as a big five?

[Tim Gettys]

Yes. That's my whole point. No Swatoon inklings walking in the Nintendo store. Bless.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, but like hell behind. There's multiple IP in Nintendo store. That's not a big five.

[Tim Gettys]

Not the ones walking to the store. Not the ones on the cable cars.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Mario Zelda, Poke. I guess we're not counting Pokemon. Pokemon gets weird. So even if we're not counting Pokemon. Animal crossing. Oh, man. You might be right. Splatoon might be.

[Tim Gettys]

This is where we're at, bro.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Donkey Kong. Don Kong's out of both Splatoon right now. Donkey Kong will be above Splatoon after God.

[Tim Gettys]

A good timeline we do. My point is though, we doubted Splatoon and it ended up hitting. Yeah, we doubted arms. It didn't really end up hitting. But it's still clearly Nintendo. Yet I look at this and I'm down.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, and like, you know the fool me once will be twice thing. I think there's something different about this one though. This. This doesn't look like it has any of that Smash Brothers appeal.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

No.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

1,000%. Also, whatever you do, don't refresh because there's something funky going on right now. There's something funky going on with the Internet. So if you refresh, we have no doc anymore.

[Tim Gettys]

Okay. Okay. Story number five. Hideo Kojima celebrates his new delivery sim with the official death stranding 2 giga meat pizza, complete with can of Red Bull. Comes from Ashley Barden at Games. Right. I'm looking at you like, are you with me? Like, this is hell. Yeah, that's training too. I'm thinking packages loaded on Norman Reedus, his shoulders like barnacles. Esoterica gals with names like Night sky, air, well behaved, etc. But director Hideo Kojima is more preoccupied with sausage, corn and a nuclear bunker supply of mayonnaise, as evidenced by the Official Death Stranding 2 on the beach collab with takeout pizza company Domino's in Japan. Death stranding and pizza. Kojima explains in a tweet. This is hilariously written. Who are you? Ashley Bardhan from Gabe's Radar. I like you. He elaborates further on the Japanese Domino's website, which we translated with Google saying that as a child he watched with reverence as characters in Hollywood movies ordered pizza delivery and ate it on the couch. He was, quote, impressed by the voluminous pies delivered fresh in a box. And so his Domino's flavor selections are inspired by both American pizza culture and his personal tastes. That's how we end up with the giga meat pizza and Red Bull combo. The official dinner of Sandy, wind Bitten, Death Stranding 2.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Can I tell you?

[Tim Gettys]

Yes.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I just love the image of Kojima seeing a Domino's pizza for the first time and just being blown away.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Just being like, what is this?

[Tim Gettys]

See, I wonder if he was watching Ninja Turtles. I want to believe he was watching.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You think Kojima's into Ninja Turtles?

[Tim Gettys]

I do.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I could see it.

[Tim Gettys]

Think about his tweet. You could see it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I could.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, it would be more than just, I saw Ninja Turtles. You'd have things to say about it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

He'd have a whole review.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I've never seen the, like, live. Well, I saw the old Ninja Turtles movies, the Go, Ninja Go, Ninja Go. But I've not seen, like, the recent.

[Tim Gettys]

You're fine, Michael.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Michael Bay.

[Tim Gettys]

Michael Bay. You're fine. You're absolutely fine. There are elements of them, specifically the second one, that I am a staunch defender of. Yeah, very good, though. Though they real bad.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

All right.

[Tim Gettys]

There's one elevator scene in the first movie that I'm like, oh, why isn't the whole movie. This is it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like the Captain America elevator scene in Winter Soldier kind of.

[Tim Gettys]

Except it's all of them very seriously going from one floor to another about to, like, have to fight a bunch of guys. And, like, in the long elevators, dead silent, and Michelangelo just starts, like, making a beat.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh.

[Tim Gettys]

I think one by one, they all kind of join in, and they just are like.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That was definitely like, a trail, like, in the trailers or something.

[Tim Gettys]

I don't think so. No, I. I mean, I don't know. I've seen this put it on. On Twitter, so all the time, but. But, yeah, the rest of the movie ain't that. Anyways, this pizza's hilarious. And. Okay, you know what? You have played Death Stranding, too.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Does this make sense to you?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You know what? Yes, it does. I didn't even think about it until you said that sentence.

[Tim Gettys]

Wow, we solved it every time.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I can't say anything more. I just put it together. Kojima, you're a genius. That's crazy, because I didn't know. I didn't understand it either. I was like, Domino's, like, pizza. What the. It makes so much sense.

[Tim Gettys]

So I played the first four hours of Death Stranding one three times. I played the first two hours of Death Stranding 2 once. Correct me if I'm wrong. Monsters their jam, right?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, in the first desk training. Yeah, but that's training too. They didn't keep the monster energy drink partnership.

[Tim Gettys]

Got it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And so they don't have any allegiance.

[Tim Gettys]

Bam.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I know. My pay up. I mean, this is a. This is a thing by the director's cut of death training, where Death training one director's cut didn't have monster in it anymore.

[Tim Gettys]

I think, like, the audacity. We go Red Bull, baby. Yeah, dude.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Kojima's swinging that thing. You know what I mean? Don't cross Kojima. Also, can we go? I need to go back to the toppings on here because I couldn't find it written out. But you do have pictures of pictures.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So it's pepperoni. Mm. There's a sausage. Is that bacon?

[Tim Gettys]

Is that a potato? That's bacon on the right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Bacon on the right.

[Tim Gettys]

I think it's a potato in the.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

No, because it looks like an all meat thing. No way.

[Tim Gettys]

That's a potato kick of meat pizza.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Is that like a meatball? Mmm. And then here's the other thing, right? If we can scroll down just a tad bit. Just a tad bit in. In the B roll, the dough has been changed to crispy. Mayonnaise sauce has been added.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm gonna be honest with you. The idea of mayonnaise on pizza makes me gag a little bit. Yeah, like, that's a wild.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's crazy. You would try it, though.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, I love mayonnaise, man. It's just. I do. You know, what can I say? What can I say? Blessed.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Okay, you know what? I get it. I feel you.

[Tim Gettys]

But like, I.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And.

[Tim Gettys]

And here's the thing. Even more than that pizza, ranch dressing. No better combos ever happened. Ranch dressing, mayonnaise. They're like the cousins.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Sure, okay. Cousins. I'll give you cousins.

[Tim Gettys]

You know what I mean? But, like, I try it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I probably. I. This would be one of those ones where, like, it's similar to. We had like a beer flavored Pringles can sit out there this last week. And Nick kept being like, yo, you should try one. And I'll like. I was like, you know what? I'll try one. And I wasn't gonna try anymore, but I took one bite, and I was like, you know what? Not bad. I'm not gonna eat the rest of this.

[Tim Gettys]

It just tasted like. It was like. I forgot the flavoring of it. It was like Light beer and chicken, like a barbecue chicken or something like that. And you. It just kind of tasted like chicken skin, which I was like, all right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I'm here for it. I'll take one bite of this. One bite, one bite.

[Tim Gettys]

See, I want. I don't know. We'll see. We'll have to get to the bottom of this. Yeah, let's order it from Japan.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, oh no.

[Tim Gettys]

The AI is listening.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, Gemini. Oh man. Gemini's are listening to a lot.

[Tim Gettys]

Gemini. Story number 6 AAA game developments unsustainable Story number 6 AAA game development is unsustainable but generative AI can help smash Brothers Boss says this comes from Eddie over at gamespot. I haven't read your version of this yet, but there has been like updated translations, so we'll see if this includes the updates.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But. But.

[Tim Gettys]

Video game development veteran Sakurai, who's best known for creating the Kirby franchise for his work on the Super Smash Brothers series, has said the current model of large scale game development is becoming unsustainable. He told IT Media, as translated by IGN I think it's becoming unsustainable to continue producing large games on the scale that companies currently do, as it requires too much work. Sakurai added that independent game developers are facing challenges too. He said any developers need a lot of luck, effort, polish and standout elements to succeed in the market. The developer went on to say that he sees generative AI as a possible solution to help developers, especially teams that make large scale games. The only effective breakthrough I can think of at the moment is generative AI. I think we're getting to the point where AAA studios have to change the way of working by using generative AI to improve work efficiency. I think we're in an era where only the companies that successfully respond to these changes will be able to survive. He said. So yeah, it sounds like the extra thing was that it wasn't like him saying this is a good thing. It was more just kind of pointing out where it's at. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Which like I'm not mad at. I mean that is.

[Tim Gettys]

That is facts. The facts suck. But yeah, it is. It's very interesting. There's been a lot of conversations going on with people I've been talking to and this is very unfortunate, but people I've been talking to in the game space and even outside of the game space where I've now heard this enough times from different people that I'm like, God damn. There is this conversation of if you're not adopting AI at your jobs, you are going to be left behind.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes.

[Tim Gettys]

And that is horrible and so sucky that you're kind of put in this position of do I go against my beliefs on this? Just. Or else I'm not only not going to get promoted, I might lose my job, you know, Like, I am not going to be able to continue because my boss's boss's bosses are looking at them and being like, do you know how to use this program and this program and solving this problem with this thing? Like, and that is terrifying. That like it feels like we already lost Bliss.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

There's a J. Cole quote where he says, either you play the game or let the game play you and be that broke motherfucker. Talking about I stayed true.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And like that line is so applicable to so many situations, including this one, right? Where I like, I had a conversation a while ago with a brother in law who like works at a tech company and is like high up. Like he's like engineering slash, like I think it like software development. Fucking genius of a dude. And he was telling me about like, yeah, like this is a. Basically if you work at a big tech company, they are asking you, strongly asking you to implement AI in any sort of way. Because that is what is driving funding now. Like AI has to be attached to what you're doing and that is how you, that's how you're going to make money. And I think this goes back to where we're at in the video games industry and video games becoming a matured medium where companies are trying to figure out how to get more money as money is not coming in as quickly. And how do you get more money to make video games? Today you put AI like you figure out a way to attach the words generative AI to your thing. That way you can get the funding. You might not believe in it, you might not like it, but that's, it's the, it's like the, the game of tug of war we're playing right now. I think the. I don't have, I guess I do have opinions on this, right? But like, yeah, I think I still do believe in the, I guess like the true nature of. Hey, like we can, you can still make something special and something successful and doing all this stuff without generative AI, right? Like we're still playing games. I'm looking at them like, I assume maybe I shouldn't assume because you know what that does, right? But I assume Death Stranding 2 doesn't have generative AI. I, I feel like Yoji Shinkawa wouldn't, wouldn't let that pass. Maybe that's a bad example.

[Tim Gettys]

Right?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like, I. I assume that a lot of these games that are still coming out are still being made the traditional.

[Tim Gettys]

Way until everyone's laid off.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Until everybody's laid off and this is not making money anymore. And everybody's like, well, the finals had it. Like, let's do it. But yeah, like, I think here's the thing. Everything that. That it. That was said by Sakurai in there is true. And AI is like, I think a business solution for it. But yeah, I don't think. I don't think we're. I'm not doom and gloom yet, is what I'm saying. I'm not all the way to the point of like, all right, like, we're all done. Like, fucking AI is going to be in everything. And that's. That's the thing.

[Tim Gettys]

I think I'm pretty doom and gloom on it. Like, I think we're just. I think it's. The genie's out of the bottle. I think there's just no putting it back where it has worked for too many people out there. And those people are in positions of power that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But worked in what way?

[Tim Gettys]

Allowing them to cut workforce.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I mean, yeah, that's.

[Tim Gettys]

Make money and be totally fine and not affected negatively in any way besides social posts and people being upset about people stealing art.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But I guess my thing is, has it worked in the way that we're seeing generative AI used in like, video game releases and also becoming successful and all that stuff?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. I mean, you talk about it's been a slow adoption. Like, I. I don't know about the game being side. But like, you look online and it's like, yeah, things are changing already, like, rapidly. Like seeing Will Smith eat spaghetti a couple years ago and now seeing Will Smith eat spaghetti now, it's really terrifying.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And I know you know that, but it's like, it's. I think that we are well past the point of being able to be like, you know what? We're banning this. We're not using this. This is bad. Which is very scary. Especially because, like, I mean, at the end of the day, there's AI, there's generative AI. They are different conversations. And within the generative AI, there are ethical ways to go about it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And that's my thing too.

[Tim Gettys]

I think we're past that, though. I think that it's like we lost the war on the. On the ethical perspective and now it's just like it. It's stealing, but it's not really Stealing. Unless you're Warner Brothers or. I forgot who was it last week that got upset? I think it was Disney and Universal that are starting to sue people for putting up their AI like videos and stuff on. On YouTube and stuff. I'm like, all right, maybe we'll get some change there now that they're realizing, like, it is stealing their. And they don't want that. But I. I think still don't think that's going to be enough.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think in here's the thing, right? I'm gonna say my opinion and then I'm gonna also go back on it, right? Of like. Like, I think it's a quality issue. I think the AI stuff that we've seen so far implemented has been very bad quality in ways that, like, just haven't resonated with the audience. And I say that to, like, the finals VO stuff that was going around like a year and a half ago, right? Like, people were very quickly to be like, oh, this sounds like this is AI shit, right? Or like the Marvel Secret Invasion intro thing of on. On the Disney plus show, right? Like, people are like, this looks like shit. I think we're still. We're still kind of in the this looks like shit phase, but we're not going to be there for long. Like, that's a scary thing when you're talking about the Google is a VO. Google VO3 that has like, the Will Smith eating spaghetti and it looks really good now. We're not going to be in the it looks like shit phase for long. And then it really is going to be.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, we're not. Like, we already aren't. And the secret invasion thing too. Like, that's. There are artistic choices with AI and we can decide if we're cool with that or not. But, like. Yeah, but also, at the end of the day, I think a lot of people were turned off by that enough that they're just like this. I'm not watching the show because I don't support the stuff and like, good for them, you know, like there, I do think is so many layers to this. But it's terrifying to go back to Sakurai real quick. I am very interested because supposedly this year we're getting another Sakurai game. Yeah. Kirby Air Riders.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Fully AI.

[Tim Gettys]

Like, I mean, no, but like, it. That game, I'm. I'm worried about it in the sense that I'm excited. As for it, I can't imagine a Kirby Air Riders hitting with an audience like a modern gaming audience, like the guy that made Smash Brothers. Now he's putting this out. It's like I, I think that Sakurai has turned into a much more prominent figure since even Kid Icarus back in like 2012 or whatever that was 2011 maybe. And yeah, putting out a Kirby Air Riders game, like it's, it's going to be a smaller title. It has to be and it probably should be. But yeah, hearing him talk about all this of like how hard it is to make Giant games, I don't know man.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I did. It comes back to the conversation where I think a lot of the games that we're gonna, that we're gonna get in these future years that are gonna be like the breakout stuff is gonna be led a lot by the biggest and like most like money making companies that we have. Right. It's going to continue to be the call of duties and it's going to be maybe the Craftons or the Net Eases and like the companies like that. But then on the other side I think you're gonna, we're gonna have a lot more reliance on like the Super Giants and the Larians and I mean now the Expedition 33 studio. Right. Like, and those are the, those are the folks that I think are not going to use AI in their thing because they're independent and like they don't have to worry theoretically about shareholders unless there are like actually we can make a lot more money. Let's do that.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Which is going to happen sometimes. Right. But for sure I think there's going to be integrity involved as well. Right. Where I think a lot of the folks that are on that side of things want to create art that they believe in that they're passionate about. And like I don't think they'd want AI, Generative AI to be involved in that shit. Right. But I think it's going to be two different camps of what AAA looks like and where AAA goes. And I'm really concerned about that for all the reasons Sakurai's talking about. But at the end of the day I think for sure we're still gonna have like studios that we know and love that are independent, that are doing their thing, that are still making games on a not even big scale because I don't know if I'm calling Hades big scale when I'm comparing it to a death stranding or something like that.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But you're still going to have those and I think those are still going to carry the flag forward for those special games that we know and love.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. God, if we get more games like Expedition 33 and Hades. That'd be big. Bless.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, it'd be huge.

[Tim Gettys]

So big. But if I wanted to know something very small, where would I look?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I gotta go off the top of the dome because I've not had the dock this entire time. You go. I'm not even looking.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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

[Tim Gettys]

It's true, everybody. WE News for you. Beavis and Butthead are coming to Call of Duty.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Hell yeah, brother.

[Tim Gettys]

Hell yeah, brother. Rematch has sold over a million copies. Surpassed 2.5 million players across all platforms. The new Phasmophobia update Chronicle is out today and overhauls the game's optional objectives with new ghost hunting tools. Riot Games shuts down Hypixel Studios and cancels Hightail. That's unfortunate. Kalina Liang joins Legendary Street Fighter movie as Chun Li. Yeah, dude. I'm hoping this movie's fun.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I hope so too.

[Tim Gettys]

I really do. Painkiller launch. Like, all we need bless is cool actors just doing the moves. That's it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Don't get crazy.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Don't get, don't get too cute.

[Tim Gettys]

Don't get cute.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Just have fun.

[Tim Gettys]

Don't get cute. We don't need a Chun Li origin story. Get the fuck out of here. We definitely don't need an original character.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What if you put a dude and his name is Cole?

[Tim Gettys]

What?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You made Cole the main character.

[Tim Gettys]

What if I told you that that actor, he's a badass. I think I heard Cobra Kai.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. I think I heard Final Senseis. His name is Wolf.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

See, that's cool. That's cool. You could have made him Nightwolf.

[Tim Gettys]

You're right. Combat System Shock 2 25th Anniversary Remaster console version's been delayed to the first two weeks of July. Yoshi Story original soundtrack has been added to Nintendo music.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Let's go.

[Tim Gettys]

Hell yeah. Diablo 4 Sins of the Horror Dream begins on July 1st. And that's we news for you. See what we got wrong today? Ooh. Nothing. Is that because we're disconnected from the Internet?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

1,000. Yeah. I've not seen chat 30 minutes.

[Tim Gettys]

We do have some super chats I want to get to. Falcon says Xbox's biggest issues. Microsoft, as long as Satya Nadella is intent on burning billions on open AI there will always be layoffs to cover the losses. Yeah, Yeah. I mean, I, I, I think that that is true. I also don't. I think that Microsoft's big problem is Xbox. In the same Way like Xbox has not had its shit together for so long and has made some disaster decisions. So I do think that there's just a lot of problems. But again, too many cooks and way.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Too many cooks is like the way to put it back to the matter is.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Everything you're saying is true as well. Above all of this, while there's chaos happening.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Scary Leopard Cut says. I think these layoffs are going to be mostly hardware layoffs. Xbox is now purely a software publisher. I mean.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I see.

[Tim Gettys]

I don't think that that's true though.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. No. Like they're working on their next gen stuff. Right. Like, I don't think Xbox and Microsoft is ever going to stop putting out Xbox hardware now. Is it de emphasized maybe. Right. But I don't think that's gonna be the thing. Yeah. I don't think that'd be the thing that like.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I don't think they're laying off their hardware team because they're software. Like they're still making hardware.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Even if their hardware is the controllers. You know, Like, I think that the Xbox controller is going to be with us for the rest of time. I hope so iterations on it at least. Like, I do think that that's going to be the key into the world of Xbox depending on no matter what screen you're on. You know what I mean?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It's like Xbox controller. As far as like hardware sales might be one of the best selling things in video games.

[Tim Gettys]

Well, I don't know about sales, but definitely produced. We know that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. They definitely make a lot of things and they'd be just passing those things out.

[Tim Gettys]

Crazy age Atomic says. Thanks to the best friend who mentioned the Kojima event in London. I had no idea it was happening, but now I have a ticket. Oh, hell yeah. Gondor's Condor says this is up there with Embracers Group. Embracer Group's failings. Yeah, man. Like we're talking about many people's lives that are just being.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Trivialized due to corporate greed.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Samson L says another blessing game Ultimate Sonic Smackdown.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I saw the trailer for this yesterday. Have you seen this?

[Tim Gettys]

No. I saw the like leaked slides of it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It's a fan made Sonic fighting game. I watched the trailer.

[Tim Gettys]

No, I did not see this one. I'm wrong.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, okay. For a fan game, looks pretty good. But also it's like, it's not something I would play just for the sense of I want quality. I want quality. Like it looks good. For a fan game. It looks good.

[Tim Gettys]

Gotcha.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But For a video game. I'm like, I don't good that they're making it. Yeah, cool idea.

[Tim Gettys]

TB. Fiddler says best sports racing game this year is going to be nuts. Mario Kart Rematch, Fast Fusion, Sonic Racing, Kirby Air Ride, Tony Hawk Skate and Dragon Drive.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I love how you snuck Dragon Drop.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, I think they snuck a couple things in there. Like, I. We'll see. I think it's actually just going to be an easy slam dunk. Mario Kart wins. Move on.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, wow. Really?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, really. I'm not even talking about the quality of any of these games. I just think the way the game boards voting works.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I don't know. I need you to stop counting out Sonic Racing cross.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, there's not a chance in hell, no matter how good that game is, no matter what, that game's not beating Mario Kart in votes at the game awards.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Do we have a. Do we have a release date? It might come out after the cutoff. So maybe that's the thing that holds it back.

[Tim Gettys]

I don't.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I don't think that might be the only.

[Tim Gettys]

That might be the exception. Use spongebob in it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It's going to be the real reason.

[Tim Gettys]

I think that game's going to be really good.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Sonic Racing.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Oh.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Comes out September 25th, so it'll be eligible.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. Watch out.

[Tim Gettys]

Fast Fusion. Fun game, but like, it's not going to have the juice. Tony Hawk 1 and 2 did win the year it came out, but I don't think this beat three and four beats out. Mario Kart. Dragon Drive I don't think gets on the list. I don't see Skate. Not a chance.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I feel like Mario Kart match where with like people being maybe a little bit underwhelmed by like the open world stuff and like all like I. I could see maybe that bringing like the game awards votes down a little bit.

[Tim Gettys]

Mario Kart, man.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's fair.

[Tim Gettys]

It's compare Mario Kart to these other games.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I mean Tony Hawk's three plus four we'll see in rematch. Honestly, I think rematch probably has the closest thing, but like it's the fact that it's games critics voting I think takes it out where like if it was like just pure audience votes, I. I would actually start like think about leaning towards rematch.

[Tim Gettys]

No way. As far as like what we're just letting.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

There's an audience passion. Audience has been hating on Mario Kart.

[Tim Gettys]

The loud ones are. What about the millions and billions and billions of people playing?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, but like they're not those aren't voters. We're talking about the audience of Internet gamers that be voting on things.

[Tim Gettys]

We'll see. We'll see. DJ Kento says Dragon Drive more like drop and flop. Boom. Got him.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Sure, sure, sure.

[Tim Gettys]

Do we know if Dragon Drive will have a standard controller option or is it more mouse mode only? Unrelated. I highly recommend Fast Fusion for Switch two. Yeah, Fast Fusion's dope. Definitely check it out.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Have you played Fast Fusion?

[Tim Gettys]

Yes.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

It's super cool. Like if you like fast speed F0 type games, I highly recommend it. I also recommend F0 on the Nintendo game online. But yeah, both are very fun. I've been bouncing back and forth between.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

How to imagine mouse mode.

[Tim Gettys]

We only got to play with mouse mode. I think it is mouse mode.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

If there's anything, guys. Yeah, I don't know how. How it would work on a regular controller.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Well, everybody, this has been kind of funny Games Daily. A little bit of a weird episode because we dropped the Internet and we're able to chat with y' all. But we're sorry about that. Technical difficulties do happen. We appreciate your patience. We have a full day of fun content for you though. We're about to do gamescast covering everything we've been playing. And then after that, the boys are jumping into some Dune. Awakening.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Awakening. Maybe I can peer pressure them to do like a second half rematch stream. Because I want to play rematch. It's a good game.

[Tim Gettys]

I love that. You're just like infiltrating. It's great. Anyway, till next time. Love you all. Goodbye.