Xbox Says There Will Definitely Be Future Consoles - Kinda Funny Games Daily 11.15.24

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily: Xbox Says There Will Definitely Be Future Consoles - Detailed Summary

Episode: Xbox Says There Will Definitely Be Future Consoles
Release Date: November 15, 2024
Hosts: Greg “GameOverGreggy” Miller, Tim Gettys, and Blessing Adeoye Jr., alongside Angie Hicks and Barrett Courtney

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Introduction

The episode kicks off with the hosts sharing light-hearted banter about their personal lives and recent activities. Blessing Adeoye Jr. mentions juggling late-night outings and morning routines, setting a casual and engaging tone for the discussion.

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1. Xbox's Commitment to Future Consoles

Main Discussion:
Phil Spencer, Microsoft's gaming CEO, recently confirmed in an interview with Rolling Stone that Xbox will continue to develop new consoles in the future. This announcement comes amid speculation about the company's shift towards a multiplatform strategy, emphasizing the versatility of Xbox across various devices.

Key Points:

• Phil Spencer's Assurance: Spencer emphasized that the Xbox Series X and Series S are not the final consoles, hinting at ongoing hardware development.

  "We'll definitely do more consoles in the future," Spencer confirmed (05:57).

• Xbox Handheld Rumors: There is ongoing speculation about an Xbox handheld device, which Spencer indicated is still years away from release.

  "Other devices may refer to the often reported Xbox Handheld, which Spencer said earlier this week was in the pipeline but was likely still years away," according to Chris Scolion at Video Games Chronicle (05:27).

• Multiplatform Strategy: Spencer articulated that Xbox's focus is on creating unique value for players and creators rather than incremental hardware upgrades.

  "We think about hardware that can create unique value for our players or creators on our platform... a new device really give you a unique experience on screen in some way," Spencer explained (06:00).

Host Insights: Greg Miller reflects on Xbox's messaging strategy, noting the dual communication approach targeting both casual and hardcore gamers.

"I feel it's a needed conversation to settle down... trying to speak to two different audiences," Miller remarked (07:16).

Angie Hicks agrees, praising Xbox's hardware messaging compared to PlayStation's approach and speculating on potential future console releases.

"I think Xbox does a way better job than PlayStation when it comes to messaging hardware," Hicks stated (10:40).

Notable Quotes:

• Greg Miller on Xbox's future consoles:

  "I think they have their heads. Like I think their minds are in the right place as far as how they're treating at least their hardware," (07:53).

• Angie Hicks on PlayStation's potential response:

  "Maybe by 2026 we're talking about the next Xbox console," (09:19).

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2. Avowed's Premium Edition and Early Access

Main Discussion:
Avowed, an upcoming title by Obsidian, is introducing a premium edition priced at $90, offering players five days of early access. This move aligns with recent trends where premium editions include additional perks such as skin packages, digital art books, and soundtracks.

Key Points:

• Premium Edition Details: The $90 Avowed premium edition includes a skin package, digital art book, game soundtrack, and five days of early access starting February 13th, five days before the standard release on February 18th, 2025.

  "Avowed is the latest game to offer early access as part of a more expensive edition for $90 SL90," reported Sophie Hicks (23:44).

• Comparison to Starfield: Similar to Microsoft's Starfield, Avowed's early access is available to Game Pass subscribers willing to pay an additional fee.

  "Microsoft Starfield also offered this and offered a premium edition upgrade which meant players who planned to play the game on Xbox Game Pass could pay a one time fee to just receive the premium edition contents," Hicks explained (23:44).

Host Reactions: Greg Miller expresses skepticism about the value proposition of the premium edition, questioning the necessity of paying extra for digital extras and minor early access.

"I would not do this. I'm very excited for Avowed. Excited might not be the right word... digital art book, don't give a fuck about soundtrack," Miller commented (25:36).

Barrett Courtney echoes similar sentiments, emphasizing a preference for physical merchandise over digital additions.

"It's going to be a really cool skin... Let me put up a real physical art book," Courtney noted (25:57).

Angie Hicks discusses the potential implications of this trend for Xbox's future offerings, suggesting it might become a standard practice.

"I think this is them setting the stage and they've already been doing this correct... going forward this is how it's always going to be," Miller observed (44:49).

Notable Quotes:

• Greg Miller on the practicality of the premium edition:

  "But like, for me personally, this is... digital soundtrack. I have to delete this shit," (26:15).

• Angie Hicks on the value of physical items:

  "I'm just going to go. Let me go to Google images, type in concept art for Avowed and get the same exact thing," (26:40).

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3. Cancellation of Ubisoft's Splinter Cell Movie

Main Discussion:
Ubisoft has officially canceled its long-anticipated Splinter Cell movie adaptation. Despite multiple attempts since its announcement in 2012, including casting Tom Hardy and attaching director Doug Lehmkuhl, the project failed to materialize due to script and budget issues.

Key Points:

• Official Cancellation: Producer Basil Iwanik confirmed the cancellation, citing challenges with the script and budget despite numerous versions being developed.

  "The movie would have been awesome. We just couldn't get it right script wise, budget wise," Iwanik stated (46:31).

• Historical Context: The Splinter Cell movie has been in limbo for over a decade, with no progress since the initial announcements and casting news in 2014.

• Alternative Adaptation: An anime series adaptation is currently in production at Netflix, set to premiere in 2025, offering a new avenue for the beloved franchise.

Host Insights: Greg Miller laments the cancellation, expressing disappointment but also skepticism about Ubisoft's stability following the failed film project.

"I don't think Ubisoft as we know it's long for this world," Miller opined (47:28).

Angie Hicks reflects on the potential for a future Splinter Cell adaptation outside Ubisoft, suggesting that creative control issues might have hindered the project's success.

"I think Ubisoft Splinter Cell could be good if it's not under Ubisoft," Hicks commented (47:13).

Barrett Courtney adds context by discussing Ubisoft's internal challenges, including overproduction and lackluster game releases leading to a downturn in the company's reputation.

"We had way too many different versions of this. Way too many cooks in the kitchen on what this movie was going to be," Courtney shared (46:40).

Notable Quotes:

• Basil Iwanik on the Splinter Cell movie:

  "We had a million different versions of it, but it was going to be hardcore and awesome," (46:31).

• Greg Miller on Ubisoft's future:

  "I don't think Ubisoft as we know it's long for this world," (47:28).

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4. Blizzard's Upcoming Open World Shooter

Main Discussion:
Blizzard Entertainment is hiring for a Design Director of Innovation for an unannounced open-world shooter, sparking speculation about a potential StarCraft-themed FPS. This move aligns with Blizzard's attempts to diversify its game portfolio under Microsoft's ownership.

Key Points:

• Job Posting: Blizzard posted a job ad seeking a Design Director of Innovation to lead strategic innovations on a forthcoming open-world shooter.

  "As the Design Director of innovation, you'll be the vision holder and owner of key strategic innovations on an upcoming open world shooter game," the job description stated (56:05).

• Speculation on StarCraft FPS: Following reports from Bloomberg and Jason Schreier's "Play Nice: The Rise, Fall and Future of Blizzard Entertainment," there is speculation that Blizzard may be developing a StarCraft first-person shooter under former Far Cry executive producer Dan Hay.

  "In my experience, it's both... the studio head has to make business decisions," David Brevik adds (42:52).

Host Reactions: Greg Miller expresses optimism about the project, citing Dan Hay's track record and the potential for innovation under Blizzard's new management.

"I think if he's got a team over there, you know, Blizzard isn't the... it's the Xbox Blizzard. This is a Blizzard that wants to make games," Miller stated (58:03).

Angie Hicks relates this development to broader industry trends of leveraging established IPs to introduce new gaming experiences.

"I mean, it reminds me of League of Legends a little bit where I'm somebody who would never play League of Legends. But then they announced 2xko and I plan to be very obsessed with 2xko," Hicks remarked (59:08).

Barrett Courtney highlights Blizzard's historical challenges with StarCraft adaptations but remains hopeful for this iteration.

"And I think if he's got a team over there... Dan Hayes, talented," Courtney enthuses (58:22).

Notable Quotes:

• David Brevik on decision-making at studios:

  "You have to balance that... what are things that we could do that we think that people will respond positively to," Brevik explained (42:52).

• Sophie Turner on studio decisions:

  "It's all about the business. Right. And so like they, they're going to be the people that are okaying," Turner shared (42:52).

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5. Additional News Highlights

a. Ubisoft's Corporate Struggles: Barrett Courtney and Angie Hicks delve into Ubisoft's decline, attributing it to overambitious projects, management issues, and the shift towards a more corporate structure under Vivendi’s influence.

b. Upcoming Games and Releases:

• Tricky Madness: A successor to SSX Tricky, released on Steam Early Access.

  "Tricky Madness is out now on Steam Early Access. It's basically an SSX Tricky Successor style game," Hicks noted (60:15).

• New World Updates: Amazon's upcoming event for "New World: The Return of Turon" features new quests and rewards, including unique items like the Grand Gobbler Warhammer.

  "Players can hunt down the feathered Goddamn it. The Feathered Adventure of Death," Hicks explained (62:12).

c. Community Engagement: The hosts interact with listeners’ super chats, addressing questions about game DLC eligibility for awards and expressing appreciation for listener support. They also announce upcoming shows and events, reinforcing community involvement.

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Conclusion

The episode provides an in-depth look at Xbox's future plans, Avowed's premium edition strategy, and the unfortunate cancellation of Ubisoft's Splinter Cell movie. Additionally, insights into Blizzard's potential new open-world shooter offer listeners a glimpse into upcoming industry developments. The hosts engage actively with their audience, fostering a sense of community while delivering comprehensive news and thoughtful commentary on the gaming landscape.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Phil Spencer on Future Consoles:
  "We'll definitely do more consoles in the future," (05:57)

• Greg Miller on Xbox Messaging:
  "I think Phil's been open this week of the Xbox Handheld is real. We're working on it. It's years away," (07:53)

• Angie Hicks on Xbox vs. PlayStation Messaging:
  "I think Xbox does a way better job than PlayStation when it comes to messaging hardware," (10:40)

• Basil Iwanik on Splinter Cell Movie Cancellation:
  "We had a million different versions of it, but it was going to be hardcore and awesome," (46:31)

• Greg Miller on Blizzard's Future Projects:
  "Blizzard isn’t the Blizzard that’s chronicled in Jason's book. This is the Xbox Blizzard," (58:03)

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the episode's key discussions, insights, and notable moments, providing an informative overview for those who haven't tuned in.

Transcript

[Angie Hicks]

Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of Angie. When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well, from roof repair to emergency plumbing and more done well. So the next time you have a home project, leave it to the pros. Get [e-mail] Today's stories include Phil Spencer promises future Xbox consoles. Avowed lets you pay $5 for day early day. God. Five. God damn. Five days early. Access this Friday and Ubisoft Splinter Cell movie has been canceled. We'll have all this and more because this Kind of Funny Games Daily. Yo, what's up? Welcome to Kind of Funny Games daily for Friday, November 15, 2024. I'm one of your host blessing Addie O Jr. Joining me is WWE superstar Greg Miller. Woo.

[Greg Miller]

What's up, everybody? How you doing?

[Angie Hicks]

Doing good, Greg. How you doing?

[Greg Miller]

I'm great. Cole's here. He's getting his pets right now. Of course, as soon as we started, he's like, I don't want to be in the bed. I gotta come over here.

[Angie Hicks]

I can walk around.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

I'm tired.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah. Is that what that was?

[Greg Miller]

You don't need an excuse. You work too hard. You do a million shows. It's gonna happen.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah. It's the double thing of it's Friday and now we moved soccer to Thursdays and we also have about half our games this season are at 9:15pm and so we finish off and they always go late. So now we finish off around like 10:15, 10:30.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

And then afterwards, you know, we're on a high. We got our energy up and so maybe last night we were like, yeah, let's get some milkshakes. And so I was out late last night. And so it's one of those mornings where it was really slow to get up and I got up and then I had to play some Pokemon TCG battles and so slow to get out of bed. It's one of those mornings, but I hang in there.

[Greg Miller]

I'm glad you're there. I'm glad you're hanging. It's a Friday. It's going to be a fun day. We're going to have a great time. Yeah. We talk about the game news a lot about Skeleton Crew because we've got these kids going to Vegas too.

[Angie Hicks]

I know. I was very surprised when I walked in. I was like, why are you here, Roger?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

I'm like listening to my podcast. I'm eating my bagel and I look up and I see Roger. I was like, oh, God, what's going on? What are you doing here?

[Greg Miller]

Get out here. You're not supposed to be here.

[Angie Hicks]

Well, let's get into it. Of course. Remember this is Kind of Funny games daily. Each and every weekday we run you through the nerdy news they need to know about live on YouTube, Twitch and on podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad free. Watch us accord them live and get a daily exclusive show for a chance to be a part of the show. Submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. Housekeeping for you. The visual triangle merch drop is here. The year is 2024. Space travel is possible, but the in flight beverage service is lacking. We no longer have to choose between frame rate, resolution and quality. Take full control of the visual triangle right now at kind of funny.com store on sale for a limited time. We're an 11 person business all about live talk shows. So today after KFCD you're gonna get Gamescast which is a PS I love you XOXO reunion where we discuss PlayStations 2024 and then the stream comprehensive review coming.

[Greg Miller]

All right.

[Angie Hicks]

I'm scared because I thought it was just gonna be us just talking about like the games that came out.

[Greg Miller]

Well, it is but I mean like you know, I have, I'm going through, I'm trying to timeline everything, keep me, keep me honest out there. I have threads up on threads, Twitter and blue sky about what you thought everybody of. Of course, PlayStations 2024. I want your. We'll do super chats as well, but I'm looking through to make sure I do. I'm trying to do a month by month. Here are the biggest things and not everything, but here's the biggest stuff that happened in terms of layoffs, game releases, Metacritic, stuff like that.

[Angie Hicks]

Oh yeah, Are you putting up the PS love you background for that? Like what's the fuck?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, we. Are you kidding me?

[Angie Hicks]

And then the stream after that is going to be some alien isolation with Nick Scarpino.

[Barrett Courtney]

I don't know if we could just say yes to that without checking in with me.

[Greg Miller]

We don't have that set anymore. We're bar you're a Barrett, you know how to do everything.

[Barrett Courtney]

Okay.

[Greg Miller]

At least do the. I mean you can do the PlayStation background, right?

[Barrett Courtney]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

All right, cool.

[Barrett Courtney]

The normal games cast background. Yeah, like the PlayStation themed one.

[Greg Miller]

Godspeed. Cole, whatever you're going to find out there, enjoy.

[Angie Hicks]

No, he's killing him free.

[Greg Miller]

Let him go. Oh, God, look at him. He's running. He heard Andy's laugh. He needs to see Andy Iris.

[Angie Hicks]

He's just like ready to go. And then he stopped because he was like, oh, God, I didn't think I did this far. Looks back.

[Greg Miller]

God, they actually let me go.

[Angie Hicks]

If you're a kind of funny member, of course you can get today's Greg Way, which is.

[Greg Miller]

I haven't recorded it yet. I was. It's one of those where on the way to work, I looked through all the Patreon comments and the chats and stuff. Like, I'm like, oh, what? None of them spoke to me today. So it's like I wanted to get going, get my. Sometimes I like Greg Way to get the wheels and the juices going. And then sometimes I like to put at the end. So I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna. It's a short day, kind of in terms of on screen. I got a million fucking calls and things to play or whatever.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

But like once we're done with games cast, I got like two calls back to back and then I can go. So by then I'll see what I've percolated on again. Thread me on any of the threads of the things of the stuff, let me know.

[Angie Hicks]

Thank you to our Patreon producers Delaney Twining and Carl Jacobs. Today we're brought to you by Sonic at topgolf, Marvel, Snap and 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 five stories today, dozen starting with story number one. Xbox's Phil Spencer says we'll definitely do more consoles. I'm pulling from Chris Scolion at Video Games Chronicle. There will be more Xbox consoles in the future. Microsoft's gaming CEO Phil Spencer has said in an interview with Rolling Stone following the launch of the company's new. This is an Xbox marketing campaign.

[Greg Miller]

You can do the thing or you can move the stuff, and then you got the thing and then you do the stuff. And I know the real song, everybody. I just don't want us to get claimed.

[Angie Hicks]

Well, that's. That's the reason why you're just doing the. Doing the fake lyrics.

[Greg Miller]

You can do the thing. Yesterday, Tim, all muted, muted, muted. So he muted it. I'm like, can I sing it? He's like, just don't sing it too closely. So then I did that and then he's like, do you know what song sounds like Shut up Tim.

[Angie Hicks]

But like we'll change Shawn Michaels better.

[Greg Miller]

Super kick your ass.

[Angie Hicks]

I feel like it's the tune of.

[Greg Miller]

He said I wasn't even remotely close.

[Angie Hicks]

I mean, it's not really close at all.

[Greg Miller]

Well, thank you. I'm doing my job, I guess that's no, you're right.

[Angie Hicks]

That's fair. That's fair. Spencer explained that the shift to a multiplatform strategy doesn't mean that the Xbox Series X and Series S will be the final Xbox consoles. Quote we'll definitely do more consoles in the future, spencer confirmed. And other devices Other devices may refer to the often reported Xbox Handheld, which Spencer said earlier this week was in the pipeline but was likely still years away. When asked by Rolling Stone if Xbox would release a mid generation console upgrade similar to the PS5 Pro, Spencer was less definitive, appearing to suggest he didn't think the difference in performance was worth it. Quote we think about hardware that can create unique value for our players or creators on our platform, he explained. We don't need to do incremental hardware for our own benefit. Does a new device really give you a unique experience on screen in some way? It's less like the old days, going from the Original Xbox to360 that was standard definition to high definition. Now it's harder to show the benefits, end quote. Greg Miller, you talked about that this is an Xbox campaign yesterday. How do you feel you can do.

[Greg Miller]

The thing and you can do the.

[Angie Hicks]

Stuff, which is what Phil Spencer was telling everybody. I'm telling Bloomberg. How do you feel about coming out of that campaign? Right. Having the discussions that you're having with Tim, going into Phil Spencer talking about the fact that there will be future Xbox consoles.

[Greg Miller]

I feel it's a needed conversation to settle down. The Beehive. You kick when you start talking about the fact that you can be an Xbox anywhere on any screen. I think it would have been nice to see this announcement paired with Here is the Xbox Handheld. Here is the vision for the next Xbox console. But I also think Phil's been open this week of the Xbox Handheld is real. We're working on it. It's years away. Like it's not closed. Which also then to me says the next Xbox years and years away. Unless the next Xbox is the handheld. Think about it. Think about it.

[Angie Hicks]

No way.

[Greg Miller]

Think about it. Absolutely not. No, I know, I know, but I'm just saying. So anyways, this is something that needs to be said because again, you're trying to speak to two different audiences where you are speaking. The whole point of the bus stop ads that Barrett is seeing and then the commercials we got yesterday is the idea of, hey, normal person, would you work in your 9 to 5 watching the NBA game tonight? You could play all the great Xbox games or a whole bunch of different great game pass games right now on whatever screen you're watching this on. Right. That's an important message to get out there. Then you do need to come to us, the console, hardcore, whatever you want to call it, mainstream video game player, and say if you still want an Xbox, we are going to still make Xboxes there. This is not as saying goodbye to generations. I don't think I didn't see a lot of that yesterday. Like, and I'm not in the most, you know, particular Xbox communities, right.

[Angie Hicks]

The subreddits.

[Greg Miller]

So I didn't see a lot of that. I didn't see Paris, you know, immediately share this when it got said because of course he is seeing that more on what his feeds are looking like. But I think most of us got that. I don't, I, I don't think I didn't see anybody of repute yesterday taking away the impression that, oh, Xbox is.

[Angie Hicks]

Over, we're not doing any more of the boxes. Especially Sarah Bond came out during, I believe it was the last big Xbox showcase, right. And said that we're working on the future of Xbox and you know, implied that, hey, that we're, we're starting to get that rolling. I got the vibe of. I don't even think it's years and years away. I think maybe by 2026 we're talking about the next Xbox console.

[Greg Miller]

Holy shit. You think so?

[Angie Hicks]

Well, my theory is that I think they want to get ahead of PlayStation. Yeah, I think that'd be really smart. They own Call of Duty, right. And I think having access to the biggest player on the block like that, as far as like third party, I think if you wanted to put out a new Xbox, have it come maybe possibly a year or two earlier than the next PlayStation and have it be a thing of, hey, if you want to play Call of Duty in the highest reality way, boom, here's a box for you. It's the Xbox 5 or whatever you call it Xbox, maybe you just call it the X. I don't think you just call it the Xbox though, because I think you still want to hammer in that we're still doing generations. I think generations are still important enough. I think if you call something they.

[Greg Miller]

The ones who didn't believe in generations anymore.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah, but nobody, nobody says things they believe in.

[Greg Miller]

That's true. That's true.

[Angie Hicks]

PlayStation does the same thing, right? Like so I think if you call something just the Xbox, I think that implies that this is what the feature is forever. Right? Like we're just platform now. I think you're still going to call it, give it a cool name, the Xbox X0 or some shit, I don't know.

[Greg Miller]

But we'll work on it.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah, we'll work on it. We'll work. But I think you still want to do that. The thing I'll say about all this is that I've been very impressed with the way that Xbox has been messaging hardware and what their platform is. I know whenever we talk about like the top down level, you know, this is what Xbox is doing, this is what the strategy is. It always has to be in opposition with PlayStation and in comparison or whatever.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Angie Hicks]

This is one of those things where it's weird. I think Xbox does a way better job than PlayStation when it comes to messaging hardware and when it comes to taking future steps into something that I think is worthwhile for both them as a company and as an organization. And then also, you know, for the audience. The this is an Xbox thing I think is a genius marketing campaign. I didn't get to listen to you guys talk about it yesterday but like from we said it was a terrible.

[Greg Miller]

No, I'm kidding. We were very pro it too of course because again the audience they're trying to speak to and it's again something we all know. You know this, I know this. If you listen to games daily, you know this, that of course every screen is an Xbox. But trying to drive that home to everyone else as they get ready to go to Christmas, as they get ready to hopefully be excited for Indiana Jones and or avowed or whatever is going to be happening. Starfield, even you know the, the game pass library. Yeah, yeah. You got to get out and message that if that's going to be the future, which clearly they're saying it's going to be the future.

[Angie Hicks]

And I think it's such strong messaging to go, hey, whatever screen you have, this is an Xbox. This is the way that we're thinking about it. That doesn't mean we're.

[Greg Miller]

I think it's really powerful in the commercial when it's like the screen you are watching this on is an Xbox. That's cool. That's a good way of being like 1000%.

[Angie Hicks]

So I think that's such strong messaging from their platform side. But then I think Even to the hardware side. The part of this where Rolling Stone asks him about mid generation console refreshes, right. So asking about an upgrade similar to the PS5 Pro, and Spencer's answer here saying we think about hardware that can create unique value for players or creators on our platform. We don't need to do incremental hardware for our own benefit. Right. And him kind of getting into the fact that like yo, like people aren't really going to notice the difference or at least the difference isn't big enough to where we feel like we need to make this entire new console drop or whatever. I really like that and I like it especially in opposition to my own personal feelings about the PS5 Pro where you know, I we've had a PS5 Pro out in like the office area for people to check out and play. I like mess with it for a little bit trying to play some Horizon Zero dawn remake and then like probably like 20 minutes and I was like, I'm good, I don't need to play more of this. And then yesterday I was watching Barrett play some Star Wars Jedi Survivor, just looking over his shoulder being like, yeah, this game looks good. Right. But like in my time just watching the PS5 Pro get used, it's been such a man. I don't understand like I am so not the customer for this. Right. And I totally like, you know, acknowledge in, you know, shout out the people that this is for.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Angie Hicks]

The Tim Gettys of the world.

[Greg Miller]

You know, visual fidelity, that is the number one thing. I want the best toy, I want the best looking thing, the people who really care.

[Angie Hicks]

And what's this blue sky post?

[Greg Miller]

It's barest thoughts here. Opinions about EZ.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah. Played around with the PS5 Pro at the office today and honestly the biggest poll for me is the size of the model, which is the same pool for the PS5 SIM, I guess. And that's my thing is as I've been watching the PS5 Pro get played, as I've been playing and messing around with a little bit of the PS5 Pro, it was the immediate thought of $700 for what feels like such a minuscule jump. Right. Might be a bigger jump in the eyes of if you're a big tech person. Might be a bigger jump in the eyes of if you really, really care about fidelity.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

But I look back at the PS4 jump from PS4 to PS4 Pro and the features there as far as HDR4K. Right. Maybe better fidelity, those things.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

And I forget the exact percentage of PS4 players that made the jump from PS4 to PS4 Pro, I think it was what, 10%, 20% somewhere around there. Kind of funny dot com, you're wrong for me with the PS5 Pro. I'd be shocked if the numbers are there for it to like get it comparable to the PS4. Like I'm such in a place of wow, I do not care about this thing. And I read these words from Phil Spencer and I'm like, yeah, like this doesn't feel like a thing yet you need to do. And I think they have their heads. Like I think their minds are in the right place as far as how they're treating at least their hardware, how they're treating their consoles right now.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, it's in, it's, you know, two opposing viewpoints on how to do this to double on some of the things you're saying about the PlayStation 5 Pro, right? Like I am obviously right there with you. Like, you know, I am still Mr. PlayStation. That's what I play my stuff on. I love my trophies, et cetera, et cetera. From the moment the PlayStation 5 Pro has shown up and I've seen games on it or played stuff on it, I've been like, yeah, it looks better but at no point have I gone, I gotta take this home tonight. I gotta disconnect my PlayStation and get all my stuff on here. And like, it's just not what I. None of that is. I do think the PlayStation 5 Pros not Trojan horse by any stretch of the imagination. But the reason it exists is to be the replacement for the PlayStation 5. When your launch, PlayStation 5 breaks, when GTA 6 drops and does have a crazy mode in there that does look good. And maybe more than anything to extend this generation, a generation that for PlayStation has not been holy shit, month after month, year after year, we are. PlayStation is putting a banger after banger, right? Like the first party lineup in terms of true first party lineup has been sparse compared to what we got on PlayStation 4. Especially at the end which is a bit of the rose tinted glasses, right? Of like one month is ghost, the next month is last was part two. Holy shit, we're swimming in great games. I think if they expect this generation to go on longer than what they maybe expected at the front, putting this out makes sense because you're going to get more people in and then at the end you're going to want more people who are going to. You're going to have more people who are. I've gone this far and it's starting to die. Or there's this new game. That's the thing where I think there is Barrett's tweet, understandably so, calls out Final Fantasy Rebirth, right, as the killer app for this launch.

[Angie Hicks]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

And I don't think PlayStation looked at this as we need a killer app at launch because they don't have one. Like, yeah, they have, you know, Final Fantasy. But again, if you're listening to this, if you're interested in this console, haven't you probably already played that? Right. They didn't even time it with Dragon Age's launch. And that was like the biggest new game that had a patch for it. This is future proofing. This is putting something on the shelf to buy over time and over time to have it be that a year from now there are a gajillion isn't. Right. But dozens of games that are launching with modes that are better on PlayStation 5 Pro.

[Angie Hicks]

Do you think people are going to like, say somebody's PS5 breaks or somebody like, they have to get a replacement PS5 or whatever? Do you think people go for a PS5 Pro? Because I don't think they go for a PS5 Pro. I think they just buy a PS5 Slim.

[Greg Miller]

I mean, this is the usual of like, that's $700. Sure. But like, what the slim is 399, is that right?

[Angie Hicks]

I think 399 is. I believe it's on sale now, right? PS5, one of the things just went on sale. Why.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, but like, let's talk about a normal day. All right. Yeah. For Target, it's 599. Or I'm sorry, 499. 500 for a PlayStation. I don't. And I'm not even diving into what it is. Best buy is 4.99. So across the board it looks like it's 500 bucks.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And so for me, it's 450 and.

[Angie Hicks]

Then on sale right now for 380.

[Greg Miller]

Okay. Why is Target always. Because it's Black Friday stuff. Let's just for the sake of argument, stick with 499. Because I'm just. I'm Joe Blow, gamer. I'm. I'm buying my son 1. I don't know any. I look here and it's okay. Target selling for 499. I think that everybody. Of course not. But I do think there's a good amount of people who would look at it and go, wait, why is this one 200 more dollars? Oh, it does X, Y and Z and looks better. And Yada, yada, yada. Or it is a hardcore gamer who's like, well, right now, right now in 2024 November, right. Can you justify it based on there's a Dragon Age patch and there's a patch for final things? Fuck no. But in a year when it is that. All right, cool. Everything that's dropping, it has this mode and every reviewer is talking about how great Ghost of yotai looks at 4k 60 frames.

[Angie Hicks]

I guess my thing is, will we get there to where that is? That is the talk of the town. Are we going to get there a year from now where when we talk about Ghost of Yote, we're going to be talking about, oh, and it looks so much better on PS5 Pro. Or are we just going to be like, yeah, goes to Yota, looks good, looks great across everything. Like, might look a bit better on PS5 Pro. But yeah, if you play it on base PS5.

[Greg Miller]

This is the usual argument, right? Where you see the stuff that's in the tiered structure, where the thing that's a little bit less money or just less money, right. Is so close. Like, you're already putting down $500. And I don't know about you, but like for me, when I start thinking about big purchases, right, there's like that 100. Like, okay, 100 is something for sure. Right. Then if you're going up to 500, I feel like the gap between a hundred dollars and 500 is humongous. Right. But 500 to 700 is way smaller than 500 to a thousand.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And again, I'm not. I am not by. I am. I am not carrying water for the PlayStation 5 Pro. I just was wrong about the PlayStation 4 Pro, where I was kind of like, who cares? And more people cared. I think this is one of those things of, well, I have this library and my games will look better. And you know, even the games that I'm committed to now, a Fortnite or whatever, they're putting in modes that do. And this is. If it actually happens the way PlayStation wants it to happen, then okay, there's a reason for me to put this in and get that. And again, GTA or Hogwarts Legacy 2 or whatever that's saying it'll look the best here.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah, I throw up my hands because.

[Greg Miller]

I am the Xbox thing. Like, I don't. I gladly sacrifice the fidelity to play on my phone, to play remote play, to do. Like, I don't give a shit. I play on the cloud.

[Angie Hicks]

I guess I def. I definitely hear you I guess I just do it so much differently than the PS4 Pro, because the PS4 Pro.

[Greg Miller]

At least you did a great job of explaining way more bullet points.

[Angie Hicks]

And I think the PS5 Pro bullet points just are. Like, right now, if I'm a Best Buy employee and somebody comes up to me and they're like, hey, I'm in the market for a PS5. What? Like, should I get a PS5 Pro? I'm looking at them and I'm like, listen, how much.

[Greg Miller]

What's your home theater setup?

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah, what? Yeah, what's your home theater setup?

[Greg Miller]

Do you do the thing with the black levels and all that jazz?

[Angie Hicks]

Like, are you going to Digital Foundry and like, looking at the pixels and being like, ooh, this looks like. Sure. But honestly, for me, it's such a hard sell to spend $250 more dollars on a thing that, like, genuinely I don't think is that big of a deal.

[Barrett Courtney]

Whereas the PS4 Pro, like, that's coming out in a time where it wasn't right at the same time. But we're slowly starting to see a trickle of more and more people getting 4K TVs. Where the biggest selling point for a PS5 Pro, if your Best Buy employee is, oh, do you have a 4K TV? This is the one to get. Oh, or have you already had a PS4 and it's fucking dying trying to play God of War 2018. This is the one to get. Right. And I think there are just easier selling points for the pro.

[Greg Miller]

I agree 1000%. I'm not. Again, I am not make. I want to make very clear for the Internet folks, I am not making the argument Greg Miller would not tell you to get a PlayStation 5 Pro. I think I am of the camp of these games do look better. Yeah, not enough that I want to fork over the cash. You're going to be fine for what you're playing over here.

[Barrett Courtney]

I would just be. Just with all the conversation, I'd be, please, same with blessing. I'd be very surprised if the PS5 Pro does anywhere near what the PS4 Pro did for that generation. Right. Especially in a time where people are definitely looking to save money wherever they can.

[Greg Miller]

100%.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah. But yeah, all that said, I look at the statements for Phil Spencer and I find myself nodding my head the whole time of like, yeah, I'm excited to see where we're at again, 2026, where my prediction is that we're going to be talking about the Xbox next. Xbox coming soon. By then, I'm very Fascinated with how they're treating the platform. By the time we get around to it, is the Xbox like, if we get that staggered next gen release, is the next Xbox going to be the. All right, this is the strongest box out right now. And then the PS6 comes out. It is like, you know, I'm. I think we're entering interesting times.

[Greg Miller]

Do you even think that? Because I think even though Phil's quotes here are about PlayStation 5 Pro and iterative stuff, I think you can apply it to the next Xbox as well. Quote. We think about hardware that can create unique value for our players or creators on our platform. We don't need to do incremental hardware for our own benefit. Does a new device really give you a unique experience on screen in some way? It's less like the old days. I don't think power is what wins the next generation. I don't think I agree with that. I think PS6 versus Xbox. What do we call it?

[Angie Hicks]

Xbox. I think I said x0.

[Greg Miller]

X0, the x0, right? Like, I think Phil and team are like, what can we do that's unique versus PlayStation? And I don't think that is. I'd hope, I'd love it to be Switch, but I don't think it's like that or Joycon. I don't know what the experience is, what UI you're doing.

[Angie Hicks]

I think what it is is like what Xbox has already. What Xbox has already been building, right? It is like the connectivity between all your different things. It is Xbox Game Pass, if you can still try to keep that. Thank you for bringing up the X0 apparent. It is that it is this ecosystem of Xbox, right? I think they're trying to build that as much as possible and I think that is the thing that will make them unique. I think the big thing though, in the reality of it, as far as if we're going to still continue to treat this as a competition, right? PlayStation versus Xbox, which I think we're getting further and further from that. But if we're going to treat it that way, right, like it's still going to come down to library, it's still going to come out to come down to first party games. That's why you're seeing the PlayStation 5 still sell like crazy, right? And keep up with where PS4 was at around this time of its life cycle. It's because you have. You have the software to back it up. But hey, those dominoes might be. Might still be in the process, right?

[Greg Miller]

Hey, let's see what indie does. Indie Avowed.

[Angie Hicks]

Avowed story number two. Let's talk about Avowed. Avowed $90 version will let you play the game five days later.

[Greg Miller]

Pulled from the headline of yesterday's games.

[Angie Hicks]

Cast, this is Jordan Midler at Video Games Chronicle. Avowed is the latest game to offer early access as part of a more expensive addition for $90 SL90. The premium edition of Avowed includes a skin package, a digital art book and the game soundtrack. It also includes five days early access to the game, meaning premium edition players can start playing the game on February 13th as opposed to February 18th, 2025. Many games in recent years have offered early access as a paid perk for buying a more expensive edition of a game. Microsoft Starfield also offered this and offered a premium edition upgrade which meant players who planned to play the game on Xbox Game Pass could pay a one time fee to just receive the premium edition contents. Avowed, developed by Obsidian, will be released on Xbox and PC on February 18th. The game will be added to Game Pass on day one. It was also announced that Avowed is releasing on BattleNet along with Xbox series, Windows, Steam and Game Pass. You down to pay $5 or however much money more to play the game.

[Greg Miller]

Five, right? Yeah, I would assume isn't. I assume this is a $70 $70 game pass. Whatever. No, I would not do this. I'm very excited for Avowed. Excited might not be the right word. I'm very interested in Avowed. I think I'm going to have a great time with Avowed. Everything we've seen, I think it set my expectations correctly. I think it looks like a game I'm really going to vibe with. But I do need to play it and see more before I be like I'm all in. Right?

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And since I'm not all in, I wouldn't be like yeah, I need, I need this. And again for me personally, this is. And this is the whole games cast yesterday. What's your line with good, good trans. Microtransactions versus bad microtransactions. Right. Capitalism in games. I look at this one and I go for me personally. Okay, cool. There's the early access which is nice. I always want to play the game as fast as I can, but digital art book, don't give a fuck about soundtrack. Don't give a fuck about skin pack.

[Angie Hicks]

I don't.

[Greg Miller]

I have. Not you. I don't. You could put up Elder Scrolls Online people, Avowed people. Probably a whole bunch of different people from outer worlds. Right. And I'd be like, I don't 100% know who is the protagonist. What I know. There's the lizard man in avowed right that we've seen. Am I going to give him a skin that I give a shit about or. The skin's awesome.

[Angie Hicks]

I don't know what you think, Barrett.

[Barrett Courtney]

It's going to be a really cool skin. Greg, really quick, can we just say, fuck a digital art book. I want a real physical art book.

[Angie Hicks]

Fuck a digital.

[Barrett Courtney]

Let me put it on the coffee table. Let me feel the page.

[Angie Hicks]

Let me actually look at it.

[Barrett Courtney]

Get out of here with the digital art book shit.

[Greg Miller]

What about us? Digital soundtrack. Because this is like, I know it from the PlayStation.

[Barrett Courtney]

Oh, because you can only do it on the fucking console. Why am I listening to fucking mu. What is this, the 360 era where I'm burning CDs onto the 360 to listen to while I play burnout?

[Angie Hicks]

Get the out of here.

[Greg Miller]

We get everything, you know, most of the codes we get come with the fancy whatever edition of any game.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And whenever I download a game, my PlayStation and then I come and I turn it on and I open up and it's like a separate tile.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

It's like, here's all the additive. Like, what the fuck is it? Immediately delete. I don't want this shit.

[Angie Hicks]

No digital art book. I'm just going to go. Let me go to Google images, type in concept art for a vowed and get the same exact thing.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. And I think that's one of the bummers about it. Like again, what is your line? What do you want? Yada, yada, yada. Love it, hate it, whatever. Starfield.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

When they did the early access and they did like the constellation pack and the watch and the cred stick and yada yada yada, Nobody knew if you're going to like the game or not like the game. But I thought that was a nice physical, good offering. Like, I still have the cred sticks on my desk. Like that was when I looked at. I was like, oh, cool. The art book in a physical manifestation in a cool box or something.

[Angie Hicks]

I love a physical art book.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

Because really the point of books is to like have a shelf. Of course people come over and be like, oh, Be like, oh, see, these.

[Greg Miller]

Aren'T books at all, these video game art.

[Angie Hicks]

These are just pictures inside. But yeah.

[Greg Miller]

So wrapped in plastic.

[Angie Hicks]

Oh, dude, when I got the game.

[Greg Miller]

Five days early and I got the.

[Angie Hicks]

Book, you look at my shelf, half the shit's wrapped in plastic. Still not open any of that. But yeah, like oh, Cole. Cole being crazy over there.

[Greg Miller]

No, he's not being crazy. It's just one of these. He's like at my foot. I go to pick him up, he jumps back like, what, do you want up or do you not want up? You want up?

[Angie Hicks]

Get some uppies. Bless. Can I have some uppies after the show? I'll give you some up. Yeah. The five day. The five days early thing is a. I think it's a battle I quickly just gave up on. Like, I think, like, the first time it happened, I was like, oh, that's weird. I don't know if I like it.

[Greg Miller]

Like three days.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah. Like, I feel like it's been getting.

[Greg Miller]

I don't know if that's better or worse, but it was just like, wait, hold on.

[Angie Hicks]

What day? How many days is like, okay, enough is enough. We got to do something about this two weeks early.

[Greg Miller]

I mean, when we did, we talked about this. This is what started the Gamescast, you know, conversation for yesterday was Life is Strange.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Two episodes. Two weeks early of our five episodes. What the fuck are you talking about? Absolutely. And I think that's another part of it where I don't want to be offensive because I'm not trying to be. Okay.

[Angie Hicks]

Okay.

[Greg Miller]

I don't think about is that big of a deal to everyone. I think a lot of people know Obsidian and like, fuck out. An Obsidian rpg. Right. Like, let's go.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And there's Outer Worlds fans for sure. But I just don't feel like this would be the game I would lead with on this. Like, if you. If.

[Angie Hicks]

If I really giving it five days or.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, if I really wanted to do this and start trying this more. I mean, Indiana Jones. Are they doing this with Indiana Jones? Like, Indiana Jones is an ip, right? That's a name. I feel like that's a bigger deal.

[Angie Hicks]

Distracts me as one of those things.

[Greg Miller]

Where this is going to be the move for everybody. Right.

[Angie Hicks]

Well, I don't know if. I don't know if I'm going to say the move for everybody, but I think somebody high up, whether it's Phil, Sarah, or maybe just like a team of people high up on the marketing side, I think maybe had a meeting with like the leads, the developers and were like, hey, this is an option for you.

[Greg Miller]

Like, I doubt this was a conversation. Well, I put your games on, your games on Game pass. Congratulations. Yeah, well, we're going to let people pay for it five days early. All right.

[Angie Hicks]

Because, well, I think a lot of the times it can come down to hey, like, we're going to give you the choice as the lead of the studio. Like, studio leads still are business people to some extent. Right? Like, you have to be able to sell your thing. You have to think about the numbers. Like, your job is still to sell things. That's not 100% going to be on the publisher, at least all the time. Right. I could see a case where it is a. Again, a meeting, a conference, like a call where they are like, hey, here's what we're going. This is what we're doing for the year fiscal year 2024. Hey, this is an option. If you want to take it, we think it's going to make you X amount of money more if you give the option to play the game three, five days early or whatever. Because it seems like there is a trend of Xbox games in particular doing this, but it's not all of them.

[Greg Miller]

You think the studio heads have a choice in that matter? I think sometimes I appreciate Barrett's looking for the backgrounds. He's like, is this it? No, this was.

[Barrett Courtney]

I know. I know for a fact.

[Angie Hicks]

I don't have the P.S.

[Barrett Courtney]

I love you one. Okay. No, I'm just clearing out a bunch of old.

[Greg Miller]

I'm trying to think too, who I can text right now and get on the phone. I can't imagine you understand that. Not you. I can't imagine a studio head is given this.

[Angie Hicks]

I. I pull this from conversations I've had with people about how I think we always have the assumption that publishers have 100 of the business decisions and all this. All this shit. Whereas, like, you would be surprised by how much, say, studio heads have in this. Not that it's like the studio heads are out here making the big business decisions, but I think a lot of the time, yeah, like, the heads of the studio are the ones that are responsible for some of these decisions because they have to think like business people too. Right. Like Neil Druckmann, I think, gets to choose. Hey, I want to make a Last Less or an Uncharted, right. Which is going to be a major decision for a PlayStation title. But that's him still thinking about what's going to make Naughty Dog money and what's going to make PlayStation money as a result. I'm very excited to see who you're like.

[Greg Miller]

This is one of my. This is like. Like, I'm like, hi, big question live on the air right now. Tell me if this is no good. Can I call you live on the show and ask you questions about what a studio had? Can and can't say no to. When it comes to a publisher, that.

[Angie Hicks]

Doesn'T seem like something you can talk about on a phone unless we, like, blur their voice. Make one of those, like. You mean, like, anonymous callers?

[Greg Miller]

I'm going to say generally not in your specific experience.

[Barrett Courtney]

Well, I mean, I feel like it.

[Greg Miller]

Wants to flush their career away live onto camera.

[Angie Hicks]

I love that he, like, God, if.

[Greg Miller]

We had Sean Layden's phone number, you.

[Angie Hicks]

Think he would answer?

[Greg Miller]

I want to DM Shawn Laden.

[Angie Hicks]

I'm trying to think. I feel like somebody in chat said, call Tim Schaeffer. I feel like Tim. Tim Schaefer.

[Greg Miller]

That's even worse. What are you guys talking about? Why would I call it, hey, Tim, we're asking what studio heads can say no to. To Xbox. And he's like, I am owned by Xbox. I'm not gonna tell you what I can't.

[Angie Hicks]

We don't have to say to Xbox. We can just say, like, in general, in theory. Let's say to a publisher. Let's say to an owner. You know, like, how much say do you have in the. In the business operations of your own studio?

[Greg Miller]

Sean Layton.

[Barrett Courtney]

I mean, I'm pretty sure he had a lot of say until they were finally owned by Xbox.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah, but I don't think it goes from, oh, you have a lot of say, and then you have zero say all of a sudden. Yeah, but, like, I still think that you have, like, you definitely have input as far as, like, how we go about monetizing your product. You just have another party that has a lot of input as well, too. And Greg's typing away. We're going to move on to the next story. I can read. Let me bring in some super chats.

[Greg Miller]

It turns out, I don't know if it's always been this way or not, but Sean Layton, it does not follow me. So I can't DM him. So I just. I just tweeted at him. Can I call you on the show?

[Angie Hicks]

Let's do a couple of super chats. The Portland Kevin writes in and says, Happy 20th birthday to Metroid Prime 2. It felt just as good as Prime 1, but with better and more epic boss fights. Give us a remastered, damn it. RZ Jones, 18, writes in and says, I had a question. Do you guys consider DLC to be part of the game of the year conversation? I know Shadow of the Erdtree will be considered, but would that be a full game or still qualify as Elden Ring? I think every. Every company does it different, right? Every outlet does it different. Like every award show is going to do it differently. I think we're starting to move toward the place where DLC I think can be considered standalone, especially if you're like an exceptional piece of dlc. Like last year, Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty got I think, a lot of shout outs as far as game of the year conversation.

[Barrett Courtney]

And it was on. It was our number five, I believe, on our top ten list last year.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah, like the way I view it is none of it, like, none of this is religion, right? Like none of this is like, has a hard set of rules, but also, you know, like Cyberpunk, Phantom Liberty. I forget how many hours I put into that, but I'm pretty sure I put in more hours into that than I put into a lot of full video games. Shadow the Erdtree, I played what, 30 hours of that? 30 something hours. Which is more than I can say about a lot of games I played this year. Right. Like, I think a lot of DLC are coming in. Expansions are hitting with the level of a full sized game and I think that's worth celebrating and shouting out.

[Barrett Courtney]

Yeah, kind of similar, but different conversation. Persona 5 royal, right? Like that was still my game of the year of 2020, even though most of it was the original Persona 5. But the new content, which was like 30 hours, was like longer than any other game I had played that year maybe Besides Final Fantasy 7. So yeah, like it's funny, we actually just had a conversation about this for our personal game of the year. And I'm of the mindset if a game has new content for the year that people feel like you feel passionate about, I think it should be eligible. Like if Fortnite has a fucking new season, that it's a banger and Mike wants to put it on his top 10 list to like send in as his vote. Like, yeah, like, I think that's a fair argument to have. We had Cyberpunk the expansion standalone as its own piece of content for our top 10 last year. Shadow the Year Tree, I think is eligible as its own kind of piece of content this year. And people in the chat saying games only games should be eligible for the top 10. I'm sorry, I didn't realize Shadow of the Earth Tree wasn't a video game.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Getting hung up. I'm sorry. And I'm joining late, I'm sure. And I heard you talking about the meeting. So it's that if it, if it came out this year and it's a game, it's a game And I don't think anybody would be like, game of the Year is Elden Ring. And we wouldn't say Shadow of the Erdtree. You wouldn't you. You'd explain what you're talking about.

[Barrett Courtney]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

Like there was somebody earlier in chat and I missed the name, sorry. But somebody was like, you know, hours doesn't. Ours has nothing to do with Game of the Year.

[Greg Miller]

All right.

[Angie Hicks]

Cyberpunk 2077, Phantom Liberty was one of the best things I experienced last year. Right. Shadow of the Erdtree is one of the best things I experienced this year. Right. I use hours as a thing, just as a way to measure like, oh, if you're going to say DLC is small and that's going to be your argument, right? Like, that's why I use ours. But like, yeah, some of the best experience I have are DLC sometimes.

[Barrett Courtney]

Like Fortnite was on our top 10 back when it was only like the four games cast hosts like voting, I think back in like 2020, you know. And so like. And I think there was a solid argument for like the season that came out. I think that was like the big Avengers year and stuff like that. So I think like there, there are arguments to be made. So yeah, I do draw the line of like, if it didn't. If it didn't come out this year. No, like if it easy of an early access came out this year. Yeah, sure.

[Angie Hicks]

I got one more from Mike Deme who writes in and says, here's a love and hate taxes bless your cut is fire along with your bomber jacket. You're the goat of KFCD And Greg, I didn't like Ghostbusters. You deserve sweet chin music. Thank you, Mike Demim. I mean, is he wrong?

[Greg Miller]

I mean, on some of it? Yeah. I mean, well, no, because he didn't like Ghostbusters. Okay. Do I deserve sweet chin music? Yeah. Think how many people I fucking crushed to get to where I am right now. You know what I mean?

[Angie Hicks]

So that's a good point. You crush a lot of people. You crush a lot.

[Greg Miller]

Here we go. All right. We got somebody to say yes.

[Angie Hicks]

Okay, wait. Oh, do you want to do it now? Or I can go throw the break.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, sure, go ahead.

[Angie Hicks]

Let me throw it a break. Of course, patreon.com kind of funny is where you can go to get the kind of funny membership along with YouTube.com kind of funny games. And the kind of funny membership allows you to get shows ad free. Speaking of ads, let us tell you about our sponsors.

[David Brevik]

This episode is brought to you by Sonic the Hedgehog at topgolf, y'all. When you take one good thing and you take another good thing and you mash them together, that is when magic happens. Kinda funny loves Sonic the Hedgehog Kinda funny loves topgolf. So you know kinda funny is hyped for Sonic the Hedgehog and friends to arrive at TOPGOLF at supersonic speed on Friday, November 15th with the launch of the new Topgolf game Sonic the Hedgehog. Exclusively available for play at TOPGOLF venues across the United States. Created for players of all skill levels, which is great for me, TOPGOLF meets the fast paced action of Sonic in this new in venue game where players go head to head in iconic virtual Sonic environments Green Hill Zone and Sky Sanctuary, you can play as four iconic characters, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy to hit springs, collect rings and destroy badniks. For players making the transition from a joystick to a club for the first time, topgolf has your back with its new club, the sure Thing designed to make golf less hard. Come play around with your friends and family at a TOPGOLF near you and try out the new Sonic the Hedgehog game. This episode's brought to you by Marvel Snap. Y'all know Marvel Snap completely took over my life when it burst on the scene two years ago. I love it so much that I even mentioned Marvel Snap in my wedding vows because to this day my wife Gia is so obsessed that she has not missed a single day of completing her challenges. Marvel Snap is an award winning collectible card game that combines deep strategy, a unique snapping mechanic, and your favorite Marvel characters. With thousands of unique card art variants created by renowned artists to collect and use. One of my favorite things about Marvel Snap is just how fast paced it is. Each game only takes about three minutes, so it's always a great time to pop in for a game or two. New cards are released every week, new seasons every month, and frequent events keep the game fresh and exciting. Each game takes only three minutes, so you can get in and out wherever you are. And with more than 270 cards in Marvel snap with over 2000 unique art variants, you'll always find something new. Download the Marvel Snap app now available on the App Store, Google Play and Steam or visit marvel snap.com to learn more. This episode's brought to you by Shady Rays Forget the boring gifts this year. Shady Rays makes finding something special for everyone on your list easy. With premium polarized sunglasses that bring both clarity and comfort, you'll be giving a gift that they'll appreciate every time they step outside. Shady Rays is an independent sunglasses company offering a world class product rated five stars by over 300,000 people. Their shades have durable frames and crystal clear optics, making them the perfect choice this holiday season. Every pair of shades also comes with lost or broken protection. If those shades ever disappear or get damaged, Shady Rays will replace them, no questions asked. Shady Rays makes gifting easy with a team ready to help with fast and friendly support. So give the gift of quality, style and worry free wear this season with Shady Rays. Treat yourself for someone special. Go to shadyrays.com and use code kindafunny for 40% off two or more shades. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300 shadyrays.com code kind of funny.

[Angie Hicks]

And we're back. And I still don't know who Greg's about to call.

[Greg Miller]

Hello?

[Angie Hicks]

Hello?

[Greg Miller]

Hello? Hello. Is this David Brevik, legendary video game developer, creator of Diablo, and of course founder of Skystone Games?

[Sophie Turner]

It is.

[Greg Miller]

Hey, David, how are you? Thanks for taking my phone call. Sure. Okay. I'm great. How are you? Having a good one? Are you good? I haven't caught up with you on the phone in a while. We exchanged the occasional text message. But it's good to hear your voice. I'm glad. Is everything going good at Skystone? Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Okay, great. We're excited to see what you guys have up your sleeve. Obviously quite the pedigree. Like I said, creator of Diablo, you've made a few games here or there. More importantly, of course, Marvel heroes. Never forget, but never forget. But for now, David, here's my question. You've worked at Blizzard, you've worked at Gazillion, you've worked throughout the video game industry. And of course, more importantly, probably for this conversation, you talk to developers in a way they wouldn't talk to us. So the question we have right now stems from avowed doing this $90 version that'll let you play the game five days early. In your experience, is that a decision that would come down on high from, in this case, Xbox, but we can just say publisher, or would studio heads be like, we want to do this and we need to make this happen?

[Sophie Turner]

In my experience, it's both.

[Greg Miller]

Okay, okay.

[Sophie Turner]

That when you're, when you are trying to pitch a project to whoever your boss is and you're trying to get a project made or whatever, the. It's all about the business. Right. And so like they, they're going to be the people that are okaying. Hey, we're going to spend whatever 100 million, several hundred million dollars on this project, whatever the number ends up being. They've got to make sure that the business makes sense. They've got to make money on that, and they're putting their careers on the line to okay these particular projects. So the studio head has got to go, well, I understand that they've got to make money in order to get my thing approved. So how are we going to come up with ways that we can entice gamers to spend the money that we would require in order to get this project? Kind of the thumbs up? So it is a little bit of a mix.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Sophie Turner]

You have to balance that, that you have to take. You have to, you know, figure out a way to. That you're gonna make a game profitable as well make, you know, as well as try and service your customers and, you know, the community as best as possible. You don't want to try and nickel and dime everybody to death or anything like that. So, like, what's of real value? What are things that we could do that we think that people will respond positively to, but will also ensure us that we have a better chance of profitability.

[Greg Miller]

Awesome. Thank you so much, David.

[Sophie Turner]

Sure.

[Greg Miller]

All right, well, have a good time and keep making games. All right, thanks.

[Sophie Turner]

Good to talk to you, man.

[Greg Miller]

Good talking to you. Bye. First off, you nailed it.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Congratulations, Wesley.

[Angie Hicks]

Thank you.

[Greg Miller]

Secondly, I appreciate the one person who is like, you didn't say he's live on the air. First off, you saw me frantically typing beforehand, and do you think that I answered the phone? I'm like, hello, Nick Scarpino, co founder of Conduit. Funny. A comedian from a documentary. Like, no.

[Angie Hicks]

Awesome. There we have it.

[Greg Miller]

There you have it figured out. A mix of both. Could be. It could have been that way.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah. All right, let's move on to story number three. I forget if there was even more of the conversation. I forget what I was trying.

[Greg Miller]

Your point was just like us talking about why this happens, when's it acceptable? And then it was this conversation of is it Phil saying this or is it also the devs being a part of it or studio head being a part of it.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah. And so, and I think we're trying to trace back of like, is this going to be a norm for Xbox going forward? Right.

[Greg Miller]

Is this.

[Angie Hicks]

And I do think it will be. Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

I think this is the thing of, like, you can have every game on game pass. Congratulations, you will get them. But we want to make as much money as possible. So if it is we're going to I think, I think this is them setting the stage and they've already been doing this correct of like we're doing this and now going forward this is how it's always going to be. And that's why I think it's a weird one for a vowed but if it's just the norm which it will be in a year then nobody's going to bat an eyelash.

[Angie Hicks]

And I guess that's where I separate where I think, I think this is the push internally from Xbox but I don't think they're making everybody do it. I think if any of the studio has are like no, we really don't want to do this. I think they're not going to do do it.

[Greg Miller]

Pizza Bet.

[Angie Hicks]

All right, so how do we figure this out? Like a year from now we count.

[Greg Miller]

I mean I just think every Xbox exclusive from here on out is going to do this.

[Angie Hicks]

Oh really? If the next if we get a non early access pre order option. You know what I mean? Like okay, then I'll get the pizza.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, exactly.

[Angie Hicks]

And then we'll will stamp it at by the end of 2025. I'll say if every Xbox exclusive of 2025 gets an early access preorder thing.

[Greg Miller]

Song keeps going yeah yeah then yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

Then I'll get you the pizza.

[Greg Miller]

Perfect. Love it.

[Angie Hicks]

Perfect. Story number three Ubisoft Splinter Cell movie has been canceled no, this is Sophie McAvoy at Gamesindustry Biz. Ubisoft's Splinter Cell movie adaptation has been canceled, according to one of the film's producers, as reported by the direct producer Basil Iwanik confirmed the adaptation was no longer in production. Iwanik signed onto the film in 2013. Quote, the movie would have been awesome. We just couldn't get it right script wise, budget wise, he said. But it was going to be great. We had a million different versions of it, but it was going to be hardcore and awesome. That's one of the ones that got away. Which is really sad or yeah, which is really sad. Ubisoft Splinter Cell film has been in production limbo since it was announced in 2012. Variety later reported that Tom Hardy was to be cast as Sam Fisher in 2014. Doug Lehman of Edge of Tomorrow was attached to the was attached to direct. But since then, since then there has been no word on his production status. While the film adaptation may be canceled, an anime series is currently in production at Netflix, set to premiere sometime in 2025. Bear Courtney from the Ones and Twos what's up?

[Barrett Courtney]

We had way too many different versions of this. Way too many cooks in the kitchen on what this movie was going to be, but going to be great. It was going to be great.

[Angie Hicks]

It was going to be fantastic.

[Greg Miller]

Crushed it.

[Angie Hicks]

Tom Hardy has been casted for a decade to be in this thing.

[Greg Miller]

I mean, with the success of Venom, you know what I mean?

[Angie Hicks]

Okay. Don't do Tom Hardy like that. That man was Bane. The fire Horizons. Do you think this ever happens, like, now? I mean, I guess. Do you think we ever get this spun up again for Splinter Cell? Because I feel like a Splinter Cell movie could be good.

[Greg Miller]

I do think. You do. I just don't think it's under Ubisoft. I think. I think Ubisoft's. I mean, you don't have to throw up the stock. You have to do anything like that. I just don't think it's going to. I don't think Ubisoft as we know it's long for this world. I don't think any. Any. Anything's not. I don't. You know what I mean? All right, let's check.

[Angie Hicks]

So when you say Ubisoft, like. No, not. Are you saying that Ubisoft is going to go.

[Greg Miller]

What's up, everybody? Welcome to your favorite financial segment in a video game show. Here Comes the Money with Greg Miller, where we check in on Ubisoft stock. Right now, we're trading at $2.80. You remember I bought it for $5.33. And I encouraged you to do it as well, if you remember. What was it? I'm going to look at the thing there.

[Angie Hicks]

How long ago did you. Did you pay for the stock?

[Greg Miller]

A long time ago. Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

It's been down for a while. It's been down for.

[Greg Miller]

But again, the number one rule of Greg, Sound financial advice is that buy low, sell high. So this might be the time to buy, because remember when the rumors of the takeover happened, it spiked. It jumped all the way up to $3. So, like, you could. I wouldn't have made any money. I still would have lost a lot of money. But you could have if you bought around here, because we're in the basement. Can't go much lower. You know what I mean?

[Angie Hicks]

Don't. It's Ubisoft. Don't test them.

[Greg Miller]

October 3rd, we jump on. Yeah, yeah. October 4th, we jumped up to $3 and 2 cents.

[Angie Hicks]

All right, remember, for audio listeners, this is not real financial advice.

[Greg Miller]

I mean, so you think.

[Angie Hicks]

Do you think the Ubisoft name goes away?

[Greg Miller]

I think they get bought.

[Angie Hicks]

That's because that's where I'm at. I think still exists as an organization, but I think like PlayStation or somebody. Maybe Disney. I don't know. Somebody buys them. I think they still exist.

[Greg Miller]

See, I think that could easily happen. Yeah. Thank you, Barrett. That could easily happen where you keep the sub brand. But also I could easily see it go. It gets bought in. What's the. What's the Ubisoft brand worth to us if. Especially if we're.

[Angie Hicks]

Disappear.

[Greg Miller]

If we're Disney? It's not like we need the Marvel logo in front of. You know what I mean?

[Angie Hicks]

You're Disney. What do you rebrand them as? Just Disney games.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. He's just putting in your game portfolio. Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

Right now we just have Assassin's Creed.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, Mickey.

[Angie Hicks]

That's. That. That's sad. But it's like, you're right. Like, it's like not. I think the. The other example would be a THQ where THQ went away and then they brought back the name and it's like, what's the point?

[Greg Miller]

Well, they.

[Angie Hicks]

And then they got.

[Greg Miller]

Don't get me started. THQ is this when your name is so bad that you buy something and you're like, you know, this dead husk of a company is a better name. I'm going to put that skin on for a second. Oh, no, it's not. Well, we'll become the Embracer group. Nothing bad can happen for us. So, anyways, I do think you eventually get a Splinter Cell movie. I just don't think it'll be with the Guillemot family running anymore.

[Angie Hicks]

I can. I can vibe with that. I agree with that. Story number four, do you think you.

[Greg Miller]

Ever see this Netflix thing?

[Angie Hicks]

The anime? Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah. That seems like it's, like, actively in production. It was announced at the, like, Netflix Geek Tool or whatever, like a year or so ago with, like, a bunch of other stuff. And some of that stuff's already coming to America.

[Greg Miller]

Had you watch it?

[Angie Hicks]

No. Well, I was also talking about the Ubisoft stuff, like Captain Laser Hawk or whatever the fuck. Yeah, like, I believe that came out. Yeah, didn't watch that either, but I think these things are actually happening. Yeah, but also, like, how many people are going to watch the Splinter Cell anime? Yeah, probably some people, of course. Like, a lot of people like anime and a lot of people like Splinter Cell, but.

[Greg Miller]

Chad, have you watched the Tomb Raider one? Jen and I saw it a few night. Not. Not nights ago. Weeks ago now. And I was like, oh. And then we were in that thing where there's like, nothing to watch. Like, I put this on, we put it on for like five minutes and.

[Angie Hicks]

We'Re like, okay, now we're not. We're good.

[Greg Miller]

So I wish I could help you, Captain Carter.

[Angie Hicks]

I think the bigger question is because what? Isn't there a Watchdogs movie in production?

[Greg Miller]

The biggest. That's wrapped.

[Angie Hicks]

Oh, it's wrapped.

[Greg Miller]

That was the thing. That was. That was a headline for us. Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

So we do see that. See that at some point, I guess next year. Or do we, like, it's finished.

[Greg Miller]

But girl, there's like this saying, this ain't it. Yeah, but again, I think these are the things that are going to lead to Ubisoft. Just be like, we got to get out of this. Who wants this? Who wants to buy us and embrace the group's like, we'd love to buy you and take your name and that. That would be the thing. Embracer group buys them. Like, now we're Ubisoft. They keep putting skin on. They're like, not. We're Ubisoft.

[Angie Hicks]

Ubisoft Nordic. No, that's gross. I really hope it's not. I hope it, like, if anybody buys them. I'm trying to think of like a good fit because they do think Disney could actually be a really good fit for Ubisoft.

[Greg Miller]

Why?

[Angie Hicks]

I don't know.

[Greg Miller]

Like.

[Barrett Courtney]

Yeah, that's weird. Well, because they've been making Star wars and what, Avatar?

[Angie Hicks]

Well, yeah, I guess that's why I think you just turned Ubisoft into the Star Wars, Avatar and Assassin's Creed studio.

[Barrett Courtney]

Soft under Disney, if it comes to fruition, that the EA exec does actually end up being the president.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, yeah, Wilson.

[Barrett Courtney]

Because then I think it's actually more likely that Disney buys ea.

[Greg Miller]

Oh.

[Barrett Courtney]

And I don't see them buying both.

[Angie Hicks]

You know, I don't want that.

[Barrett Courtney]

I know, I know.

[Angie Hicks]

Leave EA alone, Ubisoft.

[Greg Miller]

You thrill. You're thrilled with what EA is doing.

[Angie Hicks]

I mean, I'm not mad at what EA's been doing. Right. Like, we got the Dead Space remake.

[Greg Miller]

And we just complained about Ultimate Team and FIFA yesterday.

[Angie Hicks]

Well, yeah, but, like, that's a necessary evil to get the other things.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Angie Hicks]

Do you like Star Wars Jedi?

[Greg Miller]

I do. I'm not a. I'm not one of the easiest, the evilest, worst company in the world people. They've made a lot of bad decisions is stupid shit. But there's. There's a corporation. I feel like EA is the most. Like, we are a corporate. We're a corporation that makes video games.

[Angie Hicks]

But, like, we figured out how to.

[Greg Miller]

Do it successfully enough.

[Barrett Courtney]

But they have, you know, the Mickey Mouse mask.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Angie Hicks]

My. I think ea, the current version of ea. Right. Because over the years, EA has gone from villain to maybe slightly less villain. I think they're in a version right now where, like, they're getting shit done. Not the most exciting shit, but, like.

[Greg Miller]

They brought back college football.

[Angie Hicks]

They're not Ubisoft. Ubisoft. I'm like, any day you can announce your closing. And I'm like, all right. Well, it was bound to happen.

[Greg Miller]

And even Ubisoft, where it's just like, Ubisoft's such an interesting one, and I'll be so fascinated to see when we get to the next chapter and inevitably, Jason writes his next book about them, because it is just that thing where when Vivendi was trying to take them over and Yves Gilmore was, like, signing the clack signs, like, we got to stop this. And. Yeah. And they. They figured out what a Ubisoft game should be, and they. And they found success, and we all loved them.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And then it was, like. Felt like overnight. Everybody's like, now we're sick of you.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

We're sick of what you're doing. And they're like, but we're too far gone. We only know how to make this now.

[Angie Hicks]

It was the definition of locking in. And I don't. This is probably a bigger discussion of we. I think we need more time to break it down. But, yeah, it was. Well, the Vivendi takeover, what Was that, like, 2015 ish? 2016 ish?

[Greg Miller]

I want to say I thought it was IGN.

[Barrett Courtney]

I feel like I was still at it. I think the takeover was, like, a year over, like, the course of years.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Barrett Courtney]

And I feel like the moment where, like, the Guillemont family was like, no, this is us. We are Ubisoft was the same year as beyond good and Evil 2 being shown. And I was at IGN. So I think that was, like, 2017, because I'm thinking, like, early Vivendi, officially, this is us.

[Angie Hicks]

Early mid PS4 era is what I'm thinking of where I feel like Ubisoft during that. During that era, like, had something good going. Like, I think they were. I would say they were locked in during that time. And then it was around whenever Ghost Recon, Breakpoint came out. I feel like that was just a downturn of, oh, we've given up. Like, we got nothing left in the tank. Like, everything's just going downhill from here.

[Barrett Courtney]

That was 2019, I mean, yeah. That ended here as Division 2. I want to say.

[Angie Hicks]

Great game. Great game. Yeah.

[Barrett Courtney]

I. I honestly think it was like the.

[Angie Hicks]

But like I and I. The thing I'm trying to diagnose is doctor Bless, what went wrong? Is it just that that was it, the transition into current gen? Did games just get way too expensive and way too high production that Ubisoft just couldn't keep up anymore? Where they went from triple A to now almost feeling like double A. Like when. Where was the turn? Because PS4 generation, I feel like they were in it.

[Barrett Courtney]

I want to say it was probably that 2019, 2020 kind of area. Right. 2020, we get into the pandemic. People are. I feel like maybe Ubisoft was one of.

[Angie Hicks]

Maybe that's it.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Barrett Courtney]

Ones that might have been a bit slower on trying to figure out how to do all of this. Not in a normal way, obviously. They had like the success with Valhalla coming out that year. But then over the course of the next few years, we don't see a lot of games from Ubisoft and I think like they're. They were definitely. There is a backload of. Oh, shit. We have a lot of projects but nothing's coming out. There's also the point where Ubisoft, like all of the like sexual abuse allegations and allegations between a lot of people in Ubisoft.

[Angie Hicks]

I think mid-2020.

[Greg Miller]

I'd like to invite everyone listening and watching to the kind of funny games cast on Wednesday, December 4th where we'll do where Ubisoft went wrong. We'll figure this out. We're gonna get to the bottom of this.

[Barrett Courtney]

I like that.

[Angie Hicks]

Let's move on to story number four.

[Greg Miller]

When did they hire Yousef?

[Angie Hicks]

I mean, I think that's part of the locking in.

[Barrett Courtney]

They hired Ubisoft, started at Ubisoft around the same time I started at IGN. So I want to say he was late 2016, early 2017.

[Greg Miller]

That's going to be a crux of my argument about where they went wrong.

[Angie Hicks]

Because, like, listen, like, Yousef had Yusuf, had me tricked for a little bit during those Ubisoft forwards, where I was like, damn, they're doing great over here. And then they stopped putting, hey, look.

[Greg Miller]

How good he's dressed.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah. I was like, oh man, Ubisoft's killing it. Then they stopped putting him in the forwards and I'm like the whole time.

[Greg Miller]

What?

[Angie Hicks]

Story number four. Blizzard job AD confirms upcoming open world shooter is in the works and all signs point to starcraft. This is Wesley Yenpool at IGN as spotted On Reddit on November 13, Blizzard posted a job ad for an associate Design director innovation on an unannounced game. The description goes into more detail. As the Design Director of innovation, you'll be the vision holder and owner of key strategic innovations on an upcoming open world shooter game. You stay current with the latest developments in both the indie and AAA space. David Bowie is quoted as saying, quote.

[Greg Miller]

Go a little bit control to major.

[Angie Hicks]

Time, go a little bit out of your depth, and when you don't feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you're just about in the right place to do something exciting, end quote. The idea of innovating in the deep and excite the idea of innovating in the deep end excites you. Balanced with a pragmatic desire to turn dreams into reality that players can get their hands on and enjoy. That blurb comes or that that blurb confirms Blizzard's plan to release an open world shooter. But what is it? In September, it emerged that Blizzard was reportedly making a third attempt at developing a Starcraft shooter, with former Far Cry executive producer Dan Hay, who joined Blizzard in 2022, leading the charge. The news came from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier While speaking to IGN's podcast Unlocked, about his new book Play Nice the Rise, Fall and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. Hey, Starcraft shooter is mentioned in the book, and IGN's Ryan McCaffrey asked Schreier if it's likely to actually come out, quote, if it's not canceled. Schreier replied, this is Blizzard after all, their history with Starcraft shooters is not good.

[Barrett Courtney]

And quote it is 2024 and I'm talking about the Starcraft first person shooter.

[Angie Hicks]

Greg over under, does this come out?

[Greg Miller]

I'll say yeah, yeah. Dan Hayes, talented. You know, he I remember his presentation for Far Cry 5 and going through all the research they did and the people they hung out with and all that stuff. And you know, he's, he's a talented guy at making shooters and so I think if he's got a team over there, you know, Blizzard isn't the, it is still Blizzard, but it isn't the Blizzard that's chronicled in Jason's book. Right? This is the Xbox Blizzard. This is a Blizzard that wants to make games. And you know, not even because he's connected to Blizzard, but as you know, Brevik said, like people are trying to make money, right? They're trying to do things. I do think that you'll see this one come out.

[Angie Hicks]

Oh yeah, okay, you got Me, you got me convinced because I read this and I was like, sounds cool. But yeah, this is a thing that it feels like you've been working on for multiple decades at this point.

[Greg Miller]

And I think, you know, when they work on it for multiple decades is always important. And Jason's book talks about it, right. Of like it's not that they're continuously working on. They have a team working on it. It gets canceled, goes away, then the idea comes. But it's a different idea. You go for it. This is obviously a different idea from what's come before.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And I think again, as you look, if I'm Xbox and I'm, I'm Phil, I buy Blizzard, right. I'm excited to have all of these IPs now, right. But very importantly is breaking these IPs out of the very successful lanes they've already been in. Starcraft is a very successful IP for Blizzard and for video games. Right. But you're either a StarCraft player or you are fucking not. Right? So let's get it outside of that. Let's get that into a first or an open world shooter, right. Where you, you can go through and do something and attract a new audience. Is similar to what you're seeing with Space Marine, right? Where that's an ip that is a million different things. But that means there's so many entry points to get you and get you excited and become a huge loser like Rahul Kohli and paint the little miniatures.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah. I mean it reminds me of League of Legends a little bit where I'm somebody who would never play League of Legends. But then they announced 2xko and I plan to be very obsessed with 2xko. Right. That's a way to get me into that world.

[Greg Miller]

And this is a great example. And what we're talking about, right, is the industry struggles to be able to find funding for new ideas and new ip. Right. Like so many new ip. I'm looking at you, Concord, right. You have come out, they do nothing. They do something or whatever, but it's not as successful as something else. So why not take an id, an idea for a game and put it with a franchise that has an audience and has names behind it.

[Angie Hicks]

Well, if this comes out, it'll be a big deal.

[Greg Miller]

Big deal.

[Angie Hicks]

Big, big deal. But if I wanted something smaller, say the tiniest news I needed to know about Greg, where would I go?

[Greg Miller]

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

[Angie Hicks]

Story number five. We News from Variety. Sophie Turner is nearly set for the lead role in Amazon's upcoming Tomb Raider TV series. Tricky Madness is out now on Steam early Access. If you don't know about Tricky Madness, it's basically an SSX Tricky Successor style game. I played a little bit of it when I had a demo at one of these Steam Next fests. Yeah, pretty cool. Pretty fun. From game developer via Noble UK Video Game Expo. Wasd is dead. Its organizer entered liquidation. Increasing costs and less demand for stay in space means running events is just not viable for us anymore. Pokemon Gen 2 25th anniversary merch is coming soon to the Pokemon centers in Japan. From the Brick Reporter. Lego is reportedly releasing a second Lego Horizon set with 768 pieces in March 2025.

[Greg Miller]

People love Horizon. Jana Garcia, get ready.

[Angie Hicks]

And lastly, did you like. Did somebody delete the shorter version of this that I had and repay?

[Greg Miller]

Who can say? Who can say? Who can say that they put it in the long version because of the ridiculous. They wanted you to read it, then you edited it and I noticed since I put the long version back in.

[Angie Hicks]

Amazon Games has announced an event for New World at Turnum. The Return of Turon. From November 20th. From December, return of Turkey.

[Greg Miller]

That's the Turkey line. Turkey line.

[Angie Hicks]

That sounds like a Ratchet and Clank.

[Barrett Courtney]

No. Futurama character.

[Angie Hicks]

Oh yeah, it does.

[Greg Miller]

So yeah, yeah. November 20th through December 3rd. And then you tried to delete all this, but I put it back for you. Go ahead. Thank you.

[Angie Hicks]

Appreciate it. Players can hunt down the feathered. God damn it. The Feathered Adventure of Death. The Turkey Lawn. And his foul army. Foul spell with a W mind. You see what they're doing here?

[Greg Miller]

It's Thanksgiving.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah. And his foul army to earn unique rewards such as the Grand Gobbler Warhammer. You know what? I deleted this without even reading all this shit. I was like, oh, Greg pasted a long thing. I'm just going to shorten it for him. Such as the Grand Gobbler Warhammer. Turkey lawns, Juicy Cavs boots and more players across the tournament. I forgot. This is a new world thing. Players across the tournament can team up with fellow adventurers to take down this level 66 open world boss. Found in locations including Everfall, Brightwood, Mourningdale and Restless Shore. The whole. That should have been in the main news. If we're gonna have a fuckin read that. That's. That's that long.

[Greg Miller]

I gotta get back now that I'm through the main. Now that I'm doing.

[Angie Hicks]

Did you ever even boot up New World of Turtles.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, me and Joey did a whole stream with it.

[Angie Hicks]

Oh.

[Greg Miller]

Loved it. But it's just like it was Dragon Age time. Okay. It launched the day we got Dragon Age and that. I got a few other things knock out for next week, but then I'll.

[Angie Hicks]

Be back for weenies. So is it like. I know you talked about this during a preview. Please. During Summer Game Fest.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

But is it MMO like, like. Or is it more. Because I think you had mentioned that it feels like it's a bit more.

[Greg Miller]

Approachable, especially with this version. A new world Aeternum. They're leaning harder into the action RPG side of it. But it is still mmo where, you know, you're running around and you're. You can go fight open world bosses and stuff like that. But it feels more like when you.

[Angie Hicks]

Say, like, is my. Am I pressing a button and then I hit.

[Greg Miller]

It's action. It's an action rpg. You're drawing the bow, you're shooting the arrow, you're swinging your sword.

[Angie Hicks]

Feel good?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, it does. I mean, I don't think it's as sharp as a. Well, God. God of war for sure.

[Angie Hicks]

But like, Dragon Age. It's close, but, like, interesting.

[Greg Miller]

It was a hard one of going from that to Dragon Age, you know what I mean? Because Dragon Age combat feels so fucking good.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Whereas this one feels a little bit more moe.

[Angie Hicks]

That makes.

[Greg Miller]

But I'm excited more. You won't play today. We play today also. Let me cash you my pizza bet today. Let's get a pizza.

[Angie Hicks]

Oh, let's do it.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

Did we ever confirm that that was a pizza bet? Because, like, people in chat were like, oh, yeah, blessed. Of course he made the bet, but I think I overheard Roger and cool Greg trying to find the clip and I don't think they could find it.

[Barrett Courtney]

Here's my thing. Whenever we asked about if we made this pizza bet and chat answers, I feel like it's always yes with them ever actually, like, doing their due diligence. I think they just want us to spend money.

[Angie Hicks]

That's where I'm at.

[Greg Miller]

Because I remember what the bet was, if I'm being honest.

[Angie Hicks]

It was about Concord coming back.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, no. That was for sure a real thing.

[Angie Hicks]

Was it?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, we just. The problem is we talk about Concord every show, so it's impossible to figure out where we.

[Angie Hicks]

That's fair. It was one of those ones where I was like, maybe I wasn't on that episode because I feel like it happened with.

[Greg Miller]

No, I definitely remember this one.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah. Okay. All right. You'll get your pizza.

[Greg Miller]

Tim's a coward. He'd never do pizza.

[Barrett Courtney]

Also confirming my theory.

[Angie Hicks]

Where do you want your pizza from?

[Greg Miller]

I mean, I would say Toto's right. If you want to. What do you want to eat? Your Target Pizza Hut pizza?

[Angie Hicks]

No, I'm trying to figure out, because I'm like. Like, if we get Totos, get that pepperoni. Fucking.

[Greg Miller]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Angie Hicks]

Let's do. Let's turn the pepperoni all the way up. Also have that thing drowning in pepperoni.

[Greg Miller]

No, don't do that. Like that time Joey ordered three times the pepperoni.

[Barrett Courtney]

It was too much.

[Angie Hicks]

It's grown on me.

[Greg Miller]

Jesus Christ.

[Barrett Courtney]

You're sick.

[Angie Hicks]

Out super chats real quick. C.J. splitson writes in and says thoughts on Druckmann, saying his game's been in development since 2020. It's up to Sony. It's up to Sony to announce it. I think. I think Inc. I'm reading verbatim. I think Inc. It may be closer than we thought. Oh, so I think it may be closer than we thought is what he's saying.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. It's always tough. And I haven't. I've seen the breakout quotes. I haven't seen it in context. Like whenever somebody talks about their game and how it's been like it. What does that mean? Has it been an active development since 2020, or was it a whiteboard that had a bunch of ideas or a story outline that him and Hallie worked?

[Angie Hicks]

I gotta imagine, like, super early,/conceptual 2020.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Angie Hicks]

Because that's when you put out last list.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. So I don't know. Yeah, I mean, it could be closer than we think for sure, but we'll see.

[Angie Hicks]

I mean, you would imagine four years in development at this point. Like, hopefully it's in the next couple years. I'm gonna say 2026, the year that we get the new Xbox.

[Greg Miller]

CJ Clarkson says, I think Greg knows about the next Naughty Dog game and can't talk about it. Here's what I know. I know nothing official from Naughty Dog. I have heard scuttlebutt behind the scenes from other industry people, one person, about what the game is about, but I don't know if that's true. So I would never say anything about that. But I have no information from anybody of consequence.

[Angie Hicks]

Do you know something, Barrett? What do you know? Tell me, what is it? He's giving me a look. Greg's also drinking. Maybe we all know what it is.

[Greg Miller]

Here's what I'M saying game seems further along. One of the things you do later in the game, voice acting. What's Baird always talking about trying to do voice acting? Baird is the star of the next Naughty Dog game.

[Angie Hicks]

I mean, it sounds like they're making an anime game then, because I know Barry's been working on the anime voice.

[Barrett Courtney]

Confirm nor deny if rocks.

[Angie Hicks]

What's the Naughty Dog?

[Barrett Courtney]

Naughty Dog if they are working on the next Nack game. I can't deny it.

[Greg Miller]

He slipped and said Rocksteady, though. Do you think he's doing something?

[Barrett Courtney]

Nor deny that Rocksteady is making the next Blinks the Time Cat game.

[Angie Hicks]

Casper says birthday tax. Hope you guys have a great weekend. Thank you so much. Casper Chassale writes, and it says, Venom 3 made 400 million on a budget of 200. What? Excuse me. On a budget of 120 million. Very successful.

[Greg Miller]

Shut up. It's an affront to cinema.

[Angie Hicks]

I mean, I was gonna throw. I was gonna throw a shade at Ghostbusters. I don't have it in me.

[Greg Miller]

I appreciate that.

[Angie Hicks]

I don't have it in me.

[Greg Miller]

No, you're wrong.

[Angie Hicks]

Well, no, not because I'm wrong. I don't want to start a fight.

[Greg Miller]

Put up this scoreboard. How many Ghostbuster movies do we have? And how many Venom movies do we have? Thank you. I rest my case.

[Angie Hicks]

I feel like we might be competitive in this case. Like, are we counting movies that Venom is in because he's been in.

[Greg Miller]

No, we're not.

[Angie Hicks]

Then we're talking about Spider Man 3, Tobey Maguire, you know, DJ Akobio says avowed feels doomed. Are they keeping. Are they keeping the game in a busy window to encourage $90 spend? Why are they hesitant of a January release? DJ I think you're getting into conspiracy theory territory. I'm not gonna lie.

[Greg Miller]

It's one of those where they moved it once, and then it's like, ah, now it's getting crowded there too. Fucking I got to do we move it. I wish they'd move it again, but.

[Angie Hicks]

I think they move it again, and guess what? It's gonna be crowded again.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

This is what video games are now.

[Barrett Courtney]

We talking about.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I'd love it in January. I'd love it now.

[Angie Hicks]

And I don't think I love it.

[Greg Miller]

They're like, you know what Indiana Jones means?

[Barrett Courtney]

I think a lot of bigger places might be trepidatious of January just because that is right after the holidays and a lot of big spending and people are kind of resetting their pocketbooks, you.

[Angie Hicks]

Know, lightning Black writes in and says the point of PS5 Pro is PSSR. FSR has some issues. Please.

[Barrett Courtney]

Blessing.

[Angie Hicks]

Sorry. Pisser. Thank you. My thing with PSSR is that I don't think it's as sexy of a bullet point. I think in theory, like, at school, and I'm probably in action also. I think it's cool, right? Like, I've seen all the dlss deal. Dlss stuff that Andy shows off when it comes to Nvidia, and that stuff always does look incredible when he shows me the before and afters. I think the thing with pssr, though, is like, I don't know, like, it's hard to put that on a box and be like, see, like, you gotta get a PS5 Pro PlayStation owners, because we got AI upscaling. I think maybe by the time we get to next gen, that stuff might be a bit more easily sellable because we've been far enough into it and maybe you have more concrete examples that you can show people and go, hey, this is how much better it looks right now. Like. And when I compare it to the PS4 Pro, I think people knew for the most part what HDR was. People knew for the most part what 4k was. People had TVs that ran 4k. They were looking for reasons to want to get juice out of that 4K, and their PS4s weren't doing it. And so PS4 Pro, I think, actually had an actual feature there that felt worthwhile. Tangible.

[Greg Miller]

And you'd want tangible.

[Angie Hicks]

Thank you. Yeah, pssr. Cool. Awesome. Don't get me wrong. I think that's great, but just as far as bullet points on a box doesn't speak to me as much. And then I got one more. I'm going to pull from. I got two more. I got one from Garrett that says for blessing. Have you seen the collab with Sonic Cross Igloo? Yes. The cooler company, they have some sick drinkware for pretty cheap. Just wanted to throw it in. An FYI for Greg. Please keep tearing into the Grifters. Love you guys. And then. No, I'm not seeing the igloo thing. Bear's got a. Ooh, hold on. Oh, this is like a.

[Barrett Courtney]

This is hot. This is like the animation stuff that we like.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah, that's a really good style on that. On. On that bottle. Show me the cooler. I'm not in the market for a cooler.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Angie Hicks]

Cause, oh, man. It's cool, though. That is a nice cooler. This is one of those ones where I wish Kevin was here because I feel like I could Convince Kevin to buy one for the office. Oh, but I don't think I can convince greg to spend $45. But like I did Kevin, Kevin would secretly swipe the card for me.

[Greg Miller]

He would secretly swipe the card.

[Angie Hicks]

This one's cool.

[Barrett Courtney]

Kevin can secretly do it.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I know. Yeah.

[Barrett Courtney]

No, that's not true.

[Greg Miller]

Well, he's got secrets for sure.

[Barrett Courtney]

I feel like you could rock this one. Bless.

[Angie Hicks]

That one's hot. I like that. I like that a lot. One more super chat for you from Zaxxon Galaxian. I still feel weird about all these discussions about the next gen consoles. I still feel. I still feel weird about all these discussions about the next gen consoles is really forced. We've gotten used to these seven year ish cycles. But the first three to four years of this gen was eaten by the pandemic. This gen should be extended. All right, now it's time for kind of funny.com you're wrong where you write in and let us know what we got wrong as we got it wrong so we can correct it. For those watching later on YouTube and listening later on podcast services around the globe, a lot of these are for yesterday. But Banderasn writes in and says Indiana Jones does indeed have paid early access. You can get the game early through an Xbox over PlayStation players.

[Greg Miller]

Look at that. That's good. That's good.

[Angie Hicks]

You played me Banderasn. And then Brad says there is a physical edition of avowed premium edition that is being released with a really cool steelbook and a physical map and a letter from the devs. I think it wet ignored.

[Barrett Courtney]

Does it have a physical art book or is it digital?

[Angie Hicks]

And that is it kindafunny.com your I.

[Greg Miller]

Do have breaking news.

[Angie Hicks]

What's up?

[Greg Miller]

I put this into assets. Can we watch this? This is literally all of blessings things attached into one.

[Angie Hicks]

The hottest console upgrade is here.

[Greg Miller]

This is Pizza hut reveals a 3D printable device that uses the PlayStation 5's heat to keep pizza warm. So you put this pizza box on top of your PlayStation 5. It uses the heat from the console then apparently to keep your pizza warm in this box to warm your pizza while you play.

[Angie Hicks]

What is going on? What are we doing?

[Greg Miller]

Look at this, look at this, look at this. That looks great.

[Angie Hicks]

Oh that looks so great. We don't give enough respect to Pizza Hut. Man. Nobody out pizzas the hut.

[Greg Miller]

I'm reading over here from Tech Spot. The pizza warmer from Pizza Hut Canada is a contraption that connects to your top of your PlayStation 5. It's designed it's design and red highlights are inspired by Pizza Hut's roof, and the lid opens like a laptop for easy pizza access. The device works by channeling hot air from the console's exhaust to beneath where the pizza slices are located and directly into the compartment. It will hold several slices, and it's recommended that you insert a foil tray inside the warmer to protect your console from crumbs and grease. Pizza also suggests that you start gaming first to warm up your console, then add the medium slices.

[Angie Hicks]

That's a crazy process. We turn on my PS5, start playing some Apex. All right, we've had a few losses. Now let me bust out this Pizza Hut pizza that I want to warm or keep warm.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, listen, what are we doing? They're thinking. They're thinking outside of the pizza.

[Angie Hicks]

I do respect it. I do want Pizza Hut to enter the video game game more, you know, because, like, I was having a conversation on the way home from soccer last night with some friends. We were like, if money didn't matter and we can go back and, like, do whatever job we wanted, what we do. And like, one of. One of them was like, oh, man, I'd love to just work in a grocery store. And I was like, man, I'd love to go back. Because I used to deliver pizzas during a summer in college for Pizza Hut. I could see myself going back and doing that for a little bit longer. Being a delivery driver.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

I was drunk at Gumby's Pizza in Columbia, Missouri, once, and I was. I filled out an application to be a driver. Yeah. Didn't get the job. Didn't get a call. I can't imagine why, but, like, I was pretty high on it and I was talking to the person, the manager there. Again, drunk. This might have been the night. We still pie plate, too. I don't know.

[Angie Hicks]

I'm just shocked. You. You submitted the application and didn't get the job because.

[Greg Miller]

Didn't get a call. I got. At least I get a call.

[Angie Hicks]

Like, I don't. I think my resume was empty. Like, I had like, I don't think they interviewed me. I think they're just like, okay, cool, you can do it. Like, they were looking for pretty much anybody with spot.

[Barrett Courtney]

Was probably a bit more desperate.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. I was going to say, I don't know. Gumby's pretty popular. Probably need all the drivers they can get.

[Angie Hicks]

Yeah, fair enough. Pulls back, Greg. That does bring us to the end of kind of funny Games daily where each and every weekday we run you through the nerdy news you need to know about live on YouTube, Twitch and on podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad free, watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show. Enjoy the Games cast next, which is going to be a nice little P.S. i love you XO reunion episode and then the stream after, which is going to be Nick being Nick. But until next time, Game Daily.