Latest / It Just Works! / #221 "Xbox layoffs bring ruin, and Playstation makes a stupid decision with physical media"

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#221 "Xbox layoffs bring ruin, and Playstation makes a stupid decision with physical media" · It Just Works!

0:02
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Steve Downs, the voice of Master Chief, Spartan 117, with an incoming message for Ryan Green and all who listen to the podcast, it just works.
0:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's finish the fight.
0:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Listen up.
0:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Chief, out.
0:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello everyone and welcome to the HHS Workspotcast.
0:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm your host Ryan and today we're going to be talking about the Xbox layoffs and the repercussions of those layoffs, but also kind of touched on the decision made by PlayStation where they're going to get rid of physical media and beginning 28.
0:39
[SPEAKER_01]: They're going to switch to nothing but digital games.
0:42
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, that is kind of a tough one.
0:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So please stick around as we touch on that topic later on.
0:47
[SPEAKER_01]: But I really want to talk about in bulk the Xbox layoffs.
0:52
[SPEAKER_01]: As you know, I report on
0:54
[SPEAKER_01]: just kind of a commentate a lot on Xbox and everything surrounding it and you guys know that I'm a huge fan of Xbox until Honestly like I feel like the last five years have been pretty rough
1:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Tendingly it's been like 10.
1:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, since the Xbox One came out.
1:09
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been pretty gnarly and obviously the series X is a fucking great console But where does it end?
1:16
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, unfortunately Xbox is laying off a ridiculous amount of people.
1:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's 3600 The next 16 30 200 excuse me and the other half of that the 1600 will be laid off in the next year in total
1:31
[SPEAKER_01]: and they're getting rid of four studios, which two are already going independent and then two are being sold.
1:39
[SPEAKER_01]: So, um, double fine and compulsion games will become independent studios while Ninja Theory creators of Senua, Helbalade Senua.
1:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and undead labs, uh, notally, uh, most notably known for their work on state of decay.
1:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I game.
1:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I've actually loved since the original and I think I played the second one a pretty good amount.
2:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, it didn't stick with me the way I probably probably should have because I do think the games are really good.
2:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think the third one looks pretty great.
2:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, those, uh, developers are out of here.
2:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Which sucks everyone losing their jobs is just awful unless it's a manager who failed at their job, which we'll talk about in a little bit But developers losing their jobs is just it's never fun and I think it's really bad, so I really feel for all of you out there
2:31
[SPEAKER_01]: who may be impacted by this let alone as gamers impacted by it but definitely the people whose lives and financial situations have been put at risk it's just it's not good man it's not good for business it's not good for morale of all things and then arcane lion which is the studio that was working on blade marvell's blade is also
2:55
[SPEAKER_01]: going through a consultation process because in France that's how they have to conduct their business, but yeah, that studio looks like it's out of here as well.
3:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's, uh, it's really bad and some of these layouts will also take place in varying sizes across the Activision, but there's the Slash Cinemax, Blizzard King Mojang, and Xbox Game Studios, and I believe some of that will also be the Halo team.
3:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to kind of read, I'll show Sharma wrote in her email.
3:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Our business today is not healthy.
3:27
[SPEAKER_01]: We are operating at margins that are 3 to 10% lower than compatible platform and publishing businesses.
3:34
[SPEAKER_01]: We enter generation nine with a smaller install base and higher cost structure to grow Cost structure to grow we bet on Xbox Game Pass multi-platform a brand a broader portfolio Of content while those businesses have created meaningful value They did not grow at the pace we expected which I don't know how they ever were after the Activision acquisition
4:00
[SPEAKER_01]: As that happened to our core business weekend, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time.
4:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Hoping for a better outcome, which we're going to get into it, I think she touches on an or email, so we'll continue talking.
4:16
[SPEAKER_01]: First, we'll reset our content portfolio.
4:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Since 2018, we have aggressively expanded our studio, portfolio, while the number of games we created, each month across the industry now outpaces the last 10 years combined.
4:28
[SPEAKER_01]: We now find ourselves competing not only with the largest publishers, but also with smaller independent studios, which is a weird way to end that in my opinion.
4:36
[SPEAKER_01]: It is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio.
4:41
[SPEAKER_01]: We have also learned that we are not the best home for every type of studio.
4:44
[SPEAKER_01]: In a typical year we lost 64 cents to every dollar we invested.
4:50
[SPEAKER_01]: which is insane, so every dollar you invest, you're losing 64 cents.
4:55
[SPEAKER_01]: That's fucking crazy.
4:57
[SPEAKER_01]: As we reset X-Fox, we will help independent creators succeed by providing an open development tools and audiences to realize their vision.
5:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So some of their proprietary engines and stuff, other developers will be able to use or learn about and go help studios like Halo and Gears and just other stuff like that.
5:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Although Gears is unreal.
5:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Other layouts will take place across the company's platforms with Asha Sharma aiming to reduce management layers to no more than five where possible three.
5:30
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is like kind of mind blowing to me.
5:34
[SPEAKER_01]: So I have a direct boss that I report to you about every day.
5:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Most of us do.
5:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And then our boss is boss who I can also reach out to her, right?
5:47
[SPEAKER_01]: That's two layers of management that I'm usually in contact with, but the second one's like pretty rare because I direct to my, you know, I give information to my direct boss and then just keeps going up just like it keeps trickling down from higher ups, right?
6:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Vice versa.
6:05
[SPEAKER_01]: However, if you have an update for Halo Infinite, there's a guy,
6:11
[SPEAKER_01]: They have to pass it through 14 layers of management, which is insane.
6:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's no wonder why the seasons took six to eight months.
6:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there were six months in total for each new season at the beginning, one and two.
6:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I think even three.
6:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, I understand that Phil Spencer, and Sarah Bond and Matt Booty and all of them, which I don't know why Matt Booty's even around anymore.
6:41
[SPEAKER_01]: as much as I love Uncle Phil, and I thought Sarah was fine, it's like I understand giving people their freedom, I think it's amazing to give these developers freedom to create what they want.
6:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's the way it should be, but there has to be structure, there has to be accountability, there has to be
6:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey guys, we're behind where we needed to be.
7:01
[SPEAKER_01]: We did not reach this deadline.
7:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, why is no one reaching out to us?
7:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we had to go through 14 layers of management to tell you we're actually behind and this game should be delayed because of quality assurance.
7:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And we need a quality test and make sure that all of our QA testing is done and make sure that there's no bugs that the game launches as a full product that we stop promising co-op, but then it doesn't come out at all.
7:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, thinking of myself when I read these,
7:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, how toned deaf and stupid is the leadership over at Microsoft and Xbox?
7:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I just cannot believe that anyone thought this was okay.
7:41
[SPEAKER_01]: You guys are one of the biggest companies in the world, capable of changing the industry for the better, not the worse, and it really pisses me off because at the end of the day I understand that word numbers on a board, there's a hierarchy, you know, where
7:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's like, these are people's lives, 30 to 100 people to be exact are going to have to look for jobs or have to change their lives that they've got to custom to at a certain pay rate, which sure, you know, whatever you can think of as adjustments.
8:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's like, I just, I think it's so shitty that we're just playing with people's lives.
8:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's really frustrating.
8:19
[SPEAKER_01]: But I also think when you're the steward of
8:22
[SPEAKER_01]: really big franchises that built your brand essentially halo gears fable for the you know photos for the most part is not what it used to be so
8:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know, it kind of reminds me of like when Disney took over Star Wars.
8:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Like how fucking hard is it to just make a good Star Wars movie?
8:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Halo is one of the easiest franchises to work on in terms of content in terms of story.
8:47
[SPEAKER_01]: What fans want, fans want an excellent arena multiplayer that is built off the, you know, built from and a built upon Halo 13, the games that change the industry forever.
9:00
[SPEAKER_01]: right the campaign we want a fucking solid campaign it's either masochief doing his thing what's up with red team in the spirit of fire you got alpha nine with the odies tease you can do a flood horror game you can could have done hell divers which i heard you know we've talked about it before was already pitched apparently and someone shot it down you could do um battlefield level like multiplayer of giant maps with AI which is like
9:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you can do Halo Wars 3 right you can finish the trilogy and that's where we can bring in that red team and spirit of fire thing I just said like don't fucking tell me that, you know, you got these franchises and don't know what to do them Gears oh my god like if you want to go multi-plat I'm okay with that.
9:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry.
9:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going on a bit of a rant, but
9:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I think multi-plats fine.
9:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I think multi-plats could have saved Xbox.
9:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it could have brought back these franchises to the glory that they used to be at and build a competitive environment to where PlayStation, Nintendo, and other developers kind of to like kind of step up because now here we go.
10:05
[SPEAKER_01]: We got the premiere third person shooter hit back.
10:07
[SPEAKER_01]: We got the premiere first person shooter back.
10:09
[SPEAKER_01]: That's obviously aside from Call of Duty because that was a premiere game for a long
10:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, I think it's so fucking frustrating, like you want to go multi-plat, go ahead, put the Master Chief Collection on the Switch 2, put it on the PS5, like I think it's a great opportunity to bring in all of these fans under one umbrella, and you're like, well,
10:30
[SPEAKER_01]: What, why do we need a console then, right?
10:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Like Ryan, why do we, why does Xbox need to have a console?
10:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you could still have a console that brings more value to your customers, which you got rid of too, like a bunch of fucking idiots, you got rid of the game past deals, right?
10:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's like, hey Ryan, do you have a game past?
10:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, well, we're gonna give you discounts on Fallout 1st, we're gonna give you discounts on Adams, which is like the currency for Fallout 76, because unfortunately, it's a live service game.
10:55
[SPEAKER_01]: like you incentivize your customers, like given them a discounted product, right?
11:01
[SPEAKER_01]: So the service for Xbox Live is discounted, game pass is discounted.
11:05
[SPEAKER_01]: The games are discounted.
11:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, you know what?
11:07
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to launch Halo campaign evolved on PlayStation 5.
11:10
[SPEAKER_01]: However, for our Xbox fans, we want to make sure and take care of you.
11:14
[SPEAKER_01]: You can actually get the base game for 40 bucks instead of 50 bucks or 50 bucks instead of 60 bucks.
11:20
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a $10 off.
11:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, if you buy a physical through Xbox, we'll make sure it's this price like you can make it a competitive pricing market And One that can make people either jump ship to Xbox or people are like, I love my PS5 like, but I'm happy to play Xbox titles I don't care about the price jump as long as you make a complete package There's there's ways that you can get around this now.
11:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just spit ball and shit So I didn't really think this through in terms of whether or not I sound good
11:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But you got like the Marcus Phoenix collection.
11:49
[SPEAKER_01]: All of us wanted Gears 1-3 on a collection, just like the Master Chief collection, and I feel like that would have been the biggest fucking slam dunk, man.
11:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean so many people didn't get to play those games, and the people who did 100% want them back.
12:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I've wanted them back since Gears 4, and I actually, I think I got like 600 hours on that game.
12:08
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, like, it's so fucking frustrating.
12:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Fable looks fine, um, mech assault never came back.
12:16
[SPEAKER_01]: What, uh, we haven't had an Elder Scrolls, a new Elder Scrolls game.
12:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Not a remaster, because I like Oblivion, but we haven't had a sequel to Skyrim.
12:26
[SPEAKER_01]: in 15 years, and then also a sequel to Fallout 5, a direct sequel, not 76, which I love 76 now, but it's not what fans want the most, and when it's been 11 years for that.
12:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's like, what the fuck are we doing, man?
12:41
[SPEAKER_01]: like you got, I mean people want new vegas back.
12:44
[SPEAKER_01]: You could have done new vegas and fall out three at 60 frames and launch them on the switch too.
12:48
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a get people caught up.
12:50
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the thing that's being brought up a lot too around other creators and other articles and writers.
12:57
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the fallout season of season one and two came out.
13:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have no new Fallout game.
13:02
[SPEAKER_01]: We have new Fallout content through community stuff and then also Fallout 76 getting the Burning Springs update, which is literally as Walton Goddon's goal to the game, but doesn't really do anything besides a few conversations.
13:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like,
13:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Like how, how can you have the keys to success and not open the fucking door?
13:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I don't understand it.
13:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Why do you leave it locked?
13:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I do not understand it and I find it so frustrating.
13:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know who's holding someone back and I'm assuming that unfortunately those 3200 people that are being laid off aren't the people that are the problem.
13:39
[SPEAKER_01]: At least, I'm saying it's almost all of them probably aren't the problem.
13:42
[SPEAKER_01]: There might be a few, but it means it'd be a hell of a lot more than need to be accountable because now they're 3, 3, 200 people need to go through something else traumatic in their life.
13:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And that sucks.
13:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's fucking bullshit that there's 14 layers of management.
13:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Fire them.
13:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Move them to different positions.
14:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Find new places for them to be helpful.
14:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And if they're not, get them out.
14:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you're too big of a company to be just like, oh yeah, we'll give them complete freedom.
14:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's fucking dumb, dude.
14:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, look at the games that have probably come out in the last 10 years.
14:14
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a fucking joke.
14:15
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, Halo 5 was rewritten to death.
14:19
[SPEAKER_01]: It was written by people who don't even like Halo.
14:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna keep harping on stuff that I actually play.
14:24
[SPEAKER_01]: So if that's why you hear specific titles, that's why.
14:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Halo Infinite, I think Halo Infinite gameplay wise.
14:30
[SPEAKER_01]: is a hundred percent a sequel to Halo 3 gameplay wise it's got the equipment back it's deployable you can use it but you just not infinite but the game is just kidding i think it's the best gameplay we've had since Halo 3 a hundred percent it's better than reach it's better than four and five like no question about it
14:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And the campaign is great, but there's no biomes.
14:55
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just one basically Woodland biome.
14:59
[SPEAKER_01]: That campaign, if you didn't know, has been gutted and restructured to oblivion.
15:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And what they wanted to do with that game, would have made it the game that everyone wanted.
15:12
[SPEAKER_01]: The multiplayer was good, but there was so much content lacking.
15:16
[SPEAKER_01]: at launch there was no proper road map that again had accountability and actually launched in time and there's no co-op right there's matchmaking co-op but the split screen co-op didn't come out they promised us that and it didn't happen you had the Halo TV show that's a fucking joke they called it the solar timeline and they had nothing to do with the games necessarily it was just a completely different timeline and that's dumb as shit
15:44
[SPEAKER_01]: like for seasons reach into the season we're going to fucking you know delta halo right delta halo now alpha halo I don't know I think it's alpha anyways
15:55
[SPEAKER_01]: this sucks guys.
15:56
[SPEAKER_01]: The reason why this sucks is because of what we're going to talk about at the end of a PlayStation.
16:01
[SPEAKER_01]: The thing is, industries have to have competition.
16:05
[SPEAKER_01]: There has to be a deep competition because it brings out the best in everyone.
16:10
[SPEAKER_01]: It brings out creativity, it brings out brand new original IPs, or maybe sequels to some of our favorite franchises, or maybe in the current age we're in, which is kind of a hot topic too.
16:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Great remakes, right?
16:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, when I think of the remake of Star Fox, I've talked about it.
16:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I'm biased.
16:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I love the game.
16:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a great place to start.
16:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, hey guys, here's this game that a whole generation or two of gamers has not played, but now probably is interested in the character because of Cepemorial Galaxy, so we made this game again.
16:42
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's a fucking great game that definitely needs a couple of updates, you know, because I think ranked multiplayer would be good.
16:49
[SPEAKER_01]: But it puts itself in a place for a great sequel.
16:53
[SPEAKER_01]: the characters actually look good because at first I've talked about it the models were whatever.
16:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm totally fine with them.
16:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the characters, the voice actors, I think it's all great.
17:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they could be an unseated better in some of the ways they, you know, the words that they're saying and I think the writing could be a little bit tighter.
17:08
[SPEAKER_01]: But at least that remake opens the room or opens the door as I keep using as a analogy to sequels, to continue a franchise that should have never been put on ice in my opinion.
17:20
[SPEAKER_01]: At least it, you know, it could have breaks, but I mean, I think it was like 10 years since the last Star Fox game.
17:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe more.
17:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, so when I, with reason why I bring that up is like, we could remake Mega Salt.
17:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Mega Salt can definitely use a new cut of paint with maybe better game mechanics, refined gameplay.
17:39
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's a fucking solid franchise that I think would actually do pretty good.
17:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially if you market it properly and give it the right price point.
17:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that there's room for remakes, sequels, and fresh new ideas to exist in this industry, and without the competition, none of that stuff comes out.
17:56
[SPEAKER_01]: People are just doing cash grabs, so I'm like, well, right, you like remakes.
18:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I like remakes.
18:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I think remakes are great.
18:03
[SPEAKER_01]: because Remakes take what you know and give it a fresh coat of paint, but also added bonuses, right?
18:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Now Star Fox is a little bit tighter when it comes to its predecessors.
18:14
[SPEAKER_01]: It's basically just Star Fox 64 or 3DS with online multiplayer.
18:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the Hall of Viewer also might be added, but I think honestly everything is the exact same thing because I know that game had challenged mode.
18:29
[SPEAKER_01]: But when you look at Halo campaign evolved, I was, I was going to be fine with a remake no matter what, because I'm just dying for an in-thing new Halo.
18:37
[SPEAKER_01]: However, while I am disappointed, there's no firefight or multiplayer.
18:42
[SPEAKER_01]: They added 43 or 48 schools, whatever the number is, is in the 40s.
18:47
[SPEAKER_01]: They added 3 that are tied to beating the campaign and a game mode and air quotes that's tied to beating the campaign, which is campaign remix, where you can play the campaign levels
18:59
[SPEAKER_01]: For instance, silent cartographer can have flood fog and then can have the flood itself and gives it completely different vibe that only mods would technically do So I think things like that are great.
19:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that you know this game was launching on it is launching on the PS5 So I think what better way to bring people into this franchise than the game it started at all and I think this remake is way more faithful than fucking anniversary
19:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Because anniversary I liked like the day it came out, sure, of course I did.
19:28
[SPEAKER_01]: But looking back at it when the Master Chief Collection came out, I like three, four, three guilty spark in the library are completely ruined.
19:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the atmosphere we got sucked out the room.
19:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I just think that to have so many franchises, and there's so many games and franchises that I can't even remember right now that Xbox has, because they have so many that it's like, what the fuck are you doing, man?
19:55
[SPEAKER_01]: back to this as my long tangent let me know if you agree or not though like what is your perspective on this do you have a different opinion do you not like my opinion I'd love to hear it honestly I don't think my opinion is the end all be all it's my opinion because that's what I want to see I do not speak for everyone so I'd love to hear what you guys have to say
20:16
[SPEAKER_01]: But anyways, in quotes, yes, Oscar Sharma wants to reduce management layers to no more than five, which is still too much, in my opinion, and where possible three, which is perfect.
20:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Five, I understand, because we are term out franchises, but yeah.
20:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Sharma says the company will streamline how we work across our tools, which I hope to God.
20:37
[SPEAKER_01]: However, this is unfortunate because there's a lot of vendors that these companies work with to promote product, to make product.
20:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And whatever else you could imagine, toys, um,
20:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, it's probably so much marketing, I mean, all this shit.
20:53
[SPEAKER_01]: POS, so like, you know, the flyers and stuff, halo, and all that stuff.
20:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the banners, gosh, there's so many I could talk about.
21:01
[SPEAKER_01]: But anyways, the reducing is vendor spend by 50%.
21:04
[SPEAKER_01]: The company is also promoting hell, or, yeah, so that's basically what I'm talking about.
21:08
[SPEAKER_01]: As vendor spend is going down by 50% and vendors would be all those things I just mentioned.
21:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, I think that's really unfortunate to you.
21:16
[SPEAKER_01]: So while it is 3,200 layoffs, the reduced 50% spin on vendors also is going to cause layoffs.
21:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, hopefully not, but I'm sure it is.
21:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah.
21:32
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... looks like last month i should show them an xbox games videos had map booties should have a job at this company anymore sent a email out to all employees in preparation for these cuts highlighting that the the so the third highlighting these cuts and getting them prepared for it but they've also uh... ended its fiscal year and about three percent profit margin
21:53
[SPEAKER_01]: and had spent $20 billion on city investment in five years, not including its 69 billion dollar purchase of Activision Blizzard King.
22:05
[SPEAKER_01]: and seen in its annual revenue decline nearly half a billion dollars even as the price of components skyrocketed.
22:12
[SPEAKER_01]: The email went on it on to say its studio system had overextended and was not adequately funded to be competitive.
22:20
[SPEAKER_01]: No, it's just so true.
22:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I think one of the last
22:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, maybe it's two years ago.
22:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's twenty four, but I don't know.
22:32
[SPEAKER_01]: They always do you like the fucking PowerPoint slide of all these studios that are under Xbox and while I thought it was cool at the time It's definitely not it's too many like they said earlier in the email There's not the right home for all these studios and that's that's fine.
22:46
[SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing wrong with that That's why you can open your tools up to them and make them partners instead But yeah, this is fucking crazy
22:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Xbox is cost saving operations also included cutting contracts with the number of third-party vendors and I moved that hand resulted in jobs a job losses at those vendors.
23:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, they're losing losing jobs.
23:11
[SPEAKER_01]: So Also, there's been updates obviously, so we'll kind of touch on that.
23:15
[SPEAKER_01]: There's also been a result the studio spin outs will result in over 300 jobs leaving Microsoft gaming team
23:23
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's from like, I think Bethesda and or like Halo Studios and shit, um, yeah.
23:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's that, um, one of the big things to come out of this that could be good, but we'll see is Obsidian Entertainment, who's most notably known for new Vegas, but has also made their their titles out of worlds of out, grounded pillars of attorney, uh,
23:53
[SPEAKER_01]: developer, we're told to stop working on about two, put it in the fucking fire for now, and shift their focuses entirely to a brand new Fallout title.
24:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So, yes, there is a guaranteed announced fallout title being worked on from some of the people that actually made new Vegas.
24:14
[SPEAKER_01]: So, we'll kind of see what happens there.
24:17
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see if that means that Bethesda kind of shift gears from focusing on fallout right now to ship.
24:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll just roll six because we still haven't seen anything on that.
24:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Which, take your time, but like damn, we haven't seen anything besides this announcement trailer.
24:32
[SPEAKER_01]: to the point where Todd Howard was quoted saying, forget we even mentioned it, you know, for that because like he prefers and several interviews he said that he prefers to just shadow drop it, like he did the Oblivion Remaster, which was cool as hell, man, like that was one of the coolest gaming moments in a long time that I can remember.
24:49
[SPEAKER_01]: So I understand that, but
24:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Like there's just been nothing on the game, so it's been pretty frustrating.
24:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And then Bethesda Union workers are protesting, protesting mass layoffs and holding rallies.
25:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, unfortunately this is ugly.
25:06
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just ugly all around and it's really bad because you know this isn't the only industry that's like taking these kind of hits in the world and I wanted to talk about it today out of defense for the people that are unfortunately
25:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Experiencing this and having their lives impacted by these changes It's really tragic and I'm really sad about it because I love gaming.
25:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I love the industry and Yeah, I don't know it's so it's awful
25:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, we'll see what happens.
25:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me know your thoughts on this Xbox stuff if you have any.
25:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I do, I want to hear more from you guys that are listening.
25:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Someone's listening to the show and I'd love to hear from you.
25:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you listen to the show, please consider writing in at it just for his podcast.
25:57
[SPEAKER_01]: You can email me.
25:58
[SPEAKER_01]: You can, uh, it's, it just works part of Gmail.
26:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but you can email me.
26:03
[SPEAKER_01]: You can follow me on TikTok.
26:05
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the best place to get a hold of me.
26:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, or Instagram.
26:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And you can write in questions or let me know what you think.
26:13
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, that's the situation with Xbox.
26:16
[SPEAKER_01]: But now I would love to talk about the good old PlayStation.
26:22
[SPEAKER_01]: My archnimmis is actually I love PlayStation.
26:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I was playing one of those PlayStation five, and it's really cool, but I also fucking hate them.
26:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, let's read this from PlayStation blog come July 1st, 206.
26:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's read this.
26:41
[SPEAKER_01]: They have 9,000 comments on it and only 1,200 likes so you can imagine how that went.
26:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Physical disk production ending in January, 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles.
26:50
[SPEAKER_01]: So starting January, 2028, all new games will have no disk.
26:56
[SPEAKER_01]: That's right.
26:56
[SPEAKER_01]: It will be a fucking code in the box.
27:00
[SPEAKER_01]: In response to shifting trends and consumer preference, new games will be released on PlayStation store and at retailers and digital formats.
27:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Which this is true, by the way, my Xbox every game is digital, but that's because of game paths, that's because, you know, I don't know, I didn't really like buy Xbox games because they were collectors items.
27:21
[SPEAKER_01]: It's more of like an Nintendo thing for me, but I'm so glad this guy's got his pronouns and the fucking anyways.
27:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
27:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I never looked at Xbox games as like collector items.
27:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I did like midnight releases, but those kind of died down.
27:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I stopped going to them, and I think midnight releases in general kind of died down after COVID, so yeah, you will talk about it real quick as I take a drink.
27:50
[SPEAKER_01]: on delicious H20.
27:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Alright, so we're going to read this article from Sid Schumann.
27:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Senior Director for Sony Interactive Entertainment content communications.
27:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, this communicates sucks.
28:02
[SPEAKER_01]: As consumer preferences in the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical disk to digital, physical-dame-game disk production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January, 2020.
28:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and that retailers in digital formats only.
28:22
[SPEAKER_01]: This transition has no impact on games that are released or will be releasing prior to January 20 in disk format.
28:31
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a natural direction for sunny interactive entertainment.
28:35
[SPEAKER_01]: to adapt to consumer trends as a general preference for digital media, significantly outpaces physical disc, which is true.
28:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I just said it myself, like I do digital day on Xbox.
28:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I only have campaign evolved, pre-ordered, because digital.
28:50
[SPEAKER_01]: This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.
28:58
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll continue to prioritize our resources to drive innovation and how players can access games and provide choices as to where players prefer to purchase new games.
29:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Whether that's at retailers or places in store, we remain committed to delivering a world-class gaming experience to our fans.
29:19
[SPEAKER_01]: for your continues of work.
29:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, the PlayStation Store for PS3 and PSVDA will also be closed shortly.
29:31
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I am a very, very big,
29:36
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... believer in game and physical media preservation it it shows the history of our world whether it's movies photos gaming music vinyls i mean you name it i think everything that has a physical property keeps history and record of us the human race like i i i i don't know how to say without some so cringy i guess but
29:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a big deal.
30:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I think looking back at where we came from and where we want to go moving forward is crucial to us as a society.
30:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Not only for political and social issues, but also just for hobbies and just pop culture and looking back at the entertainment industry and looking where it's come.
30:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, a hundred years ago,
30:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, look at where we're at today, compared to that.
30:24
[SPEAKER_01]: It's fucking crazy.
30:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Silent films to AI creating films on their own, by giving them a prompt.
30:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying AI is necessarily the way to go for all this, but I'm just saying, technology has advanced at a crazy level, and I think it's great to preserve it so people can look back at it.
30:45
[SPEAKER_01]: maybe I want to look back at it.
30:46
[SPEAKER_01]: We should be able to do that.
30:48
[SPEAKER_01]: But also, people like the experience of minute releases trading in their games, sharing to a friend, a family member, or selling to a friend or whatever, right?
30:58
[SPEAKER_01]: All of that's going away.
31:00
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think most importantly, because I'm such a huge fan of these places, is Mom and Pop shops, frank and sons,
31:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Collectors.
31:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my god.
31:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't forget those guys right now, but there is Excuse me.
31:24
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a Huge market for people that want to sell their own games like Cleo's TCG
31:31
[SPEAKER_01]: They sell games, they resell them, they are also the best places to get old school games, right?
31:37
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're looking for vintage media, this is a great place to do it.
31:40
[SPEAKER_01]: PS5 will be vintage in 10 to 20 years, whether you like it or not.
31:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's just how that works.
31:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just think it's really sad to not only have the layouts we're talking about, but something like this.
31:53
[SPEAKER_01]: This will hurt the industry.
32:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe a one to ten people buy a physical copy, right?
32:05
[SPEAKER_01]: That's still important.
32:06
[SPEAKER_01]: That's still important to that person's experience, which is supposed to be provided by you, PlayStation.
32:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know Xbox sounds like they're gonna follow suit with Project Helix, the next console.
32:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're saying Xbox One to Xbox Series X titles.
32:19
[SPEAKER_01]: You can take the physical disk and it gives you the digital version.
32:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure, I guess that's cool.
32:25
[SPEAKER_01]: But it still sucks, it still sucks.
32:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not a fan of this, I've already talked with Brian about how, like, by titnicality, I hate the game key cards on Switch 2.
32:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the game should be physical on disk if they can do it, right?
32:39
[SPEAKER_01]: If you can't, don't even fucking release it physically.
32:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing comes in the case anyways, right?
32:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, they got rid of manuals, they got rid of promo art, besides the paper itself.
32:49
[SPEAKER_01]: They got rid of little bonuses that make it cool to, like, keep it sealed or hold on to it.
32:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Not sealed, but hold on to it.
32:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I think this is just bullshit.
32:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I really don't like it.
33:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I think PlayStation has had no competition in terms of Xbox.
33:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like Nintendo is just really doing their own thing because they're so good at catering to whether you're three years old or whether you're a hundred years old.
33:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Nintendo has something for you.
33:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And they are doing that to make sure that there's something for you.
33:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So I feel like Nintendo is just kind of like on their own island, even though technically they're not.
33:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just think, like I said earlier, that breeds imagination and ingenuity, and we're not getting that.
33:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just think a decision like this is so toned up, too, like, fuck the preservation stuff.
33:40
[SPEAKER_01]: If that's what your consumer wants, why would you get rid of it?
33:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So, and, you know, here's the thing, too, right?
33:49
[SPEAKER_01]: If let's just say, making physical disk and all these stuff isn't cost effective because no one's buying it, right?
33:55
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just sitting there.
33:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, then, I mean, I don't think people are going to like it still, but you can announce a game and go, hey, if you pre-order this game, we will make you a disc, right?
34:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Like we're making disc to order, right?
34:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you have 500,000 people that pre-order Wolverine too, right, because that wouldn't come out anyways until after 2028 Then you're gonna make 500,000 this maybe 600,000 I have some shipped out to stores or whatever It's just you gotta get people that option.
34:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe some people only want that option
34:30
[SPEAKER_01]: The only reason why I can understand my people's also don't care because Xbox did this which is why I basically switched to digital because besides Game Pass there's two things.
34:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I dealt with the red ring of death like hell with Xbox 360 and so disk getting scratched getting stuck in the console, the way the consoles are yet to stand them so if it falls over it might fuck up the district and everything else, but also, I've got such a
34:58
[SPEAKER_01]: like every single game almost requires you to be online.
35:01
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to update it.
35:02
[SPEAKER_01]: There's always first day updates, right?
35:04
[SPEAKER_01]: They have to get a patch through.
35:06
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't even play a game on Xbox unless you put the patch in.
35:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So yes, I've technically been doing with this forever, but it's just the, it's the principle of it.
35:17
[SPEAKER_01]: If games are physically on the disk, the whole content is there on the disk, besides the day one update, right?
35:24
[SPEAKER_01]: That should be what people want that, that shouldn't be a problem.
35:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think this is just a wildly, wildly toned-dev decision.
35:35
[SPEAKER_01]: But let me know what you think.
35:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you okay with PlayStation doing this?
35:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you even care?
35:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Does it even matter to you?
35:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like there's a lot of PlayStation people out there, right?
35:42
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the top selling console, or actually I think Switch 2's top selling now.
35:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyways, PlayStation Noteout has a massive, massive install base.
35:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this something that bothers you?
35:53
[SPEAKER_01]: If it does, let me know.
35:55
[SPEAKER_01]: If it doesn't, I would love to know.
35:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Because again, I like my opinion, but I'd love to hear yours.
36:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I think sharing thoughts and us having different opinions is huge.
36:06
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot to talk about moving forward.
36:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I still haven't talked about Tomb Raider on the Switch 2.
36:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I beat the first game.
36:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And just the Switch 2 in general makes me happy every single day.
36:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think it's one of the best consoles of all time.
36:19
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the most bang for your buck.
36:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's something about the portability of having a home console, take it out the dock, and now I'm playing Fallout 4 in bed.
36:27
[SPEAKER_01]: which is a game I'm kind of falling in love with again until I get to that part of the story that everyone hates, because I know I hate it.
36:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I fucking hate the sense.
36:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyways, Halo campaign evolved comes out in two weeks, or I'm sorry, a week and a half.
36:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to be talking about that, because the Halo Studios drama is crazy as hell, and I want to touch on it.
36:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But also, I'm almost 20 hours into Star Fox, so I'm going to be doing that final review for you guys.
36:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of touching on it.
36:55
[SPEAKER_01]: That's going to be a quick episode.
36:57
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, that's it.
36:59
[SPEAKER_01]: My name's Ryan.
37:00
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the AdjustWorks podcast.
37:02
[SPEAKER_01]: If you like what you listen to today, please consider leaving a review on Apple podcast, Spotify.
37:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Reach out to me, follow me on all those platforms at AdjustWorks podcast.
37:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been streaming a lot on TikTok trying to build a schedule up.
37:16
[SPEAKER_01]: all of your guys' support goes a long way.
37:19
[SPEAKER_01]: It makes me feel like I've accomplished something and I hope that it brings some joy to you or just something to kill time.
37:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for listening and I hope you have a good night or good morning but overall just have a good day.