Latest / WASD and Beyond / Episode 227: EA sells to the Saudis
Transcript
- 0:16I mean, welcome to the show, everybody.
- 0:18You wouldn't want it, but. I you don't know what I want.
- 0:21It'd be pretty old. Yeah, I do have a thing about
- 0:24that. Yeah, anyway, yeah.
- 0:29Welcome to WASD and beyond, everybody.
- 0:32I'm your host, Nick, and I'm not getting any chocolate homemade
- 0:34cookie dough. That's fine, we are sponsored by
- 0:38Final Boss and Doc Long Ian Screen Box.
- 0:41Check out the links below. I forgot my water.
- 0:45You better go get your water. I'll get through all these
- 0:48plugs. No free, everybody.
- 0:50Welcome back to the show. We are your host, Nick and Evan.
- 0:53Evan's getting up to go get his water.
- 0:54I'm going to rein us in WASD and beyond.
- 0:59Check out the sponsors down below.
- 1:00We are sponsored by Final boss Doc Longy and Screambox.
- 1:04Additionally, please, please, please, please, please e-mail us
- 1:08at wasdbeyond@gmail.com. That is WASDBEY ond@gmail.com.
- 1:17Send us in all your questions. Send us in the games you want us
- 1:19to play or talk about topics you want to hear us discuss in the
- 1:22industry right now. Please check out our other shows
- 1:25role for deception. That's Brody's DND I I don't
- 1:31what is that? DNDDND Role Play Podcast I.
- 1:35Don't. Yeah, I'm trying to.
- 1:37I'm on it. Yeah, me and Evan are in the
- 1:38same campaign that that releases whenever a session is completed
- 1:43and. Whenever we get time, yeah.
- 1:46Yep, and then also check out Alex Noah and myself's podcast
- 1:50about horror movies from the streaming service Screen Box
- 1:54called it came from Screen box. We are planning actually Evan,
- 1:58to start having guests on to pick a movie.
- 2:02So they will choose from the list of movies in the Screen Box
- 2:06category and we will watch it and either they'll be very
- 2:09stoked or they won't be. But it's going to be a good time
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- 2:13Reception and WSD and beyond. And without further ado, let's
- 2:16get right into the show. I am still sinking my teeth so
- 2:23far deep into Silk Song. Yeah.
- 2:26How have you been feeling about it as you've as time has gone on
- 2:30here? Good, good.
- 2:31So I still love it. I still think it's a near
- 2:33perfect experience. I'm not going to be.
- 2:38Sorry. I'm trying to tread.
- 2:40No, you're good. I'm trying to tread lightly
- 2:42because I think this episode's already going to be divisive.
- 2:45You know what I mean? I think.
- 2:48It'll be something. I'm not trying to piss off the
- 2:50Silk song people, but there are parts in the game sure where I
- 2:53think it is. It's not like too hard, but
- 2:57there's like just bullshit moments that like, yes, the game
- 3:00is trying to teach you and equip you with the items and the tools
- 3:03to, to complete these areas. But at the same time I'm
- 3:06noticing I'm like, OK, well, this is just bullshit.
- 3:08I'm in a fucking bullshit area and I, I hate this area, but
- 3:15it's a great fucking game. Like I love the game.
- 3:17I I'm having a blast with it. Yeah, I mean, I need to play
- 3:21more of it. I only put like 15 minutes into
- 3:24it, but I enjoyed what I played like I enjoyed those 15 minutes.
- 3:26I want to play more because it's not typically my style of game,
- 3:29but I I like a challenge and like, as you've, as you've seen,
- 3:34like this week, I have actually sunk a lot of my time into God
- 3:38of War Ragnarok spell Halla mode.
- 3:40So like, and and that's a different type of challenge,
- 3:43obviously, but like, well, I guess not really.
- 3:45I mean, at the end of the day, they're both like melee esque,
- 3:49you know, combat games. It's just yours as a 2D
- 3:51platformer of mine isn't. But like inherently I think
- 3:54they're both difficult in their own ways.
- 3:58Valhalla especially is there's no difficulty.
- 4:01So it just is hard in in some way.
- 4:04Like I didn't play the. Same thing, there's no
- 4:06difficulty. Yeah, yeah, I remember.
- 4:08Yeah. There's nothing you can select.
- 4:09I mean, in the campaign for God of War, the story you can choose
- 4:12like, I think it's like, give me story, you know, give me balance
- 4:17or and then there's like, give me God of War, which is the
- 4:19hardest. Valhalla is just like, here you
- 4:22go. Have fun.
- 4:24So I find that like certain enemies that I would dispatch no
- 4:28problem in the story are like actually kind of difficult.
- 4:31And then that tricks me because I go like, I'll take this out
- 4:36and then it's like one hit and that's a quarter of my health.
- 4:38And I'm like, OK, I didn't know they had.
- 4:41Any you got to figure this out like yeah.
- 4:43Like, all right. So yeah, I mean, I like even
- 4:47fighting the first boss and Silk Song, I definitely had a moment
- 4:50there where I got a little too close to dying and I was like,
- 4:53OK, like yeah, you got to be careful.
- 4:54I beat it in one go. It's not that difficult.
- 4:56But like, no, it was definitely one of those things where I I
- 4:59was like, oh, you get hit. It's kind of like like cup head.
- 5:03It's like as soon as you're you touch an enemy, you're
- 5:04immediately taking. Yeah, which that's what always
- 5:07kills me, usually. I get very frustrated with like
- 5:13enemy touch damage. Yeah, it's like, dude, like I
- 5:15don't mind. Like if I run right into an
- 5:17enemy, I get that. But if like I'm this close and
- 5:19like the pixel, like just grazes, that's so shit.
- 5:22And that happens a lot in this game.
- 5:24You get put in a lot of scenarios where it's like you're
- 5:29putting me in an arena that is this big with enemies that are
- 5:32this big, and then smaller enemies making.
- 5:34Small boxes for the audience. Yeah, yeah, small and big
- 5:37circles, but whatever. But no, I love the game.
- 5:40Having a blast. Shapes everybody.
- 5:42It's it's great. I love it and I continue.
- 5:45I will continue to play it. It's it's fantastic.
- 5:47I haven't beaten it yet. I don't I think I'm close maybe,
- 5:50but I'm trying to really savor the moment.
- 5:52How are you in Dying Light the Beast going?
- 5:56Pretty good. I've taken a bit more of a break
- 5:58from it this week. Or well, no, last time I played
- 6:00it was, I don't know, it would have been Sunday.
- 6:02Yeah. So so far I've been taking a bit
- 6:04of a break. It's been fun.
- 6:08I'm at a point right now where I'm trying to find other things
- 6:10to do so I can level up my character so I can get access to
- 6:14some higher level powers. But but there are certain areas
- 6:18where like I can't even remember the last thing I did in that
- 6:21game. But it was I was just at a point
- 6:24where I I'm sorry, excuse me, I loaded in and I immediately
- 6:27remembered where I was at and I loaded out and I was just like
- 6:31I, I think it was. I'm at a point where I'm just
- 6:33like, I'm not tired of the game, but I'm also like, I don't want
- 6:36to do this right now. So I just like I loaded it up,
- 6:38saw it and went, I'll take care of that later.
- 6:41And like it was like I'll get back to it.
- 6:42I don't know how far along I am in the store.
- 6:44There's not a percentage point, but like if I had to guess, I'm
- 6:4736 hours in. My brother has beaten it and has
- 6:5151. So I can't imagine that I'm too
- 6:54far off. Speaking of other progressing
- 6:57games that I'm I'm in, I just plugged in the PS-5 and updated
- 7:02it today and I am 61% of the way through Death Stranding too, so
- 7:09I will not finish it by Thursday, but I am not.
- 7:12I am not far from finishing it, which is nice, and I'm excited
- 7:16to play it now. I'll actually be on the PS-5 a
- 7:19bit more because of Ghost of Yota which I have downloaded so
- 7:23I'm excited. I will be also pre ordering that
- 7:27game and playing it on my PS-5 upstairs on the big ass TV.
- 7:31Yes, I'm very excited because the the PS-5 or the the target
- 7:37for like the PS-5 for Ghost of Yotai is a 1440P60FPS
- 7:42experience, which is what my my main monitor is, which is what I
- 7:46play on. So I'm excited to hopefully get
- 7:49that and I, I love that I basically didn't move anything
- 7:52from my setup of desk training. So like it was literally just
- 7:56like cable here, cable there, plug in or good to go.
- 7:59Like just had to re download the Elgato capture and like that was
- 8:03it, it was done. So I'm very excited to be able
- 8:07to, to play that on Thursday. But yeah, I mean, Dying Light
- 8:11has been good. I think it's still a great game.
- 8:12I think people who like those styles of game should play them,
- 8:17play it with friends. Like really like, I think the
- 8:20important thing about this type of game is to play it with your
- 8:23buddies. I mean, that's what made Left
- 8:24for Dead fun. That's what made I think,
- 8:27couldn't you play one of the dead risings together with
- 8:30someone? Was it 2?
- 8:31I think it was 3, two or three. I was like, one of them gave you
- 8:35the ability to play with another person, which was I thought was
- 8:37kind of fun. Back in the day.
- 8:39Dead Island obviously gave you that experience.
- 8:43Dead Island, Riptide and then dying like one and two as well
- 8:47as like the DLC and like this is as if you are following anything
- 8:52in video games or if you follow anything or have seen anything
- 8:55with Dying Light. It is the highest reviewed Dying
- 8:59Light game. So yeah, again, I reckon I
- 9:02recommend people who are into it play it.
- 9:04If you maybe want to wait, it might be on sale for Christmas.
- 9:08So sweet. Check about them.
- 9:09But yeah, no, that's what I've been been doing other than yeah,
- 9:13God of War, that's been cool. My thing.
- 9:17Cool, cool, cool. You ready to talk about some not
- 9:20fun stuff? I was hoping I was trying you if
- 9:24if for the listeners. I don't know if you could tell I
- 9:26was trying desperately to hold on to some good vibes just by a
- 9:30thread because what? We are at the 10 1/2 minute mark
- 9:37and we're about to get into some really bad topics.
- 9:40So this is either going to make people listen to the show or
- 9:43that not listen to the show for the rest of the episode, right?
- 9:47So EA is being acquired. Yes.
- 9:53By the Saudis and Jared Kushner. Jared Kushner's firm, Affinity
- 10:01Partners, it is an investment firm in a private equity, a
- 10:05private equity fund called Silver Lake and then the
- 10:08government of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which is
- 10:12like a sovereign wells fund. So those 3, I'll just say like
- 10:17organizations to be general, came together and are purchasing
- 10:23EA and taking a private for $55 billion.
- 10:27This is the biggest, right? This is the biggest acquisition.
- 10:31It is the largest leveraged buyout I think in history
- 10:35because it was like a Texas Electric company that was 30
- 10:37billion, that was a couple years ago, but it is only the second
- 10:40largest acquisition or like transaction and video games
- 10:45because Microsoft paid 71 billion or whatever for
- 10:49Activision Blizzard. According to EA, the transaction
- 10:53positions the publisher of Madden, Apex Legends and The
- 10:56Sims to accelerate innovation and growth to build the future
- 10:59of entertainment. Another thing that was kind of
- 11:01announced today was that the new owners coming in to the EA fold.
- 11:05So those 3 organizations plan on doing significant cost cutting
- 11:13by implementing AI in a lot of ways.
- 11:16So, which I imagine will have a lot of quality issues.
- 11:22What that also means is layoffs. So as if the industry wasn't big
- 11:28layoffs, big layoffs. So what the man?
- 11:37This sucks. I mean what do you say about
- 11:42this? I mean when when Xbox did it, we
- 11:47all approached it with rose colored glasses on the show.
- 11:49We really did. Looking back in hindsight with
- 11:53more knowledge that I have now and again not having Brody on
- 11:56this episode. Luckily, I have Evan because you
- 11:59you. Are able to I I wish we had
- 12:01Brody man right now I don't. Know Brody could really dig
- 12:03deep, but we can't not talk about it.
- 12:05Consider this. Part 1 Potentially.
- 12:09Yeah, well, and if it's a personal episode, it's a
- 12:11personal episode. And that's fine.
- 12:12We can get Brody on that and be like, this is the facts.
- 12:15But like, yeah, when Xbox did it, we all looked at it like,
- 12:18oh, OK, it's it's still in house, it's still gaming, but
- 12:22still not good because people lost jobs, things were getting
- 12:26slashed. Projects now like Perfect Dark
- 12:29just will not see the light of day because they went.
- 12:31That's not going to make us money if Xbox is doing that.
- 12:35Well. This investment firm like the
- 12:39Saudis, Jared Kushner's thing and all of that.
- 12:42The private equity firm, yeah. They're actually, Oh no, we're
- 12:45not releasing that. That's not going to give us any
- 12:47return. And that's what they're looking
- 12:49for here. I mean, part of this includes
- 12:54that basically EA will be settled with $20 billion in debt
- 12:58right from the outset of the deal being done.
- 13:01So that means they're going to have to optimize a lot of cash
- 13:05making like flow to, I'm assuming, start paying that off.
- 13:10So I, I think if I were to say that in simple terms, I, I think
- 13:14that would mean, you know, leveraging how they can make
- 13:17more microtransactions or how they can sell more bundles or if
- 13:22they can do other collabs. I don't know if collabs cost the
- 13:25money or they get money for that.
- 13:26I'm I'm assuming they would pay us a.
- 13:27Certain amount of money, yeah. So like, yeah, I mean, and
- 13:32that's kind of I think what Nick was meaning to with like the
- 13:35perfect dark studio is like, I think Xbox inherently can't make
- 13:39that because they spent $70 billion to buy Bethesda.
- 13:44So I think your activation, Blizzard, sorry, but like, I
- 13:50think that you weren't even going to correct me on that, by
- 13:54the way. I just saw you staring at the
- 13:56camera like that. You're a bad guy, you.
- 13:57Got this. No, I just, I, I don't think
- 14:02it's a good thing either because like, as, as Nick said, we, we
- 14:08wanted it to be a good thing and it turned out, I think not to be
- 14:11for that whole acquisition. But I, I think this is a bit
- 14:15different because this is like this feels like your uncle who's
- 14:20never played video games is coming over to like take, take
- 14:24the Xbox. And the industry?
- 14:26And like and like show you how to play it.
- 14:29It's like you never even touch this old man.
- 14:32Well, like I said, the industry already feels like that.
- 14:35It's like, what do kids love in Call of Duty?
- 14:37Well, everyone likes Beavis and Butthead.
- 14:38Still no. No kid knows Beavis and Butthead
- 14:41now. I know Beavis.
- 14:42Well they they know Beavis and Butthead now because of it being
- 14:45in cars. But now and Fortnite, right.
- 14:48So like now they know, oh, those are the silly guys that dance
- 14:51now it's Beavis. Like that's like taking Herman
- 14:54Munster and throwing him in Fortnite.
- 14:56People like, oh, is that Frankenstein?
- 14:57I'd be like, no, it's Herman. Shut up.
- 15:00You're 5, you know, so it's like that's what it that's what it
- 15:06feels like, dude. It's like, OK, So what?
- 15:10What do they know? Unless you're my thing is and
- 15:14there's no, I don't think there's a good silver lining
- 15:16here. I really don't.
- 15:17I would agree. So are you just going to come in
- 15:20and throw money at shit then if you if that's what you're going
- 15:22to do. But here's the thing that the
- 15:24the there's an expected return here.
- 15:26I wouldn't say that there's no, I think the only, and again, I
- 15:32wish we had Birdie on because he would be able to explain this.
- 15:34I think the only silver lining that you could really consider
- 15:37is if things get so bad, they'll sell the IPS.
- 15:42But then again, they can be sold to anybody.
- 15:45There's no guarantee that they're going to sell it to
- 15:46another video game company, especially if there's some
- 15:48company that comes in and wants to just buy the rights and not
- 15:51do anything with. Them they could put anything
- 15:52they want on ice though too. Oh yeah.
- 15:55Well, I mean, like I said, well, if we, if we, if we're not going
- 15:57to make it, you can't make that. Like I say, you know, like to
- 16:00some people who might disagree, I say let's wait and see
- 16:02obviously, because obviously we won't, you know, we won't know
- 16:05anything until these things happen.
- 16:07But at the same time, I think you have to.
- 16:11What have I have, I have always remarked on this and how people,
- 16:17companies like that and people especially at the top end
- 16:20positions of power, people with influence seem to make the most
- 16:23illogical decisions. But it's like, yeah, it's like
- 16:28there are things that just don't compute.
- 16:30Like I remember when we were talking about the Activision
- 16:33Blizzard, like sexual harassment stuff.
- 16:36I remember bringing up like there is a there's a woman at at
- 16:41Blizzard who there was only two people in the company.
- 16:44I think that that had her job title.
- 16:46It was her and a man and the man was making more money than her.
- 16:49And she came to her boss and she like was professional and said
- 16:53she wanted to be matched in terms of pay.
- 16:54Because the only two of them that do the job, you know, a
- 16:57fair request, one that I think is perfectly, that's more than
- 16:59adequate. Warranted.
- 17:00Yeah, exactly. They like, just like shit candor
- 17:04or something like that. And they're like, they just
- 17:06like, basically told her no and then like just kept her around.
- 17:10And like, I think eventually, like, she just never got what
- 17:12she wanted. And she ended up like having to
- 17:13sue and they went back and fought it with her.
- 17:17And it's like, I feel like it would have been cheaper if you
- 17:19guys had just made her pay equal.
- 17:23Like inherently didn't you spend more money on the lawyers and
- 17:26the whole shebang of trying to figure?
- 17:29This thing out dog and pony show bro.
- 17:31But like, what are you doing? Because you're just making this
- 17:34thing needlessly, like, I don't know, like you said, I guess.
- 17:37Because they can drag it out forever.
- 17:40She cannot. That's true.
- 17:42Yeah. No, that's, that's fair.
- 17:43But I mean, like, that's just as I think that points to a sad
- 17:46state of affairs if that's the way we think of things, is that.
- 17:50Well, look at everything. That's what I'm saying is like
- 17:53you need, we need to approach that with an honest.
- 17:56That's what I'm saying is that like, could this thing turn out
- 17:59to be good in some possible chance?
- 18:02Potentially, but I think history should show that that's not
- 18:07going to be the case. I think that it.
- 18:09Several jokes that could be made right now.
- 18:11I think that there will be. I think the way it's going to go
- 18:17is that the things that they know will not make them a lot of
- 18:20money will just be canned immediately.
- 18:24Like, yeah, if there is a Mass Effect for being made, I imagine
- 18:28that will go. If there is any sort of I would
- 18:33I would hesitate to say. I don't know how much money Apex
- 18:37Legends makes EA, but I would guarantee that there probably
- 18:39won't be much content made for it moving forward.
- 18:41It might go the way of there. Will never be a Titanfall 3.
- 18:44Oh, they yeah, that's never going to happen.
- 18:46I. Even if it was thought of, it'll
- 18:48never happen. I think it's also important to
- 18:50remember too, that it's not really the IPS we need to worry
- 18:53about, it's the studios. Like if they, if they, I mean,
- 18:56they could just consolidate some of these studios into doing
- 18:59other things too. Like, I mean, fuck, Battlefield
- 19:00has its Battlefield studios. It's six different fucking
- 19:03studios working on this. It's like Ripple effect.
- 19:07And I think that's used to be DICE LA and then there's DICE
- 19:11Stockholm and then there's Criterion.
- 19:14There's like there's like our Visceral, like there's all the
- 19:17like 6 different studios working on the game.
- 19:20And it's like what? Why do you need this many people
- 19:24to do this many things? Like you had DICE LA and DICE
- 19:27Stockholm and I think maybe one other DICE that did like 3:00
- 19:30and 4:00. And it's like, why do you need
- 19:33like 6 like almost double the studio amount just to put out a
- 19:39potentially mediocre product? Because I saw like even the
- 19:42campaign's not going to like the campaign apparently is not as
- 19:45good as the multiplayer, like in terms of just outright quality
- 19:48of things because the studio that made it has had to like
- 19:51rush it. And it's like, so the game's
- 19:53going to come out feeling like it's like that.
- 19:55It's like that meme of the horse where it's like some of it's
- 19:58shitty, shittily drawn, and the other is like a very
- 20:00professional drawing. It's like that.
- 20:03Like, you're going to have this really awful doodle for the
- 20:06campaign, and then you're going to have like the battle Royale
- 20:08and the multiplayer be this portrait.
- 20:10Big beautiful thing, yeah. But like and going back to the
- 20:15whole thing of EA in Saudi Arabia, I think that you're
- 20:18going to get more of those shitty drawings for your games.
- 20:21You're not or you're just out right not going to see them, I
- 20:24think. Not even the shitty drawings,
- 20:25bro. I think you're going to get a
- 20:26lot of games that want to talk about topics that they're not
- 20:31going to be allowed to do. They're going to be told no,
- 20:33we're not doing that. We're not touching that.
- 20:35I mean, it's so, yeah, we should say that this is to take it
- 20:38private as well. So like in some capacity, I
- 20:41believe they still have to answer to shareholders, but I
- 20:44don't know if there's like necessarily going to be some
- 20:46sort of fiduciary responsibility to make as much money as
- 20:51possible. I mean, they're going to try to
- 20:53they're going to try to as much as they can.
- 20:56But yeah, I think you're right. I think that there's a serious
- 20:58question that comes into about with the new owners.
- 21:03Are they going to change the the culture of the games that are
- 21:08produced under EA, you know, is that are they going to have
- 21:12certain rules for certain things, you know, or are they
- 21:15really not going to care about that?
- 21:17I don't know. I can't presume to say, you
- 21:21know, Birdie had told me that, you know, mostly I, I think what
- 21:24at least the the Saudi government wants is probably
- 21:26FIFA. Yeah, I'm sure.
- 21:29Then then take it and fuck off. You know, like just, but just
- 21:33like let people impregnate men in The Sims, you know what I'm
- 21:38saying? Like nothing.
- 21:40Just don't give a fuck, right? Leave the shit alone.
- 21:43I love take your media dancer to you know what I'm saying?
- 21:47Yeah, because that's a problem, right?
- 21:48So that's a point of contention for I mean, dude, Jared
- 21:52Kushner's in on this. I know, yeah.
- 21:55And he's a fascist. Yeah.
- 21:59He's a scumbag. Mm hmm.
- 22:03OK, so. And then we got to be I'm tip
- 22:05tone here, but I'm getting more fucking frustrated thinking
- 22:08about this shit and there's so many different like points and
- 22:11connections I can make. Like would you would OK, It's
- 22:14like OK, so like let's say like a certain country right now that
- 22:19is on the hot seat bought Ubisoft.
- 22:24Yeah. Or Naughty Dog, let's let's say
- 22:26Naughty Dog, let's say a certain country, you know.
- 22:30Well, you find that you're looking at.
- 22:32Me because you can go to anything right now.
- 22:34Yeah, imagine if some company or some country bought Valve and
- 22:37said fuck. You that can't happen.
- 22:39Well, it just can't happen because they're already just
- 22:41like fuck off, leave us alone. You hear this audience.
- 22:45You hear this, audience? Really quick I'm I'm a.
- 22:47Good delusion. Really quick, really quick, real
- 22:49quick during the committee meeting that Gabe Newell has to
- 22:55go to. If that is how Halfway 3 is
- 22:59announced, I'm going to freak out in a bad way.
- 23:04I think it'd be really funny if the Saudi investment fund bought
- 23:07Valve now just to see you sweat solely because you are you.
- 23:11Trying to get punched in the mouth.
- 23:13I'd like to see you try just because it's very funny to look
- 23:16at you right now because you sat there with this.
- 23:19I'm not going to lie. Shit eating grin as you drank
- 23:22that whiskey. Well that can't happen.
- 23:25Like OK, I'm sure. More.
- 23:27More now because you've depressed me.
- 23:28I'm sure anything can happen Sir, but anyway.
- 23:31Valve is already like private. The money is money.
- 23:37Gabe Newell doesn't need it. Money is money.
- 23:40There's a lot of people at a yay who don't need that money.
- 23:43Gabe Newell is not those people. Let's focus.
- 23:45Don't start with me. Sorry audience, I'm having a
- 23:51good time over here. All I'm saying is if that's all
- 23:53Half Life 3's announced during a house committee meeting with
- 23:56Valve and fucking Discord, I am going to just put my head in my
- 24:01hands and go. At least I know it's real like.
- 24:04At least I know it's. Real, you know, but like no,
- 24:07dude, like that's, that is a concern of mine.
- 24:10Or like I, I was going to say over here in the West, we don't
- 24:14have to worry about censorship, but that's not true either.
- 24:16But for the most part our media like video games, music, it,
- 24:22it's not really censored. There's not there's, there's a
- 24:25line that people do not typically cross, but things are
- 24:30discussed through music, video games and television and movies.
- 24:37So I don't need video games to be Australia's a perfect
- 24:40example. If a game crosses the line for
- 24:44their government boom band or you got to make that change for
- 24:47our region. Ridiculous, Ridiculous.
- 24:50Yeah, I'd agree. You know, so it's like, I don't
- 24:52need that over here where it's like GTA 6 comes out and it's
- 24:55like, remove the bong, remove the sex, remove the carjacking.
- 24:59And also you can't hit like anybody in this game.
- 25:02Right, right. I don't need that to start
- 25:06happening because once it happens to one company, my
- 25:08problem is other companies get hit with that snowball too.
- 25:13I think that'll, I think that'll be an interesting thing because
- 25:16I don't think other companies will abide by EA, whatever EA
- 25:20does. No, I don't think so either.
- 25:21But I'm what I'm saying is like, oh, look at look at them now,
- 25:23like look how much money they just got.
- 25:25It's like, well, bigger top head not thinking of shit, you know?
- 25:31So The thing is, is that I think that I mean EA inherently, what
- 25:36do they have that's been that's done even decently?
- 25:39Madden. Madden FC has not been received
- 25:42very well this year at least. Neither is Madden.
- 25:45And probably not Madden. I mean, Madden itself has been
- 25:47fun. I've enjoyed playing it
- 25:48personally. But yeah, I don't know how the
- 25:50wider public has felt about. It all the ice but like I'm just
- 25:55getting frustrated so I'm drinking.
- 25:57You're good. So like I think there's just a
- 26:01point for me where I'm like I'm thinking about it from a
- 26:05perspective of like what do they have to offer?
- 26:07Like they they're a big company. They got a lot of games, but
- 26:10like, they're not inherently interested in making the like I
- 26:17don't think they're really interested in making a
- 26:18battlefield. I I don't think or or or
- 26:22dictating how a battlefield should.
- 26:24Be well if it makes them money I'm sure they'll they'll fuck
- 26:27off. But you and I have discussed
- 26:29this. If Battlefield 6 has issues
- 26:32gaining the money it needs to make, you may not get a
- 26:36Battlefield 7 and this. We could look back at this
- 26:40episode in a year from now and have shoe in mouth.
- 26:43Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm. If that's the case, that could
- 26:45be the that's. Fine.
- 26:46I'm hoping that's the case. I just don't think this is good.
- 26:51I don't think any large acquisition like this is good
- 26:54for the industry, especially at the the biggest thing right now
- 26:57to think about as the consumer, yeah, our games, but as people
- 27:02who look at the industry a bit deeper is the people who are
- 27:06about to get fucked by this deal.
- 27:08Yeah. Yeah, we will be.
- 27:10And I mean if I may. Yes.
- 27:15Sorry that if you're too far away from the video game side of
- 27:19things here, but I think, you know, it'd be one thing if it
- 27:23was three companies buying this, but the fact that it one of
- 27:29them, one of the major investors in this is the government of
- 27:33Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.
- 27:36That does present me with some questions or some like I guess
- 27:42issues that I I would, I don't know if cleared up is the right
- 27:46word or if I just plain don't feel good about it.
- 27:48Not entirely sure how I feel still, but like this is not a
- 27:53government that I would want to live under myself.
- 27:58And the fact that they are now able to like essentially dictate
- 28:01sort of where a a certain game might go, you know, I don't know
- 28:06if they're, I don't believe their thing says anything about
- 28:09like they have no creative control.
- 28:12I mean, at the end of the day, they can probably just say
- 28:13whatever they want. Andrew Wilson is supposed to
- 28:15stay on his CEO, but who knows if that's like a legit thing or
- 28:18if he's just going to. Stay on for six.
- 28:20Months and then get out. Yeah, like, who knows?
- 28:23But like, yeah, you know, I mean, as we talked about just
- 28:27before we started recording, this is the same government that
- 28:32had a journalist grinded up with bone saws for saying for
- 28:37reporting on things that they didn't like.
- 28:39And to be to be clear, we have no issue with Saudi Arabian
- 28:44people, Yeah. It's.
- 28:48It being with the it's not like CDPR because the Polish
- 28:50government gives grants for Polish entertainment and stuff
- 28:55which is which is what helps Cyberpunk right?
- 28:59This is like the actual government is involved in EA
- 29:03now. That is like if our government
- 29:11bought anything video game related and it's like you
- 29:15started to see a bit more and more and more and more
- 29:17propaganda or a bit more of a push, right.
- 29:21So like you're playing Madden in every fucking, I don't know,
- 29:24dude, fucking 4th down that goes to commercial break.
- 29:27And it's like, have you thought about listening to the army?
- 29:30Well, that's not good for a 14 year old.
- 29:33Yeah, well, and all of this is part of their push because they
- 29:36don't want to be, I, I was listening about this earlier,
- 29:38but like part of this like from Saudi Arabia's side is that this
- 29:41is their push to not be so reliant on oil for their
- 29:43economic output. Like so they created the Savvy
- 29:47Games Group and acquired the monopoly Go publisher Scopely.
- 29:52They acquired the Niantic creator, the company that was
- 29:57behind Pokémon Go. They also have, they already had
- 30:00a stake in EA, they have a stake in Nintendo, Take Two, Capcom,
- 30:03Nexon, Embracer Group. But yeah, I mean, even to just
- 30:09go to an example of a game that was not well received,
- 30:12particularly for, I think some of the things around this.
- 30:14But I don't think it's not because those issues are
- 30:16inherently I, I think it's more of how Dragon Age handled it
- 30:21more than anything else. But like, yeah, I mean, Dragon
- 30:26Age got a lot of Flack for having some conversations where
- 30:30they were talking about people who are non binary.
- 30:32And like I said, I have no inherent problem with that being
- 30:35in the game. I think that that could have
- 30:36been a really great conversation and a really good opportunity to
- 30:39sort of provide some sort of support or show like some sort
- 30:44of solidarity with that group of.
- 30:46People, or maybe educate those who may.
- 30:48Not be. Aware of like how?
- 30:50This like myself. You know, yeah, you.
- 30:52Know, you know, but it didn't it didn't come off that way to a
- 30:55lot of people. And even when I was listening to
- 30:57it and I listened to it completely, I was just trying to
- 30:59understand it, but I just was like, this reads like I'm
- 31:01reading it from a textbook or I'm being lectured.
- 31:03Like it doesn't feel like I'm in a game, right?
- 31:06I don't feel like I'm in a game right now.
- 31:08It just feels odd and like out of place.
- 31:11Not out of place in the sense that it's wrong, but just how do
- 31:13you like the way it's being talked about?
- 31:15It feels like it's a modern sentence and not grounded in
- 31:19some sort of reality in the way that they would be living it in
- 31:23the game. Or discussing it in a fantasy.
- 31:26Or discussing, yeah, discussing it in a fantastical environment
- 31:29or a fantastical sense, you know, in that sort of way.
- 31:33But like Mass Effect, you can have same sex romance Sims, you
- 31:39can have same sex romance. You can get a man pregnant in
- 31:41The Sims. Like.
- 31:44Like. That's cool.
- 31:46Whatever EA has had the best place to work badge by the Human
- 31:51Rights Campaign for LGBTQ plus equality.
- 31:55Like that's a huge thing and like they're very proud of that
- 31:58Like they're very they're like EA is very proud of that fact,
- 32:01as you should be and they should be yes, absolutely.
- 32:05And yet they're being acquired by a partially by a government
- 32:10that that absolutely doesn't even believe those those people
- 32:12have the right to exist. You know, I mean, it's just I
- 32:18think that there are people who maybe are like us when it came
- 32:21to the Activision Blizzard acquisition where they're trying
- 32:24to see this through row stinting classes.
- 32:26You know, I specifically know people who one of them that even
- 32:30said, you know, like this helps because now they don't have to
- 32:33answer to those shareholders that were just like didn't care
- 32:37about games. And while I agree, I don't think
- 32:40they cared about games. It's weird with, with them with,
- 32:47with the shareholders and with how things are in the world and
- 32:49how games are made inherently under capitalism.
- 32:51You you would I I I come to expect it, yes They're going to
- 32:54monetize the shit out of every game because they will literally
- 32:57get sued if they don't make as much money as possible which is
- 33:00like insane to me. To think of it that way, because
- 33:03of the state we're in, we'll never get the next Prey game.
- 33:07Probably not. No more Dead Space remakes.
- 33:10And they weren't even going to do that anyway because they that
- 33:13for them, did not make them enough money.
- 33:16But it was well, you'll never get that.
- 33:19You'll never get another American Mcgee's Alice, which is
- 33:23a very loved series. Yeah, Titanfall three, you can
- 33:26fucking kiss that good the fuck by.
- 33:29Respond Entertainment itself, maybe?
- 33:31Like there's you can you, OK, You can bring up the
- 33:34shareholders. That's great.
- 33:36So you have a pile of shit in one hand, but then you have a
- 33:38pile of fucking shit in the other hand.
- 33:39You go, which shit is better? Because you're not.
- 33:42Yeah. You're not answering to
- 33:43shareholders. You're answering to a fucking
- 33:45government owned thing. Right, right.
- 33:49And that's. Yeah.
- 33:51It's just a different pile of shit you just stepped in.
- 33:54Yeah, I, I don't really know how.
- 33:59I don't know. I just, I wish, again, I wish
- 34:03you were a birdie here because he would be able to help a lot
- 34:05more with the financial side of things.
- 34:06But like with when it comes to like this, the, the morality
- 34:12behind it, it is one of those things where it's like my money
- 34:18for my EA Play Pro subscription is going to that.
- 34:22And I mean, to be perfectly honest, it's not like I was
- 34:24happy with my where my money was going to before, but it was
- 34:28something where I knew that it was going to an American
- 34:31company. And I know that it's going to an
- 34:33American company now, but those owners are no longer an American
- 34:37company partially, you know, and again, it's if it was just Saudi
- 34:43Arabic oil company or any other type of company from Saudi
- 34:46Arabia wouldn't care about the fact that it's the government is
- 34:51is my issue like. It's.
- 34:57Tough it's it's very funny because I don't hear the same
- 35:02people who are sort of happy about this that I know are the
- 35:05same people who would be like keep politics out of games guys.
- 35:08Like I don't like to see like gay people in video games.
- 35:12Like I don't like to see gay people in Baldur's Gate.
- 35:14And it's like, you're totally fine with like, I mean, there's
- 35:17like a whole injection of like geopolitical shit now added into
- 35:20EA because of this. Like, you know and and like, so
- 35:25I don't hear you saying anything now, so you don't.
- 35:28Just get to. Doesn't make sense to me.
- 35:30It doesn't compute because it's like it feels illogical to to
- 35:33think that way. We're like, sure, you can argue
- 35:35that point all you want that you don't want politics and games
- 35:37and politics have always been in games is probably going to be my
- 35:40argument for that because it's the same way how movies and TV
- 35:43shows and. Art and everything has ever been
- 35:44expression of those behind it. Some games don't.
- 35:48Some games you don't, you don't do everything.
- 35:51No, you don't. I'm not advocating that
- 35:54everything they should be about politics.
- 35:55I'm advocating for the fact that if people want to make their
- 35:59games with undertones or inspirations from the times
- 36:01they're living in, whether it relates to culture or politics
- 36:05or whatever, that's fine. That's the point.
- 36:07Well, look back at Warhammer. This is easy.
- 36:10This is an easy thing. Warhammer was a reflection of
- 36:13them and how they viewed their lives in England at the time and
- 36:18the government they were like. That is what Warhammer is a
- 36:22parody of. So even something as just not
- 36:26the Warhammer simple, but even something like Warhammer where
- 36:29it's a lot of grim dark kill Maine burn, you know, I mean.
- 36:34Like, well, it's, it's, it's not even that it's a very
- 36:37depressing. I think people are unaware of
- 36:39how depressing, if you're not a Warhammer fan, how depressing
- 36:43that world is where it's like, again, you know, when I was
- 36:47first getting into it, you know, you explained like the normal
- 36:49day for somebody like me who would just be living a normal
- 36:51job in a high world that's like, you live in a cramped apartment.
- 36:55The things you eat are dead if you even.
- 36:56Have an apartment. Yeah, yeah.
- 36:58If you even aren't living in just like a shared living space
- 37:00or something like that. But like you, you know, you
- 37:03would basically suffer through the day, every day.
- 37:05You would just toil an endless life and you would just be one
- 37:08of many other billions that die. And and like you were like the
- 37:11point of it is that you're nothing and and like it goes
- 37:15Even so far to go that for the the emperor's angels where even
- 37:18them it's their glory to die as countless others have before and
- 37:23countless others. Well, and it was, as you said,
- 37:26it's a reflection of the the way that they felt, you know, And I
- 37:34think that makes for really, it makes for a really compelling
- 37:36fantasy series. It makes for a really compelling
- 37:39story. It makes for. 45 years, 4045
- 37:41years later. I mean, the, the horrors heresy
- 37:43books have given me some, like even just the first two I've
- 37:46read have given me some incredible moments of like
- 37:49camaraderie between, you know, brothers and so.
- 37:54Are we, are we going to segue into warhead?
- 37:55We can. I mean, we can, but like more to
- 37:59my point was that it's OK for games to be inspired by current
- 38:04events or past events or anything, you know, like that.
- 38:09And I'm OK with that. I'm OK with games not having
- 38:14that. I'm OK with games just being fun
- 38:15and enjoyable and trying to take the the real worldness out of
- 38:19it. At the end of the day, that's
- 38:20why I play play because it's a world I can escape to and that
- 38:25is something that I think is going to be missing from a lot
- 38:29of games with EAI Think after a little bit, I think it'll be
- 38:32fine for maybe a year. But then again, I don't know
- 38:39where we're going to be when when this happens.
- 38:42I mean, this is Q2 of next year, so that's what April, May, June,
- 38:48so. It could.
- 38:49Maybe it falls apart. And and even then it's, I think
- 38:52it was actually even that might be like at the beginning of
- 38:542027. So it's like this two years from
- 38:56now, like. It could fall apart.
- 38:58Yeah and even then I won't care. May 2026 is GTA6I won't care
- 39:03about any EA game that. Half Life 3 will be released
- 39:06next year. OK.
- 39:09Can we touch on the AI really quick though too?
- 39:11Oh, about the that is. Yeah, whatever.
- 39:13Yeah, that is. Awful.
- 39:15Yeah, AI as a tool is OK as a tool, not as a creator as a
- 39:23tool. Well, you got to.
- 39:25Assist the developers, not as a sole creator though.
- 39:31This is not something that should be used to actually make
- 39:36and influence the game during development.
- 39:38Well, so here I'll, I'll throw this up, you know, because I
- 39:41I've these, I think a lot of these companies are developers
- 39:46that use AI and have to disclaim that on Steam are intentionally
- 39:50vague sometimes to not really explain what they use it for.
- 39:56Arc Raiders has AAI like Notice and it says something about how
- 40:04every single thing that the procedural stuff they use makes
- 40:08is a true reflection of the creative team.
- 40:11It is not something that they just like plug into an
- 40:13algorithm. It puts things out and then they
- 40:15throw it into the game. I'm assuming they go through it.
- 40:18They do all that sort of stuff. And they've explained as well,
- 40:20like, you know, when you hear gunshots, it's because we've
- 40:22actually recorded gunshots. We're not just generating them,
- 40:25you know, things like that. But what we, what I have learned
- 40:28to understand from them is that what is generated or what is
- 40:31procedural are the sounds that you hear when you're walking
- 40:35around certain places. So like if you're walking
- 40:38through a certain area in the map, that's a swamp, there are
- 40:41hundreds of rules for that swamp as to what sounds you might
- 40:43hear, whether it's frogs or, you know, like there's all these
- 40:50different rules in place. And that I think is procedural.
- 40:52That is, that is chosen by an AI and it's and that's where I'm
- 40:55like, OK, because Embark is inherently, as they've said, a
- 40:59small studio. These are the people who have
- 41:00created the finals as well, by the way, And this is also their
- 41:04first paid game. And, and I but I think that
- 41:08reflects in the quality you're getting.
- 41:10And I that's what I said as I was like, I think this is
- 41:12probably made with AI because the fact that it was a tech test
- 41:15and it ran so great and played so great, was very skeptical of
- 41:18me. It was, it was very odd.
- 41:22But like, I'm also in the, I'm at that point where I'm like,
- 41:25but OK, they've, they've shown that they can use this in a way
- 41:27where I feel like I could trust the team behind it, even though
- 41:32they're using AI as a tool. And like, you know, it feels
- 41:36like it's, it's one of those examples to me where it's like,
- 41:40we don't know because I don't know what inherent job the, this
- 41:43AI they're using might be taking, if any.
- 41:45And they'll never tell us. And they'll never tell us.
- 41:47But like, I want to, I'd like to be optimistic and thinking that
- 41:50that this game is sort of the prime example of like, when it's
- 41:54used correctly, yes, you can still have humans working on a
- 41:58game, but maybe you don't need as many to stay small and light
- 42:01and create the indie projects that you want to make, you know?
- 42:05And who knows if they get a bunch of money from Mark
- 42:08Raiders, who knows what they do if they try to make some single
- 42:10player adventure that's a $60.00 game.
- 42:13And it has even better immersion and level of detail.
- 42:18And you know, yeah, maybe it is partially created by AI, but
- 42:22like, if the experience that you're getting is so impressive,
- 42:24it's on par with something else. But I feel right into the thing
- 42:28of like you run into the blood diamond scenario at that point,
- 42:34though, where like you have this beautiful ring on your wife's
- 42:37finger. Do you you you gleefully or
- 42:42blissfully rather ignore the fact that it came from a fucked
- 42:46up mine. I see, Because it was just it.
- 42:49It was the ring. That was it.
- 42:51So OK, half life, I'll bring up half life, half life 3 or arc
- 42:54Raiders story comes out, I play it.
- 42:59I love it and then a year later I figure out it's well Valve
- 43:05just said fuck it let's make it an AI.
- 43:07Yeah, we'll just have an AI create we'll.
- 43:08Have a couple guys, We'll have a couple guys.
- 43:10We'll have do shit love an AI create all the animations
- 43:13they'll. Feed exactly and we'll feed it
- 43:16the story and see what it can do, right?
- 43:19I would be conflicted. I'd be like, OK, this, I got
- 43:23what I wanted, but it wasn't. There was no actual blood, sweat
- 43:28and tear in this. Whereas like I know the sword
- 43:30behind Half Life too. I know the story behind Legacy
- 43:33of Cain and like Max Payne and all these games were these
- 43:38people were on the verge of collapse.
- 43:41Like the studios were going to close down, but it took strokes
- 43:45of human genius and just human will to go.
- 43:49Fuck that. Let's buckle down.
- 43:51We got this. We're going to live in the Doom.
- 43:54They were sleeping in the office.
- 43:55John Romero and John Carmack were driving around in Ferraris
- 43:58or Lamborghini. Not cool.
- 44:00But yeah, I mean, it was like, it was.
- 44:05It was like after. But also like they blew their
- 44:07wad a little fast. And that's like, that is my that
- 44:13is my conflict in my brain. It's like, yes, I as a tool
- 44:16again, I'm in the greens. If you can make something easier
- 44:20to help get the project going, great, but at the sacrifice of a
- 44:24human job I don't agree with. I will never agree with that.
- 44:28If you tell and, and people you know, I, I, I'll bring up like
- 44:31McDonald's, right? Like, OK, AI for all McDonald's,
- 44:36what the fuck ever. But then you better figure out a
- 44:38way to replace those people's jobs and you better figure out a
- 44:41way to compensate those people who are working out of
- 44:44McDonald's until they're able to fucking figure it out or go, if
- 44:48you don't want another job, then here's your pay a month.
- 44:50Here's your fucking monthly whatever.
- 44:52But in this instance, it's it's that this, this, this
- 44:56conversation goes in so many different directions so fast and
- 44:59you're hearing it from 2 dudes who just want to play video
- 45:03games. We just want what we want.
- 45:05And I want to continue to play games and make the connections
- 45:08that I've made with the characters in these games, the
- 45:10stories and my friends. I've met fuck because of video
- 45:14games. I've met Evan, Brody, Logan,
- 45:17fucking Steve, John, the entire Spawn camp Discord because of
- 45:21gaming. Yeah.
- 45:23And I want those moments to continue on.
- 45:25But I fear that as acquisitions happen as Discord and Valve and
- 45:31everyone else is being taken to like the pose.
- 45:35Look at it this way and in here. I'll, I'll pause at this.
- 45:38If any anybody listening maybe thinks that we have a problem
- 45:42just because it's it's it's Saudi Arabia.
- 45:45If if the United States government announced that they
- 45:48were investing 20% of a stake into Take Two tomorrow out of
- 45:53the way that they did 10% of Intel, yeah, I would definitely
- 45:56go, oh, I have a problem with that.
- 46:00I would not be OK with that. I would not think no, that's
- 46:02ridiculous. If it was a sovereign wealth
- 46:03fund of the United States, which we now have, but like that's my
- 46:07point is like it's again, it's a different thing when it's in
- 46:13here. You can even say for the Savvy
- 46:15Games Group or whatever it is, like the fact that's also just a
- 46:17shell for the Saudi Arabian government, Yeah, also bothers
- 46:20me too. I'm not saying that that just
- 46:21immediately gives it a pass because the name is different.
- 46:23Where it comes from is still inherently the same.
- 46:26And like, that is what I would say the same thing for.
- 46:29Yeah, if the US had a shell company or some just randomly,
- 46:33you know. Funky time games.
- 46:35Right, exactly. And they were like, yeah, we're
- 46:37investing like, you know, a good like 15% into take two or
- 46:41whatever. We're taking some sort of stake.
- 46:43I have an immediate problem. I have a problem like no state
- 46:46like inherently I feel. Like.
- 46:49That's kind of the whole point of like the the capitalism idea,
- 46:52right? As it's free markets and all
- 46:54that sort of stuff. And I think that if we're going
- 46:57to live by that system and we're going to force people to live in
- 46:59that system and not have a major say in that system, then at
- 47:04least I should be able to argue for the fact that don't let a
- 47:08government invest in a don't let a government invest in anything
- 47:12that results in some sort of public good or entertainment or
- 47:17service. Well, it's just like a grant
- 47:19like the Polish government for CDPR that's so different.
- 47:22That's different. Well, that's that's incredibly
- 47:23different. That's so.
- 47:24Far. That's a grant for the.
- 47:26Movie studio, movie studios get movie studios get grants for
- 47:29shooting in Detroit OR Georgia or Vancouver or whatever.
- 47:33That is entirely different than the the Saudi Arabian government
- 47:39investing money into the movie studio to buy them out and say
- 47:43here we want you to make movies for us now, or we want you to
- 47:45make make games for us now, or we want you.
- 47:47Because what does that become? I don't know what that becomes.
- 47:51And that's inherently the point is that EA is an American
- 47:55company out if you want to go that way and say like a Western
- 47:58company, you can. I don't really like using that
- 48:01terminology with how it's been kind of Co opted recently, like
- 48:04with Western, you know, history, all that sort of stupid shit
- 48:08that people talk about. But like, I don't like
- 48:13inherently, I know that their government does not agree with
- 48:16the values that we have over here, that we hold over here,
- 48:18that we. Barely have over here anymore
- 48:20anyway. And it gives me sorry, it gives
- 48:23me cause for, for an alarm or concern, you know, So, yeah, I
- 48:29mean, I don't know. I don't have an answer to it.
- 48:31I mean, at the end of the day, you can say whatever you want
- 48:34about it. You can be happy about it.
- 48:35You can be indifferent, you can be opposed.
- 48:38I think we'll see. You know, I think games are
- 48:39obviously a very easy way of, you know, you can tell.
- 48:45I think that's one thing that I've enjoyed at least throughout
- 48:47this year is that I can still tell when a game is bullshit or
- 48:50not. And you know, I think that will
- 48:53continue no matter who owns these studios or these
- 48:55publishers or whatever is that you can, if, if you play games
- 48:59or if you are dedicated to games in some way, shape or form and
- 49:03you play a little bit every week or something like that, you can
- 49:07probably sniff when a game is bullshit to you.
- 49:09And the best? That's good.
- 49:11No, that's it. The best way to combat this is,
- 49:18and it may not do much at first, but it will eventually is.
- 49:23Well. Stop purchasing at that point if
- 49:26your game. That's really your only way to
- 49:28defeat the to combat this is to to stop.
- 49:31Stop purchasing Madden and FC every year.
- 49:34Stop. Purchasing.
- 49:35Battlefield stop paying for EA Play Pro like myself like I'll
- 49:39stop. Yeah, you cancel your
- 49:40subscriptions, your money talks across borders, doesn't matter.
- 49:43Your money talks. And if games start becoming
- 49:47censored or it's not to the quality that you expect or
- 49:51deserve, right? And if you are seeing developers
- 49:56and, and community managers and industry leaders and people who
- 50:01actually give a fuck about this medium that we give a fuck
- 50:05about. And we're just a stupid little
- 50:07fucking podcast where a couple of stupid little guys talk about
- 50:11our stupid little hobby that we love so stupidly much.
- 50:15But the minute you start seeing shit go South and people really
- 50:21start to lose their jobs and really be affected is when you
- 50:24vote and you talk with your money.
- 50:27Stop purchasing. Cancel your subscriptions.
- 50:30Yeah, yeah. Just it's hot, it sucks, it's
- 50:33going to suck, but you just we have to do it.
- 50:36If it gets, if it's going to take, if it's going to go to
- 50:39that level, you have to be ready to go to a level 10.
- 50:42There's nothing inherently stopping you from not purchasing
- 50:44the next Madden and just playing the old one.
- 50:46No. It's like I can go back and play
- 50:4823 right now. I don't think they cancelled
- 50:50support for it. Go buy fooda whatever on Steam
- 50:54too and do your thing dude. Like we know a couple people who
- 50:59played this shit out of that game, but go.
- 51:04But in all seriousness, there's nothing stopping you from going
- 51:08to your library of games now. Hopefully you own them
- 51:13physically because who knows what's going to happen now as
- 51:16well. That's a whole different
- 51:18conversation. There's ways to do this and I
- 51:22think that we need to be ready to do this.
- 51:24And it's so, it sounds so silly coming from two guys in two in
- 51:29their rooms in Detroit going, well, this is how we do this.
- 51:34It's like a it's like a mock protest, right?
- 51:36But like, this is how you do this though.
- 51:38Yeah, I agree. I I just want to see the
- 51:42industry do well. I want to see the people who
- 51:44make this industry. I want to, I want to see the
- 51:48people who make the things that we love in this industry
- 51:50actually drive, be driven. I don't want to, I don't want to
- 51:54see stories watered down. I don't want to see people lose
- 51:57their jobs. I want people to continue making
- 51:59the things that I get to hold near and dear.
- 52:02So to where I have shelves dedicated to games, I have my
- 52:06son playing the games that I loved.
- 52:08I want to keep that going. I don't want that to stop,
- 52:12especially with EA is the butt of every joke.
- 52:15Ubisoft is the butt of every joke.
- 52:17But I would love to go back in time and go, hey, don't take
- 52:22these steps here. Do this because people will
- 52:25still respect and love you because the games that you did
- 52:27release were some of the biggest things ever and you helped shape
- 52:31the industry and now you just don't give a fuck.
- 52:34Right. Right.
- 52:35And it's it's, it's sad, it pisses me off.
- 52:37And we really needed Brody on this episode, but we couldn't
- 52:39not talk about it. But here's the thing.
- 52:41Brody agrees. I know he agrees.
- 52:43I think you would agree with a lot of the stuff we said, yeah.
- 52:46So. We'll get him on for the next
- 52:50one. Did we have to?
- 52:52We have. To I I think.
- 52:53I think now is a good time to stop before I bring Israel up or
- 52:55something. OK, well, now you're already
- 52:57good. So yeah, we should probably wrap
- 52:59this up like now. And you got to bleep that out.
- 53:02I'm not a lot of trouble. Oh no.
- 53:04That John Oliver episode was really good by the way.
- 53:06It was pretty good. I was a bad guy.
- 53:11Anyways, guys, thank you so much for listening to this episode of
- 53:14the WASD and Beyond podcast. If in the morning we're dead, I
- 53:20don't know man, don't touch my shit.
- 53:24Hopefully we're still sponsored, but so if we are, check out
- 53:27Final Boss Dock Longy and screen box links down below for the
- 53:31best gear in gaming. Git final boss.
- 53:35I love all my final boss shirts even though you see me wear the
- 53:38same ones all the time. I just love these shirts so
- 53:41much. They're all over my walls.
- 53:46Not the shirts, the the the flags you get.
- 53:49Doc Longy is just a gem. Scream Box is an awesome
- 53:53streaming site. Links down below.
- 53:55If there's anything you guys want to hear us talk about,
- 53:57debate, or discuss, please e-mail us at
- 54:00wasdbeyond@gmail.com. Again, that's WASDBEY
- 54:05ond@gmail.com. Check out Wolford deception.
- 54:09Check out it came from Scream Box in the AT.
- 54:12Guys, until next week, take it easy and be safe, and thank God
- 54:15this episode's fucking done with.
- 54:18I'll see you guys have a good day.