Sacred Symbols, Episode 261 | Imagine Accepting the Truth

Halo wasn’t even a FPS when MS bought it, and it’s E3 2001 showing was so bad that game journos were writing it off. You and Colin need to find a new argument.

Bryant

Chris, my friend, your characterization of the industry and the state of exclusives leaves out the most important facts to be known. Microsoft bursted on to the scene with an attempt to purchase Nintendo outright, motivated by Sony’s claims of what the PS2 was capable of. When that didn’t work they purchased Halo which ended up funding Xbox for a decade. I don’t think any trends regarding exclusivity after these facts can be blamed on Sony. This topic shouldn’t be discussed without pointing this out.

Greg Hommel

In reference to the demo conversation at the end: I wanted to add that I feel like the Playstation Plus game trials, as well as demos, can be an answer to game pass. More of those inform consumers of what they could purchase, without giving them the whole product. I feel like that allows Sony to compete with game pass without giving up actual game sales. Maybe it’s not a direct answer to game pass, but perhaps a part of the entire whole? Idk, but more demos make me more likely to try things out I normally wouldn’t try, which could lead to more sales. I think demos are great for the consumer.

brendan p

And Sony’s movie games are original?

Bryant

15 was clearly unfinished and went through major overhauls since it was unveiled as the dark tale of an emo prince taking revenge - Versus 13 for PS3. I got the platinum and I thought it was fine, but most important parts of the story early on happened off-screen(and got later patched-in as FMVs), whole chapters and the postapocalyptic time-skipped world were shortened and made into linear corridors - even the character spotlight DLCs felt rushed/lame. I can't even remember who the villain in that game was. The biggest shame is that the story felt choppy and unfinished, cause other than that combat was fine, it looked good, and ultimately I could get behind a road trip boy band doing fetchquests and racing chocobos.

MISZCZOGRZMOT

Colin sound like a whiny bitch over the xbox platform. Just let it be dude.

ᴮᵁᴺˢ

Legendary episode.

Elliott Morgan

Not only is it boring, but MW is the last good cod. IW>

Caleb Peacock

Cold Water was boring as fuck

TOO MUCH ACTIVISION-MICROSOFT!!!

Nate McGrath

I agree with Colin that its pretty easy to gleam from footage, how a game feels to play. The reality is that comes from many many years of experience with the various products. Imagine someone who's only started playing games, or an individual who has experience in one genre of game. They have no grounding to pull from to gauge how a game feels to play just by watching videos on line. Same with sports, watching it is very different than playing it. Consider the financial investment you made to play ice hockey and ask yourself if everyone is willing to make that commitment without having picked up a stick with roller blades and a ball.

Jakob Podstawek

I find it funny that FF15 is consistently put down as being awful. It has one of the best villains in the history of the series. The pacing of 15 and the boy band vibe understandably pushes people away, but the ending of 15 and the amazing villain is something Final Fantasy fans are missing out on if they ignore the game due to its early game flaws. FF16s villain is laughable, in my opinion, in comparison.

Alex

Bravo when it comes to Colin’s take on why should Xbox given the keys to a huge chunk of the gaming market—they don’t deserve it! If it wasn’t for external money stream, the division would have folded long ago. Even their most popular console was plagued with inevitable “bricking”. Anything before or after has been an arguable failure. And as the Job quote goes: “The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't bring much culture into their products.”

Kid-Organic

Cold War is the last COD that felt like COD. If you don’t love COD it’s a very mediocre game, but for folks like me it’s my favorite since BO3. MW2019, Vanguard, and MWII are such massive departures from what COD is.

Anthony Palerino

Imagine the insult's a blessing Imagine accepting the truth!

MISZCZOGRZMOT

The xbox X FTC talk was the most engaged I've been in a podcast in a long time. Good shit. Just to add my two cents, I do want the deal to go through. Not because I'm "rooting" for a trillion dollar corporation but because I'm a fan of game pass. I am rooting for the value of my gamepass subscription to go through the ruff. Love the content lately, keep up the great work!

Brandonnnnn

It just unlocked for me. I got the YouTube notification. Is it a me issue or a Patreon issue? Thanks.

Diego Muñoz

Colin, I’m so happy you brought attention to yohane the parhelion from INTI Creates. As I think it looks incredible. Did you know it’s based off a Manga that started as an April Fool’s Day joke as a spin-off of the Love Live series and currently has an anime airing this season? Just in case you or anyone else were interested.

TheMuff1nMon

Hey, can somebody please share with me the link to the video version of this episode please? I'm a $1-tear Patreon, and it should have unlocked for me this morning but I can only see the audio version. No notification in my email either. Thanks!

Diego Muñoz

FF16; I understand that your audience is more hardcore than the typical gamer but 90% of gamers won’t be exposed to ‘spoilers’. I and all of the 35+ years who game on our PS5 don’t go after, follow or read stuff from gamers, journalists or Twitter content about this stuff. We can comfortably wait a couple of months for a sale price and buy it then. Just saying. Most people done yet exposed to spoilers (and probably don’t even care) like the hardcore bunch.

Matt Wiles

Wrote this awhile ago but recently changed this to include Final Fantasy XVI. “Change, not tradition defines Final Fantasy” https://lordsofgaming.net/2023/05/opinion-change-not-tradition-defines-final-fantasy/

The Rose Experience

Is the title to this episode a Limp Bizkit reference?

Thanks for another great episode guys. I understand a lot of peoples frustrations with regards to the MS section but the episode had more positivity than I would have thought from reading the comments. I will be buying FF XVI thanks to your guys glowing opinion of it. Keep up the good work.

Declan McIntyre

I was on the fence but y’all have sold me on FF16

Jeffrey Rommel

Who else was screaming atomic heart at their phone when the team was discussing the last high profile first person shooter that released?

Ari Levi

Colin, You have to get Matty on the spoiler cast or at least a conversation with him on FFXVI since he had a very different experience with the game.

Miko Bell

Oooo u got me excited!

John Warner

God I love these 5 hr episodes! Keep them coming! Half my shift? Done!

John Warner

This will go down as a top 5 episode of all time

Aswad Charles

in regard to Cyberpunk being the most expensive release in Poland. The most expensive movie in Poland is Quo Vadis with a cost of just a bit over 76 mil PLN which is roughly 19 mil USD. Cyberpunk locked at 316 mil USD. If that is accurate it puts Cyberpunk in absolute top of most expensive games.

tejotl

I put my time in Iraq 18 years ago, I think the biggest hurdle for a game based on a recent conflict is the amount of veterans like myself who play games. The feel will either be off or it’ll be to close and painful

Jason Hjartarson

(SPOILERS for FF16’s combat system) There’s only ONE weapon type (swords). This weapon type has only ONE combo (🟪+🟪+🟪+🟪). There’s basically no gear, better gear periodically becomes available. There are no classes or jobs with different pros and cons. All the abilities are on cool-down timers, if this was like DMC/Bayonetta as everyone thinks it is then these abilities would have their own combos. There are no party members. The game holds your hand throughout (excessive map markers, linear paths, NPC dialog tips). There two types of enemies, canon fodder enemies with no super armour that will just let you kill them and larger enemies that need to be staggered, they barely react to your attacks unless you stagger them. Strip away the spectacle and do you have left? A game that is neither a deep RPG nor a deep action game. We just “oeh” and “ah” at al the pretty graphics but if you want mechanics that push the genre forward you’re shit out of luck apparently

gold-plated-dunny

It was the Royal Meadows near Moore if I'm not mistaken.

Mr someone

I’m 75% of the way through FF16 and I can’t wait to hear peoples thoughts on the game once they get close to the end. This game starts off big but tumbles for sure.

NeO JD

Colin always takes it one step too far. While I follow gaming news, saying that if your not interested in the news of video games you don't love games, or video games are more than just playing games is quite frankly silly. Most people don't give a rats ass about any of this. Good on Dustin to check him.

Piston Pants

A lot of those massive 75% split statistics are from the UK where PlayStation holds a dominant lead. In the US it's substantially closer. PlayStation is a global brand. Xbox is a NA brand. I understand what you're going for though. Xbox would need to pay substantially more for 3rd party exclusives which is why Sony plays that game. It's cheaper and they box Xbox out of entire genres.

Matthew Two T's

Colin saying hes tired of this but then being obviously completely captured and tortured by it lol It's ok though he's not alone. I personally don't see how it could be considered monopoly though. To believe that, you'd literally have to believe CoD is to video games as semiconductors and semi-conductor materials are to electronics manufacturing.

Jack Sibert

One thing I’d highlight about FF XVI is that I don’t think the player is asked to make a single ‘choice’. Just buy new gear when it’s available, upgrade when it’s available etc. No party or upgrade management at all.

Rich Price

Atomic heart is a good fps single player game. Multiplayer however pretty much killed the single player fps and it sucks. I think the introduction of online multiplayer brought more negative to gaming than positive

Big titty drinker

Anyone remember area with the John Carpenter type music in FF16? I remember that as well but can’t for the life of me remember exactly where it was. I want to hear it again.

Bogey Zero

An hour in and this is riveting, the most interesting conversation about the industry and the ABK acquisition I’ve heard by a mile. Incredible stuff, guys! Thanks for your work.

Joe Perez

Great episode fellas!

Brannon H

Totally agree with Colin about the mission in FF XVI that reminded him of FFVII. Even the music feels similar to VII remake!

Mark M

Final Fantasy exclusivity wouldn't even be that severe without the Xboxs audience shift to subscription. Even during the PS360 era, when 360 was dominating FFXIII still sold 2:1 on Playstation. I always think of third party exclusivity in levels of market disruption and FF exclusivity on PS isn't really that disruptive since the bulk of the audience is most likely on Playstation anyway. Same with most jrpgs honestly. Starfield on the other hand would've been incredibly disruptive and was definitely overstepping the line on Sonys part imo. Xbox audience slowly stepping away from game purchases definitely muddies the water though.

ToiletDrummer

To further comment on Gamepass and it’s complete ravaging of how the video game market works, it’s often never brought up it’s effects on exclusives in third parties. More and more you can find that third party games that sell on Xbox and PlayStation are having sales splits that are going 75+% towards PlayStation. It’s completely changed how an entire consumer base is consuming their games. On the Xbox side this has to be making games easier to come to Gamepass if they have no interest in being exclusive. The benefits of getting cash up front from a platform that you won’t sell a million copies on anyways probably is pretty enticing. While it obviously hasn’t made its way to the big games like Resident Evil or such it’s probably heading there. It also makes exclusives harder to purchase on Xbox. If you are asking a company to miss out on 75% of their players, that’s probably going to require a lot of money up front. This leads to the PlayStation side and how exclusives must be easier to obtain. People look at Final Fantasy XVI and VII remake and assume Sony payed huge money to keep them off. But what if the fact that they could develop for one platform, have free marketing, get PlayStation developers help make the game, and all they miss out on are less than 10% of the market that we’re gonna buy it on Xbox anyways. And that’s sales if it was just third party to begin with. It doesn’t take into account the people that would buy a PS5 just for those games. Sorry this is long and conjecture but it’s all relative conjecture that’s based on facts.

Ethan

Don't forget the cousin fucking in ff16 is very game of thronesy

Angel DeJesus

Microsoft not releasing Wolfenstein 3 on PS is a travesty. It's like releasing A New Hope and Empire Strikes back on VHS then saying when Return of the Jedi releases it's now available only on Betamax. The loss of potential new IP is one thing, but the loss of sequels to existing IP is a major bummer. Wolfenstein 3, Dishonored/Prey/Deathloop sequels, Doom 3, a Fallout sequel in like 50 years when I'll be a geriatric mess.

Out_Of_Focus_Bigfoot

Do you have any evidence to support this? To my knowledge, Psychonauts 2 was never announced for the PS5 or Xbox Series platforms. After the Microsoft purchase, MS funded Series versions, separately. It was never ‘stolen’ from PS5, as it was never announced as coming to that platform. I would argue Project Eve/Stellar Blade is a game ‘stolen’ from Series platforms, as PE was announced as coming to those consoles prior to Sony subsequently paying to make it exclusive.

Fenixrisingxl21

Xbox would have had to pay at least double to offset PlayStation’s install base, and that’s nowhere near as cost-effective to MS as acquiring the talent and IP that can immediately make money for the company. In addition, Sony ‘knows’ after the ROTR fiasco that Xbox won’t pursue exclusivity deals on high profile IP (with a history of releasing on PS day and date), putting Xbox at a further disadvantage. MS has concluded the only way it won’t take a complete PR dive is to take the full bet on studios and publishers whose titles it wants to secure access to. Anyone in this chat saying Game Pass has a negative effect on the industry, while ignoring the impact Sony’s full/timed exclusivity deals have, as well, (resulting in a cycle of the dominant player reinforcing and increasing its large market share at a lower financial cost than its competitors can, while also ensuring devs and pubs need to bow to the whims of the ‘master’) is in my opinion, being disingenuous about caring for the future of this industry. These are the means by which these two companies have chosen to compete. There’s nothing altruistic about either’s approach. It’s just each side giving itself an advantage, and everyone in this chat is kidding themselves if they think either side is thinking of developers, publishers, and consumers more than their own well being.

Fenixrisingxl21

Say what you will about whatever Colin says, but I have a 5 hour train ride now and am appreciating the content.

Cai

The first 15 hours of FF16 has me really worried that combat wouldn't change. But allowing you to swap out abilities to different eikons definitely saved the game for me. I just don't like anything that isn't the main story. So I just skip dialogue and power through the boring side quests. Also I agree the stop and starting in FF16 gets annoying. I'm sad that the last DMC Colin game played was DMC 2. FF16 borrows alot of moves from DMC 3/4/5 and I hope this makes more people play that franchise. A sad fact that I recently discovered was that RE3 Remake sold more DMC 5.

Moonshot Md

Your second point asks why anyone should give a fuck about a corporation because they don't care about you. Your third point immediately contradicts it by saying you don't want it to go through because it's not financially saleable for the corporation in lue of a product being more accessible and affordable for you, the consumer. You really 5 headed it, sir.

Liz Folley

Great episode boys. Colin I know a lot of us Xbox fans have our opinions about how you cover the brand on discord, but just know that we still appreciate you and the hard work you do. I wouldn’t want to listen to any other podcast except of course for the dukes

Kenneth Oms

Imagine accepting the truth..... https://youtu.be/BGednQsQ-h8

JR

Friendly reminder that Microsoft basically stole Psychonauts 2, a crowdfunded game, from the gaming community by canceling the PS5 version and allowing only the Series X version to have HDR (a feature not present even on PC). Also, the Switch version was canned.

Romeo

The FF16 criticisms are very similar to those leveraged against Halo 5: "Yeah FF16 is a good game, but it's a bad Final Fantasy game because of the lack of RPG elements" "Yeah Halo 5's multiplayer is really fun, but it's a bad Halo game because of sprint and spartan abilities" Personally I'm okay with games evolving over time. I'm not a FF guy, but 16 looks cool. I may buy it on sale one day.

Yeah. I’m on mission 28-30 or so of . . . 48 I think? I am doing all the side stuff I see, but since they went more action and story instead of RPG, I think the game would have been better without the side stuff. It’s still awesome regardless.

TL

I don't get that impression. They differ Wildly on their anyways, yes. But I don't really get the impression any of the SS hosts are against the deal. They've all kind of said it is what it is. Colin, was very vociferous in this episode, but he doesn't seem to be against it. He's mainly puzzled why people actively Want this to go through.

Ealia Staroverov

I guess from your response I'm not really disagreeing with you I actually think sonys approach is great (and probably a better model Financially for the company) but for me (and I'm only speaking from my own situation) I'm koo with subscribing to ps+ to play first party a couple months later for $120 a year thats less then 2 games and I played literally every first party game. Same for Microsoft and GP Fortunately for me, Microsoft releases games day one.

Family Falls

Final Fantasy XVI is absolutely fucking INCREDIBLE so far! and this is coming from someone who has only played the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo and a few hours of Final Fantasy XV. I will say I don't think the game really needed side quests.

Mr someone

@Zackary Huge list? A list, yes. But as you just explained Sony money pales in comparison to Microsoft money. Playstation's list would, by necessity, be pretty short.

Ealia Staroverov

Completely agree Deemac. I want MS to do good, I want a healthy, competitive gaming landscape, but GP isn’t it. As I’ve said elsewhere, MS can afford to eat costs, and Sony can’t. This means Sony will eventually have to put first party titles on the service, but the quality will suffer because they have no way to recoup the costs of development. MS can just throw piles of cash around and be fine. For anyone to say “I have GP, so fuck everything else” is highly disturbing. Those people don’t care about what gaming will look like in 10-15 years and beyond. They want instant gratification, even if it means the future is bleak. It’s not good.

Brandon Garvin

There’s no doubt MS puts as much money into their first party games as Sony does. Games are expensive and take a lot of resources. If we, as consumers, want to see the bleeding edge of the medium, then costs will continue to rise. However, not everyone can keep up with those costs. Microsoft can, because they earn money outside of Xbox. Sony can’t, though, so they rely on those sales to the consumer directly, which again, is why they don’t put their games day and date on PS Plus. You say you don’t care about Sony recouping spent money on their first party games, but guess what? That’s how they fund MORE first party games. So that tells me you don’t care about their output. At the end of the day, yeah, GP is a great value, but not when it means the rest of the industry can’t keep up with their means of eating the cost of development, quality suffers, and it becomes a wasteland of subpar titles.

Brandon Garvin

I guess you're right its more complicated then the negative consequences your phone has on child labor, your clothes have on sweat shops, or your consumption of plastic has on earth... but i guess easy to pick a side. But let's fight for playstation to have Call of Duty! Gotcha 👍

Family Falls

It's the short-sightedness of those opposing views that get me - it's usually along the lines of "Well I got Gamepass and it gives me loads of games, so why should I care about the economics of the whole thing?" While I get that to an extent, I think the future of gaming will be bleak enough if Microsoft ultimately win out and become the dominant force with that model. Sure there will be alot of games, but the quality will dip big time I'd imagine. Totally quantity > quality scenario. It just seems to be a race to get as much content on their platform as possible. This mantra of "best value in gaming" I keep hearing from games media is so jarring at this stage, I'm almost wondering are they paid by the mention. I dunno, maybe I'm a bit jaded now in my 30s where I don't play near as much as even 10 years ago, and I simply wouldn't have the time personally to play this huge volume of games that people rave about on Gamepass. I play a game at a time, a handful of them through the year, and I don't mind paying for those as they're generally top quality. I see the merit in the Gamepass model for some, but it's not for me and I'd hate if that were to become the industry standard.

Deemac

I am so ready for the DDxSS episodes about the FTC case. Cuz listening to either show on its own is useless. Everyone is so weirdly entrenched in their positions, and you can’t help but notice how adamant some hosts are about who should “win.”

Zackery Parkerson

I think Colin talks very intelligently about these things, but he is also steadfast in refusing to see the potential for his own bias. I don’t think he’s wrong that Microsoft is approaching this industry in a terrible way, but the fact is Sony absolutely would do the same if they could. The Sony of the past, probably not, but this is a different era. He’s kidding himself if he doesn’t think Sony has a huge list of acquisition targets, for example.

Zackery Parkerson

1. People do hate Activision, but it’s not like their problems (including all the horrendous stuff that’s come out within the past few years) are going to end once MS acquires them. MS can barely handle the studios it currently has. We’ve seen that in the past, and in court documents. 2. Nobody is rooting for the trillion-dollar “underdog” Microsoft. Plus, why would anyone root for ANY corporation like this? They don’t give a FUCK about you or anyone else, other than what’s in your bank account. 3. Who lives GP besides people who currently subscribe? Hell, even Bobby Kotick said he wouldn’t put COD on GP, and that the model has a negative impact on the finances of games. The guy who owns the company that’s being bought is even saying MS’ Game Pass model is negative for games, which is true. It’s simple logic to understand why people don’t want this to go through.

Brandon Garvin

The one thing about what Chris said about sony vs Microsoft, and Playstation vs xbox underdog thing, is who's paying for the abk acquisition? It's not xbox, it's Microsoft. Xbox doesn't have those deep pockets. And Xbox could have just paid more then sony for starfield exclusivity, they didn't have to buy the publisher.

Angel DeJesus

You have some valid points but (and we can agree to disagree after) as a consumer I don't care how sony recoup 200m, its not my job. I go with value. It's like at the grocery store imo there's a value threshold. I'm not willing to pay name brand when the knockoff is cheaper and just as good. Same reason i personally have gamepass and ps+ premium. $70 is too much for me personally to play everygame i want. I bought GOW and HFW and they were on ps+ by the time I got to them. I'm willing to wait to play them. Sony can either lower the budget or raise prices again. I would like to see who's willing to pay 100 dollars a game.. I even think one of the CEOs said games cost way too much and take way too long to make.

Family Falls

Great points, but also, Microsoft fucked up during the XB1 era. Why should consumers feel compelled to give them their money? The free market decided Sony was the way to go, and Microsoft wasn’t. Then Sony ran with it. Granted, Microsoft is trying to reclaim lost ground, and they have done some great things, but release games isn’t one of them.

Brandon Garvin

I’m confused by some of the responses attacking Colin’s points. I agree that there is not a correct way of doing business, and Microsoft is very likely taking the correct path here. But that also doesn’t mean it won’t have negative effects on the gaming industry. I see a lot of commenters not acknowledging this. I am also seeing a lot of comparison between Sonys exclusivity contracts, versus Microsoft buying an entire company. These really are not comparable. Temporary contracts often expire and allow things to go to other platforms. Aside from that, Microsoft could seemingly go to almost any company and make deals for exclusives for their platform like Sony is doing with final fantasy or other titles. Contracts keep all companies in play. Buying a company removes them from the market permanently. Why is the nuance here not talked about more? I do get a vibe people are actively rooting for this to go through, but there really doesn’t seem to be any thoughts on what happens after. How will ABK operate under new ownership without their current CEO, can Microsoft continue to manage yearly COD releases? How will game pass effect games like world of Warcraft that has a unique business model? I just feel like critical thinking is missing in a lot of public analysis. It’s fun to hear Colin because if nothing else, he’s thinking about this more than 99% of others.

Tyler Kaminski

I think it’s okay to be a consumer and do what’s best for you. But you are also intentionally ignoring the negative consequences game pass has on the industry. It’s easy to “pick a side”, but it’s more complicated than that.

Tyler Kaminski

What is so hard to understand about people wanting this deal to go through? 1. People hate Activision. So it takes care of that. 2. People like to root for the underdog (yeah MS is bigger, but they are the underdog in this situation). 3. People love Gamepass, and deals like this will serve those people well. It is fairly simple logic to grasp. Now me...I just want it to go away regardless the results. Though, I will always secretly want Xbox to do better than it has

Ryan Zimm

I’m worried about the proliferation of subscription services either cheapening or diluting the art form. I like the IDEA of the subscription service for games, but Microsoft is the only company that can afford to eat losses on it by putting their first party games on the service. Sony, frankly, can’t afford to do so, and again, it’s why they don’t. Let’s say, hypothetically, that Sony does decide to move forward putting their first party games on their service. We now know TLOU 2 and HFW both took over $200m to make. If they put their own games on that service, and they cost that (or more) to make, where do they recoup that $200m? They certainly can’t just eat that money, as it’s a business, not a charity. They need to make that money back, and then some. So their options are to either have more money than God (Microsoft), add ridiculous DLC, make them GaaS, or not put them on the service in the first place.

Brandon Garvin

I think the Dukes are really well balanced. They’re obviously more positive about Xbox, but in the latest episode they brought up concerns about Xbox getting into an Embracer group like situation if they continue with big acquisitions after ABK, and they recently tore into Microsoft over the Redfall fiasco too. They’re fans but absolutely not fanboys.

Alex Roberts

I agree, love Colins insights thats iv been listening to him so long but recently started noticing hes be up sonys ass. (Must have sony stocks lol) thats why I love when Jaffe is on actually challenges him On salient and insightful points.

Family Falls

All I'm saying is there are other ways to monotize a game. The early access thing xbox is doing, dlc, skins ect.. every Industry changes and adapts. Remember when zune pass came out? (Yes the microsoft mp3) and nobody wanted to pay 15 dollars a month because you "did own the music".. yeah every one has a Spotify subscription now.. point is yall are worried about what exactly? If gamepass is successful the gaming industry is going to implode?

Family Falls

I'm not an Xbox guy? I've watched a handful of DD episodes and use a PS5 as my primary console.

Liz Folley

That’s a false equivalence. Those are GaaS. They’re inherently made to make money the way they do. There’s also single player games that have huge development costs (Starfield, TLOU, etc), and they only make money being sold up front. It’s why Sony doesn’t put their first party games on PS Plus. They need to recoup the cost spent on those games on game sales - much like the movie industry. If a movie doesn’t make its budget back then it’s a failure. A company doesn’t put money into a game to NOT make money on it.

Brandon Garvin

Yea, because I didn't pay for fortnite or warzone and they are definitely not making money... you honestly think there is no other way to monotize a video game besides up front sales? Seems a bit obtuse... 🤔

Family Falls

I personally don't think it would happen. It would force sony to adapt. I'm sorry I'm a consumer and I do what's best for me. Just like Amazon is killing pretty much everyone and no one seems to care. I use it because its Is convenient for me. haven't been to a Walmart/target ect.. in years. Same goes for every Industry. netflix killed blockbust Is hollywood video ect.. guess what came out of it 2 leading streaming platforms Hulu and Is disney.

Family Falls

I agree with a lot of what you’re saying. At this point, it’s become a chore to listen to SS when the ABK purchase is brought up, because Colin seems entrenched in a “Microsoft competes the wrong way” mantra, while Dustin and Chris don’t seem to push back (or at least provide counterpoints) at all. It leaves such a bad taste in my mouth, it leads me to take breaks from the show from time to time. I would much rather listen to the SS crew discuss Microsoft-related topics with the Dukes and/or Ryan McAffrey, to at least get a different voice or point of view in the room. Love Colin’s knowledge of Playstation. I believe outside of Sony, no one knows more about the company, and in my opinion, there is no Xbox- or Nintendo-equivalent researcher/personality. His knowledge and voice will ensure I’ll always be a patron. I just wish he had someone more willing and able to push back when he’s ‘wrong’ or misinformed on certain topics, especially Xbox. Keep on rockin’, guys!

Fenixrisingxl21

Awesome analysis Colin, episodes like this are why I subscribe at the level I do. The best gaming content there is

Ryan Daly

Back when the Series X launched there was that photoshop of Phil Spencer in Commando, turns out he was Stallone the whole time.

Noah Friscopp

Seriously. This guy is so obtuse it’s absurd. He doesn’t understand the argument about why anyone would support this - really? It’s a slippery slope for the industry, period. A lot of people just think games are made in a vacuum, and that the money you pay for them doesn’t go towards anything else. Ridiculous.

Brandon Garvin

Your second point just think about if Microsoft buys everything and game pass is the only way to get games in 10 years and they make you pay 50+ dollars per month yeah let’s see the value in that

Mario

You Xbox guys are hilarious just go listen to the dukes if Xbox and Phil gushing is all you want to hear Xbox is a trillion dollar company that wants to buy everything

Mario

I'm glad SS stopped covering the ABK deal. Colin is starting to sound like a sports fan boy at this point. And now the FTC thing. First, I didn't like Colin Basically saying every lawyer and Analyst "don't know what the fuck they are talking about" because they go the CMA thing wrong. I guess next time Colin gets something wrong we should Discredit his 10 plus years in the Industry Because "he doesnt know what the fuck he's talking about" Second, he says he doesn't know why anybody would supported this? How about because I got game pass And its gonna provide some of the best Value to consumers. More games for less money. Oh, the evil in that's.... Third, he doesn't get the Strategy from Microsoft? it's to get content on gamepass. Everybody even said it takes 3 to 5 years to develop games. They don't have time to get the market share in 5 years. they want it now. so, why not buy developers? The judge even said in today's court. "How does putting Call of Duty on game pass Hurt consumers if anything it would make playstation plus better" And, the last thing I'll mention is I never believe in the whole concept of the sons don't Challenge the dad enough and after today's episode im Starting to see why people Mention that. No meaningful retort or rebuttal? Maybe yall should have these conversations with the Dukes So it's not so one sided

Family Falls

Nah, Colin did Dustin dirty lol. My man had a question in minute 20 and Colin ran over him, threw it to him, threw it to him again, and still kept going! 🤣😂 I love the excitement for all this industry tea. Great episode so far.

Dennis Johnson

I just wanted to put this out there. Phil Spencer, when asked by the FTC if he “views Sony as an aggressive competitor?” said in response: “Every time we ship a game on PlayStation… Sony captures 30 percent of the revenue that we do on their platform and then they use that money amongst other revenue that they have to do things to try to reduce Xbox’s survival on the market… we try to compete, but as I said, over the last 20 years we’ve failed to do that effectively.” When I saw this I thought, yeah… you have failed to compete. They got lucky during the 360 era because Sony fucked themselves and got too comfortable. They (MS) were able to capitalize on that moment and come out with some good games (OG Gears, Halo 3, etc), while Sony basically had nothing until Uncharted, and even then the console was so prohibitively expensive at the time compared to the 360. Beyond that, Phil was right - losing the Xbox One gen was the absolute worst one to lose. For one, the move towards digital media meant people didn’t want to abandon their libraries so they stayed with PS from 4 to 5. Two, MS also shot themselves in the foot that era (much like the 360 gen), and Sony was able to capitalize on that like MS did. Mindshare is everything in advertising and media, and Sony was able to scoop that up during E3 2013. Generally, Microsoft has failed to compete but it’s hardly because of Sony. They just haven’t been able to gain mindshare back, and people aren’t as easily able to switch consoles generation to generation, and this is mostly because of digital games. On top of that, they just have not been able to deliver games in general. I would love for MS to be competitive, but they need to get a tighter hold on their developers, be more hands on, and get their management situation figured out because Matt Booty ain’t it.

Brandon Garvin

Not to mention that, with these acquisitions, Xbox is *finally* competing, not only with Sony, but with Apple and Google. I don't think that's something that's discussed enough.

BirdMan

Idk, I kind of take the ABK acquisition as a *targeted* play for mobile and PC, console is an additive. There are documents that say, clearly, that the PC market is more of a priority over console. In my opinion, I think the reaction to this case is rooted in the console ideology, when there is plenty of other factors at play.

BirdMan

It's definitely odd. He does seem to think there's no reason to be an Xbox fan (except that it's American). He insists that Xbox is a failure and that they're in 3rd place failing but equally criticizes them for not growing their business the "right" way. If they're not spending 6 years creating a studio from the ground up to make a $200m game that's in the Sony format then its the wrong way. It's super cringe.

Liz Folley

Colin, genuine question. Do YOU think the industry would be better If Xbox just went away and we were left with just Playstation and Nintendo? Your rhetoric leads me to believe that's the case. You believe that there's not a single reason to be an Xbox fan (other than being American). You said that in so many words in THIS episode. If the answer is yes, please make an episode on why you think so. That would be fascinating. If the answer is no, what the fuck are you rambling on about in regards to their capitalist business decisions? As if there's a right and "wrong" way to make a company work in this space. It's super cringe.

Liz Folley

I love the guy. Longtime listener. But he acts like the only "Right" way to succeed in the games industry is the way Sony did it. He can not like Microsofts way, but to criticize us for liking it seems extreme. Phil Spencer said the xbox platform is making more now than during the 360 era.... so how exactly are they failing?

Joe B

Your questions like this will never end because Colin is in denial about his biases. It's rough in here during the Microsoft episodes.

Liz Folley

Final Fantasy 16 is fucking awesome and has the most impressive spectacle boss fights I've ever played. Besides some bad filler side quests it's definitely my game of the year so far. The music, combat, world and characters are top tier

Walker Simmons

Not sure if this news broke after the cast but one of the judges presiding over the FTC bid is being asked to recuse herself because her son works at MS. This gets more interesting every day.

Nikitas Gagas

CBU3 seems to LOVE referencing FF4. Even in ff14, a lot of the best parts are ripped straight from 4.

I don't like kids

Quite an odd decision for Colin to Compare Microsoft to the Yankees and say "They just spend more money because their bad at doing it right (Idk why we act like there is a right or wrong way to succeed in business), and Colin criticizes people for wanting Microsoft to succeed in this merger, yet he himself is a yankees fan (or atleast used to be). The argument may be "I was a fan as a kid and grew up a fan in New York". Though cant an Xbox fan say im rooting for MSFT because I grew up a fan of Xbox and want to see them succeed because they will offer me something like COD at a better value than the Bobby Kotick led Activision does? They have a warchest of money and Sony made deals to hurt Game Pass by blocking games from ever being made available, yet MSFT is wrong for wanting to make a countermove that their capable of? Is it better if they just use all that money and spend to make countless 3rd party titles 1 year exclusives from PS5 and use that time with those to develop great internal games with their current first party lineup?

Joe B

Super interesting to listen to the Dukes take and the Sacred Crews take on the ABK/Xbox news back to back. They differ far more than I would’ve thought, makes listening to both really worthwhile.

Noah Trujillo

I saw nearly 5hrs of sacred and I weeped of joy

Dan Reid

I just got back from Italy about a month ago and I ate so much pizza in a 2 week span. The Margherita pizza is definitely the most well known originally from Naples. Pizza in italy is also either just sauce and cheese (Margherita) or cheese and 1 topping like ham. It's very thin pizza and extremely cheap. About 8-10 euros for a medium sized pizza to yourself. Just a little interesting tidbit.

MayorGarbageMan

The laser eyes 💀

Alex Roberts

People have too much attachment to Final Fantasy being solely an RPG. I understand they've dabbled in Isometric style tactic games before, so what's the big deal with a more action oriented installment? The Story is great, the gameplay actually evolves over time with an expanding move-pool, and the quests are more convenient to take on since they're usually pretty close to the story path. If you don't like a more character focused story action game, and desire to traipse around for hours just to find the same quests you'd find in this game in an empty overworld then go play XIV, I'm sure that's more your speed oldheads.

Dan Sing Izzy Rae Lee

Excited to hear everyone’s thoughts on this! We’re in for a banger.

Cyprus Davis

I think I've found a way to top the app crashing, don't lock you phone when listening.

Hozi

Feel like I say this a lot, but this gonna be a good one! Also love the episode title, that moment was awesome

Deemac

Almost 5 hours of goodness, I love this company!

Best time of the week

Jordan Dedo