Sacred Symbols, Episode 214 | Missing Kevin Butler

Is PlayStation missing an element of 'fun' that used to be present in its ecosystem? One listener wrote in with such a thought, revolving his argument around one key figure from yore: Kevin Butler. The long-lost fictional Sony executive represented a different time for PlayStation. The question is, do we want to go back? News items this week include a peculiar missive from Sony in Brazil about Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, an analysis of Sony's first quarter fiscal report, Tencent's pursuit of Ubisoft, and more. Other listener inquiries include ones on the potential of an $80 game, the value-versus-length argument, subscriptions acting as modes of curation, and Dustin's peculiar pronunciation of a northwestern American state. If only we could have done more to protect him.

Timestamps:

0:00:00 - Intro

0:08:41 - The DMCA Situation

0:18:29 - Follow-up - hardware has gone up in price in the past

0:22:23 - Ore-Gone

0:25:44 - Is becoming a patron a good business strategy?

0:30:18 - Daddy doggy

0:32:55 - Will there ever be an off-topic LSM show?

0:40:06 - Gamescom will bring some new announcements

0:45:28 - Which indies and Annapurna titles look good to us?

1:00:29 - Tactics Ogre Reborn has been confirmed

1:06:02 - PlayStation Accolades are being discontinued

1:11:58 - Elden Ring has taken over YouTube

1:22:57 - Koch Media is now Plaion

1:24:46 - We already have God of War at home

1:29:23 - A Warzone skin is causing a stir

1:33:59 - We’ve got our first look at Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

1:36:17 - The secret NieR room was a mod, after all

1:38:05 - What is Meet Your Maker?

1:41:58 - The Halo 2 challenge has been conquered (not by Chris)

1:43:36 - What have we been playing?

2:09:05 - Activision and Sony duke it out in Brazil

2:19:47 - Sony’s quarterly financials have been disclosed

2:27:07 - Supermassive Games have outlined their plans for the future

2:39:57 - Tencent is seeking to gain control of Ubisoft

2:52:43 - Does a subscription model get rid of concerns over game length?

3:03:15 - Will Sony raise the price of games again this generation?

3:12:05 - Are the additional PS+ tiers a solution to the PS Store curation problem?

3:20:15 - SuPeR pErIlS oF bAkInG

3:24:49 - Should Sony buy Square Enix as a defensive move?

3:35:00 - Do we miss Kevin Butler?