GTA 6 Leaks Keep Coming! - Kinda Funny Games Daily 08.19.26

19 Aug 2026 · 1 h 19 min · 38 chapters

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In short

Kind of Funny Games Daily covers major gaming news, led by new GTA 6 leaks tied to a crypto/meme-coin “hacktivist” group, plus PlayStation rebooting Horizon’s Hunter’s Gathering away from live service, and a brief discussion of recent patches/coverage around other games.

Guests

Andy Cortez (host) and Snowbike Michael Howard (“Mikey”). No other guests appear in the transcript.

Guest backgrounds

Andy and Mikey are co-hosts of Kind of Funny Games Daily; Mikey is a regular host/commentator and discusses playing Enshrouded and Mortal Shell 2, while Andy discusses Enshrouded progress and other recent gaming coverage.

Key claims

  • GTA 6: gameplay videos (Jason basketball; Jason driving/attacking) and a full map image surfaced, reportedly linked to “CyberLeak,” which demands changes including offline single-player fallback and criticizes the lack of physical discs; authenticity unconfirmed; Rockstar/Take-Two reportedly issuing takedowns.
  • Stop Killing Games condemns CyberLeak for promoting a meme coin via illegal leaks.
  • PlayStation/Guerrilla is rebooting Horizon’s Hunter’s Gathering by removing live-service elements and shrinking scope; many staff reassigned; studio has until December for a milestone.

Notable examples

  • GTA 6 release timing: extended look on Netflix Aug 27, 6-hour exclusivity.
  • Horizon pivot: traditional co-op with story mode; art style shift criticized by hosts.
  • Mortal Shell: Mikey cites strong reactions and “motion”/animation hype from recent coverage.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Gaming Together: Unshrouted Experience

0:00 to 0:11

Discussion about the recent gaming experiences and interactions between hosts, especially regarding the game 'Enshrouded'.

“For limited time, you can get$35 off select frames plus free shipping with code KINDOFUNNY at AuraFrames.com.”

Gaming Together: Unshrouted Experience

1:02 to 2:15

Discussion about the recent gaming experiences and interactions between hosts, especially regarding the game 'Enshrouded'.

“Of course, you were battling a little bit of a cold, and so didn't get to spend some time with you in Unshrouted or Unshrouted last night.”

Reviewing Mortal Shell 2

2:15 to 3:07

Andy shares insights on Mortal Shell 2, including gameplay experiences and its reception.

“from Twitch chat, but he also is playing this really all by himself.”

Excitement for Phantom Blade Zero

3:07 to 4:50

Hosts discuss Phantom Blade Zero and share excitement about its gameplay and presentation from the recent PlayStation State of Play.

“Mortal Shell, it's got motion right now.”

Community Engagement and Support

4:50 to 5:44

Acknowledgment of community support and introduction to the Roper Report segment.

Roper Report Introduction

5:44 to 6:08

Introduction to the main news segment featuring major gaming stories.

GTA 6 Leak Overview

6:08 to 6:40

Discussion on the recent significant leaks related to GTA 6 and their implications.

Details on GTA 6 Gameplay Leaks

6:40 to 11:22

In-depth analysis of the leaked gameplay footage, the hacker group's motives, and its impact on the gaming community.

“And let us know in the super chats, are you avoiding the leaks?”

Reflections on Previous Leaks

11:22 to 14:01

Hosts reminisce about past leaks of GTA 6 and their impact on the community and the development process.

“The inclusion of a cutscene suggests that leaker suggests the leaker may potentially spoil the GTA 6 story with further uploads.”

The Chaos of the Leak

14:01 to 14:44

Discover the pandemonium that erupted at the studio following the GTA 6 leak.

“I've envisioned all of us, we're all in chaos.”
Show all 38 chapters

Rockstar's Response to Leaks

14:44 to 16:34

Learn about Rockstar's official stance and the aftermath of the leaks.

“Rockstar developers took to social media to express their frustration at the leak, which Zelnick later called disappointing.”

CyberLeak and Controversial Motivations

16:34 to 18:16

Explore the motivations behind the CyberLeak group and the implications of their actions.

“For context, the leaked GTA 6 footage in question feature links and QR codes for CyberLeaks' website and a crypto coin.”

The Excitement and Risks of Leaks

18:16 to 19:56

Discuss the balance between fan excitement and the risks associated with leaks.

“And it seems like as of today, probably going to keep happening for quite some time up till Thursday and beyond.”

Debating the Ethics of Leak Culture

19:56 to 24:11

Engage in a discussion about the ethics surrounding leak culture in gaming.

“It just does not feel like that's possible here.”

The Future of Gaming Leaks and Rockstar's Position

24:11 to 28:00

Examine the implications of leaks for future game launches and Rockstar's strategy.

“And that's not even to talk about the security aspect of things.”

GTA 6 Leaks Discussion

28:00 to 35:38

Exploration of the implications of recent GTA 6 leaks and Rockstar's response.

“And as soon as it got taken down, people go, oh, shit, it's real.”

GTA 6 Leaks Discussion

35:43 to 36:43

Exploration of the implications of recent GTA 6 leaks and Rockstar's response.

“No lie, Aura Frames are undeniably the best gift I have ever given.”

Closing Thoughts and Community Interaction

37:48 to 42:00

Final thoughts on gaming news and engagement with the community through super chats.

“But douchebags kind of ruled the internet.”

Discussion on Passion for Events

42:00 to 42:28

The hosts discuss their enthusiasm for events and personal commitments.

“Only Timothee Chalamet and like a fucking like Kaysenat were invited.”

Introduction to Horizon's Hunter's Gathering

42:28 to 43:52

The hosts introduce Sony's reboot of Horizon's Hunter's Gathering and its implications.

“PlayStation rebooting Horizon's Hunter's Gathering.”

Challenges with Live Service Games

43:52 to 46:49

The hosts discuss the struggles PlayStation faces with live service games and their pivot strategies.

“Anyway, Jason Schreier says Sony groups, Sony group cores, PlayStation division is overhauling horizon hunters gathering.”

Art Style and Gameplay Discussion

46:49 to 48:58

A deep dive into the art style of Horizon and its impact on gameplay experience.

“a drastic departure from their previous titles, both in gameplay and art style.”

Reflections on Game Development Decisions

48:58 to 51:18

The hosts reflect on development choices and their consequences in gaming studios.

“This isn't anything to say about the developer's work.”

Future of the Horizon Franchise

51:18 to 54:27

Discussion on the future of the Horizon franchise and the potential timeline for new releases.

“last one to mess up this poorly i don't really know how the pivot to a non-life service model works, where maybe it's the Night Rain model.”

Colossal Development Mistakes

54:27 to 55:59

The hosts highlight the significant missteps in game development timelines and strategies.

“They are trying to save and recoup some of the money that they have just absolutely lit on fire with these decisions.”

The Call of the Waterfall: Gaming Trends

56:00 to 56:40

Discussion on the gaming industry's shift towards live service models.

“Stick to the lakes and the rivers you used to.”

Expectations for Upcoming Game Releases

56:41 to 58:00

Speculation on the future of a specific game and its potential pricing.

“I think it comes out and, you know, doesn't do much.”

PlayStation's Strategic Decisions and Market Position

58:01 to 1:00:39

Analysis of PlayStation's market strategies and their implications.

“But Sony's not in it for the low budget money here.”

The Fallout of Live Service Games

1:00:40 to 1:02:59

Examination of the consequences of failed live service games for developers.

“We expected so much out of this, and we didn't deliver, and it failed.”

Redfall's Development Challenges and Legacy

1:03:21 to 1:05:04

Discussion about the troubled development of Redfall and its final patch.

“say the tiniest shit I need to know about, where would I go?”

New Game Studio Announcements and Updates

1:05:05 to 1:06:16

Reports on new game studios and updates in the gaming industry.

“Unknown Worlds has rolled out the second early access update for its open-world survival craft game Subnautica 2, introducing new features designed to strengthen communication and teamwork in co-op.”

Data Breaches and Industry Concerns

1:06:17 to 1:07:26

Discussion about data breaches affecting gaming companies and the community response.

“Eurogamer reports Pokemon Center in the UK and Germany hit with the same data breach suffered by Valve Steam hardware.”

Creative Control in Game Development

1:07:27 to 1:08:59

Exploration of the challenges faced by game developers versus executives.

“You had something you wanted to get off your chest, Mike.”

Final Thoughts and Viewer Interaction

1:09:00 to 1:10:06

Engagement with listeners through final thoughts and super chat messages.

“Let's get to You're Wrong, where you can write into kindoffunny.com forward slash You're Wrong to tell us what we got wrong.”

Community Chat on Horizon and Fire Emblem

1:10:06 to 1:11:36

Listeners discuss their experiences and hopes for upcoming games.

“a very generous ten dollar super chat thank you for supporting us you're kind of funny because when you don't support the things you love, they go away forever.”

Discussion on Horror Games and Movies

1:11:36 to 1:12:26

The hosts reflect on a recent horror-themed game episode and a bizarre movie they watched.

“Yeah, but we thought it was a whole game.”

Fans Share Their Gaming Experiences

1:12:26 to 1:14:48

Listeners share their gaming hours and personal stories, including one listener's journey from prison.

“I, I was going to say like, unfortunately you weren't in jail for longer, but that makes me, it sounds like I'm talking, you know, me, but this guy, I've been watching this guy on a Instagram reels quite a bit.”

Recommendations and Show Close

1:14:48 to 1:15:04

The hosts provide movie recommendations and preview the next show.

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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00Nick Scarpino:For limited time, you can get$35 off select frames plus free shipping with code KINDOFUNNY at AuraFrames.com. Pre-order your Porty Plushie right now at kindoffunny.com slash Portillo. If you want to get our shows ad-free and our exclusive shows, go to patreon.com slash kindoffunny. Today's gaming news stories include GTA 6 keeps leaking, PlayStation's rebooting Horizon's Hunter Gathering, and how Redfall released a patch after everyone got laid off. We'll have all this and more because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily.

0:41Good morning, gamers around the world. Welcome to Kind of Funny Games Daily for Wednesday, August 19th, 2026. I am Andy Cortez, and I am joined by Snowbike Michael Howard. You're 1.1 in your heart. Good morning, Andy. Good morning, Mikey. Andy, great to see you. I've been missing you. I know you've been busy. Of course, you were battling a little bit of a cold, and so didn't get to spend some time with you in Unshrouted or Unshrouted last night. How did that go? Really positive. Really? He's having a really good time. He's over 80 hours. Of course, when I say he, we're referring to Nick Scarpino, who has fallen head over heels for this game.

1:21Even got a text message. I don't know if you did. Late last night, 9.30 p.m. hey grinding some enshrouded you try to join i didn't get the text message he's gonna hear about this let me tell you he's up he's gonna hear about this from me so yeah we've been playing well without you we miss you when kevin walked up yesterday and he said andy um did you know nick is like a level 20 what dude like i've you know again i've started a lot of characters in this game i got a lot of hours in this game but i don't know i'm like a level nine or level 10 he's a level a wild level up in this game it does it does you know currently level 22 he he's exploring parts of the map that i didn't even think were there and we're having one heck of a time it's really impressive to see you'd be so proud of him how he's taken to this game he understands this game he has the answers to the game that you are looking for of course he's getting some help from Twitch chat, but he also is playing this really all by himself.

2:21He's played a lot alone. And he has a lot of answers, and he's very good at it. He made himself hidden on Steam because I was the one who called him out one of the first times after we played, and I said, hey, notice the little achievement got unlocked. Yeah. You know, what's up with that? You're not going to call me and invite me? And he was like, oh, you saw that. And then he made himself invisible. And that doesn't make me happy because I want to get in on the Entrouted Love, but I was playing a lot of Mortal Shell last night after a weird day of just kind of feeling nauseous. I wasn't eating correctly enough for the medicine that I was taking.

2:55So it was just kind of an off day. So you played some more Mortal Shell. You had a review yesterday that we can hype up, of course. Yesterday's Gamescast, Marvel Tocan Fighting Souls with Bless and you with Mortal Shell 2. Both positive? Tell me what we got. Mortal Shell, it's got motion right now. The streets are talking, Mike, and everybody's like, whoa, do I have to get this Mortal Shell game? I saw, I don't know if Ray Nervais streamed it, but he tweeted randomly last night, Mortal Shell fucking rocks. And it's like, yeah, it does. Wow, I didn't know, Ray, wow. Okay. I wasn't familiar with your game, you know what I mean?

3:32So it's like, it's a really surprising Souls-like. I think it's very, very fun and ran into a lot more surprising shit last night that I thought that I was done with a certain thing and explored a bit more. and suddenly there's this gigantic dude with like a knife for a head, and it's awesome. Really, really great video game. You know what else has got motion just before we get into the show? That Phantom Blade Zero PlayStation State of Play. I know you reacted to it. I know you talked a little bit about it with Tim, but you know I watched it, and I should have pushed him out of the way. Woo, talk about a game that's got a little motion.

4:08Man. Okay. I mean, a lot of motion. 55 different weapons. That's going to be exciting to find. So many animations. he turned that lion head into a cannon and then and then like a wheel yeah it was like on the ground like a lawnmower i'm interested in this game that excites me yeah it's been a while since mike's gotten into the action rpg the action rpg genre and i have a love-hate relationship sometimes and i this one won me over more than it had lost me right i think this one of course everybody remembered the early flashy trailers to this but it's been so long andy and so it's kind of just blended in with the rest of the group but i'll tell you they did a really good job with this playstation state of play it was flashy it had some interesting stuff the difficulty settings were good uh what was the guy's name katana zero what's his name um his name is soul frame soul frame it's just so cool it's so fucking so cool dude i when i met him and they were like this is soul frames and i was like what that's awesome yeah yeah yeah that is very cool given name also map looks great i love this hand-drawn map is beautiful uh we just saw him on the boat as well giving some resident evil 4 vibes i him on that little motorboat out there there's gonna be some cool set pieces and some cool boss fights that go along with that yeah keep an eye out for this one very very pumped up about phantom blade zero but enough about phantom blade zero if you're watching live be a part of the show by super chatting on youtube.com forward slash kind of funny games we couldn't do this without our producers on patreon.com forward slash kind of funny so thank you to carl jacobs omega buster delaney the psalm twining and lax nomad for now let's begin with what is and forever will be the roper report it's time for some news we have four stories today

6:07story number one and it's a chunker it's a big one some people are saying it's as big as the the size of the map of gta 6 massive a lot of stuff leaking out there yeah a lot of stuff get ready avert your eyes i will not be talking about specific stuff because i know that some people may want to be spoiler free there okay um but just in total in totality there's a big thing happening on the internet right now internet group hacker a hacktivist group hacktivist but we're gonna put our crypto name on as a little caveat we're gonna put that little like lower third we're gonna put that fucking you know uh the thing that like whenever you do a demo mic and like sometimes your username is floating so you can't leak the footage or whatever um hacktivist group they're doing they want to do right by the gamers but also donate to the crypto which is they'll probably need for the legal fund whenever well they write that they're like just so you know this is for the future and it's like clearly the legal yeah whenever we whenever they come after us um this story comes from YWP Wesley Yenpool at IGN.

7:26GTA 6 leaks keep coming. And let us know in the super chats, are you avoiding the leaks? Are you diving right in? And is this an acceptable way to protest the death of discs? So much of this is kind of like going after the anti-consumer angle. And I'll let people know why I think that this is maybe doing the opposite. Oh, Grand Theft Auto 6 appears to have suffered yet another significant leak after what looks like legitimate gameplay videos and an image of the full map appeared online. Two videos showing GTA 6 gameplay have emerged. One featuring protagonist Jason playing basketball outside his home.

8:07The other showing Jason driving a car and attacking an NPC. An image reportedly of a complete map has also hit the Internet. While it is currently unclear how those assets emerge or how these assets emerge or how old they are, they all point to a cryptocurrency and a website that reportedly belonged to a group called CyberLeak. CyberLeak. Let's also maybe hit up the DOJ and the FBI. Let's see what's up with them. Emcee files, student loans, medical debt. Let's also work on that if you can. The website contains three demands of Rockstar Games and other video game publishers, seemingly in response to the all-digital future suggested by digital pre-orders.

8:48Fake, in quotes, single-player DLC, and the removal of single-player content consumers have paid for. Contained within the manifesto is a criticism of the lack of physical disc for GTA 6, as well as The Crew, which was at the heart of Stop Killing Games' consumer movement after Ubisoft made it unplayable even by those who bought the game. CyberLeak goes on to threaten other video game publishers. And by the way, it's CyberLeak, L-E-E-K, which is like the leak. Their little logo is like an actual leak, you know. Presumably with gameplay. Notice how I didn't say the vegetable or the fruit because I'm not sure what it is.

9:27I don't know. You did great on that one. I avoided that one, man. There it is. it's a far-fetched test thank you, you read my mind I was like, I don't know what that tastes like does he talk? far-fetched you nailed it cyber leak goes on to threaten other video game publishers presumably with gameplay leaks such as the one suffered by GTA 6 quote publishers should beware if fucking team rocket if cyber leak can reach Rockstar, no one is safe This is a message to all big corpo. Behave or be the next target. And to unite all peoples within one nation. When they wrote that, they high-fived and they said, hell yeah.

10:12Fuck yeah, dude. The authenticity of the gameplay and map image remains unconfirmed, but it appears Rockstar and parent company Take-Two are working to remove video uploads from across social media. Meanwhile, the meme coin advertised by the assets now has a huge amount of attention on it. Although there is some concern online that this is part of a cryptocurrency scam. IGN has asked both Rockstar and Take-Two for comment. Assuming the leak is legitimate, it comes just days before the release of Grand Theft Auto 6, an extended look, which is a timed Netflix exclusive. That's due Thursday, August 27th.

10:49Damn, that's next week. Holy shit, that's exciting. And will remain exclusive on Netflix for six hours before it makes its way to other platforms such as YouTube. and we have an update on the article from the goat wesley inpool gta 6 has suffered yet another gameplay leak this time showing taser gameplay and a few seconds of a cut scene the cyber leak group followed the cyber leak group followed through on yesterday's thread detailed below and released a new video on its website it is now doing the rounds on social media even as rockstar and parent company take two issue takedowns like the videos released yesterday the new footage heavily advertises a meme coin.

11:29The inclusion of a cutscene suggests that leaker suggests the leaker may potentially spoil the GTA 6 story with further uploads. It remains unclear where the footage was obtained or how old it is. Also layered on top of the footage is the threat, quote, no physical discs, then more leaks. I thought they were going to go for a rhyme. Me too. It felt like a rhyming opportunity. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Give me a rhyme that goes with discs. No physical reeks. Time for more leaks. Oh, okay. That was fun. It's not your best. Seeks. No physical discs. You stay on my list. That's pretty good. That's pretty fucking good.

12:13I like that. Or I'll release the list. I like it. Get the list out. Get the fucking FC list. Neither Rockstar nor Take-Two have issued a statement on the leak. IGN asked for comment back to IGN's original breakdown of all the leaks GTA six has seen a shout out to Greg Miller for also putting this together which yeah Wesley and Paul did all the work but shout out to Greg Miller for putting together today's doc because blessing is gone he's on an assignment shout out who knows what he's doing GTA six has sub suffered a number of leaks over the years in 2022 more than 90 videos and images from an early version of GTA 6 were leaked online by hackers in what was one of gaming's biggest security breaches.

12:58Quote, we take leaks very seriously indeed and they disappoint all of us. It's really frustrating and upsetting to the team. Take two CEO Strauss Zelnick said in response, the British teenager responsible was, they're not talking about Strauss Zelnick, he's not a British teenager. The British teenager responsible was recently released from indefinite imprisonment at a secure hospital and is now awaiting a retrial god damn yeah that's gonna be major did the the fucking batman like interrogated in december 2023 the first gta 6 trailer leaked on twitter less than 24 hours before its scheduled premiere leading to rockstar officially posting the trailer on youtube early what a day that was in kind of funny history remember that that was a day and kind of readjust everything for that one i'm just gonna break apart the article right now because i just have to get into that because I love talking about our company, but there's a lot of people who barely started listening to Kind of Fun in the last year or two.

13:53When that trailer leaked early, and we're all in the studio, I keep on, I've said the reference before, it felt like an episode of Succession. I've envisioned all of us, we're all in chaos. I'm working on the wall graph. Tim is on a call, and I look up and I go, Tim, it leaked dude and he's and he's on his computer he's like fuck he walks into the room gets his phone out like it was insane it was pandemonium around here it felt like a newsroom like in the movies you know what i mean it was a special time it was a special time it was really i really really like we need kevin to go back and get the footage of all of us just oh you should have got that yeah that would have been a smart one um when that video leaked uh it led to rockstar officially posting the trailer on YouTube early.

14:46Rockstar developers took to social media to express their frustration at the leak, which Zelnick later called disappointing. In terms of the leak, that's always disappointing for the team, but ultimately, I don't think it hurt us, he said. In April this year, Rockstar confirmed company information was accessed as part of a third party data breach, but it insisted the incident had no impact on our organization or our players. GTA 6 is due out on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and X, X and S, and, well, no, there is no and. I was going to say and PC. Only the consoles, November 19, 2026. Meanwhile, Stop Killing Games condemns the destructive GTA 6 leakers.

15:32Comes from Lewis Parker at Kotaku. The internet was treated to some rather legitimate-looking Grand Theft Auto 6 leaks yesterday. And while the concept of the leaks is the main focus for fans of Rockstar's long-awaited title, the motivations of the anti-Big Corporal group behind them, known as CyberLeak, are arguably far more interesting. However, despite CyberLeak's supposed pro-consumer justifications, the digital rights and legal consumer protections group Stop Killing Games has condemned the group for, using the leak to promote a meme coin and using illegal means to make their point. Quote, do not send these people your money, no matter how much sympathy you may feel for their actions, stated Stop Killing Games director Moritz Katzner in a post on r slash Stop Killing Games subreddit.

16:24This is illegal, and frankly, we feel for everyone at Rockstar having to go through this ordeal again, especially just over a week before Rockstar's own official extended look premieres. For context, the leaked GTA 6 footage in question feature links and QR codes for CyberLeaks' website and a crypto coin. CyberLeaks' website features a list of commandments that the group demands of both Rockstar Games and video game publishers in general, many of which haven't to align with the same demands the Stop Killing Games platform is founded on. For instance, the third commandment in CyberLeaks' manifesto calls for offline fallback states for single-player games.

17:04which is group arguing that consumers should not lose access to content in single-player titles simply because the online service for said games shut down. The group also stated that the crypto coin it's pushing in the leaked GTA 6 footage is to fund a secret project, which is presumably related to the CyberLeaks' claim that it will target further publishers who break any of the commandments listed in the manifesto. There's a lot of stuff here, Mike. Andy, you took us on a long one there. Thank you to Greg and Wesley Yenpool as well for all the incredible article right there. Shout out to the big guy.

17:43Lewis Parker and Kotaku as well. A lot to talk about here, Andy. Let's start from the beginning. Of course, a couple weeks ago, we talked about physical discs and how that could lead to leaks of GTA 6. And was that the decision to lean on that? We knew it wasn't the full decision, of course. But no matter where you are, leaks are going to happen, especially with the biggest entertainment property on planet Earth. People are going to be looking at you going, I want a piece of that in some way, shape or form. And here we are a week before the big reveal on Netflix. And we are going to see a bunch of leaks.

18:16And it seems like as of today, probably going to keep happening for quite some time up till Thursday and beyond. And so the Internet, be careful out there. You might stumble upon one. You might seek one out. You might be trying to avoid one. Now it's going to be up to you. But, you know, this is unfortunate for the team. We know that it's a lot to talk about. Yeah. Um, I mean, it's unfortunate. The, I don't know how as, as Wesley in pool and, um, and Lewis Parker Kotaku mentioned, there's no verification on when the leaks are from. I did, however, see a, uh, comment from Nate, the hate who was on reset era and said that these videos are from 2023 ish um and this is just like a side take i don't really know how helpful this is aside from like taking the you know taking the the steam out of the you know we're getting all excited about this big netflix reveal youtube big day or whatever if anything i've just seen a lot of sentiment online of people going the game looks this good and it's from 2023 holy shit and i don't i think people are are just kind of getting more juiced and excited and like it it's this sounds like i'm telling this hacker group hack more important things you know what i mean but it's like it's just i just don't know how helpful or i don't think it's very helpful or beneficial to anything well let's put a pin on the hacker group because we circle back to that and the stop killing games team and their campaign and kind of talking about the two that's going on right now right because there is an interesting conversation of the leaks in general in gta right we talk about a property that is probably too big to fail right like i i don't see in a world that we live in here by next week and then into november anywhere that somehow GTA 6 fails, right?

20:18It just does not feel like that's possible here. But then the leaks, right? As you brought up, are people just getting more excited for this by they're seeing more and more of an entity that we haven't seen a lot of? They want to see more of this. Is there a leak potential that would actually get people to go, oh, now I'm deflated and not interested anymore? Or now I'm heartbroken because I did see the finale, right? Like, that seems to be the only thing that could go to this, right? of course you would very much hurt Netflix who probably invested a bunch into Rockstar to get the exclusivity next Thursday all of a sudden if this leaker group was to leak the Netflix thing then we'd have a major problem but that would be the corporate side of thing the gamers probably would just get more excited but yeah what is the leak here that crosses the line for gamers to go now I've seen too much because as you brought up they just want to see more and more apparently there's also been another leak that just happened so avert your eyes everybody stay off of social media if you don't want mute all the right terms you need to um because apparently some some big stuff is getting leaked and honestly if anything mike like i think that this affects me the most oh and i don't think they're keeping me in mind okay which is really really like unselfish of them because when people want to care they they claim to care about the gamers but like i i won game showdown i'm supposed to preview this game you know you're just going to spoil stuff for me they're doing the preview before you can even do the preview everybody's getting the preview so like what did i win game showdown for you know what i mean that's that's kind of why would you mistreat andy like this it's really fucked up It's really fucked up for them to do.

22:03It's really unfortunate. The, all of this kind of, you know, I understand the sentiment. I don't think going after Rockstar is like the right move. I think it, I think like PlayStation, you know, like if you're, if you're doing the discless, you know, brigade, you want to really, really stand up for physical and things like that. I don't really see how going after Rockstar makes a lot of sense it really just seems like a way to try to make money off of this meme coin and if anything a lot of it a lot of it just reminds me of like you know I'm going to invoke the word but Gamergate type stuff where it's like you there are other things to focus your anger on and other people to focus your anger on and you know whenever a big layoff happens and you're we're all sad about it and then you see certain people on certain sides of the aisle or certain people in different parts of the internet celebrating the layoffs or complaining or saying yeah the games are too woke it's like there are we have so many bigger problems to worry about right now and this is one of those things where i'm like can you guys focus on something else like you say it so well we talk about this right yeah there's a big world out there and there's a lot of like really real real issues that we should be addressing but of course everyone has a certain thing that they're interested in their hobby and this is what they're attacking but you go after gta 6 of course because it is the biggest thing on planet earth it is the next big thing up if they were leaking control residents it wouldn't be as motion breaking as this is they of course they're going to go after you're right yeah you're absolutely right especially if you're gonna push a meme coin for future endeavors here right that they clearly want to get after more people or whatever this mean coin rug pull is going to be don't give them your money please right like there's a right way to do this in a wrong way and that's kind of what we're leading this conversation towards right it's like there is a team out there who's trying to take the steps in the right way to bring about this to say hey gamers out there let's recognize what's happening here with the discless future that we're moving towards the not owning actual digital products and it's just kind of being taken away there's a right way for us to kind of get everybody in the know and then have a conversation with those involved to say hey we need to have better protections for the consumers because we want to support your corporations and your games and all the developers but it's not going right and then there's this move right which is we're gonna lack we're gonna hack the shit out of your systems we're going to leak everything they're in the kernels mike hey when we find like this is rock star here's take one not real hard to destroy rock star we're all pumped up for this but there's going to be another game if this is to continue that they'll find and we'll get early game footage of and the gamers guess what could immediately turn off on that game and that might destroy that company or that small development team and that's the issue of like we saw a bit of it with insomniac we're trying to avoid something like that right in the if we're all trying to be peace and love and the right way of doing things we're trying to avoid that jump to conclusion situation yeah i mean it's it you know it's impossible it feels seemingly impossible mike to stop leak culture nowadays yeah there's these companies are too large there are too many people that you can't necessarily account for.

25:40And that's not even to talk about the security aspect of things. And I know Paris Lilly would likely have a lot more to say about the security aspect of things and people getting deep in them kernels.

25:56But aside from even having to worry about the cybersecurity aspect of it all, there are just so many employees with cell phones and with internet. And it just seems like a nightmare to try to keep all of this under wraps. Oh, and then of course, then you start to bring it to the employee side of things, right? Now you start to build distrust amongst each other, right? Of like, I'm sure everyone has probably good, hopefully good intentions, wants everyone to succeed and wants the company to do well with the game that they've been working on for so long. But now you start having leak after leak.

26:29And then we start to point fingers at one another. You start to worry about yourself and others, how you'll be viewed, how they'll be viewed. Is Brian over in accounting, the guy that's leaking this stuff right now? And then we're mistreating him. None of this is a good situation for these people involved as well, the development side. Mike, I can't believe you would rat up Brian like that. Brian, I'm sorry. Brian, I saw those texts. He was just trying to do a meme coin, man. I also think about the aspect of... of when these things go out there and like, are you the type of person, Mike, to go after the leak?

27:10Are you the one to want to look at everything? No, I mean, with how little I use the internet from Reddit to social media now, especially Twitter and what that's turned into, right? I'm really not actively ever looking up leaks, especially when like we hear about it, right? Hey, Marvel's Avengers, whatever leaked. I'm not actively ever looking that up. I don't really care that much, But I mean, I'm like anyone else. I'm scrolling. All of a sudden, it might hit my feed. I'm going to click on that, right? And so, yeah, it's just if it hits me, I will. But I'm not actively looking. What about yourself?

27:41Well, I would say no when it comes to stuff that I truly, truly care about. Okay. The stuff that I want to be surprised with, you know, whenever it drops. Man, if I was Rockstar, I would legitimately have been like, no, we're not going to DMCA take down those videos. because the initial sort of rumblings early on were, are these real? Are these fake? No, it's AI. It's fake. It's fake. It's fake. And as soon as it got taken down, people go, oh, shit, it's real. Rockstar's taking them down. Yeah, yeah. Say it's AI. Like, I would have just gone with the, nope, it's AI. It's, you know. I mean, that's something you could lean on nowadays to be able to say that.

28:20You can lean on that and say that. I guess at what point, right now, we have a Thursday. We have Thursday on Netflix. Can this group force their hand at all to move that date like we've seen with the previous trailer? Will we get anything substantial between now and next Thursday, which will make Rockstar have to make a move at all? Does this group have something like that that is that significant to make Rockstar budge? Or Rockstar being the biggest entity on the planet says, you know what? Us and Netflix, we're firm on Thursday. We're fine. You're not going to rattle us.

28:59I guess it would all depend, Mike, on when the leaks are from, what they have.

29:06Nick Scarpino:Yeah.

29:10And I think in my heart of hearts, I think if they had whatever is going to debut on Netflix, I still think that they stay the course there. Because that's some contractual thing. If they release that on Saturday, let's just say in a world where this team releases whatever Netflix and GTA is going to do on Saturday at noon. I think those two teams are moving. They're rescheduling that and they're putting it out right away. Damn, really? What would be the point of me getting a Netflix subscription if it's already out on the internet? What would be the point of me tuning in on Thursday if it's already out there?

29:47People are still going to watch. I just think of like contractual stuff with Netflix. Like a contract was signed. I don't know if in the contract there's stipulations. Netflix is the one that wants wants the most out of this. Netflix would be the one telling them, we got to move. Because Netflix is the one who benefits the most out of this. It was just funny that you brought this up, Mike, because I had reposted this just a couple of minutes ago. Puking on Blue Sky. Stop linking all these GTA details. I already paid for my Netflix subscription. Netflix is the one who's going to lose the most out of all this.

30:17That's where I'm at. I'm supposed to preview this. Stop doing shit. No, because here's the thing. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. People have already paid for the Netflix subscription Probably In preparation for this GTA thing Next week For those out there Who need to watch this As it's coming out on Netflix That's already been paid That's a month long subscription That money is already in Netflix's pocket I could see maybe Netflix Mike Being like maybe a little freaked out But then they go to Rockstar And Rockstar is like no don't worry We're fucking Rockstar it's gta 6 no one cares yeah otter cog in the chat says won't somebody think please think of andy thank you think of andy it's not fair to me okay it's not fair to me um i think what bums me out the most about all this is thinking of the devs who are so stoked to have that big surprise but also what pandemonium it must be at rockstar right now when all you're trying to do right now is you're trying to finish this goddamn game to the finish line and this it's like if we were getting ready for top 100 and then greg miller just threw a beehive in here and we're like fuck we were getting ready for you know our big show and suddenly we have this massive thing to worry about now he's gonna yeah oh shit yeah i mean yeah hearts go out to the devs we know the hard work and what that goes into and the excitement of getting to celebrate all that hard work on your time and at your spot right like we know that for sure i guess my mind goes to like now this stop killing games movement and campaign that is trying to do it in the right way versus this team right here that is clearly hey we have the uh intentions of what we want is good but how we're doing it is not really the right way of doing it.

32:14Right. And so is that something where now people are going to rally around them and go, I'm buying this meme coin because I want you to continue to attack the corporations that are doing wrong by us. And we want to get on your side in the wrong way and ride this and into the future. Will we see this continue into the next phase, into the next game, into the next year? I, I don't know how crypto works. I know that like one crypto coin is worth like hundreds of thousands of dollars or some bullshit like that. It's like the stock market. It's all fake. It's all just... It's just rich people paying slots.

32:55It somehow takes more resources to make. What I would say is that it really fucked up GPU pricing during the... That's what I do know. But... I think people that care about this movement in a real way are not donating. And I don't think that people are taking their, like, this level of, you know, protest in any way seriously. Yeah. I think they're just excited about the leaks. I think they see it. I don't think anyone's scanning that code. No. And going, I got to put money into this because I believe in it. Like, yeah. we all don't want physical media to go away right we are very scared of a digital future that is not pro-consumer whatsoever has any protections about us and our purchases right yeah it does suck that a game like the crew from 2014 and somehow that's the thing that's the catalyst for this where we circle back and like that fucking game has now been taken off even if i own it right like there is a world here that we're gonna live in in the next 10 15 20 years from now we're at a snap of a finger these games could be gone right and like we have to support the people who are standing up against that in this fight in the right way right and it's like i'm right for that but yeah i'm not giving you not buying into your crypto coin because you're leaking gta6 footage like that's not what i'm doing i'm not trying to see jason shoot some fadeaways you know what i mean that was the nba 2k reveal that happened yesterday okay like you just saw the wrong one well uh what were your takeaways from the nba 2k reveal yo you see that they're doing a co-op they're doing co-op campaign.

34:37We gotta do that. We gotta do that. That would be sick as hell. We gotta get Beans Got Game here on the call to give us the full rundown. KC was down there. I'm excited to learn more because you know I got a problem. I got a 2K problem. You have a lot of problems. We're gonna talk about that in the gaming therapy episode of Gamescast. I will be there day one, you know what I mean? I already see somebody made a 7-2 demigod build. It was crazy. So it's like, the game is already broken. and i'm excited seven two demi god this just sounds like my nephew talking about roblox to me like where i'm just like yeah that sounds great good job michael good job um everybody i can't wait to keep talking about a lot of gaming news with snow bike mike in addition to eventually getting to the games cast afterwards which is gaming therapy deconstructing snow bike mike that's breaking down and due to y 'all support you all you know subscribe patreon all that stuff it matters a whole lot to us.

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35:35But if you're watching live right now, we're going to hit you with a word from our sponsors.

35:40Nick Scarpino:This episode is brought to you by Aura Frames. No lie, Aura Frames are undeniably the best gift I have ever given. And I'm going to be sad when I run out of people to give it to because I'll never give a gift this great again. Families, friends, partners, everyone loves being able to have elegant frames showing off their loved ones and favorite memories, especially now that I have my beautiful baby girl. It has never been more fun to be able to order the frame online, preloaded with photos and videos using the Aura app, so it's ready to gift right out of the box. Aura frames enhance daily life without overwhelming it.

36:14Nick Scarpino:The frame will quietly blend into your home, surfacing meaningful memories in a way that feels ambient and additive. There's unlimited storage, so you can add as many photos and videos as you can find. You just download the Aura app and connect to Wi-Fi with no hidden fees. Named number one by Wirecutter, you can save now by visiting AuraFrames.com for a limited time. Listeners can get$35 off select frames plus free shipping with the code KINDAFUNNY. That's A-U-R-A frames.com promo code KINDAFUNNY. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Long live the king! Long live Portillo the wiener dog!

36:53Nick Scarpino:We partnered with the good people over and make ship for this adorable King Porty to honor my late great pup, but we can't do it without your pre-order. Adored in his signature blue bow tie and coffee sleeve crown, now you too can have your own personal porty to sit with you through long gaming sessions, keep you company at your desk, or cuddle with on those cold, cold nights. I miss my little guy every single day, and I can't wait to share this with my son, Ben, and you, the kind of funny best friends. But King Porty only gets made if 200 of you pre-order. That's how makeshift campaigns work.

37:29Nick Scarpino:So please, please pre-order now at kindoffunny.com slash porty to get your own special little guy. That's kindoffunny.com slash porty. P-O-R-T-Y. I need 200 of you to believe. Kindoffunny.com slash porty. TC White Rabbit with a super chat says, A leak is in the Onion family. oh yes okay okay they look like the little green onions that i get in my ramen like they chop it up yeah it's a great little texture kind of it adds a good it adds a good dynamic to the like the smooth kind of of the noodles is that what they are chives is that the onion that had all the hot or the website that how the hot ladies the chive the chive the chive oh shit that was a weird I thought that was IGN.com.

38:22Yeah, that was like 2010 to 2020. We had some weird vibes were going on. Yeah. But douchebags kind of ruled the internet. We had to get that out. Oh, well, that hasn't changed. Luckily, things are great now. We had to get those things out. That has not changed whatsoever, man. John W. with a$5 Super Chat says, Birthday tax. Been watching kind of funny since the Kind of Funhouse collab in 2020. Thanks for the hard work, daily hours of content, and good vibes. Dude, that's so awesome, John W. you you're maybe like the one person we won over thank you i appreciate that uh that's awesome thank you so much that was a cool day where we were just like swapping posts back and forth charla came to our show we went to uh we had a lease here we we put we went over there with james like it was a good time yeah james and elise built you and nick in kfa for something like that right yeah no i i they yeah they joined us in on an episode of kfaf and we built out the most perfect action star in photoshop um remember that can you find that episode barrett and just like out of nowhere throughout this episode throw it up without context just like the fact that have been called uh kfaf uh photoshop i think something like that photoshop in every single fucking episode oh no but it was never the the in the title or whatever you know what i mean maybe just kfa of james and elise something like that um but yeah we built a that was us like saying we were doing the quarterback thing mike where it's like i would take peyton manning's brain yeah but i would take mike vick's arm and you know cam new tom brainy pocket presence or whatever you know what i mean all that stuff like that's what we were doing uh but we did it with a with all the hottest celebs.

40:11That's what we're doing NBA 2K. Man, I'm so excited about this. Oh, man. Oh, yeah, Mark Dukakis from Only the Strong. Here we go. And you made him into Fall Guy. Yeah, yeah. I remember that. Oh, we got Edward James Olmos. That's right. Oh, because we were like, who should Fall Guys do a collab with next? That's great. And it was Edward James Olmos. What does the final version look like? Barrett, if you could fast forward near the very, very end. There he is. There's Edward James Olmos on his special little thing. Oh, yeah. And then the celebrity that we, the action movie star, we put him in the background as a cameo.

40:51There's the action movie star way in the background. There it is. Ultimate knockout. Work from home days. Remember, like, the tiny closet Nick used to live in for, like, three years? Yeah. He was living in that closet. Yeah. It's crazy that he's busted out of the closet. Now he has his own room. He's got a whole game. Good for him. Yeah, good for him. Really, really proud of him. A bonus prime with a$5 super chat says the GTA six leaks have to be a result of the media preview. People are attending right ahead of the trailer. Some very sick people there. I'm sure. Whoa. What do you, are you trying to say that I went to a media preview?

41:27When, when he was with, take me there, put me in there. Now, take me to Miami. I want to go see Eric's bolster. I want to play GTA six. okay and see pitbull pitbull will be there too man pitbull has to be pitbull was at the fucking thing that would be incredible i did see a lot of scuttlebutt about like a possible preview that already happened and if we weren't invited i'll be so sad about that i will be so because like i don't know why part of me feels like whatever this if it already happened like Only Timothee Chalamet and like a fucking like Kaysenat were invited. You know, I feel like it's one of those things.

42:11It's really messed up that you have so much passion for this, but not Nick's comedy show that you have tickets. Oh man. You know, there's four tickets waiting for you there. And you got a lot of passion for other prizes, but not Nick. Man. I, you know, that is an interesting one, Mike. Cause I've been really sick lately. Yeah. As you can see, I've been really, really sick lately. Unfortunately. Austin Harp with a$5 super chat says, here's a rhyme for them no more discs leads to more frisks for every few weeks a few more leaks oh like we're frisking you maybe i don't like that but you know i've the middle one i like or the ending i like sometimes when i do get frisk i'm like man i haven't been touched in a while jesus i mean i'm non-sexual yeah i mean just yeah just on the hips or something it's like i haven't felt i've been touched there yeah you know what i mean the small on my back There's some things we don't need to know.

43:07Story. Number two. Fuck, really? Number two. Number two. PlayStation rebooting Horizon's Hunter's Gathering. This comes from Jason Schreier at Bloomberg. And let us know in the Super Chats, were you at all interested in Horizon's Hunter's Gathering? Would you rather they just focus on Horizon 3? Yes, of course. Let us know about that. Because it feels like if maybe you were interested in her horizons, horizon hunters gathering, God damn. I'm never going to get that right. Great name. Horizon hunters, you know, you know, but give it the same art style. Yeah. The cartoon thing just didn't work. Anyway, Jason Schreier says Sony groups, Sony group cores, PlayStation division is overhauling horizon hunters gathering.

44:00the online action game it announced earlier this year following negative player feedback according to people familiar with the company's plans guerrilla games the amper the amsterdam-based playstation subsidiary behind the horizon franchise has been working to reboot the game since june said the people speaking anonymous anonymously because they were not authorized to talk publicly about the project's future following poor feedback in private testing earlier this year The plan now is to strip out the live service component and turn it into a more of a traditional cooperative multiplayer game with a story mode and a far smaller scope.

44:37The game is not yet canceled, but the studio told staff in a meeting on Wednesday that they will have that they will have through December to impress executives with their next milestone. The people said many of the developers on Horizon Hunters gathering will be reassigned to a different project that will be evaluated at the end of the year. A representative for PlayStation declined to comment. For the last few years, PlayStation has poured resources into the so-called live service games. Online titles that are continually updated and expanded with new content and can be monetized long after they are released.

45:09These games can be highly lucrative, but are risky to make and often struggle to resonate with players in an oversaturated market. The initiative at PlayStation has mostly led to canceled projects and shuttered studios, forcing the Japanese gaming giant to pull back from plans to release more than a dozen live service games this decade. The Horizon Hunters Gathering pivot is the latest example of PlayStation's failure to crack the live service market with its biggest franchises. Sony expanded its gaming empire during the 2010s by focusing on narrative-driven single-player games that drew players to PlayStation 4 and helped the console sell more than 117 million units.

45:49But with the PlayStation 5 this decade, the company has tried to convert many of those franchises to multiplayer and found very little success. PlayStation has canceled live service projects in franchises including God of War, Spider-Man, and The Last of Us. The failed efforts have burned through hundreds of millions of dollars and years of development time, according to people familiar with the matter. In 2022, the company spent$3.6 billion to acquire Destiny developer Bungie in an effort to help improve its live service portfolio. But that acquisition has also struggled. This year, PlayStation released the new game Marathon to underwhelming sales, put an end to Destiny 2 content, and laid off hundreds of staff.

46:29Guerrilla found significant critical and commercial success in 2017 with Horizon Zero Dawn, a single-player action game set in a post-apocalyptic North America. A sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, came out in 2022 and ended with a cliffhanger that left fans eager for the next game. But the majority of Guerrilla staff then moved to Horizon Hunters Gathering, a drastic departure from their previous titles, both in gameplay and art style. A tiny team has been plotting out the next single-player Horizon game, but it remains years away from completion according to people familiar with the studio's plans snow bike mike same shit different butthole yeah same shit different story here uh of course interesting to hear about the pivot though right andy instead of just the full cancelization like we've seen or the release and the substance or the just the following up failure right and so here we are with a let's try to pivot over to what we're known for let's make something single player out of this there's a lot of time and money clearly invested into this and it sounds like just the player tests weren't good for this which is crazy because when we all saw the first horizon we played the first horizon we all said wow this would be fucking epic with a friend or multiple friends right it is just monster hunter with robot dinosaurs this should be a layup if done correctly and it seems like maybe that was harder than it actually was the dream or maybe it was just really not the right art style and move that they chose to do yeah i i think what makes me the most sad about this is thanks to jason schreier giving us a lot of information there and i also watched his uh video over on youtube.com forward slash jason schreier one take schreier um what bums me out the most is i didn't know that the majority of guerrilla employees and developers went to work on this when this gets released or when this gets sort of announced we're doing you know play tests and come join us for the betas or whatever the hell i always just assumed it was a kind of a small team like you're here with so many other developers right hey we're working on grounded with 12 people yeah okay um yeah i'm i was very surprised to learn that the majority of guerrilla developers went to work on this and it's nothing to say about I think the art style can be pretty polarizing here.

48:57However, I think it's high quality. This isn't anything to say about the developer's work. But to me, so much of what draws people into Horizon is, god damn, look at this art style on this engine. Holy shit, it looks so damn good. This was a cross-generation game? You're telling me this also came out on PS4 and it looks this good? I can't imagine how the PS5 exclusive version is going to look. It's always a, Horizon has always been a game that looked stunning visually. So to completely depart from that art style, an absolute miscall, like misstep. What are we doing there? I've always, after we beat Horizon Forbidden West, as I'm playing that, I remember hitting a blessing and being like, can you imagine this as a multiplayer game?

49:52like you mentioned and like i was telling bless monster hunter style i need let's go hunt that big t-rex thing because i want those i need that part on its shoulder and i hope i get that drop after we kill it because i want that shoulder piece to then upgrade my weapon upgrade my bow upgrade my cool armor there's such an an awesome formula there and it just feels like this was a complete disaster of choices and i guess after playtests it's at least good to hear some news about this because after the couple of playtests i feel like it went really dark and we just kind of heard nothing about it ever since i was legitimately kind of expecting a a random release and we're not really going to talk about it because we're going to move on and it's going to not do very well again the live service pivot for the whole company we've talked to we've talked it to death just an absolute goblin mask always calls an absolute disaster oh it's just live service yeah chase it and after all of the failings mike then you get that you know uh that sort of press release from a couple months ago or whatever we're still very interested in lives service it's like dude you've had enough of these mistakes you've have people not suffered enough have there not been enough layoffs have there not been enough people losing their jobs based on awful decisions by you guys and it just it just seems like maybe this is hopefully the last one to mess up this poorly i don't really know how the pivot to a non-life service model works, where maybe it's the Night Rain model.

51:37It's not a live service game. We're not constantly updating it, but it's a$40 or$30 title, and you go out there with your friends and you experience it. If I could wave the Magical Development wand for the Magical Game Development Wizard, I'd be in there day one, and I would say, we have an awesome world here with a lot of assets made. We have a lot of really good-looking shit in our game. You want to make a new art style? That's going to take forever. Why? We have a lot of shit to use. Look at what Night Rain did. Night Rain took the Elden Ring world and assets. And Dark Souls bosses. Let's just tidy those up if we need to.

52:23Whatever. And we either use the same fucking map. Or we... It's a gigantic enough map. and you could kind of figure out some sort of not lights knives not live service thing but monster hunter style thing where you don't need a battle pass there isn't a constant daily thing blah blah blah and the reason why i say you don't go for that is because live service games require a lot of upkeep mike there's a lot of maintenance for all that shit just make a game that you could play online with friends if you want there's also a blend there's hell divers yeah divers found massive success absolutely with the sony audience and that was kind of the live service pill right the medicine that you don't want to swallow wrapped in like a bunch of peanut butter and the audience was like i like this right i really enjoyed this they've had some pushbacks they took feedback but they found a blend that isn't the oh this is live service at its core but it's clearly live service it is a live service game but like they found a perfect blend that people accepted sir lockwood says andy no thank you in the twitch chat as opposed to like you would say no to what i'm pitching i guess maybe your point of view maybe i don't want any multiplayer rising game that's a different discussion the sony fan that's it it's a completely different discussion to be like yeah cancel all the multiplayer shit i'm talking like executive has a gun to your head and says you're making a live service you're making an online game you're making a multiplayer horizon game this is how i would do it it seems like the player feedback wasn't good so the game just had its right or clearly wasn't good right the idea works on paper the idea in your dream you can see it but whatever it was the players were like this isn't fun to play so you've got to go retool that and rework that and that's where we're at we'll see where they get in december i mean there's two options here either i fire the entire studio and we stop making this game and then we go back to the single player game.

54:20That will be seven years from now, or we stay in the course and we try to fix this and try to put something out. Right. We've seen them do that already. Right. With Concord, they've done it marathon. They're currently doing. They are trying to save and recoup some of the money that they have just absolutely lit on fire with these decisions. Well, they've already pivoted a majority of the team away from this project, right? Yes. That's what you, that's what you read. Yeah. I think, yes, back to her back to horizon three yeah which is very very far away according to jason schreier well yeah especially if most of the team was working on this for a few years which is fair it's like a second pandemic it truly is like a the yeah the pandemic threw a obvious you know wrench in the production cycles off like people trying to figure out how to adapt it's gonna take three years to catch up on what you lost because of the pandemic the live service everything trying to be a live service thing also threw another three years into the we're fucking behind now yeah now we now you know with all that shit at blue point you were working on how long for that god of war thing it's gone and so are you guys yep and to every and it's just like goddamn what a colossal fuck up when did horizon forbidden west come out 2022 Jesus Christ.

55:40Yeah, y 'all ain't getting that third game. With, you know, that second game left off on like a cliffhanger, a major cliffhanger. A lot of that third act is setting up the third game, which is why the main story for that game is kind of a mess. Yeah, y 'all ain't getting that resolution for another six years. That should be 2030. Yeah, at least. PLC, they said it best. Don't go chasing waterfalls. Stick to the lakes and the rivers you used to. And here's the deal. they've stuck to the lakes and the rivers they've gotten comfortable on that but the call of the waterfall is just so great Andy you feel the rush you see the beauty you get underneath that waterfall and you just get showered in money and you see fortnight roblox and these CEOs they go we need that we can't stick to these lakes and the rivers anymore it's like the players that's what they want that's what built this but that call was just so great they can't get away from it Do y 'all think we actually see this game?

56:40This one here? I do, but it's like, I don't. I think it'll be like a$40 title. I think it comes out and, you know, doesn't do much. I think it's too far along to kind of cancel at this point. And especially if they're saying we're not committing to the live servicing, that takes away so much more. if it were if they were sticking with it being live service i could see it getting canceled and then go and actually axe all of it because the game's going to come come out and fail and we are putting way too many resources into the upkeep of all of it yeah we need to save money and that's just not going to work out i think this game comes out and it's just a 40 50 whatever the hell like what a cheaper title and it doesn't do much this should be a dauntless okay like unfortunately So you're talking about Sony and PlayStation, so big money is involved.

57:32But this should be on a Dauntless scale. Of course, if you don't know Dauntless, that is the kind of smaller indie slash trying to be a live service Fortnite Monster Hunter. This should just be a Monster Hunter that is$20 to$40 maximum. The team puts it out with what they have. If they find success, you come out with an expansion six months, a year later, and you see if the fans hold on to this. But clearly at its core, it wasn't good. but you could have something good if you tool it up and maybe you just release it as a super low budget title. But Sony's not in it for the low budget money here.

58:05I think they're in it for big money. I think they're in it just to get to the next thing that's hopefully going to get more money in their pockets. I mean, that would... What's next? Sly Cooper, multiplayer hide and seek. Jack and Dexter, multiplayer racing cart game. You know, what else? God of War. But this time he's got a gun and he's set in destiny. Like that's the type of shit that they're clearly Thrown at a wall and it's just not hitting I just want to sit down With the executives I want to sit down with Herman and everybody And fucking get Jim Ryan back in there too Get your fucking ass in here Alright you sit the fuck down And I just want like the truth serum of like What would you do To redo all of it What would have been Magical Game Development 1.

58:59You're resetting all of it. You could go back in time. What's the decision you're making now?

59:09I mean, I'm on the flip side of like, what did they lose, right? You burned a lot of money, but like you didn't lose the player base. They're not jumping over to Xbox or Nintendo. They're still on with you. But they lose a lot of money. They lost a lot of money. because about five of these developers would have put out a game by now. Of course. You know? But like, they had to test this. In 2015, Fortnite came out and changed the world shortly after that with a Battle Royale. Roblox and Fortnite are bringing in concurrent players and daily active users off the charts and metrics of what was being seen at that time.

59:46And that became the, we need this. This is the gold standard, right? And so every team was going to have to make a move and pivot to that while also still delivering for their core audience. And that's what PlayStation needed to do. And they passed that. They didn't, though, obviously. Well, they delivered by still winning the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 console race out of them and Xbox, right? Nintendo's its own thing. They kept their core audience. If anything, Xbox shot themselves in the foot so many times. People came to PlayStation, put up with a lousy generation of games that we're currently living through, where we should be getting massive single-player titles that they're known for.

1:00:27But at the same time, they walk away unscathed and with a win where it's like, yeah, I look bad on paper. I lost a ton of money, but we didn't lose the player base. We're going to get back to single-player games, and that's what we're going to go back to because we had to take the reality check of we're not good at this. We weren't built for this. We expected so much out of this, and we didn't deliver, and it failed. But we're still on top somehow. Complete disagreeing. Yeah, I don't think they come out unscathed, especially when it's going to take them so long to pivot back to what they're known for, for single player games.

1:00:56And when that happens, Mike, we're getting to the next generation of consoles, which is going to be$1 ,500. And then people are going to be priced out of being a part of the party that they were a part of for the last 10 years. And what you also miss out on with that much time lost is creating those young fans that want the next version of the thing. And when those young fans don't have anything to attach themselves to, then you put out here's this new god of war game and the only people buying it are us at this point 40 year olds whenever that new thing comes out i mean laofe is next year whatever but you know what i mean like way further down the line those younger fans have no attachment to these things anymore and it's just like a big trickle down effect and i think like it's just what when you mentioned you have to test these things i think you test it with a small team on a small project with like the most little risk as possible and because like like i've said before to blessing and everybody else sitting here on this games daily desk it's like it feels like all of these bosses didn't talk they all told their own separate studios to work on a live service game without talking to each other and then they found out fuck we're all doing the same shit there's not enough players for that like just it's just a fucking nightmare for them right now and like they they missed out on a lot of revenue and they like you mentioned hey we're still like we're still better than xbox they don't right they don't they know they're better than xbox they know that like they have the console wars win i don't even know if they know about the console wars in that like the people at the top go i don't give a fuck about how much we beat xbox by we are still way short of where we should have been in our numbers and we lost how much with concord we like that's all they give a shit about it's like our our dollar amount should have been here and we are way the fuck down here xbox is way down there i don't give a shit where xbox is i want our dollars to be here and it's just like it's a massive massive disaster and uh You know, it's a huge disaster, Mike.

1:03:16I'm tired of all that huge shit. Oh, you want to get out of here? Let's get it. Turn it on. If I wanted something smaller, say the tiniest shit I need to know about, where would I go? I'll take you to our last story, the We News channel, where we cover all the small news items you need to know about.

1:03:34We News story number three. I'm just throwing it in there. That Redfall director pleaded with Microsoft to release a final patch. The first-person vampire shooter Redfall launched to negative reviews in 2023. Damn, it feels like it was yesterday, Mike, that we were down there previewing Redfall. Proved to be the final project for Arkane Austin, the Texas-based team behind 2017's Prey, which also worked on Dishonored and its sequel. The studio had been hard at work for another pass for the game, version 1.4, which would address numerous player issues and bugs. speaking to the game business. Smith revealed for the first time that he had to negotiate with Microsoft to be let back into the office to ensure this patch saw the light of day.

1:04:19We finished the game and it was very poorly received, Smith recalled. We then worked for another year. We patched thousands of bugs. We got laid off and we had in the pipe version 1.4. It was the one that fixed tons of stuff. So when we went to Microsoft and said, I know we don't work here anymore. Can we please release this? And to their credit, they didn't say no. they let six or seven of us design or of us sign forms that we could be we can come back in the building after being fired we released 1.4 which i think if we had that on day one it would have set the world on fire but it was it wouldn't have set the world on fire but it was a much much better game hey good on microsoft you know let us just leave it in a better state than it was please god let me just in the building press 10 i don't want that to be our legacy yeah oh we don't have to pay him but unfortunately my first thought was you want to work for free fuck yeah hell yeah yeah how you get a week it's getting here how long do you want to be here we're gonna light this building on fire after you leave keep working dude keep on working actually yeah would you guys want to keep doing this for us but just you know free labor this sounds great for us speaking of harvey smith from that last story today veteran game developers harvey smith from Deus Ex and Dishonored, and Ben Horn revealed Black Pony Immersive, a new game studio built to design and develop imaginative first-person action RPGs set within well-realized worlds where players create their own memorable experiences with expressive emergent game systems.

1:05:46Unknown Worlds has rolled out the second early access update for its open-world survival craft game Subnautica 2, introducing new features designed to strengthen communication and teamwork in co-op. Alongside the update, the studio announced a $100 ,000 donation to Ocean Cleanup nonprofit, The Ocean Cleanup. The update focuses on strengthening the cooperative play experience with proximity chat, new revive system, communication and teamwork improvements, and supporting ocean conservation. Nice. Eurogamer reports Pokemon Center in the UK and Germany hit with the same data breach suffered by Valve Steam hardware.

1:06:26Shout out to our To the Save the Devs rallies yesterday At various Microsoft studios And their heartbreakingly funny signs Let's look We have a sign here that says Hey co-pilot, am I fired? Only 3 ,200 layoffs Says Xbox And then you get the LA Noire doubt meme I'm just gonna Hold on, I'm gonna take this off real quick You can keep showing up Yeah, hold on

1:06:58we don't run from boss fights that's a good one nice microsoft laid us off i can't read that bottom line i thought you're gonna make fun of me for not being able to read the text i couldn't read oh yeah there's one that says reset this and it's a middle finger uh save our devs lay off ceos instead that's great where are your glasses at mike i don't know just gone you know is that even an excuse our players deserve better god that like just thinking about earlier Andy what you were talking about of like a certain sect of people on the internet who blame creative arts people for ruining their games when in fact it's you know the execs and the c-suites who are doing that and them not understanding that like devs care so much so much about like what they're making how it's received by the people they're making it for.

1:07:55And, man. 14 layers of bullshit. The great one. 14 layers of management. That was good shit. That's good shit. And that does it for ween use. You had something you wanted to get off your chest, Mike. Well, the glasses started getting a little wonky. You know what I mean? Why is that? You know, like they started getting off kilter. You know what I mean? Okay. That was the last day I saw them. Put a napkin on them? Yeah. Put a napkin on them. You didn't want to get like a tiny screwdriver? It was the first time I've ever had glasses, so I didn't know what the protocol was for it. How long have you had bad vision for?

1:08:28Well, she said it was a light prescription. Okay, very light. If Nerf Alice was here, she would set the record straight, I had better vision than you, and she knows it. Better vision than me. Better vision than you. That's just simply not true. Well, we'll call Nerf Alice and we'll see what happens. Can you read the chat? Your toxicity is seething through the chat, bander SN. Oh, is that what they said? Yeah, that's what Cooper said. I guess you could read it. I just chose some random one. Okay. We'll talk about it in my therapy session. You know what I mean? I can't wait for that therapy session.

1:09:02Let's get to You're Wrong, where you can write into kindoffunny.com forward slash You're Wrong to tell us what we got wrong.

1:09:10Let's see here.

1:09:14Toby. said the hackers are supposedly threatening to leak PlayStation games and IP. So they did GTA because of the partnership they have. Also threatening to show integral intergalactic God of War, Laufey. Let's see here. We got Houston who says ramen traditionally has chopped scallions, not chives. You would like to see chives in potato salad. Tell me potato salad. a family guy reference good job and that does it for you're wrong gets to some final super chats before we call it and head over to the games cast ethan dombrowski with a two dollars which has remember power to the players oreas cerise i think i pronounced that correctly with a very generous ten dollar super chat thank you for supporting us you're kind of funny because when you don't support the things you love, they go away forever.

1:10:13And Araya says, I love the Horizon games and played both the Hunter's Gathering beta test. It was fun, had good bones, but live service was not it. Hopefully we still get to see the story separate. Hopefully we still get to see the story separate. Any upcoming Horizon Zero Dawn 3? I think there may be a typo there, but I see what you're saying. You're hoping to at least see what happens in Horizon Zero Dawn 3. Bandar SN says, no. And they were likely answering my question of, do you seek out leaks? Do you seek the leaks? Zarkly, with a$5 supergen, says, Mike, keep that Fire Emblem hype up. We're almost there.

1:10:55I'm trusting your preview. So excited to lose myself in it. We're pumped up. Great preview. Go check it out. Last week's Gamescast talked all things Fire Emblem. Yeah, Tactical 2026. I expect all of us to be on it. It will be an exciting time. Really happy to talk about that. 17 hours, and I wish I could have got more. I'll see you at release. Could I, would I be able to play co-op? That'd be so cool. Co-op, no, no co-op. If I could just be like a second dude on the battlefield. That could be cool, yeah, yeah. I like being another dude on the battlefield. Brian Natina says, with a$10 super chat, thank you for your generosity, says, late birthday tax.

1:11:33Just wanted to shout out my favorite duo, Mike and Andy, the best boys see you guys in October we'll see you then Brian thank you happy birthday to you we'll take photos with you just the two of us in October and Andy's apartment will be in his bedroom uh gogo monster truck says the prince of fear is watching that was good man and then he threw me a second half of the episode is not horror games what do we do it seemed very horror themed he really laid it up like he really really switched yeah because it was horror themed for one game and then we changed games. Yeah, but we thought it was a whole game.

1:12:07No, he started the opening. It's going to be a horror episode. Wow, here we go. Exciting. Unbelievable. Kept having to remind you like the rest of the show. Watched a stellar movie last night. What'd you watch? Meth Gator on Amazon Prime. Yeah. An alligator down on an island. Ate some meth. Let me tell you what, Andy. This is cinema. Okay? These are the movies that you go Who let these people have a camera

1:12:40Were you watching it like Were you doing laundry or Yeah I mean I was doing life while I was watching it You know what I mean but I got the story I just really need to see How that looks of you walking around Come over No that's okay I refuse actually Lake 316 with a super chat The final one Actually we have two final ones sorry lake first with a ten dollar super chat thank you for your kindness and thank you to sasquatch for your five dollar super chat as well lake says i'm a huge horizon fan nearly 1 000 hours combined across zero dawn and forbidden west and the dlcs i even bought the lame lego horizon game i don't give a fuck about any multiplayer horizon game give me part three exactly and finally you're gonna get it finally donovan cantu got out of prison one month ago and got stuff together now just want to say thank you all for keeping me laughing and smiling i'm my hard days and updated on all things gaming for four years that I listened.

1:13:37That's awesome. Hell yeah. Welcome back, man. New lease on life. Enjoy the freedom. Hell yeah. I, I was going to say like, unfortunately you weren't in jail for longer, but that makes me, it sounds like I'm talking, you know, me, but this guy, I've been watching this guy on a Instagram reels quite a bit. It's one dude who spent 27 years in prison for throwing a grenade in a gang fight. Oh, spent 27 years and every video he's been putting out is like i'm experiencing this thing for the first time beautiful he went to go watch the odyssey he he another one he's like hey guys uh i've been downloading all the games you've been telling me to uh i got the witcher 3 here i got uh let's see grand theft auto 5 and he's like and he's just taking recommendations from like stuff to experience with her i'm like what a what a fucking genius thing to do out of prison and go like i've missed a lot of stuff yeah let me get after it what happened in avengers you know what i mean okay andy give one recommendation well welcome back oh here's a rec go let's see here um i would go with i would go with meth gator turn on meth gator turn on meth gator cocaine bear you have to watch that one first though it's got ice cube sun in it he's pretty great this has been kind of funny games daily if you love what we do support us with the kind of funny membership on patreon or youtube to get all of our shows ad free and get a daily exclusive show enjoy the games cast next and the stream after but until next time it's been our pleasure to serve you

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Run of Show -
00:00:00 - Start00:06:09 - GTA 6 Leaks Keep Coming00:15:32 - MEANWHILE, Stop Killing Games Condemns ‘Destructive’ GTA 6 Leakers00:35:40 - Ads00:43:14 - PlayStation Rebooting Horizon Hunters Gathering01:03:31 - Wee News!01:09:10 - SuperChats & You‘re Wrong

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