Halo Multiplayer Project Cancelled - Kinda Funny Games Daily 07.14.26

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1:15Right now, get up to 15 % off select storage solutions. Put heavy-duty HDX totes to good use, protecting what's important to you. The solid, impact-resistant design prevents cracking. and the clear base and sides make items easy to find even when the totes are stacked. Find select shelving and tote storage up to 15 % off at the Home Depot to organize every room in your home from your garage to your attic. Visit homedepot.com, how doers get more done. It's Kind of Funny's Patreon Pledge Month. Support us at patreon.com slash kindoffunny. We really appreciate it. Today, in the nerdy news you need to know about, losing talent is a big danger for ubisoft a halo multiplayer project has been canceled and switch to oled is being considered by nintendo we'll have all this and more because this is kind of funny games daily what's up everybody welcome to kind of funny games daily for Tuesday, July 14th, 2026.

2:25July 14th. Yep. I got out of the car today. I looked at the Spider-Man billboard. It said July 31st. My God, that's always a way. And I looked at my photo. July 14th. This month's over. Big month for Tom Holland. Yeah. Yeah. And Zendaya. I just watched the drama. So I'm sure that is more for her. But then you put in Robert Pattinson too. Yeah. Robert Pattinson. Oh yeah. Cause he's in both. Damn. Yeah. Yeah. What a big, what a big movie and then just a big life for john leguizamo we saw the odyssey everybody yeah

2:53Blessing Adeoye Jr.:we saw the odyssey can't say anything about it right tell you i've played sports in rec leagues now for at least three years maybe four years and i've never seen it you've seen bicep poppy here you've seen bless enter his man era all right from a boy to a man on kind of that's what they say about me he's in better shape than ever what happened last night and i never i've not hurt myself more than walking down the stairs of the imax theater i don't know why the stairs are that way but i almost ate shit i recovered well enough to where i didn't fully fall down but i rolled the fuck out of my ankle and i got to at the end of the i got to the bottom of the stairs and just security was looking at me like watch your step and i'm like you should have told me that first of all two seconds ago right now i don't know if i've sprained this thing like i'm like he was so concerned on the walk out i was like it's it's warm yeah like my ankle like as i was walking out was warm and i was like oh man i'm not gonna like that tomorrow and it's it's fine yeah if i if i like stretch it to where i rolled it then i can feel it yeah but as long as i don't do anything it's be careful yeah i mean this is a a well-known problem with the san francisco imax theater down at the metreon because there was no less than three screeners in a row where i've been on the stairs coming up and through popcorn everywhere i think kevin what you're the movie expert kevin you know stairs pretty well what's wrong with those metreon stairs i think the first like five steps are different sizes than the steps above it and that that transition your brain just can't handle yeah yeah no no i think if i hadn't been active for the last few years i definitely down i would be down for the count we'd have to have somebody you know i've flown somebody in here andrew renee would have to take your place yeah like i rolled it in a way where i was like oh that's not good and then now i'm fine i think because i'm volleyball you know out of all the sports i think that's actually the thing that volleyball really helps to be able to exercise the ankles i guess all the big time big time ankle but let me tell you yeah i was scared for a second.

4:41I'm glad you recovered. These are nice joggers too. Oh, thank you.

4:44Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah. I'm trying to switch it up. I wear jeans a lot. Yeah. I wear jeans like every single day. And at a certain point I was like, why? I don't have to do that. I really don't have to do that. I mean, under the desk, you wear whatever you want. You know what I mean? That's true. Nobody can see our legs. I'm not going to wear pants next time. Watch out tomorrow. Whatever. I mean, this is kind of funny games daily. Each and every weekday we run you through the nerdy video game news you need to know about live on twitch.tv slash kind of funny games youtube.com slash kind of funny games podcast services around the globe if you like that pick up a membership of course patreon youtube spotify apple i'll tell you all about it later uh but if you're watching live right now super chat youtube.com slash kind of funny games you can be a part of the show just like the post man it did it says go into sdcc for the first time next week any tips or recommendations for the con or San Diego.

5:33Thanks. I've never been to SDCC. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

5:38Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I do know. I've been to San Diego once for a preview event and there's a district called the Gasly Amp District. That's where you, that's where Comic-Con is. It's a pretty neat place. Yeah. Yeah. The Comic-Con, one of my favorite shows, the reason being is that of course everything's happening in the convention center, but it floods out into the Gaslamp. So you can go out there and there's plenty of activations, people in costumes. The party is all over there. You don't have to worry about it. So tips and rec, tips. wear deodorant obviously always a big one oh please it's it can get smelly in there it's a whole thing and that's just a bunch of people shoved together of course recommendations uh for the convention itself uh hall h is never worth it and i'm saying this to me hosts a lot of hall h panels don't bother you know just go out see the booths buy some cool shit find some nerdy ass stuff you really want to be a part of uh meet and greets or whatever are great um and then you know i'm saying stuff that i haven't even done go to eric castro's bar gilly's cocktail house it is not in the gas lamp it will be an uber right away but it can't be that far away go check that out but in terms of like on the outside of like restaurants and shit just go wherever you can you can do whatever i've never i mean there's like if you were walking out of the con back to it you got the preachers in front of you here you got that weird steak place here the hard rocks over there like a block over in like three up maybe one up is a mexican restaurant that has like a lucha libra mask and they do pretty good like california burritos but again it's san diego you find great burritos anywhere i guess yeah if you were actually across the street and then you put the tram on your right and you walked a ways away there'd be like a place that's open all night they do good stuff too but again it's san diego you can find some good mexican food more on the hygiene do your laundry i i think that's something that people don't think about when it comes to smells and odors that's sweat attaches to the clothes you wear yeah the smell attaches to that and like Oftentimes, I think people might be showering and using deodorant, but they don't realize that it's their clothes.

7:28Blessing Adeoye Jr.:If you're wearing a shirt all day, don't repeat that shirt the next day unless you're washing it or something. Bring enough to where you have different clothes. Buy a new shirt at the con. Or the graffiti designs thing. Buy a cool Superman shirt. Or just bring enough shirts. Enough clean shirts. Fair enough. You want to pack light sometimes. While we're on the Samson XP Super Chat, this is going to SF for Pokemon Worlds. Of course, that's at the end of August. I would love some bar and restaurant recommendations. any plans for a kind of funny meetup that week. No plans for a meetup in any official capacity.

7:58We will be at worlds. Ben will be at worlds as well. Look for Ben. I know, of course, we're doing top 100 tickets go on sale tomorrow for kind of funny top 100. It's happening in October and a question somebody wrote in with Greg way that I'm going to do is in the coming weeks. Maybe I can get it done before Pokemon worlds for you. I want based on recommendations, everybody to do an individual Greg way where they talk about, hey, you're coming SF. Here's what I would say to go do. where to eat what it do but of course square pie guys uh pie punks people love down there you'll be in pie punks gonna be right down there square pie is gonna be right down there before i heard good things man the way mike hung you out to fucking dry you know what blessing i it gives

8:39Blessing Adeoye Jr.:my seal of approval fuck you my worst part is that he never doubled back to be like oh i'll take you slappy oh that's funny no i'll take you sometime this is no he's continued the conversation should have gone last night before the movie did you guys go no i had to go home take care of the where is pie punks is it near right by the metreon yeah it's perfect for pokemon world so square pie guys of course kevin where'd you go for dinner you wanted to do a dinner last night but we went to pie punks you went to pie it was great i wish i wish i knew you you would have been more than welcome to join i'm down to go to pie punks this is all people don't think you like pizza i don't love i mean i'm lactose intolerant so i shouldn't be having pizza like that but i'll eat it anyway it actually worked out because we like experimented and we didn't get the detroit style pizza we got a grandma style pizza and it's not where it's at like next time we go grandma style pizza yeah it's it's like a bigger sometimes it's thicker this one is thinner than the the detroit style actually i think this yeah this is a grandma style grandma's thicker than detroit pizza I mean in my experience but like I don't know how you're working into a song but it sounds like a bar thank you of course to our Patreon producers on patreon.com slash kind of funny Carl Jacobs Omega Buster Delaney the Somme Twining and Lax Nomad for now let's begin with what is and forever will be the Roper Report time for some news seven items on the Roper Report The Baker's Desert!

10:15It's like he aired out. The off button isn't working. Oh. Lights are stuck. Now you're just part of the show. Yeah, just be quiet the whole time. Don't burp. How was your parking experience last night? That was wonderful. Nothing like getting back to your car and someone left you a note there. Go to my social media to see the note. number one on the Roper Report Halo Studios reportedly cancels Halo multiplayer project occur is that how we're going to pronounce this one? I think that's good which had customizable what? say it again

10:51Blessing Adeoye Jr.:that's how Cardi B would say it those who know would know which had customizable Spartans and elites and large player battles this is Robert Purchase over at Eurogamer and I knew something was wrong when the way they spelled customizable. I knew this wasn't coming from like Free Home of the Brave with Star-Yarindians. Halo Studios has reportedly canceled a multiplayer project called Occur in a move that seems to align with the wide-ranging Xbox cuts announced last week. Halo Reporter Rebs Gaming, which I love. Yeah. Halo Reporter is your title? That's awesome. Halo Reporter Rebs Gaming originated the story on YouTube saying they'd heard from multiple employees at Halo Studios that Project Ocur was no longer in development.

11:38The claim was backed up this afternoon by well-Microsoft-connected Windows Central reporter Jazz Corden, who said the information was 100 % true. A week earlier, however, Rebs Gaming had declared Project Eker, or Eker, or Erker, quote, or at least part of it, would be the next multiplayer Halo game based on information from someone who'd worked with Halo Studios, plus a separate, quote-unquote, someone else. Nevertheless, a recent development changed this outcome And prompted the newer claim that the project is dead Nowhere does Rebs Gaming mention the Xbox Cuts as a reason why this has happened The only possible explanation cited is major development problems With Halo 1 remake, Halo Campaign Evolved Which apparently sucked people away Quote, sometime after that, Occur was cancelled, said Rebs Gaming Giving no further detail Project Occur was reportedly Prototyped by Certainfinity A studio Xbox has worked with on numerous Times in the past Certainfinity reportedly got the go ahead from Halo Studios To develop Project Occur After an unreal powered Battle Royale Halo experiment called Tatanka Didn't work out When I say Tatanka who do you think of

12:49Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I think of the Rainbow Six Siege character but I know that's not what you think of WWE wrestler Tatanka Million dollar man bought and paid for him Could you believe that I was there SummerSlam 94 never forget Oh, you were there in 94? Yeah. Damn. I'm old. I was a kid, but I was there. Like, how old was a kid? I would have been 11. You know where I was at in 94? Not alive. I was in my mama's belly. I was fucking knocking. You were splitting two pieces. Let me out. Project occur. Would carry on exploring Unreal. Coincidentally, the engine campaign evolved is built on. And used Tatanka's map alongside Halo Infinite's slip space map.

13:25the Project Decur prototype faced a green light verdict in September 2023 Rebs Gaming said and succeeded after which an extraction shooter idea was toyed with before a quote super big team battle idea end quote was settled on instead Halo 5 Warzone was cited as a touchstone for the project and Project Decur reportedly had playable Spartans and elites and full character customization

13:51Blessing Adeoye Jr.:there's a little bit more detail there in the story if you want to read the full thing from robert purchase at uh euro gamer to include the full thing it would have been a very long read um of already a long read i don't really have any hot takes or anything about this right i for me this is one of those multiple things to be happening here of course there's been a lot of um cutting costs at xbox and trying to reel back a lot of what has been happening especially with things like partnerships um and so bringing it in-house bringing it back on vendors all that so could this be part of that maybe you know i also think that maybe there's a chance that just the idea wasn't working out this would have been a different kind of multiplayer halo project starting off with battle royale with which mike in chat made the reference to i believe one of the halo directors when they're working on infinite saying the only br in halo is battle rifle and so i think when you're creating something within the halo universe a multiplayer mode whatever it is that is different from what's traditional that comes with a lot of um comes a lot of pressure i you know that's not an easy thing to do and we're talking about a multiplayer space right now where things are constantly changing and that's both on the what's hot and pop inside of it and then also the money chasing side of it you know what i mean like if we're this started off as a battle royale within certain affinity the battle royale craze i don't want to say it came and went because it's still here but i think the battle royales that are successful are the ones that exist and will continue to exist i think it's really hard to come in as a new battle royale and really make a splash in fact i'll challenge chat tell me what have been the latest battle royales that have come out and actually like did something you know what i mean i think of fortnite uh warzone and apex legends and then beyond that we're probably getting real small as as far as what those core communities are like pub g as well so i think there's that and then yeah when you're experimenting figuring out all right let's just make it a huge uh team battle sort of thing is there a market for that i'm sure they're talking about extraction at some point like it's really hard to nail down what people are hungry for nowadays that's also going to fit within what the halo audience is going to enjoy is anyone and i'm this is me firing straight into the crowd is anyone excited for a halo does halo do this anymore i of course am drawn back to the games the game business uh christopher drink right when uh he had put up his post about xbox divided over his future and do people even buy physical games on playstation of course game business a newsletter a sub stack you go a podcast but when he was talking to a bunch of studio people all around this quote i think he's and this is you know the last few weeks here of all the Xbox drama quote we're we're chasing a declining market with franchises that are past their prime what do we expect Halo to do anymore like I just I understand I've never been the Halo fan I get it so I have no nostalgia for it whatsoever but it feels like as Xbox continues to flounder and then turns and goes to gears in Halo and say save us Halo Infinite couldn't do it Halo campaign evolved from this very article already the only possible explanation cited is major development problems with halo one remake halo campaign evolved like my my pushback is that i think halo infinite could have done it halo infinite i was i'm shocked by how often i think back to that game and the month or two of playing that i that i did of that game and went man this is that was a fucking experience i have nostalgia for halo infinite december through january of playing that game but they just couldn't keep it up as a live service which begs the question does it need to be a live service but also that then begs another question of can you put out a multiplayer game and have it not be a live service and then we get into this weird circular thing of what does halo need to be nowadays and i think you're right in the sense of i don't think halo needs to be the hero of xbox and i don't know if halo can be the hero of xbox i think nowadays when you're looking at what xbox is in 2026 obviously your biggest franchise is call of duty you know your biggest franchise if we're going down the list is call of duty it's minecraft and then halo might be in like the four to six range if even that if we start really thinking about it but i think you have to i think you have to be satisfied with halo being that like halo can be the mascot without being the number one uh over in the chat herbie had thrown out a number i went and grabbed it chris kerr january 2022 halo infinite tracks 20 million players to deliver the the biggest launch in series history uh that milestone comes with a few caveats however given halo infinite was the first title of the franchise to include free-to-play multiplayer but i'm not trying to take away from and I'm trying to give context to it of where it is.

18:27And it's just the fact that we look back on Halo Infinite and I understand you talk about December to January. I saw some people in there that were like, we don't look back and think about Halo Infinite as a success or that it brought Halo back to prominence or that it made a new generation of Halo fans. And maybe these are all unfair success metrics I'm throwing out. But I do think that to your point, which I think is very valid in terms of where it is, I still think people within Xbox look at Halo and are like, Chief will save us. If we can get this right, we can do this right. And it's my point of, then you jumped in this and one of the things you said of like, you know, doing something with Halo, but not being too new, not being too different.

19:09I'm like, I think it's time to throw all that out the fucking window. You gotta reinvent Halo, I think, and try to find an audience for it because the nostalgia is only gonna go so far in the same way we're talking about Doom yesterday.

19:19Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah, and like, I mean, even I've Chad has been throwing out even more games of like, you know, know xbox owns candy crush xbox owns xyz where warcraft exists and like that halo more and more i think is de-emphasized as far as the monetary power and its ability i guess to hold down xbox on the we're bringing in numbers side even though i think that i think the 20 million free-to-play stuff is still pretty impressive but in the way that you're saying yeah you think they look at halo as being the savior i think they look at it in the way that we look at a party mode where there is so there are so many kind of funny fans that fucking love party mode but kfgd is our call of duty games cast is our fucking overwatch today people are mad about in review i'm like whoa wow okay i didn't know there was a fervent in review fan base in review is gears of war like what do you think about it it's like sure we have a core fan base that fucks with party mode that fucks with in review yeah like very specific shows that we do yeah but then like when you think about what what's keeping the mics and lights on is KGD and his Gamescast and y 'all also love KGD and Gamescast I'm not really trying to say we're Call of Duty in the sense of whatever but I think there's the the value that you have for a product that holds your audience's passion and love and you know they have the nostalgia for it and they have the memories of it and all that stuff versus what is really going to bring you in the money and Halo is definitely I think on the more passion side of it with the potential to reach into the other side if they're able to find a way but i'm almost like hey stop trying to find a way just make a great halo game just make a great halo game that's gonna sell let's say seven million copies and have a fun multiplayer thing going but let's not focus on this has to be a live service uh battle pass sort of game yeah i know that's not what people do in 2026 anymore i know that's impossible to but like what if i guarantee they're still trying to crack that nut they're definitely gonna ashisharma is definitely in meetings where people are either trying to explain to her why it's a bad idea or she's they're trying to figure out how to make it actually happen yeah and i i don't think there's a world in which they're not trying to crack that nut but isn't it just i think you should stop and i mean again i'm speaking from the outside i know we just had the thing the only br is a battle rifle or whatever but isn't it crazy there's never just been a here it is halo battle royale um i don't think it's crazy because obviously they've tried and they just couldn't they couldn't crack the nut i think and i think i don't know man i feel like if i was over there and we were trying to crack this nut it would i would do it so i like that crack the nut is the phrase of the show put in the top put it have roger put it in the thumbnail i would i would launch one that was so basic i would do one of like we basically game jammed this here it is do you guys like it it's a free-to-play battle and like then build on that i know that sounds crazy but again i like what fortnight did it's 100 % what fortnight did and it wouldn't be it would be very different from what xbox usually does i feel like but launch this thing like hey we're halo studios we can kick up this around here we go i think that would have been fantastic in 2021 i know oh yeah don't get me wrong the now again to your point launching a battle royale i think would be yeah what are you doing now where it's like i'm not saying do this in fact i don't think you should do this but if you're chasing the meta it's all right let's game jam an extraction thing in halo i'm sure nobody do you want you we don't want that right no yeah exactly so it's but this is like the chasing meta thing of i don't i don't think actually i won't say that i was gonna say that i don't think the halo players want a battle royale either but i really don't know i i don't want to go that far because i'm not the biggest halo person but when i think of halo i think of arena style gameplay i think of arena combat i think of uh capture the flag i think of stuff that to your point like it's old shit yeah but i think that's okay i think you just make old shit good but i know that's not what they want to do with their flagship franchise i think it's we're to this point where it's fetch they want to make this happen so bad they're going to keep trying to just stop just stop every should stop we shouldn't have a halo studios we should have a team that was working on halo you go work on something else we're going to take a break from halo for a while especially because it's not when you bought activision like you you essentially bought an older brother to halo that halo like you adopted an older brother and an older brother that is getting better grades in school and an older brother that had like it has a good college and like that's ahead of him and is making all this money and it's like hey you got call of duty let halo be halo let's not put all this pressure on halo to be a like a gigantic money maker you have call of duty as a halo likes to you know it's 30 years old and likes to rip bongs in the parents basement just let it be it'll figure it out it's good to figure it out it's you want a battle royale you have a call of duty battle royale you have an extraction guess what the next call of duty game has an extraction mode in it you want traditional uh first person shooter gameplay that you can micro transaction to hell call of duty let halo be halo where are we at with hype then in you specifically blessed but you the audience as well for campaign evolved i'm excited for it i need to check in to see if i'm doing the stream with them or not because like oh they're trying to do like a lasso thing or whatever right yeah they're doing a ted lasso and i don't i don't know what that means yeah but i'm scared of it um i don't want to play that way if they're playing that way then I might be like okay let me just play by myself but I'm excited for it yeah yeah what about you no not at all Alex is not a 10 hype zero excitement it comes from alley alley I'm ready says Alex over there no I'm not again I'm not the halo guy at SGF I got to sit down and play it on PlayStation and I was not good at it not the aiming part of it but like the rhythm of it of like oh I'm being too cautious I this isn't a cover shooter I'm like trying to duck around walls like I need to be running at them and I just I've never liked halo oh, I don't like the art style.

24:58I don't like Chief. I don't like the grunts. I don't like the way they tell their story at all. And it was like, maybe this, nope, still don't like this. Still don't want to do this. Doesn't matter where it is. But I'm not the audience for it. But it'll be interesting to see, does that bring it back to problem? And are people happy with that? You know, we talk about price of games so much and this just being the campaign and not being the actual multiplayer. What does that mean? Obviously, Star Fox is doing just fine for itself.

25:20Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I have so many questions about, like, what is the next multiplayer thing then? Are we waiting until Project Helix? Is that like a launch title for the next gen thing? Is that going to be, is it going to be just multiplayer or is it going to be the next store? I imagine it has to be the next story in the campaign. Plus the multiplayer suite, everything you expect from halo. Like I wonder where we're at as far as, or at least where Xbox and halo studios is at as far as what their entire plan for that is. That's what we're talking about here. But yeah, how do we make money? They want to make money.

25:50Why will they not let halo die? Because they believe there's money in this IP. they didn't knock it out of the park with the show they haven't knocked out of the park with the games exactly well I mean like where I'm like just take time off just stop you can't stop when you have a place called Halo Studios now we need to be making a fucking Halo all the fucking time let's get some super chats in here about it alright Times Hero super chat and says I'm sad they didn't make ODST to be the battle royale I understand yeah Shark89 says no nostalgia if Halo had never existed and Halo 1 came out right now with the classic maps.

26:27Could it survive with the way people play games right now?

26:31Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Oh, absolutely not. If Halo 1 never existed, he'd put out, no. The whole point of it is nostalgia. Yeah, exactly. And I think that's valid. Like, I don't think that's a bad thing necessarily. Like, if you can monetize nostalgia, go for it. But to all of what we're talking about, Halo is an old franchise. And so the challenge right now is trying to figure out how to modernize it and monetize it in a way that's going to make sense for 2026 when you're this version of xbox and i don't know if there's a correct way i don't know if there's a i'm excited to see them try to figure out the right way my thing about it is i just feel like games have moved so far beyond what halo was and you can double down on this nostalgia as you should you know playstation talking about monetizing the existing user base we talk all the time here that the youth are not playing console games this is not something we're bringing in so all games to some degree are for older people and so like you can monetize the Halo nostalgia I just feel like we've been to this well so many times Master Chief Collection even the Halo Infinite like when it first debuted and then them scaling it more to be what Halo was and how it feels like people getting mad about Sprint and shit it's like cool but are you just vocal are you just loud are you actually going to show up and buy lots and lots of copies of this game I don't know man Professor YT says Halo was my favorite franchise but Halo 4, 5, and Infinite have had some huge misses.

27:50Campaign Evolved isn't exciting, and a new mainline story isn't either. So there's no way! What is exciting? They gotta just stop doing it and then come back with something completely different that probably isn't Halo and everybody gets fucking mad about it. Yeah, we can't take a classic franchise

28:05Blessing Adeoye Jr.:and go, now let's make something completely different. Then what are you doing? Mr. Blue Skies, Halo should be easy dot dot dot. There just hasn't been an amazing Halo since Reach. Infinite was close but then the multiplayer only had like six maps in line with that time hero says i think they needed maps not just forge levels the tale of xbox just almost there but not quite there i'm a halo infinite apologist man like obviously they didn't do what they needed to do with the live service ongoing content thing but man if they did oh man halo infinite could have been an all-timer like for a multiplayer shooter i guess like that the bones of that game are so good using that grappling hook swing it around shotgun somebody to the face and put them in the face like the gameplay of infinite i think had it yeah i think they totally had it but they just didn't support it the right way and i also think the eco the ecosystem of multiplayer shooters is so volatile that like even if you put out something great guess what like siege exists counter-strike exists fortnite exists all these things exist uh rgx 89 says have you guys heard about the halo studios leadership being toxic uh do you think they are on asha's radar for cuts uh i mean sadly i've heard about everybody being toxic so it's like i'm sure i read about this at some point and put it in there as logged or whatever in terms of are they on our asha's radar for cuts every motherfucker who gets a microsoft paycheck is on asha's target for cuts yeah so like i don't i don't think again how many layers of leadership is it exactly exactly and of course as we've all learned right like sadly it's not the top that gets shaved down it's the bottom of the pyramids yeah who actually would go who knows i digress we're gonna move from xbox news to ubisoft news but first i'll remind you about the kind of funny news and that's that we're an 11 person 11 year old small business that couldn't do this without your support if you love and appreciate the work we do go pick up a membership patreon.com slash kind of funny youtube.com slash kind of funny games apple and spotify of course you can get everything we do ad free you can get your daily dose of me greg miller in a 15 to 20 minute podcast called Gregway and you'd get good karma for supporting a small business.

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30:46Right now, you can go watch Greg talk about our parasocial relationships with one another. All patreon.com slash kindoffunnymembers will also have access to watch this month's Happy Hour, a monthly call-in show where you can chat with the Kind of Funny crew live. And we're adding in a perk for gifted subscriptions, custom character art from the one and only Andy Cortez to be featured alongside the Kind of Funny crew in the Gamescast intro for the month. We'll have some fun surprises for members this month, like our live recording of Game Showdown last week. So join us over on Patreon.com slash Kind of Funny.

31:18Remember Bootylicious? Bootylicious? Bootylicious. Cause my body too bootylicious for you, baby. Oh, yeah.

31:26Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I was thinking for some reason I went to Fergalicious. Oh, also true. Yeah. Also a jam. Also a jam. Story number two. After laying off thousands, Ubisoft says losing key talents and skills is a big danger for the company. This is Austin Wood. What are we doing? Austin Wood at GamesRadar. Years into restructuring that's seen it shed thousands of jobs and multiple high-profile creative veterans, Ubisoft leadership considers losing key staff and failing to attract new talent to be significant risks for the company. Ubisoft's latest annual report contains an updated assessment of risk factors that could affect its performance, its reputation, the achievement of its strategic and financial goals, and its share price, end quote.

32:11One subsection singles out risks related to talent with, quote, loss of key talent and skills, end quote, listed as high risk and lack of attractiveness to key talent as moderate risk. these points are explored in more depth later in the report and the verbiage is fascinating not just in the context of ubisoft's own overhaul but amid the broader brain drain affecting the video games industry after devastating layoffs and studio closures which have forced many people out of games altogether temporarily or permanently quote the sudden departure of members of the games core team could be damaging to the group's development and could have a significant an impact on its editorial policy.

32:52The group's success also depends on its team's know-how and skills in a highly competitive international market. Indeed, the video game industry requires a certain number of innovative skills at the cutting edge of its respective fields. The group is therefore exposed to a situation of dependence on certain key towns whose creativity or technical expertise is rare and highly valued in the market, parentheses, artificial intelligence, cloud gaming, data etc end quote to mitigate these risks ubisoft says it's established a succession plan uh yeah okay uh for executive officers and is working towards quote the gradual implementation of a similar plan for key roles like creative director producer and studio general manager various corporate muscles have also been flexed including the monitoring of commitment levels and the development of a differentiated compensation policy to help promote leadership skills knowledge sharing and training.

33:49Ubisoft's report notes high turnover, particularly for senior talented individuals in key roles as a relevant factor here alongside inadequate training, the need for new skills and a working environment that quote, does not meet the aspirations of talented individuals. End quote.

34:07Blessing Adeoye Jr.:This is how I know it's so over for Ubisoft because they start saying the right thing. Like you ever hear stories of people who are on their deathbed and they start confessing things to you they're like yeah in 1986 i wronged this person and they like sorry you're like you're being too truthful right now like this is all you're you're done like you're you're not long for this world anymore like your brain's doing weird things this is how i feel about ubisoft where it's like oh now you're you've lived long enough to where you can look back and be like shit we really fucked this whole thing up and when you start having when you start having thoughts like this i'm like ah it's probably it's too late isn't it it's just such a ridiculous fucking thing to write out as if no one could have told you this the amount of analysts and fucking hey we want somebody to come in and tell us what the the millions of thousands of dollars people make coming in to tell them the harsh we say it every day on this fucking show yeah there's a free lesson all the time in what the consumers think and what the hardcore gamers think and no fucking shit.

35:10I've been saying that this week, particularly about you're laying these people off who are going on and then you're just hollowing out your fucking studios to where nobody can come in and do anything creative because they're just making the same fucking game over and over again. So yeah, no shit. You're not attracting new people and then you're laying off the people who made the cool thing in the beginning. So now no creativity is happening. No, the brain drain of who knows how to make these games, right?

35:34Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yep. Nobody wants to come work for your studio for what you said, right? of making the same thing over again but then also it's like i don't there's not job security here no i can look outside of the video games and cognitive fucking machine and find way more job security in other places maybe maybe not tech overall but you guys get what i mean as far as the lack of job security that is present in video games i mean again to what you're saying yeah this goes back to what we've been talking about the last week or two as far as xbox id software when i look at id and i go wow you laid off that much of the studio that is making these doom games and you're saying you want to have these IP and Doom is one of the IPs that you want to continue to focus on, how do you expect the studio to continue to do this thing?

36:12Blessing Adeoye Jr.:You're looking at the numbers, right? You're trying to make the number go up. But when you're so focused on making the number go up, that's how you end up at Ubisoft where you've laid off so many people and now you're like, ah, shit, well, man, I think we've really messed up here because of the turnover because of all these reasons listed. We don't have the same knowledge base of people that know what they're doing, people that know how to work together in order to make things move faster. Final Fantasy 7 remake through Revelations that studio and that director talked about the importance of having the same team work on all three of those games because they're able to move at a way more rapid pace you've lost out on the all the opportunity to do all of that because you're so focused on the number that you didn't think about the people yeah a thousand percent right exactly where we're going of these conversations of just like no shit Sherlock yeah and like you get to this point it's like to your to your thing yes you are nearing the end of your life and whatever that looks like somebody buying you or just whatever but it's like you're looking at how nobody wants these games you're just reinventing black flag because you know people like yeah there's no room to go do something cool something fun something creative something new because you've done this to fucking death i mean the fact that yeah like now you have no leadership there in terms of we've been through this we know what we're doing let's go like i you know to lament what games were in the late 90s early 2000s of yeah we came out we took a swing it was a 7.5 but we're all together we're hiring up we believe in the next one now it's an 8.5 you let's go let's learn let's change let's not get scared everybody's so fucking scared because they're trying to you know kowtow here to the fucking goddamn shareholders when we're talking about ubisoft specifically aside from black flag what has been the recent ubisoft output and what's the upcoming what is shadows shadows i mean assassin's creed shadow last year and it was before the current assassin's creed it was the last assassin's creed oh you mean just in terms of like their like games coming out from from ubisoft i'm sure there was a just dance in there somewhere that i'm sure did amazing that's sarcasm for the record that's sarcasm but then it's like what's the next what's the next ubisoft game chat you're making good questions i'm trying to get in here organizing.

38:19Blessing Adeoye Jr.:People are saying no, there's no way Far Cry 6. No way. So right now the next one would be Rayman Legends. We're told it would be the next one after that one. Before Assassin's Creed Black Flag. I'm on Steam, by the way. This is obviously not a thousand. Before that, Crew Motor Fest had a pack. You had a pack for that. You had a Shovel Knight pack for Uno. Uno? Yeah. Monopoly. Star Wars Heroes and Villains came out. Someone played it, but I want too okay uh some yeah a lot of dlc in here i don't know if there's anything for me to cut that out so yeah that's us talking about what's been coming out when we're looking at on the horizon of the future yeah we're talking about rayman which looks cool but we expect oh that's a small it's a remake it's another it's another remake yeah and a smaller thing in the grand scope of what you saw she's doing here and then beyond that like there's not been ubisoft forwards in the last couple of years they've not been showing up other places to be like hey this is what you can look forward to in 2027 it feels like we are experiencing the direct result of the things they're talking about here as far as not having the talent to not like firing so much of the talent that could have helped you have have a slate you don't even have a slate yeah why yeah is it that you're lacking the people like is it that you these studios are struggling because they don't have the leadership they don't have let's take a specific example of where ubisoft is fuck this up so badly, right?