What is Happening at Ubisoft?! - Kinda Funny Games Daily 06.10.26

0:00What did you steal? secrets disclosure day is steven spielberg's best film in 20 years are they people no are they human my god spielberg does this better than anybody in history i can see you they're coming disclosure day rated pg-13 some material may be inappropriate for children under 13 in theaters friday get tickets now head to factomeals.com slash kindoffunny50off and use code kindoffunny50off to get 50 % off and free daily greens per box. If you want to get our shows ad-free and our exclusive shows, go to patreon.com slash kindoffunny. Woo! This is gaming news stories. That's what I'm talking about, Cardi.

0:46They include Ubisoft closes two studios. Ubisoft closes two studios. Maybe that's not the energy we start off with. Maybe we start with, like, the somber, and then we get up. Ubisoft closes two studios and has best layoffs at another. xbox exploring how to exploring how to make its next console affordable and ben star could have been james bond there we go we'll have all this and more because this is kind of funny games daily

1:14i'm happy to be here i'm really happy to be i'm happy to have you here yeah um i know we've got all this stuff to get to but i was going to talk to you about i think i know this isn't the right show for it but topic of the show shape of the year it's back we're talking about shapes already Yeah. I've been having a long think about this, and when I say that, the last 10 minutes I've been thinking about it. I think we're going with Pentagon. Pentagon? Yes. You like the five sides. I do. Okay. And you know what? It's been 25 years. Yeah. And we'll leave it at that. Oh, God. Here we go. Welcome to the show.

1:50Welcome to Confident Games Daily. I'm your host, Blessing, Addy Oye Jr. Joining me is the one and only IGN's Simon Carty. Yes. Yes. Thank you, Bear, for bringing up a Pentagon. Will this show get me fired? No. No, not yet. I had to specifically look up a Pentagon shape. That is a Pentagon. I can confirm. It's not the Pentagon. No, it's not the Pentagon. That's what came up when I did the research. That is, I can confirm, a five-sided shape. Of course, Wednesday, June 10th, 2026. Simon, you're here. You flew over from the great UK. The great UK. The great UK. The great UK is what they call it. Great Britain.

2:26The great Britain. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whichever you want to go. There is a difference between those two places. I can't call it the Great UK. You can, but it wouldn't be accurate. But even as an ad, it's a great place to be. Yeah, but again, it wouldn't be accurate. You know what, that's fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You flew over, of course, Summer Game Fest is what brought you to stateside. Simon, how was your Summer Game Fest? It was good. It was my first Summer Game Fest. I loved how relaxed it was. Great little setup Jeff has over there. Yeah. Played some games, interviewed some great people. I'm sure we'll get into that over the rest of the week.

2:54I'm here all week. Yeah, you're chilling. Yeah. You're vibing. I'm just having fun, you know. Greg's taking me in as his second son Infamous second son Is a game on Playstation And we're going to be talking about Xbox Later but first Do you have another shape? No Ubisoft I was going to the actual running order Oh you're actually trying to get into the show I want to hear more about your Summer Game Fest I want to hear it Because we all experience Summer Game Fest differently Because as people know I was on a rapid trip I finished reacting to the Summer Game Fest showcase On Friday, flew down Friday night to LA, was there all day just playing games, doing interviews, and then that night flew back here so I could react to Xbox.

3:36I mean, it's like a 45-minute flight. Yeah, but it's less so about the flight. Both flights got delayed. So what should have been 45-minute flights ended up being hours longer than they should have been. But there's a difference between how I experienced it at Game Fest and getting to bask in the LA video game culture scene there. Yeah, it's exactly what I was doing, really. You know me, I'm basking. Did you talk to Jeff? No. He doesn't want to hear from me. I bumped into him a few times. I don't think he knows who I am, but I don't really care. That's fine. I spend a lot of time hiding in the shade.

4:15In the air con. I am a very pink British man. So I like to not really get in the sun. But yeah, I mean, I met one of my heroes, Fumito Ueda. We'll talk about that later. One of my heroes as well. Exactly. We both got to meet them. It was worth the trip just for that. But yeah, played some games, had a good time. The pizza there was quite good. I quite enjoyed the pizza. The last time I went to Summer Game Fest, which I think was a few years ago now, they had the same pizza. And it was good when I had it the last time. But this time I had to really, I had to be real with myself. Yeah. So I'm going to have this thing.

4:44It's an affliction called lactose intolerance. Oh. I sometimes thought maybe I'd have that by just battle through. Well, that's the thing is like, here's the thing about lactose intolerant people. Is that they love dairy products. Are you a milk man? Do you love a bit of milk? I like milk. I used to grow up in high school. I used to drink milk. I stopped doing that because milk will fucking destroy. Milkshakes like my vice, but then I do feel like my stomach going a bit. I'm like, maybe this isn't the right thing for me to be doing. Milkshakes. You can't go wrong. Can't go wrong milkshakes. I love ice cream.

5:18I love cheese, especially. What's your favorite cheese?

5:24That's a really good question. I like pepper jack a lot What about you? I like a gouda I like a feta I'm not as hot on feta Halloumi If you just want a mouthful of salt That's where you go I know you're going to hate this American It's not a thing, it's plastic It's just chemicals Your hoodie looks like it's made out of it Listen, first of all it's a great hoodie i mean i wish i had that hoodie great on me where did you get that uh i got it from insert coin ain't that right that's a uk brand maybe i need to get on that because that's a lovely hoodie insert coin right i believe they sent it to us and so i should shout out insert coin graver watch and let me know if that's wrong but i'm pretty sure it's insert coin yeah cheese though good it's gonna be one of the it's gonna be a fan gamer i can make a good cheesecake actually yeah yeah yeah but i've made one a long time what kind of You can use like mascarpone cheese.

6:24You need a soft cheese. That's what they have GDC every year. Do they? Well, I've never been to GDC. There we go. I didn't realize it had all that on the back. But still, that's cool. I like that. Oh, that shirt's nice as well. It just sounds like I'm asking, but I'm not asking for a shirt here. It's very nice. That's the stroll kind of family flag. Coming to Switch 2 soon as well, metaphor. Fuck yeah. Great game. Great game. You beat it? Yeah, of course I did. I'm a Persona boy. I'm getting involved. I'm a huge Persona fan. Okay. Is that it for six? Yeah, it's green. Green? Yeah, green's my favorite color.

6:56I was talking to Ben, Greg's son, about green yesterday. Yeah? Yeah, we both agreed dark green's great, but so is dark blue. So, you know. Yeah. Let's get into the show. Of course, if you're watching live, you can be a part of the show by super chatting in over on YouTube.com slash kindoffunnygames. We couldn't do this with our producers over on Patreon.com slash kindoffunny. So thank you to Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster, Delaney the Som 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 six stories today. Woo! Baker's Dozen.

7:34No, who's the story number one? Okay, sorry. Give me a sad sound effect. There we go. Story number one, Ubisoft Winnipeg has been closed. Dozens laid off. I'm going to say story number one is actually four news stories in one. Four news stories. That's a lot of reading for you. yeah but there i've conducted i'm not offering shorter you carry on but no we can go back and forth no you carry on fair enough this is from mike straw at insider gaming ubisoft is closing another studio insider gaming has learned that ubisoft winnipeg has been shut down leading to dozens of layoffs employees were said to have found out on wednesday morning that's today uh in a meeting with management details of the shutdown are currently slim but it's believed that roughly 65 employees are losing their jobs it's also impacting several in development projects at Ubisoft, as well as other studios across the company.

8:23One studio also impacted is Ubisoft Montreal. It's also understood that 120 people working on Rainbow Six Siege have been ramped off, as well as around 50 people working on Rainbow Six Siege Mobile and an unannounced project. It's important to note that sources say these aren't additional layoffs at the moment. Shortly after Insider Gaming broke the story, multiple employees have taken to LinkedIn to make it known that they were let go. In a statement provided to Insider Gaming, Ubisoft said the following, quote, Rainbow Six Siege remains a strong brand as projects move through different stages of development and live operations.

9:00It is normal practice to adjust team size and resource allocation based on evolving priorities and operational needs. With activity and engagement improving significantly over the past year, the team remains fully committed to delivering ongoing seasonal content updates and support to players We continue to have strong expectations for the game. End quote. Simon, that was Ubisoft Winnipeg. Additionally, this is a new news story. Ubisoft, or a different news story. Ubisoft closes Belgrade Studio. 100 employees let go. This is from Mike Straw at Insider Gaming. Another Ubisoft studio is closing its doors.

9:41Insider Gaming understands that Ubisoft Belgrade is the latest studio being shut down by the French publisher. it joins the sudden closure of ubisoft winnipeg ubisoft belgrade was formed in 2016 during its time the serbian studio uh support the serbian support studio worked on games such as tom clancy's ghost recon breakpoint and wildlands the crew 2 rainbow 6 skull and bones and more all employees at the studio have been let go which was around 100 people strong now simon yes that is the second news story. I have a third news story. Additionally, Ubisoft Barcelona has been hit with mass layoffs and will now focus on Rainbow Six.

10:20This is, who do you think it is? It is Mike Straw at Insider Gaming. These are all, by the way, as I was pulling together the stories this morning, these are all within like minutes of each other of these articles going up. Just one after another, all breaking. Ubisoft has announced in an internal email that layoffs will hit Ubisoft Barcelona, affecting dozens of employees. In the internal email sent to Ubisoft employees, it was said that 51 people will be affected by the change and that Ubisoft Barcelona will now focus on the Rainbow Six projects only. In an email to staff, Christophe Durenz and Charlie Guillemot said, quote, in order to better adapt our cost structure, we reviewed our portfolio and made certain adjustments in our productions in order to refocus our resources and expertise on our priorities it is in this context that ubisoft barcelona plans to redirect its expertise and resources towards rainbow six siege and quote all right simon it's time for one more news story from ubisoft or sorry this is again from mike straw at insider gaming i think i'm probably guess where it's going ubisoft is ramping staff off of rainbow six siege and other projects um it's not just layoffs and studio closures happening at ubisoft insider gaming has learned that the company is also ramping employees off of other projects within the company and this story was kind of referenced in the first story as well according to sources with knowledge of the situation at least 120 or roughly 12 of the developers working on rainbow six siege at ubisoft montreal are being ramped off the project in addition around 50 people are being moved off rainbow six siege mobile and an unannounced project it was said that these aren't layoffs at the moment those sources wouldn't say they couldn't be part of more layoffs in the near future there was also no mention as a publication of what projects these employees could be moved to a lot of reorganization and then also a lot of studio closures and layoffs a lot of rainbow like i don't know people being moved to rainbow six siege but being moved off yeah being moved onto and then ramped off it's like we're being ramped off rainbow six siege but also we're focusing more on rainbow six so not siege a new rainbow six i don't know what's going on i used to play a ton of rainbow six siege so this is sad to see like yeah i think the core studio for that game is still montreal that's where i visited to see that game so i imagine there's still a lot of people there working on it but i'll admit i don't know the most recent like siege player numbers i don't know how well that game is doing right now but there's still like a great like esports scene for that game i think and it's still like you know it's a great game so it's always sad to see these layouts right and like it does really seem like ubersoft are in a bit of a mess i mean they've got black flag in a few weeks which i'm looking forward to um but yeah i don't we don't really know do we know anything beyond that um rayman that's a rayman yeah yeah i don't really i don't know if anyone really knows what's going on over there right now i so i think to a few things you just said there right like the what's going on here at ubisoft don't really know what's going on there that's been true for the last however long yeah um right and so it's in the ongoing conversation of what is happening at ubisoft regarding rainbow six i'm like you i used to play a lot of rainbow six i think that is an excellent game uh there was a like a week last year that me andy and mike got back into playing rainbow six a hard game to get back into because you there's so much changes if you even take like a few months off that game knowing what's going on yeah and they they kind of relaunched it like they did rainbow six siege next is it x or next or maybe it was x i think you're right i think it's x yeah um but like they try to revamp it and do all these things as far as i can tell it still has a player base like i know steam db is a weird one to use for a lot of reasons but if i'm looking at just the steam db there's 71 000 people playing on there and that's not counting like obviously other platforms that people can play this on playstation i'm sure they're still adding stuff as well i mean i'm out the loop on it but i knew like years ago they basically said yeah we're still committed to this game having like a hundred operators i don't know where they're at the moment i imagine they're probably 60 70 deep at the moment there's so many but yeah they just added was it snake was in there a couple months back yep like obviously there's still a lot going on in this game like i'll admit i don't know to what a lot of these studios were working on if that sounds like a lot of them were support studios yeah i think there's a lot of like a couple months ago i was in belgrade and i walked past ubisoft belgrade i wasn't there to see them and i was just like oh i wonder what they're working on interesting so you've and now they visited ubisoft montreal and then you walk back you walk past ubisoft belgrade montreal are fine aren't they right now so i've never been to winnipeg do i go to winnipeg no stay away from places i'd love to go i've not been to barcelona i'd love to go of course you haven't yeah but yeah it's like we said it's just we're kind of numb to it and i know that doesn't that sounds you almost sound bad because people have lost their jobs but like every time it happens now you get less and less i know you get more used to it if anything it's not a good thing yeah i think for me i'm like waiting for what's the big thing that happens where it is ubisoft's entirely shuttering or ubisoft has been bought by some other bigger corporation like these aren't things that i want to happen i want ubisoft to be a healthy corporation a few weeks back said by 2029 they hope to have a new far cry assassin's creed and ghost recon game so yeah there's plans there how quickly we see those i mean that didn't include this Splinter Cell remake.

15:40I mean, who knows where that is? But I think that's the thing of what are the money makers for Ubisoft? And I think the big worry I have is that they have these old reliables. You know, Assassin's Creed Shadows seems like it did well enough. Star Wars Outlaws doesn't seem like it did well enough, right? But the old reliables seem to be Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and then like Tom Clancy stuff. I mean, I can't wait for Black Flag. I didn't think I'd need to play that game again, but every time I see it, I'm like, I can't wait in a few weeks to play Black Flag again. It's a good time. I'm hoping, I imagine a relatively cheap development compared to other games they're making.

16:18So hopefully they're banking on this to be a moneymaker and this can fund the more ambitious projects. But then my thing is, you know, we talk about the old reliables. I think as a company, you need more than old reliables. You look at any of these other big publishers and Capcom has taken swings. Ubisoft used to be like a revolutionary. They used to like attempt things, right? Yeah. They used to really like, you know, Assassin's Creed, we now think that's like, oh, you know, all they do basically. But like that was a big thing when they make it. Splinter Cell was kind of revolutionary in the stealth genre as well.

16:46You know, like they used to really be, they had all the UBR games, like, you know, Child of Light and stuff like that, which were beautiful games. Like we just don't get any of that anymore. And we get less and less from them and, you know, less and less. And like for the new things, because that's my thing is, we're not really getting many things that feel like, oh, this is a new big swing that you are looking at as a potential opener for more money making. Don't count it out. Don't count it out. Which one? Beyond Good and Evil 2 one day. One day. I've counted out. I'm hoping because I kind of, I've got Far Cry fatigue, right?

17:16The last one I played in hours. I've done this. I don't need to do it again. I'm hoping the next Far Cry is a big swing. It's not just the same old Far Cry. That's what I'm hoping. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see because, yeah, like I look at Prince of Persia Lost Crown and it's like, wow, what a great swing. What a great way to bring back Prince of Persia and then they shut down that studio. Rayman Legends retold, I'm not looking at it as something that's going to be, like open up a new avenue. Like hopefully that leads to more Rayman Legends stuff and hopefully that does well enough to make them go, oh, we can keep making this and this will be a small success.

17:48I know we're not getting it. I still have a real soft spot for Watch Dogs. Watch Dogs 2, one of the best open world games I think ever made. I know it's not just because I'm in the Bay Area. I love that game. Love the vibe of that game. I was so excited for Watch Dogs Legion because it was a modern London and every other London game we get is like 1894. london i'm like okay i don't need more victorian london right yeah and have such a good idea but i don't think it quite worked but yeah i would love another watchdogs but i don't think i'm not hopeful i would love anything from ubisoft that's not resting on the laurels that feels like a bigger swing that is something that can excite the audience again and maybe that's maybe that i know this is a weird one example for what i just said but splinter cell remake like i know that's that's you're bringing back something that's old and you're just making it but But I think if they could do what, you know, Capcom are doing with the Resident Evil games with Splinter Cell, like more of a reimagining of Splinter Cell, that would be amazing.

18:42But we need more pillars. Again, I'm not hopeful. I'm not hopeful. What does excite you in life at the moment? In life? Yeah. Magic the Gathering. Okay. Cool. I'm going to get an AYN Thor soon. Yeah, there we go. That's the one thing keeping me going right now. So I can play old games instead of new games. For me, it's the World Cup. That starts tomorrow. That's really exciting. Yeah, this country's doing its best to ruin it. What do you mean? America trying to ruin something? Well, this country and maybe, you know, the guy at the head of... Gianni Infantino. We can go into that. Oh, yeah. Learned a lot about him the other day.

19:16Is he the FIFA guy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What is this country doing to ruin FIFA? Price gouging. Not giving people visas. You know what? Fair. Yeah. We can go on. We can't argue against that. Taking the beautiful game and turning it ugly. there you go there's a little strap but like it hasn't happened for like the last however many world cups yeah i mean yeah russia was a problem qatar was a problem was a problem um that was more a problem in the run-up and during because of human rights issues uh this one is more just just really ugly from a capitalist capitalist perspective but we don't need to go into that because there's so many more problems we can i asked you about this before the show but i want to bring it up during the show because i'm actually not brought up this game ever on content there's a game that just came out called goals yes you told me about it it's a free-to-play soccer game that i have been playing a little bit of okay uh in the last week and it plays just like fifa do you think you could beat me at that one so you thought you could beat me at fifa and you could how many games did you guys play last time too i know i beat him at college football as well yeah do you know what's insulting about it is that he beat me in fifa and then i was like you know what this is america i'm gonna put up some college football and then he beat me in college football also.

20:30Embarrassing. These things will happen. You'd beat me at any fighting game though, so you've got that. There we go. Let's boot up some tech and see what's up. Let's not do that. I played five rounds of Smash against Ben. Again, Greg's four-year-old son and he beat me four times out of five. So, that's why I'm... Was he using Link? He was using all... Sonic. He was using a lot. He may have beat by Sonic? Yeah, I don't play Smash. I may not have been trying my hardest. Okay? But, you know. You know, I did, I did, you know, after dinner go into the training. I was like, tomorrow I've got to get back.

21:01I'm going to take this four-year-old down. Let's move on to story number two. Xbox is exploring radically different business models to make its next console affordable. This is Andy Robinson at Video Games Chronicle. I know him. Xbox. Oh, yeah. You guys both live in the great UK. The great UK. The great UK, yeah. Do you know the difference between Great Britain and the UK? Don't ask me these kind of questions on the camera. We don't have to do that. We can move on to the story if you want. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has suggested the platform holder is looking at ways to make its next console, codenamed Helix, more affordable amid an ongoing hardware crisis.

21:35When the previous leadership of Xbox first announced plans for its next-gen console, it was billed as a very premium system and the largest technical leap you will ever have seen in a hardware generation. Wow. However, in the years since, the price of memory and storage components has rocketed, driven by demands for AI data centers, forcing many consumer devices, including PS5, Xbox and Switch, to raise prices dramatically. Speaking during a Fortune Live event, Xbox boss Sharma called the component price surge a crisis for the games industry and suggested that Microsoft was exploring ways to reduce the price of its next-gen console, which in current conditions would surely cost far more than the Xbox Series X's$500 launch.

22:19Quote, Look, on hardware, we're in a crisis right now. The entire industry is, Sharma said. quote there's a shortage of memory and storage and the costs are exponential they're usually at this point in the generation about 50 of the cost and we're seeing they're up 2.75 times they're up 50 since they started they're going to be up effectively 7.5 times quote pricing is a lever of course but we must think about other options as well you must think about other ways to think about the cost of construction of the console or cost construction of the console i should say we must think about how we create different plans so more people can participate in the console we must think about partnerships that will allow us to have better distribution and reach and we must think about experiences that we're creating outside of that as well as reach new audiences end quote sharma did not provide specifics on how the different plans that on the different plans that could make Project Helix more affordable, though she did appear to suggest that Xbox might not view the largest technical leap you will have ever seen as the best plan right now.

23:27Quote, I think we'll continue to look at new business models. I think that is what is needed for console rather than just the most premium high-performance console in the world, she said. She continues, I think we've reached a point where it will be hard to imagine that mass audiences can afford thousands of dollars to spend on a console generation, and so i think we will start to see radically different business models that we never expected start to come into orbit later this year end quote later in the interview sharma reiterated that project helix will be able to play pc games and despite all the talk about cost will still offer leading edge performance but there's material work to do to make sure that is available to the people that want to play and so we're working on that she said it's a lot of words to say things are expensive we don't know what to do isn't it yeah yeah we haven't figured out a plan yeah we You got to think about everything, though.

24:18It's a while away, surely, this stuff. Are we in any rush for it anyway? I'm in no rush for a new console. I don't think any... That's my thing. This comes up as a conversational point when we're talking about Xbox often because it is a big concern just generally in the industry as far as the cost of hardware and how much that's risen. And especially when we're talking about Xbox, Xbox isn't just the weirdest place possible with where they're at in their generation, how much they want to push the future, make things exclusive, all that. And so I, I, you know, I, I don't, I find it hard to criticize the way she's talking about it because genuinely like for her to say, yeah, we're thinking about all these things.

24:59It's like, well, I'd rather the honesty of like, yeah, we're looking at it. We don't know yet. You know, I'd rather that than like, it's all going to be fine. Cause that's why, isn't it? I'd rather this than to go, we're pushing for fidelity and the most powerful console ever. Because then I go back to the thing that like Roger has been talking about, which is how the fuck are you going to sell this to anybody when it comes out at$1 ,500,$2 ,000? Yeah. It's, I don't have the answers. That's the thing. I don't know. Do we wait for it to get better? Do we just wait for it all to blow over? Is it going to blow over?

25:28Probably not. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm like, as I'm looking at chat, right, people are saying everyone is scrambling, not just Xbox. Oh, yeah. It's not just Xbox. This is industry-wide. yeah and EQ says she just needs to stop talking I mean this is from an interview I think during like Summer Game Fest this is from a Fortune Live interview I don't think it's that she needs to stop talking it's just that like I do think we have to look at it through a lens of they don't fucking know and like they're trying to figure shit out not trying to say that in a defensive way more so I'd rather this than for them to keep trying to push forward on a thing of let's push the most expensive console of all time exactly it's that they don't know they're trying to figure things out and their parent company is also at the center of the this hardware crisis as well yeah and so they're you know they're a little bit fucked in that sense of like being able to say anything like tangible um so yeah i to me this comes off as like a word salad so like this really does nothing but yeah it is i guess slightly better than we're keeping going the course that we're gonna push you know fidelity which surely it won't be the largest technical leap.

26:40It can't be anymore. It just can't be anymore. It could be both. We could be cutting costs on what makes this thing and still be the greatest leap in technology. That doesn't make sense. Here's my thing. If I'm reading into it when you say the largest leap of technology I'm pretty sure you can make any leap and it'll probably technically be true because it's always exponential every single time. I think no matter what they can make it the largest leap of technology. I don't know if the PS 4 to the ps5 and the x last gen xbox to this gen xbox was like the largest leap to be honest between the ps3 to ps4 and ps4 to ps5 because that's my thing is like i think when you're talking about pure power and like the escalation of it i think technically ps4 to ps5 or xbox one xbox series x would just be more powerful than the previous generation it depends on scale right if i jump two feet you know that's not that's not a big jump but if a mouse jumped one foot but that's a huge jump.

27:36Yes. They've leaped a less distance than me. So what I'm trying to ask you is, what do you think, what creature on earth has the biggest leap per mass ratio? Kangaroo, probably. Really? I would say some sort of insets, like a jump. Yeah, I would say like a spider. Fuck, you're right, yeah. I don't know what specific type of spider. A flying fish, they can go pretty fast. That's a really good point of the flying fish. Yeah, yeah. I have no answers about how to fix the state of the industry so that's why I'm talking about animals listen I feel you here's my thing right I think the comment of biggest leap in the hardware leap whatever you want to call it just fucking throw it out the window who cares that for me is like the marketing term of how do you quantify that like what are you looking at we can read into it for me it's the thing of you can measure that in different ways in ways that you can make that statement true no matter what we're just not desperate for new technology right now.

28:36Like I spoke to shift up the developers of stellar blade a few days ago. And I asked like, is a blood rain going to be a current general net? Are you looking at next gen already? And they were like, we have like, we basically have no need to look at next gen right now. Like the tech is absolutely fine. They're a little concerned about where tech is going. So they don't really need to look towards future tech yet. So we can still develop games for these current consoles. I imagine for many years to come, if I'm honest. Yeah. So yes. and to work my way all the way back right only reason i include this as a new story one because it is notable news story but then also yeah it kind of fits within our conversations that we keep having on the show right as far as hardware they're going to make the next xbox thing like the most the what the biggest leap in terms of hardware power like i think this is good context to have as we have these conversations going forward as far as what the future looks like yeah but let's talk about the future of kind of funny it can only exist if you support us on patreon.com slash kind of funny or youtube.com slash kind of funny games by getting the kind of funny membership which allows you to get shows ad free and speaking of ads let us tell you about our sponsors this episode's brought to you by factor sometimes hunger strikes and you are just exhausted or you're hosting shows back to back to back and you just don't have it in you to set up and prepare the whole meal you thought that you'd have time for that's why so many of us here at kind of funny love factor factor makes it easy with fully prepared meals designed by dietitians and crafted by chefs so you can eat well without the shopping or cooking on many occasions factor has completely saved greg and jen when they needed it most every meal is crafted with functional ingredients lean proteins colorful veggies whole foods and healthy fats factor bands 175 plus ingredients so no artificial colors or sweeteners no high fructose corn syrup no refined seed oils Just nutrient-dense food.

30:27Head to factorymeals.com slash kindoffunny50off and use code kindoffunny50off to get 50 % off and free daily greens per box with new subscription only while supplies last until September 27th, 2026. See website for more details. And we're back with story number three. Ben Starr reveals he auditioned for James Bond in 007 First Light, but he's so happy he didn't get it. this is from jordan middler at video games chronicle is he is he over there in the great uk he is in the uk the great you in scotland is in the uk nice that's great ben star has revealed that he auditioned for james bond in 007 first light but he's so glad quote he's so glad he didn't get near it uh and has praised patrick gibson's performance speaking of vgc during summer game fest the prolific video game performer best known for final fantasy 16 and clear obscure expedition 33 revealed that he he had auditioned for the legendary spy oh i see for the legendary spy when the game was in the early stages of development well i auditioned for james bond years ago i never would have gotten it i was terrible star said i remember doing a self-tape for it i did the golden eye scene and i got recalled the same person ian ben star i knew you'd have this queued up i showed it to the film's cast direct what is happening simon explain i did not tee this up this is a video i made six or seven years ago where i um yeah i i went to jamaica for the junk for the junket i don't know why jamaica got me because i is there is context i'm sitting there in like i don't know mid-90 degree heat sweating yeah i go to this junket for no time to die the latest bond film and they're like i have all these questions about the film they're like oh you can't actually ask about like the plot of the film and not giving anything away yeah um so instead i happened to have on my phone a very short clip of me doing the james bond like you know gum bit for a barrel except i filmed it through like a toilet roll tube and a bit of plastic um and i showed anna darmas and daniel craig um You showed Anadarmus and Daniel Craig.

32:46And, yeah, I think they loved it. I haven't heard back on if I will be the next James Bond, but... What year was this again? About six years ago. I can't remember. It was 2019, maybe? Let's show the Anadarmus bit, because her face is absolutely brilliant. It's back a bit. Oh, there they are. They're all very confused. Lea Siddur, Naomi Harris, and Anadarmus in one room. Man. Daunting. you don't say yeah and me like um let me let me show you this video i made yeah and they're like oh um lovely it's better with sound anyway ben star probably would do a better job than me because he can act ben star would thrive i feel like in that situation yeah ben star so ben star said he did the self-tape he did the golden ice scene and got called to meet the team uh quote i was a couple of years into doing final fantasy at that point and it hadn't been released so i was just a young actor who liked video games end quote the role would eventually go on uh to patrick gibson who would deliver a performance widely praised by players and critics well i really kind of crumbled under the pressure i didn't deliver what they wanted and I'm so fucking happy I didn't get anywhere near it because my god Patrick Gibson is so fucking good he's unbelievable

34:14he's my beef with Ben Starr yeah alright stop being so fucking likable I know what you are wow that's a threat I like Ben a lot he's too funny and he's too likable what are you hiding Ben are you not talking to me still What are you hiding Ben? Okay I like Ben a lot And he's obviously a great actor I'm also And I mean this in the nicest way possible man I'm also glad you didn't get it Because I feel like it had been distracting I didn't really know Patrick Gibson I liked that it was an unknown Bond I could kind of see James Bond If I was playing that game of Ben Star in it I'd be going Oh it's Ben Star Sure yeah I could see that And yeah Maybe as a villain A Ben Star villain A Ben Star villain would actually be really fun Yeah So maybe we get that But here's the thing, right?

35:03I think in this timeline, is Ben Starr a Ben Starr? Because then maybe he says yes to James Bond. Does that take time away from him doing that? No, surely not. He's in the middle of a lot of fantasies. I don't know the timeline there, but look, First Light absolutely loved. So I'm glad we got the game we got. I wouldn't have changed much about it, to be honest. So I'm not complaining. Yeah, I'm also very happy Patrick Gibson got the role. But also, I'd be very curious to see what the Ben Starr, James Bond looks like. Ben, if you are able to, can you do... Can you fly to Jamaica and talk to Anna Dharma?