Will PlayStation Reverse Its Discless Decision? - Kinda Funny Games Daily 07.08.26

8 Jul 2026 · 1 h 19 min · 38 chapters

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In short

The show discusses whether PlayStation will reverse its 2028 plan to stop releasing new games on physical discs, plus related backlash, subscription tactics, and broader industry labor/politics news. It also includes a guest segment promoting a new game and a brief chat about vampire games.

Guests (and backgrounds)

Mike Bithell (indie developer; known for Thomas Was Alone; announced Vampirium 1997, an immersive sim). Hosts: Greg Miller and Lucy James (regular Kinda Funny Games Daily hosts).

Key claims

  • Analysts say PlayStation won’t reverse the discless decision even if many cancel PlayStation Plus; Sony’s digital margins are higher and cancellations would be a small fraction of revenue.
  • Kotaku reports players trying to cancel are offered discounts (e.g., 50% off for three months) to retain subscribers.
  • Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized Microsoft for layoffs and Xbox price increases, arguing tax breaks don’t create jobs.
  • Bethesda HR allegedly forced staff to remove a memorial for laid-off colleagues.

Notable examples

  • PlayStation Plus cancellation screenshots; 200,000+ signatures on a physical-media petition.
  • Vampirium 1997: play as a vampire assassin; Dracula as “king of the British Empire”; early access/open alpha; sun-rise barricade tester anecdote.

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

Meet the Hosts

0:28 to 1:07

Greg Miller and Lucy James introduce themselves and the show format.

Mike Biffle Joins the Conversation

1:07 to 1:55

Game developer Mike Biffle joins to discuss his new game announcement.

“gentlemen and bees is mike bethel hey mike how are you hello i'm very good it's good to be here How are you?”

Exploring Vampirium 1997

1:55 to 3:04

Mike discusses the concept and development process of Vampirium 1997.

“And while a lot of games get announced in this industry, okay, and we do our best to tell you all about it, Mike Biffle will always be the first person who took Kind of Funny seriously.”

Gameplay Mechanics and Testing

3:26 to 4:16

Discussion on gameplay mechanics and community feedback for development.

Industry Insights and Challenges

4:16 to 6:40

Mike shares insights on the game industry and how to treat developers better.

Community Engagement and Future Plans

6:40 to 9:06

Mike talks about engaging with the community and future developments for Vampirium.

Transition to Other Gaming Topics

9:06 to 9:50

The hosts transition from Mike's game to other upcoming vampire games.

Funny Event Stories

9:50 to 12:42

Greg and Lucy share humorous stories from gaming events, focusing on Andy.

Listener Interaction and Coffee Talk

12:42 to 13:20

Hosts engage with live listeners about coffee preferences and their show routine.

“When I just want black coffee, it gets complicated.”

Introduction to the Roper Report

13:20 to 14:00

The hosts introduce the news segment and discuss the first story about PlayStation.

“The headline I put, Will PlayStation reverse its diskless decision?”
Show all 38 chapters

Economic Analysis of Sony's Digital Shift

14:00 to 15:43

Explore the financial implications of Sony's decision to move towards digital games.

“Quote, I sympathize with physical media fans, but Sony will not reverse its decision, Toto told IGN.”

Fan Reactions and Industry Implications

15:43 to 18:21

Discuss the backlash from fans and what it means for the future of physical media.

“But I'd be surprised if they do a full reversal at this point.”

The Future of Retail and Physical Games

18:21 to 24:21

Debate the relevance of physical stores and the consumer experience in gaming.

“Myself included is that I don't love buying big expensive things that have to be delivered to my house online.”

Sony's Discounts in Response to Cancellations

24:21 to 26:01

Analyze Sony's strategy to retain PlayStation Plus subscribers amidst protests.

“production company that had pulled other movies including terminator 2 and all that jazz from the playstation store and yeah but again that's where we are as it's always bad news in the industry It's constantly bad news.”

Discs Production and Market Dynamics

26:01 to 28:00

Examine the implications of disc production ceasing and market trends.

“And like he did the thing and it's like on the QR code, it says like, foreign cards won't work.”

The Future of Physical Discs in Gaming

28:00 to 30:06

Exploring the implications of Sony's decision to move away from disc production.

“But as it continues to go down, eventually Sony is going to say, we're not making these anymore.”

Collectibles and Market Dynamics

30:06 to 31:31

Discussing the challenges collectors face in a digital-first world.

“And then it's going to be what we're seeing with Ram of, okay, cool.”

Digital Ownership Concerns

31:31 to 32:43

Analyzing the risks of digital ownership and the potential for losing access to games.

Concerns Over PlayStation's Direction

32:43 to 34:02

Debating whether Sony will seriously reconsider its physical media strategy based on market demands.

The Shift to Digital Game Sales

34:02 to 37:39

Discussing the trend towards digital game sales and its impact on gamers' choices.

“I don't know what you've seen from Satya Nadella's moves that make you think any of that has a point more than .01 % chance of happening Satya Nadella's just misunderstood Greg Like, this is what, this is endgame.”

The Shift to Digital Game Sales

37:46 to 38:48

Discussing the trend towards digital game sales and its impact on gamers' choices.

“If you enjoyed the crazy amount of summer Game Fest coverage we put out in June, please consider tossing us a few bucks this month with a Patreon membership or upgrade your pledge for July.”

The Shift to Digital Game Sales

39:43 to 39:58

Discussing the trend towards digital game sales and its impact on gamers' choices.

Lighthearted Banter on Microsoft

42:00 to 42:54

The hosts engage in a lighthearted discussion about Microsoft and AI.

“I'm on learn.microsoft.com creating disks.”

Bernie Sanders Critiques Microsoft

42:54 to 45:11

Discussion on Bernie Sanders' remarks regarding Xbox layoffs and corporate tax breaks.

“Quote, last year, Microsoft made$101 billion in profits, got a$12.5 billion tax break from Trump and paid its CEO$96 million, Sanders tweeted.”

Bethesda's HR Controversy

45:11 to 47:39

Conversation about Bethesda HR's removal of a memorial for laid-off employees.

“That's what makes up the entire 3000 people we just laid off.”

Impacts of Layoffs on Employees

47:39 to 48:38

Hosts discuss the emotional impact of layoffs and workplace morale.

“You're just expected to first of all you're expected to carry on like half your team hasn't just been cut then you're expected to carry on waiting for the axe to fall on you because they're not done.”

Pokemon Rumors and Speculations

48:38 to 50:34

Discussion on rumors surrounding the new Pokémon game, 'Winds and Waves'.

“According to one report, we could be looking at hundreds of new critters to collect.”

Understanding Pokémon Characters

50:34 to 51:40

Hosts share knowledge about Pokémon characters and their traits.

“Also, do we count different outfit type Pokemon?”

Host's Personal Experience with Pokémon

51:40 to 54:01

One host shares their journey with Pokémon and its cultural impact.

“Anyways, combined all that, it's not a feasible for Pokemon wins and waves to reach that reported number of 300 new Pokemon.”

Breaking News on Fallout Game

54:01 to 55:59

Discussion about Obsidian's transition to a new Fallout game amidst layoffs.

“But no, and I think I played, I think the last one I played was Sword and Shield because British.”

Obsidian's Workforce Changes and Fallout Future

56:00 to 58:35

Learn about Obsidian's layoffs, cancelled projects, and the future of Fallout games.

“As part of the shakeup, Obsidian has canceled a planned sequel to the 2025 role-playing game Avowed along other unannounced projects.”

Impact of Layoffs on Xbox and Industry Workers

58:35 to 1:01:08

Discussion around the broader implications of layoffs in the gaming industry and the impact on workers.

“The people said And will also still work on it's live service multiplayer game Grounded 2 Are they still doing that in Co-Pro with Eidos Montreal was it?”

The Future of Fallout and Outer Worlds

1:01:08 to 1:03:01

Insights into the development timelines and expectations for upcoming Fallout and Outer Worlds titles.

“I just wanted to say that because not a lot of people are talking about that.”

Review Roundups: Echoes of Aincrad and Black Flag Resync

1:03:01 to 1:08:58

A roundup of reviews for recent game releases, focusing on 'Echoes of Aincrad' and 'Black Flag Resync'.

“It's one of those, I want to know if I'm right.”

Wee News: Nintendo and Mobile Game Updates

1:08:58 to 1:10:00

Latest updates on Nintendo games and mobile titles including shutdown news and new releases.

Game Updates and Shutdowns

1:10:00 to 1:10:55

Learn about recent game updates and upcoming shutdowns in the gaming industry.

“so you'll know when you've hit them with the survival multi-tool.”

Super Chats and Community Interaction

1:10:55 to 1:13:20

Explore community questions and interactions surrounding game franchises.

“We turn our lonely eyes over to the Super Chats.”

Reflections on Gaming and Media

1:13:20 to 1:14:05

Hear thoughts on the state of physical media and gaming content today.

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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00It's Kind of Funny's Patreon Pledge Month. Support us at patreon.com slash kindoffunny. We really appreciate it.

0:08Joey Noel:Today, in the nerdy news you need to know about, will PlayStation change course on ditching discs? Bernie Sanders yells at Xbox, and we got Pokemon Wind and Waves rumors. We'll have all this and more because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily.

0:28Joey Noel:what's up everybody welcome to kind of funny games daily for Wednesday July 8th 2026 I'm one of your hosts Greg Miller alongside looking for games Lucy James hi hey hey Lucy how you doing I'm doing well thanks how are you I'm excellent I'm concerned why state of the industry well for sure that but it's more the fact that when i let in one british person i know y 'all are like ants i'll have another one here in two seconds what do you mean i mean you come in then i gotta worry about a gary witta oh it's gary here i haven't seen him no he isn't oh but who is here ladies gentlemen and bees is mike bethel hey mike how are you hello i'm very good it's good to be here How are you?

1:16Joey Noel:I'm, well, I mean, the industry is dying all the time and exploding, but I'm doing pretty well. Lucy's doing pretty well with her new business, and you're doing pretty well with this mustache. I didn't realize you had a mustache now. Powerful. You like it, Natasha? Yeah. I'm very proud of Natasha. Yeah, you shouldn't be. If everybody doesn't know, Mike Biffle, of course, makes video games like Thomas Was Alone, like, of course, a bunch of different games, like one that I starred in. No, not that one. The one I starred in. Oh, I know it. It's a game showdown question right here. Oh, no, I'm sorry.

1:45I'm sorry.

1:46Joey Noel:Solitaire conspiracy. Come on. You could have been there. You could have helped me out. And most importantly, little Mike Biffle has announced a brand new game today. Vampirium 1997. And while a lot of games get announced in this industry, okay, and we do our best to tell you all about it, Mike Biffle will always be the first person who took Kind of Funny seriously. And when we launched a Patreon, we had a sponsorship tier that we thought no one would ever do. And Biffle got it so he could promote volume on the kind of funny and i will always be in his debt for that so mike bithel congratulations on vampirium 1997 getting announced today what's it all about thanks so much i that was clearly a good investment it's it's paying off for literally decades um yeah vampirium is uh vampirium 97 it's an immersive sim it's kind of minimalist it's interesting uh essentially you play as a vampire assassin uh working your way around various interesting locations dracula is the king of the british empire you need to kill his enemies for him and it's uh yeah people seem to dig it it's going down well we're going to make it um we're we're going into early access we're going to make it with the audience and kind of really iterate it on iterate on it publicly basically and just kind of get those kind of hardcore players giving us feedback and notes I'm really excited about it.

3:03It's the first time we've done that kind of open development in a while because we've been doing, you know, we did some stuff with Disney. We did some stuff with John Wick. This is really cool to be able to, there you go. This will be really great just to, yeah, be able to share that in public and kind of have that conversation. But, yeah, so it's off to a good start. People are liking it. People are wishlisting it. If you're watching this and this sounds interesting, please go on Steam and wishlist it. Vampirium 1997. But, yeah, I'm feeling good about it. Yeah. 1997. if you're not in it though greg that's the only flaw well i mean it's a lot of references to like kf guard maybe that's there you go yeah are you doing are there going to be voices in it are we going that far you know what are we doing where we're at we're gonna we're gonna like i said we're gonna kind of see where the community takes us if there's in if there's interest if people are digging it if people are picking it up then we can start playing with those ideas um it's not i did when i named the kf guards the kf guards i was anticipating that you guys would you know maybe sue me or something no no familiar the night's familiar change me kind of funny you have my heart they'll always be kind of funny exactly kind of funny license that from you amazing yeah for

4:11Joey Noel:sure for sure yeah i'm so proud of you mike this is so exciting everybody go a wish list on steam vampirium 1997 you're obviously coming out the gate right now you can go to your youtube biffle games obviously you can see not only the teaser trailer but then like a nine minute walk through you did of how the game works and what's going on everyone should go and do that free thank you where are we in terms of the timeline you announced today when do you expect people to actually be able to get into early access um so we're not saying that today but you're giving me an exclusive and you're stealing my ip so you can this is yeah this is true this is true i mean it depends how much time i waste talking to kind of funny um but uh no we're we're gonna be doing we're definitely going to be doing some like open alpha testing relatively soon and kind of getting a few people in the door to kind of give us the thoughts um it's it's an interesting one because it is so as you can see from the gameplay footage it's so um it's an immersive sim but it's obviously a weird perspective it's a weird interface so we're having to do a lot of work to make sure that that feels great for players yeah so it's going to be a bit of back and forth we're going to figure that out but already we've got play testers working out how to someone worked out how to like barricade the vampire outside so when the sun rose they died automatically which was great we're getting those kind of fun interactions which are really cool um so yeah we're gonna be playing with all of that um and also yeah if people go to the steam page they can they can see that video you were just sharing which yeah as i said just is me playing essentially me doing a mission so entering a space uh to assassinate to be a hitman if you will um and to take out a bad guy in that level would you say it's kind of like you're a hitman on the go i i would say i would say yeah it is it is it is hitman adjacent i am i'm experiencing what it would be to be a hitman yeah perhaps not the hitman okay sure fair enough fair enough i appreciate that i appreciate that i have a couple super chats for you already uh of course you can if you're watching us live youtube.com slash kind of funny games you could write in uh we only have mike for a little bit but you can talk to lucy she's also british uh jj baseball 23 says uh this looks awesome wish listed and can't wait for this to be on my rog or to be my rog couch game so you got to keep us i know you're a pc guy at heart all right but we got to get that beaten out of you because you got to remember unfortunately you are outnumbered here because i'm also a pc well i mean technically i've been playing everything on pc as well but since my pcs are only portable they're really just vita twos it's a whole thing don't worry about it but you got to keep us controller people in mind all right i know and i mean i will say so i'm gonna say right out the gate already cool controller support okay already at 60 fps on steam oh oh i don't know the rogue i don't know the rogue steam it's more powerful so if you're doing steam deck oh we're fine yeah you're great you're great hell yeah okay great um no that's i'm i'm the exact same i i i like playing on a mouse and keyboard but yeah i'm i'm a i'm a controller guy as well so yeah that stuff we always kind of get there from the start it feels it feels great on the controller it's very much like that is honestly the steam deck is my favorite way to play it um it's super sleek um which has been its own interesting game design challenge that i could bore you for an hour about in terms of how you make that interface feel good but it's coming along it's coming along uh dustino super chat says mike biffle stoked to see you on kind of funny games daily and congrats on the announcement love hearing your insight on the industry and completely unrelated topics on pwl that's play watch listen usually completely unrelated topics i don't think we talked about games for about six months on there but yeah people should uh should check play watch list now me alana and austin talking absolute nonsense i'm glad that dustino gave us that transition you do talk about the industry every so off offer your insight uh how do we save it yeah um that's why it might be too big a question you're one of these millionaire independent developers your game is yeah totally yeah no absolutely i for me i think i think we have to treat people better that's i that's the short version of a very long answer um people make games and we should treat people with respect and kindness and not try and put positive spin on them losing their jobs well said that would be my my random take i like that take a lot as i scroll ahead in the news about story number three we're going to say no that's not how they're they're acting that's not they're acting about it but that's maybe they give them an mo that's fair yeah yeah maybe they'll hear this like oh we shouldn't have done that to the bethousand developers mike i love you congratulations vampirium 1997 available to go wishlist right now of course that's where you'd go and follow the game do you want where else should be people be action are you just saying wishlist so they follow you've been doing just you've been doing a novel like a visual or a what do you call it chapters of a story that's a whole thing i don't want to you've got news to get to but yeah we've been doing a whole short story so if you were in our short story the big reveal in the in today's chapter was that it's dracula um but no the thing the thing to do if you're watching this and any of what i've said sounds interesting please go to the steam page for vampirium 997 and click wish list it it helps us in the algorithm it gets everything rolling you're a hero if you do it and i appreciate it and then stick around because we want to kind of talk to the community about where they want us to take the game um so yeah um that's all really cool if you want to join our mailing list feel free but i really want to push people towards steam and the wish list if we can um please vampirian 1997 get over there and do it look at him and his mustache take care of him we love you mike good to see you both bye lucy this is big for me because i'm in my vampire era are you finally watching lestat are you watching interview the vampire no no i don't like watching content as you know so i like playing content so i did bloodline very excited for dawn walker as you know oh it's sick you i know you've been telling me how good it is i got another vampire game from here i went back and re-downloaded vampire remember that old one from back in the day i played a little bit yeah where i played a little bit of it dropped off but i put it back on the steam but more importantly dawn walker yeah we previewed it yesterday go dead andy paris love it you love it as well i loved it yeah you went to the same event as andy i was sat next to excellent tell me the andy story i'm sorry andy um she walked to the station like i'm pissed off i wasn't on the show yesterday so i couldn't tell andy these cookies so handy uh we get we get there there's like little snacks and coffees and things andy and i both grab a bag of cookies and we're standing there and we go in this beautiful grandiose church situation there are monks there's all this you know projection on the walls real monks there well i don't think they were real amongst people in suits and then on the on the ceiling you know they had like a full day night cycle on the ceiling awesome and he opens his uh opens his bag of cookies as the uh as they're giving the little spiel about what the game is and instead of using his hand to grab a cookie he he bends at the neck to go down like a giraffe at the watering hole i caught him doing it it's honestly the most bizarre thing i've ever seen and yet maybe something we should all pick up I can put myself in his headspace you get to the event your hands are dirty I've stressed I mean now COVID's blown up my spot but I stressed for years like when you go to SDCC when you go to PAX your hands are biohazards you're shaking hands you're saying you can't touch your food but I'd wrap a napkin around something I'm trying to eat or whatever so for them to get up and be like big coming out party let's tell you about our game and they look at the crowd you're like nick scarpino like what are you doing andy thing is though is that i was i was tempted to try and maybe you know maybe i will going forward i'm sorry andy i love you the other thing i would offer a question it would almost be to you but it's really to everybody watching everybody watching you're in different industries assumedly you're doing different things some you many of you have real normal jobs are there as many just weirdo crazy people around you i'm including myself in this.

12:02Joey Noel:But when you talk about Andy, you talk about Dan Reicher, you talk about me. Like, I just feel like Mike Minotti, I feel like when you start really getting into how crazy we all are, idiosyncraties, you know what I mean? Oh yeah. Sometimes I sort of, you know, we'll talk to everyone saying yes. Okay, great. Okay, good. Cool. Just making sure. Just make it. You know what? We can leave it right there, everybody, because this is kind of funny games daily. Each and every weekday, we run you through the nerdy news. You need to know about if you're watching live super chat to be part of the show, youtube.com slash kind of funny games, just like Alex did.

12:32Joey Noel:What kind of coffee is you drinking? Love you guys. Got a hot latte. I'm pretty boring. Yeah, I'm doing the 1971 roast. Just black coffee is all I want. That was the first one that popped up. That's what I wanted. Yours is a latte. When I just want black coffee, it gets complicated. Of course, we couldn't do the show without our Patreon producers on patreon.com slash kindoffunny. So thank you, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster, Delaney the Somme Twining, and Lax Nomad. For now, let's begin the show with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. Time for some news. Oh, I didn't even list them all today.

13:05Joey Noel:I got to do ahead of myself. I'm not used to Billy. You're doing great, Bear. Keep going. Six items on the Roper Report. A baker's dozen! Crushed it, as always. Thank you, Bear. Story number one. The headline I put, Will PlayStation reverse its diskless decision? Because we're going to have a conversation springing from this headline. Analyst says PlayStation won't change its mind. This is Tom Phillips at IGN. PlayStation 5 owners are canceling their PlayStation Plus subscriptions in protest at Sony's controversial decision to stop releasing games on physical discs. But the gesture will not force the console maker to change its mind, analysts say.

13:43Joey Noel:Sony has drawn huge amounts of online criticism from PlayStation owners, upset at the move to an all-digital future for all-new PlayStation 5 games launched from January 2028 onwards. Something that's almost certain to continue on PS6. A high-profile petition calling on Sony to reconsider its decision has now reached over 200 ,000 signatures, and in the past few days, PlayStation 5 users have taken to social media to share screenshots of canceling PlayStation Plus subscriptions. But speaking to IGN, Dr. Sirkan Toto, CEO of Japanese game industry consultancy firm Kantan Games, suggested that even if half a million people canceled their PlayStation Plus subscription in protest, it would just be a drop in the ocean for Sony, which is not going to change its mind.

14:31Joey Noel:Quote, I sympathize with physical media fans, but Sony will not reverse its decision, Toto told IGN. they of course knew what the online reaction would look like and they now wait for this storm to pass Sony has over 120 million active PlayStation users around 50 million people subscribe on PlayStation Plus as a thought experiment let's say 500 ,000 cancel in protest that would be just 1 % of the business gone of course not enough for Sony to start rethinking digital is just too lucrative end quote For a first-party PlayStation game such as The Last of Us, Sony will only keep around 65 % of the money from a physical copy, with 30 % going to the retailer and roughly another 5 % on manufacturing costs.

15:16Joey Noel:Meanwhile, for a physical copy of a third-party game such as Activision-published Call of Duty, Sony will get a licensing fee of likely around 15%. For digital downloads, however, the margins are much higher. For a first-party game sold via Sony's own PlayStation Store, the company obviously keeps 100 % of the revenue. For third-party games, such as Call of Duty, meanwhile, Sony keeps 30 % cut, so roughly$21 for a$70 game. Quote, I do think Sony will respond in some capacity given the backlash, and to be honest, they shouldn't have announced this until they were ready to disclose how discs work on PlayStation 6, said Daniel Lamad, director of research and insights at Nico Partners via a post on X.

15:58Joey Noel:But I'd be surprised if they do a full reversal at this point. We're back to Toto here. Their current profit margin has been too weak for years now. So they feel like they must act, Toto concluded. From an economic perspective, digital sales just make too much sense, especially for platform holders. Lucy, what do these people know? These analysts. Yeah, no, they're not going to go back on this. i mean they they did say what if from 28 onwards if you are third party you can request like reprints and stuff yeah new discs no new discs no i mean that's the thing it's like it was kind of always going to happen this way it absolutely sucks the timing was god awful with them revoking all of the digital content on people's libraries anyway yeah uh and then gta 6 set the precedent so of course yeah of course it was gonna happen yeah i think you know it's an interesting conversation to come up because it's more the people who are holding on hope that they would change the decision where i think this is what we've talked about so much on this show so many different times of the people who watch this show and care about game news this way are the hardest of the hardcore and we're all this da da da and then you get out into this general populace who doesn't even know this is happening and when it happens they might be upset but were they ever going to be the ones who go buy the next thing were they even going to do it when they buy that first box copy off of in 2028 the walmart shelf and bring it home and open up and find a digital code and then they just find out that's what life is will it repel them from the business or not it's a that is an actual question and figure it out but in reality back to what the analysts are saying here is what i've been saying on these shows is that playstation sits there and has bean counters going through this and going even if we lose 30 percent of playstation plus subscriptions the money we will make off of the remaining things we're back to the art the thing i keep trotting out the dead horse i keep bringing out of the cfo saying we're going to monetize the existing playstation user they know the hardest of hardcore are going to still want to play their games and are still want to go do this and are already doing it again this is something that keeps getting lost in the conversations we're having this isn't a decision that they're throwing we've hit 51 percent of people want digital downloads we're gonna if 49 get in line with it right we're talking about an overwhelming majority that are buying that way and yes i know there are physical collectors i see you all on the reddits and the sub instagram and everywhere else and i love that that's your passion it's just playstation knows that future is ending somewhere and it's also i mean for them what what are you gonna do not buy games for the console that you spend all that money on yeah i said it on friends per second but they've they've got the audience by the short and curlies and it's their way or the highway and the thing if you're talking about because obviously when you can't when you think about discs you think about uh brick and mortar retail and that was advertising because you would walk in you would see a cool looking game uh by the box art on the shelf and you'd be like i want to play that you can still have that you can still have the fake boxes like you have a target uh or you could do what xbox has and has all of the keys on a card go scratch them off so there will still be some retail presence but yeah no how long do you think that lasts do you think there's ever i mean as the console market continues to shrink slash stabilize is a much smaller thing as you assume the big box stores are getting angry at playstation for this decision are not liking this if they aren't moving units we're kind of into where they were with xbox where we're shrinking the xbox footprint you're not selling costco's getting rid of xboxes you're not selling like at what point is it like well no buyers if you want a playstation 6 or 5 i guess after this buy it from amazon buy it from whatever yeah i I wonder if there will be a subset of people.

19:35Myself included is that I don't love buying big expensive things that have to be delivered to my house online. And so I still relish the brick and mortar experience because it feels safer in some way. I live in Oakland, so it is safer in some way. I've had a lot of packages stolen.

19:53Joey Noel:Luckily, that's happening everywhere. But no, the thing is that I agree with you. There will be less and less space, but I think there will always still be a present because there will be, I mean, really, I don't even think we're talking about your triple A's other than like, they're not going to remove Roblox and Minecraft cards. Yeah. That's the thing. And as long as they are going to continue to have, but even then I wonder like the cards, I even at the grocery store at the checkout counter, I glance over there and it's a million gift cards, including Xbox, including PlayStation. It's like, is that the future where like the electronics department is, is TVs and whatever, but then everything else is over there.

20:31I think there'll always still be some. Because if you think about peripherals, I wonder if you can still get your controllers and such there, even if maybe they carry one or two of the actual consoles themselves in terms of box. I don't know. I think it's still valuable.

20:46Joey Noel:Yeah. The thing about all of this is that I have like, like you said, we talk about games like Live and Breathe them, Audience Lives and Breathe them, but it's like, I am tech support for people in my family who do not. And so the audience that we're not talking about is that one where it's like, I have my aunt and uncle and they won't put their PS4 on the internet. Because, yeah. Cyberpunk running for them. Well, no, they're not playing that. He's playing Lego games and stuff. And then my sister, I got my nieces a Switch and she was like, well, they can play Minecraft or whatever, but I'm going online with it yeah and so yeah cool how you know what are we doing about we're doing about all that are you just waiting for that well they are they're just gonna wait for that audience to continue to remain on last gen and then eventually just get with the program if you do upgrade yeah i think that's the thing where there's going to be pills to swallow and i think that'll be what's interesting about how they're promoting next gen right we talk about it all the time here and i know you do as well of like well do we need next gen what will the actual benefits of next gen be okay cool maybe you're getting 120 you know and 4k or whatever the graphical deal is but of course at my pc exactly please don't break please i actually don't have an issue with my oh no who would have thought pc gaming well i think a cable's loose oh well that's not that just fix the cable you know what i mean yeah but i'm scared fair enough uh yeah as we get to this i think the we get into that hypothetical argument all the time of well if a grandmother walks into the store and tries to she's gonna be confused and that's just i don't think that scenario happens as much and i think as we hurdle towards a playstation 6 a project helix that is 1500 wait two thousand dollars like we're definitely to a point where it's not your your your sister calling you be like hey i want to get my nephew this you know fuck no like i'm buying a refurbished whatever and like that's what they're riding out forever and ever unless they are falling into who how we grew up of being obsessed with games and that's who we are it's just sad and i mean it's super sad yeah and but yeah and then i haven't i haven't watched jason schreier's video on it yet but i know the youtuber the schreier guy one take the youtuber yeah jason schreier i haven't watched his video yet but i know he kind of delves into margins and yeah how what are the actual percentages i think i saw in the chat earlier someone said the capcom 93 digital yeah so it was always gonna to happen yeah it was always gonna again it was always gonna happen i think it was this shock of it happening last week on a random tuesday right where it was like oh nobody had heard rumors that this was the thing that was shifting and here it was bam we're done here's the date why did they announce it is it a shareholder reason they had to they had to announce it i mean i don't understand why they didn't just wind it down slowly i mean as i've said multiple times on this show playstation sees a rake they want every time playstation shoots themselves in their foot xbox shoots themselves in the head so like xbox telegraph july 6 is the date we're making extreme cuts and so i playstation must have been like get the bad get the bad news out before then because like what the fuck what do we care and i i imagine as we hurdle towards playstation 6 and the next gen which they're working on you know inevitably leaks are going to start dev units are going to blah blah blah blah and there's going to be conversations with partners outside of the walled garden that are hey there's no discs like you have to be prepped it's them controlling the messaging exactly yeah own it put it out there be upset about it and yeah at that time you couldn't have been worse to yeah come off of uh i want to say castle rock but that wasn't it whatever the production company that had pulled other movies including terminator 2 and all that jazz from the playstation store and yeah but again that's where we are as it's always bad news in the industry It's constantly bad news.

24:35Joey Noel:There is one piece of good news right now from Kotaku. This is Zach over there. However, if you do threaten to quit your PlayStation Plus, you might get a discount. Last week, PlayStation announced that it would be ending physical video game disc production for new games in 2028. This angered a lot of people, not just collectors and superfans. Now players trying to cancel their PlayStation Plus accounts in protest are being offered discounts to stay, discovering how desperate Sony and other companies are to keep people hooked on subscriptions. Some players fed up with Sony's decision have begun canceling their PlayStation Plus subscriptions and now are being offered a choice.

25:07Joey Noel:Ditch Sony to prove a point or take the devil's deal and get a big discount on PlayStation Plus. Quote, in protest to Sony going all digital, I tried to cancel my subscription, posted one PlayStation user on Reddit on Monday. But they hit me with 50 % off deal if I resubscribed, ha ha. They shared a screenshot of the PlayStation app with an offer from Sony for three months of PlayStation Plus at half price. Others claim to have received similar offers when trying to quit and boycott Sony. One user was offered 25 % off a 12-month PlayStation Plus subscription despite accepting an offer earlier in the year to extend their plan at a discounted rate.

25:41Joey Noel:Others claim that the same scenario happened to them too. To be clear, it is extremely unlikely Sony has flipped some switch on the back end to keep people subscribed to PlayStation Plus following its poorly received announcement of the death of physical discs. Instead, this is just how companies that are desperate to keep subscriber numbers up and money flowing tend to react when you try to leave. yeah I was gonna say I don't know if that's something that they 100 % did because as someone who has been riding off the$2.99 a month peacock subscription no ads baby I think about all that vandapump rules uh yeah I do that a lot I buy a subscription and it's like it's the old if you're old enough for member cable tv when you call did you cancel your cable what if I gave you a package that bundled x y and z and brought it down to this thing no I had to get I bought like five years of ps plus um a while ago because uh of the unique and annoying way that playstation does region locking uh and so when i moved over to us um i couldn't get used codes or anything on my actual account and i couldn't use my american cards to pay for the games on my original account so uh yep you got me i remember those days of playstation 3 having my japanese game over Greggy account and having to go to play Asia and buy a PSN Japanese card so I could go in and buy whatever oh yeah no and for a while I didn't have um a debit card or a credit card in the UK um because I was like I don't love that uh and uh do you know how humiliating it is for a 30 something year old woman to ask their mom for money to buy playstation games I love that it was the same thing where like uh I forget where we were but when Simon Carty was staying with us on the last last one.

27:23Joey Noel:He's like, let me pick up the tag. Let me pick up the tab. And it was square pie, guys. And like he did the thing and it's like on the QR code, it says like, foreign cards won't work. He's like, ah, guys, I need you. We're like, ah, we got you, brother. Let's get some Super Chats in. Obviously, there are a lot going on here. Cry tune. Boss B. Super Chats and says, hello, Greg and Lucy. So Sony wants to stop production of physical discs. Could a third party offer Sony slash Microsoft to take over the production side, including cost this could be a valid option right technically yes but let's walk it backwards right this could be an option of out a valid option yes the market is shrunk to such a degree that is not worth the investment i would think as an outsider looking in could a third party offer sony slash microsoft to take over the production side of including cost shockingly if you didn't know you can eliminate microsoft from that it's just sony printing discs xbox pays sony to make their discs i didn't know that it's a bad scene out there brother and so like this is the whole thing where it's like oh playstation's canceling look to xbox and i'm like are we really looking to xbox because sony is the one making the blu-rays and that's what they're using right so if we go that direction yeah then how is if sony starts flipping the fucking script like the everything we talk about all the time it feels like is the canary in the coal mine we're the canary this is the thing like oh my god they've jacked up the price of xbox and we're like well yeah everything's about to go up and then everything went blah blah blah like playstation pulling out of discs ah and it's like yes understandably so i assure you that xbox is was is thinking the exact same thing especially as you try to bring the price tag of helix down last year or the year before i think they laid off a lot of people in their um physical disc distribution team and so even taking xbox out of the conversation let's look to play and i i'm talking out my ass here i don't know the real numbers here but if playstation is saying we're not making discs anymore is i don't know how long sony is looking at it going we're all we're still making blu-rays as physical best buy doesn't sell them i don't know i remember when tim was all cry baby about it like you know what i mean like isn't that right isn't that didn't they pull that out Like as this continue to go down and down and down, I would argue to a degree, your only option is going to be a third party saying, Hey, we're still making discs place is Sony has closed this down of some Cameron Kennedy says they brought them back.

29:55Joey Noel:I think. Okay, great. But as it continues to go down, eventually Sony is going to say, we're not making these anymore. A third party option will pop up, but I imagine it's going to be so boutique that it wouldn't be this way of it. And then it's going to be what we're seeing with Ram of, okay, cool. the is it i let's i'm just spitballing i am a bit wants to make a blu-ray version of whatever game independent partner they're working with they're going to order 1500 copies let's just say yeah yeah but you're looking over at some anapurna pictures wants to put out a blu-ray collection for their thing and they're ordering 40 000 copies well it's like that's going to be the contract that takes precedent over that like i feel like that's where you also get into this sliding scale.

30:37Yeah, unless you did like a limited run, not the company concept. If you did a thing where it's like you sign up, you pay, your deposit, whatever, then we get that money printed.

30:50Joey Noel:And again, that will be, I do think, an actual viable business on a small scale, yes. On the scale so many of us want, no. Collectors, there will always be the people who are ready for that, but it's also like It's another barrier to entry. It's like, it's not just, oh, I can go on Amazon or I can go to Target and I can just buy it because it's right there. It's like, I have to hunt this out. I have to seek it out. And with everything else, it's vying for my attention at the same point. Am I going to remember to do that? Am I even going to know? Am I going to miss the pre-order window? Which has happened to me multiple times already.

31:22And I feel like to think of myself as quite a switched on online person. Yeah, I just, oh man, it feels... We were just saying to Mike when he was waiting to come in, we were like, going back how long, like mike and i have known each other we're just like oh we've been around for so long like and should have remembered the should have thought about the good old days when you were in them 100 go to the shop and buy something and then i could trade it in and get something else

31:50Joey Noel:it's outrageous to think about what this i mean for me 20 years ago starting in this industry working at ign and going to gamestop and trading stuff in and getting new things and then the ign library of games behind us and that's a die and i'm and is it better or worse like it's a different it's just it's like talking to somebody about like pre-internet days like it's that crazy of like trying to explain to somebody what it used to be like i digress uh exigent midnight says sony will only change its minds if its mind if big third-party devs say their games will skip playstation without physical options and it won't happen exactly it won't happen because again i think they're going to be forced into where they're going console market share exactly exactly exactly shrinking we'll see what goes on there uh rance says if they would do it to where we can download our purchases for offline use forever and actually own things in a digital form maybe it wouldn't be so bad correct but as i saw imran khan call out today or a long time ago i think it was but he quote tweeted it today on bs that's blue sky team if you want to see how bad this digital market is just look at mobile and go try to find your favorite mobile games because they don't fucking exist anymore as today as we get to eventually in wii news a final fantasy and mario kart world or i'm sorry mario kart tour is that what it's called yep whatever the mobile mario kart is being taken offline as well that's just gone you'll never play uh you can't actually play the greatest game ported to mobile ever made peggle peggle does not work uh on ios it never got updated doesn't work please please someone at ea please just fix it what about don't you mention peggle blast to me barrett what about peggle 2 no not on there damn yeah they did peggle blast because they wanted the microtransactions that worked out really well for them sucks mike like music has a super chat in here i believe that ps6 could potentially be sony's xbox one moment Xbox has the opportunity to make Helix have a disk drive no paywall for online and have a PC slash Xbox library it could even be cheaper and more powerful than the Playstation 6 listen Mike like music everything you just said of course could happen I don't know what you've seen from Satya Nadella's moves that make you think any of that has a point more than .01 % chance of happening Satya Nadella's just misunderstood Greg Like, this is what, this is endgame.

34:16You know what? This is really where we're going to,

34:18Joey Noel:I understand this market has never been sustainable, but we're going to take a fucking humongous gamble. We're going to eat fucking$1 ,000 loss on every console just so we can win the gamers' hearts and minds and still do physical. I'm spinning up a production facility in Korea right now that's going to print discs for no fucking chance. This is like every, again, there's such a, there are three to four different perfect storms intersecting in where we are right now where it's like maybe if Xbox hadn't failed maybe if there wasn't the RAM crisis maybe there were the memory maybe like no everybody's battening down the hatches how can they get the most money out of all of us so they can get to the other side of the storm and if you're at Microsoft fund a bunch of fucking AI garbage that's okay because everyone's using Copilot right yeah

35:09Joey Noel:I'm looking through here to see I'm going to give Christopher Burnett the last super chat on this topic. I'm a hardcore gamer. I buy a minimum of five to eight physical games per month and zero digital games. No disc, no buy. Well, just retrograde game going forward. And I wish you well with that. You know what I mean? As we already see, the majority of people are buying. Majority of game sales are digital. They're worried about that. They're not worried about the minority that they're going to lose. and again, Christopher, are they really going to lose you? I'm not challenging you and saying you're not a man of your word.

35:44I'm just saying, we'll see.

35:47Joey Noel:We'll see. I don't know what game could sway you, bring you back. And once you do, it's a slippery slope. I'm just saying. But I wish you well with your retro games as I wish everybody well, of course, each and every day here on Kind of Funny Games Daily, where I couldn't do it without your support. Remember, you can pick up a membership over on Patreon.com slash Kind of Funny, YouTube.com slash Kind of Funny Games, Apple and Spotify. Of course the membership would get you everything we do Ad for your daily dose of me Greg Miller in which I review the drama today The movie? Things to say about that Oh I'm dying to know what you think about it You like it?

36:22Joey Noel:Subscribe to the membership It inspired a lot of conversation with me and Jen Okay Oh no what did you do So I mean just here So do you think the drama The reveal Would that be a big deal to you?

36:40I'm glad someone's finally asking this question. It would be a big deal, but not as big as they like, I would be like, you know, more on the concern side.

36:49Joey Noel:I would be like, Oh my God. Yeah. Really? Tell me more about that. That's so cool. You overcame that. Not, not like, ah, ruin our whole fucking life. Go watch the drama, everybody. And then watch the, the, the spoiler cast. Thank you, bear. It's on my side. Fuck you. Listen, I've been talking about this for months and we feel like fucking insane people. the way people talk about this fucking movie. I can't wait to have a real conversation with you. I gotta talk to Julie about it. Because me and Jen finished it. Jen and I, like, in the middle of it, almost turned it off. We're like, we're so angry at the way they're all reacting about this.

37:17Joey Noel:And so then when we got into this, and it was in bed last night, we're like, but do you think we're the crazy ones? Like, did other people watch this movie or were like, yeah, this is the, I would have the same reaction. Because it's obviously, like, they went through something, and they, like you said, overcame it. I don't know, man. It's so weird. Yeah. Everybody, of course, go to get the Greg way on Patreon, on YouTube, Apple, Spotify. Of course, you get good karma for supporting 11-person, 11-year-old small business right now that you're not using your benefits. So here's a word from our sponsors.

37:41This week, we're sponsored by patreon.com slash kindoffunny because it's Patreon Pledge Month. If you enjoyed the crazy amount of summer Game Fest coverage we put out in June, please consider tossing us a few bucks this month with a Patreon membership or upgrade your pledge for July. Patreon members receive perks like ad-free audio and video versions of every show, access to quips a twitter like equivalent with posts from greg and daily exclusive episodes of gregway we're releasing episodes of gregway publicly each week this month so you can get a taste of what the show is all about right now you can go watch blessing talk about what it was like being a guest on dropouts on the actually game show that is very very cool all patreon.com slash kind of funny members will also have access to watch this month's happy hour a monthly call 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 games cast intro for the entire 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 this episode's brought to you by factor sometimes hunger strikes and you're just exhausted, or you've been hosting shows back to back to back and you just don't have it in you to set up and prepare the whole meal that you thought you would have time for.

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39:59Joey Noel:called kindoffunny.com slash you're wrong where you keep us honest i i have two in here hauser says sony da dc dan hauser watching the show uh sony da dc are the biggest blu-ray replication service but they aren't the only one similar disc replication services uh that offer Blu-ray replication do exist Yes, I understand that To be clear, I want to make sure My disc burner Exactly, I know that there are third parties Already that do print Blu-rays But I was under the belief that even Xbox was using Sony's manufacturing For Sony Blu-rays However, there is one from Solopices 3D Solopices? I just read the names, you know what I mean They could put in their real names, it's a form, you can write in whatever you want It says, Sony does not well that's wrong okay so that's that's okay yeah yeah i don't know and then i'm over here and i'm you know i'm trying to find i just put in the question who prints blu-ray discs for video games because i want to make sure i'm being i'm accurate if i'm wrong i want to know i'm wrong uh but like there's multiple coming up in sony da dc is the primary global survival playstation discs they manufacture game discs the mass plant blah blah there's another one here and this is the ai scraping i'm sorry i'm live but connective formerly known as technicolor this company manufacturers the majority of Xbox discs for Xboxes.

41:25Joey Noel:So, if that's right, I would be wrong. But I had heard the other way. But I could be wrong and I don't know what's going on. So I want to make sure we're all clear on this one. That's what I'm aware of. Thank you very much. If anybody can get me an article, an actual source of what's going on and where... You know, I have one source on this. Let me... Okay, hold on. Bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, dump, dump, dump. Hey. I'm live. What are you messaging? No, I'm going to say I won't name you. No, no, no. Don't you look. Oh, wow. All right. I'm on learn.microsoft.com creating disks. Hmm. I think that's for Microsoft stuff.

42:08Is this good to watch, everyone? Yo, they're fine with it. They're all wondering who Greg's hitting up. A lot of people in the chat say he's hitting up AI. Yeah, chat.

42:21Joey Noel:AI already gave me a milk toast convoluted answer. He's at GPT and he's grokking it. He's a numbers guy.

42:31Wow, this is utterly useless even.

42:38Yeah, I don't know. All right. How's everyone doing?

42:42Joey Noel:All right, we're back. We'll see if I get an answer to that question. Okay. That's a shot. that's when I don't that's not me fucking texting Mike Bithell we'll see if I get a response on that one everybody we move on to story number two Bernie Sanders versus Xbox this is WIP at IGN Senator Bernie Sanders has hit out at Microsoft over the recent layoffs at Xbox as well as console price rises insisting their evidence that corporate tax breaks do not create jobs pointing to the billions of dollars of profit Microsoft makes alongside the billions in tax breaks it has received and the tens of millions it pays CEO Satya Nadella, the 84-year-old senator from Vermont, claimed that the layoffs were proof that corporate tax breaks do not lead to job creation.

43:29Joey Noel:Quote, last year, Microsoft made$101 billion in profits, got a$12.5 billion tax break from Trump and paid its CEO$96 million, Sanders tweeted. This year, it's raising the price of an Xbox by$150 and eliminating 3 ,200 jobs. Please don't tell me corporate tax breaks create jobs. It never trickles down, end quote. This isn't the first time Sanders has spoken out about the goings-on in the video game industry. In 2022, Sanders and three other U.S. senators raised concerns about Microsoft's then-proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Quote, we are deeply concerned about consolidation in the tech industry and its impact on workers.

44:09Joey Noel:Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and Sheldon Whitehouse wrote. Could have had a game of president. Could have had a game of president. Can you believe it? Could have had a game of president. You know, it's nice to see people saying it. Yeah. It doesn't change anything ever. Nothing fucking happens off of it, but Bernie says it. That's nice. Because it's accurate. I think you know it's like everybody right now I don't want games and politics in my games well you're you are being they are hello here you go this is what they've been talking about the whole fucking way at what point I mean are we looking at this going 96 million fucking dollars for Satya Nadella but these 3200 other people community managers environment artists hit the fucking bricks engineers everyone Everyone.

45:07No one's safe. Remember when they tried to wash it as like, oh, you know, we had like 14 layers of management. Those are the those are. That's what makes up the entire 3000 people we just laid off. Remember when they tried to paint it as that?

45:23Joey Noel:Well, the good news, Barrett, is that since they've done these massive cuts, they're letting all the people who need to express their emotions express their. Number three on the Roper report. Bethesda HR forced staff to remove small memorial to laid off colleagues. This is Zach again over at Kotaku. Earlier this week, Xbox began yet another large wave of layoffs across its various divisions and studios, which included many layoffs at Bethesda Studios. But when folks at the main Bethesda Game Studio in Maryland tried to pay tribute to their laid-off colleagues via a small memorial, HR allegedly told them to remove it, according to posts from the official BGS Union.

45:59Joey Noel:On Monday, Xbox and Microsoft began cutting thousands of jobs across all of its subsidiaries and studios. Bethesda Game Studios and its various satellite teams weren't spared from the carnage, with many staff members laid off as part of a larger round of cuts. So on Tuesday, as reported by the Bethesda Game Studios Union, and I'm sorry, the BGS team in Austin set up a small quote-unquote celebration of service memorial featuring photos of staff members who had been let go as a way to pay tribute to those who lost their jobs and show solidarity during this challenging time. Employees at the main Bethesda Game Studio in Rockville, Maryland were inspired to do the same.

46:34Joey Noel:On Wednesday morning, the BGS union account posted a photo showing Rockville's memorial to laid off devs. But minutes later, the union claims HR demanded the memorial be removed. Quote, unfortunately, HR made our office manager take down this. Take this down almost immediately, posted the union account. They said because it's in a common area, it had to be removed. We've used common areas for many things as a team, including fan works. but HR seems to believe that a celebration of service is inappropriate end quote. Kotaku has contacted the BGS union as well as Xbox about the removal of the memorial and the status of the Austin tribute.

47:13Joey Noel:In 2022 Xbox promised not to fight back against unionized efforts that were happening at Activision Blizzard as part of its attempt to convince lawmakers and regulators to let Microsoft buy up the Warcraft and Call of Duty company and it stuck to that pledge letting studios form and create unions however over the years the members of these unions have complained that xbox's slow walking negotiations and solving contract talks with teams who are fighting for layoff protections and more say it with me everyone hr is not your friend oh hr not hr is not your friend nope and that's the i mean like I mean Treat people better Just let them do it They miss their friends This fucking sucks The pizza party you want to throw to raise their spirits Isn't going to happen Let them have their fucking moment Let them have their little photos out And also as well A lot of the BGS stuff People who were there for 19 years I was seeing on LinkedIn 20 years, 15 years Doesn't matter even how long your service is But those are the people you are with every day for years working together on a project you're friends, colleagues and you can't even do anything.

48:25You're just expected to first of all you're expected to carry on like half your team hasn't just been cut then you're expected to carry on waiting for the axe to fall on you because they're not done. They're going to be doing this for the rest of the year.

48:37Joey Noel:The entire fiscal year we've done half of the cuts Everybody else still in the bubble We're still in the bubble everybody As someone who used to work at a place where they would have pretty much yearly cuts let me tell you those wonders for the morale and mental health of everyone involved right and that's the thing like the letter talking about these are the most historic cuts and or the biggest cuts or whatever they call it however asha framed it right like you know that knock on plexiglass this is once in a lifetime once in a corporate lifetime like let the fucking people feel the ramifications the way they're going to do why make this a why why why go and garnered this fucking headline also confirmed starfield will keep i'm kidding let's switch to news you and i'll have a lot to say about because we're number one and number two pokemon fans in the world number four pokemon wind and waves rumors this is darren over at game spot you know yeah pokemon wind winds and waves won't be out until 2027 but it looks like a few poka leaks are already surfacing the switch to exclusive is the next main line entry in the series and like Like previous games before it, it'll introduce a whole new region populated with unique Pokemon.

49:47Joey Noel:Just how many Pokemon will there be? According to one report, we could be looking at hundreds of new critters to collect. It's too many. Traditionally, each new mainline Pokemon game introduces around 100 new Pokemon. Generations 6 through 9 were the exception here. And we've already seen the starter Pokemon for Generation 10. Brout, Pombon, and Gequa. According to the usually reliable Centro Leaks, Pokemon Winds and Waves will have around 300 new Pokemon and forms in the game, and that's an important distinction. If the trio of starter Pokemon follows the usual pattern of having two evolutionary forms, then that's nine Pokemon right off the Zubat.

50:26Joey Noel:That's very good. Throw in brand new pocket monsters, including challenging legendary Pokemon, and the number climbs even further. but as mentioned above this number also includes pokemon forms the broad term but usually it includes regional variants of existing pokemon transform versions based on a game exclusive gimmick like the gigantamax gameplay mechanic and new evolutions for older pokemon combined all that and it's not unfeasible for pokemon wind and way all right stop every wind and waves we're pulling the fucking car over is it winds and waves or wind and waves because the article itself is using both It's Wins.

51:04Joey Noel:Thank you, Barrett. It is Wins. Also, do we count different outfit type Pokemon? No. It's different Pokemon? We can't. Maybe. We mustn't. Maybe. That's too much. White shirt Pikachu versus blue dress Pikachu. The swinger Pikachus, we know them well. We saw you from across the bra. They got little pineapples. These are swingers. These Pikachu. They're all over it. Now, leave this up there. As you know, Luce, I am the number one Pokemon fan I'm kind of funny now Do you need an education? I really do When you look at these two How can you glance at them and tell which is the boy Pikachu And what's the girl Pikachu?

51:44I thought It was something to do with the stripe on their tail

51:50Joey Noel:It's the tip of their tail Boys have the lightning bolt Girls have the heart That's how you know I thought it was the stripe That's actual good Pokemon knowledge I gotcha. That's what I'm here for. Anyways, combined all that, it's not a feasible for Pokemon wins and waves to reach that reported number of 300 new Pokemon. Quote, an important note is that the only aspect we've been able to verify that multiple sources have independently, have heard independently, is about the number of 300 new Pokemon placeholders. Centro leaks added. Currently, the record for new additions in a Pokemon game belongs to Pokemon Black and White, which saw 156 new Pokemon added to the franchise.

52:28Joey Noel:Other rumors circulating around Pokemon winds and waves Claim that the MMOs will inspire the game And will have a deep focus on communication Post-launch DLC for the game is also said to be in development already And one of the new battle gimmicks is reportedly based around the concept of weather With Pokemon like Arcanine, Pikachu, and Kecleon I don't know Kecleon Can I see a picture of Kecleon at some point? Getting special forms based on the conditions around them Okay, I like that loose i've come to pokemon through ben your nephew yeah familiar are you ever going to fall into it is it just completely past you so i would say that i just think i'm gonna stop real quick too uh kebabs in the chat goes it's a chameleon come on greg kebabs we don't shame here i understand that you come from a place where you like to shame people for knowledge this is an open space where we can say i don't know that pokemon and everybody goes that's great we're gonna show it to you as barrett's doing right here and we accept each other i thought you'd be more accepting kebabs you've been here a long time you know our mantra of being accepting nice people but you are apparently a very mean person and that's sad to see and i just want to say kecleon officially a little dude yeah he's that's a little that's a little dude that's a little dude right there uh so no i think back in the 90s my brain was like oh 151 pokemon that's all i need to know and i've never never had them like they they just don't come to my brain at all i did play a bunch of Pokemon Go in 2016.

53:58But, you know, you couldn't avoid that. And I lived near a protest.

54:01Joey Noel:It was great. Couldn't avoid it. Couldn't avoid it. Yeah, of course. But no, and I think I played, I think the last one I played was Sword and Shield because British. And I was like, okay, I'm interested in that. I have, yeah, I just, it's just never, I've never stuck with it. Never stuck with it. And that's the thing, is because being friends with Tim and Andrew Goldfarb, Jordan Midler. Oh, the big man. perverts for Pokemon, all of them. I just, yeah, I'm amazed at how they can keep track of all of them, because there's well over a thousand now, so 300 more. Yeah. You're asking me to, I don't know, push some very important stuff out of my brain to remember all those names.

54:39Joey Noel:It really does enjoy Pokemon now, and I'm always fucking shocked when I crack a pack with Ben. I'm like, I don't know who the fuck these people, I haven't seen them in the game. Oh, this one's Clippy. What the fuck is going on? breaking news from the shrie guy on on bs obsidian working on a fallout game whoa is that all it says or does he have an article that was a chat uh in the thing and now the chat's moved here we go what i fucking love about this is how you get the so i've messaged two sources i won't reveal about this disc business you tell me finally i i was I guess I got to go to an adult and I open up Jason Schreier.

55:21Joey Noel:I text. Hi, dad. I'm live. Does Xbox use Sony DADC to make game discs or connective? I thought Xbox was using Sony to make their disc, but the audience is fighting back. Schreier responds. I don't know what any of those words mean. I go lol. And then he goes, but I just dropped a big scoop. Check it out. We go to breaking news. I'm going to throw up in PS over here. I want to read the article in full because we got to have some fun news here. Right. We go to Bloomberg where the Shry guy, YouTuber one, take Shryer, writes Microsoft's Xbox to shift Obsidian Studio to a new to new Fallout video game.

55:55Joey Noel:Obsidian Entertainment, a subsidiary of Microsoft's Xbox, has canceled multiple projects and will begin working on a new game in the popular Fallout franchise as part of the division's broader restructuring. According to people familiar with the matter, the video game studio based in Irvine, California, also laid off around a quarter of its workforce, said the people who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized. to speak to the press. As part of the shakeup, Obsidian has canceled a planned sequel to the 2025 role-playing game Avowed along other unannounced projects. That's interesting.

56:26Avowed was getting a sequel? No, no.

56:28Joey Noel:We knew that. That had been confirmed. What's interesting about it is it didn't actually make it. I had on the short list, though, former Obsidian, for today's Games Daily, former Obsidian co-founder says Avowed 2 is quote-unquote too far along to have been canceled. It was like, that game's not getting canceled. That game's been canceled. under the new plan studio design director josh sawyer will lead the new title in the fallout universe a series of role-playing games that have taken place in alter an alternate history in which the u.s has been ravaged by nuclear war the immersion strategy emerging strategy is still in flux the people said and could change previously sawyer had been directing a role-playing game that was similar a similar structurally and thematically to fall out oh and i've screwed it up by expanding it too i can read it uh but was not part of the franchise an xbox spokesperson declined to comment then we go into jason giving you the rundown of course of the recent this despite its critical and commercial success success the fallout video game series has not seen a new entry since 2018's online title fallout 76 because the primary developer xbox's bethesda game studios has been focused on other projects bethesda has also regularly updated and created new content for fallout 76 which has reached more than 23 million players the only fallout game in the last two decades to not come from Bethesda was 2010's Fallout New Vegas developed by Obsidian Entertainment and directed by Sawyer.

57:48Josh Sawyer.

57:49Joey Noel:Although New Vegas has become a fan favorite, Bethesda has maintained control over the franchise. The Rockville, Maryland based studio will work with Obsidian on the new project that people said Obsidian released three games last year, which we owe two of which did not meet sales expectations, including avowed. She's been hoping to build an avow. progress the sequel was going well and was on track uh to be announced within the next year but in the end it did not fit into sharma's overall strategy uh according to people familiar with the game's development some obsidian employees will continue working on the avowed sequel some obsidian employees will continue working on the avowed sequel as they wait for new projects such as fall to be ready perhaps in hope of one day reviving the game the people said Obsidian will also continue to develop Downloadable content for last year's The Outer Worlds 2 The people said And will also still work on it's live service multiplayer game Grounded 2 Are they still doing that in Co-Pro with Eidos Montreal was it?

58:46Grounded 2 Grounded 2 is a co-production With either Eidos or Crystal I forget It was one of them

58:53Joey Noel:Eidos Montreal Thank you Yeah no shit they're going to do another Fallout No shit they're going to get Josh Sawyer to do it I mean, this is what we've talked about at length of before all this happened. What we thought Asha would do of, no, no, cut the shit. We're make Fallout games. We need more Fallout games. We need more Elder Scrolls games. We need the biggest franchises and tentpoles we got. I did see Shry say that the new Elder Scrolls is at least two or three years away. Let's go back to that. I mean, here's the good news. Obsidian's super fast at making games. Maybe we get this before Elder Scrolls.

59:28Yeah, I mean, how long was New Vegas? so it was like 18 months, two years.

59:32Joey Noel:Then we got a Wario 64 one today. 52 Obsidian employees laid off according to a warned notice in California. I saw a similar as we were getting ready to go live id 150 plus, I believe, from a warned notice in Texas as well. I don't think these are new cuts. I think these are the actual numbers based on the cuts we've had. Yes, they are. Question for me in the room. I thought the whole point of a warned notice was to warn people that the cuts were impending and not to be posted after they have already happened. You know what I mean? It's almost like all these protections don't actually protect anybody.

1:00:00I assume they just take whatever. I assume there is some kind of fee that they get charged because they didn't file it in time or make it public in time. Maybe they'll just take the hit rather than have people panic. They'll just take the hit. I was going to say, or you could just have the CEO write a blog post and then make you all sweat over the holiday weekend instead.

1:00:22Joey Noel:Oh, why not? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Good, good, good. so let's unpack all of this.

1:00:32Joey Noel:It's like, as is the case with pretty much all Xbox news. It's like, this sounds exciting until you think about them just fucking smothering about to about to set to be announced soon. Schreier saying, so this game is well on its way. Gamescom TGA. No, I don't think I didn't. They would have done their own. He said, Control-F, announced. Can I take a moment? You can take all the moments you want, Luce. Thanks, man. No, I just want to say that I massively empathize with all of the Xbox workers laid off, particularly those who are on working visas because no one ever really talks about them and how handcuffed to a role you are and especially when you get laid off and you have 60 days to either find a new job or your entire life can be upended and the life of your family can be upended and you can be kicked out of the country.

1:01:25I think it's pretty fucked. And so, yeah, man. I just wanted to say that because not a lot of people are talking about that.

1:01:33Joey Noel:100%. Progress on the next sequel was going well and it was on track to be announced within the next year. Okay. So, I mean, you're deep into that. And again, remember, after Outer Worlds 2 came out and disappointed in terms of sales, they had said, we're not doing more Outer Worlds. We're going to go. We're all in and out out and keep chasing that because we had something there so shocking you know the if you're not paying attention at the final paragraph there I was like Obsidian will continue to develop downloadable content for last year's the outer worlds too that is in a boost to the confidence of outer worlds too that is a commitment to the deals the deluxe editions you bought that had story DLCs promised for them I think rather than have to go through the hurdles of whatever you had to do for a refund for that business you have to go through and do that but on the one hand I want more Fallout games on the other hand I want more Fallout games from Obsidian on the third hand I hate that their project's being killed on the fourth hand I hate that 50 some odd people were just laid off from there it's just a fucking shitty fucking burger it's a bad it's just a fucking bad time just a bad time for anything just a bad time period bad time thank you Jason for breaking that news even though you had no information and didn't understand the words coming out of my mouth about discs and I will keep I will get to the bottom of this I love this.

1:02:53I'll come back next week and I'll ask you for progress.

1:02:56Joey Noel:I appreciate that.

1:03:00Let me send one more. My God.

1:03:04Joey Noel:It's one of those, I want to know if I'm right. I feel like I'm right about this. I'm trying to think who I could text and ask. We know anyone who works in.

1:03:17Hmm. You know what? I know Mr. Sony. I'll hit up Mr. Sony. Yeah. Yeah. She will be asleep, aren't she? Yeah. Hmm. Like my email. Hmm. No. Um. Yeah, man. Does Grub know? Greg, have you... Grub just makes shit up. Have you tried asking Nick? Is Nick here? I asked him a question yesterday. Of course not.

1:03:46Joey Noel:Nick's... It's not 1130 yet. Nick's not here. He's asking where he is. you can talk to Nick here between 11 30 and 2 15 that's going to be a good he just like replied to my slack message as I continue just to randomly send off long moon shots here moon shots about this disc business that I should not be doing the way I'm doing but I think it's good you're doing the fucking industry is the industry let's move on to some review roundups number five on the report uh echoes of Aincrad is out this is the sword art online one or the reviews are Metacritic when I set it all up was 62 sorry Ignacio Rojas IGN gave it a 6 George Yang wrote sword art online games have mostly been decent although never truly exceptional echoes of Aincrad is a half step in the right direction with a novel story starring an original cast of characters without heavily relying on Dorito to help it stand out however the open zones in world design are big stumbles due to its restricted exploration along with a lack of variety in both the environments and enemies the fiery combat and the smithy's hot iron coals don't bring enough heat to thaw out the story's glacial pacing either echoes of aincrad may seem like a hardcore sword art online fan games dream but divorced from the anime's branding it's just a passable action rpg i'm asking nick thank you push square meanwhile i gave it a five robert rams ramsey wrote echoes of aincrad understands the tone and appeal of Sword Art Online, and that counts for a lot, but it's let down by undercooked gameplay systems and disappointingly dull quest design.

1:05:20Joey Noel:Those looking for a grindy action RPG might enjoy how progression is handled, and hardcore fans of the source material will probably push through for the sake of a mostly entertaining story, but you'll need to stomach so many issues. As you all know, I love a good action RPG. I had seen this one and thought, okay, I don't know anything about Sword Art Online, but it's an interesting thing. I got a review code played a few hours of it I don't think I made it out of what the demo actually is available and I was just like no this ain't it I haven't even heard of this one yeah this is I think we're getting into a very like you have to be into the anime or into these kind of games I am into anime I'm not but I'm not like I never I never dabbled in the sword arts yeah oh Nick's typing okay okay can we do the next one and then we'll see what Nicholas Scarpino has to say okay I got my response everybody alright Xbox does not use the same okay but it's the same issue very few exist and everyone is exiting right so that's what we have oh so it's not so so sorry so it's not so Xbox does not publish print their discs with Sony's DA DC however everybody else in this system is also exiting from making discs so that must be my confusion right and as obviously as the people who push the format sony are exiting it even more is getting wound down okay but we've gotten there in the end okay thank you very much and i'll write this thank you very much i'll find out after will you do you think i'll type in any stop so maybe he heard nick's desperately googling desperately googling nick is asking claude uh uh then also Assassin's Creed Black Flag re-synced reviews are out.

1:07:08Joey Noel:When I set this up, Metacritic was at an 84. Mike and Barrett are about to review it on the Kind of Funny Games cast, but to give you a little teaser, Game Informer gave it an 8.25. Matt Miller wrote, For me, a lot of the joy and excitement of Assassin's Creed comes from visiting a new era in history and rediscovering the series' conflict through the lens of that time and place. This return to a familiar locale lacks that, but it should still offer it for newer players who have never experienced the game more than a decade ago but even without that sense of newness black flag re-synced is an impressive rework setting a high bar for how to return to an older action game and make it relevant once more i'd prefer to sail the new horizons but i'm also happy to rediscover a journey that reminds me why i embraced the franchise in the first place meanwhile over a game spot uh it got a seven from jordan romei jordan is the assassin's creed like enjoya bite your tongue because we got Baron in there.

1:08:02Joey Noel:They should get together. He did Assassin's Creed. We were at the preview event together. It was great to see him. Having now played Resync, I don't think it's better than the original. That still means Resync is pretty good. Black Flag is one of the best games in the Assassin's Creed series, and Resync doesn't change so much that it's no longer the case. The issue is that for every positive change that Resync makes to Black Flag, it stumbles into creating a new problem. Oh, I got a message from Nick Loppino. I don't understand the question, so I will be abstaining. Thank you for considering me that's all we can ask for from him yeah honestly i'm just and maybe to come to work uh thank you nick thank you everybody for these review rounds up thank you barrett for playing theory i'm excited to hear you and mike talk about it i put a couple hours into it and it wasn't bad by any stretch of imagination but it was just like okay this is it's what i remember assassin's creed being and it's like i don't know if i'm gonna i'm not there to pour to replay something like that but if you've never played black flag i love black flag yeah exactly Lucy Yep If Mike and Bear Enjoyed Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resync Is humongous news If I wanted something smaller Say the tiniest news I need to know about Where would I go You'd go to our last story Wee News channel Where we cover all the Small items you need To know about

1:09:18Number five

1:09:19Joey Noel:Or no Number six Wee News Nintendo Switch Online Is getting an update Three Game Boy titles Have been added To the Nintendo Classics Wario Land Super Mario Land 3 The Sword of Hope 2 Fortified Zone Meanwhile Nintendo Switch Online and Expansion Pack members Can also get two Game Boy Advance titles And one Dr. Mario and Puzzle League Reuters reports That Apple lost its challenge on Wednesday Against landmark EU rules That designate its app stores And operating system iOS as gatekeepers Subject to obligations aimed At giving rivals more room to compete That's fine IGN reports that today's Subnautica 2 Early Access 1.1 update improves creature flinches, so you'll know when you've hit them with the survival multi-tool.

1:10:04Joey Noel:But no, you still can't kill fish. GameSpot reports that starting today, Ark Raiders offers separate matchmaking buckets for solo, duo, and trio queues. As I talked about earlier, Mario Kart World Tour, that's still not right. Did I write that? World Tour? Yeah, Mario Kart. No, I thought - That's the Switch 2 one. The Mario Kart - This is called Mario Kart Tour. Thank you. Mario Kart Tour, I wonder if that's a typo I copied or if I made it on my own, is shutting down September 29th. There's not going to be any offline play, so that's just dead to you if you put money into that. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, another mobile game, its PC2 is also shutting down on October 6th.

1:10:40Joey Noel:And then IGN says, Pal World hits an incredible 40 million players 2.5 years after early access launch with 1.0 right around the corner. The 10th, right? 1.0, it's very, it's this week. It's imminent. Imminent. And that's it for WeNews. Thank you, Bear. We turn our lonely eyes over to the Super Chats. There's a whole bunch of them. Thank you. Let's go through. Tingancot says, love for Lucy. Or love you, Lucy. Love you, too. No problem.

1:11:14Joey Noel:ChaosKillerX7 says, between the Obsidian News and Jeff Gerstman's comment on Fallout 3's remake, what are the chances franchise fatigue slash the strategy backfires happens? Great question. Take a minute. Well, I mean, depending. Like when it's Fallout 3 remake happening? Gersman today got broken out of a podcast where he's like, he's seen something from it. So it is in some respect happening. Um, I don't know. With the news today, it's going to take him at least a couple years to get something out to show. Yeah. And we've got, I don't know, another year until we see another season that he will show.

1:11:43I think it will be the normal thing. I think maybe they've got a good cadence going on.

1:11:46Joey Noel:Fallout 3, a great game we all love for the most part. I think a lot of people love. I think also, though, an old game. so it's gonna do the same thing that fucking uh oblivion did right of like here it is and it's like if you it's not gonna have quality of life stuff that you want out of it but i think a new one from but then we're chasing the ghost and then how many are they putting out what are they doing i don't know but i'll take i would take at this point drowning in fallouts over never having a fallout we are we all had to fucking drink 76 you know what i mean and full joshy frog says everyone watch lucy's episode on astrogoblin yes please do Do you see this?

1:12:23Joey Noel:I did see this They turned me into Babu Frick Yeah Mama They turned me into Babu Frick They fricked me, Mama It's the dress It's the dress Yeah I just want to give a shout out to the Astro Goblin team Because A, it was maybe the funniest thing I've ever been a part of And Charlotte's Photoshop skills are incredible Like, I'm not good at Photoshop I know a lot of friends who are good at Photoshop Some of the stuff she was doing I was just like, oh my god Incredible to watch And yeah, it was a very fun time Matt Sanders says I just can't believe we still have CDs DVDs records and Blu-ray movies but we're getting rid of physical games maybe again well Blu-rays might be next yeah and you'll have boutique things you know but yeah I understand how are they going to do the Criterion Closet yeah I know I know I see a lot of screenshots of that and I've never watched it I've never watched a single one but I watch all the clips same I mean Matthew Reese from Widows Bay just did one have you watched Widows Bay yet?

1:13:19I did

1:13:19Joey Noel:me and Jen watched the entire thing in your face A lot of Emmys today They deserve it Not a great ending End Like finish your story Don't be like oh we didn't go Season 2 Season 2 in 2 and a half years My worries Apple TV does not usually do it For me with season 2 Bad sister Severance silo The drop off is We should just stop And I said it about Severance gang Season 2 is not good And I feel like yeah we'll stop there oh uh Kevin Lawrence says stay sanitary Andy yeah everybody stay sanitary uh everybody this has been another episode of the one the only kinda funny games daily just checking here on you're wrong somebody's recommending I go to CEX uh go to sex that's for all the Brits you ever been to sex I've been there once I mean yeah child yeah loose where can people keep up with you you find me at looking for.game which is a newsletter where i email you recommendations for games and demos and stuff to play uh if you subscribe we've got a really fun discord i'm arranging a bunch of giveaways uh first one uh little code coming uh for you today uh with some money off at our friends at insect coin clothing so please be excited um check out the games that i'm recommending silver pines ball game so far yeah it's been a fun time it's been five weeks since I started that job what's one indie game everybody should go play today go play today after of course you wish list Vampirium 1997 and Roger go have a nice cry yeah excellent choice everybody that's been another episode of kind of funny games daily but like I said we're a talk show network all about being alive so right after that Barrett and Mike are jumping in to give you their Assassin's Creed review right after that we're streaming some video games i believe assassin's creed and of course we're always having a good time like subscribe share if you have amazon prime you have twitch prime give us your free 30-day subscription and of course if you're watching later youtube.com slash kind of funny games like subscribe share over there of course pick up a membership patreon.com slash kind of funny youtube.com slash kind of funny games apple spotify get everything ad free get today's gregway about me ranting and raving about the drama it's spoiler free to begin with and then i go into spoilers very clearly so don't worry and of course get good karma for now however Until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you.

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