Xbox CEO Weighs in On Exclusives - Kinda Funny Games Daily 06.05.26

5 Jun 2026 · 1 h 16 min · 28 chapters

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In short

Kinda Funny Games Daily (June 5, 2026) reacts to Summer Game Fest expectations and focuses on Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s comments about exclusives and Xbox’s long-term strategy.

Guests

No guest interviewees are present in the transcript; it’s hosted by Greg Miller with co-host(s) including Tim and others at Kinda Funny.

Guest backgrounds

Not applicable (no named external guests).

Key claims

  1. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma says platforms “must have exclusive content and services,” while also emphasizing Xbox wants games to reach large audiences as a publisher.
  2. Sharma sets a mandate to make Xbox the “number one gaming and entertainment company” by 2030, citing Microsoft’s long-term investments (including Activision Blizzard King).
  3. Hosts argue these goals conflict: exclusives imply console differentiation, while “platform” thinking implies broader multi-platform releases.

Notable examples

  • Valve confirms Steam Machine shipping “this summer” (conditional on Paramount Skydance launching a new studio).
  • SGF predictions: hosts expect big Sega/Jet Set Radio possibilities; debate Crazy Taxi timing and whether it should be imminent.
  • Discussion of Project Helix as a potential boutique hardware/PC direction, plus how Call of Duty likely remains multi-platform.

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

Cold Open and Personal Updates

0:28 to 1:35

Hosts share personal stories and updates leading into gaming news.

“We'll have all this and more because this is Kinda Funny Games Daily.”

Bake Sale and Community Involvement

1:35 to 2:29

Discussion about a bake sale for the rainforest and parental involvement.

“I wasn't even aware his school had a kitchen.”

Streaming Predictions and Reactions

2:29 to 4:25

Hosts discuss predictions for the Summer Game Fest and their streaming experiences.

Excitement for Crazy Taxi

4:25 to 6:10

Hosts express their feelings about the potential return of Crazy Taxi.

“And then you and me get to get on a plane.”

Nostalgia for Chewing Gum

6:10 to 8:16

Light-hearted discussion about chewing gum and childhood memories.

“You're probably going to have one in GTA 6.”

Updates and Community Interaction

8:16 to 11:12

Hosts interact with the audience and provide updates on gaming news.

“If you didn't know, everybody watching kind of funny games daily, where we run you through the nerdy video game.”

The Roper Report Begins

11:12 to 14:03

Hosts transition into the main news segment with various gaming updates.

“It's like, oh, or maybe it's Killing Moth or whatever.”

Discussion on Xbox's Game Strategy

14:03 to 14:48

Exploring the potential for new IPs and remakes in Xbox's gaming lineup.

“And it can be Frank West and it can be a mall, but let's not just remake Dead Rising 1 again.”

Asha Sharma's Exclusive Content Strategy

14:49 to 17:46

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma discusses the need for exclusive content in gaming.

“Yeah, I would reboot Dead Rising at this point.”

Aiming for Industry Leadership by 2030

17:47 to 19:45

Sharma outlines her vision for Xbox to be the top gaming and entertainment company by 2030.

“And it came up yesterday, of course, in our amazing games cast of Xbox Summer Game Fest predictions, of course, for their Sunday showcase.”
Show all 28 chapters

The Value of Acquisitions and Their Impact

19:46 to 21:55

Discussion on the implications of Microsoft's acquisitions of Activision and ZeniMax.

“This is Chris Scullion, also at VGC.News.”

Analyzing Asha Sharma's Leadership

21:56 to 23:48

Evaluating Sharma's responses and leadership style in the gaming industry.

“Look, look, it was bought at a time before chat GPT.”

Exclusive Content vs. Market Strategy

23:49 to 26:06

Debating the tension between needing exclusives and becoming a leading entertainment brand.

Challenges Facing Xbox in a Changing Market

26:07 to 28:00

Discussing Xbox's challenges amidst evolving consumer preferences and technological changes.

“There is no way that is an affordable machine for the general consumer.”

The Challenges Facing Xbox

28:00 to 32:50

A discussion on Xbox's struggles with exclusivity, hardware, and market competition against PlayStation.

Exploring Xbox's Future Strategies

32:50 to 37:20

Insights into potential future strategies for Xbox, including hardware and software decisions.

“As far as story number one being at odds is story number two.”

The Debate Over Hardware vs. Digital

37:20 to 42:00

A conversation about whether Xbox should focus on hardware production or embrace a digital-only approach.

Xbox's Communication Strategy

42:00 to 43:16

Discussion on Xbox's approach to public communication and its effectiveness.

“Just like this for the fact that this keeps happening January.”

Xbox's Communication Strategy

43:55 to 44:48

Discussion on Xbox's approach to public communication and its effectiveness.

“I would be embarrassed about the amount of time that I spend on Reddit every single day if I was only going there for one thing.”

Starfield vs Elder Scrolls 6 Expectations

44:49 to 46:26

Debate on the expectations and potential disappointment surrounding Elder Scrolls 6.

“The crazy Alan super chat and says if Double Fine makes a new brutal legend game, they'll get money.”

Valve's Steam Machine Announcement

46:27 to 48:26

Insights into Valve's upcoming Steam Machine and its implications for gaming.

“And there's a lot of comments about the jank and yadda yadda.”

Paramount's New Gaming Studio Launch

48:27 to 56:00

Discussion on Paramount's new gaming studio and its strategic importance.

“Let's talk about being disappointed sooner than later, because obviously we're going to wait for elder scrolls forever.”

Leadership Changes at Paramount Games Studio

56:00 to 56:40

Learn about the new leadership structure and vision for Paramount Games Studio.

“Along with Driscoll, the leadership team at Paramount Games Studio includes two Skydance game vets.”

Concerns Over Industry Consolidation

56:41 to 59:06

Discussion on the implications of consolidation in the gaming industry, particularly with Paramount and Skydance.

“The Division launch marks a meaningful evolution in how we think about games, not as an extension of our business, but as a core pillar of our content strategy alongside film, television, and streaming, Driscoll said.”

The Risk of Overextending in Game Development

59:07 to 1:00:45

Exploration of the challenges and risks associated with creating a large gaming entity versus collaborating with existing studios.

“Which has always been the one where we're like, oh, hopefully that'll be the one.”

New Updates in Gaming News

1:00:46 to 1:02:44

Overview of recent updates and changes in various games and platforms.

“You'd go to our last story, the Wii News channel.”

Innovations in Game Mechanics and Features

1:02:45 to 1:04:39

Discussion on new game mechanics, features, and the importance of engaging gameplay experiences.

“The updated design is a continuation of recent improvements across the Steam store like the game page updates we made a few months ago.”

Pop Culture References and Community Engagement

1:04:40 to 1:05:59

Casual conversation that touches on pop culture, community feedback, and social dynamics in gaming.

“Remember when she was like everywhere and now she's nowhere?”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:02Turn it up! Storm has zero sugar and 200mg of caffeine, so you can turn that workout up a notch. Good energy in, good energy out. Energy for life. This episode's brought to you by Firework Freeze 5-Hour Energy. Sip the Freeze Pop-inspired flavor explosion. If you want to get our shows ad-free and our exclusive shows, go to patreon.com slash kindoffunny. today in the nerdy news you need to know about it's my son's bake sale at preschool and he just texted me it is facetiming me right now as we went live but the news you'll hear about is that xbox ceo says platforms must have exclusive con yeah hold on ben i'm doing the cold open games daily hold on one second okay valve confirms steam yeah ben what's up yeah you gonna show me what you baked

0:58Valve confirms the Steam Machine will ship this summer if Paramount Skydance launches a new video game studio. We'll have all this and more because this is Kinda Funny Games Daily.

1:14Oh wow. There's a jaguars there. Your friends are there. You got so many friends there Ben. Show me one of the - what did you bake? Go show me your favorite - go show me your favorite - go show me your favorite. favorite thing you baked? Oh, he loves the cookies. Look at those. Yeah, those are good-looking cupcakes and cookies, bud. I love you. I love you. All right, I'm gonna go do the show now. Bye. Bye, buddy. What kind of cookies are those? You couldn't see it. It was like fucking found footage. I thought you would have known. I saw big cupcakes. No, they baked it. I wasn't even aware his school had a kitchen.

1:51I was like, who's baking this? Like, no, no, we did it for the... They're raising money for the rainforest. Wow. Really? That's what they're doing with it. Good for them. Now we're the parents who are running the bake sale. Who are making, who are, they're raising money for the rainforest. They're using generative AI for the flyers. And I'm like, ah, come on, guys. And it's that thing where it's like, I don't know these parents well enough to be like, what the fuck? You know what I mean? So you got to like have a normal conversation with them and then kind of be like, oh, you hear about this AI shit too?

2:20It's killing the rainforests. I'm raising money. to cure cancer by selling cigarettes what are we doing this is like me last night on my stream i

2:28Blessing Adeoye Jr.:was doing bets for the summer game fest predictions all that stuff and i was like i i was assigning certain predictions if i get this wrong i will donate five gifted subs to my own stream but then i was doing the own math in my head of like so if i donate gifted subs to my own stream where does the money go is just this is all gonna twitch does the 30 go to twitch and then the rest of my own pocket yeah is it you're losing 30 of your money i'm not causing an infinite loop where i'm just putting money in my own pockets no sadly you're you're losing money on every transaction when you do that yeah well i'm gonna lose a lot of money what's up everyone to kind of funny games daily for friday june 5th 2026 sgf day that's right this afternoon jeff keely will have his annual summer game fest showcase two hours of exclusive games world premieres and more you know we will be reacting live on youtube.com slash kind of funny games twitch.tv slash kind of funny games of course maybe you're listening or watching this later don't worry you can catch our full reaction to the entire stream as we talked over it live on youtube.com slash kind of funny games and of course our gamescast post show where we break down every game announced and give our review as a podcast on the gamescast podcast feeds and youtube as well i'm one of your hosts greg miller alongside forbes 30 under 30 aka all the stuff the man is this hopium what's the shirt are you expecting this today from the radio yeah this is more prediction this is blessing this is confidence because there's been leaks as well i had somebody when i was streaming last night was like oh yeah a full trailer is leaked and then jeff keely responded to a sega tweet saying being like i'll see you guys tomorrow okay and so like even if it's not jet set there's gonna be stuff sega my prediction is that there's gonna be a lot of sega i think that trailer we got let's talk about it crazy goddamn taxi i think crazy you put up that fucking thing the light And again, I am prepared to have so much fun today.

4:21I love hanging out with you guys. We've been doing such great content. You know what I mean? And then you and me get to get on a plane. Fun stuff there. But I will go from so happy to so fucking pissed off. If they show this crazy taxi game and they give no date, I will be furious that they give 2027. That might happen. What are we talking about? Don't come out. Don't come. don't it's the return of the goat ip yes and like no one but old heads like us care about it so fucking when you're right if you're going to talk about crazy taxi it better be imminent what if it's a date like what if they say a date in 2020 like february 12th no no okay you just need it this year i'm just saying if you're talking about it it needs to be imminent because there's going to be this huge oh crazy taxi and hopefully we see a trailer this time and hopefully it'll be people like us going that looks great and it's not no dude i would love a crazy taxi this year It just doesn't feel, it doesn't like the year's too crowded.

5:16I understand already too crowded. You're the one saying you're coming out crazy taxi. So that's on you, not on me.

5:21Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I would love to see. I think crazy taxi. Here's the thing though. Cause jet set radio. I want to, I hope that's 2027. Cause that's definitely not, I think makes sense for 2027. So if that's 2027, then yeah, I think crazy taxi has a likelier. I just think crazy taxi, at least in what I'm visioning. Then you have a Sonic this year off that one thing we've seen of crazy taxi, where it was multiple taxis driving around doing this thing. Yeah. It's Tetris 99. It's crazy taxi battle Royale, which is going to turn off people just by hearing that. That excites me because all I want out of crazy taxi is a fun arcade experience that I'm going to enjoy probably for consecutive nights and then be gone for a month and come back and then like never touch.

6:01But then maybe there's like crazy taxi doesn't have legs. So yeah, it's crowded right now. there's not another arcade crazy taxi game. Just drop it right now. Shadow drop the shit out of that. You're probably going to have one in GTA 6. Exactly. Get the fuck out before then. Yeah, I guess that's a good point. Get it out before then. This is what was the gum with the zebra? Fruit stripes. Is that right? Fruit stripes? It's the gum. Juicy fruit. This is the bubble gum you have where that is three chews in. The taste is gone. this isn't a long I think that is Hubba Bubba I don't know at all fucking Fruit Stripe Gum is what I was thinking of this is a fucking rip off was it a Juicy Fruit?

6:43Juicy Fruit that's another one that's kind of like that

6:45Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I'm so glad that I don't run into people that chew Big Red anymore Big Red's still around? I don't know Big Red's still around what is up Big Red was everywhere when I was a kid and I hated that shit what is up with is it just the fact that we have so much entertainment in the palm of our hand that we just don't care about gum that's a really good point gum used to be the biggest fucking thing I used to have a five gum era every single day i was chewing on five gum oh it is still they are still making big red who's who's buying big red though i don't know who's buying because like i never chewed on big red i'm sure it probably tastes good i don't know i don't like cinnamon like that and big red has a cinnamon yeah i just hated smelling people's breath who are chewing on big red oh wow that felt like suffering to me sure i hated big red breath sure oh sorry if you're out there and you like big red but a lot of people are complaining that they i'm chewing gum right now somebody says I chew gum fairly frequently.

7:35You're weird. Chew some spearmint. The world's passed you by. And also, is that like a kid thing? You know what I mean? Gum. Yeah. I mean, juicy fruit and hubba-bubba, yeah.

7:43Blessing Adeoye Jr.:But like adults, it's okay to be chewing on a mint gum as an adult. Spearmint. Sure. Yeah, some five gum. I feel like five gum, though, is like college, young adult. Yeah, they have the edgy commercials. Yeah. Where like they're vibrating the gum. Is adult gum just spearmint? Is that what we have to default to nowadays? Well, I think the chiclets are the ones you think of now. and I don't mean literally chicklets, but I mean like, you know what? No one's doing sticks of gum. Everybody's got the chick, chick, you're right. Cause that's what my dad was all about. The little chick. And then people who buy like the giant thing, keeping their coffee, their coffee holder in their car.

8:15Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah. You're describing my dad to a T. He loved his name. His blessing. That's his name. If you didn't know, everybody watching kind of funny games daily, where we run you through the nerdy video game. You news you need to know about. There is a lot, even though we are, was it a five gum commercial? You want to know the last time I bought five gum? this is a definitive memory for me you want to know? Jen and I were driving out for a camping trip stopped at a gas station, walked in, what did I see? I think it was five, yeah it was five because they had a five on it, five gum, Avengers packs, it was when you bought it you would get a code for a costume, this is before we knew what Avengers even like we knew anything about how that game was going to actually be I bought all the, I bought that gum, I don't know what chemicals they put in there, but even like before you even opened the box of five gum, you could smell it from outside the box, that shit smelled casey, that hits I loved it.

9:02Of course, if you want to be part of this show, there it is. It was five gum. Man, Avengers. Y 'all fucked me on that one. We could be doing new shit right now. We could still be playing Avengers. We could be on Avengers 2 by now. Imagine that timeline. Oh, my goodness. If you're watching live, of course, be part of the show by super chatting as we go. YouTube.com slash kinda funny games. S. Silvira 246. Super chat says Greg and Gabuss. Happy Friday. what's your most excited prediction for SGF today? Ooh, I'm going to say Jet Set Radio. Okay, fair enough. I'd love that. Oh, it seems like, you know, what's happening.

9:40No, well, just off the leak thing, but like leaks have fucked us before. Okay. If it's not here, then I'd probably say it's at Xbox, but I'm hoping. I want to. Okay. I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying. My most excited prediction for today is always the unknown of what we're going to get. I'm very excited for the things I do know about to watch some of the guys react to that. you know what I mean like I like that like seeing y 'all pop off leak it right now okay what no just watch their faces and then uh you know oh Final Fantasy 7 Tim has me on the on the hopium yeah for sure for sure for sure I mean let's just I mean what about I'll just be broad okay a new superhero game and I don't care if it's just me seeing hey we're finally ready to show I know we're about to talk about Paramount's 1942 or whatever some something like that give me a new have you seen there's a reddit post about a superman thing i've heard the rumor recently kicked around that wb montreal is working on a superman game is that it uh probably i didn't read i didn't see anything today about it i've seen that no this is like a week or so ago okay okay and i still say they were working on it years ago but nobody ever wants to correct corroborate what i've heard on it jason schreier fucking youtuber you ever think about marvel's avengers shut down and all of a sudden ai took over everything so you're saying that's like that's our harambe yeah yeah i'm saying avengers if avengers was successful everything would be better yeah man you know that fucking sucks when you think about it uh of course thank you to our patreon producers on patreon.com slash kind of funny carl jacobs omega buster delaney the som 20 and lax nomad of course they'll get today's gregway where i review taylor swift's new single it's good it's the toy story five song wow i didn't realize that was happening good for them good for them for now let's begin with what is and forever will be the roper report time for some news five items on the Roper Report

11:30Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Bakers does who Matthew says rumor is TT Games is making a Superman game to adapt the movies the same way Legacy of the Dark Knight did I have nothing other than that comment on it that would seem like a an interesting safe choice I think again so many people have it wrapped up you couldn't make a real quote unquote Superman game you know he's too powerful I think I think the Lego Batman 2 Superman is the best Superman game so that would make sense to do it that way if that's actually a rumor or just wishful thinking or what you think would be the logical step as I've said before I think we really need to see how successful Supergirl is and how successful Man of Tomorrow is not because those movies need to be included in this run of the thing but more because is there an appetite for Superman that way have we restoke the fire and people care about it that much or not who knows I also think it's interesting I haven't seen it discussed Legacy of the Dark Knight yeah all the levels are about you know parodying Batman movies pulling things from Batman movies we really don't talk about the fact that the level where you work with Batgirl is based on the Batgirl movie they deleted wait really yeah like it's Firefly it's her and Bruce Wayne in a costume ball.

12:47I'm like, this is the plot. This is the plot we knew from Batgirl. Oh, that's it. It's like, oh, or maybe it's Killing Moth or whatever. No, it's Firefly. So I'm like, oh, that's interesting. I haven't seen people talk about that fact that clearly they went into development and like, here's you can screen the Batgirl movie and make it. Oh, thanks. Helpful. And then they're like, we're killing the Batgirl.

13:04Blessing Adeoye Jr.:We'll be like, interesting. I mean, we're in the summer game fest type. Yeah. Mind if I throw throughout you some of the predictions that came up with last night? I feel like you'd be interesting to get your take on. Sure. Yeah. I hear it. Outer Worlds 2 DLC at Xbox. You're the Outer Worlds 2 guy. Remember, the only, I would love that. Yeah. And I can't remember, chat, keep me honest on it. They had said that they were going all in on a vowed and that that was going to be their thing, that Outer Worlds 2 wasn't getting another sequel. I don't, I mean, that doesn't mean, you know, doesn't cut them out of getting DLC for sure.

13:41Yeah. But I can't remember. I don't think they promised DLC. yeah i don't know what they promised i'm just thinking back my thought would be that they'd be just let's go do about it for doing from that yeah because i'm thinking back to the outer worlds one casey carsey says they're doing two dlcs then that would be pretty much locked in if that's the case yeah i thought now they say they weren't doing dlcs all right chadis course doesn't know

13:59Blessing Adeoye Jr.:they're working on it yeah that was one that came to mind last night of like oh man i should have brought that up for the xbox thing the other one for me it's how much you've promised publicly i think the fact that it under delivered you know what i mean again and we know how talented of Sidian is again if I'm Asha in there now I'm like stop wasting our time on that let's move over let's get if we're committed to a vow we're committed to a vow let's go do this what about dead rising is it time we've got the remasters remake whatever they did that Roger got excited about yeah been a while since dead rising Capcom's never letting dead rising go so yeah I think it would I don't know is it time that part I don't know about but I could easily see that happening but I'd really want a fresh let's do something fresh here you know what I mean fresh like a just a new IP.

14:41Delete it. We're starting from scratch. Oh, Dead Rising. And it can be Frank West and it can be a mall, but let's not just remake Dead Rising 1 again. Okay. Like a reboot. Yeah, I would reboot Dead Rising at this point. Okay. Those are the two that came out. Oh, okay. For Xbox, not today.

14:56Blessing Adeoye Jr.:For Xbox. The ones I have for today are boring for the new things that I came up with, right? Because Pragmata update, I wrote down. I forget if that was one we talked about. Sorry. Go for it. Vinco, Outer Worlds 2 Premium upgrade has two DLC pass for two future stories in it mansions. So then yes, you're guaranteed to get that here. Yeah, I had a pragmaton update with more challenge levels and more costumes. That was one that I was like, okay, I could see that happening. The other one was break-in slash fair games happening here instead. Get the fuck out of here. Get the fuck out of here. It's got to show up somewhere or just never shows up again.

15:32Yeah.

15:33Blessing Adeoye Jr.:But like the report of them changed the name has me well remember uh-huh we don't know that the zeal was that they trademarked the name break in and we all assumed oh or that was what the story correct me if i'm wrong chat maybe i miss part i'm misremembering i could have sworn we all just went oh that oh that sounds like a better name than fair games that's what i think we all thought was happening but maybe i'm wrong i don't think so could happen though let's talk about real hard news that's happening right now Okay. Story number one, Xbox CEO says platforms quote, must have exclusive content as she weighs exclusivity shift.

16:10This is the one, the only Andy Robinson at VGC. News Xbox CEO, Asha Sharma has reiterated that she is looking quote unquote, very closely at the platform's exclusive content strategy and suggested her first 100 days in charge have been a success. I love that we're treating it like she's the president. i'm here to give you the state of the xbox on my 100 days in office speaking during a bloomberg live event on thursday sharma was asked about her early lessons in charge of microsoft's gaming arm and again pressed on its exclusivity strategy sharma previously claimed that xbox would reevaluate its approach to exclusivity suggesting she was listening to xbox players who feel the platform has lost value due to microsoft's decision to bring its first party games to PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2.

16:59Quote, it's a tough topic, she said during Friday's Bloomberg event. Look, we're the number two publisher in the world, and in order to be a great publisher, you must have games reach large audiences to play. At the same time, we're increasingly becoming a platform, and in order to become a platform, you must have exclusive content and services. And so we're looking at that very closely. I think that we have to be very thoughtful about each title, on how we want to think about it, and learn from some similar cases in the industry and that's what we're doing end quote yeah this

17:31Blessing Adeoye Jr.:story kind of works as a part one to the first two stories we have here because asha did this interview with bloomberg story number two is about asha talking about wanting xbox to be the number one gaming and entertainment company by 2030 should we just roll it in i mean before we get there do you have i mean this is we could do the whole show on this one thing yeah right we kind And it came up yesterday, of course, in our amazing games cast of Xbox Summer Game Fest predictions, of course, for their Sunday showcase. And so exclusivity got kicked up there. I think at the very end, Mike was like, just end the show.

18:00We got to move on. We can't because we could stay there so long.

18:03Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah. The first thing I'll say is not as related to exclusivity specifically, but you mentioned we're treating Asha like she's the president. A category that I'll pitch for the Smiley's at the end of the year is person of the year. Video game person of the year. Okay. You know how time does their person of the year. It doesn't necessarily mean they're the best person or worst person or whatever. You might have Donald Trump on there. You might have Malala Yousafi, right? Like person of the year is the person who's had the most conversation, most impact. I think Asha Sharma right now is the video game person of the year.

18:30Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Okay. Right? Like she has been the most visible. She basically is video game president right now. When you think about the eyes and the amount of attention that is on one person. Super chat from Jam Van says another KFGD headline. I fucked it all. another kfgd another headline of the xbox ceo just out here saying shit and this has been all over kind of funny games daily all over kind of funny games daily all over video game news all eyes are on her in a way we're like if i was in asha's shoes man i'd have so much anxiety i'd be sweating obviously she's the xbox ceo so part of her job is to deal with that type of pressure yeah but man like yeah she's been out here moving and trying to sway opinions sway ideas of what xbox is trying to answer to people and i think we should get into story number two because that will feed into story number one but yeah everywhere talking about you know something we've talked about before but talk about yesterday for sure my i'm still shocked that she's been so vocal and has made so many changes whether they be just cosmetic or whatever to the xbox brand but i would have assumed she got the role and was quiet for a long time behind the scenes doing all this not as doing this publicly she has uh number two on the roper report asha sharma says she wants Xbox to be, quote, the number one gaming and entertainment company by 2030.

19:47This is Chris Scullion, also at VGC.News. Shocking that Jordan Midler just isn't working today. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has stated her goal to make Xbox the number one gaming and entertainment company within 2023. In an interview with Bloomberg Tech, Sharma stated on two separate occasions that her aim was to reached this goal, saying it's her mandate to do so. When asked about how much autonomy she has in making decisions for Xbox, given that its revenues currently aren't high, Sharma replied that her task wasn't necessarily to achieve specific figures for Microsoft, but to establish it as a leader in the industry.

20:25Sharma also pointed to Xbox's recent investments as a sign that this goal is a long-term one that will take time to ultimately pay off. Quote, My mandate is not a 30 % accountability margin, she explained. It's not enterprise software margins. It's to be the number one gaming and entertainment company, and that's what we're going to do. If you think about it, Microsoft has invested more aggressively than nearly anybody in this category over the last six years. We've bought Activision and ZeniMax. We've invested in our core platform. We've invested in hardware cycles. We invest in subsidies, even when we're losing money because of memory and shortage.

21:02So we're long on gaming. We're long on Xbox. We'll keep investing, but we've got work to do. You shared the numbers. We're not in a healthy spot. And so the next 100 days is going to be about resetting the business, end quote. Sharma was then asked if Microsoft's decision to acquire Activision Blizzard King for$69 billion was the right one, given the mass layoffs, game cancellations, and Game Pass price increases since that happened. quote you inherited this deal asked interviewer emily chang is it paying off quote i mean i don't know anybody in entertainment who wouldn't want call of duty which is now grossing more revenue than the marvel cinematic universe she responded who wouldn't want one of the top three apps in the world with candy crush who wouldn't want world of warcraft and who wouldn't want a team that for 20 years has been able to create predictable hits every single year so i love Activision Blizzard King.

21:56Look, it was back to the Reggie. Look, look, it was bought at a time before chat GPT. It was taught. It was bought at a time before chat GPT was bought at a time when our strategy was predominantly on the, on the, the core. There's three of those. She's getting nervous. On the core console was at a time when we were right in the middle of COVID. So it's hard to say how to think about those decisions, but I think these are incredible assets and we intend to continue to invest in them. End quote. At the end of the discussion, Sharma was asked what her goal was for Xbox by the time the 2030s arrive.

22:34So it's 2030. Interviewer, Emily Chang said, you've had four years to run Xbox. Oh my God. Don't fucking say it like that. Yeah, four years. Oh no. No, no. We're closer to 2030 than we are to 2030. When I said that, all right, yeah, like 10 years oh no we're like three and a half years away from 2013 oh no you've had four years to run xbox what does success look like what is true about xbox that isn't true today sharma reiterated i'd love to see us be the number one gaming and entertainment company there's so much

23:08Blessing Adeoye Jr.:to chew on in here one i want to shout out close we are to 2030 um shout out to emily chang i think this is such an excellent interview i have not gotten a chance to actually listen to the full thing but even like the question of you inherited this deal you inherited a call of duty and at least not mincing words in the quotes we're saying which is always appreciated yes like i think the questions are great and honestly asha sharma's responses i think are great as well yeah right like i think the one thing i all i can say about asha sharma is that she's very sharp in how she's talking about xbox when given serious direct questions right she's willing to give clear direct answers in a way that is refreshing and nice um now diving into some of the details here i think it's worth maybe dialing back to the exclusive conversation because that's put it in a big old pot yeah where are we at greg i know there's a big conversation we've had back and forth for the last well here's i mean

24:04i continue to feel bad for the people who work at xbox and that includes asha she says this because I honestly feel story number one and story number two are at odds with each other we want we need exclusives on our platform is story number one right yeah and number two is we want to be the number one gaming and entertainment company I don't know if that

24:26Blessing Adeoye Jr.:works that way do you think so the final quote in story number one here is I think that we have to be very thoughtful about each title yeah that makes it sound to me like it is some games can work as exclusives some some games can work as third-party games that are on all platforms do you think that works for xbox itself absolutely not i don't think it does i i think like again it's the tale of two ashes here in terms of who you're serving and what you're trying to do if i'm asha and i am tasked with bringing xbox back to prominence in the gaming console market i would come out in this thing and say cool we're going back to exclusives on the console now let's take away let's put us in a vacuum here because i'm saying this and i'm also telling you like tim talked about a 30th anniversary no 25th anniversary translucent xbox that is there and that's in all the stores get rid of the memory shortages and all that jazz right let's forget about you know i'd make a push back to the hardware and try to get it out there and try to do it unless we're so close to project helix and that's going to be so affordable so many things start piling on top of this problem but i would go back to exclusives and it would on one hand piss a lot of people off but to me the asha who is trying to make xbox hardware a future it's the only path forward because if you don't do that then why would anyone come by the xbox and i feel like the biggest so there's that part right jump to the other asha who has to go and be we're going to be the number one gaming and entertainment company okay that's way simpler that is of course dump the Xbox get rid of the hardware become Sega you have all these brands you have Elder Scrolls you have Call of Duty you have a million games that nerdy ass gamers like us love and aren't the big mainstream thing right put those fucking everywhere and get rid of the console and don't worry about the hardware especially as we spiral in ourselves as an industry of how much it's going to possibly cost to make more hardware let PlayStation fucking worry about how I'm going to sell a console let Steam worry about a Steam machine let everybody else enjoy it on their thing scale it to whatever cloud blah blah blah like i feel like that is the path forward to be the number one gaming and entertainment company let's take off this yoke we have of having to have an xbox like project helix is going to fail i don't understand now we're outside of the vacuum now we're living in the real 2026 which believe it or not it's four years from 2030 project helix with the cost of storage and RAM and memory and all this shit, right?

Read the full transcript

27:00There is no way that is an affordable machine for the general consumer. So even if you're just trying to market to the high-end folks like us that have disposable income and put this hobby above everything, right? You're not going to move enough units to make that make sense, which will then be seen as a failure when we get to the profit-loss margins of your company. So Xbox, again, is in a... I am not smart enough to understand how Xbox gets out of this situation because it's not even their own, not even bad decisions. I would say bets that didn't pay off that went the other way that are working against them.

27:41It is the incredibly volatile technological climate we're in, which by the way is being spurred on by their parent fucking company. Yeah. Doubling down on AI. We can't like Sati and Adela. I don't even like, he is mad as you want to get an Xbox. you gotta be mad at this AI bullshit I mean literally it's the thing of like we're making cookies so that we can save the rainforest but also we're fucking killing the rainforest with the AI shit and like with that amount of literally and I don't mean as like the Batman villain Two-Face like talking to each other like I don't know how you can possibly get out of this and so then to double back down we're gonna make another console it's gonna be too expensive shit okay we're gonna make another console and we'll figure out how to be affordable but it won't be as powerful no fuck that doesn't work alright we're bringing everything exclusive again well everybody you you can't walk into a target and buy an xbox off the shelf anymore right so it's like and people aren't using them or they sold them back or this and the other they're

28:32Blessing Adeoye Jr.:committed to playstation it's like well so what makes it so that playstation is able to get around that because obviously playstation 6 is also going to cost an arm and arm and a leg yeah do you think playstation doesn't have that similar thing or do you think this is just oh i think it's i think it's across the board a problem but like so i love this conversation yeah i love you i love working with you i'm so glad you work and again shout out to blessing look at how good he is on camera and as a host now i just fucking love working with this kid man now yeah you could be the shit i think i was a man when i got hired i was 25 no no you were just a young pup i was 25 though i'm 30 i'm about to turn 32 in a month you're almost jesus age i'm almost jesus age do you think i'll have the same the same outcome probably uh so great question who's my judas the problem is definitely roger yeah the problem is that xbox has a now problem playstation has a future problem okay that's the issue where i think like everything i'm hearing about how bad it is right now with chips memory ai blah blah blah like like this is definitely a playstation problem as they look at not only the playstation 6 the playstation 5 like when everything they've bought now every contract they've had and they go to re-up these things and they might be even doing it on a quarterly up like shit is going to continue to rise so you go fuck okay but like these are problems that you can at least kick the can down the road hopefully the ai bubble pops hopefully this comes back oh x y and c hopefully they open up the fucking straight just batten down the hatches with the playstation 5 for now and just continue to monetize your audience right playstation is still on this gigantic ship that even if right now they wanted to cut the engines they could still coast so well right they could still do so well and again they're planning that we talk i bring it up all the time here's the cfo right coming in and saying we're going to monetize the existing user base they are not trying to grow right now they are trying to figure out how to get more money out of you me and everybody who plays on playstation to keep everything going more power to them it's a business the problem is xbox doesn't have that xbox has seen their core market flee and so when you don't have snow bike mike playing on xbox anymore right who is playing on xbox and you can't double down and then go okay well we're going to monetize that well they don't exist and they're not happy you know what i mean like we keep talking about like oh my god asha don't take all of your advice from twitter but she's doing that in hopes she's speaking to the only xbox audience that's still there that is still that dialed into what is going on in this so it's like while playstation can coast and hope and deal with those problems later and push the playstation 6 and again even with the playstation 6 you have wiggle room of like all right cool naughty dog or whoever like we're not going to say it the way they did it but like we're going to kind of get away from this generation's business right so it is going to be that playstation 6 is in some ways just the playstation 5 super pro you know what i mean like it is the maybe you don't even put a six on it whatever you were you were going to call it the six you dial that shit back and it is just like here is the highest high-end playstation but you can still play on your base playstation 5 you can still do all that stuff like i think you're going to see a lot of wiggling in there and waffling there as they try to figure that out but again they xbox just doesn't have that you can't go to the store and buy an xbox and like you know what i mean like it was costco right that dumped all their it's only uh playstation and switch there like that sounds silly but it also means like tim or sunday they come out and they're like elder scroll 6 is exclusive halo next one and this everything let's just say they said everything you're seeing today and everything in the future from your exclusive Xbox and let's say it was good enough that you're like I'm gonna go buy an Xbox like I just don't think you can go easily do that let alone the cost that they had to raise on them they're raising they were the first to raise the prices on them and they're like machines nobody wants like yeah so then even if you were gonna go okay cool I want that well that fucking sucks that price sucks I can't get it I have a PC I can play my Xbox games on a PC.

32:33Like there's so many, like, I feel it's definitely the little Dutch boy trying to plug up the dam. And every time you poke, Oh, we're going to get rid of exclusives. Oh fuck. It's pouring out a PC. You can't turn off PC. You know what I mean? Like, I don't understand how Xbox gets out of this quagmire.

32:48Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah. I, I, I think you're absolutely right. As far as story number one being at odds is story number two. And I think that's where I jump in with the exact quote, right? They want to be the number one gaming and entertainment company. What does that mean? You know, I was oftentimes to talk about the success of games and it can be, oh, this sold this many units. Oh, this is making this much money because it has micro transactions and all these things. Oh, this had this much first week sales. There's so many different ways to measure similar things. Right. And I think they might be playing around with that a little bit.

33:17Blessing Adeoye Jr.:But if we're going with the number one gaming and entertainment company, right, like that just tells me revenue. That tells me you want to bring in the most money out of everybody. and weirdly enough i i mean often obviously a very lofty goal but in that story number one they say look we're the number two publisher in the world all they have to do to be number one in my opinion is just be healthy like if you can just get to a solid healthy place you are you as xbox you own everything like you own so many studios you own call of duty you own world of warcraft you own all these studios you just got to get to a healthy place and i think the frustrating thing with where asha starting off right now is is and tim said tim says this constantly he's absolutely right is that they've just not committed they've not committed to going exclusive with the game they've not committed with third party and we're being we're being a publisher right like here oh there's there's a quote that actually kind of blows me away while you find it yeah this is what i've said as long as you probably listen to me right the reason Xbox One failed wasn't the oh it's DRM and it's in the cloud and it's called it it was that when people rallied against it they went okay okay we'll change it like no what is your vision for the product you're selling me like if you don't have that then no people don't believe in it and again we can jump to stuff here in the exclusivity but I mean like it is the whole everything's an Xbox and all these different things they were doing to try to catch up and then no we're not going to do that so it's the whole thing here of like to the question uh from emily right emily chang of like how much you know oversight do you have how much uh free will do you have in this situation it's like i don't i i understand and fully believe that no matter how much they're saying asha has and how much she believes she has yeah sati and adela is up there pulling the strings and at any point he's gonna go fucking done it's over no don't do this anymore it's gonna cost how much no yeah did you find your quote yeah it's the toward the end of that first story quote at this is asha speaking at the same time we're increasingly becoming a platform and in order to become a platform you must have exclusive content and services them saying particularly we're increasingly becoming a platform you've been a platform the whole time you launched as a platform you became a third party publisher in the last what three four years whenever you started putting your games everywhere like so the fact that right now they don't view themselves as a platform i think says so much about where we're trying to steer this thing and again it's the for me it's the committing thing i don't think they're at a place where they can commit anymore though i think the only strategy you have is to quote i think we have to be very thoughtful about each title i don't think they can go all exclusive or all third party they literally can't go all exclusive because call of duty they have ink on a document saying this has to come to other you know the government is really going to come in and they'll definitely enforce that we have a really tight i think at the very least like call of duty of course is going to be everywhere I think you've already kicked down the door as far as other games.

36:21Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I think you can reel some of that back, but I think if you want to be the number one gaming and entertainment company, but you also want to increasingly become a platform to your point, that conflicts with each other, but you do have to pick and choose. How you pick and choose how you communicate that to your audience, can you make your audience happy with that? I don't know if you can, but I think that's the only option you have I mean my thoughts are this as we again weigh this very specific Jekyll and Hyde I don't think these work together I think based on this information and just talking about this games daily because I'm sure I'll say something on another games daily games cast when we're watching something I even one of my predictions was they want to use PlayStation logos of this thing right yeah which I believe if they're going the exclusive way but not if they're trying to be the platform way right sure i feel like if i'm there right now if i'm a betting man i think this is the future of xbox i think that they are going to they have to do this second thing and be the biggest by 2030 which is brand new right because asha's first letter was our our true north star is daily active users yes this is the new north star i think what they do is cool we are a full-blown third-party publisher everything is everywhere Xbox PC PlayStation we have a history in hardware hardware is very hard to do right now as you all know we are not abandoning hardware but we are going to lean into making boutique high-end expertly crafted hardware so you can like we are Project Helix is still happening but that is going to be the perfect merger of an Xbox and a PC thing and it's going to sell one version of that game that'll run on that machine and obviously that is everywhere the games are making but we're putting the PC version on honestly just drop it's an Xbox PC but it's all the love and care of the Xbox interface on a PC it boots straight into Xbox app yada yada yada but Steam's there and everything's there like that is a boutique item we are still going to sell Xbox controllers we're still going to make controllers we have so much history with those controllers we're working with i'm probably too far but we're working with playstation to make versions of their control like we're we're gonna make the next xbox elite work on a playstation which i don't think is how they you know what i mean yeah like this is what i'm saying is like xbox is coming in and committing to like we are gonna make money hand over fist on our 70 video games that are available everywhere and then for you the people who love the xbox brand we are still making this xbox pc we are still making Xbox hardware it'll be able to work on all your PCs and again if you can figure out Playstation figure out Playstation but like that's tough I don't think that makes Snowbike Mike happy but I mean also fuck Snowbike Mike you know what I mean like you know I think the only way to try to be successful as a console would be to put the genie back in the bottle and go to exclusives but again then everybody is sitting there and they're all feeling the whiplash of what you are the most fucking manic company i've ever met pick something and go with it right and i feel like if you're trying to pick something what the actual future would be this would be the future because again now we're making the project helix we've done so much work on it and we're only going to make our initial run of 100 000 or something right and they're going to cost two thousand dollars and they're going to be the best pc you could get to plug into your tv and make it work whatever my my prediction um is xbox is and they've already kind of been in this already but they will continue to be the two-faced Batman villain of a company where but for how long can you do that before you just fucking fail i think over before Batman breaks your legs i don't think it'll i don't think that'll make them fail i think it'll just make them coast like i think that'll be enough to be like all right this thing is just gonna continue to survive and they're i think they can do it while also making a lot of money right because i think one of the faces is going to be the third-party face call of duty's on playstation and also like the games that we deem the games that we don't look at as console sellers will be on playstation so like a kill him for example yeah playstation a a keeper all the double fine games are gonna be on no offense we love you double fine but you're not gonna sell yeah like i think you're going to have a category of game that is this is on playstation because you don't view this as selling xbox but then the other face the xbox first party face will be gears halo maybe even elder scrolls ends up as exclusives on xbox i mean again if we're going with story number one asha yes elder scrolls has to be exclusive yes because that is a system seller and you really don't have that many i think you i think as xbox you're going to end up being two companies at the same time and i think that it's going to work fine for them i see it doesn't work now and i don't think it'll work down the line yeah because again they're always going to look at it and be like oh my god we're losing so much money on this hardware initiative like why why are we why are werd-ing this why are we putting these things out there why aren't they in stores yada yada like we're like i just i think they i think they will i i know the hardware issue is the price and and ai you know eating up all the chips and all that shit right but like i think they're gonna try i think they're gonna try it you know i think you're gonna have new hardware and will it be top of the line will they revert back because the state of everything and go we need something a little bit lower end to speak to people that can actually afford it so that we can get this hardware in people's hands and make them want to buy this so they can play in elder scrolls because people will buy console for elder scrolls yes 100 percent uh beard adapt super chat and says xbox should just axe hardware and physical game production and commit everything to digital game production that you could buy digital game production that you could buy on every digital market.

41:49Just embrace being the third party publisher. And again I think that's number two. Again if you just like the Jets and you go that way right. Yeah. I feel like that's the way to go. But I know so many people are already saying we've beaten this topic into the death. Not even today. Just like this for the fact that this keeps happening January. CEOs say the darndest things as we keep saying right. There was one I liked up here eventually where

42:13oh man people are talking a lot about this stuff thank you very much i don't know but it was somebody saying like uh you know we're talking about playstation and nintendo not talking enough but then we but xbox talks too much xbox is trying to change the narrative that's why they're talking

42:27Blessing Adeoye Jr.:and i here's my thing right i actually like this way of talking sit down on a stage with bloomberg real questions get have them ask you real questions give real answers i like when they talk like that I hate when they talk to people on Twitter that don't know shit, really, is what it comes down to. I think it's when you choose where and how to talk. And I think this was a good place to talk. Fair enough. It's always a good place to talk here on Kind of Funny, but we couldn't talk without your support. Pick up a Kind of Funny membership on YouTube.com slash Kind of Funny Games. Apple, Spotify, Patreon.com slash Kind of Funny to, of course, get everything we do ad-free.

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43:38Ignite your taste buds with the flavor of the summer. Get a Firework Freeze 5-Hour Energy shot today. For more information, visit 5hourenergy.com. This episode is brought to you by Reddit. Yeah, how cool is that? We're being sponsored by one of my absolute favorite places on the internet. Reddit is the app for authentic conversations about anything and everything. I would be embarrassed about the amount of time that I spend on Reddit every single day if I was only going there for one thing. But over the years, I've learned there's a subreddit for every single interest, question, or community I could possibly be looking for.

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44:43Talk games with the best friends. Download the Reddit app today. Two super chest attack on there. Okay. The crazy Alan super chat and says if Double Fine makes a new brutal legend game, they'll get money. No. I love you and I love the fandom of brutal legend and you know I love Tim and I love Double Fine but no that's not the move I mean five cents is money so they'll get money and I like this one Michelangelo says after Starfield parenthesis no offense Greg why are we expecting Elder Scrolls 6 to be a system seller because people have the shortest memory of all fucking time and they want to be disappointed no yeah I disagree with that I think Starfield is the bad game

45:24Blessing Adeoye Jr.:no offense to you yeah no no no no offense yeah yeah but like i think in elder scrolls is way easier to make a good elder scrolls is way easier to make than a good starfield elder scrolls just make an open world rpg that is the sequel to skyrim yeah but i i'm with you but it's the same thing we said leading up to starfield and even fallout 4 here on the shows it was just like bethesda makes bethesda games yeah elder scroll 6 is going to be a bethesda game i'm gonna play it i'm very excited i love bethesda people love bethesda games though they think they do because they played them 20 years ago like this is a great game then they go back to a modern Bethesda game like I can't just shoot everybody and kill everybody and make every choice and do everything this UI sucks this is bad blah blah I just think Starfield's a bad barometer for it because Starfield's in my opinion is not a Bethesda game like Starfield it was so disjointed in the exploration I want to go oh let me that's cool let me walk over there and run into cool characters that have cool things to say yeah now you might be I think I think there's a good chance that you are right that we play Elder Scrolls 6 and we're like, ah, shit.

46:20Blessing Adeoye Jr.:It feels like a 2011 game. And I always come back to, I think, if in the pantheon of Greg Miller's favorite developers, Bethesda is in there. Like, I just love what they do, period. And there's a lot of comments about the jank and yadda yadda. I love all that. I love what I'm doing. I love that it's handcrafted. I love that it's all fucked up. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just think people forget about that, and I really do think as we get closer to Elder Scrolls 6, they will continue to have forgotten about that and it will just even if you never played the other ones or you chalk that all up to old game design you're gonna come into this and be shocked to find the jump is on the y button and we're gonna be you know what i mean like it's that level of like i just feel all these different games and rpgs have evolved and changed and gone in these different directions and i i think this will be a bethesda game at its core and i think that is going to be in modern times he turned off to your point since the last elder scrolls we've gotten the witcher 3 we've gotten balder's gate 3 we've gotten Elden Ring we've gotten so many monumental open world RPGs that have leveled up the design is Elder Scrolls yeah I think there's a good chance that Elder Scrolls feels dated if they don't provide that stuff.

47:34I think in the way we sit here and like oh my god GTA 6 like this game it's gonna be game of the year endeavor blah blah blah like I think people will talk about that the same way for Elder Scrolls and then they will be shocked at how Elder Scrolls actually plays and exists. And that's not me saying it's going to be a bad game. I don't even like fantasy RPGs. I'll be playing that shit. I'm sure all over the place. Yeah, but I just interesting. I don't I don't I I guess this is what I'm saying. Based on fucking nothing really right. I think GTA 6 lives up to the hype and I don't think Elder Scrolls 6 does because I think both of those are in the stratosphere and whereas Rockstar shuts up and makes one game well Red Dead two games over two three console generations right?

48:16You're like, damn, they're committed to it. And Bethesda is committed to making Bethesda games, but they make Bethesda games. Rockstar makes rockstar games. They're very different games. We'll see, but I'll pizza bet right now that elder scroll six disappoints so many people.

48:30Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I don't disagree with that. Fair enough. Let's talk about being disappointed sooner than later, because obviously we're going to wait for elder scrolls forever. Number three valve confirms steam machine will ship this summer. This is Zach over Kotaku. Valve is committing to shipping the Steam Machine and its console-like PC and the Steam Frame VR headset this summer The company confirmed this release window via a new post that also shared new details on how Valve is updating its verified program for these new devices Quote, today we are expanding the verified program to include Steam Machine and Steam Frame, both of which are shipping this summer Valve said in the blog post The company behind games like Half-Life and Portal didn't provide any other details on specifically when the devices will ship or more importantly how much they will cost the rest of the blog is dedicated to valve sharing details on its verified program which shows people if a game is playable on the steam deck via a green check mark will work on the steam machine and steam frame blessing yep good news yeah of course there's been so much conversation of course as we talk about the shifting sands of the technological market of valve announcing this everything going even more shitty with ai chips etc ram memory there was conversations of what do you pull the plug do you do this do you do that they finally put out the controller controller is fucking amazing i did a greg way about how much i love mine yesterday i'm so bad when it comes to being like having to show up at a certain time to buy something online oh is it can you not even get it right now i'm actually you know what that's a very good question yeah i assumed it was only going to be that one time but i guess i could check right now to see if it's available maybe i'll check after the show but tell you this right now what's up if you want to yeah i'll allow a one-time trade where you can trade in your Nintendo shopping spree from a game showdown and instead we can buy you the controller instead as your prize.

50:19You can think about it because I know you want that Yoshi T-Pod. I haven't made it there yet. I'll still buy it if I'm there. I mean, for sure. Yeah, I'll trade that. Yeah, for sure. I'll get the controller. There you go. Yeah. Congratulations on winning that episode of Fudy. Come on. That would have been a great prize for Fudy, by the way. It would have been. We know. By the time we got there, I was out of budget. He was so mad at me. I'm taking people. I'm taking Tim Schafer to fucking House of Prime Rim. He's like, I didn't approve this. Oh my God. Fuck off, Nick, you bitch. Back to this though.

50:47Yeah. I'm surprised they came out and just said it.

50:50Blessing Adeoye Jr.:That it's coming this summer. Do you think this was supposed to be out already? Oh yeah. Yeah. When they initially announced it, they said spring, right? And I believe. Oh, they said spring? Yeah. Okay. Chat, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm fairly certain. I forget what they said. When they did all the previews and stuff with it. yeah I think it was and I think now it's just they've gone through whatever to make the initial run of them and here's what we have and so I think it's more the they did thank you so much Q1 was the plan thank you so much Q1 was the plan I think they made the ones and maybe made that second round based on it like my concern with this and where we're at is like cool we've made X thousand of them and we are going to stop there we have made these and we can always go back but like every time we go back to talk to the chipset people, the prices are quadrupling.

51:40So we're going to stop here, sell these, and maybe you do the thing, which I've heard other companies are doing as well, the metered rollout, where we've bought this many, and rather just put them all out, we're going to put this out, and then later on this allocation, and then try to make it look like you have more, and then get them out, hopefully that this is all quieted down, which of course it won't, we're all fucked, it's over. But yeah, I think that's how it'll probably be. Yeah. Now, the big question then, Do you think we get this at SGF today? No. You don't think so? You know, Valve and Jeff go way back.

52:12Way, way back. Final hours, Half-Life 2. You know, we were so, we were like, oh, it's going to be a game award.

52:17Blessing Adeoye Jr.:They didn't show up once at game awards. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, shifting stance. I think it's so easy for Valve just to own the conversation. Like, the only reason Valve would do it at Summer Game Fest, in my opinion, is just as a favor to Greg. Yeah, yeah. Or to Jeff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Greg, Jeff. See your names. Yeah. Or PC Game Show on Sunday, maybe. No. Jace, I'll let Blessing punch me in the face as hard as he wants. Hell yeah. It shows up at PC Game Show, right? Can you fucking imagine? Who's a contact at PC Game Show? Day nine. Hit up a show and plot. How do we get... Jeff. Now, how do we get...

52:48What's his name? Jeff Kiwi? No, the... Gabe Newell. Gabe Newell. All G names, you know? Yeah, I know. How do we get Gabe? That's exciting, though. What do you think the price is? Expensive. Yeah. I'll say...

53:02Blessing Adeoye Jr.:How much is the controller? 100 100 right because that was my prediction was that they would it would be like maybe like 900 bucks but they sell the controller separately now that we already will sell the controller separately now that we have the controller sold separately hmm i'm gonna be hopeful and say 800 wow 800 yeah dude at 800 that's a fucking steal snap that shit up yeah i think it's over a thousand yeah but i think over a thousand like yeah i i don't think they want it to be a thousand obviously they're being forced hey whatever it is what i know like to oh xbox razor price switch razor price playstation like all these are companies all of them aren't people yada yada yada none of them want to sell for the money none of them are like we're stoked to raise the price against our will like no no nobody wants to sell this stupid thing as much i don't i forget what the internals are like for this thing like what the comparison it's like and that's the thing where it's i i don't even i couldn't even tell you because in my head we're talking about a pc that runs at like good enough right good enough to where it's hey that you can have this in your living room the games will look good if you want something better make your own pc kind of thing so that's why i'm coming down at 800 but yeah more likely probably you're hitting a thousand dollars i think yeah i think it'll be over it yeah i can't i went to buy you the steam controller but it says your reservations are currently not available for customers who've already purchased it.

54:27So go, you try to buy it and you just expense it to kind of funny. We'll be fine. Okay. We move on to story number four. I shake my head already. Paramount skydance launches new video game studio as quote unquote, core pillar of content strategy alongside TV films and streaming. This is Jennifer Moss at variety. David Ellison has been moving pieces around the board and reshaping the new Paramount Skydance over the past year. But one key division remained out of playing his master media plan. Until now. On Friday, Paramount Skydance unveiled Paramount Game Studio, a unified gaming studio that combines Skydance's two existing game studios, Skydance Interactive, and Skydance New Media with Paramount's intellectual property, as Paramount's gaming business has largely consisted of licensing IP to third parties.

55:17Variety has confirmed that both of Skydance New Media's in-development projects Marvel 1943 Rise of Hydra and an untitled Star Wars game made in collaboration with Lucasfilm are still in the works. As for its new slate, Paramount Game Studio will make the announcement of its first game a AAA title during Summer Game Fest at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles today. Interesting. To lead its new gaming efforts, Paramount has named Tony Driscoll, the company's head of corporate strategy and development as president of Paramount Games Studio. Driscoll is intended to service in both roles concurrently and will continue to lead our integration planning effort for the Warner Brothers Discovery transaction per Paramount.

56:03Along with Driscoll, the leadership team at Paramount Games Studio includes two Skydance game vets. Dan Prigg, who was previously head of Skydance Interactive, is now vice president head of games at Paramount, while Sean Kittleson, friend of Kind of Funny Games Daily, has been set as a senior vice president head of creative and production. Skydance New Media's previous leadership team is also experiencing a shakeup with Amy Hennig, moving from her role as co-president of Skydance New Media to become Paramount Games Studios studio creative director. Julian Beak, who served alongside Hennig as co-president of New Media, has exited the company amid the changes.

56:40Quote, The Division launch marks a meaningful evolution in how we think about games, not as an extension of our business, but as a core pillar of our content strategy alongside film, television, and streaming, Driscoll said. We are committed to creating exceptional games for every type of player, from casual to AAA, and building enduring experiences across our beloved Paramount IP and original worlds that deepen fan engagement and drive long-term growth.

57:08Blessing Adeoye Jr.:so when i go to order the steam controller i can only reserve so i hit the reserve button and then i'm sure they'll email me in okay about five years being sure this is canceled sure

57:20Blessing Adeoye Jr.:consolidation consolidation i was talking to roger because roger knows more about paramount skydance than i do i was like i was like so like what's up why should i care about this this is as good as this is bad and he's like this is going to become wb games and i was like oh you know what that's a really good observation the fact that paramount skydance is in the process of acquiring WB so when they buy Warner Brothers this is just that's going to consolidate into this and it's going to be one big happy family happy family you know what I mean because it harkens back to I believe it was yesterday's Games Daily with Andy and Paris was that yesterday two days ago no it was yesterday and them talking about Amazon and James Bond and how happy they were to see you know the James James Bond and completely under Amazon's control I did this great thing but now we'll put it are there i'm sure they won't fuck it up because amazon a long history of award-winning video games they've really crushed it in the gaming space so far yeah and so you look here and it's like you want to name them crucible you remember crucible i remember crucible new world new world yeah i'm still doing its thing right i think it's done oh i think a new world new world that new world that one lost planet lost soul aside lost yeah lost yeah lost something they lost something they definitely lost our trust.

58:32You jump over to Paramount. You jump over to Skydance. You jump over to I mean Amy incredibly talented. Sean Kittleson who's been on the shows here before incredibly talented. They're bringing in and promoting the right people and doing this different stuff but it's just when you keep putting on layers of bullshit to stuff and we're talking about Skydance games and it's like what is I've seen a lot of Skydance game demos at SGF I haven't talked a lot about Skydance games I've enjoyed. I look at that brand and I'm like, I don't know off the top of my head what we're talking. You know what I mean?

59:07We're talking about Marvel 1943. Which has always been the one where we're like, oh, hopefully that'll be the one. That'll be the one. You know what I mean? Hopefully. So we're just like, what are we talking about? They did the Behemoth, Walking Dead Saints and Sinners, Retribution, Arcane, and they're publishing these or whatever. Sometimes, I guess making them, I don't, I'm talking a little bit. It's one of those of like, you talk about these studios getting going. yeah let's learn how to do this blah blah blah and now we've just dumped all this into the pot with it and it's just like it doesn't scream that's going to be great especially with the wb stuff entering the mix eventually it's all you know i mean like with paramount's and

59:49Blessing Adeoye Jr.:it's the thing that you talk about a lot with marvel games right you have a a company that owns so many profitable IP or so many IPs that can be used in video games what's the best way to approach this? Should we try to start up a big thing, pour a bunch of money into it and try to do it from scratch or should we work with really talented studios that are probably looking for IP to work with and like create a variety of different kinds of games because now we can make a Spider-Man action game where we can make a Midnight Suns as a card battler strategy thing and we can make XYZ, Cosmic Invasion and Marvel token fighting souls and have a variety of things that can work well with our IP that feels way more viable and reasonable than yeah, let's make paramount skydance, the video game company and then buy Warner brothers and then try to form all that stuff together.

1:00:36Blessing Adeoye Jr.:And then as paramount skydance, we look at our, our books like a few years later and go, why isn't we're losing a lot of money on all these video game studios. We should close them. 100%, which is inevitably how this ends up every fucking time. And it's yeah. You know, in the article it calls out, you know, blah blah blah up until or paramount's gaming business has largely consisted of licensing ips to third parties yeah which ring a ding ding tim is the right way to fucking do it yep imo because again you're gonna get there but you know you do this thing and again now i'm just talking the old man yelling at cloud read enough articles of just like all these companies just want to be bigger and be bigger and be seen bigger so they can eat up the next thing or hopefully get eaten up by somebody else to be the biggest video games seem like a good vertical to get into why don't we spend something Fortnite makes a lot of money we could make that kind of money David Ellison wouldn't we made our own big games and servers game called Blue Protocol that's the Amazon one that also cancelled yeah I remember I played that one at a summer game fest Lost Ark was that game by the way that I was thinking of blessing yes Amy Hennig finally getting to fucking put out another game since we haven't seen one since Uncharted 3 would be a pretty fucking big deal but if I wanted something smaller say the tiniest news I need to know about.

1:01:47Where should I go? You'd go to our last story, the Wii News channel. We cover all the small news items you need to know about. Number five, the Wii News for Mario 64. Crime Boss, Rocky City is getting a story mode. It's got new cut scenes and returning cut content. Adding DLC missions. A focus narrative. A focus narrative. No turf war or roguelike mechanics. Of course, Michael Hauer is the only man I know who played this. Game of the year. Apparently. Yeah. Remember, this is one had kim basinger's in it uh michael madsen's in it right yeah yeah there he was i would never have called both this and mine's eye getting dlc is this one going uh taking on its legal battles as well or whatever i forgot this game this game came out like two years ago three years ago

1:02:30Blessing Adeoye Jr.:and we're getting dlc for it if it was like a month later it'd be like okay you made that right yeah but you made this in between the time that the game failed and now is that not what was the boss like there's the definition of insanity this trailer if you're not watching is just like totally ripping into all the game that existed before no roguelike no this everything we made that we thought you might enjoy we've stripped out everybody because you hated it michael rooker i need to know the scam i need this trailer i mean this story how long is the story it's gonna 10 minutes from steam news steam is getting a refreshed home page quote today we are excited to announce the release of a refreshed steam store home page thank you to everyone who opted into the Steam client beta and provided feedback during the beta period.

1:03:13The updated design is a continuation of recent improvements across the Steam store like the game page updates we made a few months ago. As you scroll through it, I like the personalized calendar. You and I are a big fan of the calendar out there.

1:03:24Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Every platform, every gaming store should have a personalized calendar that's like automated to show you, oh, you like these games? Here are the games that are of your case. Oh, you wishlist all this stuff. So here it is. Yeah, here are all the games that you wishlist, games that we know are your taste. Oh, this is on sale? All in an organized calendar. Steam is great. seem by far has the best store it's ridiculous you remember years ago when everybody was complaining about epic game store we're like man everybody stopped complaining now one of them yo fuck every other store i don't care what there's a difference between fuck every other store people being like mad that there was an epic launcher uh vg splits kevin give game developers less give me a good store kevin listen up vgc reports crimson desert's latest patch has arrived it's adding a pinball minigame does that do it for you kev uh yeah i mean I think that one's dumb.

1:04:10I don't like games where you can maybe get the furniture you want. You know what I mean? Like, let me just buy the furniture I want. Oh, it's gotcha? Yeah. Oh, okay. No, I don't like that. The exciting thing is you can now, in the last patch, you were able to hatch a wyvern egg. And now you can feed it and it will grow into a mount that you can ride. Nice. I like that. Cool. And so Cisco's going to get big. from at xbox game dev on twitter xbox godot sample uh now available to the public source only reference on github but we're making it easier to build for xbox on pc with godot engine uh check out our new sample that helps you integrate microsoft gdx xbox services and play fab directly into godot uh with reusable code and modular samples that help you make your development path shorter smoother and more open it's pronounced good though is it this is the whole thing with Gal Gadot, Gal Gadot, Gal whatever.

1:05:05I was just referencing Gal Gadot. I can't keep up with it anymore. Remember when she was like everywhere and now she's nowhere? I wonder why. Who could say? Who could say? What happened to Gal Gadot? I don't know, man. Just free Palestine. Is it that hard? Is it that hard? EA Sports, college football. Actually, never mind. Go for it. I was going to hate on her acting. I don't like her acting. I don't want to be mean. Maxwell Lord, give me the stone. Wonder Woman 1984 was such a waste of a Christmas Eve. I was so mad. I was offended by it. I was so mad. I'll never forget that movie ending. And it was me, Jen, Lucy, and her boyfriend at the time.

1:05:39And it ended and there was, everyone in the room was so quiet waiting for me to say something first. And I was like, that was awful. Like, oh, thank God. Oh, Jesus. God, we didn't know. EA Sports College Football 27 launches on July 9th on Xbox Series, PlayStation 5 and PC. Vertigo Games, Shutters, Amsterdam Studio. And that's it for the Wii News. Let me get you some super chats before we get to the Wii. get out of here. So many of you super chatted in. I thank you so much for that. I appreciate you. It's a big day. Amazon. Oh, no, sorry. Amazing. Spider Dan, a belated birthday tax. I turned 30 on Wednesday and I have loved watching SGF coverage during my birthday week.

1:06:12What should I look forward to my thirties?

1:06:16Blessing Adeoye Jr.:My back's been hurting. Like my lower back has started hurting a lot in the last, I'll say like half year. So look forward to that. I, you know, I think life keeps getting better. The older you get, which I think is crazier. I think it gets, it's harder in different ways, but easier in other ways. I appreciate that. But just, you know, what are you going to enjoy in your 30s? I got slapped by a lot of wrestlers, so maybe you'll get slapped by a lot of wrestlers. Ooh, that's fun. Blue Night Jedi says, just watch the full Asha interview with Bloomberg. Must watch. Tough questions and impressive answers.

1:06:43The interview should excite all gamers.

1:06:51Onimus Prime says, inside baseball question, are developers privy to what other games are around them in a showcase? like does Todd Howard know hey you're at 53 minute mark between Halo and Blade a great question too specific here in terms of Xbox I would say from my experience talking to developers most of the time you don't know fucking jack shit I don't know how many I'm thinking more on the wide spectrum than hey you're a first party Todd Howard I don't know if Todd knows where he ever is in a thing yeah i don't know that's a good question i hadn't i hadn't even thought about that okay

1:07:30Blessing Adeoye Jr.:um moving on hold on i would feel like more people that know more things is more likely to lead to leaks so you wouldn't want if you're a jeff keely especially you wouldn't want to let other people know unless there's like really high profile things that is something that might affect another announcement you know i mean like hey we have a competing game that is exactly like your game in the showcase but i don't even know if you would say that maybe it's jeff you would just be like we don't want to have both these things but i'm not going to tell you why i don't know yeah that's my thing i feel like when you're dealing with a jeff they don't tell you because yeah then it's more like whatever but first party like well you know in the olden days the old days i think no maybe i'm thinking though you know the old old days when they did all this shit live you would know because you would know your place yeah and that's where i would talk to developers and oh yeah we're at rehearsal today and saw x y and z behind me but nowadays yeah they have no i think usually you get like a blanket embargo of like don't talk about it until you're in the showcase or next time we have jeff on the show we should like ask him ask him okay uh claw master uh says i'm a man of my word here's your pizza bet money greg thank you i completely forgot what we pizza bedded but i appreciate that you remembered and paid me the money that we will I use for Chipotle catering today.

1:08:46Let me get some down here. The very bottom

1:08:52Sanchez games goes Kal-El. No.

1:08:58Oh, Justice League. Sorry. I'm right there. Corey says love when I get to watch G-Spot and B-Hole. Pardon my French, but fuck Paramount. Boycotting them is the only way to help stop fascism from spreading further in this country. Sucks for us gamers. Of course, the Ellison family very tied up in all the fucking horrible ass shit going on around us. So, yeah.

1:09:24KH Cloud says, what if Xbox buys a media company like Disney? That's not going to happen. I mean, they get tried, but there's very few things that are like Disney. Yeah, I was going to say, I don't feel like Disney's not the bottom.

1:09:34Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah, exactly. I was going to say the other way around, I guess that wouldn't work either. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I don't think it would do that. Eventually, with the government alone, all the media, it's fine. Toby says just wanted to say it's always fun watching SGF with you guys looking forward to later well thank you Toby we are looking forward to serving you later as well remember everybody kind of funny games daily is done but our day of programming and weekend content is far from over from here you're going to go into a video game stream with the boys after that of course we will be going into the one the only the SGF live reaction twitch.tv slash kind of funny games youtube.com slash kind of funny games we of course will go live around 145 150 talk all the way through sgf watch it alongside react with you then of course do the games cast post show where we review and rank and go through every game on there and have a great time talking about that catch uh obviously the entire watch along on youtube.com slash kind of funny games the whole podcast on there podcast services everywhere remember tomorrow another special day we don't do saturday content but of course blessing myself will be in los angeles seeing a bunch of video games at SGF but we're also going to do a little day of the devs react on delay of course day of the devs is happening today but it always happens while we react uh to Jeff's showcase so we will be doing a curated 10 game reaction tomorrow where I show the gentleman 10 games that I saw day of the devs and thought were really cool for them that goes up at 9 a.m uh youtube.com kind of funny games uh games cast everywhere then of course Sunday it's Xbox day uh we'll be live at Xbox seeing it at L in LA just tons of stuff happening and then Monday we'll be back to talk about all the games we saw throughout SGF and then we will do that throughout the week because there's so many different embargoes and then it's apparently somewhere in the next week there's going to be a Nintendo Direct where they're going to put out Ocarina of Time and I'm going to cry on camera so there's a lot of fucking shit happening everybody I hope you're excited I hope you're ready to party with us uh if you love us and all the work we're putting in please pick up a membership youtube.com slash kind of funny games patreon.com slash kind of funny apple Spotify and of course like subscribe share all that jazz however until next time it's been a pleasure to serve you

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- Start - Xbox CEO says platforms ‘must have exclusive content’ as she weighs exclusivity shift - Andy Robinson @ VGC - Asha Sharma says she wants Xbox to be ‘the number one gaming and entertainment company’ by 2030 - Chris Scullion @ VGC - Ad - Valve Confirms Steam Machine Will Ship This Summer - Zack Zweizen @ Kotaku - Paramount Skydance Launches New Video Game Studio as ‘Core Pillar’ of Content Strategy Alongside TV, Films and Streaming (EXCLUSIVE) - Jenifer Maas @ Variety - Wee News! - SuperChats & You‘re Wrong

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