2024 Has Been Rough for the Game Industry with Alanah Pearce

After a ton of Xbox layoffs for 2024 were announced, many have been reacting to what has been a devastating start to 2024. Alanah Pearce was planned as a guest weeks ago, and unfortunately, we'll be talking about the current events and how former Activision Blizzard employees have been impacted. In addition, however, this is part of a larger trend the industry has been facing. We'll also touch on the AI topic, the Palworld controversy, and a lot more this week.
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[@DestinL]

A huge thank you to Alanah for joining. Do you think the game industry will stabalize this year? Let me know and please consider subscribing! kzbin.info Become a Member here kzbin.info/door/gUOWrjLEhmHE9tqYtoeS_gjoin/join`11`

[@nerdsandotherlegends652]

I wonder if the debate about physical vs digital is less about physical vs digital and more about DRM and preservation.

[@michalandrejmolnar3715]

Could you do one video introducing Game Pass to a new audience?

[@gamerbychoice4024]

That was an amazing video. great job.

[@Deretich]

Sadly I would say no. Maybe after the election but it depends on who is president. One side is friendlier to the economy than the other. Which means more consumer confidence and investment from people. Unfortunately it is this way as people are trying to make the most money they can. So we will still see a lot of consolidation, which means more people losing their jobs. It is something that is good and also bad for the industry. Something akin to growing pains as the industry adjusts to the economy. It will swing back as long as game companies invest appropriately. Those that don’t will get eaten up by the Microsoft’s, Sony’s, tencent’s and embracer groups of the world. Some of our favorite games developers will probably go out of business. As a fan I am a little worried for Rocksteady as the general consensus of the suicide squad kills the justice league is it is not what we want. We will see what happens but we currently in a place where one flop means going out of business unless you owned by a big company.

[@frankkent5567]

No.

[@codybishop7526]

I don’t know why any college students would ever choose the gaming industry as a career path after seeing how expendable these roles are to corporations.

[@Sup3rCondor]

Passion. The feeling like nothing else in life will be as fulfilling. A desire to improve people's lives through making great games. Wanting to be with people making games because they are awesome to make games and hang out with. Those are some of the reasons I do it.

[@Smallerexia]

No idea, couldn't be me🙃

[@Afrofreak96]

I’m a computer science student and I dreamt of working in the gaming industry but especially the last 2 years scared me away from the industry. I believe there needs to be more unions protecting these workers

[@RavagHer]

they are better off becoming a twitch/youtube streamer while trying to make a game themselves on the side. look at games like FTL....like was it like 2 ppl who made that.

[@isturbo1984]

Probably for the same reason any person these days would choose to go to college in the first place.

[@aweldum]

This is happening all over in tech supported industries... Just got laid off as well😔

[@DestinL]

I'm sorry aweldum.

[@pixelhotdish]

Yea, my department was just told that a "Global Town Hall" meeting is happening in two weeks (I think, may be 3 weeks from now?) and announcements are expected to be made about our company restructuring. We are all bracing for the worst given how many layoffs are happening across the tech.

[@eternal_napalm6442]

It's all part of Joe's Building Back Better plan! Relax!

[@dradis1]

Sorry to hear that, I hope you land on your feet!

[@tede1838]

sorry to hear. good luck with finding something else. i hope it all works out for you.

[@mynameismud-qd9vu]

How much revenue a company brings in has nothing to do with whether they are likely to lay people off or not. It's about total cost to profit. If a company is making less profit due to higher costs to run their business, then wages are the first to be cut. That pretty much applies to any business.

[@craigharris41]

My friends son did that but he now works for LucasArts

[@PurushaDesa]

The vote with your wallet argument discounts the millions of dollars spent to train consumers’ habits.

[@themightyant.]

Exactly and Xbox posted a $450 million LOSS for last year, that doesn’t include the $69bn ABK acquisition but does include some logistical costs associated with the purchase

[@mynameismud-qd9vu]

@@themightyant. Of course there was going to be a net loss at first, because of the amount of redundancies and overall costs of merging the companies. Wait until their next financials before jumping to conclusions.

[@aliali-ce3yf]

never the wages of executives though, funny how that works

[@TheJustinboodram]

The next Phil Spencer interview will be pretty interesting

[@DestinL]

It sure will be. It's going to be something.

[@startraffick]

Satya and exec board are the ones asking for the cuts.

[@GoldChainGaming-ou9bq]

Phil is just gonna lie again

[@startraffick]

Sony fired over 500 at PlayStation in October. Where was the outrage? Microsoft laid-off but Sony fires. Laid-off workers will still get 6 months pay, while the Sony fired won't get paid. Are you happy now armchair CEO's?

[@fordgtguy]

@@GoldChainGaming-ou9bq Your claim that he is lying is based on absolutely nothing. We know from history that all mergers result in layoffs; and this is the largest merger in gaming history.

[@PhinneusPrune]

I buy 100% digital. The decision is mostly laziness. How annoying is it when you sit on the couch after a hard day. Power up the XBox. Click on a game I want to play and get the message, "Do you own this game? If so please insert the disk". I am too old for physical media. That sounds weird but I have hundreds of games in physical. And I don't have storage for all of them on my book shelf.

[@Tacitus_kilgore_1903]

Saboteur

[@Eclipsed972]

I went digital 11 years ago and haven’t regretted it at all

[@steveafanador6441]

Sounds just like me 👍👍

[@lycanwarrior2137]

On the PC, physical games pretty much died a long time ago unfortunately.

[@BundyFly]

This was a great conversation that covered so many interesting topics. I especially like the section about social personalities. I clicked on this video cause it had both Dustin and Alanah from Unlocked and I've always enjoyed their insightful and analytical opinions. What a great team up! Thanks!

[@gman7497]

It does concern me.. if it's a creator that has ethics and values being accountable, the indie trend is no issue. The problem is there's tons of YT grifters who prey on angry kids who wanna be outraged at something and create a following from it. Enough of that content and that same audience won't see nuance or be objective about anything.

[@darkwarriorplays241]

I use to love going to midnight release of games. I miss that so much.

[@Dogman52x]

I remember taking my son to the midnight release of Skyrim. The guy that was first in line bought the collectors addition and when he came outside he stood by the line in the middle of the parking lot, put his Statue addition down and raised his hands to the gods. Lol My then 13 yr old still talks about it to this day.

[@FighterChamp.]

@@Dogman52xiconic

[@patrickdeucharsgk]

The golden age of video gaming is over sadly

[@callsignjoker1]

​@H0rnets52 Skyrims launch and the months before were pure magic. To this day I return to the E3 footage and play Skyrim again every October/November.

[@xxAtticus]

I'll never forget the Halo 2 midnight release.. the hype was unreal

[@flexingmecha]

My issues with all digital has been amplified by Sony removing access to digital media on their side with no intention of refunding, the current state of PlayStation removing licenses for purchased games from accounts or out right banning accounts for no reason for “reasons”. Along with struggling streaming platforms and increase prices the atmosphere absolutely speaks to start having more physical media or fear the consequences down the road.

[@dracofox839]

Should prob be more amplified by Xbox removing physical games department leading to more control by Microsoft of digital prices

[@OcarinaHero93]

@@dracofox839Sony has the largest market share in digital sales. 80%PS4/PS5 to 20% Xbox One/ Series X and S

[@BrotherKnowledge.]

​@@dracofox839 In addition to what Ocarina said, Xbox also doesn't restrict their digital games to their storefront. Xbox games can be found on storefronts like Eneba, CDKeys, and others as well.

[@isturbo1984]

It's not that concerning. While it would be nice if the corporations themselves reserve physical media in stone, there will always been companies like Limited Run to satisfy those customers. And i predict a rise of more small companies like LR. There are several layers of protection here when it comes to this. External hard drives is a thing. And the last line of defense is piracy. Physical media will never go away.

[@flexingmecha]

@@OcarinaHero93 is there a point? Does this include the market hold Xbox has with gamepass? Where are you getting your numbers we need sources because Sony alone accounts their digital sales at around 62% as of end quarter 2023 and digital sales from all platforms are accounted for almost 90% and 25m gamepass subscribers. Point being both respective parties are leading us to a point where we voluntarily surrender control over what we own and Sony has blundered much more than Xbox has at the moment.

[@jefft4488]

the year just started. How has 2024 been rough??

[@MaNA_tW]

You don't get to be a 3T dollar company by paying hundreds of millions of dollars a year to redundant people. It's not surprising, and everyone at ABK should have seen this coming.

[@isturbo1984]

I highly doubt they had the foresight to see this coming for multiple reasons. Besides, diversity hires all think they are untouchable.

[@isturbo1984]

well, the thing i learned to day is your comment will get censored if you say the word "hire" followed by the word diversity.

[@MaNA_tW]

@@isturbo1984 Shadow Banned

[@isturbo1984]

@@MaNA_tW ya, they dont want you talking about it.

[@masterofIich]

Yeah. They should have left when the deal went through. It’s their own fault really. Microsoft is all about profit.

[@fordgtguy]

People blaming Xbox for all digital is incredibly non-sensical. Steam and PC gaming has been normalizing digital only game-ownership for the last decade. Microsoft and Sony see the writing on the wall and know that eventually the overwhelming majority will own games digitally.

[@anakinskyguy6582]

I'm more than fine with going all digital but we gotta find a way, (specially on the console side) to guarantee the preservation of the content we acquire digitally. Some government organization must hold companies accountable if our digital property is affected in any way.

[@ZenkaiGoose]

Do you think more people would buy physical if the box had goodies like they used to and you could instantly play (no install) via a cart? To me I think that digital is more popular but in a world where physical is an empty box and a license key that you still have to install (aka its just digital with extra steps) then of course you'd get that instead. In a world where Books are still bought in droves physically, I see no reason why a game couldn't be revamped to have a physical copy actually be valuable. We can see the same thing happening with the rise of Vinyl. In my opinion, physical games are just sad empty boxes being sold for 79$ plus tax.

[@michalk7234]

i think last time i got a physical game was early xb1 , and there was nothing instant about the disk, you still had to copy data to the hd,

[@AHungryHunky]

Yeah, its my opinion as well. I enjoy getting physical copies of my favorite media. I buy DVDs of my favorite movies, I buy Vynil of my favorite albums. The fact is physical games have no value as physical items, because like you said they are just digital with extra steps. It used to be when digital was in its infancy you would pre-order a physical copy and pick it up and play it within an hour. If you bought digitally you would have to wait for painfully slow internet to download the game, and often would not be playing until morning. Now its inversed, you can preload digital games and play as soon as the clock strikes midnight, whereas Physical you have to wait in a line, drive home, and begin a slow digital install process since the disc is basically a key for the digital download. So i dont buy physical games anymore, because its simply been made into a worse experience with barely any benfits. I don't know if games can go back to being actual physical things, but if they cant more releases like Starfeild's collectors edition where the game download code at the very least is stored on a unique item would be appreciated.

[@joeynox]

No one should be upset over the cancelled game. It was a lost cause from the start. They flip flopped engines and the project was doomed. It basically was a money pit. As for going all digital it makes sense since most of the discs don't even have the games on them and most gamers are digital. As for the layoffs yes, they suck but redundant positions were expected. Xbox doesn't need 50 community managers or 200 people doing the the same or similar job, 99% of these companies send their c/s overseas anyway (which sucks) but it's expected.

[@0x8badbeef]

Maybe the layoffs could have been averted if Microsoft was able to continue to use temps. In 2020 Microsoft got sued for using temps in a permatemp case. There were 8000 people that held temp positions that won $97M. This could be the sudden hiring you referred to in 2020 because they can't use temps.

[@Draw2quit]

Vote with your wallet doesn't work. Vote with your friendlist does. If you see someone in a game who has bought into the microtransaction system, block them. If enough people did this, it would be a massive deterrent to players. People like yourself Destin, and Alanah have the influence to start the ball rolling on a movement like this.

[@ridiculous_gaming]

I am curious how hammered in lawsuits the Palworld developers are facing from Nintendo at this moment? Nintendo does not let anything go.

[@SAVANTI711]

Physical media leaving is a destructive path to gamers rights and power over publishers & developers. More deceptive practises and less consumer care is almost a guarantee for the future. More power will go to the greed. Psychical games helped put companies in line, you could say Hey whats this BS? Cut it out or i won't buy from you again, Now it will just be You don't like it, "Well Too Bad".. How else are you going to play games? Good Luck.

[@Deretich]

Alanah is amazing and always so empathetic. She was the perfect person to have on at this time to talk about the layoffs. My heart goes out to those that lost their jobs. Thanks for this great Destin talks to random people. 😅

[@DestinL]

Thank you for watching.

[@alexandrereginatto4420]

There is a problem of cause and consequence: I buy digital games because most physical games are becoming very hard to find, at least here in Brazil. I did not move to buying digital games because I wanted it.

[@skipmcilvaine]

I can't remember the book, but one of its stories was how to walk through the rain without getting wet. To me, your gait and agility is your knowledge, art and heart. The rain is the business of greedy, gloomy, dimwitted assholes. Good luck dodging the rain.

[@mouthyman5505]

2024 Has Been Rough for the Game Industry with Alanah Pearce. we are 1 month in and its rough? these people don't know shit. if you come to anyone of them for game news your shit out of luck.

[@Playerz714]

I mean the tech sector had a massive hiring spree and it was unsustainable

[@Omgitsjoshers123]

I adore Alanah

[@countryclub1113]

Physical copies of games/media are cool, I have a few that I treasure, but I haven't bought a physical copy of a game since 2014. The reason being, that since around that time, I've moved 5 times. Moving a large collection of video games, console systems, and player's guide/books etc. multiple times gets to be pretty horrible honestly, so I sold half of my collection and have only been buying digital copies of everything since then, and I only use laptops now for my computers. It's been great, and I'm considering scaling down even further. So, if you're a frequent mover, or want to live without a lot of stuff, it's not a problem.

[@markstephenson6744]

I think I heard yesterday, possibly on one of Destin's videos, that the average age of gamers is 35. We just don't have room for extra stuff, plus by that point there's probably another person in the house competing for space and telling you to cut down on clutter. For some of us, kids will be part of the equation and they and their stuff takes up even more space. The ability to buy stuff without it taking up space is a godsend. The cabinet under my TV is full to the brim of PS3, 360 and Xbox One games. I can't think where I would have put my XSX games if I hadn't made the switch to digital. Plus I share my account with a friend from Overseas that I don't get to see very often. Conversing over what we've been playing and what we should buy next has been a great way of staying in touch.

[@AHungryHunky]

I still have all my physical games from the 360 and back, plus some physical Xbox One games but you are right, my Series X stands alone on my tv stand and its disc drive is used more for DVDs than games. All my games are stored in drawers in the only place I had room for them, at the total opposite end of the house. All my purchases for the past 3 years have been digital. Add on things like day one patches and the game not fully being on the disc and buying physical seems more ans more pointless in sort of a "it is what it is" kind of way.

[@adrianwiles1]

Can't they ban you for account sharing?

[@markstephenson6744]

@@adrianwiles1 I don’t believe so, it’s a feature. Unless you’re sharing with dozens of users I don’t think it’s an issue.

[@edmondreynoldsjr.4445]

I guess I’m confused. This is big business. If you’re a top tier employee you’re normally safe. So they laid off some employees get on with it. If you have strikes against you or issues with management and are always arguing about stuff or causing issues, that’s always get cut. I’m sorry but I was in upper management for over 20 years. The generation disconnect is incredible.

[@SussedRage]

MX - A tiny, tiiiiiiny percentage of people have voted with their wallets...and now the rest of us are stuck with them...

[@chrism8860]

Tech grew too much during the pandemic, but companies didn't think they growth would stop. The CEO pay is ridiculous

[@ashewalked]

Love the collaboration between Destin and Alanah. Would love to see more with you both. You are two of my favorite gaming centric content creators because you tend to be reasonable.

[@Narleski1]

Two of my favs talkin games. We more episodes of you two talking games. Great show!

[@brent5368]

Baldersgate 3 put the whole game in several discs. Maybe after a game is released and gets a few good updates Xbox can do a limited runs games type of thing where they take pre orders for a physical on several discs instead of what most physical games do now and just are like a key to play that needs a day one download. They won’t have to worry about over producing and filling stores with games that won’t sell.

[@nickwpearce]

Satya is on 55 million a year and Phil is on 10m a year... But that's business unfortunately... As for Odyssey being built on a poor engine for 6 years and wanting to change to unreal Xbox obviously didn't want to fund that. 300m budget games, hiring staff knowing you will have to sack them after covid ends its evil but just how the world works in EVERY industry...

[@hododod246]

I am quite curious to learn how many laid off devs found a job in gaming industry and how many of them left the gaming industry forever.

[@JonUK4]

I was laid off (uk) after twenty years service. All sectors are getting it. Companies have no loyalty to their staff and it’s time they were legislated to.

[@TheCybercoco]

Nightingale is coming out in February or March. Barring technical difficulties, that'll probably be the next big release of the genre. It's unfortunate that Enshrouded release days after the Palworld craze, because that's a superior game in the genre, and deserves far more recognition. Who knows about Ark. Snail Games has a notorious history and is at odds with it's community now. Ark 2 could end up not doing so well.

[@alejandrovega7343]

For me I buy physical games for my nintendo switch oled model and I really liked how nintendo company went with cartridge so I am really excited for the nintendo switch 2 I also think that the new hardware will release in 2024

[@SotNist]

Credit rolls in AAA games go on for like 45 minutes. On top of typical corporate greed, the cost of all these salaries has been getting passed onto consumers for a long time through monetization. Not to mention designing games in a way that facilitates it. The cost risk usually necessitates creating generic products in general. I can empathize, but they're honestly still in a better position than 90% of us. I honestly would just like to see more experiences from imaginative, talented and passionate people anyway. AI is also going to just keep getting better at helping smaller teams do what they want without needing to keep expanding and farming out.

[@Eclipsed972]

I have a lot of respect for game devs, but it really is an awful career to put yourself through tbh, especially with the fear of AI taking over things in a few years most likely

[@aizentaicho82]

I get that there are redundancies. But to an extent, shouldn't there be a semblance of, maybe we shouldn't spend $68 billion on a company, if we can't pay for their staff? Maybe ABK pays them off even if they stay independent, sure. At the same time, they were employed until MS acquired them. So idk.....

[@jasonwindsor9315]

You can't point to the Activision merger because the layoffs have been industry wide. It's not just Microsoft laying poople off, it's Sony and other publishers too. It's industry wide.

[@bozzwick]

They said that already 18:48

[@Danamight87]

I like how she talks about some individuals lacking integrity. When in fact the main reason people are shying away from media outlets is blatantly that same thing.

[@BubblegumCrash332]

In Japan it's illegal to just lay off employees unless the market is crashing. Rules in place make the CEOs take a pay cut.

[@lgcslyr]

Going digital does not hurt game preservation. If anything, it makes it easier. Going streaming will definitely make it impossible.

[@pdraggy]

Great episode Destin! Two of my favorite people in one podcast!

[@themightyant.]

@Destin you need to look at physical v digital sales figures more closely as your data is off, they aren’t as skewed as you think towards digital. E.g. PlayStation investors briefing showed ONE THIRD of all games sold worldwide last year on PlayStation were physical. But that doesn’t take into account that many smaller games ONLY release digitally, or the sharing second hand market. In reality it’s much more than 33% on PlayStation when everything is considered. In fact the Insomniac leak showed the opposite e.g. it was 67% physical for many AAA Sony first party games like Spider-man

[@thebrandonian]

No video on Palworld yet? Surprising!

[@joshrogers6669]

They could have used models that looked nothing like Pokémon and people would still call it Pokémon with guns.

[@AnthonyBrown-gt4tn]

The cope that Nintendo is gonna sue STILL is crazy lol

[@gregorymansour1763]

35:40 Not to be that guy, but no company is happy to sue another company. It's expensive and risks setting a legal precedent that favors the defendant. TPC and Nintendo like to make legal threats. They rarely go to court.

[@unimations7409]

When it floats down.

[@Rworthington100]

I can’t wait to see the user scores for suicidal squad. Ppl are PISSED about killing the heroes.

[@FoolishDuke]

Gen Z isnt as into collecting because things are digital for them Why collect games, cards, movies, books, when they are all digital Also they spend more on fashion. and travel because it helps give them content for social media which is important for them A new outfit or a vacation is great/easy content where as a comic collection isn't

[@flyback777]

I still buy almost only physical, unless I can't or there's an amazing game deal for a game that isn't that special to me so I don't care not having a physical copy. I love to play and to collect. The only fear that I have, is if future consoles will be backward compatible, but won't have disc drives.

[@mauvemonk]

Walking away from $6MM in a project just means that it is a sunk cost; they feel they could make more money focusing on other projects

[@Ludens93]

Hey Alanah, 2024 might have started out terrible for the games industry, but hey atleast Liverpool is on top of the table. ❤

[@manateemilk1]

High interest rates affect every business

[@chrisj320ac3]

I'm so glad you made your own Chanel. I'm clicking on every video you upload.

[@Smyveee]

Happy to switch to digital media if and when it happens but you should still have the option to buy a physical copy of a top tier game, much like the film and Blu-ray industry. The biggest thing for me though is the fact that the digital version of game is nearly always more expensive. How can that be when there are no materials and shipping costs involved, it just doesn't make any sense to me. Surely we should be encouraging people to go digital by making the digital versions cheaper than their physical counterparts. Just my 2 pence worth.

[@AndersonClips]

hey alanah why didn't you disclose you got payed for a charity boxing event?

[@micahkiker3041]

I was 18 when Pokemon came out in America so never got into it.

[@nickwpearce]

As an 80s baby collectors cards was my first... TMNT Basketball with gum X-Men Which was technically gambling... But then you traded with friends or went to trade meets... Gen Z has grown up listening to music via a phone and the internet and that's snowballed onto every thing... The fact we now live in units and not houses means less space and the younger generations not wanting physical things to put on shelves

[@augamr]

Not sure why people are surprised .... with mergers like this redundancies are inevitable .... what is surprising is it was only 1,900 .... most mergers of this size would have payed off 3 times this amount.

[@maxpeterson3178]

Love seeing Alanah on the show. Great collab

[@TheCraig3000]

Reports have been coming out about that survival game from Blizzard still meeting another four or five years to be completed

[@sergeaucoin1]

Hiring and firing is normal in all industries. Getting angry is meaningless. Fix the stock market if you want change.

[@jermelpurse3018]

I think if they’re going to do halo battle Royale, they have to wait until the next game. Prep it for then and I hate to say this, but they have to get rid of their proprietary engine. They have to go real unreal engine. That way they can make swift updates to the main game and swift updates to anything that’s MP. I would not mind seeing a battle Royale with standard halo weapons, but I want the characters in the battle Royale to play differently. if you got a human character, if you’ve got a alien character make them play differently don’t make everyone function the same. I want combat to evolve.

[@Nier73h]

I never understood the hate against Microtransactions. A company that makes money is a good thing.

[@garrisonthomas8584]

While it's incredibly disheartening to see all the layoffs, there has been some contradictory thought processes going around that doesn't seem to take into account the second and third order effects of those trains of thought. So many people were happy that Bobby Kotick was gonna leave but basically didn't think about the inevitable layoffs of the acquisition. So many pundits say "Give the devs as much time as they need to make the game" well with more time means more money and higher costs. I'm not saying to release a broken game, but if a team has constant delays with their games, there's a larger performance schedule issue. And while every analyst, pundit, KZbinr loves to stress how the video games industry makes SO MUCH MONEY, it also costs so much money. The margins on most of these games are getting smaller. While Nintendo makes the least amount of revenue among the three platform holders, they have the highest margins. As for demanding executives to cut their salary or forgo a bonus to prevent layoffs, that would be great and it'd be awesome if it happened but that's kind of living in fantasy land. And people only seem to factor in devs salaries and doesn't include the additional cost of benefits for one employee. I'm not saying that the layoffs are completely ok. Frankly, I think bonuses should be voided if layoffs are on the horizon (incentivize retention). But it's not as simple as "Exec makes $10M, he could've paid for 100 employees" - ok yeah sure maybe for a year? Then what happens? Finally as far as blaming capitalism, uhh go find another model that would prevent this from happening and good luck to you. If a business isn't making money, the business will shut down. That's how it works. Unionization can help, but if a studio is losing their ass on project after project, it will go out of business.

[@gainsgamingginger2177]

The diablo level developers not knowing how to play diablo was a precursor

[@phillip6009]

Microsoft should of kept their physical game department its people out there that still prefer physical copy games.they should of kept things optional instead of forcing everybody to go fully digital.im old school I like physical copy games.i feel sorry for all the people that lost their jobs

[@oakfig]

Palworld forever!!!

[@maitiu6802]

Get over this already😩 People lose their jobs everyday of the week! I worked in construction & people weren’t even given notice, told on the same day they were going!

[@CheapskateSale]

I hear there are rumors that Piranha Bytes is closing down... Hope that's not true!

[@countquackula8539]

Xbox has been bleeding for a long time. Xbots are feeling that chill in their spine, a reality check has struck. Let's enjoy the show. 😊

[@TheBean87]

What a completely delusional take haha, oh you clowns truly wear it so well.

[@ismaeldotbiz]

I bought that dog on SoT too.

[@scarceak47]

Physical copy converstion speaks to me. I'm a huge collector and also big on Physical media. Sadly I can see Microsoft is making the push to a digital world and that was going to happen either way but as gamers we should not allow them to just force us into digital media. We should Protest with our wallets and buy your favorite games on Physical media. You don't need to go all Physical but at least for those big AAA games that people love why not buy the Physical version instead of digital. You will own nothing and be happy is where this industry is going and it's not like digital media is cheaper either. Yes some games don't even carry the whole game on the disc but there still value in that disc media can't do. You can trade and sell even share with multiple friends and family members. Pros and cons to everything but I see more pros than cons . Hope folks try and change their ways

[@hododod246]

1:02:46 Video game AI is really not an AI.

[@enemywithin2156]

I like my games to be mostly physical i don't I have a problem with digital only games except from one issue. when a buy a physical game I can spend 50 ,60 or 70 euros with no second thought if i really want to. instead if it is only digital I don't want to spend more than 20. it is only me?I don't know. that is how I feel though about physical and digital games.

[@jerrymckay9775]

The 1900 ppl that just got fired from ABK Should put their money together and open their own studio! Then you can find out who Embacer also fired see if they want to get on board with the new studio and you can just continue making games with everyone that has ownership of the studio so then you can’t get fired! Lol

[@AnthonyBrown-gt4tn]

I gotta disagree, I haven't stopped playing palworld since release. While I agree it plays more like ark, the pokemon like designs keep me playing. I saw the trailer for the new Pokemon game that looks worse than palworld, still. I'm passing on that one too. Don't be too surprised as palworld adds more features pokemon fans do leave, to me this is very much a pokemon game I've always wanted

[@marvinbaitman8006]

In an industry plagued by cash grabs,Micro transactions, lazy repetitive stale over priced games I really couldn’t care less about developers losing their jobs. I hope more do,maybe it will force studios to do better

[@OcarinaHero93]

That’s one way of looking at it.

[@silvershroud6263]

@Destin, MS has a market cap of 3 trillion. They dont have 3 trillion money. 😅

[@Frogdoddofficial]

I agree with her. Halo is perfect for a battle Royale. Maybe they will just add it as a mode in the next halo.

[@chrism8860]

Do people think that the Blizzard game was a competitor Grounded? That game was made by 10 people. Unless something changed, it's development was cheap

[@MrSpradad06]

They need a union to protect them

[@wmredwine]

Unlocked reunion! WOOT!

[@Promis_QS_Panda]

Destin talks to Random People. lol

[@ikeduno7973]

Enlightening. Thanks for the broadcast. Sad times.

[@juliobonetti]

What an interesting conversation, these two are great!

[@UNCLEREBEL05]

The year just started… how is it bad already? Poor Alanah it’s all gonna be ok. The games and drama will come don’t you worry. 😊

[@HiteshKumar-up9cs]

I hope that PC gaming and Microsoft goes so far ahead of PlayStation

[@lordxboss5700]

These gaming companies need to start announcing when they hire massive amounts of people 🤷🏻‍♂️ We never seem to hear that part but Doom and Gloom everywhere when they layoff people. Recently Microsoft laying off 10,000 people made headlines without mentioning they had hired 70,000 during the pandemic 🤯 Xbox just acquired/hired 10,000 people with overlap so laying off 2,000 isn’t shocking. Check job listings and you’ll see many Xbox studios are hiring

[@EnriqueGonzalez18362]

Sure... How does that help the people that got laid off? That only helps the image of a trillion dollar company... If we're all so quick to ignore the humans behind the products, then I don't know what to tell you.

[@lordxboss5700]

@@EnriqueGonzalez18362 I’m laid off right now for the winter 🤷🏻‍♂️ part of being employed is based on enough work being available and when things are slow or you’re over staffed people will be laid off. Let me know if you know where I can find a job that’ll just pay me even if there’s nothing for me to do 🤷🏻‍♂️ I’m not happy people needed to be laid off but I don’t expect a business remain over staffed just because. The argument I’m seeing about Microsoft being a Trillion dollar company is irrelevant 🤪 by that logic they should just pay everyone in North America to stay home they have so much money

[@EnriqueGonzalez18362]

You have a very good point. However, I don't think 100% of the people that lost their jobs were redundant positions for the company, specially when now they have to outsource some of the positions like customer service (which believe it or not, it was good for Blizzard games). In any case, a lot of these companies made a huge mistake over hiring people during the pandemic. @@lordxboss5700

[@VOAxInsanity]

A Destin and Alanah podcast would be 🔥🔥

[@segbembamurray2044]

Apple is the only company that higher like other tech companies. They kept it real simple as far as hiring is concerned. And now apple is the only company tech company that has not laid people off

[@toexzzgaming3628]

I think it is logical that xbox goes all digital. I still collect a lot from nintendo, but ps5 and xbox can go all digital for me. Its not different from the pc landscape.

[@galacticmaui2]

Iwata is the GOAT

[@chrisj320ac3]

Updoot #958 reporting for Destin!

[@caderik1386]

Fantastic interview. I do enjoy the curated content of IGN and other outlets, the editorial work and the reviews. Most creators I follow do not give scores so having something like IGN, Nintendo life, PC Gamer or Gameradar with curated and edited reviews gives another perspective. There is value for both.

[@bobhawkins9598]

It's been tough for the shitbox, gametrash subs down month on month, physical games done, 2000 jobs gone, another game cancelled, Ybarra gone, palworld Devs calling microflop shithouses, a could go on and on, 2027 cannot come quick enough