We chat with Ninja Theory studio boss about Hellblade 2 (and Xbox stuff) | Friends Per Second #45

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This week we're joined by two sets of guests. The first is Dom Mathews, Studio Head at Ninja Theory. They're set to launch Hellblade 2 this coming week, but much of the discussion around the game has been centred on Xbox's studio strategy and what 'success' now looks like for smaller games like Hellblade.
In addition we were joined by Ryan and Joe from Airship Syndicate. Wayfinders hit the rocks when it launched into early access, which cooincided with publisher Digital Extremes shuttering their entire publishing division. Airship are now pivoting Wayfinder to be an offline (peer to peer coop) game with no microtransactions, so we chatted with them about the journey to that decision.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
03:28 Xbox Talk
31:40 User Question 1
37:48 AG1 (ad)
40:22 Interview With Dom Matthews, Studio Head of Ninja Theory
01:10:57 Factor (ad)
01:17:16 User Question 2
01:24:24 Interview With Wayfinder Studio Airship Syndicate
01:55:56 Incogni (ad)
01:59:28 What We've Been Playing
02:22:41 Show And Tell
02:29:02 Wrap Up
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Let's meet our hosts!
- Jake Baldino (aka the Before You Buy Guy) is pretty much the most watched reviewer on KZbin across both Gameranx and his personal channel ( / jakebaldino . If you're obsessed with Delorians, The Mummy and Pizza you can discuss that stuff with him directly over on Twitter: @JakeBaldino
- Lucy James is a Senior Producer at Gamespot and a Creative Producer at Giant Bomb. She's actually, like, experienced and credentialed and has real life skills and stuff, while the rest of the gang would be funemployed if the YT algorithm didn't kiss them for random, inexplicable reasons.
- Skill Up used to work at McDonalds but he got fired for skimming too many chicken nuggets. He says he regrets it since he hasn't had a better job since.
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Listen to the Friends Per Second Podcast on your favourite podcast platform: linktr.ee/friendspersecond
Follow on Twitter: / thefpspodcast
Follow on Instagram: / friendspersecond

[@Lucky_Drive]

Yeeeeea Dom did everything he possibly could to avoid talking about recent events. Definitely a "I cant talk about this" without explicitly saying so. I skipped over it when it was clear that every answer was gonna be "we're excited to continue making great games".

[@nathangomez4409]

He's talking about Hellblade 2 like it's their Swan Song. I sincerely hope he gets to be proud of his team's game once it releases, because I'm not confident there'll be much future left for them after that. I get the sense he feels the same.

[@Natsocenis]

It felt awkward that Lucy kept on the path of drilling him on the politics around Xbox when he just wanted to talk about the game. She needs to get better at reading the room and moving on.

[@DanKaschel]

​@@Natsocenisinterviewers shouldn't 'read the room' and leave important questions unasked. They should, however, prepare the interviewee by sharing what kinds of questions will be asked and finding mutual understanding about how much can be shared. This was on the FPS folks imo.

[@Phantomdude]

Blink twice if there's a gun pointed at you behind the camera Dom

[@calebhearn1526]

It looks more to me like he really just wants to talk about his game, but the interviewers just keep poking and prodding him about Xbox drama. Let the creative talk about his project, stop trying to get soundbites out of him.

[@TheOldYoungOne]

He’s clearly proud and loves the work that him and his team have made, and the fact that the layoff news has not deterred him from making the game he wants/talking about the game he’s made is inspiring. Wish him and his team all the best.

[@dud5606]

@@calebhearn1526 There was literally one question about that and then the rest was about the game itself though. To me he just sounded like a guy who didn't want to be there and gave the safest corporate non answers possible.

[@Crazetex]

@@calebhearn1526 yeah that just wasn't the case. even fairly simple questions like about combat were spun

[@seasidesandies3334]

I love how the Xbox game went super corporate in the interview and the Wayfinders team is like "yep this shits a nightmare but we're all passionate and trying to make things better", mad respect to them.

[@xKami102x]

Pro tip: ask about the game first. The whole Xbox stuff can wait until later in the interview or as final wrap-up questions. Nobody on the dev team wants to start head first into a super depressing question about something that is completely unrelated to their game. It completely sucked all the air out of the interview and of course he clammed up for the whole interview. You didn't even let him express his pride for the game.

[@tres4dayz]

Thank you This interview was as painfully as the Xbox head they were poking fun at the start. When the conversation got awkward, she kept on pressing the same questions. Like, can we all let this man be excited for his sequel before you start giving him a shake down pre launch about future studio employment Come on.

[@MsBigbadbrian]

That was my thought as well. The entire controversy is that the game is not being promoted properly and when Ninja Theory is given a platform to talk about their project, the conversation is immediately overshadowed by the business politics of the industry and Microsoft. I think these questions are important and should be addressed, but the actual game should be the focus, especially days before release.

[@-whatisgoingon]

1:10:03 The whole interview, especially this part about 'coming to the end of a journey with the studio, and spending time with the team on that day,' sounds like he knows the studio is going to be shut down right after the release of Hellblade 2. There was no real marketing so far, very meandering responses that answered none of the more specific questions about their next game or future of Senua, and the constant reinforcement about how proud he is about the whole thing; it just sounds like everyone's already fired, but they just haven't made it public yet.

[@nathangomez4409]

That's exactly what I thought. I get it's his job to get tunnel vision on his project till it's done - we saw that with Baldur's Gate too - but there's just something about his responses that make me feel like he's really not optimistic about the company's future. He's talking about Hellblade 2 like it's their Swan Song.

[@BasilAbdef]

I expect all of them to be fired within a month.

[@ianfarrugia4495]

there's a difference between knowing for sure and seeing your colleague studios shut down around you.The situation alone will have you preparing for the worst

[@bizmonkey007]

It’s depressing. Microsoft has done Hellblade 2 dirty. If it’s not CoD or Minecraft or Candy Crush, they don’t care about it.

[@njsteere]

Lucy’s dedication to bits podcast listeners won’t understand gets funnier every ep.

[@danieljohn9257]

They’ll just have to watch when they get home or get somewhere they can pop on KZbin. 😏🤙🏼

[@user-dj9iu2et3r]

I feel like it’s annoying that Ralph cares so much about audio listeners’ experience when they COULD just watch the podcast for free on KZbin like us.

[@JJJBunney001]

​@@user-dj9iu2et3rwhy is that annoying? I watch the podcast way less than I listen to it

[@dynamiczero]

Just as a personal story with regards to the state of the industry, I graduated 3 years ago in Games Design and Development, and have worked in 3 different companies (one of them a well known mobile developer), and have been laid off from all 3 because of "restructuring". I'm seeing all of my favorite developers get bought and put down behind the shed despite their success, or in some other cases, get progressively worse and worse (Bethesda, Blizzard). My dream of working at one of these is getting crushed and trampled on day by day, and the sole reason is corporate greed and a lack of intention to make good products. So a month ago I decided to weather the storm by working at a local bakery and learning a different craft until the industry either fixes itself or crashes. I keep my portfolio updated by doing personal projects on my free time, but I'm very happy working on something different for now seeing the shit show this industry has become in the past few months

[@funkey6737]

Hope the best for you. I think what you did was very smart Don't let the big dogs crush your hopes and keep working on your own projects. Never stop making games

[@Zola2546]

Isn't there a way to look for smaller indie companies jobs? I think it's always the same in all the different domains of work, big corporation do not respect you, they only respect the money you bring, if there are shareholders holding the company then the small workers will never feel appreciated or secure. This crash of the game industry, which parallels a global economic crisis BTW, should and is pushing a more independent movement, cherish that movement, make it bigger by participating in it. Go apply to super giant games or something :D

[@kunimitsune177]

Instead of dreaming to work for some decrepit old name that used to be good, dream of making your own mark on the industry 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@michaelmonstar4276]

You just got the biggest shrug from me. - Deal with it. Figure it out. This is nothing new.

[@memberwhen22]

it's been a shit show for a long longer than a few months friend

[@notrenbanney2450]

Im suprised that Lucy opened the interview with ninja theory with all the negative xbox stuff, i feel like that would have been a lot better to ask towards the end of the interview. A rare FPS miss

[@coolmr3]

Agree, he is not here on behalf of Microsoft. He’s there to promote his teams game. Kind of an underhanded question to ask right off the bat

[@mrmatejator]

That Don interview was just painful. Had to skip it after few minutes... Paraphrase: "I am happy and proud of our team for making this great game. Please remember us for the good times, bie." Honestly I am hoping that developers can quicky find new job and don't hate game industry too much afterwards. Airship interview on the other hand was great. More like those please 👍

[@gavinhillick]

"What is Xbox without a console?" An ex-box.

[@njsteere]

How dare you 😂😂😂

[@alexlyster3459]

I was thinking "X (the platform formally known as Xbox)"

[@henrywang8679]

Microsoft Gaming.

[@audiolatte]

This post is so funny, because back when they shut down the studios..I was thinking in my mind, what if all the devs that Xbox shut down, came together to create a new super studio calles Ex Box. That would be freaking hilarious

[@Day7Reset]

Dad joke of the year 😂😂😂

[@AndrewEhrenreich]

When ralph said 'first numbered homeworld in 21 years' i thought, oh, so it was a early 90s game.. and then i realized 21 years ago was 2003, and i really didnt need that kinda shit today 😤

[@izbreez9615]

This interview is the most marketing I've seen for hellblade 2

[@TMV420]

which is great! someone had to do it!

[@mygetawayart]

@@TMV420 i mean, Microsoft had to do it

[@RoffleHB]

Me telling my friends that Hellblade 2 releases next week was better advertising than Xbox

[@alexlyster3459]

Actually they've been ramping up alot in recent days. I've been seeing them do loads of interviews and drip marketing pieces.

[@Booneface]

I've been hearing about this game for over a year.... most marketing budgets are bloated.... this game is not a mass appeal game(fortnight), it's a focused tale of mental illness and dark imagery with slow cinematic combat..... long story short, if you might be the target audience, you know you heard of this game already.

[@Kamuzle]

Such a PR loaded response from Dom in every "answer". Business gonna business.

[@dylanhal]

You could feel the pain though.

[@Kamuzle]

@@dylanhal true

[@certainlycity4906]

yeah, holy shit that was depressing. sounded like he had a microsoft sniper trained on his head

[@INFNIT_]

He’s there to talk about the game! When did this become about business analytics bro. I would be super annoyed by all the questions if I was him. Just want to promote a project you worked hard on and have to constantly hear “are you afraid you’re gonna close down?” wtf

[@Scarecr0wn]

Yeah.. I always found him a bit reserved, maybe introvert, but this was just kinda painful. I really hope Hellblade will be great success but I dunno man. I dunno.

[@Fazeshyft]

This interview gives the feeling of Uncle Phil being just off camera with a .357 aimed at Dom's wife and children. You guys gave him a lot of opportunities, but he's backed into a corner. He says one truthful thing about the atmosphere around the studio and Ninja Theory is history.

[@drndrfnz8786]

This was a brutal one guys, thank all 3 of you for hanging in there with us.

[@sidew8ys]

What a wild way to start an interview. For a group who doesn’t consider themselves games journalists it seemed unnecessary to ask such heavy questions in the beginning of the conversation. Definitely created an awkward vibe

[@coolmr3]

Yeah and then to hear Lucy say that she felt bad for asking those questions and knows it’s her job… yeah you can ask those questions but don’t start the interview with them. That’s being bad at your job. If it was Phil Spencer or someone from Xbox on the interview I would get it but he has nothing to do with how Xbox handles their business.

[@UberNoodle]

"you've been tangoed!" Very sadly, no one's going to be tangoed by a new Tango Games title ever again.

[@concinnus]

Hopefully they can re-form as Gango TameTwerks.

[@marwynthemasterful6369]

Right, but when they shut down Ninja Theory, we can all say they got Tango’d.

[@WeeGeeX]

@@marwynthemasterful6369 I HATE that its a WHEN. it feels inevitable right now seeing as hellblade 2 is HERE and they haven't sneezed a hint about it but all anyones talking about is xbox being dead.

[@imo098765]

Tango down

[@drogozi3308]

The absolute contrast between ninja theory interview and Airship syndicate is so funny.

[@isviewer]

I was thinking the same thing, the guy from Ninja Theory seemed like a nice guy, but he didn't (or couldn't) really say much.

[@jiito808]

One game is an unreleased story based game that can be spoiled, the other game is a live service game thats already been released.

[@nathandrake9737]

​@@isviewerHe could've said a lot more. Not even about the Xbox drama, but his own game. Idk if he's really just not good at speaking during interviews, or he's just another corporate shill.

[@RanielEber]

@@nathandrake9737 Tough calling him a corpo shill for not trashtalking his publisher and company that owns his studio

[@drogozi3308]

@@jiito808 Irrelevant. There are still ways to have an actual interview and not reek of corpo-speak. If he couldn't talk about anything even with prepped questions, why even agree to it in the first place?

[@rosecoloredboi1849]

Why does Dom’s webcam look so professional? The background, the lighting, it looks so good compared to Jake and Lucy lmaooo

[@DocRobotnik]

He's in the NT offices

[@adalexander123]

He's most likely using a professional studio camera since he's at their office

[@richboss_]

You said it best: lighting

[@braynjohnson4302]

Who’s James lol

[@Dubwolfer]

Onlyfans cam.

[@pixels_per_minute]

The whole Xbox situation is just upsetting. Like I'm not even mad anymore, it's just sad to watch them fumble around for the last 15 years.

[@sugarbait]

Stop your crying.

[@braxtonwise9897]

⁠@@sugarbaitthis is just some dude being candid in a comment section, I don’t understand why youre so abhorred by that

[@eric7591]

@@braxtonwise9897 They are either a child, a troll, or both. Either deeply unhappy and filled with self hatred, which they must continuously spew on everyone around them lest it consume them, or foundationally stupid.

[@SlatsAU]

Agree. Some point you have to get over your frustration and disappointment and it just turns into apathy and not caring which I think might be worse.

[@TeQxktcg]

I love Jake's observation, it's the first thing I noticed as well; they started out rebelling against Blade Runner's dystopian future only to find themselves to be archtypical Tyrell corpos.. All those lofty dreams and best intentions, lost to time the moment money came into the picture; like tears in the rain.. Time to die?

[@baalernaruto]

Good luck to the Wayfinder devs, Airship Syndicate has made some great games.

[@sir_snarf]

[@WitikoAmor]

@@sir_snarf Howdy! Something not being addressed by any interviews, are there any plans to address those of us who put money into the game? A lot, not all, but a lot of us have a bad taste in our mouths due to this change. I personally am okay with the new direction and want success for the game but I WOULD NOT have bought the 150 founder pack if I had known. Can there be some transparency about this? Please? Myself and others are extremely unhappy with the lack of a refund. I know DE probably took the money but something needs to give in regards to this. If AS is really looking out for the players like every staff member has claimed then offer the refunds to Steam as Credits even if AS isn't the one who got our money it's better for the players, for the game's longevity.

[@sir_snarf]

@WitikoAmor I get it... trust me I do. We are trying to do everything in our power to make Founders feel special and reward them for the support they have given to Wayfinder, but there is only so much we can do and we all know this isn't the reality any of us would have expected or wanted when we first launched EA. All Founder pack items are still exclusive to their respective founder pack levels. We will be automatically granting Founder Coins (a unique currency for an exclusive NPC shop in Skylight, where exclusive items can be purchased) to players based upon life time history of Runesilver Ownership - as a way of doing as right as we can to those who have made purchases but not just via Founder packs. We know this isn't monetary compensation, but it's something we as Developers have the power to take action on... develop, make something in the game for them. We haven't taken a penny in any Founder pack sales, and as soon as we were legally granted to business, we removed the ability to purchase packs from the store, because it's not right to make sales on something that isn't represented accurately. Rather than just shut down and give the world/founders nothing (which is historically what happens to most studios in similar situations) we are converting everything into something players can enjoy forever. Plus if you looked at the cost of what all the cosmetics WOULD have cost should they have been the original MTX f2p model, it would be the equivalent of thousands of dollars... we are giving it all to the world for a single (very reasonable in my mind) price 24.99 on June 11th. Making games costs tens of Millions of dollars ... we have been funding this transition for the past few months purely on our own savings after our leadership took massive pay cuts plus having to lay off 12 great coworkers. The reality is we can't offer compensation for money we never had, but we can try to give our supporters the best experience we can.

[@vladstravelguide8580]

@@sir_snarf is this the same snarf from discord that banned me for saying " oh well it looks like the game is dead" ? You're a power trip buddy, you and your mods

[@oz5150]

Yes. Joe their CEO is such an awesome artist and him and Vigil created the Darksiders series. The first game is one of my all time favorite game.

[@Mlunny81]

Mr. Matthews seemed to be uncomfortable to even think about whats happening with the studio after Hellblade releases.

[@CorruptedDogg]

he knows what's coming

[@nathangomez4409]

He's talking about Hellblade 2 like it's their Swan Song. I sincerely hope he gets to be proud of his team's game once it releases, because I'm not confident there'll be much future left for them after that.

[@elastichedgehog6339]

Lucy came in swinging with the questions there, to be fair to him. I think they probably prepped to avoid the topic, which is understandable.

[@rodrigolaporte274]

Poor dude from Ninja Theory, he had to answer all as PC as possible "I'm just proud of the game and the team" for EVERYTHING

[@michaelmonstar4276]

Nah, the answers were as Xbox as possible.

[@jessepbigjdp]

Success no longer guarantees safety, we saw that already earlier this year with the PlayStation layoffs. Having 90+ Metacritic, 10+ million selling GOTY candidates didn't save Insomniac, Naughty Dog, and Sony Santa Monica from layoffs. PlayStation's overall success didn't keep London Studios from getting closed down. This is the industry as it is currently, and it's a worrying time for studios like Ninja Theory, Media Molecule, and many others.

[@TMV420]

are smaller, independent studios safer from this climate than these first party studios that have been bought up by these billion dollar corporations?

[@jfells4838]

@@TMV420 Not really... indies studios are shutting down all the time it's just that the indie studios are so small that the news doesn't talk about them, only the big AAA studios get news stories. But I'd argue the indie space is just as rough if not even worse. Most recent example I can give is a studio called "deviation games" that was made up of former cod devs and they shut down without even shipping a single game.

[@TMV420]

@@jfells4838 damn that's depressing. this is like the "red wedding era" for game studios. don't like it.

[@dammyoyesanya4656]

Santa Monica wasn’t hit with layoffs tho. That is Sony’s favorite studio cos GOW Ragnarok was Sony’s most profitable game in a long time and gave the company huge margins the quarter it was released from the financial reports. Insomniac and Naughty dog are kinda understandable cos Insomniac went over budget for Spiderman 2 ($100M over budget) and Naughty dog shed some weight from the Factions multiplayer. But all round it’s still scummy that hardworking devs can lose their jobs out of nowhere tbh.

[@jaahman0098]

Because London studio haven’t created and released games in years

[@zonkedmusician1502]

Love this pod. Going through difficult times right now and this is a great way to take my mind off things.

[@Trojan-SZN]

3 days from release and I haven’t seen a single form of advertising for this game

[@bpcgos]

This interview is considered as ads by M$ exec

[@effortlessfury]

@@bpcgos the interview circuit is a part of the marketing of all major media. Music, movies, TV, games, etc. I have also seen ads on Twitch. It's definitely poor in comparison to what I would expect, but I've started to see plenty.

[@yatharthrai4658]

​@@effortlessfuryBut the interviews are only succesful when there are trailers, posters, any other information to actually talk about. Then you can have conversations about how "the combat looks improved" or "the story is interesting" etc. Otherwise it just boils down to "how is the game?" "Good". Okay, I guess

[@effortlessfury]

@@yatharthrai4658 it’s primarily about awareness.

[@Old_Gil_Gunderson]

I've seen one that's it 😂

[@sanjurosolar_panel6190]

FPS ad insert is my favorite comedy show on the internet

[@kungfugeek8000]

Now that Wayfinders isn't free to play I'm way more interested in playing it.

[@DV-ou1yu]

Ralph with the "I'm travelling" per usual drop lol

[@klaykid117]

He flies around the world to see these games early and only ever gives an offhand invention during the release section of this week in video game saying something like. "Oh yeah I flew out there and played it seems all right"

[@zelaird8526]

at this point, Ralph has spent more time on a plane than at his house XD

[@SkillUp]

I only say this so people know when to expect less content from me. Definitely not a humble brag or whatever.

[@BB-pb3hv]

@@SkillUp a brag? Bro please. I am travelling daily in microsoft simulator xD

[@aliali-ce3yf]

he doesn't come across as one of those people who treat "travel" as a humblebrag hobby.. Those are the same type of people who love brunch or love to talk about going to "sketchy" "holes in the wall" , and love IPAs.

[@bitsandbobs42]

Handcuffed interview 😅

[@bitsandbobs42]

Disappointed in you Skillup, Aussies are better than this

[@OrangeGenerator]

@@bitsandbobs42 cry me a fuckin' river.

[@bitsandbobs42]

@@OrangeGenerator Cry you a river? When these muppets lose their jobs, crying a river is the last thing I'll do. What a wasted opportunity, bunch of absolute corporate waffle. Skillup and Co. not pushing for honesty and calling out BS when they smell it is sad af and doesn't fly around here, they will get what they deserve.

[@bitsandbobs42]

I will stay away from all things Xbox from now on though, it needs to fail in it's entirety

[@HiLoMusic]

@@bitsandbobs42why are you disappointed in skillup?

[@AlChestBreachFan7]

Man, you would think he’d be a bit more prepared with an answer for the marketing question. Hope the game does well but I’m worried for Ninja Theory. Such a special studio

[@paulmarks3662]

The guy is there to try and sell his name, not answer negative questions that don't need to be asked. Those questions should be asked to other people at MS.

[@HanmaHeiro]

Ninja Theory has a video on their KZbin channel about why they joined MS. They state that MS was giving them the opportunity to utilize all of Xbox's resources such as marketing, other developer leaders, and more. It's a fair question and unfortunate that MS's promise is a lie

[@kdotmann]

I genuinely can’t imagine giving a shit about a games marketing. Find it pretty bizarre that so many people seem fixated on it tbh. I’m just excited to play the game.

[@bozzwick]

@@kdotmann People worry about marketing because if it doesn’t sell well, or bring in enough growth for game pass, even if the game is great and a 90+ metacritic/opencritic, they will likely close the studio. If you like the studio and games they make, you should ABSOLUTELY care about it. I don’t want to see that happen.

[@gylduran9217]

@@bozzwick The game won't sell well because Xbox have trained their players to not buy games lol they don't sell units at $70 each and their sub numbers for game pass are stagnant. Xbox's strategy was so fucking stupid they deserve to fade away

[@Dan016]

Dunno if anybody’s gonna read this, but the thing that stuck me was actually sometime ago, actually when Jason Schroeder switched to Bloomberg. His reason went along the lines of: “I made the decision to switch over so I can bring focus to industry fuckery” paraphrased of course, but either it was seeing the forest vs the trees or a bit of manufactured controversy, most likely a mix of both. I bring this up because I massive respect the hell out of you three as journalists. I…hope in the end you can speak truth to power and corruption, when all said and done.

[@NorcVI]

...They are? Skill up and the rest of the fps cast are openly against the corportate fuckery and corruption in the industry

[@Rzerecht]

The Airship interview was super enjoyable. Ralph asked great questions and the devs were pretty open too. Good stuff

[@clark2109]

If you've played CoD recently, it's much closer to Fortnite now than anything else. Their money is made on $20 skins, $30 battlepasses, and requiring constant access to multiplayer modes to level the newest meta weapon. Game Pass makes sense because you would need to maintain your subscription year round for leveling gear, or else you're pressured into spending $20 for meta blueprints. I’m sure Xbox would be happy if you did both.

[@killzoneisa]

COD soon to be filled with more DEI going by the Activision leak.

[@marccreation1052]

Microsoft won' t pull the trigger on them unless the critics pan it. Not until the recent shitstorm is forgotten.

[@Michael-fs1cw]

Cods gameplay still solid but damn those skins break immersion. What a bummer

[@MRayGames]

Lucy, "belly's gonna get ya" was a staple of my childhood. You're not alone!

[@ericagon1]

This channel is a must. One of my favorites for sure. Thanks for the great content ❤

[@saerain]

Reminds me of the Co-Optional glory days a good bit. Just a good bunch o' kids.

[@Rich_P_Anya]

Not to sound melodramatic, but I'm heartbroken that the Dishonored series is over and that the team was dumped. Those Dishonored games are really special. Prey was incredible and it needed a sequel. It would have been another masterpiece

[@Echo__plex]

A lot of that core team had already left the studio. Not sure we were ever getting sequels to those games, unfortunately.

[@Tovalx]

Dishonered 2 was made by Arkane Lyon who are currently working on the Blade game. So Dishonered 3 isn't out of the game yet.

[@langleymneely]

The Abyss is so utterly underrated and not appreciated back in its day! Such a great film!

[@jamesraddatz7074]

The idea of creating a game, buying it once, all for one price is a mind blowing concept. To think a game will be released without monetisation in 2024 is crazy.

[@ericobryant3139]

I enjoy this show but almost always fast forward through these interviews

[@wishYouTubeAccount]

I know a lot of people are here for the Ninja Theory stuff, but I appreciate you guys keeping up with Airship Syndicate and putting eyes on their stuff. I've been completely enamored with anything Joe Mad is attached to since Darksiders 2, so to get such an in-depth interview on what's going on with them and what's next is much appreciated!

[@danudey]

22:28 another great quote from Ryan’s video: “Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Xbox stepped on a rake again.”

[@VanillaVercetti]

It feels SO disrespectful to start out the Ninja Theory interview with immediate, negative questions that are NOT talking about the game itself.

[@thiccorquit]

That’s what I felt too, but Lucy addressed that very thing after the interview.

[@Rick_Ibbott]

Metropolis Street Racer for the Dreamcast had the Tango "you need it because you're weak" Ads on its radio station when you were driving on the England tracks.

[@UberNoodle]

Oh yeah, MSR. And then PGR. Bizarre Creations. Another studio in Microsoft failed to value and support. Microsoft sold Bizzare to Activision, and Activision shut them down within 3 years. And this is despite all of those fantastic PGR games on Xbox. Imagine today if we were able to choose between The Forza games and the PGR games. What a great platform for racing game fans Xbox would be!

[@emilymitchell6823]

Lucy talking about the adverts of my childhood is giving my tawdry little british heart LIFE.

[@toming727]

Belly’s gonna get you, what a throw back. The crazy early 2000’s trip of adverts was a good time.

[@emilymitchell6823]

@@toming727 absolutely unhinged haha

[@Dan016]

Honestly all the tangents and callbacks are what makes me find the podcast charming 😌

[@RimshotKiller]

Look, I can understand Dom not wanting to talk about the whole Microsoft business, the studio closing, their own future in all of this, but even the harmless questions about the game itself he kind of waffled. It all sounded like he could not give a straight answer to a single question, but without there being any need to dodge whatsoever. It was really weird. Still, I hope the game is a smash hit, Hellblade:Senuas Sacrifice was incredible and I can't wait to see what they did with the new game. Great interview with both guys from Airship Syndicate, seemed very honest about the whole thing and was actually informative!

[@ShawnHarris-wd7wu]

The Ninja Theory guy is real the good at corporate speak, what a lame interview

[@brionymaste9481]

What a bad interview in the questions of Lucy, only showed you didn't really cared about the game or the studio you only cared about the gossip of the drama of Xbox and was as hard to watch as the interview of Sarah Bond, feel so bad for the guy, Jake questions were great.

[@ChrisLT]

Airship Syndicate has done some great stuff. Not even a League fan, but Ruined King had a heck of a combat system.

[@adalexander123]

Battlechasers is really good too!

[@TheRealCaptainLavender]

Battlechaser was the only decent game they made, and it was derivitive af. They can't make games when left to their own devices, without some sort of IP to cling to they are pretty incompetent devs.

[@ChrisLT]

@@TheRealCaptainLavender They take an IP and do something great with it. For a smaller studio, it gets them more exposure so I'm all for it.

[@TheRealCaptainLavender]

@@ChrisLT They are literally about to shut the studio down. Wayfinder bombed so hard the had to delist it from steam. They ain't doing anything good these days.

[@ChrisLT]

@@TheRealCaptainLavender Jeez, what do you have against these guys? I've enjoyed their stuff.

[@GroovyWolverine]

Does anyone else miss the gameplay footage in the background? Really helps me to understand what they're describing and talking about, as I find it hard sometimes to picture what game they're describing

[@MrJonathandsouza]

Really love the pod. Would really appriciate if you all could have additional content which contain highlights from the pod.

[@tong7640]

I should remind everyone that miHoYo games is estimated to have made 21 billion CNY in PROFIT in 2023. Nintendo made 440 billion JPY in 2023, which translate to around 21.2 billion CNY. miHoYo only has 4 games, which are all live-service titles. If anyone wonders why game publishers keep putting out live-service titles, this is why.

[@drogozi3308]

Only the most ignorant are oblivious to that fact atp. Now if only those publishers got the memo about why those games are successful, like polish, quality, effort, consistancy and striving for it instead of pumping out your redfalls or suicide squads wasting everyone's time.

[@rickylovesyou]

Mans dodging questions like he's a veteran US press secretary or John Kirby. To be fair usually at these interviews before a Devs big game drops its all about talking about the game, mechanics, graphics, the journey getting there etc etc. these questions are loaded but i guess he should be expecting that all things considered.

[@anthonyd1682]

Lucy came in with the heat in that Ninja Theory interview lmao. Feel bad for Dom because you know he cant/doesnt want to say anything bad about Microsoft/Xbox. His job is on the line in many different ways right now sadly

[@praisetheoak]

Holly shit this was depressing.

[@TheFinderseeker]

Damn, this video is about half the length of the actual game…

[@stuballingerart]

More promo for Hellblade than Xbox have ever given them

[@aliali-ce3yf]

The Lucy special effects reminded me when kids starting using power point effects in class presentations

[@eee12317]

gotta feel for anyone at xbox who spent years making a game then does interviews with almost anyone at this point. Sure SKILL UP im sure you're the first place they run to to talk about the safety of their jobs.

[@MrMrboy09]

Question for Xbox “Is it better to have happy paying customers and investors pulling out?” Or “Is it better to have unhappy customers not spending money and having more and more investors?”

[@saintlugia]

Investor customers will put up with bs investors less so.

[@henrywang8679]

Do you understand how investors work, they chase growth. there would be less investors if customers are not spending money.

[@peekaboo6168]

I should try Dom's approach next time I have a job interview. Just talk about something else when I don't want to answer a question.

[@eric7591]

2:03:30 OMG!!! 👍That was hilarious! It reminds me of the lawyer who accidentally had a kitten filter on when he was in Zoom Court. It made me laugh more than it should have.

[@shankypanky8879]

Idk which planet SkillUp just arrived from but the Normal difficulty being EASY has been a problem in AAA gaming on Earth since 20+ years. And it has crept into indie space in the past few years as well. (There are exceptions but very few)

[@TheVTiiiiiiiiii]

Lucy, the belly is gonna get you was for Reebok if I recall correctly.

[@kite3060]

Dom looks like he has been held hostage by Xbox. You can tell he really wants to talk about what is happening but everything is on the line for them. Lucy love that you stuck to the tough questions! Great job!

[@vcprasad]

Loved the podcast as usual. Enjoyed the hosts' rapport, as usual. Vibed with the Airship Syndicate folks. Not sure I got much from the Ninja Theory interview.

[@dynamiczero]

It's also really weird for them to expect Candy Crush numbers on every other mobile game when King's own other games tend to barely break even and get shutdown constantly (most recent example was the Crash Bandicoot autorunner)

[@bruceyawen6160]

The fact that we're already talking about anything Xbox in "what couldve been" post mortem analysis, shows that the platfom is finished

[@TMV420]

while I haven't owned an Xbox console in a couple of generations, I've followed the games industry roughly the past 10 years or so. to me, granted I've been in the Playstation camp, xbox has felt like a dead brand for a while now. nothing has really made me want to get one, this gen or last. but moving into a publishing role seems like it's probably the future of the industry to make money so maybe they're doing it right? weird to buy up all these studios and do nothing with them though

[@TMV420]

always the best way to start the weekend proper!

[@paladinpaterson5385]

Lucy's excitement for the Apple filters was my favorite part 😂

[@daniell1571]

It’s absolutely wild to realize after decades of watching the “console wars” the most likely winner is Nintendo. Imagine thinking that when the WiiU was out.

[@SynthLizard8]

I'll be honest, after the desertion of the player-base from the Wii, then the flop of the WiiU, I had no optimism that the Switch was going to be no better, sure showed me.

[@byte-bg4ob]

I don't think so. The Playstation is still bigger in terms of profit margins and overall revenue, but Sony takes all that away with all their other unsuccessful branches. I think Playstation would actually be more successful without Sony. From what I heard Sony exes actually don't like that their gaming branch is so successful compared to everything else in the company.

[@ElyonDominus]

Shout out to Ninja Theory and best of luck on their employment search when they get shut down.

[@atlantisundiscovered]

😬

[@zwikhd]

damn, im pumped for wayfinder now! Their story moved me to tears!

[@naofumitempest1365]

Man the whole ad thing was blown out of proportion.

[@landonperez7521]

Honestly once Dom answered that first question from Lucy about the advertising I just skipped the whole interview

[@alexlyster3459]

Why?

[@monalisa-bs4zs]

@@alexlyster3459 he is not being a person, he is just being a company representative.

[@theoriginalfluff5317]

i let him get a second chance and he failed it again lmao, bummer, i though there was going to be something worth listening to

[@3mileisland516]

​@@alexlyster3459 Because it was a complete non answer, he just talked about what HE is focussed on (feelings and other such nonsense) and ignored the marketing black hole she was asking about. He reminds me a bit of Todd Howard - but British.

[@voidstar.studio]

exact same. I would have ended the interview at that point as the interviewer, because I would feel that any answer from that point on was just corporate talking points as opposed to an honest discussion

[@GotCamel]

Poor guy. It’s so sad to see him so excited about losing his job. So unfortunate.

[@MissyHasMunchies]

The first Hellblade is awesome. Replaying it now

[@DG-oc2uw]

No review of this up yet... can't imagine why lol

[@Cgibbo84]

Hellblade guy dodged the hell out of Lucy's first question. Which of course he had to do but yeah...😊

[@joink25]

He can only control what he can control. I do think he should have at least acknowledged what's going on, but it's not like he can really do anything about it right now.

[@abhijeetpoudel5919]

Sometimes I wish our phones would just Vanish.

[@user-xu5rv6oe2s]

Same but then I’d miss out on this great banter

[@AmpharosSquad]

lucy using the iphone/parity camera effects is iconic, I've had these pop so many times by accidents before turning it off lmao

[@emmy4mattie]

the drop shadow behind the FPS logo looks so good 😍

[@rtuumm]

HellBlade 2 will be on Ps5 by the end of the year if not february next year.

[@Lemings732]

Bruh, ive been praying that Ninja theory survivea next Tuesday. 🙏🙏🙏

[@milramas]

shit is bleak when you need to pray for god damn ninja theory to survive, no one is safe

[@AvengingN00b]

@@milramas Honestly if your game studio is acquired by a big publisher that is the first step for your studio to die

[@praisetheoak]

Like seriously, there's almost no hype/fan-fare for the game. Immortals of Aveum had MORE marketing and hype before release, and that game was a complete dumpster-fire on release.

[@LordRabbit06]

Don’t hope. Buy the game.

[@bobbobson9952]

​@@LordRabbit0650 bucks for a 5 hour mediocre experience. I'm good.

[@tangentkatz]

Seeing the Double FIne documentary clip got me to go watch the entire doc series (absolutely AMAZING, highly recommend). And the story of Microsoft in the doc is how the acquisition likely saved Psychonauts 2 and DF as a studio. There's an interview with Tim Schafer where he describes 20 years of anxiety slowly releasing because he doesn't fall asleep every night wondering how he will pay payroll. And I wonder what he's thinking now. What happens if DF releases a flop like Arkane? What happens if they release a critical darling with poor sales like Hi-Fi? In some ways, watching the doc after these recent closures added a new level of anxiety and tragedy around it.

[@misterhoobomaster]

I haven't played a game below hard difficulty in over a decade (when the option is there) because current "normal" is the mode that's for people who maybe don't play a lot of games and is simple enough for all kinds of gamers to get through it while still providing them SOME challenge at times.

[@dougbuchanan784]

Ralph my man, sharp haircut

[@Robert-rm9dg]

He looks like a doofus

[@Rich_P_Anya]

Don't encourage him

[@CShep-qe6vl]

So.. 68 days of motion capture for combat? In a 8 hour long game? That 33% probably will be walking around solving puzzles 33%cutscenes and only 33% combat? Maaaaybe? So 68 days of motion capture for like 2-3 hours of combat? That s crazy

[@SaemGhani]

I really hope that's not emblematic of their approach to budgeting for other aspects of the game. 😬

[@bruceyawen6160]

Good. The combat was the weakest part of the first title

[@leighsherval1023]

Its almost like the latest Mad Max didnt spent 100 days on a 17 minute chase

[@Natsocenis]

The RTS golden age was amazing, Dark Reign, KKnD, Warcraft 3, Starcraft, total annihilation etc such a great time to be alive

[@mytholostica7634]

We used to run around the playground "Tango'ing" each other at playtime in school, lol. Good times...

[@Fazeshyft]

We bought an Xbox Series X last Christmas and this year has me seriously rethinking that choice. Even more so because I was already a PC gamer to begin with.

[@alexlyster3459]

As much as that Tango closure sucks, there's still alot to be excited for on Xbox coming up. Hell, the weird thing is they just announced a new studio yesterday

[@ManiLink]

Yeh sure you did buddy

[@radosawskorupa3217]

Genuine question, why would you even buy Xbox in the first place if you were already a PC gamer? If you're looking to buy a console as a PC gamer, Xbox is the one that makes the least amount of sense. And it's not even a dig at Xbox or some console war bullshit, it's just that all of their games can be played on PC day 1, unlike Playstation & Nintendo stuff. I mainly game on PC and I just don't see a single good reason why I might want an Xbox on top of that.

[@h.i.mcdunnough9421]

Its not just tango, its been years of fumbling aimlessly from xbox and now Microsoft. Theyre just TOO corporate overall. ​@alexlyster3459

[@alexlyster3459]

@@h.i.mcdunnough9421 I don't disagree with that. Every time the Xbox team seems to be in a genuinely good position for the future, Corporate Xbox throws a spanner in the works

[@frazil92]

I really hope Wayfinder finds success. Good luck to the people at Airship.

[@nnitro527]

In my opinion this is one of those games that didnt need a sequel.

[@mattorchard1991]

Cheers Dom for the "how to dodge questions" 101 😂

[@BlackVulpes]

as a professional artist, I feel like there are few things more cucked than working in the industry at the moment. Hand over 3-5 years of your life to thrown away like a paper bag. You were always just a means for profit.

[@christopherhendry1633]

That's pretty much all jobs these days. I feel bad for people that do a job they love cause it has to be harder when you're thrown out like this.

[@gylduran9217]

Everyone with an ounce of business acumen could see Game Pass would never work. All the matters is if your games sells copies. Engagement metrics, monthly active users, subscribers etc means nothing if you aren't selling units at $70 each. Xbox have trained their players to NOT BUY GAMES, so no wonder they are struggling, there fucking games don't sell units. Really stupid strategy that I'm glad is dying.

[@jeremytodd77]

Lots of reasons I really enjoy this podcast but for me, the fact you all don't look into the camera and you actually look at each other while you talk (like expected) feels more real. I hate the awkwardness of podcasts that stare into the camera when they talk. You're not on TV, it's your computer. So thanks for just keeping your conversations real and connected I guess.

[@csmadisun]

Tango, for those who aren't in the UK, is a brand of soft drinks. They do more than just orange - they've got apple, blackcurrant, orange... whole bunch of flavours. I used to love Cherry Tango, but they stopped that one a few years ago. :( Sad times. Also, Belly's Gonna Get Ya! was for Reebok - they were essentially saying "Use our stuff to get fit or you'll get fat". It was surprisingly successful, which says something, but what that something is? I dunno.

[@liamevans9613]

Unfortunately it seems like Dom DID NOT want to talk about the xbox stuff, probably becuase he didn't want to get in trouble and more just wanted to promote their upcoming game. I feel bad for them in a way. Their launch has been completly tainted by a surge of negativity towards the xbox brand. It's a shame really