Xbox, Sony and Square Enix all had a very rough week | This Week In Videogames

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No one had a good week (actually that's not true - Nintendo is crushing it).
Check out our deep dive look at how the game makers we spoke to view the current Xbox turbulence, and how it might influence their future plans to publish games on Xbox hardware. Freely available to all on our Patreon: / do-game-still-to-10414...
Animal Well review: • Austin strongly recomm...
Homeworld 3 review: • Homeworld 3 - Review
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#ThisWeekInVideogames #helldivers2 #Playstation
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News collation and run-sheet by Edmond T.
Written and voiced by Ralph P.
Edited by Stuart K and Austin B.
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[@SkillUp]

Thank you Manscaped for sponsoring this video. Get 20% off + free shipping when you visit manscaped.com/skillup. The summer sun is here to stay, so trust MANSCAPED™to keep your pubes at bay.

[@vargrhelsing8042]

WAYFINDER JUST BECOME SINGLE PLAYER NO MICRO AND NO LONGER ONLINE JUST COOP, JUMP ON IT MAN!

[@aspacelex]

Sorry mate, shaved my balls with a generic razor like an hour before you dropped this ep. Work on your timing, better luck next time!

[@hisokacranel7268]

Shillup my GOATTTTTT (jk I love u Ralph my sweet eloquently spoken pookie bear)

[@joejoe2658]

IT WILL BE FINE, THEY'RE MAKING A PHONE GAME STORE AND AT LEAST XBOX OWNERS PHONES HAVE GYRO, HAPTICS AND VR!

[@My-T1]

Keepin it family friendly with dick razor ads, I see.

[@bigcrazewolf]

Wish we could normalize just answering a question directly.

[@icantthinkofagoodusername4464]

To be fair, saying “executives above Xbox wanted drastic cuts and Tango not being in deep development on a project meant there’d be less sunk investment upon their closure” wouldn’t make players or executives happy.

[@bradhaines3142]

theres no way they could honestly answer the question without sounding like the evil megacorp they are.

[@Why_It]

As long as your business relies on 3rd party investors, there will never be a direct answer to the masses.

[@Ziggyvu]

They don’t want liability or to be sued lol

[@RisseK1]

You can.

[@DangerBay]

When a Hifi Rush Dev posted a picture of all their awards and said "Not Enough?" it broke me.

[@easygoingdude9990]

For real. Two words worth a thousand

[@DV-ou1yu]

Damn...

[@Chopzi11a]

If one good game, and a niche one at that, could keep you operating, then Visceral games would still be around.

[@brogoyle]

@@Chopzi11a bruh xbox literally said it was a smash hit on every regard, i'm not tolerating this hi-fi rush slander so that we can further bask in the grey sludge that is modern non-indie game variety

[@cyd_hunter99]

​@@Chopzi11a niche? are you brain-damaged or something?

[@Mediados]

"Shouldn't success ensure a studio's future?" "Well just because we win doesn't mean we want our employees to win."

[@osidiusemphatic3505]

"Recognition of creative talent don't mean shit if our shareholders don't make any more money as a result of it."

[@Stunbunny]

Sarah Bond was clearly the last person in the C Suite to yell, “NOT IT!”

[@oldcoldsnakemusic]

She didn't notice everyone touching their nose 😅

[@nedo4749]

That camera operator KNEW what they were doing

[@Ziggyvu]

Goat cameraman

[@njsteere]

Realistically the control room deciding to cut to the that angle, but yes pure poetry without saying a word

[@darthsader7089]

Reminds me of the camera man that did something similar at an airport press conference

[@lexmen1089]

I swear they must be the same camera operator of the airport situation where the director spewing lies about how there arent any delays just for the camera to pan at the departure signs all saying 'Delayed' right behind them.

[@lexmen1089]

@@darthsader7089 aint no way we say the same thing at the same time💀

[@Rah1w637]

That expanded shot while the interview was going is just so satisfying

[@Chopzi11a]

Cameramen knew what they were doing

[@PXAbstraction]

That director knew exactly what they were doing and they nailed it.

[@Aurora-313]

It reminds me of the airline representative claiming 'Our flights are all running on time' while the camera man pans out to demonstrate the flights her company runs were cancelled.

[@StayFractalesque]

Shes, like, crying.. ..get these whiny babies outta here, its pathetic.. we need real leaders, not these token placeholder DEI pretenders..

[@FurtiveCutless]

@@Aurora-313 The funny thing is, many (public) transportation companies simply ignore cancelled flights/trains/busses in their calculations when it comes to reporting how punctual they are. The argument usually boils down to "you can't put a exact number to a cancelled vehicle". I've seen some numbers where a bus company managed to be on time in 86% of cases. Not included was the 11% cancellation rate.

[@ionian525]

Animal Well being only 40mb and every update so far being 2mb or less is absolutely insane. This game could fit on a Nintendo 64 catridge with room to spare.

[@pogtuber5146]

When she says "long term commitment" and "delivering on promises" she's talking about the commitment and promises made to the SHAREHOLDERS

[@Buff_Cupcake]

Christ almighty, that Sarah Bond interview was hard to watch

[@paulszki]

top nodge second hand embarassment there. Her eyes were fluttering so hard, her head was about to fly away. Like, that's how you spot that someone is lying/making up stuff so hard, because they know they got NOTHING. And it's like... who told you to do this? It's actively bad. If YOU made the decision to close these studios, then why are you having so much trouble with putting forward a coherrent line of reasoning?

[@effortlessfury]

@@paulszki I mean, regardless of whatever culpability she has in the closures, the sheer stupidity of the decision only makes sense if it was directed from a position so far removed from the context that they'd be unable to comprehend that stupidity (meaning, the top).

[@jumpsuitCD]

​@paulszki if you ever worked high up in corporate, you'll understand the amount of scapegoating and unfair situations you're put in due to the ceo. Sh*t sucks

[@ShermTank7272]

The hardest part of the interview was that the Bloomberg correspondent didn't respond with "okay but can you _actually_ answer my question?"

[@paulszki]

@@jumpsuitCD My man, she's not the community manager or whatever. She is the literal "President" and "Business Executive" of Microsoft Xbox. What that latter role means, can vary from company to company but hey let me pull up her linkedin profile description: "Sarah Bond is the President of Xbox, managing Microsoft’s multi-billion-dollar global gaming platform. In this role, she oversees strategy, product development and business for Xbox. " I really don't think, she "got put" in an unfair situation. Even if some shadowy figure even higher up somehow in the MS food chain ordered this, her response (never mind the delivery) was entirely devoid of anything approaching an understable reason. Sarah Bond was unprepared and I don't think she earns minimum wage.

[@tacothunder2298]

legend says XBOX wants to hire that cameraman just so they can fire him.

[@Dan016]

Oof. Wouldn’t put it past them though.

[@KeyboardSavant]

9,100 people worked on Diablo IV prior to its initial launch. If the team working on Battlefield is the "largest to ever work on the franchise," I wouldn't expect a quality product.

[@LieutenantAlaki]

I remember all sorts of horror stories about how game dev would break down as more and more people get added to the team, because there's just too much to manage. Too many cooks, as they say.

[@Dan016]

9.1k? Are you shitting me? Currently experiencing random crashes and frozen screens (even see a message on the launcher stating something wrong with Nvidia DLSS Frame Generation) 9.1k people couldn’t spot that game crashing bug? Jfc, some towns don’t even have that many people in it. Wtf 😮‍💨

[@markopusic8258]

@@Dan016 Honestly, it's no that surprising, having 9,1k people on a game means the developement cycle is in absolute shambles and nobody knows what's even happening anymore, what code is getting added in, to work with what and so on. To make a comparison, imagine you have an entreprise that typically works with about 200 people, there's an established chain of command and clear channels of communication. Bump that to 9,1k in the span of a few months/years. Chaos is what ensues and quality suffers immensely for it.

[@oliverdavis4642]

9.1k worked on it doesnt mean 9.1k worked on it at the same time, there's a reason halo infinites credits take half an hour, so many contracters who probably weren't employed for more than 12 months

[@JustS0meK1dd]

That Bloomberg camera operator is my new hero

[@mygetawayart]

slow zoom on Sarah's face while the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays

[@xRPRx]

anyone else get flashbacks to "my dog stepped on a bee" when she pulled that face at the start of her irrelevant answer and said "yknow"

[@Hugop_arts]

Lmao can’t unsee

[@makasete30]

I have a flash back of a turd on a bed.

[@mechanicalmonk2020]

No, because most of us aren't raging misogynists and don't have Amber Heard on the brain always

[@neztradamus]

No bc some of us are normal and don’t regularly call back to abuse trials as a funny 🙄

[@cwj2733]

@@neztradamusshe abused him, if that’s what you’re referring to. but she’s hilarious to laugh at because she’s such a bitch and fucked over Johnny.

[@moodysandwich3147]

As a camera guy myself, I can promise you that the camera push on the growth chart was 100% intentional. And good on them!

[@r.k.5031]

A shooter featuring _all the factions from Ubisoft's games!!_ *cue teams of identical tacticool commando guys running from doorways* Gotta love it

[@PXAbstraction]

With how they're completely failing to promote Hellblade 2, I'm quite certain that Ninja Theory will be closed by Microsoft after it ships. I so hope I'm wrong.

[@Chopzi11a]

I think they are on the chopping block too. What have they done lately that has performed well?

[@StayFractalesque]

Not me.. stop working with MS and Xbox people! ..you get what you deserve choosing to go with them..

[@PXAbstraction]

@@Chopzi11a Hellblade 1 was the last game they released and it was successful. But Microsoft seems to be barely acknowledging the existence of the sequel.

[@jamesclarkson156]

And even then it's on gamepass so it will perform worse. Because Gamepass will take some of the acclaim and since they are ignoring it, do you think they will give it what it's due?

[@nebulastar3087]

Devs don't really get a say in the business side of things 99 times out of 100. Executives are to blame for that. If you really got what you deserved then only a handful of people would be out of work.

[@popepisspot1675]

MS & Sony : We need to keep shooting ourselves in the foot for temporary gain to make shareholders happy Valve: We will do nothing and you will be happy about it.

[@tipidpn3559]

Gaben keep winning by doing nothing (beside making a very consumer friendly policy)

[@Tuxedo512]

Lord Gaben from his solid gold office: Look at that they need to just mimic a fraction of my power

[@MichaelLochlann]

Yeah at the company I work for every meeting is like "We're not meeting our budgets, it's a very tough year." I asked my boss "We made $6 billion dollars in profit last year. Why is everybody acting like we're under water?" And he said "We don't want to look bad if we lose year over year to the stock market even if we are making tons of profit." That's why these companies can never have enough. They are supposed to at the very least make products the consumers want and hopefully treat their employees like human beings while doing it. But all they care about is their stock price so it's cut cut cut and bullshit hype product after bullshit hype product.

[@WickedRibbon]

I hope Valve remain a private, non-traded company for the rest of time. Keep them away from the disgusting gluttony of Wall Street.

[@stanislavkimov2779]

If Valve became publicly traded, it would go down the evil corp path fast.

[@foregone_roulette]

I think that anyone with basic pattern recognition and critical thinking could have told CEOs/shareholders that investing in game companies based on pandemic era statistics was an incredibly shortsighted move. But then again, I don't have an MBA and sacrifice my firstborn at the altar of quarterly growth so what do I know

[@toptiertech7291]

Ok. First thing. What pattern recognition information would you have about a pandemic that shutters the entire world? 😂 secondly. You see how the companies keep making money? You buy up studios. Take their best workers. Lay off everyone else who is redundant. That’s how mergers and takeovers work. You don’t need an MBA to understand basic business

[@ORiOh4582]

@toptiertech7291 sorry about your firstborn, but I'm sure the business savvy is worth

[@foregone_roulette]

@@toptiertech7291 That we wouldn't be locked indoors forever with temporary disposable income from stimulus checks, in addition to the fact that low interest rates don't last forever and eventually you can't keep borrowing money with the expectation that you will make it back based on extremely temporary and unusual economic conditions. Are you a Microsoft executive, because you certainly display their level of understanding

[@foregone_roulette]

@@toptiertech7291 I'll break it down for you so you can understand. Pandemic give people stimulus checks. People spend stimulus checks on games. Gaming executives happy, think spending happen forever. Pandemic end, recession begins. Line no longer go up, executives with six figure salaries somehow surprised. Is that too much for you?

[@foregone_roulette]

That we wouldn't be locked indoors forever with temporary disposable income from stimulus checks, in addition to the fact that low interest rates don't last forever and eventually you can't keep borrowing money with the expectation that you will make it back based on rare economic conditions. Are you a Microsoft executive? Based on your ability to think critically they should snatch you up right away

[@BasementMinions]

Really appreciated how you guys reached out to developers to get their thoughts on putting their games on Xbox! It's one of those things that I definitely wonder about but having reporting that actually explores that is incredibly valuable.

[@Brannen666]

Check in on that camera operator... that kind of good work often costs you your job.

[@JIKI2005]

When you do a great job in the industry and still get fired...

[@danielring8060]

Pretty sure it is up to the production director to switch and choose one of the camera feeds.

[@MidnightGear1]

Bloomberg has been vocal about games industry tomfuckery thanks to Schreier, so let's hope he's okay. Wouldn't put past any corp though

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

​@@MidnightGear1 NPR has also been quite critical as of late. With other platforms being very pro-gaming unionization in their coverage. Mainstream media is not aiming to be allies to game companies atm. In the past it was moral outrage, lately it is pretty business-oriented. Reaching over 10,000 jobs cut during a time of record profits is gonna make you an easy target.

[@omerpockard7212]

9:20 Austin did it too this week. Right when adding Sony to the topic of the drawbacks to GamePass and games doing just fine on PC without consoles, video switches to Animal Well - a day 1 Playstation Plus Extra release.

[@SteveEricJordan]

"at a time when everybody is reporting that the console market is dead" "the sales are on pc nowadays" surreal to hear, as a pc gamer who remembers the "pc is dead" times just too well.

[@kunimitsune177]

Yeah it's not really true though.

[@Eltener123]

I don't remember that and I've been playing since 2009

[@hihihi1q23]

Interestingly, we're starting to see PC's getting more console like. Platform exclusives, handheld console style PCs like the Steam Deck, and so on.

[@CCaribou]

​I've been playing since 1993 and I do remember it being spouted ad nauseum over the years. ​@@Eltener123

[@bozzwick]

Huh? Sony just sold 21 million consoles in the past year, switches lifetime sales are huge. That’s not true at all 😂. The only one struggling with console is Xbox, but they put themselves on a lot of different platforms (probably because their struggling).

[@soulechelon2643]

1:41 Whenever someone starts off their answer with "Y'know...." you know it's gonna be a trainwreck.

[@christianklement]

Gotta say, the understanding of us silksong folk, really keeps me going

[@kpsk8031]

Even "my dog ate my homework" sounds more credible than anything the Bond girl waffled.

[@StayFractalesque]

She was crying like a little brioche.. ..pathetic.

[@eileen1020]

She's a grown woman, why are you calling her a girl?

[@BloodRedFox2008]

@@eileen1020to be fair “Bond girl” as a term among James Bond fans has been around for decades, and it just so happens her literal last name is “Bond.”

[@GraysPeakBand]

@@eileen1020 Somebody should tell her that

[@aspacelex]

If Microsoft wants to focus on the big IPs in its portfolio, and since Bethesda's gonna be busy with Starfield and TES6 for at least the next 5 years, maybe they should force Todd to let Obsidian, people who understand Fallout, make a proper 4th installment?

[@Sypitz]

Like that’s ever gonna happen

[@thelaughingrouge]

Most of the people at obsidian that made Fallout are gone.

[@LogicalError007]

Tod Howard did talk about this in kindafunny.

[@kamurotetsu4860]

The last time Obsidian worked on Fallout, they were denied a bonus because New Vegas didn't get 85 on Meta critic. It got 84. Fuck Bethesda for that.

[@mechanicalmonk2020]

​@@kamurotetsu4860 Obsidian willingly entered into that deal and doesn't hold Bethesda in contempt due to how it shaken out.

[@Kacper42PL]

Phil unlocking nukes in F76 the very next day his base got goof'd was such a great cherry on top of the situation lmao

[@AliAiham]

What happened to Phil’s base?

[@takeyourheart3030]

“It is only worth porting your title over to Xbox if they cut you a Game Pass deal” I HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR SO LONG. Smaller devs are going to start ONLY porting to Xbox if they can get a Game Pass deal and I don’t blame them.

[@samf.s.7731]

And Microsoft should give them that instead of buying Activision Blizzard and Bethesda to have "exclusives". I f+-king hate exclusives.

[@krucible9369]

I’ve been telling people how takeyourheart3030 called this but nobody believes me

[@Fragga123]

Executives are ruining our world…

[@plop0r]

Executives are just slaves to investors. Its consolidation of capital and a culture that celebrates infinite growth that is ruining our world.

[@user-zp8kj2cl9g]

You just realized?

[@googleisevil8958]

This is why I hate Corporate America and the Coroprate World. They'll sooner sell your soul then make a product worth buying.

[@chrimbus3442]

Late stage capitalism

[@kredonystus7768]

​@@chrimbus3442crony capitalism.

[@FlameForgedSoul]

Gabe is having none of Sony's bullshit, and We are here for it.

[@DannyThePatton]

the “more thoughtful implementations” thing about ads is kind of haunting. if you hate when the game is interrupted by a 10 second banner ad of Grimace giving you a thumbs up, you’ll love when one of the game’s three endings lets you marry Grimace at mcdonald’s and give him a big kiss (good ending)

[@asawarai]

Armored Core VI being viewed as a success by Bamco is the biggest news in this whole video

[@valletas]

Is it really? I cant see a fromsoft game failing now unless its literall dog water

[@jack7g130]

i genuinely think sarah bond was just thrown to the wolves with no prep or advise, they needed someone other than phil to take all the heat

[@darinherrick9224]

Remind anyone of “Fun with Dick and Jane” interview before the company folds?

[@Nuck-Fo0bZz]

If I were ever an interviewer and my question was blatantly not answered, I would ask again.

[@thaddeusgenhelm8979]

It's very funny when like, actual news interviewers do that. There's a long history in British news in particular (at least, as I've seen) of them going like "I'm sorry if this is going to seem rude, but that didn't answer my question so I'm going to ask again" sometimes like, five plus times in a row.

[@Nikkska]

Gotta treat these executives like politicians with how much they dance around with their answers…

[@BasilAbdef]

And then next time there is news coming out or interviews to do your outlet will not be the one picked. Or perhaps even more directly backroom pressure will be applied to your outlet to have you directly fired and blacklisted from the industry.

[@thaddeusgenhelm8979]

@@BasilAbdef Yeah, that is the problem with the games news industry, most of them aren't sufficiently, uh, emplaced institutions like the nightly news stuff at least *used* to be, so they need game companies to give them access to have stuff to report on, generally, so they have to play kind of nicer or else they can't do their jobs at all. It's kind of an unfortunate state of affairs.

[@esbenm6544]

You can do that twice before it turns into a combative interview. This is not that kind of setting. There's a difference in tone between hosting a talkshow or conducting an interview for the 8 o'clock news. You can ask largely the same questions but on a talkshow, if they dont answer the 2nd time, no answer is the answer.

[@fizzplease6742]

"Long term commitment to the games we create" WOW. The GDC channel also just put up a video talk about Hi Fi Rush, too. Last I checked 99% of the comments were all condolence/sadness about this who thing. The sheer bitterness I felt when the GDC video popped up was astonishing.

[@justins9886]

For reference, there are 193 Sovereign Countries in the World, according to the UN. Helldivers is banned in 177 of them.

[@teecee1827]

Inaccurate, the 177 are not countries, but territories, such as French Guyana or the American Virgin Islands. Still a lot tho.

[@tylerward7068]

Get me the total population in all of those countries against the population of the world. Let’s see how relevant that stat really is.

[@teecee1827]

@@tylerward7068 the population of these countries is more than half the world's because it includes China, India, the Philippines and all of Africa

[@dragonuv65]

Man, I remember when SXSW was literally just a week of local bands playing music in dive bars and bars on 6th street in Austin. It has completely changed into something entirely different, which it's been pretty cool seeing its evolution over the years.

[@jase276]

Last time i watched it was like a decade ago and it was just that. Do bands even play there anymore?

[@dragonuv65]

@@jase276 yes they do, but in my opinion, the games/films/tech stuff is marketed more and is more popular. There are still bands in bars, but they’re basically pushed to the side now.

[@dragonuv65]

@@jase276 the bands still have a really good turn out, though. However, I guess my point is they’re not the focus of SXSW anymore.

[@huzi990]

Was Sarah Bond blinking morse code for "get me the fuck out of here" ? lmao the second the question registered in her brain she started looking like she was having a stroke.

[@PureSilver07]

LOL you know that’s what she was thinking. Even if she did the whole corpo thing, I don’t envy her in that situation. I hope they get their games in shape before it gets too late & they mess up more studios.

[@perfessorclown5543]

People tend to blink a lot when they know that they are being deceptive.

[@MrSubejio]

As someone who listens during his evening commute, I appreciate the play-by-play of what I wasn't able to see while I was driving. Rewatching, the slow zoom on the graph is incredible.

[@macmccormick5983]

Can always count on SkillUp to update me on how the games industry is doing in hospice care ❤

[@RacoonCitySlayer-cb6mo]

That camera operator knew what they were doing, lol.

[@Saccade_HS]

If Ghost of Tsushima's PSN requirement will be the norm for Sony releases going forward, the multiplayer portion should be a separate free "DLC" listing on Steam that players can add akin to how other publishers have released optional free content on the platform.

[@heksen800]

A Serbian friend of mine Pre-ordered Ghost of Tsushima, but got refunded because of the dumb policy. I guess Sony doesn't want money. So he is going to pirate it now. Such a dumb move from Sony...

[@Dan016]

Piracy is morally fine when said company doesn’t want to give a F about giving access to those that **want** the customer’s money 🏴‍☠️🫡

[@fourmoyle]

Arrr.

[@xtalpax902]

Jeez i didn't saw the graphics, that's a pro move from the cameraman

[@tomjack1000000]

In the span of a week ive gone from "the video game market will never crash again" to "oh god the crash is imminent"

[@TheFanatic33]

Hey maybe a crash wouldn’t be the worst thing at this point, AAA games are way too expensive to produce, are taking too long to make, and carry way too unrealistic expectations that put jobs at risk. We need some sort of shift in the industry if we want things to go back towards smaller scale projects and less greed.

[@evanwestendorf9667]

I wouldn't call these Layoffs and closures a "crash" considering how many people are still playing games and how profitable the industry still is despite them. The industry is definitely changing, but I wouldn't equate these changes to the crash of the 80s.

[@themangastand8475]

There is more good games than ever, there will be no crash. Y'all just need to stop buying the bad games

[@Timey254]

And again, like last time, it looks like Nintendo will be the ones stepping out of the ashes. Ironic considering the internet has been prophesying the death of Nintendo since 1989. But for example: Playstation has 2.5x the operating income of Nintendo (1672 billion yen to 4268 billion yen)... yet Nintendo has twice the net profits (530 billion yen to 290 billion yen). Or: Nintendo has a 31.6% profitability rate, while Sony's is only at around 6.8%. 5 times as productive. All the AAA games with runaway budgets, all the exclusivity deals and all the marketing just drains the profit pot dry.

[@TheFanatic33]

@@themangastand8475 Agree with your first point, but as the Xbox closures prove, just cause good games are being made doesn’t mean good business decisions are being made

[@JudgementNutter]

I feel like an old man for remembering the 5 Gum ad in Web of Shadows back in 2008, the Doritos ads in the Ghostbusters game back in 2009, Energizer & Verizon in Alan Wake back in 2010.

[@completelytransparent6320]

Not examples of ads but product placement

[@dhoyft411]

@@completelytransparent6320 Product placements are advertisements. What?

[@C64Mat]

Airwaves and Ax in Splinter Cell Chaos Theory in 2005

[@TheOldest]

Ha, I remember the Pizza Hut parlors scattered around Need For Speed Underground 2, let alone the Nos promotions.

[@C64Mat]

McDonald's had a full game on the C64 called McDonaldLand. Also, remember the real world locations like Burger King in Crazy Taxi?

[@Yumi_Yomi]

Watching this while in the hospital after surgery, thanks for the great video

[@milkmanchannel1]

Holy moly. Thank you so much for the classic marathon shout-out. I've been dying to play those, but I want my save data to carry over between my PC and My Lenovo Legion Go, something emulators can't do. Now that it's on Steam, that can finally happen. Thanks Ralph! Love the show!

[@skarmory93]

I love these videos, best way to get all the news 🙌

[@goodtaste2185]

Skill Up previewing the new AC

[@ebubeugochukwu846]

It's gta 6

[@Dan016]

Both? 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@ricardirickydorante5894]

These days I only go to you for my gaming News. Keep it up man. Fire show as always!

[@Dowgle]

Thank God Moon Studios stayed independent. Really, really sucks for all those affected. I'll be amazed if by the end of 2024 at least one of Ninja Theory, Double Fine, 343 or The Initiative haven't been shuttered. Can't imagine morale is very high at any of those studios right now.

[@fourmoyle]

The CEO of Moon gave probably the most tone deaf response to M$ closing those studios, so let's hope he keeps his opinions to those concerning games from now on.

[@RKNGL]

343 has to have had dirt on someone to stay open as long as it. We'll see how well the blackmail treats them.

[@jay3517]

It's been a rough week...been waiting for this to drop!

[@rainsong7773]

That camera man at the Bloomberg interview is a gamer lol

[@SerpC]

Great episode as usual!

[@cheddulous]

6:19 you really missed the opportunity to use the Nintendon’t joke.

[@GeremyG]

Who could have foreseen only putting your games on 1/4 of the available platforms would result in your company making less money?

[@DV-ou1yu]

Wild right lol

[@StayFractalesque]

So dumb.. they get what they deserve selling their soul to Xbox

[@michaelp.3485]

People like you act like it has always been like this. Revisionist history always appeals to those doing the revising.

[@toptiertech7291]

I mean clearly that’s shocking to people. God of War Ragnarok was only available on PlayStation me platform at release. They made $900,000,000 in sales from that game alone 😂

[@joed5150]

People also like to act like Square hasn't been putting most of their games on Switch and PC already

[@timcall279]

The camera back pan is 👨‍🍳😘

[@njsteere]

Said it all without saying a word

[@TheOnlyTaps]

Thanks for the coverage

[@potatodadave]

I just wanted to say I appreciate you took the effort to interview developers yourself about xbox. I may not always agree with the reviews but I surely know the team has love for gaming as a whole and that is why I'm subscribed.

[@KayWhyEllie1]

Gotta love the horror music that plays during the bad news

[@orryzane]

How could you put ads in most game, you can't just put Coca-Cola in star wars jedi survivor, that would just ruin the whole experience

[@saschaberger3212]

Well Valve confirmed that Sony decided delisting Ghost of Sushi

[@Paladinbaroque]

Cheers for another video bub, Much love and take care folks x

[@Paladinbaroque]

WoW are doing a mists leveling / time limited rewards event that starts tommorow ( MoP Remix) Loot looks more like diablo and the power level seems through the roof, very excited to give it a go ^^

[@InfernalWheel]

Still holding out for Squaresoft to give us that Vagrant Story PC port.....

[@TMV420]

skillup always 2 news stories behind but 10 steps ahead of everyone else

[@tochukwuudu7763]

videos are highly edited, not complaining tho.

[@Eltener123]

you mean like his "suicide squad is bad but i still hope loads of people get scammed into buying it to help out the devs" take?

[@kunimitsune177]

@tochukwuudu7763 *Though

[@Planko991]

@@tochukwuudu7763 wdym by "highly edited"?

[@thataintfalco7106]

@@Eltener123I don’t remember seeing that one, lol. He said he hoped that they’d give them a chance

[@kingkuroai5387]

Thanks for the news!

[@tres4dayz]

24:56 Exoprimal slaps and ill die on this hill Ausie boi Keep up the good work regardless brotha 💪

[@grifini27]

Fuck me there was like 5 ad breaks during this, now I remember why I stopped using the KZbin app!

[@axelstuart2707]

Go get revanced extended (not in the playstore). That app even skips sponsor-sections.

[@grifini27]

For those wondering I now use a browser called Brave and watch YT on there as it somehow blocks the ads!

[@saschaberger3212]

ReVanced or it's your own fault son

[@sven_bender]

ReVanced is your saviour

[@selectionn]

theres also "newpipe" if you dont want to use revanced for whatever reason. I use newpipe personally, works fine and lets me watch videos without 10 preroll ads and whatever garbage borderline pornography ads youtube likes to run.

[@shadowwarrior1178]

I’m dropping a like solely for you calling Octopath II a banger. My personal game of last year! (But the rest of the video is good too!)

[@tylerward7068]

Bond was blinking like an absolute maniac. What on earth was that?

[@Celphied13]

BondBot.exe was having trouble processing...

[@FlameForgedSoul]

Anxiety? Thoughts of murder for being put in an untenable position?

[@dandylionwine]

That's what a person looks like when they deliberately shut their brain off to avoid thinking about something they might have to take responsibility for.

[@athleticgeek1]

1:42 all that blinking before she says a word says it all

[@maybeisuckatlife]

Just a thought I would like small section or video dedicated to the best game sales currently on each platform.

[@toptiertech7291]

“Best games” is subjective. And almost every game is always on “sale”. He would just be saying the same kind of games every week

[@maybeisuckatlife]

@toptiertech7291 I mean, I come here for his subjective take.

[@TheTraveler980]

I'm so glad I became Steam Deck player. I just hope I remain glad for at least 20 years.

[@Moosiachi]

Love the in-house interviews spearheaded by Edmund!

[@01BSBH]

That camera switch was an intentional move by a smart producer cueing up the shot.

[@stradify1]

the industry is on fire but at least we got Animal Well :')

[@LogicalError007]

It's good but not as great as internet is making it out to be.

[@Chopzi11a]

Y’all guys need to calm down. Right now the industry is over saturated with games. A fair amount of them are good. Play those. Be thankful not everything is as bad as you think they are.

[@kiamehrgh3081]

Oh I heard it's like halo 2 meets halo 3

[@Zerotan]

growing less quickly = still growth

[@heidisparklebottom]

I didnt know that I needed Ralph saying MASTAPIECE, but that made my day😂

[@JamesLebowski]

Marathon available, yeah... up ya mate! ;b

[@1987Onslaught]

Thanks Skillup, Austin and Edmond for your great work. I forgot the editors name but huge thanks to him too

[@kanishknishar]

Stu

[@1987Onslaught]

@@kanishknishar thanks mate 🙏

[@iiGAMExx]

"I hope you're sitting down for this because you're not going to believe it, IT TOTALLY FLOPPED" 🤣

[@Kekoapono]

lol at the random footage of Pentiment at the end.

[@JR7757]

Short 40 minutes, the mark of a very good video!

[@paddy1505]

The Sarah Bond interview is more cringe and painful than the most awkward Curb Your Enthusiasm skit ...

[@lalitendudas9401]

The manscape segment was the best part of this show followed by Phil Spencer's nuclear armageddon

[@cypheru5]

Solid episode!

[@jlb4685]

Secret mission translation: Final Shape testing lol. Say hi to Aztecross for me!

[@zakjackson2610]

I switched to PC 5 years ago. Great decision imo.

[@ikelos8190]

"a content creator named Seagull" MAN, og overwatch players know exactly who this man is

[@soarcheetah]

Anyone remember him from his TF2 days?... Okay I'll leave once I find my walker.

[@alanamarko]

really loved that piece over on Patreon! saw a comment mentioning how Square just said they're committing to multi-platform and that third party sales are going to be fine, but I think that's kinda missing the entire point of the article. still, minor gripes with comments aside, more things like that article would be very welcomed!

[@quino711]

The develops "Evil Twin" haha that could have been a great name for Evil Empire's departure from working for/with Motion Twin.

[@jjsavior]

Wasn't Sarah Bond only made president like 3 or 4 months ago? Looks like a scapegoat to me.

[@JacobPaul-ix7oc]

She was promoted to president of Xbox eight months ago in October, 2023. Her background is in management consultation and worked at T-Mobile before being hired at Microsoft in 2017 as a corporate vice president. Hiring Bond to be President of Xbox is about as dumb as making a McDonald's manager the COO of Tesla. If you have read through the comments, there are a number of people claiming she is a diversity hire (hired for being a black female, not based on merit, skill or qualifications related to the gaming industry). True or not, this is just one more thing Conservatives will use against Liberals, pointing to them as the reason society, politics, corporations and the economy are all suffering. I actually feel bad for Sarah. Most likely she is a scapegoat and will be disposed of after her usefulness has come to an end.

[@jjsavior]

So she was indeed only made president a few months ago. Hate to tell you, xbox has been on the decline for years and their demise was obvious well at least to me, from the start of this gen. So I'm not gonna sit there and throw someone under the bus after only being there for a few months.

[@yanstein8464]

glass cliff

[@jjsavior]

@JacobPaul-ix7oc also, if she is as inexperienced as you say. Then that just further my beliefs that they sre scapegoating her. Like I said xbox has been on the decline for some time, long before they hired her. Just like Jim Ryan announcing his retirement just before we find out just how much he has been screwing up at Sony.

[@sushiifoxx]

animal well, hades 2, stellar blade, remnant 2 - what a time to be alive; I'm juggling classics.

[@Eclipse897]

I feel like not calling this the TWIG ("This Week In Gaming") is a real missed opportunity... Great stuff as always @SkillUp!

[@ChannelKit]

that shadowdrop joke really did make my heart skip a beat, you bastard

[@trishamiller7859]

Gaaammerrrrsss! Man i look forward to these lol. Ty

[@daviduliasz2437]

Main takeaways here is that Elden Ring DLC drops in Dune and Manscaped has a new trimmer with Jewel blades.

[@deaankoekemoer5471]

I'm not usually one for survival games but v rising has me and the boys loving it.