ymy like a gummy [Music] bear it's the internet you're busy let's do this for September 12th 2024 for the next hour or so let me help you sort through the world of gaming on gamees mornings live with me Jeff grub today even more job cuts at Xbox the PS5 disc drive is selling out and Tony Hawk May yet return again but first please join me in welcoming today's co-host the game mess mornings it's Jan AOA everybody Jan how are you doing I am doing absolutely terrible grub but it's okay cuz I'm here with you on a Thursday morning that's right we're going to make it happen uh we're going to we're going to get things uh out there and we're going to handle them uh mostly video game related a few personal issues uh I'm here I'm back let's do it that's right Discord tried to us but the news got to keep going the news train never stops except for when I'm out on assignment then it stops a little bit and then I come back and we start it up again yeah yeah it's like a pit stop for like an F1 car but since it's a train it's going to take a second yeah the momentum it's just so much heavier everybody you don't understand Locomotion and everything uh we got to uh Sean and Nikki got to get like the hand card out and do like the Seesaw thing yeah that's uh we we we can't do that our hands would get dirty the concept of Cole scares Dan it's a whole it's a whole operation guys probably true um uh I I don't I I they like I'm under embargo for the trip and they embargoed my life so I can't even like say really what where I was I'll say I was in the state of Arizona because that's not going to narrow down enough to do anything so uh went to Arizona for a trip got back I'll be able to talk about what I was doing uh pretty soon it was a really good time um might have some fun like things to share in UPF or something that could be a good time um but yeah back we're going to do news for the rest of the week we're going to have uh you know Blake Club will be back we're going to do it on Thursday instead because I I'll tell you what the thing that I notic is Dan's very ready and raring to go for a new episode of Blake Club he's like very excited that Mike is suffering with this game and he does not want to miss it and I don't blame him I don't want to either but here we are has Dan done the calculus that the faster and the more blight clubs Mike does the closer he's going to get to his BL well I think I think that's maybe another reason why he's so excited is cuz he's yet again be been able to push it out further because now Lucy is between Mike and Dan's next game because what happened at Pax West so uh yeah I think he's like totally fine with it it's it's it's incredible I feel bad that I I just slacked Lucy and her General slack and said hey you're on the blood Club panel now change your flight she was that you know uh to to show behind the scenes she was pretty excited she's uh you know we're not going to make her play some really long game she's going to come in there play a a bad game for an episode or two and uh and she's excited about that so we still going to send her a costume though oh 100% like that's most of the fun for me is other people having to dress up like idiots like that's a good time uh let's explain what we do here most weekdays I Jeff grub will help P your gaming life back together that includes breaking news and maybe even some of our own original reporting for all these ICS I'll get the input of a Bonafide expert who will make me look smart if you were watching live on Twitch welcome you can always listen to the show later on podcast feeds by searching for game mess mornings or find the RSS on giantbomb.com you can also catch the show later with chapters and time stamps on YouTube hello YouTube all right we have a lot to get into so let's start the morning mess with Xbox Cuts 650 more gaming jobs but no studios closed or Games canceled this is from Eddie MCU at gam spot Microsoft has implemented another round of heavy cuts to its Xbox gaming team following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard in this latest round of layoffs Microsoft is eliminating around 650 positions from its gaming team but no additional Studios have closed no other games have been canceled as a result of these moves which Microsoft gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed on September 12th in January Microsoft cut 1,900 gaming positions bringing the number of cuts to the company to about 2550 since the the $ 75.4 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard closed in October 2023 in a memo to staff obtained by IGN Spencer said the cuts came as part of Microsoft's effort to align the company's postacquisition team structuring managing our business they just want to save money they got people doing these jobs already they want to save money by cutting out redundancy happens every time uh of course it's happening again but God it's it's such big numbers every times another 650 human beings and their families now disrupted by the the this yet another sort of acquisition coming in like a wrecking ball and uh these companies not really thinking long term right no absolutely not uh I mean for the company as a whole and like their portfolio what it's going to look like to make this gigantic acquisition sure great that's a that's a lot of money being uh thrown down I know Scout I am also upset by the news Scout but they I I'm sure both sides uh Activision that was going to get Acquired and Microsoft knew that this was coming and maybe putting hoping for the inevitable uh to put off the inevitable of like layoffs happening um not justifying layoffs at all it's just incredibly unfortunate that within Microsoft alone grub to get 2,000 plus and if this is uh the temperature that is happening right now I can't imagine what could we could possibly see uh for the rest of the year for Microsoft um I'm also curious uh you know I feel like you know Phil Spencer's always been a very public facing persona for Microsoft and right before the summer he kind of shied away from that he did make an appearance at PA right I'm curious to see what this means for Microsoft's presence in the public eye for the rest of the year like game awards is going to come up in December do they hope that other news is just going to sweep this all under the rug or are they just going to wait and fire that last Salvo of like layoffs later in the year yeah and it's uh I mean it does feel like now he has you're right gone into the Shadows a little bit and now is only coming out when there's bad news and it's like that doesn't seem like a good strategy either but I mean I I get that he's the one that has to take responsibility for for these things so he's got to come out and say the bad news uh but I don't know if the if the idea was like let's let the games speak for themselves a little bit well that's not happening either so uh you know not that I care about like how people are perceiving Microsoft or its leadership uh all that much but it's like it's kind of thing where it's like what what are you guys thinking over there like you were talking for so much you kind of you were the yappen company you'd be out there always pointing out all these things were happen all the time and then uh and then you realize that had that has officially backfired a little bit and now you're uh out here having to like only come out same when you're laying people off so it's continues to be a bad look for them um that you know why why does this stuff happen uh I mean they they they say it and it's like we just got to keep believing them when they talk I mean he says in this thing with these changes our corporate and supporting teams and resources are aligned for sustainable future growth and can better support our studio teams and business units with programs and resources that can scale to meet their needs I I mean just like all these companies and just like we've been saying on this show and other shows for a long time uh they these companies are wondering where the growth is going to come from and when they're in this position of it's hard to borrow money and it's um and there's not a lot like happening in terms of being able to release huge game after huge game very quickly the growth comes from on paper spending less money on labor and so they're gonna and like they they're they have to cut these jobs to make it look like they're growing because that's what their investors need to see and here we are yet again grub uh would it have the same effect if someone in a higher role perhaps Phil Spencer someone similar to Phil Spencer were to take a pay cut uh would that affect the numbers uh and improve them just as much as laying off a bunch of people would yeah I mean I would imagine that there was probably not it would take far fewer pay cuts probably to get to the same number uh pretty quickly and I mean I don't know what the uh management structure at Activision Blizzard looked like I'm sure it was a mess I for sure leading up to the acquisition uh like starting with the pandemic and leading into the acquisition actually happening Activision Blizzard did hire a lot of people they hired a ton of people their head count grew drastically so a lot of this is just like um a a a car racing forward and getting ready to hit a little bit of a wall of they're hiring a bunch of people and these are almost certainly going to be jobs that could be covered by this new acquisition once it once it happens but you know activation blard can't operate under like when they when that was happening they couldn't operate under the assump that the acquisition was going to go through and and hiring people was much more affordable then when when interest rates were still low and yeah so this always felt like inevitable to a certain degree uh but but it it doesn't make it suck any less and it's it just begs the question of like okay you keep cutting jobs you're looking for growth and that's your excuse uh you know as much of an excuse as that is like what do we care if you're growing that has really nothing to do with us uh and when you're out here saying like oh we're aligned for future growth you're he's not speaking to anyone who's listening to the show really people who care about the games and playing those games and having good games made by good people um so it is just this uh vapid soulless Corporation once again out here saying hey for our own investors the thing that really matters to us and uh I think that it's it's getting really old at this point I think yeah I you know it at first it seemed a nice tidbit of of this news that Studios aren't closing but then I imagine those studios are going to be filled with short-term contractors and that is going to hamper the overall product of whatever they're developing and that grub is just going to lead to further losses down the line of like quality of the game uh there's going to have to make a bunch of compromises because hey we lost all these people that really knew what to do with these tools and not that there's anything wrong with these new people but there has to be a whole process of onboarding them getting them acclimated to working with the tools that I it just feels Dow across the board looking forward yeah you got to wonder if it's uh when they were doing the round of 1900 layoffs I wonder if they in their head they're like okay maybe this will be everything and we can get on the other side of this and begin building up some positive momentum in terms of of public relations and uh and how people feel about uh the acquisition and feel about our games uh and is this like a sign that things are worse than we than we know um I I think there's a chance especially with uh you know the Xbox console sales being in a weird in between place of of um people aren't really sure why they're out why they should be out there buying the console and the game's kind of like fluctuating between being locked down to the console and going other places uh Microsoft clearly looking for ways to make more money from these projects and it's like oh is that is that also not enough and and you had you had to do this or is this more of a like okay well we've continued to look at at the numbers and we've looked at these jobs and this really is just doubling up in redundant jobs and we have people doing this work already and and E again either way it sucks either way this is a a huge number of people being affected by this um I I guess what I'm getting at is does it like you were saying earlier does this continue through the rest of this year does this continue into 2025 where people are like hey let's survive to 2025 things are going to could turn around then uh if this you know if we get it to to early next year and there's another round of layoffs like this which feels significantly possible at this point uh I think this this industry is going to like kind of wake up and be like oh man we we were fooling ourselves things actually aren't going to get that much better and it could like Domino and Microsoft could set off a bunch of other Studios be like okay even Microsoft can't make this work we got to start laying people off as well it's a scary proposition yeah yeah it doesn't it doesn't bode well for anyone yeah um oh crap makes me makes my tummy hurt yep it's uh it's uh very frustrating um yeah again they're saying these jobs are corporate and supporting teams and God that is a black box like we have a little bit of insight into the studios the people that actually like make the corporate structures work and uh and connect these Studios together and all that stuff I they never really show us what's happening there those people are never named you know they probably show up in the credits of some of these games but it is like hard to piece together like okay where are you working so um it's going to be very hard for us to put our finger on the pulse of this and figure out okay is this now is this truly aligned for future growth the way that you need it to be so that we don't have to do another one of these goddamn headlines but yeah I I remember like the one one of the positives we were hoping for with this merger is that you know there would be better management and folks would not at Activision Blizzard would have to deal with less um you know harassment uh than they were originally dealing with under the old regime um it is definitely not a better trade-off if there if they don't have to deal with that but they get fired y um and I can only imagine being one of those Activision Blizzard employees hoping for the best of like this transition being handled well and unfortunately just seeing team members across the board if not themselves get let go uh and the worst part is greb like you said families are completely being uprooted um across the world yep these people are going to leave the industry like you know aftermath just that did that story but we've heard that for a long time about people just kind of they get laid off enough times from video game the video game business and they're like I got in this business in the first place because of some passion and uh willingness to take some risks because I wanted to work in games and now I have a mortgage in a family and those risks you know and I've seen the you know the Sausage Factory now uh that passion has been Stamped Out and I'm going to go work at a bank and it's like who blames him I don't I don't yep all right moving along here uh PS5 disc drive is selling out online after PS5 Pro reveal uh this is from Zach sson at Kotaku hey Jan I was uh I was out for this I think you were out for this $700 for that thing huh yeah uh we were both out for this uh and then I remember seeing the price in thinking why I also though I remembered one game mess mornings mf5 prict $700 and right on the money uh so I'm just never going to bet against MF ever don't bet against M5 absolutely not yeah it's uh uh we were in a meeting earlier this week and I think someone's like said 650 and Bear's like no way that's too high I'm like backlar it's I don't know man I'm getting I'm thinking it could be even higher let's see let's just talking mf5 she told me 700 I don't know uh like I it was so easy to be like those numbers are just too high at like at first glance and then when you like start thinking about all the factors that go into these companies pricing things it's like wait a second why wouldn't they charge $700 and one of the reasons they would not not charge $700 is this disc drive thing is already selling out this system is going to sell out as well uh yesterday Sony officially unveiled the PlayStation 5 Pro after months of rumors and leaks the souped up console will cost $700 let you play Min games at higher frame rates but doesn't come excuse me with a disc drive the last part has seemingly led to a lot of people buying up the PS5 disc drive leading in turn to console accessories uh selling out on the console accessor selling out on many sites on September 10th Sony announced the PS5 Pro and the reaction was a lot of people going holy monkey $700 mixed with people going wait it doesn't come with a disc drive nope like the Xbox series s and PS5 digital Edition the PS5 Pro doesn't include a disc drive but Sony does offer an optional optical drive that you could buy for about $80 and slap onto your PS5 and this drive will also work with the PS5 Pro in the 24 hours since the PS5 Pro's official reval it has become harder to buy a PS5 Blu-ray Drive currently Amazon Best Buy and Target are all sold out over at Walmart according to the stores tracker 100 plus people have bought a PS5 Drive in the last day or so another 200 plus people have have it in their cart currently meanwhile on Amazon the PS5 disc drive is the fifth bestselling video game related item and is currently outselling fiscal copies of astrobot um yeah I I think uh for one people are worried so they're rushing to get this thing they were probably expecting something like this to happen uh but I I I think that there's people that just want the newest thing the newest best thing no matter what and they want to have all the options when they do get that thing so here they are spending essentially in the United States at least around $800 to get this console all once they're all in it is absolutely insane Jeff grub uh you know I I am not interested in PCH purchasing a disc drive for a PS5 Pro if I were to get a PS5 Pro uh just because everything I consume now is digital uh which isn't the best I I will admit um I wonder how much of this are people perhaps trying to uh flip them after the fact there's definitely going to be some of that but that's like where does that come from that comes from receive demand which is likely actual demand so that's all the same thing at the end of the day uh which is I mean that goes back to why this thing's $700 in the first place because the PS5 was a uh frequently uh uh like flipped item early on oh yeah and it was done that way because people were willing to pay a higher price to be able to get access to that thing and Sony saw the data and they're like we could have just had that money ourselves what did why did we do this we should have just price this thing at least 600 but probably 700 is what they came away thinking and now here we are they're doing exactly that uh so so yeah I I think there's probably a lot of scalpers showing up to buy this thing right now uh but I I think they are right in in guessing that the demand for this thing will be there because uh you know I was casually talking to some people when this thing was happening and multiple people said I should go buy that disc drive this is before we knew it was selling out like I should go get that disc drive right now so I think I think they're on to something there yeah I I also wonder if this is this is people uh realizing how hard it was to get a PS5 initially and thinking like well I got to beat the heat and everything and and prepare for the scalpers ahead of time so I will just get this component for a PS5 down the line um there you mentioned grub like people just want to get the hottest new tech and everything and it's it's so interesting and so funny maybe it's because like I have the new iPhone and I'm fine with it and I have a PS5 and I'm fine with it but I just can't imagine shelling out $700 for something that is going to marginally improve my gaming experience what and I think that's uh you know let's remind everybody like how this went down with the PS4 Pro uh I think of all the PS4s sold and of course it came out later in the generation so the numbers are just inherently going to be lower but uh when all was said and done I think about 133% of total PS4 sold were PS4 Pro so you know maybe going forward from when the PS4 Pro came out it was like a quarter of every PS4 sold from that point forward was a a PS4 Pro um I I think that we could probably expect similar numbers here uh so you know one out of 10 PS5 sold will be a PS5 Pro so you know if you want to say like one out of 10 people like really want to make a a big deal to go out and get this thing that sounds about right and I think they recognize that that's another reason why the price is so high that one out of 10 is the number of the super freaks who are ready to spend just about any price to have the best thing on the platform that they prefer uh and I I think you know they they kind of just do this to throw a little like jet fuel this little NS that they're turning on on the on the engine of selling consoles right they put a little bit of fuel in into the you know like the little bit of like the 100 proof whiskey into the into the engine and it's like okay yeah that it's just a little bit to keep things mixed up and give it an extra kick and that extra kick is these people who already own ps5s many of them will sell them off and and or trade them in we saw GameStop saying that we will give you up to $410 for your PS5 now that's if you're that's if you're like a p or a GameStop like Pro member and all this stuff but it was still a pretty high number otherwise um it's like people are going to take advantage of that and but those people that take advantage of that again are going to be the ones that have to have this thing right away grub I wonder like for not everyone has a 4K TV right yep some people are are playing way more now than than like 10 years ago for sure but yes not everybody yeah but like say there's some people playing games at their desk and maybe even their monitor isn't like a super good monitor maybe it's like an old Dell that they stole from their place of employment prior to covid right let's just say I just can't imagine like a lot of folk seeing the differences uh uh Jesse um in the chat is chimed in of like if you have to zoom in to a picture to show me the differences it's not going to matter for a lot of people it was I thought a little bizarre yes um I it was and even when they were zooming in I'm like what am I what am I looking at now to be fair I'm watching on my phone uh but a lot of people are watching uh the stuff on their phone and then even when they are watching their on their TV even if it is a 4K TV Jan if the TV's small enough like if it's 50 in even like that's small enough you're not going to see that much of a difference between like you know the slightly blurrier resolution sort of rendering at 1800p instead of a full you know 4K or whatever uh yeah I I I I think what we predicted when we were talking all the times we were like saying hey PS5 Pro is going to come out what is the marketing sort of key going to be for play for Sony and Playstation uh like the way it was 4K for the PS4 Pro and the answer was they don't they didn't really have one they don't have one so they're very much relying on this time on a little bit of fomo from the most hardcore people instead of being like making a compelling case to a wider audience so now the you know the good news for them is Playstation still has a lot of momentum and people really want to be playing PlayStation games and uh people in the console space now kind of consider the default so I think they'll be able to take advantage of it still but they they didn't come out and say AK they didn't come out and really talk a lot about one feature that's like going to make or break people's gaming experience cuz there isn't one in this moment excuse me this there's just not one that that is going to make make that much of a difference games look about as good as they need to look and we're not going to get past that anytime soon um yeah this drive I don't know are are you thinking about getting a PS5 Pro Jan no not at all uh unless I don't know hey PlayStation you want to send a couple to for review yeah we'll see if they send us some it's like but if I'm like uh I am debating if they let's say they don't and I have to make the decision um I would like to have another PlayStation in my house and so I'm like I'm beginning to build the case to convince myself to do this one um but it's not easy um the the other aspect of it and this is more of like a an Aesthetics thing but I wish it just looked different yeah and looked cooler well I think if it like if it if it had the black panels even like if it was like the black PlayStation instead of the white one I think that would be a different enough for me but um yeah yeah I like a different color a different shape I don't know make it slim you says we will make fun of you if you get it and it's like yeah fair I expect nothing less oh of course of course I'll do it too uh like give me like the slim PS2 flip up disc drive even if it doesn't have the disc drive just give me a flip up door and like oh I can put a business card in there y um are you I'm I'm actually a little surprised that it's like the PS5 Pro doesn't have like oh and the PS5 Pro disc Edition that just comes bundled with the disc drive like for and they could sell that for I guess they they probably didn't want a unit on the store shelves that said $800 they probably didn't want that actually so like this is their way of secretly doing that by having it 700 and then you get the other thing for $80 it's yep fair enough we we'll see but grub also what you know why would I need this if they haven't brought up a game that is really M pushing players to like oh I guess I need a PS5 Pro to play this yeah I mean or at least building the excitement for that right I mean that's again what there is no case to be made that's simple and and easy for them now I do expect them to work closely with Rockstar to have some stuff to announce for GTA 6 uh but and that's next year uh and that would be like you know again this this first 5% of the people who are going to buy this thing uh you know of all the PS4 users so the first like 50% of people that are going to show up to just get a PS5 Pro they're going to buy it no matter what they just are this is their thing and they want the best thing and they have to have it and they they this is their hobby they spend most of their money and time on why wouldn't they if they're going to do that why wouldn't they have the best thing so and Sony's counting on that so that's why there is no big compelling argument in the moment and then next year when maybe when things start to fizzle out and slow down a little bit uh they better have something like a GTA 6 to make an argument of listen Maybe does around at 60 frames per second which is still seems very likely in this moment but we'll see with the um maybe it is GPU bound maybe it is going to be about it probably is not going to be GPU bound but maybe we we don't know yet and uh and having the AI upscaling will make a difference and help get that thing to 60 frames per second if that's the case that's the only way to place GTA 6 at 60 frames per second on Console that's a pretty big thing and that that will help them sell a lot more when that thing comes out the you know if even if they can have like a 45 frames per second mode with vrr uh I think that will make a difference as well but yeah I the compelling case from from one game or one feature is definitely not there like I don't know bundle it with something like give me a game Sony yep let me give me a free game yep it's uh I I think I think they were expecting to have more for this system uh and clearly they just keep pushing things back like you know I've said before that uh that state of play is coming later this month it's probably coming in about let's say 12ish days and in about 12ish days uh there will have a state of play not a showcase and it's like still you know a year goes by with no PlayStation showcase where it's like here's all our big stuff and it's like so people are going to set expectations low again and it's like man you don't even have like do you have ghost of sushima to talk about yet do you have like all these like is there going to be a naughty dog game this generation uh like it is beginning to look a little bit like oh man it is uh taking them even longer than I think they expected to get these games out and that is hurting them in a situation like this where they try to go out and make a case for why this thing's worth $700 and they they just don't have anything to go along with that like I don't know have Chapel rone sign a PS5 Pro and then maybe I'll buy it okay maybe I'll buy it it's pretty pretty good performance last night the VMAs Ron of Arc yeah oh man that's very good uh uh all right let's see here uh Playstation wants to put more emphasis on familyfriendly games CEO says [ __ ] I'm sorry I didn't mean to cuss ah you're right though this is from Evan Campbell at Gamespot when thinking about PlayStation the last of us might come to mind or maybe Marvel Spider-Man Horizon zero Dawn or God of War when I think of PlayStation Jan I think of a person on Twitter with a Kratos Avatar that's what I that's what I think of uh but looking ahead Sony seems set on concentrating more on family friend friendly games like astrobot according to PlayStation CEO Herman Hol spotted by EUR Euro gamer Hol spoke with astrobot creative director Nicholas du on the official PlayStation podcast about family-friendly games after the recent launch of the cute platformer I think it's massively important that PlayStation Studios developers uh develops games in various genres and the Family Market I think is really important for us to focus on Hol said astrobot has become the best reviewed game of the year so far showcasing the possibilities for the franchise and brand for PlayStation it's something Holst who became PlayStation joint CEO earlier this month seems very aware of Astro is very very important to PlayStation said Hol obviously we had the pre-install Astros playroom on the PlayStation 5 that millions and millions and millions of people have embraced and loved and I think that's become a little bit of a platform to launch this new game now additionally PlayStation is bringing Lego Horizon Adventures excuse me to PS to PC PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 oh and Nintendo switch sometime this holiday season um yeah I I I mean obviously after Astro you kind of can't deny the Family Market but I I mean this is just something that they they absolutely need to reckon with because my my kids just PlayStation did not exist to them until they started getting into Astro and now Astro has sort of won them over to the point where it's like this is why I want to get a second PlayStation because they're constantly want to play want to play on that thing for Astro and it's like that's just one game like you want to keep that this is how Nintendo has retailed the soil over and over again with Pokemon right where it's every new generation comes in for Pokemon you you kind of need to get them while they're young grub I don't understand how Sony and Microsoft for that matter have forgotten that Nintendo is their other other competitor it does feel like they forgot yes while it seems like Nintendo and sorry uh Playstation and Microsoft are trying to like in this eternal grudge match with each other about Call of Duties your sad fathers triaa games what about if Zelda summoned a table huh what about that man did you watch that that new trailer came out this morning that looks [ __ ] hot God that looks good right like I get more excitement seeing uh like the uh the the trailer or like that tweet for the new Mario and Luigi game um and the timing of that tweet impeccable uh showing off CIA but like you have to imagine like you have to capture that younger generation of Gamers like the gimmicks that are still maybe a little bit too young to perhaps get into something like a fortnite uh but like you know you look at dib as an example digs fortnite but dropped fortnite completely to go play astrobot Playstation you have the IP what if it yo yo hey everyone put put turn up the headphones get ready to cut the check all right all right we're sad we're tired of God of War we're a little tie tie of God of War right you know the end of the last one you know it was a little somber a little sad what about you know kratos's son atraeus we get a spin-off game and it's a platformer what if it's a 3D platformer huh I and I I don't think that's crazy in the little bit even a little bit Jam because I uh playing astrobot and you know people have it in their hands now not going to spoil any specifics but they do do take some elements from other games from the Sony uh uoa and they um uh expand on those inside of Astro and it's such a reminder of like God they did some stuff like that today and it's not even like make another one of those games although for all the games that they played around and I would want them to make new ones it was a really good time it is like maybe do some more like party games like have Astro be a party game where you take all these games and and like they're all they can all play together and then Kratos can be in the party game setting it makes total sense in that in that moment it's I I don't know just do a lot more be a lot more bold in the way that you approach your your IP and in the family space and it feels like money left on the table I think you're absolutely right to say that they have like moved the window of like of of their attack along with us as we all get older and they're like these are the people that spend a lot of money on games so we got to be focused on them and so our our window of attack is against Microsoft in this one space and they have just it's completely void over here for them and Nintendo just filled that vacuum and expanded to the point where when you get the family game award at at at the kees every year it's like four or five Nintendo games uh and that it's just is do that that's not sustainable no no absolutely not of it and to to let that market go for so long uh and you know there there are fortnite Roblox Call of Duty some of these multiplayer Shooters have become like little social hubs for people and like yes we have like uh kids playing fortnite but they're all on a Discord like create something to cater to those kids to like get together like perhaps a Playstation home but like an astrobot home or I don't know a blasto Zone um for for the kids to get together I was playing Blaster over the week uh because of you Jan of course it works see see you just say something enough times and then it comes into someone's head yeah yeah it it just seems like such a opportunity and such a no-brainer especially when you have like an amazing game like astrobot and then you were unlocking some of those Bots and seeing like hey I remember that game that game would be great uh all over again in 2024 um we showed off the first world or like the the ending of the first Galaxy last week on UPF you could 100% turn ape Escape into like a familyfriendly game have those Apes pop off as like uh just as much as rabids have as much as minions have um and then like those Apes could be like different guest characters from other IP I don't know like oh there's a Deadpool ape uh there's so many opportunities grub I don't know why they don't see it yeah also uh it it seems was it Sony that cancelled the crash Spyro game no that was Activision before the Microsoft merger got it got it got it okay okay because Bobby CTIC oh well okay never mind it was a boneheaded decision but now I know why it was a boneheaded decision y um jeez yeah we love hop and Bops we love Platformers and there's also that space like with the speedrun stuff coming out the challenge levels coming out that will appeal to older Gamers yeah I family game this these days really does mean the whole family I think it means a wider appeal and everyone can enjoy it I mean it's Animal Crossing it's Pokemon and I don't think the idea here is that these GES going to be able to come in and unseat Roblox and Minecraft like that's that's not what this is not what we're talking about we are talking about uh a company like Sony being able to in Microsoft to be able to fertilize a new generation of Gamers that care about their their platform in a wider way I I always go back to it the Phil Spencer letter of like hey we were we used to control retail and we were the only ones to put games in stores and so we were the def fact game game companies that people thought of and so they had to sort of build an affinity for us people [ __ ] had an affinity for majesco uh to a certain degree it's like I at least know this name I see it on a game I played their game before and now I see another majesco game maybe maybe uh that is completely shot now you the only way you could build an affinity is by putting out a wide variety of games that people have a deep-seated care for and that does start when people are younger and that is worked for Pokemon over and over again and you're just not you're not going to be able to go out and do Pokemon if you're uh Sony or Microsoft but that doesn't mean you can't try and I think astrobot is an example of oh if we put the efforts that we put into a last of us into a platformer clearly we can come up with something and I I don't know I don't it's impossible to argue with what asot is doing I think I think it's funny that you bring up mesco as an example because I goof around all the time about um IP like blinks the time sweeper but that's because blinks the time sweeper despite never playing it because it is like a a platform or adjacent Style game targeted perhaps towards a family it is like stuck around in my mind like we could name off grub we could go back and forth for quite a while naming mascot Platformers because like there is like some type facial it will talk the power of ju guu right sure yeah Voodoo vents yeah see uh tie the Tasmanian Tiger exactly because there is like that some type of like brand recognition or like style recognition that Sony has been sorely missing because I just think of sad fathers and I have no problem as a sad father as someone with a sad father bod myself uh but in inject some [ __ ] happiness into your platform Sony yep and I I mean again the way the Astro does it with bringing all those IP into the space where it's like my kids now are asking about Kratos and I'm like well which which game has the least amount of threesoms give me a second let me think and it's but but yeah it it like this does sort of have a Smash Brothers like effect where now all these characters are all here and they have a presence and people and these kids are asking questions about them and it's like okay you've done that now with this platformer game I think you got to treat this as an opportunity to jump off into several other genres I think a party game 100% should happen a platform fighter is probably a good idea I know they're they're scarred from PlayStation B Allstars Battle Royale but an astro platform fighter with these characters all dressed up like these other characters and getting their powers like it could work yo grub make an astro Animal Crossing yeah I I mean yeah you know it and it doesn't all to be Astro but a lot of it should probably be Astro at least for at least for the next like five to 10 years it just is working so well so yeah uh at least they're saying now at least they're like recognizing that the family game Space is something that they should be focusing on and um I don't know if they have much choice because when they talk about hey the space that we're the spaces that we're going to grow into and where we're going to find growth they can't they can't go to investors and say it's the it's the uh live service games anymore they Pro there probably will still still be some growth from live service but they can't go and tell that tale to investors because they're not going to want to hear it after Concord so they're goingon to have to have a new story to tell and the only place where they've had a dub recently in terms of an area where they haven't had success recently has been this family game so I I think that by default they found themselves arguing that this is going to matter but I think they will also have to follow up on that to a certain extent so I'm hopeful I'm hopeful I am also hopeful Jeff grub because Sony has continued their like up and down wave this year uh and at you know the price of the PS5 Pro being announced definite low for me $700 I don't want to spend it so let's see what they're going to do and bring us back up baby get us back up all right let's see here we're going to take a quick break when we come back Tony Hawk is back in some way right after this no all right we're back let's do the Tony Hawk news uh as we always do on the show Welcome to Tony Hawk News segment Tony Hawk says he has been talking to Activision ahead of the pro skaters game's 25th anniversary this is from Darren bonuse at Gamespot skateboarding legend Tony Hawk recently hinted that he had been talking to Activision teasing that something is being planned for the franchise ahead of its 25th anniversary I wish I could tell you more but I could tell you that I've been talking to Activision again Hawk said in a mythical kitchen video when asked about the future of the Tony Ox Pro Skater series it's insanely exciting we're working on something it'll be something the fans truly appreciate Hawks comments along with a recent refresh of the Tony Hawks Pro Skater social media accounts as these were updated with new images bearing a 2024 copyright Watermark uh fans have begun speculating that this could mean and what what this could mean and if the anniversary will lead to an announcement of Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 and four remasters back in 2022 Hulk claimed that vicarious Visions was working on remasters of those games before it became a support Studio under Blizzard Entertainment that's kind of unding what happened there they are Blizzard Entertainment now they like kind of went in there and took over uh was it Diablo uh basically got Diablo over the Finish Line I think it was Diablo um but yeah the vicarious Visions took their talent in there and kind of made reinvigorated uh blizzard um yeah hey I'm getting my hopes up for this um I'm like I want to believe that it's going to be something as big as a ton o Pro SK three and four Jan do you need to like talk me off the ledge here do you think it's GNA be something less than that I wanna I wanna Olie off the ledge with you grub and hope there's a secret tape there bud yeah but I've been burned especially by Activision Blizzard uh and I just want I just want Tony to be happy I want Tony's Legacy to live on yep I mean he always talks about how like his legacy was secured by those games and uh getting like the first check for like $4 million or something after that game crushed was of course when his life really changed uh so yeah I I he of course I think has a deep-seated love of these games and wants to make sure that the Legacy does continue it is you know Activision now Microsoft do they have any of that spirit for this franchise I would hope so but who knows yeah I I would hope so and I you know I feel I I feel deep within my bones Tony wanting to bring Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 and four or whatever this could potentially be is not completely wholeheartedly financially motivated those games did such a big and gigantic job in encouraging people to try skating for the first time and you know skating has become popular again that being but that being said like you know these games Inspire audiences to try and pick up a board at least buy a skateboard try it out um and I can see that being a big thing for Tony wanting to continue the sport and the Art of skateboarding um and honestly in terms of digital preservation I would love to see Tony Hax Pro Skater 3 and four three one of my all-time favorite games uh up up there with the whole franchise uh maybe not the whole franchise project dat we can leave in the in the dirt sure um but I I would really really want to see this especially with like how good of a job one and two was um it hurt it hurts me inside grub it hurts me inside yeah I I you know I saw I think Mikey oo in chat was like Hey this could just be like soundtracks and it definitely could be soundtrack collections um yeah I I I hope that right you never know when like a celebrity talking to a company and they're like saying it's an exciting thing I mean they're excited a lot of times because they are just going to get the check again right but um and so I it's hard to like take Tony Hawk's words and extrapolate into exactly what this could be um I just I hope I hope they're going to make more Tony Hawk games uh those it's not like we're sitting here arguing like List look we know that it didn't sell very well but no Tony's Pro getter one and two bestselling Tony H game ever made it's it they it was a massive success for them so I don't know kind of don't know what we're talking about here other than I get that a dollar spent on Call of Duty is more valuable to them than a dollar spent on anything else but that's you know that fever's got to break at some point and maybe they should be ready for it to Break by having some other pokers in the fire I don't know yeah I don't know Call of Duty is not for every single uh video game player out there it's not for me and so I'm not rushing to play uh blop 6 but if you told me there was a Tony Hawk Pro Skater 34 coming out tomorrow buddy I'm strapping on my helmet and and uh rolling down the hill with my skateboard to go to my local game store and buy it and realize I buy everything digital so I'm going to have to skate uphill that's hard it's tough uh go get those uploads and those downloads uh I um yeah people are mentioning some uh later uh um tone out games that were good and American Skate Land not American Wasteland which I think was also good but American Skate Land on the DS is probably the last one that I really truly loved that was a great game it was also it was especially cool because it was I had really I had enjoyed the tonac portable games on the Game Boy Advance uh up to that time but that was you know there's two face buttons on there so you were doing a lot of stuff on the shoulders and I would get used to that but having the four face buttons on the DS and like oh my God this is just a full Tony Hawk game now on my handheld and it feels awesome and it looks great cuz it had the the the um cell shading on there that was that was really cool I played a ton of that game grub I'm not saying that I've been itching to get into a fight so I can punch someone in the face right I'm not saying that I'm not advocating for violence that being said I want to punch Eric Sparrow in the face again give me Thug in 2024 yeah I need it I I was just thinking that if there is something Beyond three and four that they were going to do and not something like less than three and four like where three and four remaster would maybe be the biggest thing they could do I guess a full new Tonia game would be the biggest but like I was trying to be somewhat reasonable but like let's okay let's take it down a notch if they did a thug remaster uh that like just was a remaster but like you know kind of brought it out and like re-released it on Steam and everything and then made sure it was like really compatible with the the modding tools that people are doing so we can have the thug thug online stuff that people have done um that would be really good for me I would love that uh I think that could be very cool I don't I to this day I remember the character that I designed for Thug uh the face looked like me he had cool white sunglasses and a blue ponytail for some reason mhm and it was a banger I was a pro In Thug man they should uh they should just bring back Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5 remastered there we go everyone shut your mouth everyone's clamoring for it the kids demand the return of Tony Hawks Pro you clam up grub no one's clamoring stop clamoring kids uh all right let's keep going here steam launches families which is a weird thing to say allows users to share allowing users to share games this is from Jordan Midler at VGC steam has launched steam families it's new solution for sharing games between groups of players a steam family can consist of five members and will allow members to purchase a title once giving every member of the steam family access to the game developers can choose whether or not to support the feature if a game currently supports the steam family sharing system that was previously in place it will automatically support steam families the the new version uh pit players don't need to be online to share a shared game so long as the game itself supports the future all games will automatically uh be shared between all family members uh however using parental controls it's possible to block games from younger users within the steam family account something that I have taken advantage of um I've been using this in beta for the last few months it rules this is to me like this is a gamechanging feature um it is the way that digital game sharing should work um I am very happy with this it is very very cool uh there's there's still some hiccups here and there uh where it's like okay is this game going to work and like well if we're both playing trying to play the same game at the same time no that's that's not going to of course it's not going to work you get one copy uh but if you want maybe if you start up offline and maybe maybe you could play it and then it won't kick you off if you're on the steam deck offline you can just keep playing it uh so there there's ways to get around some of those things still but for the most part the old thing was you would do the steam family sharing and one person could be using any game from the account at any one time and then if someone else tried to use it they get they would get kicked off now it is if you are trying to play a different game and it's in the steam family library and it's so no one else is playing that game you could just keep playing it without any issue while someone else is using that steam Library up to four other people could be using something else in that Library as long as they're using different games and it's very very cool so I'm into this um I I do like Wonder like this is going to lead to new horror stories cuz apparently if uh one of the players in your family let's say they get banned from a game from online multiplayer uhhuh everyone in that family gets banned from playing that game online so you might want to think about who you let into your family a little bit uh you can also you can get kicked out of families and then if you um if you like leave a steam family I don't think you can join another one for like a calendar year or something like that so you're not going to be able to like bounce around between and be like okay I'm going to go play this this Friends games and now this Friends games there are some limitations on there um but I don't know a lot of it makes sense to me CU it's like I listen I just want to use this so you know I got the two steam decks in my house and I got the gaming PC uh yeah and I got the gimmicks I I just want to be make sure that they could play my games while without interfering with me doing the work that I need to be doing and this feature has enabled that uh and so for me this is great and then people that are going to try to maybe like squeeze a little extra useability out of this to be get get some more games for free you're going to be able to do that you're going to be able to make that work to a certain extent but it's it's not like some uh end be end all Beall solution for those people I don't know Jan is this something that you have any interest in um with Steam not immediately right um just because I'm the only one in my household and and friend group that really does uh play video games on the PC but perhaps we could uh you know use I'm not going to say that out loud um perhaps we make a giant bomb family account a giant bomb we're I hey we're a family we're a family when you're here you're yeah I I I've been hoping that someone would do exactly this I'm not surprised at steam uh do you think like a Nintendo does this anytime in let's say this Century grub you silly silly man um that would require Nintendo being open to that and uh not thinking that you are spreading piracy throughout family um even if it is for in innocent purposes like letting the gimmicks play a s a Mario game while you were playing another game on your switch um also that would require the infrastructure to do that and I'm just not 100% confident in Nintendo in that way yeah I I mean I think this should be the sort of bar that all these other services are going to be measured by uh I just don't think Nintendo is going to care that we are measuring them against this they just won't care so yeah it's gonna it's you know I guess a little bit my fault for buying digital games on a nintend Nintendo platform uh and we can do like the the account sort of like a friendly handshake where uh two accounts can sort of like have one system where it's like that's my primary account but you're going to use that over there so your secondary account on that system can have access to all those games even when you know I'm not around and then I'll have I'll just log in remotely from from my account on this other system as a secondary account and as long as I'm just playing on that account I can use those games digitally so two two people two systems works pretty okay but I got two kids so there's three of us and that makes it just complicated enough that's like oh I guess I wish I had physical games to so I could just share to the kids but I don't really wish that because they would [ __ ] lose them they would just lose those things they would lose those little bastards so I have four Nintendo switch carts I don't know where any of them are and I'm an adult my my kids were you like they for some reason they're obsessed with mini stuff right now uh mini kitchens manyi uh uh little clothes to dress up their characters in and they would they took one of my Nintendo switch cartridges just danced 2017 I did get it launched I just dropped um and they were pretending it was a tablet for one of their toys a mini tablet so cute yeah that's what we have going on over here I think the gimmicks would love hit Clips they would love oh the gimmicks would love hit Clips that's very many uh all right last couple of things here Flappy Bird is finally returning 10 years after its demise this is from Chris Hol at Gadget basically the story is I guess some holding company bought the trademark and then they bought a version of a game that plays like Flappy Bird and they they made it up to look like Flappy Bird and they're going to re-release it there's a bunch of Flappy Bird cloes already so I I certain point I'm like how is this that different from from those although I guess this officially has the name um I love Flappy Bird I really liked Flappy Bird I was I was into Flappy Bird in a deep way uh I and I guess I'm glad it's back I thing is I've always continued to have access to it for the most part although I bet it doesn't work on this latest phone um but I'd have to double check that but I I I was playing it like last year so um yeah I don't I don't know um yeah any any love for Flappy Bird Jan not at all yeah no no no love for this bird man at all it was flapping like crazy I don't know what you're talking about um XBox is bringing back friend friend requests this is from Tom Ian at VGC Microsoft is plans to bring back friend requests on Xbox the feature was last used during the Xbox 360 generation before being replaced with a social media style follower system when Xbox One launched in 2013 an updated Friends and followers experience will be made available this week to Xbox Insider members on the alpha skip ahead ring on consoles and to users who signed up to the PC gaming preview on PCS and handheld devices they'll be able to test that it's working as intended before it's rolled out uh we're thrilled to to announce the return of friend request now you can easily send accept or delete friend requests making it simpler to connect with others uh friends are now a two-way invite approved relationship giving you more control and flexibility yeah it was one that I I was I never really understood the follower system on Xbox Jan that was like I so anyone could just follow me and if I don't want that I have to like set a different privacy set honestly it was like at that point I never learned why I should care about the way that that thing worked and I still have never learned about it and I to me part of that is like maybe a big part a significant part of why the Xbox Live experience like fizzled out for me during the Xbox one generation I I I 100% think so because like uh getting friend requests um in the 360 era was like a big component of like oh like yeah let me add you blah blah blah and then just having that whole system change to a following system and then even then being confused like hey are we friends or am I following you you me I don't see you um it was always confusing and similar about grub I never bothered to learn the actual system so whenever we would play a multiplayer game on Xbox or like Xbox uh launcher on PC I would just be terribly confused of like wait are we friends do I have to change anything um XBox is bring steam is bringing families back Xbox is bringing friends back there it is it's it's a beautiful world that is healing right for our very eyes yeah I not everything needed to be a social media platform um and even some social media platforms have that exclusivity thing that was the whole Facebook idea I watched that movie it was like yeah yeah you can you have to like approve people before they could be your friends and stuff like that it's like oh yeah yeah that there's some cache there and Xbox just gave all that up to be like and now we're going to be like Twitter it's it was weird you know you and it's just like real life grub you do have to approve people of being your friends yes that's right abs absolutely uh I hey I I don't this probably not going to like suddenly change everything but uh I'm I'm glad that it's it's going back to the way I I I think it should be it should be this way I'm glad it's going back to that yes uh all right uh last thing just real quick analog pocket has six new colors that are based on the Game Boy um Game Boy Color the color schemes um they look really good I don't need another game boy or another analog pocket but Bo those are good looking colors so yeah uh they have the the purple the Indigo I think called it I like that that's a good looking thing yeah some of these look real pretty yeah Marino says Crayola bold colors for sure yes that that Crayola period that we were all in for a while there that I was super into all right let's see here that does it for the headlines uh we do have a poll question that I will get up here in a second let me do that click there uh bum there we go and then go down here uh how are you feeling about fair games 2% said optimistic 5% are cautious so we got 7% of people are like or hey no I'm optimistic and then 22% are optimistic and maybe the most damning thing 71% said uh what is fair games now of course Sony's got a lot of opportunities to kind of come out and re explain what this game is yeah but they've done that once a little bit so um I I I this just goes back to there was an assumption that Sony could sell anything to PlayStation Gamers and it's like no you told them you were going to make a certain kind of game and they've showed up for that kind of game and if you're not talking about that kind of game they're not paying attention and I think fair games Concord obviously proved that I think fair games might do the same thing as well of course J fair games plays in a way that people just can't ignore like it's it's not just some like another hero shooter I don't think it is like a heist pvpve game I think I'm like pulling out of memory maybe that's something people just have to have and that could change the story for this thing but in this moment I would I would be worried if I was working on Fair games yes uh for a hot second I forgot that it was an actual game and not a studio yes uh God I just learned the name of the studio so I could like bring it up and I forgot again and then um God what is it thank you Marino Haven right and there's a dollar sign in the logo or the name there's a dollar sign in the logo which is bad as T pointed out on Friday it makes it look like a crypto related game which is not what you want these days no no even for like the regular audiences like dollar signs have been co-opted by the crypto Bros and we've lost it forever we've lost it and we don't want to back actually you guys you got keep it you've tainted it and it smells bad um yeah fair games rough spot uh we we'll see uh next time may maybe there's more fair games in this upcoming state of play we'll see but uh I don't know uh if the game's fun I'll try it just like I did Concord uh and I hope it's even better than Concord I'm going to I'm going to ask this question what is the difference between a dollar sign with a single vertical line versus two vertical lines I I don't know if there is a difference I think it's a style thing I okay maybe there's a difference Jan I I could be wrong I could definitely be wrong on that I I honestly you have never you and I have never been wrong point we have never been wrong um yeah I would say yeah I think the the in general I yeah two is correct that that's how I would do it but I think just style people sometimes sometimes stylize it with one line um $2 one on cense but the scent has its own symbol CH chuckle nuggets it's is like the the C with the line through it right so yeah I know whatever uh all right this is the discourse we need to bring up on the Internet that's right game best mornings is fully back now uh janito what do we have going on on GI bomb.com well to make up for missing Blake Club yesterday we uh We've enabled Mike manat to Blink again we've activated him yes yes we've activated him we are going to have blight Club later today at uh 12:00 p.m. Pacific 3:00 p.m. Eastern and then immediately following that we've pushed the dump truck uh to follow that bad boy up we're going to be rolling straight into the dump truck after that tomorrow we have another episode of Game M mornings for your peepers as well as unprofessional spice Marine um headed to you uh we're going to dip into Co-op and figure what that's like and then I'm just going to be yelling or quietly muttering to myself spice Marine spice Mar why do we spice Marine why do we fall Master B so we can kill tyranids um yeah I'm looking forward to that what what time was uh Blake club today uh 12 my time so three your time okay and so like an hour before voicemail dump truck all right listen I'm fine cuz I then more episodes of of yeah okay yeah cool we'll do it'll be a hot 60 that'll be good um all right that'll be happening later today everyone should look out for that um in the meantime new poll question do you want PlayStation to make more familyfriendly games yes or no that's an easy one I think but oh whatever we're coming back easy we're going to make it an easy time for everybody also apparently Unity is canceling the runtime fee which got to be honest thought they already did just assumed I think I assume that they already did in that huge B lash and they're like hey yeah we messed up I guess all they did was say they messed up and they never actually undid this people that don't remember Unity was going to charge like 20 cents or something for every download of a game like even a free-to-play game I think what they were really going after was genin impacts the genin impacts of the world um and they like so every time someone installed that game unity wanted to get theirs and and it was going to but it was going to apply to just about every game and then they carved out a small little uh exception rule for very small indie games that were going to get decimated by this uh they are canceling the runtime fee uh seems I just came up with a million dooll idea PlayStation get ready to pull your checkbook out again sh all right all right I I think there's been the common sentiment of people saying like oh my God if these astrobots were physical toys I'd buy them because they look like this PlayStation IP that I'm fond fos yeah AOS hear me out Jeff greub hear me out PlayStation get ready to cut the check you make a gotcha game with the astrobots okay Jan don't do this yourself you know Spin to Win baby Jan you want you want that like you want that s tier Kratos astrobot well go buy some tickies baby people are like people like I want to be able to just buy these things and choose them store shelf and you're like what if we made it sick though what if we made it disgusting and vile that would be better for me yeah yeah oh oh hey you know what you can mix and match parts for your astrobots but you need the parts why don't you man okay see what what if there's uh you know a jrpg astrobot but you want him to have Nathan Drake's half tuck shirt I do kind of want that uh I was expecting more of a half tuck than we got um all right that was game mess mornings I believe I don't know if we do anything else here I think what I do is I say Jan a choa thank you so much for spending today talking with me about video games man I really appreciate it it's the only way to start a Thursday grub thank you all for hanging out thank you for listening and watching you're the best audience in gaming very happy to be back uh till next time have a good one take care of yourself and goodbye