_Time Stamps_ 🦄 0:33 *Starts* 2:36 Hades 2 early access 16:56 *The News* 💜 17:14 Microsoft layoffs and studio closures 1:04:36 _The Helldivers 2_ situation 1:21:14 PS Blog 1:24:48 Nintendo new console 1:27:05 ESRB Rated new Nintendo game 1:30:30 Roll7 and Intercept Games shut down 1:36:09 XDefiant coming out 1:41:37 Let it Die death verse 1:55:43 *Emails* ✋️😌👌 1:56:04 Ozzy - Bungie independence 2:00:09 Carl - Late Bethesda updates 2:16:39 Charlie - The Conflict games 2:18:01 Jhon - Console speculation 2:22:33 Raul - Drake 2:23:59 Tommy - Cash Cow 2:32:29 Steven - Caveman games 2:35:10 Vivian - Video Game relevancy 2:43:08 Nick - stream watching
We're finally here at 100 y'all. RIP to those who didn't make it, let's pour out a Rockstar for our fallen comrades. Forever may you enjoy your gaming.
I used to work for a large payroll company, and Supergiant Games were one of the clients we processed payroll for. I didn't know this, so when I talked to one of the devs, I was trying not to geek out and remain professional (they were really small at the time, and ran payroll themselves) After business was done, I let them know "I'm a huge fan of your work." Etc. The client was really appreciative and thanked me. He then said "we're working on a game now called "Hades". Hades! Remember the name! It's gonna be huge". A few months later, it was announced, and I remembered the conversation. So glad to see it thriving, and that the sequel is being developed.
@@neauxway I had to look that up when you posted that. He got another animated movie jesus, his acting in the Mario movie was awful hes so bland. It doesn't even match Garfields personality at all. Bill Murrays voice actually made sense, he can sound like an uninterested lazy cat, Pratt can't.
I'm glad my Pitfall/Metroidvania question from 6 months ago, that Jeff mentioned at 43:14 is still knocking around in his head. That's about the only relevant way you could bring back that franchise.
The Arkane/Tango thing is insane to me especially because executives explicitly went out of their way to demonstrate that they cared about growing that side of the portfolio not just as afterthoughts of acquisition, Spencer did an entire meet and greet in person in Japan and they legitimately committed to having Arkane work on their Redfall content all the way up until the 11th hour. This isn't even a case of "CEO Phil Spencer Is Not Your Friend", it is a case of a decision running directly counter to the business goals publicly stated barely 6-8 months ago, entirely out of character for someone who would know better. Something does not pass the sniff test in this scenario
My guess is MS decided to reduce its costs in the Bethesda wing and chose its lowest performing studios. Hi fi rush was a great game that didn’t fly off the shelves or push people to game pass. Redfall was a disaster. Phil had zero intention of closing studios, but is still beholden to the powers that be that is MS corporate. It’s not his fault but he is also the captain of this ship that continues to filling up with water.
I remember when it was announced Xbox was buying Bethesda thousands upon thousands of people were praising the move and wanting Microsoft to buy more. Anyone who didn’t see disaster coming was incredibly shortsighted. To be fair I didn’t expect studio closures this soon.
HR accounting and legal, sure, but developers designers and artists? Very strange indeed. IMO they want to further weaken the job market to increase profit margins. Like US car manufacturing moving to China and now Mexico.
The lack of understanding and shortsightedness of these closures speaks volumes. Tango Games and Arkane Austin were likely going to be shut down if Zenimax Bethesda hadn't been purchased
@@Ingel_Riday6690 the problem here is the premise that Microsoft/Xbox can do anything well in this industry. The past decade has been abysmal from them. Why anyone would assume that any company they acquire would improve under them is beyond me. They were hardly creating good games on their own so they had to buy companies that could. Now they’re even closing studios from said companies. I’ve been operating under the assumption that I generally shouldn’t give them my money for the last 10 years and it’s worked out great for me. I hope they can turn it around but in the meantime I see no reason to give them the benefit of the doubt after a decade of failure.
40:20 Honestly, I have to wonder if under this new(?) directive, would a Starfield have even gotten the greenlight from Microsoft to be made by BGS? In what world would MS want an over 5-year dev cycle studio like BGS to spend that much time working on a new version of their in-house engine only to gamble on a new IP rather than produce another Elder Scrolls or Fallout game? It sounds obvious now, but I'm guessing the mega corporation that spent billions acquiring CoD and Blizzard might not actually be interested in funding new experimental works over surefire bets.
closing arkane austin i sort of understand, but i totally agree with you that closing tango gameworks not only doesn't make sense because they need more games like hi-fi rush, but also because it makes microsoft look really bad. even ghostwire tokyo wasn't like some sales disaster, there was no good reason to close them
I actually really liked Prey 2006 and liked what we saw of Prey 2 before it got cancelled. Sad to hear about Roundhouse getting absorbed and that they won't get a chance to head a project under the Bethesda banner.
One reason against Nintendo using an external GPU in their dock is from my cursory research there don't appear to be any eGPU solutions for ARM, and Nintendo don't seem to be the type to spend on pushing something like that forward themselves. Not even the M-series (ARM) MacBooks have eGPU support apparently. If anything a scalar seems more likely like was mentioned.
This host guy makes a lot of sense. Maybe Microsoft should hire him to save the video games. *Happy 100th episode! You were barely a kid when this thing started* 🎊🌟
I think both Let It Die AND Deathverse: Let It Die were great. That said, Deathverse didn't have the Suda or Akira Yamaoka touch that made Let It Die so charming and unique, and the connection to Let It Die's setting was pretty loose and spurious. A game that niche was always going to have a hard time maintaining an active playerbase in this competitive environment, it's amazing Helldivers even managed to find the room to get the audience attention it did.
I'm honestly angry about all this. I feel so bad for Ninja Theory too. All their games have been 7s - 8s but I've always enjoyed them. The insane dev time for Hellblade 2 and how it's now touted as this major exclusive doesn't bode well at all for the studio.
Hellblade 2 is never going to be a big seller. It has AAA production values, but in terms of scope it's very much a AA game with limited appeal if the original is anything to go by.
I've avoided playing Elden Ring because I knew that I would never play the DLC if I played the game when it first came out, and I knew DLC was coming for it. The other side of that kind of patience is that I've missed 3 different endgame experiences in Path of Exile. I heard some things about Path of Exile 2, its endgame existing with the first game's endgame, that made me want to wait and experience that endgame fresh in the new title. Since then they have restructured endgame progression twice, and they also backtracked on having a merged endgame between the two games.
I've been livid all day after hearing about these closures. What an absolute piece of shit, woefully incompetent publisher Microsoft has been for well over a decade. They went on a spending spree, buying studios left and right to try and fill their lackluster portfolio and now money is too tight to keep these studios open to produce their games? Step aside, Embracer because Uncle Phil's been playing the long game. Ninja Theory is probably going to be next after Hellblade 2 ships, because how can that game ever be what Microsoft wants it to be. Especially when you have it day one on Game Pass, a service that, as Microsoft themselves acknowledge, cannibalizes game sales. I'm so sick and tired of these dumbasses destroying IPs and studios, leaving people without jobs while they keep getting bonuses because all these cuts mean the line can keep going up.
Another studio that comes to mind when it comes to caring about and offering a signature with narration is RedHook. Its something that seems to get as much attention as any other aspect of the games they make (and its wonderful).
Making Prey and then Redfall is an insane seesaw in quality. The founder of Arkane directed Prey, I wonder what happened with Redfall? Rushed for Gamepass?
Prey was a sales flop, immersive sims are always in a precarious position. Probably their only option for survival to was to take a chance at live service hero based looter vommit that prints money for many studios apparently.
It's time for people to smell the roses. I've been critical of this increased monopolisation since these mergers and acquisitions began. The fact of the matter is that these layoffs are required for them to please shareholders. It is not sustainable long term for developers who work on new IPs.
My understanding is that Rafael Colantonio and most of the senior team members of Arkane Austin left during Redfall's development because they didn't want to make a live service game, leaving the studio in poor shape in terms of talent and leadership.
@@datboijerry he's a great con man, and sadly too many people buy his little act. Xbox has really great custom controllers, it would be nice if they had decent games to play along with them.
51:00 The adoption curve is relentless. AI will gain prominence in most aspects of humanity, whether people use it or not. Like the algorithms of TH-cam, TIktok, Instagram, and so on. These algorithms already dictate who succeeds, who gets hired, who gets loans, who gets to live, and they gain more power over us every day. It's a treacherous time.
Things have never felt more soulless. And I’m not some old man ranting (I’m not even 40) but I’ve been around long enough to realize the doom and gloom gets worse every generation and I can see why. Post peak consumerism and more convince than ever before, but all our arts are soulless money grabs (not all of them) but my god
@@kyledodson2992 I feel you, but it's not only our 'arts'...our government is corrupt (both sides, left and right) and doesn't care about working class people. Continuous inflation I feel is going to affect things including the gaming industry. Just trying to stay optimistic and save up for a house, cuz surely the prices won't rapidly increase over the next 5 years.
i think what jeff fails to mention about the activision acquisition is that these pipe dreams of like "toys for bob are gonna make banjo kazooie" or "vicarious visions is gonna get back on tony hawk" was never going to happen. microsoft wanted call of duty money. devs being thrown into the cod mines was what made those games every year. when microsoft buys call of duty, they're not gonna mess with the mines. they wanted the mines and bought the mines. they're not gonna fuck with that dev pipeline. it was never EVER going to happen. it was always about call of duty and keeping those mines in tact. all this lip service "uh actually King was the reason for the purchase" was always lies and the press helped them repeat it. not out of malice. it's because for whatever reason jeff always gave them the benefit of the doubt. and that was so foolish
I wonder if Big Video Game eventually will only support the biggest ongoing titles. Then I suppose that leaves the indie space for the new ideas. This news this week was indeed fuckdiculous though, congrats on 100.
2:04:48 I started Starfield on day one and stopped on day one. I am waiting for the game to be done. I estimate I will start playing in 2025. For most “AAA” games I am just going to add 2 years to the release date and play it then, when it is actually done. With the exception of PS5 exclusives which I keep buying day one and don’t have any problems to speak of. I had one super minor bug in Ghost of Tsushima in 100 hours playing that game.
I guess the harsh reality is that in an env where inflation is so high and the average person who plays games is suffering so much and has to spend a higher % of their income on just living, that new games won't sell as well or be as profitable. Especially when we have 20+ years of backlog you can purchase for pennies on the dollar and you also still might be involved in that online game you have been playing for 5 years every day at this point.
You were confusing Teenage Engineering’s crappy Rabbit AI device with the other crappy AI product, The Humane AI pin. He reviewed and crapped on both, but really tore into the AI pin.
As long as we don't suddenly falsely equate what Microsoft does to everyone else this is worthwhile criticism, for all their faults Sony and Nintendo and even companies like Sega and Capcom they all have bad decisions and flops but they at least have an overall positive direction and positive releases..... Xbox is so far down the drain it can't even be compared to even Sega's failure who was still trying but just got beat by the ps2
I'm baffled, bamboozled, flabbergasted, and fucking confused. I feel like Xbox had gotten to this point where it had nurtured Tango to produce some high-quality games and acquired other studios known for making high-quality games...and now, just as they had finished raising their golden geese, and those geese are getting ready to lay some eggs (or, in Tango's case, had laid), they fucking start stomping on all of the eggs because they aren't big enough. They then get angry at the geese and shoot them all. Like, you either recognize that game development is a long-term investment, or you don't. And I still don't think Microsoft gets it. They want easy money from their OS being baked into various corporate desktops and laptops. They want easy money from Office subscriptions. They want easy money from Azure. They want easy money from Game Pass. They balk at the idea that sometimes a game won't make money. Hell, sometimes it'll lose money, but you stick with it to cultivate talent and learn from your mistakes. This isn't just throwing the baby out with the bathwater - this is intentionally flooding the entire nursery and not understanding why that is bad.
Mismanagement is at the core of why Microsoft changed course. How far does one need to go back to find a game that Microsoft was deeply involved in that was a triple threat of critical success, mainstream penetration, and satisfying the core fanbase of the IP/Studio? The acquisition spree was about building a portfolio of games to drive subscriptions and x number of years in the most acclaimed game was an off beat genre mashup in Hifi Rush and the biggest game a middling effort that failed to produce the same long tail player base as its predecessors did in Starfield. That simply isn’t good enough for the corporate types to keep on funding the endeavor. Investing in and keeping creative talent is needed in game development. Which sadly doesn’t fit the corporate culture and wider strategy of Microsoft where contractors are common and BtB products are the profit makers.
It sucks for all those people being out of work now, but years of Microsoft trying to buy its way into the lead videogame company was bound to fall apart at some point. Gamepass did not do any of these companies any favors.
Why would anyone anywhere for any reason have any job security? When the entire society has this vibe to it that at any moment you will be axed if that means the stock can increase 50 cents, then what is the incentive to work hard or even do good work? Why not just do the bare minimum and appear to work until you get laid off anyway? There has to be long term repercussions to society being this way. I can't imagine it fosters a good society in the long term.
Fuck about legally being able to create one. I don't want to play a game and the need to make an account. There are so many dumb account managements going on. I don't want more, especially not more Sony stuff. the excuse it is easy isn't good enough. That is just to deflect putting extra stuff on the players for their benefit.
Hoping all the dev's land on their feet. It's sad, but the writing was on the wall; way too many acquisitions. Microsoft has the money to support long term development. The relationship didn't even last 3 years, shame on them.
_Time Stamps_ 🦄
0:33 *Starts*
2:36 Hades 2 early access
16:56 *The News* 💜
17:14 Microsoft layoffs and studio closures
1:04:36 _The Helldivers 2_ situation
1:21:14 PS Blog
1:24:48 Nintendo new console
1:27:05 ESRB Rated new Nintendo game
1:30:30 Roll7 and Intercept Games shut down
1:36:09 XDefiant coming out
1:41:37 Let it Die death verse
1:55:43 *Emails* ✋️😌👌
1:56:04 Ozzy - Bungie independence
2:00:09 Carl - Late Bethesda updates
2:16:39 Charlie - The Conflict games
2:18:01 Jhon - Console speculation
2:22:33 Raul - Drake
2:23:59 Tommy - Cash Cow
2:32:29 Steven - Caveman games
2:35:10 Vivian - Video Game relevancy
2:43:08 Nick - stream watching
Thank you.
Time. Stamps. ROCK!
God's work
Our hero.
We're finally here at 100 y'all. RIP to those who didn't make it, let's pour out a Rockstar for our fallen comrades. Forever may you enjoy your gaming.
RIP in peace to Tango
MS ain't shutting us down!
More people have died waiting for GTA VI and Half Life 3 combined than the Bible 2.
Pour out a Rockstar for Rockstars parent company who shut downs studios/publishers
@@TyranBatten I'm really bummed about this, Hi-Fi Rush was so much fun. :(
I used to work for a large payroll company, and Supergiant Games were one of the clients we processed payroll for. I didn't know this, so when I talked to one of the devs, I was trying not to geek out and remain professional (they were really small at the time, and ran payroll themselves)
After business was done, I let them know "I'm a huge fan of your work." Etc. The client was really appreciative and thanked me. He then said "we're working on a game now called "Hades". Hades! Remember the name! It's gonna be huge".
A few months later, it was announced, and I remembered the conversation. So glad to see it thriving, and that the sequel is being developed.
COOL INDUSTRY!!
Happy we can still hear Jeffs rants on the gaming industry after all these years
Jeff Gerstmann's I Was There When It All Went Sideways Part Two
I'm glad Jeff Gerstmann could make it in to host the 100th episode of The Jeff Gerstmann Show
😂
Happy 100 Episodes to The Jeff Gerstmann Show!!!!!
omg it's Garfield
@@neauxway I had to look that up when you posted that. He got another animated movie jesus, his acting in the Mario movie was awful hes so bland. It doesn't even match Garfields personality at all. Bill Murrays voice actually made sense, he can sound like an uninterested lazy cat, Pratt can't.
He’s so cool
I'm glad my Pitfall/Metroidvania question from 6 months ago, that Jeff mentioned at 43:14 is still knocking around in his head. That's about the only relevant way you could bring back that franchise.
That’s actually a pretty genius suggestion!
You could make it a tomb raider/uncharted style game
@@RANDYSAVAGE1412 You *could* do it, but it wouldn't go well. They wouldn't spend the money to make it better than either Tomb Raider or Uncharted.
The Arkane/Tango thing is insane to me especially because executives explicitly went out of their way to demonstrate that they cared about growing that side of the portfolio not just as afterthoughts of acquisition, Spencer did an entire meet and greet in person in Japan and they legitimately committed to having Arkane work on their Redfall content all the way up until the 11th hour. This isn't even a case of "CEO Phil Spencer Is Not Your Friend", it is a case of a decision running directly counter to the business goals publicly stated barely 6-8 months ago, entirely out of character for someone who would know better.
Something does not pass the sniff test in this scenario
My guess is MS decided to reduce its costs in the Bethesda wing and chose its lowest performing studios.
Hi fi rush was a great game that didn’t fly off the shelves or push people to game pass. Redfall was a disaster.
Phil had zero intention of closing studios, but is still beholden to the powers that be that is MS corporate. It’s not his fault but he is also the captain of this ship that continues to filling up with water.
I told Phil Spencer that I also loved video games and he punched me in the throat.
Happy 100!
16:58 - News
THANK YOU. Jesus.
@@burnout713 it's always hilarious how upset people are to listen to a podcast that they click on to listen to, lmao
@@imadetheuniverse4fun This podcast is awful, but the news piece is interesting.
Jeff is the proof that the industry chews it's best elements until they go independent. And in turn the best stuff is usually independent
for those not in the know: hi fi rush is a pretty cool game
I remember when it was announced Xbox was buying Bethesda thousands upon thousands of people were praising the move and wanting Microsoft to buy more. Anyone who didn’t see disaster coming was incredibly shortsighted. To be fair I didn’t expect studio closures this soon.
HR accounting and legal, sure, but developers designers and artists? Very strange indeed. IMO they want to further weaken the job market to increase profit margins. Like US car manufacturing moving to China and now Mexico.
@@TreesPlease42Well Microsoft's entire goal is "it's us or no one"
Who else does operating systems for PC's literally no one.
The lack of understanding and shortsightedness of these closures speaks volumes.
Tango Games and Arkane Austin were likely going to be shut down if Zenimax Bethesda hadn't been purchased
Arkane hurts my soul...prey and dishonored 1 and 2 were 3 of my favorite modernish games
@@Ingel_Riday6690 the problem here is the premise that Microsoft/Xbox can do anything well in this industry. The past decade has been abysmal from them. Why anyone would assume that any company they acquire would improve under them is beyond me.
They were hardly creating good games on their own so they had to buy companies that could. Now they’re even closing studios from said companies.
I’ve been operating under the assumption that I generally shouldn’t give them my money for the last 10 years and it’s worked out great for me. I hope they can turn it around but in the meantime I see no reason to give them the benefit of the doubt after a decade of failure.
40:20 Honestly, I have to wonder if under this new(?) directive, would a Starfield have even gotten the greenlight from Microsoft to be made by BGS? In what world would MS want an over 5-year dev cycle studio like BGS to spend that much time working on a new version of their in-house engine only to gamble on a new IP rather than produce another Elder Scrolls or Fallout game?
It sounds obvious now, but I'm guessing the mega corporation that spent billions acquiring CoD and Blizzard might not actually be interested in funding new experimental works over surefire bets.
glad to see you doing well Jeff watching you off and on since 2004 on gamespot. Hard to believe its 20 years.
When they buried those ET carts, they at least had physical proof that things had gone wrong for too long.
This was supposed to be cheerful and happy 100th podcast but instead Jeff is mad and our day is ruined
Thanks Microsoft!
Finally after 99 episodes Jeff is going to talk about video games this time
Congratulations to the Big 100! Here's to another 100, Jeff!
I’m so glad Jeff is still rocking the internet. Fuck yeah!
Arkane Austin deserved better. They all deserved better.
I can't help but see these layoffs and studio shuttering as the next step in the destroying art for tax write-offs.
That rant at 29:25 got me emotional
The man was crafting fire like a sorcerer.
closing arkane austin i sort of understand, but i totally agree with you that closing tango gameworks not only doesn't make sense because they need more games like hi-fi rush, but also because it makes microsoft look really bad. even ghostwire tokyo wasn't like some sales disaster, there was no good reason to close them
they better not ever close Obsidian or Double Fine
(or Asobo)
I actually really liked Prey 2006 and liked what we saw of Prey 2 before it got cancelled. Sad to hear about Roundhouse getting absorbed and that they won't get a chance to head a project under the Bethesda banner.
One reason against Nintendo using an external GPU in their dock is from my cursory research there don't appear to be any eGPU solutions for ARM, and Nintendo don't seem to be the type to spend on pushing something like that forward themselves. Not even the M-series (ARM) MacBooks have eGPU support apparently. If anything a scalar seems more likely like was mentioned.
All my homies love Jeff Gerstmann
Congrats on #100, Jeff. Looking forward to 100 more!
This host guy makes a lot of sense. Maybe Microsoft should hire him to save the video games.
*Happy 100th episode! You were barely a kid when this thing started* 🎊🌟
I think both Let It Die AND Deathverse: Let It Die were great. That said, Deathverse didn't have the Suda or Akira Yamaoka touch that made Let It Die so charming and unique, and the connection to Let It Die's setting was pretty loose and spurious. A game that niche was always going to have a hard time maintaining an active playerbase in this competitive environment, it's amazing Helldivers even managed to find the room to get the audience attention it did.
As soon as I saw the news I recalled Activision closing Bizarre and Jeff letting loose on a GB podcast. Here we are again. 🎧
Hell of a 100th episode
Tales of the Games, a The Jeff Gerstmann Show podcast
I'm honestly angry about all this. I feel so bad for Ninja Theory too. All their games have been 7s - 8s but I've always enjoyed them. The insane dev time for Hellblade 2 and how it's now touted as this major exclusive doesn't bode well at all for the studio.
I'd be worried for Ninja Theory.
Hellblade 2 is never going to be a big seller. It has AAA production values, but in terms of scope it's very much a AA game with limited appeal if the original is anything to go by.
@michaelsteffensen6844 yep some games are pretty inherently niche.
The drake call of duty bit had me howling, spot on analogy.
I've avoided playing Elden Ring because I knew that I would never play the DLC if I played the game when it first came out, and I knew DLC was coming for it.
The other side of that kind of patience is that I've missed 3 different endgame experiences in Path of Exile. I heard some things about Path of Exile 2, its endgame existing with the first game's endgame, that made me want to wait and experience that endgame fresh in the new title. Since then they have restructured endgame progression twice, and they also backtracked on having a merged endgame between the two games.
I heard the new Switch is 4k and Silksong is exclusive to the Switch 3 (they are skipping 2 because it's so good.) Happy 100 episodes!
One step closer to just ranking old video games and energy drinks for the rest of eternity.
Happy 100 my GerstMANIACS
Arkane Lyon would be a lot harder/expensive to close due to French labour laws.
Why game industry news is in the dumps right now, I wanted to look for some happy notes and congratulate Jeff on 100 episode.
Came for the catchy intro theme, stayed for the video game chat
Happy 100 Jeffs
But for Dishonored 3, can Bobcat Goldthwait voice the antagonist?
Then... AI can just handle all the rest.
This idea is worth its thwait in gold
omg Jeff, I have to say “wake me up” to Siri too! It’s the only thing she can understand!! 😂
Jeff Gerstmann is still a threat
Anyone ever get the creeping feeling that a surfeit of conditions in the modern tech world are in danger of making us all incurably miserable?
The Jeff Gerstmann show hasn't been the same since they changed actors for Jeff mid-season and didn't address it
Shout out to all the folks who didn't make it to episode 100 of The Jeff Gerstmann Show
I've been livid all day after hearing about these closures. What an absolute piece of shit, woefully incompetent publisher Microsoft has been for well over a decade. They went on a spending spree, buying studios left and right to try and fill their lackluster portfolio and now money is too tight to keep these studios open to produce their games? Step aside, Embracer because Uncle Phil's been playing the long game.
Ninja Theory is probably going to be next after Hellblade 2 ships, because how can that game ever be what Microsoft wants it to be. Especially when you have it day one on Game Pass, a service that, as Microsoft themselves acknowledge, cannibalizes game sales. I'm so sick and tired of these dumbasses destroying IPs and studios, leaving people without jobs while they keep getting bonuses because all these cuts mean the line can keep going up.
Another studio that comes to mind when it comes to caring about and offering a signature with narration is RedHook. Its something that seems to get as much attention as any other aspect of the games they make (and its wonderful).
Making Prey and then Redfall is an insane seesaw in quality. The founder of Arkane directed Prey, I wonder what happened with Redfall? Rushed for Gamepass?
Prey was a sales flop, immersive sims are always in a precarious position. Probably their only option for survival to was to take a chance at live service hero based looter vommit that prints money for many studios apparently.
@@lt3880 Worse even, it came out during a really stacked time, about a month after Horizon, BotW, Nier and Persona 5
Never got into HADES, but I miss Jeff back from gamespot
Happy Episode 100 @JeffGerstmannShow !
Let's Go !
Jeff, you need to bring back 'on the spot'
It's time for people to smell the roses. I've been critical of this increased monopolisation since these mergers and acquisitions began. The fact of the matter is that these layoffs are required for them to please shareholders. It is not sustainable long term for developers who work on new IPs.
My understanding is that Rafael Colantonio and most of the senior team members of Arkane Austin left during Redfall's development because they didn't want to make a live service game, leaving the studio in poor shape in terms of talent and leadership.
This should be the final straw for Phil, on top of what he's done the last decade. Utterly embarrassing and unforgivable.
Do you think we should boycott playstation as well for the many, many, many studios they've shut down over the years ? What do you think kiddo
Yes, but what about the cool gamer shirts he wears at their press conferences? That's worth at least another 10 years of screwing up!
@@datboijerry he's a great con man, and sadly too many people buy his little act. Xbox has really great custom controllers, it would be nice if they had decent games to play along with them.
Unlikely. He's cutting expenses. Satya will probably give him a bonus.
@flow221 isn't Phil like one of the lowest paid ceos/ executives though ??
51:00 The adoption curve is relentless. AI will gain prominence in most aspects of humanity, whether people use it or not. Like the algorithms of TH-cam, TIktok, Instagram, and so on. These algorithms already dictate who succeeds, who gets hired, who gets loans, who gets to live, and they gain more power over us every day. It's a treacherous time.
sad, but more than likely true
Things have never felt more soulless. And I’m not some old man ranting (I’m not even 40) but I’ve been around long enough to realize the doom and gloom gets worse every generation and I can see why. Post peak consumerism and more convince than ever before, but all our arts are soulless money grabs (not all of them) but my god
@@kyledodson2992 I feel you, but it's not only our 'arts'...our government is corrupt (both sides, left and right) and doesn't care about working class people. Continuous inflation I feel is going to affect things including the gaming industry. Just trying to stay optimistic and save up for a house, cuz surely the prices won't rapidly increase over the next 5 years.
i think what jeff fails to mention about the activision acquisition is that these pipe dreams of like "toys for bob are gonna make banjo kazooie" or "vicarious visions is gonna get back on tony hawk" was never going to happen. microsoft wanted call of duty money. devs being thrown into the cod mines was what made those games every year. when microsoft buys call of duty, they're not gonna mess with the mines. they wanted the mines and bought the mines. they're not gonna fuck with that dev pipeline. it was never EVER going to happen. it was always about call of duty and keeping those mines in tact. all this lip service "uh actually King was the reason for the purchase" was always lies and the press helped them repeat it. not out of malice. it's because for whatever reason jeff always gave them the benefit of the doubt. and that was so foolish
I wonder if Big Video Game eventually will only support the biggest ongoing titles. Then I suppose that leaves the indie space for the new ideas. This news this week was indeed fuckdiculous though, congrats on 100.
2:04:48 I started Starfield on day one and stopped on day one. I am waiting for the game to be done. I estimate I will start playing in 2025. For most “AAA” games I am just going to add 2 years to the release date and play it then, when it is actually done.
With the exception of PS5 exclusives which I keep buying day one and don’t have any problems to speak of. I had one super minor bug in Ghost of Tsushima in 100 hours playing that game.
Guess I better sell my Gerstmann stock before he gets closed…or I buy that extended warranty for more Gerstmann
You totally nailed it on A.I. 45:29
You can just say "X minutes" to Siri and get a timer for said amount of time.
DIVE KICK GOT PATCHED?! HOLY SHIT THIS RULES
30:15 this is a great point. What the hell is going on? This is very bizarre
The traditional AAA video game seems to be on its way out.
This weeks host Jeff is going nuclear!
MOAR BUGS! 🎉
Double Fine is toast
What? Arcane made one bad game. One! In 22 years!
$190 million divided by $60 is 3,166,666 copies.
Congratulations on 100 Podcasts!
Drake being COD is actually a pretty good analogy. Everyone's playing it but no one really respects it anymore.
Ninja Theory and Inexile are next. They'll finish their projects, and that's it.
In the tech landscape, which is very inhumane, AI feels like the most inhumane thing by a country mile.
49:05 a nintendo seal of approval if you will 🥂
Congratulations for the 100th show.
I think it's clear now, XBox is being woefully mismanaged. A new upgraded console won't save them. Time for some changes
How much of the tango team left with Shinji
Thing about Geff Jerstman 2000 is that when he says a game is good like Hades 2, you know it’s a good game
The only authority I listen to when its all doom and gloom.
Don't get captured.
I guess the harsh reality is that in an env where inflation is so high and the average person who plays games is suffering so much and has to spend a higher % of their income on just living, that new games won't sell as well or be as profitable. Especially when we have 20+ years of backlog you can purchase for pennies on the dollar and you also still might be involved in that online game you have been playing for 5 years every day at this point.
What's even the point of Game Pass if it doesn't ensure that studios can do the games they wanted? Or even keep their jobs?
You were confusing Teenage Engineering’s crappy Rabbit AI device with the other crappy AI product, The Humane AI pin. He reviewed and crapped on both, but really tore into the AI pin.
As long as we don't suddenly falsely equate what Microsoft does to everyone else this is worthwhile criticism, for all their faults Sony and Nintendo and even companies like Sega and Capcom they all have bad decisions and flops but they at least have an overall positive direction and positive releases..... Xbox is so far down the drain it can't even be compared to even Sega's failure who was still trying but just got beat by the ps2
Big Jeffrey go go!
Hades, it's a *Hel* of a game
Pro tip - don't ever get bought by a corporation.
All while the platform holder reports a 20% increase in profits.
I'm baffled, bamboozled, flabbergasted, and fucking confused. I feel like Xbox had gotten to this point where it had nurtured Tango to produce some high-quality games and acquired other studios known for making high-quality games...and now, just as they had finished raising their golden geese, and those geese are getting ready to lay some eggs (or, in Tango's case, had laid), they fucking start stomping on all of the eggs because they aren't big enough. They then get angry at the geese and shoot them all.
Like, you either recognize that game development is a long-term investment, or you don't. And I still don't think Microsoft gets it. They want easy money from their OS being baked into various corporate desktops and laptops. They want easy money from Office subscriptions. They want easy money from Azure. They want easy money from Game Pass. They balk at the idea that sometimes a game won't make money. Hell, sometimes it'll lose money, but you stick with it to cultivate talent and learn from your mistakes. This isn't just throwing the baby out with the bathwater - this is intentionally flooding the entire nursery and not understanding why that is bad.
Mismanagement is at the core of why Microsoft changed course. How far does one need to go back to find a game that Microsoft was deeply involved in that was a triple threat of critical success, mainstream penetration, and satisfying the core fanbase of the IP/Studio? The acquisition spree was about building a portfolio of games to drive subscriptions and x number of years in the most acclaimed game was an off beat genre mashup in Hifi Rush and the biggest game a middling effort that failed to produce the same long tail player base as its predecessors did in Starfield. That simply isn’t good enough for the corporate types to keep on funding the endeavor. Investing in and keeping creative talent is needed in game development. Which sadly doesn’t fit the corporate culture and wider strategy of Microsoft where contractors are common and BtB products are the profit makers.
It sucks for all those people being out of work now, but years of Microsoft trying to buy its way into the lead videogame company was bound to fall apart at some point. Gamepass did not do any of these companies any favors.
Alot of people knew Microsoft was going to run into problems dumping all this money.
Where are all the Cave games, man?!
Why would anyone anywhere for any reason have any job security? When the entire society has this vibe to it that at any moment you will be axed if that means the stock can increase 50 cents, then what is the incentive to work hard or even do good work? Why not just do the bare minimum and appear to work until you get laid off anyway? There has to be long term repercussions to society being this way. I can't imagine it fosters a good society in the long term.
Fuck about legally being able to create one. I don't want to play a game and the need to make an account. There are so many dumb account managements going on. I don't want more, especially not more Sony stuff.
the excuse it is easy isn't good enough. That is just to deflect putting extra stuff on the players for their benefit.
Hoping all the dev's land on their feet. It's sad, but the writing was on the wall; way too many acquisitions. Microsoft has the money to support long term development. The relationship didn't even last 3 years, shame on them.