There are no news items in this podcast. Instead, it’s just post-E3 discussion. Everything is E3. What the crew liked, what the crew didn’t, and T.J.’s reports from doing the show floor. The episode is almost 2 hours long, so there was a lot to talk about.
Episode 541: E3 Reaction 2019
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Episode 766: Madden Gets 2030Episode 766: Madden Gets 2030
The news items include: EA and NFL extend Madden license til 2030 – NFLPA still far apart, former Battlefield 6 campaign boss calls out EA for leaving him and other developers out of the credits after closing his studio in 2024, Ubisoft has come up with a new way to avoid saying the word ‘layoffs,’ with a ‘voluntary career transition program’ offer that some employees won’t be able to refuse, ‘Pacifist Battlefield completed’, Palworld studio Pocketpair says its new publishing division won’t handle games that use generative AI: ‘We don’t believe in it’, Two Point Museum gets Vampire Survivors content in free update.
In addition:
- The Sinking City 2 is delayed into 2026
- No Man’s Sky gets space wreck salvaging and expanded ship building (from Eurogamer)
Let us know what you think.
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GTA IV: 46th Best-Selling Game In AugustGTA IV: 46th Best-Selling Game In August
Like a washed up superstar, Grand Theft Auto IV continues to drop in NPD figures. This Axl Rose of video games came on strong and sputtered out into oblivion with barely a notice, leaving the spotlight and all hype behind it. This drastic fall may hurt any negotiations “behind closed doors” with Electronic Arts and their constant attempts to take over Take-Two.
Prior to the release of GTA IV we, in our gaming podcast, predicted a huge launch would up the anti against the bids on Take-Two from EA but things didn’t work out exactly as we expected. Although the game has sold 8.5-million units, it might not add any new bargaining power to the back door negotiations.
A game company is only as good as their games. A hit title which dies out quick helps financially guide the future of the company; technically the future isn’t so bright. With the title quickly falling off the top game sales charts we may never see it hit record sales figures to match that of smaller titles. Having one hot title every four years that “breaks records” for a week isn’t a strong weapon against a low bid from a larger publisher.
While EA may not have any record setting “one week” sales titles yet, they do have a consistently strong set of titles which stick on the charts for months with newer titles arriving to take their spot when they fade. The same can be said for a few other notable publishers, Activision and Ubisoft. To survive in the hot game industry, especially with market downturns, one must have a cycle of great games to publish throughout the year consistently year-over-year in order to provide evidence of their financial stability.
Assuming the bid won’t raise for GTA IV, where does that leave Take-Two? Perhaps Take-Two is better off under the umbrella of Electronic Arts after all. The waters are getting more hostile in the industry as companies compete for gamers attention with 100-million dollar titles and casual games and game consoles (read: Wii) start to build a whole new none-gamer-style momentum.
Is Take-Two better off under the EA brand?
Episode 446: Free-For-All EditionEpisode 446: Free-For-All Edition
This week’s edition is a little different, in that there’s no set format, just a roundtable discussion of the past week’s events. TJ raves about Owl Boy, Jonah talks about N7 Day and the new Mass Effect: Andromeda revelations, and everyone on the podcast discusses how games have really been a disappointment this year and not much is coming. Oh, and a $99 3DS coming for Black Friday.
Let us know what you think.