This week’s episode is three hours long — Jonah’s mic was moving in the first minute, but after that, it’s ok. There’s no news, just discussion of each of the press briefings that preceded E3, as well as some of the games that Jonah got hands-on time with. TJ is sad that he didn’t get to attend this year, while Scott is getting E3 swag.
Next week, back to news items!
This month seems to be full of conferences, as Nintendo Direct was streamed the previous week, BlizzCon 2021 aired this week, and Sony’s State of Play is due next week. The announcement of Diablo II Remastered was only the highlight of the BlizzCon show.
The news this week includes:
All this plus Listener Feedback. Let us know what you think at the Facebook page.
Halloween is a scary time of year, no less when you’re posting a $310 million net loss. EA CEO John Riccitiello sees “weakness” at retail in October and we’re betting this isn’t the end of the road of sorrow for game publishers around the globe.
Electronic Arts isn’t unfamiliar with bad times and we’re sure to see them make constant adjustments to their headcount, game releases and press as the economy goes into a bit of a slump. Although the game industry won’t see as big a hit as the financial market, everyone is going to watch their spending during slower economic times.
That slowness is a red flag for the mega-publisher, which says it’s “proactively making cost adjustments now.” One of those adjustments is the axing of some 600 EA employees across the globe. (Kotaku)
Last year Electronic Arts lost a “small” $195 million during the same time, not exactly a gold star on the financial records but it sure looks better than this loss. A few games may crumble under the economic pressures, Tiberium for example, but let us not forget the good times! EA posted some nice figures for Spore, Madden NFL 09, Warhammer: Age of Reckoning and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.
So, they mixed a few sequels with a few new franchise hits and gave gamers some pretty hot titles for the year. Of course, hot titles in our hand do not always translate to positive revenue in theirs.
Jonah thought that this podcast would be another short show — but it evolved into a lively conversation about Spiritfarer and other game news.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think at the Facebook page here.
Great podcast! Talk about information overload. I learned a lot, but liked it anyway.
CyberPunk 2077 looks pretty awesome, but now that you guys all gave it the seal of approval I’m extra psyched. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X2kIfS6fb8
Thanks for the heads up about the free trial of Unreal Champions. That offer was extended through this weekend so there’s still time to pick it up on Steam. It is a ton of fun. plus cool NIN music.
Keep up the good work, cyberpunks.
HI guys.
Thanks a lot for this huge episode! was a little bit work to listen to it, but was very informative 🙂
I want to look at all the shows from every single publisher and figure out, which game i will spectate (is this the right word?). I pre-ordered BF5, becausei want to play it with my friends. In addition i will pre-order Kingdom Hearts 3. My friends want me to pre order Cyberpunk as well, but i did not even play Witcher 3 to know if i like the engine and graphics .. but i love cyberpunk / steampunk 🙂 …. let´s see …i will have some months before the games come out 🙂
My friends also backed this Star Citizen game 2 years ago …. so their decisions are not always the best ones 😀
So, thanks again for this huge work on this episode 🙂
Your loyal listener,
Ralf