Episode 654: Witch Doctor

This week’s episode is very short, even though it’s packed with dense content. The crew discuss the faux Latin chanting in Elden Ring and The Quarry’s original deal with Google to be on Stadia.

The news this week also includes:

  • Activision Blizzard shareholders vote in favor of harassment report, despite board’s objections
  • Sonic Origins game modes detailed in fresh trailer
  • Fall Guys now free on Epic but de-listed from Steam
  • Blizzard confirms World of Warcraft Dragonflight expansion is out this year

Let us know what you think.

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Episode 441: No IntroEpisode 441: No Intro

No, that’s not a clever pun. For whatever reason, the opening intro is missing from the file. It’s just not there – perhaps the recording software was late in starting.

Regardless, the crew discuss the Palmer Luckey scandal before moving head with a new segment, just to discuss random stuff they’ve seen that isn’t on the news docket.

Speaking of which, the news includes:

  • Beyond Good and Evil 2 is happening, original game free on PC next week
  • The Witcher 3 success “marred my books,” claims author
  • October has arrived, and the Nintendo NX has not
  • Fallout 4/Skyrim mods are back on for PlayStation 4, with one big caveat

All this and Listener Feedback!

Episode 327: Not-Love LettersEpisode 327: Not-Love Letters

This week’s podcast has Jonah having a new job, while some really long Listener Feedback letters lengthen the podcast. In fact, several discussions between Jonah and Jordan were cut and will be in a near-future Outtakes episode.

This week is full of news as well, including:

  • Star Wars 1313 was to have starred Boba Fett after all
  • Shadow of the Eternals dev Precursor Games disbands
  • Techland: Dying Light isn’t another Dead Island
  • China lifts console ban, Microsoft collaborating with BesTV to make new console
  • Watch Dogs ships on two discs, requires install, 30 FPS cap on Xbox One and PS4

That plus the long Listener Feedback, and Jordan has an appeal to veteran listeners to write in.

Activision Blizzard Trying To Scare Off Competition?Activision Blizzard Trying To Scare Off Competition?

A few months ago, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said investing $500 million to a billion still wouldn’t be enough to compete with an MMORPG like World of Warcraft. The MMORPG space is a costly investment and you’d need to really burn a lot of money to start competing against the mega-giant, but Mythic VP and Warhammer Online lead designer Mark Jacobs disagrees with that quote.

Jacobs says $100-million dollars would be needed to start competing against the giant subscription generator that is World of Warcraft. Although few developers are sitting on $100-million USD, it’s a bit more realistic an investment for a studio to scrape up compared to a billion bucks! A billion dollars is a scary number when you consider that’s the start of an investment that may, or may not, pay off in the end.

Kotick may not be using complete scare tactics, he may be working off experience when dealing with MMORPG’s. A startup MMO isn’t a cookie cutter system, there is a lot of development efforts, $100-million dollars worth, but MMO developers slip dates many times. When you start slipping your dates you’ll start burning more money and, before you know it, you’re a billion in the hole. Jacobs thinks $100-million will cover development costs and messing up, so a billion is still way over budget.

Perhaps this is a bit of a scare tactic, assuming a developer will fail and slip their dates isn’t really a great way to start quoting prices. However, shooting too low isn’t always the best method of building your development assessments. The end result, scream ONE BILLION and you may scare off any potential startup MMO developers.

Warhammer Online lead designer did mention one big barrier to entry: the need for “at least half a million subscribers to be successful.”

(Thanks, 1up)