In this episode of Digital Coffee Gaming Brew, host Brett Deister covers a variety of gaming industry topics, including King Makers' upcoming PC release, Discord's potential IPO and monetization strategies, and the announcement of Bolt Gun 2. Brett also highlights Capcom's increasing PC sales, the performance benchmark of AMD's RX 9060 XT GPU, and EA's controversial decisions and cancellations, particularly in relation to their handling of RPG fans and the future of the Star Wars Battlefront series. The show concludes with an emphasis on the importance of respecting gaming fans and their preferences.
3 Fun Facts:
Kingmakers is an upcoming medieval strategy game where players wield modern weaponry—like tanks and machine guns—against ancient armies, promising chaotic fun when it hits early access in October 2025.
Discord is introducing a new in-app currency called Orbs, which users can earn by watching ads and spend on cosmetics—or even a short Discord Nitro subscription.
Expedition 33, a turn-based RPG with real-time mechanics, sold over 3.3 million units within weeks of launch and hit half a million sales on its very first day.
Key Themes:
Discord IPO and monetization strategies
Kingmakers’ early access announcement
Concerns over Discord limiting free users
Boltgun 2 and Warhammer shooter updates
Capcom’s rising PC/digital game sales
AMD RX 9060 XT GPU performance
EA’s cancellations and disconnect with gamers
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 And welcome to a new episode of Digital Coffee
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 Gaming Brew. And I'm your host, Brett Deister. If
00:00:06 --> 00:00:08 you could please subscribe to this podcast and
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 all your favorite podcasting apps. We have a
00:00:10 --> 00:00:11 five -star review. It really does help with the
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 rankings and let me know how I'm doing. But this
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 week we're gonna be talking about a little bit
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 about Kingmaker's Discord's IPO, since it keeps
00:00:19 --> 00:00:25 on, well, being talked about. We also have a
00:00:25 --> 00:00:29 Bolt Gun 2 a little bit and we have Claire Oz.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:38 or obscure expedition 33 We have Capcom and kind
00:00:38 --> 00:00:42 of their digital sales and a little bit of discourse
00:00:42 --> 00:00:46 orbs Which is interesting in general the AMD
00:00:46 --> 00:00:53 are our x9 60 XT and then Really mainly about
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 EA and kind of their the cancellations since
00:00:56 --> 00:01:00 they love to cancel things Also just them not
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 understanding gamers and a little bit about battlefront
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 2 and why it's not really not gonna be battlefront
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 3 is not gonna be made I just do not believe
00:01:07 --> 00:01:11 that EA cares enough to actually be made since
00:01:11 --> 00:01:15 their focus is going to be more on their core
00:01:15 --> 00:01:19 products, but I always could be wrong so We will
00:01:19 --> 00:01:38 see but let's get on Hmm. That's good. All right.
00:01:38 --> 00:01:42 So I hope you're having a great Friday and a
00:01:42 --> 00:01:46 great weekend as well. But first off, King Makers
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 is going to be in early access on PC on October
00:01:49 --> 00:01:54 8th, 2025. So you got a little time to wait,
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 but it's still right around the corner. And this
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 game looks like the most interesting because
00:01:58 --> 00:02:01 you're playing in a medieval world, but you have
00:02:01 --> 00:02:06 like modern like Weaponry like machine guns tanks
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 that type of thing Motorcycles you could play
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 with friends. I mean, it looks like a really
00:02:11 --> 00:02:15 fun third person strategy game that no one really
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 has tried or even wanted to make and so this
00:02:18 --> 00:02:22 is why I get so much attention because I mean
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 As guys we always thought about that too like
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 going back and like giving people modern weaponry
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 when they didn't have it which would be an extremely
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 unfair advantage as we If you've seen in the
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 game, it makes you have a extremely unfair advantage,
00:02:36 --> 00:02:40 but it is fun to roll tanks through like wooden
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 buildings and see them destroyed. And I mean,
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 it's just going to be to me. It just looks like
00:02:46 --> 00:02:52 a lot of good fun. Alright, moving on to Discord.
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 Discord is reportedly working with JP Morgan
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 Chase on an upcoming IPO as reported by Bloomberg
00:02:58 --> 00:03:04 in March 2025. The former CEO Jason Citron indicated
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 that the company would probably go public in
00:03:07 --> 00:03:11 late 2024, which did not happen. Discord has
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 hundreds of millions of registered users and
00:03:14 --> 00:03:17 is significant for developer community management.
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 There are concerns that Changes benefiting Wall
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 Street can negatively impact user experience
00:03:22 --> 00:03:28 and a phenomenon referred to as an Shift of vacation
00:03:28 --> 00:03:32 never heard that some made -up word at the 2025
00:03:32 --> 00:03:37 gaming to developers conference discord CTO Stan
00:03:37 --> 00:03:44 Vinischke and SVB Peter Sellis discussed their
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 monetization strategy emphasizing discord night
00:03:47 --> 00:03:50 Nitro is central to their offerings. Discord
00:03:50 --> 00:03:53 user base grew significantly during the COVID
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 -19 pandemic because no one could go anywhere
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 and it was the only way to communicate with people.
00:03:57 --> 00:04:00 The company attempted to expand its focus beyond
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 gaming, but retreated from that strategy in 2024,
00:04:04 --> 00:04:08 leading to layoffs of 170 employees. Discord
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 has invested in making its mobile app more accessible
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 for low end devices, which has led to increase
00:04:14 --> 00:04:18 mobile user Usage among gamers. Yeah, the old
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 way was a lot better. I still don't like it that
00:04:20 --> 00:04:24 much discord nitro a subscription service offering
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 of various features is a key part of discourse
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 monetization strategy differing from other platforms
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 that prioritizing advertising Sellers identify
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 three products for nitro subscription time spent
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 in discord time and voice chat and number of
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 friends with nitro the company plans to monetize
00:04:42 --> 00:04:46 through a carrot and stick approach Post IPO
00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 potentially enhancing nitro offers with limiting
00:04:49 --> 00:04:55 features for free users Yeah, so Here's the issue
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 with always going public is that you always have
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 to make sure that the investor is satisfied Which
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 basically means you're gonna be nickel -and -diming
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 the users that major product popular and it has
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 always happened Facebook was great until it went
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 to its IPO and then Basically your organic reach
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 and just showing it to your friends fell off
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 significantly to pay us money so you can show
00:05:17 --> 00:05:21 yourself to your friends or businesses likewise.
00:05:22 --> 00:05:27 And this just keeps happening because unfortunately,
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 investors are mostly stupid about a lot of things.
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 They're good about investing in things, but they're
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 stupid about a lot of other things. Like for
00:05:35 --> 00:05:39 example, before the Ryzen chipset went live,
00:05:40 --> 00:05:41 put a whole bunch of money into AMD because I
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 knew that that chip was actually going to be
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 good as other investors were like, no, AMD is
00:05:46 --> 00:05:47 going to be terrible. This is not going to be
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 good. This is not going to move the needle. And
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 they were dead wrong. I was right because I knew
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 what they were doing and I had faith that this
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 chip was going, the CPU was going to be different
00:05:58 --> 00:06:02 from bulldozer, which was abysmal. It was awful.
00:06:02 --> 00:06:07 And I was right. I didn't know how right I was
00:06:07 --> 00:06:11 because Intel had dropped the ball so terribly
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 that basically AMD took a very commanding lead
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 for a while. It's still going back and forth
00:06:16 --> 00:06:21 and AMD is still hurting, at least in the GPU
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 side, but the CPU side is very healthy. My issue
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 with this and doing the characteristic approach
00:06:27 --> 00:06:33 and limiting free users is that... It is always
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 going to be an 80 -20 thing. You're always going
00:06:35 --> 00:06:39 to have 80 % people not paying for what the 20
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 % of people are going to pay for. So if you're
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 trying to get more than 20%, you really are going
00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 to be hurting yourself. Look at Evernote. Evernote
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 kind of did this and they kind of started limiting
00:06:50 --> 00:06:55 features for free users that were before not
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 limiting. And Discord did a little bit and people
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 were upset. And if Discord keeps on continuing
00:06:59 --> 00:07:04 down this road, They will lose most of their
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 users because users will go fine. I'll go to
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 guild. I'll go to team back to teams to peak.
00:07:11 --> 00:07:15 I'll do something else and discord. Bye. Bye.
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 Like gamers have been nickel and dimed with monetization
00:07:19 --> 00:07:23 strategies through different games that if you
00:07:23 --> 00:07:26 push too hard, we will find another route. We
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 are very savvy in figuring out what other way
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 we can do it now for the as quote unquote the
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 normies yeah you will stick on there but eventually
00:07:34 --> 00:07:38 when it starts to become too much even the normies
00:07:38 --> 00:07:42 will leave so they have an issue i would not
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 advise this i know it's the easiest way to do
00:07:44 --> 00:07:48 it in limiting free users but it's going to be
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 stupid if you give time limits on how much you
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 can use voice chat you're going to if you're
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 going to even have more restrictions on the file
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 size you're going to be delivering. And they
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 already did this once. And if you're going to
00:08:00 --> 00:08:05 be significantly limiting video calls, this is
00:08:05 --> 00:08:06 not going to go well. And eventually they will
00:08:06 --> 00:08:10 be sold. This doesn't sound like a good strategy
00:08:10 --> 00:08:14 at all. I get where they're coming from and get
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 there. They're trying to appease investors so
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 they can see like they're making money off of
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 this. But there has to be a point where you're
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 like, we're not going to do this because this
00:08:24 --> 00:08:28 could actually potentially hurt, which also leads
00:08:28 --> 00:08:32 me to their new in -game or new in -app currency
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35 called orbs, which users can earn by watching
00:08:35 --> 00:08:39 commercials. Orbs can be used to purchase cosmetics
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 from Discord shops. Initially, orbs will be awarded
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 for completing quests related to Discord advertising,
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 such as watching movie trailers or streaming
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 partnered games. The only available quests in
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 the beta involve watching a commercial for orbs,
00:08:54 --> 00:08:58 resulting in you earning 150 orbs. Users can
00:08:58 --> 00:09:03 buy Discord Nitro with orbs, with a 3 -day credit
00:09:03 --> 00:09:08 losing 1400 orbs. So this is their other carrot
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 of the stick which is hey get the orbs you can
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 get nitro so you can get the full benefit of
00:09:12 --> 00:09:18 discord and This is where it's heading In 2025
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 with discord like I said discord has got to be
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 very careful about how they do this because companies
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 have done this before Well, they started heavily
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 limiting the free users and the free users bolt
00:09:29 --> 00:09:33 because there are always alternatives to you
00:09:34 --> 00:09:38 You are popular because you were easy to use
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 and it was a great alternative to using in -game
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 chat Because then you didn't have to talk to
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 people through in -game chat However, people
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 can always just go back to in -game chat or they
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51 can find an alternative and there's like I already
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 stated team speak There's guild there's alternatives
00:09:54 --> 00:09:59 to it. So Discord you are not the only one in
00:09:59 --> 00:10:02 this little playground of virtual communication
00:10:02 --> 00:10:06 and gaming Be very careful on how you do this
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 because if you push too hard people will leave
00:10:09 --> 00:10:14 Right moving on to bolt gun 2 is a sequel to
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 the game bolt gun Which is basically a boomer
00:10:16 --> 00:10:20 shooter in the more hammer 40k game great game
00:10:20 --> 00:10:26 fun game if the principles of bolt 2 is Matt
00:10:26 --> 00:10:30 Boone and bolt to the character Malam Sadio will
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 not be limited to location of Korea and will
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 have a branching campaign across new worlds There
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 will be new environments and enemies of bolt
00:10:38 --> 00:10:42 gun 2 including some of some that fans have requested
00:10:42 --> 00:10:47 The game aims to maintain a tone described as
00:10:47 --> 00:10:51 joyous grimdark Celebrating warhammer 40k universe
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 the sequel is set to launch in 2026 development
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 team is considering player feedback for game
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 modes including the potential return for horde
00:10:58 --> 00:11:01 mode the original bolt gun was connected to events
00:11:01 --> 00:11:05 of warhammer 40k space marine and the team aims
00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 to incorporate easter eggs for fans in the sequel
00:11:08 --> 00:11:11 i think this is great the original one was fun
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 it's a fun boomer shooter if you actually like
00:11:13 --> 00:11:16 that if you don't then yeah but it was a good
00:11:16 --> 00:11:20 take on this and it's relatively cheaper to make
00:11:20 --> 00:11:24 because you're not using the latest tech so i
00:11:24 --> 00:11:27 say relatively because i mean it's still going
00:11:27 --> 00:11:31 to cost money but not opposed to like Assassin's
00:11:31 --> 00:11:39 Creed Shadows or GTA 6 which supposedly may be
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 costing a billion dollars in development costs
00:11:41 --> 00:11:46 which is insane to think about and should be
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 interesting to see if they actually do break
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 even or are profitable with this game because
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 the higher the cost it gets and you have to add
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 in marketing, the more money you have to make
00:11:57 --> 00:12:05 to recoup that. Anyways, moving on to Expedition
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 33 has surpassed 3 .3 million units announced
00:12:08 --> 00:12:12 by publisher Kepler Interactive and developer
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 Sanfall Interactive. The game was released on
00:12:14 --> 00:12:18 April 20. fourth 2025 for Xbox and PlayStation
00:12:18 --> 00:12:23 5 Xbox Series PC via Steam and Xbox Epic Game
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 Store. It's also available on Game Pass. The
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 game sold 500 units on its first day and
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 reached one million within three days and two
00:12:30 --> 00:12:33 million units in under two weeks with an additional
00:12:33 --> 00:12:37 1 .3 million sold since then. The game features
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 a turn -based combat with real -time mechanics
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 allowing players to craft unique blends for their
00:12:41 --> 00:12:45 characters. It involves a quest to destroy a
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 character known as The Painteress who alien races
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 individuals of a certain age. The game is developed
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 using Unreal Engine 5 and includes graphics and
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 soundtrack designed to enhance the gaming experience.
00:12:55 --> 00:12:58 It's a great game. It's a little hard, but it's
00:12:58 --> 00:13:03 a great game overall. It's fun. It kind of harkens
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 back to the old school way of RPGs with turn
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 -based. Instead of real -time combat, but there
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 are some mix of real -time combat like blocking
00:13:12 --> 00:13:16 and dodging and jumping So there are some aspects
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 of real time, but it's not fully real time and
00:13:18 --> 00:13:22 it's not fully turn -based but it's for the most
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 part turn -based because you can't Just swing
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 your sword whenever you feel like it you do have
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 to wait your quote -unquote your turn But you
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 can do other things like block dodge which can
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 be difficult because you really have to time
00:13:35 --> 00:13:40 it very correctly and the camera angles do well
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 they don't do a great job of helping you figure
00:13:42 --> 00:13:46 that out a lot of times so all in all it's an
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 interesting game it's a hard game in a particular
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 way but once you figure it out it's a great game
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 All right, Capcom has reported that in the most
00:13:55 --> 00:13:58 recent fiscal year, over 60 % of its digital
00:13:58 --> 00:14:02 game sales were on PC. More than 54 % of total
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 game sales, including physical, were also attributed
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 to PC. This marked an increase from the previous
00:14:07 --> 00:14:11 year, where PC sales accounted for just over
00:14:11 --> 00:14:16 52%, and digital sales, about 47 % of total sales.
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 In terms of unit sales, PC digital sales rose
00:14:20 --> 00:14:28 from 2 .1. 21 .6 million units in 2023 to 28
00:14:28 --> 00:14:34 .2 million in 2024 while digital sales decreased
00:14:34 --> 00:14:39 from 19 .7 million to 18 .5 million. Capcom has
00:14:39 --> 00:14:41 posted its eighth consecutive year of record
00:14:41 --> 00:14:44 profits largely driven by the success of Monster
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 Hunter Wilds. And they will keep on doing it
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 as long as they don't go quote unquote woke,
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 which basically means like. Censoring things
00:14:50 --> 00:14:53 they shouldn't be censoring and just keeping
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 whatever they're doing to the real aspect of
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 what the game was They kind of done it with a
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 few games and they're hurting from that But all
00:15:01 --> 00:15:04 in all if they keep to like their core basics
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 of the game and what people remember from their
00:15:06 --> 00:15:11 games They're gonna do very well There is no
00:15:11 --> 00:15:15 doubt about it, but We will see what actually
00:15:15 --> 00:15:25 happens I am optimistic about it but just you
00:15:25 --> 00:15:30 cannot rely on Western developers to help you
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 with your games anymore for the most part there's
00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 some good ones but for the most part no they're
00:15:35 --> 00:15:39 all pretty much leaning towards that and it's
00:15:39 --> 00:15:48 a little weird All right, so moving on to the
00:15:48 --> 00:15:54 AMD Ryzen RX 960 XT or the RDNA 4 GPU benchmark
00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 has been released showing that it performs slower
00:15:57 --> 00:16:04 than the RX 7700 XT, which is based on the RDNA
00:16:04 --> 00:16:09 3 architecture. The RTX 960 XT will be available
00:16:09 --> 00:16:13 in two models, the 16 gig version priced at 349
00:16:13 --> 00:16:17 and the 8 gig version priced at $299 so spend
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 the extra 50 bucks and you get double the memory
00:16:19 --> 00:16:23 I Never other than just get rid of the 8 gig
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 one I mean seriously stop it the GPU utilizes
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 TSM sees for nanometer process technology and
00:16:29 --> 00:16:33 features a blues clock of up to 3 .13 gigahertz
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 with expectations for custom models to reach
00:16:36 --> 00:16:41 3 .2 to 3 .3 gigahertz the total power consumption
00:16:41 --> 00:16:45 of 2dp of the gp ranges from 150 to 182 watts
00:16:45 --> 00:16:49 depending on the vram variant there are the rx
00:16:49 --> 00:16:56 960 xt scored 109 315 points in the open cl benchmark
00:16:56 --> 00:17:02 which is 31 percent faster than the rx 7600 xt
00:17:02 --> 00:17:10 but 14 slower than the rx 7700 xt In Vulkan test,
00:17:11 --> 00:17:15 it was 25 % faster than the RX 7600 XT, but 12
00:17:15 --> 00:17:20 % slower than the RX 77 XT. The testing system
00:17:20 --> 00:17:25 includes, well, they included in that is the
00:17:25 --> 00:17:30 Ryzen 7 9800X 3D CPU, 32 gigs of RAM and DDR5
00:17:30 --> 00:17:37 RAM. And AMD has positioned the RX 960 XT as
00:17:37 --> 00:17:42 a competitor to the Nvidia's RTX 5060 Ti offering
00:17:42 --> 00:17:45 a lower price than the competitor's 8 gig variant.
00:17:46 --> 00:17:47 Which I still don't understand why they're doing
00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 8 gigs. Just get rid of the 8 gig variant and
00:17:49 --> 00:17:52 just do 16 gigs. I mean, it just doesn't work
00:17:52 --> 00:17:56 anymore. I mean, I don't understand why they
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 keep on doing this. And Nvidia is probably the
00:17:58 --> 00:17:59 worst at it because they keep on being like,
00:17:59 --> 00:18:01 but gamers want it. I'm like, yeah, because you
00:18:01 --> 00:18:05 price it competitively, but it's doesn't work
00:18:05 --> 00:18:08 out in the long run. Like stop doing it. Just
00:18:08 --> 00:18:13 do a 16 gig version and let that be it. I like
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 for AMD, it's, it's a weird thing because they
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 price it $50 difference. And it's like, well,
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 might as well spend the extra 50 bucks for the
00:18:19 --> 00:18:23 16 gig version than the eight gig version. But
00:18:23 --> 00:18:28 I don't know. To me I would just wait until the
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 next generation cycle because all these are just
00:18:31 --> 00:18:34 it's a weird time like None of these are that
00:18:34 --> 00:18:40 good Like the 5000 series is just a head scratcher
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 for gamers within video because it's just like
00:18:43 --> 00:18:46 you Didn't really make it better than the 4000
00:18:46 --> 00:18:50 series for whatever reason the 4000 series is
00:18:50 --> 00:18:53 still better but you can't get your hands on
00:18:53 --> 00:18:55 the 5000 series because they're always sold out
00:18:55 --> 00:18:58 every time because they just can't make them
00:18:58 --> 00:19:01 fast enough or ship them everywhere which I mean
00:19:01 --> 00:19:04 leads to we should start manufacturing here because
00:19:04 --> 00:19:08 it does just help with that time of getting them
00:19:08 --> 00:19:11 to stores but I mean then again how much more
00:19:11 --> 00:19:14 is it going to cost us because Nvidia already
00:19:14 --> 00:19:18 is expensive as it is they're great cards for
00:19:18 --> 00:19:21 the most part 4 series is still better than
00:19:21 --> 00:19:25 5 series, but I was interested in the 5
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 series. Then I kept on saying that there
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 was going to be low stock is going to be hard
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 to find. And then it was like, well, it's kind
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 of sorted better than the 4 series. And
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 I have 3 series of the 30 90. I was like,
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37 I'm just going to wait until the 6 series
00:19:37 --> 00:19:41 or the super or heavily price drop because no
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 one's buying them. I don't know what's going
00:19:43 --> 00:19:46 to happen. But to be honest with you, it doesn't
00:19:46 --> 00:19:55 look good. All right, so EA, EA is very weird
00:19:55 --> 00:20:00 because they keep on doing the wrong things and
00:20:00 --> 00:20:05 they keep on having the dumbest philosophy on
00:20:05 --> 00:20:10 gamers that I've ever seen. First of all, this
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12 was probably a better decision from them, but
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 EA has canceled Black Panther game. We all know
00:20:15 --> 00:20:18 about this. Cliffhanger Games is gone, which
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 is... funny because cliffhanger and games was
00:20:20 --> 00:20:24 a very racist of the help developer that basically
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 only cared about hiring people of color and not
00:20:27 --> 00:20:31 white people because White men bad for whatever
00:20:31 --> 00:20:34 reason it's usually stupid because it's like
00:20:34 --> 00:20:37 we need a safe space. I'm like That lady that's
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39 been all over from our last thing. It's like
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 lady You are more likely to be killed by black
00:20:41 --> 00:20:44 men than you are by a white guy More than likely.
00:20:44 --> 00:20:50 It's not even like close but They are still making
00:20:50 --> 00:20:52 Marvel games. So the Iron Man game is still in
00:20:52 --> 00:20:55 development The Black Panther game is not which
00:20:55 --> 00:20:57 it seems like the Black Panther game was gonna
00:20:57 --> 00:21:02 was almost done, which is funny because It must
00:21:02 --> 00:21:05 have been really really bad for them to be like.
00:21:05 --> 00:21:07 Nope. We are not publishing this This is not
00:21:07 --> 00:21:10 good. You guys have had enough time to try to
00:21:10 --> 00:21:14 fix this and this is not doing well plus They've
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 already laid off a bunch of people from the Titanfall
00:21:16 --> 00:21:22 game that they were supposedly making and I wasn't
00:21:22 --> 00:21:24 in favor of an instruction shooter, a Titanfall
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 game. I just wanted a Titanfall three, which
00:21:26 --> 00:21:31 is basically just a come. Arcady could be a very
00:21:31 --> 00:21:33 competitive shooter, which I understand why they
00:21:33 --> 00:21:35 just don't want a competitive shooter. I don't
00:21:35 --> 00:21:36 know why they don't want to go toe to toe with
00:21:36 --> 00:21:38 Call of Duty and figure out their own way, which
00:21:38 --> 00:21:42 is different from Call of Duty because Titanfall
00:21:42 --> 00:21:45 is a great game. Everybody that has played Titanfall.
00:21:45 --> 00:21:48 once more Titanfall, but then we got Apex Legends,
00:21:49 --> 00:21:52 which wasn't better than Titanfall. I know it's
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54 in the Titanfall universe and maybe some of you
00:21:54 --> 00:21:56 actually like it, but it still wasn't better
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58 than Titanfall. I'm sorry. Titanfall was the
00:21:58 --> 00:22:05 best and Apex is below that. So you have that.
00:22:05 --> 00:22:08 Then we have people are playing Battlefront to
00:22:08 --> 00:22:11 fun game. Again, I've been playing a little bit
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 to fun game, great game, frustrating game at
00:22:13 --> 00:22:16 times, especially when you're on. the losing
00:22:16 --> 00:22:18 team for several rounds. And you're like, I don't
00:22:18 --> 00:22:21 want to play this anymore, but fun game all in
00:22:21 --> 00:22:24 all, it's got the look and feel of star wars.
00:22:24 --> 00:22:28 They really did hit the mark on battlefront two.
00:22:29 --> 00:22:31 I was never a fan of the star cards or their
00:22:31 --> 00:22:34 modes, but they're still fun to play. It's not
00:22:34 --> 00:22:39 bad. So we have that issue and you haven't heard
00:22:39 --> 00:22:42 anything from EA about either. with the cheating
00:22:42 --> 00:22:44 problem that's happening in PC because more people
00:22:44 --> 00:22:47 players are playing it or battlefield about front
00:22:47 --> 00:22:50 three is going to be coming which I highly likely
00:22:50 --> 00:22:55 it's not going to be coming here's why they just
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 don't know what to do with it and most of the
00:22:57 --> 00:23:00 team that created battlefront battlefront 2 are
00:23:00 --> 00:23:04 gone so the only way and I talked about this
00:23:04 --> 00:23:07 last week the only way to do it was to remaster
00:23:07 --> 00:23:11 battlefront 2 for the modern Like consoles and
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 everything and for the team to understand how
00:23:13 --> 00:23:19 to make it That could work Plus there's really
00:23:19 --> 00:23:22 is not that much destruction in the game. There's
00:23:22 --> 00:23:29 some destruction, but it's not very much and
00:23:29 --> 00:23:31 EA just really does not want to make a lot of
00:23:31 --> 00:23:35 Star Wars games they had Star Wars squadrons
00:23:35 --> 00:23:40 great game just Did not put a lot of resources
00:23:40 --> 00:23:42 into it probably could have made it a really
00:23:42 --> 00:23:45 best seller and really great game Just did not
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 want to do it Probably could have made the second
00:23:47 --> 00:23:50 a second game of it because it was really well
00:23:50 --> 00:23:54 received not gonna do it We had battlefront and
00:23:54 --> 00:23:57 battlefront to great games very well optimized
00:23:57 --> 00:24:02 mind you Probably not gonna make the third one
00:24:02 --> 00:24:06 why don't know what to do with it the release
00:24:06 --> 00:24:10 of it was pretty awful because of the monetization
00:24:10 --> 00:24:16 strategies that they implemented. But they don't
00:24:16 --> 00:24:19 know what to do with it. They don't really want...
00:24:19 --> 00:24:22 The main issue is the licensing fees, even though
00:24:22 --> 00:24:25 they're doing Marvel. The CEO, Andrew Wilson,
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 has just not want to do more Star Wars games.
00:24:28 --> 00:24:30 I don't really know why exactly, but they just
00:24:30 --> 00:24:33 don't want to do it. They do have a few of them.
00:24:33 --> 00:24:36 They have the Jedi... Jedi series which they're
00:24:36 --> 00:24:39 doing the third and final one and then zero company
00:24:39 --> 00:24:43 which is more of a XCOM meets Star Wars type
00:24:43 --> 00:24:45 of the thing they did have other ones in the
00:24:45 --> 00:24:49 works. I know they had like a Like a RPG type
00:24:49 --> 00:24:54 Star Wars game open world did not do cancel that
00:24:54 --> 00:25:01 one So To me EA is really gonna be focusing on
00:25:01 --> 00:25:05 their cores the sims battlefield and apex really
00:25:05 --> 00:25:08 is gonna be that with maybe Mass Effect Dragon
00:25:08 --> 00:25:10 Age is no more and it's probably not gonna be
00:25:10 --> 00:25:13 made anymore unfortunately because they screwed
00:25:13 --> 00:25:17 it up so badly with Dragon Age the Veil Guard
00:25:17 --> 00:25:20 that they're not even gonna try again it's just
00:25:20 --> 00:25:23 kind of like you guys made your game it was terrible
00:25:23 --> 00:25:28 get out that'd be me get out you're all fired
00:25:28 --> 00:25:34 because it was bad And I played it for free on
00:25:34 --> 00:25:36 PlayStation. I still haven't completed it because
00:25:36 --> 00:25:38 I don't care enough to complete it It's just
00:25:38 --> 00:25:42 that bad of a game Which leads me to again the
00:25:42 --> 00:25:47 creator of Dragon Dragon age Setting a veteran
00:25:47 --> 00:25:51 bioware discuss EA's approach to handling RPG
00:25:51 --> 00:25:55 fans during a conversation a conversation with
00:25:55 --> 00:25:58 game radar He stated that EA executives believed
00:25:58 --> 00:26:01 that RPG fans would buy any game labeled as an
00:26:01 --> 00:26:05 RPG without requiring a specific appeal to them.
00:26:07 --> 00:26:10 EA bosses referred to dedicated RPG fans as living
00:26:10 --> 00:26:13 in the cave. The focus of Bioware shifted towards
00:26:13 --> 00:26:15 making games that appeal to a broader audience
00:26:15 --> 00:26:20 rather than just traditional RPG fans. The shift
00:26:20 --> 00:26:23 resulted in games like Mass Effect 2, 3, and
00:26:23 --> 00:26:27 Drama Dragon Age 2. Inquisition, which had more
00:26:27 --> 00:26:31 cinematic and action oriented focus. He expressed
00:26:31 --> 00:26:36 dissatisfaction with the direction of the games,
00:26:36 --> 00:26:39 noting that he wanted to maintain traditional
00:26:39 --> 00:26:43 RPG mechanics, which were not welcomed by EA.
00:26:43 --> 00:26:46 He left Bioware in 2016 and subsequently worked
00:26:46 --> 00:26:51 at Beamdog, then established his own studio,
00:26:51 --> 00:26:56 Summerfall. So. And this is the problem with
00:26:56 --> 00:27:00 EA. Your bosses are stupid. This is stupid. You
00:27:00 --> 00:27:04 don't... This is the same thing with podcasting
00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 with a lot of people. They keep on saying podcasting.
00:27:06 --> 00:27:08 It's for everybody. I'm like, no, that's not
00:27:08 --> 00:27:11 how this works. You don't make a game for everybody.
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 You make a game specifically for the audience.
00:27:13 --> 00:27:16 What happens is if it's really good and you make
00:27:16 --> 00:27:19 a game for the audience, it becomes a wide appeal.
00:27:19 --> 00:27:21 But you don't do the opposite. This is dumb.
00:27:22 --> 00:27:25 Yeah, you got away with Mass Effect 2 and 3 and
00:27:25 --> 00:27:28 drama you did not get away with Dragon Age 2
00:27:28 --> 00:27:30 you didn't get away with either because people
00:27:30 --> 00:27:35 hated it and Inquisition was okay And I mean
00:27:35 --> 00:27:39 that loosely it was okay boring and then you
00:27:39 --> 00:27:43 and then Dragon Age Veilguard happened and Nobody
00:27:43 --> 00:27:46 wanted to play your game because you did not
00:27:46 --> 00:27:49 care about RPGs, which Dragon Age originally
00:27:49 --> 00:27:53 was that the original is still the best one.
00:27:53 --> 00:27:55 Everybody keeps on saying Dragon Age Origins
00:27:55 --> 00:27:59 is the best one, and they are right about that.
00:28:00 --> 00:28:02 Dragon Age 2 was interesting from a story perspective,
00:28:02 --> 00:28:08 but all in all, since it has so little time to
00:28:08 --> 00:28:11 actually be developed, it was redundant. You
00:28:11 --> 00:28:15 use the same things, but story wise, interesting.
00:28:15 --> 00:28:21 Inquisition wasn't bad, wasn't as good as Origins.
00:28:21 --> 00:28:23 It was better than Dragon Age 2, but it's not
00:28:23 --> 00:28:27 saying a lot and had an interesting story to
00:28:27 --> 00:28:30 tell. Then we hit Dragon Age Veil Guard and they're
00:28:30 --> 00:28:31 like, whatever you did in your past ones, we
00:28:31 --> 00:28:34 don't care. Which is weird to say because it
00:28:34 --> 00:28:36 was all about like continuing that story and
00:28:36 --> 00:28:43 having your saves actually matter. And well,
00:28:43 --> 00:28:45 we're not really going to follow Inquisition
00:28:45 --> 00:28:48 with Solas as the main bad guy. We're going to
00:28:48 --> 00:28:51 do something different. and then we're going
00:28:51 --> 00:28:55 to put in a bunch of woke ideology like gender
00:28:55 --> 00:28:59 and mispronouns and everybody was like yeah no
00:28:59 --> 00:29:03 we're good we're not going to buy this so their
00:29:03 --> 00:29:06 approach from the bosses were stupid because
00:29:06 --> 00:29:10 you cannot just put things into a game and expect
00:29:10 --> 00:29:12 gamers to keep on buying them because eventually
00:29:12 --> 00:29:15 we're like okay we've had enough your game is
00:29:15 --> 00:29:17 going to fail we don't want your game to fail
00:29:17 --> 00:29:21 we actually like We liked Bioware, we liked Bioware
00:29:21 --> 00:29:25 games, but EA is stupid. I'm sorry, most of these
00:29:25 --> 00:29:29 bosses need to be fired. These are terrible decisions.
00:29:30 --> 00:29:33 Terrible. The reason why Baldur's Gate 3 did
00:29:33 --> 00:29:36 so well? Because it respected the fans. The reason
00:29:36 --> 00:29:40 why Expedition 33 did well? Respects the fans.
00:29:40 --> 00:29:43 The reason why Tinky Grove, that new one that
00:29:43 --> 00:29:48 came out, respects the fans. When you respect
00:29:48 --> 00:29:52 your fans, you know exactly what they want in
00:29:52 --> 00:29:54 Turn that they will buy your game when you disrespect
00:29:54 --> 00:29:57 your fans eventually. They'll be like we're done
00:29:57 --> 00:30:02 We don't want this anymore. We're tired of this
00:30:02 --> 00:30:07 So EA get your act together Stop thinking that
00:30:07 --> 00:30:09 people are just gonna buy your game because it
00:30:09 --> 00:30:13 has the name recognition that only works so far
00:30:13 --> 00:30:16 battlefield is in the same spot now because after
00:30:16 --> 00:30:19 two terrible releases I'm talking about Battlefield
00:30:19 --> 00:30:22 5 and Battlefield 2042 and Battlefield 5 was
00:30:22 --> 00:30:25 not as bad of a release as Battlefield 2042.
00:30:26 --> 00:30:28 Battlefield 5 release was bad because your stupid
00:30:28 --> 00:30:31 bosses again said open their mouth and said if
00:30:31 --> 00:30:33 you don't like the game don't buy it and we're
00:30:33 --> 00:30:40 like okay stop being stupid it's not that hard
00:30:40 --> 00:30:45 all you have to do is make a game that fans want
00:30:47 --> 00:30:50 Maybe try some new directions. I get it 2042
00:30:50 --> 00:30:55 tried some new things 128 Players in a battlefield
00:30:55 --> 00:30:58 not a bad decision just implemented terribly
00:30:58 --> 00:31:02 But at least you tried something It was a little
00:31:02 --> 00:31:04 lackluster because I felt like the development
00:31:04 --> 00:31:06 was rushed because you switch midstream, which
00:31:06 --> 00:31:09 again Why does EA do this every single time?
00:31:09 --> 00:31:12 It's like up we got to switch gears Alright,
00:31:12 --> 00:31:14 you have half the time you had before to make
00:31:14 --> 00:31:16 the game and it's like, of course, it's not gonna
00:31:16 --> 00:31:21 do well You barely had a functioning scoreboard
00:31:21 --> 00:31:27 Stop doing this. I mean Mass Effect is people
00:31:27 --> 00:31:31 are gonna be very like Twitch -eyed about this
00:31:31 --> 00:31:33 being like I don't know about Mass Effect and
00:31:33 --> 00:31:36 I'm even sure about Mass Effect 5 or whatever
00:31:36 --> 00:31:39 gonna be calling it because be honest with you
00:31:39 --> 00:31:42 Dragon Age kind of Was the last straw for a lot
00:31:42 --> 00:31:45 of gamers in Bioware. It's like this is awful
00:31:45 --> 00:31:50 Like I don't want this anymore So yeah, get your
00:31:50 --> 00:31:54 act together and stop Stop this nonsense of like
00:31:54 --> 00:31:56 you'll just buy the game. Yeah, huh? I know you
00:31:56 --> 00:31:59 I know sports fans do this maybe a little too
00:31:59 --> 00:32:02 much But the other gamers we don't really do
00:32:02 --> 00:32:04 this. We're like, okay. What are you offering?
00:32:04 --> 00:32:06 What is different from what I've played before?
00:32:06 --> 00:32:08 Is there something new or interesting? Is this
00:32:08 --> 00:32:11 a good story? Are you just going to try to like
00:32:11 --> 00:32:14 jam down things that I don't agree with and go,
00:32:14 --> 00:32:16 well, if you don't like it, don't buy it. And
00:32:16 --> 00:32:21 it's like, okay. From a marketing perspective,
00:32:21 --> 00:32:24 never tell your customer if you don't like something,
00:32:24 --> 00:32:27 don't buy it because guess what they'll do? Not
00:32:27 --> 00:32:33 buy it. That's the point. You go, okay, I'm going
00:32:33 --> 00:32:36 to take your feedback. Maybe we shouldn't have
00:32:36 --> 00:32:39 a. faked arm lady in the trailer of Battlefield
00:32:39 --> 00:32:44 5 because that's weird and Way too woke and stupid.
00:32:45 --> 00:32:48 It was the that trailer was the dumbest thing
00:32:48 --> 00:32:51 I've ever seen Oh disabled lady can actually
00:32:51 --> 00:32:54 fight in World War two. What the hell is that
00:32:54 --> 00:32:59 all about? like I It was so mind -numb numbingly
00:32:59 --> 00:33:03 dumb that I'm like Who is running this company?
00:33:04 --> 00:33:07 Like who thought this was a good idea check mark
00:33:07 --> 00:33:09 check box. Yep. Good idea. No, it wasn't it was
00:33:09 --> 00:33:18 a terrible idea Anyways What do you think about
00:33:18 --> 00:33:20 all this do you think I'm right or wrong about
00:33:20 --> 00:33:22 this? I just I just think EA's in a terrible
00:33:22 --> 00:33:24 spot. There probably will be more layoffs So
00:33:24 --> 00:33:26 don't be surprised. There's more layoffs, but
00:33:26 --> 00:33:30 Thank you for listening to digital coffee gaming
00:33:30 --> 00:33:34 for a word to appreciate it and join me next
00:33:34 --> 00:33:37 week to talk about what's going on in the gaming
00:33:37 --> 00:33:39 industry. I really do appreciate you guys listening
00:33:39 --> 00:33:44 to this, but as always, stay safe and get the
00:33:44 --> 00:33:46 game, play the games that you want or even get
00:33:46 --> 00:33:48 the games you want to get and see you next week.
00:33:48 --> 00:33:48 Later.