In this episode of Digital Coffee Gaming Brew, host Brett Deister covers a range of topics including the release of Civilization 7 update 1.2.0.2, which adds steam workshop support and new advanced game options, Microsoft's planned layoffs in the Xbox division, the issues with the Steam Summer Sale, and a new PVE mode in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2. Brett also discusses the significant layoffs and restructuring occurring in the gaming industry, highlights notable deals in the Steam Summer Sale, and touches on updates in Dune: Awakening. The episode concludes with a reflection on the state of AAA gaming and the rise of indie games.
3 Fun Facts:- Civilization 7 just got Steam Workshop support, letting players easily find and install mods directly from Steam.
- Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 introduced a new PvE "Siege Mode," where teams fight endless waves to defend an Imperial Fortress.
- The Steam Summer Sale is live with big discounts, but heavy traffic at launch made the store tough to access for many gamers.
Key Themes:
- Civilization 7 update and community response
- Industry-wide layoffs, especially at Microsoft
- Turmoil and downsizing in gaming studios
- Steam Summer Sale and major discounts
- Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 new modes
- Dune Awakening PvE/PvP gameplay changes
- The rise and impact of indie games
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 And welcome to a new episode of Digital Coffee
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 Gaming Brew, and I'm your host Brett Deister. If
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 you please subscribe to this podcast and all
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 your favorite podcasting apps, leave a five star
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 review, really does help with the rankings, and
00:00:11 --> 00:00:15 let me know how I am doing. But this week, we'll
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 be talking about Civilization 7, the game nobody's
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 playing, really. Microsoft's apparently gonna
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 be laying off more people, and the Steam summer
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 sale is live, and no, it's not you. there is
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 a problem trying to access it and then warhammer
00:00:30 --> 00:00:34 40k space marine 2 in new i guess new mode is
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 the best way of saying it and just really talking
00:00:37 --> 00:00:41 about all these layoffs i mean it just does net
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 it doesn't seem to be stopping whatsoever so
00:00:44 --> 00:01:01 let's get on with the show Hmm, that's good.
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 All right. Hope you're having a fabulous Friday
00:01:04 --> 00:01:08 and a good weekend coming up. But 2K and 4X have
00:01:08 --> 00:01:13 released update 1 .2 .2 for Sid Meier's Civilization
00:01:13 --> 00:01:18 7 on June 24th. They did it. And the update adds
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 a Steam Workshop support, larger maps and new
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 advanced game options. The update enables official
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 support for mods within the game. Players can
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 now find and install mods directly from Steam.
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 Due to the Steam Workshop integration, modders
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 can promote their mods and use the official Civilization
00:01:34 --> 00:01:40 7 modding SDK for easier creation and uploading.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 The update includes improvement applicable to
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 all platforms on which Civilization 7 is available.
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 New advanced game options allow players to customize
00:01:50 --> 00:01:54 their games with features such as huge and large
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 map types, toggling legacy paths, Score victories
00:01:57 --> 00:02:03 and crises and setting new civilization after
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 a age Transition so I mean that was the biggest
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 change is the age transitions usually previous
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 ones you were one civilization for the whole
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 game and kind of just changing from the ages
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 is a new thing because It did celebrate you changing
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 from different ages, but this is a lot different
00:02:20 --> 00:02:25 more like what humankind kind of did and It hasn't
00:02:25 --> 00:02:29 really been going well. I mean, they have a lot
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 of issues. A lot of people did not like it when
00:02:31 --> 00:02:35 it was released and it just isn't going very
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 well for Sid Meier. I think the main reason is
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 it's just the sharp change of everything. You
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 don't have builders anymore. You kind of just
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 gradually build out, I guess, the best way of
00:02:46 --> 00:02:50 saying it. It was interesting and there was some
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 risk taking, but I don't think it really paid
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 off for them. All right, Microsoft is reportedly
00:02:56 --> 00:03:00 planning another major layoff for its Xbox division.
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 The reports come from Bloomberg's Jason Serger,
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 who described the layoffs as involving substantial
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 cuts. The specific number of employees affected
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 by the layoffs is currently unclear. The layoffs
00:03:11 --> 00:03:15 are expected to be revealed next week. Report
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 from The Verge states that these layoffs are
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 a part of restructuring of Xbox business in Central
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23 Europe, leading to some Xbox operations ceasing
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 in certain regions. Microsoft has a history of
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 announcing layoffs around the end of its fiscal
00:03:29 --> 00:03:33 year. So, yeah, more layoffs are happening. They've
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 been happening for the past two to three years.
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 It has not been good for the gaming industry
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 in general. I haven't really seen. this much
00:03:41 --> 00:03:44 layoffs in a very long time for the gaming industry
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 ever really there have been layoffs but it seems
00:03:47 --> 00:03:51 like there is like significant layoffs and I
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 think it's because of COVID and the COVID money
00:03:53 --> 00:03:57 that were interjected into the gaming industry
00:03:57 --> 00:03:58 because it was the only thing that people could
00:03:58 --> 00:04:02 really do to have fun so they played games and
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 so a lot of investors went and pumped a bunch
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 of money into it and then after everybody kind
00:04:07 --> 00:04:11 of got out the games didn't do as well It doesn't
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 help that they kind of pushed an ideology that
00:04:14 --> 00:04:18 a lot of people didn't like. And so guess what's
00:04:18 --> 00:04:23 happened? You have people that, well, really
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 don't want to play your game, don't really don't
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 want to have things shoved down their throat
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 that they don't actually agree with. And a lot
00:04:30 --> 00:04:34 of the beloved franchises were either forced
00:04:34 --> 00:04:38 to release sooner rather than later and It did
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 not pay well for a lot of them. I'm talking about
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 Bioware specifically. It did not really do well
00:04:43 --> 00:04:47 for them because Dragon Age is no more, but EA
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 never really understood how to make it. But.
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 We had a lot of other layouts from Microsoft,
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 a lot of different developers were let go and
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 developers development studios were shuttered.
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 WB games have shuttered studios and Embracer
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 Group hasn't shuttered studios and canceled games.
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 Ubisoft has shuttered studios and canceled games.
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 Activision Blizzard was bought out by Microsoft.
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 I mean, the list goes on and on about how much
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 change has been going on in the market. Sony
00:05:15 --> 00:05:19 basically mothballed Concord and shuttered the
00:05:19 --> 00:05:23 studio. Marathon's not doing well, which is Bungie's
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 own fault for doing it. Like there is a lot of
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 turmoil in the gaming industry right now, and
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 it's not looking like it's getting any better
00:05:31 --> 00:05:36 anytime soon. So I would prepare for more pain.
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 At least for this year, maybe next year I will
00:05:38 --> 00:05:42 probably level out. All right, the Steam Summer
00:05:42 --> 00:05:46 Sale is live and it's going on until July 10th,
00:05:46 --> 00:05:50 2025. The Summer Sale is one of the two major
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 annual sales on the platform other than the Winter
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 Sale. The sales feature discounts on both the
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 new and old PC games and notable ones is the
00:05:59 --> 00:06:04 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth at $14 .99. Offering
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 well, it offers a bunch of stuff and you haven't
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 played the original one. This is pretty good
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 Even though it is not turn -based anymore, which
00:06:10 --> 00:06:14 is unfortunate Elder Scrolls Oblivion remastered
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 has a $10 discount and Jones the great circle
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 along with its DLC is on sale Any games like
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 repo schedule one and blueprints are on sale
00:06:22 --> 00:06:26 and crash bandicoot st. Trilogy Marvel's guarding
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 the galaxy, which is a good game and several
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 others battlefront to are discounted by 90 %
00:06:32 --> 00:06:37 Totally $14 for all three of them. So you got
00:06:37 --> 00:06:41 some money. Yes, and then Expedition 33 is also
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 on sale, but it's only a $5 discount. So there
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 it is. This is also coincides with Prime Day,
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 which is going to hit on July 8th. And that's
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 going to go to the 11th. So it's going to end
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 the day before Prime Day does. But there's going
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 to be a lot of good games. Unfortunately, as
00:06:57 --> 00:07:01 of right now, this recording. There's a lot of
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 heavy traffic. So if you're wanting to get the
00:07:03 --> 00:07:04 game, you still got time. You don't have to do
00:07:04 --> 00:07:08 it right now, but you still have time. And well,
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 it's not really, it's, it's really hard to move
00:07:11 --> 00:07:15 anywhere within it. So it's, you're just having
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 difficulties on the servers. It's just a lot
00:07:17 --> 00:07:18 of people are on the servers right now, looking
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 at the steam summer sales and seeing what they
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 can get. And so if you're patient, just wait
00:07:23 --> 00:07:26 a few days or even. Just wait until tomorrow
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 or Friday Saturday Sunday, and you'll be able
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 to get it, but there are issues I've already
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 seen the issues of this time of recording trying
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 to do anything and it did not go very well Okay,
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 I was like, all right. I'm just gonna wait until
00:07:39 --> 00:07:44 all this is over All right Warhammer 40k Space
00:07:44 --> 00:07:47 Marines 2 has introduced a new PvE game mode
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 called siege mode in siege mode three players
00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 fight against endless waves of Tyranid and Thousand
00:07:52 --> 00:07:56 Suns The objective is to hold an imperial fortress
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 for as long as possible. Players earn points
00:07:58 --> 00:08:02 by defeating enemies which can be used to purchase
00:08:02 --> 00:08:06 stims, ammunition, equipment, and reinforcement
00:08:06 --> 00:08:11 from the KDM regiments and the Dreadnaught. After
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 defending an area for five rounds, players are
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 moved to a different area part of the fortress
00:08:15 --> 00:08:19 and this cycle repeats. Players can opt to retreat
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 via extraction while earning requisition points,
00:08:23 --> 00:08:27 armory data, and XP. So this is just another
00:08:27 --> 00:08:31 great example of how Saber Interactive is updating
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 the game and making it more enjoyable for people.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 People made on just like the PVP part of it.
00:08:36 --> 00:08:40 So there you have it. You have a new way of doing
00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 it. So. I wouldn't be surprised if this will
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 be another popular part of it. Space Marines
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 2 is a very good game. It's a very fun game.
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 It is still what it's supposed to be from the
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 original one. You know, the original one Remastered
00:08:54 --> 00:08:57 isn't doing very well on Steam and has a negative
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 viewpoint on it from a lot of gamers, but that's
00:08:59 --> 00:09:02 us gamers. If you don't make it like we remember
00:09:02 --> 00:09:05 it, good luck trying to convince us to buy it.
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 And then also moving on, which I forgot to mention,
00:09:08 --> 00:09:12 but Dune Awakening has a new update where 50
00:09:12 --> 00:09:16 % of the deep desert dark, I don't know, the
00:09:16 --> 00:09:20 PVP mode is going to be PVE and PVP mode. So
00:09:20 --> 00:09:21 you're going to get the best of both worlds.
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 You don't feel like fighting people because you
00:09:24 --> 00:09:28 aren't up to that level. Then yes, some of the
00:09:28 --> 00:09:31 desert and the end game content will be available
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 to you and you don't have to fight anybody for
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 it. which is good because once again, a lot of
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 those players know how to play it. Probably have
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 ganked a lot of players, probably have made a
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 lot of the new players not want to go in the
00:09:43 --> 00:09:47 PvP zone anymore because why would I want to
00:09:47 --> 00:09:52 have a miserable experience in a MMO survival
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 game where it can be brutal, especially if you
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 get eaten by the sandworm because all your stuff
00:09:57 --> 00:10:01 is gone. Gone, I mean, like completely gone.
00:10:01 --> 00:10:05 You are back in your body, Nick. Well, with underwear
00:10:05 --> 00:10:09 only, but basically naked for that game. So.
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 If you have been wondering if you want to try
00:10:12 --> 00:10:16 out Dune Awakening, it is a fun game. It's probably
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 better if you play it with people, but you can
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 still play it by yourself and have an enjoyable
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 experience. I think it's a harder to do it by
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 yourself only because there's so much things
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 you have to gather and there's so much things
00:10:28 --> 00:10:32 you have to do that doing it alone. takes a lot
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 longer than doing it with other people because
00:10:34 --> 00:10:36 Sometimes you're not always playing the game
00:10:36 --> 00:10:40 24 -7 and those people can play for you So like
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 I said for those in small guilds, it's great
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 for you for those by yourselves You can still
00:10:44 --> 00:10:48 do it like it's not a problem at all But it just
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 takes a lot longer for you to do it than if you
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 were to have a group of people do it for you
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 But it's a fun game. It's an interesting game
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 And there's no monthly fee on this MMO. So it's
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 not like World of Warcraft where there's a monthly
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 fee on it. So I think you were looking for another
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 next survival game. This is probably it in the
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 Dune universe. It's great. Combat is kind of.
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 But the story in the map and everything you do
00:11:12 --> 00:11:19 is is pretty good. But don't really hate on the
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 combat too much. It is the combat. This is what
00:11:21 --> 00:11:25 it is. Gunplay is not bad. Sword fighting is
00:11:25 --> 00:11:30 kind of meh. But there you have it. Now I really
00:11:30 --> 00:11:34 want to talk specifically about all these layoffs
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 and the sweeping industry changes that are going
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 on within the gaming industry. We've had Microsoft
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 buying Activision Blizzard and basically turning
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 it to Activision and Blizzard. We have Call of
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 Duty just not doing well anymore. Like I have
00:11:46 --> 00:11:50 not been very excited for Call of Duty. In a
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 while, I have no reason to do it. I play the
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 beta as I go, yup, there's a reason why I'm not
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 buying this game. And then I see like all the
00:11:56 --> 00:11:57 skins and the weird crap that they're doing.
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 And I'm like, yep, this is why I'm not playing
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 this game anymore. And it seems like it is basically
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 just, Call of Duty has become slop. It's a game,
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 it's gaming slop. It's FPS slop. Like it's not
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 good. And a lot of people know it's not good.
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 So I think the industry is going for the least
00:12:15 --> 00:12:20 common denominator, not really. being risky on
00:12:20 --> 00:12:24 their games and trying to appease a certain ideology
00:12:24 --> 00:12:27 that really a lot of gamers just don't like.
00:12:27 --> 00:12:30 And so the problem is that these developers don't
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 understand the normal gamer, think the normal
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 gamers like them or the journalists that hate
00:12:35 --> 00:12:39 the normal gamer. And this is where you get a
00:12:39 --> 00:12:43 lot of downsizing, a lot of layoffs because you
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 aren't making your revenue goals. The publishers
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 like, look at, we can't keep on doing this. You
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 keep on losing time and time again, and we're
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 going to have to let people go. And then a lot
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 of the marketers just don't understand how to
00:12:56 --> 00:13:00 market to gamers. And I keep on saying this,
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 they don't know how to market to gamers. The
00:13:02 --> 00:13:04 gamers don't buy their game because they're not
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 marketing to them. They're marketing to them,
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 quote unquote, modern audience, which I don't
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 even know what that means. And I think it's just
00:13:10 --> 00:13:14 a term for the people that agree with us and
00:13:14 --> 00:13:18 it's not majority of the gamers and so What we're
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 getting is a lot of free -to -play games a lot
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 of indie games that are basically being risky
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 and pushing the boundaries and making very Interesting
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 and risky moves that pay off and then you're
00:13:28 --> 00:13:32 having triple -a games Not being very risky not
00:13:32 --> 00:13:36 doing anything new just retreads of their bygone
00:13:36 --> 00:13:40 era that was innovative for the time I'm looking
00:13:40 --> 00:13:43 at Assassin's Creed and then just keep on repurposing
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 it and repurposing it and repurposing it until
00:13:46 --> 00:13:50 it. Nobody really wants to play anymore. You
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 have Battlefield six going back to the basics,
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 but we'll see if it's actually any good or not,
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 because I'm not even sure if it's going to be
00:13:58 --> 00:14:03 good or not. So. Where are we at here? Well,
00:14:03 --> 00:14:08 we're going to be at more constriction of. des
00:14:08 --> 00:14:12 of publishers of cutting of trimming because
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 they don't really know how to make the games
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 for the gamer anymore. They used to they used
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 to know, but now they don't because they aren't
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 gamers themselves. They don't talk to really
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 gamers. They kind of just say what gamers are
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 and gamers like we're not this. We're not this
00:14:28 --> 00:14:32 at all. We're this and this is what we want to
00:14:32 --> 00:14:37 be. And so. Instead of listening to your audience,
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 you go ahead with these terrible games and they
00:14:41 --> 00:14:44 fail. Marathon's gonna, well, would have failed,
00:14:44 --> 00:14:48 but it hasn't. Concord failed epically. Anthem
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 failed. Mass Effect Andromeda failed. Dragon
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 Age of the Veil Guard or Pride Guard or whatever
00:14:54 --> 00:15:00 you want to call it failed miserably south of...
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 So I don't know the game with the black chick.
00:15:03 --> 00:15:07 I don't remember the name but that failed Because
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10 no one played it and you said you have very few
00:15:10 --> 00:15:14 games that are going to be making it and the
00:15:14 --> 00:15:18 publishers gonna be making a lot less games and
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 then they will be focusing more on remasters
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 and remakes because those they know people like
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 They know you like oblivion. I love oblivion
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 They know you'll like Space Marines, even though
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 it didn't do very well. They know you'll like
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 System Shock, System Shock 2, Dark Forces Remaster,
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 and any other Polethora remasters that you can
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 think of. I mean, they do Thief, they can do
00:15:39 --> 00:15:42 Thief. I mean, this is where they know that they
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 can actually make their money because there's
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 nowhere else they can actually make their money.
00:15:47 --> 00:15:49 I guess. I know CD Projekt Red is making Witcher
00:15:49 --> 00:15:53 4 and... Don't know where I stand with it. I'm
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 not really that excited about it I think the
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 tech is cool, but even I'm kind of like well
00:15:57 --> 00:15:58 Let's wait until the real game comes out and
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 see if that tech is still gonna be the same tech
00:16:00 --> 00:16:04 or the same Graphic fidelity that we have even
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 though they claim it was running on a base PS5
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 We're not really sure if it's gonna be what it
00:16:10 --> 00:16:17 is on that, but we will see But I do think the
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 only thing you're going to get lately is gonna
00:16:20 --> 00:16:23 be more laughs more slop games until they can't
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 till they really figure it out and maybe Look
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 at what the indie development is doing schedule
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 one is a great example. It blew out expectations
00:16:31 --> 00:16:35 It blew out most of the triple a games on sales
00:16:35 --> 00:16:39 Still great game. It's still the one guy is still
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 building it takes him a while but fair enough
00:16:41 --> 00:16:45 because he is one guy It's not a team You have
00:16:45 --> 00:16:48 Expedition 33, even if it was a bigger team,
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 but the core team was small, but you could still
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53 have a big team of freelancers. The core team
00:16:53 --> 00:16:54 was still small and that's why they actually
00:16:54 --> 00:16:58 made a successful game. The bigger the team is,
00:16:58 --> 00:17:02 I mean the core team, the worse it gets because
00:17:02 --> 00:17:05 it then becomes a committee instead of any creativity
00:17:05 --> 00:17:06 coming out of it. You don't want a committee
00:17:06 --> 00:17:09 of creativity because then it's not creative
00:17:09 --> 00:17:12 anymore. You need a small core team talking with
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 each other. Mostly agreeing with each other.
00:17:15 --> 00:17:16 You don't always have to agree with everything
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 Making the best game possible and then you have
00:17:19 --> 00:17:22 freelance like our little army of freelancers
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 helping you out doing specific tasks that You
00:17:25 --> 00:17:27 may not be able to do or you might not have enough
00:17:27 --> 00:17:31 time to do That is a really good thing to do
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 even though they're like, well, they weren't
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 really a small team. Did you see all that? Well,
00:17:35 --> 00:17:37 yeah, okay They hired freelancers. Everybody
00:17:37 --> 00:17:39 hires freelancers all businesses hire freelancers.
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 It's how you get things done what I'm saying
00:17:42 --> 00:17:49 is is that I think until 2026, we're going to
00:17:49 --> 00:17:52 see a lot more layoffs because we haven't really
00:17:52 --> 00:17:56 hit that bottom where money isn't being lost
00:17:56 --> 00:18:02 hand over fist because of bad decisions, bad
00:18:02 --> 00:18:08 design, bad gameplay, et cetera. So be prepared
00:18:08 --> 00:18:12 for more of this. and let's hope 2026 is a lot
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15 better than this year I mean I'm still excited
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 for Metal Gear Snake Eater even though it's a
00:18:17 --> 00:18:22 remake not a remaster it's a remake but we'll
00:18:22 --> 00:18:27 see and thank you for listening to this podcast
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 I will be on vacation so that's why this is a
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 short episode and I will not be doing it next
00:18:31 --> 00:18:35 week as well so I hope you guys have a good Weekend
00:18:35 --> 00:18:38 this weekend and next weekend. I will be back
00:18:38 --> 00:18:41 the week after from my vacation So thank you
00:18:41 --> 00:18:43 for listening as always please subscribe to this
00:18:43 --> 00:18:45 podcast on your favorite podcasting apps I think
00:18:45 --> 00:18:47 a five -star review really just help with the
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49 rankings Let me know how I'm doing and join me
00:18:49 --> 00:18:53 next not next week the week after When I talk
00:18:53 --> 00:18:54 about what's going on the gaming industry alright
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 guys have fun. Enjoy your