Steam Summer Sale Traffic, Major Developers Cut Teams, and Remakes on the Rise

And welcome to a new episode of Digital Coffee Gaming Brew. And

I'm your host, Brett Deister. If you can please subscribe to this podcast and all

your favorite podcasting apps, leave. A five star review really does help with the rankings

and let me know how I am doing. But this week

we're Talking about Civilization 7, the game nobody's playing

really. Microsoft's apparently going to be laying off more people

and the Steam summer sale is live and no, it's not

you. There is a problem trying to access it and then

Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 in New.

I guess new mode is the best way of saying it and just really

talking about all these layoffs. I mean it just

doesn't seem to be stopping whatsoever. So let's get on with the

show.

That's good. All right. I hope you're having a

fabulous Friday and a good weekend coming up. But

two K4X's have released update

1.2.2 for Sid Meier's Civilization

7 on June 24th. They did

it. And the update adds Steam Workshop support, larger maps and new

advanced game options. The update enables official support for mods with

within the game. Players can now find and install mods directly from Steam.

Due to the Steam Workshop integration, modders can promote their mods and

use the official civilization 7

modding SDK for easier creation and

uploading. The update includes improvement applicable to

all platforms on which Civilization 7 is available.

New in game New advanced game options allow players to

customize their games with features such as huge and large

map types, toggling legacy paths, score

victories and crises, and setting new

civilization after age

transition. So I mean that was the biggest change is the age

transitions, usually previous ones. You were one civilization

through the whole game. And kind of just changing from the ages

is a new thing because it did celebrate you changing from different

ages. But this is a lot different. More like what humankind

kind of did. And it hasn't really been going well.

I mean they, they have a lot of issues. A

lot of people did not like it when it released and it just, it just

isn't going very well for Sid Meer. I think the main

reason is it's just, just the sharp change of everything. You

don't have builders anymore. You kind of just gradually build

out. I guess the best way of saying was

it was interesting and there was some risk taking, but I don't think it really

paid off for them. All right. Microsoft is

reportedly planning another major layoff for its Xbox division.

The reports come from Bloomberg's Jason Serger.

Who described the layoffs as involving substantial cuts. The specific number of

employees affected by the layoffs is currently unclear. The

layoffs are expected to be revealed next week. Report

from the Verge states that these layoffs are a part of restructuring of

Xbox business in Central Europe, leading to some Xbox

operations ceasing in certain regions. Microsoft has a history of

announcing layoffs around the end of its fiscal year. So

yeah, more layoffs are happening. They've been happening for the

past two to three years. It has not been good for the

gaming industry in general. I haven't really seen

this much layoffs in a very long time for the gaming industry ever really.

There have been layoffs, but it seems like there is like

significant layoffs. And I think it's because of COVID and the COVID

money that that were interjected into

the gaming industry because it was the only thing that people could really do to

have fun. So they played games and so a lot of investors

went and pumped a bunch of money into it. And then after everybody

kind of got out, the games didn't do as well.

It doesn't help that they kind of pushed a ideology that a lot of

people didn't like. And so

guess what's happened. You have people

that, well, really don't want to play your game, don't really don't

want to have things shoved down their throat that they don't actually

agree with. And a lot of beloved franchises were

either forced to release sooner rather

than later and it did not pay well for a lot of them.

I'm talking about Bioware specifically. It did not really do well for them

because Dragon Age is no more. But EA

never really understood how to make it. But we

had a lot of other layoffs from Microsoft. A lot of different developers were let

go and developers development studios were shuttered. WB Games have

shuttered studios and Embracer Group hasn't shuttered studios

and canceled games. Ubisoft to shutter studios and cancel

games. Activision Blizzard was bought out by Microsoft.

I mean, the list goes on and on about how much change has been going

on in the market. Sony basically mothballed

Concord and shuttered the studio. Marathon's

not doing well, which is Bungie's own fault for doing it. Like,

there is a lot of turmoil in the gaming industry right

now and it's not looking like it's getting any better

anytime soon. So I would prepare for more

pain, at least for this year. Maybe next year I will probably level

out. All right. The Steam summer sale

is live and it's going on until July 10,

2025. The summer sale is one of the two major annual

sales on the platform other than the winter sale.

The sales feature discounts on both the new and old PC games, and

notable ones is the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth at

14.99 offering. Well, it offers a bunch of stuff

and if you haven't played the original one, this is pretty good. Even though it

is not turn based anymore, which is unfortunate. Elder Scrolls

Oblivion remastered has a $10 discount. Indiana Jones and the Great

Circle along with its DLC is on sale. Any games like

repo schedule 1 and blueprints are on sale. And Crash

Bandicoot Saint Trilogy, Marvel's Guardian of the Galaxy,

which is a good game, and Star Wars Battlefront 2 are

discounted by 90%, totaling $14 for

all three of them. So if you got some money,

yes. And then Expedition 33 is also on sale, but it's

only a $5 discount, so there it is.

This also coincides with Prime Day, which is going to hit on July

8th, and that's going to go to the 11th, so it's going to end the

day before Prime Day does, but there's going to be a lot of good games.

Unfortunately, as of right now, this recording,

there's a lot of heavy traffic. So if you're wanting to get the game, you

still got time. You don't have to do it right now, but you still have

time. And well, it's not really. It's.

It's really hard to move anywhere within it. So

if you're just having difficulties on the servers, it's just a lot of people are

on the servers right now looking at the Steam Summer sales and seeing what they

can get. And so if you're patient, just wait a few days or

even just wait until tomorrow or Friday,

Saturday, Sunday, and you'll be able to get it. But there are issues. I've

already seen the issues of this time of recording, trying to do anything, and

it did not go very well. Like I was like, all right, I'm just going

to wait until all this is over. All right.

Warhammer 40K Space Marines 2 has introduced a new

PvE game mode called Siege Mode. In Siege Mode 3,

players fight against endless waves of Tyranid and Thousand

Sons. The objective is to hold an Imperial Fortress for

as long as possible. Players earn points by defeating enemies, which can be

used to purchase stems,

ammunition, equipment, and reinforcement from the

KDN regiments in the Dreadnought. After defending

an area for five rounds, players are moved to a different area, part of The

Fortress and this cycle repeats. Players can opt to

retreat via extraction while earning requisition points,

armory data and xp. So this is

just another great example of how Saber Interactive is

updating the game and making it more enjoyable for people. People may not

just like the PvP part of it, so there you have it. You

have a new way of doing it. So I

wouldn't be surprised if this will be another popular part of it. Space Marines

2 is a very good game. It's a very fun game. It is

still what it's supposed to be from the original one, even though the

original one, Remastered, isn't doing very well on Steam and has a

negative viewpoint on it from a lot of gamers. But that's us

gamers. If you don't make it like we remember it, good luck

trying to convince us to buy it and then also moving on,

which I forgot to mention, but Dune Awakening has a new update where

50% of the deep desert dark. I don't know. The

PvP mode is going to be PvE and PvP

mode, so you're going to get the best of both worlds. You don't feel like

fighting people because you aren't up to that level.

Then yes, some of the desert in the endgame content

will be available to you and you don't have to fight anybody for it. Which

is good because once again, a lot of those players know

how to play it. Probably have ganked a lot of players, probably have made a

lot of the new players not want to go in the PvP zone

anymore. Because why would I want to have

a miserable experience in a MMO

survival game where it can be brutal? Especially if you get

eaten by the Sandworm because all your stuff is gone. Gone.

I mean like completely gone. You are back

in your body naked. Well, with underwear only,

but basically naked for that game. So

if you have been wondering if you want to try out Dune

Awakening, it is a fun game. It's probably better if you play it with people,

but you can still play it by yourself and have an enjoyable experience.

I think it's a harder to do it by yourself only because

there's so much things you have to gather and there's so much things you have

to do it alone. Takes a lot

longer than doing it with other people because sometimes you're not

always playing the game 247 and those people can play for you. So

like I said, for those in small guilds, it's great for you. For those by

yourselves, you can still do it like it's not a problem

at all. But it just takes a lot longer for you to do it than

if you were to have a group of people do it for you. But

it is a fun game, it's an interesting game. And there's no

monthly fee on this mmo, so it's not like World of Warcraft where there's a

monthly fee on it. So I think if you're looking for another

next survival game, this is probably it. In the Dune universe, it's great. Combat

is of kind, but the story and the map and everything

you do is pretty good. But

don't really hate on the combat too

much. It is the combat. This is what it is. Gunplay is

not bad. Sword fighting is kind of meh. But

there you have it. Now I really want to talk specifically

about all these layoffs and the sweeping industry

changes that are going on within the gaming industry. We've had more Microsoft

buying Activision Blizzard and basically turning it to Activision and Blizzard. We

have Call of Duty just not doing well anymore. Like, I have not

been very excited for Call of Duty in

a while. I have no reason to do it. I play the betas, I go,

there's a reason why I'm not buying this game. And then I see like all

the skins and the weird crap that they're doing and I'm like, yep, this is

why I'm not playing this game anymore. It seems like it is basically

just Call of Duty has become sloppy. It's a game, it's gaming slop. It's

FPS slop, like it's not good. And a lot of people know it's

not good. So I think the industry is going

for the least common denominator, not really

being risky on their games and trying to

appease a certain ideology that really a lot of gamers just

don't like. And so the problem is that these developers don't understand

the normal gamer think the normal gamers like them or the

journalists that hate the normal gamer.

And this is where you get a lot of

downsizing, a lot of layoffs because you aren't making your

revenue goals. The publisher's like, look it, we can't

keep on doing this. You keep on losing time and time again and we're going

to have to let people go. And then a lot of the marketers just

don't understand how to market to to gamers.

And I keep on saying this. They don't know how to market to gamers. The

gamers don't buy their game because they're not marketing to them, they're marketing to the

quote, unquote, modern audience, which I don't even know what that means. And I think

it's just a term for the people that

agree with us and it's not majority of the gamers. And so

what we're getting is a lot of free to play games, a lot of indie

games that are basically being risky and pushing the boundaries and making very

interesting and risky moves that pay off. And then you're having

triple A games not being very risky,

not doing anything new, just retreads of their

bygone era. That was innovative for the time

I'm looking at Assassin's Creed and then just keep on

repurposing it and repurposing it and repurposing it until it

nobody really wants to play anymore. You have Battlefield

6 going back to the basics, but we'll see if it's actually any good

or not because I'm not even sure if it's going to be good or not.

So where are we at here?

Well, we're going to be at more constriction

of devs, of publishers, of cutting,

of trimming, because they don't really know how

to make the games for the gamer anymore. They used to. They used

to know, but now they don't because they aren't gamers themselves.

They don't talk to really gamers. They kind of just say what

gamers are. And gamers like, we're not this. We're not this at all.

We're this. And this is what we want to be.

And so instead of listening to your audience,

you go ahead with these terrible games and they fail.

Marathon's gonna, well, would have failed, but it hasn't.

Concord failed epically. Anthem failed. Mass

Effect, Andromeda failed. Dragon Age, the Veil Guard

or Pride Guard or whatever you wanted to call it, failed

miserably. South of.

I don't know, the game with the black chick. I don't even remember the name.

But that failed because no one played it.

Like you said, you have very few games that are going to be making it

and the publisher is going to be making a lot less games

and they will be focusing more on remasters and remakes because those,

they know people like. They know you like Oblivion. I love

Oblivion. They know you like Space Marines even though it didn't do very well.

You know, you like System shock, System Shock 2, Dark Forces remaster

and any other bloodthirsty remasters that you can think of. I mean, if

they do Thief, they can do Thief. I mean, this is

where they know that they can actually make their money. Because there's nowhere,

nowhere else they can actually make their money. I guess. I know. See, Project Red

is making Witcher 4 and I don't know where I stand with

it. I'm not really that excited about it. I think the tech is cool, but

even I'm kind of like, well, let's wait until the real game comes out and

see if that tech is still going to be the same tech or the same

graphic fidelity that we have. Even though they claim it was running On a

base PS5, we're not really sure if

it's going to be what it is on that, but we will see.

But I do think the only thing you're going

to get lately is going to be more laughs, more slop

games until they kind of, until they really figure it out. And maybe look

at what the indie development is doing. Schedule 1 is a great

example. It blew out expectations. It blew out most of the

AAA games on sales. Still a great

game. The one guy is still building. It takes him

a while, but fair enough because he is one guy. It's not a team.

You have Expedition 33, even if it was a bigger team, but

the core team was small, but you could still have a big team of freelancers.

The core team was still small and that's why they actually made a successful game.

The bigger the team is, I mean, the core team,

the worse it gets because then it becomes a committee instead of any

creativity coming out of it. You don't want a committee of creativity because then

it's not creative anymore. You need a small core team

talking with each other, mostly agreeing with each other. You don't always have to agree

with everything making the best game possible. And then you have

freelance, like a little army of freelancers helping you out, doing

specific tasks that you may not be able to do or you might not

have enough time to do. That is a really good

thing to do. Even though they're like, well, they weren't really a small team. Did

you see all that? Well, yeah, okay. They hired freelancers. Everybody hires freelancers. All

business hire freelancers. That's how you get things done.

What I'm saying is, is that I

think until 2026, we're going to

see a lot more layoffs because we haven't really hit that

bottom where money isn't being lost

hand over fist because of bad decisions,

bad design, bad

gameplay, etc. So

be prepared for more of this. And let's hope

2026 is a lot better than this year. I mean, I'm still excited

for Metal Gear Snake Eater, even though it's a remake,

not a remaster. It's a remake, but we'll see.

And thank you for listening to this podcast. I will be on

vacation, so that's why this is a short episode. And I will not be doing

it next week as well. So I hope you guys have a good

weekend this weekend. And next weekend. I will be back

the week after from my vacation. So thank you for listening. As

always. Please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcasting apps. Leave a five star

review. It really does help with the rankings. Let me know how I'm doing it

and join me next. Not next week, the week after,

when I talk about what's going on the gaming industry. All right guys, have fun.

Enjoy your.