Welcome back to another episode of Digital Coffee: Gaming Brew! I’m your host, Brett Deister, and this week we’re diving into some of the biggest stories shaking up the gaming world. On today’s show, we’re taking a closer look at Unreal Engine 5.6 and the much-hyped Witcher 4 tech demo—why I’m cautiously optimistic, and what you should (and shouldn’t) expect based on past experiences with tech demos. We’ll also cover the announcement of James Bond 007: First Light from the creators of Hitman, more ongoing studio closures with Zynga shuttering Echtra Games, and the latest updates on Dying Light: The Beast.
You’ll hear about No Man’s Sky’s impressive new ‘Beacon’ update—proving once again that Hello Games just keeps raising the bar for long-term post-launch support. We’ll discuss the shutdown of XDefiant servers and the exit of executive producer Mark Rubin from Ubisoft and the gaming industry, plus first impressions from my hands-on time with the Dune: Awakening early access launch.
Finally, we’re diving into the current climate around Pride Month in gaming—why some companies are pulling back, and what that means for the industry and its players. As always, grab your favorite brew, hit subscribe, leave a five-star review, and let’s get started!
3 Fun Facts:- The Unreal Engine 5.6 Witcher 4 tech demo claims to run at 60 FPS with ray tracing on a standard PS5.
- No Man’s Sky released yet another free update called Beacon, letting players oversee and manage up to four settlements—with full town-building and defending against pirate incursions.
- Dune: Awakening’s early access launch reached almost 100,000 concurrent players on Steam, ranking it just under Stardew Valley and War Thunder.
Key Themes:
- Unreal Engine 5.6 and Witcher 4 tech demo
- James Bond 007: First Light expectations
- Studio closures and industry layoffs
- Dying Light: The Beast 2 updates
- No Man’s Sky Beacon update praise
- XDefiant shutdown and producer departure
- Pride Month backlash in gaming industry
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.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:07 Please subscribe to this podcast on all your
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 favorite podcasting apps. Leave a five -star
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 review, really does help with the rankings, and
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 let me know how I am doing. But this week, we'll
00:00:13 --> 00:00:17 be talking about Unreal Engine 5 .6 and the Witcher
00:00:17 --> 00:00:22 4 tech demo and why I am, well, cautiously optimistic
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 about this because of, well, Unreal Engine 5
00:00:24 --> 00:00:28 and how well it hasn't been doing. Also a little
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 bit about James Bond 007 the first light and
00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 we're also gonna be talking about more studio
00:00:33 --> 00:00:37 closures because well Can't not stop happening
00:00:37 --> 00:00:41 Also techland has finally confirmed a more of
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 a trailer. That's gonna be released any time
00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 now We also have no man's sky is actually have
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 another update because it keeps on shaming the
00:00:49 --> 00:00:53 rest of the industry while updating it to be
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 The all -in -everything game. I guess it's it's
00:00:56 --> 00:01:01 kind of funny And then Xdeafiance executive producer
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 has quit the gaming industry altogether. So that
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 should be interesting. And then Dune Awakening
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 early access is out and it's actually doing quite
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 well for an early access game. And then we're
00:01:13 --> 00:01:17 going to be talking about Pride Month and kind
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 of why businesses have been pulling back from
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 it and why it's more of a good thing than a bad
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 thing. Because it is. Anyways, let's get on with
00:01:25 --> 00:01:45 the show. Hmm, that's good. All right, so Epic
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 Games introduced Unreal Engine 5 .6 focusing
00:01:47 --> 00:01:51 on performance improvements and they had the
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 Witcher 4 tech demo which showcases standard
00:01:53 --> 00:01:57 PS5 hardware at its claimed 60 frames per second
00:01:57 --> 00:02:01 with ray tracing enabled. On the PS5 hardware,
00:02:01 --> 00:02:05 the standard one, it is eight AMD Zen 2 CPUs
00:02:05 --> 00:02:09 and 36 AMD RDNA 2 graphics compute units. There's
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 also the new nanite foliage system allows for
00:02:12 --> 00:02:16 faster rendering of foliage and supports skeletal
00:02:16 --> 00:02:20 animation on the GPU. The Unreal Engine lighting
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 engine has been optimized, allowing ray tracing
00:02:23 --> 00:02:27 and lumen to run more than twice as fast compared
00:02:27 --> 00:02:31 to Unreal Engine 5. Improvements to the Chaos
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 physics engine includes better interaction of
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 multiple fabrics, introduction of procedural
00:02:36 --> 00:02:40 muscle animation, Pre -baked fluid dynamics have
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 been implemented for high fidelity water effects
00:02:43 --> 00:02:48 without the performance cost of real -time simulation.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:54 The RX 960 XT graphics card is mentioned as having
00:02:54 --> 00:02:58 significantly more computational power than the
00:02:58 --> 00:03:03 PS5's GPU. which is all said and good. I watched
00:03:03 --> 00:03:06 the demo. It looked fantastic for the Witcher
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 4, but we've been here before with the Witcher
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 3. When they did that with E3, they did more
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 of a tech demo, and it turned out to not really
00:03:14 --> 00:03:19 be what the tech demo was. So, for gamers, let's
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 not get our hopes up really high that this is
00:03:22 --> 00:03:26 going to be the final product. Tech demos go
00:03:26 --> 00:03:30 through a lot. before the final release. So it
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 could be better. It could be worse. It could
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 be about the same. We aren't really sure. All
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 these improvements and interesting factors with
00:03:37 --> 00:03:41 it sound good, but just like the Unreal Engine
00:03:41 --> 00:03:46 5 when it was released with the Matrix type of
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 demo, it was great. But when games started coming
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 out with Unreal Engine 5, it really wasn't that
00:03:52 --> 00:03:57 optimized. So I am optimistic to a certain extent,
00:03:57 --> 00:04:03 but I'm not going to write this off as a success,
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 but it is comforting to see that it runs well
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 on the PS5, but so did the Unreal Engine 5 with
00:04:09 --> 00:04:13 the Matrix demo. So we'll see when developers
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 actually develop it with 5 .6. how well it actually
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 does and not just tech demos. Tech demos are
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 very confined and they showcase the strength
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 of the engine, but not always what the engine
00:04:25 --> 00:04:29 may or may not do. So that's my concern right
00:04:29 --> 00:04:33 now. We'll see. Anyways, moving on to James Bond
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 007 First Light. It's gonna be basically developed
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 by the Hitman developers, which is I think the
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 best thing you can do for a James Bond game because
00:04:41 --> 00:04:45 Hitman is technically James Bond game in a way
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 you have to get objectives you have to figure
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 out how to get into it by either knocking people
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 out and stealing their Clothing or just figuring
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 out how to steal their credentials or if you
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 want to you can kill a bunch of people But you
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 have an option of doing what you need to do in
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 order to get where you need to go So that is
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 very comforting and I like that Addition to it.
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 So I'm really excited to see what IO interactive
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 can actually do to actually make this a really
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 good James Bond game The other ones were great
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 double golden. I was one of the best ones, but
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 it was still a very first -person shooter type
00:05:19 --> 00:05:24 game And I'm hoping with the developer of hitman.
00:05:24 --> 00:05:29 This can be a very more Stealth spy with some
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 third person or first person depending on what
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 they want to do Action as well, but I want to
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 see more of that hitman type of style with James
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 Bond to actually make this a really good game
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 We'll see once it something finally unveils besides
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 a teaser trailer, but we'll see what goes on
00:05:46 --> 00:05:52 with it All right moving on to Zenga has closed
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 Intra games which is the developer of torchlight
00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 three four years after acquiring the studio the
00:05:57 --> 00:06:00 closure is part of a strategic realignment of
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 Zenga's resources and priorities Zynga confirmed
00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 the decision in a statement to IGN indicating
00:06:05 --> 00:06:09 it would work closely with impacted employees.
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 The number of employees affected by the closure
00:06:11 --> 00:06:15 is currently unclear. Entra Games was acquired
00:06:15 --> 00:06:20 by Zynga in March of 2021 to develop a new RPG
00:06:20 --> 00:06:25 in partnership with Zynga Natural Motion. Acquisition
00:06:25 --> 00:06:29 included the developer's proprietary cross -platform
00:06:29 --> 00:06:33 development tools and technologies and Max Schaeffer
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 who has previously co -founded companies like
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 such as Blizzard North flagship studios in runic
00:06:38 --> 00:06:44 games before establishing Etra in 2016 Take two
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 interactive Zenga's parent company has projected
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 annual growth despite delaying the release of
00:06:50 --> 00:06:55 GTA 6 until 2026 So it is unfortunate that this
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 actually has happened to the developer, but as
00:06:58 --> 00:07:02 we've seen in the past few years It's not really
00:07:02 --> 00:07:06 that well uncommon now to see a bunch of different
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 layouts from a bunch of different Publishers.
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 It's just a very tumultuous time EA just last
00:07:11 --> 00:07:16 week closed and cancelled the game. So Will we
00:07:16 --> 00:07:21 see a lot more of this? Probably it's just unfortunate
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 torchlight torchlight. The franchise was pretty
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 good one and two is good I don't think a lot
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 of people play three very much, but it's unfortunate
00:07:28 --> 00:07:32 especially with Max Schaeffer who Blizzard North
00:07:32 --> 00:07:37 basically created Diablo. So he has a pedigree
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 of creating great studios, but I just don't think
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 the money was there. And since everybody is really
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 trying to figure out how to not spend as much
00:07:44 --> 00:07:49 money, this is an unfortunate casualty of that.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 All right, moving on to Techland has confirmed
00:07:56 --> 00:08:00 the release date and game for the gameplay premiere
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 of Dying Light the Beast 2. Hopefully it will
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 be coming out relatively soon, but it's supposed
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 to be coming out with Summerfest 2025 kickoff
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 event, whenever that is. I've been waiting for
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 it, but it's the morning and I didn't want to
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 wait forever for this thing to come out for whatever
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 it is. But there has been snippet of gameplay
00:08:17 --> 00:08:20 for Dying Light the Beast in the game award show
00:08:20 --> 00:08:24 in December, 2024. So hopefully this will be
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 a little bit more stuff we can see a little bit
00:08:27 --> 00:08:31 more. gameplay and hopefully a release date at
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 the same time because people are looking to get
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 their hands on Dying Light. Dying Light is a
00:08:35 --> 00:08:37 great game I mean the first one was a little
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 bit of a hit -and -miss the second one was a
00:08:40 --> 00:08:41 lot better a little bit more fleshed out and
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 hopefully this will be even more since this is
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 kind of more of a prequel to Dying Light 2 so
00:08:47 --> 00:08:50 I'm happy to see that they're still working on
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 this but we'll see what actually happens not
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 really sure but it's supposed to come out in
00:08:55 --> 00:08:59 summer 2025 so at the latest it should be August
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 and at the earliest it probably would be this
00:09:01 --> 00:09:05 month or July. It could be in a few weeks, it
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 could be in a few months. Well, I'll wait and
00:09:08 --> 00:09:12 see what they actually do. All right, moving
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 on to No Man's Sky. New update called Beacon.
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 The update allows players to become an overseer
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 or space mayor of up to four settlements. Players
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 can manage townships with their own citizens
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 and challenges. The update includes features
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 such as constructing and upgrading buildings,
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 resolving disputes, and holding festivals. Beacon
00:09:32 --> 00:09:36 introduces robotic autophage settlements with
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 a unique style. Players can defend their towns
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 against pirates and kursions by hiring a squadron
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 of wingmen. The update is described as a free
00:09:44 --> 00:09:47 edition rather than a paid downloadable content,
00:09:47 --> 00:09:51 which has been the pedigree of Hello Games. This
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 is what their It feels like it's like their 20th
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 update or more, but it feels like it's a lot
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 They've done a lot to make this game really good.
00:09:59 --> 00:10:03 Like previously when it first came out Nobody
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 liked this game. Everybody was criticizing it
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 and they just buried their hand and Basically
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 worked on it continue to work on it and they
00:10:10 --> 00:10:14 actually made a really good game like everybody
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 loves it everybody's like why can't other developers
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 and publishers be like hello games because They
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 give us so much content that Basically whenever
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 they decide to be done. No one's gonna be upset
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 about it because they give us so much I mean,
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 we'll be a little like sad about it because there's
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 no new updates But you can't be super upset about
00:10:32 --> 00:10:36 it because of how much they've given us fishing
00:10:36 --> 00:10:45 settlements Like vehicles frigates pirates A
00:10:45 --> 00:10:49 list goes on and on and on of just how much they
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 basically redid the whole graphics as well to
00:10:52 --> 00:10:56 make it better. I mean, it feels like No Man's
00:10:56 --> 00:10:59 Sky is too now just because of how much they
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 put into it, which is great because it's good
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 to see a developer actually care about their
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 game for quite a while because this game is not
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 new. It's not super old, but it's not super new
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 at the same time. And they have another game
00:11:11 --> 00:11:15 in development too. light no fire so it's not
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 like they're not working on a new game it's just
00:11:17 --> 00:11:18 they keep on working on a new game and work on
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 this at the same time which is even more comforting
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 that when that one comes out that will have a
00:11:24 --> 00:11:27 long development life too because they actually
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 care about their games as opposed to EA Ubisoft
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 or anyone else that has a failure and just moves
00:11:33 --> 00:11:34 on to the next game they actually care about
00:11:34 --> 00:11:39 it which I would hope EA would listen and actually
00:11:39 --> 00:11:42 Figure out how to make battlefront 3, but they're
00:11:42 --> 00:11:43 not gonna do that. Let's be honest with you.
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 They're they're doing their own thing. They're
00:11:45 --> 00:11:49 canceling games and developers Not that it's
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 not warranted, but they're just doing the terrible
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 things and they're not really making very many
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 games right now, so We'll see what happens with
00:11:57 --> 00:12:01 the EA but hey, you can't hate hello games for
00:12:01 --> 00:12:02 what they're doing They're doing a great job
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 of updating their game and making it like a worthwhile
00:12:05 --> 00:12:12 game to buy All right, some more bad news. Unfortunately,
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 X -Defying's servers have officially shut down,
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 so you cannot play it anymore. And Mark Rubin,
00:12:17 --> 00:12:18 the executive producer of X -Defying, announced
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 his departure from Ubisoft and the gaming industry
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 shortly after the shutdown. Rubin previously
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 worked on the original Call of Duty Modern Warfare
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 games and the remasters before joining Ubisoft.
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 He expressed gratitude to players of X -Defying
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 and to the former team members at Ubisoft San
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 Francisco who contributed to the game development.
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 I mean, it's sad. I mean, you basically like
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 he he was tired of it. He just didn't want to
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 do gaming anymore or making games because it
00:12:44 --> 00:12:46 there probably was no love with it anymore. It's
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 just your game can be shut down any time. The
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 funny part is if they actually kept going at
00:12:52 --> 00:12:56 the pace of making X to find good, it probably
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 would have jumped back up because Call of Duty
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 is not doing well right now. It's I stopped playing
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 it because I just don't know what Call of Duty
00:13:03 --> 00:13:08 is anymore. It's like a fortnight. like copy
00:13:08 --> 00:13:11 almost because of all the Stupid skins they do
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 and the skins don't make any sense because it's
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 just a hodgepodge of different popular things
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 are they think is popular like Teenage Mutant
00:13:18 --> 00:13:22 Ninja Turtles is weird like Ballerina. I'm okay.
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 That one's a little bit closer to what call V
00:13:24 --> 00:13:27 should be but like I said, it's just like movie
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 pop culture tie -ins. It's weird But I don't
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 really like it and it's not really that Appealing
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 to me anymore because it's like well called he
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 was a military shooter You probably should care
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 more about the military side of it and probably
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 should have focused on like I don't know that
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 movie warfare that came out like Mexicans about
00:13:44 --> 00:13:47 that like do something that's interesting within
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 that realm. Just that weird like Transformers
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 Snoop Dogg like all that weird stuff is just
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 dumb and you turned off a lot of the old -school
00:13:55 --> 00:13:59 players were like What is this crap like it's
00:13:59 --> 00:14:04 not fun. It's weird And then with your, like,
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 John Wick style of, like, jumping and stuff,
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 I was just kind of like, eh, it's just not my
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 game anymore, which is fine. If you enjoy it,
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 more power to you. But I just feel like Call
00:14:13 --> 00:14:17 of Duty is so far what it was that it's kind
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 of lost sight of, like, its vision, basically.
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 It's just a hodgepodge of different things with
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 different developers, which I've always said,
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 when you have more than one developer developing
00:14:27 --> 00:14:31 a franchise game, It's gonna get diluted muddied
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 and just not gonna make any more sense. But you
00:14:34 --> 00:14:37 know what? That's what they want to do I can't
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 stop them. I'll just give them my opinion be
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 like bringing down to one developer make it a
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 smaller team make it interesting and exciting
00:14:44 --> 00:14:47 again because There really hasn't been much of
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 a change of Call of Duty since and I hate to
00:14:49 --> 00:14:54 say this since modern warfare There really hasn't
00:14:54 --> 00:14:58 been much Like they keep on going the same path
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 down They haven't really innovated too much.
00:15:01 --> 00:15:04 I mean, Modern Warfare remastered or whatever,
00:15:04 --> 00:15:08 2019 or whatever it's called, was kind of a revitalization
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 of the franchise, but it didn't really do much.
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 It just made better graphics and that was really
00:15:13 --> 00:15:16 about it. I mean, it had some little interesting
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 things, but they haven't really done anything
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 revolutionary or impactful to the gaming industry
00:15:22 --> 00:15:27 since the original Modern Warfare. which added
00:15:27 --> 00:15:28 the kill streaks, which added a bunch of different
00:15:28 --> 00:15:31 things that we still see today and more power
00:15:31 --> 00:15:34 to those original devs that did that. That was
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 a huge monumental thing, but there hasn't been
00:15:37 --> 00:15:43 anything new since then. Xdefin tried and it
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 did a pretty good job of differentiating itself,
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 but it just wasn't enough. It's unfortunate that
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 Ubisoft really just pulled the plug on it because
00:15:52 --> 00:15:53 it probably was the better of the games that
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 they made recently. But they just didn't have
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 the force I'd do anything about it and they still
00:15:59 --> 00:16:03 have skull and bones, which I Guess is better
00:16:03 --> 00:16:08 Figuratively it still was pretty bad Alright
00:16:08 --> 00:16:12 anyways, so the official early access launch
00:16:12 --> 00:16:15 of Dune awakening hat is upon us It released
00:16:15 --> 00:16:18 yesterday and I played a little bit of it Probably
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 gonna redo my game because I built my settlement
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 in the wrong spot. I didn't know what I was doing
00:16:23 --> 00:16:27 I was just playing it Anyways, there's actually
00:16:27 --> 00:16:28 a lot of people playing it right now There's
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 almost hit a hundred thousand players and this
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 is early access It hasn't come out yet and it's
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 actually a fun game like from the little bit.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 I've played it's actually pretty fun But Dune
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 awakening ranked 17th on the steam concurrent
00:16:42 --> 00:16:46 player count and it could go even higher Positioned
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 between war thunder and stardew valley. It's
00:16:49 --> 00:16:53 24 -hour peak ranks. It's 15th on the chart And
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 so the standard edition is $50. It's not bad.
00:16:55 --> 00:16:57 Deluxe is $70, which could have gotten the early
00:16:57 --> 00:17:02 access part. And the ultimate is 99 or $90. The
00:17:02 --> 00:17:05 premium edition includes a season pass for DLC
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 and additional in -game items. So does the deluxe.
00:17:08 --> 00:17:11 Deluxe has the premium season or the season pass
00:17:11 --> 00:17:14 as well. So you get it both. So you can either
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 do the 70 or the 90 and do it, or you can wait
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 four more days for it to come out. Either way,
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23 it's actually a pretty fun game. from what I
00:17:23 --> 00:17:25 played, but I'm gonna actually restart and do
00:17:25 --> 00:17:28 it again, because I built my base in the wrong
00:17:28 --> 00:17:30 spot and should never do that. I didn't know
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 what I was doing. So it's good to be like, all
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 right, I'm gonna restart and redo that, because
00:17:35 --> 00:17:37 I don't like where I put my thing and I just
00:17:37 --> 00:17:39 don't wanna waste time getting more materials
00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 to actually figure out how to do that. So I'll
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 just restart the game, because it's just easier
00:17:43 --> 00:17:48 to do that. Anyways. All right, moving on to...
00:17:49 --> 00:17:52 White pride must not as big as it was in the
00:17:52 --> 00:17:55 previous years. Well, first off, it's just people
00:17:55 --> 00:17:59 are tired of it. I mean Fine if that's the way
00:17:59 --> 00:18:04 you want to live Got nothing against you at all,
00:18:04 --> 00:18:08 but Really, I just don't want companies and everything
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 else jamming it down my throat really because
00:18:11 --> 00:18:14 if I can't have a straight pride month, why should
00:18:14 --> 00:18:20 you have a pride month and dress in Clothing
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 you shouldn't be dressing in public in Especially
00:18:22 --> 00:18:25 in front of kids and gyrating in front of kids
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 like a lot of these pride events Just are just
00:18:27 --> 00:18:30 not appropriate for kids and kids are there and
00:18:30 --> 00:18:34 it's like what are you doing? And so Pride comments
00:18:34 --> 00:18:37 before the fall and this is the fall that comes
00:18:37 --> 00:18:41 with that pride So a lot of us are just sick
00:18:41 --> 00:18:42 and tired of it gamers are sick and tired of
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 it I'm not saying that every company has pulled
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 out. There's been some companies that are still
00:18:46 --> 00:18:50 doing it tech rear whatever that one of the developers
00:18:50 --> 00:18:54 said that they were celebrating pride month but
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 locked comments right did the same thing gearbox
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 which is hilarious apparently we aren't true
00:19:00 --> 00:19:04 fans are we because we won't pay 80 bucks for
00:19:04 --> 00:19:10 that yeah so it's a detriment to everybody to
00:19:10 --> 00:19:13 do this because nobody wants it anymore Everybody's
00:19:13 --> 00:19:15 tired sick and tired of it. Everybody hates it
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 because it's just one month of companies going
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 We're pride of we're happy for you guys and then
00:19:19 --> 00:19:23 it's like, okay. Well July 1st happens. We don't
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 care anymore That's really what it's all about
00:19:25 --> 00:19:31 it's it's just it's dumb. It's useless and Well
00:19:31 --> 00:19:34 to be honest with you, it's about 2 % of the
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 population in the United States and so if you're
00:19:37 --> 00:19:40 a company and you only care about that 2 % then
00:19:40 --> 00:19:43 you may or may not even get 2 % you'll get maybe
00:19:43 --> 00:19:47 like a half percent to a 1 % and can you survive
00:19:47 --> 00:19:49 on that revenue especially if you're a big company
00:19:49 --> 00:19:51 you need the majority not the minority now if
00:19:51 --> 00:19:55 you're starting out might not be a bad idea but
00:19:55 --> 00:20:00 just remember that's all you're gonna get so
00:20:00 --> 00:20:04 you might as well be a company for that anybody
00:20:04 --> 00:20:07 can buy your product now you may not get everybody
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09 to buy your product at the time, but you want
00:20:09 --> 00:20:12 the majority of people to buy your product. So
00:20:12 --> 00:20:19 for gaming, since most guys are not gay, maybe
00:20:19 --> 00:20:24 you should stop doing it and just market your
00:20:24 --> 00:20:28 games to the guys that, well, are the 98 % of
00:20:28 --> 00:20:32 the population and your customer base is 98 %
00:20:32 --> 00:20:37 regular guys. So market. to regular guys. You
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39 can market a little bit to it if you want to,
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 and if that's the game you want to go down the
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 road with, but remember, every time you've done
00:20:43 --> 00:20:47 this, your game has failed. So you all know it
00:20:47 --> 00:20:50 doesn't work. And so if it doesn't work, then
00:20:50 --> 00:20:56 you stop it. And obviously, well, it's just one
00:20:56 --> 00:20:59 of those things. Like, more power to you if you
00:20:59 --> 00:21:01 want to do that, if that's your lifestyle, I
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03 have no problem with it if you want to live a
00:21:03 --> 00:21:07 normal Well, normal in a way of not throwing
00:21:07 --> 00:21:10 it in my face. That's all we really care about.
00:21:10 --> 00:21:13 Just don't throw it in my face. Like, live your
00:21:13 --> 00:21:15 life. I'll live my life. Don't throw it in my
00:21:15 --> 00:21:17 face. Don't dry right in front of kids. Don't
00:21:17 --> 00:21:20 dress in ways you shouldn't be dressing in public
00:21:20 --> 00:21:23 when kids are in public too. That's all we care
00:21:23 --> 00:21:26 about. So when you start to do this, we start
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 to get mad and then you're wondering why we're
00:21:28 --> 00:21:30 so quote unquote homophobic. We're not afraid
00:21:30 --> 00:21:34 of you. We just don't want you to do this. I
00:21:34 --> 00:21:37 have no fear in what you do. I just don't care
00:21:37 --> 00:21:40 about it. I just don't want to see it. It's really
00:21:40 --> 00:21:45 that simple. We aren't afraid of you. We just
00:21:45 --> 00:21:49 don't want to see it. So this is why a lot of
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51 companies have pulled back because of the massive
00:21:51 --> 00:21:56 backlash it has become. Target felt it. Bud Light
00:21:56 --> 00:21:59 felt it. EA had several games fail because of
00:21:59 --> 00:22:04 it. Nobody wants DEI. Nobody wants pride. We
00:22:04 --> 00:22:10 just want it back to normal and if you are marketing
00:22:10 --> 00:22:14 to most guys and you don't just Ignore this we
00:22:14 --> 00:22:22 will ignore you So This is the notice. This is
00:22:22 --> 00:22:25 the warning stop gearbox. I'm pretty sure your
00:22:25 --> 00:22:30 game will fail now Especially since Randy Pitchford
00:22:30 --> 00:22:34 can't stop talking He needs to shut up. Like,
00:22:34 --> 00:22:36 you're not real fan. You don't spend 80 bucks
00:22:36 --> 00:22:37 on a game. It's like, all right, I guess I'm
00:22:37 --> 00:22:41 not a real fan. That's the same thing what Dice
00:22:41 --> 00:22:44 did when Battlefield V came out. Oh, you're upset
00:22:44 --> 00:22:48 about this? Well, we don't want your money. I'm
00:22:48 --> 00:22:54 like, what? Like, okay. Fine with me. And don't
00:22:54 --> 00:23:00 do it. Leave it alone. Just have a normal month.
00:23:01 --> 00:23:04 Or, if you really want to be controversial, I
00:23:04 --> 00:23:10 guess in a way, make June Veterans Month. That
00:23:10 --> 00:23:13 includes everybody, and that actually gives respect
00:23:13 --> 00:23:15 to the people that have fought and died for this
00:23:15 --> 00:23:20 country. So do that instead. That would be something
00:23:20 --> 00:23:23 that people get behind. This Pride Month is going
00:23:23 --> 00:23:26 to be a picking and choosing which group and
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28 the group is going to be very very small and
00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 so your revenue is going to be very very small
00:23:30 --> 00:23:36 we don't want it anymore please stop that's that's
00:23:36 --> 00:23:39 just all we want if you want to do a little thing
00:23:39 --> 00:23:44 in your business to celebrate it fine just don't
00:23:44 --> 00:23:50 let us know about it but i'm telling you this
00:23:50 --> 00:23:53 virtual signaling of pride is not going to serve
00:23:53 --> 00:23:58 you guys well just stop And we'll be stop. Apparently
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 Texas Rangers is the only one who's like, yeah,
00:24:00 --> 00:24:01 we're not going to do this. We're just going
00:24:01 --> 00:24:05 to, we're just going to refrain from this. And
00:24:05 --> 00:24:06 they're probably going to be one of the most
00:24:06 --> 00:24:12 popular teams right now. But you guys just can't
00:24:12 --> 00:24:15 help yourselves. This is not 2015 anymore. It's
00:24:15 --> 00:24:18 2025 and we, we, you've kind of seen the backlash
00:24:18 --> 00:24:23 and everything. So word of warning, don't do
00:24:23 --> 00:24:29 it. Anyways, what do you think? Do you think
00:24:29 --> 00:24:31 I'm far off base on this? Let me know in the
00:24:31 --> 00:24:34 comments below. Even if you hate me, I'm such
00:24:34 --> 00:24:37 a homophobe. It's fine. Anyways, thank you for
00:24:37 --> 00:24:40 listening to Digital Coffee Gaming Brew. As always,
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 please subscribe to this podcast. It's my favorite
00:24:41 --> 00:24:43 podcasting app. We have a five -star review.
00:24:43 --> 00:24:45 We'll just help with the rankings and let you
00:24:45 --> 00:24:47 know how I'm doing. And join me next week as
00:24:47 --> 00:24:50 I talk about what's going on in the gaming industry.
00:24:50 --> 00:24:51 All right, guys, stay safe. Get to playing the
00:24:51 --> 00:24:54 games that you want to play and see you next
00:24:54 --> 00:24:55 week. Later.