[0:00] I don't know what's going on. Maybe
[0:02] microlastic snorting. Maybe 5G beams
[0:04] have finally penetrated the brain. But
[0:07] we have bore witness to an unbelievable
[0:09] display of corporate self-destruction
[0:11] with a big old smile on their face. It's
[0:14] been watching a kaiju fight between two
[0:16] massive corporations, Microsoft and
[0:19] PlayStation, as they duke it out,
[0:22] battling to see who can drunk drive
[0:23] their business into the ground faster.
[0:25] Now, I know that not all of these
[0:28] terrible decisions are entirely their
[0:31] fault, like Xbox pricing. That's just a
[0:35] result of the state of the industry
[0:37] right now. Solely because of AI, by the
[0:39] way. I know you're probably tired of
[0:40] hearing me yap about the AI boogeyman,
[0:42] but it is just a genuine plague. It is a
[0:46] myasma of misery sweeping across the
[0:49] globe that is affecting every single
[0:51] person on it while bringing no benefits
[0:52] and only sadness and incredibly
[0:55] outrageous, absurd pricing. So, it's
[0:59] hard for these companies to continue to
[1:01] make these electronics at the prices
[1:04] that they were when AI booming here has
[1:08] caused them to go through the roof. So,
[1:09] that's why everything's been raising
[1:10] their prices. But, I'll go ahead and
[1:12] deliver you some good news. So, I saw
[1:13] this tasty little nugget this morning
[1:15] where Lenovo has warned that high memory
[1:17] prices are just the new normal, at least
[1:19] through 2030, and they may never return
[1:21] to the early 2025 levels. So, that's
[1:24] positive. AI has skull [ __ ] us so hard
[1:27] that now we just have to take the abuse
[1:30] with a smile on our face and get used to
[1:32] it. Rub some dirt in it. It's the new
[1:34] normal, baby. Isn't that just joyous?
[1:37] Hope your wallet's butthole isn't too
[1:39] chafed because there's plenty more
[1:41] friction coming in from the financial
[1:42] pounding we'll continue to take as these
[1:44] companies still wholehog go full
[1:48] throttle into AI and just give one of
[1:51] these to every human being on the
[1:53] planet. Cuz as I've mentioned, these
[1:55] companies have learned they don't really
[1:57] need the consumer. They can just
[1:59] incestuously sell to each other and just
[2:01] imaginary money inflate their uh profits
[2:04] and their bottom line while cutting out
[2:07] workers as well, saving even more money
[2:09] there. It's just a complete [ __ ]
[2:10] mess, a complete disaster. So, yes, I
[2:12] recognize that even more price hikes
[2:15] were kind of inevitable. Xbox had
[2:17] already raised their prices pretty
[2:18] recently and now they've done it again.
[2:20] Much more substantial, though. this time
[2:23] $100 plus on all of their models and
[2:26] even discontinued one of them because it
[2:27] was likely too expensive to keep it
[2:29] going. So, still an egregious price
[2:32] increase, but I know it was the result
[2:35] of where everything is because of AI.
[2:38] But that's not the only terrible
[2:40] decision that I'll be yapping about
[2:41] here. If you look at the actual code,
[2:43] it's not that crazy of a statement.
[2:44] Yeah, I haven't seen the full article. I
[2:46] just saw the uh the announcement here
[2:48] about they're still trying to push live
[2:50] service games.
[2:52] So, let's see if it's as bad as it
[2:54] sounds cuz it sounds pretty bad.
[2:59] Okay. Well, they even name dropped
[3:00] Concord.
[3:02] Yuck.
[3:05] President confirmed they'll continue to
[3:07] pursue live service games even as he
[3:09] even as he heavily hints at PlayStation
[3:11] 6 handheld design to meet the
[3:13] challenging play styles of gamers
[3:14] worldwide. We believe that live service
[3:17] games are content that attracts users on
[3:19] a global level. So, we want to continue
[3:20] to revitalize the market through both
[3:22] first-party and third party content.
[3:24] What do you mean revitalize? Every
[3:26] single AAA studio on the planet is
[3:28] trying to push live service games.
[3:31] It is full of them. It is oversaturated.
[3:35] What does he mean by revitalized? That
[3:36] makes it sound like it's dead.
[3:39] I mean, most of PlayStation's live
[3:41] service games are dead. They literally
[3:43] just killed their biggest one, which was
[3:45] Destiny 2, which had been already
[3:46] hemorrhaging for a while.
[3:49] We're not only focusing on promoting new
[3:51] releases, but also considering that we
[3:53] can do considering what we can do with
[3:55] older titles in the medium to long term.
[3:58] Also, this year, we are planning to
[3:59] release our own live service title,
[4:01] Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls, and we hope
[4:03] everyone will enjoy it. Oversaturated
[4:05] oversaturated with bad live service
[4:07] games. Yeah,
[4:09] it very much is. I don't have a whole
[4:11] lot of faith in PlayStation being the
[4:13] ones to introduce a good one. They had a
[4:15] good one with Destiny 2 and they
[4:17] mismanaged the [ __ ] out of it. Ask if
[4:20] PlayStation will continue to produce
[4:21] live service games. With live service
[4:24] games, it's important to continuously
[4:25] provide something. The genre itself is
[4:27] relatively new and I think many people
[4:29] are trying various things. So, we also
[4:31] want to continue to take on challenges
[4:32] within that context. I just I just hate
[4:35] the that mentality. I wish they would
[4:38] just focus on making good games. I
[4:40] really think, and I've said this so many
[4:42] times, [ __ ] broken record, make
[4:45] cheaper games
[4:48] that don't take years and years and
[4:50] years of development. Just make good
[4:51] single player games that take maybe a
[4:54] year, two years maybe to develop with
[4:56] like a maybe couple million dollar
[4:59] budget at the highest end. Like, pump
[5:01] those out. deliver creative, fun
[5:04] experiences instead of trying to chase
[5:07] the big ticket live service item, which
[5:10] just keeps [ __ ] these companies.
[5:13] Sony still has another chance with fair
[5:15] game dollar sign, which apparently has
[5:17] been completely rebooted under the new
[5:19] name Breakin cuz play testers hated the
[5:21] original version. I remember hearing
[5:23] about that. I [ __ ] swear there's
[5:25] something nefarious of foot here with
[5:26] this. Someone must have cracked the One
[5:28] Wish Willow and made PlayStation
[5:30] higher-ups obsessed with live service
[5:32] games because for a while now they keep
[5:36] fixating on trying to deliver them and
[5:38] they're terrible. Poorly received, they
[5:40] flop, they lose hundreds of millions of
[5:43] dollars on all of their live service
[5:44] attempts. Some of them you probably
[5:46] don't even remember. Babylon's Fall.
[5:48] Anyone remember Babylon's Fall? that
[5:50] wasn't like a fully, you know,
[5:51] PlayStation exclusive that they were
[5:53] rallying behind super big, but it was
[5:55] another live service attempt that was
[5:57] console exclusive to PlayStation that
[6:00] only ever peaked at like 400 players. Me
[6:02] being one of them where Dankin and I
[6:03] went in to experience the worst goddamn
[6:05] live service game you could ever
[6:06] possibly [ __ ] imagine in a barren
[6:07] wasteland of emptiness and sadness.
[6:09] Like, they keep putting all their eggs
[6:12] in this basket of live service. And
[6:14] they're terrible games that are not
[6:15] being received well. They are being
[6:17] outright rejected by the community.
[6:19] Marathon is not performing where it
[6:21] needs to be. And yet the lesson they're
[6:23] taking away from it is that the
[6:25] community must want more live service
[6:27] games. So don't worry, we're going to
[6:28] keep doing it. Yes, I know we've lost so
[6:31] many hundreds of millions of dollars,
[6:33] which is why we've got to keep putting
[6:34] hundreds of millions of dollars in there
[6:35] in order to fix it. It's what you guys
[6:37] want. We got to revitalize live service
[6:39] games, baby. We're the ones to do it.
[6:41] Even though everyone collectively yawns
[6:43] at it, it's a snoozer. It's not what the
[6:46] the PlayStation community is salivating
[6:49] for. Clearly, the appetite's not there.
[6:51] Maybe it is if they had a good one,
[6:53] which they did called Destiny 2, but
[6:55] they mismanaged that [ __ ] into the
[6:57] [ __ ] ground. They put it in the dirt.
[6:59] They slowly hemorrhaged players for so
[7:01] long because leadership was clueless,
[7:03] sucking their thumb and making players
[7:05] suck their [ __ ] for terrible, a
[7:08] terribly long time with their awful
[7:10] decisions that eventually had people
[7:12] abandon it. And then they just recently
[7:15] stopped active develop on it development
[7:17] on it and canned a large chunk of the
[7:21] team behind it. But that was not only
[7:24] their most successful live service game,
[7:27] but also just one of the most successful
[7:29] generally most successful live service
[7:32] franchises, the most successful live
[7:35] service IP. And look at how they handled
[7:37] it. So there, even if Sony does find
[7:40] another unicornlike Destiny, there's no
[7:44] trust and faith that they'll be able to
[7:45] keep it alive forever or anything into
[7:48] the deep future like they keep wanting
[7:50] to do when we have a proven ineptitude
[7:54] here with how they handled Destiny 2 for
[7:56] so long. So why do they keep chasing
[7:59] this dragon? It's outrageous to me.
[8:02] PlayStation isn't doing well either.
[8:04] They had their They had their worst
[8:06] performing May in 26 years. I believe
[8:08] it. Xbox is about to have a catastrophic
[8:11] collapse, too, with their new price
[8:12] hike.
[8:14] You don't know that, brother. No one's
[8:16] buying an Xbox in general, let alone
[8:18] paying even more to own the [ __ ] dust
[8:20] box.
[8:22] I do know that, man.
[8:25] Xbox has not been getting anyone to
[8:28] spend money on their console, and now
[8:30] they've raised the price again.
[8:33] So, it's only going to get even worse.
[8:36] $800 for the Series X. I It's
[8:39] catastrophic.
[8:41] This is the day after Asha said gaming's
[8:44] becoming unaffordable.
[8:47] And then the next day, they announced
[8:49] the Xbox price increase.
[8:53] Everything went up $100 bare minimum.
[8:56] [ __ ] me, silly. Just look at these
[8:58] prices now. Look at these diabolical
[9:02] prices for an Xbox. A console that's
[9:04] already been struggling to get people to
[9:06] buy it in the first place and now it's
[9:08] even more expensive to buy it. Oh, baby.
[9:12] Wow. That's just gross. It's just gross.
[9:16] I know price increase was inevitable
[9:18] because of, you know, where memory
[9:21] pricing is because of AI. I get it. But
[9:24] holy [ __ ] going up by over $100 on
[9:27] multiple models, up to $150 on some of
[9:30] these models is just so outrageous. Have
[9:34] you thought about renting an Xbox? Oh,
[9:37] that's a good that's now that's a
[9:39] financially responsible decision. So,
[9:41] you can't afford to pay the $500 entry
[9:44] fee for the Xbox Series S, which
[9:47] broer series at 500 is nuts.
[9:52] And the Series X no disc drive 750.
[9:56] And then you want the disc drive on that
[9:58] Series X 800.
[10:00] Just rent it. Yeah, absolutely. Just
[10:02] rent that [ __ ] You gota come on.
[10:07] Microsoft needs you.
[10:10] Money is temporary.
[10:12] Xbox is forever.
[10:15] They basically said they use CLA in the
[10:17] price increase announcement. Wait, what?
[10:19] What are you talking about? Did they
[10:20] really? Are you making a joke? Did they
[10:22] actually hint at doing that? Let me see.
[10:26] Is that real? Oh, I forgot that they're
[10:28] suns setting the two terabyte model cuz
[10:30] that would have cost [ __ ] $2,000 or
[10:32] something crazy. It wouldn't have been
[10:33] 2K, but it probably would have been like
[10:35] [ __ ] a,100 or something crazy. Oh
[10:39] wow. Today we are sharing programs to
[10:41] make Xbox consoles more accessible. Buy
[10:43] now pay later. Oh, baby. We made it
[10:48] easier for players to use buy now pay
[10:50] later options on eligible Xbox hardware
[10:52] purchases through Microsoft stores,
[10:54] making it possible to break up your
[10:55] payment into predictable short-term
[10:57] interestf free installments. There's
[10:59] also interest free financing. We're
[11:01] working with partners to let players
[11:02] purchase eligible Xbox hardware at 0%
[11:04] APR financing for up to 12 months,
[11:07] giving players more flexibility with
[11:09] lower monthly payments and more
[11:10] budgeting control.
[11:12] What the [ __ ] It's never been more
[11:15] affordable to get yourself an Xbox.
[11:18] These aren't even price increases at
[11:19] that point. You're saving money. Yep.
[11:22] Just slap that [ __ ] on CLA.
[11:25] So cool. Previously played consoles.
[11:27] Working with retail partners on new
[11:29] programs to provide previously played
[11:30] consoles at lower prices. Players who
[11:32] are ready to upgrade or no longer use
[11:34] their console be able to trade it in
[11:35] with participating retail partners for
[11:37] cash or store credit. I like the idea
[11:39] that someone's actually going to
[11:40] upgrade.
[11:42] You know, I've got this Series X from a
[11:44] couple years ago, but I'd really rather
[11:46] pay more for it. I'd rather upgrade it
[11:48] now at the worst possible time to do so.
[11:50] I'll trade it in. Those consoles will
[11:53] then be made available at lower prices
[11:54] for players. And then the certified
[11:56] refurbished consoles, the Xbox certified
[11:58] refurbished consoles available at
[12:00] Microsoft stores for up to $100 off
[12:02] MSRP. Wow. You already don't own your
[12:05] games, so might as well not own the
[12:06] console, too. What do you mean? You own
[12:09] the console.
[12:11] over time. You get to you get to own it
[12:13] over time. Payday Payday devs gave up on
[12:16] Payday 3. They're going back to Payday
[12:18] 2. Engine upgrade open beta
[12:21] announcement. That's That's so
[12:24] embarrassing.
[12:26] Payday 3 was such dog [ __ ] that they
[12:28] said, "All right, we'll just forget we
[12:29] did this. We'll go back to two." You
[12:30] guys like that one? I know the whole
[12:33] rent to own model for consoles isn't new
[12:36] and I've yapped about it before, but let
[12:38] me just sit you down here for some some
[12:41] advice.
[12:43] No, that's not a good idea to pay in
[12:46] these incremental installments for your
[12:49] Xbox that is dreadfully overpriced. I
[12:53] genuinely I can't even picture someone
[12:55] who would look at these prices and be
[12:56] like, "Oh, yeah, that's understandable.
[12:58] I think I think I will pay that in fact
[13:01] over time over over a 12-month period.
[13:03] And in fact, like that boggles my mind.
[13:06] I I hope there's not a whole lot of
[13:08] people out there doing that. That would
[13:09] be financially irresponsible and just a
[13:11] genuinely awful decision. Do you think
[13:13] GTA 6 will cause an increase in console
[13:16] sales? Yes. Since it's not hitting PC on
[13:19] launch, there are going to be tons of
[13:21] people that buy a console just for GTA
[13:24] 6. There's no doubt in my mind.
[13:26] You think Rockstar will sell GTA online
[13:29] separately? They can get away with it? I
[13:31] don't think they will. They can
[13:33] definitely get away with it. People are
[13:34] going to buy it no matter what. If it's
[13:36] a monthly fee, they wouldn't care. I
[13:38] mean, people would care. They'd be
[13:39] upset, but they'd still pay for it. I
[13:41] don't think they'll do it, though.
[13:44] But they certainly could.
[13:46] We go over PlayStation deleting 500
[13:48] purchased films from customers library
[13:51] due to a license expiring. Oh my god.
[13:55] What is going on, man? Holy. Is that
[13:58] real? PlayStation is deleting 551
[14:04] movies from customers accounts.
[14:08] Five what? 551
[14:11] movies
[14:12] like Rambo First Blood, Bridget Jones
[14:14] Diary, and Deer Hunter.
[14:18] Is Terminator 2 also on there?
[14:23] contacting PlayStation Store users who
[14:25] bought movies from the platform that
[14:26] were distributed by Studio Canal, like
[14:28] Terminator 2, Total Recall, and
[14:29] Confessions of a Dangerous Mind to say
[14:31] you will no longer be able to access
[14:32] your previously purchased content. It
[14:35] will be removed from your video library.
[14:38] There's no mention of any refunds or
[14:39] make goods for the affected users. Sony
[14:41] simply says the films are going away due
[14:43] to our content license agreements. Once
[14:45] again, reaffirming the fact that you're
[14:47] never truly buying anything that's
[14:48] digital, just temporarily renting it.
[14:50] Yep.
[14:51] That's egregious though. Holy [ __ ]
[14:57] No mention of refund or anything.
[15:02] That's diabolical. See, like that's got
[15:04] to be illegal, right? It's got to be.
[15:08] When you scroll past the endless, you
[15:11] first say you click agree the first time
[15:12] you the store, you're unwittingly
[15:14] agreeing that nothing you buy is really
[15:15] truly bought and that it can be taken
[15:17] away from you at any point and there's
[15:18] nothing you can do. The same is true of
[15:20] your games. True.
[15:24] Oh, they even bring up GTA 6 no
[15:26] physical.
[15:28] This is only in the UK. Oh, is it just
[15:31] UK customers? I mean, even still, should
[15:34] be completely illegal across the board,
[15:36] but there's no mention of that in this
[15:38] article. At least not that I saw, unless
[15:40] I skipped over it. That's nuts, man.
[15:46] I don't even know how you could possibly
[15:48] argue that
[15:50] legally. I bought all of these things
[15:53] from this service. I no longer have
[15:55] those things. They took it away from me.
[15:57] I should have my money back. What's your
[15:59] counterpoint? Other than well, you
[16:01] signed this agreement saying that you're
[16:02] renting. But like I there's already been
[16:05] the president said at least here in the
[16:07] states that there's no real expectation
[16:10] for users to read every single thing in
[16:12] the terms and service agreements. That
[16:15] has already been proven that you can't
[16:16] just put illegal things in there because
[16:18] people aren't expected to fully read all
[16:21] of them. So like that argument could it
[16:24] wouldn't work here. Maybe in the UK it's
[16:26] completely different. I don't know.
[16:28] Seems like a studio canal thing.
[16:32] That's pretty cool, man.
[16:34] That's pretty nifty.
[16:37] I'm telling you, man. Physical copies of
[16:40] everything is integral in the modern
[16:43] age. I become such a physical media
[16:45] advocate. A nice timely grim reminder
[16:49] about the importance of recognizing that
[16:51] when you are existing in this digital
[16:53] space, consuming the digital goods, it's
[16:57] just completely empty calories. You're
[16:59] consuming the idea of the thing that you
[17:02] are renting. You're not actually buying
[17:05] or owning anything that you're getting
[17:06] digitally and at any time it can be
[17:09] taken away from you. And in this case
[17:10] here with the PlayStation films, they
[17:13] don't even give you your money back. So
[17:15] you bought something and now you don't
[17:18] have it anymore, but you're still out
[17:20] that money. So it's just you basically
[17:22] gave PlayStation a donation. This
[17:24] couldn't have come at a more
[17:26] serendipitous time with GTA 6 unveiling
[17:30] that they're not doing discs, at least
[17:33] not on launch where it's just going to
[17:35] be code in a box. You should see now why
[17:38] having a disc is important, right? You
[17:41] you this should be like abundantly clear
[17:44] even without this lesson needing to be
[17:45] the one to drive it home. We've seen so
[17:47] many examples of just the things that
[17:49] you buy online you don't own and they do
[17:52] oftent times get taken away for a
[17:55] variety of reasons. Maybe licensing like
[17:57] in this case or just who knows maybe
[17:59] your account gets banned because of uh
[18:01] who knows what. But you don't own any of
[18:05] your [ __ ] However, if you have the
[18:07] physical copy of it, you do. You have
[18:10] it. It's accessible. So you actually buy
[18:13] something and that's important.
[18:15] Supposedly GTA 6 will have a disc
[18:17] released in December. Rockstar is only
[18:20] making the game digital exclusive
[18:22] temporarily to prevent leaks and
[18:23] spoilers.
[18:29] If they're actually making a physical
[18:31] release this year, cool. That uh that
[18:35] reasoning,
[18:37] not too sure about that. I don't know
[18:39] about that.
[18:43] I don't know about that.
[18:45] real reason is so people double dip
[18:47] further. Yeah, that seems far more
[18:50] likely.
[18:52] No, no, this is to like totally prevent
[18:54] leaks and spoilers, not hoping that
[18:56] people that bought digital will also buy
[18:57] the physical for their collection and to
[19:00] like actually preserve the game. Like,
[19:01] no, it's it's solely to protect you guys
[19:04] from like leaks and stuff. It really is
[19:06] just wild how it's been nothing but bad
[19:09] news from the gaming industry for quite
[19:13] a little bit now and they keep finding
[19:15] even more wild ways of going lower.
[19:19] Anyway, just wanted the app about it.
[19:21] Just a [ __ ] disaster. That's that's
[19:22] really about it. See you.