This is a Complete Disaster

[00:00] I don't know what's going on. Maybe

[00:02] microlastic snorting. Maybe 5G beams

[00:04] have finally penetrated the brain. But

[00:07] we have bore witness to an unbelievable

[00:09] display of corporate self-destruction

[00:11] with a big old smile on their face. It's

[00:14] been watching a kaiju fight between two

[00:16] massive corporations, Microsoft and

[00:19] PlayStation, as they duke it out,

[00:22] battling to see who can drunk drive

[00:23] their business into the ground faster.

[00:25] Now, I know that not all of these

[00:28] terrible decisions are entirely their

[00:31] fault, like Xbox pricing. That's just a

[00:35] result of the state of the industry

[00:37] right now. Solely because of AI, by the

[00:39] way. I know you're probably tired of

[00:40] hearing me yap about the AI boogeyman,

[00:42] but it is just a genuine plague. It is a

[00:46] myasma of misery sweeping across the

[00:49] globe that is affecting every single

[00:51] person on it while bringing no benefits

[00:52] and only sadness and incredibly

[00:55] outrageous, absurd pricing. So, it's

[00:59] hard for these companies to continue to

[01:01] make these electronics at the prices

[01:04] that they were when AI booming here has

[01:08] caused them to go through the roof. So,

[01:09] that's why everything's been raising

[01:10] their prices. But, I'll go ahead and

[01:12] deliver you some good news. So, I saw

[01:13] this tasty little nugget this morning

[01:15] where Lenovo has warned that high memory

[01:17] prices are just the new normal, at least

[01:19] through 2030, and they may never return

[01:21] to the early 2025 levels. So, that's

[01:24] positive. AI has skull [ __ ] us so hard

[01:27] that now we just have to take the abuse

[01:30] with a smile on our face and get used to

[01:32] it. Rub some dirt in it. It's the new

[01:34] normal, baby. Isn't that just joyous?

[01:37] Hope your wallet's butthole isn't too

[01:39] chafed because there's plenty more

[01:41] friction coming in from the financial

[01:42] pounding we'll continue to take as these

[01:44] companies still wholehog go full

[01:48] throttle into AI and just give one of

[01:51] these to every human being on the

[01:53] planet. Cuz as I've mentioned, these

[01:55] companies have learned they don't really

[01:57] need the consumer. They can just

[01:59] incestuously sell to each other and just

[02:01] imaginary money inflate their uh profits

[02:04] and their bottom line while cutting out

[02:07] workers as well, saving even more money

[02:09] there. It's just a complete [ __ ]

[02:10] mess, a complete disaster. So, yes, I

[02:12] recognize that even more price hikes

[02:15] were kind of inevitable. Xbox had

[02:17] already raised their prices pretty

[02:18] recently and now they've done it again.

[02:20] Much more substantial, though. this time

[02:23] $100 plus on all of their models and

[02:26] even discontinued one of them because it

[02:27] was likely too expensive to keep it

[02:29] going. So, still an egregious price

[02:32] increase, but I know it was the result

[02:35] of where everything is because of AI.

[02:38] But that's not the only terrible

[02:40] decision that I'll be yapping about

[02:41] here. If you look at the actual code,

[02:43] it's not that crazy of a statement.

[02:44] Yeah, I haven't seen the full article. I

[02:46] just saw the uh the announcement here

[02:48] about they're still trying to push live

[02:50] service games.

[02:52] So, let's see if it's as bad as it

[02:54] sounds cuz it sounds pretty bad.

[02:59] Okay. Well, they even name dropped

[03:00] Concord.

[03:02] Yuck.

[03:05] President confirmed they'll continue to

[03:07] pursue live service games even as he

[03:09] even as he heavily hints at PlayStation

[03:11] 6 handheld design to meet the

[03:13] challenging play styles of gamers

[03:14] worldwide. We believe that live service

[03:17] games are content that attracts users on

[03:19] a global level. So, we want to continue

[03:20] to revitalize the market through both

[03:22] first-party and third party content.

[03:24] What do you mean revitalize? Every

[03:26] single AAA studio on the planet is

[03:28] trying to push live service games.

[03:31] It is full of them. It is oversaturated.

[03:35] What does he mean by revitalized? That

[03:36] makes it sound like it's dead.

[03:39] I mean, most of PlayStation's live

[03:41] service games are dead. They literally

[03:43] just killed their biggest one, which was

[03:45] Destiny 2, which had been already

[03:46] hemorrhaging for a while.

[03:49] We're not only focusing on promoting new

[03:51] releases, but also considering that we

[03:53] can do considering what we can do with

[03:55] older titles in the medium to long term.

[03:58] Also, this year, we are planning to

[03:59] release our own live service title,

[04:01] Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls, and we hope

[04:03] everyone will enjoy it. Oversaturated

[04:05] oversaturated with bad live service

[04:07] games. Yeah,

[04:09] it very much is. I don't have a whole

[04:11] lot of faith in PlayStation being the

[04:13] ones to introduce a good one. They had a

[04:15] good one with Destiny 2 and they

[04:17] mismanaged the [ __ ] out of it. Ask if

[04:20] PlayStation will continue to produce

[04:21] live service games. With live service

[04:24] games, it's important to continuously

[04:25] provide something. The genre itself is

[04:27] relatively new and I think many people

[04:29] are trying various things. So, we also

[04:31] want to continue to take on challenges

[04:32] within that context. I just I just hate

[04:35] the that mentality. I wish they would

[04:38] just focus on making good games. I

[04:40] really think, and I've said this so many

[04:42] times, [ __ ] broken record, make

[04:45] cheaper games

[04:48] that don't take years and years and

[04:50] years of development. Just make good

[04:51] single player games that take maybe a

[04:54] year, two years maybe to develop with

[04:56] like a maybe couple million dollar

[04:59] budget at the highest end. Like, pump

[05:01] those out. deliver creative, fun

[05:04] experiences instead of trying to chase

[05:07] the big ticket live service item, which

[05:10] just keeps [ __ ] these companies.

[05:13] Sony still has another chance with fair

[05:15] game dollar sign, which apparently has

[05:17] been completely rebooted under the new

[05:19] name Breakin cuz play testers hated the

[05:21] original version. I remember hearing

[05:23] about that. I [ __ ] swear there's

[05:25] something nefarious of foot here with

[05:26] this. Someone must have cracked the One

[05:28] Wish Willow and made PlayStation

[05:30] higher-ups obsessed with live service

[05:32] games because for a while now they keep

[05:36] fixating on trying to deliver them and

[05:38] they're terrible. Poorly received, they

[05:40] flop, they lose hundreds of millions of

[05:43] dollars on all of their live service

[05:44] attempts. Some of them you probably

[05:46] don't even remember. Babylon's Fall.

[05:48] Anyone remember Babylon's Fall? that

[05:50] wasn't like a fully, you know,

[05:51] PlayStation exclusive that they were

[05:53] rallying behind super big, but it was

[05:55] another live service attempt that was

[05:57] console exclusive to PlayStation that

[06:00] only ever peaked at like 400 players. Me

[06:02] being one of them where Dankin and I

[06:03] went in to experience the worst goddamn

[06:05] live service game you could ever

[06:06] possibly [ __ ] imagine in a barren

[06:07] wasteland of emptiness and sadness.

[06:09] Like, they keep putting all their eggs

[06:12] in this basket of live service. And

[06:14] they're terrible games that are not

[06:15] being received well. They are being

[06:17] outright rejected by the community.

[06:19] Marathon is not performing where it

[06:21] needs to be. And yet the lesson they're

[06:23] taking away from it is that the

[06:25] community must want more live service

[06:27] games. So don't worry, we're going to

[06:28] keep doing it. Yes, I know we've lost so

[06:31] many hundreds of millions of dollars,

[06:33] which is why we've got to keep putting

[06:34] hundreds of millions of dollars in there

[06:35] in order to fix it. It's what you guys

[06:37] want. We got to revitalize live service

[06:39] games, baby. We're the ones to do it.

[06:41] Even though everyone collectively yawns

[06:43] at it, it's a snoozer. It's not what the

[06:46] the PlayStation community is salivating

[06:49] for. Clearly, the appetite's not there.

[06:51] Maybe it is if they had a good one,

[06:53] which they did called Destiny 2, but

[06:55] they mismanaged that [ __ ] into the

[06:57] [ __ ] ground. They put it in the dirt.

[06:59] They slowly hemorrhaged players for so

[07:01] long because leadership was clueless,

[07:03] sucking their thumb and making players

[07:05] suck their [ __ ] for terrible, a

[07:08] terribly long time with their awful

[07:10] decisions that eventually had people

[07:12] abandon it. And then they just recently

[07:15] stopped active develop on it development

[07:17] on it and canned a large chunk of the

[07:21] team behind it. But that was not only

[07:24] their most successful live service game,

[07:27] but also just one of the most successful

[07:29] generally most successful live service

[07:32] franchises, the most successful live

[07:35] service IP. And look at how they handled

[07:37] it. So there, even if Sony does find

[07:40] another unicornlike Destiny, there's no

[07:44] trust and faith that they'll be able to

[07:45] keep it alive forever or anything into

[07:48] the deep future like they keep wanting

[07:50] to do when we have a proven ineptitude

[07:54] here with how they handled Destiny 2 for

[07:56] so long. So why do they keep chasing

[07:59] this dragon? It's outrageous to me.

[08:02] PlayStation isn't doing well either.

[08:04] They had their They had their worst

[08:06] performing May in 26 years. I believe

[08:08] it. Xbox is about to have a catastrophic

[08:11] collapse, too, with their new price

[08:12] hike.

[08:14] You don't know that, brother. No one's

[08:16] buying an Xbox in general, let alone

[08:18] paying even more to own the [ __ ] dust

[08:20] box.

[08:22] I do know that, man.

[08:25] Xbox has not been getting anyone to

[08:28] spend money on their console, and now

[08:30] they've raised the price again.

[08:33] So, it's only going to get even worse.

[08:36] $800 for the Series X. I It's

[08:39] catastrophic.

[08:41] This is the day after Asha said gaming's

[08:44] becoming unaffordable.

[08:47] And then the next day, they announced

[08:49] the Xbox price increase.

[08:53] Everything went up $100 bare minimum.

[08:56] [ __ ] me, silly. Just look at these

[08:58] prices now. Look at these diabolical

[09:02] prices for an Xbox. A console that's

[09:04] already been struggling to get people to

[09:06] buy it in the first place and now it's

[09:08] even more expensive to buy it. Oh, baby.

[09:12] Wow. That's just gross. It's just gross.

[09:16] I know price increase was inevitable

[09:18] because of, you know, where memory

[09:21] pricing is because of AI. I get it. But

[09:24] holy [ __ ] going up by over $100 on

[09:27] multiple models, up to $150 on some of

[09:30] these models is just so outrageous. Have

[09:34] you thought about renting an Xbox? Oh,

[09:37] that's a good that's now that's a

[09:39] financially responsible decision. So,

[09:41] you can't afford to pay the $500 entry

[09:44] fee for the Xbox Series S, which

[09:47] broer series at 500 is nuts.

[09:52] And the Series X no disc drive 750.

[09:56] And then you want the disc drive on that

[09:58] 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.