Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "WARNER BROS. GAMES 2024: $300M LOSS, LAYOFFS & STUDIO CLOSURES"

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠Become A Patron Of The Notorious Mass Effect Podcast For Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme! Join Our Patreon Here: ⁠https://ow.ly/oPsc50VBOuH⁠In this segment of Notorious Mass Effect, Analytic Dreamz dives into Warner Bros. Discovery’s latest layoffs, impacting nearly 1,000 employees across finance, business affairs, production, and Max. With the finance division hit hardest and fewer than 10 Max staffers affected, Analytic Dreamz explores the cost-cutting measures under David Zaslav’s leadership. The discussion covers the broader context of WBD’s post-merger downsizing, the impact of 2023’s industry strikes, and the strategic shift of Max originals to HBO. Tune in for a detailed analysis of WBD’s challenges and streaming industry trends.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Getting into the Superior console, I mean, getting into PlayStation 5, we have to talk about Sony's announcement for the PlayStation beta program. As Sony's new PlayStation beta program offers PS5 and PC players a chance to test future games. Now along with that, you can also test PS5 features and updates to the PlayStation app and website. And this initiative aims to streamline beta signups into a single registration for multiple betas. Players must have a valid restriction-free PSN account and live in a region where the program is available and meet the legal age requirement. You know, when I was a kid, I'm not going to lie to you. When they asked my age, I put the most egregious thing possible. They was probably thinking to themselves, how was a 97-year-old?

playing our game anyways so accounts with violations may be disqualified I think they're talking to my younger self because that man was unhinged all right let's keep going so program details is free to join right participants are considered for various betas but may not be guaranteed access to every test a single registration allows players to express interest and multiple type of betas PS5 games PC games system updates etc. And if selected, players will receive an invitation and choose whether to join or decline. But you already know when it comes to the industry, them good old NDAs is always present. So as far as participants, they must sign an NDA and are restricted from sharing beta content or details outside of approved channels.

They will also be encouraged to report bugs and other issues. So this is pretty interesting. because of course the registration open March 4th 2025 it is March 31st 2025 so let me find out when the PlayStation beta closes PlayStation beta closes PlayStation beta program closes okay because as far as a beta program it seems pretty legit as far as people want to get into it maybe they don't want to test out a game maybe maybe don't have the financials to play new games so they was like well at least let me play a new game by helping them out right there's a lot of different ways you can look at it but as far as the

initial release date um there's been no indication of closure so okay so it's just going to be open for quite some time if you was wanted to test some games out um i think one of the main games that could have been tested out before before it came out was um star wars i think was jenai survivor let me see Star Wars Jedi Survivor. Yeah, that one. When that first came out, I loved the game. That's still one of my favorite games of 2023. But, of course, when it came to the recognition overall compared to other games,

people prefer those other games that was around the same quality or higher simply due to the fact that optimization was perfect when it came out. When it came to Jedi Survivor, that was far from the case. Now, I personally didn't really have any problems, which is why when I look back at it, I was wondering, It's like how are people having these problems when they're playing the game? But personally, I didn't run into any crazy bugs and glitches, but there was a lot of bugs and glitches reported with the Jedi Survivor.

And when that came out, I do believe that PlayStation's platform went through a lot as far as the release. And a lot of people saying the PlayStation version was pretty bad. So helping people out as far as testing the game, I think it's pivotal because not only do you need a lot of game testers to go throughout your game, but there's game testers out there that are professional that literally know how to look for broken spots in games and try to, you know, target that to see if it messes up or not. And then they report back to the developers. And overall, it just makes it a better game and a better optimized game for the public. Now, of course, one of the games that comes to mind for true gamers out there when we talk about optimization issues for,

Triple-A games is, of course, cyberpunk 2077. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have to get into one of my favorite games of all time because I played it after the aftermath of it just being a complete atrocity at launch to the point where the PlayStation had to come out and put a statement that they was taking it off stores and refunding anybody who bought the game, right? So currently, it's one of the best games I've ever played.

Obviously, that means, you know, they fixed all the bugs and things of that nature. So when I played it, I didn't have all the issues. that other people had when they played it when it first came out it was so bad that it deterred me from playing it like imagine cyberpunk 277 in the state it is today if that was the launch back in the past and you was like you know what let me wait to play that that's how bad the bugs were like it just wasn't it just wasn't enjoyable a lot of people are saying that it needed a lot of time in the oven and it came out prematurely which as of today if you're going to cyberpunk you're probably going to think it to yourself you're probably going to think to yourself why haven't i played this game before because

This is one of the greatest games I've ever seen. And to that, that is why these beta programs exist because people have to be aware of how they can help out the development process because the developers are working on any and everything throughout the process of putting out the game. They need some help when it comes to testing the game to try to figure out what is the most reoccurring bug that's game-breaking. Right.

So, registration. is already open as far as eligibility once again you must have an active PSN account and good standing be legal be of legal age and reside in a region where the programs is available now of course when it comes to the NDAs that's very important because you can't just have people beta testing something and coming out on the internet to say hey i play x one z and it has this this and this right you can't just you know that's how you get blackballed from the industry so participants must agree to to a non-disclosure agreement prohibiting sharing beta content so that being said click my link to my bio let me know one of my social medias what do you think about

Sony's PlayStation beta program announcement and at the end of the day are you going to sign up to help PlayStation stop putting it's to help PlayStation stop putting out bad or just buggy games