Video Gamers Podcast - The State of Gaming - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

Gaming hosts Ace, Ryan and Josh are back and in this gaming packed episode, we’re breaking down the current state of gaming. From what we’ve been playing, to what’s on the horizon. We chat the incredible run of video games we’ve had over the last couple year, the turmoil in the video game industry, and where video games may be headed in the next couple years. It’s another gaming packed episode from the Video Gamers Podcast! Thanks to our MYTHIC supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Phelps and Jigglepuf Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: HypnoticPyro, Patrick, PeopleWonder and NorweigenGreaser Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on X: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod?sub_confirmation=1 Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/  Follow us on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/videogamerspodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, fellow gamers, and welcome to the video gamers podcast. Gaming evolves over time and can change quite often. Sometimes we're in the glorious days of great releases and other times we're stuck with It Takes 2 as Game of the Year. today we're going to be checking in on the state of gaming as a whole from what we've been playing the emergence of indie devs what games the future holds and more but first some introductions are in order i am your host josh and joining me he's had his eyes open to an entire universe of gaming he didn't know existed prior to this podcast and well you got to give him credit. Like Charmander evolving into Charzard, this man has evolved into a higher form of

gamer is Ryan. Are you talking about Indies? Are you talking about Indies, man? Because I don't know if that qualifies, because I have, I have advanced, but I don't know if I've advanced. I feel like you're evolving, man. Thank you. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate it. Okay, so see, see, here's the problem, right? I try to give Ryan a nice intro and then he questions me when I just did. I'm not used to it, man. It's not, it's just to feel real. He's like, okay, yeah, you're right.

No, I feel like you got some sort of underhanded thing you're going to do. So, like, I'm like, I'm ready. I even made a Pokemon reference for you. Yeah. Man, man, now you know what? That's the last nice intro you get right. You know what's out of the state of this gaming. Charzard was a jerk.

Like, poor ass, dude. Charzard was a jerk. Wait, want to go like squirtle to like blastoys or something? No, squirrels the squirrels squad. There we go. I don't. Oh, no. You don't even know.

See, he doesn't even know. I don't know. I don't do Pokemon, man. I had to look up what the evolution of Charzard is. Hold on. Nope. Wait. Pause. No,

because I did not know. What's the middle evolution, Ryan? Charmilian. Yeah. Okay. I knew you. Charmander Charzardt. You want me to do the 151?

Dude, I could do it. Like, no problem. That is my. That is my. Yeah, that is my childhood. Don't mess with me, brother. Oh, man. All right.

Well, but point was, I looked this up for you, Ryan. Well, thank you, buddy. I appreciate it. I still don't trust you ever, so thanks. And joining us, not to be outdone by Ryan's evolution, he's realized that AAA games might just be pretty okay too. And there's a world where it's okay to play more than just indie games. It's ace.

I have decided to step down off my high horse finally, you know. Yeah. Okay. I let's just start off with this, guys. Cause like, Ace, you've been playing Battlefield 6 with us. I have, yeah. Your first battlefield experience. I know at first you were like, bro, this game's chaos.

But like, I feel like you were kind of starting to vibe like the last time we played. Dude, last time we played, I was really getting into it. Like, I got kind of over being bad at the game and just like, I can just do what I can do. And then like it came, it stopped being I can do what I can do to I can do well. Yeah. Yeah, and you started beating Ryan with zero kills. You know, like I, I mean, not that I was just, I wasn't trying to slam Ryan on this one, but I was just trying to compliment ACE to say like, you know, you started like figuring things out,

you know, and, and you were, you were a medic extraordinaire. And there was not once, but twice where you were higher on the leaderboard than Ryan. And like any proper gamer would do, you absolutely let Ryan know about that. live on stream i gave him the business apparently sometimes engineer is not rewarded as much as a medic so whatever you know i'll get my hands dirty greasy ace uh get some bloody and whatever so you know we're all risk our lives too yeah we're all here for the team yeah we're all here for the team what we know is that me and ace will dedicate our lives for this and then josh will just run over us and run away like that's what'll happen okay okay if we're talking if

We're going down this road. Oh, we're going down this road. You set me up. You were screaming at me to rest you. It was one time. No, no, no, no. It was not one time. And you did the whole like, don't leave me, bro.

And I'm watching your corpse get lit up by a tank, man. And you're like, Josh, come res me. And I'm like, no, I'm not resting you. I go running off. And it was like sad music starts playing. Ryan's like, you abandon me, dude. All I hear is excuses, bro. That's all I hear, man.

That's all I hear. trying to res you, I'm going to die. That's what I do. You know what amount of people that I run there? It doesn't help anybody. But I'll run through and I'll res five or six guys and then I die and I'm like, all right, cool. Well, I got five or six guys back up. Josh is like, well, if I go out there and I die, then I'm dead.

But then how will I get points? Like, what do I do? Or life are equal, Ryan. You know, me staying alive is worth more than those five scrubs, okay? Yeah. Uh-huh. I just can't wait till October 10th, that's all I'm saying. I can't wait either.

There was one match there where, like, I raised you like 10 times to keep your kill streak going. Oh, yeah. Dude, you did too, because I remember like when I finally did die. I was like, no, Ais! No! They finally figured out what was going on and decided to pick me off instead. Yeah. Oh, man.

Get the healer. Get him. Welcome in everybody. We are glad that you are here. man we we love talking video games um you know this one's gonna be kind of fun man we we were kind of chatting and we were like hey what should we talk about and we just went man you know sometimes we just need to vibe we just need to talk about gaming without any kind of strict rules or set topics or anything like that and then as we started thinking about it it was like you know what dude we have been we have

been flush with games over the last two years, dude. I mean, 2024 and 2025 have quite possibly been two of the best years in gaming that we have seen in a very, very long time. I mean, if you want to go way, way back, yeah, like, sure, there might be a year or two that was really, really good. But if you don't think that we are just feasting as gamers right now, like, you're playing the wrong games. Yeah, you know, if, if you don't think we are in just a, in, absolute peak moment for gaming right now. Like you need, number one, you need to listen to this podcast more often because we're going to make sure you're playing the peak games. But we kind of wanted to just talk about things as a whole. You know, like it's, it's good to kind of just touch

base on, you know, the games that we've been playing. Gamescom is literally going on right now while we're recording this. Ryan's going hunting to get us all some elk meat and, uh, and deliciousness. So we are recording this a little bit earlier than usual. But I mean, guys, you know, what a good couple years, man. And we've got so much to look forward to right now at the same time that it is, it is just an exciting time, dude. So like, I want to just start off by saying like, you know, obviously we cover games for the podcast.

We all have games that we fall back to. We just did that episode with like our crutch games. But is there anything that you guys have been playing recently that's and you know holding your attention you know famously we say hey we are coming out of these like dull days of summer there really hasn't been a whole lot of games that have piqued our interest over the last couple months but we're almost out of that now what have you guys been playing uh i have been playing a little turn based RPG called west of loathing i saw that dude you and i were talking about this the other day i need to look i need to rewatch this trailer

because i have seen this game and i remembered the art style because that was the one thing I asked just like, isn't this that like black and white The sketchbook kind of Stickman art style. It's a very simplistic art style, but the writing makes up for it and the gameplay mechanics. What is this game about, dude? Like, give me the 60 second

synopsis of this game. Well, you're going to leave home and make a name for yourself helping people all across the west and maybe while you're doing that, you're going to stop the cows from coming home and save the earth. Ace really wants to be a cowboy. No, I know. I don't. I

think there's a world where he really wants to Red Dead 2 has changed The second he can ever get into that accent, Ace is like, oh, all right, I'm at home. I've never heard the accent until Ace got forced to play Red Dead 2, and now it's like he can't go back, man. Well, you see this game.

I can't turn it off. I can't, I can't get it off. Oh, man, I'm just having a hard time here. Yeah, but you start the game by like choosing your name and then your class, of course. So, of course, for the name I chose, uh, doing your mom. First name doing, last name, your mom.

A's just said, hold on, Aces said a curse. You know, you just, a curse, you know, a curse. You did pick your class a curse. Oh my God. Dude. Oh, brother. I love this. I love that you pick this so that you have to talk in that accent.

Like, it just happens. This is fantastic. Yeah. The classes are not. your traditional classes either you got your cow puncher your bean slinger and your snake oiler i don't i don't which one would you like okay knowing nothing about this game ryan which one are you picking i'm a bean slinger yeah bean slinger i might i think i'm gonna oil that snake you're ready for them beans you all ready for them beans you never you never send beans like

these before brother. It is a like despite the simplistic art style it is a genuinely really good RPG and it like remembers everything you do like every choice you make has some kind of consequence at the end and you get to see like the result of everything you did. Like

you get to the end screen and it's like all right here's a theater of everything you did and what happened and it's like remember this person you helped yeah you didn't help them right they died oh no oh no i'll be honest i like games like that where you don't know it's super underrated people need to play these when you don't know the consequences of your choices to later i really like that because i am guilty of being like a save scummer where it's like if if it's like if instantly

i know the result and i don't like it like i'll reload because it's like well i didn't want that result and so i i actually like games where it's like we're not going to tell you until like 45 minutes later or maybe even like four hours later and then you get to see the result and that's what i'm like no like why but i can't go back at that point so then i just have to live with the consequences of my choices yeah oh who would want to do that there is no saving west of loathing it just saves automatically after you complete an encounter so you're screwed oh okay that too there's something about my brain where i hate it but then it's also like good for me in a way because then i don't have to worry about like the reloading or i

should say right now kind of thing yeah like there's there's just a give an example at one point you're trying to sneak around something and the narrators it's it's it's a voice by the way it's all you have to read it all but it's pretty simple it's like all right i'm gonna sneak around it's like really do you think you're sneaky and the option is like sneaky is my middle name is it really yeah doing your doing your sneaky mom or something like that and then from then on if someone ask you what your middle name is you have to say sneaky Oh, so they call you a liar. Oh, dude, that's awesome.

Okay, that's, that's not bad. Maybe I'll wish list it. Definitely should. Oh, look at Ryan. Like, using the wish list now. 16! We changed them after our wish list episode. Where is the wish list?

It's too long. I can't find it. What am I playing? Honestly, dude, I've been real busy with work, but I've, I, I, I have done nothing but play Battlefield. And I know that the beta just ended and we got a lot of time in with that. But that's, I just don't, I don't know what else to do with my life now. Like that's over.

What else do you play? What other games are there? Are there other games in this world? Like, I feel like there are. There are. I think. But there's other stuff here. I will say, I know we've been talking a lot of Battlefield on this podcast lately,

but the, the thing is like, gaming is just. fun, you know? And when you can play games with your buddies and you can have a good time and you're, you know, it's like, and everybody is just having a blast, whether you're winning or losing, but you're just vibe and dude, that is like peak gaming in my opinion. And Battlefield 6 has absolutely been that, dude. It is, it is the game since Hell Divers 2. Like honestly. Honestly, yeah, I would compare it to that. Yeah. It's like, I'm not like, it's just that is the level of fun that I am having playing Battlefield. and I'm not even a fan of the maps that were in the beta. You know, like I want the big maps that feel more like Battlefield and it's like we can get into is this like, does this feel like a battlefield of old and all that? But it doesn't matter. Like I just am having a blast playing it. I'm with you, Ryan.

I absolutely cannot wait till this game fully releases in October. I mean, my goodness, dude, we're going to be playing the heck out of that game. But it's just pure fun, man. Honestly, that's what it's about, and that's what we've been doing. What other game, like, I mean, we joked about it, but, like, Ace had literally zero kills that match. And he was above me, which is whatever, but we both contributed to the team. But, like, what other game can you go and be 0 and 12 or whatever he was and, and say, I had fun that match. That was an awesome time.

Not Marvel rivals. No, not Marvel rivals. You were not going to have a good time. Rage quit Marvel rivals. Homi is not having a good time if you go 0 and 12. But on something like this, like you just, when you're contributing to the team, obviously kills matter and they help and stuff like that. But man, if you can supply and resupply and then fix the tanks or medic stuff and help people and there's so many options to the path of victory that everyone can have a good time, I just, I love it. I'm so excited.

I am not getting paid by battlefield, but I sure would like to because I will change. champion them as much as I could. But, yeah, man, that's all I can think about now. Other than that, I'm playing a whole lot of nothing. Abysus. With you nerds, yeah. Yeah. I was going to bring up Abyssis.

We stream that the other night. We're going to do a deep dive on it as much as I want to share my thoughts right now. I will say, I will give a little bit of a tease that last night, Abysc turned a corner for me. And so it was really neat to kind of see that. So that's all I'm going to say as far as the tease for this is going to do. I will say, I will say I kind of. kind of saw that too in both of you like the yeah that corner so turn i was like oh my gosh some games just finally a little bit to get rolling man you know and and it's funny because

this was a big conversation on our discord server the other day right where there are and we've all been there right like famously the witcher three right like everybody we tell people red dead two is another one where we say hey just get past this point right like in the witcher three get to the Bloody Barrier quest line. You'll start to understand where this game takes off. Like, even TV shows, right? Like, let's take the office, for instance, right?

Oh. Everybody says, season one of the office is, it's really weird. They hadn't figured it out yet, but the office becomes one of the greatest TV shows ever made, which I actually agree with. I freaking love the office, right? Fantastic, yeah.

But the conversation was, like, if a game doesn't instantly grab you, it's not worth, like, putting into right like that was the conversation that was i'm not saying that's right or wrong but this was just the conversation that people were having where as we get older and we get busy because ryan i'm with you dude i like life right now for me is absolute insanity i know for you buddy it's crazy i like but you know but it's like dude sometimes pushing through is worth everything you know what i mean like it's worth everything because there's so many examples of tv

shows parks and rec is another one where it's like season one was kind of garbage man but then it takes off and if you just got it out it's like bro you were so rewarded for that dedication the witcher three is that example the snow level in red dead two i mean there are a thousand examples of this and i get it i'm not saying the people that are like you know that are short on time and aren't willing to do that or wrong but it's just one of those things where sometimes you are rewarded for sticking with something that you know is going to be good, even if it's not good right away, you know? And I feel like Abysus, when we were playing that last night,

I had that moment where I was like, okay, I think I might be seeing like the bright side of this finally. Yeah. We can get into it more because, again, I know I don't want to spill the game. Yeah, we can't say too much, but like, you know, but we are playing it. We will be covering that for an indie deep dive. I'm with you, Ryan.

I really haven't been playing a whole lot. Time is just very, very limited for me right now and probably will be for the next probably like three weeks and then I think it'll calm down. I did get a chance to play the Ball X-Pit demo. Oh, okay. Which I was kind of hyped for and I talked about. I will say I was pleasantly surprised.

I kind of think I might pick that game up still because I had fun with it. um i i had mentioned void breaker which we just got the announcement with gamescom that it is releasing into early access uh as that goes that game i really want to be able to play that game with friends that's you and wish you had multiplayer i really do i really wish it did but oh my good is if you haven't tried the void breaker demo and you like first person shooter rogue likes this one is absolute top notch um and that's really it guys like that's the extent of my gaming You know, yes, I play the occasional round of Harstown when I'm editing or, like I said, doing something else.

But that's, that's really it. The next game up for us, Metal Gear Solid, Delta 3, Delta Snake Eater, where's y'all's excitement levels for this one? I'm very excited. I love stealth games to begin with. And this, from everything I've seen about this looks really good. And plus, you know, Ryan's really, really hyping me up about it as well. Yeah. Ryan's hype level is absolutely infecting me.

It is. It's like a little virus. It's festering. I'm glad it's a virus, dude. There's nothing, man. Everything about Metal Gear Solid 3, it's probably overall one of the best of the Metal Gear Solid series. It's not my favorite, but the way the game plays out, the chaos, the characters, everything that's there. is amazing. So I am, I am beyond excited. I am so stoked. I never thought I'd get

rehashes on these games that I grew up with that that made me into a gamer. I, dude, Metal Gear Solid 1, like I always say, I got it on a demo disc and it was my life. It became something that I just, I just loved Metal Gear after that. And I played it a million times and then two and then three and then four and then five you know i just kept going so it was uh it was something that that that made a big imprint on me and i'm so excited for this what does it come out the 28th right 28th yeah man this sued yeah right around the corner yeah i'm gonna come back from this hunt and then disappear into metal gear and uh go find you know everything snakes poison uh here's i have a question for you guys okay because i am excited i played metal gear

Solid 5. I was very impressed with it. I thought it was a great game. I really enjoyed most aspects of the game. That's your only Metal Gear, right? What's that? That's your only Metal Gear Solid game. And Ace has played none. I played the old. Just Rising. Okay. I played the old before it was Metal Gear Solid Solid. So you played Metal Gear on the Nintendo. Right. Yeah. And I loved those. I thought that was like just groundbreaking games. But so my only experience with this franchise is Metal Gear Solid 5, which I was very impressed with. Do you guys ever like go into a game with like a little bit of like trepidation where it's like I want to like this game but like but what if I don't like it every time I buy an assassin's greed ever like gone into a game

like that Red Dead Red Dead Redemption too for you a yeah honestly yeah I wanted to like it I wasn't sure where it was going to land and I was terrified if I hated it like I'm getting stoned yeah I it's verbally like in all honesty I have a little bit of that with Metal Gear Solid Delta like I because I think like my experience with Metal Gear Solid 5 like I really enjoyed that It's like, bro, if it's anything like that, I will really enjoy this game. But like, there's a part of my brain that's like, but what if I don't like this one so much? Like, what if it's not as fun from a gameplay or like that kind of thing? It's a remaster.

So it is based on an older game. Like, it's just interesting because I think this is something that like every gamer gets where it's like you have that friend that's recommending a game or the hype level for this game. You know, and we see that in our community, right? Like, we see people that that have all different kinds of takes. and everybody's losing their minds over Hell Divers 2, you know, or something like that. And then they're like, I feel like there's something wrong with me, man. Like, why am I not hyped for this game or why is this not resonating with me kind of thing? And I am excited for Metal Gear Solid Delta, but like at the same time, I have a little bit of this like,

I really hope I like this game, like going on, man, you know? I don't know why. It's old school Kajima. So you're going to have some moments where you're like, What the heck? I'm okay with that, though. Yeah, and there's going to be some crazy goofy stuff, but the gameplay overall, the story, the way you kind of navigate the world. Like, I really genuinely think if you liked five, I think you'll like this one because I think this is better than five.

Okay, see, that makes me really excited at that point, you know, because I did really like five. I think the other thing is this is our first deep dive that we have done in a while. You know what I mean? It's kind of like, okay, we had the breakover the summer. there really wasn't anything super interesting. And so it's just kind of that like getting back into the groove of like, we're playing this game, we're going to cover it. So it's like, but goodness, I hope I like it.

I hope so too, brother. Yeah. So all right, listen, we got a lot more to cover, but we'll be right back after this short break. Reading, playing, learning. Stellist lenses do more than just correct your child's vision. They slow down the progression of myopia. So your child can continue to discover all the world has to offer through their own eyes.

Light the path to a brighter future with stellar lenses for myopia control. Learn more at SLR.com. And ask your family eye care professional for SLR Stellist lenses at your child's next visit. All right, we're back. We are just kind of chatting the state of video games right now. what we've been playing what's coming up um guys for this year for the remainder of this year what is the game that you're most excited for oh that's such a it's still silk song now that we i think it's still i mean we just got the news i think that's all of our answer right now

and maybe this is recency bias but we just got the news that silk song is confirmed for 2025 release like from the developers this is not like Somebody found it on an obscure website or in a profit report or something. Like they came out and they said, nope, it's releasing in 2025. I, dude, this is weird because I have said this before. I like Metroidvanias, but I cannot play multiple Metroidvanias, like, very often. But I have a played a while. I am hungry.

I am hungry for a Metroidvania right now, dude. Yeah. And Silk Song, it might be like one of my most anticipated games for the rest of this year. I mean, I just don't see a world where Silk Song flops, dude. Seven years of anticipation building to this moment, man. Like, oh, come on. Do not suck. Do not suck.

Silk Song is real? What? The Silk Song is real. I know Ryan was clamoring for this. And then we just got news that there was a demo available to play a Gamescom, which I don't want to say one of us called, but, you know, we called that. to yeah man i'm trying to think dude i mean it's it's been we've just been flush with games dude and isn't it weird that it's like you forget about some of the really good games that

you have played until somebody mentions it at the same time like you know like split fiction yeah honestly when split fiction came out oh my gosh we lost our minds over that game we had a blast playing it but it's like but you don't really hear anybody talking about split fiction anymore It doesn't mean that it wasn't amazing. It just means that's kind of how spoiled we are right now. Yeah. I got to play one of my most anticipated sequels, like, of all time this year. And, like, I forget it every time.

Like, oh, yeah, I played Tales of Iron 2 this year. Yeah. I mean, we got Expedition 33 this year that is, I mean, easily a top game of all time for a lot of people. You know, we have, we have games that are coming out, Ghost of Yote, is supposed. to release this year. I am really dude and I listen I I don't want to sound dumb but I because we works been nuts and gamescom is literally happening the day that we're recording this so I have not had a chance to catch up on everything but I saw some announcement that said there's some kind of multiplayer mode oh just like the first game to ghost of yote and that gets me really

excited there as well yeah yep yep um I mean we're going to be covering a lot of this gamescom stuff in our next twig episode so I don't want to get two in the weeds on that but I mean there are absolutely some games coming out this year that I am really, really excited for. You know, Ryan, in our latest indie episode, you just talked about light, no fire. Guys, there's so many games to be excited about. All right. We're calling this the state of gaming, though, right? So we can't, we can't talk about the state of gaming without talking about the kind of rise of the indie developers, the struggles of the triple.

developers because let's be honest if there's one thing that has happened absolutely like this is what doesn't make sense we're getting some of the best games in a really long time through 2024 and 2025 but at the same time we are seeing so much turmoil in the gaming industry like this should these two things don't jive man right like if we're getting these incredible amazing games and we're saying guys we're feasting we're feasting then why are so many like companies struggling and people are getting laid off and and and these downsizing and things like that like help me make it make sense because why it's it's weird you keep you keep seeing um you know record sales record wish list record uh this and that and in these developers and

they're they're making these great beautiful games they're selling like crazy and then hey they're laying off you know 400 people you're like what? Why? Like this, wait, wait, wait, hold on. Look, look what they just made. Look what they're selling and it's doing well. Why is this happening? So it's a wild thing. There's so many good games coming out right now. And in so many developers like are, I don't know, maybe trying to streamline this stuff or they have the stuff out in advance. Everything's done. So then they're like, all right, now we need to pull back. I'm not sure. how the business side of it goes but it's wild to see how popular a lot of this stuff is and then how many developers and studios and everything are pulling back on on their employment and laying off people and all that stuff it's it's been wild we keep seeing record number sales and then a bunch of layoffs so it's yeah i don't i don't know what to make of it and then you've got indie developers like the guys behind lisa p who you know they hit five million copies

this year because of Overture, and they gave all their developers a bonus and a switch two. It's like, yeah. Yeah. Like, it's just weird to me. And I have to wonder, I feel like over the last, we'll say, let's just call it a decade, right? Like, yeah, we'll call it that.

I think that we have seen this fear of innovation from AAA studios, right? Like, you know, the chasing of the live service format. movies too movies too it's not just yeah movies very stagnant we could easily do an entire episode on the fall of star wars and marvel as far as the death of those franchises dude like i literally just watched end game uh like three nights ago uh because it's one of my favorite movies ever that in infinity war also infinity war is way better than end game i agree i'm just putting that out there but um we can easily do a whole episode on that but i like I there is this weird thing that is going on where indie or I'm sorry triple a developers

have lost the desire to try to innovate anything and I think it's like it's a self-perpetuating problem right because we're going to dump 40 million dollars into developing this triple a game and if it doesn't click we'd lost a ton of money like a ton of money so we have to take the safest route imaginable to try to make these games, but when you do that, you are basically making the most basic chocolate chip cookie recipe imaginable, right? And it's like, we all like chocolate chip cookies. It's hard to make a bad chocolate chip cookie. But when you've got grandma over there that has like, man, I realize that if I put this in my chocolate chip recipe, it is going to blow people's minds, right? And then so grandma's willing to take the chance.

right like it's like and she makes the best cookie that I knew but it's like these triple A studios aren't willing to do that man and I think what happens is we just wind up with these bland soulless games where there is this massive disconnect between them and gamers and it's like we're seeing this over and over and over again we see it with Ubisoft I mean we see it we've seen it with blizzard or EA you know a lot of these companies where it's just like borderlands now right like we just got them talking about borderlands four i have concerns is it going to be bad no i don't think borderlands four is going to be bad but is it going to be routine right is it just this is the fourth installment really probably like the six or seven because it got the weird

offshoots and stuff but it's like ace one of your favorite franchise is assassin's creed yeah have you been blown away by an assassin's creed game in years no i've been satisfied but i've not been Exactly. Satisfied is a good answer for that. But it's like, but why? You know what I mean? Because they're scared, dude. They're scared. And when you make games when you're scared, I think you're going to inherently lose. You know, and not to bring up Battlefield 6 again because like, but it's like they all they had to do was just shut up. Listen to the gamers for a minute. Now, the sad part is is that all of this had to come off. the heels of Battlefield 2042, which was absolute travesty to that franchise. We don't say that name. We don't say that name. Yeah, I know. Right.

But it's like, but thankfully somebody at EA went, we got to fix this. This is a disaster. This is a cash cow. So they brought in Vince Impanella who actually, I think, was very instrumental in turning this around. I'd agree. And now we have a battlefield that most people are excited about. Is it perfect?

No. Is it way better than most of the battlefields lately and enough to get gamers interest? again. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The numbers don't lie. Yeah.

But it's like, but dude, why do you, why can't you just listen, right? Like, why can't you just listen to gamers and go, what do you guys want?

What do we need to do to make this franchise great again? You know? And I think they just get in their way. And then you have the indie developers that are giving us some of the greatest indie games that we have seen, guys expedition 33 for me and many many other people is a top 10 game of all time dude like that is that is saying a lot dude kingdom come deliverance too song coming out like we've got all of these incredible indie developed games that are blowing people's minds but at the same

time because it's not all just roses like how many indie developers make a game that just doesn't ever get recognition or doesn't click and that studio just closes their doors because you you didn't you didn't figure it out it's had to have happened like tens of thousands of times by now like surely because there is such a overflow of games and anyone in their mother can make a game now you just get overshadowed if you're not a triple a developer who could afford all this advertising and there's also the zeitgeist where people there's like well triple a's better why would I bother. Yeah.

Honestly. It's a hard thing to fight. I mean, because most of the time, AAA is better. It's better production, better performance, better voice acting. It's like a better scene. For the vast majority of people,

it sits well. That doesn't mean to say, like, I mean, like we said, Expedition 33, that's an indie. You know, it is, it is one of the best games ever made and you can't really argue that fact so you have to take these things you know for what they are

like these people put in the time the effort the cream will rise to the top like the the best stuff will always be there some may you know fall through the cracks and it's a bummer you know and that's but that's just life that's the that's the hard part is like not everyone's going to play everything some people may have played and be like man this game was so good i don't know what happened I'm bummed that it never turned into anything. And I'm sure everybody's got a game that they can mention for that. But for the most part, I think a lot of the stuff that is worthy is going to, it's going to hit. There's enough people.

There's enough with the internet and how everyone can kind of collaborate to where the good ones are going to hit. Gamers communicate with each other. That's one thing that I'm not sure a lot of like developers understand. You know, and I get that it's hard, right? Like I see it all over social media, especially we love indie devs. Like I actually like DM a few of them and say, hey, you know, your game looks awesome. Like keep it up, that kind of thing. You know, we're going to talk about it on our show or something like that.

And, you know, one of the things that I love is that they're very personal. Like, they will actually respond and say like, hey, thank you. Or it's awesome that you noticed or something like that. Bro, if I send EA an email, I ain't getting nothing. You'll get a link to support. you know like so but i saw that i want to see if you guys agree with this statement because i saw something the other day that that really resonated with me where it says indie developers are the ones that innovate triple a studios are the ones that refine that innovation like indie studios are

not innovating right they but what they do is they take these ideas from these indie developers that are willing to innovate and take risks and then they refine it right like this is what we're talking about, Ryan, with the graphics and the voice acting and they take this idea or this innovation or this genre or gameplay or whatever. And then they say, okay, well, how can we refine this into this like awesome experience for people? Right. I would agree. And I think it's a thing like, like, you know, I'm not, I'm not a big fashion guy, but it's like one of these things where it's like, you know, the fashion industry kind of, I know. It's hard to believe. But it's like in the fashion industry you have these like really out there ideas that kind of slowly trickle down

until you're buying this at Walmart right and it's like you know if your clothes are on sale at Walmart you're probably making millions of dollars like as gross as it sounds and we're all like oh it's Walmart but at the same time if you're closer in Walmart guess what like they're very popular you know that's where a majority of people are going to buy their clothes right so it's like so it's like i think it's kind of the reverse right where it's these indie studios are the ones that are willing to take these chances and say hey how about this and if it catches on great and then you see the triple a studios go okay somebody had a good idea now let's refine it let's make it pretty let's make it sound good let's make it popular to the masses at that point

and let's see if we can capitalize on it what i like about that that's a bad thing you know here's the deal dude indie indie studios they make a game based on what they want to make and obviously they want to make money on it they want to have it be successful but they make it based on like the idea of what they're creating triple a's make it based on will this make money yeah they they want they want things to work and they want it to be good but it's it's the core of it is will this make money you don't go into that as a triple a and you're just like i want to make a game you know you don't do it like i want to make a bunch of money it's like i think this is a great idea i love it like inventors they don't they're not inventing

uh just for like oodles of cash they want to invent because they love the process they love to create they want to they they they think they see a problem and they want to fix it like that's what they're doing and that's kind of what indie developers do with this stuff but i will say like they don't have the funds behind them so then triple a's can come in and say hey this guy has a pretty good idea of here. Let's kind of tweak it a little bit and we're going to make a whole buttload of cash and we're going to make a good and then they do it. So, man, it's, it's hard. It's hard to how they, uh, between the two, but I do think the passion and the excitement is always there with the indies. It's kind of like a cycle. The AAA studios inspire the

indie devs to make their own games. The indie devs make an innovative game. The AAA studios refine that game and then it all starts again. But then the AAA studios, like they overdo it and then they overdo it and then they lose that's the thing right like that's the thing is it's oh this was awesome you know so let's just let's just make like eight versions or eight sequels of this game until it's like you forgot what made this game awesome in the first place and then they don't know when to just let that go or just stop and maybe sometimes just talk to gamers and go guys like we we don't remember what you loved about this franchise like can you help us out here you know and then we go sure like you need to get back to this this and this and

this but it's like they can't ever do that for some reason and that's like the whatever we're making another BR we're making another BR I don't care what it is they're not going to admit they're wrong are you kidding me is the is the battle royale genre still alive it's dead it's got to be dead like I mean I kind of feel that way guy and and listen I know that that's a dumb statement because like war zone and apex are probably still insanely popular and fortnight is still probably one of the most played games out there so it's like I get it but it's like but I all I do feel like that genre's kind of dead. They don't wind down, I think.

Do you see like, it's almost there? I haven't seen a new battle reaer where people are like, ooh, I'm hopping on this and it's like, oh, everyone's playing this big battle reaer on it. Ever still playing the same ones from like ages ago? That's why I think,

I think it's dead because there is nobody that is trying to enter that genre because you cannot compete with Apex Warzone and Fortnite. And I think everybody knows that at this point, and they go, why would I even try? But the inherent nature of that is those games will slowly die, you know? we've got to have the player base

and this is why Tom the Tapman no you're not getting BR you're not getting BR in Battlefield 6 no we're not just going to let you have it no all you streamers all you scumbags all you cheaters everyone out there you're not touching Battlefield

leave it alone let us have it please we need it Leave it alone Leave it alone All right guys we got to wrap this up but I want to ask you one more question And I'll give my answer first just to kind of, kind of, you know, hint at what I'm looking for here, right? But the state of gaming overall in today's day and age, right?

Like, I feel like we are getting some of the best video games that we have ever seen, like legitimately. I mean, some of these are just mind blowing, dude. Like, whether it's the music, the story, the gameplay, the graphics. I mean, some of these game trailers now, I, like, bro, the little kid in me is like, I never thought games could look like this. You know, like, so, like, I, I am still, like, in awe and wonder at what we can create for entertainment for our, you know, for people. So I think we're actually in, like, this almost like peak of gaming right now.

That's not to say that I think it's going to decline. I just think we're, we're honestly playing some of the best games that have ever been made. And yet at the same time, I feel like the gaming industry is more tumultuous than it's ever Ben. And that is a weird thing to try to wrap my head around. But if I had to say this is how I sum up like the state of gaming for me, that is it. Like I like I think we are experiencing some absolutely incredible some of the best games I have ever played. And at the same time, it's like what the heck is going on in this industry right now at the same time. Absolutely. Absolutely. Like listen to this, dude. So in 2024, like just some of the games. We had Astrobot. Amazing. Shadow of the Ertree. Amazing. Metaphor refantazio.

I hear it's amazing. I know that that's amazing. I'm not too big on this one, but Dragon's Dogma too. But then, and then this year, we have things like Expedition 33, split fiction, like Death Stranding 2, supposed to be really good. I mean, there's just blueprints, civilization. You know, Vowd wasn't the best, but Doom was awesome. There's just, even if it's not a top, top tier banger. there's still quality games and it's just one after another after another and it's it's we're uh in

a wealth of riches and like uh there's games are falling from the sky and smacking us in the face and we just don't know what to play and and so it's when you when you have uh your library and you're like man what can i play because there's so many games that i want to like that's a good problem to have and and i think that's been the case the last couple years like there's there's been so many things that have been released that are of a really good quality and in and should be played you know so so man we're we're in a good good state of gaming right now I think I think this last couple years have been amazing yeah I would say we're in a gaming renaissance like we've really seen a lot of you know advancements in graphics and

honestly voice acting thank goodness uh yeah yeah but we've also seen like you know more affordable games come to light for people who can't spend $70 on every new release that comes out via the Indies. We've got options like GamePass to let people try out these really expensive AAA games. But at the same time, it's just really disappointing that we're getting these

high quality games. Studios are getting, you know, record profits and we're still seeing massive layoffs. And we're seeing all these developers and these artists lose their jobs. She's like, well, we're having... We're having the greatest gaming times of our lives with all these great games. And then, like, the devs

behind them, I'm just gone. Like, just go Elysium. I always think about what happened to those devs. Yeah. It's a weird thing to try to wrap our heads around me because it feels like if we're, if we're playing, you know, if we're as gamers saying, hey, like this is awesome, I feel like

it should be awesome for everybody. Yeah. Like even the people that are making the games, but it's not. Yeah. I want to celebrate with them. Look at, but look at Sanfall Interactive, dude, like with Expedition 33. Like, they're right. They're at the, like, the height of the world right now, dude.

You know, and it's like, all you have to do is make a good game, dude. You know, like, I know that's, and it sounds so simple. And it's like, bro, I'm not a developer. I can't make it, like, I don't know what it takes. I know as a gamer, what I like, and I, like, I've been doing this long enough that it's like, I know what other gamers are going to like, we can call it. Like, how often do we talk about a game where we're like, everybody listen to us, this game is going to be great, you know?

Strike while the iron is hot. Right. exactly you know so i don't know man this is a it's a fun topic to to kind of just take a step back sometimes and kind of go like you know as a whole like how do we think about this all i know personally bro i've been a gamer since i was four years old like legitimately since i was four years old i've been gaming i will be a gamer till the day i die like like legitimately dude you know i see people talking about like you know is there ever an age where you're going to stop gaming and it's like Why would I do that, dude?

Like, that doesn't make any sense to me. So it is a good time to be a gamer. I do know that, man. And there's a lot of exciting stuff on the horizon. Support your indie devs. This is something we say all the time because all that innovation and passion and love that we see that comes from them. I am not opposed to AAA games. Like some of my favorite games of all time are AAA studios.

And so it's like, I really appreciate the fact that they can take these and make them the mind-blowing experiences that I've ever seen. And so there's, there is value to that as well. Um, and so it's, it's nice to kind of see when it works in harmony. It just really sucks when you see then it's not a good situation. And then I feel bad for the developers and the people that get affected by that. So all right, boys, we got to get out of here, man. We can talk about this stuff forever.

Thank you everybody for joining us for this episode. We want to know what you think. How do you feel about gaming? Like, where is it at in your mind? Is it peak? Is it the bottom of the barrel and you wish things would be different? We want to hear from you. Leave a comment on this episode.

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