Video Gamers Podcast - [TWIG] - What Is Xbox Doing?! GTA VI Collector’s Edition, Destiny 2 & MORE – Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan, and Ace are back breaking down the biggest stories in gaming! Xbox is restructuring once again, the GTA VI Collector’s Edition has everyone talking, and Destiny 2 drops some major news. We’re digging into what’s actually happening, what has us excited, and what has us shaking our heads. From massive video games to questionable corporate decisions, there’s plenty to argue about in this one. Grab your controller and join us for another dose of gaming news, video games, and pure gaming chaos on the Video Gamers Podcast!   Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf, Phelps, Bobby S, NorwegianGreaser, Dettmarp, DingusKhaaan and NightWizard63   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: Milkman, Drewsky, Jigglepuf and BadGam3rDad   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/videogamerspod⁠ Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/h2cHKAvSmu Follow us on Instagram:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/⁠  Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@videogamerspod Follow us on X:⁠ https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod⁠  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod     Visit us on the web:⁠https://videogamerspod.com/⁠   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, fellow gamers, and welcome to the Video Gamers podcast. If there's one thing about the video game industry, it's said it's rarely boring. From a complete turnaround by Bungee by bringing back Destiny to a $400 collector's edition for GTA6 that doesn't even include the game, we've always got stuff to talk about. We've got all the news you need to know about. But before we get to that, some introductions are in order. Order. I am your host, Josh, and joining me, following in the steps of Microsoft, we decided to make him our head of indie games. It's Ryan. All righty. First thing we're going to do is we're going to get rid of all Metroidvanias. All Metroidvians are gone.

Ace was like, wait a minute, what? No, no, no. I totally understand the company's decision. Okay. All right. Just making sure you're a company man then. Of course I am. And joining us, this might be the first time he's not buying a collector's edition. And well, that's really saying something. It's A's. Do you know how bad your collector's edition has to be for me to not want it? What do you say? I'm not even like tempted at all. I'm saying this. I'm saying we got a collector's edition coming up that sucks.

That's what I'm saying. To set the bar for this ace, how did you feel about Fallout 76's collector's edition? Oh, the one with the nylon bag? The canvas bag. It was nylon and it sucked. High quality. I had a cousin. I had a cousin who bought that and he was so mad.

He was so mad. That might be the other one where it's like, what the heck just happened here, people? Well, we got the game with that one. Yeah, man. We have a ton of news to talk about. And this is one of those times where this, every now and then we shake our head and we just go like, what are you doing people? Like, what do you do? What's happening?

You know, sometimes we have good news. Sometimes we have bad news. Sometimes we have industry news. And then sometimes there's the just, what the heck? What the heck are you thinking? And that's the news today for the most part. So we are going to get into it in just a second because we have some news of our own. And that's that we have a brand new review that we're going to read.

What do you got for us, Ryan? All right. We got this beautiful five-star review titled Would Put Six Stars If I Could from Charles Demaris. Seems like right. I don't have a pulled up, Brian. So I'm just trusting your first mistake. Well, we're going to go with, we're going to go with Damaris. And it reads as follows. This isn't like other gaming podcasts. It's just some good friends hanging out and talking about games. and not dropping F bombs every few seconds. It's refreshing, informative, and just plain... Beepin fun. It's bleeping great. I added that last part.

I did ab a little bit there. But thanks for the review. Awesome review. What the bleep, Brian? What the bleep? What's going on around here? Also, you know, it is possible to carry out a conversation and make a point without needing that.

And people ask us all the time, right? Like, are you guys just against it? Like, you know, we cuss sometimes, man. We're people. It's just that gaming, we honestly feel like gaming is for everybody, no matter your age. And it's one of those things where we want kids to be able to listen to this podcast. We want parents to be able to listen to this podcast with their kids. And that's one of the ways that we just help that to happen.

You know, people ask us, like, are you guys like super against it or anything? It's like, no. Oh, gosh, no. I've worked on fishing, but. It's people and embody shops. Like, I've heard my share of things. Tune into a stream on occasion. Yeah, exactly.

We will usually slip within that four hours. Yeah, but we do, we do, we do try to keep it family friendly just because we believe the gaming is for everybody. And we don't want to exclude younger people from being able to listen because of a bunch of cussing and things like that as well. No reason everyone shouldn't be able to sit around and listen to it. Exactly. Yep. All right, guys, we got, we. It's just what is happening.

It's been a weird week, guys. It's been a really weird week. Well, we're going to dive in. And the first one, you know, I will say, listen, I think they're making some really weird choices here and there. But I do appreciate the transparency that we're getting from Xbox. I'm not saying that they're doing everything right. In fact, they're not doing everything right. But I do at least appreciate the fact that they are sharing what they're doing everything right.

doing with people in a candid manner without all of the really annoying PR speak. Like, we're going to have, we hired a PR speak corporate speak translator for this episode for later on that you guys are going to be hearing from. But we don't need it with Xbox because Xbox is at least saying, look, we're ditching the PR speak. We're not trying to fluff everything and make it sound like everything is gravy and all this stuff. And so I will say, I do at least appreciate this, even if I do think that you're making some

pretty dumb choices. But first up in the news is some more restructuring going on at Xbox. With perhaps the biggest news out of this is that Activision is taking over development of Halo. Oh, boy. Call a Duty Master Chief Collection. Oh, don't say that, A. Oh, it hurts.

Oh, it makes me feel so gross. Oh How long did Halo Studios last? Like, Halo Infinite? That was it? That was it, right? One new game. I think that was it, right?

I'm pretty sure that. Yeah, I was, and did they even make? Did they make the remake? It's going to come up to Master Chief and he's going to be like, I need a mini-purchase gun. Micro-transaction gun. I need that hell diver skin D.L.C. Yeah, Halo Infinite was made.

Well, at the time, I don't know that they were called Halo Studios. I think they were still 343. Officially it was rebranded to Halo Studios in 2024. Halo Infinite was really, oh my gosh. So they didn't even make a game? They did they make a game under the Halo Studios brand? Did they make the remaster? Hey, guys, I know this is what we're named after, but you know, like.

Please tell me they made the remaster. All right, well, listen, while one of you look that up, like, explain what's going on to people here. So, all right. So we got another email from, um, from, uh,

a, right? Yeah, for the, the new CEO, um, that basically said, hey,

this is what's going on. Here's some changes that are happening. We're consolidating people. We're laying off a bunch of people. So the first thing that happened with this is 268 people, uh, with role, 268 roles across Halo Studios and other first party studios were let go.

ACE is laughing. Did you get the answer? Ace is laughing. Did you get the answer. Oh. Yeah. Yeah, they made it. They made the remake or the remaster?

Halo campaign evolved. Okay, so they made a remaster. Not a game. They just made a remaster. They made a one remaster and then got shut down. Oh, no. Gosh. Good grief.

Well, rip Halo Studios. You had it coming. So 268 people getting eliminated, aka slash roles. Yeah, that sucks. Here's where it gets weird. Because they're consolidating something. of these studios into their bigger bigger studios, I guess.

The big one, the Activision. Yeah. So Activision is expanding to absorb world's edge as well as rare. People like rare, you know. We haven't seen a game for rare in a while.

Well, Sea of Thieves, I think, was the last one other game. Perfect Dark. How did they put another rare game? Oh, the remake? The remake that got canceled? The original was rare. The one that got canceled. I mean, Rareware's the ones

I just remember the logo Spinning. Yes, I know, which Rare had some really, really good pedigree for a while there as well. So, okay, that totally makes sense to have Activision expand to take over Rare, sure, and World's Edge. Activision is also going to be developing

the next Halo title. What a strange choice. I don't know about that one, people. Led by a new, now here's where. they try to clarify for the people like us that just gagged a little bit. It said that it's led by a new purpose-built team that is separate from ongoing development and plans for Call of Duty. Sure.

Sure. That's why we put it under Activision people. That's why it's under Activision. It definitely won't be an Activision game. And just to make everybody feel better that just gagged a little bit like we did, a small team at his Halo Studios, which doesn't exist anymore, will continue supporting the Halo community and games in market. Okay. How are they going to support anyone?

They can't support themselves. Exactly. You didn't even get to make a Halo game. You made a remake. Oh my gosh. Okay. So then Bethesda, because Bethesda is a major studio. Right, guys?

You remember when Microsoft bought Bethesda? Right? And Starfield and all the Bethesda IPs fallout. You know, that good stuff. Sky, the Elder Scroll 6. You know, hey, we're getting that at some point in the next decade, right? If they ever go off strike. Likely.

Yeah. So Bethesda, well, we got to task them because they make great games now, right, people. So Bethesda is going to expand its, they're calling it a remit. I don't know what a remit is, people. So Bethesda is going to now oversee Obsidian who. Didn't Obsidian break off from a Bethesda to begin with? I think so. Yeah, at one point.

I think so. Because they worked on Fallout New Vegas and then they moved on. So Bethesda is absorbing obsidian, which will continue its current projects, including grounded. Now, grounded is great. Okay, that's what I was grounded too. Grounded? Grounded's a great game. Bethes is taking it over.

So there go all the animations and the facial expressions and all that stuff, as well as a new Fallout project made in collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios. So, you know, I don't know how you guys feel about Bethesda lately, but I feel like they're falling off, man. Aside from Doom, they don't do much. They really don't. They don't. Is Id under Bethesda?

They are, yeah. Are they? Yeah. Okay, well, at least we didn't hear about ID software. So they just keep making Doom. I think is fine. Yeah. Okay.

Hopefully. But I'll be honest, Bethesda, they're not that great anymore. Well, they don't put anything out. Maybe under school six is going to be great. You can't be great if you can't be great if you have Starfield? They put out Starfield, Ace. What are you talking about? The greatest new IP and generation from Bethesda. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I've bought a lot of copies of SkyRome over the years. Yeah. I keep buying this game. You're their number one client, Ryan. I am.

It should not, also, it should not take 10 years to make a game, people. Aren't we supposed to be getting a remake of New Vegas? Don't say that. Don't say that. Yes. We need Elder Scroll 6. Which I would totally buy. That was the last thing I heard Bethesda was working on was a remake of New Vegas. All right. Stop it.

Stop it. And now they have it. We need Elder Scroll 6. We need Fallout 5. You know what I mean? Like, come on, man. Hold on. When was that announcement?

The Elder Scrolls, uh, El Scrolls. Wasn't it like 13 years ago? It was like five years ago. It was like in like 2018 or something like that. Yeah. It was a long time ago. June 11th, 2018. That, that beautiful cinematic.

where like overlooked the area and then it's like getting it in two years there's scroll six and I'm like yeah I like how this year Todd Howard said they started working on it yeah all right so anyway confidence lost there

and then they did announce that King that's handling their casual mobile games I'm pretty sure King is like candy crush and all that which makes them a bazillion dollars so billion dollars uniting two of the global leaders and then playground and turn 10 will come together as one studio.

Now, these, you know, sometimes there's pairings, guys, like, you know, like apples and cinnamon, chocolate and peanut butter, and Fawrza and Fable. Onions, onions and caramel. What am we doing? You're putting the two studios that made Forsa and Fable together? At least Forsa looks real pretty. I've got to give them that. It's beautiful looking.

It's beautiful looking, guys. So there you go. And then they did announce. You know, of course, the really sad news from this one is that Ninja Theory did not get picked up by anybody. That's the makers of Senwa Saga. Bummer. Which I know people, those games are a little bit hit or miss, but they are very memorable games. You remember, you know, the gameplay, whatever, you know, the story is really good.

The characters are great. But, like, Ninja Theory did not get picked up. And then we kind of already know what happened with compulsion and double fine. Yeah. With not really getting support there either and being able to return to their own. studio slash IPs at that point. And then Arcane Studios is up in the air, right? And they're consulting with Arcane remains underway.

So we don't have a final, final answer for Arcane Studios. How the Mighty have fallen. Oh. Remember when like, you say that with Arcane, but that's Bethesda. That's Activision. Like the only thing that keeps Activision going is Call of Duty. It's Cod. Cod is the only thing that keeps the Activision running.

I don't, look, we appreciate the transparency, but I don't know what's going on. And honestly, I think Xbox has some absolute banger games coming out. Like, Clockwork Revolution next year, Fable next year. Like, there is a lot to look forward to as gamers. But at the same time, these are games that were pretty much already close to being finished when all this shakeups started happening. So I am very much in a, I don't believe it until I see. kind of thing on this, that these changes that they're making are going to make a lot of sense for gamers and actually make the Xbox and Microsoft brands like a beloved name to gamers again.

I hope Arcane at least gets to finish that Blade game they're working on because I feel like Blade is a curse franchise. Yeah, yeah. It's well, vampire games in general, man. They're hard to do. Yeah, they already have their show. They already had one shot at that and they messed it up. Yeah. Yep.

so all right well there you go that's your Xbox that's your latest update with the restructuring and the halo what's happening with Halo and how do you whiff one of the greatest franchises ever like legitimately how does that happen I don't know you malnourish it like Halo was iconic it to this point it's it's Halo is one of the most iconic franchises that exists in gaming guys the greatest fall off in gaming yeah they made that grumpy chicken there trying to talk crap to Master Chief and then just a bunch they just try to change the game from what it is. Yeah.

Well, but hold on, I'm spending some money, guys. I'm spending 400 bucks here. Hold on. Oh, you are.

Okay. Well, Ryan spends $400 on what better not be this collector's edition. We're going to take a quick break and then we're going to come back and talk about the GTA six collectors edition. We will be right back. Ryan, I just got to notice for Rocksta.

Rocksta, $400? What is that? Oh, don't worry about that. Is that a mouse or a gaming chair finally? I just had to buy some sunglasses, dude. I did it. I came with some extra perks is all. Like, that's all.

Oh, yeah. Extra perks like the game. Like the game for sure. I mean, I think so. I would assume so. It's a package, right? Well, let's just read the fine. Yeah.

Oh, okay. I made the mistake. I did not do that. So I guess we should look at it. Well, I mean, okay, before we get ahead of ourselves, guys, before we get ahead of ourselves, the GTA 6, the game of the, the decade. decade, right? Like, the game that's going to break all other games,

or at least this year, right? Right? Maybe. Yeah, sure. Maybe. Okay, maybe. All right. Well, okay.

Fine. Apparently, I'm on an island here. GTA6 announced their collector's edition. Guys, this is going to come with like some incredible statue. Like a VR map or like a soundtrack or that's on like, you know, it's going to be great, right? $400, man. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Okay, so let me just go through. I'm going to go through everything that comes with this $400 collector's edition. All right. All right, all right, all right. $400. Let me just clarify. $400 is still a lot of money, right? Like, I know inflation and things are getting more expensive and all that.

But like, 400. You got to remember the game is $80. So you got to take that out of the price, surely. Okay, that's fair. So let me go through this list. Here's what you get with the $400 collector's edition. a six-inch maca the gator figurine. Okay, so you get some pink, pink alligator guy.

Is he a mascot for GTA? I don't know this guy. Why does he look AI general? But it comes with a stash compartment that you can put your drugs in, apparently. So there you go. That's exactly what I was looking for. That's exactly what I was looking for, man. So at least you get, you do get a figurine.

This may not be a very high quality. I mean, look at Aces background. You know, so maybe it's not one of those, but it's at least a pink alligator with a stash compartment. That's the main, that's got to be the main selling point. You do get a pair of Oakley frog skin sunglasses. We all know that Oakley's are very pricey. That's a top of the line sunglasses there.

You get a hat, a snapback hat. It's a new era 940 snapback hat. Hats are expensive guys. Here we go, man. We get all this swag going on. Okay, you get a mock of the gator magnetic mirror. So, you know, who doesn't want to check themselves out? Figure and a mirror of the gator, I guess.

Well, if you put the, now here's the thing. There's an icon of GTA, Ryan. Like, come on. Yeah. But also, if you put the gator in front of the mirror, it's like you have two gators then. Oh, yeah. At the same time.

So you kind of double your gator. Double gator. Okay. A vice city swizzle spoon. What the heck is a swizzle spoon? Anybody know what a swizzle spoon? Is that a crack spoon? Okay.

That's what I'm wondering. Is this like a crack spoon? Okay. It looks like a very long spoon to me, people. Somebody can explain what a swizzle spoon is? Okay. But who doesn't need a spoon in your collector's edition, guys? Right.

I mean, okay. All right. All right. You get a razor blade keychain. What do you? Okay. So wait a minute. A spoon, a razor blade, a stash compartment, a hat and sunglasses.

I'm sensing a drug theme here, people. Yeah. Okay. I see where they're going with this. I see where they're going with this finally. Okay. You get a fanny pack. Who doesn't want a fanny pack guys?

These things are making a comeback or they're never came in the first place? I'm a fanny pack guy for sure. We know, Ryan. We know. Okay. You get a shot glass for those of you that don't partake in needing razor blades, spoons, and stash compartments, right? So you get a shot glass. That's cool.

And then you get nine enamel pins, nine premium vinyl stickers, a double-sided souvenir poster with the map of Leonida. And am I missing any? No, I'm double-checking this list. Let's see, $400. The gator, the sunglasses, the hat. Well, no, it sounds like it's all there as long as the game's there as well. The fainty pack, a shot glass, enamel pins, stickers, poster? Yeah.

Yeah, it's that in the game. I mean, they probably didn't list it. Yeah, that's the same. I can see where they're, you know, the cover for the postage there. Wait, guys, I'm looking at the photos. I'm looking at the promotional material. I'm looking at the list that was pulled directly from their website. And it's got to be a mistake.

The game's not listed. No. What? You can't charge $400 for a collector's edition and not put the game in. Like a steelcase box with the like a holographic cover of your, you know. There's no disc. A product code. A game key.

A game code. So guys, it doesn't include the freaking game. It doesn't have the game. Why are we selling something for $400 calling it the collector's edition of the game? And not including the game. Okay. Guys. Number one, the hat is ugly as sin.

Who cares about a stupid pink. Alligator. I don't even know what this alligator has to do. What is the alligator have to do with Georgia? Someone explained. Is it just because of Florida? Probably. Okay. Oakley's like, okay, like some people like Oakley's. Some people don't like Oakley's. They are a, they kind of have a look, you know, and it's like, I get that Oakley's are expensive. So I did a little digging and a little research and I went, okay, what is the actual real world value of these items if you

were to strip away the branding, right? Because like, let's be honest. You're paying, you're paying $120 for some Oakley sunglasses. You're paying for the Oakley on the side. You're not getting this incredibly amazing pair of sunglasses, right? So this estimated nine branded value is $150 to $190, guys. Oh, my gosh. And you know that 70, I'm sorry, about 50% of those conservatively is the sunglasses alone. Oh, my gosh.

So you're telling me that an ugly pair of sunglasses, I'm just going to say, this hat is butt ugly. Yeah. And then pins, stickers, a keychain, a spoon, and a shocklass. This is like, this is like a souvenir store barfed up and went, blah. And then like, and then Rockstar was just like, oh, cool, you know what? Let's just put this in a box and call it a collector's edition, guys. Yeah.

I want to, I just want to walk you through one of the collector's editions I have behind me real quick for Assassin's Creatents. Shadows was like 150 bucks. So $150 in a game that's not near the caliber of GTA 6. Not near the caliber, but it came with a steel book, it came with the game, it came with that six statue in that corner

over there. That's a sick statue. Yeah. It came with a rolled down poster that hangs on my wall, and it came with a hilt of a katana. Jeez. For $150. For like $150, $150, $100. Yeah.

Yeah, okay, even 200. We'll just call it 200. So, half the price. What do we do? Guys, where did we go wrong? Number one. Please don't buy this, people. Number one.

Number two, the fact that any game company is doing a collector's edition without including the game is the biggest kick in the nards to gamers that I can imagine. What is that? What is that? Like, who, what the, a bad precedent to set? I genuinely, anyone, anyone, if you bought this and if you bought this, especially if you're, like, excited that you bought this, please let us.

know and reach out because I because we got beef I mean I don't got beef but like I just want to know I want to know why and I want to know who hurt you what is it like this is worth $400? What is it like what would make somebody buy this and be excited about it or the exclusivity? I'm a rock star

fan boy for sure absolutely but I would never in a million years ever spend I wouldn't spend a hundred dollars for this like this is it doesn't even come with the game it yeah that's the biggest problem is like if you could say, if you could in theory say, well, the game could have been $100 and I get the game with it and it's the premium game that gives me early access or whatever.

200 bucks with the game. Like, sure. Like that part I could understand. But this is, this is just greed people. This is greed. And listen, you know, you do you boo. If you want to buy this, that's on you. You know, we can say, hey, we don't think it's worth it.

And that's just our opinion. And you can go, yeah, well, that's just your opinion. No, it's fact. I don't care. It's fact. And that, but at the same time, like, this is something that really shouldn't be supported when they're not. even giving you a copy of the game at this point. And I'll be honest, most of this stuff looks like it's stuff that you could get like Chuckie cheese. Like, this is, these are the lamest, like, rewards.

The hat is it. All of it's really bad. Why is there a razor blade, man? Like, yeah, I, I don't know, dude. Like, give me a real razor blade so I can. So I can gouge my eyes out. So not to look at this crap. This is terrible, man. All right. Okay, listen, we're going to move on here. We've got to have some list. Okay. So there is. I'm a little skeptical, but people that know me go, okay, Josh, like you're a little skeptical sometimes and sometimes you like to rant and get on your soapbox and that kind of thing. And I did make a post when we got this news on social media that I kind of went, I don't get this and I feel like we should be responding in a different way. So because I don't understand a lot of this like corporate PR speak and lingo, we did hire a corporate speak translator for this one. but this basically the news is and I know there was much rejoicing is that Destiny 2 Bungy came out

and they released this very heartfelt video with the two leads that went hey listen we're bringing Destiny 2 back due to popular demand Destiny 2 is coming back we're listening to you all out there and you know who's ah and I know that fans of Destiny rejoiced Ryan you're a huge fan of destiny too. Like destiny, destiny, too. So like, I don't, I'm going to throw this to you, number one, before I start reading some of the little

snippets from this, but like as a fan, as the biggest fan of destiny and destiny two here, how did this news make you feel? It's like, kind of, well, duh. Like, what do you, well, what? Yeah.

What? You had this amazing franchise that was one of, like, genuinely, it's one of the crispest cleanest, most beautiful first-person shooters that we've had in the last decade, that I've got 1,800 hours in the first one, probably 5 or 600 hours in the second, and then it fell off so hard that I quit and did other stuff. And then I joined the pod. So obviously, you know, I don't have as much time to play. But it, it was, it was amazing. It was something that was so unlike anything else.

It was so well done. And it was just a beautiful cash cow. And they ruined. it. They just ruined it over and over and over and they tried to micro-transaction into death and do all these other things and become something that it wasn't. And it just fell off, man. And, you know, I don't even know where this is going because I kind of forgot the question, but I'm just mad. It's just how did you feel? It's how I feel because I have such a connection to this game. I spent like literally thousands of hours on this. I devoted part of my life to this game and I was repaid with nothing. Like, it just got slap in the face. That's what it felt like. It felt like a slap in the face. So here's my, here's my question, right? Because I was

instantly skeptical. I am of the like, hey, when a company makes a ton of bad decisions and you obviously prove that you do not care about your clientele, your gamers. Yeah. Like, that makes me a little bit bitter. And maybe I'm just an old bitter man, you know, and so I'm a little bit more skeptical with things like this. I'm sure it's a love letter, you know. Okay. That's another good example, right? It's like how many times can companies just step on gamers and step on our goodwill and make decisions that we will rage and cry about and say, screw you guys? You know what I mean? And do all this. And there's a reason that destiny fell off over the years. Destiny 2, right? Like they started making a lot of really poor choices. The player count started to decline.

Bungie came out with Marathon, which was going to be their next greatest thing. And what did they do? They said, guys, screw Destiny 2. We're putting all our eggs in this marathon basket because we feel like this is the future. They had been making bad decision after bad decision with removing paid content and things like that. And ultimately just proving where they stood with this franchise and with gamers that love that franchise. And so call me a skeptic, but I kind of go like, hey, you can't just come out and say, oh, oops, my bad. And think that like all this is just going to be forgiven and forgotten. Like I don't work that way.

And I am willing to forgive to a degree, but you have to prove it to me. You know what I mean? And we've seen this before with CD Project Red and cyberpunk and No Man Sky and take your pick. You know what I mean? Of companies that have had to prove it. And I'm not saying that Bungy isn't going to prove it, but I am very skeptical. And I am not just running back to them with open arms about the announcement that they're bringing Destiny 2 back. Okay.

So that's why I'm a little upset. They fired all the devs that work on Destiny 2. Exactly. Okay. Who was left? So here's this big announcement we got. And it's a very long, heartfelt with the CEO and the lead guy. If you search for it on Instagram, by the way, you may see a VGP comment.

I don't know who put it there. Totally probably wasn't me. Yeah. What were the responses to that comment like, Ryan? I don't know. I can't read those online. All right. So here we go.

I'm going to pull a few snippets. out of what they said so that you guys can kind of understand where they're at with this. And then we did hire our PR translator. His name is Brian, I think, to translate some of this corporate speak. Okay. So here's a few snippets. Today we want to talk candidly about where Bungie is, where destiny and Marathon needs to go, and how we intend to earn back your trust.

Translator? Yo, Marathon ain't doing what we hoped. And we're all trying to not get fired. so here we are to grovel Okay Okay next up next up These are real quotes people from this You can read the whole thing if you want

All right We lost trust We lost incredible colleagues And we lost sight of what we should be prioritizing most Our players Our company is about to get shut down by Sony and we have to try

anything we can. Okay, okay. I like this man. This PR translator is great. Okay. Destiny is foundational to Bungee's future. Turns out,

abandoning the franchise that built modern bungee might have been a terrible idea. Your voices mattered and the way you showed up made a real real. impact. But only after marathon didn't work out like we hoped.

Restoring important parts of Destiny 2's history. Remember that stuff you paid for that we deleted? Listen, I, like, you know, I try to, I try to be, you know, I try to go like, look, I might feel one way. Let me see how other people are feeling. And I have seen a lot of Destiny 2 fans being like, they love us. They listen to us finally. Guys, all of our complaining.

We won. Yeah, we won. No, you didn't. You did. I mean, yes, you won, you get your game back. But at the same time, like, are you really okay with them just like, hey, Ryan, let me kick you in the nuts. Oh, I'm sorry.

Oh, wait, let me kick you in the nuts again. Oh, man, did that hurt? Oh, too bad. Too bad. I'm going to kick you in the nuts a third time. Oh, oh, I bet that one really hurt. Well, we're doing it because this is what we're doing. How many times can they kick you in the nuts before you finally go like, bro, I don't think I like you anymore?

I knew it was one of my good buddies, Sean, I've grown up with them. I played hockey with them. He was like the head destiny guy that set up all our raids. We would raid every week, twice, you know, two, three times a week. We'd play trials every weekend. like he was the guy it's his it's his far and away favorite game ever and even he stopped playing it and when i saw that i knew it was in a bad kind of situation and so man i just i don't trust them because who's there that made it nobody so what am i i i don't know i i am not um it's like you said

prove it prove it to me come back make something strong the the bones are there the mechanics are there. Everything's there for one of the most amazing games ever. Give us Destiny 3. Take your time, make it right. Do it, do it a good way. You know, as Hammond said, spare no expense. You know, do it, do it the right way and give us something that we want. I just, I have a problem with the, the only reason, the only reason that they are bringing Destiny 2 back is not because gamers ask for this. All of the screaming and the crying and the outings, the out of the screaming and the outrage and the the you can't do this like don't let destiny to die they didn't care no they proved that they didn't care at all and tell marathon didn't work out people and tell americ so do you actually

think that this is like a oh we care about you guys we we just realized we just realized that this might be a decision because of your love and your support no it's not it's not because of the love and support from gamers and the passion this is 100% marathon didn't work out. Oh crap, we better do something. And our last ditch effort is to try to bring back Destiny 2 and hope that enough people forgive us and love this game enough that they'll just look past everything we ever did to them. It's like an abusive relationship, man.

I feel like this is like domestic violence. You can't just keep kicking people and then apologizing and then thinking that it's okay after that, man. Like, we're sorry we put your favorite game on life support. We won't do it again. maybe I'm just like a said. If it's good though, I'll take her back. Oh, so quick. I have a hard time, dude, because you know what?

Like, when are company is going to learn? And I like that people are excited for Destiny 2 again. And it's like on the one hand, like I'm excited for everybody for being excited and being happy and feeling like they won. But they didn't win. You won through the failure of marathon. That's my problem. You know what I mean?

This isn't a company that learn their lesson or listen to gamers. This is a company that's on its last leg. And it's like, It's like a wolf chewing off its leg that's stuck in a trap. It's not doing it for your goodwill. It's doing it for its own survival at any cost, man. Yeah. I don't, all right.

I'm off my soapbox, people. I just, it aggravates me. You're telling me, man, the amount of hours and the time I spend in that to just be like, you know, just like spat on by them. And then they go and make this game that nobody asked for. Nobody wanted. Everybody wanted them to make more destiny content and make it good. not only more of it, but good content.

And then they just come out with some other new garbage game. And then after it failed, then they go, oh, you know, actually, guys, we're going to do destiny. We love you. We made mistakes, people. No, no. All right. Well, there you go. All right, real quick here.

This is Microsoft filed a patent for video game ads while you're playing a game. This will never happen, people. This is never making it anyway. ever. This is stupid. Because gamers, they've tried this time and time again. Gamers will absolutely revolt. This is one thing that as a collective whole gamers have said not going to happen people. Unless you're making a game free, completely free, like if you want to give me Clockwork Revolution for free and not charge me $70 and then you want to put an ad when I pause it, I still think that's scummy, maybe because I get something out of it at that point. But like,

this ain't happening. And gamers do not let this happen. Do not. Do not let anybody ever put ads in our video games because the first time somebody gets away with it, it will open the floodgates for everybody in the world to do that. Now, there was some misconception that people think that it's like you're going to be mid game play and all of a sudden it's going to pause and go to a commercial break as if you're watching like a show on TV or something. This was clarified to go, hey, you know, at the end of a match, uh, at during a like at the end of a cut scene when there's a natural break before it goes back to game. play like an ad might play and then you'll get a timer because you watch the ad that'll give you like an hour before another ad shows or something no the universal answer to this is absolutely not gamers as an entire whole refuse this and then it will never happen they will keep trying but we must not let this happen agreed we must unite plain and simple we must unite against the

enemy the second we do the second we do every single company will follow suits Well, they tried this one, like an NBA game, like a few years back? They've tried it in NBA. They've tried it in, they've tried it multiple times. And every single, UFC, I think they had like commercial breaks for the recent UFC game. And that got like mostly negative almost. Gamers revolted and they kind of backed down. And every single time gamers have revolted and they back down.

And then they give it a little while and they try again. Yeah. We cannot let this happen. Yeah, they do. I mean, and they do it in everything. Like they're even like right now like a big thing. The NHL like hockey is starting soon. there were some recent penalties

because the guys had their jerseys tucked which has been a rule for a few years but they're absolutely making way for ad placement on the lower part half of those jerseys because that's why they don't want them tucked so it's a penalty like if you have them tucked in so the flyers came back out and they had

all of them in warmups had their jerseys tucked so like it's it's yeah it's crazy thing all of this stuff everywhere you look like they're always going to try to peck away at like our rights and freedoms and whatever else you don't but when you give it away you'll never get it back so do not give them this um we do not like the thought of an ad in a game like is just gross it's gross it's gross yeah I hate it and we have been successful and we will continue

for now but have you guys seen this stuff with like Disney Plus like from 2020 to 2026 like the pricing was like 750 and now it's like 20 something dollars for ad free 29 yeah version with ads. Within five years, it's went up that much. Like, it's just, and that's what they'll keep doing.

There's no good. There's no good that comes to this for gamers. No. For the industry, it's is only good for the CEOs and suits, which they got enough. Don't let this happen. I don't think that this will,

like I said, this is just a patent. They didn't come out and say that they're doing this, but the fact that they're trying to patent the technology. Sneaky, sneaky, is telling you what they're thinking is. And so just, there you go.

It's not for no reason. All right. Yeah. All right. And then we're going to end on a cool note here, people, because I know some of this stuff has been a little bit, you know, not the best news. But I want to put this in front of people because this is one of those times where even us, like we, you know, we haven't talked about this game very much at all, if ever. But Ace Combat 8. Now, you know, the second you say Ace Combat 8, right, it's kind of like, okay, well, I don't play fighter jet games. Ace, what happened? I don't know. Apparently I've been in combat eight times. Yeah, yeah. So Ace Combat 8 Wings of Thave Is it releasing on October 2nd? It's about it's about...

That's how many times I restarted it. This is how many times. How many hours we spent on FaceTime together? This game is making waves people and the waves that it is making in the gaming industry as far as like reviews and critical reviews and the hype for this game

is kind of crazy. people. Ace Combat 8, Wings of Thev. Now, Ace Combat's been around forever and there's most people like us that maybe you played one game like 15 years ago or something like that. But let me just run down the review scores on this for you

and then we're going to talk about it a little bit more. So right now it is sitting at an 86 on Metacritic for PC, a 90 for Xbox and an 87 for PlayStation 5. Holy moly. It's getting nines from tons of outlets. It has a 98% of critics recommended

this game. IgN 9 out of 10 PC Gamer, 92 out of 100, The Guardian, 5 out of 5, games radar, 4 and a half out of 5, Forbes 9 out of 10, game rent, 9 out of 10, dual shockers, 9 and a half out of 10. GameSpot, 8 out of 10. This game is getting critical acclaim. You know, there's been some very popular YouTube reviewers that are basically saying, listen, if you don't listen to anything else I tell you this year, play this game. And I understand that this seems like a niche genre, because it's a jet fighter simulator kind of thing. But apparently this is transcending genres and people are saying that this game is absolutely incredible

and is so much more than just a flying a fighter jet kind of thing. I heard it equated to a JRP, but with fighter jets instead of party members. Which I thought was a really neat analogy on this one. That's pretty neat. So we're only putting it out there because we love hype. We love games that come out of nowhere and kind of really shock the gaming world.

I will say I've been watching many reviews because it has my curiosity. It's a different kind of genre than I think a lot of people play. You don't need any prior experience with this franchise at all. We're not getting paid to say this before anybody accuses us of being shills.

This is just trying to put a good, what appears to be a good video game in front of people. You might want to just check it out because it is making waves. This releases October 2nd, so it's one of the first major games to release in October.

But it appears like there's something here now for none of us play jet fighting games you know what I mean like I do not personally I love the old tie ex fight X wing tie fighter type games so there is something to be said for dog fighting that can be a lot of fun but like I am really curious about this now me too fine guys I'll bite the bullet I know because we got to do it for the podcast I'll buy a full sim setup uh full flight controls I'll get the controllable seat and everything with the monitors and surrounds and everything. I'll do it for the, you know, just $4,000 well spent.

Yeah, yeah. That's way more than that, Ace. Yeah, way more than that. I'll need a whole second computer. I will say, I've been doing my research because the Loveland Games capture my attention out of nowhere. This is, the biggest thing that I'm hearing is, look, you don't have to be a fan of this weird ace fighting or jet fighting genre.

This is, it's a game that is truly emotionally impactful, tons of fun in the gameplay elements that's kind of wrapped up in this graphical jet fighting style but plays much much differently than most people would think has some of the coolest mission structures imaginable does not get older stale

does not play anything like the videos would imply because the videos are just a whole bunch of targets on the screen and stuff like that and people are saying like this is one of the hardest games to translate to you need to play this to understand because it doesn't play like it looks but everybody is leaving going like, yo, I did not expect that.

So, so. I mean, like think of, uh, I mean, think of the new top gun. You know, like that was somebody equated it to that. Oh, really? That's it. That's, yes. So, okay.

So if we're, this is, this was great because what he said is like, bro, you know in Top Gun Maverick when like all the fighter pilots are trying to do the, the dive down into the canyon, they're like, this is impossible. And he just rolls in. And then Maverick comes out and he's like, watch me prove it. He said like literally playing this game is like reliving that. scene over and over and over again. He said it gives you chill bumps like every time.

And he's like, I don't know any other way to communicate this to like to people, but like, play this game. Like play this game and you'll understand. That's wow. So yeah, if they have like, because that's what's so good about that movie is that there is a lot of amazing action sequences and like in the combat and the air flight flight and you get to see these jets doing these amazing things. But there's also so much else to it.

So, like, if this game encapsulates all of that, like, and it's, it gives you, like, the full, full thing. Like, man, that's, that's awesome. So, I, yeah, I'm interested. Yeah. So, like I said, our job is to put games up. None of us have played it. It's not out yet. It comes out October 2nd.

But I will say, I am morbidly curious about this game now. I might pick it up because it does come out a few days before Galactic Racer. And I'm kind of curious about it. So we will see people. But there you go. Just don't sleep on it because it is making waves. So that's us putting. a game in front of you all out there that nobody

is talking about right now and saying, hey, you might want to at least check it out and see what this is about because... Not even jets can save you from me. Much more. Yeah, much more than just a jet fighting game. So, all right, well, listen, there's your news for the week. Everybody, that catches you up on all

things going on that's important in the gaming world there. If you love what we do, think about supporting the show. You can do that in a number of ways. You can tell a friend about the podcast. That's one of the best things gamers can do is just say, hey, check out this podcast. You can follow the show.

Hit that plus button, that follow button. So you get all our episodes the day that they release. That also helps us in the algorithm for other gamers to find us. You can leave a rating or review. If you listen on Spotify, you can rate us five stars. If you listen on Apple, you can leave a written review. We read a lot of those on the show. And if you have been a fan for a little while and love what we do and go, you know what?

I love this. I want more of this. You can support the show to keep this podcast going year after year. You can do that over on Patreon at VideoGamersPod. There is a link in the episode description. If you just look there, it'll take you right to Patreon. You can sign up for as little as five bucks a month. We give you a ton of perks as a reward to make it well worth of $5.

But you also help us to continue doing this podcast year over year. And we're very appreciative of that. And we need your support. We are funded solely by listeners. We couldn't do this without all of you out there. So thank you to everybody that supports. And thank you to anybody that's considering supporting as well. All right.

That's going to do it for this episode. Everybody, until next time. Happy gaming. Eyes up, guardians. See ya. Peace out. For 50 years, Canadians have wondered what the names of IKEA furniture mean. Like Natopa, the guardrail for children's beds.

Natopa means giving your favorite person room to grow. It means their safety. And your piece of... No. In Swedish, Natopa means night monkey. IKEA, 50 years of Swedishness and... home. Look, he's wearing little pajamas. So cute.