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Xbox's WORST Week? - Game Awards No Show, $70 Games, & FTC Sues... | Defining Duke Episode 101

Xbox's conclusion to 2022 is rather thematic as it matches the vibe of the overall year: Disappointing. While we began on the high of the Activision Blizzard deal, swift delays of Starfield and Redfall as well as a vacant first half of the year painted an all too familiar picture. With the windows closing for Starfield, Redfall, and Forza Motorsport respectively to be dated for the first half of 2023, it was stunning to see Xbox not only skip out on showing anything from those games, but not show up in any form. To make matters worse for them, this all happened on the same day that the FTC had announced they will be suing Microsoft to block the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. With the deal now in jeopardy despite announced deals with both Nintendo and Steam, Xbox's one saving grace in 2022 may be dashed away into nothing more than an extensive headache. If that wasn't enough, this is also the week we learned that all first party games would be $70 moving forward. After all that has transpired, it undoubtedly places more pressure on these three games to perform exceedingly well for Xbox or we may reach another low for them in this generation. Get 20% off your first order at https://tommyjohn.com/duke Cancel your unnecessary subscriptions right now at https://www.rocketmoney.com/duke Get some Defining Duke merch! LastStandMedia.store Follow the hosts! @MrMattyPlays https://www.Twitter.com/G27Status​ @IronLordsPodcastRoundtable https://www.Twitter.com/lordcognito 0:00:00 - Intro 0:06:30 - Shoutout to Gene Park! 0:07:23 - Newer games will play on the Xbox VCR (via cloud) 0:08:58 - Some small corrections 0:10:08 - Indiana Jones gets a new director 0:13:30 - Halo Infinite’s multiplayer director has left 343 0:18:14 - Diablo 4 previews are on the way 0:22:46 - A Dragon Ball Super card game has been announced 0:29:04 - Bethesda has begun to unionize their QA workers 0:32:39 - Spongebob and The Cosmic Shake drops on January 31 0:35:40 - The Skywalker Saga and Hello Neighbor 2 have come to Game Pass 0:37:12 - An Uncharted reboot is on the table 0:39:04 - Yuji Naka has been arrested again 0:42:06 - Phil Spencer is making more Call of Duty deals 1:08:04 - What we’ve been playing 1:29:01 - What are our thoughts on the Xbox price hike? 1:37:52 - Why is everyone throwing a fit over review scores? 1:47:40 - The Game Awards - Overview 2:04:41 - The Game Awards - Pre-show 2:07:31 - The Game Awards - Christopher Judge 2:08:59 - The Game Awards - HADES 2 2:10:22 - The Game Awards - JUDAS 2:13:22 - The Game Awards - Bayonetta Origins: Cereza 2:13:49 - The Game Awards - Destiny 2 Lightfall 2:16:30 - The Game Awards - Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League 2:18:41 - The Game Awards - Star Wars Jedi Survivor 2:21:43 - The Game Awards - Earthblade 2:22:38 - The Game Awards - Dune Awakening 2:23:14 - The Game Awards - Forspoken 2:24:17 - The Game Awards - Death Stranding 2 2:28:29 - The Game Awards - Immortals Of Aveum 2:29:02 - The Game Awards - Tekken 8 2:32:41 - The Game Awards - Baldur’s Gate 3 2:35:45 - The Game Awards - Wayfinder 2:36:05 - The Game Awards - Diablo 4 2:37:56 - The Game Awards - Horizon Burning Shores 2:38:37 - The Game Awards - Blue Protocol 2:39:50 - The Game Awards - Remnant 2 2:41:13 - The Game Awards - Transformers Reactivate 2:42:40 - The Game Awards - Banisters: Ghosts Of New Eden 2:45:01 - The Game Awards - Warhammer 40K Space Marine II 2:46:41 - The Game Awards - Meet Your Maker 2:47:14 - The Game Awards - Crash Team Rumble 2:49:43 - The Game Awards - The Lords Of The Fallen 2:50:33 - The Game Awards - Crime Boss Rockay City 2:52:31 - The Game Awards - Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty 2:53:58 - The Game Awards - Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon 2:55:40 - The Game Awards - Final Fantasy XVI 2:59:30 - The Game Awards - Bill Clinton kid 3:01:38 - The FTC is officially suing Microsoft to block the Activision acquisitions?

Comments

Walker Simmons

Excited for you guys to talk about all those exciting Xbox game awards announcements and the rest of 2022 lol. All jokes aside love you guys ❤️

Wyvborn

Ok?

J Train

Weird flex bro

Piston Pants

The corgi thing Cog was talking about was called Party Animals. Are you sure that is a real game, it felt like it was a joke poking fun of remakes.

Jeff

I think Party Animals looks AWESOME! Mostly just to play with my kids, but that trailer cracked me up!

Zack Fair

Matty your closing comments are so fanboy and pathetic, also saying Bungie, are you forgetting Zenimax deal. You come across as a Xbox shill in this episode, and Cog nah you wouldn't be saying the same if eventually Cod only came with a limited deal. Also, why wouldn't PlayStation fight this to the hilt, they make 30% of every PlayStation Cod game sold. It's purely business guys, don't get upset. Dont you think it's a slap in a face and attacking them with these comments just because the Xbox version is worse, just because PlayStation lent them their mo cap tech. I knew when you started that conversation you was gonna say Callisto. Usually love hearing you Cog, as you more than often give a balanced view, Matty just comes across as pure Xbox fanboy though and can't seem to be balanced

Trevor Lewis

Had the audio been posted?

John Titor

Yeah refresh your podcast app and it should be there. Listening to it now

SneakerHead24

For a little bit more of an “unbiased” opinion about the FTC block of the Activision/Blizzard/King acquisition, may I suggest you give the Vergecast Podcast from Friday Dec. 9th a listen. You will learn from the hosts (one whom used to be a trademark attorney and knows a bit about the law) that the blockage has nothing to do with Sony or Cryin Jim Ryan, but everything to do with the FTC chairman Lina Khan and her current mission to “break up big tech”. She’s been blocking much smaller deals than the ABK one before it even crossed her desk. So maybe “making Sony the bad guy” in this situation is starting to be a bit fanboyish. There’s a VERY strong chance she would have moved to block this deal if Cryin Jim said nothing at all. I personally think this has a bit more to do with US government politics than it has to do with console war politics.

Gafferman

Fun episode - hope Matty got home OK :D #SleepDD

Anonymous

I think the point a lot of people are missing with the Activision deal is it’s not necessarily about whether or not we can trust Microsoft to keep COD multi platform. It’s more about whether Microsoft should be allowed to just buy control over a game that is so important to their competitors platform. I think that is part of what the FTC doesn’t like about this deal. It’s like handing over a nuke to someone that swears they won’t use it. Most would agree whether or not you trust that person it would be better for them to not have the nuke at all. Sacred Symbols said something similar to this.

SneakerHead24

From what I understand after listening to the Vergecasts podcast on this subject, the FTC doesn’t like the fact that Microsoft will have the “creating of games, developing of games AND the ability to decide how they are distributed” under the same roof. They likened it to why the FTC blocked Paramount and Disney from buying the AMC movie theaters a few years back. The FTC thinks it’s monopolistic for the people that make the movies be able to own the theaters in which they are shown.

Anonymous

I think a lot of people don’t realize just how big ABK is. Activision makes the biggest annualized game (console and PC) in the world, Blizzard one of the biggest publishers in PC, and then you have King as one of the biggest mobile game publishers. A trifecta of dominant market participants. Not to mention Activision’s significant contribution to the revenue of MS’ biggest competitor in the console gaming market. MS could have bought a dozen other studios to feed the game pass dream, and the regulators will not bat an eye. Buying ABK outright is such an Icarus moment, and something I dont consider as a smart move.

Aaron B Vick

I wouldn't use such harsh words, but his words did not purvey the sense that he would be unbiased. There were a couple of points he got entirely wrong and he will need to address them with humility or go bust in the goodwill of this community. Starfield was going to be a TIMED exclusive, he got that wrong. Using emotion to navigate a purely business minded move, XBox is not a savior... They saw a crippled wounded animal and then offered an obscene amount of money to make up for the lack of their ability to grow anything organically. This is where everything differentiates. The Bungie point is lacking in context as well... Sure Sony owns them but the contract allows Bungie to release anywhere they want and aren't even under Playstation Studios, but along side it. Xbox severely lacks, and had they just hunkered down and do the work they wouldn't be in this mess. Everyone else does the work, and Microsoft just tosses money. It's the cold hard truth. I'll give you the line that was most likely spouted off in the execs offices: "Everyone loves that game/studio, let buy it so they have to buy an Xbox to experience the next offerings." Inxile, Bethesda, Hellblade, Obsidian, Double Fine, etc. all fall under multiplatform darlings turned exclusive. Whereas Playstation works with a company in a second party fashion and if they show great promise or they just plain like that relationship they offer a chance to become secure under their umbrella. Sucker Punch, Insomniac (it sucks their Xbox exclusive didn't do to well, but that was the Xbox community speaking with their wallets), Housemarque, etc all fall under Playstation exclusive darling going in house and being acquired through work and promotion. The Xbox brand is weak, and no amount of money will fix it, you can be sure of that. They have to do the work, they can't just become a reseller in this business.

Anthony Brothers

I like 5 point number systems for reviews. 5 is a must play. 4 is great. 3 is average. 2 below average. 1, don’t waste your time. I’m not sure why they are rarely used.