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They Are Who We Thought They Were | Sacred Symbols, Episode 273

We have PlayStation news to get to and through, of course -- and lots of it! -- but so many of you wrote into the show about the recent Xbox leak that we couldn't just ignore it. And really, nothing we learned from the treasure trove of documents one way or the other should come as much of a surprise, so we'll let a famous Coach Green quote do the talking instead. Has the games industry let Microsoft off the hook?! Plus: PS5 sales surge in Europe, The Division 3 is real, Final Fantasy VII Remake surpasses seven million copies sold, NES' Contra is getting a remake, and more. And yes, we talk about the biggest news of all: Spider-Man 2 is gold! We're only a month away now. As usual, we wrap things up with listener inquiries from you, our dear audience. Does it make more sense to wait for a game to be patched and content-complete instead of succumbing to day one pressure? Remember Invizimals? Will Final Fantasy VII Rebirth really be 100 hours long? Did Dustin return from Japan penniless and inundated with anime figurines? Follow the hosts on Twitter! Colin: https://twitter.com/longislandviper Chris: https://twitter.com/ChrisRGun Dustin: https://twitter.com/DustinCanFly A new episode of Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast launches each Friday morning. To receive instant access, as well as other perks, please support the show on Patreon at http://patreon.com/LastStandMedia Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:09:11 - Will Dustin talk about his weeb voyage? 0:55:14 - What’s up with Micah’s love for disturbing content? 0:58:04 - Will Colin share his wedding day with the listeners? 1:02:46 - Why haven’t we tried shorts? 1:07:01 - Is watching a recap the same as watching the show? 1:09:50 - Rolled credits? 1:13:52 - Is Colin spoiling FF7? 1:18:06 - Let’s talk about the Xbox leaks 2:36:20 - Unity is attempting to backtrack 2:51:56 - PS5 continues to do well in Europe 2:52:06 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake has surpassed 7 million sold 2:53:37 - The Division 3 is in pre-production 2:58:03 - Striking Distance has lost its leadership team 3:02:15 - Titanfall 2 is in the midst of a revival 3:07:48 - WayForward + Contra 3:13:25 - Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes get release dates 3:15:54 - What have we been playing? 3:34:21 - Spider-Man 2 has gone gold 3:51:45 - Electronic Arts is shaking up their teams for Battlefield 4:05:22 - Thanks for standing up for artists! 4:09:46 - Do we play as ourselves in RPGs? 4:14:44 - Is it worth playing games on day 1? 4:21:07 - Why hasn’t Sony ever attempted to compete with Pokemon? 4:26:21 - Is FFVII Rebirth too big for Colin?

Comments

Daniel Murray

Shout-out to Dennis Green

Stinkling

Xbox literally stands for everything i loathe about the modern gaming industry. Subscriptions- check Full games not on disc- check Ads, Ads, Ads- check No Disc Drive, and the all digital perhaps even cloud only future?- Check Really hope they mean it when they say they will bow out of the gaming space by 2027 if G Pass Revenue stays stagnant. Good please leave and take your subscription based, all digital, games in the cloud future with you!

Zeke the Plumber

Multiple things can be true. Regarding Alan Wake: Yea, the game is still great. It’s undeniably great. Also, yea, the combat hasn’t aged very well and gets stale near the end of the game. Regardless, bring on Alan Wake 2, which looks incredible

Kbr Sports

I truly appreciate Colin's analysis of the industry. I actually wish you would have touched on Phil's email discussing how digital storefronts/gamepass disrupted the industry and the business models of publishers. I think your analysis has holes in it missing some of that context. Your view of Gamepass being stagnant with 25 million subscribers in a down year of content was portrayed negatively. Them staying flat or around 25 million is not their goal and I'm not trying to spin it positively. However, when you look at the content they landed during 2022 and how they were able to retain subscribers. It's not a complete L. You're right, it doesn't consist of 3rd party AAA games. Nor did they release any big AAA exclusives. However, they still get all that revenue as if they did. 2022 for them, in a world where they don't have gamepass and depended on 1P game sales to sustain their ecosystem. Their revenue/profits would have been a joke. Gamepass is in large part how they managed. I'd get the unsustainable costs if they were landing 3P AAA games. However, like you noted, they don't even bother with those. As it'd bust the budget but also 3P publishers don't get any of the benefits such as the subscriber growth. The service sells on the promise of 1P day and date games. What people don't realize is that Xbox has turned their 1P into recurring revenue VS blockbuster one-time releases. It's substantiated with their revenue/profit as a platform holder. When your business model is only predicated on big releases/IP, you have less flexibility to take risks. Let alone make new IP. Recurring revenue is predictable and easier to forecast which allows more maneuverability. Games and movies are not comparable since movies are only monetized once. Games are monetized through various means. It's already a long write up but I truly plead with anybody reading this to read Phil Spencer's email on how Gamepass and digital storefronts have disrupted the industry. New IP curation and all that are mentioned. It's such good insight. Literally if you just love gaming and not a particular piece of plastic. You'll learn so much.

Brent

IF YOU WANNA CROWN ‘EM THEN COWN THEIR ASS!

Angel DeJesus

People need to understand there is a difference between revenue and profit. Too many people say xbox made 3 billion off of gamepass, not understanding that's not minus their operating cost.

Deemac

The level of financial literacy some people have is worrying tbh

Jordan Moyer

Holy Christ, had no idea what Dracula Flow was but I am thoroughly entertained by that. " I don't give a fuck if I go blind, I didn't need to see the price tag anyway" had me in tears.

Caleb Greer

It kinda comes up every now and then, but please do not shorten the podcast arbitrarily. It’s perfect. My 2¢

Walker Simmons

Microsoft not being able to manage there own studios then wanting to buy Nintendo is pretty funny

Frank G.

Great episode guys one of the more memorable ones, and by the way I loved hearing about Dustin's Japan trip. But I gotta ask. Are we getting a sacred symbols Dad hat or what? That's a day one for me 🤑🧢

superbadisfunny .

About the discussion of the new battlefield game getting , the community at large still has no hope in a new game. If you look into battlefield 2042 dev cycle they had multiple studios and said the same thing that they're saying about the next battlefield game. Honestly I just don't think they have it in them anymore RIP battlefield

Travis Johnson

Have you tried Battle Bit? Three dudes did what a thousand couldn’t, completely brought back the battlefield magic. I’ve been completely addicted to it

Pyo

Nice to see Dustin back!!

Joe B

While it isnt sustainable in current market, these reports show Game Pass has been profitable which Colin vehemently disagreed with for years at this point. Though with COD coming, and little to no game releases for years pre Starfield, I think its quite impressive their sitting at a constant 25-30 million sub base. It means thats basically their floor no matter what.

Anonymous

Colin *might* want to play through Alan Wake's American Nightmare before AW2. It seems the new game may have some crossover with the "Scratch" character from American Nightmare. American Nightmare is a great game in its own right anyway.

Luke Silletta

Every single person agrees that cars made by hand back in the day were much better than they are now. Pots and pans made by hand, washing machines, dryers. Everything made in a factory partially by automation lasts like 25% of the time that they used to last when they were made by hand. So save the fucking pity party for "creatives". Lets not pretend that they are unique flowers in this garden of automation that has fucked everything up and NOBODY, NOBODY SAID ANYTHING.

Kaz Redclaw

Our current way of making AIs has a bit of a flaw when it comes to data input. We're really starting to see it in ChatGPT now. As the data on the internet gets filled with AI generated content, suddenly the input to the AIs is filled with AI generated content, and as AIs eat their own tails they tend to get more and more erratic and unrecognizable, introducing lots of errors... AIs can't generate new art without having an input from humans, so if we outsource all art to AIs, then it will eventually deteriorate into uselessness.

Kaz Redclaw

Other Pokemon style games... Shin Megami Tensei (and Persona) is essentially a pokemon game, but with a much darker style. Digimon: Cyber Sleuth is another one. Also there was apparently one called Micromon, but I haven't played it. Unfortunately Playstation doesn't have Cassette Beasts yet, but it's another one like that for Steam and Xbox.

Cun

Dustin summoning Holly w the coffee, and then Colin saying "Konichiwa" with an emphatic smirk on his face, was fucking hilarious

OCEL0T

We act like every company wouldn’t lose their minds trying to acquire Nintendo if they were magically up for sale

Anonymous

colin breaking my heart forgetting ni no kuni! only pokemon like i could get into… also persona has pokemon elements

Richard Court

Doritos Chips in Canada giving away 30days of Gamepass Ultimate.. Bags are promoting xbox games i saw Redfall, Forza Motorsport, Madden 24 and Starfield designs. point of the story.. What is Redfall.. the bag doesnt do the game any favours

Fernando Amigon

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