The Weekly Download

Slay The Spire 2 Crushes AAA competition on Steam & Netflix Launches Kids Game App

• Big Games Machine • Season 1 • Episode 25

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SPEAKER_00

The weekly download, a podcast about interesting game, industry news, brought to you by Big Games Machine. No custard, no custard today though. Welcome back. Two the weekly download by Big Games Machine, a custard free zone. It is your wrap-up though of the week's biggest stories in gaming. I'm your host, Tom. I'm once again joined by my co-host Alex, and today we're going to be looking at a few big stories. Number one, the Slay the Spire launching this March was the biggest release on Steam during the month of March. Most sales, most revenue as well. So very successful launch for Slay the Spire 2. We've also got the news that Netflix is launching its own dedicated apps for kid games called Netflix Playground. And finally, Peak, who uh no. No. Landfall. Landfall. The developers of Peak. They're developers of Landfall, the developers, the co-developers even of Peak, which took the the world of well, I was gonna say the world of gaming, but I guess the definitely the influencers and lots of uh media interest in Peak, Landfall have launched their own publishing label. So that's the three big stories for the day. Alex, anything you'd like to say before we uh I've I realize I haven't let you introduce yourself, but I was very keen to let people know what we were talking about.

SPEAKER_01

So it's very Yeah, no, I I think it's an it's an exciting week. It's good to have it all here. I was gonna say like this is what I sound like in case anybody has joined and like at some point the voice comes in from nowhere. But yeah, no, I think it's a I think it's an interesting week. A lot of well, a good amount of kind of indie success.

SPEAKER_00

It's feeling a bit it feels like a happy week. Let's get on with it. It does, it does feel like a happy week. So we'll we'll we'll break away, we'll come back, and let's have a look at Slay the Spire 2. So starting this week's episode with the news that Slay the Spire 2 was March's best-selling game on Steam. Now we've got we've only got estimates here, but we're looking at an estimated 5.3 million units sold after its early access debut, and a estimated$108 million in revenue for the month of March. I think what's really interesting with this is that it outsold Crimson Desert with an estimated 1.9 million copies, as well as, and Alex, it is here, your your weekly Resident Evil mention, Resident Evil Requiem, and which looks to have shifted around 1.2 million units. Now I think that launched at the end of February, didn't it? Yeah, I was gonna say that's just March numbers, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's just that's just Steam and just March.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. So I I think you know that that is interesting. I think Crimson Desert is the better measurement stick, I guess, for this success. Benchmark. Something else, which I think if we move away from the triple A, is within just two weeks, if these earnings are correct, it has already surpassed Hollow Knight Silksong and Hades 2. So even within the that kind of like triple I space, I feel like we've got all these spaces now, even within that those bigger, yeah, independent heavyweights, Slay the Spire 2 has done remarkably well. Um, and as you said before we got into this first story, it does seem we've got some nice stories this week. No, this is like a really happy story, I think. It's a great success for Mega Crit. Um, I I've not played two yet, but I've spent a lot of time in Slay the Spire one. Uh and I think something I did mention to you before we started was that I think it's interesting that we've seen a few really big sequels to big indie games that came out four, five, six, even longer in some cases, years ago.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think the environment got I mean it was always competitive, but before it got so competitive, like I remember a point where you know saying, you know, it's a solo team or a small team was enough to and it was polished was enough to lead to a story in media, whereas now like that's that's everyday stuff, yeah. So having that old groundswell kind of carry you through, and I'm not saying there aren't games that still kind of break through and make that success. I mean, Ballatro is obviously the easy example, Vampire Survivor, although I think that dates back a fair way as well, but not quite as far back as these sequels. But yeah, build having that foundation set early on and and the kind of growth of those titles and all the fans that have come in through Steam sales and word of mouth and all that, certainly starting to pay off. And I guess, you know, we're seeing indie franchises and not the indie obviously we've seen it indie franchises, but not the ones that are like, and I I think I was talking to you about this earlier today, actually. Uh Broken Law, this kind of series of horror games, is that the developers have been making games now for two years, 2025 is when the first one came out. And they've got four games out already, all under the same kind of name. But these are kind of like these specific examples, these ones that have blown up so massively, are titles that are building off past success. They've taken their time. Obviously, the money they made off the first game has allowed them to really perfect the the formula and really pour the love into it that they clearly wanted to, and it's paying off, which is fantastic.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it is paying off. It really feels like these are examples. Um, of course, Slayer the Spire 2 is is the focus today, but I feel like we we are seeing those examples of independent studios, and and as you said, independent franchises now being able to take advantage of the legacy that in the past has only really been there for big AAA studios purely because of the amount of time they've they've been there, they they've been in the space, and they've been able to grow those communities. And and obviously we have to acknowledge the fact that these games, the these indie games, are very much the peak of a mountain which most people don't see or acknowledge 95% of that mountain. So we always have to I think it's very easy to say, oh well, you know, you look at this success and you say, Well, how do other people emulate it? It's it's really hard to do that because it doesn't happen very often. But I do think that the ability to go, we've already made Slay the Spire, we've already made Hollow Knight, we've already made uh in the case of Super Giant, of course, they've got more than just Hades as well. They've got an entire catalogue of great games, but although they Hades is their first sequel, though.

SPEAKER_01

Like clearly, you know, the success of Hades is what drove to a Hades 2.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that that was something I was gonna ask you, actually. Was do you think because all three of those examples we've looked at, so Slay the Spire 2, Hades 2, Hollow Knight Silk Song, they are all sequels. And I think sometimes we see people might question, you know, is the independent mindset different? Is it less a case of taking what you've already done and doing something different? But these successes are a testament to the fact that you can take the risk and go and try something else, but if the players and the fans want more of what you've already given them, there's so much potential to really springboard off of the success of an original indie game.

SPEAKER_01

The the name recognition is so powerful. The name recognition is so powerful. Like I'm I'm certain. I will say, you know, Silksong, yes, it's a sequel, but I think it was something that started as a an update for fans and that grew to the point where they were like, Yeah, it was a Kickstarter.

SPEAKER_00

That the the the original aim of Silksong, it was a Kickstarter extension goal. I can't think what the when you already pass a certain point on a Kickstarter and get the extra goals. I I believe the idea for Silksong was Yeah, Stretch Goal was was one of them. So le it is less sequely than the other two. Obviously, it doesn't have a big fat two at the end of it. Yeah. Not just Nintendo hopping on the the two bandwagon. Um I think it's funny to me though, because I like when I talk about the Switch, I don't refer to it as the Switch 2. I don't refer to it as a Switch 2. And I don't when I've been thinking about Slay the Spire 2 recently, it's very hard to not just call it Slay the Spire. I don't know if that actually works in the favour of studios who do things like this because it kind of just creates this big homogenous recognition of that series, and yes, there's new entries, but it's all just Slay the Spire, it's just slightly different.

SPEAKER_01

It comes down to somebody asked me the day the other day, and it goes it cuts both ways, right? Like I was wearing a Resident Evil hat, and somebody said to me, Have you played Knight? And I was like, it took me a second to remember what I was wearing, but it was very much this kind of like just needed to know that context. And the flip side is like, if you said to somebody at the moment you played Slate the Spider, they're probably gonna assume you mean the new one because is it does now have that recognition. You raise an interesting point that I think is worth kind of touching on. Obviously, you've got like these there are there are a handful of people that I think are likely of a scale where they can pivot and put out an entirely new uh new IP in their kind of from their from them and it it gets a level of that name recognition, but the sequalization of the series obviously carries with it so much more because anybody outside of you know the hardcore fans are going to likely not recognize a developer, a specific developer or something. I mean, but Stardew, um uh the Undertale games games like those, like yes, that that either have made or are making sequels and under not sequels, uh follow-up games, but were they direct sequels, I bet they'd have more impact out the gate like this. It it avoids that kind of slow build and word of mouth that they have to do a second time.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, it's true. I think that's why it makes complete sense. I think especially with something like Slay the Spire, it's and it's something else that I wrote down as a potential question, but you know, as a as a deck builder, I I think that is that's a niche that's hard to be good at. So it kind of makes sense that they took what they were good at and did it again, but did it better. Although it does make me ask if we're seeing such levels of success. I feel like deck building has not not necessarily been like a really closed niche in the past, but it feels like it's been not one of the it it feels like in the last couple of years, and now we've had Slay the Spire 2 to kind of confirm it, it feels like it's become a really big genre, especially on Steam. And I don't know if that's come from nowhere necessarily, but it it really feels like now it's a big player within you know a few other massive genres, and and it I don't feel like it was that in the past.

SPEAKER_01

I think it's it it's always been around. I think it's a it's an easy I think the beauty of a deck builder is that you can have a huge amount of depth without and the the barrier to entry isn't Twitch reflexes, so I think it opens up I think it opens it up to a broader audience that maybe don't have the same ability to I mean there's a word I'm accessibility. It's more accessible to people because because of that timing, because it you can control the whole thing with a mouse, and but it doesn't remove any of the tactics, the thinking, all those other things that make games fantastic.

SPEAKER_00

It's very relaxing. I I've always thought having played the first one, it's a very I just I I think it's a very relaxing genre, and I think it's something where you can kind of dip in and dip out, and we know how important that is nowadays as well. Um But yeah, I think to to just come full circle on this, you know, I I think it's obviously been a tremendous success. I think it's deserved. I think as we have said, it's hard to look and be like, oh well, you know, indie games are amazing, like any game can do this, like oh anyone could beat uh Resident Evil or Crimson Desert. In theory, yes. Obviously, there's a lot more to it than that, but I think it's always good with the backdrop of what we've seen from the industry. I think it's really nice to see that an independent IP topping sales charts is creating tons of buzz. And yeah, it'll be interesting to see where they go next. I I think they've clearly they've gone for early access again. It's very much a case of listening to the community. I know from being on on Reddit and and Blue Sky, there's there's been a lot of hubbub about a few changes they made and then they reverted them, and uh it seems like the players have got a very active voice building in the game, which is nice.

SPEAKER_01

And they've made enough money that they can take that time to listen and really refine it. You know, it we've seen they'll just stop updating it now, they'll be like, thanks everyone. Well, see you later. You see games that rock around and they're not getting that, and obviously those are the games that likely need the most help in terms of tweaking and refining the game, but you can't keep making something indefinitely if the initial support isn't there, sadly. So yeah, it's great to see that you know, out the gate it's got that support, and it will no doubt continue to get better. Now the question is how how closely are they going to mirror uh AAA studios and when are they going to start letting people go?

SPEAKER_00

It's a good question. I didn't ex that is I didn't expect from you there, but fair enough. Right, with Alex's comment, we'll we'll move on and we'll come back and let's talk about Netflix Playground. And we are back with our second story of the day, which is Netflix, who is launching a dedicated app for kids' games called Netflix Playground. It is designed for children aged eight and under. It's currently live in let me make sure I've got my document right. We've got the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, and New Zealand. Full global rollout set for later in the month on the 28th. The current library of exclusive games at the moment is very much based on Big IP. We've got Pepper Pig, Sesame Street, shout out Sesame Street, love Sesame Street, Dr. Seuss's Horton, who I'm not familiar with, and Bad Dinosaurs. So very much Dr. Seuss, you know. Yeah, I'm aware of Dr. Seuss. You just don't know who I think the Horton. To make the slightly less wholesome, I think not a very nice man, Dr. Seuss, I don't believe, but I'm sure his games are good fun for the for the kids to play. I'm not sure at the end of the year. Yeah, or interesting, I think, to me. No ads, no in-app purchases, no additional fees. All you need is the Netflix subscription. We've seen recently, Netflix has been very turbulent with its games focus, what it does or doesn't want to do. Its latest idea is having these pillars of different types of games, one of which is kids, and and that's more focused on engagement, not revenue. And I think my question is the fact that they're not looking at revenue, that there's not going to be these predatory practices within these games. That it kind of feels to me like Netflix is saying, hey, we, you know, hey parents, we're a safe place for your kids to come and play games, to interact with IP that they love, especially when we compare it to perhaps other examples and platforms that time and time again are facing issues around child safety and and child protection and age verification. So it seems like Netflix is really just doubling down on this idea of being a good place for kids to play games, essentially.

SPEAKER_01

I assume this exists within the kids' profile setting on on Netflix. So you know, you let them in there and they have access to these games as well as the shows that are in there. Yeah, I believe so. And I d I don't know if within a kid's profile you never get ads, because obviously there are the there are the ad-supported levels of Netflix now, and I don't know if across the board those aren't on kids' shows or not, not having children. I I I haven't had that much exposure to it, but it seems to make a lot of sense. Obviously, you know, parents don't want ads to be out there and kind of driving everything else. I mean, I admittedly with Netflix, it's probably only going to be promoting other things that are free on the platform rather than new things to buy and help continue engaging.

SPEAKER_00

I've just not to interrupt Alex, I've just had a look on on Netflix on their help page, and yeah, no ads, ads are not currently shown on kids' profiles, so I imagine that does mean so this is continuing this across into yeah, and I mean that makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_01

And I think it's fantastic. I mean, I I was a big advocate and I appreciate it's been kind of all over the place uh since launch, and not everything in there is fantastic, but some of the games that Netflix pulled in Immortal, um Oxenfree, one and two, uh I'm trying to remember the name of the amazing grid-based battle, Into the Breach. Yeah, a lot of the games a lot of games that they put on there are absolutely fantastic, you know. And the idea that that's continuing through into I might even call it more than a kid's like a proper junior offering, like because obviously, you know, a lot of those games are appropriate for kids as well, but not younger kids. I think it's fantastic. You know, they're free games. I agree.

SPEAKER_00

I think if I understand it to be correct, which is that these games are being made exclusively for this platform as well, it it opens up the opportunity to give kids, to give young kids who haven't who might not have played games so far the opportunity to play games that don't have, you know, well, I think we know what mobile games are like, we know what that scenes like. Inevitably, they are all to an extent focused on revenue, on driving players to interact with stores and these other monetization systems. The fact that as it stands, none of those things are a concern in this system means that people can make games that are genuinely engaging for kids and that have gameplay loops that you know hopefully will then eventually they they can go and play other things and have and not be exposed to those practices, which again they they're needed because that's how these games fund themselves, but it's not great to put kids in those positions. So I I do I I think this is brilliant. I think the fact that you only need a Netflix subscription to access it, there's nothing else going on, is great. I think for Netflix it's good because they can kind of if they can get kids engaging with this system, then it's a reason why the parents are going to cancel the subscriptions, which is the win for everyone. Um and I think it's it's good to just have more competition.

SPEAKER_01

I think if now finally Yeah, it's a differentiator for them as well, because obviously, you know, there'd be there are so many uh streaming services now, and I know most of the parents I know swear by Disney because they've got Bluey on it, and that seems to be a big draw for everyone. But you know, if a kid picks this up and suddenly they're like massively into the Sesame Street game, like you're gonna keep paying that subscription each month, and you can and you can settle on the cheapest subscription as well. You don't it's not forcing to buy the higher ones because the the ads aren't there, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um I'm you you've mentioned that I think I I think that's really interesting because Lisa Burgess, who is Netflix Games' GM um for for the kids side of things, one of the things she raised when talking about this was that if kids play something, they'll watch it, if they watch it, they'll play it. So th they I guess in the future Netflix can look to leverage their own IP, their own original productions, make games of them, and then and then eventually if you're interacting with this. Do you think it's what we're seeing we're seeing Nintendo do this in reverse where they make all these games and now they're starting to turn them into films and TV shows. Well, Netflix is kind of doing that backwards.

SPEAKER_01

Well, they've already made the Stranger Thing games, right, right? There's been three of those, I think, all on there, and yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And they've got I think they've got a Love Is Blind game on there. Love is Blind stands.

SPEAKER_00

I think they've got games for well, it it is I think there is a wider conversation to have at some point, and I'm sure we will, because Netflix make their moves in games quite a lot, but Netflix have been all over the place with this strategy with games, but this feels to me like one of the best steps they've taken because it is an opportunity to carve a niche out, and as we've said, be a safe place for kids to come and play, and it and it feels like everything else they've tried has been a bit directionless.

SPEAKER_01

Whereas it feels the most I was I really like it feels the most co it feels the most coherent with the rest of their strategy. Yeah. For a long time I was like, yeah, if you've got Netflix, hop on the game section, there might be something in there for you. They've got some amazing things, but you know, that you're trying to get. Parents or other people in that are like, okay, they're never really going to engage. Whereas for kids, it works perfectly. Like you say, it's symbiotic, it feeds the shows, feed the games, and the games feed the shows. I mean, what would be a real curveball would there be for them to now go and get a Bluey game, put that in there, and kind of like pull all these people across that are on Disney and force them to be on both because they're playing Disney show. Yeah, so you end up in this weird like, okay, now we need Disney and Netflix because we want the Bluey game while they watch Bluey. I'm just using Bluey as an example, and I realize I feel like I've said it so many times now that it means nothing to anybody. Is it even a word? That is the like where you could play into that a bit more over time and and kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I there's a lot of there's a lot of potential here, and I think it's really good that from the top they are very aware of the fact that you know, and again, not to bring up Nintendo, but Nintendo have done so much work to become again the kind of, you know, yeah, we're fighting against Roblox, we're fighting against these other like UGC things, but we want to be the place where your kids start to play games. We we want to kind of take over and not not in a nefarious way, but brainwash them into loving our games. A very, very, very polite brainwash, but you know, just Mario everywhere. But it it it is it feels like that kind of thing. And this is only the start. I mean, it'll be interesting to see, like we've said, are they going to bring in their own IP? What other deals are they going to strike to try and bring these games in? I just I do like the fact that by all accounts they're making games that don't have any of those more not to keep saying nefarious, but those elements in. I think it's really nice that they're just, you know, they it it reminds me as a kid of of playing um I don't know if you've ever you know the leapfrog books where you'd like put the cartridge in and then you have to like I don't know if that anyone listening, if anyone here grew up with leapfrog books, it's a similar kind of thing. You put the cartridge in, then you play along with the the book while you're reading it. Um so I'm very much a fan of these kids are kids, let's make things specifically for them approach. Um and then they can go and play other games when they get a bit older. Uh but I think on on that note, again, very wholesome story. We'll we'll break away and then we we'll come back and look at this last big story about landfall and their new publishing lane. And our final major story of today's episode is the news that Peak co-developer Landfall has launched a publishing label called, well, aptly named Evil Landfall. I don't know if they are evil, but that's the name they've gone for. Landfall, Evil Landfall even, will operate as a funding and publishing label. The label has kind of existed for around three years now, but they're really going public now. They're very much promoting their existence and they're actively looking for projects. Investments will be up to a million dollars. They're looking at a few games every year. And I think what makes total sense is that they're committed to targeting games that have got it's either silly stuff, physics-based stuff, which is what we've seen, something like peak B, high social interaction games, again, very peak-esque, short development cycles, and strong virality. So it feels like they've kind of gone, this has worked for us. So let's try and find other people who are doing the same thing and give them a leg up. In essence, that's what this feels like to me. I think one of the interesting aspects of this story is that we're now seeing a few bigger independent studios start to expand their capacity and start publishing and financing. I think Outer Sloth is probably the biggest example of this. Whereas in the past we had those bigger independent publishers like Devolver. Yeah, yeah. Now, more and more we're seeing smaller studios step up and and we'll see how successful they are, but kind of go, well, maybe we can try this, you know, if we put put a bit of money here, we can offer some expertise. So, yeah, that's our that's that's the context, Alex. Do you have any any thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean it, you know, you bring especially indies like this, they're gonna bring with them their own kind of massive community and infrastructure. Like if you especially for the way Evil Landpool's kind of looking, if they're looking to bring in kind of games similar to Peak, there's nothing to stop them shipping it, you know, getting into their own socials, obviously getting into the Discord and really accelerating that awareness. I mean, it it's one of those funny things with a Kickstarter is a strange example, and kind of a dated one at this point. But you know, once you've run one Kickstarter that's been successful, you have access to that entire mailing list to reutilise that for your next project and your next project and your next project, and things grow from there. So, you know, we were talking previously about people t tapping into their their sequels, uh similarly, people like within their own label, they if that's got enough recognition and how that works. But if you this is using exactly that same thing, but not making it yourself, like finding games that you believe in that you can build from there. So I think, you know, assuming that the their scouts and the people looking at the games uh kind of know exactly what they're looking for and have a good deal of experience, and I'm sure they do, I think this could be a really good way forward, especially with the brief they've got. I mean, I know there are sorry, they're still going, but I know there are a lot of publishers out there that are kind of look, you know, they kind of look purely at kind of those um procedure-based like forever games like just continually building factories, uh, and that's kind of like their niche. And same with um Frontier? Am I thinking Frontier? Yeah, no, Paradox. Sorry, I'm thinking Paradox. Uh, where it's like all the strategy games all the time, and it just allows you to feed your own ecosystem and kind of grow from message.

SPEAKER_00

I was going to mention, because I know I'm glad you brought that point up, because I was going to mention, I know we covered it a few weeks ago, so I was just going back through the our episode scripts, and you think a few weeks ago we had um the fun pimps being acquired by Behaviour Interactive. So fun pimps, developers of Seven Days to Die, Behavior Interactive Dead by Daylight. In that case, that was an acquisition, but it it does feel like we are seeing a lot of traditionally not big studios and publishers and groups of developers kind of have these re these moments of thinking, hey, like we're actually quite good at this, we think. Like we think we can help other people. Let's use the success we've had and help, and obviously everyone's making money out of this, so it's not like anyone's doing it out of the good of the heart, but it feels like we are seeing this revolution of sorts where a lot of these studios are saying, okay, we can help with these kind of things. We know, as you've made the point, we've got the communities who like these kind of games. We know how to engage with those kind of people, so we can step in and help other people. And I think a million dollars is a lot of money, but in the context of funding video games, it's quite a small amount to go out and be like, hey, we can, you know, if it's good enough, we'll give you this money. Of no, evil landfall don't have any interest in IP rights, so that's something that would remain entirely with the studios who they're helping, and which again that's a that's a win for the studios involved. Absolutely. Um, and I think what interested me was the fact that Repo or Repo, which was one of the biggest indies of last year, was partially funded by Evil Land 4 when they were being all sneaky and not telling anyone about about their plans to to come and do this kind of stuff. So they've already got a bit of success in this, which I think is only going to help them. Now they can, if anyone comes to them and asks what they can do to help, they they can point to what they've made themselves, but they can also point to a few of these other examples of of projects that they've they've helped bring to fruition.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. I mean, you know, we we see people tap into their communities all the time, but I think if you're sticking with a if you're sticking with a very refined type of game that, you know, the audience all feeds itself. It makes sense. And I think it it's it's coming out of necessity, like it's been so hard to get funding these last three few years. And we we talk time and again about how indies are taking up so much of total sales, but that's dominated by a handful of games, like even more. Slater's fire 2, for example. Slayers 2, exactly. Um, but if studios like that are like, okay, we're gonna reinvest this into the community that brought us up and we're gonna uh and work with that, it's going to give I suppose at that point they're not indies, but it's gonna give more power to these smaller studios that are coming up and that's a whole nother question though, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00

What's an indie? A classic. Yeah, the classic. Technically, Epic Games is an independent company, so they are the they are an indie studio. Um but yeah, I think very, very nice, very wholesome, really nice to see. I think definitely something, you know, if you're listening, keep looking for this stuff because it's happening more and more. Um I I think we're only going to see more cases where the bigger, small studios are doing this. And I think that the ones we've seen do it so far seem to be having quite a lot of success from it. So it'll it'll be interesting. Are we are we gonna be in a position where in five years' time, you know, we've still got the the big ones on top, but there's a lot of smaller publishing houses and and such below them, potentially. Um I suspect Evil Land Fall could be one of them.

SPEAKER_01

I suspect so. I I don't think Evil Landfall or a lot of these smaller people with i eyes to publishing are looking at getting to the scale of like a an Assassin's Creed or a pick another. I don't know why Assassin's Creed is the one that sprang to mind, but just just the scale in the world. Assassin's Creed. Like I don't think they have aspirations to go that high. They're far more focused on creating small, distilled process-led games.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well well I think we've seen the result of overextension and and other such things. So yeah. Good luck to Evil Landfall. Um we'll we'll break away now, and when we come back, we'll look at a few smaller sprinkles of stories from the week. No Mario deep dive again like we did last week. And welcome back to well, not welcome back, welcome to this week's rapid rundown, not welcome back. Um a few stories to look at today. The first of which is about Hideo Kojima. I feel like every time Kojima comes out with something, it's it's always worth talking about. But this story popping up this week that essentially Lora, who is one of the musicians in the Def Stranding games, among others, the reason for their inclusion was because Hideo Kojima is a bit worried that the the players of Def Stranding, they're not getting enough culture in their lives, so he was very keen to curate the music in a way that people could get exposure to some songs and musicians that he loves. I think if your opinion might be different, Alex. I know you'll be aware I do like the Deaf Stranding games, and I am a fan of Kojima. I feel like if anyone else said this, people would be a bit insulted by it. But it feels like Kojima can kind of just say these things and just be like, look, I intellectually I know what I'm doing. You guys don't. So here you go. And people are like, oh, thank you. That's uh oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_01

Feed me more. I mean, you know, it's I don't think there's any I I think it's a very strange way of putting it, and also you've got to wonder. Like, I imagine the interview is in Japanese. He tends to give most of his interviews in Japanese translated, even though I understand his English is very good. So I wondered like where like a bit of culture comes from, like allow people to experience things they haven't from other countries, like low roar is not, they're Icelandic, right? So it's not. I can imagine the the tone of something from Iceland fitting the desolation of not that Iceland is desolate, but it is quite barren of desolation.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean it is very I would I think you could compare it to Iceland. I think you're right though. I mean, we've got this this quote um from Kajima. I don't know. It's from it's from Vogue Japan, so it will have been translated. I think of course it's it's worth noting that Japanese has a lot of context that can be lost because of how the language works, I believe. Not that I'm an expert. Um but yeah, one of the things which Kojima says was I when someone hears a song in the game and feels, oh, I like this, I want that spark to lead them to discover the band, to explore Icelandic music more deeply, or even to seek out related films. So yeah, very much uh it very wholesome, I think.

SPEAKER_01

And I barely played Death Stranding and I played it a little bit, but uh when I did, do you recall if when a new song comes on it puts the artist and like because that was something that Metal Gear Solid 5 did? You'd have the not only the MD artist, but also the recording and everything else.

SPEAKER_00

I I don't want to get torn apart now by the experts. I I know in in the second one, I think I think it's in the first one, but in the second one, you have like a music player, so you can go into it and make your own playlist of all the in-game songs, and then I I think it does pop up. So it is yeah, very, very true to what Kajima said. I think this is it's about opening up things to people, and I'll be honest, there's a lot of music from Def Stranding. Low Roar's one of them, um Geese is another. There's a few artists that I'd not heard of that I heard in Def Stranding and now listen to. So guys the guy's got a point. The guy's got a point.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I mean being exposed to you know cultural influences outside of your own is it's always great. You always find new things. It feels a little weird, uh it feels like a strange way of putting it, but again, I wonder how much of that is just not lost in translation, but kind of a hiccup in translation. It's like, oh, I'd like people to experience things I like and maybe broaden broaden what they listen to. I think somehow the things like I have amazing taste, you guys don't. Culture. Adding the the it's just the culture word just feels a bit loaded, and I wonder if that's just how much of that's a literal translation without the loaded culture.

SPEAKER_00

Although I feel like if you're playing Deaf Stranding, I feel like the average Deaf Stranding player will have more exposure to culture than players of other games. And now I'm sounding really pretentious, and that's definitely not my intention, but having having played the Deaf Stranding games, they're not normal games, they're not for people who want to like switch off and and shoot stuff, they're very boring at times. So the music livens things up. Anyway, aware of the hole I might be digging myself into. The other little story we wanted to look at today was this new initiative from PlayStation dubbed the Player Base. I'm doing uh little bunny ears for anyone listening. That the Player Base, which sounds very cool, very epic. Um essentially, select participants who who join this program will be scanned into Gran Turismo 7 and exist within their, I believe, as a limited time character portrait within the game. I imagine this might extend to other games. I kind of I don't really see the point of this. But we're talking about it. We are talking about it. Well, we're talking about it because I think it's interesting. I just don't really see the point, but it feels I don't is it I don't know, is this like an immersion thing? Are we going to end up in a situation where when you play an RPG with a character creator, you can just like scan a photo of yourself and it'll make you I mean they that that's been a thing for a while.

SPEAKER_01

I mean they they added that into sports games. I can't remember if it's been in this generation or during the last one.

SPEAKER_00

I feel like they were I I remember it being a thing in FIFA, but it was Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And not great.

SPEAKER_00

Not great, but not great.

SPEAKER_01

I think that I think the bigger point of this isn't that you can be in the game, it's that they're running they're essentially finding the biggest fans to be in the game, and that that's the real hunt. It's getting people to share their love of PlayStation online, which feels like it. That's the reason.

SPEAKER_00

What do you think is it a bit of fun? Is it gonna be weighed on how much money you've spent in the PlayStation Star Jack?

SPEAKER_01

Behind the scenes, they're like they're not a real fan, they haven't even bought it.

SPEAKER_00

We need the to make a little reference back to another episode. We need the list of all the people who we screwed over the most with those selective discounts we're doing now. So the ones who have got the smallest discounts, they buy the most stuff. So let's let's ferry them over and shove them into a a photography booth and we'll get them in the game.

SPEAKER_01

I think it's cute. I do think it's cute. I mean, I I think especially it's kind of a shame because I feel like anybody that does get there'll be a handful of people that will obviously be excited at the at the kind of adult end. But I feel like this is something that if you uh I can imagine a kid seeing themselves in a game being absolutely made up. I just feel like we're targeting a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00

Oh yes, but then I imagine it won't be for under eighteens, will it? So it'll uh No, no, no, exactly. Yeah, I think is your own copy of the game, to be clear, not No, I I I I I yeah, I know I said I don't really see the point. I think I do think it's cool. Um it I I played one of the NASCAR games a few years ago, not to go on a tangent, but one of the things I thought was really was cool in that was that alongside all the actual drivers that you could play as, you could pick all the esports players as well, like you could drive as them, which I thought I know that's not super similar to this, but I I I think it's that yeah, if you're if you get the opportunity to like be in a game that you love in in any way, it's it's cool. And the fact that they've said, Oh yeah, this is just like a start, more things will come. It'll be it'll be interesting to see what other stuff they do. I imagine I feel like this would be a great thing to do if you're like launching something and and PlayStation are like, right, this game's coming out in a few months, a hundred people are going to be scanned into the game in in whatever way. That's like my my marketing brain is like that would be a really cool idea. Um but yeah, a little bit a little bit strange.

SPEAKER_01

Then the game ends up being awful, and you're you're forever in there.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and then you're stuck in there. You're distorted more. Pledging a lawsuit against Sony because I don't want to be in this rubbish game anymore. Please remove. But no, I I mean that's the that's the episode, really. I think this has been, as you said, Alex, this has been a really optimistic episode, I think. Some really nice I think possibly the most optimistic episode we've had, apart from my little sting of how many people. Yeah. Apart from your little one at the start, it's been it's been very nice. It's been nice to be smiling. And well, not that we're not that not that miserable. I think we always smile when we record these, but it's really nice to have some good stories. And of course, the you know, people are wondering, oh, where can I get more of these stories? I can't guarantee they'll always be this happy and joyful, but the good news is we do have lots of other resources so you can access more of these stories. We've got the weekly download, which goes live on LinkedIn every Friday. And we also have the daily download, which is five days a week to look at the biggest stories of the day, notable news. We also have an updated events calendar so you can see what events are coming up. Um, so you know you can always get access to more of these stories. And that's pretty much it, really. You'll find the link for the daily download in the description below. Other than that, thank you so much for watching, for listening. Be sure to subscribe if you've enjoyed it and you want to see us again next week. And that's all from me. Thank you so much for tuning in and goodbye.