The Weekly Download

Capcom Breaks Profit Records as Digital Sales Surge to 93%!

• Big Games Machine • Season 1 • Episode 30

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SPEAKER_01

The weekly download, a podcast about interesting game industry news.

SPEAKER_02

Brought to you by Big Games Machine.

SPEAKER_00

I accidentally started the DeLorean spinning before the start of this. Yeah. And you're like, as you j you're you're gonna see like on Love Is Blind, the reason they all have gold cups is so they can edit more clearly, so you don't know how much they've drunk in any given moment. Or you're gonna know everything. Exactly where you are in the running order, depending on how how the DeLorean is rotated. Until it stops. Until it stops.

SPEAKER_01

Until it stops. Or it may never unvent perpetual motion. Yes. That is and if that is the case, then you might never hear from us again. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. But that's a very long-winded way of saying hello. Hi. Welcome. Welcome to the weekly download brought to you by Big Games Machine. To anyone who's listening rather than watching and has no context to any of that.

SPEAKER_00

Alex, can you start can we start the audio version at a different point, maybe?

SPEAKER_01

This is all part of the experience.

SPEAKER_00

What? Yes, yes. I have a very heavily Lego's background. I think we both do, but mine's kind of more visible on on camera. Uh and I recently got a DeLorean. It's not in my list of things I get from Lego, but I needed to buy something because I had a code that was going to expire. Needed to buy something because I had a code that was going to expire. So I bought a DeLorean. This is so I could get the Poker Center, Pokemon Center before the pool before that ran out. And I decided that because it's got a mode where you can put the wheels down like it's flying through the air, I've suspended it from the roof like a child. With string. Not like I suspend a lot.

SPEAKER_01

You have. And it is going to keep spinning. But that's the context to anyone who's listening. If if you're new here and we're nearly, well, I think we're over two minutes in, and we've not actually introduced what's going on. Sorry. This is the weekly download. It's our weekly podcast where we look at some of the biggest stories in the industry. We have a little chat about them. Alex and I share our thoughts. And yeah, we we cover a few different stories every week, and then we have a few fun ones at the end. We don't usually talk about the DeLorean. We do normally talk about Resident Evil. We will be talking about Capcom today. We'll be looking at some Capcom earnings. It's earnings season, so a lot of what we've been looking at in the last few weeks is to do with earnings. We've looked at Capcom before. We'll look at Capcom again. We're also going to be looking at some news around Double Fine productions of Kiln more recently, but Psychonauts fame, obviously part of Microsoft as well. They're a Microsoft-owned studio. And then the last, sorry, we'll we'll also be jumping around to is around Stellar Blade developer Shift Up. Um they Sony published Stellar Blade. It was a PS5, it's but now Shift Up are in a position where they're moving towards self-publishing. So we'll have a little look at that and what that potentially might mean for its future games. Um but that's the that's kind of where we're looking today. Alex, do you have any thoughts before we dive in that aren't about the Lego DeLorean?

SPEAKER_00

No, no, no. I'm excited to get in some of these. Like I think it's it's an interesting collection of stories and you know, mostly quite positive, which is always nice.

SPEAKER_01

Nice, nice and positive. Um so we'll we'll take a small break and we'll come back and we'll jump into this news around Doublefine. And we are going to kick off this week's episode with this first story around Doublefine Productions. Like we said before, very to me, very well known for psychonauts, and they've always been a bit on the more bizarre and um I kind of think cult classic side of the industry. But Doublefine this week have officially voted to unionize alongside the communications workers of America. Um that's 42 regular and part-time workers filed the petition, and this makes Doublefine the latest. In interestingly, I think quite a few Microsoft-owned studios now have moved towards unionization. Um ID Software both did so over the last year. Uh it's it, I think. It is, it is, sorry. And I know that's right because you've brought that up, you've brought me up for that before. But I do apologise. So, yeah, CENIMAX id software. Microsoft itself in this is maintaining this neutrality agreement, so it's not gonna get involved in a pro uh opposing the unionizate the unionization process, really stumbling through that one. Well, yeah, I think I don't know, Alex. To me, the thing that I'm immediately looking at here is the fact that we're getting a few Microsoft-owned studios which are really doing this now, and and I'm kind of wondering, is that because Microsoft is allowing it to happen, and that would make it a good presence in this for some, you know, in some ways, or is this the opposite? And it's actually a lot of workers within these studios are quite fearful of what might happen, so they're pushing for unionization to help solve that.

SPEAKER_00

I guess I would imagine that there's a lot of things going on here, and I really need to learn more about the process when it comes to unionization, but specifically where people are applying to here. But um I think one of the things is that these are smaller studios under a larger owner that partly are fearful because they're seeing what's going on and they want to protect, you know, protect their jobs or or have security, I should say, because it doesn't necessarily protect their jobs, but it gives them security and certainty in what happens if they do lose their jobs. And also because there's smaller studios under there, I suspect it's easier for them to unionize because they can get enough people on board from within the percentage and everybody kind of coming in through that same theory. And I think especially with what they will have seen through uh the like Toys for Bob and some other studios being cut by Microsoft. I think Toys for Bob was one of theirs.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean like Tango as well. I know Tango now exists in a new form, but you know, you think they they worked on Hi-Fi Rush critically that was really successful. Um obviously we don't know the specifics sale-wise, and it was on Game Pass, but um I I don't think it's a coincidence that this happened quite soon after they released Kilm, and which came out a few weeks ago. And again, like you said, it's hard to there's so much to this, and there'll be so many reasons why they have chose to do this. Part of me does wonder if there's a degree of hey, we're not working on, you know, we've released that game now. It's so it's come out a few weeks ago. If we do it now, it makes sure that if Microsoft try and restructure a little bit or something like that, they are protected. I don't know if that's me reading too much into the timing, though.

SPEAKER_00

I think it's probably somewhere between the two. Like, I don't think you're wrong. Like when you look at the the some of the companies, studios that Microsoft has cut, it has been soon after a launch. Equally, my my understanding is unless they've changed the company structure, I haven't been keeping a very close eye on Double Fine. They've always had a few projects running at once. They quite famously were one of the first places to like run game jams and then spin ideas out of those stacked and I can't remember the name of their weird hybrid World War II mech game. But they kind of were all in development at the same time. And, you know, famously, like they were the the first kind of breakout hit on Kickstarter that proved all that was possible. So I think they're they're quite used to being, and that was for what ended up being broken age. I think they're quite used to having independence, and I think that probably comes from part of that, and they're probably I so I don't think they'll put all of their I don't think they'll put all of their eggs into kiln, if you see what I mean.

SPEAKER_01

They were acquired in 2018, 2019?

SPEAKER_00

It's been a while, hasn't it? Because they they that was when they had the whole thing around Werewolf Psychonauts 2 and 20 and they got June 2019. Yeah, because they couldn't port it to PlayStation 5 in the end, so you could play on PlayStation, but only the PlayStation version.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because it was more than that. I mean to your point, they you know, we had Kiln um a few weeks ago, they also released Keeper at the back end of the year. That's one that I've been controversial, and I think they're both quite small experiences. I think if you look a bit further back, and again I'm supporting your point here, don't worry. Uh but Psychonauts 2 2021 and then Rad, which I played, that was a much smaller experience again a few years before. So I understand where you're coming from in terms of they probably definitely will have other projects in the work, and I imagine it might that Microsoft might have them looking at something a bit bigger. But then it again, as you the point that you said, they have a very independent studio. So how much I feel like Microsoft leave them alone.

SPEAKER_00

I think it would be a mis what do I know compared to Microsoft, but I would think like they they Microsoft needs to fill up the pipeline if they want the game pass to feel like a you know an offer. And I think Double Fine spitting out high quality experimental projects helps with that. The problem is I don't think any of their games have done especially well in the last five or so years.

SPEAKER_01

I guess it it probably depends what doesn't it to be clear on that as well as it's not. Yeah, yeah. I I I think I think you're right, they are a very good example of a studio that I think are considered a bit of a darling within the industry. I think you hear the name Doublefine, and even if it's more nostalgic, perhaps, but you you do associate them with good games, and I think it makes sense that they're they're a good example of a in the nicest way possible, because I really do like a few of their games, but they're never going to be the main attraction on something like Game Pass. But for people I think who are willing to try out new stuff, they're a very useful studio to have to just keep adding games to that catalogue. And I I think the last question I came with when we were looking at this story was I I wonder if there is a degree of just feeling a bit vulnerable now that we're seeing Microsoft cut a lot of studios and seem to be very much focused on delivering high profit margins, on kind of keeping costs low, on recouping a lot of money from their investments. But then is the flip side of that that a lot of the games are quite low budgets? I don't look at a lot of what they do and think that they'll be breaking the bank to do it. So but we don't we don't know what those numbers look like, do it.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I I will the kind of the where some expense might come in, I imagine they prototype, build a lot, and pick up the ones that work, which is why their games tend to be like darlings, like indie darlings, but normally quite not system-based, but I feel like very heavily built around a concept.

SPEAKER_01

No idea like a a gameplay concept rather than hey, let's build a world and then and I guess that could like as you said, that comes from the fact that they do go out and experiment on stuff and because I think kiln's a bit weird, but I like I like that kind of weird, it's a bit different. Kind of sits in that Splatoon space, doesn't it? As a it's what it reminds me of probably a bit less successful um at the moment, but definitely that but that's that ability to experiment, isn't it? And if we come back to this story as it is, I think that you know, good for them, deunionizing does help them have more protections and and hopefully keeps them in a position where they can experiment. And yeah, I just again to pick that point. To me, I do think it's really interesting that we're seeing a lot of Microsoft Studios do this. Not just obviously I get that Bethesda's technically first party, but it I and I know we spoke about this very recently, but Bethesda still feels quite it's a first party, but it's like a second party kind of thing, whereas double fine is very much they're double fine and then there's Microsoft very much.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. But I I I think I I I think Microsoft, you know, not blocking these things is likely what's driving a lot of it. Like more power to Microsoft for allowing that, I guess, is part of the point here. Not allowing it, that's the wrong term, but not being resistant to it in the way we see for a lot of the other union conversations we have.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, no, true. And I know we spoke about it last week. Another good example of Microsoft doing something right. And it's not they're they're not being gracious here by blocking it, or by not blocking it. It's kind of like, okay, there's the respect between the studios and and the publisher there. But again, Microsoft doing good things, and I think that people notice these kind of things. So not not doing bad things. Not doing but I just I'm thinking of from just that corporate perspective, it's a very easy way to because as as we've known, and we've spoken about before, unionizing is a very sticky business for publishers for studios, and it's it's easy to get it wrong, it's easy to get it right sometimes. But yeah, so we'll we'll break here, and then when we come back, we will be moving from Xbox and Microsoft to Sony and Shift Up. And we are back with our second story of the day, and this is the news that Stellarblade, the developer Shift Up, is moving away from its publishing partnership slash relationship with Sony. So Shift Up is transitioning to a first party model and the studio one of the reasons which I think party. A third party, even yes. One of the getting all my different parties.

SPEAKER_00

I'm paying attention, I'm paying attention, sir. I did that one to catch you out.

SPEAKER_01

I did that one to catch you out and you got it. But one of the one of the reasonings behind this was about them being able to market the game, their games, more not properly necessarily, but more reflective of what they are, which is interesting. I'm not yeah, I'm not necessarily I mean the quote that I've that I've pulled was reflects the distinctive identity of the IP. Not sure if that's specifically talking about Stellar Blade and the Stellar Blade 2, but it makes me think. Yeah. I like to one more thing I'll say just before I open it up, just for a bit more context. Shift Up did recently go public. They also acquired Unbound, which is the new studio from Alex, one of your favourite people in the industry, presumably, Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. So part of me wonders if this again, I'm thinking I'm I'm speaking about timings again, but I wonder if the timing of this is to demonstrate, hey, we've gone public, we're you know, we're trying to broaden our offering and what we are and what we do. But yeah, it's Sony, I guess will it'll obviously come to PS5 or PS6 whenever it it launches. That relationship that that leg up that I imagine Sony gave them, they probably look now and think we don't need it anymore, which I guess is good for them.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, I mean, you know, it's it's an I'm sure it will have an interesting effect on everything around it, like obviously being able to be on Xbox and possibly Switch as well is going to expand their their user base. Um, I don't know if that means they'll have more control over how they advertise it on PC. I would say it's an interesting thing to advertise their game in a way that because obviously it had a whole furore around how the the league character was portrayed, and I wonder which side of that they feel they wanted to portray more authentically to their original vision.

SPEAKER_01

I think I think without getting into it please, I don't I didn't want to get into it, but it was more No, I that that's why I brought that point up because I think it's very interesting to I do remember the obviously the the kind of things you're talking about. I think 2024 the Blade came out. Is that how old it is? Yeah, that sounds right. Um there was a lot of lot of hubbub around the obviously the presentation of the main character and these things around censorship in some of the early updates and patches to the game. So I think that definitely again, we can only speculate. I think it does raise questions about that partially being the reason. But then a lot of me thinks that this decision to go alone is that's kind of just a a point to justify why they're doing it that doesn't really add up that much. I just think it's a bigger slice of the pie. I think that not having Sony involved so they get more money. I think that we're seeing a real explosion from Korean and especially Chinese studios as well, who are having a lot of success, not just in their own countries and and the region, but in the West as well. And they're they're thinking we don't need the Western expertise to get into those markets. You know, we can bring our own people in-house to help with that, we can go and do that on our own, and we can reach those audiences without Sony. And I imagine any position where you're having to make a game exclusive for a year, you know, they might turn around and think, okay, we don't we'll trade the expertise we might still need, but we get the game on, as you said, Alex, Xbox Switch, PC on day one.

SPEAKER_00

I think there's another side to that, which is it's a lot easier to make that once your IP is established. I think they would have you would be crazy to turn down a Sony publishing deal for your for anyone listening. Don't do that. Don't do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think you need that first success for it to make any sense. Uh but yeah, once you've got an established IP, the rolling of that ball gets a lot easier as it as you try and build momentum for your launch. Uh I think it makes a lot of sense. I mean, we actually tracks all the way back to Demon's Souls with that from software, right? Because that that first deal was an absolute nightmare. I think they were they had like two or three publishers for that game, one different one in each region, which means that it can only be on PlayStation because it was published by Sony in Japan, but nowhere else. So you end up in these weird complex things. Yeah, it was Namco Bandai in the West, or at least in Europe. I think it might have been somebody else in America. Like it was a real, really odd little thing. I think I'm not I'm gonna stop presuming from there because I know those two. I feel like Atlas was involved in somewhere else.

SPEAKER_01

So shift up are doing the opposite of that. They're saying, hey, we don't want four publishers, we just want one. We just want those.

SPEAKER_00

They're actually well, it it's more like that they don't want that confusion over their IP down the line. Like they they they're taking control because they have that option now.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, because I'm not again I can't I'd have to double check this, but I do wonder if the like if Stellar Blade, the first game, I wonder if they published that in South Korea. I presume not, but potentially, but yeah, I I I don't I I think this is good. As I said, it's always good to see more studios being able to stand up on their own. I think it also implies that they must have really done well from not just the PS5 release, but I think the PC release as well. I think this kind of the the confidence they've got to go and do things on their own now implies that it must have done really well. Which, you know, whether you whether you like the game or not, I think we want more games to be successful, and and it's always good when they're outside of the traditional houses that that we'd all that we'll be talking about in a moment, as it goes. Absolutely. But yeah, I mean I think my last point on this would be I wonder, again, the Tom's gonna do his speculating, but obviously with Sony retreating on the PC side of things, I wonder if that's one of those things that they were um and are in about whether what they wanted to do, whether they would work with Sony again. And you know, they're looking, hey, well if you publish us, are we not going to release on PC now? And we definitely would want to do that. That's just speculating. But I wonder if if that may have been a part of it, or they just we're always gonna do this. But yeah, I think unless you have anything to add, Alex, we'll we'll move.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, no, I think I think you're right. Like, I mean I would have in their situation, I think it makes sense to kind of break away. I'm sure they can still come up with an advertising deal to say first on PlayStation or whatever when the time comes if they want to.

SPEAKER_01

But oh yeah, Sony handing them out like sweets, aren't they? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyone can get one of them, not anyone. So imagine Nintendo rocking off and being like, Do you want to do one for us? Be like, never on PlayStation. I bet they would. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that way round, I suppose not.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Star Fox, no, Switch 2 only. Unlucky, unlucky Sony fans. Um, but yeah, we'll we'll break, and then when we come back, we'll get into Alex's favourite story of the week, I'm assuming, because we are going to be talking about Capcom and Resident Evil.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, Capcom. One day, one day we're gonna have a bad Capcom story.

SPEAKER_01

And we are back for the penultimate time today to look at the news that Capcom have just reported their ninth consecutive year of record breaking record breaking. There's no baking. Were Capcom no, they weren't cooking mama, were they? No, definitely not. I was really trying to reach for I was reaching around 505. But yeah, selling the record breaking profits, but they've also sold more games this year than they've ever sold before. Um I mean that would be right. Well, potentially, but you know, we've got to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00

Should.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It should, but quite a quite an increase. So 59.07 million units this year, 51.87 million last year, which is, you know, I'm not a I'm not a mathematician, but that's quite a big jump. Resident Evil Requiem, 7 million units in its first couple of weeks, really driving that. But and what I think is the best insight from this story is that nearly 84% of sales were from what we'd call catalogue titles. So older games in franchises, RE4 Remake, Street Fighter 6, Legacy games in the Monster Hunter series, and that that being so high, such a high percentage, is because Capcom is very good at porting games to every platform and having deep, deep discounts. I think if you ever look at any sale on eShop, PlayStation Store, Steam, Xbox, Epic, um, there's always great Capcom games for very cheap. So it's uh it's clearly a strategy that's working, and even though they're on sale, they're still making a lot of profit. So it's it it's all around really impressive.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's interesting because they continue to put out some new games, but smattered in amongst the rest, right? But yeah, I'm putting out games in a series, and I think you know, Resident Evil is obviously especially good at that because it's one of the is it one of the few games they've got that really has a narrative behind it? Uh where it kind of like, oh, what did I miss kind of thing. You don't really get that with Monster Hunter if we're if we're honest.

SPEAKER_01

You got DMC, haven't you? But I think Resident Evil is probably the most heavy storage.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. So it's fantastic to see like a studio that, or rather, a a company that's kind of worked out its pipeline and is still willing to experiment on part of that and not just kind of like push away on the treadmill. Obviously, they've got gaggles of Ori games in reserve. I'm sure they'll have another Monster Hunter next year. Street Fighter games will continue to form the backbone of everything they've got going on there. But Pragmata, obviously, and I always forget the name of this goddess game.

SPEAKER_01

Akinitsugami pathoddess. I feel I I could not remember a single word after the one I was saying then. I would that was very much just piecing it together as it came in. But but that's and they're all reviewing well even if they're not selling well. So that's the fascinating part about that. But then you think they can they can experiment with those smaller games because they have got this amazing catalogue. That and you know, I don't want to just repeat myself, but that 80 nearly 84% being from older games, it would be interesting to see what that looks like for other studios and other publishers. I imagine Nintendo would be quite high with that as well, especially with the them how much they push the older Switch games.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, it depends what you mean by bat catalogue, right? Because I I don't I guess Matt yeah, I'm gonna take that back. In my head, I was like, but Mario Kart, you just it's still the same one. You just buy it. Is it catalogue if it's the same game? But yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I I mean the probably the I I know you're less of a stickler for this than I am now. One of the thing that makes me a little bit sad, 93% of this is digital. Then I imagine that I I think again, this is something we've spoken about before, but I imagine they make so much through big sales on Steam. Yeah. Because they really discount stuff on Steam, so I'm I I'm not surprised by this 93% being digital. Uh I think it's just kind of uh it's the industry now. I I I feel like we've seen um actually we've seen something else this week that we're gonna talk about in the rundown, so I won't talk about that now. Just remembered. That's the story for later. Um, but other things about digital downloads from other companies. But you know, I think why why is Capcom successful? I I think we've we've spoken about that, but to me they they don't look to chase they don't look to chase what's hot. They have franchises that are very well known, that play, I know they they kind of shift from game to the game, but they kind of play in a certain way. To me, Resident Evil, the games that I've played of that series, I've I don't there's nothing else I've played quite like that. It's a it's a very unique thing. I'd say the same with like Phoenix Wright. I'm very aware that it's just a visual novel, but it's a very distinct and unique take on it, and I think that's part of the success they have. And again, they can say they're all 80% off. Go and get them. And if you like them, then we've got a new one coming out next year. And we it's another I know with Monster Hunter, there's not a new game coming out in the foreseeable, but there's a big expansion for Wilds that's coming out next year. So you're seeing every two or three years, most of their biggest franchises are either getting DLC or they're getting new entries. Or I saw that Requiem released a new, I think like a roguelike mode a few days ago for free. So if it's if it's not already a great game, then they're they're continuing to support it. So I've only completed one run on it so far, but it's very good. And is it good? It's good. There we go. We've got the official uh the Resident Evil.

SPEAKER_00

I had a friend of mine who loves Resident Evil almost as much as me be like, I haven't played it yet. I'm like, you should. It's fun playing. You should play it. Yeah, it really I it really makes me realise how much I truly enjoyed the gunplay in it, which was it you know how you can enjoy a game and then you don't when it when a game is at its best, you're not thinking about why you enjoy it, you're just having fun. And I never really stopped to realise just how good the combat was in it until I was in this kind of like completely combat focused.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well there's nothing else to worry about. Yeah. That's good to know. Um it's it it they they're making I I we say the same thing every time we speak about Capcom, but I think they're just a very good example of one of the companies that's doing things right. They aren't really making any big missteps. I think the last thing that I wanted to speak about was the fact that they're also now going more and more into the the film and the TV and the the the anime side of things, and we're we're fingers crossed that they're gonna be good, I'm assuming that that's for come on the new Resident Evil movie. Yeah, that's a whole different thing. I think Capcom are one of the I think we're seeing Nintendo and Sony really lead that charge um to mixed results. But yeah, I think that's very intelligent from Capcom looking and thinking, you know, I'd look at I'd look at Mario with the new Mario movie, and even if that movie's of questionable quality, there's no doubt that that's gonna have boosted the sale of probably every single Mario game on the Switch and Alexander.

SPEAKER_00

When you say leading that charge, though. Capcom's from putting out Resident Evil movies since like the early 2000s.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I I know, but it feels like there's kind of a new generation of companies who are actually starting to do it right. I think To no disrespect to the I feel like the the early two thousand like the early 2000s and 2010s, finding a logical plan for using video game video game IP in a transmedia way was not in the room. It was like chuck out someone's wrote a script for a Resident Evil Mystery.

SPEAKER_00

They tried the first time was written by Romero, and then they said it was gonna be too adult, and that's kind of sat in a vault somewhere that you can see. Oh, for Dead Space. No, for Resident Evil. Oh, Resident Evil. Yeah, and then it ended up with Paul Wes Anderson, and uh then they took that and then also we're just getting all the horror. Also, have Mia Iovich in it. Yeah, I'm gonna stop. I'm gonna stop.

SPEAKER_01

We need to get me off the room. They're gonna be so good. Um but yeah, I feel like we're kind of in like a renaissance for those kind of things. Oh, absolutely. But you are very right. This isn't a new thing, but it seems like the past four or five years we've really seen companies start doing it seriously and doing it right.

SPEAKER_00

They're moving into what what do they call prestige, like a lot of these kind of prestige TV shows are kind of obviously The Last of Us is there, there's talk about the the God of War One Bioshock still out there in the in the midst somewhere. The Twisted Metal thing. Which one? The Twisted Metal show isn't awful. I watched I've not watched Twisted Metal. It's it's it's on the BBC I player, you can go and watch it today. Start the BBC.

SPEAKER_01

But yeah, I I think this is obviously more of a not a success for you than me, but I think it's you it's always it's always it's always good to see that you know the company that's making games that you like is is doing well and and well done to Capcom. It might not surprise you they're forecasting another year of record growth going into next year. Doesn't surprise me. The next time you see every Resident Evil game on sale on Steam, just remember this. And you're part of the 60 million. You're probably about a million of them just through pre-buying everything. Yeah, just do I have three four on every platform?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, very true. I I am sat here waiting for it to go because I have this kind of thing that I like everything on Steam as a backup. So, you know, once I sit here waiting for gold editions or whatever the version is to drop on, to drop down to a point, I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna pick that up on a whim, even though I've got it on PlayStation. And I I want I want them on my Switch as well. So it's it's a whole thing.

SPEAKER_01

Next year, if Catcom don't get that that record growth, I'm gonna be coming to you. I'm gonna be saying what happened. You weren't buying you didn't buy the gold super turbo edition of of Requiem. But no, fantastic. Give me a chance, I will. Yeah, give them a chance if they release it. Um but we'll we'll wrap there and then when we come back, we'll take a look at a few more light-hearted um quick stories that have happened this week in the world of games. And we are back with this week's rapid rundown. First story of the week is that I nearly slipped on it earlier, but this news around digital sales being so high for Capcom. We've also got the PS5 and PS4 data for the last quarter, and 85% of sales through on PS5 and PS4 uh were digital. So, and and this is a point I was gonna make before, not that I need to, because I think we know it now, but it really is the case that if you're on the physical side of things, you are a clear minority in terms of how you're accessing games and and how you're playing them. I haven't looked at this. I feel like I know the point you might make.

SPEAKER_00

Do you maybe, yeah. Well, there's two, there's actually two points. The first is how many of them are in-app purchases? Yeah. Like how much of this is I should have said that just Fortnite. As soon as I shut my mouth, I knew that was gonna come back. Yeah. How much of this is just Fortnite? And then to go to Capcom's side of it, if the same percentage was driven by digital, was it digital or digital or sales that drove that on Capcom?

SPEAKER_01

Dig uh Cap Capcom. Um with Capcom Wait, I don't know. Oh, we don't, yeah, okay. Yeah, we don't know the specifics. 93% of games that they sold were digital. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

We don't know any more than that. So I mean, you know, it it is this kind of shift. I mean, it it makes sense. You know, there's so many people that are downloading things, one, for free and then buying things in the game. Two, that you can only buy digitally, the number of games that don't bother. I mean, when Alan Waite came out, that wasn't physical for ages. They they did that as kind of like a thing online. And that was that was a triple A game.

SPEAKER_01

Well, um you you look at Microsoft with I don't think Oblivion had a um I don't think Oblivion had a physical copy at launch. No, I mean no Indiana Jones on the Switch 2 is the only version of that game that's an actual physical um copy because it's not a game key card. Sorry. Well it's it kind of does though. It's Indiana Jones, but genuinely. The fact that the only physical version of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the Switch 2 version of and Microsoft have done game key cards for other ones. I kinda I I look at the digital and I think it's not it. I imagine this is very much consumer choice.

SPEAKER_00

Not I'm not gonna say it's not, but there's also a real is it consumer choice if there is no choice to buy it physically?

SPEAKER_01

And there's such a push towards it, isn't there? I mean, we've seen with Nintendo announcing that they're going to undercut physical copies on their own eShop. So they'll always sell the digital copies cheaper. And I and I get it, and I know we've spoken about the fact that this is what the not the promise, but this is what the idea was in the first place was that if you can if you can you get it digital, you don't get to resell it, but you get it cheaper. And it really feels like we ship things. Yeah, and they don't have to share. Oh yeah, there's so much saving for the manufacturer. Um you know, I I got a PS5 Pro early, I had the weeks of having it without getting a disk drive, but I see a future where I think definitely with what Sony and Microsoft do next, I don't think you'll be able to access a version of those systems that have disk drives built in. I just I don't see that being a thing anymore. You'll be able to get them as some bizarre optional extra in the world that we live in now. But to me, there's no way that either of those are gonna launch with a version like the PS5 and Xbox Series X did. I just don't see it happening because you look at the data, there's no really, there's not much point. Yeah. Which is a shame. Yeah. Anyway, that's shock news. Digital downloads are very popular. Something else that's popular, Alex. You know, Mouse PI for hire. I think you will have seen the Noir Bioshock-esque mouse game. Well, that that launched in April, and Publisher Playside have come out and said, hey, we've already it's done so well that we've recouped all of our expenses. I can only imagine that also passes on to the developer. A lot of hype for this one. I've read a lot of. It didn't, it didn't to the people like me. I'll be honest. I I not to brag, but I think I've sent you a message on Slack about this game like three years ago. And I will go back after and I'll try and find it. Because I uh but this is one that you could have a use of your time. Yeah, it would be a really good use of my time just to prove I was right. But no, I I think it I was only aware of it because I, as you know, like I I read my magazines, is what I spend a lot of time on Steam just looking at stuff that's coming out. Um but I never thought it would do as well as it has. And I think that the reviews are there's I've read some really good reviews, I've read some reviews that are quite critical, but I think the overall point that everyone makes is that they've gone and tried something different with the visual design, and it's paid off really well, and I think it's a it's an obvious testament to the fact that if you can make something that stands out and really stands out and is unique, and there's nothing else that quite looks like it, you can already get your foot in the door with a lot of players, and a lot of you know, the the wider interest in in the industry I think comes to games like this because they've looked and gone, this looks there's nothing else that looks like this, and it's there are other games that borrow from the same era, but it's done it really well and obviously kind of refined it to the first person perspective.

SPEAKER_00

Some of the in jokes in there I think are really clever, like the fact that I can't remember what it is, but somewhere in the game you can find, like in the museum, like the creator of the invisible wall, so they can explain the fact that there's invisible walls in the game. Like there's smart meta jokes like that that play to the crowd that are into that. My understanding was from some of the things I read, I haven't played it, that you know, maybe people were jumping on the wrong thing, and the game was maybe at its core a bit different in terms of what the message it was trying to portray. But that's by the by it's incredible that it's done this well. I will say that I think when it's when it started to build hype out, was it was it was it the game awards it was at? Where was it that it kind of blew up from? It was a re there was a summary.

SPEAKER_01

I think it was it was around mid-last year. It it was definitely it's been at a few big showcases. I think it's been in an Xbox event as well. Yes, yeah. But this has all been in the build up to the release, they've been very clear.

SPEAKER_00

But off the ball directly after that, like there was it blew up kind of online, and the story started really kind of coming in about it. And then after that, I think somebody I've closed the window play side probably were like, Oh, this is gonna do well because I couldn't turn around for ads playing on my YouTube videos, popping up. Like, it does show that part of its quality, part of it's known when you've got something and having the money to back it, blasting it, then it's paid off.

SPEAKER_01

But that's the point, though, isn't it? If if I see a Reddit ad, you know, I spend a lot of time on Reddit, and Reddit's very good at targeting stuff at me, very good ads, and you see a lot of stuff for games, and it what Mouse PI for hire shows again to me is that it sells it might not sell you on the concept, but it sells you on the idea of just the world and the visual style as soon as you see it. Like you don't even need to see it in motion necessarily for it to immediately go, Yeah, that looks to me. I think as soon as I see a screenshot, I had to go, okay, what's it actually what does it look like? And then you go and watch a trailer. And I think that's so hard to do. Like, there's no easy way to turn around and be like, this is how you do that.

SPEAKER_00

In a still from the game, absolutely. The number of games where it's like behind the curtain, the number of games that I see that kind of come to me, it's like in a still, it's like this is just a noise to me. Like, I'm just looking at like this, might as well be a static white noise on a screen.

SPEAKER_01

We do, we see a lot though, and it's one of the struggles that we face is sometimes we, you know, when Alex and I are working on pitching and things, and and sometimes we just want to say to people, just don't even don't read what I'm saying, just go and like watch, just go and watch it.

SPEAKER_00

I mean watch it in motion. What what's the yeah? There have been a couple of games recently that I've like been nothing I write about this is gonna do it justice. A screenshot doesn't do it justice because in a still, you're missing it's the animation and the detail is what brings it out. And all not just does it bring it out, but it's also that you see what's happening. Like in a still, you can't even necessarily work out what the lead character is or what the gameplay is. Whereas you're quite right, mouse PI for hire is like you know exactly what it is, partly because of the visual metaphor of video games, you can see the yeah, your gun here. There we go. That's what it looks like, doesn't it? Uh, you can see your gun at the bottom of the screen and then the mice. You just need the mouse here now. Absolutely, absolutely. I always think of Roger Rabbit when I see it. That that kind of is what's at the back of my mind.

SPEAKER_01

That's the kind of vibe though, isn't it? Like it's the the cup head the the classic the the just the classic Hollywood animation of that's I I love it because it looks a little bit untidy, but it looks so good. Um something else which looks good, not proud of that segue, but it got us there. Uh Black Flag Resync coming out quite soon. Um a remake of many people's favourite Assassin's Creed game. Um, one of the really cool things they're doing for the marketing campaign for that is a and I I saw your head movement for the favourite Assassin's Creed game. Hey, I am but one man. It is my favorite.

SPEAKER_00

I think it it was at the launch of the PlayStation 4 kind of cycle. I just think that one of the reasons is because it was the best game out there in that window. Like I think it got a glow up by the fact it was nothing. Yeah, basically. But it was incredible. This game is really good. It's also the only one we've got. Yeah, I'd also say it might be the best, honestly. So I don't know why I get any kind of head to it.

SPEAKER_01

I'd say so. But they they're doing a they're doing a real life treasure hunt, and the prize is worth half a million dollars. From what I I had a look at this, it seems that there's a it's going to be a bit of a globe trotting experience which ends in Barbados. People at Ubisoft have claimed this will take up to five years to solve, but yeah, and you and you have to buy in to get the clues, but then they're doing an event where you can get access to it for free. So I like the idea of this. It just feels like, and I don't want to be mean to Ubisoft, but it feels like a bit of a Ubisoft have had a really good idea and they've made it really weird and complicated. Yeah. And and I'm like, who who is this for? Because it doesn't strike me as being for normal people who can solve some riddles and then jet off to the Caribbean. Yeah. On a whim. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But cool idea. Yeah, it's really hard to feel like the stories you love when people win prizes are like how it's going to change your life. But if you've gone if if you you've hopped off to Barbados to try and win it, you're probably alright. Probably. Maybe.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, I th I you'd still quite fancy the uh the first person to merely.

SPEAKER_00

Maybe the stage before, maybe the stage before is you find the free tickets to Barbados. Maybe. Well we don't know. Maybe it's all part of a single thing. It doesn't start until November. Right. So there's a long time. That is when the season begins in Barbados. So that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01

I was gonna say plane tickets will be cheap. If you solve it really quickly. Oh, that's when the season begins. Well yeah, oh yeah. I don't know why I'm thinking it's gonna be like freezing in Barbados. Well, they are maybe they're in cahoots with the Barbados government. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe tourism. How many more people came to find that Assassin's Creed chest? Two. Yeah. Two did, but my god, one of them was Rihanna.

SPEAKER_00

And the other one was um I can't even think what the head of Ubisoft's called now. I don't know, but Cliff Richard has a house out there, so maybe it'll be him. Just the two of them fighting for this brilliant prize.

SPEAKER_01

Do you think anyone outside the UK is gonna know who Cliff Richard is? No, no, no, no, they won't. No. I don't all I know is that it was like um when Nana or grandma. Again, I don't I think Nana's quite an English thing, isn't it? She uh she she thought he was a good looking man growing up.

SPEAKER_00

I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01

There you go, Cliff Richard.

SPEAKER_00

I didn't know where that was going, but yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01

No, I didn't know. I was just trying to think of how I can add some knowledge to but yeah, Cliff Richard is is uh how how are we if Cliff Richard is the one to solve this, I would love that. We're all going on a summer holiday dressed as like Ezio. That would be good. That'd be pretty cool. But yeah, there's that's our that's our last story for the week. Um obviously I think it's it's cool. I will always give kudos to a company in Ubisoft's position doing something a little bit weird off the wall with its marketing campaign. Although I think the fact that it's so it doesn't even start till so long after launch is a bit odd. Unless they're planning to do something with the game around November. But it just feels a bit it comes out in a month.

SPEAKER_00

They've announced they've an they've announced it now. They get the stories off the announcement. If it's five years till it ends, I mean you know.

SPEAKER_01

Well, they've claimed it could take five years. Okay. But that seems a long time to solve 15 girls. Yeah. Maybe they just don't have answers. That would work. Yeah. And then they just go in like five years and just go and grab it.

SPEAKER_00

If we know the end is gonna be in Barbados, couldn't you just go to Barbados now to start the whole island? It's not a huge island.

SPEAKER_01

I imagine it's probably not there yet. But you have a point because by the time it is, just search the ha search the whole island. How big can it be? It's not even big. How big is Barbados? I just need to find out how big it is. Okay. It's not 0.2% the size of the UK. Honestly, anyone, if anyone's listening in November, you could probably get a team of like 10 people and go and find this. Potentially. But on that note, I think we'll end the episode before I feel Alex is now doing Barbados research. And yeah, yeah. We'll we'll wrap things here while he's doing that. I'll let him do that. I'll do the promos. If you have enjoyed today's episode, I hope you have, please do give us a like. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts from, and leave us a comment if you will, telling us what you thought about the episode or if you've got any opinions on the stories we have covered today. If you're interested in more from BGM, more from the weekly download. We also have the weekly download newsletter, which is available via LinkedIn. And we also have the daily download five days a week, which you'll find the link to in the description below. Now, Alex, I've done the promos, so would you like to come with your fact that whatever it's gonna be?

SPEAKER_00

This kind of goes on for you, actually, because it's uh it's 21 miles at its longest point, which you know is less than the marathons you run. That's true. And yeah, and and 14 miles across manageable. Where that all gets a bit confusing is when you put it all together, it's 193 square miles, which feels a little harder to search for your prize on.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but if I wouldn't be doing it on my own. Okay. If you take if you take 100 people, it's five grand each.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I'm like, we're really watering this down.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, if it guarantees you get it, what what's 1% of nothing?

SPEAKER_00

What if you don't? What if you still don't?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but you're not paying for them to get their way there, are you? You're they're paying for themselves. I'm not like I'm not like hiring an army of people off Fiverr and descending on the Caribbean, finding a way to Barbados. Get to get to customs and they're like, why are you here? And I'm like, so someone, some French person has hidden a crystal skull and gold coins somewhere here, and we're gonna find it. It's just the entire plane just all dressed like I've got my metal detector. Brilliant. But yeah, anyway, anyway. There we go. Alex, do you have any final thoughts for it?

SPEAKER_00

No, that that's all my all my final thoughts went into the idea of all of us going to our battery. I appreciate that. It was a good thought. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Well, then on that note, I'll say goodbye. I'll say goodbye. You can say goodbye.

SPEAKER_00

I'll say goodbye as well.

SPEAKER_01

He'll say goodbye, and we'll see you all next time. Goodbye. Goodbye.