GTA 6 Pre-Order Record, Sony's Physical Media Exit and Arcade Time Review

Welcome back to Gaming with Grown Folks! In Episode 17, Jahdie dives deep into the biggest stories shaking up the video game industry, major hardware updates, and the latest releases.

In this episode, we cover:

• Industry Shockwaves: Breaking down the 3,200 job cuts at Xbox, studio spin-offs, and Sony's monumental announcement ending physical game disc production for the PS5 starting January 2028.
• The GTA 6 Phenomenon: Analyzing the historic $260 million first-week digital pre-order numbers.
• In-Depth Reviews: Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resented (PC), The Adventures of Elliott (PS5 Pro), Rhythme Heaven Groove (Switch 2), and early impressions of Splatoon Raiders (Switch 2).
• Hardware Check: Why critics are passing on the new Steam Machine.
• Local Spotlight: A full review of Arcade Time Restaurant & Entertainment in Wellington, FL.

Music for this podcast is created by Jeremiah Daniel.

If you enjoyed the show, please like, share, and subscribe. Help us grow the community by leaving us an Apple Podcast review!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

What's up everybody? Welcome back to Gaming with Grown Folks. I'm your host Shotty and I'm glad you're hanging with me today. We have a pack show. We're diving through some of the massive industry shifts, record-breaking pre-orders, and a local spot here in Wellington that's changing the game for entertainment. Before we get into that, a massive shout out to Jeremiah Daniel for the original music that makes this show sound so sharp. So let's dive into the big news. The gaming world is feeling a bit heavy lately. We have significant volatility with Xbox announcing a major restructuring that involves 3,200 job cuts throughout the 2027 fiscal year. It's tough to see, and alongside these layoffs, they're spinning off four studios, some moving to independent status and others under new management. Adding to that, Sony dropped a bombshell. Starting in January 2028, they're officially phasing out physical game discs for the PlayStation 5. It's a huge shift towards a digital-only future that marks the end of an era for us collectors. Despite the corporate turbulence, the industry is still seeing a massive capital movement with over $2.3 billion in mergers and acquisitions this past year, keeping the competition for high-value content fiercer than ever. And, you know, when I think about Sony no longer doing physical discs, you know, it kind of reminds me back when you had the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, and they were talking about how they're going to share games. And, you know, Sony had the big uproar when they just physically handed a game to another person, showing that you can still have physical media, whereas Xbox was trying too early in the game to try to do an digital-only library of games. But now we're kind of coming full circle where Sony is no longer going to produce physical games. And I guess they're saying that just based on the data that they are looking at, the majority of people that are using the system are doing digital only. Very few are buying physical games anymore. And, you know, when I think about, you know, the Steam Machine and now coming into the living room with the Xbox and the PlayStation, you know, you're kind of getting an interesting dynamic where the Steam Machine is coming in as a PC, but trying to be simple and to use, similar to a console, whereas the next PlayStation 6, as well as the Project Helix from Xbox, are positioning themselves as more of a PC. And so it looks like you know they're they're trying to get away from digital, uh, only looking at digital media, getting away from physical media. I mean, when's the last time you went to a store and bought a game for a PC? Most PCs no longer even have optical drives that you can put a physical disc into. So I can kind of see, you know, if they're positioning themselves more in that dynamic to kind of go between console and high-end PC, that they may want to step away from physical media, but you know, the community, you know, isn't an uproar. You know, even things that are not related directly to PlayStation, you know, just Sony related, are getting backlash from consumers who still want you know physical discs. And, you know, unrelated to the game, Sony also just removed a ton of movies from their service. And so if you purchase movies through Sony, uh some of those may no longer be there. And so, you know, it it's unfortunate as consumers, you know, we're paying for things that we we really don't own. You know, we're only given access to the content through a license, but at any given time, it looks like you know, some of those companies can pull that back and you don't really have anything to show for it. So, you know, I definitely understand the the plight of those who are collectors who like to look on their shelves and see, you know, the catalog of games and pick up a game and put it into their system to play. And it looks like unfortunately those days are kind of getting behind us. And then, you know, back again to Xbox, you know, we kind of saw the writing on the wall, you know, when uh Sharma came on board and and Phil Spencer, you know, left and they had all the uproar, you know, within Xbox. This was kind of you know forthcoming that you knew there was going to be a big shift. You know, unfortunately, you know, with Microsoft, they're so preoccupied with AI. I think they're kind of turning their their back on Xbox and looking for Xbox to be self-sufficient. You know, it's unfortunate for some of these studios that were acquired or purchased that some had to close or be sold off or scaled back. And you know, those folks that have been there for a long time that made those studios what they are have departed. And so you may have a studio name only, but not the you know, institutional history that you know you can draw upon, you know, as you're creating you know new content. One thing I also noticed with Xbox, you know, once they acquire studios, you know, again, I I don't know that the production amounts to what the consumer's anticipation has been. I mean, the thought initially during the Xbox Series X initial days was you know, they would acquire these studios, they would crank out games that were exclusive to Xbox, and for those who purchase an Xbox, it would give them that added comfort that, hey, okay, uh my investment was sound, I can enjoy games that others can enjoy because I made that investment in the Xbox ecosystem, to then turn around and make those games, you know, cross-platform that most can be played on PC or or PlayStation 5. And then, you know, some of those studios that were acquired, like Rare, you know, again, when they acquired Rare, I assumed we were going to get other great games like Conquer's Bad Fur Day or Banjo Kazooie, but uh kind of equivalent for Xbox, but that never really uh happened. I mean, we got Sea of Thieves, so for those who like you know, multiplayer games, and it's has legs, you know, it's been around for a while, so it does have a community, but you're not getting, you know, some of those great platform games, you know, that we're you know was known for. You know, for those who may have acquired an Xbox more recently, you know, especially once they acquired Activision, and it was assumed that Call of Duty would then be a part of Game Pass. Well, that's a one and done. So moving forward, Call of Duty is not going to be a part of Game Pass. You'll have to purchase it on the Xbox just as you would have to purchase it on the PC or PlayStation. There may be other games that that follow suit, and it looks like Xbox is kind of retreating from everything on the Xbox will be available anywhere. I know the new Gears of War E Day. I think that's gonna only be an Xbox uh exclusive, and there's another game that the name's escaping me, but it was announced, you know, during the Xbox showcase, kind of a clockwork type in aesthetic that the game had. But I think that's also gonna be exclusive to Xbox, you know. Unfortunately, Fable, you know, will not. So there were some pre-existing agreements that Xbox had, you know, whether it was with Sony, whether Nintendo that would allow their games to appear on those platforms. So once that you know goes to fruition and moving forward, they may kind of look only to make certain games exclusive to Xbox and not multi-platform. But there definitely is a you know a seismic shift in the you know the video game space between both big announcements from Sony and uh from Microsoft. Uh for those of you who've been waiting in lately breath looking for forward to GTA 6, uh well, the pre-orders have begun. Let's talk about the juggernaut that is Grand Theft Auto 6. Uh, pre-orders have officially shattered records with an estimated 20-260 million in digital sales in just the first week. Analysts are projecting this could be one of the highest-grossing entertainment launches of all time, potentially hitting up to 5.2 billion in its first week. It's a staggering reminder of just how much this brand dominates the culture of zeitgeist. Now, let's talk about some games that I've been playing recently. Kind of an oldie but a goodie that's been redone. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resync. I've been playing this on the PC, and this update is really not just a high-res texture slapped on the old Assassin's Creed Black Flag, but Ubisoft did a from the ground up a brand new remake of the game. It's definitely the definitive way to play the classic. As the rework Picard system is much more smoother, and the new lighting engine makes the Caribbean look incredible. It feels modern, polished, and fresh. And that's one of the reasons why I think Black Flag stood out so much from the other Assassin's Creed games, because it was just a departure at the time. You weren't in an old European city, you were in in the Caribbean, you were a pirate, and you know, you had ship battles and going from island to island, and you know, saw some of those traits with like Assassin's Creed Valhalla, where you did have some ship combat, but it just was different. It was a different era with the Vikings versus with pirates. But you know, it's a great game to play. I've been catching up on it, and it's great that you know Ubisoft did a fresh remake of it. You don't really have the back and forth with the animus as you did in the old, you know, Assassin's Creed games where you would jump out of the game and go into the real world and the current world and the animus. You know, there's references to it, but it's not that abrupt departure where you're playing a game and then you're having to pull you pulled out of that into the animus, into the modern world. But yes, it's a great game. If you haven't tried it, this is the best version of it. So definitely give it a try. And also, of course, it's on Xbox as well as PlayStation. The Adventures of Elliot, uh, the Millennium Tales. I've been uh playing this a little bit on the PS5 Pro. It's a perfect showcase of the PSSR technology. Uh, this is a cozy 14-hour adventure with a lush art style that looks stunning and 4K, kind of like a high-end Saturday morning cartoon. And with Adventures of Elliot, you know, they take a different play style. It's kind of akin to playing Final Fantasy VII remake, where, you know, or even probably a closer comparison would be uh Final Fantasy 16, where you know the folks at Devil May Cry were involved in making that game, and it has more of a hack and slash gameplay. And in with Elliot, it's a similar gameplay where you're active moving around. A lot of folks say it's comparable to like a Zelda game, and it does remind you of that with some of the ways that the character uh interacts with the environment. The battle is, you know, real time, it's more of a slasher versus you know, traditional role-playing game where you're selecting actions and selecting characters and selecting if you're going to use magic or attack or whatever. You know, this is just live action and it's a fun game to play. For those of you who have great rhythm, uh rhythm heaven groove on the Switch 2, the haptic feedback on the Switch 2 makes this one of them one an absolute joy. It can make you feel every beat and the rhythm gameplay remains top tier. You know, one of the challenging things with rhythm heaven groove is it's really the the beat, and you have to keep your ears not tuned to the the melody, but more the beat of the song, and doing the interaction or button presses to the beat of the song and the rhythm. So the other thing that they do that makes it challenging is you know, once you've kind of gathered how the beat goes and you're looking at the characters on screen to see that if you're hitting the button that's in sync with the characters, they then put obstacles in your way. You know, they had one game where you're there were three crabs on a on a beach and you had to use your claws to push up these food items to fall into a hole, you know, but then they would have you know someone place a soda can over your character and so you would be your view would be obstructed, so you could only know when to hit the button based on on the beat. So they do you know those types of things, which you know it's it's a fun game, you know, sometimes it can be a little frustrating. Now, one thing that if you're playing it on a switch to, you know, if you're playing it on a switch to definitely you want to put headphones on so you get the more immersive sound. However, when you put it on a TV, you may have to make some adjustments so you don't have the input lag because you know that's kind of what throws it off. Like even if you're playing on a switch to, it's better to plug in headphones and play that way versus Bluetooth, because with Bluetooth, you know, again, you do have some lag. And because this is more of a precision game where you have to press the buttons to the exact beat, then you know you could be kind of thrown off if you're going through Blu-ray or if you're putting the Switch 2 in the dock and you haven't properly set up your TV, that you may notice that you're getting input lag and you're failing not so much based on your skills, but because of the input from the time you're pressing the button on your controller to the time the console is picking it up. So you do have to make some adjustments to it. But if you're playing on a on a switch two, if you're playing, of course, with no microphones, you've got the pure experience. But if you do use a headset, definitely go with the wired version versus the the Bluetooth version. Some of the early impressions that folks have had with Splatoon Raiders. Again, this is going to be coming out this month in July, I believe the 23rd. Now, this is a bold pivot for the series. It plays like an extraction shooter roguelike hybrid. Uh, it's chaotic, especially in co-op. And while it's different from the usual Splatoon multiplayer, the regression loop is surprisingly addictive, at least from the videos that have been shown. You know, when Nintendo had a direct and they did a treehouse and focused more extensively on Splatoon Raiders, you know, you have the same types of weapons, you're gonna have some different types of weapons that are gonna splatter ink, but it's a different, you know, play focus. I mean, on traditional Splatoon games, they're multiplayer, and instead of you would shoot normally at a multiplayer first-person shooter in Splatoon, your characters in third person view, and the group that has covered the territory with the most ink, you know, wins. Or is this just going to be a departure where you're gonna have more of a traditional single-player focused game? So you're not trying to, you know, play with the teams to take over territory, but you're fighting traditional enemies, but shooting them, you know, with ink, traversing an area, you know, using ink, using the different types of weapons. They even had in the preview, kind of a mech type character that your you know, your character can get into to hop or go to another island. And so it's gonna be interesting to see, and you don't have long to wait if you're a big Splatoon fan as it comes out later in July. One of the things the family and I had a chance to do this weekend was go to arcade time. It was a pleasant surprise as I was walking through the mall. I heard some folks playing pool, and you know, I didn't know exactly if it was a restaurant or arcade, but I was pleasantly surprised when we walked in to find arcade time. And so, again, if you're in the Wellington area, you've got to check out arcade time at the mall at Wellington Green. They recently named the best arcade in the U.S. by the BCM Design Awards, and they just expanded to include a full restaurant. This isn't your standard Wings and Burgers arcade spot. They're serving up things like Le Mignon, chicken and waffles, and tuna bowls. Plus, they've got beer, wine, and craft cocktails with a mix of modern and retro games, virtual reality, dunkin' pin bowling, and interactive darts. It's a color spot for everything from a date night to a corporate event. It's unique, high-quality experience that's worth a visit if, again, if you're a local. One of the things I found interesting is I mean, they have uh long operating hours. So it opens at 10 o'clock every day, Monday through Sunday, and closes at 3 a.m. every day, Monday through Sunday. And right now, I don't know if this is just because they recently opened uh within three weeks, or if it's just you know something they do all the time, but from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m., they actually have happy hours. So, you know, if you're looking for something to do over the weekend, or if you got a long weekend and you're off on a Monday or a Friday, it's a great place to go. And so, yeah, if you're into gaming, whether it's retro or or current games, you know, I think you'll have a great time at our arcade time. Uh so one of the new uh announcements, of course, is the uh Steam Machine. Uh so it is out, but it's trickling out. And so they have a reservation system where uh you can put in an lottery type system to be notified by Valve when the Steam machine is ready for pre-order and purchase. Uh, a number of video game journalists have gotten their hands on the Steam machines. There's videos on YouTube on the Steam Machine and early uh reviews uh of the Steam Machine. Um unfortunately, I think Valve suffered the fate of most folks in technology that are having to scramble to get components based on all of the demand from all the AI server farms popping up across the country. And so, you know, it was initially thought that the Steam Machine would be maybe a seven or eight hundred dollar, you know, device that would complement the Steam Deck, but now the Steam Machine is selling the first version, that's it's five, 12 gigabytes of storage at $1,049. That's just the machine itself, doesn't include a controller. And then another variant would be the two terabyte version, which also has the steam controller included and two uh face plates included, and that's for like $1,500. And so the the challenge becomes, you know, the value proposition. You know, with the Steam Machine, now that it's gone up in price to $1,500. If you don't have a gaming PC, you know, do you go for that or do you just go for a dedicated desktop at that price that's gonna be you know more powerful? You know, some of the benefits of the Steam Machine, it it it's diminutive in terms of size, so it's um similar to a GameCube. If any of you ever owned a Nintendo GameCube, you know, so it's a small cube-shaped uh mini PC, and it's quiet. Most viewers have said that they can't really hear it. So even when you're playing taxing games, you're not hearing those fans spin as you would on the PlayStation 5 or the Xbox Series consoles or even for that matter on a laptop or dedicated desktop PC. And when they remove the removable faceplate, you know, basically see that it's just maybe I mean ventilation system. The front of the box is the intake, and the rear of the box, you know, it spins the heat. So, you know, it's a small device that can fit comfortably into any living room. The other thing that I've noticed in the reviews is the Steam machine, you know, the controller, once you've connected it, it does have CEC. And so if you have other CEC devices, kind of like an Apple, you know, TV, when you turn it on, it also turns on your TV and your receiver. Similar, you know, with the Steam machine, when you press this button on the controller, it turns on the Steam Machine, which then also turns on your TV. Now, natively, it seems that the Steam Machine is comfortable with either 1080p or 1440p. Valve got a lot of heat for saying that the Steam Machine could also do 4K at 60 frames a second, because for a lot of games, it could not. I mean, if you're playing an older game or an indie game or a game that is not as graphically challenged, then you may hit those benchmarks. But if you're playing more of modern games, then you're not going to hit that. And so it seems that the Steam Machine is more comfortable in the 1080p, 1440p range with you know mid to high settings. The great thing if you had a Steam Deck and you've really acquired a lot of games on Steam, this Steam Machine, you know, you can actually take the card out of your Steam Deck to put into the Steam Machine your micro SD card and pick up right where you left off. Anything that was on the Steam Deck, now you can access through micro SD on the Steam Machine. And of course, the you know, huge library games that you have available on Steam are also available, you know, on the Steam Machine. Now, you know, with the Steam Machine, I don't know if it can be upgradable if you take it to iFixit or places that can do type repairs on Steam Decks that maybe in the future, you know, they may be able to upgrade it, but because it's not a traditional desktop PC, of course, you can't upgrade the graphics cards as you would. So you're kind of stuck with what with what you get. So, you know, again, it it's kind of in an awkward position because most reviewers have compared it to the base level PS5, not even the PS5 Pro. And the PS5 Pro is still less expensive, you know, than the Steam machine. And so, you know, if you're into that ecosystem, you have a ton of games through Steam, you made investments over the years, you know, this is great. And now you have a nice living room option if you're tired of playing your PC on in your office and you want something nice that you can play out in the family room living room area. And then it also, you know, passes the wife test, where because of its size, it's not some bulky tower PC with RGB lighting and all that, uh, which most you know wives won't appreciate. But if it's something diminutive that's gonna be tucked away in the corner, you can even exchange the face plates. And I believe they're even gonna put out 3D models. So for those who do 3D printing, where you can actually make your own face plates, so you can actually swap out the faceplate to put one that matches your home decor and so it fits right in. But you know, again, it's you know, time will tell. You know, I don't know if we'll get to a point where we'll get past the rampocalypse created by AI where prices start to come down, and maybe the Steam machine can either, if not, come down in price, but maybe add more value where now the 1450 version of the Steam machine could include a controller or something you know that adds value. But as it is right now, it's kind of a mixed opinion that I've seen online and in reviews where some just can't recommend it at this price point because the the value to price is is uh skewed. So, but and around the corner, I believe the Steam frame will also be coming out soon, and so it's going to be interesting to see between the Steam Deck, Steam Machine, and Steam Frame, how these three devices interact in Valve's ecosystem. And so the great thing though is you know, if you do have a great library of games on Steam, you know, you can pause, stop, save, and then whatever device you're on, whether it's your Steam Deck or Steam Machine, you can pick up right where you you left off. And so that's one of the great things as well, you know, with PC gaming now is that they're starting to uncouple the gaming experience just from the desktop PC. You know, now you have, you know, with the Steam Deck, you know, with the Lenovo Legion Go 2, you know, with the Xbox ROG, Ally X, and the other devices, the ability to play handheld, you know, PC experiences, as well as, you know, for those who still aren't tied to the desk but you know, prefer to game on laptops, you know, you're you're starting to get more and more opportunities that you can enjoy, you know, your library games without having to be physically tied to your office to play. So we'll have to kind of see, you know, where things pan out, you know, with the Steam Machine. You know, it's intriguing. You know, I wouldn't mind, you know, checking one out, but you know, at that price point, you know, you have to kind of decide, you know, do I really want to pay that and have a limited experience? And especially now because if it's limited out of the box, you know, with technology, it's always progressing. And so where's the Steam Machine five years from now? But to the point, the Steam Deck is still doing great, and you know, it's getting a little bit long in the tooth. It's not as powerful as a new PC handheld. But again, you know, you still can have some great experiences there. And so maybe that's uh the other thing that Valve was looking at is you know, you may not need all the bells and whistles if you want just a console-friendly, you know, uh fun experience in the living room for a PC. You know, that's something that's nice with the Steam Machine. You know, when I turn on the gaming PC and play on the couch as tied to my TV, but you know, I've got to take back the mouse and keyboard, I gotta sign in. I have to see if there's a Windows update, I have to see if there is an update on my NVIDIA driver to see if there's any driver or updates for my graphics card. You know, maybe Asus has an update, and and then when I actually get into the app, you know, if I'm in Xbox, there might be an Xbox update, there might be a Steam update. And so, you know, if you hadn't used your PC in a while, you might just spend the first few hours just updating before you actually jump into the game. Whereas I think with the Steam Machine, it's gonna be more of a console experience. You know, you turn it on, you're getting right into the gaming, you're not having to worry about all the updates on the operating system, on the graphics cards, you know, on the games. You're just jumping right into the games. And so that part definitely is intriguing. And then also the sleep-to-wake function like the Steam Deck, I believe they're also going to try to refine and eventually get to the Steam Machine. And so wherever you are, you can just turn it off, walk away, do what you gotta do, come back, turn on, and you're right where you left off in the game, versus now, you know, the PC, unless it does like autosaves, I can't really do that. I can have to wait to either get to a point where I can save the game if it's structured that way, or you know, back out of the game and then go into save where I am before I shut it down. So it would be a nice experience to just pause what I'm doing, step away, come back an hour or two later, or maybe the next day or week, pick it up, and I'm back to where I am. And so that's another thing that I think is nice with the Steam Machine, that's also with the Steam Deck, uh, the play and pause, similar to what you have on the uh Switch 2. So, you know, again, it's not gonna be that you can walk into a Best Buy and get a Steam Deck you still or Steam Machine, you still have to go through Valve. But, you know, I I think it's exciting to see, you know, they've taken a couple of strikes at doing limping room PCs with Steam machines, that is well, one reason or the other didn't pan out. And so it's nice to see that they've tried this last time, and it seems like they have something that it's intriguing, but I think unfortunately just fell to the pricing that we're in now that it's just uh for some folks, just you know, cost prohibitive. So we'll have to see how it pans out. But right now, you know, it's going to be something that you'll have to kind of think through. You know, the other thing is, you know, if you're playing, you know, high-end triple A games, you know, it's been my understanding, listening to the reviews, that some games, you know, the Steam Machine struggles with, and that's something that you really don't want to see out the box. You mean you really want to have a great gaming experience. You made that investment, and you don't want to feel limited at any capacity when you're plugging in a new PC to play. So we'll have to see how it works out, but at least it's uh it's out there, it's uh in the wild, and people have been talking about it and reviewing it. And so yeah, I encourage you if you are interested, uh just check into YouTube or just check online and Google, you know, all the different reviews on the Steam Machine. Something that if you are interested, and again, you're gonna have to go through Valve and register to be notified if you are able to then pre-order it. So it's something that can you can just go in to pre-order, which I think is great that Valve did that. I did notice with the Steam controller, like the first day that he said they were available and they did pre-orders, within 30 minutes, you know, it was uh again one of those situations where scalpers or bots, you know, probably spammed and grabbed a lot of them. Some were, you know, purchased by gamers, but I'm assuming a good chunk could have also been purchased by scalpers. You know, having this reservation system uh slows some of that down, you know, where Valve is a little more in control and can verify and give someone who's actually interested in the console an opportunity or PC to purchase it. Uh so I do appreciate it. So you guys are kind of ramping up. Uh things are moving fast, uh, and we're going to keep tracking these shifts uh right here. Uh if you're digging the show, please like, share, and subscribe. Uh if you have a minute, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It really helps us grow the community. Again, we want to give a huge shout out for Jeremiah Daniel for all the great work that he's done in providing the music for the show. I'm Jotty, and we'll see you on the next one.