A Games Media Culling: Massive Layoffs at Fanbyte and G4 Ep.137

ISOCristian is the man in the hot seat this week as we found ourselves buried by several different showcases to cover from the Marvel/Disney Showcase to the Direct and to the PlayStation State of Play. Before we go into that we touch on some recent previews of Forspoken and Bayonetta 3. Square changed how they look at the AAA projects. My experience with Discord on Xbox. PS5 sees large sales growth so far this year, at least in the UK. We discuss the amazing game that The Last of Us part I still is even after almost 10 years. We theorize on the potential of a new Switch next year and if the reason PlayStation has no firm date is the fear of a Switch coming soon after. Massive layoffs in the Gaming News Industry as G4 and FanByte sees large talent loss most likely related to revenue. Bonnie Ross, one of the most important people in Microsoft’s hit franchise Halo has left 343 citing medical family issues and her role has been split in three as a restructure occurred upon her leaving. UbiSoft speaks in circles as they want to focus on more people but cite their interest in Assassin’s Creed but of course we are seeing over 5 new titles coming in the next 5 years. Dan Houser joined an advisory board after leaving RockStar 2 years ago. Splatoon 3 sells massively in japan. And of course much more in the show. I thank you for stopping by this week as any form of support helps the show tremendously and I appreciate everything y’all do. See you next week! TimeStamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:42- Not so rapid fire/previews of Forspoken and Bayonetta 3 are out 00:03:09- Xbox refunds Stalker 2 preorders 00:03:45- EA and Koei Tecmo partners for new hunting game 00:04:15- SQUARE wants diversification and wants to stay away from triple A solo projects 00:06:10- Discord live on Xbox 00:07:34- Sims 4 goes free to play 00:07:55- PS5 is best selling UK console 00:09:00- Overwatch 2 Battle Pass revealed 00:09:40- What have you been playing? 00:15:21- Rumor Roundup/Iron Man game coming soon 00:19:08- Start of the News/ State of Play thoughts 00:23:17- Will the a new Switch come out next year 00:37:54- Xbox at TGS Showcase 00:47:25- Nintendo Direct Highlights/News 00:56:00- Marvel and Disney Showcase 01:05:33- UbiSoft/AC Showcase 01:13:15- EA CEO says player made content will be in the forefront of their financials 01:18:40- Who is EA CEO talking about in warning to staff 01:21:11- RGG Showcase highlights 01:22:12- G4 sees layoffs 01:27:40- Tencent owned FanByte sees MASSIVE layoffs 01:31:00- Bonnie Ross leaves 343 Industries 01:37:50-CD Project is dedicated to Cyberpunk 2077 01:41:59- UbiSoft wants to do their games differently/focus on more people 01:45:15- Dan Houser joins board at Revolving Games 01:47:12- Splatoon 3 sells 3.45 million copies in just Japan 01:48:38- Editor in Chief Andrew Reiner leaves GameInformer 01:52:12- Date Updates 01:53:18- What do you have Queued up for the weekend?