John and Lotus are joined this week by Jeff Gerstmann to discuss the week's biggest games news, including: The Witcher 3 's surprising expansion coming in 2027, Steam Deck's massive price hikes, and what we thought of 007 First Light . 00:00:00 Intro & podcasting at yourself 00:08:56 The Witcher 3 is getting new DLC in 2027 00:13:10 A moment for Unreal Engine 6 00:15:57 Ikaruga creator's next game has been canceled Go to nogamesforgenocide.com to learn more about the BDS movement and Microso...
May 31, 2026•3 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 104
John , Lotus , and Niki discuss the biggest news of the week, including Embracer's head-scratching restructure, Destiny 2's final update, and PlayStation Plus price hikes. 00:00:00 Intro & Niki Buys a Porsche 00:09:50 Terraria celebrates 15 years of absolutely bonkers player counts 00:25:15 Tom Kane passes away at 64 00:26:41 PlayStation Plus gets price hikes 00:35:47 US National Recording Registry adds DOOM soundtrack to its library 00:44:28 Stig Asmussen Dungeons & Dragons game cancele...
May 24, 2026•3 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 103
Content Warning for graphic medical procedures, assault, sexual assault, suicide, and death in this episode. The Pitt is a show with a lot of tough ingredients thrown into a stew--we try to navigate these with tact and care but be forewarned the entire episode has a lot of potentially triggering discussion. GameDeveloper.com Editor-in-Chief (and Polygon, Waypoint, and Fanbyte alum) Danielle Riendeau joins John Warren for a recap of season two of The Pitt , one of VGBees' favorite television show...
May 24, 2026•1 hr 43 min
Lotus and John discuss the biggest games news of the week, including Subnautica 2 creating a big bonus problem for KRAFTON's CEO, leaked Xbox controllers, and Marathon 's interesting PVE-focused roadmap. 00:00:00 Intro & Buc-ees Fare 00:10:05 Subnautica 2 's massive sales creates an interesting problem for KRAFTON's CEO 00:13:15 Steam Controllers look bad, feel good, and scream when you drop them 00:21:43 Sony takes huge loss on Bungie acquisition ; Marathon gets new PVE-heavy roadmap 00:30:...
May 17, 2026•2 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 102
Niki, Lotus, and John embark on a "no bummers" episode of the show, complete with discussions about the new Star Fox game, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight 's endless charm, and Mina the Hollower 's long-awaited release date. 00:00:00 Intro & John's parking lot predicament 00:12:15 Star Fox 64 Remake 00:17:15 Mina the Hollower gets a release date at long last 00:19:16 Copilot removed from Xbox plans (please go to nogamesforgenocide.com to learn about the ongoing boycott of Microsoft an...
May 10, 2026•2 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 101
NOTE: This bonus episode contains discussions of medical trauma, sexual assault, addiction, child abuse, mass shootings, and generally some sad stories about real life emergencies. It’s hard to avoid those topics when discussing this television show, so if you need to duck out and catch the next regular bonus, we totally get it. Additional note! This is a bonus episode of the show from 2025--we're freeing it from the confines of the bonus feed to prepare you for The Pittcast Season 2, which will...
May 07, 2026•1 hr 20 min
Niki , Lotus , and John celebrate 100 episodes and discuss GameStop's potential purchase of eBay, usTwo's CEO saying some wild stuff into a microphone, the final death of Paste Games, and more! 00:00:00 Intros & At Least It's Friday 00:06:05 GameStop could be prepping for an eBay takeover 00:13:50 Saudi Arabia is divesting from some entertainment properties 00:20:36 Atari acquires emulation studio Implicit Conversions 00:24:39 MTG: Arena devs unionize 00:28:48 usTwo CEO speaks way too candid...
May 03, 2026•3 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 100
Lotus & John discuss the lawsuit against Mr. Beast, Xbox Game Pass carving out Call of Duty , Playdate's interesting AI policy, and much more! VGBees is 100% listener-supported. Join The Hive for bonus content, exclusive Discord access, and input on future content. https://vgbees.com/join 00:00:00 Intro 00:05:46 Mr. Beast sued by former employee 00:13:11 Ludum Dare to "end" in 2028 00:18:10 Playdate to block generative AI asset games; allow generative AI coded games 00:26:55 BAFTA Game Award...
Apr 26, 2026•2 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 99
SUPPORT US BY JOINING THE HIVE! Hi there! Lotus is still in space teaching the aliens about baseball (they like it!), while Niki and John are earthbound to discuss the week's biggest stories in games, including: Disney lays off 1,000; Marvel visual effects gutted Disney quietly delists games from Steam Xenosaga Pied Piper , somehow, is coming to Switch and PC Iron Galaxy lays off unknown number of staff Jollibee x Final Fantasy XIV crossover event Season 3 of Playdate is coming Kingdom Come: Del...
Apr 19, 2026•2 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 98
Support us by joining The Hive! This week, Lotus repaired the toilets aboard the Artemis II on its way safely (!!!!) back to Earth. Niki and John were grounded, however, and came together to discuss the biggest games news of the week. Here's the run of show: Is Sid Meier the Ken Burns of video games? The Pacers Couple is fine and good Epic is in deep with Disney and making an extraction shooter Pete Hines has choice words for Microsoft State of Decay 3 didn't really exist when they released the ...
Apr 12, 2026•2 hr 40 min•Season 1Ep. 97
Support us by becoming a member of The Hive ! With Niki on board the Artemis II to fix their Outlook situation , Lotus and John tackle the news and games of the week, including: Eidos-Montreal lays off 124 employees Stellar Blade's Shift Up acquires Shinji Mikami's brand new studio Stormgate loses online support because their server provider was bought by an AI company US Patent Office rejects overbroad Nintendo patent S&box , the follow-up to Garry's Mod , is out later this month PSA: the S...
Apr 05, 2026•2 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 96
Support us by joining The Hive! This week, Lotus , Niki , and John contemplate Nintendo's strange (but maybe deliberate) choice to launch Animal Crossing 's Switch 2 edition, Pokemon Pokopia , and Tomodachi Life in one tidy two month stretch. Also: Epic lays off 1,000 due to Fortnite "underperforming" OpenAI cans Sora and Disney exits investment Alex from Street Fighter 6 married his adopted sister! Nintendo to price digital and physical differently PlayStation raising all hardware prices Ninten...
Mar 29, 2026•2 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 95
Support Us! Join The Hive! This week, the crew gets completely redrawn on the fly by Nvidia's new AI-powered technology that everyone besides Digital Foundry seems to hate! How do they look? So lifelike, I bet. While getting yassified (and polluting water sources near data centers!), John , Niki , and Lotus discuss: DLSS 5 and its introduction to the world Why everyone hates DLSS 5 Jensen Huang's hilarious responses to the criticism Saudi Arabia's EGDC acquires 5% of Capcom Remedy's FBC: Firebre...
Mar 22, 2026•2 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 94
Support us by joining The Hive ! This week, Niki , Lotus , and John played some great games and took a full week off from games news because there just wasn't anything to talk about! What's that? [holds earpiece] I'm being told there was a lot of news this week. Okay. Well. Here's what they talked about, I guess! Sony testing dynamic pricing everywhere but Japan EA conducting layoffs at Battlefield 6 devs GDC will return to San Francisco despite everything Resident Evil 4 director Shinji Mikami ...
Mar 15, 2026•2 hr 34 min•Season 1Ep. 93
This week, Niki , Lotus , and John reconvene to rejoice over what seems like a masterpiece in the Pokémon oeuvre. But first, lots of big news, including: Nintendo sues the US government over tariffs Yoshi gets a bobblehead night with the LA Dodgers Netflix CEO thinks $16b will be cut at Warner Bros after Paramount purchase Japan's labor laws obfuscate games industry turmoil Unity cutting access to asset store to "Greater China Region" The Sims 4 is getting a rev share UGC marketplace US governme...
Mar 08, 2026•2 hr 43 min•Season 1Ep. 92
On this week's show, the crew deals with several major post-scripts from last week's jam-packed news discussion block. Fortunately, Lotus , Niki , and John are joined by certified GOAT Michael Higham to unpack it all. Michael beat Resident Evil Requiem and John played it on Switch 2 The global storage shortage gets very real with Seagate and Western Digital allocating stock of hard drives through 2026 Valve is revisiting the timeline of their new hardware suite Steam Deck OLED stock is out inter...
Mar 01, 2026•3 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 91
Support us by joining The Hive! This week's show was packed to the gills with discussion-worthy topics and that was before Phil Spencer announced his retirement , Sarah Bond resigned, and Asha Sharma ascended the Xbox throne. From there, Lotus , Niki , and John discussed: Sony shutting down Bluepoint Tencent allegedly funded Highguard Castlevania franchise and Metal Gear Solid V dev Shutaro Ida passed away at 52 Hideki Sato, "Father of Sega Hardware," passed away at 77 Open-source engine Godot o...
Feb 22, 2026•3 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 90
SUPPORT US BY JOINING THE HIVE Folks, this week was VERY jam-packed with discussion-worthy games news and that was BEFORE we even welcomed Game Informer's Charles Harte to the show. Together, Lotus , Niki , John , and Charles discussed: Mewgenics' blend of deep, enjoyable tactical combat and off-putting breeding mechanics The, let's call them rancid, vibes of Mewgenics' central thesis Mewgenics' commitment to not understanding a punchline Mewgenics' bewildering cameo list Sony's State of Play wa...
Feb 15, 2026•2 hr 45 min•Season 1Ep. 89
This week, the whole gang is back together to discuss the biggest games news of the week, which sometimes wasn't about games at all! Including: Iron Lung opens #2 at domestic box office , paving the way for perhaps a new wave of independent film distribution Ashes of Creation developer closes after clash between Creative Director and Board Borderlands 4 Nintendo Switch 2 port "on pause" indefinitely Poker Night at the Inventory is getting a new release after years of license limbo Crunchyroll to...
Feb 08, 2026•2 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 88
With Lotus on the International Space Station this week, John and Niki wasted no time discussing these completely relevant topics: Moisturizer Haircare Peloton Tchoukball Okay but they did get down to the most important games news of the week, including: The Highguard team quit their shadowdrop plans to take a slot at The Game Awards Could Geoff not fill the last slot of the evening? What does it mean for next year's pricing for trailer space? Why Highguard' s reworked launch strategy might not ...
Feb 01, 2026•2 hr 44 min•Season 1Ep. 87
This week, Niki , John , and Lotus confront the biggest gaming stories of the week, including: Ubisoft's major reorg, including game cancelations and new structures Tencent getting into podcasts, which we're sure will go great Marathon gets a release date and a surprising collector's edition Capcom experiments with generative AI to stop being creative Fable takes a baffling stance on morality in the year 2026 Highguard is out so very soon We played: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Séance at Blake ...
Jan 25, 2026•2 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 86
This week, Lotus , Niki , and John set out to dissect the price sensitivity opus laid out by Peak's devs in an interview with Stephen Totilo . Is eight bucks really five bucks? This and much more, including: AGDQ's haul and interesting future Hytale's long path to Early Access Meta's VR investment goes toe up Steam Community Awards face major changes Spry Fox spinning out of Netflix Inverse & The Verge see games-related layoffs Steam rewrites their generative AI disclosure rules We played: A...
Jan 18, 2026•2 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 85
This week, Lotus , Niki , and John are back and ready to tackle the first fresh news of 2026, including: The passing of Sega cofounder David Rosen Discord files for an IPO New Life is Strange is leaked to ratings site Jason Schreier causes Take-Two's stock price go down, kinda Minecraft getting new baby animals Larian's CEO still doesn't seem to understand Gen AI Independent Games Festival nominees announced We played: Vital Shell Also, your burning HIVE QUESTIONS are answered straight from our ...
Jan 11, 2026•2 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 84
This week, John , Niki , and Lotus stare down the barrel of a very slow gaming news week, so they tackle some additional stuff, too, including: Twitter's Gen AI CSAM and sexual violence catastrophe Microsoft's CEO begging us to stop calling Gen AI "slop" GOG cofounder buys GOG from CD PROJEKT (which he also cofounded) GPUs are going to get even more expensive Splitgate sequel is not going very well We played: Formless Star , the follow-up to sublime Franken Final Fantasy IX , perhaps the best of...
Jan 04, 2026•1 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 83
Note: a better quality audio upload will be available in a couple days. Hello! Another year has flown by and Niki , Lotus , and John are here to talk about their favorite games and gaming-adjacent things from 2025! Included in the GOTY chat: Donkey Kong Bananza Hades II Avowed* Ball X Pit Pokemon Legends: Z-A Blippo+ Kinophobia Mario Kart World The Nintendo Switch 2 Also, the news of the week! Star Citizen will eclipse one billion dollars in investment soon Clair Obscur 's Indie Game Award was r...
Dec 28, 2025•1 hr 45 min•Season 1Ep. 82
This week, Niki treats John and Lotus to the first ever VGBees Podcast Edition of Scam Text Theatre ! After this momentous occasion, the crew turns its sights to the biggest news of the week, including: Larian's CEO decides to drag his company into a gen AI quagmire People Make Games boycott Xbox (and transforms John's thinking in the process) League of Legends is getting a massive rework Naughty Dog is already crunching on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet JK Rowling likely to pocket a ton of ...
Dec 21, 2025•2 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 81
Editor's note: this week's episode failed to upload individual stems of each recording, which means this final product is a bit rougher than usual. This is John and Streamyard's fault. Jordan did a great job with it. This week, Niki, Lotus, and John are all here to discuss the Biggest Night in Gaming™ aka The Game Awards. Included in the overall discussion: Casey Hudson's Star Wars RPG Larian's horrifying trailer for Divinity Capcom flubbing Leon Kennedy and Mega Man, somehow Control Resonant is...
Dec 14, 2025•1 hr 57 min•Season 1Ep. 80
This week, John and Lotus celebrate the return of Niki to the show by immediately yelling at them for saying no one knows who Ron Gilbert is. Also! Netflix is buying Warner Bros. for $82.7b, including WB's games Ron Gilbert's Death by Scrolling had big trouble finding publisher money Horses banned by Epic Games Store EA's buyout is going 93.4% to the Saudis Mina the Hollower needs to be a huge hit, Yacht Club admits for some reason No Players Online is back on Steam after spurious DMCA takedown ...
Dec 07, 2025•3 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 79
This week, Lotus and John dissect the biggest news stories of the week, including: Horses banned from Steam and the oddities surrounding it Splash Damage enters consultation ahead of layoffs Coatsink to lay off roughly half their studio Nintendo to acquire 80% of Bandai Namco Studios Singapore DDR5s and SSDs face massive price hike amidst shortage Demonschool does something fun with their credits Here's what we played this week: HYPERBEAT Morsels Finally, we answer your burning HIVE QUESTIONS fr...
Nov 30, 2025•2 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 78
This week, Lotus and John are feeling particularly thankful for the handful of absolutely bananas stories that dropped in their laps! Including: Tencent's ultimate investment in Ubisoft Yoko Taro's projects keep getting canceled Unity coming to Unreal Megabonk withdraws from The Game Awards Unknown Worlds vs Krafton gets unbelievably weird Roblox CEO says the wildest things you can imagine on a podcast Also, Lotus and John played/watched/listened to: One Battle After Another (film) Lingo 2 Berse...
Nov 23, 2025•3 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 77
