July 07, 2025

#366 | And If Anything, Then There's Your Sign of the Times

4 hours 4 minutes

For the first time ever, PlayStation is publishing one of its own games on Xbox. The new port comes in the form of 2024's smash-hit multiplayer game Helldivers 2 from second party studio Arrowhead, and though Sony has a long-but-silent history of bringing games to other consoles -- there was a Wipeout game on N64, after all, and the likes of Death Stranding and MLB: The Show have already migrated to Xbox via intermediaries -- never before have they acted as publisher. Is this a one-off, or a move that could signify a new strategy? Will Xbox players conditioned to Game Pass put their money where their mouth is? Are single-player exclusives next? Then: Neil Druckmann announces he's done with The Last of Us on HBO, instead turning his full attention back to Naughty Dog, while it sure does sound like Sony-owned team Firesprite is openly hiring for a PlayStation 6 project. After some other news, we get into what we're playing before ending the show as we always do, with six questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, and ideas from our audience. What are our ruminations concerning Xbox's recent layoffs and cancellations? Will the PS5 era be looked back upon as a generation of wasted potential? How do we feel about the Stop Killing Games initiative in Europe? Are some listeners intentionally exposing their wives to Sacred Symbols in order to facilitate a divorce?

Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement.

0:00:00 - Intro
0:23:03 - Patreon numbers
0:29:17 - Benji
0:36:16 - Don't show your wife Sacred
0:43:47 - This week's situation
0:47:51 - Happy Birthday Nick
0:52:23 - Defending the PlayStation concert
0:59:28 - Helldivers 2 coming to Xbox
1:31:18 - Neil Druckmann is no longer working on TLOU on HBO
1:40:45 - PSSR update in 2026
1:54:12 - Firesprite is hiring
1:59:29 - Is College Basketball returning?
2:02:56 - Street Fighter movie casting
2:06:49 - What We’ve Been Playing (Death Stranding, Death Stranding 2, Peak)
2:45:15 - Xbox's unraveling
3:04:57 - Supporting layoffs
3:15:19 - Studios moving to cheaper cities
3:18:57 - What is going on this generation?
3:30:10 - Journalism as a path into marketing or development
3:33:38 - Stop Killing Games