During the third episode of the Day Zero podcast, we tackle PC monopolist storefront Steam’s foray into censorship by striking down the release of indie studio Santa Ragione’s upcoming game Horses, and what it means for the platform. Given the chokehold Steam parent company Valve has on the digital distribution of video games, it isn’t just a retailer, but a kingmaker to boot. One that’s increasingly flaunting its strength on the most vulnerable kind of game developers — Indies.

In addition to this we talk about how every Indian game company’s potential meal ticket, the PIF is reportedly falling short of funds after its (yet to be approved) buyout of EA, and why this perceived paucity of money in the games business is a good thing.

Along with this we talk about how AI (yes, that again) is ruining video games by driving up DRAM prices that will make a potential PC or console purchase more expensive than it should be as well as the Roblox CEO’s generational cringe-inducing interview as well as the firm’s entry into India.

Day Zero is a podcast on video games featuring Rahul Majumdar and Rishi Alwani breaking down the bytes and bits behind the decisions that make and break the world’s greatest entertainment industry.

We’d love to hear your objectively bad takes. Let’s start a dialogue, preferably with enough branching paths favouring us.

* Twitter/X - @RishiAlwani

* Threads - @rishi.alwani

* Instagram - @rishi.alwani

* Twitter/X - @darthrahul

* Threads - @darthrahul

* Instagram - @darthrahul

Another year another Call of Duty. This year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is reviled for a host of reasons, though the one of interest to us is its use of AI.

With the biggest games franchise in the world in terms of annual sales using generative AI tools to make its latest entry, we break down what it means for the games industry and consumers at large, along with cameos from Arc Raiders, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Anno 117 Pax Romana.

In addition to this, we discuss some of the latest sales data for Ghost of Yotei, Pokémon Z-A, and, of course, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Furthermore, we try parsing Xbox’s strategy post the Xbox Partner Event, which had one big surprise in Raji: Kaliyuga.

This is the second episode of Day Zero. Day Zero is a podcast on video games featuring Rahul Majumdar and Rishi Alwani breaking down the bytes and bits behind the decisions that make and break the world’s greatest entertainment industry.

We’d love to hear your objectively bad takes. Let’s start a dialogue, preferably with enough branching paths favouring us.

* Twitter/X - @RishiAlwani

* Threads - @rishi.alwani

* Instagram - @rishi.alwani

* Twitter/X - @darthrahul

* Threads - @darthrahul

* Instagram - @darthrahul

Welcome to the first episode of Day Zero. Day Zero is a podcast on video games featuring Rahul Majumdar and Rishi Alwani breaking down the bytes and bits behind the decisions that make and break the world’s greatest entertainment industry.

On our first episode we discuss Valve’s big hardware push with the new Steam Machine, Steam Frame headset, and revamped Steam controller — along with what to expect in terms of price, availability, and why it might not be the cure-all you might think PC games need.

Along with this we also talk about Microsoft bringing Xbox Cloud Gaming to India and what that entailed, as well as how it fits (or does not fit) into the tech giant’s grand plan for gaming. We’re extremely grateful to journalist Aroon Deep’s reporting at The Hindu which helped inform this part of the podcast.

We’d love to hear your objectively bad takes. Let’s start a dialogue, preferably with enough branching paths favouring us.

* Twitter/X - @RishiAlwani

* Threads - @rishi.alwani

* Instagram - @rishi.alwani

* Twitter/X - @darthrahul

* Threads - @darthrahul

* Instagram - @darthrahul