Nintendo Switch 2 Direct will be at 9:00 a.m. ET, 6:00 a.m. PT on April 2 https://x.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1887139391266558216

Nintendo fiscal results https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2025/250204_4e.pdf

Total Switch sales are now at 150.86 million, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at 67.35 million units

New game sales totals: Super Mario Party Jamboree: 6.17 million units, Echoes of Wisdom: 3.91 million units, Mario & Luigi: Brothership 1.84 million units (see image below)

Nintendo says it’s making preparations for Switch 2 resellers https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintendo-says-its-making-preparations-for-switch-2-resellers/ 

Nintendo will no longer accept foreign credit cards & PayPal accounts on the Japanese eShop on March 25 https://mynintendonews.com/2025/01/30/japan-nintendo-will-soon-no-longer-accept-foreign-credit-cards-paypal-accounts/

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket surpasses $500M in just 22 days more than Pokémon GO https://www.pocketgamer.biz/pokmon-trading-card-game-pocket-rockets-past-500m/

Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny remaster comes to Switch in 2025 (and PS4, XB1, Steam) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvgPwh_oIXg

Electronic Arts CEO says EA Sports FC and Madden ‘could find real energy’ on Switch 2 https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/electronic-arts-ceo-says-ea-sports-fc-and-madden-could-find-real-energy-on-switch-2/

EA execs suggest Dragon Age: The Veilguard may have sold better as a live-service game https://www.eurogamer.net/ea-suggests-dragon-age-the-veilguard-might-have-sold-better-if-it-was-live-service-so-what-does-this-mean-for-mass-effect-5

Sackboy Dev Sumo Digital Cancels New IP to Focus on Game Production for Partners https://www.sumogroupltd.com/news/2025/sumo-group-update/

Mat Piscatella: “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth had a fantastic Steam launch” https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3lhc3xrqq7k2z

The VGHF Library opens in early access https://gamehistory.org/vghf-library-launch/

Brasop: Do you have any gaming goals for 2025? I dropped out of PlayStation gaming for a while with the PS4 but was fortunate enough to pick up a PS5 for Xmas, so I'm looking forward to deep-diving back into the PS library.

🦉

Fatal Fury 2, Super Ninja Boy, and Sutte Hakkun join SNES NSO https://x.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1882594637065355525

Super Mario RPG Soundtrack Releases in Japan on April 9 https://noisypixel.net/super-mario-rpg-soundtrack-release-2025/

Millions of dollars of prototype Pokémon cards may have been fake, it’s claimed https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/millions-of-dollars-of-prototype-pokemon-cards-may-have-been-fake-its-claimed/

Xbox Developer_Direct 2025 Recap https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/01/23/xbox-developer-direct-2025-recap/

NINJA GAIDEN 4 – Launching Fall 2025

NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black – Available Now

South of Midnight – Launching April 8, 2025

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Launching April 24, 2025

DOOM: The Dark Ages – Launching May 15, 2025

Hideaki Nishino is new President & CEO of SIE (Hermen Hulst still Studio Business Group CEO, under Nishino) https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-leadership-at-sony-interactive-entertainment-302362728.html

SEGA trademarks Skies of Arcadia, Eternal Arcadia in Japan https://www.gematsu.com/2025/01/sega-trademarks-skies-of-arcadia-eternal-arcadia-in-japan

The Sims 1 and 2 Are Reportedly Returning to PC This Month https://kotaku.com/sims-1-2-remaster-pc-buy-ea-maxis-steam-1851748658

GOG re-releases Dino Crisis 1 and 2 on PC, announces GOG Wishlist to vote for more ports https://x.com/GOGcom/status/1884526967204049150

Phoenix Labs lays off “majority of the studio” https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/phoenix-labs-lays-off-majority-of-the-studio-two-years-after-forte-labs-acquisition

BioWare Doesn't 'Require Support From the Full Studio' https://blog.bioware.com/2025/01/29/bioware-studio-update/ 

Zach Cregger to Tackle Resident Evil Reboot Movie https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/resident-evil-reboot-zach-cregger-1236117563/

Brydude: What is your favorite anime?

🦉

Nothing important happened last week.

Nintendo Switch 2 first-look trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itpcsQQvgAQ

Nintendo Direct on April 2, 2025, Nintendo Switch 2 Experience to follow in cities around the world

Two USB-C slots?

Joy-Con mouse functionality? (SNES mouse functionality secretly exists in NSO already)

Mario Kart 9

24 players?

Wide, flat road? New gas mechanic maybe?

Donkey Kong redesigned, all the characters cuter/more cartoony now?

Bloomberg: Nintendo supply chain is ready to sell more than 20 million Switch 2 units in its first year

A Nintendo Direct focusing on Switch 1 games is reportedly coming in February https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/a-nintendo-direct-focusing-on-games-for-the-original-switch-is-coming-next-month-its-claimed/

PH Brazil says Switch to get one big final Nintendo game from “beloved” & “somewhat niche” series https://mynintendonews.com/2025/01/20/rumour-ph-brazil-says-switch-to-get-one-big-final-nintendo-game-from-beloved-somewhat-niche-series/

Hideki Kamiya wishes curses upon Switch 2 leakers https://x.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1879917263803011499

PlayStation has canceled 2 more live-service games from Bend and Bluepoint, respectively: Bluepoint was working on live-service God of War https://bsky.app/profile/jasonschreier.bsky.social/post/3lfvfm2febc2e

NCSoft’s Horizon MMORPG has seemingly been canceled https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ncsofts-horizon-mmorpg-has-seemingly-been-cancelled/

Insomniac Games’ Ted Price Announces Retirement After Three Decades https://sonyinteractive.com/en/news/blog/ted-price-announces-retirement/

What’s next for Insomniac Games https://blog.playstation.com/2025/01/22/whats-next-for-insomniac-games/

Earthblade canceled! https://exok.com/posts/2025-01-22-earthblade-final-update/

Marvel Snap taken offline temporarily as part of the TikTok ban https://bsky.app/profile/benbrode.bsky.social/post/3lg35u52bxs2c

EA blames ‘underperformance’ of Dragon Age and EA FC25, as it lowers forecast https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ea-blames-underperformance-of-dragon-age-and-ea-fc25-as-it-lowers-forecast/ 

AAA sequels struggling https://x.com/GenePark/status/1882185444445782496 

Silksong is still real https://x.com/griffinmatta/status/1880523110816051696 

Joe: What games do you think the Switch 2 will launch with? and which games do you hope it launches with or are in the launch window?

🦉

Switch 2 reportedly being revealed on Thursday, January 16 https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintendo-will-reportedly-reveal-switch-2-this-week/

NateTheHate: Microsoft Flight Sim and Halo MCC are coming to Switch 2 and PS5, and FFVII Remake and Rebirth are coming to Switch 2 and Xbox https://bsky.app/profile/knoebel.bsky.social/post/3lffjli6oec2z

MGS Delta planned for Switch 2, 6+ Ubisoft games (mostly “late ports”) in works including AC Mirage on launch day and Shadows at a later date https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/assassins-creed-games-and-metal-gear-solid-delta-tipped-for-switch-2-release/

Switch was originally planned to have Virtual Console https://luigiblood.tumblr.com/post/772374028594905088/switch-virtual-console-was-the-original-plan

Mat Piscatella: random fun stats about the Switch game library https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3lfpmk42sjk2e

LUNAR Remastered Collection launches April 18 https://www.gematsu.com/2025/01/lunar-remastered-collection-launches-april-18

The Blood of Dawnwalker revealed from Witcher 3 director https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkICrJEVTjI

Way more details: https://x.com/shinobi602/status/1878926236048830538

Splash Damage cancels Transformers: Reactivate, the gritty-looking co-op action game https://x.com/splashdamage/status/1877020458454749485

Xbox Developer Direct will reportedly have “a new entry in a legendary Japanese IP which has decades of history” https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/xbox-2025-predictions-and-overview-microsofts-most-promising-games-line-up-in-history-meets-a-platform-under-duress

Campfire_knight: Loved all the random owl facts on the last podcast. Can we have more random animal trivia like that, please?

Retro Studios was reportedly working on a “music RPG” before canceling it for Metroid Prime Remastered https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-relationship-between-nintendo-and-retro-unhealthy.1074522/#post-133880040

Punch-Out!! series may have stopped in part because of character stereotypes https://mynintendonews.com/2025/01/02/imran-khan-punch-out-series-effectively-dead-at-least-at-next-level-games/

Bloodstained 2 intended to be revealed this year https://x.com/ArtplayEN/status/1874133096087642319

Call of Duty's massive development budgets revealed: $700 million for Black Ops Cold War https://www.gamefile.news/p/call-of-duty-budgets-development-costs-black-ops-modern-warfare

Ex-Annapurna Video-Game Staff to Absorb Former Take-Two Indie Label - Bloomberg

Hand Drawn Game Guides: Mega Man https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nfpublishing/hand-drawn-game-guides-mega-man 

Grain of salt LOL rumor: new Xbox Prime console will launch in late 2026 https://x.com/TheGhostOfHope/status/1876099668482085289

Joe: What are your most anticipated games of 2025, any bold predictions for the year?

Game of the Year 2024 discussion

Joe & Brydude’s answers for GotY

Mat Piscatella: Switch surpasses PS2 for lifetime total sales in the US, at 46.6 million units sold. Only trails DS now

Sega considering Netflix-like game subscription service https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgnj7e8028o

‘Live and Learn’ musician suing Sega over ownership of iconic Sonic the Hedgehog song https://www.polygon.com/news/498953/sonic-music-live-and-learn-copyright-lawsuit-crush-40-sega

OFF coming to Switch, Steam in 2025 with new features https://www.gematsu.com/2024/12/off-coming-to-switch-steam-in-2025-with-new-features

Mat Piscatella: EA Sports College Football 25 is the bestselling sports game in US history for dollar sales, ranks in top 50 bestselling games of all time for US

Glen Schofield says EA recently turned down his Dead Space 4 proposal https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/glen-schofield-says-ea-recently-turned-down-his-dead-space-4-proposal/

Brydude: When are we doing Press X game night? What are your spoiler-free thoughts of Sonic 3?

Unpacking The Game Awards https://www.eurogamer.net/everything-announced-at-the-game-awards-2024

Too many highlights!: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, Shadow Labyrinth (Pac-Man), Rematch (Sifu soccer), The Witcher 4, Elden Ring Nightreign, FFVII Rebirth PC in January, new Fumito Ueda game with Epic Publishing, The Outer Worlds 2 in 2025, Split Fiction, Borderlands 4, Virtua Fighter, Project Century, Turok Origins, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Mafia: The Old Country, Dispatch superhero comedy game, stage fright, Okami Sequel, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet

Pokémon × Aardman coming in 2027 https://x.com/Pokemon/status/1866845745313136673

Alarmo adds 7 scenes from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe https://x.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1866679599926497455

Tetris for NES and Tetris DX for GBC have joined NSO https://x.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1867011680313500071

Nintendo now owns 100% of Monolith Soft https://automaton-media.com/en/news/nintendo-now-owns-100-of-monolith-soft/

“Capcom is focusing on re-activating dormant IPs that haven’t had a new title launch recently” https://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/news/html/e241213.html

Bandai Namco to release remastered Tales of titles “fairly consistently” https://www.gematsu.com/2024/12/bandai-namco-to-release-remastered-tales-of-titles-fairly-consistently

Marvel Rivals all Jeff the Land Shark event announced: https://www.polygon.com/news/497476/marvel-rivals-winter-event-skins-jeff-splatoon

Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya says his creativity “would have died” had he continued to work at PlatinumGames https://automaton-media.com/en/news/bayonetta-creator-hideki-kamiya-says-his-creativity-would-have-died-had-he-continued-to-work-at-platinumgames/

Several PlatinumGames Veterans Have Seemingly Left The Studio https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/12/several-platinumgames-veterans-have-seemingly-left-the-studio

The Game Awards predictions (hyped by three separate journalists - Andy Robinson, Tom Warren, Jez Corden)

NateDrake expects Switch 2 reveal in January second half or February, event in May, release in June https://youtu.be/vi259NZ4ZLs?t=3013

Nintendo approached Acquire to make Mario & Luigi: Brothership based on its experience with RPGs (Octopath) and action games (Tenchu) https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/ask-the-developer-vol-15-mario-and-luigi-brothership-part-1/

Acquire tried to make “edgier, more rugged” Mario art, but Nintendo vetoed it https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/ask-the-developer-vol-15-mario-and-luigi-brothership-part-2/

Croc: Legend of the Gobbos remaster delayed to Q1 2025 https://x.com/ArgonautGames_/status/1865093859237056975

Turn-based strategy game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown announced for PC https://www.gematsu.com/2024/12/turn-based-strategy-game-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-tactical-takedown-announced-for-pc

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake shipments and digital sales top two million https://www.gematsu.com/2024/12/dragon-quest-iii-hd-2d-remake-shipments-and-digital-sales-top-two-million

Ubisoft’s handling of canceled PlayStation exclusive Wild was ‘a real scandal’, director claims https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ubisofts-handling-of-cancelled-playstation-exclusive-wild-was-a-real-scandal-director-says/

Switch 2 Joy-Con design allegedly leaked in China, video shows magnet Joy-Con https://www.resetera.com/threads/nintendo-switch-2-joycon-designs-leaked-on-bilibili-magnets-confirmed-uploader-claims-that-production-volume-is-not-high-enough-for-a-march-launch.1049781/

Tetris to join NES NSO on 12/12, ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron, VectorMan, and Wolf of the Battlefield: Mercs join Genesis NSO Tetris / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecII-1bkikw

Nintendo Switch eShop and online services are ending in China in 2026 https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintendo-switch-eshop-and-online-services-are-ending-in-china-in-2026/

Converse is making EarthBound shoes for its 30th anniversary, will be available to purchase online in late February https://www.1101.com/mother_project/events/bazaaaar_2025/index.html 

PlayStation itself confirms that over 160 million PlayStation 2 consoles were sold https://www.playstation.com/en-us/playstation-history/2000-ps2-psp/

After 31 years, Shuhei Yoshida is leaving Sony on January 15, 2025 (current head of indies, former president of PlayStation Studios in PS3-PS4 era) https://blog.playstation.com/2024/11/26/all-good-things-a-look-back-at-shuhei-yoshidas-31-years-with-playstation/

XDefiant dead, Ubisoft San Francisco and Osaka dead? https://x.com/stephentotilo/status/1864093792682262762

Light of Motiram, an open-world survival crafting game, is the ultimate Horizon Zero Dawn knockoff https://www.gematsu.com/2024/11/mechanimal-open-world-survival-crafting-game-light-of-motiram-announced-for-pc

FromSoftware has no plans for Elden Ring 2, but they have several new titles in the works, according to Miyazaki https://automaton-media.com/en/news/fromsoftware-has-no-plans-for-elden-ring-2-but-they-have-several-new-titles-in-the-works-according-to-miyazaki/

Rumor: Future Mortal Kombat 1 DLC Canceled After Poor Expansion Sales https://insider-gaming.com/future-mortal-kombat-1-dlc-cancelled-after-poor-expansion-sales/

Indiana Jones PC Specs revealed: https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/3/24312550/the-indiana-jones-and-the-great-circle-pc-specs-are-an-adventure

Nintendo approached Acquire to make Mario & Luigi: Brothership based on its experience with RPGs (Octopath) and action games (Tenchu) https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/ask-the-developer-vol-15-mario-and-luigi-brothership-part-1/

Acquire tried to make “edgier, more rugged” Mario art, but Nintendo vetoed it https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/ask-the-developer-vol-15-mario-and-luigi-brothership-part-2/