This week, Zak and Aaron are back to check in on Marathon, the latest title from Bungie and the latest shot by Sony to make a splash in the wildly oversaturated live service market. Rather than being an unmitigated disaster on the level of Concord or even Highguard, or a runaway success like Arc Raiders, Marathon is something of an in-bounds outlier - performance is perfectly middle-of-the-road.

It's reviewing well, but player numbers are certainly soft for a game that was meant to finally make good on both Sony's $3.7 billion purchase of Bungie and  its wider live-service ambitions. So, what comes next?

Please, enjoy.

Sources:

Marathon has sold 1.2M copies across Steam, PS5, and Xbox - Alinea Insights

Marathon Was Bungie's Last Hope - Bellular News

'Things Are Looking Lukewarm Right Now' — Marathon Has Reportedly Sold Just 1.2 Million So Far, With Steam Making Up 70% of the Player Base - IGN

Sony Has Completed Its $3.7 Billion Deal to Acquire Bungie and Welcome It Into the PlayStation Family - IGN

Sony Says Bungie Hasn’t Brought in as Much Money as It Thought It Would When It Bought the Developer, as Destiny 2 Falls Off a Cliff - IGN

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This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss some pretty massive changes over at Xbox, namely the retirement of long-time CEO Phil Spencer and the quiet disappearance of his heir apparent, Sarah Bond. In their place, we find Asha Sharma, a seasoned executive who most recently led Microsoft's CoreAI team.

The why of it all is a bit murky at the moment, but that leaves plenty of room for speculation, with one big question at the heart of everything: what's next for Xbox as the brand navigates its new, Phil-free future?

Please, enjoy.

Sources:

Asha Sharma named EVP and CEO, Microsoft Gaming - The Official MicrosoftBlog

The Xbox Situation Is Worse Than Microsoft Are Letting On - Bellular News

New Xbox CEO Responds To ‘Real Gamer,’ AI Tweet Accusations - Forbes

Billions of dollars later and still nobody knows what an Xbox is - The Verge

Call Of Duty Lost $300 Million In Sales Due To Game Pass - Report - GameSpot

Black Ops 7 Had Call Of Duty's Worst Sales Year Ranking In The US Since 2008 - GameSpot

Xbox Sales Are Down 70% Year-Over-Year With PS5 Down 40% - Forbes

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This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to chat with Ashley Ruhl, the Narrative Director at Broadsword Online Games, currently in charge of Star Wars: The Old Republic! She was kind enough to tell us a little bit about her role working on SWTOR before moving on to the... ahem, meat of the conversation: romance! Specifically, romance in video games, how it can be approached thoughtfully, and where we'd like to see it go in the future.

Please, enjoy.

Check out Ashley's recommended reading!

Digital Love: Romance and Sexuality in Games - Heidi McDonald

Passion and Play: A Guide to Designing Sexual Content in Games - Michelle Clough

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This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss yet another curious case of misguided marketing — this time with fewer questionable hats. Highguard, which secured the headlining spot at The Game Awards 2025 thanks to Geoff Keighley's personal fondness for the title, launched last week to overwhelmingly negative reviews on Steam and a rapidly dwindling player count. 

How did this happen? Who's to blame? Does the game deserve all of this hate, and will it ever be able to overcome it? 

Please, enjoy.

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This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss how a series of PR... er, let's call them "miscalculations," arguably torpedoed Splitgate: Arena Reloaded (formerly Splitgate 2) before it even had a chance. This story has it all: politically-charged headware choices, petty Twitter arguments, $100 million investments, off-putting apology videos, and much, much more!

Please, enjoy.

Sources:

Splitgate 2 Live Service Relaunches, Immediately Dies A Second Time…
Splitgate Dev Insists Steam Charts Aren't Important As Player Numbers Plummet…
This CEO Burned $500k To Humiliate His Own Game
I’ve Never Seen A Studio Fumble $100m This Hard

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This week, Zak and Aaron are back in hell to discuss the pending acquisition of Warner Bros. by Netflix. They touch on what the merger could mean for the future of movie theaters before diving into the main topic at hand: the fate of WB Games and its treasure trove of IP. Spoiler alert: things are looking bleak.

Please, enjoy.

P.S. Aaron recorded a portion of this episode while holding a sick pupper, so if you hear any coughing, please be kind to Louie.

Sources:

The Battle for Control of Warner Bros.: A Timeline of Key Developments

What Happens to Warner Bros. Games Under Netflix?

Netflix Considers Warner Bros. Games To Be Worthless

Netflix Closes Its All-Star AAA Video Game Studio, Which Made Zero Games

Netflix acquires games avatar firm Ready Player Me

The Netflix Gaming Deal Is A Match Made In Hell

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This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss Valve's new, ambitious hardware plans, especially the announcement's headliner: the brand-new Steam Machine. With the form-factor and convenience of a console and the hardware heft of a gaming PC, the cutely nicknamed "Gabe Cube" seems poised to disrupt the market as we know it... but will it? A better question may be, is it even meant to?

Please, enjoy.

Episode References:

Linus Tech Tips - The STEAM Machine Won't Cost What You Think

YongYea: Valve Drop Moe Hints On Machine Price, And...

Bellular News: Valve's on the Warpath

GameSpot: The Steam Machine Doesn't Even Have To Try

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This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to chat about another (increasingly rare) industry success story: the brand-new Telltale-style adventure Dispatch! How, despite facing doubt from publishers over the game's fairly niche genre and episodic release structure, did AdHoc Studio's debut title release to rousing numbers and enviable review scores? Only one way to find out...

Please, enjoy.

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This week, Zak and Aaron finally get around to discussing one of the most significant events in the recent history of the games industry — the $55 billion purchase of Electronic Arts by a consortium of private investors, including the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, among others.

In addition to running through the myriad issues tied to such politically troubling hands meddling with one of the world's largest publishers, there is one significant question at hand: what happens to the veritable mountain of IP under EA's control?

Please, enjoy.

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This week, Zak and Aaron are delighted to present a conversation with Chris Knight, a 2D artist based in Austin, TX. Chris was kind enough to share some insights from his career, some funny (and not-so-funny) stories, and his frank opinion on what it takes to succeed in the games industry – especially in an incredibly crowded field.

Please, enjoy.

Check Out Chris' ArtStation!

Take a Look at PolyCarp!

Have a Gander at Good Knight Art!

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