On July 2nd, Microsoft made significant cuts to Xbox, resulting in the loss of 9,000 jobs, the closure of The Initiative, and the cancellation of Perfect Dark and Everwild. On this REACT podcast special, we share our candid thoughts on the disturbing news and what it all means for the future of the Xbox brand.

What are your thoughts on the Xbox layoffs? Let us know in the comments section below.

Is The Last of Us on HBO the greatest video game adaptation of all time? The Koalition Editor-In-Chief Richard Bailey Jr., Senior Editor Adam Vale, Throwdown Host Tony Polanco, and Co-host Carlos Romero answer this question and more in our review of The Last of Us Season 1 Episode 1 "When You're Lost in the Darkness". Check out our full discussion and let us know what you think of the show in the comments section below.

On today's episode of The Swift Report, I sit with The Koalition Co-founder Anthony Frasier, who recently appeared on an episode of The Toys That Built America on the History Channel. Anthony was there to speak about Jerry Lawson's role in the American games console revolution. Jerry Lawson was the first black video game engineer, and furthermore, he led the team that launched the first video game console to feature a removable game cartridge. However, the History Channel minimized a few fine details about Jerry's story, and we're here to speak on it.

We go into even more detail about the story of Jerry Lawson on our Audible documentary Raising The Game: The Untold Story of Jerry Lawson: https://amzn.to/3tqD8Ol 

Disclaimer: This is a friendly critique of the TV series and no malicious intent is meant towards The History Channel or the people working on The Toys That Built America.

Gary Swaby and Richard Bailey Jr. discuss the reviews for God of War Ragnarök and talk about all aspects of the game itself. Richard Bailey talks about how it performs as a cross-generation PlayStation title, and whether the growing number of characters takes away from Kratos himself. This discussion is spoiler-free. 

On this episode we discuss the delay of The Last of Us Part 2 and what it means. 

Other topics discussed:

- Phil Spencer IGN Unlocked interview thoughts- Supporter question:

We discuss the Sony State of Play stream in which Square Enix revealed Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and how the upgrade to PlayStation 5 will be handled. The upgrade will also unlock a DLC pack featuring popular Final Fantasy 7 character Yuffie, but we have some pretty interesting thoughts about this.

We discuss the Sony State of Play stream in which Square Enix revealed Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and how the upgrade to PlayStation 5 will be handled. The upgrade will also unlock a DLC pack featuring popular Final Fantasy 7 character Yuffie, but we have some pretty interesting thoughts about this.