Campaign Comrades | Gaming Community and Culture

Did you hear the terrible news? The video game industry only made $12 billion instead of $13 billion. Even Diablo Immortal making all the money couldn't help Activision's quarterly earnings--it's in right bloody shambles mate. However, all the hedge fund sickos are still bullish on blockchain gaming as the sector sees more investments than ever. Solidarity with GWA Albany as they start their bid f...

The Comrades are reunited once more! Mike is back in the cut after conquering the dreaded Bar Exam--massive W's in the chat for our beautiful boy. In this week's episode, we bookend our thoughts on the shakeups in the VR tech business with more bad vibes from Ubisoft and potentially questionable updates to Minecraft's user policy (when have moderation tools ever gone wrong and been used to target...

It was a whirlwind week for the Comrades, almost as if every major story we've covered so far on the pod has coalesced into one giant shitstorm of content. Major news on industry consolidation, microtransactions and predatory monetization are back in the zeitgeist (more like they never left), various studios make their stands both for and against NFTs, more unions are sprouting up after the succes...

Ragnarok is finally upon us Comrades! The mad lads have done it and GoW: Ragnarok is releasing Novermber 9th (suck it Starfield). But it's not all good news--Ben get's heated about the baffling trend in Sony collector's editions. Also quick little PSA: buy physical games because publishers just love taking your digital license away. All that and more! twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted...

The Comrades wrap up their coverage of not-E3 with their thoughts on the Nintendo mini direct. Then the usual suspects are at it again, the enemies of the pod unite to give us all a little bit of brain damage. Also, did you hear that if you don't exclusively play microtransaction laden multiplayer games, you're not a real gamer? twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted by: @bennybox427 @cutth...

The Comrade's brains turn to absolute slush as they sift through what seems like a million new games announced in the second half of not E3. Sorry in advance, this is a long one. Also Starfield looks boring as fuck. twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted by: @bennybox427 @cutthemike @whatsyourengel Matt. Music and Production by: Nico.

The gaming singularity is here, it's monopolistic, hegemonic, and weirdly covered in dripping space alien goop. The comrades breakdown the first full week of Summer Games Fest and ask ourselves: "why does everything look the same except maybe a little more boring?" Short answer--it's the BLOB folks, and it's here to shape all video games in its unholy image. twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod...

Not E3 has begun! The Comrades breakdown the first official showcase of the season with Sony's State of Play, before speculating about what else we're going to see announced this upcoming month (spoiler--nothing from Ubisoft lol). Ben is riding high on all the Warhammer announcements. Then we do a collectivism by universally shitting on the Sonic Frontiers trailers. All that and more--we're just g...

The Comrades are back in the studio talking about all the "discourse" from the past couple weeks, kicking things off with a dissection of Game Pass and its proposed value to gamers. We take a quick break from shitting on Activision to celebrate the successful Union vote at Raven Software. Finally, there is a mountain of Sony news to get through including PS Plus updates and the baffling Gran Turis...

The Comrades are not impressed with the new Gotham Knights footage (sorry Andrew), but are excited for many of the new Indie games previewed in last week's Indie Showcase. This leads to an interesting discussion about the absolutely fucked development cycle plaguing almost every AAA studio, exemplified by the delay of Starfield. We wrap the episode with taking SIE CEO Jim Ryan to task for his incr...

The Comrades play some catch up as they discuss ongoing crunch and mismanagement at TT Games, the developers of the LEGO Star Wars game, as well as unpacking the list of announcements from D&D Direct. Then it's time to talk about the baffling news surrounding Square Enix and their decision to sell off almost all of their Western IP. Finally, you know what it is, yet another lawsuit is levied again...

Matt and Andrew take over for the Comrades and discuss the state of gaming unionization and the only game that matters. twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted by: @bennybox427 @cutthemike @whatsyourengel Matt Music and Production by: Nico

The Comrades catch up on the latest shit storm coming out of Activision, including the alleged interference of CA Governor Gruesome Gavin in one of the many lawsuits against the company. Then, we spend a while breaking down a great piece in Gizmodo about a new company, Gripnr, and the myriad ways its here to "innovate" in the TTRPG space. "NFTs Are Here to Ruin D&D" by Linda Codega https://gizmodo...

Rick leads us through the basics of video game monetization, and all the ways game publishers seek to win over consumers before squeezing ever last cent possible out of them. We get into the myriad ways these strategies hurt gamers and produce inferior products. twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted by: @bennybox427 @cutthemike @whatsyourengel Matt Music and Production by: Nico

The boys discuss Sony's new streaming service and how it stacks up to the rest of the industry. Good luck playing any games without a high speed internet connection! twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted by: @bennybox427 @cutthemike @whatsyourengel Matt Music and Production by: Nico

The Comrades discuss the futility of market pressure as almost every major game studio cuts off all sales to Russia in "solidarity" with Ukraine. We also discuss the discouraging news out of FromSoftware and the studio's history of poor working conditions. Finally, it's time for the discourse to begin as we navigate the fraught waters surrounding Hogwarts Legacy (i.e. that JKR is a fucking TERF)....

In this week's deep dive, Mike leads the Comrades through a discussion of the current state of labor action in the video game industry (spoiler...it isn't great). We break down the exploitative practices that are not only harmful to the people who make video games, but also harmful to the product--the games themselves. twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted by: @bennybox427 @cutthemike @wha...

Gather round fellow tarnished...the comrades have something important to tell you...NOT ALL OPEN WORLD GAMES NEED TO FEEL THE SAME. We discuss the ultimate failings of Horizon Forbidden West, mainly that it isn't Elden Ring. twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted by: @bennybox427 @cutthemike @whatsyourengel Matt Music and Production by: Nico

Why are game releases so weird now? The Comrades dive into the strange phenomenon of the "unannounced announcement" before going through the hits from the most recent Nintendo Direct. RIP to the 3DS eShop. twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted by: @bennybox427 @cutthemike @whatsyourengel Matt Music and Production by: Nico

In our second deep-dive episode, Matt leads the comrades through a discussion about video game remakes and remasters. What makes them different? What makes them good? Are they bad for the industry? twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted by: @bennybox427 @cutthemike @whatsyourengel Matt Music and Production by: Nico

The Comrades have no time for Sony ponies in this week's episode as they talk about the continuing trends of industry consolidation. Then we move to tabletop land with the baffling announcement of Kickstarter embracing the blockchain and crypto technology. Finally, Ben loses his mind over the new Dark Souls TTRPG. twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted by: @bennybox427 @cutthemike @whatsyou...

The Comrades kick things off with a nice wholesome story of two cops getting tactically owned by a snorlax. Then we move to the big news of the week, the major money moves of Take-Two and Microsoft. twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted by: @bennybox427 @cutthemike @whatsyourengel Matt Music and Production by: Nico

The Comrades discuss the foundational genre of Role-playing Games in the first of what we are calling our 'Topic Episodes." We ask the important questions folks: RPG's - are they any good? twitch.tv/CampaignComrades @CampComPod Hosted by: @bennybox427 @cutthemike @whatsyourengel Matt Music and Production by: Nico

Introducing Campaign Comrades, a new podcast that looks at all sides of the gaming industry from a uniquely leftist perspective! The Comrades discuss gains in worker solidarity at companies like Activision Blizzard and Riot Games in 2021 and what it means for the future of labor organizing in the industry. Then Ubisoft and Square Enix are trying to pump and dump NFTs. Stop trying to make it a thin...