The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast

Matt, Brendan, Rebekah and James are on hand to discuss the biggest stories of the week -- or, in this instance, story. We delve deeper into Brendan's extensive exposé on the toxic culture at Twitch, which extends across both the office and the site itself.  The team explores a story that ranges from allegations of sexual assault and racism to defaction on the walls and a relaxed attitude to the K...

The Game Developers' Playlist is a special series of The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast in which we talk with developers about the titles that influenced their careers. This time, we have Megan Fox -- founder of Skatebird developer Glass Bottom Games -- discussing the impact of Ultima 7, the 1992 systems-driven RPG. Fox reflects on how the use of the game's systems opened up player freedom, and the evo...

Rebekah, Marie and James are on hand to discuss the biggest stories of the past week. We start with the disappointing but perhaps inevitable news that -- despite promises of 'non-obligatory crunch' and multiple delays to the game - CD Projekt Red is forcing the Cyberpunk 2077 developers to work six-day weeks in the run-up to its November 19 launch. Then we're joined by Eurogamer's Lottie Lynn to d...

Rebekah, Brendan and Marie are on hand to discuss the biggest stories of the week -- which, of course, means Microsoft's acquistion of Bethesda parent ZeniMax Media. The platform holder splashed $7.5 billion on the Fallout and Elder Scrolls publisher, but what wider implications does this deal have? We discuss the impact on Game Pass, on the Bethesda IP that struggled at retail but may now have re...

The Five Games Of is a special spin-off series of The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast that charts the evolution of the industry through the careers and games of prominent developers and more. This month's guest is Debbie Bestwick, CEO and owner of UK-based indie label Team17, whose first game was released in 1991. On the show we discuss this and other formative titles, the changing opportunities for ind...

Matt, Rebekah, Brendan and USGamer's Mike Williams discuss the biggest news of the past week. We start with the PS5 launch plans and confusion over pre-orders, and move on to our wider thoughts about the next console generation. With both platform holders offering digital-only consoles, what does this mean for the concept of ownership during the upcoming generation? And how does the rise of subscr...

This week, James, Brendan, Rebekah and Chris discuss the biggest news of the past week, which is, unsurprisingly, Xbox. The platform holder announced its long-rumoured Xbox Series S model at $299, priced the Xbox Series X at $499, detailed the Xbox All Access payment plan for both models, gave a November 10 launch date, and revealed that the EA Play library will be added to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate...

The Game Developers' Playlist returns with a look at RPG Maker. In this new monthly show, developers join us to discuss the games that influenced their careers. This episode features Davionne Gooden, the indie developer behind the upcoming She Dreams Elsewhere, talking about how tinkering with RPG Maker motivated him to make a living making games. The Game Developer's Playlist is an extension of a...

Matt, Brendan, James and USGamer's Mike Williams gather around their mics to discuss the biggest industry news of the past week. Our first big discussion this week is Unity's long-awaited IPO. Having delved deeply into the filing, Brendan discovered some little known and surprising facts about the company behind the widely-used engine. We discuss these revelations and ponder the future of Unity as...

This is the first episode in a new spin-off series of The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast, charting the evolution of the industry through the games and careers of prominent professionals. In this monthly show, we'll be joined by developers, composers, writers, publishers and other members of the games industry to discuss five games they have worked on: their first, their last, and three of their choice....

Brendan, Marie, Chris and James discuss the biggest stories of the past week, starting with the allegations of inaction against abuse at Rocksteady. The Batman: Arkham Knight studio has been accused of doing little to nothing to address the issues with toxicity and harassment raised by female employees back in 2018. It's worth noting the studio has since released an updated statement that was not...

Matt, Rebekah, Chris and James gather round their microphones to discuss the biggest news of the past week -- starting, of course, with Epic versus Apple and Google. In case you missed the news, the Fortnite firm skillfully goaded Apple into removing the world's biggest game from its App Store then followed up with a pre-prepared lawsuit and a conveniently-ready-to-go parody video.  Google later r...

Presenting the debut episode of a new spin-off from The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: The Game Developer's Playlist In this new monthly show, developers join us to discuss the games that influenced their careers. Kicking off this series is Aaron Linde, lead narrative designer at Halo developer 343 Industries, who shares his love of SNES RPG Earthbound. This podcast is an extension of a series we run...

James, Marie, Chris and USGamer's Mike Williams weigh in on the big debate of the week: does the games industry need E3? Studies from both Fancensus and SuperData show that this summer's big game reveals didn't suffer from the absence of the annual showcase -- certainly not when it comes to the platform holders and big publishers. But there are many other aspects of E3 that aren't as easily recrea...

James, Matt, Brendan, Rebekah and USGamer's Mike Williams reflect on the titles shown at this week's Xbox Games Showcase. There was a diverse line-up of internally-developed titles, with the first look at Halo Infinite's gameplay and the long-awaited reveal of the Playground-developed Fable revival. But the presentation did leave us with questions. After multiple instances of Xbox assuring that al...

This week, Rebekah, Matt, Brendan and James dive deeper into Rebekah's recent investigation into GlobalStep. For those who haven't read the full article yet, we explore some of the accusations the UK-based QA company -- formerly known as Testology -- faces. Claims include the "culling" and "ghosting" of staff, incorrect pay, and a stifling culture built on fear and zero-hour contracts. We discuss...

We have a double episode of the GamesIndustry.biz Podcast today, following developments over the weekend at Ubisoft as the publisher attempts to reign in its abuse problems.  James. Matt and Haydn take a deep dive into the situation at Ubisoft, after several high-level staffers departed the company amid mounting abuse allegations.  CEO Yves Guillemot, previously lauded for steering Ubisoft away fr...

Matt, Brendan, Chris and James gather around their respective mics to discuss the biggest industry stories of the past week. Once again, we've refrained from commenting on the ongoing stories of abuse and harassment as we don't feel the podcast is the right forum for this discussion. But you can find our in-depth coverage through the links below. Ubisoft's Maxime Béland resigns amid abuse allegati...

Matt, Brendan, Marie and Chris are on hand to discuss the biggest games industry topics of the week. The most prominent subject has been the latest wave of allegations concerning abuse, bullying and harassment that have emerged across the industry. As the podcast is not the best forum for such a discussion, we instead direct you to our detailed coverage on the site: Industry's abuse problem brough...

This week on the podcast, Rebekah, Matt and Brendan are joined by new regular guest Mike Williams, of former GamesIndustry.biz and current USGamer fame.  In lieu of an formal E3 event this year, Electronic Arts went ahead with its own branded online presser, EA Play. Depending on who you ask, the show was either an exciting glimpse into what the publisher has to offer in the coming years, or a lac...

The GamesIndustry.biz team share their initial thoughts on Sony's long-awaited reveal of the PlayStation 5. Recorded mere minutes after this week's showcase ended, we share our first impressions on the line-up, the overall presentation, and (of course) the final design of Sony's next-generation console. Along the way, we discuss the diversity of the games' protagonists, question Sony's growth stra...

As you'll hear, there is no regular podcast this week.  In light of the ongoing protests against racial injustice and police brutality, we recognise that our team is currently not diverse enough to contribute significantly to the discussions. Instead, we're using this week to recommend other podcasts that have already commented on the deeper issues at hand, and that you might find worth listening...

Matt, Brendan and James discuss the biggest stories of the past week, starting with speculation about the potential release window for GTA 6. Rumours circulated that a spike in marketing commitments found within Take-Two's financial documentation placed the launch of GTA 6 around 2024 -- but Brendan's ready to shatter that hope. Elaborating on his piece from last week, our North American editor ex...

Matt, James, Marie and Chris are on this week's podcast to discuss the biggest stories of the past week. We start with comments from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who suggests tech and digital industries (including video games) are unlikely to adopt remote working on a permanent basis as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. On a similar note, we discuss commnets from Take-Two CEO Strauss...

Matt, Rebekah, Chris and James gather around their mics to discuss the biggest stories of the past week - primarily Epic Games. The company debuted the first footage of Unreal Engine 5 with a technical demo that also gave us the first glimpse of gameplay on the Playstation 5. Around this unveiling was also the news that the revenue limit at which Epic will claim royalties from Unreal-powered games...