The Ramblepack Podcast

Destiny 2's Halloween event isn't meeting players' expectations, it seems. Playstation's ex-CEO, Shaw Layden, shared his worries about consolidation in the industry and game preservation and Insomniac's Spider-man is pulling record sales. Respawn also looks to be teasing something Titanfall related lately.

End of an era: After 24 years, Pete Hines is leaving Bethesda. Unity's CEO, John Riccitello is also out, Bobby Kotick will also be leaving Activision Blizzard Jan. 1 , 2024. On the plus side, we got Lego Animal Crossing sets and now know Mario's new voice actor!

It has been a rough week for the games industry as a whole. Multiple studios facing layoffs, Pokemon Company running out of Van Gogh collab merch, and Sony's president is stepping down.

The Activision-Blizzard & Microsoft merger was approved by the UK's CMA and looks to close some time in October. Call of Duty seems like it's making its way to Game Pass already as well. Capcom wants to be seen as equals in the gaming markets and Destiny has been fending off a weeks-long DDoS attack it seems.

What a week (or two since we missed last week) huh? Gearbox studios may be up for sale, Tears of the Kingdom isn't getting any DLC, unfortunately, but we're getting a Sora amiibo. Xbox also had some documents leak and Unity creators proposed changes to their fees, upsetting many devs in the process.

Adam is in love with Starfield. That's it. PS plus subscribers will be seeing a price increase on all tiers of the services, Volition is being shuttered due to Embracer Group's restructuring. There was a new Super Mario Wonder showcase and Stray is also getting its own animated movie!

Starfield's specs released, as well as a prolific Starfield leaker is facing up to 12 years in jail. September's PS Plus Essential game leaked, Xbox & Larian Studios worked out an agreement to bring Baldur's Gate 3 to Xbox this year, and we're getting a Nintendo Direct covering Super Mario Bros. Wonder soon!

It's the end of an era; Charles Martinet will no longer be the voice of Mario. Ubisoft is getting an interesting addition thanks to the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard merger, Sony's "Project Q" $200 price point, and Gamescom is on!

We finally found out who Embracer Group's partner was, Mike's excited about Final Fantasy Ever Crisis releasing soon, and Lollipop Chainsaw got delayed. Xbox implemented a new strike system for community standard violators, and we spend a while discussing the Baldur's Gate 3 video article from IGN and responses to it.

Devolver Digital had a mini delayed game showcase highlighting some games that were delayed until 2024 and a refresher on games that will be coming out in 2023. Wrestlequest was also delayed, Keith David will be taking over as Commander Zavala, and 2 Pokemon games are coming to the Switch Online.

Xbox and Sony have reached a deal regarding Call of Duty in the wake of the FTC ruling, while Activision Blizzard and Microsoft extended the deadline for the acquisition. We also say goodbye to Xbox Live Gold and learn about the newest option.

After some technical issues, we're back for more this week! After a week of of trials in the FTC and Microsoft merger, we have the judgement. Some of The Boy's characters are finding their way into Call of Duty, Yuji Naka's sentencing was announced recently, and Naughty Dog's co-president is retiring.

It's been a busy week with the FTC V Microsoft trial happening. Nintendo also had a direct with new game reveals, Niantic is laying off more than 200 employees, and the trials may have given us a little insight into some release windows.

Immortals of Aveum got their release date pushed a few weeks into August now, while McDonald's released an in-browser Gameboy Color styled game for Grimace's 12th birthday. Overwatch is taking the cancelled story mode and charging $15 for access to a new seasonal story mode, Embracer Group is going through layoffs throughout the rest of the year, and Microsoft signed a $30 million deal wit...

We had our week of games showcases this week! Guerilla Games, Wholesome Games, Summer Games Fest, Xbox + Bethesda and more. We do our best to cover all that was shown and talk about our standouts and what we're most excited for from each one.

“Not E3” games showcases to be shown this week starts June 7th with Guerilla Collective, FFVII Rebirth devs have been answering questions, Firaxis laid off a chunk of employees recently, and we got a look at gameplay from the new RoboCop game!

Sony had a full hour showcase with a 10-minute extended gameplay sequence for Spider-Man 2. The Romanian Competition Council believes Sony is "abusing" the games industry with their market position, SGDQ started this week raising money for Doctor's Without Borders, we'll get to see Cyberpunk's Phantom Liberty DLC soon, and Alan Wake 2 will be digital only to keep the price of...

Devolver announced a showcase for June while Sony is preparing for their own this Wednesday (5/24). Tears of the Kingdom had a huge release with one "wet noodle" among reviewers, Mortal Kombat got a teaser trailer, and Overwatch is cutting back on game expectations.

We had Bryan back on this episode to talk all things Destiny! With Mike getting more and more into the game, we decided to sit down and discuss the lore and world of Destiny with him and try to make sense of it all.

The UK's regulatory board gave a no-go to the Activision-Blizzard acquisition, setting Microsoft to repeal the decision. Sony has a new studio acquisition itself, Sega has officially become a union, and Ubisoft+ joins Microsoft on the Xbox and PC.

E3 2023 has officially been cancelled! Final Fantasy XVI has gone gold, Vampire Survivors is getting a second DLC, there was some pretty funny and neat April Fools "announcements" this year, and Pokemon Go has upset the community with some announced changes coming to the game.

We lost a prolific actor and voice actor last week, new cheat codes uncovered for Gran Turismo after 20 years, and Ubisoft has now pulled out of E3. We also talk a little about AI use in games and cover some of the Nexon/IronMace allegations.

Square Enix had a lot going on over the last week and a half. Fortnite and Overwatch got separate anime crossovers, both equally neat. Starfield got a release date as well as a date for their direct. We also spend a long time talking about Destiny: Lightfall and our opinions on the release.

Lightfall, Destiny's newest story arc, is releasing and Sony had their first State of Play of the year. Got a new look at RE4 Remake, Nintendo is not attending E3 this year, but Ubisoft confirmed they are, and Shinji Mikami is leaving Tango Gameworks.

Hogwarts Legacy was released to great reviews but riddled with controversy. Sonic Frontiers has broken expectations from Sega, companies are propping up their employees, and Nintendo had another Nintendo Direct!