Joystick & Mouse | Video Games News & Reviews – Détails, épisodes et analyse

We are talking about the economic state of video games and what it all means for us the gamers. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com

Show Notes:

Mention the t-shirts and Patreon - shop.joystickandmouse.com In another sign of the hard times in the video game industry EA Lays off hundreds of employees and cancels a game in development. https://www.reuters.com/technology/electronic-arts-lays-off-hundreds-cancels-titanfall-game-bloomberg-news-reports-2025-04-29/

It has been over six years since Epic started undercutting Steam's 30 percent revenue share for developers, asking for just 12 percent of sales on its then-new Epic Games Store. Now, Epic is going even further by reducing those fees to zero for a game's first $1 million in annual sales. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/05/epic-games-store-completely-eliminates-revenue-fees-for-smaller-developers/

Yay, we have a release date for Grand Theft Auto IV but it is later than expected.  https://www.ign.com/articles/grand-theft-auto-6s-delay-just-affected-the-entire-video-game-industry?_gl=1*phkmq0*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTgwMzY2NzUyMi4xNzQ2NDg1NjIw*_ga_736S6FVMCL*MTc0NjQ4NTYxOS4xLjAuMTc0NjQ4NTYxOS4wLjAuMA..

Following Sony's lead from earlier this year, Microsoft raised recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consoles and controllers around the world this week. https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/xbox-price-increase-bing-vs-google-windows-11 https://apnews.com/article/xbox-raises-prices-tariffs-microsoft-cd746a5aed59f3f5403ab262d6e149f0

So what do the tarrifs mean to video game prices? https://www.theouterhaven.net/the-rising-cost-of-gaming-and-why-tariffs-are-just-the-beginning/

The cost of the PS5 is going up. The cops get digital and all about the Switch 2. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com

Show Notes:

If you still haven't purchased a PS5, you may want to do so in the very near future. No, it's not because of tariffs, well not directly anyways. Prices for the console are rising in several regions and it's probably only a matter of time before it hits the US. So let's talk about how much, where and when. https://www.theverge.com/news/647869/sony-ps5-price-rise-uk-europe-australia-new-zealand https://www.polygon.com/news/558161/ps5-price-increase-new-europe-uk

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-06-online-police-patrol-internet-denmark.html#google_vignette

Nintendo held another direct this past week. this time dealing exclusively with the Switch 2. Well here's all the things that were announced and how to order ... or not. https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-switch-2-direct-everything-announced

Epic 1, app stores 0. leadership changes at XBox. A new game announced from a new studio and our list of the week.

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Show Notes:

We been following the story of Epic vs Apple as it pertains to allowing the Epic Game Store on Apple devices. Well that story took a turn this week when a judge ruled that Google's play store is an illegal monopoli and must allow third party app stores on it's devices. let's look at that ruling and discuss what it might mean for apple. https://www.theverge.com/policy/2024/10/7/24243316/epic-google-permanent-injunction-ruling-third-party-stores

According to a leaked internal email, Xbox Game Studios will soon be led by Rare studio head Craig Duncan as current boss Alan Hartman is retiring in November. What if anything does this mean for XBox. https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-game-studios-leadership-change-sees-rare-boss-take-over

Mike Morhaime and his new studio Dreamhaven announced the name and some details of their new game this week. Here's all the info so far. https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/sunderfolk-video-game-blizzard-1236173545/

our list this week comes from Gameluster and is their ranking of the top 100 indie games of all time. We won't subject you to all 100 game but here are their top 10. https://gameluster.com/our-100-best-indie-games-of-all-time/

Extra:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/blizzard-video-games-history-harassment-book-b2627402.html

A beloved streamer decides to call it quits. Nintendo does Nintendo things. Ubisoft does Ubisoft things. And we have a list ... of course we do.  http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com

Show Notes

A beloved figure of Skyrim's content creation scene says she's retiring from making gaming videos. Shirley Curry, better known as 'Skyrim Grandma,' posted a video this past week entitled 'No More Gaming Videos.' In that video, Curry, who is 88, said the decision "doesn't make me too happy" but shes retireing from playing Skyrim basically because she's bored. https://www.gamesradar.com/games/the-elder-scrolls/after-hundreds-of-videos-over-9-years-88-year-old-skyrim-grandma-is-retiring-because-it-isnt-fun-anymore-im-tired-of-it-im-bored-to-death-with-it/

Oh Nintendo. In a show of complete lack of understanding of it's community the game giant decided to sue the makers of palworld for copyright infringement. Was this really necessary? https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/09/palworlds-japan-release-on-ps5-delayed-as-nintendos-lawsuit-looms https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/nintendo-s-lawsuit-against-palworld-isn-t-just-bad-for-the-industry-it-s-bad-for-nintendo/

Do we really own our games. What rights do we have when we buy a game digitally? A new California law aims to define that a little more but does it go far enough? https://www.ign.com/articles/physical-copies-games-the-answer-when-nobody-owns-anything

It has not been the best of times lately for Ubisoft with layoffs and delayed Game releases and this past week they got a little more bad news. They cancelled their appearance at the Tokyo Game Show and postponed all press previews of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows.The reason is so typical of the gaming community and frankly is infuriating. Ubisoft is facing back lash because of their DEI position and featuring a female as the lead character of their latest release. (Star Wars Outlaws) https://www.fastcompany.com/91198344/ubisoft-anti-dei-backlash-video-game-maker-assassins-creed

Our list this episode is everything announced on the Sony State of Play this past month so lets dig into what was announced and what we are looking forward to. https://blog.playstation.com/2024/09/24/everything-revealed-in-state-of-play-september-2024/ https://www.ign.com/articles/playstation-state-of-play-september-2024-announcements

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Show Notes

RIP James Earl Jones

A founding member of British synth-pop band Heaven 17 has alleged Rockstar offered the three writers of hit song Temptation $7,500 each for its use in Grand Theft Auto 6 — a figure he has flat out rejected. https://www.ign.com/articles/rock-star-tells-rockstar-to-go-f-yourself-after-extremely-low-offer-to-use-hit-song-in-gta-6

At gamescon (we'll get to that later) Blizzard unveiled a 4d ride called "Escape from Dalaran" and it was freaking awesome. https://www.wowhead.com/news/inside-blizzards-exhilarating-4d-ride-escape-from-dalaran-at-gamescom-2024-345989

While we were away Gamescon happened. This has sort of become the new E3 announcement venue and this year did not disappoint. So let's take a look at all the things that were announced. https://mashable.com/article/gamescom-2024-everything-announced-line-up-so-far

A video game industry icon is going away. We have several stories about actors in the video game industry and there is more guns and loot on the horizon.

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Show Notes:

Back before the internet, I remember going to the corner store and buying the very latest gaming magazine. It was our only source of information about upcoming games and how to beat that last boss in doom. Well one of the very first ones is closing its pages for the final time after a 33 year run. Gamestop is closing down its game-informer magazine.  https://kotaku.com/game-informer-gamestop-meme-stock-gme-last-issue-1851611973

We all know that sex sells and video games are no different. A little jiggle and intimate interactions are no stranger to the video game world but what about the actors behind those scenes. Someone had to voice that line or motion capture that intimate moment. This week multiple actors complained that those scenes were done with little or no notice and called for changes within the industry. https://www.eurogamer.net/video-game-actors-call-for-better-transparency-around-disgusting-mocap-work-not-disclosed-in-advance https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23l4ml51jmo

last year one of our big stories was the SAG-AFTA strike which impacted video games. Well technacally that strike never ended but the parties agreed to go back to work and negotiate in good faith. Well a couple of weeks ago those negoatiations fell apart over AI. So what does that mean for the near future of games. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sag-aftra-calls-strike-against-major-video-game-studios-1235957116/

Even with the under-performance of the Borderlands movie, Gearbox announced this week that they are definitely working on Borderlands 4. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/08/gearbox-teases-borderlands-4-again-following-movies-box-office-flop

Microsoft was thinking along the same lines as us when it comes to future consoles but that takes money to do. Ubisoft tries to piss off their Division fan base. Lets hope Salvatore's latest foray into video games fares better than his previous one and we have another list ... of course we do. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/

Show Notes

We would never say we told you so buuuuut we told you so. A leak of a supposedly cancelled video game console that Microsoft filed a patent for was a slim line cloud gaming console. https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/26/24186639/microsoft-xbox-cloud-console-keystone-patent-images

Xbox Game Pass Is Getting A Price Increase And Introducing A New Tier. So what's up with that? https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-game-pass-is-getting-a-price-increase-and-introducing-a-new-tier/1100-6524819/?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=category%3Dnewsletter;name%3DGameSpot-Report;id%3D10417931;date%3D071124;lctg%3Db3a7b738bd17d2fa16eb5ab92783891fb0c35bd6f93fb6c92ad5b2d8754d0c30

A month ago, Ubisoft announced that future seasons of The Division 2 would switch to a seasonal character model, meaning you start fresh, level up, gear up, participate in season-specific activities. In the history of The Division 1 and 2 there has never been anything like this, and it did not sound great. Now, it’s being walked back. https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/07/15/the-division-2-deletes-diablo-4-seasonal-character-idea-after-player-revolt/

Renowned fantasy author R.A. Salvatore has joined forces with the newly established 3D development studio Tupelo Labs to bring his popular DemonWars Saga series into the world of video gaming https://gamefragger.com/multiplatform/ra-salvatore-partners-with-new-development-studio-for-demonwars-saga-video-game-a26538#gs.boo28p .

A lot of the video games we play take place in cities. These setting can leave an impression on us as players as we traverse our way through the game. Gamerrant put out a list of the most iconic cities in video games and of course we had to take a look and give our take. https://gamerant.com/most-iconic-video-game-cities/

The demise of the XBox console as we know it. Another studio forms a union and we take issue with a poll. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/

Show Notes

Here is the press release from Microsoft - At Xbox, we’re committed to bringing the joy and community of gaming to everyone.  Today, we’re announcing a collaboration with Amazon where Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members in over 25 countries can play games directly from the Xbox app on select Fire TV devices via cloud gaming, giving people even more choice in how they play their favorite games. https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/06/27/xbox-cloud-gaming-amazon-fire-tv/

We follow up that story with another that heralds the end of the XBox console as we know it. A leak from NVidea shows that users will be able to play games from GeForce Now on XBox consoles.  https://www.videogamer.com/news/nvidia-geforce-now-app-allegedly-coming-to-xbox-consoles-according-to-leaks/ https://www.videogamer.com/tech/nvidia-geforce-now-games-list-in-2024/

Bethesda Game Studios Montreal has filed to unionise with the Communications Workers of America. The BGS Montreal union announced yesterday in a thread on social media that they filed for certification with the Quebec Labour Board. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/bethesda-montreal-files-for-unionisation

The worst thing to ever hapen to our wallets is the Steam <insert season here> Sale. We've all done it. That game we've had our eye on goes on sale and it's too good of a deal to pass up. Thennnn it just sits there in our library. Staring at us every time we log in. Well we are not alone. According to a report this week users have spent $19 Billion on games that they have never played. https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam/pile-of-shame

Of course we have a list and man do I have issues with this one. BAFTA released a poll they did of the most iconic characters of all time in video games. let's go through it. https://www.bafta.org/media-centre/press-releases/bafta-most-iconic-character-poll-results

It's that time of year when the game companies put on their dog and pony shows to try an entice us (the consumer) to get enamoured enough with a game to plunk down our hard earned money on it at release. Well there were three of them since the last time we were together so we're going to wade through all of that as well as a quick story and some insight into one of our favorite topics, the state of the video game industry.  http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/

Show Notes

A real quick mention of an article I ran across this week. EA Execs earned 60 million in compensation as the company laid off over 5% of it's work force this year. But that number doesn't tell the whole story so let's take a look at that. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/ea-execs-earned-60-million-in-2024-despite-layoffs-and-office-closures

The Ubisoft Forward 2024 is a wrap and the two big releases coming this year got a lot of air time. Let's discuss what's coming in the worlds of Star Wars and Assasins Creed. https://www.ign.com/articles/ubisoft-forward-2024-everything-announced https://www.gamesradar.com/gaming/events-conferences/ubisoft-forward-summer-game-fest-2024-live-coverage-everything-announced/

After months of rumors and speculation fueled by the company's radio silence, Sony's latest State Of Play presentation took place on May 30. 14 games for PlayStation 5 and PSVR 2 were shown throughout the 30+ minute video, which included updates on Concord, Marvel Rivals, and God Of War Ragnarok on PC. Read on for a full recap of all the biggest announcements and games from the event. https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/state-of-play-may-2024-all-the-biggest-ps5-announcements-and-games/2900-5435/?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=category%3Dnewsletter;name%3DGameSpot-Report;id%3D10025581;date%3D060124;lctg%3Db3a7b738bd17d2fa16eb5ab92783891fb0c35bd6f93fb6c92ad5b2d8754d0c30#1

There were big expectations for Microsoft’s Xbox Games Showcase this year, the first summer event since the Activision Blizzard merger in 2023. The Xbox Games Showcase included a slate of games from Activision, Blizzard, Bethesda, Xbox Game Studios, and third-party developers. It did not disappoint. let's take a look at everything announced. https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/06/09/xbox-games-showcase-2024-recap-everything-announced/

Some news about the health of the video game industry. Sony tries to invigorate their VR offering and we have a couple of good lists to take a look at. Oh and we actually have a game review to go over. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/

Show Notes

It's been a rough year for the video game industry. The games industry saw almost same number of layoffs in first five months of 2024 as in all of last year Take two is the latest company to have large cuts. Is the video game industry in a downturn? https://www.vg247.com/take-two-reportedly-looking-to-sell-or-shutter-private-division https://gameworldobserver.com/2024/06/03/over-10k-games-industry-layoffs-in-2024-so-far-vs-2023

Sony is trying to breathe some new life into their underperforming VR system. This week they announced a hardware solution to allow PSVR2 users to access their steam library. Will this revive the flailing system or will it just be another unutilized peripheral? https://blog.playstation.com/2024/06/03/playstation-vr2-players-can-access-games-on-pc-with-adapter-starting-on-august-7/

We've talked recently about the adaptation of video games for television but gamespot came out with a list of the 12 shows that they deemed as awesome. let's take a look at their list and see what we think of it. https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/12-video-game-tv-shows-that-were-actually-awesome/2900-5438/