Important note - Giovanni, Dave, and Greg are all in a band called Duckspeak that just released their latest album, Death To All Kings. You can check it out on any streaming service or purchase it from their bandcamp (duckspeak.bandcamp.com). Thanks for listening!
The videogame industry is undergoing a lot of turmoil these days. Toxic executives are being ousted. Studios that stated they intended to avoid crunch are forcing their staff to work 6 day weeks. Publishers continue to buy, sell, and gut studios as they wish. It's a wild time, so we thought we'd take this episode to get a little serious and cover some important and timely issues in the industry. Instead, we argued about sandwiches for 12 minutes.
For real though we do eventually highlight some of our favorite studios in the context of a difficult, awful industry. Get ready for a real one, listeners. Giovanni digs a hole. Greg divulges his recipe for vegan mayo. Dave ponders where the "style" of a studio resides. Colin makes this all about capitalism once again.
Games (and studios) discussed include: SteamWorld Dig (Image & Form), Bastion (Supergiant Games), Crusader Kings 3 (Paradox Interactive), and Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
Show Notes:
This Crusader Kings 3 player ate the Pope - Christopher Livingston, PC Gamer
Paradox Interactive's QA staff allege poor treatment, low pay, and mismanaged layoffs - Imogen Beckhelling, Rock Paper Shotgun
Game Developers Behind Dead Cells, Night in the Woods, and More Share Why the Co-Op Studio Model Works - Caty McCarthy, US Gamer