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PODCAST

The VGBees Podcast

Host and founder of VGBees, John Warren, is joined every week by cohosts Niki Grayson and Lotus for candid, funny, and enlightening conversations about the video games industry and video games medium (two very different things). Every week, The VGBees Podcast will explore trends and touchpoints you need to know in order to have the most well-rounded idea of what"s going on in games. Explore vgbees.com after each episode for notes on each episode as well as written pieces by our collaborators and

leisure video games

All Episodes

02:55:15

Ep 122: Mike Tomlin's Minecraft City, 2XKO's Targeted...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/10/04

On this week's episode, the crew handle a slow news week by going very, very deep on Mike Tomlin's Minecraft city, 2XKO's missed concurrent player target, and impressions of cozy-yet-hardcore Dressmaker.00:00:00 Intro, John's bad day, pallbearers for hire00:26:45 2XKO's wild swing and miss for concurrent players00:41:09 Mike Tomlin's Minecraft city inspired some big, big opinions from the crew01:25:50 Control Resonant's open world features frustrating barriers01:29:47 Dressmaker might be "cozy," but

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02:49:43

Ep 121: New Xbox Layoffs, Activision Making Next...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/09/27

This week, Lotus, John, and Niki tackle a very busy week of games news, including a new round of Xbox layoffs, Xbox studio consolidation, Activision making the next Halo game, and Bungie's unvaulting of Destiny 2 content.00:00:00 Intro & Niki's big trip00:14:30 Xbox's latest layoffs and consolidations00:50:42 Undead Labs goes independent; State of Decay 3 still aiming for 2027 release00:56:55 World's Edge loses half staff and one upcoming project00:58:34 King union wins their collective

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02:48:06

Ep 120: Zach Cregger's Resident Evil, BlizzCon 2026,...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/09/20

This week, Niki, John, and Lotus discussed the biggest news stories of the week, including a look at Zach Cregger's Resident Evil, numerous head-scratching announcements from BlizzCon, and the news that Roblox is working toward a future providing standalone games to multiple platforms.00:00:00 Intro & sorting through John's will00:11:30 BlizzCon 2026: games that might not come out and what will we do with three World of Warcraft SKUs?00:25:30 King's unionized workers are about to strike, which

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02:45:50

Ep 119: Ocarina of Time Remake, Sony Drops Kojima,...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/09/13

This week, John, Niki, and Lotus dove into both Nintendo Directs, the stunning news that Sony is dropping Hideo Kojima's next projects, and Blizzard's new union formation just ahead of Blizzcon.00:00:00 Intro & our new tagline00:10:03 Ocarina of Time is changing for modern audiences00:34:54 Samus is hungry in Metroid Ravenous00:37:00 Kirby and the World Beyond is perhaps the biggest adventure yet in the franchise00:43:50 Powerwash Simulator dev lays off staff in extremely strange way00:49:09 Big

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01:39:04

Ep 118: Star Wars Zero Company Furloughs, Xbox Cloud...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/09/06

This week, Lotus, Niki, and John discuss the Star Wars Zero Company furloughs, the new limits on Xbox Cloud for Game Pass, and the explosive Pablo Torre stories have the hosts asking, "why don't we have this kind of investigative journalism in games?"00:00:00 Intro & John's extremely beautiful voice00:07:18 Star Wars Zero Company devs furloughed ahead of game's release00:15:30 SteamDB is now under Nexus Mods' parent ownership00:21:10 Xbox introducing harsh limits on cloud gaming on Game

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01:55:42

Ep 117: GTA6 Revealed, Witcher 3 Remastered, Star...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/08/30

This week, Niki, John, and Lotus did their homework on the bizarrely-edited Grand Theft Auto VI reveal on Netflix and also dove into Gamescom announcements, like The Witcher 3 Remastered.00:00:00 Intro & A Condensed History of How We Know Each Other00:14:30 Grand Theft Auto VI is every verb00:44:09 Star Citizen's Squadron 42 delayed again00:48:25 The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past unearths an ancient evil for Geralt to fight00:49:48 The Witcher 3 Remastered is a free update with tons of

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02:10:45

Ep 116: GTA6 Leaks, 2XKO Ending Development, Twitch's...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/08/23

This week, Lotus, Niki, and John tackled a jam-packed week of surprising news, including Riot ending 2XKO's development, Twitch's surprise auto-opt-in for GenAI training, and the ongoing and expansive Grand Theft Auto VI leaks.00:00:00 Intro & fun drug side effects00:08:00 Twitch's GenAI training program00:15:15 Roblox being investigated by US Senate for over 65,000 reported incidents of child abuse00:30:35 New Horizon live service game being rebooted by Sony00:37:42 Compulsion games now fully

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02:25:45

Ep 115: Saber CEO's Outburst, Netflix Closes Studios,...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/08/16

This week, John and Niki are joined by Jesse Vitelli, fresh off a five day subathon on his Twitch channel after being laid off at Restart.Run. Together, they take a hard look at Matt Karch's history of odd behavior, Netflix's most recent studio closures, and Star Wars Zero Company.00:00:00 Intro & Raising Cane's talk00:11:25 Saber Interactive CEO Matt Karch did something very weird and has done many weird things previously to this new weird thing00:34:14 Netflix closes Night School, Moonloot,

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03:15:16

Ep 114: Big Walk Impressions, Devolver Digital Going...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/08/09

This week, Lotus, Niki, and John discuss their very enjoyable time together with Big Walk, Devolver Digital's move off of the London Stock Exchange, and Netflix's incredibly bizarre six hour rental of Grand Theft Auto VI's deeper dive trailer later this month.00:00:00 Intro & laundry hamper talk00:14:30 Netflix's Grand Theft Auto VI "exclusive" look00:47:26 EA's big deal with the Saudis and Jared Kushner closed01:12:30 Halo Studios parts ways with contractors01:20:32 Devolver Digital moves to

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02:44:39

Ep 113: Xbox Down $1.7b, Tencent's Latest Misfire,...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/08/02

This week, Lotus, Niki, and John discuss Xbox's 7% revenue decrease year over year, Tencent's alleged "Grand Theft Auto killer" Last Sentinel facing major problems, and impressions of one of 2026's most pleasant surprises, Splatoon Raiders.00:00:00 Intro & drug testing00:08:35 Double Fine lays off 23 after going independent00:13:07 Xbox reports $1.7b loss due to critical business failures00:17:07 Tencent's Last Sentinel quietly lays off staff, possibly canceled00:32:50 Super Mario Sunshine

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02:18:39

Ep 112: Marvel Tokon Open Beta Impressions, Unity 7...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/07/26

This week, John, Lotus, and Niki discuss the Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls open beta, Unity 7's announcement and features, EA's approved sale to the PIF, and Deltarune Chapter 5.00:00:00 Intro & some strong Splatoon opinions00:21:35 Hasbro cancels projects slated for 2028 and beyond00:26:58 EU approves EA sale to the PIF00:33:30 Unity 7 announced with some interesting new features in tow00:42:35 Poinpy is free now and is still great00:45:08 Hey, Left 4 Dead 2 is still really great, too00:52:20

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02:38:24

Ep 111: Xbox Jingles Fallout Keys, LATAM ID@Xbox Team...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/07/19

This week, Niki, Lotus, and John discuss the extremely convenient news dump regarding beloved games in the Fallout franchise, other Xbox teams facing decimation in the initial layoffs, and the God of War show's choice to recast its Kratos.00:00:00 Intro, new dog, blood stuff, & kidneys00:22:53 Latin America ID@Xbox teams decimated by layoffs00:32:48 Inside look at Xbox layoffs from people experiencing it00:33:48 Fallout deluge of information to distract people from the layoffs00:46:18 CWA files

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01:20:06

The VGBees Interview: Joe Is Hungry

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/07/16

Last year, we chatted with Joe from hit YouTube channel Joe Is Hungry. Now that we have this fun new interview format show officially on the feed, I decided it was time to have him back on!00:00:00 Intro00:01:33 Joe's wife still plays games00:02:50 Why do gaming communities seem to gravitate toward Joe?00:08:10 Does Joe keep tabs on other food reviewers?00:11:50 What does attention from other channels do for Joe?00:13:18 How does Joe keep up with the algorithm and how does he engage with AI?00:17:20

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02:09:54

Ep 110: Mass Xbox Layoffs Begin, Id Software...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/07/12

This week, Niki, Lotus, and John address the sweeping, disastrous layoffs and closures stemming from the "reset" Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has started.00:00:00 Intro & Cup Talk00:11:40 Xbox layoffs by the numbers00:14:55 Id Software decimated by the moves00:18:52 Obsidian loses staff and shifts focus to Fallout (a previous report that Avowed 2 has been canceled has been refuted by the developer since this recording)00:25:32 Zenimax loses over 350 employees00:29:11 350 others are left without jobs

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01:28:02

The VGBees Interview: Phil Salvador, Library Director...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/07/10

Hey! It's a brand new show here on The VGBees Podcast feed. We'll be taking the time every once in a while to sit down and go deep with interesting figures around the games industry and beyond. Our very first guest is Phil Salvador, Library Director of the Video Game History Foundation.00:00:00 Intro00:02:05 What is the Video Game History Foundation?00:03:45 What has surprised Phil the most about the work of games preservation since joining?00:05:37 What in Phil's life created this fascination with

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02:51:47

Ep 109: Sony Discontinuing Physical Discs, Closing...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/07/05

This week, Lotus, Niki, and John dive deep into the end of physical discs for Sony (and likely Xbox), the impending closures of the PS3/Vita digital stores, and the potential for Arkane to be on the Xbox reset chopping block.00:00:00 Intro & everything you need to know about donuts00:18:50 Sony stopping disc support in 2028; the gang goes long on the loss of physical games media01:06:30 Sony is also closing the PS3/Vita stores01:15:05 IOI to lay off staff on Project Fantasy, which was backed by

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02:02:52

Ep 108: GTA6 Pricing, Xbox Price Hike, Steam Machine...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/06/28

This week, John and Niki discuss the biggest news of the gaming week, including Grand Theft Auto VI edition details, Steam Machine details, and more price hikes for Xbox consoles.00:00:00 Intro & when it became Turkiye00:12:30 Steam Machine is in the wild and available for waitlisting00:28:13 Xbox consoles increase in price again00:33:08 Grand Theft Auto VI isn't on disc and somehow people were shocked00:46:38 Bungie lays off Destiny 2 team; Hermen Hulst writes bad blog post01:04:00 Tim Sweeney

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02:19:35

Ep 107: Xbox Studios Facing Closure, EA's New Ad...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/06/21

This week, John, Niki, and Lotus go very long on this week's seismic Xbox news, including the numerous studio closures on the table, key departures, and Microsoft CEO's Satya Nadella's curious take on why their gaming arm is struggling.00:00:00 Intro & Lotus' Big Saturday00:11:10 South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games is the unsurprising yet disappointing first studio to confirm possible closure or spinoff00:17:00 A long, great conversation about the games media's role in reporting on

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02:47:22

Ep 106: Xbox Preparing Layoffs, Nintendo Direct,...

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/06/14

Lotus, Niki, and John recovered from Summer Game Fest 2026 and reconvened (in home studios, not John's car) to discuss an extremely busy news week, including Xbox preparing major layoffs, Nintendo Direct revealing the Ocarina of Time remake, and more information dropping about Pokemon Go and its role in data gathering for defense purposes.00:00:00 Intro & how waffle fries are madeGo to nogamesforgenocide.com to learn more about the BDS movement and Microsoft's continued role in the ongoing

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23:09

VGBees SGF 2026 Post-Show Debrief

The VGBees Podcast ·

2026/06/13

Join Niki and John from Los Angeles as they debrief from a lively Summer Game Fest 2026.At this point, most embargoes were still in effect, but we hope you enjoy discussion regarding:Blood Dungeon, Messhof's latest gameSonic Pico ParkThe Games Business interview with Matthew Ballbad hotel fish tacosThanks for listening!Please leave us a review! We'll read it on the show and it helps us out a lot.VGBees is ad-free, AI-free, and completely supported by you! https://vgbees.com/joinVGBees is a weekly

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