About this episode
This week's GamesBeat Decides podcast was already a long one, and then -- right before we were going to upload it -- we had to make it even longer. That's because hosts Jeffrey Grubb and Mike Minotti pulled an emergency bonus session to talk about the breaking news that Electronic Arts has closed Dead Space developer Visceral and canceled its Star Wars game. That revelation is shocking on its own, but EA made it even more startling with a candid blog that explains why it made this choice. Put simply: loot boxes. EA only wants to invest its money in games-as-a-service (GaaS), and Visceral's Star Wars was a single-player linear game. It turns out that it's difficult to sell loot boxes in something like that, so EA has found it difficult to justify its budget. In addition to EA pulling the Band-aid off of one of its multiple Star Wars projects, we talk about some other news involving loot boxes. For example, is Hearthstone too expensive and why doesn't the ESRB game-rating organization think this is gambling? In the second half, we talk about Awesome Games Done Quick because speedrunning is pure and good. On top of that, Mike and Jeff discuss some recent releases they've spent some time with, which include the following: Cuphead Divinity: Original Sin II Golf Story South Park: The Fractured But Whole