About this episode
If you're a regular purchaser of games, you're a stark minority within the very industry you know and love. We've known all about the revenue-related trends directing games as of late, but recent data indicates things are far more dire than they seem, particularly if you're a single player purist. For instance, a third of gaming consumers purchase less than one game a year; 12% buy one game a year; 18% buy two games a year. Only 14% of players buy at least one game a month! Yet, there's more money flowing than ever. Like, lots more. What gives? A migration of customers and their habits, of course! We discuss. Other news this week includes a brief Mark Cerny video celebrating Sony's collaboration with AMD for PlayStation 6, the reemergence of Marathon with invites to an NDA'd closed test, the bluest DualSense controller you could possibly imagine, rumors of a cancelled Reconstruction-era Assassin's Creed, and more. Then: Listener inquiries! Could Sony be on the precipice of adding to its family of first party studios? Is there a potential unfilled niche for medical-themed titles? Does PlayStation need to spin-up a new loyalty program? Forget about your favorite color. What's your favorite shape? Download the PrizePicks app and use code SACRED to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. 0:00:00 - Intro 0:37:16 - Strange places to listen to Sacred 0:41:27 - Ben Debate 0:52:43 - Favorite shape 0:58:31 - Mark Cerny appears! 1:09:26 - New player purchasing data 1:29:11 - New Marathon technical test coming 1:49:59 - New early PlayStation lore 1:58:37 - New blue Dualsense 2:03:38 - PlayStation Concert cancelled 2:10:25 - Cancelled Assassin's creed leaked 2:33:10 - Expedition 33 sells over 5 million, new content coming 2:35:40 - New Circana data 2:43:33 - Top PSN downloads 2:47:34 - PowerWash Simulator 2 release date and Mina the Hollower delayed 2:54:28 - What We’re Playing (Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yotei, Baby Steps, Mario Galaxy) 3:27:58 - SIE and Sword of the Sea? 3:31:39 - Will Rockstar innovate gameplay in GTA VI 3:37:38 - What's the end point of live service? 3:42:44 - What do "fans" want? 3:55:38 - PlayStation Stars still floating around 3:59:19 - Where are the medical games? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices