#423 | I Swear To God, All I Do Is Cash Out

After roughly half-a-dozen episodes of unfortunate absence, we're pleased to welcome Dustin back to the fold, and just in the nick of time at that. A trio of interesting stories have bubbled to the surface over the past week worth examining, and they require further inquiry from the whole cast. For starters, Sony's financials show a stagnant (albeit perfectly healthy) PlayStation brand, as PS5 marches ever-slower towards 100 million units sold. And then there's Electronic Arts, the pioneering American publisher that sold-out to a wealthy foreign interest, with untold ramifications on the other side of the biggest-ever leveraged buyout in human history. Finally, we come to Netflix and Rockstar, who have teamed-up for what can only be described as a unique approach towards showcasing Grand Theft Auto VI, one (perhaps not surprisingly) some people aren't thrilled about. Among other news (and other nonsense), we also get into your listener submissions, as we do each week. How will MLB: The Show 27 be affected next year by what appears to be an inevitable work stoppage in professional baseball? Is there any workable idea for a framework surrounding the second-hand buying, selling, and trading of digital games? Could Sony blunt PlayStation 6's inevitably-high cost by taking a page from Xbox's book and offering hardware on long-term payment plans? Has Colin been saying "beaucoup bucks" wrong, or does one listener simply not know his French? This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off at https://www.betterhelp.com/symbols Sign up for your $1 per month trial at https://www.shopify.com/sacred Get 365-day returns and free shipping at https://www.quince.com/sacred Timestamps: Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement.0:00 - Intro21:28 - Beaucoup bucks23:15 - Has Colin gone woke?30:57 - Betting on Dustin's return35:44 - Last games during Dustin's leave51:19 - Balancing work, life, and kids58:32 - GTA VI premieres on Netflix1:16:24 - Sony Q1 26 financials1:56:48 - EA's sale to the Saudis is done2:11:37 - Shift Up's AI music video2:21:50 - Dave Bautista as Kratos?2:26:59 - New PlayStation LEGO2:27:31 - Black Ops on PS5 sales2:28:34 - What We're Playing (Halo, GTA SA, Big Walk, Splatoon Raiders)2:55:43 - AI Moderation3:13:54 - MLB Lockout3:17:47 - Optimizing games too much3:24:30 - Buying and selling digital games3:34:09 - Lack of real games media3:41:07 - Buying PS6 via contract Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices