Game Modes + Topics for this episode:

0:37 Netflix Valued Warner Bros Games at Zero

13:55 Marathon's Massive Sentiment Reversal

26:44 NY AG Sues Valve Over CS2 Loot Boxes

43:33 Where Does Gaming UGC Go From Here?

59:30 Pokemon Gen 10 Revealed

1:22:09 Should Celebrities Be Making Games?

Red Flag or Green Flag — Paramount just acquired Warner Bros Discovery, including Mortal Kombat, Batman Arkham, and LEGO Games. Netflix walked away and said they attributed zero value to the game studios. Red flag or green flag for Warner Bros Games?

Sentiment Score — Marathon had plagiarism accusations, a boring alpha, and an indefinite delay. Then Bungie ran the Server Slam and 143,000 people showed up on day one. Score it before and after. Both numbers before you explain.

Big Deal, Little Deal, No Deal — The New York AG just sued Valve, calling CS2 loot boxes illegal gambling. The skins market is worth $4.3 billion. A single skin sold for over a million dollars. Big deal?

Finish the Sentence — Roblox has 88 million daily active users and represents 67% of all net growth in gaming. In 5 years, gaming UGC will be ___?

What's the Word — Pokemon Day just happened — the 30th anniversary. Generation 10 is officially Pokemon Winds and Waves. Switch 2 exclusive. Underwater exploration. What's the word?

Bullish or Bullshit — Last Flag is a free-to-play hero shooter that had 100K Steam wishlists before Imagine Dragons ever got involved. Then the band signed on, the trailer hit 280K YouTube views in a week, and Tyler1 joined the party. Should celebrities be in games?

Watch instead of listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdASe58sCAk

Follow our panelists:

Host - Sam Steffanina https://x.com/SamSteffanina

Kohji Nagata - https://x.com/ParallelTCGpod

Jerry Singer - https://x.com/JerrySinger

Oliver Maroney - https://x.com/OliverMaroney

Michael Christine - https://x.com/MichaelSatoshi

Gnoc (Matt Biamonte) - https://x.com/itsGnoc

Payton - https://x.com/paytkaleiwahea

Behind the scenes - Lemz https://x.com/Lemz_42

Gamified brings 6 game industry workers from founders to business developers to discuss what's going on each week in 60-second bursts. Every topic has a 'game mode' that makes the topics more entertaining and the takes a little hotter.

Game Modes + Topics for this episode:

1. What's the Word -- Sony quietly shut down Bluepoint Games, the studio behind some of the most beloved remakes in gaming history. 70 people out. No warning.

2. Devil's Advocate -- Xbox just appointed an AI executive with zero gaming experience as its new head. 5.6 million people are not happy. We argue the other side.

3. Sentiment Score -- Blizzard announced Overwatch Rush, a brand new top-down hero shooter built from the ground up for mobile. Zero to ten, what's your number?

4. Change My Mind -- Friend Slop is oversaturated. Unicycling sausages, airport security simulators, Super Battle Golf. The genre has hit the wall. Change our mind.

5. Explain like I'm a Shareholder -- A new report says gaming is losing your Friday nights to gambling, OnlyFans, and online casinos. Why buy gaming stocks?

6. Red Flag or Green Flag -- Nintendo is charging $20 for Pokemon games outside their subscription. Microsoft is stuffing more into Game Pass and raising the price. Both are getting roasted. Red flag or green flag for gaming subscriptions?

Watch instead of listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2IL2aKNgk0

Follow our panelists:

Host - Sam Steffanina https://x.com/SamSteffanina

Kevin Lambert - https://x.com/kevinlambert

Kohji Nagata - https://x.com/ParallelTCGpod

Wills Spangler - https://x.com/WillsSpangler

Michael O'connor - / mjoc9

Gnoc (Matt Biamonte) - https://x.com/itsGnoc

dub (Andrew Wian) - https://x.com/uhhdub

Behind the scenes - Lemz https://x.com/Lemz_42

Gamified brings 6 game industry workers from founders to business developers to discuss whats going on each week in 60-second bursts.

Every topic has a 'game mode' - that make the topics more entertaining and the takes a little hotter.

Game Modes + Topics for this episode:

1. What's the Word — Blizzard surprise-dropped a brand new class for a 25-year-old game, Diablo 2 Resurrected

2. Ship It or Rip It — Over half of game industry professionals think generative AI is hurting the industry. Is the backlash justified?

3. Sentiment Score - Overwatch 2 drops the 2 and becomes Overwatch... again?

4. Red Flag or Green Flag — Five, six, seven-year dev cycles are becoming the norm. Is that a sign of ambition or a broken industry?

5. Who's to Blame? — Highguard launched, got destroyed by the internet, and the devs hit back. We dig into who's actually responsible.

Watch instead of listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkd6RlMyJAw

Follow our panelists:

Host - Sam Steffanina https://x.com/SamSteffanina

Kevin Lambert - https://x.com/kevinlambert

Kohji Nagata - https://x.com/ParallelTCGpod

Wills Spangler - https://x.com/WillsSpangler

Jerry Singer - https://x.com/JerrySinger

Gnoc (Matt Biamonte) - https://x.com/itsGnoc

Michael Christine - https://x.com/MichaelSatoshi

Behind the scenes - Lemz https://x.com/Lemz_42

• What’s the Word on Highguard trailer revealed at The Game Awards?

• Off the Grid launches ranked mode 1 year after launch - is it too little too late?

• Sentiment score for Steam’s new discovery system

• Which side is winning in 5 years - indie or AAA?

• 2025 was the year of the ______?

• MVP of the Year

Today’s Panelists:

- Dub @uhhdub

- Kohji @ParallelTCGpod

- Chris @chrisheatherly

- Jerry @TGIFresco

- Sinjin @SinjinMAYG

- Gnoc @itsGnoc

- Kevin @kevinlambert

- Wills @willsspangler

- Matthew @BuxtonMatthew

• Doodles mint stalls

• BEST AND WORST OF 2025

• One thing to be excited about in 2026

Today’s Panelists:

- Dub @uhhdub

- Hantao @Hantao

- Jonah @JonahBlake

- Slayer @SlayerXgg

- Charlie @0xChuckstock

- Gorilla @CryptoGorilla

- Oliver @OliverMaroney

• What’s the word for Netflix trying to acquire Warner Bros?

• Keep or kill - should Steam drop the “made with AI” label?

• Bullish or bullshit on Fableborne “buying back” token allocation from NFT holders and airdropping USDC?

• Sentiment Score on Trump game launching on Open Loot

• What’s the word for Cambria generating over 1m in just a couple of days?

• 
  

Today’s Panelists:

- Dub @uhhdub

- Jerry @TGIFresco

- Sinjin @SinjinMAYG

- Gnoc @itsGnoc

- Kate @kateirwin

- Kevin @kevinlambert

- Chris @chrisheatherly

- Wills @willsspangler

- Michael @MichaelSatoshi

- Voh @vohvohh

• Is Gaming SO back?

• ZACH XBT

• Is Decentralized social media dead?

Today’s Panelists:

- Jordan @JordanEureka_

- Matthew @BuxtonMatthew

- Iceyyy @iceyyy_gaming

- Dub @uhhdub

- Hantao @Hantao

- Jonah @JonahBlake

- Slayer @SlayerXgg

- Charlie @0xChuckstock

- Tony @Tvalc

• Bullish or Bullshit on Kill Bill short film being released in Fortnite?

• What's the Word for a web3 game framing themselves as an olympic esport?

• What’s the Word for Roblox CEO saying prediction markets in Roblox is a “brilliant idea”?

• Who’s side are you on: Square Enix who are replacing most of their QA team with AI, or Balder’s Gate 3 team member who says replacing human QA with AI is stupid?

• What will be GOTY? Marry 1, dump the rest: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades II, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

• Sentiment Score on Wilder World N3o’s tweet response

Today’s Panelists:

- Dub @uhhdub

- Wills @WillsSpangler

- Kevin @kevinlambert

- Chris @chrisheatherly

- Gnoc @itsGnoc

- Kohji @ParallelTCGpod

- Michael @MichaelSatoshi

- Jesus @JesusMartinez