Ad Astra | Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast, Episode 238
846Long-percolating rumors have been confirmed: Housemarque's wonderful third-person PS5 shooter Returnal is headed to PC, and you're going to need a beefy rig to enjoy all it has to offer. But not all is well in the stars. Krafton's The Callisto Protocol, released in December to middling reviews, was also met with soft sales. Somehow, the publisher spent something like $160 million over three years making the game, and the project is very much in the red. How could things have gone so poorly for such a promising title? And how is it possible that something like Callisto cost literally 10 times what it took for Remedy to make Control, and five times what they're spending on its sequel? Tons of sales data, discussions about Atomic Heart and Hogwarts Legacy, and more round out this week's news offerings, as we then delve into listener inquiries from Patreon. Should we expect Sony to make more acquisitions this year? Are recent layoffs at Microsoft at all emblematic of issues with the Xbox brand? Is the end nigh for GameSpot and Giant Bomb? Will one listener ever find out who the mystery person in the bathroom was? You know, the one listening to Sacred Symbols while doing his business?
Link to Hoeg's GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/77b0b821
NEW MERCH: https://laststandmedia.store
Tickets to An Evening with Last Stand in Texas are ON SALE NOW: https://my.thehobbycenter.org/5706/5708
Follow the hosts on Twitter!
Colin: https://twitter.com/notaxation
Chris: https://twitter.com/ChrisRGun
Dustin: https://twitter.com/DustinCanFly
A new episode of Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast launches each Friday morning. To receive instant access, as well as other perks, please support the show on Patreon at http://patreon.com/LastStandMedia
#SacredSymbols #playstation
Get 20% off your first order at https://www.tommyjohn.com/sacred
Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:07:15 - HOEG!
0:08:06 - Sacred Symbols will help you regrow your hair
0:13:54 - Did you really watch Star Trek?
0:22:00 - Chris is in the bathroom stall at Disney
0:24:05 - A follow-up on last week’s LRG conversation
0:30:14 - TLoU on HBO
0:38:00 - Colin goes to get something
0:41:37 - The infamous Suicide Squad image
0:50:41 - Skull & Bones gets a new gameplay drop
0:53:42 - What is Sailing Era?
0:56:21 - Mundfish talks about Atomic Heart’s technical fidelity
0:59:30 - Is playing Atomic Heart pro-Russia?
1:17:38 - A leaked Hogwart’s Legacy artbook spills some details
1:32:02 - Can we trust Hogwart’s Legacy reviews?
1:41:17 - What have we been playing?
1:54:43 - Returnal is officially coming to PC
2:05:44 - The Callisto Protocol has missed its sales targets
2:17:35 - Ultimate Sackboy is coming to phones
2:26:00 - NPD Group has released numbers for December and 2022
2:32:06 - The PlayStation blog has released data for 2022
2:34:12 - Will Sony make any more acquisitions this year?
2:45:10 - What do we make of the industry layoffs?
3:10:24 - Why do most games have RPG elements now?
3:19:17 - Layoffs have hit Giant Bomb and Gamespot