#211 | It Can't Be For Nothing

The Last of Us: Part I has officially gone gold, interesting news considering it doesn't launch for some seven weeks. Yet, the upcoming PS5 remake's very existence has proven mighty contentious. Some claim it doesn't need to exist at all; many others insist it's a "cash grab" of the highest order. But some folks who worked on the game have come out staunchly in its defense, not only in terms of its sky-high quality, but also in terms of the shockingly-healthy circumstances under which it was made. We try to make sense of the hullabaloo surrounding Naughty Dog's latest before moving onto news surrounding freshly-purchased first party team Haven. A recent extensive interview seems to paint a picture of Haven as both a developer of games and of technologies and workflows, which fits in well with recent acquisitions like Nixxes, Bluepoint, Valkyrie, and even Bungie. After we get through all of that news (and more), we go into listener inquiries, including thoughts on PlayStation Plus' gravitational pull, the current JRPG renaissance we're living through, predictions for first and second party PS5 games in 2023, and one especially strange tale of a man who left a poop stain on a woman's couch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices