The VGBees Podcast

This week, Lotus, Niki, and John discuss Xbox's 7% revenue decrease year over year, Tencent's alleged "Grand Theft Auto killer" Last Sentinel facing major problems, and impressions of one of 2026's most pleasant surprises, Splatoon Raiders.
00:00:00 Intro & drug testing
00:08:35 Double Fine lays off 23 after going independent
00:13:07 Xbox reports $1.7b loss due to critical business failures
00:17:07 Tencent's Last Sentinel quietly lays off staff, possibly canceled
00:32:50 Super Mario Sunshine coming to Nintendo Switch Online
00:38:55 Splatoon Raiders is what Splatoon probably should've always been
00:54:25 Endacopia is a surrealist point-and-click jaunt
00:58:18 Midnight Moments is a pleasant, but perhaps shallow, cyberpunk diorama-builder
01:01:52 Niki's Apple TV came!
01:08:53 VGBees Baseball Talk
01:20:35 HIVE QUESTIONS
02:40:35 Outro
Thanks for listening!
Please leave us a review! We'll read it on the show and it helps us out a lot.
VGBees is ad-free, AI-free, and completely supported by you! https://vgbees.com/join
VGBees is a weekly games media podcast hosted by Niki, John, and Lotus.

This week, John, Lotus, and Niki discuss the Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls open beta, Unity 7's announcement and features, EA's approved sale to the PIF, and Deltarune Chapter 5.
00:00:00 Intro & some strong Splatoon opinions
00:21:35 Hasbro cancels projects slated for 2028 and beyond
00:26:58 EU approves EA sale to the PIF
00:33:30 Unity 7 announced with some interesting new features in tow
00:42:35 Poinpy is free now and is still great
00:45:08 Hey, Left 4 Dead 2 is still really great, too
00:52:20 Paragnosia is like Five Nights at Freddy's but in a house with demons
00:55:45 Deltarune is stretching its welcome with Niki
00:58:50 Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls balances simplified inputs with nuanced complexity undearneath
01:04:30 Niki tearfully admits they're excited about Wolverine
01:12:06 A detour to Love Island and Ariana Madix's whole deal
01:16:10 HIVE QUESTIONS
02:11:05 Outro
Thanks for listening!
Please leave us a review! We'll read it on the show and it helps us out a lot.
VGBees is ad-free, AI-free, and completely supported by you! https://vgbees.com/join
VGBees is a weekly games media podcast hosted by Niki, John, and Lotus.

This week, Niki, Lotus, and John discuss the extremely convenient news dump regarding beloved games in the Fallout franchise, other Xbox teams facing decimation in the initial layoffs, and the God of War show's choice to recast its Kratos.
00:00:00 Intro, new dog, blood stuff, & kidneys
00:22:53 Latin America ID@Xbox teams decimated by layoffs
00:32:48 Inside look at Xbox layoffs from people experiencing it
00:33:48 Fallout deluge of information to distract people from the layoffs
00:46:18 CWA files lawsuits alleging Xbox mishandling of layoffs
00:49:50 College Football 27 removes microtransactions from single player mode
01:03:40 ZA/UM to lay off 32 after slow sales of ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies
01:05:00 God of War show to recast Kratos after injury to Ryan Hurst
01:15:15 Update on Niki's NAS
01:30:40 Update on Niki & NBA 2K26
1:40:40 HIVE QUESTIONS
02:32:30 Outro & Interview Shows!
Thanks for listening!
Please leave us a review! We'll read it on the show and it helps us out a lot.
VGBees is ad-free, AI-free, and completely supported by you! https://vgbees.com/join
VGBees is a weekly games media podcast hosted by Niki, John, and Lotus.

Last year, we chatted with Joe from hit YouTube channel Joe Is Hungry. Now that we have this fun new interview format show officially on the feed, I decided it was time to have him back on!
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:33 Joe's wife still plays games
00:02:50 Why do gaming communities seem to gravitate toward Joe?
00:08:10 Does Joe keep tabs on other food reviewers?
00:11:50 What does attention from other channels do for Joe?
00:13:18 How does Joe keep up with the algorithm and how does he engage with AI?
00:17:20 TikTok monetization
00:22:00 How does Joe deal with criticism online?
00:25:00 A quick Georgia geography lesson & lamenting Whataburger going corporate
00:28:35 Detour to talk about Cook Out & crowd control
00:32:25 Joe's car setup and new technology
00:35:10 Joe developing his stop motion animation skills
00:41:15 Adopting new elements to avoid stagnation
00:45:30 Joe's relationship with Shadow Joe
00:47:20 Joe's spicy food tolerance
00:50:10 Joe's relationship to aging and existing online
00:51:20 Back to the TikTok algorithm & pricing
00:54:18 Balancing creativity and growth metrics
00:57:15 The brief shelf life of food reviews
01:00:18 Is YouTube Joe's most physically taxing job yet?
01:00:25 How Joe's local celebrity has impacted the work
01:04:15 What is Joe eating when he's not eating fast food?
01:06:25 Joe rails against Amazon; an ode to Micro Center
01:13:10 Where does Joe see the channel in one year?
01:18:05 Outro
Thanks for listening!
Please leave us a review! We'll read it on the show and it helps us out a lot.
VGBees is ad-free, AI-free, and completely supported by you! https://vgbees.com/join
VGBees is a weekly games media podcast hosted by Niki, John, and Lotus.

This week, Niki, Lotus, and John address the sweeping, disastrous layoffs and closures stemming from the "reset" Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has started.
00:00:00 Intro & Cup Talk
00:11:40 Xbox layoffs by the numbers
00:14:55 Id Software decimated by the moves
00:18:52 Obsidian loses staff and shifts focus to Fallout (a previous report that Avowed 2 has been canceled has been refuted by the developer since this recording)
00:25:32 Zenimax loses over 350 employees
00:29:11 350 others are left without jobs from divested and sold studios
00:32:47 IOI closes Istanbul studio after Xbox divestment
00:41:18 Hardship fund created for laid off developers
00:47:35 Bethesda union holding protests at different cities July 15
00:55:00 Niki proposes an analogy to the US Men's Soccer Team
01:02:08 Do average gamers know or care that this is all happening?
01:14:45 Niki has returned to NBA 2K26 and is having fun now
01:24:55 HIVE QUESTIONS
02:05:00 Outro & Interview Shows
Thanks for listening!
Please leave us a review! We'll read it on the show and it helps us out a lot.
VGBees is ad-free, AI-free, and completely supported by you! https://vgbees.com/join
VGBees is a weekly games media podcast hosted by Niki, John, and Lotus.