There's no doubt that the console games space at large is predicated on some shaky economics, and recent layoffs are just the beginning of what will likely be a substantial purging of talent from the ranks of teams around the world. Late last year, we caught wind (via the Insomniac leaks) that Sony was planning layoffs, and would close one of its teams, too. This turned out to be true: 8% of PlayStation's workforce has been released, London Studio is no more, and multiple games have been cancelled, including a Twisted Metal project. Will these drastic moves help buttress the PlayStation brand's ever-narrowing profit margin, and allow the world-class brand to operate from a point of renewed strength? Or is the pain only beginning? Plus: Neil Druckmann may be burning out, footage of a never-released LittleBigPlanet product emerges on the net, cheaters begin ruining Helldivers 2, and more. At the end of our show, we field audience questions, as usual. Where do we fall on the recently-brewing localization fiasco surrounding games like Unicorn Overlord? How come Stellar Blade got such trouble for its fanservice while Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's blatant fanservice is celebrated? Should everyone be a little nicer to Geoff Keighley? Has Dustin's opinions on Aldi changed one listener's life forever?


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Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement.

0:00:00 - Intro

0:24:24 - RIP Richard Lewis

0:31:03 - Annals of manifested wishes

0:34:39 - Laxative-gate

0:39:55 - First apartment advice

0:45:09 - Aldi is awesome

0:54:01 - Potential baby names

0:55:05 - Best Podcast award

1:00:18 - Peloton LSM crew

1:02:13 - FFVII Rebirth discs are messed up in Asia

1:06:42 - Helldivers 2 cheaters

1:12:18 - LittleBigPlanet Hub leaks

1:14:55 - Remedy regains control of Control

1:20:39 - Supermassive Games layoffs

1:21:46 - NCAA Football is offering $600 to players

1:25:09 - What Are We Playing?

2:00:39 - Sony layoffs

3:22:41 - EA layoffs

3:31:36 - Neil Druckmann says he only has a few games left in him

3:41:00 - January 2024 Game Sales

3:43:44 - March PS+ Games

3:45:03 - Localization issues

3:55:17 - Stop attacking Geoff Keighley

3:58:39 - Proportional hypocrisy

4:02:18 - Multiple playthrough trophies

4:04:24 - Bloodborne leak woes

4:07:56 - Two-path system

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#296 | A Smooth Operator, Operating Correctly

The dam has broken. After paving the way just last week, Microsoft has confirmed its four games that are coming to PlayStation platforms, and they're arriving a lot sooner than any of us thought. One of them -- Pentiment -- is available on PS4 and PS5 alike right now, while Hi-Fi Rush isn't far behind. Multiplayer titles Grounded and Sea of Thieves will round things out, but certainly, this is just the beginning of the migration, right? Other news this week includes the release date for Elden Ring's long-awaited expansion, percolating PS5 Pro rumors suggesting a fall release, the beginning of Jim Ryan's goodbye tour, PSVR2's PC future, and much more. Listener inquiries help us round things out, as usual. Did Hiroki Totoki successfully diagnose Bungie's issues? Does Sony suffer and Nintendo benefit from a double-standard when it comes to porting and otherwise re-releasing their respective games? Could Resistance: Retribution's reemergence indicate a future for the dormant franchise? Is Brad saying "Colin" wrong on all of his shows?

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#295 | The Love That You Need Will Never Be Found at Home

It's been an unusual week in the PlayStation ecosystem, especially in recent years, where the exclusives and heavy-hitters from Sony primarily resided in the single-player sphere. But then a game like Helldivers 2 drops out of orbit, and suddenly we're brought back to the days of SOCOM, Killzone, and others, when PlayStation had an actual online identity, albeit a fledgling one. Could this be the beginning of a great new trend? Or does pessimism reign supreme? Other news this week includes the most vague, circular PR from Xbox that confirms -- yes, indeed -- Xbox games are en route to PlayStation beginning with four titles, while Sony releases a financial report that shows promising revenue and meteoric PS5 sales, but with serious financial warnings on the horizon. Plus: What the hell is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet? Is there a rift between Konami and Bloober Team? Are people overreacting to the Tomb Raider Remaster's content warning label? Then: Listener inquiries! Where do we fall in the raging 'yellow paint' debate? What's our favorite JRPG battle system? Which order should the Castlevania games be played in? Was Colin's and Micah's recent visit to Cracker Barrel everything they hoped it'd be?
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#294 | Sorry For Helldiving

We know that Xbox games are migrating to PlayStation, and by the next episode of this very show, we'll have a much better idea of what a future slate of Microsoft products on Sony's console may look like. In the meantime, however, we're left to wonder how we got here in the first place. One could easily argue that PlayStation's and Xbox's rivalry essentially concluded with the end of the 360/PS3 era (Microsoft has been nowhere near Sony in terms of quality, mindshare, or revenue ever since), but we may very well be on the cusp of a true sea change not seen since the decline of SEGA. While we wait for answers, let's speculate and analyze to our hearts' content. Let's also delve into some other news -- Stellar Blade protagonist complaints, Disney's marriage with Epic, The Last of Us: Part III rumblings, and more -- and conclude with listener inquiries, like we always do. Are we amped for Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden? Is IGN's staff unionization drive a wise move in this environment? Do we overestimate the importance of the Uncharted franchise to gaming? Could we maybe tone it down a bit on the nearly-six hour episodes?

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#293 | Natural Selection

A new State of Play presentation -- arguably the best Sony has ever executed -- has given us a plethora of items to discuss on this week's all-new episode of Sacred Symbols. For starters, we finally have a release date for the amazing-looking second party PS5 exclusive action-RPG Stellar Blade, which we cannot wait to play. We also got a lengthy glimpse at Team Ninja's Rise of the Ronin, confirmation of a near-remake of Until Dawn from Ballistic Moon, a fresh look at Death Stranding 2 en route to PS5 in 2025, and the confirmation of a new, MGS-like Kojima series, presumably on PlayStation 6 (!). And there's lots of other news, too, including the first details concerning Firesprite's upcoming title, Project Heartbreak. Likewise, MLB: The Show 24 and Horizon: Forbidden West's PC port have both been dated, obscure PlayStation vehicular combat game Hardware Rivals may be returning, classic shooter Spec Ops: The Line has been delisted, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is driving people insane, leaks indicate we'll be playing Xbox 'exclusives' on PlayStation very soon, and much more. Finally: Listener inquiries! Are recent rumors of a new Sony handheld to be believed? Have Battle Passes ruined online gaming forever? Is cross-media the future no matter how much it's resisted? Can we please stop with the double-spacing, once and for all?

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#292 | Meet Me In Outer Space

Our beloved games industry is currently mired in an economic crisis of its own creation. By rapidly expanding corporate headcounts during the pandemic -- and by foolishly forecasting 2020-era gaming habits would persist into future years -- many publishers and developers have found themselves dramatically overextended. In 2022, some 8,500 people lost their jobs in gaming; that number grew appreciably to 10,500 last year. Here in 2024, though? Not even a month into the calendar, we're sitting at around 6,000 job losses. And it's going to get way worse. How did pubs and devs get this so wrong? And how come the human cost falls upon the people who were hired, but not those that did the hiring? Plus: A reliable rumor indicates Until Dawn is PS5-and-PC-bound, Death Stranding 2's re-reveal may be right around the corner, Focus Entertainment foolishly rebrands itself, and more. Then: Let's wrap things up with listener inquiries, as usual. How do we balance multiple games at once? Could the harm leaks do to studios actually be overstated? Is paywalling New Game+ a step too far? When is the appropriate time in the day to shower?

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#291 | The Guillotine

As we wade through the mundanity of the turn-of-the-year -- when very few new games come to market and we work through our respective backlogs -- hope sits on the horizon. After all, the drab is about to turn into the delightful with the release or near-release of the likes of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, The Last of Us: Part II Remastered, Granblue Fantasy Relink, Persona 3 Remake, and Helldivers 2, among others. And as we look forward to all of that, we have news galore to cover, too. Square Enix's Splatoon-like Foamstars is coming to PlayStation+ day-and-date, but is its mild use of AI art egregious? (And what about its strange proximity to Helldivers 2?) Ubisoft+ is being reformed as a more value-rich proposition for consumers, so why did so many outlets blatantly take one of their executives out of context following a recent interview? PlayStation Productions is pursuing an Until Dawn film based on the cult-hit PS4-exclusive horror game, but are we starting to beat a dead horse? Plus: Listener inquiries! Are we getting too fast and loose with the term 'live service'? Why do some developers and publishers choose to hire diversity consultants? Should we expect an exorbitant number of Steamboat Willie games in the near-to-mid future? Will Chris continue to be bullied over his love of Julia Louis-Dreyfus?
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#290 | In the Black and the White, a Technicolorful Life

The most infamous character in The Last of Us franchise is undoubtedly Abby, and with her casting in the HBO rendition of the famous Naughty Dog series now set (along with a couple of other key roles), we're starting to get more clarity about just what her on-screen vendetta with Ellie will look like come 2025. Are we about to relive 2020 all over again, or will fans be pleased? And then there's Xbox, a conspicuous subject that seems to keep coming up on Sacred Symbols for one simple reason: Smoke indicates fire. Fresh on the back of denouncements about GamePass on PlayStation comes compelling industry rumors of multiple first party Xbox games en route to the PlayStation ecosystem, potentially in the form of Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush. Does this move represent the opening frames of a coup de grace? Other news this week includes Helldivers 2 PC details, a DualSense model with a better battery, disastrous Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League previews, rampant corporate layoffs, the confusing reemergence of Gravity Rush and Patapon, and more. Then: Listener inquiries! Is gaming experiencing a dangerous economic bubble? Could Horizon's rumored MMO skip PlayStation 5? Have we been too hard on Spider-Man 2? Can Chris raise the spirits of a listener merely by changing his usual podcast outro ever-so-slightly?

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#289 | It's Just Murder; Least You Know I Care

Sony-owned Insomniac Games suffered a major hack in late 2023, and seemingly infinite leaks made their way to various corners of the internet mere days after we went away for break. We're not going to shy away from the subject matter -- the news is the news, after all -- but we do want to talk about the situation holistically. Yes, Insomniac is a money-printing machine, but it's also now almost completely indentured to a licensor to keep the supply of cash flowing, and may be unable to stop if it wants to survive. Meanwhile, many of our peers and competitors shied away from covering the topic at all, in perhaps one of the rarest and most pristine examples of media bias seen in recent memory. Let's delve into all of it, shall we? Since we haven't recorded in some time, there's obviously other news to get through as well, including a new sales milestone for PS5, tantalizing details about NCSoft's mysterious Horizon MMO, the quiet return of CoD veteran Jason Blundell to the PlayStation fold, the closure of a key PSVR second party partner, and more. Listener inquiries help us round things out, touching on topics like NCAA Football's return, PS5 Pro's potential, GTAVI's potential price, and an admission that -- yes, indeed -- sleeping without underwear but in a t-shirt is the optimal way for one to rest.

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#288 | You're A Slave To Money, Then You Die

2023 is done (or just about, depending on when you listen to or watch this), and it was an undeniably awesome year for our industry, and for all of us as enthusiasts. But now we can begin to safely -- and even earnestly -- look into 2024, and figure out just what we're most excited to play in this new calendar year. Each cast member brought five games to discuss, making 15 total. Of course, our selections don't nearly represent the full spectrum of available titles people are stoked about, but we're confident we'll have pointed you in a few fruitful directions by the end of our brief recording. Our only rule? The game in question has to be dated for 2024 on PlayStation 5.
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#287 | Our Most Anticipated Games of 2024

The holiday season is here, and it's thus time to employ the first of our traditional yearly wrap-up episodes. Let's take a gander back at the year that was, not only in PlayStation, but in the gaming world surrounding the brand, too. Each Sacred cast member brings five 'moments' to the table, and naturally, they're of a wide array. Jim Ryan's retirement, PlayStation 5's domination, PSVR2's irrelevance, Bungie's problems, Unity's meltdown, Yuij Naka's prosecution, Baldur's Gate 3's success, PS5 Pro's inevitability, and more are on the board. Let's get to each topic -- and more! -- as we wind our way through 2023 with a keen eye toward 2024.

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#286 | Our Favorite PlayStation Moments of 2023

We recorded a full episode of the show -- originally called Deader Than Dead because of the demise of E3 -- but we had no idea how apt that title would actually become. In the hours after we hit stop, word broke of Naughty Dog's cancellation of The Last of Us' standalone Factions mode, which they call The Last of Us Online (as first reported right here on Sacred Symbols). Naturally, we had to record a lengthy pickup to discuss the unfortunate news. And yes: E3 is dead, as mentioned above. From 1995 through 2019, E3 ran each and every year in LA (except for those two random Atlanta shows in the '90s), and it was a gathering point for games professionals, the media, and others. But as the magazine era gave way to web 1.0, and then to 2.0, and now to wherever we are now, the once mighty convention has no place in an environment where devs, publishers, and consumers can reach each other directly. In short: Let's give E3 the viking funeral it deserves. Plus: Insomniac purportedly gets hacked, Spider-Man 2's updates have been delayed, film production house A24 teams up with Kojima, fresh Resident Evil remakes are en route, and more. Then: Listener inquiries! If Blade is an Xbox console exclusive, why won't Microsoft just say so? Should we expect a State of Play early in the new year? How did FNTASTIC take their customers for a ride with The Day Before? Is Colin's "please look forward to that" saying simply an alteration of Jeb Bush's "please clap" debacle?

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#285 | Deader Than Dead

After a long wait, PlayStation utilized Geoff Keighley's Game Awards to reveal new information about its upcoming slate of first party games. Psych! While TGA's three-hour runtime was ample -- and while a litany of quality games were announced and explored -- PlayStation's complete lack of first party presence (outside of free God of War: Ragnarok DLC) is notable. Will the company ever talk again? Or will we continue to be stuck in this pincer, with promising second and third party games coming down the pike, but precious little information about what matters most to Sony's more hardcore and devoted fans? Nonetheless, we break down The Game Awards' announcements one-by-one, getting deep into the likes of Exodus, Kemuri, Visions of Mana, Last Sentinel, Exoborne, and more. And there's a heck of a lot to talk about outside of the event, too, including the release of Grand Theft Auto VI's first official trailer and serious trouble brewing at Sony-owned Bungie. As is typical, we wrap things up with listener inquiries from the audience. Is Fortnite primed to take over the world? Do we simply have to spend more time with PSVR2? How long do retro enthusiasts expect their hardware to last? Can we get our hands on one of those "Thank You Jim" cookies from Jim Ryan's retirement party?

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#284 | Say Anything

For years on this show, we've put forth the logic that Game Pass would ultimately find its way to PlayStation, fulfilling Microsoft's goal of ubiquitous access to its popular subscription service. And you may recall that -- during the FTC hullabaloo with Activision -- Xbox executives all-but-confirmed these intentions, adding fuel to the fire. But now that Microsoft CFO Tim Stuart has explicitly and publicly spoken about Xbox's desire to get Game Pass on PlayStation by name, we're no longer in the realm of hypotheticals. Perhaps not surprisingly (and as you may imagine), this gives us plenty to discuss on today's episode. But there's more! An ex-Rockstar North employee spilled the beans on just what happened to vaporware PS3 exclusive The Agent, Sony signs agreements with two key South Korean partners, Dragon's Dogma 2's release date is official, The Game Awards' Future Class doesn't realize no one cares what they think, and more. Then: Listener inquiries! What are our memories of our respective first experiences with the original Metal Gear Solid? Is it possible to deliver a war game with true reverence? Has the games industry been too consumed with subjects that are decidedly not fun? Can the pronunciation of GIF ever truly be settled, even amongst civilized people?

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#283 | The SEGA Moment

A new leak seems to confirm what was already fairly obvious: Insomniac can only put so much on its shoulders, and its Wolverine game won't arrive on PlayStation 5 until 2025. But if this source's testimony is true, it means PS5's lack of upcoming first party games is even more stark in the near-and-mid-term, not to mention longer. Yes, The Last of Us: Part II Remastered is en route in January -- and with a $10 upgrade charge, there's literally nothing to complain about -- but even the rosiest amongst us must admit that it sure is looking barren from a PlayStation Studios perspective. Whether or not it matters or not to the wider market, of course, is another thing entirely, as the vacancy of exclusives hasn't halted PS5's sales dominance whatsoever. Other news this week includes conflicting reports concerning Sony's one-time timed PS5-exclusive KOTOR remake, the leak of Dragon's Dogma's 2 release date, the exit of Returnal's director from Housemarque, and more. As always, listener inquiries help us wrap everything up. Can Netflix really produce a quality BioShock film? Which game series really hit their stride with the second release? What happens to our digital games libraries when we die? Did Colin watch Oppenheimer on his phone simply to annoy Chris?

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#282 | Where Are the Games, Bub?

Rocksteady's long-in-development multiplayer-centric Suicide Squad project has finally reemerged in anticipation of its February 2024 release on PlayStation 5, and the reception has been mixed at best. Kill the Justice League is entering a tough market wielding an oft-failed commercial strategy, but it's also true that DC products have the potential to be huge, and WB yearns for this style of game to truly hit. There's another possibility too, though: That everyone involved has made a very bad mistake and wasted nearly a decade on a boondoggle. Let's talk it through. Then: PlayStation Portal finally arrives, our beloved PlayStation 4 turns 10, Spider-Man 2 and PlayStation 5 dominate the sales charts, and more. Plus: Is DLC, expansion, and MTX pricing officially out-of-control? Will PlayStation premiere a game at the upcoming Game Awards? Could skill-based matchmaking be backfiring on audiences? Will one listener accept that he's attending a furry convention because he's in love with his best friend?

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#281 | Purge Me Now of Thoughts of Blaming You

 Sony Corp's quarterly financials have finally arrived, and they carry within good news for the PlayStation brand. PS5 is selling briskly, third party games are moving, monthly active users are steady, and so on. But this recent report portends rougher times ahead, too, especially when it comes to PlayStation's vaunted dozen-or-so 'games-as-a-service' that once promised to help shepherd in a new era of Sony exclusive. And all of this against the backdrop of a mysteriously-exiting CEO? With Concord confirmed for 2024, Bungie looking a little bit like a lemon, and a potential Twisted Metal teaser embedded in a recent live-action trailer, the reality is: We have much to discuss. Plus: Grand Theft Auto VI's reveal trailer is coming in December, Sony will be co-funding and co-producing Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda film, BioWare continues to tease Mass Effect for some reason, Embracer's collapse continues unabated, and more. Then: Listener inquiries! PlayStation Portal is right around the corner. What's our excitement level? Nearly a million people have already Platinumed Spider-Man 2. Does this data have significance? PSVR2's coverage is virtually non-existent on Sacred Symbols. Is a lack of media attention partially responsible for the peripheral's soft reception? World War III lurks right around the corner. Which military job would be the best fit for us as individuals when we inevitably get enlisted?

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#280 | Hiroki Totoki Literature Club

Layoffs at Bungie are just the latest in a line of labor issues for PlayStation and its studios in recent months, but as usual, there's great dissonance afoot. Consider this: PS5 is selling briskly, Spider-Man 2 is a critical and commercial smash-hit, and high demand for Sony's product persists as we enter the generation's fourth year. So how can the day-to-day news be so bad when the end result is so positive? Between employee tribulation, an exiting CEO, a fired legendary producer, and more, just what's going on behind-the-scenes, anyway? Are Sony's hard-earned years of goodwill evaporating? Other news this week includes word of a fresh PlayStation 5/Modern Warfare III bundle (and peculiarity about the game's Trophies), rumors of an expansion for God of War: Ragnarok, vague updates on SEGA's mega-expensive so-called 'Super Game,' and more. Listener inquiries end our show, as always. Is 2023 an unusually good industry year specifically because of COVID delays? Would Sony ever put PlayStation Stars on PS5? What does the future hold for Capcom's behemoth Resident Evil franchise? Will Chris get a vanity license plate that reads SACRDBOY?


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#279 | You Wore Our Expectations Like an Armored Suit

These are undoubtedly strange times in the PlayStation world. As if getting a new CEO next fiscal year wasn't enough of a shakeup, the brand has also lost (in an apparent firing) their long-time Head of Internal Production Connie Booth, someone who has been with Sony since the late '80s and who helped bring to market such titans as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, The Last of Us, and more. With fresh layoffs hitting in-house teams like Media Molecule and support hubs like Visual Arts -- and with an increasingly barren upcoming exclusive schedule made even worse by Factions' apparent cancellation -- is it time to panic? Signals are mixed, after all. Spider-Man 2 is PlayStation Studios' fastest-selling title ever and a banger in its own right, and PlayStation 5's console sales are meteoric with or without first and second party offerings. Naturally, we take time to talk about both the big news and the big game in great detail. Plus: Listener inquiries! How're we feeling about Alan Wake 2? What in god's name is going on with the Metal Gear Solid Collection? Should Sony attempt to replicate Nintendo's development continuity in order to extract similar results? Just what is Dustin doing with that figurine in the jar?

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#278 | Only Skepticism Will Save You

We've talked about it ad nauseam on this very show: With a competitor like Microsoft, Sony has every reason to be concerned. The Xbox brand is willing to spend however much on whatever's out there, and whether or not it all adds up in the end doesn't exactly matter. After all, only 6¢ of every dollar Microsoft earns comes from gaming, and that's something they want to enhance no matter the price. But in cobbling together its hodgepodge skinsuit of developers over the years, is their expansion now complete? And -- perhaps more interestingly -- will Sony respond? If yes, how? The Activision situation is finally behind us, so let's reflect, predict, and celebrate as we move beyond one massive distraction. One of the biggest in industry history, actually. Other news this week includes Minecraft's bonkers sales milestone, rumors of PC Trophies, murmurings of a Rise of the Ronin playtest in London, and more. Then: Listener inquiries! What's the perfect FPS to play if you've never played a shooter before? How does a game like Skull Island: Rise of Kong even come to exist at all? Should the Metal Gear Solid franchise be played in order of release, or chronologically? Is Dustin intrigued by the return of Chris Chan?

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