Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast

The industry was recently set alight by a pair of articles from newswire Reuters indicating that Sony is interested in buying Japanese media conglomerate Kadokawa Corporation, and indeed, Kadokawa itself has since confirmed the reporting. Such a move has massive implications for Sony's increasing dominance in the anime and manga spaces, and it's likely this attempt at M&A is squarely focused on that first and foremost. But acquiring Kadokawa could be a huge boon for the PlayStation brand, too, considering it owns the likes of Spike Chunsoft and Acquire, and perhaps most importantly a controlling share in FromSoftware, too, the prolific studio behind Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Armored Core, Sekiro, King's Field, and more. Should Sony nab Kadokawa, does that mean FromSoft would join PlayStation Studios as a proper first party team? Could further emphasizing Sony's Japanese identity provide a valuable path forward for PlayStation? Other news this week includes fresh PlayStation 6-related rumors, word out of Square Enix concerning Final Fantasy VII Remake: Part III and a potential 2D-HD version of Final Fantasy VI, PlayStation Portal's awesome upgrade to allow cloud gaming without PS5, and more. Per usual, we wrap things up with inquiries from our beloved audience. What are our thoughts on this year's iteration of Geoff Keighley's Game Awards? Which difficulty settings are most appealing to us in the titles we play? How does Colin deal with any negative feedback surrounding the games he writes? In one listener's quest to invite another to be his Best Man, could it be that their shared romance is the real story? Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. 0:00:00 - Intro 0:15:36 - New Chris video 0:25:23 - Why the Chris hate? 0:33:40 - This week in Situational Advice 0:45:12 - Best Man Bromance 0:47:52 - Sacred helps hearing loss! 1:07:55 - PlayStation Black Friday sales have started 1:11:42 - PlayStation 6 rumors have begun 1:14:50 - Shakeup at PlayStation mobile 1:23:36 - Final Fantasy VII Remake Part III is in full development 1:30:20 - SE producer sees FFVI as a logical target for HD-2D 1:37:36 - Remedy's financials 1:44:00 - Splinter Cell movie is dead 1:48:02 - What Are We Playing? 2:29:17 - Sony is trying to buy Kadokawa 2:58:36 - PlayStation Portal update with cloud gaming 3:11:14 - Black Myth Wukong's GOTY nomination 3:33:35 - Knockoff game on the PSN store 3:42:13 - Getting more from higher difficulty 3:54:16 - The design of PS5 and PS5 Pro 4:01:20 - Dealing with criticism of your own game 4:07:46 - Minimizing griefing in multiplayer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With profits falling and first party game releases scarce, it seemed like PlayStation's positive commercial situation may have been softening. But Sony's newest financial report illustrates a rosy picture, with ballooning sales, impressive margins, and a brighter software-driven future that promises more of the brand's bread-and-butter: First party, single-player AAA fare. With a temporary PS5 price cut now instituted, rumors of Guerrilla's Horizon Online targeting a 2025 release date, and so on, it appears PlayStation may be back-on-track and off to the races. Other news this week includes even more confirmation that Xbox games will continue to migrate to PlayStation in greater numbers, a potential tease of a Sony event commemorating PSone's 30th anniversary, Amazon finally getting a Mass Effect TV show off the ground, and more. Then, we wrap up with listener inquiries. Have we started thinking about what our respective "Game of the Year" might be? How come Game of Thrones never got an adequate (or even great) video game rendition? Is it possible to play the "biggest" and "best" games on a budget? Can we all agree that Christmas trees shouldn't be put out until November at the earliest? Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. 0:00:00 - Intro 0:26:20 - Secret pooper 0:40:15 - Christmas decorations in August 0:43:25 - Colin and Micah's 1 year anniversary 0:47:41 - Lillymo's next game 0:50:03 - PS5 Pro experience so far 1:06:13 - RIP Tony Tod 1:11:38 - A few PSAs 1:13:47 - Sony is teasing something for December 3rd 1:19:34 - Horizon Online in 2025? 1:26:32 - More Xbox games coming to PlayStation 1:46:46 - New Indiana Jones gameplay video 1:53:32 - Mass Effect TV show coming from Amazon 2:05:19 - What Are We Playing? 2:27:54 - Sony Financials 2:44:32 - New PS Plus games 2:53:06 - Best Selling PSN Games for October 3:01:29 - Are we ready to decide Game of the Year? 3:08:46 - Are FPS games losing their visual identity? 3:17:04 - Paywalled articles is theft? 3:30:07 - When will PlayStation make a handheld? 3:37:37 - Why isn't there a good Game of Thrones game? 3:42:39 - Is gaming a luxury hobby? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Barriers continue to erode in our industry, with the surprising news that one-time PlayStation exclusive Death Stranding would be migrating to Xbox platforms on the fifth anniversary (to the day) of its launch on PS4. Taken along with Sony publishing games like Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade that it never owned outright to begin with -- a truly marked change from prior behavior -- what does the brand's increasing flexibility mean for its traditionally robust and powerful exclusives catalog? Is openness a vital component of keeping the games flowing in the modern era? And with yet another Xbox game seemingly en route to PS5 in the form of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, how are things moving in the other direction? Other news this week includes fresh word of a Hogwarts Legacy sequel, confirmation of Grand Theft Auto VI's release season, Take Two's sale of AA label Private Division, and more. Listener inquiries help us round things out, per usual. How do we define "the modern audience?" Is gaming an important component of our respective relationships? Has replayability taken a nosedive this generation? How did the interaction between a listener's mother and Colin go when she encountered him walking his dogs? Try VIIA! https://bit.ly/viiasacredsymbols and use code SACRED! Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. 0:00:00 - Intro 0:18:23 - Joseph's mom 0:21:16 - Daylight Savings time 0:27:48 - Time to put up Christmas decorations? 0:38:24 - Take Two confirms GTA VI next year and sells Private Division 0:52:18 - Alan Wake 2 is still not profitable 1:02:51 - List of PS5 Pro enabled games 1:06:46 - Bandai Namco trademarks two new games 1:12:40 - Death Stranding coming to Xbox 1:31:44 - What Are We Playing? 2:04:05 - HogLeg 2 is confirmed 2:15:11 - Age of Empires II coming to PlayStation 2:22:05 - Games media becoming more Political 2:44:29 - Who is the "modern audience"? 2:51:20 - Real world ads in EA games 2:54:48 - Can you have a long term relationship with someone who doesn't like games? 3:02:50 - Game replayability 3:09:43 - Time off playing games Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's not been a good week for PlayStation's vaunted first party studios. For starters, Insomniac's long-in-development licensed Marvel title Wolverine (first revealed to the public way back in 2021) has lost both its game and creative directors, an ominous sign that something has gone seriously wrong behind-the-scenes. Meanwhile, two Sony-owned teams -- Firewalk and Neon Koi -- have been shuttered outright, ending any glimpse of a return for the troubled service game Concord, and stymying mightily Sony's glacial mobile initiatives. Between blowing billions on Bungie, the disaster of the aforementioned Concord, the cancellation of a slate of fare (including The Last of Us Online), and a trickling first party pipeline, what exactly is going on at Sony? And who's responsible for this mess, anyway? We have an enormous amount to discuss. We wrap things up with listener inquiries, of course. What are some of our favorite defunct gaming websites? Should the Tales JRPG series be played in a certain order? Is Sonic experiencing a sales (and critical) renaissance? Can we stop with all the flagrant tipping, already? This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/SYMBOLS and get on your way to being your best self. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices