The Dropshot

Microsoft just handed the next mainline Halo to Activision, and two guys who ran a Call of Duty show for years have thoughts. Raz has been saying for five years that Halo should have made a battle royale, and he explains why it might already be too late. Jake makes the case that Halo is in such a bad spot that new developers can't make it worse, and asks what Call of Duty's monetization playbook will do to it.

Then Warzone's new operator skin toggle: MW4 lets you swap every Nicki Minaj and Squid Game skin for a grounded military operator, but only on your screen. Is that the best of both worlds, or a way to please nobody? Plus Call of Duty getting Community Noted, MW4's locked carry-forward guns, and the rumored Game Pass tier with ads.

GTA 6's $400 collector's edition doesn't come with GTA 6. We go through every item in the box, and it turns out to be a cocaine bundle. Rockstar's Miami takeover, the city council vote on GTA 6 beach umbrellas, and whether this is the first video game that could actually move crime numbers.

Also: the WARDOGS price increase drama, Sombra moving to support in Overwatch, and Arc Raiders adding a PvE-only mode.

0:00 Intro

3:11 Patreon news and the hangout recap

8:51 Raz on Twitch and Pathfinder

10:30 Why Raz always plays evil

15:05 The BG3 dog dilemma

16:36 Remember Craigslist?

17:42 Halo is a Call of Duty studio now

20:07 Halo should have made a battle royale

22:46 Can Activision save Halo?

26:55 Bring back Forge mode

33:35 First CoD thing in the next Halo

35:57 The Halo show and video game movies

41:10 Obsidian, Rare and the Xbox shuffle

42:24 Is Xbox still a console company?

43:40 Game Pass with ads

48:27 Warzone's operator skin toggle

50:16 MW4's locked carry-forward guns

54:43 Call of Duty gets Community Noted

1:00:35 Would we turn the toggle on?

1:03:16 GTA 6's $400 collector's edition

1:05:40 It's a cocaine bundle

1:12:43 Rockstar's Miami takeover

1:16:01 Miami Beach votes on GTA 6 ads

1:20:37 Spotify x GTA 6

1:23:56 The biggest entertainment launch ever?

1:25:11 Why everyone plays evil in GTA

1:26:04 Does GTA 6 marketing even matter?

1:28:46 WARDOGS price hike drama

1:31:47 Sombra moves to support

1:37:18 Arc Raiders adds a PvE mode

1:41:00 Abandon hope, Arc Raiders fans

1:46:51 Wrap-up: Halo of Duty

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

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🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #GamingTalk #Halo #Activision #Xbox #Warzone #MW4 #CallOfDuty #Overwatch #ArcRaiders #WARDOGS #GTA6 #GTAVI #GTA6CollectorsEdition #GamePass #GamingNews #HotTake
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Call of Duty is done with Black Ops, and Modern Warfare 4 is the "epic conclusion" of the Task Force 141 story. We think it's the smartest call Activision has made in years. It only matters if the next series changes the game as much as jetpacks did, and a new name and new villains won't do that.

We also make a prediction: Call of Duty will copy WARDOGS. It happened with PUBG and Warzone, then with Tarkov and DMZ, and now WARDOGS has sold over 2 million copies and peaked at 428,000 concurrent players on Steam. Raz guarantees Infinity Ward is already being told to build it.

Also covered: WARDOGS one week into early access, the drill-spam meta, the mortar complaints, why we still think no monetization is a mistake, and the Bulkhead CEO crunch controversy (we don't see the problem). Then GTA 6 Online reportedly landing in 2027, why the PC version probably comes with it, and what GTA 6 does to MW4 and WARDOGS in November. We finish with WoW Forever, Aion 2, and an investigation into whether any elves have round ears.

Raz still wins either way.

0:00 - Intro: Big Jacob of Nibiru

2:05 - Patreon hangout & Death by AI

6:01 - WARDOGS one week in: 2M sold, 428K peak

9:24 - Balance complaints & the drill meta

13:40 - There Will Be Blood is overrated

15:01 - Bulkhead devs on Twitter & the loadout fix

17:16 - Mike Tyson's impregnable defense

20:09 - You either love a game or you're good at it

23:29 - No monetization is still a mistake

30:38 - Still in the honeymoon phase

33:07 - WARDOGS CEO crunch controversy

38:26 - Treyarch is done with Black Ops

42:20 - CoD needs a jetpack-level shake-up

46:33 - Future setting vs. grounded CoD

49:24 - Prediction: CoD will copy WARDOGS

57:08 - DMZ2 is going to fail

1:01:41 - CoD fans: don't get excited yet

1:03:53 - Wolverine hand-holding & NICKMERCS on Tarkov

1:06:30 - Why extraction shooters must be hardcore

1:10:22 - Mads Mikkelsen & MW4

1:11:07 - Does Raz come back to CoD?

1:15:53 - GTA 6 Online in 2027

1:21:52 - GTA 6 PC will launch with Online

1:24:15 - What GTA 6 does to MW4 & WARDOGS

1:30:47 - WoW Forever enters beta

1:32:45 - The elf investigation

1:34:49 - Aion 2

1:37:49 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips

Gaming topics: #WARDOGS #CallOfDuty #BlackOps #ModernWarfare4 #Warzone #DMZ2 #Bulkhead

#GTA6 #GTA6Online #Treyarch #WoWForever #Aion2

#GamingNews #HotTake #Prediction #GamingTakes
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WARDOGS launched into Early Access on Thursday, peaked at roughly 340,000 concurrent players on Steam, went straight to the #1 seller spot — and got review bombed down to Mixed at the same time. Raz has 8.5 hours in since launch. Jake has 0.0, because Tarkov currently has him in a chokehold. So this one is a split: what WARDOGS actually plays like two days in, and what the launch looked like from the back of a 138,000-person queue.

We get into whether a negative Steam review about a queue is a legitimate review, what Bulkhead actually did to fix the bottleneck overnight, Valve's rate limits, the wrongful ban wave, and the accusation that Shroud and every other big streamer got whitelisted while paying customers sat in line.

Then it turns into the streamer economy: TimTheTatman calling WARDOGS boring and getting cooked for it, ARC Raiders reportedly offering him six figures to come back, and whether paying a streamer $100,000 actually sells a single copy. Plus the drill strat that's quietly deciding matches, and why $40 for forty hours is the cheapest hobby on earth. One of us thinks most people never read a review before they buy. The other refuses to believe it.

0:00 - Intro

1:53 - Welcome to Episode 604

3:04 - Patron Shoutout + the "What Is Hardcore?" Bonus Ep

5:47 - 8.5 Hours vs 0.0 Hours

7:16 - 340K Players, Mixed Reviews

7:57 - First Impressions: "Varied"

10:41 - The 12-Kill SKS Run

13:33 - What Changed From the Beta

15:14 - Why Jake Hasn't Touched It

16:31 - Tarkov Has Him in a Chokehold

19:28 - The Recon Grind and Starter Gear Pain

24:07 - "The SKS Isn't Good"

27:47 - Looting Better Gear Off No-Lifers

28:01 - The Queue: 138,000th in Line

29:24 - Review Bombed to Mixed

32:55 - What Did They Actually Do to Fix It?

38:38 - Did Streamers Skip the Queue?

43:12 - The Miami Nightclub Argument

47:53 - Valve Rate Limits and the CEO's Panic

50:18 - Wrongful Bans and Where Refunds Start

54:33 - Bulkhead Are Gamers and It Shows

56:00 - The CEO Reacted to a Whole Review Video

58:14 - Joe Brammer's Pea-Shooter Sniper Excuse

1:01:08 - Is a Launch-Day Negative Review Legit?

1:05:04 - Which Streamers Are Still Playing

1:06:01 - TimTheTatman Says WARDOGS Is Boring

1:11:41 - Should Streamers Care What Chat Wants?

1:17:40 - Will Anyone Still Be Playing in a Week?

1:20:25 - ARC Raiders Offered Him Six Figures

1:24:24 - Do Paid Streamers Actually Sell Games?

1:34:24 - Cutting Boards vs Video Games

1:42:34 - The Project Zomboid Counterexample

1:43:18 - Make a Good Game, People Will Play It

1:45:51 - $40 for 40 Hours

1:53:54 - Tabling the WARDOGS Deep Dive

1:54:56 - The Drill Strat Is Winning Games

1:57:38 - How the Meta Is Already Shifting

2:02:31 - Starting Late? Here's the Play

2:03:26 - Looting Your Teammate Before Reviving

2:04:54 - Do We Recommend WARDOGS? + Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #GamingCulture #WARDOGS #Bulkhead #EarlyAccess #ExtractionShooter #TacticalShooter #EscapeFromTarkov #ARCRaiders #TimTheTatman #Shroud #ReviewBomb #SteamReviews #StreamerDrama #GamingNews #FPS #PCGaming #PodcastClips #HotTake
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The first FPS Games Show happened, and the two biggest things in it both came from the guy who's had Escape from Tarkov in beta for a decade. Nikita opened the whole showcase with Fragmentary Order — sci-fi, Unreal Engine 5, maps four to five times the size of Tarkov's, and a promise that it'll be "more complex, more punishing, more painful."

Then Battlestate turned around and launched a publishing arm for hardcore games nobody else will fund, with devs keeping their full IP. We go deep on both: whether a game more complex than Tarkov is a game anyone actually plays, why Tarkov's bloat (two types of croutons, twenty types of Keter ammo) is the thing a fresh start fixes, and why every extraction shooter after Tarkov has failed for the same reason — they weren't hardcore enough.

Also: Bulkhead built this entire showcase because a trailer slot elsewhere runs $300,000 for 60 seconds, then immediately fumbled their own big Wardogs announcement into a clip contest. Plus Tarkov's PvE player base hitting 50%, and Star Wars Zero Company. Timestamps below. Let us know if Fragmentary Order is going to be a bust or a banger.

0:00 - Intro

2:35 - The FPS Games Show

4:21 - The Wardogs beta and what's coming at launch

7:03 - Fragmentary Order: first impressions

9:03 - Tarkov's three real problems

10:52 - It's not Battlestate — Nikita's new studio

12:50 - "More complex, more punishing, more painful"

18:33 - Tarkov's bloat problem

20:09 - How sci-fi is this actually going to be?

25:55 - "Not an extraction shooter" — Nikita's combat simulator

30:18 - Why Unreal Engine 5

37:41 - Is there a release date?

43:14 - When will Fragmentary Order actually be playable?

45:21 - Tarkov is old and it looks it

48:47 - Battlestate Games is a publisher now

58:09 - What does a game publisher actually do?

1:02:04 - "Make hardcore live forever" — mission or marketing?

1:04:27 - Extraction shooters aren't dead, arcade shooters are

1:08:00 - Does this change the Tarkov roadmap?

1:12:44 - $300,000 for 60 seconds

1:14:42 - Genre showcases vs. the big generic ones

1:19:28 - Bulkhead's Wardogs announcement flops

1:23:15 - Who actually wins the $100K?

1:25:18 - Everything else from the show

1:26:39 - Road to Vostok, Ready or Not, Hell Let Loose

1:28:30 - Beautiful Light

1:32:49 - Gray Zone Warfare is "entering alpha"

1:34:50 - Tarkov PvE is 50% of the player base

1:40:05 - Is seasonal PvP actually worse?

1:47:11 - Star Wars Zero Company

1:53:50 - Grievous vs. Darth Maul

1:55:21 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #FragmentaryOrder #EscapeFromTarkov #Tarkov #BattlestateGames #Nikita #ExtractionShooter #WARDOGS #Bulkhead #FPSGamesShow #ARCRaiders #ZeroCompany #StarWars #UnrealEngine5 #GamingNews #FPS #HardcoreGaming #HotTake
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We played the Modern Warfare 4 beta this weekend — including Warzone and the new Zodiac Resurgence map — and it took about fifteen minutes to know it was over. Not "this year is mid" over. Over over.

This is the episode where a podcast that ran on Call of Duty for 600+ episodes says out loud that it's done. Raz makes the case that nothing else in an FPS matters if you can't see or hear the enemy, and everything else — weapon levels, perks, pipe climbing, the spawns everyone's arguing about on X — is fixing a leaky bathtub while the house burns down. Jake breaks down why CoD only takes from him now, why the lobbies are nothing but sweat, and the exact point where min-maxing your controller, your router and your ZIP code stopped being worth it.

Also in this one: the Zodiac verdict (better than Area 99, roughly Haven's Hollow), the weekend 2 nerf pass, the 60% negative Steam reviews, why Warzone was in the beta at all, and a DMZ 2 prediction we're standing behind. Then a palate cleanser — Star Wars Zero Company, permadeath, and a first playthrough Raz completely ruined — plus a brutal Tarkov week, the Tarkov roadmap, GTA 6's Netflix look, and WARDOGS.

Jake wanted it to be good. Raz stopped wanting that years ago. This time they agree.

0:00 - Intro

1:10 - New patrons and the latest bonus episodes

3:26 - Our first patron Discord hangout (and Death by AI)

6:10 - "The MW4 Beta Broke Us"

6:22 - How fast did we know?

9:25 - "If I can't see the guy, nothing else matters"

10:17 - The raging inferno analogy

14:55 - "Call of Duty is dead"

15:10 - Jake: CoD only takes from me now

20:49 - Everyone is min-maxing (and moving for zero ping)

23:26 - SBMM, the missing casuals, and sweat-only lobbies

26:03 - Splitgate Reloaded and the death of 6v6 arcade shooters

27:40 - Warzone: the audio, the visibility, the haze

30:12 - Rolling the dice on what bullshit you get this year

31:28 - Bring back Caldera — at least it was different

37:28 - The first thing that felt wrong: audio

37:54 - Weekend 2's nerf pass: Tac Sprint, slides, TTK

40:44 - 60% negative Steam reviews and the player drop

41:52 - The Zodiac verdict vs. Area 99 and Haven's Hollow

42:50 - Why was Warzone in the beta at all?

47:16 - No custom loadouts, and the guns aren't fun to shoot

49:07 - "Activision devs do not play their own game"

50:18 - The one dev we ever ran into in Warzone

53:34 - The Quick Fix perk they "fixed" twice

57:07 - "Where does that put us? I give you Zodiac"

59:12 - Skipping a year, or actually done?

1:04:14 - What it would take to get us back

1:07:00 - Call of Duty is your old restaurant job

1:08:08 - "I want everyone that works there to suffer"

1:09:00 - It's a leadership problem — fire Infinity Ward

1:13:02 - Prediction: MW4 three months after launch

1:16:06 - The DMZ 2 prediction

1:24:17 - Palate cleanser: Star Wars Zero Company

1:32:45 - Permadeath, injuries, and squad bonds

1:34:36 - "This playthrough is fucked"

1:36:57 - Is it the Star Wars or the game underneath?

1:37:51 - Reviews, performance, and is it worth $50

1:38:50 - Eight classes, Overwatch combos, and base upgrades

1:44:46 - It should have been co-op

1:45:49 - Tarkov: best raid of the week

1:46:41 - The Customs transit raid that actually worked

1:50:02 - Worst raid: baited in the Reserve bunker

1:53:04 - The KS-23 rat that bled us out

1:54:39 - Camped at D2 twice in a row

1:59:49 - The bathroom extract death

2:02:34 - Why this wipe feels so much harder

2:05:18 - Tarkov roadmap: ranked, revives, simplified GPS

2:08:24 - GTA 6's Netflix extended look

2:10:31 - WARDOGS extraction and PvE prototypes

2:11:00 - Wrap-up

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices