Episode
Ep 107: Xbox Studios Facing Closure, EA's New Ad Platform, UK Teen Social Ban
- Podcast
- The VGBees Podcast
- Published
- Jun 21, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 8375
- Processing state
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Summary
This week, John , Niki , and Lotus go very long on this week's seismic Xbox news, including the numerous studio closures on the table, key departures, and Microsoft CEO's Satya Nadella's curious take on why their gaming arm is struggling. 00:00:00 Intro & Lotus' Big Saturday 00:11:10 South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games is the unsurprising yet disappointing first studio to confirm possible closure or spinoff 00:17:00 A long, great conversation about the games media's role in reporting on these layoffs and closures 00:28:00 How Xbox got here (mostly) 00:48:52 Satya Nadella seems to be confused about how Xbox got into this jam 00:54:00 That Senua sequel was only announced to help fuel a possible sale of Ninja Theory 01:02:14 The weight of working in corporate-owned game development right now 01:06:34 Key personnel leaving Xbox 01:07:56 What's the plan moving forward for Xbox? 01:16:10 EA introducing new in-game advertising platform 01:25:57 UK government is banning teens from social media; plan will not work 01:33:10 Fuck's Quest 2 lacks consistent humor and mechanical clarity 01:37:07 Niki played the first two Sonic games on Genesis (skip this part, Sonic fans!!!) 01:45:10 John decided to give Ocarina of Time another try 01:49:10 Our latest (possibly final) thoughts on 007 First Light 02:02:47 Hive Questions 02:18:12 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.