Ban umpires.

*Takes off Padres fan hat* Sigh. GG Cubbies. *Puts on Dodgers hater hat* Let's go Philly!!!

Welp. GGz Cub fans. Gonna go stick my head in the toilet now and flush.

I'm fine why do you ask. I'm fine. Fine. Just fine.

LET'S GO DADS

At one point the Dance/Music genre dwarfed all other genres in video game sales, and was a massive driver of the all-time hardware sales peaks seen in the late 2000s. And had people saying some truly outlandish things, like in this article. www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/m...

Hyper enthusiast, price-insensitive players are really keeping things going, especially in the non f2p gaming space. According to Circana's Q3 2025 Future of Games, only 4% of US video game players buy a new game more often than once per month, with a third of players not buying any games at all.

Been talking about this trend for years when it comes to games spending. Why are there premium gamepads, $149 collector's editions, Pro consoles and general rising prices? Because the price-insensitive, affluent players are the ones doing more of the spending as everyone else shifts more to f2p.

Google Trends

GGz, Jazz. You really didn't have to replay that bomb Griff hit against me in the third tho. But whatever makes you feel better. And, look, you can pick a different stadium than Coors at night dude.

DADS ALIVE

I expect nothing and am prepared for the pain.

New: Roblox criticized by advocacy groups for categorizing games about marriage equality and affirmative action into a "sensitive issues" designation that's default restricted for kids under 13. Games with guns remain available www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵

Console gaming in particular is already a luxury hobby. This is why we've been seeing shifts in younger and less affluent players to mobile and PC, particularly f2p.

$30 a month for Game Pass Ultimate is a HEFTY price jump. According to Circana's Q3 2025 Future of Video Games Custom Survey, the top reasons cited by those in the US who have unsubscribed from Game Pass were:

GG Cubbies.

If it wasn't for Chicago being awesome and growing up a huge Ryne Sandberg fan and how awesome Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Jody Davis, the Hawk and all are, and loving Wrigley, I'd say the Cubs are poop.

This bodes well.

My colleagues at Bloomberg report that the $20 billion debt in the EA deal is expected to be rated single-B — meaning it is considered a "junk" loan, or one that is high-risk and speculative, typically offering high interest rates. Which the new EA will have to pay www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Good on 'em for clearly stating this was because of tariffs instead of blaming "market conditions" or some other nonsense.

When you're thinking about both the Padres in the playoffs and the future of the games industry.

DrewScanlonBlinking.gif

Padres over Mariners in 7. Freddie Fermin slaps a single up the middle scoring 2 late in the final game to seal San Diego's first championship and become a legendary Dad. Hopelessly optimistic and pure homer-ism? Absolutely.

So I'm far less certain than others about what this deal is really about, or what it means. Joost points out the... surprising... parts of the math, and offers some possible reasons why, which make the most sense to me. This is more than just another deal. But what comes next? Impossible to say.

Former colleague reminded me it's the 10th anniversary of LEGO Dimensions. Super cool project with an absolutely brutal work schedule to make happen. When I was the only one shopping the aisles through all my launch day store checks, knew it was in trouble. Bittersweet memories, to say the least.

Screw it. Breaking into the Halloween candy.

$20,000,000,000 of debt financing is a shockingly large number to have to service, while also transitioning from a public to private organization and all the implications that has on the people that work in it. We've obviously never seen anything like this at this scale in the industry before.

It was the most predictable outcome in history. Sorry, Mets fans.

I mean... just look at it.

Be extra kind to any Mets fan friends you may have today. It could be a day of peak Metsdom.

Things are tough, but at least I can enjoy the latest Game Informer with a fine cigar on a lovely Saturday afternoon in the garage.

Anyways, got my covid vaccine booster and if you're into that kind of thing I highly recommend.

I'm learning there are two kinds of people: those who at one point owned the CD soundtrack of the movie Singles and those who have never heard of the movie Singles.

Megaton: EA is close to a $50 billion deal to go private, WSJ reports www.wsj.com/business/dea...

Yep, and the push to make games faster/cheaper is only going to make the discoverability/time problem worse. Need more players to catch up, but post 2020-21 finding new players has been a massive challenge. They're all already playing.

🎯

I imagine I should post a take on the ROG Xbox Ally. - Form factor & tech are nifty - New UI better (but anything is when compared to Win 11 on a portable) - Expensive, particularly when compared to Deck - Targeted at hyper-enthusiast Will sell some units to the sickos, won't get near mass market.

A game for masochists.

Congratulations to Mr. Bowser on a fantastic run at Nintendo. Incredibly smart and never afraid to ask challenging questions, but also kind, open and fair. Will definitely be missed!

Hey that's bad. "About 29% of borrowers — or 5.4 million people — were delinquent on their loans in June, meaning they haven’t made a payment in 90 days or more, according to new data from TransUnion."

Hmmm. Wonder if the sales strategy decision was just about reducing costs or if it was something else. But yeah, dev teams don't usually weigh in on sales/ops decisions like this at big pubs.

Hey, do you know what game also had a sick Wolverine kicking ass?

That's some danned fine key art.

Since we are talking Wolverine, this game remains criminally underappreciated.

Flight Sim support for PSVR2 is the first thing I've seen that could actually help that device move some units.

As an official Old, I gotta say I'm continually astounded by just how much stupider The Future is than I'd ever imagined possible as a Youth.

With PS5 Pro adoption where it's at and its price point, 3rd parties deemphasizing support for the Pro's bells and whistles would not surprise me in the least.

Circana Player Engagement Tracker - Top 15 Titles by Total Weekly Active Users (Not Concurrent) - W/E Sep 13, 2025 - Borderlands 4 debuted 10th on both PS and XBX, 3rd on Steam US and 4th for Steam CAN. - Helldivers II ranked in the top 11 across tracked platforms.

This whole video game thing is the biggest success in history or else it's a massive failure Discourse dichotomy that happens is so dumb.