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Sacred Symbols, Episode 434 | Prove Yourself, You Are the Move You Make (Patreon)

Published:
2026-10-23 16:01:38
Imported:
2026-10
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The first bomb has dropped following the Saudi Wealth Fund's purchase of American publisher Electronic Arts, and it's a Canadian studio that suffers the consequences. As predicted, EA has decided to shutter long-running RPG-centric studio BioWare, cancel its forever-percolating Mass Effect title, and instead double-down on sports franchises and shooters. None of this is surprising, of course -- the EA purchase is the largest leveraged buyout in the history of human economics and strapped the company with potentially-insurmountable loads of debt -- but something still has to give. Can an all-new EA rise to the moment in a culture and environment that seems increasingly hostile to predictable and repeatable games? Or is the culling of BioWare only foreshadowing the bloodletting to come? Other news this week includes the potential high cost of PlayStation 6, specious rumors of Sony's acquisition of the Kena IP, Wolverine's strong sales showing, and more. Then, we wrap things up (as we always do) with listener inquiries. Could PlayStation withstand a concentrated attack on the PSN during Grand Theft Auto VI's launch? Will Sony blunt the cost of PS6 by offering payment plans? Which engines and other technologies do the first party studios rely upon? Is Chris ready to disavow the Ritual Network once and for all?Timestamps:0:00:00 - Intro

0:32:24 - The towel after a shower

0:35:48 - Chris and the Ritual Network

0:37:51 - Best kind of buffet

0:45:28 - Are we into e-sports?

0:53:16 - EA shutters Bioware, 3% of staff laid off

2:04:07 - Will PS6 cost $1000?

2:22:49 - Has Sony acquired the Kena IP?

2:28:10 - Indie dev backs off playtesting due to AI theft

2:44:14 - September 2026 sales data

2:54:52 - A few PSAs

2:56:17 - What We’re Playing

3:19:23 - GTA launch concerns

3:24:44 - Removing games from PS Plus Premium

3:28:04 - Payment plans for PS6

3:36:05 - Why should listeners even care?

3:39:59 - What engines do Sony studios use?

Files

Comments

Alan

3 hours and 58 mins, short podcast this week 😉

Jacob Lesperance

I'd love to see a Sacred cross Dukes before Chris left. Would be curious to see what they, and you all have to say between the positive online energy with Xbox and the reality of sales. Vice versa the negative online energy with Sony, and yet, they continue to have strong sales. Would be a great discussion. Especially because I feel like the Dukes have been buying into tje hype train all over again with Phil 2.0

Michael Limauro

Red Rising is great, 6 books with a movie on the way!

Walk Forward Cutscene

“Save often and in multiple slots” - The KOTOR loading screen tip that Chris ignored

The Blood of Dawn French

A 47 year old British man? I’ll have you know, I’m a 32 year old Irish man born and raised in the UK…

Dante B

Yeah I regret to inform Chris that if he thought it being 3 books was bad…

Anthony Wertman

Isn’t anyone’s else a little choppy in the beginning?

AL022

Brewers World Series let's go! Probably not mentioned on the show lol.

Jason Rose

First, we kind of glossed over the wokeness aspect in relation to Colin’s point: BioWare simply no longer having the talent to make the games they’re expected to. The question I ask: why did the talent leave? While churn is normal, reports are beginning to eke out from past and current devs that BioWare was the most toxic company they worked for or with. Couple that with a perusing of some of the writers and what they’ve had to say over the last decade you have to really look at how deeply that leftist rot took root to drive the true talent out the door in that company. There was a marked shift in how these games were written. BioWare always had tackled modern topics, but a gay person — for instance — doesn’t make something woke, it’s how it’s handled in the writing and I’ll just tell you; there’s a big fucking difference between the writing of said subjects in Dragon Age Origins, to Dragon Age Veilguard. Second, Mass Effect 2 was developed entirely outside of EA oversight, it only released under the EA umbrella as they’d been bought right around when development ended. You could see the downturn begin with Mass Effect 3 and EA’s influence. The had only a little over 2 years to even make that game which is unfathomable looking back. This massive finale that has to tie all these aspects into it and you have to finish it and ship it, along with an awesome, but ultimately tacked-on multiplayer mode. Crazy stuff and it’s no wonder that the final third of that game is a mess. Third, the attachment to gaming developers as entities as opposed to films is obvious. Film companies don’t exactly have a distinct style of film or show they’re making. The examples used omitted creators like Pixar and say, A24 who no doubt have had myriad turnover of talent yet garner a cult following due to the styles they produce. This is no different than in video games. We know what a BioWare game is, regardless if the core team is still present or not. That said, guys like Casey Hudson were still there, a lot of identifying people remained in the BioWare orbit so it was hopeful that they could recapture the magic. Ultimately, it’s completely absurd to insinuate that a video game developer give up an entire brand identity because the core programmers who made games for them 20 years ago are no longer there, for instance.

Shmon-Shmon

On the esports front: “Sitting in my room rooting for a bunch of strange men seems weird” basically describing sports. And I agree 🏈

Izzy Smalls

FWI Follow Push Square on Twitter and they always post what is being removed from PS + every month.

Addison117

Wonder if Colin ever called into Mike and the mad dog to complain about the jets loosing.

ByWatterson

Soooooo, on Bioware.....I'm non-binary.

They Now Call Me UNC.

He’s gonna be phoning in his performance because he put in his 2 weeks 😅

ByWatterson

Another week, another show where the crew bizarrely downplays the degree to which wokism is destroying Western studios.

Addison117

I can see them revealing PS6 "Exclusives" but with fine print saying may come to PS5 minimum one year after release.

ChaosZwei+5

Metroidvania is a super saturated genre you have to offer some kind of hook, something different. Following the formula has been stale for years now. Even hollow knight I find really mediocre. Doing crazy shit like metro gravity or rusted moss and the upcoming iron bramble are whats needed now. Those three games are criminally underrated and more fans of this genre need to play them.

Tommy the sniper

I dunno, all the stuff that has leaked about the new mass effect sounded really fucking cool to me.

Supes

the Dukes articulated the "shift in writing" thing well in their most recent episode. There's plenty of politics in BioWare games (I still remember Baldur's Gate 1 introducing 10-year-old me to the concepts of artificial resource scarcity and the politics of manufactured crises), but the difference was that it was nuanced, thoughtful, and ultimately woven in to the broader texture of the narrative as "an overall good story." Nobody minded the "gay stuff" in earlier BioWare games because it was presented in a way that made it feel naturally thoughtful and respectful of a variety of viewpoints, instead of a didactic screed by someone who thinks that they have a god-given mission to spread the gospel of their personal belief.

Jason Rose

I’ll listen in to the Dukes discussion on it because this one was lacking. While you’re echoing the point of what I’m saying, your added context is something I’m in exact agreement. I’m sick of hearing people out there claiming “ BioWare was always woke, they wrote about politics and gay people decades ago” It’s not the subject matter, it’s in how you tackle it and deliver it to the audience. Thing is, they know this they just like to pretend it’s all under one big umbrella with zero nuance.

Screwed Mcfucked

TLDR, game is busted, let's offload QA onto the players.

Screwed Mcfucked

Didn't Bioware literally not know how anthem was going to look until they saw the pre rendered E3 "demo" with the rest of us? Or was that just a lie I heard some where? (Edit: yeah, according to Jason Shreier, leadership threw together a fake demo to please their bosses that were breathing down their necks. The team had no idea what the game was going to look like before that E3 demo got shown.)

Bisexual Lighting Rigger

While that is a problem I would argue the bigger issue is bloated budgets, bloated headcount, and unrealistic expectations. But it certainly is a confluence of things that none of the studio seem to want to address before having to shut down.

LordScottrick

Completely agree. It would have been completely fine to have someone nonbinary or transgender in a Dragon Age game. But using the term modern nonbinary is just so immersion breaking. They could have made up a term that fit the setting or used some other descriptive language while still being respectful. It would be just as immersion breaking if another character said “I’m a cisgender heterosexual.”

LordScottrick

I actually thought last week was one of his best. I want to see him completely unleashed with no filter.

LordScottrick

Social sim mode in an NFL game could be interesting. “Your player has been fined for using performance enhancing drugs” “Your player has been fined and arrested for using actual drugs” “Your player has been arrested and jailed for domestic abuse” “Your player is a CTE riddled shell of their former self. Game over.”

Addison117

You get too much CTE that the screen goes blurry and it delays your inputs.

king_ryan_james

This stage will pass, Dustin! It was honestly hell for sure with our daughter. I think they are just so overstimulated from growing as well as realizing their new environment. Our doctor told us it has a lot to do with their digestive system developing during those weeks that can make them more fussy.

Walk Forward Cutscene

No need to announce that you didn’t read my comment. We all noticed

Xenomorph Moriarty

“I’m lowkey really intellectually curious about fable” - Chris

Andy carroll

“But it sounds like she doesn’t want to have sex”

Your Boi Nicky V

Feel sadder and sadder with each episode 😅 show as we know it is coming to an end

Anthony Palerino

Counterstrike is the best esport. Not even close. Fighters are cool too though. MOBAs are fun, but require way too much knowledge to follow.

Mitchell Hogan

Chris’ discussion regarding BioWare, specifically the topic on work culture, really makes me fail to understand why Chris thinks he’s not suitable for contemporary Sacred Symbols. He was so eloquent and insightful throughout. I’ll be so damn sorry when he’s gone Good work, as always 👍

Ventriloquist

“You can’t deny Belmont’s Curse is good” Actually I can, quite easily in fact

Adam Barnes

Colin as someone who just had their first child at 37; don’t wait any longer.

Adam Barnes

Perhaps a silver lining of Chris leaving is that the lads can start having honest discussions again and not censor their opinions to cater to the Leftist. Depends on who replaces him though, I guess.

ByWatterson

Thought about this, too. They're absolutely pulling their punches and it's getting old.

Subagels

I had a great question about engines and stuff a while back

WoodyBlock

Chris saying the only reason dragon age failed is because it was a repurposed live service game is pretty disingenuous. I have hardcore leftist friends who loved BioWare games who saw those same clips we all saw and decided not to purchase the game. That game failed because the writing was absolutely self insert, virtue signaling trash. That’s so clearly and obviously the reason that game failed it’s odd he refuses to acknowledge that.

Sath

Colin, I highly recommend you have a child even if they are an only child. As long as you actually spend time and do things with them and don't latchkey them like your parents did to you, they will not have that yearning for a sibling. Don't let your own fears from your experiences hold you back from experiencing the most profound thing that we as humans do and a love you don't even know exists yet. If you have a kid you will not regret it.

Athetos

Your Hollow Knight take gives me cancer. There's something to be said about an incredibly well-executed example of a genre, regardless of how derivative the mechanics are. Unique mechanics are a plus, but great art design, great music, fun exploration, good game feel with hard and engaging combat are just as important. Hollow Knight also was one of the first metroidvanias that drew it's lore and combat design from the Souls-style games (the "attack to heal" and long healing animation were based off Bloodborne and estus flasks), which gave it a rather unique identity in 2017. Besides, I probably got more catharsis out of discovering Act 3 of Silksong on my own than I got out of any unique mechanic recently.

ChaosZwei+5

Silksong is mostly awesome and a very oof game but hollow knight didn't draw anything from souls bc team cherry had never played any souls games during its development. Outside of art style hollow knight is extremely generic. The problem with silksong is its pretty bloated and repetitive and locking act three behind dozens of awful mmo type side quests was a baffling choice that'll insure I never try act three again. Pls play more metroidvanias

Save The Game Media

Cereal in the fridge is a war crime. The United Nations needs to step in

Glen Yelenovic

The Saudi’s and EA cut off the heads of BioWare like they were a Washington Post reporter

Glen Yelenovic

Good on you Colin for cutting off EA. I think I will follow suit

Minji of NewJeans

Talking about Dustin’s son: it’s the same here in Japan. Every day I see toddlers glued to iPhones and iPads while being pushed in their strollers. I have a four year-old boy, and I had to stop his mom from doing the same thing to him. It’s a global thing 😕

BigDumbStupidIdiot

Wouldn't going back to 100% physical media prevent a lot of games from being copied from AI?

zepplinmike

Not really. Step 1: Use AI to jailbreak console; Step 2: Dump the physical game; Step 3: Decomp/Recomp PC port.

zepplinmike

On the AI concerns, I don't think this will lead to mandatory game streaming. First off, that would require expensive RAM-using hardware and additional data center space which would much more lucrative for other purposes, like AI itself. Second, most PC games are very quickly pirated as it is. They still sell well because the vast majority would rather go the legit route for numerous reasons that would still be the case with AI-pirated versions. The new elements here are: 1. The ability to recomp a game from a test version (the indie dev in question's very legitimate concern); 2. The ability to more easily put up counterfeit copies for sale (which I agree, should be on the platforms to solve... and maybe AI could actually help make that manageable); and 3. The much quicker and higher quality unofficial PC ports of games for current platforms like PS5 (which imo should make Sony reconsider offering Day 1 PC Ports to actually get revenue from that demand, but even worst case this is pretty much like Switch 1 where emulation allowed you to play their games on PC even before Day 1, and yet those games sold gangbusters regardless).

Jamie Anderson

Colin was way more edgy and straight forward then worse than watching paint dry Chris joined. Even dustin is conservative u can see him try to hide the cringe when Chris downplays stuff.