Sacred Symbols+, Episode 182: Willing Participants in the Culture War (Patreon)

I (Colin) am very, very pleased to welcome my good friend David Jaffe to the show. For the uninitiated, Mr. Jaffe is the designer and director that brought you the likes of Twisted Metal and God of War, and these days, he's in what we might call semi-retirement, streaming on Twitch and making YouTube videos and sharing his wisdom. I invited Jaffe back to the show for a specific reason, though we go off on all sorts of tangents. Our main talk revolves around JK Rowling, Hogwarts Legacy, and the incoming poopstorm that will undoubtedly take over the industry this fall. As the father of a trans son, Jaffe has especially poignant insight into the reaction to the game, to Rowling, and how we might deal with this fiery front of the culture war in our own backyard. We also touch on a bunch of other issues, too, including a dive into the recent games we're playing, game pricing and the future of subscription services, the increasing plight of shameless fanboyism, and Jaffe's potential return to development. Did you know he turned down Tencent's offer to lead a $100 million AAA project? Now you do! Enjoy.