Halo on PS5 and the Ashes of Creation Implosion [Nerfed.ai]

[00:00] Vanessa Calderon: Nerfed.ai, the Halo on PlayStation reality check. [00:05] Vanessa Calderon: I am Vanessa Calderon, and this week the industry is doing backflips while some studios are just doing a face plant. [00:12] Vanessa Calderon: We've got massive Xbox leaks. [00:15] Vanessa Calderon: MMO meltdowns, and a certain farm sim that refuses to let us go outside. [00:21] Vanessa Calderon: Joining me to make sense of the chaos is the man who probably already has his next-gen Xbox pre-ordered in his mind, Marcus Shaw. [00:28] Marcus Shaw: Guilty as charged, Vanessa. I'm Marcus Shaw, and honestly, my 2026 bingo card is already shredded. [00:36] Marcus Shaw: We are looking at a future where the Master Chief is officially setting up shop on Sony's lawn [00:43] Marcus Shaw: and some major MMO dreams are turning into absolute nightmares. [00:47] Marcus Shaw: This is Nerf Day Eye and we have a lot to unpack. [00:50] Vanessa Calderon: Seriously, Marcus, let's start with the green team because the rumors are basically a flood at this point. [00:56] Vanessa Calderon: Reports are everywhere that Microsoft is targeting a summer release for Halo on the PS5. [01:02] Vanessa Calderon: Not just a spin-off, but the chief himself going multi-platform. [01:06] Vanessa Calderon: Marcus, is the console war officially over or did someone just forget to lock the doors at Redmond? [01:13] Marcus Shaw: It feels like the walls are finally coming down, Vanessa. [01:16] Marcus Shaw: Beyond Halo hitting PlayStation, we're hearing that Gears of War E-Day is aiming for a late 2026 launch. [01:23] Marcus Shaw: But the real kicker is that the next-gen Xbox is reportedly coming in 2027, sticking with [01:30] Marcus Shaw: AMD for the Silicon. [01:33] Marcus Shaw: Microsoft is playing a dual game, selling the hardware to the diehards while putting their [01:39] Marcus Shaw: biggest icons on every screen possible to make up for those Game Pass margins. [01:44] Vanessa Calderon: I love the casually cool way Microsoft is just like a vibe where they say, yeah, Halo [01:49] Vanessa Calderon: on PS5, no big deal. [01:51] Vanessa Calderon: They are positioning it as a expansion of the brand rather than a surrender of the platform. [01:58] Vanessa Calderon: But you have to wonder what the long-term incentive is for staying in the Xbox ecosystem if the exclusives are gone. [02:05] Vanessa Calderon: If I can play Halo in gears on a Sony machine, why bother with the 2027 Xbox hardware at all? [02:11] Marcus Shaw: That is the million-dollar question, or I suppose the $500 question. [02:17] Marcus Shaw: Microsoft seems to be betting on the fact that their services and the deep integration of the ecosystem [02:22] Marcus Shaw: will keep people around, even if the software walls are crumbling. [02:26] Marcus Shaw: They want to be the platform that is everywhere. [02:29] Marcus Shaw: And honestly, seeing Master Chief on a DualSense controller is going to be a historic moment [02:34] Marcus Shaw: for anyone who lived through the early 2000s. [02:37] Vanessa Calderon: Wow. [02:37] Vanessa Calderon: Shifting gears to something a little bit more volatile, the MMO world is literally on fire right now. [02:46] Vanessa Calderon: Ashes of Creation is currently in tatters. [02:49] Vanessa Calderon: The senior team has reportedly quit. [02:51] Vanessa Calderon: Management is issuing layoff warnings, and now Steam is investigating the whole thing. [02:57] Vanessa Calderon: It's a mess, Marcus. How do you go from a Kickstarter darling to a Steam investigation? [03:03] Marcus Shaw: Wild. It is the classic MMO curse, but dialed up to 11. [03:07] Marcus Shaw: When you lose your senior leadership right after a launch period, it is a massive red flag. [03:12] Marcus Shaw: Fans are demanding refunds. And because of how the Kickstarter and Steam transition was handled, [03:18] Marcus Shaw: Valve is actually stepping in to see what is going on. [03:21] Marcus Shaw: It is a tragedy for the backers who have been waiting years for this. [03:24] Vanessa Calderon: The problem is that the transparency just isn't there anymore. [03:28] Vanessa Calderon: When you have a community that has put millions of dollars into a project, [03:32] Vanessa Calderon: you owe them more than just a vague blog post about restructuring. [03:35] Vanessa Calderon: The Steam investigations suggest that there might be issues with how the financial milestones were reported, [03:41] Vanessa Calderon: which could have legal ramifications for the studio heads in the long run. [03:45] Marcus Shaw: Exactly. [03:46] Marcus Shaw: And it is not the only one struggling. [03:48] Marcus Shaw: Minds Eye had that catastrophic 2025 launch, [03:51] Marcus Shaw: though the studio is refusing to quit. [03:54] Marcus Shaw: They just dropped a major post-launch update and an expansion is coming later this year. [03:58] Marcus Shaw: But because this industry loves drama, [04:01] Marcus Shaw: they are also suing a YouTuber named Cyberboy over some leaked footage. [04:05] Marcus Shaw: Sarcastic applause for the legal team because that always makes gamers love you more. [04:10] Vanessa Calderon: I mean, it is such a bad look. [04:13] Vanessa Calderon: I meant to say it is a public relations disaster to go after a small creator [04:18] Vanessa Calderon: when your game is already struggling to maintain a player base. [04:22] Vanessa Calderon: The leaked footage allegedly showed bugs that were supposed to be fixed in the day one patch. [04:27] Vanessa Calderon: So instead of addressing the technical debt, they are just trying to silence the evidence. [04:32] Vanessa Calderon: It creates this adversarial relationship with the fans. [04:36] Marcus Shaw: Wait, what? [04:38] Marcus Shaw: I didn't realize the footage actually confirmed the bugs they claimed to have patched. [04:43] Marcus Shaw: That makes the lawsuit even more desperate. [04:46] Marcus Shaw: If you are a developer and you're spending more time in the courtroom than the engine, [04:51] Marcus Shaw: you have already lost the battle. [04:53] Marcus Shaw: The community response to the Cyberboy situation has been swift, with a lot of people calling for a total boycott of the upcoming expansion. [05:00] Vanessa Calderon: On the brighter side of the industry, Ghost of Yote is absolutely crushing it. [05:06] Vanessa Calderon: It is reportedly selling better than Ghost of Sushima did at the same point in its life cycle. [05:11] Vanessa Calderon: People were worried about the shift to a new protagonist, but clearly, the fans are showing up. [05:17] Vanessa Calderon: It proves that the brand and the quality of the world building are what truly matter to the audience. [05:22] Marcus Shaw: Yep. The atmosphere in Yote is just something else. [05:27] Marcus Shaw: Moving the timeline forward and focusing on a new character gave the developers a lot of creative freedom [05:33] Marcus Shaw: that they wouldn't have had if they stayed with Gen. [05:35] Marcus Shaw: It feels fresh while still maintaining that DNA of the first game. [05:40] Marcus Shaw: It's a masterclass in how to handle a sequel when your original lead character is so beloved. [05:46] Vanessa Calderon: Authenticity sells, Marcus. [05:48] Vanessa Calderon: Speaking of showing up, the Nintendo Direct just hit. [05:51] Vanessa Calderon: And while it wasn't the Switch 2 reveal everyone is thirsting for, [05:55] Vanessa Calderon: getting Fallout and Final Fantasy VII on there is a nice consolation prize. [06:01] Vanessa Calderon: Plus, we've got rumors from a Xenoblade voice actor [06:04] Vanessa Calderon: that a new release in that franchise might be closer than we think. [06:08] Marcus Shaw: No way! [06:09] Marcus Shaw: No way! I missed the Xenoblade rumor. [06:12] Marcus Shaw: If that is true, Nintendo is really packing the Twilight Years of the Switch with some heavy hitters. [06:17] Marcus Shaw: It makes sense to keep the momentum going before the hardware transition. [06:21] Marcus Shaw: Getting the FF7 remake to run on that hardware is also a technical miracle in its own right, [06:27] Marcus Shaw: even if there are some visual compromises. [06:30] Vanessa Calderon: Right. It shows that there's still a lot of life in the old tablet yet. [06:34] Vanessa Calderon: And don't forget Civilization 7. The devs are out here doing the rounds, talking about a massive update meant to win back the critics who weren't feeling the initial changes. [06:44] Vanessa Calderon: They are really trying to balance the hardcore strategy roots with the newer systems. [06:49] Vanessa Calderon: It is a tough tightrope to walk, but I respect the hustle. [06:52] Marcus Shaw: The New Ages system in SIF 7 was a bit of a shock to the system for longtime players. [06:58] Marcus Shaw: I think the devs realized that people didn't want the game [07:01] Marcus Shaw: to feel quite so fragmented. [07:03] Marcus Shaw: This new update is supposedly smoothing out those transitions [07:07] Marcus Shaw: so the game feels like a continuous journey again. [07:09] Marcus Shaw: It's great to see a studio of that size [07:12] Marcus Shaw: actually listening and pivoting based on community feedback. [07:15] Vanessa Calderon: If you wanna talk about hustle, [07:17] Vanessa Calderon: we have to talk about Concerned Ape. [07:20] Vanessa Calderon: Stardew Valley 1.7 just dropped. [07:23] Vanessa Calderon: We have got new marriage content, a map editor, [07:26] Vanessa Calderon: And children? I've even finished my year three crops, Marcus. I don't have time for a digital family. [07:33] Vanessa Calderon: But honestly, the map editor is a game changer for the modding community. [07:38] Marcus Shaw: Mm-hmm. Vanessa, you know you're going to spend 40 hours just on the map editor alone. [07:43] Marcus Shaw: It is the law of stardew. [07:45] Marcus Shaw: It is wild to see a game this old, still getting updates that feel this significant. [07:51] Marcus Shaw: It is the total opposite of the launch and abandoned culture we're seeing with things like Ashes of Creation. [07:57] Marcus Shaw: It builds so much goodwill, but a developer stays dedicated to a project for over a decade. [08:03] Vanessa Calderon: Fair. One studio builds a legacy, another builds a legal defense fund. [08:09] Vanessa Calderon: That is the state of play in 2026, folks. [08:12] Vanessa Calderon: From Master Chief taking a vacation on Sony hardware to the farming life taking over our actual lives, [08:18] Vanessa Calderon: it is a weird time to be a gamer. But at least it is never boring. [08:23] Vanessa Calderon: You can find more deep dives on these stories over at nerf.ainewscast.com throughout the week. [08:28] Marcus Shaw: Never boring indeed. [08:31] Marcus Shaw: I'll be over here polishing my Spartan armor for the PS5 launch [08:35] Marcus Shaw: and trying not to get sued by any major corporations. [08:39] Marcus Shaw: It's been a packed week, and I'm sure next week we'll have even more surprises. [08:43] Marcus Shaw: For Nerf.ai, I'm Marcus Shaw. [08:46] Vanessa Calderon: And I'm Vanessa Calderone. [08:48] Vanessa Calderon: Keep your frames high and your salt levels low. [08:50] Vanessa Calderon: Neural Newscast is AI-assisted, human-reviewed. [08:54] Vanessa Calderon: View our AI transparency policy at neuralnewscast.com.