Thank you! And by the way, consider this a "thank you!" for everyone else that had something kind to say about the show. We are absolutely thrilled to be doing our brand of PlayStation podcast again, and are so humbled with how it's being received. We thought people would dig it; we didn't realize it would shoot to #1 without an episode even being launched. It's, like I said, the epitome of humbling.
There will be no time constraints. We'll go as long or as short as we feel is necessary that week. I wouldn't expect two hours to be the norm, but I wouldn't expect any episode to be 45 minutes long, either.
I've been disappointed with the way some people have been speaking about Tim lately. He's doing his best, and I think he's doing a good job. He has a ton of experience with online video production, strategy, and all of that, but he is a novice when it comes to hosting a video or podcast, and I don't think he comes off "novice" at all. As you said, Greg and I have done literally hundreds and hundreds of videos and podcasts together. We're thick as thieves. Hell, we've lived together for like five years. You're not going to build our rapport and energy overnight, or maybe even ever. What Greg and I have is special. It's not common, at all. It's important to keep that in mind. I thank my lucky stars every day that I have a partner like him who I work with seamlessly.
I think people need to cut Tim some slack. He's coming into his own very nicely. He's only getting better and better, like a fine-ass wine.
To be fair, with the way the first party schedule has been shuffled around (i.e. The Order's delay, Uncharted's delay), I think it's fair of me to make this claim over a couple of years. It IS exciting. We have no shortage of games to play on PlayStation 4. Exclusives are great -- and they're going to be coming in droves in 2016, 2017, and 2018 -- but they're not the only thing that makes the world go 'round!
It's also worth noting that Xbox One has the superior exclusive catalog this fall, which is all I've been really saying. Some people have been conflating that with a year's worth of exclusives, which I think Sony has been competitive in up to this point with Bloodborne and Until Dawn. Still, hard to deny that Sony is at a first party disadvantage this fall. The interesting thing will be if it even matters, which is why I'm excited to see how it all plays out.
There's going to be inherent crossover between our products, but we want to keep it to a minimum. PS I Love You XOXO will always, always, always be a far deeper dive into things than anything else we do, which will differentiate it. But for people that watch every minute of the literally 15 hours of content we do a week are going to find some repetition. There's nothing we can do about it.
I also must admit that I'm a little surprised as some people not liking the name here, since people really seem to love it overall. I wish I could take credit for it, but that's a Nick Scarpino joint through and through.
I have to be honest: I was never thrilled with the rotating third chair idea. I think it has the potential to kill the flow of the show and the dynamics of the relationships on the show that already existed. Many people point to the Miller-Moriarty-Clements/Miller-Moriarty-Clements-Goldfarb/Miller-Moriarty-Golfarb eras as the "Golden Era" of the show, and that's because there was continuity. You knew us. You knew how we did the show. That's why it was so awesome for so many people. I really believe it was because the cast was static. That said, we wouldn't have found some true podcasting gems -- like Jared and Vince -- had we not had that idea. So I really do see it both ways.
We will have people on the show when it makes sense, but it's not going to be a super common thing. We are excited that we will have a half an hour segment with Shu on Episode 2, however!
Driveclub was a financial success, with over two million units sold, but I absolutely stand by the fact that a.) Sony and Evolution absolutely blew it with the year-long delay, and b.) I will be skeptical of anything Evolution does moving forward until they show me something that isn't broken for months and months. What happened with Driveclub was embarrassing for Sony, and rightfully so. I'm glad that it did well and proved to be a great game for racing fans, but let's not sugarcoat reality, either.
Bingo.
I'm really glad that we can be there for you again. Be well.
That was an impossibly hard show for us to do, because we couldn't tell you what we already knew: that we were leaving, and that we'd never do Beyond live again. I'm glad the show was such a hit for people, because it was extremely sentimental and important for us to do PSX right.
I love making podcasts. You may forget that I did 250 of them with the Beyond brand alone, not to mention doing IGN's short-lived music podcast, being a regular on the old TRL, and even creating my own political podcast outside of the show for a while. Then there's The GameOverGreggy Show, Kinda Funny's core product, which was my idea to do to begin with. Of course I love doing podcasts! I think that's pretty clear.
What you have to remember is that for my last two years at the site, I ran the PlayStation beat by myself. I managed those relationships, I planned the content, and I did the lion's share of the actual PS-centric work, too. I had very little time to waste; I didn't want to let my bosses down, or Greg, as IGN PlayStation has such a storied and successful history. As a result, doing Beyond for more than an hour was truly difficult for me. I hope you understand that that's the only reason why Beyond may have been shorter sometimes. I simply had other things to do. Now? We own our own business, we run the show, and we will make time to make PS I Love You XOXO as long as it needs to be on a week-to-week basis. We're also planning some special one-off episodes...
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Anyway, thank you again for all of the kind words, for listening, for subscribing, and for believing in us. You have truly blown us away, and I appreciate each and every one of you.
Now, I have to go record this interview with Shu! Wish me luck. -Colin