The Dropshot

Infinity Ward changed DMZ matchmaking in Modern Warfare 4 and didn't put it in the patch notes. Charlie Intel reported that the update increased PvP matchmaking for everyone, and that replaying a story mission you've already finished now puts you in a regular lobby. Raz and Jake go through what changed, why players noticed before anyone said anything, and why leaving it out of the October 28 patch notes is the bigger problem.

We also talk about reports that MW4 is selling worse than Black Ops 7, even though BO7 was on Game Pass, and why Warzone season 1 might be the game's last chance. We go through a few theories for why Infinity Ward made the change, from slowing down progression to holding onto PvP players until Warzone launches.

Then EA shut down BioWare, and early work on the next Mass Effect is ending. We talk about Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Mass Effect 3, Larian as the new BioWare, and which games we'd want turned into TV shows, from Tarkov and Gears of War to Knights of the Old Republic.

Also: Al Mazrah coming back to Warzone in season 4, and GTA 6 reportedly being around 210 GB.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

0:00 - Intro

4:52 - Patreon shoutouts

6:52 - DMZ matchmaking drama

11:16 - Charlie Intel: more PvP in DMZ

13:02 - Nothing in the patch notes

15:04 - Last "Live from the Ward" of the year

15:56 - MW4 sales vs Black Ops 7 and Game Pass

21:13 - Infinity Ward's yearly pattern

23:56 - Warzone is MW4's last chance

27:15 - Just write accurate patch notes

28:33 - A game for everybody is a game for nobody

33:32 - Call of Duty is mall pizza

37:04 - Charlie Intel confirms it

40:38 - Built for the next earnings call

43:12 - Why would they make this change?

50:41 - Holding PvP players until Warzone

55:01 - How the patch notes should have read

57:27 - The tiger did tiger stuff

59:17 - What do IW devs do all day?

1:01:35 - Is Call of Duty dying?

1:06:20 - The DMZ trailer and why CoD still feels good

1:08:47 - CoD is lucky most players don't look around

1:16:12 - "Beckoning of Responsibility"

1:19:00 - Is the matchmaking change a test?

1:20:53 - Al Mazrah returns to Warzone

1:25:43 - GTA 6 at 210 GB

1:27:56 - Is a DMZ PvE mode coming?

1:30:04 - Warzone season 1 date

1:32:43 - EA shuts down BioWare

1:37:21 - Veilguard sealed it

1:39:47 - Next Mass Effect is over

1:41:38 - Larian is the new BioWare

1:43:30 - Video games as TV shows

1:44:16 - Drew Karpyshyn

1:45:56 - Tarkov, Dead Space, Gears of War shows

1:50:18 - Star Wars is oversaturated

1:55:54 - #SaveMassEffect and EA's RPG studios

1:59:17 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #DropshotPodcast #GamingPodcast #CallOfDuty #MW4 #DMZ #Warzone #InfinityWard #BioWare #MassEffect #DragonAge #Larian #GTA6 #SaveMassEffect #CODNews #GamingNews #Podcast #VideoGames

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Modern Warfare 4 is fully out, and we're surprised by most of it. Multiplayer is getting hammered: the maps are bad, spawns are broken, SBMM is cranked up, and the movement got slowed down. Raz goes through each complaint, defends Call of Duty on a couple of them, and makes the case that arcade shooters are dying and we're aging out of them anyway.

DMZ is the surprise. We said it would be dead by the time multiplayer came out, and people are still streaming it. We get into why: multiplayer is rough, the XP is good for camo grinding, and a lot of these players have never played an extraction shooter before. We still think DMZ runs out of content fast and won't last a month for most people.

Then the big one: should MW4 DMZ get a PvE-only mode? Infinity Ward says no and that it believes in PvPvE. We agree, and we explain why a PvE DMZ would be finished in a week, why losing 100K when you die is the whole point, and why "just get better" is real advice. We also cover Tarkov PvE, Arc Raiders, extract camping, and what CoD does next year.

0:00 - Intro: audiobooks and The Terminal List

2:18 - We're live: Episode 610

4:01 - Patreon shoutouts and trivia night

6:55 - Modern Warfare 4 has launched

7:34 - Infinity Ward unlocks it early

8:30 - Multiplayer: worst CoD ever?

10:28 - We were wrong: everyone's streaming DMZ

11:46 - The complaints: maps

13:52 - Spawns are broken every year

15:26 - SBMM cranked to the max?

19:12 - Movement nerf and losing wall jumping

21:42 - People are finally over arcade shooters

24:09 - We're aging out of arcade shooters

28:56 - "Worst CoD ever" after 30 minutes

29:54 - What the critics are saying

30:54 - Are game critics a fake job?

32:55 - What changed: maps, hipfire, Kill Block

34:37 - Jake on spawns (and why learning them is cringe)

40:17 - DMZ is still doing well

42:38 - XP and camo grinding in DMZ

44:12 - The map's already charted

45:52 - Do you still play after Season 2?

47:06 - Why DMZ works when multiplayer doesn't

48:40 - DMZ is another campaign with PvP

51:49 - Can Warzone carry the year? Hajin vs. Avalon

54:41 - The viral DMZ PvE post

56:19 - Arc Raiders "Care Bears"

57:59 - Just get better at the game

1:01:22 - Arc Raiders PvE and Tarkov PvE

1:08:17 - Infinity Ward: no PvE-only DMZ

1:09:43 - Remember AI in Warzone 2?

1:10:57 - Paying 100K every time you die

1:14:12 - Is there SBMM in DMZ?

1:14:55 - The case for a PvE mode

1:17:27 - PvE would split the player base

1:18:00 - The middle ground options

1:20:12 - Extract camping

1:21:56 - Verdict: surprised, but it won't last

1:24:26 - What does CoD do next year?

1:25:15 - Bread Man's DMZ collection room

1:27:58 - Silver lining: new extraction shooter fans

1:29:50 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

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🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #GamingTalk #MW4 #ModernWarfare4 #CallOfDuty #DMZ #Warzone #ExtractionShooter #EscapeFromTarkov #ArcRaiders #InfinityWard #MW4DMZ #DMZPvE #WorstCODEver #GamingNews #HotTake #GamingDebate

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WARDOGS Season 2 came out on October 15, and two days later Bulkhead said its faster progression was the wrong call. Players had Tier 4 armor and main battle tanks within days, so the wipe never really felt like a fresh start. Bulkhead isn't doing another reset. They're bringing Season 3 forward instead.

We go through the Season 2 patch notes first: the TCX SPR, PP-19 Bizon, M14 and new LMG, Molotovs, the level 4 helmet nerf, the rain weather preset, squad intent, the Wager vendor, and the new anti-air vehicle. Then the drama. The Lone Star cash and XP bonus worked so well it got pulled after a day, players who used the driver exploit to get tanks early got 24-hour bans and lost their progress, and Joe Brammer is in the replies.

Raz thinks bringing Season 3 forward is the right move. Jake thinks Bulkhead should have seen this coming and is worried they're already trying to please everyone. We also talk about a time-gating idea for gear and the 209K players still on Steam.

Then the Modern Warfare 4 campaign. It's getting called the best since MW2019, and Raz still doesn't care, because nobody plays Call of Duty for the campaign. Plus DMZ, and why Call of Duty should split Warzone and DMZ into their own games.

0:00 - Intro

1:39 - What's on today

2:20 - Patreon trivia night + upcoming games episode

4:40 - WARDOGS Season 2 is here

5:41 - Big Bear and Mount Ski Bump

6:49 - GTA 6 final trailer

8:01 - Season 2 patch notes: four new guns

10:19 - Words we learned from video games

12:10 - Molotovs and rangefinder batteries

14:31 - Defibrillator PSA

15:03 - Level 4 helmet nerf and suppression

17:12 - New vehicles and anti-air

19:22 - New buildables and rain

21:01 - Gold bars and the Wager vendor

23:25 - Squad intent, loadouts, pre-match football

26:31 - The Lone Star faction experiment

31:58 - T-shaped vs Y-shaped spawns

35:01 - Compound bow, controller fixes, faster leveling

37:10 - Blue bonus pulled: "We f***ed up"

42:03 - Driver exploit bans

46:52 - Limited mode servers

48:53 - Is Bulkhead's honesty refreshing?

52:25 - The X post: Season 3 is moving up

54:35 - You can't please everyone

58:23 - "Nobody is enjoying the climb"

1:01:35 - Fix idea: time-gating gear

1:06:21 - Joe's replies and the Twitter crybabies

1:13:17 - Tarkov and how long seasons should be

1:17:19 - 209K players: does the drama matter?

1:22:57 - MW4 campaign early access and the staggered launch

1:26:00 - Best CoD campaign ever?

1:28:12 - Two campaigns: Korea and Price

1:30:00 - Movable optics

1:31:06 - Best since MW2019 (and BO7's floating head)

1:32:05 - The JoeWo face and DMZ dread

1:33:39 - Split Call of Duty up

1:38:04 - The campaign's one silver lining

1:39:07 - Wrap: gloating next week

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #GamingTalk #WARDOGS #Bulkhead #ExtractionShooter #MW4 #ModernWarfare4 #CallOfDuty #DMZ #Warzone #EscapeFromTarkov #ArcRaiders #WARDOGSSeason2 #MW4Campaign #GTA6 #GamingNews #HotTake

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We go through Activision's MW4 DMZ Deep Dive Part 2 blog post, the full guide to the Forward Operating Base (FOB), section by section. Part 1 is on the Patreon.

Some of it is a real step up from DMZ 1: there's finally a stash, an actual DMZ cash economy, a vendor with rotating stock, weapon manuals you have to find and extract to unlock gunsmith builds, and three operator trait trees (Warfighter, Scout, Survivalist) that play pretty differently from each other.

The rest is where it falls apart for us. Minor traits are randomized, and prestige traits are random too, so you can't build the operator you want. Your bank is capped at a maximum amount of saved cash. Loot auto-breaks down into four crafting resources, and mission items get their own slot. The bounty system marks "Wanted" players on the tac map for everyone nearby while assimilated squads stay hidden. And the $100,000 cargo plane infil costs twice as much as the helicopter while doing less.

We also get into DMZ orders, survival kits and the Vault Edition, lieutenants and commanders on the Boss Board, the 3D printer, deployment options, and why this is the reason the show isn't a Call of Duty podcast anymore. Early access starts October 20th. We think it won't last past November.

0:00 - Intro

1:50 - DMZ 2 Blog Post Part 2

3:18 - Patron Hangout and D-Rock's Trivia

5:06 - Trunk-or-Treat

6:54 - The Forward Operating Base (FOB)

11:05 - Active Duty Operators

13:18 - Finally, a Stash

14:35 - Survival Kits and Bounty Board

16:58 - Boss Board: Lieutenants and Commanders

19:53 - The Vendor and DMZ Cash

21:41 - Gunsmith and Weapon Manuals

24:23 - Dog Tag Case

25:08 - Operator Station, MIA and Buybacks

31:24 - Warfighter, Scout, Survivalist Trait Trees

39:32 - Minor Traits Are Randomized

54:06 - Warfighter Traits (Quick Fix, Possum)

58:50 - Scout Traits

1:00:17 - Survivalist Traits and Last Stand

1:07:13 - Operator Prestige: Random Traits

1:18:40 - DMZ Orders and the Stash

1:21:50 - Your Bank Is Capped

1:27:37 - Loot Breaks Down Into Four Resources

1:30:50 - Loadouts, Backpacks and Mission Slots

1:34:44 - Survival Kits and the Vault Edition

1:37:24 - Bounties: Killers and Hunters

1:46:56 - Most Wanted Leaderboard and Tac Map Marker

1:51:05 - The 3D Printer

1:53:29 - Boss Board Details

1:54:32 - Vendor and Gunsmith

1:58:16 - Deployment Options: Helicopter vs Cargo Plane

2:01:27 - Why This Isn't a CoD Podcast Anymore

2:05:15 - Could DMZ 3 or 4 Be Good?

2:08:09 - Is This the Last DMZ?

2:09:16 - To the YouTube Commenters

2:15:47 - CoD Needs New Studios

2:17:25 - Wrap-Up and Bets

2:21:49 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #DropshotPodcast #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #DMZ #MW4 #ModernWarfare4 #CallofDuty #ExtractionShooter #Warzone #Tarkov #ArcRaiders #DMZ2 #CODNews #MW4DMZ #DMZEarlyAccess #HotTake #GamingNews #PodcastLife

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GTA 6 isn't even out yet and the Miami Heat are changing their name for it. On November 18th, the night before launch, the Heat become the Vice City Heat — new jerseys, a new court, a "Welcome to Vice City" sign, all on ESPN. Raz and Jake try to figure out what Rockstar paid, why the NBA said yes, and why Coca-Cola still bothers advertising at all.

Then the GTA 6 ESRB rating drops, and it says more than Rockstar has: decapitation and dismemberment, strip club private dances, and cocaine you can carry around and snort straight off your hand. Plus the NFL fining a guy for a fake beer celebration and cutting straight to a Bud Light ad.

Also: Steam's record $1.7B September, why gaming is the most cost-effective hobby on earth, Gears of War: E-Day, MW4 and DMZ, and everything changing in Wardogs Season 2 — progression wipe, rain maps, trait system, and the economy rebalance.

And to close it out: David Grusch's alien species lineup on Joe Rogan. Grays, 7-foot reptilians, "very beautiful" blue-white beings. Jake is convinced there are alien bases in the ocean and that we've explored way more than 5% of it. Raz brings up the Antarctic. Nobody wins.

0:00 - Intro

1:08 - Pre-show recap: does texture even matter?

2:35 - Patreon shoutouts

4:18 - What we're playing: Blood of Dawnwalker & Tarkov

5:55 - Open-world fatigue is real

9:38 - Crusader Kings 3 & a W for targeted ads

13:53 - GTA 6 is six weeks away

14:22 - The Miami Heat become the Vice City Heat

20:21 - The NBA's squeaky-clean image

25:16 - Why does Coca-Cola still advertise?

32:51 - What did Rockstar actually pay?

35:43 - GTA 6 ESRB rating: M for Mature

37:24 - Buying Vice City as a kid

38:15 - What the ESRB rating reveals

40:43 - Snorting coke off your hand in GTA 6

43:04 - NFL fines a fake beer, airs a Bud Light ad

47:12 - Will your nose collapse in GTA 6?

49:24 - Steam's record-breaking September

52:08 - Gaming's up

54:19 - Gaming is the best hobby, prove us wrong

1:00:18 - Real friends from video games

1:02:55 - Why Steam is a great company

1:05:54 - Ace Combat 8 & the origin of "Razinon"

1:06:33 - Gears of War: E-Day

1:08:39 - Star Wars Galactic Racer? Skip.

1:09:37 - MW4 & everything hinges on DMZ

1:10:55 - Wardogs Season 2: the progression wipe

1:12:38 - Rain maps: snipers and helis nerfed?

1:16:37 - Night matches in Wardogs?

1:17:11 - Economy rebalance: infantry needs a buff

1:19:47 - Give us a loadout builder

1:21:22 - Teased: anti-air, Molotovs & jets

1:23:02 - David Grusch on Joe Rogan

1:24:00 - The alien species lineup

1:29:41 - Disclosure before Trump's term ends?

1:31:31 - Underwater alien bases

1:32:15 - "We've only explored 5% of the ocean"

1:38:01 - Map our own planet first

1:39:40 - Why would aliens be beautiful?

1:40:19 - Outro

1:41:05 - Post-credits: the James Cameron argument

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #Dropshot #DropshotPodcast #GamingPodcast #GTA6 #GrandTheftAuto6 #ViceCity #Rockstar #Wardogs #Steam #PCGaming #MiamiHeat #ESRB #DavidGrusch #JoeRogan #UAP #Aliens #Podcast #GamingNews #HotTake

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Microsoft just handed the next mainline Halo to Activision, and two guys who ran a Call of Duty show for years have thoughts. Raz has been saying for five years that Halo should have made a battle royale, and he explains why it might already be too late. Jake makes the case that Halo is in such a bad spot that new developers can't make it worse, and asks what Call of Duty's monetization playbook will do to it.

Then Warzone's new operator skin toggle: MW4 lets you swap every Nicki Minaj and Squid Game skin for a grounded military operator, but only on your screen. Is that the best of both worlds, or a way to please nobody? Plus Call of Duty getting Community Noted, MW4's locked carry-forward guns, and the rumored Game Pass tier with ads.

GTA 6's $400 collector's edition doesn't come with GTA 6. We go through every item in the box, and it turns out to be a cocaine bundle. Rockstar's Miami takeover, the city council vote on GTA 6 beach umbrellas, and whether this is the first video game that could actually move crime numbers.

Also: the WARDOGS price increase drama, Sombra moving to support in Overwatch, and Arc Raiders adding a PvE-only mode.

0:00 Intro

3:11 Patreon news and the hangout recap

8:51 Raz on Twitch and Pathfinder

10:30 Why Raz always plays evil

15:05 The BG3 dog dilemma

16:36 Remember Craigslist?

17:42 Halo is a Call of Duty studio now

20:07 Halo should have made a battle royale

22:46 Can Activision save Halo?

26:55 Bring back Forge mode

33:35 First CoD thing in the next Halo

35:57 The Halo show and video game movies

41:10 Obsidian, Rare and the Xbox shuffle

42:24 Is Xbox still a console company?

43:40 Game Pass with ads

48:27 Warzone's operator skin toggle

50:16 MW4's locked carry-forward guns

54:43 Call of Duty gets Community Noted

1:00:35 Would we turn the toggle on?

1:03:16 GTA 6's $400 collector's edition

1:05:40 It's a cocaine bundle

1:12:43 Rockstar's Miami takeover

1:16:01 Miami Beach votes on GTA 6 ads

1:20:37 Spotify x GTA 6

1:23:56 The biggest entertainment launch ever?

1:25:11 Why everyone plays evil in GTA

1:26:04 Does GTA 6 marketing even matter?

1:28:46 WARDOGS price hike drama

1:31:47 Sombra moves to support

1:37:18 Arc Raiders adds a PvE mode

1:41:00 Abandon hope, Arc Raiders fans

1:46:51 Wrap-up: Halo of Duty

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

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Call of Duty is done with Black Ops, and Modern Warfare 4 is the "epic conclusion" of the Task Force 141 story. We think it's the smartest call Activision has made in years. It only matters if the next series changes the game as much as jetpacks did, and a new name and new villains won't do that.

We also make a prediction: Call of Duty will copy WARDOGS. It happened with PUBG and Warzone, then with Tarkov and DMZ, and now WARDOGS has sold over 2 million copies and peaked at 428,000 concurrent players on Steam. Raz guarantees Infinity Ward is already being told to build it.

Also covered: WARDOGS one week into early access, the drill-spam meta, the mortar complaints, why we still think no monetization is a mistake, and the Bulkhead CEO crunch controversy (we don't see the problem). Then GTA 6 Online reportedly landing in 2027, why the PC version probably comes with it, and what GTA 6 does to MW4 and WARDOGS in November. We finish with WoW Forever, Aion 2, and an investigation into whether any elves have round ears.

Raz still wins either way.

0:00 - Intro: Big Jacob of Nibiru

2:05 - Patreon hangout & Death by AI

6:01 - WARDOGS one week in: 2M sold, 428K peak

9:24 - Balance complaints & the drill meta

13:40 - There Will Be Blood is overrated

15:01 - Bulkhead devs on Twitter & the loadout fix

17:16 - Mike Tyson's impregnable defense

20:09 - You either love a game or you're good at it

23:29 - No monetization is still a mistake

30:38 - Still in the honeymoon phase

33:07 - WARDOGS CEO crunch controversy

38:26 - Treyarch is done with Black Ops

42:20 - CoD needs a jetpack-level shake-up

46:33 - Future setting vs. grounded CoD

49:24 - Prediction: CoD will copy WARDOGS

57:08 - DMZ2 is going to fail

1:01:41 - CoD fans: don't get excited yet

1:03:53 - Wolverine hand-holding & NICKMERCS on Tarkov

1:06:30 - Why extraction shooters must be hardcore

1:10:22 - Mads Mikkelsen & MW4

1:11:07 - Does Raz come back to CoD?

1:15:53 - GTA 6 Online in 2027

1:21:52 - GTA 6 PC will launch with Online

1:24:15 - What GTA 6 does to MW4 & WARDOGS

1:30:47 - WoW Forever enters beta

1:32:45 - The elf investigation

1:34:49 - Aion 2

1:37:49 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

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#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips

Gaming topics: #WARDOGS #CallOfDuty #BlackOps #ModernWarfare4 #Warzone #DMZ2 #Bulkhead

#GTA6 #GTA6Online #Treyarch #WoWForever #Aion2

#GamingNews #HotTake #Prediction #GamingTakes

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WARDOGS launched into Early Access on Thursday, peaked at roughly 340,000 concurrent players on Steam, went straight to the #1 seller spot — and got review bombed down to Mixed at the same time. Raz has 8.5 hours in since launch. Jake has 0.0, because Tarkov currently has him in a chokehold. So this one is a split: what WARDOGS actually plays like two days in, and what the launch looked like from the back of a 138,000-person queue.

We get into whether a negative Steam review about a queue is a legitimate review, what Bulkhead actually did to fix the bottleneck overnight, Valve's rate limits, the wrongful ban wave, and the accusation that Shroud and every other big streamer got whitelisted while paying customers sat in line.

Then it turns into the streamer economy: TimTheTatman calling WARDOGS boring and getting cooked for it, ARC Raiders reportedly offering him six figures to come back, and whether paying a streamer $100,000 actually sells a single copy. Plus the drill strat that's quietly deciding matches, and why $40 for forty hours is the cheapest hobby on earth. One of us thinks most people never read a review before they buy. The other refuses to believe it.

0:00 - Intro

1:53 - Welcome to Episode 604

3:04 - Patron Shoutout + the "What Is Hardcore?" Bonus Ep

5:47 - 8.5 Hours vs 0.0 Hours

7:16 - 340K Players, Mixed Reviews

7:57 - First Impressions: "Varied"

10:41 - The 12-Kill SKS Run

13:33 - What Changed From the Beta

15:14 - Why Jake Hasn't Touched It

16:31 - Tarkov Has Him in a Chokehold

19:28 - The Recon Grind and Starter Gear Pain

24:07 - "The SKS Isn't Good"

27:47 - Looting Better Gear Off No-Lifers

28:01 - The Queue: 138,000th in Line

29:24 - Review Bombed to Mixed

32:55 - What Did They Actually Do to Fix It?

38:38 - Did Streamers Skip the Queue?

43:12 - The Miami Nightclub Argument

47:53 - Valve Rate Limits and the CEO's Panic

50:18 - Wrongful Bans and Where Refunds Start

54:33 - Bulkhead Are Gamers and It Shows

56:00 - The CEO Reacted to a Whole Review Video

58:14 - Joe Brammer's Pea-Shooter Sniper Excuse

1:01:08 - Is a Launch-Day Negative Review Legit?

1:05:04 - Which Streamers Are Still Playing

1:06:01 - TimTheTatman Says WARDOGS Is Boring

1:11:41 - Should Streamers Care What Chat Wants?

1:17:40 - Will Anyone Still Be Playing in a Week?

1:20:25 - ARC Raiders Offered Him Six Figures

1:24:24 - Do Paid Streamers Actually Sell Games?

1:34:24 - Cutting Boards vs Video Games

1:42:34 - The Project Zomboid Counterexample

1:43:18 - Make a Good Game, People Will Play It

1:45:51 - $40 for 40 Hours

1:53:54 - Tabling the WARDOGS Deep Dive

1:54:56 - The Drill Strat Is Winning Games

1:57:38 - How the Meta Is Already Shifting

2:02:31 - Starting Late? Here's the Play

2:03:26 - Looting Your Teammate Before Reviving

2:04:54 - Do We Recommend WARDOGS? + Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

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#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #GamingCulture #WARDOGS #Bulkhead #EarlyAccess #ExtractionShooter #TacticalShooter #EscapeFromTarkov #ARCRaiders #TimTheTatman #Shroud #ReviewBomb #SteamReviews #StreamerDrama #GamingNews #FPS #PCGaming #PodcastClips #HotTake

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The first FPS Games Show happened, and the two biggest things in it both came from the guy who's had Escape from Tarkov in beta for a decade. Nikita opened the whole showcase with Fragmentary Order — sci-fi, Unreal Engine 5, maps four to five times the size of Tarkov's, and a promise that it'll be "more complex, more punishing, more painful."

Then Battlestate turned around and launched a publishing arm for hardcore games nobody else will fund, with devs keeping their full IP. We go deep on both: whether a game more complex than Tarkov is a game anyone actually plays, why Tarkov's bloat (two types of croutons, twenty types of Keter ammo) is the thing a fresh start fixes, and why every extraction shooter after Tarkov has failed for the same reason — they weren't hardcore enough.

Also: Bulkhead built this entire showcase because a trailer slot elsewhere runs $300,000 for 60 seconds, then immediately fumbled their own big Wardogs announcement into a clip contest. Plus Tarkov's PvE player base hitting 50%, and Star Wars Zero Company. Timestamps below. Let us know if Fragmentary Order is going to be a bust or a banger.

0:00 - Intro

2:35 - The FPS Games Show

4:21 - The Wardogs beta and what's coming at launch

7:03 - Fragmentary Order: first impressions

9:03 - Tarkov's three real problems

10:52 - It's not Battlestate — Nikita's new studio

12:50 - "More complex, more punishing, more painful"

18:33 - Tarkov's bloat problem

20:09 - How sci-fi is this actually going to be?

25:55 - "Not an extraction shooter" — Nikita's combat simulator

30:18 - Why Unreal Engine 5

37:41 - Is there a release date?

43:14 - When will Fragmentary Order actually be playable?

45:21 - Tarkov is old and it looks it

48:47 - Battlestate Games is a publisher now

58:09 - What does a game publisher actually do?

1:02:04 - "Make hardcore live forever" — mission or marketing?

1:04:27 - Extraction shooters aren't dead, arcade shooters are

1:08:00 - Does this change the Tarkov roadmap?

1:12:44 - $300,000 for 60 seconds

1:14:42 - Genre showcases vs. the big generic ones

1:19:28 - Bulkhead's Wardogs announcement flops

1:23:15 - Who actually wins the $100K?

1:25:18 - Everything else from the show

1:26:39 - Road to Vostok, Ready or Not, Hell Let Loose

1:28:30 - Beautiful Light

1:32:49 - Gray Zone Warfare is "entering alpha"

1:34:50 - Tarkov PvE is 50% of the player base

1:40:05 - Is seasonal PvP actually worse?

1:47:11 - Star Wars Zero Company

1:53:50 - Grievous vs. Darth Maul

1:55:21 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

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We played the Modern Warfare 4 beta this weekend — including Warzone and the new Zodiac Resurgence map — and it took about fifteen minutes to know it was over. Not "this year is mid" over. Over over.

This is the episode where a podcast that ran on Call of Duty for 600+ episodes says out loud that it's done. Raz makes the case that nothing else in an FPS matters if you can't see or hear the enemy, and everything else — weapon levels, perks, pipe climbing, the spawns everyone's arguing about on X — is fixing a leaky bathtub while the house burns down. Jake breaks down why CoD only takes from him now, why the lobbies are nothing but sweat, and the exact point where min-maxing your controller, your router and your ZIP code stopped being worth it.

Also in this one: the Zodiac verdict (better than Area 99, roughly Haven's Hollow), the weekend 2 nerf pass, the 60% negative Steam reviews, why Warzone was in the beta at all, and a DMZ 2 prediction we're standing behind. Then a palate cleanser — Star Wars Zero Company, permadeath, and a first playthrough Raz completely ruined — plus a brutal Tarkov week, the Tarkov roadmap, GTA 6's Netflix look, and WARDOGS.

Jake wanted it to be good. Raz stopped wanting that years ago. This time they agree.

0:00 - Intro

1:10 - New patrons and the latest bonus episodes

3:26 - Our first patron Discord hangout (and Death by AI)

6:10 - "The MW4 Beta Broke Us"

6:22 - How fast did we know?

9:25 - "If I can't see the guy, nothing else matters"

10:17 - The raging inferno analogy

14:55 - "Call of Duty is dead"

15:10 - Jake: CoD only takes from me now

20:49 - Everyone is min-maxing (and moving for zero ping)

23:26 - SBMM, the missing casuals, and sweat-only lobbies

26:03 - Splitgate Reloaded and the death of 6v6 arcade shooters

27:40 - Warzone: the audio, the visibility, the haze

30:12 - Rolling the dice on what bullshit you get this year

31:28 - Bring back Caldera — at least it was different

37:28 - The first thing that felt wrong: audio

37:54 - Weekend 2's nerf pass: Tac Sprint, slides, TTK

40:44 - 60% negative Steam reviews and the player drop

41:52 - The Zodiac verdict vs. Area 99 and Haven's Hollow

42:50 - Why was Warzone in the beta at all?

47:16 - No custom loadouts, and the guns aren't fun to shoot

49:07 - "Activision devs do not play their own game"

50:18 - The one dev we ever ran into in Warzone

53:34 - The Quick Fix perk they "fixed" twice

57:07 - "Where does that put us? I give you Zodiac"

59:12 - Skipping a year, or actually done?

1:04:14 - What it would take to get us back

1:07:00 - Call of Duty is your old restaurant job

1:08:08 - "I want everyone that works there to suffer"

1:09:00 - It's a leadership problem — fire Infinity Ward

1:13:02 - Prediction: MW4 three months after launch

1:16:06 - The DMZ 2 prediction

1:24:17 - Palate cleanser: Star Wars Zero Company

1:32:45 - Permadeath, injuries, and squad bonds

1:34:36 - "This playthrough is fucked"

1:36:57 - Is it the Star Wars or the game underneath?

1:37:51 - Reviews, performance, and is it worth $50

1:38:50 - Eight classes, Overwatch combos, and base upgrades

1:44:46 - It should have been co-op

1:45:49 - Tarkov: best raid of the week

1:46:41 - The Customs transit raid that actually worked

1:50:02 - Worst raid: baited in the Reserve bunker

1:53:04 - The KS-23 rat that bled us out

1:54:39 - Camped at D2 twice in a row

1:59:49 - The bathroom extract death

2:02:34 - Why this wipe feels so much harder

2:05:18 - Tarkov roadmap: ranked, revives, simplified GPS

2:08:24 - GTA 6's Netflix extended look

2:10:31 - WARDOGS extraction and PvE prototypes

2:11:00 - Wrap-up

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

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Two shooter betas dropped on the same weekend, so we played both and came back with very different verdicts. WARDOGS is Bulkhead's 100-player, three-team tactical shooter with a real money economy — you buy your loadout every respawn, you lose money when you die, and it turns out that changes how a match actually feels. Modern Warfare 4 finally dumps omnimovement, removes bloom from hipfire, and put a campaign mission in the beta for the first time ever.

We get into the WARDOGS recon grind and the 5.56 break-action "sniper" that shouldn't exist, the money system and whether it creates real gear fear, three-team fights and whether they actually matter, spawn vehicles as an infinite money glitch, base building and anti-air, and why there is never — not once, not ever — an unoccupied tower. On the CoD side: how the movement feels without omnimovement, no-bloom hipfire on keyboard and mouse, opening-night demon lobbies, whether Warzone and DMZ2 have a chance, and the annual spawns discourse that needs to die. Jake played both. Raz refused to pre-order. Somehow they still ended up disagreeing.

0:00 - Intro

2:26 - How to even get into these betas

2:50 - "I'm not pre-ordering this pile of shit game"

3:23 - Patreon, the FPS lore bonus episode, and the patron hangout

6:09 - Gut check: which beta did we keep loading back into?

6:39 - Jake played the MW4 campaign mission first thing in the morning

8:10 - Opening night of the CoD beta was as sweaty as it gets

11:09 - The WARDOGS recon grind is making the game worse

12:22 - The 5.56 break-action "sniper" that should not exist

13:31 - Two gripes: no free look, and you can't reload while sprinting

15:10 - Recon 10, the Mosin, and a $50,000 unlock

16:41 - There's loot on top of the towers — finding an SV-98

17:44 - What surprised us

18:43 - MW4 movement with no omnimovement

21:48 - So what's actually new in MW4? Pipes and underhand grenades

23:21 - Keyboard and mouse, and the no-bloom hipfire

25:26 - Did we quit a session annoyed? Demon lobbies on day one

26:36 - Ground War and looser SBMM next weekend

27:21 - "The MW4 beta had more concurrent players than BO7's peak"

28:20 - Spawn vehicles and the infinite money glitch

30:25 - Learning to fly the helicopter (badly)

32:19 - Chopper runs are the easiest money in the game

33:50 - Base building, FOBs and anti-air

35:26 - Best moment of the weekend: spawn camping a Lone Star vehicle

36:36 - Pro tip: pack a second optic and hot swap

37:58 - Claymores and tower loot

38:53 - Class leveling and why the grind is a good thing

40:06 - Tanks, attack helicopters, and getting strafed off a roof

43:56 - Do three teams actually change anything?

47:36 - The money system: did it change how you played?

52:01 - Gear fear — "I'm here to PvP"

53:59 - We want there to be consequences to dying

56:06 - Bandages, revives, and running out of resources

58:38 - The crane fight and the parachute escape

1:01:31 - There is never an unoccupied tower

1:03:04 - Shotguns, SMGs, and the two-primary backpack build

1:05:42 - Could a kit ever get too expensive to fight over?

1:09:00 - Armor, AP rounds, and no hit markers

1:10:27 - The SKS chamber bug

1:11:46 - Tac sprint in WARDOGS is driving us insane

1:13:41 - Proning while ADS, and other small friction

1:14:42 - People who refuse to learn a new game

1:19:07 - Who is WARDOGS actually for?

1:21:20 - You can't win if everyone's Bob the Builder

1:22:28 - The one type of player this game won't work for

1:24:39 - Give it a real try before you refund it

1:26:53 - Hesco barriers and why building matters

1:27:18 - MW4 first impressions: movement and gunplay

1:28:38 - The annual spawns discourse needs to stop

1:33:36 - Warzone and DMZ2: the fundamentals are finally sound

1:34:29 - "Will they be good? No" — the prediction

1:35:42 - "It just looks like MW2" is a lazy take

1:37:35 - We are done talking about graphics

1:40:44 - What we're testing next weekend

1:41:10 - Should you buy WARDOGS? And the refund loophole

1:42:11 - Patreon, the hangout, and outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 600. On August 21st the Modern Warfare 4 early access beta, the WARDOGS closed beta, and Call of Duty NEXT all land on the same day — and the two games are asking for wildly different amounts of money.

We go through everything Activision is cramming into the MW4 beta: a playable campaign mission called Entrenched, six multiplayer maps, the return of Ground War, and a brand new Warzone Resurgence map called Zodiac. Then we put odds on whether any of it actually works over a single weekend. Spoiler: 20%.

Omnimovement is gone. We get into what replaced it, whether removing it was a gameplay decision or a marketing one, and why "you can climb pipes now" is the funniest thing Infinity Ward has ever put in a press release.

On the WARDOGS side: $39.99 Early Access on September 10, over a million Steam wishlists, and a promise of no in-game monetization that came out of one very bad Reddit post. We argue that the promise is a mistake — and that the most consumer-friendly thing a game can do is just be good.

Plus DMZ2, aim assist, and why Infinity Ward is about to be spread way too thin.

0:00 - Intro — 600 episodes

2:09 - Patreon free trials all August

4:02 - Patron hangout: August 28th

5:30 - Two betas, one Friday

6:49 - MW4 beta dates and the pre-order wall

7:44 - A campaign mission in a beta — a CoD first

10:23 - The battle dad theory

13:24 - Discord Nitro gets you in free

15:28 - All six multiplayer maps

16:06 - Ground War is back

20:24 - Zodiac: a new Resurgence map in the beta

23:56 - Modes, and the ones held back

25:33 - 19 weapons and a fake pre-order camo

26:59 - "It's gonna be a buggy fucking disaster"

28:51 - Putting the odds at 20%

31:13 - Why I win either way

33:23 - No more omnimovement

33:48 - Climbing pipes is just a ladder

35:58 - Was omnimovement actually better?

40:22 - Mantling as the Warzone middle ground

43:06 - What actually makes you a casual?

51:12 - WARDOGS

51:50 - Closed beta August 21–23

53:30 - Three maps at launch? We're skeptical

55:14 - The one thing WARDOGS is missing

56:54 - $39.99 Early Access, September 10

58:34 - September is not summer

1:00:32 - No monetization in Early Access

1:00:48 - The Reddit post that caused it

1:05:19 - "Consumer friendly" doesn't mean this

1:09:25 - The upside of by-gamers-for-gamers

1:10:09 - When to tell your fans to fuck off

1:19:09 - Is $40 the right price?

1:21:21 - 800,000 Steam wishlists

1:22:38 - Make that a million

1:26:39 - This puts Bulkhead on the map

1:28:22 - MW4 vs WARDOGS, side by side

1:29:25 - Which beta are you actually excited for?

1:31:27 - DMZ2 is the real unknown

1:34:58 - A piece of toast and not enough butter

1:40:03 - Aim assist is why I don't play CoD

1:42:55 - In defence of shit-can lobbies

1:46:13 - The August 21st collision, revisited

1:49:42 - What we've been playing

1:49:51 - Overwatch: bronze 5 to gold 3

1:54:43 - They added a rank called Emerald

1:57:27 - First team kill of the wipe

1:59:44 - Cope shotguns Jake from ten feet

2:04:24 - Tarkov level 35 and the Lighthouse rework

2:06:14 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #ModernWarfare4 #MW4Beta #CallOfDuty #WARDOGS #Bulkhead #Warzone #GroundWar #Omnimovement #DMZ2 #CODNext #EarlyAccess #EscapeFromTarkov #Steam #GamingNews #HotTake #FPS #PCGaming

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Imagine Battlefield, but dying matters. That's the WARDOGS closed alpha in one sentence — and after a weekend in it, we're calling it the most polished alpha we've ever played.

WARDOGS is Bulkhead and Team17's 100-player tactical shooter: three factions, one randomized control zone, first side to 100 points wins. You start with $10,000, you buy your loadout from in-game vendors, and when you die you lose the gear AND the money you spent on it. The money carries between matches. You can loot the guy you just killed and walk away with a level 30 kit you couldn't buy for another six hours.

In this episode: what the alpha actually plays like, why the economy isn't the gimmick people think it is, how three-way faction warfare changes your strategy, the 256 square kilometre map, destructible towers, the reviving system Battlefield should steal, TTK and gunplay, why an Arma 3 King of the Hill mod is the reason none of this feels half-baked — and the two things that genuinely pissed us off.

Plus the final verdict, the scores, and the one thing that could still ruin this game.

Raz thinks it's a flawless alpha. Jake wants free look. Neither of us can stop playing it.

0:00 - Intro

1:14 - Patreon, free trials and the hangout

3:58 - What WARDOGS actually is

4:21 - Two things we had wrong before playing

6:07 - Unlock fees and gear progression

7:51 - The NDA that stopped us streaming

8:23 - Control zone, hot zone and how you score

11:01 - You can't group with your friends

12:59 - "It's so fun I don't recommend you play it"

14:33 - Jake's first impressions

18:07 - The best-performing alpha we've ever played

20:20 - How three factions changes your strategy

23:38 - Battlefield, but dying matters

25:43 - Looting kills and juicer kits

30:39 - Does the control zone actually move?

33:44 - Destructible towers and the M1 Abrams

35:59 - FOBs, spawn trucks and sandbags

40:00 - Infantry desperately needs free look

42:57 - The tutorial is actually good

43:58 - Does 100 players feel full?

47:26 - The log truck last stand

50:19 - Snipers and no scope glint

52:12 - Onboarding and the backpack system

55:15 - The loadout presets they need to add

57:06 - The kill cam that shows too much

58:18 - The milsim/arcade sweet spot

1:02:27 - Why it works: 10 years of Arma King of the Hill

1:04:45 - Visibility matters more than audio

1:08:50 - TTK, armor and ammo types

1:11:04 - Weapons: AK vs T21

1:14:15 - Gunfights that are actually gunfights

1:16:44 - Movement and traversal

1:20:56 - Reviving, defibs and why Battlefield gets it wrong

1:25:01 - Spawn trucks and the ride back to the fight

1:26:26 - Vehicles handle weird

1:28:58 - The first Unreal Engine 5 game that actually runs

1:29:32 - The money mechanic explained

1:35:02 - Is there gear fear?

1:37:56 - Why the economy isn't a gimmick

1:42:34 - What a max-level meta kit will cost

1:44:52 - Wipes, seasons and gold bars

1:47:31 - Selling ammo to your own team

1:49:42 - 256 square kilometers

1:56:30 - Time of day and future maps

1:57:59 - Who is this game actually for?

2:02:12 - Why Tarkov is too complicated

2:06:58 - Will we still be playing in six months?

2:10:00 - The one thing that could ruin it: anti-cheat

2:12:11 - Final verdict and scores

2:15:21 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #DropshotPodcast #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #WARDOGS #Bulkhead #Team17 #TacticalShooter #FPS #PCGaming #Battlefield #EscapeFromTarkov #HellLetLoose #Arma3 #WardogsAlpha #ClosedAlpha #NewFPS #EarlyAccess #GameReview #FirstImpressions #HotTake

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On Tuesday, Electronic Arts stops being a public company. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners are closing a $55 billion all-cash buyout — the largest leveraged buyout of a public company in history — and PIF walks away with 93.4% of Madden, FIFA, Apex, The Sims, Battlefield and BioWare.

So we spent half the episode on what that actually means: what going private does to a publisher, the $20 billion in debt that lands on EA itself, whether sports betting is the obvious way to service it, and what happens to queer characters in BioWare games under this ownership. Plus the question nobody answers honestly — is boycotting Madden a real position, or does it just feel good?

Then the other half. Tarkov's first post-launch wipe and the Kord Breach seasons drop August 3, so we get into the state of the game right before it resets. Overwatch Champions Series is live in Paris, and the jetpack cat strat does not translate to Silver. And Baldur's Gate 3's new true third-person camera mod set the internet on fire — someone told modders to be nuked off the face of the earth over an optional camera angle in a single-player game.

Jake wants a normal third-person view in everything. Raz is a Larian hipster who was there before BG3. WARDOGS Alpha hits Friday.

0:00 - Intro

0:50 - Pop Quiz: Name That Tarkov AI

2:41 - Patreon Free Trials & August Hangouts

6:37 - WARDOGS Alpha Drops August 7

8:43 - Escape From Tarkov: Back In It

10:50 - Raz Gets Mogged All Wipe Long

16:36 - Jake's Week in Tarkov

22:49 - Tarkov Is the Dark Souls of FPS

24:19 - Overwatch: Bronze 5 to Silver 3

26:12 - Overwatch Champions Series in Paris

27:11 - The Jetpack Cat + Bastion A-10 Strat

31:50 - Saudi Arabia Is Buying EA for $55 Billion

44:23 - Going Private: Actually Good for Games?

50:47 - The $20 Billion Leveraged Buyout

52:15 - The Sports Betting Theory

55:55 - Nobody Here Bets on Anything

1:00:15 - Tangent: The Intel Bet That Paid 500%

1:02:49 - $166 Billion Wagered in 2025

1:04:08 - Why Do People Watch Gambling Streams?

1:05:10 - Gambling Ads and Kids

1:07:23 - There Is No Moral Panic Here

1:15:53 - "Creative Control" and What It's Worth

1:18:29 - Khashoggi, Non-Disparagement, Game-Washing

1:22:10 - Queer Characters, BioWare, and Veilguard

1:26:02 - Would You Still Buy It? (Yes)

1:28:37 - Is Boycotting Madden a Real Position?

1:31:30 - The BG3 Third-Person Camera Mod

1:32:11 - What the Mod Actually Does

1:36:25 - The Two Camps

1:37:52 - Raz Is a Larian Hipster

1:40:06 - Genre Purism: Is Isometric Load-Bearing?

1:42:20 - Jake Writes Off Every Top-Down Game

1:45:11 - The Elden Ring Summons Crowd

1:47:27 - Divinity's Camera, Confirmed

1:48:05 - Larian Shot Down WASD Movement

1:55:35 - That Divinity Trailer

1:57:37 - Why DOS2 Combat Beats BG3

2:01:44 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #DropshotPodcast #GamingPodcast #Jakedown #Razinon #EscapeFromTarkov #Tarkov #KordBreach #Overwatch #OWCS #BaldursGate3 #BG3 #LarianStudios #Divinity #WARDOGS #EA #ElectronicArts #SaudiArabia #GamingNews #GamingIndustry #PodcastClips #HotTake #GamingClips

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

WARDOGS ran its first ever gameplay livestream this week and it went about as well as you'd expect from a studio full of guys in their late twenties: the alpha codes were a QR-code disaster, the stream started two hours late, and it ended with a Twitch ban for throwing a sex toy across the room. And yet — the actual gameplay looked incredible. We break down everything we saw: the enormous map, the three-team control zone loop, the destructible environments, the buy menu, and why Bulkhead's 60 FPS performance floor and "gamers first, devs second" attitude has us more hyped for this game than anything else on the calendar. Plus: is a monthly subscription for better servers and anti-cheat a genuinely good idea or the start of a slippery slope?

Then it's Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, which just opened its first free crossplay playtest on the new Đắk Tô Airfield map — the performance is fixed, the hit reg is fixed, and the map is a massive upgrade over that awful jungle one. And Battlefield 6 Season 4 finally brought naval warfare, Tsuru Reef, and a Top Gun crossover that people are somehow mad about.

We close with what we've actually been playing — Overwatch ranked, Stellaris Nomads, a lot of Tarkov, and one MMO Raz will absolutely keep playing despite telling you not to touch it.

Jake's out here getting one-tapped in Tarkov. Raz is defending a game he just called a pile of dog shit. Business as usual.

0:00 - Intro

1:40 - Patreon + Welcome To The New Gold Patrons

3:21 - Patreon Hangouts Are Back In August

4:40 - WARDOGS Ran Its First Gameplay Livestream

5:42 - QR Code Chaos, A Flying Dildo, And A Twitch Ban

6:52 - The Gameplay Though? Actually Incredible

10:56 - This Map Might Be Too Big

13:37 - Why A Huge Map Makes Your Life Matter

15:24 - The Buy Menu vs. Tarkov's Nightmare Menu

16:14 - WARDOGS Isn't Really A New Genre

18:38 - Flight Of The Valkyries In A Helicopter

19:35 - Three Teams, Base Building, And What We Didn't See

21:46 - The Devs Are Just A Bunch Of Bros (And That's Good)

23:58 - Shock Collars And Shots At Hasan

25:27 - The Performance Dev Vlog: 60 FPS Is The Floor

29:44 - Gamers First, Devs Second

30:39 - 650,000 Wishlists vs. 5,000 Expected Players

36:28 - Joe Brammer's Monthly Subscription Idea

41:39 - What Will WARDOGS Actually Cost?

46:55 - Reddit Hates The Subscription Idea

49:44 - BF6 Isn't Unpopular Because Of Microtransactions

53:17 - The Alpha Isn't Until August 7th And That's Annoying

56:50 - Hell Let Loose: Vietnam Got Pushed Back

58:08 - Dak To Airfield First Impressions

1:00:08 - Napalm Strikes And Viet Cong Tunnels

1:01:57 - Why The First Beta Was A Disaster

1:04:39 - If Every Map Is Jungle, This Game Is DOA

1:08:02 - Free Crossplay Weekend, Ends Monday

1:09:40 - Will WARDOGS Have Controller Support?

1:11:55 - Battlefield 6 Season 4: Naval Warfare Finally

1:13:00 - Tsuru Reef Is Big, Bright, And Actually Fun

1:14:57 - The Bloom In This Game Is Infuriating

1:16:41 - Driving The New Warship

1:17:21 - Wake Island And The Top Gun Crossover

1:20:39 - RedSec Added Bots. Obviously.

1:21:02 - Aircraft Carrier Facts Nobody Asked For

1:23:13 - WARDOGS Is The Only Thing That Matters

1:25:11 - What We've Been Playing: Climbing Out Of Bronze

1:26:30 - Stellaris Nomads

1:27:52 - Do NOT Play Star Wars: The Old Republic

1:29:14 - Jake's Tarkov Problem

1:30:57 - Seasonal Character, Wipes, And Cheaters

1:33:39 - Why It's Been A Slow Few Months For Games

1:36:17 - If You Play Shooters, You Have To Play Tarkov

1:37:20 - Star Wars Zero Company (No Co-Op, Sadly)

1:38:25 - Outro + Patreon Hangouts

1:39:30 - Oh, And Black Ops 7 SBMM News

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Infinity Ward just had its biggest Modern Warfare 4 reveal week yet — and the community immediately found the flaws. We break down everything shown at the MW4 creator event and Fanatics Fest: the Kill Block modular map with 500+ configurations, the gunplay reveal and the instant visual recoil backlash, VFX masking, no-bloom hipfire, doors, takedowns, proximity chat, and the Aston Martin Dreadnought that quietly confirmed Warzone isn't dead yet.

Then the real question: MW4 looks like MW19 2.0 — but is a well-executed return to form enough in 2026? We get into why the arcade shooter can't hold anyone's attention all year anymore, why the "third game mode" is the entire Call of Duty paradigm now, and why everything — the game, the year, maybe the franchise's momentum — is riding on DMZ2. Plus: why you should treat beta weekend two as the final verdict, because beta tests aren't beta tests anymore.

Also announced: monthly Patreon hangouts are BACK starting in August — hot take open mics, trivia, and more. patreon.com/thedropshot

One of us is buying in. One of us has seen this movie before. You know how this goes.

0:00 - Intro

1:18 - MW4 reveal week: how we got here

3:30 - Patreon hangouts are BACK (August)

8:31 - Topic of the week: the MW4 reveal

9:07 - Kill Block: the shapeshifting map

15:01 - Was Kill Block worth the dev time?

20:00 - Kill Block in a BR? The bigger idea

25:15 - The gunplay reveal & firing range video

27:56 - Realism vs. fun: the two camps

30:06 - The visual recoil backlash

34:08 - Jake: I'll take Infinity Ward's flaws

35:48 - Raz: "Wouldn't it be nice?"

42:22 - VFX masking & visual noise

43:51 - The feedback honeypot pattern

48:43 - Bullets punch holes through smoke

51:09 - Underhand grenade throws

53:15 - "MW2 with improvements?" debate

57:27 - Raz: it's just more CoD slop

1:01:10 - Is a return to form enough in 2026?

1:07:49 - The third-game-mode paradigm

1:15:23 - Did Aston Martin just confirm Warzone?

1:16:31 - The Warzone fan's dilemma

1:19:10 - Doors, takedowns & prox chat

1:21:39 - No-bloom hipfire & the Tarkov skill gap

1:27:44 - The Aston Martin Dreadnought

1:31:51 - Combined-arms big maps

1:34:25 - Raz's beta advice

1:36:17 - Where is CoD Next?

1:39:21 - Wrap-up & what we're playing

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Black Flag Resynced just became the biggest Assassin's Creed launch in history — and it's a remake of a 13-year-old game with mixed Steam reviews. The boys break down the day-one microtransaction backlash, whether the remake gold rush is good for gaming, and which classics deserve the full ground-up treatment next.

Then it gets heavier: Microsoft's July layoff wave hit Bethesda and ZeniMax hard, and Raz makes the case that AI is a top-three reason why. Plus the office memorial HR forced down, 14 layers of management, and why Elder Scrolls 6 should have shipped a decade ago. Also on the docket: Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations DLC and its Metroidvania-inspired level design, Stop Killing Games taking Ls in the EU and California (and the list of "dying" games nobody has ever heard of), the full corrected rundown of Tarkov's Kord Breach Season 1 modifiers, and the BO2 remaster shipping with bugs that were patched a decade ago. One host thinks the ownership question matters. The other thinks the market already answered it. You know how this goes.

0:00 - Intro

3:48 - Black Flag Resynced: biggest AC launch ever

12:35 - The day-one microtransaction backlash

24:29 - Remakes are the new meta

34:19 - Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations DLC

42:29 - Bethesda layoffs

43:35 - Did AI cause the layoffs?

47:50 - The office memorial HR took down

53:43 - Where the hell is Elder Scrolls 6?

1:01:12 - AAA studios don't take risks anymore

1:07:45 - Stop Killing Games takes two Ls

1:10:01 - Roasting the "games being killed" list

1:16:47 - Our AI's $70 take gets destroyed

1:18:51 - Brazil is bigger than Australia??

1:20:52 - Gold injections & ayahuasca (don't)

1:26:43 - Tarkov Kord Breach: what we got wrong

1:40:28 - BO2 remaster: same bugs, 12 years later

1:41:49 - Jake's Tarkov check-in

1:45:38 - Announcements & Patreon

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

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Format: #GamingDebate #HotTake #Shorts #FYP

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Valve's Steam Machine reviews are in — and the verdict is brutal: by most measures it's slightly less powerful than a base PS5 while costing more than double. We break down the benchmarks, why Valve went semi-custom on the chips, and whether "access to the entire Steam library" is worth the price of admission. Before that, we go deep on Escape from Tarkov's first-ever season, Cord Breach — the new seasonal character system, the Path of Exile-style trait modifiers, the Kappa protocol, and whether this shakes up the Tarkov loop for good. Then it's War Dogs: the alpha impressions are rolling in, the hype is real, and the only "complaints" are people mad about camping in a large-scale warfare game.

Plus: Sony is killing physical disc production for new PlayStation games in 2028 — do you even own your games anymore? And one last Call of Duty story from our CoD heritage: Warzone's cheater problem has never been worse, to the point streamers are teaming up mid-match just to survive. Jake sees the upside, Raz calls it like he sees it.

0:00 - Intro & Happy 4th of July

1:26 - This Week In Gaming (the rundown)

2:33 - Tarkov's First-Ever Season: Cord Breach

9:22 - Breaking Down The Seasonal Traits

21:28 - The Kappa Question & Big-Ticket Perks

26:46 - Neutral, Season-Wide Modifiers

29:44 - The Negative Traits

39:18 - Verdict: Is Cord Breach Worth It?

39:32 - Seasonal vs. Permanent Characters

47:03 - War Dogs Alpha: The Hype Builds

1:00:31 - Sony Kills The Disc (2028)

1:10:26 - Do You Even Own Your Games?

1:17:06 - Steam Machine: Impressive Hardware, Baffling Price

1:22:26 - Benchmarks: Weaker Than A PS5 For Double

1:33:24 - How Chips Are Made & The Silicon Lottery

1:34:16 - One Last CoD Story: Warzone's Cheater Hell

1:39:55 - Landing The Plane

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

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🔹Jakedown:

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🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #Podcast · #EscapeFromTarkov #Tarkov #CordBreach #WarDogs #SteamMachine #Valve #PS5 #CallOfDuty #Warzone · #SteamMachineVsPS5 #GamePrices #PhysicalMedia · #GamingNews #HotTake #PodcastClips #GamingShorts

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GTA 6 pre-orders are live, the price is confirmed, and the internet is melting down — so naturally that's the whole episode. Raz and Jake break down the $80 standard / $100 Ultimate pricing, the "physical copy" that's really just a download code in a box with no disc, and whether you're actually losing anything (spoiler: lending to your buddies, and not much else). Then it's the free-market case for why $80 is eminently fair, the cost-per-hour argument that makes GTA the cheapest entertainment on Earth, and the uncomfortable truth that the loudest complainers have already pre-ordered.

Then, meanwhile: EMPULSE. The $15 Titanfall-like from the Splitgate devs launched into early access with no store, no battle pass, and no microtransactions — and the guys explain, with the utmost confidence and zero gameplay watched, exactly why it's dead on arrival. Paint bombs included.

Plus: 50 million GTA 6 pre-orders, companies closing on launch day, and a $1,000 bet on EMPULSE failing inside three months.

0:00 — Intro & "we have no likes" cold open

1:34 — GTA 6 pre-orders are live: $80 standard, $100 Ultimate

2:58 — The "code in a box": a physical copy with no disc

4:47 — Is the disc even a loss? Lending, Blockbuster, PS2 days

9:00 — Servers, Stop Killing Games & whether discs matter anymore

12:17 — Onto pricing: is $80 fair? "That person does not exist"

15:31 — The $100 Ultimate Edition: scam or just a menu?

19:22 — Does $80 GTA give every other studio license to charge $80?

23:00 — Big Macs, Netflix & the "communists in our comments" tangent

31:00 — Cost-per-hour: video games are the cheapest entertainment on Earth

34:22 — The one scummy thing: PC release delayed behind console

39:59 — Back to physical ownership: resale, lending, longevity

43:13 — Did GTA kill the disc? No — it was already dead

1:00:30 — Why no disc, really: anti-leak vs. just cheaper (part 2)

1:05:20 — Ultimate Edition breakdown: tattoos, car finds, gang raid

1:06:30 — Day-one Ultimate content: cut from the base game?

1:06:40 — "We're going to pre-order anyway, aren't we?"

1:09:54 — Is GTA review-proof? Outrage-proof? The Kotaku prediction

1:11:06 — Vote with your wallet & why a boycott is inconceivable

1:18:40 — 50M pre-orders, $4B, companies closing on launch day

1:11:06 — MEANWHILE: EMPULSE, the $15 Splitgate-devs shooter

1:13:01 — "This game will fail" — the arena shooter genre is dead

1:18:10 — No store, no battle pass, no microtransactions = $60k revenue

1:23:31 — "60 grand, baby" & the $1,000 bet it fails in 3 months

1:30:20 — GTA vs EMPULSE juxtaposition & "consumer-friendly?" rebuttal

1:32:31 — Announcements: bonus eps, Patreon, shoutouts, sign-off

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

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🔹Jakedown:

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🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #DropshotPodcast #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #GTA6 #GTAVI #Rockstar #EMPULSE #Splitgate #Titanfall #ArenaShooter #FPS #GTA6PreOrder #GamePrices #GamingNews #1047Games #HotTake #PodcastMoments #GamingClips #Shorts

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Halo is on PlayStation. Let that sink in. On this one we get into Halo: Campaign Evolved — the full Unreal Engine 5 remake landing on PS5, Xbox and PC on July 28 — and why cutting the multiplayer to protect the "next mainline Halo" might be the dumbest part of the whole thing. Plus the AI controversy Halo Studios can't stop being squirrely about.

Then it's GTA 6: pre-orders go live June 25, November 19 release, no PC version, and the $100 price question nobody wants to answer honestly. Spoiler: if you'll pay $70, you'll pay $100, and we explain exactly why.

But the one we're actually hyped about is WARDOGS — Bulkhead addressed the "too arcadey" killcam feedback head-on instead of going quiet like every AAA studio does. We break down the ghillie-suit compromise, the hardcore servers, and why devs who actually play their own game are so rare right now.

Lightning round: CoD 2026 bringing DMZ back as the third mode, Black Ops 1 & 2 hitting PlayStation, and where the extraction-shooter graveyard leaves Marathon.

Jake's optimistic. Raz sees the greed trap coming. Same as always.

0:00 Intro — back in the saddle

1:31 It's all about shooters

2:27 WARDOGS & the killcam controversy

7:07 Can't have it both ways: the killcam debate

7:49 The ghillie suit & hardcore server compromise

15:56 Devs who actually play their own game

19:59 The greed trap: how good shooters get ruined

29:50 Halo: Campaign Evolved comes to PlayStation

30:54 Cutting multiplayer to protect the next Halo

33:23 Are you a Halo or a Call of Duty guy?

45:52 The Halo AI controversy

1:05:09 GTA 6 pre-orders are live

1:05:40 No PC version — the PC wait

1:10:35 The $100 question & CEO spin

1:13:31 If you'll pay $70, you'll pay $100

1:15:56 Lightning round: CoD 2026 & DMZ returns

1:17:12 Black Ops 1 & 2 hit PlayStation

1:23:40 Marathon & the extraction graveyard

1:28:30 Patreon, wrap-up & goodbye

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #DropshotPodcast #GamingPodcast #Halo #HaloCampaignEvolved #GTA6 #Rockstar #WARDOGS #CallOfDuty #BlackOps2 #ExtractionShooter #PS5 #Xbox #GamingNews #FPS #HotTake #PodcastClips #Gaming

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