Ep #45: We chat with Ninja Theory Studio boss about Hellblade 2 (and xbox stuff)

May 18, 2024

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Try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first subscription at http://drinkag1.com/FRIENDS. Thanks to AG1 for sponsoring FPS.

Thanks to our friends Incogni for sponsoring this episode! Use code FRIENDSPERSECOND at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/friendspersecond.

Head to https://factormeals.com/FPS50 to get 50% off your first FACTOR box plus 20% off your next! Thanks to FACTOR meals for sponsoring FPS.

This week we're joined by two sets of guests. The first is Dom Mathews, Studio Head at Ninja Theory. They're set to launch Hellblade 2 this coming week, but much of the discussion around the game has been centred on Xbox's studio strategy and what 'success' now looks like for smaller games like Hellblade.

In addition we were joined by Ryan and Joe from Airship Syndicate. Wayfinders hit the rocks when it launched into early access, which cooincided with publisher Digital Extremes shuttering their entire publishing division. Airship are now pivoting Wayfinder to be an offline (peer to peer coop) game with no microtransactions, so we chatted with them about the journey to that decision.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

03:28 Xbox Talk

31:40 User Question 1

37:48 AG1 (ad)

40:22 Interview With Dom Matthews, Studio Head of Ninja Theory

01:10:57 Factor (ad)

01:17:16 User Question 2

01:24:24 Interview With Wayfinder Studio Airship Syndicate

01:55:56 Incogni (ad)

01:59:28 What We've Been Playing

02:22:41 Show And Tell

02:29:02 Wrap Up

Let's meet our hosts!

- Jake Baldino (aka the Before You Buy Guy) is pretty much the most watched reviewer on YouTube across both Gameranx and his personal channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeBaldino). If you're obsessed with Delorians, The Mummy and Pizza you can discuss that stuff with him directly over on Twitter: @JakeBaldino

- Lucy James is a Senior Producer at Gamespot and a Creative Producer at Giant Bomb. She's actually, like, experienced and credentialed and has real life skills and stuff, while the rest of the gang would be funemployed if the YT algorithm didn't kiss them for random, inexplicable reasons.

- Skill Up used to work at McDonalds but he got fired for skimming too many chicken nuggets. He says he regrets it since he hasn't had a better job since.

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