#308 | Second Party Puzzles

We talk about 'first parties' and 'third parties' all the time, and we all fundamentally understand the terms. But what about the mysterious 'second party' game? Where do those fit in? Well, PS5 has recently been the recipient of two key second party exclusives -- Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 and Shift Up's Stellar Blade -- and both have been wildly successful, surpassing the respective expectations surrounding each product. In years past with different studios (think Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, Sucker Punch, Insomniac, Housemarque, and others), this level of accomplishment in the second party (where publishers own the game and/or its publishing rights, but not the team making it) often meant acquisition. But things seem awfully different now. There's no doubt Sony's interested in Arrowhead and Shift Up, but is it mutual? Other news includes hints surrounding PlayStation's bubbling mobile initiative, Ghost of Tsushima's amazing performance on PC, Death Stranding 2 entering its final phases of development, and more. Then: Listener inquiries! Why are we so obsessed with PlayStation 3 games coming to PS4 and PS5? Have we ever kept a journal to chronicle our experience with a game? With LEGO Horizon rumors amok, what other Sony IP would make sense in that aesthetic? Has Dishwasher Gate officially broken the collective spirit of the Last Stand community?

Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement.

0:00:00 - Intro
0:29:32 - Last week's unhinged start
0:42:42 - Sacred encouragement
0:45:28 - Southern man epidemic
0:50:15 - "I don't know"
0:59:39 - The Division 3 is coming
1:00:33 - Financial reporting correction
1:02:09 - Trophy completion data
1:05:26 - Where is the time to play games?
1:10:03 - Goodbye London Studio
1:16:10 - Death Stranding releasing in 2025
1:21:52 - Ghost of Tsushima is PlayStation biggest single player PC launch
1:32:27 - Strauss Zelnick is confident in GTA6's release date
1:41:38 - IGN buys everyone
1:55:57 - Rolling Stone revives its gaming coverage with Saudi money
2:15:00 - What we’ve been playing
3:06:28 - Changes at Arrowhead
3:26:11 - Shift Up's future plans
3:39:00 - PlayStation mobile job listings
3:48:50 - Why do we want PS3 emulation?
3:59:28 - Trophy addiction
4:07:15 - Video game journaling
4:12:13 - Dualsense Edging
4:18:22 - Other Lego PlayStation games
4:22:17 - Exclusives shouldn't exist?
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