Join the Professors as we dive deep into gaming's business shakeups and market madness! Heru and Plague dissect Microsoft's aggressive 30% profit margin mandate for Xbox—exploring studio closures, massive layoffs, and the shift to multi-platform releases including Halo: Campaign Evolved coming to PlayStation. We unpack Amazon's devastating 14,000-person layoff with New World entering maintenance mode and the uncertain fate of their Lord of the Rings MMO. Then it's on to Counter-Strike 2's explosive skins market crash that wiped out $2 billion in value overnight when Valve's trade-up update democratized knife access. Plus, the next-gen Xbox's Windows-based hybrid philosophy and Wolfe Glick stepping away from Pokémon tournaments after harassment. Heru and Plague would love your feedback! Let us know what we can improve on and other topics you'd like to hear us discuss by reaching out to feedback@thegameprofessors.com . Come in and grab a seat as we profess our love and hate for all things video games!

Timestamps:

00:40 - Lecture Lowdown

01:16 - WolfeyVGC

07:55 - Emiru’s Response to Twitch X Statement

17:03 - Elden Ring on Switch 2 delayed and 3rd-party title viability

24:40 - Outer Worlds 2

28:05 - Arc Raiders Release

30:48 - Halo: Campaign Evolved and other Microsoft Titles coming to PlayStation

38:22 - Business and Econ

38:36 - Xbox Profit Margin requirements

55:41 - Microsoft Layoffs

1:02:04 - Amazon layoffs

1:03:59 - Heru gets very passionate about New World numbers

1:17:49 - Amazon shifting focus to casual and AI games

1:19:38 - Shop Class

1:19:52 - Next Gen Xbox info from Windows Central

1:22:04 - Heru’s thoughts on World of Warcraft on Next Gen Xbox console

1:27:34 - Revenue difference between between Xbox and Steam

1:30:20 - Free Period

1:30:42 - Counter Strike skin economy crash

1:54:03 - Brief Battlefield 6 Update