PATCH NOTES · Bungie Outlasted Every Owner It Ever Had... This Time It…· 1W AGO
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Let Bungie Die

Bungie's mindshare has collapsed 86% since 2019 and Destiny is winding down. Colan and Greg unpack what went wrong at Bungie, why Bond's launch curve still has room to run, and what Activision's Modern Warfare 4 surprise drop signals about Call of Duty's next era.

WITH Greg PosnerMAY 28, 2026
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──FROM PATCH NOTES — WEEKLY ANALYSIS BY COLAN NEESE

Read — while you wait for the next show.

Bungie Outlasted Every Owner It Ever Had... This Time It Couldn't Outlast Itself
May 29, 2026·53 MIN ON SUBSTACK

Bungie Outlasted Every Owner It Ever Had... This Time It Couldn't Outlast Itself

Follow me here… or on LinkedIn Welcome back to Patch Notes. Honestly, I am under the weather this week, and have been since the family came back from a holiday with the same bug tearing through all of us at once.

Bungie· Io Interactive· 007 First LightCONTINUE ON SUBSTACK →
Xbox Hired The Aggregation Guy... Right As Google Killed The Open Web
May 22, 2026

Xbox Hired The Aggregation Guy... Right As Google Killed The Open Web

CONTINUE →
Forza And Dead As Disco Made Audiences The Marketing... 007 First Light Played It Too Safe
May 15, 2026

Forza And Dead As Disco Made Audiences The Marketing... 007 First Light Played It Too Safe

CONTINUE →
Star Wars Gaming Has Me Hopeful Again... & Will Xbox Sandbag GTA VI?
May 8, 2026

Star Wars Gaming Has Me Hopeful Again... & Will Xbox Sandbag GTA VI?

CONTINUE →
Streaming And Gaming Are In The Same Fight Now... And Free, Ad-Supported Content Is The Answer To Both
May 1, 2026

Streaming And Gaming Are In The Same Fight Now... And Free, Ad-Supported Content Is The Answer To Both

CONTINUE →
ALL ON SUBSTACK →

Published weekly on Substack · Open to read the full piece

──── ARCHIVE

Past streams.

Who Pays for Attention in Gaming Now? Inside the Xbox Ad-Tier Debate and the Death of the Open Web

Who Pays for Attention in Gaming Now? Inside the Xbox Ad-Tier Debate and the Death of the Open Web

WITH GREG POSNERMAY 21, 2026
IP Name Is Not a Marketing Strategy: What Forza Got Right That Bond Got Wrong

IP Name Is Not a Marketing Strategy: What Forza Got Right That Bond Got Wrong

Forza Horizon 6 landed a 91 on Metacritic, pulled data showing unprecedented traction in Asian markets, and flew its influencer event to Japan to sell car culture instead of game features. Bond, releasing in the same window, bought an NBA halftime placement, put dev talent in turtlenecks for YouTube interviews, and assumed that 007 still carries weight with anyone under 35. One of these games will be a cultural moment. The other will be fine. That contrast, laid out across a full episode of Player Driven Live by Greg and analyst Colan, is the editorial spine of something practitioners running live games and planning launches need to hear: audience assumption is a budget leak.

LIVEMAY 14, 2026
Can Ubisoft Win By Going Backwards? Xbox's Ad Future, and Ranking the Best Star Wars Games Ever

Can Ubisoft Win By Going Backwards? Xbox's Ad Future, and Ranking the Best Star Wars Games Ever

This week on Player Driven Live, we dug into three conversations that kept pulling us in different directions — Ubisoft's remake strategy and what it means for one of gaming's biggest franchises, whether Xbox should build an ad-supported free tier, and a May the 4th-inspired ranking of the best Star Wars games in history. We also talked indie games, Subnautica 2's questionable launch window, and why someone grinding on a souls-like after their day job reminded us both of something important about how games actually get made.

LIVEAPR 30, 2026
Why Microsoft Pulled Call of Duty from Game Pass... And What Comes Next

Why Microsoft Pulled Call of Duty from Game Pass... And What Comes Next

Sony's exclusivity strategy just became impossible to ignore. This week, as Pragmata climbed the charts and Saros loomed on the horizon, it became clear that PlayStation is making a deliberate choice: fewer games, bigger budgets, zero Steam ports. And it's working.

LIVEAPR 16, 2026
Who’s Really Driving the Game Industry Right Now? Microsoft, Nintendo, and the AI Crossroad

Who’s Really Driving the Game Industry Right Now? Microsoft, Nintendo, and the AI Crossroad

The gaming landscape is shifting beneath our feet. This week on Player Driven Live, we break down a whirlwind of high-stakes earnings calls, massive leadership changes, and the generative AI technologies that are forcing every major player to pick a side. From Microsoft's supply chain struggles to Nintendo’s absolute dominance with legacy IPs, here are the key takeaways from our February 5, 2026, episode.

LIVEFEB 5, 2026
Gaming Industry Pulse: Revivals, Layoffs, and the Road to 2026

Gaming Industry Pulse: Revivals, Layoffs, and the Road to 2026

The gaming landscape in early 2026 is defined by a strange dichotomy: the massive success of independent "revival" stories like Hytale and the unsettling restructuring of industry giants like Ubisoft. On this week’s episode of Player Driven Live, Greg Posner and Colan Neese broke down the biggest trends from Pocket Gamer Connects (PGC) London to the upcoming DICE Summit.

LIVEJAN 24, 2026
Player Driven Live: Call of Duty Losses, Cloud Gaming's Latency War, and the Lego Pokemon Craze

Player Driven Live: Call of Duty Losses, Cloud Gaming's Latency War, and the Lego Pokemon Craze

LIVEJAN 15, 2026