Shows / The VGBees Podcast
The VGBees Podcast
Host and founder of VGBees, John Warren, is joined every week by cohosts Niki Grayson and Lotus for candid, funny, and enlightening conversations about the video games industry and video games medium (two very different things). Every week, The VGBees Podcast will explore trends and touchpoints you need to know in order to have the most well-rounded idea of what's going on in games. Explore vgbees.com after each episode for notes on each episode as well as written pieces by our collaborators…
Episodes
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 123: Double Fine's Union Misfire, Skydance Board, Bit Reactor Returns Furloughed Workers
This week, Lotus, Niki, and John dove very deep into the surprisingly busy week of games news, including Kotaku's fascinating report about Double Fine's union…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 122: Mike Tomlin's Minecraft City, 2XKO's Targeted Concurrent Figure, Dressmaker Impressions
On this week's episode, the crew handle a slow news week by going very, very deep on Mike Tomlin's Minecraft city, 2XKO's missed concurrent player target, and…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 121: New Xbox Layoffs, Activision Making Next Halo, Bungie Reviving Destiny
This week, Lotus, John, and Niki tackle a very busy week of games news, including a new round of Xbox layoffs, Xbox studio consolidation, Activision making the…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 120: Zach Cregger's Resident Evil, BlizzCon 2026, Roblox Standalone Games
This week, Niki, John, and Lotus discussed the biggest news stories of the week, including a look at Zach Cregger's Resident Evil, numerous head-scratching…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 119: Ocarina of Time Remake, Sony Drops Kojima, Blizzard's Massive Union Contract
This week, John, Niki, and Lotus dove into both Nintendo Directs, the stunning news that Sony is dropping Hideo Kojima's next projects, and Blizzard's new…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 118: Star Wars Zero Company Furloughs, Xbox Cloud Limits, Pablo Torre & Games Journalism
This week, Lotus, Niki, and John discuss the Star Wars Zero Company furloughs, the new limits on Xbox Cloud for Game Pass, and the explosive Pablo Torre…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 117: GTA6 Revealed, Witcher 3 Remastered, Star Citizen's Squadron 42 Delayed Again
This week, Niki, John, and Lotus did their homework on the bizarrely-edited Grand Theft Auto VI reveal on Netflix and also dove into Gamescom announcements…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 116: GTA6 Leaks, 2XKO Ending Development, Twitch's GenAI Training
This week, Lotus, Niki, and John tackled a jam-packed week of surprising news, including Riot ending 2XKO's development, Twitch's surprise auto-opt-in for…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 115: Saber CEO's Outburst, Netflix Closes Studios, Star Wars Zero Company Impressions
This week, John and Niki are joined by Jesse Vitelli, fresh off a five day subathon on his Twitch channel after being laid off at Restart.Run. Together, they…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 114: Big Walk Impressions, Devolver Digital Going Private, GTA6 Exclusive Look at Netflix
This week, Lotus, Niki, and John discuss their very enjoyable time together with Big Walk, Devolver Digital's move off of the London Stock Exchange, and…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 113: Xbox Down $1.7b, Tencent's Latest Misfire, Splatoon Raiders Impressions
This week, Lotus, Niki, and John discuss Xbox's 7% revenue decrease year over year, Tencent's alleged "Grand Theft Auto killer" Last Sentinel facing major…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 112: Marvel Tokon Open Beta Impressions, Unity 7 Announced, EU Approves EA Sale
This week, John, Lotus, and Niki discuss the Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls open beta, Unity 7's announcement and features, EA's approved sale to the PIF, and…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 111: Xbox Jingles Fallout Keys, LATAM ID@Xbox Team Dismantled, God of War Recasts Kratos
This week, Niki, Lotus, and John discuss the extremely convenient news dump regarding beloved games in the Fallout franchise, other Xbox teams facing…
- The VGBees Podcast
The VGBees Interview: Joe Is Hungry
Last year, we chatted with Joe from hit YouTube channel Joe Is Hungry. Now that we have this fun new interview format show officially on the feed, I decided it…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 110: Mass Xbox Layoffs Begin, Id Software Decimated, Obsidian Focusing on Fallout
This week, Niki, Lotus, and John address the sweeping, disastrous layoffs and closures stemming from the "reset" Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has started.00:00:00…
- The VGBees Podcast
The VGBees Interview: Phil Salvador, Library Director at Video Game History Foundation
Hey! It's a brand new show here on The VGBees Podcast feed. We'll be taking the time every once in a while to sit down and go deep with interesting figures…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 109: Sony Discontinuing Physical Discs, Closing PS3/Vita Stores, IOI Laying Off Staff After Xbox Shakeup
This week, Lotus, Niki, and John dive deep into the end of physical discs for Sony (and likely Xbox), the impending closures of the PS3/Vita digital stores…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 108: GTA6 Pricing, Xbox Price Hike, Steam Machine Details
This week, John and Niki discuss the biggest news of the gaming week, including Grand Theft Auto VI edition details, Steam Machine details, and more price…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 107: Xbox Studios Facing Closure, EA's New Ad Platform, UK Teen Social Ban
This week, John, Niki, and Lotus go very long on this week's seismic Xbox news, including the numerous studio closures on the table, key departures, and…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 106: Xbox Preparing Layoffs, Nintendo Direct, Pokemon Go Military Defense Data
Lotus, Niki, and John recovered from Summer Game Fest 2026 and reconvened (in home studios, not John's car) to discuss an extremely busy news week, including…
- The VGBees Podcast
VGBees SGF 2026 Post-Show Debrief
Join Niki and John from Los Angeles as they debrief from a lively Summer Game Fest 2026.At this point, most embargoes were still in effect, but we hope you…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 105: Summer Game Fest 2026 Showcase, Tupac, Final Fantasy VII Revelation
Folks, our schedules were so packed that John & Niki had to join Lotus from the car again. Sorry! This week, it's all about Summer Game Fest 2026 Showcase…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 104: Witcher 3 DLC, Steam Deck Price Hikes, & 007 First Light w/ Jeff Gerstmann
John and Lotus are joined this week by Jeff Gerstmann to discuss the week's biggest games news, including: The Witcher 3's surprising expansion coming in 2027…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 103: Embracer Restructures Again, Destiny 2 Development Ending, PS Plus Price Hikes
John, Lotus, and Niki discuss the biggest news of the week, including Embracer's head-scratching restructure, Destiny 2's final update, and PlayStation Plus…
- The VGBees Podcast
The Pittcast Season Two w/ Danielle Riendeau
Content Warning for graphic medical procedures, assault, sexual assault, suicide, and death in this episode. The Pitt is a show with a lot of tough ingredients…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 102: Subnautica 2 Smashes Sales Expectations, Leaked Xbox Controllers, More Game Unions
Lotus and John discuss the biggest games news of the week, including Subnautica 2 creating a big bonus problem for KRAFTON's CEO, leaked Xbox controllers, and…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 101: Star Fox 64 Remake, LEGO Batman, Mina the Hollower Release Date
Niki, Lotus, and John embark on a "no bummers" episode of the show, complete with discussions about the new Star Fox game, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark…
- The VGBees Podcast
The Pittcast Season One w/ Danielle Riendeau
NOTE: This bonus episode contains discussions of medical trauma, sexual assault, addiction, child abuse, mass shootings, and generally some sad stories about…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ep 100: GameStop Preps eBay Purchase, usTwo's CEO Blunder, Paste Games Shuts Down
Niki, Lotus, and John celebrate 100 episodes and discuss GameStop's potential purchase of eBay, usTwo's CEO saying some wild stuff into a microphone, the final…
- The VGBees Podcast
It's Okay For The Boys To Be Childish
Lotus & John discuss the lawsuit against Mr. Beast, Xbox Game Pass carving out Call of Duty, Playdate's interesting AI policy, and much more!VGBees is 100%…
- The VGBees Podcast
VGBees Woke Camp 2026
SUPPORT US BY JOINING THE HIVE!Hi there! Lotus is still in space teaching the aliens about baseball (they like it!), while Niki and John are earthbound to…
- The VGBees Podcast
The Assassination of Piglet by the Coward Buzz Lightyear
Support us by joining The Hive!This week, Lotus repaired the toilets aboard the Artemis II on its way safely (!!!!) back to Earth. Niki and John were grounded…
- The VGBees Podcast
Garry's Mod II: Electric Boogaloo
Support us by becoming a member of The Hive!With Niki on board the Artemis II to fix their Outlook situation, Lotus and John tackle the news and games of the…
- The VGBees Podcast
Nintendo's Slice of Life Spring
Support us by joining The Hive!This week, Lotus, Niki, and John contemplate Nintendo's strange (but maybe deliberate) choice to launch Animal Crossing's Switch…
- The VGBees Podcast
Deep Learning Super Sampling Five
Support Us! Join The Hive!This week, the crew gets completely redrawn on the fly by Nvidia's new AI-powered technology that everyone besides Digital Foundry…
- The VGBees Podcast
The Battle of Yerba Buena
Support us by joining The Hive!This week, Niki, Lotus, and John played some great games and took a full week off from games news because there just wasn't…
- The VGBees Podcast
At Long Last, Nintendo Gets Litigious
This week, Niki, Lotus, and John reconvene to rejoice over what seems like a masterpiece in the Pokémon oeuvre. But first, lots of big news, including:Nintendo…
- The VGBees Podcast
Voluntarily Surrendering Your License To Print Money w/ Michael Higham
On this week's show, the crew deals with several major post-scripts from last week's jam-packed news discussion block. Fortunately, Lotus, Niki, and John are…
- The VGBees Podcast
Xbox Deserves This
Support us by joining The Hive!This week's show was packed to the gills with discussion-worthy topics and that was before Phil Spencer announced his…
- The VGBees Podcast
Are You Strong Enough To Be My Cat w/ Charles Harte
SUPPORT US BY JOINING THE HIVEFolks, this week was VERY jam-packed with discussion-worthy games news and that was BEFORE we even welcomed Game Informer's…
- The VGBees Podcast
Tycho and The Heavy Fold
This week, the whole gang is back together to discuss the biggest games news of the week, which sometimes wasn't about games at all! Including:Iron Lung opens…
- The VGBees Podcast
Abandoning Your Launch Strategy 101
With Lotus on the International Space Station this week, John and Niki wasted no time discussing these completely relevant…
- The VGBees Podcast
Ubisoft Creative House Six: Earmarked for the Public Investment Fund
This week, Niki, John, and Lotus confront the biggest gaming stories of the week, including:Ubisoft's major reorg, including game cancelations and new…
- The VGBees Podcast
Two Bucks is Free (Except When It's Not)
This week, Lotus, Niki, and John set out to dissect the price sensitivity opus laid out by Peak's devs in an interview with Stephen Totilo. Is eight bucks…
- The VGBees Podcast
PEGI 16: Bad Language, Drugs, Discourse
This week, Lotus, Niki, and John are back and ready to tackle the first fresh news of 2026, including:The passing of Sega cofounder David RosenDiscord files…
- The VGBees Podcast
Running Out of Stuff to Safely Say About Gen AI in Public
This week, John, Niki, and Lotus stare down the barrel of a very slow gaming news week, so they tackle some additional stuff, too, including:Twitter's Gen AI…
- The VGBees Podcast
VGBees Games of the Year 2025
Note: a better quality audio upload will be available in a couple days.Hello! Another year has flown by and Niki, Lotus, and John are here to talk about their…
- The VGBees Podcast
Gibbed in the MRI Machine
This week, Niki treats John and Lotus to the first ever VGBees Podcast Edition of Scam Text Theatre! After this momentous occasion, the crew turns its sights…
- The VGBees Podcast
Protecting Muppet Kayfabe
Editor's note: this week's episode failed to upload individual stems of each recording, which means this final product is a bit rougher than usual. This is…
- The VGBees Podcast
Everything is Safe in Netflix's Capable Hands!
This week, John and Lotus celebrate the return of Niki to the show by immediately yelling at them for saying no one knows who Ron Gilbert is. Also!Netflix is…
- The VGBees Podcast
Hold Your Horses
This week, Lotus and John dissect the biggest news stories of the week, including:Horses banned from Steam and the oddities surrounding itSplash Damage enters…
- The VGBees Podcast
The Joe Pesci of Podcasts
This week, Lotus and John are feeling particularly thankful for the handful of absolutely bananas stories that dropped in their laps! Including:Tencent's…
- The VGBees Podcast
Even You Could Be Samus Aran's Sidekick!
This week, Lotus and John tackle an absolute boatload of games news and notes, including:Valve's Steam Machine, Frame, and Controller all due in 2026Halo…
- The VGBees Podcast
Matt Booty's 10,000 Testers
This week, Niki returns after a taxing move to talking to Lotus and John about a game they played called Life's Eternal Puzzle. Not out on any consoles I can…
- The VGBees Podcast
Sneakadoodle Interview w/ Joe is Hungry (Bonus Episode)
From the VGBees Bonus Feed -- join The Hive today to get bonus episodes like this all year.John gave himself such a strange and wonderful birthday gift this…
- The VGBees Podcast
Competing with Steam as a Goof
This week, Niki has been taken by the Swamp Monster so Lotus and John are fending for themselves. Lucky for you, they love to yap! Included in the gab…
- The VGBees Podcast
Phil & Todd Flood the Zone
On this week's episode, Niki, Lotus, and John discuss Microsoft's extremely weird week/month/year/decade. Including:the 30% margin mandateflooding the zone…
- The VGBees Podcast
Body Works, Body Worlds, Body Bath & Beyond
Hi folks! This week, Niki fills out an application for an apartment, John gets something wrong (again), and Lotus explores Steam Next Fest! Included in their…
- The VGBees Podcast
Assassin's Creed: Roku City
This week marks the beginning of the Lotus era at The VGBees Podcast. She joins John and Niki as the third permanent cohost of the show and immediately brings…
- The VGBees Podcast
Flashing Neom Lights of Late Stage Capitalism
This week, Niki and John have a lot to chat about in and around a busy few days in video games, including:Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's huge price hikeinterpreting…