Show Notes
Jake's sick, Raz is recovered, and karma is real — so we kept it loose and answered your questions from the Discord this week.
We get into whether Apex hitting all-time-high player counts means anything for a Warzone comeback (short version: Warzone is the abusive ex who shows up with roses), why Zelda is a children's game, the most overrated franchises in gaming, when a game stops being a game and becomes a simulator (Tarkov vs. Squad vs. Hell Let Loose), whether AI will let you build GTA 6 in one prompt, the hardest gaming achievements we've ever earned, and a pile of off-topic chaos — first jobs, childhood cereal, the one-hair-on-your-steak test, and which historical event we'd go witness.
Plus: a new development on splitting donations, the DMZ deep-dive over on Patreon, and a behind-the-scenes look at how the show actually gets made now.
Got a question for us? Join the Discord (linked everywhere) and drop it in the Q&A channel. We may or may not answer it.
Jake's the optimist, Raz is the cynic — guess which one of us thinks Warzone could still be saved.
0:00 - Intro (Jake's sick, karma is real)
3:03 - New: splitting donations 50/50 with Jake
4:02 - Patreon + the DMZ deep-dive
9:17 - Best life advice you've gotten
9:43 - 'Tell the truth, or at least don't lie'
14:03 - Just start — stop making the perfect plan
15:49 - Our first jobs
21:29 - Does Apex's comeback mean hope for Warzone?
23:01 - Warzone is the abusive ex
23:52 - How the rebranded show is going + the AI workflow
26:42 - Selling your old CoD-era Dropshot merch
28:05 - When does a game become a simulator?
31:23 - Would you play a good new Call of Duty?
32:17 - It's all a tax write-off now
33:52 - How we approach open-world games
37:32 - Did you beat Radahn before the nerf?
41:14 - Our most interesting use of AI (this podcast)
44:05 - Claude's Fable 5 + the gov't shutting it down
45:47 - If AI could build any AAA game, what would it be?
49:17 - Most overrated game & movie franchises
51:16 - Zelda is a children's game (hot take)
56:01 - Most useless & most useful real-life skill
57:48 - Hardest gaming achievement (Hearthstone Legend)
1:06:28 - A food that reminds you of childhood
1:10:21 - One app you'd keep on your phone
1:12:16 - Worst restaurant experience + picky eaters
1:18:44 - The one-hair-on-your-steak test
1:24:51 - Weirdest thing you've ever Googled
1:29:15 - A historical event you'd witness
1:36:32 - Ranking awkward social situations
1:39:00 - A historical figure to have dinner with
1:44:17 - Followers you'd rather have
1:44:45 - Hardest game you've ever finished
1:47:18 - Outro + peripherals
_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._
The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!
🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):
🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week
🔹The Dropshot:
🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com
🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod
🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq
🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast
🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot
🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G
🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/
🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast
🔹Razinon:
🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon
🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon
🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv
🔹Jakedown:
🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_
🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.
More from The Dropshot
WARDOGS Season 2 came out on October 15, and two days later Bulkhead said its faster progression was the wrong call. Players had Tier 4 armor and main battle tanks within days, so the wipe never really felt like a fresh start. Bulkhead isn't doing another reset. They're bringing Season 3 forward instead.
We go through Activision's MW4 DMZ Deep Dive Part 2 blog post, the full guide to the Forward Operating Base (FOB), section by section. Part 1 is on the Patreon.
GTA 6 isn't even out yet and the Miami Heat are changing their name for it. On November 18th, the night before launch, the Heat become the Vice City Heat — new jerseys, a new court, a "Welcome to Vice City" sign, all on ESPN. Raz and Jake try to figure out what Rockstar paid, why the NBA said yes, and why Coca-Cola still bothers advertising at all.
Microsoft just handed the next mainline Halo to Activision, and two guys who ran a Call of Duty show for years have thoughts. Raz has been saying for five years that Halo should have made a battle royale, and he explains why it might already be too late. Jake makes the case that Halo is in such a bad spot that new developers can't make it worse, and asks what Call of Duty's monetization playbook will do to it.
Call of Duty is done with Black Ops, and Modern Warfare 4 is the "epic conclusion" of the Task Force 141 story. We think it's the smartest call Activision has made in years. It only matters if the next series changes the game as much as jetpacks did, and a new name and new villains won't do that.