What Roblox’s Meltdown Really Exposes & The $55 Billion Saudi Takeover is Way Worse Thank You Think
PDS Published 08/06/2026
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What is really going on with this Roblox bloodbath, and why you have this GTA Six, EA, and Microsoft news is showing us it's going to get even bigger? Tucker Carlson just dropping a manifesto for Republicans abandoning MAGA. We go inside. The huge problem of more election deniers now overseeing key swing state elections. We're talking about all of that and even more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco Show.
You daily dive into the news, starting with: You are now witnessing the Roblox collapse, right? The Roblox apocalypse. There we go. My mouth worked this time.
And if you haven't seen one, it's got to be one of the most dramatic implosions I've ever seen in video games. And too, it just exposes so much of what's happening right now regarding the entertainment industry, kids, and really, depending on whatever happens next, you could be seeing the shape of the entire industry transforming sooner than many people realize.
But where we're going to start is with Roblox, right?
Because the stock has fallen 70% over the past year, 36% in the last month alone, and $9 billion in market value was just gone. Poof. In a single day.
And notably, you saw this downfall coming after its insane peak last summer, when it attracted more players than every title on Steam combined. They were rocking 152 million daily active users.
But since then they shed nearly 30 million again. That's in less than a year, with the investment research firm Morningstar calling the numbers atrocious, saying virtually every engagement and payment metric is terrible.
They then also had Rock Paper Shotgun putting it way more bluntly, writing the second quarter earnings report made for sobering reading if your name's cash-rich investor.
Now, if you are unfamiliar with Roblox, which is completely normal if you are an adult person with no children and you're not a developer, basically Roblox itself is not a game by itself. Think of it more as a platform where players and developers make the games themselves using its design tools.
To a certain degree, you can lump it into a category of IPs that capitalize on the popularity of user-generated content, like Fortnite, though those arguably have very successful core games.
And it's important to understand all that because, according to the head of Roblox, the reason that they declined so much has to do with the types of games that people are playing.
Basically, their version of events, the way they explain it, is that fewer users are playing the games that went viral last year, games like Steal a Brainrot and Grow a Garden, which squeeze the most money out of players per hour through in-game purchases.
Instead, more users are gravitating toward games that squeeze less money out of them per hour but also keep them playing longer.
And in fact, you have Roblox claiming that this shift was intentional, claiming that they changed their recommendation algorithm to prioritize long-term retention over near-term monetization.
What they say is that they just didn't expect the shift to be as big as it was and that it proved to be too much of a shock to the balance.
Here you saw just a number of reactions, with some saying it was Roblox blaming their users, saying that it was their fault for not creating more viral games, even though they do not work for you.
Then you also had a lot of frustrated players arguing that the company did all this to themselves by worsening the player experience with a string of bad updates.
They added AI moderation that bans a bunch of people for no reason at all, and they forced everybody to have a dynamic face, ruining basically everyone's avatar.
But now the lack of original and viral experiences, yes, that is the issue.
And because of the face ID verification and whatever other hurdles you have to do to do anything on Roblox, less people are making Roblox accounts and less people are chatting, which means less people want to play Roblox.
Just think if they would have put out slightly fewer updates and not screwed over the developers and the player base so much by doing things like cutting their revenue and making you pay to put a good game out and stuff like that.
You know, I really think that this wouldn't have happened. But you know what? Lucky guess. Wild guess. I don't really know.
It's the same thing. You're messing with the players and developers. You're incorporating AI in weird ways. There are massive privacy concerns.
But then also regarding the changes with privacy, people pointed to the fact that those were in response to a very serious problem with Roblox.
Likely part of the reason that fewer people are playing the game is there was a whole scandal around adults grooming children inside of the games.
You had numerous documented cases of actual abuse happening after in-game interactions. You even had it leading to lawsuits from multiple states.
And so the company put in place age verification and stricter moderation.
Of course, a lot of people are not in love with the solution of a video game scanning their child's face.
But then also, even the platform's algorithm changes, with the chief executive arguing that those were necessary.
Because as New York Magazine put it, currently Roblox is a place where some of the most insidious trends of the contemporary internet—gambling, compulsive distraction, mindless consumption, and overall exploitation—have hardened into governing realities.
Many saying that if Roblox is going to be sustainable, it's got to shift from being a casino slot machine that's bilking 12-year-olds out of their parents' money to more high-quality games that prove durable over the long term.
And so that's, in part, the CEO trying to paint the stock tanking as short-term pain for long-term gain.
Writing to investors:
"It's still early, but our data shows a positive lift in quality, stickier engagement. The benefits of higher retention, we believe, outweigh the near-term impacts we're seeing as improved retention and engagement compound into future growth."
But in the meantime, you have some thinking that Roblox is just very vulnerable right now for a surprise attack from one of its competitors, namely Xbox.
Because Xbox is home to Minecraft, which is actually still smaller than Roblox even after the past year. But to a certain degree, they are fighting for the same audience. It's even sometimes called "Roblox before Roblox."
And if you really want to dive into a rabbit hole, there are cool deep dives into how custom servers minted millionaires, but then also the problems with those.
With all that in mind, you then also see Xbox's new CEO recently listing four overarching goals for the company going forward.
And one of them is to make Minecraft the world's creator platform.
That also really stood out because the other three goals were, I'll say, more abstract, or things like grow great games into global franchises, or extend the worlds that fans love.
The fact that Minecraft got its own goal and its own specific mention, that stands out.
But also the timing here matters because that company is also going through its own struggles.
In the last fiscal year, you had their revenue drop by $1.7 billion.
Meanwhile, the cost of hardware components, especially memory chips, has shot way up.
As far as staffing in this environment, the company laid off 1,600 employees and spun off four game studios, and more layoffs are expected through the middle of next year.
Also, you have people noting that since its new chief executive arrived in February, she's been trying to get Xbox back on track with a series of changes.
So, for example, she's bringing back console exclusivity with Gears of War: E-Day later this year and Clockwork Revolution in 2027.
Those moves stand out in an environment where you can actually play Halo on PlayStation.
Then also, part of the plan is to capitalize on the big existing franchises like Halo, Fallout, and Minecraft.
But then again, it is important to take an even wider look because Xbox is not the only giant that might be taking advantage of the Roblox apocalypse.
Especially because you have GTA VI shaping up to become the biggest game launch in history.
And importantly, it doesn't look like they're trying to do this alone.
Last year you had Rockstar, the publisher behind GTA, reportedly starting talks with Roblox and Fortnite creators about potentially creating custom experiences in the game.
It's important to know that there is a core game and then also what's going to happen online.
Basically, these creators would have the ability to modify the game's environment with their own IP and maybe even monetize it.
It's all part of Rockstar's plan to make GTA VI the next big metaverse.
Right now it even has multiple job listings open for its creator platform.
And then even today, you got an example of just how big this is going to be through key partnerships and understanding how to move the culture.
One of the reasons you have people talking about Rockstar and GTA VI today is that they just announced at the end of this month they're going to make its next big GTA VI reveal on Netflix.
Apparently they're not just dumping a video.
It's going to be part of a first-of-its-kind live event where they're trying to create that moment in time on one of the biggest places that people consume content.
And you had Netflix's VP of Nonfiction calling it "a reflection of what we hope Netflix is."
Because one, games aren't just games anymore.
They're becoming entire platforms.
And two, with all the negative press, it seems like Roblox is actively losing out on these kinds of opportunities.
But then all of this is also so much bigger because the whole gaming industry right now is going through another seismic shift.
One of the latest examples of that is this news with EA, the maker of hit games like Battlefield, The Sims, and Madden, ending its 36-year run as a publicly traded company.
But actually not because they're dead.
They're going private in a $55 billion deal, which is one of the largest private equity buyouts in history.
What really stands out isn't just the numbers but rather who is buying.
You have this group of investors, the first being Saudi Arabia, which ends up being as controversial as it is unsurprising.
Because you had human rights organizations long accusing the country's regime of sportswashing by investing into the sports and entertainment industries.
But then also, as far as the other two investors, they're both private equity funds, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, with the latter being run by Jared Kushner.
Because of course, the Trumps are just involved in every single thing that happens on the planet, right?
And so, for a number of reasons leading up to this buyout, there was a "Block the EA Deal" campaign trying to pressure EU regulators not to approve it.
But obviously that failed.
So now you have its organizers saying with this deal, Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner just bought access to 700 million players.
Adding that with the increased use of AI and the creative sector in video games, the potential for data misuse by a foreign sovereign is high and poses significant international security risks.
But then also, you've critics saying it's not just bad for consumers, it could actually threaten the employees of EA itself.
Because usually huge acquisitions like this are followed by huge layoffs.
There ends up being no shortage of examples.
That happened with Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. They cut almost 2,000 employees.
As far as EA, they already cut several hundred jobs in May, with more layoffs rumored to come.
Plus, with this deal they're taking on $18 billion in debt, putting them on the hook to pay $1.8 billion per year in interest.
And so, reportedly, you have the company telling its debt investors that it's going to cut $700 million in annual costs, including $170 million in organizational efficiencies.
Of course, for investors, shareholder value.
When you're looking at a balance sheet, it can be great.
But of course, it is definitely not good for the workers making these games.
And it might not be great for the people playing them.
But hey, with all that, whether you are a gamer yourself, you have kids, you just care about business news, privacy news—this is just so all-encompassing.
I would love to know your thoughts and reactions in those comments down below.
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I'm gonna have your other favorite DeFranco give you the boop.
Hello, everybody. It's your lucky day. It's me again. Don't worry. I won't keep you for long. You gave me 12 minutes of your time last time. Thank you so much.
I'm just here to stop in to say thank you so much for helping us achieve our goal and more.
Last week, I asked you guys for help fundraising for my campaign where I'm running for State House in District 47 in Georgia, which is Milton, Alpharetta, Roswell, and Mountain Park.
My goal was to raise $100,000 in five days, and we actually raised $125,000.
I know. Did we set a record? Maybe. Maybe we may have set a record.
I would say the most important element to me is that we took a chance and found a new way to fundraise.
Most of the time, candidates have to be on the phone calling strangers that they don't know, and it's very uncomfortable, or holding closed-door fundraisers.
I wanted to try something different based on what my career has been, and it worked.
So we did livestreams. We did the video, and I just wanted to say thank you so, so, so much.
This proves that there is a model that we can tap into as candidates, and I think we can make it more common.
And it also proves that campaigns can be run without special interest money. You just have to be creative.
So lucky for you, I'm not here to ask you for anything today.
I'm actually here to invite you to something really fun that's happening this weekend.
So Phil and his podcast partner, Alex Pearlman, are coming to one of my canvasses this weekend in Milton, Georgia.
You can show up anywhere from 9:00 to 10:00.
Phil and Alex and I will be there, we're going to give a little speech, we're going to get everyone psyched.
If you've never canvassed before, it's totally fine.
Canvassing is really just where you go around, knock on doors, talk to people in the community, see what matters to them, and talk about the campaign.
It's very simple. It's very easy.
And you'll never be alone. You'll always be in a group.
And I am just so excited to see all of you guys and be able to say thank you in person, and also to have you guys meet Phil and Alex.
So if you want to join, you can go to LindsayForGA.com/crashingout.
You RSVP there, and then a couple of days beforehand we will send you the address.
It will be in Milton, Georgia.
We're just not giving out the full address yet until we know how many people are coming and all that kind of stuff.
So again, thank you so, so, so, so, so much.
I'm so grateful for all of you and your support and for believing in me.
All right. I'm not going to take too much of your time.
Bye, I love you, and remember: LFG.
LFG stands for Lindsay for Georgia, not... let's not even go there. They keep saying that's what it stands for, and I like the energy, but you wouldn't be able to put that on a yard sign.
Y'all, if you are even remotely nearby, we'd love to have you around on Saturday.
Just sign up at Lindsay for Georgia, and you'll be able to be a part of something that really, really matters.
And two, probably the closest I'll ever get Alex to going on a hike with me.
And then we've got more that we need to dive into in just a minute.
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But then, diving right back into the news, we got to talk about the increasing number of election deniers.
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But then diving right back into the news, we need to talk about Trump's war with Iran again because it is widening once again, the potential economic fallout. It's somehow growing even more massive, and the situation is so out of control that you might find yourself agreeing with far right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. all while you have the guy who seems to be the leading skeptic of the war within the white House by his president, JD Vance, apparently getting a talking to from Bibi Netanyahu. and actually let's start because of Trump's apparent clashes with Netanyahu has gotten a lot of attention. And I say apparent clashes because he's still largely just letting him do what he the divide between Vance and the Israeli prime minister that seems to run you have a situation where it's known that Vance has been less than enthusiastic about the war, just, you know, from the very beginning, though, he supported it publicly. And as far back as March, he expressed his frustration with Netanyahu directly. or with him reportedly pointing out over the phone several in Netanyahu's predictions about the war that approved far too optimistic, especially one that the Iranian people would rise up and overthrow the then in early June, you had him saying that Netanyahu had certainly gotten some things wrong in an interview with CBS and then after the administration signing of a now dead deal with Iran, he issued a public warning to members of Netanyahu's government who were criticizing the Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. And he happens to be the head of state of the world's superpower. If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world. and so with all that you have some advances orbit reportedly coming to believe that Israelis are so pissed off that they're running an influence operation that is specifically aimed at smearing the vice president's and so, for example, you had one Vance ally telling The Washington Post that it was obvious to anyone with an IQ above 70 that a barrage of online attacks against him has been totally an authentic and probably coordinated to a certain and there, you had referring to a massive uptick in activity 13:0013 minutesright after Vance appeared on Joe Rogan Show, where he said definitely think you have seen this very discreet, extremely well funded campaign to try to derail the negotiation and try to derail the deal. there are some people within their system. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt who are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely. Again, not towards any objective, but just indefinitely. then fast forward to this week, and you had Netanyahu reportedly confronting Vance in a one on one meeting in Washington, with one official saying the conversation was direct, another saying that it was frank and candid and another saying it was good and and that's as you also had Netanyahu speaking to ABC news about it and denying that anyone in the Israeli government was trying to manipulate public had a very good conversation with the vice president this morning. And I think I think we straightened that out because we're not that's not our policy. Individuals in our system can have their opinions, but government policies dictated by being. That's not our policy. but notably. Well, it's not clear that the aims are exactly as bans or as allies have claimed. There is real evidence of Israeli backed influence operations targeting Americans. even advance himself? Referring to a time magazine story about a former Trump campaign official whose firm was paid $1.5 million a month to stop young conservatives from turning against as well as influence how AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude characterize Israel in the then you also had the Wall Street Journal reporting earlier this month that the company's contract with the Israeli government was worth nearly $50 million. Also involves sending millions of AI written text to people all across the And then, of course, in addition to that, the question of what kind of influence Israel has over the Trump administration specifically is a whole other right. In the Rogan interview, van still claimed that Trump decided to start and continue the war completely separate from any influence from right. And you're getting the same story from Netanyahu told ABC that he defers to we're partners. We're allies. He's the senior partner. It's the United States of America, let's not forget. but then among those who disagree with this narrative intake are actually several influential former MAGA figures who have turned on at least temporarily, or on a number of certain That includes the likes of Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Alex Right. And Jones, while he no longer owns Infowars because he lost that $1.4 billion defamation he is still around. While the people from The Onion kind of make a mockery of everything that he is or he's now also saying that Trump should be forced out of office because the Iran The big issue is how to stop Trump. And we have to have Congress go for the war powers. They've three times tried to vote war powers. They're supposed to authorize a war. This is a war. They're getting the draft ready of this into war. Nothing's a war. I mean, this is absolutely out of control. And so I'm calling for it right now. 25th amendment impeachment. Whatever needs to happen to get this front and center to get control of our country, and while Jones went on to argue that they want total war as a pretext strip of rights and take our freedoms, his basic point is that the situation is just out of and at least that part is very spot since the start of the war and the near-total lockdown of the Strait of Hormuz, several countries, but especially Saudi Arabia, have increasingly exported oil through the Bab Armendariz which is this key waterway for cargo heading from the Red Sea to China and other countries in But now you've got the Houthis in Yemen targeting ships there and in the Red sea. And this has caused a massive drop in the number of ships passing so the Saudis, they're already turning their ships away from the Bab. They're rerouting nearly half of the crude that they were exporting through the Red sea north to the Suez Canal, which handles about 10% of all seaborne trade, not just the only problem there is Egypt, right. The country that controls the Suez It just came under attack. For the very first time since the war began in or you had a drone hitting a port near the canal that also happens to house a key liquefied natural gas hub and setting two ships on fire, including an American owned gas storage tanker. in this came the same day that Saudi Arabia acknowledged direct involvement in the war for the very first time, when it said it had joined the US in attacking Iranian backed militias in you also had it coming. A few days after Ukraine attacked an Iranian ship, prompting Iran to consider retaliatory strikes on a Ukrainian so. What you have is just another example of how this war threatens to pull even more countries into the wall. So this particular one, it could have especially devastating economic consequences. because even though the attack didn't target the Suez Canal directly or even appeared to disrupt it clearly demonstrated the vulnerability of this waterway and the potential of the widening war to further disrupt global actually, according to Iranians who spoke with the New York Times, that was the they didn't say whether Iran or one of its allies had carried out that and well as a recording no one's claimed responsibility there Iran they have claimed responsibility for other attacks. You've had them continuing to target ships that have tried to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without its It's also launched strikes on an American air base in Kuwait, which state media claimed destroyed two drone hangars and a fuel depot, with this coming only hours after Kuwait's government's that a worker was killed in an earlier Iranian strike in the country's also missiles and drones. They've been intercepted on their way to Jordan. in response to a U.S. Central Command saying that they had completed another heavy wave of strikes on Iranian targets this then, of course, that'll probably trigger another response and so on and so forth, and we'll see where we Right now it appears to be in a circle with more bodies dropping here and there and money set on fire. represent from that. Let's talk about this other piece of news we should talk about today.
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Then finally today, before I let you go back into the horrible real world, let's cram in some more news.
I need to know quickly, starting with big and potentially scary news with Tucker Carlson and Trump.
Because Tucker Carlson just released a ten-point manifesto about where he sees the country going now that he and other Republicans are turning their backs on MAGA.
You had him recently saying that he'd actually be building a third party for that group, and this seems to be giving us a sneak peek into whatever the hell that is.
You have him calling for a country that's fair to everyone, leadership included; sovereign from foreign influence; productive in our industries; beautiful to look at; and his version of healthy, which for now means following RFK Jr.'s agenda.
Then things kind of get—or kind of stay—general from there, with him saying that he wants a country that's honest, optimistic, wise, decent, and lastly, united.
And while right now he's definitely not the leader of the Republican Party, this is a space that's going to be important to pay attention to.
Because Trump, he's not going to be around forever.
But he does take up a lot of space.
And whatever fills the vacuum once he leaves, who knows.
So with Tucker, you got some people saying that he's kind of become the sort of intellectual hub for what I'll call the ex-MAGA coalition.
You actually had him hosting some of them last weekend—Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie, Joe Kent, the whole gang.
And many of them saying, you know, Trump betrayed them all, and now the movement's begun.
And so it seems like the support is growing.
And well, in addition to that, you have some people even pushing for him to run for president.
Apparently, you have the White House, at least publicly, not fazed by any of it.
Saying that that faction is just "an embarrassing coalition of mostly whiny turncoats who dramatically overestimate their influence and relevance."
To them, I'd say be careful.
Remember, there was a time where Obama mocked the idea of Trump becoming president.
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Then also you've got big tech and entertainment news because you have Disney and TikTok apparently striking a deal that allows TikTok users to use Disney clips in their videos for the first time, including content from Pixar and Marvel.
And with that, Disney+ will actually start allowing some of those TikToks onto their streaming app.
So you've got another first.
And you have industry experts saying all of this is coming because streaming services are just dying for more vertical content.
It's widely seen that younger audiences just love that kind of content.
Actually, they're not alone.
Services like Peacock and Paramount+, they've already gotten on board.
Netflix is also offering short-form content.
But with this move specifically, it's seen as more of a collaboration.
Disney and TikTok going, "Hey, can we raise both ships together?"
You got Disney officials saying:
"This collaboration creates a new bridge between the stories we tell and the creativity they inspire, giving creators a bigger stage to share what they've made and audiences more to discover on Disney+ every day."
Anyway, TikTok adding:
"Creators' creativity extends the life of films and shows, bringing the authentic creator expression of the TikTok community to Disney+, inviting audiences to experience the shared creativity that makes fandom so powerful."
And while this is probably just a small sliver of the content they're talking about, this completely makes sense to me because I've seen edits or trailers on TikTok that just blow away the official trailers that you see from the studios.
There's just so much underappreciated and undervalued content from a lot of up-and-coming creators.
But also, I do have my reservations because we are still talking about massive corporations, and, you know, the devil is often in the details.
So we're going to see how this plays out.
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And then lastly today, I can't leave you without catching up on the latest in the Fauci situation.
Because you just had Republicans, as expected, holding him in contempt of Congress after pleading the Fifth all through his hearing about how he handled COVID last week.
"You could sit for InStyle magazine, but you can't answer questions for the American people. You could sit for InStyle magazine, but you're here taking the Fifth. You could sit for InStyle magazine and get a million bucks in cash awards. But now the cat's got your tongue. I bet he does."
So the root of this decision, you got pissed-off Senator Rand Paul saying that Fauci was out of line for pleading the Fifth because he already has protection for his work during the pandemic through a preemptive pardon from Biden.
But also the counter to that is Republicans, and especially Rand Paul, they've had it out for Fauci.
They were even essentially, transparently saying that they were trying to set a perjury trap for him.
So pretty much everyone familiar with the law was like, yeah, him pleading the Fifth was not a surprise.
"The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, quote, 'behind bars.'"
Now with this vote, things would normally then get passed to the full Senate, where people are pretty sure that's going to get shot down.
Because even if all the Republicans were on board, they still need 60 votes to bypass the filibuster, which they're probably not going to get.
But then also, with the fact that they're out on recess, Paul says that he's planning to push it straight through to the DOJ.
And while the Democrats tried to block that, they were obviously outvoted.
So with all that, that's why you now have Senator Gary Peters calling this a damaging precedent and saying:
"None of this provides the committee with any additional information or compels Dr. Fauci to provide answers to our inquiries."
And adding that it could:
"Harm our ability to conduct future investigations and disregards constitutional protections long recognized by the U.S. Senate."
While this was pretty much expected to happen, it also seems like the chaos is far from over.
But that, my friend, you beautiful bastard, is the end of today's show.
Thank you for caring about what's happening in the world and being a part of another daily dive into the news.
Also, I hope to see some of you guys this Saturday.
Remember, you can sign up at Lindsay for Georgia.
But also, no matter what, I'll see you on Monday at the latest with a brand new Philip DeFranco Show.
Love ya, mean it, bye.
