The Honey Scandal Exposed an Even Bigger Problem
PDS Published 08/13/2026
-
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.
-
But first, I've got two things for one on August 21st and 22nd, I'm gonna be seeing y'all live in Seattle and Portland.
And then on August 28th and 29th, I'll be in Boston and Philadelphia with you should definitely grab your tickets right now at Crashing Out. Tor.com.
Especially because we already have shows that are getting sold So get out from behind that screen. Get yourself surrounded by some beautiful bastards. And let's crash out it's a lot more fun than a PBS.
Every show is actually different, but it's also still so again. Grab your tickets now while you can it crashing out. Tor.com I got links in the then two.
We'll be right back after a quick for those of us still working on something for over a year and you still don't have a website up, I need you to ask yourself this are you actually closer to launching than you were six months ago?
and I mean, that is a real question. That is not a knock. Right. Because that is just what happens when the build. It feels harder than the idea. but Squarespace, it makes the build stupid. Simple, right? No website?
No problem.
today that changes because Squarespace makes it easy to start selling content courses, physical or digital products. Whatever you been dreaming up. right there.
Beacon tools will literally draft your site, copy, suggest your layout, and design your pages. just describe what you want and it builds around, you know, coding. No guesswork, just results.
one time payment subscriptions both done and done. as beacon can help you design and build the business.
Acuity handles the bookings So by the time that your first client finds you, everything's already ready for.
then once you live they're built in analytics and marketing tools keep everything running like clockwork. right. So you can focus on the things you actually care about. stop with the procrastination.
Your free trials waiting for you at squarespace.com slash fail or just scan the QR code Today it's launch day.
And actually when it's ready to fully go live, use code fill to get 10% off and let them know we sent you. then Devin right back into the news.
SQUARESPACE
Kickstart your passion project with a free trial today: https://squarespace.syuh.net/phildefranco & enter offer code “Phil” to get 10% off your first purchase!
-
We've got to talk about how sailors a marine crew on the USS Abraham Lincoln, they have logged over 250 consecutive days at sea, and they still have no clue when they're getting off this ship. Right.
It's led to a severe mental health crisis on board. So much so that you have some trying to jump ship.
or you've had reports are both military and major news outlets coming out in recent days. And now you've got senators demanding answers. Right.
Because these 5000 sailors and Marines on the Lincoln, they began their deployment back in November.
And then when the war with Iran started, they were directed to help operations in the Middle East.
and while they were initially scheduled to return in May, the deployment has been extended with no announced return date. this long deployment with no determined end.
It is taking a very real toll on the people on board, because on top of the constant work with the little breaks, the distance and time away from family, there have been major problems on the ship as well.
have reportedly been points where they had to ration food and had water shortages.
There have also been reports of plumbing issues, deck safety concerns and disrupted mail service.
I'll usually you have ships getting regular port calls around every 30 to 45 days. Since this deployment began, the Lincoln has only had two port stops.
it reportedly went 208 days without even visiting a port.
while reports about poor conditions on the ship surfaced earlier this year, the Navy denied them in April, with secretary Pete Hegseth also calling it more fake news.
Our sailors deserve and receive the best. but obviously the concerns have continued in.
So in response to these latest reports, you had the Navy issuing a statement explaining that the traditional supply hubs in the Middle East have been disrupted by combat and leadership has had to prioritize, quote, mission critical supplies
versus food and hygiene items than mail that in current reports on the ship confirm continuous access to clean water, functional AC, and healthy meal options.
while you have some skeptical there still you have both family members of the crew and members themselves saying that they're drained and morale is very, very low.
you would one unnamed sailor, for example, telling Stars and Stripes just been turning and burning the whole time we've been deployed, saying nothing to really look forward to at this point. All we want is a date home.
you also families of course incredibly upset that their parents, kids and spouses have been gone so long that they miss major milestones.
things like one crew member had to miss the birth of their own child and still hasn't gotten to meet their baby. you then have others who have more grim, upsetting stories.
during a recent town hall where family members got to address Navy leadership, one parent reportedly said that her daughter feels like she's never going to come home and think she's going to die on the ship.
in the context, understanding of your own war, even that's hurt morale.
Or you would one family member saying she found it to be difficult to be proud of her sailor when the military is, quote, killing innocent civilians. and her relative.
They've also apparently expressed guilt for what he's doing with one parent telling Stars and Stripes. all tucked in at night in our beds.
Meanwhile, our loved ones are out there fighting with no understanding as to what they're defending.
and then with all of these issues on board, there have also been multiple reports of sailors and Marines experiencing suicidal thoughts, and in some cases, even attempting to take their own lives.
You had both stars and stripes in the Military times, reporting on incidents where bystanders on the ship had to intervene to stop suicide attempts.
at that town hall meeting, you had a spouse telling officials that she received a message from her husband saying he hopes he doesn't wake up tomorrow.
now in response to the Navy saying it has a network of mental health support, including counselors, spiritual advisors and medical professionals, adding leadership is continuously conducting assessments to monitor and sustain the psychological readiness of every sailor.
also had one Navy spokesperson telling CNN, we have not observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship.
but obviously that flies in the face of what a lot of people are and these reports, they're painting a very bleak and upsetting picture. And so you have leaders in Congress wanting answers.
so, for example, we have Senator Ruben Gallego writing, Department of the Navy, must allow a bipartisan congressional delegation to visit the USS Lincoln to conduct oversight investigation into this horrible situation.
you would representative Mike Levin adding, our sailors and Marines deserve better than to be pushed past their limits and then left wondering when they will finally get home.
saying if we don't keep speaking out and fighting for them, we don't deserve to have them fight for us.
you even had Senator Richard Blumenthal writing a letter to Pete Hegseth demanding that he address these reports saying, not only do these complaints weren't immediate attention, but they also raise a broader question
whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force, particularly as this administration repeatedly commits U.S.
forces to conflict of its own choosing and increasingly relies on aircraft carriers to sustain those operations.
but as far as what you should expect next, you have reporting from earlier this week suggesting that the Navy's been preparing the USS Theodore Roosevelt to relieve the Lincoln, though they didn't give a public timeline. Right.
But then this morning is you had all this news prompting tons of outrage with the Wall Street Journal saying the U.S. is preparing to send the USS George Washington to replace the Lincoln.
and while that report claim that this was quote part of a previously scheduled rotation plan, though many are skeptical there, it also still did not say exactly when this which would happen.
-
but then that's also not where the controversies with the government ends right now, because the president of the United States is now being accused of using members of the press and top cabinet
officials as unknowing decoys in a potential Iranian attack on Air Force all while you had Trump himself secretly fleeing to well that story it popped earlier in the week.
You now have many, including top U.S. officials, saying that the whole thing might have been a scheme by Israel. so there's a lot that we got to break down.
So where we'll start is with after the NATO summit in Turkey last month, you had Trump making a weirdly big deal about the fact that he had decided to fly in the old Air Force
One plane instead of the $400 million luxury jet Qatar gifted the United and he would come claiming that he'd be traveling from Turkey to a military base in England on the older plane for old times so.
He boards the older plane in full view of cameras and news organizations.
you literally have a video of him getting on the jet, which was also occupied by members of the white House press corps and top administration but you then end up being revealed that it was just an elaborate ruse, right.
Just minutes after boarding, Trump and some of his aides secretly exited the plane and they were whisked away on a catering shuttle that took them to a military according to reports, the reason for this is that U.S.
officials had determined that there was a credible threat against him in Air Force One from had multiple outlets reporting that Iranian operatives were plotting to fire a missile at the plane that Trump was on as he left Turkey,
and that someone had been spotted near the NATO summit with a shoulder fired But of course, one of the big key things is that basically everyone else still flew on that Right.
The journalists, and reportedly even some of the white House staff on the jet had no idea they were being used as decoys and a plot to down Air Force
Seemingly all or most thought that Trump was still on the plane with and then when everyone landed in England, Trump was secretly moved back onto Air Force One so that he could be seen disembarking
in full view of even had the white House posting a picture of Trump leaving the plane saying that he had arrived at the British base on board the former Air Force Notably here, you had some of the journalists
on Air Force One seeming a bit sketched out by the fact that the white House staff instructed them to keep window shades closed during the flight when they were still on the ground.
they asked Trump about it later, he just responded, because you're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebag that we have to deal with him, saying he has a threat all the time against his life, claiming that he is number one on Iran's hit list, and then if I go, you go, which one?
A darkly funny but also insane thing to say before you even consider that it is extra insane because he tricked this group of people into thinking that he was on the plane with right.
This is a group of people he seemingly used as decoys in a potential assassination then what makes it even crazier is that we're now seeing reports that some of the highest ranking
officials in America were also on the Air Force One we're talking Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson, top policy adviser Stephen Miller and the white House communications director Steven Chung.
They were all reportedly on Air Force right. And then as far as who is on the secret jet with right, the cool kids. Let's not get blown up in the Sky the Washington Post saying.
That list included Defense Secretary Pete Hedges, as well as at least three aides who were, along an inner circle of supporters who worked for Trump at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida during the four years between his presidencies.
now also a big thing here is.
Well, most of the details here are just for media Trump himself also appeared to confirm that the secret plane swamp did, in fact happen while speaking to reporters.
And they're claiming that he was just following directions from the Secret that? Well, it's only up to Secret Service.
I just follow what they'd like to They wanted me to go in a different flight, a different plane, equal safety. But they wanted me to do it. So I do it.
I do what they but then also with that, he somehow tried to claim that the people in the decoy plane were actually somehow safer. Why was it too dangerous for you to fly on Air Force One?
But I don't know. I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk. I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane.
I think that we that they would be more likely to go for which is an argument that makes sense if one you're fucking or 2.
The jet Trump was secretly put on was actually not a secret jet.
And like on the side, they had a big sign that said, actually, Trump's on this Then yes, that statement makes but then also with his just completely nonsensical explanation aside, Trump and his administration.
They still haven't explained why everyone was still allowed to travel on the plane if it was deemed to be for the nor have they said that additional security precautions, if any, were put in place to ensure the safety of those passengers.
but now, you also have this whole situation getting even more complicated, because The Washington Post just published a new report alleging that the assassination threat that prompted this whole scheme, it came from Israeli intelligence passed to the CIA.
right.
But CIA analyst, quote, did not view the intelligence as compelling and conveyed that skepticism to Trump administration with one official calling the reports of threats against Trump's life, quote, Israeli derived, not us generated and viewed as low confidence.
despite all that, sources say that the Secret Service still enacted their elaborate plan out of an abundance of You have that credibility assessment also appearing to have been backed up
by other sources, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that the Israeli Intel was vague and many members of the president's staff deemed it not right now, adding Turkish officials also told
regional counterparts that they found no evidence Trump was ever in danger of a shoulder fired missile but and this is such a key thing a key takeaway. you have some U.S.
intelligence officials reportedly believing that the main reason Israel shared this intelligence was to influence Trump's decision making in the ongoing Iran
you even had one official claiming that Marco Rubio was aware of the Israeli threat intelligence and the Trump's, which a route plane, but still decided to board Air Force which seems to me neither.
He thought that there actually wasn't a credible threat, or he's just so fucking tired of everything that he is just ready for But then with all this, you
then had a ton of people online arguing that this latest reporting, it just shows how much influence Israel has over Trump and how easy it is for them to get him under their
or people saying this is yet another example of Israel pulling Trump strings to ensure that he keeps fighting a war that they and that was also something you saw echoed by some political leaders
like Senator Chris Van Hollen, who I am very curious about the extent to which the Israeli provided intelligence was not only credible, but independently verifiable.
have no doubt that Iran would like to see the president gone, but this all seems a little fantastical.
also noting that top Democratic leaders said that they weren't briefed on the alleged assassination threat, which also makes it seem like it wasn't actually serious because they would have at least informed key lawmakers. Right.
If not the public as a especially because when Trump has faced what they say are credible assassination attempts in the he and everyone around him, they've made such a big deal about it,
and understandably so then with this, you people asking why did they try to seemingly sweep the whole thing under the was it because they realized they put the lies of all those people on Air Force One at was it because they're embarrassed that Israel has such an iron grip on Trump?
But that my friends. You beautiful bastards, is the end of your Thursday course.
Yes it is with that like button, if you haven't already, to keep us in your feed. Subscribe if you're new Maybe get really crazy by yourself. Some tickets to see us live at crashing out. Tor.com.
I've been so excited. But that said, I release you out back into the world. Thank you for watching. I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here next time.
