The Dropshot

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.

We also make a prediction: Call of Duty will copy WARDOGS. It happened with PUBG and Warzone, then with Tarkov and DMZ, and now WARDOGS has sold over 2 million copies and peaked at 428,000 concurrent players on Steam. Raz guarantees Infinity Ward is already being told to build it.

Also covered: WARDOGS one week into early access, the drill-spam meta, the mortar complaints, why we still think no monetization is a mistake, and the Bulkhead CEO crunch controversy (we don't see the problem). Then GTA 6 Online reportedly landing in 2027, why the PC version probably comes with it, and what GTA 6 does to MW4 and WARDOGS in November. We finish with WoW Forever, Aion 2, and an investigation into whether any elves have round ears.

Raz still wins either way.

0:00 - Intro: Big Jacob of Nibiru

2:05 - Patreon hangout & Death by AI

6:01 - WARDOGS one week in: 2M sold, 428K peak

9:24 - Balance complaints & the drill meta

13:40 - There Will Be Blood is overrated

15:01 - Bulkhead devs on Twitter & the loadout fix

17:16 - Mike Tyson's impregnable defense

20:09 - You either love a game or you're good at it

23:29 - No monetization is still a mistake

30:38 - Still in the honeymoon phase

33:07 - WARDOGS CEO crunch controversy

38:26 - Treyarch is done with Black Ops

42:20 - CoD needs a jetpack-level shake-up

46:33 - Future setting vs. grounded CoD

49:24 - Prediction: CoD will copy WARDOGS

57:08 - DMZ2 is going to fail

1:01:41 - CoD fans: don't get excited yet

1:03:53 - Wolverine hand-holding & NICKMERCS on Tarkov

1:06:30 - Why extraction shooters must be hardcore

1:10:22 - Mads Mikkelsen & MW4

1:11:07 - Does Raz come back to CoD?

1:15:53 - GTA 6 Online in 2027

1:21:52 - GTA 6 PC will launch with Online

1:24:15 - What GTA 6 does to MW4 & WARDOGS

1:30:47 - WoW Forever enters beta

1:32:45 - The elf investigation

1:34:49 - Aion 2

1:37:49 - Outro

_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.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips

Gaming topics: #WARDOGS #CallOfDuty #BlackOps #ModernWarfare4 #Warzone #DMZ2 #Bulkhead

#GTA6 #GTA6Online #Treyarch #WoWForever #Aion2

#GamingNews #HotTake #Prediction #GamingTakes
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

WARDOGS launched into Early Access on Thursday, peaked at roughly 340,000 concurrent players on Steam, went straight to the #1 seller spot — and got review bombed down to Mixed at the same time. Raz has 8.5 hours in since launch. Jake has 0.0, because Tarkov currently has him in a chokehold. So this one is a split: what WARDOGS actually plays like two days in, and what the launch looked like from the back of a 138,000-person queue.

We get into whether a negative Steam review about a queue is a legitimate review, what Bulkhead actually did to fix the bottleneck overnight, Valve's rate limits, the wrongful ban wave, and the accusation that Shroud and every other big streamer got whitelisted while paying customers sat in line.

Then it turns into the streamer economy: TimTheTatman calling WARDOGS boring and getting cooked for it, ARC Raiders reportedly offering him six figures to come back, and whether paying a streamer $100,000 actually sells a single copy. Plus the drill strat that's quietly deciding matches, and why $40 for forty hours is the cheapest hobby on earth. One of us thinks most people never read a review before they buy. The other refuses to believe it.

0:00 - Intro

1:53 - Welcome to Episode 604

3:04 - Patron Shoutout + the "What Is Hardcore?" Bonus Ep

5:47 - 8.5 Hours vs 0.0 Hours

7:16 - 340K Players, Mixed Reviews

7:57 - First Impressions: "Varied"

10:41 - The 12-Kill SKS Run

13:33 - What Changed From the Beta

15:14 - Why Jake Hasn't Touched It

16:31 - Tarkov Has Him in a Chokehold

19:28 - The Recon Grind and Starter Gear Pain

24:07 - "The SKS Isn't Good"

27:47 - Looting Better Gear Off No-Lifers

28:01 - The Queue: 138,000th in Line

29:24 - Review Bombed to Mixed

32:55 - What Did They Actually Do to Fix It?

38:38 - Did Streamers Skip the Queue?

43:12 - The Miami Nightclub Argument

47:53 - Valve Rate Limits and the CEO's Panic

50:18 - Wrongful Bans and Where Refunds Start

54:33 - Bulkhead Are Gamers and It Shows

56:00 - The CEO Reacted to a Whole Review Video

58:14 - Joe Brammer's Pea-Shooter Sniper Excuse

1:01:08 - Is a Launch-Day Negative Review Legit?

1:05:04 - Which Streamers Are Still Playing

1:06:01 - TimTheTatman Says WARDOGS Is Boring

1:11:41 - Should Streamers Care What Chat Wants?

1:17:40 - Will Anyone Still Be Playing in a Week?

1:20:25 - ARC Raiders Offered Him Six Figures

1:24:24 - Do Paid Streamers Actually Sell Games?

1:34:24 - Cutting Boards vs Video Games

1:42:34 - The Project Zomboid Counterexample

1:43:18 - Make a Good Game, People Will Play It

1:45:51 - $40 for 40 Hours

1:53:54 - Tabling the WARDOGS Deep Dive

1:54:56 - The Drill Strat Is Winning Games

1:57:38 - How the Meta Is Already Shifting

2:02:31 - Starting Late? Here's the Play

2:03:26 - Looting Your Teammate Before Reviving

2:04:54 - Do We Recommend WARDOGS? + Outro

_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.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #GamingCulture #WARDOGS #Bulkhead #EarlyAccess #ExtractionShooter #TacticalShooter #EscapeFromTarkov #ARCRaiders #TimTheTatman #Shroud #ReviewBomb #SteamReviews #StreamerDrama #GamingNews #FPS #PCGaming #PodcastClips #HotTake
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The first FPS Games Show happened, and the two biggest things in it both came from the guy who's had Escape from Tarkov in beta for a decade. Nikita opened the whole showcase with Fragmentary Order — sci-fi, Unreal Engine 5, maps four to five times the size of Tarkov's, and a promise that it'll be "more complex, more punishing, more painful."

Then Battlestate turned around and launched a publishing arm for hardcore games nobody else will fund, with devs keeping their full IP. We go deep on both: whether a game more complex than Tarkov is a game anyone actually plays, why Tarkov's bloat (two types of croutons, twenty types of Keter ammo) is the thing a fresh start fixes, and why every extraction shooter after Tarkov has failed for the same reason — they weren't hardcore enough.

Also: Bulkhead built this entire showcase because a trailer slot elsewhere runs $300,000 for 60 seconds, then immediately fumbled their own big Wardogs announcement into a clip contest. Plus Tarkov's PvE player base hitting 50%, and Star Wars Zero Company. Timestamps below. Let us know if Fragmentary Order is going to be a bust or a banger.

0:00 - Intro

2:35 - The FPS Games Show

4:21 - The Wardogs beta and what's coming at launch

7:03 - Fragmentary Order: first impressions

9:03 - Tarkov's three real problems

10:52 - It's not Battlestate — Nikita's new studio

12:50 - "More complex, more punishing, more painful"

18:33 - Tarkov's bloat problem

20:09 - How sci-fi is this actually going to be?

25:55 - "Not an extraction shooter" — Nikita's combat simulator

30:18 - Why Unreal Engine 5

37:41 - Is there a release date?

43:14 - When will Fragmentary Order actually be playable?

45:21 - Tarkov is old and it looks it

48:47 - Battlestate Games is a publisher now

58:09 - What does a game publisher actually do?

1:02:04 - "Make hardcore live forever" — mission or marketing?

1:04:27 - Extraction shooters aren't dead, arcade shooters are

1:08:00 - Does this change the Tarkov roadmap?

1:12:44 - $300,000 for 60 seconds

1:14:42 - Genre showcases vs. the big generic ones

1:19:28 - Bulkhead's Wardogs announcement flops

1:23:15 - Who actually wins the $100K?

1:25:18 - Everything else from the show

1:26:39 - Road to Vostok, Ready or Not, Hell Let Loose

1:28:30 - Beautiful Light

1:32:49 - Gray Zone Warfare is "entering alpha"

1:34:50 - Tarkov PvE is 50% of the player base

1:40:05 - Is seasonal PvP actually worse?

1:47:11 - Star Wars Zero Company

1:53:50 - Grievous vs. Darth Maul

1:55:21 - Outro

_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.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #FragmentaryOrder #EscapeFromTarkov #Tarkov #BattlestateGames #Nikita #ExtractionShooter #WARDOGS #Bulkhead #FPSGamesShow #ARCRaiders #ZeroCompany #StarWars #UnrealEngine5 #GamingNews #FPS #HardcoreGaming #HotTake
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We played the Modern Warfare 4 beta this weekend — including Warzone and the new Zodiac Resurgence map — and it took about fifteen minutes to know it was over. Not "this year is mid" over. Over over.

This is the episode where a podcast that ran on Call of Duty for 600+ episodes says out loud that it's done. Raz makes the case that nothing else in an FPS matters if you can't see or hear the enemy, and everything else — weapon levels, perks, pipe climbing, the spawns everyone's arguing about on X — is fixing a leaky bathtub while the house burns down. Jake breaks down why CoD only takes from him now, why the lobbies are nothing but sweat, and the exact point where min-maxing your controller, your router and your ZIP code stopped being worth it.

Also in this one: the Zodiac verdict (better than Area 99, roughly Haven's Hollow), the weekend 2 nerf pass, the 60% negative Steam reviews, why Warzone was in the beta at all, and a DMZ 2 prediction we're standing behind. Then a palate cleanser — Star Wars Zero Company, permadeath, and a first playthrough Raz completely ruined — plus a brutal Tarkov week, the Tarkov roadmap, GTA 6's Netflix look, and WARDOGS.

Jake wanted it to be good. Raz stopped wanting that years ago. This time they agree.

0:00 - Intro

1:10 - New patrons and the latest bonus episodes

3:26 - Our first patron Discord hangout (and Death by AI)

6:10 - "The MW4 Beta Broke Us"

6:22 - How fast did we know?

9:25 - "If I can't see the guy, nothing else matters"

10:17 - The raging inferno analogy

14:55 - "Call of Duty is dead"

15:10 - Jake: CoD only takes from me now

20:49 - Everyone is min-maxing (and moving for zero ping)

23:26 - SBMM, the missing casuals, and sweat-only lobbies

26:03 - Splitgate Reloaded and the death of 6v6 arcade shooters

27:40 - Warzone: the audio, the visibility, the haze

30:12 - Rolling the dice on what bullshit you get this year

31:28 - Bring back Caldera — at least it was different

37:28 - The first thing that felt wrong: audio

37:54 - Weekend 2's nerf pass: Tac Sprint, slides, TTK

40:44 - 60% negative Steam reviews and the player drop

41:52 - The Zodiac verdict vs. Area 99 and Haven's Hollow

42:50 - Why was Warzone in the beta at all?

47:16 - No custom loadouts, and the guns aren't fun to shoot

49:07 - "Activision devs do not play their own game"

50:18 - The one dev we ever ran into in Warzone

53:34 - The Quick Fix perk they "fixed" twice

57:07 - "Where does that put us? I give you Zodiac"

59:12 - Skipping a year, or actually done?

1:04:14 - What it would take to get us back

1:07:00 - Call of Duty is your old restaurant job

1:08:08 - "I want everyone that works there to suffer"

1:09:00 - It's a leadership problem — fire Infinity Ward

1:13:02 - Prediction: MW4 three months after launch

1:16:06 - The DMZ 2 prediction

1:24:17 - Palate cleanser: Star Wars Zero Company

1:32:45 - Permadeath, injuries, and squad bonds

1:34:36 - "This playthrough is fucked"

1:36:57 - Is it the Star Wars or the game underneath?

1:37:51 - Reviews, performance, and is it worth $50

1:38:50 - Eight classes, Overwatch combos, and base upgrades

1:44:46 - It should have been co-op

1:45:49 - Tarkov: best raid of the week

1:46:41 - The Customs transit raid that actually worked

1:50:02 - Worst raid: baited in the Reserve bunker

1:53:04 - The KS-23 rat that bled us out

1:54:39 - Camped at D2 twice in a row

1:59:49 - The bathroom extract death

2:02:34 - Why this wipe feels so much harder

2:05:18 - Tarkov roadmap: ranked, revives, simplified GPS

2:08:24 - GTA 6's Netflix extended look

2:10:31 - WARDOGS extraction and PvE prototypes

2:11:00 - Wrap-up

_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.com/@jakedown
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two shooter betas dropped on the same weekend, so we played both and came back with very different verdicts. WARDOGS is Bulkhead's 100-player, three-team tactical shooter with a real money economy — you buy your loadout every respawn, you lose money when you die, and it turns out that changes how a match actually feels. Modern Warfare 4 finally dumps omnimovement, removes bloom from hipfire, and put a campaign mission in the beta for the first time ever.

We get into the WARDOGS recon grind and the 5.56 break-action "sniper" that shouldn't exist, the money system and whether it creates real gear fear, three-team fights and whether they actually matter, spawn vehicles as an infinite money glitch, base building and anti-air, and why there is never — not once, not ever — an unoccupied tower. On the CoD side: how the movement feels without omnimovement, no-bloom hipfire on keyboard and mouse, opening-night demon lobbies, whether Warzone and DMZ2 have a chance, and the annual spawns discourse that needs to die. Jake played both. Raz refused to pre-order. Somehow they still ended up disagreeing.

0:00 - Intro

2:26 - How to even get into these betas

2:50 - "I'm not pre-ordering this pile of shit game"

3:23 - Patreon, the FPS lore bonus episode, and the patron hangout

6:09 - Gut check: which beta did we keep loading back into?

6:39 - Jake played the MW4 campaign mission first thing in the morning

8:10 - Opening night of the CoD beta was as sweaty as it gets

11:09 - The WARDOGS recon grind is making the game worse

12:22 - The 5.56 break-action "sniper" that should not exist

13:31 - Two gripes: no free look, and you can't reload while sprinting

15:10 - Recon 10, the Mosin, and a $50,000 unlock

16:41 - There's loot on top of the towers — finding an SV-98

17:44 - What surprised us

18:43 - MW4 movement with no omnimovement

21:48 - So what's actually new in MW4? Pipes and underhand grenades

23:21 - Keyboard and mouse, and the no-bloom hipfire

25:26 - Did we quit a session annoyed? Demon lobbies on day one

26:36 - Ground War and looser SBMM next weekend

27:21 - "The MW4 beta had more concurrent players than BO7's peak"

28:20 - Spawn vehicles and the infinite money glitch

30:25 - Learning to fly the helicopter (badly)

32:19 - Chopper runs are the easiest money in the game

33:50 - Base building, FOBs and anti-air

35:26 - Best moment of the weekend: spawn camping a Lone Star vehicle

36:36 - Pro tip: pack a second optic and hot swap

37:58 - Claymores and tower loot

38:53 - Class leveling and why the grind is a good thing

40:06 - Tanks, attack helicopters, and getting strafed off a roof

43:56 - Do three teams actually change anything?

47:36 - The money system: did it change how you played?

52:01 - Gear fear — "I'm here to PvP"

53:59 - We want there to be consequences to dying

56:06 - Bandages, revives, and running out of resources

58:38 - The crane fight and the parachute escape

1:01:31 - There is never an unoccupied tower

1:03:04 - Shotguns, SMGs, and the two-primary backpack build

1:05:42 - Could a kit ever get too expensive to fight over?

1:09:00 - Armor, AP rounds, and no hit markers

1:10:27 - The SKS chamber bug

1:11:46 - Tac sprint in WARDOGS is driving us insane

1:13:41 - Proning while ADS, and other small friction

1:14:42 - People who refuse to learn a new game

1:19:07 - Who is WARDOGS actually for?

1:21:20 - You can't win if everyone's Bob the Builder

1:22:28 - The one type of player this game won't work for

1:24:39 - Give it a real try before you refund it

1:26:53 - Hesco barriers and why building matters

1:27:18 - MW4 first impressions: movement and gunplay

1:28:38 - The annual spawns discourse needs to stop

1:33:36 - Warzone and DMZ2: the fundamentals are finally sound

1:34:29 - "Will they be good? No" — the prediction

1:35:42 - "It just looks like MW2" is a lazy take

1:37:35 - We are done talking about graphics

1:40:44 - What we're testing next weekend

1:41:10 - Should you buy WARDOGS? And the refund loophole

1:42:11 - Patreon, the hangout, and outro

_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!

🔹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/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices