It’s time for another installment of Purely Academic, a variety podcast hosted by Jonathan Lack and Sean Chapman. You can subscribe for free in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
We’re back for the month of October with an exciting episode covering both the highs and lows of the video game industry in 2025. In terms of ‘low,’ we’ve got more Xbox Pricing Madness, as Microsoft once again hiked prices on Xbox hardware, before unveiling a full 50% raise to the price of Xbox Game Pass, a move that feels like the definitive end of the brand’s subscription model experiment. In terms of ‘highs,’ though, games are still great, and there’s way too many out there for us to play them all! Jonathan gives first impressions of Hades II from Supergiant, while Sean talks Ghost of Yōtei, Sucker Punch’s historical samurai sequel for the PS5. We also talk the latest Genshin Impact update, Super Robot Wars Y, and engage in a very fun, very silly Monthly Ten as we consider the lessons teenagers actually need to be taught before they get out of high school.
Enjoy!
Time Chart
Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:03:18
Xbox Pricing Madness & Other News: 0:03:18 – 1:21:14
Ghost of Yotei: 1:21:14 – 1:37:50
Hades II: 1:37:50 – 1:57:00
Genshin Impact 6.0: 1:57:00 – 2:09:54
Super Robot Wars Y: 2:09:54 – 2:31:59
The Monthly Ten: 2:31:59 – 3:10:00
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Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/