Niantic, makers of such hits as "Pokémon GO" and...the rest...has sold the location-based creature-enslaving walk-em-up for $3.5 billion.

One catch: The buyer is Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, a portfolio that's increasingly invested in tech and games. The Saudi government doesn't have the best track record on human rights, and its new access to millions of Pokémon Trainers' IRL location data has some players freaked out. We discuss the geopolitical ramifications (cuz we r eXpErTs).

Plus: A classic Bethesda RPG is probably being reborn in Unreal Engine 5, what if Link had a keytar instead of a sword, cats doing cat things, Steam's most-played demo is also its most-hated, and the weird physics reason your ancient Super Nintendo is running slightly faster now.

Join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/5xz84B9RRJ
 

Subscribe to the show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ColetteAndMatt

Email us with what you're playing and we'll read it on the show! HaveEnteredTheChat@gmail.com

Follow and subscribe to Colette:

• https://bsky.app/profile/itscocobee.bsky.social
• https://www.twitch.tv/hellococobee

Follow and subscribe to Matt:

• https://bsky.app/profile/mattsilverman.bsky.social
• https://www.patreon.com/influencepod
• https://www.youtube.com/c/freedadvideos

Our theme music is by Azure Flux: https://azureflux.bandcamp.com/

Our logo is illustrated by @JustCallMeKatarina: https://www.instagram.com/justcallmekatarina/