Bonus Episode 255: Is PvE Killing PvP? Warzone Casuals & the AI Bot Future
Every shooter is adding a PvE mode right now: The Finals, Arena Breakout Infinite, Arc Raiders, Tarkov, and even Marathon after losing 96% of its players. But is PvE a win for gamers, or is it quietly wrecking PvP?
Raz makes the case that Warzone Casuals was the beginning of the end for Warzone. It pulled the average players out of the pool and left everyone else with the sweatiest lobbies on Earth. He's seeing the same thing in Tarkov, where half the playerbase now plays PvE and his K/D has cratered.
Jake pushes back. Plenty of those players would never touch PvP anyway, and he used Tarkov PvE to get back into PvP. Then things get philosophical. When AI bots become indistinguishable from real players, with no cheaters and no desync, what are you actually losing? Is it the challenge, or knowing there's a real human on the other side?
Also: Black Division deaths, the Overwatch ranked-vs-AI thought experiment, Magnus Carlsen vs Stockfish, why shooter AI is so boring next to Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3, why games need to pick a lane, and the hour-a-night dad debate.
Raz wants pure PvP. Jake thinks the bots might win him over. Where do you land?
0:00 - Intro
1:29 - Bonus Ep 255: We're Talking PvE
2:21 - Every Shooter Is Adding PvE
4:01 - The Finals, ABI, Arc Raiders & Tarkov PvE
6:25 - Marathon Lost 96% of Its Players
7:26 - Warzone Casuals: The Beginning of the End
12:06 - Raz's Worst Tarkov Wipe Ever
15:06 - Counterpoint: They'd Never Play PvP Anyway
16:33 - Jake Learns What PvE Stands For
18:07 - From Side Mode to Main Event
19:38 - Why PvE Was Always Boring
21:50 - Tarkov AI vs Arc Raiders AI
23:17 - Will PvE Become the Main Thing?
24:15 - Killed by Black Division
25:54 - The Bot Turing Test Is Coming
29:30 - Fortnite Bots & Fake Lobbies
31:03 - Why Now? Sweats, Cheaters, SBMM
33:07 - Raz Loves PvE, Just Not in CoD
34:34 - "Why Are You Playing Call of Duty?"
37:17 - Jake's Tarkov PvE Comeback
41:17 - Is It the Challenge or the Human?
45:01 - Simulation Theory & AI Desmond
49:38 - "Yummy Legs": What Bots Can't Do
51:42 - Ranked vs AI: The Overwatch Thought Experiment
55:11 - Fighting a Desmond Clone
58:12 - Can AI Fake Panic?
1:02:41 - Would You Watch a Streamer Play PvE?
1:05:57 - Magnus Carlsen vs the Chess Engine
1:09:29 - Pick a Lane: PvP or PvE
1:14:16 - Why Shooter AI Is Boring
1:19:31 - BG3 Honor Mode & AI Levers
1:23:20 - Snipers, Nades & AI Behavior
1:25:45 - Casuals Are PvE's Audience
1:27:35 - FPS Games Are Baseball
1:32:54 - Real-Time vs Turn-Based AI
1:33:50 - Can AI Fake a Bad Read?
1:40:27 - Stockfish vs a Customs Raid
1:43:51 - What Will Devs Actually Build?
1:45:12 - Fragmentary Order & the Future of PvP
1:47:58 - Can't Blame the Companies
1:48:38 - "Claude, Stop It"
1:49:42 - The Content Treadmill
1:52:45 - Does PvE Kill the Urge to PvP?
1:54:56 - Gaming Did Fine Without PvE
1:56:10 - Is PvE Why Gaming Got Popular?
1:59:18 - The Hour-a-Night Dad Debate
2:01:38 - The Pendulum Swings Back
2:06:30 - Wrap-Up: Player vs Everyone?
2:07:10 - Announcements