Look, I get it, prepping a primetime news and information show is hard work. I’ve been surrounded by people doing so for a decade now, and I’ve jumped in myself as well. You’ve got to source a story, pre-interview a guest, have the right notes and a script that speaks to a generalized audience and hand it off to a host or two who may have no clue what they are talking about,but they still have to lead a conversation.Oh, and you are doing all of this with little time on the clock! So, I can forgive Toronto-based 24/7 news channel CP24 for the segment they recently presented with local game developer Kitten Cup Studio ahead of the launch of their sophomore game, Capy Castaway.
In a short interview for this morning’s ” CP24 Breakfast” program, co-hosts Nick Dixon and Jennifer Hsiung affably bumble their way through a conversation with Saffron Aurora, Capy Castaway‘s creative director.
The interview is friendly and personable enough, with Hsiung expertly using comedy to keep Aurora comfortable…but the rest is pretty much a cringe-inducing mess of failed attempts and video game news reporting simplified for a general morning show audience.
First off, while the game is very loosely inspired by the world-famous 2016 High Park Zoo escape of Bonny and Clyde, a quick look at the game’s promotional site or Steam page confirms this game very much has its own story and inspiration, though it does make reference to the escaped capybaras being parents to your self-namable Cappy.
The problem with trying to shoe-horn a link to this now ten-year-old story is it starts the segment off with Aurora heading down an unrelated tangent.
Next up, Hsiung corrects herself in proclaiming this is a game for kids, which is a good catch, I must say.
This actually quite smoothly lead’s Aurora to open up about how this game has connected with parents, especially of girls, who say they are excited because their daughter’s rooms are filled with capybaras.
In the industry, we call this a hook. It’s the follow-up to a question your producer asks in the pre-interview that they’ll signal a host to watch out for and use to steer the conversation and help establish connection between host, guest and listener or viewer.
Here, Dixon’s follow-up to Aurora saying it’s nice to hear parents say they can’t wait to play this with their kids is by editorializing and quipping, “you can’t say that about a lot of games video game, Saffron, I think it’s fair to say.” This earns an awkward laugh from Hsiung, and kills a huge in-road for connection.
I wish I could say things get better, but Dixon struggles with trying to comprehend what Steam is, which is fair for non-gamers, I mean, I don’t think I could succinctly describe the house that Gabe built on the spot, but it is an easy thing to find out in background prep and offer a little more of an informed connection.
Instead, he retorts “it’s a purchase game, okay.” And it seems Hsiung didn’t understand how you would go about getting the game either, as she offers, “is there any chance that it could go on Roblox, or is that, like a different, kind of platform. So, you’d have to kind of…you know.”
At this point, the two hosts have lost control of the interview, trying to make it relatable. The result, you’ll see Aurora sink away; they’ve lost her.
Ironically, the follow-up is Hsiung asking about the research Aurora did into capybaras while making this game.
To be fair, I’ve been pretty critical up to this point, so I’ll offer that the connection is gone for the second half of the interview, but the final two questions about merch and music yields some interesting feedback about what other members of the team have done, and relate the experience to Toronto, especially to the idea that different landmarks and neighbourhoods have a sound.
Capy Castaway is out tomorrow (August 6, 2026) for PC via this platform.
