index video game companies
[Link] New lawsuit calls Kotick’s handling of Activision-Microsoft merger “inexcusable”
Read: 6/5/2022 arstechnica.com
The Activision-Blizzard shareholders' response to a whirlwind of news over the past year—which include disturbing, company-wide allegations of sexual harassment and pay disparity, followed by a $68.
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[Link] Report: SEC investigating Activision Blizzard investors for insider trading
Read: 9/3/2022 arstechnica.com
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating three investors for alleged massive insider trading just ahead of Microsoft's January announcement of merger plans with Activision Blizzard, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
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[Link] Valve bans Cities: Skylines modder accused of hiding malicious code in mods
Read: 14/2/2022 www.pcgamer.com
If you used Cities: Skylines mods from a user known as Chaos or Holy Water, it's probably worth unsubscribing from them, as a post on the Cities: Skylines subreddit explains.
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[Link] AK-47 maker denies accusation that it stole a gun design from a videogame
Read: 9/12/2021 www.pcgamer.com
Real-world weapons ending up in videogames is nothing new, but IGN has an interesting and very odd report about the process going the other way.
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[Link] How Activision Blizzard employees made CEO Bobby Kotick powerless in just 30 minutes
Read: 2/12/2021 esports.gg
Amidst calls for resignation, CEO Bobby Kotick seemed to be all but untouchable. Blizzard employees proved him wrong in 30 minutes. Someone like Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will do whatever it takes to hold onto their power.
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[Link] Coder Spends 1,200 Hours Piecing Together Diablo's Source Code
Read: 29/11/2021 kotaku.com
If not for a few oversights on Blizzard’s part, the original Diablo’s source code would likely be lost to time. However, thanks to those oversights and some serious dedication from one coder, people can now see (and tinker around with) what makes Diablo tick.
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[Link] Orgs Affiliated With Craven Activision Blizzard Board Members Remain Silent
Read: 19/11/2021 www.vice.com
As shareholders, employees, and the top executives of both Playstation and Microsoft condemn the leadership of Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, the board of directors still stands behind him. Bobby Kotick is having a bad week.
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[Link] Halo Infinite's Battle Pass Sucks, Fans Say
Read: 19/11/2021 kotaku.com
Did you just eek out a nail biting victory in a Big Team Battle Slayer match? Bash a bunch of your fellow Spartans’ heads in with a flaming skull in Oddball? Capture a ton of objectives in Total Control, putting big numbers on the board for all your PVP comrades to see? Halo Infinite’s battle pa
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[Link] Workers Walk Out As Board, Company Stand Behind Activision Blizzard CEO Accused of Covering Up Sexual Abuse
Read: 16/11/2021 www.vice.com
Activision Blizzard’s board of directors says it stands by CEO Bobby Kotick after a Wall Street Journal report alleged that he hid assault and harassment at the company from the board. Meanwhile, employees have reportedly walked out.
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[Link] Nintendo's YouTube Video For Its Switch Online Upgrade Is Its Most Hated Video Ever
Read: 8/11/2021 www.techdirt.com
Well, this is moving fast. We had just been discussing Nintendo's announcement for a new tier of Nintendo Switch Online services.
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[Link] Activision Blizzard ends forced arbitration as CEO takes a massive pay cut
Read: 31/10/2021 www.theverge.com
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick sent a letter updating employees on the further steps he and the company will take to change its image in the wake of multiple sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits.
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[Link] Call of Duty marketing finds a new level of tastelessness
Read: 26/10/2021 www.pcgamer.com
The latest marketing push for Call of Duty: Vanguard wants you to believe its graphics are so realistic that conflict photographers can't tell the difference between the videogame and reality.
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[Link] Google Stadia’s salvaged future as a back-end cloud service is here
Read: 25/10/2021 arstechnica.com
Quick Google Stadia recap: Things have not been great. Google's AAA cloud gaming service launched in 2019 to middling reviews and since then has severely undershot Google's sales and usage estimates by hundreds of thousands of users.
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[Link] Epic Games Faces Backlash After Ending Popular Time-Off Policy
Read: 25/10/2021 www.kotaku.com.au
Epic Games, creator of the massively popular and lucrative battle royale Fortnite, decided to end a popular policy of allowing staff every other Friday off earlier this week.
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[Link] Destroy All Humans! 2 Remake Skipping Old Consoles So Devs Can Create Bigger, More Detailed Maps
Read: 25/10/2021 www.kotaku.com.au
The devs behind THQ Nordic’s Destroy All Humans! 2 remake, out sometime next year, explained recently in an interview why the remake of the cult classic game is avoiding PS4, Xbox One, and Switch.
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[Link] Leaker Details Battlefield 2042's 'Troubled Development'
Read: 21/10/2021 gamerant.com
It was no secret that DICE's Battlefield 2042 beta had its fair share of problems as many players were very vocal about the issues they experienced while playing the game.
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[Link] When Does Battlefield 2042 Unlock?
Read: 21/10/2021 www.gamespot.com
Battlefield 2042 suffered a small delay but will finally be arriving on November 19 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC.
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[Link] Custom PS5 Plate Company Dares Sony to Sue It, Gets Sued, Trolls Sony Again
Read: 20/10/2021 www.vice.com
The PlayStation 5 is an ugly machine. Thankfully, the hideous white plates flanking either side of the gaming console come off and there are several companies that sell variations on Sony’s white, default theme.
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[Link] 'Legacy code' in Diablo 2: Resurrected is causing widespread connection headaches
Read: 17/10/2021 www.pcgamer.com
The first few weeks of Diablo 2: Resurrected have not gone especially smoothly. At launch, players reported troubles with disappearing or locked-out characters, and some were unable to start the game at all.
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[Link] In Defence Of ROMs, A Solution To Dying Games And Broken Copyright Laws
Read: 17/10/2021 www.kotaku.com.au
Various game emulation sites are pulling down their software libraries, or ceasing to exist entirely, following a lawsuit filed by Nintendo against one of the largest of their kind.
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[Link] Battlefield 2042’s Troubled Development and Identity Crisis
Read: 17/10/2021 gamingintel.com
This is a behind-the-scenes insight into Battlefield 2042’s troubled development and identity crises. It’s been several days since the Battlefield 2042 Beta ended, giving many players their first-ever experience in the near-future conflict.
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[Link] Battlefield 2042 leaker claims beta build isn't as old as EA stated
Read: 17/10/2021 www.gamesradar.com
The new report comes from GamingIntel, where seasoned Battlefield and Call of Duty leaker Tom Henderson claims new information about Battlefield 2042 from an associate working on the game.
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[Link] Rockstar finally puts Agent to rest
Read: 10/10/2021 www.pcgamer.com
We all knew it wasn't happening but Rockstar has put the final nail in the coffin of Agent: the game has been listed on Rockstar's official site since announcement but has now, like a troublesome contact, simply disappeared.
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[Link] Paradox abandons multiple unannounced projects to focus on 'proven game niches'
Read: 10/10/2021 www.pcgamer.com
One month after the surprise departure of former CEO Ebba Ljungerud, Paradox Interactive has announced the cancellation of work on several unannounced projects.
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[Link] Valve's Index successor rumoured to be a standalone VR headset
Read: 10/10/2021 www.pcgamer.com
Valve may have another VR headset design in the works to follow up the excellent Index, but this time it could be completely standalone.
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[Link] Activision sued by another federal agency, settles lawsuit for $18 million
Read: 10/10/2021 www.pcgamer.com
Earlier today the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard after a three year investigation into alleged workplace discrimination.
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[Link] DICE says Battlefield 2042’s beta is ‘a few months old’ and ‘amazing progress’ has been made
Read: 10/10/2021 www.videogameschronicle.com
Electronic Arts has said Battlefield 2042’s beta is representative of an older version of the game and that players will notice significant improvements when the finished product is released.
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[Link] Grand Theft Auto modders that tried to get around a DMCA claim get walloped with Take-Two lawsuit
Read: 7/10/2021 www.pcgamer.com
The existence of the GTA Trilogy remaster was more-or-less confirmed by the Korean ratings board last week, but the rumours have been gathering pace for a while: not least because Rockstar parent company Take-Two has been getting very heavy-handed with modders of the original games on PC.
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[Link] Apple bans Fortnite from App Store indefinitely as legal battle continues
Read: 23/9/2021 www.theguardian.com
Apple has blacklisted Fortnite from the App Store until appeals in its legal battle with the game’s maker, Epic, are completed, Epic Games’ CEO, Tim Sweeney, said on Wednesday – a process that could take years.
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[Link] BioWare Reacts to Knights of the Old Republic Remake Announcement
Read: 13/9/2021 gamerant.com
During Sony's PlayStation Showcase on Thursday, a remake of the classic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic RPG was announced for PC and PlayStation 5. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the announcement wasn't the game itself, but rather the developer.
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[Link] ‘Warzone’ Bans 100,000 Cheaters in Largest Ban Wave Yet
Read: 25/8/2021 www.vice.com
The makers of the popular first-person shooter Call of Duty just banned more than 100,000 accounts for cheating in what is the largest ban wave in the game's history. On Wednesday, Raven Software, the developer of the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone, announced the bans in a tweet.
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[Link] Activision Blizzard’s QA Department Seems Like A Hellhole
Read: 15/8/2021 kotaku.com
Long hours. Low pay. Tremendous instability. Working in quality assurance (QA) for a video game studio is notoriously difficult and painstaking enough as it is without factors like these complicating matters.
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[Link] Studio Dunks On Cyberpunk 2077 While Explaining Open-World Game Delay
Read: 15/8/2021 kotaku.com
If players are going to dunk on Cyberpunk 2077, it was only a matter of time before other game studios did it too.
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[Link] Activision Blizzard shareholder calls cultural reform plans 'deficient' and 'inadequate'
Read: 13/8/2021 www.gamasutra.com
As reported by Axios, a letter penned by SOC executive director Dieter Waizenegger suggests the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft maker hasn't outlined any changes that would address key issues and usher in meaningful change.
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[Link] Diablo 2 Resurrected Open Beta Date Leaked
Read: 9/8/2021 comicbook.com
It looks as though the open beta date for Diablo II: Resurrected, which is the upcoming remaster of the classic loot-action game, has leaked ahead of its formal announcement.
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[Link] Hackers targeted Titanfall and Apex Legends in a scheme to revive a cancelled free-to-play spin-off
Read: 9/8/2021 www.pcgamer.com
The Titanfall community may have finally uncovered the hackers behind both last month's massive Apex Legends hack and server-breaking bot attacks that have been hitting Titanfall 1 for years. Earlier this week, SaveTitanfall.
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[Link] Fan Booed At Blizzcon 2010 Q&A Reflects on the Reaction from Developers and Fans
Read: 8/8/2021 www.wowhead.com
The woman who asked the question about female diversity in a recently-resurfaced 2010 Blizzcon Q&A has spoken up about the experience, reflecting on the crowd booing her, the unsatisfactory replies from the developers, and why the interaction is back in the news due to the lawsuit.
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[Link] African Game Dev Prototype Fund hopes to boost and support continent’s indie scene
Read: 7/8/2021 www.destructoid.com
Annapurna, Raw Fury, Toge, and others declare financial support A party of independent developers has banded together with Games Industry Africa to announce the formation of the African Game Dev Prototype Fund: an initiative to help fund and support video game developers operating out of Africa.
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[Link] Battlefield has free-to-play in its future, says EA
Read: 7/8/2021 www.vg247.com
As EA positions Battlefield to be more of an ongoing live service, the publisher is investing in other entry points.
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[Link] Activision may have fired a few employees, but with people like Fran Townsend still in charge, some don’t expect real change
Read: 7/8/2021 www.destructoid.com
Activision Blizzard has offered forth its initial salvo of sacrificial lambs. Blizzard President J. Allen “I despise frat boy culture/Heroes of the Storm killer/half-hearted Hearthstone debacle apologizer” (what a mark in just a few years!) Brack and the head of Blizzard HR are out.
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[Link] Fullbright co-founder steps down following report of employee mistreatment
Read: 7/8/2021 www.destructoid.com
Fullbright co-founder Steve Gaynor has stepped back from his role as creative lead and manager on Open Roads. This news broke last evening, just ahead of a Polygon report detailing issues at the studio, including complaints of Gaynor’s behavior towards women on the team.
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[Link] The Pokémon Company Company Actually Says Gay Rights
Read: 6/8/2021 kotaku.com
Pokémon Unite is blowing up right now, and with a new patch hitting servers in early August, many players have followed the associated accounts to keep up with news of the MOBA.
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[Link] Activision Blizzard Employees Form Coalition, Reject CEO's Choice of Law Firm
Read: 5/8/2021 www.ign.com
We are The ABK Workers Alliance, an organized group of current Activision Blizzard, Inc. employees committed to defending our right to a safe and equitable workplace.
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[Link] Nintendo Lawsuit Forces Japanese Dev To Cough Up $30 Million
Read: 5/8/2021 kotaku.com
In December 2017, Nintendo sued Japanese developer Colopl over patent infringements in the free-to-play mobile game Shironeko Project. According to an official statement, Colopl has agreed to pay Nintendo 3.3 billion yen ($30 million).
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[Link] EA CEO Wants Investors to Think of Battlefield as a Service
Read: 5/8/2021 gamerant.com
Battlefield 2042 launches in October of this year and has become one of 2021's most anticipated releases. For Battlefield fans, Battlefield 2042 offers up the opportunity to experience huge battles set in a near-future science fiction setting, an experience unavailable in other products.
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[Link] The Hearts of Iron 4 Soviet rework is so big it needed its own design team
Read: 5/8/2021 www.pcgamesn.com
Paradox Interactive employees are coming back from their summer break, which means only one thing – dev diaries are starting up again! The Hearts of Iron IV team has kicked things into high gear with a new diary – the first that will look at all of the changes coming to the Soviet Union as part
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[Link] EA thinks it “doesn’t get enough credit” for how good it is with acquired studios
Read: 5/8/2021 www.pcgamesn.com
EA has a bit of a reputation when it comes to acquiring and shutting down studios.
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[Link] Activision Blizzard Faces Second Lawsuit Over First Lawsuit
Read: 4/8/2021 kotaku.com
A class action lawsuit filed today in the U.S. District Court of Central California on behalf of investors alleges that Activision Blizzard’s intentional failure to disclose its ongoing problems with sexual harassment and discrimination artificially inflated the company’s stock value.
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