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Not Even Call Of Duty Devs Are Safe From Layoffs
25.1.2024
On January 25, Microsoft announced an almost 9 percent reduction of its workforce in the company’s gaming division, totaling nearly 2,000 staffers who’ve lost their jobs across Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax, and Xbox. Some of these folks worked on Call of Duty, one of the industry’s biggest and most...
Why Video Game Voice Actors Don’t Love The New SAG-AFTRA Deal
10.1.2024
After months of speculation from voice actors concerned with how their voices could be co-opted by AI, and recent announcements from companies like Ubisoft and Tencent that they’ll use NVIDIA’s new AI tools to provide voices for NPCs, the Screen Actors Guild American Federation of Television...
Amazon Games Lays Off 180 Employees
13.11.2023
Another day, another round of video game industry layoffs. This time Amazon is laying off roughly 180 employees from its gaming division, as confirmed in an internal email from Christoph Hartmann, VP of Amazon Games.Read more
A Terrible Year For Games Media Just Got A Little Better
7.11.2023
So many great video game websites have died, it’s nice to finally see some new ones being born. The latest is called Aftermath, a subscriber-funded venture by former Kotaku staffers. Full disclosure: I worked with all of these people for years and they are amazing.Read more
Finally, Twitch Lets You Block Banned Users From Watching Your Stream
17.8.2023
Twitch has introduced a new update to its settings menu that finally prevents banned and blocked users from viewing livestreams, a feature that some may be surprised to learn didn’t already exist.Read more
Twitch Pledges To Make Ban Notifications More Transparent, Streamers Are Skeptical
26.5.2022
In a recent Washington Post article, Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch said it is working on making ban notification emails, an ongoing issue for content creators, more transparent and concise. One option under consideration is the inclusion of clips in enforcement emails, though the concept...
Top Twitch Streamers Are Capitalizing On Depp V. Heard Trial Trauma
6.5.2022
If you’ve visited Twitch lately, you may have noticed that the most-popular “Just Chatting” category and the front page have been dominated by one thing: the defamation trial between actors Amber Heard and Johnny Depp. What started on April 11 as an in-court battle recounting a toxic relationship...
XCOM 2, One Of The Best PC Strategy Games Ever Made, Is Currently Free
15.4.2022
XCOM 2 is very good. Some have even called it one of the best PC games ever made. Even if you don’t agree with that, it’s still an incredible strategy game pitting aliens against humans in a large-scale, global conflict. Now, via the latest Epic Games Store giveaway, you can get XCOM 2 for the...
Twitch Takes Traffic Hit Following Streamer Boycott Over Harassment
2.9.2021
Yesterday, thousands of streamers abandoned Twitch for 24 hours in protest of its ongoing facilitation of harassment campaigns known as hate raids. While the Amazon-owned streaming platform has yet to implement proposed changes to the controversial raid system, it’s clear what some previously...
Twitch’s Biggest Stars Keep Jumping To YouTube
2.9.2021
As marginalized creators boycott Twitch for a day, well-off white guys continue to leave for lucrative deals with its chief competitor, YouTube. Earlier this week, it was Ben “DrLupo” Lupo. Today, as the #ADayOffTwitch campaign is in full swing, it’s Tim “TimTheTatman” Betar, who announced...
Arson Suspected After House Of Twitch's Biggest Female Star Catches Fire
17.8.2021
Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa, the most-watched woman on Twitch, said in a Twitter thread that her house caught fire last Friday. According to Siragusa, investigators haven’t pinpointed a specific cause but “strongly suspect arson.”Read more
Tips For Playing Hades [Updated: More Tips!]
13.8.2021
Hades is amazing. The latest from developer Supergiant Games (Transistor, Bastion, Pyre) is a roguelike set in the unforgiving underworld of ancient Greece. Playing this game means you’re going to die—a lot. These tips should help make sure those (many, many) deaths aren’t in vain.Read more
Twitch Takes A Half-Assed Swipe At Gambling Streams
13.8.2021
Twitch has announced a new rule for streamers that prohibits the sharing of links or referral codes to sites that offer real-money slots, roulette, or dice games. The company says this will protect its viewers from “harm and scams.” Another cool thing Twitch could do to stop the glorification...
Goodbye Ash, Hornt Correspondent Extraordinaire
5.8.2021
Ash Parrish, Kotaku’s co-host of Splitscreen and esteemed expert on all things Lady Dimitrescu, Final Fantasy, and hornt, has left us. Read more
Someone Brought A Dream SMP Minecraft Flag To An Anti-Vax Rally
24.7.2021
Today in London, a large a rally was held as part of a series of global gatherings against masks, vaccine passports, and lockdowns. And for some reason, a person at Saturday’s event was spotted waving around a flag connected to a popular Minecraft roleplay server. Read more
Saying Goodbye To Friends, In-Game And Otherwise, Sucks
24.7.2021
No one likes goodbyes, whether it be saying farewell to the characters in your favorite video game as the final credits roll, or saying goodbye to two of the three voices who made this incarnation of the Splitscreen podcast so damn special. Bring some tissues, kids.Read more
Goodbye Nathan, Wordsmith And Internet Whisperer
24.7.2021
Senior reporter, Twitch expert, and longtime Steamed proprietor Nathan Grayson is leaving us today. We tried to get him to stay but after seven belly-achingly long years he decided it was time to finally go join Facebook Gaming as its new head of Good Community Vibes. Read more
RIP To Me, The Person Writing This, A Real One
23.7.2021
Are you allowed to call yourself a real one? No, I would argue, you are not. That pretty much immediately disqualifies you from being a real one, so I’m already off to a rough start here. But today’s my last day at Kotaku, so I consider it my solemn duty to close out my award-wanting “RIP To A Real...
The Activision Blizzard Lawsuit Fallout Is What Women Have Been Saying All Along
23.7.2021
A bombshell lawsuit filed against Activision Blizzard by California regulators has once again forced the gaming world to publicly reckon with longstanding issues around its exploitation and mistreatment of women. It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last. But developers, advocates,...
Super Smash Bros. Gets Tekken's Kazuya
15.6.2021
Tekken’s Kazuya Mishima will be punching Mario, Kirby, Link, and the rest of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s motley crew square in their noses very soon, Nintendo announced during today’s E3 2021 presentation.Read more