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The GTA Trilogy Remasters Look Great, But Shouldn’t Replace The Originals
23.10.2021
Today Rockstar finally showed footage of the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy remasters and they look surprisingly good, but also very different from the original games. This has raised concerns about erasing the series’ past, and also called to mind the fragmented state of game preservation.Read more
Epic Games Faces Backlash After Ending Popular Time-Off Policy
22.10.2021
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. According to a new report by Bloomberg, which a source corroborated for Kotaku, the move angered staff who were caught...
Activision Blizzard May Have Found A Way To Wriggle Out Of California Lawsuit
19.10.2021
Activision Blizzard, embroiled in legal wranglings over alleged appalling work conditions for its staff, has requested additional time to investigate and potentially disqualify the California Department of Fair and Equal Housing from its ongoing legal battle with the agency. This is on account...
The People Who Make Pathfinder Are Forming Tabletop RPG's First Big Union
14.10.2021
Over 30 employees of Pathfinder and Starfinder publisher Paizo Inc. today announced the formation of the United Paizo Workers union with support from the Communication Workers of America, the largest media labor union in the United States. United Paizo Workers is the first union of its kind in...
Union Pissed About Meager Activision Blizzard Settlement, Demands Fairness Hearing
12.10.2021
Today, the Communication Workers of America union filed an objection to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) proposed settlement with Activision Blizzard regarding sexual harassment allegations at the game publisher. The union is, to say the least, unhappy with the settlement...
Squid Game Knock-Offs Are Taking Over GTA 5 Servers
11.10.2021
Netflix’s Squid Game has taken the world by storm, and now it’s taking over Grand Theft Auto V role-playing servers. GTA fans are recreating the show’s grim children’s games across the streets of Los Santos. Winners get big cash prizes while the losers get sued into oblivion by Take-Two. Just...
Eidos Montreal Announces Workers Switching To Four-Day Weeks
7.10.2021
In an industry plagued for years by workplace crunch and the mistreatment of developers, good news can be hard to come by. But in an apparent effort to address some of these issues, Eidos Montreal—the studio behind the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy game—has announced it will be switching to...
Destiny 2 Maker Ditches Corporate Anti-Worker Policy
30.9.2021
Bungie CEO Pete Parsons announced yesterday that the studio behind genre-defining franchises like Halo and Destiny would be getting rid of mandatory arbitration clauses in its developer contracts moving forward. The news comes as the anti-worker policies face renewed criticism across the games...
Labor Union Suggests $18M Activision Blizzard Settlement Akin To Pennies
30.9.2021
Following news that Activision Blizzard plans to settle the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) complaint for just $18 million, workers at a labor union say it doesn’t do enough to curb “corporate bad actors.”Read more
The Whiteness of Skater XL’s Mods Is A Major Bummer
22.9.2021
Skater XL, the skateboarding simulator developed by Easy Day Studios, is one of two more recent genre entries that attempts to capture the zeitgeist of EA’s Skate. The game plops you in a myriad of selectable maps, each replete with various obstacles (such as benches and rails) to trick over,...
Genshin Impact Embraces Fan Creators, Rather Than Suing Them
21.9.2021
Genshin Impact developer miHoYo has a uniquely generous policy toward fan artists, and its explicit endorsement on Genshin Impact merch has created an incredibly vibrant art community.Read more
Blizzard Reduces Titty In World Of Warcraft, But Not Sexism At The Company
17.9.2021
The newest World of Warcraft update reduces the amount of titty that can be seen in the game. Unfortunately, no restitution for its gender-marginalized developers is in sight. Read more
Nendoroid And Figma Company Sued Over Mistreatment, Sexualized Toys
16.9.2021
In 2020, popular figurine manufacturer Good Smile Company sued two former vice presidents, Guy Brand and James Young-sik Kim, for competing with its merchandise business while employed at GSC. In response, the former employees have filed a cross-complaint claiming that GSC actively profited from...
Workers Accuse Activision Blizzard Of Union Busting
14.9.2021
Activision Blizzard employees represented by the ABetterABK worker group filed a lawsuit against the Call of Duty publisher with the National Labor Review Board yesterday accusing it of union busting. It comes in the wake of a bombshell California lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment...
Everyone Who Worked On A Game Should Be In The Credits
14.9.2021
Deathloop is out, and by all accounts it’s pretty good! It’s a shame, then, that it’s also the reason we’re revisiting the topic of “video games people being weirdly shitty about who makes it into the credits and who doesn’t”.Read more
Two Popular Team Fortress 2 Mods Temporarily Removed Due To 'Arrangements' With Valve
12.9.2021
Here’s an odd bit o’ news: Two popular Team Fortress 2 mods have suddenly and mysteriously been removed from the internet and can no longer be downloaded. According to the devs, this is due to “arrangments with Valve” but neither team has explained what that means. According to devs for both mods...
Shout Out To The Developers Trying More Humane Working Conditions
10.9.2021
Because most major news stories about the culture and environment at video game developers tend to be negative, I thought tonight it would be nice to look at two recent examples of studios who are trying something different.Read more
Pokémon Oreos Would Be Cooler If Nabisco Workers Weren’t Striking
8.9.2021
This morning, Oreo announced a new variation of its popular sandwich cookies decorated with Pokémon characters. But while I love me some cross-brand synergy, I’m also a little wary of scarfing down on a crunchy, chocolate recreation of Pikachu’s face when striking Nabisco workers have asked...
Kickass Cyberpunk 2077 Modders Become CD Projekt Red Devs
31.8.2021
If you know anything about Cyberpunk 2077, an open-world romp about committing crimes with neo-John Wick, you know that it launched in rough shape. Much of the game’s eight-month lifespan has been defined more by patches and updates than anything else. But this news might help: The developer,...
Medieval GTA Actually Pretty Much Works
30.8.2021
These days, people are excited about old Grand Theft Auto games, like Vice City and San Andreas, getting remastered for modern hardware. But before the series went 3D, the ‘90s era classic top-down GTA games were Rockstar’s quirky first stabs at an open-world crime game. Rustler, out today...