Tag Archives: Video game companies

Technology

Activision Blizz Exec Has Most Unhinged Last Of Us Show Take

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Screenshot: HBO / Kotaku

The Last of Us inspired no shortage of takes when it first released back in 2013. The HBO TV adaptation has been no different. Like a massive EpiPen of stimulus for the take economy in middle of winter, it has elicited both over-the-top praise, scornful dismissals, and everything in-between. But what is potentially the worst take of all wasn’t born until today.

“Hi FTC — did you catch last night’s episode of The Last of Us?” tweeted Activision Blizzard’s Executive Vice President of Corporates Affairs and Chief Communications Officer, Lulu Cheng Meservey. “It was incredible.” What followed from the Call of Duty publisher’s recently hired serial poster was a cringey thread about how The Last of Us TV show proves Microsoft should be allowed to acquire the company for $69 billion.

For those who might be living under a rock and don’t know: The Last of Us is a harrowing tale about love, loss, and redemption in a world brought to its knees by pandemic. This week’s especially intimate and emotional episode moved many to tears. It moved Meservey to post about how the largest acquisition in the history of tech raises no red flags.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have been on the offensive ever since the Federal Trade Commission launched an anti-trust lawsuit against them, seemingly with the intent to wriggle loose a few more concessions before eventually letting the deal go through. It is a multi-faceted, omni-directional campaign that has Microsoft repeatedly talking about how much it sucks compared to Sony, both in terms of making games and now in terms of making TV shows. That was certainly the sentiment Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer conveyed last week when asked to compare The Last of Us TV show to the Halo TV show.

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“Sony’s talent and IP across gaming, TV, movies, and music are formidable and truly impressive,” Meservey tweeted today. “It’s no wonder they also continue to dominate as the market leader for consoles. In gaming, Sony is ‘the first of us’ – and they will be just fine without the FTC’s protection.”

Let the Cordyceps take me now.



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Technology

What To Expect From PlayStation in 2023

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Sucker Punch hasn’t announced what it’s working on, but has confirmed what it isn’t working on.
Image: Sucker Punch Productions

Sony’s San Diego Studio is a multiplatform studio now that MLB The Show is available on Xbox and Nintendo platforms. So while it won’t be a PlayStation exclusive, expect an MLB The Show 23 later this year. God of War Ragnarök was one of the biggest games of last year, and was also one of the last big games in 2022, having only launched about two months ago. Sony Santa Monica also doesn’t seem to have plans to make DLC for Ragnarök, so it’s probable the team goes mostly silent in 2023.

Sucker Punch could be a wildcard in 2023, as it’s been about three years since Ghost of Tsushima, but the studio also seems to be working on a sequel to its open-world samurai game rather than a new IP or a sequel to its previous series Infamous and Sly Cooper. The gap between Infamous: Second Son and Ghost of Tsushima was about six years, but if the studio is iterating on old systems, we may hear about the new samurai sequel sooner rather than later. Finally, Valkyrie Entertainment was a more low-key acquisition for Sony, and the team has acted primarily as a support studio as recently as God of War Ragnarök. That being so, the team is likely helping out with other projects that launch in 2023.

Whew, I think that’s everything on the PlayStation radar so far. Has anything got your interest piqued, or are you hoping Sony will announce some more enticing projects in the coming year?

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Technology

Microsoft Called FTC Unconstitutional, Regrets The Error

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Photo: Zed Jameson/Bloomberg (Getty Images)

Today, Microsoft filed a revised response to the United States Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit intended to stop the tech giant from buying up Call of Duty publisher Activision. The initial filing contained multiple arguments claiming the FTC itself and its court system were unconstitutional. But now Microsoft has yanked that language out of the doc and claimed it was all a mistake. Y’know, just your average oopsie of calling a large government agency unconstitutional.

Last year, Microsoft announced its plans to consume Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher Activision Blizzard for a whopping $69 billion. Since then, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have faced pushback and legal roadblocks around the world as various government agencies and regulatory committees investigate if the massive deal would give Microsoft an unfair advantage against its competitors. As you would expect, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have fought back and spent 2022, filing responses, docs, and court paperwork in an effort to make its deal happen.

In a press release put out by the FTC last month, the agency announced a lawsuit against the merger and reasoned that Microsoft would be able to stifle its competitors by making games Xbox exclusives and manipulating prices, should the deal go through. Microsoft fought back via a response that contained a lot of arguments, including the assertion that the FTC itself was actually unconstitutional.

However, as reported by Axios, today Microsoft refiled its response to the lawsuit and has omitted the section arguing that the FTC’s lawsuit was “invalid because the structure of the Commission as an independent agency that wields significant executive power” violates Article II of the US Constitution. In that same section of the original filing, Microsoft also argued that the lawsuit and legal proceedings being carried out by the FTC were “invalid” because the FTC’s official complaint violated Article III of the U.S. Constitution. Oh, and Microsoft’s legal team also claimed that the FTC’s “procedures” violated the company’s “right to Equal Protection under the Fifth Amendment.”

Read More: Gamers Are Suing Microsoft To Thwart Its Merger With Activision

Now all of that is gone and Microsoft tells Axios that it probably shouldn’t have been in that initial doc in the first place.

“The FTC has an important mission to protect competition and consumers, and we quickly updated our response to omit language suggesting otherwise based on the constitution,” Microsoft public affairs spokesperson David Cuddy told Axios. “We initially put all potential arguments on the table internally and should have dropped these defenses before we filed.”

Microsoft says it appreciates all the “feedback” it received about its arguments claiming the FTC itself was unconstitutional and are “engaging directly with those who expressed concerns” to make the company’s position on the matter “clear.” In other words, the FTC probably didn’t take too kindly to be called unconstitutional and you probably shouldn’t anger the people suing you and trying to stop your whole big merger from happening.

Axios reports that Activision is also dropping similar allegations it had included in its own, separate response to the same FTC lawsuit. 

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Technology

Sonic Co-Creator Charged Over Illegal Final Fantasy Stock

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Photo: Kevin Winter (Getty Images)

Last month, the legendary co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog was arrested for allegedly purchasing shares in a development studio before its involvement in a Dragon Quest game was announced. A month later, he was arrested a second time for reportedly buying stock in a company that was set to work on a Final Fantasy spinoff. Yesterday, Tokyo prosecutors formally charged Yuji Naka for inside trading roughly $1,080,000 in Final Fantasy stock.

According to NHK, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office determined that Naka had been making a profit on insider trading (Thanks, VGC). For the uninitiated, insider trading is when someone with non-public knowledge of a company is able to use that information to trade stock at an advantage. Doing so is illegal in Japan. So Naka ran afoul of the law when he purchased shares in ATeam before the studio had announced that it would be developing the mobile game Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, a battle royale that was exclusively released for mobile devices. Though the game was announced in 2021, Naka was arrested on December 7 of this year.

This was a month after he had been arrested the first time for buying shares in Aiming, the studio that created Dragon Quest Tact. In both of these incidents, he was arrested alongside Square Enix employee Taisuke Sasaki. Sasaki was indicted for trading roughly $782,000 in stock.

If the two made a profit off the ATeam stock, it was presumably before The First Soldier was canceled less than a year after its launch. Square Enix had clearly been hoping to capitalize on the popularity of Fortnite and other battle royales. Instead, First Soldier suffered severe performance issues and was exclusively available on mobile.

Naka had joined Square Enix in 2018 to direct Balan Wonderworld, a strange action-platformer that was near-universally panned as a flop. The game was unfocused and confusing to many reviewers, and Kotaku included it on a list of the year’s biggest gaming disappointments. The director departed Square Enix in June 2021. Maybe Naka would have been better off if he had been focused on directing a good game instead of manipulating the stock market.

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Business

WoW Dragonflight Studio Joins Gaming’s Snowballing Union Push

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Image: Activision Blizzard / Kotaku / Yevgenij_D (Shutterstock)

Developers at the Boston-based gaming studio Proletariat announced plans to unionize on Tuesday. If successful, roughly 60 employees there who worked on World of Warcraft’s new Dragonflight expansion would join the growing ranks of organized labor across parent company Activision Blizzard and beyond.

The group, called the Proletariat Workers Alliance, is unionizing with the Communications Workers of America and says it has a supermajority of support among qualifying staff at the studio. While it has filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, it’s also calling on Activision Blizzard to voluntarily recognize the union in a break with the Call of Duty publishers’ attempts to stall and sabotage similar efforts at its other studios.

“Everyone in the video game industry knows Activision Blizzard’s reputation for creating a hostile work environment, so earlier this year, when we heard that Blizzard was planning to acquire Proletariat, we started to discuss how we could protect the great culture we have created here,” Dustin Yost, a software engineer at the studio, said in a press release. “By forming a union and negotiating a contract, we can make sure that we are able to continue doing our best work and create innovative experiences at the frontier of game development.”

The Proletariat Workers Alliance would be unique among gaming unions for representing all non-management staff at the studio, rather than just quality assurance staff as is the case at Raven Software, Blizzard Albany, and unionization efforts currently underway at Microsoft’s Bethesda studios. The Proletariat developers list flexible PTO, optional remote work, no mandatory overtime, and policies fostering diversity, equality and inclusion among the demands they plan to negotiate at the bargaining table if the union drive is successful.

Activision Blizzard didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about whether it would voluntarily recognize the union or try to fight it as it has previous efforts within the company. The publisher recently tried to block Blizzard Albany’s union on the grounds that allowing only QA to unionize would hurt the development of games like Diablo IV. Ultimately, the NLRB didn’t buy it, but in Proletariat’s case those concerns would be moot anyway since a studio-wide vote is exactly what the workers are asking for.

Proletariat was founded in 2012 by former Zynga, Insomniac Games, and Harmonix developers, funded by venture capital and investments from companies like Take-Two. It’s best-known release prior to joining Blizzard was Spellbreak, a free-to-play magic shooter that came out in 2020. The game was eventually shut down this past June, however, and Proletariat was acquired to work on World of Warcraft the following month.

“At Proletariat, we have always emphasized looking out for each other as people, and we’re committed to preserving what is best about our studio,” James Van Nuland, an associate game producer at Proletariat, said today. “We are in this together.”

             

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Technology

Square Enix Abandons Chocobo Racing Game 9 Months After Launch

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A game not included on our list of major 2022 games that died this year was Square Enix’s kart racer, Chocobo GP. There’s a reason for that, as it will remain playable for the foreseeable future. However, as Square Enix announced on December 21, the game is effectively dead now since “no further large scale updates” are coming any time soon. RIP.

Chocobo GP is the sequel to Square Enix’s 1999 speedster, Chocobo Racing. Another entry planned for the Nintendo 3DS, Codename: Chocobo Racing 3D, was announced at E3 2010 but quickly canceled before ever seeing the light of day. Chocobo GP, which launched onMarch 10, 2022 for Nintendo Switch was a surprising return for the long-dormant franchise that drew ire from fans for its grindy mechanics and expensive battle pass.

Read More: Square Enix Apologizes For Chocobo GP Grind Following Backlash

Now, in a maybe not-so-surprising turn of events, Square Enix has ended support for Chocobo GP just nine months after the game’s launch. It wasn’t even a year old yet, but in an important notice on the game’s website, the publisher said “there will be no further large scale updates (e.g. new characters or new maps) [added] to [Chocobo GP] after the Season 5 update on Wednesday, December 21.” Rankings will continue without the use of the battle pass (called prize pass in the game), but you can no longer buy the premium in-game currency Mythril from the Nintendo eShop. The in-game shop you’d use said Mythril, along with any unspent Mythril you have, will vanish entirely from Chocobo GP on January 6.

“Furthermore, new items will continue to be added to the Mythril shop during Season 5 as before, but the same items may also be added to the Ticket or Gil shops at the same time and become available to obtain without spending Mythril,” Square Enix said. “Items originally sold in the Mythril Shop during the Season 1 to Season 4 periods may also be added to the Ticket or Gil Shops. We hope you continue to enjoy Chocobo GP.”

Kotaku reached out to Square Enix for comment.

Square Enix didn’t provide a cause or explanation for it’s unceremoniously ending support for the Mario Kart-like racer. Maybe allocating resources to the game proved untenable or developer Arika is focusing its attention somewhere else. It’s hard to say, but regardless, you will still be able to play Chocobo GP until it’s taken offline. Whenever that happens.

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Technology

Gamers Are Suing Microsoft To Thwart Its Merger With Activision

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Photo: Bloomberg (Getty Images)

The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 gives Americans the right to sue companies over anticompetitive behavior, a fact which 10 self-described gamers are using to take Microsoft to court, aiming to halt the company’s acquisition of Activision.

As reported by Bloomberg Law, the complaint, filed today and obtained by Kotaku, states that the plaintiffs, or “video gamers” as they’re described, are concerned that “the [Microsoft and Activision] merger may substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly;” this merger, the complaint states, would specifically be in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which states that acquisitions that diminish competition are prohibited under U.S. antitrust law. The complaint not only cites the scale and scope of the Activision and Microsoft merger as problematic, but also that this latest proposed union follows numerous other Microsoft acquisitions ranging from its 2014 purchase of Mojang all the way up to its acquisition of Rare in 2022.

Thoroughly laying out console, PC, and AAA gaming, as well as subscription services as “Relevant Product Markets,” the suit calls attention to just how many large franchises will fall under Microsoft’s corporate umbrella should the merger go through. Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Doom, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Halo, and The Elder Scrolls are just some of the cited examples. It maintains that currently Microsoft and Activision compete directly through these titles and services like Battle.net, the Microsoft Store, and Game Pass. The merger would shatter that competitive dynamic.

Should the merger go through, the suit claims, Microsoft would hold “outsized market power and the ability to foreclose key inputs to rivals and further harm competition.” The suit mentions competition both whereas it concerns sales to consumers, as well as the competition in the industry to “hire and retain talent within specialized video game labor,” which would be “lessened” under the merger.

Kotaku has reached out to Microsoft for comment.

The proposed MIcrosoft / Activision merger has been a lightning rod for controversy ever since its initial announcement. Perhaps most worrying for Microsoft is the recently filed lawsuit from the FTC. The feds allege that, should this merger go through, it would pose serious harm to competition in the video game industry, citing past behavior of Microsoft to prioritize Xbox and Windows PCs as platforms for its games. Microsoft has disagreed, stating that the Activision acquisition would “bring Call of Duty to more gamers and more platforms than ever before.”

Speaking of Call of Duty, in response to criticisms of its intended merger with Activision, Microsoft has pledged to continue to deliver Call of Duty to other platforms for at least 10 years. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has categorized Sony’s criticisms of the acquisition as an attempt to “protect its dominant position on console” and that it seeks to grow by “making Xbox smaller.”

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Technology

New $100 Diablo IV ‘Collector’s Box’ Doesn’t Include Game

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Image: Blizzard / Kotaku

Blizzard is now taking pre-orders on a large, nearly $100 special Diablo IV collector’s box which includes many things. But it doesn’t include the game. And while Blizzard isn’t trying to trick people into accidentally buying this game-free box, it still seems very odd that there’s not even an option to get the game with this pricey package of demonic goodies.

Expensive collector’s editions of video games and movies have become more and more popular over the last decade. Personally, I never felt the need for all the random gubbins and statues usually included in these pricey bundles, but I get it. Some folks just really love to collect everything involving their favorite franchise or series. Whatever floats your boat! Just don’t get confused and think this $100 Diablo IV Collector’s Box actually includes the game it’s named after!

This week, Blizzard started taking pre-orders on something it’s calling the Diablo IV Limited Collector’s Box over on its merch store. This large, spiffy-looking box will cost you a cool $96.66 (I see what you did there…) and includes all of these items:

  • Occult Mousepad
  • Cloth Map of Sanctuary
  • Pin of the Horadrim
  • Diablo IV Collector’s Edition Art Book
  • Matted Fine Art Prints (x2) – 18.54″ x 10.79″

That’s very nice and all, but you’ll notice that the game isn’t part of this pricey bundle. Now, Blizzard isn’t trying to deceive anyone. It’s clear in the store description that this box doesn’t contain the game. It also isn’t selling the box on Battle.net but instead on its merch site, further separating it from its video game store. So I’m not trying to imply that Blizzard is trying to pull a fast one and trick diehard Diablo players into forking over $100 for something that doesn’t include the upcoming ARPG. I’m just saying it’s a bit odd, is all!

I guess for folks who prefer buying a digital copy of the game via a third-party site or who might want to provide a physical gift to someone who might already have the game pre-ordered, this is a nice idea. But why not have a different version that is $60-70 more and includes a code for the game? Or even a discount on it! Though that kind of stuff might make things more confusing.

Anyway, Diabo IV comes out June 6, 2023 on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC. If you want it, don’t buy this box. Or do, but then also buy the game separately.

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Technology

New $100 Diablo IV ‘Collector’s Box’ Doesn’t Include Game

Leave a comment

Image: Blizzard / Kotaku

Blizzard is now taking pre-orders on a large, nearly $100 special Diablo IV collector’s box which includes many things. But it doesn’t include the game. And while Blizzard isn’t trying to trick people into accidentally buying this game-free box, it still seems very odd that there’s not even an option to get the game with this pricey package of demonic goodies.

Expensive collector’s editions of video games and movies have become more and more popular over the last decade. Personally, I never felt the need for all the random gubbins and statues usually included in these pricey bundles, but I get it. Some folks just really love to collect everything involving their favorite franchise or series. Whatever floats your boat! Just don’t get confused and think this $100 Diablo IV Collector’s Box actually includes the game it’s named after!

This week, Blizzard started taking pre-orders on something it’s calling the Diablo IV Limited Collector’s Box over on its merch store. This large, spiffy-looking box will cost you a cool $96.66 (I see what you did there…) and includes all of these items:

  • Occult Mousepad
  • Cloth Map of Sanctuary
  • Pin of the Horadrim
  • Diablo IV Collector’s Edition Art Book
  • Matted Fine Art Prints (x2) – 18.54″ x 10.79″

That’s very nice and all, but you’ll notice that the game isn’t part of this pricey bundle. Now, Blizzard isn’t trying to deceive anyone. It’s clear in the store description that this box doesn’t contain the game. It also isn’t selling the box on Battle.net but instead on its merch site, further separating it from its video game store. So I’m not trying to imply that Blizzard is trying to pull a fast one and trick diehard Diablo players into forking over $100 for something that doesn’t include the upcoming ARPG. I’m just saying it’s a bit odd, is all!

I guess for folks who prefer buying a digital copy of the game via a third-party site or who might want to provide a physical gift to someone who might already have the game pre-ordered, this is a nice idea. But why not have a different version that is $60-70 more and includes a code for the game? Or even a discount on it! Though that kind of stuff might make things more confusing.

Anyway, Diabo IV comes out June 6, 2023 on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC. If you want it, don’t buy this box. Or do, but then also buy the game separately.

Read original article here

Technology

New Final Fantasy Remake Has A Getty Watermark In A Painting

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Screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII – Reunion was released today and is a solid remastering/remake of a beloved PSP title. But at least one painting in the new game contains a li’l something extra: a Getty Images watermark, implying that the in-game painting was created using an image preview taken directly from that service’s website.

In our review posted earlier today, we noted that the new remake is a faithful adaptation of the original PSP game, complete with flaws that come about from being overly dedicated to being a perfect prequel. And like the original, while the first half or so of the game is solid, the ending makes for a “disappointing conclusion.” It’s a damn good-looking remake nonetheless. However, we’ve noticed that the new visuals come with a new mistake, in the form of a watermark left on at least three instances of an in-game painting.

During chapter eight of the game, you’ll enter a Shinra mansion. In this very nice-looking and opulent home you’ll find many fancy paintings hanging on the walls. Look closely and you’ll discover these are real paintings. Look a little closer and you’ll clearly see where Square Enix grabbed the art from.

Hello there, Getty.
Screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

Yup, that’s a big old Getty Images watermark right in the middle of it. I was able to track down the exact painting that Square Enix grabbed using our own Getty account. It’s a piece by artist John Crowther depicting Ludgate Circus in London in 1881.

Kotaku has reached out to Square Enix but didn’t hear back before publication.

Read More: Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII – Reunion: The Kotaku Review

It appears that whoever grabbed this image from Getty—and possibly didn’t pay to license it, as the watermark is still there—stretched it out and cropped most of its top to make it fit in the frame. And this isn’t a one-off error. The resulting painting appears at least three times in this area of the game complete with the Getty watermark. Whoops!

The watermarked painting appears in at least three different places.
Screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

This isn’t the first time a big Square Enix RPG has shipped with a mistaken watermark included. Kingdom Hearts III also included a watermark during one cutscene. However, that was a “blink and you’ll miss it moment” and not an easy-to-find painting that appears multiple times and can be seen clearly by anyone paying attention. If you want to see this mistake yourself, I’d go to the mansion sooner than later, as I imagine Square Enix will be patching it out shortly.

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