Phil Spencer and the rest of the team at Xbox recognize that gaming has a problem. In a new blog post titled “Video games: A unifying force for the world”, Spencer minces no words. As he outlined, “We will identify potentials for abuse and misuse on our platform and will fix problems quickly,” hyping up
At a recent meeting of the UK Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Electronic Arts and the rest of the AAA industry has found itself in hot water with gamers again this week. SNP’s Brendan O’ Hara posed a question to the assembled reps of the games industry and MPs concerning loot boxes and
In an interview with GamesIndustry, Take Two Interactive CEO, Strauss Zelnick was very frank about unionization in the games industry, saying, ‘hard to imagine’ it happening. The insulting part about this is the justification he gives, Zelnick elaborated by arguing that “There are 220,000 or so people employed in the US video game business,’ he said.
By now, many in the games industry and beyond are becoming increasingly more aware of issues within their various scenes involving crunch, low pay, discrimination and other forms of worker abuse. It’s no small matter when one of these problems get brought into the limelight, and this past week has seen a major player in
So YouTube appears to be cracking down pretty heavily on underaged users of their services with a new set of restrictions and policies which take effect immediately. Children will effectively be locked out of streaming on YouTube with this new policy. The announcement comes just months after multiple controversies involving the potential exploitation of underage
So the Gearbox CEO is once again in hot water over a dumb decision he’s made. This time it’s likely the worst thing he’s done strictly online. This past weekend Pitchford decided it was a good idea to retweet a disgusting video involving animal cruelty. The video itself depicts a crab attacking and wounding a
The escalating trade war between Donald Trump’s ego and Chinese manufacturing is heating up once again. and now, buried deep in the lists of thousands of product types, is a series of products that could cripple the games and tabletop industries and have major impact on console pricing in the next console generation. The US
Anyone who spends any amount of time gaming online knows this, but things can be pretty rowdy. While there’s plenty of harmless jokes and memes going on, there’s an undeniable darker element. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer emphasized in a blog post in which he wrote about this ongoing problem of misogyny, bigotry, harassment and exclusion.
If you’re not, here’s a very quick refresher. Riot Games, the company behind popular MOBA League of Legends, has been the subject of ongoing legal disputes revolving around a series of sexual harassment lawsuits and allegations of discrimination. Many describe the toxic atmosphere at this company as a “bro” culture as a result. But the
So for a while now, there has been ongoing controversy at League of Legends maker Riot Games LA studio and beyond over a forced arbitration clause being enforced by the games company. Riot Games has been the subject of ongoing issues such as gender discrimination lawsuits and other claims of abuse and mistreatment of their
So we all know that Season 8 of the Game of Thrones TV show produced by HBO has been kind of rocky. There have been heaps of issues with the last few episodes of the six episode final season. And even though the most recent episode “Bells” was the most-watched episode of the entire series,
YouTuber ProJared, real name Jared Knabenbauer, was recently at the center of a major controversy, one that’s cited by NormalBoots as a motivator for severing ties. According to the allegations, ProJared was accused of soliciting explicit pictures from fans in interactions, that accusations come from ProJared’s wife, Heidi O’ Ferrall. NormalBoots is a channel known
The newly launched Mortal Kombat 11 is burning up the charts, bringing a ton of new and old fans of fighting games back to the Realms. An eternal war for control of time and existence has begun, and Mortal Kombat 11 wants to tell that story. But a controversial new report from USGamer has another
The creator of the mega-hit Minecraft, which has sold more than 30 million copies through the Java version on PC alone, has no doubt been a huge success. The game has gone through a ton of changes over the years, even before Markus Persson, aka ‘Notch’ sold the property to Microsoft for $2.5 billion in
Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg is an extremely popular, and often polarizing, figure in online circles of creators and fans. As his popularity grew from his first video uploaded in 2006 on his original Pewdie channel, no one could have predicted the life we would find the world’s most popular gaming YouTuber in today. Recently, he took
So Respawn and EA have finally revealed more of their upcoming Star Wars title, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Some people online are already drawing attention to something with the upcoming Star Wars game which I feel a need to draw attention to as well, and to explain why what people are saying in response
According to various Nepalese news outlets, spotted by Destructoid, the Metropolitan Crime Division filed a Public Interest Litigation at the Kathmandu District Court on Wednesday, urging a ban on PUBG on grounds that the game “was having a negative effect on the behavior and study of children and youth.” The order to ban the game
Devolver Digital as a publisher and gaming company has never really shied away from controversy or outspoken politics. The company openly supports unionization in the games industry for one thing, and with their latest high-profile release, the trend they helped set of being open and honest about the state of the world through gaming is
Minecraft’s recent update has scrubbed some references to the original creator of the game in some areas. Previously, several “splash” screens on the main menu of Minecraft made references to Markus ‘Notch’ Persson, including the text ‘Made by Notch!,’ ‘The Work of Notch!,’ as well as the date ‘110813!,’ which is when he got married.
Harry Brewis, better known by his online persona Hbomberguy, is a YouTuber known for his biting and often hilarious political commentary, response videos and general weirdness. He’s now known for something even better, raising more than $300,000 to benefit trans folks in the UK by performing a marathon style charity stream of Donkey Kong 64.
There is power in a union, or in this case a power-up, as the first union for video game workers has been made an official entity in the United Kingdom. Registered as a branch of of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), Game Workers Unite UK states that membership is open to “current,
As anyone who has been following the gaming industry knows, the last few months have been very contentious when it comes to the subject of loot boxes. Loot boxes are essentially a mechanic of putting games of random chance into “loot boxes” to make money. And with multiple countries having either promised or delivered on
For many years, the US as a whole has struggled with a public image crisis of sorts. International relations with the US are strained by the worsening political and economic outcomes of US foreign policy, this is plain for anyone to see. It’s not just the constant sources of embarrassment that everyone around the globe
The prospect of a rising far-right across the globe has led to an extremely disturbing trend of ignorance and willful silence surrounding the history of these ideologies. Developer Paintbucket Games has joined forces with HandyGames for Through the Darkest of Times, to help correct these issues. In Through the Darkest of Times, players take on
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