Update Patch | July 2022
It is the end of July. We come to a month in which the UK government fell apart faster than Anthem’s launch, England’s Lionesses have dazzled en route to a European Championship victory and "Let's Go On Strike" was the song of the summer across the UK. Alas, games continued to happen. While major releases were few and far between, Fall Guys did go free-to-play, and the world’s felines were enamoured by Stray. Meanwhile, more news happened and we have recapped the highlights here.
1. Nordisk/Supermassive Acquisition
Consolidation continues in the videogame industry, with Nordisk Games acquiring a third studio in UK-based Supermassive Games. This isn’t particularly surprising, given Nordisk had a 30.7% stake in the studio behind The Dark Pictures Anthology and most recently The Quarry. Supermassive announced the news on their website.
Hopefully, this acquisition means more underrated cult favourite character actors in major roles in future Supermassive games
This move sees Nordisk grow its portfolio of studios to three “wholly-owned” studios, and its portfolio includes Avalanche Studios (Rage 2), and a 40% stake in MercurySteam (Metroid Dread). CEO Mikkel Weider said regarding the news “In the year we’ve worked alongside… the whole Supermassive team, it’s been clear to us the amount of talent, as well as how much potential there is to further develop the kinds of… games they excel at."
This continues the trend of companies looking to make acquisitions and consolidate their portfolios, with the year including Take-Two acquiring Zynga, Microsoft’s ongoing acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Sony’s acquisition of Bungie and surely more to come, with Microsoft advertising a job in April to aid their M&A program (Mergers and Acquisitions).
2. Activision Blizzard Update
Speaking of Microsoft mergers, the Activision acquisition rumbles on in spite of continuous legal disputes.
Microsoft’s acquisition is currently under review in the U.S. by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), but the company has now provided additional information which the FTC has 30 days to respond to. Of course, if the FTC chooses to pursue this further, the deal could be delayed longer than that.
However, another stumbling block for the company has come in the form of U.K. regulator The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). They will be reviewing the deal and will be making the decision as to whether the deal is anti-competitive and they have a set deadline for the 1st September.
Unironically, we are running out of relevant images to use for these updates…
Microsoft are doing plenty to get this massive deal over the line. This includes attempts in numerous countries to play down the scale and potential impact of the acquisition. The Xbox manufacturer has gone as far as claiming that Activision Blizzard don't have must-have games in a report to the New Zealand Commerce Commission, stating "there is nothing unique about the video games developed and published by Activision Blizzard that is a ‘must have’ for rival PC and console video game distributors that could give rise to a foreclosure concern."
In short, the company is trying to convince the governments of the world that this deal would not lead to a monopoly in the console games industry. However, there is enough uncertainty that we will likely not know if this is actually the case or not until years after this deal likely closes.
3. E3 2.0 3.0: Presented By Reedpop
E3 wasn’t around this year owing to COVID (at least that is the reason the ESA gave) but we’ve now had confirmation that the L.A.-based convention will return in 2023 with new organisers joining the ESA in Reedpop. The event organisers are most well known for running shows like EGX, New York Comic Con and PAX amongst others.
E3 was last held in person in 2019, before being cancelled in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. The show returned in an online form in 2021 with a spread-out schedule of livestreams, events and confusion. Having taken this year off it seems Geoff Keighley has staked his claim to summer video game announcement with online and in-person events for his Summer Game Fest. This news has brought confirmation that the event will feature “digital showcases and in-person consumer components” as confirmed on the ESA website - although how similar in scale to SGF and its online demos remains to be seen.
Bring him back! You cowards!
Of course, the event is a long way away so there’s no news on exhibitors and such, but the company has promised a “streamlined media registration” approach.
Speaking on the news, ESA president and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis said “The past three years have confirmed that E3 convenes our industry like no other event. ReedPop brings world-class talent… which will serve to enhance the E3 experience for years to come”. The other question that arises, and is seemingly implicated by this comment, is how this will coincide with Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest event next year
4. Unity CEO Thinks Certain Developers Are “Fucking Idiots”
CEO of Unity John Riccitiello has apologised after comments he made in an interview with PocketGamer.biz.
You know, it is only the 13th of August but I can tell you for a fact that we will be talking about the continued mess at Unity in net month’s Update Patch.
The above interview came off the back of the company's recent merger with the controversial software (and at one point malware) company, IronSource. When asked about pushback on an ability to add monetization earlier into the development process in Unity from developers, Riccitiello said the following:
"It’s a very small portion of the gaming industry that works that way, and some of these people are my favourite people in the world to fight with – they’re the most beautiful and pure, brilliant people. They’re also some of the biggest fucking idiots."
Understandably, game devs weren't fans of being called "fucking idiots". Riccitiello did apologise in a statement, saying "My word choice was crude. I am sorry. I am listening and I will do better". He further elaborated on his original statement, clarifying "What I was trying to say, and clearly failed at saying, is that there are better ways for game developers to get an early read on what players think of their game."
5. UK Government Loot Boxes Update
With many governments around the world taking action on loot boxes in gaming and their regulation as gambling, the UK government has produced a response as part of its review into the Gambling Act.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published a 90-page report on the issue of whether loot boxes are gambling. Evidence has been collated since 2020. Whilst the report is available in full, here are the key points:
The report says there is "robust evidence" of a link between loot box purchases and problem gambling, but the report says that there are a "range of plausible explanations".
The report also states that evidence points to young people being "more at risk" to harm than adults, with medical groups, academics and researchers making this point to the department.
The department praises industry-led initiatives to protect young people, citing Xbox and Playstation's policies that money can only be spent with parental permission and also praised UK trade body UKIE's proposals on the matter. However, the department says this progress is "uneven" so have called for further action from the industry.
Loot boxes will not be regulated under the UK Gambling Act. The department puts this decision down to no "real-world monetary value" being brought, as well as "significant implementation challenges" and potential unintended consequences of amending the Gambling Act.
The report calls for further evidence and research and the government will launch a Video Games Research Framework by the end of the year to support this goal. The government will collaborate with academics and industry members for this.
On that last point, UKIE CEO Dr Jo Twist OBE said, "We look forward to engaging closely with the Government and other organisations in the working group and on the Video Games Research Framework.”
I am starting to think Overwatch might have an image problem…
6. Yu-Gi-Oh Creator Tribute
The creator of the famed manga franchise Yu-Gi-Oh, Kazuki Takahashi, died this month at the age of 60 in Okinawa.
Takahashi had a long career as a manga artist with a career beginning in the 1980s before the release of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga in 1996 which would spawn shows like Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and of course, the physical card games were launched in 1999 in Japan. The card game exploded in popularity over the 2000s, with Takahashi constantly involved and releasing new artwork as recently as 2019.
The series is also no stranger to the games industry with Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist releasing in 2019 and Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel was released earlier this year on mobile platforms.
All of us at startmenu would like to pass on our condolences to Takahashi's friends and family.
7. Mojang Say No Fucking Thanks
NFTs continue to crop up in the news despite the ongoing crash of the much of the crypto market, with Mojang producing a statement on tokens in seminal world-builder Minecraft.
In a recent update on its website, the company were unequivocal in not permitting “blockchain technologies”, with their reasons mostly being down to the risk involved for people, stating, “Each of these uses of NFTs and other blockchain technologies creates digital ownership based on scarcity and exclusion, which does not align with Minecraft values of creative inclusion and playing together… We are also concerned that some third-party NFTs may not be reliable and may end up costing players who buy them.”
Crucially, Mojang didn’t totally rule out blockchain usage in the future, saying that “close attention” would be paid to how the technology would develop. That hasn’t stopped NFT Worlds, a company which had been heading up NFT-enabled servers in the game, proclaiming they will make their own version of Minecraft, saying in a statement that this is a “web2 vs web3 battle”. OK then.
(Editors note: it is really worth reading NFT Worlds statement for a chuckle)
Tell me. Have you ever come face to face with death incarnate?
Patch Notes:
Nintendo has announced another entry in the Kirby series via an announcement on Twitter, entitled Kirby’s Dream Buffet. The game is currently scheduled for Summer 2022.
Double Fine has announced a physical version of its acclaimed 2021 release, Psychonauts 2, entitled the Motherlobe edition, which is due for release later this year.
Devolver Digital announced a new entry in the Monkey Island franchise, entitled Return to Monkey Island. Both original co-creators Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman will take the lead again.
2012 cult classic Lollipop Chainsaw will receive a remake that is due for release in 2023, as announced by publisher Dragami Games.
Bungie has teased that Destiny 2’s latest expansion, Lightfall, will be the focus of the company’s latest showcase on August 23rd of this year.
Nintendo and PlatinumGames have announced that the long-awaited Bayonetta 3 will be released on October 28th of this year.
More details have been revealed about EA’s latest entry in the Skate franchise, with a trailer confirming the game is called Skate. and that the game is a free-to-play live service game. (And as a Skate fan that makes me just a bit sad)
With the franchise turning 35 this year, Konami has announced that entries in the Metal Gear Solid franchise that were “temporarily suspended” will be relisted on digital storefronts.
Xbox has announced a new update that allows Discord voice chats to be used on Xbox consoles. Users can link their respective accounts and will be able to partake in group chats and voice calls, with the update due to roll out in the coming months.
Hideo Kojima and his company Kojima Productions have threatened to sue over fake posts from 4chan that were amplified by news outlets and a right-wing French politician claiming him to have assassinated former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe.
To conclude, the month saw a number of sales figures revealed for AAA games as the Resident Evil 2 remake hit 10 million units sold and Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima is close to the same figure with 9.73m units.
Ubisoft has announced delays following a recent earnings call to Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora to its next fiscal year, meaning the earliest date is 2023, but have committed to an October 20th release and November 8th release for Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Skull & Bones respectively. While four other games were cancelled; Splinter Cell VR, the Ghost Recon battle royale Frontlines, and two other unnamed projects.
