The Activision Blizzard saga marches on as Sony is forced to reveal private documents to Microsoft after making monopolistic claims if the acquisition goes through. What ultimately will this do to Sony and Microsoft? Also in the news, NSO adds Metroid Fusion to it’s game roster, Forspoken Dev Luminous Productions is being folded into Square-Enix and the Wolf Among Us 2 is delayed til next year. All that and more on episode 349 of Rated G.
Sony has their first State of Play of the year and it’s quite the snoozefest. Konami claims big plans if E3 is happening, Microsoft doubles down on Call of Duty support for Nintendo consoles, an earnings call lets slip Mortal Kombat 12 production and John Romero gets a lifetime achievement award. All that and Dave’s troubles finding a copy of Metroid Prime Remastered on episode 348 of Rated G.
At the top of the show, Dave gives his spoiler free review of the new Ant-Man movie and Dan reminisces over the Super Bowl. In the news, with the ongoing Activision Blizzard court proceedings, Microsoft agrees that Xbox Game Pass cannibalizes game sales despite previous claims, Nintendo and Sega are giving their employees raises and Ubisoft plans on being at E3 if there even is one on episode 347.
The tech industry is a pretty bad state at the moment amid employee cuts. Microsoft reports over ten thousand including 343, Xbox, and Bethesda. Also in the news, the EU is reportedly objecting to Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard purchase, Xbox and Platinum Games rumored to be reviving Scalebound and devs protest Indian government categorizing videogames as gambling. All that and Dan and Dave fawn over HBO’s The Last of Us on episode 343.
Video Game companies have been going through an acquisition frenzy and this week Take 2 buys mobile giant Zynga. You thought the Zynga acquisition was big? Microsoft said hold my beer. They acquire Activision Blizzard for $69B making them one of the largest game publishing companies in the world. Also in the news, E3 may be cancelled this year, Nintendo to stop credit card payments on the 3DS and Wii U eShop and Zotac releases a peanut butter for gamers. Also on the show, we talk to Leroy Patterson, the Human Tackboard on wrestling, game testing and having the largest collection of the Sneak King games in the world.
Activision Blizzard in very hot water after the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing files lawsuit against company for discrimination and sexual harassment against women in the workplace, employees stage a walkout in protest and J. Allen Brack, head of Blizzard Entertainment steps down during all of this. It’s big news that’s still unveiling itself and Rated G is here bring you all the coverage and expose why the games industry is a terrible place that needs some much needed reform.
Blinds.com promo: https://blinds.gnv2.net/c/2544961/1102435/9086
CD Project Red gets hit with a malicious attack and hackers grab the source code for Cyberpunk and the Witcher 3 and sell it to the highest bidder. Terraria on Stadia cancelled after developer gets locked out of his Google accounts, Axiom Verge 2 will launch on PC as an Epic Games Store exclusive and the ESA confirms details about E3 2021. All that and the Gardens Between in the Indie Game Spotlight on episode 257 of Rated G.