/Thread - 4/26/24
Conan died for our sins.
Greetings, traveler, and welcome to /Thread, a weekly roundup of what’s happening in the game industry, for game industry professionals, just like you.
Today’s Densely Daily Dosage
Blizzcon. Denied! - After an in-person event last year, Blizzard announced they’re canceling Blizzcon 2024. Instead, they plan to make product announcements at traditional events later in the year, though I’d expect most anything to be centered around their existing titles.
Death Threat Dipshit Takes A Charge - The absolute winner who sent death threats so concerning it led to the Nintendo Live Tokyo’s cancellation this year has officially been charged by Japanese police. That must have been some serious hate mail.
Embracer: If the Product’s Bad, Change the Name - Embracer - still not done - is splitting the holding company into three separate entities: Middle-Earth Enterprises and Friends (Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, et al), Coffee Stain and Friends (Coffee Stain, Ghost Ship Games, and Tarsier), and Asmodee (tabletop games like Ticket to Ride). Let us not forget the classic Wire episode where the Co-Op has bad heroin and realizes it’s cheaper to change its name than address the underlying problem.
Take Two Triumphs: Tattoo Tort - IP law is really weird, and this case was weirder. LeBron James, best basketball player ever (don’t @ me), has tattoos. Take Two, creators of the NBA 2k series, licensed James’ likeness through their agreement with the NBPA to show him in their games. However, James’ tattoo artist claimed that he held a copyright to James’ tattoos, a claim that was ultimately rejected by a jury this week. However, in 2022 a federal jury ruled in favor of Randy Orton’s tattoo artist for depicting tattoos she created in a WWE game. Clearly, this is a pressing issue that rattles us all to our core.
I’m posting actually cool game news now because this newsletter is turning into a doom scrolling summary. Here’s a quick roundup:
Fortnite Enables Toxic Emote Blocking - Epic now allows players to block toxic emotes like Laugh It Up and Take the L in Fortnite, which players use to taunt enemies. In my day, all we had was teabagging!
Fallout 2? Two Seasons, Anyway - Amazon’s Fallout series has officially been greenlit for a second season.
FTC Bans Noncompetes - The FTC ruled in favor of banning noncompete clauses in contracts across the nation this week. For the game industry, not really a huge thing, since they were already unenforceable in California, but for those of us not in the Golden State, you’re now as free to seek new employment as your employer already was to fire you for pretty much anything.
By The Numbers
$3.8B - How much Meta lost on VR last quarter.
5MM - The number of people playing Fallout games, inspired by the new Amazon series.
Better Know An Indie
Shadows of Doubt is an immersive sandbox detective stealth game set in a fully simulated sci-fi noir city of crime and corruption. Think like a private investigator and take on jobs to earn cash on your path to catching a serial killer. If you don’t catch them - they will kill again…. Grab in on Steam for $19.99.
Have a Great Week
As always, thanks for stopping by. We’ll see you next week!