Not all fun in games

Gaming voice actors are officially on strike. The main reason: Artificial Intelligence. Also, an apology from Ubisoft over the latest Assassin's Creed game sends the wrong message, and Roblox may not be as safe for your children as you think. All this plus some fun (we promise) side quests. Let’s go! 

Ubisoft’s Unnecessary Apology

Ubisoft made news last week for issuing an apology over their upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows game.

The apology was in response to a number of online comments criticizing the company’s use of a black main character. The racist comments that a black character is not historically accurate were debunked; despite being in the right, Ubisoft issued an apology anyway.

Ubisoft takes pride in the historical accuracy of these games, trying to make the time periods they travel to as close to real as possible. As such, this apology seems extremely out-of-pace and unwarranted. 

Apart from Luke Plunkett’s article linked above, Trone Dowd’s piece for Inverse is also a must read on this topic.

Game voice actors strike

Game voice actors and motion capture artists say their likeness could be recreated by AI without their consent or compensation. Negotiations on a new contract started in 2022, and the union voted to go on strike in 2023. Discussions have been ongoing, but the union decided it was time to take the next step. From their official statement:

Our resolve is unwavering and should not be tested. Our membership voted more than 98% yes to authorize a strike of this contract should the employers not come to the table with a deal that includes our critical provisions—especially in A.I.

A statement from gaming publishers included in an article by the New York Times says, “we are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiation.”

Games will likely be delayed while the union and publishers finalize a new deal, but apparently work on Grand Theft Auto 6 won’t be affected by the strike.

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Roblox: the wrong kind of playground

Roblox is known as a kid-friendly gaming community. However, a new article by Bloomberg paints a very different picture. 

Per the report, at least two dozen people have been arrested since 2018 for allegedly abducting or abusing young players they have met via Roblox. Of those, some were registered sex offenders or had prior allegations of abuse against minors. Roblox also reported over 13,000 incidents to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2023, up from 3,000 in 2022. From Safe on Social CEO Kirra Pendergast:

Parents are letting children play on Roblox thinking it’s a cute little kids’ game, with no idea what is really happening. If I could wipe one app off the face of the Earth right now, it would be that one—it would be Roblox.

The article can be a bit disturbing but is worth a read, especially if you have children who play Roblox. 

Side Quests (more stories worth reading)

🔫 Activision secretly experimented on 50% of Call of Duty players by “decreasing” skill-based matchmaking, and determined players like SBMM even if they don't know it.

🎮 Concord will not have a battle pass, with the creators saying “you own Concord, Concord doesn't own you.” The game will have a cool PlayStation 5 controller, sold separately.  

👏🏻 Nintendo vacated the Splatoon 3 World Championship after racist messages surfaced from the winners. 

🆕 Helldivers 2 receives its biggest update Aug. 6. The Escalation of Freedom update includes new mission objectives, enemies, and a much harder difficulty setting.

🤦🏾‍♂️ Confused by the recent changes to Xbox Game Pass? Well bad news, everyone. Microsoft is considering more subscription tiers. 

💂🏼‍♀️ Want to play a new Fallout game? The Fallout: London mod released last week, and basically transforms Fallout 4 into a new game. 

📈 Netflix plans to launch a new game to its mobile gaming platform every month, and has 80 currently in development. 

⛔ Indie publisher Humble Games made significant employee cuts during “restructuring,” but says reports of a complete shutdown are false. Former employees say “No one from HG survived the layoffs, nor will they have anything to do with game launches moving forward.”

🐲 The new Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook will be available early at Gen Con this week. 

📱 Hasbro says they are “going all in on becoming a digital play company.”

📅 Stalker 2 is delayed…again. This time only until November. 

🐰 Better than a shrubbery? The next Magic: The Gathering series features Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 

🔫 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is now available on Xbox Game Pass.

🚫 Apex Legends rolled back some of their unpopular battle pass changes. 

💰 Warner Bros. acquires MultiVersus developer, Player First Games. MultiVersus will also see new characters join the fight, including Samurai Jack & Beetlejuice (confirmed), along with rumored Barbie, Harry Potter and more. 

🎬 Budget cuts have reduced the scope of Netflix’s Bioshock film. 

📉 Paradox Interactive profits drop 90% due to the cancellation of Life By You.

👍🏽 Blizzard’s World of Warcraft developers formed the largest and most inclusive games union yet. Microsoft promises “good faith negotiations” with them. 

👶 How parents fit (or don’t fit) long games into their lives.

🏈 EA College Football 24 is creating significant confusion for Xbox fans. 

🎞️ The final Borderlands trailer released last week. The movie opens Aug. 9. 

📉 American game studios aren’t the only ones facing difficult times, as Chinese game companies decreased employment by 10% in 2023. Related read: Why is it so expensive to make games in the United States?

🥽 PlayStation VR launches on Steam Aug. 6. 

📽️ A video game documentary received an unexpected prologue on YouTube and will be released on Blu-ray in December.

🔑 Someone build a keychain size Nintendo Wii, and soon you will be able to as well.

New Releases this week:

8/1: Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
8/1: Thank Goodness You're Here! (PlayStation, Switch and PC)
8/2: World of Goo 2 (Switch and PC)

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