I spoke with members of The Game Awards' Future Class who are questioning the program's purpose: “Do [organizers] actually care about the needs of marginalized game devs, or are they simply using us as diversity tokens for their promo shoot?"
A salient point made by Take This: "As political rhetoric heats up ahead of the US presidential election later this year, this kind of online activity is going to ramp up and it’s important to understand that these phenomena are interrelated."
ICYMI: I wrote about Sweet Baby, the narrative consultancy at the center of an ongoing harassment campaign trying to brand itself as GamerGate 2.0. "They're treating this like a holy war. It is taking on a cult-like vibe."
NEWS: QA testers at Blizzard Albany have won union recognition with 14 votes in favor. They are the second major union to form within North America -- and Activision Blizzard.
going on week 2 of my mentions just being unreadable: there's no point in trying to argue with people spewing conspiracy. there is also such a fundamental, willful misunderstanding of how development, journalism, etc work that it's no longer ignorance, it's just stupidity
the same gamergate-obsessed washed up dev repeatedly go after female reporters he doesn't like is pathetic. their relevance is all this guy has to cling to and truly what kind of weenie shit is that
frankly my mentions are too full for me to even look at and I’m pretty busy but I assume everyone is being very normal and kind! thanks for your support, generous comments, and rational takes :)
NYT published a piece about a major industry that intersects tech and entertainment where workers are making groundbreaking strides in labor rights. They've decided to begin like this
I wrote about the resurrection of Cart Life, a game gone missing nearly a decade ago and revived for a new release after two developers made an unlikely connection on a 4AM phonecall
NEWS: Proletariat, the third group attempting to unionize within Activision Blizzard, is withdrawing is petition for an election. A statement from one of the company's software engineers:
Talked with Super Mario Bros. Wonder's devs about changes they made to make it feel less Zelda-like, prototyping deadline-free, and this very good explanation for why we didn't get Mole Mario (I mean I would have wanted Mole Mario)
"Young people are seeing something brutal, and they are freaking out about it, with and without nuance...This is, quite frankly, where they should be in this moment, as they are opening their eyes to what that world actually contains."
this is such a bizarre and bad way to write about a tv show?? what is it about video game properties that make critics lose their damn minds no one needs to be reminded every three seconds it's also a game
As Activision Blizzard employees form a second union in Albany, tensions between workers and mgmt continue to rise. "It has become tradition for employees to respond to the management announcements in Slack with an emote that says ‘fucking unionize."
I spoke with QTCinderella about the impact being deepfaked has had on her personal and professional life. "At the end of the day, you realize this is all because of a pervert online. This is nothing that I signed up for."
if you work at a studio that could potentially be impacted by Xbox cuts and want to talk about it/the impact these sudden closures and periods waiting for news have on you, DMs open, signal available via request. RTs appreciated
NEW:
- Xbox still isn't done cutting costs, sent voluntary buyout offers to some Zenimax staff
- Why were Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks closed? Bad timing, perhaps
- Activision purchase has ramped up scrutiny on Xbox
And much more - here's my latest:
The NLRB has denied Activision Blizzard's efforts to expand the Albany vote beyond just the QA department. This is a win for the union, which needs a majority decision only from the 20 or so testers for legal recognition.
A statement issued by CWA claims that CEO Seth Sivak "took the workers' concerns as a personal attack and held a series of meetings that demoralized and disempowered the group, making a free and fair election impossible."
If you are an editor at a major, mainstream outlet, I cannot stress this enough: this framing is deeply embarrassing and out of touch. Instead of taking your subject seriously, you're beginning with some weird implied apology about how it's really dumb, sorry!
"extremely hardcore" might be the dweebiest way to tell your employees you plan to run them into the ground and destroy any semblance of a personal life, or else fire them. not content to be ruinously incompetent, he must also be embarrassing
NEW: Elon Musk sent Twitter staff an email with the subject line “a fork in the road.” He said: “to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mens working long hours at high intensity.” 1/
NEWS: Roughly 300 QA workers at ZeniMax Studios have overwhelmingly voted to unionize, making it the largest US union to exist. Per its previous comments, Microsoft has voluntarily recognized the union.
are you working on cool game projects this year? have interesting thoughts about game industry trends? have a tip about something happening within your company? generally want to talk about gaming things you think are a fit for Wired?
let's chat! megan_farokhmanesh
@wired
.com
the best thing I learned from tiktok by far is attaching ear plugs to jewelry so you can easily pop them in and out at a show without losing them. plus, you know, they’re earrings
I talked to Hidemaro Fujibayashi about Tears of the Kingdom and speedrunning -- which makes him a little nervous, but the team "did create this game in a way that is meant to be broken."
really could not be happier with this coverup. the original tattoo itself was fine, but it was such a bad experience I really wanted to replace it. plus, a life hack: tattoo pain is nothing when you already have a pinched nerve in your back. napped through the whole thing
I wrote this story in 2021. I've been thinking about it a lot lately and how much has really changed. If you're a dev whose visa is now in jeopardy because of a layoff, I'd love to talk to you -- open DMs, can share signal, megan_farokhmanesh
@wired
.com
It's not hard to understand why the quality of games could suffer, especially in the coming years, as the industry continues to endure massive layoffs and brain drain. But people railing against Sweet Baby point to "wokeification as the problem"
the cut story with the lady lamenting her inability to send her kid to private school OR put a tub in her master suite attic because she’s still shy of making $700k is why the guillotine was invented
I talked with the devs over at Night School about their future at Netflix, the climate for indie studios today, and making a horror game with the perfect setting: your 30s
final fantasy vii rebirth is my favorite final fantasy game of the last decade, easily. everyone hurry up and finish so we can discuss The Ending please!!
If you can't treat it with respect why should your readers? There's literally no reason to explain that a lot of people play video games now. People know. All you're doing is demonstrating a lack of confidence and understanding, which to me says you don't know what you're doing
i once told a nurse i needed to lay down when i was getting blood drawn or i'd pass out and she goes "aww the BABY needs to lay down??" and then started mimicking crying baby noises
I decided to grow my hair out as long as possible now, in heatwave summer, and I suffer for my hubris every day under this party city wig-ass bullshit I wanted
Update! Activision management's bitter attempt to silence our union has failed. The NLRB has officially denied
@ATVI_AB
's request to impound our ballots.
We are still waiting for our new election date, but we look forward to the impending ballot count without interruption✊🎮💙
everybody is so focused on the morality of tlou finale we're forgetting the insane birthing scene it's like three seconds from her water breaking to that baby shooting out faster than a bullet
I talked to the devs making Final Fantasy XVI, who say the game's attempt to walk a more mature road is a product of the team itself growing older. Plus: the creative freedom of an M rating
I had a very nice talk with
@Snak3Fist
and
@waltdwilliams
about Spec Ops: The Line's legacy and game preservation (featuring an appearance by
@MitchyD
drawing from his critic days)
landlord: we’d like to ✨offer you✨ a lease renewal at an increased rate with the additional perk of mice who whisper everything mean anyone has ever said about you while you sleep (fee mandatory)