Stephen Totilo @stephentotilo Twitter profile

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Stephen Totilo

5 months

-deep breath- I’m going independent! After a career of covering video games for MTV News, Kotaku and Axios, I’m launching Game File, a reader-supported site and newsletter for my reporting about video games.

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Last Seen Profiles

@ENHSSoftball

@twosment_park

@baredex

@sakimichanmale

@SkyAreks

@Alcides1907

@bngkh0233582010

@Lunopolis

@ICDT_OIC

@Q923s92fdYvu0V6

@ruff_diesel

@odenism

@BrawlStars_MMA

@MirianMirians77

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@MikeMikeMed

@BrawlStars_MMA

@kim_thiara

@Laporteriabtv

@HyouiSUKI

@spikesarts

@UOregonNews

@relionwastaken

@Local546

@UNISWAG

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@thomsoniae

@finanzasjosu

@noukasan_kosiki

@stw_pdg

@sessenotsex

@wrphrrkhwc41465

@shu_na_wataame

Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

Just went into Destiny 2, and, yeah, players are gathered around Commander Zavala, paying tribute to his actor, the late Lance Reddick Really touching. RIP

Benji-Sales

@BenjiSales

1 year

Destiny players are gathering in The Tower to honor the tragic passing of actor Lance Reddick, who played Commander Zavala in the franchise

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

Two cops were fired from the LAPD after they failed to respond to the report of a robbery and drove off to hunt a Snorlax in Pokemon Go. They appealed (said it wasn't okay for squad car recording of them to be used against them). They lost. From our newsletter today:

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

Phil Spencer calls for industry-wide support of emulation for older games to preserve the past “If we said, ‘Hey, anybody should be able to buy any game, or own any game and continue to play,' that seems like a great North Star for us as an industry.”

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

8 months

I got some clarifications from Unity regarding their plan to charge developers per game install (after clearing thresholds) - If a player deletes a game and re-installs it, that's 2 installs, 2 charges - Same if they install on 2 devices - Charity games/bundles exempted from fees

Game Developer

@gamedevdotcom

8 months

Unity introducing new fee attached to game installs

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

7 years

It's like they're the exact same game

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

PlayStation shows that way more girls and women own their recent consoles than was the case with PS1

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

NEWS: A worker says Nintendo of America violated their right to organize and has filed a National Labor Relations Board complaint against them and a hiring firm Nintendo had largely avoided the industry's labor scandals, but an investigation will follow

Nintendo and labor firm hit with labor complaint

Worker says gaming giant violated their right to unionize

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 months

NEW: Nintendo is suing the creators of popular Switch emulator Yuzu, saying their tech illegally circumvents Nintendo's software encryption and facilitates piracy. Seeks damages for alleged violations and a shutdown of the emulator.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

5 months

Having sat two rows behind the person managing the clock (via a laptop just to the right of this set-up), I can confirm there was manual control of when to start the 30-second countdown to the "Please wrap it up" sign, manual control of when to make it flash Was tweakable

Geoff Keighley

@geoffkeighley

5 months

By the way - I do agree that the music was played too fast for award winners this year, and I asked our team to relax that rule as the show went on. While no one was actually cut off, it’s something to address going forward.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

Nearly 500 current and former Ubisoft workers from 32 studios have signed an open letter in solidarity with Activision Blizzard workers -- and calling out Ubisoft management for its handling of its misconduct scandals over the past year.

Ubisoft workers slam bosses in open letter over handling of #MeToo scandals

Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard workers are calling for industry-wide change.

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

NEWS: Activision Blizzard's investigators confirmed 29 incidents of harassment, discrimination or retaliation by employees last year. Workers were terminated for discriminatory language, unwanted advances, nonconsensual touching, among other things

Activision Blizzard saw uptick in employee misconduct reports last year

The company attributed this to instilling a healthier culture for reporting problems.

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

In other news, here's Nintendo's Metroid marketing mural.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

NEWS: NYC is suing Activision, saying Bobby Kotick was unfit to negotiate the Microsoft deal--and that the deal was rushed to get him and the board out of danger of lawsuits over how they handled misconduct at the company Details, complaint at the link

New York City sues Activision, targeting CEO Bobby Kotick

The suit alleges a rushed takeover deal with Microsoft to escape liability

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

4 years

Not the world's biggest problem, but something I wanted to address anyway: We recently made it official Kotaku policy to compensate staff who play games after-hours on deadline (usually for reviews) with time off. It's labor. Should be treated as such.

A Note About The Work That Goes Into Our Game Reviews

We’ve informally done this for a while, but we recently officially committed to a plan at Kotaku to give staff who play a game after-hours for a deadline—usually for a game review—time off in...

kotaku.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

5 months

For those curious, Game Awards winners are given 30 seconds for their acceptance speech before a “Please wrap it up” sign starts flashing.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

4 years

A Luigi's Mansion 3 developer shares an unexpectedly deep explanation about why there are no skill trees or major upgrade systems in the game

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

8 months

NEW - I got a major update from Unity about their new fees - Unity "regrouped" and now says ONLY the initial installation of a game triggers a fee - Demos mostly won't trigger fees - Devs not on the hook for Game Pass More here:

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran Nintendo game tester Mackenzie Clifton says they were reprimanded when they asked leadership about unions Weeks later, they were fired Their labor complaint made headlines in the spring. Now, they’re telling their story:

Exclusive: Fired Nintendo worker speaks out, alleging union-busting

Mackenzie Clifton is going public for the first time through an interview with Axios.

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 delayed

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

I asked Phil Spencer about NFT games. He said: “What I'd say today on NFT, all up, is I think there's a lot of speculation and experimentation that's happening, and that some of the creative that I see today feels more exploitive than about entertainment"

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 months

Nintendo: we are really good at our jobs and have been for a long time, basically (also, here is another reason to revisit Spirit Tracks)

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

10 months

In 2022, the most downloaded PS5 game in the U.S. was Call of Duty Modern Warfare II. The most downloaded PS4 game was also MWII. The third most-downloaded PS4 game? Minecraft. Microsoft is now on the verge of becoming PlayStation's most important third-party.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 months

BREAKING - Around 600 Activision QA workers are unionizing under the Communication Workers of America, making it the largest union in North American game development. Activision owner Microsoft voluntarily agreed to recognize the union, per the CWA.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

BREAKING: GameStop CFO out, layoffs across company, including at GameStop proper and Game Informer. Unclear how hard people have been hit but doesn't sound small. "a number of reductions" as per company memo

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

7 months

As I wrote in my review, the character movement in Spider-Man 2 is incredible. Especially the flying/gliding. And the fast travel looks like a magic trick Watch:

Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

7 months

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is the best unofficial Superman game I've ever played Not a typo The main adventure has its moments, but the best part is the gliding, the wind tunnels, the ability to fly over an amazing city. An all-timer in character movement.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

4 months

UPDATE: A Remedy rep tells me: "There is nothing to see here – this was a discussion between our teams that was resolved entirely and amicably late last year." "The legal filing was simply an initial formality, and Remedy and Take-Two continue to work together in partnership."

Wario64

@Wario64

4 months

Rockstar's parent company (Take-Two) filed a trademark dispute over Remedy's new logo, claiming the logo is similar

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

More than 60 IGN staff have signed an open letter to corporate leadership, calling the deletion of an article about Palestinian relief as “a clear instance of corporate overreach." They blame upper management for its removal; call for it to be republished

IGN employees press bosses to restore deleted article on Palestinian relief

"[T]his was a clear instance of corporate overreach," the employees wrote to management.

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

Google shuts down its internal Stadia game studios. Stadia service continues and will still see more third-party games, but focus is now on partnering with other companies. Jade Raymond out.

Google Stadia Shuts Down Internal Studios, Changing Business Focus

Google Stadia, the late 2019 streaming platform that promised to revolutionize gaming by letting users stream games without needing to own a powerful PC or console, is altering course, getting out of...

kotaku.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

NEW: At least 11 members of Congress have pressed the Biden administration to take action over Sony's alleged interference with Microsoft's Xbox efforts in Japan I obtained two letters sent by House reps. The Republican one's a bit spicier

11 members of Congress argue Sony is unfairly hurting Xbox in Japan

In letters obtained by Axios, reps blast an “imbalanced Japanese video game market.”

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

11 months

At a behind-closed-doors presentation to press, Xbox boss Phil Spencer says gaming revenue for the company is double what it was in the 360 era, says Xbox has more players than ever, expecting more than $1 billion in PC gaming revenue this year (All meant to show Xbox strength)

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

Sony recently asked a court to dismiss a lawsuit alleging widespread sexism at PlayStation. Cited lack of facts Yesterday, 8 more women came forward to share their stories "I believe Sony is not equipped to appropriately handle toxic environments"

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

In other video game legal drama, MiHoYo, makers of Genshin Impact, got a California court to subpoena Twitter to reveal the identities of people behind three Genshin Impact accounts that tweet leaks Comments from MiHoYo and one of the leakers here:

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

6 days

Yes, Animal Well is amazing, but did you know it's also just 38 MB on PC? I spoke to game dev Billy Basso about why it's so small. Fun fact: AW's PS5 system menu image is likely bigger than the game

Animal Well is a great and shockingly tiny video game

Plus: Capcom surges, Roblox tumbles, and Sega focuses on three key pillars.

www.gamefile.news

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

People ask me: What was the best thing you saw at GDC? I show them three things. This… (It’s an upcoming game called Viewfinder from @sadowlstudios )

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

5 years

Another tough day at the office. I've steered @Kotaku through some rough waters before thanks to my amazing team. Can I do it again? We'll see! We all love the site--and the family of sites we're in--and are extremely motivated to do right by our readers and viewers.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

Try to get into the enemy base any way you'd like, Nintendo reps told me. I chose not to fight. Instead, I took a plank, added a fire emitter, a balloon and a steering yoke. But I needed something to propel it...

Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

I recently played The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for an hour. Super fun It's a Zelda for tinkerers, a Link for the TikTok/Minecraft age It's cool if a bit much to control, a return to Zelda complexity (a Majora's to BOTW's Ocarina) More:

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

Epic-Apple ruling. Judge says Epic failed to prove that Apple is a monopolist, but (not surprisingly if you watched the trial) disliked Apple's anti-steering rules and has issued an injunction saying Apple must let game app devs link out to alternate payment systems

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

Here's the letter in full. It doesn't just stand with AB workers, doesn't just criticize Ubisoft bosses. It calls for industry-wide action and change, with publishers and developers getting involved.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

11 months

NEW: Lawyers in the gamer antitrust suit against the Microsoft-Activision deal have been arguing over "Exhibit K." Why? Because it supposedly shows an Xbox exec saying that the plan around buying Activision is to put PlayStation out of business Story:

Lawyers: Internal email proves Microsoft's Activision bid is designed to eliminate PlayStation

Microsoft is resisting efforts to make the contents of the email public

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

11 months

Feb '22 email from Bethesda exec Pete Hines suggests frustration at Xbox/PC-centric strategy for team's games. Reacting to public vow to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation: "I'm confused, is the below not the opposite of what we were just asked (told) to do with our own titles?"

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

8 months

Asked Disney what was up and they sent me to Sony. Asked Sony what was up and they said: "As part of normal business, we delist assets with licensed music when the licenses expire." Of course, now I'm asking why the music license would expire for an upcoming game

VGC

@VGC_News

8 months

PlayStation has hidden the trailer for the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake and deleted its announcement tweet, causing speculation the title could be in trouble.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

Ubisoft has canceled development of Splinter Cell VR and Ghost Recon Frontline (and two other unannounced games)

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

May 2009 - February 2021. I’m pretty proud of that run. Tomorrow, I will simply be a reader of Kotaku, like so many of you. I’m taking a month off, then starting a new adventure. Still journalism. Still video games. Details TBA.

A 12-Year Dream

Let me tell you the best thing about being editor-in-chief of Kotaku.

kotaku.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

David Castillo, first person to buy Tears of the Kingdom at the midnight launch at the Nintendo store in NY Regularly camps out for big launches, has developed friendships with others who do. Was outside for this one since Tuesday. Took three days off, but back to work tomorrow

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

7 days

My review of the new video game Animal Well: Holy shit. Play this game. Go in knowing nothing. Best to have a friend who is also playing. It's a masterpiece.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

5 years

On this day after Thanksgiving I am thankful to the Microsoft engineers who designed the Xbox One well enough that, when I pressed the disc eject button late last night, all three credit cards my kids stuffed in there slid out.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

6 months

NEW - A new lawsuit against Take-Two over NBA 2K microtransactions focuses on the novel accusation of "theft" Core issue: 2K won't let you transfer Virtual Currency to new games, shuts old games' servers fast, leaving it with players' unused VC My story:

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

Some workers at Call of Duty Warzone maker and Activision subsidiary Raven are walking out today, protesting the surprise dismissal of a dozen game testers on Friday and demanding that all are offered full-time jobs. Call of Duty is among the most lucrative series in the world

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

Xbox’s Phil Spencer ( @XboxP3 ) will receive a lifetime achievement award at the AIAS awards this month, an honor previously given to Satoru Iwata and Ken Kutaragi, among others. I chatted with him about the highs and lows of his path to the top:

Interview: Phil Spencer's Xbox journey, from intern to CEO

Spencer will receive an AIAS lifetime achievement award later this month.

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

6 days

Pretty good community note on this one

Gaming

@xGaming

6 days

The gaming community is one of the largest and most vibrant communities on our platform, and we are dedicated to enhancing and supporting gaming-related features. As part of Nintendo's planned discontinuation of sharing content to X from the Nintendo Switch, from June 11th, users

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

The case distressing in terms of the length the cops go here to hide the obvious truth. But it also has excellent footnotes:

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

“i am looking to negotiate a deal” GTA VI leaker says they’ve woken up to thousands of messages and are calling on people from Rockstar/Take Two to contact them.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

5 months

2011: "Why did I move here? I guess it was the weather" 2023: "Lucia, do you know why you're here?" / "Bad luck, I guess."

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

Cyberpunk will be re-listed on the PSN store on June 21, CDPR says

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

You can see when the Saints Row review embargo lifted

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

NEWS: Tencent is NOT buying Ubisoft. But it is investing heavily in the company, announcing a new €300 million (about the same in $$) investment—49.9% stake—in Guillemot Bros, the company run by Ubisoft’s co-founders that has the largest stake in Ubisoft.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

I asked Nintendo if Advance Wars 1 + 2 has been cancelled, given the lack of news about it since it was delayed due to the invasion of Ukraine. Nintendo rep's reply: "The release has been delayed. We will announce the new date once it has been determined."

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

WB Games is getting broken up somehow due to AT&T's WarnerMedia-Discovery sale/merger. "Some of the gaming arm will stay with AT&T and some will go with the new company," rep tells Axios' @sarafischer . No further info. WB Games lists 11 studios, games for all kinds of IP, devices

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

8 months

I noted that the charge per installation seemed vulnerable to abuse (as noted by @tha_rami as well). Unity says it will use fraud detection tools and allow developers to report possible instances of fraud to a compliance team

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

Activision scandal news: Yesterday, in a tentative ruling, a judge in California overruled Activision's argument that the state wrongly added temp workers to its big discrimination suit against the company. Activision tried to get the suit dismissed or narrowed on those grounds

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

8 months

FTC says: Don't blame us for the Microsoft mega-leak. "The FTC was not responsible for uploading Microsoft's plans for its games and consoles to the court website,” FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar tells me

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

9 months

SCOOP: Ubisoft's cancelled Immortals sequel was meant to be a mix of Elden Ring and Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, set across a fictionalized Polynesian archipelago that stretched from New Zealand to Hawai'i. And a break from the Ubi formula. My story:

Sources: Ubisoft’s canceled Immortals 2 was a mix of Wind Waker and Elden Ring

"The goal was to make a game very different from the rest of the Ubisoft portfolio."

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

10 months

Sony has confirmed with me/Axios that PlayStation's Call of Duty deal with Microsoft (pending Activision purchase) is for 10 years I'm looking forward to still being on this beat in 2033 and covering the next round of Nintendo, Nvidia and Sony contract negotiations for CoD)

Phil Spencer

@XboxP3

10 months

We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and @PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

NEWS: Ubisoft, facing "surprisingly slower" sales, has canceled three unannounced games (on top of the four cancelled in July), planning $200 million in cost reduction including "natural attrition" and "divesting of non-core assets"

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

“My hope (and I think I have to present it that way as of now) is as an industry we'd work on legal emulation that allowed modern hardware to run any (within reason) older executable allowing someone to play any game.”

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

Nintendo is taking Sony's boast of God of War Ragnarok setting a first-party Sony record for 5.1 million sold in a week and raising it Says Pokemon Scarlet/Violet have sold more than 10 million copies in 3 days. Claim highest 3-day sales for any game ever on a Nintendo platform

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 months

Since this news broke, it’s taken me some time to calm down and write something that has the journalistic perspective appropriate for the moment: Fuck G/O Media.

Aftermath

@Aftermath_site

2 months

Kotaku EIC resigns over new editorial edict

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

NEWS: U.S.-based video game testers at Bethesda, id, Arkane, ZeniMax succeed in union vote Microsoft's first video game union and now the U.S. industry's largest, with about 300 workers Now they'll try to hammer out a collective bargaining agreement

Microsoft game developers at ZeniMax, id, Bethesda successfully unionize

Worker vote passes by supermajority

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

Employees at Ubisoft say they've never seen a wave of departures like the past year's. I spoke to 12 current/former workers and management about what's happening, how it's impacting development--and what's being done about it

Inside Ubisoft's unprecedented "exodus" of developers

The great resignation has hit the Assassin's Creed publisher hard.

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

Redfall is clearly not going to be very realistic

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 months

Notes 1 million copies of Tears of the Kingdom downloaded prior to game's release; says Yuzu's Patreon support doubled during that time. Basically arguing that that is proof that Yuzu's business model helps piracy flourish

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

A former PlayStation security analyst is suing the company in California for wrongful termination and gender discrimination. Criticizing "a work culture predominated by men" she is seeking a class action on behalf of women who have worked at PlayStation

Former PlayStation worker sues gaming giant, alleges gender discrimination

The suit comes amid a reckoning over women's experiences in the games industry.

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

11 months

I'm ready to bail on Final Fantasy XVI, 12 hours in. Fun combat. Flashy moments. But level/quest design is dull and the game keeps wresting control from me. M rating gets us cursing but no maturation of FF's weaker aspects I'm not a big FF person, and this didn't convert me

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

4 years

Oh! This reminds me! I interviewed Phil Spencer on Wednesday via Microsoft Teams, not long after Steve was added to Minecraft and people noticed this image. I focused questions mostly on Xbox stuff, but, hey, Microsoft owns Minecraft, so I had to ask..

Kotaku

@Kotaku

4 years

Nintendo nerfs Steve's meat:

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

4 years

Clarification from WB games PR is that Gotham Knights is not set in the Arkham games universe. Separate continuity.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

11 months

Things people have clapped for during the Starfield Direct: - being able to paint your spaceship - being able to romance other characters - being able to board and raid enemy spaceships - being able to hoard sandwiches

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

Checked with Sony about platforms for some games (because I was getting confused, and maybe you were, too, about what we were shown today that's next-gen only) They say the following platforms are "confirmed" God of War - PS4/PS5 Wolverine - PS5 Spider-Man 2 - PS5

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

5 months

Also, fun fact, Jordan Peele's teleprompter script for his banter with Hideo Kojima would have had him say that after playing Metal Gear Solid 2 he thought Kojima "either he was a genius or actually insane"... but he left out the latter on stage. Praised HK's artistry.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

9 months

It's one thing for Bethesda to block copies of Starfield from outlets like Eurogamer, Axios and others. It's another to, as described here, give a code to Eurogamer that they specifically say only Eurogamer's partner Digital Foundry can use

Eurogamer

@eurogamer

9 months

Eurogamer and Starfield: why our review will be late

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

I asked Activision Blizzard PR if Fran Townsend remains in her role at the company. Answer: "yes"

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

4 years

UPDATE: Epic tells me build was made by them; wasn't part of any plan to bring game to PS3: "This footage is a byproduct of Epic's internal Unreal Engine 3 testing process, which utilized both Gears and Unreal Tournament, and was never part of any actual product work for PS3."

Kotaku

@Kotaku

4 years

Gears of War 3 PS3 footage appears online. We've been untangling the mystery of its origins.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

5 years

Apple Arcade has blown me away. It's one of the strongest gaming launches ever. Sure there's no Mario 64 or Halo, but it's been mind-blowing to suddenly have access to about 70 mostly-original games, many from studios whose work I adore. And no mobile monetization mind games

Kotaku

@Kotaku

5 years

Apple Arcade is mobile gaming without all the bullshit:

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

Not completely dead! (As of March 31 vs As of June 30)

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

3 years

Metroid Dread thoughts.... 1. First 90 min I played were excellent: good mix of combat and exploring 2. Map/detection tools are bolstered, but there’s less hand-holding/guidance about where to go next 3. Great to see Metroid on an HD system.... (1/4)

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

Brutal turn of events for Embracer Group (Tomb Raider, Lord of the Rings, Dead Island) - $2 billion deal up in smoke - stock down over 40% - web Q&A with Embracer CEO is rough. The man seems shattered - No indication of who the deal would have been with

$2 billion partnership deal falls through for gaming giant Embracer Group

The Swedish owner of Tomb Raider, Lord of the Rings, sees stock plummet 40%.

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

I talked to Phil Spencer about the Activision Blizzard deal Says bringing on this many developers is "something well beyond anything I've ever done. I don't know that I'm equipped to do it, and the responsibility for that definitely hits home.”

Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer sizes up company's Activision deal

Xbox chief says it's personally 'daunting,' but downplays industry impact

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

Activision increasingly not thrilled with Sony... A rep tells me: "Microsoft is doing exactly what they said they’d do. Sony continues to deny the opportunity for a long-term agreement and is undermining the deal to protect its two-decade dominance in video games"

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

11 months

UPDATE: A Microsoft rep shares a significant update to this. While they still can't divulge the contents of the email, they're able to now say that it was sent in 2019 That means that whatever anti-PlayStation sentiment/strategy it may contain preceded MS' offer for Activision

Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

11 months

NEW: Lawyers in the gamer antitrust suit against the Microsoft-Activision deal have been arguing over "Exhibit K." Why? Because it supposedly shows an Xbox exec saying that the plan around buying Activision is to put PlayStation out of business Story:

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

Something that stood out to me when I recently interviewed Phil Spencer was his emphasis on rising player counts, which I think is key to understanding Microsoft’s strategy. I want to share where that conversation went (warning: this will be a bunch of tweets!)

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

5 days

Today ends possibly the best 12 months of video game releases ever. Started May 12, 2023 with Tears of the Kingdom. Since then: Baldurs Gate III, Chants of Sennaar, Alan Wake 2, Phantom Liberty, Spider-Man 2, A Highland Song, Mario Wonder, Balatro, Animal Well, and many more

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

6 months

Longtime senior Rockstar developers are gathering at Absurd Ventures. The company, started by Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser, recently hired GTA V/RDR2 senior writer Michael Unsworth as its head of story. Lazlow Jones listed as a co-founder. Via BeGeek

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

11 months

FTC lawyer questioning Bethesda's Pete Hines confirms that Disney had a deal for an Indiana Jones game that'd be for multiple consoles. Hines confirms. FTC says deal was amended post-acquisition to be Xbox only for consoles.

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

5 years

Xbox boss @XboxP3 told me that putting Banjo in Smash was an easy deal to make, thanks to Nintendo and Microsoft's strong working relationship

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

PlayStation didn't just close out Sony's fiscal year by buying a game studio and revising its subscription plan It also just quietly laid off dozens of workers in its sales and marketing teams as part of a "global transformation" of how it does business

Sony PlayStation lays off nearly 90 people, citing "global transformation"

The cut roles focused on selling PlayStation products through retailers

www.axios.com

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 month

NEW: I spoke to Larian Studios' Michael Douse about the state of the game industry He did NOT hold back Called industry layoffs "an avoidable fuck-up" Skewered console/publisher business models Explained why Larian probably won't go public, probably will do early access again

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

1 year

New statement from Sony, says Microsoft's current Call of Duty offer "will irreparably harm competition" and says it was Microsoft that requested redactions of the public filing of the deal it offered to PlayStation

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Stephen Totilo

@stephentotilo

2 years

I recently heard from a good source about $15k offer to Taylor (Platinum’s second, higher offer, I believe) but wasn’t able to second source it. Hadn’t heard about the counter. @jasonschreier ’s got more detail.

Jason Schreier

@jasonschreier

2 years

Last weekend, Bayonetta's former voice actor called for fans to boycott the new game, saying she was offered just $4,000 to work on it. Her Twitter videos went viral and stoked a debate over voice actor wages. But the full story is much more complicated...

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