Although things are briefly winding down where not a lot seems to have happened, the things that have happened are sadly kinda garbage. At the very least, within the garbage sticks out a few pieces of treasure that we hope shines through what once again seems to be a baffling string of Activision Blizzard news.
The Black Game Developer Fund is going its second year strong. If you are an independent Black game developer or know anyone that this is relevant to, applying is encouraged!
Dual Wield Studio debuts the Convention Artist Safety and Health Fund. Dual Wield Studio has been a steady facilitator and distributor of merchandise for many independent games developers and their titles. This fund hopes to help mitigate the costs that many vendors and artists may face when exhibiting at shows and conventions due to inconsistent policies responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New details have been unveiled for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 at a recent Nintendo Direct. The game is releasing on July 29 for Switch systems. Plus, we’ve been promised another major expansion by the end of 2023.
Playstation will not attend and be present at Gamescom 2022. This is another announcement following Activision Blizzard, Take-Two and Nintendo’s own statements that they will not attend the event this year either.
There is a shortage of Xbox controllers across Europe. As supply chain issues continue to shake up many industries, Canada and France are also reeling from a culturally devastating mustard shortage.
Meanwhile, harassment allegations and toxic workplace issues continue at GFuel. Several influencers that have previously worked with the brand have responded to the company’s latest layoff, tying it with similar accusations that the company has already faced years prior.
Square Enix is still on insisting on making NFTs in their roadmap. They hope to create “story-based” NFTs, whatever that means.
New details about Overwatch 2 have also been unveiled including: the introduction of a previously alluded, unseen character, the Junker Queen, and the verification that player purchases like skins and other transactions will be transferred to the second game.
That said, Overwatch 2 is planning on entirely replacing the original game at its launch. While Overwatch is getting slowly whisked away for the junkyard—
Any prospect of future Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games is now trashed, due to Activision Blizzard’s acquisition of Vicarious Visions. This was further confirmed by Tony Hawk himself on a Twitch stream.
But unlike other things that should be getting tossed to the dump instead…
It unfortunately seems like that Bobby Kotick has been re-elected to the Activision Blizzard’s board of directors for another year.
