The past weekend was a weekend of cons, conning, and controversy…
And the biggest talk of the week of course being all of the reports of the severe injuries as a result of a poorly constructed a foam pit at TwitchCon. The foam pit was part of a booth for Lenovo, and streamers were encouraged to jump in the pit while being livestreamed despite its shallow build. Streamer Adriana Chechik has the most severe case of injuries reported thus far, having broken her back in a couple of places and is now getting surgery to stabilize it.
Former QA worker for Nintendo of America, Mackenzie Clifton, has reached a dispute settlement with the aforementioned company. In a complained filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) back in April, Clifton alleged that Nintendo of America fired them for their associations with union activities. Nintendo of America is now ordered to post a notice both in email and on-site reassessing QA workers’ rights under the NLRB.
Square Enix Montreal is rebranding as Onoma.
Konami is now trying to enter the NFT market.
Overwatch 2 players are still catching no break, and several characters were locked out from being playable when the game’s servers when back online.
Meanwhile, Activision Blizzard faces another lawsuit filed by a former employee of the company alleging sexual harassment and the threat of revenge porn by their former manager.
Playrix Games, developer behind mobile titles such as Gardenscapes and Homescapes, is closing all offices based in Russia and Belarus due to the further escalations of the Russia-Ukraine war. They are attempting to relocate employees to other locations.
Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier is ending service in January next year. The game was approaching its one-year anniversary this coming November.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is coming to the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series systems.
Kingdom Hearts fans rejoice: Animator Seth Kearsley has digitized his copy of what was assumed to have been a “lost” pitch for a Kingdom Hearts animated series back in 2003. Kearsley’s storyboards and rough drawings of the concept have been circulating online for quite some time without any indication that the pitch was fully realized—until now.