Epic Games: We Would Not Ban Political Speech


With Blizzard being tossed into a shallow grave and spat on by the public reaction to it banning and stealing thousands of dollars in prize money over a player expressing support for Hong Kong, it was only a matter of time before other developers showed up and used this opportunity to score some quick PR points. And who else is best to show up to the conversation than Epic Games which is 40% owned by Tencent, a company behind much of the backlash to western companies supporting Hong Kong.

In a statement to The Verge, Epic’s spokesman said:

“Epic supports everyone’s right to express their views on politics and human rights. We wouldn’t ban or punish a Fortnite player or content creator for speaking on these topics,”

Tim Sweeney personally backed this statement on Twitter, expressing “Epic supports the rights of Fortnite players and creators to speak about politics and human rights.”

Source: The Verge

[Hearthstone] American Team Displays “Free Hong Kong” Sign At Match


Blizzard just can’t catch a break. When the dumpster fire that was Blizzard’s PR kerfuffle occurred yesterday, folks like myself noted that if Blizzard thought the situation would get better, they were dead wrong. If anything, it’s going to get worse. Much worse.

Following the news that Blizzard had banned a Hearthstone player and rescinded his tournament winnings over comments in support of Hong Kong, and then fired the two broadcasters interviewing him, the news has been rolling in of more PR fallout. Over the course of yesterday, Blizzard employees covered up company signs in protest, the Hearthstone Reddit has been overwhelmed with boycott posts, and Blizzard locked down its own subreddit in an attempt at damage control.

The latest to come out was an American team in the Collegiate Championship held up a sign during their match that said “Free Hong Kong, boycott Blizzard.” As you would expect, the stream immediately cuts away. You can find the stream at the link above. The team had already lost the game at the point where they held up the sign.

Blizzcon begins the first weekend of November. It should be fun.

Angry Blizzard Employees Cover “All Voices Matter” Sign


Today has not been great for Blizzard following the company’s decision to silence and ban a Hearthstone competitor during the Grandmaster tournament after he expressed support for Hong Kong during a live interview. In their attempt at damage control, Blizzard released a statement and then shut down comments on the website. The Blizzard Reddit has been locked.

The Hearthstone Reddit is flooded with players proclaiming that they are professionally done with Blizzard. The Blizzard boycott is trending #11 on Twitter. Now employees are making their dissatisfaction known. As posted by Kevin Hovdestad on Twitter, Blizzard employees came into work this morning and made their disagreement with management’s decisions known by covering up the company’s “Think Globally” and “Every Voice Matters” signs.

With Blizzcon coming in just a few weeks, Blizzard’s response to the spiraling outrage will be interesting.

Rant: Blizzard Robs Hearthstone Player Of Winnings To Appease China


Another day, another Activision subsidiary acting in a heartless, sociopathic manner.

The Hearthstone 2019 Grandmasters took place this week, and very likely the only thing the public will remember of it once all is said and done is that Blizzard once again kowtowed to an abusive dictatorship because that sweet, sweet cash is just to hard to pass up. Oh and depending on who you ask the Chinese public is one of the only things keeping the dreadful Overwatch League capable of presenting any numbers to rake in those sign on fees.

In case you’ve been living under a rock or more likely sleeping for these past six or seven hours, Blizzard is taking some blows to the noggin after how they handled one of their competitors in the Hearthstone Grandmasters. Pro player Chung “blitzchung” Ng Wai went on an interview in which he shouted “Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our age!” In case you’ve really been living under a rock, feel free to peruse this BBC summary of the last few months.

Blizzard’s response was to immediately act like the regime it bowed to and take out not only blitzchung but any witnesses within reach. The company released a statement that not only has Blitzchung been removed from the Grandmasters and banned for one year, but that his winnings will be forfeited for offending the dear leaders of China, and as the only other people on screen at the time of the statement, the two hosts would be fired as well.

“Effective immediately, Blitzchung is removed from Grandmasters and will receive no prizing for Grandmasters Season 2. Additionally, Blitzchung is ineligible to participate in Hearthstone esports for 12 months beginning from Oct. 5th, 2019 and extending to Oct. 5th, 2020. We will also immediately cease working with both casters.”

Yea, the guys who dove under the table to hide from the comments? They need to be punished for their…crimes. Blizzard justifies the firing by pointing to this provision of their player agreement, and sure. Why not. They also zapped the VOD from their website so people (read: China) might not hear the offending words.

Engaging in any act that, in Blizzard’s sole discretion, brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image will result in removal from Grandmasters and reduction of the player’s prize total to $0 USD, in addition to other remedies which may be provided for under the Handbook and Blizzard’s Website Terms. 

Is Blizzard within their legal right to fire the player? I’ll give a 99% vote of confidence that yes if brought before a court that Blizzard would come out victorious. Obviously the company knows that their decision won’t go down well considering Tencent owns a stake in Activision and this isn’t the first time Blizzard has flushed its integrity down the toilet to appease a violent dictatorship. They have completely silenced any direct response to the article. This hasn’t stopped the Hearthstone Reddit from blowing up in anger and announcing that they are quitting the game.

I’d like to leave Blizzard with a thought, like Andy Rooney might. The world will move on but in three weeks you will be hosting Blizzcon. If you thought your employees shouting “do you not have phones” was embarrassing, just wait until people get up to that microphone and start grilling them on the really tough questions.

Oh and to the game bloggers who might be drafting up those articles to put up a defensive wall around Blizzard and China. You’re being watched.

Otherwise I have no opinion on the matter.

RuneScape and Old School Announce Updates At Runefest


This past weekend was Runefest and that means big updates coming for both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape.

First up the big news is that RuneScape is getting a new skill. Archaeology will see players digging up fossils and all sorts of relics and powerful objects that have been lost to time. Archaeology is set to hit in January 2020. Second up on the list is an update to player owned farms, bringing animal husbandry to the land out of time where players will be able to raise, trade, and breed dinosaurs. The ranch will be available by the end of the year. Third up is a series of questlines and lore set to hit RuneScape sometime in 2020.

RuneScape Mobile will go live for all members in early access for all members this year along with an overhauled interface to really put that phone to use.

Over on the Old School side, the Morytania expansion will see more of the vampire world being opened up to players including new quests and the ultimate showdown against the big baddie Lord Drakan himself. The Morytania expansion hits in early 2020. Before then, players will be able to take part in seasonal leagues starting in November 14. These temporary leagues will see players tackling ironman content on the continent of Zeah in return for rewards in the main game.

Phil Mansell, Jagex CEO, was quoted:

“Revealing and sharing our plans for future content is always exciting and this year’s keynotes brought blockbuster news, including our headline new Archaeology skill in RuneScape, Early Access coming to RuneScape Mobile, and Old School’s new Morytania Expansion. The announcements showcase our ongoing commitment to creating significant and meaningful content for RuneScape and Old School, and it was truly rewarding to see the reaction from our players in person and on the live stream.”

Source: Jagex press release

Editorial: Writers Guild Holds Game Award Hostage, Nobody Cares


The Writers Guild of America has decided to take the video game award portion of its show hostage, and who the hell cares?

In case you weren’t aware, the Writers Guild of America has a video game category of its award show that shows the respect and acknowledgement to great writers in the industry and frankly I can’t finish this sentence with a straight face. In reality, the video game portion of the Writers Guild award show is about as fair as the annual “Hideo Kojima is my best friend” award that Geoff Keighley hands out at The Game Awards every year. Take a gander back at the last ten years of the WGA awards show and you’ll see a common name pop up: Sony.

Yea, Sony and a small handful of other developers are the only people who qualify to be considered for a WG award because to be considered you have to be a Writers Guild writer, and since Sony is generally the only competent writer in the bunch, they have won roughly eight years out of the last ten. After all the Writers Guild Awards is all about recognizing talent, and that means telling those subhumans who don’t pay union dues to take a hike and go [expletive deleted] themselves. Oh and you folks who want to be in the union, good luck getting any representation or respect from your union leaders.

What has the Writers Guild done for video game writers? Two things: Jack and squat. The Writers Guild does not do anything on behalf of video game writers except demand those monthly checks, and furthermore doesn’t even allow them to vote as a full member of the guild because video games aren’t real writing in their eyes. What the Writers Guild wants is dues. They want more dues, and they are holding an award hostage that 99% of the gaming industry doesn’t care about hosted by an organization that many developers/publishers don’t respect, until it gets more cash money. As stated to USGamer:

“There won’t be a Videogame Writing Award in 2020; however, the category will be reinstated when there is a critical mass of videogames covered by the WGA in order to provide a meaningful award selection process.”

Translation: We’re not getting bribed enough to show a paltry amount of attention and hand an award out once a year.

It might seem like I’m angry about the whole ordeal, but I’m not. If anything this move will lose the Writers Guild what few video game centric writers that they have, whose only reason for staying in the union is because that’s what made them eligible for the award. Hell, maybe more of them will realize what a gigantic waste their union dues have been and they’ll make sure to warn other writers not to funnel money into a protection racket.

The Writers Guild is angry that the video game industry is massive, bigger than television and film combined. Not only is it massive, but because the unions ignored the industry during its early formative days as inconsequential trash, it is now too big for the union to put their boot over its neck and demand a ransom. There are hundreds of other game awards that have more prestige, respect, and attention than the Writers Guild. I’m confident that few outside of Sony’s studios care much to check in on the Writers Guild submitting its latest “Sony’s check cleared” award.

Hell even Sony barely seems to care. I took a gander at the websites and press releases for the games that won awards, and good luck finding Sony flaunting their Writers Guild award in promo material. Given the flurry of incoming referrals I see on a weekly basis, MMO Fallout’s editorials have more acknowledgement in the gaming industry than a Writers Guild award.

The Writers Guild pulling out its video game award is like a Twitch streamer who averages three viewers announcing he’ll no longer be streaming because Twitch doesn’t acknowledge its biggest supporters. Nobody. Cares.

Runefest 2019: Jagex To Discuss New Skill (Archaeology) Today (10/5)


This weekend kicked off Runefest, Jagex’s festival to all things RuneScape. If you want to see some cosplay, buy some merch, and play RuneScape with other people who also enjoy RuneScape enough to fly to England and buy a ticket to a weekend convention, you’ve come to the right place.

Among the upcoming content to be discussed, Jagex threw down the gauntlet in the wee hours of the morning by announcing RuneScape’s next skill: Archaeology. The skill will be discussed more at 17:00 BST (16:00 game time, noon EST) at the RuneScape Twitch account. Tune in 10/5, that’s October 5 for those of you living in the states and May 10 for those living in Europe.

Check it out.

Planetside Arena Already Adjusting For Low Population Matches


Planetside Arena Squads mode can handle up to 300 people per match, but at the rate the game is going Daybreak Game Company can only hope that the entire population of the game hits half that number. In the few weeks since the Planetside battle royale spinoff launched, the game’s population has plummeted and is continuing to drop. As a result, players are finding themselves in a massive arena built for 1,000 with not a lot of things to shoot at.

Thankfully Daybreak is on the case. This week’s update has brought with it changes to how the pain field works and where players drop in low population matches:

In order to escalate squad engagement more quickly during low-population times, we’ve made several adjustments to the location Squads drop in and pain field behavior. During lower population matches, Squads will deploy closer to the initial safe zone and in proximity to other Squads.  In addition, depending on match population thresholds being met, the time between phases and speed at which the pain field moves will vary – the lower the population, the shorter the wait times between phases and faster the pain field migration.

More update details on the official website.

Mike O’Brien Leaves ArenaNet


Mike O’Brien has announced today that he is departing ArenaNet to create a new startup studio. The notice was given via the official Guild Wars 2 website with Mike stating that he wishes to “go back to the beginning and make small games again.”

We couldn’t have known then the extent of the journey we were embarking on or all the wonderful and talented people who would join us along the way. For the past two decades we’ve gotten to work with brilliant developers and advisors, we’ve enjoyed an amazing relationship with the Guild Wars community, and were able to pursue the games of our dreams.
I’ve appreciated every moment of it. But the time has come for me to take a step back. Next week I’ll join some of my friends in forming a new studio. We’ll go back to the beginning and make small games again.

O’Brien is one of the original founders of ArenaNet after leaving Blizzard in 1999, and has held a few titles on Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 over the years. His announcement can be found at the official website.

Source: ArenaNet

Destiny 2 Explodes On Steam, Six Figure Traffic


This may come as a massive surprise, but Destiny 2 has launched on Steam alongside its free to play update and players are flocking to the game in droves. The PC servers have attained over 220,000 peak concurrency in the past couple of days and people seem to be pretty happy.

Current review scores for Destiny 2 put the game at a 75% “mostly positive” rating with a lot of the negative feedback surrounding players whose characters didn’t transfer over properly or people who have a problem with Bungie’s changes to characters (everyone starts out at 750 power now). Destiny 2 is currently #12 on the Xbox most played list and is no doubt doing just as well on PS4 if not better.