CONFIRMED: EA Games Returning To Steam

By Austin Wilson | @NeonCometNews

Rumors have been spiraling all week that EA would be selling games on Steam again. The rumors started when the EA Games twitter account posted a steamy cup of coffee, leading some to believe EA was coming back to Valves game store.

It turns out those rumors were true! EA posted on their blog that they partnered with Valve to bring their EA Access subscription service to the Steam store.

"Electronic Arts and Valve have partnered to put EA games into the hands of the players on Steam," the post read, "Starting next spring, EA Access- our ever-growing subscription service powered by great games and member benefits- will be making its way to Steam."

EA stop putting their games on the Steam store a few years ago in favor of their own PC launcher, EA Origins. EA partnered with Steam to bring their games to the wider audience on Steam, which has been the more popular launcher of choice.

The first game to arrive on Steam will be Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on November 15th, followed by games like Sims 4, FIFA 20, Battlefield V and Apex Legends coming later next year.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to transfer any games purchased on Origins to your Steam account. So you'll have to buy your games again if you want to play them on Steam.

There will, however, be cross-play between Origins and Steam so you can play with any of your friends regardless of the launcher they use.

Gamers are excited to see EA come back to Steam and we're excited to see what comes next.

Hopefully it's not Anthem 2.

Nintendo Shutting Down Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem Mobile Games In Belgium

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

Nintendo is pulling Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes from app stores in Belgium due to the "current unclear situation" in regards to the nations anti-gambling laws directly affecting loot boxes and in-game currency.

Nintendo released a statement on their official website:

"Due to the current unclear situation in Belgium regarding certain in-game revenue models, we have decided to end the service for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes in Belgium. It will therefore no longer be possible to play and download the games from Tuesday 27th August 2019.

"Players who still have orbs and /or leaf tickets in their accounts can continue to use them until the service ends.

"In addition future Nintendo games with similar earning models will no longer be released in Belgium.

"We would like to thank all players in Belgium for playing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes."

Both games use a form of in-game currency. Fire Emblem Heroes uses Orbs to buy randomized heroes from the Fire Emblem franchise. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp uses Leaf Tickets to decrease wait timers.

Screengrab from Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

While there are ways to earn in-game currency in both titles, the amount players can earn are very limited and players are to buy orbs or leaf tickets, especially if an item or hero is rare and will only be available for a limited time.

Screengrab from Fire Emblem Heroes

Last year, Belgium courts declared that loot boxes are a form of gambling after investigating multiple games including Overwatch, FIFA, and Star Wars Battlefront 2. EA was the only publisher to dig in and openly opposed the ruling, stating that they did not agree with the court's definition of gambling. Realizing they were in a losing situation, EA removed FIFA points from FIFA 2018 and FIFA 2019 in Belgium.

It appears that the United States is following Belgium's example and is currently trying to pass a bill to regulate loot boxes in the senate called the "Protecting Children From Abusive Games Act." The author, Senator Josh Hawley, is accusing the video game industry of knowingly exploiting children by exposing them to addictive gambling practices.

“When a game is designed for kids, game developers shouldn’t be allowed to monetize addiction,” Senator Josh Hawley said in a press release. “And when kids play games designed for adults, they should be walled off from compulsive microtransactions. Game developers who knowingly exploit children should face legal consequences.”

Neon Comet Gaming asked Nintendo if they would pull Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes from U.S. app stores if the bill was passed, or if they would simply remove the ability to purchase in-game currency from their mobile games. Nintendo has not responded.

Nintendo isn’t the only publisher pulling games from Belgian app stores. Square Enix also pulled three of their mobile games, Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, Kingdom Hearts Union X, and Mobius Final Fantasy, out of Belgium.

Belgian players will be able to purchase Orbs and Leaf Tickets from until August 27th, 2019. After that, Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will no longer be available for download in Belgium.

Pokemon Sword & Shield May Be Compatible With Pokémon Go

Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

A rumor is spreading that the new Pokémon game, Pokémon Sword and Shield, will somehow be compatible with the popular phone game, Pokémon Go.

The rumor began when dataminer, Chrales, discovered the "Koala_setting" in Pokémon Go's 0.143.0 update. Niantic and Pokémon Company are known for using the names of real-life animals as codenames for Pokémon games. For example, Pokémon Let's Go was codenamed beluga and Black and White was codenamed Swan. So it seems likely that Koala is a codename for Sword and Shield.

Chrales has had a credible record of datamining Pokémon Go. They are responsible for uncovering information on the change team medallion, lucky friends, and much more.

If the rumor is true, then it's likely the Pokémon Go integration in Sword and Shield will resemble the phone games compatibility with Pokémon Let's Go, by allowing players to transfer the Pokémon they caught on their phones into their game on the Switch.

Although it was quite a step away from the traditional Pokémon games, there's no arguing against Pokémon Go's success. With frequent updates and it's attachment to newer Pokémon games, the mobile game is predicted to have a long lifespan.

However, Pokémon Go's success doesn't detract the popularity of the traditional RPG style games we all grew up with. Pokémon Sword & Shield, set to release in late 2019 for Nintendo Switch is predicted to be the most successful yet, with new Pokémon and new in-game functions that will make it a must-have for Switch players and Pokémon fans.

Continuing the theme of basing the maps of Pokémon games on real world locations, the latest edition to the popular game franchise will be set in the new Galar region, based on the United Kingdom. The player will be able to choose a grass, water, and fire type starter Pokémon from the region: Grookey (grass-type) Sobble (water-type) and Scorbunny (fire-type).

Sobble (left), Scorbunny (center), Grookey (right)

So far, the in-game Pokédex hasn't been released and we only have information on the three starters. No further information has been leaked so I guess we're going to have to keep catching Pokémon on our phones until we get more information.

Epic Games Store Epically Fails On Their First Mega Sale

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

In an attempt to compete with Steam's Summer Sale, the Epic Games Store has thrown their hat in the ring and is challenging Steam's Summer Sale with their own Epic Mega Sale!

The Epic Mega Sale includes $10 off any game $14.99 or or higher at checkout. Upon checkout, the game will appear at full price but the $10 will be immediately returned to your account upon the completion of the purchase. That sounds like a genuinely great deal and makes Epic look like serious competitor to Steam's PC dominance. Fortunately for Valve and Steam, it's the Epic Games Store and they have no idea what they're doing.

Apparently, Epic didn't clear the sale with developers and began selling their games at a discounted price without their permission and, as a result, developers began pulling their games from the storefront. When confronted on the subject, chief of sales Seregey Galyonkin denied the accusation claiming that developers and publishers were informed about the sale, but backtracked moments later, stating, "after a little investigation, it turned out I was wrong."

One such developer was Paradox Interactive, who pulled their game, Vampire: Bloodlines- The Masquerade II from pre-order on the EGS when they realized their game was being sold at a discount.

“If a developer or publisher chooses not to participate in our sale, we will honor that decision,” Epic Games said in a statement to Kotaku, “Paradox Interactive has chosen to not participate in the Epic mega sale and the game has been temporarily removed from sale if you purchased Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines II during the period when the discount did apply at the time of check out, Epic will honor that price.”

On the same day, Klei Entertainment also pulled their crowdfunded game, Oxygen Not Included, from the store.

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford took to Twitter promoting the sale and hyping up that customers could pre-order Borderlands 3 for $10 off, only for 2k Games to pull Boderlands 3 from the sale three hours later.

Randy Pitchford has since deleted the tweet.

Unable to remove their games from the sale, developers and publishers were forced to remove their games from the store entirely and buyers are now met with a page saying "No results found."

An Epic Games representative explained on the Russian site DTF that game developers are still getting a return for the full value of the game. The $10 off is “Courtesy of Epic,” meaning that Epic is losing money during the sale.

However, Unlike Borderlands 3, Vampire Bloodlines and Oxygen Not Included aren't Epic exclusives and the Epic Mega Sale discount may force developers to set even lower prices on discounts or DLC. Furthermore, Paradox already adjusts the prices of their games to be affordable in regional markets, meaning that some regions would be getting the game at a 70% discount before it's even released.

As if developers pulling their games out of their store wasn't enough, another issue facing the Mega Sale is Epic Games own harsh anti-fraud rules. The Epic Games Store doesn't have a shopping cart, so you have to buy games one at a time. When you try to make multiple purchase too quickly, the anti-fraud measurements detects it and shuts down your account. So now, you are being punished for being too good of a customer.

Senior PR rep Nick Chester explain that this was due to Epics "aggressive fraud rules" designed to "protect" customers, not to prevent them from being customers.

"This was a result of our aggressive fraud rules," Nick said in a statement to Gamer Revolution, "If players run into this issue, they should contact player support so we can investigate."

Epic Games got into this mess by trying to compete with Steam's summer sale, where customers can buy bundles of games for ridiculously low prices. However, it's starting to feel like some weird Alex Jones-level conspiracy where Epic is controlled opposition to Steam so Steam can look like an even more intimidating competitor to other online PC game stores.

Steam has been awfully quiet about the Epic Games Store's rise to fame. Probably because the notoriety Epic is receiving doesn't put the online store in a good light. But if Valve doesn't start taking the competition seriously and call out Epic for every mistake they make, the Epic Game Store could evolve into a serious contender in years to come. After all, Steam didn't become the dominant storefront for PC gaming overnight, and they've certainly had their own fair share of mess ups over the years.

If they're not careful, Valve could lose their thrown to the Epic Game Store.

Adobe Warns Users That They May Be SUED For Using Older Versions Of Photoshop

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

Adobe sent out an email last week to users who operate on older versions of Adobe apps, primarily Photoshop. In the email, Adobe informs users that they are no longer licensed to use older versions of Adobe apps and continued use may result in claims of infringement from an undisclosed third-party.

"We have recently discontinued certain older version(s) of creative cloud applications and as a result under the terms of our agreement you are no longer license to use them." The email reads, "Please be aware that should you continue to use the discontinued versions you may be at risk of potential claims of infringement by third-parties."

While the email does not name the third-party, Appleinsider believes it to be the company Dolby, who is currently suing Adobe for copyright infringement and breach of contract.

Appleinsider sent a request for comment to Adobe and Adobe responded that they aren't allowed to comment on third-party claims due to "ongoing litigation."

"Adobe recently discontinued certain older versions of Creative Cloud applications. Customers using those versions have been notified that they are no longer licensed to use them and we provided guidance on how to upgrade to the latest authorized versions," An Adobe spokesperson said, 

"Unfortunately, customers who continue to use or deploy older, unauthorized versions of Creative Cloud may face potential claims of infringement by third-parties. We cannot comment on claims of third-party infringement as it concerns ongoing litigation."

Upon receiving the email, many Adobe users who use the now unlicensed versions of Adobe software took to Twitter to voice their outrage.

In a bold move, Adobe Photoshop competitor Pixlr has been posting under these complaints for people to try out their photo editing app.

Given Adobe's current legal dispute, the situation doesn't seem entirely as if it's Adobe's fault. Regardless, many didn't like being threatened for using software they paid for and are choosing to unsubscribe from Adobe Cloud. If you are one of those seeking to make a switch, make sure that you can afford Adobe Cloud's $60 minimum cancellation fee.

There are quite a few alternatives out there for you to chose from, so pick the software that works best for you as a content creator.

Petition To Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 Gets Over 1 Million Signatures

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

Tomorrow's episode of Game of Thrones is the last in the series and, needless to say, this season hasn't been the epic finale that everyone anticipated.

So far, this season of Game of Thrones has destroyed the prophecy of the Price Who Was Promised, ignored eight years of character and plot development, and has reverted the show to a stereotypical fantasy drama that George R.R. Martin wanted to avoid.

Writers Benioff and Weiss claim that they were trying to subvert expectations, which many critics (professional or not) are claiming is an excuse for lazy writing.

One disgruntled fan took it a step further and made an online petition. Dylan D. made a Change.org petition calling for HBO to remake the eighth season of Game of Thrones with different writers. 

"David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have proven themselves to be woefully incompetent writers when they have no source material (i.e. the books) to fall back on," The description reads, "This series deserves a final season that makes sense. Subvert my expectations and make it happen HBO!"

In less than a week, the petition has garnered over one million signitures and, as of writing this article, the petition is sitting at 1,023,738 signatures.

Online media site Forbes was able to contact Dylan and asked why he made the online petition. Dylan responded, 

"Really it was a combination of Episode 3 and 4's failure that brought me to the point of writing the petition. There were many, many qualms I had with the episodes, but I'll mention a couple. The Battle of Winterfell was a strategic disgrace. I mentioned in my long update that the show suffered from 'everyine is stupid' syndrome. I'm sure there is a better word for it, but when the plot is intense and dramatic simply because every character involved is an idiot, that is not a great thing. You had some of the wisest, most experienced individuals in Westeros all in one room, and THAT was the defense strategy? As for episode 4 I had many lamentations, but the specific one that made me facepalm the hardest was how Rhaegal died. Easily one of the cheapest deaths of the whole series. I could probably go on for a long time about it, but that'll do for now."

The petition has recieved a great deal of attention from online media, even catching the eye of Jacob Anderson, who is celebrated for his role as Greyworm.

Anderson felt insulted by the petition, calling it rude and that it discredits all of the hard work the crew and cast put into it.

"I think its rude. Obviously, the show feels to people like it belongs to them. That's really good," Anderson said in an interview, "I think it's really important when people take something into their heart and it means something to them. However, it doesn't. I just mean that in the sense that I was there and the crew, in particular, are like the hardest working people I've ever met. I think to trivialize their work in that way - I find it quite sad."

Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm

While Jacob Anderson makes a valid argument for the crew and cast doing their jobs, most who signed the petition signed over their discontent with the season's writing, not efforts put in by those who work on set. The scenery and graphics are stunning and past seasons have shown the casts quality acting. However, a poor script can ruin a show, regardless of how outstanding the actors are.

It's doubtful that HBO will respond to the petition and invest more time and money to remake season eight. But perhaps they'll listen to the fan outcry and respond with spin-offs that will truly subvert all expectations.

Sonic Director Listening To Fans, Vows To Change Sonic's Character Design

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost

Since its debut, the Sonic movie trailer has been met with fierce criticism over the character design of everyone's favorite hedgehog. With his creepy human teeth and small human hands, can you really blame anyone for not liking it?

Even Yuji Nake, the creator of Sonic, found the new character design distasteful, stating, "Looking at this Sonic's full-body visual, it makes me realize the importance of the character's head-to-body ratio and the roundness of his stomach. Couldn't they have created a design with a better balance than this?"

Sonic trailer

The trailer on YouTube is currently sitting at 300k likes and over half a million dislikes.

In a surprising turn of events, Sonic Director Jeff Fowler responded to the intense criticism over Sonic's design on Twitter and vowed to change it.

"Thank you for the support. And the Criticism," Fowler tweeted, "The message is loud and clear... You aren't happy with the design & you want changes. It's going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the best he can be..."

This was a shock to everyone that someone from Hollywood was actually listening to the fans of an already established franchise. This was great PR move has already gone a long way to renew the interest of established fans.

Fans are praising Jeff Fowler for being open to criticism and have been posting their own edits of Fowler's design to represent what they believe could replace the current design.

And naturally, the memers needed to show their auti- I mean artistic skills as well. Their interpretations of Sonic's character design have been interesting to say the least.

At least they didn't lew- never mind...

While fans are excited to hear that Sonic's character design is being put back on the table, there's still a concern that the animation team would be working themselves to the bone to remodel Sonic before the movies release in November. 

Fans have made it clear that they wouldn't mind if the movie was delayed if it meant they would be getting a quality design of one of Sega's most iconic characters.

Thank you Jason Fowler for listening to the criticism your movie has received and we're all excited to see Sonic's new look!

New Pokemon Pass App Bringing A New Pokemon Experience

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustnPost1

A rumor was spreading that the Pokemon Company International was creating a new phone app. Now it seems that rumor was true because the Pokemon Company has just released a new app called the Pokemon Pass.

Official Pokemon YouTube Channel

The Pokémon Pass app notifies users on Pokémon related events in participating retailers. When visiting a retailer, use your phones camera to scan the code on the poster to receive prizes such as shiny Pokemon for Pokemon: Let's Go, Evee! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!

 App permissions include turning on your GPS and allowing the app to use your phones camera.

You'll also need a free  Pokémon Trainer Club account.

The app is available in the Google Play and IOS stores. It has 10k downloads on Google Play with a 3.3 star rating by 102 users.

Kotaku UK Apologizes For Publishing False Story

By Austin Wilson | @AustinPost1

Screengrab from Kotaku

Kotaku was forced to issue an apology after one of their articles produced false information.

In the article Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Persona 5 DLC Includes a Disability Slur, Kotaku writer Laura Kate Dale claimed a song on the new Super Smash Bro DLC 'Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There', used a disability slur and explained the history of the word before condemning Nintendo for its use.

In her article, Dale writes "At around 1:58 it appears the term 'retarded' is used, and followed by the assertion that 'I can say it.'"

The problem with this story is that it is false. Readers were quick to point out that the song says something close like "retort it" or "restart it" but the word "retarded" is never used. Dale's story was also perceived as racist toward Japanese people who speak heavily accented English.

Earlier today, Kotaku editor, Rich Stanton, published a new article apologizing Dales false accusations. 

In the article We Screwed Up With That Persona Lyric, Stanton explains they "published the article before a response was received," and was quick to point out, "I am the editor of the site and, ultimately, that means this error was mine and mine alone."

Stanton apologized to "Atlus, Nintendo, and the many Persona fans who were angry about this piece."

Acknowledging his fault as editor is the correct move. The fault, however, is not Stanton's alone, as Laura was the one who wrote the article in question to begin with. It wasn't Stanton trying to spark outrage over a song from a game. Those were her words used in the article.

On the topic of deleting the original piece, Stanton said, "Kotaku UK does not delete articles. On the internet, what would be the point anyway? We admit our mistakes, own them, and update the original to reflect new information."

It is unknown as of yet if any punishment have been made for the false story.

Personally, I like Kotaku. I have even used them as a credible source for my own articles. Kotaku, in recent years has done a lot of good for the games industry. A recent example would be the extraordinary journalism of Jason Scheier, who's expose revealed the horrors of being a Bioware employee during the six years of Anthems development. However, the comment sections of the sites two most recent articles would suggest faith in Kotaku is beginning to wane.

The site has shown they have the potential to do great things for the games industry and gaming journalism. I want to see them grow but no outlet can truly flourish by publishing stories like this. I hope they learn from this embarrassing experience and, in Stanton's own words, "strive to do better."

Game Informer Australia Is Closing Its Doors

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

The editor for Game Informer Australia, David Milner, took to social media announcing that the publisher will be permanently closing its doors after major cuts by EB Games.

EB Games made the decision after parent company, Gamestop, failed to find a buyer and is restructuring to minimize costs and increase sales.

"The owner of the magazine, EB Games, is making cuts because their parent company Gamestop recently failed to find a buyer after months on the market," Former editor David Milner said in a Facebook Post, "They're share price suffer. This is the result."

Game Informer Australia has been running since 2009 with Chris Stead as its launch editor. The publisher has published over 113 issues and sales increased over the past few years when David Milner took over as editor. During his tenure as editor, Milner won awards for Best Gaming Journalist and Best Columnist. He was also recommended for Best Gaming Coverage.

Milner mentioned in his post on Facebook that, although readership was up, ad sales had been on the decline.

"For the record Game Informer Australia still sold well; readership was up 19% over the last year," David said, "Recent ad sales, however, did not really reflect this,"

Gamestop has been suffering financially for some time now. The fourth quarter report released on Tuesday shows the company suffered a net loss of $187.7 million in its last fourth quarter. The company reported that hardware sale are down 9.8%, software sales are down 7.8%, and pre-owned videogame sales are down 21%. The company only saw an increase in accessories, collectibles and digital sales.

For the new fiscal year, Gamestop representatives said they "embarking on cost saving and profit improvement initiatives designed to strengthen the organization for the future and support long-term improved financial performance and profitability."

With the Australian publisher closed due to cost cutting initiatives, the Amercian version of Game Informer Magazine will be sold in Australia. Readers are speculating how long until EB Games forces the US publisher to shut down as well.

EA Play 2019 Replacing Press Conference With Livestreams

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

Electronic Arts has announced on their website that this years EA Play will take place from June 7th-9th, and this year EA is changing things up by skipping the usual press conference.

"We're skipping the press conference this year and are replacing it with multiple live streams that will air during the first two days, bringing more of what you told us you want - more gameplay and insights from teams making the games."

EA will be bringing in content creators to stream upcoming games in their creators cave, but attendees will be able to get their hands on the controller as well during EA Play's fanfest. 

"Weekends are meant for play, and this year we've moved the EA PLAY fanfest to Saturday, June 8 and Sunday June 9 where players will get hands-on with our games. We'll also have content  creators streaming live from our Creator's Cave in the Hollywood Palladium providing gameplay content to our players viewing online."

No doubt EA's decision to do away with the conference comes from the waves of complaints from both attendees and viewers online from last year, where developers promoted their upcoming games and showing very little gameplay. It seems EA took that criticism to heart and is changing how it presents its future titles.

No solid details have been provided in the announcement, but its safe to say that EA will stream its most anticipated games like Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order.

No solid details have been provided in the announcement, but its safe to say that EA will be streaming gameplay from their most anticipated games like Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order.

After Anthem's mess of a launch, EA Play 2019 is the publishers best chance to restore the faith of investors, as well as a step forward in redeeming the company's sullied image in the eyes of gaming community as a whole.

EA And Activision CEOs Make The List For The 100 Most Overpaid CEOs In America

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson were placed on a list for the 100 Most Overpaid CEOs in the United States.

The nonprofit As You Sow has spent the past five years researching and reporting the most overpaid CEOs in the United States. Over the course of their five year observation, they found that CEO earnings have increased. "According the the Institutional Shareholder Service (ISS) the average pay for a CEO in the S&P 500 grew from $11.5 million in 2013 to $13.6 million in 2017."

The CEOs on the list make more than 300 times more than their ground-level employees. "The median pay ratio for the S&P 500 is 142:1, while the median pay ratio for companies on As You Sow's list of the 100 most overpaid CEOs is over twice as much, namely 300:1."

Activision CEO Robert Kotick is placed at 45, earning $28,698,375 with an excess of $12,698,375. Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson is placed at 98, earning $35,728,764 with an excess of $19,673,861.


Activision CEO Robert Kotick

The report was published shortly after both companies announced massive layoffs. Activision-Blizzard laid off 800 employees during a company-wide restructure and has hinted that more layoffs can be expected in the future, despite Kotick bragging about record earnings for 2018.

"While our financial results for 2018 were the best in our history, we didn't realize our full potential," Kotick said, "To help us reach our full potential, we have made a number of important leadership changes. These changes should enable us to achieve the many opportunities our industry affords us, especially with our powerful owned franchises, our strong commercial capabilities, our direct digital connections to hundreds of millions of players, and our extraordinarily talented employees."

The mass layoffs were heavily criticized and Game Workers United called for Kotick's removal as CEO. The call was followed by some in the gaming community pushing the hashtag #FireBobbyKotick on Twitter.


Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson

Electronic Arts terminated 50 employees from its Australia-based FireMonkeys studios, a quarter of the studios staff in an effort to change the developers focus from mobile games to live services. The layoffs hit the Australian game development industry hard. The loss made up around 5% of the entire developer industry in the country. 

"This is a devastating blow to the industry," Game Workers United Australia stated, "an extraordinarily disappointing decision which will affect the already crowded local freelancer and indie market, as well as the undergraduate student body."

With so many layoffs in the gaming industry, As You Sow's report isn't doing Activision or EA any favors. Especially to a consumer base that has been openly critical of both publishers.

EA Australian Studio Suffers Massive Layoffs

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

Videogame publisher Electronic Arts has laid off a quarter of the staff at FireMonkeys Studio in Melbourne, Australia.

FireMonkeys studio was created after a merge between IronMonkeyStudios and FireMint in 2012 and is one of the largest developer studios in Australia. The studio focuses primarily on mobile games and is responsible for some of EA's most popular mobile games such as Need For Speed: No Limits and Real Racing 3.



FireMonkeys had a staff of around 200 and Game Workers United Australia confirmed the number of staff being terminated to be between 40 to 50 people. EA is terminating staff in a bid to change the studios focus from mobile games to live services. 

"The FireMonkeys studio is working on some of our most popular mobile games. We recently made the decision to shift teams to focus more on our live services, and entered a consultation period that may impact some roles in the studio," EA said in a statement to Kotaku Australia, "We're working to match skills with opportunities as we go through this period, identifying other opportunities at EA, and providing as much help to our employees as we possibly can."

Electronic Arts CEO, Andrew Wilson, has been vocal in his desire to direct the company's efforts on live services such as their new golden goose, Apex Legends.


EA's new live service game, Apex Legends

The layoffs hit the game development industry in Australia hard and Game Workers United Australia says that the lay offs are a "devastating blow" and makes up almost 5% of the entire Australian game developer industry.

"This is a devastating blow to the industry," GWU Australia stated in response to the layoffs, "an extraordinarily disappointing decision which will affect the already crowded local freelancer and indie market, as well as undergraduate student body."

The FireMonkeys studio layoffs are happening shortly after Activision-Blizzard terminated 800 non-developer staff in a company-wide reorganization effort.

Although it's a short-term solution and ultimately harms the industry, investors see layoffs as a positive and Activision saw a huge increase in stock prices after announcing the layoffs.


EA stock increased after the surprise release of Apex Legends

EA stock soared after the release of Apex Legends and is most likely trying to reassure investors that they plan to continue to focus on the game success as well as replicate it by restructuring existing studios like FireMonkeys to focus on live service content.

Devil May Cry Voice Actor Shot At Six Times During Attempted Car Robbery

By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1

There's been a lot of news coming out the voice acting community but this takes the cake. Reuben Langdon, the voice of Dante from the Devil May Cry, survived an attempted car robbery that almost turned fatal. 

While in Guatemala City, Reuben Langdon and his partner, Steve Copeland, were in their car when an armed man attempted to enter the vehicle from the passenger side. The two men panicked and sped off. As they fled, the would-be car jacker fired at the car six times.


After the indecent, Langdon and Copeland pulled over to assess the damage to their vehicle. In the video recorded by Copeland, both men are shaken as they find multiple bullet holes in their car, two of which almost hit Reuben. Reuben was also concerned for his bag and his personal belongings in the back seat.


Bullet hole in the back of Reubons seat


Bullet hole from the round that almost hit Reuben's head.

On Twitter, Langdon found the fragment of a bullet and joked about his near-death experience.

Langdon was touring Guatemala filming a documentary about Mayan culture called Vision of the Ages, a sequel to Steve Copelands documentary Shift of the Ages.

Guatemala has a very high crime rate and the U.S Department of State Travel Advisory has assessed the country as a level 3: reconsider traveling. According to the OSAC 2018 Crime and Safety Report, car robberies are a frequent occurrence in Guatemala. 

The capitol city, Guatemala City, has a serious issue with armed car robberies and American tourists have reported car robberies happening frequently at night, although daytime robberies are not unheard of.

Langdon and Copeland are fortunate to have gotten away with the damage to their car and nothing else.