Due to a cold that seemed to be timed perfectly with starting immunosuppressants, there’s no 8bA Podcast this week – I sound awful and feel just as bad. However, I thought it would be nice to still post a recap of the news that would have made it into this week’s episode, to keep people informed!
NIANTIC
The Verge reports that a former employee of the Pokemon GO creator has filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that there is “systemic sexual bias” when determining pay grades and promotions.
The employee was allegedly paid less than male employees with fewer responsibilities and lower-ranking positions, as well as being paid far less than the posted pay range for her position – more than $10,000 less than the bottom end of the range.
After bringing the issue up with the company’s employee resources group, executives allegedly said her evaluations and lower pay rate were because she raised concerns with her colleagues.
BLACK PANTHER
Polygon reports that EA’s next Marvel project will focus on Black Panther. Newly created Cliffhanger Games will develop the title in collaboration with Marvel Games. Black Panther is one of the three titles Electronic Arts is developing alongside Marvel Games, the others being an Iron Man game and an unannounced title.
SEGA OF AMERICA
IGN reports that Sega of America has voted for unionization, creating the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega. The union will be represented by the Communication Workers of America. Unlike other unions that have recently formed in developer studios, AEGIS is multidepartmental, encompassing Marketing, Brand Marketing, Games as a Service, Localization, Product Development Ops, Sales, Quality Assurance, and others (most of the recent unions have been Quality Assurance unions).
AEGIS now heads to the bargaining table to negotiate a contract with SEGA Corporation.
MONSTER HUNTER RISE: SUNBREAK
NintendoLife reports that the final content update for Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is now available. Additions include Primordial Malzeno (pictured above) and a conclusion to the expansion’s overall story. Also included are bug fixes, balance updates, and several QoL features and UI improvements.
MICROSOFT V. FTC
IGN reports that Judge Corley ruled in favor of Microsoft, denying the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction on the Xbox maker’s bid to purchase Activision Blizzard. The FTC does have the ability to appeal at the time of writing this recap, and Microsoft still needs to appeal the CMA’s decision for the deal to go through.
I would like to note that while I believe the FTC doesn’t nearly do enough antitrust work, getting Bobby Kotick out of the picture is far more consumer-friendly than requiring ActiBlizz to remain independent. The FTC also appeared unprepared for this case – nearly to the point of being comical (for example, noting that the Switch’s “pricing, performance, and content make it an improper substitute at least for the purposes of its preliminary injunction motion.”)