Weekly News Digest - 10th May 2024
Welcome to the Bastion Weekly News Digest in which we provide an overview of the biggest stories affecting the video game industry.
Over 100,000 people attended the 9th edition of the London Games Festival. The April event saw participation from over 4,100 games professionals, with 900 games companies involved representing 41 countries.
TikTok has filed a lawsuit to block a US law that would ban the video app in the country unless sold by ByteDance. In the filing, the social media company called the act an "extraordinary intrusion on free speech rights".
UK government responds to petition for publishers to keep games "in a working state" – RockPaperShotgun
The UK government has responded to a petition asking for "government intervention" forcing the industry to keep video games "in a reasonably working state when support ends". The petition was created following the closure of Ubisoft’s racing game The Crew in March.
EA amassing "largest Battlefield team in franchise history" to double down on live-service multiplayer - Eurogamer
EA released its latest financial report this week, with CEO Andrew Wilson sharing his excitement for the future of the Battlefield franchise. EA is amassing its "largest Battlefield team in franchise history" to work across "connected multiplayer and single-player experiences".
Hurray, I’m useful!...
In the oddest story of the week, Futurama’s Zoidberg caused the removal of the new Yoda backpack from Fortnite. As confirmed by Epic Games, if you used the Zoidberg Scuttle while wearing Yoda the game would crash.
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SPOTLIGHT
By Ben Skipper, Account Director
Player power is an often under-appreciated, often misunderstood thing, but this week its effectiveness was felt keenly by Sony after an attempt to mandate that Helldivers 2 players on PC link their games to PlayStation Network accounts was met with fury.
A bombardment of criticism from media and the community, as well as a flood of negative reviews on Steam – The Verge estimated over 200,000 in two days - led to Sony reversing the policy in spectacular fashion on Monday.
The situation highlights the impact collective player action can have when a community feels wronged, even betrayed, by a sudden and radical change to a game they love and experience they’re accustomed to.
For Sony, it’s also a reminder that when major decisions are made about any game – but especially games as wildly popular as Helldivers 2 has been since its launch in February – it is essential to consider the ramifications, and how audiences will respond.
This situation may have been avoided had Sony’s plan been clearly communicated, with time taken to explain the reasoning behind the plan and time afforded to gauge the response from players. Without this clear communication, players felt shut out and disregarded. They responded in kind.
Ironically for a game about an army fighting for a twisted version of “democracy”, that same army of players orchestrated an impressive example of the real thing in action.
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