Multiple Dark Souls games are taken offline due to a security issue, while new Star Wars 1313 footage surfaces, in this week’s gaming news.
Multiple Dark Souls games are taken offline due to a potential security threat, while Raven Software QA developers are ending their strike as they form a union, in this week's news. Game Rant has compiled some of the biggest gaming news stories from this past week together into a concise post for fans and enthusiasts to stay up to date on the most important events in the industry per week. Highlighting the most relevant stories, this list is not inherently and totally objective, and will not contain every news story this week. Rather, this is intended for gaming fans who want a quick rundown on the largest/most impactful stories that occurred in the last week in games.
In this week's gaming news, all of the Dark Souls games PvP functionality has been taken offline on PC due to a potential vulnerability that could compromise players' PCs. Raven Software QA developers will be ending their strike as they begin to unionize, but Activision Blizzard has not recognized the union formally. Respawn Entertainment and EA have announced three new Star Wars projects are in development at the Apex Legends developer. An independent investigation into Ubisoft Singapore yielded a surprisingly positive result of the developer regarding workplace harassment. All that and more in this week's biggest news in the gaming industry.
In the leadup to Elden Ring's release, several of the Dark Souls games' multiplayer servers had to be taken down for maintenance due to a potentially dangerous exploit discovered. As reported by Dexerto, a member of the Dark Souls community (@SkeleMann) discovered a new vulnerability that affects all Dark Souls games' online functionality. As described by SkeleMann, the issue could potentially lead to hackers gaining access to players' PCs directly, stealing login information, bricking players' rigs entirely, or otherwise executing programs in the background.
FromSoftware caught wind of this vulnerability, and has since temporarily shut down the game's servers in response. Announced on the official Dark Souls Twitter, servers for Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition, Dark Souls Remastered, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls 3 have been "temporarily deactivated" to address the security vulnerability on the PC platform. Console servers remain online, as the security threat does not apply there, but PC players are still in the dark for now as FromSoftware investigates.
Following the vote to unionize, members of the QA department on strike at Raven Software have moved to end their strike as of Saturday, January 22. Organizational changes are in process, as Raven Software management assured QA employees that they are working towards integrating QA more closely with the development team. That being said, Activision Blizzard has not willingly recognized or come to terms with the unionization of QA developers at Raven, despite attempting to make a deal.
Raven Software's QA staff had been striking for weeks in response to multiple layoffs affecting the quality assurance department. Activision Blizzard management was allegedly looking into a restructuring of the QA team's pay in an effort to improve the livelihood's of QA developers. However, that came at the cost of 30+ contracted workers being laid off at Raven to support others, with many current and former employees lambasting the decision by management. For now, the ABK union will now seek a vote to unionize among ABK staff, with the National Labor Relations Board overseeing the election.
In a surprise announcement from a press release, EA and Lucasfilm Games confirmed three new Star Wars games are in development at Respawn Entertainment. After the success of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and the negative reception of Star Wars Battlefront 2 and Battlefield 2042, DICE is not working on a Battlefront sequel. Three new projects were announced: The sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a new Star Wars FPS, as well as new strategy game developed in collaboration with Bit Reactor.
EA had previously mentioned a Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order sequel was coming in a quarterly financial report, but this announcement confirms the existence of the Jedi action/adventure game's sequel. The Star Wars FPS is being helmed by game director Peter Hirschmann, who worked on the original Battlefront franchise, as well as Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, and may be inspired by Star Wars: Dark Forces. The Star Wars strategy game is being co-developed with Respawn and Bit Reactor, a studio made up of Firaxis veterans (XCOM).
After previous reports that Ubisoft Singapore was one of many studios from the French publisher accused of management harassment, an independent report highlights that the studio handled these reports sufficiently. Singapore's The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practice (TAFEP), an independent company investigating Ubisoft Singapore, found that "the Singapore studio has a structured system in place to handle misconduct reports, and that previous reports were dealt with appropriately." The investigation also concluded that pay difference was constrained solely to difference in experience and seniority, rather than gender difference.
Though the footage has been around for a while, only recently was new gameplay discovered for Star Wars 1313, the canceled action/adventure Star Wars game in development at LucasArts in 2012. The newly found gameplay specifically focuses on players taking control of Boba Fett, exploring the undercity of Coruscant as they chase a bounty. The gameplay was clearly a work-in-progress at the time, likely serving as a vertical slice for the game at E3, but the game was cancelled when LucasArts closed in 2013.
Among the controversy surrounding Activision Blizzard currently, the studio also posted a new job opening that coincides with the announcement of a new IP as well. Activision Blizzard is working a new survival game based in an entirely new "universe." The only details on the game was concept art posted alongside the job posting, as well as a description of "a vast realm of possibility, waiting to be explored." Other than that, this new survival game remains "unannounced" at this time.
After a brief leak beforehand, Crytek has announced that a new Crysis game is in development. After 2013's Crysis 3, the series has been dormant for a long time, but the new teaser trailer confirms that Crysis 4 is the next entry. Details are vague on the sequel; only that Crytek states that Crysis 4 is "in the early stages of development," and that there's no confirmed reveal or release date. For now, Crysis fans have a new entry to look forward to in the far future.
Call of Duty: Vanguard players are testing just how applicable the new Attack on Titan execution is mid-combat to dodge bullets.
Not actually a distant relative of Bob Dole, Rob Dolen is a Features Writer for Game Rant. Big fan of expansive lore and game analysis, video games are cool. Freedom Fighters is underrated. Probably not good at competitive Halo anymore.
