Gabe Newell talks NFTs and cryptocurrency, GOG and Ubisoft stand in support of Ukraine, and somebody finds a long lost statue from The Game Awards.
We saw some really strange stories today. The news broke for example that somebody discovered a lost figurine from The Game Awards and then returned the statue to its rightful owner. We also found out that Gabe Newell considers NFTs to be “super sketchy.” In other news, we heard about how companies in the games industry including GOG and Ubisoft have been responding to the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Ubisoft has development studios all around the world. This of course includes Ukraine. The company came out today in support of these workers, promising that a variety of different measures would be taken including additional pay and relocation allowances. “Ubisoft is providing housing in neighboring countries where teams and their families can take shelter if they wish and are able to do so,” a representative said. “To ensure we stay closely connected with all teams, we have set up hotlines to respond to their questions and needs and have put in place an emergency communication system should infrastructures grow unstable."
Since the company is based in Poland, GOG has been keeping a very close eye on the events in Ukraine. The latest development is that GOG will be donating its share of the proceeds from This War of Mine to the Ukrainian Red Cross. "Following 11 Bit Studio’s decision to donate all their profits from the sales of This War of Mine and its DLC on all stores and platforms for the next seven days, we have decided to support their action and we will be donating all profits from our shares of the sale of the game on GOG to the Ukrainian Red Cross,” the company announced. This War of Mine is openly anti-war in its themes.
Gabe Newell has never been fond of the blockchain, but he came out today in clear opposition to this technology. "The things that were being done were super sketchy," the executive said. "And there was some illegal shit that was going on behind the scenes and you're just like ‘yeah, this is bad.’ Blockchain is a great technology, but the ways in which it has been utilized are currently all pretty sketchy. And you sort of want to stay away from that."
The acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft seems to get more complicated by the day. Several individuals with shares in the company just filed a lawsuit over alleged violations of the Securities Exchange Act. The plaintiff, Kyle Watson, considers the acquisition to be "unfair for a number of reasons.” This includes the board trying to “procure for themselves and senior management significant and immediate benefits.” Watson argues that Activision Blizzard being purchased by Microsoft runs contrary to the interests of its shareholders and benefits nobody but the board members.
YouTuber PrestigeIsKey noticed something strange when they were browsing eBay. Since they call themselves a big fan of the festival, it should come as no surprise that PrestigeIsKey would be looking for memorabilia from The Game Awards, but what they came across was completely unexpected. PrestigeIsKey picked up a lost award statue belonging to the developers behind Celeste. The story is a fun one to follow, but the upshot is that PrestigeIsKey brought the figurine back to its rightful owners.
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Justin is an archaeologist specializing in architecture, urbanism and spatial theory. He also happens to be a pilot. But you probably know him as a columnist at Unwinnable and an editor at TheGamer where he writes articles and publishes news about games. You can find some of his work in EGM, Vice, Heterotopias and more.
