The strike at Raven Software comes to a close, there might be not one but two upcoming Kirby games, and some XCOM developers found a new studio.
Sundays tend to be quiet, but there was quite a bit of activity in the world of gaming this time around. Most of the news today had to do with studios. We heard for example that a bunch of XCOM developers banded together to form a company called Bit Reactor and that Ubisoft will no longer be supporting Watch Dogs: Legion. We also found out that all of the workers at Raven Software have decided to end their strike pending recognition by their union. Read on for the details.
The workers in the Quality Assurance department at Raven Software went on strike after the company refused to acknowledge their demands for change. The developer became notorious last year for having generated millions of dollars for Activision Blizzard while not only short changing its employees but actually firing a large number of them. These workers went on to form the first ever games union. The latest development is that all of them have now ended their strike pending recognition by the Game Workers Alliance.
While cheating has been a problem in multiplayer games for pretty much as long as they’ve been around, the phenomenon has gotten so bad in recent years that games like Titanfall have become basically unplayable. Programs like Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye have been the most common solution. The problem is that none of these were supported by Steam Deck when it launched, so a lot of games were prevented from being distributed on the platform. Valve has finally gone ahead and fixed this little software hiccup.
We know that Kirby and the Forgotten Land will be released at some point in the near future, but we don’t know very much about the game for the time being. This might be changing soon. Nintendo Dream announced that a “new issue will be released on Monday, February 21. In addition to detailed news about Kirby and The Forgotten Land, we've also included a new game that we didn't expect!” This of course precipitated a ton of speculation about there being not only one but two upcoming Kirby games. The rumor mill has been churning ever since.
Ubisoft recently announced that it won’t be supporting Watch Dogs: Legion after the next update. You can still take part in some online events, but the company has no plans for any feature improvements. “The game has grown by leaps and bounds with a ton of content to explore,” the developer said. “We couldn't be prouder of the game we've created and we appreciate all of you who've joined us on this journey.” This might just be the last time that something from the Watch Dogs franchise turns up in the news for a while.
Some veterans of the games industry got together to found a new studio called Bit Reactor. These were some of the people behind the recent XCOM games like Enemy Unknown and Chimera Squad, so the company is of course going to be dedicated to the tactics genre. Bit Reactor plans to “define the future of turn-based tactics games by weaving in the high-end production values, riveting storytelling, and innovative design for a best-in-class gameplay experience.” The studio is ushering in a “new era of games that blur the line between strategy and action.” Sounds like we’re in for more late nights on account of that just-one-last-turn style of gameplay.
Cyberpunk 2077’s biggest strength is its cast, but some side characters still need some love
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.
