TGO Daily | February 10, 2021 | Riot Faces Another Lawsuit
February 10, 2021
There was TONS of news today, so I’m going to do my best to cover it all as much as I can. You newsletter readers may be getting more than your podcast counter parts, since I only have 5 minutes to play with over there :P
Until tomorrow,
Adrian
In The News
Riot Games CEO Sued for Sexual Harassment
The CEO of Riot Games, Nicolo Laurent, is facing a lawsuit for sexual harassment against his former assistant Sharon O’Donnell. She is also seeking damages for discrimination, environment harassment, and a failure to pay wages.
I will not describe what Laurent is accused of — if you’re interested, please read this article from Vice. Needless to say, the lawsuit details specific situations in which O’Donnell was sexually harassed, and claims that she was fired as a result of her refusal and resistance. She also claims that she was not paid for all the time she worked, and was not given breaks for food.
According to a company spokesperson, a special committee will be dealing with the investigation in collaboration with an outside law firm. One thing they did speak on though:
"One subject we can address immediately is the plaintiff's claim about their separation from Riot. The plaintiff was dismissed from the company over seven months ago based on multiple well-documented complaints from a variety of people…Any suggestion otherwise is simply false."
This isn’t the first time Riot has come face to face with these issues, and the company is still in the middle of a gender discrimination lawsuit following a Kotaku expose in late 2018. They tried to settle that case for $10 million, until the Department of Fair Employment and Housing stepped in, claiming the plaintiffs deserved upwards of $400 million. The company has been emphasizing their improvements in workplace culture ever since — today’s lawsuit is obviously a major step back.
CD Projekt Targeted in Cyber Attack
CD Projekt has become the target of a cyber attack, which they made public on Twitter today. The hackers left a ransom note, threatening to release the information, which you can read below:
CD Projekt have said that to the best of their knowledge, “the compromised systems did not contain any personal data of our players or users of our services.” They have notified the authorities, restored their backups, and are obviously heading into disaster preparation.
This is a sucky situation all around. I hope that everyone in the company is able to stay safe, and that the attackers are held accountable for their actions.
Little Nightmares 2 Reviews
The review embargo has lifted for Little Nightmares 2 (it also did for Persona 5 Strikers, but I’ll leave that until tomorrow because the release date is still two weeks away). It’s sporting an 83 on OpenCritic — not too shabby.
Reviewers say that visually, narratively, and mechanically it is a similar game to its predecessor. You control a new protagonist, and have a companion who was the protagonist of the first game. It keeps its spooky atmosphere and impeccable sound design. It’s only a little bit longer at 5-6 hours.
Eurogamer’s Vikki Blake said something that really resonated with me about the first game:
In this regard, I reckon Little Nightmares is peerless. There's not another studio that so flawlessly tickles my penchant for the, and no other series where every single vignette is a pixel-perfect masterpiece. I fell for the debut game's striking, dream-like design and grim tale completely and utterly, but it was an adventure I simultaneously loved and loathed. As a spectator, Little Nightmares is achingly perfect; as a player, however, its clumsy platforming and opaque signposting make for an infuriating experience.
She ultimately concludes that how you felt about the first game is how you will feel about the second. To her, the mechanics got in the way of a beautiful game.
Many other reviewers take less of an issue with it. The Mirror’s Ryan Brown concluded this:
Little Nightmares II has taken apart its predecessor and truly, masterfully built upon it. As I'm sure will be the case with many others who experience this sequel for the first time, I went in expecting another fun, dark puzzle-platformer, but I did not expect it to be on the level that it's at. Despite anticipating the game, I still feel like it flew under my radar and has taken me by surprise.
Little Nightmares II is style and substance. It's smart, gorgeous, horrific, and against all odds, it's one of the best horror games I've ever played.
The first Little Nightmares is one of my favourite games that I’ve played recently, so I highly encourage you to check these games out if you ever get the chance. Little Nightmares II releases this Thursday on all the expected platforms.
Ubisoft Has Best Quarter Ever
Source: gamesindustry.biz
Ubisoft reported on their Q3 financials today, with CEO Yves Guillemot calling it their strongest quarter in company history. Their holiday period brought in $1.2 billion in bookings, which is up 120% thanks to a bunch of new releases: Watch Dogs: Legion, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Immortals Fenyx Rising, and Just Dance 2021. Considering all of these games got delayed, and Ubisoft had a slow 2019/2020, this performance was inevitable.
The company highlighted their happiness with Immortals, believing it will be a strong catalogue title for them in the future. They also noted that Valhalla did the financially biggest launch in franchise history, and Just Dance had its best launch in six years. They are optimistic for the future, as they’ve seen lots of income from back catalogue titles which they think will continue to perform strongly down the line. They’ll also be releasing three more AAA title and a free-to-play game in the next fiscal year.
Crash Bandicoot 4 Upgrades
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time released on last gen consoles late last year, and it has now been announced that it’s arriving on the Series X, PlayStation 5, and Switch on March 12. It will also arrive on PC sometime this year. It’s introduction on the new consoles will bring 4K support, 60fps, and faster loading times (as with most games).
Those who already own the game will be given a free upgrade, with cross-progression. If you’d like specific instructions on how to make that happen, read the later half of this Eurogamer article.
The Grab-Bag
(Forgive me if I talk about some of these more in-depth tomorrow. On a normal day, these would have been higher up in the priority).
Terraria creator gets locked out of his Google account without explanation, so he cancels the game’s appearance on Stadia.
Bandai Namco is restructuring, getting new management and consolidating some of their divisions.
The fate of Anthem is being internally decided this week. Will it live or die? Find out soon!