Welcome to the beginning of another work week. You’ve probably gotten behind on everything that’s happened in the world of gaming, but don’t worry because that’s what these daily news roundups are all about rectifying. Today, we learned that Nintendo intentionally dragged its heels when it came to online play, Marvel wanted to give Microsoft exclusivity on its games, and Pokimane has no plans to ever accept a gambling sponsorship. These are just our top stories and so read on for the rest.
Xbox Reportedly Turned Down Marvel's Offer To Make Exclusive Games
Spider-Man could have been on Xbox. Marvel wanted to sign a deal with Microsoft for its games, but the giant sent them packing, so the company turned to another giant, Sony. The news comes from the recently released Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 2. “Being from console first party in my past, I pinged both sides, both Xbox and PlayStation, and said ‘we don't have any big console deals with anyone right now. What would you like to do?’ Microsoft's strategy was to focus on their own IP,” Executive Vice President and Head of Marvel Games Jay Ong recalled. “They passed. I sat down with these two execs from PlayStation third party, Adam Boyes and John Drake, in August, 2014 in a conference room in Burbank. I said ‘we have a dream that this is possible, that we could beat Arkham and have one game at least and maybe multiple games that could drive adoption of your platform.’ They were interested.”
Reggie Fils-Aimé Discusses Workplace Abuse, Delayed Adoption Of Online Play At Nintendo
Reggie Fils-Aimé has been discussing his time as President and Chief Operating Officer at Nintendo of America while drumming up interest in his new book, Disrupting the Game. The former executive had a lot to say about the recent allegations of workplace abuse at the company. Fils-Aimé also described how Nintendo dragged its heels when it came to adopting online play. “The company didn’t see a huge opportunity in online,” he remarked. “It was an area that the Americas and Europe constantly were trying to educate the company in Japan about the value of online play, investing in the online infrastructure which needed to be done in order for the experience to be a positive one.” Fils-Aimé went on to describe how “this is where Microsoft invested so significantly and it became their competitive advantage. It still is today I would argue in terms of their connected gameplay. It was a constant area of push by the western parts of the company to encourage the development and the investment in the infrastructure and I’m sure that conversation continues today.” I’m sure that fans have long suspected this.
Raven QA Workers Successfully Unionize
The workers over at Raven just made history after becoming the first major studio in the games industry to form a union. The vote came down to 19 in favor and three against. The whole story began last year when 12 contractors were let go, leading to a long strike in which employees at the company voiced their many complaints about working conditions and poor treatment by management. The strikers held an unofficial union vote which prompted Activision Blizzard to sink millions of dollars into hiring a union busting law firm and launching a highly controversial misinformation campaign about unionization. Might however doesn’t make right and this time David beat Goliath.
Former Xbox Vice President "Scared" That Game Pass Could Bring Down The Industry
The former Vice President of Game Publishing at Microsoft Ed Fries recently voiced his concern that Game Pass could wind up being a victim of its own success. The issue seems to be that people will stop actually buying their games, relying instead on the hugely successful subscription service. “Game Pass scares me because there’s a somewhat analogous thing called Spotify that was created for the music business,” Fries pointed out. “When Spotify took off, it destroyed the music business. I mean, it literally cut the annual revenue of the music business in half and it’s made it so that people just don’t buy songs anymore.” Fries wants the games industry to avoid suffering the same fate as the music industry. “We have to be careful that we don’t create the same system in the game business,” the former executive said. “These markets are more fragile than people realize.” Fries added that “I saw the games industry destroy itself in the early 1980s. I saw the educational software business destroy itself in the mid-1990s. So, Game Pass makes me nervous. As a customer, I love it. I love Spotify as a customer. I have all the songs I’d ever want. It's a great deal as a customer. But it isn’t necessarily great for the industry.”
Pokimane, Asmongold Snub xQc, Refuse Gambling Sponsorships
The popular streamer and content creator xQc has been courting controversy ever since he started accepting sponsorships from gambling companies and handing out promotional codes for online casinos. Things have been simmering for a while, but the situation seems to have reached a fever pitch as fellow streamers and content creators have been coming out against the practice. Pokimane and Asmongold have become the latest of his colleagues to join the chorus. “We should say fuck gambling and fuck somebody’s microtransactions that take advantage of people,” Pokimane said. “I’ve had a lot of friends tell me that they have a number, right? Is it three million a month? Five?” The streamer went on to say that “I don’t have a price" because the "guilt would eat me alive.”
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