In this week’s gaming news, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire publisher Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion, amid the publisher’s ongoing harassment lawsuits and controversy. E3’s in-person event is canceled for 2022, but additional reports seem to indicate an online-only show may not be in the cards either. During an Italian Senate meeting over Zoom, an unknown member screen-shared some NSFW Final Fantasy 7 content live as part of a prank. Twitch streamer Pokimane may suffer legal action after a hate raid directed toward her involves both Ninja and banned streamer Jidion. All that and more in this week’s recap of the biggest news in gaming.
RELATED: Pros and Cons of Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision-Blizzard
Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard For $ 68.7 Billion, Kotick Remains CEO
Of course, the biggest news from the last week also happens to be one of the biggest news events of the year already. On Tuesday, Microsoft announced it had made the decision to acquire publisher Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal for Xbox. This acquisition marks the largest expenditure seen in the gaming industry for a studio/publisher acquisition so far, only followed by Take-Two Interactive’s acquisition of Zynga just a few weeks prior.
Reactions were mixed to say the least, as players and fans echoed numerous concerns with the current controversial state of Activision Blizzard’s leadership, as well as the potential for IPs going Xbox exclusive. The main issue stems from Bobby Kotick remaining CEO of Activision Blizzard, though reports state Kotick is not meant to stay beyond the finalization of Microsoft’s acquisition. That being said, there is the chance that Microsoft may be able to instill change in the many developers under Activision Blizzard, as well as potentially revitalize some iconic Activision Blizzard IPs that haven’t seen new entries in years.
E3 Online May Be Axed Alongside Cancelled In-Person Event For 2022
With the rise in COVID-19 variants and continued exposure across the United States, the ESA has announced the cancellation of its in-person event plans for E3 2022. This doesn’t come as a huge surprise considering the organization made that same decision in 2020, though the rationale may not be exactly the same this year. VentureBeat reporter Jeff Grubb states that E3’s digital show for the year is “probably also canceled,” though did not elaborate beyond that.
However, reports of E3’s cancellation was later followed up by reporter/analyst Mike Futter on Twitter, stating that the cancellation being related to COVID was “spin,” and not representative of the actual reason for cancellation. According to Futter’s sources, E3 had made the decision to abandon its booked trade show dates with the Los Angeles Convention Center months before COVID variants like Omicron had made a resurgence in the United States. The ESA has not confirmed any details on an online-only E3 2022 show at this moment.
Twitch’s Pokimane, Jidion, and Ninja Hate Raid Controversy
Pokimane was forced to end one of their streams early a few weeks ago due to being targeted by a hate raid from Twitch streamer Jidion, who as of this week has been permanently banned from the streaming platform. Jidion’s viewers were spamming things like “L+RATIO” in Pokimane’s chat during a Valorant stream, while whispering Pokimane viewers on Twitch and harassing them individually. Jidion was initially only given a 14-day ban, but after doubling down on the harassment on Twitter with his viewers, the streamer was banned indefinitely.
However, Ninja and Jidion were interacting with Pokimane on Twitter about the incident, including the ban and the discourse surrounding it. Jidion had gifted 100 subscribers to Ninja as Jidion’s viewers asked the streamer to reach out to a Twitch representative in an attempt to appeal the ban. After Pokimane caught wind of their conversation, including apparent name-calling and continued defamation, Pokimane called out the two for their behavior. Ninja and his wife Jessica Blevins both reached out to Pokimane as a result, threatening to pursue legal action after Pokimane was allegedly blowing things out of proportion.
RELATED: The Ninja and Pokimane Controversy Explained
Explicit Final Fantasy 7 Content Displayed During Italian Senate Meeting
During a Zoom meeting between members of the Italian Senate, it seems an unknown member in the meeting had begun sharing some sexually explicit content of Final Fantasy 7’s Tifa Lockhart. Interrupted and stunned, members scrambled to kick out the unidentified personnel as the content was displayed on stream for half a minute before kicking the perpetrator out of the Zoom meeting. Since then, Tifa has become the subject of wholesome and inappropriate memes referencing the incident.
Nintendo Switch is 2021’s Best-Selling Console, Call of Duty: Vanguard Best-Selling Game
Though this may not be entirely surprising, the NPD Group’s statistics for consumer trends in 2021 highlighted two milestones for gaming last year. The Nintendo Switch hardware was the best-selling console in units sold in the U.S., and was neck-in-neck with the PS5 for dollar sales. Additionally, for the 13th year in a row as recorded by NPD’s Mat Piscatella, Call of Duty: Vanguard was the best-selling game in 2021, followed by Black Ops Cold War, and others like Madden NFL 22, and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
GDC Survey Indicates Most Developers Uninterested With NFTs
As NFTs start to see broader acceptance from members of the gaming industry, it seems that the consensus isn’t exactly positive on the inclusion of the blockchain-based assets in gaming. In the GDC’s 2022 State of the Industry report, a survey of several game developers indicated that around 70% of surveyed companies indicated they are not interested in implementing NFT technology in games. Tangentially, 72% of developers are also not interested in cryptocurrency either. Only 28% of the surveyed developers indicated an “somewhat” of an interest in NFT/cryptocurrency technology.
MORE: NFTs Can Benefit Games, Under the Right Circumstances
