Cecilia D'Anastasio

Stop Quitting Magic: Arena Games Before I Can Beat You Properly

Magic: The Gathering is a game about slowly (or quickly) squeezing the life out of your opponent until they’re demoralized, defeated, and feeling the weight of their many, many mistakes. That’s why I am unhappy with the lot of you serial conceders depriving me of that. I’m not a great player of Magic Arena, the…

Top Streamers Said To Earn $50,000 An Hour Playing New Games

Top Twitch streamers can make $50,000 per hour streaming new video games, the Wall Street Journal said in a weekend report. Kotaku spoke with industry sources who confirmed the report, adding that $50,000 per hour wasn’t even the highest figure they’d seen. The report claims that publishers like Activision Blizzard, Take-Two, Ubisoft, and Electronic Arts…

As Deadline Passes, Riot Games Doesn’t Budge On Key Walkout Issue

Despite a walkout of hundreds of its employeeslast week, League of Legends publisher Riot Games said last night that they will not change their stance on forced arbitration. Protesting employees had given the company until yesterday to make a change, threatening to escalate their efforts if it did not. “We know not everyone agrees with…

Upstart Epic PC Store Launches Its First Steam-Style Mega Sale

Epic Games’ store has announced its own take on the Steam Summer Sale—the latest spoonful of Steam’s game-selling pie that Epic has shoveled directly into its mouth. The move comes over a month before Steam typically offers its famous Summer Sale. The Epic Mega Sale, launched today, is discounting games up to 75 percent. Right…

TIME’s 2019 list of “Next Generation Leaders” names 19-year-old Overwatch League pro Kim “Geguri” Se-Yeon, the league’s first female player. “Since I am the only female player in the whole league, I think there are a lot of people who look up to me and see me as a role model,” Geguri told TIME. “Knowing this,…

A geneticist named Michael California wrote a fascinating blog about Rage 2‘s depiction of mutants and genetic deformity. Check it out here

Magic: The Gathering‘s New Pro Players Prove To Be Controversial Picks

Today, Magic: The Gathering publisher Wizards of the Coast announced that it had signed two new players to its fledgling Pro League, including the league’s first woman. While it has been a galvanizing decision for many players, especially female ones, some fans worry that the process for joining the professionalized ranks of Magic has become…

Magic: The Gathering’s pro League just got its first female player. Jessica Estephan, who is from Australia, was also Magic: The Gathering’sfirst Grand Prix winner. Earlier this year, Kotaku reported on how publisher Wizards of the Coast wanted to make Magic less of a boys club—it looks like they’re keeping their word.

I’m streaming a Magic: The Gathering Arena draft with the game’s newest set, War of the Spark. Tune into our Twitch channel and come hang!

YouTuber ProJared Accused Of Sexually Soliciting Fans [UPDATE]

Jared “ProJared” Knabenbauer, a gaming YouTuber who had over a million subscribers before today’s events, has been accused of sending nudes to and soliciting nudes from fans, two of whom say they were underage at the time of the solicitation. The allegations were first published last night by his wife, artist and cosplayer Heidi O’Ferrall,…

Queer Eye’s Tan France shows off some truly special Pikachu boots by GCDS for Elle magazine

The Overwatch League finals will take place in Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on September 29, Blizzard announced today. The prize pool is a plush $1.7 million, $1.1 million of which goes to the top team.

On the heels of yesterday’s Riot Games walkout at the League of Legends publisher’s Los Angeles headquarters, Riot employees in Dublin are staging their own walkout today. Around 18 of the office’s employees stood by the street with several holding signs calling for the company to end forced arbitration

Over 150 Riot Employees Walk Out To Protest Forced Arbitration And Sexist Culture [Updated]

Over 150 discontented Riot Games employees walked out of the League of Legends publisher’s offices in Los Angeles today to protest the company’s stance on forced arbitration. Standing in a parking lot on Riot’s campus, employees held picket signs and gave impassioned speeches. “We’re asking that forced arbitration be ended for all past, current, and…

Riot Employees Prepare For Walkout Today

Los Angeles-based Riot Games employees are preparing for a walkout this afternoon in protest of the company’s stance on forced arbitration in what appears to be the first walkout at a major gaming studio. Kotaku will be reporting live from the protest as it develops. “I’m walking out as a symbolic action to signal to…

The Fruits Basket Reboot Does A Classic Manga Justice

Fruits Basket is where a lot of tween otaku picked up their first few otaku-isms: baka, neko, kawaii desu. A late ’90s slice-of-life manga that was adapted into an early ’00s anime, Fruits Basket is a gem of the shoujo canon, the quintessential anime that’s cringy to describe in hindsight but close to the heart…

YouTuber Etika Livestreams Himself Getting Detained By Police To 19,000 Viewers

Popular gaming YouTuber and streamer Desmond “Etika” Amofah was detained by Brooklyn Police this afternoon after allegedly threatening to harm himself as 19,000 viewers watched him live on Instagram via his phone. A police representative told Kotaku he is on his way to the hospital. The stream of the incident lasted about 45 minutes, beginning…

Riot Employees Plan Walkout To Protest Company Blocking Lawsuits From Going To Trial

In the wake of news that Riot Games is attempting to block two current employees from taking the company to court for alleged gender discrimination, some employees are threatening a walkout. Over the last couple of months, five current and former Riot employees filed lawsuits against the League of Legends publisher alleging that it fosters…

Riot Files Motions To Block Current Employees From Taking Legal Action

Months after five current and former employees filed lawsuits last fall and earlier this year alleging gender discrimination against League of Legends publisher Riot Games, Riot yesterday made motions to force two of those women into private arbitration, which would prevent them from taking legal action. Riot’s argument is simple: Those women waived their rights…

Nonbinary Magic Champion Replaces Pro Removed From League After Harassment Accusations

In the wake of allegations that Magic: The Gathering pro player Owen Turtenwald behaved inappropriately to female friends and fans, it appears he has been removed from publisher Wizards of the Coast’s budding esports league. Replacing him is Autumn Burchett, a talented, gender nonbinary player who won February’s Mythic Championship. Late last month before the…