Yesterday, at the exact moment Activision Blizzard chief executive officer Bobby Kotick hopped on a quarterly earnings call to inform shareholders that his company had just gone through a “record year,” employees across the publisher of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and more were being brought into conference rooms and informed that they were…
Publisher Activision Blizzard has begun its long-rumored layoff process, informing employees this afternoon that it will be cutting staff. On an earnings call this afternoon, the company said that it would be eliminating 8% of its staff. In 2018, Activision Blizzard had roughly 9,600 employees, which would mean nearly 800 people are now out of…
New Nintendo Direct! Hitting tomorrow (February 13) at 5pm ET. Nintendo says it’ll be 35 minutes chock full of Switch news, and I dunno about you guys, but I would certainly like to hear more about Fire Emblem. And other stuff. Perhaps we’ll see that Assassin’s Creed III port?
Blink and you’ll miss some of the best secrets in Kingdom Hearts III, like a watermark that someone accidentally left in while rendering the cut-scenes. See where it says “Arnold” up there by Elsa’s arm (via Reddit)? That’s a big ol’ watermark that you’ll get in the animation software Maya if you don’t have an…
Staff at the game publisher Activision-Blizzard are preparing for big layoffs next week, waiting to see who will be one of potentially hundreds of employees who could lose their jobs on Tuesday. There’s been no official news from the publisher yet, but we first heard word of upcoming layoffs late last year. At the time,…
GameStop is changing its pre-order refund policy, Kotaku has learned. Now, if you want to get your money back for a pre-order you’ve placed, you’ll have 30 days after the launch of the game to get a full cash refund. After 30 days, you’ll get store credit. A GameStop spokesperson adds that “we have also…
One of the key reasons behind Nintendo’s success over the decades isn’t just that it makes fun video games, but that it makes video games that broadly appeal to both men and women. One possible explanation? There’s a “very high” number of women employed at the company, Nintendo says—although they haven’t offered statistics. Nintendo’s executives…
The classic role-playing games Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate II, Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment, and Neverwinter Nights are coming to consoles for the first time later this year. That’ll be the enhanced edition of each game courtesy developer Beamdog, although they won’t tell me which consoles. Yep, I’m also hoping for…
New Plants vs. Zombies and Need for Speed games are coming later this year, EA said today ahead of its quarterly earnings call No other details just yet, but boy, it sure was a rough year for the publisher. “Q3 was a difficult quarter for Electronic Arts and we did not perform to our expectations,”…
What was once Titanfall 3 has become Apex Legends, the free-to-play battle royale game that launched today. In other words, a third Titanfall is not currently in development, despite the critical acclaim for the first two. At a press event for Apex Legends, Respawn producer Drew McCoy told Eurogamer that Titanfall 3 wasn’t happening. “The…
As expected, development studio Respawn announced its Titanfall spinoff battle royale game Apex Legends this afternoon, and it’s out right now. The free-to-play game is sort of like a cross between Overwatch and Call of Duty’s Blackout battle royale mode. You can get it on PS4, Xbox, and PC. We’ll be checking out Apex Legends…
Have you ever wondered, while enjoying the clever banter and warm rapport of Kotaku Splitscreen, what it might be like to see said banter and rapport in real life? On February 7, you’ll be able to find out. Kirk Hamilton, Maddy Myers, and I will be hanging out at The Bell House in Brooklyn, New…
A new Titanfall spinoff is in the works, and it’ll be out sooner than anyone could possibly guess. In fact, internet rumors (and word from our own sources) suggests that it’ll be out this Monday. The game isn’t officially announced just yet, but word leaked out this morning thanks to esports journalist Rod Breslau. As…
Is Kingdom Hearts brilliant or incomprehensible? Hackneyed or joyful? Today on Kotaku Splitscreen, we decide that the answer is… all of the above! First we talk about the many games we’ve been playing, including Resident Evil 2, Wargroove, Bloodborne, and Destiny 2. Then we take a deep dive into Kingdom Hearts (34:01), debating whether the…
There are two things you should know about the indie game Wargroove, which comes out for PC, Switch, and Xbox One on Friday. The first is that it’s a smart, challenging turn-based strategy game that’s essentially Advance Wars for the modern era. The second is that you get to play as a puppy who wears…
A tweet two weeks ago from a former Ubisoft director led the gaming world to believe that Pioneer, the sci-fi game that was teased inside of Watch Dogs 2, was canceled. Is it, though? The answer to that question is hazy, and may depend on your definition of “canceled.” Some background: In November 2016, a…
GameStop said this morning that it’s given up on a sale, news that sent stock tumbling. “GameStop’s Board has now terminated efforts to pursue a sale of the company due to the lack of available financing on terms that would be commercially acceptable to a prospective acquiror,” the retailer said in a statement. Uh oh.
CrossCode is coming to Switch this year, so soon you’ll all be able to see what we’ve been raving about. Also in Nintendo indie news: the strategy game Wargroove is out next week, Goat Simulator hits Switch right now, and the people behind SteamWorld Dig are making a new card role-playing game called SteamWorld Quest…
A few weeks ago, I was cursing former Kotaku jerk Kirk Hamilton for forcing me to play through all of Bloodborne. Now, I’m fearing the old blood just like the rest of you. First, a bit of background: I bought From Software’s PlayStation 4-exclusive action game when it first came out back in March 2015.…
Maybe it’s time for Disney to ditch EA and open up Star Wars to the masses, perhaps even conducting a game jam? On this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, we discuss. First up, we talk about the games we’re playing including Resident Evil 2, Danganronpa, and Destiny 2‘s dungeon, Shattered Throne. Then we talk about a wild…
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