Cheating the Finals

Good Morning. It’s the week before Christmas — what’s on your gaming wish list? We think it’s been a big year for companion consoles… maybe a Steam Deck or ROG Ally?

— Tim Rhyne, Jason Liu, Derek Neville

MAIN QUEST: End of an era at Activision

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is officially stepping down on December 29th, and Microsoft, which recently acquired the gaming company for $68.7 billion, has not appointed a direct replacement. Instead, the suite of Activision Blizzard executives will now report to Microsoft's game content and studios president, Matt Booty.

This move comes just two months after major leadership changes at Xbox, where Sarah Bond was promoted to Xbox president and Matt Booty was promoted to president of game content and studios, overseeing Bethesda and ZeniMax studios. Booty will now take on even more responsibilities, overseeing Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, and Xbox Game Studios.

Step back: Kotick, who served as CEO for 32 years, has had a turbulent time as the company’s head. While he oversaw Activision Blizzard through significant industry transformations, including the success of the Call of Duty franchise and the company's acquisition by Microsoft, Activision Blizzard also faced several harassment and discrimination claims and investigations under his leadership. His departure follows a $54 million settlement with the California Civil Rights Department over gender discrimination and pay inequality claims at Activision Blizzard.

HUD

• 🥊 The Finals has released its patch aimed at combating the widespread cheating that players have encountered within its game. They use a combination of Easy Anti Cheat and additional systems and take a hard stance that they will not disclose any of the other systems as it “would be like giving a burglar a key to our house”.

• 🤝 Skybound Entertainment, best known for The Walking Dead comics, has partnered with Bloober Team, known for Silent Hill 2 Remake. Bloober is to develop “code name R” based on one of Skyboard’s IPs. It is unknown which IP or type of game is planned, only that the reveal is expected in 2025.

• 👏 Sony’s PS5 has crossed 50 million consoles sold as of December 9th since its 2020 release. In addition, the PS5 has sold three times more units than Xbox X | S this year.

MAJOR W

• 🚪 Mac Walters, lead writer for Mass Effect left BioWare after 19 years beginning of this year. In a recent interview, he expressed a desire to work on small “scrappy” teams similar to his earlier days and didn’t believe that BioWare or EA had a place for this to happen.

• 🤘 Artists defend Wizards of the Coast’s statements against AI being used in the 2024 D&D Player’s Handbook teaser.

F IN THE CHAT

• 🍉 Suika Game rip-off showing on PS Store from Gogame. Gogame is allegedly linked to previous titles that have been removed from Switch’s eShop. One of those titles was copyright claimed by Sony themselves.

• 🏴‍☠️ Ryhsida released Insomiac’s data following its reported hack last week. The released data amounts to 1.67TB of information and Ryhsida said they were an “easy target” for quick money.

CAREER CORNER

• Consumer Insights Manager — Zynga (Austin, TX)

• Sr. Business Development Manager, Platform Partnership — KRAFTON (Santa Monica, CA)

• Art Director / Lead Artist 2D — Snackbar Studio (Remote, US/EU)

HIVE MIND

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