🕹️Larian moving on from D&D

Good Morning. ESPN’s Tournament Challenge had 22 million brackets submitted for the men’s tournament this year. After the first round of March Madness, 0 perfect brackets remain. The odds of filling out a perfect bracket by flipping a coin for each game are 1 in 9.2 quintillion.

— Derek

MAIN QUEST:

The Justice Department has filed a significant antitrust lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the tech giant has engaged in practices that create and maintain a monopoly in the smartphone market. The lawsuit, joined by 16 states and the District of Columbia, contends that Apple's tactics, such as limiting functionality for non-Apple devices, controlling access to digital wallets, and preventing interoperability with competing messaging platforms, unfairly disadvantage competitors and harm consumers. The government aims to challenge Apple's dominance and promote competition and innovation in the industry. Apple has vehemently denied the allegations, stating that the lawsuit threatens its ability to innovate and sets a dangerous precedent for government intervention in technology design.

Central to the lawsuit is the argument that Apple has used its control over the iPhone ecosystem to stifle competition and maintain its position as a dominant player in the market. The lawsuit targets various aspects of Apple's business practices, including its app store fees, restrictions on third-party apps, and exclusive features that lock users into the Apple ecosystem. The outcome of the lawsuit could have far-reaching implications for Apple and the broader tech industry, with potential changes to how smartphones are designed, marketed, and regulated. However, given the complexity of the case and the likelihood of lengthy legal proceedings, a resolution is not expected anytime soon, leaving the future of Apple's smartphone dominance uncertain.

Step Back: While Epic Games has been Apple’s main nemesis in the courts recently, this case from the DOJ brings the challenge against Apple’s vice grip over its ecosystem to a new level, as Apple has already lost some of its control in Europe.

HUD

• 🐲 Baldur’s Gate 3 was the hit of 2023. However, Larian Studios is moving on from Dungeons & Dragons. During a talk at the GDC, studio founder Sven Vincke said Larian would not be working on any DLC, expansions, or Baldur’s Gate 4, and are looking forward to trying new things instead of iterating on what they have already done.

• 📉 Overwatch 2 developers at Blizzard are receiving 0% of their profit-sharing bonuses this month. The bonus policy for staff changed last year from being based on the overall company performance to the performance of the franchises, and OW2 struggled to sell PvE content last year. The game is reportedly abandoning future PvE content to focus on PvP content.

• 💰 Dragon’s Dogma 2 has been well received by critics, currently sitting at an 86 on Metacritic, however, player reviews have landed between mixed and mostly negative, with players railing against the various microtransactions in the game, which range from various items such as crystals used to fast travel, to a $2 character editor.

MAJOR W

• 🎥 Margot Robbie’s production company LuckyChap is looking to ride the momentum from its major hit The Barbie Movie by taking another story-less IP and adapting it for the big screen, this time with The Sims.

• 🪰 After vehemently denying the existence of flying bugs in Helldivers 2, calling any reported sightings “propaganda from bug sympathizers”, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt has reversed course, stating “I have always believed there to be a possibility of flying bugs.”

F IN THE CHAT

• 🗓️ Path of Exile 2’s beta has been delayed. Originally scheduled for June, the beta is being pushed back to later in the year due to the game not being in a state Grinding Gear Games feels comfortable releasing. They will continue with alpha testing in June as planned.

• 🏗️ The opening of the official Nintendo museum could be delayed according to a construction notice posted at the museum’s Kyoto site. A photo of the notice posted to X shows the project completion date listed as April 30th, a month later than originally announced by Nintendo.

CAREER CORNER

• Senior Financial Analyst — Blizzard Entertainment (Irvine, CA)

• Community Manager — Electronic Arts (Vancouver, BC)

• Senior Producer, SDK — Epic Games (Cary, NC)

HIVE MIND

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