State of the union

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MAIN QUEST: United to Stress Less

The gaming industry is experiencing a significant shift in 2023 as developers at CD Projekt Red have unionized in response to the layoffs from earlier this year and the mental health issues caused by job insecurity.

The Polish Gamedev Workers Union (PGWU) aims to provide job security, transparency, and a stronger voice for employees within the gaming industry, potentially alleviating the industry's issues with "crunch" and long hours. If successful, the move should lead to a healthier work environment.

Will more studios follow suit, and what will the implications be for developers and gamers? Will this lead to more player-focused games or simply more delays? Let us know your thoughts by replying to this email.

HUD

• 👋 Following the controversy surrounding their announced (and then significantly revised) Runtime Fee, Unity announced that CEO John Riccitiello is retiring as president and CEO of the company.

• ➕ Activision Blizzard confirmed that Diablo 4 and Modern Warfare 3 will not be coming to Xbox Game Pass in 2023, but expects to start adding games to the subscription service in 2024, following the finalization of the Microsoft deal to acquire the publisher.

• 🐭 According to a Bloomberg report, Disney higher-ups are pushing CEO Bob Iger to consider a jump into gaming via the acquisition of an established publisher such as Electronic Arts, which would be a significant shift from Disney’s current gaming strategy of licensing out their IP.

MAJOR W

• 🎮 Sony confirmed the release of the PlayStation 5 Slim for November, both with and without a disc drive. The digital edition will have a disc drive sold separately that can be added later if desired.

• 🎃 New skins are coming to Fortnite for Halloween, including Jack Skellington from Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise, and Alan Wake from the Alan Wake franchise.

F IN THE CHAT

• 🗓️ XDefiant has been delayed indefinitely following the most recent Public Test Session. According to a message from developer Ubisoft, the session revealed inconsistencies in the game experience that needed to be resolved prior to launch.

• ⛔ With the long-awaited release of Counter-Strike 2 finally arriving, Valve has also announced that Counter-Strike 2 will not be supported on MacOS or older PCs, such as those with 32-bit operating systems.

CAREER CORNER

• Senior Security Risk Specialist, GME (Games, Media, & Entertainment) Security — Amazon Games (Seattle, WA)

• Sr. Analyst, Royalty & Contracts — Take-Two Interactive (New York City, NY)

• Supervisor, People Shared Services — Riot Games (Los Angeles, CA)

HIVE MIND

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