Friends, we've made it through another week in a year where it never seemed like a given. Intrepid news editor (and regular update note writer) Chris Kerr is away from Gamescom Asia at the moment, so I'm just tuning in and trying to bring Chris's usual good humor and insight to the game. If I fail, know that it is only because he simply cannot be replaced!
So, onward to the news and events of the past week (give or take)!
via game developer // One of the biggest stories to emerge last week (and perhaps one of the biggest of the year) was that EA had confirmed a massive $55 billion share buyback financed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, US private equity fund Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's investment firm Affinity Partners. US Senators Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren this week sent two letters to US Treasury Secretary and Foreign Investment Committee Chairman Scott Bessent and Electronic Arts CEO Andrew, expressing concerns about “foreign influence and national security risks” in the deal.
via game developer // Senators are not the only parties concerned about news of massive stock buybacks last week. As noted in our news story this week, workers (in collaboration with United Videogame Workers-CWA Local 9433) released a statement criticizing the move.
“EA is not a struggling company,” the unnamed employees said in a statement. “EA's success was driven entirely by the tens of thousands of EA employees whose creativity, skills and innovation made EA worth purchasing in the first place. However, we, the very people who will suffer as a result of this transaction, were not represented at all when this buyout was carried out or discussed.”
via game developer // This week, more than 400 Blizzard Entertainment Platform and Technology employees successfully voted to join the CWA union. This group includes people from a variety of backgrounds, including graphic designers, engineers and project managers for Battle.net, as well as localization, quality testing and customer support specialists for other Blizzard products.
via game developer // In the first of two articles on the iconic survival horror franchises gracing our site this week (it's spooky season, after all!), senior editor Bryant Francis takes a look at the latest character designs and finds a lot to like about the new take on Silent Hill.
via game developer // Interview with game developer regular Alessandro Fillari Resident Evil: Requiem game director Koshi Nakanishi and producer Masato Kumazawa talk at Tokyo Game Show about how important perspective (and player choice) is to a successful horror experience.
Through the design room // This week, former Polygon features editor Matt Leone launched a new site dedicated to in-depth game coverage, starting with this welcome email and an absolute fireworks display of oral history about creation Shadow of the Colossus. Leone and partners plan to regularly publish in-depth articles, with a focus on insightful oral histories, and support the site with additional subscriber-funded content.
In short: I worked with Matt during my time as a Polygon staffer from 2013 to 2015.
