Nearly 200 Overwatch developers at Blizzard form a new union: The Overwatch Gamemakers Guild

Nearly 200 Overwatch developers at Activision Blizzard have formed a new union under the Communications Workers of America called The Overwatch Gamemakers Guild—CWA, “a wall-to-wall unit that includes game developers across all disciplines, including design, production, engineering, art, sound, and quality assurance.” The announcement of the new union followed confirmation from a neutral arbitrator that…

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‘We heard your feedback’: Funcom just reversed course and opened up the Dune: Awakening beta weekend to anyone who preorders the survival MMO

Good news for lovers and sand, spice, and/or worms: Dune: Awakening’s beta weekend, which started today and will run until May 12, is now open to anyone who preordered the survival MMO. It’s also mildly perplexing news because, y’know… why weren’t players who preordered the $50 game on Steam automatically included in the beta weekend…

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The voice of Disco Elysium’s Ancient Reptilian Brian performed the game’s famous karaoke scene live and in costume

In a surprise appearance alongside UK indie band and Disco Elysium composers, Sea Power, voice actor and musician Mikee W. Goodman donned the green jacket and flared trousers of Disco Elysium protagonist Harry Du Bois to belt out a rendition of “The Smallest Church in Saint-Saëns.” The melancholy song is the subject of Disco’s memorable…

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Fallout Season 2 filming just wrapped, so now’s a good time to check in on any New Vegas sickos you know and make sure they’re not getting too worked up

Good news, Goggins-heads: It looks like work is proceeding apace on Fallout season 2. In an Instagram post uploaded yesterday, Ella Purnell uploaded a celebratory selfie with costar and fictional dad Kyle MacLachlan to commemorate the end of filming for Fallout’s second season. If you’re wondering, yes: Walton Goggins made his own announcement, by which…

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As Fortnite gears up for an App Store relaunch, Epic is cranking up its Rewards program to encourage people to use its payment system instead of Apple’s

As Fortnite slowly grinds its way back to iOS devices in the US, Epic Games is offering players a deal: Make purchases in Fortnite—or Rocket League or Fall Guys—using Epic’s payment system and you’ll get back 20% of what you spend in Epic Rewards. That’s a big boost over the usual 5% offering on Epic…

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Co-founder of crypto platform Celsius, which went bust with a billion-dollar hole in its finances, sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for ‘orchestrating one of the biggest frauds in the crypto industry’

Alex Mashinsky, the co-founder of the failed crypto lending platform Celsius, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison (via Wired). Federal Judge John Koeltl handed down the sentence after a long hearing in Manhattan that heard from Mashinsky’s victims as well as the defendant. The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Mashinsky with seven counts…

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Publisher who resurrected lost pirate game Captain Blood says it’s ‘a 3 or 4’ by today’s standards, but that’s half the fun: ‘All its charms, all its flaws, all the vibes are from that era’

Captain Blood‘s trailer looks like it should be buffering in 240p on Mediafire with a Ventrilo window next to it. Captain Blood itself looks like it should live in a generic Blockbuster case on a DVD so abused it makes my Xbox 360 disc drive howl in agony. Among the detritus of Steam’s New &…

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Europa Universalis 5’s unusual, year-long reveal was a lesson Paradox learned from Imperator’s mixed reception: ‘I wanted to do it a little bit earlier, but marketing people tend to get panicky when you start talking’

It was pretty obvious, right from the first dev diary published on February 24, 2024 that Paradox Tinto was working on Europa Universalis 5. The studio had been set up to maintain 2013’s Europa Universalis 4, and was headed by EU director Johan Andersson. Everything it showed us from Project Caesar screamed Europa Universalis 5….

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