HHW Gaming Archives

Former ‘Call of Duty’ GM Johanna Faries Appointed President of Blizzard Entertainment

January 30, 2024

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Source: Jon Kopaloff / Getty / Johanna Faries
Blizzard Entertainment has a new president, Johanna Faries.
Effective February 5, Johanna Faries will succeed Mike Ybarra, who left the company last week after news of Xbox and Activision laying off 1,900 employees.
Fairies has been a part of the Blizzard family since 2018, first as commissioner of Call of Duty esports before being promoted to general manager of Call of Duty.

Before bringing her talents to the video game space, Faries was the club business development vice president for 11 years at the NFL.
In her announcement, Faries spoke on becoming President while acknowledging the massive layoffs at the company.
“I want to let you know immediately that it is an honor to join you next week in this new capacity. I do so humbly and in awe of all that Blizzard has stood for and delivered to the world for over thirty years. Today also brings some mixed emotions,” Faries said.
“The loss of talented teammates in recent days is hard to hold side-by-side with the immense excitement I feel about joining Blizzard – and building on the momentum you’ve created for Blizzard’s next chapter.”
She continued, “I am committed to doing everything I can to help Blizzard thrive, with care and consideration for you and for our games, each unique and special in their own right.”
Power Moves For Women of Color In The Video Games Space
Fairies is the latest woman of color to land a high-ranking video game industry position. In a shift of its leadership structure, Xbox promoted Sarah Bond to President.
In an exclusive interview with HHW Gaming’s Bernard “Beanz” Smalls, Faries discussed the importance of seeing someone like her in prominent roles in the gaming industry.
It’s an honor in every way to be able to occupy this chair and this role. I know that it represents a lot for a lot of different people, beyond just being a business executive. People who have the ambition to be a part of great franchises and also be a part of tech and gaming, generally speaking, but also for women and minorities and underrepresented communities who are still coming up the ranks within our industry in particular.
Congrats to Johanna Faries. We’re looking forward to seeing what her leadership brings to Blizzard.

Next State of Play Presentation Confirmed, Here’s What To Expect

djfrosty

January 29, 2024

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Source: PlayStation / State of Play
Xbox hit us with the first Developer_Direct of the new year, and now it is PlayStation’s turn to show us what to expect in 2024 for the PS5.

After initially leaking, PlayStation confirmed a State of Play broadcast is on the way, and we can expect “extended looks” at Stellar Blade and Rise of The Ronin.

Per the PlayStation Blog, the broadcast will be 40 minutes long and cover 15+ games during the presentation, including the ones mentioned above.
Before PlayStation officially announced the State of Play, a post on X, formerly Twitter, from gaming insider @Shpeshal_Nick cryptically revealed what games we could expect to see during the broadcast.
“On the 31st (roughly), Ronins will Rise, we’ll die stranded, have a rebirth and Kojima will fulfil his dream. Sonic will live in the shadow of his generation while the hills will remain silent until the dawn when you’ll need to catch the metro. Just don’t be a Judas about it,” the tweet read.
Thanks to X user Rand_al_Thor_19, we know what games we could expect, and they are:

Rise of the Ronin
Death Stranding 2
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Sonic Generations Remaster
Silent Hill 2
New Metro game
Judas

According to another X user, @Kurakasis, the new Metro game will be a VR title.
“I can reveal that a new Metro game, which is going to be announced very soon, is a VR game titled METRO AWAKENING,” the post on X read.

Sounds good to us. Keep it locked on HHW Gaming as we will recap what was revealed during the State of Play going down on Wednesday, Jan 31, 5 pm ET, 2 pm PT.

1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox Employees Laid Off By Microsoft, X Reacts

djfrosty

January 25, 2024

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Source: Microsoft / Xbox /Activision Blizzard
New year, more layoffs in the video game industry, sadly.
Can we hit the reset button?
The video game industry continues to be hit with layoffs despite companies seeing massive amounts of profit and games selling like hotcakes.
Microsoft is the latest company to take an axe to its workforce, laying off 1,900 employees from Activision Blizzard and Xbox. The Verge reports that most of the layoffs will affect roles at Activision Blizzard, and these cuts will also impact some employees at Xbox and ZeniMax.
The 1,900 layoffs will account for 8% of Microsoft’s gaming division’s 22,000 employees.
The website obtained an internal memo from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirming the horrible news.
Per The Verge:
It’s been a little over three months since the Activision, Blizzard, and King teams joined Microsoft. As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business. Together, we’ve set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we’re all aligned on the best opportunities for growth.
As part of this process, we have made the painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce by approximately 1900 roles out of the 22,000 people on our team. The Gaming Leadership Team and I are committed to navigating this process as thoughtfully as possible.
The people who are directly impacted by these reductions have all played an important part in the success of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and the Xbox teams, and they should be proud of everything they’ve accomplished here. We are grateful for all of the creativity, passion and dedication they have brought to our games, our players and our colleagues. We will provide our full support to those who are impacted during the transition, including severance benefits informed by local employment laws. Those whose roles will be impacted will be notified, and we ask that you please treat your departing colleagues with the respect and compassion that is consistent with our values.
Looking ahead, we’ll continue to invest in areas that will grow our business and support our strategy of bringing more games to more players around the world. Although this is a difficult moment for our team, I’m as confident as ever in your ability to create and nurture the games, stories and worlds that bring players together.
Phil
Blizzard president Mike Ybarra Is Also Bouncing
Among the 1,900 will also be Blizzard president Mike Ybarra, who did his best impression of the Spongebob “might imma head out” meme.
“As many of you know, Mike previously spent more than 20 years at Microsoft. Now that he has seen the acquisition through as Blizzard’s president, he has decided to leave the company,” Microsoft’s game content and studios president, Matt Booty, said in an internal memo.
Also leaving is Allen Adham, Blizzard’s chief design officer.
Booty adds, “As one of Blizzard’s cofounders, Allen has had a broad impact on all of Blizzard’s games. His influence will be felt for years to come, both directly and indirectly, as Allen plans to continue mentoring young designers across the industry.”

The Verge has also reported that a game Blizzard has been working on for over six years has also been canceled. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier says the name of the game was Odyssey.

Schreier notes that Activision Blizzard employees are reaching out to him to learn their fate and waiting to see if they are among the 1,900.

Social Media Reactions To The Layoffs
As expected, the news of the layoffs is not landing well on X, formerly Twitter, with reactions pouring in from those involved in the gaming industry.
Kinda Funny’s Andy Cortez perfectly summed up in one post on X how these layoffs can affect the future of the video game industry.
“You’re a student in game dev school. You’re reading about Microsoft laying off 1,900 people after buying Activision Blizzard. You just read about more Embracer layoffs from yesterday. Nearly 6,000 games industry workers are jobless so far this year. It is still January,” Cortez said.

The frightening trend, which saw an estimated 10,500 game industry workers in 2023, is currently on pace to match or smash that number. Video Games Chronicle reports over 5,000 workers will lose their jobs in 2024.
Damn.
You can see more reactions to Microsoft layoffs in the gallery below.

1. Unbelievable

2. Great point

7. Well damn

The Pokémon Company Is Putting On Its Detective Pikachu Hat & Investigating ‘Palword’

djfrosty

January 25, 2024

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Source: CHRIS DELMAS / Getty / Palworld
The Pokémon Company has seen enough and is looking into the viral game Palworld.
2023 ended with a huge gaming scam with The Day Before. Could we be on the verge of seeing a popular video game being exposed for stealing early in 2024?
Since the arrival of Palworld and its meteoric rise, many have been keeping their eyes peeled and ears opened, wondering if The Pokémon Company would have anything to say about the obvious Pokémon-“inspired” survival game.
Thursday night, The Pokémon Company broke their silence on the matter. In a statement, the game studio says it will investigate Palworld and “take appropriate measures” if it finds anything that looks like the game infringes on its intellectual property.

Since launching in early access on Friday, Jan. 19, numerous claims of plagiarism have been lobbied at the game, specifically regarding the design of the Pals, the creatures players can capture, collect, and battle.
While the game is clearly a riff or parody on Pokémon, other gameplay designs like crafting, arming your characters, and Pals with guns, as well as base-building, put the game in the same breath as other survival titles like Valheim and Ark.
Still, that didn’t stop loyal fans of Pokémon from contacting The Pokémon Company. Like loss prevention at your favorite clothing store that allows thieves to steal so they can build a case, they are watching and seemingly letting Palworld do the same.
The statement reads in full:
We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024. We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon. We will continue to cherish and nurture each and every Pokémon and its world, and work to bring the world together through Pokémon in the future.
Nintendo has already shut down a Pokémon mod introduced into the PC version of the game, and the creator of the mod announced that the company notorious for coming after people for “abusing” its intellectual property did hit him up.

Speaking with Stephen Totilo of Game File, former head of The Pokémon Company’s legal team from 2008 to 2020, Don McGowan, shared his thoughts on Palworld, saying, “This looks like the usual ripoff nonsense that I would see a thousand times a year when I was Chief Legal Officer of Pokémon,” he said. “I’m just surprised it got this far.”
Palworld Is DOING NUMBERS
Despite all that, Palworld is doing insane numbers that titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 have done, but just in a matter of days.
On its official account, the game celebrated the milestone of selling over 8 million copies in less than six days, and that could be even more thanks to all the hoopla surrounding the game.
The game is also available on Xbox Game Pass, and we have no clue how many subscribers are playing it there, and that could also be in the millions.

We want to see how this plays out and if The Pokémon Company’s investigation exposes some bad faith acting on Palworld’s developer Pocketpair’s part.
Until then, the video game streets are talking. You can see those reactions below.

3. Howling

5. So unserious, lol

Latest Trailer For ‘Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth’ Teases Epic Showdown With Sephiroth & Other Major Story Changes

djfrosty

January 16, 2024

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Source: Square Enix / Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
We already knew Final Fantasy VII Remake was not just a rehash of the original game with a fresh coat of next-gen paint but a complete reimagining of what many consider the greatest RPG ever made. When Rebirth arrives, you can expect the same and then some.
A new trailer for Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is here to excite us for a game we already can’t wait to play. The two-disc JRPG is upon us, and it will remix the beats from the original game that were engrained in our brains and, at the same, add some new twists to the story.
The usual suspects like Cloud Strife, Aerith, Cid, Red XIII, Barrett, Tifa, Cait Sith, plus Yuffie and Vincent are all back and are teaming up to save the world from Sephiroth.
In the original game, Yuffie and Vincent were optional characters, but in Rebirth, they will be a part of the primary team. The new trailer teases the big showdown with the legendary soldier turned wannabe destroyer of humanity.
It also teases possible changes to the original, like possibly confirming that Zack survived the epic battle and his being essential to Rebirth’s story.
Will There Be A Major Death In Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth?
Also, Aerith could be alive this time (spoiler alert); she died in the US version of the original game, much to players’ chagrin.
But, we still could be getting a significant death, and many believe it will be fan favorite Tifa who bites the dust this time around because of particular clips possibly showing her dying.
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Again, we don’t know if this is the case, but we know producer Yoshinori Kitase is not afraid to have us clutch our pearls and be in our feels while playing his games.
By heading here, you can peep our interview with Kitase ahead of Final Fantasy VII Remake.
Hit the gallery below for more screenshots from Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, which arrives exclusively on PlayStation 5 on Feb. 26.

1. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth