In The News
Mike Laidlaw, BioWare’s senior creative director, tweeted Thursday that he is leaving the company “after 14 years.” “Laidlaw first joined BioWare as the lead story developer and writer for Jade Empire, an action role-playing game that launched in 2005,” Venture Beat’s Stephanie Chan reports. “He didn’t share any details on what projects he will be working on next.”
Loot boxes have been a primary target of gamers’ ire as of late, and now EA is attempting to placate Battlefront fans, according to Engadget’s David Lumb. Star Wars Battlefront II’s beta just ended, and “EA carefully explained how they’ll [loot boxes] differ in the full version of the game.”
These differences include the game’s most powerful weapons not being loot box exclusive and crates being able to be earned through “challenges” and not just purchases — among other reasons EA listed to drive the point home that it is not a “pay-to-win” system.
Kerbal Space Program is testing out Valve’s new anti-review bombing system. Kotaku’s Nathan Grayson writes that it “has been bombarded by negative reviews on Steam [due to] A small phrasing change in the game’s Chinese version.” TheDW will let Grayson explain it in more detail, but the gist is that a traditional phrase was altered because someone claimed it was sexist, but now a much larger group of people is angry because it was changed *breathes* and now everyone is fighting with everyone over everything.
Welp, Epic Games is not happy. The company is suing Brandon Broom and Charles Vraspir “for copyright infringement, breach of contract, and other such bits of illegality, all as a result of cheating,” PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk reports. “The suit claims that both Vraspir and Broom are part of AddictedCheats.net, Vraspir a ‘support/help person’ and Broom a ‘moderator and member of the support staff.’”
Discord now has “verified servers” for game developers and publishers, Polygon’s Julia Alexander reports. “These servers will be run completely by community managers and other employees associated with the developers and publishers.”
Those itching to play Skull & Bones should take a look at the interview Gamasutra’s Mathew Kumar did with Ubisoft’s Marlo Flor, Bill Money and Justin Farren. Here’s a snippet: “The fantasy of controlling what was effectively the most powerful weapon on the planet, that’s what we want players to feel when they see a picture of a ship and the big rows of the cannons, I want them to feel like…”
One billion. That’s Magic Leap’s next funding goal, according to GamesIndustry.biz’s Matthew Handrahan. They’re “seeking to raise another $1 billion in new funding through the sale of 37 million shares of series D preferred stock. The sale is detailed in an official document filed with the State of Delaware, which sets a price of $27 per share.”
Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro is promising to keep cats alive after The Good Life missed its fundraising goal on Fig. “On the final day of the campaign, the game is sitting at just 37 percent of its goal,” Polygon’s Allegra Frank reports. “The team plans to continue working on The Good Life. The studio even plans to try crowdfunding again, except on Kickstarter next time.”
FlyQuest has a new PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds team. “The roster played under the name Off Constantly in the Auzom and PUBG Online leagues. It consists of Jonathan ‘Hetro’ Bent, Dylan ‘Comet’ Boden, Joseph ‘SomeThang’ White, and Chris ‘Blue’ Cofeld,” Dot Esports’ Scott Duwe reports.