Here come the VG Crisis Tracker
This crisis tracker is based on two previous works: one from Rami Ismail (is2020over.com) and a research I have started on the history of controversies within the video game industry. As I observe that crisis are more and more frequent in the game industry, I need to keep on tracking them in order to analyse how they are embedded in longer and deeper controversies. If one crisis is missing, feel free to contact me on Twitter. I already would like to thank CCFields as she has helped me keeping track with all the events that are happening in the video game industry. ■
@EstebanGrine, 2021.
January
- 25th : The creative director of Scavengers studio is accused of harrassment and toxic behaviours, contrasting with the inclusive discourse of its new game: « Season ».
- 27th : GameStop Market shares explose because Reddit users are gaming the Wall Street system
February
- 2nd : Gamers became angry because BioWare decided to express their artistic vision over problematic butt shots in the Remasters of Mass Effect.
- 7th : Ubisoft has been criticized as half of the cosmetic armors in AC Valhalla are available through microtransactions.
- 9th : CDProjekt declared on twitter that the company has ironically been under cyber attack. The loss of data may trigger new controversies in the future.
- 11th : 6 days in Fallujah, a game about war crimes comitted by the United-States of America, is announce to be released in 2021.
March
- 11th : FIFA 21 rocked by « EAGate » scandal after company employee is alleged to have sold coveted Ultimate Team cards for thousands of pounds
- 12th : Game Artists Not Happy That Developer Is Selling Their Nearly Decade-Old Work As NFTs
- 16th : Riot Games investigation conducted by Riot Games says there’s ‘no evidence’ CEO harassed female employee
- 19th : A debate between game creators and non-creators and non-informed players rose as Ubisoft « reused » a skin as a reward in AC Valhalla.
- 25th : following the controversy concerning Pierre Menès for sexual harrassment, EA stopped working with the journalist.
- 30th : Activision Blizzard Hires Bush-Era Torture Apologist As Chief Compliance Officer
April
- 1st : Match-fixing and other scams related to esport explode so much in Australia (and now in the USA) That the Esport Integrity Commission (ESIC) now works with national forces like FBI and RIOT started investigating Valorant’s players.
- https://kotaku.com/counter-strike-match-fixing-is-so-bad-the-fbi-is-gettin-1846596639
- https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/01/australians-just-love-being-banned-for-betting-on-their-csgo-matches/
- https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/08/six-australians-arrested-over-counter-strike-match-fixing/
- https://www.dailyesports.gg/esic-cooperates-with-fbi-in-north-american-match-fixing-investigations/
- https://dotesports.com/news/riot-has-reportedly-started-investigating-valorant-players-for-csgo-match-fixing
- https://twitter.com/ESIC_Official/status/1352540581667323912
- 3rd : Twitch bans La Revision, world’s largest Demo Party which is part to Finland’s national UNESCO of digital patrimoine.
- 6th : French Newspaper Libération tackles deceptive teaching methods and crunch culture in french game design schools.
- 6th : Mihoyo is being criticized over colorism, racist depictions of indigenous cultures and objectification of minors.
- 8th : Following an ongoing petition against the game Six Days In Fallujah, The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called on platform holders to not distributing the game.
- https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-04-08-muslim-advocacy-group-calls-on-platform-holders-to-ban-six-days-in-fallujah
- https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2021/4/8/us-muslim-rights-group-says-drop-arab-murder-game
- https://www.change.org/p/united-nations-stop-atomic-games-and-victura-from-normalizing-the-mass-murder-of-iraqis
- 15th : When losing a job becomes a deportation risk, game studio layoffs mean a hellish race against the clock for immigrant developers
- 26th : Leaked Documents Show EA Really Wants You To Buy FIFA Loot Boxes
- 30th : With Toy For Bob’s Layoff, Every Single Activision Studio Works On Call Of Duty
May
- 22th : companies are attacked for faking their political position about LGBT and queer people’s rights.
- 20th : #HoldUbisoftAccountable is trending a year after #MeToo within the compagny.
- 16th : IGN Takes Down Article And Tweet Sharing Palestinian Aid Groups.
- 12th : Ubisoft insists its free-to-play push ‘does not mean’ less premium games
- 10th : CAPCOM Accused of Plagiarism for Resident Evil Village Monster Design
- 9th : Activision cuts ties with voice actor of Ghost, Jeff Leach, after sexist comments resurface
- 1st : Bobby Kotick recieves 150 millions as a compensation package.
June
- 2nd : ‘Our story is political,’ Far Cry 6 narrative director says
- 2nd : Minecraft speedrunner Dream admits to accidentally cheating in record-setting run
- 4th : Activision Hires Yet Another Former Republican Big Wig
- 11th : Scavengers reinstates co-founders after investigation into harassment and toxicity
- 11th : Solidaires Informatique calls for testimonies about harrassment at Ubisoft
- 11th : Cloud gaming service « Shadow » has been using its servers in order to mine ethereum since last year. Investigations reveal that few millions has been earned.
- 16th : Fortnite, Worth Billions, Offering Paltry Prize Money For Design Contest
- 21th : Activision Shareholders Vote To Keep Paying CEO Bobby Kotick A Shit-Ton Of Money
- 22th : What Is Blue Box? A Vast Conspiracy Grips the Video Game World. Gamers want to believe a new horror title from an obscure Dutch studio is a front for the next Silent Hill game.
- 23th : A recent press event for Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 2 highlighted just how casual American culture is about violence towards Arab people.
- 24th : Ubisoft Removes then reupload ‘Goldeneye’ Far Cry 5 Maps Fan Spent Three Years Making.
- 30th : How Roblox Became a Playground for Virtual Fascists. Thousands of players flocked to a digital world filled with draconian rules, slavery, and anti-Semitism—and tested how far “just a game” can go.
- 30th : Indies criticize Sony over discount policies, poor communication, more
July
- 7th : Konami cancels its contract with footballer Antoine Griezmann for former racist comments
- 11th : Ubisoft Report States It’s At A ‘High’ Risk Of Losing Talent Due To Toxic Work Culture
- 13th : League of Legends Team Pulls Video of Players’ Jobs Being Threatened
- 14th : LeStream, a french webTV on Twitch, was sponsored by the french army
- 15th : Hackers begin leaking stolen data after Vice refuses to help them blackmail EA
- 16th : Military Game Fan Leaks Classified Docs To Win Forum Argument
- 17th : French union files collective lawsuit against Ubisoft. Solidaires Informatique alleges publisher tolerated sexual harassment, HR employees covered for abusers.
- 19th : IGDA issues call to action on blockchain. Organization says developers should stop using NFTs for singular ecosystems and avoid proof-of-work blockchain entirely
- 21th : The Messy, Stalled Reckoning At An Assassin’s Creed Co-Developer. Ubisoft Singapore devs report sexual harassment, toxic managers, and bad pay
- 21th : Activision Blizzard Sued By California Over Widespread Harassment Of Women
- 22th : Blizzard Botched Warcraft III Remake After Internal Fights, Pressure Over Costs. Under former co-founder and CEO, Blizzard games had endless development timelines to get it right. But new Activision approach focuses on financials.
- 22th : Ubisoft Singapore employees face a ‘French ceiling,’ report says
- 22th : World of Warcraft players are staging in-game protests against Activision Blizzard
- 23th : Popular Fortnite mapper suspended then reinstated over homophobic comments
- 23th : PUBG Mobile’s latest skin being renamed to remove reference to Hypnospace Outlaw
- 26th : Activision Blizzard’s Social Media Empire Has Been Silent For Days Now
- 26th : Activision Blizzard Staff Sign Petition Supporting Labor Lawsuit
- 26th : New Unreal Engine Renders Even More Realistic Grizzled White Men
- 27th : Activision CEO Apologizes After Employees Threaten to Walk Out
- 28th : Inside Blizzard Developers’ Infamous Bill ‘Cosby Suite’
- 29th : Eidos/SquareEnix criticized for using a platform for whistlebloiwing which also is union-busting firm (also used by Amazon)
- 29th : Valve responds to antitrust lawsuit, defends Steam’s 30% cut
- 30th : The same government agency that’s suing Activision Blizzard has an ongoing lawsuit with Riot Games
- 30th : Activision IT Worker Secretly Filmed Colleagues in Office Bathroom
- 30th : Blizzard Recruiters Asked Hacker If She ‘Liked Being Penetrated’ at Job Fair
- 30th : Activision Blizzard Being Investigated by Shareholders, NYT Reports on More Allegations
- 30th : Facebook blocks Road 96 ad « for being political »
- 30th : The Metaverse Has Always Been a Dystopian Idea
- 30th : Simon Darveau reinstated at Scavengers Studio
- 31th : Ubisoft staff claim publisher has ‘sidelined’ their demands and ‘continues to protect known offenders’
- 31th : Ubisoft And Bungie Suing Popular Cheat Seller. The companies behind Destiny and Rainbow Six want to shutdown the Ring-1 cheat makers completely.
- https://kotaku.com/ubisoft-and-bungie-suing-popular-cheat-seller-ring-1-1847400740
August
- 1st : Man Shocked Through Video Game Controller After Lighting Strike
- 2nd : What Really Happened At That BlizzCon Panel, According To The Woman In The Video
- 3rd : Activision Blizzard Is Losing Overwatch Sponsors After Lawsuit
- 3rd : Blizzard’s head of HR gone, too. The departure happened in the wake of employees accusing the HR department of covering up abuses.
- 3rd : Take-Two claims it’s ‘never tolerated harassment or discrimination’… But we know it happened there
- 3rd : T-Mobile branding removed from Overwatch and Call of Duty League websites
- 4th : Steve Gaynor steps down from creative manager at Fullbright but remains as a writer.
- https://www.polygon.com/22610490/fullbright-steve-gaynor-controversy-stepped-down-open-roads
- https://twitter.com/OpenRoadsGame/status/1423071532952080386?s=20
- 4th : Activision Blizzard’s Latest Investor Call Was An Especially Ghoulish Affair
- 6th : Sur la plateforme Twitch, une chaîne prisée des jeunes produit du sexisme en direct
- 8th : Back 4 Blood Beta Players Think They Hear Zombies Yelling The N-Word
- https://kotaku.com/back-4-blood-beta-players-think-they-hear-zombies-yelli-1847443163
- 12th : Hacker steals over $600M in cryptocurrency, returns over half of it
- 12th : Activision Blizzard’s QA Department Seems Like A Hellhole
- 17th : Singapore labor rights agency investigating Ubisoft. TAFEP reportedly looking into allegations of workplace harassment, unfair treatment at Skull and Bones studio.
- 17th : Roblox is struggling to moderate re-creations of mass shootings.
- 19th : People Make Games releases a video about how Roblox is exploiting young game developers.
- 24th : Accusations Of Foul Play Surface Around Record-Breaking Graded NES Game Auctions
- 25th : Unity Workers Question Company Ethics As It Expands From Video Games to War
- 25th : California Accuses Activision Blizzard Of Shredding Abuse Evidence
- https://kotaku.com/california-accuses-activision-blizzard-of-shredding-abu-1847550659
- https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/24/22640302/california-activision-blizzard-lawsuit-update-withholding-info-expanded-victims
- https://www.axios.com/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-temporary-workers-4a8fa284-a003-4c56-819c-43c7c2d3f3ca.html
- 25th : Streamer Dr Disrespect Says He’s ‘Suing The Fuck’ Out Of Twitch.