Absolutes are (usually) impossible to maintain but are worthy goals. For journalists, my sense has always been that the goal should be to report as much of what they know as possible, and reduce from there--to protect sources, minimize harm, even to not waste readers' time. In the case of the recent Insomniac hack, the judgment calls are tricky

To some, reporting anything from the hack is, if not aiding a crime, encouraging a future one. When attention is a goal of a bad actor, the journalist's role is more complex. As with covering school shooters

FTC's final findings of fact, presented to Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ruled against them, show how the agency tried to address her questions about the Microsoft-Activision deal.

For example... FTC had argued ZeniMax game exclusivity post-MS purchase was harbinger of Activision exclusivity. Just had asked if ZeniMax had a CoD equivalent and later rules that it did not, rending comparison moot

FTC: Close enough. Starfield is huge and was switched exclusive, for example

I'll thread notes about the third day of FTC vs. Microsoft/Activision here.

Jim Ryan's up first, via pre-recorded deposition PlayStation chief Jim Ryan on why he thinks Xbox games do better in the U.S. than rest of world: "...many of their games involve an element of shooting and many of their games involve elements of online multiplayer. Both of which typically are more popular in the U.S."

At a behind-closed-doors presentation to press, Xbox boss Phil Spencer says gaming revenue for the company is double what it was in the 360 era, says Xbox has more players than ever, expecting more than $1 billion in PC gaming revenue this year

(All meant to show Xbox strength) Talks about being "committed" to attempted to purchase of Activision Blizzard. "We're trying to get to solutions" with regulators

LOTS of news coming out Embracer Group tonight:
- Mystery 6-year deal with "several industry partners," involving multiple large games
- Dead Island 2 delay to April 28
- Volition moved into Gearbox
- Investments to slow
- Internal review underway, may lead to spin-off companies "reception of Saints Row did not meet the full expectations ...

"Financially, Saints Row has performed in line with management expectations in the quarter...

"Gearbox...has all the tools, including an experienced management team in the US, to create future success at Volition"

Gotham Knights is disappointing

I've played for 6 hours.

Making a game that's basically Destiny, But In Gotham has potential. Offering repeatable low-level tasks to access major missions could work. But, so far, it's a drag here. Too many checklists of tedious chores.

1/4 I've been intrigued by a design that focuses on nightly patrols. There's some promise in choosing what to do in a night, committing actions that can influence the next night's events

But choices are limited, the consequences vague. Of all things, I yearned for a timer each night

Lots to chew on in Microsoft's emphatic response to UK's Competition and Markets Authority, which recently demonstrated skepticism of MS' $70 billion bid to buy Activision Blizzard (which includes King; don't forget legit mobile powerhouse King!)

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/634e5d3d…

1/?? Much of MS' position boils down to the oddity of its spot in gaming. A nearly $2 trillion company that's consistently in third place in console gaming, trailing smaller rivals Nintendo and Sony.

Is MS a competition-crushing giant or an innovative underdog? MS argues the latter

Longtime Bayonetta voice actor @hellenataylor calls for boycott of Bayonetta 3, slams dev studio Platinum, publisher Nintendo

Says she was offered an "immoral" $4000 to return to role after re-auditioning, getting an initial low offer and contacting Platinum's @PG_kamiya

https://twitter.com/hellenataylor/status/1581290543619112960

B3 game director Yusuke Miyata had recently told @gameinformer: “Various overlapping circumstances made it difficult for Hellena Taylor to reprise her role."

nintendoeverything.com/platinumgames-…

Something that stood out to me when I recently interviewed Phil Spencer was his emphasis on rising player counts, which I think is key to understanding Microsoft’s strategy.

I want to share where that conversation went (warning: this will be a bunch of tweets!) You might say, of course, game companies always boast about this stuff, but this metric seems key to Microsoft, which recently shared that Halo Infinite reached 20 million players, Forza Horizon 5 reached 18m. (remember, that was helped with mixes of Game Pass and free-to-play)

Two cops were fired from the LAPD after they failed to respond to the report of a robbery and drove off to hunt a Snorlax in Pokemon Go.

They appealed (said it wasn't okay for squad car recording of them to be used against them). They lost.

From our newsletter today: The case distressing in terms of the length the cops go here to hide the obvious truth.

courts.ca.gov/opinions/docum…

But it also has excellent footnotes:

Take Two is buying Zynga. Continues Take Two’s buying spree with a purchase of one of the biggest mobile gaming companies in the world.

Epic-Apple ruling. Judge says Epic failed to prove that Apple is a monopolist, but (not surprisingly if you watched the trial) disliked Apple's anti-steering rules and has issued an injunction saying Apple must let game app devs link out to alternate payment systems Reading through the ruling...

"Although Epic Games claims that it would not have a viable way of monetizing Fortnite without being able to sell in-app content, the record shows it monetizes Fortnite in nine other ways"

Just one 1 of the 18 trailers from the PlayStation showcase has more downvotes than upvotes on PlayStation's YouTube channel. (Most got overwhelmingly positive reactions).

I keep looking, and the series' most hardcore online communities straight-up don't see what's improved Remasters can be divisive. People really, really want the new thing.

But Rockstar has been doing itself no favors. Their games have never been close to lazy productions, but what's the promise here? PC-level graphics and snappier character switching?

Nearly 500 current and former Ubisoft workers from 32 studios have signed an open letter in solidarity with Activision Blizzard workers -- and calling out Ubisoft management for its handling of its misconduct scandals over the past year. axios.com/ubisoft-worker… Here's the letter in full. It doesn't just stand with AB workers, doesn't just criticize Ubisoft bosses. It calls for industry-wide action and change, with publishers and developers getting involved.

Tim Sweeney, asked on the stand to define Fortnite: "Fortnite is a virtual entertainment experience. It includes a variety of in-game experiences." No surprise, he's emphasizing it as being more than just a game. Sweeney expects the Epic Game Store to become profitable in 3-4 years.

During my break, I “finished” Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which is to say I got the good ending after 141 hours of Viking adventure. Went from liking it (the prologue in Norway), to being a bit bored (early on in England), to really loving it (the rest). It’s remarkable. 1/6 I know it’s too long for many people. The developers probably should have made more of its regional quest lines optional. I didn’t mind. I played for about two hours a night, for three months, and I was repeatedly amazed by this thing the game does.