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Daily Briefing: Tuesday 28th September
🕑 Added 2021-09-28 14:01:02 +0000 UTCActivision Blizzard agree $18m settlement with employment commission
Earlier this week, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a complaint against Activision Blizzard. The filing, the culmination of a three-year investigation into the company, alleged that Activision Blizzard subjected employees to sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. The EEOC notified Activision Blizzard of their findings back in June and last week it emerged that the two parties were in advanced settlement talks.
- The terms of the settlement, which Activision Blizzard have almost proudly published on the investor relations website, outline that the company will set up an $18m employee restitution and compensation fund. Any money which isn't used for claimants will be split between non-profit organisations supporting women in tech and games, and further investment in inclusivity and diversity measures at Activision Blizzard. The company also must engage a neutral third-party consultant to ensure compliance, and an internal equal employment opportunities coordinator to link in with them.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits could release on more platforms once the devs have had a wee lie down
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is out in the wild now and the game has been going down pretty well with players and critics alike. It's even a bit of a favourite here in the Bellular office for its wonderful blend of polish, charm, and just straightforward fun. That's why it's a bit of shame that it's exclusive on console and PC. Sony have it as a PlayStation console exclusive while the Epic Games Store nabbed it for the PC audience. But, with the game being as appealing and (hopefully) successful as it is, that could change soon enough.
- Speaking in a recent, pre-launch interview with SegmentNext, Ember Labs co-founder and COO Josh Grier confirmed that the studio haven't ruled out releasing the game on more platforms in future, it just may take a while. Grier said "we are currently focused on our launches for PlayStation and Epic Games Store, which are timed exclusives. We will look into other platform releases after launch and a rest." The rest is the important part, because it's probably very difficult to immediately look beyond a major platform launch. Kena: Bridge of Spirits really does seem like the perfect Xbox Game Pass game though, doesn't it?
The PS5 is officially the UK's fastest-selling console ever
That's according to a new report from GamesIndustry.biz that confirmed Sony passed the impressive milestone back in August. That's just 39 weeks after its UK launch, and three whole weeks faster than what the PS4 managed. It's a pretty impressive feat considering the PS5 appears to have never been in stock anywhere, though GI.biz does note that a slight uptick in stock in July really boosted the overall total.
- Console sales are generally up across the board, actually. Gi.biz say that over 151K consoles were sold during the month of August which pushed the overall year total to in and around 1.4m. This figure is a third higher than last year, and the PS5 came in top of the league ahead of the Nintendo Switch and the Xbox Series X|S. The highest selling game of August was, as always, Grand Theft Auto V. So, the more things change the more they stay the same.
