Daily Briefing: Monday 13th December

Bungie apologise for studio culture

The apology comes following a new report from IGN in which over two dozen current and former employees banded together to discuss and criticise the studio's toxic culture. Collectively, the employee testimonies paint a picture of a studio that is now moving forward after tolerating an openly toxic environment for many years. The report itself is very interesting and primarily focuses on Bungie's narrative department which was infamous for crunch, burnout, inadequate funding, and lacking employee support.

• The story gained a great amount of traction once it  started being shared about online by Bungie staff. This eventually prompted a statement from Bungie CEO Pete Parsons who, writing in a new post on the official Bungie website, acknowledged the report and apologised for the "pain" that employees have experienced over the years. Parsons went on to say "I am not here to refute or to challenge the experiences we're seeing shared today by people who have graced our studio with their time and talent. Our actions or, in some cases, inactions, caused these people pain. I apologize personally and on behalf of everyone at Bungie who I know feels a deep sense of empathy and sadness reading through these accounts."

Ubisoft just renewed the Splinter Cell trademark

We heard a wee while back that Ubisoft are finally planning a return to the mainline Splinter Cell series after several years away, and those reports just got a little more credible as Ubisoft have now renewed the series' trademark. The last Splinter Cell trademark was filed back in 2017 but this more recent one slightly changes the types of products the series is designed for. The changes are fairly minimal, though they do suggest an intent to actually do something with the trademark this time around.

• All this follows on from a VGC from earlier on in the year which claimed that Ubisoft had greenlit what will be its first mainline Splinter Cell title in ten years. The usual sources familiar with the matter reportedly told the outlet that the new instalment had been put into production as a means of winning back the legions of fans who were put off by the series' recent outings being confined to mobile and VR devices. VGC's report did emphasise that the game was still early in production but this is Ubisoft we're talking about so it could release in May for all we know.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla's next expansion could launch in March

Sticking with Ubisoft for now, rumour has it that Assassin's Creed Valhalla's next expansion could be dropping in March 2022. The expansion, which was seemingly leaked via a Chinese web store, could be  titled Dawn of Ragnarök and take place within the Nine Realms of Norse Cosmology. According to a (fairly ropey) translation of the listing's description, “Dawn of Ragnarök is the most ambitious expansion pack in the history of this series. Aivor [sp.] must personally experience the fate of Odin, the war of the Norse and the destiny of the god of wisdom."

• We said "reportedly" a lot there but the sheer amount of leaked images currently knocking around Reddit make Dawn of Ragnarök feel like a sure thing. Ubisoft previously announced that Assassin's Creed Valhalla was one of their most profitable games ever and, as such, they would be following up on that success with more expansion and content support, plus a whole lot of Dawn of Ragnarök details were recently datamined to reveal a whole new range of abilities and weapons. Makes you wonder how Ubisoft will ever transition over to the next mainline Assassin's Creed title, doesn't it?