Daily Briefing: Wednesday 17th November

Activision Blizzard employees call for Bobby Kotick's resignation

Activision Blizzard employees, working both remotely and in-person at the studio offices, have organised a walkout protest calling for CEO Bobby Kotick's resignation following a damning new report from the Wall Street Journal. The report, which is being widely shared online despite the WSJ's paywall, alleges that Bobby Kotick not only knew the full extent of the sexual harassment and discriminatory behaviour going on at Activision Blizzard, but actively covered it up and failed to disclose vital information to the company's board of directors. Kotick has already announced that he has no intention of stepping down and, for whatever reason (probably money), the board have reaffirmed their confidence in Kotick's leadership.

• The WSJ's report also revealed that it was Kotick himself who drafted Frances Townsend's controversial email dismissing the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing lawsuit as offering "a distorted and untrue picture of our company." Kotick wrote that controversial email himself and had it issued under Townsend's name, later backtracking and calling it "tone-deaf" once it had sparked an employee walkout. We also learned that Jen Oneal resigned her post as Blizzard co-leader once she lost faith in management's ability to turn the culture around. She was also paid less than fellow co-leader Mike Ybarra despite repeated requests for rectification, and generally felt "tokenized, marginalized, and discriminated against" as a gay, Asian-American woman. Super.

343 Industries are already rethinking Halo Infinite's battle pass following complaints

Halo Infinite's F2P multiplayer component has been out in the world for a couple days now and, despite all the game's obvious strengths and appeal, its progression system is proving to be a major sticking point for players across the board. In short, people absolutely hate Halo Infinite's Battle Pass. The internet is awash with criticism from the progression mechanics being too slow, necessitating hours of play to clear even the first few levels, to being too restrictive, in that players can only gain XP from completing specific challenges rather than by just playing the game.

• Thankfully, it looks like developers 343 Industries are already looking into a fix. According to studio community Brian Jarrard, 343 are actively monitoring progression through the Halo Infinite multiplayer beta and are gathering data that will allow them to decide how to improve the overall experience. We don't have any indication just yet of the kinds of changes that 343 might be looking to make, though we can likely expect to see any changes when the rest of the game launches on December 8th, so that'll probably be a chunky download. Halo Infinite's Premium Battle Pass is rather odd thing, selling for $10 during an early gameplay period that 343 Industries are simultaneously calling a beta and Season 1.

Saints Row reboot gets a delay

In yet another case of pandemic-inflicted delays, Deep Silver and Volition this week confirmed that the upcoming Saints Row reboot has been pushed back by around six months. Originally slated to arrive on 25th February, 2022, the action crime sandbox will now launch toward the end of August. Volition's chief creative officer, Jim Boone, announced the delay on Twitter and via an extended writeup on the game's official website, outlining that the team simply misjudged the impact the pandemic would have on Saints Row's development cycle.

• Boone writes that "our priority is to create the best Saints Row game yet and, if we released on the original date, it wouldn’t be up to the standards we’ve set ourselves, and that you’re expecting and deserve" and that the team just need some more time to "do our vision justice." So that's a bit more of a wait for the first mainline Saints Row title since Saints Row 4 in 2013, though it'll all be worth it if the delay ensures the developers are safe and the end product is polished.