Daily Briefing: Thursday 5th August

Activision Blizzard's CCO deletes Twitter following criticism of inflammatory post

In the midst of all the turmoil, toxicity, truth, and upheaval of the ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit Frances Townsend - who has served as Activision Blizzard's Executive Vice President for Corporate Affairs, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer since March 2021 - decided it was the perfect time to share an article on "the problem with whistleblowing" to Twitter.

• The post drew fierce criticism online, which is hardly a surprise given the content and timing of the post. What was a surprise, however, was that Townsend proceeded to block anyone who was even slightly critical of her - including current Activision Blizzard employees who were literally blocked by their colleague and boss. This prompted more backlash, and Townsend has since deactivated her account entirely. Can't say she'll be missed.

Embracer Group just went on another shopping spree

Embracer Group flexed their seemingly bottomless pockets again this week, announcing eight (!) new additions to their portfolio. 3D Realms (Duke Nukem), Slipgate Ironworks (Rise of the Triad, Kingpin Reloaded), Ghost Ship Games (Deep Rock Galactic), Digixart (Lost in Harmony, 11-11 Memories Retold), Crazy Labs (Super Stylist), and Easy Trigger (Huntdown) are now members of the Embracer family. They're joined by Force Field, a Dutch VR game developer who did a lot of work with Oculus studios, and Grimfrost, an e-commerce specialist and leading brand in Viking merchandise.

• The cost of these acquisitions totals $313m, with an official press release from Embracer Group outlining that they expect their new purchases to generate between $232m and $348m in sales during the fiscal year ending March 2023. These are some smart purchases - not least because now Grimforst can sell some sweet Valheim merch. This latest round of acquisitions means that Embracer Group now own Gearbox and 3D Realms, which must surely pave the way for a Duke Nukem comeback. Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors also confirmed that the firm "a sizeable net cash position" and are actively seeking additional acquisitions. Will Embracer ever be done embracing?

Amazon's New World has been delayed...again

This marks the fourth time that Amazon Game Studios have delayed the upcoming MMO. It was originally slated to release last May before being pushed to August, then to early 2021, then to August again. This latest delay means the game's release date is now September 28th.

• In a statement officially confirming the delay, the New World team outlined that they will be using the extra time to incorporate feedback from the game's recent closed beta period. Early impressions of the game seemed solid with peaks of 201K concurrent players on Steam and preorders driving the game to the top of Steam's best-sellers chart. Amazon also confirmed that over 25m hours were played during the beta, so that should mean plenty of feedback. The team will also be focusing on squashing bugs, improving stability, and generally polishing the game ahead of release.

Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is getting a standalone launch with a few bonuses

Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is the multiplayer component to Sucker Punch's 2020 love letter to feudal Japan, and will be available as a standalone product on September 3rd - two weeks after the Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut releases on PS4 and PS5. Legends will be available on both generations of PlayStation consoles for around $20, with an official blog post confirming that the standalone version is "the same Legends content accessible by owners of Ghost of Tsushima."

• This clarification is important as it dispels the idea that the standalone version of Legends is a sort of "lite" release compared to the version packaged with the main game. The only exception is that the standalone version won't have any of the cosmetic items that needed unlocked in the base game - which makes sense. The release will coincide with the introduction of Legends' new Rivals mode - in which two teams of two players compete to see who can defeat the most enemies. There will also be a new Gear Mastery system to raise the current gear level cap.