Daily Briefing: Wednesday 28th July

Bobby Kotick apologises for "tone-deaf" response to allegations

Speaking in an open letter to staff sent earlier this week, the Activision Blizzard CEO admitted that the company's "initial responses to the issues we face together, and to [employees'] concerns, were, quite frankly, tone-deaf." Kotick's email goes on to state that, regarding female employees who had experienced discrimination or sexual harassment, it is "imperative that we acknowledge all perspectives and experiences and respect the feelings of those who have been mistreated in any way." Kotick also apologises for not providing "the right empathy and understanding."

• As for what's going to be done about the whole situation, Kotick does actually lay down a few plans. He's hiring an external law firm to audit Activision Blizzard's internal policies and procedures, and has pledged "swift action" regarding the investigation and redressing of all existing allegations. The company will be "immediately evaluating managers and leaders" with the aim of terminating any who have "impeded the integrity of our processes." Kotick hopes these plans will achieve "long-lasting change" but only time will tell whether that is actually the case.

Activision Blizzard staff planning a walkout protest following harassment lawsuit

In other Activision Blizzard news, staff will stage a walkout today in protest of the company's "abhorrent and insulting" response to the lawsuit. Activision Blizzard's initial response to the allegations was to dismiss the lawsuit as carrying "distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard's past." This response prompted an open letter response that has since been signed by more than 2,600 current and ex-Activision Blizzard staff, and now current staff are staging a walkout.

• The walkout is part of a larger set of demands sent to a leadership team whom many staff feel have failed to "hold abusers accountable for their actions" and have "damaged our ongoing quest for equality inside and outside of our industry." Other demands include calls for an end to mandatory arbitration clauses in employee contracts and a more enforced diversification of hiring and compensation practices.

Halo Infinite's first playable preview is indeed coming this week, invites on the way

Following a few rumours to the effect earlier in the week, developers 343 Industries confirmed yesterday that invites for Halo Infinite's first round of playable previews are being now being sent to registered Halo Insiders. The technical test, which includes Halo Infinite's 4v4 Bot Arena playlist, will run from Thursday 29th July to Sunday 1st August, and devs will also be hosting a livestream of the featured content today at 2pm PT/10pm BST.

• Registration is still open for anybody who wants to join the Halo Insiders programme, as 343 Industries have been very clear that this is just the first round of technical tests - there will be more "flights" in the run-up to release featuring other Halo Infinite content. Halo Infinite is definitely one of the year's most anticipated games and, while the run-up to release hasn't been entirely smooth, it'll be good to finally get hands-on.

Nintendo shutting down Dr. Mario World later this year

Nintendo announced this week that Dr. Mario World, a mobile adaptation of their venerable puzzle franchise, will shut down on 1st November 2021. The game will be completely unplayable following the closure - even in its singleplayer mode which is a bit of a poor show - and players are no longer able to buy in-game currency as of today.

• Dr. Mario World launched back in July 2019 and actually had a pretty decent time of it - bringing in 2m downloads and over $100K in revenue during the first couple days. These figures are hardly bad, but they still didn't live up to Nintendo's other mobile offerings - Super Mario Run brought in 4.3m downloads on iOS alone during the same period, Fire Emblem Heroes attracted 4.9m downloads, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp 6m. The behemoth Mario Kart Tour, meanwhile, brought in 124m downloads in its first month. So long, Dr. Mario.