Nintendo has changed it's tournament community rules to exclude gamers with accessibility requirements, and more stories today on Thursday 26th October 2023.

INDUSTRY

Nintendo’s new tournament controller rules are ‘a huge step back for accessibility’, it’s claimed | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)

Nintendo is shaking up its Community Tournament Guidelines to lock down issues it has with the current protocols, but it has had an unintended consequence to a large sub-section of the gaming community.

New rules added to tournaments with Nintendo games are a 200-participant cap on events, banning the sale of goods, banning third-party compensation after sponsorship and players can no longer use third-party controllers.

It's this last stipulation that has the accessibility community in uproar. You might be aware the Nintendo Switch joycons aren't the easiest controllers to handle - this is significant for players with accessibility needs and without third-party modifications, this will exclude them from competition.

Arevya on Twitter has spoken out strongly about this change to advocate for the accessibility community in games.

I'm sure we all understand, and aren't surprised, that Nintendo are pushing for their own products to be the only valid tourney standards but inclusion is an extremely important aspect of games and community today. They may not see it as such, but hopefully there's a change coming to enable accessibility in community tournaments soon.

Nintendo details more aggressive social media guidelines | GamesIndustry.biz

But the Nintendo news doesn't stop there! They've also changed their social media guidelines. This shift means that they will be able to target unauthorised content with DMCA takedowns.

Unauthorised now means "[Content that] features unauthorised game consoles and/or software not licensed by Nintendo or features video, images, sound sources, etc. that cannot be used in regular gameplay, extracted through game software via data mining and other methods".

So they want to come after emulators, mods and other content displaying Nintendo IP. Like they needed a bigger legal team anyway…

Here's everything featured in the Xbox Partner Preview showcase | Eurogamer.net

The Xbox Partner Preview aired yesterday, and here's a quick rundown of what we saw.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a side-release from the popular series, and seems to be like Animal Crossing.

Futurlab, developer of Powerwash Simulator, has announced Iakro: Will Not Die - a staisfying flow-state rogue-lite action title.

Developer The Chinese Room announced "Still Wakes the Deep": a spooky first-person horror title set on a 70s North Sea oil rig.

RoboCop: Rogue City saw some fresh gameplay before its release on the 2nd November.

Ark: Survival Ascended is the remake of its predecessor, Survival Evolved and it's currently in Steam Early Access.

Honorable mentions also include The Finals, Manor Lords, Spirit of the North 2, Dungeons of Hinterberg and, of course, Alan Wake 2.

For trailers and more, jump into the show notes.

GTA 6 age listing is fake, launch date a mystery, ratings board says | PCGamesN

The Australian Classifications Board makes the news again, but this time it wasn't their fault....

INDUSTRY

Nintendo Accounts will ‘help ease the transition’ to Switch’s successor, says platform holder | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)

Nintendo is back in the headlines again after Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser reiterated the importance of Nintendo accounts to ease the transition between console hardware - still teasing the existence of the upcoming "Switch 2".

In several reports over the last few months, the "Switch 2" so-called has been rumoured to release in the second half of 2024. Video Games Chronicle claims to have sources on this, but Bowser has confirmed nothing so far.

Stories back in July mentioned that there were Switch 2 development kits sent to key partners, and in August a showcase behind closed doors at Gamescom, though these all still remain unconfirmed. There have also been leaked reports of GPU files for the new hardware that indicate development requirements for the new console.

The ransomware group that hacked Capcom has been taken down by international police | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)

According to Europol, the criminal group responsible for the Capcom data breach in 2020 has been "taken down" and a key member arrested.

Ragnar Locker has been targeting critical infrastructure globally but has had its ransomware disassembled and is rangling up all members across the planet.

Originally targeting Capcom, they reportedly stole 1TB of data and demanded $11 million in bitcoin as ransom. The hack is also reported to have affected business and personal data of up to 390,000 people.

Sony donates $2m to support Israel and Gaza aid | Eurogamer.net

In light of the conflict in Gaza and Israel, games companies have sent donations to humanitarian causes to show their support. Innersloth, developer of Among Us, has donated to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, and Sony has donated $2 million dollars to Japanese Red Cross and UNICEF.

Xbox's latest third-party digital showcase airs this Wednesday | Eurogamer.net

Xbox will air its latest third-party digital showcase on Wednesday 25th October in the Xbox Partner Preview. Adequately timed, we will be shown DLCs, additions and new trailers for games in the pipeline, including Alan Wake 2.

There will also be info on what is coming to GamePass, though it should be noted that last week we reported there being no Activision Blizzard King additions to come on GamePass this year.

The Partner Showcase shouldn't be any longer than 20 mins and is streamed on Twitch and YouTube.

Roblox tells most employees to return to the office part-time or take a severance package | Eurogamer.net

Roblox has dropped the remote work hammer on its employees and said that they must return to the office for work three days a week or take a severance package.

CEO David Baszucki said in an open letter that employees affected by the announcement have three months to decide if want to relocate for the new office work protocol or they will  no longer be working for Roblox.

The justification is the lack of social contact for junior staff, and that they are...

Industry News:

Bandcamp dismisses 50% of its staff amid Epic Games mass layoffs | GamesIndustry.biz

Half of the workforce in Bandcamp is affected by a mass of layoffs by parent company Epic Games.

Bandcamp was acquired in March last year, but in September this year Epic announced that they would be laying off 16% of the total workforce in the company.

Epic Games is also finalising the sale of Bandcamp to Songtradr, announced at the same time as the layoffs. Songtradr has said that Bandcamp became too bloated to manage and needed to "be adjusted".

Kotaku has reported that dismissed employees will receive 6 months severance while the Bandcamp United union is still negotiating better terms.

Analyst expects Sony to react to Xbox’s Activision deal with a major acquisition of its own | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)

Xbox says not to expect surprise Activision Blizzard Game Pass drops this year | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)

We are back on the news-recycling train again with Microsoft confirming the Activision Blizzard acquisition, so here's what we're seeing already.

Industry consultant Dr. Serkan Toto believes that Sony will be considering an acquisition of a similar size after the conclusion of Microsoft's merger. It's acquired Bungie and a bunch of other studies in the interim, and let's not pretend that these reports have been popping up ever since the ActiBlizz merger last year. Likelihood? Who knows, but let's take this with a grain of salt!

Phil Spencer says not to expect new games from ActiBlizz on GamePass any time soon, and yet Video Games Chronicle tantalises us with the Bethesda Games drop upon the purchase of their company in 2021.

Papa Phil also says that the timed exclusives for Call of Duty across consoles will no longer be the case - there will be content parity across all manufacturers in future.

CEO claims Nintendo couldn’t deliver a better modern N64 than Analogue 3D | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)

The spicy CEO of Analogue, a company making an N64-alike console, has been quoted as indicating that Nintendo itself couldn't make a better experience of the classic console if it tried.

His quote: "To me, it's either this, or buy a fucking original N64 and a CRT. End of Story."

Despite Christopher Taber's posturing, there is still no price point and a release window in 2024 for the Analogue 3D console.

Players frustrated with Nintendo's emulated experience on Switch may be delighted to hear his confidence, though!

The UK games industry pays juniors more but seniors less than other tech sectors | GamesIndustry.biz

GamesIndustry.biz and XpertHR have been working on data analysis of salaries in UK Games Studios, and found that the average salary for an entry-level position is almost 20% higher than in tech, but senior directors are paid 15% lower.

While the data set is small, across 25 studios and 3000 employees, the data will become available in summary for free, and in-depth by paywall, to companies interested in the...