At the beginning of the year, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealthlaunched a hell of an opening salvo. The latest installment in the long-running Like a Dragon/Yakuza series is comically full of things to do. On one hand, it’s a turn-based RPG epic, splitting its narrative between two larger-than-life protagonists in entirely different settings complete with their own villains, party members, and side stories. On the other hand, it is more game than anybody could possibly need, housing several side activities, minigames, and at least two-full sized games within itself. If you’re a person whose chief concern about a game is getting the absolute most bang for your buck, there has rarely been a better game to pick up than Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which is now discounted at $42 on both PlayStation and Steam. – Moises Taveras Read More
I was staring at a wall. It was an early mission in Ubisoft’s latest behemothic RPG, Star Wars Outlaws, in which I was charged with infiltrating an Empire base to recover some information from a computer, and this wall really caught my attention.
Screenshot: Ubisoft / Kotaku
It was a perfect wall. It absolutely captured that late-70s sci-fi aesthetic of dark gray cladding broken up by utilitarian-gray panels covered in dull blinking lights, and I stopped to think about how much work must have gone into that wall. Looking elsewhere on the screen, I was then overwhelmed. This wall was the most bland thing in a vast hanger, where TIE Fighters hung from the ceiling, Stormtroopers wandered in groups below, and even the little white sign with the yellow arrow looked like it was a decade old, meticulously crafted to fit into this universe. I felt sheer astonishment at the achievement of this. Ubisoft, via multiple studios across the whole world, and the work of thousands of deeply talented people, had built this impossibly perfect area for one momentary scene that I was intended to run straight past.
Except I ran past it three times, because the AI kept fucking up and I was restarted at a checkpoint right before that gray wall over and over.
Screenshot: Ubisoft / Kotaku
I’m struggling to capture the dissonance of this moment. This sense of absolute awe, almost unbelieving admiration that it’s even possible to build games at this scale and at this detail, slapped hard around the face by the bewilderingly bad decisions that take place within it all.
To be excited about a beautifully crafted wall is to set yourself up for an aneurysm when you start to notice the tiny, inflecting details on characters’ faces, or the scrupulous idle animations of a bored guard. Then as I tried to conceive that this same level of care was taking place across thousands of locations in multiple cities over a handful of planets, my genuine thought was: “It’s ridiculous that we mark these games on the same criteria as others.” How can someone look at this, this majesty, and say, “Hmmm, seven out of ten?” And then a guard sees me through a solid hillside and ruins fifteen minutes of painstaking stealth, and I wonder how it can be on sale at all.
In 2024, we have reached the most deeply peculiar place, where AAA games are feats that humanity would once have recognized as literal wonders, and yet play with the same irritating issues and tedious repetition as we saw in the 90s. This contrast, this dissonance, is absolutely fascinating.
Screenshot: Ubisoft / Kotaku
Ubisoft strikes me as the leader in this bizarre space. I have, for years, been delighted and bemused by what that company is capable of creating, albeit often not in positive ways. The Assassin’s Creed series routinely builds entire cities, even countries, in authentic detail, to the point where we almost take it for granted. It has always struck me as the most horrendous waste that a game like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey can recreate ancient Greece in such wonderful detail, and then gets thrown away, that entire digital space never used again for anything else. It could be given to the world, offered as a setting for a thousand indie games, reused and recycled as such an achievement deserves. Instead, it’s there for that single game, where we reasonably kvetch about the frustrating details of a broken quest, or at how crowd AI bugs out at crucial moments.
And this is only to touch on the art and architecture. We’re not even mentioning the fantastic writing, the exquisite voice acting, the sound effects, the musical score, the lighting, the concept art that makes such designs possible, and the direction and leadership that can bring all these disparate parts together. All as a backdrop to my repeating the run across the gantry because a distant AI decided to be triggered by a Nix it couldn’t possibly see, or because that time when I pressed Square it decided to throw a punch instead of trigger a takedown.
Screenshot: Ubisoft / Kotaku
I’m old enough to remember a time when we’d lament that a beautifully drawn point-and-click adventure was no fun to play, and be so disappointed that such lovely artistic skill had been the backdrop for illogical puzzles and bad writing. Imagine the camera shot pulling out from that adventure game and revealing the room it’s in, the house that contains that room, the town that house is in, the city that town forms part of, and the country in which that city exists—that gets you close to the scale at which the same issue plagues us 40 years later.
Just that opening city in Outlaws, Mirogana, is more than gaming was capable of ten years ago, let alone 40. It, alone, would be enough for an entire game, with plots and missions and characters. And it’s a blip in this game’s mindblowing breadth. I cannot over-express the scale of what’s offered here, and how incongruous it feels that it can all feel so easily dismissed given such fundamental errors. Errors that mean the game attracts headlines like, “Star Wars Outlaws Is Too Simplistic For Its Own Good.” And I get it! I know what the article means! It’s right that its stealth is banal and badly implemented, and yet such a core element of the game. But God damn, why are we able to reasonably call this creation “simplistic”?
I’ve no idea what the solution can possibly be, but I feel it sits somewhere in a new order of priority. One that involves scaling back the ambition of everything that a large-scale developer knows it can achieve, and re-focuses resources on fixing the absolute basics that it so often cannot. Because the tragedy of a piece of art like Outlaws—or any number of other architectural masterpieces that we see come and go in this industry every month—being able to be sniffed at with a (deserved) 7/10, is too awful.
At Gamescom this year, I saw a talk (currently embargoed) about how wind will cause a game’s world to behave differently, and on one level it was incredible stuff, a technological marvel. But on another, it’s going to offer absolutely nothing if that game’s basic loops are dreary, or if the enemy AI is going to endlessly run into beautifully rendered walls. It could end up being a 7/10 game with technologically astounding wind.
And so I come back to that wall. And I thank everyone involved in making it so special, the artists who spent so long ensuring it felt authentic, and the level designers who placed it, and the people responsible for collision detection who ensured I couldn’t walk through it, and the people who coded the Snowdrop engine so it could exist at all, and the producers who encouraged the developers who implemented it, and every single person who was in some way responsible for making me that wall to momentarily stare at. And I wish I hadn’t had to sneak past it quite so many times.
On May 16, the gaming and entertainment news site Dexerto tweeted an image from the forthcoming game Assassin’s Creed Shadows featuring one of its protagonists, the Black samurai Yasuke, in a fighting pose. Across scores of replies, some voiced optimism, others fatigue with Assassin’s Creed’s now 14-game-long run, and a very vocal few expressed frustration and anger that a Black person was at the center of the narrative.
“Gonna pass on the DEI games,” wrote one blue-check X user, referencing the acronym for diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Why Wokeism?” asked another. Comments full of racist and sexist language filled the thread.
A more articulate undercurrent of these reactionaries, across many online forums, had a more specific set of complaints. Some alleged the race of the real Yasuke was never known, others that he wasn’t a samurai but a retainer, and another claimed he was never in combat.
These were all fairly elaborate conclusions to draw about a guy from 1581 who’s been depicted as a samurai in Japanese media many times, including in the 2017 video game Nioh and Samurai Warriors 5 in 2021, as well as his own animated series on Netflix.
They also may have been the last bit of armchair history we got on Yasuke if the conversation hadn’t been sustained by a set of accounts looking to build yet another front in the online culture war, fueling what some have been calling Gamergate 2.0. Whereas the Gamergate of 2014 focused on trying to drown out feminist voices, and the voices of women of color, in gaming culture, this second incarnation seems focused on pushing back against diversity in games of all kinds. Yasuke just stepped in their path.
The resurgence of the Gamergate moniker came earlier this year in reaction to the work of Sweet Baby. Staff at the small consultancy received a wave of harassment this spring stemming from misinformation and conspiracy theories claiming the company was a BlackRock-backed outfit trying to force diversity into games. (It’s not affiliated with BlackRock and merely advises on characters and storylines.) As the controversy around Assassin’s Creed Shadows intensified, severalposts mentioned Sweet Baby, even though company CEO Kim Belair says the firm didn’t work on the game.
“I think it just comes with the post-Gamergate (late-Gamergate?) territory,” Belair wrote in an email to WIRED. “To a certain kind of person, largely trolls, we’re synonymous with their idea of ‘wokeness in games’ or a vague idea of ‘DEI,’ but it’s ultimately reflective of the overall misinformation that fuels this campaign.”
Gamergate was not the first harassment campaign conceived in the bowels of 4chan and its affiliate websites, but it was perhaps their crowning achievement. The attacks against developers Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu and media critic Anita Sarkeesian, among others, ranged from doxing to rape and death threats. Its tenets and tactics eventually proved valuable in bringing people into the burgeoning alt-right movement. Even Pizzagate and QAnon can, in some ways, be traced back to what was happening with gamers online in 2014.
“Gamergate was a recruiting ground, a pipeline to leverage the loneliness, discontentment, and alienation of young men—often white young men—into alt-right politics, extremist misogyny, and outright white supremacy and Nazism,” Thirsty Suitors narrative lead Meghna Jayanth told WIRED.
Image: Kotaku / Ubisoft / Sony / Rocksteady / Nosyrevy (Getty Images), Digital Sun, Vicky Leta / Blizzard, Nintendo, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios / Sega, Cyan Worlds Inc
This week, Ubisoft released a statement addressing what might generously be called a “controversy” about the upcoming Assassin’s Creed game, Shadows. Let’s be real, though. It’s just the latest salvo from a reactionary hate movement. You can read our thoughts on that, the terrific texture of Yakuza 0, the missteps of Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, the amazing sound design of the Riven remake, and more, in the pages ahead.
In a galaxy teeming with iconic heroes and villains, Star Wars Outlaws dares to chart a different course. Meet Kay Vess, a protagonist defined not by her strength or perfection, but by her relatability and growth. As players embark on an epic journey through a galaxy fraught with danger and intrigue, they are invited to challenge traditional notions of heroism and embark on a deeply personal quest for freedom and self-discovery.
I was lucky enough to hands-on sneak peek at this groundbreaking open-world Star Wars game during the Ubisoft Forward 2024 event, and let me tell you, I need a copy of it, stat. From daring heists to adrenaline-pumping space battles, the gameplay promises a wealth of diverse experiences, all centred around the dynamic duo of Kay Vess and her trusty (and adorable) companion, Nix.
The hype around this game is off the charts, and it’s easy to see why. It’s not just the GTA-esque gameplay or the expansive universe that has people buzzing; it’s the fact that we finally have a woman of colour as the protagonist. This game promises to deliver a fresh, exhilarating experience in the Star Wars universe, and so far, I’m obsessed.
Speaking with Creative Director Julian Gerighty, we chatted about all things Outlaws, from the inception of Kay Vess’ character to the challenges of crafting an open-world adventure set in the Star Wars universe, and more.
What to Expect in Star Wars Outlaws
Before we dive into that, what exactly is Star Wars Outlaws about? Set between the iconic events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws promises a gripping tale of rebellion and liberation. In a galaxy rife with turmoil and conflict, Kay and Nix navigate treacherous waters, dreaming of freedom amidst the chaos. Their journey is one of audacious heists, perilous encounters, and the constant threat of both the Empire and criminal syndicates.
From heart-pounding space dogfights to nail-biting stealth missions, the gameplay offers a rich tapestry of experiences. Armed with an impressive array of gadgets and weapons, including blasters and smoke bombs, Kay is a force to be reckoned with. However, it’s her trusty companion Nix who steals the show, with their keen senses and nimble manoeuvres proving invaluable in the face of danger.
A Tale of Freedom and Adventure
As the gaming world eagerly awaits its next big adventure, Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws emerges as a beacon of innovation and excitement. Stepping away from the familiar Jedi-centric narratives, this game invites players into the thrilling underworld of the Star Wars universe, where the scoundrel Kay Vess and her endearing companion Nix reign supreme.What sets Star Wars Outlaws apart from its predecessors? According to Julian Gerighty, it all boils down to one word: freedom.
“We actually started off with, okay, we’re gonna make open world because that was our skill set,” Gerighty shared. “That’s what we knew how to do.”
Ubisoft
It’s More Than Just the First Open-World Star Wars Game
But it wasn’t just about creating another open-world title. It was about capturing the essence of the scoundrel lifestyle, the thrill of living on the fringes of society.
“We wanted to make sure that [Kay’s] reputation with the syndicates was at the heart of the experience,” he elaborated. “So every quest we’re gonna give you, there’ll be a dilemma and that dilemma is, do I side with these guys? Do I backstab these guys? What do I do?”
But amidst the adrenaline-pumping action and tough decisions, Gerighty stressed the importance of storytelling. “We wanted to tell a super compelling story with a character that was different, relatable and super ambitious, super inspiring at the end of the day.”
And as we’ve seen in Star Wars Outlaws so far, Kay is no mere pawn in the game; she’s a force to be reckoned with. Armed to the teeth with everything from data spikes to grappling hooks, she’s a formidable adversary. But let’s not forget her secret weapon: Nix, the furry little troublemaker whose sharp senses and nimble moves make all the difference in dodging danger.
The Vision Behind Kay Vess
Contrary to conventional notions of strength, Gerighty emphasised relatability as the cornerstone of Kay’s character development. Kay Vess isn’t the typical stoic, unflappable hero. Instead, she’s flawed, relatable, and dynamic.
“I never thought of her as super strong as in, that’s not the defining feature there. I think it’s much more, what we were aiming for is super relatable. So it’s not perfect… She’s not particularly cool. You know, when you first meet Han Solo, he’s the coolest guy in the galaxy,” Julian said.
“But it’s so competent, so cool, that it creates a little bit of distance between you as a player and that character. And we wanted to make that much shorter by creating somebody who wasn’t perfect, who had flaws, who threw herself into things.”
Empowering Representation
As Gerighty further emphasised, Kay Vess’s narrative arc mirrors a transformative journey of self-discovery and growth. Her character embodies empowerment and resilience, challenging players to navigate the complexities of morality and choice in a galaxy fraught with danger and intrigue.
“This is almost an origin story, like a coming of age sort of thing,” he shared. “You start off as a sort of street thief pulling off small cons in a very closed location with dreams of exploring and freedom and everything.”
Kay’s narrative isn’t just about survival; it’s about empowerment and agency. “You’re catapulted into this sort of huge adventure with galactic stakes, but it’s not necessarily what you wanted to do,” Gerighty continued. “What you wanted was freedom. What you wanted was to be left alone, what you wanted to was to explore. It wasn’t to, you know, face off against some of the biggest criminal syndicates in the galaxy.”
Breaking Boundaries
Playing through the game, it’s clear that Star Wars Outlaws is more than just another action-RPG; it’s making a statement. Sure, there’s been some backlash from certain parts of the gaming community, with the usual complaints about the protagonist’s gender and ethnicity. But for me, and many others, Kay Vess represents a much-needed shift in the gaming landscape. It’s exhilarating to see a character who looks different from the usual male leads we’ve grown used to.
Ubisoft
Addressing the Critics
Of course, there have been the usual complaints: “What if I relate to male characters more because I’m a man?” or “It’s unrealistic for a woman to survive alone in the Star Wars underworld.” These arguments totally miss the point. Video games, like all media, are about experiencing diverse stories and perspectives. It’s not about seeing a mirror image of oneself in every protagonist. Moreover, there are countless examples of strong, capable women in both fiction and reality who have thrived in challenging environments.
And for those insisting “all video game characters are women now”, that’s just not true. There are plenty of games with male protagonists. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, released just last year, featured the male character Cal Kestis. The variety in gaming characters is growing, but it’s far from being skewed towards female leads.
Star Wars Outlaws Release Date
With its release slated for August 30, 2024, on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC, Star Wars Outlaws is shaping up to be one of the most exciting games of the year. The prospect of exploring an open-world Star Wars game with such a dynamic and groundbreaking protagonist is incredibly exciting. The story, the characters, and the gameplay mechanics all point to a game that is set to redefine what we expect from Star Wars titles.
So, as we inch closer to the game’s release, I can’t help but feel a mix of excitement and hope. Kay Vess is more than just a character; she’s a symbol of progress in the gaming industry. Her presence challenges the status quo and opens the door for more diverse and inclusive storytelling in the future. I can’t wait to dive into this new adventure and see where Kay’s journey takes us. This is a game that promises to be as groundbreaking as it is fun, and I’m all in.
Another Ubisoft studio is pitching in to help develop Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake. Ubisoft Toronto has announced on X/Twitter that it’s joining the company’s Montreal division to work on the game. In 2022, Ubisoft Montreal took over the project from Ubisoft Pune and Mumbai after several days from its target release date of as far back as January 2021. The company said back then that Montreal was “building upon the work achieved” by its studios in India. In an interview last year, though, producer Jean-Francois Naud revealed that the project was still “in conception” and that it’s “looking at feedback from the community and finding [its] own way of delivering the game.”
Ubisoft Toronto is joining the development of the remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time!
We’re excited to rewind time and bring our studio’s creativity, expertise and updated tech to refresh this beloved classic with our partners at @UbisoftMTL. pic.twitter.com/kksyihIjKG
Ubisoft Montreal was “the very birthplace of the epic Sands of Time trilogy,” the company wrote in its message when the studio took the reins. The original Sands of Times was itself a reboot of the original Prince of Persia series of PC games by Jordan Mechner. Montreal was also the studio behind a number of Splinter Cell series and Rainbow Six series titles, as well as most Assassin’s Creed games. Meanwhile, Toronto developed Far Cry 5 and 6 and Watch Dogs: Legion. It’s also currently working on the Splinter Cell remake that’s being rebuilt from the ground up using the company’s own Snowdrop engine.
The Sands of Time Remake has no new release date yet.
After years of marketing, delays, betas, and name changes, XDefiantfrom Ubisoft is finally here and…things aren’t going very well. Players are currently unable to find matches as the game’s servers can’t seem to cope with the large influx of people.
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XDefiant—out now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC—is Ubisoft’s big-budget free-to-play Call of Duty-like first-person online shooter. The FPS has had a long road to release. It was first announced back in July 2021 as Tom Clancy’sXDefiant, but in March 2022 the game dropped the “Tom Clancy” bit and expanded to include characters and locations from various Ubisoft-owned franchises, like Far Cry and Watch Dogs. In 2023, it got its first big open-beta playtest and I enjoyed its fast-paced, Black Ops II-like gameplay. Later that year, it wasdelayed twice. But now, after all that, XDefiant is out. Good luck playing it, though.
Poking around online, XDefiant isn’t completely broken. I’ve found streams online of people playing it. However, in my testing on Xbox, I was unable to join a match and was stuck in a lobby waiting for something to happen. And even players who do get into matches have reported long waits to get into another.
At 1:30 pm EST, the official XDefiant Twitter account posted that it was aware that “some players are unable to join a game” and asked folks to wait as the devs looked into the situation.
At 2:55 pm EST, the account offered an update, saying that things were improving but that it was continuing to work on making sure everyone could get in and play the FPS.
Then at 3:50 pm EST, in response to players complaining about the lack of updates and continued matchmaking issues, Ubisoft posted on Twitter:
Update: We are all focused on the matchmaking issue and are continuously investigating. We will continue to provide updates as possible.
As of about an hour later, that’s the last update from the main XDefiant account on Twitter. Players are frustrated, as you might expect. But, really, in the year of our lord 2024, I’m not sure how anyone could be surprised that a large-scale online multiplatformvideo game is having issues at launch. Still, hopefully, Ubisoft is able to get the game up and running without resorting to making developers and engineers stay late into the night.
It’s the middle of May 2024 and that means we’re nearly halfway through the year. What has this year been like in video game news? Tons of layoffs (sad), lots of new games (glad), and some weird outliers, as usual. This week, we saw set photos and official shots from The Last of Us season two, dove back into the GameStop stock market, and asked the dude who nuked Phil Spencer in Fallout 76 about his motivations. Click through for all of this week’s best breaking news.
Prince of Persia fans are really feasting this year. We’ve already seen the release of the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, but Ubisoft just in the franchise. The Rogue Prince of Persia is a team-up with Evil Empire, the developers behind the iconic roguelite Dead Cells. It comes to Steam early access on May 14.
It’s a sidescrolling roguelite, just like Dead Cells. As you can see from the trailer, the graphics also recall the widely-acclaimed and highly addictive action-platformer. You play as, wait for it, the Prince of Persia, who has been equipped with a mystical device that allows him to resurrect after death. You try your best. You die. You buy upgrades in the hub world. This is the roguelite formula and I am absolutely here for it.
Despite looking eerily like Dead Cells, the moveset looks to be pulled straight from the Prince of Persia franchise. Players will have access to the iconic wall run and related acrobatic skills to maneuver through the procedurally generated levels. To that end, there are a variety of colorful biomes, each inspired by Persian architecture.
There are also plenty of weapons to choose from, to suit different playstyles. These include twin daggers, spears, broadswords, axes and more. Additionally, players can equip secondary weapons, like bows and grappling hooks, making each run a unique gameplay experience. Ubisoft says the game will receive numerous updates once it receives player feedback from early access purchasers, promising “new levels, bosses, weapons, enemies and upgrades.”
The title Triple-i Initiative event, . Evil Empire is very much an indie developer, but the same cannot be said of Ubisoft. This isn’t the only time Evil Empire has dipped its toes into a long-standing franchise. The developer once made a .
Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft’s long-running open-world RPG series, and Vanderpump Rules, Bravo’s long-running reality TV series, are connected—kind of. It’s rare that two of my biggest, most disparate interests collide so spectacularly as this, but here we are, and it’s all thanks to a man named Jax Taylor.
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Taylor, one of the former stars of VPR (he left/was fired after season eight, depending upon who you ask) has been claiming for nearly 15 years that the face on the Assassin’s Creed I box art(or II, depending upon who and when you ask) is based on his visage. Taylor, who was previously a model, even lists it as one of his (unverified) credits on his old Model Mayhem page.
Before we go any further, it’s important to note that Taylor has, historically, been considered to be, well, um, a liar. As any VPR fan knows, and as a 2019 Vulture article pointed out, Taylor was accused of infidelity in back-to-back seasons and “both times [he] convinced both the show’s behind-the-camera staff and his friends that he was wrongfully accused; both times, he was caught red-handed as the season ended.” Taylor was also tied up in a lie in season six, after he was caught cheating on his future wife (then-girlfriend) with another co-star. There are other lies you’ll find deep in the Bravo subreddits: that he was roommates with Channing Tatum, that he almost got a job working for the NHL, that he loved the tea set Lisa Vanderpump gave him as a wedding gift.
But the reality TV star doggedly insists that he is, indeed, the face on the cover art of an Assassin’s Creed game. He recently doubled down on this claim at Lexington Comic Con, which took place in the Kentucky city over the March 7-10 weekend. Taylor and several of his former and current castmates (he’s starring in a new Vanderpump Rules spinoff called The Valley alongside his maybe-future-ex-wife, Brittany Cartwright) had their own tables at the convention, which were decorated with images of their professional appearances. On Taylor’s table: A picture of the Assassin’s Creed I cover art.
Is Jax Taylor the face of the Assassin’s Creed box cover art?
Screenshot: Jax Taylor on X / Ubisoft
Now, here’s where things get confusing. Taylor first claimed this video game connection back in 2012, when he posted “Me on the cover of assassins [sic] creed II” on X (formerly Twitter). The picture accompanying the text certainly looks like cover art for an Xbox 360 game, but there are some notable discrepancies. First, the image depicts Assassin’s Creed I, not II, and second, that picture doesn’t appear to have ever been used for a physical release of the Ubisoft game. An intrepid reporter asked about this alleged cover art back in 2022, and the replies only unearthed more questions: It appears that the image Taylor posted is from a website called Customaniacs, which, back in the Xbox 360 era, would share hi-res, downloadable, custom pieces of box cover art for people to print out and slip into the plastic shells.
On March 12, I reached out to Taylor’s PR via email, who initially confirmed that Taylor was “on the first season” of Assassin’s Creed. When pressed for clarification, the representative confirmed that he was the model for “the very first game” and “just the box art.” I thanked them for the clarification.
An hour later, unprompted, Taylor’s representative emailed me an image that only made things more baffling: a picture of the cover of PlayStation: The Official Magazine’s Holiday 2009 issue, which featured the publication’s review of Assassin’s Creed II. Yes, a review of the sequel, not the first game like his representative initially confirmed. To add more layers to this confusion cake, the PlayStation mag cover does not depict the box art for any Assassin’s Creed game, but bespoke art. (Unrelated, but hilarious: the image is clearly just the cover torn off the magazine, the rest of which Taylor ostensibly threw out.)
Screenshot: Jax Taylor Instagram / PlayStation: The Official Magazine
Not long after my conversation with his PR person, Taylor posted a picture of the PlayStation: The Official Magazine cover that had been emailed to me to his Instagram story, with the caption “Flashback to when I did the cover art/box art for #assassinscreed 2009.” He tagged the Instagram accounts for Lexington Comic Con and PlayStation.
The thing is, a French-Canadian model named Francisco Randez has been widely credited as the face of series protagonists Desmond, Altair, and Ezio. Randez has done interviews about his role in the series and has an IMDb credit for it. In a 2011 interview, Assassin’s Creed devs discuss creating the digital likenesses of the character, referring to the “handsome model” as a “neighbor” of the game’s producer in Montréal…though they have trouble remembering his name and call him “Rafael.” (It’s around the 8:50 mark.) Is there more than one “Assassin’s Creed guy”? Is Jax Taylor one of them? Is he none of them?
I reached out to both Ubisoft and Francisco Randez. Ubisoft declined to comment, and Randez has yet to respond.
So, it’s still unclear if Jax Taylor is, indeed, the face on the cover for either Assassin’s Creed I or Assassin’s Creed II. As a VPR fan, I’m inclined to believe he’s not, but what do you think?
With under its belt in recent months, will be looking to keep up its momentum into 2024 and beyond. The publisher may well be gearing up to host an Ubisoft Forward event in May, as that’s when it’s promised to reveal more details about several of its upcoming projects.
In the company’s latest earnings report, it said it will reveal the bulk of its lineup for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which runs through March 2025, in May. It will unveil more details about and a Japan-set Assassin’s Creed game as well as free-to-play mobile titles and . The latter will arrive roughly two years than first expected.
Ubisoft previously indicated that Outlaws, which is slated to be a truly open-world Star Wars game, is . We can also now expect Assassin’s Creed Red (or whatever its official name is) to drop before April 2025 as well.
Meanwhile, there’s likely to be some news on the front soon too. Ubisofot expects “a limited contribution from XDefiant” to its bottom line this quarter, so perhaps that’s when the free-to-play tactical shooter will arrive. Plus, after many, many delays, Ubisoft will at long last .
Clockwise from bottom left: Tom Hiddleston in Loki (Photo: Marvel Studios), Aramis Knight and Iman Vellani in Ms. Marvel (Photo: Disney+), Tatiana Maslany in She-Hulk: Attorney At Law (Photo: Disney+), Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in WandaVision (Photo: Disney+/Marvel Studios), Samuel L. Jackson in Secret Invasion (Photo: Gareth Gatrell/Marvel), Oscar Isaac in Moon Knight (Photo: Marvel Studios), Alaqua Cox in Echo (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios) Graphic: Jimmy Hasse
Updated 1/12: The MCU shows no signs of getting any smaller, does it? And now that Echois here, it’s time to see where it sits in our ranking, from worst to best, of the whopping 26 Marvel shows that have premiered since 2013. Prepare for some ambitious Netflix fare, sturdy star vehicles, head trips like Legion, and—hang on, Helstrom, we’re getting to you—those not-so-hot titles, too. Dig in and let the non-superpowered fighting commence. – Sam Barsanti Read More
Ubisoft Montpellier’s 2.5D side-scrolling Metroidvania Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is finally out on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It’s a long, challenging action-platforming game with lots of tough bosses and intricate puzzles. Here are a handful of essential tips to make your journey a bit easier.
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The Lost Crown follows the young Sargon, the newest member of the warrior clan known as The Immortals. He’s tasked with tracking down the kidnapped Prince Ghassan, who’s been dragged off to the cursed city of Mount Qaf. The game has plenty of paths to unblock, collectibles to find, and equipment to unlock. It’s easy to get lost or stuck, but I’ve got you covered.
Throw Your Chakram Often
About an hour or two into the game, you’ll unlock a new weapon: a bow. This weapon doubles as a throwable chakram that serves several functions, including calling down platforms and opening gates. The double-edged weapon can also be used in combat as a projectile that gets faster and stronger every time you parry it. More than that, though, you can use the chakram to reach those elusive resource caches without having to pull off a complex platforming feat. Be sure to use that chakram often, as it’ll make collecting stuff a little less frustrating.
Upgrade Your Gear Regularly
The fiery blacksmith—and absolute goddess—Kaheva opens up her forge to you not long after you reach the hub area of The Haven. But she’s not the only shopkeeper who can improve your equipment. While Kaheva can buff the damage of your bow and swords, The Mage, an elderly woman who operates an equipment shop in The Haven, can increase the number of health flasks you can hold and improve the potency of their healing. On top of that, both shopkeepers can power up the status effects of your Amulets, equippable pieces of gear that provide benefits such as increasing your melee damage at low health or reducing the damage of environmental hazards. It’s worth coming back to The Haven to upgrade your gear as often as possible. These bosses don’t play around, so you’ll need all the buffs you can get. Trust me.
Don’t Forget The Swordmaster
Speaking of The Haven, another person you should visit regularly is the swordmaster Artaban. Artaban is Sargon’s trainer throughout the story, teaching you effective ways to dispatch your foes in fights. You should also do his combat challenges to get Time Crystals, one of the currencies used for buying wares and upgrading gear. The challenges themselves are simple, and with enough practice and patience, will help you become more comfortable using all of Sargon’s abilities to kick serious ass.
Take Images Of Memorable Spots
With The Eye of the Wanderer, a true innovation within the Metroidvania genre, you can take screenshots that show up as icons on the mini-map, which helps make backtracking easier. Instead of trying to memorize where something is, you can use the upgradable resource known as Memory Shards to snap a quick photo to remember the spot. And when you’re finished with the image, you can delete the screenshot to free up space for more photos. Just hold down on the D-pad and snap away. Your brain will thank you for it.
Make Sure To Finish Those Side Quests
As you explore Mount Qaf, you’ll come across characters in need of help. It might be deciphering an ancient text or finding an old woman’s children. Either way, these side quests reward you with some good stuff, from currencies to use at the various shopkeepers to resources to upgrade your gear. Depending on the complexity and length of the objective, you might even get a Soma Petal, which increases your max health when you’ve collected four of them. Be a good Immortal and help some people out. It’ll be worth your while.
Take Advantage Of Guided Mode In The Settings
You’re presented with two game modes when you start: Exploration and Guided. Exploration mode is the default setting, giving you little direction for story quests and side errands on the mini-map. With Guided mode, you get much more assistance as the mini-map populates icons for mission objectives, doors and paths, and the upgrades you’ve unlocked. guessing game. You’ll still get lost, so don’t worry about that. Guided mode will just make it so you don’t stay lost. You can toggle this setting at any time—you’re not locked into what you chose at the beginning of your playthrough.
Tweak The Difficulty To Your Preferred Playstyle
The Lost Crown is a masterful example of accessibility in video games. In the extensive settings menu, you can make parries easier, extend the invulnerability you receive while dodging, skip challenging platforming sections, show markers for interactive elements in the world, and so much more. This game really lets you customize the experience to your liking, so you should do that. There’s bound to be a setting here that will give you the kind of Metroidvania experience you’re looking for.
Always, Always, Always Buy The Area Maps From Fariba
Fariba has extensive knowledge of the cursed city, and she’ll often have maps on her for sale. These maps reveal everything you need to know about that given area, including potential secrets and unexplored spots. Her location varies, and she’s usually a bit of a pain to find, often holed up in some room gated behind a complex platforming section. But picking up the area map from her will save you time in the long run. The best part? Unlike some of the other shopkeepers whose wares can be a bit more expensive, Fariba sells her services for just 50 Time Crystals. That’s a bargain in my book.
Don’t Do Much Backtracking Till You Get The Last Power
The Lost Crown is predicated on returning to areas you’ve previously visited with new powers, so it’s tempting to backtrack once you’ve acquired a new time-bending ability. But take it from me, you should wait until you’ve gotten the very last power, the Fabric of Time. You don’t get it until about three-fourths of the way through the story, but waiting to get this grappling hook of sorts will save you time and frustration. Before this point, a majority of your backtracking will be blocked by floating hooks that require the Fabric of Time to reach. There’s no clever way to get around these sections without it, so you might as well wait. Besides, by the time you unlock it, you’ll be so OP not even the toughest boss could stop you.
And there you go, nine tips to help you bend time and survive death in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Although I’ve beaten the story, I’ve still got plenty of collectibles to find and side quests to finish. So, good luck in Mount Qaf. Prince Ghassan needs us both.
With the pre-release of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown started, Ubisoft has chosen this week to rebrand its Ubisoft+ subscription services, and introduce a PC version of the “Classics” tier at a lower price. And a big part of this, says the publisher’s director of subscriptions, Philippe Tremblay, is getting players “comfortable” with not owning their games.
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It’s hard to keep up with how often Ubisoft has rebranded its online portals for its games, with Uplay, Ubisoft Game Launcher, Ubisoft Connect, Uplay+, Uplay Passport, Ubisoft Club, and now Ubisoft+ Premium and Ubisoft+ Classics, all names used over the last decade or so. It’s also seemed faintly bewildering why there’s a demand for any of them, given Ubisoft released only five non-mobile games last year.
However, a demand there apparently is, says Tremblay in an interview with GI.biz. He claims the company’s subscription service had its biggest ever month October 2023, and that the service has had “millions” of subscribers, and “over half a billion hours” played. Of course, a lot of this could be a result of Ubisoft’s various moments of refusing to release games to Steam, forcing PC players to use its services, and likely opting for a month’s subscription rather than the full price of the game they were looking to buy. But still, clearly people are opting to use it.
But it remains strange why enough people would want to subscribe—and at $17.99 a month it’s not cheap—to a single publisher’s output. That’s not a diss of Ubisoft’s games—although you might want to apply your own—but something that would be as true were it Activision Blizzard or EA.
You can subscribe to Game Pass, or PlayStation Plus, and get a broad range of hundreds of games from dozens of publishers, or you can pay significantly more to only get the games made by one single publisher, and indeed a publisher with a very distinct style of game. TV networks and movie companies tried this, and those numbers are thinning out fast, with many already compromising by returning their shows to the larger streamers.
What’s more chilling about all this, however, is when Tremblay moves on to how Ubisoft wishes to see a “consumer shift,” similar to that of the market for CDs and DVDs, where people have moved over to Spotify and Netflix, instead of buying physical media to keep on their own shelves. Given that most people, while being a part of the problem (hello), also think of this as a problem, it’s so weird to see it phrased as if some faulty thinking in the company’s audience.
One of the things we saw is that gamers are used to, a little bit like DVD, having and owning their games. That’s the consumer shift that needs to happen. They got comfortable not owning their CD collection or DVD collection. That’s a transformation that’s been a bit slower to happen [in games]. As gamers grow comfortable in that aspect… you don’t lose your progress. If you resume your game at another time, your progress file is still there. That’s not been deleted. You don’t lose what you’ve built in the game or your engagement with the game. So it’s about feeling comfortable with not owning your game.
Tremblay goes on to say to GI.biz, “But as people embrace that model, they will see that these games will exist, the service will continue, and you’ll be able to access them when you feel like.” But…we know that isn’t true! We know how often services don’t continue, how many games are no longer available.
One of my all-time favorite games was published by Ubisoft in 2003, called In Memorium (Missing: Since January in the U.S.), and that’s certainly not on its Classics range, I’m sure because the company long ago lost any rights to it. Luckily for me, I own a physical copy of it. But any number of other Ubisoft games from the early ‘00s I stick in its Classics site have no results. There’s no reason on Earth to think the same won’t be true of Ubisoft’s current games in 20 years.
There are still plans for Ubisoft to add streaming access to Activision Blizzard’s games to Ubisoft+, as bizarre as that may seem given the publisher’s recent acquisition by Microsoft. It’ll also seem fairly redundant, given all the games will come to the far more ubiquitous Game Pass, where they won’t be behind the technical hurdle of streaming. And indeed Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is already available to play via the Epic Games Store if you pre-ordered it there.
If, for whatever reason, you just adore Ubisoft’s output, then yes—for $17.99 a month you can play Skull & Bones, Avatar, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Anno 1800, and The Crew: Motorfest right now, which is a lot cheaper than buying them all individually. But you won’t own any of them, and you’ll need to keep paying that 18 bucks a month in perpetuity if you want to keep them, right up until you can’t any more.
After playing through Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s epilogue I can definitively say I was mostly let down by the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC. Don’t get me wrong, the “Mochi Mayhem” episode is an hour of silly fun alongside some of the best characters to grace the games’ Paldea region, but it is just that—silly, especially when compared to some of the games’ more memorable moments. – Kenneth Shepard Read More
Think the first week of January is a slow one for news? Think again. A 13-year-old Tetris phenom has boldly gone where no one has gone before, beating the NES version of the classic puzzler by reaching a “kill screen” on level 157. Steam announced the occasionally baffling results of its annual players’ choice awards, and The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall got a free-to-play, fan-made remaster.
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Before Starfield, before Skyrim, before Fallout 3 and Oblivion, before your parents even knew how to make you, there was The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. It was, and remains, Bethesda’s biggest-ever game, and now a fan-made rebuilding of the entire vast world in Unity has reached its 1.0 release. Oh, and it’s entirely free, and won’t be destroyed by lawyers! This new Daggerfall is an almighty achievement, and exactly the excuse you needed to return to Tamriel. – John Walker Read More
The results of 2023’s Steam Awards are in. Each year, Steam turns to the community to vote on the year’s best games across a wide variety of categories. This year saw Larian Studios’ RPG Baldur’s Gate 3 grab game of the year, while Lethal Company, a first-person cooperative horror game,got the “Better With Friends Award” for its co-op gameplay. The Last of Us Part I snagged Best Soundtrack, which seems odd because it came out in 2013, but it technically wasn’t added to Steam until 2023. – Claire Jackson Read More
Just two months after the third-person action-horror game Stray Souls came out, developer Jukai Studio abruptly shuttered its doors, citing myriad issues including poor game sales and multiple cyberattacks from an unknown perpetrator.The developer took to X/Twitter on December 22 to announce the sudden closure. Part of the problem, Jukai Studio said, was Stray Souls’ abysmal reception and sales, which made the team “completely unable to sustain the company.” – Levi Winslow Read More
Classic puzzle game Tetris has been around for over three decades, and in that time, plenty of people have reached its various endings, usually by clearing four rows of bricks at once like a digital demolitioner. That’s a challenge in and of itself, but now, someone has taken the concept of “beating Tetris” to the extreme by playing the NES game so hard it straight-up crashed, a phenomenon also known as the “kill screen.” – Levi Winslow Read More
Forever-in-development space sim Star Citizenmight not be finished after over a decade of dev work and announcements, but it does already contain a lot of expensive ships you can buy and fly around in. And if you want all of those ships in one big DLC pack, Star Citizen has an option for you. Just be prepared to spend over $48,000. – Zack Zwiezen Read More
Here’s something unironically wonderful. Via a post by Larian Studios writer Rachel Quirke, we’ve just learned of a deeply moving tribute to a player’s father that appears in the studios’ award-winning RPG Baldur’s Gate 3. In October 2020, a member of the Larian forums posted to thank the developer for releasing the first act of the game in Early Access, because it allowed them to enjoy one last adventure with their father, who had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. – John Walker Read More
Screenshot: Ubisoft Massive Entertainment / Kotaku
Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft’s upcoming action-adventure game that follows scoundrel Kay Vess between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, previously had no release date beyond a very broad “2024” window. Today, however, a Disney Parks blog post quietly announced that it would launch in “late 2024.” This didn’t last long, as Ubisoft promptly swooped in to correct the record and re-assert the general 2024 timeframe. – Levi Winslow Read More
City of Heroes was a beloved MMORPG that launched in April 2004 and lasted just over eight years. In that time it won a dedicated community of players who, even after the game died, kept playing the MMO via private servers that existed in a weird legal gray area. But now, the developers behind City of Heroes have given one private server the official thumbs-up to keep on keeping on. – Zack Zwiezen Read More
‘Tis the season to promote indie games with AI-generated junk, apparently. A Microsoft Twitter account recently posted low-effort, energy-intensive art promoting indie games on Xbox before later deleting it after getting roundly mocked by fans and developers alike.
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“Walking in a indie wonderlaaand,” the ID@Xbox account tweeted on December 27. “What were your favorite indie games of the year?” The post was accompanied by an AI-generated image of children sledding down a hill with a giant green Xbox logo on it.
Screenshot: Microsoft / Kotaku
It looked harmless at first, but a second or third glance immediately revealed telltale AI anomalies like children maneuvering their sleds with cranks attached to nothing and fishing in the snow for presents with weird black tendrils. A man playing a gaming handheld in the center top of the image has had his top lip replaced by teeth. A child jumping through the snow appears to have a mustache. It was a really bad look considering ID@Xbox is supposed to be the human-facing team within the megacorporation championing individual creators and small independent teams.
“Bro not Xbox using ayy-eye to promote indie devs,” wrote pixel artist TAHK0. “Nothing says ‘we don’t care about indie developers’ like using AI,” wrote artist NecroKuma3. “ If you can’t hire an artist to do advertising, I highly doubt you’ll do it with independent developers.” The company quietly deleted the post overnight without acknowledging the backlash. Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
While not posting half-assed AI art to promote artists seems like a no-brainer, we’re seeing more and more companies do it lately. There was the AI-generated promotional image for Amazon’s Fallout TV show, AI-generated art promoting a new Pokémon GO event, and even Ubisoft accounts representing offices where staff had recently been laid off putting out AI-generated Assassin’s Creed art.
When this stuff first started happening it felt shitty but low stakes. Increasingly it feels clear, however, that companies are taking the same approach to AI art that they have with every other internet age advancement, operating under the assumption that people will complain at first but eventually they’ll get tired of it and move on to being angry about something else. Boil the frog slowly enough and eventually it won’t realize it has 11 fingers, 13 toes, and weird spindly wires coming out of its back.
As a cheerleader for AI technology, however, Microsoft’s role in this is especially egregious. The company is already promoting tools for AI-generated content in games, and encouraging all 20 Bing users to play around with its AI art tools. Never mind that no one is actually quite sure how the technology will make money, or if it’s even legal. If it can replace human creativity with predictable slop and reduce headcount, it must be a win-win.
According to the MIT Technology Review, every AI-generated image requires as much energy as an entire smartphone charge. And Microsoft’s own internal environmental report blamed the technology for a 34 percent spike in its water usage to cool all the racks of computing power required for, among other things, enabling users to shitpost about Kirby doing 9/11. As Immortality game director Sam Barlow put it following the AI-generated ID@Xbox post, “Really impressive that just as we were finally starting to address the climate emergency, we invented stupid ways to undo all our progress.”
It was a big week for the scantily clad at Kotaku this week, with both GTA 6 and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth giving players plenty of skin. We’re also feeling veryexcited about the new Fallout show, but decidedly less enthusiastic about the minimal focus on the actual awards at this week’s Game Awards.
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These are the week’s most interesting perspectives on the wild, wonderful, and sometimes weird world of video game news.
Grand Theft Auto 6 looks gorgeous. Unless its debut trailer this week was faked, it might end up being one of the best-looking games of this console generation when it comes out in 2025. By that time, my Xbox Series S will be five years old. I shudder to think of that sleek little white box trying to play Rockstar Games’ latest open-world blockbuster. – Ethan Gach Read More
I’ve played about six hours of Ubisoft’s new Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandoraand my big takeaway is that Avatar sickos will love this game, Far Cry Primal fans will get a kick out of Ubisoft returning to this formula, and everyone else, well… uh…dang, the game sure is pretty, huh? – Zack Zwiezen Read More
An intimate moment in GTA 6.Screenshot: Rockstar / Kotaku
Good news, everyone! Unless you’ve been living in a monastery, you’re likely aware that 2023 is the year that video games got horny again. And no, I don’t mean tastefully Hades frisky, I mean Leisure Suit Larry and Night Traplevels of unhinged lust, the likes of which “mainstream” gaming (whatever that means) hasn’t seen since the 1990s. – Jen Glennon Read More
Historically, TV and film adaptations of video games don’t have the greatest track record. The last few years, however, have started turning that around. Pikachu, Sonic, and Mario have all starred in successful movies, and earlier this year The Last of Us got a proper prestige adaptation that certainly left a mark on fans. – Claire Jackson Read More
And so that’s that. The Game Awards 2023 are over. 32 awards were handed out over three and a half hours. You might think, with that much time to spare, the show took its time and truly celebrated all the creators and games nominated for what the show calls “Gaming’s Biggest Night.” Nope. Instead, more so than before, the show sped through them at a rapid pace, making me wonder why it still pretends to be an award show at all. – Zack Zwiezen Read More
Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the best games Square Enix ever produced, and it’s not available anywhere on modern consoles or PC. A remaster is an obvious way to fix that problem, and it seemed like all signs were pointing to one getting announced any day now. So it’s an especially cruel twist of fate that the original game’s director, Yasumi Matsuno, keeps toying with fans’ emotions about whether a remaster is actually happening or not. – Ethan Gach Read More
Cyberpunk 2077 is in a pretty good spot these days. After a dumpster fire of a launch, the next-gen update, 2.0 patch, and Phantom Liberty expansion have gotten CD Projekt Red’s open-world RPG to a respectable state. The 2.1 patch that launched this week adds a nice little bow to the game as its “last big update.” It has long-requested features like a working subway you can take across Night City, and it also lets V, its mercenary protagonist, spend a little time with their lover in their apartment. The results are an adorable stay-at-home date with your paramour, but for as sweet as it is, these hangouts underline something that felt left out of the Cyberpunk 2077 redemption arc: the romance. – Kenneth Shepard Read More
The first trailer for Rockstar’s next Grand Theft Auto game, likely to be named GTA VI, comes out December 5. What can we expect the trailer to reveal? Well, based on Rockstar’s past GTA trailers, which are fantastic, there’s a pattern that can help us predict what we might see during GTA VI’s official debut. – Zack Zwiezen Read More
Earlier this week, we asked you all to give us your choice for the best video game sequel. Any sequel would count and everyone was free to suggest any game they wanted, no matter how old, obscure, or divisive. And we tallied up all the answers, crunched the numbers, and figured out your top ten sequels. – Zack Zwiezen Read More
Sultry singlets everywhere, oh my!Screenshot: Sega
The secret is out: the Yakuza / Like a Dragon series has great minigames. Whether you enjoy playing retro arcade brawlers like Virtua Fighter, dumping dozens of hours into becoming a real-estate tycoon, or chatting up bodacious babes at the hostess club, Sega’s goofy action series has plenty of pleasant timesinks to wile away the hours. Though it’s still several weeks away, it’s already clear that the upcoming Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is no exception to that rule. – Jen Glennon Read More
Video games make the world a better place. We’ve got honkin’ deals on Xbox Series X, a new genocide-free romance option in Baldur’s Gate 3, and wicked-strong Marvel Snap decks for your perusing pleasure.
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Here are the tips and deals we found most helpful this week.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, the Ubisoft stealth adventure series’ 2015 entry featuring dual protagonists that’s set in 19th century London, is currently free on PC until December 6. There’s just one twist: You’ll need to get it from Ubisoft Connect launcher (insert horror emoji). Don’t hate the messenger. Read More
Minthara is one of Baldur’s Gate 3’s most interesting companions, but only a select few people tend to see much of the Drow Paladin in their playthrough because recruiting her typically requires you to help her slaughter Tiefling refugees. Despite this, fans have found creative workarounds to recruit her without having to engage in genocide, but in Baldur’s Gate 3’s fifth patch, Larian has implemented a streamlined way to add her to your team. Read More
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch #5 is bringing more reasons than ever to go back to Larian Studios’ excellent RPG with new modes and, more importantly, a new epilogue that takes place six months after the main game. Read More
Image: Arika / Bandai Namco Online / Digerati / EA / Gameloft / Secret Location / Ratloop Games / Square Enix / Hi-Rez / Good Luck Games LLC / Gun Media / Polyphony Digital / Warlogics / Sharkmob / Yager Development / Kotaku
We’re still making it through 2023 and a surprising number of games have already been killed off, as devs have announced their impending deaths. Normally, we’d reserve this list for the end-of-the-year round-up, but we’re ringing the death knell early because, with 15 games already lined up for public execution, we need to start paying our respects now. So, let’s get right into it. Read More
Gif: Square Enix / Vertigo Games / Warner Bros. / Ubisoft / Cygames / Nintendo
Well folks, the final 31 days of 2023 are upon us. While I expect you’ll likely have picked out your personal game of the year already, there’s still time for some more games to hit physical and virtual shelves, and maybe one of them will be a nice send-off to a wild year of killer games. Read More
It’s no secret that the Xbox Series X hasn’t been selling great, and this holiday season Microsoft’s “next-gen” console is getting some huge discounts. For a brief period today, Amazon was selling the Starfield machine for as little as $350. Read More
Oh, hi again! We’re in the final month of what is arguably one of the most impressive years in gamingin recent memory. So when you find yourself at the end of the week looking to get some gaming in, how can you possibly choose among the embarrassment of riches that’s been released this year alone? Read More
The live-service video game economy runs on microtransactions, and Xsolla is one of the companies that helps process them. The payment platform works with Epic Games, Unity, Roblox, and others to collect money from players all over the world. Now a new lawsuit alleges that Xsolla has mishandled $40 million and fired the whistleblower who disclosed the crimes to his bosses.
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Emil Aliyev, the former VP of global accounting at Xsolla, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on November 22 claiming wrongful termination and retaliation against a whistleblower. The lawsuit says Aliyev discovered $40 million was missing from two accounts back in May of this year and that he later found the money had been dispersed to a Goldman Sachs bank account that belonged to Xsolla founder and chairman, Aleksandr Agapitov. Aliyev also alleges that Xsolla hasn’t passed an IRS audit since 2017.
The lawsuit continues:
In or around May 2023, Mr. Aliyev reported his findings to the Chief Financial Officer, Leon Perry (“Mr. Perry”). Mr. Aliyev made a complaint to Mr. Perry that it was illegal for Xsolla to provide Mr. Agapitov with monetary loans without charging a standard interest rate, which Xsolla had not done. Mr. Aliyev also made a complaint that Xsolla failed to report the approximately 40-million-dollar loan to Mr. Agapitov to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). Mr. Perry responded and acknowledged the deficiencies and the monetary disbursements, but ultimately brushed off Mr. Aliyev’s complaints and stated, “It is not your problem.” Mr. Aliyev responded, “This is my job.”
Aliyev claims he was later called into a meeting with Agapitov on July 28, explained why he thought the transactions violated finance rules, and was fired a few days later. Xsolla apparently fired Aliyev for violating company policy, but wouldn’t say which one, and the lawsuit alleges he was actually “unlawfully terminated for reporting financial mishandling.”
Aliyev and Xsolla did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
If Xsolla sounds familiar, it might be because cofounder Agapitov laid off 150 of his employees for spending too much time looking at their email. “Work your fucking ass off or get your fucking ass out,” he wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) back in 2021. Agapitov even boasted of using AI surveillance to monitor which employees were being lazy before deciding who to cull in the mass layoff.
Earlier this month, Ukraine called on Epic, Ubisoft, and Valve to stop working with the payments platform, claiming Xsolla’s business in Russia helped fund that country’s ongoing war machine. Xsolla interim CEO Chris Hewish told Axios the company had already relocated hundreds of workers out of Russia, though it still facilitated transactions for players there. In the meantime, Xsolla has been using its lucrative business to launch funding initiatives for indie games and snatching up smaller gaming tech companies to provide additional services beyond payment processing, like backend multiplayer support and creator content tools.
Update 11/30/2023 5:37 p.m. ET: Xsolla owner Agapitov told Kotaku in a phone interview that the $40 million loan did not run afoul of any regulations and that Aliyev tried to blackmail the company after being fired. “We hired a liar and fired a liar,” Agapitov said.
