scandals and controversies Latest news (15)

Darius Matusiak, 27 October 2019, 21:17

There is no longer any doubt as to why the Russian branch of Sony has banned the sale of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in Russia. The story campaign shows the local army in the role of brutal torturers.

Paul Wozniak, 27 October 2019, 20:23

Epic Games is suing a player who used Twitter to inform fans about what new season of Fortnite will bring. It turned out that he took part in the testing of the new content in September and, by revealing what he learned, broke the confidentiality agreement.

Christian Pieniazek, 24 October 2019, 23:54

Ubisoft has brough out the big guns against the owners of MizuSoft, a company that sells Rainbow Six Siege cheats. The publisher demands that they cease their activities and pay a large compensation.

Christian Pieniazek, 24 October 2019, 23:25

Scrapbox is one of the elements of the paid subscription to Fallout 76, called Fallout 1st. Its first buyers report that it causes problems with disappearing objects; some of the players lost all their pieces of equipment.

Adrian Werner, 24 October 2019, 13:22

The Fallout 1st subscription announced yesterday was met with a very negative reception by the players of Fallout 76. Most fans are angry and one of them even bought the Falloutfirst.com domain just to mock Bethesda's offer in very indiscriminate words.

Christian Pieniazek, 22 October 2019, 20:50

Research by the Oxford Internet Institute has shown that there is currently no evidence that excessive gambling is a illness. Instead, they argue that it is merely a symptom of wider problems unrelated to video games.

Julia Dragovic, 22 October 2019, 12:27

The popular youtuber PewDiePie was banned in China for showing in his film the (in)famous meme comparing secretary Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh.

Jacob Blazewicz, 21 October 2019, 21:59

Nathalie Verweij from Coffee Stain spoke on Epic Games Store's policy. The designer, currently part of the team responsible for Satisfactory, said that the platform helps the devs, and the voices of criticism on the Internet are only a „loud minority”.

Michael Kulakowski, 19 October 2019, 18:47

Several US congressmen and senators have drawn up an official letter warning Blizzard of the consequences of its recent actions, favouring China's political line and punishing those who support democratic protests in Hong Kong.

Paul Wozniak, 19 October 2019, 11:57

It turned out that yesterday's update to Control was flawed and had already been withdrawn. Thus the game works again without an internet connection and Steam Controller pad is compatible again.

Adrian Werner, 18 October 2019, 11:22

Patch 1.04 brought a lot of unpleasant surprises to the PC version of Control. It added a DRM system that forces online mode through the Epic Games Store client. It also broke compatibility with Steam Controller.

Julia Dragovic, 17 October 2019, 12:54

After the AU Hearthstone team supported Hong Kong protests in an official stream stream, Blizzard decided to impose a six-month suspension penalty on the players.

Michael Kulakowski, 16 October 2019, 20:46

Paradox Interactive withdrew the beta version of the mobile Stellaris: Galaxy Command from distribution after it was revealed that it contained a stolen illustration created for Halo 4. The title was produced by a subcontractor, the Chinese studio GameBear.

Jakub Mirowski, 14 October 2019, 11:23

Blizzard removed Mei figure from its store. Players suspect that the reason for getting rid of this Overwatch character is the fact that she has become one of the symbols of the ongoing protests in Hong Kong.

Konrad Serafinski, 13 October 2019, 19:58

The end of the tension between Blizzard and Blitzchung. The player posted a personal statement on Twitter in which he admitted that he understands his error and thanked the company for the reduction of his suspension and returning of his prize.

Konrad Serafinski, 12 October 2019, 21:56

It's been a nightmare week for Blizzard. The company banned a tournament winner, prevented user account deletion, to mention just a few mishaps. J. Allen Brack, company's CEO decided to speak. In a long press release, he announced that he would reduce the penalty for Blitzchung and pay him his tournament prize.

Adrian Werner, 12 October 2019, 21:42

Riot Games has issued a statement to fans in which it recommends avoiding political topics when playing League of Legends. The team wants to avoid a repetition of the Hong Kong protest scandal that Blizzard Entertainment is currently facing.

Krzysztof Kaluzinski, 11 October 2019, 20:06

Riot Games decided to sue an eSports team with a quite similar name - Riot Squad. The devs of the popular MOBA League of Legends believe that CS:GO team is illegally taking advantage of the popularity of the well-known brand.

Bart Swiatek, 11 October 2019, 13:04

Protesters on the streets of Hong Kong had the opportunity to watch one of the last episodes of South Park - Band in China - on the big screen, where the creators ridicule the Chinese authorities and their influence on the Western entertainment industry. The show was very popular.

Bart Swiatek, 11 October 2019, 12:23

Mark Kern, former Team Lead at Blizzard Entertainment, responded on Twitter to the high-profile Hong Kong protest scandal. In his opinion, the company is acting against its own values. The developer also quotes several stories that illustrate the extent of influence and methods of Chinese companies in the gaming industry.

Adrian Werner, 10 October 2019, 14:07

Apple succumbed to pressure from the Communist Party of China and removed the HKmap.live app from the App Store. The app is used by Hong Kong protesters to track police activity.

arRacoon, 10 October 2019, 11:57

Blizzard scores another PR blow right after the Chung „Blitzchung” Ng Wai affair at the Hearthstone Tournament in Hong Kong. According to reports, Blizzard accounts have become much more difficult and often impossible to remove. The studio is suspected of intervening and actively blocking the possibility of saying goodbye to the account.

Jacob Blazewicz, 09 October 2019, 22:47

Tim Sweeney from Epic Games referred to the controversy surrounding the suspension of Chung „blitzchung” Ng Wai by Blizzard for a political statement during a Hearthstone tournament. The CEO assured that he would not allow Fortnite players to be punished for their political statements.

Julia Dragovic, 09 October 2019, 14:14

After the penalty imposed by Blizzard on Blitzchung for publicly supporting protests in Hong Kong, savage flak of comments and criticisms hits the company from numerous sides. The community is calling for a boycott. The publisher's employees also reacted, and the player himself briefly referred to the penalty.

Jacob Blazewicz, 08 October 2019, 23:15

The British Health Service has announced the opening of the country's first clinic for technology addiction. The facility will treat cases of addiction to video games, social media and the Internet in general.

Julia Dragovic, 08 October 2019, 16:38

Chung „blitzchung” Ng Wai supported the protests in Hong Kong in a recent in an interview after winning Hearthstone Grandmasters. Blizzard quickly removed Twitch streams and imposed severe penalties on the gamer - including a one-year suspension.

Bart Swiatek, 08 October 2019, 15:43

IGN conducted an analysis which shows that Steam's 30% revenue share does not differ from the industry standards. Only a few other distributors apply different rules - including, of course, Epic Games Store, which often accuses Valve of engaging in shameful practices.

Frozen, 08 October 2019, 14:14

In the latest episode of the animated series South Park Town, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have decided to address the subject of Chinese censorship. As a result, they fell victim to it themselves - the series completely disappeared from the Internet available in China within a few days.

Bart Swiatek, 07 October 2019, 12:05

A Canadian law firm accuses Epic Games of deliberately making Fornite an addictive game and not informing users of the resulting threat. Lawyers are preparing a class action lawsuit, indicating, among other things, this year's World Health Organization ruling and a similar case against a cigarette manufacturer.

Bart Swiatek, 04 October 2019, 12:06

Problems with the FIFA Global Series gameplay registration system that launched yesterday led to a serious leak of user data. The registration website has been taken offline. Electronic Arts is in the process of analyzing the situation.

Bart Swiatek, 03 October 2019, 13:20

J. Allen Brack, president of Blizzard Entertainment, reaffirmed that his company does not intend to abandon the PC market. PC remains a key platform for the developer.

Michael Kulakowski, 02 October 2019, 23:01

As it turns out, Rockstar is not the only company that avoids tax authorities in Great Britain. Using methods similar to those of the creators of GTA V, giants such as Warner, Sony and Sega earned hundreds of millions of pounds in tax credits. They were all beneficiaries of a scheme intended to support domestic video game developers.

Bart Swiatek, 02 October 2019, 11:43

French Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players now have the option - and even the obligation - to scan their equipment boxes before buying them. This feature is likely to have been implemented as a result of planned changes to the Anti-Gambling Act and its use is severely restricted.

Bart Swiatek, 02 October 2019, 09:57

The recently announced new connectivity standard called Sidewalk can enable Amazon to track millions of users of its mobile devices. This also applies to people who do not intend to use the network created by the company.

Darius Matusiak, 30 September 2019, 14:37

Activision and Infinity Ward again discuss the microtransaction formula in the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Recent leaks have reportedly caused a significant drop in number of pre-orders.

Jacob Blazewicz, 28 September 2019, 00:16

Mario Kart Tour's recent debut proved to be record-breaking among mobile games, easily outperforming the previously unbeatable Pokemon GO. Unfortunately, the success of the game was overshadowed by the stink raised by extremely nasty microtransactions.

Jacob Blazewicz, 27 September 2019, 14:32

FIFA 20 debuts on PC and Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch today, but not everyone is excited about the new installment of EA's footbal series. Players report significant problems in the career mode, some of which have not been resolved despite promises.

Christian Pieniazek, 26 September 2019, 22:34

Focus Home Interactive does not intend to return the rights to sell the games from the Sherlock Holmes series to their creators, i.e. the team at Frogwares. As a result, all fruits of the cooperation between the two entities are being pulled from some digital stores.

Barth Faryna, 24 September 2019, 21:21

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission calls for refraining from the use of T-51b Power Armor collector's helmets from Fallout 76 that were sold GameStop. The use of the item may pose a health hazard.

Bart Swiatek, 23 September 2019, 11:39

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested two cybercriminals from Las Vegas and New York. Suspects tricked around 7,500 people, from whom they cheated more than $10 million in total.

Jacob Blazewicz, 20 September 2019, 12:18

Blizzard informed about the arrest of a person suspected of having launched DDoS attacks on the company's servers. The problems affected both World of Warcraft Classic and Overwatch players.

Julia Dragovic, 19 September 2019, 18:47

SORM, a system used to monitor the Internet and telecommunication activity of Russians, has once again become a subject of controversy. The disclosed Nokia documents show how the system helps Russia to keep track of its citizens. One might start asking some uncomfortable questions about human rights violation.

Barth Faryna, 18 September 2019, 15:35

The team responsible for creating one of the AdBlocks has recently published a text that makes it clear that two popular ad-blocking plugins do some other things as well, about which the user is not informed. The worst part, however, is that they were installed by millions of people.

Barth Faryna, 17 September 2019, 13:32

The iOS 13 system, which is due to be launched this week, offers many new measures to protect users' privacy. One of them is to notify people when applications try to secretly spy without their consent. People who downloaded early versions of the software are warned about Facebook.

Jacob Blazewicz, 13 September 2019, 15:12

Sony has withdrawn Call of Duty: Modern Warfare from the Russian version of PlayStation Store. It seems that players in Russia will have to do without it.

Jacob Blazewicz, 12 September 2019, 15:33

Nintendo has filed another lawsuit in connection with illegal sharing of games on the Internet. This time it was the RomUniverse website, from which the publisher demands substantial compensation.

Paul Wozniak, 12 September 2019, 11:14

Donald Trump's government is considering a new proposal to combat mass shootings, whereby the phones of people with mental health problems would be tracked to prevent acts of aggression.

Bart Swiatek, 11 September 2019, 12:06

In just 6 days since its launch, NBA 2K20 has become the second worst rated production on Steam. This is due to the controversial microtransaction system, which is often referred to as a gambling simulator. Players also complain about bugs and a small number of changes compared to the previous part.

Adrian Werner, 10 September 2019, 10:08

Thanks to Take-Two Interactive's intervention, work on Red Dead Redemption: Damned Enhancement Project - an unofficial remaster of the first RDR, created with PCs in mind - was suspended.

Bart Swiatek, 09 September 2019, 13:16

Facebook and Google were accused of breaking the electoral silence during the local elections held in Russia last Sunday. The companies were supposed to display advertisements and political spots in violation of the law. The Russian media supervisory authority has not informed about possible consequences for the companies.