Here come the VG Crisis Tracker
This crisis tracker is based on two previous works: one from Rami Ismail (is2020over.com) and a research I have started on the history of controversies within the video game industry. As I observe that crisis are more and more frequent in the game industry, I need to keep on tracking them in order to analyse how they are embedded in longer and deeper controversies. If one crisis is missing, feel free to contact me on Twitter. I already would like to thank CCFields as she has helped me keeping track with all the events that are happening in the video game industry. ■
@EstebanGrine, 2021.
January
- 25th : The creative director of Scavengers studio is accused of harrassment and toxic behaviours, contrasting with the inclusive discourse of its new game: « Season ».
- 27th : GameStop Market shares explose because Reddit users are gaming the Wall Street system
February
- 2nd : Gamers became angry because BioWare decided to express their artistic vision over problematic butt shots in the Remasters of Mass Effect.
- 7th : Ubisoft has been criticized as half of the cosmetic armors in AC Valhalla are available through microtransactions.
- 9th : CDProjekt declared on twitter that the company has ironically been under cyber attack. The loss of data may trigger new controversies in the future.
- 11th : 6 days in Fallujah, a game about war crimes comitted by the United-States of America, is announce to be released in 2021.
March
- 11th : FIFA 21 rocked by « EAGate » scandal after company employee is alleged to have sold coveted Ultimate Team cards for thousands of pounds
- 12th : Game Artists Not Happy That Developer Is Selling Their Nearly Decade-Old Work As NFTs
- 16th : Riot Games investigation conducted by Riot Games says there’s ‘no evidence’ CEO harassed female employee
- 19th : A debate between game creators and non-creators and non-informed players rose as Ubisoft « reused » a skin as a reward in AC Valhalla.
- 25th : following the controversy concerning Pierre Menès for sexual harrassment, EA stopped working with the journalist.
- 30th : Activision Blizzard Hires Bush-Era Torture Apologist As Chief Compliance Officer
April
- 1st : Match-fixing and other scams related to esport explode so much in Australia (and now in the USA) That the Esport Integrity Commission (ESIC) now works with national forces like FBI and RIOT started investigating Valorant’s players.
- https://kotaku.com/counter-strike-match-fixing-is-so-bad-the-fbi-is-gettin-1846596639
- https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/01/australians-just-love-being-banned-for-betting-on-their-csgo-matches/
- https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/08/six-australians-arrested-over-counter-strike-match-fixing/
- https://www.dailyesports.gg/esic-cooperates-with-fbi-in-north-american-match-fixing-investigations/
- https://dotesports.com/news/riot-has-reportedly-started-investigating-valorant-players-for-csgo-match-fixing
- https://twitter.com/ESIC_Official/status/1352540581667323912
- 3rd : Twitch bans La Revision, world’s largest Demo Party which is part to Finland’s national UNESCO of digital patrimoine.
- 6th : French Newspaper Libération tackles deceptive teaching methods and crunch culture in french game design schools.
- 6th : Mihoyo is being criticized over colorism, racist depictions of indigenous cultures and objectification of minors.
- 8th : Following an ongoing petition against the game Six Days In Fallujah, The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called on platform holders to not distributing the game.
- https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-04-08-muslim-advocacy-group-calls-on-platform-holders-to-ban-six-days-in-fallujah
- https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2021/4/8/us-muslim-rights-group-says-drop-arab-murder-game
- https://www.change.org/p/united-nations-stop-atomic-games-and-victura-from-normalizing-the-mass-murder-of-iraqis
- 15th : When losing a job becomes a deportation risk, game studio layoffs mean a hellish race against the clock for immigrant developers
- 26th : Leaked Documents Show EA Really Wants You To Buy FIFA Loot Boxes
- 30th : With Toy For Bob’s Layoff, Every Single Activision Studio Works On Call Of Duty
May
- 22th : companies are attacked for faking their political position about LGBT and queer people’s rights.
- 20th : #HoldUbisoftAccountable is trending a year after #MeToo within the compagny.
- 16th : IGN Takes Down Article And Tweet Sharing Palestinian Aid Groups.
- 12th : Ubisoft insists its free-to-play push ‘does not mean’ less premium games
- 10th : CAPCOM Accused of Plagiarism for Resident Evil Village Monster Design
- 9th : Activision cuts ties with voice actor of Ghost, Jeff Leach, after sexist comments resurface
- 1st : Bobby Kotick recieves 150 millions as a compensation package.
June
- 2nd : ‘Our story is political,’ Far Cry 6 narrative director says
- 2nd : Minecraft speedrunner Dream admits to accidentally cheating in record-setting run
- 4th : Activision Hires Yet Another Former Republican Big Wig
- 11th : Scavengers reinstates co-founders after investigation into harassment and toxicity
- 11th : Solidaires Informatique calls for testimonies about harrassment at Ubisoft
- 11th : Cloud gaming service « Shadow » has been using its servers in order to mine ethereum since last year. Investigations reveal that few millions has been earned.
- 16th : Fortnite, Worth Billions, Offering Paltry Prize Money For Design Contest
- 21th : Activision Shareholders Vote To Keep Paying CEO Bobby Kotick A Shit-Ton Of Money
- 22th : What Is Blue Box? A Vast Conspiracy Grips the Video Game World. Gamers want to believe a new horror title from an obscure Dutch studio is a front for the next Silent Hill game.
- 23th : A recent press event for Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 2 highlighted just how casual American culture is about violence towards Arab people.
- 24th : Ubisoft Removes then reupload ‘Goldeneye’ Far Cry 5 Maps Fan Spent Three Years Making.
- 30th : How Roblox Became a Playground for Virtual Fascists. Thousands of players flocked to a digital world filled with draconian rules, slavery, and anti-Semitism—and tested how far “just a game” can go.
- 30th : Indies criticize Sony over discount policies, poor communication, more
July
- 7th : Konami cancels its contract with footballer Antoine Griezmann for former racist comments
- 11th : Ubisoft Report States It’s At A ‘High’ Risk Of Losing Talent Due To Toxic Work Culture
- 13th : League of Legends Team Pulls Video of Players’ Jobs Being Threatened
- 14th : LeStream, a french webTV on Twitch, was sponsored by the french army
- 15th : Hackers begin leaking stolen data after Vice refuses to help them blackmail EA
- 16th : Military Game Fan Leaks Classified Docs To Win Forum Argument
- 17th : French union files collective lawsuit against Ubisoft. Solidaires Informatique alleges publisher tolerated sexual harassment, HR employees covered for abusers.
- 19th : IGDA issues call to action on blockchain. Organization says developers should stop using NFTs for singular ecosystems and avoid proof-of-work blockchain entirely
- 21th : The Messy, Stalled Reckoning At An Assassin’s Creed Co-Developer. Ubisoft Singapore devs report sexual harassment, toxic managers, and bad pay
- 21th : Activision Blizzard Sued By California Over Widespread Harassment Of Women
- 22th : Blizzard Botched Warcraft III Remake After Internal Fights, Pressure Over Costs. Under former co-founder and CEO, Blizzard games had endless development timelines to get it right. But new Activision approach focuses on financials.
- 22th : Ubisoft Singapore employees face a ‘French ceiling,’ report says
- 22th : World of Warcraft players are staging in-game protests against Activision Blizzard
- 23th : Popular Fortnite mapper suspended then reinstated over homophobic comments
- 23th : PUBG Mobile’s latest skin being renamed to remove reference to Hypnospace Outlaw
- 26th : Activision Blizzard’s Social Media Empire Has Been Silent For Days Now
- 26th : Activision Blizzard Staff Sign Petition Supporting Labor Lawsuit
- 26th : New Unreal Engine Renders Even More Realistic Grizzled White Men
- 27th : Activision CEO Apologizes After Employees Threaten to Walk Out
- 28th : Inside Blizzard Developers’ Infamous Bill ‘Cosby Suite’
- 29th : Eidos/SquareEnix criticized for using a platform for whistlebloiwing which also is union-busting firm (also used by Amazon)
- 29th : Valve responds to antitrust lawsuit, defends Steam’s 30% cut
- 30th : The same government agency that’s suing Activision Blizzard has an ongoing lawsuit with Riot Games
- 30th : Activision IT Worker Secretly Filmed Colleagues in Office Bathroom
- 30th : Blizzard Recruiters Asked Hacker If She ‘Liked Being Penetrated’ at Job Fair
- 30th : Activision Blizzard Being Investigated by Shareholders, NYT Reports on More Allegations
- 30th : Facebook blocks Road 96 ad « for being political »
- 30th : The Metaverse Has Always Been a Dystopian Idea
- 30th : Simon Darveau reinstated at Scavengers Studio
- 31th : Ubisoft staff claim publisher has ‘sidelined’ their demands and ‘continues to protect known offenders’
- 31th : Ubisoft And Bungie Suing Popular Cheat Seller. The companies behind Destiny and Rainbow Six want to shutdown the Ring-1 cheat makers completely.
- https://kotaku.com/ubisoft-and-bungie-suing-popular-cheat-seller-ring-1-1847400740
August
- 1st : Man Shocked Through Video Game Controller After Lighting Strike
- 2nd : What Really Happened At That BlizzCon Panel, According To The Woman In The Video
- 3rd : Activision Blizzard Is Losing Overwatch Sponsors After Lawsuit
- 3rd : Blizzard’s head of HR gone, too. The departure happened in the wake of employees accusing the HR department of covering up abuses.
- 3rd : Take-Two claims it’s ‘never tolerated harassment or discrimination’… But we know it happened there
- 3rd : T-Mobile branding removed from Overwatch and Call of Duty League websites
- 4th : Steve Gaynor steps down from creative manager at Fullbright but remains as a writer.
- https://www.polygon.com/22610490/fullbright-steve-gaynor-controversy-stepped-down-open-roads
- https://twitter.com/OpenRoadsGame/status/1423071532952080386?s=20
- 4th : Activision Blizzard’s Latest Investor Call Was An Especially Ghoulish Affair
- 6th : Sur la plateforme Twitch, une chaîne prisée des jeunes produit du sexisme en direct
- 8th : Back 4 Blood Beta Players Think They Hear Zombies Yelling The N-Word
- https://kotaku.com/back-4-blood-beta-players-think-they-hear-zombies-yelli-1847443163
- 12th : Hacker steals over $600M in cryptocurrency, returns over half of it
- 12th : Activision Blizzard’s QA Department Seems Like A Hellhole
- 17th : Singapore labor rights agency investigating Ubisoft. TAFEP reportedly looking into allegations of workplace harassment, unfair treatment at Skull and Bones studio.
- 17th : Roblox is struggling to moderate re-creations of mass shootings.
- 19th : People Make Games releases a video about how Roblox is exploiting young game developers.
- 24th : Accusations Of Foul Play Surface Around Record-Breaking Graded NES Game Auctions
- 25th : Unity Workers Question Company Ethics As It Expands From Video Games to War
- 25th : California Accuses Activision Blizzard Of Shredding Abuse Evidence
- https://kotaku.com/california-accuses-activision-blizzard-of-shredding-abu-1847550659
- https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/24/22640302/california-activision-blizzard-lawsuit-update-withholding-info-expanded-victims
- https://www.axios.com/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-temporary-workers-4a8fa284-a003-4c56-819c-43c7c2d3f3ca.html
- 25th : Streamer Dr Disrespect Says He’s ‘Suing The Fuck’ Out Of Twitch.
- 26th : Upcoming Ubisoft Game Unleashes Awful Cover Of ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ On Unsuspecting Ears
- 26th : Blizzard will rename Overwatch’s Jesse McCree. McCree was named after a fired real-life Blizzard employee
- 27th : Saints Row team shows off reboot gameplay, says it’s ‘not backing down’ from change
- 27th : Epic Disables Disrespectful Fortnite Emotes In The Martin Luther King Event
- 27th : Awesome Metroid Prime 2D Fan Project Gets Nintendo’d
- 31th : After weeks of hate raids, Twitch streamers are taking a day off in protest
September
- 2nd : PEGI Will Now Rate Any Game That Teaches Gambling As 18+
- 3rd : Rockstar parent Take-Two sues modders behind GTA reverse engineering project ‘re3’
- 6Th : Employee survey at Paradox Interactive alleges gender discrimination and « mistreatment »
- 7th : Tripwire CEO John Gibson Steps Down Following Controversial Comments on Texas Anti-Abortion Law
- 8th : First Bite answers allegations related to one of its contractor
- 9th : Ubisoft Appoints Another White French Guy As Head Creative
- 9th : UK advertising regulator warns Star Citizen dev over concept item marketing
- 12th : Chinese players start review-bombing Life is Strange: True Colors over Tibetan flag
- 15th : Anti-women, anti-Black, anti-Asian harassment growing in online games. ADL-Newzoo survey notes spike in US gamers reporting certain types of harassment; 60% of teens say they were harassed while playing
- 15th : Jennifer Scheurle (chair of IGDA Women in Games SIG) accused of emotional abuse and manipulation
- https://www.resetera.com/threads/jennifer-scheurle-chair-of-igda-women-in-games-sig-accused-of-emotional-abuse-and-manipulation-update-scheurle-apologizes.486892/
- https://twitter.com/NinNons/status/1438148558012641283
- https://twitter.com/annabrandberg/status/1438217274457038852
- https://twitter.com/NinNons/status/1438148558012641283
- https://twitter.com/annabrandberg/status/1438233827751702528
- 16th : Scheurle answers the accusation
- 17th : Blizzard Reduces Titty In World Of Warcraft, But Not Sexism At The Company
- 20th : SEC Is Investigating Activision Blizzard Over Workplace Practices, Disclosures
- 20th : Un jeune Espagnol de 15 ans hospitalisé pour une addiction à « Fortnite »
- 21th : Un communiqué de press à propos d’un événement « hommage aux femmes » relance la controverse autour du corps des femmes sur Twitch
- 24th : SOC Investment Group: Activision Blizzard execs need to be held accountable for toxic working culture
- 29th : Amazon’s New World MMO Won’t Let You Name Yourself Jeff Bezos
- 30th : League of Legends Champ Arrested On Suspicion Of Drug Trafficking
October
- 6th : The entirety of Twitch got leaked, including source code and creator payouts
- 8th : Solidaires Informatiques critique le système d’évaluation dews managers mis en place par Ubisoft suite à #MeToo de 2020.
- 11th : Stream Star Amouranth Banned From Twitch, TikTok, And Insta
- 12th : ‘Spelunky’ Fans Expose 8-Year World Record Holder as a Cheater
- 14th : Genshin Impact Cancels Elon Musk Event Following Fan Pushback
- 16th : Former Bungie composer Marty O’Donnell found in contempt of court over use of Destiny assets
- 20th : 20 employees have been fired in wake of Activision Blizzard lawsuit
- 21th : Despite Filing Harassment Reports, Employees Say Ubisoft Isn’t Doing Much
- 26th : Ubisoft Pestering Far Cry 6 Players For Not Playing Enough
- 26th : N64 games graphics sucks on Switch
- 27th : Skyrim IRL TikTok Star Arrested, Charged With Murdering His Wife & Her Friend
- 28th : Final Fantasy 14 is fine with erotic role-playing—just do it in private, please
- 28th : Skyrim IRL TikTok star arrested, charged with murdering his wife and her friend.
- 28th : Updated guideline shows Square Enix is fine with erotic content and practices in FF14 but asks its players to do it privately.
- 30th : Roblox Servers Are Turning Back On (Slowly) After 60+ Hour Outage
- 31th : Looks like Fortnite China is shutting down
November
- 2nd – 16th : Blockchain, Crypto and NFTs become mainstream in the gaming industry
- 2nd : Ubisoft announces massive plans for blockchain integrations and collaborations with the crypto communities.
- 4th : EA calls NFT and blockchain games ‘the future of our industry’
- 9th – 11th : Discords faces backlashes over the integration of blockchain and cryptos
- 16th : Xbox chief wary of « exploitive » NFT gaming project
- 5th : A better Ubisoft launches a new petition as the group considers their key demands have not been adressed.
- https://twitter.com/ABetterUbisoft/status/1456579840409284611?s=20&t=ltZ4tOhBRkNVeycQE_HciA
- 6th : journalists call out one again representations of transness in Cyberpunk2077
- 8th : Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 being removed from shopfronts over historical footage.
- 4th – 11th : The Global chip shortage makes everyone crazy.
- 4th : a literal truck heist over GPUs did just happen
- 11th : Global shortage of semi-conductors obliges Sony to cut PS5 production.
- 11th : Call Of Duty faces backlashes over its representation of World War 2
- 12th – 15th : The release of GTA trilogy triggers many crisis
- content : https://kotaku.com/classic-mods-and-old-gta-games-didn-t-need-to-die-for-t-1848050135
- content : https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/gta-trilogy-chaos-continues-as-hot-coffee-sex-files-reportedly-uncovered/
- rough launch : https://www.ign.com/articles/gta-trilogy-rough-launch-graphics-remaster-offline
- The rain : https://kotaku.com/gta-trilogy-pours-rain-so-hard-it-s-nearly-unplayable-1848048162
- no update : https://kotaku.com/three-days-later-remastered-gta-trilogy-still-unplayab-1848055316
- Modders fixed the rain : https://kotaku.com/modders-not-rockstar-have-fixed-the-gta-trilogy-s-ugl-1848057994
- 15th : Call Of Duty removes Quran pages because the depiction is disrescpectful
- 16th – 24th : new report at ABK updates the crisis
- 16th : Kotick knew for years the problems of sexual harrassment and misconduct at ABK.
- 16th : Calls for Bobby Kotick’s resignation intensify as employees stage walkout.
- 16th : Journalists ask for Kotick’s resignation.
- 16th : First woman co-head Jennifer Oneal resigns.
- 17th : A small group of Activision Blizzard shareholders joins call for CEO Bobby Kotick’s resignation.
- 17th : Playstation criticizes Activision’s reaction to the crisis.
- 17th : Employees underwhelmed by the news.
- 19th : Petition against Kotick.
- https://www.pcgamer.com/hundreds-of-activision-blizzard-employees-sign-petition-demanding-bobby-koticks-removal/
- 1200 signatures : https://kotaku.com/over-1200-activision-blizzard-employees-sign-petition-d-1848086536
- 1300 signatures : https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-18-more-than-700-activision-blizzard-staff-and-contractors-request-koticks-exit
- 1600 signatures : https://www.pcgamer.com/hundreds-of-activision-blizzard-employees-sign-petition-demanding-bobby-koticks-removal/
- 19th : Girls Who Code stops partnership with ABK.
- 20th : Recap of the context by french journalists.
- 22nd : Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Will ‘Consider’ Quitting If He Can’t ‘Fix’ Company’s Culture.
- 23rd : Nintendo internally adresses ABK crisis.
- 23rd : ABK forms a Workplace Responsability Committee way too late.
- 24st : A recap about all misconducts of Kotick.
- 20th : conflict of release between Call Of Duty new map and Halo Infinite.
- 21th : Battlefield becomes the worst-reviewed game in Steam history.
- 23rd : gender discrimation at Playstation goes public.
- 26th : A woman comits fraud to spend on a gambling game.
- 26th : A man comits fraud for re-selling consoles that were for delivery.
- 30th : A man gets shot for trying to sell his ps5.
- 30th : a crypto game company is obliged to recreate its entire crypto game because blockchain-based game cannot be patched, issuing new tokens.
December
- 1st : A fund starts to help Jisu paying legal fees and restart the crisis about the 50 allegations of sexual misconducts within the Super Smash Bros community.
- .1st : Media highlights the fact Battlefield 2042 lost its majority of its players
- 1st : Government pressures ABK, threatening its profits.
- 2nd : Lies Of P developpers have to explain their game is not a « souls-game ».
- 2nd : French sumup about Kotick as a controversed figure in the game industry.
- 2nd : « we bleed blue », Gamekult published a new investigation about the closure of Blizzard Versailles.
- 3rd : Game Awards criticized for not taking sides about ABK.
- 4st : ABK laids off a number of QA Testers at Raven.
- 7th : Vtubers start selling NFTs.
- 7th : Attorney representing a Blizzard Employee victim of secual harassment organises a press conference and its announce is mass spread.
- 7th – 24th : Ubisoft launches Quartz, triggering a new crisis about video game business models.
- 7th : Befouling own games.
- 7th : Terms of uses are like a normal store’s.
- 8th : audiences share knowledge about the NFT discourse.
- 12th : Ubisoft first NFTs « make no sense » accordinf to Ars Technica.
- 12th : Ubisoft criticized for asking 600h of playing Breakpoint to get a NFT.
- 14th : Solidaires Informatique Jeu vidéo publishes a paper against NFTs and blockchain.
- 17th : Ubisoft Boss Tells Employees That NFTs Are Just The Beginning
- 20th : No one really buys Ubisoft NFTs.
- 24th : NFTs are highly being criticized by gamers and they are the biggest controversy the game industry faced about business models, Bloomberg argues.
- 7th : Following the Laid Off of QA Testers, Activision-Blizzard QA walkout spreads to other studios.
- 8th : Kickstarter goes on blockchain but can’t explain why.
- 8th : Solidaires Informatiques critics Ubisoft for work condition an low wages.
- https://twitter.com/SolInfoJeuVideo/status/1468707502221049860?s=20&t=ltZ4tOhBRkNVeycQE_HciA
- 9th : Former Sony Playstation exec under investigation after appearing in pedo sting video.
- 9th : ABK workers announce work stoppage and a strike fund. In the same time, steps are taken towards unionization.
- 10th : Bungie’s work conditions are made public through investigations that shows toxic masculinity and that high executive were harassing and creating toxic work conditions.
- 10th : discussions start about streaming as a job after famous streamer said it was not.
- 10th : ABK discourages workers to unionize, gets criticized.
- 12th : ADHD meds used for esports.
- 12th : links between cryptos and gambling.
- 12th : Peter Molyneux’s next game is a ‘blockchain business sim’ featuring NFTs.
- 13th : Square Enix backlashed for the price of FF7R on PCs.
- 14th : suspected crypto mining farm burns in Thailand.
- 14th : Streamer on Twitch say « cracker », people discuss to know if it is a racial slur.
- 15th : Roblox accused (by People Make Games) of putting minors in dangers.
- 15th : Vodeo Games become the first american company to get an union ,which is great according to them.
- 16th : Bungie HR steps down.
- 16th : journalists publish a series about game companies making excuses for anything.
- 17th : The studio behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R.S backtracks from NFTs and blockchain.
- 17th : Metaverse is discussed for energy consumption and infrastructure costs.
- 18th : FF7R doesn’t have the graphic settings expected for a 70$ PC game (and is a major disappointment).
- 21th : Ubisoft faces a « Great Exodus ».
- 21th : the year 2021 in disappointments.
- 22th : Discord gets hacked, 150 000$ is stolen from users through NFT scam.
- 26th : NFTs are considered worse than Ponzi scheme.
- 28th : links between Blizzard and right wings highlighted, former employee Geoff fraizer outing transpersons and spouting hateness on discord.
- https://www.resetera.com/threads/geoff-frazier-of-blizzard-part-of-right-wing-of-gaming-server-outing-trans-employees-more.532426/
- https://www.inputmag.com/gaming/former-longtime-blizzard-employee-made-hateful-discriminatory-remarks
- https://kotaku.com/longtime-blizzard-employee-spouted-hateful-garbage-on-d-1848276468
- 28th : Riots agrees to pay 11 millions $ in settlement following 2018 class-action discrimination lawsuit
- 29th : Roblox CEO outed for using completely legal, completely ridiculous tax dodge.
Finally ! The Crisis Tracker is done for 2021 ! I won’t be making a new one for 2022 because I’m currently writing my PHD thesis. Nonetheless, academic papers and other productions about the crisis tracker should follow ! Stay tuned.
esteban grine, 2022.