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Several major game studios and the largest organization for international game developers explicitly or implicitly criticized today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling removing federal protections for abortion in America.

Why it matters: The games industry is showing an increasing willingness to make political statements — and deal with the pros and cons of taking a stand.

Details: “We believe that bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom are fundamental human rights,” read a tweet today from Sony PlayStation’s Santa Monica Studio, which is working on the expected blockbuster God of War: Ragnarök.

“Reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy are human rights,” read another, from Sony-owned, Burbank-headquartered Insomniac Games, which has made PlayStation’s flagship Spider-Man games.

“Today and every day, we believe that reproductive rights are human rights,” began a tweet from Paris-headquartered mega-publisher Ubisoft, which has large teams of employees in California and North Carolina.

The International Game Developers Association said it “condemns the decision.”

Between the lines: The statements echoed and amplified those shared by some game studios in May, when a draft of the court’s opinion leaked.

“We remain undeterred in our commitment to stand up for reproductive choice and liberty,” Bungie, which was vocal last month, stated today.

Victors muted: Any celebration of today’s decision among industry players was not visible during Axios’ initial sweep of online reactions.

The big picture: Today’s statements may not immediately and directly affect the games people play, but they are intended to help the people making those games.

The Sony Santa Monica statement, for example, vows to “support our team members in receiving access to the care they need.”

Bungie’s statement was coupled with a commitment to reimburse employees who need to go out of state for “essential health care needs.”

“We are taking this step to ensure our employees in states immediately affected by this decision remain covered,” a Bungie rep told Axios. “We will continue to monitor legislation in other states and take further steps as needed.”

The bottom line: Such comments make clear that the policy of these studios is to support access to abortion.

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Game studios publicly criticize Roe v. Wade ruling

The games industry is showing an increasing willingness to make political statements.

Roe v. Wade

Gaming

Several major game studios and the largest organization for international game developers explicitly or implicitly criticized today’s <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="U.S. Supreme Court ruling" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/05/03/abortion-supreme-court-roe-v-wade-live-updates?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosgaming&amp;stream=top" data-vars-content-id="29733cbc-35cd-48c4-a38c-a0ec5cc4f899" data-vars-headline="Game studios publicly criticize Roe v. Wade ruling" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/05/03/abortion-supreme-court-roe-v-wade-live-updates?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosgaming&amp;stream=top" target="_self">U.S. Supreme Court ruling</a> removing federal protections for abortion in America.Why it matters: The games industry is showing an increasing willingness to make political statements — and deal with the pros and cons of taking a stand.

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

Legendary video game company Atari turns 50 today, five decades after it was incorporated by co-founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in Sunnyvale, California.

Why it matters: Atari popularized video games as we know them, first in public, then in the home.

Atari’s 1972 Pong, ubiquitous in bars and restaurants, was the first commercially successful arcade machine, credited by IGN with bringing “video games out of the realm of computer science, out of university labs, and into places where 'real people' congregated.”

Its VCS console, also known as the Atari 2600, was similarly revolutionary, enrapturing players in the late 1970s and early '80s with the likes of Asteroids, Breakout, Missile Command and Taito’s massive Space Invaders.

Not just the box: the 2600’s joystick — square base, black stick, big red button — became a tech design icon.   

Yes, but: Atari soon began a decades-long slide, as its 2600 market collapsed beneath a glut of bad games like the notorious 1982 rush-job E.T.

The company has been a bit player in the industry ever since, releasing failed consoles like the 1990s Atari Jaguar, and switching corporate owners several times.

Atari’s current incarnation: a French-owned two-division enterprise.

One part is making games, including “recharged” versions of Centipede and other classics for PC and console (including its own newer version of the VCS). 

The other half of the current Atari makes blockchain products. 

A subtler legacy: In 1979, frustration by some Atari game makers who wanted better credit and pay led to the creation of an upstart developer-centric outfit called Activision.

Many of Axios Gaming’s readers wrote in to share their Atari memories. A sampling:

"My best girlfriend in school had an Atari that I pined after. We played endless hours of Pong, Asteroids, Frogger, Donkey Kong ... ah, a simpler time." — Jenn 

"I remember playing Track and Field on Atari so much with my friends that we’d lose skin from moving that joystick back and forth so fast, trying to make that dude run." — Peter

"I had some absurdly high score on Space Invaders. Had to play for like an hour or more to get it any higher. I would really focus on the game and one evening as I was completely in the zone my 2-year-old daughter walked up next to me (I didn't notice her) and she pulled out the cartridge. I honestly thought I was dying or having a stroke or some other life-altering experience." — William 

"Atari gave me my Silicon Valley tech career for all of two months, in 1976 … soldering switches for the Pong game. So for eight weeks, I sat with about five other workers at one of a half dozen or so rotating plywood tables in an industrial park building. We soldered all day long with two 15-minute coffee breaks and a 30-minute lunch, during which I ran. It was hardly glamorous and did not require any coding. But I gained a memorable taste of assembly line work, and a glimpse of a pioneering era." — Randall

Atari turns 50

Readers recall the glory of Space Invaders and the pain of Track & Field.

Black and brown video game console with a joystick controller attached

Photo: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Video games

Legendary video game company Atari turns 50 today, five decades after it was incorporated by co-founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in Sunnyvale, California.Why it matters: Atari popularized video games as we know them, first in public, then in the home.

June is winding down with mixed vibes about the Nintendo Switch’s remaining 2022 offerings.

Driving the news: Nintendo ran a “Nintendo Direct Mini” today, a showcase that requests tempered expectations right in its name.

The 26-minute video focused on third-party games, meaning Nintendo is nearing the end of June without fleshing out the rest of its first-party 2022 release schedule.

It usually announces its big games for the holiday season by mid-June, tied to the E3 show, which didn’t happen this year.

But many games from its third-party partners stood out today.

Harvestella — A mix of farming, socializing and fantasy combat from Square Enix, slated for Nov. 4.

Disney Dreamlight Valley — An apparent intersection of chill Animal Crossing gameplay and Disney characters, scheduled for an “early access” debut on Sept. 6.

Mario + Rabbids: Spark of Hope — The Ubisoft-made tactical combat crossover sequel announced last year, dated for Oct. 20.

Persona 5 Royal — The hit PlayStation 4 role-playing game now coming to Switch, Xbox and PC on Oct. 21.

Plus: The showcase revealed two intriguing 2023 games:

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes — a surreal-looking game from Simogo, makers of the acclaimed Sayanora Wild Hearts and Device 6.

Blanc — a hand-drawn, black-and-white game about a cub and fawn making their way through snowy landscapes

What’s next: Surely a big Nintendo announcement is coming at some point.

Nintendo’s penchant for releasing one or more big games each month from September through December suggests it still has more of its own 2022 creations to reveal.

Splatoon 3 is locked in for September, but October is open, November’s got a Pokémon and December has nothing … so far.

Sign up for the new Axios Gaming newsletter here.

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to show that Harvestella is expected to release on Nov. 4, not Sept. 4.

Nintendo keeps its own games secret as it showcases others

The company usually announces some big holiday games in June

Video game screenshot of a person in a medieval-style village at night, while large magical red flames shoot into the sky

June is winding down with mixed vibes about the Nintendo Switch’s remaining 2022 offerings.Driving the news: Nintendo ran a “Nintendo Direct Mini” today, a showcase that requests tempered expectations right in its name.

The upcoming video game Thirsty Suitors recently took top honors in the gaming category at the Tribeca Festival, but its lead developer Chandana Ekanayake says he's inspired by recognition of a different kind: players who can relate to its largely non-white characters.

Why it matters: Video game content, especially in story-driven adventures like Thirsty Suitors, typically centers on the experience of white or Japanese lead characters.

Thirsty Suitors is unabashedly about the experience of Jala, a woman who immigrated to the U.S. with her parents when she was a kid. She proceeds through the game skateboarding, battling her exes and trying to impress her mom with her cooking. 

It’s the work of Outerloop Games, a small but diverse team of game creators spread around the world whose focus, in their words, is to create “accessible games with depth about underrepresented cultures and themes.”

Details: Thirsty Suitors is a “role-playing game that has more adult relationships,” Ekanayake tells Axios.

Jala returns to her hometown in suburban Washington state and players immediately skateboard her through a dream-like romance quiz that helps establish some of her strengths and weaknesses in the game.

From there, the story proceeds one chapter-length day at a time, as she encounters her exes and fights them — not with the purpose to defeat them, but to reach some sort of relationship resolution.

The adventure is colorful, playful and atypical of most video games in that it doesn’t have evil bad guys: just friends, ex-lovers and family members with problems. 

Origins: The seed of Thirsty Suitors was planted in 2017, when Ekanayake saw a Netflix comedy special by Hasan Minhaj about growing up as a brown person in white America around 9/11. 

Ekanayake, who immigrated from Sri Lanka when he was 8 years old and grew up in Maryland, could relate. And he began wondering why there weren’t more stories, especially in games, about immigrants in America. 

What they’re saying: “I read every single comment, and I shouldn’t,” Ekanayake says, about user feedback to the game.

He sees the reactions from some who slam Thirsty Suitors as “woke.”

“But for every one of those, there are people saying, 'I see myself on screen,'" he says. That sends a clear message: “We’re doing the right thing.”

Go deeper: Video gaming's "harder road" to racial diversity

Award-winning Thirsty Suitors is a different kind of game

Thirsty Suitors recently took top honors in the gaming category at the Tribeca Festival.

Video game screenshot of a woman and a man in a magical-looking restaurant, facing off

The upcoming video game Thirsty Suitors recently took top honors in the gaming category at the Tribeca Festival, but its lead developer Chandana Ekanayake says he&#x27;s inspired by recognition of a different kind: players who can relate to its largely non-white characters.Why it matters: Video game content, especially in story-driven adventures like Thirsty Suitors, typically centers on the experience of white or Japanese lead characters.

Players who log into Ubisoft video game Riders Republic at some point in the coming months will discover that part of the extreme sports game’s virtual forest is on fire.

Driving the news: The in-game wildfire, which the publisher says won’t be announced in advance, is one of several initiatives video game companies are using to raise awareness about threats to the environment.

Many of those plans were showcased today by the Playing for the Planet Alliance, a consortium of game studios that formed in 2019 to work with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to promote green messaging through games.

The Ubisoft idea won a media-selected award at the Alliance's annual Green Game Jam, in which studios are invited to pitch ideas that can promote eco-friendly ideas to players.

Details: The Riders Republic plan, dubbed Phoenix, is designed to shock players over the impact of uncontrolled fires. 

When players log in, they’ll see that the in-game sky has turned orange and their character is wearing a gas mask, according to a description of the effort posted by Ubisoft. 

Sections of the game’s map, which is set across the Western U.S., will be blocked off from players. The idea is that nearby fires make it impossible to breathe there.

Players will then be able to reduce the spread of the fire through in-game activities during a “short and intense live event.”

More efforts: Many game jam efforts involved planting trees in real life, an action tied to in-game accomplishments in Sony’s Horizon Forbidden West, Wooga’s June’s Journey and PixelFederation’s Port City Ship Tycoon. 

Other initiatives feature tree-themed video game levels in games as disparate as Pac-Man and Total War: Warhammer 3.

The UNEP’s top pick for the jam was an in-game event in Supercell’s popular mobile title Hay Day. It focuses on teaching players about regenerative farming that avoids the use of toxic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.

Between the lines: The jam’s projects are all realizable but also quite polite, focusing on the science of ecological problems without pointing fingers at the people or policies responsible for climate crisis.

On the edgier side is Imagine Earth, a planetary colonization game about trying to establish a healthy world and protect it from environmental collapse brought on by corporate recklessness and failed regulation.

The big picture: Game companies big and small are increasingly vocal about environmental causes. 

Larger corporations such as EA and Activision have begun listing climate change as a risk to their business, while Ubisoft and others now regularly report their emissions — if not yet identifying successful ways to significantly drop them.

It’s unclear how impactful in-game messages are, but they're now a staple of game studios who say they care about being Green.

Ubisoft plans in-game forest fire to highlight climate issues

Part of a UN-backed effort to highlight climate problems through games

Video game screenshot of a dirt-bike and its rider in mid-air in front of a purple sky

Players who log into Ubisoft video game Riders Republic at some point in the coming months will discover that part of the extreme sports game’s virtual forest is on fire.Driving the news: The in-game wildfire, which the publisher says won’t be announced in advance, is one of several initiatives video game companies are using to raise awareness about threats to the environment.

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Stories

Ubisoft plans in-game forest fire to highlight climate issues

Award-winning Thirsty Suitors is a different kind of game

Nintendo keeps its own games secret as it showcases others

Atari turns 50

Game studios publicly criticize Roe v. Wade ruling