Making a comeback: Roberta Williams, whose pioneering design work helped popularize adventure games like King’s Quest in the 1980s through a company she co-founded with husband Ken.

Driving the news: Roberta and Ken are working with a team of more than a dozen developers to remake a 1970s classic that inspired them, Colossal Cave Adventure.

• The new Colossal Cave 3D is designed for careful, cerebral play as the player explores caves, meets colorful characters, searches for treasure and solves puzzles.
• It will be playable in virtual reality, with a non-VR version in development as well.

What they’re saying: “It’s been interesting to see if we could do it, if after 25 years just jump right back in again,” Roberta told Axios during an in-person interview at the Game Developers Conference last month.

The details: The new project emerged over the past year, as Ken sought projects to alleviate boredom during the pandemic.

• He wrote a book about the early days of Sierra, the influential studio he co-founded with Roberta.
• That led to trying to learn the game creation toolset Unity, a partnership on a small project with developer Marcus Mera, and eventually a successful effort to woo Roberta into the fold.

Between the lines: The Williamses have been on a long break from the gaming industry.

• They were gaming superstars three decades ago — Roberta for leading the design of hit games and Ken for steering publisher Sierra On-Line.
• They quit the industry after selling the company in 1996. “I was kind of depressed for a year, trying to figure out who I was,” Roberta says. She said she missed making games.

The couple spent much of the next decade on a different journey: circumnavigating the world in a boat, starting in Seattle, sailing up to Alaska, crossing the Bering Sea to Siberia and then traveling down to Japan.

• Roberta said they “cheated” and avoided going around India and Africa, out of concerns over pirates. Instead, they had their boat shipped to Turkey and then spent five years crossing the Mediterranean.
• They didn’t circle the planet in one go, docking their boat at marinas and returning to it when they were ready to continue.
• All the while, they got calls to return to gaming, but Roberta said they were happy to be on their new voyage.

What’s next: The boat is docked and development is moving along, with Ken predicting summer release and Roberta expecting fall.

• Ken confesses initial nervousness about people’s expectations for a new Williams game.
• “For a while, I thought maybe we have to release under a pseudonym,” he said.
• But they’re putting their names on it — and their money behind it — fully funding the project under the banner Cygnus Entertainment.

A federal judge dismissed much of a former Sony PlayStation employee's gender discrimination lawsuit against the gaming giant on Thursday but is giving her an opportunity to make a stronger case.

Driving the news: In a 20-page order, U.S. magistrate judge Laurel Beeler dismissed 10 of ex-worker Emma Majo's 13 claims without prejudice, including those focused on pay discrimination and harassment.

• Majo can amend those claims and try again, but will have to rebound from a ruling that says she hadn't stated enough details to make her case, particularly regarding alleged violations of the Equal Pay Act.
• The judge ruled that Majo can continue to sue Sony over three claims involving wrongful termination and violation of whistleblower protections.

Majo, a former IT security analyst, filed suit in November, saying she was fired in 2021 after submitting a gender bias complaint to the company.

• Sony had discriminated against female employees for years, she said, paying them less and subjecting them "to a work culture predominated by men."
• In February, Sony's lawyers denied the claims and asked the court to dismiss the whole suit.

Yes, but: This legal fight may still get bigger.

• Majo wants to turn her suit into a class action claim on behalf of women who've worked for PlayStation, and the judge denied Sony's efforts to strike that.
• Beeler cited declarations added to Majo's suit in March from eight other women, current and former employees of PlayStation.
• Those filings were full of claims of sexist work practices at PlayStation, and the judge noted that the declarations "may yield new allegations."
• Sony had said it took those women's claims seriously and had addressed or planned to address them.

What's next: Majo has 28 days to file an amended complaint.

We've got a notable week coming up, if you're an Activision watcher or if you've been waiting on some notable early access indie games to finally get their full 1.0 release.

Saturday and Sunday, April 23 & 24

• For esports fans, we recommend a skim of Juked's handy calendar.
• The PAX East convention continues through Sunday.

Monday, April 25

• Activision reports quarterly earnings.

Tuesday, April 26

• Early access tactical role-playing game King Arthur: Knight's Tale (PC) gets a full release.

Wednesday, April 27

• The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe (PC, console) is released.

Thursday, April 28

• The acclaimed and peaceful early access city-building game Dorfromantik (PC) gets a full release, as does Rogue Legacy 2 (PC, Xbox).
• Activision shareholders vote on whether to approve a sale to Microsoft.

Friday, April 29

• Wii Sports successor Nintendo Switch Sports (Switch) is released.

👀 The Nintendo contractor who filed a labor complaint after being fired had previously asked about unions in a company meeting. That's according to an investigation by Kotaku, which cited four sources familiar with the matter.

• Yesterday, a Nintendo rep told Axios that the contractor was dismissed solely for leaking confidential information and that it was unaware of any unionization attempts.

💰 Mergers, acquisitions and investment in gaming topped $98 billion in the first quarter of 2022. Aided by the mammoth Microsoft bid for Activision, that total topped all of 2021, according to the latest global gaming deals report by Drake Star.

• $1.2 billion was raised for blockchain and NFT gaming, the report notes.

💦 Nintendo says Splatoon 3, the latest in one of its most popular online franchises, will release for the Switch on Sept. 9.

🎮 A sequel to the acclaimed story-driven spin-off Tales from the Borderlands will be released later this year, Borderlands studio Gearbox announced.

Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Repair Center Was Constantly Overwhelmed, Claims Former Supervisor [Sisi Jiang, Kotaku]

According to our source, who Kotaku has independently confirmed worked at a high level within the repair shop, the faulty design of the hardware was felt most acutely by those tasked with fixing the hundreds of controllers that flooded in each day. They said that “easily thousands of Joy-Cons were coming through each week.” United Radio confirmed over the phone that they handle Switch repairs, but the customer-facing process goes through Nintendo. United Radio relied on temporary employees that were supplied through Aerotek, a staffing company. The former supervisor said: “We ended up having to set up an entire new workspace just for Joy-Con repair.”

Let's wind the week down with an old photo.

• This is from a PlayStation promotional event I attended in July 2011, back when the PS Vita portable was still a priority for the company (and when I had more hair).
• The Vita wasn't really that big of course. But maybe it should have been.