Embattled media startup Ozy Media threw in the towel on Friday afternoon, announcing that it would shut down. This comes less than a week after the New York Times first reported on securities fraud allegations, which was followed by a series of stories that shed a negative light on the company's business and management practices.
Why it matters: Ozy told Axios earlier this year that it had 75 full-time employees, all of whom are now out of a job.
Japanese games publisher Konami has issued a lengthy apology for the state of its new soccer/football game, which has been thrashed with negative reviews since its launch yesterday.
Why it matters: The company’s free-to-play “eFootball 2022” was supposed to revive Konami’s competition against rival EA, which launched its latest annual “FIFA” title today. Not this year, it seems.
The “Pokémon” series now has its biggest mobile hit since “Pokémon Go,” thanks to the massive launch of “Pokémon Unite,” a game whose announcement last year was met with derision from hardcore fans.
Why it matters: “Unite” is far from an underdog. It’s a flex by some of the most powerful companies and brands in gaming.
Tech giants, Facebook foremost, are learning a lesson politicians internalized decades ago: Bad news will always come out eventually, and it only gets worse the longer you sit on it.
Driving the news: Facebook spent Thursday fielding attacks from senators over its internal research into Instagram's negative impact on teen girls.
Facebook took volleys of criticism from senators Tuesday at a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on its research into Instagram's impact on young girls.
Driving the news: Several senators compared Facebook to Big Tobacco during the hearing, and pressed the company on what its internal research revealed and how it had responded.
A Bloomberg report claiming 11 game developers have access to Nintendo Switch 4K development kits is sparking confusion about the existence of the rumored Nintendo Switch Pro.
Driving the news: Bloomberg published a story yesterday in which it says that employees at the game companies, including Zynga, claim to have the dev kits.
"Destiny" developer Bungie will removethe controversial mandatory arbitration clause from its employee agreements as part of its increasing efforts to improve diversity and inclusion.
The details: CEO Pete Parsons outlined the company's efforts, which include a new chief people officer, a promise to review its hiring practices and better training processes.
The company's decision to eliminate mandatory arbitration was due to "the growing concern that arbitration may not be the fairest way to resolve employment complaints. "
"These pastfewmonths have been a sobering reminder for all of us as we hear and listen to the multitude of stories highlighting how good people across our industry have been mistreated," Parsons wrote.
Why it matters: Mandatory arbitration has become a contentious issue within the game industry, following scandals at companies like Riot and Activision Blizzard.
Forced arbitration favors companies over workers, according to Vox, because it "allows companies to hide misconduct that would otherwise be made public in court."
In 2019, workers at Riot staged a walkout in protest of the policy.
Employees at Activision Blizzard followed suit this year as part of an ongoing effort to change toxic practices within the company.
On Twitter, a group of Activision Blizzard employees known as the ABK Workers Alliance called Bungie's move "true leadership," adding "when will [Activision Blizzard] follow?"
What's next: The company still has "more work to do to fully live up to our values," Parsons adds.
"It is our responsibility to keep you safe, to earn your trust, to ensure you have supportive channels to share your experiences and to demonstrate through our actions that we hold everyone — at every level — to the highest standard of personal and professional behavior," Parsons wrote.
It is also creating a new inclusion club at Bungie focused on accessibility to improve how its games are designed.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) sent a letter to Microsoft and LinkedIn leadership on Thursday questioning why LinkedIn censored the profiles of U.S. journalists from the company's China-based platform this week, according to a letter obtained by Axios.
Driving the news: LinkedIn — which is owned by Microsoft — notified several U.S. journalists this week, including Axios' Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, that their accounts will no longer be viewable in China due to "prohibited content" on their profile.
Amazon, Google and Microsoft announced this morning that they, along with a number of other enterprise companies, have agreed on a series of principles on customer protection and data sovereignty to govern their cloud computing work.
Why it matters: The rare joint announcement shows the industry presenting a united front as regulators around the globe consider different approaches to issues ranging from where data is stored to how to handle requests from law enforcement.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The tech insider crowd partied here at Code Conference this week, but many couldn't shake the sense that the world's colossal problems are outrunning the breakthroughs their industry is promising.
The stage brimmed with talk of flying electric taxis and space tourism. Optimists flashed "we can fix that" smiles. But there wasn't enough tech-fueled bravado to lift the shadows: Runaway climate change. Misinformation-fueled erosion of democracy. And a planet where isolationism is rising as globalization falters.
LinkedIn blocked the profiles of several U.S. journalists from the company's China-based platform this week, citing "prohibited content." My account was one of the profiles affected.
Why it matters: LinkedIn is one of the only large American social media platforms to agree to the Chinese government's demands to censor content, and is tasking its own employees with restricting what users in China can see.
The Kremlin on Wednesday threatened to ban YouTube unless it reinstates two of Russian state-backed broadcaster RT's German-language channels that were deleted for violating COVID-19 misinformation guidelines.
Why it matters: The threat is the latest example of Russian officials going to extreme lengths to assert greater control over the internet. The channels were deleted by YouTube on Tuesday, one day before the online video giant announced it would terminate channels spreading vaccine misinformation.
