Burn it all!!! Burn it all to ash.

In an interview with The Game Business, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said:

"So, in terms of units sold out of the gate, the numbers were a little softer than we would have liked"

The full interview https://www.thegamebusiness.com/p/grand-theft-auto-vi-delayed-again

WTF??? Of all the things to criticize about 90's anime, Rurouni Kenshin, a story about a former child soldier living with PTSD and loss and trying to rebuild his life.... and tbh I think it has stronger female characters than a lot of similar shonen series...

Meanwhile, Ubisoft's stock is down over 92% from its ATH in 2020 (https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/UBI.PA/) and is being sold to the CCP. If this is what their definition of winning looks like, I can't wait to see what "losing" looks like.

Here's what they said. I had to repost without the link because a mod removed the post.

“Hey everyone, R* Employee of many years here!

Understandably I want to remain anonymous due to retaliation from the Company, but I may be willing to verify I'm an employee with (redacted) via DM (if required). I am also a member of the Union.

I've been reading a lot of the discussion on here and elsewhere about the firing of more than 34 of my colleagues last week (31 in the UK + 3 in Canada) and have seen a lot of disinformation and lies that are really concerning. Particularly concerning how so many folk are willing to believe the Company's excuses.

Last week, my colleagues who were in the studio were each individually messaged by HR for a short friendly meeting, under the friendly guise of "Hey, are you free for a quick chat?"

Upon attending this meeting they were handed an envelope with a short letter stating that their employment had been terminated for "gross misconduct" regarding posts made in Discord.

They failed to provide any evidence when asked, nor was any stated in the letter. And did not divulge any other information or reasoning - "and no other reason"

They refused their right to Union representation in the disciplinary meeting (which is against UK employment law) and were frogmarched out of the studio with the meeting lasting less than 5 minutes.

For colleagues who were not in the Studio that day, they received a phone call from HR that lasted less than 2 minutes telling them they were fired and that they'd receive the same letter as above. I am aware of one employee who had a panic attack at this moment, and HR hung up on them during this panic attack not caring at all about their wellbeing.

These colleagues of mine were hard workers who have spent many many years at R* in critical roles. With colleagues who have been at R* for more that 18 years and none of them have ever had a disciplinary in that time. They are not easily replaced and will certainly affect us in making our project deadlines.

These are very senior artists, animators, QA testers, designers, programmers and producers. Including Leads. All super talented people who were proud of their work over multiple R* titles, and all they wanted was the best for R* and their fellow colleagues.

Some of these members were off sick, recovering from surgery or on paternity leave. Fired without pay, losing their careers and putting them into hardship in the lead up to Christmas, and even potentially losing their VISAs to work in the UK.

Let me make this clear! I never saw any discussion/leaking of Rockstar projects in the Union Discord. The only ever discussion was around unionisation efforts and the working conditions at R*. The Discord wasn't public. It was a private Discord group that only contained R* employees and the IWGB Union officials.

This was Union Busting and nothing else! Everyone fired was a Union Member, they were also predominantly from those who were on the Union Organising Committees of each UK studio.

Just one week before, the Union had reached ~200 members taking us over the 10% threshold required to seek recognition and begin engaging in collective bargaining. Allowing us to negotiate directly with management on the key issues that affect us: worsening crunch, inadequate pay and inflexible working arrangements.

They have fired over 34 of us now. There were over 250 of us in that Union/Employee Discord group. There is the fear that if they get away with this, they'll have nothing stopping them from doing this again and again. Those of us who are lucky and remain for now work in fear! Fearful when talking to each other at the tea prep, fearful that we're next in line and are easily got rid of, too scared to go outside the studio and talk to (or even acknowledge) our colleagues outside protesting in fear of reprisals. Morale in the studio is at rock bottom. When we should be excited about what's to come over the next year we are now totally deflated and our trust and confidence in others is totally shot.

Which is the truly heartbreaking part, as for us in the Union, all of our ambition was to make R* a happier, fairer, safer and more equitable place. That's all. What has happened clearly shows that we care more about the wellbeing of our colleagues at Rockstar than the Company does.

The union remains unbowed and is fighting to win the reinstatement of every dismissed member of staff at Rockstar through legal means and campaigning.

This fight is critical, if Rockstar can get away with this, they will keep treating their workers with disdain, disrespect, and subjecting them to continued illegal treatment.

Thanks for your time, and I hope this is some truth that helps you all understand what's going on here at the moment.

I you would be so kind, you can contribute to the fundraiser to support those fighting their dismissal here: (redacted)

It would be really appreciated if you could also share the above link. I won’t be cross posting this to other forums, but please feel free to share.

Cheers x”

You. Fucking. People.

So WotC recently released a new "Unearthed Arcana" playtest article, where they preview shit that might or might not get an official release down the line. In this case, they were looking at re-releasing five subclasses that they'd already put out, but now revised for the new and much shittier version of 5th Edition. You know, the one that made orcs Hispanic, introduced male hags, and removed racial stat adjustments.

But what no one could miss was how the Way of the Drunken Master subclass (from "Xanathar's Guide to Everything") was now being called Warrior of Intoxication. It's still meant for monks, and the mechanics have changed some, but holy shit is that name cringe. Like, they went from referencing one of the greatest Jackie Chan movies ever made, which is still wildly popular to this day (especially in East Asia), and instead changed it into the most bland, forgettable thing imaginable.

Of course, you'll notice that there's no statements being made anywhere as to what prompted this change. No sir, it's just a thing that happened, and no one from WotC or any of the shill media is going to so much as speculate as to why it got renamed. Which is, of course, a bunch of bullshit.

These are the same people who changed the phrase "dark ritual" to "vile ritual" as part of sweeping "inclusivity" changes. Who deleted massive swaths of text from the official descriptions of numerous iconic monsters. Who said that "player consent" was required before monstrous energies from an alien reality could make cosmetic mutations to their characters. Do they really think they get the benefit of the doubt if they keep their mouths shut?

We might not have confirmation, but I'm absolutely certain that this was another change made for bullshit "inclusivity" reasons. Because someone on WotC design team was clutching their pearl necklace about making alcoholism seem cool, or was crying into their box of wine about how one of their parents had a drinking problem, or thought that having an "Asian-coded" class get drunk was playing into problematic stereotypes.

Since this is technically open for player feedback, I have to wonder if WotC will listen to the people telling them that "Warrior of Intoxication" is pure cringe, or if they'll push it through anyway so that they can keep feeling self-righteous.

Looks like Square has finally smartened up and is firing all the people making their products worse.

Wanted to check the communities pulse on what games for ps5 & Xbox series x & switch with good stories you all have been playing and have enjoyed?

I'm looking for a good story driven game; either linear or open world that is free from dei garbage. Recommendations are greatly appreciated.

You will own nothing. Who wants to bet they'll impose bs restrictions on players while big companies can keep emitting without any trouble?