July 2022

All of the NFL players in Madden NFL 23 have ratings and you can freely look at them on EA's official site. Is Kenny Pickett ranked high enough at a 68? If you don't think so, you can call into Madden NFL's ratings adjustor hotline (at 689-278-3030) to recommend it go up or down. Thousands of people called in within the first day of the hotline launching, and from EA's snarky Twitter tone, it would appear most of them are complaints, likely about a beloved players rating being too low or a hated players rating being too high.

Shoutout to the thousands of fans who called into the #Madden23 Ratings Hotline yesterday to let us know they 𝓐𝓖𝓡𝓔𝓔 with our ratings☎️😉

— Madden NFL 23 (@EAMaddenNFL) July 29, 2022

According to Emma Waldren, Madden’s creator of content strategy and partnerships, over 1,000 people called in within just six hours.

1000 of you called the #Madden23 #RatingsAdjustor hotline in the first six hours 🤯

This week on All Things Nintendo, Brian welcomes Game Informer associate editor Jason Guisao to break down his review of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the massive role-playing game that hit Nintendo Switch today. Before that, the two get caught up on all the biggest Nintendo news from the last two weeks. The show ends with an RPG-focused Definitive Ranking topic before Jason gives his eShop Gem of the Week.

If you'd like to follow the people from this episode on Twitter, hit the following links: Brian Shea (@brianpshea), Jason Guisao (@Jason_Guisao)

The All Things Nintendo podcast is a weekly show where we can celebrate, discuss, and break down all the latest games, news, and announcements from the industry's most recognizable name. Each week, Brian is joined by different guests to talk about what's happening in the world of Nintendo. Along the way, they'll share personal stories, uncover hidden gems in the eShop, and even look back on the classics we all grew up with. A new episode hits every Friday!

Be sure to subscribe to All Things Nintendo on your favorite podcast platform. The show is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

The Mega Millions lottery is once again making headlines with a current jackpot worth $1.28 billion. It’s the kind of thing that’s nice to daydream about winning in-between scrolling TikTok and ignoring your boss, because of course you won’t win it. The chances are indistinguishable from zero. These jackpots are the…

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Anime as a medium has the power to cross physical and cultural barriers through its transformative stories and evocative art styles. To this day, legacy anime like Astro Boy, Akira, and Dragon Ball Z’s inspire modern popular media through their iconic characters and genre-defining stories.

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Today acclaimed third-party developer PMDG released its Boeing 737-600 for Microsoft Flight Simulator, and they had a surprise in store.

The surprise is the price: this advanced high-fidelity aircraft is available on the developer’s own store for $34.99, about 15 bucks less compared to the tentative price originally mentioned by PMDG a while ago.

Here’s what you’re getting in the package, and you can see what the aircraft looks like in the gallery at the bottom of the post.

Today third-party developers revealed new assets of upcoming add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator, while two airports have been released.

We start with new screenshots and a development update from DC Designs about the upcoming AV-8B Harrier II. The developer also confirmed that the aircraft will be released in September simultaneously on third-party stores and the official marketplace, including Xbox. Consequentially, the Phantom will be pushed toward Christmas.

“I have finally been able to spend nearly a full week on the Harrier’s cockpit, and have covered a lot of ground. Although I have also been involved in the on-going updates for my other aircraft, it’s been good to finally get cracking on the interior with some more detailing and new PBR texture work.

The Asobo pilot is a nice addition to the airplane, largely because with the correct use of nodes it’s possible to position the pilot’s hands and boots on the controls, and see them move as the stick, throttle and rudders move. Great fun and another step towards reality – I’d love them to add a “headless” VR-specific version to add to the immersion when using virtual reality headsets.

***Significant spoilers for Stranger Things Part 4 below***

Eddie Munson is easily the best part about Stranger Things 4. The character has become a beloved part of the fandom and actor Joseph Quinn has become a breakout star for his role. During the show, Eddie delivers an excellent performance where his character fights off flesh-eating bats with the power of metal.

Eddie Munson plays a face-melting rendition of Metallica’s song, Master of Puppets, during a critical scene in Stranger Things 4. The infectious energy and visceral power he brings to the screen was actually so impressive, it managed to catch the attention of Metallica themselves.

A few weeks ago, the band reacted to the scene, stating just how awesome it was. To prove how much they loved it, yesterday, Metallica paid tribute to Eddie’s iconic guitar solo in the show by adding his face to their live performance, which you can see below thanks to the Twitter account bestofjosephq.

Jujutsu Kaisen

Top 15 Popular Anime Series

If you’re on the hunt for great fights, solid visuals, and awesome characters, then Jujutsu Kaisen is just for you. Built on the backs of classic Shonen like Naruto and Neon Genesis Evangelion, the show follows Yuji Itadori, a goofy high school student who one day finds himself possessed by the evilest curse of all time, Sukuna.

Itadori is then given the choice of execution or hunting down the rest of Sukuna’s fingers and digesting them (I know, gross) in order to get rid of the evil curse for good. Despite the fact that he’ll still be executed once he gets them all, Yuji agrees, and an epic adventure that uncovers an entirely new world of spirits and curses begins.

The thing that really makes Jujutsu Kaisen so popular is how it manages to take all of the cliches of shonen and hone them into something really enjoyable. Even though it doesn’t have the deepest plot, the characters and story are written, how things are paced, and so much more make for a hell of a ride.

Jujutsu Kaisen is available on Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll.

One Punch Man

Top 15 Popular Anime Series

Cloud storage is a convenient method for saving and accessing files on any device, anywhere in the world. But cloud storage can also be expensive. After using up your free 15GB of storage on Google Drive, you can increase your limit via a subscription plan. While $20 per year for 100GB isn't too bad, that price can balloon if you need an ample amount of space. For instance, a 10TB storage plan costs $100 per month.

Thankfully, there are far more affordable options out there if you know where to look, and right now you can get a 10TB storage plan for Degoo Premium for only $80 with promo code SAVE20NOW. The best part of this deal? It's a lifetime plan, so you pay the fee once and the storage is yours forever.

The Steam Deck is a fantastic piece of hardware that is making the Switch, at the very least, look over its shoulder and raise an eyebrow. The Steam Deck may technically run more games and make them look and perform better than the Switch, but it does lack one important piece of hardware that makes the Switch magical: the ability to easily switch between playing in handheld mode and television mode. The Steam Deck is capable of doing this, but it does require some additional hardware not included in the Steam Deck package, which is where manufactures like JSAUX come in.

When the Steam Deck was announced, Valve showcased an optional dock alongside it, but that first-party hardware has been delayed indefinitely. JSAUX is not the only one to step in to offer an alternative, but it is among the first and it's a solid alternative to whatever Valve is preparing. We spent a little time with its aptly named USB-C 6-in-1 Multifunction Adapter and have generally been impressed.

August is almost here, and if you're looking for some new games to play on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC, there are some exciting titles on the horizon. Easily the biggest title out in a few weeks is Saints Row, a reimagining of the popular open-world franchise that takes the gangland sandbox back to its roots after the last number of games turned up the absurdity factor to 11.

On top of that, there's the delightfully charming and slightly disturbing Cult of the Lamb to look forward to, web-slinging on PC when Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered arrives, a roguelike golf game (yes), and a retro compilation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' greatest hits that's totally bodacious, dude. We've rounded up the full list below, and highlighted a few other games that will be headlining August, ranging from alien invasion remakes to a pesky cat that wants to terrorize your neat arrangement of stuff.

Two Point Campus (August 9)

Welcome to academia! Following on from the success of Two Point Hospital, Two Point Studios is moving to higher education for its next round of simulated strategy.

You'll be tasked with establishing a university that can pump out bright minds from its hallowed halls and maybe make a few bucks in the process to keep the establishment running. There'll be numerous challenges to overcome, but with the right faculties and unique strategies, you'll be able to create an institute that shapes minds and wins hearts with its quirky curriculum.

Kingdom Rush Vengeance TD+ has launched today for Apple Arcade.

Kingdom Rush Vengeance TD+ is a tower defense game where players face off against various enemies while training new heroes and unlocking new towers in-game. Players will have the chance to combine towers, abilities, and special powers to stop their enemies in their tracks.

In addition to Kingdom Rush Vengeance TD+ joining Apple Arcade, The Oregon Trail has been updated to be integrated with the Apple Watch app. With The Oregon Trail: StepTracker, players can launch the app, and their daily steps will be counted towards making the journey across the United States in-game.

Apple Arcade is a game subscription similar to Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus. Subscribers have to pay $5 a month, and in return, they get access to games such as Grindstone, Oceanhorn 2, Spire Blast, Angry Birds Reloaded, SP!NG, Crayola Create and Play+, and Cut the Rope Remastered. For apple users that are unsure if they want to subscribe or not, they can use a one-month free trial to test out as many games as they'd like.

For more mobile gaming news, check out these stories:

• Pokemon Go Details Its In-Person August Community Day Plans
• Today's Wordle Answer (#405) - July 29, 2022
• Genshin Impact 3.0 Teaser Reveals Several New Characters

Niantic has announced more details for its in-person meetups for the Pokemon Go August event, which will take place on August 13 from 11 PM to 2 PM local time. Players participating as a group during the event will be eligible to earn additional bonuses. Those unable to attend in-person meetups can still participate in the Galarian Zigzagoon Community Day worldwide.

As previously reported, the upcoming in-person event will feature the Galarian Zigzagoon. If it evolves into a Galarian Linoone during the event or five hours afterward, players will be rewarded with a Galarian Obstagoon that knows the charged attack Obstruct.

Very good news, folks. All people who currently have a reservation are guaranteed a Steam Deck by the end of the year. So if you're in Q3 or Q4, or were in the abyss beyond Q4, you'll get your order sooner than expected.

Everybody has also now been sorted in Q3 or Q4 tiers, with many reservations being brought up from Q3 to Q4.

As a reminder, Q3 is the July to September window. Q4 is the October to December window. You can check the details of your Steam reservation while logged in to your account.

Valve also says that new reservations made as of now will also get placed in Q4. Though that's not guaranteed if the number of new reservations exceed production capabilities.

Steam Deck comes in at three price points: 64GB for $400, 256GB for $529, 512GB (among other upgraded qualities) for $649. It's the perfect console to play Steam games on-the-go, especially if you have a massive backlog. Personally, I'd love to play my Steam games while lying down in a form of peak gamer laziness, so it's a joy to know the realization of this dream isn't too far off.

2K Sports has debuted the first gameplay footage for NBA 2K23, revealing what fans can expect in terms of visuals for this year's professional basketball game.

The video shows a variety of NBA and WNBA stars passing, shooting, and scoring in dramatic fashion, with flashy camera angles and cuts helping to make the game look very cinematic. Cover star Devin Booker, in particular, gets a lot of attention, as do the stars of the game's WNBA edition, Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird. Check out the trailer below.

Right now, all we have is the trailer--which looks good but lacks specifics about what exactly is new this year. 2K Sports mentioned that more gameplay details for NBA 2K23 will be released next week.

In terms of what we do know about updates and improvements from NBA 2K22, 2K has confirmed that Jordan Challenges are coming back this year. It's also been confirmed that the PC and Nintendo Switch versions of NBA 2K23 are not based on the current-generation version of the game.

For more, check out GameSpot's NBA 2K23 preorder guide. This includes information on the $150 Championship Edition, which comes with a 12-month membership to NBA League Pass.

Apex Legends Season 14: Hunted is just around the corner. After the recent release of the launch trailer, we know plenty about what to expect from the upcoming season--but Vantage, Season 14's debut legend, is worth a closer look.

Originally revealed in March 2022 via a massive leak, Vantage is a skilled sniper and an excellent hunter who grew up in isolation on Pàgos, an icy, deserted planet part of a system known as The Fringe Worlds. The Fringe Worlds are a series of planets that exist on the very edge of the Outlands and are not a part of Syndicate Space. Vantage's unusual upbringing makes her a unique character when it comes to both gameplay and lore. Here's everything we know about Apex Legends' newest character.

She has an unheard-of skillset

Vantage's abilities were posted online alongside those of the other future legends that were revealed in the March leak, but it wasn't clear how accurate the contents of the leak were at the time. While we haven't yet received official confirmation of Vantage's abilities, subsequent leaks--and more recently, the release of the Season 14 launch trailer--appear to confirm that Vantage's abilities are nearly identical to those that appeared in the original leak.

Based on datamining leaks and the events of the Season 14 Launch trailer, Vantage possesses the following abilities:

With the school year around the corner, it's just about time to start thinking about getting a new laptop. Depending on what you need it for, a brand-new model with the latest tech may not be necessary. If you're just looking for a laptop for general computing and school work, there's a deal right now that you should check out. This nearly pristine refurbished MacBook Air is only $420 right now. The discount applies to the 2013 Intel Core i5, 11-inch model. An 11-inch laptop is highly portable, especially when it's the slim MacBook Air.

While this refurbished MacBook Air is great for school, work, or everyday use, it’s not exactly a powerhouse by today's standards, and it's certainly not ideal for games. If you’re looking for something to run the latest games that won’t stretch your budget, check out our roundup of the best cheap gaming laptops of 2022. Most of these carry a larger price tag than this MacBook Air, but they’re a great option if you need something with a bit more punch.

Browse your preferred gaming platform's store page for 30 seconds and count the number of guns or knives you see in the various game tiles. Five? 10? Not zero, right? Because much of the games industry has been obsessed with violent conflict for decades now, a counter-culture of alternative games and game developers has emerged more recently to give fans a break from all the bloodlust and brooding anti-heroes. Thanks to a healthy indie scene, games of all sorts and made for all kinds of players are now better able to come to fruition. Not everyone cares to play yet another first-person shooter set to the backdrop of a futuristic war, 1960s Vietnam, or an alien invasion, which tends to be what the AAA space focuses on, and so-called wholesome or non-violent games have drawn in huge fanbases as a result.

For people seeking an often quainter virtual experience, these wholesome games--which today have gone from genre descriptor to full-on brand--are a welcome alternative. However, given the movement's intent to wash its hands of the messy glorification of violence so many mainstream games depict, its consistently poor depiction of nonhuman animals leaves so much to be desired. I believe this problem stems from a larger societal view toward animals that too often disregards their well-being even when it's not a zero-sum game with our own. If creators, promoters, or players really want to shed themselves of the violence the industry is fueled by, they ought not forget about the casual violence still depicted in even the otherwise most cheerful stories and settings.

It's looking likely that the story of World of Warcraft will jump forward in time following the events of Shadowlands, based on NPC dialogue in the alpha build of the upcoming Dragonflight expansion.

As documented by Wowhead, two conversations, one on the Horde side and one on the Alliance side, point towards "several years" passing between the end of Shadowlands and the beginning of Dragonflight, despite the "end" of the Shadowlands story having only taken place a few months ago following the release of patch 9.2. If you don't want potential story spoilers, best turn back now.

In Stormwind, human leaders Genn Greymane, Mathias Shaw, and Turalyon talk about the state of the Alliance, with Shaw mentioning the time skip and the fact that the king of Stormwind, Anduin, has not yet returned following his departure at the end of Shadowlands. Turalyon, it seems, is ruling the Alliance in his stead.

On the Horde side, Blood Elf leader Lor'themar converses with the Nightborne leader Thalysrra, remarking on how several years have gone by since the Horde's forces returned from the realms of death and the relative peace that has endured since then. It's then revealed that Lor'themar and Thalysrra have married in between the events of Shadowlands and Dragonflight, with the two bickering over who proposed to whom. Players in the game's community are a little salty about not being able to attend the wedding but are excited for the two Horde leaders nonetheless.

Fanatical is giving shoppers an 18% discount across nearly every full-priced game in its catalog. Simply use the promo code FANATICAL18 at checkout to cash in on the savings. It's not a one-time use coupon either. You can save 18% on every game you add to your cart. Beyond that, you can use another code (PAYDAYJUL22) to get 7% off all products site-wide--excluding a few bundles and preorders.

Friday 'Nite is a weekly Fortnite column in which Mark Delaney takes a closer look at current events in the wide world of Fortnite, with a special emphasis on the game's plot, characters, and lore.

It's almost August. At this time last year, the Fortnite Ariana Grande Rift Tour was pretty much already a publicly known fact thanks to leaks from one heck of a leaker. By August 1, 2021, we had the complete Rift Tour schedule straight from Epic Games. On similar schedules in years past, we'd also seen Travis Scott and Marshmello take the virtual stage in Epic's burgeoning metaverse.

But if you're waiting for a Fortnite concert for Summer 2022, as of right now, nothing is confirmed--it's not even concretely leaked yet, unlike last year's show. Instead, what we have are several whispers and maybe an explanation as to why a concert, if it's happening at all, is coming a bit later this year. Rounding up rumors pertaining to performers such as Billie Eilish, Juice Wrld, and Lady Gaga, here's everything we know so far about a Fortnite Summer 2022 concert.

Fortnite concert 2022 leaks and rumors

Everything we know about a Fortnite concert for this summer comes down to a wide variety of different leaks and rumors. They can't really be discussed in one breath because they have different points of origin, so let's break down the three major rumors one at a time, in the order in which they appeared online.

The Aya Neo Air, an alternative to Steam Deck that starts at $500, has finally started shipping to early adopters. The company hopes to have most preorders shipped out by the end of August, and it’s not too late to snag one with discounted, early bird pricing.

Hot Drop is GameSpot's weekly Apex Legends column, in which Jordan Ramée takes a closer look at Respawn's battle royale to provide additional insight into the game's evolution, as well as dive deeper into its episodic storytelling and characters.

Apex Legends Season 14 is fast approaching, scheduled to launch on August 9, and add Xiomara "Vantage" Contreras to the playable roster. It confirms my long-held theory that Vantage would be the next playable character after Newcastle. Seeing her added to the Apex Games should make me happy--I was right after all. But if I'm being honest, I now wish I had been wrong. As cool as Vantage seems, I've since discovered there's someone far more interesting: her mom.

As seen in Stories from the Outlands: Survive, Vantage has been stranded on the planet Pàgos for her entire life, trapped in the snowy tundra alongside her mother, Xenia Contreras. Though Vantage is led to believe that she and her mother are both native to Pàgos, her trip into the bowls of a crashed ship called the G.D.S. Vantage unveils a startling secret: Xenia was a prisoner aboard the vessel, with G.D.S. standing for Gaean Detention Ship.

May's growth in hours watched on Twitch may have been an aberration as the streaming service resumed its downward trend in June, according to StreamElements and Rainmaker.gg's monthly State of the Stream report.

Twitch posted 1.7 billion hours watched in June, down about 6% from 1.81 billion in May.

Twitch started the year with more than 2 billion hours watched on the service in January, but aside from May's performance, that number has been sliding since.

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The Steam Deck reservation queue will be taken care of quicker than expected, Valve announced today.

"Many of the supply chain shortfalls that affect Steam Deck are gradually clearing up, and we're continuing to ramp production, so we're able to produce more Decks faster than ever before," the company said.

As a result, Valve expects to have filled all existing reservations by the end of this year, with "many" orders that had been pegged for the fourth quarter moving up to the third quarter.

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A key manufacturing partner for Nintendo Switch revealed it is having issues procuring components.

Bloomberg reported that Osaka-based Hosiden Corp retracted its previously issued fiscal year sales forecast via a filing sent to the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday.

The company said a mix of currency volatility and uncertaining over the procurement of semiconductors means it is now unable to offer a reasonable projection for the full financial year.

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Perhaps the biggest news this week -- besides the lovely new version of this very website launching -- is that the US government is taking another swing at Meta on anti-trust issues.

QUOTE | "Instead of competing on the merits, Meta is trying to buy its way to the top. Meta already owns a best-selling virtual reality fitness app, and it had the capabilities to compete even more closely with Within's popular Supernatural app. But Meta chose to buy market position instead of earning it on the merits. This is an illegal acquisition, and we will pursue all appropriate relief." - Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition deputy director John Newman explains why the US regulator is suing to stop Meta's acquisition of Within.

Now, this is not the first time the FTC has tried to rain on Meta's parade. In 2020 it filed suit in cooperation with a number of states against Meta (then Facebook) over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, but that complaint was tossed with a judge ruling that it waited too long to challenge the 2012 and 2014 deals on anti-trust grounds.

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No company ever wants to report a year-on-year decline in revenues in what’s meant to be one of their growth businesses – and when the company in question is a major platform holder and one of the pillars of the whole industry, such a decline is sure to make people nervous.

Microsoft’s announcement this week that its Xbox numbers in the past quarter were down 7% year-on-year, with declines in revenue from both hardware (down 11%) and content and services (down 6%), is by no means in “the sky is falling” territory. Nonetheless, there will be plenty of speculation and concern over the extent to which the issues causing this decline are localised – both in terms of being localised to Microsoft specifically, and to this quarter specifically – versus being a warning sign for the industry’s broader performance in the months to come.

There’s no simple answer to that question because there’s no single factor that can be blamed for the entirety of Microsoft’s growth backtrack in this quarter. Rather, there’s a combination of factors at work here – some of which are indeed localised to one company and one time period, but others of which are a legitimate source of concern for the industry as a whole.

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Battlegrounds Mobile India, the country's version of PUBG, has been blocked by the Indian government.

As reported by Reuters, citing an Indian government source, the ban came from "national security concerns" around data sharing and mining from China as PUBG's developer, Krafton, is owned at 13.6% by Chinese tech giant Tencent.

The government invoked section 69A of its Information Technology Act to enforce the ban, which allows the government "to block public access to content in the interest of national security," Reuters said.

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Ashraf Ismail, the Assassin’s Creed creative director previously fired from Ubisoft Montreal following an investigation into misconduct, has resurfaced at Tencent.

Axios reported he is now serving as “a consulting creative director” for the Tencent-owned Timi Studios group, with the Chinese giant vouching for Ismail as he seeks a second chance.

“During our work with Ash, he has carried himself in a professional manner and has consistently shown an eagerness to learn and grow as both a team member and person,” a Timi spokesperson told Axios.

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Sony has released its first quarter results for the new financial year, showing a slight decline in gaming revenues.

The platform holder generated ¥604.1 billion ($4.5 billion) from its Game & Network Services division during the three months ended June 30, 2022, but rising costs and declining sales mean this was a 2% drop compared to the same quarter last year.

However, the company reported a rise in the number of PlayStation 5 units shipped and PlayStation Plus subscribers.

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Vox Media has laid off 39 staffers across the company due to economic uncertainty.

As reported by Variety, the media company's cuts included departments suchs as recruiting, sales, and publications such as games website Polygon.

In a memo obtained by Variety, Vox Media chief Jim Bankoff said that the decision to cut staff was caused by supply-chain issues reducing budgets for marketing and advertising.

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Loaded, a talent management and marketing company, announced that it will be opening a new studio, Open World.

As reported by Business Insider, the expansion will serve as a gaming consultancy business, Open World Solutions, to help marketers unfamiliar with games industry.

"So many non-endemic brands look at gaming and don't have that Rosetta Stone to really understand where their brand can fit into the milieu," said Niles Heron, Loaded's chief communications and culture officer.

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Bungie has cut back on communications with players through social channels, claiming employees at the firm have faced harassment and threats.

In a Reddit post, community manager dmg04 said that the harassment goes beyond "rude replies on Twitter or vague comments," and stated that there has been "real threats" towards the studio and people working within it.

As a result, employees at the Destiny 2 maker are temporarily pulling back from online conversations with players as the team plans ways to protect itself from such things in the future.

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Lisa Opie chose an interesting time to take the reins of Ubisoft Reflections and Ubisoft Leamington.

The former BBC exec joined last year in the wake of the 2020 allegations of abuse, discrimination and harassment, and amid Ubisoft’s many efforts to rectify the issues with its workplace culture and repair the damage to its reputation.

Moving from one industry to another is already a formidable task, but to do so when your new employer is undergoing intense scrutiny – a prominent example for an industry-wide crisis – is even more so.

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The games industry moves pretty fast, and there's a tendency for all involved to look constantly to what's next without so much worrying about what came before. That said, even an industry so entrenched in the now can learn from its past.

So to refresh our collective memory and perhaps offer some perspective on our field's history, GamesIndustry.biz runs this monthly feature highlighting happenings in gaming from exactly a decade ago.

A decade ago, the console industry was desperate for a shake-up.

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Diablo Immortal has surpassed $100 million in global player spending across the App Store and Google Play, two months after its release.

According to Sensor Tower, the title, which launched on June 1, hit the milestone in eight weeks, becoming one of the fastest mobile titles to do so.

Data from the firm revealed that Niantic’s Pokémon GO took around two weeks to hit the same figure, while Nintendo’s Fire Emblem Heroes took ten weeks.

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Concept Ventures announced today that it's launched a $60 million (£50 million) pre-seed fund known as The Fund.

Backed by the British Business Bank, the fund is one of the few pre-seed investments in the UK dedicated to gaming.

The Fund will also include a $36 million (£30 million) commitment from the British Business Bank's Enterprise Capital Funds program

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The development of Aspyr Media's remake of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic has been delayed indefinitely.

As reported by Bloomberg, the pause comes after the publisher fired both its art director Jason Minor and design director Brad Prince.

The remake was announced last year and has been in development for three years so far.

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Understanding how to gather interest for your game ahead of launch is a prime topic at every Develop:Brighton.

And at this year's edition of the conference, Twin Drums' founder and creative director Allan Cudicio delivered an inspiring example based on the studio's journey so far with Afro-fantasy MMORPG The Wagadu Chronicles, which has garnered interest in particular since a viral Twitter thread in January 2020.

"There are so many games out there, Steam every year is worse," Cudicio started. "That's why it's really important to think about traction before your game comes out. It's important to think about B2B as well. So not just customers, but also publishers, investors and other additional organisations you are going to be working with. That's something I started thinking of very early and it paid off."

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