Stack Ranking, Redfall, and Forspoken

We’ve got stacked ranking at Activision Blizzard, Minecraft Legends, Hi-Fi Rush, Redfall, Forspoken, and Fox News is upset that your XBOX is going woke!

The Communications Workers of America has decided to drop it’s request for a union vote at game studio Proletariat (owned by Activision Blizzard), claiming the CEO Seth Sivak has made "making a free and fair election impossible" by using “confrontational tactics” when speaking on the matter with his employees. - Article by PCGamer

Activision Blizzard team management has been forced to use a “Stacked Ranking” system for employee interviews, ensuring they’re reviewed on a bell curve. This ensures there are poorly reviewed or in the terms at Activision Blizzard: “developing” status. Management at Activision Blizzard are speaking out against stacked ranking, claiming it leads to employee sabotage, rearranging of teams to game the stacked ranking system, and creates a toxic work environment. One member of the management team, and Activision Blizzard veteran Brian Birmingham has recently gone to Twitter to give his version of events, including a history of the company leading up to this new ranking system. Brian Birmingham has been terminated while vocally protesting the system. - Articles by Kotaku, PC Gamer, and WoWHead

The XBOX & Bethesda Developer_Direct has come and gone. What it left behind is several games, and new content for existing games! The showcase gave us Minecraft Legends, new Forza Motorsport, Hi-Fi Rush, The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrum (new content for ESO), and a real good look at long-awaited Redfall!

Minecraft Legends - Discover the mysteries of Minecraft Legends, a new action strategy game. Explore a gentle land of rich resources and lush biomes on the brink of destruction. The ravaging piglins have arrived, and it’s up to you to inspire your allies and lead them in strategic battles to save the Overworld! - (Mojang Studios, Blackbird Interactive, April 18th, 2023)

Forza Motorsport - Automotive entertainment re-imagined for a new generation. - (Xbox Game Studios, 2023) 

Hi-Fi RUSH - Feel the beat as wannabe rockstar Chai and his ragtag team fight against an evil megacorp with raucous rhythm combat! From Tango Gameworks comes Hi-Fi RUSH, an all-new action game where the world syncs to the music. - (Tango Gameworks, Available Now)

The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom - Traverse the Telvanni Peninsula in Morrowind and preserve secrets ascribed to the unfathomable realms of Apocrypha. Unlock the runic power of a brand-new class - the Arcanist - and fight to uphold reality itself. - (ZeniMax Online Studios, June 5th 2023)

Redfall - The town of Redfall is under siege by a legion of vampires who have cut the island off from the outside world. Trapped with a handful of survivors, slay alone or squad up in open-world FPS action. - (Arkane Austin, May 1st 2023)

The Xbox is now “woke” according to Fox News show Fox and Friends, and Texas state senator Ted Cruz. What a shit-show. - Article by VICE