Back in 2015, Square Enix had stated that the remake of Final Fantasy VII would be released episodically. However, Square had been relatively silent despite multiple teasers being released until last night. Square is reconfirming that Final Fantasy VII Remake will be released episodically. This may lead to each episode being each disc for the PlayStation One release. That would mean three episodes.
Stated at the very end of that game will indeed still be split into parts (分作) for those who were still doubting (not that I think many were).
— Netto the 吐露非狩フルーツPønch侍G (@hansuramu) May 10, 2019
It’s pretty disappointing to hear the game is being released as episodes because the game has been under development for so long. This may be the case if Tetsuya Nomura and Square Enix have been consistently changing the game’s direction similar to Final Fantasy XV. The trailer shown at the PlayStation State of Play only showed the beginning of Final Fantasy VII which may be an indication that they only finished the 1/3 of the story.
Final Fantasy VII finally has a new trailer showing gameplay, the voice acting for Cloud, Barret, and Aerith. It isn’t much as this is the first 25 minutes of the game in general. More announcements will be held in June.
Electronic Arts Access subscription service is coming to PlayStation starting in July. It cost $4.99 a month or $29.99 for the whole year. If you pay for the subscription, you’ll have access to various EA title, 10% off new digital purchases, and early access to their demos. It was only on Xbox and PC because PlayStation didn’t want other gaming subscription services on their devices that weren’t PlayStation provided.
Why is this important?
EA Access coming to PlayStation are signs that Sony is relaxing on their isolation policies. Many players are familiar with PlayStation not having cross-platforming capabilities for a majority of the games. Many players complained at Sony, especially after Nintendo and Microsoft announced cross-play between the platforms for Fortnite but Sony had not. Sony has since announced crossplay for Fortnite in September. With Sony lessening their restrictions, this may lead to the PlayStation having different subscription services or more open crossplay games.
Riot Games (League of Legends) employees are planning to have a Walkout today from 2 – 4 pm regarding forced arbitrations. Arbitrations mean revolving disputes outside the courtroom. Last year, Riot faced 5 different lawsuits by current and former employees that stated the company had violated the California Equal Pay Act and more. Kotaku had written an article regarding interviews with Riot’s work culture of widespread and endemic sexism at the company, manifesting in Riot’s hiring practices, promotion strategies, and wider culture (Kotaku).
In April, Riot filed a notion to block two of lawsuits and have the employees signed arbitration agreements, which waived their rights to a jury trial against them. News of the arbitration was heard amongst the employees. Angered, employees organized a walkout and Riot had a world-wide company meeting to hopefully address the issues. They announced that incoming employees are allowed to opt out of forced arbitration for harassment suits and maybe for current employees as well (Riot).
According to an anonymous employee, 100 employees are expected to walkout. It’s actually the first walkout in the gaming industry. Riot has been slowly making changes to the company culture, such as hiring their first Chief Diversity Office, Angela Roseboro, in March.
Angela Roseboro
According to an email from Riot Games’ employees, they are supporting the walkout. He stated:
“We have asked all managers to make every accommodation to allow Rioters to participate during the 2-4pm window, including freeing up meeting times. We respect Rioters who choose to walkout today and will not tolerate retaliation of any kind as a result of participating (or not).” Employees can rest easy knowing they will not be fired for walking out. The walkout is being supported by the Game Workers Union, an organization of game workers who are organizing unions in the gaming industry.
According to some Riot employees, their biggest fear is “leadership does not budge from their current position and continues to maintain that there will be a ‘future commitment’ about current Rioters” (Kotaku).
Hopefully, Riot will be making changes soon for the employees and fix their company culture. I am a fan of League of Legends to this day and I wish the best for all of the employees at Riot. I think it’s important we support the developers and the employees who want a good working environment; especially if you’re a fan of the games they create.
The Gaming News Corner 