This week in gaming: Respawn adds a firing range to Apex Legends, Shuhei Yoshida steps down, Jeff Kaplan isn’t a fan of Blizzard’s actions, and more!
In the spirit of keeping our readers up to date with what’s happening in the video game industry, the Doublejump Digest is a brief collection of the major news stories from the past week. Keep an eye out for the Digest every Sunday night, and head on into the archive for news from weeks gone by!
MAJOR NEWS
Respawn adds firing range and Duos to Apex Legends:
Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment has added a two-player team mode and a firing range to the game as part of its latest update. The temporary Duos mode is live now and will be available until November 19 while the much-needed firing range is here to stay permanently.
Shuhei Yoshida steps down as head of Sony Worldwide Studios:
Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that fan favourite executive Shuehei Yoshida will be stepping down as President of the company’s Worldwide Studios division. Guerilla Games Managing Director and co-founder Hermen Hulst will take over while Yoshida moves within Sony to lead “a newly formed initiative that will focus on nurturing external independent creators”,
Overwatch’s Director thinks Blizzard was too harsh on blitzchung:
Speaking with The Washington Post, Overwatch Game Director Jeff Kaplan expressed his disappointment with how harshly Blizzard Entertainment punished Chung “blitzhung” Ng Wai following his pro-Hong Kong protest following a recent Hearthstone tournament.
“I was relieved when [Blizzard] reduced his suspension,” he said. “And I think the suspension should be reduced more or eliminated. But that’s just me.”
Kaplan also implied that Blizzard’s actions went against his own support of free speech and that taking away prize money was “too harsh” punishment.
“I’m obviously a huge supporter of free speech; it’s something that’s very important to me,” he added. “It got to me personally. I think the punishment was too harsh and I was greatly relieved when they gave his money back. I think that was extremely important.”
NOTABLE GAME RELEASES
- Need for Speed Heat (PC, PS4, & Xbox One)
OTHER NEWS
- NVIDIA graphics card users should update their drivers and GeForce Experience immediately: Kotaku
- EA has banned a FIFA 20 pro for encouraging collusion among top players: Dexerto
- Bungie has made the grind for Destiny 2: Shadowkeep’s pinnacle gear more lucrative with its latest update: Bungie`
- EA has actually renewed its SKATE trademark: VG247
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