A clash over COVID safety

Plus: Our weekly reader Q&A. | Friday, July 09, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Babbel   Axios Gaming By Megan Farokhmanesh and Stephen Totilo ·Jul 09, 2021 Welcome to another Friday edition of Axios Gaming with Megan Farokhmanesh and Stephen Totilo. It's our 50th newsletter! Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading. Today's edition is 1,272 words, a 5-minute read.     1 big thing: A clash over COVID safety Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   Gaming events are slowly resuming as vaccinations roll out and COVID cases drop, but discrepancies between how different organizers choose to enforce safety protocols are forcing some attendees to drop out. Why it matters: For attendees who might be immunocompromised or have loved ones who are, events still pose a significant risk. The delta variant, which is said to be twice as infectious, is quickly becoming the dominant strain. PAX West is the first annual gaming events to return with an in-person presence, but organizers will neither require attendees to be vaccinated or present a negative COVID test. Press outlets like Fanbyte have decided not to send staff to the event. In a statement issued on July 7, Fanbyte brand editor Nicholas Grayson wrote that they "do not feel that it is safe to make the trip to Seattle." "While we would love to spend time with each other and our peers in-person for the first time in over a year, concerns for our team's health and, frankly, the public good take priority," Grayson wrote. Polygon editor-in-chief Chris Plante (a former colleague of Megan's) told Axios that the site would not require its team to attend any conference with this policy because "their health matters far more than a few stories about video games." Kotaku editor-in-chief Patricia Hernandez (a former colleague of both Stephen and Megan) told Axios that the site "will keep monitoring the situation and will likely not officially attend events until it is completely safe to do so." The big picture: Conventions worldwide are starting to loosen their grip on safety precautions. Events like UK Games Expo, the country's largest tabletop gaming convention, has opted out of basic safety measurements like masks or social distancing. What they're saying: The event's decision is already drawing criticism from people across the industry. No Code founder Jon McKellan urged publishers and developers to pull out of the event, tweeting, "Don't let the organisers put your staff at such risk for their sake of cramming in more ticket holders on the day. Also, you don't really want your brand associated with a massive covid hotspot right?" The bottom line: Even in a non-pandemic, conventions are breeding grounds for disease. Events like PAX are notorious for "con crud," where it's normal to pick up some sort of cold or other illness after an event.     2. You ask, we answer Image: Arkane/Microsoft   It's Friday, so time for more reader Q&A. Q: What does the abundance of horde shooters (aka "Left 4 Dead" clones) tell us about the state of AAA multiplayer? What whitespaces are yet to be filled? Stephen: Horde shooters feature human teams against computer-controlled crowds of enemies. They're super-fun, and it's weird that there haven't been many! What's unusual with their resurgence is that big-budget AAA studios and indies will be competing with each other. It'll be cruise ships vs. speedboats. There's big Bethesda/Microsoft money behind co-op vampire-hunting game "Redfall" and Ubisoft's "Rainbow Six: Extraction," while "Anacrusis" comes from indie Stray Bombay. "Back 4 Blood" is made by an indie that's being published by Warner Bros. Whitespace in the shooter genre? Probably slower, tactical games. Whitespace in games more broadly? Less violent battle royales (a la "Fall Guys"), games that involve deception (think: "Among Us"), games made by more culturally diverse teams that include themes designed to attract more diverse audiences. Q. What should we expect when games like "Metroid Prime 4" and ["Breath of the Wild 2"] are running on 5+ year old hardware? Is there any chatter on an enhanced dock or anything like that for original Switch owners? Stephen: This question was asked back when many of us were expecting the new Switch to be more powerful, not just have a better screen. The short answer is: probably no enhanced dock for the original Switch. The current dock doesn't do much more than pass a Switch signal to the TV, yet Nintendo sells it for $80 (a whole Switch costs $300). If/when(?) Nintendo releases a new Switch that can run games at higher resolutions or better frame rates, they're likely to keep the tech in their docks simple, preferring to sell you a new Switch. Thankfully, Nintendo's approach to game design isn't as tech intensive as most company's, so if anyone's games are going to hold up on older hardware, it's theirs (not necessarily third parties'). Please keep the questions coming, everyone. You can send them in by replying to this email.     3. A time-consuming "Creed" Data: HowLongToBeat; Chart: Sara Wise/Axios   News of Ubisoft's "Assassin's Creed Infinity" project got fans talking about the lengthening playtimes in the top-selling series. But there's no sign that Ubisoft or any other big company plans to make their new games shorter. The big picture: The conventional wisdom in the games industry now is that the longer people play a game, the more likely they are to pay for additional content. For multiplayer-centric games like "Fortnite" or "Call of Duty" new content can keep players coming back, but so can the social connections and competitive urges of what amounts to playing a competitive sport "Fortnite" = golf for less rich people, basically. For single-player series, keeping players in the game is harder, but Ubisoft clearly believes making "Assassin's Creed" longer is the way to go. As "Assassin's Creed" games have gotten longer, Ubisoft has given players additional outfits, ships and other accoutrements to buy in-game, as well as lengthier additional storyline campaigns that can be nearly as long as the early "AC" games.     A message from Babbel Here's a skill you can show off this summer     Travel, friends, adventures – it's happening. Get ready with Babbel and start having conversations in a new language – such as Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese – in as little as 3 weeks. Get 60% off during their 4th of July sale. Sign up today.     4. Hallway man, hallway man Nintendo has always been adamant in its marketing that you can play the Nintendo Switch anywhere — whether it's a bar, a party, or even by the pool — but its most recent trailer for the OLED model is testing fans' limits. Screenshot: @Compenderizer (Twitter) Sure, the message is probably that this guy is so psyched to play Pokémon he plops onto the closest seat to the door with no time to spare. But fans have better takes. What they're saying: "This is like something a sim would do." "i will be playing pokemon brilliant diamond while sitting beside my front door in solidarity with this man." Or, as one person more accurately put it: "realistically, he'd be on a toilet."     5. Need to know Sony's most recent State of Play digital showcase included some details about the "Death Stranding: Director's Cut" (another PS5 upgrade that'll cost PS4 players $10) as well as a look at several indie games including the impressive, peaceful space exploration game "Jett: The Far Shore." The lucrative and popular "Genshin Impact" is heading to a 2.0 release later this month. A new showcase revealed the games' new region, showing off how ambitious a free-to-start game that runs on mobile and consoles can be these days. Expect more music events in "Roblox" thanks to a new partnership between the popular game and Sony Music. The new head of Ubisoft Massive is Thomas Andrén, who comes from Ericsson's media services company Red Bee Media.     6. Worthy of your attention "Returnal" and why games need more badass middle-aged women (Susan Arendt, Wired) Imagine, then, what Lara [Croft] would be like as a person 30 years after that first adventure. What would decades of adventures have taught her? What friends has she made — and what enemies? How many times has she cheated death and how has that impacted the way she approaches danger? Well, we'll probably never know, because game publishers seem to believe Lara's only interesting when she can make Forbes' list of 30 Under 30.     7. PlayStation orientation disorientation Image: @Nibel (Twitter)   Sony's PlayStation 5 is so artistically curvaceous, that even its head of worldwide studios and the people making PlayStation ads sometimes lay it on the wrong side. Thankfully, all of these tragic faux pas have been getting deleted by Sony. Phew!     A message from Babbel Here's a skill you can show off this summer     Travel, friends, adventures – it's happening. Get ready with Babbel and start having conversations in a new language – such as Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese – in as little as 3 weeks. Get 60% off during their 4th of July sale. Sign up today.   🎁 Like the newsletter? Refer Axios Gaming to your friends to spread the word and get free stuff in the process. Follow the link here to begin. 🐦 Find us on Twitter: @megan_nicolett / @stephentotilo Two facts: If you don't get sick from every PAX you attend, you are superhuman. Every journalist in games is someone's former colleague. Like this email style and format? Learn more about Axios HQ. It'll help you deliver employee communications more effectively.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: