Welcome back to another roundup of MMO (and MMO-adjacent) industry news!
A Roblox player from a goofy political meme group apparently pulled quite a stunt on the White House. Politico reports that a gamer going by Kacey “Lego” Montagu whipped up a fake persona as a White House pool reporter, along with a popular Twitter account, which she then parlayed into questions sent directly to actual reporters, some of whom (admittedly from low-ranked publications) were tricked into posing the questions themselves. While Montagu says she pulled the prank because “the Press Corps is doing a pretty bad job at the moment” and she wanted to “ensure some transparency and ask some questions [she] and some friends wanted the answer to,” most of the actual questions she was asking were mundane – COVID travel bans, ambassadorships, Microsoft, the Biden/Obama relationship, and presidential portraits. Ultimately, the weird scheme fell apart as journalists who declined to ask her questions got suspicious and social media companies, including Twitter and Google, began pulling her fake pages down as they violated impersonation rules.
Hi-Rez Studios released a big presser for its remote work policy yesterday, which essentially encourages many of its developers to work from home permanently, not just during the pandemic. “The new Creativity Unchained program allows and encourages over 80 percent of Hi-Rez Studios employees to work remotely in a collaborative, creative environment,” the company says. “Employees can work from most locations in the USA or UK, with work being done to expand the program across Europe. The Creativity Unchained program formalizes proprietary work processes developed at Hi-Rez Studios during the pandemic, which led to a surge in both employee satisfaction and company revenues. […] The program extends to both high-performing, existing Hi-Rez Studios employees and new job openings. Most jobs will allow fully flexible work options, letting most employees decide their work location and mix of office to remote hours.” The company’s Georgia and England bases will remain open.
Wargaming is expanding yet again, as this week it’s announced the opening of another studio, this one in Vilnius, Lithuania. It sounds as if this studio will be focused on mobile development, and it’s hiring in bulk.
We are happy to announce our new studio opening in #Vilnius. For MS-1, Wargaming’s premier mobile development studio, behind the hit game @WoTBlitz, Vilnius will become another key hub alongside our offices in Minsk and Moscow.
👉Learn more about MS-1 jobs https://t.co/SGXnRxJqoq pic.twitter.com/InVjZjI8uu— Wargaming.net (@wargaming_net) April 12, 2021
Epic Games has raised another $1B in funding, a fifth of it from Sony. Tim Sweeney remains in control of the company. “We are grateful to our new and existing investors who support our vision for Epic and the metaverse,” he says. “Their investment will help accelerate our work around building connected social experiences in Fortnite, Rocket League and Fall Guys, while empowering game developers and creators with Unreal Engine, Epic Online Services and the Epic Games Store.”
Finally, we come to the London Games Fest, where yet another developer has been talking up the metaverse. This time it’s EVE Online’s Hilmar Veigar Pétursson.
In this session from @londongamesfest, CCP Games CEO @HilmarVeigar talks about how @EveOnline's complex player-organised social structures and vast player-run economy give a glimpse into the future of the Metaverse.#tweetfleet #LGF21 #ccpgameshttps://t.co/KxtvWYTsjL
— CCP Games (@CCPGames) April 13, 2021
Spot more industry news you think we should cover? /!
