Welcome back to yet another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news! We’ve got financials, a follow-up, and Sony trying to generate extra windfall through tariff refunds. Allegedly, anyway.
Subnautica 2 announces adjustments to its TOS: Earlier this week we reported on some alarming terms in the EULA of Subnautica 2, including the ability to turn off the game at any time and agreement of liability payments no larger than $50 for injuries, among many other things. The uproar may have been heard by Unknown Worlds, as the survivalbox’s latest hotfix notes that it has “reduced the amount of data being sent to backend services” and confirmed that TOS adjustments are forthcoming.
Discord releases encryption for voice and video: While the data that Discord itself gathers has proven to be not particularly well-guarded, there is a newly released feature that might make some breathe easier, as every voice and video call on the platform will now feature end-to-end encryption. Ideally it will be very good encryption, but time — and hackers’ persistence — will tell.
Sony hit with lawsuit over tariff refunds: A class action lawsuit has recently been filed that accuses Sony of passing the costs of U.S. tariffs over to consumers by raising the price of its PlayStation 5 console while also being set to receive refunds for those tariffs after they were rescinded. The lawsuit alleges that Sony will effectively receive a “substantial windfall” and argues tariff refunds should be passed down to consumers.
Embracer Group does another company spin-off: Is it really ever Embracer Group news if it isn’t snapping off a piece of itself into a separate entity like a Kit-Kat bar? Yes, the company that has stake in lots of MMO and multiplayer studios has done it again, spinning off Fellowship Entertainment into its own company. This leaves Fellowship Entertainment leave to manage some of Embracer’s biggest IPs, including Lord of the Rings. The announcement was part of its Q4 fiscal year report, which saw a 24% drop in sales YoY and also brought no word about the Amazon-partnered LOTR game that maybe or maybe isn’t happening.
