legal
Gameforge heaps doubt on Magic to Master’s latest lawsuit claims
Last week saw another page in the saga of Magic to Master's revival by Laniatus LLC, when the studio took an offensive posture that,...
Chronicles of Elyria’s Jeromy Walsh: ‘Learn from my mistakes’
To say that Chronicles of Elyria boarded the drama train a while back with a long-distance ticket is a bit of an understatement (and...
Magic to Master dev threatens to sue Gameforge, cancels Kickstarter, and releases new trailer
Laniatus LLC, the company that's trying to revive 2009's Magic to Master, continued to make headlines a couple of weeks ago when Gameforge hit...
Lawful Neutral: Freedom of speech in MMOs
I don't think a day goes by without gamers ranting on Reddit or Twitter or forums or comment sections about how their freedom of...
FTC uses Zenimax’s current exclusivity as a primary argument against Microsoft’s ActiBlizz buyout in court
The long-brewing legal battle between the US Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft has begun in earnest, as this week saw the FTC and Microsoft...
Vague Patch Notes: Examining the MMO tiers, from the Big Five to maintenance mode
I've mentioned many a time that one of the ideas behind the Vague Patch Notes column here on MOP is to have a place...
Activision-Blizzard shareholders propose a measure that guarantees non-interference with organizing workers
The shareholders of Activision-Blizzard are about to come together to vote on a variety of company proposals, and one of those proposals might raise...
Post-Gamigo Fractured, back home with Dynamight, is finally reopening testing June 22
It appears the long-running Fractured drama might truly be over as Dynamight Studios is getting back to its test plans.
Readers will recall that Fractured...
Gameforge’s DMCA filing took the Magic to Master Kickstarter down, alleging stolen Metin2 assets
We return to the bizarre and spiraling story of Magic to Master, an old Korean MMORPG brought to Kickstarter by Hungarian studio Laniatus. We're...
The Magic to Master mess devolved into DMCA abuse as Laniatus promises launch ‘regardless of Kickstarter’
We've been trying real hard not to have to write about this game again, but here we are back touching base on the Magic...
Court grants FTC temporary restraining order to block Microsoft/ABK merge ahead of ongoing lawsuit
Yesterday, we reported on the FTC's appeal to the US District Court of Northern California to block Microsoft's buyout of Activision-Blizzard. The FTC maintained...
FTC asks US court to block alleged Microsoft/ABK plan to ‘consummate’ merge despite ongoing lawsuit
So remember how the Microsoft buyout of Activision-Blizzard was supposed to be all wrapped up by June of 2023? We're kinda there now, with...
Lawful Neutral: How might the so-called AI revolution affect the MMO genre?
This article has been rolling around in my head since ChatGPT rocketed into the public awareness a few months ago, and just in the...
The Day Before talks player housing, lifeskilling, volunteer workers, and the ongoing trademark dispute
Fntastic's post-apoc shooter The Day Before has been a swirl of scandals and irregularities all through 2023. First announced in 2021, the game was...
Microsoft is hit with $20M fine for collecting the personal information of children on Xbox
Microsoft has earned the ire of the US Federal Trade Commission and has been slapped with a $20M fine by the government agency for...
The Magic to Master Kickstarter fiasco has become a scandal over Idea Fabrik, Hero Engine, and The Repopulation
Last week, we reported on the dubious Kickstarter of studio Laniatus' MMO Magic to Master, an old MMO being brought back from the dead...
Microsoft is reportedly considering pulling Activision out of the UK market over regulatory block
The locking of horns between Microsoft and the UK's Competition and Markets Authority over Microsoft's billion-dollar acquisition of Activision-Blizzard appears to be reaching a...
Activision-Blizzard offers (some) hard numbers on its harassment and discrimination problem
Within the Variety puff piece on Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick earlier this week, Kotick insisted that the volumes of harassment accusations against the company...
Perfect Ten: Get out of my dreams and get into my (MMO) car
Cars. They go vroom-vroom, and then they go really fast, and how do we live in a country where you basically need a car...
MMO Business Roundup: SEGA’s layoffs, Diablo Immortal’s fines, and MY.GAMES’ Middle East ambitions
Welcome back to another quick roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent gaming industry news!
SEGA: Sega's issued yet another round of layoffs this week, slashing 121...
