This week, Anthony Taormina is joined by special guest Christian Spicer (DLC Podcast, The Official Last of Us Podcast) for Episode 31 of the Game Rant Arcade Podcast. The two cover the news of the week, which included some breaking news involving Activision Blizzard and a California lawsuit.
Arguably the biggest news of the past week, if not the whole year, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing hit Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher Activision with a lawsuit detailing a number of troubling incidents among the company. The suit alleges that some Activision Blizzard employees promoted a "frat boy culture" where the male employees would act inappropriately towards female employees. It also claims that many female employees were victims of workplace inequality and passed over for key promotions despite having earned them.
Other news discussed in the podcast include the reveal of Valve's Steam Deck and news/updates regarding some of Ubisoft's upcoming games. Tom Clancy's XDefiant is Ubisoft's answer to Call of Duty that features characters based in the Splinter Cell and Division universes.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD was the big release of this week, a Nintendo Switch remaster of the Wii version. Although Skyward Sword had its fans back during the Wii era, the title was one of the more contentious in the series.
An unexpected highlight of the week was Death's Door an isometric adventure game that feels like a mix between classic Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls. With a unique art style and personality, Death's Door looks to be a sleeper hit for 2021.
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Here are the timestamps for each segment:
News
- Activision Blizzard Lawsuit
- Valve's Steam Deck
- Tom Clancy's XDefiant reveal
- Ubisoft updates on Beyond Good and Evil 2 and Skull and Bones
Games of the Week
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
- Death's Door
Listener Mail
- Why is there a divide between Japanese and Western games?
- What games did you give a second chance and end up enjoying?
- What video game genre would you eliminate from existence?
Game Rant Arcade records each week, bringing the latest for video game news, impressions on the latest games, and responses to gamers' burning questions. To have a question read on Game Rant Arcade, send an email to arcade@gamerant.com or follow and tweet at us on Twitter @RantArcade.