GYGO: New Releases and Nintendo’s Anti-Piracy Ruthlessness

We’re switching gears to a new biweekly schedule of GYGO. This way we get an even grander batch of gaming news!

Nintendo Remains Ruthless Against Piracy, and Wizards of the Coast Deals with Leaks

After over two years of imprisonment, the hacker by the name Gary Bowser has been released.

Although Bowser’s name is strangely ironic—easily confused with but totally unrelated to the Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser—Nintendo found his role within Team Xecutor, a hacker group that worked in the games piracy market, to be no laughing matter. Bowser was charged and arrested a couple of years ago for his participation in the marketing and selling of mod chips for various consoles, which included Nintendo consoles. Despite his release, Bowser now owes Nintendo about $14.5 million, an excessively brutal fine for the illicit distribution of video games.

Meanwhile, Wizards of the Coast has been dealing with their own scramble following a massive leak of their latest Magic: The Gathering set, “March of the Machine: The Aftermath.” Nintendo isn’t alone in their extreme responses to perceived slights, as WotC has allegedly utilized a private security firm to track down the source of the initial leak, which was broadcast by YouTuber Oldschoolmtg.

Oldschoolmtg cooperated with the agents to hand over the set, and explains that the set was mistakenly sent to him. WotC has yet to release a statement about the incident, and is currently unclear if Oldschoolmtg will be compensated for the goods they have had to turn in.

Acquisitions! Acquisitions! Acquisitions!

Sega closed in on a deal to purchase Angry Birds developer Rovio for about a $1 billion. This comes after Rovio’s rather bizarre de-listing of the original Angry Birds game from mobile storefronts, citing that the game’s excessive popularity overshadows their other titles.

In a different vein, Atari has acquired the ownership of several classic IPs, such as the Bubsy and Demolition Racer series.

After some suggestion that the deal might go ahead, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has blocked the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard merger. Interestingly, the CMA cited concerns about giving Microsoft too much power in cloud gaming (of all things) as the reason for blocking the deal. Brad Smith, CEO and president of Microsoft, stated on Twitter that the company will appeal the decision.

Games Are Releasing… Eventually

A new trailer for the Breath of the Wild sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, has been released. This is the final pre-launch trailer; the game’s slated release is  May 12.

A demo of Street Fighter 6 is now available to try out on several consoles.

On the other hand, Rocksteady Studios’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League faces a delay. The game will now be released in February 2024, to “work on the getting the game to be the best quality experience for players.”

In other news…

Sega of America unionizes with the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is updating its game crediting policy. This updated policy hopes to iron out issues when it comes to developers not being properly credited for their work in games.

Hidetaka Miyazaki, president of FromSoftware and creator of Dark Souls, has landed himself on Time 100, Time’s annual list of “the 100 most influential people in the world.” Miyazaki is the only representative from the video games industry this year to be on this list.

An archivist has acquired high resolution scans that better capture Ken Sugimori’s original portraits of the original 151 Pokémon.

Microsoft is the latest of a string of companies pulling back from Twitter by refusing to pay the platform’s new API system, rendering sharing from the Xbox no longer accessible.

And with bated breath, we must inform everyone that Hideo Kojima has discovered Dungeons & Dragons.