Riot Settles, FFXVI Delayed, Steam Confusion and Tesla Troubles

Riot Games Settles Gender Discrimination Suit  

Riot Games has agreed to pay the equivalent of 138 million Australian dollars in a settlement with members of a class action lawsuit over cases of gender discrimination against women employees. The class action suit was first filed in 2018 by former employees Melanie McCracken and Jes Negrón after a Kotaku investigation into Riot’s sexist workplace culture, and includes all current and former full-time and temp employees in California. Riot also agreed to third-party monitoring of pay equity and internal reporting for the next three years. The plaintiffs’ counsel Genie Harrison released a statement saying “We appreciate Riot’s introspection and work since 2018 toward becoming a more diverse and inclusive company, its willingness to take responsibility for its past, and its commitment to continued fairness and equality in the future.”

Final Fantasy XVI Reveal Delayed

Final Fantasy XVI’s Producer Naoki Yoshida has issued a statement via the game’s official Twitter account apologising for pushing back the game’s “next big reveal” that was previously announced for this year. Yoshida wrote that “FINAL FANTASY XVI has amassed a sizeable team composed of talented creators from around the world. However, in an effort to offset the effects of COVID-19, we’ve had to decentralize that workforce … This has unfortunately hampered communication from the Tokyo office which, in turn, has led to delays in … asset deliveries.” He further stated that that “next big reveal” would come in Autumn next year for us in Australia.

Possible Steam ban in China

News outlets this week reported that some Chinese Steam users were unable to log into the global version of Valve’s digital game store Steam. Steam monitoring website SteamDB was quoted as saying that access to the service was cut off in a way consistent with the Chinese government’s efforts to block other websites, but users were still able to access Steam China, a restricted version of the platform with less features and a limited library of games which are approved by the government. Rumours have circulated on Twitter that some users in China were still able to access Steam without a VPN and some have speculated that the apparent block was the result of a DNS poisoning attack. Without official statements from the government or Valve the exact nature of the situation remains unclear.

Tesla Disables Passenger Play Under Regulatory Pressure

Finally we have an unsurprising update to the story about Tesla’s new in-car gaming feature known as Passenger Play. Tesla appears to have caved to regulatory pressure, confirming that an automatic update has rolled out to Tesla vehicles that forcibly disables Passenger Play while the car is in motion. The move came just one day after the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a formal investigation into whether the feature would be a hazardous distraction to drivers. NHTSA has stated that they are working with Tesla but will continue the investigation into whether the manufacturer’s infotainment screens are a distraction hazard despite the changes.