"Game On" is The Fly's weekly recap of the stories powering up or beating down video game stocks.
NEW RELEASES: This week's major new release is "Marvel's Iron Man VR," a virtual reality game based on the "Iron Man" superhero franchise. The game will be launching on July 3 exclusively for PlayStation 4's (SNE) PlayStation VR headset.
#METOO: Many people in the gaming industry have come forward in recent weeks to accuse a number of video game designers, executives, streamers, and media members of sexual discrimination, harassment, and assault, in what some are referring to as the gaming industry's #MeToo moment. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reported last week that "Fallout" and "Planescape Torment" game designer Chris Avellone, Online Performers Group CEO Omeed Dariani, and other big names have had accusations of misconduct leveled against them. Meanwhile, Talyor Lorenz and Kellen Browning of the New York Times reported last week that over 70 people in the gaming industry have come forward with claims of gender-based discrimination, harassment, and sexual assault. In addition, some high-profile accusations have come from the "Destiny 2" streaming community, as three female players have accused streamer Lono of a number of wrongdoings, including verbal harassment, groping, and propositioning for sex, Polygon's Charlie Hall and Susana Polo reported. Of note, Amazon's (AMZN) Twitch announced last week that it is investigating claims of abuse and sexual harassment against various streamers on the platform.
As the allegations against people in the games industry continue to pile up, Ubisoft (UBSFY) released a statement on Friday saying it has opened an internal investigation into claims of sexual misconduct by employees. "Based on the outcomes, we are fully committed to taking any and all appropriate disciplinary action," the company said. As these investigations are ongoing, we can't comment further. We are also auditing our existing policies, processes, and systems to understand where these have broken down, and to ensure we can better prevent, detect, and punish inappropriate behavior." Bloomberg's Schreier later reported that Ubisoft employees are skeptical about the company's response to such claims, with many workers noting that all of the rumors and stories about misconduct at the company that are now public were already reported to human resources years ago.
OTHER STORIES TO WATCH:
Comcast
+ (+0.00%)
Comcast
+0.02 (+0.05%)
Ubisoft
+ (+0.00%)
Electronic Arts
+0.62 (+0.47%)
acquired by MSFT
+0.55 (+0.73%)
Take-Two
+1.24 (+0.90%)
Amazon.com
+51.68 (+1.93%)
Tencent
+ (+0.00%)
Nintendo
+ (+0.00%)
Microsoft
+3.01 (+1.52%)
Symbol now SONY
+0.28 (+0.41%)