Latest news with #Grummz
Forbes
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
An Exhausted ‘Assassin's Creed Shadows' Hits Back At Elon Musk
Assassin's Creed Shadows Twitter In the past year, fewer games have endured more relentless criticism than Assassin's Creed Shadows, spearheaded by the all-too-familiar anti-woke, anti-DEI movement that now makes up most of the federal government, mainly for including black samurai Yasuke in the game. Now, Ubisoft has gotten tired enough of all this to very publicly hit back at the government's anti-DEI DOGE commander, Elon Musk. It all started with a tweet from anti-woke agitator-in-chief, Mark 'Grummz' Kern, who spends every day finding new video games to be upset with for supposed progressive messaging. He quoted a tweet from leftist streamer Hasan, referencing a sponsored Assassin's Creed Shadows stream, saying that Ubisoft was throwing money at 'terrorist-platforming streamers.' That caught the eye of Musk, saying that Hasan was a 'fraud' and 'sell-out' and promoting a terrible game just for the money. Then, the official Assassin's Creed Twitter account, gold check-verified and all, showed up to ratio Musk with a 480,000 like, 25 million view tweet saying 'Is that what the guy playing your Path of Exile 2 account told you.' This references a recent, embarrassing story for Musk where he was accused of having other players play his PoE2 account to get him high levels and the best gear, while passing it off as his own work, which was later proven in leaked DMs. He said all high level accounts do it, which is not true. Ubisoft then went on to roast Grummz as well, referencing a game he's supposedly been developing for years that has never come out, while saying theirs actually was released. It is hard to overstate just how viral Ubisoft's clapback has gone in the gaming sphere. The timeline filled with celebrations about the tweet, which has also been publicly and privately praised by other social teams and devs of other studios. It is very hard to get tweets fully approved for big name brand accounts, so to have Ubisoft social snap after months and months of harassment is something to behold. It wasn't even a one-off, as later, the Assassin's Creed account quote tweeted the viral post with an AC line: 'Where other men blindly follow the nothing is true.' At the very least, it's a gesture for its own employees, where the company reportedly issued a 'shelter in place' suggestion so individual devs were not harassed by the anti-DEI crowd, which has repeatedly happened with developers in the past. But the 4.7 million follower faceless account fighting on their behalf, and really on the behalf of all gamers who are painfully sick of manufactured controversies and endless hate, is something to see. And it rarely, if ever, happens in the industry. Many are hoping this becomes part of a trend. I've seen brand accounts hit back at criticism from average, hateful players, but dunking on the richest man in the world, and now one of the most powerful, is a new level. Now a new question is raised: can you embarrass a billionaire so badly he pays your $1.5 million market cap to buy you and wipe you off the map? Given recent events, it's certainly not impossible. But hey, they'd be going down fighting. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Russia Today
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Russia Today
Listen to gaming's most important voice standing up to DEI
For the better part of a decade – if not longer – so-called nerd media has been under assault from within its own walls. Wokeness, DEI, and HR run amok have irreparably destroyed far too many franchises to count. But with a right-wing vibe shift occurring throughout the civilized world, a change is coming, and one former developer from the once-beloved gaming titan Blizzard should get his dues for risking it all to lead the charge. Before the culture war dominated so much of our lives, Mark Kern, aka Grummz, was already an important figure within the realm of gaming. Consider him the Greek God of the sky, for he raised multiple titans. As a producer, he helped bring Starcraft and Diablo IIto life, but more impressively he was the team lead on the global MMO powerhouse World of Warcraft. With his contributions to those titles, he forever altered the gaming landscape. Not content to settle and simply end things there, he eventually began a crusade – not just to alter it a second time, but to save it from the clutches of left-wing demagogues intent on destroying the hobby for their own activist agendas. For those not personally entwined with the hobby, it's hard to fully convey just how far gaming has crashed throughout the 2010s and '20s, but one need only look at big-budget Western games to see how devastatingly it has rotted. Military shooters like Call of Duty proudly feature trans flags and other gender-bending propaganda, while in far too many games to count, female characters are intentionally made ugly – spitting in the faces of real women, as the character models bear little resemblance to the actresses used as their base. Consultancy groups like Sweet Baby Inc. are brought in to dictate changes in the name of inclusivity, and if that weren't bad enough, left-wing preaching permeates nearly everything. Fun and meaningful gameplay have been thrown aside to cater to those who don't even enjoy games in the first place. Throughout the industry, most game developers are afraid to speak up, lest they be ostracized, forcefully silenced as gaming turns into a slurry of social justice agitprop. So it's all the more meaningful that, at a time when doing so was nearly social suicide, Mark Kern risked his reputation and career to stand up to the mob. Over the past several years, he has gone all in on fighting back, spending hours on social media calling out injustice and inadequacies where he sees fit. In doing so, he has caused a number of woke games to financially stumble or fail, while also helping titles untainted by DEI – like Black Myth: Wukong and Stellar Blade – find massive success. None of this has been taken lightly by the opposition. He has survived endless attempts at cancellation and doxxing. The replies to his posts are often filled with death threats or wishes for grievous bodily harm. Detractors giddily share GIFs of him being beaten with hammers. His name is constantly smeared, and even his role in delivering Blizzard's greatest hits is questioned. All that is just par for the course for anyone who loudly and proudly goes against the 'tolerant' left – which is all the more reason to commend him, because he has stood firm. It's a massive gamble that is now paying dividends. Elon Musk retweets him often enough, helping spread his message to an even wider audience, which is only serving to unify a growing army of distraught gamers. They are now taking back the medium – but perhaps more importantly, they are fighting back against runaway leftism. The 2014 Gamergate scandal was already one of the original MAGA battlegrounds, but back then, the right wasn't fully united. By 2025, however, the story is vastly different. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are being rejected by the masses, and now government institutions and entertainment mediums are being reclaimed for the land of the sane. There's no doubt a lot of people deserve thanks for putting us on track toward stability and no one person can take all the credit, but Kern still deserves his dues as a commander in the culture war. That's not to say everything about him is perfect. Post-Blizzard, his game development track record isn't as strong, and sometimes he posts things that are a bit too cringeworthy. But that doesn't diminish the strides he has made. He may be an imperfect messenger, but his voice is still one the world needs to hear. Wokeness may be on the back foot, but it's not completely down and out. People like Kern may be the ones to finally land a knockout punch. As Musk loves to proclaim, 'DEI kills art,' and Grummz is how we bring it back to life.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
《刺客教條：暗影者》推聯名「珍珠奶茶」組惹議，前《魔獸世界》製作人吐槽：那是台灣的
Ubisoft 旗下《刺客教條：暗影者》（Assassin's Creed Shadows）隨著發售日期接近，越來越多的行銷活動開始展開，其中就包括一些不只是在遊戲上的跨界合作。像是和知名的飲品品牌 MADRINAS 一起推出了一款《刺客教條：暗影者》的聯名「珍珠奶茶」實體組合，結果遭到不少網友吐槽：「珍珠奶茶是台灣的」 MADRINAS 並不是第一次和遊戲公司合作，每次都會帶來符合遊戲背景與設定的沖泡式飲品組合。只是這次 MADRINAS 和《刺客教條：暗影者》合作所推出的飲品組合居然是「珍珠奶茶」，雖然彌助對應的是「草莓抹茶奶茶」口味；奈緒江對應的則是「櫻花水果茶」口味，看上去有日本風格，但珍珠奶茶本身就與日本無關。 因此，許多玩家第一時間指出「珍珠奶茶」根本不是日本文化，而是誕生自台灣的一種飲品，其中就連在台灣出生的前《魔獸世界》知名製作人「Grummz」Mark Kern 都出現吐槽：「Yo，我出生在台灣，你真的又搞砸了」，其他網友們也跟著嘲諷：「你在跟我開玩笑嗎？我還以為你們有歷史顧問呢？」、「珍珠奶茶是台灣的。它從來就不是日本的…不過嘛，Ubisoft 出這種錯也不差這一次了…」、「這款遊戲不是發生在日本嗎？你們知道台灣不在日本吧？」、「日本明明有很多飲品可以選擇，偏偏選一個和日本無關的...根本是故意激怒人吧」 Master the art of Boba Tea with the @MADRINAS x Assassin's Creed Shadows Collector's Box featuring:🍓 🍵 Yasuke's Strawberry Matcha Milk Tea🍒 🌸 Naoe's Cherry Blossom Fruit TeaGet yours before they vanish ➡️ — Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) February 24, 2025 緊貼最新科技資訊、網購優惠，追隨 Yahoo Tech 各大社交平台！ 🎉📱 Tech Facebook： 🎉📱 Tech Instagram： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 社群： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 頻道： 🎉📱 Tech Telegram 頻道：
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
《漫威爭鋒》網易美國工作室裁員熱議，官方回應：沒有總監被開除，都是謠言
中國大陸網易旗下《漫威爭鋒》（Marvel Rivals）從去年 12 月推出後，人氣居高不下，在 Steam 仍保持超過 30 多萬人在線。然而最近卻有消息傳出，《漫威爭鋒》的總監和團隊遭到解僱，對此社群經理卻直接闢謠，並且批評媒體用詞有問題，稱：「沒有總監被開除，這都是謠言」 事件起因是美國西雅圖的網易工作室，負責協助開發《漫威爭鋒》的關卡設計師 Jack Burrows，在 Linkedin 上發文說自己被解數了，所以正在尋找新的工作機會。同樣的，擔任西雅圖工作室遊戲總監的 Thaddeus Sasser，也提到自己被解僱的消息，一邊抱怨一邊介紹自己的員工：「我協助開發價值數十億美元的系列作品。這真是一個奇怪的產業...我那優秀且才華橫溢的團隊剛協助網易遊戲推出了一個超級成功的新系列作品《漫威爭鋒》...結果卻被裁員了！」 Marvel Rivals director and team laid off according to posts — Wario64 (@Wario64) February 18, 2025 這消息讓許多喜愛《漫威爭鋒》的玩家都感到錯愕，不理解為什麼網易要在成功後開除團隊，甚至是重要的遊戲總監。網友更懷疑是不是網易在遊戲成功後，為了節省成本的選擇，更擔心遊戲未來的品質是否會受到影響。 而對此，《漫威爭鋒》官方 Discord 上的社群經理 James 回應並批評媒體：「有一件事情我想要澄清一下。只有一位總監，那就是陳廣雲，我不喜歡散佈不實謠言，詆毀我們團隊自開發以來所投入的心血。在你們甚至不了解《漫威爭鋒》開發團隊內部結構的情況下，請不要妄下職場騷擾的結論。我這麼說僅僅是因為媒體最初的措辭完全錯誤，非常可笑。」後續 James 也補充相信上層的決定，他知道這不會影響到遊戲。 事後，有許多媒體人，包含前《魔獸世界》製作人「Grummz」Mark Kern，都解釋被解僱的是只有 6 人的美國支援工作室，並非《漫威爭鋒》在中國大陸的開發團隊，真正的創意總監仍然在網易，沒有被開除。Thaddeus Sasser 是負責預算和人力管理的部分，這次裁員更像是進行重組，不是什麼影響遊戲的重大決定。 It's wild to see the Marvel Rivals thing be spun out of proportion by legacy media in real-time. The impact seems far less than they are reporting. Here is what we know:- 6 people were laid off from the US division of Netease. This may have been the entire size of the Seattle… — Grummz (@Grummz) February 18, 2025 緊貼最新科技資訊、網購優惠，追隨 Yahoo Tech 各大社交平台！ 🎉📱 Tech Facebook： 🎉📱 Tech Instagram： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 社群： 🎉📱 Tech WhatsApp 頻道： 🎉📱 Tech Telegram 頻道：
