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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Covers video games for Axios. Author of Axios Gaming newsletter (axios.com/signup/gaming). Was
@kotaku
EiC. DM/email for Signal. first.lastATaxiosDOTcom. he/him
Brooklyn, NYaxios.comJoined April 2009
2,583 Following
110K Followers

Stephen Totilo’s Tweets

Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Just went into Destiny 2, and, yeah, players are gathered around Commander Zavala, paying tribute to his actor, the late Lance Reddick Really touching. RIP
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Benji-Sales
@BenjiSales
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Destiny players are gathering in The Tower to honor the tragic passing of actor Lance Reddick, who played Commander Zavala in the franchise
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Two cops were fired from the LAPD after they failed to respond to the report of a robbery and drove off to hunt a Snorlax in Pokemon Go. They appealed (said it wasn't okay for squad car recording of them to be used against them). They lost. From our newsletter today:
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Stephen Totilo
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Not the world's biggest problem, but something I wanted to address anyway: We recently made it official Kotaku policy to compensate staff who play games after-hours on deadline (usually for reviews) with time off. It's labor. Should be treated as such.
kotaku.com
A Note About The Work That Goes Into Our Game Reviews
We’ve informally done this for a while, but we recently officially committed to a plan at Kotaku to give staff who play a game after-hours for a deadline—usually for a game review—time off in...
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
In 2022, the most downloaded PS5 game in the U.S. was Call of Duty Modern Warfare II. The most downloaded PS4 game was also MWII. The third most-downloaded PS4 game? Minecraft. Microsoft is now on the verge of becoming PlayStation's most important third-party.
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Stephen Totilo
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BREAKING: GameStop CFO out, layoffs across company, including at GameStop proper and Game Informer. Unclear how hard people have been hit but doesn't sound small. "a number of reductions" as per company memo
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Another tough day at the office. I've steered
@Kotaku
through some rough waters before thanks to my amazing team. Can I do it again? We'll see! We all love the site--and the family of sites we're in--and are extremely motivated to do right by our readers and viewers.
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
At a behind-closed-doors presentation to press, Xbox boss Phil Spencer says gaming revenue for the company is double what it was in the 360 era, says Xbox has more players than ever, expecting more than $1 billion in PC gaming revenue this year (All meant to show Xbox strength)
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Epic-Apple ruling. Judge says Epic failed to prove that Apple is a monopolist, but (not surprisingly if you watched the trial) disliked Apple's anti-steering rules and has issued an injunction saying Apple must let game app devs link out to alternate payment systems
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Here's the letter in full. It doesn't just stand with AB workers, doesn't just criticize Ubisoft bosses. It calls for industry-wide action and change, with publishers and developers getting involved.
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Try to get into the enemy base any way you'd like, Nintendo reps told me. I chose not to fight. Instead, I took a plank, added a fire emitter, a balloon and a steering yoke. But I needed something to propel it...
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
I recently played The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for an hour. Super fun It's a Zelda for tinkerers, a Link for the TikTok/Minecraft age It's cool if a bit much to control, a return to Zelda complexity (a Majora's to BOTW's Ocarina) More: axios.com/2023/04/26/zel
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
On this day after Thanksgiving I am thankful to the Microsoft engineers who designed the Xbox One well enough that, when I pressed the disc eject button late last night, all three credit cards my kids stuffed in there slid out.
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Feb '22 email from Bethesda exec Pete Hines suggests frustration at Xbox/PC-centric strategy for team's games. Reacting to public vow to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation: "I'm confused, is the below not the opposite of what we were just asked (told) to do with our own titles?"
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
David Castillo, first person to buy Tears of the Kingdom at the midnight launch at the Nintendo store in NY Regularly camps out for big launches, has developed friendships with others who do. Was outside for this one since Tuesday. Took three days off, but back to work tomorrow
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Stephen Totilo
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Some workers at Call of Duty Warzone maker and Activision subsidiary Raven are walking out today, protesting the surprise dismissal of a dozen game testers on Friday and demanding that all are offered full-time jobs. Call of Duty is among the most lucrative series in the world
A message from Raven workers that concludes: "In response to the events of Friday, the Raven QA team and other members of Raven's staff will be walking out with a singular demand; Every member of the QA team, including those terminated on Friday, must be offered full time positions. Those participating in this demonstration do so with the continued success of the studio at the forefront of their mind....The end goal of this walk out is to ensure the continued growth of Raven as a studio and to foster a positive community for everyone who works there."
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
“i am looking to negotiate a deal” GTA VI leaker says they’ve woken up to thousands of messages and are calling on people from Rockstar/Take Two to contact them.
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
NEWS: Tencent is NOT buying Ubisoft. But it is investing heavily in the company, announcing a new €300 million (about the same in $$) investment—49.9% stake—in Guillemot Bros, the company run by Ubisoft’s co-founders that has the largest stake in Ubisoft.
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
WB Games is getting broken up somehow due to AT&T's WarnerMedia-Discovery sale/merger. "Some of the gaming arm will stay with AT&T and some will go with the new company," rep tells Axios'
@sarafischer
. No further info. WB Games lists 11 studios, games for all kinds of IP, devices
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Activision scandal news: Yesterday, in a tentative ruling, a judge in California overruled Activision's argument that the state wrongly added temp workers to its big discrimination suit against the company. Activision tried to get the suit dismissed or narrowed on those grounds
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
I asked Nintendo if Advance Wars 1 + 2 has been cancelled, given the lack of news about it since it was delayed due to the invasion of Ukraine. Nintendo rep's reply: "The release has been delayed. We will announce the new date once it has been determined."
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
“My hope (and I think I have to present it that way as of now) is as an industry we'd work on legal emulation that allowed modern hardware to run any (within reason) older executable allowing someone to play any game.”
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Sony has confirmed with me/Axios that PlayStation's Call of Duty deal with Microsoft (pending Activision purchase) is for 10 years I'm looking forward to still being on this beat in 2033 and covering the next round of Nintendo, Nvidia and Sony contract negotiations for CoD)
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Phil Spencer
@XboxP3
We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and @PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games.
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Oh! This reminds me! I interviewed Phil Spencer on Wednesday via Microsoft Teams, not long after Steve was added to Minecraft and people noticed this image. I focused questions mostly on Xbox stuff, but, hey, Microsoft owns Minecraft, so I had to ask..
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Kotaku
@Kotaku
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Nintendo nerfs Steve's meat: bit.ly/37xChl8
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
NEWS: Ubisoft, facing "surprisingly slower" sales, has canceled three unannounced games (on top of the four cancelled in July), planning $200 million in cost reduction including "natural attrition" and "divesting of non-core assets"
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Nintendo is taking Sony's boast of God of War Ragnarok setting a first-party Sony record for 5.1 million sold in a week and raising it Says Pokemon Scarlet/Violet have sold more than 10 million copies in 3 days. Claim highest 3-day sales for any game ever on a Nintendo platform
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Checked with Sony about platforms for some games (because I was getting confused, and maybe you were, too, about what we were shown today that's next-gen only) They say the following platforms are "confirmed" God of War - PS4/PS5 Wolverine - PS5 Spider-Man 2 - PS5
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
I'm ready to bail on Final Fantasy XVI, 12 hours in. Fun combat. Flashy moments. But level/quest design is dull and the game keeps wresting control from me. M rating gets us cursing but no maturation of FF's weaker aspects I'm not a big FF person, and this didn't convert me
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Apple Arcade has blown me away. It's one of the strongest gaming launches ever. Sure there's no Mario 64 or Halo, but it's been mind-blowing to suddenly have access to about 70 mostly-original games, many from studios whose work I adore. And no mobile monetization mind games
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Kotaku
@Kotaku
Apple Arcade is mobile gaming without all the bullshit: bit.ly/2AvtxKD
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Things people have clapped for during the Starfield Direct: - being able to paint your spaceship - being able to romance other characters - being able to board and raid enemy spaceships - being able to hoard sandwiches
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
UPDATE: Epic tells me build was made by them; wasn't part of any plan to bring game to PS3: "This footage is a byproduct of Epic's internal Unreal Engine 3 testing process, which utilized both Gears and Unreal Tournament, and was never part of any actual product work for PS3."
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Kotaku
@Kotaku
Gears of War 3 PS3 footage appears online. We've been untangling the mystery of its origins. bit.ly/3dZ9plH
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
The new PS5 exclusive Returnal is basically dev studio Housemarque injecting the great bullet-hell risk-reward systems of their PS3 classic Super Stardust HD into a third-person adventure. Spectacular to behold so far. (I'm slightly into the 2nd level/biome, got code yesterday)
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Metroid Dread thoughts.... 1. First 90 min I played were excellent: good mix of combat and exploring 2. Map/detection tools are bolstered, but there’s less hand-holding/guidance about where to go next 3. Great to see Metroid on an HD system.... (1/4)
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Stephen Totilo
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Something that stood out to me when I recently interviewed Phil Spencer was his emphasis on rising player counts, which I think is key to understanding Microsoft’s strategy. I want to share where that conversation went (warning: this will be a bunch of tweets!)
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
In 2016, Trump got 62,984,828 votes. In 2020, without all the vote counted, he's already at 68,294,000. Anyone who wants to ever pontificate about "who we are" in America ought to keep that count in mind. He did all that he did, and even more people wanted him back.
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Activision increasingly not thrilled with Sony... A rep tells me: "Microsoft is doing exactly what they said they’d do. Sony continues to deny the opportunity for a long-term agreement and is undermining the deal to protect its two-decade dominance in video games"
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
UPDATE: A Microsoft rep shares a significant update to this. While they still can't divulge the contents of the email, they're able to now say that it was sent in 2019 That means that whatever anti-PlayStation sentiment/strategy it may contain preceded MS' offer for Activision
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
NEW: Lawyers in the gamer antitrust suit against the Microsoft-Activision deal have been arguing over "Exhibit K." Why? Because it supposedly shows an Xbox exec saying that the plan around buying Activision is to put PlayStation out of business Story: axios.com/2023/06/20/exh
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
I recently heard from a good source about $15k offer to Taylor (Platinum’s second, higher offer, I believe) but wasn’t able to second source it. Hadn’t heard about the counter.
@jasonschreier
’s got more detail.
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Jason Schreier
@jasonschreier
Last weekend, Bayonetta's former voice actor called for fans to boycott the new game, saying she was offered just $4,000 to work on it. Her Twitter videos went viral and stoked a debate over voice actor wages. But the full story is much more complicated... bloomberg.com/news/articles/
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
FTC lawyer questioning Bethesda's Pete Hines confirms that Disney had a deal for an Indiana Jones game that'd be for multiple consoles. Hines confirms. FTC says deal was amended post-acquisition to be Xbox only for consoles.
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
New statement from Sony, says Microsoft's current Call of Duty offer "will irreparably harm competition" and says it was Microsoft that requested redactions of the public filing of the deal it offered to PlayStation
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
The rare shot against Sony from Phil Spencer: "We’re the only platform shipping games on PC, cloud and console simultaneously. Others bring console games to PC years later, not only making people buy their hardware up front but then charging them a second time to play on PC."
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors on what games industry trends he's seeing: "A bit back to basic[s], I would say. Less talk about blockchain and NFTs, thank god [laughs] I prefer to talk about the real games and experiences."
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Not in story, but regarding CMOS issues on Xbox hardware: "The hardware team is hearing the message about our consoles should.. allow for the ongoing relationship between the player and the content that they own. So like, we hear the message and the teams are looking at things."
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
New Zelda has vehicle-crafting... ... Lego has an open-world racing game coming out soon.... My takeaway: See? Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was merely way ahead of its time
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Stephen Totilo
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Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida reflects on seeing a recent major motion picture: "Recently, there’s a cinema, a theater in Roppongi, I watched Super Mario. Beautiful [intellectual property], wonderful IP and content entertainment, I found. I played Super Mario games 30 years ago...
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Stephen Totilo
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Can’t spend much time thinking about Nintendo removing so many great games from their store next year, because I’m busy trying one of Destiny2’s most acclaimed missions before Bungie vaults it next week.
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
NEW: The FTC's lawyers are dissatisfied with the documents Microsoft has/hasn't disclosed in the lead-up to their trial over the Activision deal - They want more on Microsoft's ZeniMax exclusivity plans - More about Microsoft's "next-generation gaming ecosystem" (do tell!) -...
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
NEWS: Microsoft and Nintendo have agreed to a 10-year deal to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms if MS is able to buy Activision Blizzard There hasn’t been a CoD on Nintendo consoles for years, and I’m not sure how the Switch could handle recent releases. Hmmm
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Tears of the Kingdom is one of my favorite types of games: the returning devs' late-generation release A game made by a team no longer wrestling to learn new hardware and instead pushing it; a team now able to put more energy into sheer creativity See also: God of War 2, GTA V
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Stephen Totilo
@stephentotilo
Something Star Wars Jedi Survivor and Tears of the Kingdom both have in common: An option to pause the game and read recent dialogue. This is great for tired, distracted, occasionally forgetful parents like me. And I'm sure other types of gamers as well.
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