Ubisoft staff in Paris will strike over working conditions

It’s Ubisoft’s turn to face strikes from unhappy game developers. Solidaires Informatique Jeu Vidéo has called for Ubisoft Paris employees to strike on January 27th to demand better working conditions. The labor union wants an “immediate” 10 percent salary increase to account for inflation and improved hours that include a four-day work week. Solidaires Informatique also wants greater transparency on workforce changes, as well as pledges to avoid thinly-disguised firings and “abusive” management practices that push staff to quit.

The strike plan comes in response to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot’s internal email following news the company was cancelling three games and otherwise grappling with tough economic conditions. As PC Gamernotes, Guillemot called for workers to be “especially careful” with spending and warned of moves that included “targeted restructuring” and “natural attrition.” To Solidaires Informatique, the executive is attempting to “shift the blame” to staff while not-so-subtly hinting at layoffs, pay cuts and quiet studio closures.

Ubisoft Paris declined to comment to Engadget. This isn’t the first time Solidaires Informatique has taken Ubisoft to task over its behavior. The labor group sued Ubisoft in 2021 for allegedly fostering a culture of “institutional sexual harassment” where it was easier to tolerate horrible behavior than fix it. The company had already fired key managers accused of misconduct, but others remained in place.

The call to action joins a growing labor movement across the gaming world. Microsoft just recognized the game industry’s largest union, while more Activision Blizzard workers are winning union votes. That’s on top of a gradual turn away from the long hours of crunch time that have often defined game development. Eidos’ Quebec studios started four-day weeks in 2021, and talent has sometimes left to form independent studios where crunch is forbidden. Simply put, employees are no longer willing to accept the status quo.

2022 saw smartphone shipments drop to 10-year lows

PC makers weren’t the only ones who dealt with a grim 2022. Canalys estimates that smartphone shipments tanked 11 percent year-over-year, making it worst annual performance in a decade. The fourth quarter was worse — shipments fell 17 percent compared to the end of 2021. That was also the worst fourth quarter of the past 10 years, according to analysts.

Most industry heavyweights had a tough time, too. Apple and Samsung were the only two major brands to gain market share in 2022, growing to 19 and 22 percent respectively. Chinese rivals Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo all shrank. It won’t surprise you to hear that Apple overtook Samsung in the last quarter (the iPhone 14 family was brand new, while the Galaxy S22 was relatively old). However, it was still a record high — Apple claimed 25 percent of the market in the fall where Samsung had ‘just’ 20 percent. Higher-end brands held steady, in other words.

You might already know why the market went south. The combination of a tough economy and supply problems hurt demand and created shortages. Even if you could afford your dream smartphone, you might have had a difficult time finding it. That led companies to run sales and otherwise go to great lengths to entice customers and clear out unsold stock.

Don’t expect 2023 to be much better. Canalys predicts that the smartphone space might only grow slightly at best. China’s re-opening is poised to help, but researchers only believe the effect will be noticeable toward the second half of the year. If that proves true, phone makers may still end up fighting for your attention with aggressive promos.

‘The Last of Us’ is HBO’s third largest debut of the streaming era

If you enjoyed HBO’s take on The Last of Us, you’re far from alone. WarnerMedia has revealed that the video game adaptation racked up 4.7 million viewers on conventional and streaming TV for its January 15th premiere, making it HBO’s third largest debut of the streaming era. Only the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon rated higher with a crowd topping 9.9 million, and Boardwalk Empire‘s 4.81 million-viewer launch from 2010 (when HBO Go arrived) was only slightly stronger.

The Last of Us “nearly doubled” the audience for Euphoria‘s season two opener, WarnerMedia says. While it’s not yet clear how well the game series will fare in the long term, the company notes that Sunday night viewing for an HBO show tends to account for 20 to 40 percent of the total gross viewership per episode.

The strong initial performance isn’t surprising. On top of the long hype campaign, The Last of Us has well-known names (including Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey and Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin) as well as the benefit of an established fan base from Naughty Dog’s game franchise. Include HBO Max availability and a good early critical response and there were many people willing to tune in.

It’s too soon to say if The Last of Us will be the most popular game-based TV series to date. It has to compete with successes like Netflix’s League of Legends series Arcane, among others. However, the initial viewing data suggests this bet on a lavish production has paid off for everyone involved. In that light, it’s easy to see why Sony was willing to commit to TV shows for God of War and Horizon. As with rival shows like Halo, this is a chance to expand interest in a franchise to many more people.

Apple may unveil new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros tomorrow

Apple might not wait long to unveil its first products of 2023. Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman, 9to5Mac, MacRumors and Front Page Tech (aka Jon Prosser) all claim Apple will have a product announcement tomorrow. While most aren’t clear on details, Gurman hints these may be the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro M2 models he discussed last fall.

At the time, Gurman said these systems would share the same design as the M1 variants released in late 2021. They would center around new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips that would feature up to 12 CPU cores and 38 GPU cores in the Max. There wouldn’t be a touchscreen or other major revisions, in other words. You’d mainly buy one to get the best performance possible from a Mac laptop.

However, they might be the first Macs to include WiFi 6E. Twitter user Wade Penner spotted an unreleased MacBook Pro in a Canadian wireless database with support for the newer WiFi standard’s 6GHz band. So long as you have a supporting router, you should see higher maximum speeds, lower latency and less congestion on a busy local network. Apple’s iPad Pro M2 is already compatible with WiFi 6E.

There haven’t been mentions of other products debuting in the same time frame, so you might not want to count on a Mac mini M2 or other revisions. If the rumors are accurate, though, this could be good news for anyone who’s been holding off on a MacBook Pro to ensure they get the absolute latest hardware.

Your Google Stadia controller won’t be a paperweight after the service shuts down

Google is giving Stadia users some consolation prizes before the game streaming service shuts down on January 18th. To start, it’s planning to release a tool that will enable Bluetooth support on the Stadia controller. You’ll have to wait until next week to download it, but this should make the device useful for just about any title that has gamepad support, so long as the platform recognizes the hardware in the first place.

The company has also released a Snake clone, Worm Game, as a final “thanks” to users. It’s a simple project the Stadia team has been using for testing since before launch, but it might be worth a try if you want to give the service a proper sendoff.

You’re out of luck if you played Destiny 2 on Stadia, however. Bungie has already shut downDestiny 2‘s Stadia servers, and is giving gamers until January 18th to activate Cross Save and migrate their characters elsewhere. The developer also warns that you shouldn’t disable Cross Save after the 18th “for any reason” as long as Stadia is your primary account.

These last-minute announcements likely won’t come as a shock. Google announced its shutdown plans in September, and started issuing refunds in November. Other game studios have also been helping with the transition for weeks. IO Interactive recently released a promised Progression Carryover tool for Hitman players, while Ubisoft is offering free PC copies of games purchased through Stadia. If you hadn’t already made the leap, you were probably getting ready for it.

The technology behind Stadia will live on after it and Worm Game are just memories. On top of the controller update, Google’s Immersive Stream for Games makes the cloud functionality available to other companies. Still, it’s a bittersweet moment — the news is a reminder that Google’s most ambitious gaming initiative is nearly at an end.