Microsoft to Buy Bungie? When is a Denial Not Really a Denial? (VL314)

Is Bungie in talks to sell out to Microsoft? Have such talks *ever* happened? Imran Khan of Kinda Funny, Jeff Grubb of GamesBeat, and Tom Phillips of Eurogamer sure think so. But why then did the CEO of Bungie, Pete Parsons, deliver a flat denial on Twitter stating in no uncertain terms that “This is False”?

Well like most things in corporate messaging, there’s more here than initially meets the eye.

When is a denial not a denial? When it categorically denies a multi-conditional paraphrase of a rumor speculated on in a casual podcast by two separate people.

CEOs don’t wear halos, but their destiny *is* to parse language…in Virtual Legality.

Virtual Legality #44 – Kotaku Adds Another Note to Bioware’s Discordant Anthem

Kotaku’s Jason Schreier once again brings us into the world of how the video game sausage gets made, as he dives deep into the tumultuous development history of Bioware’s Anthem.

Why was Anthem’s traversal, gameplay, and even name changed at the last minute?

What forces, both internal and external, led to the release of the lowest rated game in Bioware’s history?

What did Bioware have to say about Kotaku’s article?

And why does Bioware’s messaging on this do more to evidence its communications issues than it does to refute them?

We’ve got a lot to say about this one folks.

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Does Steam hold the “Keys” to Epic’s Game Store Kingdom?

Though Epic has come out blazing with attacks on Steam’s 70/30 revenue split, Steam’s policy of allowing publishers and developers to sell their own Steam “keys” on other stores (serviced by Steam for free), makes the math a bit more complicated.

What is Steam’s “key” policy and how does it differ from what is presently offered by the Epic Games Store?

What does it mean to enforce “guidelines” over specific rules or contract terms?

And why does the use of “guidelines” mean that some publishers and developers might still consider themselves to be better off going with Epic?