So the DICE Awards, the video game industry’s Oscar equivalent held last night. A number of games took home trophies, including those from Hazelight Studios It takes two, which won its second Game of the Year award – but that wasn’t the biggest news of the night. No, people were waiting to find out what kind of mess could happen on stage. Earlier in the day before the event unfolded, Kind of funny Co-founder and industry hypeman Gregory Mueller tweeted that he would use his airtime in front of the industry’s top developers to “Mac[ing] enemies”. Well, he said something that got applause from the crowd at the end.
Bethesda Executive Producer Todd Howard opened the night with a monologue about “world turmoil and uncertainty,” particularly given the horrific events in Ukraine. He talked about Wordl and The Sims before handing the stage to Miller and co-host Jessica Chobot. Things got hot from there when Miller called out Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.
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After jokes Cyberpunk 2077, Metroid horrorand NFTs, Miller said, “Fuck Bobby Kotick,” to clapping and cheers from the audience. It was a brief but critical moment, especially as Geoff Keighley hosted the Game Awards criticized for refusing to name names openly In December. Although many prominent figures in the gaming industry are willing to denounce the broad idea of harassment or advocate for diversity values, it’s much rarer to hear specifics about what those remarks are responding to or who the bad actors are that could be causing problems be. It doesn’t mean such Remarks must not be thoughtful or concise: Formerly at DICE, Laura Miele, EA’s senior vice president and chief operating officer didn’t mince words when she said it “Leaders who do not meet basic standards must go.” But it’s definitely unusual to post names like Miller, especially on such a public platform.
Mueller tells igamesnews via email that while he was willing to debate with the show’s producers and writers about including such a blunt critique in their speech, not only did he not have to, but was also commended for being so candid .
“As we got closer to the DICE Awards, I knew I wanted the monologue to say something real about NFTs and the abuse that’s rampant in the industry,” Miller said. “I’d seen Geoff get a backlash from the Game Awards for not naming names, so I was willing to fight to get stuff like that in.
“As for the audience, I don’t think they expected us to play that hard,” Miller continued. “There were the usual laughs and groans, but there was stunned silence as well. Everyone who reached out to me afterwards said they loved it and stuck to the message — no one told me I was wrong.”
igamesnews has reached out to Activision Blizzard for comment.
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Miller is not wrong. The maligned CEO was in the headlines for months for a variety of reasons, but one of the worst was a Wall Street Journal report about Kotick threatening to kill an assistant via voicemail. He is always been an assholeseemingly Downplaying the seriousness of Activision Blizzard’s sexual harassment issues while touting a takeover of Microsoft just days after the harassment report has been submitted. He was supposedly responsible to prevent those who have committed sexual acts dDiscrimination and harassment for getting fired while being shitty towards women himself. He’s the definition of “scumbag,” an example of the worst parts of the industry.
It’s great to see high profile figures not only demanding better things from the gaming industry, but rightly challenging those who perpetuate harmful work environments. Things won’t change until there are enough voices actively fighting for it. The only way to stop abuse is to fight back.
