Take-Two Interactive Software shut down access to Grand Theft Auto Online, Red Dead Online, and several other games Thursday to support Black Lives Matter and demonstrators protesting the death of George Floyd.
The game developer will turn off services between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. PT today to “honor the legacy of George Floyd” and support Black Lives Matter’s fight against racial injustice.
“To honor the legacy of George Floyd and in observance of his memorial service, today from 2:00-4:00 p.m. ET, our labels, Rockstar Games, 2K and Social Point, will be shutting down access to their online games, Grand Theft Auto Online, Red Dead Online, NBA 2K, Dragon City and Monster Legends,” said Alan Lewis, vice president of corporate communications for Take-Two. “In addition, our Private Division label will respectfully suspend their activities during that time. George Floyd’s memory will serve as a reminder that racism and the violence it incites cannot be tolerated. We are committed to supporting efforts to eradicate racial injustice and stand in solidarity with the Black community against this systemic issue that causes conflict and division in our society.”
In a follow-up tweet, Rockstar Games asked players to consider donating to funds that support families who have faced racism, Black-owned businesses, and protesters who have called for racial justice.
Following the memorial, we hope you will join us in further honoring the many victims of America's racial injustices by supporting their families, black-owned businesses, those marching on the streets, and coalitions through the organizations listed here: https://t.co/yIQu2R1pJb
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) June 4, 2020
The U.S. is reeling from the tragic death last month of Minneapolis man George Floyd. Soon after this death, protesters took to cities across the country calling for an end to racism and police brutality against Black Americans. Four police officers involved in Floyd’s death have been charged, including Derek Chauvin, who held his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Chauvin is facing a second-degree murder charge.
Companies across the video game industry have come out in full support of the protests and Black Lives Matter. On Monday, Electronic Arts had planned to unveil Madden NFL 21 but ultimately canceled the event to support the movement. Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson said yesterday that the company would also donate $1 million to organizations that fight racial injustice and give employees an extra paid day off each to volunteer and create positive change in their communities.
Sony canceled a PlayStation 5 event this week, where it was expected to unveil upcoming games for the console, and Epic Games said yesterday that it would delay Fortnite Season 3 until later this month. Infinity Ward postponed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty Warzone Season 4 until further notice so players could focus on addressing racism.
Updated at 11:35 a.m. PT to include more details.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.