IGN Plagiarism scandal overshadows epic Smash Bros. Ultimate news #DailyHotTake

What a wild week for the video game industry. On one hand, we got some exciting news about some of the hottest games of the year including a ton of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate info and a new trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2. On the other hand, many people in the industry were exposed for sketchy behavior. Let’s see what the TSG staff had to say on Twitter with this week’s hot takes.

Toxic work culture suffocates women employees at Riot Games

We can thank the reporting staff at Kotaku for most of the insightful and juicy scoops this week. Cecilia D’Anastasio published a story, almost a year in the making, that explores the sexist culture at Riot Games, developers of the hit game League of Legends. She reports that the culture stifle’s women’s voices and professional growth while sexual harassment is often dismissed if not encouraged. Famed game developer Cliffy B’s hot take on the piece wasn’t too hot at all.

New Red Dead Redemption 2 gameplay trailer

Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the most anticipated games of the year, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is looking forward to it. Here’s an example of our staff completely disagreeing with each other about their excitement.

Filip Miucin plagiarizes his Dead Cells review for IGN

Everyone on the staff is disheartened by this event. IGN’s Nintendo Editor Filip Miucin published a video review for the new indie game Dead Cells by Motion Twin. While the review was glowing, it shared an uncanny resemblance to the review by the Boomstick Gaming YouTube channel posted several days prior. Long story short, Miucin was fired and IGN re-reviewed the game.

Miucin remained silent on the subject until he posted a video response on his personal YouTube channel Friday afternoon with his side of the story. In this video, which has been removed, he did not admit to plagiarism and expressed issues with those who accused him of such things. Many of those willing to give Filip the benefit of the doubt retracted their goodwill after what they considered a piss-poor apology.

Fortnite streamer Ninja won’t stream with female gamers

In order to avoid getting caught up in any scandals that would jeopardize his marriage, popular Twitch streamer Ninja explained to Polygon that he has elected not stream with other female streamers. This news has been scandalous in itself with very mixed reactions.

Nintendo Direct for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Ending with some good news, Nintendo gave us over 30 minutes of Smash Bros. info including two new character reveal trailers. Simon and Richter from the Castlevania series and King K. Rool join the already massive roster. Additionally, Nintendo announced many new features for the Ultimate including a staggering amount of stages, songs, and the ability to save custom and default rulesets.

This has been an interesting week for Twitter. Follow us there for more #DailyHotTake.