For once, pirates can illegally download a game without any remorse. The Russian indie developer behind Loop Hero, Four Quarters, as well as the game’s publisher, Devolver Digital, have given pirates their blessing, saying that those who have been affected by sanctions against Russia should illegally download the game.

Four Quarters first condoned potential customers pirating Loop Hero in a post on the Russian social media website, VK. According to a translated version of the post, which ended by linking to a torrent for Loop Hero, Four Quarters said players should “raise the pirate flag.” Apparently, users in affected regions can’t outright purchase the game because of sanctions against Russia caused by global outrage over the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Devolver Digital also gave pirates a pass when it comes to downloading Loop Hero, saying that it “fully supports Four Quarters as they navigate this incredibly difficult period,” in a statement to PC Gamer. “We’ve been communicating consistently with the team to help them wherever possible and were altered of the statement ahead of time, which we back 100%.”

It’s not clear how long Four Quarters will condone players pirating its game. However, until users are reliably able to pay Russian developers on Steam, the company will likely continue advocating for piracy.

Companies throughout the game industry have taken their own actions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Sony and Microsoft have both suspended sales of their products in the country, with numerous smaller developers and publishers doing the same.

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The latest in a long line of lawsuits targeting Fortnite over dance moves comes from Kyle Hanagami, a professional choreographer who has worked with artists including J.Lo, Britney Spears, BlackPink, NSYNC, and more. In a suit filed on March 29, lawyers representing Hanagami sued Epic Games over copyrighted choreography used in the It’s Complicated dance emote, Kotaku reports.

The choreography comes from a video Hanagami posted in 2017, featuring a challenging dance routine set to Charlie Puth’s How Long. In August 2020, Fortnite released the It’s Complicated emote, with the first section of the dance appearing almost identical to Hanagami’s choreography. The lawsuit states that Epic “did not credit Hanagami nor seek his consent to use, display, reproduce, sell, or create a derivative work based on the Registered Choreography,” and Hanagami’s lawyers have released a video that compares the movements in both clips in granular detail.

A number of similar lawsuits have been filed against Epic Games in the past, but all of them are have since been dropped. In one case, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Alfonso Ribeiro sued Fortnite over the Fresh emote, which featured a dance made famous by Ribeiro’s character Carlton. The case was dropped as Ribeiro was still waiting to hear from the US Copyright Office on his copyright application for the dance, which was later declined due to the simplicity of the dance. Other suits filed by rapper 2 Milly, Backpack Kid, and “Orange Shirt Kid” over other Fortnite dance emotes were also dropped for “procedural” reasons.

Hanagami’s case may yet turn out differently, as the choreographer does already hold the copyright for the So Long dance. The emote in question rotates occasionally through the Fortnite Item Shop, where it sells for 500 V-Bucks, the equivalent of around $5. The suit argues that Fortnite has profited off Hanagami’s copyrighted work without his consent, and asks that Epic Games remove the emote and pay Hanagami the profits that were earned through it.

“[Hanagami] felt compelled to file suit to stand up for the many choreographers whose work is similarly misappropriated,” lawyer David Hecht said to Kotaku in a statement. “Copyright law protects choreography just as it does for other forms of artistic expression. Epic should respect that fact and pay to license the artistic creations of others before selling them.”

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It appears Innersloth’s popular social deduction game Among Us is adding new characters from other massive franchises. Social media posts have suggested that Master Chief from Halo and Ratchet and Clank from… Ratchet and Clank are coming to Among Us at some point in the future.

Master Chief and 343 Guilty Spark character skins can be seen in the Halo tweet, with the super-soldier dropping down through a vent. Innersloth’s own tweet about Ratchet and Clank is more definitive, plainly and firmly stating that Ratchet and Clank cosmetics are coming “soon” to Among Us.

Master Chief, Ratchet, and Clank won’t be the first characters from other franchises showing up in Among Us. Before this, Among Us added skins for League of Legends and Scream. Outside of video game characters, Among Us has welcomed big-name guests before. Politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez played Among Us and discussed her policies, while Jimmy Fallon played during his late night TV show.

We don’t know about a price or release date for these new skins, but keep checking back with GameSpot for more on the Halo and Ratchet and Clank crossover DLC for Among Us.

Among Us itself is crossing over with other games, too, as an Among Us crewmate is coming to developer Owlchemy Labs’ soon-to-launch VR game Cosmonious High. Among Us itself is also coming to VR, with the new edition coming from VR studio Schell Games, the developer of I Expect You To Die.

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Ubisoft has announced that a new mode is coming to The Division 2, and while the studio isn’t quite ready to share all the details, it looks like some information about it has emerged ahead of time.

In a statement posted on social media, Ubisoft said the focus of an upcoming Public Test Server launch on PC will be to test a “new game mode.” Pre-loading for the PTS begins March 31 at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET, with the PTS itself going live on April 1 at 2 AM PT / 5 AM ET. That is April Fools’ day, so there is a chance there are some shenanigans going on here, but keep checking back with the GameSpot for the latest.

Ubisoft also confirmed that the first season of The Division 2’s Year 4, Season 9 remains in the works. However, Ubisoft said it is not announcing a specific release date or any other information “in light of current world events.”

Also in the post, Ubisoft clarified that the revamp to Specializations that was previously planned for release in Season 9 are now being delayed to sometime later, but still during Year 4.

“In the meantime, we are excited to have you try out what we have been working on starting April 1st,” Ubisoft teased of the new mode.

GrumpierFaceman on Twitter replied to Ubisoft’s tweet with video footage claiming to be the new mode, which could be called “Welcome Heartland.” It’s “very Tarkov meets Vigor,” the person said, referencing those two games and their gameplay styles and systems. Players will apparently enter a multiplayer zone with high stakes–all gear is lost when you die, it seems.

Whether or not this mode is connected to the upcoming free-to-play standalone game The Division: Heartland remains to be seen.

In addition to ongoing support for The Division 2, Ubisoft’s Massive team in Sweden is making Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora for release in 2022 and an open-world Star Wars game.

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Taiwanese studio Red Candle Games has launched a crowdfunding page for its latest game Nine Sols–which was revealed last year–and within a single day its first goal was met. Described as a “journey of Asian fantasy” inspired by combat-heavy games such as Sekiro and Hollow Knight, Nine Sols has you play as Yi, a hero from the past who is tasked with slaying the nine alien warlords of a strange realm.

Red Candle added that the game merges deflection-focused combat with a “Taopunk” setting, and the single-player adventure is being designed to offer 10-15 hours of playtime ahead of its Q2 2023 release. When parrying isn’t enough, you’ll still be able to dash, double jump, and wall jump out of harm’s way.

Stylistically, the game has hand-drawn 2D animation and a “dark electronic” sound mixed with Eastern instruments. The Taopunk theme is described as a fusion between sci-fi elements and Eastern mythology, with parts of the explorable city of New Kunlun having its own distinct style.

As for the platforms that Nine Sols will be released on, Red Candle is prioritizing PC for now, but it has acquired Nintendo Switch and PlayStation devkits for when it’s ready to port the game over to those platforms.

At the time of writing, Nine Sols is almost within reach of its first stretch goal of $210,000, which will add a story mode to the game and an easier difficulty setting for non-hardcore players. Additional stretch goals include an in-game cutscene, an alternate ending, and additional bosses.

The studio had previously worked on Devotion, a game that courted controversy with Chinese players after they discovered art assets that compared Chinese president Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh. Devotion was removed from Steam and a promise by GOG to release the game a year later was canceled at the eleventh hour, leading Red Candle to go into business for itself and sell the game on its own store.

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