Rock,Paper,Shotgun
Blizzard Entertainment and NetEast Games have announced that the upcoming devilish MMOARPG Diablo Immortal is available for pre-load on PC today. As in, right now. It won’t launch in full until next June 2nd, but Blizzard have provided a handy ‘roadmap’ for accessing the game here. Scurry forth ye demons. Read more
Twitch
A 29-year-old former airport cop, Evan Baltierra, was arrested this week and charged in federal court with allegedly harassing a World of Warcraft streamer off of Twitch. The two met in person at BlizzCon 2019, according to an accompanying affidavit, but when the streamer declined to be his “valentine” and later took away his mod privileges from her Twitch channel he allegedly began a targeted harassment campaign against her, her boyfriend, and her family.
Rock,Paper,Shotgun
Overwatch 2‘s first beta test has been ticking along for a week now, and Blizzard have written a response to the feedback. It’s almost relentlessly peppy, but there are details in there covering why things are the way they are, and how they’ll be changing in future updates. Read more
VG247
Assemble armies with your favorite characters from the Warcraft universe. Blizzard has announced its first Warcraft game designed for mobile, Warcraft Arclight Rumble. The game is an action strategy title where you will assemble armies with characters from the Warcraft universe and battle it out in various missions as you command forces of digital tabletop miniatures in multi-lane combat. In it, you will be tasked with building forces of minis, starting with Leaders such as the Warsong chieftain Grommash Hellscream and Archmage Jaina Proudmor. You will then fill it with Arclight-augmented armies with rank-and-file Troop minis and powerful spells. It…
Rock,Paper,Shotgun
Shareholders in Activision Blizzard approved overwhelmingly to accept Microsoft Corporation’s offer of $68.7 billion (£54.66 billion) to acquire the company at yesterday’s Special Meeting of Stockholders. More than 98% of the shares voted in favour of the buyout offer, Activision Blizzard confirmed in a statement released on their website. The largest payment for a technology company in recorded history, toppling Dell’s acquisition of EMC Data Storage from 2016, it’s now expected the deal will conclude during Microsoft’s fiscal year, which ends on June 30th 2023. Read more
VG247
The company also touched on the next Call of Duty, Diablo Immortal, and more in its financial results. Activision Blizzard’s financial results for the first quarter of 2022 have been released, where the company touched on the next Call of Duty games and the upcoming release of Diablo Immortal. The financial results cover up to the end of the quarter, March 31, and obviously briefly touched on that whole Microsoft acquisition thing. It noted that the transaction is “expected to close in Microsoft’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2023,” with the boards of both Activision Blizzard and Microsoft having approved…
Rock,Paper,Shotgun
Blizzard Entertainment revealed the latest expansion for their mega-MMORPG World of Warcraft, the high-fantasy Dragonflight, last night. It has an Azeroth-load of dragons in it. That is all. Well, not all, because Blizzard also showed off that Wrath of the Lich King is coming to World of Warcraft Classic later this year. WoW, it’s not just the economy that feels like 2008. Read more
Rock,Paper,Shotgun
Blizzard Entertainment head Mike Ybarra says their top priority is to “rebuild your trust in Blizzard.” In a new blog post, Ybarra outlines the steps the company is taking, including new senior positions dedicated to improving their culture. These moves come in the wake of several lawsuits alleging a culture of harassment and discrimination within the company. The post announcing the plans also comes days after Microsoft announced their intent to buy Activision Blizzard. Read more
VG247
The CEO declined to say whether or not he will maintain his position once the deal closes. It’s unclear at the moment what role Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will play once the deal with Microsoft goes through. Speaking with The New York Times, Kotick declined to say whether or not he would remain CEO of Activision once the deal is closed, but told the paper he would remain “available as needed to ensure that we have the very best integration.” When the $68.7 billion acquisition was announced, it was revealed that Kotick would maintain his position as Activision Blizzard…
Rock,Paper,Shotgun
In the wake of scandal and lawsuits alleging a culture of discrimination and harrassment at Activision Blizzard, Microsoft today announced they’re buying the company. Wait, hang on. What. That’s not what I expected when Xbox head Phil Spencer told staff he was “evaluating all aspects of [Xbox’s] relationship” with Activision Blizzard. Microsoft plan to pay $68.7 billion (£50 billion) for the company, which will nab them games including Warcraft, Call Of Duty, and Overwatch. Jesus. Read more
VG247
It’s all change for Sombra going into Overwatch 2, and whilst her hack will be nerfed a bit, the other changes seem pretty well thought through. Blizzard Entertainment has revealed what new changes it will be making to Sombra in Overwatch 2 as it starts to lift the lid on some of the changes it’ll be making to the game’s established heroes going forward. If you can ignore the on-going, all-consuming its sexual harrassment and discrimination lawsuit against Activision Blizzard at the moment, you may be excited to learn that Sombra is getting some changes when the next game launches….
Rock,Paper,Shotgun
Terrible news continues to pour out of Blizzard like pus from of a festering wound around a splinter you forgot about and left for way too long. You should really get that looked at. Still, they must be drawing some comfort from the fact that Diablo II: Resurrected is out today, one of Blizz’s most beloved games of all time. Naturally, a lot of people will be excited for the remastered version. But if my tone is more immediately aggro than the last time I wrote about Diablerrected, that’s because I was previously playing the beta through the rose-tinted haze…
Rock,Paper,Shotgun
The US government’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are investigating Activision Blizzard over the company’s handling of sexual misconduct and harassment allegations. This comes just two months after the Call Of Duty publishers were sued by a State department for alleged workplace harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. Now, The SEC have subpoenaed a number of high-level executives, reportedly including CEO Bobby Kotick, and have requested internal documents relating to the allegations. Read more
Rock,Paper,Shotgun
The Diablo 2: Resurrected beta opened its fiery gates to everyone last month, and by Alice B’s account it was quite the enjoyable nostalgia trip. Some players, however, may have been having a little too much fun – specifically though the use of ultrawide monitors, which Blizzard say will no longer receive full 21:9 aspect ratio support in the remaster. Read more
Rock,Paper,Shotgun
Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack stepped down from his position yesterday, leaving the Overwatch and World Of Warcraft developers. But he wasn’t the only executive to make a departure – Jesse Meschuk, Blizzard’s now-former senior vice president of HR, has also left the company. All of this follows a lawsuit that alleged Activision Blizzard’s company culture created a “breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women”. Read more