Activision Blizzard Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Call Of Duty: Warzone has taken some strength out of the overperforming Ghost perk, and has also tweaked several other perks in an effort to “provide players with a variety of tools to create even more interesting stories”.In an update to Warzone detailed on March 28 (via The Loadout), Raven Software has shared that it wants “counterplay and interplay between systems to be viable” so that players can “create even more interesting stories”.To that end, the studio added that “perks are going to make for a significant part of the push towards this objective,” and has outlined several fairly major perk changes that arrived in yesterday’s Warzone update.The biggest change targets Ghost, and makes it so that players will only receive the perk’s stealth effect if they are moving. Raven Software explained that “in Caldera it is obvious that [Ghost] has become even stronger”, and felt that more counter play opportunities were needed for the perk.The update also makes changes to the Scavenger, Restock and E.O.D.

World Of Warcraft‘s Sepulcher of the First Ones has been completed at Mythic difficulty by esports organisation Echo, after an 18-day race to become the first group to complete it.As reported by PCGamesN, Sepulcher of the First Ones recently received a Mythic mode – the hardest difficulty in the MMO – and it’s taken players and esports organisations alike weeks to complete due to its difficulty.As Squishei explains on Wowhead: “After an 18 day race and 277 pulls, Echo has claimed the world first Mythic Jailer and the world first clear of Mythic Sepulcher of First Ones! With this victory, Echo has secured their status as two time world first champions of Shadowlands!”You can check out the moment Echo wins the Sepulcher of the First Ones: World First below.The completion took so long due to the fact that this raid was not only more difficult, but because it takes so long – after being wiped by a boss, teams would need to begin again.Sepulcher of the First Ones is one of Shadowlands‘ final raids and features the final boss fight between the player and the expansion’s antagonist, The Jailer. According to the Wowhead statistics, this fight was the hardest because The Jailer would get 14.4 per cent of his health back, as well as a shield, at some point during the boss fight.Wowhead notes that one Echo player, Fraggou, had to switch his Fury Warrior for an Arms Warrior, which made a big difference in sealing the esports teams’ win.Elsewhere, Blizzard has announced that it’s bringing back the Mage Tower to World Of Warcraft, permanently.

Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed in a recent Overwatch 2 livestream that Doomfist will swap from an assault hero to a tank.A developer livestream took place yesterday, March 18, where team members working on Overwatch 2 discussed some of the changes that will be present and how the current closed alpha test is progressing. (via PCGamer)Much of the discussion focused on Doomfist.

Fortnite creator Epic Games has announced that it “is stopping commerce with Russia,” joining a growing list of companies that are boycotting the country over its invasion of Ukraine.On Saturday (March 5), Epic Games shared on Twitter that “it is stopping commerce with Russia in our games in response to its invasion of Ukraine.”However, the company added that it is “not blocking access for the same reason other communication tools remain online: the free world should keep all lines of dialogue open.”Epic is stopping commerce with Russia in our games in response to its invasion of Ukraine. We’re not blocking access for the same reason other communication tools remain online: the free world should keep all lines of dialogue open.— Epic Games Newsroom (@EpicNewsroom) March 5, 2022This means that although fans in Russia will still be able to access titles such as Fortnite, they won’t be able to make any in-game purchases.

Activision Blizzard has said that it is facing an increased attrition rate after ongoing legal action.The annual report (via Axios) states that recent legal proceedings regarding alleged workplace harassment and strikes over QA layoffs may be responsible for an increased attrition rate at the company, and is also causing difficulty in attracting new staff members.The report said: “We are experiencing adverse effects related to concerns raised about our workplace. If we experience significantly reduced productivity, significant worker protests or strikes in regards to these matters, significant continued loss of sponsors, advertisers or players, or other negative consequences relating to these matters, our business could be materially adversely impacted.”The report continues, saying that Activision Blizzard may not be able to conduct business if it is unable to attract, retain, and motivate skilled personnel.“We have observed labour shortages, increasing competition for talent, and increasing attrition.

Warzone developer Raven Software has announced that as part of the battle royale’s anti-cheat system, PC players who encounter hackers will be given a “Damage Shield” that prevents hackers from hitting them with critical damage.As detailed in a progress report for Ricochet anti-cheat, Raven Software has shared that it is looking to apply more “in-game mitigations” to prevent cheaters from ruining games while they’re in them.One of these mitigations involves a “Damage Shield”, which has finished testing and is now live on Warzone servers.As to what the Damage Shield entails, the developer explains that “when the server detects a cheater is tampering with the game in real-time, it disables the cheater’s ability to inflict damage on other players,” which essentially sounds like a God Mode.“This mitigation leaves the cheater vulnerable to real players and allows [Ricochet] to collect information about a cheater’s system,” adds the blog.The article also outlines that there is “no possibility” the game will accidentally apply a Damage Shield outside of a scenario involving a cheater, and says “we will never interfere in gunfights betweeen law-abiding community members.”Looking ahead, the Ricochet team has shared that there are further mitigations “live and in development,” and confirmed that Warzone has seen “a decline in cheat reporting” since launching some of them in the last few weeks.On some of the mitigations that have not yet been detailed, the blog teases that “you might start seeing clips of our new tricks soon, but we won’t ruin the surprise.”In other Warzone news, Season Two of Warzone launched last week and has brought NPC enemies and a Chemical Factory.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard regarding the recent acquisition occurred days after the report on CEO Bobby Kotick.An SEC filing was published on Friday (February 18) stating that Kotick and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer entered talks about the acquisition on November 19, just three days after a report alleged that Kotick had known about Activision Blizzard’s misconduct for years.In September of last year, it was announced that Activision Blizzard was cooperating with an SEC investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment at the company, which this filing refers to.Part of the SEC filing reads: “On November 19, 2021, in the course of a conversation on a different topic between Mr. Spencer and Mr.

Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, has donated over $600,000 (£450,000) to causes that promote the election of Republican candidates.A report conducted by CNBC has found two private companies with links to Kotick which have made a number of large donations to Republican causes, with the aim to elect those candidates into office. The first company is Norgate LLC which made donations of $500,000 (£370,000) to the Senate Leadership Fund in 2020. The fund was aimed at supporting Republican candidate Mitch McConnell.Norgate LLC is linked to Kotick by the addresses it is registered under in California.

Activision Blizzard, after the company tried to argue against it.On February 15, judge Timothy Patrick Dillon ruled that temporary workers could be included in the Department of Fair Employment and Housing’s lawsuit against Activision Blizzard.The company had previously tried to have the suit dismissed – or its scope narrowed down – by saying that California had wrongly included this group of employees.“The Court finds that [Department of Fair Employment and Housing] did not expand the scope of this lawsuit by amending the complaint to add the phrase “contingent and temporary workers,” reads a court document shared by reporter Stephen Totilo.Activision scandal news: Yesterday, in a tentative ruling, a judge in California overruled Activision's argument that the state wrongly added temp workers to its big discrimination suit against the company.

Blizzard Entertainment has announced the release date for World Of Warcraft: Shadowlands’ next content update.The update, titled The Eternity’s End, will release on February 22 and will come out shortly after World Of Warcraft: Shadowlands Season 2 ends. With the season’s closing, it will no longer be possible to earn PvP seasonal rewards, titles, or Season 2 rankings, as revealed in a post by Blizzard.Blizzard recently revealed the details of a new raid coming with The Eternity’s End update: Sepulcher of the First Ones. The post provided a brief description of the new World Of Warcraft raid:“The Jailer has breached the Sepulcher, the mysterious heart of the Shadowlands.

Activision Blizzard has confirmed that a sequel to Modern Warfare will be this year’s Call Of Duty. A new Warzone is also coming.The news was leaked earlier in the week via well-known leaker, Tom Henderson, on Twitter.

Microsoft president Brad Smith has said that staff at Activision Blizzard will be “under scrutiny” following its acquisition of the publisher.Last month, Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard in a deal worth around £50billion, with the US Federal Trade Commission currently conducting an antitrust investigation.The purchase comes after Activision was hit by a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and another by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission following multiple allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination, and workplace misconduct.In between that, its own staff also filed a complaint too, alleging that the company used intimidation and “coercive tactics” to stifle staff trying to improve working conditions.It’s also been alleged that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of sexual misconduct claims within the company since 2018 but did not inform Activision’s board of directors. A report by the Wall Street Journal also suggested that Kotick played a first-hand part in the culture that has embroiled Activision in sexual harassment lawsuits and investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission.Speaking CNBC (via VGC) about the accusations, Smith said: “We’re looking to the leadership team at Activision Blizzard today to make culture and workplace safety a top priority every single day, until the day when this deal hopefully closes.

Microsoft purchase of Activision Blizzard is causing concern for smaller game developersLast month it was announced that Microsoft was acquiring Activision Blizzard for around £50billion, followed by news at the end of January that Sony would buy Bungie for £2.6billion.Now multiple indie developers have spoken to the BBC about their concerns with the Microsoft acquisition, and what it could mean for them.Director at Kitfox Games Tanya Short – the developer of Boyfriend Dungeon – said: “This Activision acquisition strikes fear in us because it makes it so much more obvious – maybe they could dominate the rest of the year and then what do we do?”“Conceivably, indie games outside of these services might lose engagement as subscribers focus most of their attention on games they can access for free within the service,” adds Yura Zhdanovich, founder and director at Sad Cat Studios.The Federal Trade Commission is set to investigate the deal and whether or not it would harm the competition. FTC Chair Lina Khan is an advocate for a more assertive approach when handling deals.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said that he doesn’t believe its acquisition of Activision Blizzard should be blocked by the US Federal Trade Commission.The deal, worth around £50billion, was announced on January 18 but earlier this week it was announced that the US Federal Trade Commission would be conducting an antitrust investigation after fears the acquisition would harm competition.Talking to the Financial Times, Nadella said that the deal would only place Microsoft as the third largest player in the video games industry behind Sony and Tencent. He also believes the fragmentation of the market would prevent it from ever gaining a monopoly.“At the end of the day, all the analysis here has to be done through a lens of what’s the category we’re talking about, and what about the market structure?” said Nadella.“Even post-this acquisition, we will be number three with a low teens (market) share, where even the highest player is also in the teens (for market) share.

Activision Blizzard that Infinity Ward is definitely working on Call Of Duty 2022.The rumours about the followup to Call Of Duty: Vanguard have been circulating since details about the project, codenamed Cortez, were datamined last September.It’s now been officially confirmed that the 2022 instalment of Call Of Duty will be developed by Infinity Ward, the studio behind Modern Warfare.​​“Development on this year’s premium and Warzone experiences is being led by Activision’s renowned Infinity Ward studio,” the company said in a press release. “The team is working on the most ambitious plan in franchise history, with industry-leading innovation and a broadly appealing franchise setting.”Infinity Ward confirmed the news by taking to Twitter.

Activision Blizzard has announced more Warcraft and World Of Warcraft is coming, some of which in the form of mobile content.As part of the company’s fourth quarter earnings results, a handful of Warcraft announcements were made. This included news that “Blizzard is planning substantial new content for the Warcraft franchise in 2022, including new experiences in World Of Warcraft and Hearthstone, and getting all-new mobile Warcraft content into players’ hands for the first time.”There has been no other mention of what this content will be as of yet, but according to Activision Blizzard the franchise was going strong in 2021 thanks to the inclusion of both the modern and classic game.The company does also note that it “continued to increase our developer headcount in the fourth quarter and added hundreds of talented professionals in 2021,” despite the fact that major layoffs to the Raven Software quality assurance department took place at the end of last year.This led to a strike lasting over a month and the formation of a new union, the Game Workers Alliance, which Activision Blizzard appears to be actively attempting to quash at every turn.

Microsoft is to be investigated by the Federal Trade Commission over their proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.News broke last month that Call of Duty and Overwatch developers Activision Blizzard were being acquired by Microsoft. But the deal isn’t actually set in stone yet, and now according to Bloomberg, the deal will see the FTC conduct an antitrust investigation over the Activision Blizzard acquisition.

Blizzard studio head, Mike Ybarra, has told fans to “stay tuned” for more news on Warcraft, Overwatch and Diablo.The news came via Twitter. When a Twitter user suggested that Blizzard should dedicate more of its time on existing products, Ybarra revealed more.In a tweet, Ybarra explained that “Blizzard is a big studio [with] talented and growing teams”. He continued by adding that “you’ll be hearing more on that from Warcraft and Overwatch“.

Call Of Duty: Warzone is in development, with the title apparently coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC.According to a Bloomberg report about the future of Activision Blizzard following their acquisition by Microsoft, the next three Call Of Duty titles won’t be Xbox exclusives because of deals made before the purchase.Speaking to four people with “knowledge” of the deal, those titles include the next two instalments of Modern Warfare (with the first expected this year). “The deal also includes a planned new iteration of Call Of Duty Warzone.”The claim was backed up by “credible Call Of Duty leaker” Tom Henderson, who believes Warzone 2 will be released in 2023 alongside the second new iteration of Modern Warfare (currently being developed by Treyarch).Warzone 2 is literally that… Warzone 2.Current gen and PC only… No past weapon integrations etc.

Activision Blizzard have formed a union.Composed of Raven Software quality assurance (QA) staff who staged a walkout in December of last year after more than a third of the QA team were laid off, the Game Workers Alliance (GWA) is a new union that has been launched with the help of the ABK Workers Alliance, which helped organise the ongoing strike and set up a GoFundMe for the staff.The Game Workers Alliance has been formed in conjunction with the Communications Workers of America, which organises unions in industries from communications to technology. The GWA is requesting formal recognition from Activision Blizzard, for which a spokesperson told Bloomberg:“While we believe that a direct relationship between the company and its team members delivers the strongest workforce opportunities, we deeply respect the rights of all employees under the law to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union.”A mission statement on the GWA website adds that the union focuses “on improving the conditions of workers in the video game industry by making it a more sustainable, equitable place where transparency is paramount.

Sony has made some of its first comments regarding Microsoft‘s £50billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, saying it expects the games to remain on PlayStation.As spotted by Bloomberg, a Sony spokesperson speaking to the Wall Street Journal today (January 20) has said that it expects Activision to honour its contractual agreements despite being bought out by its competitor Microsoft.“We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform.”Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming has said that Microsoft does not intend to pull communities away from PlayStation by taking games away from the platform. Analysts also suggest that due to the large number of players of Activision’s biggest franchise Call Of Duty, regulators would prevent Microsoft from making it an exclusive title over fears of monopolisation.However, Spencer made similar remarks during the acquisition of Zenimax.

Microsoft‘s acquisition of Activision Blizzard apparently came about due to the misconduct allegations against the latter.A new report from Bloomberg has detailed some of the behind the scenes actions that are said to have taken place regarding the Activision Blizzard acquisition. According to the report, when the news broke of misconduct allegations at Activision Blizzard from The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft Corp.

Xbox chief Phil Spencer has talked about how Microsoft wants to make sure all of Activision Blizzard’s studios feel safe following the announcement of the acquisition.Spencer made the comment during an investor call today (January 18) after it was announced that Microsoft would be acquiring Activision Blizzard for £50billion ($68billion USD).“We’re looking forward to working with the thousands of Activision Blizzard employees with the same approach of proactive inclusion and partnership that we extend to every member of the Microsoft family,” he stated.“We believe firmly that the great teams at Activision Blizzard have their best work in front of them, and we’re looking forward to making sure they feel safe, supported and engaged in every aspect of their work going forward.”“That includes respecting the creative vision and identity of individual game studios. We have fundamental values that we refuse to compromise on,” Spencer added.According to the call, this deal will make Microsoft third to only Tencent and Sony in terms of revenue, with it expected to go through some time in 2023.Spencer also added that the acquisition “is not about short term results.

Call Of Duty developer Treyarch has released a statement about moving forward, a month after the studio head left following sexual harassment allegations.The statement was shared to Twitter yesterday (December 21) and read: “Our goal as a studio is to make awesome games for the world to enjoy. Having the privilege to pursue that endeavour is made possible because of Treyarch’s people: we are a studio comprised of smart.

Blizzard Entertainment has shared an update on the development of Diablo 4.In a new Blizzard blog post, the developers confirmed that the team is still working on new content and systems for the game, and have also “made big strides” with every build containing a host of “expanded content, new art, balance changes, and other iterations.”Lead Systems Designer Joe Piepiora went on to address itemisation, confirming the return of +Skills on items, a new way to interact with legendary powers, and

Call Of Duty: Warzone melee attack isn’t working properly as Season 1 on new map Caldera gets underway.As reported by Dexerto, melee attacks just aren’t doing any damage.

Activision Blizzard penned an open letter to the company’s employees that warned them of the “consequences” of joining a union.Brian Bulatao, the chief administrative officer of the embattled publisher and former Under Secretary of State for Management in the Trump administration, wrote to employees last Friday (December 10) over plans to unionise.

Warzone season one patch notes have been released, revealing heaps of new content arriving with the Caldera map.Raven Software has released patch notes for the latest update to Warzone.

Raven Software employees will stage a walkout in protest of recent QA layoffs at the studio.Last week (December 4), Raven Software – a studio working under Activision Blizzard – laid off more than a third of its QA testers. The studio announced a restructuring of the quality assurance department, where contracted testers would either be promoted to full-time or laid off.The company began contacting workers affected from December 3 and will continue until December 8.

Raven Software who developed Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call Of Duty: Warzone will fire more than a third of its QA testers.As reported by The Washington Post, the studio announced a restructuring of the quality assurance department, where contracted testers would either be promoted to full-time or laid off. The company began contacting those affected from December 3 and will continue until December 8.

Warzone’s new map, Caldera, have been revealed ahead of its release date.The new map, which is set to launch on December 8 for owners of Call of Duty: Vanguard and the following day on December 9 for Warzone players, will take combatants to the Pacific island of Caldera, a sprawling map set to replace the eastern European Verdansk, which has served as Warzone‘s main location since 2020.

Activision Blizzard board of directors has formed the “Workplace Responsibility Committee”, which aims to “eliminate harassment and discrimination in the workplace.”A press release was published by the board last night (November 22), but doesn’t mention  how the company and the board will interact with its thousands of employees, just that the board is “committed to ensuring a healthy workplace in which all employees feel valued, safe, and respected.”“The Committee is empowered to retain outside

Nintendo of America email has surfaced addressing the ongoing situation at Activision Blizzard and the reports surrounding its CEO Bobby Kotick. As reported by Fanbyte, an email penned by Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser went out to all levels of the company, including internal developers like Retro Studios.“Along with all of you,” starts Bowser, “I’ve been following the latest developments with Activision Blizzard and the ongoing reports of sexual harassment and toxicity at the

Warzone player has used a spectator cam bug to preview what looks like Caldera, the next map to come to the battle royale.Taking to Twitter (thanks, VGC), Call Of Duty content creator Jgod shared a clip of him using a spectator cam bug – which allows players to take the camera well outside the bounds of a map and explore the surrounding area.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has reportedly told senior managers that he will “consider leaving” if he cannot quickly fix ongoing issues surrounding sexual misconduct within the company.According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Kotick said on Friday (November 19) that he would keep the possibility of resignation open if he could not fix issues within Activision Blizzard “with speed”.These “issues” refer to ongoing allegations of a “frat boy culture” and sexual misconduct, which

Call Of Duty: Vanguard season one and Call Of Duty: Warzone‘s Pacific map have been hit with one-week delays.Amid the protests at Activision Blizzard and calls for CEO Bobby Kotick’s resignation, it has been announced that both Vanguard’s season one and Warzone’s Pacific Caldera map will launch on December 8, the same day as the launch of the Halo Infinite campaign.Call Of Duty: Vanguard players will get 24-hour exclusive access to play the Warzone Caldera map on December 8, as open access