Senior ‘Diablo IV’ developers and ‘World Of Warcraft’ designer leave Activision Blizzard

Activision Blizzard has announced a brand new Hearthstone Battlegrounds revamp for the game’s latest update.In a new blog post, the developer has shared information about the next Battlegrounds update for Hearthstone, saying it will be the biggest update to date.First up, the update will add a major minion shakeup, replacing 37 minions with brand new ones, which will possess a new ‘Avenge’ keyword skill. This will do “something after (x) after (x) friendly minions die”.

Blizzard’s classic RPG Diablo II has received many mods over its long lifetime, but the biggest, Median XL – Sigma, has recently been overhauled.The Meidan XL – Sigma mod has received a 2.0 version that changes nearly everything in Diablo 2 in small or large ways.

Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed that the upcoming World Of Warcraft update will remove developer names to “better reflect our shared values”.In a new tweet from the World Of Warcraft development team last night (August 27), Shadowlands update 9.1.5 will be going into the PTR next week and will introduce a bunch of changes to the game.“Over the past few weeks we shared an update, the WoW team has been focused on the immediate future – both for our players and workplace, and what’s next for

Activision Blizzard to include contracted workers.Read more: ‘Recompile’ review: a bite-sized but disappointing MetroidvaniaThe lawsuit, which was filed late last month, alleges Activision Blizzard employees face “constant sexual harassment, including groping, comments and advances” while at work.

Diablo II: Resurrected open beta.The open beta begins simultaneously in all regions at 5 PM GMT August 20, which works out as 10 AM PDT, 1 PM EDT, 6 PM BST and 7 PM CEST.

Diablo II: Resurrected, Blizzard’s upcoming Diablo II remake is getting an open beta this weekend.The beta has already been running for almost a week – for those who pre-ordered or received a beta code via Twitch.

Activision Blizzard, which includes Candy Crush developer King, are claiming that recruiters are telling them to stop talking about the company’s toxic culture.The claim appears to have come from Valentine Powell, a senior UI engineer for World Of Warcraft, who tweeted yesterday (August 17), “I’m seeing recruiters approaching ABK workers who are pushing for change, telling them to stop being so loud.

Activision Blizzard over alleged sexual harassment, a new report claims that the company has been deadnaming transgender quality assurance (QA) staff.The report, from Kotaku, states that the company will “almost always default to legal names,” a QA tester at a contract QA studio claimed.

Diablo II: Resurrected, the upcoming Diablo II remaster from Blizzard, won’t include TCP/IP multiplayer despite previous promises.During a recent blog post, Blizzard revealed that Diablo II: Resurrected won’t include the classic TCP/IP multiplayer options – a firm favourite for LAN parties in the past.“TCP/IP support will not be available in the upcoming Beta or the final game,” they confirmed.

Activision Blizzard investment group spoke out against the company’s response to the lawsuit over alleged sexual harassment.In an exclusive letter from SOC executive director Dieter Waizenegger to Axios, the Activision Blizzard shareholder says that recent promises don’t go “nearly far enough to address the deep and widespread issues with equity, inclusion, and human capital management.”“No changes have been announced with respect to executive pay,” the letter adds.“Either with respect to

Diablo Immortal has had its release date pushed back to 2022, following player feedback from a recent closed alpha test of the game.In a blog post, developer Blizzard Entertainment says “the game is now planned for release in the first half of 2022, which will allow us to add substantial improvements to the whole game”.Blizzard added that it “has been tuning core and endgame features”, with an emphasis on iterating and improving PvP content “to make it more accessible”, as well as fine-tuning

Activision Blizzard is being sued by an investor for allegedly hiding the severity of an investigation into sexual harassment, which led to a lawsuit from the state of California.An Activision Blizzard investor has filed a federal securities fraud claim against the company, stating shareholders were “economically damaged” after Activision Blizzard reportedly downplayed and buried California’s investigation into sexual harassment from investors.The suit, noted by Bloomberg Law, alleges that

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick addressed the company’s ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit and action surrounding further allegations.Speaking to investors during a second-quarter 2021 financial results call yesterday (August 3), Kotick has stated “people will be held accountable for their actions” regarding allegations of sexual harassment and a “frat boy culture” at Activision Blizzard.Regarding recent commitments to change, Kotick said:“That commitment means that we will not just

Activision Blizzard appears to have lost a major sponsor for Call of Duty esports league, with T-Mobile vanishing from recent competitive events.READ MORE: The unstoppable rise of the UK’s favourite homegrown ‘Call of Duty: Warzone’ player, JukeyzReferences to T-Mobile, which was the company’s largest non-gaming sponsor, seemed to have disappeared during the recent Stage 5 Majors competition (as spotted by Dexerto).The T-Mobile logo appears to have been obscured on competing players’ uniforms,

Activision Blizzard faces a lawsuit after accusations from employees that they’ve faced “constant sexual harassment, including groping, comments, and advances” in the workplace, a former senior employee has written an open letter calling for industry-wide unionization.Shared via IGN, Jeff Strain’s ‘It’s Time’ letter starts with Strain saying how “the Activision Blizzard disclosures this week have left me disgusted and repulsed — but not at all surprised.”Having joined Blizzard Entertainment in

Activision Blizzard has confirmed that former World Of Warcraft creative director Alex Afrasiabi was fired for misconduct in 2020.After a report by Kotaku which detailed the alleged sexual harassment and misconduct surrounding the ‘Cosby Suite’, Activision Blizzard has confirmed that Alex Afrasiabi – the former creative director for World Of Warcraft who was named prominently in that report – was fired for misconduct in 2020.

Riot Games is being sued by the state of California for gender discrimination, sexual harassment and pay decisions, according to a recently discovered document. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) litigation notice was spotted by a Reddit user (thanks, PC Gamer), and the class case is “not subject to arbitration.

Activision Blizzard has since cancelled all future meetings.An initial all-hands meeting was chaired on July 26, but due to a scheduling error, was only attended by around 500 employees.Another all-hands meeting was scheduled for today but has since been cancelled.According to Uppercut, Activision Blizzard is offering “discussion sessions” limited to 30 participants each for employees to raise issues and grievances surrounding the State of California lawsuit.“Any future all hands style meetings

Activision Blizzard has hired the renowned union-busting legal firm, WilmerHale, to review the company’s policies after a lawsuit accused the firm of subjecting employees to “constant sexual harassment, including groping, comments, and advances” in the workplace.Previously best known for its work with Amazon when it came to handling workers demanding better pay and working conditions, WilmerHale is generally considered to be an anti-union legal firm.

Ubisoft employees have released an open letter showing support for the Activision Blizzard walkout, and asking for their employers to do more.The letter comes shortly after Activision Blizzard employees announced a walkout to protest the company’s response to allegations laid out in a lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.