Overwatch Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Sooo… It sounds like Amber Heard ain’t too thrilled about Elon Musk sharing her “private” roleplaying pic.

Bobby Kotick, the longtime CEO of Activision Blizzard, is stepping down Dec. 29 following the company’s drawn-out $69 billion sale to Microsoft that closed in October. The exec — who oversaw some of the industry’s most popular games from Pitfall to Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Candy Crush Saga and Farm Heroes Saga — had said previously he would stay on through the end of 2023.

Elon Musk has revealed that Amber Heard cosplayed as Overwatch hero Mercy to role-play for him.Musk and Heard dated in 2016 and 2017, however, Walter Isaacson’s biography of the SpaceX CEO corroborates the claim that he had pursued her since 2012.Musk liked the fact that Heard looked like Overwatch‘s Mercy, a blonde female support character who sports angelic wings attached to her battle suit and a halo-esque hairpiece. While she was filming Aquaman in Australia in 2017, Musk flew out to see Heard and she greeted him by kissing him on the cheek.“[Musk] told her that she reminded him of Mercy, his favourite character in […] Overwatch, so she spent two months designing and commissioning a head-to-toe costume so she could role-play for him,” Isaacson wrote.Heard wasn’t out of her depth when it came to the concept of cosplaying as a fictional character for a romantic partner.

Sam Hanna’s back in action… already!

$68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard after publishing its final findings on Wednesday.The regulator, which initially launched an in-depth review of the deal in September, provisionally determined in February that the merger could make the tech giant even stronger in cloud gaming, stifling market competition. In its final decision, the CMA determined that Microsoft would “find it commercially beneficial to make Activision’s games exclusive to its own cloud gaming service” and that the deal would “reinforce Microsoft’s advantage in the market by giving it control over important gaming content such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft.”“Given its already strong position, even a moderate increment to Microsoft’s strength may be expected to substantially reduce competition in this developing market, to the detriment of current and future cloud gaming users,” the CMA said.

Funny lady! Annie Murphy has been acting since 2007 but it wasn’t until she began playing Alexis Rose on Schitt’s Creek that she became a household name.

Activision Blizzard regarding its handling of salaries in Call Of Duty and Overwatch professional scenes.In the lawsuit, the US Government stated that Activision Blizzard’s Competitive Balance Tax in its Overwatch and Call Of Duty leagues limited competition and “suppressed esports players’ wages”.The Competitive Balance Tax forced competing teams to adhere to a salary cap implemented by Activision, meaning they were fined if any of their players were paid above a certain amount.In October 2021, Activision Blizzard told Call Of Duty and Overwatch teams that the Competitive Balance Tax would no longer be enforced, following an investigation by the DOJ.“The Competitive Balance Tax substantially lessened competition between teams in the Overwatch and Call Of Duty Leagues for esports players and limited the players’ compensation,” alleged the DOJ, who added that teams who used most of their salary cap on more expensive players drove down wages for everyone else.If successful, the lawsuit would hit Activision with a financial penalty and order the company to avoid reimplementing anything like the Competitive Balance Tax again.“Professional esports players – like all workers – deserve the benefits of competition for their services,” said Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.

Netflix has announced that it will be launching a new game development studio which will be led by Overwatch executive producer, Chacko Sonny.During the TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 event yesterday (October 18), Netflix’s vice president of games Mike Verdu shared the news of the new California studio, which is currently unnamed (via VGC).“We are starting another organic new studio in Southern California, this time around Chacko Sonny, who oversaw production on God of War Ascension for Santa Monica and oversaw a portfolio of their games, and then was executive producer of a little game franchise called Overwatch,” Verdu said.“He could have gone anywhere, he could have raised money, he could have done anything and he chose to come here. We are building a team around him and looking to him to reinvent what games can be.”Chacko Sonny left Blizzard Entertainment in September 2021 in order “to take some time off.” He worked at the company for five years from 2016 but didn’t become an executive producer on the Overwatch franchise until 2018.

The highly anticipated sequel to Overwatch has announced a beta testing event will soon be taking place.

Overwatch 2 public beta, and developer Blizzard Entertainment has provided prospective players with all the relevant information.In a news post yesterday (April 25) Blizzard outlined what can expect, saying that “selected players” who’ve opted-in (which can be done here) for the beta will start receiving invites starting today at 7PM UK time (11AM PT). More invitations may be sent out further into the beta test, which ends on May 17.All players who want to get in on the beta will need to have Overwatch installed on their PC, as this platform is the only one currently running the beta.

Overwatch 2 suggests that the upcoming shooter will include a battle Pass system.As reported by Attack of the Fanboy (via EuroGamer), Jayson Kirby – senior UI artist at Blizzard – recently shared some screenshots which showcased screenshots of Overwatch 2‘s in-game menus.One screenshot in particular – which shows “early conceptual work for the new Overwatch 2 main menu” – details a ‘battle pass’ option. Though much may have changed since the concept art was designed – and Blizzard is yet to confirm any sort of battle pass for Overwatch 2 – it does suggest that the sequel to Overwatch will include the system.A battle pass typically comes in the form of a real-money purchase that allows players to complete challenges in return for cosmetic and in-game currency unlocks.

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“.

Blizzard Entertainment might be working on an unannounced Overwatch mobile game, as hinted at by a recent job listing at the company.The possibility arises from a recent posting for “Product Manager, Mobile Projects” (as spotted by Dexerto), which lists Overwatch alongside a host of other Blizzard titles that prospective candidates for the role would be working on.The position, which will be working from Blizzard’s Irvine, California headquarters, says the new hire “will be working on multiple

Overwatch league professional player Kim “Alarm” Kyeong-Bo has passed away at age 20.The Philadelphia Fusion Esports team made the announcement on Twitter earlier today (November 8), writing: “We are devastated and heartbroken to hear about Kim “Alarm” Kyeong-Bo’s passing.

Overwatch 2 appears to be cutting down on references to ex-director of Blizzard, Jeff Kaplan, in the new overhaul of the New York map.Following Kaplan’s departure from Blizzard in April, development of Overwatch 2 has continued with Aaron Keller in the lead role.

Activision Blizzard has confirmed that Chacko Sonny, executive producer of Overwatch, is leaving the company this week.As reported by Bloomberg, Sonny is leaving Blizzard on Friday (September 24).

Overwatch 2 may finally have a release window in sight, with reports that the hero shooter sequel could arrive in the second quarter of 2022.The timeline comes from a recent Dexerto report on the future of the competitive Overwatch League (OWL).

Content warning: this news story mentions topics involving death, murder and violenceAn arrest has been made in connection with the murder of Christiane Louise, who voiced Mercy in the Brazillian voice over for Overwatch.News of the actress’s death spread online last week, as members of the Overwatch community and the wider gaming community expressed their sadness over the news.

Blizzard Entertainment‘s games has fallen from 46million players to 26million.As reported in GameRant, the drastic decline of players of Blizzard’s games – which include World Of Warcraft, Overwatch and Hearthstone – was revealed during Activision Blizzard‘s latest earnings call, with a chart shared on Reddit.The studio hits its peak in Q2 2021 with 46million monthly active users, a year following the launch of both Overwatch and WoW‘s Legion expansion.This figure has however continued falling

Overwatch 2 being released in 2022 is very unlikely, as development is taking “longer than expected”.Overwatch streamer Metro tweeted that they had “heard from multiple people” that development on the much-awaited sequel is taking longer than expected, pushing the game to release a year later than was initially hoped.OW2 NewsI've heard from multiple people close to my original source with OW2 that the development is taking longer than expected.

Overwatch League may be about to lose more sponsorships in the wake of a lawsuit alleging abuse and sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard.As reported in The Washington Post, Coca-Cola and State Farm are reassessing their partnerships with the Overwatch League.

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,

Overwatch map appears to have been pulled shortly after it was revealed.As reported in Eurogamer, the news of a new Deathmatch map first came from an article by Dexerto yesterday (July 22) that has now been taken offline.The article described the new Italy-based map Malevento as featuring “a mix of both tight corridors and more open outdoor areas, leading to a blend of close-quarters combat while still leaving the door open for the likes of Widowmaker to excel from afar.”Despite no official

Overwatch League has announced its return to live events, starting in September.The 2021 Overwatch League postseason will take place from September 4-25 through online regional play-in matches, leading into double-elimination playoffs taking place from September 16-19 and the grand finals on September 25.Both the play-offs and grand final will mark a return to offline competition with a live audience.

Overwatch League, having opened up an antitrust enquiry into the esports league.The report by Dot Esports, details how the U.S Department Of Justice antitrust division is looking into claims that the league’s soft salary cap violates the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act.The soft salary cap, or competitive balance tax, has been talked about in the past, but Activision Blizzard has never confirmed its existence.Teams which earn over the  £1.1million ($1.6million USD) pay cap have to pay money back into

Blizzard has announced a complete rework for several heroes in Overwatch 2, along with major changes to the overall gameplay.In a blog post recapping yesterday’s (May 20) Overwatch 2 stream, Blizzard confirmed several upcoming changes to the highly anticipated game.Heroes like Mei will receive power dampening, making them less overpowered and allowing for ‘fairer’ play.

Blizzard Entertainment‘s hero focussed shooter Overwatch is celebrating its fifth Annivesrary this month, and the developer has announced three new Anniversary skins.Overwatch is celebrating its fifth anniversary this month, and players are now able to get their hands on three exclusive anniversary skins.

Overwatch, and the vice president of Blizzard Entertainment, has announced that he is leaving the company after 19 years.Kaplan took to Twitter to announce his departure today: “I am leaving Blizzard Entertainment after 19 amazing years.

Overwatch, Call of Duty: Mobile and Valorant. Dubbed “Chicken Wing’, the operation was based in China but had customers in markets across the world, including Europe and America.Users purchased cheats via a subscription-based service, which cost $10 (£7.26) per day.