Items tagged with Activision
It looks as if Blizzard is trying very hard to shed some employees without having to institute "official" layoffs in some departments. Reports indicate that some very enticing offers have been made in at least one of Blizzard Entertainment's European offices. In Cork, Ireland Blizzard has been offering impressive incentives to get workers in its customer service department to voluntarily leave their positions. The incentive has reportedly been offered on numerous occasions over the last few months. Some anonymous sources claim that workers have taken up to a year's worth of pay to leave Blizzard. Reports also indicate that a large number of workers have taken various incentives, with some...
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Back at BlizzCon the other day, Bungie and Activision announced that Destiny 2 would be free to download to PC for the first half of November, and specifically until November 18. Anyone who claimed their copy by that deadline would own it forever. Why would Activision be interested in doing this? Microtransactions, of course! Giving a game away for free can prove lucrative, as we continue to see with Fortnite, the crazy-popular battle royale shooter that is generating boatloads of income for Epic Games through in-game purchases. Activision itself is no stranger to microtransactions and the wealth it can generate—the publisher collected some $4 billion from in-game purchases last year. Activision...
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Blizzard has kept one of its classic games, Warcraft III, going for a long time. In fact, it was still updating the game last year, 15-years after it launched, to keep fans happy. Blizzard has announced that it will be remastering Warcraft III, dubbing the game Warcraft III: Reforged and updating it with glorious 4K resolution graphics to take advantage of modern displays and hardware. Blizzard says that the game will integrate "cutting-edge modeling and rendering" and that every hero, unit, building, and environment in the game has been rebuilt from the ground up. The remastered game will allow players to relive the events that happened in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne....
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The next Diablo game is not headed to the PC platform, and instead will land on Android and iOS for hack-and-slash fun on the go. It's called Diablo Immortal, and it's a mobile massively multiplayer online action-role-playing (RPG) game in which "Diablo players will be able to answer the call to battle on their phones." "Diablo Immortal takes the series’ dark, gothic fantasy world of Sanctuary and inimitable Diablo gameplay, and puts it in your pocket," said J. Allen Brack, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "With their incredible passion for Diablo and proven mobile expertise, the development team has spawned an ultra-responsive and breathtakingly beautiful mobile game, and we can’t...
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Have you been waiting for the right time to pounce on Destiny 2? Well, if you're ever going to take the plunge, now is the time to do it. Bungie and Activision announced at BlizzCon that Destiny 2 is free to download and play on PC, though you have to act relatively fast—it's a limited time offer that expires in a couple of weeks. Destiny 2 is free to grab for the first two weeks of November, effective now until November 18. The caveat is that you need a Battle.net account, of course, and the offer is good for anyone who does not already own the game. Those who do already own Destiny 2 will receive an exclusive in-game emblem marking the game's one-year anniversary. To be clear, this is...
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Here we have it, folks! This year's installment in the Call of Duty franchise has been officially confirmed by Activision. The game was announced via the official Call of Duty twitter account and will be called Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Rather curiously, news of the game leaked earlier this week by none other than Oklahoma City Thunder point guard James Harden, who was spotted wearing camouflage and a baseball cap with the Black Ops 4 logo emblazoned on it. Today's tweet confirms the Harden was showing off the real deal. The Beard has arrived, and he's ready for battle with the Thunder. pic.twitter.com/ky3E8TK9Hy— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 7, 2018 Treyarch, the studio that developed...
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As the popularity of online gaming increases, so too does the number of nefarious players that prefer to be vitriolic and dampen everyone else's fun. Fortunately, when this happens to a game as popular as Overwatch, which is run by a company that cares a lot about everyone's experience with the game, the situation isn't as bad as it could be. Toxicity in Overwatch is nothing new, and unfortunately, it simply comes with the territory. Game lead Jeff Kaplan has detailed the issue before. But don't fret -- it's not as though he's sitting around, doing nothing and simply talking about the problem. If you're the victim of some abuse, though, it may feel like things haven't changed fast enough....
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Activision and Bungie have teamed up with Amazon to offer Destiny 2 players a new level of immersion, though not through virtual reality. Using a new Destiny 2 Ghost skill for Alexa, Amazon's AI-powered assistant, Destiny 2 gamers can bark out commands and verbally ask for tips from Ghost, the in-game AI companion. This new skill represents the first-ever Alexa voice integration in a live game experience. Using the new skill, players can say things like, "Alexa, ask Ghost to..." followed by a variety of questions and commands. Players can ask Ghost which friends are online, advice on what to do next, and to learn more about the world and characters ("Alexa, tell me who are the Red Legion"). They...
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Destiny 2 is a good lesson in making sure you don't let hype get the best of you. At its core, Destiny 2 is a solid game, but in many ways the game falls flat, leaving some more familiar with the series scratching their heads wondering what it was that Bungie was thinking. The list of minor gripes is too exhaustive for a simple post but vocal veterans of the franchise are complaining about what the game should have been. In a couple of weeks, the game's first DLC, Curse of Osiris, is set to launch, and as usual, three livestreams are being held in the lead-up to the release, to help fill players in. Generally, this is very much appreciated, but given the current state of the game, its most...
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There's no question that gamers and publisher Activision were disappointed with the 2016 launch of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Activision admitted that the game underperformed, with CEO Eric Hirshberg confirming that “for a portion of our audience [that] the space setting just didn't resonate.” Thankfully [for Activision], this year's Call of Duty: WWII launch has been much better received by gamers. The company announced today that Call of Duty: WWII bought in over $500 million in worldwide sales during its opening weekend. To put that in comparison, that is twice the combined box office performance of Wonder Woman and Thor: Ragnarok during their opening three-day weekends. Activision notes...
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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted Activision a patent for an online matchmaking scheme that is designed to encourage players to spend money on in-game items. By matching players with purchased items against non-paying players, the assumption is that both players will have incentive to spend money upgrading their characters' abilities and weapons. "A system and method is provided that drives microtransactions in multiplayer video games. The system may include a microtransaction arrange matches to influence game-related purchases. For instance, the system may match a more expert/marquee player with a junior player to encourage the junior player to make game-related...
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After 11 months of negotiating, the SAG-AFTRA and 11 different game companies have reached a tentative deal that is expected to see voice actors for video games head back to work. The strike started back in October 2016 and this week a tentative agreement has been reached. Among the 11 video game companies that SAG-AFTRA voice actors are protesting include Activision, EA, and Warner Bros. This strike was the longest in SAG history, with the tentative arrangement being reached on Saturday morning. The new terms of the deal will include a bonus structure giving the voice actors an additional payment that must be delivered no later than the game release date that is calculated using the number...
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Talk about intense—publisher Activision and developer Sledgehammer Games have released the first game trailer for the Call of Duty: WWII campaign, and it is a powerful one. The nearly two and a half minute clip does not feel like it is showcasing a game, but is something you would expect to see Hollywood put out for a full fledged movie. Part of that is due to this campaign being a story-driven one. And of course the content plays a big role—is is World World II we are talking about, and about midway through the trailer it becomes clear that even though this particular story is fictional, Activision and Sledgehammer Games will be tapping into emotions based on very real atrocities, and specifically...
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The official trailer for Destiny 2 already has us all jacked up for the game's release, but now that we have seen it running at 4K Ultra HD at a silky smooth 60 frames per second, we are chomping at the bit (or champing at the bit, if being grammatically correct—look it up) to spend some hands-on time with this multiplayer title. You can see it in 4K as well, courtesy of NVIDIA. With Activision and Bungie's blessing no doubt, NVIDIA posted a minute-long video to YouTube showing the forthcoming Destiny 2 beta for PC running in glorious 4K. It takes some serious PC horsepower to game at 4K, but if your system can handle it, you are welcome to play Destiny 2 at that resolution, and do so without...
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It seems like the more time passes, the more caveats Bungie decides to add to its upcoming epic adventure game, Destiny 2. Through a new entry in Bungie's help database, we learn that Destiny 2 is going to be beyond fussy when it comes to things like overlays and screen captures. Bungie wants to make sure that people don't inject code into the game for the sake of cheating, so it's being extra careful. In the help entry, it's made clear that software that records as "Game Capture" will not work, which includes OBS (Open Broadcasting Software) and XSplit. The same tools appear to work fine as long as "Screen Capture" is chosen instead. That's a problem for those that like to play their games in...
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered was highly anticipated by fans of the Call of Duty franchise when it arrived with the Infinite Warfare Legacy Edition, and the game’s big standalone arrival came yesterday. Activision hyped up the release noting the inclusion of the full campaign mode along with all of the infamous multiplayer maps that made the game a hit. “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered features fully improved texture resolution and detail, revamped animation, remastered audio and much more,” writes Activision. “Fans can relive the full, iconic story campaign as they're transported around the globe with Capt. Price, Gaz and Soap across all the missions from the original game,...
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Activision and Call of Duty: WWII developer Sledgehammer Games hit a bit of a bump in the road over the weekend, when an unfinished trailer for game’s zombie mode leaked to the internet. Sledgehammer co-founder Glenn Schofield took new of the leak hard, writing on Twitter: You spend almost three years on something & with 5 days until reveal some &$#%}!! leaks our trailer. Bummed, disappointed. — Glen Schofield (@GlenSchofield) July 15, 2017 Schofield and another co-founder, Michael Condrey, asked gamers to avoid watching the leaked trailer and wait for the official reveal that was scheduled for Comic Con. Well, the wait is over and Activision today debuted the reveal trailer for Call...
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This week’s San Diego Comic-Con was supposed to be a rather joyous occasion for the Sledgehammer Games. The dev studio has already revealed its involvement on the latest installment in the Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty: WWII. However, Sledgehammer has been rather tight-lipped about the game's upcoming zombie mode. Unfortunately for Sledgehammer, the trailer for the zombie mode leaked to the interwebs over the weekend, just days ahead of when it was scheduled to be unveiled for fans. For the folks that have worked long and hard on the zombie mode, which is titled “Army of the Dead”, the leak has been a bit of a bummer, obviously - though a leak is sometimes the best hype. Glenn Schofield...
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Would you pay full price—or close to full price—for a game that is nearly a decade old? Activision is banking on Call of Duty fans doing exactly that when the standalone version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered ships later this month. If you want the full experience, you'll have to cough up $40 for the core game, plus another $15 for the accompanying DLC that includes extra maps and other additional content. Activision is catching a fair amount of heat from gamers on this one. Initially, the controversy surrounding the remastered release was Activision's decision to bundle it with the Digital Deluxe, Legacy Pro, and Legacy versions of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. At its cheapest,...
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Activision just launched the reveal trailer and announced release date for Call of Duty: WWII. The game will launch on in November and was described by Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg as “bringing an intense, visceral, boots on the ground gameplay”. Many of the hints reddit users dropped last week were confirmed today by Activision. The game will include a new “War Mode” in which players tackle famous World War II battles. Multiplayer will include objectives that will differ depending on whether a player has chosen to fight for the Allies or Axis. Players will be able to spend time at “Headquarters”, a “robust social space” in between matches. Multiplayer will be available to test at E3 2017...
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Call of Duty is going back to its roots, and the excitement surrounding its announcement is tangible. Fans have taken to reddit with pictures of boxes and advertisements for the upcoming shooter. These leaks have revealed game shots, retail packaging, and most importantly, the game's November 3rd release date.One photo with an advertisement for the Xbox games states that the Call of Duty: WWII, “tells the story of the unbreakable brotherhood of common men fighting to preserve freedom in a world on the brink of tyranny”. Players will land on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and experience the war’s most iconic European battles. The photos indicate that the game will offer three modes....
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Activision’s Call of Duty series is definitely going back to its roots. As we reported late last month based on leaked materials for the game, the latest installment in the franchise will be called simply Call of Duty: WWII. The announcement of the game was made this afternoon via the official website for Call of Duty, and the worldwide premier of the new title will take place April 26th at 10AM PST. The about-face comes after the Call of Duty series increasingly began moving away from its “real world” roots and into future combat environments. This shift in scope came to a head last year when Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was announced. Reaction to the game was negative from the very start,...
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