Tag: Activision Blizzard
Report Call Of Duty 2024 Will Launch Day One On Xbox Game Pass
According to the Wall Street Journal
A new report has just dropped that claims Activision's upcoming 2024 Call of Duty title will be included in Xbox Game Pass on day one. The Wall Street Journal is the source on this one, with the outlet claiming that the plan is "expected to be announced at the compan
News Crash, Spyro Dev Website Replaced With Mysterious Logo
What are they teasing?
Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Crash Team Rumble developer Toys for Bob appears to be teasing some sort of announcement, as its website transitions to a simple static logo on the back of going independent earlier this year. For now, the team hasn't accompanied this website change with any sort of public teaser, so who knows what...
News Activision Is Opening A New Studio To Build 'Genre-Defining' Games At Microsoft
'Elsewhere Entertainment' is a-go
Microsoft's newly-acquired Activision team has today announced the opening of a brand-new development studio in Poland. The team, which is confirmed to not be working on Call of Duty, is setting out to build a "state-of-the-art and next-generation gaming experience" at 'Elsewhere Entertainment'. The studio also...
News Xbox Reiterates Every First Party Title Is Coming To Game Pass 'Day One'
A recent report suggested Call of Duty could be excluded
Following a recent report claiming Xbox was considering not including new Call of Duty releases on Game Pass, it seems Microsoft's gaming division remains committed to "day one" releases. Xbox president Sarah Bond has mentioned at the Bloomberg Technology Summit this week how "day one"...
News Former Microsoft Exec Gives 'Two Reasons' Why Xbox Closed Bethesda Teams
"Neither of them have anything to do with Bethesda"
It's been a tumultuous time in Xbox land as of late, with news breaking throughout the week about job cuts - including four studio closures within Xbox's Bethesda division. At the time of writing Microsoft hasn't released a statement about all of these reports, but one former executive thinks he...
News Xbox Reportedly Considering Game Pass Price Hike To Accommodate Call Of Duty
Multiple options are seemingly on the table
Just when we thought the slew of megaton Xbox news was starting to die down, multiple new reports hit the web, including one from The Verge that talks about Microsoft's internal struggles regarding its Game Pass subscription. According t
News Xbox's Gaming Revenue Is Up 51% YoY Following Activision Blizzard Acquisition
The FY24 Q3 results are in
Microsoft has today released its financial results for Q3 2024 and its Xbox gaming revenue growth is up by more than 51% year-over-year. Once again, this is mostly credited to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which was closed on October 13, 2023. This latest figure factors in 55 points of net impact from...
News Xbox One Call Of Duty Title Shows Up As Cloud Gaming Compatible
But is it an error?
Since Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, there's been lots of speculation about the team's library and how it'll work with Xbox Game Pass / Xbox Cloud Gaming. The details aren't exactly clear right now, but work relating to some of ActiBlizz's biggest series' could be going on behind the scenes. As posted over on
News Crash Bandicoot 4 Has Apparently Sold Over 5 Million Copies
That's great news for the future
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time has apparently been a huge success for developer Toys for Bob. According to the game's design director Toby Schadt (via LinkedIn), the game has sold "over 5 million copies" since its initial multiplatform release in 2020. So in other words, this is great news for the future of...
News Xbox Game Pass Seems To Be Preparing For The Next Activision Blizzard Drop
A certain dragon is generating a lot of buzz
Last month's Xbox Game Pass addition of Diablo 4 marked the first Activision Blizzard title to hit the service following Microsoft's acquisition of the company, and we've been eagerly awaiting the next ActiBlizz arrival ever since. Fortunately, it looks like we won't be waiting too long! A PC version of...
News It's Been 12 Months Since Xbox Faced A Major Activision Blizzard Crisis
And in some ways, it's still not over
Last year was absolutely packed full of news about Xbox's continual attempts to acquire Activision Blizzard in various countries around the world, but a major roadblock almost put a stop to everything 12 months ago. Yes, it's been almost an entire year since the UK's Competition and Markets Authority blocked...
News Xbox Could Be 'Gearing Up' For Call Of Duty Back Catalogue Announcement
"Gulf War might not be the only CoD-related announcement"
In case you missed our recent story about Xbox Showcase rumours for this summer, it's been claimed that an announcement about Activision Blizzard's library of older titles may be coming in the near future. This is according to Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson, who says Xbox could be "gearing...
Feature Which Activision Blizzard Game Do You Want Next On Xbox Game Pass?
COD? Crash? Another Diablo?!
Last week saw the arrival of Diablo 4 on Xbox Game Pass, and not only was that a big deal because it's one of the highest-rated games of the past year, but it also marked the very first Activision Blizzard game to hit the service. Microsoft has already confirmed that we'll be seeing more Activision Blizzard games on...
News Call Of Duty: MW3's Next Update Contains Absolutely Tons Of New Content
Six 6v6 maps! The return of Rebirth Island!
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has just unveiled its next batch of seasonal content - and this is one of series' biggest updates for quite some time. Alongside the return of the ever popular Rebirth Island Warzone map, MW3 is getting six core multiplayer maps, four weapons, four game modes and a whole lot...
News Diablo 4 Adds Console Ray Tracing Ahead Of Xbox Game Pass Debut
"Patch 1.3.5. introduces Raytracing to all supported platforms"
Blizzard has detailed its big ray tracing update for Diablo 4, right on the eve of the title's Xbox Game Pass debut. Patch 1.3.5 "introduces Raytracing to all supported platforms", alongside a host of other graphical tweaks and improvements. Ray traced shadows and reflections have been...
News Xbox's Call Of Duty: Warzone Mobile Bringing In Plenty Of Cash Already
In its first four days on the market!
Xbox has been spotted promoting Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile on its console storefront lately, and the team's heavy advertising push seems to be paying off. Coming by way of PocketGamer, the new mobile CoD release has seemingly raked in $1.4m in its first four days on the
News Toys For Bob Has Reportedly 'Reached An Agreement' With Xbox On Its New Game
After revealing it was "going indie" last month
Last month, in a surprise announcement, the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro developer Toys for Bob revealed it would be "going indie" but would continue to "work closely" with Microsoft in the future. Now, according to a new "exclusive" from Jez Corden of
News Jim Ryan Explains Why Sony Kept Refusing To Sign Xbox's Call Of Duty Offer
"We're at risk of getting very granular here..."
The latter part of 2022 and early months of 2023 were filled with talk about Call of Duty - and whether PlayStation would eventually agree to Xbox's deal that would guarantee the IP on Sony's consoles for the next ten years. It took ages for this to be concluded, with PlayStation boss Jim Ryan...
News Toys For Bob Is Becoming An Indie Studio, Leaving Xbox And Activision
It's already exploring a "possible partnership" with Microsoft
Just weeks after the news that Crash Bandicoot and Spyro developer Toys for Bob wouldn't actually be shutting up shop, the studio heads Paul Yan & Avery Lodato have now dropped some surprising news - revealing the team is going independent. This "opportunity" will apparently allow...
Guide Xbox And Microsoft Reveal Full GDC 2024 Schedule
"Microsoft and Xbox are here to help power your games "
The 2024 Game Developer Conference will take place next month in March and as part of this, both Microsoft and the Xbox team will be there to "engage and empower" developers, publishers as well as technology partners across the globe. "Our message is simple: Microsoft and Xbox are here to...
News Activision Blizzard's First Game Pass Release Has Been Confirmed By Xbox
Arriving next month!!
Update [Fri 16th Feb, 2024 04:30 GMT]: The Verge's senior editor has reached out to Microsoft and confirmed Diablo 4 "won't" be available to Xbox Game Pass Core subscribers. "Diablo IV is coming to Xbox Game Pass on March 28th, with the exception of the Xbox Game Pass Core catalog,” says Kari Perez, head of communications...
News The FTC Is Concerned About Xbox's Recent Batch Of Employee Layoffs
Accuses Microsoft of being contradictory
Update: Microsoft has since responded to this, stating that "Activision was already planning on eliminating a significant number of jobs while still operating as an independent company." Here's an excerpt from the latest court filing: "Consistent with broader trends in the gaming industry, Activision was...
News Toys For Bob Office Closing, But There's Apparently No Need To Worry
The Crash & Spyro dev is not actually "closing down"
There have been a lot of rumours doing the rounds this week about Xbox's future, and earlier today, there were claims Activision developer Toys for Bob was potentially "closing down" following Microsoft's announcement of mass layoffs. While the future of the studio is still somewhat unclear,...
News Xbox Predicts 'Hardware Decline' Despite Huge Revenue Boost From ActiBlizz
Services are on the up
Microsoft's latest earnings report has been an eye-opening one, with its gaming division posting huge revenue boosts - propelling the sector to Microsoft's third largest business within the company. While much of that is attributed to the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, one area that doesn't seem to be growing so fast is...
News Gaming Becomes Microsoft's 'Third Largest Business' In Latest Quarter
It has surpassed Windows with the help of ActiBlizz
It's been a bit of a wild start to the year for Xbox with a Developer Direct, mass layoffs, some record-breaking milestones, and now the
News Xbox's Gaming Revenue Receives Huge 49% Boost YoY From Activision Blizzard Acquisition
The second quarter fiscal year 2024 results are in
Microsoft has just released its earning results for FY24 Q2 and Xbox's gaming revenue has experienced huge growth in the latest quarter, up by 49% year-over-year. This growth is credited mostly to Microsoft securing Activision Blizzard, which closed last year on October 13, 2023. This latest figure...
News Unreleased Call Of Duty Gameplay Leaks Online From Project 'NX1'
Footage from an Xbox 360 era COD has appeared
Call of Duty is a juggernaut franchise and has been for decades at this point, and it was the Xbox 360 era of the franchise that got the ball well and truly rolling. Annual releases became the norm that generation, but as it turns out, there were some projects — quite far along in development might we...
News Microsoft Will Apparently Announce Blizzard's New President 'Next Week'
Mike Ybarra is departing
Xbox this week revealed it was laying off 1,900 employees and in the process, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra, who was an ex-Microsoft executive before this, also announced his departure. There's still obviously a lot to take in, but if you are wondering who will replace Ybarra, apparently that update will be happening as...
News Xbox Is Employing 'A More Focused Strategy' After Merging With Activision Blizzard
"Together we will continue to create amazing games"
Following the Microsoft and Blizzard layoff news posted earlier today, Xbox's Matt Booty has also made a lengthy statement on the company's reasoning behind such a huge round of job losses. Coming by wa
News Blizzard President Quits Microsoft, In-Development Survival Game Also Cancelled
"It’s an incredibly hard day"
After today's megaton news of almost 2,000 job losses over at Team Xbox, we have even more disruption amongst the ranks. Long-time Blizzard president and ex-Microsoft executive Mike Ybarra has announced his departure from the studio - and with it the cancellation of Blizzard's in-development survival game. Ybarra has...
News Microsoft Cuts 1,900 Jobs Across Xbox, Bethesda And Activision Blizzard Teams
"We have made the painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce"
The move to bring Activision Blizzard into the Xbox ecosystem has largely been seen as a positive one, but unfortunately we have some bad news to share today. As part of a company restructure post-ActiBlizz deal, Microsoft has laid off almost 2,000 people. Shared by IGN...
News Diablo 4's New Seasonal Update Is Out Now, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
The Season of the Construct has arrived
Diablo 4 admittedly had some struggles in its first season, but Blizzard was able to improve the overall experience relatively quickly. This now brings us to the game's third season - 'Season of the Construct'. In brief, this latest (and free) seasonal update focuses on a legend of ancient treasure deep in...
News Microsoft CEO Says ActiBlizz Deal Helps Xbox Become 'A Good Publisher' On All Platforms
"On Sony, Nintendo, PCs and Xbox"
Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal finally came to its long-awaited conclusion back in October 2023, with the two companies successfully merging late last year. While the deal makes the Xbox platform a much-more inviting one for gamers, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been keen to point out that this benefits...
News Microsoft President Brad Smith Softens Stance On UK CMA After ActiBlizz Agreement
The UK is no longer "bad for business", apparently
During Microsoft's face-off with the UK CMA earlier this year, Microsoft president Brad Smith made some upfront comments about the UK's Competition and Markets Authority - the CMA. At the time, Smith said the CMA's block was "the darkest day in our four decades in Britain", but his tune has...
Feature Five Activision Games We Want To Become Xbox Backwards Compatible In 2024
Microsoft, let's get this show on the road
It's officially 2024, which means we should —we repeat, should — be getting a huge batch of Activision Blizzard games on Xbox Game Pass this year. While the prospect of modern ActiBlizz releases from the Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro series' hitting Game Pass is an exciting one
News Xbox Makes Leadership Changes As Bobby Kotick Leaves Activision & Microsoft
Another big shuffle for Team Xbox
Update: Another change that's been announced during the day is that Jill Braff is becoming the new head of ZeniMax and Bethesda's studios. Jill has been the General Manager of Integrations & Casual Games at Xbox Game Studios since 2020, and has previously held roles at the likes of SEGA,
News The FTC Is Continuing To Fight Xbox's Activision Blizzard Deal
There's an uphill battle ahead!
If you thought we were done with these Activision Blizzard acquisition articles, think again! The deal might have gone through on Microsoft and Xbox's end now, but that isn't stopping the US FTC from continuing to put up a fight. As reported by Reuters and CNN, the FTC appeared in front of a three-judge court panel...
News Xbox & Activision Blizzard Are Merging At A 'Really Impressive Speed', Says Xbox CFO
"The speed at which we've worked together is really impressive"
Xbox and Activision Blizzard have only been one entity for a little over a month, at least officially, but the two companies seem to be coming together at speedy pace so far. Speaking at a recent summit, Xbox CFO Tim Stuart talked about the team integrating with ActiBlizz, and how the...
Poll Which Call Of Duty Title Will You Be Most Excited To Play On Xbox Game Pass?
Microsoft is working on bringing them over
Eventually, lots of Call of Duty games will head to the Xbox Game Pass library thanks to Microsoft's mammoth Activision Blizzard deal. The team is still working behind the scenes to get CoD on Game Pass, but it'll happen eventually once everything is worked out by Xbox, Activision and al
Report Modern Warfare 3's Campaign Had 'Shortest' Dev Time For A New Call Of Duty In Years
It was assembled in "roughly 16 months"
Alongside the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 today, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier has published a story about the game's rushed development. One bit of information, in particular, is the mention of the campaign's development cycle. Prior to the "harsh reviews", developers were "forced" to finish...
News Xbox Wants 'All Of The Games' In Its Portfolio To Matter, Not Just Huge IP
Matt Booty: From Halo to Psychonauts "and everything in between"
Following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft and Team Xbox now have more studios (and games) than ever. If there was any concern about how all this is going to be managed or if certain franchises will be overshadowed by others, there's apparently no need to worry...
News Diablo 4's First Expansion Vessel Of Hatred Announced, Coming 'Late 2024'
Featuring a class "never-before-seen" in Diablo
Diablo IV got off to a strong start when it was originally released earlier this year - quickly becoming Blizzard's "fastest-selling game of all time" and biggest launch ever - bringing in more than 10 million players in the first month. Since then, there have been some teething issues with the game's...
News EA CEO: 'Microsoft & Activision Is A Great Thing For Our Industry'
"One of the world's largest companies is going to continue to invest"
Xbox's huge Activision Blizzard deal has now gone through, and its successful completion has led to questions of other potential acquisitions in the gaming industry. Of course, EA is one of the big names left on the table (either in terms of EA picking up other teams, or a...
"Drop into two painstakingly-recreated Battle Royale maps"
For quite a while now we've known that one of Xbox's biggest goals with its Activision Blizzard acquisition is to grow in the mobile gaming space, and a new Call of Duty blog post shows us a little bit about why that goal is already coming into view. As part of the Call of Duty franchise's...
News Activision Blizzard Documents Its 44-Year History With New Infographic Featuring Xbox
"We begin an exciting new chapter"
It's been an exciting period for Microsoft and Xbox with the finalisation of the Activision Blizzard (and King) acquisition. Now, as part of this, Activision Blizzard has released a huge infographic documenting the entire history of both companies, the eventual merger, and joining team Xbox. Throughout it, there...
News Here's A Look At Microsoft And Xbox's New Gaming Leadership Structure
See for yourself
It's been another big week for team Xbox with the latest announcement of a Microsoft reshuffle which sees some familiar faces promoted. Perhaps the biggest changes apart from Activision Blizzard, are the promotions of two execs. As noted in the initial announcement, Matt Booty is now 'president of game content and studios'...
News Microsoft Reshuffle Makes Huge Changes To Team Xbox, Matt Booty & Sarah Bond Promoted
We have a new structure in place at Xbox
Xbox is in the midst of making massive changes to its leadership structure, as a result of recent acquisitions like that of Bethesda Softworks and Activision Blizzard. As detailed by The Verge, multiple Xbox execs will hold new roles after the company reshuffle, including familiar faces like Sarah Bond and
News Xbox Boss Praises Activision Blizzard's 'Amazing Teams' After A Week Of Studio Tours
Phil thinks they're "really inspiring"
Since finalising its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Xbox's leadership team have kept themselves busy with a bunch of studio tours. Most recently, Phil Spencer and co visited Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine, California, and now in a follow-up to this, the Xbox boss has shared a brief message on social...
Xbox technically owns the franchise now
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 may be missing out on a day one Xbox Game Pass launch this year, but it isn't stopping Microsoft from including the title as a highlight in its
News Xbox's Leadership Team Visits Blizzard Post-Acquisition
Microsoft strives to be a "source of trust" for the studio
Following Microsoft's recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Phil Spencer and team Xbox have been busy doing studio tours all around the world. The latest visit was Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine, California and while Xbox's leadership team hasn't formally shared what exactly went on...