May2024
News Diablo 4's New Season 'Loot Reborn' Launches On Xbox This Month
"Season 4 is going to be the biggest update"
Following its debut on Xbox Game Pass in March, Diablo IV will soon be getting its "biggest update" since launch in the form of the Season 4: Loot Reborn update. This update will roll out on May 14th, 2024 and promises to overhaul many "core game systems" to refresh how items are earned, how they...
April2024
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 Blizzard Has Decided To Skip BlizzCon In 2024
"This is a Blizzard decision" not a Microsoft one
Blizzard's annual event 'BlizzCon' won't be taking place this year, and while there's been some speculation it could have been a decision made by a "higher up" at Microsoft, it's now been confirmed this is not the case. A Blizzard spokesperson informed Windows Central "this is a Blizzard decision"...
News World Of Warcraft For Xbox Is Still Discussed Internally At Blizzard
"Of course we still talk about it"
Can you believe that World of Warcraft is 20 years-old this year? Nah, us neither, and as it turns out - new versions of the title are still a hot topic over at developer Blizzard. Yep, two decades later the team still ponders a console release, and whether it's something worth pursuing. Talking to VGC, the...
News Blizzard Says It's Already 'Benefitting' From From Being A Part Of Xbox
"If anything, it’s just been helpful"
It's no doubt a pretty huge task to incorporate a team like Blizzard into your organisation - we've already seen evidence of this back in January when a studio shakeup resulted in a cancelled Blizzard project. However, things seem to have settled down since, and a new comment from one Blizzard dev suggests...
News Former Xbox Exec Likes The Idea Of 'Tipping' Developers After Beating Their Games
"Some games are that special"
The price of AAA games has been a hot topic recently, especially with the move to $70 releases, but one former Xbox & Blizzard exec has taken to social media to express that they'd actually like the option to give devs more money for their releases. Yep, Mike Ybarra — who left X
News NetEase Enters Into Agreement With Microsoft To 'Explore' Bringing New Titles To Xbox
As Blizzard games return to China
Blizzard has announced its games will be returning to China under a renewed publishing deal between Microsoft Gaming and NetEase. After discussions "over the past year", players in China will be able to once again access World of Warcraft, Hearthstone and many other titles across the Blizzard universe including...
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...
News Diablo 4 Gets New Lease Of Life On Xbox Thanks To Successful Game Pass Launch
"Xbox has quickly become the #1 platform"
Microsoft finally graced us with its first ActiBlizz Xbox Game Pass addition at the end of March in the form of Diablo 4, and its arrival has given the Xbox platform a huge boost already. Xbox exec Sarah Bond has revealed that Xbox has become the biggest platform for Diablo 4 since it came to the Game Pass...
March2024
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 Overwatch 2 Really Is Done With PvE, According To New Report
"Majority" of PvE team reportedly laid off
Remember how Blizzard announced last year it would no longer be delivering certain PvE content in its free-to-play shooter Overwatch 2? Well, in a new Bloomberg report from Jason Schreier, it's been revealed the "majority" of the team behind the PvE story content was laid off in January. B
News Diablo 4's Xbox Series X Ray Tracing Update Targeting Late March Release
A special blog will share more details next week
As you might recall hearing, ray tracing is on its way to Diablo 4, and during the latest campfire chat, Blizzard's development team confirmed this graphical update would be arriving next week on March 26th for PC. In a special blog next week, Blizzard will also touch on how "console players" will...
News Overwatch 2's Heroes Will 'No Longer Be Unlocked Through The Battle Pass'
"All future heroes will be free"
Blizzard's free-to-play team shooter Overwatch 2 has announced heroes will no longer be unlocked through the game's Battle Pass. In a new developer update, game director Aaron Keller announced this change would occur when the new hero Venture arrived in Season 10 (expected to launch in April). After this hero joins...
February2024
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 Xbox Scoops Up Two D.I.C.E. Awards
Congratulations, Xbox
The 27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards took place this week and there were multiple Xbox games nominated for all sorts of awards. As previously mentioned, Starfield and Hi-Fi RUSH were nominated across multiple categories, but in the end, went home empty-handed. Fortunately, for Xbox, it still picked up a few awards on the night. The...
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 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,...
January2024
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 Xbox Hires Call Of Duty GM As New President Of Blizzard Entertainment
"I cannot wait to get going"
Following the departure of Blizzard President Mike Ybarra last week, Microsoft has today announced a successor in the form of the Call of Duty GM Johanna Faries, who will officially begin her role on February 5th. In a message to Blizzard employees earlier today, Faries shared her enthusiasm for the role, while also...
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...
