Activision News Articles
Saturday18th Nov 2023
News Call Of Duty: MW3 Teases 'Massive Free Update' For Season 1, Out Early December
A "first look" at new maps, modes & more
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launched just a few weeks ago, and already Sledgehammer Games and co. are planning to bolster the experience with some exciting new content. In fact, a "major free update" is on the horizon, and it's launching as part of Season 1 in "early December". Multiplayer will be adding...
Friday17th Nov 2023
News Call Of Duty: MW3 Gets First Post-Launch Update, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
Not all scheduled changes were able to be released
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has now been out for a week, and to follow up the launch, it's received a new update. This should be a few GB or so on Xbox, and the patch notes have also been made available. The team has also issued the following notice, mentioning how not all changes scheduled were...
News Crash Bandicoot Dev 'Excited' About New Chapter With Team Xbox
As it reflects on the launch of Crash Team Rumble
Toys For Bob, the developer behind the revival of Crash Bandicoot and also the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, has issued a brief message on social media, revealing how "excited" it is about its "new chapter" under the Xbox banner. The same studio released its new game Crash Team Rumble earlier this year...
Saturday11th Nov 2023
News Call Of Duty: MW3 Removes Some Maps Due To Unfavourable Spawns
The team is investigating the issue
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 arrived on the Xbox and various other platforms this week, and it seems there have been some teething issues. One, in particular, that has created some problems for players is a multiplayer spawn glitch, where players restart in the same location over and over again. Activision and...
Friday10th Nov 2023
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...
Tuesday7th Nov 2023
News Blizzard Excited To Have More Independence Under Xbox
A "new era" has begun
During BlizzCon 2023's opening ceremony, Blizzard's president Mike Ybarra mentioned how it was a "new era" for the company under Xbox and Microsoft Gaming, so what exactly does he mean by this? In a new interview with The Verge, Ybarra elaborated on how this essentially translates to more creative freedom and empowerment -...
Sunday5th Nov 2023
News Here Are The First Impressions Of The Call Of Duty: MW3 Campaign
What do the critics think?
As you likely know by now, "early access" for the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 campaign is now underway and we've even got some early reviews from a number of outlets, sharing their first impressions. Unfortunately, it's not going down very well so far, with some critics now beginning to reveal their own thoughts on the...
Saturday4th Nov 2023
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...
Friday3rd Nov 2023
News Activision Explains Larger File Sizes For Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
"Due to the increased amount of content"
If you're struggling to find space for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on your Xbox, you're probably not alone. In fact, Activision has now issued a statement via social media addressing the game's file sizes across all platforms. The reason it's so much "larger than last year" is tied to the "increased...
News Some Xbox Fans Aren't Happy About 'Intrusive' Call Of Duty: MW3 Ads
Boot up your Xbox and take a look
The marketing for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is well and truly underway, and now that Microsoft has finalised the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it seems it's even getting in on the action. Today, alongside the "early access" preload and campaign launch of Modern Warfare 3, Microsoft is running large ads...
News Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's Campaign 'Early Access' Is Now Live
"The next chapter in Modern Warfare is here"
Update [Fri 3rd Nov, 2023 00:05 GMT]: The campaign "early access" for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has officially gone live. You can choose between the Vault Edition and cross-gen / standard edition. Original story [Thu 2nd Nov, 2023 01:00 GMT]: The release of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is...
News Xbox Adds Another New Dynamic Background For Xbox Series X|S Owners
Celebrating the arrival of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
To celebrate the arrival of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 this month, a new MW3-themed dynamic background is now available to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S owners. To apply it, you'll need to head over to the Settings menu > Personalisation > My Background > Dynamic Backgrounds...
Thursday2nd Nov 2023
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...
Friday27th Oct 2023
"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'...
Thursday26th Oct 2023
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
Wednesday25th Oct 2023
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...
Tuesday24th Oct 2023
News Microsoft 'Doubling Down As A Game Producer' After ActiBlizz Deal, Says CEO
"Now we'll be one of the largest game publishers"
After Microsoft closed its Activision Blizzard deal earlier this month, Xbox Game Studios has grown exponentially. As you can see here, the amount of studios now under Microsoft's wing is kind of mind-blowing, and the company's CEO is relishing the opportunity to start producing more games. Speaking...
Friday20th Oct 2023
News Phil Spencer & Co. Given 'Sweet Welcome' As They Visit Candy Crush Developer King
One of the new ActiBlizz teams welcomes Xbox
Phil Spencer and the Xbox leadership team have wasted no time in the wake of Microsoft's huge Activision Blizzard deal. Shortly after the Xbox owner acquired the mega-publisher, Phil & co. have been to visit King Games - the team behind the mobile hit Candy Crush. As posted to Twitter, King has...
Friday13th Oct 2023
News Activision Says Xbox Can 'Take Games In The Library And Remake Them' Post-Acquisition
Which Activision Blizzard game do you want remade?
Now that the Activision Blizzard deal has officially gone through, we can all look forward to the future - a future where Xbox has total control over ActiBlizz IP. The Call of Duty owner is sitting on a treasure trove of other gaming franchises, and we could even see some of them return in 'remake'...
News Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Set To Leave The Company In Early 2024
"I will do that through the end of 2023"
Although Activision Blizzard is officially a part of Xbox now (we still can't believe it either), questions remain about the future of the company under Microsoft and if there'll be any structural changes in the near future. Well, thanks to statements from both Phil Spencer and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, we...
News Phil Spencer Comments On What It Means To Merge Activision Blizzard With Xbox First Party
"It is incredible to welcome such legendary teams to Xbox"
Well, the megaton news we've all been waiting for has finally landed. Activision Blizzard is officially a part of team Xbox as Microsoft eventually pushes its huge merger through after almost two years of work. Now that we've waded through all of the legislation and whatnot though, it's...
Monday9th Oct 2023
News Activision Blizzard Reveals Plans For Bringing Games To Xbox Game Pass
"We’ve been getting some questions"
It's looking very likely that this will be the week that Microsoft announces the closure of the Activision Blizzard takeover, and ahead of that point, ActiBlizz has taken to Twitter to reveal what Xbox fans can expect on Game Pass. In a nutshell, it seems we won't be getting Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 or...
Friday6th Oct 2023
News After Almost Two Years, Next Week Could Be The Finale For Xbox's ActiBlizz Takeover
As long as everything goes smoothly
For the best part of two years, we've been hearing how the Pure Xbox community is fed up of the Activision Blizzard acquisition and just wants it to either happen or not happen - and we may be getting our wish in just a few days' time. According to a source over at The Verge, Microsoft appears to be targeting...
Thursday5th Oct 2023
News Activision Unveils Free MW3-Themed Map For Call Of Duty: Warzone
Dropping into Urzikstan
To coincide with the launch of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Activision has unveiled a brand-new large scale map coming to its popular battle royale - Call of Duty: Warzone. This huge new battlefield — named 'Urzikstan' — is the first new full-scale map since Modern Warfare 2 launched with 'Al Mazrah' back in late 2022...
Tuesday3rd Oct 2023
News Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer Reveal Trailer Showcases Classic COD Maps In Action
Hitting the Highrise, baby
We're a little over a month away from Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launching on Xbox, and Activision has finally showcased some of the game's multiplayer in action. Remember, this year's title is filled with classic CoD content, including every single multiplayer map from 2009's Modern Warfare 2 - and that much is...
Friday22nd Sep 2023
News CMA Approval A 'Significant Milestone' Towards Xbox Merging With Activision Blizzard
"This approval is critical to completing our merger"
Today has brought welcome news in regards to Xbox's ActiBlizz deal, with the UK CMA now approving the acquisition - pending input from various third party companies that took part in the investigation. While the purchase hasn't been completed just yet, both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard feel...
News UK CMA Grants 'Preliminary Approval' Of Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Purchase
"Microsoft has now substantially restructured the deal"
We're almost there, folks! The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has today announced that it has granted preliminary approval for Microsoft to purchase Activision Blizzard. The CMA's decision still needs to be consulted with any third parties involved in the process, but for all intents...
