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Blizzard Bans 120,000 World Of Warcraft Classic Death Knights
17.3.2023
Blizzard brought down the banhammer on “almost 120,000” World of Warcraft Classic accounts after discovering players were creating bots to exploit the Death Knight class to farm resources in the Wrath of the Lich King Classic expansion that launched in September.Read more
Square Enix Boss Disappointed With Forspoken Sales But Still Excited For NFT Games
10.3.2023
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Square Enix is disappointed in the sales of one of its games. Tomb Raider, Hitman, Outriders, Guardians of the Galaxy—it’s a long list, and Forpsoken just got added to it. Current Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda said during the company’s most recent...
Police Raid Studio Accused Of Stealing 'Assets & Personnel' From Rival
9.3.2023
The offices of Ironmace, a development studio in the Korean city of Seongnam, were raided by police earlier this week after accusations were made that the company’s upcoming game, the MMO Dark and Darker, didn’t just steal assets from publishing giant Nexon, but the staff working on a project there...
Overwatch 2 Fixes Cow Balloon, Game Is Good Again
8.3.2023
When Overwatch 2 launched in October, it brought several changes to Blizzard’s hero shooter. With character reworks, a new 5v5 structure, and an extremely controversial storefront, the sequel was essentially a refresh of just about every aspect of the original. There’s a debate to be had about...
Square Enix CEO Who Constantly Pushed NFT Games To Be Replaced
3.3.2023
Square Enix is getting a new boss. Yosuke Matsuda has served as the Final Fantasy publisher’s CEO for 10 years, and spent the last couple of those hyping up NFTs and other blockchain scams. He’s now set to be replaced by a relative newcomer, pending shareholder approval in June.Read more
Forspoken Studio Being Absorbed Back Into Square Enix
1.3.2023
Yesterday, Luminous Productions, the developers behind the rocky fantasy parkour game Forspoken, announced that it will no longer exist as a separate game studio. On May 1, Luminous will be merged back into its parent company, Square Enix.Read more
Activision Accused Of Illegally Firing QA Testers Over Remote Work Protest
1.3.2023
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) have today filed charges against publisher Activision—a company with a long track record of alleged union-busting—claiming the publisher violated several workplace laws in relation to the firing of two QA testers.Read more
EA Lays Off Over 100 Apex Legends Testers Over Zoom Call
28.2.2023
Over 100 quality assurance testers at Electronic Arts’ Baton Rouge, LA office were abruptly laid off during a surprise Zoom call on Tuesday, three sources familiar with the meeting tell Kotaku. They worked predominantly on Apex Legends, the publisher’s hit battle royale developed by Respawn...
Microsoft President Is Carrying That Giant Sony Call of Duty Deal In Pocket, Weirdly
22.2.2023
Earlier today, Microsoft President Brad Smith and Xbox boss Phil Spencer talked briefly to the media about its ongoing attempt to consume Activision Blizzard King, continuing once again to act like the larger spat is mostly about Call of Duty. At one point, Smith said he was carrying a contract...
Microsoft Reportedly Made An AI That Plays Minecraft For You
18.2.2023
Much of the science fiction genre would have you believe that artificial intelligence would bring about humanity’s downfall by rising up and slaughtering its creators, but the recent boom in AI tech has instead amounted to labor crimes like journalistic malpractice and robbing artists of their...
Activision Blizzard Is Forcing Workers Back To The Office
15.2.2023
While the worst of the pandemic is clearly over, a few years of getting people to work from home has shown that a lot of folks are happier, and even work better, if they get to do it where they live. So decisions to force employees back into the office are understandably going to be met with...
Report: EA Paying $588 Million For The Rights To The English Premier League
13.2.2023
Programming and gameplay be damned, sports games live and die on their licensing. It’s why Madden was able to crush NFL2K, and it’s why EA’s FIFA (now known as EA Sports FC) has been able to grind Konami’s PES into the dust. Not because they’re better games, but because they paid to be the only...
Bobby Kotick Is Stoking Chinese Fear To Champion The Microsoft Acquisition
8.2.2023
In order to ease UK regulators’ reluctance to approve the Microsoft acquisition, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick went on CNBC to make a case for the merger. His comments about the UK becoming “Death Valley” if the merger was not approved have earned him well-deserved ridicule. But maybe...
Cops Accidentally Mistake Nintendo Direct For Bomb Threat
8.2.2023
Today a college campus will have extra police officers and K9 units walking around after a joke email from a student to a professor. The student asked the professor to cancel class due to an upcoming “once-in-a-lifetime event.” The event? This afternoon’s much-hyped Nintendo Direct. Read more
Bobby Kotick Says UK Will Become 'Death Valley' If Microsoft Purchase Isn't Approved
8.2.2023
There are serious concerns being raised around the world over Microsoft’s planned $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, with opposition coming not just from Xbox’s competitors but everyone from Google to Nvidia as well. You would think such a precarious situation would require some delicate...
Activision Did Nothing Wrong, Will Pay $35 Million Settlement
3.2.2023
Activision Blizzard will pay the Securities Exchange Commission $35 million to settle charges that it violated workplace misconduct reporting rules and whistleblower protections. The Call of Duty publisher admits no wrongdoing in the case, which comes less than two years after a bombshell lawsuit...
Overwatch 2 Will Start Banning People Who Team Up With Cheaters
3.2.2023
Blizzard announced in a February 1 update blog that it’s taking a new, more aggressive approach to Overwatch 2 cheating. The developer will no longer ban just cheaters themselves—though it boasts already wiping out “over 50,000 accounts that we found to be cheating since the launch of Overwatch...
Activision Blizzard Exec Has The Most Unhinged Last Of Us TV Show Take Yet
31.1.2023
The Last of Us inspired no shortage of takes when it first released back in 2013. The HBO TV adaptation has been no different. Like a massive EpiPen of stimulus for the take economy in middle of winter, it has elicited both over-the-top praise, scornful dismissals, and everything in-between....
Forspoken Fails To Credit Localizers, Quality Assurance Testers
24.1.2023
Forspoken, the newest action-adventure romp from developer Luminous Productions, caught flack online after failing to fully list its localization and quality assurance teams.Read more
Blizzard Boston Devs Blame Boss For Torpedoing Union
24.1.2023
Workers at Proletariat Studio, also known as Blizzard Boston, won’t be unionizing after all. The Communications Workers of America Union announced on Tuesday that it will pull its petition for a union election, and blames Proletariat CEO Seth Sivak for treating workers’ organizing efforts as...