Tag Archives: Blizzard Entertainment

Technology

Activision Blizz Exec Has Most Unhinged Last Of Us Show Take

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Screenshot: HBO / Kotaku

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. But what is potentially the worst take of all wasn’t born until today.

“Hi FTC — did you catch last night’s episode of The Last of Us?” tweeted Activision Blizzard’s Executive Vice President of Corporates Affairs and Chief Communications Officer, Lulu Cheng Meservey. “It was incredible.” What followed from the Call of Duty publisher’s recently hired serial poster was a cringey thread about how The Last of Us TV show proves Microsoft should be allowed to acquire the company for $69 billion.

For those who might be living under a rock and don’t know: The Last of Us is a harrowing tale about love, loss, and redemption in a world brought to its knees by pandemic. This week’s especially intimate and emotional episode moved many to tears. It moved Meservey to post about how the largest acquisition in the history of tech raises no red flags.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have been on the offensive ever since the Federal Trade Commission launched an anti-trust lawsuit against them, seemingly with the intent to wriggle loose a few more concessions before eventually letting the deal go through. It is a multi-faceted, omni-directional campaign that has Microsoft repeatedly talking about how much it sucks compared to Sony, both in terms of making games and now in terms of making TV shows. That was certainly the sentiment Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer conveyed last week when asked to compare The Last of Us TV show to the Halo TV show.

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“Sony’s talent and IP across gaming, TV, movies, and music are formidable and truly impressive,” Meservey tweeted today. “It’s no wonder they also continue to dominate as the market leader for consoles. In gaming, Sony is ‘the first of us’ – and they will be just fine without the FTC’s protection.”

Let the Cordyceps take me now.



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Technology

Overwatch 2’s ‘Sexual Harassment Simulator’ Made A Brief Return

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Image: Activision Blizzard

Trigger warning: sexual assault and harassment.

An inappropriate Overwatch 2 game mode reappeared, but it’s not one to get excited about. The mode, titled “sexual harassment simulator,” was played enough times that it appeared as one of the most popular over the weekend for some players, according to PC Gamer, which spotted the reappearance just before Blizzard quickly pulled it down.

Another “sexual harassment simulator” was discovered in October 2022, but both tasked players with knocking down Overwatch 2‘s female heroes (like Mercy and Widowmaker) while playing as the cowboy Cole Cassidy and repeatedly crouching over their bodies, apparently, as PC Gamer reported, with the word “raping…” until the character in question is labeled “pregnant” as an AI-controlled Torbjorn supposedly fills the role of the baby. This is disgusting on so many levels it’s not even funny, especially because players are forced to play as Cassidy, previously known as McCree, the same name as the ousted Activision Blizzard developer who took part in the controversial “Cosby Suite” meetups.

A screenshot of the custom mode was posted to Overwatch’s official subreddit by user Joyolo13, who simply asked: “What in god’s name?”

“Lol I remember seeing this every day in [Overwatch 1],” said Redditor sw1nky. “Can’t say I’m surprised it’s still around, [to be honest].”

“McCree is back in the game I guess,” said user FoulfrogBsc.

Kotaku was unable to find the custom game mode in Overwatch 2 as it appears Blizzard took the “sexual harassment simulator” offline—for now. So, it seems the company is aware that such a mode exists but might be having a hard time preventing it from reappearing in the game.

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“Inappropriate or explicit content has absolutely no place in our game,” a Blizzard spokesperson told PC Gamer when the outlet asked about the first version of the mode last year. “We immediately removed the user-created game mode once made aware of its existence. We are continually working to improve automatic filters to prevent inappropriate user-created content, and manually removing any that are not caught by the system.”

Kotaku reached out to Activision Blizzard for comment.

While this is at least the second time the “sexual harassment simulator” has popped up in Overwatch 2 specifically, players noted that a similar mode existed in some form in the original Overwatch game. At the time, players posted PSAs to warn the community about the offensive content. Of course, not all player-created game modes are this egregious. But it is concerning that this issue has come up more than once within a few months.

 



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Technology

Microsoft Called FTC Unconstitutional, Regrets The Error

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Photo: Zed Jameson/Bloomberg (Getty Images)

Today, Microsoft filed a revised response to the United States Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit intended to stop the tech giant from buying up Call of Duty publisher Activision. The initial filing contained multiple arguments claiming the FTC itself and its court system were unconstitutional. But now Microsoft has yanked that language out of the doc and claimed it was all a mistake. Y’know, just your average oopsie of calling a large government agency unconstitutional.

Last year, Microsoft announced its plans to consume Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher Activision Blizzard for a whopping $69 billion. Since then, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have faced pushback and legal roadblocks around the world as various government agencies and regulatory committees investigate if the massive deal would give Microsoft an unfair advantage against its competitors. As you would expect, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have fought back and spent 2022, filing responses, docs, and court paperwork in an effort to make its deal happen.

In a press release put out by the FTC last month, the agency announced a lawsuit against the merger and reasoned that Microsoft would be able to stifle its competitors by making games Xbox exclusives and manipulating prices, should the deal go through. Microsoft fought back via a response that contained a lot of arguments, including the assertion that the FTC itself was actually unconstitutional.

However, as reported by Axios, today Microsoft refiled its response to the lawsuit and has omitted the section arguing that the FTC’s lawsuit was “invalid because the structure of the Commission as an independent agency that wields significant executive power” violates Article II of the US Constitution. In that same section of the original filing, Microsoft also argued that the lawsuit and legal proceedings being carried out by the FTC were “invalid” because the FTC’s official complaint violated Article III of the U.S. Constitution. Oh, and Microsoft’s legal team also claimed that the FTC’s “procedures” violated the company’s “right to Equal Protection under the Fifth Amendment.”

Read More: Gamers Are Suing Microsoft To Thwart Its Merger With Activision

Now all of that is gone and Microsoft tells Axios that it probably shouldn’t have been in that initial doc in the first place.

“The FTC has an important mission to protect competition and consumers, and we quickly updated our response to omit language suggesting otherwise based on the constitution,” Microsoft public affairs spokesperson David Cuddy told Axios. “We initially put all potential arguments on the table internally and should have dropped these defenses before we filed.”

Microsoft says it appreciates all the “feedback” it received about its arguments claiming the FTC itself was unconstitutional and are “engaging directly with those who expressed concerns” to make the company’s position on the matter “clear.” In other words, the FTC probably didn’t take too kindly to be called unconstitutional and you probably shouldn’t anger the people suing you and trying to stop your whole big merger from happening.

Axios reports that Activision is also dropping similar allegations it had included in its own, separate response to the same FTC lawsuit. 

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Business

WoW Dragonflight Studio Joins Gaming’s Snowballing Union Push

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Image: Activision Blizzard / Kotaku / Yevgenij_D (Shutterstock)

Developers at the Boston-based gaming studio Proletariat announced plans to unionize on Tuesday. If successful, roughly 60 employees there who worked on World of Warcraft’s new Dragonflight expansion would join the growing ranks of organized labor across parent company Activision Blizzard and beyond.

The group, called the Proletariat Workers Alliance, is unionizing with the Communications Workers of America and says it has a supermajority of support among qualifying staff at the studio. While it has filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, it’s also calling on Activision Blizzard to voluntarily recognize the union in a break with the Call of Duty publishers’ attempts to stall and sabotage similar efforts at its other studios.

“Everyone in the video game industry knows Activision Blizzard’s reputation for creating a hostile work environment, so earlier this year, when we heard that Blizzard was planning to acquire Proletariat, we started to discuss how we could protect the great culture we have created here,” Dustin Yost, a software engineer at the studio, said in a press release. “By forming a union and negotiating a contract, we can make sure that we are able to continue doing our best work and create innovative experiences at the frontier of game development.”

The Proletariat Workers Alliance would be unique among gaming unions for representing all non-management staff at the studio, rather than just quality assurance staff as is the case at Raven Software, Blizzard Albany, and unionization efforts currently underway at Microsoft’s Bethesda studios. The Proletariat developers list flexible PTO, optional remote work, no mandatory overtime, and policies fostering diversity, equality and inclusion among the demands they plan to negotiate at the bargaining table if the union drive is successful.

Activision Blizzard didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about whether it would voluntarily recognize the union or try to fight it as it has previous efforts within the company. The publisher recently tried to block Blizzard Albany’s union on the grounds that allowing only QA to unionize would hurt the development of games like Diablo IV. Ultimately, the NLRB didn’t buy it, but in Proletariat’s case those concerns would be moot anyway since a studio-wide vote is exactly what the workers are asking for.

Proletariat was founded in 2012 by former Zynga, Insomniac Games, and Harmonix developers, funded by venture capital and investments from companies like Take-Two. It’s best-known release prior to joining Blizzard was Spellbreak, a free-to-play magic shooter that came out in 2020. The game was eventually shut down this past June, however, and Proletariat was acquired to work on World of Warcraft the following month.

“At Proletariat, we have always emphasized looking out for each other as people, and we’re committed to preserving what is best about our studio,” James Van Nuland, an associate game producer at Proletariat, said today. “We are in this together.”

             

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Technology

Overwatch 2 Bastion Skin Costs One Coin, Causes Problems

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The Gingerbread Bastion skin is available for one coin on the Overwatch 2 store, and your coin balance will l remind you of it until the end of days.
Screenshot: Blizzard Entertainment/Kotaku

Blizzard is offering Overwatch 2 players a holiday treat in the form of a Gingerbread Bastion skin. It’s exactly what it sounds like: the hero shooter’s robot, made entirely of gingerbread and candy canes. His bird companion is even made out of gingerbread, and the whole getup is super cute. The skin and a candy cane weapon charm are available now as a cheap, one-Overwatch-Coin package, but what was likely meant as a gesture of holiday goodwill comes with a notable irksome drawback: now, my Overwatch coin balance is no longer a nice round number.

If you, like many others, are the kind of person who needs to turn the volume on your TV up or down so the level number ends in a five or zero, you likely know what this means. Now, no matter how many coins you earn through completing weekly challenges or paying for them outright, you will never have a flat number again, as all the coin amounts you can get in Overwatch 2 end in zero already. So, if you buy the Gingerbread Bastion skin, there will always be a pesky nine at the end of your currency. Unless Blizzard releases something with a cost that ends in nine.

Bastion and his gingerbread bird are cute, but at what cost?
Screenshot: Blizzard Entertainment/Kotaku

I joke, but the discrepancy actually does have a tangible effect on your using the Overwatch 2 store. All the cosmetics you can buy in the in-game shop cost round numbers, and there’s no way to buy Overwatch Coins for any less than 500 coins ($4.99). So, for example, say you wanted to buy a skin that costs 1000 Overwatch Coins, but you just bought the Bastion skin for one coin, bringing your balance to 999 Coins. You’d be one coin away from buying the skin you wanted, but the only means you’d have of immediately closing the gap would be to pay at least $4.99. The next quickest way would be to complete four weekly challenges, which would give you 30 Coins, but is, of course, more time consuming.

Ultimately, because of the grindy systems the Overwatch 2 store has in place for acquiring currency, a skin costing one coin has a handful of weird drawbacks, whether that be from it putting your coin balance in a weird spot in its economy, or you having to deal with a non round number in your wallet staring back at you every time you open the store. But as a holiday gift, it’s the thought that counts, I guess?

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Outside of seasoned Bastion skins, Overwatch 2 is currently hosting its annual Winter Wonderland event, which includes a new mode that harkens back to when Mei could freeze everybody in place.

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Technology

RIP To These 14 Games That Died In 2022

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The graveyard is expanding, y’all.
Image: Bandai Namco / Blizzard / Codemasters / Ubisoft / Kotaku / Odette Villarreal (Shutterstock)

There was a time, back in the day, where you’d just buy a finished game and played it. No day-one updates or extra patches—it was simple. These games couldn’t “die” because they simply…existed. But as MMOs and live-service games (or “games as a service”) began to proliferate, requiring online servers and constant support from developers to keep things up and running, so too has the number of games that’ve hit in the graveyard. Please, bow your heads as were solemnly mark this year’s casualties.

There were quite a few, too, from racing sims like Dirt Rally and Project Cars to battle royales like Hyper Scape and massively-multiplayer online role-playing games such as Tera. Not every game on this list is “dead” in the traditional sense, with some still having minor functionality that makes them somewhat playable, but all are no longer receiving developmental resources or updates, effectively making them dead games.

Read More: 12 Games Killed In 2021 That Prove Preservation Is Vital

With that, here are 14 games that died in 2022:

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Technology

Gamers Are Suing Microsoft To Thwart Its Merger With Activision

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Photo: Bloomberg (Getty Images)

The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 gives Americans the right to sue companies over anticompetitive behavior, a fact which 10 self-described gamers are using to take Microsoft to court, aiming to halt the company’s acquisition of Activision.

As reported by Bloomberg Law, the complaint, filed today and obtained by Kotaku, states that the plaintiffs, or “video gamers” as they’re described, are concerned that “the [Microsoft and Activision] merger may substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly;” this merger, the complaint states, would specifically be in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which states that acquisitions that diminish competition are prohibited under U.S. antitrust law. The complaint not only cites the scale and scope of the Activision and Microsoft merger as problematic, but also that this latest proposed union follows numerous other Microsoft acquisitions ranging from its 2014 purchase of Mojang all the way up to its acquisition of Rare in 2022.

Thoroughly laying out console, PC, and AAA gaming, as well as subscription services as “Relevant Product Markets,” the suit calls attention to just how many large franchises will fall under Microsoft’s corporate umbrella should the merger go through. Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Doom, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Halo, and The Elder Scrolls are just some of the cited examples. It maintains that currently Microsoft and Activision compete directly through these titles and services like Battle.net, the Microsoft Store, and Game Pass. The merger would shatter that competitive dynamic.

Should the merger go through, the suit claims, Microsoft would hold “outsized market power and the ability to foreclose key inputs to rivals and further harm competition.” The suit mentions competition both whereas it concerns sales to consumers, as well as the competition in the industry to “hire and retain talent within specialized video game labor,” which would be “lessened” under the merger.

Kotaku has reached out to Microsoft for comment.

The proposed MIcrosoft / Activision merger has been a lightning rod for controversy ever since its initial announcement. Perhaps most worrying for Microsoft is the recently filed lawsuit from the FTC. The feds allege that, should this merger go through, it would pose serious harm to competition in the video game industry, citing past behavior of Microsoft to prioritize Xbox and Windows PCs as platforms for its games. Microsoft has disagreed, stating that the Activision acquisition would “bring Call of Duty to more gamers and more platforms than ever before.”

Speaking of Call of Duty, in response to criticisms of its intended merger with Activision, Microsoft has pledged to continue to deliver Call of Duty to other platforms for at least 10 years. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has categorized Sony’s criticisms of the acquisition as an attempt to “protect its dominant position on console” and that it seeks to grow by “making Xbox smaller.”

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Technology

New $100 Diablo IV ‘Collector’s Box’ Doesn’t Include Game

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Image: Blizzard / Kotaku

Blizzard is now taking pre-orders on a large, nearly $100 special Diablo IV collector’s box which includes many things. But it doesn’t include the game. And while Blizzard isn’t trying to trick people into accidentally buying this game-free box, it still seems very odd that there’s not even an option to get the game with this pricey package of demonic goodies.

Expensive collector’s editions of video games and movies have become more and more popular over the last decade. Personally, I never felt the need for all the random gubbins and statues usually included in these pricey bundles, but I get it. Some folks just really love to collect everything involving their favorite franchise or series. Whatever floats your boat! Just don’t get confused and think this $100 Diablo IV Collector’s Box actually includes the game it’s named after!

This week, Blizzard started taking pre-orders on something it’s calling the Diablo IV Limited Collector’s Box over on its merch store. This large, spiffy-looking box will cost you a cool $96.66 (I see what you did there…) and includes all of these items:

  • Occult Mousepad
  • Cloth Map of Sanctuary
  • Pin of the Horadrim
  • Diablo IV Collector’s Edition Art Book
  • Matted Fine Art Prints (x2) – 18.54″ x 10.79″

That’s very nice and all, but you’ll notice that the game isn’t part of this pricey bundle. Now, Blizzard isn’t trying to deceive anyone. It’s clear in the store description that this box doesn’t contain the game. It also isn’t selling the box on Battle.net but instead on its merch site, further separating it from its video game store. So I’m not trying to imply that Blizzard is trying to pull a fast one and trick diehard Diablo players into forking over $100 for something that doesn’t include the upcoming ARPG. I’m just saying it’s a bit odd, is all!

I guess for folks who prefer buying a digital copy of the game via a third-party site or who might want to provide a physical gift to someone who might already have the game pre-ordered, this is a nice idea. But why not have a different version that is $60-70 more and includes a code for the game? Or even a discount on it! Though that kind of stuff might make things more confusing.

Anyway, Diabo IV comes out June 6, 2023 on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC. If you want it, don’t buy this box. Or do, but then also buy the game separately.

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Technology

New $100 Diablo IV ‘Collector’s Box’ Doesn’t Include Game

Leave a comment

Image: Blizzard / Kotaku

Blizzard is now taking pre-orders on a large, nearly $100 special Diablo IV collector’s box which includes many things. But it doesn’t include the game. And while Blizzard isn’t trying to trick people into accidentally buying this game-free box, it still seems very odd that there’s not even an option to get the game with this pricey package of demonic goodies.

Expensive collector’s editions of video games and movies have become more and more popular over the last decade. Personally, I never felt the need for all the random gubbins and statues usually included in these pricey bundles, but I get it. Some folks just really love to collect everything involving their favorite franchise or series. Whatever floats your boat! Just don’t get confused and think this $100 Diablo IV Collector’s Box actually includes the game it’s named after!

This week, Blizzard started taking pre-orders on something it’s calling the Diablo IV Limited Collector’s Box over on its merch store. This large, spiffy-looking box will cost you a cool $96.66 (I see what you did there…) and includes all of these items:

  • Occult Mousepad
  • Cloth Map of Sanctuary
  • Pin of the Horadrim
  • Diablo IV Collector’s Edition Art Book
  • Matted Fine Art Prints (x2) – 18.54″ x 10.79″

That’s very nice and all, but you’ll notice that the game isn’t part of this pricey bundle. Now, Blizzard isn’t trying to deceive anyone. It’s clear in the store description that this box doesn’t contain the game. It also isn’t selling the box on Battle.net but instead on its merch site, further separating it from its video game store. So I’m not trying to imply that Blizzard is trying to pull a fast one and trick diehard Diablo players into forking over $100 for something that doesn’t include the upcoming ARPG. I’m just saying it’s a bit odd, is all!

I guess for folks who prefer buying a digital copy of the game via a third-party site or who might want to provide a physical gift to someone who might already have the game pre-ordered, this is a nice idea. But why not have a different version that is $60-70 more and includes a code for the game? Or even a discount on it! Though that kind of stuff might make things more confusing.

Anyway, Diabo IV comes out June 6, 2023 on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC. If you want it, don’t buy this box. Or do, but then also buy the game separately.

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Technology

Blizzard Legend Chris Metzen Returns To Company After Six Years

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Photo: Bloomberg (Getty Images)

Blizzard in 2022 is a vastly different company to the one so many became fans of in the 1990s and 2000s, partly because it is now owned by Activision, but mostly because that was a long time ago and most of the people who made the games you love have left!

Well, except for one. Chris Metzen, a key figure in Blizzard’s rise during that time period and a man with a wild resume of work for the studio (he’s been an artist, writer, designer, creative director and even long-running voice actor on Diablo, StarCraft, WarCraft, WoW and Overwatch, ), has just announced that he’s returning, six years after he departed.

As we reported at the time, Metzen left during a tumultuous time not just for the studio—amid the cancellation of Titan and the release of Overwatch—but in his personal life as well, having just become a father and experiencing some serious health issues:

After Titan’s cancellation, Metzen fell in with the Overwatch project. It was, in his words, “one last charge at the wall.” He helped rally morale and push the game through to completion. And it is a god damned excellent game.

In the process, though, Metzen suffered from nonstop anxiety. During movies with his wife, he’d experience what he’d later learn were panic attacks. He felt like his lungs would stop, but when he consulted doctors, nothing was wrong with him. It was the beginning of 2016, and with the upcoming release of World of Warcraft’s Legion, Overwatch, its animated shorts, the Blizzard movies and, also, a new baby, Metzen was crushed under the pressure to do it all.

“I need a change in my life,” Metzen said.

Blizzard announced his return this morning:

CITIZENS OF AZEROTH,

It is with great joy that I announce CHRIS METZEN has joined the Warcraft Leadership Team as Creative Advisor. Chris’s focus initially will be on World of Warcraft, then his work will expand to other projects across this growing franchise.

Chris was one of the original team members working on the W Warcraft universe back when it began in 1994, and we are so happy to be reuniting him with the world he helped create.

John Hight

General Manager, Warcraft

That job title, “creative advisor”, could mean anything, but the fact Hight adds “his work will expand to other projects across this growing franchise” suggests it’s just a way to ease him back into the studio before setting him loose on more stuff.

You can, and really should, check out Metzen’s full list of contributions to Blizzard games over the years for a fuller understanding of why fans are so happy at this news.

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