October2022
News Blizzard Has Temporarily Removed Two Heroes From Overwatch 2
Update: Servers undergo "emergency maintenance"
Update: Blizzard has apparently been hit with another wave of DDoS attacks not long after it temporarily removed Bastion and Torbjörn from the game. Its servers had to undergo "emergency maintenance" in response to this, fortunately, it seems to have been sorted out now. You can see Blizzard's full...
News Overwatch 2's New Phone Number Requirement Is Rejecting Pre-Paid Plans
Update: Requirements for existing players dropped
Update #2 [Sat 8th Oct, 2022 11:30 BST]: Blizzard has begun to roll out the update that removes the phone number requirement for existing Overwatch players and Battle.net users. So you should now be able to log in and play without attaching your mobile. This will not apply to new Battle.net sign ups...
News Overwatch 2 Player Calculates '5 Year' F2P Grind To Unlock New Hero's Cosmetics
The price of free-to-play
In case you missed it, Overwatch has swapped to a free-to-play model with the release of the second title earlier this week, and that means there are some new microtransactions, like the premium battle pass. In other words, if you want to unlock certain cosmetics or get more out of the game, you might need to fork out real...
News Overwatch 2 Servers Hit By "Mass DDoS Attack" On Launch Day
The free-to-play sequel is now live on Switch
It's a new era for Blizzard's Overwatch series - with the company rolling out Overwatch 2 across multiple platforms including the Nintendo Switch today. It's free-to-play, features cross-platform play and progression and can be downloaded now from the Switch eShop. Unfortunately, the launch hasn't gone...
September2022
News Overwatch 2 Gets New Defence Matrix To Combat "Cheaters And Disruptive Players"
Out with the old and in with the new
Overwatch 2 will arrive as a free-to-play game on the Nintendo Switch and other platforms very soon — on October 4th. Replacing the original Overwatch servers in the process, the sequel is set to introduce a huge number of new players to the online game increasing the prospect of disruptive behaviour and...
News The "Last Day" To Play The Original Overwatch Will Be Early Next Month
Assault maps are also being dropped
Overwatch 2 will arrive on the Nintendo Switch and multiple other platforms early next month as a free-to-play title. As part of this, Blizzard has announced it will be shutting down the original game's servers. This will take place just days before the second game's launch on 4th October. Here's how Blizzard's...
July2022
News Overwatch 2 Dev Blizzard "Committed" To Reviving BlizzCon In 2023
The live event will return
It's the time of year when all sorts of video game conferences are broadcast, or at least get announced. Blizzard - the developer behind series like Diablo, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft hasn't held its own in-person event in a while, but it seems this will be changing next year. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times...
June2022
News Overwatch 2 Is Getting Rid Of Loot Boxes In Favour Of A Battle Pass
Roadmap and new character announced
Overwatch 2 finally secured a release date earlier this week and official confirmation that the sequel to Blizzard's hugely popular online shooter will be coming to Switch. Now Blizzard has revealed the game's upcoming roadmap, along with some interesting changes, during a reveal event broadcast yesterday. On top...
News Blizzard's Overwatch 2 Launches On Nintendo Switch This October
PvP will be free-to-play
During the recent Xbox Bethesda showcase, Blizzard shared a few announcements. One of them was the news that Overwatch 2 would be launching in early access on PC and consoles on October 4th. According to the PR, this includes Nintendo Switch. It was also confirmed the player-versus-player multiplayer component will be...
May2022
Random It Looks Like Activision Blizzard's 'Diversity Tool' Analysed Super Mario And Co. Years Ago
Who remembers GDC 2017?
Over the past week, word has gotten out over Activision Blizzard's 'Diversity Space Tool', a measurement device apparently created to assist developers in creating a more diverse cast of characters for their games. As reported by Eurogamer, various internal staff at the company are not happy about the tool, stating that such...
March2022
News Activision Blizzard Hit With New Harassment And Discrimination Lawsuit
"700 reported incidents occurring under CEO Robert Kotick’s watch"
Activision Blizzard has been hit with a fresh lawsuit that claims the company's "frat boy" environment has allowed 700 reported incidents of sexual harassment and discrimination. The suit has been filed by Attorney Lisa Bloom in the Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of a...
News Blizzard Confirms Doomfist Will Be A Tank Hero In Overwatch 2
Class swap
Blizzard will be making some big changes in the upcoming release Overwatch 2, and the latest reveal is the Street Fighter-inspired brawler Doomfist will be changed from damage to tank class. Game director Aaron Keller shared a bit more detail in a livestream last week - explaining how Doomfist's "leap" would be similar to Winston. He...
News Overwatch Director Admits Dev Team Has Let Down The Game's Community
Will now release Overwatch 2's PVP mode "sooner"
Since the departure of game director Jeff Kaplan from the Overwatch team, the game's sequel seems to have gone missing. After announcing Overwatch 2 would drop the second tank slot from the game's PVP team battle mode last May, Blizzard then revealed the game had been
February2022
Soapbox Don't Cheer For Corporate Takeovers - It's Not A Game
Monopoly isn't just for fun when it's real money
Back in September 2020 when Microsoft announced its acquisition of Bethesda for around $7.5 billion, it was a big move — one that some fans would have been excited by, and others less so. It was a huge deal at the time, with that purchase giving Microsoft Gaming / Xbox a number of new studios and...
January2022
Talking Point How Does Microsoft's Purchase Of Activision Blizzard Impact Nintendo?
The latest extraordinary power move by MS
Microsoft caused a stir last year when it confirmed that its intended purchase of Zenimax had gone through, known better as the Bethesda deal. For over $7 billion Microsoft picked up Bethesda and a range of talented studios, with lots of discussion at the time over the impact of franchises like Fallout,...
News Overwatch 2 LEGO Set Gets Shelved Following Activision Blizzard Lawsuit
"We are currently reviewing our partnership," says LEGO
The LEGO Overwatch 2 "Titan" set pictured above was scheduled to come out next month, but The LEGO Group has decided to postpone the release following accusations of harassment, discrimination, and misconduct at the California-based offices of Activision Blizzard. Activision Blizzard, the...
November2021
"They run counter to my values as well as Nintendo’s beliefs"
Update: Nintendo has now officially confirmed this in a PR response to Fanbyte: “We can confirm the content of Doug Bowser’s internal email to Nintendo of America staff is accurate. We have nothing further to share on this topic.” Nintendo of America's president Doug Bowser...
News Activision Blizzard Employees Stage A Walkout Calling For CEO Bobby Kotick's Resignation
Update: Over 1300 employees sign a petition calling for Kotick to go
Update: More than 1300 Activision Blizzard employees have signed a petition demanding that CEO Bobby Kotick resign in the wake of this week's Wall Street Journal report alleging his failure to act on knowledge of misconduct at studios within the company. At the time of writing,...
News Blizzard Has Delayed Overwatch 2 (Again)
Diablo IV is also getting a "later launch"
When Blizzard announced a sequel to its team-based hero shooter Overwatch in 2019, it made it clear it was still a while away. It's now been delayed again - with the company announcing during a recent investor call that's it's planning a "later launch" for Overwatch 2 to ensure the game reaches its "full...
October2021
News Vicarious Visions Staff Left "Blindsided" By Reported Merger With Embattled Blizzard
All is not well at the Diablo II: Resurrected studio
Vicarious Visions – the studio behind multiple Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero and Skylanders entries – is to be merged with Blizzard, it is being reported. According to Polygon, which has spoken to various staff at the studio, the decision to abandon the Vicarious Visions name and...
News Blizzard Has Officially Renamed Overwatch's McCree
Say hello to Cole Cassidy
As you might recall, Blizzard announced it would be changing the name McCree - the popular cowboy gunslinger in its team-based first-person shooter, Overwatch. In case you missed the original announcement, the character was named after one of the now ex-employees linked to the recent harassment and discrimination lawsuit -...
News Diablo II: Resurrected Is Still Being Plagued By Hellish Server Outages
Blizzard issues an update
In the month of September, Blizzard launched Diablo II: Resurrected - a remaster of its classic ARPG hack-and-slash, originally released on computers two decades ago. While this remaster encountered some teething issues at launch, players were (mostly) still able to access the online mode, grind levels and access their...
August2021
News Blizzard Outlines Plans To Rename Popular Overwatch Character
A new story arc will introduce a new name for McCree
Blizzard has announced via the official Overwatch Twitter account that it plans to change the name of popular character McCree. In a statement (below), the makers of the popular multiplayer FPS outlined plans to rename the character originally named after former Blizzard designer Jesse McCree,...
News Blizzard President J. Allen Brack Is Leaving The Company
Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra to replace him
Content warning: Please be aware that the following article and the sources linked within touch on topics including discrimination, sexual harassment and assault, and suicide. On July 21st, Bloomberg Law reported that Activision Blizzard — the multi-billion dollar company behind Diablo, Ov
July2021
News Activision Blizzard Sued Over Culture Of Harassment And Discrimination
Allegations of "sexual harassment with no repercussion"
Content warning: Please be aware that the following article and the sources linked within touch on topics including discrimination, sexual harassment and assault, and suicide. A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard, Inc., owners of Diablo, Overwatch, and MMORPG World of Warcraft...
