Tag Archives: activision

Following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, the console manufacturer promised that it would begin to bring the publisher’s back catalogue of titles to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service. While it took some time, Activision games are finally coming to the platform – with Crash Bandicoot arriving in …

Following on from numerous leaks, Microsoft has officially confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will finally be added to the Game Pass library this week. After what I view to be a pretty low-ranking month for Game Pass, Microsoft is upping the ante a little bit during the …

Last week, the FTC filed a letter with the court, claiming that Microsoft had begun abusing its market power by changing the way Game Pass works. Now, Microsoft has officially responded, stating that the FTC's argument is “misleading”.  As spotted by The Verge, Microsoft's response has now been filed with …

Overwatch 2 has in many ways failed to meet the expectations of Activision Blizzard, with the free-to-play sequel being continually criticised since its launch back in 2022. That said, those who do actively play and enjoy the game will now be able to access a Spotify-wrapped styled recap video featuring …

Toys for Bob impressed fans around the world with the Crash Bandicoot N.Sane trilogy and Crash 4. However, under the old corporate overlords at Activision, the studio also had many projects cancelled and was slowly being turned into a Call of Duty support studio. As it turns out, one of …

Due to the FTC's pending court case against Microsoft over the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has been quite slow in merging Activision IP with the wider Xbox ecosystem. We expected to see an update on Activision games coming to Game Pass in June during the Xbox Showcase, but nothing …

As a Call of Duty title enters the latter half of its life, we typically see the developers having more fun with content drops – moving away from realism in favour of unique or weird modes, maps and more. As part of the upcoming Season 4 Reloaded, MWIII is set …

Crash Bandicoot is an iconic classic video game mascot, being closely associated with the PS1 back in the day, and helping to put developers Naughty Dog on the map at the time. In the decades since, Crash’s cache had fallen out of relevance – until the release of the much-loved …

The Past few years for Call of Duty has not been the best reception-wise, with Vanguard and the latter Modern Warfare sequels receiving quite a bit of criticism from fans. The return to the Black Ops series with this year’s upcoming entry seems to have attracted a lot of attention, …

We often see many writing off Call of Duty each year, claiming that each new entry is somehow worse than the last, only for them to be critically re-examined years down the line. For instance, after having the most disliked trailer upon its initial reveal, many now praise Infinite Warfare for its fresh take on the franchise. This isn't new though, in fact, Call of Duty has been more innovative in the shooter space than any other shooter in the past decade.

After acquiring Activision Blizzard in late 2023, Microsoft made the decision to allow Toys for Bob to go independent. At the time, we did not know what this meant for the studio’s future involvement with franchises like Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. However, things are looking positive at this stage, as …

Following on from numerous leaks in recent weeks, Activision has now officially announced this year's Call of Duty. As you would expect, previous leaks were indeed accurate, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 set to release this year. While it was no secret that there would be a new …

After acquiring Activision Blizzard in late 2023, Microsoft made the decision to allow Toys for Bob to go independent. At the time, we did not know what this meant for the studio’s future involvment with IP like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. However, the company’s new logo gives us …

While Sarah Bond appeared to confirm this already in an interview earlier in the month, a new report has come out stating that Microsoft has finalised plans to bring Call of Duty to Game Pass this year.  A previous report had claimed that there had been debate within Microsoft about …

In a surprise move today, Microsoft has announced that it has actually opened a new games studio. Following on from last year's Activision Blizzard acquisition, Xbox allowed Toys for Bob to go independent. Now, a new Activision Blizzard studio is opening up to fill the gap.  Elsewhere Entertainment is a …

BlizzCon made its grand return in 2023, after a four year hiatus. Unfortunately, it looks like the event is on the ropes once again, with plans for BlizzCon 2024 being scrapped.  BlizzCon is by no means a cheap event to run, but it has been a core part of the …

Crash Bandicoot is one of the most iconic classic gaming mascots, with the marsupial having his heyday during the PS1 era. Following years of substandard entries, Crash was revived with the N’Sane Trilogy – a remake of the first 3 titles. Crash 4 then released, being a wholly new and …

Part of the promise made by Microsoft following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard was that Xbox Game Pass subscribers would begin to see titles from the publisher added to its service. So far, one title has been added – being Diablo IV just a few weeks ago. That said, it …

In 2022, the relationship between Activision Blizzard and its Chinese publishing partner, NetEase, began to rapidly deteriorate, leading to NetEase being dropped as the publisher for Blizzard titles in China and thus making those games inaccessible in the country. Now after acquiring Activision last year, Microsoft has mended fences. Microsoft …

Over the weekend, it was claimed that the Xbox Games Showcase would be returning on the 9th of June and that the next Call of Duty would be shown at the event. Now, new sources are corroborating this, although Call of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War should be announced before …

The newest Call of Duty entry is consistently one of if not the best-selling game every single year. Though the quality has ebbed and flowed, the profits have not, with a decrease in critical reception seemingly doing little to impact sales. Even so, 2021’s Call of Duty Vanguard was deemed …

Announced back in 2022, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile had been a long time coming, with the title amassing over 50 million pre-registrations. Finally however, the game released last month – and while Warzone Mobile is solid, it has failed so far to live up to its predecessor financially. For …

Following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, one of the publisher’s dozen+ studios – Toys for Bob – expressed their desire to be independent. Microsoft obliged late last month, freeing the Crash/Spyro devs from their new owners. The positive outcome with Microsoft has now led to a 2nd-party relationship, …

We've been eagerly awaiting the addition of Activision Blizzard titles on Xbox Game Pass ever since Microsoft completed its acquisition of the company in late 2023. This month, we're finally getting the ball rolling, with Diablo 4 coming to Game Pass, alongside a slew of other titles over the next …

Overwatch 2 has not had the best trajectory since its launch, with the free-to-play title losing many of its promised features over time. Following the announcement last year that one of the game’s primary selling points – its PvE campaign – was cancelled, its replacement is now reportedly also on …

Ever since Call of Duty began to lean heavily into its live service elements, we have seen a plethora of crossovers announced and released, including the likes of The Walking Dead; Tomb Raider; DOOM; DUNE; Diablo, and many more. The latest franchise set to collab with Call of Duty is …

Nvidia’s GeForce Now remains one of the most popular game streaming services, with over 1,800 titles currently available to stream from your PC library. That said, the service has historically only worked with a select number of storefronts – though this has slowly changed over time. The latest PC client …

Toys for Bob were one of Activision's hidden-gem studios, having done fantastic work on the Spyro and Crash Bandicoot remakes, before launching new games like Crash Bandicoot 4 and Crash Team Rumble. Now, following Microsoft's acquisition of Activision, as well as a round of layoffs, Toys for Bob is going …

Call of Duty: Mobile has been a huge success for the first-person shooter franchise, with the free-to-play game having amassed more than 500 million downloads since its release back in 2019. That said, we have been waiting for the game’s successor for quite some time now. Built using the mainline …

While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launched with a widely praised multiplayer mode, its single-player campaign left a lot to be desired. The campaign ditched the structured missions of previous COD campaigns and instead opted for 'open world missions'. Now, it appears that this will not be a one-off occurrence.