Tag Archives: activision

Back in April of last year, real-life rapper Snoop Dogg was added into a number of Call of Duty titles. Now, with Warzone 2 and MW2 out in the world, “The D O Double G” is once again making an appearance – this time being joined by Nicki Minaj, 21 …

While it was initially believed that Call of Duty would be skipping 2023 in order to give Treyarch more time to work on their next game, the publisher later revealed that a new standalone Call of Duty title will be coming out this year. Now known to be Modern Warfare …

While Microsoft could have completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard this week after winning its case against the FTC in the US, doing so would have meant closing over the UK's CMA, which did object to the deal back in April. Since then, the CMA has seemingly had a change …

After Microsoft announced its acquisition of Activision Blizzard in January 2022, the company extended an offer to Sony to ensure that Call of Duty remains on PlayStation. The offer started off as a multi-year deal but eventually grew into a ten-year deal. So far, Sony has refused to sign the …

As part of the Microsoft FTC injunction hearings, many internal documents have been made public, revealing a whole bunch of juicy details on these gaming companies’ inner workings. As part of a document shared by Microsoft, the console manufacturer claimed that Call of Duty’s Battle.net launcher exclusivity was “a resounding …

Earlier this week, a US judge ruled against the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction to stop Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In the ruling, the judge stated that the FTC simply did not provide enough evidence to prove a theory of harm. Now, the FTC has announced plans to …

Activision CEO, Bobby Kotick, spoke on the witness stand this week during the ongoing hearing between Microsoft and the FTC. During the questioning, he was asked about his opinion on Nintendo's position in the market and he promptly admitted that Activision made a mistake skipping Switch this generation.  Kotick described …

During the hearing between the FTC and Microsoft last week, we learned new details about the events that preceded Microsoft's decision to acquire both Activision and Bethesda. Sony was in talks with Bethesda to make Starfield a PS5 exclusive, which prompted Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda. A very similar situation almost occurred with Activision pulling Call of Duty. 

In a relatively short number of years the video games medium has transformed from a niche hobby to a multi-billion Dollar industry whose influence is being felt across all other mediums. In a new report, it has now been revealed that the video games industry is bigger than both films and music combined.

Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard is in an interesting position right now. The company was able win over competing cloud companies and the European Commission with its commitments to bring Activision Blizzard and Xbox first-party PC games to rival cloud gaming services. However, in the UK, the CMA has …

The Microsoft-ABK acquisition has turned into a political circus here in the UK and Microsoft is making sure to throw its weight around, going as far as to hint at the possibility of pulling products out of the UK and investing elsewhere.

We've all seen the ten-year deals Microsoft has signed with various cloud gaming companies to offer Activision titles like Call of Duty to rival cloud gaming providers. As it turns out, in order to get its acquisition of Activision Blizzard approved by the EU, Microsoft had to go a step …

This afternoon, the European Commission officially approved Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, noting that the remedies offered by Microsoft should be enough to do away with competition concerns. Now, the UK's Competition & Markets Authority has responded, saying it stands by its initial decision.  In a series of tweets …

The reboot of Modern Warfare back in 2019 was met with a great deal of praise, due to the game running on a highly updated engine and offering a solid campaign. Last year’s Modern Warfare II saw a drop in its critical reception for various reasons. Though it was previously announced that there would be no new COD game this year – instead being replaced by an expansion – this is no longer the case, with Call of Duty Modern Warfare III set to be officially announced later this year.

Last year, it was widely reported that Activision would be skipping Call of Duty in 2023, instead opting for a premium expansion for Modern Warfare 2 with new maps to refresh the game for another year. Somewhere along the way, Activision seemed to scrap this idea in favour of turning …

Call of Duty is a massive seller every year but for the most part, console versions beat out the PC version in sales. That might be starting to change, as Activision's latest earnings report shows.  Activision's latest earnings report shows that PC sales outperformed console sales between January and the …

It has been a couple of weeks since the CMA first announced plans to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Since then, both Microsoft and Activision have made it clear that they plan to appeal, a process that should begin this week.  According to a report from The Telegraph, Microsoft …

When the first reports about Microsoft buying Activision-Blizzard came to light, many immediately thought about having Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass. However, it seems that was intended to happen a few years after the acquisition had been completed. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has significantly affected …

A small group of ‘gamers' have filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in the US in an effort to block the pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard. After going through the most recent batch of filings, some interesting nuggets of info have been revealed, including plans for a massive (and expensive) mystery …

As previous reports claimed, Microsoft is launching an Xbox Series X Diablo IV bundle on the game's launch day. Besides the console and the game, players will also get some in-game items with this bundle, including a mount and an armour skin. If you want to play Diablo IV on …

Crash Team Rumble has been in the works for years but the game is finally nearing launch. The latest spin-off in the franchise goes in a very different direction, offering up MOBA gameplay in a competitive multiplayer setting.  Crash Team Rumble is officially launching on the 20th of June, Activision …

Both the European Commission and the UK's CMA have extended deadlines to reach a decision on Microsoft's planned Activision Blizzard acquisition. Now, the EU is pushing the deadline further, moving from late April to late May.  While Microsoft initially planned to have this deal closed by mid 2023, that timeline …

The competition and market regulators are still evaluating Microsoft's planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard. While it seemed like things were trending towards the acquisition being blocked, sources this week have claimed that the EU is actually now planning to approve the deal. 

Microsoft sat down with the European Commission once again this week to further argue its case for the Activision Blizzard acquisition. In a press briefing after the meeting, Microsoft laid out its case, revealing Sony's dominant position in the European console market.  At the briefing, Microsoft President, Brad Smith, produced …

It is no secret that Microsoft's planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard is on shaky ground, with regulators seemingly wholeheartedly buying into Sony's objections to the deal, while also having concerns about the future of the cloud gaming market. According to a report this week, Microsoft is now preparing its ‘last-ditch' …

Documents from the CMA's investigation into the Microsoft-Activision merger have been made public for a while and plenty have found interesting details within them. Most recently, a line in one of the documents shows Microsoft confirming that titles on Game Pass do lose a non-disclosed percentage of sales while on …

Activision Blizzard found itself in a pit of controversy two years ago, with anger against leadership and CEO, Bobby Kotick, leading to lawsuits and employee walkouts. Many who support Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard are hoping to see new leadership at the publisher, but if the acquisition fails, it looks …

As anticipated, the UK's Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed that it believes Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard would harm the UK market. The CMA confirmed its concerns in documents released today, but it has also sent a list of potential remedies to Microsoft.  The CMA has concluded …

Activision will be doing something a little different with Call of Duty this year. While the company has confirmed plans for a ‘premium release' in 2023, sources have claimed that this will be an expansion for Modern Warfare 2, giving the game an extra year of life before Treyarch releases …

Phil Spencer is not one to shy away from the limelight, being one of the more vocal executives in the industry, partaking in interviews while being relatively candid at the same time. As part of a new interview, the head of Xbox discussed all manner of topics, ranging from the company’s recent string of layoffs to the struggling Activision-Blizzard acquisition.