Tag Archives: activision

Over the last month, a team of QA testers at Activision Blizzard studio, Raven, have been on strike due to a round of lay-offs announced just before the Pacific update to Call of Duty: Warzone shipped. Since then, the publisher’s board of directors has agreed to sell the company to …

Microsoft dropped an absolute bombshell when the tech behemoth announced that they would be acquiring video game publishing giant Activision Blizzard for a whopping $68.7 Billion USD. The console manufacturer has already offered a statement as to what this will mean for Call of Duty - though it is rather confusing. On this week’s KitGuru Games, we will analyse Microsoft's statement, and what we think it actually means for the future of the franchise - all corporate speak removed...

Call of Duty is one of the biggest franchises in gaming, selling 10s of millions of copies every single year despite launching a new game annually. Under the new management of Microsoft however, things are about to change. In a report by Bloomberg, Jason Schreier has claimed that the recent …

When Microsoft first announced that they were going to acquire Activision for 68.7 Billion, one of the first thoughts that crossed many’s minds was “what does this mean for Call of Duty?” Microsoft’s CEO of Gaming, Phil Spencer, has now answered this question. In a tweet, the CEO of Gaming …

Prior to the announcement that Microsoft is acquiring Activision Blizzard for $68.7 Billion, the Call of Duty creator was in a great deal of hot water. Instead of tackling the root cause of the issue, Activision Blizzard’s CEO Bobby Kotick wanted to buy good press by acquiring a gaming publication. …

Microsoft recently dropped a bombshell when it announced that the Xbox creator will be acquiring Activision Blizzard for a staggering $68.7 Billion. What this means for the future of Activision Blizzard’s games is up in the air currently – though Sony has now officially responded to the announcement. In a …

Microsoft recently dropped a bombshell on the video games industry as they announced that the Xbox manufacturer will be acquiring the publishing behemoth Activision Blizzard. But what does this mean for the company’s highly controversial CEO? We now have an answer. Bobby Kotick has served as the CEO of Activision …

Today saw some behemoth-level news drop in the form of Microsoft announcing that it will be acquiring Activision Blizzard for a staggering amount nearing $70 Billion. Even so, it would seem the publisher’s games are too lucrative on other platforms, and so with at least some franchises, they will continue …

It is common to see many video game IPs crossover with the LEGO franchise – both inside and outside of video games. One upcoming set – namely an Overwatch 2 set – has now been indefinitely delayed, as the toy manufacturer is “reviewing our partnership with Activision Blizzard.” Activision-Blizzard have …

While Halo Infinite's campaign launch stole the show yesterday, another major launch also occurred, with Activision dropping its Call of Duty: Warzone refresh with a new map based on Call of Duty: Vanguard. The launch hasn't exactly gone smoothly though, as it arrived with a number of performance issues and …

In the wake of the report that not only did Activision Blizzard cultivate a toxic and sexual harassment-filled work environment, but CEO Bobby Kotick knew of the behaviour, console manufacturers have been weighing in on the matter. Following Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo has now issued an internal response. As reported …

The situation regarding Activision Blizzard has continually been going from bad to worse. The latest issue saw Activision CEO Bobby Kotick being revealed to have known about the sexual harassment issues within the company and did nothing. Following this, it seems Sony may have stopped promoting Call of Duty in …

Activision Blizzard continues to make headlines this week, as sources have claimed that CEO, Bobby Kotick, may be willing to resign if current on-going issues at the studio can't be quickly fixed.  Calls for Kotick to step down have grown louder in recent weeks, after a report from The Wall …

Over the course of this week, calls for the resignation of Activision Blizzard CEO, Bobby Kotick, have grown louder. Following on from reports of Kotick's handling of workplace harassment issues, over 1,700 employees have signed a petition calling on the board to choose a new CEO.  The latest petition states …

Things are not going well at Activision Blizzard right now, as more information has come to light regarding the company's internal practices and calls for CEO, Bobby Kotick, to resign have grown louder. This week, we heard from PlayStation's Jim Ryan, who spoke up against what is happening at the …

Activision has been under fire recently for facilitating a workplace culture of harassment, sexual misconduct and more. It was recently discovered that the publisher’s CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of all this, and yet did nothing. In response to Activision’s lack of action in the matter (and their backing of …

The US holds one of the biggest markets in gaming when it comes to revenue, sales, market cap and all manner of statistics. Within the US, the biggest gaming company has historically been Activision, with franchises such as Call of Duty pushing the publisher to new heights. Surprisingly, Activision Blizzard …

Call of Duty's Zombies mode has become a staple for the franchise, especially from developers Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. Despite nearly every single Activision studio working on COD, the upcoming Call of Duty Vanguard will not be feature complete at launch – with the zombies mode being cut down significantly …

Vicarious Visions is best known for bringing back Crash Bandicoot via the N. Sane Trilogy – in many ways jumpstarting the current trend of remaking older games from the ground up. Unfortunately, the team was merged with Blizzard earlier this year, and now they are set to lose their identity …

Blizzard was planning on holding another BlizzCon in a few months time, but as you've surely heard, the studio is going through some rough times at the moment. Employee protests, lawsuits, leadership changes and harassment issues have dominated the Blizzard news cycle over the summer, so the team will be …

Last year when Riot Games launched Valorant, the game launched with its own kernel-level anti-cheat system called Vanguard. Now, Activision is pulling a similar move with a new anti-cheat system for Call of Duty, known as ‘Ricochet'.  Activision has been talking up its plans for anti-cheat over the course of …

Since launching Call of Duty: Warzone, Raven Software has been in a nonstop battle against cheaters, banning tens of thousands of accounts on a regular basis. With Call of Duty: Vanguard coming soon, new anti-cheat technology will be implemented.  Back in August, Raven Software teased this move, stating that it …

Back in August, shortly after legal issues arose with accusations of employee mistreatment and harassment at Activision Blizzard, the company announced some key changes. Notably, Diablo 4 lost its director, but now after a couple of months, a replacement has been found.  Diablo 4 is now being directed by Joe …

While the Call of Duty remains one of the biggest franchises in gaming, the annual series has been in decline somewhat for the past few years. It seems that Activision struck gold however with its free-to-play Warzone Battle Royale mode. According to a recent study, Warzone makes over $5 million …

The Activision Blizzard sexual harassment lawsuit has brought with it many different knock on effects. Starting with Activision’s name not being featured in the Call of Duty: Vanguard trailer, the name of the popular Overwatch character Jesse McCree is being changed, as they were originally named after a Blizzard employee. …

Call of Duty: Vanguard was recently announced, showcasing the latest that the first-person shooter franchise has to offer. Interestingly however, the trailer made no reference to its publisher Activision, instead saying “Call of Duty Presents”. While some have speculated this to be due to the recent controversy and lawsuit against …

Despite releasing a new game every single year for 15 years, the Call of Duty franchise remains bigger than ever, with multiple titles now running concurrently as well as the franchise going all in on live services. With so much Call of Duty, the franchise’s 3 main development studios simply …

Just last week, rumours began circulating that this year's Call of Duty, known as Call of Duty: Vanguard, would be revealed as part of a Warzone event. Now, this has been confirmed and Activision has also released the first teaser trailer for the game.  This year's entry to the franchise …

Activision Blizzard is going through a number of internal changes at the moment in the wake of a lawsuit regarding workplace harassment at the company. We've already seen Blizzard's president and head of HR leave the company, and now, a number of high profile developers have been let go, including …

While Overwatch represented one of the first and biggest live-service titles of the modern era, the 2015 hero shooter was announced to be getting a full sequel back in 2019, with a release year expected to be 2022. Since then however, very little news has come out regarding the game, …