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Blizzard's virtual BlizzCon will be free to watch
Last year's all-access virtual ticket cost $50.
Overwatch League viewership doubled under its tournament format
The league saw its highest average viewership since the second week of the season.
Blizzard has canceled this year's BlizzCon
A digital replacement for Blizzcon may not happen until early 2021.
Summer Game Fest promises four months of big news and events
Sony, Microsoft and major publishers are on board for the psuedo-E3 replacement.
'Call of Duty: Warzone' is introducing four-player squads
Just as Apex Legends is getting a permanent duos mode to complement the long-standing trios option, Call of Duty: Warzone is stepping in the opposite direction by letting you drop into the map with four players in your squad. The quads option will be available in the battle royale and plunder modes April 8th, when season 3 gets underway in both that game and CoD: Modern Warfare multiplayer. As you'd probably expect, Warzone will add more weapons and skins when season 3 starts, including silenced and non-silenced versions of every weapon type.
The entire Overwatch League regular season will be online-only
The Overwatch League has canceled all of its live events for the remainder of the 2020 regular season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Matches will take place in an entirely online format until August at the very least.
'Call of Duty: Warzone' hits 30 million players in 10 days
Activision's free-to-play spin on the battle royale genre has only been around for 10 days, but Call of Duty: Warzone has already attracted a significant number of players. The publisher says more than 30 million gamers have dropped into the arena so far.
The latest 'Overwatch' hero can transform into enemy characters
Echo, the latest Overwatch hero, is joining the ranks of the game's damage dealers with some nifty-sounding abilities. The AI robot's ultimate in particular will give players plenty of new scope for creativity -- when they activate Duplicate, Echo can adopt the form of an opponent's hero and use (or echo, geddit?) their abilities.
Activision Blizzard pulls its games from GeForce Now
GeForce Now, NVIDIA's game streaming service, went live for everyone last week. It allows you to play hundreds of games from dozens of publishers in the cloud, but Activision Blizzard's titles are no longer among the options after the publisher asked NVIDIA to remove its titles from the service. "While unfortunate, we hope to work together with Activision Blizzard to reenable these games and more in the future," an NVIDIA staff member wrote on the GeForce Now forums.
Blizzard unveils 'Overwatch 2' at BlizzCon
Following a leak about the game earlier this week, Blizzard officially revealed Overwatch 2 at BlizzCon, including an early look at gameplay. You can expect four-player story missions (a permanent version of the current event missions) and hero missions that take place in familiar and new locales as Blizzard expands the franchise's lore. Until now, much of the storytelling has played out in cinematic videos and comics. The story missions include an item system that allow you to pick up and deploy gear like healing packs, grenades and shields.
Blizzard confirms 'Diablo IV' with a gothic, gruesome trailer
After leaks suggested as such, Blizzard officially announced Diablo IV at BlizzCon. It started the event's opening ceremony with an impressively gruesome cinematic trailer that gives a sense of the action RPG's vibe.
Former Xbox executive Mike Ybarra is Blizzard's new GM
Former Xbox executive Mike Ybarra has revealed his next role: he's joining Blizzard as executive vice-president and general manager. He'll step into the job just after Blizzcon, which takes place next weekend.
Blizzard may reveal 'Diablo IV' at Blizzcon
Blizzard is in desperate need of a major pick-me-up after a torrid few weeks, and might have an ace up its sleeve for Blizzcon, which takes place in less than two weeks. An ad for a Diablo artbook suggests that Diablo IV exists, and Blizzard might very well unveil it at the convention.
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo agree to disclose loot box odds
Loot boxes have been a source of controversy in recent years. They offer gamers a way to snag virtual items, but because the rewards are typically randomized and players can buy them with real money, they've been called as a form of gambling. Some jurisdictions have banned them completely, and others have looked into them. The games industry is attempting to soothe those concerns. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have agreed to disclose the odds of obtaining highly-sought-after gear inside loot boxes.
Blizzard reveals Overwatch League details for 2020
Overwatch League fans who might have been hoping for a traditional home and away format similar to other sports, in which teams play half their games at their own venues, might be left disappointed at least for the 2020 season. Blizzard has revealed the league format for next year, in which regular-season matches will take place in teams' home bases.
Overwatch's advanced replay system goes live for everyone
The latest Overwatch patch is rolling out on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, and once it's installed, you'll have access to the new replay system. You'll be able to re-watch your ten most recent matches from any game type, except for the tutorial and Practice Range, from any angle or other players' perspectives while controlling the playback speed.
'Overwatch' will let you rewatch your matches from any angle
Blizzard is on a bit of a relative tear when it comes to major Overwatch updates. Soon after adding the Workshop customization tool, it's offering players the chance to watch back their matches from any perspective with a handy replay feature. It's available through the PTR test server on PC now, and Blizzard says it's coming to consoles soon.
'Overwatch' Workshop adds more custom options for heroes and modes
Overwatch fans have long been able to set up custom games (Ana Paintball, anyone?) and now they're getting a lot more options to flex their creative muscles. A new feature called Workshop, a scripting mode for custom games, is live on the PTR.
'Overwatch' travels to Havana for its latest map
Overwatch's Storm Rising brawl kicked off this week in a new locale: Havana. As with last year's edition of the Archives event, which saw the debut of Rialto, Blizzard is bringing its gorgeous take on the Cuban capital to the standard modes. It's the second map to join the team shooter this year, following Paris.
Activision Blizzard lays off nearly 800 employees after 'record' 2018
Activision Blizzard has begun laying off some of its 9,600 employees, mostly in non-development sectors, even as it reported a record net revenue of $7.50 billion in 2018, up from $7.02 billion in 2017. Activision expects to lose 8 percent of its staff, or nearly 800 employees. The company plans to restructure its efforts and focus on core franchises such as Overwatch, Diablo, Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Warcraft and Hearthstone. On a call with investors today, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick called 2018 a record year.
