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Activision Blizzard swears it’s still committed to Call of Duty: Mobile
Where did we hear that before? Oh right, Stadia!
Microsoft announced plans to buy out Activision Blizzard in January last year. The $68.7 billion deal is now under the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s lens. In a recent response to the investigating agency, Microsoft mentioned Call of Duty: Mobile (COD:M) will be phased out gradually, specifically outside China, when Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile breaks onto the scene.
Mobile World of Warcraft game has reportedly been scrapped after 3 years of development
Developers Blizzard and NetEase seem to disagree over finances
World of Warcraft is probably one of the biggest and most successful gaming titles out there for PC, but it seems like that success is hard to translate to mobile platforms. According to a report from Bloomberg, Blizzard and its partner NetEase have scrapped a World of Warcraft project for mobile that was in the works for over three years due to disagreements about finances.
Diablo Immortal wants $110,000 to fully gear up a single character
As you can imagine, the internet is outraged
Diablo Immortal started rolling out to the masses on June 1st, with the official release date of June 2nd. This left little time for everyone to test the stable version of the game outside of beta, but over the weekend, many gamers and streamers have been digging into the free-to-play MMORPG, and what everyone has discovered is that it will take an incredible sum of money to fully max-out a character, over $100K. While Blizzard hasn't been shy about the fact Diablo Immortal would be pay-to-win through its Crests system that rewards the Gems necessary for improving gear, having revealed this predatory mechanic after the first alpha, this is at odds with the lead game designer Wyatt Cheng claiming that there is "no way to acquire or rank up gear using money" which has clearly turned out to be untrue, angering the internet just as much as the failed announcement for the game in 2018.
Diablo Immortal is out on Android, just ahead of PC beta release
The game is incredibly polished, but it's also pay-to-win
It's no secret that Blizzard has taken its time developing Diablo Immortal over the last four years. The 2018 announcement didn't go over very well, leaving a dark shadow over the game for some time. Still, in recent years Blizzard has been very upfront about the game's development, almost to a fault, as it was apparent the ARPG would be pay-to-win since the alpha, and the recent news the game is blocked in a few countries over its excessive monetization isn't a good sign either. Still, there's an entirely new world of PvE to explore that isn't held back by the game's many ways to pay, which means the story content is viable for all free players.
At the beginning of February, Activision Blizzard released its fourth-quarter financial results. Like most earnings reports, the document is filled with all kinds of tasty tidbits, including a line that could be construed as interest in bringing "all-new" Warcraft content to mobile. Well, Blizzard has just confirmed what this report hinted at; the company is indeed working on a Warcraft mobile game, which will be the first game from Blizzard officially set in the Warcraft universe that's designed from the ground up for mobile.
Microsoft announces plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for a whopping $68.7 billion
Potentially placing Microsoft as the third-largest gaming company behind Sony and Tencent
At this point, it's no secret that Activision Blizzard has been entangled in a seemingly never-ending series of trouble, ranging from a state lawsuit derived from employee misconduct and abuses to the CEO hiding the number of firings as part of the fallout of the company's widespread misconduct. And this doesn't even touch upon Blizzard's screw-ups, like the cringe-worthy announcement for Diablo Immortal (still not out four years later) or the absolute failure of Warcraft III: Reforged. This is where Microsoft sweeps in with a buyout offer for Activision Blizzard, and it's a whopping $68.7 billion all-cash offer, outclassing Microsoft's purchase of ZeniMax Media by almost 60 billion (to put things into perspective). So far, it sounds like the acquisition will go through, which will make Microsoft the third-largest gaming company behind Sony and Tencent.
Diablo Immortal delayed until 2022, but its most-requested feature might now be on the table
This postponement will allow for improvements, so there is a silver lining
Blizzard has been in the news a lot lately, but the company is still plugging along, and so it has published a fresh blog post that covers where Diablo Immortal is headed. Back in May, Blizzard hinted at a 2021 release for the free-to-play action RPG during an earnings call, but it would seem things haven't panned out, and so August's update post states the new plan is to release the game in the first half of 2022. So yes, Diablo Immortal has been delayed, but we've also learned that Blizzard is finally considering controller support (one of the most-requested features during the alpha tests), plus things like PvP and PvE gameplay are touched upon, more than likely for the purpose of illustrating that Blizzard is committed to creating a game worthy of the Diablo name, which is indeed a better direction than asking hardcore gamers if they have phones.
It's no secret that Diablo Immortal wasn't well-received when Blizzard announced the game in 2018. While we got a wonderful meme out of the fiasco, I'm sure this wasn't Blizzard's intention. And so years passed until we heard about the game again, and it honestly didn't look all that bad, plus Blizzard was incredibly upfront about the plans for the game's systems, including its monetization, a surprising move. This is how we know Blizzard is flirting with a P2W system where you can pay money for a chance at better rewards, though this is mostly shoved off to the late game, resulting in an early gameplay experience that feels similar to the core series. So from what we know on the possible cusp of the game's release, I'm wondering how our readers feel about the impending launch, whether or not they will play the game once it's out, which is precisely what this article is all about.
Diablo Immortal gets a fresh hint at official launch date
An earnings call suggests the game is on track for release this year
Activision Blizzard recently held an earnings call. During this call, the COO Daniel Alegre stated that Diablo Immortal "is on track for global release later this year," which is the first time Blizzard has mentioned an actual release date for the game. Up until this call, all we knew is that the title had entered into its second alpha, which I took for a spin and came away reasonably impressed. So it's looking like Diablo Immortal could be released soon, and after such a long wait (it was announced in 2018), I'm sure there are a few Diablo fans out there that are eager to get their hands on the game.
Interview: Diablo Immortal lead designer Wyatt Cheng details what's next for the hotly-anticipated MMO
Plus the latest BlizzCon coverage
Ever since Diablo Immortal was announced at BlizzCon 2018, it has had a cloud around its development. This announcement was poorly received at the time, and in the years following, Blizzard fell silent. Then out of nowhere, a technical alpha was launched last year while Blizzard simultaneously released a plethora of content that detailed the game's design, gameplay, and monetization plans. This was a reassuring maneuver to assuage fears of a blatant cash grab, and the lead designer Wyatt Cheng has detailed further at BlizzCon 2021 what we can expect from the upcoming mobile MMO. This reveal was followed up with an interview with Wyatt Cheng as well as the combat designer Julian Love to dig even deeper, so if you've been wondering about the game's current direction, we have tons of tidbits to share.
Nvidia GeForce Now loses Activision Blizzard’s entire catalog (Update: More info)
And they aren't coming back anytime soon either
Read update
- Nvidia told Bloomberg News that Activision Blizzard wanted its games pulled from GeForce Now because the existing agreement between the two companies only applied to the GeForce Now beta, and Nvidia mistakenly believed it would continue after the beta period. Activision reportedly wants a new commercial agreement with Nvidia before the games can return.
One of the biggest fears around game streaming services is that without a physical copy of your game in-hand, what happens when a company decides to just stop making a title available one day? That's the situation now staring GeForce Now users in the face, as much to the woes of Nvidia, Activision Blizzard — the maker of the famous Call of Duty series — is pulling all its titles from the streaming service.