Activision Blizzard: Last News

Blizzard over the sale of Hearthstone card packs to minors.According to Polygon, lawyers filed a complaint in the Superior Court Of Orange County on behalf of Nathan Harris’ daughter and other minors who have bought Hearthstone’s randomised card packs earlier this week. Harris has claimed Hearthstone tricks players into non-refundable purchases without knowing the odds of rare cards.Harris’ suit alleges that his daughter used his credit and debit cards to spend over £240 ($300) on card packs between 2019 and 2021 and “almost never received any valuable cards”The suit argues that Blizzard’s lack of refund policy and parental controls is in breach of “disaffirmation law”, a ruling through the California Family Code that allows a contract to be broken if it’s undertaken by a minor.However, Blizzard has since filed its own complaint, arguing that the company “does not know, and would have no way of accurately knowing, which Hearthstone in-game transactions were initiated by minors using parental credit or debit cards, as (Harris’ daughter) claims to have done.

Activision Blizzard King have created a tool to quantify how diverse game characters are based on several attributes, in hopes of better representing women and minority groups in its games.As reported by Fanbyte, the tool breaks down character attributes and rates them on how diverse they are.In a blog post, Eric Alt explains that King’s intention is to “inspire game teams…throughout the Activision Blizzard King network, to think outside the box and challenge preconceived notions around how characters should look and act.”The end result, King hopes, is for characters to “better represent women, non-binaries and other under-represented minorities in the industry.”The tool uses a set of character traits, including culture, race, age, cognitive ability, physical ability, body type, facial features/beauty, gender identity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic background, to determine how diverse the character is.Once it establishes a baseline for typical character traits, which is set by the creative team working in consultation with diversity and inclusion experts, the tool can then weigh new character designs against it to measure their diversity.The tool was tested by development teams working on Call of Duty: Vanguard and also the developers at Blizzard working on Overwatch 2.The plan is to release the tool internally across Activision Blizzard King from the summer and into Q3 of this financial year, with the ultimate aim of making it widely available to use across the industry. In other news, Square Enix has outlined plans to establish new studios, after recently revealing it will sell off three of its western developers.The announcement was made during the publisher’s quarterly financial briefing.

Activision has acknowledged that the studio’s “own execution” caused a disappointing reception to Call Of Duty: Vanguard, and admitted the title “didn’t deliver as much innovation” as it would have liked.Shortly after Vanguard launched, it was reported that launch sales were down 40 per cent compared to the last Call Of Duty title, Black Ops Cold War.In Activision’s 2021 annual report, the company has now reflected on what it thinks went wrong for Vanguard.“[Vanguard] didn’t meet our expectations, we believe primarily due to our own execution,” said Activision.

Activision Blizzard has dodged another bullet as a US District Judge has dismissed an investor lawsuit against the gaming company.Last August, a group of Activision Blizzard investors had filed a class action lawsuit against the gaming giant, soon after the California Department Of Fair Employment And Housing (DFEH) sued the company over issues with its workplace culture.At the time, the Activision Blizzard investors claimed that the company had “made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose” a number of alleged issues, including discrimination, a “pervasive ‘frat boy’ workplace culture”, “unaddressed” complaints to HR and more.Yesterday (April 21), the class action suit was dismissed by a US District Judge, who said that the lawsuit suffered from “a lack of particularity”, per gamesindustry.biz. However, the judge also noted that the investors will be able to revise and re-file their complaint within 30 days if the issues are addressed.“To the extent plaintiffs allege that defendants must have known sexual harassment and discrimination were endemic by virtue of their respective positions at the company, the [first amended complaint] does not establish the requisite facts to support such a conclusion,” added the US District Judge.In response to the decision, a Activision Blizzard spokesperson said: “We are pleased with the court’s ruling that plaintiffs failed to establish their claims.” Activision Blizzard recently also settled another lawsuit with the U.S.

Activision Blizzard.On Tuesday (April 12), Melanie Proctor, assistant chief counsel at California’s DFEH, resigned.In an email (thanks, Bloomberg), Proctor said her resignation was in protest of her boss – chief counsel Janette Wipper – being fired by California governor Gavin Newsom.Proctor alleged that in recent weeks, Newsom and his office “began to interfere” with the DFEH’s lawsuit against Activision Blizzard.“The office of the governor repeatedly demanded advance notice of litigation strategy and of next steps in the litigation,” said Proctor, who also alleged that “as we continued to win in state court, this interference increased, mimicking the interests of Activision’s counsel.”Proctor added that Wipper had “attempted to protect” the DFEH’s independence, which she claims resulted in her being “abruptly terminated”.The lawyer said her own resignation is “in protest of the interference and Janette’s termination,” and went on to say that “justice should be administered equally, not favouring those with political influence.”A spokesperson for Newsom has responded, stating “claims of interference by our office are categorically false”.A spokesperson for Wipper has also commented, claiming the lawyer is “evaluating all avenues of legal recourse,” over her termination, including “a claim under the California Whistleblower Protection Act”.Though Activision Blizzard recently settled a lawsuit with the U.S.

Call Of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone Season 3 will begin later this month, as confirmed by a new trailer.Called “Classified Arms,” an announcement yesterday (April 13) confirmed that Season 3 will launch on April 27. The official cinematic trailer for Vanguard and Warzone Season 3 can be watched below.Whilst nothing has been confirmed just yet, many players think Season 3 will include a crossover with Legendary’s MonsterVerse – which includes the likes of Godzilla and King Kong – thanks to a noise heard at the end of the trailer.At the 1:14 mark in the trailer, a noise that’s nearly identical to the Orca from the MonsterVerse movies can be heard.

Overwatch 2 suggests that the upcoming shooter will include a battle Pass system.As reported by Attack of the Fanboy (via EuroGamer), Jayson Kirby – senior UI artist at Blizzard – recently shared some screenshots which showcased screenshots of Overwatch 2‘s in-game menus.One screenshot in particular – which shows “early conceptual work for the new Overwatch 2 main menu” – details a ‘battle pass’ option. Though much may have changed since the concept art was designed – and Blizzard is yet to confirm any sort of battle pass for Overwatch 2 – it does suggest that the sequel to Overwatch will include the system.A battle pass typically comes in the form of a real-money purchase that allows players to complete challenges in return for cosmetic and in-game currency unlocks.

Blizzard itself, the name and theme of the next World Of Warcraft expansion may have been revealed.Thanks to a public source code update on the official World Of Warcraft website, it appears as though the massively multiplayer online (MMO) game’s next expansion will be called “Dragonflight” (via Wowhead).This is supported by the mention of Base, Heroic and Epic purchase options for Dragonflight in the website’s public source code, as World Of Warcraft’s last expansion, Shadowlands, also has these three purchase options.The public source code also points to the website dragonflight.blizzard.com – which is currently inactive – and as Wowhead notes, this website appears to have been certified last week.Official news of the game’s next expansion will be coming soon, as Blizzard confirmed last month that it will be revealed on April 19, saying: “We’re excited to show you what we’ve been working on and where your adventures in Azeroth will go next.”This supposed Dragonflight expansion may be released in 2022, as since 2008’s Wrath Of the Lich King expansion for World Of Warcraft each expansion has been released two years apart. That said, the pandemic’s impact may have pushed the release back into 2023, and there’s no confirmed release date yet.Activision Blizzard is currently mired by misconduct allegations that surfaced in the middle of last year, and since Microsoft announced it was acquiring the company, multiple US Senators have accused the Xbox-owner of protecting Activision Blizzard’s CEO Bobby Kotick.Activision Blizzard also settled a federal lawsuit last month for around £13.7million, although it is still involved in other legal proceedings at this time.

Activision Blizzard has removed the Covid-19 staff vaccine mandate, saying it’s no longer required for office work.As reported by Kotaku, in a company-wide email sent from Activision Blizzard executive Brian Bulatao, it was said that all employees are expected to return to the office in June, following the Covid-19  stay-at-home restrictions.Shared by ABK Worker Alliance’s Jessica Gonzalez on Twitter, the publisher will not be enforcing proof of vaccination to be allowed back in the office.LEAKED: Brian Bulatao emailed all of ABK to talk returning to office in June. They will not be enforcing proof of vaccination.

Activision Blizzard has settled its lawsuit with the U.S.

Activision Blizzard said Tuesday a federal court will approve its $18 million settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over a lawsuit charging sexual harassment and retaliation.

Call Of Duty: Warzone has taken some strength out of the overperforming Ghost perk, and has also tweaked several other perks in an effort to “provide players with a variety of tools to create even more interesting stories”.In an update to Warzone detailed on March 28 (via The Loadout), Raven Software has shared that it wants “counterplay and interplay between systems to be viable” so that players can “create even more interesting stories”.To that end, the studio added that “perks are going to make for a significant part of the push towards this objective,” and has outlined several fairly major perk changes that arrived in yesterday’s Warzone update.The biggest change targets Ghost, and makes it so that players will only receive the perk’s stealth effect if they are moving. Raven Software explained that “in Caldera it is obvious that [Ghost] has become even stronger”, and felt that more counter play opportunities were needed for the perk.The update also makes changes to the Scavenger, Restock and E.O.D.

World Of Warcraft‘s Sepulcher of the First Ones has been completed at Mythic difficulty by esports organisation Echo, after an 18-day race to become the first group to complete it.As reported by PCGamesN, Sepulcher of the First Ones recently received a Mythic mode – the hardest difficulty in the MMO – and it’s taken players and esports organisations alike weeks to complete due to its difficulty.As Squishei explains on Wowhead: “After an 18 day race and 277 pulls, Echo has claimed the world first Mythic Jailer and the world first clear of Mythic Sepulcher of First Ones! With this victory, Echo has secured their status as two time world first champions of Shadowlands!”You can check out the moment Echo wins the Sepulcher of the First Ones: World First below.The completion took so long due to the fact that this raid was not only more difficult, but because it takes so long – after being wiped by a boss, teams would need to begin again.Sepulcher of the First Ones is one of Shadowlands‘ final raids and features the final boss fight between the player and the expansion’s antagonist, The Jailer. According to the Wowhead statistics, this fight was the hardest because The Jailer would get 14.4 per cent of his health back, as well as a shield, at some point during the boss fight.Wowhead notes that one Echo player, Fraggou, had to switch his Fury Warrior for an Arms Warrior, which made a big difference in sealing the esports teams’ win.Elsewhere, Blizzard has announced that it’s bringing back the Mage Tower to World Of Warcraft, permanently.

Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed in a recent Overwatch 2 livestream that Doomfist will swap from an assault hero to a tank.A developer livestream took place yesterday, March 18, where team members working on Overwatch 2 discussed some of the changes that will be present and how the current closed alpha test is progressing. (via PCGamer)Much of the discussion focused on Doomfist.

Fortnite creator Epic Games has announced that it “is stopping commerce with Russia,” joining a growing list of companies that are boycotting the country over its invasion of Ukraine.On Saturday (March 5), Epic Games shared on Twitter that “it is stopping commerce with Russia in our games in response to its invasion of Ukraine.”However, the company added that it is “not blocking access for the same reason other communication tools remain online: the free world should keep all lines of dialogue open.”Epic is stopping commerce with Russia in our games in response to its invasion of Ukraine. We’re not blocking access for the same reason other communication tools remain online: the free world should keep all lines of dialogue open.— Epic Games Newsroom (@EpicNewsroom) March 5, 2022This means that although fans in Russia will still be able to access titles such as Fortnite, they won’t be able to make any in-game purchases.

Activision Blizzard has said that it is facing an increased attrition rate after ongoing legal action.The annual report (via Axios) states that recent legal proceedings regarding alleged workplace harassment and strikes over QA layoffs may be responsible for an increased attrition rate at the company, and is also causing difficulty in attracting new staff members.The report said: “We are experiencing adverse effects related to concerns raised about our workplace. If we experience significantly reduced productivity, significant worker protests or strikes in regards to these matters, significant continued loss of sponsors, advertisers or players, or other negative consequences relating to these matters, our business could be materially adversely impacted.”The report continues, saying that Activision Blizzard may not be able to conduct business if it is unable to attract, retain, and motivate skilled personnel.“We have observed labour shortages, increasing competition for talent, and increasing attrition.

Warzone developer Raven Software has announced that as part of the battle royale’s anti-cheat system, PC players who encounter hackers will be given a “Damage Shield” that prevents hackers from hitting them with critical damage.As detailed in a progress report for Ricochet anti-cheat, Raven Software has shared that it is looking to apply more “in-game mitigations” to prevent cheaters from ruining games while they’re in them.One of these mitigations involves a “Damage Shield”, which has finished testing and is now live on Warzone servers.As to what the Damage Shield entails, the developer explains that “when the server detects a cheater is tampering with the game in real-time, it disables the cheater’s ability to inflict damage on other players,” which essentially sounds like a God Mode.“This mitigation leaves the cheater vulnerable to real players and allows [Ricochet] to collect information about a cheater’s system,” adds the blog.The article also outlines that there is “no possibility” the game will accidentally apply a Damage Shield outside of a scenario involving a cheater, and says “we will never interfere in gunfights betweeen law-abiding community members.”Looking ahead, the Ricochet team has shared that there are further mitigations “live and in development,” and confirmed that Warzone has seen “a decline in cheat reporting” since launching some of them in the last few weeks.On some of the mitigations that have not yet been detailed, the blog teases that “you might start seeing clips of our new tricks soon, but we won’t ruin the surprise.”In other Warzone news, Season Two of Warzone launched last week and has brought NPC enemies and a Chemical Factory.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard regarding the recent acquisition occurred days after the report on CEO Bobby Kotick.An SEC filing was published on Friday (February 18) stating that Kotick and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer entered talks about the acquisition on November 19, just three days after a report alleged that Kotick had known about Activision Blizzard’s misconduct for years.In September of last year, it was announced that Activision Blizzard was cooperating with an SEC investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment at the company, which this filing refers to.Part of the SEC filing reads: “On November 19, 2021, in the course of a conversation on a different topic between Mr. Spencer and Mr.

Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, has donated over $600,000 (£450,000) to causes that promote the election of Republican candidates.A report conducted by CNBC has found two private companies with links to Kotick which have made a number of large donations to Republican causes, with the aim to elect those candidates into office. The first company is Norgate LLC which made donations of $500,000 (£370,000) to the Senate Leadership Fund in 2020. The fund was aimed at supporting Republican candidate Mitch McConnell.Norgate LLC is linked to Kotick by the addresses it is registered under in California.

Activision Blizzard, after the company tried to argue against it.On February 15, judge Timothy Patrick Dillon ruled that temporary workers could be included in the Department of Fair Employment and Housing’s lawsuit against Activision Blizzard.The company had previously tried to have the suit dismissed – or its scope narrowed down – by saying that California had wrongly included this group of employees.“The Court finds that [Department of Fair Employment and Housing] did not expand the scope of this lawsuit by amending the complaint to add the phrase “contingent and temporary workers,” reads a court document shared by reporter Stephen Totilo.Activision scandal news: Yesterday, in a tentative ruling, a judge in California overruled Activision's argument that the state wrongly added temp workers to its big discrimination suit against the company.

Blizzard Entertainment has announced the release date for World Of Warcraft: Shadowlands’ next content update.The update, titled The Eternity’s End, will release on February 22 and will come out shortly after World Of Warcraft: Shadowlands Season 2 ends. With the season’s closing, it will no longer be possible to earn PvP seasonal rewards, titles, or Season 2 rankings, as revealed in a post by Blizzard.Blizzard recently revealed the details of a new raid coming with The Eternity’s End update: Sepulcher of the First Ones. The post provided a brief description of the new World Of Warcraft raid:“The Jailer has breached the Sepulcher, the mysterious heart of the Shadowlands.