GamesIndustry.biz

APRIL 26, 2024

Microsoft has released its latest financial results, showing significant growth in gaming revenues — thanks in no small part to the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The company's overall revenues were up 17% to $61.9 billion, primarily due to growth in Microsoft Cloud which saw revenues rise 23% to $35.1 billion.

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Games 124

GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 5, 2024

A former Activision executive has sued the publisher in California state court accusing the company of age discrimination and violating the state's whistleblower protection law, as reported by Law360. The suit doesn't say exactly when the conference was.) Read more

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GamesIndustry.biz

APRIL 25, 2024

BlizzCon is taking another break, as Blizzard announced its fan festival will skip this year. After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024," the company said in a blog post.

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Game Developer

MAY 30, 2023

South Korea's regulatory board finds Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard a benefit to the company and the console game space at large.

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Console Games 182

GamesIndustry.biz

APRIL 10, 2024

Blizzard Entertainment has renewed its publishing agreement with NetEase, which is set to begin this summer. Blizzard and NetEase had previously been in a partnership for 14 years, which came to an end in 2022 as both companies failed to negotiate renewal of their agreement.

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Entertainment Console Platformer Games 86

GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 8, 2024

Approximately 600 employees in California, Texas, and Minnesota will be represented by the union, which the CWA says makes it the largest group of union-represented workers at any US gaming company. Read more

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GamesIndustry.biz

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox Toys For Bob today announced that it will be returning to its roots as an independent studio, spinning off from Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. "We This opportunity allows us to return to our roots of being a small and nimble studio."

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Studios Games Development 122

GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 31, 2024

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox The fruits of Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition have been shown in its financial results for the previous quarter, with Xbox revenues showing year-on-year growth of 49%. The company brought the Call of Duty publisher into the fold when the $68.7

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Games 125

GamesIndustry.biz

DECEMBER 18, 2023

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox Activision Blizzard and California's Civil Rights Department have reached a settlement over the latter's accusations that the company had become a "breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women."

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GamesIndustry.biz

OCTOBER 5, 2023

In the past couple of weeks alone, companies including Ascendant Studios , Beamdog , Crystal Dynamics , Roblox , Blizzard , Epic Games , Team17 , Naughty Dog , Twitch and Keywords have all dismissed varying numbers of staff, ranging from 10 Hearthstone developers to more than 800 Epic employees.

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Studios Games Development 144

GamesIndustry.biz

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

The UK regulator has summarised six meetings it held with Xbox rivals as part of its investigation into the proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition. The six companies are either an existing competitor or a potential competitor in "console gaming services or cloud gaming services," the CMA explained.

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Console Games 116

GamesIndustry.biz

APRIL 3, 2023

The National Labor Relations Board is pursuing a complaint against Activision Blizzard after finding merit in two of three charges made by the Communications Workers of America union, as reported by IGN. Wage decision protecting abortions.

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Communications 117

GamesIndustry.biz

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Activision Blizzard is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft after two years of regulatory investigations and in the face of protests from various corners of the games industry. The deal is done. With the 'will they/won't they' part of this saga finally over, the pressing question is: What happens next? "At

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Studios Games 145

GamesIndustry.biz

MAY 11, 2023

Activision Blizzard today released its Environmental, Social, and Governance report , detailing the company's efforts to improve representation in the company and reduce its environmental impact in 2022.

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Build Games 84

GamesIndustry.biz

APRIL 5, 2023

At GDC last month, Lightforge Games CEO Matt Schembari shared the studio's approach to salary transparency and the benefits across the company to have an open salary policy. Schembari is part of the group of Blizzard and Epic veterans who formed Lightforge Games in 2020.

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Studios Games 127

GamesIndustry.biz

JUNE 13, 2023

At a glance: The Federal Trade Commission has asked a US court to prevent Microsoft from completing its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard before the Commission's legal challenge against the deal has been addressed.

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GamesIndustry.biz

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox Blizzard Entertainment has announced that Chris Metzen has been named as executive creative director of Warcraft. The news comes nine months after he returned to the company as a creative advisor on the Warcraft team. Read more

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Entertainment Studios Development 105

GamesIndustry.biz

MAY 23, 2023

PEGI has fined Activision Blizzard and Plaion for not disclosing the presence of loot boxes in two games during the ratings process. Activision Blizzard neglected to mention the loot boxes in Diablo Immortal when it submitted the mobile game for a rating, while Plaion did the same with the Limited Bounty Hunter Edition of Hunt: Showdown.

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Mobile Gaming Editing Mobile Mobile 100

GamesIndustry.biz

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Activision Blizzard has laid off some developers from the Hearthstone team, the company confirmed to Kotaku senior reporter Ethan Gach. Organizational changes were made to the Hearthstone team," an Activision Blizzard representative told Gach.

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Development 78

GamesIndustry.biz

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

Activision Blizzard has announced the end of the Overwatch League. In a statement sent to GGRecon , the company said it was "transitioning" away from the Overwatch League and is planning to take competitive Overwatch in a "new direction." "We We are excited to share details with you all in the near future." Read more

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Esports Build 78

GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 24, 2023

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox A Blizzard manager has been fired following a dispute with the company over its employee evaluation system.

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Development 97

GamesIndustry.biz

MAY 12, 2023

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox The Competition and Markets Authority, the UK regulator who last month blocked Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, has imposed further restrictions on both companies. Read more

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GamesIndustry.biz

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

In all the furore over Microsoft's record-breaking acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it's almost been possible to forget that Sony recently had a major acquisition of its own – a far cry from the scale of the Activision deal, certainly, and not even a match for the price tag of Microsoft's earlier Zenimax acquisition , but Sony's $3.6

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Software Studios Platformer Development 131

GamesIndustry.biz

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

EU antitrust regulators are reportedly asking companies if they are affected by Microsoft's changes to its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which was modified to win approval in the UK. According to Reuters , the watchdog reportedly emailed companies for feedback regarding the changes made to the $69 billion deal.

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GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 16, 2023

China-based publisher NetEase is reportedly disbanding the team responsible for handling Blizzard titles in its home market, following the collapse of the two companies' long-running partnership. Chinese operations for Blizzard games were handled by a unit at NetEase subsidiary Shanghai EaseNet Network Technology.

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Technology Games 84

GamesIndustry.biz

MAY 31, 2023

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick believes the company's image problems stem not from a workplace culture that spawned numerous gender discrimination lawsuits from former employees and state and federal agencies alike, but from "outside forces" and unionization supporters. Read more

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Media 100

GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 17, 2023

Activision Blizzard has said it asked NetEase to delay the end of the long-running partnership between the two companies – whereby the handled publishing and operations for key Blizzard titles in China – but NetEase declined. Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox.

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Media Platformer Games 74

GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 13, 2023

Google and Nvidia are the latest companies to weigh in on Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, reportedly expressing their own concerns over the deal to the Federal Trade Commission.

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Mobile Gaming Mobile Mobile Games 79

GamesIndustry.biz

JULY 7, 2023

Annual reports are full of interesting facts companies aren't likely to advertise. Read more

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Electronics Advertising Art Software 92

GamesIndustry.biz

AUGUST 2, 2023

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox Welcome to our ninth conflict minerals report, our annual look at game companies' efforts to ensure their business isn't fueling armed conflict, slave labor, child soldiers, and other human rights abuses.

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Games 86

GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 30, 2023

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox Details have emerged about how the 14-year partnership between Blizzard and NetEase broke down earlier this year. Read more

Games 74

Games 74

GamesIndustry.biz

JUNE 30, 2023

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox Sega has dismissed speculation that it may be acquired by Xbox or any other company after speculation was triggered by the FTC vs Microsoft hearings. Read more

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GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 2, 2023

Reuters is reporting that the European Commission is expected to approve Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard without demanding it sell off parts of the publisher first.

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Platformer Development 115

GamesIndustry.biz

APRIL 26, 2023

Activision Blizzard suffered a setback today with the UK blocking its sale to Microsoft , but the publisher can take some solace in its freshly reported first quarter financial results, which showed growth across every division and major franchise. Read more

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GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 16, 2023

billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft, Sony and Activision Blizzard's response to the findings have been revealed in full, and repeat many of the arguments that the companies have made already. The UK regulator the CMA has revealed the responses to its provisional findings over Microsoft's planned $68.7

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Studios Console Platformer Entertainment 96

GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 10, 2023

Activision Blizzard is refusing to voluntarily acknowledge an employee union at its Proletariat Games studio, as revealed in a note posted to the Proletariat Games blog yesterday and signed by "The Proletariat Leadership Team.". Read more.

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Studios Games Development 97

GamesIndustry.biz

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

Sony remains opposed to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, despite the two companies meeting in Brussels today. This will include Activision Blizzard games (and Call of Duty) if the deal goes through. It follows a similar deal the firm has signed with Nintendo.

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Games 77