Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard

[911 Jumper]

Xbox Game Pass Standard Tier Doesn't Include Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Starfield, Diablo 4, and More

Xbox Game Pass Standard, the new basic tier of Microsoft's subscription service which costs $14.99 a month, doesn't include major games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Starfield, Diablo 4, and much more.

Microsoft announced the revised Game Pass tiers in July and as of September 12 the changes went into place. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate has risen from $16.99 to $19.99 a month and still includes all the typical benefits, but the Xbox Game Pass Standard tier is quite different from its predecessor.

It replaces Game Pass for Console (though those already subscribed don't have to upgrade) and includes significantly less benefits. Subscribers no longer gain access to day one titles or access to EA Play, Xbox Cloud Gaming, perks, Quests, and discounts on games in the Game Pass library. Microsoft said players would also be denied access to "specific entries to the Game Pass Ultimate library," and that list has now been revealed to be fairly extensive.

More at the link:
Source: IGN

 

[ArchAngel]

Xbox Game Pass Standard Tier Doesn't Include Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Starfield, Diablo 4, and More

Xbox Game Pass Standard, the new basic tier of Microsoft's subscription service which costs $14.99 a month, doesn't include major games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Starfield, Diablo 4, and much more.

Microsoft announced the revised Game Pass tiers in July and as of September 12 the changes went into place. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate has risen from $16.99 to $19.99 a month and still includes all the typical benefits, but the Xbox Game Pass Standard tier is quite different from its predecessor.

It replaces Game Pass for Console (though those already subscribed don't have to upgrade) and includes significantly less benefits. Subscribers no longer gain access to day one titles or access to EA Play, Xbox Cloud Gaming, perks, Quests, and discounts on games in the Game Pass library. Microsoft said players would also be denied access to "specific entries to the Game Pass Ultimate library," and that list has now been revealed to be fairly extensive.

More at the link:
Source: IGN

This is worse for PC than for Xbox. On Xbox to play anything online you have to pay a monthly subscription but this comes in package with Game Pass Ultimate and does not cost extra. So basically you get more for same money.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Ex-Far Cry boss Dan Hay reportedly working on new StarCraft shooter at Blizzard​

 

[ghardy]

"Hay, who joined Blizzard in 2022, is now said to be working on the company's third attempt at a StarCraft shooter, following the infamously-cancelled StarCraft Ghost, and a second similar project codenamed Ares that also never saw the light of day."

Third time lucky?

 

[Necrensha]

Blizzard would've finished Duke Nukem Forever in just 26 years at this speed.

 

[Konjad]

"Hay, who joined Blizzard in 2022, is now said to be working on the company's third attempt at a StarCraft shooter, following the infamously-cancelled StarCraft Ghost, and a second similar project codenamed Ares that also never saw the light of day."

Third time lucky?

I hope third time takes entire company down.

 

[ghardy]

Video game maker Activision Blizzard laying off hundreds of California workers
Since last year's acquisition by Microsoft, the company has cut more than 1000 jobs.
[Emphasis added]
Video game maker Activision Blizzard Inc. will soon lay off nearly 400 people in its in mobile gaming divisions in Santa Monica and Irvine, eliminating redundancies among its staff following last year’s $75.4 billion merger with software giant Microsoft Corp.
These layoffs come on top of 1,003 already made over the past year by Activision, ranging from operations in Novato and Foster City in the Bay Area to Southern California offices, according to state filings with the Employment Development Department.
...
The jobs being eliminated cover a broad swath of positions in the company’s Irvine operations, according to a letter filed by Leslie Campbell, the director of Activision Blizzard’s human resources. They include accountants, software engineers, the director of human resources for World of Warcraft video games, artists, the director of technology game designers, game producers, sound designers and a game director and vice president.
...
“Anything you are looking at in the WARN system would be part of reductions that were previously announced,” said Activision Blizzard spokeswoman Delay Simmons, in an email statement.

Simmons said the company was not able to share additional details “about which teams were impacted and their locations.” She pointed to media reports on two rounds of major layoffs announced previously.

...

Since it was founded in 1991, the biggest video gaming hit for Blizzard has been World of Warcraft. The combined company also produces other popular gaming titles such as Call of Duty and Candy Crush.

...

The latest layoffs include software designers, engineers, human resources and product managers who worked on mobile versions of Call of Duty: Warzone and WoW, as well as a third game based in Irvine that is experiencing sagging sales, according to Michael Pachter, a managing director and gaming research analyst at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

“You had overlapping teams working on the two mobile versions,” Pachter observed. “You don’t need two people designing weapons.”

Warcraft Rumble, a mobile action strategy game designed in Irvine and set within the Warcraft universe, is taking a hit with the layoffs has encountered trouble gaining traction with sales, Pachter said.

The EDD filings also show that 143 cuts will be made at Activision’s Jefferson Boulevard studio at the Reserve Business Park in Playa Vista, and 110 jobs at the company’s Olympic Boulevard studio in Santa Monica.

The layoffs at the studios will come in waves, with the first for Irvine and Santa Monica studios beginning Oct. 11, and Playa Vista cuts coming in mid-November.

Layoffs at all three locations should be completed before the end of the year.

...

Last year’s acquisition by Microsoft of Activision Blizzard was the biggest in video game history and faced scrutiny from regulators around the world and raised concerns that the merger would reduce competition in the gaming industry.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Bobby Kotick is gone but the firings stay.

 

[ghardy]

I got a kick out of "Activision Blizzard spokeswoman Delay Simmons".

 

[Hellraiser]

Bobby Kotick is gone but the firings stay.

The firings will continue until gaming improves. Which means until the whole Microsoft Xbawks division mess collapses.

 

[Inec0rn]

Hope so, but retard gamers always buy the next Diablo, Cod, WoW and Beth game no matter how god awful the last one was.

 

[ghardy]

The firings will continue until gaming improves.

It's unlikely gaming will improve soon

 

[Hellraiser]

The firings will continue until gaming improves.

It's unlikely gaming will improve soon

The journey is more important than the destination.

 

[ArchAngel]

Starcraft 2 on Xbox Gamepass when?

 

[Hellraiser]

Starcraft 2 on Xbox Gamepass when?

5th of November

While the entirety of the original StarCraft and StarCraft 2’s multiplayer components are free-to-play, StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft 2: Campaign Collection will be available to anyone with a PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate subscription from November 5.

https://www.ign.com/articles/starcr...2-campaign-collection-confirmed-for-game-pass