Microsoft has acquired gaming giant Activision-Blizzard, concluding a process of intense scrutiny from competition regulators around the world, in a $69 billion purchase that is the largest in the video game industry’s history.
Voice chats in video games have long been a haven for young people who want to blow off steam and engage in friendly “trash talk,” but the mega-corporations that run the biggest franchises don’t like that. They’re planning to use AI to make video game chats just as sanitized and politically correct as the rest of the world.
Microsoft and gaming giant Activision Blizzard, who are pursuing a merger that has been closely scrutinized by antitrust regulators in multiple countries, are still committed to the deal, per a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Confidential details about Sony’s PlayStation business were inadvertently disclosed during an FTC hearing on Microsoft, revealing key insights into the company’s operations and financials. The details were exposed after documents had sensitive details redacted with a sharpie marker, which became visible when the documents were scanned into digital form.
Popular video game streamer Nickmercs returned to streaming for the first time since his player bundle was removed from the Call of Duty store after he dared to suggest that LGBT content and Pride Month promotion be kept out of schools and away from children. Despite the efforts of LGBT advocates and leftists to cancel the streaming star, he returned to overwhelming support from his audience.
Activision is facing backlash from gamers over its decision to censor popular streamer Nickmercs from Call of Duty after he dared to suggest that LGBT content and Pride Month promotion be kept out of schools and away from children. After Nickmercs tweeted “They should leave little children alone. That’s the real issue,” developers promptly removed the “skin” that allows gamers to play a character that resembles the streamer. Gamers are fighting back, targeting Call of Duty as “the next Bud Light.”
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has taken a decisive step to block Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of video gaming powerhouse Activision Blizzard, dealing a significant blow to the American tech giant.
Sony is asking antitrust enforces in the United Kingdom to either force Microsoft to sell off Activision’s flagship video game title Call of Duty, or veto its proposed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, as the tech giant continues to face scrutiny over the effect that the proposed merger would have on competition.
Gaming giant Activision has censored a recent trailer for the latest addition to the popular video game series Call of Duty. The company removed footage of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre based on outcry from Communist China. China accused Activision of “exporting ideology” and bringing “politics into videogames,” leading the company to censor the game trailer around the world.
The developers behind the megapopular video game Fortnite have reportedly removed police cars from the game in response to the national debate surrounding law-enforcement practices and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Activision has patented a “system and method for driving microtransactions in multiplayer video games” but denied it is being used in any game.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was the top-selling console title of 2016, despite lackluster critical reception, a dramatic loss in the PC user base, and a deep drop in physical retail copies sold in the first month of release.
The Windows 10 Marketplace is offering refunds for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare since almost no one is playing it through that platform.
The king is dead, all hail the king. The Taken King saw the end of the failed experiment known as Destiny 1.0 and an effective re-launch of the game, but is it enough to both win over skeptical players and keep those who have stuck with the game thus far playing?
Last weekend, Activision Blizzard gave the peasantry a large a glimpse of their upcoming shooter/MOBA hybrid Overwatch. Against all odds on these preview events, it seems to have gone off without a hitch.
Activision will debut Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s last expansion, Reckoning, on Tuesday, August 4, on the Xbox One and Xbox 360. The DLC features new multiplayer maps, the Exo Grapple playlist, a new energy weapon, and finishes off the Exo Zombies story.
