You can gift people Blizzard Balance now, but not your own Blizzard Balance
If you have a ton of money sitting in your Blizzard account and nothing to spend it on, you have probably eagerly awaited the...
Former Marvel Heroes boss David Brevik launches new game, It Lurks Below, into early access
If you've been finding yourself missing Marvel Heroes - but not all the drama and lies - you might want to mosey on over...
Belgium orders Overwatch, CSGO, and FIFA 18 to remove lockboxes or face criminal penalties
Back in 2017, at the height of mainstream outrage over lockbox shenanigans, Belgium became one of the very first countries to take the problem...
Daybreak update: Chief Publishing Officer Laura Naviaux has left the company
Yesterday, Massively OP put together a piece on MMO company Daybreak Games Company and its corporate overlords, chronicling the US government's asset freeze of...
Ohio college begins Fortnite e-sports team and scholarship
E-sports programs and scholarships at universities stopped being newsworthy years ago once they were a dime a dozen, but a new one from Ohio's...
Massively OP Podcast Episode 166: Russia breaks the internet
Justin and Bree discuss DDO, Secret World Legends, Star Trek Online, Trove, Ultima Online, the Russian Telegram crisis' effect on MMOs, TERA, Kritika, RIFT Prime, and MapleStory 2, with mailbag topics on zoning out in MMOs and finding classic play niches in modern crowdfunded MMOs.
Daybreak says it has ‘no affiliation’ with Columbus Nova, the company it said bought it in 2015
Note: We've updated this piece heavily at the end with Daybreak's statements and further links.
A chain of business connections could have a real and...
EVE Fanfest 2018: CCP Falcon on EVE’s community team layoffs and having Hilmar as a CEO
It's safe to say that it's been a rough year for CCP Games, with the company pulling out of VR game development and laying...
The Daily Grind: How much MMO game info should be hidden from the players?
A blog post on The Psychology of Video Games blog a few weeks ago seems relevant to our interests: It explores the "pleasure paradox," which...
Betawatch: Defiance 2050’s closed beta, ESO’s Summerset on the PTS (April 20, 2018)
Beta testing for Elder Scrolls Online's Summerset expansion - as well as the free update 18 that'll launch alongside it - began this week...
Hearthstone Game Director Ben Brode departs from Blizzard to form new game studio
Without a doubt, one of the most vivacious and well-loved personalities at Blizzard Entertainment has been Ben Brode. The Hearthstone game director injected a...
TERA has revamped all its lockboxes based on player feedback
Never let it be said that complaining about lockboxes doesn't help. While TERA isn't doing away with its lockboxes, En Masse did post last...
Go down gamblin’: The Big Fish Casino game ruling in Washington spawns more lawsuits
So here's an interesting case that could impact online game development in the US. Apparently, a few weeks ago the Ninth Circuit of U.S....
Australian courts deny Valve’s final appeal in Steam consumer protection case
Looks like Valve is really going to have to pony up in that four-year Australia consumer protection case, which finally drew to a close...
DOTA 2 is bleeding players, SuperData says
Things are looking slightly grim for Valve's MOBA, as SuperData reports that DOTA 2's playerbase is in decline as the game continues to lose...
Massively Overthinking: What we really mean when we talk about ‘difficulty’ in MMORPGs
Massively OP reader Steve wants us to revisit the Daily Grind on making death more meaningful without making it more annoying. His letter was long, so...
Dutch Gaming Authority calls out four games as violating its lootbox policies
If you had expected the Netherlands to be leading the fight against lootboxes, you may be more clairvoyant than the rest of the population....
Hey Alexa, where’s Blind Mary? Activision and Amazon put game advice on personal assistants
Among hardcore MMORPG players, particularly vets of a certain age, there's a longstanding grudge against the shift toward being able to look up every...
EVE Online’s ‘million dollar battle’ set a Guinness World Record for PvP battle concurrency
Last January's much-hyped "million dollar battle" in EVE Online may have been a $3300 bust in terms of the value of the ships destroyed...
Russia’s Telegram crackdown blocks access to WoW, EVE, and Guild Wars 2
If you play Guild Wars 2, World of Tanks, EVE Online, or World of Warcraft in Russia, you may find that access to these...
