Activision-Blizzard’s sexism scandal continued ramping up this week, as Bobby Kotick issued a letter reassuring stockholders while staffers condemned the corporate response, staging a walkout on Wednesday.
Fortunately, there are plenty of MMORPGs for frustrated WoW players to turn to, including New World, which has been tearing up the concurrency charts; Guild Wars 2, which took the wraps off of next year’s End of Dragons expansion; and Neverwinter, which launched Jewel of the North this past week.
Read on to catch up with the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions today as every Sunday (since 2010!) in Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review!THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Guild Wars 2’s End of Dragons expansion launches February 2022, with preorders live now - The day is finally here: We're getting our first look at Cantha Cantha Cantha! Yes, Guild Wars 2 is taking the wraps off its long-awaited third expansion, End of Dragons.…
New World cleared 200,000 concurrent beta players over the weekend - You have to imagine that there are some Amazon Game Studios executives and producers who are breathing a little easier this week after seeing the phenomenal response to New World's…
Activision-Blizzard walkout organizers respond to Kotick, Kotaku exposes ‘Cosby suite’ attendees - In response to Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick's letter to staff last night, organizers of today's walkout have issued a response arguing that his letter "fails to address critical elements at…
Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick: ‘The leadership team has heard you loud and clear’ - As ATVI stock dips and Blizzard employees plan a walkout tomorrow, Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has finally publicly addressed the company's workers in regard to the ongoing sexism lawsuit and…
Blizzard’s sexism scandal continues, 2500 devs sign letter condemning Acti-Blizz response - It's now been a week since California filed a brutal discrimination and harassment lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard following a two-year investigation. Last week and over the weekend, we covered both the "leaked"…
Pathfinder Online, Kickstarted for $1M in 2012, will sunset in November - I'm sorry to report that Paizo has announced the end of Pathfinder Online. MOP readers know that the MMO was Kickstarted for over a million dollars back in 2012, but its…
Neverwinter’s Jewel of the North is live on PC with the new Bard class and level squish - [AL:NW]It's a big day for Neverwinter players, as Jewel of the North is live on the platform. This is the big update that's adding the Bard class and squishing and…
Stick and Rudder: Trying EVE Online as a new player in 2021 - It’s not often one has the opportunity to step into a bit of MMO history and do so with a fresh set of eyes and no expectations. Luckily, I’ve recently…
Casually Classic: Making the call to quit WoW or not - A week ago I didn't think I'd be sitting here and writing this, but I'm done with WoW Classic -- and with this column. As you've no doubt read, last…
An Activision-Blizzard worker was arrested for bathroom peeping in 2018 - We're on day 10 of the Activision-Blizzard scandal - 10 days since we first learned California had filed a massive sexual discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard following a…
Pearl Abyss has delayed Crimson Desert indefinitely - Earlier this month, when Pearl Abyss emerged from over six months of silence on Crimson Desert to post a mocap video, we speculated that the original "winter 2021" release date…
WoW Factor: Why does this latest Blizzard scandal feel so different? - I think anyone who has been a fan of World of Warcraft over the past two decades has been trying to parse out some difficult feelings this past week, and…
LOTRO Legendarium: 10 features that would make LOTRO even more fun - For me, it's been a great month of easing back into Lord of the Rings Online after taking a sabbatical from Middle-earth. With the improved flow of information, more money…
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Unite is genuinely fun – for new and casual MOBA players - When Pokemon Unite was first announced, I had severe doubts I'd even give it a shot. I know I'm the local Pokemon guy, but there are many games in the franchise I've never even touched, and…
Massively Overthinking: Has Blizzard’s sexism lawsuit changed your gaming plans? - Following last week's disturbing revelation that Blizzard has been covering up more than a decade of abuse and that the state of California is attempting to hold it accountable, there's…
Facebook is building a multi-billion dollar virtual universe - Normally, the announcement of a new MMO or virtual world would elicit nothing but excitement from our quarter, but there's something ominous in hearing that Facebook is getting involved in…
Final Fantasy XIV changes the Sage job icon in response to trypophobia sufferers - Today's vocabulary word is "trypophobia," which refers to a feeling of fear or disgust when seeing a small cluster of holes or bumps. Not familiar with it? Then you probably…
Destiny 2 is on the verge of full cross-play between all platforms - If you've stuck it out with Destiny 2 for this long with the hopes that one day you might be united with your friends on other platforms, then get ready…
Cyberpunk multiplayer shooter RPG The Ascent has officially released on Xbox and PC - Publisher Curve Digital and Swedish indie studio Neon Giant are offering up some twin-stick shooting ARPG goodness for yourself or a few of your friends with the launch of The…
Finnish sci-fi MMO Starbase has entered early access alpha on Steam - "The long wait is over and early access is here!" Starbase developer Frozenbyte declares this morning, and the studio is not kidding. The MMO-ish space game was announced in 2019…
Massively on the Go: The Witcher Monster Slayer shows why Pokemon Go is still the best - Nearly a year ago, Niantic employees did a GDC presentation on Augmented Reality design practices, though it seemed a bit more like best practices than exactly what the company does…
Crowfall begins testing The Shadow update, plans capacity testing tonight - Can you believe Crowfall's been live for three weeks now? It has, and ArtCraft is back with another weekly blog - and a tease for the upcoming patch. "Our next…
New World beta player snags the name AmazonOfficial, uses game’s chat to troll Amazon - As anticipated as the game New World may be, we do have to bear in mind that Amazon, the company that's funding Amazon Games' development of the title, has been…
Blizzard Day 9: Ubisoft stands in solidarity, Ashes of Creation buys Blizzard workers lunch - Blizzard Entertainment isn't the only video game studio experiencing backlash from its employees over sexism and abuse. The Division 2 maker Ubisoft has long been weathering its own parallel scandals…
Bless Unleashed opens up with its founders packs ahead of launch - All right. So we have a release date on PC for Bless Unleashed (specifically, August 6th). We have a clear picture of any and all changes coming to the game…
Lost Ark reveals all of its ‘normalized’ founder packs and perks - Amazon and Smilegate have released a detailed blog post this afternoon focused on the upcoming Lost Ark's founder packs. And cats. The cats are the star of the show here.…
Amazon addresses New World crashes, stability, and approach to exploits post-launch - Amazon Games has penned a letter for New World testers addressing the state of the game and its impending fixes. "[W]e created several test builds over the weekend and discovered…
Whatever happened to the Age of Wushu franchise? - This story has something of an interesting progression to it. It began with a dive into whatever happened to Age of Wushu, which then led to a revelation about Age…
EVE Online’s Grand Heist update goes live as players raise concerns about ISK login rewards for subscribers - Yesterday saw the bank robbing profession come to EVE Online as the Grand Heist update officially went live. Readers will recall that this update is effectively letting players become bank…
Blizzard workers plan walkout over sexism scandal, WoW team addresses playerbase - Axios is reporting that Blizzard workers have organized a walkout tomorrow to protest the company's handling of the sexual harassment and sexual discrimination lawsuit that broke last week. According to…
Choose My Adventure: Wakfu definitely isn’t my cup of tea (and that’s OK) - Well, I tried, everyone. I really did. But sometimes you just have to sort of admit when you're diametrically opposed to a game. Thus is the way with me and…
PAX West 2021 will require attendees to prove they’re vaccinated or COVID-free - PAX West won't be letting folks through the doors unless they're vaccinated or have successfully passed a recent COVID-19 test. The convention will require proof of one of the other…
Old School RuneScape became a gold seller’s paradise fueled by Venezuelan hyperinflation - We can all agree that gold farmers in an MMORPG are a blight and that people shouldn't support such "businesses," but the problem of gold sellers being drawn in to…
GDC 2021: Accessibility in gaming means innovation for everyone - You may have noticed that accessibility comes up a lot whenever we cover GDC, and GDC 2021 won't be much different. However, while presentations often repeat some of their advice,…
Wisdom of Nym: Guessing at the next jobs of Final Fantasy XIV beyond Endwalker - So what are our next few jobs in Final Fantasy XIV? No, I don't mean for Endwalker, we already know what we're getting there. I mean what are our next…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 332: Does every voice really matter at Blizzard?
Battle Bards Episode 198: Final Fantasy XI expansions
The Stream Team: Tackling the Thunderdeep Drask and more in Dauntless
The Stream Team: Exploring some player-made missions in City of Heroes Homecoming
The Stream Team: Making a return trip to Craftopia’s latest early access build
Every week, get caught up on the MMO genre’s latest news and Massively OP’s best content in our MMO Week in Review! Want more roundups of content? Try Friday’s Betawatch for MMO testing highlights, Saturday’s Make My MMO for MMO crowdfunding updates, and Sunday’s The MOP Up, which mops up all the bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.
