I remember remarking a few years back during the Daybreak Columbus Nova fiasco that I was genuinely astonished to realize that MMO studio reps were scurrying around the internet scrubbing files that contradicted its ownership claims, but I suppose that was mere child’s play compared to this week’s revelation that state investigators have accused Activision-Blizzard of literally shredding evidence in the ongoing sexual discrimination and harassment lawsuit. We live in interesting times. And hey, now everyone knows the word spoliation.
Meanwhile, Blizzard announced it’ll scrub McCree’s name, Pearl Abyss downgraded the MMO status of DokeV, Guild Wars 2 revealed it has 16M accounts, and Daybreak’s CEO took the reins of EG7.
Finally, if you were wondering whether World of Warcraft is in trouble, you might look to the fact that Blizzard is finally giving players things they’ve wanted for ages in a move that seems, as my dad would say, a day late and a dollar short.
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
California lawsuit now alleges Activision-Blizzard HR literally ‘shredded’ evidence - So who had "Activision-Blizzard gets caught shredding possible evidence in an ongoing lawsuit" on the ol' Blizzard scandal bingo card? Yes, we're back to coverage of the ongoing disaster trainwreck…
World of Warcraft patch 9.1.5 removes conduit energy and finally makes covenants freely swappable - We have previously noted that the overall design philosophy for World of Warcraft patch 9.1.5 appears to be focused on things that players have been asking to receive for quite some…
Blizzard is changing the name of Overwatch’s character McCree - Over the course of the last month of the Activision-Blizzard sexual harassment and discrimination scandal, players have wondered aloud whether Blizzard would do anything to address the fact that one…
Pearl Abyss downgraded DokeV from an MMORPG to ‘open-world action adventure’ - Back in 2019, Pearl Abyss announced a slew of new MMOs, including Crimson Desert, Plan 8, and DokeV, the last of which was being called a "collectible MMORPG for all…
Book of Travels has delayed its early access launch for the fourth time - Ah dangit, there goes our other August launch:Â Might and Delight has delayed Book of Travels for the fourth time. MOP readers will remember that the game was crowdfunded back in…
Guild Wars 2 counts 16M accounts, drops fall roadmap, teases End of Dragons fishing and skiffs - Remember how excited everyone was to get the Guild Wars 2 summer roadmap out of ArenaNet earlier this year? Prepare to get excited all over again because as of this…
Daybreak CEO Ji Ham takes over as Enad Global 7’s acting CEO - It has not even been a year since EG7 Global acquired Daybreak Game Company for $300 million, and now the parent corporation is promoting one of Daybreak's leaders to its…
Vague Patch Notes: Why the depth of an MMORPG’s world matters - The world doesn't need first impressions from me when it comes to Elyon. Why not? Well, for one thing, basically anything and everything I would have said about my impressions of the…
The Game Archaeologist: Jeff Butler on EverQuest, EverQuest Next, and Vanguard - As an MMO historian, I have to applaud the work of former SOE developer Shawn Lord in his huge interview series with the people who worked on these titles. A…
New World tells of the sad history of its zombies and phantasms - "Not alive. Certainly not dead. Their existence is a constant agony." No, we're not talking about Waffle House employees here, but rather the Lost of New World. In a new…
Fallout 76 project lead Jeff Gardiner has departed Bethesda - The launch of Fallout 76 was pretty rocky, but over time the title has managed to turn around its reputation and receive at least tacit approval from players along the way.…
Overwatch’s McCree isn’t the only Blizzard character getting a rename - Yesterday, we reported on Blizzard's announcement that it'll be changing the name of Overwatch's character McCree, who was named after Jesse McCree, one of the developers removed from the studio…
Massively Overthinking: The worst chat in the MMORPG genre - The first rule of MMORPGs is turn off global chat. Think about that for a sec. This is a genre that is expressly multiplayer and social, where one of the…
Fortnite hosts in-game Martin Luther King Jr. exhibit, doubles down on Impostors Trials - This might be one of the weirder but more important online gaming promotions we've seen all year: Fortnite is collaborating with TIME Studios for an "interactive experience" in the game…
Guild Wars 2 sets Festival of the Four Winds for next week as players grump over anniversary sales and birthday gifts - Earlier this week, just ahead of the game's ninth anniversary, Guild Wars 2 dropped a fresh roadmap to get us through the fall. Your eyeballs were probably busy looking for…
Into the Echo is a new MMORPG with an emphasis on character individuality - When it comes to most MMORPGs, there will very often be a build meta -- a largely agreed upon "best" way to put together a class through very specific equipment…
Don’t panic, but yes, Phantasy Star Online 2 added sunset provisions to its TOS - You might have noticed that this week's Phantasy Star Online 2 update came with a change to the end user license agreement. SEGA noted that it added a section for…
Gamescom 2021: New World open beta Sept. 9, plus DokeV, Valheim, Halo Infinite, Riders Republic news - [We're updating with the highlights below, including the New World info!] Gamescom 2021 is officially kicking off today as a free virtual event as the pandemic drags on. The Geoff Keighley-helmed…
Perfect Ten: 10 MMOs that waved goodbye without ever making it to launch - If you've somehow missed this fact, then I hate to be the one to inform you of it, but it's time you learned: MMOs shut down. Yes, sometimes even beloved…
World of Warships apologizes for issuing promo code that personally attacked a content creator - Even while under the public microscope for aggressive and possibly predatory monetization schemes and the near-collapse of its influencer program, Wargaming is making few moves to quietly slink out of…
Multiplayer co-op shooter Aliens Fireteam Elite officially launches - It's been a very weird and winding road to get to this point, but Cold Iron Studios' long-teased co-op shooter Aliens: Fireteam Elite has now officially launched, arriving as a…
Choose My Adventure: A quick spot of building and crafting in Trove - I have to admit, this one didn't take long at all to get through. I sort of assumed that building things in Trove was a generally simple affair, owing to…
LOTRO Legendarium: Ranking LOTRO’s Rhovanion zones from worst to best - A while back, I amused myself by ranking all of the Eriador zones in Lord of the Rings Online. It was a fun exercise and one that I wanted to…
Fight or Kite: How Guild Wars 2’s Harbinger, Willbender, and Virtuoso stack up in PvP - Guild Wars 2 has always been my go-to home for MMOs. There’s just so much the studio did right when designing the game. But over the last few years, my…
Vampire MMO Shadow’s Kiss shows off upcoming Steam page and confirms soft launch date revisions - Do you remember Shadow's Kiss? If you don't, just know that it's a mature horror-themed vampire MMO that we first started covering in 2016, when it first arrived on Patreon…
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s cash shop and the existential horror of monetization - The fact that there's a cash shop in Final Fantasy XIV is something that is absolutely impossible to discuss in a value-neutral fashion. Simply mentioning it is going to inspire…
Elder Scrolls Online’s Waking Flame DLC and update 31 are live on PC, Mac, and Stadia - [AL:ESO]Dungeoneers, Elder Scrolls Online's latest DLC is yours for the buying, as Waking Flame is live on PC, Mac, and Stadia for 1500 crowns or free with your sub. As…
Former developers of 38 Studios are receiving a portion of their final paychecks after a nine year wait - The long, sad story of Curt Schilling's defunct 38 Studios has written its final chapter, and much like the entire history of the game studio, it ends in disappointment. The…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
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.
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