I’m afraid this week was once again dominated by the dumpster fire still burning over at Activision-Blizzard HQ, as fresh accusations against Bobby Kotick and the ugly culture fostered inside the company from the top down prompted a walkout and reproach from stockholders, workers, and industry veterans alike.
In the MMORPG corner of the genre, we saw the launch of New World’s Into the Void, anticipated the launch of SWTOR’s Legacy of the Sith, and saw the hand-off of ArcheAge to Kakao.
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
Activision-Blizzard’s Bobby Kotick hit with new accusations, Jen Oneal speaks up, employees walk out - Oh my sweet summer child, you thought Activision-Blizzard might make it a whole week without another story in its ongoing sexual discrimination and harassment scandal, but it was not to…
Kakao’s overhauling ArcheAge Unchained’s business model again – and yes, it has a sub - With Gamigo's stewardship of ArcheAge coming to an end, Kakao is setting up shop - and I do mean shop. The game's new western publisher announced today that it's making…
New World goes Into the Void with today’s huge November update - If you were wondering when New World's big November update was finally going to drop, wonder no more: It's this morning. The servers are expected back up around noon EST,…
Interview: Star Wars The Old Republic devs on Legacy of the Sith’s December 14 launch - "This is the start of a year’s celebration," Star Wars: The Old Republic Project Director Keith Kanneg said just before showing the press the trailer for the next expansion Legacy…
Some Activision-Blizzard shareholders join calls for Bobby Kotick’s ouster - Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal published an explosive piece that compounded the ongoing Activision-Blizzard sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits and scandal. The Journal detailed accusations against CEO Bobby Kotick himself,…
Tamriel Infinium: A very Elder Scrolls Online wish list - Wish lists: We all have one for our regular MMORPGs. I mean, how can you not when you're playing a game for so long? Ideas, desires, and changes come to…
WoW Factor: Examining the muted reaction to World of Warcraft’s Eternity’s End - If this is what Blizzard listening looks like, folks, now is the time to be concerned for the future of World of Warcraft. All right, that's slightly hyperbolic because the time…
MMO Cartographer: No Man’s Sky has worms - I have come back to Earth to report on the Emergence Community Expedition I have explored in No Man’s Sky, the once-maligned and currently beloved sci-fi space simulation game from…
Activision-Blizzard workers and industry giants join chorus calling for Bobby Kotick’s resignation - People across the gaming industry are adding to the calls for Activision-Blizzard's Bobby Kotick to resign - or be removed. As we've been covering, earlier this week the Wall Street…
Perfect Ten: 10 things I’m looking forward to in Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker - So, life comes at you fast. When I originally planned this column out, this was going to be the week of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker entering early access, which would have…
Elyon reveals its new Archer class, launching in 2022 - Kakao is busy today: It just dropped a big tease for Elyon in the form of a video reveal of the Archer class. Now, if you've been following Elyon a…
New World mops up bugs after Into the Void, says the PTS is not a ‘hype server’ - New World is still seeing the ripple effects of yesterday's big November update, whose juicy PvP flag buffs and new Void Gauntlet weapon were a bit overshadowed by the latest…
ArcheAge transfers to Kakao officially begin today – here’s what you’ve gotta do - ArcheAge fans, yesterday was the last time your data on Gamigo's servers will be saved. From here on out, you're going to need to operate through Kakao. As of today,…
World of Warcraft clarifies gearing and testing for 9.2, bolsters the cash shop again - Anyone looking forward to World of Warcraft patch 9.2 being playable on the game's test server in the near future should temper those expectations somewhat, as the developers have officially stated…
Beta impressions: Babylon’s Fall is a fun co-op looter-slasher in need of some release polish - Here is a funny story that is also entirely true. Square-Enix PR reached out to us to see if we were interested in covering the Babylon's Fall beta test. Now, I…
Pantheon’s Visionary Realms is planning major revisions to combat, stats, and class identity - The Pantheon team has just dropped its November producer's letter; the team says it's been "heads down" this month, hard at work on asset conversion and combat. "With the recent…
Guild Wars 2 offers a spoiler-free tour of the spoiler-filled Jade Sea zone - Guild Wars 2 was facing a problem. The devs of ArenaNet wanted to show off the Jade Sea area to their players, but the area is also apparently a major…
The Game Archaeologist: The Wonderful World of Eamon - As we've long since established, 1980's MUD1 was the official kick-off of the MMORPG genre, bringing online players together to adventure through persistent worlds for glory and glitter. But this…
Inside Star Citizen unveils the Spartan APC and the Redeemer gunship - Remember when Star Citizen was talking a lot about unannounced vehicles moving through the development pipeline? We now know the names, shapes, and purposes of two of those vehicles in…
Microsoft’s Phil Spencer advocates for game preservation through emulators - You have probably noticed by now that we here at Massively OP are proponents of game emulators for MMOs that have been decommissioned. Rogue servers such as Star Wars Galaxies…
The Daily Grind: Is it time for a Wheel of Time MMORPG? - Last night, Amazon finally debuted its Wheel of Time TV series, based on Robert Jordan's sprawling franchise of the same name that began back in 1990. And that makes today…
Massively Overthinking: The MMORPG class archetypes we never play - A few weeks ago, we did a fun Massively Overthinking on our most on-brand MMORPG classes and archetypes, the character concepts and playstyles we just find ourselves going back to…
Dungeons and Dragons Online teases 2022’s Isle of Dread expansion - Who's ready for a new Dungeons and Dragons Online expansion? It looks like one is on the way for spring 2022 called Isle of Dread, and its existence is only…
Guild Wars 2 teases End of Dragons’ hovering, cannon-wielding new siege turtle mount - On Earth, turtles are known for being slow-moving, land- and sometimes water-dwelling reptiles with tough shells. In Guild Wars 2's upcoming End of Dragons expansion, however, they will be known…
The Daily Grind: Is there an MMO endgame that isn’t toxic? - I think it's commonly accepted in the MMORPG community that PvP breeds toxicity. But what I seldom see argued is that PvE can breed the same toxicity, especially when it…
Amid fresh Activision-Blizzard scandal, WoW Classic launches its Season of Mastery - Are you ready to ding like you've never dinged before? WoW Classic hopes so, as the legacy version of the MMO took a temporary break with pressing forward in Burning…
Choose My Adventure: Discovering familiarity, failure, and random adventure in Avorion - I was one jump away from what could have been a big payday. The opportunity was literally handed to me and I had managed to make it all the way…
Halo Infinite’s multiplayer beta storms onto Steam early - Surprise! Halo Infinite put boots on the ground -- and multiplayer on Steam -- earlier than expected, giving fans immediate access to the latest chapter of the long-running franchise. Out…
Massively on the Go: Happy Home Paradise is the cherry on top of Animal Crossing New Horizons’ final update - I won't lie, the past week has been pretty fun for me. Animal Crossing: New Horizons'Â final update added so much to the game. Old favorites like my beloved gyroids and…
EVE Online players stage in-game protests over New Dawn mining changes - At face value, EVE Online's New Dawn quadrant read like a boon for miners with mining changes and resource improvements on tap. However, the players of the game have dug…
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker’s PvP, gathering, and housing changes - All right. We've moved on from the Endwalker delay at this point. Let's talk about how much the Feast sucked. Final Fantasy XIV's live letter did actually contain a solid chunk…
No, Guild Wars 2’s End of Dragons won’t have playable Tengu - Have you ever returned to an old park or neighborhood that you haven't been to since your childhood and found it simultaneously super familiar but also completely changed? Get ready…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
The Stream Team: Putting on the spooky glove in New World
The Stream Team: Getting reacquainted with Neverwinter
The Stream Team: Blaze’s birthday bash in AQ3D
The Stream Team: Trying out the new onboarding experience of Warframe
The Stream Team: A trip to the Astralarium in Guild Wars 2
The Stream Team: Back to Blackwood in Elder Scrolls Online
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.
