microsoft
The newly recognized Activision QA United is now the biggest union in the US games industry
Yet another group of Activision-Blizzard workers under Microsoft have voted to unionize: a reported 600 Activision central QA workers in Texas, Minnesota, and California...
Age of Empires announces multiplayer mobile version for 2024
Oh man, Age of Empires II was my jam back in the early 2000s. Along with many of you, surely, I sunk in so...
Sea of Thieves – and season 12 – launches on the PlayStation5 on April 30
A week ago during Microsoft's Xbox podcast, we learned that multiple Xbox titles would be un-exclusived and set loose on the PS5 and/or Nintendo...
Xbox’s Phil Spencer insists Microsoft’s mass-layoffs position it for future growth, somehow
Everyone just loves Phil Spencer these days, right? Oh, right, all the layoffs. Probably not, then. But according to a recent interview with Game...
Sea of Thieves’ latest patch deploys new tech for better performance, adjusts voyages, rep, and rewards
Sea of Thieves is now operating on a new Xbox game developer kit (GDK) as of its most recent patch. That might sound kind...
Microsoft’s layoffs will result in over 800 cut Activision-Blizzard jobs in March
As Microsoft workers reel from news of impending mass-layoffs of 1900 employees, we've received more clarity on which specific Activision-Blizzard teams are being slashed...
Blizzard is laying off over 126 people from its support center in Ireland
The massive culling of 1,900 workers by Microsoft looks to have had a significant global impact, as Ireland's minister for foreign affairs Michéal Martin...
Diablo IV lands on Xbox Game Pass March 28, Sea of Thieves will expand to PS5 and the Switch
During the much-touted Xbox podcast this afternoon, we learned not just that only four Xbox titles will be set free for other consoles but...
Microsoft prepares to talk about Xbox’s future in a podcast as multi-platform game rumors swirl
The past several weeks have been some apparently nervous ones for those whose online personas are devoted to Microsoft in general and Xbox in...
Wisdom of Nym: What the hey is up with Final Fantasy XIV’s Xbox pricing?
In another theoretical timeline, there's a place where Final Fantasy XIV really would have stepped in it when it subtly noted that the game's...
Daybreak’s DC Universe Online studio Dimensional Ink is the latest games team hit with layoffs
The culling of games industry employees continues through the beginning of this year: A list compiled by Kotaku that outlines the over 6,400 layoffs...
Microsoft insists Activision-Blizzard was planning on mass layoffs before the merger
As we've been covering, earlier this week the FTC filed a complaint to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, alleging that Microsoft misrepresented itself...
FTC files a complaint against Microsoft following Activision Blizzard layoffs
When Microsoft outlined its plans for what would happen following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, one of the things that the company stated was...
Microsoft will require Final Fantasy XIV players to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass in order to play the game
It's tucked away in the announcement that Final Fantasy XIV's beta on the Xbox Series X|S starts on February 21st, but the announcement does...
Final Fantasy XIV’s open beta for Xbox X|S starts February 21 – here’s how to get in
This time it's for real instead of a mistakenly early announcement: The Xbox X|S open beta test for Final Fantasy XIV has locked down...
Palworld counts 19M players across Steam and Xbox, becomes the largest third-party release for Game Pass
The juggernaut that is the early access survivalbox Palworld doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon, as developer Pocketpair has once again...
MMO Business Roundup: Krafton likes AI, Call of Duty moderation, and German lockbox regulation push
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news. We've got a lot to cover, so let's dive right in.
Krafton pushes AI...
Johanna Faries is the new president of Blizzard following Mike Ybarra’s ouster
Following last week's layoffs, it didn't seem likely that the potentially frozen throne at the head of Blizzard Entertainment would remain vacant for long....
Microsoft lays off 1900 workers: Blizzard sheds Mike Ybarra, its survival game, and its customer support in one day
We've updated this story at the bottom with some of the latest news that has come forth about the scope of the layoffs and...
Final Fantasy XIV jumps the gun on Xbox open beta announcement
One of the biggest developments for Final Fantasy XIV in 2024 that isn't named "Dawntrail" has to be the MMO's debut on Microsoft's game...