phil spencer
Massively Overthinking: The best and worst MMO developer quotes of 2024
You know, this traditional end-of-the-year roundtable shouldn't be a thing. We've been doing this such a long time and getting so much coverage on...
Microsoft’s latest game division layoffs affect nearly 400 Activision-Blizzard employees
The second week of September brought more bad news for game workers in Microsoft, as the company confirmed another 650 layoffs were coming that...
Microsoft is laying off yet another batch of games division workers – 650 this time
A Microsoft memo leaked to the press today heralds another round of layoffs at the company's games division: Microsoft Xbox boss Phil Spencer informed...
‘I have to run a sustainable business’ – Microsoft’s Phil Spencer addresses layoffs and studio shutdowns
Some new statements out of Microsoft CEO Phil Spencer during this year's IGN Live gaming presentation can be absorbed as either admission of the...
Redfall’s final update brings offline mode and revamps neighborhood and nest mechanics
With news that Microsoft is abandoning Redfall (after claims from the megacorp that it wouldn't be doing that), the latest announcement from developer Arkane...
Microsoft continues shrinking ZeniMax and Xbox with voluntary severance deals
Sure, Microsoft shuttered a bunch of studios and added more layoffs to its pile earlier this week, but it can't possibly get worse, right?...
Blizzard starts hiring high-level positions for a new mystery game
Just because Blizzard has canceled quite a few promising projects over the years and suffered shocking layoffs in 2024 doesn't mean that the studio...
Microsoft’s Phil Spencer claims massive layoffs were due in part to gaming’s ‘lack of growth’
Ever since Microsoft announced a wave of layoffs that would affect 1,900 people - over 800 of whom work for Activision-Blizzard - the officially...
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...
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...
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...
Bobby Kotick finally departs Activision-Blizzard next week, but Microsoft will keep some of his execs
Bobby Kotick - a man who somehow hung onto his job even after The Wall Street Journal published the revelation that he'd threatened to...
Vague Patch Notes: BlizzCon 2023 wasn’t a disaster, but it needed to be better
The last live BlizzCon in 2019 was not a great show, but it was fundamentally a hype festival for Blizzard just like they've all...
Blizzard president confirms a focus on mobile and live service games, briefly discusses studio’s ‘new era’
The tide of change is continuing to slip its way across the shores of Blizzard, which is the general tone of a BlizzCon interview...
Massively Overthinking: What’s next for Blizzard under Microsoft?
So the Microsoft acquisition of Activision-Blizzard is basically a done deal. Oh, sure, the FTC is still fumbling around with hapless appeals, but look,...
Microsoft’s Activision-Blizzard buyout is official, Kotick to stay through end of 2023
After nearly two years of drama, UK regulators have finally approved Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, and Microsoft announced the buyout is official this morning.
The...
Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival Las Vegas: Keynote takeaways, Dawntrail, and Xbox X|S
The Final Fantasy XIV fan festival is upon us yet again, and as we all expected, we now know the name of the next...
Microsoft admits Redfall is ‘a miss’ but reaffirms its support of the shooter’s development studio
It's a well-documented fact that Arkane Austin's multiplayer FPS Redfall has had a messy launch, with players and critics panning the game, Phil Spencer...
