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Anthem Showcases the Everlasting Disconnect Between Executive Leadership and Reality (Bonus: 5 Worst Launches Ever)

Editorials
anthem lol

Anthem’s constant downtime, glitches, errors and bugs showcase the issues that modern video game companies have. Leadership, a term that I will use to include investors, stakeholders and big decision makers are disconnected from reality and continue, year after year, to repeat the same errors like: Releasing a game early.Having a process in place to test a game to determine if it would be released early.Having the strength to say no, we will hold off releasing and fixing the bugs.Not listening to their staff when they say the game isn’t ready yet. Anthem’s terrible launch has dragged BioWare’s name through the mud day after day since the free open beta test where this behavior was so rampant that no one talked about being a cool Iron Man, they talked about how they got disconnected or couldn’t load or couldn’t see their menus or their game crashed to desktop or or…

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400 Blizzard Employees Don’t Know if They are Being Laid Off

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While video game media titan Activision Blizzard, Inc. is planning on laying off 8% of their massive workforce, a total 400 employees at one of the company’s offices are still unsure if they are being cut. Back in 2007, Activision revealed that it would merge with Vivendi Games. As Vivendi Games is a holding company to Blizzard Entertainment, the company of Activision Blizzard, Inc. was quickly forged. Well, during the recent fiscal fourth quarter results conference call, CEO Bobby Kotick revealed that the company would be laying off numerous employees following a demand to “reduce complexity and duplication.” “We’re staffing up production on our incubation efforts faster, and increasing our investment in live services, in our tools, in our Battle.net platform, and in new areas like our fast growing esports and advertising efforts, but all with an intense focus on excellence, so we never disappoint our players.” Kotick said. “Our…

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Activision Blizzard Lays off Hundreds of Workers, Despite Record high Revenues

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Video game titans Blizzard and Activision joined forces way back in 2007. That being said, it would appear that the merged gaming company is now making some changes Despite record high revenue for the year of 2018, the company will now be laying off over 700 employees. Back in 2007, Activision announced that the company would merge its assets with that of Vivendi Games. Among other things, Vivendi Games is a holding company to Blizzard Entertainment. Consequently, Activision Blizzard, Inc. was born. During the recent Activision Blizzard fourth quarter results conference call, CEO Bobby Kotick confirmed that the company would be performing lay offs following a desire to “reduce complexity and duplication.” Kotick’s full statement concerning the matter may be viewed below. “We’re staffing up production on our incubation efforts faster, and increasing our investment in live services, in our tools, in our Battle.net platform, and in new areas like…

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EA Stock Plunges, now Reaching 10 Year Low

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ea stocks tank battlefield v delayed

Electronic Arts Inc., the multi-billion dollar company behind many of the world’s top selling games, recently took a big hit in the stock market. Now it would appear that the company may soon reach a ten year low concerning the matter. As reported by Market Watch, EA’s shares (-13.43%) plunged by an estimated 10 percent on Tuesday following missed sales expectations. EA’s stock has reportedly fallen a total 24 percent within the past year. If EA’s stock continues to decline through today, the company will experience its largest single-day percentage decline since Dec. 17, 1999. EA Chief Executive Andrew Wilson has gone on to claim that the company faced “significant challenges” within the fiscal third quarter of the year that would continue through the fourth quarter. Battlefield V has drawn much of the blame. The title reportedly sold a grand 1 million fewer copies than EA executives had anticipated. The…

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World of Warcraft: Classic – A Look Back and a Look Ahead

Editorials
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A molten Dwarven fortress atop cold, snowy mountains; a jungle of merciless danger and adventure; and people of all types to be found in every corner of the world, partaking in a cultural phenomenon unlike any other. In 2004, this was some of what awaited those who entered Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft, a game that changed the landscape of online role-playing games forever. Since its launch as an immediate hit and cementing its spot in popular nomenclature, the game’s content has only grown in scope. What started as an ambitious project into unknown territory has become a perennial king of the industry that set the example for others for years to come. Now, fresh off the heels of WoW’s latest content expansion, Battle for Azeroth, Blizzard is preparing a new kind of journey — this summer, players will get to go back to where it all began in World of Warcraft:…

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Cyberpunk 2077 Lead Writer Leaves CD Projekt Red

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Cyberpunk 2077 is perhaps the top game on many RPG players’ lists right now. That being said, it would appear that the game’s development will simply have to do without the title’s lead writer. Cyberpunk 2077 is the next big title in development from CD Projekt Red, the RPG masterminds behind the Witcher series. While the game is still in development, a recent report is now claiming that Sebastian Stepien (lead writer for Cyberpunk 2077) has left CD Projekt Red. As reported by IGN, Stepien has left CD Projekt Red in order to join Blizzard as a creative director. Stepien was previously one of three creative directors on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Stepien leaving the team behind Cyberpunk 2077 may mean that his role as lead writer has already been completed. Grant it, the game has yet to receive a release date or even a release window. Consequently, it…

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The Growing Disconnect Between Developers and Their Community

Editorials
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“Do you guys not have phones?” A phrase that will live in infamy as the moment where people of the what I would define as more “hardcore” gaming audience realized that mobile games had worked their way into even the most “sacred” of gaming franchises. Mortal Kombat has one, Diablo is getting one and now the much-loved Alien: Isolation is getting a mobile sequel. But that is old news now and acts more as inspiration and example then the breaking of a story, so this one’s for you Alien: Blackout. What I am trying to say here is that there are basically two things that are examined when a game is put into development and that is money and popularity. The gaming community is at a crossroads where those two things are starting to butt heads which is ultimately hurting the people caught in the crossfire. No one can deny…

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Activision Blizzard is Being Weird

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acti blizzard why

Activision Blizzard is just outright being weird. It started many years ago when Activision bought Blizzard. At that point everyone declared Blizzard dead and that profits will rule the kingdom. That wasn’t… true you could say? Blizzard, under Mike Morhaime one of the co-founders of Blizzard, continued to prosper and be the one game launcher (Blizzard App, previously Battle.net) that no one complained about, Then 2018 hit and like many things, Activision Blizzard got weird. Mike Morhaime left the company, the CFO was poached twice and they basically began mothballing their very popular game Heroes of the Storm. All the while they spent most of the year being besieged by positive press about their profits. Then, there was BlizzCon where they announced the Diablo: Immortal game to basically people pausing and going what. Why did this happen? There is a lot to it, with many moving parts. If I had…

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Project Stream is a Future in Which Gamers Win While Consumers and Pirates Lose

Editorials
youll need chrome to play

It’s no joke that game piracy really hurts the industry. How it hurts the industry, I do not know. Most of the pirates I’ve seen probably don’t have enough money to buy the games they “steal” but nevertheless it’s a problem. I mean, if games don’t make money then investors don’t invest in games and then we’re stuck with GoFundMes and Kickstarter games that have as much success making it past the first released alpha build as you do getting your order right at the local fast food restaurant. The key to piracy is that the games code is executed within the PC that it is installed in. If you play, for instance, Fallout 4 then there is very little online connectivity built into the game. Everything, from NPCs to damage calculations, is ran through your processor and graphics card to present the game to you. The game’s code is…

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Heroes of the Storm’s New Hero – Imperius Announced

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Not a lot is known about Heroes of the Storm’s next champion, other than he’s from Diablo 3 and was heavily featured in the expansion. We first met Imperius back in 2011’s Blizzcon, where the above concept art was introduced. It’s interesting that they’re moving for an Angel from Diablo 3 when we already have Auriel and Malthael. Andariel is a pretty popular request as she was the only female Evil until Diablo 3’s Diablo went and got a sex change. Of course, Imperius is a fan favorite too so this isn’t a giant upset. It’s just interesting that they’re expanding Heroes with more angels on the heels of announcing the reorganization of the Heroes of the Storm support team. Since we don’t know much about his abilities until January 2nd, let’s talk a little about who he is. Imperius is the archangel of Valor. He’s basically the greatest warrior…

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