Our latest coverage of Blizzard Entertainment.
Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase have mended their fences after a particularly nasty falling out last year. For context, both parties cut ties with each other in January 2023 after failing to negotiate new terms, which Blizzard chalked up to a difference in principles while NetEase accused them of negotiating in bad faith. The end of the partnership led to mass [...]
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Blizzard Entertainment is ramping up to start work on an unannounced game hot on the heels of the mass layoffs at Activision Blizzard. The studio is looking to fill several positions to work on the mystery game, including high-level positions like creative director, narrative director, senior art director, combat AI design director, among others. Details on the game itself are [...]
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Blizzard Entertainment was one of the companies that were hit hard by the mass layoffs at Microsoft’s gaming divisions last week. While Microsoft promised severance packages for all affected employees, former product lead Adam Holisky decided to sweeten the deal by cashing in his World of Warcraft subscription codes for 10 years’ worth of free game time. “Once I realized [...]
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Microsoft has named Call of Duty general manager Johanna Faries as the new head honcho of Blizzard Entertainment after former president Mike Ybarra was booted out of the company as part of the mass layoffs at Microsoft’s gaming divisions last week. Faries will officially assume the mantle of president on February 5 and shared a brief statement on her new [...]
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Earlier this year, Blizzard Entertainment revealed plans to move its Battle.net two-factor authentication tools to the Battle.net Mobile app. Back then, Battle.net users either had the choice to use the new app or stick to the old Battle.net Authenticator app. That’s going to change at the top of the year when the studio phases out the old authenticator in favor [...]
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Blizzard Entertainment’s senior art director Samwise Didier has announced his retirement after 30 years with the iconic video game company. He joined Blizzard back in 1991 and has been instrumental in shaping the art style and look of several big-name titles, including the Warcraft and Diablo franchises. “Today is a huge day for me and I wanted to share the [...]
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Blizzard Entertainment has laid off several members of its Hearthstone team as the company continues its restructuring efforts amid the financial challenges in the tech industry. While the layoffs themselves are understandable, the employees were apparently let go without prior notice, which doesn’t bode well for a company that already has a reputation for being a toxic workplace. “Organizational changes [...]
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In a bizarre turn of events, a story about a $43 million lawsuit filed by NetEase against Blizzard in a Shanghai court was recently found to have been a filing error all along. It all started when a legitimate Chinese financial website reported on the case, but it turns out that the information provided by financial website Sina Technology was [...]
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NetEase and Blizzard’s feud has gone beyond destroying statues and personal attacks between its executives as the former takes the latter to court in China, suing Blizzard Entertainment for violating their licensing agreements. In a Shanghai court, NetEase is seeking a whopping $43 million in compensation for prepayments, unsold inventory, and consumer refunds related to Blizzard's now-defunct MMOs. They're also [...]
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Blizzard Entertainment is facing a massive case of brain drain that’s not only affecting the company as a whole but also World of Warcraft in particular. One of the long-running MMORPG’s producers took to Twitter to air his grievances and point fingers at upper management for the loss of another talented employee. “Blizzard is losing amazing talent because someone in [...]
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