Tag: Blizzard

Activision Blizzard Releases Quarterly Report, Hearthstone Up, WoW Down


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Activision Blizzard released their third quarter revenue statements this week, and the news is all around great for the developer. Chief among the announcement is the news that the publisher is set to acquire Candy Crush developer King for $5.9 billion in equity value. Net revenues for the quarter amounted to $990 million up from $753 million for the same quarter last year.

Call of Duty has increased sales by double digits, fueled both by game sales and supply packs, while Destiny broke sales records on Playstation with player engagement now three hours a day. Skylanders has also increased sales, despite heavier competition with more products on the market, while World of Warcraft fell to 5.5 million subscribers.

Bobby Kotick’s statement:

“We continue to benefit from our focus on creating the world’s best interactive entertainment. Our incredibly talented employees around the world once again delivered great content and strong financial results. Mobile gaming is the largest and fastest-growing opportunity for interactive entertainment and we will have one of the world’s most successful mobile game companies and its talented teams providing great content to new customers, in new geographies throughout the world. King has a truly fantastic management team and over 1,600 incredibly talented employees and we are excited to welcome them into the Activision Blizzard family.”

(Source: Activision Blizzard)

World of Warcraft’s Next Expansion Is Legion


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At Gamescom today, Blizzard announced the next expansion to their underground hit World of Warcraft. Set to go into beta this year, Legion introduces the brand new Demon Hunter class for Night Elves and Blood Elves, promising a unique experience along the lines of the Death Knight. Legion brings back the hordes of the Burning Legion, a force that has threatened Azeroth more than once in the past.

In this dire new chapter of the Warcraft® saga, the demonic Burning Legion has returned, seeking to call forth their fallen leader—the dark titan Sargeras, Ravager of Worlds. As destruction rains across Azeroth, its heroes must seek salvation among the ruins of the Broken Isles, doomed center of ancient night elf civilization and birthplace of myths dating back to the world’s creation.

Players will level up to the new cap of 110 on the continent of the Broken Isles, and wield new artifact weapons that grow in power as you level up. There is a ton of content coming in this expansion, and you can find more details at the link below.

(Source: Official website)

World of Warcraft Drops To 5.6 Million Subscribers


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Activision Blizzard has officially posted their second quarter results for 2015, and the results are in the title of this article. While revenues grew year over year, to $1.04 billion from $970 million in the second quarter 2014, World of Warcraft once again saw a drop in subscriber figures: Down to 5.6 million from the 7.1 million reported last quarter and 10 million the quarter before. Once again Blizzard pointed to the “eastern market” for the brunt of the losses, noting that subscribers stabilized with the launch of Fury of Hellfire.

“Our strategic focus on expanding our franchise portfolio with captivating and original new intellectual property, innovating on new platforms, and expanding into new geographies is reflected in our results. We outperformed our Q2 targets and last year’s results on revenues, digital growth, and earnings per share. These strong results and the excitement for our future games have driven us to raise our full-year outlook.”
-Bobby Kotick, CEO

The report also market the “most active” second quarter in company history in regards to engagement and digital monetization.

Activision’s big earner Destiny launches its next expansion, Taken King, which will remove the leveling system that uses light and replace it with standard experience. Bungie also announced through Game Informer that Peter Dinklage will no longer be voicing Ghost, with Nolan North re-recording all of his previous dialogue.

(Source: Activision report)

World of Warcraft Reclaiming Inactive Character Names


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Given that World of Warcraft passed one hundred million accounts last year, it isn’t a huge reach to assume that character names are getting hard to come by. Actual character names, ones without a following of numbers or flanked by xXx. In response to this issue, Blizzard has announced that with patch 6.2, and with each subsequent expansion following, that inactive character names will be freed up for active players.

With the upcoming Warlords of Draenor patch (6.2), we will be releasing sidelined characters’ names back into the wild. Any characters that have not logged into the game since December 7, 2010 will have their names freed up, making them available to anyone creating a new character or using the paid Character Name Change service.

Blizzard occasionally hands out free seven day trials to inactive accounts, so if you intend on keeping your names but don’t want to subscribe at the moment you can always check your account to see if it is eligible.

(Source: Blizzard)

Weekend Wrapper: We Aren’t Merging Articles


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It’s Sunday, and you know what that means: You’re playing Triad Wars, thanks to the giveaway here at MMO Fallout. Well you should be, anyhow. As we descend into the barren wasteland that is the summer of gaming, I see the Weekend Wrapup getting smaller and smaller.

Anyway, get a Triad Wars beta key. If you already have one, get one for your parents.

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Flying May Not Be Coming Back, Says Blizzard


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World of Warcraft’s 6.2 patch brings players to a revamped Tanaan Jungle, but if you were hoping that the update would finally unlock flying in Draenor’s zones, you’re out of luck. Flying isn’t coming to Draenor in patch 6.2, and like never will, according to a Polygon review with Blizzard’s lead designer Ion Hazzikostas. Blizzard’s apparent regret over flying mounts has been well known for a couple of years now, going back to 2013 when then lead system designer Greg Street stated that he would not add flying mounts, given another chance.

“There’s more room for exploration, for secrets, for discovery and overall immersion in the world. At this point, we feel that outdoor gameplay in World of Warcraft is ultimately better without flying. We’re not going to be reintroducing the ability to fly in Draenor, and that’s kind of where we’re at going forward.”

While flying mounts aren’t completely ruled out of future content, but that they would likely be added in a more restricted way that makes sense in the context of the zone.

(Source: Polygon)

Blizzard: Bot Bans And Court Loss


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As many as 100,000 bot accounts, possibly more, have been removed from World of Warcraft in a recent mass ban.

We’ve recently taken action against a large number of World of Warcraft accounts that were found to be using third-party programs that automate gameplay, known as “bots.” We’re committed to providing an equal and fair playing field for everyone in World of Warcraft, and will continue to take action against those found in violation of our Terms of Use. Cheating of any form will not be tolerated.

In unrelated news, Blizzard recently lost a case attempting to place an injunction on a gold seller in Diablo. As reported by the Kaesler & Kollegen law firm representing the client, the Civil Division of the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court overturned a previous injunction on a Diablo gold selling website. The judge has reportedly ordered Blizzard to cover the costs of the proceedings.

(Source: Blizzard)

PLEX Comes To World of Warcraft


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It will soon be able to purchase WoW Tokens, items that can be traded in-game for subscription time. Tokens are purchased on the cash shop and sold on the auction house, allowing players who are short on gold to acquire it in a safer way and allowing those with extensive bank accounts to play World of Warcraft virtually free.

The WoW Token was created to give players with lots of extra gold the option to use it to help cover their subscription cost, and give those who want to purchase gold a way to do so from fellow players through a secure, easy-to-use system. The Token will be making its debut in an upcoming patch—in the meantime, check out the FAQ below for details on how it works.

 

Sneaky merchants should note that it is impossible to resell a token once you purchase it as they become soul-bound when purchased from the auction house.

(Source: World of Warcraft)

World of Warcraft Mulling PLEX Item


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Paying for your World of Warcraft subscription may soon become a thing of the past, as Blizzard has announced that they are considering a PLEX-like item to be introduced next year. The idea is to provide a way for hardcore players to pay for their subscription using in-game gold, while providing a safe method for players to essentially buy in-game gold with real money.

We’re exploring the possibility of giving players a way to buy tradable game-time tokens for the purpose of exchanging them in-game with other players for gold. Our current thought on this is that it would give players a way to use their surplus gold to cover some of their subscription cost, while giving players who might have less play time an option for acquiring gold from other players through a legit and secure system.

Whether or not this will be implemented is still up in the air.

(Source: World of Warcraft)

Support Ebola Relief With World of Warcraft


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It’s charity time, folks. Between December 3rd and the 31st, Blizzard will donate 100% of the proceeds from sales of the Argi pet in World of Warcraft. Donations are in support of the Red Cross and go towards Ebola relief efforts in Africa. Argi can also be purchased in a $30 bundle with the Grinning Reaver mount, with $10 of that bundle donated.

*For every Argi pet and Grinning Reaver mount bundle purchased between December 3 and December 31, Blizzard will donate $10 ($10 in the US; pricing varies by region) in support of the American Red Cross to assist in Ebola relief efforts in Africa.

(Source: Blizzard)

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