For the first time in World of Warcraft history, Blizzard has given both tickets to Beta and early access periods to War Within Epic Edition buyers, and the early access has just begun!

The early access period for the World of Warcraft: The War Within has begun, and players who have purchased either the physical collector’s edition or the Epic Edition digital bundle can dive right into the action four full days early. World of Warcraft launched a specialized cinematic trailer to prep Azeroth inhabitants for the upcoming expansion, which can be seen below.

World of Warcraft: The War Within Key Features

• Explorers will be able to head to the new continent of Khaz Algar, which lies off the western shores of Pandaria. Within the continent lies the surface-level city of Dornogal, which will serve as the new main city hub of the expansion. Expeditious adventurers can explore what dwells beneath the surface of the city in the lava-fuelled forge of The Ringing Deeps, the Hallowfall, and the Nerubian society monument, Azj-Kahet.

• Hero Talents will be introduced in The War Within. They are a new class feature that allows more levels of class specialization customization. Hero Talents are modelled after well-known archetypes from the Warcraft universe, including Dark Ranger, Farseer, and more.
• A new world content feature is being added to World of Warcraft, and it is called Delves. These are small adventures seamlessly integrated into the world (similar to delves in The Elder Scrolls Online), which scale to support 1-5 players and offer a new rewards track in the Great Vault.
• Introduced as dragon riding in Dragonflight, the function will be expanded into sky riding, allowing a larger number of mounts to be used. This system will allow more mount types to be used in mid-air, and the previous flight system will now be referred to as steady flight.

World of Warcraft: The War Within launches globally on August 26, but for those who have early access, It starts today. More info can be found on the official website.

Destiny developer Bungie says it has addressed an issue where players have had their usernames changed by its "name moderation tool".

After "actively investigating" the issue for 24 hours, Bungie advised that while it had "identified the issue that was forcing a high number of Bungie name changes", it was "continuing to investigate" what happened and how "to address player accounts that were impacted".

Although Bungie acknowledged that a "high number of account names have been changed", the studio stopped short of confirming exactly how many players were affected.

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Blizzard has announced the global release of World of Warcraft: World Within, along with teasers for upcoming events to celebrate the anniversary and a new trailer for Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred.

Taking the stage at Gamescom 2024, Blizzard unveiled numerous details about the global release of World of Warcraft: World Within, teased anniversary events, and showcased a gameplay trailer for Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred. Before diving into the news, here’s a breakdown of everything that has been announced!

World of Warcraft: World Within and Anniversary Celebration

The first announcement is the global release date for World of Warcraft: World Within, set for August 26, 2024, with early access available on August 22 for die-hard fans. To celebrate Warcraft‘s 30th anniversary, Blizzard will host a special event in October 2024, offering players the chance to earn in-game rewards. More details about the anniversary celebration will be shared later, with the first World of Warcraft Direct scheduled to go live toward the end of the year.

Attendees at Gamescom can also stop by the show floor for a VR experience, where they can enjoy the thrills of skydiving through Dalaran and experiencing the invasion of the fabled city—a thrilling and immersive adventure.

Overwatch joining the fun to celebrate Warcraft’s 30th Anniversary!

Overwatch 2 will be releasing a skin in celebration of the World of Warcraft anniversary. Releasing in September, Blizzard has shown a sneak peek of the upcoming skin for Widowmaker as she will be showing her allegiance to the Hordes as Sylvanas Windrunner.

But alongside the celebration of the World of Warcraft anniversary, Overwatch will be in a joint stand with Porsche to highlight their collaboration with a life-size D.Va statue modelled after the all-electric Macan and a real-life rendition of an iconic map that fans can enter. 

Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred – The Mercenaries reveal trailer

With Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred releasing on October 8th, 2024, Blizzard has shared the Mercenaries trailer to introduce the new characters to fight alongside you and highlight the latest features. 

From the trailer, you fight alongside Guardian, Redemption, Vengeance, and Rage in a group called Pale Hand against the hordes of enemies in a team and never alone. The mercenaries are nothing but ordinary characters with remarkable skills, as they can be hired to fight alongside you in Hell. Not only can you fight alongside a mercenary, but you will be exploring a new multistage dungeon called The Kurast Undercity and a new co-op PvE dungeon called The Dark Citadel. Lastly, those who pre-purchase the expansion pack will instantly unlock the new Demon Wings cosmetic and receive a one-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.    

With everything announced from Blizzard at Gamescom 2024, are you excited about the upcoming events and expansions?

Activision has unveiled a sneak peek into the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 mission Most Wanted, which features sneaky yet explosive action. 

With Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 releasing in October 2024, Activision has shown a sneak peek of a mission called Most Wanted, showcasing the level playthrough as the characters use stealth before going all out. From the gameplay, we are shown a glimpse of the story as it takes place after the Cold Wars, a bit of the new Omnimovement system, and ends with a bang. 

Right from the start, the character is shown trying to blend in to get closer to the Senator with nothing but his fist to take down his securities and a camera to capture pictures of the Senator to receive sensitive information. Despite being a stealth section, it seems to be quite thrilling and very action-oriented until you reach a section requiring the use of your camera to gain access to a room. At this point, reaching the top from the basement is gun-blazing.

As they move on to the next section of the mission, the characters are shown taking down the enemies and uniting with Adler for more manpower. While progressing to the elevator, an enemy with a machine gun arrived to stop the team from going any further, giving us a glimpse at how the Omnimovent works as the character is shown diving backward and running to the sides before releasing an RCXD to take down the enemy.

Right at this point, the mission progresses normally, with a few hiccups as the elevator explodes, and it fast-forwards to everyone shooting against the enemies as they escape riding on the motorcycle. Quite a thrilling and blood-pumping mission!

For those looking forward to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, be sure to mark your calendar on August 28th as Call of Duty NEXT will be making a return!

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be released on October 25th, 2024 for the Xbox One/Series X|S, PlayStation 4|5, and PC! Be sure to keep your eye peeled in the meantime before the release!  

Last week, the Xitter account for H2M - a mod aiming to recreate the heyday of classic Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer inside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered - announced that they had received a cease and desist from Activision Blizzard, and would shut down the project. The 2022 version of Modern Warfare 2 lacked the original’s multiplayer, and H2M was so highly-anticipated that Steam sales of the 2016 FPS balooned in the lead-up to the mod’s planned release date. It didn't hurt that Activision had it on sale, of course, but the timing lined up so well that some fans speculated the discount was a deliberate bait-and-switch on the publisher’s part to profit from excitement over a mod they were already planning to shut down.

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Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! This week, I’ve been half reading in the garden and half staring in awe at my Kindle’s paperwhite doohickey and it’s ability to stay readable in searing sunbeams. I’m tempted to look up how it works but I don’t want to find out it’s made from the luminous, genetically-engineered husks of the workers that drop dead from dehydration at the fulfilment centers or something. To help distract me with yet more books, it’s Dishonored: Death Of The Outsider writer and Destiny 2 senior narrative designer, Dr. Hazel Monforton! Cheers Hazel! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

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Last week, the Xitter account for H2M - a mod aiming to recreate the heyday of classic Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer inside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered - announced that they had received a cease and desist from Activision Blizzard, and would shut down the project. The 2022 version of Modern Warfare 2 lacked the original’s multiplayer, and H2M was so highly-anticipated that Steam sales of the 2016 FPS balooned in the lead-up to the mod’s planned release date. It didn't hurt that Activision had it on sale, of course, but the timing lined up so well that some fans speculated the discount was a deliberate bait-and-switch on the publisher’s part to profit from excitement over a mod they were already planning to shut down.

Read more

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! This week, I’ve been half reading in the garden and half staring in awe at my Kindle’s paperwhite doohickey and it’s ability to stay readable in searing sunbeams. I’m tempted to look up how it works but I don’t want to find out it’s made from the luminous, genetically-engineered husks of the workers that drop dead from dehydration at the fulfilment centers or something. To help distract me with yet more books, it’s Dishonored: Death Of The Outsider writer and Destiny 2 senior narrative designer, Dr. Hazel Monforton! Cheers Hazel! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

Read more

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is supposed to be the big console and Game Pass exclusive for Xbox this fall, but it won’t be long until it comes to PlayStation 5 too, according to new reports. The port has been rumored for months and is the latest Xbox game to lose exclusivity amid Microsoft’s new multiplatform…

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After what the internet considered ‘nearly endless patch notes,’ Diablo IV‘s 5th Season of the Infernal Hordes has now been unleashed.

After weeks of teasing and patch notes providing pages of balance changes, the fifth season of Diablo IV, Season of the Infernal Hordes, has gone live. To prep wanderers for their escapades across the hellish landscape of Sanctuary, Blizzard has provided a launch trailer that showcases all of the big changes friends and foes alike will have to contend with when jumping back in. The brief trailer can be seen below.

The latest chapter in Diablo IV brings a new questline for wanderers to contend with while also bringing back the honour system from the Iron Wolve’s Encampment from the previous season. While the new season brings a new mode, the Infernal Horde. Players can earn or craft Infernal Compasses to access the Infernal Hordes, which drop from the various end-game content throughout Diablo IV. Infernal Compasses (like the nightmare dungeon sigils) scale by tier levels to increase Infernal Horde strength. Since the title’s launch, this is the first time the seasonal horde content has also been available to access in the Eternal realm.

Infernal Hordes drop incredible loot called the Spoils of Hell, and these can include notable Masterworking materials to strengthen your character even further. At the end of every Infernal Horde run, the Fell Council will contend to meet with you, and three of the five bosses will attempt to end your life. These Battle Fell Priests have plagued Sanctuary since Diablo II, and each comes with their own abilities and attack patterns to send you to Hell.

And that’s not all. Season of the Infernal Hordes also grants access to over 50 new unique weapons with abilities and strengths to send the hordes of hell back to where they came from. As previously mentioned, the new season comes with a wealth of patch notes, including a list of how unique items will be overhauled this season and general balance changes to Sanctuary. The notes can be found on the official Blizzard website.

Fans looking to dive back into Sanctuary can now do so in the new Season of the Infernal Hordes, it’s live now, waiting for wanderers to contend with Hell.

Looks like the best-selling first-person shooter franchise will be making a return to Nintendo platforms.

In the wake of legal pushback from the FTC, Sony, and regulators from around the world, Microsoft Corp. has added an interesting stipulation to their 69 billion dollar acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Once the deal goes through, Microsoft not only promises to keep Call of Duty on its current platforms, but also bring it to the Nintendo platform in some form.

Phil Spencer, head executive of the Xbox brand and the CEO of Microsoft Gaming announced the news via Twitter:

Microsoft shocked the world with this $68.7 billion acquisition earlier this year. Since then, the company continues to reiterate their promise of keeping the successful FPS series on competing platforms. It is unknown what form Call of Duty will take on Switch since it could be remasters of older titles or simply porting COD Mobile. Interestingly, no Nintendo platform is specifically mentioned. It is also unknown when the 10-year commitment will begin; however, the buyout is expected to finish in March 2023. The last Call of Duty to be on a Nintendo platform was 2013’s Call of Duty: Ghosts on Wii U.

Are you excited for Call of Duty to come back to Nintendo? Comment down below!

A new AA studio has reportedly been set up within Blizzard.

That's according to a report by Windows Central, which said Microsoft and Activision had allegedly "approved the creation of a new team" within Blizzard mostly made up of employees from mobile developer King.

Sources told the publication that the new studio will work on AA games "based on existing franchises within the Blizzard universes", highlighting games such as World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and StarCraft.

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Activision Blizzard has reportedly approved the use of generative AI tools including Midjourney and Stable Diffusion for producing concept art and marketing materials.

This is according to a recent investigation by Wired, which obtained an internal memo from Activision's then chief technology officer Michael Vance that approved the use of these generative AI tools. Vance left the role in January 2024 but still works for Activision as a fellow software engineer.

A former employee claimed the publisher "assured its artists that generative AI would be used only for internal concepts, not final game assets" and that "AI would not be used to replace them."

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Over 500 World of Warcraft developers have unionised.

By forming the World of Warcraft Game Makers Guild under the Communications Workers of America union (WoWGG-CWA), over 500 "designers, engineers, producers, artists, quality assurance testers, and more" have formed the "first wall-to-wall union at Activision Blizzard."

It also marks the largest wall-to-wall union at a Microsoft-owned studio, and is "further evidence of the growing effect to successfully organise the video game industry".

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Activision and Microsoft have reportedly approved the creation of a new "smaller" team within Blizzard Entertainment - mostly comprised of employees from Activision's mobile-focused King division - to develop new "AA" games based on existing Blizzard properties.

That's according to Windows Central's Jez Corden, whose sources say the new initiative reflects an eagerness at Microsoft to "explore and experiment" with smaller teams within the larger organisation, in response to the "monstrously ballooning costs" of AAA game development.

Corden notes Microsoft has seen success with the likes of Sea of Thieves and Grounded, both built by comparatively small teams - and, of course, 2023's Hi-Fi Rush, created by a small team within Tango Gameworks, was heralded as a "break out hit" by Microsoft after its release.

Read more

Bungie is no longer working on Payback, a new project set in the Destiny universe once overseen by franchise bosses Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy.

That's according to reporting by Gamespot's Tamoor Hussain, Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb and Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who all state that Smith and Noseworthy are also now no longer at Bungie.

Details of Payback leaked online back in April, when it was described as "Destiny 3". There were questions at the time over whether the project was still in development. Now, Schreier has confirmed that Payback was more of a spin-off, and was cancelled "a while ago".

Read more

Following yesterday's mass layoffs at Destiny 2 developer Bungie - in which 220 employees lost their jobs - a new report has claimed the cuts were a result of Bungie leadership 'overstating the studio's financial prospects' to Sony, which acquired the developer in 2022.

That's according to sources interviewed by journalist Stephen Totilo, who, writing in his GameFile newsletter, reports yesterday's job cuts were necessary to stem Bungie's continued financial losses. The studio is said to have repeatedly missed financial targets promised to Sony, and has reportedly lost money since the release of Destiny 2 expansion Lightfall in 2023.

Totilo claims yesterday's layoffs - the second round of job cuts in less than a year - had long been planned, and "couldn't be avoided" even if this year's Destiny 2 expansion, The Final Shape, had "blockbuster performance". Bungie management reportedly concluded last year - amid poor sales and a dwindling Destiny 2 player base - it would need to "make deep cuts to show Sony's executives that it was taking its finances seriously", with the studio's autonomy - and management jobs - seemingly on the line if it failed to meet its targets.

Read more

It barely feels like five minutes since the last one, but, somehow, Gamescom is almost upon us again. Which means publishers are starting to detail their plans for the show - and in Microsoft's case, we now know that'll include daily livestreams for those at home, plus over 50 playable games for anyone wandering the Koelnmesse's halls.

Attendees visiting Microsoft's Hall 7 Gamescom booth in person will find 50 games from Xbox Game Studios, Blizzard, Bethesda, and third-party partners, playable across 240 gaming stations. These include Age of Mythology: Retold, Ara: History Untold, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, Fallout 76: Milepost Zero, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road, and Towerborne.

Playable third-party games, meanwhile, include Star Wars Outlaws, Space Marine 2, and the long-awaited Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. A full list of games at the booth can be found here.

Read more

Following news of yesterday's layoffs at Bungie, CEO Pete Parsons has faced criticised from staff for spending millions on classic cars since the studio was purchased by Sony in 2022 and bragging about his lavish collection, as the company headed towards this week's latest brutal round of job losses.

Employees - some of whom are now unemployed - have shared links to an array of classic cars purchased via the Bring a Trailer website, with Parsons profile public and listing a vast number of auction wins. The earliest was in September 2022 costing $34,000; the most recent was 1st June this year costing $91,500, just a month before these latest layoffs. "How exciting!" wrote Parsons in a comment. "I have wanted a c1 since I was a little kid. My second hot wheel ever (in gold). Going to its forever home."

Parsons spent $79,000 on a vehicle in October 2023 just ahead of the previous layoffs, followed by three more purchases over the remainder of the year - including a Porsche costing over $200k. In total, Parsons appears to have spent $2,414,550 on vehicles.

Read more

Current and former employees of Destiny 2 developer Bungie have responded to the news of devastating layoffs at the studio - which has seen 220 employees lose their jobs - aiming harsh criticism at the handling of the cuts amid calls for Bungie CEO Pete Parsons to resign.

Parsons announced the studio would be laying off approximately 17 percent of its workforce earlier today, blaming "rising costs of development and industry shifts as well as enduring economic conditions." The news marks the second round of job cuts at the studio in less than a year, with approximately 100 employees having been laid off last October.

Following this latest round of job cuts, former and current Bungie employees took to social media to lambast the decision. Destiny 2's global community lead Dylan Gafner (AKA dmg04) called the move "inexcusable" in a post on X. "Industry leading talent being lost, yet again," he wrote. "Accountability falling upon the workers who have pushed the needle to deliver for our community time and time again."

Read more

Destiny developer Bungie has laid off another 220 staff, representing roughly 17 percent of the studio's workforce.

In October last year, the studio laid off 100 staff from its then 1200-strong workforce. That means Bungie has laid off around a quarter of its workforce in the past nine months.

The news was shared today in a blog post from Bungie CEO Pete Parsons, describing the decision as "some of the most difficult changes we've ever had to make as a studio".

Read more

Activision and Microsoft have reportedly approved the creation of a new "smaller" team within Blizzard Entertainment - mostly comprised of employees from Activision's mobile-focused King division - to develop new "AA" games based on existing Blizzard properties.

That's according to Windows Central's Jez Corden, whose sources say the new initiative reflects an eagerness at Microsoft to "explore and experiment" with smaller teams within the larger organisation, in response to the "monstrously ballooning costs" of AAA game development.

Corden notes Microsoft has seen success with the likes of Sea of Thieves and Grounded, both built by comparatively small teams - and, of course, 2023's Hi-Fi Rush, created by a small team within Tango Gameworks, was heralded as a "break out hit" by Microsoft after its release.

Read more

Bungie is no longer working on Payback, a new project set in the Destiny universe once overseen by franchise bosses Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy.

That's according to reporting by Gamespot's Tamoor Hussain, Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb and Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who all state that Smith and Noseworthy are also now no longer at Bungie.

Details of Payback leaked online back in April, when it was described as "Destiny 3". There were questions at the time over whether the project was still in development. Now, Schreier has confirmed that Payback was more of a spin-off, and was cancelled "a while ago".

Read more

Following yesterday's mass layoffs at Destiny 2 developer Bungie - in which 220 employees lost their jobs - a new report has claimed the cuts were a result of Bungie leadership 'overstating the studio's financial prospects' to Sony, which acquired the developer in 2022.

That's according to sources interviewed by journalist Stephen Totilo, who, writing in his GameFile newsletter, reports yesterday's job cuts were necessary to stem Bungie's continued financial losses. The studio is said to have repeatedly missed financial targets promised to Sony, and has reportedly lost money since the release of Destiny 2 expansion Lightfall in 2023.

Totilo claims yesterday's layoffs - the second round of job cuts in less than a year - had long been planned, and "couldn't be avoided" even if this year's Destiny 2 expansion, The Final Shape, had "blockbuster performance". Bungie management reportedly concluded last year - amid poor sales and a dwindling Destiny 2 player base - it would need to "make deep cuts to show Sony's executives that it was taking its finances seriously", with the studio's autonomy - and management jobs - seemingly on the line if it failed to meet its targets.

Read more

It barely feels like five minutes since the last one, but, somehow, Gamescom is almost upon us again. Which means publishers are starting to detail their plans for the show - and in Microsoft's case, we now know that'll include daily livestreams for those at home, plus over 50 playable games for anyone wandering the Koelnmesse's halls.

Attendees visiting Microsoft's Hall 7 Gamescom booth in person will find 50 games from Xbox Game Studios, Blizzard, Bethesda, and third-party partners, playable across 240 gaming stations. These include Age of Mythology: Retold, Ara: History Untold, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, Fallout 76: Milepost Zero, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road, and Towerborne.

Playable third-party games, meanwhile, include Star Wars Outlaws, Space Marine 2, and the long-awaited Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. A full list of games at the booth can be found here.

Read more

Following news of yesterday's layoffs at Bungie, CEO Pete Parsons has faced criticised from staff for spending millions on classic cars since the studio was purchased by Sony in 2022 and bragging about his lavish collection, as the company headed towards this week's latest brutal round of job losses.

Employees - some of whom are now unemployed - have shared links to an array of classic cars purchased via the Bring a Trailer website, with Parsons profile public and listing a vast number of auction wins. The earliest was in September 2022 costing $34,000; the most recent was 1st June this year costing $91,500, just a month before these latest layoffs. "How exciting!" wrote Parsons in a comment. "I have wanted a c1 since I was a little kid. My second hot wheel ever (in gold). Going to its forever home."

Parsons spent $79,000 on a vehicle in October 2023 just ahead of the previous layoffs, followed by three more purchases over the remainder of the year - including a Porsche costing over $200k. In total, Parsons appears to have spent $2,414,550 on vehicles.

Read more

Current and former employees of Destiny 2 developer Bungie have responded to the news of devastating layoffs at the studio - which has seen 220 employees lose their jobs - aiming harsh criticism at the handling of the cuts amid calls for Bungie CEO Pete Parsons to resign.

Parsons announced the studio would be laying off approximately 17 percent of its workforce earlier today, blaming "rising costs of development and industry shifts as well as enduring economic conditions." The news marks the second round of job cuts at the studio in less than a year, with approximately 100 employees having been laid off last October.

Following this latest round of job cuts, former and current Bungie employees took to social media to lambast the decision. Destiny 2's global community lead Dylan Gafner (AKA dmg04) called the move "inexcusable" in a post on X. "Industry leading talent being lost, yet again," he wrote. "Accountability falling upon the workers who have pushed the needle to deliver for our community time and time again."

Read more

Destiny developer Bungie has laid off another 220 staff, representing roughly 17 percent of the studio's workforce.

In October last year, the studio laid off 100 staff from its then 1200-strong workforce. That means Bungie has laid off around a quarter of its workforce in the past nine months.

The news was shared today in a blog post from Bungie CEO Pete Parsons, describing the decision as "some of the most difficult changes we've ever had to make as a studio".

Read more

Bungie have reportedly cancelled Payback, an unannounced project in the Destiny universe from former Destiny 2 game director Luke Smith and project lead Mark Noseworthy. Both Noseworthy and Smith appear to have lost their jobs in the course of Bungie's brutal cost-cutting this week, but Payback's cancellation pre-dates the layoffs. Envisaged as a Destiny spin-off, rather than Destiny 3, it was apparently dropped "a while ago".

Read more

This week's mass layoffs at Destiny studio Bungie were planned out months ago, former employees have told journalist Stephen Totilo at Game File (paywalled). According to Totilo, Bungie leadership "overstated their studio’s financial prospects to Sony" after the latter bought Bungie in 2022 for $3.6 billion. The latest cuts were necessary to prevent continued losses, says the report, after Bungie missed Sony’s targets following the release of last year’s Lightfall.

Read more

Hardened battle royalists will remember Caldera, the sandy island map of bunkers and palm trees in Call Of Duty: Warzone. It got shut down last year as Activision focused their efforts elsewhere, making the map unplayable. But you can now revisit those bullet-strewn beaches. In theory, anyway. Activision have released it as a 4GB open-source project that can be explored in a 3D model-viewing tool. That's cool. But among their reasons for doing so, there lies a predictably grubby logic: they want people to use the data to train AI.

Read more

Destiny and Marathon developers Bungie are laying off 220 people - around 17% of their total workforce - as studio heads try to offset a financial crisis brought on by "overly ambitious" expansion, individual project "misfires", and a wider economic downturn in 2023. Bungie are also transferring a further 155 roles to parent company Sony Interactive Entertainment, and are spinning out an untitled incubation project - an "action game set in a brand-new science-fantasy universe" - to form a new PlayStation studio.

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Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller has posted a lengthy blog on Steam about the transition from 6v6 player matches in the first Overwatch to 5v5 in the poorly received free-to-play sequel. It's a juicy read for armchair designers and lapsed Overwatchers like myself, packing in analysis of class roles and the shift from the free choice of heroes to single hero picks and enforced team compositions.

In broad strokes, Keller summarises how the Overwatch experience has drifted away from "player freedom and creativity in order to create a more balanced, consistent and competitive experience for players". It's possible, however, that Overwatch 2 will swing back in the other direction, as Blizzard are now "exploring how we can test different forms of 6v6 in the game to gauge the results", with a view to restoring some of the joyful chaos that saw entire teams of Reinhardts charging the objective in formation.

Read more

Bungie have reportedly cancelled Payback, an unannounced project in the Destiny universe from former Destiny 2 game director Luke Smith and project lead Mark Noseworthy. Both Noseworthy and Smith appear to have lost their jobs in the course of Bungie's brutal cost-cutting this week, but Payback's cancellation pre-dates the layoffs. Envisaged as a Destiny spin-off, rather than Destiny 3, it was apparently dropped "a while ago".

Read more

Yet again, some good food. Following the news earlier this week that 241 Bethesda Games Studios staffers had formed what was at the time the biggest wall-to-wall under Microsoft, The Verge reports that over 500 World Of Warcraft developers have voted to form their own union, alongside the Communication Workers of America (CWA).

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The immersive sim has seen a revival in recent years. Not only from larger studios like Arkane, keeping the faith alive with their time loops and space stations, but also from a bunch of smaller developers bravely exploring a typically ambitious genre. RPS has always had an affinity for these systemically luxuriant simulations, historically lauding the likes of the original Deus Ex as the best game ever made. But given everything that has come since, is that still the case? Only one way to find out: make a big list.

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This week's mass layoffs at Destiny studio Bungie were planned out months ago, former employees have told journalist Stephen Totilo at Game File (paywalled). According to Totilo, Bungie leadership "overstated their studio’s financial prospects to Sony" after the latter bought Bungie in 2022 for $3.6 billion. The latest cuts were necessary to prevent continued losses, says the report, after Bungie missed Sony’s targets following the release of last year’s Lightfall.

Read more

Hardened battle royalists will remember Caldera, the sandy island map of bunkers and palm trees in Call Of Duty: Warzone. It got shut down last year as Activision focused their efforts elsewhere, making the map unplayable. But you can now revisit those bullet-strewn beaches. In theory, anyway. Activision have released it as a 4GB open-source project that can be explored in a 3D model-viewing tool. That's cool. But among their reasons for doing so, there lies a predictably grubby logic: they want people to use the data to train AI.

Read more