Both Activision games and Blizzard games see a firm drop

Taking a look at the very last table in Activision Blizzard’s financial report for Q1 2023 on BusinessWire, there were 368 million monthly active users during the quarter, compared to 389 million in Q4 2022.

That might not sound like too much of a decline, but Activision and Blizzard games have taken quite a hit. The monthly active users for Activision games dropped from 111 million to 98 million, while those for Blizzard games were cut almost in half from 45 million to 27 million. Some of this isn’t too surprising, since most games lose a good portion of its userbase after launch, be it Call of Duty, Overwatch, or otherwise.

For wider context, the 45 million figure for Blizzard games last quarter was definitely a surge. Back in Q1 2022, there were only about 22 million monthly active users, so the launch of Overwatch 2 helped elevate interest. It’s a bit hard to tell whether the drop in activity for Overwatch 2 is to blame, though, since the active player count figures since the game’s launch have been quite consistent according to ActivePlayer.

Perhaps some of this overall drop for Activision Blizzard might be due to the successful Diablo 4 beta possibly grabbing players from Diablo 3 and Diablo Immortal, or an overall drop in player count for Warzone 2 and other Call of Duty games.

The post Activision Blizzard Player Count Drops by 20 Million Since Last Quarter appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Blizzard is aware of the Diablo 4 PS5 beta issues

Happy Waiting at the Diablo 4 Beta Queued at Login Screen… for those who celebrate!! ?#DIABLO #Diablo4 #PlayStation #PS5 #PS5Share #Blizzard pic.twitter.com/N6MdNsz3B5

— Joseph Moran (@MrBadBit) March 17, 2023

The list of issues with the Diablo 4 PS5 beta are numerous. The queues are incredibly long, with one user on Twitter showing a wait time of over one and a half hours and another player on the Blizzard support forums stating much the same. In fact, the support forums are full of threads with players having trouble logging into the beta, regardless of the platform.

Buy Diablo 4 on Amazon

One pervasive issue has been players waiting the full amount of time shown on the queue screen, only to be kicked into yet another queue. According to one Reddit post, Blizzard knows that the timer may “go beyond the duration listed” and that there will be “more accurate timers in place for Open Beta Weekend.”

Players have also been hit with crashes and several errors, specifically codes 300008 and 300202, in addition to authentication errors and log-in issues. Blizzard’s customer service support are currently aware of the issues with the authentication servers, which ae resulting “in failed or slow login attempts.”

The post Diablo 4 PS5 Beta Experiencing Long Queues and Error Codes appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

What you can buy at KFC to get a Diablo 4 early access code

In order to get a Diablo 4 early access beta code through this promo, you’ll need to purchase one of the following KFC items either on the KFC app or KFC.com between March 8 and March 18:

• Double Down Sandwich
• Double Down Sandwich Combo
• Bacon & Cheese Chicken Sandwich
• Bacon & Cheese Chicken Sandwich Combo
• KFC Chicken Sandwich
• KFC Chicken Sandwich Combo
• KFC Chicken Sandwich Big Box Meal
• Chicken Little
• Chicken Little Combo

If you’re going for the cheapest option, we would recommend the Chicken Little sandwich (without the combo), which costs around four dollars depending on your location.

The Diablo 4 early access beta code will be sent via email, with a limit of one code per customer. It will grant access to the early beta access period between March 17 and March 19. This promo is only available at participating locations in the U.S.

The Diablo 4 battle pass, Ultimate Edition, and pre-order bonuses were leaked ahead of The Game Awards in December 2022. The game was mysteriously left out of PlayStation’s most anticipated PS5 games in 2023.

The post Get a Diablo 4 Early Access Beta Code on PS5 by Eating KFC appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Activision Blizzard believes RTO policy is “best for the business”

In a statement to Game Developer, Activision Blizzard will be asking Activision employees to return to the office on April 10 and Blizzard employees on July 10. The King Digital Entertainment division of the publisher has already gone back to five-day office weeks. The spokesman further says that this policy has been created “based on what’s best for the business and for the team.”

However, a Blizzard employee called LeastMyHairIsOk on Twitter who reported the news on February 13 believes that this policy will cause “a large reduction in force” if it occurs. They say that “the majority of employees at ABK have no interest in returning to office either full or part time.”

Apart from COVID concerns, this is because the reduction in gas and insurance costs from commutes, in addition to rising inflation across the board, have made remote work far more attractive. They claim that “for over a decade now, lower earning departments have pleaded with leadership to include yearly CoL (Cost of Living) adjustments” to prevent employees from leaving, but this has been denied.

Another user on Reddit named DrHilarious_PHD, who claims to work at Activision in QA, has apparently posted an internal HR email. The user also claims that the company has removed work from home options and that it is even denying this for people with disabilities. This has apparently prompted “a walkout of many employees today.”

A recent report says that Bobby Kotick will remain Activision Blizzard CEO even if the Microsoft merger is blocked. Earlier in February, Activision Blizzard was fined $35 million for a lack of workplace misconduct procedures.

The post Activision Blizzard Is Forcing Employees Back to the Office appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Activision Blizzard impeded former employees from speaking with the SEC

The SEC found that, between 2018 and 2021, Activision Blizzard did not have the proper controls and procedures in place to properly address employee complaints of workplace misconduct. Consequently, the company “lacked sufficient information to understand the volume and substance” of these complaints.

It also discovered that the company, from 2016 to 2021, required former employees to tell them if they had received a request of information from the SEC, in violation of a law meant to protect whistleblowers. Jason Burt, Director of the SEC’s Denver Regional Office, clarifies that impeding former employees from communicating with the SEC “is not only bad corporate governance, it is illegal.”

A report by the Wall Street Journal in November 2021 said that CEO Bobby Kotick knew about sexual assault and abuse allegations at the company, but hid them from investors. In July 2021, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing also filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for discrimination and sexual harassment.

The $35 million fine is a large sum, but it’s a rather small drop in the bucket considering that Activision Blizzard had a net revenue of $1.78 billion in just Q3 2022 alone according to its latest financial results. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard also received a formal letter of objections from the EU against their proposed merger.

The post Activision Blizzard Fined $35 Million For Lack of Workplace Misconduct Procedures appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

It’s unclear why Diablo 4 was overlooked, despite being frequently touted as one of the most anticipated games this year. But one reason could be Sony’s ongoing fight against Microsoft in its pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Call of Duty also not on PlayStation’s Most Anticipated Games in 2023 list

The format of PlayStation’s editorial is strange, since it looks like an official ranking at first glance, but it’s more of a standard list of PS5 games that are being officially hyped. It did a similar list last year that has the same layout, though Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Overwatch 2 didn’t make that list. In fact, neither list includes any Activision Blizzard games.

Some part of Activision Blizzard’s exclusion likely stems from the developer having to face lawsuits in 2021 alleging sexual harassment, including one from the federal government. The potential merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard probably hasn’t helped matters either, as far as Sony is concerned.

That said, there are other games that were also notably absent from the feature, including Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Dead Island 2, Like a Dragon: Ishin!, and Armored Core 6 (which is in our Most Anticipated Games list for 2023).

Diablo 4 is slated to release on PS5 and PS4 on June 6, with its Battle Pass, Ultimate Edition, and Deluxe Edition being leaked last month.

The post Diablo 4 Left Out of PlayStation’s Most Anticipated PS5 Games in 2023 appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Blizzard will address prepaid phone issue “soon”

User RLmclovin on the official Overwatch Reddit confessed in an largely upvoted post of being “ashamed of having a prepaid phone”:

I’ve been playing with friends and family for years, now I can’t play with any of them because of my phone plan…. Never thought I would be disqualified from playing overwatch based on my ability to afford a phone contract, but here we are… Blizzard is the first company to make me feel poor to play a game.

According to users commenting in the Reddit thread, prepaid plans like Mint Mobile seem to work just fine, though that might depend on the region.

Cricket Wireless announced in October 2021 that it had 12.4 million subscribers, who all now apparently don’t have access to Overwatch 2. A spokeperson for Blizzard told GameSpot that the company will “address this situation soon,” which could be as early as this afternoon.

The post Overwatch 2 SMS Protect Locking Players With Pre-Paid Phone Plans appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Blizzard reveals known issues in Overwatch 2

The main issue for many players trying to get into Overwatch 2 is the queue times. Some queue numbers have reached 30k-40k, although others have received error messages claiming there are “0 players ahead of you”. Those who do manage to work their way through the queue can then be unexpectedly disconnected from the servers too. Blizzard Entertainment has stated these server issues and login errors are “actively being worked on” in an attempt to find a fix for all Overwatch 2 players.

“Unexpected Server Error” is another common message. Apparently this is occurring for some players who have merged their PC and console accounts. Finally, some players have found they are missing skins, especially from the Watchpoint Pack, as well as other items and currency. All of these are included in the list of known issues:

Known Launch Issues

• Some players who merged their PC and console accounts are seeing an “Unexpected Server Error”
• Some cosmetics, items, and currency that players own are not showing up in their collections
• Some players are experiencing server disconnects

Known Bugs

• The camera may be misplaced on the level when viewing your Highlights
• Hero Unlock challenges may fail to progress in Total Mayhem
• Workshop Green Screen and Workshop Island are loading incorrect maps and may break some existing codes
• Numbani, Necropolis, Illios CTF, and Temple of Anubis are temporarily disabled
• Echo is playing Kiriko, Sojourn, and Junker Queen ultimate lines in English for non-English languages
• Mitigating Bastion’s damage as many heroes will not grant proper credit for the System-Wide Malfunction season challenge
• SMS protect – Using a number that is already in use on another account can leave the client in an unusable state. If you encounter this, close the title, log into the affected http://battle.net/ account via web browser and change the number to one that is unique
• Match History and Replays are not appearing in Career Profile

Blizzard has said they will let players know “as soon as we have an update”.

The post Overwatch 2 Server Issues and Login Errors Plague Game’s Launch appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

New Overwatch 2 players will have to grind for the original roster

Blizzard details the decision to make new Overwatch 2 players unlock the original roster in a blog post on the official website. It’s part of an initiative to “disincentivize disruptive behavior and gameplay” dubbed Defense Matrix.

Since Overwatch 2 is free-to-play, the hero grind is meant to prevent longtime players of the original game from making new accounts to engage in smurfing. This is a common issue in games with skill and level-based matchmaking, which can ruin the experience for those new to the game.

Blizzard hopes that new accounts not having access to the full original roster will make smurfing less palatable. The big question we have at this point is whether heroes will unlock randomly or not.

The devs seem to be going all in on measures against toxic behavior. This includes taking away portrait borders displayed before competitive matches. The full list of changes (and there are a lot) is described in the blog post.

The post New Overwatch 2 Players Must Unlock Classic Characters By Playing 100 Matches appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Overwatch 2 could feature brand collaborations

Speaking to GameInformer, Overwatch’s VP Jon Spector was very enthusiastic about the “fun examples out there of games working with other brands or other games.” He went on to explain how, as a “big anime nerd himself,” he thought it was “super cool” to “see Naruto appear in Fortnite.”

Bringing the focus back to Overwatch 2, Spector explained that “as [the team looks] at the Overwatch 2 space, those are things that we’re interested in exploring.”

Spector was keen to emphasize that “if and when [they do implement crossovers], one of [the team’s] key values is to do it in a way that feels like a great fit for the Overwatch franchise.”

As Overwatch 2 is going down the free-to-play route, with players able to play and unlock heroes for free, Blizzard will no doubt be weighing up each method of monetization. Brand crossovers would no doubt help to sell more skins and other cosmetics!

Overwatch 2 is set to launch on October 4.

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