Tag: blizzard

Blizzard Announces New Overwatch Map, Paris

Blizzard Entertainment has announced that their hit hero shooter Overwatch will be receiving a new map soon that is set in Paris, France, and it is currently live on the game’s Public Test Region for PC players.

Announced through the game’s newest set of patch notes along with a tweet from Overwatch‘s official Twitter account, the new map themed around the famous European city is an Assault map, which pits teams against each other by capturing and defending a pair of points throughout the map. ‘Begin your journey at the Cabaret Luna, where the velvety alto voice of preeminent diva Luna charms movie stars, revolutionaries, locals, and tourists alike” described Tom Powers, Community Manage of Overwatch within the patch notes. “After the encore, step outside to see the sights and seize victory. Artisanal shops line the streets as you approach the first point, so duck in to sample a macaron or escape enemy fire. Battle through alleys and corridors before clashing with your foes on the banks of the Seine. Once you establish dominance over your adversaries, make your way to Maison Marat and deliver the coup-de-grâce.”

Paris will be the first map to hit Overwatch since the addition of Busan in September 2018, along with the first Assault map since June 2017’s Horizon Lunar Colony.

While Blizzard has not released a specific date on which the map will go live from PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One players, normally the test period lasts a few weeks before integrating them into the game’s main map rotation. It wouldn’t be shocking to see the map go live by the end of February (if not earlier).

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Activision Blizzard Appoints New Presidents for Activision and King

Activision Blizzard’s previous few months have been rocky to say the least. With multiple high ranking professional within Blizzard moving on from the company, both entities look to find stability in the construction of their company. It seems as though now they are both taking the first steps in that direction.

In a press release by Activision Blizzard this morning, the company announced Call of Duty General Manager Rob Kostich has been named President of parent company Activision. The release also states that Humam Sakhnini has been named President of King Digital Entertainment, along with Dennis Durkin assuming an expanded role as President of Emerging Business.

CEO of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, provided the following statement on filling the leadership roles:

“Rob, Humam, Dennis and J. exemplify our deep bench of operational and commercial leadership. These capable and seasoned executives have shown unwavering commitment to our company, our employees, and our beloved community of fans around the world. With these proven, principled leaders at the helm, we will continue to invest in the strategic growth drivers of our business; our talented people, and creating the world’s best video games, live services, mobile experiences, and new and growing franchise engagement models.”

Kostich, who has been with Activision for nearly 15 years, has made quite the mark on the industry by leading one of gaming’s most iconic franchises Call of Duty for the past decade. The statement also boasts that under his supervision, Call of Duty has now generated more revenue than the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the box office, and double that of the cumulative box office of Star Wars.

Sakhnini will oversee all operational management in partnership with King CEO Riccardo Zacconi, as President of King. He has been with Activision for over six years, previously holding the title of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer for King. Durking, in the role of President of Emerging Businesses, will oversee operational management of Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues, Activision Blizzard Studios and Activision Blizzard Consumer Products Group.

The new appointments come on the heels of former Blizzard CFO Amrita Ahuja leaving the company to join Square, Inc., and online financial service. An additional statement notes that founding member and former CEO & president Mike Morhaime, who resigned in October will be providing strategic advice for the company in an advisory role until this coming April.

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Jeff Kaplan, VP of Blizzard, to Present at Game Awards 2018

Overwatch continues to be one of the most popular multiplayer games out to date, with the game reaching 40 million players worldwide this past summer. One person you could point to in having a hand in the hero shooter’s success would be long-time developer/executive, Jeff Kaplan, who has been heading the project for years now; and now he will be apart of the show that only a few years ago awarded his game with gold.

In a recent tweet published by Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley, he confirms that the vice president of Blizzard Entertainment will be presenting an award during this year’s Game Awards on Thursday, December 6th.

Kaplan, who oversees all current and future plans for Overwatch, has been attached to the project since the days of the cancelled ‘Titan’ project that lead to the eventual inception of Overwatch in 2016. Kaplan and his team won the coveted Game of the Year award for the massively successful multiplayer game in 2016.

While there is no indication that Kaplan will be making an announcement pertaining to Overwatch, or Blizzard in general, the company will be looking for ways to improve their look in the public eye following the lukewarm reaction to the upcoming mobile adaptation of Blizzard’s long running RPG looter franchise Diablo, entitled Diablo Immortal. There have also been rumors of Overwatch making its way to the Switch, after the company confirmed its possibility to run on Nintendo’s hybrid system. With an emphasis put on the show being a homestead to for announcements and premieres to happen, an Overwatch related announcement isn’t necessarily out of the question.

The Game Awards 2018 is set to air live on Thursday, December 6th, 2018 at 9 PM EST/6PM PST. For more information, including platforms to watch the show on, please visit their website.

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Multiple Diablo Projects to be Revealed Over ‘The Coming Year’, Blizzard Confirms

While the backlash surrounding Diablo Immortal still continues to roll in, Blizzard has reassured fans that the mobile version of the classic series isn’t the only project in the works.

In a response to a forum post over at Battle.net, user ‘Nevalistis’, a community manager for the Diablo team at Blizzard, has confirmed that the company plans to release information on multiple Diablo projects over the coming year. “We continue to read feedback and our internal discussions are ongoing. We have many plans for Diablo across multiple projects which we’ll be revealing over the course of the coming year”, Nevalistis stated. “We are eager to share more about all of our projects, but some will have to wait as we prefer to show you, rather than tell you, about them. It’s going to take some time as we strive to meet your expectations, but now, more than ever, we are committed to delivering Diablo experiences the community can be proud of.”

Rumors of a supposed confirmation of Diablo 4 have been circling the internet for months now, including a scrapped BlizzCon 2018 reveal video and a complete overhaul of the development on the game; a possible remaster of Diablo 2 has been thrown around as well. At this point, Diablo 4 has all but been confirmed, from multiple sources, but the ball still remains in Blizzard’s court on when the public will officially know of it.

Diablo, which has been one of Blizzards most popular franchises for over two decades, has continued to see support in the forms of various ports and re-releases of its latest release, Diablo 3, including most recently on the Nintendo Switch.

While fans remain skeptical on what the Diablo team at Blizzard is working on, it looks like the gaming world won’t have to wait much longer until the curtain is pulled back on what Blizzard is cooking up.

For more updates regarding the Diablo franchise, including the heavily rumored Diablo 4, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and keep it locked in at Bonus Accessory.