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Review Diablo 4 - Blizzard's Biggest Diablo Game Ever, But Is It The Best?
The Mother of Sanctuary makes her return
Blizzard Entertainment has an amazing legacy in the games industry, but in recent years the California developer’s public reputation has suffered following a series of controversies, a change of guard across many of its key franchises and certain projects simply not meeting the expectations and high...
Latest Blizzard News
Tuesday15th Jul 2025
Report Activision Blizzard's King Team Sees Axed Job Roles 'Replaced' By AI
200 jobs have been cut at the studio
We apologise in advance for bringing another AI story to you today, but a fresh report from MobileGamer suggests that Activision Blizzard's King team is a part of the Microsoft Gaming business seeing human job roles shift to AI. It had previously been reported by the likes of Bloomberg that
Wednesday9th Jul 2025
Talking Point It's Been Two Years Since A Defining Moment In The History Of Xbox
The day the ActiBlizz takeover was essentially secured
Two years ago, we were spending so much time covering the Activision Blizzard acquisition here at Pure Xbox. It felt like something new was happening every day with it, especially when it started to be opposed from various angles. The FTC was the big one. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission...
Monday30th Jun 2025
News Ex Blizzard Boss Thinks Microsoft Should Pick Its Xbox Strategy And 'Stick To It'
"Tough to see Xbox confused"
Over the last year, year and a half, Microsoft has certainly changed things up in terms of its Xbox strategy - mainly by focusing more on software and launching some of its biggest in-house games on other platforms. This took some time getting used to at the beginning, and even though things are much clearer now, some...
Tuesday11th Mar 2025
News Activision Blizzard Aims To 'Meaningfully Elevate' BlizzCon When It Returns In 2026
"Something is coming...ready yourself"
Xbox studio Blizzard has announced that its BlizzCon event is taking another year off this year after skipping 2024 - and the convention's 2026 edition will "meaningfully elevate this iconic celebration", according to the team. Addressing followers in a fresh announcement post, the World of Warcraft maker says...
Wednesday12th Feb 2025
News EA Missed Out On Buying Blizzard & Some Big Activision Franchises, Says Former CCO
"EA saw all those first and passed"
Activision Blizzard has some absolutely massive game series' under its belt these days such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, but they weren't always guaranteed to be ABK franchises. Speaking in a new interview on the Grit podcast, former Electronic Arts CCO Bing Gordon claimed that EA passed on some huge...
Monday20th Jan 2025
Talking Point It's Been Three Years Since Xbox Announced The Activision Blizzard Deal
Covering Xbox has been a whirlwind ever since
Well folks, over the weekend, we officially passed the three-year mark since Xbox first announced its intentions to purchase mega-publisher Activision Blizzard. Yep, January 18th, 2022 was when the news first sent shockwaves throughout the industry - the most expensive gaming acquisition ever. Of...
Tuesday7th Jan 2025
News Call Of Duty's Crazy Development Budgets Revealed In New Report
Xbox will be spending a pretty penny
As game development budgets continue to rise, it's perhaps no surprise that churning out a big AAA shooter every year is a pricey endeavour. For well over a decade, Activision's Call of Duty has been the biggest AAA shooter of them all - and a new report details some of the eyewatering budgets that have gone into...
Thursday2nd Jan 2025
News Two More Xbox Game Pass Additions Seemingly Leaked For January 2025
From a reliable insider
As we enter into the new year, we've got lots of Xbox Game Pass updates coming our way right now - and a new rumour from reliable insider eXtas1s suggests January's Game Pass lineup is about to get even better. According to the well-known leaker, Blizzard's first Diablo game is set to come to PC Game Pass this month,
Tuesday17th Dec 2024
News Xbox Is Reportedly Working On A 'Cross-Platform Interface' Called Project Rainway
Inspired by Blizzard's Battle.net
Following on from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's recent comments about the future of Xbox, outlet Windows Central has dug into the Xbox owner's plans - subsequently revealing a new cross-platform initiative apparently going on at the Redmond company. According to the site, in particular reporter Jez Corden,...
Saturday16th Nov 2024
News Xbox Could Have A Major 'Open-World Shooter' In The Pipeline, But It's Still Early Days
The team at Blizzard is now recruiting
Xbox's development teams already deliver some of the best first-person shooters on the market, and now, it seems the talent at Blizzard could be looking to adapt another blockbuster IP to this genre. Following recent rumours about a supposed StarCraft shooter being in development, Blizzard is now recruiting...
Friday15th Nov 2024
News Surprise! Xbox's Avowed Has Been Confirmed For Another Platform
Even Blizzard's digital service "is an Xbox"
Well, here's a bit of a surprise. Xbox has today revealed it's bringing Obsidian Entertainment's upcoming fantasy RPG Avowed to not only Xbox Series X|S, Windows, and Steam platforms, but also Blizzard's Battle.net launcher on PC. This was confirmed in an announcement today on Xbox Wire. While we've seen...
Wednesday13th Nov 2024
News Despite The ActiBlizz Deal, Xbox Remains 'In The Market' For New Dev Teams
"We definitely want to be in the market"
Well all know the trials and tribulations that Xbox went though to acquire Activision Blizzard last year, but the whole ordeal doesn't seem to have put Microsoft off from potentially bringing more teams on board. In a new interview with
Tuesday12th Nov 2024
News Blizzard Announces 'Overwatch: Classic' As A Limited-Time Event In Overwatch 2
And it starts TODAY!
A couple of years ago now, Blizzard released Overwatch 2 as a free-to-play successor to the ever-popular Overwatch. The sequel made come core changes to the experience, namely switching to a 5v5 setup - a change that will be reversed in an upcoming limited-time event in OW2. Yep, starting today, the team is bringing 'Overwatch:...
Wednesday6th Nov 2024
Rumour Blizzard Could Be Remastering Another RTS Classic
Warcraft 2 looks to be getting a makeover...
Following the release of StarCraft and StarCraft 2 on Game Pass yesterday, there's now some news about Blizzard potentially remastering one of its older real-time strategy games. As
Friday25th Oct 2024
News Microsoft Boasts About Owning '20 Franchises That Have Generated Over $1 Billion'
Including ActiBlizz and Bethesda games of course
Microsoft's Satya Nadella has certainly been in the headlines today and not always in the most positive light, but one section of the CEO's recent annual company update at least talks about some of Xbox's more positive achievements in recent tim
Wednesday16th Oct 2024
News Xbox Settles Lawsuit With 'Gamers' Who Tried To Sue Over Activision Blizzard Deal
It had been ongoing for nearly two years
Right, where to begin with this one?! If you cast your mind all the way back to December of 2022, you may remember a story here at Pure Xbox about a group of random "gamers" who were suing Microsoft over the company's attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard. Basically, the lawsuit claimed that the...
Monday14th Oct 2024
Talking Point How Do You Feel About Xbox's ActiBlizz Deal One Year On?
Yes, the deal closed a year ago!
It feels like forever since Xbox first announced its plans to buy out Activision Blizzard, but it's actually only been one year since the deal finally closed in October 2023. Yep, after a long old fight with multiple regulatory bodies around the globe, Microso
Friday4th Oct 2024
Roundup Diablo 4: Vessel Of Hatred Gets Great Reviews Ahead Of Xbox Launch
Base game on Xbox Game Pass
Diablo 4's huge Vessel of Hatred DLC expansion arrives next week, and the team's review embargo is now up, which means a selection of early impressions are becoming available online. We'll run through a bunch of these early reviews and round them up down below, but the general gist here is that folks are liking this...
Thursday26th Sep 2024
News StarCraft Remastered & StarCraft 2 Coming To PC Game Pass This November
Surprise!
Xbox has opened its Tokyo Game Show livestream with a bombshell today - StarCraft Remastered and StarCraft 2: Campaign Collection are coming to PC Game Pass later this year. Yep, announced by Phil Spencer himself as the broadcast kicked off, these two Blizzard classics are finally being made available on the Game Pass service...
Friday20th Sep 2024
News Blizzard's Diablo 4 Gets Extensive Free Trial On Xbox This Weekend (September 19-23)
Completely free up to level 20!
Despite an absolutely massive Free Play Days week that contains 10 games to try out in total, Xbox and ActiBlizz are unleashing yet another free trial this weekend - Diablo 4 is completely free-to-play across all platforms until Monday, September 23rd. Now, there is a level 20 cap on the team's free trial (meaning...
Friday6th Sep 2024
News Xbox's Tokyo Game Show 2024 Broadcast Airs Later This Month
Updates from Xbox, Activision, Blizzard & Bethesda
Microsoft has announced its Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2024 Broadcast will take place later this month on Thursday, September 26th. Content from Xbox Game Studios, Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and Bethesda will be shared. Xbox will also be showcasing an "exciting lineup of games from third-party...
Wednesday21st Aug 2024
News Blizzard's New Diablo 4 Expansion Trailer Welcomes Back Mercenaries
The requested feature returns
Diablo 4's new expansion 'Vessel of Hatred' will introduce mercenaries to help you out on your quest, and at Gamescom Opening Night Live, Blizzard shared a new trailer featuring these helpers. Here's a bit more about these recruits via Blizzard's official website: "Discover and recruit new Mercenaries to join you on...
Wednesday14th Aug 2024
News Blizzard's Overwatch 2 Is Integrating With Xbox Game Pass Next Month
Get a bunch of rewards at no extra cost!
Blizzard has unveiled Overwatch 2 Season 12 today, and it brings a brilliant bonus for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Starting September 17, Game Pass members will be able to claim a bunch of extra content for Overwatch 2, including six "awesome" hero skins and more! To claim this content, players will have to...
Wednesday7th Aug 2024
News Diablo 4's 'Season Of The Infernal Hordes' Now Live On Xbox, Here's What's Included
It's available to Game Pass subscribers, too
Ahead of the launch of Vessel of Hatred in October, Blizzard has launched a new season for the Xbox, PC and Game Pass title Diablo 4. In case you missed it, it's officially titled 'Season of the Infernal Hordes', and comes with new features, new powers, a new questline and new micro-dungeons. Here's the...
Friday2nd Aug 2024
Report Xbox Has Formed A New Team To Build 'Games Based On Existing IP' At Blizzard
They'll apparently be "AA" experiences
A fresh report from Windows Central has landed today that sheds light on a brand-new team that's supposedly been formed at Blizzard Entertainment. According to Jez Corden's reporting, a new team has been built at the Diablo developer "to work on smaller 'AA' games based on existing IP". What that IP will turn...
Friday19th Jul 2024
News Diablo 4 Shares First Gameplay Footage Of New Expansion Class
The Spiritborn arrives this October
Ahead of the launch of the Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred expansion on Xbox this October, Blizzard has officially revealed the first gameplay footage of the new expansion class known as the Spiritborn. This class calls upon the unique strengths of "Jaguar, Gorilla, Eagle, and Centipede Spirit Guardians", as you can...
Monday24th Jun 2024
News Diablo 4 Season 5 Is Bringing A Wave-Based Horde Mode To Xbox Game Pass
"Slay the infernal hordes"
Diablo 4 has been out on Xbox Game Pass for a few months now, but as Blizzard's dungeon crawler is very much an ongoing game, you can expect it to change and evolve lots over time. One of those changes is a major new addition coming to the game in Season 5, with the team confirming that a wave-based horde mode will make...
Monday10th Jun 2024
News Xbox: 'You Are Going To See More Of Our Games On More Platforms'
"We just see that as a benefit to the franchises we're building"
In case you missed it, during a chat about DOOM: The Dark Ages with IGN, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer snuck in a brief comment about more of Xbox's games going to "more platforms" in the future. Unsurprisingly, it's raised some eyebrows on social media and other corners of the...
News Diablo 4's Xbox Game Pass Release An 'Incredible' Boost Ahead Of Expansion
The 'Vessel of Hatred' expansion will arrive this October
We've already heard a little bit about Diablo 4's growth since its debut on Xbox Game Pass at the end of March, and today during an IGN Live segment, the game's production director Tiffany Wat spoke about how Microsoft's subscription service boosted player numbers. She described it as...
Friday7th Jun 2024
News Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 Listing Further Hints At Huge ActiBlizz Xbox Game Pass Drop
We are READY
Okay, so, at this point we're all pretty much expecting a massive Activision Blizzard Xbox Game Pass drop to happen in and around the Xbox Games Showcase this weekend, and another few hints at such an event have cropped up online today. First off, as part of Microsoft's new 'Next Week On Xbox' round
Tuesday14th May 2024
News Overwatch 2 Meets Porsche In Bizarre Xbox Custom Console Collaboration
"Is that an Xbox, a mech, or a Porsche?!"
We've seen some weird and wonderful custom consoles over the years, and while this latest design is quite modest in comparison to some, it's certainly not a collaboration we expected to see on a random Tuesday afternoon in May. But, here it is. Microsoft has detailed its latest Xbox Series X sweepstakes...
Sunday12th May 2024
News Ex-Blizzard President On Xbox's Future: 'Xbox Can Find A Path To Great Success'
"For their teams and players around the world"
It's been a wild week for Xbox following the announcement of four studio closures, and while the video game giant is currently facing a lot of criticism, many ex-Microsoft and Xbox employees still believe the brand can overcome this difficult period. Following
Friday10th May 2024
News Xbox Reiterates Every First Party Title Is Coming To Game Pass 'Day One'
A recent report suggested Call of Duty could be excluded
Following a recent report claiming Xbox was considering not including new Call of Duty releases on Game Pass, it seems Microsoft's gaming division remains committed to "day one" releases. Xbox president Sarah Bond has mentioned at the Bloomberg Technology Summit this week how "day one"...
Thursday9th May 2024
News Former Microsoft Exec Gives 'Two Reasons' Why Xbox Closed Bethesda Teams
"Neither of them have anything to do with Bethesda"
It's been a tumultuous time in Xbox land as of late, with news breaking throughout the week about job cuts - including four studio closures within Xbox's Bethesda division. At the time of writing Microsoft hasn't released a statement about all of these reports, but one former executive thinks he...
Tuesday7th May 2024
Reaction Xbox's Push Towards 'Microsoft Gaming' Looks More Drastic Than We First Thought
The price of ever-expanding growth
It's been a wild few years over at Team Xbox, with the brand being marked by vast change since the launch of Xbox Series X and S back in late 2020 - which is starting to feel like a lifetime ago now. Huge acquisitions like that of both Bethesda and Activision Blizzard have massively changed how the team now...
Friday3rd May 2024
News Diablo 4's New Season 'Loot Reborn' Launches On Xbox This Month
"Season 4 is going to be the biggest update"
Following its debut on Xbox Game Pass in March, Diablo IV will soon be getting its "biggest update" since launch in the form of the Season 4: Loot Reborn update. This update will roll out on May 14th, 2024 and promises to overhaul many "core game systems" to refresh how items are earned, how they...
Friday26th Apr 2024
News Xbox's Gaming Revenue Is Up 51% YoY Following Activision Blizzard Acquisition
The FY24 Q3 results are in
Microsoft has today released its financial results for Q3 2024 and its Xbox gaming revenue growth is up by more than 51% year-over-year. Once again, this is mostly credited to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which was closed on October 13, 2023. This latest figure factors in 55 points of net impact from...
News Blizzard Has Decided To Skip BlizzCon In 2024
"This is a Blizzard decision" not a Microsoft one
Blizzard's annual event 'BlizzCon' won't be taking place this year, and while there's been some speculation it could have been a decision made by a "higher up" at Microsoft, it's now been confirmed this is not the case. A Blizzard spokesperson informed Windows Central "this is a Blizzard decision"...
Thursday18th Apr 2024
News World Of Warcraft For Xbox Is Still Discussed Internally At Blizzard
"Of course we still talk about it"
Can you believe that World of Warcraft is 20 years-old this year? Nah, us neither, and as it turns out - new versions of the title are still a hot topic over at developer Blizzard. Yep, two decades later the team still ponders a console release, and whether it's something worth pursuing. Talking to VGC, the...
News Blizzard Says It's Already 'Benefitting' From From Being A Part Of Xbox
"If anything, it’s just been helpful"
It's no doubt a pretty huge task to incorporate a team like Blizzard into your organisation - we've already seen evidence of this back in January when a studio shakeup resulted in a cancelled Blizzard project. However, things seem to have settled down since, and a new comment from one Blizzard dev suggests...
Monday15th Apr 2024
News Former Xbox Exec Likes The Idea Of 'Tipping' Developers After Beating Their Games
"Some games are that special"
The price of AAA games has been a hot topic recently, especially with the move to $70 releases, but one former Xbox & Blizzard exec has taken to social media to express that they'd actually like the option to give devs more money for their releases. Yep, Mike Ybarra — who left X
Wednesday10th Apr 2024
News NetEase Enters Into Agreement With Microsoft To 'Explore' Bringing New Titles To Xbox
As Blizzard games return to China
Blizzard has announced its games will be returning to China under a renewed publishing deal between Microsoft Gaming and NetEase. After discussions "over the past year", players in China will be able to once again access World of Warcraft, Hearthstone and many other titles across the Blizzard universe including...
Monday8th Apr 2024
News Xbox Could Be 'Gearing Up' For Call Of Duty Back Catalogue Announcement
"Gulf War might not be the only CoD-related announcement"
In case you missed our recent story about Xbox Showcase rumours for this summer, it's been claimed that an announcement about Activision Blizzard's library of older titles may be coming in the near future. This is according to Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson, who says Xbox could be "gearing...
News Diablo 4 Gets New Lease Of Life On Xbox Thanks To Successful Game Pass Launch
"Xbox has quickly become the #1 platform"
Microsoft finally graced us with its first ActiBlizz Xbox Game Pass addition at the end of March in the form of Diablo 4, and its arrival has given the Xbox platform a huge boost already. Xbox exec Sarah Bond has revealed that Xbox has become the biggest platform for Diablo 4 since it came to the Game Pass...
Wednesday27th Mar 2024
News Diablo 4 Adds Console Ray Tracing Ahead Of Xbox Game Pass Debut
"Patch 1.3.5. introduces Raytracing to all supported platforms"
Blizzard has detailed its big ray tracing update for Diablo 4, right on the eve of the title's Xbox Game Pass debut. Patch 1.3.5 "introduces Raytracing to all supported platforms", alongside a host of other graphical tweaks and improvements. Ray traced shadows and reflections have been...
Tuesday26th Mar 2024
News Xbox's Call Of Duty: Warzone Mobile Bringing In Plenty Of Cash Already
In its first four days on the market!
Xbox has been spotted promoting Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile on its console storefront lately, and the team's heavy advertising push seems to be paying off. Coming by way of PocketGamer, the new mobile CoD release has seemingly raked in $1.4m in its first four days on the
Saturday23rd Mar 2024
News Overwatch 2 Really Is Done With PvE, According To New Report
"Majority" of PvE team reportedly laid off
Remember how Blizzard announced last year it would no longer be delivering certain PvE content in its free-to-play shooter Overwatch 2? Well, in a new Bloomberg report from Jason Schreier, it's been revealed the "majority" of the team behind the PvE story content was laid off in January. B
Thursday21st Mar 2024
News Diablo 4's Xbox Series X Ray Tracing Update Targeting Late March Release
A special blog will share more details next week
As you might recall hearing, ray tracing is on its way to Diablo 4, and during the latest campfire chat, Blizzard's development team confirmed this graphical update would be arriving next week on March 26th for PC. In a special blog next week, Blizzard will also touch on how "console players" will...
Wednesday20th Mar 2024
News Overwatch 2's Heroes Will 'No Longer Be Unlocked Through The Battle Pass'
"All future heroes will be free"
Blizzard's free-to-play team shooter Overwatch 2 has announced heroes will no longer be unlocked through the game's Battle Pass. In a new developer update, game director Aaron Keller announced this change would occur when the new hero Venture arrived in Season 10 (expected to launch in April). After this hero joins...
Wednesday28th Feb 2024
Guide Xbox And Microsoft Reveal Full GDC 2024 Schedule
"Microsoft and Xbox are here to help power your games "
The 2024 Game Developer Conference will take place next month in March and as part of this, both Microsoft and the Xbox team will be there to "engage and empower" developers, publishers as well as technology partners across the globe. "Our message is simple: Microsoft and Xbox are here to...