Tag: Blizzard
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...
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...
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:...
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
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...
Rumour Blizzard Is Supposedly Working On A New StarCraft Shooter
Hell, it's about time
Until yesterday, it didn't seem like Blizzard's legendary StarCraft series would be making a comeback any time soon, and now, both titles are on their way to PC Game Pass. If this wasn't already enough for one week, there are also new rumours about a supposed "StarCraft shooter" being in development. During a chat with IGN...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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
News Former Blizzard President Gives Support To Phil Spencer Amidst Xbox Negativity
"He's a good human"
Today's news that Xbox is shutting multiple Bethesda studios including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks undoubtedly hasn't gone down well, and Xbox boss Phil Spencer has come under fire on social media as a result. In response, former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra shared a message of support for Spencer on Twitter earlier this...
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...
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"...
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...
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
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...
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
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...
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...
News Xbox Scoops Up Two D.I.C.E. Awards
Congratulations, Xbox
The 27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards took place this week and there were multiple Xbox games nominated for all sorts of awards. As previously mentioned, Starfield and Hi-Fi RUSH were nominated across multiple categories, but in the end, went home empty-handed. Fortunately, for Xbox, it still picked up a few awards on the night. The...
News Xbox Hires Call Of Duty GM As New President Of Blizzard Entertainment
"I cannot wait to get going"
Following the departure of Blizzard President Mike Ybarra last week, Microsoft has today announced a successor in the form of the Call of Duty GM Johanna Faries, who will officially begin her role on February 5th. In a message to Blizzard employees earlier today, Faries shared her enthusiasm for the role, while also...
News Odyssey Was 'Fantastic' Says Blizzard Dev, Despite Reports Of Development Troubles
"The Blizz survival game was fantastic"
Yesterday, we all got the news that Blizzard's long-in-development survival game Odyssey had been cancelled as part of Microsoft's huge round of Xbox layoffs. Odyssey had been in development in some form since 2017, and development was seemingly progressing well despite some issues with the game's engine. In...
Random Xbox's Phil Spencer Shows Off His Diablo 4 Level 100 Druid
The new holiday event starts this week
If you're wondering what the Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has been up to during this time of year, apart from a trip to the snow, it seems he's been busy working on his character build in Diablo 4. In a brief post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Phil shows off his level 100 "poison shred" Druid, which...
News Overwatch's League Shutdown Might Cost Activision Blizzard (And Now Microsoft) $120m
Update: Blizzard seemingly confirms "new direction"
Update [Thu 9th Nov, 2023 02:00 GMT]: A Blizzard rep has now told Engadget it's "transitioning from the Overwatch League" and evolving "competitive Overwatch in a new direction". "We are grateful to everyone who made OWL possible and remain focused on building our vision of a revitalized esports...
News Blizzard President Says 'Players Have No Patience' And 'Want New Stuff Every Day'
So it aims to serve up "more content" in a "responsible" way
Blizzard's president Mike Ybarra is currently doing the press rounds, and in the same interview with The Verge, he touched on content delivery in modern games, noting how challenging it can be to find the right balance to satisfy everyone in the community. Ybarra, who leads massive...
News Blizzard Open To StarCraft Revival Under Microsoft, New Idea Requires 'Vision And Passion'
Blizzard president: "I'll bet on that team"
Now that Microsoft and Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard has gone through, there are many fans out there calling for the return of series like StarCraft. Believe it or not, but the last entry released was the remaster of the original title back in 2017, so what are the future plans for this famous...
News Blizzard Excited To Have More Independence Under Xbox
A "new era" has begun
During BlizzCon 2023's opening ceremony, Blizzard's president Mike Ybarra mentioned how it was a "new era" for the company under Xbox and Microsoft Gaming, so what exactly does he mean by this? In a new interview with The Verge, Ybarra elaborated on how this essentially translates to more creative freedom and empowerment -...
News Blizzard On The Possibility Of WoW On Xbox: 'We Are Microsoft Now'
"Of course we're talking about that"
There's been a lot of conversation previously about whether or not Blizzard's legendary MMO World of Warcraft could one day come to consoles, so is there a chance now that the Microsoft acquisition is complete? During an interview at BlizzCon 2023, World of Warcraft vice president and executive producer Holly...
Guide BlizzCon 2023: Every Diablo, Overwatch & Warcraft Announcement
Everything from the opening ceremony
It's BlizzCon this weekend and in case you somehow missed it, Blizzard is now operating under Microsoft and Xbox. This means all of Blizzard's offerings are now technically a part of the Xbox brand, so there could potentially be all sorts of exciting announcements in the future. On day one of BlizzCon 2023, Xbox...
News Diablo 4's First Expansion Vessel Of Hatred Announced, Coming 'Late 2024'
Featuring a class "never-before-seen" in Diablo
Diablo IV got off to a strong start when it was originally released earlier this year - quickly becoming Blizzard's "fastest-selling game of all time" and biggest launch ever - bringing in more than 10 million players in the first month. Since then, there have been some teething issues with the game's...
News Phil Spencer Says 'The Future Of Blizzard Is Brighter Than Ever' Under Xbox
As he welcomes Blizzard fans to BlizzCon 2023
On day one of BlizzCon, Microsoft's Gaming CEO Phil Spencer appeared at the very beginning of the show to discuss the future of Blizzard under Xbox. In a nutshell, the company's gaming boss believes "the future of Blizzard is brighter than ever" under Xbox. Phil went into a bit more detail about this,...
Guide BlizzCon 2023 Kicks Off Next Week, Here's The Full Broadcast Schedule
It's now part of Microsoft's gaming division
With Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard complete, we can finally move onto the fun stuff like Blizzard's annual event, BlizzCon. The official convention is returning live this year between November 3-4 and if you are wondering what will be on display, Blizzard has now unveiled the full...
News Xbox's Leadership Team Visits Blizzard Post-Acquisition
Microsoft strives to be a "source of trust" for the studio
Following Microsoft's recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Phil Spencer and team Xbox have been busy doing studio tours all around the world. The latest visit was Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine, California and while Xbox's leadership team hasn't formally shared what exactly went on...
News Blizzard Addresses Fan Complaints About Controversial Changes To Diablo 4
"We want to acknowledge everyone's feedback"
If you're in the loop with Diablo 4, you probably know about Blizzard's recent patch that made sweeping changes to the balance of the game. The changes didn't exactly go down well, with many fans feeling like too much was nerfed, so the team has come out and addressed this fan feedback. <related...
News Diablo 4 Patch 1.1.0 Suffers Criticism Ahead Of Season 1 Content Drop
'Season of the Malignant' begins this week
Diablo 4's first big post-launch content drop is inbound in the form of 'Season of the Malignant' arriving this week, and ahead of time, Blizzard has applied a new patch to the game on Xbox. The update makes absolutely tons of changes to the core game, including adding new Unique items and Legendary...
News Xbox Activision Blizzard Deal Officially Approved In Turkey Amidst Ongoing FTC Battle
Another win for Xbox
Although Microsoft seems to be getting closer to the final stage of acquiring Activision Blizzard in the US, it's still trying to pass the deal in other regions around the world, and is seeing success in most countries. The company is currently in the process of sorting out some issues relating to the deal with the UK's CMA,...
News Blizzard President: We Have So Much Coming, We're Just Getting Started
"The 'sleeping giant' is awake and in full force"
Microsoft's takeover of Activision Blizzard has taken a step closer to going ahead following this week's victory against the FTC, and it seems like great timing for Blizzard in particular according to president Mike Ybarra's recent comments. Taking to Twitter earlier today, Ybarra was full of praise...
News Diablo 4 Update 1.3 Now Live On Xbox, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
Bug fixes and gameplay adjustments
You may have noticed that Diablo 4 received a brand-new update on Xbox last night (Update 1.3), and Blizzard has now revealed the full set of patch notes. It's a pretty big update focused primarily around fixing lots of bugs. In addition to those bug fixes, there are also some gameplay adjustments that you'll find...
News Diablo 4 'Feels Remarkably Polished' At 60FPS On Both Xbox Series X And Series S
Digital Foundry takes a look
Diablo 4 is here and it's breaking records already - proving to be Blizzard's biggest game launch ever and prompting a congratulations post from Xbox's Phil Spencer. Thankfully, the game seems to have the technical chops to go along with it, as showcased in a recent breakdown by Digital Foundry. <rel
News Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Congratulates Blizzard On Diablo 4's 'Amazing Success'
It's now Blizzard's "fastest-selling" game ever
Diablo 4 is now available to everyone, and Blizzard has already shared some rather exciting news - revealing the title is officially the fastest-selling game the company has ever released. The celebrations didn't end there, either - with Xbox also confirming it is the "fastest-selling" Blizzard game...
News Diablo 4 Dynamic Background Now Available On Xbox Series X And S
Adorn your dashboard with a Diablo hellscape
Blizzard has brought a brand-new Diablo 4 dynamic background to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, and it's a beauty. To coincide with the game's standard edition launch, you can now decorate your dashboard with this hellish design. In order to activate the Diablo 4 dynamic background, you'll need to go to...
Guide Diablo 4 Release Date, Release Times & Download Size On Xbox
Everything you need to know for the Diablo 4 launch
Diablo 4's first launch begins later this week! We say first, because Blizzard is releasing its new action RPG in two stages - one wave for Deluxe Edition and Ultimate Edition owners, and one second wave for standard edition buyers. It can be tough to track all of these different launches, so...
News Diablo 4 Early Reviews Suggest A Potential GOTY Candidate On Xbox
Coming in extra hot
Early reviews of Blizzard's upcoming epic RPG Diablo 4 are starting to hit the web, and it's looking like a fantastic start for the team's fourth mainline entry in the series. Here at Pure Xbox, we thought the game was excellent; granting it a 9/10 in our full written review. You can check out our thoughts down below, along with...
News Blizzard Has Axed Overwatch 2's PvE Hero Mode
"We can't deliver on that original vision"
Blizzard's Overwatch 2 team has dropped a bombshell today, announcing it will no longer deliver the game's long-awaited PvE Hero Mode. This mode was originally part of the reasoning behind the release of Overwatch 2, and now in an official Twitch livestream the game's executive producer Jared Neuss has...
Guide Diablo 4 'Server Slam' Beta Dates, Release Times And Download Size On Xbox
Putting Diablo 4 through its paces
Blizzard is gearing up to put Diablo 4 through its paces this weekend with the Diablo 4 'Server Slam' beta, starting tomorrow, May 12th. The clue is in the name with this one - the team wants to stress the Diablo 4 servers to the max, so why not help them out, eh? If you're wanting to jump into this Diablo 4...
News Diablo 4 Performance Targets Confirmed For Xbox Series X And S
Blizzard reveals the numbers
As we near Diablo 4's upcoming Xbox release, Blizzard is starting to talk specifics about what we can all expect from the game come launch day - June 6th, 2023. Of course, one specific that fans will be eager to learn about is the exact frame rate and resolution the game will run at on their console of choice. In a...
News Diablo 4 GM Confirms Blizzard's Upcoming RPG Won't Be Available On Xbox Game Pass
ActiBlizz on Game Pass isn't happening yet
Diablo 4's launch is almost upon us, with Blizzard's latest entry in the legendary action RPG series landing this June. However, with Blizzard being a major part of Xbox's quest to acquire ActiBlizz, there have been lots of questions surrounding this title and whether it will be available on Xbox Game Pass...
