Tag: Xbox

Microsoft completes its $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition

Microsoft completed its $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition, over 18 months after first announcing the deal

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Microsoft completed its nearly $69 billion Activision-Blizzard acquisition following approval from U.K. regulators, over 18 months after first announcing the deal. The news comes as the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority reversed its stance on the acquisition’s anti-competitive nature and cleared the way for the deal to close. 

The European Union approved the deal with little hesitation, but the CMA originally blocked the deal over concerns about dampening innovation in cloud gaming. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued to stop the deal and the potential negative effects the buyout might have on innovation in the games space before approving it after weeks of hearings. 

CEO Bobby Kotick will remain in his position until the start of 2024 and report to Phil Spencer, after which Kotick will depart with a roughly $400 million payout from the deal.

Kotick remained company CEO following calls for his removal after allegations surfaced that he covered up evidence of sexual harassment at the company, and he reportedly led union-busting efforts in 2021 as Activision Blizzard employees organized a workers’ alliance.

Xbox head Phil Spencer told staff in an internal memo that Xbox management would share plans about integrating Activision Blizzard games into Xbox Game Pass. Meanwhile, Spencer will visit Activision Blizzard campuses in the coming weeks.

“Today, we officially welcome Activision Blizzard and their teams to Xbox,” Spencer said in a post on Xbox Wire. “They are the publishers of some of the most played and most beloved franchises in gaming history across console, PC and mobile. From Pitfall to Call of Duty, World of Warcraft to Overwatch, Candy Crush Saga to Farm Heroes Saga, their studios have pushed the boundaries of gaming for players around the world.”

“I’ve long admired the work of Activision, Blizzard, and King, and the impact they’ve had on gaming, entertainment, and pop culture.”

The Communication Workers of America published a statement saying they believe the deal will benefit workers, thanks to Microsoft’s neutral stance on labor.

“Microsoft President Brad Smith has said that he wants to make it ‘simpler, not more difficult’ for employees to choose whether to join a union, and the company’s actions show that they mean it,” the CWA said on their website for Activision Blizzard employees. “Microsoft has a legally binding agreement with CWA for a fair, streamlined process for union representation. Now is the time to join together at Microsoft/Activision Blizzard!”

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

Resident Evil, Diablo 4 headline October Prime Day deals on Xbox games

Resident Evil 4 Remake and Diablo 4 lead the charge in October Prime Day deals on Xbox games

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Resident Evil 4 Remake and Diablo 4 lead the charge in October Prime Day deals on Xbox games. While it looks like Xbox is waiting until Black Friday for steep discounts on first-party games, its third-party studios are filling the gap this Prime Day with discounts on games ranging from Star Wars to One Piece and more. Bear in mind that these are for physical Xbox games, so if you have a Series S, you won’t be able to take advantage of these deals.

Some of the prices have fluctuated throughout the day as well, though we’ve included alternatives where they exist.

The best Forza Motorsport cars in each class

We’ve put together this list of the best cars in Forza Motorsport to help pick what’s right for you, with recommendations in every class

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Picking the best Forza Motorsport cars makes the difference between leading the pack in the racing game and getting left in the dust. Finding which car is right for you – or for a specific situation – isn’t so easy, though. Forza Motorsport throws dozens of cars at you from the start – top-class cars, cars with smooth handling, super fast rides, and numerous other combinations of adjectives and synonyms for “car.” There’s a lot to consider in the Xbox game, including how many credits you feel like throwing out for a new set of wheels.

We’ve put together this list of the best cars in Forza Motorsport to help give you an idea of how to pick what’s right for you, with a few recommendations in every class.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage release times on PC and console

Assassin’s Creed Mirage release times are coming up fast, and you can even play the stealth game series’ latest a bit early on Xbox

Assassin’s Creed Mirage release times are coming up fast, and you can even play a bit early if you’re on Xbox. The latest Assassin’s Creed game from Ubisoft is starting to roll out across the globe, and while console launch times are pretty straightforward, the PC launch is a little more complicated. When you can play actually depends on which storefront you bought the game from. If you purchased it on the Epic Games Store, you’ll have to wait a little longer than everyone else to dive into Basim’s big adventure.

Square Enix is putting Octopath Traveler 2 on Xbox after all

It turns out Octopath Traveler 2 on Xbox is happening after all, over a year after the RPG first launched on PlayStation, PC, and Switch

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The announcement didn’t include a more specific release window, nor did Square Enix say whether Octopath Traveler 2 would be on Game Pass. 

Octopath Traveler 2 not launching on Xbox in early 2023 came as a bit of a puzzling surprise. Its predecessor was a Nintendo Switch exclusive in 2018 before releasing on PC and Xbox Game Pass a little while after. Square Enix has yet to publish the first Octopath Traveler on PlayStation, but the sequel launched on PS4 and PS5.

The original surpassed four million units in sales, Square Enix said in the announcement. The publisher didn’t say how many units Octopath Traveler 2 has sold since it released in February 2023, though by June 2024, sales had passed 1 million copies.

The Octopath Traveler 2 development team told GLHF they worked hard to improve every aspect of the game, including more jobs, increased flexibility in combat, and a more interesting world, though the story was one of their bigger achievements. Octopath Traveler 2 refines the eight heroes, eight stories approach from the original that resembles SaGa and Live A Live as much as it does Final Fantasy.

Amnesiac clerics, half-beast hunters, wronged warriors, desperate thieves, and optimistic merchants all follow their own paths as they gradually converge and uncover a darker, larger secret behind the world they live in. More and better side quests give the world a lived-in feel that the first game didn’t have, and if you throw in one of the year’s better soundtracks as well, you’ve got the makings of a strong RPG.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

Microsoft thought Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox Game Pass wasn’t worth the money

Baldur’s Gate 3 is still coming to Xbox Series X|S, but Microsoft initially didn’t think it was worth the money for a Game Pass deal

Baldur’s Gate 3 is still coming to Xbox Series X|S, but Microsoft initially didn’t think it was worth the money for a Game Pass deal. The news comes from a cache of unredacted Xbox documents that a Microsoft employee reportedly uploaded to a federal court website, and in this one, Microsoft outlined a number of prospects for Game Pass deals and Xbox leaders’ thoughts on them, including BG3 and Assassin’s Creed Mirage (thanks, Polygon).

The table of prospects lists Baldur’s Gate 3 as a “second-run Stadia PC RPG” and estimated that developer Larian would request a $5 million deal to launch the game on Game Pass. Larian did originally position Baldur’s Gate 3 as a Stadia flagship, before Google shut its cloud-streaming platform down. 

Dismissing Baldur’s Gate 3 seems like a serious oversight in light of its substantial success on PC and PS5, but Michael Douse, the studio’s head of publishing, said that he understood why Xbox considered the game unimportant. Even Larian didn’t realize it would be that popular, even after the er, bear-filled Baldur’s Gate romance tease.

“Same with [Divinity Original Sin 2],” Douse said on Twitter. “Comes with the genre, and the way we approach things, and the way we execute things. There just isn’t any existing data that could have told anyone how BG3 was going to perform. We just had to take giant spooky leaps.”

The same document also showed that Xbox considered a deal for Red Dead Redemption 2 on Game Pass, with notes about the expected $5 million per month request and concerns about the PC version. Xhox believed Assassin’s Creed Mirage would’ve cost $100 million, and there’s a cheeky note at the bottom that says “Also… more Ubi?” That’s possibly a reference to the many Ubisoft games already on Game Pass at the time, though it seems a little ironic now, considering the deal Xbox and Ubisoft reached to connect your Ubisoft+ subscription to Game Pass.

Only two games on the list were definitely out of reach in Microsoft’s view. One was Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which Xbox believed would run them at least $300 million, if EA even considered the deal. The sheet has a note saying “Crown Jewel. They won’t do.” The other was Mortal Kombat Next, presumably what ended up becoming the Mortal Kombat 1 reboot. Xbox called it another “Crown Jewel” and said a “change of guard” at Discovery made a Game Pass deal highly unlikely.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

Microsoft leaked a new Xbox Series X and upcoming Bethesda games

The FTC accidentally leaked several unredacted documents from Microsoft’s antitrust hearing over the Xbox Activision acquisition

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Microsoft accidentally leaked several unredacted documents from Xbox’s antitrust hearing over the Xbox Activision acquisition. The FTC released some redacted versions of some documents during the hearings, though Bloomberg reports that a Microsoft official uploaded unredacted versions to a government court website.

Included in the materials (thanks, The Verge) were Microsoft’s plans for a new Xbox Series X console, emails between Xbox and Microsoft executives about acquisitions, and even a list of upcoming Bethesda games, such as a Ghostwire Tokyo sequel and even a Fallout 3 remake.

Microsoft originally submitted these and dozens of other documents pertaining to the company’s business model and plans at the FTC’s request in a bit to convince the agency that Xbox acquiring Activision Blizzard wouldn’t harm competition in the games space. 

One of the more significant pieces of information in the leaked documents is Microsoft’s plan to launch a digital-only Xbox Series X in 2024, though if the leaked details are true, it’s not quite the mid-gen refresh we saw with the Xbox One. The new Xbox Series X, codenamed Brooklin, features a cylindrical design and some improvements to power consumption, along with an improved wireless controller.

Bethesda’s lineup consists of known quantities, such as The Elder Scrolls 6, and some surprises. Ghostwire Tokyo is apparently getting a sequel, and ZeniMax is working on an Elder Scrolls Oblivion remaster. Doom Year Zero, DLC for that game, a Fallout 3 remake, and Dishonored 3 also showed up in the list.

It’s worth noting that these plans may have changed. The documents were from 2019 and have the Doom game listed for Microsoft’s 2023 fiscal year. That fiscal year ended in July 2023, though some of the leaked emails suggested that shifting schedules and game delays were a common problem in the time after Xbox drew up that tentative release schedule.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty release times and how to play early

The Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty release time is coming up fast, and if you jump through a few hoops, you can even play it a little early

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The Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty release time is coming up fast, with its new ending and CPU-stressing updates, and if you jump through a few hoops, you can even play it a little early. As usual with developer CD Projekt RED’s games, the launch rollout is a bit different depending on whether you play on PC or console. You’ll get access the earliest if you play on Xbox or PlayStation and fiddle with your region setting, though the process on PlayStation is a bit of a nuisance. PC players in the U.S. have the easiest method – just waiting until the afternoon on the day before launch. Time zone differences mean the midnight launch in Europe is around the end of the business day in the States.

Starfield ships ranked by their rizz factor

You can do Starfield ships ranked by their usefulness, but putting the space game’s craft in order of how good they look is where it’s at

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You can do Starfield ships ranked by their usefulness or power, sure, but putting the space game’s fancy craft in order of how incredible they look is where it’s really at. That’s the philosophy I’m operating under for this piece, at least, and it made me look at Starfield’s ships a bit differently. Unlike your usual sci-fi fare, Starfield prioritizes utility in its craft design, and foregoing outlandish styles in favor of something that just works something I could easily see humans doing once they arrived in space.

The best ships blend that utility with a strong sense of style, though there are a few that should never bathe in starlight, let alone see the outside of a hangar.

Note that the final ship is a massive spoiler, so you may want to stop when you see the “Starborn” heading after the Pterosaur.

Larian on the challenges of Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC

Making Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC isn’t impossible, Larian’s Swen Vincke said in a recent interview, but it would almost be like making a new RPG

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Making Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC isn’t impossible, Larian studio head Swen Vincke said in a recent interview, but it would almost be like making a new RPG. Vincke made the comments while speaking with Dungeons & Dragons video producer Todd Kenreck about making the game and what comes next, and the conversation turned back to BG3’s level cap.

The fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons lets players level up to 20, but Baldur’s Gate 3 stops the party at 12. Vincke and Kenreck say that’s for a very good reason. From level 13 on in D&D, players get access to a range of “world-shattering” spells, magic with substantially more power than anything you get prior to that point. 

Vincke said creating a BG3 expansion like that isn’t unfeasible. It would just be more like creating a new game. Going up to level 20 would raise the stakes drastically, he said, which means probably moving the setting to a different area and definitely changing who the antagonists are.

Vincke also said BG3 DLC wouldn’t have to take place at the end of the game. The team at Larian could explore other points in the story, for example, or even a prequel. There’s already a D&D campaign that covers the fall of Elturel, the event that pushed the Tiefling refugees you encounter in Emerald Grove out of their homes.

Maybe we’d see even more weird Baldur’s Gate 3 subclasses in a prequel or mid-quel. Meanwhile, Larian is continuing to work on the Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox version and, Vincke said, has plans for another project in the works already.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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