One of the biggest publishers in gaming is now part of one of tech’s biggest conglomerates. After being mired deep in scandal for the last seven months, Activision Blizzard has been acquired by Microsoft for $68.7 billion in an all-cash deal.
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While the rumours and confirmation of a new Half-Life game coming out of Valve has been getting all the headlines, another seemingly long-dead franchise is getting a revival. After getting a shot in the arm from a pair of re-releases, Crash Bandicoot will be getting its first new console game since 2008’s Mind Over Mutant with the rumoured release of Crash Bandicoot Worlds.
It used to be the most important week in gaming. Now, it looks as though it isn’t just the gamers and the press that think that the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, has lost some of its luster. Some of the biggest names in the industry don’t see it as the be all and end all of gaming.
Over the last few months, four companies have publicly announced that they won’t have a presence on the floor of E3 this year. In January, EA announced that they wouldn’t be at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Over the last week, Activision, Disney Interactive and Wargaming all announced they wouldn’t be at the LACC either.
The biggest name in North American eSports is now the property of the biggest game publisher in North America. Just prior to Christmas, MLG’s Board of Directors approved the sale of “substantially all” of its assets to Activision Blizzard for $46 million.
The company behind the biggest triple-A game on the market has purchased the company behind the biggest mobile game on the market. Activision, a publisher whose portfolio includes Call of Duty among other hits, has purchased King Digital Entertainment for $5.9 billion.
With this new generation of consoles, it seems as though everything that is old is new again. With so many franchises carrying over from the seventh-generation to the eight-generation and remastered games from the last generations, it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of the biggest franchises of the last two generations may be getting a revival.
Rumours say that Guitar Hero is getting a revival with a new game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2015.
Former military dictator of Panama, Manuel Noriega, is the type of person you’d expect to be used as a basis for a Call of Duty villain but his turn as a character in Call of Duty: Black Ops II hit a little close to home for him. Noriega is suing Activision over using his name and likeness in the popular game series.
Activision has announced a major change to how they make their trademark Call of Duty franchise starting with this year’s edition of CoD. Starting with this fall’s release of Call of Duty, all games will be made on a three-year development cycle. To keep the games coming out annually, Activision has announced that Sledgehammer Games will join Infinity Ward and Treyarch as developers.
I’ve been banging on for months now that I’ve been wanting a new Crash Bandicoot developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 4. Recent rumours have suggested that Sony Computer Entertainment has quietly reacquired the Crash IP from Activision and a recent Facebook post by Sony PlayStation Denmark has all but confirmed the return of the iconic marsupial to the PlayStation family.
I know more than one person does the reviews at IGN but I still like to have a laugh at box quotes proven wrong. Battlefield 4 promoted itself with an IGN quote saying that it blew CoD: Ghosts out of the water. Then the actual reviews come out and…
By the way, BF4’s current-gen console score was only 8.0/10. That’s an even bigger win for CoD.
et geekera 