It appears Microsoft is likely it will receive an antitrust warning from European Union regulators, the European Commission, over its Activision Blizzard acquisition, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke with Reuters.

Activision Blizzard showed off a trailer for "Diablo 4" at The Game Awards last night on Thursday, the same day The Washington Post reported on dysfunctional work conditions at the company. There are three editions of the title available for pre-order on Blizzard's Battle.net. The highest tier allows players access to the game four days before release. All of the editions come with extra cosmetic options and access to the open beta. There's also exclusive mounts, pets and a battle pass.

Blizzard’s security layer is meant to curb cheaters and toxic players

Microsoft is defending its $68 billion bid to buy Activision Blizzard by arguing that the studio doesn't make any "must have" games. In a response(opens in new tab) to the New Zealand Commerce Commission (thanks, RPS(opens in new tab)), Microsoft brushed off anti-competition concerns by saying, essentially, that Activision Blizzard doesn't have any killer apps that might prevent competition from the company's rivals.

A new report says only Pokemon Go has accomplished the feat swifter

There is “no widespread harassment, or systemic harassment at Activision”, claim the findings of a new investigation, conducted and published by Activision. Over the last 12 months, two major lawsuits have been filed against Activision, claiming that some of its employees are victims of gender and sexual harassment, and that some of the company’s directors – despite being aware of various instances of misconduct – have failed to take appropriate action.

Despite multiple concerted union-busting attempts.

When Microsoft announced it would spend $68.7 billion to buy Activision Blizzard to bolster its Xbox gaming division, the news came as a surprise to many. For months, the troubled publisher had been in headlines stemming from the workplace sexual harassment lawsuit filed by California’s fair employment agency in July.

Microsoft‘s recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard will receive an antitrust review handled by the Federal Trade Commission, it has been reported. As reported by Bloomberg, the FTC will investigate the deal to determine whether the takeover of the publishing giant constitutes unfair competition, according to a person speaking to the organisation anonymously.

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Activision Blizzard have settled a lawsuit over the games company’s allegedly pervasive sexual harassment and discrimination. The news follows an EEOC suit filed Monday in California court that was based on a three-year investigation including cooperation from the games publisher. As part of the settlement, Activision Blizzard will create an $18 million fund to compensate employees who claim damages.

We have just picked up the Diablo II: Resurrected achievement list. There are 43 achievements worth a total of 1,000 Gamerscore, none of which are secret.

California has expanded its anti-discrimination lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, adding temporary workers to the female full-time employees of whom it is suing on behalf. The state's Department of Fair Employment & Housing also alleges the game maker has interfered with its investigation.

Investment group SOC says that Activision Blizzard's recent promises to improve its culture do not go "nearly far enough to address the deep and widespread issues with equity, inclusion, and human capital management" that the company is facing.

One summer day in 2018, employees of the video game maker Blizzard Entertainment opened their email to find a brusque message from the chief executive officer, Mike Morhaime. It said the company parted ways with Ben Kilgore, the chief technology officer and Morhaime’s heir apparent. The email didn’t give a reason, but employees immediately began to gossip. Kilgore presided over the most notorious group of sexist drinkers at the Irvine, California, headquarters, where sexism and drinking were rampant, current and former employees said.

Blizzard Entertainment said it now plans to release Diablo Immortal, the company’s mobile action RPG, sometime in the first half of 2022. The company had planned to release the game sometime this year, but updates to PvP and endgame content, as well as a new option for controller support, mean Diablo Immortal won’t meet its previously communicated release window.

Diablo is Blizzard’s darkest series. In the world of Sanctuary, humanity desperately etches out an existence for itself, harangued by demonic invasions and the will of angels. There’s a lot of death, plenty of gore, and a little bit of hope. That’s been the aesthetic blueprint for the series since the first game released back in 1996, and Blizzard isn’t looking to change things up for the upcoming Diablo IV.

Blizzard Classic follows WarCraft III's utter failure with an udder success.

Diablo II is getting a big overhaul in a new remaster. After a few leaks, Blizzard officially announced Diablo II Resurrected at its online-only edition of Blizzcon 2021. The new version of the game — which first launched back in 2000 — will launch this year on PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S, with cross-progression between PC and console. The HD remaster will include both the base game and its expansion, Lord of Destruction.

Late in 2018 Blizzard Entertainment all but signed the death warrant of Heroes of the Storm, its MOBA that brings together beloved characters from the Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft and Overwatch universes. In a blog post, the company announced that it was shifting development resources away from Heroes of the Storm to other projects and cancelling the game’s official esports programs - Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm - altogether. The post promised that Blizzard would continue to support the game, but warned that “the cadence will change”. It didn’t take much for players to read between the lines: Heroes was on life support.

New legal language would ensure total ownership of the next Dota.