We've eschewed any Valentine's theming this year, but Edwin put this in our news queue last night as a sort of dare for our evening shift, and let the record show I am less of a coward than Graham Smith. The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, a visual novel Tarot-themed card game from perennial (perhaps perineal, in this case) favourites Deconstructeam, was praised by Edwin in his review, and I was going to use the same strapline for this news post had he not got there first. Because now, in time for the season of romance, they've teamed up with sex toy purveyors Uberrime to create a frankly prohibitively massive dildo as an official tie-in for the game, which can be won in a free competition by three lucky people living in either the UK, EU, US or Canada (as in, they each win their own dildo; they don't have to time share).
Activision Blizzard buyout fallout: 1,900 employees sacked in huge Microsoft layoffs drive
25.01.2024 - 18:59 / tech.hindustantimes.com
Microsoft layoffs: The company is laying off about 1,900 employees in its gaming division, according to an internal company memo, just over three months since the tech giant completed its post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, appearing to acknowledge the layoffs. “It's an incredibly hard day and my energy and support will be focused on all those amazing individuals impacted – this is in no way a reflection on your amazing work,” Ybarra wrote — later adding that his time leading Blizzard “was an absolute honor.”
Microsoft closed its $69 billion Activision Blizzard deal in October, nearly 22 months after the deal was first announced after overcoming opposition from antitrust regulators in the United Kingdom and European Union.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission lost a court fight to block the acquisition but its antitrust enforcers are still pursuing a case that seeks to unwind the deal. The FTC has described the merger as a threat to competition in the video game industry, enabling Microsoft to create “walled gardens” around its Xbox Game Pass subscription service and the emerging business of streaming games on demand.
The latest layoffs at Microsoft follow a chain of job cuts across the tech sector in recent weeks — including those at Google, Riot Games, TikTok, eBay and Amazon. Retail, hospitality, media and other sectors have been it by job cuts as well.
Microsoft eliminated a significant number of roles just one year ago. In January 2023, Microsoft said it would be cutting 10,000 workers, then almost 5% of its workforce, as the company joined other tech players scaling back on pandemic-era expansions.
The latest Microsoft layoffs “underscores the importance of having a union voice on the job,” said the Communications Workers of America — which has been working to organize video game employees, including some at gaming divisions at Microsoft.
In an unusual arrangement for the gaming industry, Microsoft has pledged to stay neutral if Activision Blizzard workers in the U.S. and Canada seek to organize into a labor union. The union deal was part of a 2022 agreement with the CWA that helped address U.S. political concerns about the merger's effects. So far, however, only a small set of Activision Blizzard divisions have formed unions.
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WoW Token Redemption for Balance Not Functioning on EU Servers - Blizzard Working on a Fix
With today's weekly reset for the EU servers, players were surprised to see their ability to exchange WoW Tokens to Battle.net balance supposedly removed. This isn't a change announced by Blizzard, so it may be a bug. This change hasn't affected NA/OCE realms yet. While it is possible this is a bug with the WoWToken system, it is weird that this change is reflected in different places in the game's UI for European players. Without an official announcement from Blizzard, it is hard to know whether this is a change for the retail WoWToken. This may be a change, as the Wrath Classic WoWToken already behaves this way for every region, being able to be redeemed only for Game Time and not Battle.net Balance.
Microsoft's PC and Xbox exclusive Pentiment reportedly coming to PS5 and Switch
Microsoft's Xbox and PC exclusive Pentiment will make its way to PS5 and Nintendo Switch, alongside the previously-leaked Hi-Fi Rush.
Microsoft expected to detail Xbox games on PlayStation, Nintendo in podcast this Thursday
Microsoft's gaming top brass are expected to lay out their plans to publish some Xbox games on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms via a business update released this week as a podcast.
Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Reportedly Told Employees Microsoft Has No Plans to Stop Making Consoles
Amid increasing speculation about the future of Xbox, its exclusives, and even its status as a hardware manufacturer, Phil Spencer reportedly told employees last week that it has no plans to stop making consoles.
RuneScape maker Jagex acquired in deal thought to be worth £900 million
Private equity firms CVC Capital Partners and Haveli Investments have agreed to acquire RuneScape maker Jagex for an undisclosed sum.
Activision Blizzard Layoffs Draw Complaints from FTC as Battle Over Acquisition Continues
Microsoft’s decision to lay off over 1,900 employees across Xbox and Activision Blizzard only three months after acquiring the latter has been cause for plenty of debate, and it seems U.S. government officials were definitely keeping an eye on the situation. While the Activision Blizzard acquisition has officially gone through, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has not given up their fight against it, filing appeals to block and reverse the deal as recently as this past December, and now they’ve filed a complaint about the recent Activision Blizzard layoffs. According to the FTC, the layoffs directly contradict statements that Microsoft made to them that Acti-Blizz would be operated independently at arm’s length, with no redundancies between the two companies.
The FTC isn't happy about Microsoft Activision Blizzard layoffs
The US Federal Trade Commission sure isn't happy about Microsoft's decision to lay off 1,900 staff from its games business.
Microsoft replies to the FTC’s complaint about layoffs, says Activision was already planning job cuts
Microsoft has responded to claims by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that its decision to make mass layoffs in its gaming division contradicts statements it made in court about how it would run Xbox after acquiring Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft Layoffs Include Xbox Physical Retail Teams
One area hit during the recent round of layoffs at Microsoft were the departments focused on bringing physical Xbox games to retail. On January 25, word began circulating that Microsoft Gaming was laying off a massive 1,900 employees from its 22,000-person team. A large portion of this number apparently is coming from the customer service group at newly acquired Activision Blizzard, which up till now was known for having relatively solid customer service.
Microsoft cuts 1,900 staffers from its games division
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Why are Apple, Amazon, Google and Meta facing huge fines? And will it protect consumers?
Following a lengthy investigation, the United States Justice Department is set to file a lawsuit against Apple for potentially breaching antitrust laws. The department alleges Apple is using hardware and software limitations that make it harder for rival companies to compete with iPhones and iPads. If the filing goes ahead, it will mean each of the “big four” tech companies – Amazon, Meta, Google and Apple – will have been sued by the US federal government within the past five years for monopolistic business practices.