Blizzard

Toys For Bob, the developer of Crash Bandicoot 4 and the remastered Spyro collection, has confirmed it’s going independent. Toys For Bob was founded in 1989 before being acquired by Activision in 2005, where they worked on Skylanders. As well as heading up a number of sequels, Toys For Bob also developed Crash Bandicoot 4 and was behind 2018’s Spyro Reignited Trilogy. As part of the recent wave of layoffs at Activision Blizzard, Toys For Bob lost 89 members of staff and saw the closure of their Californian offices. In a…

Exactly nine months after the release of Diablo 4, the action RPG will be receiving its new Gaunlet and Leaderboards features. Both features were supposed to come out earlier in Season 3 but were delayed four times before receiving the new release date of March 5. Image via Blizzard Hopefully the Gauntlet provides new end-game goals Diablo 4 has a pretty big end-game content problem right now. There’s not really much to do and hardly a reason to level all the way up to 100 other than just to say you did the grind.…

On the company’s website, Toys for Bob, the developer behind Skylanders and Crash Bandicoot 4, has announced that it’s diverging from Activision Blizzard to become independent. The post doesn’t really give much more in the way of details. It states that the company will return to being a “small and nimble studio.” They also state that, while they’re separating, they are looking into a “possible partnership” with Microsoft. Explaining, “Our friends at Activision and Microsoft have been extremely supportive of our new…

A treacherous, life-threatening blizzard was targeting California’s mightiest mountain range Thursday, already bringing 100 to 110 mph gusts at the highest elevations, with conditions expected to deteriorate dramatically by Friday night. “It’ll arrive with a vengeance,” said meteorologist Amanda Young of the National Weather Service’s Reno office, which issued a rare blizzard warning for the region, which is typically issued only once a year or every other year. Up to 12 feet of snow could fall on the highest peaks of…

A rare blizzard warning was issued for the Sierra Nevada, including ski resorts at Mammoth Mountain and around Lake Tahoe, as officials urged people to avoid travel during treacherous weather Thursday through Sunday.Up to 8 feet of snow could fall, the latest forecasts say. The blizzard warning was in effect from Lassen Volcanic National Park in Shasta County to Kings Canyon National Park in Fresno County.Friday night to Saturday morning is expected to bring the most extreme conditions of severe snowfall and strong…

A powerful storm expected to hit California starting Thursday could bring the strongest blizzard of the winter for the Sierra Nevada, potentially dumping 5 to 12 feet of snow at elevations 5,000 feet above sea level. “Even by Sierra standards, this is shaping up to be a highly impactful, major winter storm,” the National Weather Service office in Reno said. “If these snow totals hold, this will easily be the biggest storm of the season.”That includes the possibility of 1 to 3 feet of snow for communities along Highway…

Now that the dust has mostly settled on Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the question remains over when those games will start to trickle onto Xbox Game Pass. Xbox head Phil Spencer seems to still want Call of Duty and other big titles on the pass, but it remains to be seen when it could happen. In an interview with Game File, Spencer said the “flagship” franchise for Activision Blizzard is “still coming” to Game Pass. “Our intent is the full portfolio of games from Zenimax, Activision Blizzard, and Xbox…

Since Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion last year, people have wondered if games like Call of Duty would be coming to Game Pass. Microsoft still plans on having first-party Xbox games come to Game Pass on day one, which very well could mean games like Call of DutyIn an interview with Game File, head of Xbox Phil Spencer shared that it's still Xbox's plan to have first-party games appear on Game Pass day one. You need a javascript enabled browser to…

Rodriguez — whose company owned and operated the Call of Duty League’s OpTic Texas team — and now-retired OpTic player Seth “Scump” Abner are seeking $680 million in damages. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the pair claim that Activision Blizzard’s “unlawful 100 percent monopoly” over the league forced them into financially ruinous partnerships at the risk of being unable to compete in the League.Before the arrival of the Call of Duty League, competitive Call of Duty tournaments were hosted by independent third-party…

Activision Blizzard's operation of the Call of Duty League is now the subject of a lawsuit brought by two pro players who allege the esports league is an illegal monopoly, one that prevents competition and forces players and teams to agree to "extortionate" financial terms.The two players are known names in professional Call of Duty circles. Optic Gaming president Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez and pro player Seth "Scump" Abner, the second winningest player in the game's history, are seeking $680 million in…