Tag: Activision

From Our Worlds to Yours: Thank You for an Incredible 2025 – Xbox Wire

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What would you like to say to your players after releasing Ninja Gaiden 4 this year?

Our deepest thanks to everyone who has played the game, from the Master Ninjas who have been supporting the series for a long time, to those who are playing the series for the first time! Our days were spent developing the game so that players can enjoy the series’ signature intensity and a variety of actions to overcome difficult situations, so I’m happy if you experienced even a bit of the game! I think the flavor of the action really comes through the more you play it, so please continue to enjoy the different characteristics of the two Master Ninjas, Yakumo and Ryu! – Hirayama

To everyone who has supported Ninja Gaiden over the years, and to those how have started playing the series from this entry, thank you for playing the game. I enjoy watching your gameplay videos and comments on social media every day. In this game, we aimed for the revival of pure action that transcends time, and the three companies put everything into developing it. The action is really exciting and it’s a stoically made game, so those of you who have played the game please continue to thoroughly study it… and those who haven’t played it yet, I’ll be thrilled if you give this feel good slash action a try! – Nakao

How does it feel to have the game out there after development?

First of all, to be able to deliver a new numbered title in the series after 13 years is something that our entire team is truly happy about. We continuously debated and adjusted the game towards its launch, and once it was released it felt like it passed in an instant so I didn’t feel anything immediately, but as I saw social posts and videos being posted every day, little by little I began to feel joy. – Hirayama

For our development team, there are many members who, during the golden age of slash action games, were players or were involved as developers. So, while we had confidence in the game itself, I felt more nervous and excited than I have ever been before. And my current feeling is of relief, since the action has been well received. – Nakao

Are there any stories about how players have engaged with your game that you’d like to reflect on?

For a long time, we were in the dark while developing this game but seeing everyone playing and reacting to it at gaming events was a big driving force in development, and we made use of it in the final adjustments towards launch. Thank you again for your support! Post-launch, we are checking every single piece of feedback, so please look forward to future in-game updates! – Hirayama

Although I’ve mentioned it several times, we’ve been receiving a lot of feedback that, “the action definitely feels good!”, and it’s the part we’ve put our most effort into, so I am extremely happy that everyone is pleased with it. In this game we’ve taken the big challenge of mixing the best parts of Ninja Gaiden with the best parts of PlatinumGames’ action, so nothing makes me happier than hearing everyone enjoying the action. – Nakao

What is your studio most looking forward to in 2026?

We are really looking forward to everyone playing “The Two Masters,” the additional content currently in development! In addition to new weapons for Yakumo and Ryu, we are planning on an additional story and other replayable content. We’re working hard to deliver it as soon as we can, so please wait a little bit longer! – Hirayama

There are many games coming out next year, and as always, several action games will be released, so as an action game maker we are looking forward to seeing these games. For us, in 2026 we are planning to release additional content for Ninja Gaiden 4, “The Two Masters,” which we are currently hard at work developing. Not only is there content such as a new story, but above all the new weapons for each character will provide a new play experience unlike any of the previous weapons, so we hope you look forward to it! – Nakao

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NINJA GAIDEN 4 Standard Edition

Xbox Game Studios

☆☆☆☆☆
447

★★★★★

$69.99

$48.99

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The definitive ninja hack & slash franchise returns with NINJA GAIDEN 4! Embark on a cutting-edge adventure where legacy meets innovation in this high-octane blend of style and no-holds-barred combat.

Return of the Legend
Experience a return to the intense, high-speed combat that established NINJA GAIDEN as a premier action game series. Prepare for a legacy reborn with captivating style for a new generation of players.

Epic Hack and Slash Combat, Evolved
NINJA GAIDEN 4 fuses Team NINJA’s tempered combat philosophy with the stylish, dynamic action gameplay of PlatinumGames. Engage in visually stunning combat that rewards precision and strategy. Use Bloodbind Ninjutsu to transform your weapons and unleash devastation upon your enemies, alongside legacy techniques like the Izuna Drop and Flying Swallow. The legendary Ryu Hayabusa also returns with a revamped yet familiar set of tools to master. With a customizable player experience, NINJA GAIDEN 4 will push action game veterans to their limits while allowing newcomers to enjoy a heart-pounding adventure full of twists and turns.

An Ancient Enemy Returns
An endless rain of miasma hangs over a near-future Tokyo in the wake of an ancient enemy’s resurrection. The fate of the city lies in the hands of young ninja prodigy, Yakumo. Fighting his way through cybernetic ninja soldiers and otherworldly creatures, Yakumo must reconcile a destiny he shares with the legendary Ryu Hayabusa himself and free Tokyo from the ancient curse that brought the city to its knees.

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Joe Skrebels, Xbox Wire Editor-in-Chief

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December 18, 2025
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 appears to feature AI-generated art assets

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By all appearances, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 features a not insignificant amount of AI-generated art, Kotaku reports. The game’s over 680 Calling Cards — collectible backgrounds earned through in-game achievements or purchases — appear to be the main offenders, featuring art that imitates the knockoff animation style of ChatGPT.

While it’s hard to authoritatively claim that Studio Ghibli-inspired illustrations are a smoking gun, the Calling Cards players have spotted do at the very least seem unpolished for a splashy $70 game. Activision has also confirmed that the game’s development team used “generative AI tools to help develop some in-game assets” in a disclosure on the Black Ops 7 Steam page, which certainly won’t dissuade anyone’s suspicions.

In a statement to Kotaku, Activision also didn’t deny the possibility, noting that AI was one of several “digital tools” it used “to empower and support our teams to create the best gaming experiences possible for our players.” Using AI-generated art or at least AI art edited by a human could have saved Activision and developer Treyarch money during development. But it’s also possible these in-game rewards look weird because they were made in the rush to get the game out the door.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has the honor of being the first in the franchise to launch on Xbox Game Pass, one way Microsoft hopes to justify the subscription’s recent price hike. That the game features AI-generated assets might dampen some player’s excitement, but Black Ops 7’s campaign seems like the more pressing issue. It requires an internet connection to run because it was designed to be played in a “squad” of four, but even if you play with in-game bots, you still can’t pause the game.

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November 14, 2025
“Every Lane Needs a Purpose” – How Treyarch Crafts Multiplayer Maps for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 – Xbox Wire

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One of the things that made Black Ops 6 Multiplayer stand out was introducing a new way for players to move through the maps with Omnimovement – a feature that allows you to sprint, slide, and dive in any direction with a full 360-degress range of motion. It was perhaps one of the biggest game changers to come to Multiplayer in years. New for Black Ops 7 will be wall jumps, which have given matches an even greater level of verticality and speed, in addition to a refined version of Omnimovement. When the crafting process starts, I wanted to know at which point do these new and distinct gameplay features play a role in how a map is built – is it from inception or later in the process?

“I think it can be both, but usually it’s from inception,” Scronce tell me. “Where a map like Blackheart, for example, which was in the Beta, that map has wall jumps that go over a grinder. So, for sure, new mechanics are considered. I think, when everything turns out the best is when everybody’s kind of aware and driving towards the same goal. But there are maps where you start playing them, and then you’re like, ‘Oh, it’d be really cool if I could do this…’ That might not be a wall jump opportunity, but perhaps a sneaky, clever opportunity. Maybe we’ll put a piece of plywood down to tell you that you can jump here, and the team will shape it a little bit more.”

“When we’re looking at stuff and talking about different maps, before they’re even starting paper design, it’s like, ‘What’s the intention of this map?’” adds Miller. “Do we want it to be a big map, but [have] the engagements be close? What are the goals? And some of it could be we want this to be a map where it’s about finding flank routes and moving constantly, versus a map where it’s about finding good cover, posting up, and kind of head-to-head battles.”

No player wants every map to play the same way, which circles back to how features like Omnimovement and wall jumps can feed into making each of these maps feel distinct, whether they are leaning into these new features or not. “You can kind of learn from that in the design. And then, of course, the community figures out other ways of being successful in maps… and we make changes,” Miller says.

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Mike Nelson, Xbox Wire Editor

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October 27, 2025
Call of Duty is getting the movie treatment, courtesy of Paramount

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Paramount has just signed a deal with Microsoft and Activision to make a movie based on the iconic Call of Duty franchise. The valuation of the deal hasn’t been revealed, .

We don’t know much about the specifics of the deal, other than it covers a live-action feature film that Paramount will develop, produce and distribute. This means we don’t have any information about the cast, creative team or what game or era the film will pull from.

After all, there have been more than 30 mainline games in the franchise. Some of the standard Call of Duty games could make for decent, yet slightly derivative, war movies, while the more futuristic titles could spin out into sci-fi epics.

Variety reports that . The deal is for one movie but industry sources indicate that there’s potential here for Paramount to expand the franchise to more movies and TV shows. Get ready for the CoDCU.

Paramount an $8 billion merger with Skydance, after making . Since that happened, the newly-formed media conglomerate has been on a spending spree.

It lured the creators of Stranger Things and shelled out over $7.7 billion for for the next seven years. The company recently announced plans to , eventually hoping to release 20 films annually. As for games, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 arrives on November 14.

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Lawrence Bonk

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September 2, 2025
Report: Activision Canceled A Crash Bandicoot / Spyro Crossover Game

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Image: Activision / Liam Robertson / Did You Know Gaming

A new report claims that Crash Bandicoot 5 was greenlit by Activision, but was then canceled very early in development due to Crash 4 selling poorly and the publisher wanting to focus more on live-service titles, like Call of Duty: Warzone. Interestingly, this game would have seen the wumpa-fruit-loving marsupial cross over with another platforming mascot, Spyro the Dragon.

Kotaku’s Hopes For Spyro The Dragon’s (Reported) Comeback

According to a new report from gaming journalist and historian Liam Robertson, formerly Activision-owned studio Toys For Bob began working on a multiplayer Crash Bandicoot game after it had wrapped on the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. But then the company took some of that work and began developing 2020’s Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. That game was well-liked by fans and critics, and Toys For Bob began planning a follow-up.

This new game, known internally as Crash Bandicoot 5, was planned to be a direct sequel to Crash 4 and would be a single-player 3D platformer, like previous entries in the long-running franchise.

Did You Know Gaming / Liam Robertson

Robertson’s video includes concept art and possible story ideas for this never-finished Crash sequel. At one point, the developers were planning to include Spyro in the sequel, with the report claiming that the two would have worked together to save their respective universes from a giant cataclysmic event. Both characters would be playable, and players would even see both characters’ universes in this multiverse pitch.

Kotaku has reached out to Activision about the report.

According to the report, Toys For Bob only worked on Crash 5 for around three to four months and largely focused on concept art and early environments. In the winter of 2020, Activision canceled Crash 5, reportedly due to Crash 4‘s low sales and the publisher wanting to focus on online games over single-player titles. Toys for Bob then worked on Crash Team Rumble, a short-lived and not very popular online game that you probably forgot even launched.

Thankfully, Toys for Bob was able to survive all this. In February, the company announced that it was going independent and would work alongside Activision-owner Microsoft on a new project. It’s now rumored that Toys For Bob is working on a new Spyro game.

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Zack Zwiezen

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August 26, 2024
Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 Will Still Come To PS4 And Xbox One

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Image: Activision

We’re now halfway through the life-cycle of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, but Call of Duty doesn’t appear to be giving up on the last-gen consoles that preceded them yet. A leak out of GameStop suggests that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will still come to PS4 and Xbox One, but continue to cost the same as the $70 “next-gen” versions.

The Best Reveals From The Game Awards 2023

An apparent photograph circulated by CharlieIntel shows the SKUs and prices for 2024’s Call of Duty in GameStop’s inventory system. The image lists Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PS4, with a $70 price tag for each, and the Xbox One version seemingly included via Smart Delivery. Insider Gaming reports that it’s been able to independently verify that the data in the image is real, and two GameStop employees Kotaku spoke with corroborated the claim as well, confirming that pre-order SKUs are currently live in their system.

If made official, this would be the longest that Call of Duty has ever remained cross-gen. When the series originally made the jump to PS4 and Xbox One back in 2013 with Call of Duty: Ghosts, it remained on PS3 and Xbox 360 for two years after that until Activision ditched the older consoles with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. With Black Ops 6, PS4 and Xbox One will have continued receiving last-gen versions for a surprising five years in a row.

If you’re wondering why this might be the case, look no further than the fact that roughly half of PlayStation users are still playing on a PS4. The last-gen install base remains huge, and cutting it off from one of the most expensive games to make would be leaving a ton of money on the table. PS5 exclusives like Spider-Man 2 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth already appear to have suffered poorer sales as a result of that.

Of course, Xbox players aren’t likely to notice the price hike anyway since most of them will be able to play Black Ops 6 with a paid Game Pass subscription. Microsoft is reportedly planning to bring the series to the Netflix-like library later this year, though there are also rumors that it might raise the monthly service’s price once it does.

Activision declined to comment.

Update 5/24/2024 5:45 p.m. ET: Added Kotaku’s own sourcing and independent corroboration.

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Ethan Gach

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May 24, 2024
Cheech And Chong Are Coming To Call Of Duty Because Everything Must Be Consumed

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Cheech and Chong, the comedy pair famous for their albums and movies from the 1970s and ‘80s, will be added to Call of Duty as part of the upcoming Season 3.

This Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay Feature Spices Up A Weak Campaign

An iconic stoner duo, Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin don’t seem like the kind of guys who would grab M4s and shoot people. The two created films and comedy routines focused on hippies, free love, drugs, and counterculture ideas. But the Activision machine demands more and so in they go, with the publisher confirming in a new blog post that the duo are heading to Call of Duty Warzone, Warzone Mobile, and Modern Warfare 3 sometime next month.

While we don’t yet know officially when the duo will be playable in Call of Duty’s various multiplayer offerings, other weed-inspired cosmetics and a “Blaze It Up” event seem to point toward Cheech and Chong arriving on or around April 20, aka 4/20.

Here’s how Activision, a very large and not-at-all hippie-like corporation, describes the two and the new cosmetic pack in the lengthy blog post:

Forged in the counterculture revolution, yet armed with drive and creative power, Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin turned cultural friction into comedic success. Facing systemic barriers with humor and cannabis, the duo exploited adversity to bring underground voices into the mainstream. Chong’s ingenuity and Marin’s heritage primed them for fame, while their comedic chemistry made them icons. Their albums and films exposed injustice with subversive joy, pioneering stoner comedy and becoming symbols of irreverent truth.

I know some will get a kick out of this, giggle about all the weed content, and not think much more about it all, and that’s fine. But I just keep getting sadder and sadder as I watch all of pop culture and entertainment slowly consume itself and we get closer and closer to a future where everything is one big grey blob owned by WarnerBros Disney Fox Universal Monsanto Sony Tencent Apple Microsoft.

Sure, it’s silly that I can watch Ariana Grande fight Goku and Michael Myers in Fortnite. But watching all art get chopped up and chucked into the never-ending maw that is the metaverse makes me really sad, man. I miss when stuff was distinct and unique.

Season 3 of Call of Duty Warzone, Warzone Mobile, and Modern Warfare III starts April 3 on all platforms.

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Zack Zwiezen

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March 27, 2024
U.S. Accuses Apple of Running a Monopoly

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Apple is in major legal trouble as the Department of Justice (DOJ) and 16 state and district attorneys filed a lawsuit against the iPhone maker, as reported by the Washington Post Thursday. They accuse Apple of building a monopoly with the iPhone.

Apple Unveils Its iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9

The suit alleges Apple’s changes to its rules and high fees created a “degraded user experience.” Some of the practices cited included the iMessage green bubbles for non-iPhone users, the 30% App Store fee, and privacy issues with the Apple Wallet.

“We alleged that Apple has consolidated its monopoly power, not by making its own products better, but by making other products worse,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press conference Thursday. “If left unchallenged, Apple will only continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly.”

Apple says the suit is wrong on the facts and the law.

“This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets,” the company said in an emailed statement to Gizmodo Thursday. “If successful, it would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple—where hardware, software, and services intersect. It would also set a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology.”

Apple routinely finds itself in legal trouble over its business practices, but the company finds ways to keep winning. Last year, the legal battle between Epic and Apple over the App Store payment options went all the way to the Supreme Court, but Apple prevailed in the end.

On the hardware side, Apple has been fighting right-to-repair laws so that it can keep repairs for its products in-house. However, the company does seem like it’s changing its mind on some recent right-to-repair legislation in certain states.

But that’s in the U.S. Over in the European Union (EU), Apple has been getting spanked by regulations. Not only did regulators make Apple go all-in with USB-C cables for the iPhone 15 last year, but the EU also made Apple open up its software to allow third-party app stores onto its devices.

The Biden administration has picked multiple fights with some big companies over antitrust violations. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon for operating an illegal monopoly while the DOJ filed a suit against Google for the same reason. Microsoft was also the focus of antitrust legal action when it acquired video game publisher Activision. That deal was completed in October, but the FTC appealed that merger in December seeking to reverse it.

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Oscar Gonzalez

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March 21, 2024
Activision’s union, with 600 members, is now the biggest one in video games

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The number of unionized workers for Microsoft’s video game subsidiaries keeps growing, and the latest group to join the pool is the largest one yet. Approximately 600 quality assurance workers at Activision have joined the Communications Workers of America (CWA), making them the biggest certified union in the US video game industry. They’re also the first Activision workers to organize under the agreement between Microsoft and the CWA. If you’ll recall, Microsoft agreed to respect the right of Activision Blizzard workers to unionize as part of its efforts to secure regulatory approval for its $68.7 billion takeover of the video game developer.

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. said Microsoft kept its promise to let workers decide for themselves whether they want a union. Part of Microsoft’s pledge when it agreed to make a pact with the CWA was that it would take neutral approach during a union campaign, and the company said it didn’t interfere or influence people’s votes.

Another element of their agreement was giving employees access to “innovative technology-supported and streamlined process for choosing whether to join a union,” which includes not having to petition the National Labor Relations Board for an election. In this instance, the workers only had to sign a union authorization card or to vote online. According to The New York Times, 390 workers voted in favor of forming a union, while eight people were opposed to it. Around 200 more didn’t cast their vote.

In early 2023, Microsoft also recognized a union with 300 workers for Zenimax, the owner of Bethesda and another one of the company’s video gaming subsidiaries, which was the largest one for the video game industry at the time. Those workers also unionized under the simpler process enabled by the company’s agreement with CWA. By the end of the year, Microsoft agreed to hire 77 temporary QA contractors as full-time unionized Zenimax employees, which was a welcomed win for workers in an industry beset by layoffs.

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Mariella Moon

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March 9, 2024
Activision studio Toys for Bob is going independent after sweeping Xbox layoffs

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Activision studio Toys for Bob has announced that it’s leaving the corporate rat race and is spinning off as an independent developer. This comes just weeks after Activision Blizzard’s parent company Microsoft instituted sweeping layoffs at Toys for Bob that impacted 86 employees. That’s more than half of the entire staff.

The developer said the choice to go indie will allow it to return to “being a small and nimble studio”, harkening back to its early days of the 1980s and 1990s when it made hit titles like Star Control. To that end, the company says it’s already developing a new game, though there won’t be any official announcements for a while.

Additionally, there looks to be no hard feelings for former parent company Activision and, uh, grandparent company Microsoft. Toys for Bob said that both entities have “been extremely supportive of our new direction and we’re confident that we will continue to work closely together as part of our future.”

Toys for Bob is primarily known for the Skylanders franchise, but was also behind the well-reviewed Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time and the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. It’s also been involved with creating content for Call of Duty: Warzone.

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Lawrence Bonk

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February 29, 2024
Blizzard Dev Uses Company Perk To Get A Decade Of WoW Time Before Being Laid Off

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Last week, Microsoft laid off 1900 video game workers across its various studios. This included cuts at recently acquired Activision Blizzard. And one employee, before being laid off, used a Blizzard company perk to walk away with nearly 10 years of World of Warcraft subscription codes.

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The video game industry’s terrible 2023, which saw thousands of people laid off across multiple companies, has continued into 2024. As of January 29, according to Kotaku’s layoff tracker, nearly 6,000 cuts have been made at places like Unity, Riot, Bethesda, Twitch, Discord, and Activision Blizzard. One developer at Blizzard realized what was happening and took advantage of a company perk before losing access.

As spotted by PC Gamer, on January 25, the same day the layoffs at Blizzard happened, former product lead Adam Holisky tweeted that once he “realized what was happening” and that he was one of the nearly 2,000 people losing their jobs that day, he made sure to “jump into Keyring and use all the 1-year [pre-paid World of Warcraft] subscription codes” he had yet to activate.

He then shared a screenshot that shows that he doesn’t have to pay for his World of Warcraft subscription until October 14, 2033. That’s one hell of a parting gift and beats a watch or pizza party, that’s for sure.

“Free game time is a well-known employee benefit,” Holisky added on Twitter. “I just never used all the codes I got over the years. It’s nothing sketchy or immoral.”

I reached out to Holisky and he explained to me that Keyring is an internal system at Blizzard where employees can access digital game codes that they “earned for whatever reason.”

He clarified that he had stockpiled these one-year codes while working at Blizzard for nearly five years. Another employee who was laid off at the company tried a similar tactic, but it seems so many others were trying to get their codes before getting laid off that they all crashed the Keyring service.

So Holisky was like Indiana Jones sliding under the door and grabbing his hat at the last second, except the stone door is horrible layoffs causing 1,900 people to be out of work and the hat is a decade of key codes. And while a decade of WoW subscription time is a nice prize, I assume most folks would rather have a job instead.

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Zack Zwiezen

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January 29, 2024
Call of Duty: Warzone Devs Worked Overnight To Fix Busted Update

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Call of Duty: Warzone and Modern Warfare III’s Season 1 Reloaded update launched midday on January 17—and almost immediately broke both FPS titles. The Reloaded update promised anti-cheat improvements, adjustments to the Zombies mode, new cosmetics, new multiplayer maps, and more, but the launch was plagued by server issues and visual glitches. In the time since launch, the dev team has deployed multiple fixes to right the ship, even appearing to work overnight into the wee hours of the morning on Thursday, January 18.

This Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay Feature Spices Up A Weak Campaign

Historically, ‘Reloaded’ updates come in the middle of Call of Duty seasons as a way to keep the game fresh between massive seasonal changes and adjustments. Notably, this is the first Reloaded update for Modern Warfare III, which launched back in November of last year (confusingly, every time a new Call of Duty title drops, the season count starts all over again, though the updates have remained tied to the free-to-play Warzone battle royale since Modern Warfare II). The update promised a massive new anti-cheat measure that automatically shut downs the Call of Duty PC application if aim assist is detected, MWIII ranked play, a new Rio-based map, an Operator based on The Boys TV series, new game modes, and much more.

Unfortunately, from the moment the Season 1 Reloaded update launched, players began reporting serious issues across both Warzone and MWIII. Streamer fifakill shared a clip on X/Twitter of the game glitching just under half an hour after the Reloaded launch, writing “If you try to go to ‘create a class’ in the menu your game will bug and you’ll have to restart. If you try to hit loadout in game this happens.” He also shared a clip showing a strange dent in the topography of the Urzikstan map, which was definitely not intentional. MWIII Ranked was delayed, some weapon attachments were broken, challenge progress was bugged, interacting with in-game loot crates was freezing the game, and more. Call of Duty site CharlieIntel called it “the worst Call of Duty update of all time” on X/Twitter.

In the face of the litany of issues, the dev teams (Raven Software, which works on Warzone, and Sledgehammer Games, which works on MWIII) have been rolling out fixes as soon as they’re ready to go rather than in one massive patch, so that nearly 24 hours after launch, many of the major problems have been fixed. Unfortunately, it also seems like the dev teams had to work overnight to ensure this, as some of the updates were shared as early/late as 3:40 a.m. ET. “I don’t think I can recall seeing updates going out in the middle of the night. Ggs,” wrote one commenter. While it’s great to see the dev teams responding swiftly to issues, I don’t think overnight work is ever worth a “gg.” Work/life balance is much more important than bugged loot crates, IMO.

Kotaku reached out to Activision for details on how/when the dev teams were working on fixes, but did not receive a comment in time for publication.

Updating live-service games like Warzone involves a ton of moving parts, and sometimes one little change can render the entire car undriveable. Luckily, if you’re a Call of Duty player, it seems that Reloaded is in a much better state just 24 hours after launch.

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Alyssa Mercante

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January 18, 2024
10 Game Boy Advance Games We Want On Nintendo Switch Online

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The announcement that Nintendo Switch Online’s Game Boy Advance range is to receive RPGs Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age is incredibly welcome news. But there are still some absolutely colossal gaps, some all-time great GBA games that we’d love to play on our Switches. Nintendo! Hear our pleas!

Read more…

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John Walker

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January 15, 2024
New Call Of Duty Gun Has A Delightfully Annoying Easter Egg

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The newest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Warzone bundle includes an SMG that features a silly animation that references the annoying “Update Requires Restart” message players commonly encounter when trying to boot up either game. Just be prepared to spend $20 to get this new gun.

This Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay Feature Spices Up A Weak Campaign

Call of Duty games released in the last few years have frustrated fans with a prompt asking them to restart the game due to an update. This message often appears before jumping into the main menu. While on console this restart might only take a few seconds, PC players might have to wait a minute or more before they can start playing. It’s been a problem since at least 2020 and is still a thing in MWIII and battle royale spin-off Warzone. The message has become so ubiquitous over the years that it has become a meme within the CoD community. And Activision is ready to laugh at itself while taking some money from you, too.

On January 5, the “Insert Coin Mastercraft” cosmetic bundle appeared in MW III and Warzone’s in-game stores. While the bundle includes a bevy of cosmetics—including a new ‘80s-themed outfit, loading screen, and player emblem—The Arcade Rhythm submachine gun is the coolest part of the pricey pack.

That’s because if you inspect the weapon, you’ll be treated to your soldier bringing the SMG up to their face, trying to log into Call of Duty by mashing a button, and then being greeted with the annoying update prompt. This leads to the soldier bashing the gun in frustration, which likely mimics how many CoD players have reacted to the prompt.

I’m not a Call of Duty player anymore these days, but I’ll admit that it’s nice to see this franchise, which is usually so damn serious, make fun of itself. Plus, the Arcade Rhythm SMG comes with a neat pixel-death effect that basically de-rezzes everyone you kill, Tron style. And it even features pixelated muzzle smoke, which is a nice touch.

Once again Call of Duty keeps tempting me with cool retro video game skins and weapons, like that Doom shotgun from last year. And once again I have to hold strong. I’m already spending too much money on Fortnite. I can’t afford another battle royale in my life.

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Zack Zwiezen

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January 5, 2024
Activision Sure Knows How To Bury A Story On A Friday Night

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Photo: Kevin Dietsch (Getty Images)

Activision Blizzard has been the subject of scrutiny for several years now, due to its widely criticized “Boys’ Club” corporate culture of sleazy shenanigans. And now, late on a Friday evening just before the holiday season begins in earnest, The Wall Street Journal reports the embattled gaming company announced on December 15 that it will pay $50 million to settle a 2021 gender discrimination and harassment lawsuit—the same lawsuit that seemingly prompted Microsoft’s landmark $69 billion acquisition of the Call of Duty and Overwatch publisher that was finally greenlit after an 18-month legal battle in October of this year.

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California’s Civil Rights Department sued Activision back in 2021, claiming company leadership willfully ignored employee complaints regarding pay disparity, gender- and sexuality-based harassment, and discrimination.

Activision has repeatedly denied these charges. Company representatives have also claimed that an internal investigation by its board of directors concluded that the allegations against the company were without merit. When the Microsoft acquisition closed earlier this year, longtime Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was “asked” to stay for another two months, through the end of 2023.

According to the Journal, which broke the story regarding the settlement, the state of California had initially estimated Activision’s liability for a far greater amount than $50 million.

The state in 2021 estimated Activision’s liability at nearly $1 billion to 2,500 employees who might have claims against the company, court documents show. Activision had around 13,000 employees as of the end of 2022.

Citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the Journal goes on to claim that state agencies had “initially sought an amount much greater than the settlement Riot Games paid earlier this year to settle its lawsuit.” The Riot settlement in May 2023, which touched upon similar grievances relating to toxic workplace culture, resulted in a $100 million settlement for plaintiffs.

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Jen Glennon

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December 15, 2023
The Week’s Hottest Takes, From Scott Pilgrim To TLOU 2

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Gamers are a passionate bunch, and we’re no exception. These are the week’s most interesting perspectives on the wild, wonderful, and sometimes weird world of video game news.

The Top 10 Most-Played Games On Steam Deck: August 2023 Edition

The Scott Pilgrim Anime Backlash, Explained

Image: Netflix

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the new animated series based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels, is out on Netflix. The eight-episode series reunites the voice cast of the 2010 live-action movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and is a hilarious blend of the series’ quick wit and well-measured pop culture references. All of this sounds like a recipe for success, right? Well, it’s a little more complicated. Read More

The New Division Game Has A Feature Every Game Should Steal

Image: Ubisoft / Kotaku

Ubisoft’s new The Division game isn’t even out yet, as it’s still in beta testing and won’t launch officially until 2024. But after trying the beta, I already want one feature from the upcoming game to become standard in every video game I play in the future. Read More

The Future Of ChatGPT Just Became A Circus [Update]

Photo: Justin Sullivan / Applle / Kotaku (Getty Images)

OpenAI is the research organization behind ChatGPT, the AI-generated chatbot that took the internet by storm last year for its capacity to have really weird conversations with tech journalists. It’s at the center of Microsoft’s big bet on generative AI tools transforming the world, gaming, and more, and it’s now at risk of imploding after its CEO, Sam Altman, was mysteriously ousted by the OpenAI board of directors and Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear was desperately recruited to replace him. Here’s all you really need to know about OpenAI to appreciate what a clusterfuck the last few days have been. Read More

Kotaku Asks: How Soon Is Too Soon For A Video Game Remaster Or Remake?

Screenshot: PlayStation / Naughty Dog

How much time has to pass before it becomes acceptable to remaster or even remake a game? 10 years? 15 years? What about three-ish years? Is that enough time between the original and the remaster? Well, that’s what’s happening early next year as Naughty Dog is remastering 2020’s The Last of Us Part II. Read More

I’m So Tired Of Crossover ‘Skins’ Cluttering Up Video Games

Image: Xbox / Epic Games / Bungie / Overkill Software / Kotaku

Another day, another big video game crossover. This time it’s Bungie’s online looter shooter, Destiny 2, adding Witcher 3-inspired armor to its digital store. Are you excited? I’m not. In reality, I’m just really tired of every brand mixing together, regardless of whether it makes sense or is needed, as if concocting the world’s worst stew. Read More

Admit It, You Don’t Understand Skill-Based Matchmaking (And Neither Do I)

Image: Kotaku / Asier Romero / Luis Molinero (Shutterstock)

Whenever a new blockbuster first-person shooter drops, gamers limber up so they can once again argue over how multiplayer matches get made and the algorithmic systems that determine who plays against whom and when. The recent release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is no exception—not long after its multiplayer servers booted on November 10, players began flocking to Reddit, X (Twitter), and everywhere in between to complain about the quality (or perceived lack thereof) of Activision’s matchmaking. But, as with so many issues in the gaming industry, there’s a serious lack of nuance and true understanding at play here. Read More

I Can’t Miss The Last Of Us If It Won’t Leave

Image: Naughty Dog

Remember when it took us seven years to get a new The Last of Us game? Remember when there was even a question about whether or not we’d ever get a sequel to Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic action game because the ending was so intentionally ambiguous and thought-provoking?

Now, it seems we can’t go a year without being reminded that Sony thinks as many people should experience this series as possible, while folks associated with the HBO adaptation praise the game in ways that border on the absurd. Now, we’re getting a remaster of The Last of Us Part II, and it feels like we’re reaching peak Last of Us fatigue. Read More

This Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay Feature Spices Up A Weak Campaign

This Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay Feature Spices Up A Weak Campaign

Open Combat Missions are a fresh idea worth carrying over to future Call of Duty games.

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Kotaku Staff

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November 25, 2023
Kotaku’s Biggest Gaming Culture News For The Week November 18, 2023

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From mergers to memes, the landscape of interactive entertainment is always in motion. Here’s your cheat sheet for the week’s most important stories in gaming.

6 Things To Know Before Starting Persona 5 Tactica

Baldur’s Gate 3’s New Deluxe Edition Is A Steal For The Price

Screenshot: Larian Studios / Kotaku

Baldur’s Gate 3 already has one special edition, in the form of its Collector’s Edition. We even unboxed it here at Kotaku, and it’s got a lot of cool knickknacks that pay tribute to its tabletop roots. Of course that was expensive, solely for PC and PlayStation 5 players, and didn’t include a physical copy of the game itself. But Baldur’s Gate 3 is coming to Xbox next month, so Larian Studios is taking the opportunity to release a new, Deluxe Edition for all three platforms. And given what comes in the box, I think it’s pretty darn affordable. Read More

The Best Soulslike Of 2023 Just Got Easier

Image: Neowiz Games / Round8 Studio

Like game director Ji Won Choi promised in early November, duo-developers Neowiz Games and Round8 Studio have dropped a new update for their gothic, Belle Époque-era Soulslike RPG, Lies of P. And just as expected, this update makes some significant changes to the game so that you have an actual fighting chance at surviving this bloodied retelling of the Pinocchio story. Read More

Modern Warfare III Players Beg For OP ‘Groot’ Skin To Get Removed

Image: Activision

Modern Warfare III players are begging Activision to remove a “literally invisible” cosmetic first introduced in Modern Warfare II that’s plaguing multiplayer matches yet again. Read More

Valve Has A Plan To Stop Bots And Resellers From Hoarding The New Steam Deck

On November 16, Valve will let folks purchase a new Steam Deck OLED Limited Edition model, which features all the upgrades of the base OLED version of the portable PC, but with some extra cosmetic details, too. And to help folks actually get a chance to buy this thing, Valve is implementing some safeguards to slow or stop bots and resellers from buying them all up instantly. Read More

Hades Is Joining The Best Free Game Library Nobody Uses

Image: Supergiant Games

One of the best action-RPGs in a generation is finally getting a mobile version, but it’s a mixed blessing. The good news is that Hades is coming to iPhones in 2024 and will be free for Netflix subscribers. The bad news is that it will be exclusive to both, with no way to buy the game outright or play it on Android devices. Read More

Suicide Squad Game Resurfaces With Big Map And Live-Service Plans

Rocksteady is finally ready to start talking about Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, after delaying it (again) earlier this year. The studio first announced its upcoming supervillain co-op action game way back in 2020. In a new video series going behind the scenes of the game, the devs explained how big its map will be and showed off some new cutscenes. Conveniently, they barely mentioned any of the live-service aspects fans aren’t happy about. Read More

Here Are Your Picks For The Biggest 2023 Game Awards Snubs

Photo: JC Olivera (Getty Images)

Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards are far from the be-all and end-all of which games are good, creatively bold, and deserving of praise each year, but they’re still fun to get way too serious about. It’s the one day game developers get to dress fancy, go up on stage, and receive our collective thanks for their artistic accomplishment rather than getting canned the night before the quarterly earnings call. Read More

Former Mass Effect Lead Forms New Studio To Make Narrative-Focused Games

Screenshot: BioWare / Kotaku

Chinese publisher NetEase is opening a new studio with the lead writer behind the Mass Effect series at the helm.

Worlds Untold will be based in Vancouver, and helmed by CEO Mac Walters, who’s known for his work at BioWare that spanned almost 20 years. Walters was a writer on martial arts RPG Jade Empire, then a senior writer on the first entry in the sci-fi RPG series, Mass Effect, and was eventually promoted to lead writer on Mass Effect 2 and 3. Following this, he was brought on as creative director on Mass Effect: Andromeda, worked on early narrative direction on Anthem, and project directed the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remasters, before ending his tenure at the studio as a production director on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. So he was at the forefront of a lot of the narrative direction of BioWare’s last two decades. How you feel about that probably varies depending on your opinions on the state of the studio, but speaking personally, the narrative wasn’t my biggest problem with most of those games. Read More

Kotaku Unboxes The Spider-Man 2 Limited Edition PS5

Kotaku Unboxes The Spider-Man 2 Limited Edition PS5

The $600 set is currently sold out at PlayStation’s store but is still a gift to keep in mind for the Spidey-loving gamer in your life this holiday season

Total Recall: How Does KotOR Hold Up In 2023?

How Does KotOR Hold Up In 2023? | Total Recall

We look back at what made BioWare’s first Star Wars RPG one of the most celebrated of all time

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November 18, 2023
Crash Team Rumble’s Latest Cameo Makes Me Want A New Spyro Game

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I liked Crash Team Rumble. I even said as much on this very website when the brawler MOBA launched back in June. But man, seeing them add Spyro, Crash’s flying, fire-breathing, OG PlayStation platformer contemporary to the roster just makes me wish we had a new Spyro the Dragon game.

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Spyro is set to join Crash, Catbat, and many of the bandicoot’s other friends and foes in Crash Team Rumble when its third season, titled All Fired Up, launches on December 7. The purple dragon joins Ripto (one of the series’ villains, who was strangely added before the hero himself in the second season) as a guest character, alongside Elora, the guiding fawn companion from the original trilogy. Not much is known about how Spyro will play, but it’s curious that Crash Team Rumble has been adding Spyro crossover characters, music, and cosmetics two seasons in a row, huh?

My hope is that this is more than just lip service and that publisher Activision is actually planning to make a substantive Spyro announcement in the near future. Back in September, rumors of a fourth mainline Spyro game circulated on sites like Reddit, but the specifics of the alleged leak, such as an October reveal and Spyro Reignited Trilogy remake artist Nicholas Kole being attached to the project, were debunked. As fun as Crash Team Rumble is, it’s not the Crash Bandicoot or Spyro game I want, and I know that sentiment rings true for a lot of fans.

Even if Crash Team Rumble isn’t what fans are looking for, Activision has been investing pretty heavily into Crash Bandicoot since it had a soft reboot with the Crash N. Sane Trilogy in 2017. That collection remade Naughty Dog’s first three Crash games for modern systems, then Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled followed in 2019. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, a brand-new platformer, launched in 2020, and was a really solid, challenging spin on the original formula.

Spyro the Dragon, meanwhile, has been getting scraps in this wave of OG PlayStation platformer love. The Reignited Trilogy brought his original three Insomniac-made games to modern systems with a new coat of paint in 2018, but it’s been 15 years since the last brand-new Spyro game. The little purple guy has pretty much been relegated to a crossover cameo here and there in Crash Bandicoot games.

I grew up on these games, and even if the mascot platformer has mostly gone out of vogue, I would still play a Spyro or Sly Cooper game in 2023. But while companies love to throw little references and crossovers into current games, that rarely leads to a new game. Spyro has been showing up in Crash’s adventures for years now, and with each passing year that he doesn’t get his own comeback game, these crossovers feel more and more like a carrot on a stick, leading nowhere.

I’ll still probably boot up Crash Team Rumble to play Spyro, though. So guess I should put on my clown makeup.

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Kenneth Shepard

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November 17, 2023
Modern Warfare III Is Currently The Worst-Reviewed Call of Duty Ever

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Image: Activision

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (no, not the 2011 shooter of the same name without the Roman numerals) just launched, and it’s had an interesting few days. On top of having what many are saying is one of the series’ worst campaigns and getting review-bombed by the public, Sledgehammer Games’ latest entry of Activision’s franchise is on track to be the series’ worst-reviewed game in its 20-year history.

Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold

As pointed out by VGC, Modern Warfare III is sitting at a middling 50 out of 100 on review aggregate site Metacritic, putting it a whopping 23 points below the average review score of 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard, which previously held the worst-reviewed title with a 73. Metacritic is based on average critic scores, and MWIII has 33 reviews as of this writing—given that the game is just a few days old , more reviews are likely. But the user score is an abysmal 1.5 on a scale from 1 to 10—some of which may be from review-bombing, as player reviews are likely dropping a 0 or 1 score to voice their grievances, but overall, the sentiment around Modern Warfare III is an all-time low for the series.

Buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop

Kotaku doesn’t score games in our reviews, but we do have Modern Warfare III campaign impressions, in which Claire Jackson called it “at best a net neutral experience that feels rushed, and a boring waste of charismatic characters at worst.” All of this comes after reports that Modern Warfare III’s development was rushed to get the game out in 2023 after alleged mixed messaging from management about the scope of the project.

If you’re at all confused about what’s going on with Call of Duty’s Modern Warfare subseries because you thought Modern Warfare 3 came out a decade ago, check out this handy explainer.

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Kenneth Shepard

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November 13, 2023
Report: Devs Worked Nights And Weekends To Rush Modern Warfare III Out

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Image: Activision

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III’s single-player campaign was panned by critics when it released early on November 2. Reviewers hit it with low scores and said it felt short, rushed, and incomplete. Now Bloomberg reports that the game was rushed out in half the time of a normal Call of Duty sequel, with devs working nights and weekends to meet Activision’s annualized sales goals.

Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold

According to Bloomberg, the game was originally pitched to Sledgehammer developers as an expansion to Modern Warfare II that would focus on missions based in Mexico instead of the series’ normal globetrotting set-pieces. In the summer of 2022, however, Activision executives apparently rebooted the project as a full-fledged sequel about the Modern Warfare II villain Vladimir Makarov. The company needed to fill the gap left by an apparent delay of Treyarch’s next Call of Duty game, and reportedly decided against simply taking a year off from the blockbuster’s annual release schedule.

Read More: Modern Warfare III’s Campaign Mostly Sucks

A spokesperson for Activision denied this, however. Sledgehammer Games studio head Aaron Halon told Bloomberg in an interview that the developers who thought Modern Warfare III had originally been planned as an expansion were simply confused because it was a “new type of direct sequel,” despite the PlayStation 5 version of the game appearing as DLC on the trophies menu and asking some players to insert the Modern Warfare II disc.

But more than a dozen current and former Call of Duty developers told Bloomberg that Halon’s take “conflicted” with what they were initially told. Some of them also seemingly worked nights and weekends to try and get Modern Warfare III out on time, despite the game only having half the development time of a normal Call of Duty sequel. “They felt betrayed by the company because they were promised they wouldn’t have to go through another shortened timeline after the release of their previous game, Call of Duty: Vanguard, which was made under a similarly constrained development cycle,” Bloomberg reports.

Call of Duty has made billions for Activision, but the series has a long and increasingly-well-documented track record of burning out its developers. One of the big questions facing the franchise now that Microsoft owns it (after recently closing its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard) is whether it will continue the seemingly unsustainable development cycles or let the blockbuster take a year off for the first time in decades.

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Ethan Gach

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November 9, 2023