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Activision-Blizzard Q4 2022: Blizzard revenues, MAUs spike thanks to WoW...
Welcome back to our inevitable coverage of Activision-Blizzard’s quarterly financials: Today’s edition sums up Q4’s results, comprising October, November, and December 2022. Let’s break it down, first...
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Diablo III’s next season launches Friday with skill tree-granting altars
The end of January saw public testing of Diablo III’s Season 28 get underway, but if you missed that testing window then you can just wait for the season’s release, which is confirmed for Friday,...
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Diablo III welcomes Season 28 while Diablo Immortal goes fishin’
Resolutely ignoring the looming presence of Diablo IV on the horizon, the other Diablo titles are keeping pretty busy these days. In fact, Diablo III just started Season 28: Rites of Sanctuary this...
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Global Chat: How has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine impacted EVE Online?
While the effects of real-world events on video games certainly isn’t as important as the lives, livelihoods, and freedoms of actual people, it is fascinating to consider how such an event can impact...
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The Soapbox: Hating on the competition is no way to promote an MMO
Recently, RIFT was back in the news, offering free subscription time to new and returning players. While I salute Gamigo’s generosity here, whenever the topic of RIFT comes up, I can’t help but think...
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Global Chat: Are we gaming in the ‘Age of Diablo?’
With Diablo II’s remake on the market, Diablo III’s continuing seasons, Diablo Immortal’s patches, and Diablo IV on the way this summer, it’s not much of a surprise to see the Ancient Gaming Noob...
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Not So Massively: Diablo IV’s beta brings the horror, but not the fun
I have been pretty critical of the direction of Diablo IV so far, but franchise loyalty and professional obligation nonetheless led me to accept the offer of a press invite to this past weekend’s...
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First impressions of Diablo IV: Resurrecting Diablo II once again
If franchise media has taught us anything, it’s that sequels which take risks and aren’t universally beloved cause the parent company to panic and yank the next entry back to the original. Almost...
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Global Chat: Diablo IV is an MMO, change my mind
Besides melting GPUs, ejecting colors into the sun, and being more grim than your unapproving Aunt Kelka, Diablo IV’s becoming known for actually being more of an MMORPG than first suspected. And we...
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Not So Massively: Second impressions of Diablo IV
My initial impression of the Diablo IV open beta was lukewarm at best, but I did hold some hope that the second beta weekend might change things. This second beta opened up two more classes, the...
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Why I Play: Diablo III – From pre-release to Reaper of Souls
It’s hard for me to believe that Diablo III’s May 15th, 2012, release was over a decade ago. And despite its reputation of being the black sheep soulstone of the mainline games, it’s gathered a loyal...
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Why I Play: Diablo III – From Reaper of Souls to today
In the first part of this Why I Play retrospective on Diablo III, I discussed the early issues that accompanied the game’s record-setting debut. And while that rocky period is likely something many...
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Activision-Blizzard Q1 2023: ABK revenues are up as Blizzard MAUs fall back...
Activision blinked: Activision-Blizzard wasn’t supposed to release its Q1 2023 financials until tomorrow after the bell, but it’s just done it this morning out of the blue, presumably attempting to...
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Blizzard says Diablo IV’s story is the ‘darkest ever told in a Diablo game’
Here’s a little-known fact about ARPGs: Sometimes they have a story. It’s true! In between all of your frantic clicking and loot exploitation, there are these cutscenes that you immediately exit to get...
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Blizzard walks back Diablo IV Necronerfs, says it’s ‘really confident’ about...
We’re almost at the point where we’re going to be counting down days rather than weeks or months until Diablo IV’s anticipated launch, and it’s safe to say that there is a great deal riding on this...
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Diablo IV’s head start launches this evening – Blizz warns it might be ‘a...
A little over 11 years after the release of Diablo III, this is the day that Diablo IV hath wrought… for pricey edition pre-orders, that is. The global head start for the long-awaited newest entry in...
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Diablo IV’s global launch was marred by server issues, but Blizzard is...
“Welcome to Hell. Diablo IV is now available.” With last evening’s announcement, a new era for the long-running Diablo franchise began. The online ARPG rolled out to all regions and all editions of the...
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Activision-Blizzard Q2 2023: Diablo IV doubled Blizzard’s revenues as MAUs...
Activision-Blizzard has once again released its Q2 financials early as of this morning, but given the fact that this week was meant to be the original deadline for its merger into Microsoft, you can...
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Diablo IV’s first seasonal content, Season of the Malignant, is available today
The dictionary definition of “malignant” can mean evil or malevolent, but it can also means highly infectious or destructive and is frequently used in conjunction with cancerous tissue to refer to...
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Not So Massively: Diablo IV’s disastrous 1.1.0 patch – and Blizzard’s mea culpa
Diablo IV’s last week has just been the drama gift that keeps on giving, and since Blizzard’s latest toy is my favorite game right now, I’m here for it. Its position as a solid OARPG by a problematic...
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Massively Overthinking: What’s Blizzard’s next move?
Gamers and pundits talked a big talk about Blizzard’s prospects over the last few years. Don’t worry about the weak revenues and plunging MAUs, they said. Don’t react to the problematic corporate...
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Massively Overthinking: What makes you embarrassed to be an MMORPG player?
A week or two ago, the MOP writers were chatting about people flipping tables over River Hobbits in Lord of the Rings Online (sigh) when MOP’s Chris deemed it a “certified bruh moment” of the sort that...
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Massively Overthinking: Does reused content in MMOs bother you?
One of the big complaints I saw on the Guild Wars 2 subreddit right before Secrets of the Obscure launched was the grump that ArenaNet was somehow scraping the bottom of the barrel by reusing and...
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Diablo IV plans to pump out yearly expansions and quarterly seasons
While the greater gaming FOMO has moved on from Diablo IV’s time in the spotlight earlier this summer, Blizzard’s online ARPG has great plans for its faithful Sanctuary warriors. In a recent interview...
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Diablo III’s Season 29 will bring one last new theme on September 15 before...
The seasonal model that’s powered Diablo III for a very long time now is winding down, though fans should try and take heart that it’s not ending wholesale. Blizzard’s Season 29 preview post confirms...
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Massively Overthinking: Do you sub to MMOs you’re no longer playing?
Over the summer, an MMO did something I’ve never seen an MMO do before: It stopped taking my money for no discernable reason and unsubbed me! I’d had a three-month Lord of the Rings Online subscription...
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Tencent’s not-a-WoW-clone Tarisland snagged a former World of Warcraft...
It’s not every day that a new MMORPG even talks about its composer or score, let alone sends ’round a press release talking up that composer’s accolades, but that’s exactly what Tencent is doing for...
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Massively Overthinking: What’s next for Blizzard under Microsoft?
So the Microsoft acquisition of Activision-Blizzard is basically a done deal. Oh, sure, the FTC is still fumbling around with hapless appeals, but look, there’s a trailer now. It’s happening. It’s...
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Diablo IV leak hints at a new class and region for the game’s first big...
Blizzard has a reputation for being leakier than a sieve ahead of its reveal events, but the Diablo IV info hitting the internet today isn’t so much an own-goal website leak as it is a datamine of a...
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Massively Overthinking: The ‘elements’ of MMOs
MOP reader Nibbana recently posed us a fun question: “As I play my Scrapper in Guild Wars 2, I thought to myself, man, I love lightning. I played a Sorcerer in SWTOR because I love the lightning. I…....
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The Soapbox: Will Diablo IV’s Vessel of Hatred be a sufficient answer for...
Everyone loves a good enrage timer, right? It puts pressure on everyone involved in a raid or boss fight to pull their weight and play well enough to ensure the boss doesn’t do its unstoppable...
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Massively Overthinking: Hopes and fears for MMOs in 2024
For our first Massively Overthinking of the year, we’re drawing a hard line between what we think will happen, what we mean to make happen, and what we hope will happen (and fear will happen). Yep,...
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Diablo III Season 30 reruns the Lords of Hell theme on January 12
Regular players of Diablo III were likely already aware that Season 30 would begin de facto maintenance mode as the OARPG would begin re-running past seasonal themes by then. We now all know just when...
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Not So Massively: Stormgate isn’t delivering a revolution (yet)
Stormgate’s marketing is laser-focused on studio Frost Giant’s plan to deliver an “RTS revolution.” With StarCraft II still popular but slowly waning as it languishes in maintenance mode, the genre...
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Massively Overthinking: When the original MMO is better than the sequel
A few weeks ago, two lovely gamers I follow on Bluesky were discussing how let down they felt by Diablo IV, less because Diablo IV is particularly bad and more because Diablo III is really good and...
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Emmy-winning composer Russell Brower talks about making Tarisland’s soundtrack
Whatever concerns or qualms you might have about Tencent’s upcoming Tarisland, the soundtrack shouldn’t be one of them. That’s because the game signed on legendary World of Warcraft composer Russell...
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Not So Massively: Last Epoch is a potential gem in dire need of polishing
Originally Kickstarted in 2018, Last Epoch has been in early access on Steam for about five years, but the developers at Eleventh Hour Games have now finally decided the game is ready and released...
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Diablo IV arrives to Game Pass subscribers, Diablo III reruns Forbidden...
This week brought the marquee event that supporters of Microsoft’s multi-billion dollar buyout of Activision-Blizzard were likely eager for: Diablo IV is now available for Game Pass subscribers,...
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Rumor: Bungie is (or at least was?) supposedly working on Destiny 3
According to reporting on multiple websites this morning, Bungie wasn’t just blowing hot air during yesterday’s The Final Shape stream when the studio’s Luke Smith vowed the team had big plans for the...
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Diablo IV boss discusses whether season 4 constitutes a whole new game
If I had a nickel for every time a game dev or a gamer insisted that a patch to a game constituted a whole new game, well I’d be rich enough I wouldn’t need this job anymore. Diablo IV’s Rod Fergusson...
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World of Warcraft general manager John Hight leaves Blizzard ‘to explore new...
The World of Warcraft team and Blizzard at large has seen another one of its long-standing senior devs leave the company. After 12 years, general manager John Hight announced on Twitter that he’s...
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Global Chat: FFXIV rides out on the Dawntrail
The blogosphere is buzzing about the recent release of FFXIV: Dawntrail, including The Nosy Gamer, who provided some first thoughts and impressions of this expansion. “The devs decided to show off the...
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Diablo III’s next season will retread the Shades of the Nephalim mechanic...
The reruns that make up Diablo III’s seasons are continuing forth, as Season 33 will reintroduce players of the OARPG to the Shades of the Nephalim mechanic when it arrives on Friday, October 25th. In...
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Vitae Aeternum: How to fix New World Aeternum’s endgame with rewards and...
New World is currently enjoying an influx of new players following the Aeternum update, but historically New World‘s struggle has not been attracting players – it’s keeping them. In my last Vitae...
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Diablo III reruns the Light’s Calling theme for its Season 34 starting...
Thematically speaking, fighting the legions of Hell with the power of divine light kind of makes sense, even if a world like Sanctuary sees demons get blown up by things like crossbows. But we’re...
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Diablo III abruptly delayed Season 34’s rollout by a week over scheduling issues
Call it the War of the Diablos: Blizzard abruptly announced that it’s delaying the start of Diablo III’s new season this weekend because it’s afraid that Diablo IV’s new season might steal its thunder....
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Diablo III’s rerun of the Light’s Calling for Season 34 releases following...
Diablo III fans who were ready to relive the Light’s Calling theme for the OARPG’s Season 34 had to sit and wait for a week because Blizzard didn’t want Diablo IV’s new season to step on its toes. Now...
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Perfect Ten: 10 MMOs (and MMO-adjacent games) you can play on Nintendo Switch...
In our family, there’s an ongoing joke that I was the one who got the Nintendo Switch as a birthday present a few years back, yet it’s my children who exclusively play it. It’s been quite a good...
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One Shots: Clean up on aisle everything
If you came here hoping to find beauty and wonder encapsulated in a single picture, look away, for Minimalistway is bringing you nothing but an unholy mess that I, for one, am not going to clean up....
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Massively OP Podcast Episode 509: Lord of the Transfers
Justin and Bree discuss the LOTRO transfer mess, the return of APB Reloaded and Fallen Earth, Throne and Liberty's Wilds of Talandre, Guild Wars 2's Repentance, Elder Scrolls Online's Fallen Banners,...
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