Activision Blizzard: Difference between revisions

}}[[wikipedia:Activision_Blizzard|'''Activision Blizzard, Inc.''']], often referred to as '''ABK (Activision-Blizzard-King)''', or Act-Blizz, is an American video-game holding company.

==Products and franchises <!-- Further Reading: https://www.gamingbible.com/news/heres-every-ip-microsoft-own-after-buying-activision-20220118 -->==

*''Call of Duty (Activision)''

*''Crash Bandicoot (Activision)''

*''Guitar Hero (Activision)''

*''Skylanders (Activision)''

*''Spyro the Dragon (Activision)''

*''Tony Hawk's'' (series) ''(Activision)''

*''Hearthstone (Blizzard)''

*''Heroes of the Storm (Blizzard)''

*''Overwatch (Blizzard)''

*''StarCraft (Blizzard)''

*''Warcraft (Blizzard)''

*''Candy Crush Saga (King)''

=Incidents=

===Account lock and Forced arbitration (2024)===

Activision Blizzard blocked access to Blizzard services, requiring customers to accept [[forced arbitration]] terms in the updated Blizzard [[end-user license agreement]] (EULA)

Mainland China lost access to Blizzard's main titles for over a year as a result of licensing agreements going unmet.

Following this Overwatch was review-bombed on Steam and, eventualy, acquired by Microsoft Gaming.

=== Call of Duty selling AI generated content (2024) ===

[[File:ZombieClaus.jpg|thumb|An example of one of the paid AI generated loading screens for COD BO6]]

In late 2024, Activision introduced inside Call of Duty Black Ops 6 multiple pieces of content that were AI generated.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yin-Poole |first=Wesley |date=Dec 9, 2024 |title=Call of Duty Fans Give Black Ops 6's Zombie Santa Loading Screen the Finger Amid 'AI Slop' Backlash |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/call-of-duty-fans-give-black-ops-6s-zombie-santa-loading-screen-the-finger-amid-ai-slop-backlash |access-date=Mar 14, 2025 |work=IGN}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=u/Shaun_LaDee |date=Dec 7, 2024 |title=Amid the 6 fingered Santa Controversy, I looked into some loading screens included in PAID bundles… |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/CODZombies/comments/1h90fn2/amid_the_6_fingered_santa_controversy_i_looked/?embed_host_url=https://www.ign.com/articles/call-of-duty-fans-give-black-ops-6s-zombie-santa-loading-screen-the-finger-amid-ai-slop-backlash |url-status=live |access-date=Mar 14, 2025 |work=Reddit}}</ref> This content was additionally paywalled, which further upset fans online.<ref name=":0" /> This content was not disclosed to consumers that it was in-fact AI-generated, and only until Valve changed Steam's disclosure policies, was it confirmed that this content was AI generated.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Cole |date=Feb 24, 2025 |title=Activision is forced to confirm the use of AI in Call of Duty due to Steam's disclosure policy |url=https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/activision-is-forced-to-confirm-the-use-of-ai-in-call-of-duty-due-to-steams-disclosure-policy |url-status=live |access-date=Mar 14, 2025 |work=Windows Central}}</ref>

=== Microtransaction (MTX) overload ===

<blockquote>Further Reading: [[Microtransaction overload]], [[Downloadable content#DLC overload|DLC Overload]]</blockquote>Activision is well-known for its excessive usage of microtransactions, with $1.34B in Q1 2021,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Strickland |first=Derek |date=May 5, 2021 |title=Activision Q1 microtransctions hit $1.343 billion, best Q1 in 6 years |url=https://www.tweaktown.com/news/79133/activision-q1-microtransctions-hit-1-343-billion-best-in-6-years/index.html |url-status=live |access-date=Mar 14, 2025 |work=TweakTown}}</ref> and further peaks, such as $5.1B in 2022,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Kareem |date=Feb 7, 2022 |title=Activision’s $5.1 billion in microtransaction revenue could play a huge roll in Microsoft Gaming’s future |url=https://onmsft.com/news/activisions-5-1-billion-microtransactions-revenue-quarter/ |url-status=live |access-date=Mar 14, 2025 |work=ONMSFT.com}}</ref>  it is clear that Activision is highly incentivized to generate as much revenue via microtransactions, going so far as to contribute to the detriment of the games according to fans.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Reeves |first=Brianna |date=Apr 27, 2023 |title=MW2 players say increased microtransaction sales are why COD won’t improve |url=https://www.dexerto.com/call-of-duty/mw2-increased-microtransaction-sales-vanguard-cod-improve-2127808/ |url-status=live |access-date=Mar 14, 2025 |work=Dexerto}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Catherine |date=Apr 28, 2023 |title=Microtransactions are killing Call Of Duty, players say |url=https://www.gamingbible.com/news/microtransactions-are-killing-call-of-duty-players-say-344299-20230428 |url-status=live |access-date=Mar 14, 2025 |work=Gaming Bible}}</ref> The cosmetics seen inside Black Ops 6 are reported to be the most distracting in the franchise to-date.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Daniel |date=Dec 20, 2024 |title=Black Ops 6 cosmetics: has Call of Duty jumped the shark? |url=https://www.destructoid.com/black-ops-6-cosmetics-has-call-of-duty-jumped-the-shark/ |access-date=Mar 14, 2025 |work=Destructoid}}</ref>

Blizzard is additionally not innocent of pumping their content with MTX, with one of the most egregious examples being Overwatch 2.<ref>https://macrotransactions.org/overwatch-2</ref> The microtransactions among this game has sparked controversy among the community as well.<ref>https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/overwatch%E2%80%99s-aggressive-microtransactions/948993</ref> Other Blizzard IP are also not safe from this either, such as Warcraft,<ref>https://macrotransactions.org/world-of-warcraft</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Parker |first=Jason |date=Nov 23, 2021 |title=World of Warcraft’s New Microtransactions Are Greedier Than Ever |url=https://www.esportstalk.com/news/world-of-warcraft-new-microtransactions-greedier-than-ever/ |access-date=Mar 14, 2025 |work=eSports Talk}}</ref> Diablo,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yin-Poole |first=Wesley |date=Jun 7, 2023 |title=Now Diablo 4 Is Out in the Wild, the True Horror of Its Costly Microtransactions Has Revealed Itself |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/now-diablo-4-is-out-in-the-wild-the-true-horror-of-its-costly-microtransactions-has-revealed-itself |access-date=Mar 14, 2025 |work=IGN}}</ref><ref>https://macrotransactions.org/diablo-immortal

https://macrotransactions.org/diablo-4</ref> and Starcraft.<ref>https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/sc2/t/mtx-microtransaction-is-beyond-suckage/22690</ref>

|The patent lays the ground for a dynamically adjusting matchmaking system to ensure a positive experience for players in order to increase micro transactions.

|This patent essentially describes how a botnet is created in the consumer's network, which is outright stealing resources to train the company's NPC AI - even after closing the game. Further misuse of affected network devices is very well possible, thanks to unclear language like "an agent '''[...]''' may program one or more physical processors of end user device[s]". This seems to be already happening with Call of Duty Black Ops 6. The game is reported to still run in the background even after closing it. You need to use the Windows taskmamager on PC to fully close the game's process. There are also tutorials online on how to completely close the game on console.

==General references:==