Consumer Rights Wiki

Activision Blizzard


Activision Blizzard, Inc., often referred to as ABK (Activision-Blizzard-King), or Acti-Blizz, is an American video-game holding company.

Activision Blizzard, Inc.
Basic information
Founded July 9, 2008
Legal structure Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Official website https://activisionblizzard.com

Activision Blizzard currently includes five business units:

  • Activision Publishing
  • Blizzard Entertainment
  • King
  • Major League Gaming
  • Activision Blizzard Studios

Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion on 13 October 2023. Activision Blizzard is a subsidiary of Microsoft Gaming along with Xbox Game Studios and ZeniMax Media.

Products and franchises edit

  • Call of Duty (Activision)
  • Crash Bandicoot (Activision)
  • Guitar Hero (Activision)
  • Skylanders (Activision)
  • Spyro the Dragon (Activision)
  • Tony Hawk's (series) (Activision)
  • Diablo (series) (Blizzard)
  • Hearthstone (Blizzard)
  • Heroes of the Storm (Blizzard)
  • Overwatch (Blizzard)
  • StarCraft (Blizzard)
  • WarCraft (Blizzard)
  • Candy Crush Saga (King)

Incidents edit

Account lock and forced arbitration (2024) edit

Main article: Activision Blizzard account lock and forced arbitration

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

Termination of Blizzard's contract with NetEase (2023) edit

Mainland China lost access to Blizzard's main titles for over a year as a result of licensing agreements going unmet.[citation needed] Following this Overwatch was review-bombed on Steam and, eventually, acquired by Microsoft Gaming.[citation needed]

Call of Duty selling AI-generated content (2024) edit

 
An example of one of the paid AI generated loading screens for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

In late 2024, Activision introduced multiple pieces of content to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 that were AI-generated.[1][2] This content was additionally paywalled, which further upset fans online.[2] It was not originally disclosed to consumers that this content was in-fact AI-generated, and it was not until Valve changed Steam's disclosure policies that it was confirmed publicly that this content was generated using AI software.[3]

Microtransaction (MTX) overload edit

Main article: DLC Overload

Activision is well-known for its excessive usage of microtransactions, with $1.34B in Q1 2021,[4] and further peaks, such as $5.1B in 2022.[5] 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.[6][7] The cosmetics seen inside Black Ops 6 are reported to be the most distracting in the franchise to-date.[8]

Blizzard is additionally not innocent of pumping their content with MTX, with one of the most egregious examples being Overwatch 2.[9] The microtransactions among this game has sparked controversy among the community as well.[10] Other Blizzard IPs are also not safe from this either, such as WarCraft,[11][12] Diablo,[13][14][15] and Starcraft.[16]

Patents edit

Patent Name Summary Of Invention Consumer Related Drawback
US20160005270A1 System and method for driving microtransactions in multiplayer video games The patent lays the ground for a dynamically adjusting matchmaking system to ensure a positive experience for players in order to increase microtransactions. This patent includes a method to check quality factors such as facial expressions, body language, or "other observable metrics related to gameplay" in real time. That includes access to connected cameras like webcams. This clearly violates the consumer's privacy, especially without dedicated notice of such practices as in presumably Call of Duty Black Ops 6.

Source video, needs solid verification of loaded DLLs How to list DLLs

US11896905B2 Methods and systems for continuing to execute a simulation after processing resources go offline To simulate gameplay of NPCs, the system may identify end user devices (e.g., gaming consoles, personal computers, smartphones, etc.) that are connected to the system through a network and are available to participate in a simulated NPC gameplay session. 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 task manager on PC to fully close the game's process. There are also tutorials online on how to completely close the game on console.

References edit

  1. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (9 Dec 2024). "Call of Duty Fans Give Black Ops 6's Zombie Santa Loading Screen the Finger Amid 'AI Slop' Backlash". IGN. Archived from the original on 9 Dec 2024. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Shaun_LaDee (7 Dec 2024). "Amid the 6 fingered Santa Controversy, I looked into some loading screens included in PAID bundles..." Reddit. Archived from the original on 16 Jan 2025. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  3. ↑ Martin, Cole (24 Feb 2025). "Activision is forced to confirm the use of AI in Call of Duty due to Steam's disclosure policy". Windows Central. Archived from the original on 25 Feb 2025. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  4. ↑ Strickland, Derek (5 May 2021). "Activision Q1 microtransctions hit $1.343 billion, best Q1 in 6 years". TweakTown. Archived from the original on 25 Jun 2021. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  5. ↑ Anderson, Kareem (7 Feb 2022). "Activision's $5.1 billion in microtransaction revenue could play a huge roll in Microsoft Gaming's future". onmsft.com. Archived from the original on 7 Feb 2022. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  6. ↑ Reeves, Brianna (27 Apr 2023). "MW2 players say increased microtransaction sales are why COD won't improve". Dexerto. Archived from the original on 30 Apr 2023. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  7. ↑ Lewis, Catherine (28 Apr 2023). "Microtransactions are killing Call Of Duty, players say". Gaming Bible. Archived from the original on 4 Jul 2023. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  8. ↑ Morris, Daniel (20 Dec 2024). "Black Ops 6 cosmetics: has Call of Duty jumped the shark?". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 21 Dec 2024. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  9. ↑ "Overwatch 2". macrotransactions.org. 2022. Archived from the original on 22 May 2025. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  10. ↑ Star99er (26 Jan 2025). "Overwatch's Aggressive Microtransactions". Blizzard. Archived from the original on 8 Jul 2025. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ "World of Warcraft". macrotransactions.org. 2025. Archived from the original on 11 Apr 2025. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  12. ↑ Parker, Jason (23 Nov 2021). "World of Warcraft's New Microtransactions Are Greedier Than Ever". EsportsTalk. Archived from the original on 6 Sep 2024. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  13. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (7 Jun 2023). "Now Diablo 4 Is Out in the Wild, the True Horror of Its Costly Microtransactions Has Revealed Itself". IGN. Archived from the original on 8 Jun 2023. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  14. ↑ "Diablo Immortal". macrotransactions.org. 2022. Archived from the original on 9 Aug 2022. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  15. ↑ "Diablo IV". macrotransactions.org. 2023. Archived from the original on 11 Aug 2024. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
  16. ↑ ackmondual (16 Jul 2021). "MTX (microtransaction) is beyond suckage". Blizzard. Archived from the original on 8 Jul 2025. Retrieved 13 Jul 2025.
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