https://massivelyop.com MMORPG news and opinions Mon, 12 Feb 2024 02:57:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/12/magic-to-master-goes-crypto-ties-down-a-publisher-and-eyes-a-nebulous-february-early-access-release-window/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/12/magic-to-master-goes-crypto-ties-down-a-publisher-and-eyes-a-nebulous-february-early-access-release-window/#comments Mon, 12 Feb 2024 14:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=479357 With all of the loud goose honking that came out of the gaming industry in 2023, it would be understandably easy to have forgotten about Magic to Master, itself being an allegedly unauthorized version of Gameforge-published Metin 2 that took some twists along its development track last year, including fake testimonials from multiple outlets (including […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/12/magic-to-master-goes-crypto-ties-down-a-publisher-and-eyes-a-nebulous-february-early-access-release-window/feed/ 7 https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/09/genshin-impact-takes-cheat-makers-to-court-for-copyright-infringement/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/09/genshin-impact-takes-cheat-makers-to-court-for-copyright-infringement/#comments Fri, 09 Feb 2024 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=478972 You have to be a special sort of sad to want to cheat in a game like Genshin Impact, let alone one who would pay for the ability to do so. That’s regrettably what has been happening, but developer Hoyoverse is not taking the matter lying down and has taken several people to court for […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/09/genshin-impact-takes-cheat-makers-to-court-for-copyright-infringement/feed/ 3 https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/09/microsoft-insists-activision-blizzard-was-planning-on-mass-layoffs-before-the-merger/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/09/microsoft-insists-activision-blizzard-was-planning-on-mass-layoffs-before-the-merger/#comments Fri, 09 Feb 2024 15:30:05 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=479239 As we’ve been covering, earlier this week the FTC filed a complaint to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, alleging that Microsoft misrepresented itself during hearings before the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. Specifically, in seeking to assuage regulators’ concerns, Microsoft vowed it would “maintain the pre-merger status quo” – that it would run Activision-Blizzard as a […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/09/microsoft-insists-activision-blizzard-was-planning-on-mass-layoffs-before-the-merger/feed/ 41 https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/09/former-overwatch-2-lead-vfx-artist-calls-out-blizzard-for-deceptive-promotion-and-pay-behavior/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/09/former-overwatch-2-lead-vfx-artist-calls-out-blizzard-for-deceptive-promotion-and-pay-behavior/#comments Fri, 09 Feb 2024 14:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=479177 Workers and former workers at the various substudios at Activision-Blizzard have been calling it out as an unpleasant workplace for a while now since the whole scandal with the company began, and Blizzard was not spared (just remember how Brian Birmingham was treated last year). But now we’ve got even more evidence that company has […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/09/former-overwatch-2-lead-vfx-artist-calls-out-blizzard-for-deceptive-promotion-and-pay-behavior/feed/ 21 https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/08/korean-supreme-court-rules-man-isnt-a-conscientious-objector-because-he-likes-playerunknowns-battlegrounds/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/08/korean-supreme-court-rules-man-isnt-a-conscientious-objector-because-he-likes-playerunknowns-battlegrounds/#comments Thu, 08 Feb 2024 22:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=478949 We admit that the headline for this story is pretty wild, so allow us a few moments to lay some contextual groundwork: South Korea has a Military Service Act that mandates all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 35 be conscripted into military service, with those violating the law facing prison time. However, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/08/korean-supreme-court-rules-man-isnt-a-conscientious-objector-because-he-likes-playerunknowns-battlegrounds/feed/ 10 https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/08/ftc-files-a-complaint-against-microsoft-following-activision-blizzard-layoffs/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/08/ftc-files-a-complaint-against-microsoft-following-activision-blizzard-layoffs/#comments Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=479046 When Microsoft outlined its plans for what would happen following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, one of the things that the company stated was that there would not be layoffs as the acquisition would be treated in a strictly vertical fashion. Of course, this was perhaps an obvious prevarication even before the raft of 1900 […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/08/ftc-files-a-complaint-against-microsoft-following-activision-blizzard-layoffs/feed/ 17 https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/05/microsoft-will-require-final-fantasy-xiv-players-to-subscribe-to-xbox-game-pass-in-order-to-play-the-game/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/05/microsoft-will-require-final-fantasy-xiv-players-to-subscribe-to-xbox-game-pass-in-order-to-play-the-game/#comments Mon, 05 Feb 2024 21:00:28 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=478737 It’s tucked away in the announcement that Final Fantasy XIV’s beta on the Xbox Series X|S starts on February 21st, but the announcement does confirm that players will be required to pay a monthly subscription to Xbox Game Pass in order to subscribe to the game. That means that at minimum, you will be paying […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/05/microsoft-will-require-final-fantasy-xiv-players-to-subscribe-to-xbox-game-pass-in-order-to-play-the-game/feed/ 78 https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/02/former-devs-of-the-day-before-recount-a-workplace-of-employee-fines-shifting-whims-and-pure-megalomaniacal-chaos/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/02/former-devs-of-the-day-before-recount-a-workplace-of-employee-fines-shifting-whims-and-pure-megalomaniacal-chaos/#comments Fri, 02 Feb 2024 14:30:15 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=478297 However badly managed The Day Before may have looked upon its disastrous early access release, the reality was reportedly much worse than anyone could have imagined. Anonymous Fntastic devs and employees of publisher Mytona reporting to German gaming sites Game Two and GameStar have told an astonishing tale of blatant mismanagement, galling mistreatment, and an […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/02/02/former-devs-of-the-day-before-recount-a-workplace-of-employee-fines-shifting-whims-and-pure-megalomaniacal-chaos/feed/ 23 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/29/psa-valheims-discord-and-two-iron-gate-discord-accounts-have-apparently-been-hacked/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/29/psa-valheims-discord-and-two-iron-gate-discord-accounts-have-apparently-been-hacked/#comments Mon, 29 Jan 2024 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=477644 Bad news bears for survival sandbox Valheim tonight, as apparently hackers have taken over the game’s Discord – as well as some of the developers’ own accounts. Just after 4 p.m. EST, Iron Gate’s Jens Hellström tweeted, “Our official discord server is under attack. Don’t click any links, don’t click any files etc etc. […] They […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/29/psa-valheims-discord-and-two-iron-gate-discord-accounts-have-apparently-been-hacked/feed/ 7 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/29/mad-worlds-steam-launch-is-more-like-sad-world/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/29/mad-worlds-steam-launch-is-more-like-sad-world/#comments Mon, 29 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=477518 Too little, too late? That may be the epitaph to Mad World’s nine-month trek to bringing the game to Steam after last year’s launch. We already knew that this grimdark MMO wasn’t blowing up in any significant way, despite its unique visual language, but the extremely lackluster release on Steam this past week seems to […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/29/mad-worlds-steam-launch-is-more-like-sad-world/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/25/the-final-fantasy-xiv-live-action-tv-series-is-apparently-dead-in-the-water/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/25/the-final-fantasy-xiv-live-action-tv-series-is-apparently-dead-in-the-water/#comments Thu, 25 Jan 2024 15:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=476949 Remember that talk about adapting Final Fantasy XIV into a live-action television series? No, not the Dad of Light series that included FFXIV as a concept, but an actual live-action series set in the universe with all the chocobos, moogles, and Cid beard shots you could ask for. (Unless, like, you could ask for a […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/25/the-final-fantasy-xiv-live-action-tv-series-is-apparently-dead-in-the-water/feed/ 5 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/25/the-day-before-studio-claims-to-be-the-target-of-misinformation-and-a-hate-campaign-in-a-statement/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/25/the-day-before-studio-claims-to-be-the-target-of-misinformation-and-a-hate-campaign-in-a-statement/#comments Thu, 25 Jan 2024 14:00:59 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=476964 When Fntastic’s survival shooter The Day Before officially shut down its servers, we had assumed it would be the last headline to come out of the mismanaged game. However, the studio had one last Hail Mary of insanity to throw at the world, as it put out a defensive statement that tries to claim that […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/25/the-day-before-studio-claims-to-be-the-target-of-misinformation-and-a-hate-campaign-in-a-statement/feed/ 18 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/23/british-army-appears-to-abruptly-cancel-the-debut-of-a-new-recruitment-game-in-fortnite/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/23/british-army-appears-to-abruptly-cancel-the-debut-of-a-new-recruitment-game-in-fortnite/#comments Tue, 23 Jan 2024 23:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=476688 Games as military recruitment tools aren’t entirely new to readers here, primarily in the case of the official US Army FPS series America’s Army, the latest iteration of which was sunset in 2022. However, efforts by the British Army to drive enlistment into service via a Fortnite game appear to have blown up in the […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/23/british-army-appears-to-abruptly-cancel-the-debut-of-a-new-recruitment-game-in-fortnite/feed/ 10 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/23/the-day-before-has-officially-sunsetted-bringing-its-early-access-drama-to-a-final-ending/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/23/the-day-before-has-officially-sunsetted-bringing-its-early-access-drama-to-a-final-ending/#comments Tue, 23 Jan 2024 18:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=476598 This year’s popcorn drama is currently being provided by the likes of Palworld, but last year, it was The Day Before – and now it is no more. MOP readers will remember that The Day Before was Fntastic’s open-world survival MMO, first revealed back in 2021, though it was 2023 when the game actually started […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/23/the-day-before-has-officially-sunsetted-bringing-its-early-access-drama-to-a-final-ending/feed/ 7 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/23/riot-games-laid-off-over-500-people-last-night-and-no-we-dont-know-what-it-means-for-the-riot-mmo/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/23/riot-games-laid-off-over-500-people-last-night-and-no-we-dont-know-what-it-means-for-the-riot-mmo/#comments Tue, 23 Jan 2024 14:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=476580 Riot Games is joining the seemingly endless list of game studios continuing to dump workers overboard: Last night, the company announced it is shedding a whopping 530 employees, representing 11% of the company. The studio tells players “the biggest impact [is] to teams outside of core development,” though the growing list of affected devs says […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/23/riot-games-laid-off-over-500-people-last-night-and-no-we-dont-know-what-it-means-for-the-riot-mmo/feed/ 15 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/22/the-daily-grind-how-much-do-you-think-the-whales-of-your-top-mmo-spend-in-a-year/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/22/the-daily-grind-how-much-do-you-think-the-whales-of-your-top-mmo-spend-in-a-year/#comments Mon, 22 Jan 2024 13:00:12 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=474652 A few weeks back, following Korea’s Fair Trade Commission ordering Nexon to pay nearly $9M in fines over its deceptive gamble-upgrade mechanics, players went ballistic over a chart from the KFTC that purports to show the biggest individual spenders on MapleStory for 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. The figures, converted to USD, are quite frankly […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/22/the-daily-grind-how-much-do-you-think-the-whales-of-your-top-mmo-spend-in-a-year/feed/ 30 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/18/guild-wars-2-studio-says-no-accounts-involved-in-new-social-engineering-claim-were-compromised-by-cs/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/18/guild-wars-2-studio-says-no-accounts-involved-in-new-social-engineering-claim-were-compromised-by-cs/#comments Thu, 18 Jan 2024 14:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=475962 The Guild Wars 2 Reddit community has been up in arms this week over a gigantic thread started by former ArenaNet partner and content creator Paul “Olrun” Bentz. Olrun essentially alleges that his account has been taken over by a hacker using social engineering tricks on ArenaNet’s customer support, and his attempts to retrieve it […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/18/guild-wars-2-studio-says-no-accounts-involved-in-new-social-engineering-claim-were-compromised-by-cs/feed/ 10 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/17/apb-reloaded-is-sunsetting-its-console-versions-in-fact-the-xbox-server-is-already-permanently-offline/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/17/apb-reloaded-is-sunsetting-its-console-versions-in-fact-the-xbox-server-is-already-permanently-offline/#respond Wed, 17 Jan 2024 14:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=475779 We’ve got some bad news for the APB community: Last night, Little Orbit announced that it’s sunsetting APB Reloaded’s console versions. “The decision to discontinue APB Reloaded on consoles was driven by a combination of technical challenges, resource constraints, and the evolving landscape of gaming,” the studio explains in its dev blog. “We want to […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/17/apb-reloaded-is-sunsetting-its-console-versions-in-fact-the-xbox-server-is-already-permanently-offline/feed/ 0 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/16/fractured-onlines-duping-and-hard-drive-downtime-turns-into-24-hour-rollback/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/16/fractured-onlines-duping-and-hard-drive-downtime-turns-into-24-hour-rollback/#respond Tue, 16 Jan 2024 14:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=475573 Fractured Online is dealing with yet another round of chaos this week. Readers will recall that a duping-related downtime this weekend was compounded by a borked hard drive hosting the game. It kept the MMO offline the better part of yesterday, and Dynamight Studios did ultimately clean out a reported 23M duped gold, only 6M […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/16/fractured-onlines-duping-and-hard-drive-downtime-turns-into-24-hour-rollback/feed/ 0 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/15/runescape-and-old-school-runescape-will-close-their-official-forums-on-march-28/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/15/runescape-and-old-school-runescape-will-close-their-official-forums-on-march-28/#comments Mon, 15 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=475529 Whether anyone likes it or not, it looks as if the official MMORPG forums are going the way of the dinosaurs, as even Jagex’s long-running games RuneScape and Old School RuneScape have both announced that their official forums will be taken offline on Thursday, March 28th. “Right now our forums represent a very small fraction […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/15/runescape-and-old-school-runescape-will-close-their-official-forums-on-march-28/feed/ 3 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/12/psa-cryptocurrency-scammers-are-stealing-solarpunks-assets-for-use-in-nfts-and-a-supposed-metaverse/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/12/psa-cryptocurrency-scammers-are-stealing-solarpunks-assets-for-use-in-nfts-and-a-supposed-metaverse/#comments Fri, 12 Jan 2024 21:00:28 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=475183 At this point we’d like to believe that the vast majority of our readers are assured that cryptocurrency games, metaverses, and NFTs are all naked attempts to grift unsuspecting people. Even so, we have to look into the fourth wall with deep levels of disappointment at the galling and flagrant attempt being made by a […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/12/psa-cryptocurrency-scammers-are-stealing-solarpunks-assets-for-use-in-nfts-and-a-supposed-metaverse/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/12/discord-is-shedding-17-percent-of-its-staff-as-part-of-the-companys-attempt-to-turn-a-profit-this-year/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/12/discord-is-shedding-17-percent-of-its-staff-as-part-of-the-companys-attempt-to-turn-a-profit-this-year/#comments Fri, 12 Jan 2024 18:30:38 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=475161 The month of January continues to prove itself to be a brutal one for those in the gaming and tech industries. This time around employees at Discord are the next to feel the consequences of bad executive decisions, as 17 percent of its work force, or 170 employees, are being laid off. An internal memo […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/12/discord-is-shedding-17-percent-of-its-staff-as-part-of-the-companys-attempt-to-turn-a-profit-this-year/feed/ 19 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/10/amazons-twitch-lays-off-500-workers-over-cost-cutting-efforts-and-executive-exits/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/10/amazons-twitch-lays-off-500-workers-over-cost-cutting-efforts-and-executive-exits/#comments Wed, 10 Jan 2024 17:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=474857 Hot on the heels of yesterday’s news of more layoffs at Unity comes the revelation that Amazon is the next to fire staff. As first leaked by Bloomberg, 500 employees will receive pink slips today, amounting to 35% of Twitch’s total workforce. Twitch CEO Dan Clancy announced the cuts in a blog post this morning, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/10/amazons-twitch-lays-off-500-workers-over-cost-cutting-efforts-and-executive-exits/feed/ 8 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/10/steam-welcomes-legally-murky-ai-games-voice-actors-guild-forges-controversial-ai-deal/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/10/steam-welcomes-legally-murky-ai-games-voice-actors-guild-forges-controversial-ai-deal/#comments Wed, 10 Jan 2024 16:00:53 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=474841 Valve waited until end of business last night to post big news: It’s going to allow AI-driven games on Steam, with just enough caveats to avoid too many legal entanglements for itself, of course. While admitting AI tech is “legally murky,” the company says it will go ahead and publish AI games anyway – with […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/10/steam-welcomes-legally-murky-ai-games-voice-actors-guild-forges-controversial-ai-deal/feed/ 22 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/10/nexon-korea-hosts-emergency-livestream-over-recent-maplestory-cube-manipulation-fine/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/10/nexon-korea-hosts-emergency-livestream-over-recent-maplestory-cube-manipulation-fine/#comments Wed, 10 Jan 2024 15:30:14 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=474832 Last week we reported on a fine levied by Korea’s FTC against Nexon Korea, which was found to be manipulating the probability of earning gear-improving cubes in MapleStory without notifying players. This revelation from the KFTC understandably had splash damage effects on player trust, so Nexon held an “emergency livestream” to try to explain the […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/10/nexon-korea-hosts-emergency-livestream-over-recent-maplestory-cube-manipulation-fine/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/09/unity-sheds-another-1800-workers-from-all-of-its-departments-in-latest-layoff-round/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/09/unity-sheds-another-1800-workers-from-all-of-its-departments-in-latest-layoff-round/#comments Tue, 09 Jan 2024 15:30:50 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=474698 The contraction of Unity that occurred through last January, May, and November looks to be continuing into this year, as the game engine developer has handed 1,800 more workers their walking papers, shedding about 25% of its total workforce. The layoffs were confirmed in an SEC filing, which explains that the layoffs come as Unity […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/09/unity-sheds-another-1800-workers-from-all-of-its-departments-in-latest-layoff-round/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/08/study-finds-social-media-game-ads-dont-properly-disclose-the-existence-of-lockboxes-and-in-game-purchases/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/08/study-finds-social-media-game-ads-dont-properly-disclose-the-existence-of-lockboxes-and-in-game-purchases/#comments Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=474579 A recent study conducted by legal expert and lockbox researcher Leon Y. Xiao has been completed and it finds that lockbox disclosures in social media ads for games with the monetization scheme are extremely low – a discovery that could have wider implications for game companies in terms of EU and UK regulation. Illegal loot […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/08/study-finds-social-media-game-ads-dont-properly-disclose-the-existence-of-lockboxes-and-in-game-purchases/feed/ 5 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/07/police-use-a-world-of-warcraft-account-to-track-down-and-arrest-a-man-allegedly-hiding-a-minor/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/07/police-use-a-world-of-warcraft-account-to-track-down-and-arrest-a-man-allegedly-hiding-a-minor/#comments Sun, 07 Jan 2024 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=474431 We have our first Florida Man story of 2024 on our corner of the internet, primarily because tracking down and finding him involved using a World of Warcraft account: 31-year-old Florida resident Thomas Ebersole was found and arrested last week for allegedly traveling to Ohio to meet a 16-year-old girl, bringing her back to his […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/07/police-use-a-world-of-warcraft-account-to-track-down-and-arrest-a-man-allegedly-hiding-a-minor/feed/ 10 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/03/ark-survival-ascended-rolls-back-official-servers-over-a-new-duping-exploit/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/03/ark-survival-ascended-rolls-back-official-servers-over-a-new-duping-exploit/#respond Wed, 03 Jan 2024 19:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=473938 Just like how there was always that kid who ruined the neighborhood swimming pool by peeing in it, online games suffer when exploiters do their dirty business in everyone’s playground. Because of this, ARK: Survival Ascended blew its whistle, got everyone out of the pool servers, and enacted an eight-hour rollback. “With the deployment happening […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/03/ark-survival-ascended-rolls-back-official-servers-over-a-new-duping-exploit/feed/ 0 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/02/british-police-open-investigation-into-an-in-game-sexual-assault-of-a-young-girl-in-a-virtual-reality-metaverse/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/02/british-police-open-investigation-into-an-in-game-sexual-assault-of-a-young-girl-in-a-virtual-reality-metaverse/#comments Tue, 02 Jan 2024 18:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=473884 Virtual reality games are intensely immersive, putting their players into their worlds and surrounding them in the experience rather convincingly. Unfortunately, that immersion has been used for disgusting purposes to harm an underage girl who suffered an in-game “gang rape” by several adult men in an online metaverse title. The name of the victim and […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/02/british-police-open-investigation-into-an-in-game-sexual-assault-of-a-young-girl-in-a-virtual-reality-metaverse/feed/ 12 https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/02/following-bobby-koticks-exit-former-abk-devs-call-out-his-toxic-management-and-overwatch-2-sabotage/ https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/02/following-bobby-koticks-exit-former-abk-devs-call-out-his-toxic-management-and-overwatch-2-sabotage/#comments Tue, 02 Jan 2024 15:00:01 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=473830 Now that Bobby Kotick has floated away from Activision-Blizzard on a doubtlessly diamond-encrusted platinum parachute, some former developers at Blizzard are feeling confident enough to speak up about his management “style” – a style that we’ve repeatedly reported as full of gaslighting, union-busting, denial, blame-shifting, and literal murder threats – just in case anyone still […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2024/01/02/following-bobby-koticks-exit-former-abk-devs-call-out-his-toxic-management-and-overwatch-2-sabotage/feed/ 36 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/31/goodbye-to-all-the-reasons-we-cant-have-nice-things-in-mmos-2023-edition/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/31/goodbye-to-all-the-reasons-we-cant-have-nice-things-in-mmos-2023-edition/#comments Mon, 01 Jan 2024 01:00:09 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=467768 Become an MMO blogger, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. What they forgot to mention is that covering this genre means as many ups as downs, especially where the industry is concerned, and so we dutifully round up all the bad stories under our This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things tag. And […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/31/goodbye-to-all-the-reasons-we-cant-have-nice-things-in-mmos-2023-edition/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/26/star-citizen-releases-a-new-legatus-backer-bundle-that-costs-48000/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/26/star-citizen-releases-a-new-legatus-backer-bundle-that-costs-48000/#comments Tue, 26 Dec 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=473208 Would you rather buy a reasonably reliable car or a whole bunch of internet spaceships? If for some reason you chose the latter, then Star Citizen has you covered thanks to the newest Legatus pack that went on sale last week, which costs an eye-watering $48,000. “Ahead of all others, this definitive armada is an […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/26/star-citizen-releases-a-new-legatus-backer-bundle-that-costs-48000/feed/ 42 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/22/steam-keys-for-the-day-before-are-selling-for-three-figures-in-the-grey-market/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/22/steam-keys-for-the-day-before-are-selling-for-three-figures-in-the-grey-market/#comments Fri, 22 Dec 2023 15:00:15 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=473007 We all thought that news from The Day Before was going to end too, but the whole sordid story of this zombie extraction shooter apparently has one more page to it, as Steam keys for the game are going for hundreds of dollars on the keyseller grey market. According to tracking on GG.deals, Steam keys […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/22/steam-keys-for-the-day-before-are-selling-for-three-figures-in-the-grey-market/feed/ 5 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/20/pantheon-rise-of-the-fallen-pledges-extra-test-sessions-following-a-cancellation-of-alpha-backer-access/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/20/pantheon-rise-of-the-fallen-pledges-extra-test-sessions-following-a-cancellation-of-alpha-backer-access/#comments Wed, 20 Dec 2023 18:30:34 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=472744 Earlier this week, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen ran into a SNAFU with a backend system that ultimately led to Visionary Realms cancelling a planned pre-alpha test for alpha backers, noting that this test would instead happen in the beginning of 2024. That unhappy news wasn’t met with great aplomb by an already unhappy playerbase, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/20/pantheon-rise-of-the-fallen-pledges-extra-test-sessions-following-a-cancellation-of-alpha-backer-access/feed/ 5 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/19/qa-employees-accuse-activision-blizzard-of-a-soft-layoff-after-studios-mandate-a-return-to-offices-in-january/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/19/qa-employees-accuse-activision-blizzard-of-a-soft-layoff-after-studios-mandate-a-return-to-offices-in-january/#comments Tue, 19 Dec 2023 18:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=472539 Activision-Blizzard is once again electing to mistreat its QA employees according to a statement from the A Better ABK proto-union, which accuses the company of engaging a “soft layoff” after it announced the end of hybrid work and mandated that QA workers return to offices in Minneapolis, Austin, and El Segundo in January. According to […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/19/qa-employees-accuse-activision-blizzard-of-a-soft-layoff-after-studios-mandate-a-return-to-offices-in-january/feed/ 75 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/18/fortnites-expensive-race-cars-are-now-slightly-less-expensive-after-players-revolt/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/18/fortnites-expensive-race-cars-are-now-slightly-less-expensive-after-players-revolt/#comments Mon, 18 Dec 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=472370 How much would you be willing to pay for a car in Fortnite? Besides $0 anyway; we see you, commenters. Epic Games asked that question of players, and their answer was, “Not $35, thanks, you absolute clownshow.” So the company is applying a bit of a discount. The bundles in question provided in-game vehicles that […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/18/fortnites-expensive-race-cars-are-now-slightly-less-expensive-after-players-revolt/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/17/activision-blizzard-settles-its-2021-california-civil-rights-department-lawsuit-for-50m/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/17/activision-blizzard-settles-its-2021-california-civil-rights-department-lawsuit-for-50m/#comments Sun, 17 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=472211 Who here wanted one final reminder before the end of the year that we live in a cursed capitalist hellscape where justice can be bought and paid for if you own a large enough company? Nobody? Too bad: We’re all being reminded thanks to news that Activision-Blizzard, now owned by Microsoft, has settled the multi-year […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/17/activision-blizzard-settles-its-2021-california-civil-rights-department-lawsuit-for-50m/feed/ 30 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/15/ubisofts-2014-racing-game-the-crew-1-is-sunsetting-in-march-2024/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/15/ubisofts-2014-racing-game-the-crew-1-is-sunsetting-in-march-2024/#comments Fri, 15 Dec 2023 14:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=471948 2023 has one more thing to take away from the greater MMO genre: Ubisoft is sunsetting The Crew, the original game in the driving franchise. “Today, The Crew 1, including all its editions, and virtual currency packs, will be delisted from all online stores,” Ubisoft announced last night. “The game will remain playable until March […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/15/ubisofts-2014-racing-game-the-crew-1-is-sunsetting-in-march-2024/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/12/shit-happens-the-day-before-devs-tell-disgruntled-players-as-mass-refunds-continue/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/12/shit-happens-the-day-before-devs-tell-disgruntled-players-as-mass-refunds-continue/#comments Tue, 12 Dec 2023 14:00:40 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=471383 We’re into day six of The Day Before drama, which certainly doesn’t embroil any of you, as our readers were too clever to buy a game that couldn’t possibly meet all its multitudinous promises from the back of a zombie shooter. But our readers will certainly recall that the game, billed as an open-world survival […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/12/shit-happens-the-day-before-devs-tell-disgruntled-players-as-mass-refunds-continue/feed/ 29 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/11/the-day-before-dev-studio-announces-its-closure-after-claiming-the-shooter-has-failed-financially/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/11/the-day-before-dev-studio-announces-its-closure-after-claiming-the-shooter-has-failed-financially/#comments Mon, 11 Dec 2023 19:00:43 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=471331 It hasn’t even been a week between the early access release of The Day Before and today, but supposedly the game’s launch has been bad enough that developer Fntastic has announced its closure, claiming the once-survival MMO “failed financially” and that the studio lacks the funds to continue. “We have invested all our efforts, resources, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/11/the-day-before-dev-studio-announces-its-closure-after-claiming-the-shooter-has-failed-financially/feed/ 44 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/11/the-day-before-devs-downplay-original-massively-multiplayer-pitch-as-playerbase-and-reviews-plummet/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/11/the-day-before-devs-downplay-original-massively-multiplayer-pitch-as-playerbase-and-reviews-plummet/#comments Mon, 11 Dec 2023 15:00:15 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=471248 When survival shooter The Day Before made its scheduled but disastrous early access launch, multiple players pointed out a wealth of issues with the title, but one of the more telling is that the game is a smaller scale extraction shooter instead of the larger-sized survival MMO that it was originally billed to be. Now […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/11/the-day-before-devs-downplay-original-massively-multiplayer-pitch-as-playerbase-and-reviews-plummet/feed/ 35 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/07/bungie-devs-face-the-soul-crushing-pressure-of-financial-targets-a-sony-takeover-and-threat-of-more-layoffs/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/07/bungie-devs-face-the-soul-crushing-pressure-of-financial-targets-a-sony-takeover-and-threat-of-more-layoffs/#comments Thu, 07 Dec 2023 14:30:02 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=470753 It’s already been reported that life within Destiny 2 and Marathon developer Bungie is extremely unhappy in the wake of recent layoffs and the missed target of leadership’s sarcastically high revenue expectations, but some new insider reporting shows that things are even worse than first discovered, as Bungie’s developers face the closing walls of financial […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/07/bungie-devs-face-the-soul-crushing-pressure-of-financial-targets-a-sony-takeover-and-threat-of-more-layoffs/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/06/tree-of-savior-gets-a-new-pontifex-class-and-stuffs-its-unlock-into-a-lootbox/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/06/tree-of-savior-gets-a-new-pontifex-class-and-stuffs-its-unlock-into-a-lootbox/#comments Wed, 06 Dec 2023 17:30:55 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=470614 Tree of Savior is most definitely not hurting for classes as a quick look on its site can attest, but as of this week’s newest update, there’s one more class added to the impressive pile in the form of the Pontifex. But as the headline points out, there is a mighty catch to this: The […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/06/tree-of-savior-gets-a-new-pontifex-class-and-stuffs-its-unlock-into-a-lootbox/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/06/star-trek-online-now-has-third-party-ship-model-nfts-as-new-cryptic-boss-deca-opens-hiring/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/06/star-trek-online-now-has-third-party-ship-model-nfts-as-new-cryptic-boss-deca-opens-hiring/#comments Wed, 06 Dec 2023 16:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=470546 Remember back when Star Trek Online announced that it was ending its six-year partnership with GamePrint, bringing to an end the service that allowed players to pay money for a 3-D printed customized model of their ships? That partnership ended on Halloween, following Cryptic’s explanation that “the business case for this program no longer makes […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/06/star-trek-online-now-has-third-party-ship-model-nfts-as-new-cryptic-boss-deca-opens-hiring/feed/ 16 https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/04/eve-online-players-have-formed-a-new-corporation-led-by-chatgpt/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/04/eve-online-players-have-formed-a-new-corporation-led-by-chatgpt/#comments Mon, 04 Dec 2023 16:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=470067 It’s said that absolute power corrupts absolutely, so why trust all of the power of an EVE Online corporation to one human when you can have a chat AI do it instead? That’s (probably) the rationale behind the formation of Neural Nexus, a new corp in the spaceship sandbox that leaves its decision-making to ChatGPT. […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/12/04/eve-online-players-have-formed-a-new-corporation-led-by-chatgpt/feed/ 8 https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/30/destiny-2-swiftly-stops-sales-of-a-baffling-starter-pack-after-players-drag-bungie-for-the-bundle/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/30/destiny-2-swiftly-stops-sales-of-a-baffling-starter-pack-after-players-drag-bungie-for-the-bundle/#comments Thu, 30 Nov 2023 17:30:02 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=469771 What do you think would be included in a Starter Pack for Destiny 2? Do you envision some currency? Perhaps access to an expansion or two? Or do you think it would offer a couple of cosmetics, some middling exotic weapons, and a measly bunch of upgrade materials? If your answer was that last one, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/30/destiny-2-swiftly-stops-sales-of-a-baffling-starter-pack-after-players-drag-bungie-for-the-bundle/feed/ 3 https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/30/diablo-iv-surveys-suggest-vessel-of-hatred-bundles-will-have-early-access-to-functional-items-and-stash-tabs/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/30/diablo-iv-surveys-suggest-vessel-of-hatred-bundles-will-have-early-access-to-functional-items-and-stash-tabs/#comments Thu, 30 Nov 2023 15:00:13 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=469689 While Diablo IV’s Vessel of Hatred expansion isn’t expected until sometime later next year, Blizzard has decided to apparently burn some goodwill early. According to a video report from YouTube channel Bellular News, the studio is sending out surveys that ask some very concerning questions about expansion bundles – particularly in regard to their costs […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/30/diablo-iv-surveys-suggest-vessel-of-hatred-bundles-will-have-early-access-to-functional-items-and-stash-tabs/feed/ 5 https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/29/unity-ejects-weta-digital-from-its-portfolio-and-lays-off-265-more-employees/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/29/unity-ejects-weta-digital-from-its-portfolio-and-lays-off-265-more-employees/#comments Wed, 29 Nov 2023 14:30:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=469469 In the frantic race to the bottom in 2023, Unity is pushing hard to cross the finish line first. The former game engine darling has shot every foot it has, set all its dumpsters on fire, and alienated game companies, press, and players alike with its deeply unpopular and deceptive monetization policy that sought to […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/29/unity-ejects-weta-digital-from-its-portfolio-and-lays-off-265-more-employees/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/28/diablo-iv-receives-a-sudden-wave-of-positive-reviews-on-steam-by-suspected-bot-accounts/ https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/28/diablo-iv-receives-a-sudden-wave-of-positive-reviews-on-steam-by-suspected-bot-accounts/#comments Tue, 28 Nov 2023 15:00:56 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=469332 There are some strange things going on at the Steam page of Diablo IV. According to the eagle eye of a Redditor by the name of Nodimax, the game has been getting a wave of positive Steam reviews from what appear to be bot accounts: The Steam users in question simply put one-word reviews of […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2023/11/28/diablo-iv-receives-a-sudden-wave-of-positive-reviews-on-steam-by-suspected-bot-accounts/feed/ 9