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Blizzard makes it free to change gender in 'World of Warcraft'
When World of Warcraft: Shadowlands comes out later this year, Blizzard plans to stop charging players a $15 fee to change the gender of one of their characters.
Overwatch League re-focuses around a tournament format
On Monday, Blizzard shared details on how Overwatch League's upcoming Summer Showdown tournament will play out, along with new tweaks to the controversial Hero Pools.
Overwatch League viewership doubled under its tournament format
The league saw its highest average viewership since the second week of the season.
Blizzard has canceled this year's BlizzCon
A digital replacement for Blizzcon may not happen until early 2021.
'Overwatch' is adding a competitive mode that doesn't require role locks
Competitive Open Queue mode is set to become a permanent feature in Overwatch.
Summer Game Fest promises four months of big news and events
Sony, Microsoft and major publishers are on board for the psuedo-E3 replacement.
Overwatch League tries to boost interest with May Madness tournament
Teams will battle in two regional tournaments for prize money and bonus wins towards their season records.
Overwatch's new hero Echo arrives April 14th
Blizzard first teased Echo in 2018. So Overwatch fans have been waiting a while for this moment to come.
The entire Overwatch League regular season will be online-only
The Overwatch League has canceled all of its live events for the remainder of the 2020 regular season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Matches will take place in an entirely online format until August at the very least.
'World of Warcraft' keeps players indoors with a 100 percent XP bonus
If the world of Azeroth has been the place you've turned to find some time away from all the news about the coronavirus pandemic, Blizzard has something that should make your stay more productive. From now until April 20th, your World of Warcraft character will receive a bonus called "Winds of Wisdom," which will increase the amount of experience they gain by 100 percent. The buff is available to Battle for Azeroth, Legion and Starter Edition players -- alas, no love for those of us grinding it out in World of Warcraft Classic.
The latest 'Overwatch' hero can transform into enemy characters
Echo, the latest Overwatch hero, is joining the ranks of the game's damage dealers with some nifty-sounding abilities. The AI robot's ultimate in particular will give players plenty of new scope for creativity -- when they activate Duplicate, Echo can adopt the form of an opponent's hero and use (or echo, geddit?) their abilities.
The next 'Overwatch' hero is an AI robot with an important story link
Overwatch's newest hero is Echo. Fans have been waiting a while for Blizzard to add a new playable character to the game. It's been seven months since the company introduced Sigma, the game's 31st hero. The anticipation for Echo has been building longer still if you consider the fact Blizzard first teased her existence back when it released the McCree "Reunion" animated short in 2018.
'Overwatch' will finally address some old problems with Quick Play
While we'll have to wait for Overwatch 2 before Blizzard delivers new characters or big new missions, that doesn't mean developers are done with the first game. Dexerto points out forum posts by lead developer Jeff Kaplan that mention the team will finally deal with a few problems that have been around since the game launched that are tied to matchmaking for its more casual Quick Play game mode. Unlike competitive matches, Quick Play rounds continue even if a player or two drops out, and it attempts to fill the holes on the fly. That can become an issue if you've been waiting a long amount of time to play in-demand classes like damage and you suddenly get dropped into a match with not much time left and no hope of winning, or worse, added just as the game ends so that all you get to see is a "defeat" screen and a Play of the Game that had nothing to do with you.
Overwatch League sets its new online-only schedule for spring
After three sets of Overwatch League cancellations due to the coronavirus outbreak, Blizzard is trying to make the best of a bad situation. The company has released the updated Overwatch League March and April schedule. And as you can imagine, it eliminates the need for teams to travel.
'Overwatch' Archives event opens a month early for 2020
Blizzard's annual Overwatch Archives event just went live a month earlier than you'd expect. The limited-time event, which features story-driven co-op missions that provide backstories for Overwatch heroes, usually takes place in April. For 2020, though, it will run from March 12th through April 2nd, giving you something to do in case you need to stay at or work from home due to COVID-19 fears.
'Overwatch' lead writer Michael Chu leaves Blizzard
Michael Chu, one of most recognizable creatives behind Blizzard's games, is leaving the company. Chu has been lead writer for Overwatch and its upcoming sequel Overwatch 2 since 2014, but he also worked on several Diablo and World of Warcraft games over his 20 years with the developer. In addition to writing for the games themselves, Chu was also behind some of the comics and other fiction pieces published to add to the games' story and lore.
Overwatch League cancels all homestand matches through April
Activision Blizzard has cancelled some Overwatch League matches before in response to the coronavirus outbreak, but now it's taking no chances. The league has cancelled all Overwatch League homestand games for March and April. The cancellations won't affect other league events, but there's no question this will be disruptive to the Overwatch esports scene.
'Overwatch' college esports series will award $40,000 in scholarships
There's certainly an active Overwatch college esports scene, but it can be difficult for a player to stand out and turn pro when there are hundreds of schools. Activision Blizzard, Torque and UMG might have a way for serious players to shine. They're launching an Overwatch Collegiate Clash series that will have college competitive teams square off for a chance at both recognition and a total $40,000 in esports scholarships. The eight-week series will have eight teams face each other per week, with a final round pitting the winning teams against each other.
Overwatch League cancels South Korean matches due to coronavirus
A week-and-a-half after it said it would host a slate of cancelled Overwatch League matches in Seoul, South Korea, Blizzard is now postponing those games as well. The move comes after a surge in Covid-19 coronavirus cases in the East Asian country. Like the matches the company had planned to host in Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai, Blizzard says it's delaying the rescheduled games to "protect the health and safety of our players, fans and staff."
Rumors resurface about 'Diablo' and 'Overwatch' animated series
Rumors of a Diablo anime and Overwatch cartoon have been floating around for a while now. Uber Gizmo reported on a potential Diablo series back in 2018, while Activision Blizzard director Jeff Kaplan gave an interview last year where he touched on his animated aspirations for Overwatch. Now, fans might have a reason to get excited again.
