Activision Blizzard Brings In 1.2 Billion Dollars From Microtransactions

It’s no secret that Activision Blizzard is a powerhouse in the gaming world. Financially and otherwise. Their implementation of loot boxes and other microtransactions across many of it’s titles is no secret either. What has become public knowledge via a third quarter earnings report published on October 29th 2020 is just how much money those endeavors bring in. 1.29 BILLION dollars.

Yes from loot boxes, to Hearthstone card packs to various other forms of microtransactions across the stack Activision Blizzard is rolling in dough. In 2019 the company brought in roughly $700 million in revenue, meaning they are up 69% year over year profits, and that the 1.29 billion dollars consists of over half of the company’s 1.9 billion dollar revenue.

A large part of the driving force behind these skyrocketing numbers is the ever popular, and quickly growing Call of Duty user base, in particular Warzone. Warzone sees 111 million active users per month in quarter 3 of 2020. That’s a player base that is roughly 1/3 the population size of the United States of America. This leads to very optimistic expectations internally for the upcoming Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War set to release on November 13th. Cold War’s 250gb file size will include a War Zone as well, and given the money that’s bringing in that should be no surprise.

-Tim

5 Cancelled Games That We Wish Were Made

Games are cancelled every day. Most of them you’ve never, and will never hear about. Most of the time they are cancelled with good reason, whether that be a bad concept, troubled developement, etc. Here are 5 times that we wish these games had lived to see the light of day.

Fallout 3 (Project Van Buren)

But wait, Bethesda made an published Fallout 3, which was for many fans their introduction to the franchise and one of the most well received games of that generation right? Yes. Yes they did, but before Bethesda purchased the franchise a version of Fallout 3 was already in the works from Black Isle Games studio, and was set to be published by the now defunct Interplay Entertainment. The game was set to be a more traditional turn-based RPG more like Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics, and much like the previous installments took place in the same timeline but was not a direct sequel to those games. Some leaked images and gameplay footage can be found with a quick google search of the projects code name, Project Van Buren. The game shares many similar theme and story elements with the eventual classic Fallout: New Vegas, which makes a ton of sense because while Interplay was in the process of closing up shop and selling off all of it’s IPs several members of Black Isle left to found Obsidian Entertainment. While I don’t think most fans would trade what Van Buren could have been for what we eventually got in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, I do think it would have been interesting to see that game fully developed and released.

Starcraft: Ghost

StarCraft is one of the most successful RTS franchise’s ever, so much so that despite StarCraft 2 launching in 2010 it’s still one of the most popular e-sports titles out there. So naturally StarCraft: Ghost must have been an expansion or standalone RTS spinoff right? Wrong. StarCraft: Ghost was a third person stealth-shooter starring everyone’s favorite sniper Nova Terra. Originally slated to release on the original Xbox, Nintendo, and PS2 in 2003 the game was delay-ridden in it’s development including several shifts in whether it would be more action or stealth oriented. A new studio, Swinging Ape Studios, took over for the previous development team Nihilistic Software in 2004. The game continued to struggle, being changed and reshaped before ultimately being suspended in 2005 due to the release of the new generation of consoles in Xbox 360 and PS3. Updating the game to the newest hardware was never really an option at that point, however the game was never officially announced as cancelled until 2014. There are leaked versions for the Xbox 360 that can be found online, and are a few YouTube videos including leaked gameplay online. Maybe someday they’ll make the game, until then your best bet at experiencing this games story would be to read the book released in 2006 StarCraft Ghost: Nova.

Star Wars Battlefront III

The Battlefront franchise has been through a lot. From the ever great initial two releases, to the EA published microtransaction filled reboots that started off terribly but are in really good places now, fans of the franchise finally got a glimpse of what could have been as leaked images and video were released post cancellation in 2009. Leading up to that point the game had been in development by a studio called Free Radicals, and was to be published by LucasArts. As Star Wars fans are all too aware of, LucasArts began it’s downward slide with decreases in the number of mainline titles and games in the late 2000’s before eventually being shutdown by Disney with the rights to Star Wars titles being sold to EA. Exclusively. EA is supposedly working on their own version of Battlefront 3… Hopefully by the time it releases they won’t be going so hard on loot boxes and micro transactions. This is, however, EA we’re talking about though.

Silent Hills

Death Stranding was not the first Hideo Kojima game that would feature The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus. In fact Silent Hills was not only being directed by Hideo Kojima, but he was reportedly working closely with Guillermo Del Toro on the project. A playable demo of the game known as PT was released, and eventually someone was able to hack their ps4 to explore the town seen at the end of the demo as it was all rendered in engine and existed in the game world. Ultimately cancelled in 2016 due to Kojima having a falling out with publisher Konami, Silent Hills is possibly the most anticipated horror game no one will ever get to play. Knowing what twists Kojima has given us in every game he’s every made only makes the imagination run wild with the possibilities of what could have been.

Star Wars 1313

As someone with a Boba Fett helmet in my office, and a huge fan of The Mandalorian, this one hurts. A game about the gloriously gritty Bounty Hunting underworld of the Star Wars universe, 1313 was to star a team of characters with reportedly the heart of the gang being none other than a young Mandalorian who would someday freeze everyone’s favorite smuggler in carbonite. Yes, Boba freaking Fett. After Disney shelved all LucasArts prodcutions and ultimately sold the licensing for all Star Wars games to EA the game was effectively dead. Eventually Disney even let the 1313 trademark lapse. While it’s not impossible the game could get a reboot in some form, maybe even as part of the story for the also cancelled LucasFilm live action project Star Wars Underworld, its best not to dream of such things. In the meantime, maybe I’ll finally play through Jedi Fallen Order, while dreaming about the possibilities 1313 could have brought.

-Tim