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Overwatch is free to play this weekend on all platforms
Overwatch wasn’t what you’d call a “surprise” hit — everyone knew it was going to wipe the floor with its immediate competition. But unlike a lot of games, it still costs money. If you’ve been meaning to give it a shot but don’t feel like shelling out the $40, this weekend the game is free to play on all platforms with no restrictions. Read More
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StarCraft II will be free to play starting November 14
It was only in April that Blizzard made the original StarCraft free to play, and now the company has done the same for its sequel. StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, which is certainly the most-played real-time strategy game ever made, will be free for anyone to play starting on November 14. Of course there’s a catch, but nothing nefarious. Read More
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Battle.net lives
Last year Blizzard made what I felt was a huge mistake in scrapping the Battle.net brand, which gamers have associated with properties like StarCraft and Diablo for decades. The company has now reversed that decision, in what can only be a humble acknowledgment of my wisdom in these matters. Read More
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Blizzard and DeepMind turn StarCraft II into an AI research lab
Starcraft II has been a target for Alphabet’s DeepMind AI research for a while now – the UK AI company took on Blizzard’s sci-fi strategy game starting last year, and announced plans to create an open AI research environment based on the game to make it possible for others to contribute to the effort of creating a virtual agent who can best the top human StarCraft players in… Read More
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Here’s how much the best Overwatch players will make in Blizzard’s new pro league
E-sports is maturing at a rapid pace. What once was only found on a Twitch stream here and there is now becoming the new favored spectator sport for an entire generation of gamers. Blizzard recently announced the first city-based e-sports league for the ultra-popular game Overwatch. As a follow-up, Blizzard has outlined some of the standards for signing and employing professional players. Read More
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Blizzard kills the classic Battle.net brand after 20 years
Only ’90s kids will remember this. Heads up Twitch, Facebook just hired gamer Snoopeh for its e-sports division
459,000 years. That’s how long Twitch users spent watching other people play video games last year, and Facebook wants a piece of the pie. It might sound weird, but e-sports are wildly popular, and Facebook is getting serious about owning those video views. A source tipped us off that Facebook has hired e-sports super-connector and former professional gamer Stephen… Read More
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