As North American Launch Partner for the Overwatch League, the automaker looks forward to collaborating on behind-the-scenes content for league fans

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Following a thrilling opening week for the Overwatch League that drew more than 10 million viewers worldwide, a major new brand-marketing partner has signed on to support the league during its inaugural season: multinational automotive manufacturer Toyota.

Toyota will be a North American Launch Partner for the Overwatch League, and is looking forward to future collaborations around bringing behind-the-scenes content to fans. The automaker plans to have additional broadcast integrations, as well as a vehicle presence at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles.

“Toyota is excited to be a launch partner of the Overwatch League,” said Steven Curtis, vice president, media & engagement marketing for Toyota Motor North America. “We love the passion of esports fans, and the goal of our partnership is to help take the Overwatch League and the fan experience to the next level.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome Toyota to the Overwatch League,” said Pete Vlastelica, president and CEO of Blizzard Entertainment’s MLG division. “When we were building the league, our desire was to create a premium experience for players and fans, and partners like Toyota are helping us do just that.”

The Overwatch League is further supported by sponsors HP® and Intel®, with players competing on cutting-edge gaming hardware including HP’s OMEN gaming PCs, powered by the latest Intel® Core™ i7 processors.

About the Overwatch League^™

The Overwatch League^™ is the first major global professional esports league with city-based teams across Asia, Europe, and North America. Overwatch® was created by globally acclaimed publisher Blizzard Entertainment (a division of Activision Blizzard—Nasdaq: ATVI), whose iconic franchises have helped lay the foundations and push the boundaries of professional esports over the last 15 years. The latest addition to Blizzard’s stable of twenty-one #1 games,^[1] Overwatch was built from the ground up for online competition, with memorable characters and fast-paced action designed for the most engaging gameplay and spectator experiences. To learn more about the Overwatch League, visit www.overwatchleague.com.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 33 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 46,000 people (more than 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold almost 2.7 million cars and trucks (2.45 million in the U.S.) in 2016—and about 85 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 15 years are still on the road today.

© 2018 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. OVERWATCH, OVERWATCH LEAGUE, BLIZZARD and BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT are trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. MAJOR LEAGUE GAMING is a trademark of Major League Gaming Corp.

[1] Sales and/or downloads, based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the sponsorship arrangements for Overwatch esports, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180118005540/en/

Overwatch League
Mark Van Lommel, 949-955-1380 x61147
MVanLommel@overwatchleague.com
or
Toyota Motor North America
Zachary Reed, 214-316-1128
zachary.reed@toyota.com

Source: Overwatch League

News Provided by Acquire Media

Minecraft News

• The first Update Aquatic snapshot, 18W07A, was released this week, bringing with it our experience of Turtles, Phantoms, Tridents, a new swimming ability and much more.
• That’s not all though! Dinnerbone tweets, “p.s. this isn’t everything aquatic. There’s at least one or two more things to come in future snapshots. Maybe three.”.
• The Minecraft: Java Edition development team give a behind the scenes look into the Update Aquatic. Learn about turtle behaviour and the dangers of The Phantom — “[…] Jens stresses just how dangerous a risk that is. “They are really nasty to fight, really hard to hit – they fly up and then swoop down again. They sound really scary too. Samuel Åberg did some really scary sound effects for them”.
• Minecraft (Bedrock) is coming to the Nintendo Switch, and this week Mojang shared a preview of the game on their livestream. You can catch up on that livestream below!

Watch Terrific Tuesdays: Bedrock on Switch SNEAK PEEK! from Minecraft on www.twitch.tv

BlizzCon® 2017 takes place November 3–4, but we’re kicking off the celebration early with the BlizzCon 2017 Virtual Ticket—available to order starting today through the Blizzard Shop!

The Virtual Ticket is your personal online and mobile warp gate to BlizzCon from wherever you are—and this year, we’ve upgraded the Virtual Ticket experience to bring you closer to the show than ever before.

For starters, the Virtual Ticket unlocks live access to all the stages at BlizzCon 2017—and in addition to the game updates, developer discussions, and community contests you’ve come to enjoy, you’ll also get access to events featuring community creators, voice actors, and more. Our new BlizzCon All Access channel will act as your guided tour through the event and around the show floor.

We’re also getting the party started early this year with several series of weekly pre-BlizzCon videos that go behind-the-scenes with Blizzard and our talented community. The first of these are available NOW—head over to the BlizzCon Watch page to start exploring.

For the whole lowdown, watch the new BlizzCon 2017 Pre-show Global Event featuring your BlizzCon All Access channel hosts: Michele Morrow, Alex Albrecht, and Malik Forté.

BlizzCon^® 2017 Virtual Ticket – What’s Included

The BlizzCon 2017 Virtual Ticket offers comprehensive live HD coverage of Blizzard Entertainment’s gaming celebration via live stream. With more than 60 hours of programming, you’ll have plenty to watch live and via on-demand replays for more than a month after the show.

With the BlizzCon 2017 Virtual Ticket, you’ll unlock access to:

• Developer and Community Events: Witness the latest game news live, get firsthand developer insight, and watch your favorite community creators in action on four stages. Full schedule to come!
• Costume and Talent Contests: Get a great view of the creativity on display in the legendary BlizzCon Costume Contest and epic Talent Contest on Friday night.
• Closing Ceremony: Be there for the closing festivities on Saturday night, celebrating two full days of Blizzard gaming and community.
• Exclusive Interviews: Dig deeper into our game universes through exclusive interviews with Blizzard developers on the BlizzCon All Access channel.
• Behind the Scenes & From the Floor: The BlizzCon All Access channel also gives you a closer look at the show floor so you can experience the more of BlizzCon from the comfort of your home.
• Pre-show Video Series: Starting today on the Blizzard Watch page, enjoy multiple series of weekly videos leading up to the show, including Inside the Blizzard Vault, Casual Cosplay, and Artist’s Journey. Watch some for free, and unlock them all with the Virtual Ticket.

• In-Game Goodies: Unlock this year’s BlizzCon in-game items for World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Hearthstone®, StarCraft® II, Diablo® III, and Heroes of the Storm®.

Heroes of Azeroth can show their BlizzCon spirit in World of Warcraft with the Stormwind Skychaser mount (for the Alliance!) and Orgrimmar Interceptor mount (for the Horde!)—available in-game starting today!

• Enhanced Esports Viewing: The epic esports competition is always free, but this year, Virtual Ticket holders can watch without third-party commercials on BlizzCon.com and in the BlizzCon mobile app. During regular ad breaks, Virtual Ticket viewers will see alternate Blizzard content—including during Opening Week. Full esports schedule to come!
• Goody Bag Discount: Get $10 USD off this year’s BlizzCon Goody Bag—visit the Goody Bag blog for all the details.*

The BlizzCon Virtual Ticket is available through the Blizzard Shop in the Americas, Europe, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Korea, and Southeast Asia (pricing and availability varies by region) and is also available in China (sold separately). The Virtual Ticket live stream is available in HD (720p) and in English only.

Subtitles for On Demand Videos
BlizzCon is an epic celebration of Blizzard’s universes and our global community that truly brings them to life. This year, in order to bring that experience to more people across the globe than ever before, Virtual Ticket buyers will get access to subtitled VODs of the events on ALL four BlizzCon content stages, plus BlizzCon All Access Channel VODs, in the following languages: English, German, Russian, Korean and French. You can buy the Virtual Ticket now on the Blizzard Shop.

Be sure to make your purchase on the Blizzard Account you wish to use to watch the show, receive the in-game goodies, and get your BlizzCon Goody Bag discount. If you don’t yet have a Blizzard account, you can create one free now.

If you’re attending BlizzCon 2017 in person, you should have already received a code (one per ticket purchased) which can be used to unlock the Virtual Ticket and associated perks on a single Blizzard Account. These codes were emailed directly to the BlizzCon ticket purchaser, so check with the person who bought your ticket if you haven’t yet received your code.

Goody Bags Are Back!

The BlizzCon 2017 Goody Bag is a backpack chock full of collectibles, including an exclusive Eidgenossin Mercy backpack hanger and a treasure trove of real-world loot based on your favorite Blizzard games. You can pre-purchase* this sack o’ goodies now through the Blizzard Gear Store for $45 USD, but Virtual Ticket Purchasers can pre-purchase the Goody Bag at an automatically discounted price of $35. You also have the option to get an Epic Upgrade for your Goody Bag to get even more gear.

Supplies are limited, so be sure to claim a Goody Bag while you can. See what’s inside and learn more about the Epic Upgrade option

People attending BlizzCon in person will receive the standard Goody Bag with their ticket. If you’d like to purchase the additional items from the Epic Upgrade for your Goody Bag for $25, stay tuned for details.

The BlizzCon merchandise is also coming back, with early access for ticket holders. Stay tuned for more details.

*While supplies last. Price does not include tax, shipping, or applicable fees. All orders will be shipped from the United States. lnternational shipping rates may apply. Read our Gear Store Shipping Information article for details.

Free Pre-Event Content, Opening Ceremony, and Esports Streams

This year, you can catch tons of BlizzCon content online for free. Catch a selection of pre-event content free on BlizzCon.com, where new videos will be added each week until the convention starts.

And as always, coverage of the BlizzCon opening ceremony and this year’s esports tournaments—including the global championships for StarCraft II, Heroes of the Storm, and World of Warcraft; the Hearthstone Inn-vitational and Tavern Vs. Tavern finals; and the finals of the Overwatch World Cup—will be streamed for free in HD at www.blizzcon.com

The World Could
Use More Win

The Overwatch League is on a mission to celebrate fans and afford them opportunities to become champions through a professional esports ecosystem that embraces passion and rewards excellence.

Millions have answered the call to Overwatch, and the excitement of all those scientists, soldiers, adventurers, and oddities led directly to the creation of a new kind of esports program. Teams will have stability, players will have careers, and fans will have a new set of heroes to take them into the future of Overwatch.

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The time to reclaim your home is almost here, Guardians—the PC launch of Destiny 2 is near! Destiny 2 goes live on PC globally starting October 24, and you can play exclusively through Blizzard Battle.net®. If you haven’t already, you can pre-purchase Destiny 2 right now through the Blizzard Shop. Check out this article to watch the PC launch trailer and find out what time the game goes live in your region.

This week at Bungie, we’re watching the final Faction Rallies for Season 2 unfold.

Future War Cult has mobilized their faction in full force, in an effort to earn their first win since Destiny 2 introduced this ritual to the Tower. Their fingers are crossed, but the followers of New Monarchy could still pull off their fourth victory in a row.

Remember, this will be the last chance for players to earn Season 2 emblems and armor ornaments from their favorite faction leaders. You have through Tuesday, March 27, to add these to your inventory.

Distinctive

Update 1.1.3 introduced Nightfall Scoring and Challenge Cards to change the player experience. Update 1.1.4 brings unique rewards to sweeten each Nightfall Strike. Let’s take a look back to a quote published in February, covering the overall goal for Nightfall activities:

Barrett: Nightfall should be a challenging test that only the bravest Guardians dare face. Fireteams of any size should be able to participate, from organized clan groups to skilled solo players. Players should be able to determine their own challenge level, by going slow and steady or fast and wild, with elective modifiers to test the most hardcore veterans. Your final score will separate the best from the rest, and with high risk comes high reward. Each terrible villain that players face should have a very rare and powerful unique item, themed to them, that tumbles to the ground as they collapse into a pile of bones. Conquering Nightfall should be a badge of honor, with the best players able to show off their achievements with new dynamic emblems and exclusive auras.

One question in particular has been trending throughout the community since the “Nightfall Unique Rewards” bullet was featured on the roadmap: How do I earn these rewards?

These rewards have a chance to drop when you complete a Nightfall activity at any difficulty. You can increase your chances using Challenge Card modifiers to set higher personal best scores. Earning these items may take many attempts to receive a drop, as they are meant to be rare rewards.

Last week, we gathered feedback on how the community would like to discover these rewards – either through a quick tease here on the blog, or from those among you who wish to be the first to show off their newly found loot. We’ll be watching legends unfold as these rewards are earned by players, and hope many among you enjoy discovering these items via gameplay without being spoiled.

Competitive Housekeeping

Crucible isn’t just getting updates to game modes to speed up gameplay. Starting in Destiny Update 1.1.4, the Competitive Playlists will also feature a quitter penalty. Per the dev team:

Because the Competitive playlist disables Join-In-Progress, leaving matches early (for any reason) can ruin people’s games. Starting in 1.1.4, we are adding a system that can issue temporary restrictions, 30 minutes in length, for habitual quitters.  

On our side, we’re also increasing security measures to improve the Crucible environment as a whole.

Our security team informed us that they also have some changes going into Update 1.1.4. Because security is a pretty hush-hush subject, we can’t go into the details of what is changing. If cheaters know how our detection works, they can use that info to avoid it.

Our work isn’t done, we also have plans for more updates to security in the upcoming 1.2.0 update as well.

One (dot) One (dot) Four

Patch notes have been collected, but we’re still applying some elbow grease to get everything in order. Here’s a quick sample of upcoming changes and fixes that you’ll see next Tuesday:

Stay tuned to Bungie.net on March 27 for a full list of patch notes associated with Update 1.1.4.

Air Traffic Controllers

Update 1.1.4 is on approach. Please return your seat backs to their full upright position. Cabin lights are about to go dark, but Destiny Player Support will keep you up to speed until we’ve landed.

Maintenance and Downtime: Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Destiny 2 services will be brought offline for maintenance. Update 1.1.4 will also become available upon maintenance completion. Please see below for the timeline of the maintenance window.

Lights, Camera… Carnage?

 

Sometimes, it takes weeks to get the perfect shot. Waiting for the stars to align can feel like an eternity, but some have found they come together a bit more often than expected. 

Winner: Leave None Standing

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Runner up: Getting Lost

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Runner up: Brought a knife to a Boss fight

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Speaking with the Sandbox team, Update 1.1.4 had a few potential names thrown around in development. One team member in particular campaigned for it to be called the “Supercharged” update. To keep communications clear and set expectations about how all of the changes would feel together, it was ultimately decided that 1.1.4 would forever be referred to as the “Go Fast” update. From my time in playtests, I can really feel the name. The most important piece of this puzzle is how you, the player, will feel once it’s in your hands.

We’re excited to see what new loadouts will be used in PvE – potentially to rack up even higher scores in the Nightfall. Speaking of which, here are the top three fireteams from last week’s Nightfall, “A Garden World”:

Have to admit, it’s always exiting to watch players crunch damage numbers when the sandbox evolves. Exotic weapons are up next in May, with some interesting changes for us to dive in to. More to come, once 1.1.4 has landed. See you next week.

Cheers,

-Dmg04

For The King is Now Available on Steam and is 20% off!*

For The King is a strategic RPG that blends tabletop and roguelike elements in a challenging adventure that spans the realms. Set off on a single player experience or play cooperatively both online and locally. Every play through offers new challenges, opportunities, and rewards.

*Offer ends April 26 at 10AM Pacific Time

Developers looking to launch their games in the Netherlands might want to avoid loot boxes after the region’s Gaming Authority found that some implementations violate the Betting and Gaming Act. 

The Netherlands Gaming Authority (NGA) had been investigating loot box usage in 10 unnamed titles after concerns were raised by players, parents, and those working in addiction care.

It found that four of those 10 games are currently breaking the law by offering random prizes that have real-world value without letting players influence the outcome.

As reported by Dutch website NOS (via Reddit), the publishers of those four mystery titles (rumored to be FIFA 18, Dota 2, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Rocket League) have been told to amend their loot box model within the next eight weeks. If they fail to do so, the gambling authority could hit them with a fine or even pull the offending titles from sale. 

The NGA claims offering “games of chance” to Dutch consumers is prohibited without a license, and believes loot boxes are very similar to gambling games like slot machines and roulette in terms of design and mechanics. 

It took no legal issue with the other six titles as they don’t offer loot box rewards with any real-world worth or market value, although the group still feels loot boxes in general pose an addiction risk — namely because they’re aimed towards younger people.

“As a result of opening loot boxes, socially vulnerable groups such as young people could eventually be encouraged to play other games of chance. The risk of gambling addiction in this group is many times higher than in adults,” reads the study. 

“To date, the Netherlands Gaming Authority has not observed any suitable control measures taken by the providers of games with loot boxes to exclude vulnerable groups and prevent gambling addiction.”

7.13b:
==

* Strength heroes base movement speed reduced by 5
* Strength heroes base armor reduced by 1 (except Doom, Io, Lycan, Phoenix, Timbersaw, Tiny)
* Intelligence heroes base strength increased by 2 (Except OD, Tinker and Bane)
* Strength gain for the following heroes increased by 0.3: Dark Seer, Death Prophet, Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Nature’s Prophet, Necrophos, Pugna, Queen of Pain, Ursa and Visage