Amid Activision Blizzard's legal scandal, the company has offered updates on some of its upcoming games, including that Overwatch 2 has "passed an important internal milestone" and the Diablo Immortal has been delayed into the first half of 2022.
Revealed during Activision Blizzard's Q2 2021 results, Overwatch 2 is progressing well and the team is looking forward to revealing more of the upcoming sequel in the coming months.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/overwatch-2-first-rome-map-gameplay"]"Overwatch 2 development passed an important internal milestone in recent weeks," Activision Blizzard said. "After a great response to the recent community update, the team is looking forward to revealing more of the game in the coming months as they approach the later stages of production."
As for Diablo Immortal, Activision Blizzard shared that team behind the mobile title has been hard at work at improving the game following the Closed Alpha, but it will need a bit more time to improve the gameplay experience.
"Following feedback provided by test participants of the Closed Alpha, our team has been tuning core and endgame features," Blizzard wrote. "For example, we’re iterating on PvP content like the Cycle of Strife to make it more accessible, alongside late-game PvE content like the Helliquary to make it more engaging. We’re also working to provide controller support for those who want to play our game in a different way."
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/diablo-immortal-hands-on-preview"]"However, these changes and additional opportunities to improve our gameplay experience will not be realized in the 2021 timeframe we had previously communicated. So, the game is now planned for release in the first half of 2022, which will allow us to add substantial improvements to the whole game."
The team also shared that it will be adding new PvE-centric Raids in the Helliquary system, which are designed for up to eight players to complete. Bounties will also be reworked to be "more engaging and fruitful for players who actively accomplish these challenges." Challenge Rifts will also now reward new upgrade materials that can't be obtained any other way.
Character progression is also being tweaked, and the team is implementing a new system that will enable players with higher Paragon levels or players taking on higher difficulties to receive more powerful items.
There will also be a change to the new "weekly XP cap" that was meant to discourage players from sinking an unhealthy amount of hours per week into Diablo Immortal. The changes will ensure that it is introducing bonus XP gain for players who play less often, and it is replacing a weekly XP cap with a global cap that increases over time.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="slug=activision-blizzard-lawsuit-timeline-the-story-so-far&captions=true"]As previously mentioned, these updates arrive as Activision Blizzard is dealing with the fallout of a lawsuit that was filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing that alleges the company fostered a "frat boy" culture in which female employees were subjected to sexual harassment, unequal pay, and much more.
In response to the lawsuit, former and current Activision Blizzard have begun speaking out about their experiences and organized a walkout to ensure that the company's leadership heard their demands that will ensure these horrific experiences never happen again.
Employees from across multiple Activision Blizzard development studios also formed a group called ABK Workers Alliance that reiterated the employees' demands and spoke out against the hiring of the law firm WilmerHale to review the company's current policies.
Most recently, Blizzard president J. Allen Brack confirmed he was "leaving the company to pursue new opportunities." Brack will be replaced by Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/27/activision-blizzard-employees-to-stage-walkout-in-protest-toward-leadership-ign-daily-fix"]During the earnings results, Activision Blizzard also warned employees and key investors that, "If we experience prolonged periods of adverse publicity, significantly reduced productivity or other negative consequences relating to this matter, our business likely would be adversely impacted."
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
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