Robin Williams will be immortalized with a character in World of Warcraft

I'm normally a completionist when it comes to games, but I wish I had told myself to push that mindset to the side before I started Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

I get the desire to do it all, I really do. In the critically acclaimed sequel, we're finally let loose outside of Midgar. Square Enix has laid a huge, lush set of biomes to stretch our legs in after being stuck in the cramped hallways and tunnels of the drab city. Despite most of the world activities in Rebirth being standard open-world fare (activating towers, scanning points of interest, and hunting down specific monsters), there's an undeniable novelty to doing it with Cloud and the rest of Avalanche. What I wish I had known before starting was just how easy it was to burn out on that feeling.

In October 2023, Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and by the end of the year, the latter company's CEO had departed. Now, this will be the year where we’ll see how Activision Blizzard functions when fully integrated into Microsoft. The most immediate change for those who play games will likely be Activision Blizzard titles coming to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service.

Microsoft and Activision have explained that because of the tribulations the acquisition encountered, it was impossible to have Xbox Game Pass additions prepared almost immediately after the acquisition, as it did with ZeniMax Media. In the coming months, I expect we’ll finally start to see Activision Blizzard games trickle onto the service, even if we shouldn't expect it from this week's Developer_Direct. As Activision Blizzard is one of the oldest game publishers out there, having released hundreds of games, there are plenty of titles to choose from. I’ve cherry-picked the ones I want to see most.
Diablo IV

World of Warcraft turns 20 next year, while the franchise itself will celebrate its 30-year anniversary. Ahead of those massive milestones, Blizzard went big with Warcraft at BlizzCon 2023. It launched a new mobile game, teased impending World of Warcraft Classic and Hearthstone updates, and announced three new World of Warcraft expansions that will make up The Worldsoul Saga. To franchise general manager John Hight, the series' strong showing was about demonstrating to players that Blizzard is doubling down on Warcraft.

“We wanted to tell our players that we’re doubling down on [World of Warcraft’s] story. A lot of our players have told us over the last two expansions that story is so important,” Hight told Digital Trends in an interview at BlizzCon 2023. “It is different for us at Blizzard because, normally, we’re a little bit secretive, but we felt like our fans were telling us they want to know more about what’s in store for them. It’s tricky to weave that in such a way that we didn’t spoil it.”