Jason Schreier

Activision Blizzard Launches Film And TV Studio

You might think that, after this week’s surprise $5.9 billion acquisition, Activision might be out of big announcements to make. But it turns out they’ve got at least one more. The mega-publisher announced today that they’re launching a studio for film and TV projects in their huge stable of francises, which includes Call of Duty,…

The Dumbest Video Game Marketing Moves

This week’s terribly generic announcementof Paragon got us thinking—what were the worst marketing moves in video game history? That’s the main topic for this week’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, where Kirk and I regale you with all sorts of video game talk. Our special guest this week is Matthew Burns, a writer and game developer…

Fallout 4 Review Embargo Gets Embargo

Fallout 4, like most major video games, has a review embargo. Unlike most major video games, however, Fallout 4 has an embargo for its review embargo A “review embargo” is shorthand for the day and time that critics with publisher-provided early copies of a game can publish their reviews. This is a common practice, and…

Destiny is getting some economy updates over the next two months, Bungie says. You’ll be able to buy Weapon Parts for Glimmer soon; later, you’ll be able to trade in all that surplus Etheric Light and Wormspore for something TBD. More info at the weekly update

Hearthstone Is Having Serious Balance Issues

Since Hearthstone launched in early 2014, the addictive digital card game has gone through various balance phases. At one point, Miracle Rogues dominated everything; more recently we saw the rise of the Patron Warrior. Today, it’s the Paladin’s turn to shine. For at least a few weeks now, the Hearthstone competitive ladder has been dominated…

Overwatch Is Coming To Consoles [UPDATE]

Since Blizzard announced Overwatch for PC last year, most of the gaming world has assumed it’s coming to consoles too. Now, GameStop’s all but confirmed it. As of this morning, GameStop is taking pre-orders on the hero shooter for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, according to clerks at an NYC store I just spoke to.…

I think this qualifies as a pretty good easter egg. It’s a hidden message in the PC version of Trails in the Sky SC, which came out last week after four and a half years of localization hell. Poor guys.

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PSA: Here’s How To Turn Off Voice Chat In Halo 5

You just got home from a long day at work. Hoping to unwind, you hop into a match of Warzone in Halo 5. Suddenly, you hear it: the piercing, unforgettable sound of an eight-year-old bragging about his K/D ratio. Don’t worry—we’re here to help. In-game voice chat is enabled by default in the latest Halo…

Destiny Player Loses Key Match In The Worst Way Possible

There’s failure, and then there’s failure that will haunt you for the rest of your life. The setting: Redditor NoSleeves12 is playing Destiny’s competitive player vs. player gauntlet, Trials of Osiris, with two of his buddies. His team has hit 8-0, which means they’re a single win away from getting a flawless victory and heading…

New Video Game Announcement Could Be Just About Anything

Today, a company called Epic Games announced a video game called Paragon, and it might take some serious investigative reporting to figure out what it actually is. Let’s see if we’re up to the task. We’ll have to start by reading the press release Epic sent out this afternoon, in which the company’s PR folks…

All The Ways Activision Is Avoiding Saying What Destiny Actually Sold

Destiny, a video game in which players travel through the galaxy and battle against random loot tables, is by most accounts a commercial success. But over a year after release, publisher Activision still won’t say how many copies they’ve actually sold. [This post originally ran in November of 2014. We’ve been regularly updating it with…

PlayStation Now isn’t dead yet—Sony’s just added 105 new gamesto the expensive streaming service, including a ton from Capcom (Resident Evil, Lost Planet, etc.) among other publishers.

Activision Buys Candy Crush Maker King For $5.9 Billion

Just two days after Halloween, Activision’s spending a whole lot of money on candy—the publisher announced tonight that they’ve bought Candy Crush developer King for $5.9 billion. Yes, that’s BILLION. The mega-acquisition has to go through approval in Ireland, where King is based, but Activision says they anticipate that everything will be official by spring…

The Curse of Kiseki: How One Of Japan’s Biggest RPGs Barely Made It To America

One day in March of last year, video game writer Andrew Dice wrote out a check for all of his company’s money. He stuck it in the doorframe at his business partner’s apartment in Portland, Oregon, then went back to his own place. (They live in the same complex.) He closed all the windows. Then,…

What It’s Really Like To Work At Kotaku

Ever wondered what a day in the life of a Kotaku editor is like? Curious about what it’s really like to work here? We’ve got just the podcast for you. Today on Kotaku Splitscreen, we take a behind-the-scenes look at the well-known Destiny fan-site Kotaku. We also talk about our ideal Nintendo mobile games (hint:…

It’s A Very Good Day For JRPG Fans

There’s a new PSP game out today. To some people that might come as strange news, but to a certain circle, today has been eagerly anticipated for over four years: The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter (SC) is finally out. Of course, we don’t know if it’s good. We don’t know…

South Park Takes On Gay Manga

This season of South Park has been one long dedication to Tumblr, culminating in an episode last night that dove headfirst into the world of yaoi. Earlier this week, the producers of South Park asked fans to submit their best gay fan art of Craig and Tweek, and boy did people deliver. Check out this…

“I had a lot of sleepless nights, waking up in cold sweats from dreams of tidal waves sweeping over me.”—read this fascinating postmortem onCostume Quest 2, written by project director Gabe Cinquepalmi. Last-gen consoles ruin everything!

You can stop tweeting “Direct” at Nintendo now—new CEO Tatsumi Kimishima says the company still plans to put on their video marketing presentations, with at least one Nintendo Direct to come by the end of 2015