Raven Software: Celebs Rumors

Activision Blizzard illegally retaliated against unionising workers at Raven Software by withholding raises, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has found.Via The Washington Post, the labour board found that Activision Blizzard withheld raises from quality assurance (QA) testers at Raven Software, which it attributed to their union activities.Following these findings, Activision Blizzard and Raven Software QA testers will continue negotiations around a collective bargaining agreement. If the two parties cannot agree on terms, the NLRB could file a complaint.

Sega Of America have successfully voted to unionise, after their attempts to organise went to an election.On Monday (July 10), Sega Of America workers voted 91-26 in favour of forming the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA).With members joining from a number of disciplines throughout Sega Of America’s California headquarters, AEGIS-CWA is now the largest multi-department union within the game industry.It’s a significant milestone for growing unionisation efforts across the game industry, as Sega is one of the world’s largest gaming publishers. Besides creating Sonic The Hedgehog, Sega is best known for owning the studios behind Persona, Total War, Like A Dragon, and Football Manager.“We are overjoyed to celebrate our union election win as members of AEGIS-CWA.

Respawn Entertainment is opening a third studio to support the development of Apex Legends, weeks after parent company EA laid off over 200 of the game’s testers.Respawn’s third studio will be located in Madison, Wisconsin, and will initially support the company’s battle royale shooter Apex Legends.As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the studio will be led by Ryan Burnett, who previously worked as Epic Games‘ director of engine production and, prior to that, worked at Call Of Duty developer Raven Software for 14 years.“Wisconsin is quickly becoming a central development hub here,” Burnett told GamesIndustry.biz.

Activision Blizzard, with the company’s Albany branch (formerly Vicarious Visions) making the bid.This makes the Albany QA branch the second potential union at the company, after the same department at Raven Software won its union election bid back in May. Called Game Workers Alliance (GWA) Albany, the new union issued a statement last night (July 19) via Twitter:“QA is currently an undervalued discipline in the games and software industries.

Raven Software has announced that players will no longer be able to edit their loadouts in Call Of Duty: Warzone under certain circumstances. The developer made the announcement on Twitter yesterday (June 20), where it told player’s that they will no longer be able to change their loadouts when matchmaking or in a party.“Due to an unforeseen situation, we’ve disabled the ability to edit loadouts when joining to or matchmaking with another player’s party,” wrote Raven Software.❗️ Due to an unforeseen situation, we've disabled the ability to edit Loadouts when joining to or matchmaking with another Player's party.— Raven Software (@RavenSoftware) June 20, 2022The ability to edit loadouts in pre-game lobbies was a highly requested feature for some time, with it being introduced to Warzone at the start of Season 4 last year.This was removed at the time as Raven Software quickly realised that players could use it to get infinite Dead Silence – a field upgrade that completely silences a players movement and running – during matches.Last week the Mercenaries Of Fortune roadmap for Warzone and Vanguard was also revealed, which you can check out in full here.

Raven Software has shared new details on what the Fortune’s Keep map update will bring to Warzone, including improved visibility and the return of Storage Town as a point of interest.Yesterday (June 15), the official Call Of Duty Twitter account revealed several of the changes coming to Warzone‘s Caldera map.One of the biggest changes mentioned involves a tweak to Caldera’s flora, which will bring “50 per cent less vegetation and better visibility”. While this may not seem exciting, it addresses issues with visibility that the Warzone community has complained about since the launch of Caldera.The updated map will also include several new “micro” points of interest, which Raven Software says will mean more places for players to find loot.

Raven Software quality assurance (QA) staff at Activision Blizzard are eligible for a union election.As reported by The Washington Post, a decision on Friday (April 22) from the NLRB means the Game Workers Alliance (GWA) union can now vote on its formation.This follows Activision Blizzard’s decision to not recognise the union, and Microsoft’s – who recently acquired Activision Blizzard – choice to honour whatever the outcome, meaning it shouldn’t stand in the way of the GWA when the acquisition goes through next year.We are so proud to announce that the NLRB ruled that our unit is eligible for election! Thank you to everyone supporting our campaign since our initial strike up until this very moment! Time for democracy!

Raven Software has temporarily disabled all vehicles in Call Of Duty: Warzone, with many attributing the loss to a popular glitch.In a tweet yesterday (April 11), Raven Software said it has “temporarily disabled vehicles on Rebirth Island while we investigate an issue”. At present the developer hasn’t been clear on what the issue is, but many think the removal of vehicles is linked to a glitch that sees players getting into the game’s golden vaults.Before golden vaults were widely accessible in Warzone, one player figured out how to wedge themselves between a golden vault’s door and another player’s vehicle, with the force from the vehicle pushing them into the golden vault itself.The video below shows a player using the glitch to get into one of the golden vaults, and this was achieved before the golden vaults were open – meaning the player couldn’t get out once they found a way in.Got into the vault pic.twitter.com/tKvWm6vmAA— bob.

Call Of Duty: Warzone has taken some strength out of the overperforming Ghost perk, and has also tweaked several other perks in an effort to “provide players with a variety of tools to create even more interesting stories”.In an update to Warzone detailed on March 28 (via The Loadout), Raven Software has shared that it wants “counterplay and interplay between systems to be viable” so that players can “create even more interesting stories”.To that end, the studio added that “perks are going to make for a significant part of the push towards this objective,” and has outlined several fairly major perk changes that arrived in yesterday’s Warzone update.The biggest change targets Ghost, and makes it so that players will only receive the perk’s stealth effect if they are moving. Raven Software explained that “in Caldera it is obvious that [Ghost] has become even stronger”, and felt that more counter play opportunities were needed for the perk.The update also makes changes to the Scavenger, Restock and E.O.D.

Activision Blizzard has said that it is facing an increased attrition rate after ongoing legal action.The annual report (via Axios) states that recent legal proceedings regarding alleged workplace harassment and strikes over QA layoffs may be responsible for an increased attrition rate at the company, and is also causing difficulty in attracting new staff members.The report said: “We are experiencing adverse effects related to concerns raised about our workplace. If we experience significantly reduced productivity, significant worker protests or strikes in regards to these matters, significant continued loss of sponsors, advertisers or players, or other negative consequences relating to these matters, our business could be materially adversely impacted.”The report continues, saying that Activision Blizzard may not be able to conduct business if it is unable to attract, retain, and motivate skilled personnel.“We have observed labour shortages, increasing competition for talent, and increasing attrition.

Warzone developer Raven Software has announced that as part of the battle royale’s anti-cheat system, PC players who encounter hackers will be given a “Damage Shield” that prevents hackers from hitting them with critical damage.As detailed in a progress report for Ricochet anti-cheat, Raven Software has shared that it is looking to apply more “in-game mitigations” to prevent cheaters from ruining games while they’re in them.One of these mitigations involves a “Damage Shield”, which has finished testing and is now live on Warzone servers.As to what the Damage Shield entails, the developer explains that “when the server detects a cheater is tampering with the game in real-time, it disables the cheater’s ability to inflict damage on other players,” which essentially sounds like a God Mode.“This mitigation leaves the cheater vulnerable to real players and allows [Ricochet] to collect information about a cheater’s system,” adds the blog.The article also outlines that there is “no possibility” the game will accidentally apply a Damage Shield outside of a scenario involving a cheater, and says “we will never interfere in gunfights betweeen law-abiding community members.”Looking ahead, the Ricochet team has shared that there are further mitigations “live and in development,” and confirmed that Warzone has seen “a decline in cheat reporting” since launching some of them in the last few weeks.On some of the mitigations that have not yet been detailed, the blog teases that “you might start seeing clips of our new tricks soon, but we won’t ruin the surprise.”In other Warzone news, Season Two of Warzone launched last week and has brought NPC enemies and a Chemical Factory.

Along with a host of bug fixes and weapon balances, the long awaited Pacific Season 2 update for ‘Call of Duty: Warzone’ is here, and it seems as though developer Raven Software has slipped in some new weapons, chemical weapon labs, and even some non playable characters as enemies, making for a pretty substantial update, all told.

Call Of Duty’s official Twitter announced yesterday (December 22) that it permanently banned 48,000 accounts from Call Of Duty: Vanguard and Call Of Duty: Warzone for cheating in one day alone.In an attempt to tackle bots and other hackers in Call Of Duty’s latest games, large numbers of accounts are receiving bans since the launch of Ricochet. The tweet has a number of different responses, some praising the decision while others think changes should be implemented to prevent hackers instead of banning accounts after the fact.A number of players have replied in the thread they have been permanently banned for exploiting a glitch which allowed players to equip any camo in the game without meeting the requirements.

Call Of Duty: Warzone melee attack isn’t working properly as Season 1 on new map Caldera gets underway.As reported by Dexerto, melee attacks just aren’t doing any damage. A video from user chrisssf (which can be seen below) on the CODWarzone subreddit shows melee hits not doing any damage despite landing on the opponent.Whilst this could be an isolated incident, comments on chrisssf’s video and footage on another post-show the broken melee attack costing a player the win, and appear to indicate otherwise.

Raven Software has updated Call Of Duty: Warzone to reduce the weapon bloom on Vanguard’s firearms.It’s been a busy week for Warzone; the last major update added a new map and over 40 weapons from Call Of Duty: Vanguard. However, many of those weapons came across with weapon bloom.

Call Of Duty: Warzone Pacific update has caused a series of issues for players including crashing and stability woes.Reported by VGC and including a series of videos gleaned from Twitter, Warzone Season 1 has been suffering from some significant issues since launching yesterday (Wednesday December 8). The update saw Warzone’s launch map replaced with Caldera, a Pacific island that’s been highly anticipated in recent weeks.Call Of Duty: Vanguard players have exclusive access to it until later today but it’s been plagued with issues so far.

Warzone season one patch notes have been released, revealing heaps of new content arriving with the Caldera map.Raven Software has released patch notes for the latest update to Warzone. The biggest addition in the season one patch is the new map called Caldera, which takes players to duke it out on a tropical Pacific island.Warzone has also rolled out a kernel-level anti-cheat driver for PC, which will “activate first in the Asia-Pacific region before expanding worldwide”.Notably, the season one patch also adds plenty of new content brought in from Vanguard.

Raven Software employees will stage a walkout in protest of recent QA layoffs at the studio.Last week (December 4), Raven Software – a studio working under Activision Blizzard – laid off more than a third of its QA testers. The studio announced a restructuring of the quality assurance department, where contracted testers would either be promoted to full-time or laid off.The company began contacting workers affected from December 3 and will continue until December 8.

Raven Software who developed Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call Of Duty: Warzone will fire more than a third of its QA testers.As reported by The Washington Post, the studio announced a restructuring of the quality assurance department, where contracted testers would either be promoted to full-time or laid off. The company began contacting those affected from December 3 and will continue until December 8.

Call Of Duty: Warzone gets closer to releasing its brand new Caldera map, things are getting strange in Verdansk.A minor update hit Warzone yesterday that included a few unusual sights in Verdansk. As spotted by The Loadout, players noticed that when travelling through red doors, a small vision of the upcoming Caldera map was visible.

Warzone – which has been nerfed several times for being too hard to see – is once again causing trouble, with players alleging that previous nerfs have been reverted.As reported by Charlie Intel, the Warzone community is reporting that the Roze skin has returned to being incredibly difficult to spot in dark areas, with players suggesting that the skin’s prior nerfs have been reverted.One thread in the Warzone Reddit – which has gathered almost 500 upvotes – alleges that “the Roze “fix” is no longer in place” and states it’s a problem “not only in Verdansk but even more so in the current gulag”.Several people pointed out that while Roze is meant to glow slightly in order to stand out in darker environments, that no longer seems to be the

Activision seems to be teasing an imminent Call Of Duty: Warzone anti-cheat software update, following months of proclaiming that a much-needed upgrade was coming.Last night (October 12), the official Call Of Duty Twitter account posted an ominous message that suggests a new anti-cheat system is coming to Warzone today (October 13).The message, titled “dear cheaters”, explained that “cheaters aren’t welcome” in Warzone and added “soon you’ll know what we mean”. Posted alongside the caption “see you tomorrow”, it’s a safe assumption that the new anti-cheat software – which was announced back in August – will be arriving later today.See you tomorrow.

Call Of Duty: Vanguard working in Call Of Duty: Warzone ahead of the former’s integration into Warzone after its release in November.The below video shared to Twitter by user JGOD clearly shows the StG 44 from Call of Duty: Vanguard being used in Warzone. It looks like it’s already been taken out of the game though, as noted by ModernWarzone in the comments.A little surprised I was actually able to use the Vanguard STG in WarzoneGain access using private matches, no weapon inspect though sadly pic.twitter.com/UYslR6hr8Z— James – JGOD (@JGODYT) October 7, 2021As noted by JGOD, the StG was only usable in private matches and had no weapon inspect available, but it definitely worked.

Call Of Duty: Warzone and Black Ops Cold War Season 6 shows the return of Alex Mason and an explosive change to Verdansk.Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is reaching the end of its life cycle as players gear up for Call Of Duty: Vanguard’s release. Season 6 of both BOCW and Warzone begins on October 7 and a new trailer gives a look at what players can expect.The numbers machine from Black Ops 1 returns but instead Mason is the one using it, with Adler in the hot seat.

Call of Duty: Warzone – titled Season Five Reloaded – brings back Clash, teases “new, unusual activity” around the mysterious red doors, and plenty more.Starting this week (September 9), Call of Duty: Warzone players will once again be able to queue up for the chaotic Clash game mode – a 50v50 deathmatch that delivers “the biggest team fights in Warzone” and hands players their custom loadouts right from the get-go. From the patch notes, Clash will be available until the week of September 23.In terms of map changes, the update warns that “the previously dormant mobile broadcast stations seem to be stirring”.

Call Of Duty: Warzone is reportedly generating £3.7million in revenue every single day, according to a financial report evaluating how much top-grossing games across the world make.In a study conducted by NetBet and spotted by Dot Esports, 24 months of “sales and revenue data” were examined to work out how much “top-grossing AAA and free to play (F2P)” are making, down to the very second.The study reports that Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare brings in £1.3billion every year, which comes down to £3.7million every single day and over £156,000 each hour. It also adds that Warzone has the largest recorded revenue growth of 196.1 per cent, shadowing over the growth of major titles like League Of Legends, GTA 5 and FIFA 20.

Call Of Duty: Vanguard on November 5, Raven Software have confirmed that Warzone will be getting an entirely new map based within the Pacific.Introduced with a brief teaser video that can be watched below, creative director Amos Hodge said: “We are going to the Pacific, featuring an entirely new play space, complete with all-new points of interest.“Players will get to traverse the lush landscapes of the island and make their way through a variety of extremely cool locations, while battling it out alongside friends and foes.”

Warzone content creator Jgod has called aim assist for controller users on Warzone “broken” after seeing a clip demonstrating its abilities.Sharing a clip that appears to show a Warzone player using controller-enabled aim assist to quickly track and kill a target, Jgod calls the aim assist feature “broken” and accuses controller players of living “in denial” over its strength (thanks, Dexerto).Elaborating, JGod adds that aim assist is “what makes it so hard to full commit to KB&M [keyboard and mouse]” as it allows for results that otherwise couldn’t be achieved without “years o[f] practice”.Sadly even with clips like this, a lot of controller players live in denial.

Call Of Duty: Vanguard has been created with Warzone in mind, and will bring even more content to the popular battle royale.Raven Studios has lead the development of a brand-new map for Call Of Duty: Warzone, which fans can expect to play later this year.Alongside the new map, Warzone will also receive a new, “multi-faceted” anti-cheat system which should help ease community concerns of rampant cheating within the game.

Raven Software’s latest tease for the upcoming Call Of Duty: Vanguard is now live in Call of Duty: Warzone.Call of Duty: Warzone’s latest tease for the Upcoming Battle of Verdansk event has been added to the Call of Duty: Warzone map. The train that has been traversing the map since the start of Season 5 has been destroyed.

Raven Software has been working hard to eliminate hackers in Call Of Duty: Warzone. A new feature displays this in real-time.Players will now be able to definitively say when a hacker has been causing mischief in their matches as a new kill feed notification has been added.

Call Of Duty: Warzone player has shared a look at how hacks work from a cheater’s point of view, to allegedly help players distinguish between different types of hacks that are prevalent in the game.Warzone content creator ‘rushman360’ has released a TikTok showing the differences between separate types of aimbots, claiming that the video is “for educational purposes only”.Though the video has been removed from TikTok, it is available to watch on Reddit and shows the difference between “silent aim” and “not silent aim” aimbots.As visible in the video, “silent aim” is a more subtle type of hack that doesn’t kill other players as quickly, while regular aimbotting is very obvious and flicks instantly to land headshots.Rushman360 – who has

Raven Software’s latest update to Call Of Duty: Warzone adds two new perks exclusive to the battle royale.Warzone has received its first exclusive perks designed specifically for the battle royale. All previous perks have been brought over from the mainline games.

Call of Duty: Warzone is about to head into Season 5… but the incoming update to the massively popular battle royale has been pushed back.That’s right – Warzone players will have to wait a bit longer for Season 5.Originally expected to launch today, Call of Duty: Warzone Season 5 won’t be launching until tomorrow, giving players an extra day to finish their battle passes.“We’re giving everyone an extra day to unlock tier 100… but can you get there?” said developers via Twitter. “Season 5 is now launching Thursday 8/12 at 9 PM PT.”We’re giving everyone an extra day to unlock tier 100… but can you get there?Season 5 is now launching Thursday 8/12 at 9 PM PT.

Call Of Duty: Warzone appear to be getting their own mid-season event according to a blog post.The blog post was uploaded to detail some of the major changes coming with the next update, but also seems to have announced a mid-season event involving the Red Doors.“The Red Doors grow unstable… mid-season event coming,” reads the blog, dropping mentioned of Perseus’ most recent meddling causing volatility in the fabric of the Red Doors.“Whatever broadcast Perseus set up is causing the Red Doors to become more volatile than ever before, as Operators are now reporting [[REDACTED]] in their post-mission briefings.”“Beware these doors sending you to locations other than the main room we all thought to be its lone destination point,” the message

Call Of Duty: Warzone professional player Liam ‘Jukeyz’ James has revealed that by winning the 2021 World Series Of Warzone (EU), he’s made more money in one night than he did in an entire year at his last job.After winning the World Series Of Warzone EU Trios earlier in the week, James has shared with Twitter that his share of the prize pool (which was $300,000/£216,225 overall) has made him more money than the yearly salary of his last job at a warehouse:“Can’t get my head around the fact I made a yearly wage I would have made when I was working in a warehouse…in one night”Can’t sleep won’t sleep can’t get my head around the fact I made a yearly wage I would have made when I was working in a warehouse 3 years ago in 1 night