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Respawn will now ban “piggybackers” in Apex Legends, no more bad teammates

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Respawn will now ban "piggybackers" in Apex Legends, no more bad teammates 1

Respawn Entertainment has announced that they’ll be banning players who are going AFK or are just being “bad” teammates. Some of these players (probably the most annoying thing) often just jump into a match and use their teammates to survive longer, which will grant them extra EXP at the end of the match when tallying … Read more

Apex Legends bans over 790,000 players, Respawn reveals

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Another banwave was done this week for EA's battle royale game, Apex Legends. This time, it's over 790,000 players banned.

Another banwave was done this week for EA’s battle royale game, Apex Legends. This time, it’s over 790,000 players banned. Respawn Entertainment knows about the terribly cheater and hacker situation in Apex Legends, so they spoke about some efforts that were put into their popular battle royale game. A post on Reddit surfaced from the … Read more

EA lays off 350 staff; Tries to find them new positions within the company

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EA lays off 350 of its staff. They're offering new positions to those laid off, but probably not all will get a new home within the company.

EA is firing a huge round of employees- about 350 to be precise. The publishing giant has followed in Activision-Blizzard’s footsteps a few weeks back and is firing 350 staff members. Kotaku chimed in on this case and confirmed that the employees belong to the companies marketing, publishing, and various other facilities. Employees who worked for EA who … Read more

Havoc Energy Rifle will be a dual-purpose AR/Sniper in Apex Legends

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Havoc Energy Rifle - Apex Legends.

Apex Legends will be getting its newest weapon added to the game soon. Respawn Entertainment announced today that they’ll be adding this badass Havoc Energy Rifle, which is a new energy-based weapon that has a variety of different ammunition outputs. The gun can switch from the basic full-auto AR and can also be attached with … Read more

Apex Legends hits 25M players; Peaks at 2M concurrent

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Apex Legends, Neill Blomkamp.

Apex Legends has been doing nothing but making headlines recently. Respawn Entertainment has revealed some surprising new numbers from the latest battle royale game set in the Titanfall universe. And they just may surprise you.outright. The game has been released for a week now and player numbers are nothing short of impressive. You’d think that … Read more

Respawn CEO: Titanfall game planned for 2019, Titanfall 3 speculated

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Respawn CEO: Titanfall game planned for 2019, Titanfall 3 speculated 4

Disappointed about Apex Legends? Want the “real” Titanfall 3 to roll out? Sit tight. Respawn Entertainment announced that they’re still making more Titanfall games and will continue to develop them alongside Apex Legends. CEO Vince Zampella stated that the studio has divided up their team with a few members going to Fallen Order, but the majority is … Read more

EA says they’re “fully committed” to making more Star Wars games

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EA says they're "fully committed" to making more Star Wars games 7

EA said in a recent interview that the publisher will continue to make more Star Wars games, even with the last one getting botched. As reported by Variety, a spokesperson for the publishing giant EA said: “There’s been speculation overnight about one of our Star Wars projects. As a natural part of the creative process, the great work … Read more

Battlefield 5’s first major content update Overture delayed

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Battlefield 5's first major content update Overture delayed 10

Battlefield 5‘s first major free content update was scheduled for release tomorrow, December 4. But due to unknown reasons, DICE has pulled the update.

Just revealed a few hours ago, Chapter 1: Overture has now been officially delayed from the scheduled launch tomorrow. Other than it being a major free content update, not many other details are known as to why the patch was pulled last minute before going live.

DICE has seemed to just push the whole thing back to a later date that’s unknown at this time. This will definitely disappoint some players, but it’s probably better than pushing out an incomplete mess (*ahem* Fallout 76).

DICE tweeted about this on Twitter, and it will report back with more updates ASAP. The AAA developer said that they’ll follow up with more news tomorrow or as “soon as we have it.”

Overture will still release sometime this week as they “don’t anticipate a long delay,” but this can’t help BF5‘s reception- given that the game has mixed reviews and many loyal fans have decided to skip this one altogether.

EA’s Origin software had a bug that could expose user data

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EA's Origin software had a bug that could expose user data 11

EA’s Origin software was found to have a bug that could allow malicious users to gain access to user account data.

The bug was found by a person named “beard” on Twitter, who’s a security researcher. Beard confirmed in an interview with ZDNet that they originally found this bug on October 1st. Apparently, when users try to edit their account details on EA.com using the Origin client, it’ll automatically generat3e an auto-login URL which has the users’ username and password in the URL. This is a practice that should obviously be avoided and isn’t exclusive to Origin. Many older sites and software use still use this method of authentication.

Usually, IP addresses or cookies are stored during the authentication, so no one can access the account other than the user. But in this exploit, the auto-login URL doesn’t use either of these processes, so the URL would work no matter who’s logging into the account. This could be an issue for users who access their account via WiFi that’s unsecured such as those in stores, malls, cafes, and anywhere else.

They can also be collected by bots without notice. This means anyone with the URL on any device could log in to the exploited user’s Origin account. Beard shows off a demo of the bug in action and says that attackers can access user info like real names, credit card last 4 digits, phone number digits, and more:

The article states that EA already knew about this bug earlier this month and worked on a fix, which was rolled out this month. They also report that no user data has been accessed through this bug. Regardless, be wary about sharing your information and always safeguard your data. Never give out more than you have to.

Jade Raymond leaves EA; Samantha Ryan taking over

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Jade Raymond leaves EA; Samantha Ryan taking over 12

Jade Raymond, one of EA’s most recognizable names has left the infamous publisher yesterday. Raymond was the studio head and founder of EA Motive and she was revealed to be stepping down from her position.

She previously worked for Ubisoft and helped create Assassin’s Creed games and founded Motive Studios back in 2015. Since then, the developer has helped with Star Wars Battlefront II and Visceral’s Star Wars project before they shut down. Right now, Motive Studios is working on an unknown title.

EA released a statement to Game Informer regarding Raymond’s departure from the company and mentioning that Samantha Ryan will be taking over as Motive’s head of studio to fill Raymond’s previous position:

EA Studios is focused on bringing more creative new games and content to players. Laura Miele and her team have taken several steps internally to better support our game makers in this pursuit, such as expanding Samantha Ryan’s portfolio to lead additional studios, including Motive. Samantha is known for driving creative design and supporting game teams so they can bring their visions to life. She is a deeply experienced game-maker with a gameography that spans from The Sims to Batman: Arkham City to No One Lives Forever to the highly-anticipated Anthem.

With this change, Jade Raymond has decided to leave Electronic Arts. In her time with us, Jade helped to build great teams, and our projects underway at Motive and other studios continue unchanged. We’re appreciative of all of her efforts, and we wish Jade all the best as she moves on to her next adventure. We are driving greater creativity into everything we do across EA Studios, and we’ll look forward to sharing more in the months to come.

Right now, Raymond hasn’t announced what she plans to do next as a  public statement of her own. Stay tuned for updates regarding Raymond’s future plans- provided she announces them publicly.

EA taking feedback: Which Command and Conquer game to remaster?

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EA taking feedback: Which Command and Conquer game to remaster? 13

A new thread posted on the Command and Conquer subreddit talks about remasters for classic games in the long-running series that’s kind of trailed off in recent years. The anniversary of Command and Conquer is once again coming up, and EA is reported to be reaching out to the modding community for support.

EA seems to be looking for feedback to see which games fans want to be remastered. Deciding which title gets the HD remaster is the big question. The thread doesn’t detail anything else, such as platform, payment, release date, and even whether or not the new Command and Conquer remaster will have microtransactions.

The post comes from a producer at EA, Jim Vessella, who was the Lead Producer of Kane’s Wrath. They’re looking for feedback from fans and plan to return the game series to PC rather than the failure that was Command and Conquer Rivals on mobile. When it was announced at E3 earlier this year, fans were disappointed.

As much as a cash cow mobile games are, not all games should be ported exclusively to mobile platforms in general. Rivals is an F2P strategy game where players fight 1v1 as GDI, Brotherhood of Nod, or Rivals. The goal is to capture a mission silo with control points for a period of time until it launches and destroys the enemy. Fans didn’t like it at E3.

Redwood Studios GM Michael Martinez said that they were trying to build a good strategy game for mobile platforms, and urged fans to give it a try. The most recent Command and Conquer game was released in 2013 called Command and Conquer: Generals 2. But it was canceled later on.

As of now, they have a lot of work to do. They’re working on a slimmed-down strategy game for the phone which is probably just a cheap cash grab like many games on the phone are catered to loyal fans who want the full experience again on its PC origins. They should focus their energy on what the fans want. Regardless, we’ll have to see how Rivals turns out.

Anthem demo rolls out February 1, 2019

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Anthem demo rolls out February 1, 2019 14

Bioware announced at PAX West 2018 that their newest title Anthem will be getting a playable demo in February of 2019, which is right ahead of its official release date on February 22nd, 2019. The demo comes out on the first of the month, so the full game is right around the corner.

The Anthem demo will be playable on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. EA will release it to those who are subscribed to EA/Origin Access on Xbox One and PC. PS4 owners will get to play it if they pre-ordered the game already.

At EA’s booth at PAX West, lead producer Mike Gamble said that it’s “not a test or beta” and that it’s a full “slice of our game.” So the game is already complete and will play identically to the beta- well, at least that “slice” of it.

EA: Battlefield V delayed until November 20th

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EA: Battlefield V delayed until November 20th 15

EA just announced yesterday that Battlefield V has been delayed from October 19th to November 20th. The reason behind the delay is to make final adjustments to the game and deliver an awesome experience for players.

Fans that are pumped for this AAA title in the long-running Battlefield series don’t really seem to be disappointed, as they’re okay with the company fixing up the game so it doesn’t release with an unpolished finish.

While it may be disappointing for some fans looking forward to the game next month, it’s for good reason. I’m pretty sure EA has learned that it’s always quality over quantity.

Oskar Gabrielson, BF:V developer, says the following:

“Today, we’re announcing that Battlefield V will have a new launch date – November 20, 2018. I wanted to give you a little bit of insight into how we arrived at this new date.

Over the summer, we’ve had tens of thousands of players get their hands on the game during our Closed Alphas and at E3 and Gamescom – where we were honored to receive the awards for Best Multiplayer Game at both shows.

You have told us that you are seeing an increased focus on squad play come through, you are also feeling the difference in our revamped player movement and we are getting a lot of positive feedback for our improved weapons handling.

You’ve also spurred us to make some meaningful improvements to the core gameplay experience, including adjusting the gameplay tempo, improving soldier visibility and reducing player friction. You’ll see a lot of these reflected in our Open Beta that starts on September 6.

We believe we have one of the best Battlefield games ever on our hands. A game that will deliver on an emotional journey through the return of unseen single player War Stories, a deep multiplayer experience, Battle Royale, along with our new live service, Tides of War – a journey across multiple theaters of WW2 and designed to keep our community together.”

He then talks about the beta launching this month in just a few days:

“With the Open Beta just around the corner, we are excited about the millions of you who will join us and experience the game. And we fully expect to see even more feedback coming our way.

And that’s why we’re moving our launch date. We’re going to take the time to continue to make some final adjustments to core gameplay, and to ensure we really deliver on the potential of Tides of War.

We know moving the launch date means that we all have to wait a little longer. But we’re going to take our time to make sure we get it right.

Thank you for your continued passion and support. We can’t wait to see you on the battlefield in just a few days.”

Source: EA.

 

Patrick Söderlund steps down as EA’s CDO

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Patrick Söderlund steps down as EA's CDO 16

Earlier this week, Electronic Art’s CDO Patrick Söderlund has stepped down and left the company. A memo shared by the current CEO Andrew Wilson, he states that Patrick was a “pioneer” with over 20 years of experience for EA. He was also known to be a great friend and an “inspiring leader” for EA as a whole.

Söderlund recently was promoted to the office of Chef Design Office back in April of 2018. Before that, he was the CEO of DICE. When he entered EA, he was appointed to the Worldwide Studios where he oversaw many franchises in EA’s household. He’s also credited for advocating the Frostbite engine and making it EA’s primary in-house game engine.

Last year, he was also given a bonus of $20M USD in 2017, based on a SEC filing and a report by Jason Schreier of Kotaku. His total salary for 2018 totaled to $48M. The median salary for the typical employee at EA is $96K. His position demands this level of pay and his expertise was priceless. This was to keep him working for the company.

Even with this level of pay, he’s left the company. Wilson noted that some teams within EA will definitely see changes following his departure. The SEED team which is currently led by Johan Andersson will join the studio’s group along with EA Originals and EA Partners Programs joining the Strategic Growth group.

No other news has been reported about the other executives at EA regarding changes. They’ll likely stay in their current positions. As for a when and who the new CDO will be and when this person will be appointed is TBA.

EA acquires mobile “hardcore” game company Industrial Toys

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EA acquires mobile "hardcore" game company Industrial Toys 17

Electronic Arts has just bought the rights to a new game developer called Industrial Toys, a game company known for developing mobile games. EA just acquired the 14-man team and they’ll be joining EA’s Worldwide Studios Organization, which currently houses other devs like Respawn Entertainment, BioWare, and Motive Studios.

Industrial Toys was founded in 2012 by an ex-Bungie person of interest. In fact, he was the founder of Bungie. That’s right. Alex Seropian and Tim Harris along with Brent Pease. Seropian and his team founded the company to make games for the touchscreen market and that their goal was to “make more hardcore games for mobile platforms” based on an interview with Joystiq.

Their studio has so far focused just on mobile games with their most popular title being Midnight Star, which is a first-person gallery shooter for iOS released in 2015. Its popularity has lead to the game to great heights with its multiple DLC packs- Midnight Rises and Midnight Star: Renegade. EA Worldwide Studios Group GM and SVP Samantha Ryan states:

“We’re thrilled to have them join our studio organization, pursue new ideas together and bring amazing new games to our players.”

So far, we don’t know what Industrial Toys’ first project will be- whether they’ll develop their own franchise with the company’s properties or continuing their current portfolio of games. EA isn’t shy about buying out companies. They’ve recently bought Respawn Entertainment and also bought the cloud-streaming technology rights from GameFly earlier this year in May. They’ve also made deals with ESPN to create an eMLS for FIFA 18, and Disney XD  to broadcast competitive Madden streams.

Han Solo update coming to Star Wars Battlefront II – get the details

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Han Solo update coming to Star Wars Battlefront II - get the details 18

EA has finally revealed details on a new event coming to Star Wars Battlefront II.

The Han Solo Season event with be live on May 15th and allows all players to celebrate him with new content that spans many eras in Solo’s history. Players will be able to play through many contents from the original trilogy this May including before Solo: A Star Wars Story content in June.

Here are some details of what’s coming in the Han Solo update:

A new map. Players will be able to play in Jabba’s Palace and play in Blast, Hero Showdown, and Heroes vs. Villanins. Hero Showdown allows players to duke it out in a round-based eliminiation mode where players can use their favorite duos per match.

New Appearances. Players will be able to snag neww Appearences from the Return of the Jedi, such as Calrissian with his Skiff Guard or Organa wearing the boounty hunter Boushh’s gear with a new voice over. Starfighter Custom Arade is also a new mode where players can play airborne in the cockpit with Starfighters from all ears.

The Ewok Hunt had players battleing as either an Ewok or Stormtrooper in Endor. The update introcuded some microtransactions that were removed previoiysly. Crystals were also added as a way to unlock Appearnaces.

More details will be coming soon. Stay tuned.

New “open-world” Star Wars game in the works based on a job posting

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New Star Wars game in the works. Perhaps an MMORPG?

EA is working a new open-world Star Wars game based on a job listing posting for their studio in Vancouver.

The job position first appeared on March 20th, 2018 and is looking for a “Lead Online Engineer” that fulfills the task of leading a “team to delivery Online features for a Star Wars Open World project. To keep this discreet, no other details about the game were given. EA probably already knows that the only people looking at their job boards are probably fans of their games. It’s likely that someone will see this post and then post it elsewhere which will leak that a new Star Wars franchise underway. However, they’re mum about the details of the game.

EA also has not commented on the news as well.

Based on their previous titles, it’s only lukewarm in terms of what to expect. If they learned anything over the Battlefront II conversely about loot crates and microtransactions, they should not make the same mistake this time around. After they pulled the microtransactions and introduced their new level progression system, the fans released some of the bitter feelings toward their greed. The new progression system only allows players to win by experience and not wallet size.

This could be anything from an AAA MMORPG to just a mobile game. Who knows?

Regardless, this is an interesting move to put out another Star Wars title so soon. We’ll keep you updated.

Image via EA.

Battlefront 2 new updates on the way

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SW: Battlefront 2 has some nice updates rolling out.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 got off to a rocky start with its player gouging.

DICE has since been committed to improving the gameplay experience of the AAA title after learning that you can’t just try to extract time and money from players like many, many other companies are doing nowadays. Loot crates and randomized items are pretty much the same as gambling your cash for some virtual pixels these days.

That’s probably why there’s a push towards discretions that let the players know exactly what they’re getting themselves into- such as the requirement to jot down the exact percentages of winning a particular item.

DICE has posted some improvements coming to Battlefront 2 in a recent blog post.

First, players who participated in The Last Jedi content season’s faction war may be wondering about why the First Order over the Resistance. It’s because 58% of participants chose to fight for the First order rather then the Resistance, which is why they emerged to be the winners over 10 million faction quests were completed. That’s plenty.

Second, DICE talks about a new content seasons that are underway and will be rolling soon. It’s pretty much hidden at this point, but it should be based on feedback from the previous season.

Third, there will be a new game feature called Jetpack Cargo which arrives next month in February. It puts players into an 8v8 matchup with jetpacks. It’ll be a limited-time thing. There will also be other limited-time game modes as well.

And lastly, there will be a fully-revamped progression system which is built towards what players have been asking for. There isn’t a whole lot written about it, but it does suggest that it’ll be available in March.

If you’re a fan of Battlefront 2, get ready for some awesome updates.

Read their post here.