Category: Video Games

The next stage of Disney Dreamlight Valley is almost here.

Posting on their blog today, Gameloft Montreal gave us one of our first glimpses into the 2023 roadmap for their Disney-themed life simulation adventure game.

The roadmap includes new characters like Mirabel from Encanto, Simba from The Lion King, and Olaf from Frozen, as well as the promise of new “realms” to explore, which are in-game worlds that can be visited as part of the story.

Is that a roadmap we see?

Get your first look at what (and who) to expect from our next few updates⤵️

Early 2023 is shaping up to be HUGE for Disney Dreamlight Valley and we can’t wait to share the magic with you!

Stay tuned for more details on Update 3 coming this February✨

— Disney Dreamlight Valley (@DisneyDLV) January 25, 2023

Gameloft Montreal also confirmed one of the game’s most-requested features, multiplayer support, which is a major part of genre peers like Animal Crossing, though the roadmap did not offer any specific timing for when that would be added.

Dreamlight Valley, which has yet to receive its 1.0 release, previously added Lion King’s Scar, Stitch, Woody, and Buzzlightyear after its early-access debut last year. They were also quick to make quality of life improvements to the often-buggy cartoon world.

Although anyone can pay to play the game now, Dreamlight Valley is planned to receive its full, free-to-play launch later this year, though no specific timeframe for that has been announced, including in this 2023 roadmap.

Even in its early-access state, IGN reviewed Disney Dreamlight Valley last year and liked it quite a bit.

Travis Northup is a freelance writer at IGN.

World of Warcraft Classic co-lead software engineer Brian Birmingham has claimed he was terminated from Blizzard for protesting a forced employee ranking system.

As first reported by Bloomberg, Birmingham sent an email to his former colleagues saying he was terminated after revealing his intentions to resign instead of deeming certain staff members inadequate to fill a quota. Birmingham said in a Twitter thread (below) that he didn’t share the email himself but “[believes] the quotes are accurate”.

The “stack ranking” system asks managers to rank their employees under different labels, with the poorer “developing” status potentially affecting bonus money, raises, and promotions in the near future. Birmingham claimed that Blizzard managers, under parent company Activision Blizzard King (ABK), were forced to place 5% of their employees in this “developing” category.

I wasn’t intending to make this public, but apparently its in the news already, so I’d at least like to set the record straight. I am no longer an employee of Blizzard Entertainment, though I would return if allowed to, so that I could fight the stack-ranking policy from inside.

— Brian Birmingham? (@BrianBirming) January 24, 2023

Birmingham said he refused to drop some staff from a “successful” category to “developing” in order to hit this quota, and also refused to work until the policy had been revoked. According to his email, Birmingham was later terminated after speaking with HR.

“This sort of policy encourages competition between employees, sabotage of one another’s work, a desire for people to find low-performing teams that they can be the best-performing worker on, and ultimately erodes trust and destroys creativity,” Birmingham wrote in the email.”

He added: “If this policy can be reversed, perhaps my Blizzard can still be saved, and if so I would love to continue working there,” “If this policy cannot be reversed, then the Blizzard Entertainment I want to work for doesn’t exist anymore, and I’ll have to find somewhere else to work.”

A Blizzard spokesperson told Bloomberg that the stack ranking system was in place to “ensure employees who don’t meet performance expectations receive more honest feedback, differentiated compensation, and a plan on how best to improve their own performance.” They also said it encourages “excellence in performance”.

Birmingham later said on Twitter that he would return to Blizzard if he could, to “fight the stack ranking policy from inside”. He said this had only become an issue now because managers had protested and avoided using it in the past, and Birmingham “truly believed we had reversed the ‘developing’ quota policy.”

He continued: “The realization that there’s still a minimum quota for ‘developing,’ despite our objections and sternly worded letters leads me to believe I was operating under an illusion. I hope Blizzard’s positive culture can overcome ABK’s poison, but it isn’t succeeding in doing that yet.”

Birmingham also called ABK a “problematic parent company” that put his team “under pressure to deliver both [World of Warcraft Classic] expansions early”. He said “the ABK team should be ashamed of themselves.”

Birmingham’s complaints are just the latest in a long line of controversy surround Activision Blizzard that began with a lawsuit filed by the state of California, accusing Activision Blizzard of fostering a “frat boy culture”.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

N64 classic GoldenEye 007 will finally arrive on Nintendo Switch Online’s Expansion Pass and Xbox Game Pass on January 27.

Announced via Nintendo’s YouTube channel and the Xbox Wire, the long-anticipated release date finally confirms when players can jump back into the role of James Bond both in single-player and its beloved multiplayer.

A series of leaks and rumours were finally confirmed by the two companies in September last year, though GoldenEye 007 previously only had a “coming soon” release window.

Those looking to play the game on Switch will need both Nintendo Switch Online and its Expansion Pass (that adds the N64 digital library), while Xbox users will be able to download it for no additional cost via Xbox Game Pass.

The two versions of the game aren’t identical, however, as only the Switch version will include online multiplayer – the first time this feature has been officially available for the 26 year old game. The Xbox version will be a remastered edition that includes new control options, achievements, 16:9 resolution, and up to 4K Ultra HD resolution.

GoldenEye 007 had been all but confirmed on Xbox for a long time as fan website True Achievements and even Xbox’s own website listed the game’s achievements, but fans will finally be able to get their hands on it later this week.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.