Fergusson joined Blizzard in 2020 after working at The Coalition and leading Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Gears of War 4, and Gears 5. His role involved overseeing the Diablo franchise, which heavily involved Diablo 4’s development, release, and post-launch support.

As for the future of the action RPG looter, Fergusson said the teams are “set up for success” and that fans could look forward to an “exciting slate of releases ahead.” Diablo 4 launched in June 2023 and received strong critical acclaim. Sales were also very positive, with over 12 million players in just two months. However, it also received extensive criticism from fans due to its lackluster endgame, build variety, crafting systems and combat mechanics.

Blizzard sought to address all of this in subsequent patches and seasons. It also launched the first story expansion, Vessel of Hatred, last year. Whether it can fulfill Fergusson’s ambition to remain around for several years remains to be seen, especially since there’s no word yet on the next expansion.

Next up is Lightyear Frontier (available in Game Preview), My Time at Sandrock, Rolling Hills and Robin Hood – Sherwood Builders, all playable on January 8th for Game Pass Standard subscribers. Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can experience EA Sports UFC 5 on January 14th for Xbox Series X/S and the cloud.

The original Diablo is also playable on PC for Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers on the same. It’s an eclectic range of titles across various genres and platforms.

Of course, as is the case every month, several titles will leave Game Pass on January 15th. Members can purchase them at up to 20 percent off for permanent ownership. Check out all the games leaving next week:

• Common’Hood (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Escape Academy (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Exoprimal (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Figment (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Insurgency Sandstorm (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Those Who Remain (Cloud, Console, and PC)

“We intend to make Activision Blizzard’s much-loved library of games – including Overwatch, Diablo and Call of Duty – available in Game Pass and to grow those gaming communities. By delivering even more value to players, we hope to continue growing Game Pass, extending its appeal to mobile phones and any connected device.” Spencer also indicated that Activision-Blizzard titles could be playable on other devices via cloud streaming.

He also reiterated the company’s commitment to have the “same version of Call of Duty available on PlayStation on the same day the game launches elsewhere.” It will also continue to enable people to ” play with each other across platforms and devices.”

The blog post comes in the wake of regulators worldwide examining the Activision-Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft. Sony has made several comments to Brazil’s regulatory body on the same, noting that Call of Duty influenced one’s choice of console and how it would take several years for a competitor to rival Game Pass. Microsoft has responded to the acquisition being “anti-competitive,” alleging Sony to be playing “blocking rights” to prevent some developers from releasing games on Game Pass.

Regardless, Spencer said the company would “continue to engage with regulators with a spirit of transparency and openness as they review this acquisition. We respect and welcome the hard questions that are being asked.”

In the meantime, we’ll need to wait for more details on Call of Duty, Overwatch and Diablo coming to Game Pass. Stay tuned in the coming months.

Not long ago, Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed that Microsoft intended to “keep Call of Duty on PlayStation” and honour all existing Activision Blizzard agreements even after the deal closes, while leaks have claimed that the next two premium Call of Duty entries and an unannounced Call of Duty: Warzone 2 due out next year will also release for PS5 (with this year’s game supposedly releasing for PS4 as well).

It seems, however, that Microsoft doesn’t intend to stop there. In a recently published blog update on Microsoft’s site, the company’s president and vice chairman Brad Smith stated that Microsoft will continue to release Call of Duty and “other popular Activision Blizzard titles” even beyond any existing agreements, and that similar steps will be taken with Nintendo platforms as well.

“To be clear, Microsoft will continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles available on PlayStation through the term of any existing agreement with Activision,” Smith wrote. “And we have committed to Sony that we will also make them available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love. We are also interested in taking similar steps to support Nintendo’s successful platform. We believe this is the right thing for the industry, for gamers and for our business.”

Beyond Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard has two major games that are currently announced to be releasing for PlayStation and Nintendo Switch in Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2. Of course, it remains to be seen what Microsoft means when it says “other popular Activision Blizzard titles”- but it seems like Call of Duty players on PlayStation consoles, at least, might not have to worry about the series going Xbox exclusive, in the near future at least.

Speaking in response to one such tweet, Blizzard Entertainment boss Mike Ybarra has asked players to stay tuned for more news on Overwatch and Warcraft in the coming weeks, which will be followed by Diablo. He also clarified that Blizzard is a large studio with multiple teams who are supporting live projects.

Overwatch is set to receive more Legendary Skins in 2022 than any prior year. World of Warcraft fans are yet to receive any news about 2022’s updates.

Of course, it also needs to be mentioned that Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 have long been in development with no word on release dates, except for the fact that both will not release until at least 2023.

Microsoft has also announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion- click through here to read more about that.

Blizzard is a big studio and we have talented and growing teams supporting live games as well. Over the coming weeks, you'll be hearing more on that from Warcraft and Overwatch. Diablo will follow. Stay tuned!

— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) January 25, 2022

3D MOVEMENT AND CONTROLS (SUPER MARIO 64)

To say that Super Mario 64 is responsible for 3D games as a whole would be an exaggeration (to say the least). No, there was a whole slate of games in a 3-4 year period that helped lay down the foundations for playing games in a 3D space- but if we were to make a pie chart for that group, Super Mario 64 would get a whole massive slice of that pie all to itself. Launching in 1996, Nintendo’s seminal platformer defined the simplest things and actions, showing how to do 3D movement and camera control in games and establishing extremely fundamental things that are now taken completely for granted.

Guardian Ape – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Immortality in Sekiro is a curse, something you learn firsthand when dealing with the Guardian Ape. It’s torturous enough with its grabs, slams and dung and you’d think things would end upon severing its head. However, the Guardian Ape resurrects and utilizes the sword embedded in its neck along with Terror to make the fight even more annoying. Stabbing its centipede ends the fight but won’t permanently kill the ape. Instead, when traveling to the Ashina Depths, you fight the Headless Ape again, only this time it receives some backup from its mate. Defeating it will result in the centipede taking a rest…until you come back with the Mortal Blade and kill it for good.

While Marcus Fenix has been the in-game face of the Gears of War franchise for years, one man has been behind the scenes of that franchise for over a decade and a half. Rod Fergusson started his work on the series while he was at Epic Games, then as part of The Coalition, the developer Microsoft has designated to oversee Gears. Now, though, he’s leaving to go over to Blizzard and work on another legendary series.

As announced on his official Twitter, Fergusson said he’ll leave his long time employer to go to Blizzard Entertainment. There he’s going to oversee the Diablo series. He wishes his old cohorts well, saying leaving the company and the Gears franchise is “bittersweet” due to his love of both.

The next Gears of War title will release in late April in the form of Gears Tactics, which you can read about here, and Diablo 4 is currently in development as well. Both games should have Fergusson’s fingerprints on them in some form in that case, so it’ll be interesting to see.

I began working on Gears of War over 15 years ago and since then, it has been the joy of my life. But now it’s time for a new adventure. I leave Gears in the great hands of The Coalition and can’t wait for everyone to play Gears Tactics on April 28. pic.twitter.com/Az5w0B631i

— Rod Fergusson (@RodFergusson) February 5, 2020

Starting in March, I will join Blizzard to oversee the Diablo franchise. Leaving is bittersweet as I love our Gears family, the fans, and everyone at The Coalition and Xbox. Thank you, it has been an honor and a privilege to work with you all. pic.twitter.com/0FuO3RFYSQ

— Rod Fergusson (@RodFergusson) February 5, 2020

Do note that there will be spoilers ahead for every game we speak about, so if we begin talking about a game you don’t want spoiled, skip ahead to the next entry.

METAL GEAR SOLID 2

We all love a good conspiracy theory, and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty threw the mother of conspiracy theories at us when it revealed to us the true nature of the Illuminati-like Patriots. What was even more of a gut-punch, though, was the realization that Raiden had inadvertently been functioning like a pawn for them all along, with the reveal that the entire Big Shell Incident was orchestrated by the Patriots just as a means to facilitate the S3 Plan and mould Raiden into their very own Solid Snake replica.

Destiny

For many of us who never really got into MMOs but enjoyed first person shooters, there was Destiny. Launched in a disappointing state but possessing solid gun play and excellent mission design at the highest level (read: raids), the very nature of Destiny pushed us to obsess about it. When is Xur coming, what Exotics will he have, doing the Nightfalls and raids at reset time, a secret quest that’s been discovered – Destiny just scratched that itch to an insane degree.