Daily Briefing: Friday 5th February

Activision-Blizzard say no Overwatch 2 or Diablo 4 in 2021

In their earnings call, AB quashed hopes of these games appearing this year. They did, however, confirm a Call of Duty aimed for Q4 2021, more remasters coming this year (Diablo 2? Crash Bash?) and that multiple F2P Warcraft mobile games are now in 'advanced development'.

• Blizzard's core output is astonishingly poor, but Activision are getting good at filling in the gaps. A focus on mobile for Warcraft will upset core Blizzard fans, but it's probably a great business move. A great Diablo 2 remaster will do a lot to satiate fans' hunger, but it will have to be great after the nightmare that was W3R. Sadly, no word on anything new from Activision, following their huge success publishing Sekiro.

Silent Hill Composer Hints At New Project

Akira Yamaoka says his next game project is “the one you’ve been hoping to hear about”. He's done some excellent work across other franchises, but he's the Silent Hill guy - so fingers crossed he's not playing games with us.

• Let's temper expectations - a new Silent Hill is an exciting prospect, but Konami aren't exactly at the top of their game. It's quite a complicated topic: The original SIlent Hill creator recently left Sony Japan to start Bokeh Game Studio, working on a horror-themed action adventure aiming for 2023. That doesn't sound like Silent Hill, so perhaps Konami are working on it internally or with Sony Japan... but then why would Toyama leave? It's hard to cut a path through this fog.

Ori Director Apologises For Outburst

The Ori Director, after his previous outburst at Peter Molyneux, Sean Murray and CDPR over 'lies and deception', has apologised. He says he did not represent Moon Studios' correctly, communicated on the wrong platform and in the incorrect tone. He claims he wished to start a discussion, but was too aggressive and regrets calling out people by name.

• A solid apology - ResetEra really isn't the place for it, but he had a point. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, as the saying goes, and when the end result is customers and fans being deceived, we should consider it an industry problem to talk about, not tip-toe around.

ZeniMax CEO & Co-Founder Robert A. Altman Has Died

Bethesda shared the news via Twitter, with some words on their seemingly-revered CEO. The tweet said "He was a true visionary, friend, and believer in the spirit of people and the power of what they could accomplish together. He was an extraordinary leader, and an even better human being.". An included image detailed his efforts during the pandemic to keep in touch with staff weekly.

• He seemed to be a great man, judging by the touching public letter from his son, James. This should have little material impact on ZeniMax, other than a period of mourning. As a Bethesda design director said: "If you love our games, it's because of Robert's love for what we did, and his trust in our dreams.". We hope that can continue under his successor.