Buckle up, everyone, because this is going to be a real doozy of a news post.

There are two lawsuits recently filed between Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford and the former general counsel for Gearbox. They're both suing each other, both claiming the other were in violation of their legal responsibilities to the company. The lawsuit against Pitchford from the former Gearbox lawyer Wade Callender says that Pitchford received a secret $12 million bonus from Take-Two Interactive.

Callender's lawsuit, filed December 21, 2018, also says that Pitchford is in violation of some contracts that involve Gearbox and a "separate real estate company" that both of them owned. Gearbox says that these accusations are "absurd" in a brief statement released today by a Gearbox spokesperson. ...

I figure an entirely new news post for this would be appropriate. Yesterday, it was reported from Kotaku's Jason Schreier that Blizzard had apparently pulled a Diablo 4 announcement at the last minute from BlizzCon 2018.

A video had apparently been recorded featuring Blizzard's co-founder Allen Adham talking to fans about a new Diablo project. The original statement says that Blizzard pulled this video announcement from BlizzCon 2018 at the last minute. Blizzard has since come forward to make a public statement about this, saying that no, this wasn't the case at all.
...

A new rumor popped up about an hour ago courtesy of Kotaku and Jason Schreier that Microsoft is close to purchasing Obsidian. I don't normally post a bunch of rumors on the site unless there is good reason for it and the reason I'm posting this one is because Jason Schreier has a great track record on this sort of stuff. So while it's not confirmed or announced anywhere, there is probably a good chance that the rumor being true of Microsoft being close to buying Obsidian.

Kotaku's sources say that the deal is "90%" finished, while another suggested that the deal was more of a matter of "when" and not "if."
...

If you haven't yet heard, IGN recently fired their Nintendo editor, Filip Miucin, after it came to light that he very, very closely copied a review for Dead Cells. Miucin's video review was for IGN while the review he very apparently copied was from a YouTube channel called Boomstick Gaming. Since then, most of Miucin's work at IGN has been pulled as the investigation uncovers more examples of plagiarism.

Boomstick Gaming was the first to notice the apparent plagiarism and put up a video showing off the obvious similarities....

According to some quick investigative work by Kotaku's Jason Schreier, a "top-secret" 2K studio is working on a "top-secret" new BioShock game. Schreier found this out while reporting on a story about Hangar 13 and how that studio lost its way with Mafia III.

This should probably not come as too big of a surprise to anybody. It will be interesting to see how this new BioShock game fares without Ken Levine and Irrational Games.
...

According to some quick investigative work by Kotaku's Jason Schreier, a "top-secret" 2K studio is working on a "top-secret"...

Update: Please see the official statement from EA and DICE concerning the temporary removal of real money transactions from Star Wars Battlefront II.

Original: According to a series of tweets from various members of the gaming industry, EA may be readying to remove the ability to purchase Crystals using real money from Star Wars Battlefront II. Crystals being the currency that are used to purchase loot boxes that everyone is up in arms about. This first started with a tweet from Jason Schreier about 30 minutes ago. Simply put, this would mean that the only way to earn loot boxes, Star Cards, and other various unlocks is through playing the game. What a novel ide...

Update: Please see the official statement from EA and DICE concerning the temporary removal of real money transactions from Star Wars Battlefront...

The latest Destiny 2 DLC rumor comes to us courtesy of Jason "Press Sneak Fuck" Schreier of Kotaku. This rumor suggests that the first piece of DLC will focus on the magical space wizard, Osiris, and will include a new patrol zone and new social space.

As always, the sources are anonymous, but Schreier's track record on rumors is pretty damn solid. The DLC is apparently called The Curse of Osiris and is slated to be released this December. There will be a new patrol area and it will be on Mercury. A new social space is the Lighthouse, the area formerly reserved to those that went flawless in the Trials of...

The latest Destiny 2 DLC rumor comes to us courtesy of Jason "Press Sneak Fuck" Schreier of Kotaku. This rumor suggests that the first...

Yesterday, Kotaku ran an article saying that Battleborn was going the free-to-play route soon. They cited an anonymous source that said the game was originally slated to be a F2P game but only ended up as a $60 retail release because of 2K.

Last night, Randy Pitchford denied those claims that Battleborn was going F2P. He denied the claims but when he tried to explain further what exactly is happening with the game, he uh... well... it's kind of confusing?

So, they are planning on releasing a timed demo?
... You know what? ...

Yesterday, Kotaku ran an article saying that Battleborn was going the free-to-play route soon. They cited an anonymous source that said the game...

According to both Jason Schreier of Kotaku and the industry insider known as shinobi602, Destiny 2 will also be released on the PC in addition to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Kotaku cites different sources that say the game is PC bound and that it will feel like an entirely new game compared to the first Destiny. According to the sources, this news cropped up during an internal presentation at Activision. It was also suggested by these sources t hat Vicarious Visions, another Activision-owned studio, is helping out on Destiny 2.

Perhaps the most shocking news here is that Destiny 2 will feel like a proper sequel and not something that you would consider a mere add-on.
...