Activision Blizzard didn’t like the leaks, even though it was free advertising for them…

So Video Games Chronicle (VGC onwards) has recapped what the site heard about the next Call of Duty: Warzone map that hasn’t been announced yet. The article included references to the sources of the leaks, as well as embedded videos to show the map in question. Although the article itself continues to be available, the videos that were uploaded to YouTube have been scrubbed, due to them being „no longer available due to a copyright claim by Activision Publishing, Inc.”

But Activision Blizzard (we can call them as such, as that’s the main entity above Activision and Blizzard…) didn’t stop there! Andy Robinson, the editor-in-chief of VGC, confirmed that the publisher temporarily locked him out from both his personal and the publication’s Twitter accounts due to Activision Blizzard using a DMCA claim! „Here comes Activision removing our legitimate coverage of their leaks from Twitter,” Robinson wrote on Twitter after his „jail time” ended, noting that he has never received DMCA claims from any other publisher. (And for a good reason: it’s still free promotion for them if the media talks about the leaks…) Previously, VGC’s Twitter got another DMCA claim from Activision after they tweeted a link to a Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War leaks, even though the information in question was officially announced by that point… so someone might be having problems reading.

In 2020, Activision invoked the DMCA in getting a judge to order Reddit to produce identifying information about a user who posted a Call of Duty: Warzone screenshot before the game’s announcement. It’s the same company that lays off people while Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard’s CEO, is getting a 200 million-dollar bonus…

Source: Gamesindustry