Gaming News

Starfield Update 1.16.236 Patch Notes Detail the 'Biggest Update Yet'

Bethesda Game Studios has published Starfield update 1.16.236 patch notes as it attempts to pull players back in with the Free Lanes update, Terran Armada DLC, and a PlayStation 5 (PS5) version. Details about the planet-sized content drop were published in a blog post on the publisher’s official website today. The list shows additions large and small as players gain access to quality-of-life features they’ve hoped to see for years as Starfield approaches its third anniversary. Free Lanes is the true headline of an already big day for Bethesda, as the company calls it its "biggest update yet." The previously promised free update adds major changes, such as the ability to travel freely between planets and a Cruise Mode, for players on...

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Cyberpunk 2077 Is Getting A Major Makeover on PS5 Pro Tomorrow

Just last month, Sony announced that Cyberpunk 2077 would be getting a PSSR 2 update, but now CD Projekt Red has followed up with a huge PS5 Pro update that'll drop on April 8. Cyberpunk 2077 famously had a problematic launch when it released on consoles in 2020, and even after it got patched up, it's been far behind the PC version. But since the PS5 Pro came out back in 2024, it's been a question of when, not if, CDPR would launch an update that'd bring the game closer to the PC version. Tomorrow's update will give PS5 Pro players access to three performance profiles: Ray Tracing Pro, Ray Tracing, and Performance. The Ray Tracing Pro mode is where you'll find most of the visual updates made specifically for the PS5 Pro, targeting...

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It Looks Like Steam Will Soon Use Frame Rate Data Gathered by Its Millions of Users to Estimate How Well a Game Will Actually Run on Your PC

Valve already collects a lot of data about your gaming PC, typically to release its hardware survey every month. But it looks like Steam will soon use frame rate data gathered by its millions of users to estimate how well a game will actually run on your rig. This all started about a month ago, when a SteamOS beta started collecting performance information. But now, a user on ResetEra (via PC Gamer) has spotted a string in the latest Steam update that would use that data to estimate how well the game will run on your hardware. It does not seem like this performance estimate is visible on any actual game pages quite yet, but Steam wouldn't be the first digital PC games store to give its users this kind of estimate. Love it or hate it...

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Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred – The First 12 Minutes of Gameplay (Plus the First Boss Fight) | IGN First

Get a look at the first dozen minutes of gameplay – driven by a Paladin, and concluding in a boss fight – from Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred, the upcoming second expansion to Blizzard's popular action-RPG sequel. This gameplay shows the beginning of the journey to Skovos, the new region joining Sanctuary with Lord of Hatred. Watch it above. This is the second content drop in our month-long exclusive coverage of Lord of Hatred through our IGN First editorial program. Look for more exclusives as April rolls along and we get closer to Lord of Hatred's April 29 release date. Our first Lord of Hatred exclusive was "The Queen and the Saint" in-game cutscene we debuted last week, which you can watch directly above. And if you're interested in...

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Gothic 1 Remake Preview: A New Look for a Dark-Fantasy RPG Classic

While The Elder Scrolls and The Witcher are often seen as the benchmark of Western role-playing games, the Gothic series from former developer Piranha Bytes is also worthy of recognition within the upper echelon of the subgenre. The original Gothic and its sequels became cult classics for the scale of player choice and freeform, open-ended exploration within their dark-fantasy setting, which has even inspired developers at CD Projekt Red and Warhorse Studios in their RPGs. With the upcoming remake of Gothic 1, developer Alkimia Interactive is giving the original game a reappraisal not only to showcase its lasting strengths but also to expand the world and its community of characters to create a more satisfying, consequence-driven...

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Microsoft Confirms Some Big Hitters for Xbox Game Pass April 2026 Wave 1 Lineup

April 2026 is shaping up to be a big month for Xbox Game Pass, with a number of high-profile games hitting Microsoft’s subscription service. As detailed on Xbox Wire, the PC version of DayZ kicks things off on April 8, joining Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, Game Pass Essential, PC Game Pass. On the same day, Endless Legend 2 (Game Preview) (PC) joins Game Pass Premium (it’s already in Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass). Also on April 8, Remedy’s FBC: Firebreak (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) joins Game Pass Premium (again, this one is already in Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass). A day later, on April 9, Frontier’s Planet Coaster 2 (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) joins Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game...

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'This Is What Nostalgia Feels Like' — Cyberpunk 2077 Mod Adds a VHS Aesthetic and Somehow Makes the Game Look Even More Realistic

Cyberpunk 2077 may be approaching its sixth birthday and CD Projekt itself has ruled out further content, but modders are very much keeping the game alive — and this latest effort hit me right in my 80s fan feels. TapePunk, from Tulired, emulates a VHS aesthetic that “provides a gritty, analog-inspired look for Cyberpunk 1977, avoiding over-the-top effects.” It’s described as “a simple tool for those seeking a cinematic, nostalgic atmosphere based on real-world media study and our memories.” Tulired said they spent "countless" hours over the last few months learning about VHS and camcorders in order to update the mod, having released a demo video that “seemed to trigger something nostalgic in many of us.” “One comment in particular...

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'Dad, This Makes Me Want to Play KSP!' — 11-Year-Old Kerbal Space Program Gets Player Boost Amid Artemis II's Mission to the Moon

Space simulator Kerbal Space Program has seen a resurgence as players celebrate the launch of the world's first manned mission to the Moon, Artemis II, in decades. The Artemis II crew are heading home after travelling further from Earth than anyone before, with a splashdown back on Earth scheduled for April 10. This mission is a giant step toward a return to the moon and future missions to Mars, and it also marks the first time humanity has flown to the Moon in over 50 years. It has also seemingly reignited our fascination with space, with thousands of players jumping into the 11-year-old simulator game, Kerbal Space Program. While it usually bobs around on a very respectable 3-4,000 peak concurrent players on Steam, since Artemis...

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'No Zombie Deer' — State of Decay 3 2020 Announcement Trailer Was 'A Concept,' Dev Says, Made at a Time When the Game Was Only 'In a Word Document'

State of Decay 3 was announced back in 2020 with an eye-catching debut trailer that showed a zombie deer eating the remains of a wolf. It got fans of the survival series excited that they would not only have to context with your typical zombie menace when the game eventually came out, but zombie animals, too. Unfortunately, State of Decay 3 will launch without zombie animals of any kind, and that trailer was little more than a “concept” built at a time when there was essentially no game to speak of. Six years after State of Decay 3’s announcement, developer Undead Labs is readying the game for an alpha test. It is finally ready, then, for the public to give it a shot, having come a long way since that trailer helped get Xbox fans for...

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‘We Moved Away From That Baby Face’ — Overwatch Reveals Updated Look For Anran Following Fan Backlash

Overwatch has unveiled an updated look for one of its newest heroes, Anran, following criticism of how her face previously looked in-game. The redesign has happened following an initial backlash from the community and the voice actor who portrays the fire fan-wielding damage dealer, Fareeha, who claimed that “this was a hill worth dying on” after it was suggested that Anran was yet another victim of Overwatch’s “Same Face Syndrome”. This syndrome is the suggestion that many of the female heroes in Overwatch suffer from the fact that they all have basically the exact same facial features, whether that be the Swedish Brigitte, British Tracer, Japanese Kiriko, Martian Juno, or, up until now, Chinese Anran. Back in February, Blizzard...

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Yoshihisa Kishimoto, Creator of Double Dragon and Renegade, Dies at 64

Yoshihisa Kishimoto, the creator of the Double Dragon and River City (Kuno-kun) franchises, has died at the age of 64. This was confirmed by his son, Ryūbō Kishimoto, on multiple social media channels. "This is the son of Yoshihisa Kishimoto," he wrote on Facebook. "I am sorry to inform you that my father has passed to rest on 04/02/2026... I hope you will continue to enjoy my father's works, including Kuno-kun. Thank you." In a follow-up post on Twitter/X, he continued, "I'm sorry for not being able to reply, but thank you very much for the many heartfelt memory messages. I'm truly delighted to learn that there are people around the world who have played the Kunio-kun series extensively and understand my father even more deeply than...

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World of Warcraft: Midnight's Race to World First Shocks Teams and Viewers With an Ultra-Secret Final Phase

Last week, the third raid of World of Warcraft's Midnight expansion opened up: The March on Quel'Danas. My guild and I were pretty proud to have finished off both its bosses on Normal difficulty over the weekend, thank you very much. But there's currently an absolutely nuts race going on between the top two World of Warcraft raiding guilds in the world to be the first to beat it on the highest difficulty. Yesterday, one of the teams thought they had won, only to stumble upon a secret, ultra-hard, Easter resurrection-themed final boss phase that absolutely no one saw coming. Midnight's first raiding "tier" includes three raids: the Voidspire, the Dreamrift, and March on Quel'Danas. The first two raids launched a few weeks ago, but...

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Return of the Obra Dinn Dev Says AI Makes Him Hesitant to Talk About New Projects

Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn developer Lucas Pope is hesitant to reveal too much about the games he’s working on because he’s concerned his projects could “get slurped up by AI.” The mind behind some of the most critically acclaimed indie titles of the last 20 years talked about his past, present, and future in game development during a conversation No More Robots co-founder Mike Rose and Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail on the Mike & Rami Are Still Here podcast. When speaking about his approach to the business side of his projects, Pope spoke about his desire to be open about his process – and why he may refrain from doing so. “But I also like to talk about the stuff I’m working on, and I think, just now, the situation...

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God Save Birmingham Preview: As if Surviving Medieval Times Wasn’t Difficult Enough, Now You’ve Got Zombies to Deal With Too

The zombie apocalypse seems like a known quantity in video games at this point, but God Save Birmingham hopes to throw the genre on its head. In my two half-hour sessions spent in the rotting village of Birmingham at PAX East 2026, I found that the medieval setting and timeframe, the hyper-dangerous infected menace, and the slow pace for scavenging and crafting do indeed make for a new sort of survival experience. It was buggy, as to be expected with pre-alpha builds at conventions, but very unique and promising. Choosing Birmingham as a setting was a process led both by personal interest in fantasy set in the time period and economical factors. “They looked at London, Paris, all the capital cities were like, ‘These are way too big’...

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The 2026 Alienware 16X Aurora RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Laptop with OLED Display Is on Sale for the First Time

For 2026, Alienware updated its popular 16X Aurora gaming laptop with a gorgeous OLED display and Intel's newest HX Plus series CPU, and it's on sale this week for the first time. You can pick up a well eqiupped laptop featuring an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus CPU, RTX 5070 Ti GPU, and 32GB of RAM for $2,699.99 shipped after a $220 off instant discount. First Ever Discount on the New 2026 Alienware 16X Aurora Last year, Alienware replaced its venerable m16 laptop with two new models - the 16X and 16 Aurora. Of the two, the 16X Aurora is the model I would recommend for most gamers. It has a higher price tag but the upgrades more than make up for the price premium. Here's a list of all of the major improvements: Better display...

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Bloodmoored, a First-Person Psychological Horror Game Set in an Abandoned Factory, Announced for PC

The just-announced Bloodmoored is a first-person psychological horror game for PC due out next year where you try to escape an abandoned industrial complex – your father's old factory. Oh, and spoiler alert: you're not alone. But the ghosts you encounter aren't necessarily antagonistic...though you'll need to figure out which ones are and which ones aren't. Bloodmoored isn't all about spooky ghosts, though. There are also plenty of puzzles to solve, courtesy of the dilapidated machinery strewn about the industrial complex your character navigates. Some puzzles are physical, some are logistical, and others are spatial. But as for those ghosts, solo developer Stormdrill elaborates: "The ghosts of the past, trapped between life and...

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After Hundreds of Hours, Some Crimson Desert Players Are Complaining That the World Has Become Too 'Peaceful' Because They've Basically Killed All the

Crimson Desert has a huge map and lengthy story that will take most players over 100 hours to work their way through, but now Pearl Abyss’ action adventure has been out for a few weeks, some are starting to complain that the open world has become too peaceful — because they’ve killed everyone. One of the interesting things about Crimson Desert’s design is that for the most part enemies do not respawn, and camps, which you can overtake, do not become repopulated with enemies once you’ve cleared them out. Missions are not repeatable, and there is no Skyrim-style Radiant quest system to generate random encounters for eternity. Of course, there are things to do in Crimson Desert once you reach the endgame. You can wrap up any hangover...

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Life is Strange: Reunion Review

I've said it before and I'll say it again: very few games have stuck with me as long after completion like the original Life is Strange did way back in 2015. While we’ve had some great spinoffs and an excellent follow up to that original story with 2024’s Life Is Strange: Double Exposure, it still felt like the series was missing something. Sure, the point-and-click adventure gameplay has definitely evolved since Max’s adventure in Blackwell Academy, and Double Exposure took the series to new heights with a more refined writing style and mature approach to some heavy topics, but it always seemed to be missing that one core aspect that made the original resonate so much with so many people over a decade ago. Thankfully, with the return...

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The Best Deals Today: M5 MacBook Air, Sony WH-1000XM5, Splatoon 3, and More

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save big on the M5 MacBook Air, Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, LEGO R2-D2, and more. Check out our top picks for Saturday, April 4, below. M5 MacBook Air for $949 You can score an M5 MacBook Air for $949 today, saving you 14% off the usual price. This 13-inch model includes 16GB RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and more. If you're on the hunt for a new laptop, look no further than this M5 MacBook Air. Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 for $54.99 Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 released for Nintendo Switch last Fall, and today, you can score this double pack for $54.99 at Woot! These two adventures are some of Mario's greatest, making this a must-own game for any...

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The Best Deals Today: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, and More

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save big on Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, LEGO R2-D2, and more. Check out our top picks for Saturday, April 4, below. Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (Switch 2) for $29.99 Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade dropped on Switch 2 earlier this year, and today, you can score a copy for $29.99 from Walmart. This is the definitive version of the game, featuring Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade with all its enhancements from PS5 and Episode INTERmission, starring Yuffie Kisaragi. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is set to launch on Switch 2 in early June, so now is the time to catch up. Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 for $54.99 Super...

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Intravenous 3 Brings Old-School, Top-Down, Stealth-and-Tactics Pixel-Art Action to PC

Top-down, pixel-art stealth-action – old-school NES-style – is back on the menu with Intravenous 3, the latest in the retro-styled series where you play single-player or in two-player co-op as Steve and Sean as they use real-time tactics to try and survive an enemy manhunt. It's in development for PC. Developer Explosive Squat games promises "tense stealth action, tactical hardcore gunplay, and missions & story shaped by the way you play." Check out the announcement trailer below. You can wishlist Intravenous 3 on Steam if you're interested. Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey...

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Will Starfield Ever Get a Cyberpunk-Style Renaissance?

Whatever you do, don’t call it Starfield 2.0: At a recent preview event for the big updates and content drops coming to Starfield, Bethesda seemed eager to downplay any comparison to the kinds of extensive overhauls enjoyed by the likes of Cyberpunk 2077, No Man’s Sky, or indeed, Fallout 76. Personally, I think they’re selling themselves short: while the Free Lanes update isn’t a big ground-up remake of Starfield that magically transforms it into a different game, none of the other things we might be tempted to compare it to are that either. No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk 2077 are still, away from all the hype, largely the same minute-to-minute experiences that they were at launch. Whatever they clamp onto it, Starfield is and will remain...

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There Are No Orcs Mini Review: It Might Be Lying, But It’s Also A Joy To Play

At its core, There Are No Orcs is a strategy auto-battler where your main job is to buy buildings and build up synergies between them. You’ll spend most of your time managing gold, expanding your empire, and figuring out whether it’s smarter to invest in your economy, improve your unit output, or upgrade your overall setup. It sounds simple, and it starts off that way, but the depth ramps up quickly. Each faction comes with its own mechanics, and each one also offers multiple commander options. These commanders don’t just change the flavour of your run—they actively push you toward different strategies, which means no two matches feel quite the same. Factions, Commanders, and Endless Build Variety The variety here is where the...

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Crimson Desert Gets More Storage Space, a Headgear Visibility Option, and Even a Toggle for Previous Movement Controls in Patch 1.02.00

The pace of game-changing updates for Crimson Desert shows no sign of slowing down, after Pearl Abyss patch 1.02.00 made a number of significant improvements players had asked for. According to the patch notes, below, the headline change here is private storage capacity expansion of up to 1000 slots depending on the Greymane camp's expansion level. Players had called for extra storage slots ever since the storage box was added to the game, especially those in the late game who were struggling to find a home for all their camp management resources. But that’s not the only welcome change. There’s also a Headgear Visibility option, which means you can hide your helm and see Kliff’s face, if you want. The option comes in four flavors...

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Genius RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 Player Makes Longest Rollercoaster Ever Built, Manipulates Guests Into Staying Just Happy Enough to Ride It for 1.947 x

A RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 superfan has created what is believed to be the longest rollercoaster ever built in the game — and it’s so long that even a googol can’t be used to describe how many years it takes to ride it. Self-described “friendly neighbourhood RollerCoaster Tycoon nerd,” Marcel Vos, uploaded one of the most fascinating videos on a video game I’ve ever watched: The Googol Coaster - Longest Ride in RollerCoaster Tycoon. This dense, 41-minute explanation of how the rollercoaster was created is full of mind-bending twists and turns, revealing Marcel Vos to be not just a RollerCoaster Tycoon expert, but a math whiz. I’m not going to pretend to fully understand the numbers behind the ride, but the gist is that the maximum park...

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Dead by Daylight Devs Celebrate 10 Years of Eldritch Evil and Hope for Many, Many More

Dead by Daylight turns 10 this year. Originally released in June 2016, the asymmetric horror game has had one hell of a — but not a hellish — decade. After what was initially a bit of a janky experience at launch, the support of millions of players over a decade has allowed Behaviour Interactive to transform DBD into a well-oiled generator. It's gotten dozens of crossovers over the years that have added Killers and Survivors and cosmetics to the game from popular properties such as Stranger Things, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Hellraiser, Alien, Chucky, Tomb Raider, Castlevania, Five Nights at Freddy's, The Walking Dead... I could go on and on. It's also seen multiple spin-offs, including a dating...

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WW1 Gallipoli Thrust Me Into One of the World’s Most Violent Conflicts | IGN Preview

As I settle comfortably into my Unc arc, I've found myself spending more and more time with military simulations. Yes, I still enjoy the chaos and ridiculousness of modern Call of Duty, but I find myself drawn more and more to more thoughtful approaches to warfare. The WW1 series is arguably the most "realistic" approach to the first-person war-shooter genre in the market today, and WW1 Gallipoli, coming out sometime this summer, is the next entry in that long-running franchise. From my all-too-brief time with it on the show floor at PAX East, it might be the best WW1 game so far. I bet you could ask anyone in the US to name the major powers involved in the second World War and they'd easily list off the Axis and Allied powers. If you...

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Naughty Dog Creative Director Is in Trinidad for 'Research' and a Lot of Fans Think It's for Uncharted 5

Naughty Dog creative director Shaun Escayg posted a picture of a cannon in Trinidad & Tobago alongside the tease, “Research,” and fans think it has to do with Uncharted 5. The Uncharted series has been dormant ever since 2017’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, which Escayg himself co-directed. While Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection came out in 2022, fans of the action adventure franchise are keen to know whether Naughty Dog intends to make a new mainline Uncharted game. Perhaps it does. As spotted by Kotaku, Escayg’s picture was taken at Fort George in Trinidad and Tobago. A cannon in a fort in Trinidad and Tobago certainly feels very Uncharted, but of course this could be for anything. Perhaps Escayg simply has a personal interest...

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Dead by Daylight Devs Talk Spinoff Hopes and Dreams: 'I Want Elden Ring in the World of Dead by Daylight'

If Dead by Daylight is known for something, it's probably for its incredible cross-media powers. Over the last decade, the asymmetrical multiplayer horror game has both welcomed dozens upon dozens of in-game crossovers, and Dead by Daylight itself has been taken in a number of fun new directions including a dating sim, a choice-focused story game, comics, a board game, and even an upcoming film. It's done it all! Well, almost all. I had the pleasure of recently asking Dead by Daylight's creative director Dave Richard and Behaviour Interactive's head of partnerships Mathieu Cote if there were any stones left unturned for spinoffs that they wanted to see happen. And Richard has one specific idea in mind: a soulslike. Elden Ring, but Dead...

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Dead by Daylight Devs Say Matchmaking Rework Is a 'Re-Imagination of How the Game Is Played'

The Dead by Daylight team at Behaviour Interactive has opened up about what they say are “significant” changes coming with their upcoming matchmaking rework. Head of partnerships Mathieu Cote and creative director Dave Richard offered an update on their multiplayer rework plans during a conversation with IGN at the Game Developers Conference 2026 (GDC). After promising a "revamp" last summer, they tell players they can still expect to see a matchmaking rework, teasing adjustments that will be more than a few minor tweaks. “We're changing it in a very significant way,” Richard said. “People that have been with us for a long time, for 10 years, will recognize some of the past matchmaking that we have, the best parts of it, and the...

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