Last week, Bloomberg reported that 25 people comprising the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive walked out the door in a group resignation. But while some of the circumstances around their departure emerged in the reporting, one pressing question was left unanswered: why?
Having spoken to multiple individuals close to the situation who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisal, as well as an Annapurna spokesperson, IGN has pieced together a somewhat complex answer. Disagreements over the direction of the Interactive division, chaotic departures, communication breakdowns, and a perceived lack of leadership transparency at Annapurna Interactive led to a staff walk-out that has left 25 individuals jobless, Annapurna leaders...
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Note: These impressions are based on my early experiences with EA Sports FC 25. So far, the focus has been on core gameplay in Career and Rush modes, but I’ll explore how the changes impact Ultimate Team and other online modes after spending more time with them.
Every year, I start with the same overly optimistic questions: What has actually changed in FIFA—sorry, EA Sports FC—this time around? Is it really new, or just the same old experience with a fresh coat of paint? There’s always a laundry list of flashy new marketing terms designed to grab attention: Hypermotion V, FC IQ, BallTouch, Rush, etc (okay one of those is made up). Yet, even with all the buzzwords, there’s often a lingering feeling that these changes are merely...
There’s a very specific sub-section of gamers out there that live for efficiency above all else, not least when it comes to their games. We don’t mean playing games quickly or speedrunning, well not in this case at least, but it means that the simple joy they get from correctly automating a process in a […]
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God of War Ragnarök has a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam following its PC launch, with most of the complaints revolving around Sony’s controversial PlayStation Network Account requirement.
Sony had made it clear on the God of War Ragnarök Steam page that a PlayStation Network account would be required to play Sony Santa Monica’s purely single-player adventure, but that doesn’t seem to have prevented a number of negative reviews singling out the policy.
One negative Steam review, from a user who refunded the game after just 20 minutes of play, called out the PSN requirement. “Creating a PSN account was something I knew was necessary in advance and I was prepared to do so, until I was met with the reality of it,” they said. “For...
Following Sony’s shock decision to haul live service hero shooter Concord offline two weeks after launch, its game director has reportedly stepped down with some staff concerned about the future of the studio.
Kotaku reports that Ryan Ellis, who has served as Concord’s game director since January 2018, has told staff he has stepped down from the role and into a support function.
Ellis’ name was attached to the statement published on the PlayStation Blog that announced Concord would be taken offline. Ellis said that "while many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended."
Concord is one of the biggest video game...
What are the seemingly dead PlayStation series that need to make a comeback? Cardy, Matt, and Mat pick three each that they'd love to see new games from. Before that, though, there are some very early impressions of The Plucky Squire, as well as far too much talk about Lidl and giant crisps.
Remember to send us your thoughts about all the new games, TV shows, and films you're enjoying or looking forward to: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.
IGN UK Podcast 766: PlayStation Series That Need to Come Back
IGN UK Podcast 765: PS5 Pros and Biscuit Pockets
IGN UK Podcast 764: Bots, Bolters, and Blood
IGN UK Podcast 763: Star Wars Outlaws, MGS Delta, and Alien: Romulus
IGN UK Podcast 762: The Best of gamescom 2024
IGN UK Podcast 761: Space Marine 2...
The Silent Hill 2 remake is console exclusive to PlayStation 5 for one year, Sony has revealed.
As spotted by Eurogamer, a new trailer released on the PlayStation YouTube channel shows Bloober’s long-awaited remake won’t launch on “other formats” until October 8, 2025 at the earliest. Silent Hill 2 launches on PC and PS5 on October 8, 2024.
While “other formats” is a vague phrase, it no doubt includes Xbox consoles (Xbox Series X and S) and, potentially, Nintendo’s next-generation console, dubbed Switch 2. The Silent Hill 2 remake will of course be playable on the upcoming PS5 Pro, which launches on November 7.
Sony’s partnership with Konami for Silent Hill 2 has not only resulted in a year-long console exclusivity, but full...
Sony has issued a fresh patch for the PlayStation 5 that will hopefully sort out graphics problems caused by the recently released firmware update.
Firmware update 24.06-10.00.00., which added the Welcome Hub to PS5 among other new features, caused technical issues in Square Enix's Final Fantasy 16.
Myriad users reported issues including entire portions of the screen being overcome with black squares and crashing when loading a save file or fast traveling. Similar bugs appeared in Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws, Hello Games' No Man's Sky, Kojima Productions' Death Stranding, and other games.
At the time, Square Enix confirmed it was working with Sony to address the issues introduced through the firmware update, saying: "Following the...
The next Yakuza game is about series wild card Goro Majima fighting pirates and is called Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and Sega revealed at the September 2024 RGG Summit.
The game will seemingly see Majima hunt down a lost treasure and perhaps even features ship combat in a half Yakuza, half Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag looking entry. It launches February 28, 2025..
A lengthy reveal trailer showed Majima washed up on the beach of Rich Island, near Hawaii, looking worse for wear and helped by a child with a pet tiger. Majima introduced the clip himself as a story taking place six months prior, asking how the heck he ended up on a beach.
It looks to directly feed off the story of Like a Dragon...
Following Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s shock patent lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair, and Pocketpair’s subsequent statement claiming it had no idea which patents it’s accused of infringing, analysts believe they’ve worked out which patent Nintendo plans to use to win its case.
Kiyoshi Kurihara, a Japanese patent attorney and consultant on intellectual property spoke to Yahoo Japan on the lawsuit (translated by Automaton), and pointed to a “killer patent” that revolves around the mechanic of catching Pokémon itself.
“It seems like it would be hard to avoid if you want to make a Pokémon-like game, and it’s easy to infringe if you’re not careful,” Kurihara is quoted as saying.
In general gameplay terms, Palworld’s...
Netflix Geeked Week 2024 has officially come to an end. All week long Netflix has been dropping trailers and news about some of the biggest upcoming movies, shows, and games coming to the streaming service.
Netflix has been dropping announcements since monday leading up to an live, in-person fan event that has wrapped up today. To help you keep up with everything announced so far, we've gathered all of the biggest news from Netflix Geeked Week from the entire week and the live show. You can check out all of the biggest announcements below
The Biggest Netflix Announcements This Week
Arcane Season 2 Gets Multiple Release Dates and New Clip
Netflix has officially dropped the release dates for season 2 of Arcane, and like the first...
Thank your own personal deity—possibly Odin—it's Freyaday! Uh, I mean, Friday. That wordplay is topical, thanks to God of War Ragnarok launching on PC this morning. I've already put a bunch of hours into Valhalla mode, and it looks and plays phenomenally well. Discounts on it, and a bunch of other worthy purchases, await you below, my friend. Stay safe, save often, and see you Monday!
In retro news, I'm breaking out the fairy bread Jill sandwiches for the 22nd birthday of Resident Evil [remake] on GameCube. One of the first reduxings of its kind, this set the bar for what the modernisation of a game ought to be. I day-one adored it for a bunghole puckering One Dangerous Zombie mode, which only unlocked after clocking it twice with...
During Geeked Week's live event tonight, Netflix Animation officially announced another collaboration with CD Projekt Red in the Cyberpunk universe... but didn't confirm what it would be.
The tease, which you can watch below, is brief, only really confirming a "return to Night City." Otherwise, the streaming platform merely invites fans to "stay tuned."
While the news is exciting, it isn't a huge shock. During CD Projekt Red's latest earnings call last month, the company teased that it's "definitely" planning more animated projects with Cyberpunk, but was similarly vague.
"We are definitely planning to do more in terms of animation with Cyberpunk so I hope that's enough as an answer," joint CEO Michał Nowakowski told investors at...
Netflix and Zack Snyder have revealed the first trailer for their Rebel Moon video game spinoff, Blood Line: A Rebel Moon Game.
The streaming giant revealed the first look at its exclusive spinoff as part of Netflix Geeked Week 2024 Live, showing off an early look as well as confirmation of the project’s title. Developed by the studio behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate, Super Evil Megacorp, Netflix says subscribers can look forward to grouping up with friends to play it for themselves sometime in 2025.
Today’s Geeked Week reveal comes with a few more details about what exactly Blood Line has in store. Netflix describes the Rebel Moon spinoff as an “online co-operative action game” that asks players to step into the...
In anticipation of the release of EA Sports FC™ 25 on September 27, Uber One is teaming up with EA Sports FC to kick off the Uber One EA SPORTS FC™ Underdog Academy, an exclusive training experience where budding EA SPORTS FC players who are Uber One members will have a chance to hone their in-game skills.
Not only will you be coached by an elite EA SPORTS FC player, but you’ll also get to compete in epic 1v1 showdowns, with the player who comes out on top taking home a mega gaming prize pack.
Six major prize winners will score:
An invitation to the Uber One EA Sports FC™ 25 Underdog Academy Experience 1-on-1 coaching from an EA Sports FC™ pro
EA Sports FC™ 25 Standard Edition
An elite gaming controller and high-end gaming...
You may have noticed that Grand Theft Auto V is no longer verified on Steam Deck. That's seemingly because of the BattlEye new anti-cheat software for GTA Online, which rolled out earlier this week.
As Rockstar explains in its official FAQ, BattlEye is a kernel level anti-cheat intended to address some of the cheating problems in GTA Online. A side effect of this new software is that it apparently breaks GTA's compatibility with Steam Deck, which Rockstar blames on Valve.
"Steam Deck does not support BattlEye for GTA Online. You will be able to play GTA V Story Mode but unable to play GTA Online," Rockstar writes. "GTA V and GTA Online are not officially supported on Steam Deck and all technical support questions should be directed...
Famed Square Enix developer Tetsuya Nomura is known for his wild villains, from Sephiroth to Genesis, most of whom are clad in leather trenchcoats and have way, way too many belts.
Speaking to Young Jump and translated by Automaton, Nomura, who was most recently creative director on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth but has worked in lead roles on myriad Square Enix projects, said a friend in high school expressed frustration at playing as an unattractive protagonist and this shaped his perspective for creating characters going forward.
"When I was in high school, a classmate was playing a game where the main character wasn’t good looking," he explained. "They said, 'Why do I have to be ugly in the game world too?' Which really left a strong...
After ten years, we’re now just a little over a month away from playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I played a hefty seven hours of BioWare’s first original game since Anthem in 2019 and fourth mainline installment in the Dragon Age series, starting with the prologue and later loaded into several different saves. As a longtime fan, what I’ll say is ten years is a very long time but so far, The Veilguard hasn’t disappointed.
Getting Into Character
Now, I could talk to you about the combat (and I will) or the gorgeous locales (that’s coming too) or the way it felt to see Varric and Solas again. Or I could skip straight to the character creator and start with: There’s. So. Much. Hair. Look, I loved Dragon Age: Inquisition, but fans have...
You’ve never played a twin-stick shooter quite like Kill Knight. This relentlessly intense action game may indeed be based around firing off a steady stream of projectiles as enemies swarm in, forcing you to dodge and shimmy your way to every corner of the game’s tightly enclosed arenas, but you also wield a sword – which itself feeds into the game’s (at least initially) overwhelming set of mechanics.
Kill Knight is a densely layered twin-stick shooter, in other words, but it’s been designed that way with a very clear purpose – to sort the wheat from the chaff. This is a return to old school arcade sensibilities; a straight-up high score chaser anchored in twin-stick shooter traditions, but also owing a lot to the likes of Dark Souls...
One of my own most anticipated titles still slated to come in 2024 is Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero, a true sequel to the Budokai Tenkaichi series that has been largely dormant ever since Budokai Tenkaichi came out way back in 2007 on the PlayStation 2. There's a lot we already know about the game, much of which is covered in my Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero preview, but I got an opportunity to speak with Producer Jun Furutani to see if he can provide a little more insight into the development of Sparking Zero, what their plans are for the future with regards to the game, and much more, all of which you can read all about below.
IGN: Can you talk a little bit about what it's like creating a story mode for something like Dragon Ball, that's...
The Dragon Ball Tenkaichi series is one that meant a lot to me as a teenager and young adult – which was about the peak of my obsession with Dragon Ball Z – but it’s also one that I haven’t really thought about or touched in the last 15 or so years. Fast forward to the present, and after about three hours of hands-on time with Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, it felt like I was hit with a spirit bomb of nostalgia as I once again got back in there, chaining together rapid movement teleports, bouncing my foes like ping pong balls between multiple vanishing attacks, and kicking them away with so much force that they destroy mountains. It was like reuniting with a dear old friend, and yet, Dragon Ball Sparking Zero feels like much more than...
In 2020, Microsoft Flight Simulator gave us the world. In 2024, Microsoft Flight Simulator is letting us live in it. I was at the preview event for MSFS 2020 back in September 2019 and I couldn't believe what I had seen, and after playing it for several hundred hours over the last four years, I was having a hard time imagining what a new version could add that would bring the same sense of awe I had the first time I experienced the world at my fingertips. After my first time playing Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, though, I'm honestly more excited for MSFS 2024 than I was after my initial hands-on with the 2020 game five years ago.
Everything MSFS currently does well has been improved for 2024. Load times, weather effects, the...
PUBG publisher Krafton has sad it didn't buy Tango Gameworks from Microsoft because it cares about making a profit, with CEO Changhan Kim admitting "we don't think Hi-Fi Rush 2 is going to make us money."
Kim told Game Developer that Krafton swooped in to save the studio after Xbox announced its closure because it cares about legacy and allowing creativity to flourish in the video game industry. This comes despite Tango Gameworks, developer of The Evil Within and Ghostwire: Tokyo alongside Hi-Fi Rush, not having "big success" with its games.
"We wanted to maintain their legacy," Kim said. "Although they did not have a big success in their games, we saw many creatives worth pursuing. That's why we wanted to work with that...
Minecraft will no longer support virtual reality headset PlayStation VR after March 2025, Mojang has announced.
A blog post detailed incoming changes to the console version of Minecraft and revealed those who enjoy playing with PSVR would no longer be able to do so as of next year. Any version of Minecraft on PlayStation updated with the presumed March 2025 update will no longer support PSVR at all.
Mojang didn't give a specific reason for the cut support though even Sony itself has moved on from the PSVR as its subsequent headset, the PlayStation VR2, was released in February 2023.
"Our ability to support PlayStation VR has come to an end, and will no longer be supported in updates after March of 2025," it said.
"After you...
Former PlayStation exclusive God of War Ragnarok has features temporarily exclusive to the PC port arriving today, September 19, including the long sought after ability to tone down puzzle hints from companions.
A PlayStation Blog post outlined "a host of new features" coming to the PC version, including an option in the Gameplay Settings tab that "will reduce the frequency with which you hear puzzle hints from your companions." This is "soon to be added to the console version" but PlayStation did not say when.
Though God of War Ragnarok was incredibly well received, selling a whopping 11 million copies in less than three months on sale and earning a 10/10 in IGN's review, one gripe players had was with companions throwing out puzzle...
Palworld developer Pocketpair has responded to Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s shock patent infringement lawsuit with a statement that says it’s unaware which patents it’s being accused of infringing.
Overnight, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announced the companies had taken legal action against fellow Japanese developer Pocketpair, alleging Palworld, dubbed Pokémon with guns by fans, “infringes multiple patent rights.” Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are seeking an injunction and compensation for damages.
Pocketpair has said it will continue to update Palworld despite the lawsuit, and apologized to players left concerned about the future of the game.
Here’s Pocketpair’s statement in full:
Players were left...
Shambling out of the seventh-generation graveyard for its second remaster, Capcom at least deserves credit for bringing Dead Rising itself in line with accepted zombie lore. That is, it too is now officially a stubborn corpse that refuses to stay dead. However, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster earns credit for more than just that. Capcom has injected a series of smart tweaks to the gameplay that make surviving a zombie-infested mall less frustrating than it was 20 years ago, but it does so while still preserving the feel of the original’s challenging, time-limited experience. Combined with a fresh visual overhaul, the result is easily the best way to play what’s still the best Dead Rising game – even if the occasionally creaky combat is...
Quick reminder: we stand on the precipice of one of the biggest PC releases of the year, God of War Ragnarok. When it released on PS5 in '22, we 10'd this GOTY sequel, calling it "an enthralling spectacle to behold and an even more exciting one to take the reins of." My expectations for an even more breathtaking PC version are high; the best price I've found for it is low.
In retro news, I've staked 21 novelty lightsaber candles into a cake for Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy—a mouthful and also a masterclass on how to do saber combat. As a padawan who cut his teeth on Dark Forces: Jedi Knight II, I was all sorts of stoked with more Expanded Universe adventures that cameoed a non-bitter Luke Skywalker mentoring more Force users...
It's official: Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are taking action against Palworld's developer, Pocketpair.
The companies filed a lawsuit against the developer today, September 18, seeking "an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights."
Developing...
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Playing Tiny Glade – the latest cozy game to offer us all an escape from the dumpster fire purgatory that is modern life – for the first time is like sitting down with some building blocks and falling into a hypnotic trance. One minute you’re just adding a tower and some windows to an old house, and suddenly you look up and you’ve spent two hours building a sprawling village with ponds and crooked paths, your screenshots folder is bursting with images of your little masterpiece at dusk and dawn, and your back hurts because you never did get a proper chair for your home office. Its biggest flaw is that, as the name implies, there just isn't enough of it.
To say I was “playing Tiny Glade” arguably isn’t even accurate. It’s more like I...