Gaming News

Rocksteady Reportedly Lays Off Staff Following Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Flop

Rocksteady Studios has reportedly laid off several staff members as a result of the disastrous release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Anonymous employees told Eurogamer that the Rocksteady quality assurance team had been cut from 33 members to 15 with poor sales of Suicide Squad (which cost owner Warner Bros. Discovery a $200 million hit to revenue) cited directly. Rocksteady management has allegedly acknowledgedthat product quality will take a hit as a result of the lay offs, as remaining QA testers struggle to uphold the same standard as the team once double in size. The 18 staff members affected reportedly included junior employees and veteran team members who were at the studio more than five years. IGN has asked...

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Avowed Has Big Stealth Archer Potential

From the moment its cinematic announcement trailer revealed that it would be played from a first-person perspective, Avowed has been viewed as Obsidian Entertainment’s answer to Skyrim. It’s a position Obsidian itself has tried to distance itself from, largely because Avowed is a smaller scale RPG made up of interconnected zones rather than a huge, sprawling open world game. Despite this, the Skyrim comparison makes a certain amount of sense; after proving it could do Bethesda games better than Bethesda itself with Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian created its own Fallout analogue in 2019’s The Outer Worlds. It cut short the agonising wait for Fallout 5 with a similar style of RPG (sure, it wasn’t open world, but it was directed by Fallout’s...

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Amazon Slashes The Price on Lexar 1TB Micro SD Cards, and They're Perfect for Steam Deck

Amazon has discounted one of the best Steam Deck micro SD card options on the market today. The Lexar 1TB Play microSDXC Memory Card is the perfect storage solution for portable gaming devices like the Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, ROG Ally X, and more. It's down to just $66.49, or £61.74 if you're in the UK. That's a significant price drop versus its $129.99 list price, and well worth picking up while it's still on sale. The Lexar 1TB Play Micro SD works wonderfully expanding your overall storage, especially if you've opted for the 64GB Steam Deck. Your portable PC will likely fill up very quickly when installing games like Hogwarts Legacy or Cyberpunk 2077, so an SD card is a smart, and surprisingly affordable investment. Plus...

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One Year Later, Larian Reflects On Baldur's Gate 3's Success, Future Plans, And Canceling DLC: "Ever Since, We've Felt Better"

In July of 2023, Baldur's Gate 3 was hardly a blip on my radar. When it was released one month later, it became one of my favorite games of all time. Now, the game is celebrating its one-year anniversary. Its seventh major patch, which will add official modding support and new endings to the game, is right around the corner, and developer Larian Studios launched a brand new YouTube channel to provide behind-the-scenes looks at the game and its developers. Between its critical acclaim, numerous awards, and financial success, Baldur's Gate 3 is worth celebrating, but its meteoric rise to success was just as surprising to the developers at Larian as it was to the rest of the gaming community. "At every single point, I thought it was...

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Until Dawn Remake Developer Ballistic Moon Lays Off Several Staff

Ballistic Moon, the developer behind the PlayStation 5 and PC remake of Until Dawn, has laid off several staff members. Eurogamer first reported that at least two staff members had announced their departure on LinkedIn but 11 Ballistic Moon developers have now either posted about being made redundant or marked themselves as "open to work" and looking to start somewhere new immediately. It's unclear exactly how many of these staff were laid off, or if the number is greater than 11, but IGN has asked Ballistic Moon for comment. "Like many others in this wonderful but turbulent industry, I am sadly being made redundant from my role," said junior game designer Cassy Cornish in a LinkedIn post. "Unfortunately my current role at...

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Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 7 Arrives This Week

Baldur's Gate 3's highly anticipated (and potentially final) Patch 7 comes to PC this week, developer Larian Studios has announced. The studio's X/Twitter account shared a video of CEO Swen Vincke confirming the release window at PAX West, though no specific date was confirmed. "Patch 7 is coming out next week," he said last week, meaning it will arrive sometime between September 2 and September 8, 2024. The console and Mac version of Patch 7 still has no release date, though Larian previously said it would arrive in September. "With so many changes and new features arriving in this patch, it’ll take a little longer to get these to you on console and Mac, but don’t worry, you’ll be murdering your enemies and installing mods in no...

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Voice Acting Legend Jennifer Hale on Video Game Strikes: 'AI Is Coming for All of Us'

Voice acting legend Jennifer Hale, who's appeared in the likes of Metal Gear Solid, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, and more, has commented on the ongoing video game strikes and the threat of artificial intelligence. Hale told Variety that "AI is coming for us all" and is a key factor behind the current Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes, though something that makes things particularly difficult. "The truth is, AI is just a tool like a hammer," she said. "If I take my hammer, I could build you a house. I can also take that same hammer and I can smash your skin and destroy who you are.” Hale continued: "If you use something that originated in our body or our voices, can we please...

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Famed Dragon's Dogma and Devil May Cry Director Hideaki Itsuno Leaves Capcom After 30 Years

Legendary Capcom developer Hideaki Itsuno, who most recently directed Dragon's Dogma 2 and Devil May Cry 5, has left the company after more than 30 years. Itsuno announced his departure on X/Twitter but assured fans he wasn't quitting video games all together. He left Capcom in August and will begin a new project in a new environment from sometime in September. "At the end of August 2024, I will be leaving Capcom after 30 years and five months," Itsuno said. "Thank you for your long term support of the games and characters I have been responsible for. I hope you will continue to support Capcom's games and characters. "From September, I will start developing a new game in a new environment. I hope to create fun, beautiful games that...

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UK Deals: Black Myth Wukong is Down to Just £45 on PC

We're back with another UK Daily Deals. Today, the highlights include the biggest single-player game of the year Black Myth Wukong, which is now down to just £44.99 on PC. There's also the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Collector's Edition which has dropped in price yet again, now down to just £139.99 at Amazon for PS5 and Xbox. Plus, we're also featuring discounts on beats Studio3 headphones, Under Armour men's running shoes, and the perfect 1TB micro SD card for Steam Deck or Switch. TL;DR - Best UK Deals Today Black Myth: Wukong (PC, Steam) One of the year's biggest games has a nice little discount at the moment for PC players. Right now at Green Man Gaming, you can score Black Myth: Wukong (both the Standard and Digital...

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The Best Nintendo Game You've Never Heard of and Its 2024 Sequel

What’s the greatest NES game of all time? Super Mario Bros 3? Perhaps it’s Mega-Man 2, or The Legend of Zelda? There’s almost certainly no definitive answer to the single best game on the console, but what If I told you one of its greatest games was one that not only shattered the perception of what you could achieve on the NES, but was also a game you’ve (probably) never heard of? Gimmick!, developed by Japanese studio Sunsoft, was a Nintendo Entertainment System masterpiece. But despite critical acclaim – including praise from industry legends Shigeru Miyamoto and Masahiro Sakurai – it was almost immediately forgotten, in no small part thanks to the fact it was only ever released in Japan and one small Scandinavian pocket of the...

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Concord Is Estimated to Have Sold Only 25,000 Units. Here’s Why Analysts Think It’s Failing

For the last week, there’s been a lot of online discussion on Sony’s newly-launched multiplayer shooter, Concord. But it’s not because everyone’s playing it – it’s because seemingly no one is. Plenty of games don’t sell well at launch, but observers have latched onto Concord’s dramatic failure due to its high-profile nature as a Sony first-party game, and its shockingly low Steam concurrent player numbers at launch. Upon its August 23 debut, Concord only had 697 Steam concurrent players, and it hasn’t risen any higher since. At the time I’m writing this, 130 entire people are playing Sony’s brand new, first-party game on Steam. That’s real, real low, even for a game with middling critical reviews (we gave it a 7/10, which at IGN means...

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First Borderlands 4 Concept Art Revealed at PAX West Showing Off a Glimpse of Its New Worlds

Gearbox Software attended PAX West 2024 to reveal a collection of concept art and new details for its recently announced looter-shooter sequel, Borderlands 4. Each shot highlights new foreign locations for players to explore while also not revealing too much about how the fourth Borderlands game will shake up the formula. If there’s one thing to take away from the concept art drop it’s that Gearbox wants to give players a variety of areas to loot and shoot through. One image shows a smokey, candle-lit room decorated with glowing blue lighting, while another shows a small neon town surrounded by snowy mountains. You can see some of what Borderlands 4 has in store in the gallery below. “The Borderlands universe is super interesting...

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Squirrel with a Gun Review

Few premises are more immediately appealing than Squirrel with a Gun’s. A sandbox game where you control a gun-toting rodent and wreak havoc on the local population? Yes, please! And that premise certainly delivers to some extent, with quite a few laugh-out-loud funny moments right out the gate and a lot of enjoyment to be found in the goofy adventure’s opening hours. But this wacky Sciuridae simulator isn’t sitting on a stockpile of comedic acorns, instead stuffing its cheeks with silly gags all in one go, before finding its stores empty as the winter season fast approaches. Compounding that short-lived mirth are fairly serious performance issues, including regular crashes that made me repeat long stretches, which really took the wind...

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IGN Is Your Ultimate Destination for Star Wars Outlaws

Star Wars Outlaws is one of the biggest gaming releases of 2024, and IGN is your ultimate destination for the game. Whether you're looking for guides to assist your journey through each of the massive planets or for a review to determine if you're going to pick up the game, we've got you covered. Detailed Map Genie Maps for Each Planet The IGN team has Map Genie maps live for each planet in the game, ensuring you won't miss a collectible or side quest in your playthrough! These maps will continue to be updated throughout the next week, but dozens of collectibles are already live across four planets! Leading Game Help IGN is your go-to for all the latest guides on Star Wars Outlaws, from a complete walkthrough to tips on Kessel...

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Amazon Games 'Regrets the Confusion' Over CEO's AI and Voice Actor Comments After Harsh Online Criticism

Amazon Games said it "regrets confusion" over remarks by CEO Christoph Hartmann on voice acting and AI that drew sharp criticism online, seeking to clarify that it thinks generative AI needs to be used "responsibly" and calling actors "essential creative contributors." Amazon's statement was in response to a lengthy comment from Hartmann, in which he mused on the difficulties games face with lengthy development cycles, and suggested that AI may "streamline processes" and help shorten the time it takes to make games. Asked for his thoughts on the SAG-AFTRA union strike seeking better AI protections, Hartmann responded in part: "[W]hen we talk about AI, first of all, hopefully it will help us to have new gameplay ideas, which has...

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Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed Feels Just as Vibrant As Ever in 2024

There’s something… well… magical about 2010’s Wii-exclusive Epic Mickey getting a remake in 2024. As those who played the original know, the game itself is a quest through a realm of forgotten Disney characters and attractions called the Wasteland and, after playing a demo of Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed at D23, I’m more confident than ever that this adventure with an impressive new coat of paint will thankfully not be lost to the unforgiving hands of time, like some that sadly came before it. What impressed me the most about Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is how much it looks and, perhaps most importantly, feels like a 2024 game. In our original Epic Mickey review, we gave it an 8/10 and said that this ‘Great’ game was held back by a...

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Exclusive: Meet Showa American Story’s New Boss Character, Texan Samurai-Cowboy Gokou

When Showa American Story was first announced in 2022, its reveal trailer depicting a parallel 1991 in which the United States had become a colony of Japan went viral, with nearly half a million views on IGN’s YouTube channel alone. It has been a year since the last update via an interview with IGN Japan. Chinese developer Nekcom has since pushed back the game’s release, switched development from Unreal Engine 4 to 5, and devoted additional time and resources in order to meet gamers’ intense expectations. Now, in a fresh interview with Creative Director XY.Luo, IGN can exclusively reveal a brand new boss character and several new screenshots that show how work is progressing on this fascinating new game. Gokou is the impressive new...

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How Star Wars Outlaws Enriches the Original Trilogy Era

Star Wars: Outlaws may focus on a new character - smuggler, thief, and all-around scoundrel Kay Vess - but it’s also a story set smack dab in the middle of the original Star Wars trilogy. The game takes place in between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. That leaves plenty of room for familiar heroes and villains to appear during the course of the game, and they definitely do. How exactly does Outlaws fit into the bigger picture of the Original Trilogy? How does the game forge connections between Kay and iconic Star Wars heroes and villains? Here’s what you need to know. Warning: this article contains full spoilers for Star Wars: Outlaws! Lady Qi’ra and Crimson Dawn In Outlaws, Kay slowly makes a name for...

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Harry Potter: Magic Awakened Closes Down a Year After Launch — and Fans Are Less Than Impressed

Warner Bros. Games has announced the closure of mobile game Harry Potter: Magic Awakened just over a year after its global launch. Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, a collectible card role-playing game developed by Zen Studio, launched in the west in June 2023 courtesy of Warner Bros. Games’ Portkey Games publishing label. In the game you play as a new student at Hogwarts and collect cards you deploy as spells in duels. Harry Potter: Magic Awakened was removed from the iOS App Store and Google Play Store on August 26, with servers running until October 29, 2024. It is now no no longer possible to make in-game purchases. Its Asian release was handled by Chinese games company NetEase, currently in the headlines for reportedly shutting...

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Star Wars Outlaws Hotfix Address PC Stability Issues

Ubisoft has released a hotfix for the PC version of open world space game Star Wars Outlaws, which brings it to version 1.1.1. and aims to improve performance. The game's offiical X/Twitter account posted to say version 1.1.1. would arrive for PC players only and look to address "known issues" including VRAM improvements and overall stability improvements. "Thank you for continuing to share your feedback to us - we hear you and we're working hard to make sure the Outer Rim is the best it can be for you to explore," Ubisoft said. Star Wars Outlaws launched August 27, 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC for those willing to spend $109.99 on the Gold Edition, $129.99 on the Ultimate Edition, or $17.99 a month for the...

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Castlevania Fans Already Dreaming Up Next Collection After Castlevania Dominus Collection Release

Castlevania fans may have just received the Castlevania Dominus Collection during the August 2024 Nintendo Direct but they're already thinking about the next dream collection. Nintendo announced the imminent release of the Castlevania Dominus Collection during its August 27 showcase to the delight of many fans. It collected Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, and Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia alongside a remake of Haunted Castle. This put some very hard to get games, mostly from the Nintendo DS, on a modern platform, and fans are already pulling some other entries together to manifest a similar collection. "Someone is already trying to manifest this into reality and honestly I'm here for it," said...

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Deadlock Gets Major Patch Adding Wall Jumping and Much More

Valve has released a major patch for its invite only hero shooter Deadlock which adds wall jumping and much more. Though it only comes in at 683MB, the patch includes a long list of changes large and small. Wall jumping is perhaps the most notable and exciting additions, and players can do so without consuming stamina by pushing their input direction away from the wall. In addition, four teleporters have changed locations and will now remain closed for the first 10 minutes, two bounce pads have been added next to sideland walkers at the cultural center and courthouse, and several buildings have changed size to make their rooftops out of bounds. The full patch notes are available below. Deadlock is a six versus six, third person...

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Final Fantasy Creator Reveals Which Entry He Thinks Is 'Most Complete', and It's Not Final Fantasy 7

Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has revealed which game in the series he thinks is "most complete," and it's not the fan favorite Final Fantasy 7. Instead, Sakaguchi told Inverse he believes Final Fantasy 6 sits at the top. This was released as the last 2D Final Fantasy game in 1994, before Final Fantasy 7 arrived on the original PlayStation and redefined the franchise in 1997. "In terms of the Final Fantasy that I think is the ‘most complete'; I believe Final Fantasy 6 comes close, and does stand out above the other Final Fantasies, especially because it was the last Final Fantasy to use pixel art in all of its visual expression," Sakaguchi said. Final Fantasy 6 is certainly among the most beloved in the franchise and...

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Valve Shooter Deadlock Hits 100,000 Concurrents Despite Being Invite Only

Valve hero shooter Deadlock is a certified hit on Steam, somehow crossing 100,000 concurrent players while still being invite only. Data from player tracking website SteamDB shows Deadlock crossed the 100,000 milestone on August 29, 2024, with exactly 106,447 players online at the same time. Its popularity has been steadily increasing throughout August and will surely continue to do so, especially as the weekend approaches. But what makes Deadlock's success particularly interesting and definitely strange is that it's not officially out yet. Valve seemingly looked to keep the game a secret for weeks despite, again, SteamDB showing that thousands of players were already online. It was released in this beta or playtesting equivalent...

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Reanimal Is Another Little Nightmare That I’m Excited To Suffer

If you type ‘scariest animals’ into Google, the search engine spits out a variety of expected results: killer spiders, disgusting centipedes, hideous fish, and flying snakes. You will notice that ‘sheep’ are not on that list. Watch the debut trailer for Reanimal, though, and you’ll quickly develop a fear for the woolly bleaters – particularly giant mutant ewes with far, far too many arms. Developed by Tarsier, the studio behind the first two Little Nightmares games, Reanimal is both a continuation and an extension of the team’s prior work. At gamescom 2024 I was able to play a half-hour hands-on demonstration, and what I saw suggests that Reanimal is very, very close to its predecessors in the broad strokes. Like Little Nightmares, it...

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IGN UK Podcast 763: Star Wars Outlaws, MGS Delta, and Alien: Romulus

We're back from gamescom and we have a TON of games to talk about. We dig deep into Star Wars Outlaws and Black Myth: Wukong, and Matt P and Dale talk about their hands-on time with the hotly anticipated Metal Gear Solid Delta and Silent Hill 2 remakes. We've also seen Alien: Romulus, and not only do we have a spoiler-free chat, but we also dive into a spoiler convo after we've read your feedback. Don't worry if you haven't seen it yet, there are plenty of warnings to stop listening. 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 763: Star Wars Outlaws, MGS Delta, and Alien: Romulus IGN UK Podcast 762: The Best of...

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Visions of Mana Dev Reportedly Being Shut Down by NetEase

Chinese video game company NetEase has reportedly laid off most staff at Visions of Mana developer Ouka Studios with plans to shut it down altogether. Anonymous sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that the studio, which only opened in 2020, will be kept afloat by the few remaining members until its final games have been released. Visions of Mana only launched yesterday, August 29, 2024, and earned high critical praise. (IGN's Visions of Mana review returned an 8/10.) The closure of Ouka Studios is reportedly due to major Chinese companies like NetEase and its rival Tencent shifting away from a Japan-centric approach. Bloomberg reported that Tencent is also reconsidering how much it invests in Japanese video game...

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Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Confirms Console Performance Specs, Crossplay and Cross-Save Details, and More

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 publisher Focus Entertainment has answered a number of burning questions fans had about the soon-to-be released action game in a FAQ that addresses everything from console performance specs to cross-play. Space Marine 2 sees Titus of the Ultramarines go up against the Tyranid horde as well as the forces of Chaos in a sequel that arrives 13 years after its predecessor. It includes a campaign that can be played co-op, a PvE Operations mode, and a PvP mode. Let’s start with the console performance specs. On PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, Quality Mode enables 4K resolution at 30 frames per second, and Performance Mode enables “up to” 60fps at 1080p resolution. Focus said that on the less powerful Xbox...

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Some Freebie Fallouts and a Borderlands For Bupkis, Magical Savings on All Things Potterverse, and More!

Thank your own personal deity—possibly the Omnissiah—it's Friday! When it comes to today's deals, I feel that the nada prices of Fallout Classics Collection and Borderlands 2 speak for themselves—acquire and love playing them for triple digit hours. That said, I've also arranged a who's who list of other reduced games worth playing. Also, games kinda...sorta worth playing, by virtue of being really, really dirt cheap. Lookin' at you, Suicide Squad. In retro news, I’m commemorating the 29th birthday of Panzer Dragoon, a Saturn rail-shooter and progenitor of a small but legendary series. I have fond memories of saving up weeks of Woolies trolley boy pay to buy this at my local Cashies. All the sunburn and random Karen abuse was worth...

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PUBG: Battlegrounds’ Director Discusses the Importance of the Game’s Community

PUBG: Battlegrounds celebrated its seventh anniversary this year, and it’s still going strong. The free-to-play battle royale shooter has welcomed millions of players from around the world during those seven years, and the development team has been focused on releasing new content and updates to keep that massive community engaged. “The key thing that I’ve learned over the past seven years is how important fans are,” said Taehyun Kim, Production Director of PUBG: Battlegrounds. “Our game has been serviced globally and it has been played in many countries and by many people around the world. So we keep looking for ways to satisfy diverse countries and diverse fans.” Kim has been a member of the PUBG team since its initial phase of...

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