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© Warner Bros, Rocksteady
© Ubisoft
id Software has confirmed that Doom: The Dark Ages will be officially released on PC on May 15th. To celebrate this announcement, the team has shared a new trailer that you can find below. Doom: The Dark Ages is the prequel to the critically acclaimed Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal. The prequel will tell an … Continue reading Doom: The Dark Ages Hits PC on May 15th + PC Requirements →
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During today's Xbox Developer Direct, we got another look at upcoming Xbox RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 along with a release date of April 24, 2025.
In a new trailer, we got more info on the game's story, which we're told doesn't focus on good vs. evil. Rather it focuses on a group of complicated, messy people who all are brought together to defeat that which is a threat to all of them. There's a focus on the relationship between the characters, and while it can get introspective, there are also NPCs whose stories and mechanics are somewhat lighter.
As we've seen in past trailers, the UI and battle menus are exceptionally stylish, channeling Persona a bit in their big energy. And we also got a look at unique character mechanics and customization via skill tree in the trailer, and what seems to be a massive colletion of possible equippable passive effects.
It was also revealed that Clair Obscur will follow in the steps of old-school RPGs and have an actual, navigable world map from which you can access various areas and towns. That's a heck of a nostalgia play.
Clair Obscur was first announced last summer at the Xbox Games Showcase from Sandfall Interactive and came as a complete surprise to most. It takes place in a world where an entity known as the Paintress "repaints" the world each year, during which time she also paints a cursed number on a monolith that causes everyone of that age and older to turn to smoke instantly and disappear. Every year, that number ticks down by one, with younger and younger generations dying each time. With the number "33" up next, a group of individuals led by a man named Gustave sets out to try and stop the Paintress once and for all in a turn-based RPG with incredibly stylish battles.
You can catch up on everything shown in today's Xbox Developer Direct right here.
Developing...
During today's Xbox Developer Director, we saw a new trailer for South of Midnight complete with a release date of April 3, 2025 for those who purchase the premium edition, and April 8, 2025 for everyone else.
South of Midnight is a third-person action-adventure game set in a fantastical version of the American Deep South. In the trailer, we saw a good look at main character Hazel's powers, which blend the traditional craft of weaving with magic to allow her to fight, conjure things, and overcome environmental obstacles. As she fights, Hazel "unravels" enemies to destroy them in action combat, and has some elements of customization in her fighting style that can help her counter different types of enemies.
Hazel's story starts with a massive hurricane that seemingly kills her mother, but also gives her the ability to see a magic world beyond the real one that gives her hope her mother might still be alive. As she hunts for her, Hazel will visit different different regions ruled by magical creatures, each one with a different Southern Gothic history that she'll need to heal by collecting their fragmented memories. In the trailer, we got a look at several of these creatures, including a real big bird and a massive crocodile covered in spikes with giant trees going out of its back. A giant talking Catfish acts as a guide for Hazel as she awakens her new powers.
South of Midnight was first announced at the Xbox Showcase in 2023 as a new game from We Happy Few developer Compulsion Games. It reappeared at the Xbox Showcase last year, and we got a hands-off look at it back in November. In an Xbox Wire post today, it's suggested the game will take between 10-12 hours to finish.
You can catch up on everything shown in today's Xbox Developer Direct right here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
As well as announcing Ninja Gaiden 4, Koei Tecmo has announced a remake of 2008 Xbox 360 action game Ninja Gaiden 2 — and it’s out now.
Announced during Microsoft’s Xbox Developer Directo 2025, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black shadow-dropped across console, PC, and Xbox Game Pass today, January 23.
In a post on Xbox Wire, Team Ninja boss Fumihiko Yasuda explained the decision to remaster Ninja Gaiden 2.
“This simultaneous announcement and same-day release alongside Ninja Gaiden 4 might have caught some people by surprise,” he said. “The biggest reason for developing Ninja Gaiden 2 Black was to address the concerns of core fans who might be wondering, ‘What’s going to happen to Ryu Hayabusa?’ We also wanted to give players something to enjoy as they wait for the release of Ninja Gaiden 4. We chose Ninja Gaiden 2 because it stands as one of the most solid action games in the series. We added ‘Black’ to the title to signal to fans that this is the definitive version, much like Ninja Gaiden Black was for the first game.”
Yasuda continued: "This version is crafted to satisfy both those who played the original and newcomers discovering it as a current-generation action game. We’ve meticulously incorporated some of the additions of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 while staying true to the challenge and feel of the original 360 version, including its signature gore and violence. We’ve also adjusted the weapon upgrade system to more align with the original release.”
Team Ninja’s infamously challenging Ninja Gaiden series has a long association with Xbox. The developer’s reboot of the action series launched first on Xbox in 2004, propelling master ninja Ryu Hayabusa into the mainstream. Ninja Gaiden Black, considered one of the greatest action games of all time, launched the following year.
Ninja Gaiden 2 came out in 2008 published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. Ninja Gaiden 3 followed in 2012 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Since then, fans have had the critically panned spin-off Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, and, more recently, Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection, a compilation of Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge.
Publisher Koei Tecmo revived interest in Ninja Gaiden with the announcement of Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, a brand-new side-scrolling spin-off due out later this year. But the main event is Ninja Gaiden 4, which finally continues Ryu Hayabusa’s story 13 years after Ninja Gaiden 3 came out.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Xbox's big Developer Direct has arrived for 2025 and promises to reveal more about DOOM: The Dark Ages, South of Midnight, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and the reveal of Ninja Gaiden 4! While we don't know exactly what these studios will show, we will be covering it live and updating this page as the show goes on!
What are you most excited for? Let us know below!
Team Ninja and PlatinumGames have announced Ninja Gaiden 4, which will be the first entry in the beloved franchise in over a decade.
While Ryu Hayabusa will play an important role in the story and will be playable, Ninja Gaiden 4 will star Yakumo, a new character from the Raven Clan.
“A significant amount of time has passed since NINJA GAIDEN 3, and players will find themselves arriving in a gruesomely transformed Tokyo," Ninja Gaiden 4 director and producer from PlatinumGames, Yuji Nakao, said to Xbox Wire. "One of the key themes of this story is the return of the Dark Dragon, which has plunged the city into chaos. Within these unsettling conditions, Yakumo will have to face off against his foes, as well as the formidable Master Ninja himself, Ryu Hayabusa."
Yakumo will not have an easy road through Tokyo, as it has been threatened and changed by the Dark Dragon's miasma rain. Luckily, he'll have some new abilities like being able to travel at high speeds via rail and wire-based actions.
Yakumo will also be able to use his "Bloodraven Form," which is described as a "technique that manipulates the blood of oneself and enemies, transforming it into a massive weapon capable of slicing through multiple foes at once." When "certain conditions" are met, he will also be able to unleash a move called "Bloodbath Kill" which will "instantly bisect enemies in one strike."
Ninja Gaiden 4 will be released in Fall 2025.
We may have to wait a bit for Ninja Gaiden 4, but fans of Ryu Hayabusa can rest easy knowing they can jump into Ninja Gaiden 2 Black right now via Xbox Game Pass as it has had a surprise shadow drop during the Xbox Developer Direct!
We Happy Few developer Compulsion Games not only showed off a new look at South of Midnight during the Xbox Developer Direct, but it also announced that it will be released on April 8, 2025.
In the trailer, Hazel takes center stage and we get to see her impressive powers in action. From weaving with magic to conjuring things to overcoming environmental obstacles, she will have a lot of tools at her disposal to conquer any challenge that heads her way.
Throughout South of Midnight, Hazel will travel to different regions that are run by magical creatures inspired by Southern Gothic history. She'll need to help heal them by collecting their fragmented memories should she hope to emerge victorious.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Developing...
Ninja Gaiden is back in a big way, with Ninja Gaiden 4 revealed as the mystery fourth game shown at Microsoft’s Xbox Developer Direct 2025. It's due out fall 2025 for Xbox Series X and S, PC via Steam, and PlayStation 5 and is a day one Xbox Game Pass launch title.
Ninja Gaiden 4 is published by Xbox Game Studios and in development at PlatinumGames, creator of Bayonetta and Nier: Automata, with Team Ninja collaborating. Expect a new main playable character, called Yakumo, although Ryu Hayabusa does appear in the story.
It's a direct sequel to Ninja Gaiden 3, but set a significant amount of time since the events of that game in a "gruesomely transformed" Tokyo.
Not only that, but Koei Tecmo has shadow-dropped Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, an Unreal Engine 5 remake of the 2008 original, on Xbox Game Pass.
Team Ninja’s infamously challenging Ninja Gaiden series has a long association with Xbox. The developer’s reboot of the action series launched first on Xbox in 2004, propelling master ninja Ryu Hayabusa into the mainstream. Ninja Gaiden Black, considered one of the greatest action games of all time, launched the following year.
Ninja Gaiden 2 came out in 2008 published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. Ninja Gaiden 3 followed in 2012 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Since then, fans have had the critically panned spin-off Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, and, more recently, Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection, a compilation of Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge.
Publisher Koei Tecmo revived interest in Ninja Gaiden with the announcement of Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, a brand-new side-scrolling spin-off due out later this year. But the main event is Ninja Gaiden 4, which finally continues Ryu Hayabusa’s story 13 years after Ninja Gaiden 3 came out.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
For all you space fans out there, or fans of space-themed LEGOs, here's an excellent set worthy of your collection. Amazon is offering the LEGO Technic Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit 42179 for only $59.95, a savings of 20%. With this deal, you're paying about 11 cents per brick. This is the lowest price we've seen for this set and matches the best deal during Black Friday. Its interactive design makes it a wonderful kit for both adults and kids.
The Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit 42179 set measures 9" high, 12.5" long, and 7" wide. It's comprised of 526 pieces and is marketed for ages 10 and older. Technically speaking, this is a relatively simple build that can be completed in a few hours or less. And the fun's not over once you're done.
What's really awesome about this set is the interactive nature of it. Once you're done, you can simply turn the handle to get four different types of movement: (1) the Earth rotates on its axis, (2) the sun rotates on its axis, (3) the moon orbits the Earth, and (4) the Earth orbits the sun.
Not only is it cool to watch, but it's also an excellent learning tool for kids; on the technical side, they get to see how a crankshaft works. On the educational side, they get to see how the positions of the moon and sun relative to the Earth correspond to different months, seasons, and moon phases. It's definitely worth the modest asking price compared to many other LEGO sets that are essentially one-and-done after the build is completed.
If you're looking for even more fun LEGO sets, here are our picks for best LEGO sets so far in 2025. If you're curious about LEGO's upcoming releases, check out the upcoming LEGO sets for January and beyond.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Epic boss Tim Sweeney has spent quite a lot of money fighting Apple and Google over the way they run their app stores. How much? Billions of dollars. That, you’d think, would be unsustainable for most companies. But for Sweeney it’s an investment — a long term investment.
Sweeney’s ongoing battle to get Fortnite back on iPhones and Android phones while avoiding paying store fees is well-documented. The gist is this: Epic doesn’t want to pay the now standard 30% store fees on revenue made on mobile games. Instead, it wants to run the likes of Fortnite through its own mobile store, the Epic Games Store, without Apple and Google getting in the way and gobbling up its profit. Back in 2020, this dispute ended up with Fortnite blocked from release on iOS. In the U.S., nearly five years later, it is yet to return.
After multiple costly legal battles Epic is making some progress, mostly in Europe due to the Digital Markets Act, but hardly in the U.S., where there isn’t even a whiff of a legislation that would support Epic’s cause. In August last year, the Epic Games Store launched on iPhones in the European Union and on Android devices worldwide with Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe, and Fall Guys for mobile. But actually getting the likes of Fortnite up and running on mobile is a nightmare, with various “scare screens” putting up to 50% of users off, according to Epic.
Today, Epic is taking the next step and launching third-party games on the Epic Games Store on mobile with the same 88/12 revenue share for payments it processes and 0% on third-party payments. Nearly 20 third-party games are now available on the Epic Games Store on mobile (19 new games on Android globally and 16 new games on iOS in the European Union). As part of a new free games program, Bloons TD 6 and Dungeon of the Endless: Apogee are free to download until February 20. To start, there will be new games offered each month until Epic moves to a weekly schedule later this year.
But this third-party mobile game push comes with a heavy financial cost. To encourage developers to release their games on the Epic Games Store, Epic is footing the bill for Apple’s controversial Core Technology Fee (CTF). The CTF, which Epic calls “illegal,” would otherwise make releasing video games on the Epic Games Store on iOS financially unviable, Epic said.
So far, Epic has found none of the top 100 highest-grossing mobile game developers are willing to make the jump to the Epic Games Store because of the CTF and Apple and Google’s "onerous restrictions and scare screens." Epic says it can’t pay the CTF for developers in the long term, but it’s willing to do so while the European Commission investigates what it calls Apple’s “non-compliance” with the law.
Speaking to outlets including IGN ahead of today’s announcement, Sweeney said Epic had invested over $1 billion in the Epic Games Store so far. Sweeney also said Epic has been spending more money than it’s making every year “because we choose to reinvest in growth.” And it’s pumping “the greater part” of $1 billion a year trying to expand its business into mobile — including its fight with Apple and Google.
Throughout the spending, Epic has suffered significant layoffs. In September 2023, the North Carolina studio saw 830 employees, or about 16% of its workforce, lose their jobs. In October last year, Sweeney insisted the company was now “financially sound,” with Fortnite and the Epic Games Store both hitting new records in “concurrency and success.”
What is the endgame here? How long can Epic keep this huge spending up? Fortnite with its high-profile events and premium skins continues to bring in billions of dollars, and Epic of course has its lucrative Unreal Engine business fueling the video game industry. But for how much longer can Epic justify burning through billions in this seemingly endless fight?
IGN put that to Tim Sweeney, and here’s what he had to say in response:
“Yeah, I think we might run into serious financial problems after a couple more decades of this. But we're determined to fight this out. I expect large parts of this struggle will go on throughout the rest of this decade and we're fully committed to going through it and investing to break through.
“We're seeing this as an investment in Epic's future, both our future directly as a game developer ourselves, we see a much greater opportunity for Fortnite as a business if the market is open and competition is allowed on iOS, on an Android, and these big tech companies and their junk fees aren't crushing market entrances.
“But we also see opportunity for all developers. And because we have businesses serving all developers, the Unreal Engine and the Epic Games Store, our online services, we see an opening up of the market as offering a real breakout opportunity for Epic as a game company and an ecosystem company.
“And if you look at Epic’s history, we've always aimed big and we've always grown prudently. Our first big 3D game in the era of Doom and Quake was the first Unreal game in 1998. And that sold two million copies. It was pretty cool! And we made Gears of War and expanded to console, and that sold six million copies. And we decided to become an online game developer, and it took years to figure out how to do that, with years without growth. But we figured it out eventually with Fortnite in 2017 and now we're a company with billions of dollars of revenue a year and thousands of employees and an opportunity of the sort that we've never had before. And I do not see this as last phase of Epic's growth and opportunity, if we're successful in what we're trying to do and building online gaming into a much bigger, more social and connected world.
“Some people call it the Metaverse and some people call it just games, but it is real. And you find hundreds of millions of players who are highly engaged in immersive 3D games together with their friends. And we think that if we are successful with this, then someday there will be billions of users of this kind of game. And we think we're in an awesome position to be a leading company or perhaps the leading company in that world if the shackles are removed that prevent us and all developers from actually competing on our own and becoming first class companies in the industry.
“And if you back up and you look at the big tech landscape, not a single trillion dollar company anywhere in the world is a vassal in another company's ecosystem. You're either a company that has a direct relationship with customers and freedom to do business with them directly, or you're behind Apple and Google's paywall and you do not have that chance and you cannot grow and most of the profit your business produces will go to Apple and Google who will use it for fuck all… share buybacks and dividends rather than investment in hiring and innovating and building technology and making the world a better place.”
What Sweeney is essentially saying here is that Epic will keep fighting Apple and Google for decades to come if it has to, continuing to spend billions because it believes that if it wins, it will make many billions more in the long term. There is a huge amount of money at stake here, and Sweeney sounds determined to see it through. IGN has asked Apple for comment.
But it’s not just about how much money Epic has already spent, it’s about how much money it might have made had it bowed to Apple’s store fees, coughed up that 30%, and had Fortnite on iOS for the last five years.
IGN asked Sweeney if Epic had calculated this missed opportunity, and here’s what he had to say:
“Yeah, this is something we think about a lot and it's always hard to predict because there's just a direct number of users, percentage of users we had on iOS before and that could have continued, but we could have also potentially driven significant new forms of growth on mobile as new opportunities opened up in new markets where they were more mobile than PC and console.
“The fight against Apple and Google has certainly denied us a billion dollars of revenue, perhaps several billion, and we certainly could have been a higher revenue vassal to Cupertino had we stayed on the App Store and paid Apple's junk fees forever. But I felt very firmly that the proper way to challenge them was to demonstrate to the world the real effects of their policies because Apple... Apple does a good job of hiding it. They don't let developers tell users that they're paying 30% of their fee for nothing or their purchase price is going to Apple for nothing, and it's not widely known.
"And so this was largely a supply side dispute between developers and the platform ecosystems. The moment Apple blocked Fortnite, it became about access and about denial of access to markets and about monopoly abuse to further the company's economic objectives. And the moment Apple banned Fortnite, the conversation in the world changed and everybody realized that these companies aren't just some part of the supply chain that takes a cut. They are the sole viable distribution vehicle for platforms reaching billions of users.
“And around that time regulatory activity perked up and became serious and has come into force through a number of laws that have really begun to shake up the market. We view our company's aims on the scale of decades. We've been in business for 33 years now, which is a pretty long time for a tech company, especially a game developer. There were a lot of game developers in 1991, not many of them are around now.
“But we think our best days are ahead and we think our best days can only be achieved when we have true freedom and we believe the best way to get to that freedom is to go all in and fighting for access rather than arguing about money as Apple is trying to encourage all other developers to do.
“And so I have no regrets and I think that in the long run, we'll look back at the event in August 13th, 2020 when we opened up Fortnite and supported direct payment and gave customers savings by purchasing directly and avoiding Apple junk fees, that whole series of events I think will be the thing that instigated the change that is absolutely necessary for the future.
“Do you want your kids to grow up in a market where Apple and Google extract all the profit from all digital businesses and control access to all the information? It's not a good world, just like FYI. So no regrets, though it’s been terribly costly. We're really looking at our future opportunity and future value rather than the opportunity that we missed by fighting Apple and Google this way.”
The upshot is this: Epic is working with regulators in the European Union to stop Apple and Google from allegedly breaking the law (it wants both to comply with the Digital Markets Act and enable proper access to the Epic Games Store and its games), and it plans to bring the Epic Games Store to iOS in the UK and Japan at the end of this year.
But what about the U.S.? When will Fortnite finally return to iPhone in the country? “Once policymakers and courts in other countries like Brazil, Australia, Korea and the United States make it possible, we’ll bring the Epic Games Store to iOS in those countries too,” Epic said. “We will keep fighting to break down barriers not just for the Epic Games Store, but for everyone.”
Photo by Arda Kucukkaya/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
King Arthur: Legends Rise is a turn-based squad RPG from Netmarble that launched for free this week on Steam. You play as the legendary King Arthur in a fantasy world where mankind and the gods are at war.
To gain the power necessary to fight back against the gods, Arthur seeks out the fabled blade Excalibur. Trapped within the sword is the dragon Caliburn, with whom Arthur makes a dark pact to gain the ability to wield it. With blade in hand, you’ll embark on a mission to unite Britain and restore the kingdom of Camelot to glory.
To carry out that mission, you’ll summon allies pulled from the pages of Arthurian legend — iconic characters like Morgan le Fay, Merlin, Lancelot, Guinevere, and more. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses, with innate attributes that can define their role in your party and power up certain abilities.
For instance, Arthur is an Attack type, meaning he increases attack-centric abilities. He also has the Bull trait, which improves the accuracy of abilities that inflict status effects. Meanwhile, Guinevere is a classic tank. She’s a Defense type, which increases defense-centric abilities. And she has the Hound trait, which increases those same abilities even more.
Each character can also equip relics that determine their element. There are three elements — flame, frost, and storm — with each being strong against one and weak against another in a rock-paper-scissors system. Enemies also have an innate element (displayed to the left of their health bar), and all three can be present within the same fight, so you’ll want to make sure your party is equipped with diverse relics to stay prepared for anything your enemies throw at you.
Adding another layer to party building is the fact that each character thrives during particular weather. Some prefer the day or night, others perform best when it’s raining, and still others power up when it’s swelteringly hot or during squalls.
Once you’ve decided on your party, you’ll explore a world that fuses the aesthetics of medieval Britain with fantasy elements. As you make your way through the main story, you’ll come face to face with horrific creatures that will test your combat prowess.
Battles are turn-based, and you can see the turn order in the bottom left corner of the screen. Combat uses a vigor system, where each of your heroes has three abilities, and which ones they can access during a given turn depend on their current vigor. Each character has a basic ability that will add one vigor upon use, as well as more powerful abilities that will use two or three vigor upon use. Some abilities attack one foe, others attack multiple, while others support allies with either healing or buffs.
So you’ll need to strategize and think tactically in each fight, taking into consideration elemental strengths and weaknesses, bonuses from current weather effects, and the vigor levels of each of your allies. You don’t want to get stuck needing a healing spell, only to realize your healer doesn’t have enough vigor to use it.
The main story will take you across Britain and see you gather strength and gradually rebuild your home of Camelot. But if you want to take a break from that story, you can make use of Adventure mode, where you can explore the overworld. You’ll find environmental puzzles you can solve to open new pathways, uncover hidden treasures, and find other secrets.
If you’re more of the competitive type, you can battle your fellow players in the PvP Arena, where you can create diverse hero combinations and engage in strategic gameplay based on your opponent’s deck.
Or you can take part in even bigger Clan Wars, a large-scale war system where entire clans of players compete against each other through battles, seasons, and leagues. Clan members deploy their collected heroes and strategically position them within their faction, utilizing structures, gimmicks, and buffs to lead their clan to victory.
To experience all of this for yourself, you can download King Arthur: Legends Rise for free through Steam right now. To celebrate the game’s launch, the developers are offering limited-time packages that provide unique benefits and are only available to Steam users. To get more details about the game and its characters, you can check out the official website. Or join the community on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Discord, or YouTube.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 won't be a PlayStation 6 exclusive despite Final Fantasy 7 Remake originally launching only on PS4 and its sequel Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth originally launching only on PS5, Square Enix has said.
Speaking to 4Gamer and translated by Genki on X/Twitter, Final Fantasy series producer Yoshinori Kitase and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi said the PlayStation exclusivity tradition will be broken amid a wider shift to multiplatform releases.
Sony's PS5 arrived in 2020, seven years after the PS4 arrived in 2013. The same pace would see the PS6 released in 2027, which is the same time Square Enix hopes to release the third and final game in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy.
4Gamer therefore asked if fans will need to buy a third generation of consoles in order to close out the story, but Kitase said definitively this won't be the case. "No, you can rest assured about the next one," he said.
Hamaguchi said Square Enix plans to release future games on a wide range of platforms so as many people can play them as possible. This comes after both Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Final Fantasy 16 were well received but failed to meet financial expectations.
Square Enix has already brought both of these to PC, but Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida has said Square Enix is looking to double down on Xbox releases too. Nothing has been announced regarding Part 3's release platforms but fans should therefore expect a release across PS5 (and maybe PS6), PC, and maybe even Xbox. The franchise is reportedly gearing up for a release on the Nintendo Switch 2 console too.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
The holidays and big seasonal sale events may be behind us, but if you're still itching to hop on the Game Pass bandwagon there's still time to save on a membership. Woot's currently offering an excellent limited time deal on three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, dropping its price to $33.99. There's a 10% off coupon "SAVETEN" that drops the price even further to $30.59 with free digital delivery, but keep in mind this coupon only lasts through the rest of today.
You can learn more about that deal, what's coming soon to Game Pass, and the big releases still to come below.
Woot's starting off 2025 strong with a great deal on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Right now you can score three months for $33.99. On top of that, there's a 10% off coupon you can use today, "SAVETEN", that drops the price to $30.59 with free digital delivery. This coupon only runs for 24 hours and will expire at the end of the day, though.
Considering the new price of Game Pass Ultimate is $19.99/month, you're saving $25.98 with this three-month deal, which is well worth taking advantage of to enjoy the massive Game Pass library.
Note that you can purchase multiple Game Pass codes and apply them to your account up to a maximum of 36 months, however SAVETEN is one-time use and will only work on one of your Game Pass codes.
Game Pass has a nice rotation of new titles to play every month. If you're curious about what's in store for the rest of January, we've got you covered. The Xbox Game Pass January wave 2 lineup is:
Unfortunately, for those subscribing to the new Standard tier (available for $14.99/month), this does not give Game Pass users access to day one releases. This means big new releases on the platform like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will not be available on that tier.
Unfortunately with new games joining the catalog it means a few must take their leave. Below, we've listed the games that'll be leaving Xbox Game Pass on January 31.
Xbox's Summer Showcase last June was a massive success, showcasing an incredible amount of new games coming to the platform. Alongside Black Ops 6, the showcase also included Doom: The Dark Ages, Perfect Dark, Fable, Gears of War: E-Day, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and so many more. But which of these titles will appear as day-one releases on Game Pass? Thankfully, quite a few! Including all of the previously mentioned titles.
The latest big release on the platform is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which we gave a 9/10 in our review. IGN's Luke Reilly said, "With a host of gorgeous and lavishly detailed levels, satisfying combat hinged on jawbreaking haymakers, and a focus on slow-paced exploration, platforming, and puzzle solving (interspersed with a handful of high-voltage action scenes), The Great Circle is an irresistible and immersive global treasure hunt for Indy fans who’ve felt underserved by the likes of The Dial of Destiny and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
If you're looking for even more savings on all things Xbox, have a look at our roundup of the best Xbox deals. There, we've highlighted all of the latest and greatest discounts on the platform, from incredible game deals to fantastic offers on high-quality headphones. Or, if you'd rather see what's going on with other platforms, check out our roundups of the best PlayStation deals, the best Nintendo Switch deals, and our overall roundup of the best video game deals.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.
Assassin's Creed Shadows is expected to launch March 20, 2025, after multiple delays. The most recent was only by a month, which doesn't seem like much time to change anything significant. So why did Ubisoft push the game?
According to the game director: roofs.
At a recent preview event for Shadows, we spoke with game director Charles Benoit, who confirmed that the month delay was "mostly about polishing" and did not change any big systems. The team did update "a couple of things in progression to make it more engaging, also balancing a bit more." But the main feature that needed extra tweaking was the parkour system, which Benoit says was running up against an obstacle unique to Feudal Japan.
"The Japanese architecture, the roofs [are] super complex," he said. "Probably the most complex thing that I ever worked with if we compared to Odyssey and Syndicate. We needed specific codes and specific animations to support something super fluid, changing the transition of the parkour to make it even more fluid. So that's one of the specific feedback that we heard that we wanted to address, and it really improved since the last few months."
Assassin's Creed Shadow was originally planned for release in November 2024, but was pushed to February 2025 and then again to March, with the company citing player feedback as a main reason for the delay.
You can catch up on our recent preview of Assassin's Creed Shadows. We also learned more today about the long-awaited Assassin's Creed: Infinity, which will appear in Shadows as the Animus Hub.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
In many ways, Assassin's Creed Shadows has been a long time coming. The setting of feudal era Japan has been one of the dream locales that fans and even Ubisoft developers have had for the franchise's jaunt through humanity's secret history, and it's finally serving as the backdrop for the next entry. But Shadows has also been a game that has seen some notable delays to ensure the developers stick the landing. Simply put, there's a lot of anticipation for what's in store for Ubisoft's big return to a massive Assassin's Creed RPG.
After spending several hours playing Assassin's Creed Shadows, the next entry keeps up with the satisfying action and traversal that the series is known for, but it also showcases a sharper eye for worldbuilding, and giving its two protagonists their time in the spotlight. From my time sneaking through fortresses, taking in the sweeping vistas of the open world, and pulling off slick combat finishers, I got to see just how developer Ubisoft Quebec has improved its balancing act of satisfying action, RPG systems, and rewarding open-ended exploration in a captivating new setting that's been long overdue.
Since Assassin's Creed Origins in 2017, the series has stayed comfortably within the realm of the open-world RPG, offering an expanded scope and narrative decisions to alter the course of the story. While this shift led to some growing pains for the series, it has gotten a better handle on the additional layers to gameplay without compromising the fantasy of being an ancient assassin. With Shadows, the latest attempt at an Assassin's Creed RPG shows that developer Ubisoft may have also cracked the code on the role-playing element with its two unique protagonists, something the series has struggled to present in a way that hasn't muddied the narrative waters.
Speaking with creative director Jonathan Dumont, he stated that Assassin's Creed Shadows has an underlying theme about unity. Given the backdrop of Feudal Japan and its period of unification, the game focuses heavily on the bond between the two leads and their growth throughout the game.
"For me, this game has a message about unity, and fighting for those who cannot, which is a responsibility that both of the characters have in the game," he said. "I think that it's about finding your place in that world, and I think both characters represent that and the importance of community and the importance of taking care of each other and going on this journey together through Japan in this period of unrest."
The latest game puts its sights on a new mystery deep within a revamped Animus program. In this new simulation, we focus on feudal era Japan and the secret history of both Yasuke, a historical African slave who became a full-fledged Samurai, and Naoe, a female Shinobi taking up the mantle of her father's legacy. The pair eventually team up to navigate a radically changing 1500s Japan, rubbing shoulders with other historical allies such as Oda Nobunaga and Kuroda Kanbei while taking down a shadowy cabal of warlords manipulating the country's attempt at unification from within.
I spent most of my playtime exploring Harima Province, one of the early zones that featured a questline involving an insidious plot to undermine the region's power structure. The world of Assassin's Creed Shadows is massive, but thankfully not to the ridiculous size of Valhalla. That said, plenty of opportunities were packed in this province, and the viewpoints to observe nearby points of interest helped point me in the right direction. A general theme I found compelling was how Shadows emphasized harmonizing with the open world – a cultural element the developers wanted to highlight with the Japanese setting.
This theme also extends to the side activities and how the world changes over time with shifting seasons that alter the terrain. Shadows ditches the need for hunting, and instead, you can find and draw rare wildlife found in the wild. It was an odd activity at first, but I found them endearing and a surprisingly wholesome change of pace. I soon found myself being taken in by how atmospheric and thoughtful the setting was.
Shadows also emphasizes the dynamic between the two protagonists and their agency within the world after bonding over being outcasts within the country. I really enjoyed their dynamic within the story, and they play well with each other during cutscenes. Yasuke is a gentle giant and wise Samurai enforcer who offers some poignant insights while learning about Japanese culture. Naoe's growth into an assassin with a heavy legacy to uphold shows an early look at the dramatic highs of the main story.
You're free to switch off characters in the open world and during moments in the main story, letting you play as who you want in most key missions. But in an interesting addition, you also have the option of playing in Canon Mode, which presents a defined story without major narrative choices – which was added after developers saw how many fans were debating what the definitive story was for Valhalla and Odyssey.
Yasuke and Naoe also represent the different extremes of Assassin's Creed's combat and stealth experiences, which have also seen clear upgrades across the board in Shadows. For combat, there's a heightened need for dodging and parrying strikes, crucial to piercing through armor to deliver a killing blow. It injects Ghost of Tsushima's offense and defensive style of swordplay, but it also has familiar AC combat skills such as power grabs and the always funny kick move I used plenty of times.
The setting of Japan was a setting that the developers have wanted to make for some time, and according to game director Charles Benoit, they also saw an opportunity to have the series lean further into its stealth-action roots.
"If you look at the brand in general, we had a lot of stealth focus in the first few games, and then with the RPG, we saw a rise more of a rise with combat in Origins, so I feel Shadows is mixing the whole era of Assassin's Creed and bringing about a return to stealth as a focus," he said. "But combat is still very much a core pillar for us, which is why we wanted two characters. With the Japan setting, we have the archetypes of the Samurai and Ninja, and that gives a great opportunity to develop both equally."
I generally felt pleased with the more thoughtful approach to combat. However, it also comes with more challenges, which unexpectedly made some of the encounters in the game feel a bit more difficult. The game also struggled to present fights with multiple foes accurately, and it can be easy to get overwhelmed by enemies coming in off-screen. Still, when the new combat in Shadows hits, it certainly does hit.
What impressed me most with Shadows was the revamped stealth gameplay, which appropriately incorporates elements from Ubisoft's other stealth-action series, Splinter Cell. With the new visibility meter, you can see how open you are. Furthermore, there's a greater emphasis on light and darkness; you can even snuff out candles to add some cover. My favorite addition is the ability to go prone, which, as you can expect, is a game-changer for stealth. Playing stealth with Naoe was so satisfying, and it does well to showcase just how much that gameplay style has improved.
While both characters can combat and stealth, they also have clear limitations. For instance, Yasuke is a formidable fighter and is capable of ambushing enemies, however his large stature is not ideal for advanced stealth. In addition to being incapable of climbing certain areas, he's also not so great at performing the leap of faith.
As for Naoe, she's a skilled assassin with access to a grappling hook and smoke bombs. However, Naoe's nimble combat style is far more reliant on parrying and dodging, and one hit from an elite enemy's heavy strike can take a chunk of her health bar. While pulling off Naoe's combat skills was satisfying, I often had to resist the urge to take out every enemy and run for it when things got out of hand.
Continuing with Assassin's Creed Valhalla, you can manage and upgrade a base of operations. As you recruit allies, they'll head to your hideout to open up shops and offer new side missions that incentivize revisits to previous zones. But Shadows takes this feature a step further by allowing you to build out your custom village in the vein of Animal Crossing.
The town builder mode offers plenty of options to add necessities and some personal touches to the hideout. I spent an unexpected amount of time building more housing and decorating my space with Shinto shrines and pets – such as cats and tanuki. There are also side activities, such as a visually striking meditation mini-game, to help you earn additional perks. It's an unexpectedly cozy side activity for an AC game, and I was quickly taken in by how satisfying it was to walk around a massive village I had made in a reasonably short time.
So far, Assassin's Creed Shadows is shaping to be a solid follow-up to Ubisoft's ambitious Valhalla. Even if the familiar crop of open-world bugs and quirks popped up during my time, I still found a great deal to appreciate with Shadows and its worldbuilding. While this conceit is not an uncommon backup for video games – which can be easy to mess up with insensitive representation – Assassin's Creed Shadows so far does well to justify its take on an open-world RPG set during this culturally rich era, especially in its handling of the two protagonists. With the release coming soon, I'm eager to see how Ubisoft's take on Assassin's Creed's journey to Japan will come together.
Ted Price, the founder and now-former-president of Insomniac Games, is being inducted into the DICE Hall of Fame next month, just after he announced his retirement from the company after 30 years.
Price founded Insomniac Games in 1994 and has remained there ever since. Under his guidance, Insomniac has built major franchises such as Spyro, Ratchet & Clank, and Marvel's Spider-Man, shipping 35 different games and building to nearly 450 employees. The company was acquired by Sony in 2019.
A press release from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) also notes Price's role in the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, which struck down a law banning the sale of violent video games to children without parental supervision. He has also backed internal charity intiatives at Insomniac and Sony dedicated to STEM education and social justice.
Just yesterday, Price announced he was retiring from Insomniac after 30 years, with his role passing to Ryan Schneider, Jen Huang, and Chad Dezern as co-heads of the compant. Amidst his departure, Price said Insomniac was "in one of the strongest positions" it's been in for years, as it currently works to complete Marvel's Wolverine. Price says he made the decision to retire last year.
“Ted Price is a Hall of Fame game development leader and an even better human,“ Schneider said. “Ted has guided Insomniac Games and our industry with character and class for more than 30 years. He embodies Insomniac’s vision of making a positive and lasting impact on people’s lives, inspiring countless employees, partners and players in a truly remarkable legacy.”
The AIAS describes its Hall of Fame members as “individuals who have been instrumental in the development of highly influential games.” Past inductees include Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon in 2022, Metal Gear Solid mastermind Hideo Kojima in 2016, Psychonauts and The Curse of Monkey Island lead Tim Schafer in 2023, and Nintendo composer Koji Kondo in 2024. The full list of those honored can be found here.
The 28th annual DICE Awards take place on February 13 in Las Vegas, and will be livestreamed by IGN.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Alongside previews for Assassin's Creed Shadows going live today, Ubisoft offered detail on a new feature for all future Assassin's Creed games called the Animus Hub, which seems to be the previously-reported Assassin's Creed: Infinity.
In a presentation from Ubisoft that IGN attended, Ubisoft revealed the Animus Hub, effectively a starting point from which games such as Assassin's Creed Shadows can be launched. However, Ubisoft was adamant that this was not simply another game launcher, but rather a feature embedded in Shadows that will also be integrated into future games such as the upcoming Codename Hexe or Codename Invictus.
The Animus Hub will be split into a number of sections, one of which will include direct paths to opening not just the main campaign of Assassin's Creed Shadows, but also other Assassin's Creed games if they're owned and downloaded on the system.
There's also a "Projects" section, which will feature ongoing content including new narrative missions tied to the game's new, modern day story, with free rewards baked in for Assassin's Creed Shadows. New content is expected to be released regularly throughout Shadows' post-launch period.
Ubisoft plans to tell an ongoing story through the Animus Hub that will extend into future Assassin's Creed releases and will take place in the "near future" to facilitate that progression. The story begins in Shadows, and is framed by longtime Assassin's Creed villainous organization Abstergo, which in the lore of the game has released a version of the Animus for public use, though the player's "version" of the Animus in the story will involve an expected touch of rebellion.
While this is perhaps a bit different from what we imagined when Infinity was first discussed, it's not entirely dissimilar from what Activision has been doing with Call of Duty, whose hub serves as a platform tying battle royale Warzone to whatever the latest Call of Duty is.
You can catch up on our recent preview of Assassin's Creed Shadows. The game is expected to launch on March 20, 2025 after a recent delay out of February.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
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