Everyone's playing shooters these days, at least according to some new data from Newzoo shared with IGN.
Newzoo, whose revenue estimates cover digital full-game purchases, including but not limited to DLC, subscriptions, and microtransactions, has revealed the top 20 PC and console games for the month of October, both by revenue and MAUs (monthly active users), combined across the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. And boy, there are a lot of shooters on that list! Battlefield 6, in its debut month, is at the top of the revenue charts and the third in monthly active users. While Battlefield's dominance has been well documented already, it's nonetheless an impressive feat given that Battlefield was only out for one week in October.
It is worth noting that while the suite of Call of Duty games were 9th on the revenue chart, they came in at the second spot for MAUs, ahead of Battlefield. Again, though, Battlefield only had a week compared to Call of Duty's full month, so the real test will be looking at November's data when Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will face off against Battlefield. MAUs are a bit of a better comparison metric for Call of Duty, given its precense on Xbox Game Pass.
Breakout extraction shooter Arc Raiders debuted at No. 7 for revenue and No. 18 in MAUs, similarly hampered somewhat by the fact that it was only out for two days in the reporting period of October, so we should see a clearer picture of its success in November as well.
These new games are joined by a lot of the usual suspects: Counter-Strike 2 at No. 8 in revenue and No. 9 in MAUs, Fortnite at No. 3 in revenue and No. 1 in MAUs, and just on the MAU chart: GTA 5 at No. 7, Helldivers 2 at No. 16, Borderlands 4 at No. 17, Apex Legends at No. 19, and Overwatch at No. 20. Those are just shooters; Roblox, Minecraft, Valorant, League of Legends, and annual sports titles remain strong. It's as challenging as ever for new games to crack the dominance of the handful of live service giants that consume so much of audience time, attention, and money.
There was a bit of a face-off this month in monster RPGs, with Pokémon Legends: Z-A coming in at No. 5 in revenue and No. 15 in MAUs, and Digimon Story Time Stranger at No. 13 in revenue. It was never in doubt that Pokémon would win that battle, but Newzoo noted that Z-A "underperformed compared to Legends: Arceus," which may suggest some hesitance around its move to a real-time, action-based combat system, or perhaps caution after the state of Scarlet and Violet's launch. It's worth noting that Pokémon Legends: Z-A launched as a cross-gen title, both on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.
Nintendo's official sales figures show Pokémon Legends: Z-A sold almost 6 million copies in its opening week. Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which debuted on October 16, sold 5.8 million units worldwide, with around half of those bought for Switch 2. This means the first Pokémon game to feature real-time Pokémon battles is the fifth best-selling game of the franchise in terms of first week sales. By comparison, that's more than Pokémon X/Y and Let's Go Pikachu / Eevee managed in their first weeks, but not as much as Pokémon Scarlet / Violet, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and Pokémon Sword / Shield managed.
IGN's Pokémon Legends: Z-A review returned an 8/10. We said: "Pokémon Legends: Z-A finally feels like Game Freak hitting its stride in Pokémon’s 3D era, with a fun setting to explore, a well-written story, and a total battle system overhaul that works surprisingly well."
Top 20 PC and Console Games by Revenue for October 2025
(Data covers U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain)
Battlefield 6/Redsec (NEW)
EA Sports FC 26
Fortnite
Ghost of Yotei (NEW)
Pokemon Legends: Z-A (NEW)
NBA 2K 26
Arc Raiders (NEW)
Counter-Strike 2 & GO
Call of Duty: MW2/MW3/WZ/BO6
EA Sports Madden NFL 26
The Sims 4
Minecraft
Digimon Story Time Stranger (NEW)
Valorant
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (NEW)
Roblox
League of Legends
Jurassic World Evolution 3 (NEW)
World of Warcraft
Marvel Rivals
Top 20 PC and Console Games by MAU for October 2025
(Data covers U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain)
Fortnite
Call of Duty: MW2/MW3/WZ/BO6
Battlefield 6/Redsec (NEW)
Roblox
Minecraft
skate.
Grand Theft Auto V
Rocket League
Counter-Strike 2 & GO
EA Sports FC 26
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege X
Marvel Rivals
NBA 2K26
EA Sports FC 25
Pokemon Legends: Z-A (NEW)
Helldivers 2
Borderlands 4
Arc Raiders (NEW)
Apex Legends
Overwatch 1 & 2
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Streamer Netflix will release Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery in theaters on November 26, in time for the Thanksgiving holiday, before releasing it on Netflix itself on December 12.
But it will only release in “select” theaters, as opposed to nationwide — something that has clearly left the Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer and director unimpressed.
Taking to social media, Johnson replied to one fan who expressed concern after failing to find a local screening. “I’m as frustrated as you that it’s not everywhere, but new theaters will be added so keep checking,” Johnson tweeted. “And also if you’re inclined it wouldn’t hurt to contact the manager of your local theater and (politely!) ask them if it’s coming.”
In another social media post, Johnson shared the official website of Wake Up Dead Man as “the best way to find if there’s a theater near you playing” the film, before adding: “For those asking, sadly AMC would not play the movie, it’s going to be Landmark, Alamo, and other chains. And it can absolutely stay in theaters after the 12/12 Netflix drop if there’s demand — it’s up to the theaters to decide.”
But Netflix has indicated it won't change its long-standing view on theaters versus streaming. “There’s no change in the strategy," CEO Ted Sarandos explained of the company’s policy on theatrical distribution during a recent earnings conference. "Our strategy is to give our members exclusive first-run movies on Netflix.” In fact, Sarandos went on to assert that KPop Demon Hunters only became a sensation “because it was released on Netflix first.”
IGN’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery review returned a 7/10. We said: “Wake Up Dead Man is a solid third entry for Benoit Blanc, finally delivering the classic-style mystery the series has sorely needed.”
Photo by Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images for Netflix.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Nintendo is rushing to remove user-made designs shared within Kirby Air Riders that feature fan-favorite character Chef Kawasaki dressed in a micro bikini.
Kirby Air Riders allows players to create and customize their own in-game rides using basic shapes and stickers, something that has quickly led to all manner of user creativity — and several designs that feature the beloved chef in beach attire.
Chef Kawasaki has been a fan-favorite among the Kirby community for years, and there's a running joke that, underneath his apron, Chef Kawasaki is otherwise naked. Alternatively, fans have suggested, the character could just about be hiding a micro bikini underneath the straps of his cooking attire — something now depicted in mounds of fanart that we will not embed on this website.
Is Nintendo a fan of all this? Seemingly not. As if to make its position clear, Nintendo has now removed several Chef Kawasaki micro bikini designs from Kirby Air Riders, as they began topping the game's list of most popular fan-made rides.
Automaton reports that two widely-downloaded Chef Kawasaki micro bikini riders have already been made unavailable by Nintendo, while a third — with a slightly larger bikini and succubus wings — rises in popularity and looks set to test Nintendo's limits for what it will allow.
This isn't the first time that Nintendo has acted to shut down the spread of Chef Kawasaki bikini artwork. In 2022, it swiftly stopped the proliferation of a fanmade card game, Chef Kawasaki’s Microbikini Karuta, which featured numerous fan-drawn images of an eyebrow-raising nature. (The game's creators had also begun selling the game for profit — another big Nintendo no-no.)
The latest game from Super Smash Bros. series boss Masahiro Sakurai, Kirby Air Riders launched this week exclusively for Switch 2. A spin-off of the Kirby series where players race around circuit-based tracks on glider-like machines, it is a long-awaited sequel to 2003's Kirby Air Ride on GameCube.
"Kirby Air Riders' unconventional controls can get in its own way sometimes, but they don't stop it from being a fun, frantic action racing game with an almost unreal amount of stuff to do," IGN wrote in our Kirby Air Riders review, awarding the game 8/10.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Brendan Fraser doesn’t sound too bothered about the prospect of reprising his role as Rick O'Connell for The Mummy 4 nearly 20 years later, and has said stunt men will help him out.
The 56-year-old Oscar-winning actor last played Rick O'Connell in 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, when he was 40. But he’s set to return to the franchise alongside co-star Rachel Weisz for a new The Mummy film in the coming years.
“Absolutely. That’s what they have stunt men for,” Fraser replied when asked if his age was a consideration when it came to real stunts in The Mummy 4. “One of my favorite things to say is, ‘Dude, you’re gonna be awesome in this shot!'”
While The Mummy 4 isn’t officially, officially confirmed, based on reports in the trades and comments from Fraser himself, this one feels nailed on. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett — the filmmaking duo billed as Radio Silence — are said to be directing the long-awaited sequel. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Weisz will also return as Evelyn Carnahan. Apparently The Mummy 4 will be a sequel to the trilogy, but will disregard the events of the third movie, which Weisz did not star in.
Radio Silence’s breakout film was 2019’s Ready or Not. They then rebooted the Scream franchise with 2022’s Scream and 2023’s Scream 6, and also directed the vampire flick Abigail.
Speaking to Associated Press this week, Fraser was asked if he had considered The Mummy movies in his past before the fourth film was announced.
“The one I wanted to make was never made,” he replied. “The third one was a model of… how can I say this to the AP reporter? NBC had the rights to broadcast the Olympics that year. So they put two together and we went to China. Working in Shanghai, an incredible experience. I’m proud of the third one because I think it’s a good standalone movie. We picked up and did what we do with a different crew on deck and gave it our best shot. But the one I wanted to make is forthcoming. And I’ve been waiting 20 years for this call. Sometimes it was loud, sometimes it was a faint telegraph. Now? It’s time to give the fans what they want.”
Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
One title due for launch remained "unannounced" in Ubisoft's official presentation, but a new Insider Gaming report has now stated that this not-so-mysterious project is the new version of Black Flag, which is scheduled to arrive during the week of March 23, 2026.
Despite years of internal leaks, fan speculation and even hints from the game's lead actor, Ubisoft is still to officially confirm its Black Flag remake exists. But players have been tracking its progress for a while now, and think they have a pretty good idea of how it will play.
Alongside visual and gameplay upgrades to bring the game closer to Assassin's Creed Shadows' level of fidelity and more RPG-like focus, a recent report detailed plans for the game to feature all-new content and missions for its pirate hero Edward Kenway. At the same time, however, Black Flag's modern day gameplay sections have apparently been excised — something that many fans aren't happy about.
It's believed that work on this new Black Flag remake has been spearheaded by Ubisoft Singapore, which previously launched the long-delayed Skull and Bones — a game that began life as an offshoot of Black Flag's maritime gameplay.
Ubisoft is going all-in on Assassin's Creed, its biggest franchise, with this year's Assassin's Creed Shadows followed by a recent Saudi Arabia-funded free update to 2023's Assassin's Creed Mirage. Alongside its Black Flag remake, next year is expected to bring a second major Shadows expansion. Beyond that, Ubisoft has already announced that a multiplayer Assassin's Creed game and its next big blockbuster, the witchcraft-themed Assassin's Creed Hexe, are also in the works.
This morning, Ubisoft said its latest positive financial results had been driven in part by a "strong performance" for its Assassin's Creed franchise. But while the company noted that Mirage had now passed 10 million sales, there was no new figure provided for how well this year's Shadows has sold.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
IGN is hosting the Mario Kart World: Knockout Tour Streamer Showdown, sponsored by Nintendo. This endurance event will see 24 streamers compete in every Knockout Tour rally in Mario Kart World – who will suffer defeat at the hands of a perfectly timed blue shell? Who will grind and drift their way to victory? You’ll have to tune in to find out.
Among those revving up their engines are some of your favourite video game and variety streamers such as Tubbo, Lucy Flight, and Matthew and Ryan. IGN will be hosting the stream on our channels, so you can tune in wherever you are.
How to Watch the Mario Kart World: Knockout Tour Streamer Showdown
Watch the Mario Kart World: Knockout Tour Streamer Showdown on Friday, 28 November at 12pm GMT/ 7am EST / 4am PST via the following platforms:
What to Expect From the Mario Kart World: Knockout Tour Streamer Showdown
The Streamer Showdown will pit 24 streamers against each other in an endurance test unlike any other. The streamers will be split into six teams, so not only will they be racing for individual glory, but they’ll also have to support their teammates as they take on every Knockout Tour rally, back-to-back.
Surrounding the races, we’ll also have shout-casters on hand, breaking down the day’s biggest plays and bringing you all the leaderboard latest. There will be nuggets of additional Mario Kart programming too, helping you to brush up on your own karting skills.
We’ll be hosting all the action on the stream on Friday, 28th November – be sure to join us from 12pm GMT so you don’t miss out on any banana-spin outs, or green shell snipes!
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