If you've been hoping to add them to your physical media collection, all six The Karate Kid films are releasing in a massive 4K collection set, complete with collectibles. The Karate Kid Ultimate Six-Movie Collection is available exclusively at Amazon for $219.99 and includes each film on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and as a digital copy, including the latest release, Karate Kid: Legends.

The release date is still to be announced, but if you want it, it's worth preordering now just in case it sells out. Head to the link below to get your preorders in for this awesome collection.

Preorder The Karate Kid Ultimate Six-Movie Collection

Alongside the movies, there's plenty for Karate Kid fans to enjoy from this collection. The box itself has a great design, opening up to reveal a pop-up display from the first film with the movies slotted on each side of it.

You'll also get a collection of character cards, three patches, and a Miyagi-Do headband. Bonus features are yet to be announced for it, but we'll be sure to add them in once they're revealed.

Movies Included in the Box Set

Here's a breakdown of what films are included in the set as well:

• The Karate Kid (1984)
• The Karate Kid II (1986)
• The Karate Kid III (1989)
• The Next Karate Kid (1994)
• The Karate Kid (2010)
• Karate Kid Legends

If you're looking for even more movies or shows to add to your physical media collection, there are quite a few releasing over the next few months that are worth keeping on your radar. In our breakdown of upcoming 4K UHD and Blu-ray releases you can see what's coming out soon to start planning ahead. Some of our most-anticipated at the moment include Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning on 4K and a 4K steelbook for season two of The Last of Us.

More Upcoming Physical Releases

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.

Walt Disney World's upcoming Cars land will be called Piston Peak National Park and will be part of the "largest expansion in the history of Magic Kingdom," Disney has announced.

As detailed by the Disney Parks Blog, work on Piston Peak National Park begins this summer, which means the Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island, and the Liberty Square Riverboat will close beginning July 7.

As for what will be in this new part of Magic Kingdom's Frontierland, Disney has shared more of its vision and what fans can expect.

"Imagine an awe-inspiring wilderness filled with towering trees, snowcapped mountains, breathtaking waterfalls, roaring rivers and impressive geysers," Disney said. "While fictional, Piston Peak is inspired by the Rocky Mountain area and the history and iconic sights of the American Frontier and its national parks."

Piston Peak also includes places to visit inspired by Disney and Pixar's Cars, including a visitor lodge, Ranger HQ, and trails. In keeping with the theme of being a National Park, Imagineers uses a style of architecture called "Parkitecture," which was actually developed by the National Park Service to "create structures that harmonize with the natural environment."

There are also plenty of trees that provide a natural cover between Piston Peak and the rest of Frontierland and Liberty Square, and "rugged mountains with dramatic peaks will be nestled along a calming waterway across from Grizzly Hall and soaring geysers from the famed Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will stretch into the trails of our off-road rally."

This Cars-themed area was first announced at D23 2024, where it was also revealed it would feature two new attractions. The first is a rally race through the mountains. As Disney puts it: "take on wild terrain as you race across the landscape climbing mountain trails, dodging geysers, and — Mater's favorite — splashing through mudholes." The second ride is geared more towards kids, but it is meant to be "fun for the whole family."

At SXSW 2025, Disney Parks shared a look at the new type of ride vehicle being made for the rally race attraction, noting it needed to invent something new as these cars are meant to convey a "feeling when you ride in it." In line with Cars, each vehicle comes with its own personality, name, and number.

Piston Peak National Park is one part of the big new plan for Magic Kingdom, as it will one day be joined by the first-ever land inspired by the Disney Villains. In the shorter term, guests will be able to look forward to the opening of the Disney Starlight nighttime parade on July 20 as part of Disney World's Cool Kid Summer and the Pirates of the Caribbean-inspired tavern called The Beak and Barrel later this year.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.

Warner Bros. reportedly wanted Transformers director Michael Bay to make a Man of Steel sequel starring Henry Cavill before the DC Universe was overhauled and James Gunn set about rebooting Superman.

According to TheWrap, execs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy attempted to pull together a "standalone Henry Cavill-led Superman film going in 2022, with Michael Bay eyed to possibly direct.” This effort was made prior to bringing James Gunn and Peter Safran in as the new co-heads of DC Studios, which was announced in October of the same year Warner Bros.' reported attempt to give Cavill back the cape.

That said, those attempts clearly fell through, which gave way to bringing Gunn and Safran in to reimagine the DCU — which, in turn, quickly led to Cavill’s exit from the Superman franchise in December 2022, just two months after the co-heads were instated.

Obviously, since then, Superman has gone in a completely different direction from the days of Cavill past. David Corenswet, who is perhaps best known at this point for his roles in Ti West’s Pearl and the Ryan Murphy Netflix series Hollywood, is taking over the coveted role in James Gunn’s reinvention of the franchise, with Marvelous Mrs. Masel star Rachel Brosnahan starring as Lois Lane alongside him. Plus, Nicholas Hoult rounds out the core three as Lex Luthor. That said: it’s hard not to imagine what Bay and Cavill would’ve done with one more shot into the sky.

For their parts, though, those two are plenty busy. Cavill is set to appear in several upcoming projects, including a live-action Voltron movie and a live-action reboot of Highlander, while Bay recently put out a parkour documentary called We Are Storror. He’s also said to be doing the Skibidi Toilet movie that we’re all trying to forget was announced, but he took to social media to deny directing that, uh, thing last month.

James Gunn’s Superman arrives in theaters on July 11, 2025.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has praised Nintendo Switch 2, and said the upcoming console realises the vision of the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who worked on the concept for the original Switch platform before he passed away in 2015.

Speaking as part of a Nintendo-published Creator's Voice video, Huang said he had worked personally with Iwata on Nintendo's then-audacious plans for a hybrid console capable of playing home console-quality games while on the go.

Now, after working with Nintendo again on the chip that powers Switch 2, Huang said the new console boasted the "most advanced graphics ever in a mobile device", and offered "a new chapter worthy of Iwata-san's vision."

"We've worked with Nintendo for more than a decade, drawn together by a shared belief — that technology should serve creativity, and that joy is worth engineering for," Huang began.

"I still remember the day Iwata-san shared his dream with us. He wanted to create something no-one had seen before: a console powerful enough for big cinematic games, but small enough to take anywhere. It sounded impossible, but that vision became the original Nintendo Switch.

"We lost Iwata-san before the launch, but his clarity, his purpose, it still inspires our work everyday," Huang continued. "Together, we poured everything into that system. The Nintendo Switch took over 500 engineer years at Nvidia. We rethought the entire stack, chip architecture, OS, APIs, game engines, so the magic could travel with you. The results speak for themselves: over 150 million consoles sold."

With Switch 2, Huang added, Nvidia and Nintendo not only offered the best visuals ever found in a portable gaming device, but hardware that also enabled support for ray tracing and HDR, while maintaining backwards compatibility for most Switch 1 games.

Nintendo is yet to reveal the Switch 2's final technical specifications itself, though our friends at Digital Foundry recently did the job for them. One particular point of interest remains the impact to Switch 2's hardware capability gobbled up by GameChat, which Digital Foundry reported had a "significant impact" on system resources to the point where some developers are said to be concerned.

"Switch 2 is more than a new console," Huang concluded. "It's a new chapter worthy of Iwata-san's vision. To our friends at Nintendo, congratulations. We're honoured to be on this journey with you."

Nintendo Switch 2 launches this week, on Thursday June 5, and is expected to sell out upon launch. Indeed, Nintendo is already shipping 'Out of Stock' signs to some stores to advertise the console's lack of availability amid high demand.

IGN has been hands-on with Switch 2 and reported back today that Mario Kart World's open world isn't what you think it is — so don't go in expecting a Nintendo version of Forza Horizon. We've also played the $10 mini-game collection Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, and while enjoyable, it should probably have been free.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

The challenge of playing Elden Ring Nightreign solo has been a hot-button issue since the game's launch, but director Junya Ishizaki has confirmed solo clears are quite doable. He knows, because he's cleared every boss in Nightreign already, by himself.

Speaking to CNET in a recent interview, Ishizaki was asked whether he has beaten every boss, including the final one, himself.

"Yes. I can hopefully give you reassurance to know that I have beaten all of the game's bosses," said Ishizaki. "I've seen everything it has to offer, both in multiplayer and as a solo player. So I want you and players to know that this is very possible, and I want you to have the confidence to give it a try yourself."

CNET followed to clarify that Ishizaki was saying he had soloed every boss in the game. "Yes," Ishizaki confirmed. "And without relics."

While that's a pretty dang impressive accomplishment in and of itself, I do like the notion that Ishizaki's clears are also meant to be encouraging for other players. If he can do it, essentially, then you might be able to as well. I don't know about the "without relics" part, though. You can give yourself a little bit of leeway on that.

There have been other players who have been clearing both individual bosses and the full roster of Nightlords solo as well. Still, the solo experience of Nightreign has been under scrutiny, and not just for its difficulty, but also for how some mechanics (like revival) feel more oriented around teamplay than solo.

It's clear FromSoftware is both hearing and addressing those concerns, too. The most recent patch, 1.01.1, arrived days after Elden Ring Nightreign's launch and took aim directly at the solo mode, increasing the runes gained by lone players and adding one free automatic revival for night bosses.

Even if the difficulty is getting tuned down, though, Ishizaki's clears can still be inspiring for those struggling against the Nightlords in their own runs. When the rains pick up and the storm closes in, you can know someone else has already done it, and so can you.

We’ve got plenty of Nightreign tips and tricks to help you take down all the eight Nightlord Bosses, and if you’re wondering how to unlock the two locked Nightfarer Classes, check out How to Unlock the Revenant and How to Unlock the Duchess, plus How to Change Characters.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Following the release of AI Darth Vader into Fortnite, Epic has announced plans to let people create their own AI NPCs in the all-encompassing battle royale.

AI Darth Vader hit Fortnite last month. He can serenade you, join and leave squads at will, respond intelligently to the player, issue impromptu dialogue, summarize gameplay events, and warn the player if something's about to go down.

Darth Vader is voiced by the inimitable James Earl Jones, who died in September 2024 at the age of 93. This AI version of his voice, powered by Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash model and ElevenLabs' Flash v2.5, is used with the Jones family's permission.

If you were sad that Squid Game is finally coming to a close, dry those eyes — because we just might be getting a spin-off series of the Netflix hit. That is, if creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has anything to say about it. The series boss recently opened up about what he would do if he was able to make a spin-off show, and honestly, we’re into it.

“If I make [a] spin off, it will be a story happening between Season 1 and 2,” Hwang revealed to Indiewire on the Gotham Awards red carpet recently. “There [was] a three years gap between Season 1 and 2. So, I want to show what they did for those times.”

We also want to know. Hwang also noted that his brain was processing the story as a whole while writing Season 2, so he couldn’t help but come up with Season 3 as well. “After I finished the whole season, the first season,” he explained to the outlet. “... I tried to come up with the idea of Season 2 and 3 at the same time.” In that way, it makes complete sense that he’s already coming up with ideas for a spin-off.

That said, Season 3 is about to be so scary that we’re not even going to be able to focus on the idea that we might be getting a spin-off series.

“In Season 1, we had lots of games like Tug of War that really utilized height and the fear that this height gives, but in the case of Season 2, we didn’t have that element,” Hwang told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview. “That is why in Season 3, I decided to introduce games that could really infuse fear in people with sheer height.”

He also explained to the outlet that he wanted the characters of Season 3 to have to do things no human being would ever want to do — which certainly ups the stakes for the final season. “In the case of Season 3, I wanted to introduce games that could really show the lowest bottom of human beings, because the series itself is reaching its climax,” he said. “I wanted very intense games to bring out the bottom parts of human nature.”

Squid Game Season 3, which Hwang has confirmed is the last entry for the show, returns to Netflix on June 27, 2025.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

Sony's PlayStation Days of Play sale is in full swing, offering big discounts on PS5 consoles, PS VR2s, PlayStation games, DualSense controllers, accessories, and more.

Running from now until the 11th of June, there are not only bargains to be found at PlayStation Direct, but among plenty of retailers getting in on the offers as well:

• Amazon UK
• Currys
• Argos
• HMV
• EE
• ShopTo
• Smyths

While a lot of the products getting price cuts are quite similar across these online stores, some have trimmed off more than others, presumably to undercut the competition. On the other hand, there are some particular gems to find at certain outlets as well.

Although you can click any of the store links above to browse through their full selections yourself, we've scoured them all on your behalf and listed the best deals below.

DualSense Controllers as Low as £44

While a DualSense controller comes with every PS5 console, you usually need around £60 for another to either add a player #2 or add one of the new colourful designs to your set-up.

Every retailer has taken at least £10 off all their DualSense listings, but EE is the big winner here by selling their White and Black controllers for only £44.

Added Discounts on the DualSense Edge

The pro-grade DualSense Edge controller for the PS5 has had at least £10 taken off across listings at multiple retailers, too. In this case, though, Currys and Smyths give you the best value for money, with around £40 taken off to now only be £159.99 each.

Price Drops on PS5 & PS5 Pro

While Xbox has been boosting Series X prices, the PS5 Pro has had 45-£60 taken off its original £699.99 price off at retailers like HMV, ShopTo, Smyths, Argos, and PS Direct.

Smyths currently has the best price at £639.99, but HMV and Currys is your next best bet if it sell out there. If you need a disc drive, many retailers have finally lowered their prices to £69.99, following Sony's announcement earlier this year.

Meanwhile, EE will give you the best price on a standard PS5 Slim (with disc drive) at only £379.99, a whole £100 off.

Deals on the PSVR2

After having already dropped by £130 in March 2025, Days of Play is cutting the price on the PSVR2 even further to now go for as low as £349 at almost all of our mentioned retailers (except EE), with Amazon and Currys giving the best price on the individual system.

PS Direct, however, gives you the best deal overall at £354.99, since it you can buy the bundle including Horizon Call of the Mountain for just over an extra fiver.

The Best Deals on PS5 & PS4 Games

Participating Days of Play retailers have added a lot of deals on PS5 & PS4 games, but the biggest slash is currently almost 50% off The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered. Well-timed for season 2 of the HBO adaptation just ending, this is the perfect opportunity to dive into what's arguably Naughty Dog's best game in recent years.

However, an equally amazing yet surprising deal is £90 off the Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Collector's Edition, including the iconic 'all 19 inches of' Venom statue — dropped from £219.99 to £129.99 at PS Direct.

Price Cuts on PlayStation Accessories

Like in the US Days of Play sale, a good number of pounds have been taken off premium accessories like the PS5 Pulse Earbuds, the accessiblity controller, and console covers.

Money Off a 12-Month PS Plus Membership & Gift Cards

Normally £119.99, PS Direct has taken 33% off its year-long PS Plus Memberships to now only £80.39.

What's more, ShopTo has reduced prices on PlayStation Store gift cards. So, for example, you could buy the £100 gift card for £87.85, buy your 12-month membership, then save the remaining £20.61 to spend on a game in the PS Store's Days of Play digital game sale.

Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.

After spending the last 30 years grazing the fields of Moo Moo Farm and Moo Moo Meadows, Cow has taken the spotlight as the biggest breakout star of Mario Kart World's enormous character roster. So when Nintendo invited us to a roundtable interview with Mario Kart World Producer Kosuke Yabuki, we knew we had to ask him about the beloved bovine.

"Thank you for that question about Cow," Yabuki began, which is one of the best openings I've ever heard in an interview. "The decision to include Cow was something that we considered in terms of if we added that, I think people would be really happy about it. And so we did. But honestly, the reaction to that by the public was much bigger than we possibly could have anticipated. So that was a wonderful surprise. Thank you."

Yabuki's surprise at Cow's popularity matches what we heard from Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen, who told us in an interview that their internal expectations for Cow were "perhaps not as big as the cow has become."

Cow's origin story makes her inclusion even better. In last month's Ask the Developer series about Mario Kart World, Yabuki confirmed that it was a developer's "silly sketch" of Cow driving a truck that convinced him and the rest of the team to add Cow as a playable character. I asked Yabuki about the evolution during development of what they're now calling "NPC Drivers", which grew to include characters like Snowman, Penguin, Swooper, and many others.

"I have to say, adding in Cow really opened the floodgates for us because once you've got a character in like that, you start to think, 'well, maybe we should just add who we can,'" Yabuki continued. "And so that was the point at which the designers got really excited. Once they realized all of these characters were possibly up for grabs, that's when you start to see Penguin come in, Pokey comes in, one after another, these new designs for characters keep coming. And so because all of these characters came in such a rush as the designers were getting kind of carried away, it's actually a little hard for me to remember which specific character would've come immediately next in the sequence after Cow. Sorry about that! Because honestly, I have this memory of approving the concept for Cow, and then maybe the next day I had 10 proposals for other characters on my desk."

There's a potential darker side to this story, too, as one of Mario Kart World's other new additions is Dash Food, which characters pick up from Yoshi's drive-thrus around the open world. Shortly after Mario Kart World was unveiled, IGN's Brian Altano noticed at a preview event that Cow was able to eat products that traditionally include beef, like steak kabobs and hamburgers. So, we asked Yabuki the ultimate question: Are those veggie burgers, or what's going on there?

Yes, Cow CAN eat steak in Mario Kart World. pic.twitter.com/qN5PZ9IIM4

— IGN (@IGN) April 4, 2025

"Sorry, that's top secret," Kabuki said with a laugh. "I can't say."

Well, the mystery remains, as does the question of if Diddy Kong will appear in Mario Kart World sporting his new redesign, to which Yabuki simply said, "I'm afraid I can't say anything at this time." But the rest of Mario Kart World's mysteries will soon be solved, as we're just two days away from the release date of Nintendo Switch 2 and its flagship launch game. For more, check out our final hands-on preview of Mario Kart World, where we were impressed with the racing, but still haven't been sold on Free Roam. And, check out our preview of that $10 launch game, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour.

Logan Plant is the host of Nintendo Voice Chat and IGN's Database Manager & Playlist Editor. The Legend of Zelda is his favorite video game franchise of all time, and he is patiently awaiting the day Nintendo announces a brand new F-Zero. You can find him online @LoganJPlant.

I may only have played three hours of it, but I’m already starting to get the feeling that Mario Kart World should really be called Mario Kart Knockout Tour. The new last-one-standing race mode, really is the star of the show, adding yet another layer of tension and mayhem to the already chaotic kart racer, and such a new addition deserves to have its name up in lights. And so I find it a curious decision that Nintendo has settled on the Switch 2 launch game’s open world as the main draw. I get it on an optics level – a Mario Kart unbound from the confines of pre-determined tracks has been long desired by fans – but after getting my hands on its free roam offering recently, it sadly left me feeling underwhelmed. Let me explain why.

When thinking of an open-world racing game, it's by no means unfair to make comparisons with Forza Horizon. Developer Playground Games has mastered this specific subgenre, even earning itself an IGN Game of the Year award with its most recent effort. Each game in the series features a delicately sculpted open world that packs in challenge, wonder, and, most importantly, fun. I’d be lying if I said I found much of any of those qualities in the roughly half an hour I spent speeding around Mario Kart World’s sizeable map. It’s largely empty, lacks atmosphere, and feels bizarrely devoid of activities to get stuck into.

Much of my time in free roam consisted of dashing along expanses of flat grassland, desert, or lightly choppy seas, looking for something to do. There are some challenges to get your teeth stuck into, but I found them largely repetitive and little more than trivial distractions. They mainly consist of P Switch challenges which, when activated, create short time trials to complete. I found these fun at first, but quickly realised they’re mostly rinse and repeat efforts involving collecting a certain amount of coins or whizzing through checkpoints within a time limit. And when these rarely take more than 10 or 15 seconds to finish, they soon lose all novelty. It’s not a promising sign to walk away from a demo feeling as if you’ve already exhausted the amount of entertainment you can get from a game’s side activities. And while I do hope that a more in-depth scouring of the world reveals more hidden fun, there’s another factor that has me concerned about how it all plays out.

You do get rewarded with a shiny new sticker to place on your chosen kart when completing these P Switch challenges, but this is pretty much as far as unlockables go. It feels weird that progression is still largely locked behind the series’ long-term tradition of racing in Grand Prixs, as this open world seems the perfect opportunity to hide new characters and karts in secret corners. New outfits can be found by driving through one of Yoshi’s many restaurants on the island, but they’re just as, if not more accessible, in race scenarios.

Barn finds – explorative missions in Forza Horizon that involve hunting down a hidden vehicle within a section of the map like a piece of buried treasure – are some of my favourite things to do in Playground’s series. If there really isn’t anything similar in the final game (and, unfortunately, no signs at my preview event suggest there is), then it feels like a missed opportunity, especially when 3D Mario platformers are so packed with secrets. That sense of wonder you so often feel when discovering something off the beaten track just doesn’t seem to exist here; instead, the closest I ever got in this demo was stumbling across a big green warp pipe that did nothing more than send me 20 metres down the road. Why don’t these lead to hidden areas with challenges of their own to complete?

It’s this apparent lack of any sort of progression or meaningful activities that has me wondering how little time I’ll actually spend in this open world. Yes, there are Peach Medallions to collect, which can prove a fun challenge to reach – you’ll need to demonstrate a mastery of the new rail grinding and wall riding mechanics – but, again, they can only unlock stickers. This in itself isn’t an issue (fun for fun’s sake is largely the name of the game for Nintendo), but I can’t help but feel like I would like something more substantial to use them on, such as how excess moons can be used on cosmetics in one of Super Mario Odyssey’s many stores.

Maybe I’m just a grumpy man disillusioned with the world he lives in now that he’s hit his mid-thirties, though. Because, despite these grumbles, I do need to remind myself that kids big and small will have a great time roaming around this colourful paradise, zooming around and taking in the sights of its sandy beaches and winding city streets. Plus, I’d be lying if the seven-year-old part of my brain didn’t activate when I drove into the back of a massive truck, took over its controls Cappy-style, and wreaked havoc by ploughing into every other vehicle and breakable coin-filled brick in sight. It was a rare moment of wonder and Nintendo creativity that seems worryingly lacking elsewhere. Yes, there’s a dynamic weather system, day/night cycle, and morphing toe-tapping soundtrack that shifts depending on what biome you’re in, but none of these delightful presentation touches truly added to the fun factor.

The open world is crucial to Mario Kart World outside of its free roam mode, though, and that can’t be ignored. The way these open spaces connect tracks together is very clever, and allows for more varied course combinations to be created. Plus, the exciting new Knockout Tour just wouldn’t be the same without it. The way it snakes cross-country through the many different environments is impressive, and I could see this mode being nowhere near as fun if it took place on an extensive number of laps of the same track. This world does have its merits, it’s just not in the exploration of it.

When treated like a toy box, as opposed to an open world on the scale of Forza Horizon or even Burnout Paradise, there is some joy to be found in Free Roam. I just wouldn’t go in expecting that open world to leave a lasting impression – perhaps a hard pill to swallow considering the $80 price tag. The racing is still the highlight of Mario Kart, and the new Knockout Mode makes it feel as exciting as it has in a long time. So much so that it really deserves to be placed front and center, and not buried in its relatively underwhelming world.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

Mario Kart World is just two days away, and fan expectations are rightfully high. It’s the flagship launch game for Nintendo Switch 2, the first open world in the series, the follow-up to the hugely successful Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and on top of all that, it’s Nintendo’s first $80 game since the N64 days, which has caused no shortage of internet discourse. There’s a lot riding on this one, so I’m pleased to report that after spending roughly five hours with unrestricted access to the final build, I’m confident Mario Kart World’s thrilling racing will kick off Nintendo’s eighth generation with a rocket start, even if I’m still not completely sold on its open-world exploration.

My first hands-on preview back in April was very limited. Steering assist was turned on, the demo was locked to 100cc, and we only got to see a couple of modes. But this time, the training wheels came off and I played what appeared to be the version you’ll be able to buy on June 5, complete with an enormous roster of characters (including everyone’s favorite, Cow) and freedom to choose any mode or settings I wanted.

So I first chose to play as Mario (basic, I know) and swapped between multiple karts – including the incredible R.O.B. bike – to try out Free Roam, which is still the biggest question surrounding Mario Kart World. In a series first, Free Roam takes the spotlight off of racing and shines it directly on exploration, allowing players to drive across the wide, interconnected highways. Nintendo promised hundreds of P Switch missions in Free Roam, and while I won’t spoil the final total, I can confirm that it only takes a few seconds of driving in any direction to spot one of these challenges. They are littered everywhere, and after worrying they’d all be too easy based on the footage Nintendo has released so far, I was pleasantly surprised that I failed a couple of the P Switch missions on my first attempt – by either running out of time or missing a key jump – and some of them felt like they demanded mastery of Mario Kart World’s new Tony Hawk-inspired parkour mechanics.

One mission in the Bowser’s Castle area had me driving on walls and flipping off the side at the right moment to transform into an airplane, and the timing was genuinely tricky – but you’re thankfully given the option to retry a challenge immediately after failing rather than having to drive back to the start on your own. P Switch missions can also summon temporary objects and creatures to the terrain, like one where I had to steer my airplane around a few dinosaurs that showed up. I only tried a handful of the hundreds of challenges that await, and I’m not entirely sure the novelty will last through the time required to tackle them all, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen to this point.

Sadly, the rest of Free Roam hasn’t gripped me yet. IGN’s Simon Cardy wrote a feature sharing his concerns about the open-world mode, and while I think I’m a little higher on it than he is so far, I agree with the general sentiment that there’s just not that much to do outside of the P Switches. There are collectibles scattered throughout by way of Peach Medallions and ? Block Panels that unlock one of hundreds of stickers you can slap on the side of your kart, but the ones I found felt neither special nor difficult to discover, and I missed the feeling of surprise and delight that other Nintendo games like Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Odyssey completely nailed.

Even driving around itself can feel a bit too slow when you go off road into grass or sand. This limitation makes sense for the racing in Mario Kart where veering off the intended path without a Mushroom has punishing consequences, but the feeling of diminished speed across tougher terrain made me less inclined to explore. I’ve still barely sunk my teeth into Free Roam, so maybe there’s a game-changing discovery waiting to be found, but I’m not counting on it. So far, Free Roam feels decidedly like a side dish rather than the meaty, transformative open-world experience many are hoping for.

And perhaps that’s fair, because the main course of Mario Kart World was always going to be the racing, which felt completely right the second I started my first lap on 150cc. The turning, drifting, and boosting all feels as tight as you’d hope, and the open-world design fully shines in this bold new take on the formula. Knockout Tour remains the star of the show, as driving cross-country against 23 other players while doing everything you can to stay out of the bottom four before the next cutoff point is exhilarating. Every shell I threw felt critically important, and whether I was in the front or the back of the pack, my heart was pounding as I desperately tried to qualify for the next segment.

These six-part races take place almost exclusively on the highways in between Mario Kart World’s dedicated courses, and as I passed through fun reimaginings of returning tracks like Mario Kart 7’s Shy Guy Bazaar and brand-new locations like the adventurous, Uncharted-like Great ? Block Ruins, I began to recognize the impressive amount of alternate paths that I’m excited to perfect once the full game is out. A well-timed Golden Mushroom can catapult you from the back to 1st in the blink of an eye, as some of the shortcuts presented on the highways allow you to cut a huge amount of the track. I can already tell that hardcore players (myself included) are going to have a blast finding the optimal routes and pushing these courses to their limits.

I’ve been concerned that the long stretches of very wide straightaways – present in both Knockout Tour and the revamped Grand Prix – could be boring compared to the twists and turns of the courses, but Nintendo has covered the interstate with cars to avoid, enemies that spew projectiles, and plenty of opportunities to grind on rails and make use of the new Charge Jump technique to reach optional areas. In most straightaway sections, there was always something demanding my attention – although there were a few select times I was just holding A and not doing much else, and the wide road design made things feel a bit slow compared to the close-quarters racing on the dedicated courses. Still, my fears have largely been squashed, and now I’m just waiting to see how these sections will hold up over dozens of repeat play sessions.

For all you Mario Kart purists who just want to do three laps around the 30+ courses in Mario Kart World, that classic option is one of the main draws of VS Race and Time Trials, and I was very satisfied to find that the quality track design fans have come to expect hasn’t been sacrificed in favor of the open-world elements. The reimagined Peach Beach took me through familiar waterfront straight from Double Dash before exploring an entirely new village, while DK Spaceport is a fantastic homage to the arcade game that started it all – complete with final lap music any Donkey Kong fan will feel nostalgic for. If you’ve been worried the courses wouldn’t feel as special as in past Mario Kart games, I think you can breathe a sigh of relief.

Speaking of the music, Mario Kart World might just have one of the greatest soundtracks in Nintendo history. Each course has its own dedicated theme as usual, but beyond that, the remixes that play during Free Roam and Knockout Tour make Mario Kart World feel like a proper celebration of Super Mario’s 40th anniversary. In my short time with the game I heard references to Super Mario Bros., Yoshi’s Island, Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario 3D World, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, pretty much every past Mario Kart, and a lot more. Each track I heard was beautifully remixed to fit Mario Kart World’s adventurous road trip vibe, and I can’t wait to hear every tune it has to offer. And I won’t have to wait long, because Mario Kart World and Nintendo Switch 2 will be here in less than 48 hours. Stay tuned later this week for our review in progress followed by our full review of Mario Kart World as we get more laps under our belts.

Logan Plant is the host of Nintendo Voice Chat and IGN's Database Manager & Playlist Editor. The Legend of Zelda is his favorite video game franchise of all time, and he is patiently awaiting the day Nintendo announces a brand new F-Zero. You can find him online @LoganJPlant.

Nacon is taking another jab at the Xbox Elite Wireless Series 2, this time with a wireless option. The $199 Nacon Revolution X Unlimited brings loads of customization potential for both the hardware and the input response. It’s a seriously adaptable controller, and it’s ready for gaming on PC, Xbox, and Android. It stumbles here and there, but never quite lands on its face. The $199 Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra offers similar performance in a cleaner design, but Nacon definitely takes the cake for customization.

Nacon Revolution X Unlimited – Design and Features

Nacon has taken a step in the right direction with the Revolution X Unlimited controller. It has not only upgraded a lot over the Revolution X Pro, but it has rejiggered the design to look a little more refined and classy. It still retains some of the same flair though, with the signature RGB light ring around the right thumbstick still intact.

The new design has a smoother line around the perimeter of the controller. And while it may make little difference for ergonomics, it does give the controller a cleaner silhouette. The grips appear slightly narrowed compared to its predecessor, though. For my large hands, that’s meant slightly less comfortable handling, but not enough to impede lengthy gaming sessions. The grips are also coated with a rubbery, ribbed material to help me get a good hold on the controller. There are some seams between various panels on the controller, and these are guaranteed to accumulate grime and dead skin over time, so the controller will take some maintenance to keep clean.

Like its predecessor, the Revolution X Unlimited goes heavy on customization. The grips still have removable panels on the bottom that let you add or remove small metal weights (included in a carrying case) to adjust the heft of the controller. What functional benefit this offers, I do not know, but sometimes heavier just feels better.

That’s just where the customization begins. Nacon includes tall convex, short convex, and short concave thumbstick options for both joysticks. It has a 4-way and 8-way controller for the D-Pad, as well as extra collar rings for the joysticks – perhaps to limit range of motion, but the purpose again evades me. It has trigger locks to shorten the trigger travel. There’s a switch to disable the start/settings buttons for tournament play. There are also shortcut buttons for cycling through profiles and selecting from Advanced and Classic profiles (more on this later).

And then there’s all the extra buttons. The Revolution X Unlimited includes all the controls for a standard Xbox layout, and they’re right where you’d expect them (except the various menu buttons, which are spaced out to accommodate a screen). But it also includes six custom shortcut controls. Four of the shortcut buttons are on the underside of the controller, similar to where they were on the Revolution X Pro. Two of these are right about where your middle fingers would rest, and that makes them both easily accessible and potentially easy to hit by accident. I had no trouble with this, though. The other two run down the stems of the grips though, and I found these much harder to reliably hit without adjusting my grip on the controller. With my ring fingers already firmly curled around the controller just to hold it, it was tricky to then shift and squeeze a different area to trigger that extra button. Yet another pair of extra buttons sits to the inside of the triggers. You can think of these like extra shoulder buttons, and if your fingers are long enough, you can tap them with your index fingers without having to shift away from the triggers.

Beyond these extra buttons and remapping options, the Revolution X Unlimited supports a bunch of customization to get the controls feeling how you want them. You can adjust joystick sensitivity curves, dead zones, trigger responsiveness, vibration levels, and gyroscope behavior and dead zones. Most of the adjustments require Nacon’s software to tweak, but the controller has a built-in screen that allows you to make some settings and remapping tweaks on the controller itself.

The Revolution X Unlimited includes Bluetooth connectivity for gaming on Android devices or receiving audio from them (not both simultaneously). There’s a headset combo jack on the bottom of the controller for this purpose as well. And Nacon supports various game EQ settings as well as chat-game volume balancing for Xbox. The controller supports wireless audio from Xbox and PC using its dongle, and it (thankfully) doesn’t present to PC as an audio source unless headphones are actually plugged into the controller.

Nacon includes a semi-hard shell for the Revolution X Unlimited, and while it’s great to have (especially to keep from losing the adjustable weights), it gets a few things wrong. For one, making space for the weights makes it about twice as large as it needs to be. That’s a big blow for portability. And though it includes a space for the controllers charging stand inside, Nacon neglected to put a USB-passthrough slot in the case so the charging stand could function inside of the case – something both the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra and Xbox Elite Wireless Series 2 Controllers offer with their cases.

I’ve also found the Revolution X Unlimited’s stand design tedious to use. It’s much bigger than the stand of the Turtle Beach Steal Ultra controller, and it’s fussy about how the controller gets set into it. Where I can just about drop Turtle Beach’s controller and have it link up with the stand (magnets help line things up), the Nacon controller requires careful lining up. It’s more than possible to set it down on the stand without getting the charging pins to engage.

Nacon Revolution X Unlimited – Software

Nacon’s software for adjusting the settings of the controller is fairly in-depth but somewhat annoying. For one thing, on the PC it only operates in fullscreen. There's no shrinking it down or setting it to running a window. Software also only allows you to customize the controller in wired mode. This can mean unplugging the dongle, finding a cable for the controller, and flipping a couple switches on the underside of the controller (and then of course reversing the process afterward to use the controller and see if you like the changes you’ve made).

Well you can do a lot to change the controls some of the adjustments are not entirely in. The controller comes with a handful of preset profiles for PC and for Xbox (each presents as a discrete mode), and you can't make adjustments to these. You can make new profiles but they won't automatically go on to the controller. Instead once you've made a new profile you have to set it to replace one of the other presets that's already loaded on the device. You can have eight controller profiles loaded onto the Revolution X Unlimited at a time (four for Xbox and four for PC modes). The key difference between the two is that PC settings have the option to use gyroscopic controls, keyboard assignments, and custom “Communication speed” (wired/wireless connection speeds), while the Xbox doesn’t.

Confusingly, the profiles created through the PC software apply only when the controller is set to Advanced mode. So these profiles are separate from the profiles available in Classic mode. Classic mode profiles are also saved on the device, with 12 available (four for Xbox, four for PC, and four for Bluetooth). Nacon’s software also doesn’t always do a great job walking you through things or explaining settings and how they’ll work. Fortunately, the software includes a test area to at least get some sense of how the controller is responding to your changes.

While this may be an edge case, I was frustrated by the fact that the controller allows you to turn off the gyroscope through its built-in menu. While that may seem sensible, it doesn’t allow you to turn the gyroscope back on. To do that, you have to again reconnect to a computer and enable it in the desired profile.

Nacon Revolution X Unlimited – Gaming and Performance

For its missteps, faults, and eccentricities, gaming on the Revolution X Unlimited is quite excellent. The sticks feel great – no grinding, awkward resistance, or discomfort from the caps. Better still are the buttons. The ABXY buttons have a bit of lateral wiggle to them, but they’re nice and large, and the microswitches underneath are delightfully clicky and responsive. They’re easy to press and click with a clear actuation. I’ve enjoyed the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra’s buttons, and this steps that up with larger buttons. It’s a similar story for the D-Pad, shoulder buttons, and shortcut buttons.

Having the option to switch between short-travel hair triggers and longer trigger pulls is nice, though I found the shorter travel ended up feeling a lot stiffer to use (and wore on my finger over time). While I can’t say it’s affected the experience over the short term, the use of Hall effect sensors in the joysticks and triggers should mean they remain accurate in the long run.

I tend to be a bit lead-thumbed when it comes to aiming on the joysticks, so having the ability to adjust the response curves helps me avoid constantly overshooting my aim. I also enjoyed the option to enable gyroscopic aiming on the fly with a toggle assigned to one of the shortcut keys, so I could make extra aim adjustments that way, though I never found it quite as responsive or reliable as the gyro aiming on Nintendo Switch, particularly because it has a way of ignoring subtle movements no matter how much I messed around with its deadzone settings and joystick response curves.

Between the quick microswitches and the low-latency wireless connection, responsiveness was never an issue. I battled my way through some enemies that were way out of my level in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, such as the Grosse Tete and Chromatic Abbest – two enemies I only managed to beat through the precise timing of dodges and parries, which the controller had no trouble enabling.

Comfort using the controller was largely great. The only real snag was the slightly narrow grips for my large hands and a tighter curve I found pressing into my pinky finger a bit. But it wasn’t uncomfortable enough to stop me from engaging in several-hour gaming sessions. The battery also held up quite well, easily meeting the 10-hour battery life suggested by Nacon, and that’s without making some of the battery-saving adjustments available (like display dimming).

I was surprised not to hear much audio degradation using headphones with the controller. There were occasional artifacts, presumably from the rather extreme RF environments I work in, but listening to music and game audio was largely clean and clear.

Without question, the biggest discussion surrounding Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour has been its price point – meaning, that it has one at all. Welcome Tour will sell for $10 on the Nintendo eShop on Switch 2 launch day, and for a piece of software mostly focused on teaching players about the new console they just spent at least $450 on, many people – myself included – have argued that it should have been a pack-in game. Price drama aside, I recently spent about 45 minutes with Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, and to be completely honest, came away somewhat intrigued and maybe even a little bit excited to play the full thing on June 5.

Before you call me a shill in the comments, let me be perfectly clear: I’m not totally in love with this game, and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is not going to interest most players, in my estimation. But if you’re a mega Nintendo enthusiast like me, who follows the company’s quarterly financial results, reads every Ask the Developer article on Nintendo’s website, and could tell you the differences between a DS, 3DS, New 3DS, 2DS, and New 2DS XL, this is for you. Welcome Tour is an edutainment game with the goal of teaching you everything about Nintendo Switch 2 through exploring, minigames, tech demos, and quizzes, and it has just enough of that Nintendo charm to make it work.

After selecting my character from a seemingly endless line of honey-I-shrunk-the-kids-sized avatars (I really wish Welcome Tour featured Pikmin running around the console instead!), I was set loose to explore the left Joy-Con 2 and the Nintendo Switch 2 console itself. To progress to the next area of the console, I needed to find all of the hidden stamps in these locations, which are tied to specific parts of the unit like the touch screen or the cooling vents. But during the search, I stopped by activity stations laid out on each part of the map.

One minigame had me test out the mouse controls by piloting a UFO trying to survive against an endless stream of spiky iron balls. In true Nintendo fashion, there is a completionist element to all of it, where I was awarded one or two stars depending on how long I lasted in that endless challenge. The mouse controls felt good, and after just missing out on the top rank, I felt the drive to try again for the high score. Earning more stars grants access to harder minigame difficulties, and the menus indicate there are plenty of medals to hunt down.

The most memorable tech demo so far had me play World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. from the NES in 4K, in its original resolution. Since the NES worked with so few pixels compared to modern technology, this results in the entire level stretched out across the 4K TV screen I was playing on, and it’s a cute way to look at how far we’ve come. This demo had five achievements to complete, which should be a breeze for anyone familiar with the course. Other demos showcased Switch 2’s HD Rumble, 120fps, and HDR capabilities. It’s clear Nintendo is very proud of the new technology it’s embracing this generation, and Welcome Tour shows it off in a way that’s accessible to all audiences, including those who aren’t super tech savvy.

Elsewhere, Welcome Tour’s Insight Quizzes shared some fascinating information about things like why they settled on the U-shaped kickstand and how Switch 2’s front-facing speakers are an improvement over the OLED model. Nintendo doesn’t want us to show you the information in these quizzes before launch, but I found it genuinely interesting to get a look at Nintendo’s thoughtful design behind multiple aspects of the new hardware. Again, your mileage will greatly vary depending on how much you care about these minute details, but as someone who covers this company that’s generally incredibly secretive, this level of knowledge and transparency was refreshing. After Welcome Tour’s announcement, I assumed the information presented within the software would be common knowledge to hardcore Nintendo fans and come across as an advertisement for a product you already bought, but it legitimately doesn’t feel that way in practice thanks to how in-depth and niche some of the details are.

Even though I enjoyed Welcome Tour more than I expected to, I walked away feeling more strongly that it should have been included with the console. It’s a charming, light experience that grants fascinating context to the hardware it’s designed around, and it’d be great if all Switch 2 owners could check it out in between Mario Kart World sessions on launch day. Instead, everyone has to decide if it’s worth their $10 to learn about the Switch 2 cartridge slot and watch an HDR fireworks display, and the whole conversation surrounding Welcome Tour has suffered because of Nintendo’s irritating decision to charge for it. To help you decide if you want to spend your $10, stay tuned for our full review of Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour coming shortly after launch.

Logan Plant is the host of Nintendo Voice Chat and IGN's Database Manager & Playlist Editor. The Legend of Zelda is his favorite video game franchise of all time, and he is patiently awaiting the day Nintendo announces a brand new F-Zero. You can find him online @LoganJPlant.

Another iconic '90s franchise is making a comeback in 2025. IGN can exclusively reveal the first details about IDW Publishing and Mattel's upcoming Street Sharks comic.

Street Sharks is a continuation of the original animated series, which lasted for three seasons from 1994-97. This five-issue limited series is written by Stephanie Williams (Trial of the Amazons) and illustrated by Ariel Medel (TMNT vs Street Fighter). The first issue features cover art by Philip Murphy, Elizabeth Beals, Kevin Anthony Catalan, and Khary Randolph.

Check out the slideshow gallery below for a closer look at the cover art to Street Sharks #1:

Here's the official summary for Street Sharks:

Based on the classic animated series, the upcoming comics will thrill readers as the Sharks protect Fission City from a range of gene-slammed threats, including super-strong and monstrous lobsters and squids, and diabolical mad scientists that transform into vicious piranha monsters. The comic will deliver on everything fans loved from the hit show and the tone of its era, from the Sharks riding cool motorcycles to eating a lot of burgers and metal while swimming through the city’s concrete to take down the bad guys.

“Celebrating over 30 years of the animated series, Street Sharks has become a cult-favorite and fans have been chomping at the bit to see more of the crime-fighting brothers Ripster, Jab, Streex, and Big Slammu,” said Ryan Ferguson, Global Head of Publishing at Mattel, in a press release. “We are thrilled to continue the legacy of this franchise and dive deeper into the waters with IDW to extend the world of Street Sharks through new comic books.”

”It is so exciting to introduce a new generation of fans to the Street Sharks,” added series editor Nicolas Niño. “The Sharks epitomize '90s adolescent X-treme sensibilities and that makes them translate so naturally to comics. Stephanie and Ariel are putting together a series that serves as a beautiful love letter to the original cartoon that old fans and new are sure to adore.”

Street Sharks #1 will be released in September 2025.

This is hardly the only classic '90s series making its return as a comic in 2025. AHOY Comics is set to revive the Toxic Crusaders, while BOOM! Studios recently revealed a VR Troopers comic spinning out of the pages of Power Rangers Prime.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

As fans wait for a crumb of news on Mass Effect 5, the game's director has suggested at least one small returning feature will remain in the upcoming sequel.

A small team at BioWare is now in the early stages of work on the next Mass Effect, following the disappointing launch of Dragon Age: The Veilguard and the subsequent downsizing of the studio, which included layoffs.

Mass Effect 5 was first announced years ago, of course, via an eye-catching trailer released back in December 2020. But the project has remained very much on the back burner since then, while The Veilguard struggled through its rocky development. Now, it is BioWare's sole focus — but updates on its progress remain few and far between.

This is the background, then, to a fan's plea for confirmation that Mass Effect 5 would once again feature the series' bombastic lens flare. And lo, Mass Effect 5 director Mike Gamble has sought to answer this plea on social media — albeit with a single emoji.

"Mass Effect 5 better stick to tradition and have an excessive amount of lens flare," wrote Mass Effect fan Specre_Gray on social media — to which Gamble responded with an "OK" emoji.

👌🏻 https://t.co/FNXq5S9XcD

— Michael Gamble (@GambleMike) June 1, 2025

Over the years, BioWare has issued repeated teasers, including artwork stuffed full of Easter eggs and secrets hinting at Mass Effect 5's eventual story.

BioWare has suggested that the game will be set hundreds of years after the original Mass Effect trilogy, with a story that spans the events of both the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy featured in the series' fourth main game.

There's no word yet on when Mass Effect is likely to launch, but with production still in its early phases, it seems likely the game is still years away. When it does arrive, however, we at least know that lens flare will be included.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Epic Games and CD Projekt have shown off a stunning tech demo of The Witcher 4 running on Unreal Engine 5.

Epic’s State of Unreal 2025 event revealed a technical demo showing off "some of the cutting-edge tech powering the new Witcher saga." Epic stressed this was not The Witcher 4 itself, rather a tech demo only, but it does give us a good idea of what to expect from the game.

“When we launched Unreal Engine 5 three years ago, CD Projekt Red announced they would collaborate with us to bring large open-world support to the engine,” Epic said. “Together at the State of Unreal, we revealed what we’ve been working on.”

The Witcher 4 Unreal Engine 5 tech demo follows Ciri as she explores the never-before-seen region of Kovir in the midst of a monster contract (CD Projekt confirmed Kovir is a playable area in The Witcher 4). The demo provides an early look at a number of Unreal Engine 5.6’s new open-world features in action. It's all running on base PlayStation 5 at 60 frames per second with raytracing, Epic said, including the new, faster way to load open worlds via the Fast Geometry Streaming Plugin. At one point in the demo, CD Projekt upped the NPC count in the market scene to 300 individually animated characters. The showcase ended with a first look at Lan Exeter, the winter capital and a major port city in Kovir.

Here’s the official blurb from Epic:

As Ciri explores the bustling market of Valdrest, we see how 5.6 handles busy scenes full of high-fidelity characters and visual effects like ML Deformer. The tech demo also showcases Nanite Foliage — which provides a fast and memory efficient way to achieve gorgeous foliage density and fidelity, slated for release in UE 5.7.

And here's a note from CD Projekt:

The tech demo takes place in the region of Kovir — which will make its very first appearance in the video game series in The Witcher 4. The presentation followed main protagonist Ciri — along with her horse Kelpie — as she made her way through the rugged mountains and dense forests of Kovir to the bustling port town of Valdrest.

While this tech demo offers a tantalizing glimpse into the visual experience we can expect from The Witcher 4, the game itself is still years away from launch. CD Projekt has indicated The Witcher 4 won’t be out until 2027 at the earliest.

That rules out a launch this year, which no-one really expected, a launch next year, which some had hoped for, and sets 2027 as the earliest The Witcher 4 will come out. But that’s if everything goes to plan, and as we all know, the video game industry has a hard time with its plans. Could The Witcher 4 end up being a 2028 game?

Some had wondered whether The Witcher 4 might end up exclusive to the next generation of consoles (Sony is no-doubt working on its PlayStation 6 plans as we speak, and Microsoft is rumored to be targeting a 2027 release for its Xbox Series X successor and an Xbox handheld). This Unreal tech demo suggests The Witcher 4 is a cross-gen game, as Cyberpunk 2077 was when it was released in December 2020.

Here's what we know: The Witcher 4 is the first in a new trilogy of Witcher games set after the events of The Witcher 3. But rather than star Geralt as protagonist, Ciri is the main character this time around.

Speaking exclusively to IGN ahead of The Witcher 4 reveal, executive producer Małgorzata Mitręga said Ciri was “the very organic, logical choice.”

“It was always about her, starting from Saga when you read it in the books. She's an amazing, layered character. And of course, as a protagonist we said goodbye to Geralt previously. So this is a continuation. I guess for all of us it’s like she was meant to be. That was always her.”

In January, speaking to IGN as part of a wider interview on Netflix’s upcoming animated film, The Witcher: Sirens of The Deep, Geralt voice actor Doug Cockle backed CD Projekt’s decision, even though it sees Geralt take a back seat.

“I'm really excited,” he said. “I think it's a really good move. I mean, I always thought that continuing the Saga, but shifting to Ciri would be a really, really interesting move for all kinds of reasons, but mostly because of things that happen in the books, which I don't want to give away because people, I want people to go read. So yeah, I think it's really exciting. I can't wait. I can't wait to see what they've done.”

We’ve got plenty more exclusive content on The Witcher 4, including a trailer breakdown and an interview with CD Projekt where the developer explains why The Witcher 4 will avoid a Cyberpunk 2077-style launch disaster.

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.

Sony has confirmed a State of Play showcase for tomorrow, June 4.

In a PlayStation Blog post, Sony Interactive Entertainment content communications manager Tim Turi said fans will get "news and updates on must-play games coming to PS5." Turi continued: “The show highlights a selection of great games from creators across the globe.”

The 40+ minute show begins June 4 at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 11pm CEST.

That’s not much to go on, but it seems likely we’ll see more of Sucker Punch’s PlayStation 5 exclusive sequel, Ghost of Yotei, which launches in October.

Could we also see Insomniac’s Wolverine game, or what’s next from Sony’s other development studios, such as God of War maker Sony Santa Monica, Days Gone developer Bend Studio, and Horizon studio Guerrilla, which is working on a multiplayer spin-off?

Sony-owned Bungie also has Marathon in development, although the extent to which Bungie will be willing to show the game off following its art plagiarism scandal remains to be seen, and Fairgames — without Jade Raymond at the helm — is still in the works. Last month, Sony announced a new PlayStation studio called teamLFG and teased its debut game, which is a live service incubation project.

We may also see games from external developers Sony has signed to publish, such as Phantom Blade Zero.

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.

I don’t wish any specific ill on Max Verstappen’s racing career. The man likes playing video games until ungodly hours in the morning, doing everything he can to avoid Tik Tok, and Daniel Ricciardo. I, too, like all of those things – and I really can’t hate on a bloke with that much in common. I am, however, loving the fact that he’s currently not leading the F1 World Championship – for the first time since 2022. F1 in 2025 is subsequently feeling… a little fresher at the moment.

Has this year’s video game version arrived with the same freshness? For the most part, yes. F1 25 has brought with it the largest shake-up of the core ‘My Team’ career mode since it was introduced in F1 2020, and it’s a deeper and more satisfying way to play as a result. On circuit, it’s developer Codemasters’ most fabulous-looking effort to date, with a step up in lighting that has a noticeable impact on the quality of highlights and shadows. The AI is also extra impressive this year; consistently professional, racier than ever, and very convincing. Combine all this with a returning story mode that’s as bored with Verstappen winning every year as I am, and F1 25 handily slingshots itself around the outside of last year’s slightly inessential F1 24.

The new set-up for My Team discards the idea of you establishing an 11th F1 team as an old school owner/driver, and instead positions you as a conventional team principal managing a pair of drivers. At each grand prix you’ll choose which of your drivers to race as and, for the remainder of the time, you’ll need to supervise the entire operation that puts each of them into a $16 million race car, 24 weekends a year. That means managing budgets, building and upgrading new facilities that earn you various buffs (from R&D discounts to contract negotiation advantages, and many more), and assigning perks to your team principal that unlock a similar range of bonuses.

Now, I’d be lying if I said I’d ever taken issue with having an owner/driver at the helm of an F1 team in the modern era, which is the premise this mode had previously relied on since F1 2020. Yes, it wasn’t entirely believable in contemporary F1 – which is a whole different beast compared to the days of F1’s last team owner/driver: Jack Brabham back in the 1960s. Yes, it was a slightly silly fantasy. But, no, I’m not going to pretend the very concept of it ever grated on me.

After five years of the same shtick, however, it was definitely stale – so F1 25’s My Team does arrive as a welcome (and arguably overdue) revamp. The facility backgrounds are fresh, and the menus are new. There are some overarching similarities to the previous My Team mode (because the sport itself hasn’t profoundly changed in the last 12 months), but even at a glance there’ll be no confusing F1 25’s My Team mode with previous years.

Pitt Stop

Pleasingly, the management aspect is considerably deeper, with more moving parts to researching and developing new upgrades. Coaxing more speed and durability out of your race cars isn’t simply a matter of pressing on an upgrade and waiting for it to unlock and find itself fitted and ready to hit the track; now research that results in successful upgrades is only the first step. You still need to fabricate the parts themselves. Deeper into my second season in My Team, parts began to display weeks or months worth of days to finish production, but they would still come up as completed in what felt like a typical amount of time (that is, a few days to a week). It was a little annoying not knowing exactly when stuff would actually be ready, but this feels like an easily repairable bug.

At any rate, with dual production lines comes a whole new minefield to navigate. Initially you’ll only be able to build one part at a time, so you’ll need to manually select which of your drivers receives them before the other. That’s an interesting layer of politics to juggle, although I haven’t had any instances of favouritism to a single driver come back to bite me at this point (but perhaps the occasional wait for a single upgrade isn’t enough to have your other driver feel jilted).

The ability to choose which of your two drivers to race as at each GP also creates some pretty interesting tactical scenarios. Do you just focus on one driver and do your best to secure the drivers’ championship with them, or do you share your time across both and let the chips fall where they may? Unfortunately the driver market is disappointingly sparse. Where are the contracted reserve drivers? The F1 Academy drivers? From the outside looking in, it’s honestly odd that these personalities aren’t part of what the game gleans from being officially aligned with F1. Odder still when drivers like Perez, Ricciardo, Bottas, and Zhou are actually in F1 25, but marooned exclusively in the first half of the story mode (which begins in 2024).

Still, this expansion of My Team is well-timed, with Frontier’s short-lived F1 Manager series already seemingly over. It isn’t a like-for-like replacement, though, as opting to simulate a race weekend is essentially still brushed over in a black loading screen calculation. You can’t sit and watch a race unfold as team principal, issuing orders to your drivers or anything like that. This is a bit of a shame, as that would’ve been quite novel.

But perhaps it’s novel enough that you can enter the new My Team mode as the upcoming F1 movie’s fantasy team featuring Damson Idris, Javier Bardem, and Brad Pitt; or, at least you can in F1 25’s fancy ‘Iconic Edition.’ I will say, playing through an earnest motorsports management simulation as 1995’s People Magazine Sexiest Man Alive was not on my 2025 bingo card, but I did it, and I have no regrets.

The Butler Did It

On top of the reworked My Team mode, F1 25 also arrives with the series’ next shot at a singleplayer story mode, which turns the Braking Point saga into a trilogy. Picking up where the story left off in F1 23, Braking Point 3 continues the chronicles of the fictional F1 team Konnersport.

If you’ve played Braking Point in F1 23 and F1 2021, it probably won’t hold many surprises in terms of how the on-track action plays out. As before, you’ll be airdropped into race situations with specific goals to achieve – like holding up traffic for your teammate, or recovering positions after a puncture. Even without the story stitching them together, they’re a fun series of scenarios to tackle – though some of them have aged like milk over the course of F1 25’s two-year development cycle. Yeah, it was probably a little optimistic to have Liam Lawson absolutely dominating the field in a Red Bull Racing 1-2 in Vegas this season, but who knew? Well, other than Gasly. And Albon. And Perez.

It’s harmless, although it did temporarily distract me from how much better Vegas looks in F1 25. There are a lot of subtle details that elevate trackside authenticity this year, from real casinos replacing the generic signage the Vegas circuit track previously debuted with, to the more accurate blossom trees at Suzuka. It’s just a massive shame we don’t have any non-2025 championship tracks to substitute in and out as seasons progress, and I don’t know if the juice was worth the squeeze the reverse layouts of Silverstone, Zandvoort, and Red Bull Ring. There’s more to them than just having the cars all do a U-turn and race backwards – everything from the grid boxes to the marshalls have been modified to make it appear each of these circuits are legitimately being run in reverse – but they left me largely indifferent.

At any rate, it’s a serviceable story – and it’s one that’s honestly improved since its shift to focus on the flawed and fractured Butler family over initial lead character Aiden Jackson (who’s never really been fleshed out). To its credit, it’s also a mode you could argue was slightly ahead of the curve. That is, Braking Point itself may have followed in the wake of other sports game story modes like The Journey from FIFA 17 to 19, or Fight Night Champion’s titular Champion Mode, but it did handily beat this month’s F1 movie to the punch. Funnily enough, there’s also a scenario mode in F1 25 for the movie, with clips from the film. There’s only one mission so far but it’s a neat bonus.

Driver career mode is also back but, aside from a fresh injection of real driver radio recordings, it hasn’t changed. The entire intro to the mode being totally recycled from F1 24, dialogue and all, certainly doesn’t leave a great first impression. It’s just hard to get particularly motivated for what’s essentially a replay of F1 24 after playing the new My Team mode. Equally unmotivating is the returning service game component F1 World but, again, that’s on me. To be fair, the fact that it’s still a meaty single-player game for those who don’t value cosmetic trinkets or competing against strangers remains a core strength of F1 25. I feel like I’m just too old for Battle Passes and virtual clothing baloney.

On the subject of feel, handling feels broadly on par with F1 24, although the looser feel of old tyres is more pronounced – as is understeer when you’re dealing with the dirty air of cars ahead. It’s also a little harder to find the same amount of traction out of wet or slow speed corners that the AI can. I just found myself lighting up the rears a little more on F1 25, especially on controller, where the margin to find the perfect level of squeeze is so tiny on the travel distance of a trigger. The AI just seems to accelerate a lot more optimally in these situations. That’s probably my only major quibble with the AI, though, who make great moves to defend, leave appropriate room, and battle you (and each other) with tenacity without sacrificing self-preservation. Almost every tangle I’ve had with the F1 25’s AI over the past week has been my fault and, for a staunchly singleplayer slowcoach like me, that’s a huge plus.

Solo developer Joure Visser, creator of last year's Don't Scream, has announced Deadcam, a new "analog survival horror" game that uses a '90's found-footage VHS camcorder aesthetic to scare you through a series of files (i.e. encounters).

Built in Unreal Engine 5, Deadcam features three weapons in the first file: a katana, a shotgun, and a pistol. Each file is built to be completed in about one hour. There is replayability baked in, though, as there are three different endings available, but, Visser notes, "only one unlocks the full 100% playback percentage — the 'good' ending."

Visser offers this gameplay description: "Deadcam's found footage recordings see players through different stories; each file features its own setting, narrative, and gameplay mechanics tailored to the tone of the story. Across each file, retro UI elements monitor haunted activity in the area, including the size and speed of nearby enemy mobs."

Deadcam launches into Steam Early Access on June 23 with its first file, a J-horror inspired story set in an abandoned school, and four more files will be added over the course of the Early Access period. Wishlist it on Steam if you're interested.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Another day, another Hollow Knight: Silksong SteamDB update that's whipped information-starved Hollow Knight fans into a frenzy. Could this one finally be the one?

Overnight, Hollow Knight: Silksong was quietly updated on Steam, with SteamDB noting that one package received its first update in over a year (thanks, Eurogamer). It immediately sent the rumor mill into overdrive, with players speculating that something's afoot. Will we finally see more at Summer Game Fest? Could it be part of the Xbox Showcase? Or could we even get a Nintendo Switch 2 shadow drop…?!

Hollow Knight: Silksong received updates to its packages tonight on SteamDB (one apparently receiving an update for the first time in 15 months) https://t.co/DJz9ebnffghttps://t.co/THPp2luYgp pic.twitter.com/9RvHY290ez

— Wario64 (@Wario64) June 3, 2025

Of course, fans immediately began scouring the updates for clues. And while some have been hurt before by a flurry of nothingburger, this update is particularly exciting because several fans believe we have proof Hollow Knight: Silksong — or at least some version of it — has "been uploaded to the Steam servers."

"[Is this R]eal?" asked one fan hopefully. "Real," the OP replied.

Team Cherry has always done things on its own timescales, and is notoriously tight-lipped, leaving us speculating over the tiniest, and sometimes silliest, details. Now, however, it really feels like there's something coming… here's hoping we find out what it is sooner rather than later.

Team Cherry’s sequel is one of the most anticipated games in the world right now, topping the Steam wishlist charts for years. Silksong made a brief appearance at Nintendo’s Switch 2 Direct in April, and soon after Team Cherry nailed down the 2025 release window, much to the relief of its very patient fans. And now, given we know it will be playable for those who can be at Australia’s national museum of screen culture, ACMI, from September 18, some are speculating that we could be looking at a launch before then… although nothing's confirmed as yet, of course.

IGN recently exclusively shared a Silksong sprite sheet and… well, the internet internet-ed.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Game of Thrones writer George R. R. Martin has shared his thoughts on the newly-announced Elden Ring movie — and it sounds like he's pretty positive about the upcoming adaptation.

Martin, who worked on the backstory for FromSoftware's beloved game, shared his excitement that Elden Ring's film version will be helmed by Alex Garland, director of Ex Machina, Civil War, and Annihilation.

Writing on his blog, Martin described Garland as a "first rate director" and production company A24 as "kickass." Overall, Martin said his current mood upon hearing the project announced was "hopeful," as he shared a YouTube video titled "Why the Elden Ring Movie WON'T SUCK."

While Martin is clearly excited by the project, there has been no suggestion so far that he is actually involved. Indeed, the writer is already juggling a swathe of projects, including an upcoming animated Hercules movie announced only last month.

Word of Martin's involvement in A Dozen Tough Jobs, which will update the legendary Greek tale with an early 20th century setting, sparked another wave of criticism from Game of Thrones fans still waiting for Winds of Winter.

Last week, Martin reacted to the criticism by acknowledging "some of you will just be pissed off by this" and saying fans had "given up" on him ever finishing the next book — let alone the series' final novel, due after.

"I wish you all could share my excitement at the prospect of this movie," Martin said of the Hercules film.

Nick Frost has offered his first thoughts on playing Hagrid in HBO's upcoming Harry Potter TV series, and said he felt a need to not just copy what had come before.

The Hot Fuzz and live-action How to Train Your Dragon star said he had already begun pre-production duties for his turn as Hagrid, and decided how he wanted his version of the lovable Hogwarts groundskeeper to stand out, while still offering something fans will find familiar.

"While I'm really aware of what went before me in terms of Robbie [Coltrane]'s amazing performance, I'm never going to try and be Robbie," Frost told Collider.

"I'm going to try and do something, not 'different,'" he contiuned, "I think you have to be respectful to the subject matter, but within that, there's scope for minutia."

The late Robbie Coltrane portrayed Hagrid in all eight Harry Potter movies, and was reportedly an inspiration for the original character in the books.

Frost has now signed on to portray Hagrid over the next decade, as the Harry Potter TV series adapts each novel over the course of an individual TV season.

"I've had the opportunity to go and see some sets, and they're growing a Hagrid beard," Frost separately told ScreenRant. It's unclear whether this refers to an in-progress prosthetic beard being made for him to wear, or someone actually growing a beard that will be shorn off and stuck on Frost while filming.

Stellar Blade director and producer Kim Hyung Tae reportedly "fully supports" mods and is looking forward to trying them out.

According to several sources, Kim was reportedly asked about his stance on modding at a recent press conference in Yeouido, South Korea. “First of all, I fully support the phenomenon of players using mods. In fact, I myself also want to try out some of the more exciting mods," he replied.

"I look forward to seeing many players create their own mods and engaging in healthy competition with them to see whose mods are more attractive. I also hope that more players can get involved in mod creation."

Which is just as well, really, as the game isn't even out on PC yet, and already there are dozens of mods listed on Nexus for the PC demo, covering everything from new skins to reshaders and VR to nail polish. There are also several more hidden carefully from public display and categorized as "adult." Let's leave it at that, shall we?

IGN's Stellar Blade review returned a 7/10. We said: "Stellar Blade is great in all of the most important ways for an action game, but dull characters, a lackluster story, and several frustrating elements of its RPG mechanics prevent it from soaring along with the best of the genre."

The PC version of Stellar Blade launches via Steam on June 11 along with a raft of PC-specific features, including AI upscaling via Nvidia DLSS 4 and AMD FSR 3, an unlocked framerate, Japanese and Chinese voiceover, ultrawide display support, higher resolution environment textures, and DualSense support for haptic feedback and trigger effects. It was originally region locked in 100+ countries, but is now available to pre-order on PC in "over 250 regions." And no, there is no Stellar Blade multiplayer mod… but there are signs of multiplayer in the game files.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Nintendo has reportedly begun shipping Switch 2 branded 'Out of Stock' signs to retailers, before the console has even gone on sale.

Switch 2 is set to arrive in just two days — on Thursday, June 5 — and Nintendo is planning for demand to outstrip console availability.

As posted on reddit (thanks, VGC), official Switch 2 'Out of Stock' signs are now turning up at stores in the U.S., alongside the usual advertising for the console and launch game Mario Kart World. "Got these signs in from Nintendo," wrote a reddit user who works at a store with plans to host a midnight launch for the console. "They got jokes."

Nintendo has already issued warnings over Switch 2 availability, with stock particularly limited in Japan versus overwhelming customer demand. In the U.S., meanwhile, Nintendo has attempted to navigate ongoing uncertainty over tariffs on goods based in China by prioritising Switch 2 consoles instead made in Vietnam.

That said, nearly all successful consoles suffer stock issues upon launch, and Switch 2 customers have already had to scramble in order to lock down their pre-orders. In other words, Switch 2 selling out seems something of an inevitability.

Nintendo's 'Out of Stock' signs are of practical use, then, for store staff likely set to be fielding endless queries about whether they have any Switch 2 consoles still available.

"Every retail worker knows they'll have 10 people a week, maybe more, stand in front of that sign and yell at them about going to get the extra consoles from 'the back' like the stock room is Narnia for electronics," one user replied.

At the same time, telling customers that something is out of stock is a common tactic for conveying the fact that it is popular, and in demand. In other words, it's good advertising.

"This is type of advertising so consumers will want to get it," another fan wrote. "It shows there is high demand and psychologically you feel you need to get it."

Ahead of Switch 2's launch, Nintendo has updated the original Switch and the beloved Animal Crossing: New Horizons in preparation for its new hardware. Last night, we also got our first look at the souped-up Pokémon Scarlet and Violet running on Switch 2 as well.

If you are lucky enough to get a Switch 2 this week, Nintendo recently revealed some important information on not removing the console's plastic film covering its screen.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Private servers are coming to Dune: Awakening, albeit with "concessions" to ensure players retain the large-scale aspects of multiplayer worlds.

Developer Funcom confirmed the news in an update posted to the Steam store page, revealing "rentable private servers" will be available from the moment the game goes live for "head start" (read: early access) players on Thursday, June 5.

"We’ve previously communicated that private servers are for post-launch, but we’re happy to share that progress has been faster than expected," the team said. "We do, however, want to manage expectations about how private servers work in Dune: Awakening. As you know, this is not your typical survival game."

Each server will belong to a World consisting of "several other servers," all of which will share the same social hubs and Deep Desert. Funcom said that by doing this, it'll help retain a "neighbourhood-like feel."

"We decided early on that we did not want to remove the large-scale multiplayer aspects of the game as that is such a crucial part of the Dune: Awakening experience, and the game’s content and mechanics are deeply rooted in this setup," the update explained.

"That meant we had to make some concessions in terms of how much control players have over their private servers. The result is a model where you have fewer settings available than you would in some other survival games such as Conan Exiles."

So if you decide to rent a private server, you'll have one Hagga Basin, just like the official server, and belong to a World of other private servers (and you'll be able to pick which one when signing up). You will not be able to rent or control social hubs or the Deep Desert, but you can still "take full advantage of Dune: Awakening’s large-scale multiplayer content and mechanics."

Enough of what you don't get — what about what you do get if you rent a private server? Funcom said you'll be able to disable security zones entirely, "making all parts of Hagga Basin PvP enabled," or you can have pockets of PvP, much like the official servers. You can also disable taxation and sandstorms, as well as name your server and set a password for it. Private server owners can also visit other World servers if they know the password and even claim land (something you can't even do on the official servers).

"Enabling private servers for Dune: Awakening has not been trivial considering our unique large-scale multiplayer setup, and it was important to us to retain the fundamental MMO-like gameplay that makes Dune: Awakening so unique," the team concluded. "That means it does come with some restrictions on how you can configure them compared to some other survival games such as Conan Exiles.

"But we hope that this service will still be meaningful to those of you who prefer to play on servers you do not have to share with others, and we hope that the shared World structure will add an extra dimension without taking away from the unique content and mechanics that makes Dune: Awakening what it is."

"As a longtime fan of Dune, it also just feels so good to explore and learn more about a world that I’m quite fond of, and Funcom has clearly put a ton of effort into worldbuilding and lore, even despite taking quite a bit of creative liberty by placing Awakening within a parallel reality and canon than the books/movies," we wrote in IGN's Dune: Awakening closed beta impressions preview.

"There are little details that have a massive impact on gameplay. I won’t go into spoilers, but this kind of attention to detail touches just about every aspect of the world, including the factions and characters you meet along the way, which should be a treat for any fan of the setting."

Dune: Awakening is set to release on June 10, 2025, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S after a three-week delay to fix issues identified during its beta testing. Players with a "head start," however, get to play five days early, from June 5. For more, check out details on the MMO's business model and post-launch plans. We've also got the global release time schedule for Dune: Awakening right here for you, too.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Tony Gilroy, creator of critically-acclaimed Star Wars series Andor, has said he had to fight "hard" for the show's second season budget after being told by Disney that "streaming is dead".

Speaking at the ATX Television Festival (thanks IndieWire), Gilroy confirmed Andor cost an eye-watering $650m — that's more than any of the recent Star Wars sequel trilogy movies, and almost double the budget of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Still, Gilroy said Disney had ultimately paid — and agreed to fund Andor's equally-expensive second season — despite the show's lower viewership than Disney+ hit The Mandalorian, and wider concerns about the ongoing profitability of high-cost projects designed for Disney+, after a spate of costly but disappointing Marvel series.

"I mean, [for] Disney this is $650 million," Gilroy said, going on to emphasise the fact that Disney had been hands-off when it came to Andor's content. Indeed, the show includes the kinds of things you don't normally see or hear in a Star Wars project — such as discussion of rape and genocide, and scenes set in a brothel.

"For 24 episodes, I never took a note," Gilroy continued, though noting the one time Andor did make a change. "We said 'F*** the Empire' in the first season, and they said, 'Can you please not do that?'" (This refers to the line of dialogue spoken by Maarva in Andor's first season finale, which ultimately was changed to "Fight the Empire.")

"In Season 2, [Disney] said 'Streaming is dead, we don't have the money we had before,' so we fought hard about money, but they never cleaned anything up. That [freedom] comes with responsibilities."

These responsibilities essentially meant turning in a show of the quality that befitted Andor's sky-high budget — something most critics now agree Gilroy succeeded in.

"Season 2 of Andor builds on nearly everything that worked so well about season 1, and continues fleshing out the prequel era of Star Wars," IGN wrote in our Andor season 2 spoiler-free review. "Gilroy and company manage to weave the dramatic irony inherent in a prequel series into the storytelling itself, making Andor season 2 the most engaging the Star Wars franchise has been in a long time."

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Kojima Productions recently announced that VTuber Usada Pekora will be making a guest appearance in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. However, this surprise cameo seems to have ruffled the feathers of some rather vocal Japanese Death Stranding fans on social media, some of whom are now proclaiming that they won’t buy the game anymore.

Usada Pekora is a Hololive VTuber whose carrot-loving avatar is an anime girl with rabbit ears. As well as singing, she often streams games and has recently been playing Elden Ring: Nightreign. Fitting with her hungry, mischievous rabbit girl avatar, she is known for frequently adding the made-up word “peko” into her sentences (which probably comes from the casual Japanese expression “pekopeko,” which means “very hungry”).

As seen in Kojima Productions’ video below, Pekora will appear as a hologram in Death Stranding 2, calling out greetings to Sam and thanking him for his hard work (she says “otsupeko deshita” instead of the actual Japanese phrase “otsukaresama deshita”).

新たな繋がりを確認🐰#DeathStranding2 #デススト2 pic.twitter.com/Xy5lsFS2FK

— KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS (@KojiPro2015) May 29, 2025

Some Japanese fans reacted strongly to the announcement of Usada Pekora’s cameo, with some commenters on X saying “I won’t buy Death Stranding 2 now.” Others elaborated on their reasons. “Death Stranding 2 is done for. When a game I planned to buy gets treated like this, I definitely won’t buy it,” said one user. “Stop pandering to VTubers. I won’t buy it now,” added another. It could be that these users find the VTuber and her affected speech annoying, or feel that Pekora doesn’t match Death Stranding’s more serious tone. In response, defenders have been giving equally terse replies such as, “Then don’t buy it then!” and, “If you are not going to buy DS2 just because Pekora is in it, then don’t!”

This is not the first time that Usada Pekora and Hideo Kojima have crossed paths. As reported by Denfaminicogamer, Pekora visited Kojima Productions back in August last year, posing with Kojima for the obligatory snap in front of Ludens.

兎田ぺこらさんと🐇 pic.twitter.com/S0JuGcBqVe

— 小島秀夫 (@Kojima_Hideo) August 30, 2024

Players familiar with Kojima’s work will know that his past games feature many unexpected crossovers, Easter eggs and bizarre elements. These include fourth wall-breaking mentions of other games, as well as the inclusion of real-life products and people (creepy developer “ghosts” in MGS2, anyone?). Metal Gear Solid 3 introduced the Kerotan frog character and featured the real-life Japanese snack Calorie Mate, both things that technically don’t match its 60s jungle setting — not to mention the Ape Escape monkeys that pop up in Snake Vs. Monkey.

Even the first Death Stranding got Horizon: Zero Dawn-themed holograms, with the PC version getting even more crossover references to other games (Half Life, Portal, and Cyberpunk 2077) in the form of items. With Kojima’s penchant for putting all kinds of references and crossovers into his games, it seems likely that Usada Pekora will be one of many that players can discover in Death Stranding 2 when it releases on June 26.

Earlier this week, we reported on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach's ESRB rating, which suggests players will be able to use an unconventional melee weapon. Hideo Kojima is also working on a live-action Death Stranding film with A24, and we recently learned that a Death Stranding anime is also in the works. He's also working on a PlayStation exclusive action espionage project called Physint, and called the upcoming Xbox-published OD "a game I have always wanted to make."

Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.

Funcom has confirmed the global release times for Dune: Awakening.

Inspired by Denis Villeneuve and Legendary Entertainment’s blockbuster films, Dune: Awakening is a survival MMO set on the most dangerous planet in the universe, where players can explore Arrakis in an open-world game for the first time ever.

You survive by learning the ways of the Fremen, and expand your potential through combat, the spice, building, and trading. It's set to release on June 10, 2025, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S after a three-week delay to fix issues identified during its beta testing. Players with a "head start," however, get to play five days early from June 5.

We had a great time with it, writing in IGN's Dune: Awakening beta preview: "As a longtime fan of Dune, it also just feels so good to explore and learn more about a world that I’m quite fond of, and Funcom has clearly put a ton of effort into worldbuilding and lore, even despite taking quite a bit of creative liberty by placing Awakening within a parallel reality and canon than the books/movies."

Last week, Funcom put on a livestream showing off Dune: Awakening's mid-to-endgame, and a wide tour of the Hagga Basin "to emphasize the size and variety players can expect," including the "lush O’odham, the forbidding Hagga Rift, the tall spires and imposing rock formations of Jabal Eifrit, to name just a few." Up until now, even beta players have only seen around 25% of Hagga Basin, so the stream showcased "these huge and diverse landscapes" in all their glory.

"Before even considering the vast dunes and dangers of the Deep Desert, players will experience a full-scale survival game," Funcom teased.

"They will rise through the ranks of the Atreides or Harkonnen; build powerful strongholds; brave Imperial Testing Stations; craft advanced schematics; explore and harvest in a variety of vehicles, and much, much more." Furthermore, the "Landsraad feature allows anyone to contribute in the effort to impact their entire faction, whether they prefer PvE or PvP."

For more, check out details on the MMO's business model and post-launch plans.

Activision has pulled controversial Call of Duty adverts placed inside Black Ops 6 and Warzone loadouts, insisting they were a “feature test” published “in error.”

Following last week’s launch of Season 4, adverts for weapon bundles could be seen in the build and weapon menus of Black Ops 6 and Warzone. These were unavoidable for players as they tinkered with their loadouts.

Players absolutely hated them, with some going as far as to say they were the last straw. “I wouldn't even be mad if this was just in Warzone, a free game, but putting it in a pay-to-play premium title, with how expensive they're getting? F**k off,” read one angry comment. “This game is still 80€ I get that they make most of their money from the store, but I feel like the bare minimum for a premium product would be to not have ads clogging the menus right?” read another. “At this point it really feels like opening up a mobile game with how much more you see an option to buy anything in this game,” said another player.

Now, Activision has tweeted to say the adverts had been removed, and offered an explanation: “A UI feature test that surfaced select store content in the Loadout menus was published in the Season 04 update in error,” the company tweeted. “This feature has now been removed from the live game.”

It’s fair to say there’s a healthy dose of scepticism from the Call of Duty on Activision’s statement here, with some outright refusing to believe the ads were pushed live by mistake.

“They do this crap every cycle around this time... introduce something awful and see if people are mad or not,” said one fan. “If the outrage is enough they pretend like it was an accident and remove it.” “AKA: we saw how much everyone hated and ridiculed our shameless attempt to include unavoidable ads so we removed it,” said another.

Call of Duty has had its monetization crises in the past, of course. And players are used to battle passes, premium battle passes, and even more expensive versions of premium battle passes on top of the $70 (soon to be $80) cost of entry. But there is a growing feeling that the franchise’s microtransaction strategy has become even more aggressive following Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

All eyes are on the next Call of Duty, reportedly a Black Ops 2 sequel, to see if Activision tries adverts in loadouts for real this time.

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.

Elden Ring Nightreign is now up to 3.5 million copies sold after five days on sale, with its Steam user review rating improving from 'mixed' to 'mostly positive.'

Elden Ring was a massive hit, selling 30 million since going on sale in 2022, and it seems unlikely that Nightreign will come close to matching that success. For better context, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion sold 5 million copies within three days of its release in 2024.

FromSoftware’s multiplayer spin-off had launched to 2 million sales in just a day, but with a 'mixed' rating on Valve's platform.

Much of the initial negative sentiment revolved around Nightreign’s brutal solo experience, its lack of duos co-op, lack of voice chat, and other archaic mechanics. That age-old multiplayer struggle to find enough friends to make up a coordinated three-player group is very much a part of the Elden Ring Nightreign experience, too.

As explained in IGN's Elden Ring Nightreign review: "Let’s get the most important caveat out of the way first: if you are hoping to tackle Nightreign entirely solo, and are anything less than a hardcore Elden Ring player that actively seeks out ways to make that already difficult game even more challenging, Nightreign isn’t for you. Yes, there is technically a single-player option, but it is so poorly balanced that I would be shocked if it isn’t patched and adjusted within the first month of release. And this is coming from someone who lives and breathes these types of games."

But on Monday, FromSoftware released a patch to make solo play much easier, and despite matchmaking problems over the weekend, sentiment has improved.

Last week, producer Yasuhiro Kitao took to social media to comment on Elden Ring Nightreign’s early sales success and to thank players for giving the game a go despite its quirks.

“Nightreign has some peculiar aspects to its game design and is different from our recent titles in various ways,” Kitao said. “Nonetheless, many of you have bravely jumped into this world, and for that we're immensely grateful.

“As with Demon's Souls or Sekiro, it may be confounding at first, but just like those games, Nightreign offers its own challenges and experiences. Once you overcome the initial hurdle, it'll surely provide a sense of accomplishment that's also its very own.

“We hope you enjoy it.”

So, what happens next? FromSoftware said that in addition to the DLC releasing later this year, new additions will be “gradually implemented,” including enhanced fights against existing Nightlords starting this month (June), as well as Duo Expeditions at a later date.”

The addition of duos will come as some relief to players who have questioned its omission from launch. Elden Ring Nightreign drops players into the shifting lands of Limveld, exploring and fighting for survival either solo or in groups of three. There is no way to play two-player co-op.

In IGN's interview with Elden Ring Nightreign director Junya Ishizaki, the Nightreign lead developer discussed the choice to lean on solos and trios as the core experience options. When asked why there's no option for a pair of players to drop in together without a matchmade third player, Ishizaki said it was overlooked.

"The simple answer is that this is simply something that was overlooked during development as just a two-player option, so we're very sorry about that," said Ishizaki. "As we said before, we set out to make this a multiplayer co-op game for three players, balanced for three players, so that was the main focus and it's at the core of Nightreign.

"Of course, I myself as a player understand that and often want times where I'm just playing myself, so this is something that we considered from the start," Ishizaki continued.

"And so we did put a lot of effort into creating this experience that was playable for solo players in as much as the rules and new systems allowed. So in putting all our efforts into that aspect, we kind of overlooked and neglected the duos aspect, but this is something that we are looking at and considering for post-launch support as well."

This means that if you're playing with just your favorite duos partner, you have to accept a random third into your game. Playing trios is very much what Elden Ring Nightreign is built around.

We’ve got plenty of Nightreign tips and tricks to help you take down all the eight Nightlord Bosses, and if you’re wondering how to unlock the two locked Nightfarer Classes, check out How to Unlock the Revenant and How to Unlock the Duchess, plus How to Change Characters.

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.

Standing out in a sea of high-quality gaming chairs at nearly every price point can be a difficult proposition. So, what does the DXRacer Martian gaming chair do that others don’t? Despite offering an electric adjustable backrest and smart airbag lumbar support, it mostly eschews any gimmicks to try distinguishing itself in the premium space. Instead, the no-nonsense Martian primarily focuses on having an exceptional solid build for a gaming or office chair, but despite its thoughtfully designed and well-implemented ergonomics, it may not have the versatility to accommodate everyone’s needs.

DXRacer Martian – Options and Assembly

The DXRacer Martian comes in two sizes, Regular (Large) for those under 5'11" and 275 lbs, and Plus (XL) for those over. There are four different colorways, including black, black with gray accents, red and black, and yellow-black if you choose the EPU leatherette upholstery (and only all-black if you choose woven fabric). The other option is upgrading the default chair wheels to rollerblade casters for an additional $39.00, instead of the traditional double-wheel design.

DXRacer also offers a slightly higher-end version of this chair in the Martian Pro, which is $200 more, and adds seat ventilation and back massage, albeit only in an EPU leatherette red-triangle colorway. Here, I’m reviewing the non-Pro Martian in regular black, EPU leatherette and standard wheels. (In a first for a chair delivery for me, the box actually arrived in good shape from shipping.)

The box itself weighs just over 78 pounds and the contents just under 70 pounds, with a good portion of that weight due to its sturdy steel frame. There's not a lot of excess or bulk with either the packaging or the chair itself, and while solo assembly is possible, it always helps with handling and assembly to have a helper like I did.

As expected, you’ll find the poster with the instructions detailing the five main assembly steps. There's also an assembly video online if you prefer, which is even easier to follow. In a nice touch, all screws and bolts are pre-attached to the chair's associated parts, only requiring the packaged combination Allen Key and Phillips screwdriver tool to secure everything.

The electric lumbar support system is built into the backrest, but the magnetic headrest is a separate pillow. The pillow had one of those infamous law tags securely attached, which I was able to rip off, but then needed tweezers to pull out the strings that were left behind. The bottom rear of the chair has a charging port for the included AC adapter, or you can remove the battery altogether and charge it separately – you'll need around 3.5 hours to fully charge a depleted battery.

The AC adapter has a barrel connector, which is fine, but I would have much preferred a USB-C port for greater versatility with charging options. DXRacer says you should get about two weeks of battery life between charges, and that's if you even bother with regularly adjusting the chair, which I rarely did once I figured out the ergonomic setup that worked for me.

For whatever reason, most of these chair companies never include an onboard storage area for accessories like the AC adapter, and DXRacer is no different. As such, you'll want to take care to remember where you're storing it, lest you drain the battery and can’t charge it. In a nice touch, DXRacer includes a comprehensive user guide, which is something you don't often get with even the priciest of chairs, and this guide tells you exactly how to adjust all facets of the chair and has care instructions for both the EPU leatherette and woven fabric materials.

DXRacer Martian – Performance and Comfort

After assembly, I was struck by how solid the overall build quality is as this is one of the most sturdy chairs I've come across, even compared to brands typically praised for their build quality like Secretlab – there's nary a squeak or wobble to be found.

In terms of the armrests, sound the trumpets, because these actually lock into place. I've expressed my frustration many times before about chairs with armrests that are way too loose when it comes to adjustment to the point that if you shift in the chair, the armrests slide into a different position. Such is not the case on the Martian. If you want to move the armrests into a different position, you have to actually press a release, make the adjustment, then lock it solidly back into place – imagine that.

These armrests are also a bit simpler in design than other chairs I've covered. For example, instead of something like full 6D movement, we're looking at what DXRacer calls 4D armrests. This means you can move each arm up or down, forward and backward, slide it left or right, or rotate it inward and outward up to 50-degree angles. Since this chair lacks a footrest option, those positions should be plenty for most users, but it still would have been nice to be able to angle the rests up to better support your arms when reading or handheld gaming.

Looking to upgrade your deskspace, too?

Check out our roundup of the best gaming desks!

What further reinforces the Martian's solid build is the fact that both the lumbar and seat back adjustments are powered, allowing for finer adjustments that fully lock into place once you stop pressing the electronic directional pad or tilting the lever. The depth of the internal upper and lower lumbar support can be adjusted as a unit or individually, and these adjustments are also done through a simple four-button directional pad on the right side of the chair.

With the lever on the left side of the chair, you can tilt the backrest from 90 to 135 degrees, and when using this powered lever, the DXRacer logo above it lights up. Both seat height and the rocking function adjustments are manual, with the former is done pneumatically with a lever and the latter through a dial on the underside of the seat, all of which works sensibly.

Build quality is an important aspect, but comfort is still king and in that regard, I'm of two minds with the Martian. The extra-firm cushioning feels like it cradles and supports my body properly and it really is an ergonomic marvel. However, since it forces me into more of a "proper" upright position, even when I slightly recline the back, I'm not quite as comfortable in a relaxed sense. As such, my recommendation with this chair is to consider how you normally like to sit, whether or not this is what you wanted from your seating experience, and if this type of design is suited for your body type. It's an undeniably fantastic chair with sound engineering, but one that I'm not sure is as well-suited to my physiology as others I've used.

I find myself sitting in this chair with a different posture than others. Even with the internal lumbar support set to near its maximum, I'm still able to sit all of the way back in the chair with a fully upright posture. My posture is so upright that I'm able to actually have the magnetic neck pillow in the nape of my neck when I'm sitting and working. To put it another way, from my backside to the bottom of my head are all in contact with the rear of the chair at all times as I work or play. To contrast this with other gaming and office chairs, I typically only make contact with the neck pillow (or support) if I consciously lean back, which makes me not want to bother with them.

That's not to say this is the most comfortable chair I've sat in, however. While the firm seat does a great job of providing support and remaining comfortable for my bottom even after hours of sitting – which is always a huge plus – my lower back does exhibit some fatigue with such a constant upright posture. With that said, it's arguable whether this is the result of me being used to sitting a different way in other chairs and the physiological quirks of my own body versus what is probably a more ergonomic configuration with the Martian. I’m inclined to lean towards the latter.

If your backlog isn’t looking daunting enough already, a fresh crop of digital deals is here to test your willpower. My haul for today spans iconic collections, cerebral indies, and a few deeply discounted blockbusters that are hard to ignore. Whether you’re chasing nostalgia or keen to experience bold experiments in game design, there’s something worthwhile in every category.

This Day in Gaming 🎂

In retro news, I'm celebrating the 32nd birthday of Starwing, aka the PAL version progenitor of the Star Fox series. Interestingly, its N64 sequel was named Lylat Wars, at which point Nintendo Europe said, "Screw it, we'll just use the US naming convention from here on out." Starwing is the shoot 'em up that deserves special acclaim as the first hardware-accelerated 3D gaming experience on a home console (courtesy of the Super FX chip). And though the 15 frames per second are tough to endure in a modern replay, there's no denying this blew my '93 mind like a Smart Bomb to the brain.

• Lego Horizon Adventures (-51%) - A$53.80
• Cyberpunk 2077 Ult. Switch 2 (-5%) - A$114
• MGS: Master Col. Vol. 1 (-51%) - A$44.30
• Bravely Default II (-21%) - A$63.20
• Expeditions: A MudRunner Game (-31%) - A$59
• Biomutant (-20%) - A$48
• NBA 2K25 - A$29

Expiring Recent Deals

• Pokémon Legends: Z-A (-13%) - A$78
• Capcom Fighting Col. 2 (-11%) - A$49
• Shin Megami Tensei V (-47%) - A$42.50
• Sid Meier's Civilization VII (-25%) - A$67.10
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Patrick Star (-43%) - A$34

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Starting this week, Walmart has dropped the price of the TCL Alto 8 Plus 2.1.2ch Soundbar and Subwoofer Bundle to just $79 with free shipping. This bundle normally retails for $259.99. This is an excellent budget price for a soundbar setup that's going to sound significantly better than the audio coming out of your TV's built-in speakers.

TCL Alto 8 Plus 2.1.2ch Soundbar with Subwoofer for $79

Not everyone is the DIY type. If you're in the market for a prebuilt gaming PC, Dell is one of the best brands we'd recommend. Alienware desktops and laptops feature solid build quality, top-of-the-line gaming performance, excellent cooling (further improved on the newer models), aggressive styling, and pricing that is very competitive with other pre-built options. Best of all, there are plenty of sales that happen throughout the year, so it's not difficult to grab one of these computers at considerably less than their retail price. This page includes all of the best deals that are currently available.

Dell and Alienware Coupons

Dell and Alienware Gaming PC Deals

Dell and Alienware Gaming Laptop Deals

You can quickly browse through all of the listed products on sale above. See below for our favorite picks.

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5080 Gaming PC

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5070 Gaming PC

Alienware Area-51 RTX 5090 Gaming PC

Alienware Area-51 Gaming Laptops

Alienware's new flagship gaming laptop - the Alienware Area-51 - brings to the table a host of upgrades including a sleeker redesign, current generation components, and better cooling potential. They can be equipped with the new Nvidia GeForce Blackwell cards in RTX 5070, 5080, and 5090 variants. Both the 16" model and 18" model, equipped with the latest Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and powerful GeForce RTX 5080 graphics, are on sale right now. Orders are expected to ship out in mid June, so get your reservation in now to prevent any additional delays.

New Releases: Alienware Aurora 16 and 16X Gaming Laptops

Alienware x16 R2 Gaming Laptops

The popular and well-rated Samsung 990 Evo Plus PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe solid state drive dropped in price this week. Amazon is currently offering the 2TB model for just $129.99 with free shipping. Alternatively, the 4TB model is down to $252.01 with free shipping. This is an excellent, high-speed SSD for both your PlayStation 5 console (we recommend you add a heatsink) and as a boot drive for your gaming PC. These prices are $40 to $50 less than the Samsung 990 Pro and most (if not all) gamers won't notice the difference in performance.

Samsung 990 Evo Plus SSDs on Sale

I found plenty of great deals to kick off the month of June. Pick up an inexpensive screen protector to protect your soon-to-arrive Nintendo Switch 2 console for under $5. If you're a PS5 gamer, the Sony Days of Play Sale is under way with some big discounts on DualSense controllers. That includes the striking Chroma series and even the pro-grade DualSense Edge. Also check out deals on power banks, a fast SSD for your PS5 or gaming console, big 14TB hard drive for local storage, Roku-ready and Dolby Atmos soundbar for under $100, and more.

Inexpensive TechMatte Switch 2 Cases and Screen Protectors

65" Panasonic W95 4K Mini-LED Fire TV for $597.99

Other sizes also on sale

Panasonic is back in the TV game, and this time it's focusing on only offering higher-end Mini-LED and OLED models. Amazon is offering big discounts on the Panasonic W95 series TVs, which feature Mini-LED technology and local dimming. In a Mini-LED panel, the LEDs are smaller and more numerous, which allows for finer control of brightness levels within the same scene. The W95 is also a great candidate for playing games on a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X console because it's equipped with a native 144Hz panel that can run games in 4K at up to 144fps over HDMI 2.1.

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.

One of the best budget laptop deals we found during the HP Memorial Day Sale is available for a little while longer. Right now, you can pick up an HP Omen 16 GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming Laptop for only $959.99 shipped ater you apply 20% off coupon "LEVELUP20" in your shopping cart. Nowadays it's getting harder to find a competent gaming laptop for under $1,000, but this laptop should serve you well with its Intel Core i7 CPU and RTX 4060 GPU.

HP OMEN 16 RTX 4060 Gaming Laptop for $959.99

Over the past few console generations with built-in storage, gamers were typically stuck with however much space that came with the console. With the PS5, Sony made a surprising move by including an internal M.2 PCIe slot to install an off-the-shelf SSD to supplement the internal storage. Given that this is the same company that paired the PS Vita and PSP with ludicrously expensive memory cards, this was a welcoming change of pace, especially given the paltry 825GB of storage you have to work with. Now you can install high-end PC SSDs like the Corsair MP600 Pro LPX, our No. 1 pick, to load even more games nearly as fast as the extra-special drive that's built into the console itself.

TL;DR - These Are the Best SSDs for PS5:

There are a few restrictions. First, you need a PCIe 4.0 or Gen 4 drive or better. This interface allows for SSD speeds up to 7,500MB/s, which is a huge improvement over the 3,500MB/s for Gen 3 M.2 SSDs. You're also going to need an M.2 drive. The actual physical size of the drive doesn't matter, with the PS5 having screw holes for every size of M.2 drive on the market right now. However, most of the time you're going to want to stick with an M.2 2280 drive – they're the most common M.2 drives on the market.

We also recommend getting an SSD with a built-in heatsink. There are size restrictions on the heatsink itself, it can't be taller than 11.25mm. Luckily, there really aren't many SSDs out there that won't fit. Your PS5 SSD needs a heatsink because PCIe 4.0 SSDs have a tendency to create a lot of heat when under load, and the little cubby where the SSD slot is located isn't exactly ideal for passive airflow over the drive itself. So, you'll need a heatsink just to make sure your drive doesn't overheat and throttle its performance. You can either get an SSD with a built-in heatsink, or get a seperate heatsink – either way will work just fine.

As for capacity, choose however much storage you think you'll need. Most people will probably be fine sticking with a 1TB drive to supplement their system. This will essentially double your available storage, and can store a ton of games, or at least allow you to install Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and, like, two other games. You can, of course, splurge for a giant 4TB drive and create a huge archive of games, just be aware that these capacious drives have a much higher price tag.

• If you're an Xbox owner, see our roundup of the best SSDs for Xbox Series X

Contributions by Danielle Abraham and Callum Bains

PS5 SSD Basics

A healthy amount of SSDs are available that pair perfectly with the PS5’s M.2 slot. Given there’s more competition in the space than even just a couple of years ago, you’ll find plenty of high-speed, low-cost drives for a sub-$100 price tag. If you’re looking to amp up storage, you’ll find the price of these drives rises exponentially; bigger drives, like the 8TB SSD from Western Digital, will run you well over $500.

You’ll want to ensure you install an NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD with maximum dimensions of 110mm x 25mm x 11.25mm or 4.33" x 0.984" x 0.442", including the heatsink. Clearly, the PS5 has some cramped, shallow quarters, leading to high temps, rendering a heatsink necessary to prevent bottlenecking or damage to the drive. Luckily, most drives come with an optional heatsink, but if you need to venture out on your own to grab one, be sure it fits height requirements of under 8mm above the SSD or 2.45mm below.

Beyond size requirements, you'll need at least a PCIe 4.0 SSD, that can reach sequential read speeds of 5500MB/s or faster. Most SSDs will have a rated sequential read speed and write speed advertised, so you can get a pretty good idea of how fast it'll be by looking at the box. When you go to install a PS5 SSD, it will run the drive through its own speed test, which will tell you definitively if it's fast enough to run PS5 games. In my experience, this speed test peaks at around 6,500MB/s, so drives that are significantly faster than this aren't really worth getting for the PS5. These days, most PCIe 4.0 drives are rated for aroun 7,000–7,500MB/s, so you'll be spoiled for choice.

Another thing you're going to want to take a look at is the warranty of the drive. This is more than just marketing hype, most SSDs will be rated for an amount of time, usually five years, along with an endurance rating, measured in TBW. This stands for 'Terabytes Written' and measures how much data can theoretically be written to the drive over its lifespan before it fails. This doesn't mean that a drive rated for 700TBW will fail after you fill it 700 times, but instead that it should last at least until that point.

You'll also want to look at the type of NAND memory the SSD is built from. There are three types of NAND that are typically used: QLC, TLC and MLC. The main difference between the three are endurance, with QLC lasting the least amount of time, and MLC being the most durable. Of course, this will also affect the price of the drive, with QLC drives usually being the most affordable drives on the market, with MLC NAND typically found on the most expensive SSDs on the market, and are generally meant for creative professionals, rather than gamers. All of the drives on this list are using TLC NAND, which naturally falls somewhere in the middle.

Given the PS5 only offers 825GB of space and the PS5 Slim has 1TB, you’ll more than likely want and/or need more storage. Games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Baldur’s Gate 3 take up well over 100GB each when installed, so your storage will fill up quickly. The M.2 expansion slot lets you add 250GB–8TB of speedy internal storage. 1TB seems to be the sweet spot between capacity and price, but if you’re looking to put your massive gaming library on one console, you’ll want even more space. Luckily, most mainstream PCIe 4.0 SSDs come in capacities up to 4TB, so you can really build up a library if you have the budget for it.

Beyond an internal SSD, which should be your preferred storage option, you can use an external hard drive. Some external SSD offerings hit relatively high speeds. You can’t run PS5 games on them. However, it will save you the hassle of redownloading larger games, and PS4 titles can be played right on the drive.

Looking for assistance in installing your PS5 SSD after puchase? Be sure to check out our guide on how to upgrade your PS5 storage. Luckily, you don't need to be hardware aficionado to figure it out.

1. Corsair MP600 Pro LPX

Best PS5 SSD

2. Crucial T500

Best Budget PS5 SSD

The Crucial T500 is the best-value SSD around, with nice performance bump from P5 Plus, which previously held this spot. For just over $100, it's a drive offering 1TB of storage with a heatsink attached – only $15 more than the non-heatsink model – and is perfectly sized to slot into the cramped quarters of the PS5. Not only does this drive double the storage on the console, but the hassle of finding and spending extra cash on an absolutely necessary heatsink that fits can be avoided.

Afraid of losing fast speeds with such a great-priced SSD? Don’t be, as the T500 keeps up with the best high-performance drives thanks to the Micron TLC 3D NAND flash memory – a solid step up from the QLC NAND seen in many budget SSDs. Max read speeds of up to 7,300 MB/s can be expected from the 1TB drive. Write speeds aren’t shabby either, hitting up to 6,800MB/S. So, everything from game boots and saves to transferring massive gameplay clips will be fast and seamless.

If 1TB doesn’t seem like enough storage, bumping up to the Crucial T500 2TB SSD sees a big increase in storage space and even faster speeds. The TBW rating is also doubled to 1,200 compared to the 1TB drive, though it still offers the same five-year warranty found on most SSDs. Unfortunately, a 4TB option isn’t available for the biggest game library.

3. Samsung 990 Evo Plus

Best PS5 SSD Without Heatsink

While you can spend a lot of cash on a PS5 SSD, I’ve always preferred drives that deliver excellent performance without a bloated price tag. That’s essentially what the Samsung 990 Evo Plus provides. It does have a lower endurance rating than the more expensive 990 Pro, but that’s not something you really have to worry about if you’re plugging an SSD into a console. Plus, the 2TB drive I tested is still rated for 1,200 TBW, which is more than most gamers will ever actually use.

What’s more important is speed. While the drive is rated for up to 7,250MB/s sequential read speeds, the PS5 storage test that runs when you install a new drive rated it at 6,137MB/s. That’s still more than fast enough for PS5 games to run on it, and in my testing, it loaded Metaphor: Refantazio in just 4.37 seconds, a bit faster than the native drive at 4.47 seconds. That’s just a 10ms difference in loading time, but hey, at least you know it’s not going to load your games slower, right?

One thing to keep in mind is that the Samsung 990 Evo Plus is a DRAM-less SSD, which means lower peak performance in pro workloads. However, while it does mean this drive has lower peak performance than it would with a dedicated DRAM cache built-in, the PS5 can’t take advantage of its full rated speed anyways, so it really doesn’t matter. What does matter, though, is Samsung doesn’t currently sell the Samsung 990 Evo Plus with a heatsink attached, which means you’re going to need to pair it with one of your own. Luckily, SSD heatsinks are generally just a few bucks on Amazon, and you could probably get away without one, too.

4. Samsung 9100 Pro

The Overkill PCIe 5.0 SSD for PS5

5. WD_Black P40

Best External SSD for PS5

PS5 SSD FAQ

Is an SSD worth it for PS5?

A good chunk of the PS5’s internal 825GB SSD is taken up by system files, leaving you with a little over 650GB of usable storage space. The PS5 Slim adds a bit more storage, and the PS5 Pro further increases the storage up to 2TB. If you dedicate yourself to only a few games at a time, those smaller storage amounts should probably be enough. But if you like having several games on the go, or are a fiend for live service games that tend to balloon in size as more updates and content packs are added, you’ll soon find yourself hitting the limits of the PS5’s storage. At that point, get yourself an SSD. It's one of the best PS5 accessories you can invest in.

What speed SSD should I get for PS5?

You’ll need an SSD that’s rated with a read speed of at least 5,500MB/s. In practice, it’s difficult not to find a PCIE 4.0 drive that ticks that box. The higher the speed the better, but keep in mind that the PS5 only really supports speeds up to 6,500MB/s. Getting a faster drive than that certainly won't hurt anything, but the system will bottleneck faster drives, especially PCIe 5.0 SSDs that can have read speeds that reach 14,700MB/s or more.

When is the best time to buy a PS5 SSD?

PS5 SSDs are a surprisingly expensive add on to any PS5 console purchase. Prices have dropped pretty signicantly over the years, but if you're hoping to save as much money as possible, there are a few different times that are best for buying an SSD. The first big one is Amazon Prime Day, which usually takes place in July every year. After that, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are an excellent time to find big discounts on PS5 SSDs online.

Are PCIe 5.0 SSDs worth it for the PS5?

Not really. The PS5 supports PCIe 4.0, and though PCIe 5.0 drives are backward compatible with PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 3.0, the console can’t take advantage of the full read and write speeds of the latest drives. That means it’s not worth the extra money, especially when you can often find PCIe 4.0 SSDs for far less.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

Let's face it, we don't all have a $1,000+ to spend on a new laptop. If you're looking for a notebook that offers the best bang for your buck, I'm here to help. I've done the research and testing for you, so if you're looking for a quick decision you can feel confident in, this is the guide for you. These are the best budget laptops of 2025 so far.

TL;DR - The Best Budget Laptops at a Glance:

If you don't know where to look or what to look for, it's easy to assume you'll need to spend upwards of $1,000 to get a good laptop. While that might have been true in years past, it's simply no longer the case anymore. As long as you find a laptop that combines a good processor with enough memory and storage, like the Asus VivoBook S 15, my top pick, performance will likely be more than sufficient for work, school, or even web browsing and some entertainment.

In most cases, there are trade-offs you need to consider and balance against what you need from your laptop of choice. Often, this comes down to the quality of the screen or the build quality of the chassis. But even those aren't givens anymore. As technology has advanced, you can get more PC for less money as long as you know what to look for.

I have been reviewing PCs, laptops, components, and peripherals for more than a decade and regularly at IGN since 2019. I know the ins-and-outs of what makes a PC or notebook great, and what most benefits different types of users. If you're on the hunt but aren't sure what the best pick may be, fear not. I've got the right pick for you.

1. Asus Vivobook S 15

The Best Budget Laptop

When I first tried the Asus VivoBook S 15 at CES this year, the similarities to the more expensive ZenBook S 16 were hard to ignore. The spokesperson for the company confirmed as much to me, verifying that the VivoBook S 15 is intended to bring very similar levels of performance and features to a more affordable price point. Having now tested both myself, I can say with confidence that Asus succeeded wholeheartedly.

While $1,000 stretches the concept of budget, when you look at what you're actually getting here, that price point becomes all the more reasonable. It has a great screen, an ultra-portable, lightweight design, as well as powerful hardware to drive the experience. Simply put: This laptop competes with more expensive laptops at a fraction of the price.

Starting with the form factor, the S 15 drops the cerealuminum lid of the ZenBook series and instead goes for a more traditional metallic finish. It looks more traditional, but still feels robust and well-made. Other qualities, like its great keyboard, generous connectivity options (for an Ultrabook), and ultraportability remain the same.

At 3.13lbs and 0.63 inches at its thickest point, this is a laptop made to be carried through the day. When I tested it, I wouldn't have guessed I was carrying a laptop if I hadn't packed it away myself. It doesn't take up unnecessary space and never once left my shoulder sore at the end of the day.

The screen is one of the best available at and below the $1,000 price point. Asus opted for an OLED display that runs at a fast 120Hz refresh rate. Scrolling webpages and spreadsheets, and even streaming games, feels more fluid and natural than most others available at a budget. And because it's OLED, the HDR experience is exceptional, even without being able to hit a full 1,000 nits of peak brightness.

Just as importantly, the hardware driving the experience is top-notch. It comes ready with 16GB of LPDDR5X memory and a fast 512GB SSD. If you work with large files, you'll want to invest in an external hard drive or cloud storage. But for normal work and school, it's enough to last a good long time.

The biggest change with this release comes with the processor. Instead of opting for an AMD or Intel CPU, the VivoBook S15 uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P processor. This chip is built on a different architecture known as ARM, which has been prominent in mobile phones, smartphones, and tablets until now.

If you're worried about performance, you can lay those fears to the side. The Snapdragon X Plus is fast and well-suited to productivity and even creative applications. And thanks to the efficiency of its Snapdragon processor, it's able to offer excellent battery life of 15+ hours of regular use.

Because of its different architecture, however, support for every app is not a given. I recommend checking the Windows on ARM website and referencing its updated compatibility list to be sure that applications you use are fully supported. That said, just about every major application for productivity and student use, as well as day-to-day computing, is supported thanks to emulation. Gaming, however, just doesn't work well. So if you want to play some games in your downtime, you'll need to look toward streaming services.

Still, for a budget laptop, the Asus VivoBook S 15 offers so much that even at $1,000, it feels like a darn good value. You won't regret picking this up if you want a responsive and reliable computing experience anywhere you need it.

2. Lenovo IdeaPad 5X

The Best 2-in-1 Budget Laptop

Looking to combine your laptop and tablet experiences into a single device? Look no further than the Lenovo IdeaPad 5X. I've personally seen this one on sale for as low as $550, but even at its normal MSRP (around $850, but is frequently priced less), it's a great value and well worth considering.

There's no shortage of 2-in-1 laptops at budget prices, but I'm going to let you in on a little secret: Many of those 2-in-1 laptops aren't very good. That's because hitting budget price points while offering the advanced hinges and displays that allow for a great 2-in-1 experience just isn't easy to pull off. Something's got to give, and too often it's the performance of the PC itself.

And that's exactly why I was so pleasantly surprised when I tested the IdeaPad 5X. It's driven by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P, like my top pick for this list, and 16GB of DDR5 memory. This combination alone is enough to ensure that Windows 11 runs smoothly, even when you are multitasking with multiple tabs and applications at one time. I personally spent many hours bouncing between browser windows, Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop, and Google Docs, with nary a slowdown. That's just not something I can say for most other 2-in-1s around the 5X's price point.

In addition, it also comes with an OLED touchscreen. That's a particular high point and allows its display to be much more vibrant and to offer wider dynamic range, thanks to its per-pixel brightness adjustment.

Now, there are some sacrifices to keep in mind. First off, the IdeaPad 5X really doesn't concern itself with being the thinnest and lightest 2-in-1 you can find. It's essentially the same thickness as a normal laptop, but the screen flips backwards so you can write on it or carry it like a tablet. The overarching design is run-of-the-mill, so no one is going to confuse your system with the latest MacBook anytime soon (though it looks perfectly fine, akin to any other productivity laptop).

Also, if you're planning on using it for presentations, you should be aware that the speakers aren't very good, so I would invest in a larger Bluetooth speaker for the best experience.

But for its low cost, what you're getting is a true hybrid between a tablet and a laptop with above-average screen performance and battery life that runs anywhere between 13 and 16 hours based on my testing. That's a steal, and its benefits are easy to notice, even if you're not well-versed in tech.

3. HP OmniBook 5 16-Inch Next Gen AI PC

Best Budget Laptop for Work and Productivity

The HP OmniBook 5 offers a lot if you're in need of a new laptop for the office or productivity in general. It made my top spot for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it includes a full number pad – something you often need to look toward larger laptops to find – for dialing in those numbers. It's also slightly more spacious than a typical mid-sized laptop, while still being very thin and lightweight enough to easily carry throughout your workday.

A great laptop for work really needs to nail the fundamentals. Even the screen itself is conducive to work thanks to its 16:10 aspect ratio, which allows for more vertical space, perfect for reading, writing, and taking in large amounts of data. Now, it's not an OLED and only runs at 60Hz, but since you're not looking at this for gaming, those aren't the most meaningful drawbacks (even though I would love to see the OmniBook 5 with an OLED option around the same price).

It offers plenty of memory and storage, too, with 16GB of DDR5 memory pre-installed into a 512GB NVMe SSD. You'll be able to multitask and store files with ease. Depending on your work, an external hard drive or cloud storage solution may come into play at some point in the future, but for a good while, most people will find that it offers ample performance and storage capabilities.

We live in the age of AI, and that's another reason why the OmniBook 5 is a good choice for work. It features an AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 processor. If you have begun or contemplated using AI to get more efficient in your workday, this processor can be an especially useful choice.

A bigger screen and wider keyboard run the risk of weighing the whole laptop down, but HP clearly put a lot of effort into keeping the OmniBook 5 as thin and lightweight as possible. Weighing in at only 3.97lbs and measuring 0.7 inches thick, it's highly portable and a perfect workplace companion.

4. Acer Aspire 14 AI

Best Budget Laptop for Students

5. Apple MacBook Air M4 (Early 2025)

Best Budget Laptop for Creatives

Apple's MacBook lineup needs no introduction. It's one of the most well-known and well-loved laptops ever made, and for good reason. This year's MacBook Air features the company's new M4 processor to deliver the best performance of any MacBook Air to date in the series' classic, minimalist, and completely silent style.

While I didn't review this one personally, our very own Jackie Thomas did and praised its refinement of the classic MacBook Air traits. Its metal design feels as robust as ever, and at only 2.7lbs, it can be carried through the day with nary a hindrance.

Featuring a metal frame has the benefit of making the laptop feel more premium (amongst a number of other qualities), but it's also an important element to its design. The MacBook Air is completely fanless, which means it's also completely silent and has a seamless appearance that's unbroken by vents. While every other laptop on this list is audible at some point or another, the Air's constant silence gives it a unique identity that's easy to fall in love with.

Apple's new M4 chip is also high performance, though you shouldn't expect MacBook Pro levels of speed here. Still, the system is snappy under pressure and is more than up to the task for creative work like photo and video editing. And because of Apple's long history among creative professionals, there are a number of applications only available on macOS (Logic Pro is a personal favorite).

When it's not on sale, the base model MacBook Air with the M4 chip retails for $1,000. It's certainly not cheap, but within Apple's lineup, it does manage to be relatively affordable. This version only gets you 256GB of storage, however, which feels criminally low. Upgrading that to 512GB will set you back an additional $200.

Apple also offers a number of other upgrades, including a 10-core version of the M4 chip, up to 32GB of memory, and, if that single step to 512GB isn't enough, up to 2TB of storage. You can opt for higher-performance 35W or 70W power adapter upgrades for faster charging, and even pick up licenses for popular creative apps, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, right at checkout. All of these upgrades come at an additional cost that rapidly pushes it out of anything resembling budget.

If you've followed Apple for any length of time, this shouldn't surprise you, but is certainly worth bearing in mind. Still, for creative applications, an entry point of $1,000 is great to see and is an on-ramp that creatives should certainly consider.

6. MSI Thin AI 15

Best Budget Gaming Laptop

Gamers, rejoice! The MSI Thin A15 is a sub-$1,000 gaming laptop with solid specs to deliver a great gaming experience. It's not what I would consider thin and isn't quiet when running demanding games, but for this price, it's simply one of the best values in affordable gaming laptops out there. Bonus points: For students studying game design or digital arts, this is a great way to fill your course laptop requirements without taking out a separate loan.

With this machine, MSI obviously put performance first. It comes with a high-spec AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor. It's an 8-core, 16-thread beast that's able to achieve a peak clock speed of 5.2GHz. In real-world terms, this processor is a perfect choice for heavyweight applications, multitasking, and earning higher fps in games thanks to that clock speed.

The processor is only half of the equation. The other half is its dedicated Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card. While many laptops around this price come with older generations of cards or tap out with an RTX 4050, the MSI Thin A15 takes it that one step further for higher frame rates in games and extra performance-enhancing gaming features. Add in its 16GB of DDR5 memory and large 1TB SSD, and you have an impressive collection of hardware that's more than capable of driving games at medium to high settings.

Opting for the RTX 40-series also means that you'll be able to take advantage of Nvidia's AI-enhanced Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) upscaling technology and frame generation. DLSS by itself can offer major improvements to in-game frame rates. Frame generation takes that a step further by using the graphics card's neural engine to create frames all on its own, pushing that frame rate even higher. Should you not want these features, they are also completely optional and can be turned off at any point.

Pushing high frame rates is especially important on this laptop, however, because it comes equipped with a 15.6-inch 1920x1080 144Hz display. While the RTX 4060 usually wouldn't be able to drive games to 144Hz outside of esports, DLSS and frame generation make it a real possibility without needing to turn down the resolution or settings. This results in smoother gameplay, improved motion clarity, and better responsiveness within games.

In pushing performance as much as it has, MSI did need to leave some other qualities on the table. As I mentioned earlier, it's not the thinnest laptop, and when it's loading games, it can definitely get a bit noisy. It's not a machine you'll want to use in a quiet library if you're trying to sneak in a match of Call of Duty between classes. It also tends to run a bit hot, so I suggest pairing it with a laptop cooling pad. Even so, the level of performance you're getting here is impressive and well worth investing in if you're a gamer that wants to keep a reasonable budget for their PC gaming hobby.

How to Choose the Best Budget Laptop in 2025

If you're not already well-versed in the world of computers, shopping for a new laptop can be a confusing experience. There are definitely key things to look for and some things to look out for that are even more important when you're on a limited budget. These are the things to consider when shopping for one of the best budget laptops.

• Display: Your laptop's display, or screen, is one of its most critical qualities. A great screen can elevate your user experience, while a poor one can leave you squinting or wondering why the brightness won't go higher. At affordable prices, you will typically be looking at IPS displays, though there are some OLED models which can offer improved visuals. After you settle on the size you want, these are some things to look for in the display.
  • Resolution: Resolution refers to how many pixels make up the screen itself. Full HD, or FHD, is 1920x1080 pixels (though you will sometimes find this at 1920x1200 if the laptop uses a boxier 16:10 aspect ratio). As long as you aren't planning on running games, it's safe to look to higher resolutions if it fits your budget. A higher resolution is harder to run, but outside of gaming, you won't notice a big difference and will be able to enjoy crisper picture quality.
  • Refresh rate: Refresh rate is how many times the screen flashes its picture per second. The average laptop will run at 60Hz, or 60 times per second. Higher-end screens will increase this. In the affordable space, it is typically around 120Hz to 144Hz, especially if you're looking at a budget gaming laptop. Higher refresh rates result in smoother motion, which is beneficial for scrolling web pages and spreadsheets, but offers the most benefit by smoothing out motion in video games.
  • Brightness: The brightness of a laptop screen is measured in candela per meter squared (cd/m²) or nits. Outside of specialized laptops, like those designed for high-end gaming, brightness of around 500 nits is considered great. For budget laptops, I recommend trying to find a pick that offers at least 300 nits for indoor use. While some come with 250 nit ratings and are still usable, they have a tendency to look a bit dull.
• Processor: A laptop's processor is its main component and, in combination with the RAM, dictates how responsive the laptop feels to use. There are two mainstay brands to choose from, Intel or AMD, as well as a "new" entrant, Qualcomm, with its Snapdragon line. Though newer to the PC space, it has been an industry leader in the smartphone and tablet space for a number of years. For Intel and AMD, avoid laptops with less than 6 cores and opt for those with 8 or more if possible. This will help to ensure that whatever laptop you choose is able to deliver the satisfyingly fast experience you expect.
• Memory: You can think of your computer's memory, also called RAM, in a similar way to a human's working memory. It's how much it can hold for rapid access and is directly related to how responsive your computer feels to use, especially when you have multiple things open at once. If it's too limited in capacity, your computer will slow down or even freeze. Choose a laptop that has at least 16GB for day-to-day productivity use. For gaming or heavier workloads like video editing, you can choose a laptop with higher capacity, but this often comes at a significantly higher cost.
• Storage: Storage is how much data your computer can hold. It is measured in gigabytes (GB) and terabytes (TB, roughly 1,000GB). Many affordable laptops come with 512GB storage capacities, which should be enough for the majority of users that aren't storing masses of large files like high-resolution photos and videos. Some budget laptops still come with 256GB or less, and if you plan to store your files mainly in the cloud, this 256GB may even be enough. It is considered quite limited by modern standards, however, so I always suggest making 512GB your minimum unless you know you don't need that much.
• Graphics: A laptop's graphics are responsible for everything you see on its screen. They're available in two forms: integrated and dedicated (also called discrete). Integrated graphics are built into the processor and help to extend battery life. For day-to-day use, including productivity, web browsing, and other less graphically intensive tasks, it's a good solution. If you plan on gaming or taking on heavier tasks like video editing or rendering 3D models, you would be better served with a discrete graphics card. Note that this often results in a significantly higher price and a bigger, heavier laptop.
• Portability: The final, but no less important, consideration is how portable the laptop is. While technically all laptops are portable, thinner and lighter laptops are easier to carry throughout the day. A five-pound gaming laptop might not look like much on paper, but if you're going to be carrying it around for extended periods of time, every ounce counts. Thankfully, affordable laptops are widely available in very thin and light form factors.

Budget Laptop FAQ

How long do budget laptops last?

Compared to desktop computers, all laptops typically have a shorter lifespan. A great laptop might last five or six years if it's purchased with high-end specs at the time. Since budget laptops usually fall in the lower tiers of performance, it stands to reason that they will have a shorter usable life. That said, it depends on what you're using it for and how well it's treated. A well-cared-for laptop that's only being used for basic productivity and web browsing can last a very long time with proper care. In general, you should plan on upgrading your budget laptop in around three years.

Do budget laptops perform well?

For many years, the words "budget" and "laptop" added up to equal sluggish performance. That's not necessarily the case anymore as notebook components have advanced. In fact, for basic productivity use, you may not even notice much of a difference between an affordable laptop and one that costs hundreds of dollars more. The differences more frequently shine through when you're looking at heavier workloads like gaming and extensive multitasking where slowdowns might occur. Pricier laptops often include more luxury features like OLED screens or customizable RGB keyboards and usually have higher performance hardware.

For the average user that's browsing the web, working on productivity tasks, or doing other comparatively "lightweight" work, those higher performance and cost components usually won't make a big difference anyway and are the first place I look to scale back for shoppers on a budget.

Are budget laptops worth it?

More than ever before. Because of the above, the fact that laptop components have advanced so much that they can perform quite well for the average user, there's less to sacrifice than in years past. If you want the most stylish, thin, light, and highest performance designs, you'll still need to look into pricier models. But if what you're looking for is a smooth computing experience for day-to-day use, productivity, light artwork, or even streaming movies and games, a budget laptop can be an excellent choice... when you find the right model for your needs.

Christopher Coke has been a regular contributor to IGN since 2019 and has been covering games and technology since 2013. He has covered tech ranging from gaming controllers to graphics cards, gaming chairs and gaming monitors, headphones, IEMs, and more for sites such as MMORPG.com, Tom’s Hardware, Popular Science, USA Today’s Reviewed, and Popular Mechanics. Find Chris on Twitter @gamebynight.

Zynga has officially shuttered Echtra Games, the development studio behind Torchlight 3, which had been working on an unannounced cross-platform ARPG in the four years since its acquisition.

IGN can confirm the San Francisco-based studio will be shut down by the end of the month. While we don't have an exact number of individuals impacted, LinkedIn has 61 people who list their current job at the studio.

Zynga has provided the following statement to IGN:

Zynga has made the difficult decision to cease operations at its Echtra studio, ending development on future titles and reducing roles. This decision is part of a strategic realignment of the company's resources and priorities. We will work closely with impacted employees so they are treated with the utmost respect and consideration as we navigate this difficult process.

Echtra Games was founded by Max Schaefer, one of the co-founders of Torchlight developer Runic Games, and formerly a co-founder of Blizzard North and co-creator of Diablo. Schaefer left Runic after his fellow co-founders similarly departed the studio, and founded Echtra under investor Perfect World to work on a Torchlight MMO. Over time, the game's vision shifted, eventually becoming Torchlight Frontiers and later Torchlight 3. In 2021, Echtra Games was acquired by Zynga, leaving Torchlight 3 in the hands of Perfect World and starting work on "a new, yet to be announced RPG for cross-platform play" alongside CSR Racing and Star Wars: Hunters developer NaturalMotion.

Unfortunately, Echtra Games' RPG was never announced or shown. It is unclear precisely why Echtra was shuttered, though its closure comes just three months after Zynga announced it will shut down NaturalMotion-developed Star Wars: Hunters later this year — a decision that was itself announced just nine months after the game launched. Notably, Zynga is a subsidiary of Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive, which slowly dismantled and then sold off its Private Division publishing label earlier this year. The publisher also laid off around 5% of its workforce just over a year ago and canceled multiple projects.

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.