McDonald's has pulled a new ad created entirely with generative AI following a major backlash online.
The 45-second clip was released on the McDonald's Netherlands’ YouTube channel on December 6 — with comments turned off — and was removed from the platform on December 9. It depicted "the most terrible time of the year," and showed increasingly disastrous Christmas fails before suggesting people hide out in McDonald's until January.
Viewers were quick to hit out at the tone and quality of the video, pointing out a number of telltale generative AI signs. One user on social media called the video "god-awful" and "cynical." Another social media user added: "the future is here, and it's not looking good." "If they were going for creepy, depressing, deeply unfunny, clumsily shot, poorly edited, and inauthentic — nailed it!" another said.
McDonald's unveiled what has to be the most god-awful ad I've seen this year – worse than Coca-Cola's.
Fully AI-generated, that's one. Looks repulsive, that's two. More cynical about Christmas than the Grinch, that's three.
The message of this ad is “the holidays suck” and it’s solution is to spend as much time in McDonald’s as possible. Forget your friends and family…have a Big Mac.
The song is poorly written, almost certainly written by AI because it doesn’t fit the original rhythm at all and at… https://t.co/MTR2i7XG6y
The fast food resturant chain issued a statement to BBC News, saying the backlash served as "an important learning" as the company explored "the effective use of AI."
The ad was a collaboration between Dutch company TBWA\Neboko and American production company The Sweetshop. Melanie Bridge, CEO of The Sweetshop, went on to defend the ad after it was released publicly.
“For seven weeks, we hardly slept, with up to 10 of our in-house AI and post specialists at The Gardening Club [our in-house AI engine] working in lockstep with the directors,” Bridge said, as reported by Futurism. “We generated what felt like dailies — thousands of takes — then shaped them in the edit just as we would on any high-craft production. This wasn’t an AI trick. It was a film.”
She added: “I don’t see this spot as a novelty or a cute seasonal experiment. To me, it’s evidence of something much bigger: that when craft and technology meet with intention, they can create work that feels genuinely cinematic. So no — AI didn’t make this film. We did.”
The people who made the AI McDonald's ad want you to know they put more man hours into it than a traditional production.
Like Coca Cola, in their attempt to prove they worked hard, they've instead shown AI is hard to control, still expensive, and uglier. What's the point again? https://t.co/lXrdO8U8ok
The McDonald's backlash follows a similar response to Coca-Cola's entirely AI-generated Christmas ad and a similar justification. Jason Zada, founder and chief creative officer of AI studio Secret Level, defended his company’s work on Coke’s Christmas promo. “The haters on the Internet are the loudest. A lot of the people complaining last year were from the creative industry who were just afraid — afraid for their jobs, afraid for what it did. But I think the spot tested really well and average people really enjoyed it.”
Pratik Thakar, global vp and head of generative AI at Coca-Cola, added: “Last year we decided to go all in, and it worked out well for us… Yes, some parts of the industry were not pleased we were using a 100% generative AI film, but that’s part and parcel of doing something pioneering. We understand that concern. But we need to keep moving forward and pushing the envelope. The genie is out of the bottle, and you’re not going to put it back in.”
At the time of this article's publication, the Coca-Cola advert remains live.
The use of generative AI to create videos both commercial and non-commercial is one of the hottest topics in all entertainment. OpenAI’s Sora 2 app, for example, has caused significant controversy after it was used to flood social media with videos containing depictions of copyrighted characters including those from popular anime and game franchises such as One Piece, Demon Slayer, Pokémon, and Mario. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called Sora 2 videos using copyrighted characters "interactive fan fiction."
And in September, SAG-AFTRA issued a strongly worded statement in response to the emergence of Tilly Norwood, the AI-generated “actress” that has enraged Hollywood.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
If you hadn’t already heard, there’s a weird, spiky monolith in the Mojave Desert. Adorned with a massive eye-like orb and a legion of demonic creatures, it’s a hint at something due to be revealed as part of The Game Awards 2025. And, following the registration of a few new trademarks, it seems like we already have the answer as to what it is: a brand new game from Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios called “Divinity”.
If you are one of the millions of players who first learned of Larian through the gargantuan success of Baldur’s Gate 3, then the word Divinity may not mean much to you. Fans of the studio, however, will tell you that BG3’s success is rooted in Divinity, a series of six games that Larian worked on almost exclusively between 2002 and 2017. If this monolith and trademark leak really do point towards Divinity, then the Belgian studio is returning to its original fantasy universe… and likely bringing a whole new fanbase along with it.
If such a currently-very-much-hypothetical game would mark your first foray into the Divinity universe, then you may want a quick primer on what to expect. Let us be your guide to Divinity, and be the first to (very pre-emptively) say…
Welcome to Rivellon
Much like how Baldur’s Gate takes place in the Dungeons & Dragons setting of the Forgotten Realms, Divinity has its own rich, original setting: the world of Rivellon. There are broad similarities between the two; both are rooted in Tolkienesque fantasy tropes, with classically styled medieval landscapes and locations. There are multiple races; like in D&D, you can expect to meet humans, elves, dwarves, lizard-like beings, and the living dead. Magic is commonplace in Rivellon, although sorcery is considered more dangerous and is more heavily regulated there than it is on D&D’s Sword Coast.
Like Baldur’s Gate, Divinity also features a number of more esoteric elements, from steampunk to sci-fi and beyond, that make its world a little quirkier than the lands explored in more traditional fantasy like The Lord of the Rings. Rivellon can also often be a very silly place, and the influence of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels has frequently been felt in Divinity’s writing. In fact, Terry’s daughter, Rhianna Pratchett, even wrote a tie-in novella for the second game. But that’s not to say Rivellon is frivolous – there’s a deep vein of fascinating lore that has been mined over the series’ six installments.
In short, Rivellon is the stage for stories similar to those you enjoyed in Baldur’s Gate 3, but is beholden only to Larian’s rules, rather than those set by the owners of Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast.
What is Divinity?
Divinity is an RPG series, but its evolution has been far from usual. Take a quick look at each of the six games, and you’ll find at least four different approaches. Divine Divinity, the very first game in the series, and its sequel, Beyond Divinity, are Diablo-influenced action RPGs. Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, meanwhile, is a third-person RPG that feels a little closer to the likes of Dragon Age and The Witcher. Divinity: Dragon Commander is a slightly Total War-flavoured strategy game, and the Original Sin duology – the most recent games in the series – are classic-style RPGs that bear the most resemblance to Baldur’s Gate 3. Larian has experimented wildly over the years, and so there’s no clear indication as to what format the next game in the series will use (although considering the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, the sensible bet would be on something similar).
Another unusual element is its approach to the timeline. While Rivellon does have a coherent history and storylines that are threaded across the series, each game is set years (sometimes even centuries) apart, meaning each one is something of a standalone experience. Similar to how Baldur's Gate 3 demands no experience of the series but has plenty of nods to the two earlier games, you can play Divinity: Original Sin 2 without any experience of its predecessors. I suspect any future game in the series would continue this tradition, especially since Larian now has a legion of new fans who are unfamiliar with the studio’s previous work. If the leaked trademark is to be believed, this new project is simply called “Divinity” – a name that has likely been chosen since it comes with no suggestion that you need to have played multiple other games.
What Does “Divinity” Mean?
Divinity’s name is drawn from its foundational lore. Thousands of years before the events of Divine Divinity, the first game in the series, Rivellon’s ruling body, the Council of Seven, sacrificed themselves to defend the realm from evil wizards. The “Divine Order” was established in remembrance and assigned to pass on their knowledge to the next generations.
By the events of Divine Divinity, a prophecy tells of a messiah who will protect Rivellon from the next existential threat, a demon called Chaos. That messiah, it turns out, is you, and you ascend to become Lucian the Divine – a character that goes on to make appearances in Divinity 2: Ego Draconis and Divinity: Original Sin 2. The concept of the Divine is frequently explored in the stories, although it’s not the central focus of each and every game.
How Similar is Divinity to Baldur’s Gate 3?
Since the series has changed so much over its lifetime, most of the Divinity series is actually pretty different from what Larian created with Baldur’s Gate 3. However, the Original Sin duology is very clearly the blueprint for BG3. These are isometric RPGs set across multiple regions, with tactical turn-based combat and a similar “hands-off” approach to quest design.
While both are worth playing, Original Sin 2 is by far the most accomplished, both in terms of gameplay depth and narrative strength. It is where Larian pioneered the “origin story” characters that would later become the heroes of Baldur’s Gate 3, and Rivellon’s answer to the likes of Astarion, Gale, and Shadowheart are just as brilliantly written. It’s also the game in which the studio established “tags”, the system that provides character-specific dialogue options to help you better roleplay your specific race or class.
Perhaps the Original Sin duology’s most lauded system is its elemental effects – cast a rain spell to make something wet, and then use a lightning ability to conduct electricity through that sodden surface. Tip over an oil barrel to create a puddle, and then shoot a flaming arrow into it to create a blaze. Stab an enemy, freeze their blood, and watch them slip on their own icy innards. Much of this elemental interplay made it into Baldur’s Gate 3, but it’s much more pronounced in Original Sin. Expect at least a quarter of your battles to result in arena-wide bonfires.
How to Play the Divinity Games in Order
As previously mentioned, the timeline gaps that separate the Divinity games mean there are no strictly direct sequels, and you can more or less play them in any order you choose. If you’ve played Baldur’s Gate 3 and are looking to learn more about Divinity, I’d only truly recommend playing Original Sin 2, which is widely regarded as the best in the series. Initially a PC exclusive, it is now available on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and even iPad. But if you really do want to delve into the lore and explore the entire timeline, this is how you’d need to tackle the series:
Divinity: Dragon Commander (2013)
A grand strategy game set thousands of years prior to the events of the RPGs.
Divinity: Original Sin (2014)
A CRPG with turn-based combat, set 1000 years before the original game, focused on a pair of “Source Hunters” tracking down dangerous magic users.
Divine Divinity (2002)
A Diablo-like ARPG that chronicles the ascension of Lucian the Divine.
Beyond Divinity (2004)
The ARPG sequel to Divine Divinity, set 20 years later, tells the story of one of Lucian’s servants, who has been soulbound to an evil Death Knight.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 (2017)
A CRPG that’s a sequel to Original Sin in terms of game design, but takes place after the original two games and deals with an outbreak of “Voidwoken” monsters in Rivellon.
Divinity 2: Ego Draconis (2009)
A 3D action RPG set decades after Lucian’s ascension, during an era when the Divine’s adoptive son has become a tyrant, in which you play as a knight who can transform into a dragon.
Matt Purslow is IGN's Executive Editor of Features.
Even with Mike Mignola's Hellboy and BPRD saga having concluded in 2019, there are always new stories to tell in this sprawling horror universe. That's where the Miss Truesdale series comes in. These books reveal the early origins of the Hellboy-verse, and that process continues in the new sequel series Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man.
IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man #1. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:
Here's Dark Horse's official logline for the new series:
Fans first met unassuming Miss Truesdale in Victorian England when she discovered her shocking connection to the ancient gladiator, Anum Yassa. She is thrown into her past life to battle an ancient evil and protect the future. Now in Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man, Anum Yassa wanders the forest in search of answers about her past, present, and future lives - only to discover a dark entity on her trail and threatening all of mankind.
My ending the Hellboy world (sort of) in the B.P.R.D. series, I now find myself fascinated by the very beginnings of it,” said Mignola in a statement. “Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man is not a story I would even attempt to tell without the storytelling genius of Jesse Lonergan. For me, coming up with the story was a rollercoaster of strange surprises and Jesse has made it even stranger, more beautiful than I could have imagined. This is the deepest dive yet into the world and how it all works.”
“With Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea, we explored this past life relationship between a woman in Victorian England and the ancient gladiator she was in a past life,” said Lonergan. “Now, in Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man, those two characters are merged, a Victorian woman in this powerful gladiator body, exploring a new world and battling all manner of monsters and beasts. These travels and battles culminate in a confrontation that reveals deep truths about the Hellboy Universe.”
Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man #1 is available in comic shops now. You can find a copy at your local comic shop.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket byfollowing @jschedeen on BlueSky.
IDW Publishing has just kicked off a new era for the flagship Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic. Issue #13 marks the debut of the series' new creative team, writer Gene Luen Yang and artist Freddie E. Williams II. It also serves as the first appearance of a major new villain known as Ujigami. And this villain is carrying a terrible secret.
Read on to find out what happens in this issue and learn the shocking truth of Ujigami's true identity, but beware of full spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13 ahead!
Who Is TMNT Villain Ujigami?
Easily one of the biggest plot twists in IDW's long-running TMNT universe came with issue #100 of Vol. 1, which featured the death of the Turtles' father and mentor, Splinter. That death has continued to cast a shadow over the franchise ever since. That is, until the previous creative team, writer Jason Aaron and artist Juan Ferreyra, ended their run by bringing Splinter back.
That's a pretty major development for Yang and Williams to build upon in their new story, and they waste no time in doing just that. Issue #13 opens with the mysterious, masked Ujigami interrupting a heated Triad meeting and murdering Xiang Fei Tong, the leader of the Ghost Boys gang. The Turtles begin investigating the murder and discover a connection between the Triads and Baxter Stockman, now the newly elected mayor of New York.
Meanwhile, Splinter is shown eking out a meager existence in the slums of New York. He may be alive, but he's far from well, as he struggles with amnesia and a pervasive sense of dread.
The Turtles fear it's only a matter of time before the Ghost Boys confront Mayor Stockman, and their fears are proven correct when the gang's new mutant leader attacks him. But once again, the battle is interrupted by the arrival of Ujigami, who seriously wounds Stockman and claims to be a true, faithful ally to the Hamato family. Ujigami then escapes into the night.
It's there that the big reveal happens. Ujigami is Splinter. In his addled condition, he seems to think he's helping his sons by assassinating their enemies. Check out the slideshow gallery above to see the big reveal play out.
As it stands, the Turtles aren't aware that their father is alive, and they certainly don't know that he's masquerading as Ujigami. But it probably won't be long until the terrible truth comes out.
What This Means for TMNT's Future
Both Yang and TMNT group editor Jake Thomas spoke to IGN about this big twist and how it'll shape the series going forward. For Yang, fatherhood really is one of the driving themes of his TMNT run, drawing on his own personal experiences.
“Splinter's return to IDW's TMNT universe is huge – what an incredible way for Jason Aaron and Juan Ferreyra to end their run! Freddie and I wanted to make sure it was meaningful," Yang tells IGN. "I thought a lot about my own experience of fatherhood. My wife and I have four kids, and I've been tempted again and again to do everything in my power to make their lives as easy as possible, to keep them safe. But then... that's not always what's best for the kids, is it? Especially after they become teenagers."
Yang continues, "Great Turtles stories have always been about family, so Freddie and I are leaning into that. Can't wait for fans to read what else we have in store! And it's not just Splinter. There's another character who will soon be making an appearance – their first in the IDW incarnation of TMNT!”
Thomas explains that the goal with bringing back Splinter wasn't simply to restore the traditional TMNT statuis quo, but to do something drastically different with the character and reexamine his relationship with his sons.
“There is something undeniably powerful about the loss of a parent. When the Turtles lost Splinter – their master, their teacher, their father – back in TMNT (2011) #100, it changed the brothers and their world forever," Thomas says. "When we discussed bringing Splinter back, we knew the family couldn't just return to business as usual. The far-reaching story Gene and Freddie are just starting here is not about resetting the status quo, it is about questioning and examining the nature of family, fear, loss, love, and sacrifice, all through the incredible action, hijinks, heart, and humor that give these Turtles their power. Buckle up, this is going to be a wild ride."
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13 is available in stores now, and issue #14 will be released on January 14, 2026. You can pick up both issues at your local comic shop.
Netflix has released the debut trailer for Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 alongside first look photos, confirming a 2026 release window.
The teaser for the live-action series showcases fan-favorite Earthbender, Toph (Miya Cech), the newest member of Team Avatar that includes Aang (Gordon Cormier), Katara (Kiawentiio), and Sokka (Ian Ousley).
Avatar: The Last Airbender is a live-action reimagining of the beloved Nickelodeon animated series. It follows Aang, the young Avatar, as he learns to master the four elements (Water, Earth, Fire, Air) to restore balance to a world threatened by the Fire Nation. In Season 2, after a bittersweet victory saving the Northern Water Tribe from the invading Fire Nation, Avatar Aang, Katara, and Sokka regroup and set off on a mission to convince the elusive Earth King to aid in their battle against fearsome Fire Lord Ozai.
Christine Boylan (Poker Face, Once Upon a Time) serves as executive producer and writer. Jabbar Raisani (Lost in Space, Stranger Things) is executive producer and director, alongside directors Anu Menon, Amit Gupta and Hiromi Kamata.
Season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender made its Netflix debut on February 22, 2024 and, according to the streamer, was the number one English TV show with 41.1 million views in just the first 11 days. The series was number one in 76 countries and in the top 10 in 92. Just a month later, Netflix announced that Avatar: The Last Airbender had been renewed for Seasons 2 and 3, which will conclude the story.
“We’re looking forward to working with all of our actors again and digging into the deeper, more complicated relationships that develop as their journey continues in Season 2,” executive producers Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani said. “We are going to show the real-world versions of iconic scenes from the original, and explore some of the stories that the animation didn’t. Mainly, we’re looking forward to seeing our gang all together again.”
New cast members rounding out the Season 2 line-up include:
Terry Chen (Lucky Star, Jessica Jones, House of Cards) as Jeong Jeong
Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness, Between the Temples, Ghostlight) as Lo and Li
Lily Gao (Blue Sun Palace, Twisted Metal, Slip) as Ursa
Madison Hu (The Brothers Sun, The Boogeyman) as Fei
Dichen Lachman (Severance, Jurassic World: Dominion, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) as Yangchen
Also announced are two new cast members joining in Season 3: Jon Jon Briones (Ratched, Hadestown, The Last Voyage of the Demeter) as Piandao, and Tantoo Cardinal (Dances with Wolves, Legends of the Fall, Killers of the Flower Moon) as Hama.
IGN’s Avatar: The Last Airbender review returned a 7/10. We said: “The live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series enriches the original story with meaningful new material, but its breakneck pacing, exposition-heavy dialogue, and hit-or-miss effects aren’t precisely in balance.”
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.
Rockstar's controversial recent firing of 31 Grand Theft Auto 6 staff has now reached UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who has described the matter as "deeply concerning" and pledged that ministers would invesigate.
The layoffs, which took place at the end of October, were raised in the UK's Parliament during today's session of Prime Minister's Questions, by Rockstar North's local MP Chris Murray.
"The video games company Rockstar in my constituency last month fired 31 employees without providing evidence or union representation," Murray told the Prime Minister. "The [Independent Workers Union of Great Britain union] IWGB alleges union busting. Having met Rockstar they failed to reassure me they are following employment law and I share concerns about union busting.
"Given this government is responsible for the biggest increase in workers rights in a generation," Murray continued, "does the Prime Minister agree all companies regardless of profit size must follow UK employment law and all workers have the right to join a union?"
"It's a deeply concerning case," Starmer replied. "Every worker has the right to join a trade union and we're determined to strengthen workers rights and ensure they don't face unfair consequences for being part of a union. Our ministers will look into the particular case that he [Murray] raises and will keep him updated."
For its part, Rockstar's parent company Take-Two Interactive previously described the firings as due to "gross misconduct, and for no other reason" after employees were found to be "distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum" against company policy. IGN has contacted Take-Two again for further comment today.
Several reports on the issue, including by Bloomberg and People Make Games, have examined what is alleged to have occured in more detail. Bloomberg was first to report that the workers were all UK and Canadian employees who had been members of a private chat server on Discord, where union organization had been discussed.
A subsequent report by People Make Games, meanwhile, revealed that employees on that Discord server had shared and discussed a specific message from Rockstar management regarding changes to the company's Slack message policy, designed to cut down on off-topic conversations. It's this sharing and discussing of an internal policy that is believed to have given Rockstar its legal justification to fire the workers.
But was this drastic action, which saw some employees who had worked at the company for over a decade marched out of the office by security, justfied? The IWGB previously branded Rockstar's decision as "the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting in the history of the games industry," made with "flagrant contempt for the law and for the lives of the workers who bring in their billions."
In a statement sent to IGN today, MP Chris Murray shared further, eyebrow-raising detail of his attempts to discuss the matter with Rockstar itself, including a joint meeting alongside fellow Edinburgh MPs Tracy Gilbert and Scott Arthur at Rockstar North's offices which began with a standoff over the need to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
"The meeting began with us as MPs refused entry unless an NDA was signed, a request they eventually withdrew after it being made clear this would not be signed," Murray said.
He continued: "The meeting only entrenched my concerns about the process Rockstar used to dismiss so many of their staff members. I was not assured their process paid robust attention to UK employment law, I was not convinced that this course of action was necessary, and alarmingly, I did not leave informed on exactly what these 31 people had done to warrant their immediate dismissal."
Following Grand Theft Auto 6's most recent delay, the highly-anticipated blockbuster is now set to arrive on November 19, 2026. Despite the extra wait, the game is projected by some analysts to make $3 billion in its first year on sale and said by others to be one of the most important game releases of all time.
As for Rockstar's now-former staff, the IWGB has formally taken up their case and filed legal claims against Rockstar Games, alleging that their dismissal constituted "trade union victimisation and blacklisting." The first step on this legal journey will see the IWGB's claim examined by a tribunal who will determine whether the ex-employees are eligible for any interim relief. IGN recently questioned Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick on the matter, who answered by defending the company's culture and saying that Take-Two was "incredibly proud of our labor relations."
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Sometimes, the best thing you can do is pick a goal and move towards it. You might have no idea how to get where you wanna go; you might have no idea where you are when it comes to accomplishing it; and you might not have much outside help, but you’ll do it anyway. What other choice is there? Just keep moving forward, and maybe something good will happen. That philosophy guided me through my three hours with Outward 2, a video game that mostly wanted me dead and was very good about making it happen. Everybody needs goals, right?
After making a character in Outward 2’s fairly (at least right now) limited character creator and choosing different elements of my backstory, which altered my starting stats – the RPG standard Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, and Willpower – my journey started in the city of Haboob, which has been recently reclaimed from the Scourge. I don’t know what that means, exactly, but it sounded good. Anyway, my recently arrived character won the housing lottery when a guy named Sebastian decided to move. Here I was, less than five minutes into the game and already a homeowner. Talk about a fantasy. We chatted before he left, and he seemed nice enough, and then I headed out to explore the city.
Haboob is gorgeous – a multilayered city of stone, with these giant rotating fans (there’s one in my house, near the bed) and I enjoy walking around it for a bit, grabbing an “on the house” (pun intended) drink at the local tea shop, and enjoying the vibe. Outward 2 isn’t the most visually sophisticated game out there – the character models kinda look like they stepped out of an Xbox 360-era Bethesda RPG – but its environments are pretty grand. After wandering around for a bit and speaking to the local Chamberlord, who hands over the deed to my new house, I call it a night. There’s not much else to do.
Haboob is gorgeous – a multilayered city of stone...
I’m awoken when a guard breaks in and tries to rob me (rude!) and whacks me in the head with a mace. Sebastian shows up to kill him, takes whatever it is, and then places the pistol he used to take care of the guard in my hand. At least he looks sorry about it, but because all the evidence of the murder points to me, I’m exiled with little more than what’s in my possession. The Chamberlord suggests I find Sebastian to prove my innocence.
Back to Square One
Outward 2 is a survival game, which means I need to find, craft, or buy my supplies. Out in the world, there’s nothing to guide you. I had no map and no leads. The only thing around was a big, dead bird under what looked like some sort of mystical lamp post. I decided to head east. Always into the east. I got into a couple fights, one of which was against a dude that really didn’t seem to want to be there. Outward’s combat isn’t going to blow anyone away, but it’s weighty and generally pretty solid. I’m doing all right even though I only have an ice pick and a bow I picked up in the city until I fall into a small, rocky hole. I can’t walk or roll out of it and Outward 2 has no jump button. I end up starting a new run. I ran into a lot of bugs in my time with my preview build of Outward 2 – items would duplicate or not be usable, characters would float in mid-air, and so on – but that’s to be expected of something this early.
I tried to use it as an opportunity. This time, I spent more time in Haboob because I knew I was going to get kicked out, found some new people to talk to, and was generally better equipped when I was framed for murder. Again. I just bought a house in real life, so I was particularly upset about this. How dare this dude? Who does he think he is?
But I was lucky in other ways. Remember that dead bird from last time? In its place, I found a woman named Oliele who helped me out by offering me some supplies, including a tent and a map, and told me where I might find Sebastian. There were a couple possibilities. I opted to head northeast to the True Levantines. Even with my supplies, life wasn’t easier. Drinking river water made me sick to my stomach, and my ice pick wasn’t a force in combat. I scavenged enough wood to build a shield and mostly tried to avoid fights. Even the map wasn’t much help. Oh, yeah, it was nice to see what the region looked like, but the map doesn’t track where you are, so… you know, it works like a real map. Outward 2 is willing to let you get lost, and I appreciated that.
Second Chances
This time, I didn’t fall into a hole, but I did run into other problems. Combat was risky, and when I camped for the night because my character was exhausted, I got attacked and… I couldn’t fight back. I could move, but I couldn’t swing my weapons. I opted to die, thinking that would be the end of it. Instead, I got a special little sequence because I died near a river, and washed up on its banks, my gear close by. Minus my tent.
Soon after, I spotted a weird ghost and tried to pick a fight. That was a bad idea. Not only could I barely hurt him with my ice pick, he never stopped following me when I tried to run away, so I followed the path I was on, the spectre hot on my heels, until I just happened to run into the True Levantine settlement and the guards finished him off for me. No sign of Sebastian, but I had a lead: south. Okay.
Then I got back on the road and died a whole bunch. I died to a big bird. I died to a weird bat thing. I fell over once and died. I died because I bled out. Each time I was rescued. Sometimes by a nice guy named Gep who I never met but left me a drink at his campfire. Sometimes by the healers at the True Levantine camp. Eventually, I decided it was time to buy a sword. I sold what little I had, and from there, things got easier. I made progress south. I found a weird tower where everything wanted to kill me. I killed an exiled mercenary and stole *his* tent. Ha! I explored a weird little cave and did some mining.
At this point I was rolling, and I figured I’d keep going until I died. Then I ran into one of those weird bat things again, and that was that. Three hours had flown by. Outward 2 doesn’t hold your hand, and I admire that. Exploring its gorgeous world is a lot of fun. I wish it was a little less buggy, and I wish that there was a bit more to do in a world that can sometimes feel big and empty – gathering materials in the areas I explored was difficult, and I didn’t get to craft as much as I wanted; I really wanted some linen, and I could not find or buy any of me for the life of me – but I did enjoying just picking a direction, setting off into the world, and seeing what I could see. There’s something special in that, and if the full release of Outward 2 can capture it, it might just make you want to go for a stroll.
Skyrim’s release on Switch 2 has resurfaced jokes about Bethesda milking the life out of its open-world fantasy role-playing game by releasing it on all the platforms under the sun. Skyrim has been ported and remastered so many times that it’s become one of the internet’s most enduring memes.
"It's a bit of a joke at this point how often we release Skyrim, but it's a great game," Bethesda's Matt Carofano, creative director of the Switch 2 version, said while talking to Nintendo Life. "We want everyone to be able to play it in the best way possible."
And that, it seems, is at the crux of Skyrim's numerous ports. With each new hardware generation, Bethesda has an opportunity to reach a whole new generation of players who get to experience its RPG for the first time. This time, it's Switch 2, giving the development team the chance to "take advantage of the new hardware."
A few years after Skyrim's original release in 2011, Bethesda worked on a "remastering process," improving the lighting and graphics features. Now, on Switch 2, it can make use of things like volumetric lighting and improved weather conditions, fog, and clouds.
"We had previously done the version for the Switch, so this was going back to that and making improvements on it," Carofano said. "So it was really an easy development process and actually pretty quick in terms of our timelines. Making the game takes years and years and years, but bringing it to this new console was a much, much faster process.
"A lot of it was really just focusing on taking advantage of the new hardware. We can use DLSS now and get better resolution, better performance, and the game loads faster. Switch 2 has the Joy-Con 2 controllers that let you use mouse controls, so we added that. A lot of it is really just, 'How do we take advantage of the Switch 2? What can it do? And [how can we] give players the best version of Skyrim for that console?'"
Of everything, though, Carofano says it's the general performance that most impresses him, as the game "performs better, runs smoother, and loads faster. So it's just a better play experience on the Switch 2."
Reflecting on why so many people continue to play and enjoy Skyrim over a decade after its release, lead designer Bruce Nesmith recently said: "I think Skyrim did the open world in a way that nobody had ever done before and very few people have really tried to do since. By all rights, a year later, some other game should have eclipsed it. And then two years later, three years later, five, 10. It’s like ‘what the hell is going on here?’
"Todd [Howard, Bethesda boss] would even go to these meetings and show us information, which I can’t give you the details of, about how many people are playing it. It’s like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me?’ Seriously, still, 10 years later."
Bethesda is, of course, working on its hotly anticipated Skyrim follow-up, The Elder Scrolls VI, but it has said next to nothing about it. We do know it will include a character designed in memory of a much-missed fan, after a remarkable charity campaign that raised more than $85,000 for Make-A-Wish.
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.
A six-minute prologue for next year's Christopher Nolan epic The Odyssey will air in select IMAX theaters this weekend, and again next week before screenings of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
To be in with a chance to watch this special presentation, you'll need to be sitting down in an IMAX theater this Friday, December 12, for 70mm screenings of Ryan Coogler's Sinners or the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring One Battle After Another.
From next weekend, the prologue will also air ahead of IMAX screenings for Disney's new Avatar threequel.
As reported by Variety, Nolan has chosen to release this prologue now during the busy holiday season while attention is high, and in IMAX 70mm as it is his preferred format. The Odyssey was previously announced as being the first blockbuster to be fully shot using IMAX cameras.
Due for launch on July 17, 2026, The Odyssey features an all-star cast including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Mia Goth, Charlize Theron, and Jon Bernthal.
Damon recently recalled an incident during filming where Holland personally called the head of Sony Pictures to arrange for one of the company's pristine 70mm prints of the classic film Lawrence of Arabia to be shown to The Odyssey's cast. "Tom Holland, because he’s Spider-Man and he’s everybody’s favourite at that studio, called [Sony Pictures boss Tom] Rothman and he arranged for us to screen it on a Sunday, the full four hours," Damon said.
The Odyssey is Nolan's 13th film, after previously helming Following, Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, Oppenheimer, and The Dark Knight Trilogy. Such is the anticipation for the movie, that a limited number of The Odyssey tickets went on sale during the summer — a year in advance of the film opening.
While Nolan has long been celebrated as one of the great directors of modern cinema, The Odyssey is expected to perform particularly strongly following the breakout success of Oppenheimer, the Cillian Murphy-led biopic that fuelled one half of the Barbenheimer phenomenon, earned a staggering $975 million during its theatrical run, and walked away with Best Picture at the Oscars.
The Odyssey will adapt the epic Greek story of the same name, which follows heroic king Ithaca (Damon) on his way home from the Trojan War (which famously ended with Troy conquered after the use of the wooden horse). The tale is based on myth rather than historical fact, so expect witches, Sirens, and the Cyclops to appear — as soon as this weekend.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Ah, the licensed video game. Once a collection of underwhelming retellings of big-screen blockbusters, littered with haunting polygonal nightmares (Hagrid, that’s you) and aimless Atari attempts (yes, E.T., that’s you), we’ve seen an uptick in actually good adaptations in recent years, with the upcoming Terminator 2D: No Fate looking like a promising attempt at turning James Cameron’s classic into some enjoyable retro action. So, we thought we’d pick out the best of the bunch.
We do have a few little rules, though, that stop just any old film-adjacent game from making the list. They need to either be:
A direct translation or adaptation of a feature film
An official movie sequel or prequel.
Or a game that attempts to continue the story or provide backstory and additional canonical lore.
So, for example, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man is not eligible as it takes place in a Marvel universe separate from the movies and is much more rooted in the original comic books, but the PS2’s Spider-Man 2 would be allowed due to it being directly based on the Sam Raimi film of the same name. Make sense? I hope so. Let’s rank the top 10 best licensed games based on movies.
10. Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
Console launch games come with the power to stun thanks to the leap in technology they inherently are unlocked by. The Xbox 360’s Peter Jackson’s King Kong definitely benefited from this, as the Lord of the Rings’ director’s epic retelling of the classic monster movie made a huge splash at the dawn of gaming’s HD era. With Rayman and Beyond Good and Evil creator Michel Ancel helming it at Ubisoft Montpellier, King Kong felt more than a standard movie tie-in thanks to its many interesting and novel ideas. You had the freedom to explore its vast jungle spaces, which offered an unprecedented sense of cinematic immersion and was a breathtaking contrast against the previous generation’s more limiting, corridor-like spaces. King Kong not only ushered in a whole new generation of hardware but also a new way of thinking about how licensed games could be approached.
9. Scarface: The World is Yours
Scarface: The World is Yours has balls. Not only does a “Balls Meter” fill up as Tony Montana causes mayhem across an open-world ‘80s Miami, allowing for him to slow down time, enter first-person mode, and gain infinite ammo as he guns down as many gang rivals as possible, but it also has an audacity to position itself as a sequel to a film in which its protagonist dies at the end. In this alternative universe, Al Pacino’s antihero coke fiend survives the ambush at his mansion thanks to a certain little friend and escapes out of the back door, free to continue building his drug-running empire. Yes, it's largely a GTA-clone, as was commonplace in the era — see the also actually quite good The Godfather adaptation for further evidence — but its wild concept alone is enough for it to deserve a place on this list.
8. Rockstar’s The Warriors
In terms of creating immersive worlds and capturing a tone, not many do it quite like Rockstar. The Warriors comes from an era when we’d get more than one game a decade from the developer, and sometimes multiple in one year. A much smaller-scale project than the likes of GTA: San Andreas or Vice City, The Warriors acts as both a prequel and a retelling of the cult ‘70s thriller of the same name, focusing on the titular New York gang. Taking the form of a beat 'em up, it successfully drenches you in the seedy underworld alleyways that its characters inhabit, as Rockstar once again displayed their world-class world-building credentials. And that grimy tone is what The Warriors achieves most successfully, making it an adaptation that shouldn’t be overlooked, even when compared to the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption studio’s other headline-stealing projects.
7. Mad Max
Avalanche Studios’ Mad Max is the perfect example of taking the essence of a film series and turning that into the driving force behind a video game adaptation. In this case, it's the exhilarating car combat witnessed all the way back in the original 1979 movie, through Road Warrior, and into Fury Road’s landmark action. When Max is on foot in the 2015 game, it's perfectly good as it apes the successful melee formula concocted by Warner Bros. stablemate Rocksteady for its Batman Arkham series, but it's when the Australian drifter gets those hands out of raiders’ jawbones and behind the wheel of his iconic Interceptor that it really comes to life. Now a cult favourite, much like the original film that inspires it, Mad Max is one of a kind and a fantastic translation of George Miller’s vision in video game form.
6. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Years before the Rocksteady Batman: Arkham and Insomniac Marvel’s Spider-Man games, the prospect of a successful comic book game was bleak. Even rarer was the thought of a genuinely fun movie tie-in. Treyarch’s Spider-Man 2, based on the Sam Raimi film of the same name, flew in the face of both those ideas. An incredibly detailed New York City (for the time, at least) felt like a revelation to swing around in, and Peter Parker’s web-slinging provided a whole new way to explore the sort of 3D open world that the PS2’s Grand Theft Auto games had pioneered. In a legitimately impressive technical revelation, Treyarch’s Spidey actually attached his webs to buildings rather than empty skyboxes. Flying between skyscrapers and thumping petty criminals was a thrilling sensation back in 2004, and, while it has since been far eclipsed by more modern Peter Parker and Miles Morales adventures, it certainly paved the way for those to exist.
5. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
It’s difficult to think of a movie series that’s had more games to its name than Star Wars. Classics such as TIE Fighter and Rogue Leader were contenders for this pick, but we just think there’s nothing like the fulfillment of the Force fantasy that is delivered by Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Bridging the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, this 2023 action-adventure is part of the official canon, with references to Order 66 and clashes with Darth Vader fuelling Cal Kestis’ story, but with an originality that doesn’t just lean on Star Wars cliches. An improvement in pretty much every way over its predecessor, Fallen Order, it's an easy pick for our representative of the most famous of film universes.
4. GoldenEye 007
It may not be the best to play now, but there’s just no denying the impact that GoldenEye 007 had when it arrived in 1997 on the Nintendo 64. Perfect Dark, shortly after, would go on to expand on the ideas established in its campaign, and games like TimeSplitters would borrow from its revolutionary approach to FPS multiplayer, making it so much more than just a movie adaptation. Yes, it featured a whole host of famous James Bond heroes and villains — including a truly broken Oddjob, who takes the term “sharply dressed” to its extreme —- and successfully captured the globetrotting exploits of 007 as much as a console with the limited power of the N64 could at the time, but it also shaped the next three decades of online shooters. This makes it so much more than just a movie tie-in, and something developer Rare should never be forgotten for achieving.
3. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
A video game prequel to the 2000 Vin Diesel vehicle, Pitch Black, has no right to be as good as The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, yet here we are. Taking a heap of Half-Life campaign design and a healthy dose of Thief-like stealth, the Swedish Starbreeze Studios and Vin Diesel’s own Tigon Studios transformed a perfectly decent film series into a genuinely great video game, and one that many believe surpasses its source material. Its smart level design is enhanced by intelligent translations of Riddick’s abilities from the film, such as his trademark “eyeshine”, which lets you see in the dark, and a healthy amount of improvised blunt and sharp weaponry that fits perfectly with the movie’s grimy aesthetic. The plot’s premise — a prison escape — is fundamentally cinematic, but it's the ways in which Butcher Bay asks you to play intelligently in its world that pushes it beyond the big screen and into a truly great game.
2. Alien Isolation
The original Alien film from 1979 is a haunted house movie in space, with lone survivor of the Nostromo, Ripley, aiming to survive its dark corridors and the roaming Xenomorph threat until the credits hit. As such, it would become a natural inspiration for many survival horror greats, from Dead Space’s infested spaceship, to SOMA’s unnerving futurism, and, of course, Resident Evil 2’s stalking Mr X threat. So, naturally, when the time came for yet another Alien game to be made, survival horror seemed a logical choice for developer Creative Assembly, who would be the next in a long line to take up the challenge of translating the unique atmosphere of Ridley Scott’s original film.
What the studio made was beyond what could have been expected, as it evolved the idea of RE 2’s Tyrant into an ever-present danger that scuttled along the map’s sprawling web of vents. The Xenomorph, and the tech powering it, are the jewel at the centre of Isolation’s crown, and are what make it such a faithful recreation of Alien. By stepping into her daughter’s shoes and sneaking around the Sevastopol, you get as close a feeling as to what it would’ve been like to be Ripley and walk those Nostromo hallways yourself. It may not quite make the number one spot on our list, but it is the entry that most successfully captures the overall tone of its source material, embracing its terror to astonishing effect.
1. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
We wouldn’t have the likes of Tomb Raider or Uncharted without Indiana Jones, and in 2024, the king came back to claim his throne. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle took everything that made the original trilogy of Steven Spielberg films so special and managed to translate it into a lovingly designed video game from Wolfenstein developer MachineGames — perhaps not so coincidentally, a studio formed by former Escape from Butcher Bay developers. Not only is The Great Circle a fantastic, stealthy, puzzle-filled action-adventure that really places an emphasis on the adventure part, but it borrows all of the archaeological intrigue and, crucially, humour that makes the likes of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade so special. So much, in fact, that the story told here would slot in nicely between them and act as a superior third of that trilogy than Temple of Doom ever did.
Throw in a fantastic pitch-perfect Harrison Ford impression from Troy Baker, a suitably swarmy performance from Marios Gavrilis for the villainous Emmerich Voss, and a healthy amount of Nazi punching, whipping, and shovel-smacking, and you’ve got all of the ingredients you need. But it’s so much more than just a playable film, instead grounding itself in flexible immersive-sim-esque gameplay systems that emphasise using brain over brawn. Violence is rarely considered a first option, and gained knowledge is always a much sharper weapon. It makes for a truly fantastic game in its own right, but one that is as referential as it is transformative, and a true-to-life version of what the Indiana Jones character is — a doctor, not a soldier. The Great Circle is as thought-out a licensed game based on a movie as you could wish for, and a perfect fit for the top of our list.
And those are our picks for the best games based on movies. What game that you love didn’t make the cut? Let us know in the comments! And for more licensed games, check out our list of the best Marvel games of all time.
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.
Doom co-creator John Romero has revealed that while his previous shooter was canceled, "elements" of it live on in his latest secret project.
Romero Games, the studio founded by John and Brenda Romero, was left "heartbroken" this summer after Microsoft reportedly pulled funding of its next project as part of the company's latest round of cuts and mass layoffs. The cuts also affected other internal Xbox studios, leading to the cancellation of the likes of Everwild and Perfect Dark, as well as other unannounced titles Microsoft had been funding.
Despite some reports, the studio did not close, and the Romeros assured fans they were "evaluating opportunities" from publishers that had been in touch since the funding issues were announced, but very little was known about the game other than it was a first-person shooter.
Now, in a new interview at Salón del Videojuego de Madrid (thanks, Eurogamer), John Romero revealed, to rapturous applause, that he had "survived the cancellation of a huge game." And while his current project "has nothing to do with the previous game," it "incorporates a lot of the elements that we had in the previous game."
"We're ahead — we're not starting at ground zero," he explained. "We have 50 million worth of a game. We can take pieces out and put [them] into a brand new indie game, so we have a lot of stuff to put in the game, and the design is completely different, but the team is really excited.
"It's a very much smaller game," he added. "It's more fun for us because the people working on it were all directors of different departments, and they didn't actually get to code or design or whatever — do it themselves — and so now we get to actually do that, do the thing that we're really good at ourselves. That's why small teams are great."
Though he wouldn't be drawn on specifics — "I can't talk about what we're doing in the game, just because it needs to be new" — Romero insisted he has "never played a game like it" before.
"It's a shooter, but the things that you do in it will be new to people [in the same] way that going through Elden Ring was a really new experience. It was a very crazy place and a different world, and it was really cool to explore it and just, 'What is that?' That's the idea behind what we're doing in this game."
Photo by Borja B. Hojas/Getty Images for SDCCMalaga.
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.
Fans believe we're just days away from our first proper peek at Avengers: Doomsday, as Marvel reportedly readies the movie's debut trailer.
A listing for the trailer has now popped up on the Korean Ratings Board, which mentions the look at Avengers: Doomsday with a runtime of 1 minute and 25 seconds.
The emergence of this rating, amid fevered speculation from Marvel production scoopers, certainly suggests our initial glimpse at Avengers: Doomsday footage is now imminent. And then there's the other solid reason why we're likely to get a trailer soon: next week's launch of fellow Disney blockbuster Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Attaching a new trailer for Avengers: Doomsday to the new Avatar movie would inevitably drive further interest in the blue alien threequel, with some cinemagoers likely attending just to see Robert Downey Jr. and co. on the big screen again after all these year.
Avengers: Doomsday is now almost exactly one year away — another milestone that a trailer might celebrate. Due for release on December 18, 2026, the movie is expected to be Marvel's biggest launch since 2019's Avengers: Endgame — which itself will get a re-release next year to remind audiences of the MCU's last major climax.
With the return of Downey Jr. and directorial duo Anthony and Joe Russo, many fans believe Doomsday will be pitched as something of a direct sequel to Endgame (and, obviously, it is the first Avengers-branded follow-up since). Rumors abound that another major Endgame star has also been tempted back for a big role, inverting the relationship they had with Iron Man, now Downey Jr. is playing the villainous Doctor Doom.
To date, Marvel has only released its infamous cast reveal "chair" video showing off the film's enormous ensemble cast that takes in surviving members of the old Avengers, the Thunderbolts (AKA The New Avengers), the Fantastic Four and several high-profile members of the Fox-era X-Men. A few production photos have leaked out over the film's shoot, and fans certainly have their theories over where Doomsday's story is headed, but much of the movie remains officially under wraps.
Perhaps we'll get hints at all of that, when the first Avengers: Doomsday trailer does land... soon.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
South Park looks set to bring Season 28 to a close with the long-awaited(?) delivery of Satan and Donald Trump’s ‘butt baby.’
Today, December 10, South Park Season 28 Episode 5 airs at 10pm ET / PT on Comedy Central, before streaming tomorrow, December 11 on Paramount+ from 6am ET / 3am PT. Episode 5 is expected to be the season finale and bring to an end South Park’s current biweekly schedule of new episode releases until the new season starts.
For the uninitiated, the overarching storyline in South Park Season 27 and Season 28 has been Trump trying and failing to convince Satan not to go through with having their baby, aka the Antichrist. Now it’s actually happening, although vice president J.D. Vance, who has conspired with Trump to try to murder the baby in recent episodes, may end up having the last laugh.
The episode itself is appropriately called The Crap Out, and Comedy Central's episode description declares: "Satan's due, Stan's praying, and only a Christmas miracle can deliver the Antichrist on time." How will Stan factor in all of this? It’s unclear, but the clip below shows Trump and J.D. Vance working as bell ringers for the Salvation Army, so there is that...
Watch an all-new episode of South Park December 10th at 10/9c on Comedy Central and stream next day on Paramount+. pic.twitter.com/s7wYziizaJ
Also unclear is what happens with South Park from here. South Park abruptly brought Season 27 to an end after just five episodes, and the expectation is that Season 28 will end with the same number. Could we see Season 29 sooner rather than later?
Traditionally, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone create each episode week by week, which makes for a chaotic production but topical shows. Comedy Central had delayed the Season 27 ender just hours before it was due to air, with Parker and Stone insisting the blame lay at their door. “Apparently when you do everything at the last minute sometimes you don’t get it done,” the pair told Variety. “This one’s on us. We didn’t get it done in time. Thanks to Comedy Central and South Park fans for being so understanding. Tune in next week!”
As far as we at IGN are aware, Parker and Stone had missed the scheduled release of South Park just once before, due to a power outage, but never for not getting an episode done in time.
It’s worth noting that during their San Diego Comic-Con 2025 panel, which took place the day after the Season 27 opener aired, Parker said he and Stone were unsure what the next episode would be, revealing the decision was “super stressful.”
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.
Netflix has admitted it did not attribute any value to Warner Bros.’ video game business in its $82.7 billion acquisition deal, sparking concern for the future of everything from Mortal Kombat to Hogwarts Legacy.
While Warner Bros. is best known for its movie and TV business, Warner Bros. Games includes a number of well-known video game developers and brands. Batman Arkham developer Rocksteady, LEGO games developer Traveller's Tales, Hogwarts Legacy developer Avalanche Software, and Mortal Kombat maker NetherRealm are all on Warner Bros. Games’ books.
And despite the fact some of Warner Bros. games, in particular smash hit Hogwarts Legacy, have sold tens of millions of copies and generated billions of dollars in revenue, as far as Netflix is concerned, they’re pretty much an afterthought in this mega deal.
Speaking during a conference presentation about the deal reported on by Pocket Gamer, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters responded to a question about whether buying Warner Bros. would accelerate its own gaming plans.
He said that while Warner Bros. had done “great work in the game space, we actually didn’t attribute any value to that from the get-go because they’re relatively minor compared to the grand scheme of things."
“Now we are super excited because some of those properties that they’ve built, Hogwarts is a great example of that, have been done quite well, and we think that we can incorporate that into what we’re offering.
“They’ve got great studios and great folks working there. So we think that there’s definitely an opportunity there. But just to be clear, we haven’t built that into our deal model.”
While Warner Bros. Games does have some big hitters under its belt, it has struggled since the release of Hogwarts Legacy. In January, previous games boss David Haddad exited the company following the costly failures of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and MultiVersus. Soon after, Warner Bros. Games announced plans to shutter Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and Warner Bros. San Diego alongside the cancelation of its Wonder Woman game. And in June, Warner Bros. Games announced a restructure to focus on four key franchises: Mortal Kombat, Harry Potter, DC, and Game of Thrones.
Indeed, 2024 was a brutal year for Warner Bros. Games, with Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League sparking a $200 million hit to revenue, and then Smash Bros.-style brawler MultiVersus flopping to the tune of $100 million. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, meanwhile, failed to make an impression. Speaking in a financial call, Warner Bros. Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav said: "We recognise [the games business] is substantially underperforming its potential right now.”
So what’s next for Warner Bros. Games while it awaits its fate? The promising Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to launch at some point in 2026, and given Netflix's deal may not close until summer 2027, this one feels safe.
Elsewhere, there's a Hogwarts Legacy sequel in the works and a single-player Batman game from Rocksteady reportedly in development, but neither is announced nor do we have release windows. NetherRealm has yet to announce its next project, having ceased work on Mortal Kombat 1 updates. Will it make another Mortal Kombat game or another game in the DC fighting game series, Injustice? Gotham Knights developer WB Games Montreal, meanwhile, reportedly pitched a John Constantine game but it was never approved. A Flash game was scrapped after the DCU Flash film bombed. It’s now allegedly helping out with other games and is reportedly working on a pitch for a new Game of Thrones game.
Will Netflix be interested in any of this? So far, Netflix has seen mixed results from its video game efforts, with a number of high-profile hires and subsequent studio closures. It’s currently focused on narrative games based on Netflix shows, games for children, social party games, and Grand Theft Auto ports.
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.
UPDATE: Sony has now confirmed December's full line-up of PlayStation Plus games, which includes the previously-leaked Assassin's Creed Mirage and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, as detailed below, and other recently-confirmed additions such as the newly-launched Skate Story.
Premium subscribers get access to another classic game, meanwhile, in the shape of Soulcalibur 3. Here's the full rundown, now formally announced by Sony:
December 2025 PlayStation Plus Extra & Premium Lineup:
Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Skate Story
Granblue Fantasy: Relink
Planet Coaster 2
Cat Quest 3
Lego Horizon Adventures
Paw Patrol: Grand Prix
Paw Patrol World
December 2025 PlayStation Plus Premium Lineup:
Soulcalibur 3
ORIGINAL STORY: Two more titles headed to the PlayStation Plus catalog for Extra and Premium members have reportedly been revealed, and are due to become available next week.
Mirage is the enjoyable, city-sized Assassin's Creed game that launched in 2023 as a brief respite from the sprawling, country-sized epics the series now regularly delivers. Its tighter gameplay, set across the rooftops and alleyways of a historical Baghdad, was well received.
Last month, Mirage received a major update adding a further six hours of gameplay — set in what is now modern day Saudi Arabia, and reportedly funded by modern day Saudi Arabian interests. The game has also recently been added to Xbox Game Pass, as Ubisoft seeks to get the game in front of as many players as possible.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, meanwhile, is the 2023 historical action role-player from Nioh maker Team Ninja, which is loosely based on the Chinese epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
In addition to these, Dealabs reported that Soulcalibur 3 is "expected" to be included in the PlayStation Plus Premium Classics Catalog, after it was previously confirmed as on its way during September's State of Play broadcast. We'll know for certain soon.
Sony is expected to officially reveal its PlayStation Plus selection for December later today. We'll update this post with any further titles then.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Arc Raiders has a "cold snap" on the way, and it's set to arrive on December 16.
As already confirmed by developer Embark Studios, the Cold Snap December update adds a new map condition called Snowfall, a new event called Flickering Flames, new quests, and a new raider deck (Arc Raiders' equivalent of a battle pass).
What does the Snowfall map condition mean, exactly? We're not sure, but Embark shared the image, below, showing what appears to be a dead raider in the snow, suggesting the frigid weather could be more deadly than merely inconvenient. As one fan quipped in response: "I can’t wait to have all of my s**t stolen from people camping in basements on extraction points covered in snow."
Cold Snap is the last update listed as part of Arc Raiders' 2025 content roadmap, and Embark has yet to outline what's coming in 2026. The previous update, rolled out at the end of November, involved a "very hot fix for the locked room exploits," and it turned out they weren’t kidding after some players had been cheating their way into locked rooms as before.
IGN's Arc Raiders review, returned a 9/10. We said: "With polished gunplay and an irresistible grind, ARC Raiders sets a new standard for extraction shooters."
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.
An HBO Max subscriber has filed a class-action lawsuit over Netflix’s proposed $72 billion acquisition of Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.-owned streaming platform HBO Max includes everything from Game of Thrones to Harry Potter, James Gunn's DC Universe to Barbie, and its content is expected to be added to Netflix if and when the deal goes through.
The lawsuit, filed by a Las Vegas-based HBO Max subscriber who has never been a Netflix subscriber, argues that the deal threatens to reduce competition in the U.S. subscription video-on-demand market, and seeks to block the acquisition.
Netflix’s proposal has sparked a tough response from some members of Congress, and it is expected to face significant scrutiny under antitrust laws. Paramount, meanwhile, has launched a hostile bid worth $108.4 billion in the hope of stealing Warner Bros. out from under Netflix.
According to the LA Times, HBO Max subscriber Michelle Fendelander alleged in her lawsuit, filed in a U.S. District Court in San Jose, that if Netflix’s deal were to go through it would decrease competition in the subscription streaming market. The lawsuit asks the court to issue an injunction to prevent the merger from happening.
“American consumers — including SVOD purchasers like Plaintiff, an HBO Max subscriber — will bear the brunt of this decreased competition, paying increased prices and receiving degraded and diminished services for their money,” Fendelander’s lawsuit claims.
“The elimination of this rivalry is likely to reduce overall content output, diminish the diversity and quality of available content, and narrow the spectrum of creative voices appearing on major streaming platforms.”
In a statement, Netflix hit out at the lawsuit, saying: “We believe this suit is meritless and is merely an attempt by the plaintiffs’ bar to leverage all the attention on the deal.”
The email — reviewed by IGN — promises subscribers that nothing is changing “today,” and confirms that HBO Max and Netflix will continue to operate separately until the deal closes. Netflix goes on to say that there are a number of steps it needs to complete before the deal closes, including regulatory and shareholder approval. Netflix’s email does not rule out future price rises, but does promise that current membership plans will remain in place at least until the deal goes through. As for when that will be, Netflix said it expects to close the transaction in 12-18 months. So, at the earliest, December 2026, but it could be as late as summer 2027. It seems likely that Warner Bros. shows will arrive on Netflix when the deal closes, and when that happens a price rise seems inevitable.
But will the deal make it through? Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on the Justice Department to examine Netflix's buyout of Warner Bros., branding the deal "like an anti-monopoly nightmare." Netflix has said acquiring Warner Bros. would provide better value to subscribers and shareholders, but Warren insisted a Netflix-owned Warner Bros. risked job losses and higher subscription prices, and said that the Justice Department must now enforce the country's anti-monopoly laws "fairly and transparently."
In an investor call last week attended by IGN, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos struck a confident tone when asked about the deal’s chance of success. "We're highly confident in the regulatory process," he said. "This deal is pro-consumer, pro-innovation, pro-worker, it's pro-creator, it's pro-growth.”
Photo by Vincent Feuray / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Today's release of Pokémon Legends: Z-A DLC Mega Dimension has seen the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 adventure receive its version 2.0.0 update — and a list of all-new Mega Pokémon evolutions.
Nintendo had previously shown off a handful of Mega Dimension's new Mega Evolutions, but also kept many back for players to find as they explore the game — or, inevitably, discover online as the update was immediately datamined.
Mega Dimension adds a fresh story campaign to Pokémon Legends: Z-A, starring a donut chef and the Mythical Pokémon Hoopa. Notably, it takes players into a Hyperspace version of Lumiose City where the franchise's typical level 100 cap can be surpassed. But, for many, collecting all of the series' brand-new Mega Evolutions will be the core attraction.
We'll leave details of the new Mega Pokémon species under spoiler tags below, for those who wish to discover them during gameplay, ahead of the game's latest patch notes.
For now, these look to be the last additions likely for Pokémon's ninth generation era, before the franchise moves forward to its highly-anticipated 10th generation of games, expected by fans to arrive next year in line with Pokémon's overall 30th anniversary.
For now, anyway, here's everything to look forward to in Mega Dimension, which is now available to play.
Mega Evolutions added in Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mega Dimension:
Mega Raichu X
Mega Raichu Y
Mega Chimecho
Mega Absol Z
Mega Staraptor
Mega Garchomp Z
Mega Lucario Z
Mega Heatran
Mega Darkrai
Mega Chandelure
Mega Golisopod
Mega Golurk
Mega Meowstic
Mega Crabominable
Mega Magearna
Mega Zerora
Mega Scovillain
Mega Glimmora
Mega Tatsugiri
Mega Baxcalibur
Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Version 2.0.0 patch notes (December 9, 2025):
Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Mega Dimension DLC Additional Story Content Now Available:
Players who have purchased the Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Mega Dimension DLC (sold separately) can now enjoy its additional story content.
To progress through the story of the Mega Dimension DLC, you must first have completed the main story of Pokémon Legends: Z-A. For more details about Mega Dimension, please visit the official website: https://legends.pokemon.com/en-us/dlc
New Pokémon:
Players who have not purchased the Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Mega Dimension DLC can still encounter or obtain the Pokémon added to Mega Dimension via communication features.
Fixes Applied:
Several issues have been fixed.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Finding the perfect gift for someone who only likes tech stuff can be a challenge. Partially because the best tech gifts tend to be inherently expensive. If you're buying someone new technology for Christmas this year, it has the potential to be the only gift that truly gets them excited while also blowing a massive hole in your budget.
There are exceptions to this, of course. Plenty of high-quality tech and gaming accessories are surprisingly affordable and practical. If you're looking for ideas of what to get the tech nerd in your life this year, we've rounded up 10 gifts we love and recommend buying in 2025 to help get you started.
1. Ecoflow Rapid Pro Power Bank
"I have to travel for work a lot, and I’m usually hauling a backpack full of tech wherever I go, so I need an awesome battery bank to keep things running when I’m on the road. For the past year it’s been this Ecoflow Rapid Pro power bank. Not only does it have enough juice to charge both my laptop and my Xbox Ally X at the same time, but the pogo pins on the bottom go with this cool little charging station – which unfortunately costs extra – which makes charging it a breeze. It also has a handy built-in USB-C cable, so I don’t have to dig through my backpack just to dig out an inevitably tangled cable." - Jackie Thomas
2. Analogue3D
"This is the ultimate Nintendo 64. Preorders sold out almost instantly when it was first announced way back, and the first restock has already come and gone. Maybe, just maybe, there'll be another one and you can grab it. Whoever gets one of these will be as happy as the original Nintendo 64 kid from the home video that springs up this time of year on social media.
This isn't an emulator: it's a field-programmable gate array. What does that mean, exactly? Too complicated to get into now, but essentially this IS a Nintendo 64, it's not emulating it. It's an actual piece of futuristic technology that lets you play your N64 games on modern TVs in 4K. If you manage to score an Analogue3D this year, you will be the Hero of the Holidays. Four-player GoldenEye never looked so good." - Seth Macy
3. PNY Duo Link V3 Flash Drive (256GB)
"Everyone needs a flash drive, and the PNY Duo Link is by far my favorite – and I’ve used hundreds of the things. The one I carry around has 2TB of capacity, which is more than enough for transferring basically any kind of data. It also has both a USB-A and a USB-C connection, on either side of the drive, which means I can plug it into whichever device I’m using at the time. The best part, though, is the rotating metal cover, which I’m always finding myself fiddling with." - Jackie Thomas
4. Meta Quest 3
"The Quest 3 continues Meta’s legacy of offering a cost-effective headset that doesn’t require an expensive gaming PC, but can still benefit from one if you have it. That’s a unique feature that sets it apart from almost every other VR headset out there, other than its own predecessors. The Quest 3 goes even further by offering us a ticket to mixed-reality gaming with a full-color passthrough mode that’s sharp enough to read things in the world around you, the lightest and most precisely tracked controllers available, and more. The sheer amount of upgrades are well worth the $200 generational price increase. For everyone else who is willing to splurge, the Quest 3 sets the new standard for VR and mixed reality gaming." - Eric Song via IGN's review
5. CRKD Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller
"Remember Guitar Hero and Rock Band? Well, while there hasn’t been a new entry in either franchise in years, games like Clone Hero and YARG are reviving the genre, especially on PC. Plus, after buying Harmonix in 2021, Epic Games built a rock-band-like Rhythm game into Fortnite, which will let you use a guitar controller like this to jam out. Even after reviewing this CRKD guitar controller, I still can’t put it down." - Jackie Thomas
6. Mechanism Gaming Pillow
"I’ve reviewed basically every PC gaming handheld that’s come out over the last couple of years, and so when I say I spend a lot of time cuddled up playing games on them, I’m not exaggerating. The one downside to PC handhelds, though, is that they’re quite a bit heavier than something like the Nintendo Switch 2, which I typically address by just stacking up some pillows and propping up the device that way. But the Mechanism Gaming Pillow takes that idea to another level, with a metal arm attached to what’s essentially a bean-bag pillow. It definitely looks silly, but attaching it to a heavy handheld like the Lenovo Legion Go makes it way easier on your wrists, especially for longer gaming sessions. The company also sells attachments for a wide range of different devices, which you can swap out at will – so it’s not just for your handheld." - Jackie Thomas
7. Nintendo Switch 2
"The Nintendo Switch 2 has been one of the hottest gifts of 2025 so far. When Nintendo first launched its Nintendo Switch successor, I was inclined to wait before making a purchase. That plan went out the window almost immediately after IGN gave Donkey Kong Bananza a perfect 10 out of 10 review. Now that I've taken the plunge, the Switch 2 is my gaming console of choice and I use it almost every day. If you're a fan of Nintendo games, this is theNintendo gift to buy this year." - Jacob Kienlen
"I’ve used hundreds of gaming keyboards in my life, and recently I’ve fallen in love with small 65% gaming keyboards. Yeah, it makes some things a little harder to do, but the portability and the small footprint is a worthy tradeoff for me. There are a lot of these little keyboards out there, but the Higround Basecamp 65 is the perfect blend of aesthetics and incredible switches. I’ve been using this keyboard for something like two years now, and while a lot of keyboards I use develop some kind of problem in that time – I write a lot – this one is still working like the day I took it out of the box." - Jackie Thomas
9. Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
"I've had multiple Kindle e-readers over the years, but the Kindle Paperwhite is my overall favorite. It has a slightly larger screen then the standard Kindle and the adjustable lighting is awesome. It's totally revolutionized how I read, and the addition of a night mode has made it possible for me to keep reading into the night if I want to. If you're looking for really good tablet for reading, this is the one I'd recommend to anyone. Just make sure you get a good case to go with it." - Jacob Kienlen
10. Sony WH-1000XM5 Premium Noise Canceling Headphones
"I used to be really cheap when it came to headphones, but then somebody bought me this really nice pair for Christmas. It's hard to go back to average sound quality once you have experienced really good noise cancellation. The Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones are about as good as it gets and I use them for pretty much everything. They are particularly excellent for gaming if you don't want any outside distractions. I've had these headphones for more than a year now and still recommend them to everyone I know. Though Sony has since released the new WH-1000XM6 headphones." - Jacob Kienlen
Walmart just kicked off one of the lowest prices I've seen on an RTX 5070 equipped laptop. Right now you can pick up a Asus TUF F16 gaming laptop for just $1,099 with free delivery. This laptop offers strong performance for the price since it's equipped with an unthrottled RTX 5070 GPU with a 115W TGP rating.
Asus TUF F16 (2025) RTX 5070 Gaming Laptop for $1,099
The Asus TUF F16 is a solid mid-range 2025 model featuring an anodized aluminum top and durable polycarbonate chassis. It weighs in at about 5 pounds and measures 0.7" thin. Full specs include a 16" 1920x1200 165Hz display, Intel Core i7-14650HX CPU, GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD. The Intel Core i7-14650HX is a 2024 HX-series processor with a max turbo frequency of 5.2GHz and a total of 16 cores and 24 threads. Although this is a slightly older 2024 model, it's still an excellent, powerful mobile processor that will perform well in both gaming and general multi-tasking productivity, even in apps that can utilize multiple cores.
The GeForce RTX 5070 is an unthrottled 115W model
The RTX 5070 is an unthrottled model with 115W TGP (not including dynamic CPU boost) and performs about 5%-10% better than the RTX 4070 that it replaces. That's not a very big generational improvement, but the RTX 5070 has the newer DLSS 4 technology with multi-frame generation, which widens the performance gap in games that support it. It's capable of handling just about every game out there on the display's 1920x1200 resolution. Some people prefer a higher resolution laptop screen, but in my opinion, it's an unnecessary load on resources for minimal visual fidelity gain. A 16" FHD+ laptop display has a pixel density of roughly 140ppi, which is comparable to a 32" monitor with 4K resolution.
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.
These days, streaming services are a dime a dozen. Disney+ offers some of the best value in relation to the exclusive content it has available, as you'll not only have access to dozens of Disney and Pixar films and TV shows, but the entirety of the collected Marvel Cinematic Universe and every Star Wars project pre- and post-acquisition. Depending on the subscription tier or bundle you pick, you can also experience Hulu and ESPN Unlimited content as well, making this the best bang-for-your-buck streaming services around.
But did you know you can give a Disney+ subscription as a gift? We've gathered everything you need to know on how to give a subscription out to your loved ones and how the process works. It's a wonderful Disney gift idea for 2025.
How to Give Disney+ As a Gift
The best way to go about giving a Disney+ subscription as a gift is through a gift card. You can choose values anywhere between $25 and $200 to load onto the card, so figure out what your gift recipient likes and plan accordingly. One month of Disney+ is $10.99 for example, so the base $25 is good for two months.
Like I mentioned previously, you can load the gift card with values ranging from $25 all the way up to $200. Some folks like to pay up front for their longterm subscriptions so they don't have to worry about it later, so a gift card of $100+ is a great route to take if you're planning on binging the entirety of the MCU or catch up on Andor. Check out our Disney+ bundle price guide for more info, or look at a quick TL;DR below so you can get a good idea of how much to give as a gift. Keep in mind only Disney+ premium includes 4K streaming.
Disney+ Pricing
Disney+ Basic: $11.99 monthly
Disney+ Premium: $18.99 monthly, $189.99 annually
Disney+, Hulu bundle - Basic: $12.99 monthly
Disney+, Hulu bundle - Premium; $19.99 monthly
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Select bundle - Basic: $19.99 monthly
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Select bundle - Premium: $29.99 monthly
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Unlimited bundle - Basic: $29.99
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Unlimited bundle - Premium: $38.99
Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max with ads: $19.99 monthly
Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max without ads: $32.99 monthly
Call of Duty will no longer release multiple Black Ops or Modern Warfare games back-to-back, after two Modern Warfare releases in 2022 and 2023, and two Black Ops releases in 2024 and 2025, respectively, and negative feedback and concerning sales reports for the most recent release, Black Ops 7.
This news was delivered from "the Call of Duty team" (encompassing studios Treyarch, Sledgehammer, Infinity Ward, and Raven Software) on the official website, in a post that acknowledged the criticism of Black Ops 7 as well as broader criticism of the franchise in recent years. As the post opens:
First off, thank you for all for the feedback we have received over the last few months. Call of Duty has enjoyed long-standing success because of all of you, a passionate community that demands excellence and deserves nothing less. We also know that for some of you, the Franchise has not met your expectations fully. To be very clear, we know what you expect and rest assured we will deliver, and overdeliver, on those expectations as we move forward.
The post goes on to state a number of changes the Call of Duty studios will be making going forward. For starters, they're opening up Black Ops 7's multiplayer zombies mode for a free trial and Double XP weekend next week, in an effort to get those who have hesitated on Black Ops 7 to "experience the game firsthand and decide for yourselves." They also are committing to "unprecedented season support," saying that they "won't rest until Black Ops 7 earns its place as one of the best Black Ops games we’ve ever made."
Then, the team had this to say about future Call of Duty releases:
We will no longer do back-to-back releases of Modern Warfare or Black Ops games. The reasons are many, but the main one is to ensure we provide an absolutely unique experience each and every year.
We will drive innovation that is meaningful, not incremental. While we aren’t sharing those plans today, we look forward to doing so when the time is right.
The note concludes by saying the team believes Call of Duty's "best days are ahead of us" and that the next era of Call of Duty will "deliver precisely on what you want along with some surprises that push the Franchise and the genre forward."
These changes come amidst, and likely in response to, a rough couple of years for the Call of Duty franchise. The most recent entry, Black Ops 7, debuted last month to middling reviews, including our own 6/10 campaign review, 6/10 Zombies review, and significantly better 8/10 multiplayer review. This is also in the context of both Black Ops 7 and Modern Warfare 3 receiving poor reviews in comparison to their immediate series predecessors the year before, with Black Ops 6 and Modern Warfare 2 being received generally favorably. This likely accounts, at least in part, for the decision to stop the back-to-back releases.
For Black Ops 7, that lukewarm reception has also been reflected in the game's sales numbers, especially in relation to another recent major multiplayer shooter release, Battlefield 6. The game had a "terrible" launch in Europe, down 63% versus Battlefield 6 and down by more than 50% versus last year's Black Ops 6 in the equivalent periods.
It is worth noting that we don't have full visibility into Black Ops 7's sales data, as it launched day one on Game Pass, and a number of people likely played the game through the subscription service and didn't count as unit sales.
But nonetheless, the announcement today feels like an admission that something has gone wrong here. Whether or not the Call of Duty team can fix it will take a few years to truly comprehend.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Book nooks are a great way to add some flair to your book collection and pad out some empty space on your shelf. The best part is that they're typically DIY kits made of parts similar to any other miniature model kit. These are the perfect time sink for a rainy day, with podcast or your favorite movie on in the background, or even for a date night. Looking online, there are seemingly endless options when to brands and styles, but I've gathered some of what I think are the very best. Below are my top picks by brand in terms of style, design, and cost. Each one of these would make for an excellent gift for the readers in your life.
LEGO Book Nooks
The LEGO book nooks were all released in 2025, and thet have been extremely popular so far. I got the Lord of the Rings: Balrog set, and both the Harry Potter Hogwarts Express and Sherlock Holmes book nooks are excellent LEGO gifts for adults this year. Not only do they function well as a typical book nook, but ech one unfolds into classic scene from their respective properties; you have Gandalf facing off against the Balrog in the iconic "you shall not pass" scene, a recreation of Baker Street where Sherlock calls home, and King's Cross Station and Platform 9 3/4 where Harry and Ron are boarding the train back to Hogwarts. These range in cost from $100 up to $130.
Alongside the three book nooks LEGO has released, there's also a LEGO Wicked bookends set that was incredible to build. I'd recommend that if you have a floating shelf rather than a bookcase.
Funpola Book Nooks
Funpola book nooks stand out from the rest in that they offer a lot more modern and sci-fi themed nooks than others. The Endless Dimensions kit is a cool neon Cyberpunk-like aesthetic, and the Automobile Shop is a nice addition. The New World kit is my favorite of the bunch; it has all kinds of nautical decor, treasure, dead pirates drinking rum. What's not to like? Funpola does still have the more fantasy-leaning kits, too, if none of these catch your eye. These will set you back $50.
CCCDF Book Nooks
The CCCDF brand book nooks pay homage to some of literature's best works. The Alice Down the Rabbit Hole kit shows off the whimsical setting you'd expect from Lewis Carroll's timeless tale, and the Phantom of the Opera kit is a neat recreation of the novel as well. CCCDF also offers oversized book nooks, like the Beyond Library Max, if you're looking to fill more space or just prefer them like this. They cost a bit more than the regular kits, coming in around $60.
Cutebee Book Nooks
Cutebee book nooks offer a more storybook style, which I like. The Amazing Toys Store kit gives Pleasure Island vibes from Pinocchio, while the Darkness Common Room is surely inspired by the Slytherin common room from Harry Potter. The Rose Detective Agency would look great on the shelf next to any edition of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books. These all hover around $40, so you won't break the bank too hard if you go the Cutebee route.
Rolife Book Nooks
Rolife book nooks are a bit more minimalist than the others. The Sakura Densya is a quaint replica of a Japanese train station, and the Sunshine Town reminds me of something you'd see in a Nicholas Sparks novel. They also seem to be a bit narrower than the rest, so you should have no problem fitting these into your bookshelf. The size might also contribute to their $40 price tag.
Where to Buy Book Nooks Online
While Amazon is clearly the best bet to find these book nooks, other retailers offer them as well. Naturally, you can find the three LEGO book nooks directly on LEGO's website (and even earn points towards rewards this way), and Walmart and Target have a handful for sale. But other than Amazon, the best place to buy book nooks online is Book Nook World, a fitting title. This site carries all the other brands mentioned here and then some, so if you're looking for a themed nook not listed here, this is where I'd suggest you go.
Best Buyis offering a gaming monitor with some great specs for well under $100. Right now you can pick up a 27" AOC 27G50F 1080p gaming monitor for only $79.99 after a $60 instant discount. Shipping is free. This monitor is a perfect complement to budget PCs or laptops equipped with onboard graphics or a less powerful discrete graphics card.
27" AOC 1080p 144Hz Gaming Monitor for $79.99
The AOC 27G50F monitor boasts a 27" 1920x1080 FHD native resolution, which equates to a respectable pixel density of 82ppi. You'd think a monitor this cheap would have the most basic of specs, but that actually isn't true. It features a max refresh rate of 144Hz, 0.5ms response time, and is G-Sync compatible. It also has both HDMI and DisplayPort inputs.
This monitor pairs well with a budget gaming PC setup. The AOC's 1080p resolution is the sweet spot if your gaming PC or laptop has onboard graphics or less powerful discrete graphics like an RTX 5060 or RTX 5060 Ti GPU. You should still be able to get 60fps or higher in most games that are currently available. A higher resolution display will tax your GPU more heavily and you might not get the frame rates to play games smoothly. Also, you don't want your screen size to be too large if you're limited to 1080p. A larger monitor means lower pixel density; for a TV where you sit far away that's fine, but the blurriness is more noticeable on a monitor, especially with text.
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.
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