How a former NASA employee became the world's foremost author of videogame cookbooks: 'It can't look like you're eating a Pokémon'

Although Black Friday is still the best time to buy almost everything, many other seasonal sales events have become almost as big in recent years. With pretty much every retailer planning some sort of way to attract customers throughout 2025, there are plenty of sales to look forward to this year. With many tariffs in effect in the U.S. and more presumably arriving later this year, shoppers are looking for discounts wherever they can find them.
If you're hoping to save some money at any point this year, there are a few different sale dates worth marking on your calendar, the next big one being Black Friday deals in November. Outside of that, there are a few other upcoming sales events we know about to help you plan out your online (or in-store) shopping in 2025 and beyond. We'll be updating this page with the dates of event sales as soon as retailers start announcing them.
Target has launched an early Black Friday sale that will only last three days. Some of the most notable discounts are 40% off LEGO sets and up to 50% off clothing. You have until Saturday, November 8 to shop this sale.
Best Buy's early Black Friday sale officially kicked off on Halloween and will continue right up until it shifts to the official Black Friday sale. Best Buy is dropping new doorbuster deals every friday and has a variety of other discounts available in between.
The Barnes & Noble Criterion Collection sale is back, offering 50% off tons of 4K and Blu-ray movies. This sale arrives alongside the company's annual gift card sale and will last well into December this year.
The next big sale on the horizon is Walmart's early Black Friday sale, which officially kicks off on November 14 this year and will only run for a few days. Walmart+ members will get early access to the sale starting on November 13. Walmart has released a sneak peek of some of the deals you can expect from that sale.

Black Friday is the best time to buy pretty much everything, regardless of the category or retailer. It's the single biggest shopping event and if there are discounts to be had, it's almost definitely going to be sometime during this sale. Although Black Friday 2025 itself lands on November 28, the actual sale has a much larger window than that.
You can expect the first Black Friday deals to arrive soon now that October Prime Day sales are concluded, but the general rule of thumb is that all of November will have Black Friday pricing happening everywhere. Many of the best deals will still take place on Thanksgiving and the Friday afterwards.
In terms of when major retailers will start dropping their official Black Friday sales in 2025, we have already gotten confirmation about start dates for Best Buy, Costco, and Walmart. You can expect deals to start as early as November 20 this year.
Cyber Monday began back in 2005 as a way to offer shoppers online discounts after Thanksgiving weekend so they could avoid the in-store madness. With the majority of holiday sales moving to an online platform, it has since become just as big as Black Friday. Although there are sometimes differences between Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, they are generally the same thing. The only difference is when they actually happen.
You can expect Cyber Monday sales to kick off Sunday of Black Friday weekend, rather than actual Cyber Monday. And although the best deals will likely be on November 30 through December 1, many retailers extend their sale through the week by labeling the deals as part of Cyber Week.

Green Monday is actually a sales event created by eBay back in 2007. While it isn't nearly as big as Black Friday or Cyber Monday, it essentially represents the last stretch of sales before Christmas. The day itself was originally created as a way to promote the last day you could buy something online and get it shipped to you before the holidays, but thanks to faster shipping every year, that isn't necessarily as much of a problem for the bigger retailers.
In 2024, you can expect Green Monday sales to stretch pretty much right up until December 24 and maybe even through Christmas. Many retailers will label these as "last-minute" sales, but we've lumped them all into the same category.
The final sales event of 2025 is centered around New Year's, but it usually starts just after Christmas. These discounts are a chance for retailers to take advantage of shoppers who are returning unwanted gifts and are now flush with extra cash. You can also expect some surprisingly good deals on older tech as these same retailers look to unload older models to make way for newer ones. Late December and early January are actually some of the best times to buy a TV or find a deal on a gaming monitor every year thanks to the proximity to CES, the annual Consumer Electronics Show.
Jacob has written for various different publications over his career covering commerce, tech, games, and entertainment. You can find the bulk of his previous work at Digital Trends and The Manual where he covered tech deals, Netflix, and food.

Frankenstein received a limited release in theaters starting on October 17 followed by a Netflix release on November 7.
Stories about generational trauma are nothing new – chronicles of the pain that is handed down from parent to child and, in time, right on down the line to the next child, never breaking the cycle. It’s, as Mrs. Potts once said, a tale as old as time. From Kronos eating his own lil’ ones, only to suffer the eventual wrath of those children under the leadership of Zeus – who would pass down his own messed-up issues to his myriad children – all the way to Michael Corleone’s fall into the very underworld that his father hoped he would rise above, the pain is real.
It’s also a great avenue for telling compelling stories. Which brings us to Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.
Pretty much everyone knows the story of Frankenstein, and del Toro – who’s been trying to get a movie based on the iconic novel made for at least 20 years – doesn’t deviate from Mary Shelley’s work in any way that anyone but fans of the OG would notice. Some characters are missing, others are added, but the bones of the story remain intact: Man makes monster, man rejects monster, monster gets pissed off. But more than just intact, these bones are also seemingly pulled from (carved out of?) Dr. Frankenstein’s choicest picks, his finest specimens, because this iteration of Frankenstein is, like its Creature, a beautiful, haunting thing through which classic themes are made to feel fresh and new.
Not only is Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) a monster for much of the film’s runtime – cue everyone’s favorite “who’s the real monster?” line – but he’s a monster who was spawned by a monster, his stringent and abusive father Leopold (played by Charles Dance, who at this point in his career is destined to play the same miserable asshole over and over again). So of course that generational pain continues to rear its ugly head – or perhaps in this case not so ugly – when Victor brings life to his creature, played by a scarred yet still movie-star-handsome Jacob Elordi.
Elordi is a marvel here (and his Creature exhibits Marvel-esque superhuman powers, which is fun), belying his turns as bad guys or unsympathetic characters in titles like Euphoria, Priscilla, and Saltburn. No, while the Creature in GDT’s Frankenstein will mess you up if need be – and does in fact mess up man and beast alike in spectacular fashion – del Toro writes him and Elordi plays him in the finest Karloffian vein, a sympathetic, sad-sack SOB who just wants a friend. That the actor also seems to be channeling the body work of GDT regular and creature-player extraordinaire Doug Jones only accentuates how different Elordi’s Creature is from past incarnations. He pivots his body, twists his waist, leans in and back, and cocks his head in such a way as to always remind us that, after all, the Creature’s body is actually a series of bodies that are still getting used to each other.
Isaac as Victor, on the other hand, runs the risk of becoming too unlikable at times. When his Creature is born, there are genuine moments of affection between the two. But the newborn’s apparent inability to evolve and grow – in terms of speech, he can’t get any further than saying “Vict-or” over and over again – frustrates the genius, and frankly, dickish doctor. Just as his father did before him, Victor punishes his child rather than nurtures him. And so the cycle continues, with the Creature never even having a chance at normalcy, his appearance notwithstanding. But the result is that Isaac’s Victor very nearly becomes the film’s villain, which perhaps isn’t a new concept in the Frankenstein mythos, but occasionally works against the film in the character’s darkest moments. (Colin Clive, who played the mad doctor opposite Boris Karloff’s monster, was always sympathetic, mind you, even when he was operating at peak Looney Tunes.)
And then there’s Mia Goth, who brings to the Elizabeth Harlander character an otherworldliness that has sort of become a trademark for the MaXXXine and Suspiria actress. Named Elizabeth Lavenza in the book, the character is adopted into the Frankenstein household and eventually marries Victor, but in this version she’s engaged to Victor’s brother William (All Quiet on the Western Front’s Felix Kammerer). William usually doesn’t make it to adulthood when he’s present in a Frankenstein story, falling victim to the Creature in a savage act of revenge. But again, del Toro tweaks and twists these plot elements, with William in the way of Victor’s traditional love interest while also giving Elizabeth an uncle in the person of Christoph Waltz’s Heinrich Harlander. And while Waltz is typically a welcome addition to any film, his character – a benefactor who pays for Victor’s experiments – ultimately doesn’t add much at all here beyond helping to make the film slightly longer than it needs to be.
Frankenstein is full of blood and gore and dismembered limbs and ripped-off jaws and crunched skulls, but it’s not a horror movie. Like the director’s 2015 Gothic romance Crimson Peak, this is a film that feels big, engulfing the viewer in a world where a sad wife’s deep-red gown is set against the stark backdrop of a foreboding castle. It’s a place where the city streets run red with slaughterhouse blood, where a frozen battlefield is marked by a horse covered in ice, still in mid-gallop with its rider astride. And yet at the same time, the beauty of creation itself is infectious, as when Elordi’s Creature first experiences the sun. As Vict-or tells him, “Sun is life.”
Del Toro also wears his geek cred on his sleeve. The Creature’s design is very clearly inspired by comics legend Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein, while an early experiment by Victor involves half a corpse coming to life in a gasp-worthy but somehow funny scene that feels plucked right out of The Return of the Living Dead. The combination of influences fused together and brought to life by a genius is especially fitting here, given this movie’s plot and the 100-plus years of adaptations Mary Shelley’s work has endured. And always it’s del Toro’s love of the source material itself that shines through, as the filmmaker tells his unique version of this classic story while still paying respect to the Shelley book that he clearly lives and breathes.
Anyone who knows the book can tell you that a happy ending does not seem in the cards for either Victor or the Creature. But for del Toro, the fucked-up Frankenstein family deserves redemption after all those years of suffering and self-inflicted pain. That GDT chooses to tell his story in two parts – one from Victor’s point of view, and the other from the Creature’s – only serves to drive home that this is ultimately a story about atonement and forgiveness. Can the Creature forgive Victor’s failings as a parent? Can Victor break the long cycle of abuse? Well, you know what they say: All you need is love.

Some may say we are in a renaissance of video game adaptations as we've been treated to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, a third Sonic the Hedgehog film, and TV series based on The Last of Us and Fallout, and will soon be getting adaptations of God of War, Mass Effect, and so many more. The best part? A lot of these look so much better than video game adaptations we’ve gotten in the past.
How many will actually make it through development and see the light of day remains to be seen, and only a fraction of these have actual release dates. But we're watching these projects, and we're tracking them!
For the purposes of this list, we classify a “video game movie” or "video game TV show" as an actual adaptation of an existing video game, so something like Wreck-It Ralph (which is just a movie about video games) wouldn’t qualify. They don’t have to be faithful adaptations – they just have to be based on a real game.
Click on through the slideshow below for a glimpse, or read on to find out about the biggest projects with definite details. And if you see something incorrect, missing, or in need of an update, let us know in the comments!
For those keeping track, here's the full lineup of upcoming video game movie and TV show adaptations:
The following titles have been reported to be in development in the past but their status is currently unknown and they may no longer be actually happening:
The following are the most definite projects that are currently in the works.
Release Date: December 5, 2025
Universal Pictures has confirmed that Five Nights at Freddy's 2 will make its way to theaters on December 5, 2025. This sequel will take place one year after the first film, which was Blumhouse Productions' most successful movie ever, and the events of what happened have turned into a campy local legend and has inspired the first ever Fazfest. Former security guard Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and police officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) have tried to protect Abby (Piper Rubio) from going back to her animatronic "friends," and this sets off a horrifying adventure that will reveal secrets and horrors regarding the true origin of Freddy's.
Release Date: December 17, 2025, on Prime Video
The first season of Prime Video's Fallout series was a huge success. In our Fallout TV show review, we said, "A bright and funny apocalypse filled with dark punchlines and bursts of ultra-violence, Fallout is among the best video game adaptations ever made."
Fallout will be back for another season in December and it will bring us back to New Vegas, with familiar faces like Ella Purnell's Lucy, Walton Goggins' Ghoul, and the goodest girl Dogmeat alongside new faces like Justin Theroux's Mr. House and a 'crazy genius-type character' played by Macaulay Culkin.
Release Date: 2026
Netflix's Castlevania showrunner Adi Shanker released a new anime series based on Devil May Cry in April, 2025. Season 2 was announced shortly thereafter, and now we know it will drop in 2026.
Release Date: January 26, 2026
Return to Silent Hill is the upcoming film based on Silent Hill 2 and is "a mythological love story about someone so deeply in love, they're willing to go to hell to save someone." The film will see Jeremy Irvine and Hanna Emily Anderson taking on the lead roles and a recent Silent Hill Transmission gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the production of the movie. A first look at the terrifying Pyramid Head was also revealed earlier this year.
Release Date: April 3, 2026
September 2025's Nintendo Direct revealed the next Super Mario Bros. movie will be The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and we are very excited. A sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie must have been the easiest decision for Nintendo as was seen by over 168.1 million people worldwide and made over $1.349 billion at the global box office.
Release Date: May 15, 2026
Mortal Kombat 2 will be released in theaters on May 15, 2026, and the synopsis teases that our "fan favorite champions—now joined by Johnny Cage himself—are pitted against one another in the ultimate, no-holds barred, gory battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders."
Karl Urban plays Johnny Cage and Adeline Rudolph will be taking on the role of Kitana, and they'll be joined by Tati Gabrielle's Jade, Damon Herriman's Quan Chi, Martyn Ford's Shao Kahn, Desmond Chiam's Jerrod, Ana Thu Nguyen's Sindel, CJ Bloomfield's Baraka, Lewis Tan's Cole Young, Hiroyuki Sanada's Scorpion, Jessica McNamee's Sonya Blade, Mehcad Brooks' Jax, Ludi Lin's Liu Kang, Josh Lawson's Kano, Tadanobu Asano's Raiden, Chin Han's Shang Tsung, Joe Tsalim's Bi-Han, and more.
Release Date: September 18, 2026

Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie will be bringing us back to Raccoon City in 2026 and recent images posted online have confirmed filming is underway in Prague. This likely means the film will be set prior to October 1998 and the events depicted in Resident Evil 3 for reasons we won't spoil here.
Release Date: October 16, 2026
Street Fighter will be making its way to the big screen next year from Bad Trip's Kitao Sakurai. As for who will star in the film, a recent trailer revealed the following;
“Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury,” the official plot synopsis reads.
Release Date: January 29, 2027
Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Rachel Bloom, and Danny McBride return as Red, Chuck, Silver, and Bomb for a third Angry Birds movies. John Rice (The Angry Birds Movie 1, Beavis & Butt-Head Do the Universe) directs from a screenplay by Thurop Van Orman (The Angry Birds Movie 2!).
Release Date: March 19, 2027
The Sonic movies are going strong (Sonic 3 is at the top of our best video game movies of all time list!), so it's no surprise that a fourth film is in the works. There aren't many details available about the project yet, but based on the Sonic 3 post-credits scene, expect Amy Rose and Metal Sonic to show up.
Release Date: May 7, 2027
The Legend of Zelda is officially getting the live-action film treatment and it's being produced by Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and Avi Arad, chairman of Arad Productions and former founder and CEO of Marvel Studios.
The film will be directed by Wes Ball and will star Bo Bragason as Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link. and it's all being co-financed by Nintendo and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Nintendo will be financing more than 50% of the movie and the theatrical distribution will be done by Sony.
"The Legend of Zelda follows Link, a young warrior destined to protect the magical kingdom of Hyrule from the forces of darkness," the official description reads. "The land is under threat from Ganon, a ruthless warlord who seeks the Triforce — an ancient relic said to grant limitless power. To stop him, Link must embark on a perilous journey, battling monstrous creatures, exploring treacherous dungeons, and solving intricate puzzles to uncover sacred artifacts that can aid him in his quest."
If, like us, you can't wait for The Legend of Zelda movie, be sure to check out that one time we predicted the film would eventually arrive via an April Fools' Day joke.
Release Date: July 23, 2027
Warner Bros. has officially confirmed A Minecraft Movie 2 will be released on July 23, 2027, and it makes sense as the original made over $957 million at the global box office. Will Jennifer Coolidge be back with her nitwit villager love interest? We can only hope!
Release Date: 2027
After a stellar first and second season, HBO's The Last of Us will be returning for a third season on HBO and it looks to, as the games did, switch the focus to Kaitlyn Dever's Abby for a while. Co-creator Craig Mazin confirmed this new season will be longer than Season 2.
While you wait, be sure to check out our explainer of the ending of Season 2 and how it sets up this next part of the tragic tale of The Last of Us.
Release Date: TBA on Netflix
Netflix’s The Witcher returned for its fourth season, and it did so with a new Geralt of Rivia as The Hunger Games’ Liam Hemsworth replaced Henry Cavill. You can watch all of those episodes now while knowing a fifth and final season is also in the works.
Release Date: TBA on Prime Video
Prime Video has officially announced that a God of War live-action series is in the works from Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions. The show will follow the story that began in 2018’s God of War and will see Kratos and Atreus traveling to the highest peak in the nine realms of Norse mythology to spread the ashes of their late wife/mother.
At CES 2024, Sony confirmed writing was underway for the series. In October 2024, it was reported that Ronald D. Moore (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica, Outlander) had replaced the show's previous producers Rafe Judkins, Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus as showrunner.
Release Date: TBA

A live-action Elden Ring movie is in the works from Ex Machina's Alex Garland, who will be directing and writing the movie. George R.R. Martin is on board as a producer. For those worried, Garland put together a 160-page draft script with 40 extra pages of images to convince Bandai Namco and FromSoftware to lead this project.
Release Date: TBA

Activision and Paramount Pictures announced that Yellowstone creator Tyler Sheridan and Lone Survivor's Peter Berg are on board to lead the upcoming Call of Duty movie. Sheridan will write and produce and Berg will write, direct, and produce.
Release Date: TBA
Even before Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was out, it was confirmed the game would be getting a film adaptation. Developer Sandfall Interactive has partnered with Story Kitchen to bring this to life, but we don't know much else at this point.
Release Date: TBA on Prime Video

A Mass Effect movie adaptation was in the works at least as far back as 2010, though it never wound up happening.
In December, 2021, however, it was reported that Amazon was working on a deal to adapt the game as a TV series. It once again took a while, but in November 2024, it was confirmed that Amazon MGM studios had begun development on the TV version. Daniel Casey (10 Cloverfield Lane) will write and executive produce the show, while other producers include EA/BioWare's Michael Gamble, who's leading development on the next Mass Effect game, and Avi Arad, who was part of that initial movie announcement all those years back.
Release Date: TBA
Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions are developing a film adaptation of Ghost of Tsushima that will be helmed by John Wick director Chad Stahelski. We don’t know much about the project that is set to adapt the story of the game, but Stahelski has confirmed he wants the movie language and cast to be Japanese.
Stahelski also mentioned he is looking at ways to "expand further" into sequels and TV. So, expect a lot of Ghost of Tsushima in the future!
Release Date: 2027
A Ghost of Tsushima anime is on the way from Sony and Aniplex and it is set to launch exclusively on Crunchyroll in 2027. Instead of adapting the main game, this anime will instead focus on the Legends co-op multiplayer portion that was added post-launch.
Release Date: TBA

Horizon Zero Dawn has had both a movie and a TV show in the works, but the TV show has had a bit of a rocky road. In July 2024, it was reported that the series was no longer moving forward at Netflix. It may show up again in the future, but it wasn't a great sign.
As for the movie, Sony announced at CES 2025 that a big-screen adaptation of Aloy's adventure is currently very early in production. A recent report said the movie is planning on filming in 2026 and releasing at some point in 2027.
Release Date: TBA

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's live-action Tomb Raider series for Amazon Prime Video is back after appearing to be dead, and it will in fact star Sophie Turner as the legendary Lara Croft. Production will begin in January 2026 and Chad Hodge has signed on as co-showrunner alongside Jonathan van Tulleken as director and executive producer.
Release Date: TBA

PlayStation and Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls could be getting a TV series from original star Elliot Page. Reports indicate that Page’s Pageboy Productions has acquired the rights tor the project, which is said to be in early development.
Release Date: TBA

At CES 2025, Sony announced that the wildly successful Helldivers 2 would be adapted into a major motion picture from Sony Productions and Sony Pictures.
Release Date: TBA
EA's long-running life simulation series The Sims is getting the big-screen treatment from Loki season 1 director Kate Heron and Margot Robbie's production company Lucky Chap. We have yet to learn anything else about the project, but it should be welcome news for fans nonetheless.
Release Date: TBA
Ubisoft's extreme sports game Riders Republic is getting a film adaptation from Bad Boys for Life's Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. Ubisoft said it is "poised to be an electrifying action movie, delivering non-stop thrills, humor, and spectacular stunts on the snowy slopes of the Alps."
Release Date: TBA

Netflix has partnered with The Coalition to develop a Gears of War live-action movie and an adult animated series. The movie will arrive first and, if these projects do well, there is “potential for more stories to follow!”
In March 2023, it was announced that the Gears of War movie will be written by Dune and Doctor Strange's Jon Spaihts.
Release Date: TBA

MCU star Simu Liu got fans excited when he said he was working with the rights holders to bring Sleeping Dogs to the big screen, and it turns out he is actually set to produce the film and play the lead role of Wei Shen.
Release Date: TBA
Hideo Kojima's Kojima Productions has partnered with A24 to adapt Death Stranding into a live-action feature film.
"The film promises to delve into the mysteries surrounding the apocalyptic event called the 'Death Stranding', which blurred the lines between life and death, and brought forth nightmarish creatures into a world on the brink of collapse," the official synopsis reads. It was also confirmed it will "tell a story you haven't seen in that world."
Release Date: TBA
A new animated film called Death Stranding: Mosquito is on its way and it's, according to Kojima and animation director Hiroshi Miyamoto, follows the story of a guy who sucks.
Release Date: TBA
PlayStation Productions is reportedly developing a film based on Days Gone with X-Men: First Class story developer Sheldon Turner. The producers are said to be eyeing Outlander star Sam Heughan to play Deacon St. John.
Release Date: TBA
Dredge, the part creature collector and part eerie horror Lovecraftian fishing game, will be getting a big screen adaptation from Story Kitchen. The media company wants fans to think of this film as "The Sixth Sense on the water. A grounded atmospheric cosmic horror blend of HP Lovecraft and Ernest Hemingway."
Release Date: TBA
A24 and Netflix will be bringing us a reality TV show based on the chaotic cooking game known as Overcooked. It is said to be an unscripted format show like Nailed It! and Floor Is Lava, and the kitchen will have crazy obstacles pop up to impede the chef's progress in crafting the perfect meal.
Release Date: TBA
Legendary Pictures announced a sequel to Detective Pikachu in January 2019, two months before the original hit theaters. 22 Jump Street's Oren Uziel wrote a draft of the screenplay, and in 2023 it was revealed that Jonathan Krisel is directing and Chris Galletta is the latest writer to take on the follow-up.
Release Date: TBA
Annapurna has confirmed that a Stray animated movie is in development, and it comes from the studios new animated division that is led by former Disney Animation executives Robert Baird and Andrew Millstein.
Release Date: TBA
There's always a lighthouse, and apparently there's always a BioShock adaptation in the works. After a previous attempt to bring the beloved first-person shooter to film form fell apart at Universal years ago, Netflix and Take-Two announced in early 2022 that a BioShock film adaptation is in the works for the streaming service. Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence is on-board to direct the film and Logan and Blade Runner 2049 writer Michael Green will pen the script for the story that will be “really true to the game itself.”
In October 2023, it was confirmed the was still in the writing stage but that the team was very optimistic about how the project was going, and in July 2024 producer Roy Lee said the film was still in the works but with a reduced budget.
Release Date: TBA
Strange Scaffold's third-person neo-noir shooter, El Paso, Elsewhere, is getting the big screen treatment, and LaKeith Stanfield is said to be in talks to star and produce the project alongside Lorenzo di Bonaventura's Di Bonaventura Pictures and Colin Stark. The film would follow protagonist James Savage as he navigates a monster-filled world and tries to stop his vicious ex-girlfriend and the demons he is battling inside.
Release Date: TBA
Earlier this year, Story Kitchen was in the process of gathering a team together to work on an adaptation of Hazelight Studios' Split Fiction. Reports say Sydney Sweeney may star in the film, Wicked director Jon M. Chu will direct, and Deadpool and Wolverine's screenwriter Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are also on board.
Release Date: TBA
Ubisoft's Watch Dogs film began filming in 2024, more than a decade after it was first announced. We haven't heard much more since then.
Release Date: TBA on Netflix
Netflix has announced that it will produce a live-action Assassin's Creed series, executive produced by Ubisoft's Jason Altman and Danielle Kreinik, which will be the first of multiple new projects. The live-action series will be an "epic, genre-bending live action adaptation." The collaboration will "tap into the iconic video game’s trove of dynamic stories" to create live-action, animated and anime series.
Unfortunately, the series lost Die Hard writer Jeb Stuart back in January 2023.
Release Date: Presumed Cancelled for the Movie, TBA for the Series
Back in 2012, it was reported that Tom Hardy was going to be starring as Fisher in a film adaptation of Splinter Cell, but we haven't heard any meaningful updates since around 2015 when Hardy said filming would begin in early 2016. As for the show, in 2021 Netflix gave a first look at what the animated series adaptation would look like. It's titled Splinter Cell: Deathwatch and Liev Schreiber will reportedly voice Sam Fisher.
Which of these video game movie or TV show adaptations are you most looking forward to? Let's discuss in the comments!
Note: This story was updated on 11/7/2025. It was originally posted on 10/21/2021.

Microsoft has announced plans to put Halo Infinite into maintenance mode later this month so developer Halo Studios can focus on working on multiple new Halo games.
In a blog post, Halo Studios said Operation: Infinite, due out November 18, is the last major update currently planned for the Xbox and PC first-person shooter, but insisted it will support players with challenges, ranked rewards, and community events throughout next year and beyond. Operation: Infinite’s free, 100-tier Operation Pass and 100-tier Premium Pass have no planned expiration date.
One of the new Halo games Halo Studios is working on is Halo: Campaign Evolved, which is due out at some point in 2026 across PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 5. Halo Studios did not say what the other upcoming Halo games are.
“As we look back on four years of evolution and updates in Halo Infinite, we’d like to thank our community for your steadfast support,” Halo Studios said. “Without your feedback and enthusiasm, Halo Infinite multiplayer would not be the special place it is today: a robust arena for slaying and playing, with something for every Spartan.
“With multiple Halo titles in development, we’ll need our whole team's combined focus to deliver new experiences with the same passion and care that our community has given us. While we remain committed to supporting Halo Infinite on the road ahead, Operation: Infinite is the last major content update currently planned.”
Halo Studios, once called 343 Industries, leaves Halo Infinite behind four years after its delayed launch across Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and PC in December 2021. Microsoft had intended for it to be an Xbox Series X and S launch title and come out a year earlier, but pushed it back following negative feedback to a hotly anticipated gameplay reveal in July 2020.
Halo Infinite went through significant changes in the years following its release, including the rebranding of its developer, 343 Industries, to Halo Studios, and multiple rounds of layoffs. This came after player numbers for Halo Infinite dropped off dramatically after launch as fans expressed frustration over a lack of content, poor progression systems, and aggressive monetization. A "game changer" battle royale mode was scrapped.
Gamers are already pointing out that Halo Infinite hasn’t even managed to reach the halfway point of Microsoft’s well-documented 10-year plan for the game (it wasn’t called Halo: Infinite for nothing). In July 2020, IGN spoke with now former Halo Infinite Studio Head Chris Lee, who described Halo Infinite as “the start of our platform for the future.”
“We want Infinite to grow over time, versus going to those numbered titles and having all that segmentation that we had before,” he continued. “It’s really about creating Halo Infinite as the start of the next 10 years for Halo and then building that as we go with our fans and community.”
While continued updates have significantly improved the experience, Halo Infinite never quite managed to realize its potential. The focus now is on Halo: Campaign Evolved, although this, too, has suffered a bumpy ride since it was announced, with one of the key members of the original Halo development team at Bungie expressing concern about some of the changes made.
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.

Audible's holiday promotion for 2025 is now live. Through December 16, new and returning Audible subscribers can sign up for three months of Audible Premium Plus for just $0.99 per month. You will need to be logged into your Amazon Prime membershp to see this promotion. After the three months is up, your subscription will convert to the standard $14.95/mo, so make sure to cancel beforehand if you don't want to continue with the service. You also get a free audiobook of your choice for each of those three months that you get to keep indefinitely even after your subscription expires.
Audible is a subscription service that gives you access to hundreds of thousands of the best audiobooks without ever having to purchase them. There are two paid membership plans: the lower tier Audible Plus ($7.95/mo) and the higher tier Audible Premium Plus ($14.95/mo). The biggest difference between the two is the size of the audiobook library. Whereas Audible Plus only lets you listen to a selection of about 10,000 audiobooks, the Audible Premium Plus plan gives you access to a whopping 500,000 audiobooks.
Premium Plus includes other perks as well. Every month Premium Plus members get to pick one audiobook to keep in their library indefinitely, even after the membership expires. Also, Premium Plus members can get 30% off any additional audiobooks they wish to purchase in addition to exclusive limited-time discounts.
If you were already planning to purchase a couple of audiobooks, then it makes more sense to pay less than $3 to get three audiobooks you get to keep indefinitely and enjoy all the benefits of Audible Premium Plus for three months. This deal only pops up a few times per year, so don't waste your "first-time subscriber" eligibility status on a short 30-day trial.
Several best-selling new and recent releases are available in an audiobook format and part of Audible's Premium Plus subscription plan. Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest Hunger Games novel, is narrated by Jefferson White, who you may already know from Yellowstone where he played Jimmy Hudstrom. The audiobook has a listening time of about 12 hours and 48 minutes. Stephen King released his Never Flinch crime novel in May 27 and it's also available as a nearly 15-hour long audiobook narrated by veteran Jessie Mueller. If you're a fan of Brandon Sanderson, check out Wind and Truth, book five of the popular The Stormlight Archive series. It was released in December of 2024 and runs an epic 63 hours long.
Looking for more free trials? Check out the best streaming services with free trials.
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.

Ahead of Black Friday, Dell is offering an Alienware Aurora R16 gaming desktop equipped with the GeForce RTX 5080 graphics card for as low as $2,099 with free delivery. Most RTX 5080 prebuilts you'll find elsewhere, including the more affordable brands you find on Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, are priced closer to $2,400 and up. That's impressive considering Alienware usually commands a higher price premium. Such a system would have cost as much as $3,000 at the beginning of the year, but Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 prices have been trending downwards lately.
This $2,045 configuration system is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 265F CPU, GeForce RTX 5080 GPU, 16GB of DDR5-5600MHz RAM, and a 1TB M.2 SSD. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265F has a max turbo frequency of 5.3GHz with 20 cores and a 36MB L2 cache. It's cooled by a 240mm AIO liquid cooling system. The system is run off a 1,000W power supply.
This system is customizable and the CPU, RAM, and storage can all be upgraded. For example, you can choose the more powerful Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor, which boasts a higher clock speed and core count, for an extra $300. Another upgrade is a 2TB SSD (from the stock 1TB) for an extra $50.
Performance-wise, the RTX 5080 is no slouch. It's one of the fastest cards on the market, bested only by the $2,000 RTX 5090 and the discontinued $1,600 RTX 4090. This is a phenomenal card for playing the latest, most demanding games in 4K resolution at high settings and ray tracing enabled. The RTX 5080 supports DLSS 4 with multi-frame generation, which means you can push even more frames out of games that support the technology with minimal visual compromise. Recent games that support it include Doom: The Dark Ages, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Borderlands 4, Stellar Blade, and Battlefield 6. Check out our Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 FE review for our hands-on impressions.
Check out more of the best Alienware deals.
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.

The Samsung S84/S85 TVs boast all the advantages of OLED that makes them one of the best TVs for gaming, but at a much lower price tag than other OLED TVs. As part of its early Black Friday sale, Best Buy is offering a 2025 65" Samsung S84F 4K OLED Smart TV for just $899.99 with free deluxe delivery. This is the lowest price right now for a 65" OLED TV. The sale ends on Sunday, November 9, and then you won't have a chance to get in on this deal again until Black Friday.
The Samsung S84F is a current generation (2025) TV that's equipped with a W-OLED panel. OLED TVs boast superior image quality compared to any non-OLED TV thanks to its near-infinite contrast ratio, near-instantaneous response times, and ability to produce true blacks. The main difference between this TV and Samsung's more expensive S90F is that the S84F doesn't have quantum dot technology which offers a bit higher brightness and a slightly wider color gamut. Unless you put the TVs side by side (and even if you do), the different in image quality is probably unnoticeable for most people.
The Samsung S84F has the features you want in a current-gen gaming TV, like HDMI 2.1 ports and a native 120Hz panel for running 4K at 120fps on a PS5 or Xbox Series, variable refresh rate and auto low latency mode. It's also a good TV for running the Nintendo Switch 2 in docked mode, although the Switch 2 can only run games at up to 60fps in 4K.
Right now this is the lowest price we can find for a brand new and fully warrantied 65" OLED TV, especially if you want to stick with a tried and true brand like Samsung. Best Buy is a good place to buy your TV from because it's easier to return if you have any problems (a 65" TV can still fit in a reasonably sized SUV).
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.

Best Buy is offering a great deal on a powerful gaming laptop ahead of Black Friday. For this week only, you can pick up the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16s GeForce RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop for just $1,599.99 with free delivery after a $300 instant discount. This is a well-equipped laptop, boasting a gorgeous 16" 240Hz OLED display and a high-end Intel Core Ultra 9 HX series processor. The RTX 5070 Ti is a powerful mobile GPU that can run any game you throw at it.
Update: This deal is expected to expire on Sunday, 11/9.
The Acer Predator Helios Neo is a mid to high-end laptop featuring powerful components at a no-nonsense price. Build quality and materials is good with a solid aluminum top lid and a plastic composite bottom chassis. This particular configuration is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU, 32GB of DDR5-6400MHz RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Both the RAM and SSD are user-upgradeable. The gorgeous 16" OLED display features a 2.5K 189ppi resolution, 0.2ms response time, 240Hz refresh rate, HDR 500 True Black certification, and 100% DCI-P3 color space. Connectivity options include both Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI 2.1 ports and an ethernet port.
The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor has 24 cores and a max turbo frequency of 5.4GHz. This is the second most powerful Intel mobile CPU currently available (the Ultra 9 285HX has a slightly higher clock speed) and goes toe to toe with AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 9955HX processor. This is an excellent CPU to pair with a powerful GPU like the 5070 Ti.
The RTX 5070 Ti mobile GPU is comparable in performance to the previous generation's RTX 4080 and pulls ahead of it in games that support DLSS 4. It should be able to handle even the newest and most demanding games like Ghost of Yotei, Battlefield 6, and Borderlands 4 on the native 2560x1600 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.
Black Friday deals season is fast approaching. It's the biggest shopping holiday of the year and overall the best time to find discounts on just about everything. If you're hoping to save some money on gifts and essentials in 2025, this upcoming sales event is your best bet.
With that in mind, Black Friday has evolved well beyond a single day of deals. While plenty of shoppers still tend to do the bulk of their actual shopping over Thanksgiving weekend, you will definitely be able to find good deals well before then. Best Buy has already launched its early Black Friday sale, so you don't even need to wait.
Black Friday is November 28 this year, but we expect most sales to drop much earlier than that. Now that we're a full week into November, we're already seeing a ton of early sales go live at major retailers. These early sales are a great chance to save, but we expect the main Black Friday event to arrive later this month.
Best Buy was the first retailer to reveal its sale dates for 2025, and it looks like its Black Friday sales will start on Thursday, November 20 this year. Amazon was one of the first retailers to kick off the sale last year on the Thursday before Thanksgiving weekend, and it would seem that trend has caught on for 2025. Amazon will almost certainly match Best Buy's sale start time. Costco has also announced that part of its sale will begin on November 17 this year with more deals arriving online on Thanksgiving.
Best Buy, Costco, Target, and Walmart have all made an announcement about sale dates, so it's probably safe to say that you'll be able to do most of your online Black Friday shopping the weekend before Thanksgiving in 2025. For many brick-and-mortar stores, you may be able to expect the full discounts even earlier. Some sales will still only take place on actual Black Friday, like at the LEGO Store, but for the most part the discounts will start ahead of then.

With the ongoing tariffs and recent price increases in the U.S., it's difficult to predict exactly what discounts we'll see during the 2025 Black Friday season. The IGN Deals team has been covering shopping events all year and we have a decent idea of what you can expect, even if the prices will be higher than what we saw last year.
Amazon has one of the biggest Black Friday sales every year and tends to have discounts on just about everything. Based on previous Amazon sales like Prime Day and Prime Big Deal Days, you can expect the same discounts on Amazon devices we saw earlier this year. The lowest prices will most likely be on Kindles and Fire TV sticks, as well as Echo speaker bundles. Amazon has also been pushing a pretty steep discount on the Luna controller and subsequent bundles during every major sale this year. These particular discounts will most likely be exclusive to Prime members.
Outside of Amazon devices, the online retailer will also automatically match prices on popular products that are offered at other retailers. That means you can expect discounts on things like Apple devices, LEGO sets, laptops, TVs, and just about every other brand not exclusively owned by another major retailer. Amazon's Black Friday sale will usually be offering the same low price (or lower) as any of its competitors for these types of items.
To get a better idea of what to expect this year, you can take a look at last year's Amazon Black Friday ad.

After Amazon, the next biggest Black Friday sale you can expect is at Walmart. These discounts will be both in store and online, but the online savings should start a bit earlier. Walmart usually has some of the best deals on Apple devices like iPad and AirPods. You'll usually also find some of the lowest prices of the year on Walmart-exclusive products like Onn electronics, select Vizio TVs, some gaming PC configurations (see: the recent GeForce sale), and certain home appliances.
In the past, Walmart has also had some great Nintendo Switch deals that Amazon wasn't able to offer. We'd expect to see this again this year, most likely on newer Switch 2 games or Pokémon cards. Expect some of these discounts to be available early for Walmart+ members, which has been the case for other major sales this year.
In addition to popular tech and games, Walmart also tends to have deals on groceries, clothing, and toys. Walmart has been especially known to offer particularly good LEGO discounts, but stock tends to be fairly limited.
You can check out the full Walmart Black Friday ad from last year for more information. Walmart has also released an early deals preview for discounts starting on November 14 this year you can check out.

The Best Buy Black Friday sale is usually the best collection of tech deals during the holiday season. Many of these discounts will be price-matched by Amazon and Walmart, but it will still likely have all of the same Apple devices, TVs, and video games on sale as everywhere else. You can also likely expect some sort of video game console deal on the PS5/PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X. With the continued price increases, this could just mean getting a free Best Buy gift card with your purchase, but it will still be a better deal than paying full price with no additional benefits.
In addition to consoles, video games, and video game accessories, Best Buy also tends to be one of the best places to buy handheld gaming PCs and laptops. With the recent release of the ROG Xbox Ally X, Best Buy has been the only retailer to keep stock. You can likely expect price cuts on the previous generation ROG Ally devices at Best Buy this year, as well as other popular handhelds. We also expect competitive pricing around newer laptops with the latest 50-series GPUs.
For more information on what to expect, check out the Best Buy Black Friday ad from last year. Best Buy has stated that it will have new doorbuster deals dropping every friday starting on Halloween this year, so expect more deals to arrive early as the sale continues.
The Target Black Friday sale is usually pretty similar to Walmart's Black Friday sale every year. Expect similar discounts on video games, toys, Apple products, and appliances that you'll find everywhere else. Where Target tends to differentiate from competitors in its exclusives. The retailer has partnered with a bunch of different home brands and is usually the only place you'll be able to buy those items at a discount during Black Friday shopping season. This makes it a great place to do your shopping if you're planning on buying any decor upgrades for your home.
Target has also been consistently offering some unique discounts on select toys that Amazon hasn't been able to price match. The most recent example is a LEGO sale on new 2025 sets. Amazon did match prices on a few of the sets, but not all of them. We'd expect this to happen on Black Friday too, so you'll need to check prices between retailers on the more popular toy items.
For more information on what to expect this year, check out the Target Black Friday ad from last year. Target has announced an early Black Friday sale for November 6-8 this year and it's larger official sale will begin on Thanksgiving.
Costco is a bit of a wildcard during the Black Friday season as it offers deals on pretty much everthing. For 2025, the full Costco Black Friday schedule has already been revealed and you can already see what deals to expect. Included in the holiday booklet there steep discounts on furniture, jewelry, and electronics. The same discounts you find at Amazon for select TVs and video games will likely also be available at Costco even if they aren't featured in the ad. You can also expect steeper warehouse discounts, like on the Kirkland Signature jewelry or various furniture items that are only featured for a limited time.
In addition to things like toys, gifts, and household items, Costco usually has some pretty decent grocery deals during the holiday season. You can usually find these ahead of Thanksgiving on things like turkey, snacks, and various other items. You will still need to buy in bulk, but the stacked savings on top of that are usually worth it.
For more information on what to expect this year, check out the expansive Costco Black Friday ad for 2025.
2025 Holiday Savings Booklet - Four Weeks of Savings Catalog Coupon Book (Thanksgiving Day Online Only, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday) In-Warehouse and Online Preview Part 3: November 27 ONLINE ONLY, November 28 - December 1, 2025 (via Costco Insider)
byu/CookieButterLovers inCostco
Other major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, and Target will all have discounts on furniture as part of their Black Friday sales. But the overall largest discounts on furniture will be at Wayfair during this time. Wayfair consistently has the best furniture deals anywhere during the holiday season and you should be able to find a good deal on just about everything you can purchase for your home.
As for what specific discounts to expect, we can check out the Wayfair early Black Friday sale to get a better idea. On average you can save around 50% on chairs, tables, rugs, decor, and even pool tables. These discounts will sometimes be locked to a specific color or material type, and sometimes you'll be able to find steeper discounts on overtock items if you dig deep enough. The early access sale is happening right now through November 10 and we expect the main Black Friday sale to replace that with more deals sometime before Thanksgiving.
eBay is still the Wild West when it comes to tracking down deals. There are plenty of bargains to be found, but a fair amount of research is required to be able to identify them from the other listings masquerading as deals. Most deals won't be discounted during Black Friday, however eBay will likely offer a sitewide coupon code - typically anywhere between 15% and 30% off - that will work on thousands of items from tech, apparel, sporting goods, home improvement, and more. General eBay codes will always be advertised on eBay's Deals page. Currently eBay is offering a 20% off coupon code "TECH4THEM" that works on over 2,500 refurbished items including the Meta Quest 3 and LG Evo C5 OLED TVs.
Although Barnes & Noble doesn't offer the same level of deals as a retailer like Amazon, it's still one of the best places to buy books and toys during Black Friday season. It's also pretty easy to predict what Barnes & Noble's Black Friday sale will look like because it's always fairly similar. You can expect 50% off select books and Blu-rays as well as some surprisingly good deals on LEGO sets. There's also a pretty decent gift card deal going on already that gets you $10 of credt for every $100 you spend on gift cards.
The real question is what books and toys will actually be included in those sales. You can take a look at last year's Barnes & Noble Black Friday sale for an idea of what to expect in 2025.
Black Friday is the best time to buy most things online or in stores, but there are some items that get significantly bigger discounts during this time. If you're looking to save as much money as possible during Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, here a few product categories that we expect will massive discounts this year.
The best time to buy a TV or a new gaming monitor is without a doubt Black Friday season. This has been the case since Black Friday first became a thing and will long continue to be a trend we see repeated in the years to come. There are cheap TVs and monitors available pretty much year-round, but it's during this time of year that we see the steepest discounts on newer models. The popular LG C-Series TVs, for example, have already started dropping in price ahead of November. Many of these brands are not affectd by U.S. tariffs as well, so we likely won't see the same markup we're seeing on other products this year.
While you shouldn't expect discounts on the new Nintendo Switch 2, both PS5 and Xbox consoles will most likely be getting discounts this year. Costco has already confirmed a price cut on the PlayStation Slim console, which means November is for sure going to be the best time to buy to buy a PS5. These prices cuts aren't as steep as previous years, but they are notable due to consoles seeing price increases this year.
The PS5 models got a price hike back in August and Xbox has already raised its prices twice this year. Even older consoles are getting a price increase as the original Nintendo Switch also got more expensive with the release of the Switch 2. If you are still planning on buying a console in 2025, Black Friday is the only time you should do it. You can check out what Xbox Black Friday deals we are expecting for what we know about Microsoft's offerings this year.
Outside of consoles themselves, Black Friday's also a great time to pick up any accessories. We're already seeing early price drops on the DualSense Edge controller as well as a spread of Xbox controllers.
And, of course, this is one of the best times to find discounts on games. This is especially true if you're looking to buy actual physical games as Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart will all have some sort of sale worth checking out. GameStop usually has a pretty good Black Friday sale as well. Expect popular titles to drop below $30 for the first time and $10 discounts on recently released games in some cases.
Due to its proximity to Christmas, Black Friday is undoubtedly the best time to buy LEGO sets and other toys. In all of the previews we have gotten so far (from Walmart and Costco), toys are heavily featured in those discounts. In fact, we're already seeing a 40% discount on some of the most popular LEGO sets at Target. That doesn't necessarily mean every type of toy or LEGO set will get discounted, but you can expect to see price cuts on items that haven't gone on sale all year during this time.
Although Apple does usually offer some sort of Black Friday promotion every year, but it's the other retailers that tend to have the best discounts. Black Friday is always the best time to buy a new iPad, AirPods, Apple Watches, and pretty much all other iOS accessories. Major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy will all be competing for the lowest price on the latest devices and we usually see the lowest prices all year on the latest Apple releases. This season is also a generally good time to buy an iPhone as most carriers will start offering their holiday promotions in November for the new iPhone 17 models.
Black Friday has always been one of the best times to buy a new gaming PC or laptop. In 2025 this is especially true as we're finally starting to see the first discounts on prebuilt machines with 50-series GPUs included. Major retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart will usually have at least one really good deal over the holiday weekend worth checking out. You can also expect significant discounts direct from manufacturers like Dell, Lenovo, and HP that are just as good if not better than what we've seen all year long.
Black Friday is by far the best time to buy a new phone. This is mostly because we see all of the biggest discounts around this time, but it's also thanks to the release schedules of new phones. Both Google and Apple launch their new flagship phones in the fall and it's around November that we start seeing prices drop on new and previous generation phones.
If you're looking for deals on unlocked phones, some of those discounts have already begun. You can already get a great deal on a Google Pixel 10 smartphone at Amazon right now. We also expect the Samsung Galaxy phones to get similar discount later in the season.
Any physical media collectors will definitely have a great opportunity to stock their shelves during Black Friday. Amazon often runs BOGO or '3 for 2' promotions on books, movies, and even board games. The 3 for 2 sale popped up last Black Friday and returned more recently during the retailer’s October Prime Day. It’s very likely we see some variation on it toward the end of November, which is a great opportunity to scoop up individual books as well as box sets and special editions.
If you're on the e-reader wave, Kindle Unlimited, a solid platforms for comics, will have some form of promotion. Audible, the audiobook haven, has already launched a "three months for $3" deal that will last through December. Otherwise, individual physical media deals will pop up across more tailored retailers like Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million. Expect price drops on classics as well as the newest book releases.
Regardless of what streaming services you're subscribed to, I'm willing to bet you encountered a price hike at one point or another in 2025. To cut down on subscription costs, I recommend stocking up whenever there's a discount. One of the only guaranteed times to see streaming discounts is Black Friday.
Last year's Black Friday streaming deals included a 70% discount on Hulu as well as the Hulu bundle with Disney+. HBO Max dropped to $2.99/month, while Peacock offered a full annual subscription for just $19.99. While prices may not drop as low after this year's price hikes, there's still a solid spread of streaming services I expect will offer their best deals of the year. The only exception? Netflix.
The alternative to streaming discounts is physical media deals. These are the ones you actually get to keep forever, and Black Friday is certainly one of the best times to add to your DVD collection. The Criterion Collection Black Friday sale has already kicked off at Barnes & Noble with a sweeping 50% discount. As mentioned above, we expect to see Amazon's 'Buy 2 Get 1 Free' deal return at some point in November.
DVDs will be included in pretty much every retailer's sale and will most likely be price-matched at Amazon. It's worth checking in on any movie or TV release you've had an eye on, including preorders, and using a price-tracking tool like camelcamelcamel to see if it's hit an all-time low.
It's not a secret that TCG pricing has gotten pretty out of control. The biggest suspect here is Pokemon, but with new licensing (looking at you, Universes Beyond) and ongoing issues with scalpers, we've also seen progressively higher prices on Magic: The Gathering and Disney Lorcana. Black Friday will likely feature a spread of discounts on TCG products, but it's worth doing your research on the MSRP of individual boosters or bundles to make sure you're getting an actual deal.
We'll likely see some of the more recent product releases back in stock with small discounts on Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Amazon is also currently offering a $60 gift card promotion for new Amazon credit card sign-ups. TCGPlayer will have some form of Black Friday sale, most likely replicating their 10% store credit promotion from 2024.
Black Friday is the best time to buy pretty much everything, but that doesn't mean everything will go on sale. There are some products that won't see any discounts at all simply because they are too new or demand is just too high. This is particularly true when it comes to things like tech and popular toys. For example Nintendo just launched the Switch 2 this year and there's very little chance we'll see any Black Friday deals on the new console outside of bundles that already exist. The same thing goes for the recently released Xbox Ally X, which has very little chance of receiving a discount so soon after launch.
When it comes to toys, don't expect discount on anything that has come out in the last few months. This is especially true for new LEGO releases as we usually don't see discounts on those until six months or more after the initial release date.
It may seem silly to start planning your Black Friday shopping right now, but doing so can help you save a lot of money when it comes time to actually start making purchases. Here are a few Black Friday tips that you should consider ahead of the event:
