The complete series of Cobra Kai is making the jump to physical Blu-ray this year with a massive new box set. Featuring all six seasons of the show - a grand total of 65 episodes - it's now available to preorder for $119.99 (see it here at Amazon). Eager fans don't have to wait too long for it, either, as it has a release date of March 3 this year. Head to the link below to secure it for your library.

Preorder Cobra Kai: The Complete Series on Blu-Ray

[Editor's Note: Watch the video version of this preview below, if you're interested.]

The campaign has always been my favorite part of Dawn of War, putting its RTS action in context of the wild, over-the-top, operatic drama of the far future. But when I got to go hands-on with the first bit of Dawn of War 4's grim story, it was a bit less opera and a bit more party rock, with the Ork faction leading the way. And as straightforwardly brutal as they are, there's an interesting twist this time with a bit of intra-faction rivalry between the biggest boyz.

BOSS MODE

There is a brief, two-mission tutorial when you first load up Dawn of War 4 featuring the Space Marines and the Imperial Guard. But in terms of the main meat of the campaign, each of the four factions has their own story with a specific spot in the larger, unfolding narrative. And the Orks come chronologically first, with their campaign setting the stage for everything that comes after it. And that just kind of works, really. If you want to kick things off with a bang and make a lot of messes others are going to have to clean up later, I can think of no one better to serve as the opening act.

As you may know if you've seen the CGI trailer, the inciting action of the entire game is a Blood Ravens battle barge getting invaded by orks under recurring Dawn of War big baddie, Gorgutz. This guy is hundreds of years old at this point and has been leading his boyz across the stars in conflict after conflict. So when he decides to crash his rok down on Kronus to pursue the Astartes, he has every expectation of being in charge.

That's not exactly how it plays out, though. In the first mission, called Da Beastboss, we're introduced to a younger and scrappier leader, Guzcutta. He's native to the planet Kronus, at least in as far as the Orks can be native to anywhere considering they're technically an invasive species of fungus… look, it's a long story, okay? We could be here talking about 40K deep lore for hours. But the point is, he's only ever known Kronus as home and the band of Orks living here already view him as their leader.

If Gorgutz is the surprisingly clever old war dog, Guzcutta is kind of a rebellious teen coming into his own. Gorgutz favors huge war machines and ridiculous firepower to get the job done, while Guzcutta relies on the beasts his boyz can tame and ride into battle for a little bit more of a low-tech approach. Both warbosses will eventually get access to all the same units, of course. And this initial bit is really just an introduction to Guzcutta and the Orks' main faction mechanics.

MAKE IT ORKY

Since the tutorial focused on how to move units, attack, use abilities, and things like that, Ork mission one can focus on what makes the Orks unique, like their Waaagh! mechanic, which you can learn more about in our faction deep dive. Your enemies for the early campaign are mainly the machine men of the Adeptus Mechanicus, occasionally supported by other Imperial auxiliaries, which forced me to focus quite a bit on mobility and flanking.

See, these spindly Skitarii can't stand up to a proper Ork in melee combat, but if they have the benefit of cover, their deadly ranged attacks can hold off a frontal assault for quite a while. Luckily, speedy Squighog Riders can simply run right around their emplacements and hit them from behind. And if that isn't working out, Stormboyz with their definitely not OSHA-approved jetpacks can leap right over them.

This is also where the Beast Snagga Boyz came in handy, because they're a little bit tougher than your standard Ork infantry, so they can draw fire for a decently long time without getting completely disintegrated. I wouldn't say it takes a mastermind to play this faction, as it shouldn't, but there is quite a bit to chew on tactically if you want to get the most out of them. Relentless aggression is rewarded in multiple ways, including growing the size of your squads with experience to become a proper horde. But combine that with a little cleverness, and now you're really dangerous.

CRASHDOWN

But if mission one was all about letting you get to know Guzcutta and his little neighborhood, mission two, Da Biggest Boss, is about how his life got flipped turned upside down. Remember Gorgutz demanding they "crash faster" in the trailer? Well, his ominous pile of scrap has finally touched down in a huge explosion and Guzcutta's boyz are eager to find out what happened. This is another fairly low-key intro mission with the goal of making it to various piles of wreckage left by the rok's impact and finding clues. But the AdMech are also interested in it, and I had to fight my way through them to get answers.

The mission culminates in the first meeting between the two bosses, when you come across Gorgutz' landing party – or at least, the ones who survived the crash – under attack by the AdMech. If you hear Gorgutz' version, of course he would have been fine. But from Guzcutta's perspective, he totally saved the day. Regardless, the main tension of the campaign has now been established, as both big Orks believe they should be the boss on Kronus. And neither of them are about to back down.

You will get to pick between them eventually, which is where the whole campaign branches. But for now, we spend a little more time with Guzcutta. He's the one I ended up picking anyway. I just like his style. And the next mission, Da Race, is a thematically appropriate contest to see who the better boss is by who can destroy the AdMech base fastest.

This is one of my favorite missions in Dawn of War 4 so far and one that really doesn't let you rest on the natural strengths of the Orks alone. While you're making your way up the left side of the map, Gorgutz is clawing up the right. And that means it's not enough to simply overwhelm the humies eventually, which has been easy enough to do up until now. You have to be efficient with your units alongside being relentless and get to the end before your rival does. This kind of scenario design is what I think separates a good RTS mission from a just-okay one.

There's even a bit of a strategic choice built in here, since you can send forces over to engage Gorgutz and slow him down. Ultimately, I found that this delayed me making progress on my side too much and it was better to just let him get bogged down with the AdMech. But it's certainly another way to do the mission if you need to buy yourself some extra time. Flanking him while he's already engaged is especially effective.

A TALE OF TWO BOSSES

Proving yourself here isn't enough, though. Once the Ork campaign branches off, you'll get multiple choices of which mission to take on next, with each one tipping the balance of power toward Gorgutz or Guzcutta. On one mission, you might be collecting scrap to assemble deadly Deff Dreads. I particularly liked one involving the taming of a savage Squigasaur, which becomes Guzcutta's mount and changes his playstyle for the rest of the campaign.

I didn't get to see how this boss brawl ends, or how its outcome might shape the campaigns that come after it. But simply having multiple possible endings for the first of four campaigns is exciting. Especially because I've never liked Gorgutz. It's about time he got knocked down a peg, you know? And Guzcutta's not exactly a knight in shining armor, but I can respect his disdain for authority and yee-haw philosophy on life and war. An Ork after my own heart, if there ever was one.

IGN is celebrating its 30th Anniversary on September 29, 2026. Before it was later rebranded IGN64, our first site, N64.com launched the same day the Nintendo 64 came out in the US back in 1996.

While we didn’t found the company, IGN Entertainment, until February 1999, IGN’s first article – a news story about Howard Lincoln commenting on the decision to drop the N64’s launch price from $249 to $199 – is dated September 23, 1996 and published a few days before IGN’s first site launch: N64.com.

A Celebration of 3D Gaming

IGN's story began with the advent of 3D console gaming and the desire to go beyond the monthly magazines with long lead times and share daily content about N64, PlayStation, and Saturn for our favorite pasttime. Content preservation wasn’t a big thing in the ‘90s, but many of the original articles are still online, along with prelaunch damage control like “Why is the site so slow?”, early examples of story formats that now dominate the internet (like text-and-image-only unboxings), and previews of games that would never see the light of day. Other content is lost to the ages, victims of media server migrations gone wrong, or someone not confirming with the content team that yes, we would like to keep the articles written on Saturnworld.com after merging them all into the new site, IGN.com, in 1999.

IGN is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and I couldn’t be more excited to give you all a sneak peek at the year-long festivities we have in store. From deep dive retrospective interviews with the biggest names in entertainment, to an in-person celebration in downtown Los Angeles, we’re inviting you to celebrate 30 years of pop culture with us.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

It’s fitting we’re celebrating this milestone now, at such an incredible time for games, movies, and streaming. Super Mario is now a huge movie franchise. The Last of Us and Fallout are smash-hit shows. Netflix now hosts an ever-growing collection of video games. And in turn some games, like Dispatch, look and behave a lot like Netflix shows. Thanks to the rise of collab culture in general, fans of everything from Stranger Things to Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn can show off their fandom in Fortnite. You can get Dwight Schrute as a Magic: the Gathering card.

Crucially, it isn’t just the megabrands that have benefitted. At this same time, the expansion of digital distribution platforms like Steam and streaming have empowered formerly niche communities to reach new heights as well. If you like chill, cozy games, they’ve never been bigger. Or if you’re like me and want to optimize conveyor belts and production chains, automation games are also having a moment. On the streaming side, we all have a friend that has found some amazing new subtitled show no one is watching but them, but might blow up into the next big thing (looking at you, Peer). Nowhere is this feeling more prevalent than the incredible growth of anime and manga over the last three decades.

In other words, whatever you’re into, pop culture has evolved to allow you to go deeper into your passions, or discover something amazing and new you didn’t even know you were interested in.

In short, it’s an exciting time to be a fan of…. just about anything.

At IGN, we’re privileged to have been right in the middle of this all for 30 years. IGN Entertainment company co-founder Peer Schneider has published an image gallery from the very earliest days of IGN you have to see.

"I am what I choose to become"

In some ways the entertainment landscape has been completely transformed from what it was in our earliest days. One somewhat startling fact is that IGN has been around longer than YouTube, Netflix, and Xbox, just to name a few. But in other ways, everything old becomes new again. In 1996 we were dreaming about what Zelda would look like on the Nintendo 64. In 2026, we’re dreaming about what Zelda will look like in theaters. Tomb Raider made its debut in 1996, and now in 2026 we’re excited to be covering both the new show and the duo of upcoming games. It’s like poetry… they rhyme.

But it’s these rare periods of more rapid transformation - like the one we’re in right now - that have always fascinated me most. I joined IGN in 2011 as Mobile Games Editor, reviewing games like Angry Birds Star Wars and Infinity Blade (bring it back you cowards!). I spent another couple years running features, and had a lot of fun (and headaches) shepherding insane projects like the Top 125 Nintendo Games. I recently moved into a role overseeing IGN’s absolutely amazing editorial team.

After more than 15 years, the thing that excites me most about working here is still the same: it’s the moment when someone says “...what if we tried this?” when thinking about how to solve a tricky problem.

Around 20 years ago, a little website called YouTube was just taking off. More video game fans were interested in watching videos about their favorite games and movies, and not just reading about them. IGN adapted quickly, and we now have 35 million subscribers watching more than 2 billion videos every year.

Around 10 years ago, Snapchat was the biggest thing on the planet, with TikTok and Instagram reels hot on its heels. IGN got on board, and now has more than 60 million social followers watching more than 5 billion vertical videos annually.

A decade later, we’re now in the midst of another transformative moment. In an online landscape increasingly dominated by text, videos, and entire people that were created at the click of a button, authenticity, transparency, and helpfulness are more important than ever.

You’ve seen a little bit of this from us already, and we’re excited to double down across the rest of 2026 and beyond. As one small step, we’re now including an extended discussion with our critics at the end of most reviews, to learn more about the reviewer’s specific tastes, history with the genre or franchise, and more.

Every single piece of IGN content is created by a human. We will give you more opportunities to get to know individual creators’ quirks and tastes in ways beyond just our stable of podcasts, including more letters from the editor like this one. (Seriously - hit me up if you’re playing any new factory automation games).

We’re also doubling down on making ourselves as helpful to all of you as possible, in big ways and small. HowLongToBeat does exactly what's in the name: work with the community to log data on exactly how many hours it takes to clear any video game. Tools like Maxroll and Mapgenie have also joined the IGN family in recent years, serving as complement to our human-powered cultural commentary, helping you get the most out of your games.

Finally, just as we want to find more opportunities for you to get to know us, we’re also excited to connect with and open a closer conversation with all of you more directly, as well. Again, this isn’t something brand new. Among other things, our annual Reddit AMA gives us a chance to chat with you all directly and hopefully demystify how IGN works a bit. The AMA has been one opportunity for us to remind everyone that IGN reviews have never and will never be paid for - every once in a while it’s important to restate the obvious.

But for me personally, IGN Live is the most exciting way we show up for our audience, and it’s been amazing to see so many of you show up for us, too. The (for now) once-a-year event kicked off in 2024, with attendees getting to play dozens of unreleased games, and to see live on-stage interviews with head of Xbox Phil Spencer, the cast of Critical Role, film director Eli Roth, and plenty more. We grew to a second floor in 2025. And in 2026 we’re excited to share more soon about what we have in store. But it may not surprise you to hear it's not just going to be a look ahead at this year’s biggest games, shows, and movies, but will double as a massive celebration 30 years in the making.

I’d love to see you there this June.

A Year-Long Celebration

In addition to IGN Live, you’re going to see special 30th anniversary-themed content on IGN all year long.

In IGN30: Icons, we’re conducting deep dive, longform interviews with industry luminaries from across gaming and entertainment to learn more about what they were doing in 1996, get their take on the last 30 years of groundbreaking changes, as well as their look ahead at the next 30 years.

1996 was an incredible year for games, featuring the debut of Super Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and Pokemon Red & Blue, just to name a few. And although we didn’t want too much of our IGN30 celebration to just be pure nostalgia, we couldn’t pass up this opportunity to revisit those all-time greats. So this year we’ll be producing special IGN30 editions of Art of the Level, Is It Still Fun Today?, and more. IGN Cinefix is also joining in on the fun, with Art of the Scene: IGN30 Edition.

This year we’re getting you involved in the celebrations too, via interactive face-offs, polls, and brackets to help settle some of the greatest and most storied characters, games, and consoles from the past three decades.

Finally, IGN Store and Humble Bundle will be getting in on the IGN30 celebrations, with throwback merchandise and a best-of-the-best game bundle.

I want to close with a genuine thank you, whether you’re here with us every day, or if this is your first time back in a while. I grew up poring over issues of EGM, and then just a few short years later obsessively checking websites like CheatCC, AICN, The GIA and yes, ign64.com (among so many others). So to have the opportunity to talk about the games, movies, and shows I love for a living is truly a dream come true.

It’s an honor and a privilege to have you here with us at all, and on behalf of everyone at IGN, I’m so excited to celebrate with you this year.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is getting the first of a number of planned voice packs at the end of February, each sold for $4.99.

The first voice pack, which is not included in the Season Pass and thus has upset some players who believe it should be part of the premium DLC package, drops alongside Patch 12 (the one that adds the long-awaited Techmarine class), and includes over 450 voice lines per Chapter, dubbed in the seven audio languages Saber Interactive’s explosive third-persion action game already supports.

This means you get unique lines based on the Chapter, and your Space Marine will shout these new lines. New lines are also in the Social Wheel emote. In a community update, publisher Focus Entertainment used the example of a Space Wolf (the Space Wolves are among the most popular chapters in all 40k), who will shout “For the Allfather” instead of the usual “For the Emperor."

Focus made a point of confirming that none of this voice work is the result of generative AI. “And for those who may be wondering: we’re happy to confirm that each and every one of this Voice Pack’s 1,300+ total voice lines were performed by a real voice actor, as our commitment to quality remains absolute,” Focus said.

The voice actors in English are:

• Thomas Mitchells (Blood Angels)
• Andrew James Spooner (Space Wolves)
• Kris W. Laudrum (Black Templars)

Xbox has been having a hard time selling consoles lately, and it didn't get any better over the 2025 holiday quarter. Microsoft has just reported its Q2 2026 earnings, including the news that hardware sales were down 32% year-over-year, after quarter upon quarter upon quarter of hardware declines.

Though we don't have actual numbers to tell how much revenue is being lost out on here, we can get a sense of how grim this is for the hardware by looking at past quarters. Last quarter, Q1 of 2026, hardware declined 29% year-over-year. The quarter before that, Q4 of 2025, hardware was down 22%. The quarter before that? Down 6%. Before that? Down 29%. And before that, 29%, in Q1 of 2025, which was July - September of 2024. Going back even further through Microsoft's earnings reports, the prior year quarters saw declines of 42% (woah) in Q4 of 2024 and 31% in Q3. In fact, you have to go all the way back to Q2 2024, which was October through December of 2023, to find the last time Xbox's hardware revenue was better during that period than it was the year before - it was up a whopping 3% over the holiday quarter.

And yes, it was down 7% the quarter before that, 13% before that, down 30% before that, down 13% before that, and finally up 13% year-over-year in Q1 of 2023, or July - September of 2022, at which point the numbers start finally showing consistent improvement year-over-year, largely due to proximity to the launch of the Series S and X.

Now, look. It's extremely normal for a six-year-old console to not be selling as well as it was in the first few years after launch. That's to be expected. Early adopters tend to buy up consoles in large quantities at launch, distributers run out of stock, more is produced, people continue to buy until the vast majority of enthusiasts who want the console already have one, and then sales slow down as the console gets older. But it...usually takes a bit longer to get to that point! For comparison's sake, we have evidence that neither the PlayStation 5 nor the Nintendo Switch have had this much trouble on this scale selling systems at this stage in their respective life cycles, and certainly not as far back as less than three years after launch. There's maybe a reason why we have hard unit sales numbers of Switches and PS5s from Nintendo and PlayStation, but no official numbers whatsoever from Xbox on the Series S and X.

None of this is surprising to anyone who's paying attention. We've been reading headlines about the strugglines of the Xbox Series consoles for the last several years now. In the U.S., Xbox console sales hit an all-time November low in 2025, after several years in a row of declining hardware sales in what is usually the busiest retail month with Black Friday.

These more recent struggles are likely tied as well to the two spikes in Xbox console prices just this year, which saw the least expensive Xbox rise to $400, and the most expensive to an unimaginable $800. Its recently-released ROG Ally launched last year at a whopping $1000. And because much of the high prices are tariff-related, the U.S. - Xbox's biggest market - is primarily impacted here. According to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella speaking to us last December, the average price per Xbox unit in the U.S. has risen 30% year-over-year in 2025.

Xbox seems to be well-aware that its console business is seriously suffering. While it's promised a new, next-gen console to follow the Series, it's also said such a console would be a "very premium, very high-end curated experience." And even though there have been rumors it's considering backing off about its hardware plans recently, Xbox is still denying them, even as a former Xbox founding member says that "Xbox hardware is dead."

While the hardware declines were the most noteworthy figure from Microsoft's earnings yesterday, it's not like software was doing a whole lot better. Content and services revenue dropped 5% year-over-year, and overall gaming declines caused revenue in the More Personal Computing segment of Microsoft to drop 3% year-over-year. In the investor presentation, CFO Amy Hood said that the revenue drop was "driven by first-party content with impact across the platform," suggesting that its first-party games (perhaps Call of Duty?) didn't do as well as they expected them to.

All-in-all, another real rough one for Microsoft's gaming department.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Nintendo has confirmed it will feature a diverse range of options for your character's gender, voice and dating preferences in its upcoming social sim Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, after a previous backlash to the series a decade ago.

In today's just-finished Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Nintendo Direct broadcast, the company began by showcasing the process with which players will create their Mii character, picking options for their gender, dating preferences and even a detailed range of setings for their voice.

While not specifically mentioned, the message here was clear: that Nintendo has made good on its promise made back in 2014 to make the next Tomodachi Life game "more inclusive, and [something that] better represents all players."

In #TomodachiLife: Living the Dream, you can create Mii characters from scratch or by answering a series of questions! Once you’re finished with their look, pick their gender and adjust their dating preferences and personality. pic.twitter.com/eVQAWhuq9m

— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) January 29, 2026

When Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream launches for Switch consoles this year on April 16, it will be 13 years since the arrival of the series' previous entry arrived on 3DS. Shortly thereafter, Nintendo found itself embroiled in a major controversy after Japanese fans alleged that Nintendo had initially developed, then removed, same-sex relationship options for in-game characters.

Nintendo's Bill Trinen commented on the issue to IGN at the time, and stated that while Nintendo had indeed updated the game, the update's intent had been to fix a data leak issue when importing characters from a previous game. Separate to this fact, Trinen said, some players had been using the same feature to import male Mii characters that could then be designated female, allowing for the appearance of two Mii characters of the same sex to marry and have a baby.

"Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of Tomodachi Life," Nintendo then said in a statement, which did little to stop the growing backlash. "The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation. We hope that all of our fans will see that Tomodachi Life was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary."

As fan complaints grew, a fan petition for "Miiquality" was launched, and the situation caught mainstream attention — including a high-profile skit by late night TV host John Oliver, who broadcast a skit featuring Mario and Link snogging.

Nintendo then issued a further statement with an apology for "disappointing many people" — and it was here that the company made a "pledge" to make a title that "better represents all players" should it release another Tomodachi title in future.

"We apologize for disappointing many people by failing to include same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life," Nintendo said at the time. "Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to change this game’s design, and such a significant development change can’t be accomplished with a post-ship patch. At Nintendo, dedication has always meant going beyond the games to promote a sense of community, and to share a spirit of fun and joy. We are committed to advancing our longtime company values of fun and entertainment for everyone. We pledge that if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players."

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream allows players to create Mii versions of themselves, their friends, fictional characters and love interests and get them to all interact on a fantasy island. Clearly aware of some of the potential uses of this, Nintendo followed up today's Direct broadcast with a vague statement that said it would "place restrictions on certain image sharing features" for the game. Nintendo's Japanese support website states that this relates to the ability to share images directly to a smartphone or social media, though sharing via Game Chat is still possible.

For more, check out our roundup of everything announced at the Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Nintendo Direct.

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

Bungie’s next game after Destiny 2 is Marathon, an extraction shooter that’s set to release on March 5. To celebrate the occasion, Sony is releasing some Marathon-themed PS5 accessories. There’s the PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller - Marathon Limited Edition for $84.99 (see it at Amazon) and the PULSE Elite Wireless Headset - Marathon Limited Edition, which costs $169.99 and is exclusive to PlayStation Direct. Both accessories will release March 5 alongside the game.

PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller - Marathon Limited Edition

PULSE Elite Wireless Headset - Marathon Limited Edition

Marathon Collector's Edition

With Crimson Desert just a handful of weeks from release, developer Pearl Abyss has released a 15-minute video showing everything from the story to the open world, alongside fresh gameplay.

This video shows main character Kliff and the continent of Pywel, which promises to be a seamless open world. Expect “sprawling wilderness, bustling cities, ancient ruins, and diverse regions, all set against a backdrop of escalating conflict and supernatural danger,” Pearl Abyss said.

Kliff is a warrior of the Greymanes, a faction from the northern region of Pailune. The story begins in the aftermath of a peace being shattered, and Kliff must reunite the Greymanes and reclaim their homeland. You end up discovering that the entire continent is involved.

The threat comes from the Abyss, a mysterious realm that’s sending fragments crashing into Pywel. Some want to exploit these fragments. You’re trying to restore balance to the Abyss and stop those who are exploiting it.

Crimson Desert’s huge open world has been a topic of debate recently. Pywel is divided into five distinct regions: Hernand; Pailune; Demeniss; Delesyia; and the Crimson Desert itself. The main quest revolves around Kliff’s journey, but you’re free to explore the world in any order, taking faction-driven quests, large-scale battles, fortress sieges and smaller, character-focused missions.

Pearl Abyss confirmed that as the story progresses, two additional playable characters become available, each with unique combat styles, skills and weapons. Exploration is a big part of the game — you travel on horseback, climb terrain, glide across distances, and later access advanced traversal options such as a missile-firing mech and a dragon. Pearl Abyss said the world is filled with hidden treasures, ancient mechanisms, puzzles and points of interest “designed to reward curiosity and discovery.” As for combat, expect to face enemy soldiers, sorcerers, beasts and machines.

Earlier this month, Pearl Abyss called Crimson Desert’s open world “absolutely massive,” bigger even than that of Bethesda’s Skyrim and Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2.

Speaking on the Gaming Interviews YouTube channel, Pearl Abyss’ Will Powers said that describing the size of Crimson Desert’s world in terms of numbers doesn’t do it justice, because doing so fails to capture the scope and scale of the game. But he did go as far as to compare it to two of the biggest open world games around.

"I don't think numbers really do it justice because, how big is that in terms of scope and scale?” he said. “But what we can say is that the world's at least twice as big as the open world, the playable area, of Skyrim. It's larger than the map of Red Dead Redemption 2."

Powers went on to insist that the size of Crimson Desert’s open world won’t determine its quality. Rather, what you actually do in it is the key factor.

"The continent of Pywel is absolutely massive, but size doesn't really matter if there's nothing to do,” he said. “Open-world games are about doing things, having activities, having distractions. So we wanted to create a world that's not only massive, but is also incredibly interactive."

Unlike Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption 2, in Crimson Desert you can fly around on a dragon, so despite the size of its world, you’ll be able to get about quickly. And don’t expect RPG elements in terms of decision-making and choice and consequence as it relates to your character, either. The sheer amount of things to do in the world will facilitate the role-playing part of Crimson Desert, which players will form through “head canon.”

“You choose the type of character you want to play as in terms of your progression within the systems in the game,” Powers explained. “And then through head canon you’re having this very different experience than other players because of the scope and scale of the game. You’ll be distracted by something, you’ll go on this quest line, you’ll have an experience that’ll be radically different than someone else, even though they’re playing the same game and the same canonical storyline that you both are going through.”

Crimson Desert has gone gold, locking in its global release date of March 19, 2026. That’s across PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Mac.

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.

Looking to expand your Switch 2 library? Best Buy is here to help. At the moment, as part of its Deal of the Day, the retailer is offering Pokémon Legends: Z-A for Nintendo Switch 2 for $55.99 (see it here). Overall, this saves you $14 off its usual price of $69.99, but it won't stay at this price for long.

Deals from this section of Best Buy last for one day, and one day only. If you've been itching to boot up Pokémon Legends: Z-A on your Switch 2, now is the time to grab a physical copy and save while it's still on sale.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Nintendo Switch 2) for $55.99

Magic: The Gathering has a busy 2026 planned, but the last set to be revealed was a crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yes, it marks our second trip to New York in less than a year, thanks to last year's Spider-Man set (seriously, there are infinite dimensions we could travel to!), but the Heroes in a Half Shell are doing things a little differently.

Not only does it offer our first Universes Beyond Commander Deck since Final Fantasy, but there are some new product types, too. Here's everything you can preorder, including more than a few sealed products that already have some tidy discounts.

MTG x TMNT Preorders in a Half Shell

As you can probably imagine, there are more products coming than you can shake a Bo Staff at launching on March 6, with pre-release a week prior from February 27 to March 5.

The foundation, as expected, is Play Boosters, and Amazon has a box for $124.99 right now - which is a massive saving.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is Getting a Commander Deck

UK Preorders

I can’t remember the last time a set came with a single Commander precon. In 2025 alone we’ve had sets with no precons (Spider-Man, Avatar), sets with two (Aetherdrift, Edge of Eternities), a set with four (Final Fantasy) and a set with five (Tarkir Dragonstorm).

Why just the one? I honestly can't complain. Even at my age, picking my favorite turtle is serious business, so having the whole gang in one, 100-card boxed product means I don't have to make any tough choices.

Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He's a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's dismay.