If you think it's okay to share spoilers of a 26-year-old game, you may want to think again after Square Enix made it clear that anyone willfully spoiling Dragon Quest VII Reimagined may be "temporarily or permanently banned."

According to the company's usage policy, and reported by Automaton, anyone sharing details of the plot — be it from the demo, the original story, or the new story elements in the remake, which releases next month — must use spoiler tags. This means players cannot share images, videos, or even livestreams of any gameplay past the Malign Shrine: Throne Room's boss battle before the February 5, 2026 release date.

"No spoilers please," the publisher stressed. "In order not to spoil other players' enjoyment, you must mark all content that includes details of major plot developments with a clear spoiler warning.

"Please refrain from livestreaming or posting videos/images of gameplay after the boss battle in the Malign Shrine: Throne Room until February 5 2026."

While that may sound fair enough, don't forget that the digital deluxe edition provides players with two days' early access, which players and streamers won't be able to share their experience from before the release date. Anyone sharing images or videos should also attribute copyright to Armor Project, Bird Studio and Square Enix, and failure to adhere to any of these rules may result in temporary or permanent suspension of your game access.

"You must immediately comply with any request from Square Enix to remove Materials from any shared content, regardless of whether Square Enix provides a reason for the request," the notice adds. "Square Enix reserves the right to require or seek removal of any content incorporating the Materials that it deems to be inappropriate in its sole discretion. If you do not adhere to these Guidelines, Square Enix may, in addition to objecting to your use of the Materials, temporarily or permanently suspend you from using the Game."

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is set to release on February 5 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and both Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. Announced in September's Nintendo Direct, it lets you rediscover a tale of plucky companions brimming with joy and heartbreak as you discover the truth behind why your kingdom is the only remaining island in the world. The game features a new art style that blends diorama visuals with Akira Toriyama’s iconic character designs, as well as a streamlined main story.

"While many aspects of Dragon Quest VII Reimagined are still a mystery, all of those special little qualities and personalities that have kept this series going for almost 40 years are still on display," we wrote in IGN's Dragon Quest VII Reimagined preview, shared towards the end of last year.

"I am eager to see all that this new version has to offer and just how the removal of some story beats and addition of new ones impacts the overall campaign, along with what the new gameplay mechanics bring to the Dragon Quest DNA. 2026 may just be the year that the rest of the world really sees what has made Dragon Quest VII the best-selling entry over in Japan, giving it the stage to finally shine."

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

Southern California police are investigating a wave of similar burglaries involving trading card businesses in a bid to establish whether they are linked.

Thieves made off with thousands of dollars' worth of trading cards over the weekend, targeting a trading card store in Simi Valley, California, in the early hours of Sunday morning, January 4.

As reported by KTLA, the thieves targeted rare Pokémon and sports trading cards at Simi Sports Cards, making off with "almost every card" in just three minutes. You can see the robbery take place in the Instagram footage, below.

Owner Jake Miller said: “They took single cards from our show cases [after] busting them open. We have five display cases in here, and they were all full — almost every card was stolen. It’s several hundred cards, as well as some sealed boxes."

The store isn't certain of the exact amount taken, but Miller estimates it'll cost around $50,000 to put things right and upgrade the store's security systems.

"Card stores in greater Los Angeles and Ventura County are being hit RELENTLESSLY and we were once again victim this weekend," reads the Instagram post. "Sunday morning at 3:30am we were broken into by a group of 5 thieves who stole most of our singles inventory. Simi Valley was once known for law and order, what is happening?"

The Simi Valley Police Department said it was aware of similar burglaries involving trading card businesses that occurred over the weekend in surrounding communities. "SVPD Property Crimes Detectives are working closely with neighboring law enforcement agencies to determine whether these incidents may be connected," it said in a statement published online.

That's a reference to a man who reportedly purchased a rare Pokémon card "worth six figures" from a store in LA's Sawtelle neighborhood and, that same day, was tracked to his vehicle and robbed at gunpoint. It's unclear whether the two incidents are related, or indeed if either crime is connected to the same thieves who targeted a different store in Burbank just last month, stealing $100,000 in merchandise.

NEW: Burglars ransack card shop and steal $100,000 worth of rare Pokémon and sports cards

The owner believes the thieves knew exactly where the merchandise was and planned the job ahead of time

They got away with about $100,000 in merchandise

Police believe the same crew may… pic.twitter.com/zMIurJ86U9

— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) December 6, 2025

This recent spate of thefts is just the latest example of how Pokémon cards are now considered high-value goods by thieves. In December 2024, it was reported that Japanese crime syndicates were now using Pokémon cards to launder money. And in the U.S., this is just the latest incident similar to many others over the past 12 months. Until Pokémon's popularity fades — and there's no sign it'll do that anytime soon, with a big new wave of games expected next year — it seems likely this will continue.

Anyone who may have information related to the burglary or who observed suspicious activity in the area is encouraged to contact the Simi Valley Police Department: 805-583-6950.

Image credit: Simi Sports Cards Instagram.

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

With Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Season 1 Reloaded just around the corner, we're starting to get a better idea of what to expect when the new update goes live on January 8.

Although we don't yet have all the details, we should expect four multiplayer maps for Black Ops 7 at launch, plus new POIs on Haven's Hollow Resurgence and Verdansk maps in Warzone. There's also some updates for Zombies, including the Astra Malorum Round-Based Zombies map and Exit 115 Survival map, plus "reward-filled weekly challenges," new weapons, modes, camos, events, and more.

While pre-load is not live yet across all platforms, it is available for players on Battle.net, where it looks like it's a 175GB download (redownloading the game), although that will depend on what game modes you have/want installed. On Xbox, the download looks to be around 170GB, so whatever you're playing on, it may be worth double-checking how much space you have ahead of time.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Season 1 Reloaded start times:

Depending on where you are in the world, Season 1 Reloaded is set to go live on:

Thursday, January 8, 2026:

PST (San Francisco):

• 9am

CST (Mexico City):

• 11am

EST (New York):

• 12pm

GMT (London):

• 5pm

CET (Paris):

• 6pm

Friday, January 9, 2026

JST (Tokyo):

• 1am

CST (Beijing):

• 1am

AEST (Sydney):

• 4am

NZST (Wellington):

• 6am

Maps

Players will fight across a suite of new core Multiplayer maps with Season 1 Reloaded, including the high-rise, neon-soaked rooftops of Yakei alongside the return of two of the most iconic maps in Black Ops history: Meltdown and Fringe.

Zombies, on the other hand, will see the Zarya Cosmodrome location from Ashes of the Damned become a Survival map, and a Directed mode has been added to the Astra Malorum map, so buddies can now jump and help each other complete the main story quest.

Campaign

Two new world events have been confirmed, but we only have details of one: the Wraith Wing world event. This advanced Guild aircraft appears to have cloning capabilities with lethal consequences as this squadron seems hell bent on eliminating as many JSOC Operators as it can. Disable it, fire at the exposed aircraft, and down that bird.

Weapons

So far, we only know of two new weapons unlocking in Season 1 Reloaded:

• Hawker HX (Sniper rifle, FKA Ballista sniper)
• Sturmwolf 45 (submachine gun, FKA UMP45)

Fallout Collab

Okie dokie - stay focused, stay alive ☢️@FalloutonPrime is coming to Call of Duty in Season 01 Reloaded 💥 pic.twitter.com/uyFl3mRDkG

— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) December 17, 2025

Yes, it's true — Microsoft is bringing two of its hottest gaming franchises together for a Fallout Season 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 crossover event. While details remain sparse, we've seen a brief video teaser which shows silhouettes of Fallout TV series characters The Ghoul, Lucy, and Maximus in the smoke of war, with bullets whizzing by in the background.

"Okie dokie — stay focused, stay alive," the text on the post reads. "[Fallout TV show] is coming to Call of Duty in Season 01 Reloaded."

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