What’s the worst Terminator movie of all time? Fans have debated this question for years. James Cameron’s 1984 thriller The Terminator, and its blockbuster follow-up, 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, are considered two of the greatest sci-fi films ever made, and neither should be considered here. But that still leaves four Terminator sequels to sort.

Here are all the Terminator films released so far:

• The Terminator October 26, 1984
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day July 3, 1991
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines July 2, 2003
• Terminator Salvation May 21, 2009
• Terminator Genisys July 1, 2015
• Terminator: Dark Fate November 1, 2019

So, this really comes down to four movies: Terminator 3; Salvation; Genisys; and Dark Fate, all of which were poorly received. Terminator fans have been ordering this list of films from best to worse for years, but now Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Terminator himself, has had his say — although I think his answer is packed full of bias.

The 77-year-old actor and former Governor of California declared a winner (loser?) on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen while promoting Fubar Season 2.

"I would say the worst was probably the No. 4, because that was done during the time I was governor and I was not in it," Schwarzenegger said.

That’s Terminator Salvation, which stars Christian Bale and Sam Worthington but not, as Arnie points out, Arnie himself. Well, Arnie didn’t act in the movie — a CGI version of Arnie as the Terminator turns up briefly to throw Bale around a room. It's the best bit of the film.

“How do you do a Terminator movie without me being in the Terminator movie?” Schwarzenegger wondered. “It doesn’t make any sense. It’s impossible!”

Not only was Terminator Salvation poorly received, but it made less money at the box office than expected. It wasn’t until 2015 — six years later — that another Terminator movie came out (the similarly poorly received Genisys), this time with Schwarzenegger in it. But that made little difference to the film's reception, which was savage. Salvation is currently the only Terminator film to date not to feature Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In the interview, Schwarzenegger joked that in response to Salvation, he threatened to pass a law while governor forbidding movies that “suck.”

“I called immediately,” he laughed. “I said, ‘I’m gonna pass a law that says it’s forbidden to do movies that suck!’”

In truth, Schwarzenegger’s pick here comes as no surprise, and it’s not even the first time he’s criticized Salvation. Whatever your pick, it seems there’s little life left in Terminator, despite similar 80s and 90s sci-fi franchises such as Alien and Predator enjoying a resurgence. The last movie Cameron directed in the franchise was Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He had no involvement with the three sequels that followed but returned as a producer on Terminator: Dark Fate — a movie he said he was "reasonably happy" with, though he admits it might have worked better without the original stars.

In 2022, Cameron said another Terminator reboot was "in discussion," but nothing was set in stone, and we’ve heard nothing since. He said at the time: "If I were to do another Terminator film and maybe try to launch that franchise again, which is in discussion, but nothing has been decided, I would make it much more about the AI side of it than bad robots gone crazy."

Photo by Tolga Akmen/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has seen a big boost in players after launching its first new class, but complaints over monetization have continued especially after developer Fatshark released a version of the Arbitrator's default helmet with its visor up for $5.

This week’s Battle for Tertium update, which arrived alongside the new Adeptus Arbites class DLC, reworked the core player experience to provide a new, clearer narrative focus for the co-op first-person melee / shooter hybrid.

Players now experience a linear campaign with new mission debriefs and embedded cinematics. It’s designed to “ease in new players and gradually unlock features that were previously gated by character level,” Fatshark has said.

But the big draw for veteran players was the release of the Adeptus Arbites class, and it appears to have done the trick. This $11.99 DLC looks like it’s sparked the interest of players who have stuck with the game since its troubled launch, as well as convinced lapsed players to dip back in.

Following the launch, Darktide hit a peak concurrent player count of just over 43,000 on Steam, the highest it’s been on Valve’s platform for over two years. And this doesn’t even paint the whole picture of the game’s success, given it’s also out on console.

In a statement provided to IGN, Product Marketing Manager Rodrigue Delrue said Fatshark had noticed the uptick, but failed to say exactly how many were playing Darktide across PC and console.

“We’ve seen a high level of engagement across all platforms, even if we don't have exact numbers to share at this time,” Delrue said. “What’s important is that the community remains active and passionate, and we’re incredibly thankful for that.”

Mark Hamill has spoken in detail about the backstory he made up for Luke Skywalker as we see him in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, after moving to clarify his dissatisfaction with Rian Johnson’s story.

Hamill has made no secret of his disagreement with Luke’s on-screen motivations for exiling himself and becoming the hermit Rey meets in 2017’s The Last Jedi. As Skywalker explains in the movie, he blames himself for Ben Solo turning to the Dark side of the Force, which drives him to quit the Jedi. When Rey tracks Luke down in a bid to recruit him into the Resistance, he refuses.

Now, eight years after that movie came out, Hamill has gone into detail on his head canon for why Luke abandoned the Jedi.

Speaking in an interview on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn to promote his new movie, The Life of Chuck, Hamill was asked about how uncomfortable he was when he found out Luke had exiled himself in The Last Jedi.

Hamill’s response started with him insisting he’s a big fan of Rian Johnson, and indeed thinks he made “a great movie.”

“Here’s the thing, and I’d love to clear this up: Rian Johnson is one of the most gifted directors I’ve ever worked with,” Hamill said. “He’s amiable, he’s fun on set, he’s smart. He made a great movie. I think the staging of the stand-off between Kylo Ren, Adam Driver and I at the end, is so well staged. The foreshadowing that I’m not really there. Adam wipes the snow away and you see the red planet beneath, I wipe the snow and it’s just snow. That’s so subtle. I love Knives Out and Brick and Looper. He’s one of my favorite directors.

“And the fact that I went public with my dissatisfaction with the motivation for Luke becoming a suicidal hermit might have colored things in a way that, maybe I should have kept that to myself. But I kept saying to Rian, ‘This would just make Luke double down even…’ and he said, ‘Well, your class at the Jedi Academy were wiped out.’”

This is in reference to the scene in which a young Ben Solo brings a building down on Luke Skywalker, tears a Jedi temple apart and murders his students before running away to eventually become Kylo Ren.

“I said, ‘Rian, I saw entire planets wiped out! If anything, Luke doubles down and hardens his resolve in the face of adversity.’ So that’s all,” Hamill explained.

“I said, ‘Can I make up my own backstory of why he is the way he is? I don’t want to just say that I have bumped my head and I have brain damage.’ He said, ‘Yeah, do whatever you want.’ So I made up a much, much darker backstory that I thought could justify him being that way.”

Hamill then revealed this backstory, which certainly goes places:

“I thought, what could make someone give up a devotion to what is basically a religious entity, to give up being a Jedi?” Hamill began. “Well, the love of a woman. So he falls in love with a woman. He gives up being a Jedi. They have a child together. At some point the child, as a toddler, picks up an unattended lightsaber, pushes the button and is killed instantly. The wife is so full of grief, she kills herself.”

This head canon, Hamill explained, would have justified Luke’s actions and proven an adequate motivation for going into self-imposed exile.

“I thought, that would be… because I hear these horrible stories about these children who find unattended guns and wind up dead,” he continued. “That resonated with me so deeply that, that could possibly… but he didn’t have the time to tell a backstory like that, I’m guessing. He just wanted a brief thing to explain it. And to me, it didn’t justify it.

“That said — and I told him [Johnson] this — despite the fact that I disagree with your choices for Luke, I’m going to do everything within my power to make your screenplay work as best as I can. And the only thing unfortunate about that is, I’ve heard comments from fans who think that I somehow dislike Rian Johnson, and nothing could be further from the truth.”

The comments also come hot on the heels of Hamill’s confirmation that he will not return to Star Wars in a future movie, insisting: “There's no way I'm gonna appear as a naked Force ghost.”

Rey is set to return to the world of Star Wars in the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-directed sequel to the universally panned Star Wars: Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker. It will tell the story of Rey as she looks to rebuild the Jedi Order roughly 15 years after the events of that film.

In the shorter term, The Mandalorian and Grogu is due out 2026. Star Wars: Starfighter, Shawn Levy's Star Wars movie starring Ryan Gosling, is due out in 2027.

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.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2’s long-awaited Siege Mode is out now across all platforms alongside Patch 8, which makes some significant changes to the game.

Siege is a take on the classic horde mode, and sees teams of three Space Marine players battle waves of Tyranids and Chaos Marines.

It’s the first significant new mode to hit Space Marine 2 since its hugely successful release last year, and for publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Saber Interactive, it will hopefully breathe new life into the explosive co-op shooter.

It’s worth noting that Saber has made some key changes to the way Siege mode works compared to the version playable as part of the Public Test Server (PTS). “The biggest criticism regarding Siege mode from the community was the wave timer limit,” Saber explained. “It exists only for technical reasons. In this build we've made some optimizations so the Siege mode can last longer.” Full details are in the patch notes below, as per Steam.

Siege mode itself, alongside its exclusive cosmetic rewards, are free, but there are new paid cosmetics (White Scars Chapter Champion and Blood Angels Customisation Pack). Elsewhere, Space Marine 2 finally has Ray Traced Ambient Occlusion (RTAO) and DLSS 4 support (better upscale, multiframe generation in Nvidia settings for 50xx series cards) on PC, and there’s the introduction of the Thunder Hammer for the Bulwark class (which the developers added simply because they thought it was cool).

As Saber has indicated, it’s working on a “very big” update for customisation that lets players reuse chapter champion armour parts on other classes (with lore accuracy, clipping and technical restrictions). It’s not in Patch 8, so perhaps we can expect it in Patch 9.

Space Marine 2 has sold an impressive 7 million copies so far. It’s done so well it “changes everything” for Saber, Chief Creative Officer Tim Willits told IGN soon after the game came out last September. It was also a big financial success for Warhammer 40,000 owner Games Workshop. CEO Kevin Rountree has said Space Marine 2 contributed significant royalty revenue to the tabletop company's business last year.

Focus and Saber surprised some Space Marine 2 fans when it announced Space Marine 3 was in development back in March, half a year after the game came out. But given the huge sales you can see why the project was greenlit so soon. "Space Marine 2 has proven to be a transformative game for Saber," Matthew Karch, CEO of Saber Interactive, said at the time. Still, Focus and Saber had to put out a statement reassuring players of its commitment to Space Marine 2, which is still working through its year one roadmap of content. Without spoiling the Space Marine 2 campaign, it strongly suggests a continuation (IGN has reported on the enemy faction we’ll probably see in Space Marine 3).

In the shorter term, Space Marine 2 players are wondering what else is coming to the game. Patch 8 does not add any new weapons or Operations mode maps, so it seems the focus here is squarely on Siege. But Saber has confirmed new content is on the way, including a new class. Season 4 also includes a new game mode for PvP and a new Chaos enemy. Check out IGN’s exclusive interview with Saber on Space Marine 2’s Siege mode for more information.

Sony has announced the PlayStation Plus monthly lineup of games for July 2025, which also marks 15 years of PS Plus.

PS Plus launched on June 29, 2010. In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Sony Interactive Entertainment's VP, Global Services, Global Sales and Business Operations, Nick Maguire, thanks fans for their support of PlayStation during this time.

“From all of us at Sony Interactive Entertainment, we want to send out a huge thank you to all our fans for your support throughout these years,” Maguire said.

“We hope you can join us for a number of celebratory activities we have planned this summer to commemorate this incredible milestone. But first, here are the July Monthly Games for PlayStation Plus members available July 1 until August 4.”

As such, PS Plus has some big hitters in July. Blizzard’s Diablo 4, SNK’s King of Fighters 15, and Don't Nod’s Jusant are all available to PS Plus members from July 1 to August 4. It’s worth noting the PlayStation Plus launch of KOF15 includes the “Classic Leona” DLC costume, which lets you change Leona’s costume to her KoF ‘96 look.

PlayStation Plus Monthly Games July 2025:

• Diablo IV | PS5, PS4
• The King of Fighters XV | PS5, PS4
• Jusant | PS5

PlayStation Plus 15th Anniversary Celebrations kick off today, June 25, with a trial of WWE 2K25 for PS Plus Premium members. A trial for Monster Hunter Wilds goes live on June 30.

“In the last 15 years we have been focused on providing access to quality game experiences through PlayStation Plus, along with key benefits such as exclusive PlayStation Store discounts, online multiplayer access, Cloud Game Streaming and more,” Maguire continued.

“Since the launch of our Monthly Games benefit (previously known as Instant Game Collection), more than 500 monthly games have been offered.

“PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for Extra and Premium/Deluxe members also launched three years ago with the reintroduction of PlayStation Plus. Some of the recent top games played based on playtime hours (April 1- May 28, 2025) include Ghost of Tsushima, God of War Ragnarök, Grand Theft Auto V, Hogwarts Legacy, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and The Last of Us Part I.

“Thank you again for coming on our PlayStation Plus journey. There’s plenty more to look forward to, including many more great games to come.”

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.

Marvel Studios has released a new The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer packed with fresh footage.

The trailer shows off The Thing sporting a rock beard while Human Torch carries him through the air. We also get a glimpse at Mister Fantastic being a little stretchy, Invisible Woman using more of her powers, and ever so slightly more of Galactus, although a proper reveal for the character remains out of reach.

Elsewhere, we see the Silver Surfer to a greater extent than we have done before, and hear her metallic voice heralding the arrival of Galactus himself. The Thing refusing to say "It's clobberin' time!" is a running joke throughout the trailer.

The revelation that The Thing wears a beard in The Fantastic Four movie, given we have seen the superhero clean shaven up to this point suggests it doesn't grow out until the third act. But then, why wouldn't Ben Grimm shave? Over what period of time do the events of The Fantastic Four take place? Is there a significant time jump? Can The Thing shave? If so, how? We have a lot of questions about the rock beard.

Fans had clocked on to the idea that The Fantastic Four takes place over the course of months rather than days, given we see Sue Storm before and after she gives birth to Franklin Richards.

While the trailer includes lots of new footage, Marvel Studios is clearly holding plenty back. Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards, complete with a moustache Pascal is aware has caused quite the debate, is seen stretching his arm and leg as he leaps onto a platform, and again when he appears to stick something in Galactus' leg, but the full extent of his powers remain under wraps.

Similarly, Galactus' face has yet to be shown in live-action form, although we've had a look at the character through other means. We do see his chest as Galactus appears to awaken, and of course stomping around this universe's alternate history New York City.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to kick off Phase Six of the MCU, and bring Marvel's first family into contact with the likes of Captain America, Thor, and the X-Men with next year's Avengers: Doomsday. Earlier this month, The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman commented on the big question of whether Robert Downey Jr's Doctor Doom will make an appearance in the upcoming movie, and seemingly confirmed the character will be absent. But Shakman's awkwardly phrased response left fans doubting the director's words. What we do know is the events of The Fantastic Four: First Steps lead directly into Avengers: Doomsday, which is set for December 2026.

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.

Death Stranding 2 has a dialogue option at the beginning of the game that fans are getting a kick out of, but while it looks like a scary choice at first, it’s just a harmless Easter egg.

Warning! Spoilers for Death Stranding 2 follow:

Death Stranding 2 kicks off with a Far Cry-esque option at the beginning of the game where Fragile (Léa Seydoux) recruits Sam (Norman Reedus) to Drawbridge, but you get the option to refuse. Death Stranding 2 then does a Groundhog Day thing where the game keeps showing the intro over and over, and you can keep selecting "I wont do it,” but eventually the game forces you to accept the offer.

This first major dialogue choice doesn’t stop you from progressing the story, nor does it do that thing some games do by rolling credits early. It’s a perfectly safe Easter egg that’s in keeping with the Hideo Kojima style, and a fun distraction before you get stuck into the game.

Check out the video below, where we show you exactly what happens when you refuse Fragile’s plea to join Drawbridge.

IGN’s Death Stranding 2 review returned a 9/10. We called it “a triumphant sequel that emphatically delivers on the promise of its original.”

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.

Rapper Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent, has seemingly rubber-stamped a report that indicated he is in talks to play Balrog in the upcoming Street Fighter movie.

Nexus Point News first reported that Jackson was in talks to play Balrog, and soon after 50 Cent took to social media to promote the story.

“No Days off, Let’s work all roads lead to Shreveport 💣Boom💨” 50 Cent posted.

Balrog is Street Fighter’s famous boxer character (he was called M. Bison in the original Japanese version, but was switched in the western version due to concerns over similarities to Mike Tyson). Balrog was one of the four non-playable bosses in Street Fighter 2 alongside Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison, but became playable with the release of Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition. He’s been a mainstay in Street Fighter ever since.

Things are certainly ramping up for the Street Fighter movie. This week we learned that Legendary Pictures had gone for Callina Liang to portray Chun-Li. She’ll be joined by other previously reported on co-stars, including Andrew Koji, Noah Centineo, Jason Momoa, Roman Reigns, and Orville Peck. Additional plot details and information on who exactly will be playing some of the other Street Fighter icons have yet to be announced. The movie itself is set for launch on March 20, 2026.

Hollywood’s pursuit of video game adaptations has seen enormous success, with the likes of A Minecraft Movie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. Legendary will be hoping this new Street Fighter movie carves out some box office success for itself after 1994’s live-action Street Fighter movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Colonel Guile went down as one of the worst video game adaptations ever made.

Photo by Johnny Louis/WireImage.

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.

Microsoft is reportedly planning significant layoffs in its gaming business that could come as early as next week.

Bloomberg said Microsoft plans “major” job cuts across the Xbox division. The Verge said managers at Microsoft had been briefed about the Xbox layoffs as well as wider cuts at the company, which are expected to hit sales teams in particular.

For the gaming business, The Verge said Microsoft plans to make the cuts ahead of the release of its next generation of consoles. Last week, Microsoft announced a partnership with AMD to power the next generation of Xbox, including its first-party future Xbox consoles. Microsoft has yet to say when it plans to launch the new devices.

The Verge also reported that Microsoft is restructuring its central Europe Xbox distribution, and that Xbox will cease operating in some regions.

Microsoft staff who wish to remain anonymous to protect their careers told IGN that employees are bracing themselves for layoffs, and that it feels like a matter of when, not if at the company.

And you can see why. Microsoft has made a huge number of cuts to its gaming business since acquiring Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. It laid off 1,900 staff in January 2024, then made further cuts just a few months later when it closed Redfall developer Arkane Austin and Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks. In September 2024, Microsoft cut a further 650 staff from its gaming business. And in May this year, Microsoft cut an eye-watering 6,000 staff, or 3% of its entire workforce.

Speaking to IGN in June 2024, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said: "I have to run a sustainable business inside the company and grow, and that means sometimes I have to make hard decisions that frankly are not decisions I love, but decisions that somebody needs to go make."

Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

With Superman’s release just around the corner, and a number of trailers and promotional images behind us, we have a decent idea of what to expect from the film and the many characters set to appear within it.

However, one character has remained shrouded in mystery ever since he popped up in the debut Superman trailer: Ultraman.

Writer and director James Gunn’s Ultraman is a very different take on the character made famous in the DC comics. In the comics, Ultraman is an evil, alternate-universe mirror of Superman himself. He looks a lot like Superman, just… evil.

Ultraman in James Gunn’s Superman doesn’t look like Superman at all. His suit, including his mask, has a more military fatigues feel, although the large U emblem on his chest as seen in trailers is unmistakable. But Ultraman’s power set looks consistent with Superman’s, at least based on what we’ve seen of the character in trailers.

Now, Gunn has released a new image of Ultraman that gives us a good look at the character up close. We can see the mask in plenty of detail, complete with dusty goggles. But who is underneath?

Ultraman. pic.twitter.com/KvdcMYL3XZ

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) June 24, 2025

Fans have already spent a great deal of time speculating about the true identity of this film’s Ultraman, with theories ranging from the plausible (a clone of David Corenswet’s Superman, the Hammer of Boravia in disguise, Martian Manhunter / J’onn J’onzz) to the outlandish (Henry Cavill!). Some are joking it’s Chris Pratt. IGN’s own comic book expert Jesse Schedeen has speculated that Ultraman is more akin to Nuclear Man from 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, or some versions of Bizarro from the comics.

So it's confirmed this is ultraman but who's playing him. pic.twitter.com/1TanQAGBJv

— sonci4536 (@AtikChafik) June 24, 2025

But this new image has sparked a fresh round of speculation, with some likening the character’s look to Doomsday, given the vague similarities between the two suits and goggles. Doomsday appeared in monstrous form in Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but his first full appearance, on the cover of Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992), is more humanoid.

pic.twitter.com/e97jbFv9yG

— Daniel Guerra (@guerra_daniel) June 24, 2025

There’s a reason this Ultraman is covered from head to toe. The character’s true identity is meant to be a mystery as audiences head into theaters, so the eventual reveal will be quite the moment.

Gunn recently teased the origins of this Ultraman, although he kept things super detailed. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the DC Universe steward was asked whether Ultraman was Lex Luthor's attempt to create a "Superman kind of figure." He replied: "It's close. Yeah, I think that's close. Ultraman is sort of Lex's thug and is pretty powerful."

We’ll finally find out when Superman launches July 11.

In other Superman news, Gunn recently dismissed concerns that Superman could be confusing with so many superheroes and villains already established in its world, saying: “Oppenheimer has three times as many speaking roles as we do.”

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.

The Palworld x Terraria update has launched, bringing fishing, salvaging, bigger towns, a Pal trust mechanic and more in one of the biggest patches the game has seen since its early access release last year.

Update v0.6.0 adds the collaboration with Terraria, Re-Logic’s hugely popular sandbox game. It includes a unique dungeon featuring enemies from Terraria, and the ability to collect materials in the dungeon to create equipment from the world of the game. The Moon Lord, a boss from Terraria, is now a raid boss in Palworld.

But the Terraria content is just one part of the update itself. Not only are there PlayStation 5 dedicated servers, but a number of new features. These include fishing, a salvage system, three new types of islands, a Pal trust mechanic, and the level cap raising from 60 to 65. All that and more is detailed in the patch notes, below.

Palworld developer Pocketpair continues to release major updates to the game even as it battles Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s patent lawsuit. And the lawsuit has affected the game. Last month, Pocketpair admitted that recent patches made changes to the game that were forced upon it as a result of the ongoing litigation. As you’d perhaps expect, modders stepped in.

Palworld launched on Steam priced $30 and straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC early 2024, breaking sales and concurrent player number records in the process. Pocketpair boss Takuro Mizobe has said Palworld's launch was so big that the developer couldn’t handle the massive profits the game generated. Still, Pocketpair acted swiftly to capitalize on Palworld’s breakout success, signing a deal with Sony to form a new business called Palworld Entertainment that’s tasked with expanding the IP. It later launched the game on PS5.

After Palworld’s huge launch, comparisons were made between Palworld’s Pals and Pokémon, with some accusing Pocketpair of "ripping off" Pokémon designs. But rather than file a copyright infringement lawsuit, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company went down the patent route. The companies want 5 million yen (approx $32,846) each plus late payment damages, as well as an injunction against Palworld that would block its release.

At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in March, IGN sat down for an extended conversation with John “Bucky” Buckley, communications director and publishing manager for Palworld developer Pocketpair. We spoke following his talk at the conference, 'Community Management Summit: A Palworld Roller Coaster: Surviving the Drop.' During that talk, Buckley went into candid detail about Palworld’s struggles, especially the accusation it used generative AI (which Pocketpair has since debunked) and stealing Pokemon’s models for its own Pals. He even commented on Nintendo’s patent infringement lawsuit against the studio, saying it “came as a shock” and was “something that no one even considered.”

Palworld: Tides of Terraria update 0.6.0 patch notes:

▼Terraria Collab!
・Terraria Dungeon
⤷ A unique dungeon featuring enemies from Terraria has been added! Collect materials in the dungeon to create equipment from the world of Terraria!

・Terraria Equipment
⤷ 6 new weapons and 7 new armour pieces from Terraria have been added!

・The terrifying "Moon Lord" raid boss has appeared!
⤷ The Moon Lord has invaded Palworld! Work together with your friends and Pals to defeat the greatest threat the islands have faced!

▼New Content
・PS5 Dedicated Servers!

・Fishing!
⤷ Craft a fishing rod and bait to catch new Pals! To start fishing, cast your rod in water where you can see fish shadows.

・Salvage System!
⤷ Ride on water Pals and use the fishing rod to salvage supplies at sea! Collect new ores salvaged from the ocean floor to strengthen your weapons.

・New Islands!
⤷ Three new types of islands have been added to the world: Tropical Islands, Iceberg Island, and Shipwreck Island! Find new Pals that live on each of these new islands!

・Mission System!
⤷ You can now find and accept missions around the Palpagos Islands. Help the islanders and get rewards!

・Zoe's Special Mission!
⤷ By completing missions for Zoe, you can earn her trust and recruit her as an ally!

・Pal Trust Mechanic!
⤷ The more time you spend with your Pal, the more trust you will gain, and stats will be increased. The weaker a Pal's original stats are, the greater the trust adjustment will be, so even weaker Pals will be able to shine!

・Sleep together with your Pals!
⤷ After a hard day of farming and battling bosses, you and your Pals can take a hard-earned rest together!

・Treasure Maps!
⤷ Use treasure maps to find the location of the hidden treasure and obtain valuable items!

・Enemy Bases?!
⤷ Enemy factions now build bases just like players! They are on high alert and will defend it with their lives, but if you manage to raid them successfully, you can obtain new blueprints for buildings related to that faction.

・Settlement Overhaul!
⤷ We've made the settlements larger and feel more lived-in! There are also many mission NPCs now to meet.

・Player level cap raised from 60 to 65!

・New Buildings!
⤷ Pal Surgery Table - By using various implants, you can overwrite your Pal’s passives! You can also change the gender of your Pals here!
⤷ Fishing Pond - Relax and catch some fish in the comfort of your base.
⤷ Hexolite Quartz Mine - Well, you knew we would add this one eventually!
⤷ Large Incubator - Hatch multiple eggs at the same time!
⤷ Palbox Control Device - A terminal that allows you to access your Pal Box from anywhere in the base. It makes Pal swapping during raid battles more efficient.

・ New Building Material - [Clean]
⤷ Decorate your base with futuristic floors and walls with this new building set!

・New Mechanic - Turbulence
⤷ Find unusual air turbulence around the world and use it to jump high into the sky!

・New Weapons!
⤷ Charge Rifle
⤷ Energy Shotgun
⤷ Overheat Rifle

⤷ Boost Gun
⤷ Pal Recovery Grenade
(These two are weapons for tamers who want to support their Pal!)

・New Item Types!
⤷ Whistles and Growth Acceleration Bell have been added!
⤷ New food recipes.

▼Arena
・A single-player challenge mode has been added!
⤷ Raise your rank by facing off against the fierce warriors of Palpagos Island! Get various rewards with the battle tickets you receive when you win!

・You can now set rules in the arena, such as banning certain pals.
・A public Pal Box has been added at the entrance to the arena that all players can use.
・An arena spectator function has been added in multiplayer!

▼Mechanic Adjustments
・Added equipment durability to the game settings.
・When a cooling Pal is assigned to the flea market, food spoilage rate is now reduced.
・Lyleen’s ability “Bountiful Protection” now recovers HP for all allies within range.

▼Balance Adjustments
・Some aggressive enemies have been made friendly.
・Pal skill cooldowns will tick down even if they are not summoned.
・The speed and stamina of Pals that can be mounted have been adjusted, and the speed of some Pals that were too slow has been improved.
・The lineup of bounty hunters has been expanded.
・With the implementation of the mission system, the rewards obtained from NPCs have been adjusted. To maintain fairness, conversation logs with all NPCs have been reset so that rewards can be received again.
・Pal Condensation is considered end-game content, so the strength of Axel, Marcus, and Victor on normal difficulty has been reduced to reduce its necessity.
・The power of some active skills, such as Pal Blast, has been increased.
・The probability of getting books that enhance Pal's work aptitude from attribute treasure chests has been increased.

▼Pals
・New Skins!!
The results of the 1st year anniversary popularity poll have been decided, and three new skins have been added to celebrate these results!
(※You must own the Pal to equip the skin)
⤷ Crown Chillet
⤷ Cyber Jetragon
⤷ Desert King Anubis

・Pals can now swim!
⤷ Swimming motions and animations have been added for Pals, and their speed in the water has been adjusted.

・New Water Skills
⤷ Geyser Gush
⤷ Aqua Surge
⤷ Torrential Blast
⤷ Hydro Slicer

・New Grass Skills
⤷ Crosswind
⤷ Reflect Leaf

・New Ice Skill
⤷ Freeze Wall

・New Unique Skills
⤷ Hydro Spin
⤷ Thalasonic Laser
⤷ High Breach
⤷ Lantern Sweep
⤷ Scorching Lantern Sweep
⤷ Smoke Jet
⤷ Trigger Happy
⤷ Chaotic Spray
⤷ Konoha Flip
⤷ Deep Breath
⤷ Dash Kick
⤷ Thunderslide

・New passive skills have been added!

▼UI
・Implemented "Easy Bulk Storage" feature! Conveniently store all materials in any chest around your base with the click of one button!
・Changed specifications to automatically select materials in bulk in the Pal Condensation UI.
・You can now set and quickly select your current Pal presets from the Pal Box UI.
・All neutral enemies now have green HP gauges, and only aggressive or hostile enemies have red HP gauges.

▼Multiplayer
・Fixed a bug where the option to display servers with matching versions was not working.

▼World
・Added more patterns to random dungeons.
・Fishing spots where fish shadows appear have been placed all around the world.
・Salvage spots have been placed out at sea.

▼Achievements
・Several new achievements have been added.

▼Bug fixes
・Fixed a bug where Jetragon would jump too high when jumping.
・Many many other minor issues have been fixed.

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.