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Square Enix has reported year-on-year growth in its latest earnings reports, despite operating at a loss on its gaming side for two consecutive quarters. During the nine months ending December 2020, Square reports that it saw an increase in net sales of 33.7% over the same period in 2019. Additionally, the company’s operating income rose by 47.7% to 41,022 million yen. This kept the company profitable, but not quite as healthy as 2019; profits were 4.3% less than the same period last year. Despite this, Square forecasts the full year will eventually result in a more profitable year overall by 12.4%. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/10/marvels-avengers-review"] Factors relating to these figures can be seen in Square Enix’s presentation slides detailing the sales of HD Games across the nine months. In Q1, when the highly successful Final Fantasy 7 Remake launched, net sales were more than double Square’s best period in 2019, at 34.1 billion yen. Operating income also rose in tandem, creating an impressive spike of almost 15 billion yen. But Q2 saw a decline in net sales and a steep drop in operating income, with the company operating at a loss of approximately -6 billion yen. Net sales continued to fall in Q3, amassing 18.8 billion yen, while operating income managed to increase, but still remained at a loss.

A new PS5 system update has resolved an issue that caused PS4 game discs to attempt to install the last-gen version of a game, even if it had already been upgraded. The 20.02-02.50.00 update includes Sony's usual vague disclaimer that it "improves system performance", but adds details of one more specific change: "The following issue was resolved: The PS4 version of the game was sometimes installed from the PS4 game disc even after upgrading the disc version of a PS4 game to the PS5 version." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/05/how-to-transfer-data-from-your-ps4-to-ps5"] The issue affected cross-gen games such as Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which saw release on a PS4 disc and would then unlock a PS5 upgrade when used in the newer console. The bug would cause the console to repeatedly attempt to install the PS4 version from the disc, every time it was turned on, despite the PS5 version already being present. It closes another issue with PS4-PS5 upgrades, after fixes for a download queue bug that blocked PS5 version installations, and a new warning system that shows if you're starting a PS4 game on your new console. If you're moving between consoles, we've got a guide on how to transfer save data from your PS4 to PS5. Sony today announced that it shipped 4.5 million PS5s in 2020 - matching the PS4's launch.

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales sold through 4.1 million units in 2020. Revealed during Sony's Q3 FY2020 results, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales contributed to the total PS5 and PS4 game unit sales in 2020 that reached 103.7 million. First-party sales accounted for 18.4 million units sold, which Miles Morales qualifies for. The PlayStation 5 shipped 4.5 million units in 2020, matching the PS4's launch amount in 2013. The PS4, on the other hand, shipped 1.4 million units. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/06/marvels-spider-man-miles-morales-review"] For comparison, Marvel's Spider-Man, in 2018, became the fastest-selling PlayStation exclusive of all time with 3.3 million copies sold within the first three days of its release. In our Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales review, we said, "Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales may not be quite as packed with content as the original, but it stands out as an essential story in Insomniac’s Spidey Universe. It earns its spot as a fantastic follow-up, telling a wonderful Miles-specific story while improving upon the fundamentals of the first game with distinctive moves and enemies." Also in 2020, PlayStation Plus saw its subscriber count reach 47.4 million, and there were 114 million monthly active users on the PlayStation Network in the quarter.

Sony has announced that the PlayStation 5 shipped 4.5 million units in 2020, matching the PlayStation 4's launch in 2013. Revealed during Sony's Q3 FY2020 results, the game and network services segment of Sony saw a 40% increase year-on-year, in large part due to the launch of the PS5 on November 12, 2020. Sony also confirmed that there was "loss resulting from strategic price points for PS5 hardware that were set lower than manufacturing costs." It also noted that it is still on track to meet its goal of 7.6 million PS5 sales by the end of March 2021. The PS4, which shipped 1.4 million units in the same time frame, saw "higher profit margins" in hardware costs. In the same quarter last year, PS4 shipped 6.0 million units. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/22/the-state-of-playstation-studios-2021-update"] PS5 and PS4 game unit sales reached 103.7 million, up from 83.3 million in the same quarter in 2019. First-party titles accounted for 18.4 million of the total game sales. Year-on-year, total game sales and first-party game sales are up from 83.3 million and 16.3 million, respectively. While digital game sales were down from 59% to 53% of the total game sales, they were up from the 50% in the same quarter in 2019. It was also announced that Mavel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales sold through approximately 4.1 million units by the end of December 2020. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-ps5-games&captions=true"] PlayStation Plus saw its subscriber count reach 47.4 million, and there were 114 million monthly active users on the PlayStation Network in the quarter.

Borderlands developer Gearbox has today announced it will be joining Embracer Group as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Swedish holding company formerly known as THQ Nordic AB. The deal, reportedly worth up to US$1.3B, will see Gearbox and its 550 staff in Frisco, Texas and Quebec City become Embracer Group’s seventh official operating group. Embracer’s existing operating groups include THQ Nordic, Saber Interactive, Koch Media, DECA Games, Amplifier Game Invest, and Coffee Stain Holding. “Lars [Wingefors]’s vision of Embracer as an allied partner group committed to fuelling and accelerating the ambitions of a series of decentralized, successful entrepreneurial companies while magnifying the collective value and advantages of diversification across the entire group is the most brilliant strategy and design for short, medium, and long-term success in this industry that I have ever encountered in my 30 years in this industry,” said Gearbox co-founder and CEO Randy Pitchford in a statement accompanying the announcement. “The feeling at Gearbox is that we are just getting started and this transaction is not merely a stimulant for the talent of our employee-owned company, but a propellant for the exciting future we have planned.” Pitchford will continue as Gearbox boss following the merger. [ignvideo width=610 height=374 url=https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/09/borderlands-3-next-level-mayhem-official-trailer] Embracer has also acquired Austin, Texas-based developer and publisher Aspyr.

To quote a line from Halo 2 in describing Mass Effect: Legendary Edition: "There are those who said this day would never come. What are they to say now?" Yes, we're talking about the long-awaited remaster of BioWare's beloved sci-fi RPG trilogy. We've seen it, and we want to tell you all about it. Plus: Xbox's baseball-game curse is finally lifted – a year earlier than expected too! – and EA surprised everyone with the return of a college football game. Please welcome special guests Kat Bailey and Cam Hawkins this week! Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, or grab an MP3 download of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered, featuring an interview with Brian Raffel, the cofounder of Raven Software – the studio behind Star Wars Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast, Soldier of Fortune, Heretic, Hexen, Star Trek Voyager Elite Force, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, X-Men Origins Wolverine, and this year's Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, among many others: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/27/working-on-call-of-duty-star-wars-star-trek-and-more-stories-from-raven-softwares-cofounder-ign-unfiltered-54"] It's already been an incredibly fun year of Xbox coverage, and the best is yet to come. Join us!

Following the departure of BioWare's former general manager Casey Hudson and Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah, EA leadership is reassuring investors that it is "very, very confident" in the studio's future.

During the company's Q3 earnings call today, CEO Andrew Wilson responded to a question from an investor about the recent departures by praising BioWare, while simultaneously acknowledging criticism over the studio's output in recent years.

"I think that from the outside world there have been some blips in [BioWare's] delivery over the last couple of years, but that has come as a result of them pushing deeply into innovation and creativity, and we feel very, very confident about their future roadmap," he said. "And we've talked about games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect in their future.

"With respect to Casey and Mark leaving, both good friends of mine, and we have tremendous respect for both of them. But this happens in the natural course of creative organizations from time to time, and we feel very very good about the ongoing leadership of that studio."

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/11/dragon-age-4-cinematic-trailer"]

Hudson and Darrah departed the studio in December, leaving Samantha Ryan in charge of the studio as a whole, Christian Dailey in the role of Dragon Age executive producer, Matthew Goldman staying as creative director on the same project, and Mike Gamble remaining as the lead on Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.

EA is hoping that its planned acquisition of British racing game maker Codemasters will enable it to start releasing a new racing game every year, on par with its other EA Sports franchises.

In a slide deck accompanying the publisher's Q3 financial results today, EA highlighted the motivations behind its pending acquisition, including the desire to increase its presence in racing, with EA CEO Andrew Wilson describing the sport as "one of the few truly global sports" during the company's earnings call.

EA's presentation further outlined Codemasters' IP line-up, which includes owned IP Dirt, Dirt Rally, Grid, Project Cars, and upcoming mobile franchise Project Cars Go, as well as licensed IP F1 and upcoming licensed games for World Rally Championship beginning in 2023.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/06/8-things-to-know-about-dirt-5"]

These would be added to EA's owned racing franchises Need for Speed and Burnout Paradise, as well as Real Racing -- which hasn't had a new game launch since Real Racing 3 in 2013.

Later in the earnings call, COO Blake Jorgensen praised the viability of F1 racing in particular as a global franchise currently gaining further traction in the US, suggesting that EA hopes to become the go-to publisher for racing games more broadly, saying the genre is "one of the best growth opportunities there is."

EA has spoken at length that a new Battlefield game will be released in 2021 with a reveal planned for Spring. Today during EA’s latest financial call, the company reaffirmed this timeline and says the next Battlefield game will take “full” advantage of next-gen platforms. During the latest EA investor call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson confirmed the next Battlefield game will be released on holiday this year and a reveal is planned for Spring. During the Q&A portion, Wilson shared more details on the next Battlefield, short of a reveal. When asked about the next Battlefield game, Wilson says it will utilize the “full power of next-gen platforms to ensure this is ‘exactly’ the game that Battlefield fans want to play.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-ign-battlefield-review&captions=true"] Wilson also says that the next Battlefield will be a return to “full-out military warfare” and will support more players than ever before. The hope is for the next Battlefield game to pave the way for the series into the future. A lot is riding on the next Battlefield game. Battlefield 5 was the last game in the series that EA released, and that was back in 2018. Reception to Battlefield 5 failed to meet expectations, and regular content updates for Battlefield 5 ended in 2020. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/09/04/this-is-battlefield-5-trailer"] EA announced that it will take an extended time to develop a new Battlefield title, regularly citing a 2021 release window for the next series.

Apex Legends is coming to Nintendo Switch on March 9, developer Respawn announced.

Director Chad Grenier wrote in a blog post that the Switch version of Apex Legends will launch with cross-platform functionality, season 8 content, and “full-feature parity” with other versions.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/26/apex-legends-season-8-mayhem-gameplay-trailer"]

Worried you’re already behind during the current season? The good news is that Switch players who purchase the season 8 battle pass will receive 30 battle pass levels for free. Players will also earn double XP during the first two weeks after launch.

Porting Apex Legends to its smallest screen yet is a major achievement, and we couldn’t have done it without our friends at Panic Button,” Grenier said. “We’re very proud of what the team has been able to achieve with some smart optimizations for the Switch port to deliver a full-featured Apex Legends experience on the go.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/02/apex-legends-season-8-mayhem-battle-pass-trailer"] Apex Legends season 8 kicked off today, featuring the arrival of its 16th character, demolitions enthusiast Fuse, a new lever-action rifle, and the usual assortment of new cosmetics and battle pass items. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/Crypto main for IGN.

Activision has begun banning Call of Duty Warzone cheaters in what's reportedly one of the biggest waves of bans ever for the game. This time, the company banned more than 60,000 cheaters in the latest drop of its banhammer, according to Vice, which learned of this wave of bans from three sources familiar with Activision. This is the third large wave of bans since the game's launch last year. Over 50,000 players were banned in the first wave last April and an additional 20,000 last September. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/15/call-of-duty-black-ops-cold-war-and-warzone-season-one-battle-pass-trailer"] This ban comes just a day after popular Warzone streamer, Vikkstar123, announced that he would no longer play the game, as noted by Vice.

PS5 exclusive and February PlayStation Plus game Destruction AllStars is a car combat game filled with several modes designed to let you cause as much destruction as possible. It’s also designed to let players get out of their cars, and run around on foot as one of a number of different hero characters. Keeping both types of gameplay fun, connected, and meaningful was a key component of Lucid Games’ development on AllStars, and it’s something that’s been core to the new game since its earliest days. “The characters were in from month one of development,” Game Director Colin Berry told IGN in an interview ahead of AllStars’ launch. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/destruction-allstars-s-ranked-mayhem-gameplay"] And to create those heroes, who were most recently highlighted in AllStars’ State of Play presentation, Lucid and Sony XDEV actually wanted to make these characters from around the world respectful and authentic to where they were based. “We contacted a bunch of artists from around the world who don't work in video games, [people who work in] comic book, graphic novels, and so on. And we gave them a really simple brief of the game and what we thought these characters would be like in terms of personality,” Sony XDEV Senior Producer John MacLaughlin told IGN.

CD Projekt Red said Cyberpunk 2077 players should use caution when downloading mods and custom saves for the game after community members discovered a save file exploit that could harm your PC. Reportedly there is a bug that allows hackers to hide malicious executables within certain mods. Eurogamer talked with CDPR, and the developer said the issue is linked to the external DLL files the game uses. DLL stands for Dynamic-link library, which is a library containing data that multiple programs can access and use at the same time. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/10/cyberpunk-2077-pc-review"] Cyberpunk 2077 community member PixelRick discovered the issue, and explained that the issue makes non-executable files executable, which could carry out "any locally executed virus." "You should be able to trust data file mods to be harmless, and only be skeptical about executables in general," PixelRick said to Eurogamer. "This vulnerability makes it impossible to really trust any modded data file for this game until [the] patch." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=cyberpunk-2077-examples-of-visual-bugs&captions=true"] CDPR thanked the community for flagging the issue and said they are working on a fix, saying, "We advise everyone to refrain from using files obtained from unknown sources. Anyone who plans to use mods or custom saves for Cyberpunk 2077 should use caution until we release the aforementioned fix." A temporary fix was already made for Cyber Engine Tweaks, a popular modding tool for the game. Cyberpunk 2077 has been no stranger to bugs and issues since its launch late last year.

For the first time since 2013's NCAA Football 14, EA Sports is returning to College Football. Announced on Twitter via a small tease that "College Football is coming back," EA revealed it will be partnering with CLC - the nation's leading collegiate trademark licensing company - to become the exclusive developer of simulation college football video game experiences. The EA Sports college football franchise garnered "tens of millions of sales" during its run from 2005 to 2014 and was a "top-five sports title in North America." EA Sports College Football will include "the rights to more than 100 institutions featuring logos, stadiums, uniforms, gameday traditions and more that fans have come to know and love." EA does note that "while this college game will not include student-athlete names, images and likenesses, EA SPORTS is continuing to watch those developments closely." No further information was given on the reboot of the franchise, but EA encourages fans to follow @EASPORTSCollege on Twitter for more updates in the future. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/08/13/ea-sports-boss-ncaa-lawsuit-ripped-heart-and-soul-out-of-studio-but-had-silver-lining-ign-unfiltered"] "We’ve heard from the millions of passionate fans requesting the return of college football video games,” said Cam Weber, EA SPORTS EVP and GM. “We love the energy, tradition and pageantry of college football and I am beyond thrilled to say we are back in development.

This week in Red Dead Online, claim a special celebratory gift bundle, double rewards in the featured Hardcore Series, and much more.

When work was first getting underway on Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, the new remastered collection due in May, BioWare had a conversation with Epic, creators of the Unreal Engine that Mass Effect 1-3 were built on. The team wanted to know if it would be feasible to use Unreal Engine 4 for the remasters, in effect rebuilding Mass Effect on modern technology. The possibilities were tantalizing — Unreal Engine 4 is a substantial step up from its predecessor — but ultimately BioWare opted to stick with the Unreal Engine 3 that underpinned the trilogy from its debut in 2007. “[I]t very quickly became clear that level of jump would really change fundamentally what the series was; how it felt, how it played,” Director Mac Walters told IGN. “A really crisp example of that would be if you look at the Kismit scripting language, it’s a visual scripting language from [Unreal Engine 3], there’s no real copy-paste for that to go into Unreal Engine 4, meaning that every moment, every scene… everything would have had to essentially be redone from scratch. We knew at that point that we’d really sort of start to take away the essence and spirit of what the trilogy was.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/02/mass-effect-legendary-edition-official-trailer"] BioWare’s decision not to use Unreal Engine 4 is emblematic of its approach to Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, which aims to modernize the trilogy for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC without completely rebuilding it. It’s a collection that definitely makes some measurable improvements to the original games, but fights to keep its ambitions restrained and practical.

Though Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will be forward-compatible with PS5 and Xbox Series X when it launches this year, BioWare currently has no plans for a dedicated next-gen release or an eventual optimization patch. In an interview with IGN, director Mac Walters said that a full-on next-gen launch of the collection was "just a bridge too far." "To me if I'm buying a game on this next-generation of hardware, I expect a lot from it, and I think it's more than what we could have pushed [Unreal Engine 3] to do, and again more than we could've done with a true remaster," he said. "To me it would have felt a little disingenuous. I think it's better suited for the next Mass Effect." Walters also denied that BioWare was considering an eventual optimization patch instead -- at least not for the time being. However, he added that the game would experience some next-gen hardware perks for those playing on PS5 or Xbox Series X. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/30/mass-effect-legendary-edition-is-now-available-for-preorder"] "We'll wait and see," he said. "But we have some targeted unleashing of the game so that it will leverage a little bit more power of the next-gen series beyond just the faster load times you'd expect from SSD. There are some things that'll let you get to higher framerates, keep resolution higher, and stuff like that. So it should be a more optimized experience, but at this point nothing in the future." Today, BioWare also announced that Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will officially launch on May 14, 2021. The collection includes all single-player base content and DLC from the first three Mass Effect games, and will feature improved framerates and 4K Ultra HD optimization.

For those looking to re-experience the acclaimed trilogy or jump in for the first time, EA and BioWare have announced that the Mass Effect Legendary Edition collection will be available worldwide on May 14 for PC via Origin and Steam, PS4, and Xbox One. While there won't be specific next-gen versions available, the Legendary Edition will be available to play on PS5 and Xbox Series X and S via backward compatibility. EA has confirmed that the Legendary Edition includes the single-player content for Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3, along with more than 40 pieces of downloadable content, including story expansions, weapons, and armor packs, and all the content will be playable in 4K Ultra HD with HDR according to EA. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/30/mass-effect-legendary-edition-is-now-available-for-preorder"] The entire collection includes "remastered character models and tens of thousands of up-rezzed textures. Improvements to shaders and VFX, updated lighting and improved dynamic shadows, volumetrics and depth-of-field" according to the announcement, with pre-rendered cinematics also enhanced. Specifically for the original Mass Effect, EA announced it will have "comprehensive world-building enhancements with added detail and depth to locations like Eden Prime, Ilos and Feros," alongside improved interfaces and UI, plus a ton of quality of life additions.

When Mass Effect: Legendary Edition launches in May, it will include all of the content from the original Mass Effect Trilogy and its DLC -- including, BioWare confirmed, the Extended Cut's additional fourth ending. Speaking to IGN, project director Mac Walters said the decision stemmed from a desire to include as much of the DLC content as possible within the collection as if players had downloaded that content from the outset. "For the people who had an extended cut, that became the experience for them, and so that will be the experience for everyone who is playing the Legendary Edition as well," he said. "And ultimately...you finish a game and there are things you wish you had been able to do or things you want to add on, and to me that Extended Cut was that opportunity to add a little bit more love and a little bit more context around the ending. So to me that is part of the canon." Mass Effect 3's endings were famously controversial upon release, with director Casey Hudson defending the game at the time.

Quantic Dream, the studio behind AAA narrative adventures like Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human, has long been one of France’s most famous video game developers. Now, they’re expanding into North America with the announcement of a new studio in Montreal, Canada. Founded by David Cage in 1997, Quantic Dream has made a name for itself with story-driven, graphically sophisticated titles, most recently with Detroit: Become Human. For its Montreal studio, Square Enix Montreal founder and Eidos Montreal alumn Stéphane D’Astous has been tapped as General Manager for the new location. Yohan Cazaux, Project Lead Designer on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, will also join as Gameplay Director for a new, unannounced project in development at Quantic Dream. IGN spoke exclusively with Quantic Dream founder and CEO David Cage, Co-CEO Guillaume de Fondaumière, and D’Astous about the new Montreal location, Quantic Dream’s goals for the location, and its future now that it is a third-party studio. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=quantic-dream-montreal&captions=true"]

The Relationship Between Quantic Dream Montreal and Paris

Quantic Dream games have been lauded for innovations in technology and visual storytelling. As such, there’s often a long time between the release of Quantic Dream titles. Cage says that despite opening a new, “human-sized” studio, the goal isn't simply to make games faster: “With this opening, we are following a long-term vision to seek the best and most experienced talents having specific expertise, people who are passionate and want to work on innovative and ambitious AAA games.

Bungie has revealed Destiny 2 Season 13, the Season of the Chosen - and given us a look at what's coming. Launching on February 9 and running until May 11, Season of the Chosen will introduce new strikes, new gear, and an all-new mode called Battlegrounds. Battlegrounds is a three-player matchmade activity where players "will engage in ritual combat" against the warriors of the Cabal. Old and new strikes will also be peppered throughout Season 13, with Destiny strikes Devil's Lair and Fallen S.A.B.E.R. returning at the start of the season, and a new strike called Proving Grounds unlocking later, which will "determine the fate of the Last City." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/02/destiny-2-beyond-light-season-of-the-chosen-official-trailer"] Players who own the Destiny 2 Season Pass will unlock the Praefectus Armor Set and an Exotic bow called Ticcu's Divination, which launches Solar arrows that can track "several targets at once." Over 25 new weapons will also be added alongside the Season Pass additions. The story of Season 13 centres around a political feud between Empress Caiatl and Zavala.

FIFA 21 is coming to Stadia in March, and EA has extended its exclusive license to UEFA content, including the Champions League and Europa League competitions. A press release from Electronic Arts reveals that FIFA 21 will come to Google Stadia on March 17, as part of EA's plan to make FIFA games accessible across more platforms. That comes alongside expanding release regions for FIFA Online 4 - a free-to-play, downloadable version of the core game currently only available in Asia. The company is also working on "multiple in-development mobile offerings" under the FIFA brand. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/06/fifa-21-review"] The news also included the announcement of a multiyear license extension brokered between UEFA and EA Sports which resecures FIFA's exclusive license to the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup tournaments in-game. EA first picked up the UEFA license in 2018, bringing to a close Pro Evolution Soccer's 10-year partnership with the organisation. According to EA, the FIFA franchise has now sold more than 325 million units over its lifetime.

Nintendo reportedly scrapped a live-action Legend of Zelda series with Netflix after news of the project leaked and circulated online. As reported by Eurogamer, US comedian Adam Conover who was aware of a secret Star Fox claymation project around the same time, revealed that Nintendo canceled its proposed slate of video game adaptations with Netflix after someone from the company allegedly spread the word about the Zelda series. The Wall Street Journal shared details of the adaptation and Nintendo rescinded the show. "Suddenly there were reports Netflix wasn't going to do its Legend of Zelda anymore," Conover recently recalled, speaking on The Serf Times podcast. "I was like 'what happened?' And then I heard from my boss we weren't doing our Star Fox anymore. I was like 'what happened?' He was like, 'someone at Netflix leaked the Legend of Zelda thing.' They weren't supposed to talk about it, Nintendo freaked out... and they pulled the plug on everything, the entire programme to adapt these things." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/02/06/zelda-netflix-show-why-now-is-the-perfect-time"] News of the prospective live-action Legend of Zelda series with Netflix hit headlines back in 2015 when "a person familiar with the matter" reportedly told WSJ that the streamer had described the upcoming show as "Game of Thrones for a family audience," with a story that would follow Link's conquest to save Princess Zelda and the land of Hyrule.

The PlayStation Wrap Up, a breakdown of all the hours played, Trophies earned, and more, returns to deliver all your 2020 gaming stats, including any time your account has spent on PS5 so far. You can head to the official PlayStation Wrap Up site to get your breakdown of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games you've played. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-ps5-games&captions=true"] PS4 stats are the primary focus, with the number of games and hours played, your top played games, hours spent locally vs. online, your average playtime every day of the week, and more. The Wrap Up also includes some generalized stats pulling from all PS4 player data for games like The Last of Us Part 2, Ghost of Tsushima, and MLB: The Show 20. Additionally, PS5 owners will see some stats as well, like top game and hours spent with it, total hours played, and the number of PS5-specific trophies earned. Players can also grab a free dynamic PS4 theme in honor of the Wrap Up.

The Design Director of Perfect Dark studio The Initiative has announced that he is leaving the project. The Initiative's Drew Murray revealed the news on Twitter (as spotted by VGC). Murray previously worked on Resistance, Ratchet & Clank and Sunset Overdrive at Insomniac Games before leaving in 2018 to help kickstart the Microsoft first-party studio. He is leaving to focus on his "life outside of work" and tweeted that the goodbye felt bittersweet after working with "such a talented and experienced team."

After two wild years helping start @TheInitiative @Xbox and rebooting #PerfectDark, it's time for me to say a tearful and bittersweet goodbye to my team at The Initiative. (1/5) pic.twitter.com/LIY9AQDyTV

When Capcom debuted the villain of Resident Evil Village, a downright towering vampire woman by the name of Lady Alcina Dimitrescu, they had to have known how, uh...eager the RE fanbase would be to know more about her, right? With her WNBA-shattering height and dominant personality, Lady Dimitrescu quickly became an internet phenomenon, and fans were most excited to learn exactly how tall she is.

Resident Evil fans finally have their answer. RE Village art director Tomonori Tanako released a statement thanking fans for their interest in Village and shed some light on the matter.

“Most recently, Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters have received a fair amount of attention, far more than we anticipated” Tanako said. “It’s great that they’re able to take the spotlight as icons of Resident Evil Village. Lady Dimitrescu, especially, has received much fanfare both domestically and overseas, which has made all of us in the development team extremely happy. I hear her height is something of interest….”

“If you include her hat and high heels,” Tanako continued, “[Lady Dimitrescu is] 2.9 meters (approximately 9’6”) tall.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/26/resident-evil-village-how-to-speedrun-the-ps5-demo-in-4-minutes"]

So there you have it. Capcom has finally released fans from horny jail and subsequently thrown them into the horny wine cellar. We look forward to repeatedly being captured by Resident Evil's big lady.

Judgment, the Yakuza spin-off, is coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Stadia on April 23. Originally a PS4 exclusive, the action game will come to new platforms with all of its DLC, "refined" visuals, 60 FPS performance, and improved loading times. It will be released at a $39.99 price point (UK and AU prices not available at time of writing). Sega confirmed to IGN that cross-buy will not be supported for PS4 and PS5, and we could not get an answer on whether progress can be carried over from the PS4 version to the PS5 version. Furthermore, RGG Studios says it does not have plans to release Judgement for PC at this time. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=judgment-next-gen-version-screenshots&captions=true"] Set in the same world as Yakuza, and in its familiar Kamurocho district, Judgment tells a very different story, with an almost entirely new cast of characters. Centred on lawyer-turned-private detective Takayuki Yagami, the game follows a muder mystery, alongside the Yakuza series' usual bizarre sidequests and activities. We awarded Judgment an 8.2/10 review back in 2019, calling it "a superficial detective experience, but an extremely good Yakuza one." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Originally scheduled as a day-one PS5 launch exclusive, Lucid Games’ Destruction AllStars was pushed into February for a planned debut as a PlayStation Plus game. And ss Lucid and Sony XDEV team members tell IGN, the delay was in part to properly allow for that PS Plus launch, with the added benefit of making some adjustments that might have needed to wait for post-launch updates. “It made sense [to delay and go to PS Plus] just as a predominantly online multiplayer game. It absolutely made sense to go out to that widest audience possible. And what better way to do that than to the PlayStation Plus audience,” XDEV Senior Producer John MacLaughlin told IGN in an interview ahead of AllStars’ launch. MacLaughlin also noted that the developers have taken that time to prep their backend and servers accordingly to handle the potentially larger audience. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/27/destruction-allstars-state-of-play-video"] And AllStars Game Director Colin Berry noted how the move was something the Lucid and XDEV teams were eager to pursue.

Google Stadia, the tech giant’s video game streaming platform which launched in 2019, is shutting down its internal game development studios and refocusing on offering its tech platform to third-party publishers, the company announced Monday.

As first reported by Kotaku, Google will close its two Stadia Games & Entertainment studios located in Los Angeles and Montreal. The closure will impact approximately 150 employees, one source told Kotaku. Google says it will try to find new roles at the company for those impacted.

"With the recent successful launch of Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia, gameplay on all types of devices, including iOS, growing our slate of YouTube integrations, and our global expansions, it’s clear that Stadia’s technology has been proven and works at scale," Google's vice president of Stadia and GM Phil Harrison said in a statement. "Having games streamed to any screen is the future of this industry, and we’ll continue to invest in Stadia and its underlying platform to provide the best cloud gaming experience for our partners and the gaming community. This has been the vision of Stadia since the beginning."

Jade Raymond, the noted producer who helped bring Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise to life, is also departing from her role as head of game development at Google.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/22/google-stadia-review"]

What does this mean for Stadia subscribers? Google states that players can still access their games on Stadia (or the $10-a-month Stadia Pro), and that third-party games will continue to release on the service. It’s unclear how many third-party games Google plans on hosting on Stadia.

Santa Monica Studio has officially announced that God of War's PS5 patch will be released tomorrow, February 2, and will bring a 4K/60 FPS mode to the PlayStation exclusive. Announced on Santa Monica Studio's blog, this free update will replace the current video graphics mode option with a new default setting that "will offer the best of both performance and resolution to our PlayStation 5 players." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/12/21/why-god-of-war-is-igns-2018-game-of-the-year"] On the PlayStation 4 Pro version of 2018's God of War, players would have to make a choice between a graphics mode that favored performance and one that favored resolution. Now, no sacrifice needs to be made. God of War's Enhanced Performance Experience offers the following;

• Syncs to 60 FPS
• 4K Checkerboard Resolution
• 2160p

There will also be an Original Performance Experience that can be selected at any time and will represent the PlayStation 4 'Favor Resolution' video graphics mode.

Blizzard is celebrating its 30th anniversary this February. While the company is promising more surprises at this year’s free BlizzCon Online, Blizzard is getting the festivities started early with a series of Celebration packs with in-game goods for all Blizzard games like Overwatch and Hearthstone, as well as offering an exclusive Arthas Helm of Domination replica. The helm measures almost 17-inches tall when placed on its stand and will be available beginning February 19 in the online BlizzardGear store. Check out the gallery below to see images: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=warcraft-arthas-helm-of-domination-blizzard-replica&captions=true"] As part of the Celebration Collection, there are three different “Packs” of in-game goods that are available now in the Blizzard Shop.

Since J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book was published in 1997, the series has sold more than 500 million copies and its movie adaptations have earned more than $9 billion at the box office, making it one of the largest media franchises of all time — and from that success grew a massive, passionate fan base across the world. Her story about a boy wizard attending a magic school and battling the forces of evil proved to be an inspirational tale of friendship, perseverance, and hope. Its impact can’t be understated: everything from reading groups to fan websites to collegiate Quidditch leagues popped up within a few short years. But that fan community is now confronted with a perilous challenge the likes of which even Harry, Ron, and Hermione would be hard-pressed to face: Rowling has become a major voice of anti-trans rhetoric. While hints of Rowling’s anti-trans views have been popping up for years, the author made headlines in December 2019 when she was criticized for supporting anti-trans researcher Maya Forstater on social media and then again in June 2020 when she faced public backlash for going on transphobic rants on Twitter and publishing an essay full of harmful statements and unsubstantiated claims about trans people (that have since been debunked by experts).

PlayStation 2 has long reigned as the best-selling video game console of all time, and it's in no danger of losing that crown. Despite the runaway success of PlayStation 4 over the past seven years, Sony is still roughly 40 million units away from overtaking its own top spot, while Nintendo's runaway success with Switch still puts it well behind even PS4. So while PlayStation 4 and Switch continue to secure their spots among the best-selling consoles of all time, we set out to discover how the rest of Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft's hardware stack up. To do so, we compiled a list of the 15 best-selling video game consoles of all time, with additional information on release dates, highest-rated games (according to Metacritic), and more. (Some sales figures come straight from the hardware manufacturers, while others are estimated based on the most recently reported numbers and market analysis. Unofficial sales totals are marked with an asterisk (*).) [poilib element="accentDivider"] [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=top-15-best-selling-video-game-consoles&captions=true"]

15. Xbox One – 41 million*

Initial release date: November 22, 2013 (NA, EU, AU, SA)

Production status: Ongoing

Highest-rated games: Red Dead Redemption 2, Grand Theft Auto V, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Elon Musk claims one of his companies has implanted a device into a monkey’s brain, and hopes to make it play “mind pong” with another cyborg monkey. The billionaire, who owns a variety of science-based companies, discussed the augmented monkey in a speech hosted on private social app Clubhouse, according to Sky News. During the talk, he revealed that his brain-machine interface company, Neuralink, has “a monkey with a wireless implant in their skull with tiny wires". Neuralink is using the monkey as a test subject for its technology, something it previously did with two pigs. The ultimate aim of the company is to create a brain-computer interface, with current trials focused on potentially using the technology to treat people with brain and spinal injuries. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2017/03/28/elon-musk-wants-to-put-a-chip-in-your-brain-ign-daily-fix"] As part of these tests, Musk wants to make the monkey play video games in its own mind. “One of the things we're trying to figure out is whether we can have the monkeys playing mind pong with each other?,” he said. “That would be pretty cool." The device itself is made up of more than 3,000 electrodes that are capable of monitoring around 1,000 neurons.

MLB The Show 21, the latest instalment of the PlayStation-exclusive baseball series from Sony first-party developer San Diego Studio, has been announced for both PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Launching on April 20, it will be available across both generations, with PS4/Xbox One versions retailing at $59.99 USD/£59.99 GBP and the next-gen versions at $69.99 USB/£69.99 GBP. The advent of a new platform for the game also means cross-platform play and cross progression has been introduced, meaning MLB The Show 21 players can carry progression between both PlayStation and Xbox platforms, as well as play multiplayer with all players on both console families. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/01/mlb-the-show-21-announcement-with-fernando-tatis-jr-trailer"] Further new features will be revealed as part of a series of six Feature Premiere streams, starting in March. Another reveal will be held on February 3, which will show off the Collector’s Edition of the game. While you’ll have to wait until then to find out what is inside the more premium edition, the PlayStation Blog does suggest that only the Collector’s Edition will feature a free next-gen upgrade. “There will be no standard edition upgrade path from current gen to next gen,” says the article from Ramone Russell, game designer at developer San Diego Studio. “If you are interested in having access to the game on both current and next gen platforms, please wait for more info about the collector’s edition.” While the regular edition is the only one to be shown so far, the artwork does show off this year’s cover athlete: Fernando “El Nino” Tatis Jr.

10-15% of all PS5s sold in the US are estimated to have been resold, earning huge profit for scalpers, according to a new report. Data engineer Michael Driscoll posted the latest in a series of reports on the scalping market, this time focused on PS5. The report scraped data for thousands of listings on eBay and StockX, up until January 16. Among other things, Driscoll included only listings that had actually sold, excluded any listing using terms commonly included in scam listings, excluded listings from low feedback accounts, and removed all results that sold for less than the recommended retail price. Driscoll was left with a figure of 157,000 PS5s sold at retail price or higher on eBay and StockX – 7.06% of of the 2.067 million PS5s VGChartz estimates were sold in the US up until January 16. Driscoll then looked into active listings on services such as OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, coming to the conclusion that a likely 10-15% of PS5s have been resold in the US. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/ps5-scalpers-used-a-loophole-to-buy-stock-before-it-was-live-in-the-uk-ign-news"] Driscoll's report makes for very interesting reading beyond the headline figures. On eBay and StockX, the most recent estimated average price for a digital edition PS5 is $799 (twice its recommended price), while a disc edition is $849 (1.7 times recommend price).

Nintendo’s latest earning reports show that Pokémon Sword & Shield have sold over 20 million units, making it the best selling Pokémon game since Gold & Silver, and the first game since that generation to pass 20 million copies sold. As noted by Serbeii, Pokémon Sword & Shield has now sold 20.35 million units, with 1.3 million of those being sold in the past 3 months (Q3 2020). Those figures put it as the first Pokémon game to achieve more than 20 million copies since Gold & Silver, which sold 23.73 million copies following its launch in 1999. It’s also the third best selling Pokémon game of all time, behind Gold & Silver and Red/Green/Blue. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/13/pokemon-sword-and-pokemon-shield-review"] Since Gold & Silver, Pokémon’s sales have remained largely consistent - at least as far as the initial game launched in a generation - but all have sold within the 15-17 million region. The huge popularity of Sword & Shield marks a landmark game for the series, then. No doubt such figures are in part thanks to the mass popularity of the Nintendo Switch itself, which has now eclipsed sales of the Nintendo 3DS. As well as being the third best-selling Pokémon game, Sword & Shield is the 5th best selling game on Switch. It is surpassed only by Breath of the Wild (21.45m), Super Smash bros.

A team of fans is working on not one, but two versions of a Shenmue 1+2 remake mod, which will transfer the contents of Sega’s Shenmue 2018 rerelease into Unreal Engine 4 and add a variety of enhancements. Announced in a post on the Shenmue Dojo forums, the Shenmue Dragon and Phoenix Collection is an “engine replacement mod”, designed with the idea of bringing the gameplay of the 2018 Shenmue 1+2 release in line with the more modern Shenmue 3. It takes all the models, textures, animations, and gameplay from the 2018 rerelease and transfers them to Unreal Engine 4, the engine used for Shemue 3. This will allow for the addition of ray tracing and physically based rendering of materials for a more realistic look. The engine change has also allowed the team to stitch the whole game world together as a seamless map, rather than separate areas divided by loading screens. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/08/21/the-first-16-minutes-of-shenmue-remastered-gameplay"] Importantly, the team is producing two distinct versions of this Shenmue 1+2 mod; the Dragon Edition and the Phoenix Edition. The Dragon Edition is a “1:1 port” that is, as close as the team can make it, a straight engine replacement for the 2018 rerelease. Aside froim Unreal Engine 4 enhancements, this is planned to be the original games “warts and all''. The Phoenix Edition, on the other hand, is a “full UE4 reimagining of the games''. Like the Dragon Edition, it will be a full transfer of the game to Unreal Engine 4, but with new features designed to modernise the experience. The team has yet to finalise what those features are, but cite a new stamina system as one of the more major changes in mind, as well as smaller changes such as new cassettes in the Tomato Store. As with almost all modding projects, there is no release date set.

Nintendo has reportedly said that it isn't planning to announce a new model of Switch 'anytime soon'. In an investor Q&A following the announcement of Nintendo's latest earnings report, Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki reports that Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked whether the company would announce an upgraded model of the Switch. His response: "Not anytime soon". That response has immediately led to discussion of whether it is or isn't a clue as to a future announcement. Previously, Nintendo has offered more concrete denials of a new model, and Furukawa's apparent phrasing here leaves the door more open to an announcement at a later date. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/21/is-a-switch-pro-coming-in-2021-nvc-544"] It's worth pointing out that David Gibson, a games business analyst in the same Q&A session, reported a slightly different answer to the same question, saying that there was "no new model plan" beyond the release of Mario and Monster Hunter special edition Switch models.

As part of the company's latest earnings report, Nintendo has revealed that the Nintendo Switch Lite is about to outsell the Wii U. Since its launch in 2019, the smaller, dockless Nintendo Switch Lite has sold 13.53 million units. The figure can be seen in Nintendo's recently released Consolidated Financial Highlights document. Such volume of sales means the Switch Lite is very close to beating the Wii U's lifetime total unit sales, which are recorded as 13.56 million units on the Nintendo website. The Switch Lite will likely surpass that benchmark in the coming months, if it hasn't already. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/09/26/nintendo-switch-lite-review"] Surpassing Wii U sales is par for the course for the Switch now.