To say Splitgate 2 hasn’t had an easy go of it would perhaps be a mild understatement, though that’s not to say it’s entirely undeserved. There was that absolutely silly hat malarky for one, creating a not particularly welcoming vibe, and there was of course some controversy involving the pricing for some of its in-game items. All of that unfortunately led to two rounds of layoffs, and a switch back to a beta version of the game. Now, it looks like it’ll be back in action next month.
I probably could have held off on writing this until what I like to call “Black Friday proper“, on Nov. 28. But I’ve already seen several top offers fall into the shadow realm, never to return. And, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that my top Black Friday picks will soon meet a similar fate.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s still some brilliant offers up for grabs, with some of 2025’s best games dropping to $30 or less, while plenty of other big PS5, Xbox, and Switch releases from the past couple of years are also heavily discounted right now (at least for now).
That’s been massively helped by Walmart, which has stocked up on some of the best Black Friday discounts going this year. Yet, with retailers like Amazon and Best Buy still refusing to auto price-match most deals, once Walmart sells out, we likely won’t see some of these low, low prices again for a while.
So, writing this article, I am.
You might have already seen my $20 or less roundup, which is still packed with heavy hitters from the last few years, and perfect if you want maximum bang for your buck. Some are so good, they even feature in this article as well. But, I’ve also tried to keep things as fresh as possible for returning readers.
I’ve also got you covered if you’re looking for a more comprehensive roundup of the best video game deals for Black Friday. With that out the way, my advice is to snap up the following games up ASAP, cause once they’re gone, they’re gone.
It’s the MGS 3 Remake! Or Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, if you fancy actually being able to Google it. If you also fancy joining the Kappa Delta sorority, the game has dropped to just $30 at Amazon and Walmart for both PS5 and Xbox.
I was being all silly… but that is kinda fantastic. Releasing just a few months ago, remake or not, $40 off is a mighty fine offer. Only last week, this was down to $50 at Best Buy and I was all like, “$20 off – that’s a good deal!” What a fool I was.
Still, extra reductions on top of already good deals? Now that’s what Black Friday is all about. But, fair warning, with deals of this caliber, Black Friday or not, they usually don’t last long, so I’d pick it up while you still can.
Okay fair warning, there’s a couple of Sonic games on this list, and you should be happy about it! The blue blur has been having a blinder these past few years, and SEGA has continued its hot streak of form with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. This might actually be the best racer I’ve played in recent years, and I even enjoy it more than Mario Kart World (sorry, not sorry!).
It’s down to $30 for Switch, PS5, and Xbox, which is an almighty good deal, especially since this hasn’t long been out, and was selling for $60-70 only a couple of months back. Not only that, it’s another extra reduction deal, as this was $45 only last week in the sale. I may actually be enjoying Black Friday for once! This is such a good deal, and well worth picking up while stock lasts.
Somehow, Star Wars Outlaws returned. Hey, even a 7/10 game can be worth $30! Well, $15 on PS5, $20 on Xbox, and $30 for the Gold Edition on Switch 2.
Listen we all like to dog on this game, but I truely think there’s a lot of fun to be had with Outlaws. Sure, it’s got a bad rep, but you’re actually getting so much genuinely great Star Wars content, it’s no joke.
If anything, I really think it’s worth a go for anyone who was ever on the fence about buying it for whatever console you’re playing it on. I think it’s a great pick for anyone on Switch 2, especially since it’s dropped further in the sales, down from $60 to $40 last week, and now just $30 at Amazon. Score!
Hey it’s that other Sonic game I mentioned! Sonic X Shadow Generations featured in my top picks from last year, and it’s absolutely worth playing for just $15 on Switch and Xbox, or $25 on PS5. It’s worth it for just the Shadow Generations levels alone.
I loved every minute with this game, and I even bought it again for my Steam Deck to play on the go. Trust, I may also end up buying it again on my Switch if I’m feeling extra saucy. Play this game! It’s brilliant! Yes, I am a Sonic fanboy, and I always will be.
When it comes to Switch games, my top pick is still Super Mario Odyssey for Black Friday. It recently ranked fourth on IGN’s “Top 100 Nintendo Games of All Time”, and it’s down to just 30 bucks. That’s an outstanding deal, especially for such a good game, that also includes a free Switch 2 upgrade.
You can find the discount at both Walmart and Target, as it was obviously too hot for Amazon to hold on to for long. To be fair, Amazon quickly lost all their Switch deals once Walmart started rocking the price boat and dropping games an additional $10 all of a sudden.
Okay I’ve got to do the thing where I admit to not playing games again, even when they’re on sale and very good deals. Echoes of Wisdom looks fun! For $30, I think it seems like an excellent offer for Black Friday. Since I’ve never played it, so I’m going to trust in my lovely collegue Tom Marks to rescue my embarassment.
He said this in his incredibly positive 9/10 review for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom on IGN: “The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is far more than some second-tier spinoff, combining the expertly crafted dungeons and item progression you’d expect from a 2D Zelda with the wild creativity provided by Tears of the Kingdom.”
Another one of my favorite games of the year, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, is now down to just $30 for both PS5. This has been one of my big comfort games for 2025, and I couldn’t recommend it enough for anyone looking for a chill, fun, adventure through Japan.
Go in with no expectations, and I genuinely think you’ll be surprised at how much fun this game can really be. The stealth is the best the series has ever had, and the addition of Yasuke is surprisingly excellent, providing a brilliant change of pace for when you’re looking to just rip and tear through a castle instead of tip toeing to the objective. At $30, this is more than worth it.
Hard to believe it has been more than three years since Elden Ring landed on consoles and PC, and somehow it still lived up to every wild expectation I had for it. IGN handed it a 10 at launch, quite deservedly, and it’s fast become one of my favorite games of all time as well. It is more than worth the $15 Walmart is currently charging for it in the Black Friday sales. That’s a stupidly good deal.
If you’ll allow me to momentarily skirt around my $30 or less rule (just like I did with the $20 or less rule, way too many times), I do highly encourage you to check out the full package if you can. Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree Edition is also discounted, $39.99 on PS5 and is well worth it. Still, if $20 is your limit, the base game has hundreds of hours worth of content already waiting for you.
Anyone else feel like Spider-Man 2 gets a bit of an undeserved bad rep?
Especially for how much fun it actually is. I’ll admit the story is no where near as good as the first, but the gameplay in this one is absolutely outstanding and had be gripped for first playthrough, and then an immediate New Game Plus run.
At $30 in the Black Friday sales at Walmart, this is definitely one of the best deals going right now for PlayStation owners, if you one of the few who haven’t gotten around to playing yet.
It’s only fitting that I finished up on yet another Switch game I have never touched, but am assured that it is brilliant, and $30 for it is about as good of a deal that Nintendo will genuniely ever offer for any of its first party games. To back me up, I brought in the assisstance of IGN’s Logan Plant, who had this to say in his 9/10 review last year:
“Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is an amazingly loyal and visually dazzling remake of a treasured RPG, and the improvements made throughout easily make this the definitive way to experience Mario’s unforgettable quest.”
I had this whole speel ready for Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 for $30, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 as it’s my strongest contender to go up against what seems like the clear front runner in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for the 2025 Game of the Year Awards.
But the deal is gone! See what I mean? Sorry for the deal FOMO, but it really shows how not all of the top offers are going to last through Black Friday on November 28, let alone until Cyber Monday when most of the sales “officially” end.
Honorable mentions include games like Helldivers 2 for $30, alongside EA Sports FC 26, Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2, and Silent Hill 2.
If your budget is more in the $40 range, you should absolutely be picking up 2024’s Game of the Year winner, Astro Bot, which is down to $40 at Walmart, after, you guessed it, Amazon sold out!
Right, that’s me actually done now, if you pick up anything good over Black Friday, or just want to tell me how much of a fool I am, let me know in the comments ASAP. Have a great Thanksgiving, and see you next time.
Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN’s resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
I’ve been savouring the modest upsurge in turn-based strategy games about savage and malodorous bands of mercenaries, not least because it accompanies wordlarking as fine as this. Here to join the screaming pile of gushing throats and grazed elbows is Pathbreakers: Roaming Blades, the latest from Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark developers 6 Eyes Studio.
Hooded Horse have just announced that they’re publishing it, which is lovely because it means I can write about a horse game this week that hasn’t been banned from Steam for infringing upon Valve’s ever-elastic content policies. There are no scenes of inquity so far in Roaming Blades, just good, wholesome disembowelment and the chance to blow up lingering balls of lightning. Here’s the trailer.
“GTA 6 ALERT – EXTREMELY SERIOUS SITUATION,” reads the X / Twitter post from the Zap Actu GTA6 account. The supposed gameplay clip of Rockstar’s upcoming surefire blockbuster is brief, but, if true, a shocking leak indeed.
Of course, it’s not true. It’s not a leak. It’s not even real gameplay. It’s yet another AI-generated GTA 6 “leak” video viewed by millions that remains live across social media, which seems unable to do anything about it beyond the odd community note.
The tweet below, published yesterday, November 25, has gone viral, securing 8 million views in just over 24 hours. Below it, a community note warns against its authenticity, but that appears to be doing little to dull its impact. And it is far from the only one. The same Twitter account responsible for this “leak” has published a number of similar clips in recent months, some of which which have a huge number of views, all in a desperate bid for followers and Discord members.
🚨🚨 GTA 6 ALERT – EXTREMELY SERIOUS SITUATION 🚨🚨
A new and highly disturbing leak has just surfaced on TikTok before being taken down only minutes later — but the damage is already done. The video allegedly showed a real gameplay moment where the player is controlling Lucia,… pic.twitter.com/iSD4duGEPu
— Zap Actu GTA6 (@zapactugta6) November 25, 2025
Based on the replies, many Twitter users are taking these leaks at face value. It’s a problem GTA 6 has faced for some time now, which probably comes as little surprise given the intense excitement and thirst for new information on what is expected to be the biggest entertainment launch of all time. But it is far from the only video game to suffer from this problem. Indeed, video games are not alone in this, either.
Last month, IGN reported on physicist Brian Cox, who went public with complaints about YouTube accounts that had used AI to create deepfakes of him saying “nonsense” about comet 3I/ATLAS. Similarly, Keanu Reeves recently hit out at AI deepfakes of the John Wick star selling products without his permission, insisting “it’s not a lot of fun.” In July, it was reported that Reeves pays a company a few thousand dollars a month to get the likes of TikTok and Meta to take down imitators.
In 2023, Tom Hanks warned fans that an AI version of his likeness was being used without his consent in an online advert for a dental plan. Last year, Morgan Freeman thanked fans who alerted him to AI-generated imitations of his voice online after a series of videos created by someone posing as his niece went viral. And in May this year, Jamie Lee Curtis was forced to appeal to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an Instagram post because she couldn’t get the company to pull an AI-generated ad that featured her likeness for “some bullshit that I didn’t authorize, agree to or endorse.”
What is the solution here? In July, YouTube was said to be preparing to update its policies to crack down on creators’ ability to generate revenue from “inauthentic” content, which is made easy to produce on a massive scale with generative AI. While propelled forward by the great YouTube algorithm, you’ve probably stumbled across a fake trailer or two. The hope was that YouTube would be able to crack down on the channels that pump out this sort of low-effort content, but a cursory glance at YouTube shows this has yet to happen.
Without legislation forcing content built by generative AI tools to include labels clearly marking it as such, or laws preventing deepfakes without permission, fans will continue to be misled by bad actors. And as generative AI technology improves, so it will become harder to distinguish between the fake and the real.
Can anything meaningful be done? Last month, the Japanese government made a formal request asking OpenAI to refrain from copyright infringement after Sora 2 users generated videos featuring the likenesses of copyrighted characters from anime and video games.
Sora 2, which OpenAI launched on October 1, is capable of generating 20-second long videos at 1080p resolution, complete with sound. Soon after its release, social media was flooded with videos generated by the app, many of which contained depictions of copyrighted characters including those from popular anime and game franchises such as One Piece, Demon Slayer, Pokémon, and Mario. Despite the prostetations of the Japanese, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has declared Sora 2 videos using copyrighted characters “interactive fan fiction.”
Zap Actu GTA6, meanwhile, doesn’t seem bothered by any potential backlash, and is posting even more fake GTA 6 “leaks.” Their latest, published just a few hours ago at the time this article went live, already had 220,300 impressions. In their Discord, which is slowly gaining new members, one person who joined today questioned everything they were doing, saying: “If it’s AI, that’s disrespectful to the fans, friend @ZapActu.” ZapActu has yet to respond.
If you’re hunting for the best offers this week, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Black Friday deals on video games, tech, and more. You can find all our top picks and price drops in our full Black Friday hub, or check out our relevant pages for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox deals.
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.
Better than nothing, we suppose.
Nintendo of America announced its Black Friday plans a few weeks back and, unsurprisingly, there was very little in the way of Switch 2 discounts to be seen. Other storefronts have followed suit, and while it’s hardly a flood of savings on the new console, there are a few different options if you want to pick up the latest tech and save some pennies in the process.
We’ve been keeping an eye out for the best Switch 2 discounts out there. The following list is far from exhaustive, but it highlights the best price cuts we’ve seen so far.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Nintendo’s latest console, the Switch 2, is steadily building a library of amazing games, but which are the best? Well, here are what we think are the 15 most essential games to spend your time with on the handheld/home console hybrid.
As for our criteria, we’ve chosen not to go with just any game that is available on the Switch 2, and instead have selected only those that have been specifically created for Switch 2 and were not previously available on the original Nintendo Switch (well, with one single exception). Basically, we’re not counting upgrades of years-old Switch 1 games, such as Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, or Kirby and the Forgotten Land, etc, but you will find the odd multiplatform in this list that’s arrived on Nintendo hardware for the first time
Does that make sense? I do hope so. Anyway, let’s get on with it and reveal our picks for the Top 15 Best Nintendo Switch 2 Games.
PowerWash Simulator 2 is very much a sequel that abides by the mantra, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. A relaxing set of levels that are ever-expanding in size and complexity, scrubbing and soaking this new bunch of impossibly grimy vehicles, buildings, and furniture is the perfect way to spend a relaxing evening in with your Switch 2. It’s just good, clean fun.
With Legends: Z-A, it finally feels like Pokémon is really finding its feet when it comes to adapting the series’ classic template for a 3D world. Not just another monster-battling RPG, Z-A makes the bold decision to remove turn-based combat completely and replace it with a much more dynamic real-time system. It may take a little getting used to, but it is a genuine evolution of the now 30-year-old formula that is more than welcome. With improved performance thanks to the Switch 2’s superior power, the best way to play this latest Pokémon adventure is on Nintendo’s latest console.
Koei Tecmo returns for another bite of the Hyrule Warriors apple, following up 2020’s Age of Calamity with Age of Imprisonment, which serves not only as a muso action spectacle, but also a prequel to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Its story may not reach the heights of the best of the Zelda series, but the satisfaction found in its combat is undeniable, and this time the hardware can keep up with the action. All that makes it one of the best Switch 2 exclusives so far.
Brick-breakers are practically as old a video game genre as you can find, but none have ever quite done it like this. Ball X Pit borrows from the kaleidoscopic pixel mayhem action of Vampire Survivors and translates that score-chasing sensation into a selection of superpowered balls of wild variety that can be bounced off against enemies until they all fall down and clear the path along its steadily scrolling screen. Throw a light bit of settlement management into the mix, and you’ve got one of the hardest Switch 2 games to put down.
A sequel to 2003’s Kirby Air Ride certainly wasn’t on our Switch 2 bingo card for this year, but perhaps even more surprising is that it’s genuinely great. Perhaps that shouldn’t come as a shock, though, due to legendary Kirby creator and Smash Bros. supremo Masahiro Sakurai being behind the wheel of this combative racing game that borrows as much from Smash as it does Mario Kart. Looking for a bit of chaos? Try out Kirby Air Riders on your Nintendo Switch 2.
A cosy combination of action-adventure RPG and life sim management, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time hits a perfect sweet spot for the Nintendo Switch 2 in the absence of a brand-new Zelda adventure or Animal Crossing town to spend time in. We’re going to bend our rules ever so slightly here, as it did first release on the original Switch and other consoles on May 21, 2025, before making its way to Switch 2 as a day one game with enhanced visuals, but we think it’s worth it to shout out a treat of a series that has been criminally underplayed.
Mario Kart World takes some risks as it barrels out of the confines of the series’ familiar circuit surroundings and out onto open roads for the first time. A mixture of colourful and expansive courses and open-world time trials and challenges, World changes up the Mario Kart methodology in the most impactful way since Double Dash hit the GameCube. A day one Switch 2 release, it’s destined to be one of the console’s most-played games for the rest of its lifespan.
Hazelight Studios has become the go-to place for co-op games over the past few years thanks to A Way Out, It Takes Two, and, now, Split Fiction. You and a friend take control of authors Mio or Zoe, who dive in and out of sci-fi and fantasy worlds conjured from their creative imaginations. It’s a feast of varied gameplay design and a true test of teamwork. Available to play both online and locally, it’s a great fit for the Switch 2 and its pair of detachable Joy-Con controllers.
Being able to play CD Projekt Red’s dense and detailed sci-fi RPG on a Nintendo handheld seems like it should almost be illegal, and yet you can do exactly that. Now a far cry from the state it arrived in during the rockiest of launches, Cyberpunk 2077 has been retooled and refined into the fantastic open-world action RPG that it is today, with the vibrant Night City playing host to a tale of underworld revolutions and corporate-level betrayals. When you also throw in the magnificent Phantom Liberty expansion as part of this ultimate edition, then you’ve got one of the greatest RPGs of recent years in the palm of your hand, whenever and wherever you want it on Switch 2, even if it may not run quite as smoothly or look as stellar as it does on other platforms.
Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake takes two classic RPGs and brings them into the modern age to beautiful effect. Both games are given a welcome facelift here, but successfully retain the retro magic that made them both so beloved when they were first released way back in 1986 and 1987, respectively. Nearly four decades on, they’ve never been more playable, and are among the best games you can now play on your Nintendo Switch 2.
A remaster of 1997’s Final Fantasy Tactics, 2025’s The Ivalice Chronicles has recently become the definitive way to play one of Square’s most acclaimed RPGs. Its tactical battling system is as tight as it ever was, with some welcome tweaks only making it kinder to engage with, along with a graphical boost that still captures the charm of the PlayStation original. Now fully voiced-acted, its story full of intrigue and conspiracy is ready to be enjoyed by a whole new generation of players, and is a perfect fit to be enjoyed in the Switch 2’s handheld mode.
A chapterised follow-up to Toby Fox’s beloved cult-classic, Undertale, Deltarune picks up where its predecessor left off in terms of subverting the RPG genre and delivering something wholly singular. Heartfelt and often hilarious, its story captivates from start to finish, with its unorthodox approach to battling just one of the many ways it surprises through inventive gameplay systems. To say much more would be a spoiler. With more chapters still planned to be released as free updates, Deltarune promises not only to be one of the Switch 2’s best games right now, but long into the future, too.
It was also going to be difficult to live up to the hype that built up during Hollow Knight: Silksong’s long, long development, but somehow, developer Team Cherry didn’t disappoint. Hornet’s snaking metroidvania world is littered with unwelcoming locations filled with even less inviting enemies and pesky platforming, but it is one that also begs to be explored. Yes, it’s punishing, but equally as rewarding, with secrets lurking in hidden corners and behind every challenging boss fight. The satisfaction found throughout is nearly unparalleled on the Switch 2.
Donkey Kong Bananza finally gives Nintendo’s most famous ape a 3D platformer that can proudly sit alongside its Mario counterparts. In turn, it also gave Switch 2 owners one of the very best games to play on their new consoles. A delectably destructive smashathon, DK Bananza borrows elements and ideas from Super Mario Odyssey, but breaks them down and reshapes them into a Donkey Kong context brilliantly. With numerous worlds begging to be sculpted in your image, and hundreds of precious bananas to be uncovered, platformed, and puzzled their way to, it’s a real showcase for what this new generation of Nintendo can look like, while never once forgetting to root itself in that decades-old wild creativity.
A Switch 2 console exclusive, Hades 2 somehow manages to improve on its masterful predecessor as developer Supergiant Games evolved the idea of its narrative-led roguelike action to God-tier levels. Melinoë’s journey to the depths of the underworld and the heights of Mount Olympus is layered with detail, whether it be in its intricate weapons and skill systems, or the majesty of its striking art direction that pops both on a big TV screen or on the Switch 2’s handheld display. The peak of its genre, Hades 2 is hard to tear yourself away from, and, simply put, the most fun you can have on your Nintendo Switch 2 right now.
And those are our picks for the best Switch 2 games that you can play right now. What have been your favourites so far? Let us know in the comments! Hungry for more Nintendo? Then check out our list of the Top 100 Best Nintendo Games of All-Time.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
NBA Jam has remained one of the most iconic basketball video games since its release in the ‘90s, but Tim Kitzrow, the actor behind its announcer, says he only made “like $800-and-change” when recording his lines.
The voice behind “boomshakalaka” opened up about his history as a sports gaming voice actor during a recent conversation with The Escapist. Kitzrow’s career includes voicework for NFL Blitz, MLB Slugfest, and even themed pinball machines, but it’s his work on the over-the-top NBA video game that many believe has stood the test of time.
While many lines from his play-by-plays likely still ring in the minds of ‘90s gamers who dropped coins into the original arcade experience, it’s “boomshakalaka” that is remembered by most today. Despite its staying power, Kitzrow looks back at the string of syllables as more of “a gift from the gods” than a carefully considered quote.
“A fellow in the studio, John Carlton, was listening to Sly & The Family Stone,” he explained. “The song I Want to Take You Higher. The chorus is ‘boom shaka-laka-laka, boom shaka-laka-laka’.”
Kitzrow continued: “He goes, ‘Hey Tim, say boomshakalaka’. Now, me being a basketball guy – I watched every game on TV with Marv Albert – I’d never heard anyone say ‘boomshakalaka’. I’m just trying to get the reference, like, ‘What the hell are you talking about? This is not a basketball term.’ I said, ‘What is this?’ He goes, ‘Just say boomshakalaka… like that.’”
Now, 32 years later, boomshakalaka is still the kind of celebration basketball fans love to quote. At the time, though, Kitzrow’s work on NBA Jam seemed like any other voice acting gig. Without an agent and his pinball work usually netting “a few hundred bucks at best,” he says his work on Midway’s sports video game seemed like any other job.
“It was $50 an hour,” Kitzrow said. “Same as the pinball. I’d go in, do a couple of sessions – maybe 15 hours total – and that was it. I wasn’t smart enough, savvy enough to know the business, to go, ‘Gee, these games make a lot of money, maybe I should make more than $50 an hour.’”
It wasn’t until after NBA Jam launched to tremendous success that Kitzrow realized he may have been denied an easy layup.
“When the game came out and I found out it made a billion dollars, that’s when I realised I’d made like 800-and-change, maybe something like that,” he said with a laugh. “I thought, ‘Well, I’m probably being underpaid. I might want to raise my rate.’”
NBA Jam went on to receive numerous re-releases on various platforms. The series eventually saw releases from Acclaim Entertainment and EA, too, including 2003 and 2010 reboots, in addition to its Midway run.
Kitzrow returned to provide his work as one of the most excited announcers in games in many of the offshoots as they arrived through the years. He also managed to bring back some of his most iconic lines for a sports-themed Easter Egg in Bethesda Softworks’ Rage 2. Next, football fantasy fans can expect to hear him in Mutant Football League 2, which leaves early access with a full launch for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S December 10.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Embracer Group’s undoing of their catastrophic multiple-year acquisition spree continues with the sale of Cryptic Studios and Arc Games, respectively the developers and publishers of Star Trek Online and Neverwinter.
The creator of the original Thomas the Tank Engine mod for Skyrim has now put Thomas in Morrowind, apparently in defiance of legal pressure from Mattel.
Really Useful Cliffracers, a recently released mod for Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, replaces cliff racers (flying creatures found in Vvardenfell) with Thomas the Tank Engine. It’s the work of modding superstar Trainwiz, who created the infamous 2013 Thomas the Tank Engine mod for Skyrim that spawned a meme that endures to this day.
Recent comments from Trainwiz both on Nexus Mods and social media suggest that Thomas the Tank Engine owner Mattel has applied legal pressure, but Trainwiz has modded Thomas into Morrowind anyway.
“I made a mod that replaces cliffracers with Thomas the Tank Engine,” Trainwiz wrote on the Nexus Mods page for Really Useful Cliffracers. “I am incapable of learning lessons whenever it involves corporations, because I fundamentally do not view toy company CEOs or media CEOs as people.”
Trainwiz continued:
“In between working on my game and dying of various accidental injuries, I sometimes feel like I need to milk a particular joke until its inevitable demise. I will do this no matter how many legal threats, actual threats, black vans with the Mattel logo on them, or severed Barbie heads are mailed to me.
“This is because I have issues with authority, particularly authority derived from intimidation. I kicked a lot of bullies in the nuts when I was a kid.”
Trainwiz’s BlueSky bio also contains a message on this issue:
Modder, game developer. Made that horrible, horrible mod that replaces dragons with Thomas the Tank Engine. Personally wielded the javelin that killed god. Mattel is constantly out to kill me.
But why release Really Useful Cliffracers now? Also from its Nexus Mods page, Trainwiz explained: “I actually made this years ago but never released it, but then I realized that I don’t particularly care anymore.”
Reading between the lines, Trainwiz is saying Mattel’s lawyers have taken issue with his Thomas the Tank Engine mods over the years, although we don’t know how recently and in what form. What is clear is that Bethesda has given Trainwiz its seal of approval. It even published an interview with him back in 2016, shining a light on the locomotion-related mods he had created for the developer’s games.
Trainwiz was later interviewed by The Face, in 2019. “To be honest, the whole thing was spontaneous,” he said of the creation of his original Skyrim mod. “A friend of mine gave me some Thomas models he had ripped from a crappy iPhone game and asked me what I could do with them, so I spent half an hour replacing dragons. I read the books as a kid, but hadn’t really even thought about the whole thing in years. It was just ’what would be the funniest thing at the time?’.”
In that interview, he also touched on potential legal action as a result of his work. “I got in so much trouble,” he revealed. “Mattel pretty much want me dead at this point — it’s the reason why the Fallout 4 mod can’t be found on any normal website.”
In the same interview, The Face said Mattel had “unleashed its lawyers” following circulation of Trainwiz’s Skyrim mod on YouTube. “It was some intermediary law firm based out of Macedonia, saying how I diminished the brand of Thomas by showing him blowing up (nothing about him violently murdering people),” Trainwiz said. “They issued takedown notices on the videos for it. The first time it got taken down. The second time YouTube told them it was covered under parody law, with no prompting from me. So that was nice.”
For now, Trainwiz’s Thomas the Tank Engine mod for Skyrim and now Morrowind remain online, and the scourge of one of gaming’s most famous memes continues.
If you’re hunting for the best offers this week, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Black Friday deals on video games, tech, and more. You can find all our top picks and price drops in our full Black Friday hub, or check out our relevant pages for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox deals.
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.
Warframe devs Digital Extremes have launched a Founders program for their faded dark fantasy action-RPG Soulframe. This means that you can now pay to get access to the work-in-progress game, rather than signing up for a chance of a free code. What’s more, you can now wishlist it on Steam ahead of the eventual final release, inasmuch as a steadily updated gameworld like this ever reaches completion. There are always more layers to the setting, and more rad shoulderpads to unearth from the depths.
