Author: Game Infliction

‘Anything Can Change’ – Battlefield 6 Dev Says It Plans to Listen to Community Feedback for ‘a Very Long Time’

Disclaimer: This article contains comments from an interview conducted before EA announced layoffs across Battlefield Studios.

Battlefield Studios says it plans to listen to and work with the Battlefield 6 community for “a very long time” as it continues post-launch support with Season 2: Nightfall while dealing with an unsatisfied fanbase.

IGN caught up with Ripple Effect studio design director Justin Wiebe to learn more about how the team is adapting to feedback in response to mixed opinions from fans. And as it and the rest of the four-studio group that makes up BF Studios prepares to launch Season 2 Phase 2: Nightfall on March 17, there’s one thing Wiebe said he wanted fans to know: “We’re listening, and we’re reacting, and it’s going to continue that way for a very long time.”

“We’re getting amazing feedback from the community, and we’re constantly trying to strive to make the best game possible,” Wiebe said when talking about BF Studio’s efforts to communicate with fans. “So we appreciate the community’s time that they take to share the details of what’s working and what’s not working for them, and we take it very seriously.”

Reactions to Season 1 and the Season 2 delay left Battlefield 6 in a rough spot, but it didn’t start that way. In fact, the latest installment in the classic EA FPS franchise eventually became the best-selling game of 2025 after launching for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S last October. We gave its multiplayer an 8/10 at the time, with the entry managing to receive strong reviews from both critics and fans in the weeks following its release. Where it’s run into trouble is everything that’s come after, with fans bombarding social media feeds with calls for bigger maps, progression and gameplay adjustments, grounded cosmetics, and more in the months since.

As concerns and critiques have mounted, we asked Wiebe if BF Studios has felt the need to shift its post-launch strategy to give players’ feedback more weight. Although there’s no doubt the community has played an important role both after and before the launch of Battlefield 6, he says the answer isn’t so simple.

Anything can change based on what is going on with the community, what is going on with the feedback, and what we’re seeing from the game.

For him, including testing done with the pre-launch Battlefield Labs program, the project at launch is the dev team’s vision. After that, it becomes something more.

“So, for me, once we’ve launched the game, it’s in the community’s hands to give us feedback. It becomes our game now. All feedback is important, and we weigh the community feedback, but also, like I said, we look at the data of what’s actually going on in telemetry. Sometimes it can be a perception problem. Sometimes it’s actually like, no, both sources of information are saying, ‘This is a big problem, and therefore we need to stop the plans we were going to do and redirect and start focusing on the things that we’re seeing identified.’”

He continued: “That’s the main thing to take away here: It’s not like, ‘Hey, we crafted this massive plan, and we’re going to hold to it.’ It’s like, no. Anything can change based on what is going on with the community, what is going on with the feedback, and what we’re seeing from the game.”

Battlefield 6 and the BF Studios team will continue when the Nightfall update adds night modes, the new Hagental Base map, weapons, and more next week. A third phase for Season 2, Hunter/Prey, will then add more content come April 14. There’s no word yet regarding Season 3 or when it may launch.

For more, you can read our full interview with Wiebe. You can also read up on our other interview with more members of Ripple Effect from shortly after Battlefield 6’s launch. Be sure to also check out how the BF Studios team responded to fan feedback regarding cosmetics like stickers and infantry skins in the past.

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).

Epic are hiking Fortnite V-Buck prices to “pay the bills”, because those server farms don’t run on peanuts

Epic are raising the price of Fortnite‘s V-bucks currency, in what the billion dollar publishers frame as a bid to keep the wolf from the door. You’ll now stand to pay almost twice as much for Exact Amount packs, with smaller increases kicking in for the larger fixed wodges of Fort-doubloons. You’ll also learn less from Fortnite’s battle pass in future, though this and other Fortnite passes will also be cheaper to compensate.

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Hours After Announcing Donald Glover as Yoshi in the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Nintendo Has Now Revealed Its New Yoshi Game Release Date

It’s been a busy 24 hours for Yoshi fans. Yesterday, Nintendo confirmed Community and Star Wars actor Donald Glover would provide the voice for its elastic-tongued dinosaur in the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Now, we know when Yoshi’s next game will release.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, a sidescrolling platformer exclusive to Switch 2, will arrive on Thursday, May 21.

Nintendo made the announcement today initially via its Nintendo Today app and then across social media, in celebration of this being Mario Day (because March 10 looks a bit like Mar10). There’s also a new trailer to watch, which offers our best look yet at gameplay.

Today’s trailer introduces us to Mr. E, a talking encyclopedia, whose pages are full of odd creatures. Diving into the pages from the book will see an adorable inky Yoshi leap in and observe the animals for himself. And by observe, of course, we mean swallow.

Thankfully for the frog found in today’s trailer, Yoshi soon decides the animal isn’t particularly tasty. After spitting it out, the frog will gamely blow bubbles for Yoshi to hop into and ride, allowing for some quick platforming. By feeding the frogs different foods, you can create different kinds of bubbles, and unlock further discoveries about the species. You can also name the species yourself (which we’re sure players will be completely normal with).

As you progress further through the game, new environments and many more creatures will be unlocked for Yoshi to research. And at the end of the trailer… there’s a reveal that Bowser Jr. will somehow be involved in the proceedings too.

Yesterday’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie-focused Nintendo Direct confirmed Glover as Yoshi, plus Wednesday star Luis Guzmán as Wart, and Issa Rae as Honey Hive Galaxy’s Honey Queen. We also got to see a good chunk of new footage from the film, as Bowser Jr. begins his own diminuitive reign of terror. For more, check out our roundup of everything announced in the Super Mario Galaxy Movie Nintendo Direct.

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

Regions of Ruin: Runegate is a pleasantly pixelly RPG about rebuilding a lost dwarven kingdom, and it’s out next month

I tend to take my videogame dwarves spacefaring, but there’s something inviting about the more classical, beards-and-barrel-chested adventuring being offered by Regions of Ruin: Runegate.

An expanded and prettified sequel to 2020’s Regions of Ruin, which I also knew nothing about until this morning, Runegate casts you as a lone dwarf charged with travelling the treacherous (but attractively pixel-arty) wilds to bring about the rejuvenation of your peoples’ ruined subterranean home. Here’s the new release date trailer; not to spoil the ending, but it’s out on April 14th 2026.

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Review: Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake (Switch 2) – Great Atmosphere But Never Quite Comes Into Focus

“I’m ready for my close-up”.

Though survival horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill have always taken up most of the spotlight for the genre, lesser known franchises such as Fatal Frame have quietly provided some excellent horror experiences for those willing to go a bit off the beaten path. Fatal Frame traces its roots back to the PlayStation 2 and while it’s been over a decade since the last new release (on Wii U, of all things…), Koei Tecmo has been getting its feet wet in recent times by experimenting with some ways to bring back the old titles for modern platforms.

The most recent of these is Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake, a reimagining of the most popular entry in the series that brings it more in line with modern survival horror standards. It’s not perfect, but there’s a lot to love about this one and it feels like a definite improvement over the original.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The Internet Is Discussing Pickmon, a New Pokémon, Zelda and Palworld Rip-Off That Doesn’t Hide Its Obvious Influences

Featuring a character dressed like Link and a creature that looks like Pikachu, upcoming Steam game Pickmon isn’t afraid to hide the games it’s clearly, er, inspired by.

A initial trailer for Pickmon, below, begins with Link, or whoever the main character is supposed to be, leaping from a clifftop that’s clearly a riff on Breath of the Wild’s Great Plateau, while familiar-sounding piano notes tinkle away in the background.

Not-Link deploys his glider, and is shown to have a not-Pikachu clinging onto his shoulder. A dragon-like creature definitely not based on Rayquaza then also drifts past — and this is all in the trailer’s first two seconds.

The next few minutes of Pickmon footage offer much more of the same, with creatures familiar to both Pokémon and the gun-toting Pals of Palworld (the previous Pokémon-like game to land on Steam, which is also still the subject of a Pokémon Company lawsuit), as well as some rudimentary base-building and farming mechanics.

The trailer concludes with a prompt to go wishlist Pickmon on Steam now, and to look out for a future release that’s rather ambitiously “planned for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation.”

Let’s be honest here, everything about this trailer looks set to spark obvious comparisons to Nintendo properties. Even the name of the game’s developer, Pokegame, seems part of the bit. For an indie developer looking to launch its first game, it’s a safe way to grab attention — and if Nintendo was to start legal action, well, that’s even more publicity guaranteed. And already, a Pokémon player has claimed Pickman copied one of their designs for a Pokémon fan design, too.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether Nintendo will bother getting involved. While the comparisons between Pickmon and Pokémon are far from subtle, Nintendo currently seems to have gotten bogged down in its previous Palworld lawsuit, which has dragged on for over a year while Palworld itself remains on sale, albeit with a few minor gameplay tweaks.

Perhaps notably, Pickmon does not seem to include the same catch mechanic as Pokémon, which Palworld initially contained at launch, before tweaking. Instead of creatures being caught and unleashed from a ball, Pickmon seems to have them being summoned forth from magic cards.

“What if we take Palworld, and take its designs EVEN CLOSER to the original Pokémon designs were inspired and even dare promising a release on Switch?” wrote one fan after seeing Pickmon in action. “This is the smash bros ‘everyone is here’ trailer of plagerism [sic],” said another. “We have Pikachu at home ass trailer,” said a third.

But despite the criticism, it’s hard to imagine Pickmon’s developer is upset about all the attention. Whether it will now also gain the attention of Nintendo, however, remains to be seen.

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

Capcom reveal Resident Evil Requiem story DLC and minigame while dangling sweaty carrot of Hot Uncle Kennedy romance sim

Resident Evil Requiem is getting a story expansion and a new minigame, together with the already-promised photo mode, Capcom have announced. What the expansion and minigame involve remains unclear, but there is just the dimmest possibility that we’ll finally be able to play the official Leon Kennedy Meet ‘n’ F*ck game of our wildest dreams.

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Marathon’s Fiddly Quests Need To Stop Getting in the Way of the Fun

Boring filler quests, often of the “fetch” variety, used to be derided – but in extraction shooters nobody seems to mind that they’re rampant. Go here, scan this terminal, collect ten wotsits, find five doodads, spin around three times and return to base.

Of course, extraction shooters don’t stand on the strength of their quests, and these objectives are welcome excuses to explore the map. I don’t mind trekking to reach a quest marker if I find something surprising on the way, or an enemy team to fight when I arrive. But these quests cannot get in the way of the looting and shooting.

In Marathon, sadly, they sometimes do.

Not only are Bungie’s quests, called “contracts”, boring and fiddly, but they’re at the heart of the game. Completing contracts is your progress. You cannot mostly ignore them and do your own thing, as I have for my 250 hours in Arc Raiders – you need to finish them to unlock new skills and better gear.

Let me be a bit more specific about their failures.

First, some of these contracts have multiple fiddly steps. An early quest on Perimeter, the starting map, commands you to visit North Relay, South Relay, and Overflow, scanning objects in the first two and downloading an “agricultural report” – try not to explode with excitement – at the third. You could not pick three locations more spread out if you tried.

Remember, every player in a squad will have their own contracts, likely in entirely different areas. Before you know it you’ve got six target locations: even if you meet friendly players who want to help, that’s an impossible task.

These contracts are the only thing that could stop me loading in for run after run after run

At least for that particular quest, you can finish it across multiple runs. Some contracts demand completion in one round. A single distraction – a boss fight, running into a squad of runners, a teammate leading your squad to a different location – can spoil the run. I’ve died before because I couldn’t convince my teammates to accompany me to the final step of a contract that would’ve reset if I’d extracted.

Marathon’s UI doesn’t help. On the Perimeter quest I mentioned above, I wasted five minutes searching for two Sparkleaf Bioprinters in North Relay and by the time I found one, it was time to extract. I know now, of course, that you can open your map and hover over a contract objective for more detailed instructions, such as the specific building to search. But why make players menu dive? Why not just put the exact locations front and centre on your map, or simply flag it on your screen as you enter a point of interest?

The tip about hovering over an objective does, apparently, appear in early hints but it’s clearly eluded many players by (I’ve had multiple teammates asking for help finding those damn bioprinters).

My final gripe is linked to the penalty for leaving a match early after you die. In Marathon, your teammates can revive you even after you’ve been downed, finished, and stripped of your loot, and Bungie therefore wants players to hang around in case they’re brought back from the dead. To encourage this, leaving while a teammate is alive incurs strict penalties – including losing any progress towards quests.

Fine on paper but oh-so-frustrating when, as happened to me yesterday, your remaining teammate is AFK. I was forced to watch a static screen for 15 minutes or repeat my contract in a different run. The same goes for teammates who, often rightfully, opt to flee the scene rather than revive you when a full squad is picking over your corpse: you can watch their round play out, or lose your contract progress.

I know this sounds like a big moan. Let me be clear: I’m still loving Marathon and its quirky heroes that set it apart from other extraction shooters. My annoyance with contracts isn’t enough to put me off yet, and the fact Bungie plans to make objective markers clearer on your HUD in a future patch is promising.

But more invasive surgery is required. These contracts, which are the heart of Marathon, are the only thing that could stop me loading in for run after run after run.

If you’re just starting out on Tau Ceti IV, our Marathon Beginner’s Guide and Things to Do First should help you navigate your first few runs. Beyond that, we’ve got interactive maps and tips for Perimeter, Dire Marsh, and Outpost, plus expert early game builds for Destroyer, Recon, and Triage runner shells.

Resident Evil Requiem Story Expansion and Additional ‘Mini Game’ in Development, Director Confirms

Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi has confirmed plans to launch a major story expansion for the game, following other additions planned over the coming months.

In a video posted to social media this morning, Nakanishi thanked fans once again for Requiem’s huge success so far, with 5 million copies already sold as of last week.

Clearly, Capcom now has much more in store for the game, too — including a story expansion, the addition of a “mini game” in May, and the upcoming arrival of a photo mode, too.

More to follow…

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

Nightdive’s ‘SiN Reloaded’ Remaster Is Heading To Switch 1 & 2 This Year

Hard Corps.

After an incredibly lengthy delay, Nightdive Studio’s SiN Reloaded is finally making its way to consoles, including the Switch and Switch 2, later this year.

Built from the original 1998 classic from developer Ritual Entertainment, SiN Reloaded will feature enhanced visuals and performance along with a more modernised control scheme. The release will include the base game and the additional SiN: Wages of Sin mission pack, all optimised with Nightdive’s KEX Engine.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com