Back in 2022, Blizzard announced that they were working on a survival game set in an “all-new universe”. Not much more was known about the game except that the studio were actively ramping up recruitment, seemingly after having been working on the project since 2017.
This survival game has now been cancelled alongside today’s news of sweeping layoffs across Blizzard and other divisions of new owner Microsoft.
In celebration of Princess Peach: Showtime, Nintendo recently announced that they’re releasing a set of pastel pink Joy-Cons that will be available alongside the game on March 22. If you’re someone who’s dying to get your hands on them, we have good news, preorders are officially open at retailers like Amazon and Best Buy for $79.99.
These will only be available for a limited time, so make sure to get your preorders in quick. Check them out on Best Buy and GameStop’s websites below.
If you’re looking to get your hands on the game itself, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered there, too. In our Princess Peach: Showtime preorder guide, we’ve listed links to where you can preorder the game (in both physical and digital formats) at a variety of retailers for $59.99. And if you want to see more of this game before you preorder it, check out the latest trailer for it which shows off her latest transformations into Ninja Peach and Cowgirl Peach.
Alongside new Nintendo games that are worth keeping on your radar, there are plenty of Nintendo-related deals to check out right now as well. In our roundup of the best Nintendo deals today, we’ve gathered together a variety of discounts, from games to SD cards. When it comes to the former, you can even save on some of last year’s biggest releases, like the physical version of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom which is discounted right now at Walmart. If you want to see what deals are available for other consoles, we also have roundups for PS5 deals, Xbox deals, and general video game deals.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.
When I sat down at my desk after lunch today, I thought, I’m just going to give this demo for Balatro a tiny go, just to get my head round its poker-based roguelike deckbuilding. Cut to several hours later and I’ve had to forcibly shut the game down and wrench myself away from it just to write this post, because listen, you need to go and play Balatro’s demo right now, because hot damn this is the good stuff if you’re into roguelike deckbuilders. I also say this as someone who’s never played or understood a game of poker in her life, because let’s face it, regular poker is quite boring. Balatro, on the other hand, is poker that’s turbo-charged with magic Joker cards, tarot card multipliers, and blind conditions that make a successful hand increasingly tricky to pull off. And it’s coming out in full real soon, too.
You could say it’s an Adept.
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing over. Today, Alana reflects on playing Golden Sun in 2024, and how it allows players to figure things out for themselves rather than relying on tutorials. Warning — minor early game spoilers ahead…
Golden Sun is good – really good. That’s not surprising at all to most people, but to me, someone who played it back when it first launched 23 years ago and bounced off of it, it’s a bit of a relief.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Experience the thrill of wrestling, navigate through treacherous temples, and race to the finish line with Free Play Days! WWE 2k23, Phantom Abyss and MX vs ATV Legends are available this weekend for Xbox Game Pass Core and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members to play from Thursday January 25 at 12:01 a.m. PDT until Sunday, January 28 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.
Game Pass Core will give players access to our advanced multiplayer network, a select collection of over 25 games to play with friends around the world, and exclusive member deals! Read more about Game Pass Core at Xbox Wire.
Find and install the games on each of the individual game details page on Xbox.com. Clicking through will send you to the Microsoft Store, where you must be signed in to see the option to install with your Xbox Game Pass Core or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership. To download on console, click on the Subscriptions tab in the Xbox Store and navigate down to the Free Play Days collection on your Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
Purchase the game and other editions at a limited time discount and continue playing while keeping your Gamerscore and achievements earned during the event! Please note that discounts, percentages, and title availability may vary by title and region.
2K
WWE 2k23
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
Become a WWE Legend in WWE 2K23 during Xbox’s Free Play weekend! As the highest rated game in WWE 2K franchise history, the ultimate wrestling simulation takes you behind the scenes and into the action to experience firsthand what it’s like to compete on the biggest stages in sports entertainment.
WWE 2K23 features a bevy of engaging and immersive modes; ascend from a promising prospect to a WWE Superstar in MyRISE, recreate the greatest matches of John Cena’s career in 2K Showcase, call the shots as a general manager in MyGM, take complete control of your favorite WWE Superstars in Universe mode, and collect WWE Superstars and Legends to assemble a dream team in MyFACTION.
All Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can take advantage of even stronger savings starting January 9 and ending January 30 with a special 50% discount on the Season Pass, featuring five DLC packs with over 20 Superstars and Legends! Enjoy the latest iteration of the WWE 2K franchise like never before and explore all of WWE 2K23’s endlessly fun modes—so you can prepare for the arrival of WWE 2K24.
In case you didn’t hear, WWE 2K24 has officially been announced and you can pre-order it today! Secure your copy of the WWE 2K24 and receive a digital-only version of WWE 2K23, so you can keep the party going even after the Xbox Free Play weekend is over!
Devolver Digital
Phantom Abyss
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
Phantom Abyss is a massive asynchronous multiplayer game that casts players into procedurally generated temples and tasks them with retrieving the sacred relics hidden within deadly chambers. Intrepid adventurers will dodge scores of hidden traps, leap treacherous chasms, and flee relentless guardians through branching paths until one of the relics are claimed or the devices of death overwhelm them. Be warned, you only get one attempt at each temple and failure means you will never see that temple again.
Secret Mode
MX vs ATV Legends
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S, Smart Delivery
Race your way to victory on bikes, ATVs and UTVs in MX vs ATV Legends! Featuring massive new open environments, plus a career mode that lets you experience all the risks and rewards of becoming a world-famous professional rider. Become an off-road racing legend in your own right! Your time is now!
Don’t miss out on these exciting Free Play Days for Xbox Game Pass Core and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members! Learn more about Free Play Days here and stay tuned to Xbox Wire to find out about future Free Play Days and all the latest Xbox gaming news.
Don’t miss out on these exciting Free Play Days for Xbox Game Pass Core and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members! Learn more about Free Play Days here and stay tuned to Xbox Wire to find out about future Free Play Days and all the latest Xbox gaming news.
The post Free Play Days – WWE 2k23, Phantom Abyss and MX vs ATV Legends appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Hey everyone, are you ready to continue Aloy’s epic adventure on PC? On March 21, you’ll be able to explore the Forbidden West, battle awe-inspiring machines and encounter new tribes. Horizon Forbidden West is the beloved follow up to Guerrilla’s critically acclaimed Horizon Zero Dawn, and this Complete Edition for PC also includes the Burning Shores expansion, which continues Aloy’s journey and takes players to a treacherous volcanic archipelago after completing the main quest.
Today we are excited to announce that the PC version of Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition is now available for pre-purchase with bonus content, including:
Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition on PC features unlocked frame rates, customizable graphics settings and a broad range of performance-enhancing technologies, including NVIDIA DLSS 3 upscaling and frame generation. AMD FSR and Intel XeSS are also supported. For players with high-end hardware and extra headroom, image-enhancing NVIDIA DLAA is also available. The game leverages DirectStorage for quick loading times on PC.
On your journey in the far-future post-apocalyptic world of Horizon, you will discover a variety of highly detailed environments, including lush forests, sunken cities, vast deserts and impressive mountain ranges. With ultra-wide support, you’ll be able to take in the vistas in a panoramic view. Gameplay is supported in 21:9 ultra-wide, 32:9 super ultra-wide and even 48:9 resolutions with compatibility for triple-monitor setups.
Fully customizable mouse and keyboard controls let you traverse the Forbidden West and fight ferocious machines on your PC the way you want to. The game also features extensive controller support, including Steam Input support for remapping and customization of your peripheral of choice to your preferences. Use a PlayStation DualSense controller for the most immersive experience, with adaptive triggers that let you feel the tension in the string of your bow and haptic feedback that makes you feel the impact when you’re engaging in melee combat.
On behalf of everyone at Nixxes Software and Guerrilla, we can’t wait for you to jump back into the world of Aloy on PC! Head over to Steam or the Epic Games Store now to pre-purchase or wishlist the game.
In the coming weeks we will reveal more details about the system requirements for Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition on PC.
Outriders and Bulletstorm developer People Can Fly has reportedly laid off more than 30 staff members as job losses continue to devastate the video game industry.
People Can Fly confirmed it suffered job losses after Kotaku learned more than 30 staff working on the upcoming Project Gemini had been laid off. A further 20 staff working on the game, which is being created in partnership with Square Enix, were moved to other projects within People Can Fly.
“We understand that this decision impacts each of you, and we want to express our gratitude for your hard work, dedication, and contributions thus far,” development director Adam Alker said in an email to staff.
“To those individuals transitioning out of the studio due to these changes, we extend our sincere appreciation for the skills and expertise you brought to the team. We will keep our fingers crossed for your next steps in game dev and offer all our support.”
The Polish developer released Bulletstorm VR earlier in 2024 , Green Hell VR in 2022, and Outriders in 2021. This cooperative looter shooter was also published by Square Enix and launched to lukewarm reviews.
People Can Fly has a handful of other projects in development but the major changes to Project Gemini, which was announced in 2023 and due to launch in 2026, could affect its release. Anonymous sources told Kotaku that its campaign would be shorter and enemy roster would be smaller due to a reduced budget.
The brutal video game industry lay-offs which tarnished 2023 have crept into 2024 too. Today, January 25, IGN learned Microsoft is cutting a colossal 1,900 positions from its video game workforce.
Industry layoffs are among the worst in history, with myriad other studios of all sizes affected. Dreams’ Media Molecule, Cyberpunk 2077’s CD Projekt Red, F1 Manager’s Frontier Developments, and Assassin’s Creed’s Ubisoft all suffered layoffs. Destiny 2 developer Bungie was also affected, causing a “soul crushing” atmosphere at the studio that IGN learned about in an investigative report.
Colossal companies like Embracer, who owns the likes of Borderlands developer Gearbox Software and Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, Fortnite publisher Epic Games, and Dungeons & Dragons owner Hasbro also saw sweeping job losses. Embracer laid off 5% of its workforce, amassing to 904 staff in total, Epic laid off 16%, or 830 employees, and Hasbro cut close to 20%, meaning around 1,100 staff.
Entire studios were also closed, including Embracer’s Campfire Cabal and Saints Row developer Volition Games, plus the studio behind TimeSplittlers Free Radical.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Room for another mass layoff post, before we end the day? This one is actually two separate stories but in a bid to conserve resources and make our frontpage slightly less depressing to read, I am going to roll them together. Black Forest Games, the Embracer-owned creators of the Destroy All Humans! Remake, are reportedly cutting 50% of their workforce – around 50-60 people. Outriders developers People Can Fly, meanwhile, have laid off 30 developers who were working on an unannounced Square Enix game.
We at the Electronic Wireless Show podcast have our finger on the beating pulse of current events, which is why we’re going to talk about the accusations that are flying around Palworld, the new and extremely popular Pokémon-meets-Rust. Does it contain AI? Did it directly steal from Pokémon? Can The Pokémon Company sue? Probably not. But why does everyone care so damn much anyway? We give our vibes-based takes on the whole affair, which seems to be escalating every day (and will therefore presumably disappear soon).
Who’d have thought toilet plungers would make for such good jumping assistants when it comes to propelling yourself over big, thorny brambles and angry animals? Well, clearly the trio of developers at Phoenix Blasters did, as their upcoming platformer Telmari puts them front and centre as its main form of traversal. Your titular tiny heroine can’t jump very far on her own, you see, so to save her beloved sunflowers from the spiky thorns of an ominous-looking tree, she’ll need to fire them around the environment to help hoist her over obstacles to get to the, err, root of the problem. I’ve been playing its Steam demo this morning, and while it’s a little rough around the edges, there’s definitely something here for those trained in the Super Meat Boy school of pixel perfect platforming.
