Pokémon scalpers going to insane lengths just to secure a new card collection isn’t anything new, but this story might just be the craziest we’ve heard for a while (thanks for the heads up, Polygon).
Reddit user Expensive_Age_3406 took to the r/GameStop group last weekend to share their experience of trying to nab the latest Prismatic Evolutions Super Premium Collection — a new bundle spun out from the immensely popular Eevee-focused set. As we’re sure you can imagine, it doesn’t sound like the most pleasant experience.
Today marks a special milestone for us at underDOGS. After years of sweat, love, and relentless passion, we’re proud to reveal the first official gameplay teaser of our upcoming narrative adventure game, Mukti.
And yes, you can wishlist it today on PlayStation Store.
A glimpse into Mukti
Mukti isn’t just a game. It’s a journey of discovery, redemption, and the impact of hidden narratives in a first-person exploration set within the authentic backdrop of an Indian museum.
Following her grandfather’s mysterious disappearance amid accusations of heinous crimes, Arya returns to find the museum he owned vandalized and abandoned. Through the silent echoes of the past, she pieces together a narrative of heritage, compassion and obscured truths, questioning everything she knew about his existence. What truths lie in her grandfather’s museum?
As the story unfolds, you’ll uncover layers of mystery, ancient secrets and a world that blurs the line between myth and reality.
From India, for the world – backed by Sony
Mukti is proud to be part of the prestigious Sony India Hero Project, being selected for this program not only gave us the fuel to bring our vision to life, but also reaffirmed our belief that Indian stories belong on the world stage.
After over a year of working closely with the fantastic folks at Sony, the journey has been nothing short of insightful and full of learning. Now, we’re thrilled to finally give you a glimpse of what we’ve been crafting behind the scenes.
Built for the big screen
On PlayStation 5, Mukti is designed to fully harness the power of Sony’s hardware. Our immersive environments, intense sequences, and emotionally-driven scenes are meant to be experienced in 4K, with responsive controls that pull you right into the heart of the story.
We’re also working closely with the PlayStation team to ensure features like DualSense haptics and adaptive triggers elevate the experience, from feeling the impact of every hit in combat to the subtle tension of solving puzzles and uncovering truths.
Why wishlist matters
As an indie studio from India, every wishlist counts. It tells the world, especially platforms and publishers, that there’s a growing hunger for Indian stories told through high-quality, console-level games. It pushes boundaries and opens doors, not just for Mukti, but for a whole generation of Indian developers.
So if the teaser stirs something in you… if you believe in bold stories, fresh voices and unforgettable adventures – hit that wishlist button today.
Xbox console exclusive Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 will come to PlayStation 5 this summer in an Enhanced Edition with new features, Microsoft has announced.
There’s no firm launch date yet for the game on Sony’s console, and developer Ninja Theory is yet to detail what this Enhanced Edition’s new features will be.
Still, in a video update posted to social media today — the anniversary of the game’s original PC and Xbox launch — the developer said these extras would also arrive as a free update on other platforms.
“The team have been working hard to optimise Hellblade 2 for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro to give you the very best experience we can,” Ninja Theory said. “We look forward to sharing more details with you soon.”
Microsoft bought Ninja Theory back in 2018, a year after the original Hellblade launched as a timed PlayStation console exclusive. Now, seven years’ later, the sequel’s console exclusivity is being dropped for a very different reason.
“A spellbinding adventure packed with cinematic spectacle and story surprises that maintains a surging sense of forward momentum and never wastes a second of its slender run time,” IGN wrote of the game in our Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 review.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
The backlash to Randy Pitchford’s controversial Borderlands 4 $80 comment has leveled up, with video game publishers jumping on the bandwagon to promote their games. Meanwhile, Pitchford himself has pointed to previous comments he made about Borderlands 4’s price, declaring: “If you want the truth, here it is.”
One such publisher is Devolver Digital, which has a reputation for edgy marketing that often takes advantage of hot topics on social media. Devolver, which is behind the likes of Hotline Miami and Cult of the Lamb, has done just that with Pitchford here.
If you’re late to the party, Pitchford sparked a backlash by responding to a fan who expressed concern about the prospect of paying $80 for Borderlands 4 by saying: “if you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen.”
Here’s the exchange:
“Randy, this game better not be 80 dollars. Don’t take that risk, a lot of gamers aren’t gonna pay 80 dollars and feed this notion of constant increase of the price tag. You are the CEO, you have some say with the price when it comes to your publisher.”
And here’s Randy Pitchford’s response:
“A) Not my call. B) If you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen. My local game store had Starflight for Sega Genesis for $80 in 1991 when I was just out of high school working minimum wage at an ice cream parlor in Pismo Beach and I found a way to make it happen.”
Devolver QT’d IGN’s X / Twitter post on this story to promote Mycopunk, its upcoming Borderlands-style mission-based co-op first-person shooter, saying: “You’re gonna be able to buy Mycopunk for you and three of your friends for the price of one copy of Borderlands 4.”
Pitchford himself caught wind of the tweet, and QT’d it himself, saying: “Mycopunk is cheaper than a point of meth – probably has fewer side effects, too!”
Mycopunk is cheaper than a point of meth – probably has fewer side effects, too! https://t.co/ICgEYZ7FEq
As you’d expect, the response to that tweet has been mostly negative. “I am going to pirate Borderlands 4,” said one X / Twitter user. “Please stop. Just apologize and move on. This isn’t fair on your developers. If you care about them, just do the right thing dude,” added another. “Randy we are begging you to stop. BL4 had so much hype and it’s being ruined in a day. Let people want to like and support the game and all the amazing people who made it,” said one commenter.
At the time of this article’s publication, Pitchford has yet to retract his comment or apologize for it. But he did point to a recent answer he gave on-stage at PAX East on Borderlands 4’s price, calling it: “If you want the truth, here it is.”
Last week, during a PAX East panel, Pitchford insisted that he didn’t know the Borderlands 4 price but refused to rule out $80.
“I’ll tell you the truth. I don’t know. That is the truth. I’ll hit it straight on. It’s an interesting time,” he said.
“On one level, we’ve got a competitive marketplace where the people that make those choices want to sell as many units as possible and they want to be careful about people that are price-sensitive. There are some folks who don’t want to see prices go up, even the ones deciding what the prices are.
“There’s other folks accepting the reality that game budgets are increasing, and there’s tariffs for the retail packaging. It’s getting gnarly out there, you guys. Borderlands 4 has more than twice the development budget than Borderlands 3. More than twice. So the truth is, I don’t know what the price is going to be.”
Pitchford continued: “Here’s the philosophy we have, whatever the price is: we’re entertainers. Yes, we want to get more resources so we can make bigger and better games. There’s a reason why Borderlands 4 is so awesome: it’s because you guys showed up and supported Borderlands 3 and we had the budget. So we could more than double the budget and feel confident in that. And that’s awesome. When the revenue comes in we can spend it to make bigger and better games.
“As artists we want everybody to have it. We want to make it as easy as possible for everybody to enjoy what we’re creating. So it’s a weird thing. The fundamental philosophy is, we want people to buy it so we have the resources to make more, but we want everyone who buys and plays a Gearbox game to feel certain that they got the better end of the bargain, whatever the price is that they got the best value. And that’s the philosophy we live by.
“And so we’re going to have the price set soon. It might be the new price that Nintendo and Microsoft have led with. It might be that we stay back. It’s going to be the people at the publishing house that decide that. And if it is cheaper, then maybe we’ll sell you that mini-map that you guys want that we’ll develop later. How bad do you want that? 10 bucks? I’m just kidding… or am I?”
He concluded: “Borderlands is f***ing amazing and it’s worth it.”
Some social media users have said Pitchford’s PAX East comment would have been worth pointing to in the first place, with the backlash now a significant brand problem for Borderlands 4 ahead of launch.
“This was a perfect response and should have been left at this,” said Borderlands streamer Moxsy. “Your second response is receiving backlash not because of the price of the game but because of the wording. Every game is gonna be 80 dollars by this time next year. However fans of Borderlands want the price to be justified because of the ambition, the passion, and the quality that BL4 will have. They want to feel good about the purchase they are making in a franchise they have loved for more than a decade and support the devs that have had a real impact on their lives. This toxic “not a real fan” mentality is not it and is only hurting the people that want to support the game.”
Publisher 2K Games is expected to announce the price of Borderlands 4 when pre-orders go live soon. Borderlands 4 is due out September 12, 2025.
In a recent interview, IGN asked Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick if the company would go to $80 for its games. Zelnick wouldn’t say either way, but did say consumers would be “willing to pay for the very best.”
“I have said for a long time that we offer enormous value and that that’s our job,” Zelnick said. “Of course, we certainly believe that compared to other forms of entertainment, whether that’s movie tickets or live events or streaming services, the value for our entertainment that we offer is just astonishing, and it’s our job. It’s our job to deliver much more value than what we charge. That’s our goal. We think consumers are willing to pay for the very best. It’s our job to make the very best.”
Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Lionsgate. 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.
One of the many game studios smashed to pieces by Embracer Group has come back to life. Campfire Cabal, which was seemingly shut down in 2023 as part of their parent corporation’s scorched earth “restructuring” policy, have crawled out of the grave to announce they’re still around and, in fact, “never stopped working”. They’ve been making a new game in the Expeditions series of historical RPGs, and have been given “the green light to scale back up and transition into full production.”
Avowed director Carrie Patel has quit legendary RPG company Obsidian Entertainment, just months after its most recent game’s launch.
In an update to her LinkedIn page, Patel revealed she had begun a new job at Night School, the Netflix-owned developer behind the Oxenfree series of narrative adventures.
“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Game Director at Night School: A Netflix Game Studio!” Patel wrote in a brief update. Patel’s new role at Night School will again be as a game director, though what she’s working on remains unannounced.
Night School is most famous for its Oxenfree series of games, the most recent being 2023’s Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals. The Netflix-owned studio launched Black Mirror spin-off Thronglets earlier this year, around the same time it suffered an unknown number of layoffs. Months before, Netflix completely shut down another of its studios, working on a AAA game project headed up by Halo veteran Joseph Staten.
Patel had been a veteran of Avowed developer Obsidian, and over 11 years worked in various senior positions on games such as Xbox sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds and the classic Pillars of Eternity series.
More recently, Patel had taken on the reigns of directing Avowed after the game was rebooted early in its development. Avowed had initially been planned with a darker fantasy setting closer to The Elder Scrolls, with one big open world and multiplayer co-op.
Ultimately, Patel steered the game to launch as a brighter, more unique-looking experience, now featuring multiple large individual maps to explore, and an entirely single-player experience.
The response to Avowed was mostly positive, and Patel had initially discussed plans for the franchise to continue — either with expansions, a fully-fledged sequel, or both. Now, however, Patel won’t be part of that future.
“With awesome worldbuilding and stellar character writing, Avowed reminds me why I fell in love with Obsidian’s RPGs in the first place,” reads IGN’s Avowed review. “However, the bigger picture is that it plays it quite safe, with a by-the-numbers fantasy adventure that’s more familiar than evolutionary.”
Obsidian’s next project to launch is The Outer Worlds 2, which is due to be shown off in detail at this year’s Xbox Games Showcase in June.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Earlier this month, LEGO lifted the lid on a fresh batch of upcoming Mario sets featuring a whole bunch of familiar faces. Today, those sets have finally cropped up online, giving us a closer look at the builds as well as the all-important price and release date.
The big news is that all of the following sets will launch on the LEGO website on 1st August 2025. The bigger news is that it finally sees the debut of LEGO Wario (bum chin and all). There’s also MiniFig debuts for Captain Toad, Mario Wonder‘s Prince Florian and a Wonder Flower-ed Bowser Jr.
Charlie FortescueDirector, Global Corporate Communications, EA
Leave your mark on the world of racing in EA Sports F1 25 with the EA Play trial. Create your story and push the limits for up to 5 hours starting May 27. If you decide to buy, your progress carries over to the full game.
EA Play members can also save 10% off EA digital purchases including the full version of the game and PitCoin (conditions, limitations and exclusions apply. See here for details). Plus, push through Podium Pass tiers at full throttle with in-game rewards including a monthly 5,000 XP boost.
EA Sports F1 25 puts you at the heart of Formula One racing with groundbreaking features. Take full control as the Owner of your own Formula One team with deeper management, revamped R&D, and a dynamic Team HQ that grows with your success. Plus, the thrilling next chapter of Braking Point puts the legacy of the Konnersport team in your hands, including alternative scenarios based on your choices.
Wield the Dance of the Shaman with Tales of Kenzera: Zau on The Play List
With your cosmic powers and untried courage, members can brave the beautiful and treacherous land of Kenzera alongside the God of Death with unlimited access. Discover a rich universe with untold lore of chaos and order and journey through mystical 2.5D realms awash with color and depth, emboldened by multi-award-winning composer Nainita Desai’s enchanting original score.
May Rewards
Beyond the track, EA Play is bringing great membership rewards across some of EA’s hottest titles. From XP boosts to Weapon Charms, it’s the ultimate pit stop for fans.
Apex Legends:Flex your Pilot roots with the Gold Data Knife Weapon Charm
Available now through June 2
Battlefield 2042:Button enemies down with the Bradley Vehicle Skin: Rolling Sigil
Available now through May 27
EA Sports F1 24:Go flat out through Podium Pass tiers with a 5,000 XP
Available now through May 31
EA Sports Madden NFL 25: Anchor the defense with Ultimate Team EA Play May Pack
Available now through May 31
EA Sports FC 25:Light up the pitch in style with the Heroes Purple Comet Left Arm Tattoo
Available now through June 5
EA Sports FC 25:Make the club truly yours with the Football Ultimate Team Draft Token
Available now through June 14
EA Sports NHL 25:Show out on the ice with WOC Battle Pass XP Modifier & CHEL Coins
Available now through May 22
Membership to EA Play is included with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers at no extra cost. Experience unlimited access to a collection of top EA titles, trials of select new games, member rewards, and a 10% discount on EA digital purchases.
Stay up to date with the latest news and member benefits at the EA Play page or follow them on X (Twitter) and Instagram.
Now, Nintendo has given us a look at some changes to Diddy Kong as well, via artwork from the company’s website and brand images on display at Licensing Expo 2025, which is currently taking place in Las Vegas.
As spotted by Nintendo Life, the following images show a slightly more cartoony take on Diddy, with more rounded eyes and a cheekier, friendlier smile.
Attendees at the Licensing Expo 2025, an event for brands to showcase their franchises and secure merchandising and partnership deals, can also see the new-look Diddy (and Donkey) Kong there, as seen in photos from attendee Cptn_Alex on social media.
Nintendo has not commented on the changes to Diddy Kong, and earlier Donkey Kong, though the alterations have widely been linked to the character’s look in the lucrative The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Even Princess Peach has been given a slight redesign. The Mushroom Kingdom’s ruler had her appearance switched on the box of her Switch game Princess Peach: Showtime! to an appearance more similar to her big screen version, IGN sister site Eurogamer previously noted.
Of course this post is popping off lmao. Here’s a better look at the new render 🙂
Donkey Kong will next take centre stage in the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 title Donkey Kong Bananza, and while his sidekick Diddy Kong has yet to be confirmed, the inclusion of other Kong relatives such as Cranky Kong — and Nintendo going to the trouble of polishing up Diddy Kong’s look now — would point to it being very possible.
And then there’s the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel, which looks to be titled Super Mario World. After Donkey Kong’s major presence in the first film (and a cameo from Diddy Kong), it seems likely we’ll be seeing more of Nintendo’s great apes there, redesign and all.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
