Author: Game Infliction

The Outer Worlds 2 fans are lamenting the news that developer Obsidian is not working on a sequel, and have blamed Microsoft’s initial decision to price the game at $80 for helping kill the series’ hype, despite the later U-turn.

Yesterday, Bloomberg reported on the state of veteran RPG studio Obsidian following an exhausting 2025. Over the course of eight months, the company launched Grounded 2 in early access, followed by both The Outer Worlds 2 and Avowed after protracted developments.

Of the three games, only Grounded 2 was qualified as a success — and while further titles in the Avowed universe are planned, a third Outer Worlds title is not in production. Unsurprisingly, this news has disappointed fans of the space-based role-playing game series, who have offered their own opinions on what went wrong.

“I feel like TOW2 paid for the sins of TOW 1 and Avowed,” Godlike013 wrote in a lengthy thread on The Outer World’s main subreddit, suggesting that The Outer Worlds 2 had deserved a better reception. “After two mid games in a row negative sentiment unfairly fell on TOW2 when it is a genuinely good game.”

“I’ll be honest, it’s not surprising in the least,” countered Lafitte1812. “TOW2 is, in every possible way a better game. It’s a night and day difference, and most of my problems have been fixed, but at the end of the day I still don’t really give a damn about the universe, and positive word of mouth alone is only so impactful.”

“I’m not surprised,” agreed CardTrickOTK. “I think it was better than the first in a lot of ways, but when BG3 drops and lets you do some frankly insane things with the companions, I think a lot of people had their standards raised for RPGs, and this game is just okay.”

Several other fans noted the recent launch of other RPGs — and particularly 2025’s beloved Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — as having provided tough competition and even tougher comparisons in some areas such as story and fully-fleshed out characters. Others suggested that the lengthy wait for The Outer Worlds 2 had also raised expectations, which were not met by the sequel.

“The first game was incredible but lacked content,” wrote RUKnight31. “We excused that due to limited budget and dev time for a new franchise. Given the increased resources and development time that went into OW2 we expected to have a lot more content than OW. It didn’t and the obvious ‘business decisions’ that led to chopped content sucked to see.”

A larger number of fans expressed frustration at Microsoft for the game’s pricing fiasco, which initially saw The Outer Worlds 2 set to become the company’s first $80 game — before the company put the initiative on pause and backtracked. While the game ultimately launched at $70, fans say that the snafu dominated headlines and killed hype that the game struggled to win back. Some even pointed out the irony of the situation happening to The Outer Worlds 2, a game which tells the story of people caught up in the actions of megacorporation.

“So capitalism was the true villain all along,” QQBearsHijacker quipped.

“They overshot asking $80 and that turned a lot of gamers off,” RUKnight31 continued. “The backtrack to $70 was too little too late. In this economy $60-$70 is already a lot. Trying to push $80 as the new norm was outlandish for leisure.”

“Did not help at all that the biggest splash this game made on the overall gaming lake was the stupid 80 bucks fiasco that Microsoft tried to push,” agreed ElGodPug. “Like, even after they reduced to 70 (still too much IMO), first impressions are pretty important, and to many it was ‘oh hey, it’s the sequel to that 7/10 game asking us to pay 20 bucks more’.”

“There were a lot of great RPGs this year and unfortunately this one was forgettable,” Philosophers-Bone bluntly summed up. “Not horrible or anything, just didn’t stand out. I’m glad I played it on Game Pass and didn’t shell out $80 or whatever insane price they listed it for.”

IGN’s The Outer Worlds 2 review returned an 8/10, and stated that “once you get past a weak first act, The Outer Worlds 2 sharpens Obsidian’s RPG formula with smarter writing and better combat.” We continued: “[It] doesn’t try to rewrite Obsidian’s RPG playbook, but it’s yet another strong refinement.”

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

Nintendo has discussed the fact that Switch 2 hardware sales were lower than expected outside Japan towards the end of 2025.

Speaking to shareholders this week, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa acknowledged that “overseas sales were slightly weaker than our expectations,” something that had previously been reported and discussed with IGN by analysts, though not stated out loud by the company itself.

Still, in an investor meeting following the release of this week’s latest financial earnings, Nintendo shareholders repeatedly questioned the company on its western sales shortfall, even as the Switch 2 overperforms within its homeland of Japan.

“While our forecasted global hardware and software sales volume remains unchanged, the breakdown by region and product is based on different assumptions from the revised forecast announced at the time of our second-quarter financial results announcement,” Furukawa said, via machine translation.

“Furthermore, as you understand, domestic hardware sales volume exceeded our expectations, while overseas sales were slightly weaker than our expectations,” he continued.

Sales figures collated by The Game Business last month showed that U.S. Switch 2 sales over the holiday period were down around 35% versus the Switch 1’s first holiday sales performance back in 2017. In the UK, a similar comparison saw Switch 2 lagging Switch 1 by 16%. Even in Nintendo’s homeland of Japan, Switch 2 holiday sales couldn’t match Switch 1, and were down by 5.5% over the year’s final nine weeks.

In France, 2025’s final tally of Switch 2 sales was down by “over 30%” versus the amount Switch 1 notched up back in 2017, meanwhile.

While these numbers may take some of the shine off of a successful first year for Switch 2 overall, it’s not all doom and gloom. Switch 2’s lifetime sales in Japan are still above what Switch 1 managed in its first year, with less time on sale. And in the UK, Switch 1 continued to sell well enough that it made up Switch 2’s holiday sales deficit.

Asked for more detail on why hardware sales in Japan were doing better than expected, Furukawa has now highlighted the release of two games in particular that had resonated with the country’s audience: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and the Switch 2 exclusive Kirby Air Riders.

“We believe that the reason for the stronger-than-expected hardware sales in Japan is that, amid the continued momentum of the initial launch of the Switch 2 hardware, new titles such as Pokémon Legends: Z-A Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and Kirby Air Riders, released during the holiday shopping season, [leading] to a relatively high trend of existing Switch owners switching to the Switch 2 compared to overseas.”

While the Pokémon franchise is hugely popular globally, it enjoys a particular level of devotion within Japan. Kirby games also sell especially well in the country, with mixed success historically overseas. Essentially, then, Furukawa is suggesting that the Switch 2’s level of success in Japan has been fuelled by two titles that have resonated particularly well with Japanese audiences.

It’s a statement that gels well with what a recent, unnamed western Nintendo source reportedly said of the company’s softer Switch 2 sales overseas, which were blamed on the lack of a key first-party game for the holidays. The remark raised eyebrows at the time due to the fact it appeared to overlook Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (as Metroid Prime has traditionally been seen as a sub-franchise with a stronger western following than in Japan). However, as we learned this week, Metroid Prime 4 has indeed gotten off to a slow start sales-wise, something Nintendo appeared to have anticipated to some degree.

There was next to no mention of Metroid Prime 4 in Nintendo’s financial results this week, and no sign of its Switch or Switch 2 versions on the company’s lists of million copy-selling games. Switch 2 exclusive Kirby Air Riders was recorded as having sold 1.76 million units since its arrival on November 20, but there was no mention of how well Metroid Prime 4 had fared following its arrival on December 4.

Following the launch of Metroid Prime 4, Nintendo admitted that it knew the game’s open-world concept risked feeling outdated. Last month, Metroid Prime producer and Nintendo veteran Kensuke Tanabe abruptly announced that the game would be his last project for the company after four decades of service. When contacted for more detail by IGN, Nintendo did not comment.

Overall, Switch 2 remains Nintendo’s fastest-selling console at launch ever, with an explosive arrival propelled by the recent success of the original Switch (something it, in turn, didn’t have as it followed Wii U). But all eyes will be on Nintendo now to shore up its line-up of Switch 2 games for the rest of 2026 — when fans hope they’ll finally get a new 3D Mario platformer in time for Christmas.

Upcoming first-party Switch 2 games include Mario Tennis Fever (February 12), Pokémon Pokopia (March 5), Super Mario Bros. Wonder Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park (March 26), Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream (April 16), and Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, which has a vague “spring” launch window. Simply listed for 2026 are Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, Rhythm Heaven Groove and Pokémon Champions, while Splatoon Raiders has a “TBA” launch date.

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

Borderlands 4 publisher Take-Two has said that development on the game’s Switch 2 version is officially now on “pause” following its last-minute delay.

A Switch 2 port for the Gearbox looter shooter was initially announced during Nintendo’s big April 2025 Direct and then pegged to arrive on October 3, 2025, before its release was scrubbed just a week prior to launch. Pre-orders were cancelled, though Gearbox framed the move as a delay, not a full scrapping of the project.

Indeed, the developer said it hoped to “align” its Switch 2 release with the addition of cross saves to the game — something which now seems to no longer be on the cards.

Speaking to Variety this week, a Take-Two spokesperson has said that work on Borderlands 4’s Switch 2 edition was no longer ongoing, as Gearbox prioritized continued “improvements” to the game on its existing platforms.

It’s a curious situation, not least because the game’s Switch 2 version got so close to release, and had been played publicly in demo form at various events last year, such as at Gamescom 2025 in Cologne. Opinion on the game’s Switch 2 demo was mixed, though Borderlands 4 has also suffered from technical issues even on the more powerful PlayStation 5 Pro and Xbox Series X. The game’s Steam review rating has also suffered from negative comments regarding its PC performance, too.

“We made the difficult decision to pause development on that SKU,” Take-Two spokesperson Alan Lewis told Variety this week. “Our focus continues to be delivering quality post-launch content for players on the ongoing improvements to optimize the game.

“We’re continuing to collaborate closely with our friends at Nintendo. We have PGA Tour 2K25 coming out and WWE 2K26 [for Switch 2], and we’re incredibly excited about bringing more of our titles to that platform in the future.”

That last sentence is intriguing, too — the suggestion that Take-Two may now be focusing its Switch 2 plans elsewhere. Could Nintendo’s console become home to GTA 6, which looks increasingly likely to make its late 2026 launch date? Time will tell. Last night, we also learned that GTA 6 will not skip a physical edition at launch, despite rumors to the contrary.

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