Crash Bandicoot has been revitalised over the past decade, and there are now reports Netflix has greenlit a new animated series.
According to What’s on Netflix, this new series will apparently be created by WildBrain Studios, the same team behind Sonic Prime. Sonic’s show had a three-season run, with 23 episodes in total between December 2022 and January 2024. This studio is also helping out with a Minecraft animated series for Netflix.
Crash Bandicoot has been revitalised over the past decade, and there are now reports Netflix has greenlit a new animated series.
According to What’s on Netflix, this new series will apparently be created by WildBrain Studios, the same team behind Sonic Prime. Sonic’s show had a three-season run, with 23 episodes in total between December 2022 and January 2024.
Loulan: The Cursed Sand is an action RPG set along the ancient Silk Road in the Western Regions of China. You play as the Cursed Sand, a skeletal warrior wielding the power of sand and sets out to explore the lost kingdom of Loulan, battle mighty foes, and search for his beloved princess.
Inspired by the archaeological discovery of the “Xiaohe Princess,” the story follows the Cursed Sand, a royal guard resurrected after death, as he embarks on a tragic journey to find the lost Princess of Loulan.
For the protagonist, we drew inspiration from the Loulan mummies and the iconic desert sand of the Western Regions, creating a dual-form warrior:
In Sand Form, golden sand wraps his body — a balanced fighter who wields the power of sand.
When he unleashes the sand and forges a massive sand blade, he shifts into Bone Form — a powerful stance built for one-versus-many combat.
On his journey, he will face powerful factions ranging from the Loulan royal family, who embody the power of the sun, to the frost-bound spiders of the Western Regions.
We’ve reimagined iconic landscapes of the western region through a fantastical lens, from vast deserts to flowing rivers of sand.
Loulan is supported by SIE as part of the China Hero Project. We are a 16-member cross-regional team, aiming to deliver a rich, ancient Loulan world and a unique, immersive gameplay experience.
Our core team is made up of veteran gamers born in the ’80s and ’90s. We grew up playing action games and were deeply inspired by classics like the original God of War and arcade action games. Many of us have worked on action titles at studios in the U.S. and Japan, including Santa Monica Studio, FromSoftware, and PlatinumGames. We’re truly passionate about this genre and dedicated to pushing its boundaries.
At the same time, we’ve always been fascinated by fantasy worlds inspired by the ancient Silk Road — especially the mysterious and radiant kingdom of Loulan, once a shining jewel along that route. With this project, we aim to bring the beauty and enigma of ancient Loulan to life through a retro top-down camera perspective. Our goal is to blend classic arcade-style combat with modern gameplay innovations — such as the unique interaction between the protagonist and his sandblade. We truly hope players will enjoy the experience.
The Switch Online mobile app Nintendo Music has been updated with another Super Mario-themed soundtrack.
This time, it’s the New Super Mario Bros. album from the DS generation. This platformer was originally released in 2006, and the update today features “all tracks” from this title. This includes 60 tracks in total, with a runtime of 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Not content with only releasing a new mainline game and tickets to the upcoming pop-up store in October, The Pokémon Company is bringing even more monster-catching content to the UK in the coming weeks with a new series of the Pokémon Horizons anime.
Part one of the third season, subtitled ‘Rising Hope’, will arrive on BBC iPlayer on 27th October, with more episodes following in the future. Those in the US will have to wait a little longer before it makes its regional debut on Netflix on 6th January 2026.
It’s been almost six years since Crimson Desert was first revealed to the world. Across that period, developer Pearl Abyss has shown off a huge array of ideas, mechanics, and boss battles. It’s frequently been cited as something of an “everything game” – an open world adventure with sky islands, mechanical dragons, wrestling moves, interdimensional gateways, interacting elemental effects, and even a Spider-Man web swing. But the more that’s been revealed, the more there’s been the sense that Crimson Desert may be a lot of pieces in need of a whole. Finding that whole was my main objective when I visited Pearl Abyss’ studio in Seoul for this month’s IGN First. And while I can’t say I’ve found it yet, multiple hours of hands-on playtime has revealed a game that’s maybe not as strange as you’d expect. In fact, Crimson Desert feels pretty straightforward.
Pearl Abyss has crafted a reasonably traditional open world adventure, made up of multiple regions peppered with towns, outposts, and castles. There’s the usual collection of main and optional quests, plus classic distractions like fishing. You’d be forgiven for not realising this, though – Pearl Abyss has put almost all its promotional efforts into showcasing boss fights. Not only that, but Crimson Desert’s blend of traditional medieval fantasy with sci-fi and steampunk elements does make it seem like it’s being pulled in several directions at once.
When you’re on the ground and seeing how all these elements interact, though, it doesn’t feel quite so alien. The continent of Pywel is perhaps less like a typical Tolkien-esque fantasy world and more akin to Dungeons & Dragons – a setting that, in recent years, was host to a Mad Max-like vehicular chase through Hell. Pearl Abyss’ design team explained that they wanted Pywel to reflect the variety of our reality, in which some countries feel much more futuristic than others, and note that some of the Pywel’s leaders may be more resistant to the advancement of technology than others – a conflict that’ll be explored through various faction quests. All this means the variety doesn’t feel artificial or there simply for the sake of being wild, even when you’re at the controls of a flying battle robot (which was, of course, designed by dwarven engineers.)
The inclusion of these mechanised and steampunk elements grant Pearl Abyss the creative license to build quests that are a significant departure from anything we’d see in something like Skyrim. A major part of my hands-on time involved completing a quest for Marni, a scientific genius who cloned his own consciousness to create the AI-like entity, H.A.L.L. Naturally the results of such an experiment have gone very wrong, and Marni’s evil digital-magic twin has taken command of a flying fortress that’s terrorizing Pywel’s skies. Defeating H.A.L.L requires the use of a power core, which Marni reveals is hidden inside a “weapon” called Golden Star. And by “weapon”, he means a giant mechanical dragon. While they presumably have ballistic missiles in Pywel, what with the advanced engineering and all, of course the fantasy version of a nuke is flying Mechagodzilla. All that stands between me and this winged menace is… a fortress filled with angry battle robots.
It appears that fortress assaults will be a significant recurring objective in Crimson Desert, considering that my hands-on time involved no fewer than three of them. I can see why Pearl Abyss was keen to show them off, as they are a showcase for some of the project’s strongest achievements. There’s a great sense of atmosphere, with a legion of men from either side battering the living hell out of each other, and you’re caught in the middle of it all. Fun mechanical wrinkles add texture; during one attack I was able to fire signalling arrows that were quickly followed by a bombardment of artillery, decimating enemy soldiers and reducing buildings to splinters. In another, I was able to circumnavigate the brutal melee entirely, sneaking into the castle through a crumbling wall and using the prison as a shortcut to the boss. And in my fight through the robot fortress, a backpack-mounted EMP device allowed me to fry the circuits of both the lumbering ground threats and the airborne bug-bots in one giant blast. There’s always something new to try, something to experiment with.
The variety of ideas doesn’t feel artificial or there simply for the sake of being wild, even when you’re at the controls of a flying battle robot.
But as much as these fortress assaults are a demonstration of Crimson Desert’s highs, they simultaneously reveal what could turn out to be some of its biggest blemishes. Battling masses of enemies is surprisingly tedious, feeling messy and repetitive rather than an engaging chain of frontline fights. An awkward lock-on feature pushed me away from one-on-one duels and into a more freeform playstyle, but that came with the baggage of imprecise strikes and occasionally kicking the air instead of faces. Absolutely none of these issues hamper the boss battles, which was my only experience of Crimson Desert prior to this demonstration, and I was quite surprised at how different combat can feel in alternative scenarios, even when using the same moveset.
It’s in these smaller, less refined details where Crimson Desert threatens to lose itself. There are occasions where you need to pick up and manipulate objects, such as planting a banner to inspire your allies. Doing so requires standing still, turning to face the object, activating a focus mode, rapidly tapping a button to lift your target, and then finally manually carry it. All of this is a slightly baffling annoyance when erecting flags, but it turns into a genuine frustration in the middle of a boss battle, when you’re desperately trying to swing a fallen masonry column during the precious few seconds in which the boss is stunned.
Thankfully, no such awkward Ultrahand juggling is required to extract the power core from Golden Star. As we explored earlier this month in our making-of feature, this is a boss battle with a unique mechanic that must be discovered in the (quite literal) heat of battle. The dragon’s flaming breath activates an array of pylons dotted around the fortress’ battle arena, which then dispense EMP bombs that you can fire from an arm-mounted cannon. The system creates a repeating phase loop; Golden Star circles above, belching the flames that produce the EMP bombs that will eventually bring him crashing to the ground, where you can unleash a barrage of strikes until he reboots and begins the cycle anew. Pearl Abyss are keen to point out you don’t have to do this – you could, for instance, use lightning-wreathed arrows to apply a stun, or simply chip away at his health bar with ranged attacks – but I feel that the real enjoyment in all of Crimson Desert’s boss fights has been finding the unique mechanic built into the arena or even the enemy itself.
With the power core obtained, I take to the skies on the back of my own (completely organic) dragon to attack H.A.L.L’s flying fortress. The initial assault is pretty simple – I have my mount spit fireballs at a number of weak spots in the structure’s shields to break down the defences and allow me to land. But getting inside the fortress itself is more complicated; a navigation puzzle that’s just the right side of obtuse. My journey takes me up elevator shafts and along a precarious route perched on the fortress’ exterior. At one point I have to activate a machine by rotating a wooden pillar that has no crank, achieved by using the thrust attack to bury my blade in the timber to create my own handle. There’s no prompt for this, and I appreciate that the solution is to think about your ability set in a non-conventional manner.
Such an approach continues inside, where defeating H.A.L.L is more of a puzzle than a traditional challenge of brawn. I like that Crimson Desert’s AI spirit character doesn’t just become another boss brawl – another indicator that the world’s weird steampunk and sci-fi elements actually make some kind of in-universe sense. This time, though, the solution really is obtuse, and someone from Pearl Abyss had to spell it out to me. Hopefully the hours prior to this quest will have equipped you with the knowledge of how to approach this particular foe.
I am a little apprehensive that at least some of Crimson Desert’s offerings will be “stuff to do” rather than meaningful, interlinked opportunities.
H.A.L.L’s flying fortress isn’t the only airborne destination I visited. Suspended high above Pywel are a scattering of Abyss Islands, accessed through portals that are unlocked with mysterious Abyss Artefacts. These islands appear to come in multiple guises; last year we saw that one of them is home to an alchemist called Alustin and his Library of Providence, and my hands-on session included one that was more akin to Zelda’s puzzle shrines. Its checkerboard floor was essentially a room-size circuit board in need of a total rewiring, and finding the correct path through the grid of rotating flagstones unlocks the island’s treasure trove. This is, of course, the sort of puzzle you’ve solved in everything from Watch Dogs to BioShock, but I enjoyed how your equipment is integral to completing it – your lantern illuminates the correct pathway, and your grapple hook is used to spin each tile. So while this challenge is not particularly taxing, I hope its solid foundations are the basis for more interesting puzzles that await among the clouds.
When you’ve uncovered an Abyss Island’s secrets, you can leap off the side and float down to earth, where plenty more traditional open-world fare awaits. There are towns to visit, in which you’ll find shop keepers to trade with and bounties to take on. Out in the wilderness there are camps to clear out and roaming barbarians to slaughter. And then there’s the factions. From what I glimpsed in the menus, there are dozens and dozens of them, although some will be more important than others, I’m told. A few have their own questline, such as House Wells, a family of nobles led by a Duke who’s lost his castle to rebel forces – a situation that’s the catalyst for one of those aforementioned fortress assaults.
Pearl Abyss was quick to clarify that these groups are not like Fallout’s factions, and allegiances with them won’t change the course of the story or impact Crimson Desert’s ending (which is set in stone.) And so I’m left wondering what are the faction quests in aid of? When asked, Pearl Abyss’ design team explained that they were there to ensure the factions felt like significant actors in the plot, and that they offered more content for players to complete. That considered, I am a little apprehensive that at least some of Crimson Desert’s offerings will be “stuff to do” rather than meaningful, interlinked opportunities.
That brings us back to my very first question. What is Crimson Desert as a whole? I know it’s a vast open world with deep, fighting-game inspired combat that works better against bosses than it does against fodder. It’s got spectacle-laden quests that take you from in-the-mud castle assaults all the way up to aerial strikes on a steampunk Death Star. And it’s littered with good time distractions, from fishing to taming bears and buckling up in a battle mech. But I’m still waiting to discover the glue between all this that elevates an open world to new heights.
Shadow of Mordor has the Nemesis system, which chains its enemies together into a foe-conquering big picture. Red Dead Redemption 2’s systems are united by a pursuit of realism and authenticity that makes its campaign feel like a life lived rather than a game played. And this year’s Ghost of Yotei links every activity on its map to a new unlock on your skill tree, ensuring even little diversions are a growth opportunity. That’s the stuff that’s so far been missing from Crimson Desert’s demonstrations, and the thing I hope will eventually be revealed when I get to play multiple consecutive hours, rather than a collection of isolated quests and bosses. Without it, I still think Crimson Desert stands a solid chance of being an overall good time. But with it, it could become something much more special.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Executive Editor of Features.
Co-operative starship mishap sim Jump Space just received the first major update of its early access phase, bringing both functional capitalism and a surprisingly enjoyable trio of melee weapons. The former takes the shape of newly opened item shops at your home base, giving you a chance to stock up on guns, repair kits, or artifact buffs before shipping out on a mission. And, having thwacked a few bots with the latter, I’m liking how worthy they are of a precious weapon slot, even in a game previously set up entirely for gunplay.
Two Point Museum is just about to launch on the Switch 2, and to celebrate, Sega has announced another new DLC expansion scheduled to launch this winter.
Dubbed ‘Zooseum’, it’s essentially, well… a zoo. It’s a brand new location that will no doubt introduce a smorgasbord of interesting creatures to care for as you look to expand your blossoming museum even further.
We talk with Design Director Matt Scronce and Senior Director of Production Yale Miller about the map design process Treyarch is employing for the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
Treyarch has crafted some of the most detailed and compelling Multiplayer maps the Call of Duty series has ever seen, following a three-lane map design philosophy that creates a natural flow for players to learn.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launches November 14, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox on PC, ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, Cloud, Battle.net, Steam, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4. It is an Xbox Play Anywhere title and available day one with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
Boxes are important.
That’s one of my favorite takeaways from talking with Design Director Matt Scronce and Senior Director of Production Yale Miller at Call of Duty: Next recently, where we had a chance to sit down and chat about the map design process Treyarch is employing for the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and how important a well-placed piece of cover (e.g., a trash can) can help bring balance to the overall flow of a map.
Over the years, Treyarch has crafted some of the most detailed and compelling Multiplayer maps the series has ever seen – who can forget Nuketown? Part of that is understanding how these maps feed into a “three-lane” design philosophy, in which two side lanes and a central lane connect the two team spawn locations, creating a natural flow for players to learn — Treyarch has refined this over the years and will continue to do so now with the upcoming Black Ops 7 Multiplayer.
“Every lane needs a purpose,” explains Scronce. “If this lane has a power position, for example, like a building, then you most likely want an opposing power position, likely another building. Toshin, one of the new maps set in Japan, is a very good example of that where you’ve got two power positions looking over the street — the street can get a little dicey, so you want to stay on the move there, but you also want your buddies watching over your flank straight ahead.”
As I touched upon earlier, cover placement is another big piece of a balanced lane, Scronce tells me. “If I don’t have cover, I’m just in the open. Whether it’s a trash can or a crate or a rock, if I can post-up at this piece of cover, then most likely you want the opposing player to have another piece of cover, so we can have kind of a proper head-on engagement.”
My experience on Toshin during the recent Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Multiplayer Beta confirmed much of what Scronce detailed. That city street between the buildings? In every match that landed on Toshin, I found it to be one of the biggest danger points where teams would mix it up, with each side being naturally driven to that point through alleyways, shops, and apartments. It’s clear a tremendous amount of work goes into crafting every one of these Multiplayer maps, taking chokepoints, lanes, and other considerations into account, and that it must be hard to know when to check a map off as “ready” to be deployed.
“It’s tough: because the team is so passionate about all the maps, they want to continue going forever,” says Miller. “That’s why things like the Beta are so crucial for us. It’s a lot of looking at how a team and the overall community plays on the map.”
To get it to a point where Treyarch feels a Multiplayer map is ready to be deployed, the team goes through a ton of playtesting in the studio, until it feels like they’ve created the best map possible for their players — in the sense that it feels fair, balanced, and the average player could learn the map and get better at it, and doesn’t feel like there’s any spot that’s exploitative in the sense of single power position where you can see the whole map.
“Another huge one is visibility,” adds Miller. “So much work goes into it because you have interiors, you have exteriors, you have lines of sight. If someone’s hiding in the back of a building, but there’s a doorway here and it’s looking down onto a lane, if you’re on the other side, can you see them? Does it make sense how you move through it? Then as you start to layer things like visuals, additional cover… you start seeing different sight lines. You’re smoothing something down and you look for those problem spaces – it’s like whittling wood and trying to get it as smooth as you possibly can. And if we’re playing a bunch and no one’s seeing a huge cut or a nick, to continue that analogy, then we feel like we’re in a pretty good spot.”
Call of Duty maps are well known for showcasing some truly great-looking maps (Hijacked and Carrier come to mind), but part of that “awesome” is also ensuring these maps have good visual landmarking as well. Not only should the map play well after a few turns, as a player you need to be able to figure out “Where the hell am I?” when you spawn in, so you know you’ll be able to call out where you’re at to your teammates so they can come help you.
“That’s why the Betas are so important to us,” says Miller. “Because there are things that we’re trying, but how’s the community reacting? There will be changes to maps post-Beta absolutely, there’s no question. The team’s already debating this stuff.”
“It’s a conversation between design and production,” adds Scronce. “If it’s up to design, they’re never done (making the map). I was talking to our level design director (during Call of Duty: Next) who was back at the offices watching the stream, and he was like, ‘Hey, we should address this…’ We’ve been known to make changes to maps that are already out in retail based off player feedback. If we have time and we feel like it will make the map better, we will try our hardest to make that change.”
One of the things that made Black Ops 6 Multiplayer stand out was introducing a new way for players to move through the maps with Omnimovement – a feature that allows you to sprint, slide, and dive in any direction with a full 360-degress range of motion. It was perhaps one of the biggest game changers to come to Multiplayer in years. New for Black Ops 7 will be wall jumps, which have given matches an even greater level of verticality and speed, in addition to a refined version of Omnimovement. When the crafting process starts, I wanted to know at which point do these new and distinct gameplay features play a role in how a map is built – is it from inception or later in the process?
“I think it can be both, but usually it’s from inception,” Scronce tell me. “Where a map like Blackheart, for example, which was in the Beta, that map has wall jumps that go over a grinder. So, for sure, new mechanics are considered. I think, when everything turns out the best is when everybody’s kind of aware and driving towards the same goal. But there are maps where you start playing them, and then you’re like, ‘Oh, it’d be really cool if I could do this…’ That might not be a wall jump opportunity, but perhaps a sneaky, clever opportunity. Maybe we’ll put a piece of plywood down to tell you that you can jump here, and the team will shape it a little bit more.”
“When we’re looking at stuff and talking about different maps, before they’re even starting paper design, it’s like, ‘What’s the intention of this map?’” adds Miller. “Do we want it to be a big map, but [have] the engagements be close? What are the goals? And some of it could be we want this to be a map where it’s about finding flank routes and moving constantly, versus a map where it’s about finding good cover, posting up, and kind of head-to-head battles.”
No player wants every map to play the same way, which circles back to how features like Omnimovement and wall jumps can feed into making each of these maps feel distinct, whether they are leaning into these new features or not. “You can kind of learn from that in the design. And then, of course, the community figures out other ways of being successful in maps… and we make changes,” Miller says.
Treyarch has confirmed they’ve already begun implementing key improvements and updates for launch (see Beta patch notes), thanks to some key takeaways from the recent Black Ops 7 Beta. One of those is having Open Matchmaking with minimal skill consideration as a default for Black Ops 7 Multiplayer (like the Open Moshpit approach tested during the Beta). They also confirmed they’re focused on keeping players together from match to match more often, and that persistent lobbies will be available at launch, with more details and confirmed changes to be shared in the coming weeks.
At the end of the day, Scronce tells me that making sure a map is competitive, fair, and fun are part of the ethos that the team drives to during their creations. “Whether you want to tune out and play Nuketown all day, or spend the night diving into Ranked, you should be walking away feeling that it was a fair fight, no matter which side you’re on.”
Now in the lead-up to the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Treyarch is taking all their collective experience over the years of crafting best-in-class Multiplayer experiences into the newest Call of Duty title. Knowing the team’s stellar track record, and what we’ve personally been able to play ourselves recently during the Beta, this year’s Multiplayer offering is shaping up to be one of the best. November 14 can’t get here soon enough.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launches November 14, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox on PC, ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, Cloud, Battle.net, Steam, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4. It is an Xbox Play Anywhere title and available day one with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
– Items for immediate use in Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty®: Warzone*:
— Reznov Challenge Pack – unlock the SOG Reznov Operator Skin. Plus, get access to unlock the Stalingrad Reznov and Memory Reznov Operator Skins
— Guild Override Weapon Camo – unlock the Guild Override dynamic Weapon Camo
The Vault Edition includes:
– Cross-Gen Bundle of Call of Duty®: Black Ops 7
— Includes Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Xbox PC versions of the game
– BlackCell (1 Season)**
— Includes: Battle Pass, 20 Tier Skips, 1,100 CP and more
– Operator Collection
— 4 Operator Skins: Harper, Karma, T.E.D.D. and Reaper EWR-3
– Mastercraft Collection
— 5 Mastercraft Weapons
– Ultra GobbleGum Pack for Zombies
— 8 GobbleGums of Ultra rarity for Black Ops 7
– Permanent Unlock Token for Black Ops 7 (available at launch)
In Call of Duty®: Black Ops 7, Treyarch and Raven Software are bringing players the most mind-bending Black Ops ever.
The year is 2035 and the world is on the brink of chaos, ravaged by violent conflict and psychological warfare. David Mason leads an elite team on a covert mission to the sprawling city of Avalon. While there, they discover a sophisticated plot that won’t just plunge the world into chaos, it will pull them into their own haunting pasts.
Squad up or go solo in an innovative Co-Op Campaign that redefines the Black Ops experience.
Multiplayer explodes out of the gate with 16 electrifying 6v6 maps and two 20v20 maps at launch. Master a cutting-edge arsenal and outmaneuver your enemies with an evolved Omnimovement system.
In Treyarch’s legendary Round-Based Zombies mode, the nightmare begins where reality ends. Trapped in the heart of the Dark Aether, the crew is thrust into a vast, ever-shifting hellscape.
Game requires a Game Pass Core subscription (sold separately).
TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot required for PC, other security measures may be enforced. Learn more at https://support.activision.com/tpm.
*Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6 or Call of Duty®: Warzone on Xbox Series X|S / Xbox One / Xbox PC required to redeem. Sold / downloaded separately. Must be redeemed by November 14th, 2026.
**BlackCell, Battle Pass, Call of Duty® Points and Tier Skips will be accessible in Black Ops 7 upon availability of the Season 1 Battle Pass in-game. Redemption applies to one Season of the Black Ops 7 Battle Pass only.
Content, features, services, online play, and support not available in all regions, and may vary, change, or terminate.
Requires an Activision account and acceptance of the Activision Software License and Services Agreement. A mobile phone number linked to your Activision account may be required to play Black Ops 7.
Additional storage space may be required for mandatory game updates.
For more information, please visit www.callofduty.com.
Upgrade to the Vault Edition and receive the following bonus content*:
– BlackCell (1 Season)**
— Includes: Battle Pass, 20 Tier Skips, 1,100 CP and more
– Operator Collection
— 4 Operator Skins: Harper, Karma, T.E.D.D. and Reaper EWR-3
– Mastercraft Collection
— 5 Mastercraft Weapons
– Ultra GobbleGum Pack for Zombies
— 8 GobbleGums of Ultra rarity for Black Ops 7
– Permanent Unlock Token for Black Ops 7 (available at launch)
*Requires existing ownership of the digital version of the Call of Duty®: Black Ops 7 – Cross-Gen Bundle on Xbox Series X|S / Xbox One / Xbox PC (sold separately), or active subscription to select Game Pass plans (Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass PC, or Game Pass Console).
**BlackCell, Battle Pass, Call of Duty® Points and Tier Skips will be accessible in Black Ops 7 upon availability of the Season 1 Battle Pass in-game. Redemption applies to one Season of the Black Ops 7 Battle Pass only.
For more information, please visit www.callofduty.com.
Pre-order any digital edition or subscribe to select Game Pass plans* and receive:
– Items for immediate use in Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty®: Warzone**:
— Reznov Challenge Pack – unlock the SOG Reznov Operator Skin. Plus, get access to unlock the Stalingrad Reznov and Memory Reznov Operator Skins
— Guild Override Weapon Camo – unlock the Guild Override dynamic Weapon Camo
Includes:
– Cross-Gen Bundle of Call of Duty®: Black Ops 7
— Includes Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Xbox PC versions of the game
In Call of Duty®: Black Ops 7, Treyarch and Raven Software are bringing players the most mind-bending Black Ops ever.
The year is 2035 and the world is on the brink of chaos, ravaged by violent conflict and psychological warfare. David Mason leads an elite JSOC team on a covert mission to the sprawling Mediterranean city of Avalon. While there, they discover a sophisticated plot that won’t just plunge the world into chaos, it will pull them into their own haunting pasts.
Squad up or go solo in an innovative Co-Op Campaign that redefines the Black Ops experience. Take on high-stakes challenges across a wide spectrum of environments, from the neon-lit rooftops of Japan to the Mediterranean coast, and even into the deepest corners of the human psyche.
Multiplayer explodes out of the gate with 16 electrifying 6v6 maps and two 20v20 maps at launch. From futuristic Tokyo vistas to the frozen, unforgiving wilds of Alaska, every environment is brimming with danger and opportunity. Master a cutting-edge arsenal and outmaneuver your enemies with an evolved Omnimovement system.
In Treyarch’s legendary Round-Based Zombies mode, the nightmare begins where reality ends. Trapped in the heart of the Dark Aether, the crew is thrust into a vast, ever-shifting hellscape. This isn’t just survival. It’s a descent into madness.
Game requires a Game Pass Core subscription (sold separately).
TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot required for PC, other security measures may be enforced. Learn more at https://support.activision.com/tpm.
*Requires active subscription to Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass PC, or Game Pass Console. Subscribers must login to Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6 or Call of Duty®: Warzone on Xbox Series X|S / Xbox One / Xbox PC by November 14, 2025 to redeem the Reznov Challenge Pack and Guild Override Weapon Camo.
**Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6 or Call of Duty®: Warzone on Xbox Series X|S / Xbox One / Xbox PC required to redeem. Sold / downloaded separately. Must be redeemed by November 14th, 2026.
Content, features, services, online play, and support not available in all regions, and may vary, change, or terminate.
Requires an Activision account and acceptance of the Activision Software License and Services Agreement. A mobile phone number linked to your Activision account may be required to play Black Ops 7.
Additional storage space may be required for mandatory game updates.
For more information, please visit www.callofduty.com.
The long-leaked Battlefield 6 battle royale experience will seemingly shadow-drop across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S soon, with a full gameplay reveal for Battlefield REDSEC now set to premiere tomorrow morning.
EA and Battlefield Studios (finally) confirmed plans to pull back the curtain on its new free-to-play Battlefield mode via social media today. A Battlefield REDSEC official gameplay trailer is now scheduled for premiere at 8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET tomorrow, October 28, with its description teasing a surprise launch. The news follows months of rumors and leaks, suggesting that Battlefield 6 battle royale was nearly here.
Eyes up. Plates on.#REDSEC arrives tomorrow at 8:00 PT / 15:00 UTC 🔴
Those who have enjoyed Battlefield 6 since it first landed for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S October 10 expected to hear news of a proper, complimentary battle royale experience when Season 1 was properly unveiled last week. As first details of EA and BF Studios’ latest came and went, however, there was no sign of what many had expected to be a substantial new game mode to drop into.
It was strange, especially as hints of a Battlefield 6 battle royale game mode began to leak as early as July 2025. The popular, last-squad-standing experience is nothing new for the franchise and remains popular among shooter fans, so with Battlefield promising a return to its roots with destructible environments and gritty gameplay, another stab at battle royale felt like a no-brainer at the time. Community manager Kevin Johnson then confirmed BF Studios had indeed begun work on such a mode in August, adding that only those involved in the Battlefield 6 closed test program, Battlefield Labs, would get to play at first.
Official updates have been quiet since, but that didn’t stop Labs testers from drumming up hype. Battlefield battle royale gameplay snuck its way online in September, confirming that things like swimming, combat, and destruction had been translated over to this new experience. Just as quickly as EA stamped out leaks, more soon popped up on social media.
Even with so little in terms of official word from the developers, a Battlefield 6 battle royale shadow-drop seems all but confirmed for tomorrow morning. Labs leaks date back months ago, so there’s no telling what content made it into the Battlefield REDSEC launch build.
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).
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