For years Grand Theft Auto fans have wondered whether Rockstar might take the franchise out of its traditional America setting into cities in other countries. But according to one former developer, that’s never going to happen — and fans just need to accept it.
In an interview with Gameshub, former Rockstar Games technical director Obbe Vermeij, who worked at the company from 1995 to 2009, said there were “ideas” about post-Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City GTA games set in Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, and Istanbul, but it was GTA: Tokyo that “almost actually happened.”
According to Vermeij, who left Rockstar just after finishing GTA 4, another studio in Japan was going to take Rockstar’s code and develop GTA: Tokyo (Vermeij didn’t say which studio). “But then that didn’t happen in the end.”
Why? It sounds like Rockstar came to the realization that American cities are the natural and best setting for GTA, and given it takes so long to release new games in the series, going international is too big of a risk.
“People love having these wild ideas but then when you’ve got billions of dollars riding on it it’s too easy to go let’s do what we know again, and also America is basically the epicenter of Western culture, so everybody knows the cities, even people who haven’t been there,” Vermeij said. “They have a mental image of the cities.
“I think it’s unlikely it’s going to be in Bogota next time, especially since there’s just more and more money involved as the project gets bigger. It doesn’t make sense to set it in some left-field location for novelty. GTA: Toronto? It just wouldn’t work.”
GTA 6 is of course set to return to Vice City, the GTA series’ fictionalized take on Miami, Florida. But then what? Will Rockstar ever take GTA international and set it across mainland Europe or in London?
“It’s just not realistic,” Vermeij countered. “I would love it, and if games still took a year to make then yeah sure, you can have a little fun, but you’re not going to get that when there’s a GTA every 12 years.
“You’re not going to set it in a new location. You don’t really need to either because the technology changes so much. Nobody is going to say that they’re not going to play GTA 6 because they’ve already played Vice City. That doesn’t make sense. It’s completely different.
“They’ll revisit New York again. They’ll go back to LA or maybe Las Vegas. I’m afraid we’re stuck in this loop of about five American cities. Let’s just get used to it.”
Speaking on the Lex Fridman podcast, Houser said that — GTA London apart — Grand Theft Auto remained firmly rooted in the United States because it leans so heavily on Americana.
“We made a little thing in London 26 years ago — GTA London — for the top-down for PS1. That was pretty cute and fun, as the first mission pack ever for PlayStation 1. I think for a full GTA game, we always decided there was so much Americana inherent in the IP, it would be really hard to make it work in London or anywhere else.
“You know, you needed guns, you needed these larger-than-life characters. It just felt like the game was so much about America, possibly from an outsider’s perspective. But that was so much about what the thing was that it wouldn’t really have worked in the same way elsewhere.”
Indeed, such is GTA’s relationship with America, built up over the course of its many video games, that a University of Tennessee history professor will teach a GTA college history class early in 2026. Professor Tore Olsson recently told IGN: “Video games are great at conjuring fictional worlds, but they also impact players’ thinking about real-world times and places. And just as Red Dead Redemption 2 has shaped folks’ perception of the nineteenth-century American West or Ghost of Tsushima has informed their vision of feudal Japan, millions of people around the globe imagine contemporary America through the lens of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Just think of how many GTA veterans have recognized landmarks in Los Angeles and New York thanks to their hours in Los Santos and Liberty City!”
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.
CD Projekt has said huge discounts on Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition displayed on the Nintendo Switch 2 eShop this week were a mistake, but it will honor any sales made at the discounted prices.
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition for Nintendo Switch 2 went on sale with a whopping 75% off in the U.S. earlier this week, making the normally $69.99 game just $17.49. Making this deal all the more eye-catching is the fact the Ultimate Edition includes the DLC expansion Phantom Liberty. This DLC normally costs around $30 (or around $21 with a discount), which meant the base game plus the DLC was cheaper than the DLC itself if you bought it with the discount. As you’d expect, plenty of people bought the game at that price. “I couldn’t believe it lmfao,” one fan said. “I bought as soon as I saw the price. I had been waiting for it to go on sale but was amazed at the discount.” Said another: “I was on the fence for a few hours, and would have skipped it if it was $20. So they got money out of people like me who weren’t super interested. Bought it on PC years ago and barely started it. Hoping the switch 2 edition/cross save gets me to finish the game.”
Now, CD Projekt has corrected the discount so Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition costs $39.99 (a 42% discount). The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition, meanwhile, now costs $14.99 with a 75% discount properly applied.
CD Projekt issued the following statement on social media:
The discounts for Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition displayed on Nintendo Switch 2 eShop in the Americas on December 22, 2025 were incorrect.
The situation is a result of an error we made when submitting the discount. We have corrected the error and new discounts have now been applied.
Purchases made at the previous discount rate are unaffected by this change.
As you’d expect, CD Projekt’s statement is going down well with fans of the company and its games, and in particular with those who jumped on the discount error before it was corrected. “At that price it’s basically a no-brainer impulse buy. Props to CDPR for honoring it though, lot of companies would’ve just cancelled the orders and blamed a ‘system error.’ Makes me want to support them more,” said one fan.
If you’re jumping into Cyberpunk 2077 for the first time this Christmas, check out our huge guide. Similarly, if you’re getting to grips with The Witcher 3, we’ve got a sweeping guide to help.
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.
It’s no stretch to say I wouldn’t possess the privilege of having this job without Vince Zampella. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare changed the way I played games, interacted with them as part of a community, and made me think deeper about level and mission design than I had up to that point in my life. I was fifteen upon its release in 2007, and, although I had enjoyed playing games throughout my childhood up until then, nothing had a stranglehold on me quite like the rhythmic nature of the original Modern Warfare’s multiplayer. For hours on end, I’d run around the tight hallways of Vacant’s disused office block with a shotgun or sit cowardly waiting at one end of Crossfire, hoping someone ran across my sniper-scoped view. You see, I had also been firmly rooted in single-player until now, growing up on a mixture of point and click adventures and Grand Theft Auto (at far too early an age), but it was COD 4 that opened my eyes to this whole other side of gaming that I have grown to love in the years since. Thousands of hours of my life have now been lost to Call of Duty, Rainbow Six Siege, and Overwatch, and I have Vince Zampella to thank for that.
Of course, no one man makes a game of the scale of Call of Duty by themselves, but there’s no denying the impact that Zampella had on that particular series and the shooter genre in general over the past two decades. Long before Modern Warfare, unbeknownst to me, he had been shaping my video game tastes for years. A lead designer of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, he helmed EA’s signature WW2 shooter at a time when cinematic aspirations were a relatively new idea in the medium. Taking cues from Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, I’ll never forget the first time I played through its phenomenal Normandy landing sequence on Omaha Beach and how it evokes the terror of that scenario to full effect.
That philosophy would then be translated to the series with which Zampella will always be synonymous: Call of Duty (which, in Zampella’s own hilariously blunt words, only exists because “EA were dicks”). Its early entries were fantastic, with 2 being a particular favourite of mine back in 2005. I’d always had a fascination with this period in time, with my dad subjecting me to many, many WW2 films as a child — The Great Escape, The Longest Day, The Dambusters, A Bridge Too Far. I’d sit down in front of all of them on a Sunday afternoon (at, again, likely far too young an age), so it was only natural that once I reached my teens, I’d want to experience these battles and behind-enemy-lines missions for myself.
I’ll admit, then, that I was sceptical about Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in the run-up to its release. I’m someone who is naturally wary of change, and I was hesitant to trade in my trusty M1 Garand for an M16. I couldn’t have been more wrong, though, as it would almost instantly become my favourite shooter campaign I’ve ever played — with Titanfall 2, a later Zampella project, the only one to run it close. The way it took those movie-like aspirations into the present day was stunning, turning its lens from the likes of those films my father showed me to discoveries of my own, such as Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down and Body of Lies. The way it placed you in the action was unlike anything I’d played up until then, with the exhilarating opening to Crew Expendable and the explosive crescendo of Shock and Awe just two of its many highlights.
And then, of course, there’s All Ghillied Up, which turns each of the campaign’s ideas on its head at its halfway point, in what is still to this day one of video gaming’s most iconic levels. It’s no hyperbole to say that this is one of the missions that opened my eyes to what goes into video game design and what is possible when ideas are taken out of the box and given the freedom to be built upon. It’s such a delicate, balanced piece of work that runs like clockwork, even when you try to mess with its systems, that I couldn’t help but think about how it was constructed. The stealthy crawl for a haunting Pripyat is a masterclass in level design, and credit has to go to Zampella, who was Studio Head at developer Infinity Ward at the time, for encouraging and incubating such creativity.
Modern Warfare’s campaign is a landmark in its own right (among many other achievements, it’s also got one of the most memorable blockbuster sequences in gaming history), but when you also add to it, perhaps the most revolutionary multiplayer shooter pre-Fortnite, a package that would set the stage for a series to take over the world, is born. Call of Duty 4’s multiplayer is the first time I can remember engaging with video games online to a great extent. For my sins, I didn’t own an Xbox at the time, so I was late to the Halo party. Instead, Modern Warfare was my gateway into this world, as I began to hoover up anything I could to get better at the game, and watch clips at a skill level I knew in my heart I could never reach. I’d look up meta builds, which felt like a novelty at the time, and engage with wikis and guides on sites like IGN at a time when I had zero aspirations of one day being someone who would pen words there myself. The simple but effective loop of Modern Warfare’s multiplayer opened my eyes to all of this, with its moreish loop of levelling up guns and unlocking attachments, only to prestige and do it all over again, filling most of my after-school evenings. I simply could not stop playing, and didn’t want to, either.
Zampella’s influence on me would ring on long after his time on Call of Duty was done, though. After forming Respawn, his work on Titanfall saw its 2016 sequel reach, and some would argue maybe even eclipse, the heights of Modern Warfare’s campaign. The fluidity of its movement, the destructive joy of piloting its many mechs, and, of course, the level design of the likes of Effect and Cause and Into the Abyss are all-timers when it comes to single-player shooters. From that universe, Apex Legends would form. Still, my battle royale of choice captures that Titanfall mobility and combines it with a punchiness to its arsenal of weapons that few can match. And then there’s Star Wars. 2023’s Jedi: Survivor is one of my favourite games to come out in recent years, and fulfilled the promise of its original to fantastic effect, making me feel like I was playing a new Star Wars film, much like the original trilogy my dad also used to show me as a kid in between those WW2 epics. Incidentally, I had been floating the idea of replaying Survivor around in my head over the Christmas break. I now know, I definitely will be.
As I said earlier, no one person makes a game of the scale Vince Zampella would be a part of creating by themselves. But there is just no denying the impact that the legendary Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Titanfall, and Star Wars Jedi developer had on video games in the 21st century. Not only a pioneer when it comes to first-person shooters, but his drive to consistently create cinematic experiences is one that has permeated through the medium for decades now. On a personal level, I’m incredibly grateful. Not only because many of these games have been some of my favourites to play throughout my life, but because if it wasn’t for how much more engaged they made me in them, I likely wouldn’t be lucky enough to enjoy writing about them for a living. To Vince, I say thank you. I may never have got to meet you, but I have loved playing the games you helped create greatly, as I know so many millions of others have too.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
007 First light is delayed two months for “further polish,” developer and publisher IO Interactive has announced.
The James Bond adventure video game was due out March 27, 2026, but will now release on May 27, 2026. In a statement published online, IOI said the delay would ensure it was able to deliver “the strongest possible version at launch.”
It’s worth noting that 007 First Light’s new release date is just a day after Grand Theft Auto 6 was due to be released before its latest delay to November 19, 2026. Essentially, IOI has snapped up the release slot left vacant by Rockstar’s behemoth.
007 First Light was thought to have benefited from the GTA 6 delay, coming out at the time just two months before GTA 6’s prior release date. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz from last month, IOI CEO Hakan Abrak was asked about GTA 6 kindly getting out of 007’s way.
“It would be a lie not to say that obviously spring looks really good,” he replied. “I want to say in the same breath that GTA 6 is a welcome thing for the industry. I do believe a lot of gamers who maybe haven’t played for a while will get into things again, and generally for the industry as a whole, I think that will be amazing.”
Clearly, GTA 6’s delay has given IOI even more room to breathe, and it’s snapped that extra time up to give 007 First Light the best chance possible of having a strong launch.
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.
Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games has told fans that the Mark Hamill-fronted single-player space adventure Squadron 42 is still on track for a 2026 release date — and not to expect “a long, drawn-out marketing campaign” beforehand.
Founder and CEO Chris Roberts wrote in a blog post that CIG is focusing on quality and polish as it moves toward an internal beta milestone and, eventually, a full release for Squadron 42 at some point next year.
“We’re confident in the direction the game is headed and are fully focused on delivering,” Roberts said. “We know many of you are eager to play, and we’re looking forward to putting it in your hands. We don’t plan on a long, drawn-out marketing campaign as we’ve already done our share of trailers and gameplay previews. When it’s time, you (and the rest of the gaming world) will hear a lot more from us.”
All chapters are said to be fully playable from beginning to end, and “we’ve been playing through the game ourselves regularly,” Roberts added. “Squadron 42 is a large game, over 40 hours in length, and it’s becoming increasingly clear how special it will be once the remaining polish, optimization, and bug fixing is complete.”
He continued: “a big part of what makes this possible is the technology we’ve built at CIG over many years. The ability to move seamlessly from on foot, into a vehicle you can fly and move around inside, down to a planet or across star systems, all without loading screens, creates a level of immersion that’s very difficult to replicate. That combination of close-up interaction and galactic scale is at the core of what will make Squadron 42 so unique.
“Equally important is the quality of the content itself. From writing and performance capture to characters, environments, ships, lighting, sound, cinematics, and design, the level of care across the entire game is something I’m incredibly proud of. Combined with deeply interactive systems, it creates an experience that pulls you into the world and keeps you there.”
Roberts, known for creating the Wing Commander series also starring Mark Hamill, showed off a Squadron 42 demo back in 2024. It was heavy on flashy cutscenes, with CGI representations of Hollywood stars such as Gillian Anderson, Henry Cavill, Gary Oldman, and Mark Strong mixed with on-rails turret action in a huge space battle. The demo ended with a first-person shooter segment as the alien enemy boarded the player’s ship.
As for Star Citizen itself, Roberts described 2025 as “the Year of Playability” for the space sim.
“It was a year when more people played than ever before and spent more time in the ’verse than at any point in our history,” he said. “That momentum did not happen by chance. It came from a focused effort to improve quality of life, performance, and reliability, and to make the gameplay experience more engaging and rewarding to return to.”
Star Citizen is reportedly set for a full release sometime in 2027 or 2028, or as Roberts has put it, one or two years after the release of Squadron 42. No firm release window was offered in his latest blog post, but he did say next year will see the developer “continue improving stability and depth in Star Citizen while expanding and connecting core systems that shape how you play, from Engineering to Inventory, Crafting, Social Tools, and other foundational features, alongside expanding the playable universe itself.”
Star Citizen is considered one of the most controversial projects in all video games. Over the 13 years since its crowdfunding drive began, Star Citizen has been called many things including a scam by those who wonder whether it will ever properly launch. Its virtual space ships, some of which cost hundreds of dollars, are often the focus of criticism. Roberts is said to have confirmed he’s raised just over $1 billion for Star Citizen from players so far.
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.
Yes, GTA 6 may still be a while away, but that gives us plenty of time to go back and replay all of those Rockstar games we’ve loved from the past, or even check out some that we may have missed. But which parts of the famed Grand Theft Auto developers’ library should you prioritise first?
Well, we’ve gone ahead and ranked our favourite Rockstar games. From school-yard antics to tragic tales on the American frontier, here are the 10 best Rockstar games.
10. Manhunt
For a studio that’s no stranger to causing controversy due to the contents of its games, arguably none of Rockstar’s negative press surrounding GTA has come close to the furore that followed Manhunt. A stealth-action horror game in which you play as a death row inmate forced into partaking in a series of snuff films for the disembodied voice of a pre-Succession Brian Cox, it maybe shouldn’t have been a surprise that it garnered horrified reactions from the mainstream media, resulting in it being banned in several countries.
But the controversy only tells half of the story, because Manhunt is a good game, and a singular one in Rockstar’s library (although we don’t talk about its inferior sequel). A disturbing satire of the USA’s fascination with violence, it’s undeniably gnarly, but smartly psychological in its approach. Linear hallways create a very specific kind of tension that so many of the studio’s other works simply can’t due to their open-world nature. The result is tight, focused, and brutal action that works to horrifying effect. Well over 20 years old now, Manhunt has stuck long in the memory… although maybe that’s mostly due to how its stark box art staring out from store shelves scared the absolute crap out of me as a child.
9. GTA 3
Very few games have charted the future of game development quite like Grand Theft Auto 3. The open world of Liberty City plays host to a twisting story of gang warfare, drug running, and betrayal in the series’ first 3D entry. To say it broke new ground is an understatement, and the additional dimension and shift to a street-level camera is only the start of it. The PlayStation 2 had seen nothing of the like in terms of an immersive city sandbox full of opportunity. Its bounty of side missions and minigames blended with a main story that allowed for Rockstar to flex its storytelling chops like never before, telling the tale of Claude’s search for the truth through a cinematic lens and an all-star cast to match the story’s mob movie-inspired ambition (The Sopranos alumni Frank Vincent and Joe Pantoliano included).
GTA 3’s slice of fictional New York may seem like a small map to wander around in these days, but gradually unlocking its three islands, each with its own East Coast flavouring, felt like a miracle at the time. Yes, the repetitive, simplistic mission design and less-than-desirable vehicle handling may not have aged anything close to gracefully since its 2001 launch, but an engaging story and compelling (if archetypal) characters are still there to be seen. It’s still worth playing today to see where the roots of what GTA (and a dozen other open-world games) sprouted from.
8. Bully
Bully has often been described as “GTA, but in a school”, and to an extent, that’s exactly what it is. By substituting shotguns for slingshots and muscle cars for go-karts, it hits the right spot for anyone looking to wreak havoc at a private New England boarding school instead of running drugs across a fictional Miami or Los Angeles. The source of that havoc is Jimmy Hopkins, a troubled 15-year-old with a history of educational expulsions. Tasked with navigating a year at Bullworth Academy, a variety of classroom minigames, various clique quests, and hallway politics all serve to tell Bully’s story – one full of teenage charm and typical Rockstar social commentary.
Skating or cycling around the academy and its suburban surroundings is a delight, with memorable landmarks like a colourful funfair or the looming Happy Volts Asylum filling a sizable map that changes mood with the seasons as the story unfolds. This world is the result of Rockstar adapting the GTA formula for an unfamiliar, unconventional setting – look a little closer, and you’ll see well-worn mechanics twisted to fit school life (for example, attending lessons late risks the fury of teachers and prefects, which is Bully’s version of the Wanted system).
Bully is admittedly a little janky to play today, thanks to a less-than-robust camera and over-reliance on quicktime events, but it’s still a very fun time. And maybe if we’re really lucky, when Rockstar is done with GTA 6, we’ll get that sequel we’ve all wanted for almost 20 years now.
7. GTA 4
There’s a strong argument for Niko Bellic being the strongest of all the GTA protagonists – something I’d likely agree with. Whether all of GTA 4 stands as tall around him is up for further debate. 2008’s return to Liberty City took on the surprisingly bleak issues of the American Dream and what it means to be an immigrant in the modern Western world. It’s a story that delivers for the most part, providing a surprising amount of mature depth for a studio whose tales have historically been approached from a more pulpy angle. The city itself was a revelation for the time, packing a varied amount of detailed sights and sounds, even if in hindsight its visuals replicate the brown-grey blur that so many games from the Xbox 360 era suffer from.
It’s in objective design and general gameplay that GTA 4 is let down, though, which, for the most part, is a lot of driving people from A to B and assassinating single targets. Well, aside from the fantastic Three Leaf Clover bank heist mission, that is, which would go on to inspire the central hook of GTA 5. There’s no denying the longevity of Niko as a character, though, and the very real, grounded struggles he battles throughout his story. We certainly understand why he’d really rather go bowling with his cousin…
6. GTA Vice City
There are few video game locations as iconic as Vice City. Its neon-drenched roads, soundtracked by an all-timer collection of ‘80s hits, served as the setting for many people’s core memories of the PS2. Rockstar’s time-traveling trip back to the 1980s is anchored by protagonist Tommy Vercetti, played fantastically by Goodfellas’ Ray Liotta. Released only a year after the game-changing GTA 3, it’s remarkable how much of a step up Vice City achieved in just 12 months, not just in its star-studded cast and characterful storytelling, but also in the way its design injected life into every corner of its proxy Miami.
An engaging story filled with Scarface parallels brought with it a new sense of excess, which lent a blockbuster style to a series that was, in many ways, still finding its feet. Those early days are evident in the relatively shonky controls and dated mission design – during the campaign’s twilight hours, your attempts to wrestle control of businesses and balance money-making plates across the city don’t quite support the more ballistic ambition of the story. That doesn’t take away from Vice City’s overall charm, though; it remains a landmark piece of Rockstar history. And we can’t wait to go back to those beaches and clubs next year in GTA 6.
5. Max Payne 3
Rockstar decided to take Max Payne in-house for its third entry, having published the first two Remedy-developed games. Perhaps unsurprisingly, leaving Max’s Finnish creatives behind resulted in an entirely different tone, but one that is equally as thrilling. Gone are the pulpy comic book panels, melodramatic monologues, and moonlit greys of neo-noir New York, replaced by sensory overload thanks to blinding sunlight, dancefloor bullet ballets, and a now-synonymous soundtrack composed by Health. Building on the bullet-time foundations that propelled the series to success in a post-Matrix world, Max Payne 3 transports the tortured ex-NYPD officer to Brazil in the midst of a gritty gang war that leads to a larger conspiracy that’s bleaker than anything Sam Lake would have cooked up.
The decision to target societal ills reflects the difference between Rockstar and Remedy as developers – the former is always willing to take swipes at nations and their ingrained domestic problems, whereas the latter looks inwards for more cerebral tales of individual struggle. Both are valid, and both work in the world of Max Payne, which means all three entries are fantastic in their own way. They all share one thing in common, however: that unrivalled power trip of triggering that bullet time, leaping backwards through the air, and raining dual Uzi fire down on anyone standing in your way. Delicious.
4. GTA San Andreas
If the jump between GTA 3 and Vice City was big, then the chasm between Vice City and San Andreas requires industrial machinery to measure. In just two years, Rockstar had taken all of its previous Grand Theft Auto learnings, plus several huge swings, and blended them all together to concoct its first version of California. This vast (at least by PS2 standards) state is home to multiple cities that steadily unlock as you progress through its story. The road trip between them conveys a great sense of scale, as does the incredibly varied mission design and extensive cast of characters you meet during your tenures in each metropolis.
It isn’t just the sheer size that’s impressive, but also the gambles Rockstar took when it came to gameplay. San Andreas features elements pilfered from the RPG and life-sim genres, allowing you to sculpt your character and customise their appearance, adjusting their physique depending on how many weights you lift or Cluckin’ Bell buckets you feast on.
And then, of course, there’s CJ himself, a protagonist who lives on beyond the meme that follows him like a shadow. Authentically brought to life by rapper Young Maylay, his story is one of redemption and survival that pits him against some of the series’ most memorable adversaries, chief among them being Samuel L. Jackson’s despicable Officer Tenpenny. It all comes together to make one of Rockstar’s greatest games, and the best GTA of the PS2 era.
3. Red Dead Redemption
Rockstar had been displaying cinematic ambitions for many years before Red Dead Redemption’s arrival in 2010, so it was only natural that it would one day tackle one of the most fundamentally filmic of genres: the western. Taking heavy influence from the likes of The Wild Bunch, Red Dead’s cross-continent tale of an outlaw coming to terms with being the last of his kind takes fan-favourite John Marston to Mexico and back as he hunts down his former mentor, Dutch Van Der Linde. It’s a more rural setting than we’d previously come to expect from a Rockstar open-world, allowing for those cinematic flourishes to take hold and present an impressive artistic achievement. Bustling city streets made way for dusty canyons, and a stunning Woody Jackson score filled the space once dominated by constant radio chatter.
Red Dead Redemption’s slower pace allows for the story to play out elegantly, with Marston’s near-invisible foe hanging menacingly in the background, patiently awaiting their memorable snow-covered face-off. Then there’s the ending, which I’d never spoil here for those who’ve never had a chance to witness it, but safe to say it’s lived long in the memory as one of video games’ most impactful finales in the 15 years since.
The road to that point is paved by some admittedly fairly routine mission design and a lot of horse riding, but there’s still enough personality in its dead-eye shooting system and endlessly fun minigames (liar’s dice, here’s looking at you) to allow for Red Dead Redemption to age very gracefully. It lives on as one of Rockstar’s three finest achievements.
2. GTA 5
Grand Theft Auto 5 is a blockbuster in every sense of the word. Not just because of the colossal number of copies it’s sold, nor the amount of money it cost to make, but because of every aspect of its design. It wears excess proudly on its sleeve, reflected in the drive for money displayed by each of its three protagonists. This greed – itself Rockstar’s clearest criticism of capitalism and the obnoxious characters it produces – comes to a head in GTA 5’s signature heist missions, each a series of audacious action set pieces battling to upstage one another. These campaign highpoints blend in seamlessly with a Los Santos map bustling with life and teeming with charm – Rockstar’s signature humour oozes out of every sight and sound, from street corner billboards to radio station ramblings.
This sandbox has kept fans entertained ever since its construction in 2013, and thanks to the addition of GTA Online, it has expanded and improved consistently to this day. It’s created a whole new ecosystem for players to live in, take on increasingly complex heists, and even build race tracks that stretch and loop into the sky. It truly is its own ridiculous beast. But while it may be that expansive multiplayer mode that led to GTA 5’s enormous success, it’s Michael, Franklin, and Trevor’s story that has proven to have the most staying power, at least for us. It’s the best that a Grand Theft Auto campaign has ever been, and that has us excited to see how Rockstar will try to top it with GTA 6.
1. Red Dead Redemption 2
The culmination of all Rockstar’s work to date, Red Dead Redemption 2 took living, breathing video game worlds to the next level when it was released in 2018. The level of detail in its sprawling frontier is extraordinary, with every creature, both animal and human, reacting authentically to your every movement. This makes each interaction with these digital personalities feel astonishingly lifelike. This expertly crafted, turn-of-the-century western America is the stage for a whole host of memorable characters, both quirky and dangerous, but none stick in the mind as firmly as protagonist Arthur Morgan.
His journey represents the peak of Rockstar storytelling, displaying a level of complexity and nuance simply not present in any of the studio’s other games. The Van Der Linde gang’s trials and tribulations lead to a memorable set of dangerous missions thanks to the increasing desperation of its leader, Dutch. It’s a tale laden with standout chapters – a turf war between the Gray and Braithwaite families leads up to a manor house siege, a blockbuster bank heist in the major city of Saint Denis leads to an unexpected sojourn to the island of Guarma, and tensions between the native Wapiti Indians and American Army lead to flame-soaked shootouts. It would be hard to pick a single favourite from that list. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a vast, epic tapestry steeped in cinematic style, and the best game Rockstar has given us yet.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
Arc Raiders is a multiplayer extraction adventure in which players scavenge the remnants of a devastated world. The main threat is Arc’s machines and, as developer Embark Studios puts it, “the unpredictable choices of fellow survivors.” But one Arc Raiders player, hell bent on killing relative newcomers, casuals, and those who have next to no loot or even none at all, has gone viral for killing others for sport — sparking a debate about what is and isn’t acceptable PvP behavior in the process.
Let’s start with a brief primer on how Arc Raiders works. You can play solo or in parties up to three, working as a team to progress through the game. However, other players are a constant threat, and while Arc Raiders’ explosive launch has seen a number of wholesome, viral clips of players coming together to help each other out, some players just want to watch the world burn.
Taylor “THump” Humphries, a retired American professional H1Z1 and Apex Legends player, who has taken it upon themselves to hunt down teams of players and kill them for, well, sport. In a clip viewed 4.8 million times so far on Twitter / X, THump kills a group of players, one of whom pleads: “we just started. I have nothing.” THump is then called “scum” and “a piece of s**t.” THump responds to say: “yeah, I killed every single one of you by the way.” He then laughs.
THump‘s post reads: “I love killing grown men that have jobs and children as they are trying to get 5 million credits for the expedition. Killing all teamers in solos, live now.”
I love killing grown men that have jobs and children as they are trying to get 5 million credits for the expedition. Killing all teamers in solos, live now.https://t.co/hiY3uPb3e7pic.twitter.com/ncHTgNMT1x
The post sparked a strong reaction from a large group of players, some of whom hit out at THump‘s actions, some of whom backed him up. “I come from a place where PvP is not optional,” THump said. “It’s a way of life. You want optional PvP go play WoW.” Then: “couldn’t imagine spending my Friday night getting mad at a random streamer on the internet enough to comment under his tweet because he killed people in a PvP game.”
“Another toxic streamer,” one critic posted. “You should try helping them instead, it might make you feel good about yourself for a change.” Another said THump was demonstrating “psychotic behavior.”
“I think there’s something uniquely anti-social about people whose only enjoyment in games is ruining the fun of nice and friendly people,” said X / Twitter user Mizutamari. “There was always a difference between people who trolled guys that were yelling slurs or slamming keyboards and people who only trolled guys that were friendly and seemed to try and keep a happy disposition.”
In the months since Arc Raiders’ release, a sort of PvP etiquette has emerged. If you encounter another player and have no intention to PvP, call out that you’re friendly. It’s considered not cool to say friendly and act friendly then shoot, but of course that does happen. In Arc Raiders, PvP is always on.
In truth, this griefing debate has been around for as long as competitive multiplayer games have existed, but Arc Raiders has certainly brought it back to the forefront. Who cares if you pretend to be friendly then shoot to kill? It’s a video game, right? “Your fellow human who trusted you cares,” suggested redditor ilmk9396.
“It’s a video game. You don’t die in real life when your character dies,” countered MachinationMachine.
“There’s a real person on the other end spending real time and effort playing the game and they trust you not to steal that from them after you say you’re friendly,” responded ilmk9396. “They let their guard down and then you take advantage of that like a coward. Be a man and shoot on sight if you want the loot.”
Then, from MachinationMachine: “it’s a competitive PvP videogame where you role-play as a ruthless post-apocalyptic raider. How is being honorable good role-playing?”
And so on, and so forth. But isn’t this exactly what Embark Studios had hoped would emerge from Arc Raiders? “In the end, only you decide what kind of Raider you are — and how far you’ll go to prevail,” reads the official blurb. Here, the developer is essentially handing over Arc Raiders to its community. Do what you feel is right, basically. The game is designed for tension. But is it designed for relentless PvP?
“The game is designed for you to work together, as there’s typically enough loot in the environment to go around so that everyone can rise up and you can have a good time together, with the occasional PvP,” iNteg suggested. “The second lobbies only become about PvP you lose most of your playerbase who wants to enjoy the other aspects of the game and not just PvP. Going in with a mindset that it’s only about PvP takes the charm and fun out of the game completely and also ruins the experience, you lose any sort of potential magic that could have happened because oop, see person must rat and gun them down without an interaction.”
This one isn’t going anywhere, and neither is THump. Undeterred by any potential backlash, he has doubled down on his playstyle, posting a similar clip with the comment: “love loading up Arc Raiders on Saturday night to show the blue-collar workforce of America what a real professional gamer looks like.”
Love loading up Arc Raiders on Saturday night to show the blue-collar workforce of America what a real professional gamer looks like. Live now with more skillhttps://t.co/hiY3uPb3e7pic.twitter.com/gw4UQDCTqI
And alongside another more recent clip, he posted: “Logging in with a full inventory of trigger nades and killing everyone trying to get re-looted after the expedition is a joy.”
Logging in with a full inventory of trigger nades and killing everyone trying to get re-looted after the expedition is a joy. Trigger nades do NOT need a nerf! Livehttps://t.co/hiY3uPb3e7pic.twitter.com/DuaFRCGlUi
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.
Vince Zampella, best known as the co-creator of the Call of Duty franchise and co-founder of Infinity Ward who went on to co-found Titanfall, Apex Legends, and Star Wars Jedi developer Respawn Entertainment, died in a single-car accident in Los Angeles on Sunday, NBC Los Angeles reports.
According to the NBC report, “The single-car crash was reported at about 12:45 p.m. on the scenic road north of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains. The southbound car veered off the road, hit a concrete barrier and a passenger was ejected, the California Highway Patrol said. The driver was trapped in the ensuing car fire, the CHP said. The driver died at the scene and the passenger died at a hospital, authorities told NBC4 Investigates.”
No further details about the accident or what might have caused it are available as of yet.
Zampella was an incredibly talented game developer who changed the industry with Call of Duty, a franchise he co-created with Jason West in 2003 at Infinity Ward, the studio he co-founded with West, after previously serving as the lead designer for EA’s Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. Zampella was at the center of a high-profile lawsuit against Activision that alleged that the publisher owed Zampella and the Infinity Ward team millions of dollars in unpaid Call of Duty royalties. The bitter professional divorce led to Zampella and West taking a substantial number of the Infinity Ward team with them to EA, where they co-founded Respawn Entertainment, a studio that has produced nothing but critically acclaimed hits: Titanfall (IGN review), Titanfall 2 (IGN review), Apex Legends (IGN review), Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (IGN review), and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (IGN review).
Respawn’s success under Zampella led to him getting promotedtwice, eventually overseeing the Battlefield franchise within his role as Group General Manager at EA.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
Nintendo has signaled the end of production of the eye-catching Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle, six months after the console launched.
In April, when Nintendo confirmed that the Switch 2 would cost $449.99 and Mario Kart World would cost $80, it announced a bundle that combined the two for $499.99, effectively making the launch title $30 cheaper than its standalone price.
As you’d expect, this bundle proved a popular option among early adopters, and helped fuel not only very strong sales of Mario Kart World, but the Switch 2 itself.
Production of that bundle has now come to an end, however. Over the weekend, U.S. retailer giant Game Stop announced that the Mario Kart World Switch 2 bundle “will no longer be produced” in a social media post that followed the leak of an internal GameStop memo to staff signalling the change.
“This bundle SKU has now reached end of lifecycle, and additional units will no longer be produced,” the memo reads. “Future replenishment of Nintendo Switch 2 will be the base console.”
Today, December 22, Nintendo confirmed as much in a social media post of its own, saying: “Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle is available in limited quantities at participating retailers, while supplies last.”
While the bundle was always described as being available for a limited time, it’s interesting that Nintendo has decided now is the right time to cease production. However, given how many bundle units are available at retailers, it seems likely they will be available for some time to come, should you fancy dropping by the Switch 2 party.
Indeed, as IGN reported over the weekend, Best Buy has the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle on sale for $449.99, which means you’re getting Mario Kart World for free.
Nintendo has so-far resisted increasing the price of the Switch 2, at a time when its console rivals Microsoft and Sony have done so. Nintendo did raise original Switch prices in August 2025 and warned future price adjustments for Switch 2 accessories and games might occur.
Despite launching at $450, Nintendo Switch 2 sold an astonishing 10.36 million units between June 5 and September 30, a record-breaking amount that saw the platform continue its run as the biggest console launch ever. Nintendo even raised its hardware forecast for the year in response to the Switch 2’s spectacular performance, and now expects to shift 19 million units of its new console before the end of March 2026.
Mario Kart World, the Switch 2’s flagship launch game, has now sold 9.57 million copies, with 8.1 million units of that total from the console’s bundle. (So yes, more than a million people paid $80 to buy it separately.)
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.
Don’t panic, but it’s Christmas Day on Thursday. Zero pressure, but if your loved ones really love you, they won’t mind a late Christmas gift. If they do mind, they need to stop being silly sausages (who do all these kids think they are?). Joking aside, I’m still manning the Daily Deals desk, finding some bangers, and it’s literally the best excuse to avoid doing IRL shopping. If you need to distract your family from late Christmas presents, buy a Fire TV or Fire Stick at a massive discount and stick on some Christmas films. Amazon has some cracking discounts on their range right now, which also includes a code for one month of Xbox Game Pass. Happy days!
TL;DR: Deals for Today
Purly because I love Pokémon so much, I’ve taken the liberty of seeing what’s available now on Amazon, then telling you where you can buy it from cheaper elsewhere (because I’m a Pokémon Master, as no one has enough badges to train me).
Need an ear buds upgrade? Apple AirPods Pro 3 are currently down to $199 from $249, shaving off a good chunk of brand tax. Side note: If you’re not bothered about turning your Apple setup into some kind of Wizarding World mudblood setup, the best earbuds I’ve tried this year are:
Status Pro X: Down to $269.10 with an on-site coupon from $299
Sony INZONE: Down to $198 from $239.99 (Includes a USB-C 2.4Ghz dongle for PC and PS5 gaming too)
Speaking of Sony INZONE, their big beefy H9 headset is also on offer right now for $169.29, a massive 49% off $329. And if you’re sick of eye strain or dry eyes whilst gaming or watching Fallout Season 2, Gunnar have saved the day with their limited edition Vault 33-themed gaming glasses. They’re also 30% off at the moment, down to $69.33 from $99.
Let’s get into today’s deals:
Pokémon TCG Price Check
To be fair to Amazon, some of their pricing isn’t far off market price, but then again they’re being undercut by independent businesses and sellers that will likely have worse rates from distribution than Amazon. Read between the lines there.
So Phantasmal Flames ETB is $79.94 at Amazon, just shy of $4 more than TCGPlayers $76. Mega Evolutions Three Booster Blister is in a similar spot on Amazon right now too, $29.54 compared to $28.93 on TCGPlayer. But if you’re after Mega Evolutions Boosters, i’d suggest going on TCGPlayer and buying single sleeved ones for $8.70 each instead.
1 Month Free Xbox GamePass for New Fire TV/Fire Stick Discounted Tech
This deal stretches across the whole 4K line of Fire TV Sticks, the Fire TV Cube, Amazon Fire TV 43-inch, and Amazon Fire TV 55-inch. The link above will take you to the offer page with all the products available, with the cheapest Fire Stick coming in at $19.99 for the 4K Select.
Apple AirPods Pro 3
So AirPods 3 have loads of bells and whistles on, including:
Active Noise Cancellation
Live Translation
Heart Rate Sensing
Hearing Aid Functionality
Spatial Audio
USB-C Charging
Apple have also overhauled the acoustic architecture inside the earbud to make sure you’re getting some cracking definition. Not a bad bundle of features when taking the discount into consideration.
Gunnar Fallout Vault 33 Gaming Glasses
I’ve been using Gunnar glasses for years, mostly for getting deals in front of all of your stunning eyes. I’ve noticed fewer strain headaches from looking at a screen all day and vastly reduced dry-eye symptoms (like having dry eyes). They can also do prescription lenses should you need them, but the main three styles they offer are yellow tint (best blue-light reduction), clear, and sunglasses.
Sony INZONE H9 Gaming Headset
If the INZONE earbuds are anything to go off, the H9 gaming headset should be a banger. The mic features a 360 spatial sound feature alongside solid noise cancelling backed up by a dual sensor and full customization via the INZONE Hub software. At nearly half off and with a 2.4GHz adaptor included, this is a great deal.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
