Category: IGN

If you’ve been hunting for the Roaring Moon or Iron Valiant Paradox Rift Elite Trainer Boxes, they’re currently available at Amazon at retail price. The Roaring Moon ETB is $56.24 in the US (£44.99 UK), while the Iron Valiant ETB sits at $55.17 (£44.99 UK). No markdowns, but honestly, just finding these in stock without a 50% markup is a win.

Amazon US: Pokémon TCG: Paradox Rift (Iron Valiant)

Helldivers 2 has a new patch that makes key balance changes and bug fixes to Sony’s third-person co-op shooter.

Patch 01.002.200 tweaks the balance on a number of weapons and stratagems. Developer Arrowhead also increased the number of AI calculations the game can perform, which primarily impacts scenarios with a high number of spawned enemies, improving their response times in those situations. However, this comes with a slight trade-off in game performance, Arrowhead said.

And here’s a useful improvement: the stratagem loadout menu has undergone an updated categorization of the different stratagem groupings.

Meanwhile, publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment announced Helldivers 2’s next Warbond, called Borderline Justice. The theme this time is ‘space cowboy,’ and in keeping with that theme there are new weapons including the R-6 Deadeye lever-action hunting rifle, the LAS-58 Talon “revolver” secondary, and the TED-63 Dynamite.

The GS-17 Frontier Marshal is a medium Helldiver set in keeping with the space cowboy theme, as is the GS-66 Lawmaker heavy armor, complete with cowboy holster and bandolier. The Gunslinger armor passive gives your secondary increased reload speed, increased draw/holster speed, and reduced recoil. The warbond launches March 20.

Dinosaur survival game Ark 2, which some had suspected might have run into trouble or even been abandoned, is back on after developer Studio Wildcard revealed a new expansion for Ark: Survival Ascended that leads into the sequel.

Ark: Lost Colony is the first original expansion pack for Ark 1 remake Ark: Survival Ascended, and its reveal trailer, below, was produced by anime studio Mappa (Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan, Chainsaw Man) and stars voiceover by the Michelle Yeoh, who reprises her role as Mei Yin from Ark: The Animated Series.

Studio Wildcard said the expansion will feature numerous cinema-grade anime story sequences created by Mappa. Here’s the official blurb:

In this new frozen world, players follow in the footsteps of legendary Ark survivor Mei Yin, on a soul-searching quest deep into the chilling heart of darkness to find answers to long-buried secrets of Ark’s past.

Ark: Lost Colony will present survivors with thrilling new challenges as they become the hunted in a vast occupied city, and gain access to powerful new kinds of character abilities, unique gear, building systems, and phenomenally exotic tames.

Will Survivors be able to face down the demons lurking in Arat Prime, and connect Ark’s past and future?

In its note to press, Studio Wildcard said Ark: Lost Colony “directly connects” the storylines of Ark’s Extinction and Genesis expansions and leads into the events of Ark 2.

Ark 2 is the Unreal Engine 5-powered sequel to the hugely successful Ark Survival Evolved. It was first announced with a surprise Vin Diesel cameo at The Game Awards 2020, at the time with a 2022 release date, but it was later delayed into 2023. Then, earlier in 2023, Ark 2 was delayed again, this time to late 2024 as an Xbox Series X and S console exclusive, day-one on Game Pass, and on PC via Steam and Windows.

As recently as December 2023, Studio Wildcard was still insisting Ark 2 was on track for a late 2024 release window. Obviously that didn’t happen, sparking concern from fans. So this announcement, coming three months into 2025, will help reassure fans that Ark 2 is still in the works, although Studio Wildcard failed to provide an updated release window.

We do have firmer details for Ark: Lost Colony, however. Pre-orders kick off in June 2025, and all purchases immediately unlock exclusive Ark: Lost Colony preview gameplay content. A full release is set for November 2025, with Ark: Lost Colony priced at $29.99 for Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, and PC.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

It’s beginning to feel like the late ’90s all over again, what with how Mortal Kombat is all the rage. 2024 saw the release of Mortal Kombat 1, the latest entry in the uber-popular fighting game series. And now MK is returning to the big screen, as Warner Bros. gears up for the release of Mortal Kombat 2, a sequel to 2021’s surprisingly solid reboot.

In light of all these big developments in the MK world, we thought now would be the perfect time to look back at the franchise’s long, colorful and occasionally baffling history in film and TV. Check out our slideshow below or scroll down for a closer look at all the Mortal Kombat adaptations and how closely (or not) they followed the source material.

Mortal Kombat (1995)

The original Mortal Kombat movie is widely regarded as one of the best video game adaptations to date. Which, granted, is a very dubious honor. Even so, the movie still stands as a solid example of how to bring the series to life in live-action. It presents a reasonably faithful retelling of the original game’s extremely barebones storyline, while drawing in elements of Mortal Kombat II and some of the backstory from the tie-in comics. Like many adaptations, it positions Liu Kang (Robin Chou) as the central hero destined to defeat the soul-stealing Shang Tsung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). For purists, the movie’s biggest sin is simply that it doesn’t replicate the violence of the games, opting instead for a more pedestrian PG-13 approach.

What the movie does capture, however, is that essential undercurrent of camp and zaniness that goes hand-in-hand with the gratuitous violence. Mortal Kombat the movie definitely isn’t guilty of taking itself too seriously. It’s also the movie that introduced the world to The Immortals’ “Techno Syndrome,” the most iconic video game music this side of the Super Mario Bros. theme.

Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins (1995)

There’s some pretty stiff competition when it comes to deciding the worst Mortal Kombat adaptation ever made, but this direct-to-video release may just take the top honor. Released ahead of the live-action film and ostensibly a prequel to said film, The Journey Begins sets about fleshing out the origin stories of various MK icons. But the connective tissue is dubious at best. And as dated as the CGI in the live-action movie may be, it’s state-of-the-art compared to the archaic, sub-Playstation quality 3D fight scenes in The Journey Begins. Hardcore fans may want to watch this one out of sheer, morbid curiosity (especially since it’s included as a bonus feature on the Mortal Kombat Blu-ray), but don’t expect it to actually enhance your enjoyment of the games or the movies.

Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1996)

The ’80s and ’90s TV landscape was littered with attempts to translate adults-only pop culture properties into kid-friendly cartoons. Case in point – RoboCop: The Animated Series, Rambo: The Force of Freedom and Toxic Crusaders. We honestly have to respect Kenner’s moxie for deciding to cut out the middleman and directly market Terminator 2 and Aliens toys to kids without even waiting for cartoons.

With Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, USA Network threw its razor-edged hat into the ring. This short-lived series aired on the network’s Action Extreme Team block in 1996. Somewhat bafflingly, it attempts to serve as a continuation of both the 1995 movie and the Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 video game, though the all-ages approach basically renders that moot. Defenders of the Realm simplifies the complex series of alliances and rivalries that define the MK mythos, instead featuring a team of heroes led by Raiden and Nighthawk tasked with defending Earthrealm from Shao Kahn’s interdimensional invaders.

Defenders of the Realm does make one notable addition to the franchise, however. The series was actually the first to introduce Quan Chi before his roles in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat 4.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

If the first Mortal Kombat movie is among the best attempts at adapting a video game to film, its sequel is easily among the worst. It’s not necessarily that Annihilation plays fast and loose with the source material. It introduces a number of popular characters like Shao Kahn (Brian Thompson), Jax (Lynn Williams) and Sindel (Musetta Vandel), along with familiar MK elements like Animalities, the death of Johnny Cage and Kuai Liang taking up his brother’s mantle as Sub-Zero. The problem is that the movie fails to string any of that together into a coherent and interesting story. There’s not much internal logic to what happens or which characters appear.

But even if the plot lived up to the first movie, Annihilation is plagued with lousy effects, underwhelming fight scenes, and actors who would seemingly rather be anywhere else. It’s telling that, apart from Chou’s Liu Kang, nearly all the returning characters were recast for the sequel. But if nothing else, at least the soundtrack is pretty good.

Mortal Kombat: Conquest (1998)

While Annihilation basically destroyed Mortal Kombat’s big-screen prospects for the next two decades, that didn’t stop TNT from airing a live-action TV series in 1998. Mortal Kombat: Conquest serves as a prequel to the movies, taking place 500 years before the era of Liu Kang. Instead, Conquest revolves around Liu’s ancestor Kung Lao (Paolo Montalbán), a warrior monk tasked with training a new generation of fighters to defend Earthrealm. While many of the series’ supporting characters are new creations, many MK fan-favorites show up over the course of Conquest’s one and only season.

The best that can be said for Conquest is that it was ahead of its time. The prequel premise is strong, and it’s certainly a better offshoot of the 1995 film than Annihilation. But even at the time, it was difficult to ignore the lousy wire-fu fight scenes and generally bad special effects. It’s hard not to wonder what might have been if Conquest had come along a decade or two later.

Mortal Kombat: Rebirth (2010)

Outside of the games themselves, the MK franchise largely went dormant in the ’00s. It wasn’t until filmmaker Kevin Tancharoen took the initiative and put together a short, unauthorized Mortal Kombat movie that the ball started rolling again.

Though produced on a very low budget and not sanctioned by Warner Bros. or Mortal Kombat’s creators, Tancharoen’s short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth is a surprisingly professional adaptation. Rebirth is unique in that it downplays the franchise’s supernatural trappings, instead casting Scorpion (Ian Anthony Dale) as an assassin working with Captain Jackson Briggs (Michael Jai White) and Sonya Blade (Jeri Ryan) to bring down Shang Tsung’s criminal empire and get revenge on his nemesis, Sub-Zero.

Tancharoen intended for Rebirth to serve as a proof-of-concept for a possible movie reboot. He sort of got his wish as he was given the reins of the live-action web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

Mortal Kombat: Legacy (2011)

Tancharoen returned to the MK franchise the following year, this time with the actual approval of Warner Bros. and a greenlight for a full season of live-action webisodes exclusive to Machinima. Legacy doesn’t follow the new continuity established in Rebirth, though Dale, White and Ryan all returned to reprise their roles for Season 1. Instead, Legacy acts as a prequel to the original game, with each Season 1 episode fleshing out the backstory for a different Kombatant.

Season 2 proved to be a fairly steep departure, with Legacy shifting to a more narrative-driven approach while bringing in a number of new characters and recasting many existing roles. One bonus of that revamp is that Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was able to reprise the role of Shang Tsung (paving the way for him to make the jump over to the games in the form of Mortal Kombat 11 DLC).

As inconsistent as it is in terms of tone and plot, Legacy shows the potential in a more earnest take on the MK mythology. It also looks surprisingly robust for a free-to-watch web series.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge (2020)

Mortal Kombat returned to the animated realm in 2020, in what proved to be a vastly better adaptation than either The Journey Begins or Defenders of the Realm. It helps that Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge is aimed squarely at adults. In fact, this direct-to-video release is actually the first R-rated Mortal Kombat movie.

Scorpion’s Revenge is an adaptation of the original game’s storyline, but with a twist. Rather than framing the movie around the heroic Liu Kang, we’ll see the fateful tournament from Scorpion’s point of view. The movie explores the character’s tragic origin story and the beginnings of his feud with Sub-Zero. You can learn more in IGN’s Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge review.

The first film has proven popular enough to spawn three more direct-to-video sequels, 2021’s Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, 2022’s Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind, and 2023’s Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match.

Mortal Kombat Reboot (2021)

After years of rumors about another live-action Mortal Kombat movie, the franchise finally returned to the big screen in 2021. The new movie isn’t connected to previous projects, but instead serves as a complete reboot. Star Mehcad Brooks (who plays Jax) describes it as having “grounded realism” despite retaining the Fatalities and other violent trappings of the games. Here’s a full breakdown of the Mortal Kombat reboot’s cast.

The reboot hit theaters and HBO Max simultaneously in April 2021. You can check out IGN’s Mortal Kombat review for more. Though the pandemic obviously affected the film’s box office haul, it proved critically and commercially successful enough that Warners greenlit a sequel.

Mortal Kombat 2 (2025)

The rebooted Mortal Kombat series will return to theaters in 2025 in the form of a sequel currently titled simply Mortal Kombat 2. In addition to returning favorites like Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, and Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, the film will also introduce Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage, Martyn Ford’s Shao Kahn, Damoin Herriman’s Quan Chi, and Adeline Rudolph’s Kitana. We recently got a closer look at several of the cast members.

At this point, there seems little doubt that Mortal Kombat 2 will be a better sequel than Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was, but that’s not exactly a high bar to cross. The question is whether the sequel can continue the momentum generated by the original and pave the way for even more of the proposed sequels. There’s plenty of fight left in this franchise yet.

Note: this article was originally published on 04/09/2020 and updated on 03/17/2025 with the latest news about the Mortal Kombat franchise.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

New details about what’s in store for the horrors waiting within Silent Hill f have emerged, and they make it clear that developer NeoBards Entertainment is keeping in step with the series’ tone.

Warning! The following descriptions contain some gruesome details about the content of Silent Hill f, which will entail possible spoilers and mature content.

Konami aired its latest Silent Hill Transmission broadcast just last week, sharing more details about the upcoming Silent Hill f. Developed by NeoBards, set in a mountain town in 1960s Japan, and written by Higurashi and Umineko author Ryukishi07, Silent Hill f looks to be an interesting new venture for the horror series.

The broadcast didn’t include much in the way of gameplay though. In lieu of that, fans have been poring over the content warnings and ESRB rating for Silent Hill f, both of which are live and provide some surprisingly detailed descriptions of what terrors wait in the town of Ebisugaoka.

Over on the ESRB site, Silent Hill f garnered a Mature 17+ rating for “Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity.” None of that by itself is terribly surprising, but it’s the rating summary that offers some more detail:

“This is a survival-horror action game in which players assume the role of a student confronting supernatural entities in a 1960s Japanese mountain town. From a third-person perspective, players explore the town, solve puzzles, interact with characters, and battle enemy creatures (e.g., humanoid monsters, mutants, mythical creatures).

“Players use axes, crowbars, knives, and spears to defend against and kill enemy creatures in melee-style combat. Blood-splatter effects occur frequently as characters are attacked; several areas depict large bloodstains in the environment and near corpses. Some enemy attacks can result in players’ character getting impaled in the neck and/or getting their faces ripped apart.

“Cutscenes sometimes depict gore and more intense acts of violence: a character burned alive inside a cage; a woman branded by a hot iron; entrails and sinew displayed on serving platters in fantastical celebration/ceremony; a character sawing off her own arm; a character slicing off portions of a character’s face during a ritual. Concept art depicts a nude mannequin-like character, with exposed buttocks and partially exposed breasts; the character appears in a creature-like form throughout the game.”

Faces ripped apart, hot irons, and a character sawing off their arm certainly paint a gruesome picture. Silent Hill f could get pretty gnarly, even by Silent Hill’s standards. It is, after all, the first game in the series to earn a CERO:Z in Japan, an 18+ rating; the others have typically garnered CERO:C or CERO:D, which are 15+ and 17+, respectively.

Silent Hill f may also be dealing with some heavy topics and imagery too. For that, we can look at the game’s content warning, displayed on both the official site and the Steam store page:

“This game contains depictions of gender discrimination, child abuse, bullying, drug-induced hallucinations, torture, and graphic violence. This game is set in Japan in the 1960s and contains depictions based on the customs and culture of that time. These depictions do not reflect the opinions or values of the developers or any individuals involved. If you feel uncomfortable at any point while playing, please take a break from playing or speak to someone you trust.”

Between the actual physical horror and tackling these kinds of themes, Silent Hill f certainly seems like it’s engaging with the kind of material you’d expect in a Silent Hill. For horror fans, that’s hopefully a good sign.

Silent Hill f has no release date at the moment, though having an ESRB rating this detailed certainly suggests it’s not far off. It’s currently targeting PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC when it does launch.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Little details can add a lot of character when it comes to the many monsters of Capcom’s Monster Hunter series. When it comes to one of Monster Hunter Wilds‘ biggest battles, eagle-eyed players have noticed one tiny detail that lends credence to a running theory. It’s all in the eyes.

Warning! Spoilers for the final boss and story of Monster Hunter Wilds’ low rank campaign follow.

After fighting through the roster of Monster Hunter Wilds’ fearsome foes, including the souped-up Guardians, you’ll eventually come face-to-face with Zoh Shia. This enemy is the final bout for low-rank Hunters to clear in Wilds, and it’s a doozy. It also might feel a little familiar, if you’ve played some past Monster Hunter games, and that seems pretty intentional.

Over on Reddit, several users have pointed out that Zoh Shia’s eyes bear a striking resemblance to Fatalis’. Fatalis is an infamous and powerful species of dragon in Monster Hunter’s universe, able to raze kingdoms and cause mass devastation.

It’s a neat, tiny detail you might have missed in all the chaos of battling Zoh Shia, but it’s also not the only signifier pointing towards a link to Fatalis. As one replier pointed out, many aspects of the Zoh Shia fight share similarities with Fatalis bouts. The monster has moves from Black, White, and Crimson Fatalis, and has other small cosmetic similarities like its horns.

While Zoh Shia also draws on other classic, terrifying monsters — find some more here, in this reply — Fatalis definitely seems like a core touchstone. What does it ultimately mean, though?

Well, keep in mind Zoh Shia is a created monster. And if Zoh Shia was made to combat something or counter a threat, what kind of threat would be countered by a Fatalis-like monster? It opens up a lot of fun theorycrafting for where Monster Hunter Wilds’ assumed expansion could go. Most importantly, this connection teases that there are even bigger, badder monsters to contend with further down the line.

It might be a while until Monster Hunter Wilds theory-crafters see their guesses pan out or not, though. The next big update will be in April, which will bring some more hunts to the title alongside other additions, like an endgame hunter hub. So for now, best to just get your rank up high and be prepared for whatever kind of monster awaits.

To help get your Monster Hunter Wilds adventure started, take a look at what Monster Hunter Wilds doesn’t tell you, and a guide to all 14 weapon types in the game. We’ve also got a detailed Monster Hunter Wilds walkthrough in progress, a Monster Hunter Wilds multiplayer guide to explain how to play with friends, and if you’ve played one of the open betas, here’s how to transfer your Monster Hunter Wilds Beta character over.

IGN’s Monster Hunter Wilds review returned an 8/10. We said: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is coming exclusively for PS5 on June 24 — but only if you buy one of the more expensive editions. The standard edition releases June 26. Developed by Kojima Productions, it’s a sequel to the 2019 original. It will be available in three editions: a standard edition available in physical or digital format, a digital deluxe edition, and a collector’s edition that comes with a statue along with other goodies. Read on for pricing, availability, and details about what comes in each edition.

Death Stranding 2 Collector’s Edition

• Get it at PS Direct – $229.99

The Collector’s Edition is exclusive to the PlayStation Direct store. It costs $229.99 and comes with all sorts of cool stuff. Here’s what you get:

• Full Game Digital Download
• 48-hour Early Access to the game (June 24)
• Collector’s Box
• 15” Magellan Man Statue
• 3” Dollman figurine
• Art cards
• Letter from Hideo Kojima
• In-game items
  • Machine Gun (MP Bullets) LV1 early unlock
  • Battle Skeleton: Gold (LV1, LV2, LV3)
  • Boost Skeleton: Gold (LV1, LV2, LV3)
  • Bokka Skeleton: Gold (LV1, LV2, LV3)
  • Quokka Patch
  • Chiral Feline Patch
  • Why Me? Patch

Death Stranding 2 – Standard Edition

Death Stranding 2 – Digital Deluxe Edition

• Get it at PS Store – $79.99

The digital-only deluxe edition comes with a digital copy of the game itself, plus the following extras:

• 48-hour Early Access to the game (June 24)
• Machine Gun (MP Bullets) LV1 early unlock
• Battle Skeleton: Gold (LV1, LV2, LV3)
• Boost Skeleton: Gold (LV1, LV2, LV3)
• Bokka Skeleton: Gold (LV1, LV2, LV3)
• Quokka Patch
• Chiral Feline Patch
• Why Me? Patch

Death Stranding 2 Preorder Bonus

Preorder Death Stranding 2, and you’ll receive the following in-game items:

• Quokka Hologram
• Battle Skeleton: Silver (LV1, LV2, LV3)
• Boost Skeleton: Silver (LV1, LV2, LV3)
• Bokka Skeleton: Silver (LV1, LV2, LV3)

Death Stranding: Director’s Cut Is on Sale

• Get it for PC (Steam) at GMG – $16
• Get it for PC at Steam – $19.99
• Get it for PS5 on PS Plus Extra

If you haven’t played the original, or you want to brush up on it before playing the sequel, here’s some good news: it’s on sale. You can get the director’s cut version on Steam on sale for $16 at Green Man Gaming. The PlayStation version isn’t on sale anywhere in physical format, but the PS4 (non-Director’s Cut) version is included with PS Plus Extra.

What is Death Stranding 2: On the Beach?

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a direct sequel to the 2019 original. It takes place 11 months after the birth of the UCA, when the world has been connected, deliveries have been automated, and a new faction is rising up. I hesitate to describe what the game may or may not be, because it’s full of Kojima-level weirdness. You can watch the extensive trailer above to find out more about Death Stranding 2, which includes a Solid Snake-like character. Here’s the official description on the PlayStation Store:

“Embark on an inspiring mission of human connection beyond the UCA.

“Sam—with companions by his side—sets out on a new journey to save humanity from extinction.

“Join them as they traverse a world beset by otherworldly enemies, obstacles and a haunting question: should we have connected?

“Step by step, legendary game creator Hideo Kojima changes the world once again.”

Other Preorder Guides

Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.

Speculation that Starfield will soon be confirmed for release on PlayStation 5 ramped up over the weekend after fans spotted a PlayStation logo on Bethesda’s official Creations website.

The logo was attached to a work-in-progress ship decals Creation for Starfield, and although the Creation was removed, fans are speculating that Bethesda’s so-far PC and Xbox-only sci-fi game is soon set for PS5.

Thoughts inevitably turn to whether Bethesda plans a significant content update, possibly even a new expansion, to coincide with Starfield’s seemingly inevitable release on PS5. There’s been little to shout about when it comes to Starfield in recent months, following the launch of the poorly received Shattered Space expansion. Bethesda parent company Microsoft is expected to hold another summer showcase this year, as it has done in recent years, and that event may be the right time and place to learn more about all things Starfield.

Bethesda itself has said it has “exciting things” planned for Starfield this year, amid growing discontent from players about a lack of communication and updates. In June 2024, Bethesda insisted it remained committed to supporting Starfield, and confirmed at least one other story expansion would release following Shattered Space. In an interview with YouTube channel MrMattyPlays, Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard said the developer was aiming to release an annual story expansion for “hopefully a very long time.”

Starfield launched in September 2023 as Bethesda’s first brand new intellectual property in years, and its first mainline single-player game since Microsoft bought parent company ZeniMax Media in March 2021. IGN’s Starfield review returned a 7/10. We said: “Starfield has a lot of forces working against it, but eventually the allure of its expansive roleplaying quests and respectable combat make its gravitational pull difficult to resist.”

In January, Microsoft’s gaming boss Phil Spencer refused to rule out Starfield coming out on PS5. Starfield and MachineGames’ Indiana Jones and the Great Circle were both reported as being considered for PS5 as far back as March 2024. Indy ended up confirmed for PS5 with a spring 2025 release window, a few months after its release on PC and Xbox Series X and S. But Starfield is yet to be confirmed for PS5, although Spencer’s comments certainly suggested it was on the cards.

A number of Xbox games are currently available on PS5, including Rare’s Sea of Thieves, Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush, and Obsidian’s Grounded and Pentiment. Microsoft already publishes Minecraft games on PlayStation consoles, among many other platforms, and is set to publish Doom: The Dark Ages and Ninja Gaiden 4 on PS5 later this year. Playground’s Forza Horizon 5 is also confirmed as coming to PS5 soon. There are even reports that Microsoft is finally ready to release Halo on PlayStation after decades of Xbox exclusivity.

Spencer has said Xbox’s multiplatform push is in part about bringing in more money to Microsoft’s gaming business — with the pressure on to deliver following its eye-watering $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard.

“We run a business,” Spencer said in August last year. “It’s definitely true inside of Microsoft the bar is high for us in terms of the delivery we have to give back to the company. Because we get a level of support from the company that’s just amazing and what we’re able to go do.

“So I look at this, how can we make our games as strong as possible? Our platform continues to grow, on console, on PC, and on cloud. It’s just going to be a strategy that works for us.”

It’s a busy time for the 450-person Bethesda Game Studios, which currently operates five teams: Starfield; Elder Scrolls 6; Fallout 76; mobile; and external development partnerships.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Final Fantasy I-VI Collection Anniversary Edition has hit its lowest price yet, now available for $49.99 at Amazon—its best deal to date, even beating Black Friday, according to our records, and even price-tracking site CamelCamelCamel.

EA’s Star Wars turn-based tactics game will be revealed at Star Wars Celebration 2025.

The untitled Star Wars strategy game was announced in early 2022 as in development at Bit Reactor, a studio composed of Firaxis Games veterans best-known for their work on the XCOM franchise. Bit Reactor has worked closely with Star Wars Jedi developer Respawn Entertainment on the new project, and is finally ready to show the game off.

The first look is set for April 19 via a live panel with the lead development team from Bit Reactor, along with Respawn Entertainment, and Lucasfilm Games, as revealed on the official Star Wars Celebration 2025 schedule.

We know next to nothing about this game, neither in which Star Wars era it’s set, nor the exact nature of its gameplay. But given it’s being made by former developers of XCOM, it seems reasonable to assume something along similar lines drenched in all things Star Wars.

Respawn is of course also working on the third game in its Star Wars Jedi trilogy, although there is no indication it will turn up at Star Wars Celebration this year. Respawn was at one point working on a third Star Wars game, an untitled first-person shooter rumored to feature a Mandalorian protagonist, but it was canceled as part of a major EA shake-up that saw around 670 staff lose their jobs. Earlier in March, Respawn quietly canceled a multiplayer first-person shooter incubation project and cut an unknown number of individuals working on it.

Elsewhere at Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm will offer a sneak peek at The Mandalorian & Grogu movie, due out May 2026, and a first look at Star Wars: Visions Volume 3.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.