Category: IGN

Bethesda has released Starfield’s first major update in 2024 into beta, with “over a hundred fixes and adjustments” introduced, most of which address fixing quests and adding quality-of-life improvements to the company’s space RPG.

In a blog post, Bethesda detailed every change coming to Starfield as part of update 1.9.47.0. Some of the tweaks that immediately stand out include improved widescreen support, allowing for the game to now support 32:9, 21:9, and 16:10 aspect ratios, and fixes to the Eye of the Storm Quest. The latter has been one of the quests some have been unable to complete, most notably when the player reaches the data transfer section.

Bethesda further reiterated that it will “continue to have a steady stream of updates about every six weeks,” telling those that might not have seen an issue addressed in this latest to not “lose faith” and encouraging users to continue sharing issues and feedback with the team.

In our review of Starfield, which we awarded a 7 out of 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.”

You can check out the full Update 1.9.47.0 notes below.

Starfield Update 1.9.47.0 Notes

• Animation
  • Fixed player character’s eyes remaining closed instead of blinking in third person view.
  • Addressed rare cases where small animation pops could be seen in third person.
• Creatures and Enemies
  • Fixed incorrectly invisible creatures on some planets.
  • Fixed an issue that could occur on some enemies causing them to stand instead of falling to the ground.
• Crew and Companions
  • Fixed crew members and companions positioning near the cockpit after fast traveling to the ship.
  • Companions: Fixed a possible control-lock when talking to a companion without entering a dialogue while simultaneously trying to exit the ship.
• General
  • Fixed an issue that prevented Windows users saving if their username featured certain characters (PC).
  • Fixed rare save game corruptions on PC (MSS and Steam).
  • Fixed an issue that could lead to a control lock or a crash after loading a quicksave while in the targeting mode.
  • Fixed player marker following the camera on the surface map.
  • Fixed a rare issue that could prevent access to the main menu on when prompted to “Press any button to Start” (Xbox).
  • Body type should no longer reset to default when loading a Starborn save from the main menu.
  • Fixed flickering on Neon’s Trade Tower elevator panel.
  • Improved the appearance of the Ryujin Kiosk material during nighttime.
  • Fixed rare issue with how Cydonia’s panel could display the hours without incident.
  • Added Optimizations to cloud syncing of save games (MSS/Xbox).
  • Improved how crowds behave when desired target is reserved.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause airlock doors to sometimes appear floating in sky when arriving at locations.
  • Fixed unintended text appearing on the shipbuilder’s UI.
  • Fixed game session not properly resuming from shutdown in Energy Save mode (Xbox).
  • Various stability improvements.
• Graphics
  • Improved widescreen support (32:9, 21:9 and 16:10).
  • Added support for stars displaying sun disk geometry.
  • Shadows can now be seen on planet rings from planet surface.
  • Improved eyes and skin on crowd characters.
  • Improved reflection on water.
  • Improved contact shadows on character skin (Xbox and PC Medium/High/Ultra).
  • Improved contact shadows on character cloth (PC High/Ultra).
  • Improved contact shadows on first person (PC Ultra).
  • Improved lighting in character generation menu.
  • Reduced the appearance of some minor artifacts during cutscene camera transitions.
  • Fixed flickering on a number of VFX (Sandstorm, corrosive liquid pools, waterfall).
  • Fixed a rare issue where the camera would lock while in handscanner mode whenever watching flying fauna (Xbox).
  • Fixed potential control lock when opening a game menu a moment before triggering a dialogue with another character.
  • Addressed various shadow popping, flickering and artifact issues.
  • Improved the visibility of the sun’s lens flare during sunrise and sunset.
  • Fixed a rare issue where foam or grime would not show up.
  • Fixed rare flickering VFX that could occur in space (Xbox Series S).
  • Fixed rare hair flickering (Xbox Series X/S).
  • Fixed occasional flicker on digiframes and TV screens.
  • Adjusted the appearance of bloom when activating the handscanner.
  • Improved the appearance of clouds during weather transitions.
  • Fixed rare cases where alignment of grass and wind could appear disconnected.
  • Reduced bloom intensity effect while motion blur is active (PC).
  • Addressed issues with concealment effect not always applying when using the handscanner.
  • Fixed visible edge of the ocean in the distance when seen from a very high point of view.
  • Fixed rare white flickering dots around characters’ hair during cut scenes.
  • Fixed a readability issue in the Starmap when using large menu font mode.
  • Fixed inventory menu occasionally failing to generate previews when using a mouse (PC).
  • Fixed a brief Depth of Field issue that sometimes occurred when aiming, alt-tabbing or leaving a dialogue screen.
  • Fixed occasional lighting transition issues after loading or exiting a location.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause intermittent bands to appear in distance fog.
  • Fixed a rare issue that could cause fog color to appear inconsistent.
  • Fixed a rare issue that could cause rocks to disappear near the player on the surface of a planet.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when switching to DLSS with dynamic resolution active (PC).
  • Fixed flickering and delayed shadows sometimes occurring after unpausing the game.
  • Fixed various FSR2 and DLSS artifacts (noise, black dots, ghosting).
  • Fixed flickering when using the handscanner with DLSS enabled.
  • Fixed initial lighting conditions when landing on a planet.
  • Improved lighting at 73 locations.
  • Fixed various geometry, texture, and ghosting issues.
  • OUTPOSTS
  • Fixed a rare missing terrain issue that could occur after fast traveling to an outpost near New Atlantis.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause bulldozed objects to reappear when returning to an outpost.
  • Fixed and issue that caused hazard damage to remain even when the hazard was removed by bulldozing in outposts.
  • Fixed an issue where outpost’s cargo links would be removed from the terminal list if connected, disconnected, then reconnected to another cargo link during the cargo ship landing sequence.
  • Fixed an issue where weapon cases built by the player in an Outpost would populate with weapons and ammo after reloading the game.
• Powers
  • Fixed a rare issue that could cause the Phased Time power to remain enabled.
  • Fixed the extreme speed that could occur in zero G when using the Phased Time power.
  • Solar Flare Power now accounts for critical hits.
• Quests and Random Encounters
  • Absolute Power: Fixed missing slate in the safe preventing from completing the optional objective “Locate Evidence to Extort Ayumi Komiko”.
  • Background Checks: Fixed possible control-lock that could occur if caught by security.
  • Derelict Ship: Fixed an issue preventing the player from reaching the pilot seat if they did not have access to advanced locks.
  • Drinks on the House: Fixed rare occurrence where the door to Sub 12 could remain locked.
  • Echoes of the Past: Fixed Delgado getting stuck at bottom of stairs during “Continue Exploring the Lock” that could occur if The Lock was left during Delgado’s history dialogue.
  • Echoes of the Past: Resolved an issue that could cause Mathis’ and Delgado’s guns to be invisible.
  • Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue that could cause data transfer to not start after placing the Data Core.
  • Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue where the docking prompt would be missing on the Legacy ship if the player undocked with the Legacy and then reloaded a save before having started the mission.
  • Executive Level: Fixed an issue where players could get stuck on a chair in the Ryujin Industries HQ conference room.
  • Failure to Communicate: Fixed an issue that prevented the player from finishing the quest if they downed all the members of the defense pact (Alban Lopez, Jacquelyn Lemaire, and Chanda Banda).
  • Further Into the Unknown: Fixed a rare crash that could occur when trying to dock with The Eye.
  • Groundpounder: Fixed an issue where the door to Lezama could sometimes be locked if the player left the location during the quest and came back later.
  • Hostile Intelligence: Fixed blocked doors in the Steam Tunnels room where the Terrormorph transformation occurs.
  • Into the Unknown: Fixed a rare issue that could prevent the quest from starting after completing The Old Neighborhood.
  • Into the Unknown: Fixed a rare issue where a Temple location might not populate when receiving the “Go to” objective.
  • Legacy’s End: Fixed an issue that could prevent interacting with Delgado when he was behind the glass inside in the command center of The Key.
  • Legacy’s End: Fixed a debris pile where to player could become stuck while trying to reach the Mess Hall.
  • Missed Beyond Measure: Fixed a dialogue between Sarah and Walter not playing at The Lodge.
  • No Sudden Moves: Fixed companions not following player during personal quests.
  • On The Run: Fixed various issues related to Mei Devine becoming inaccessible the objective updated to “Listen to Mei Devine’s Introduction”.
  • On The Run: Fixed a possible control lock when sitting at the table to talk to Jade MacMillan.
  • One Small Step: Fixed a rare issue that could prevent Lin / Heller from exiting the airlock.
  • Operation Starseed: Fixed a bad view that could occur if the Beagle was boarded after a long idle.
  • Power From Beyond: Fixed an issue that caused missing Starborn temples and scanner disturbances that could prevent obtaining all Starborn powers from that universe.
  • Rough Landings: Resolved an issue that could occur during the “Meet up with Milena Axelrod” objective that could prevent ships from appearing at the desired location.
  • Shadows in Neon: Fixed an issue that could occur when repeatedly using the door to Jaylen Pryce’s office before he progressed to Neon Core.
  • Supra et Ultra: Fixed a control lock that could occur when entering the Flight Simulator while a guard is attempting arrest.
  • Tapping the Grid: Fixed inaccessible junction boxes that could occur after the Hunter attacks the Lodge.
  • The Best There Is: Fixed an issue that could prevent objective from advancing when talking to Naeva and Jasmine in the engineering room.
  • The Empty Nest: Fixed and issue that could cause Sam Coe’s gun to be invisible when inside Jacob’s house.
  • The Heart of Mars: Fixed another location that could potentially prevent recovering The Heart of Mars.
  • The Pale Lady: Fixed rare case of inaccessible ship crew log data slate making it impossible to complete the encounter.
  • Top of the L.I.S.T.: Phil Hill should now accept survey data for Sumati.
  • War Relics: Resolved an issue that could prevent Kaiser from moving to the mission site.
  • Where Hope is Built: Fixed a crash that could occur with a specific set of player behaviors.
• Ships and Ship Customization
  • Fixed another case that could cause an asteroid to follow a ship in space.
  • Fixed ship hatch being marked inaccessible after swapping to a new home ship.
  • Fixed an issue where the ship could end up in an unintended state by simultaneously attempting fast travel during a grav jump.
  • Fixed a view issue that could occur when fast traveling during ship targeting mode.
  • Fixed an issue that could occur when entering Ship Targeting mode immediately after selecting a Grav Jump.
  • Fixed an issue that caused non-functional ladders to appear when the player modified their ship with a Taiyo All-In-One Berth Top A and a Deimos 1×1.
  • Fixed an issue where the Legendary ship could take too long to resume firing after the weapons were repaired.
  • Space combat should now match ground combat difficulty increase with successive trips through the Unity.
  • Fixed an issue where loading an exit save made while docked to a space station could cause names of ships to change.
  • Fixed marker not pointing to the current home ship after performing a save/load between different ships.
  • Fixed in issue that could cause the Frontier to incorrectly appear if a non-home ship was removed from a landing pad.
• Skills
  • REJUVENATION: Rejuvenation skill VFX no longer replay whenever the handscanner is opened in third person.
  • SURVEYING: Fixed surveying challenge progress issue with mineral resource.
  • TARGETING CONTROL SYSTEMS: Fixed inconsistencies with level 3 and 4.
• Weapons and Items
  • Fixed incorrect reload amounts that could occur when consuming a Trauma Pack.
  • Fixed FOV and zoom issues with weapon scopes.
  • Fixed weapon sound effects occasionally continuing to play after killing an enemy.
  • Fixed turret state not being restored properly after and save and load.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the helmet light to not reappear in third person after a save and load.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Over a decade after the last Killzone game came out, Sony has reminded fans that it was once a thing via The Last of Us 2 Remastered.

Guerrilla’s sci-fi first-person shooter series, once seen as a Halo killer, last saw a release with PlayStation 4 launch title Killzone Shadow Fall in 2013. But we haven’t seen a new game in the series since, with Sony shutting down Shadow Fall’s servers in 2022.

Now, with the release of The Last of Us 2 Remastered, we have a reminder of Killzone’s existence via an in-game T-shirt — and it’s fair to say fans have noticed. While The Last of Us 2 Remastered references a number of dormant PlayStation franchises, such as Resistance, The Getaway, Twisted Metal, and WipEout, it’s Killzone that’s sparked the most vociferous reaction. Here’s a snippet:

as a killzone fan we’ve been LONG, LONG overdue for a new game. Just boggles my mind that of all the ways for sony to remind themselves that Killzone DOES exist…it’s in the form a TLOU ll t-shirt. No new game so far, nothing.

Just a freaking t-shirt.

Ugh…. pic.twitter.com/lrRzwLOPlt

— Steven A (@SwitchbackSpeed) January 18, 2024

Sincerely wish Guerrilla would make an FPS game in the future. Killzone was PEAK! pic.twitter.com/Yx1SBOVzxT

— macha (@neonmacha) January 18, 2024

For the first time in 10 years, they have acknowledged Killzone.

But in the form of a freaking T-shirt in a game that doesn’t even need a Remaster.#TLOU #TLOU2Remastered pic.twitter.com/aQX3XHXMOV

— Nicola Polito (@N7Necromorph) January 18, 2024

Killzone mentioned??? Bro Sony you cowards do something with your goated IP please don’t let it rot ｡⁠:ﾟ⁠(⁠;⁠´⁠∩⁠`⁠;⁠)ﾟ⁠:⁠｡ https://t.co/dHVAncYXR6 pic.twitter.com/GUk4k8Kn6J

— Ducky 🇬🇧♱ (@duckyle2nd) January 18, 2024

That killzone shirt kills me inside https://t.co/HqDxo03PYt pic.twitter.com/8QMtuJIVQv

— Kapitan-Hussar 🏳️‍⚧️- 🗡Exia princess🗡 (@HussarKapitan) January 17, 2024

they give us helgan shirt but no new killzone
its hellghover https://t.co/Vb0uIdabVR

— xavier fuentes (@mechagodzull569) January 17, 2024

That Killzone shirt is just dumping a gallon of lemon juice on a deep wound. https://t.co/WHQbx5vAqj

— Hayden (@haydentrib) January 18, 2024

In the 10 years since Shadow Fall’s release, Sony has given no indication that it’s ready to return to the Killzone franchise. Guerrilla instead followed Shadow Fall with 2017’s blockbuster hit Horizon Zero Dawn, which went on to sell over 20 million copies. It comes as no surprise that the studio has focused on Horizon ever since, with Horizon Forbidden West coming out in 2022 and PlayStation VR2 launch title Horizon Call of the Mountain coming out in 2023. A multiplayer Horizon game is currently in the works, as well as a third mainline Horizon game.

In July, Guerrilla studio director Jan Bart van Beek said the Horizon franchise will be around “for a very long while”, with plans for Aloy and friends way beyond a Forbidden West sequel. There’s even a Horizon 2074 TV series that will seemingly retell Aloy’s story from a new perspective.

That doesn’t leave much room for a Killzone revival, unfortunately. “Sons and daughters of Helghan let us cope for a Killzone come back,” said redditor alefava99.

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.

Two of PlayStation’s big hitters have recently dipped their toes into the roguelike waters, albeit with different philosophies driving them. The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered’s No Return plants its feet firmly in the camp of “gameplay is king”, offering a showcase for its tense stealth combat with no narrative dressing. God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla, on the other hand, is a much more story-focused experience, and one that I gained a lot more satisfaction from as a result. That’s not to say Naughty Dog’s attempts are by any means bad – I’ve enjoyed a good few hours playing No Return – but for me, there’s only one clear winner here, and he has a big beard and a massive axe.

Both modes are love letters to the characters and worlds established by their parent games with clear fan service paid throughout, whether that be the sights and sounds of Kratos’ Spartan roots resurfacing or the chance to finally play as some fan favourites from The Last of Us Part 2. But only Sony Santa Monica pushes the boat out on what to expect from a roguelike spin-off mode.

Fundamentally, God of War’s gameplay is just much better suited to the roguelike genre, thanks to its many different runic abilities, accompanying skill trees, and a greater variety of enemy types. That much larger set of varying factors can only benefit a mode where randomisation plays such a huge part, especially in comparison to The Last of Us’ limited arsenal and handful of enemies. Each run of Valhalla feels distinctly more fresh than anything No Return can muster, and it regularly treats us to new arenas to fight in, as opposed to No Return’s recycled venues from Part 2’s story. While mods to these levels can genuinely affect the way you need to approach an encounter, whether that be heavy fog shrouding Scars and Clickers or enemies dropping explosives upon death, No Return simply doesn’t have the underlying design structure that can make the most of the roguelike ethos.

In terms of pure combat, both systems are well-tuned to being a roguelike. There’s something deeply satisfying about the systemic puzzle box nature of The Last of Us’ stealth action as you skulk through long grass picking off your prey. The lack of variety restricts the randomness, and on the upside, this makes for a more methodical experience that allows you to set your strategies in concrete. But for me, the song of ice and fire that Kratos’ axe and blades create makes my heart sing. It’s a brutal rhythm that lets you slice through enemies and the pot-luck approach to new upgrades and runic abilities makes each run of Valhalla feel genuinely different to play as you choose which weapon to specialise in and which destructive rage mode to unleash.

But while Valhalla makes excellent use of God of War’s gameplay fundamentals, it’s not the thing that makes it special. That’s found in its use of the modern PlayStation’s mantra, which has moulded itself into a seamless hybrid of cinematic spectacle and layered storytelling. Narrative is what drives both The Last of Us and God of War series and every run of Valhalla adds new, intimate layers to Kratos’ story. But in No Return there is no such dedication to story. For Naughty Dog to strip its best-known quality out of the mode completely is a bold move, and one that I don’t think pays off.

Although glimpses of extra story can be seen in The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered’s Lost Levels – a collection of cut sequences that offer insight into a previous draft of Part 2 – I couldn’t help but feel I’d rather be playing through a new chapter of Abby or Ellie’s story, akin to something like the original’s fantastic Left Behind DLC. But No Return has no such ambitions. It’s perhaps a little unfair to expect such a thing when Naughty Dog’s version of a roguelike is so clearly based around the thrill of combat as opposed to the thrills the studio regularly treats us to. But still, the mode can’t help but create a philosophical dissonance between the core themes and message of The Last of Us Part 2 and its meditations on the cyclical impact of violence. Even if the mode is undeniably fun, its existence feels at odds with its story.

No Return asks you to detach from the story, whereas Valhalla invites you to dive deeper in. No Return reduces its nuanced characters to killing machines, whereas God Of War asks further questions as to why violence follows Kratos at every step.

This is the key factor as to why Valhalla is the much more successful experiment – it never once feels at odds with what has come before it, instead serving as an epilogue to Ragnarok and an essential chapter of Kratos’ evolution. And that’s even before treating old-school fans to some truly spine-tingling moments that feature familiar faces and places from earlier in Kratos’ journey. It smartly uses the live-die-repeat nature of a roguelike to steadily tell its story in a way that perfectly reflects the pages of Norse mythology.

Even upon death, you’re rewarded with new dialogue and details from the likes of Freya and Mimir as you move further on your quest of uncovering the secrets of Valhalla, all while reframing Kratos’ past and hinting at his future. Of course, God of War isn’t the first game to do this and the mode appears to be heavily influenced by the Gods of a shared pantheon in Supergiant’s phenomenal Hades, which previously mastered marrying storytelling with roguelike mechanics. The genre lends itself to these fantasy or sci-fi settings, such as those seen in Returnal or Deathloop, in which it’s easier for us to suspend belief and allow for linear narratives to progress despite time seemingly repeating itself.

The firmly grounded nature of The Last of Us inherently doesn’t lend itself to such storytelling techniques and so Naughty Dog smartly doesn’t attempt such a thing. But that lack of a story sets it apart from God of War’s take, and is where it unfortunately pales in comparison. The Last of Us Part 2’s stealth combat is fantastic and is up there as some of the best since sneaking around as Snake in The Phantom Pain, but it was never what carried me through its story.

Ellie’s journey and what thrilling moment lies around the next corner is what makes that game so special, and without it, No Return is “just” a very good action-orientated mode that rewards your efforts with new character and weapon skin unlocks. Valhalla, on the other hand, is the complete package, and could reasonably be considered its own game – which makes it even more impressive considering we got it for free.

Valhalla dropped out of nowhere and the true extent of its ambition was pretty much undersold as it arrived to a relatively quiet fanfare. No Return on the other hand has gone through the traditional hype cycle of multiple trailers and hands-on preview beats, leading it to be much more anticipated than its effectively shadow-dropped cousin. In some ways, then, it’s unfortunate that Valhalla launched before Naughty Dog had the chance to release No Return, as Santa Monica’s stab at the roguelike genre is an altogether different beast and one that may have set unreasonable expectations for its Sony stablemate.

Evidently, God of War had more story to tell when The Last of Us isn’t quite yet ready to move onto its next chapter. It’s understandable that Naughty Dog wouldn’t force an epilogue of sorts in for the sake of it, and a roguelike mode wouldn’t necessarily be the best lens to see a new Abby or Ellie chapter through. But that lack of storytelling means that when placing these two experiences side-by-side No Return ends up feeling slim and safe next to the comparatively complete Valhalla. Both are great fun in their own right, but in this round of the battle of PlayStation heavyweights, Kratos comes out on top.

Simon Cardy thinks Ellie wouldn’t last two minutes in Valhalla. Follow him on Twitter at @CardySimon.

With the acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, Microsoft can now be a “good publisher” across all platforms, including rival consoles, the boss of the company has said.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said: “We love gaming. In fact, Flight Simulator was created before even Windows. But, we were number three, number four. And now with Activision, I think we have a chance of being a good publisher — quite frankly — on Sony and Nintendo and PCs and Xbox. We’re excited about that acquisition closing and I’m glad we’ve got it through.”

Nadella’s comments echo those he made last month, when he similarly said Microsoft plans to release games across all platforms: “We think that now we have the ability to do what we always set out to do, which is build great games and deliver them to folks across all platforms, which is Xbox and consoles, the PCs, and now even including mobile gaming and cloud gaming,” he said at the time.

This comes amid reports Microsoft plans to release some of its exclusives on the Switch and PlayStation 5. Both Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush and Rare’s Sea of Thieves are said to be considered for launch on Nintendo and Sony consoles after a period of exclusivity across Xbox consoles and PC. Microsoft has yet to comment on the reports.

Last year, Xbox chief financial officer Tim Stuart set the cat among the pigeons by suggesting Microsoft planned to launch its Game Pass subscription service on rival consoles, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer denied that was the case.

Stuart did, however, strongly indicate Microsoft’s cross-platform publishing plans: “It’s a bit of a change of strategy,” he said. “Not announcing anything broadly here, but our mission is to bring our first-party experiences [and] our subscription services to every screen that can play games. That means smart TVs, that means mobile devices, that means what we would have thought of as competitors in the past like PlayStation and Nintendo.”

It’s worth noting Microsoft has committed to releasing Call of Duty on PlayStation consoles as part of a decade-long deal, as well as promised to bring the shooter to Nintendo consoles. Question marks remain over other Activision Blizzard games, however.

This week, IGN sought to answer the question of whether Microsoft was leaving Xbox exclusives behind in the report, How Xbox is changing the nature of exclusivity.

Meanwhile, Microsoft will host Xbox Developer_Direct January 2024 today, January 18. Expect a first look at MachineGames’ Indiana Jones game as well as Obsidian’s Avowed, among other reveals. The recently announced Marvel’s Blade is in development at the Microsoft and Bethesda-owned Arkane Lyon, but platforms are yet to be confirmed.

Image credit: Bloomberg Live

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.

Payday 3 developer Starbreeze has said it’s “well aware” fans still “aren’t satisfied” with the heist shooter so have created an internal team dedicated to turning things around.

Revealed in a blog post, Starbreeze said this “strike team” is currently planning and deciding which changes are necessary to create the experience fans expected. This dedicated team arrives almost four months after Payday 3 launched with several issues.

“We’re well aware that many of you aren’t satisfied with the game the way it is in its current state,” Starbreeze said. “Since launch, we’ve been reading your valuable feedback in forums, social media, and in video comments in addition to the Feature Upvote page. This helps us massively and is crucial to the continued development of Payday 3.

“In order to turn your feedback into action, we’ve put together a strike team of veteran developers from the design, community, communication and production teams with the focus on bringing Payday 3 up to where it will meet your expectations.”

Starbreeze will reveal its plan in February, saying it wants “to be careful to not simply react, and deal with any possible improvements one by one with the care, thought and planning they deserve.”

Payday 3’s launch was plagued with server issues that forced Starbreeze CEO Tobias Sjögren to apologise. “We are so sorry that the infrastructure didn’t hold up as expected, and although it’s impossible to prepare for every scenario — we should be able to do better,” he said.

Almost a month after its launch and Starbreeze apologised again for its lack of communication, and then just a week later said sorry one more time for not delivering a promised patch and again going quiet.

Starbreeze boasted Payday 3 had 3.1 million players as of October 2, but this number has dwindled, at least on Steam, as more players are currently playing Payday 2 than its sequel. According to SteamDB, Payday 3 has a 24 hour peak of just 713 compared to Payday 2’s 33,550, despite the latter launching over a decade ago.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

The usual suspects were out in force in the Game Developers Choice Awards 2024 nominees, with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur’s Gate 3 leading the way with seven nominees apiece. But there were also some big surprises in the Game of the Year category, with Alan Wake 2 missing out in favor of Dave the Diver and Dredge.

Instead, Alan Wake 2 got the nod as an honorable mention in the list of finalists, which are voted on by game developers throughout the industry. Remedy’s sequel wasn’t entirely shut out though, earning nods in categories including Best Narrative and Best Visual Art. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Tears of the Kingdom, COCOON, and Baldur’s Gate 3 rounded out the rest of the Game of the Year nominees.

Pocketpair wants fans to know Palyworld, its new game popularly described as “Pokémon With Guns,” is definitely not a scam.

The assurance is part of a frequently asked questions post put out by developer Pocketpair on the Steam page of their upcoming creature collecting survival game. The slightly unusual inclusion of this section in their FAQ comes in the wake of titles like The Day Before, which has created increased distrust between players and early access developers on Steam.

The question reads: “Is this game a scam? Or is it a money-making MMO or virtual currency game?” to which the developer answers: “It is not a scam and will definitely be released on January 19th. PalWorld is a typical Steam game, you buy it once and it is yours forever. While we may consider expansions after the full release, that is a conversation we will all have together, as a community, when the time comes!”

Pocketpair certainly isn’t kidding that this is a frequently asked question either — when typing “Is Palworld” into Google, “Is Palworld a real game?” came up as one of the top suggestions, so clearly people are wondering if they can count on this creature collecting to deliver.

Though we won’t be able to give our impressions of the game just yet, IGN can indeed confirm that several members of our team have access to and have been playing Palworld, which is a real game and not a scam. In fact, you can already watch our first 15 minutes with it right now:

For the full impressions of our review in progress, check back on IGN.com tomorrow (January 18) at 9:00 AM Pacific Time.

Travis Northup is a freelance writer at IGN.

Last week, the Xbox community was sent into a tizzy over rumors that Xbox exclusives Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves might soon be exclusive no more.

The rumors remain unproven, but an imminent Xbox Developer Direct has given these reports extra weight. And beneath Xbox console fans’ outcry over the potential loss of more exclusives to other consoles, there is an interesting question rising from the dust of the console war battlefield. For the last console generation, Xbox has been pursuing a markedly different strategy to its competitors: while Nintendo and Sony were busy selling tens of millions of console units on the power of first-party exclusives, Xbox has been trying to build an ecosystem of software that transcends a single box under the TV. Gaming for everyone, Xbox games on every platform where people are playing. Sounds nice, right?

With the Activision Blizzard deal now done and Xbox squarely behind both Sony and Nintendo in terms of console sales this generation, all eyes are on Xbox to do something astonishing that will turn the tide in its favor and maybe transform the industry in the process. What will the trick be? Multiple massive blockbuster first-party releases? Finally making cloud gaming something people actually want to do? Releasing Game Pass on Switch?

Okay, it’s unlikely Xbox has some big 3D chess move prepared this year, and certainly not in time for the Developer Direct. But conversations with a number of industry analysts have convinced me that 2024 is the year we finally start seeing Xbox’s grand ecosystem strategy – and all it entails for exclusivity, multiplatform play, and cloud gaming – finally start to take shape.

The Quest for an Xbox Ecosystem

Xbox has publicly been on the “ecosystem” train since before the current console generation. Way back in 2018, Spencer said at a Barclays conference that Xbox Game Pass was the future, and that future was going to be on “every device.”

“We use the flywheel that we have with customers on an Xbox to start the growth in Xbox Game Pass. But as somebody sitting back and taking a longer-term view of where our business is going, you should look at that as a business model that we think scales to billions of people not hundreds of millions of people like retail does.”

The following year, Spencer told Kotaku that “the consoles are not where the profit in this side of the business is made,” and that instead the focus needed to be “all about how many games are people playing. And how much people are spending playing those games and how often they play.”

But the conversation isn’t just about Game Pass or subscriptions. Since the release of the Series X and S, Spencer and other Xbox spokespeople have reiterated variations on the theme of meeting players wherever they want to play, including conversations about tech and game releases on other platforms. This mantra perhaps fed rumors in 2019 that Xbox Game Pass was coming to Nintendo Switch. While that ended up being one step too far, Xbox did bring previously-exclusive games Cuphead and Ori and the Blind Forest to Nintendo’s platform later that year — an unprecedented move for a company selling its own gaming box.

Xbox has tried to temper fears that it’s not focused on growing its own console, especially amid ongoing criticisms this generation that it doesn’t have enough first-party exclusive hits. In 2020, Spencer made an effort to reconcile his gaming philosophy with the fact that any Switch or PlayStation rendition of GamePass would inevitably come with caveats: “The other competitive platforms really aren’t interested in having a full Xbox experience on their hardware. But for us, we want to be where gamers want to be and that’s the path that we’re on.”

Last summer, he and other Xbox leaders asserted that console was “critical” to the future of Xbox. And then, at the end of last year, Xbox CFO Tim Stuart appeared to reiterate the GamePass everywhere strategy, only for Spencer to seemingly rebuke it not long after.

On a surface level, this series of public comments, official decisions, and rumors can make it a bit tricky to tell how serious Xbox is about the whole “ecosystem” thing. But Circana analyst Mat Piscatella frames the last five years of news headlines differently when I ask him his thoughts on it, noting that Xbox has actually been “pretty consistent” on what’s actually come to market, and that the mish-mash of strategy conversations we’ve seen over the last generation is more emblematic of a company in transition, with all the challenges that come with it.

“They haven’t gone all-in on the strategy, at least not yet,” he says. “Bringing games and services to other platforms in order to drive dollars on the content and services side would surely help, but there’s also the hardware business to support, so I’m sure there’s quite a bit of push and pull happening. And parts of the established base want to cling to the old hardware installed base driven model, and have been quite vocal about it.

“It’s a tough place. They’re trying to expand the audience and drive new ways of playing, but also don’t want to leave the audience that’s been with them from the start behind. It’s a difficult thing to do, with many interests and inputs to balance.”

Xbox’s current strategy is born out of necessity

It’s no wonder Xbox is running into obstacles – what it’s suggesting is a pretty dramatic overhaul of the existing model for how games, consoles, and exclusivity have worked for years. As Superdata co-founder and NYU Stern School of Business professor Joost van Dreunen puts it, “Xbox has redrawn the games industry landscape. Where historically the market was made-up of insular walled gardens, Xbox’ current strategy proposes a device-agnostic, cross-platform roadmap.”

Ampere Analysis’ Piers Harding-Rolls notes that it’s also uniquely positioned to suggest an ecosystem strategy thanks to its “history in the PC gaming space, its key role with Windows and its long list of B2B services targeting the games sector, including Azure and developer tools,” But he acknowledges too that Xbox’s move seems to have been born, at least in part, out of necessity, as Xbox has fallen behind in the so-called “console wars” since the heyday of the Xbox 360.

The Series X and S have not helped it gain much ground. Omdia’s console forecast suggests that Xbox Series X and S hardware sales dropped by 12.7% year over year in 2023, despite it being at phase in its lifecycle that would traditionally be considered a “growth phase” and releasing what should have been a blockbuster exclusive in Starfield.

“To make matters worse, we’re expecting the seven-year-old Switch to have outsold Xbox Series X/S by almost a factor of two in 2023,” says Omdia senior games analyst James McWhirter.

Multiple analysts I spoke to pointed out to me that while some might have expected Xbox to rectify this situation somewhat with its recent acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, its pledge to keep major games multiplatform for at least a decade means it won’t be able to capitalize on them as exclusives to bolster those console sales anytime soon. Meanwhile, Xbox’s whole “ecosystem” situation isn’t exactly rocketing them to the moon either.

“We’re seeing slowing adoption of Xbox Game Pass even though Microsoft will claim otherwise thanks to the repositioning of Xbox Live Gold as Xbox Game Pass Core,” McWhirter says. “Our forecast estimates total Xbox Game Pass subscriptions (excluding Core/Live Gold) to be at 33.3 million at the end of 2023, which represents subscriber growth of just 13% – down from 15% in 2022. Notably, over half (55%) are currently on the device-agnostic Ultimate tier.”

Piscatella notes too on X/Twitter that subscription services specifically aren’t growing as fast as they used to. Xbox’s kingdom cannot be built on subscription alone (especially if key developers aren’t sold on its value), nor can it be built overnight. Phil Spencer wasn’t lying last summer when he said that consoles remained “critical” to the success of Xbox, but here’s a new reading of that statement for you: consoles seem to be “critical” to sustain the business while Xbox metamorphosizes. That’s why Spencer is, quietly, still advocating for the big exclusives the Xbox console audience keeps demanding, even as Microsoft president Satya Nadella seems far less interested in the idea. Even if it’s third place in the console market, Xbox needs that bronze medal as a lifeline while it makes inroads into new sectors where it hopes to win gold, such as cloud gaming and this supposed bold new software ecosystem of cloud, subscriptions, exclusives, and mobile games it keeps alluding to.

2024: The Year of the Ecosystem?

So when will we see Xbox finally emerge and make good on its promises of gaming for everyone, everywhere? Will the Developer Direct this week herald a bold new era? Is 2024 the year of Xbox at last?

Well… probably not. These things take time. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expect to see more inroads built this year. Most analysts I spoke to agreed that while Xbox’s 2024 first-party portfolio will likely be stronger than that of previous years, it isn’t going to rocket the console to the top of the sales charts.

For one, 2024 will almost certainly offer clarity on Xbox’s strategy for Activision Blizzard games, especially with regard to which ones are coming to Game Pass and when, what it plans to do with PC-exclusive World of Warcraft and back catalog games like Starcraft, and what Xbox owning Call of Duty will really mean for how those games are sold, accessed, and played. The acquisition’s ripples on Activision Blizzard development itself won’t be felt for a few more years, but the ecosystem strategy will begin almost immediately.

Which brings us back to all those rumors of Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves coming to Switch or PlayStation. McWhirter says that, despite what naysayers online might suggest, Xbox bringing these current-exclusives to its competitors actually benefits Xbox more than Nintendo or PlayStation. “There are signs that Hi-Fi Rush underperformed relative to Microsoft’s expectations in terms of its impact on Game Pass subscriptions growth and engagement and full game downloads. Releasing a late port to, say, the Switch, makes continued development of titles like it more sustainable while securing timed exclusivity on Xbox while adding value to Game Pass.

“Sea of Thieves has already been on the market for six years and continues to be one of Microsoft’s most successful live service titles after Minecraft, with higher peak and average MAUs compared with Halo Infinite. Putting it on other platforms should help it reach new highs and its age and pre-existence on PC suggests it has long outlived its usefulness in selling Xbox consoles.”

The analysts I spoke to agree that a strategy of curated, timed releases of former-exclusives on Nintendo and PlayStation consoles makes a lot of sense for Xbox, and further bolsters its own philosophy of putting its games wherever players happen to be. And no, vocally pro-exclusive audiences on social media likely won’t deter them if there’s a significant advantage to be had, especially if that audience has already enjoyed a period of exclusivity.

But Game Pass on Switch or PlayStation, analysts say, would be a bridge too far. Rather, both van Dreunen and McWhirter expect Xbox to launch a mobile Game Pass service – McWhirter says it could happen as soon as this year – especially in the wake of the Activision-Blizzard deal:

“Because gaming is increasingly online and based on multiplayer gameplay, I expect platform holders to broker deals that would allow greater circulation of content between devices and ecosystems,” van Dreunen says. “My expectation is that Xbox will try to launch a mobile Game Pass service to reach billions of mobile gamers and deliver on its ambition to reach 100 million subscribers for its Game Pass service. Before ABK/MSFT it had little access to this audience. Even so, there will be specific differentiators between platforms like exclusives, pricing plans, and bundles. But it seems idiotic that I cannot play the same online game on every device in the same way that I can call anyone regardless of what telecom provider they use.”

The Xbox Series X and S might be at a “growth” phase in their life cycles, and 2024 might herald something that looks like growth if even a handful of Xbox’s 23 game development studios are ready to smash exclusives out of the park. But the real growth Xbox seems to be banking on remains its gaming ecosystem, centered around Game Pass and xCloud, reaching as many devices as possible. Xbox is dreaming of a future in which the “Xbox audience” isn’t just the people who own Xbox consoles, but contains Switch owners, PlayStation owners, mobile gamers, and more — all of them playing Xbox games. In the coming year and beyond, we can be on the lookout for mobile Game Pass, Game Pass on smart TVs, a curated selection of former Xbox exclusive games on rival consoles, and several more strands spun into the encompassing gaming web that Xbox has been steadily crafting for nearly a decade now.

It remains to be seen whether or not that ecosystem will, or can succeed, and whether or not that success depends on exclusives. We won’t find out in 2024, but if we’re all playing the latest Halo on a smart fridge in 2040, I’m sure we’ll have something spicy to say on social media about it.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.