Capcom has announced Monster Hunter Wilds’ title Update 1 comes out on Friday, April 4, 2025.
In a showcase video, Capcom confirmed the release date as well as what players can expect from Monster Hunter Wilds’ first major post-launch update.
The headline here is the Grand Hub, a new gathering place in which players can interact in new ways. Here you can play a new mini-game called Barrel Bowling and listen to the Diva perform at night.
Mizutsune hits Monster Hunter Wilds with Title Update 1, alongside a Zoh Shia quest. Arch-tempered Rey Dau launches later via an event quest.
Arena Quests, where players can compete for fastest completion times, launch with Title Update 1. Free content is coming to all players, including classic gestures from the series. Cosmetic DLC Pack 1 launches alongside this update, too.
A second title update for Wilds is set to release in the summer, and Capcom teased what to expect with an early glimpse at the arrival of a new monster.
Developing…
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.
Civilization 7 developer Firaxis has outlined the game’s crucial update 1.1.1, which hits at a time when the recently released strategy game has fewer players on Steam than Civilization 6 and even the 15-year-old Civilization 5.
On Valve’s platform, Civilization 7 has a 24-hour concurrent peak player count of 16,921, which isn’t enough to get into Steam’s top 100 most-played games. Civilization 5, released in 2010, had a 24-hour peak of 17,423. Clearly, most Civ fans are sticking with 2016’s Civilization 6, however, which had a 24-hour peak of 40,676 players.
In a post on Steam, Firaxis listed some of the “additions and refinements” coming with Update 1.1.1, including:
Quick Move Functionality
New Natural Wonder Mount Everest
Additional UI Updates & Polish
Settlement & Commander Renaming
And more!
In a more in-depth video, lead designer Ed Beach ran through the changes while pointing to the patch notes in full, which are imminent.
Civilization 7 update 1.1.1 patch notes:
Quick Move is now an optional setting you can toggle on in the game’s menu. It makes it so units move to their destination immediately so you can play through the game faster.
Another big update is the new start position option related to map generation. The new default for single-player games is Standard, which feels more like Civ 6, where the continents are more varied and less predictable. For multiplayer games, the Balanced setting is retained to put players on a level playing field on more consistent maps.
Settlements and commanders can now be renamed. (Historical accuracy be damned!) You can now restart the game with the click of a button to get that perfect first settlement. Just like in Civ 6 it recreates the map with new seeds but with your same leader and civ selections.
As for UI improvements, the city and town panel will stay open when you buy things, there’s a new notification that appears when one of your cities is under attack, there are new indicators for crises, and improved resource tool tips. There are significant pacing changes, too.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria is a new civ going live alongside Nepal and new leader Simón Bolívar today, March 25, as part of the paid Crossroads of the World Collection.
Civilization 7 has proved a controversial game among series veterans for some of its new mechanics, and clearly it’s struggled on Steam (the console makers do not make player numbers public). Civ 7 has a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Valve’s platform, and received a 7/10 from IGN’s review.
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.
On paper, Steel Hunters is a serious left turn for World of Tanks developer Wargaming. But just because the developer’s next project is rooted in a sci-fi, futuristic setting with larger-than-life mechs doesn’t mean they’re not tapping into their 27 years of multiplayer expertise for this mech hero shooter.
I spent about 45 minutes racing other mechs to an extraction point in Steel Hunters’ battle royale-lite extraction mode, trying out half of its seven-character launch roster. Although I hit a few snags as I got myself used to controlling a building-size robot shaped like a spider, I could see Wargaming’s multiplayer pedigree on full display.
Aside from a short tutorial, which introduced me to Steel Hunters’ movement and controls, I spent all of my time in one mode. This extraction-based mode was kind of like a scaled-down battle royale: a few squads of two are dropped onto a map and sent toward points of interest, picking up helpful stuff along the way. Each mech is fully loaded out with weapons and abilities, so instead of guns or armor like in Fortnite, you’ll pick up various upgrades for your mech’s stats, healing items, and experience points.
While you can find some loot in the wild, most of the upgrades and loot you’ll find in-match come from downing nearby NPC drones. These weaker enemies are scattered all over each map and put up just enough of a fight that they’re a pain to deal with if another squad is attacking you as well.
Different points of interest pop up during the match, giving you and your non-AI opponents something to race toward against each other, creating random chokepoints around helpful supply drops. Eventually, an extraction point gets marked on the map, beckoning all remaining squads towards the final objective. Once you get there, you’ll need to defend the extraction point (or attack it if someone beats you there) for a little while before the match ends.
Players descending on the chokepoint trying to outflank each other using their mechs’ various toolkits to their advantage was always the best part of the matches I played.
This was always the best part of the matches I played, as players descended on the chokepoint trying to outflank each other using their mechs’ various toolkits to their advantage. Maybe the agile Fenris uses their speed to flank an unsuspecting duo as they try to maintain control over the extraction point while the self-healing Razorside draws cover, ducking behind cover to patch themself up. Or maybe the sniper, Heartbreaker, might post up behind the defensive, map-controlling Weaver as they set up defensive barriers to protect their glass cannon teammate.
I played all four of those mechs in different matches, favoring Heartbreaker and Weaver the most. Weaver has this extremely satisfying Gatling gun that just melts enemy health and shields and their movement felt the best. Aiming down sights with Heartbreaker reveals weak points in every enemy, delivering extra reward for patient, precise play.
If there was any problem with the demo I played, it was the in-between stuff. While it was fun to pick off weaker enemies, grab their loot, and find other players, the maps all felt a little too big up until the end. I’m certain some of this came from the fact that I was playing against AI-controlled bots in an early build of the game, but that inconsistent pace felt at odds with the relatively quick match times.
To give the team at Wargaming the benefit of the doubt, the studio is a well-oiled multiplayer machine at this point. Just because Steel Hunters trades historical context for futuristic fiction doesn’t mean the studio’s throwing the baby out with the bath water. It’s clear that Wargaming has been through a few multiplayer game launches in the past based on its launch plans.
Starting out with a manageable scale for its upcoming early access launch on April 2nd, Steel Hunters is going to launch with 7 playable characters, one mode, and only a few maps to start out—and no monetization. This calculated approach to launch, with the promise of new content every 5-6 weeks, shows this team’s pedigree and tact when it comes to multiplayer games. This approach gives me a lot of faith in Wargaming’s ability to listen to its player base and take feedback as it moves toward an eventual 1.0 release. Wargaming even teased the first new character coming to Steel Hunters post-launch, reiterating its commitment to three-month seasons.
If you’re hoping to hop into Steel Hunters, you won’t have to wait long, as it launches into early access on April 2nd.
So, the video game world is watching Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ early performance closely for signs of its success — or failure. So far, Ubisoft has yet to announce a sales figure, but has said Assassin’s Creed Shadows hit 2 million players just two days after launch, surpassing the launches of both Origins and Odyssey.
There’s also a lot of attention on Shadows’ Steam concurrents, which are being compared to those of other triple-A single-player games that recently released, as well as previous Assassin’s Creed games on Valve’s platform.
Shadows became the most-played Assassin’s Creed game ever on Steam over the weekend with 64,825 peak concurrent players, although it’s worth noting that it was the first game in the series to launch day-one there. BioWare’s single-player RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard saw a peak of 89,418 players on Valve’s platform.
It’s hard to make a call on whether Shadows is below, meeting, or exceeding Ubisoft’s expectations without knowing what those expectations were. But a source from within Ubisoft, who revealed an internal email reviewed by IGN, has helped us better understand the game’s first weekend performance.
Here’s what we’ve found out: Shadows delivered the second-highest day-one sales revenue in the franchise’s history, behind only 2020’s Valhalla, which launched across the last and current generation of consoles and benefited from stay-at-home gaming fueled by the pandemic.
Shadows also marked Ubisoft’s best ever day-one launch on the PlayStation Store, suggesting particular success on PS5.
But what about PC, given Shadows launched on Steam as well as Ubisoft’s own digital store? According to Ubisoft’s internal communication, 27% of Shadows’ total “activations” were on PC. Ubisoft is telling employees that Steam “played a major role” in Shadows’ performance on PC, without revealing exact sell-through numbers. It says early results “are a strong validation of our decision to return to the platform.”
Generally, Ubisoft is talking up player engagement, which is at “record levels,” and “feedback across moderated, verified platforms — those less affected by review bombing — remains incredibly positive.” Shadows was also the most-wishlisted Ubisoft game of all time, and it’s doing better than any other Assassin’s Creed game on Twitch, even Valhalla.
It’s here that Ubisoft’s internal communication provides context on comparisons between Shadows’ launch and other games in the franchise. What’s clear is that Shadows is not doing as well as Valhalla did at launch, but Ubisoft is saying it’s not fair to compare the two, because Valhalla benefitted from the “perfect storm” of pandemic-fueled stay-at-home gaming and the launch of the Xbox Series X and S and PlayStation 5 in 2020.
“Valhalla launched under extraordinary conditions — in the middle of a global pandemic, with widespread lockdowns and brand-new console hardware,” the internal communication reads. “It was a perfect storm we may never see again. That’s why it’s more meaningful to compare Shadows to entries like Origins, Odyssey, and Mirage — games released in more typical cycles. And in that frame, Shadows is already setting a new bar as illustrated above.”
Ubisoft also pointed out that Shadows released in March. Historically, Assassin’s Creed games launch just ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving window, which typically boosts sales. Meanwhile, Ubisoft ditched the early access period it normally charges extra for with its games. It’s also worth noting that Ubisoft’s own subscription offering is now available directly on Xbox, which affects sales on Microsoft’s console and muddies sales comparisons.
Money talks, of course, and irrespective of player numbers and engagement, it will be revenue brought in by Assassin’s Creed Shadows that determines the fate of not just the game, but Ubisoft itself. We may not get a clear picture of that until Ubisoft’s next financial report in the coming months.
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.
Few places hold as much shared history for Helldivers 2 players as Malevelon Creek. Around this time last year, it was the site of a massive Automaton incursion, with divers fighting through a hail of scrap and laser-fire. Now, it seems like we might be heading back to the Creek.
In its most recent update, Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Studios announced in-game that players had failed the most recent Major Order. The Automaton Incineration Corps, armed with powerful flame weaponry, made significant gains.
“The enemy remains at large,” the notification read. “Reports indicate the enemy’s strategic goal is to seize old industrial assets in the Severin Sector, where the Automatons first emerged.”
It seems that the automatons are seeking to reclaim “old industrial assets” in the Severin Sector, the battlefield where some of the bloodiest fights on the automaton front took place, including Malevelon Creek,… pic.twitter.com/6eqnDitM5p
Now, with the prospect of Automatons returning the sector to take territory, potentially armed with flame weaponry, Helldivers are gearing up for a scrap.
“A part of me is in fear as I was there but another part of me WANTS to go back,” one Reddit user wrote, in response to a post about the Major Order update. “… a part of me never left,” another responded.
Some expressed terror at returning, while others are ready to hold out again. “I fought hard for that planet once, and I’m prepared to do so a second time,” one user responded.
The Major Order failure has raised another point of concern for Helldivers 2 players, though. As one post outlined, some Major Orders can feel frustrating to accomplish, organize around, or not feel incentivized. As responders note, the active player base can also vary, which can make quantity-driven Orders difficult if they’re not based around the current average.
One player puts it succinctly: “Stop giving us kill quantity MOs when the player base can vary by up to 70k over the course of a single week.” Further replies suggest percentage-based scaling.
Failure can make for interesting storytelling, as proven by the initial fight at Malevelon Creek. Heading into what feels like a major moment for Helldivers 2 though, it’ll be interesting to see how Arrowhead handles it all. Alongside teasing a return to one of its most infamous battle sites, the team has also sent a black hole directly towards Super Earth. There’s no shortage of threats for the Helldivers these days.
Pokémon TCG’s next big release, Destined Rivals, is almost here, and I’m already prepping my shelf space and emotionally budgeting like I won’t blow it all on an Elite Trainer Box I absolutely do not need. This set brings back Trainer’s Pokémon, reintroduces Team Rocket for another round of villainous fun, and includes some of the best card art we’ve seen in ages. If you’re into flashy collectibles or just enjoy the feeling of cardboard power coursing through your veins, this one’s for you.
The Pokémon Center website has already gone through some mysterious “maintenance” and has since put up preorders. If that route doesn’t pan out (shockingly), expect listings to go live any moment now at Amazon, Target, Best Buy, and more. That means refreshing like it’s Black Friday for battle decks. Here’s everything you need to know to lock in your preorder this week.
Pokémon TCG: Destined Rivals US Preorders
Destined Rivals UK Preorders
When Does Destined Rivals Officially Launch?
The full release is scheduled for May 30, 2025. That’s when all the sealed products will ship and hit shelves, assuming there’s any left. Between May 17 and 25, select stores will host pre-release events featuring Build & Battle boxes and early access tournaments. You should check with your local league store now if you want in. And by “check,” I mean probably bribe them with snacks.
What Products Will Be Launching For This Set?
I want to say I’ll just buy one item and be done. I also want to say I’ll go to the gym three times a week. We’re all lying to ourselves, and that’s fine.
Here’s what will be available when Destined Rivals launches:
Booster Packs
Booster Boxes (36 packs)
Elite Trainer Box
Pokémon Center Exclusive Elite Trainer Box
Booster Bundle (6 packs)
Triple-pack blisters
Build & Battle Box
Build & Battle Stadium
It’s also likely we’ll see special collection boxes with alternate art promos, especially featuring characters like Cynthia, Misty, Ethan, or Marnie. You don’t need them, but you will absolutely convince yourself you do.
Cards That Should Be In Destined Rivals
Here’s the full expected card list by Japanese set origin.
Trainer Cards: Team Rocket’s Giovanni, Archer, Ariana, Receiver
Special Energy: Team Rocket Energy
Steven’s Starter Deck
Steven’s Metagross ex
Steven’s Skarmory, Beldum, Metang
Steven’s Carbink
Steven’s Claydol, Baltoy
Trainer Card: Granite Cave
Marnie’s Starter Deck
Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex
Marnie’s Impidimp, Morgrem, Liepard, Scrafty
Marnie’s Purrloin, Scraggy
Trainer Cards: Energy Recycler (reprint), Spikemuth Gym
The Cards I’ve Got My Eye On
There’s a good chance I’ll end up with multiple binders full of these, but a few cards have already secured a permanent place in my mental wishlist.
Cynthia’s Garchomp ex is a power move in every sense. Big damage, hand draw, and the smug energy of someone who always gets her turn one setup. This is peak Champion energy and I want three.
Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex is what happens when utility and sparkle collide. The ability accelerates Fire Energy like it’s no big deal, and Shining Feather heals your whole team while smacking for 160. It’s absurd, and I’m obsessed.
Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex is pure drama. It refuses to attack unless you’ve built an entire Rocket-themed deck around it, but when it does, it throws energy around like a caffeinated Gengar. It’s also incredibly extra, which I respect.
Misty’s Psyduck is here to make you laugh and then probably lose a game in the most lovable way possible. It has an ability that lets you discard it to the top of your deck, for… reasons. I don’t care. It’s perfect.
Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex brings the villain vibes with an aggressive Dark-type build that thrives on energy acceleration and being just annoying enough to work. It’s a disruption deck’s dream, and I plan to run it like it’s 2020 all over again.
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.
When Pocketpair’s monster capturing survival adventure Palworld launched, many people compared it to Pokemon, specificallycalling it “Pokemon with guns.” It’s not Pocketpair’s favorite comparison, according to communications director John ‘Bucky’ Buckley, but the thought of collecting a following of adorable monsters has nonetheless prompted a number of people to ask if Palworld would ever make it to Pokemon’s platform of choice, the Nintendo Switch.
Unfortunately, according to Buckley, that’s not in the cards, largely due to technical reasons. “If we could make the game work on the Switch, we would, but Palworld is a beefy game.”
I spoke to Buckley at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco last week following his talk, ‘Community Management Summit: A Palworld Roller Coaster: Surviving the Drop.’ During our chat, I also asked Buckley about the possibility of a Nintendo Switch 2 release. He said that Pocketpair is interested, but hasn’t gotten a chance to see if a port is even possible yet.
“We haven’t seen those specs yet,” he said. “Like everyone else, we’re waiting. I’m walking around GDC hoping someone will tell me them, but everyone I’ve spoken to says they haven’t even seen them.
“If it’s beefy enough, it’s 100% worth considering. We did a lot of optimization for Steam Deck, which we were really happy with. Still work to do, but we’re really happy with how it turned out. So we would like to get it on more handhelds if possible.”
But the lawsuit isn’t really what’s stopping the studio from releasing games on Nintendo’s platforms, as we saw back in January. Buckley addressed the lawsuit very briefly in his GDC talk, saying that it caught the team by surprise, and that the team had done numerous legal checks in the lead-up to release in order to prevent that exact thing. “Pretty much everyone at Pocketpair is a huge fan [of Pokemon],” Buckley said in the talk, “so it was a very depressing day, everyone heads down and walking in the rain.”
The question is, would Nintendo allow a game it’s taken such issue with on its next-gen console?
We’ll be posting our full interview with Buckley at GDC later this week, so keep checking back for more about Palworld. In the meantime, it’s a great time to revisit Palworld if you’ve stepped away, as the game just got cross-platform play in a new update last week.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is now available at its lowest price so far. Woot is offering the game for $32.99 for PS5, a significant drop from its regular price of $69.99. For those who have been waiting to pick it up, this is a great opportunity to do so at a significant discount, and potentially one of the best deals of the year.
It’s hard to imagine the game dropping any further in price anytime soon, making this likely the best opportunity to buy it at the lowest price possible in 2025. With such a steep discount, I wouldn’t be surprising if it sells out quickly, so if you’re interested in picking it up, don’t wait too long.
In our 9/10 review, Michael Higham called Final Fantasy VII Rebirth “a best-in-class action-RPG full of exciting challenge and depth,” and “an awe-inspiring recreation of a world that has meant so much to so many for so long.” While it takes some creative liberties in reimagining the classic, he described it as “thrilling and unexpectedly impactful.”
Woot, an Amazon-owned online retailer, is known for offering limited-time deals on video games, tech, and more. It’s a trusted source for deep discounts, and one we frequently recommend on IGN for finding some of the best gaming bargains around.
‘Dark Space’ had created a free-to-download playable GTA 5 map based on leaked coordinate data and official trailer shots of GTA 6, and uploaded gameplay footage to his YouTube channel. His videos and his mod hit the headlines in January as information-starved GTA fans flocked to experience a fan-made approximation of what they can expect to play officially when GTA 6 launches on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S this fall.
Then, last week, Dark Space received the dreaded strike notification from YouTube after Take-Two issued a copyright removal request. If a YouTube channel receives multiple copyright strikes, it runs the risk of being terminated.
In response, Dark Space removed all download links to his mod, despite the fact he has yet to be asked to do so by Take-Two, and published a response video on his channel calling out the company for its actions and suggesting it was the result of the mod’s take on GTA 6’s map being “probably a little too accurate.”
Dark Space was more philosophical in a follow-up interview with IGN. “I expected this would happen based on their past takedowns,” the modder said. “I went into this project knowing it was a possibility, and the fact that it happened does not surprise me.”
Dark Space said he believes Take-Two went after his mod because it was based on an online GTA 6 community mapping project that uses leaked coordinate points to “perfectly” map out the upcoming virtual space, and as a result might have ruined the surprise for players and the internet at large.
“That’s probably the biggest red flag, although most of the work in my map was based on the trailer shots,” Dark Space added.
“I think my map could have ruined the surprise of their map, which I get. If you spent years building out this amazing game world just to have some YouTuber spoil the experience of the map’s shape, size, and vibe… I’d want it removed too.”
The upshot is Dark Space’s GTA 6 mod project is no more. And that’s not just for YouTube videos of it, that’s for the entire thing. “Well they clearly do not want this project to exist,” Dark Space said. “So it’s not just under threat, it’s eliminated. There’s no point putting more time into something that goes directly against what they’re willing to allow.
“I’m just going to keep making videos that people hopefully like. I probably won’t do anything else modding GTA 5 in relation to GTA 6, since it seems dangerous.”
There are now concerns that the GTA 6 community mapping project could be next in Take-Two’s sights. IGN has contacted the group for comment.
One former Rockstar developer has defended the company’s actions here, saying both Take-Two and Rockstar are protecting their business interests.
“Take2/R* are a commercial company,” former Rockstar Games technical director Obbe Vermeij tweeted. “They will take down mods that interfere with their business interests.
“The VC NextGen Edition mod for GTA4 directly competes with the Definitive Edition. The Liberty City preservation project (GTA4 in GTA5 engine) would interfere with a possible GTA4 remaster. (No idea whether they’re working on that. I think they should.)
“There’s no point getting angry about it. This is what companies are supposed to do. The best we can hope for is that they allow mods that don’t interfere with their business. Such as DCA3 (GTA3 for Dreamcast). Afaik they have recently been decent about letting these projects continue.”
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.
Bam Margera was not featured on the recent list of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4 skaters returning to the roster for the upcoming Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, but it’s now being reported that Margera will, in fact, be a part of the final game.
According to Bagley the game was “already done” when Tony Hawk contacted Activision to ask that Margera be added to the game. Hawk was apparently told it could not be done, but Bagley says the skateboarding legend would not take no for an answer.
IGN has contacted Activision for comment.
Margera, a former professional skateboarder and star of the Jackass film and TV series, has endured a long and public history of alcohol and substance problems, including several stints in rehab. Margera, who was fired from Jackass Forever, was also the subject of a restraining order granted to Jackass director Jeff Tremaine after threats were allegedly sent to Tremaine and his family.
