Category: IGN

We’ve seen a number of ingenious methods of banning naughty players from video games over the years, but this latest attempt from Valve may be the funniest yet.

Valve is on the warpath, clamping down on Dota 2 smurf accounts in what it has called a “bloodbath”. As part of that and the recently released Frostivus 2023 update, Valve is sending a surprise gift to Dota 2 smurf accounts, even those belonging to professional players of the company’s hugely popular MOBA.

What the unsuspecting recipients of the in-game gift, misleadingly described as a “seasonal reward”, fail to realise is it contains a “highly toxic” lump of coal that triggers a permanent ban. Really.

That’s exactly what happened to Dota 2 pro and streamer Mason “mason” Venne, who was surprised to see his account banned after opening the gift from Valve in a clip now being widely shared online.

This might be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen relating to Dota. Well played Valve. pic.twitter.com/v37jGXHQK1

— Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) December 15, 2023

“What?!” mason exclaims as realisation sets in. “I got banned?! What? What if I just never opened it? Are they serious?”

In a follow-up post on the Dota 2 subreddit, mason admitted to and apologised for hiring a behaviour score farmer to boost his in-game behaviour score (Valve uses a behaviour score system in an attempt to promote positive behaviour and communication in Dota 2, which has a reputation for toxicity).

Mason has now pleaded with Valve to lift his ban. “I completely understand what I did was wrong, and I know it’s a hard ask, but I’m asking for leniency,” he said. “I have never in my 13 years of playing Dota 2 ever done anything like this, and when I realised it felt wrong and was the wrong way to go about things, I stopped it, sadly you can’t undo a mistake you made. I’m asking for a second chance, because I will never do anything like this again, and I never have in the past. There are no excuses, it was something born out of frustration but we all get frustrated and disappointed in our situation sometimes, doesn’t mean we get to bend the rules.”

It’s unclear whether Valve will lift the ban, but what is clear is that the company is taking a hard stance on Dota 2 players who break the rules. In a blog post explaining its position, Valve said it had some “bad news” for Dota 2 players it deemed to be on its “naughty list”… “because this year is gonna be a bloodbath.”

“You might remember back in September, we got out the ban hammer and permanently banned 90,000 smurf accounts,” Valve continued. “Since then, we’ve continued to invest in player behaviour monitoring, on both the manual and automatic analysis fronts. Over the last few weeks, we’ve engaged in an even more aggressive ban wave, including many tens of thousands of smurf account bans today alone.

“At The International, some pro players reached out to us to talk about their smurf accounts. Those conversations have continued, and there’s broad agreement amongst pros that banning pro smurf accounts is a win for Dota as a community: the rules should apply to everybody, and from now on they will. And smurfing isn’t even the only naughty thing players are getting up to. Amongst other questionable choices, some bad actors are playing like jerks, ruining games and losing behaviour score because of it, then hiring behaviour score farmers to drive it back up.

“Regardless of how you’ve been naughty, we’ve been watching you (not while you’re sleeping, calm down) and we’re cracking down on all of it. Punishments will be handed out for all of the above, including behaviour score penalties — and in serious cases, main account bannings.

“As we’ve said before, smurfing (and other negative behaviour) makes matches worse, and we want to make sure your matches are as good as possible as we head into the new year. So we’d like to wish everyone a Happy Frostivus Update! Except smurf accounts, who we assume will not enjoy the update as they choke on their richly-deserved coal-flavoured just desserts.”

Image credit: Twitch

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.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available on Xbox, but don’t expect it on Game Pass anytime soon. Speaking with IGN in an interview soon to be published in full, Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke explained why the award-winning role-playing game won’t be part of Xbox’s subscription service.

“Oh, we always said from the get-go, it wasn’t going to be on Game Pass, it’s not going to be on Game Pass,” Vincke said when asked whether Xbox had tried to pay the studio to put Baldur’s Gate 3 on the service.

Describing it as a “sensitive question,” Vincke pointed out that Larian Studios is in the business of “making a game that has a beginning, middle, and an end.” He also touted Baldur’s Gate 3’s lack of microtransactions, which has been praised in some quarters.

“We made a big game, so I think there’s a fair price to be paid for that, and I think that that is okay. We don’t charge you any micro-transactions on top of it, so you get what you pay for. Upfront it’s a big meaty game. So I think that should be able to exist as it is. This is what allows us to continue making other games,” Vincke says.

Vincke isn’t wrong. According to IGN sister site HowLongToBeat, a completionist run in Baldur’s Gate 3 can take upwards of 144 hours. Many fans are even playing through Baldur’s Gate 3 multiple times as they try unique routes like the Dark Urge.

Vincke’s hard stance against putting Baldur’s Gate 3 on Game Pass stands in contrast to Starfield, which was available on the subscription service from launch. The closely watched launch yielded solid returns, with Starfield being the best-selling game of September 2023 in the U.S. Elsewhere, the service’s relative costs and benefits have been hotly debated, with some independent developers coming out strongly in favor of it while publishers like Take-Two called it “value destructive.”

The creator of an unofficial PC port of Game Boy Color classic Link’s Awakening that went viral on social media this week has pulled it offline after receiving a takedown notice from Nintendo.

Creator ‘linksawakeningdxhd’ uploaded a PC port of 1998’s Link’s Awakening DX complete with HD visuals, 120fps scrolling, and widescreen support, to itch.io. But the game’s files were suspended following a copyright claim.

The takedown notice was published on itch.io, and is reproduced in full below:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am an authorized representative of Nintendo of America Inc., owner of the following copyrighted material:

PA0002212311 (The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening) and PA0000772666 (Legend of Zelda : Link’s awakening (Game Boy version).

It has come to our attention that the following game, https://linksawakeningdxhd.itch.io/links-awakening-dx-hd, offered on Itch.io infringes and makes unauthorized use of Nintendo’s copyrights in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening video game.

For additional information visit Nintendo’s website at the following URLs:

https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/game-boy-nintendo-switch-online-switc…

https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/the-legend-of-zelda-links-awakening-s…

Please act expeditiously to remove the download and information page for the infringing game.

I have a good faith belief that the material is not authorized by the intellectual property owner, its agent, or the law. The information provided in the notice is accurate, and I swear under penalty of perjury that I am authorized to make the complaint on behalf of the intellectual property owner.

Sincerely,

Nintendo Legal

Nintendo of America Inc.

4600 150th Avenue NE

Redmond, WA 98052

425-882-2040

dmca@noa.nintendo.com

The port drew attention because it let players zoom out to get a complete view of Koholint Island, with all the NPCs and enemies remaining active.

I’ve found out that there’s a port of Zelda Link’s Awakening for PC and I’m amazed with it. This version not only offers widescreen support, but the game now runs at a single screen without any transitions and you can zoom out to see more of the overworld. pic.twitter.com/yQBbbFeytn

— Vinícius Medeiros (@VinciusMedeiro6) December 13, 2023

It comes as no surprise to see Nintendo take action here. The company behind Mario has a reputation for taking swift action against fan projects, which it has done multiple times over the years.

Indeed, Nintendo released an official Link’s Awakening remake of its own for the Switch back in 2019. “Updating the look but never losing the feel of the original, Link’s Awakening is a masterclass in remaking a classic,” we wrote in our 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.

It may have been developed by Harmonix – now a subsidiary of Epic Games – but Fortnite Festival is not Rock Band 5. Let’s get that out of the way immediately, because I’ve certainly already seen claims to the contrary. In fact, Fortnite Festival has more in common with the boy band Five than Rock Band 5; that is, it’s a transparently commercial exercise that simply switches the question “What if the Spice Girls were blokes?” with “What else can we sell for V-Bucks?”

It is also not Rock Band 4.1. Hell, it isn’t even really Rock Band Lite. To be fair, Fortnite Festival doesn’t actually make use of the Rock Band moniker, so it certainly does have the scope to be its own thing. It just doesn’t make use of it. Sticking so closely to the existing Rock Band formula does invite certain comparisons, especially with the DNA of its spiritual ancestor on full display (even down to identical instrument icons for the guitars, drums, and vocals). Unfortunately, those comparisons aren’t all that kind to Fortnite Festival, which isn’t a very fun or even particularly social music game in its current state.

Simply put, Fortnite Festival is a rhythm game now embedded in the Fortnite ecosystem. It’s one of three free new games rammed into Fortnite, along with LEGO Fortnite and Rocket Racing. Credit where credit is due, Festival is the only one of the three that really retains Fortnite’s aesthetic (LEGO Fortnite obviously makes use of the iconic minifigs instead, and Rocket Racing feels like an add-on for Rocket League that got accidentally pasted into the wrong product). With Fortnite’s history of celebrity musician appearances and in-game concerts, it isn’t even a weird fit for a Fortnite mode. Plus, as a lover of all things rock and/or roll and a firm disliker of PvP shooters, anything that gets people to trade the staccato of an assault rifle for a snare drum is okay with me.

At least, it’s okay in principle. In practice, Fortnite Festival is currently undone by its ditching of the best parts of the music games that inspired it – like local multiplayer and singing – and its fixation with grossly-inflated digital purchases and other typical service game shenanigans.

Fortnite Festival features two modes: Main Stage, which is where the core, scored button-bashing rhythm action occurs, and Jam Stage, which is a low-stakes musical sandbox where you can (in theory) build new mixes of songs with other players by layering separate guitar, drum, and vocal tracks on top of each other. Main Stage can be played alone or with up to three friends or random players online, although it largely feels and looks the same either way. With no ability to see your bandmates’ note highways, there’s little distinction between playing solo and playing with other humans. As stressed, there’s no splitscreen or local multiplayer, completely shelving the best thing about music games like Rock Band. That is, turning the volume up to 11 and playing co-op with friends and family in the same room.

There’s been no radical reinvention of the standard rhythm game template here; notes scroll down the screen in typical Guitar Hero and Rock Band fashion, and we tap them as they pass. With no official support for pre-existing instrument controllers right now (although that is coming, we’re told), and vocals mapped to buttons instead of actually letting you sing into a mic, it’s presently only built for controllers and keyboards. This makes Fortnite Festival feel more like Harmonix’s own controller-only rhythm games, including Frequency, Amplitude, and Rock Band Blitz, although it’s not quite as elegant as those. While those games were purpose-built for controllers and included extra elements like the ability to switch between instrument tracks on the fly, Fortnite Festival is just… Rock Band on a gamepad, and it’s a little like playing a light gun game on an analogue stick. Yeah, it works, but it doesn’t feel like quite the right way to play it.

Requiring four buttons on the lower difficulties and five on expert, Harmonix sensibly splits its note charts down the middle, so the songs stop short of ever requiring double-presses on the same side of a gamepad (not that it’s even possible to hold down left and right on the D-pad at the same time, anyway). This does mean, if you’re limber and accurate enough, you may be able to get away with just using your thumbs. That said, I had better results on expert holding the controller unconventionally and hovering over every button from above with a different finger (a little like how my wife uses a controller when she’s playing Tekken, resting the controller on her knee like she’s trying to beat people up via a tiny typewriter).

Essentially, that’s about all there is to it. There’s no real sense of any progression, like moving from simple songs to tricky ones like Guitar Hero, or the tour approach of Rock Band. You just sit in your home, alone, playing the same slim selection of songs over and over to… tick boxes and unlock… new jpegs of The Weeknd for your loading screen? I’m gathering that accumulating stuff is the Fortnite formula, but I’m not seeing the appeal.

New songs have been arriving in Fortnite Festival since the weekend, but they don’t appear to be hovering long in the available playlist. Songs owned by other players in your band do appear in the list of tracks everyone in your party can browse while creating your session’s four-song setlist, but if you want the freedom to play a song indefinitely you’ll need to buy it yourself. As someone who’s been regularly buying Rock Band DLC since the 2007 original, that’s something I would have no problem with if the songs were priced respectfully. Unfortunately, they aren’t.

At 500 “V-Bucks” per song that equates to USD$4.50, AUD$6, and £3.50 in the UK – so approximately double the price of Rock Band DLC and around three times what the actual bands themselves charge for the songs on iTunes. Rock Band 4 has 65 songs on it, which means replicating that selection in Fortnite Festival in Australia would cost me just under $400. No thanks.

Of course, Fortnite doesn’t just let you buy 500 V-Bucks. You can only buy them in minimum increments of 1,000. I’ll admit I’m a stranger in a strange land when it comes to Fortnite, but if this is the free-to-play world, you can keep it. I feel like I’m surrounded by a bunch of boiling frogs, when all I want to do is jump out of the water immediately.

I guess it could be worse – after all, there appears to be a single car for Rocket Racing on here for 4,000 V-Bucks. One car, for the price of an entire video game. Regardless, there’s just no chance I would ever invest this sort of money. That it comes in the wake of what may be the most consumer-friendly DLC in the business (Rock Band DLC owners have had their song libraries follow them across three console generations for no additional charge, meaning Rock Band 4 still supports Rock Band 1 DLC people bought over 15 years ago) is doubly galling.

The second way to play Fortnite Festival is the Jam Stage, which is an open area packed with a variety of stages you can use to group up with friends or strangers and mix song samples with each other. It’s a little like if you explained Fuser (RIP) and DropMix to someone in a crowded bar, and they went home and built a Fortnite mod out of it from notes they made on a napkin with a blunt pencil. Like in Fuser, you can change the key and tempo – and as a mediocre musician I do have an admiration for anything that helps non-musicians engage with music in a way that may guide them to identify its layers and perhaps appreciate it differently – but it feels like any momentarily decent mash-ups that are created in this environment are strictly by accident. Also, with the song prices being what they are, it would take an extraordinary amount of money to have a sample crate at your disposal that’s anywhere near as robust as the one in Fuser.

You can’t keep a good deal down. Walmart still has the Xbox Series X down to $349. That’s $150 off the MSRP of a phenomenal current-gen video game console complete with a 4K Blu-ray compatible disc drive. This is a better deal than what we saw during Black Friday or Cyber Monday. It even arrives before Christmas, and this would make an amazing Christmas gift.

Note that this Xbox is in stock in select areas. If you see it for $349, then it’s in stock and ready for delivery in your zip code. However, if you see the price at $399.99, then it’s out of stock and likely sold by a Walmart marketplace vendor (not Walmart direct).

Best Xbox Series X Deal: $349

For the record, this is a far better deal than the $439 price we saw during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Sometimes it pays to wait, apparently, even during the biggest sale event of the year. But it probably doesn’t pay to wait right now, as stock will likely be limited, and the price could go up any time.

The Xbox Series X is a current generation system able to drive 4K games at up to a glorious 120fps. It is technically a more powerful system than the PS5 and games that are compatible with both consoles usually perform better on the Xbox console. Compared to the $300 Xbox Series S, the X features more powerful hardware to enable it to run games in 4K (the Xbox Series S runs games at 1440p). The Xbox Series X also has a disc drive that can play 4K Blu-ray movies and physical game media and 1TB of internal storage.

Trapped Limbo, the second DLC for Atomic Heart, is out on February 6, 2024, publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Mundfish announced today.

Atomic Heart’s second DLC is set “immediately after the end of the main game” but is also “continuing a different ending” from the first DLC, Annihilation Instinct, released in August.

Trapped Limbo will introduce some new sections in the game as players assist P-3 as they explore the depths of his mind, navigating challenging platforms and unraveling the secrets of not only P-3’s past but also the world of Limbo. As well as the release date for the next Atomic Heart DLC, Focus Entertainment also shared a new trailer, which you can check out below.

A release date was expected for the next Atomic Heart DLC after Focus Entertainment shared a teaser trailer in late September as part of Tokyo Game Show 2023. Much like Annihilation Instinct, the Trapped Limbo DLC is included in the Atomic Pass, in addition to those who buy the Gold or Premium Editions of Atomic Heart.

“Atomic Heart is a highly imaginative, atompunk-inspired attempt at picking up where the likes of BioShock left off that makes missteps but definitely has the ticker to punch well above its weight,” we wrote in our review of Atomic Heart earlier this year.

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

Ubisoft has delisted its online-only racing game The Crew as it winds down post-launch support for the title, with servers confirmed to shut down early 2024.

Heading to The Crew’s official Steam page, the game is no longer available for purchase on Valve’s digital storefront. Yet the Steam version is not the only one delisted, as the digital versions on Xbox and PlayStation are also unavailable, in addition to the store page on the Ubisoft store. However, the Xbox version mentions the game is still available on the subscription service Ubisoft+.

In addition to The Crew being removed from purchase on all digital platforms, Ubisoft revealed on the Steam page that the servers will remain online until March 31, 2024. After that, “the game will not be accessible anymore.”

Released in 2014, The Crew was co-developed by Ivory Towers and Ubisoft Reflections. When it was announced in 2013, The Crew stood out as a game that fused the arcade action from racing games like Need for Speed with MMO and RPG-sprinkled elements inside a massive open world.

The Crew has spawned into a franchise that includes two additional games: The Crew 2, released in 2018, and The Crew Motorfest, released this past September on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.

In IGN’s review of The Crew, we said: “The Crew is truly massive and packed with racing but it’s let down by its dated appearance and frustrating AI.”

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

Now that PS5 consoles are regularly available to buy, it’s an excellent time to start picking up games, accessories, and hardware for it. What’s even better is when you can find all of those things at a discounted price.

TL;DR – Best PS5 Deals Right Now

Below, you can find a variety of different sales on everything from games to SSDs and even information on where to buy a PS5 now. You can even grab a couple of different PS5 bundles at the moment, mainly the Spider-Man 2 PS5 bundle which can come with either the standard console or the brand new Slim model.

Navigate to:

• Spider-Man 2 PS5 Bundle
• DualSense Controller Deals
• Best PS5 SSD Deals
• Best PS5 Video Game Deals (Physical)
• When Should I Buy a PS5?

Get Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 In This PS5 Bundle

Right now, at a couple of retailers, you can save on a Spider-Man 2 PS5 bundle which includes the brand-new game alongside the standard console and a DualSense wireless controller. It’ll set you back $499, which is 11% off its usual price of $559.99. You can also save on this bundle with the new Slim PS5 console, which we’ve listed below.

Purchase Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for PS5

If you just want to get your hands on the game instead, have no fear, we’ve got you covered there as well. Below you can find links to purchase Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 at a variety of retailers.

Where to Buy Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

• Get it at Amazon – $69.99
• Get it at Best Buy – $69.99
• Get it at GameStop – $69.99
• Get it at Walmart – $69.99

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PlayStation Plus Season of Play Membership Promotion

From December 11 to 17, PlayStation is running Season of Play, which offers a variety of excellent discounts and surprises for new and returning players. If you fall in the former category, you can save 30% on 12 month Extra or Premium membership plans. This is well worth taking advantage of, especially if you want to surprise someone with a PS Plus membership this holiday season.

Select DualSense Controllers Are On Sale: Get 8% Off

While Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals have largely passed at this point, you can still find a couple of DualSense controllers discounted at the moment. Options like the Midnight Black and the standard White version are down to $69, which is a nice 8% off, or you can save a couple bucks on the Gray Camo controller.

TeamGroup T-Force A440 Pro PS5 SSD for $65

Could your PS5 use more storage? Prices have been plummeting since Sony started letting people upgrade their SSDs. Right now you can get a TeamGroup T-Force A440 Pro 1TB for $65.35. It’s hard to beat the recent Prime Day we had, and this doesn’t match the best 1TB deal at $50 during that sale, but it’s pretty close. Now’s a great time, in general, to pick up a PS5-compatible SSD.

More PS5 SSD Deals:

• ADATA 2TB Premium SSD for $99.99
• Silicon Power 4TB XS70 for $254.99
• Silicon Power 2TB XS70 for $119.97
• Silicon Power 1TB XS70 for $74.99
• SAMSUNG 980 PRO 1TB SSD for $119.15
• XPG GAMMIX S70 Blade 1TB SSD for $79.99
• Corsair MP600 PRO LPX 2TB for $119.99

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Get 43% Off Final Fantasy XVI for PlayStation 5 & More Game Deals

If you’re still hoping to find great deals on games ahead of the holidays, we have good news! There are still quite a few games discounted at the moment. One of our favorites is this deal on Final Fantasy XVI for PS5, which is available for $39.99 (43% off its MSRP of $69.99), but you can find more great deals below.

More PS5 Video Game Deals:

• Mortal Kombat 1 (PS5) for $59.00
• Marvel’s Midnight Suns Enhanced Edition (PS5) for $28.25
• Dying Light 2 Stay Human for $29.99
• A Plague Tale: Requiem (PS5) for $33.00
• Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1 (PS5) for $39.99
• NBA 2K24 Kobe Bryant Edition – PS5 for $34.99
• ASSASSIN’S CREED MIRAGE – DELUXE EDITION (PS5) for $39.99

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PlayStation Deals: Budget to Best

It doesn’t need to have a massive discount to be a good deal, so we thought it would be a great idea to pick out our absolute favorite PS5 and PlayStation offerings that would be relevant to buy no matter the time of year, or the sales going on. From the latest DualSense controllers, to the very best PS5 SSDs on the market, we’ve got it all right here.

More PS5 Budget to Best Picks

• Pulse 3D Wireless Headset for $99.00
• DualSense Charging Station for $29.99
• PowerA Twin Charging Station DualSense for $24.88

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Get 20% Off the Razer Kaira Pro Gaming Headset

There’s no shortage of PS5-compatible headsets. If you’re constantly having to turn down the volume when you play, you might want to pick up one of these, then you can listen to your games as loud as you darn well please. And if you’d like to see even more options that are worth buying, check out our collection of the best gaming headsets.

More PS5 Gaming Headset Deals:

• SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless Gaming Headset for $99.99
• Astro A10 Gaming Headset Gen 2 for $49.99

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When Should I Buy a PS5?

Availability has significantly improved for PS5 consoles this year. This means you no longer need to wait for specific sale events like Black Friday to make your purchase, as retailers such as Amazon are likely to offer the same console bundles during various sales throughout the year. Therefore, if you are in need of a PS5, there’s no real reason to delay your purchase and you can take advantage of any available sale.

If you’re desperate to pick up a console before the likes of Spider-Man 2, go ahead and buy one as they’re now regularly available. However, it’s worth noting that during sales Black Friday, there may be new unique bundles and promotions for the PS5 that are not offered at any other time of the year, such as the God of War Ragnarok bundle for $499 that is now out of stock and not available at the time of writing.

With how expensive gaming is getting in 2023, we’re trying to save you as much money as possible on the games and other tech you actually want to buy. We’ve got great deal roundups available for all major platforms such as Switch and Xbox, and keep these updated daily with brand new offers. If you’re trying to keep costs down while maintaining your favorite hobby, stay tuned for more incredible discounts.

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Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

The developer of Steam disaster The Day Before has insisted it really is shutting down after scepticism emerged online following what looked like an attempt to change the company name.

The Day Before was once Steam’s most-wishlisted game, but following its Early Access launch last week it was met with backlash for failing to deliver a game even close to what was promised.

IGN’s The Day Before review returned a rare 1/10. We said: “The Day Before is easily one of the worst games I’ve ever played, to the point where I’m afraid to continue running it on my PC — and if you didn’t manage to try it, you can count yourself as one of the lucky ones.”

With player numbers in free-fall and an ‘overwhelmingly negative’ user review rating on Steam, The Day Before developer Fntastic made the shock announcement that it was closing down. Soon after, Fntastic removed the purchase button on the game’s Steam page and wiped its presence from the internet. All this just four days after The Day Before launched in Early Access.

Amid refund chaos, players spotted that the name of the developer of Fntastic’s previous survival action-adventure, The Wild Eight, was changed from Fntastic to Eight Points on Steam. This sparked speculation that Fntastic was not shutting down, but attempting to leave its tarnished reputation behind by changing its name.

Speaking to Eurogamer, The Wild Eight publisher Hype Train Digital insisted the change was made because of a deluge of negative reviews received following The Day Before’s launch.

“Fntastic was the original developer of The Wild Eight, but after the game’s release in Early Access, the developers decided to discontinue work on the project due to internal reasons within the studio,” reads the statement. “Hypetrain Digital took over the development independently. All business relations with Fntastic were terminated in 2017.”

Despite this, The Wild Eight is sat on a ‘very negative’ user review rating for recent reviews, and an ‘mostly positive’ user review rating for all reviews.

Fntastic, which sparked further backlash this week when it responded to an angry customer by saying “s**t happens”, tweeted again to address the speculation. “We’re closing,” it said. “Rumours suggesting we have changed our name are not true. We have not been affiliated with The Wild Eight for many years.”

Then: “And refunds on Steam are available for any customer who chooses to return The Day Before, regardless of the number of hours or days they have spent playing it. Steam confirmed this.”

With The Day Before seemingly dead, the future of the brand and IP is in the hands of publisher Mytona, which is reported to have invested heavily into Fntastic for the development and release of the game.

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.