Category: IGN

Call of Duty cheat provider, Phantom Overlay, is reportedly shutting down.

In a statement posted to Telegram, the cheat provider declined to comment on why it was closing down “immediately,” adding: “This is not an exit scam and no external entity could ever compel me to exit scam my customers. I’ll keep everything updated, safe, and online for 32 days longer.”

The reason Phantom Overlay is committed to staying online for 32 days is to ensure people with a 30-day key “get their full money’s worth.” The cheat creator also said they would partially refund lifetime keys, too.

Crucially, many other cheat providers piggyback off Phantom Overlay’s systems, so this shock closure could have a broader impact on the cheating ecosystem.

“I can’t believe it!!” commented one gamer on X, formerly known as Twitter (thanks, Dexerto). “Does this mean the Season 3 cheat update is really gonna work?!”

Other commenters were less convinced, with one stating: “They’re just rebranding. They have the same provider under multiple names/brands. The cheaters won’t stop.”

Activision recently admitted its Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 anti-cheat efforts “did not hit the mark” at the Launch of Season 1, particularly for Ranked Play after initially pledging to kick cheaters out of the game within one hour of them being in their first match.

It did, however, assure players it now routinely bans cheaters due to increased “velocity” from several Ricochet Anti-Cheat systems, in addition to the over 19,000 accounts it recently removed.

The apparent prevalence of cheaters is considered by some to be ruining competitive multiplayer, and Activision had come under fire for failing to address the problem. Things got so bad that last month, with the release of Season 2, Activision let console Ranked players disable crossplay with PC players.

Cheating is not unique to Call of Duty, of course, but it has become more problematic for Activision ever since it released free-to-download battle royale Warzone in 2020. But despite investing millions of dollars developing its anti-cheat technology — as well as pursuing cheat makers in the courts, with a number of recent high-profile successes — fans remain sceptical of the Ricochet system.

In related news, earlier today, we reported it looks like we’ll finally find out more about the return of Call of Duty Warzone‘s much-loved Verdansk map on March 10.

Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Rockstar has acquired Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition developer Video Games Deluxe and renamed it Rockstar Australia.

Video Games Deluxe has a history of working with Rockstar on a number of games, including the 2017 re-releases of L.A. Noire, L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files, and most recently on upgrades to Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition for iOS and Android, Netflix, and modern consoles.

It’s not to be confused with Grove Street Games, which came under fire for the poor quality of the original Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition in 2021, and whose boss said it was a “d**k move” to have been removed from the game’s credits after the recent, long-awaited update went live.

“After working together closely over many years, we are excited to have Video Games Deluxe join the team as Rockstar Australia,” said Rockstar Games Head of Publishing, Jennifer Kolbe.

Video Games Deluxe was founded by Brendan McNamara, the founder of L.A. Noire developer Team Bondi. Back in 2011, allegations of horrendous working conditions at Team Bondi during the development of L.A. Noire hit the internet. The studio later closed down, and McNamara kept a relatively low profile ever since.

“It’s been an honor to work closely with Rockstar Games this past decade,” McNamara said in a comment issued as part of the acquisition announcement.

“We are thrilled to be a part of Rockstar Games and to continue our efforts to make the best games possible.”

The establishment of Rockstar Australia comes ahead of the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6, which is still set for release fall 2025.

In December 2023, a former developer at Rockstar attempted to explain why GTA 6 is coming to PC after it hits PS5 and Xbox Series X and S, and called on PC gamers to give the studio the “benefit of the doubt” over its controversial launch plans.

We’ve got plenty more on GTA 6, including Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick’s response to concern about the fate of GTA Online once GTA 6 comes out.

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 looks like we’ll finally find out more about the return of Call of Duty Warzone‘s much-loved Verdansk map on March 10.

Activision first confirmed Verdansk would be making a return to Warzone last August, but at the time the publisher would only commit to a vague “spring 2025” window and not a specific date.

Now, however, players visiting the Call of Duty shop get a pop-up that reads: “The Verdansk Collection,” and a countdown that looks set to explore a week today, on March 10, 2025 (thanks, InsiderGaming).

You know your video game has made it when it gets a Thomas the Tank engine mod. Skyrim, Resident Evil 2, Fallout 4, Elden Ring… the list of blockbuster games blessed with the terrifying sight and sound of Thomas is legend. Now, add Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 to the list.

It’s the latest work of Tom, aka Warhammer Workshop, the modder behind Space Marine 2’s excellent Astartes Overhaul. He’s added Thomas the Tank engine to the Ballistic Engine PvE mission, which is a perfect fit given it features an Imperial train station in which the Space Marines must escort a fusion battery that comes under attack from waves of Tyranids.

Space Marine 2’s Thomas the Tank Engine mod is a work-in-progress, and still needs the audio effects fans have grown to love, but it’s available to download from the Space Marine 2 Modding Hub Discord now if you fancy giving it a shot.

Check out how it looks in-game in the clip below:

Tom created some very Warhammer 40,000 flavor text to go along with the release of this mod, which fans of the franchise will enjoy:

Many of you are aware of the tribulations that have beset our sacred modding efforts.

In the face of these trials, I — reckless and desperate — made certain unwise vows to the dark and unknowable Saber Gods.

For a time, I faltered, my obligations left unmet, my soul teetering on the brink of damnation.

But no longer.

Through toil and sacrifice, through the wailing of machine spirits and the lamentations of my own sanity,

I have done what must be done.

THOMAS. HAS. COME.

A daemon-engine of unspeakable horror, an abomination of iron and heresy, a thing that should not be, and yet — here it is.

The warp has opened, and it has delivered unto us something far worse than any Black Crusade.

🔥🚂 THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE IS READY FOR WAR. 🚂🔥

His whistle drowns out the cries of the fallen.

His smile is an unblinking omen of annihilation.

The Emperor weeps. The Omnissiah recoils.

And yet, it is we who must bear witness.

Steel yourselves, warriors. Once you see him, you can never unsee him.

This train has no brakes.

Speaking to IGN (as a human from this reality), Tom said he’s also got a few other fun mods in the works, hinting at “a certain green ogre and a particularly mischievous goose.”

“As far as Thomas goes, while Saber obviously loves Warhammer, I think they were also excited to see some of the more meme-worthy mods — the kind of thing that’s fun to share around the office,” Tom added.

“There may or may not have been an unofficial understanding that modding tools wouldn’t be released until Thomas made his grand arrival.”

Saber has had an up and down relationship with Space Marine 2 modders ever since the game’s massive launch last year, but official tools are set to be released to the community further down the line, and the developer has shown a willingness to work with modders and enable them in-game in certain situations.

Meanwhile, Saber has released early Update 7 patch notes, teased Horde mode, and stamped out live service game talk amid a backlash to ‘FOMO’ Community Events. Earlier this year, Saber addressed growing frustration over a lack of content and outlined what players can expect from Space Marine 2 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.

Steam, the most popular digital game distributor for PC players, has once again broken its own concurrent user record, breaching 40 million players for the first time.

Over the weekend — which just so happened to coincide with Monster Hunter Wilds‘ launch on Friday, February 28 — Steam logged 40,270,997 simultaneous players, breaking its previous record of 39.9 million players set in February 2025.

In fact, according to SteamDB, Steam’s concurrent record, seen by some as a way of measuring the success of Valve’s digital platform, has been broken almost every single month since May 2024, with the concurrent peak rising from 35.5 million users to 40.2 million in a little more than six months.

And while that number includes idle players — that is, players with Steam open but not necessarily using it — the number of users actively in a game has hit a new record, too, jumping from 12.5 million to 12.8 million.

Steam saw a surge in player peaks across most of 2024, breaking its record twice in March and then again in July. This new peak is likely due to the release of Monster Hunter Wilds, which saw a 24-hour concurrent use peak of 1.38 million players, although 1.7 million also people logged onto Counter-Strike 2, too, with PUBG, Dota 2, and Marve Rivals also clocking up impressive 24-hour user peaks of 819,541, 657,780, and 268,283, respectively.

However, Monster Hunter Wilds has a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, which has led to Capcom publishing official guidance for PC performance issues. Meanwhile, Capcom has announced early details for Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 1, which is set to add an endgame social hub for players.

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

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

Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

The weekend is officially here, and we’ve rounded up the best deals you can find! Discover the best deals for Sunday, March 2, below:

Nintendo Switch OLED for $269.99

IGN Plus members can score a free Steam key of EvilVEvil for PC! This cooperative shooter throws waves of enemies at players in a wide variety of environments, making for an action-packed experience that you don’t want to miss. You can control numerous vampires and utilize their abilities to work together and stop the enemies before you. Keys for this reward are limited, so don’t wait to claim yours!

Claim a Free EvilVEvil Key!

The weekend is officially here, and we’ve rounded up the best deals you can find! Discover the best deals for Saturday, March 1, below:

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for $34.19

Did you see our reveal of Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy crossover last week and think to yourself, “video games are all well and good, but where are the superheroes?” Well then do I have great news for you: Today we’ve got a first look at six new cards from Magic’s upcoming Spider-Man set, as well as all the products and packaging that will accompany it.

Click through the image gallery below to see all the Spider-Man cards, booster packs, Welcome Decks, and more, and read on to hear about the set from Wizards of the Coast.

Arriving September 26, Marvel’s Spider-Man will be the second fully draftable, Standard-legal set in Magic’s Universes Beyond line of products after Final Fantasy, and the third overall after 2023’s Modern-legal Lord of the Rings set. It won’t have any preconstructed Commander decks like you might expect, but the cards in the Scene Box shown above won’t be Standard-legal, and are instead designed with Commander in mind.

While a Secret Lair with Wolverine, Captain America, and more was the first step Magic took into the Marvel universe last year, Spider-Man will also be the first full set inspired by the comics so far. Wizards of the Coast Executive Producer Max McCall says that’s because they just wouldn’t have had room for all of the characters and moments they wanted to include from Spider-Man if they had made a smaller product instead.

“Spider-Man needs a full set to do justice to the character, and incorporate the many villains he’s come across over the years,” McCall explains. “Picking characters from the Spider-Man canon as part of a wider set would leave far too many characters on the cutting room floor. We could probably have found room for Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales in a non-Spider-Man specific set, but there wouldn’t have been room for Aunt May.”

McCall says that designing for a Universes Beyond set “flips the worldbuilding on its head,” in that a typical Magic set needs its cards to lay the groundwork of its location and setting while also being fun to play with in order to get players on board, whereas most people already have some familiarity with a character like Spider-Man. “When we make a card that speaks to great power bearing great responsibility, there’s room to add mechanical complexity because folks understand the story the card is telling. We don’t have to make Universes Beyond cards that are ‘simple’ – we just have to pick moments that are recognizable, and they’ll be easy for fans to understand.”

As for how exactly they translate those moments and the world around them into a Magic set, Head Designer Mark Rosewater tells me Magic’s color pie “is robust enough that we have the ability to show heroism and villainy in all five colors.” As an example, Rosewater says Spider-Man would be white, blue, and green (although the specific version in the Scene Box above is only those first two).

“Spider-Man feeling obligated to use his power to help people is core to him being part of the white color pie. Spider-Man is also the product of science, being bitten by a radioactive spider. This, and Peter’s aptitude for science and invention (like his web-slingers) is very blue. Finally, Spider-Man’s powers are based on an animal, and the comics have shown that there is a certain destiny to his connection to both spiders and the Spider-Man universe, which is all core green.”

In addition to the Scene Box, the set will have the usual Play Boosters, Collector Boosters, Bundles, and Prerelease Packs, all of which can also be seen in the gallery above with more details. And while there won’t be any preconstructed Commander decks, this will mark the return of Welcome Decks – those are themed introductory decks typically given out by game stores for free so that new players can have a low-pressure way to learn the game.

In addition to this year’s Final Fantasy set, Wizards of the Coast also recently announced a set themed around Avatar: The Last Airbender. There will also be two more in-universe sets before that in Tarkir: Dragontsorm and the space-themed Edge of Eternities.

Read on for the full, unedited interview with Wizards of the Coast’s Max McCall and Mark Rosewater:

IGN: Wizards of the Coast obviously has big long-term plans for Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Marvel, but why did you start with Spider-Man when it comes to the first full set in that universe?

Max McCall, Executive Producer: Spider-Man needs a full set to do justice to the character, and incorporate the many villains he’s come across over the years. Picking characters from the Spider-Man canon as part of a wider set would leave far too many characters on the cutting room floor. We could probably have found room for Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales in a non-Spider-Man specific set, but there wouldn’t have been room for Aunt May. We could include Green Goblin, but not the full Sinister Six. Spider-Man has so many iconic moments and characters that we wanted to make sure we got as many as possible onto the cards, and a Spider-Man set was the best way to do that.

You’ve spoken previously about how you see Universes Beyond as a great way to introduce new players to Magic, and Spider-Man seems primed to be an especially good example of that. With that new player experience in mind, did you approach this set differently than you would a Universes Within set in any ways?

MM: Designing Universes Beyond sets is an interesting challenge because it flips the worldbuilding on its head. Cards designed for a new world like Bloomburrow have to introduce folks to the world in addition to being fun game pieces. Cards designed for Spider-Man don’t have to introduce people to Spider-Man – everyone’s familiar with Spider-Man at some level – but they do have to pay off folks’ conception of the characters and the big canon moments.

That is a huge opportunity when designing for an acquisition audience – new players are going to recognize the story moments we put on cards. So, when we make a card that speaks to great power bearing great responsibility, there’s room to add mechanical complexity because folks understand the story the card is telling. We don’t have to make Universes Beyond cards that are ‘simple’ – we just have to pick moments that are recognizable, and they’ll be easy for fans to understand.

Can you talk a bit about how you fit Spider-Man’s characters or themes into Magic’s color pie?

Mark Rosewater, Head Designer: In terms of Magic’s color pie, Spider-Man is white, blue and green. Spider-Man feeling obligated to use his power to help people is core to him being part of the white color pie. Spider-Man is also the product of science, being bitten by a radioactive spider. This, and Peter’s aptitude for science and invention (like his web-slingers) is very blue. Finally, Spider-Man’s powers are based on an animal, and the comics have shown that there is a certain destiny to his connection to both spiders and the Spider-Man universe, which is all core green.

Are there any challenges to keeping those colors both interesting and accurate in a Super Hero universe?

MR: The color pie is robust enough that we have the ability to show heroism and villainy in all five colors. Every color has positive and negative qualities allowing us to have a lot of nuances to how we use them.

I imagine “spider typal” Commander decks are about to get some unexpected new toys across this set – do you take any special considerations into account when a common Magic creature type holds a very different meaning in the context of a Universes Beyond setting?

MM: Specifics matter a lot with issues like this. Often, we’re playing in the same trope space as our Universes Beyond partners – things like ‘assassins’ are rarely an issue. Spider-Man will of course contain many Spiders, but a lot of the deckbuilding hooks for those characters will key more into the Hero creature type.

The Final Fantasy set is going to stretch across many different games and stories, but should we expect this set to have a specific Spider-Man story, or are you treating it as a showcase of popular characters, events, and locations from the comics?

MM: Spider-Man features characters and stories from across its history – we’re not limiting ourselves to any one run or series.

Marvel comics are beloved by a huge audience, but there’s no denying that the MCU has dominated the public perception of these characters in recent years. Was it tricky to design around the comic book versions with that in mind, or did you enjoy getting back to some of their roots instead?

MR: The Marvel expansions are based on the comics, but we’re always aware of the movies’ impact, so we find overlap when we can. Luckily, the vast majority of the movie material was based on the comics.

With the Spider-Man scene box, why did you go the route of including four legendary creatures this time rather than building a box around a single character as a little Commander starter pack of sorts like the previous ones were?

MM: Scene boxes tell visual stories. Spider-Man’s storytelling is very character-driven and has a great rogue’s gallery, so we wanted to include as many characters as possible. You’re generally not going to have Spider-Man and villains in the same Commander deck, so once we committed to lots of characters, we knew that meant you wouldn’t be putting them all in the same deck, and so that made for a great opportunity to make each villain more distinct and emphasize their different goals and methods in the card designs.

Spider-Man is going to be included, of course, but how did you land on the other three characters for this debut?

MM: Doc Ock, Venom, and Green Goblin are of course way up there when you’re making a list of iconic Spider-Man villains, but the nature of those characters makes it easier to draw a scene where they all get equal visual weight. Green Goblin on his glider doesn’t get in the way of Doc Ock’s tentacles, and Venom can be lurking anywhere for a chance to strike – they all have their own space in the scene to shine.

Is it freeing to design cards for a product like this since they don’t have to fit into the context of a larger set or preconstructed deck?

MM: Yes – the goal is exciting, appealing cards, preferably light enough on text that the art can really shine throughout the scene. Not having mechanical constraints makes this much easier – they don’t have to pay off the rest of the set’s themes or mechanics, and that gives them room to be made charming and delightful of their own accord.

Tom Marks is IGN’s Executive Reviews Editor. He loves card games, puzzles, platformers, puzzle-platformers, and lots more.

LEGO announced earlier this year that we’d be getting new Minecraft Movie sets, and the time has finally come for them to be released into the world. There are four new Minecraft sets that you can now buy, with two of them featuring scenes from the upcoming film. These new sets are added to an ever-growing list of LEGO Minecraft sets that have been accumulating over the years.

Each of the new Minecraft Movie sets features minifigure mobs, but only two of the sets offer up a tiny Jack Black as Steve. You can currently purchase all of these sets from LEGO directly or any of the other best places to buy LEGO.

New LEGO Minecraft Sets Available Now

Although there are four new LEGO Minecraft sets coming out, the two that are associated with the movie are The Ghast Balloon Village Attack and Woodland Mansion Fighting Ring. Both sets give us an idea of what to expect from the upcoming film. The Woodland Mansion Fighting Ring depicts some sort of gladiator style battle with Jason Momoa fighting a baby zombie on a chicken. Meanwhile the Ghast Balloon Village Attack set reveals a marshamallow-like villain from the Nether.

The other two Minecraft sets that are releasing are The Parrot Houses and The Trial Chamber. For more like these, you can check out more of our favorite LEGO Minecraft sets.

When Does the New Minecraft Movie Come Out?

LEGO tends to release new sets tied to movie releases about a month before the actual release of the film. The new Minecraft sets are following the same timeline by coming out on March 1 seeing as A Minecraft movie is hitting theaters on April 4, 2025.

Will There Be More Minecraft Movie Sets?

So far the two sets we’ve featured above are the only ones set to release alongside the film. It’s possible this could change if the live-action Minecraft movie is a success. Either way, there are new LEGO Minecraft sets released fairly consistently and we can likely expect more to release later this year, even if it isn’t directly tied to the movie.