Remedy’s new multiplayer game set in the Control universe has been fully revealed for the first time under the name FBC: Firebreak.
Billed as a three-player co-op experience, it features a more colorful take on Remedy’s popular universe. The first gameplay trailer shows three characters in environmental suits battling a variety of enemies in fast-paced first-person gameplay. There’s also a garden gnome. Check out the trailer below.
In a follow-up post on Xbox Wire, director Mike Kayatta said that FBC: Firebreak is “not Control DLC and it’s definitely not a Control sequel.” Instead, Remedy calls it a game you can “enjoy with your friends and tackle multiple hectic co-op missions.”
It casts players as first responders from the Federal Bureau of Control battling enemies in The Oldest House using “paranatural augments,” which are “Altered Items” engineered into tool attachments. That apparently includes
“We have always done single player games at Remedy, and rest assured, we have more single player games in development, and they will be awesome, but for a long time we have wanted to make a PvE multiplayer game.,” Kayatta says. “There are loads of us here who love multiplayer besides single player. We don’t want to be doing the same types of games all the time; it’s good to take on new challenges.”
We wanted to make sure that FBC: Firebreak was a legitimate and impactful part of that history and lore
Notably, Remedy says that FBC won’t be a typical live service game. While there will be plenty to unlock and will feature a steady supply of fresh content, it won’t be geared around “logging in every day for some loot or fear of missing out on materials.” It will also feature plenty of new stories set in the world of Control, albeit with a somewhat different approach.
“For the people who are keeping up with the single-player journey, we wanted to make sure that FBC: Firebreak was a legitimate and impactful part of that history and lore. The narrative style you’ve seen in our previous games just wasn’t ever going to work here, for this kind of game,” Kayatta explains. “When you think about these differences in FBC: Firebreak’s gameplay – world over story, multiplayer over single-player, voice-chatting with your teammates, action over exploration and so on – you can probably see why it was important that we made FBC: Firebreak a stand-alone experience. That said, you will see more of Control’s world. More of the Federal Bureau of Control. Meet more of the people who work there. Explore more of the Oldest House. Run into more weird stuff. And importantly, experience this world, old and new, from a completely different perspective.”
In the meantime, work continues on Control 2, which is currently in the design stage of development. Remedy is also preparing new Alan Wake 2 DLC. As for FBC: Firebreaker, it’ll arrive in 2025 for Xbox Series X|S and PC, and will be available on day one on Xbox Game Pass. For more, check out everything announced at the Xbox Partner Showcase.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
Project Ethos is a new free-to-play third-person hero extraction shooter that mixes in roguelike elements. The main game of Project Ethos is an extraction mode. And while I was excited to finally see 31st Union’s first project since its formation in 2019, I couldn’t help but feel that a lot of the mechanics felt like they belonged in games from that year.
Here’s the thing: Project Ethos is fine as a game. It hits all the right notes as an extraction hero third-person shooter, but my first impression after a few hours of hands-on time is that it seems to fall short of delivering anything that’s truly genre-defying in either the roguelike or extraction shooter departments. In the preview, I was able to play six different heroes, each, as you’d expect, with their own abilities and weapons.
This forces players to really get comfortable with that character’s abilities as a secondary, since abilities in a hero shooter are meant to enhance your playstyle. Your gunplay comes first. And Project Ethos has some fun sets of weapons that I thoroughly enjoyed playing with. The learning curve with characters and abilities was fairly low, so new players won’t feel too out of the water entering Project Ethos.
Project Ethos has some fun sets of weapons that I thoroughly enjoyed playing with.
Trials mode is PvPvE, meaning you’ll be playing against real players as well as NPC enemies that exist in the map. The matches you queue into are persistent, meaning each time you enter a game, other players have been playing in that match for quite some time. You can see how much time is left in the match every time you queue in.
With persistent matches, this means that when you drop into a game, you may end up landing closer to some enemies who are running throughout the map. This also means you’ll encounter players who are higher level than you. Each Trials match has its own leveling system. You earn XP from collecting XP shards from different loot bins you come across, from killing enemies, and from completing events that randomly trigger throughout the map.
The events that could spawn into the map were a bit confusing at first blush. It was hard to see where some of the events were happening just by looking at the overall map. You’d have to really be looking at your immediate vicinity to find the local event, and then go activate it. After a few rounds of play, I got used to this method, but it was frustrating not to see the minor events on the map.
When you level up in a match, you’ll be able to pick one of three different power-ups for your character. There’s a pool of 27 different power-ups to build your playstyle. And this is where the roguelike element comes into play. You can earn up to nine different power-ups in one extraction run if you choose to stay in the game that long and level.
You can earn up to nine different power-ups in one extraction run if you choose to stay in the game that long and level.
The random events that spawn across the map involve different activities that will unlock a big loot chest with bigger XP boosts, weapon enhancements, and cores. Cores are the big-ticket items you’ll be wanting to collect in each run, since extracting with cores will let you buy augments in the main hub. These boost the ability to get power-ups faster, give you health drops from the NPC bots that you fight in game, and other bonuses.
None of these augments boost your damage towards other players, though, so it’s fairly balanced in that regard. Trials overall felt fairly balanced in gameplay, since you could decide to disengage from fights if things felt too dicey. It felt like a proper survival experience with your typical extraction shooters. While you could feel the imbalance of characters’ weapons, with one having a higher dps than the other, you still had the method of escaping to offset that issue.
In the second game mode I was able to play, called Gauntlet, there was no escaping. You’re put into a 3v3v3v3 matchup where you’re playing against another team in a small arena. The first team to score 3 victories, wins. You’re in a server full of other teams since who you face will change each time in a dutch round robin format.
This format pits the bottom half of the teams against the top half of the teams: Team 1 faces Team 5, Team 2 faces Team 6. By the definition of dutch round robin, you shouldn’t be facing a team more than twice. Regardless, this format was the one thing that worked for this game mode.
Project Ethos ultimately plays well, is enjoyable, and utilizes the extraction and roguelike aspects to its advantage, but at first impression, it fails at being a new experience that players will crave to experience over and over again.
Gauntlet really showed the imbalance of the character abilities and weapons, since you’re forced to face your opponents head-on with very little play space. The sniper character, Prism, is incredibly strong, and her primary beam weapon melts opponents quickly in close range, and her sniper rifle allows her to deal devastating damage from a distance. Pairing that with her E ability, where she throws up a prism field that increases the damage output, makes her an incredibly tough character to beat in Gauntlet.
In Gauntlet, you still have the roguelike element of having to choose from selections of your power-ups. This further displayed the imbalance of character damage and powers. However, I did like the competitive aspect of Gauntlet over Trials. It showed a lot of promise of what competitive play could feel like in Project Ethos.
The gameplay loop of Trials and Gauntlet are very cookie-cutter and unexciting. They aren’t experiences that you can’t get somewhere else that you’ve already invested your time in. Fortnite came to mind as I played Project Ethos, and I found myself comparing some of the mechanics that exist in Fortnite that Project Ethos could vastly benefit from.
Overall, I truly did enjoy my time with Project Ethos, but in the end I was left feeling disappointed with the game so far as a whole. Project Ethos ultimately plays well, is enjoyable, and utilizes the extraction and roguelike aspects to its advantage, but at first impression, it fails at being a new experience that players will crave to experience over and over again.
This milestone comes three and a half years after the couch co-op game’s launch on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation, with a Switch release following in November 2022. It Takes Two sold over one million units in the month following its launch, and its numbers have climbed steadily since. At last count in March of this year, it had reached 16 million units, a testimony to positive word-of-mouth and effusive critical praise helping the game continue to do well even years after release. And it helps that the game’s been on sale numerous times since launch – it’s just $9.99 (down from $39.99) on the PlayStation Store at the time of publication.
It Takes Two was showered with accolades on launch, earning a 9/10 review score from us where we called it “a spectacular co-op adventure that lays down a path of great gameplay ideas and uses it to play a giddy game of hopscotch.” It’s since settled at an 88 metascore on Metacritic and an 8.9 user score, and it won Game of the Year, Best Family Game, and Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards 2021. It also took home a Golden Joystick for Best Multiplayer Game, a GDC Award for Best Design, Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Game Design at the DICE Awards, and a BAFTA for Multiplayer Game and Original Property. A film adaptation is currently in the works at Amazon Studios, with Dawyne “The Rock” Johnson producing.
Meanwhile, developer Hazelight Studios, headed up by Josef Fares, has been relatively quiet since It Takes Two’s release. The studio’s first game, A Way Out, came out roughly three years before It Takes Two, leading to hopes that we may be due for another announcement from the devoted cooperative game studio any day now.
Update 8:22am PT: Literally 20 minutes after I wrote the above paragraph, Fares took to Twitter to tease his next game.
Getting a lot of questions about the next game. Here is a tease. It is a BRAND NEW IP called S*** ******N. Can’t wait to show it soon🔥
“Getting a lot of questions about the next game,” Fares wrote. “Here is a tease. It is a BRAND NEW IP called S*** ******N. Can’t wait to show it soon🔥”
The official Hazelight account then followed this up with an image of some documents labeled “NEW IP” with a release year scribbled out. The documents specify that the game, like A Way Out and It Takes Two, will be published under EA’s EA Originals label. Sounds like an announcement is, indeed, imminent.
Update 8:29pm PT: Two minutes after I posted the above update I checked my email and there was a note from PR specifying that Fares’ next game is, more specifically, “all-new co-op adventure”. Maybe if I publish this update and check my social feeds again, they’ll have just revealed the whole thing.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
This milestone comes three and a half years after the couch co-op game’s launch on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation, with a Switch release following in November 2022. It Takes Two sold over one million units in the month following its launch, and its numbers have climbed steadily since. At last count in March of this year, it had reached 16 million units, a testimony to positive word-of-mouth and effusive critical praise helping the game continue to do well even years after release. And it helps that the game’s been on sale numerous times since launch – it’s just $9.99 (down from $39.99) on the PlayStation Store at the time of publication.
It Takes Two was showered with accolades on launch, earning a 9/10 review score from us where we called it “a spectacular co-op adventure that lays down a path of great gameplay ideas and uses it to play a giddy game of hopscotch.” It’s since settled at an 88 metascore on Metacritic and an 8.9 user score, and it won Game of the Year, Best Family Game, and Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards 2021. It also took home a Golden Joystick for Best Multiplayer Game, a GDC Award for Best Design, Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Game Design at the DICE Awards, and a BAFTA for Multiplayer Game and Original Property. A film adaptation is currently in the works at Amazon Studios, with Dawyne “The Rock” Johnson producing.
Meanwhile, developer Hazelight Studios, headed up by Josef Fares, has been relatively quiet since It Takes Two’s release. The studio’s first game, A Way Out, came out roughly three years before It Takes Two, leading to hopes that we may be due for another announcement from the devoted cooperative game studio any day now.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
It looks like Konami and developer Bloober Team have successfully revived the Silent Hill franchise after the Silent Hill 2 remake hit an impressive sales milestone.
In a tweet, Konami said the Silent Hill 2 remake sold one million copies as of October 11, just four days after the game’s global release date.
This is thought to make the Silent Hill 2 remake the fastest-selling Silent Hill game ever, but Konami has yet to rubber stamp that potential record.
Silent Hill 2 remake launched across PC and PlayStation 5 (there’s no word on an Xbox Series X and S version yet), and met with critical acclaim. IGN’s Silent Hill 2 remake review returned an 8/10. We said: “Silent Hill 2 is a great way to visit – or revisit – one of the most dread-inducing destinations in the history of survival horror.”
The sales success of the Silent Hill 2 remake will perhaps embolden Konami’s plans for the franchise, which have ramped up significantly in recent years. Silent Hill f and Silent Hill: Townfall are both still in the works, but perhaps Konami will also continue to remake past Silent Hill games. There’s a film adaptation of Silent Hill 2 coming, too.
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.
2K has teased the full reveal of Project Ethos, a third-person roguelike hero shooter in development at 31st Union.
31st Union and boss Michael Condrey flagged a reveal at 9am PT / 5pm UK today, October 17, on Twitch. The Twitch channel in question mentions a game called Project Ethos, which is described as a “third-person roguelike hero shooter.”
That’s all we have for now. 31st Union is the San Francisco-based, 2K-owned studio established as 2K Silicon Valley back in 2019 before a name change a year later. It was set up by ex-Sledgehammer Games co-founder Michael Condrey, who before working on Call of Duty was one of the chief developers of EA’s Dead Space series at Visceral Games.
Project Ethos launches into the ultra competitive hero shooter market at a time when it has already claimed a number of high-profile casualties. Rocksteady’s troubled Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League flopped to the tune of $200 million, and Sony’s Concord has gone down as one of the most disastrous launches in PlayStation history. 2K and parent company Take-Two will of course be hoping to avoid a similar fate when Project Ethos comes out.
This isn’t 2K’s first stab at a hero shooter, of course. It published Gearbox’s ill-fated Battleborn in May 2016, but it ultimately crumbled under the overwhelming dominance of Blizzard’s Overwatch. Battleborn eventually went dark in January 2021.
For Take-Two, Project Ethos is but one of a number of games it has in the works, including Firaxis’ Civilization 7, Ken Levine’s new game, Judas, Gearbox’s Borderlands 4, Hangar 13’s Mafia: The Old Country, Cloud Chamber’s BioShock sequel, and the big one, Rockstar’s GTA 6.
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.
Activision has finally confirmed the Multiplayer maps, modes, and Operators available at the launch of Call of duty: Black Ops 6.
In a blog post, Activision said Black Ops 6 launches with 16 Multiplayer maps, 10 standard Multiplayer modes, four alternative Multiplayer modes, and 21 Operators.
Let’s start with the launch maps. All Black Ops 6’s launch maps are small to medium-sized, Activision said, with traditional three-lane routes. Developer Treyarch said they’re designed to offer “rapid, energetic combat, along with a variety of scenic set-pieces, cover opportunities, and ranged thoroughfares to ensure your favorite style of play is catered to, from close quarter strikes to long-range sniping, with emphasis always on the action.”
The upshot is “tighter” gameplay, Treyarch said, that’s “perfectly suited” to the new Omnimovement mechanic.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launch Multiplayer maps
At launch Black Ops 6 has 12 brand-new core 6v6 maps and four brand-new, compact-sized Strike maps designed for Face Off 6v6 or 2v2 configurations.
Core Maps (6v6)
Babylon (Core 6v6)
Derelict (Core 6v6)
Lowtown (Core 6v6)
Payback (Core 6v6)
Protocol (Core 6v6)
Red Card (Core 6v6)
Rewind (Core 6v6)
Scud (Core 6v6)
Skyline (Core 6v6)
Subsonic (Core 6v6)
Vault (Core 6v6)
Vorkuta (Core 6v6)
Strike Maps (2v2/6v6)
Gala (Strike Map 2v2/6v6)
Pit (Strike Map 2v2/6v6)
Stakeout (Strike Map 2v2/6v6)
Warhead (Strike Map 2v2/6v6)
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 standard Multiplayer modes:
Team Deathmatch (6v6)
Domination (6v6)
Search & Destroy (6v6)
Kill Confirmed (6v6)
Free-For-All (8)
Hardpoint (6v6)
Gunfight (2v2)
Headquarters (6v6)
Kill Order (6v6)
Control (6v6)
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 alternate Multiplayer modes:
Face Off Domination (6v6)
Face Off Team Deathmatch (6v6)
Face Off Kill Order (6v6)
Face Off Kill Confirmed (6v6)
Black Ops 6 also launches with Hardcore mode on certain playlists. It adds a limited HUD, enables friendly fire, and lowers your health.
Hardcore Quick Play game modes include:
Team Deathmatch
Kill Order
Domination
Hardpoint
Search and Destroy
Kill Confirmed
FFA
Face Off Moshpit
Elsewhere, Black Ops 6 launches with the Training Course, where you can dabble with the game’s mechanics and weapons on the Multiplayer map, Protocol. There are training missions designed to teach you the basics before facing real players in the lobby playlists.
The Firing Range returns, letting you test your equipped loadout weapons. Here’s what to expect:
Practice dummies to shoot at, at 10-, 25-, and 50-meter intervals.
Dummies can have 0, 1, 2, or 3 Armor Plates added to them.
You have limitless ammunition.
The upper-left corner features a target elimination tracker, an accuracy tracker, and a damage tracker.
A toggle feature allows you to optionally activate a Moving Target dummy, or a Recoil metal plate.
Toggle Feature: Moving Target: A dummy drops down from the ceiling on a conveyor belt, and automatically moves back through the range as you connect with it using your weapon. Once you hit it at maximum range, it moves back to its initial position, and the process can be repeated.
Toggle Feature: Recoil Target: A metal plate hangs from the ceiling around seven meters from your booth, allowing you to fire your weapon and view the bullet spread.
And Theater Mode is available in Multiplayer for Black Ops 6 at launch and for the first time in the new Call of Duty Engine. Here’s what you can do when playing back a replay file in Theater:
Switch between First-Person, Third-Person, and Fly-Cam perspectives for all players in the match.
Elimination and Deaths are visualized on the timeline. Easily skip to the viewed player’s next Elimination on the timeline.
Fast-Forward, Rewind, and full playback speed control.
Press “Record” to Trigger an Xbox or PlayStation recording while in Theater Mode.
Note: Theatre Mode is unavailable on previous-generation consoles (PlayStation® 4 and Xbox One), and all Theater files expire after seven days or when a game update is released.
And finally, Private Matches let you adjust every aspect of gameplay.
Now, let’s move on to the Operators. Black Ops 6 launches with over 20 Operators, with 11 allied to the Rogue Black Ops faction, and 10 allied to Crimson One. Narratively, Crimson One represents the CIA operation initiated to hunt down the Rogue squad (Adler, Woods, and their team in the Campaign).
Oh, if you’re wondering how Woods, confined to a wheelchair following the events of the previous Black Ops games, is running about in Multiplayer, Activision offered the following: “This version of Woods is from a time before current debilitation.”
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.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has launched its first major update, adding a new PvP map and Lethal difficulty for free to all players across all platforms.
Update 4.0 adds new PvE map Termination, which is available in the Operations game mode. As revealed this week, Termination sees players battle against a huge Tyranid Hierophant Bio-Titan, added to the game for the first time, on the planet Kadaku.
Elsewhere, the update adds a new, even harder difficulty called Lethal. This is difficulty five of five for Operations mode. And photo mode is now available in Operations (works only in solo), with characters able to follow the camera with their eyes.
It’s worth noting that from a balance perspective, Update 4.0 makes a number of significant changes, with the upshot of making Operations mode harder. Check out the patch notes below, where the developers explain the tweaks.
Coming later is the new weapon, the Neo-Volkite pistol (this is also free for all players). Termination, the Bio-Titan, the Neo-Volkite pistol, and the Lethal difficulty are all part of Space Marine 2 Season 2, which runs until the end of 2024.
The hotly anticipated cosmetics for the Dark Angels chapter of Space Marines, available through the game’s premium season pass, are due out at some point during the Season 2 period.
These cosmetics, when they do hit the game, will add new weapon styles, armor pieces, and color schemes featuring the Unforgiven (the name given to the Dark Angels chapter following the disastrous events of the Horus Heresy in Warhammer 40,000 lore). The Dark Angels Champion Pack, meanwhile, includes a full armor set for the Bulwark class.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Update 4.0 patch notes:
NEW FEATURES
New Operation – Termination
This new Operation takes place on planet Kadaku. New dreadful foes have arrived. Make good use of the artillery to annihilate them.
Added Lethal difficulty for Operations
Major highlights of it:
Ammo Crates have limited refills per player.
Majoris enemies can become enraged and will be more deadly and harder to kill.
Armour restores from finishers only if you stay close to your battle-brothers.”
Overcoming such a challenge will grant you new cosmetics…
Added photo mode in Operations (works only in solo). Also, characters can now follow the camera with their eyes.
GAMEPLAY AND BALANCING TWEAKS
Melee Archetypes: Fencing weapons’ perfect parry window will now have the same duration as balanced weapons but it will start from the first frame of parry animation.
Melee Perks: Chainsword, Power Fist, Combat Knife charged attacks perks get significant damage increase.
Basic Auspex Scan: bonus damage on bosses is reduced by 30%.
Melta Charge: damage to bosses is reduced by 70%.
Enemy Spawn Director PvE:
Tweaked idle spawns.
Enemy variety within waves is now less random while enemy variety between waves is bigger.
Extremis enemies can now spawn have additional enemies.
Difficulty:
Ruthless: Ammo crates have limited refills per player.
Ruthless: Player’s armour reduced by 20%.
Substantial: Player’s armour reduced by 10%
Note from the devs:
“With Patch 3 we have noticed that Operations mode became noticeably easier, especially Chaos operations. We are happier with what we have right now compared to what we had on release, because before Patch 3 Chaos missions were unpopular. Still, we think that currently Operations mode is a bit too easy.
“Overall these changes are going to make Operations mode harder, but it is difficult to measure by how much. We will continue to monitor those changes and will continue to adjust the balance of Operations mode. This is not the last change.”
PVP
Increased delay between announcer messages in PvP.
The starting animation of the Grapnel Launcher for the Vanguard is shorter in PvP.
Fixed Power Fist in PvP dealing too much damage with short charged attacks.
AI
Enemy Dodges: Globally replaced full invulnerability on dodge moves of enemies with heavy melee damage resistance.
Rubric Marine with Boltgun: Disengage teleport max distance is slightly reduced.
CUSTOMISATION
More options for colours customisation for Chaos:
Tertiary colours: Sotek Green, Night Lords Blue, Death Guard Green, Khorne Red.
Decal colours: Sotek Green, Khorne Red.
Colours: Added Liberator Gold colour to default for primary and secondary colours palettes.
Fixed a lot of issues with display of colours, now they should be more lore accurate (Mechanicus Standard Grey, Ushabti Bone, Phoenician Purple, The Fang, Iron Hands Steel, Retributor Armour).
Decals: Added new Chaos faction decals for the right shoulder.
LEVELS
Vox Liberatis – Daemonhost: Disabled respawn until the last altar in the final arena.
GENERAL FIXES
Fixed a bug where the Assault perk “Ascension” could kill its owner.
Fixed a bug where the Sniper perk “Targeted Shot” wasn’t always working in some cases.
Fixed an unintended animation cancel with the Bulwark by using the block, which resulted in faster attacks.
Fixed an issue with the Tactical team perk “Close Targeting” not triggering properly.
Fixed: Tactical perk “Radiating Impact” not triggering properly.
Fixed an issue with the Sniper perk “Guardian Protocol” cooldown not working properly.
Fixed an issue where sound was lost after switching the speaker configuration.
Fixed several issues in Trials.
Fixed several issues that were causing loss of saves.
The Thunder Hammer perk “Patience Rewarded” description is now accurate with its actual effect (added “When your Health is below 30%” part).
Lots of minor UI fixes and improvements.
Lots of minor animation fixes and improvements.
Localisation fixes.
TECH
Crash fixes and general stability improvements.
Fixed several connectivity issues causing disconnects for players.
Slightly improved performance.
Fixed issues controllers not working with Steam Input enabled.
RENDER IMPROVEMENTS
General improvements and fixes.
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.
We’ve seen the cost of SSDs trending upward for most of 2024, but lately it looks like prices have normalized and are even starting to drop back down. Today, Amazon is offering the Nextorage Japan 2TB PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) for $119.99 exclusively for Prime members. This SSD includes a preinstalled heatsink for PS5 compatibility out of the box.
Nextorage Japan 2TB PS5 SSD for $119.99
Amazon Prime member exclusive
The PlayStation 5 console comes with a 1TB SSD, but 300GB of that is reserved for the OS, leaving around 700GB left over for games. That space will run out quickly because some games take up an enormous amount of space, especially if you buy digital copies. For example, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, and NBA 2K25 all require 140GB each. Even older games like God of War: Ragnarok, Gran Turismo 7, and Horizon Forbidden West require 90GB of space apiece.
The Nextorage Japan SSD is a guaranteed fit in both the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Slim consoles. Performance-wise, it boasts read speeds of 7,300MB/s and write speeds of 6,900MB/s, which is well above Sony’s minimum recommendation of 5,600MB/s. It’s also pre-equipped with a low-profile aluminum heatsink. The 2TB capacity triples the storage of a PS5 or doubles the storage of a PS5 Pro, which should be enough for most people.
Is Nextorage legit?
There’s an interesting story behind Nextorage Japan. Nextorage describes itself as a company that was “created by a group of ex-Sony engineers and staff with over 20 years of experience in the development of memory and storage products.” Nextorage was originally created by Sony in 2019 as an SSD sub-division about a year before the PS5 was released. Presumably this was to be the basis for an official SSD sold by Sony direct. For whatever reason, Sony decided to ditch that idea and sold this business to another stakeholder in the company, Phison, in 2022. Phison is another large reputable company that specializes in solid state memory controllers. You’ll find its controllers in name-brand SSDs like Seagate, Corsair, and Sabrent. Under Phison, Nextorage Japan eventually accomplished the goal of releasing an SSD catered specifically for the PS5 console in the form of this product right here.
Alternative for Non-Prime Members
Amazon also has the PS5 compatible Lexar NM790 2TB PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) with pre-installed heatsink for only $128.99. This deal does not require an Amazon Prime membership. Lexar is a well-known and established flash memory brand and its SSD has garnered plenty of positive reviews. Performance-wise, it boasts read speeds of 7,400MB/s and write speeds of 6,500MB/s and it also includes a pre-attached heatsink.
If you’re not sure which SSD to get and need some advice, check out our favorite SSDs for the PS5. If you want more deal options, here’s a list of all of the best PS5 SSD deals available right now. For those of you who don’t yet own a PS5 console, the new PS5 Pro is currently up for preorder and ships out next month. This is a more powerful version of the PS5 with double the storage capacity at a significantly higher price.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Don’t Nod’s ongoing struggles continue, with the company announcing it’s preparing to implement a reorganization that could result in layoffs of up to 69 employees.
The announcement comes with the company’s financial results for the first half of the year today, which showed an 11% year-over-year decline in operating revenue. Per the company, the decline is the result of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Jusant not performing as well as expected.
“Our half-year results for 2024 reflect the economic underperformance of our latest release, despite solid ratings on Metacritic, as well as the accounting impact of the decisions we had to take,” said CEO Oskar Guilbert in a statement. “The initial performance support measures announced last spring no longer seem sufficient to maintain the company’s competitiveness. As a result, today we presented a reorganization project to the employee representative bodies, which could set Don’t Nod on a new development trajectory. I am fully conscious of the impact this project may have on all our employees. Securing our company’s resources and restoring its ability to perform more in an increasingly competitive and selective industry is extremely necessary.”
Our half-year results for 2024 reflect the economic underperformance of our latest release, despite solid ratings on Metacritic
The company has already taken some restructuring measures to reduce costs, including “pressing pause” on two unannounced projects. However, this seems to not be enough, as Don’t Nod is also expecting to lay off a number of individuals in the coming months. The exact number is still in flux, as Don’t Nod management must negotiate with employee union representatives and may implement other measures such as a voluntary redundancy plan. Notably, earlier this year, the representative French union Le Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV) accused the company of mismanagement, claiming employees were facing burnout due to the ongoing reorganization and that communication, understaffing, and shifting deadlines were endangering the workforce.
Don’t Nod has said that Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is still on track for its February 18, 2025 release, and that two other projects in development are expected to release before the end of 2027.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
