Category: IGN

Employees at Call of Duty studio Raven Software, who formed the first Activision Blizzard union in 2022, have filed a complaint against the developer, Activision, and new parent company Microsoft.

According to Game File, the workers filed a complaint with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board under categories including Refusal to Bargain/Bad Faith Bargaining, Changes in Terms and Conditions of Employment, and Concerted Activities (Retaliation, Discharge, Discipline).

“After Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, our members were optimistic that they would progress quickly to a first contract at Raven Software,” Communications Workers of America (CWA) president Claude Cummings Jr. said. “Unfortunately, that has not happened. We encourage Microsoft to address the concerns raised in the Unfair Labor Practice charge and make reaching a fair agreement a priority.”

The CWA declined to comment on specifics of the allegations when contacted by Game File, but a Microsoft spokesperson said: “We are committed to negotiating in good faith.”

The CWA, under which the Raven Software employees formed their union, initially expressed support of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. “It is a new day for workers at Activision Blizzard,” it said when the acquisition went through.

Things have seemingly turned sour, however, though it could be a while before the National Labor Relations Board makes its verdict.

Raven’s action is part of a growing labor movement within the video game industry that comes amid mass layoffs and studio closures. Paris-based studio Spiders recently announced plans to go on strike just weeks before its next game, Greedfall 2, goes on sale. In July, Starfield developer Bethesda Game Studios became the first Microsoft studio to fully unionize under the CWA, forming a “wall-to-wall” union of developers including artists, engineers, programmers, and designers. Sega of America’s union ratified a contract earlier this year.

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

The developers of upcoming fantasy role-playing game Greedfall 2 have announced plans to strike in protest of management just a few weeks before the game comes out.

Paris-based studio Spiders, which also developed Steelrising and The Technomancer, published an open letter signed by 44 of the 95 staff to studio management including CEO Anne Devouassoux. Spiders is wholly owned by publisher Nacon, which IGN has asked for comment.

The open letter details “several years of known problems, which have been greatly amplified over the past year with the arrival of the current head of the company: instability, opposition to anticipating problems and securing working conditions, global mismanagement, turnover and recruitment problems, unacceptable delays in achieving gender equality and parity, important lack of transparency, denial of problems, refusal to acknowledge worker representation and blocked negotiations.”

Specifically on Greedfall 2, workers allege it has suffered a “difficult” production and there is “widespread anxiety and a loss of interest among employees.” The staff also said they have suffered significant crunch working on the game.

“For many, it translates into a fear of releasing a disappointing game at the end and/or a feeling of shame over their own work,” the workers said. “For some, it’s the last straw that pushes them to look for work elsewhere.”

Elsewhere in the document, the workers claimed that Greedfall 2’s budget “was reworked multiple times and its early access release postponed several times.”

“Management gives the impression of treating us like galley slaves in the hold of a ship, rowing on and on without ever knowing either the route or the destination of their journey,” the workers said. “Spiders feels like a ship sailing with no one at the helm.”

Greedfall 2 currently has an early access release date of September 24, 2024, with a plan to release the game in full less than a year later. According to staff, that seems unlikely.

“The early access release is painful, as attested by the several delays it suffered, and the complete release of the game less than a year later seems difficult to achieve, as there is so much left to do,” they said.

The staff published a list of demands and outlined a plan to strike the week of September 2. Pickets will be held in front of the company’s offices and online on a Minecraft server created for the occasion, the staff said.

The Spiders strike comes amid a growing labor movement within the video game industry as workers seek to protect themselves from mass layoffs and the threats posed by AI. In July, Starfield developer Bethesda Game Studios became the first Microsoft studio to fully unionize under the Communication Workers of America, forming a “wall-to-wall” union of developers including artists, engineers, programmers, and designers. Sega of America’s union ratified a contract earlier this year, with Activision’s QA workers announcing a union of their own.

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 appears that Crysis developer Crytek was at one point working on a battle royale-inspired Crysis project codenamed Crysis Next.

Very early gameplay, which hit YouTube last week, shows third-person shooting in a basic warm-up arena with Crysis’ trademark abilities and sound effects layered on top. Crytek is working to remove the footage from YouTube, with videos now displaying a message that confirms a copyright claim by the company. However, some remain live at the time of publication.

Crytek never announced Crysis Next, and it appears it was canceled in favor of Crysis 4, which was announced in January 2022. Crytek declined to comment when contacted by IGN.

Given the battle royale boom sparked by PUBG and Fortnite in the late 2010s, it’s perhaps no surprise to learn that Crytek experimented with the genre. Many developers tried their hand at capitalising on battle royale during the period, some successful, some less so, some even failing to launch. The canceled TimeSplitters reboot that was in development at the now shuttered Free Radical Design was reportedly originally pitched as a battle royale game to rival Fortnite. There will be many more such projects that failed to see the light of day.

Crysis is a first-person sci-fi shooter series known for its impressive visuals, cool nanosuit powers, and open-ended gameplay. The first game in the series, released in 2007, was often used as a PC benchmark given the demands it would make of PCs at the time. Crysis was so demanding that it spawned the now infamous catchphrase, “But can it run Crysis?”, which was used in the years following the game’s release to deliver a verdict on a PC spec.

The last mainline game in the series, Crysis 3, came out in February 2013. Crytek released remasters of the originals in recent years, but we’ve yet to hear more about Crysis 4 since its announcement and teaser two-and-a-half years ago.

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.

Bandai Namco has confirmed today that the Japanese version of its anime-inspired MMORPG Blue Protocol will be “discontinued” on January 18, 2025. As a result, Bandai Namco also clarified that this also means any plans to release the game outside of Japan have now been cancelled.

“We have enjoyed a strong relationship with Amazon Games throughout the development of Blue Protocol, and both of our teams are disappointed that we will not be able to deliver the game to players around the world,” the company said in a statement published on the Bandai Namco website.

“We have worked hard to prepare for the release; however, we have come to the conclusion that it will not be possible to provide a service that satisfies all of you.”

Co-developed by Bandai Namco Online and Bandai Namco Studios, Blue Protocol’s worldwide release plans were revealed at The Game Awards in 2022. At that time, Amazon Games told IGN that the live service game had been in development since 2015.

IGN’s 2023 hands-on preview found Blue Protocol “absolutely gorgeous” and “fun as hell.”

IGN has contacted Amazon for comment.

Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can chat to him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.

Stardew Valley is no stranger to nods to other games. Among other references, Patch 1.6 has a well-placed Terraria easter egg. Nevertheless, Stardew Valley has never really appeared in another games, though creator Eric Barone aka ConcernedApe definitely has some ideas in that front.

In a Discord conversation shared by Panedwards on X/Twitter, Barone talks about the possibility of a Stardew Valley collaboration, acknowledging that he’s open to a crossover and saying that he would love to have Pam in particular in Fortnite.

The creator of ‘Stardew Valley’ aka @ConcernedApe has been trying to make a @FortniteGame collaboration happen and is open to anything. pic.twitter.com/wnaEfgIc5q

— Panedwards (@Panedwards_YT) August 26, 2024

“It doesn’t have to be Pam though, I would be open to anything,” Barone adds. “Abigail & Sebatian could be good. Stardrop or Joja Cola item? Galaxy sword or slingshot?”

All of these items would be fun additions to Fortnite, and Stardew Valley’s aesthetic is certainly in line with Epic’s ultra-popular sandbox shooter. Pam would hardly look out of place next to Buff Peter Griffin, Solid Snake, and all the other Fortnite crossover characters. But could it actually happen?

Reached for comment, one of Barone’s representatives acknowledged that the screenshot is real, but added a bit of additional context from ConcernedApe.

The Harry Potter movies are some of my favorite movies of all time. I grew up reading the books and was young enough when the movies first started coming out to be in awe of the magic of the story I loved coming to life on the big screen. Even years after the final film hit theaters, I still binge watch the films at least once a year. And though I usually stream all of the movies on Max, I also currently own the 8-film collection in 4K just in case they ever move to a streaming service I don’t have.

If you’re looking to purchase that same collection for yourself, I’ve got some good news for you: Amazon has just dropped the price significantly. You can currently get all 8 movies in 4K UHD and Blu-ray for just $59.99 during the Amazon Labor Day sale.

The Harry Potter: 8-Film Collection Is on Sale

Walmart has dropped the price on the officially licensed Seagate 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series X and S consoles to $129.99. Log into your (free) Walmart account and the price drops even further to $121.99. This is the best price we’ve seen for the Seagate card and currently $18 cheaper than the WD C50. The Seagate Expansion Card is one of the best SSDs for the Xbox, which isn’t surprising since your options are pretty limited.

Seagate 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S for $122

The Seagate 1TB expansion card is essentially a 1TB NVME SSD encased in a specialized Xbox-compatible shell. Unlike the more complex PS5 SSD installation process, which involves opening up the PS5 to access the SSD slot, the Seagate expansion card simply plugs into its dedicated port on the back of the Xbox.

This expansion card offers the same speed as the internal SSD, ensuring that you won’t sacrifice performance or encounter extended load times as you might with a regular USB drive. With a 1TB expansion card, you can double the storage on your Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S Carbon Black Edition console, and triple the storage on your OG (white) Xbox Series S console.

In contrast to the PS5, there are no alternative methods for adding high-speed storage to your Xbox console. Your options are limited to either the Seagate or WD expansion cards, underscoring the importance of seizing a good deal when one becomes available.

Looking for more Xbox accessories? Check out the best Xbox deals today.

While supplies last, Woot! (which is owned by Amazon) is offering the excellent Super Mario RPG remake for Nintendo Switch for only $31.99 when you apply $5 off coupon code “MARIO“. That’s 36% off the original $60 MSRP and the best price we’ve ever seen. Even better, this game is a physical copy. Note that Amazon Prime members get free shipping (the rest of us pay $5).

Super Mario RPG for $31.99

Super Mario RPG is a remake of the 1996 SNES classic. It was one of the best games to grace the console back then amidst a sea of other incredible titles, and Nintendo did a great job of staying faithful to the game’s charm and fun factor. A whole slew of improvements have been implemented to bring this game up to modern day standards, including updated visuals, music, gameplay mechanics, and several small yet welcome quality-of-life UI improvements. Check out our Super Mario RPG review for a detailed rundown of all of the the changes and our official impressions of the game. Still, it’s understandably difficult to pay $60 for a remake no matter how good it is, so a deal like this is certainly welcome.

Looking for more Mario games? Here’s a list of every Mario game for the Nintendo Switch.

Looking to upgrade the storage capacity of your Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or ASUS ROG Ally? Right now there are some great deals on two Samsung memory cards with different capacities. Amazon has a 1TB Samsung Evo Select Micro SDXC card for only $79.99 and Best Buy has a 512GB Samsung Evo Plus Micro SDXC card for only $29.99. Samsung is one of the most highly recommended memory card brands and these are both guaranteed to work with your handheld gaming console.

Samsung Memory Cards Are on Sale Today

If you’ve started compiling a collection of digital games, you probably already know just how limited the Switch’s base storage capacity is. The Switch and Switch OLED have 32GB and 64GB of internal storage, respectively, some of it reserved for the OS. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom uses up 16GB and Breath of the Wild about 13.5GB. If bought digitally, those two games alone would take up all of your internal storage on the OG Switch console. There’s only one expansion slot in the Switch console so you want to make sure you get the biggest card you can afford, although very few people will need more than 1TB of storage.

The Samsung EVO series of Micro SDXC cards are compatible with virtually any device that accepts the Micro SDXC card standard. That includes the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and the ASUS ROG Ally. Both the Evo Select and Evo Plus are rated at U3 A2 V30 speeds. The Evo Select boasts read speeds of up to 160MB/s compared to the Evo Plus write speed of 130MB/s. An SD card adapter is also included in the packaging for devices that don’t accept the smaller Micro SDXC standard.

Check out all of the best Nintendo Switch deals for sales on other games and accessories.