Diablo general manager and Gears of War veteran Rod Fergusson has left Blizzard.
Fergusson confirmed the news on his personal Twitter/X account:
After five years of driving the Diablo franchise forward with four big launches, it’s time for me to step away from Blizzard/Microsoft, sword in hand, and see what’s next. The teams are set up for success, with an exciting slate of releases ahead. I’m incredibly proud of what… pic.twitter.com/Fsh4gjmgVl
“After five years of driving the Diablo franchise forward with four big launches, it’s time for me to step away from Blizzard/Microsoft, sword in hand, and see what’s next,” Fergusson wrote. “The teams are set up for success, with an exciting slate of releases ahead. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built together and looking forward to what comes next for Diablo, and for me.”
Blizzard confirmed this news to IGN today as well, but declined to offer further comment as to why Fergusson has left the company, or who will run the Diablo franchise going forward.
Blizzard president Johanna Faries responded on Twitter/X, with the following:
Guiding a franchise like Diablo takes rare talent, vision, and collaboration. Thank you, Rod, for bringing all of those in spades. Sanctuary’s future is brighter because of the impact you’ve had! 🙏🏽✨ https://t.co/r479RGDkm3
Xbox head Phil Spencer also responded on BlueSky: “You brought strength, hellfire, and vision to one of gaming’s most iconic franchises. Playing Diablo IV with you was a blast—thanks for everything you gave to the game and the community.”
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Wizards of the Coast is gearing up to release a brand-new introductory D&D set. Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands is set to release September 17, but it’s now available to preorder over on Amazon. It comes with everything you need for you and your friends to get started on your first three adventures.
Dungeons & Dragons – Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands
The idea of a starter set, a box that includes everything a group needs to try out the legendary tabletop roleplaying game, isn’t new, but this brand-new set changes up the formula a bit to help make the onboarding and learning process even more welcoming. To that end, Heroes of the Borderlands forgoes the more traditional character sheets for a character board that has slots for cards. These cards cover the various backgrounds, species, spells, equipment, magic items, and more for their character, removing the need to manually write them down or scour through a book to find.
The goodies included aren’t just tailored to new players, though. It comes with plenty of tools and items to make the process smooth for new game masters, too. The included adventure booklets are built to highlight a particular adventure style, be it combat, exploration, or roleplaying. It also comes with maps and a combat tracker to ease new storytellers into their important role.
One particularly neat thing about this starter set is its connection to the legacy of Dungeons & Dragons itself. The area known as the Borderlands was first introduced all the way back in 1979 with the adventure module, “The Keep on the Borderlands”. This adventure was design and included in early iterations of the game’s starter sets, referred to as the Basic Set, so this release almost feels like the game is coming home.
Dungeons & Dragons – Starter Set: Heroes of The Borderlands releases on September 16, 2025 for a retail price of $49.99. Preorders have also gone live for a Stranger Things-themed set ahead of the Netflix series’ final season.
Scott White is a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with tabletop games and guide coverage. Follow him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.
However, one bright spot on the horizon appears to be signs of Bethesda finally adding the highly-requested ability to travel in your spaceship from one planet to another — rather than what happens now, as you load up a loading screen to enter orbit, and from there load up another loading screen to get to where you’re going.
Fragments of code uncovered by Starfield fans now suggest Bethesda has a more streamlined experience in the works, though potentially still with some caveats. While you may be able to travel between planets within the same system, fans say it looks like you won’t be able to fly all the way between systems. Oh, and you also won’t be able to fly directly from a planet’s surface into orbit, like No Man’s Sky. Oh, well.
References to the new offering, referred to in the game’s code as “Cruise Mode,” were detected by players this week and shared on reddit, though Bethesda has reportedly now issued another small patch to scrub them from view.
Borderlands 4 will cost $70, publisher 2K Games confirmed in June. That seemingly innocuous fact was big news after the price of the upcoming looter shooter was thrust into the headlines when Gearbox development chief Randy Pitchford sparked a backlash with a series of controversial tweets.
A) Not my call. B) If you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen. My local game store had Starflight for Sega Genesis for $80 in 1991 when I was just out of high school working minimum wage at an ice cream parlor in Pismo Beach and I found a way to make it happen.
Pitchford ended up having to address the negativity surrounding his comments, which some suggested might have harmed Borderlands 4’s chances of success. But this was hardly the latest drama revolving around Randy Pitchford, who often gives the press plenty to talk about whenever he addresses hot topics within the video game industry.
So, in an interview with Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Gearbox parent company Take-Two, ahead of the company’s latest (and impressive) financial results, I asked whether he has a mini heart attack whenever Pitchford tweets anything.
In his response, Zelnick admitted Pitchford can be a controversial figure, and even suggested some of his antics are deliberate, but ultimately he’s a big fan.
“I love Randy, first of all. Let me just say that on the record,” Zelnick began. “And I love his big personality. I love his passion and he is one of the all time great game makers. He also can be controversial at times — sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. I still love him to death.”
Some had expected Take-Two to follow Nintendo’s (and at that time, Microsoft’s) lead and make the jump to $80 for Borderlands 4, which it’s now decided will hold the line at $70. I asked Zelnick why that was the right decision for the looter shooter, and his response was along similar lines to his answer to 2K’s Mafia: The Old Country being set at $50.
“We’ve always engaged in variable pricing and we really want to make sure that the consumer’s experience of the title is that Borderlands 4 is a great, great game, which we believe it is, and that we’re offering a terrific value at the same time,” Zelnick said.
Zelnick has used this sort of response to answer questions about GTA 6’s price (some believe it will be $80, some as high as $100). “We always want to make sure that we deliver way more value than whatever we charge consumers, because we think of the consumer’s experience as an intersection of the thing itself and what you paid for it,” Zelnick said, talking generally of Take-Two’s strategy.
“So we just want to make sure we’re always delivering way more value than whatever we charge.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Not only does the update add new skins and bug fixes, but a new Ripatorium adds an infinite arena for, well, ripping through foes ad nauseum. Better yet, you can get this new and improved version of the Doom Slayer for under $45.
So what about that new update? Combat is always at the heart of DOOM, and the new Ripatorium in Update 2 lets you pick your opponents, the quantity of them, a time limit if you want to challenge yourself, and tweak respawn settings.
Or, just throw everything on and work to stay alive as long as you can.
As you’d expect from a game where the soundtrack is so core to the experience, you can choose the music for your showdowns, too, as well as your arena, with three to choose from.
In his review for IGN, Mitchell Saltzman awarded The Dark Ages a 9 out of 10 score, and said “Doom: The Dark Ages may strip away the mobility focus of Doom Eternal, but replaces it with a very weighty and powerful style of play that is different from anything the series has done before, and still immensely satisfying in its own way.”
Should I Buy Now or Wait for Black Friday?
It really depends on your preferences. In my opinion, Doom: The Dark Ages will likely be even cheaper by the time Black Friday rolls around.
At $45, it’s still a significant saving with $25 off the MSRP. But, Black Friday could potentially hold even better discounts, if you can wait another three months to find out.
My best guess is it will drop to $30-40 during the Black Friday sales that tend to kick off around the beginning of November. If you can hold out, you could find yourself with a better deal. There’s also other 2025 sale events like Prime Day in October, or any post Gamescom sales to consider as well.
However, some folk are old enough to know you can pay yourself with time as well, so if you want to play Doom: The Dark Ages now, without having to pay the eye watering $70 price tag, there’s nothing wrong with dropping $45 on a Game of the Year contender today.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
Bethesda has confirmed Heretic + Hexen — the definitive re-release of two genre-shaping first-person shooters — are out now on PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
id Software worked “in partnership” with Nightdive Studios to release this updated collection, featuring the “two classics that helped shape the genre.” The games have “been restored with improved performance for modern platforms with an enhanced soundtrack from Andrew Hulshult, online cross-platform and local split-screen deathmatch and co-op modes, in-game mod support, and more.”
Here’s what you get in the new collection:
Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders
Hexen: Beyond Heretic
Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel
Two all-new episodes created in collaboration between individuals at id Software + Nightdive Studios:
Heretic: Faith Renewed
Hexen: Vestiges of Grandeur
That’s not all, either; at today’s QuakeCon stream, we also learned that Doom: The Dark Ages‘ Update 2 is now live, bringing “all-new free content, tons of bug fixes, and quality of life improvements, inviting players to continue their fight against the forces of Hell in the Ripatorium.” The latter is a brand-new endless arena mode to the game, offering customisable waves and time-limit challenges.
Jump into Doom: The Dark Ages between now and September 2 to secure two free skins, and complete the three new arenas available in the Ripatorium to earn the Perfection Doom Slayer skin, too.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is now just weeks from launch, though fans will have to wait a little longer to play Fox Hunt, the game’s online multiplayer mode.
While the main, single-player portion of Snake Eater will launch for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on August 28, Fox Hunt will arrive via a post-launch update sometime this “fall”. And yes, that’s as specific as publisher Konami is currently willing to get.
Announced back in June, Fox Hunt is an entirely new multiplayer offering unrelated to Metal Gear Online, which came bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots back in 2008. MGO lasted four years, before its servers were switched off in 2012.
“Fox Hunt is a completely original online multiplayer mode,” said veteran Metal Gear Solid developer Yu Sahara, who now acts as the mode’s director, back in June. “Although it shares the same world with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, the gameplay is completely different.
“When we say Metal Gear multiplayer, many fans will probably think of Metal Gear Online, but Fox Hunt will be its own new type of mode. We very much appreciate all the long-time fans of MGO who have always wanted to see it make a comeback, but the landscape of multiplayer games has changed a lot since MGO. It took a lot of careful consideration to think about what a new online mode should look like.”
Sahara continued by saying that Fox Hunt would focus on Metal Gear series’ stealth and survival elements, and take “camouflage and hide and go seek to the next level” in order to ensure the mode offered “more than just a shootout.”
Outside of Fox Hunt, Delta is a remake of the 2004 classic Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Original Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has said he won’t be playing, however.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Nintendo has announced a new claymation Mario show that’s set to premiere on YouTube. The series, which will feature kid-friendly animated episodes just one-minute in length, will launch alongside a major new push by Nintendo for the kid’s product market, with a range of toys, picture books, and more released under a new “My Mario” banner.
Notably, this range includes a set of wooden blocks that you can use as amiibo figurines. Other products on the way include a set of plastic tableware, a board book, a backpack, a plushie Mario, rattles and items of baby and toddler clothing including T-shirts and Mario hoodie.
My Mario has interactive elements too, including a My Mario app for smartphones and Switch consoles where you can play with Mario’s face, like a 2D version of the Mario 64 start menu.
The Hello Mario app will launch for iPhone and Android devices on August 26 in Japan, with the rest of the My Mario range set to arrive there on August 28. Nintendo has plans for an international My Mario launch, it has said, but not until the beginning of 2026.
While designed for kids, it’s easy to see some of these products becoming collector’s items — in particular the wooden blocks set which features Mario, Peach, Luigi and Yoshi alongside a range of Mushroom Kingdom props like a Mushroom and Fire Flower.
Nintendo has said that these figures can be used as their appropriate amiibo in compatible games, adding to their worth — though you’ll need to green shell out around $135 for the set (and also, at least until next year, be in the position to buy it from Japan).
The original Super Mario Bros. celebrates its 40th anniversary on September 13, while the coming year will see the launch of the next Super Mario Movie. Potentially titled Super Mario World, it’ll launch in theaters on April 3, 2026.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Akatsuki Games has announced that its game based on the hugely popular manga and anime series Kaiju No. 8 will be released globally for Android and iOS on August 31st (JST), with a PC version to follow later.
Kaiju No. 8 tells the story of Kafka Hibino, a member of the crews that clean up after kaiju threats have been eliminated in greater Tokyo, but who longs to be a soldier in the Japan Defense Force (JDF), and actually be on the front lines. With goofy humour, slick action, an endearing protagonist and some pretty wild twists and turns, it’s a fun series. Its second season is airing now, but you can read our review of season one here.
Kaiju No. 8 The Game will let you take control of a host of fan favourite members of the JDF including Kikoru Shinomiya, Reno Ichikawa, Mina Ashiro, Gen Narumi and Soshiro Hoshina, and form them into four person squads to do battle against a new kaiju threat. What’s going on? Strange Dimensional Gates are opening up all over the place and otherworldly kaiju are flooding in.
The game also introduces a special unit named CLOZER, which exists to deal with the Dimensional Gates, and is commanded by a brand new character – Kikoru Shinomiya’s sister, Sagan Shinomiya. Other new characters introduced in the game include Chester Lochburn, CLOZER’s strategist who is able to wield a wide range of weapons, and Suited, the brains behind CLOZER’s weapons development.
Kaiju No. 8 The Game features a turn-based battle system that lets your squad work together to expose the core of the kaiju you’re facing in order to dispatch them, and fights scale all the way from confrontations with smaller Yoju through to skyscraper-sized beasts capable of razing cities.
Can this free-to-play live service title capture the intensity of the source material’s battles? And when will it be set in the timeline? Find out on August 31.
Cam Shea headed up Australia’s editorial team for many years but these days mostly lives and breathes craft beer.
Free-to-play time-traveling strategic RPG Reverse: 1999 just launched its biggest collaboration yet, its first to ever launch simultaneously worldwide, and it teamed up with another time-jumping franchise to do it: Assassin’s Creed. The collab adds new story chapters and popular characters Ezio, Kassandra, and Alexios, all three of whom will be playable.
Reverse: 1999 first launched in 2023 and has seen global success in the time since. It’s been downloaded more than 30 million times worldwide and stands at “very positive” with more than 2,500 reviews on Steam. Those fans have been clamoring for this collab since it was first announced earlier this year, and there’s been particular excitement about the addition of Ezio — as you can see from the 270,000 views and hundreds of comments on his official trailer.
While the characters and story content might be the headliners of this collab, there’s a lot more to it than that. You can see Assassin’s Creed inspirations in the UI, music, and garments that have been added. Plus, there are free goodies being given away (including Alexios), extra prizes in the gacha system designed to make it easier to pull the new characters, and both online and offline events to celebrate.
Let’s get into the details, shall we?
Familiar Faces in a Journey Through History
Reverse: 1999’s story takes you through different eras of history, and that trend continues with this crossover, whose new content will be released in two phases. Phase 1 is live right now and will run until September 18. It adds a story chapter that brings you to Florence, Italy, where you’ll meet the legendary Ezio Auditore da Firenze from Assassin’s Creed II.
The collaboration trailer hints at how the story of Phase 1 will bring you into contact with Ezio. Mr. APPLe, one of the important characters of Reverse: 1999, is mistaken for a fabled Apple of Eden and must be protected. He’s nearly dissected by Leonardo da Vinci, another character from Assassin’s Creed II who plays a significant role in the Phase 1 story.
Ezio’s character trailer shows some of the memories from his journey in Assassin’s Creed II — his assassinations, gathering feathers for his brother, the tragic execution of his family — materializing into different weapons, which references the unique ability he brings into Reverse: 1999. He can wield several different primary and secondary weapons and can swap them out as needed, so he’s always ready for any situation.
Like all other 6-star characters, Ezio comes with two garments, the second of which is unlocked after increasing his Insight level. His first garment is the assassins’ classic white robe, and his second (featured in the photo of him above) is the Armor of Altair from Assassin’s Creed II, which was built by and named after the hero of the original Assassin’s Creed.
Kassandra and Alexios will join in on the fun when the story shifts to Ancient Greece in Phase 2 of the collab, which will run from August 28 to September 18. Like Ezio, Kassandra will get a unique ability designed to make her adaptable: She has three skill trees (Hunter, Warrior, and Assassin) and can switch between them.
Beyond the characters and plot, Assassin’s Creed fans will notice other references. The level selection interface adopts the genetic sequence design of the Animus, and music — including the familiar song “Ezio’s Family” — has been pulled from the Assassin’s Creed series. The Into the Shadows mode will let you see the villa in Monteriggioni and complete events in Florence and Venice to experience the Renaissance assassin life like Ezio.
Dress Up for the Special Collab
It wouldn’t be a Reverse: 1999 update without new garments, and this collab is no exception. Four characters have new garments inspired by Assassin’s Creed and Greek mythology (pictured below). Hissabeth’s new look is inspired by Medusa, the famous snake-haired Gorgon from Greek myth who put up a hell of a fight in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. The art showing off her new garment shows her dancing between Medusa’s two sisters frozen in stone, the crown she wears pays homage to Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey’s Medusa design, and the artifact she’s holding resembles an Apple of Eden.
Marcus’s new garment draws from the myth of the musician Orpheus, who traveled to the underworld and used his music to convince Hades to let him take back his deceased wife Eurydice, on the condition that he not look back at her until they reached the surface. During their ascension, Orpheus was overcome with doubt and couldn’t help looking back, and Eurydice was taken from him forever. Marcus’s art recalls this moment of legend, as she glances back and offers her hand to guide her fallen friends to the gates of the underworld.
Vila gets a new garment inspired by the Sirens of Homer’s Odyssey who would lure sailors to their deaths with their beautiful song. Her artwork shows her standing among violet waves and singing as storms gather around her, and the Poseidon statue beside her is pulled directly from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey.
Last but certainly not least, APPLe’s new garment turns him gold, and you can see how Leonardo da Vinci and other characters in Florence would mistake him for an Apple of Eden, the symbol of desire and temptation. And best of all, APPLe’s new garment is free for all players during the collaboration event.
A Celebration with Free Goodies
APPLe’s new garment isn’t the only thing that’s free. In this collab version, every player can get a free monthly pass that allows them to get 2,700 Clear Drops in total, which is 15 free gacha pulls. Additionally, free resources given out during the collaboration will make it possible to have at least 43 pulls on the event banners.
During Phase 2, everyone can recruit Alexios for free by taking part in the collaboration’s events. Plus, to celebrate the partnership with Assassin’s Creed, players can receive additional collaboration characters after 100/160/220/280 pulls. And there are other log-in and event rewards that you can see in the image below.
There’s Always More to Learn
You can download Reverse: 1999 for free right now on Steam, the iOS App Store, Google Play and Windows PC. The Assassin’s Creed collaboration is live now, and with all the goodies being given away for free, there’s never been a better time to jump in.
If you want more info about the existing characters of Reverse: 1999, you can check out the official website for details. You can also follow the game and join the community on Twitter, TikTok, Discord, Facebook, or YouTube.
