Category: IGN

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Fans Think They’ve Discovered the Full Name of MachineGames’ Indiana Jones Game

It’s an exciting start to the year for Indiana Jones fans, as according to Xbox itself, we’re finally getting an actual look at MachineGames’ upcoming Indiana Jones game next week at the Xbox Developer Direct. But a week in advance, one clever fan might have already sleuthed out the game’s title before Xbox was ready to reveal it. It might just be called Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Twitter/X user @Kurakasis shared their findings on social media today, pointing out that Lucasfilm appears to have been registering a number of domain names that are variations on that title since yesterday. These include https://indianajonesandthegreatcirclegame.com, https://indianajonesandthegreatcircle.com, and a number of others.

These domains dovetail nicely with a trademark Lucasfilm filed in Europe two years ago for “The Great Circle” that seems to be related to video games specifically. It is worth noting that Lucasfilm seems to have had circles on the mind on that date in 2022, as the company also registered trademarks that day for The Galactic Circle and Circle of Resistance. At the time, a number of fansites speculated that these trademarks were for something Star Wars-related, given the words “Galactic” and “Resistance.” However, IGN wasn’t able to find any registrations for domain names that mirrored those naming schemes, which indicates Lucasfilm thinks it may need to sit on The Great Circle naming specifically very soon. Unless there’s more Star Wars coming down the pipeline in the next week or two, Indiana Jones would be the logical place for that need to arise.

Not for nothing, too, Bethesda posted a teasing gif earlier today that does feature a circle. Whether or not this is The Great Circle remains to be seen – it wouldn’t be the first time one of the most common basic shapes featured prominently in Indiana Jones stories, though the timing is certainly interesting.

Still, even with all this evidence, it’s entirely possible this trademark is entirely unrelated to the game being shown off at the Developer Direct next week. Trademarks and domain names can often be good indicators of what’s to come, but not everything that companies squat on ends up becoming a full-fledged game. We’ll just have to wait for the showcase next week to see, though IGN did reach out to Xbox for confirmation or denial on this, just in case.

Indiana Jones and the…well, whatever it is, was first revealed way back in January of 2021 via a tweet from Bethesda. The game has an original story, and is being produced by Todd Howard in collaboration with Lucasfilm. At the time, we noted that Vatican City seems to feature in it, as the tease included a plane ticket to Rome dated for October 1937, and a map with the Sistine Chapel on it. We’ve since seen nothing else about the game, but we did learn that it will feature a “unique” mash-up of different genres and that, while it was originally conceived for a PS5 release, it will ultimately be an Xbox console exclusive thanks to Xbox’s acquisition of Zenimax.

Expect more at the Developer Direct next week on January 18, 2023, at 12:00pm PT.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

New Star Trek Movie Helmed by Star Wars Andor Director in Development – Report

Paramount still hasn’t released Star Trek 4, but that isn’t stopping it from reportedly commissioning another new Star Trek movie, this one helmed by main Star Wars: Andor director Toby Haynes.

IGN has reached out to Haynes’ representatives for comment.

According to a new report from Deadline, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot is set to produce the new film, with Seth Grahame-Smith as the writer. The plot is said to take place “decades” before the original 2009 reboot, possibly placing it in the era occupied by shows like Star Trek: Enterprise.

Developing…

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.

Team Fortress: Source 2 and Portal 64 Fan Projects Shut Down by Valve Takedowns

Team Fortress: Source 2, a fan project seeking to port Valve’s classic shooter to the Source 2 engine, is officially dead. The news was announced following a DMCA takedown demand from Valve that blocked the group’s GitHub repositories. It joins Portal 64, which was also canceled less than a week after the release of its “First Slice.”

The takedown was the “nail in the coffin” for the project, the announcement read, which had already have been on shaky ground before Valve stepped in.

“While we were discussing the project’s future internally recently, we already came to the conclusion to stop the development of the project due to the current state of the code being unusable anymore with s&box’s recent major engine changes, and that we overall moved on from it,” the announcement read.

“Sadly, this means this DMCA takedown is the nail in the coffin. We cannot bring it back and we’ve hit Valve’s attention, it seems like they definitely don’t want us to use their IP (which is totally fair and legal from them). From the bottom of our hearts at Amper, it’s been an honour to grow this project with all of you and the incredible team behind, we cannot be thankful enough for all your support and enthusiasms over the last 3 years. We’re so happy we got this far.”

In development since at least 2021, Team Fortress: Source 2 was envisioned as a new version of the classic game on Garry’s Mod spiritual successor s&box. With Team Fortress 2 now 17 years old and largely overrun by bots, Team Fortress: Source 2 was intended to inject fresh life into Valve’s beloved shooter. The team at one point had more than 20 volunteers helping to port assets from the base game and rebuild Team Fortress 2 mechanics.

Portal 64, meanwhile is being shuttered due to the project “depending on Nintendo’s proprietary libraries,” according to an update on the project’s Patreon. Like Team Fortress, Portal 64 sought to revive Valve’s 2007 classic, but on Nintendo 64 hardware. Its developer celebrated the release of its “First Slice” demonstrating its progress on January 5.

IGN has reached out to Valve for comment.

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.

Blizzard Reveals Diablo 4 Season 3’s Release Date

Diablo IV’s next season is starting on January 23 according to an update on the game’s login screen.

Even though it doesn’t have a title, Blizzard has seemingly confirmed that Diablo IV Season 3 will be launching later this month. Many players have noticed that a banner on the game’s login screen, which used to read, “Season of Blood Ends January 23, 2024,” now reads, “Next Season Begins January 23, 2024,” indicating that not only will the seasons apparently change over immediately, but that Season 3’s right around the corner.

With less than two weeks (and fewer business days than normal) until the apparent launch date, this will be a significantly quicker turnaround than the transition from Season 1 to Season 2 late last year. For comparison, Season 2: Season of Blood, was announced months before its release on October 17.

Unlike previous season launches, Blizzard hasn’t announced anything like a Campfire Chat or a patch to indicate an imminent update for Diablo. That said, it’s worth noting that Microsoft officially acquired Activision-Blizzard in the months since Season 2’s announcement last August. With that in mind, it’s possible that we might see Diablo IV make a surprise appearance at the Xbox Developer_Direct presentation that’s scheduled for January 18.

At the time of writing, neither Blizzard nor the official Diablo social channels have mentioned any details about Season 3. We’ve seen other studios working on multiplayer and live service games — like NetherRealm Studios with Mortal Kombat and Epic Games with Fortnite — take this approach in the past to ensure dedicated players have enough time to play out the rest of the game’s season before it ends. We should have more details soon.

Stay tuned to our Diablo IV page to keep up with all the latest on Season 3, including news and walkthroughs.

Charlie Wacholz is a freelance writer at IGN.

Vampire Survivors Developer Teases Big Plans for 2024, Addresses Online Co-Op and Cross-Save

Poncle, the studio behind the award-winning horde-defense game Vampire Survivors, has shared some of its future goals for the surprise hit in a new Steam post.

The UK-based indie studio has big plans for 2024 and beyond. Although most of what’s included in this preview of what’s to come addresses stuff we already knew about (like online co-op, cross-platform saves, the upcoming animated TV series), Poncle’s post also teases loose plans to work on other games.

After thanking players for sticking with and supporting Vampire Survivors and recapping everything Poncle accomplished in 2023, studio head Luca Galante dove into specifics about what’s down the pipeline. Details like a firm roadmap or release dates for any of these updates are pretty sparse here given Poncle’s relatively small size of 20 employees.

Galante addressed online co-op first. Although it’s been announced that developers are working on adding online co-op to the game, the post acknowledges that it’s a “huge challenge” to implement.

“We’ve got help now, and things are looking promising, but it’s still too early for us to be able to make any promises,” Galante wrote. “We’ll keep giving you tiny updates until hopefully we can confirm it’s actually going to happen.”

He then moved on to cross-platform save files, saying they’ve been in testing for a while before confirming that Poncle’s planning to launch cross-save functionality in public beta next month. At the time of writing, the public beta will only work on Steam and Android platforms but will eventually come to other platforms if all goes according to plan.

More Cross-Media Projects?

Meanwhile, following last year’s SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, it should come as no surprise that the Vampire Survivors animated adaptation is still a work in progress. Announced in April of last year, the collaboration between Poncle and Story Kitchen (a studio formed by people who’ve worked on projects like John Wick and the Sonic The Hedgehog movie), the only update here is that we’ll be getting more info at some point in 2024.

Galante added that they’ve “received a lot of proposals to collaborate on cross-media projects, but rather than jumping the gun we have preferred to wait to find partners that felt right, especially because to make anything that isn’t a videogame out of VS requires good ideas, creativity, and that quirky knowledge of the game, that is a very difficult triplet to get 100% right!”

The post also addressed VS content, with the promise that the next update — Version 1.9 — should release on all platforms in February.

Perhaps the interesting (and the most vaguest) announcement in this long post, however, is The Vampire Survivors Experiment. Poncle is working with indie developers from outside the studio on, “[Vampire Survivors]-adjacent experiments.” Galante’s very clear here that these experiments might not see the light of day, clarifying, “We don’t know when, or even if, we’ll be happy with the final results and be ready to share them.”

You can read Poncle’s full 2024 statement here.

Game of Thrones Show Creators on Lucasfilm Scrapping Their Star Wars Film: ‘We Weren’t the Droids They Were Looking For’

David Benioff and Dan Weiss, creators of the Game of Thrones HBO show, have explained more about their scrapped Star Wars film, saying “we weren’t the droids [Lucasfilm] were looking for”.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the pair also confirmed reports from 2019 that their film would essentially be “The First Jedi”, telling the story of how the Jedi Order, first lightsabers, and so on came to be.

Lucasfilm hired Benioff and Weiss to direct a series of films in 2018, with the first premiering in 2022, though this was scrapped in 2019 due to scheduling conflicts, the pair said at the time. The split appeared amicable, as Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy also said she hopes Benioff and Weiss would return to Star Wars one day.

We totally get it. It’s their company and their IP, but we weren’t the droids they were looking for.

The official story appears to have changed, however, as Benioff has now said “[Lucasfilm] ended up not wanting to do a First Jedi story. We had a very specific story idea in mind, and ultimately they decided they didn’t want to do that.

“We totally get it. It’s their company and their IP, but we weren’t the droids they were looking for.”

The scathing comments didn’t stop there though as Weiss also expressed frustration at Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed Star Wars: Episode 8 – The Last Jedi, for stepping on their toes.

“We wanted to do The First Jedi. Basically how the Jedi Order came to be, why it came to be, the first lightsaber,” Benioff said.

“And we were annoyed as hell when [Rian Johnson] called his movie The Last Jedi,” Weiss added. “He completely destroyed the obvious title for what we were working on.”

Concern over the state of Star Wars films isn’t anything new, with the Prequel Trilogy facing a harsh critical reception upon its premiere in 1999, but fans are growing increasingly concerned and confused at the number of films being announced without any actually releasing since 2019’s Star Wars: Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker.

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

My Joy of Returning to PlayStation After a Decade

The PlayStation Access Controller is finally available to the public after months of teasing and development updates. IGN previewed the device several months ago, and I gave it a 7/10, noting its software is its biggest selling point. It’s another piece of accessible hardware in a barren landscape of choices for disabled players. It’s good but not perfect, and that’s ultimately okay.

This Access Designed isn’t another review of the controller, nor is it a list of grievances or wishes for a future iteration. Instead, I want to talk about my enjoyment of PlayStation games. I want to explore how the most accessible game of 2020 – which demonstrated the importance of accessibility journalism – wasn’t accessible to me, because of a lack of hardware. I want to discuss how the Access Controller, despite its flaws, finally let me experience a major aspect of the games industry.

PlayStation Throughout the Years

I’ve mentioned previously about my adoration for anything and everything Nintendo. Everyone who knows me understands my obsession with the Pokémon franchise. I grew up with Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. But that’s only a small portion of series that formed my love of gaming.

In the fourth grade, my parents surprised my brother and I with a PlayStation 2 for Christmas. We spent the entire break playing Star Wars Battlefront, Champions of Norrath, and a plethora of demo discs that GameStop used to throw at willing customers. Within a year, I was intimately familiar with Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, and even Kingdom Hearts, the latter becoming one of my favorite series to this date. But beyond my enjoyment of these iconic titles, the PlayStation 2 acted as my first experience with inaccessible hardware.

Long before the introduction of extensive accessibility menus, I heavily relied on a game being accessible solely from its design. Even though I played Jak and Daxter, I routinely struggled to shoot enemies. My atrophied hands prevented me from comfortably reaching R1, R2, L1, and L2, forcing me to use melee for most of the enemy encounters. And before my brother had the idea to customize my controllers, I would simply give up after reaching segments which required shoulder buttons. That was my reality, and for years I was comfortable with never finishing inaccessible games. As a child, all I cared about was seeing my favorite characters.

Continuous Inaccessibility

I spent my preteen years alternating between Nintendo and PlayStation. And when I purchased my Xbox 360, I admittedly abandoned some of my favorite games for new titles and more accessible devices. Despite owning a PlayStation 3, I rarely, if ever, played on the system, instead spending time with friends across varying Xbox Live parties. It wasn’t until the release of the PlayStation 4 that I decided to reunite with some of my favorite games.

By the time of the PlayStation 4’s release, my disability progressed to the point of me requiring accessible hardware. Years before the introduction of the Xbox Adaptive Controller, as well as the Access Controller, disabled players like me needed solutions from charities or organizations that designed accessible controllers. I often tell others being disabled costs significantly more than being able-bodied. A custom Dualshock 4 controller with bumpers on the side which mimicked shoulder buttons cost approximately $180. And if that device broke or was not conducive to my needs, I would be required to spend even more on another potential solution.

I couldn’t access a game with dozens of [accessibility] options because I could no longer hold my Dualshock 4

Thankfully, my adaptive Dualshock 4 from Evil Controllers served its purpose, allowing me to play Kingdom Hearts 3, Diablo 3, and even Child of Light. Yet, with a progressive disability, it was only a matter of time before I needed something else. In 2020, Naughty Dog released The Last of Us Part 2. The industry celebrated it as a win for the disabled community. With dozens of options, varying disabled players could find some form of a solution for any inaccessible barrier they encountered. At the time of its release, I was the Mobility Editor for Can I Play That, the largest publication dedicated solely to accessibility in gaming. My team and I produced numerous stories and videos surrounding the release, highlighting the necessity for coverage of accessibility written by disabled people. When it was my turn to write the mobility review, I was unable to even make it beyond the start menu. I couldn’t access a game with dozens of options because I could no longer hold my Dualshock 4. And rather than spend hundreds of dollars on another solution, I did what was necessary as a journalist – I wrote about my experience and need for accessible hardware.

Reclaiming Access

For several years I was unable to cover, let alone play any PlayStation game. Despite consistent accessibility efforts with dozens of options and design practices across several of their its party studios, my biggest barrier was always a lack of a controller that fit my needs. Now I finally have a device that lets me access some of the most accessible games in the industry.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not. The buttons are often difficult to press, the circular design prevents me from reaching five of the eight buttons, and it only includes four external 3.5mm ports. Yet, despite its imperfections, I’m still able to do something I thought I lost control of years ago. And with a progressive physical disability, reclaiming lost function is an indescribable feeling, one which I don’t want people to experience because of how traumatic it can be.

I’m still struggling to fully play and enjoy PS5 games. For example, I’m unable to collect all the puzzle pieces in Astro’s Playroom because of the lack of a microphone on the Access Controller. But it’s not a situation that deters me from playing. If anything, it’s reminiscent of my childhood struggles with PlayStation long before accessibility became mainstream. Do I wish the Access Controller met my needs? Absolutely. But for now, I’m just excited to finally play PlayStation again.

Grant Stoner is a disabled journalist covering accessibility and the disabled perspective in video games. When not writing, he is usually screaming about Pokémon or his cat, Goomba on Twitter.

Best Nintendo Switch Deals Today (January 2024)

Like many video games, ones from Nintendo don’t come cheap. This was especially true when The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was revealed to be $69.99 on release, a whole $10 more expensive than other Switch titles. However, this doesn’t mean there aren’t deals to be had for Nintendo fans. In fact, there are plenty of sales on games, Switch consoles, and various accessories that are worth checking out throughout the year, and we’ve made sure to gather the very best going on at the moment below.

TL;DR – Best Switch Deals

You can also follow @IGNDeals on Twitter or Threads for even more updates on the latest discounts, or check out all our handpicked Switch deals just below.

The Best Nintendo Switch Deals – Navigate to:

Amazon Sale: Save on Select Switch Games, Controllers, and Cases

Amazon is having a sale at the moment on a variety of Nintendo Switch games, controllers, and cases that are well worth picking up. Below you can find our favorite deals from the sale, but if you want to see the full list of available items, check out Amazon’s store page here.

Nintendo Switch Games on Sale at Amazon

Nintendo Switch Controllers on Sale at Amazon

Nintendo Switch Cases on Sale at Amazon

Tears of the Kingdom Is On Sale Right Now (Save $14) & More Game Deals

This is an excellent price for Tears of the Kingdom, saving you $14.04. It’s available at Walmart for $55.95. You can also save a few bucks on Super Mario RPG right now at Walmart, which is down about $12 to $47.75! To see even more Switch games on sale at the moment, click on the links below.

More Switch Video Game Deals

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Perfect Switch SD Card for $39.94 (and More Deals)

The best Switch SD card should be fast, reliable, and as future-proof as possible. That last one is important, as it’s quite likely we’ll be getting a Switch successor / the next Nintendo console within the next year or so (if rumors are to be believed). Therefore, you’re going to want to opt for the latest in SD card tech, which is a micro SDXC UHS-I U3 A2 V30 memory card. That’s a lot of random letters, so to save you a bit of time we’ve left our top suggestions and deals just below for your convenience.

More Switch Micro SD Card Deals

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Nintendo Switch: Budget to Best

While an outstanding deal might not always be available at the time of searching, there are still some incredibly affordable Switch-related products out there if you look hard enough. You can see our favorite budget to best items here, including deals on the best Switch micro SD Card, power banks, and an affordable Switch Pro controller alternative.

More Switch Budget to Best Picks

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Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Official Guide for $27 (Save $18)

With these, you’ll have a detailed overview of Hyrule, a helpful walkthrough to get you through the game, and much more. Not only that, but they have gorgeous covers as well, especially the Collector’s Edition. The Standard Edition has an MSRP of $29.99 but is on sale for $18.74, and the Collector’s Edition normally runs for $44.99, but you can get it for $26.85. Plus, if you want to complete the set, the Breath of the Wild guidebook is also down to $22.49 right now as well.

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When Should You Buy a Nintendo Switch?

The short answer is that you should buy a Nintendo Switch whenever there’s any kind of sale, regardless of the time of year. Amazon will likely offer the same console bundles on any other sale as it will on Black Friday, so there’s no real reason to wait if you’re in need of a Nintendo Switch.

That being said, there are sometimes some unique bundles and promotions during Black Friday that you won’t find any other time of the year. They usually includes additional games (like the infamous Mario Kart 8 bundle) or accessories for free, but quantities tend to be limited. As always, do your research into the seller before you make a purchase.

Where to Buy a Nintendo Switch in 2023

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

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

Forza Motorsport Players Frustrated With Lacklustre Developer Statement Addressing the Game’s Issues

Xbox racing fans were left questioning myriad elements of Forza Motorsport upon its launch in 2023 and, following a blog post from developer Turn 10 Studios designed to address these complaints, have only grown more frustrated.

A “message to the Motorsport community” was posted on Forza’s website by game director Andy Beaudoin, creative director Chris Esaki, and executive producer Trevor Laupmanis to “thank you for your support and feedback since launch, reflect on some of the things we have learned, and share what you can expect from us in the coming months.”

In what it said would be the first of quarterly updates on hot topics within the community (to go alongside various other forms of communication), the Forza team addressed the car progression system, race regulations, and AI racers.

Frustration comes at the lack of definitive statements, however. In addressing the car progression system, for example, Turn 10 said it’s “exploring changes to the system” but it will “take some time to properly evaluate options, make the necessary code changes, and thoroughly test those code changes.”

Similar sentiments came for the other two topics. “It’s important that we capture all the data that we can about a race when [race] rulings happen in error, so over the next few months, we will be working with some long-time competitive Motorsport players to gather direct telemetry from them while they’re playing,” Turn 10 said regarding race regulations.

“We understand how important it is to have fair and competitive AI in Motorsport and our top priorities in early 2024 are addressing overly aggressive AI, while also getting a cleaner race start into turn one where many of the issues above most severely manifest and impact players,” it said about AI drivers, meaning Turn 10 didn’t have any actual solutions for players currently despite Forza Motorsport launching more than three months prior in October 2023.

Players therefore took to the internet to express their frustration, saying Turn 10 essentially said nothing about these issues in the post and complaining about other problems not mentioned at all.

“No call to action, no roadmap, no progress update. This is a yap session,” said crasy8s on Reddit. “AI fixes could come in a month or in December but they are dreaming if they think players are gonna sit idly by waiting for drip feed content.”

No call to action, no roadmap, no progress update. This is a yap session.

“Three game directors and basically nothing has been said,” added Cantewakinyan. “Amazing. Do not praise them for this.” Physical-Result7378 chimed in too: “All they say is, ‘We released an untested, unfinished, and unpolished game a year too early. Thank you for your money. We will talk to some streamers if they think we should fix something’.”

A similar comment came from cooReey: “This kind of statement would be okay if it came a month after the release, not in freaking January. This is just a PR move to buy yourself more time.”

Another common sentiment came regarding the lack of comments on the single-player mode. “My biggest problem is still the awful career mode and there’s no mention of it,” said Zafir on ResetEra. “The lackluster career mode killed this game for me more than any other issue and this doesn’t mention it at all,” Cheesetriangles added. “I have no interest in racing online.”

Forza Motorsport arrived as a reboot of the long-running racing simulator franchise, essentially being Forza Motorsport 8 but dropping the numbered branding. Spin-off franchise Forza Horizon, which features arcade-style gameplay in an open world, has perhaps overtaken Motorsport in terms of critical reception, with IGN giving the latest a 10/10 in our review.

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

Daredevil, Punisher, and Entire Defenders Saga Added to Official MCU Timeline on Disney Plus

Marvel’s Daredevil, Punisher, Jessica Jones, and the entire Defenders Saga has been added to the official MCU Timeline on Disney+, essentially extending the canon by 161 hours.

Spotted by @CanWeGetToast on X/Twitter, all of the Marvel Netflix shows — which released adjacent to the MCU but have always been questioned when it comes to what’s technically considered canon — have for the first time been listed as part of the official MCU timeline.

These Netflix shows include Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher, and in total add around 161 hours of content to the MCU. Daredevil and Jessica Jones each had 39 hour-long episodes across three seasons, Luke Cage and The Punisher had 26 across two, Iron Fist had 23 across two, and The Defenders had eight across one.

The shows were generally considered separate from main MCU despite events from Avengers being referenced within them. But as Marvel itself never made the shows official, and the likes of Daredevil and Iron Fist didn’t show up in Avengers films or elsewhere in the regularly collaborating franchise, many fans following the MCU didn’t add the Netflix shows to their watch list. Until now, anyway.

Questions were raised a little earlier though, when Daredevil (played by Netflix actor Charlie Cox) appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk, and Kingpin (played by Netflix actor Vincent D’Onofrio) appeared in Hawkeye.

Things ramped up earlier in January 2024 when MCU executive producer Brad Winderbaum said he considers Daredevil to be MCU canon, and a trailer for Echo, which also features Daredevil and Kingpin, featured clips from the Netflix shows.

The addition of the Defenders Saga comes as the MCU is widely considered bloated, with even Bob Iger, CEO of Marvel owner Disney, saying the volume of TV shows has “diluted focus and attention”. This is evidenced by the recently completed Phase 4 lasting 54 hours and 40 minutes compared to Phase 1’s 12 hours and 24 minutes.

Marvel fans are already struggling to stay up to date too, as the latest film, The Marvels, had the worst box office numbers so far despite positive critical reception.

Cox will also star in his own, dedicated show Daredevil: Born Again, though he said in September 2022 that it won’t be a continuation of what’s come before. This was put on hold pending a creative reboot in October 2023, however, though Marvel found a new showrunner later that month.

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