Category: IGN

Earlier this month, the games industry gathered in Las Vegas, Nevada to celebrate the 27th annual D.I.C.E. Awards, honoring the best of video games in 2023. It was a great time, and a lot of really excellent games won well-deserved prizes.

But it’s also been a rough year for the games industry. We’ve written about the current upheaval elsewhere, and it didn’t go unremarked upon onstage, either. Even in a time of well-earned joy, a number of developers onstage were there having lost fellow team members who should be celebrating with them. Even those lucky enough to have avoided layoffs were accepting their awards in front of an audience of peers rocked by job loss, funding uncertainty, and apprehension.

Backstage, we had the opportunity to chat with almost every person who accepted an award that night. And while we asked them a number of celebratory questions and cheered with them on their victories and incredible games, we also asked them, candidly, what they felt the biggest challenge facing the games industry was in the year ahead. Overwhelmingly, the mass layoffs were the most common answer, but it also wasn’t the only thing we heard. Some developers brought up other struggles that they have been reckoning with at their own studios, or even smaller causes that ultimately have lead back to the larger industry struggles we’re seeing play out week after week.

So, from the developers of the best games of 2023, here are the biggest challenges the games industry faces in the year ahead:

Scott Hanau

Senior score producer for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, winner of Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition

“I would say all the layoffs probably, a lot of restructuring, reorganization, trying to keep all the teams together as best we can and go forward and make great games. It’s pretty daunting sometimes.”

Rod Fergusson

General manager of all things Diablo including Diablo 4, winner of Online Game of the Year

“I think we hear a lot about the notion around how you continue [growing the industry]. We can have great games and we still have to have industry growth, and so finding ways that we can expand our reach. It’s one of the things that people don’t realize, that the majority of people are playing on mobile and we don’t talk enough about that. And the idea of, how do you bring your IPs and your games to that mobile audience and reach people who maybe don’t have those platforms to be able to play? There’s three billion gamers out there, how do we reach them all? Getting to those three billion gamers I think is the biggest challenge.”

Ramone Russell

Product development communications and brand strategist for MLB The Show 23, winner of Sports Game of the Year

“I think the challenges always remain the same, it’s just a different day. I think every video game development team just wants to make great games, but it is a business. At the end of the day this is a business, so one of the challenges that we continue to face is attrition and being able to get the yeses for the things that we need to do to be able to make those games great. But it could also be worse. It could be a lot worse. It could also maybe be a little bit better. We’re just happy that we get to come to work and play in the sandbox and do what we love to do and dream about doing all the time, which is make video games.”

David Walgrave

Head of production at Larian Studios for Baldur’s Gate 3, winner of Outstanding Achievement in Story, Role-Playing Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, and Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction

“Following up on ourselves. As a company, there’s a lot of challenges that we are facing, because we’ve grown vastly over a few years. I think we, from the team that worked on Original Sin 2, we quadrupled, I think. So first of all, we need to make sure that all these people can still work on the next games. We should not overhire because then we will end up having to fire people. That is not what we want. So it’s again about finding that balance of how can we still keep on making the same type of game as this one without actually growing or overgrowing or bloating.

“Then for Larian, I don’t think it is a challenge, because this has always been our priority, is to think about the player first and the fun first, instead of how much money is this going to make. To us, it’s going to sound cliché, we want to make games that we want to play ourselves. We want to treat the player the way that we would like to be treated by publishers and game developers. So to us, a video game is like a thing that you buy once and it’s not like a shell with all sorts of buttons that buy you more sh*t. That’s not what games are. So I don’t know if that is a challenge for our company, but it’s a challenge for the industry, to treat people like they should be treated.”

Mike Fitzgerald

Director of Core Technology at Insomniac Games for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, winner of Outstanding Technical Achievement

“I think just finding ways to work together, support each other. Studios who have wins, try and share those with other studios in the industry and raise each other up to be better together. That’s the Spider-Man tagline. Better together.”

Bryan Intihar

Senior creative director on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, winner of Outstanding Technical Achievement

“I think we all understand it’s a little bit of a volatile time for the industry, and we’re all hoping that we can be there for each other. I think the most important thing is, how can we support each other in this, what can be a tough time for some people.”

Tim Garbos

Creative director at Triband on What the Car?, winner of Mobile Game of the Year

“That a lot of other people are also making games. There’s just so many video games out there.

I play video games. I played all the demos in this Steam Next Festival. I got through seven [of them] and then I didn’t have any more weekend. That’s amazing. It’s also a challenge but it’s amazing.”

Hella Schmidt

Studio director and general manager at Guerilla Games on Horizon: Call of the Mountain, winner of Immersive Reality Technical Achievement

“When I was up there, I was thinking, am I going to make a statement or not? I think we’re in challenging times where you really want to keep up our creative freedom, whilst being challenged with delivering games on budget and on time. And I think that gives an extra challenge to an industry that’s already hard. It’s hard to make great games. So, I do [hope] that when financial decisions are being made, that they realize that the power of making creative games is you need to keep the spirit alive, so that would be my answer.”

Matt Kramer

Studio creative director at Sanzaru Games on Asgard’s Wrath 2, winner of Immersive Reality Game of the Year

“I think it’s people. Our studio is about people. It’s about the game designers, the audio engineers, the producers, everybody that makes these games. There are so many players in it and it’s really sad to see what’s going on right now with all the layoffs and stuff. So hopefully we can turn that around and set it on the right trajectory because games are what sells hardware. And we need more games. We need more high caliber games, like Asgard’s Wrath 2. So for everybody that’s a designer, producer, engineer, anywhere, thank you so much for all your hard work on every game that was shown tonight. You guys are awesome.”

Andy Beaudoin

Game director for Forza Motorsport, winner of Racing Game of the Year

“As games have gotten more complex, they’ve gotten bigger, we’re adding more and more value to players. If you think about what you spend today for a game versus what you did…I’m kind of old, sorry to tell you, but back in the day, it was 50 bucks, 60 bucks for a game, and you maybe played it for eight hours. Now we’re providing games that have hundreds of hours. And to do that, the size of the team has grown, the amount of talent we’ve brought to the team has grown, the complexity of the worlds, the complexity of all that. And we’re still offering incredible value for the money.

“I think the challenge would be to continue to add value, to make bigger worlds, more immersive worlds that players can spend more and more time in and still provide it at a cost that’s affordable for people. There’s a challenge there. We see lots of studios laying off teams. It’s horrible to see that happen. We’ve got to figure out a way to make our games in a way that’s sustainable so we don’t have to let go of teams, but we can still provide hundreds of hours of wonderful entertainment for our players.”

Sam Lake

Creative director at Remedy Entertainment on Alan Wake 2, winner of Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction

“It’s been quite a year, like last year, here we are celebrating and obviously so many wonderful games, but obviously a lot of hardship and bad news for so many talented people working in games. So yeah, really, really from the bottom of my heart, hoping that as many people as possible find new homes and can keep making great games.”

Karen Read

Director of audio management on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, winner of Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design

“Oh, there’s a lot of challenges facing us, right? And I mean, we’ve all seen how the industry has had a lot of layoffs and a lot of financial cutbacks, so it’s challenging. It’s challenging keeping people together and creative and motivated when everybody feels like there’s this dark storm coming. But it’s in that creative space that we are really able to do things, right? When we focus on the games and we focus on the things that we love, I think when we come together as a community, that’s really how we handle it.”

Jerry Berlongieri

Senior audio director on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, winner of Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design

“Games are always a challenge. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and it’s always a challenge. There’s new technology, there’s new genres to figure out, and that’s part of what’s thrilling, I think, is we reset, we figure out how to do it differently, how to do it with new technology. And it’s, as a field, sort of embracing the change and figuring out how we can be creative with it, how do we work with it? That’s always kind of been… Games are challenging in that way and I think that’s also what’s thrilling about it. So that’s game dev, right?”

Michael Douse

Director of publishing, Larian Studios for Baldur’s Gate 3, winner of Game of the Year

“Stop f**king firing my friends. Jesus Christ…I mean, everyone is talking about how the rules are changing. We’re in flux. Nobody really knows anymore what to make, how to get it funded, if it’s going to work, if they’re going to meet their projections, what those projections should be… Without that predictability, you can’t plan. And this is an industry that typically requires a certain amount of planning. And I know everyone has plans, but that’s very different to planning for what the future is. We don’t know what the future is. So the biggest challenge is figuring out what the fuck everyone is going to do. And that’s going to take a combined effort. And really it’ll be hindsight 2020. If it’s good, it’ll work. If it isn’t, it won’t.”

“But I think for me, the most important thing is to figure out how to make it all sustainable. Because our mistakes will create victims. And trying to reduce that as much as possible, I think, will ultimately be what makes this industry continue to be successful. We need people to be able to be employed to make the games that people like. And that’s going to be tough. It’s tough now. It always was tough and it’s going to get tougher. So that’s the biggest challenge. How do we keep everyone f**king employed? Which I think is a challenge for everyone right now, but that’s our industry.”

Awards from Award Winners

As a bonus question, we also asked everyone we spoke to backstage: if you could give an award to any other game for any reason, what award would they give to what game? This is what they came up with:

• Scott Hanau – Dave the Diver – Most Fulfilling Fishing Fantasy
• Rod Fergusson – The NHL franchise “for continuing to disappoint me by not allowing me to play the playoffs in co-op.”
• James Ham, associate animation director at Insomniac – Kingdom Hearts 2 – Most Heartfelt Game
• Erwin Kho, art director for Cocoon – Most Amazing But Forgotten Game – Fragile Allegiance
• Jakob Schmid, audio director and programmer, Cocoon – Best HR Giger Adaptation – R-Type
• Tim Garbos – WarioWare – Most Inspirational Game for Being Okay Being Wacky
• Ben McCaw, studio narrative director at Guerilla Games – Mass Effect Trilogy – Award for Pinnacle of Storytelling and Cinematics
• David Walgrave – The Coolest Mathematics Award – Turrican
  • “I’m very much in love with the way that people worked with systems and computers 10, 20, 30 years ago. If you’re wondering very often, why did Larian do it like that or how did they do it? We still use a lot of the systems and systemics that they used in the eighties and the nineties to make stuff run.”
• Mike Fitzgerald – Tetris – Best Multiplayer Game
  • “I have very fond memories of being in the backseat of a car next to my brother with our Game Boy Pockets plugged into each other, playing Tetris against each other, clearing lines.”
• Jeannette Lee, project director for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Bryan Intihar both wanted to award games for “Best Sound Effect that Embeds in Your Brain and You Can’t Get Rid Of”. Lee gives the award to the Sonic the Hedgehog ring collection sound, and Intihar gives it to the Zelda “secret found!” sound.
• Ramone Russell – The Last of Us – Best Storytelling
  • “The Last of Us really showed the entire world and the entertainment industry that video games are not just a play thing. It’s not just a participatory medium, it’s a medium that can tell stories. And one of the things we did this year is really built off of the back of that is that it’s not just interactive. You can tell really impactful emotional stories in this medium, and you can also educate in this medium too.”
• Andy Beaudoin – Alan Wake 2 – Greatest Passion Project Ever
  • “I worked with those guys back in the days on Quantum Break, and just that team has been so passionate about storytelling and so consistent for so long.”
• Mike Grodin, director of engineering, Motorsport gameplay at Turn 10 Studios – Hi-Fi Rush – Most Creative Idea
  • “We were sitting next to them and I was just in amazement that they created that game and how unique that game was.”
• Michael Douse – BAFTA – The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow
  • “Because it’s fucking brilliant and nobody’s acknowledging that fact. Do we have a spare BAFTA?”

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

The parent company of Elden Ring developer FromSoftware is releasing a novel based on the beloved fantasy role-playing game, but its subject isn’t necessarily what you’d expect.

As reported by Siliconera, Kadokawa Corporation is releasing See You At That Grace After Work in Japan, a novel telling the story of two co-workers who get to know each other by playing Elden Ring. The title references the Sites of Grace locations throughout Elden Ring’s world of The Lands Between.

The novel follows a Japanese office worker and gamer who enjoys Elden Ring but has only played solo. After spending his workbreaks looking at guide websites, a senior colleague notices and, as a fan of Elden Ring themselves, speaks to the worker about it. The two interact more and more both at work and online as they play Elden Ring together.

The novel arrives on March 29, 2024 in Japanese only, with no word on an international release. Keiichi Hikami, the author of several Monster Hunter novels, is writing this one too.

It’s not the first time a somewhat bizarre book on Elden Ring has been released, as Kadokawa previously released a manga. Instead of being a dark and dramatic fantastical story, however, as is told in the game, it followed a naked Tarnished called Asea as a comedy.

While it’s been more than two years since Elden Ring launched and a wave of wild and wacky content and creations around the game emerged, a similar situation may unfold soon as FromSoftware has announced a June 21 release date for its expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree.

Elden Ring proved somewhat of a cultural phenomenon upon its launch, with players finding a ton of different ways to interact with the game. Fans played it using a Fisher Price toy, the Nintendo Switch Ring Fit controller, and someone even made a working VR version of the game.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: “Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path.”

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

Tekken 8 has sold over two million copies in the first month after launch, publisher Bandai Namco has announced.

The fighting game launched on January 26 across PC via Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, and sold one million on its first day of release, then hit the two million sold mark in the first month. This “greatly outpaces” the sales of Tekken 7, Bandai Namco said. Tekken 7, which is still being played, has the series’ total highest sales record of over 11.8 million copies sold worldwide.

Tekken 8 appears to be selling at a similar pace to rival fighting game Street Fighter 6, which also shifted two million copies after a month on sale. Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 went on to sell three million copies in seven months. NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat 1, on the other hand, sold three million copies just over a month after going on sale.

Bandai Namco said support for Tekken 8 will continue “through various content updates, esports events, music and licensing announcements.” To that end, the Tekken World Tour 2024 kicks off on April 13, with the Tekken World Tour Finals the culmination of the game’s first year of esports.

Bandai Namco also mentioned Tekken 8’s controversial Tekken Shop, which has drawn complaints from some players. “This in-game shop will provide customisation items such as costumes from previous installments, character skins for avatars, and licensed items from our collaborations, letting players put their own touch on their favorite Tekken characters,” Bandai Namco said.

Tekken 8’s Year 1 pass is set to add four additional playable characters as DLC. The first of these is Eddy, who sports a new high-top dreads hairstyle and a new outfit for Tekken 8, although his capoeira fighting style is present and correct.

IGN’s Tekken 8 review returned a 9/10. We said: “Tekken 8 is an incredible evolution for the series, with tons of single player content, an excellent suite of training tools, a great online experience, and exciting new mechanics that make Tekken more dynamic than ever.”

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.

The number of people playing Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag has risen 200% on Steam after the release of fellow Ubisoft pirate game Skull and Bones.

As reported by PCGamesN, the player numbers of 2013’s Black Flag have floated either side of 1,000 for years. According to tracking website SteamDB, however, this number spiked on February 16: the day Skull and Bones finally released after years of troubled development.

Black Flag rose to 1,679 players upon launch, followed by 2,600 on February 17, and 3,226 on February 18. That growth has continued, not dipping below 2,401 since reaching a new peak of 3,594 on February 25. Skull and Bones has yet to launch on Steam, with Ubisoft favouring a PC release on the Epic Games Store and its own storefront, so player numbers are unavailable.

Announced in 2017, Skull and Bones initially looked set to provide players with more of what made Black Flag so popular: intense and dramatic ocean adventuring and combat. Six delays seemingly caused excitement to dwindle, however, and Skull and Bones has finally arrived in 2024 to little fanfare. “Skull and Bones is a maritime RPG with a strong foundation, even if it feels like a live-service first draft,” IGN said in our 7/10 review.

Ubisoft’s marketing for the game has seemingly inspired a few thousand players to return instead to Black Flag, even with an eight-hour free trial of Skull and Bones available.

In our 8/10 review of the former, IGN said: “Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is a gorgeous, fantastic sequel that gives you the freedom to make your own fun.”

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

Nintendo Switch 2 won’t launch until March 2025 at the earliest, according to a new report.

Japanese publication Nikkei reported the March 2025 release window with much of the same information leaked so far: that Nintendo’s next console is a Switch successor with similar hybrid functionality but a bigger screen.

The Nikkei report does, however, suggest one of the reasons Nintendo has set a March 2025 release window is to ensure it can manufacture enough launch stock to satisfy demand and, therefore, combat scalpers. When the Switch launched in March 2017 it was almost impossible to get hold of, sparking a vibrant scalping market. It stands to reason Nintendo would want to avoid repeating the situation.

Indeed, Nikkei reports March 2025 is the earliest possible date Nintendo’s next-generation console will launch, suggesting it may not make Nintendo’s next financial year. Given the pressure Nintendo is under to release the successor to the near seven year-old Switch, a post-March 2025 launch would come as a huge surprise.

Earlier this month, Nintendo announced it had sold 13.74 million Switch units in the first nine months of the financial year, a 7.8% decline on the same period a year earlier. But it revised its forecast for the current financial year up, predicting Switch sales of 15.5 million, up from the 15 million previously predicted.

Nintendo said sales of the console “continued to be steady” in its seventh year since launch. The Switch is now up to 139.36 million units sold, lagging behind only the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation 2 in the best-selling consoles of all-time list. Indeed, the Switch has more annual playing users than ever before, with 122 million recorded during the 2023 calendar year.

“For hardware, by continuing to convey the appeal of Nintendo Switch, we try not only to put one system in every home, but several in every home, or even one for every person,” Nintendo said. “Another objective is to continually release new offerings so more consumers keep playing Nintendo Switch even longer and we can maximize hardware sales.”

One of the big unanswered questions is whether Nintendo’s next-gen console will be backwards compatible with the Switch. With 122 million Switch players in tow, it seems unlikely Nintendo will leave those accounts behind to start over.

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.

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios has called on the game’s community to cease what it called “threats and toxicity” over mod support, insisting conversations around new features “take time”.

Ever since Baldur’s Gate 3 came out in August 2023, players who use mods have been frustrated with having to uninstall, reinstall, update, and re-juggle their mods every time a new patch is released. So last week’s announcement that official mod support is on its way was seen as a positive. However, it seems a vocal minority within the community has taken things too far.

In a series of tweets, Larian director of publishing Michael Douse said, in order for the developer to continue its healthy relationship with its community, the threats need to stop.

“We’ll be talking in depth about what our mod support will look like soon,” Douse said. “Been working on it since launch. As always, we’ll discuss it in our way with our community. Threats and toxicity against our devs and community teams will only harm the conversation. Please stop that.

“This is a game that went from around two million players to way over 10 in a very short space of time, so it’s natural the conversation becomes muddier and complex. But in order to maintain the same level of dialogue, we need people to understand that these conversations take time.

“We can’t do it at all without the dedicated community teams that work to untangle a giant web of noise into something we can work with for the benefit of everyone. If you truly want to know things about the game, please don’t chip away at the people who connect us all.

“99.9% of our community are the absolute best and it’s because of them, thankfully, that my community team persevere. But I suppose it was inevitable that when you have a city, a few bad eggs will start a fire.

“Until then, BG3 does not yet have mod support. Don’t get angry at mod authors, support teams, community, or developers. Our focus is to patch the game while working on future mod support. I understand why it’s frustrating, so what we all need to do is focus on that future.

“Next week I’ll have a discussion about community moderation with our comms teams and restate our desire for continued closeness with our communities and updates based on when and what we can say. But we are working too hard for this to proliferate.

“To finish, again, we can only be close if we can work close. If we cannot do that, and we have to draw distance, it’ll really suck for everyone, especially us and definitely you. Please help us to work for the greater good of the millions of people who are involved and chill.”

Toxicity is unfortunately of serious concern to the development community. In January, the developer of Palworld said it had received death threats amid the game’s Pokémon rip-off claims. Last year, a new survey from the Game Developers Conference revealed a majority of game developers see harassment from players as a major problem for the industry. Of the 2,300 developers surveyed, 91% said player harassment and toxicity towards developers was an issue. 42% said it was a “very serious” issue.

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.

The Nier community is currently aflutter after what some are taking to be a tease for Nier 3.

The apparent tease comes from the recent Nier: Orchestra Concert in London, where the word R3PENT was apparently displayed at the end of the show.

“Anecdote from the Nier London concert but Yoko Taro took the stage at the end, told the audience that the Square Enix president was in the crowd and that if we wanted an Automata sequel to give the loudest applause of the night,” said ResetEra user SanTheSly.

“The room immediately erupted into claps, cheers and yells. How much of what Taro said is true is up for debate but the case was made abundantly clear in person to Taro himself, at the very least. Mild concert content spoilers follow.

“Also at one point during the story of the show; the word REPENT was shown repeatedly as part of some dialogue. The final instance was spelled as R3PENT. Both me and the person I’d gone with picked up on it and wondered if this was a tease.”

That ResetEra post was picked up on elsewhere, and now Nier fans are wondering if it’s all leading towards the reveal of the much-wanted third game in the series. But as many fans have pointed out, R3PENT may be nothing more than a part of the concert. After all, Yoko Taro is known for having fun with Nier fans.

Earlier this month it emerged that publisher Tencent had cancelled an unannounced Nier mobile game that was in development for nearly two years. This followed the announcement that mobile game Nier Reincarnation would shut down in April. Nier franchise owner Square Enix has yet to comment.

Nier: Automata is seven years old with no new mainline game announced so far. Square Enix producer Yosuke Saito said in November 2023 that while Nier chief Yoko Taro is alive, another entry in the Nier series will be released at some point.

Action role-playing game Nier: Automata launched in 2017 and wowed critics and fans with its vast locations and zany combat. It was a surprise breakout hit for Square Enix and went on to sell an impressive eight million copies. There have been many crossover events since, plus Nier-related promotions, a remaster of the first game, and even a Nier anime.

Nier 3, then, would make a lot of sense. It seems a matter of when, not if.

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.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has been getting some tremendous reviews, even getting a 9/10 from us at IGN, and plenty of critical acclaim elsewhere as well. The game is finally out on February 29, so there’s only a limited window remaining in which to secure the best deal on your preorder for the game, and so you can play at launch with everyone else. Thankfully, we’ve managed to find a brand new deal on the highly anticipated PS5 game.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth preorders are currently down to just £51.96 in the UK right now (see here), all you need to do is use code LEAP20 at checkout to secure the offer. This is a tremendous deal, and guaranteed to arrive on launch day February 29. But, as it’s also over £18 off the RRP, we imagine this will sell fast so we’d recommend securing your order ASAP to avoid disappointment.

There’s plenty more on offer in the LEAP20 sale at eBay as well, with hundreds of trusted sellers discounting tech, video games, homeware, and more; until February 29 at 11:59 PM when the code will expire.

In our review of the game, we said: “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth impressively builds off of what Remake set in motion, both as a best-in-class action-RPG full of exciting challenges and an awe-inspiring recreation of a world that has meant so much to so many for so long.”

It was also recently announced at the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth State of Play that a demo is now available to download via the PlayStation Store. It will let fans play as Cloud and Sephiroth in a sequence from the early part of the game among other content. This is a great opportunity to try the game out before you commit to purchasing via the deal we mentioned above.

There’s also a new relationship system, called Bonds of Friendship, that has been added to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. As explained in the system’s tutorial, “the strength of these bonds can alter portions of the story.” One of those story moments is the Gold Saucer date, and you’ll be able to see how your potential partner feels about you via a variety of emoji-like faces.

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

It’s officially Sunday, which means the weekend is once again coming to a close. We’ve rounded up the best deals available this weekend across games, technology, and more! New titles are seeing discounts, and plenty of hardware is on sale, too. The best deals for Sunday, February 25, include Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Persona 3 Reload, PlayStation 5 Slim, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, and more.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth for $39.99

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is the latest title in the long-running RPG series. Kiryu Kazama returns following the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, uniting with Ichiban Kasuga in a wild adventure you won’t forget anytime soon. This $30 discount just a month after launch is a great deal you shouldn’t pass up on, though newcomers should aim to play the previous titles in the series before jumping in.

Xbox Series S Starter Bundle for $219.99

If you’ve yet to pick up a console this generation, look no further than this Xbox Series S Starter Bundle. This package includes an Xbox Series S console with 512GB of storage, one Xbox Wireless Controller, and 3 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. At $219.99, you can save $80 off this already great deal.

19% Off Persona 3 Reload

Persona 3 Reload is already one of the biggest 2024 releases so far. The remake brings in new gameplay features, new voice actors, and an impressive slew of technology, including ray tracing. It’s already on sale right now at Amazon for $56.99, which saves you $13 off the game. If you’ve never experienced the story of Persona 3, this is the definitive way to do so.

Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection for $39.99

This Mega Man collection is a great pickup if you like RPGs, shooters, and platforming! All ten Battle Network games are included, making this a complete collection. Also included are a music player, hundreds of concept art pieces, and optional high resolution filters. The Switch version of this collection is regularly going in and out of stock, which can make this deal hard to pass up if you’re a collector.

PlayStation 5 Slim Bundle for $449.99

Sam’s Club is running a great deal on the Spider-Man 2 PlayStation 5 Slim bundle. For $449.99, you will get the PlayStation 5 Slim with the disc drive and a digital copy of Spider-Man 2. That’s over $120 of savings altogether. If you or someone you know has yet to purchase a PlayStation 5, this is a great deal to take advantage of.

Anker 2-in-1 Portable Battery with Wall Charger for $59.99

This 2-in-1 charger has everything you could ever need. Its first function is as a wall charger, where you can charge up to three devices at once with two USB-C ports and one USB-A port. Travel is where this device gets very convenient, as it also functions as a portable charger. With a 10,000 mAh capacity, you can charge your phone, laptop, or accessories multiple times with no issues.

Save 50% Off Star Ocean: The Second Story R

Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a gorgeous remake of the second Star Ocean title. Made in HD 2.5D, the pixelated sprites traverse across a gorgeous 3D environment. The physical edition of this game has been quite hard to find, with most retailers sold out of it. If you’re interested in the Star Ocean series, pick this one up at a discount while you still can.

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 for $34.99

Great news for stealth action fans: Woot has Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 for $34.99, which is the lowest price we’ve seen yet. This is a great package with the first three Metal Gear Solid games, in addition to Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. If you’ve yet to play through the Metal Gear series, the Master Collection is how to do so on modern platforms.

Return to Monkey Island for $13.99

Return to Monkey Island marks the return of series creator Ron Gilbert in an all-new adventure that continues the beloved story. You can grab the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, or Xbox Series X right now at GameStop for $13.99. We gave the game a 9/10 in our review, stating, “Return to Monkey Island expectedly comes packed full of smartly crafted puzzles, funny dialogue, and memorable characters.”

Fire Emblem Engage for $39.99

Fire Emblem Engage is the latest entry in the long-running series. Acting as a celebration of previous titles, dozens of familiar faces returned and lent their strength in Engage. Each Fire Emblem title is standalone and can be played regardless of prior knowledge of the series, so jump in with Engage and experience the fantastic gameplay and memorable characters.

48% Off PowerWash Simulator

PowerWash Simulator took over the internet for a few months in 2023, with all sorts of fun to be had cleaning surfaces. Free crossovers have been released for Final Fantasy VII, SpongeBob, Back to the Future, and even more series. If you’re searching for a game that you can play to relax, PowerWash Simulator might be a good option for you.

Lego 2K Drive for $24.99

Amazon has a sweet discount on Lego 2K Drive this weekend! If you’re a racing game fan and haven’t checked out this game yet, now is a great time to see what it’s about. This release went a little under the radar at launch, but it’s a fun time overall. We gave the game a 8/10 in our review, stating, “LEGO 2K Drive is a wild and whimsical all-ages kart racer with an incredible custom vehicle creation tool that’s just about worth the price of admission alone.”

Saturday is here, which means it’s time to round up the best deals available this weekend across games, technology, and more! New titles are seeing discounts, and plenty of hardware is on sale, too. The best deals for Saturday, February 24, include Persona 3 Reload, PlayStation 5 Slim, Super Mario Odyssey, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, and more.

19% Off Persona 3 Reload

Persona 3 Reload is already one of the biggest 2024 releases so far. The remake brings in new gameplay features, new voice actors, and an impressive slew of technology, including ray tracing. It’s already on sale right now at Amazon for $56.99, which saves you $13 off the game. If you’ve never experienced the story of Persona 3, this is the definitive way to do so.

PlayStation 5 Slim Bundle for $449.99

Sam’s Club is running a great deal on the Spider-Man 2 PlayStation 5 Slim bundle. For $449.99, you will get the PlayStation 5 Slim with the disc drive and a digital copy of Spider-Man 2. That’s over $120 of savings altogether. If you or someone you know has yet to purchase a PlayStation 5, this is a great deal to take advantage of.

LG Eclair 3.0 Channel Soundbar for $249.99

This LG Eclair 3.0 Channel Soundbar is an excellent addition to any home theater setup. Featuring Dolby Atmos support, the soundbar offers sound with 4 passive radiators, which creates powerful bass without the need for a subwoofer. This unit is also WOWCAST ready, meaning you can connect and use Dolby Atmos sound wirelessly without any lag at all.

Super Mario Odyssey for $39.99

Super Mario Odyssey is still one of the best games available on Nintendo Switch. From the stunning Kingdoms to the numerous new gameplay elements, this is a title any Switch owner should have in their collection. Odyssey is best known for its Capture mechanic, which allows Mario to use Cappy and take over different enemies and objects in the environment. This title doesn’t go on sale too often, so pick up a physical copy at a discount this weekend!

LG 65″ Class B3 Series OLED 4K TV for $1,199.99

If you’re in the market for a new OLED TV, this is a great deal from Best Buy. The 65″ LG Class B3 Series TV features an OLED panel with perfect blacks and so much more. The TV also supports both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos to provide you with the best experience possible with any content you choose to play, watch, or listen to. This deals end at midnight, so be sure to take a look while you can.

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 for $34.99

Great news for stealth action fans: Woot has Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 for $34.99, which is the lowest price we’ve seen yet. This is a great package with the first three Metal Gear Solid games, in addition to Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. If you’ve yet to play through the Metal Gear series, the Master Collection is how to do so on modern platforms.

Fire Emblem Engage for $39.99

Fire Emblem Engage is the latest entry in the long-running series. Acting as a celebration of previous titles, dozens of familiar faces returned and lended their strength in Engage. Each Fire Emblem title is standalone and can be played regardless of prior knowledge of the series, so jump in with Engage and experience the fantastic gameplay and memorable characters.