Capcom is “aware” of crashing issues introduced to Monster Hunter Wilds via today’s crucial 1.021 update, and stressed it is now “working on the issue.”
It’s dreadful timing for Capcom, which has been struggling to keep the beleaguered RPG on track so much that yesterday, August 12, the team released early patch notes alongside a message to the community apologizing for the state of the game. However, it now appears that the new patch has introduced a fresh bug that sees your game “crash” should you “faint and return to camp during Fast Travel or a quest under certain conditions.” It doesn’t seem to matter what platform you’re playing on, either.
“We are aware of the following issue being reported in Monster Hunter Wilds on all platforms and are currently working on a fix. Once the fix is complete, we plan to release a patch Ver.1.021.01.00,” Capcom explained on social media.
“We have confirmed that the game may crash when you faint and return to camp during Fast Travel or a quest under certain conditions. Once the update is available, online sessions will be discontinued, and you will need to update to the latest version to continue playing online.”
The statement concluded with: “We are currently working on this issue and will provide further updates when we have them. Thank you for your patience!”
Crucially, the update didn’t provide any timeline on when the update may be available, nor was Capcom able to provide any workarounds in the meantime — though we’ll keep you posted as best we can, of course.
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.
Nintendo Switch Online is a subscription-based online gaming service for the Nintendo Switch gaming platform. Memberships include online functionality, allowing you to compete or cooperate with friends, as well as a collection of classic Nintendo games spanning four decades, including titles from the NES, SNES, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, and, most recently, the new GameCube library. A free seven-day trial is also available.
We thought Chibi-Robo! was great when it released way back in 2006, awarding it an IGN’s Editor’s Choice award and scoring it a healthy 8.2/10, imploring you to: “Give [it] a chance.”
“I expect that too many people will glance at this game and conclude that it’s not for them, simply because it’s either too weird or too cute,” we wrote in IGN’s Chibi-Robo! review. “Truthfully, it’s both, but it’s also a very enjoyable, fun, and rewarding puzzle-platformer.”
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.
I must admit, Magic: The Gathering’s new Edge of Eternities surprised me. I felt it was going to be a relatively soft follow-up to the game’s most popular set ever, Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy, and yet it feels like another home run.
A great new setting, unique designs, and some big chase cards have seen stock selling out fast, particularly when it comes to Collector Boosters. As a result, you can still find them, but you’ll need to brave the secondary market – and pay over the odds, sadly.
Where To Find Magic’s Edge of Eternities Collector Boosters
Because they contain a higher chance of opening chase cards worth hundreds (and maybe even thousands), Collector Boosters cost more than Play Boosters and are also unlikely to be reprinted. Once they’re gone, there’s a good chance they’re gone for good.
Thankfully, Play Boosters are looking much more likely to be found closer to MSRP for months. The set is standard legal for a long time yet, meaning you can reasonably expect Play Boosters (and the set’s pair of Commander Decks) to be reprinted pretty regularly.
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.
Blizzard’s Story and Franchise Development team (SFD) has voted in favor of unionization with the Communications Workers of America, according to a press release shared today.
SFD consists of Blizzard workers producing in-house cinematics, animation, trailers, promotional videos, in-game cutscenes, and other narrative content across Blizzard franchises, in addition to archival workers and historians.
“After more than a decade working at Blizzard, I’ve seen all the highs and lows,” said organizing committee member and principal editor Bucky Fisk. “For years, Blizzard has been a place where people could build their careers and stay for decades, but that stability’s been fading. With a union, we’re able to preserve what makes this place special, secure real transparency in how decisions are made, and make sure policies are applied fairly to everyone.”
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.
Walmart is offering a steep discount on one of the most recently released themed Xbox Series X wireless controllers. For a limited time, the Xbox Wireless Controller Doom: The Dark Ages Limited Edition is on sale for $54 with free shipping. It is sold by Walmart directly and not a marketplace vendor. Even if you don’t own an Xbox, this is still a great deal, since it’s also one of the best PC gamepads for the price.
Get Doom: The Dark Ages Limited Edition Xbox Controller for $54
This Xbox controller is themed after the new Doom: The Dark Ages, which we recently reviewed. Specifically, it’s modeled after the Doomslayer’s blood-splattered matte green armor with 3D elements like silver helmet spikes and plated sheathing across the top case, a blood red thumbstick, and rubberized grips made to feel like leather. The green buttons replace the traditional XYAB letters with Sentinel symbols, and the right trigger is bright orange.
Aesthetics aside, these Xbox wireless controllers are identical to the ones bundled with the Xbox Series X and S consoles. Standard features include textured grips, a hybrid D-pad, button mapping with the Xbox app, a 3.5mm audio jack that works with any wired headset, and a Share button to upload screenshots and videos.
The controller supports both Xbox wireless and Bluetooth connectivity. That means you can use it for your PC or mobile device. In fact, we think this is the best PC controller you can get. If your PC doesn’t have Bluetooth, you can still use it in wired mode with a USB Type-C cable or go out and buy a Bluetooth or Xbox wireless adapter.
Doom: The Dark Ages was released on May 15 and is easily one of the best shooters of the year. The game is a prequel to the original 2016 Doom game and explores more of the lore behind the Sentinels and the Maykrs. It’s available for PlayStation 5, Xbox, and PC and it also happens to be on sale right now.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Krafton has issued a response to a recent lawsuit filed by the former leads of Subnautica 2, offering rebuttals to the developers’ claims and alleging they “resorted to litigation to demand a multimillion-dollar payout they haven’t earned.”
This comes in reply to a legal complaint filed by former Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill, and fellow co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, last month. In it, the former leads alleged that Krafton went out of its way to hinder Subnautica 2’s development, delay the game, and ultimately fire them from their roles all in an effort to stop them and other employees from collecting a $250 million bonus payment that would have kicked in if the game’s early access released on time later this year and reached certain sales milestones.
In its response, Krafton says the game was planned for a Q1 2024 release. However, “Cleveland and McGuire abandoned their roles as studio-wide Game Director and Technical Director to focus on their personal passion projects and quit making games for Unknown Worlds entirely. And Gill, who remained, focused on leveraging his operational control to maximize the earnout payment, rather than developing a successful game.”
Krafton goes on to allege that by 2023, Unknown Worlds’ development director had commented on the founders being “checked out,” and that Cleveland in particular had stated publicly he had abandoned video games to pursue filmmaking. The release date of Subnautica slipped to 2024 and then 2025. “An internal assessment of the first playable in March of 2024 made clear that the team had failed to deliver on their promise of developing sufficiently new content. But rather than roll up their sleeves and make the game they had promised, the Key Employees blamed others and overhauled the team.” Krafton also says that the leads continued reducing the scope of the game over time.
The response says that by spring 2025, Krafton was trying to stop them from releasing the game, saying it was not ready. However, Krafton alleges the leads tried to release it anyway in order to get their maximum earnout.
“Krafton, fearing how an underbaked EA Subnautica 2 would be received by both existing fans and the broader market, urged Cleveland and McGuire to return to their posts to generate a market-ready product that would not disappoint fans. Cleveland and McGuire declined. In response to Krafton’s request for the Key Employees to return to lead the development of Subnautica 2, Gill stated that ‘[t]here’s no coming back to a job they didn’t have.'” Krafton further alleges that the leads said they would self-publish the game without Krafton, and that they downloaded “massive amounts of confidential information” from Unknown Worlds.
The Key Employees’ insistence on releasing the game immediately was singularly driven by self-interest in obtaining the earnout. At every turn during development, the Key Employees were laser focused on avoiding “a timeline that doesn’t tank the earnout opportunity” and scheduling the release to maximize their payments. Conversations throughout the post-acquisition period make clear the Key Employee’s [sic] focus was on their payday, and not on the game. As early as 2022, an employee who was due to receive a portion of the earnout stated that despite the significant delays in the game, he was confident “Ted [Gill] will concoct a scheme to get us that earnout.” [emphasis Krafton’s]
The response goes on to issue answers to every claim in the founders’ lawsuit, paragraph by paragraph. Krafton asks the court to rule in its favor, deny the founders’ claims for relief, and award Krafton costs, including attorney fees.
This saga began in July, when Krafton seemingly out of the blue announced it would replace Unknown Worlds’ leads with former Striking Distance CEO Steve Papoutsis. In the weeks that followed, reports emerged surrounding the $250 million bonus promised to staff amid questions as to whether that payout would be honored. While the Subnautica leads claimed in various statements and in their lawsuit that Krafton had tried to delay Subnautica 2 and ultimately fired them to avoid paying them the bonus, Krafton accused them of neglecting their duties, saying Subnautica 2 was not ready to launch. That final claim remains up in the air, with leaked documents since verified by Krafton confirming that Unknown Worlds was receiving feedback from the publisher that the game was not ready for early access launch. However, a report from Bloomberg suggests this may not have been wholly true.
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.
Special Illustration Rares from Temporal Forces have seen significant movement since their highs earlier in the year. Cards like Raging Bolt ex, Iron Crown ex, and Walking Wake ex were once among the most sought-after pulls from the set, but all three have dropped from their spring peaks.
Raging Bolt ex is down 11% from its May value of $82.36 and now trades around $73.45, while Iron Crown ex has fallen 13% in the same timeframe, moving from $55.74 to $48.30. Walking Wake ex has taken the hardest hit of the trio, losing 20% since May, with its price sliding from $50.37 to $40.45. This downturn mirrors a wider cooling in the set’s high-end singles as both players and collectors reassess their priorities.
Twilight Masquerade has seen a more mixed picture, with some cards losing steam while others continue to gain. Perrin has eased down 11% from March, moving from $106.43 to $94.87, and Carmine has dipped the same percentage since June, going from $78.70 to $69.99. Both are Special Illustration Rare Supporters that enjoyed early interest thanks to their unique effects, but neither has become a fixture in competitive lists, leading to softer demand.
At the same time, the set’s Illustration Rares and certain Pokémon ex cards are climbing in value as interest from both casual and competitive buyers grows.Gastly has risen 13% since June, from $35.74 to $40.99, helped by its role in Gengar evolution lines and appealing artwork.
Greninja ex has climbed 17% since January, from $18.44 to $21.59, thanks to its versatile attacks and solid HP. Sinistcha ex and Tatsugiri have each moved up 10% since April, now priced at $21.59 and $18.48 respectively, while Eevee has gained 10% from early August to reach $21.59. These changes highlight how certain cards can gain value steadily over months due to competitive experimentation, collector interest, or them just being stunning cards. Let’s break this all down:
Pokémon Card Crashers
For cards that saw heavy demand early on, the market has cooled. Some have slipped due to a lack of tournament use, others because collectors have shifted their focus.
Raging Bolt ex brings explosive plays with Bursting Roar to refill your hand and Climactic Descent to convert discarded Basic Energy into heavy damage. It looked set to become a staple in certain builds, but the high retreat cost and inconsistent setup have made it less reliable in practice. As competitive players experiment with more stable options, extra copies have been hitting the market. The Special Illustration Rare artwork still turns heads in a binder, but with demand slowing, Its price has slipped.
Iron Crown ex offers useful bench support in Future decks through Cobalt Command, adding damage to your other Future Pokémon’s attacks. Twin Shotels provides a reliable way to apply pressure across the board, bypassing common defenses. Despite this, it has not found a consistent place in top tournament lists, and collector buying has eased off. Without strong competitive results to keep attention high, the price has edged down since May.
Walking Wake ex debuted with plenty of buzz thanks to Azure Wave, which ignores effects on the opponent’s Active Pokémon, and Cathartic Roar, which can hit 240 damage under the right conditions. The trick has been making those conditions happen consistently. Decks built around it have seen mixed success, and without the sustained performance to keep it in the spotlight, its Special Illustration Rare price has fallen noticeably from its early high.
Perrin gives players the option to cycle Pokémon from hand into the deck and fetch an equal number in return. It can be a valuable setup tool in certain builds, but it faces competition from other Supporters that fit more universally into current decks such as PRofessors Research. Collectors still appreciate the detailed Special Illustration Rare art, yet its price has eased back since March as demand from both has softened.
Carmine is one of the few cards that can be used on the very first turn when going first, letting you discard your hand and draw five cards. It can enable quick starts, but the narrow conditions for use mean it often sits unused. As the metagame evolves, it’s not become a fixture in competitive decks, and its Special Illustration Rare has seen its value slip since June.
Pokémon Card Climbers
Not every card is moving down. Loads of Twilight Masquerade singles have been gradually climbing in value over months, thanks to a mix of playability, collector interest, and unique artwork.
Tatsugiri is a small but effective utility card for certain strategies. Attract Customers can pull a Supporter from the top six cards of your deck if it is in the Active Spot, offering a low-maintenance way to find key cards. Its single retreat cost and light-hearted Illustration Rare artwork make it a popular pick for collectors as well. Since April, that mix of function and style has helped it hold steady gains.
Sinistcha ex benefits from Re-Brew, an attack that spreads damage based on the Grass Energy in your discard before shuffling it back into your deck. Matcha Splash offers reliable damage while healing your team, which can matter in longer matches. As Grass-focused decks see more experimentation, this Special Illustration Rare has moved upward in value since April.
Eevee is always in demand among collectors, and the Twilight Masquerade Illustration Rare shows a group of them cuddled up on a comphy chair. Ascension allows it to evolve quickly, which can be useful in certain setups, though its main draw is its place in the franchise’s history. Since early August, interest has pushed the price up slightly. I expect this card go carry on growing in value indefinately, albiet in small increments.
Greninja ex offers strong offensive options in Shinobi Blade and Mirage Barrage, the latter being able to hit two targets at once. That combination of damage output and flexibility makes it appealing for a variety of decks. The stunning Special Illustration Rare artwork and Greninja fighting for the starter Pokémon top spot with Charizard adds collector appeal, and trainers are willing to pay a premium to get their hands on one of the most valuable Pokémon cards in the Scarlet and Violet era.
Gastly combines a distinctive Illustration Rare design, showing and also evolving into competitive Gengar deck builds. Mysterious Beam offers potential energy disruption, and Suffocating Gas gives cheap damage when needed. Its appeal has been as much about binder displays as tournament tables, and since June it has been steadily rising in value.
Last Week’s Crashers and Climbers
Last week’s Pokémon TCG market update saw Paldean Fates and Hidden Fates dominating the spotlight, with several Special Illustration Rares and Shiny Vault classics making notable moves. On the climbing side, Mew ex led the charge with a 76% jump since October to $389.45, driven by its strong Restart ability and flexible Genome Hacking attack. Gardevoir ex followed with a 51% increase to $78.99, benefitting from its energy acceleration in Psychic decks, while Charizard ex rose 36% to $160.00 thanks to its powerful Infernal Reign Ability. Hidden Fates heavyweights also gained ground, with Charizard GX up 12% to $482.89 and Umbreon GX up 19% to $188.88, both continuing to appeal to collectors and players alike.
The crashers list was led by Pikachu from Paldean Fates, which plunged 48% from January to $25.00 as play demand faded despite its nostalgic appeal. Charmander from the same set fell 19% to $20.80, while Glaceon GX from Hidden Fates dropped 33% to $40.30 due to declining GX-era relevance. Moltres & Zapdos & Articuno GX saw a smaller 4% dip to $33.68, and Eevee from Hidden Fates slipped 8% to $33.13. Across both sets, the pattern was clear: high-end, competitive, or visually prestigious cards held or gained value, while smaller, less impactful pulls struggled to maintain early hype.
The Most Expensive Prismatic Evolution Cards You Can Still Pull From Packs
Prismatic Evolutions remains one of the most valuable sets in the Scarlet and Violet era, led by the Umbreon ex SIR at $869, still the top chase card despite dropping from its $1,300 high earlier this year. The Sylveon ex SIR sits in second at $315, bringing powerful control options with its Magical Charm and Angelite attacks. Espeon ex SIR follows closely at $204.99, offering disruption through devolving effects, while Leafeon ex SIR at $209.99 mixes healing and scaling damage. Vaporeon ex SIR holds $200.98 with strong spread damage potential, and Jolteon ex SIR matches the same $179.99 price as Glaceon ex SIR, though Glaceon has dropped 44% since May. Flareon ex SIR at $153.99 remains a hot pick for Fire decks, Roaring Moon ex SIR stays above $140, and Eevee ex SIR closes the top ten at $112.98 with its versatile evolution ability.
Outside the Eeveelutions, the set boasts affordable but striking SIRs like Dragapult ex at $94.99, Ceruledge ex at $93.85, and Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex at $83.99. Mid-range options such as Raging Bolt ex ($75.95), Gholdengo ex ($60.00), Palafin ex ($63.54), Iron Valiant ex ($50.99), Iron Hands ex ($45.95), Terapagos ex ($39.00), and Iron Crown ex ($40.60) offer standout art at a fraction of the top card prices. With many of these having corrected down from earlier highs, collectors now have a chance to secure key pieces at stable values before the next upward shift.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
As we exclusively announced earlier this year, we’re finally getting our first first-person Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game – and first TMNT game in VR to boot. It’s called TMNT: Empire City, and in the new developer diary video above, you’ll get a look at some first-person parkour/traversal gameplay in this early look at the upcoming co-op action-adventure starring your favorite heroes in a half-shell.
Creative director Ace St. Germain gives some insight on the first-person VR parkour mechanics of Empire City: “Movement through sewers is slower and stealthier, while above-ground movement emphasizes parkour, allowing for fast and vertical exploration. We’re not recreating the full New York City but are focusing on key areas. The city’s haze and mist are narrative devices, rather than invisible walls. The architecture is inspired by real New York buildings, like the Confucius Plaza (renamed “Wise Man Building”). Using hands for parkour, players can grab ledges, dash mid-air, and launch themselves dynamically. Zip lines and uninterrupted momentum mechanics enhance freedom of movement. This verticality is essential for exploration, combat, and player expression.
You can wishlist TMNT: Empire City on Steam if you’re interested.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
Fans of Star Wars: Unlimited have reason to celebrate this week as Amazon rolls out a series of discounts across multiple sets in the fast-growing trading card game. Not every expansion has boosters or bundles that have gotten the price-cut treatment, but for those looking to stock up on boosters or grab a starter kit, there are some standout Star Wars deals worth jumping on before they vanish.
For example, the Twilight of the Republic Booster Display Box, featuring 24 packs steeped in Clone Wars-era drama, has seen one of the biggest drops, plunging 52% down to just $57.98 (was $119.76). Each pack contains 16 cards, including guaranteed rares, a leader, and a base/token card, making it a prime choice for competitive deck builders or collectors chasing those foil highlights.
For those after something a little more beginner-friendly, the Twilight of the Republic Two-Player Starter Set has dipped to $27.54 (was $34.99), complete with two fully built decks, playmats, counters, and a quickstart rulebook.
If the Outer Rim calls louder than Coruscant, the Shadows of the Galaxy Two-Player Starter Set (headlined by The Mandalorian and Moff Gideon) is now $25.36 (down from $34.99), offering the same ready-to-play convenience with exclusive cards you won’t find in boosters. Single Shadows of the Galaxy booster packs are also available for $8.95 (was $10.99), perfect for topping off a deck with Mandalorian-era firepower.
The deals don’t stop there because the Legends of the Force set, only released last month and packed with Jedi, Sith, and iconic Force-users from across the saga, has had its own 24-pack display box dropped down to $88.00, a 27% cut from its original $119.76 price tag.
Spark of Rebellion is on sale, too, though the 24-pack display box is still sitting at over $105 (although better than its original $119.76 price). Altogether, though, the current markdowns on Twilight of the Republic, Shadows of the Galaxy, and Legends of the Force make for a good case to anyone looking to expand their collection without paying full retail.
Since this sale’s dropped, some other items in the Star Wars: Unlimited range have sold out already, so it seems to be only a matter of time before stock sells out and any replenishments are put back at their original MSRP. If you’ve been holding off on building your next Star Wars: Unlimited deck, this looks to be the perfect time to drop some Galactic Credits.
Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.
2025 has already been a productive year for Phasmophobia maker Kinetic Games, not least because though it’s only August, we’ve already seen a major overhaul of the in-game journal, the release of the (terrifying) reworked Bleasedale Farmhouse, and now a revamp for the fan-favorite Grafton Farmhouse map has just gone live.
As we dive into the final half of the year — and get ever closer to spooky season — we sat down for a chat with art director Corey J. Dixon to talk about what’s new, when Phasmophobia will finally feel finished, the possibility of Phasmophobia 2, and what it’s like working with Blumhouse Films on a movie adaptation.
IGN: Tell us about the reworked maps. Why rework them at all?
Corey J. Dixon: [Creator] Dan [Knight] wanted Phas[mophobia] to be the best thing it could be. And with the amount of asset packs that he had to use to create the game, there was a feeling of it not being his own thing. The design and the game and everything else inside of it was his baby — and it was successful because of that — but anyone could recreate Tanglewood. They just needed to buy the asset. So Dan was like: ‘I want to make this the best puzzle horror game I can. Let’s rework the maps.’
I joined Kinetic Games about nine months after Phas came out, so it’s just over four years now. Back then, there were only three of us. It was me, Dan, Ben [Lavender], and I was doing all the art myself. My first job was slowly replacing all the art assets, [and] we’re still going four years later. But there’s a lot more people now.
IGN: Why was Grafton next on the list to get a revamp?
Corey J. Dixon: We do what we feel is best for players. Asylum was the most repetitive map. It was absolutely huge before. I’d had chats with Dan where he’s like, ‘Oh yeah, it took me so long, like I was just copy-pasting rooms because I’d made it so big,’ and it just wasn’t that enjoyable to make. That was the first target — we felt that that was the most repetitive, and could have the biggest uplift.
So we did that one first, and then the farmhouses. There are two farmhouse maps, but they were almost identical. We had so many players who couldn’t even tell the difference between Bleasdale and Grafton because they were the same asset pack. So we had the conversation, and I suggested that we should really spread them apart. Let’s make one of them this kind of ornate, mansion-y, bigger map, and then take the other one in the opposite direction. Let’s ruin it, destroy loads of it — give it that abandoned ghosthunting experience that a lot of people do in real life. I think it’s worked — they feel completely different now.
IGN: Do you have plans to rework anything else?
Corey J. Dixon: Earlier this year, we announced we would be doing Tanglewood, and that’s a fan-favorite map. Everyone absolutely loves Tanglewood. So we’ll have to make sure we maintain a balance of, you know, giving it a fresh coat of paint, but not changing too much, because we know how much players absolutely adore it. But I’m pretty sure we’ll find that balance.
IGN: How do you manage demand from players who want smaller maps with those who want much bigger ones?
Corey J. Dixon: It’s a combination of things, the first mainly being the community. We’ve got statistics on what maps people play. We know that people play small maps, and we hear people talk about small maps all the time. That’s a massive factor. We want to update and add things that players want to play. We understand there is a community of players that do like the larger maps, but the bigger the map, the longer it takes to make or redo. So, for us, if we’re going to do, for example, three maps in a year, and if we [chose] a large map, that might mean we only get to do one or maybe two a year. So players are missing out because we’re doing something that takes much longer.
It’s kind of weighing up what the benefit is for the community versus how long it takes. We would like to rework all of the base game maps eventually — it’s just how long that takes, and in what order.
IGN: Have you ever considered expanding beyond four-player co-op?
Corey J. Dixon: A lot of the community have asked for that, especially on the big maps! Yeah, more players means you’ll find the ghost and identify it quicker. But it’s not really something we’re looking into. The whole game is locked in around four players. And it’s a 10-year project. Now, for Dan, he’s [already] worked on the game that long, and the code base is kind of locked in, there’s a lot of linking, intertwining systems, and it all kind of works together. So even if we wanted to do that, it would be an absolutely huge project.
IGN: You’ve also recently revealed that the next new map coming to Phasmo is Nell’s Diner. Tell us about it.
Corey J. Dixon: We planned for a new, small map this year and, again, looked at the community. People suggest things all the time. We have a massive list that has all of the things the community has suggested, so we reference that and see what we think, what we think would work or not.
We need to make sure that small maps make sense, because the way that the game plays, you’re restricted in what kind of maps you can do. A lot of people have suggested a theater or an amusement park, and while those would be absolutely amazing art tasks — they’d be so fun to make, gameplay-wise — they’d be really difficult. Massive open spaces mean you don’t have ghost rooms, and you need to have things on the floor or things for the ghost to interact with. So a diner just kind of made sense. You can split it up into these nice little chunks — you’ve got the dining area, the counter, the kitchen, the staff areas at the back, and then some toilets. It’s a perfect little, small map.
It’s also a familiar thing. People love the house maps because they play Phas in a familiar environment, which is just a house that doesn’t look creepy or abandoned. They stop playing [for the night] and walk around their house at night and go, ‘Oh my God. This is so similar. This is my house, and I’m scared of looking around at night.’ And a diner is very familiar for a lot of people.
The theming is super unique. We’ve never done a retro American style or really embraced the culture of it all. Shout out to the art team!
IGN: Is that because you have a bigger team now? One of the criticisms we see is about the pace of development, which has felt sluggish at times.
Corey J. Dixon: Oh, yeah. Definitely. If you compare our updates this year to last year — I think last year was just the console update, and then we did [new map] Point Hope. This year, we’ve already done the Bleasdale update. Grafton. The Chronicle update — which was a huge shake-up of the gameplay — came out a couple of months ago, and we’re still on track with our roadmap. We did Easter, we’ve got the Halloween holiday, and then Nell’s Diner as well.
IGN: You recently said the diner was a chance to use a little environmental storytelling, too?
Corey J. Dixon: We’re trying to push that as much as possible. Phas doesn’t have a story, per se, but even back when I did the asylum map, I tried to add a bit of storytelling there about, like, maybe there’s an origin story there for one of the ghosts, or maybe it’s just a crazed lunatic.
We’re trying to let players think about what happened here without being too hand-holding. We’ve dropped these little bits and pieces around, and people absolutely love it. We did some stuff in Bleasdale that even referenced Grafton. [Our community] absolutely loves it. So we’re just trying to push that Phas is not just a ghost-hunting game with these environments that look pretty but don’t mean anything. It’s a living, breathing world. We’ve got a lore update coming at some point that’s just going to push the storytelling in the game as far as we can.
IGN: Does this mean we’re closer to a 1.0 release? Phasmophobia’s been in early access since its 2020 debut.
Corey J. Dixon: We definitely have plans for 1.0, probably in line with our Horror 2.0 update [slated for 2026] is where we feel the game is feature-complete. It doesn’t mean we’ll stop working on it — we still want map reworks and new maps and stuff in the future, so there’ll be more stuff for the game. But I think once the Horror 2.0 has been redone, which is the next thing we work on after the [2025’s] Player Update, the game will feel finished. Once that’s in, I think it will be in a good spot.
It’s really difficult to know [when it may be finished]. Our community is constantly putting out, ‘Oh, it should have this!’ so we can look at that and just keep doing it! We’d love to work on it until we’re really happy with it. We haven’t set a date or an update that’s like: we’re done. I think we’ll just know: there’ll be that company-wide feeling that this project is done now, we’ve made it the best it can be, which is what Dan wanted Day One. I think we’ll know when we hit that milestone — I don’t think we can plan for that.
IGN: How do you keep the horror sequences fresh (and scary) for veteran players while keeping the gameplay loop simple enough for new ghosthunters?
Corey J. Dixon: We just try and maintain a balance. Like with the Chronicle update, we wanted to make it make sense. Before, something would be dropped on the floor, and you take a photo and go to the person you’re selling them to, and say: ‘I promised the ghost threw this! It wasn’t me!’ So that was the main goal of the update: let’s make the evidence system make sense, right?
People come up with crazy ideas, and some of them are great. Going back to the first anniversary, and we did a mini update where we redid the journal, because that was a big pain point for players. And people were posting designs on Reddit. It meant that when we came to do it, we had tons of reference, and we knew what players wanted feature-wise, and we just had to make it kind of look pretty, and we haven’t touched it since. The community’s great, it’s almost like you don’t need anyone [on the development team] with a brain now. We could just be developers that don’t have any thought, and we just follow the Reddit thread and just churn out stuff, because there’s so many good ideas on there!
When we got to the gameplay design of the Chronicle Update, it was just about maintaining that interest for new players, but having it complicated enough so that experienced players would enjoy it as well. With the unique and duplicate system, you can go in and take whatever photos, videos, and sounds you want, and not worry about the unique and duplicates, and you’ll still get a pretty good payout.
But veteran players with thousands of hours [in the game] — they know every nook and cranny. They can kind of curate their own really difficult game mode in custom difficulty, and they can go for a perfect investigation, and they can make each game the hardest they want it to be, and then end up with these huge payouts. The custom update is kind of ‘play your way.’ We noticed so many people were making their own little challenges, and we were like, let’s just put it in the game. Let’s just spend the time and put it in. We did a few updates to get the rewards right, but now it’s super solid. It’s rewarding when it needs to be, and it’s less rewarding when it doesn’t. I’m really happy with how that turned out.
IGN: Given how much Phasmophobia has changed since its launch half a decade ago, have you ever considered starting from scratch with a sequel?
Corey J. Dixon: I wouldn’t write it off. It would be a fun challenge to see if we could do another one. There are a lot of things that I know we would change as a company if we went into Phas fresh. There’s definitely things we would all probably say, ‘Oh, let’s not do that!’ Or ‘that would be awesome. We should do that instead.’ So, yeah, you never know. It’s definitely not off the cards.
IGN: What about a Nintendo Switch 2 version?
Corey J. Dixon: We want what’s best for the game, and if the opportunity arises, we’d love to. But there’s no news or anything I can share.
IGN: Before we go — the Blumhouse movie adaptation. How can Phasmophobia’s genre-defining gameplay translate to a movie?
Corey J. Dixon: We’ve got a really good partnership with Blumhouse. It’s brilliant. It will be a Phasmophobia film, it won’t just be a ghost hunting film — we’re going to make sure it’s a film that fans want to watch, and we’re going to work with them really closely. They’re really willing to work with us, and, obviously, we want to work with them. So yeah, we’ve got a really good partnership, and I think fans are going to love it when it comes.
Phasmophobia’s Grafton Farmhouse reworked map is now live across all platforms, including PC via Steam, PS5, PS VR2, and Xbox Series X and S.
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.
