Pyramid Head Creator Masahiro Ito Says He Was Too Busy Making Silent Hill to Get a Girlfriend

Original Silent Hill art director and Pyramid Head creator Masahiro Ito has said he was too busy making Silent Hill games to get a girlfriend.

PC Gamer spotted a handful of X/Twitter posts from Ito who made clear that his time as a game developer wasn’t all sunshine and daisies — and not just because he was working on the terrifying survival horror franchise.

For a four-year period between 1999 and 2003, Konami released Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, and Silent Hill 3, and Ito was heavily involved in their creation.

“All the time I was attending my art university or was developing Silent Hill 1, 2, 3, and a cancelled title, I never had any girlfriends cause I had no time for it,” Ito said. “I never thought I was a genius, but I was terribly competitive. The only way to beat geniuses is to give yourself up entirely to what you wanna accomplish.”

Though Ito didn’t say he regrets his time working on the series, which is currently enjoying a resurgence thanks to the criticially and commercially acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake, Ito has been blunt about the series in the past.

“I wish I hadn’t designed f**kin Pyramid Head,” he said in a 2022 post. This comes alongside criticism of publisher Konami too. “To use [Pyramid Head] in so many titles makes [Pyramid Head] cheaper,” Ito said in a now deleted post.

Konami partnered with developer Bloober Team to recreate the game where Pyramid Head debuted. It arrived October 8 to glowing critical reception and strong sales too, leaving many fans of the previously dormant horror franchise eager for more.

In our 8/10 review, IGN said: “Silent Hill 2 is a great way to visit – or revisit – one of the most dread-inducing destinations in the history of survival horror.”

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

Sonic x Shadow Generations Sells 1 Million Units on Launch Day, Sega Reveals

Sonic x Shadow Generations has already sold one million units, Sega has announced, despite only coming out today, October 25.

Being a souped up remake of 2011’s Sonic Generations didn’t slow down the Blue Blur on the sales front, with the figure covering worldwide sales on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Alongside the remake portion comes Shadow Generations, a brand new chunk of gameplay similar to how Super Mario 3D World was enhanced by Bowser’s Fury in the Nintendo Switch remake.

“Sonic x Shadow Generations is a title that combines two games: Sonic Generations, where players can enjoy speedrunning various stages with Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic, enhanced with new elements, and Shadow Generations, a completely new game featuring the dark hero Shadow racing through dynamic environments,” the official synopsis reads.

“The story begins as a mysterious creature called the Time Eater creates distortions in time and space, setting off separate adventures for Sonic and Shadow. Players can look forward to a high-speed action-adventure with distinct gameplay experiences and narratives.”

The game has reviewed well critically too. “Sonic x Shadow Generations takes an already excellent game and spring jumps it to new heights with a creative Shadow campaign and an appreciable graphical upgrade,” IGN said in our 9/10 review.

Sonic x Shadow Generations is the latest hit for Sega; the Atlus-developed RPG Metaphor: ReFantazio also sold one million copies on launch day.

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

Axis & Allies 40th Anniversary Edition Board Game Review

War board games are one of, if not the, oldest genres of board games, with some of the earliest examples dating back to the days of the ancient Greeks. Fast forward a few thousand years, and you will find Axis & Allies, one of the modern era’s most prolific and well-regarded war games. Now, under the care of Renegade Studios, comes a re-release of the much sought-after Anniversary Edition of Axis & Allies with the Axis & Allies 40th Anniversary Edition, and at long last, fans and new players alike can once again find this elusive prize.

For those unfamiliar with the Axis & Allies franchise, the game places anywhere from two to six players in the roles of either the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) or the Allies (United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union) during various conflicts of World War II in the 1940s (with a few exceptions, such as A&A 1914, set in World War I, and G.I. Joe: Battle in the Arctic Circle).

While many modern games of its type may rely on intricate tech trees, special abilities, and other systems, Axis & Allies is one of the purest forms of war board games out there. It’s a game where you move your pieces around a large board, roll dice to win fights, and conquer cities to achieve victory—a game where solid strategy and planning matter most. This experience has helped the series survive for so long. Among the plethora of versions and multiple editions, this Anniversary Edition release is widely regarded by fans as the de facto version. It’s even featured as the game played in Renegade’s Axis & Allies World Championship Tournament at this year’s GenCon, thanks in part to a few unique aspects that make it stand out from its fellow A&A siblings, like A&A 1942, A&A Pacific 1940, or A&A Europe 1940.

Spread across three large boards, Axis & Allies includes both 1941 and 1942 scenarios to choose from, which dictate where players will place their starting units and the order in which each country takes its turn. From there, play alternates between countries placing new units, moving units, rolling dice to resolve attacks, and buying new units, with the end goal being to hold a certain number of special victory cities. Mix in some special rules for land, air, and sea units, and you have everything you need to enjoy one of the longest-running board game franchises of modern times – simple in concept, rich in depth.

For those fortunate enough to have snagged a copy of the 2009 Anniversary Edition release, aside from a few visual adjustments for historical accuracy on the map (Honolulu now points to the correct island, for example), a bigger board, and a new FAQ section in the rulebook, Renegade’s new version is the same. All 672 miniatures retain the same detailed designs and can be easily stored in the returning nation-specific storage boxes, which are adorned with artwork that creates a collage when stored securely in the game’s box. All of the cardboard tokens are thick and sturdy, and the IPCs (the currency used to purchase new units) are still that same Monopoly-style paper. Though I’m not much of a fan of that myself, I opt for just a trusty notepad to keep track.

The components all feel sturdy and honor the previous releases, but there are slight stumbles, and I wish Renegade had gone a bit further with their tweaks beyond just fixing grammatical hiccups. Of particular note, it is far too difficult to distinguish the various naval ships, especially the Destroyers, Transports, and Battleships. A subtle tweak to the sculpts or something similar would have been welcome (as a quick Google search shows, this complaint isn’t new).

Some issues, such as units feeling cramped on their respective spaces on the map, can be alleviated somewhat by the deluxe neoprene map that is 20% larger, though it comes at an additional cost. All in all, though, for its $100+ price tag, the base Anniversary Edition is still a wonderfully produced board game.

Playing through a game of the Anniversary Edition is an event unto itself that will easily take a day or more to complete, especially if you are a newcomer to the series. To put it into perspective, the games during the world tournament, featuring teams of some of the best players out there, were limited to six hours. While this may sound daunting, there is something truly magical about having a game that turns into a weekend-long event with your friends.

In terms of length, the 40th Anniversary Edition finds itself in the middle range of the pack, with options like 1941 offering much of the same mechanics in a game that will only last a couple of hours. Alternatively, you can combine Europe and Pacific to create the utterly epic Axis & Allies Global, which will take even the most experienced players months of weekends to complete (a dream of mine to do one day). Thanks to Renegade’s efforts in reprinting the series, it’s fairly easy to snag a copy of whichever version you prefer.

Where to Buy

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Gets $30 Million Pay Raise Amid Year of Massive Gaming Layoffs

The CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, is getting a pay raise. A $30 million one.

According to a proxy filing published earlier this week and spotted by NBC, Nadella’s compensation for the fiscal year 2024 totaled $79,106,183. $2.5 million of this was his base salary, $71.24 million was stock awards, $5.2 million was non-equity incentive plan compensation, and the rest was a mixture of other types of compensation.

This is significantly higher than last year, when Nadella’s compensation totaled $48.5 million. While Nadella’s base salary remained flat between years, he saw a massive jump in the past fiscal year in stock awards, going from $39.24 million last year to $71.24 million this year.

Per the filing, the ratio of total annual compensation of Nadella to the median employee at Microsoft was 408 to 1.

Notably, the filing points out that this number actually incorporates Nadella taking a pay cut. The “cash incentive” portion of his pay was reduced at Nadella’s own request due to a security breach in 2023 where a Chinese espionage group hacked government email accounts through Microsoft. Per the filing, without this reduction, Nadella’s non-equity incentive plan compensation would have totaled $10.66 million instead of $5.2 million.

“Since the Board of Directors appointed Mr. Nadella as the third Chief Executive Officer in its history in 2014, Microsoft has nearly tripled revenue to $245.1 billion, nearly quadrupled net income to $88.1 billion, and more than quadrupled diluted earnings per share to $11.80,” the filing reads. “In addition to another year of consistently strong financial performance, Mr. Nadella and his leadership team have positioned Microsoft to continue to drive performance for years to come.”

Microsoft’s 2024 fiscal year took place from July of 2023 to June of 2024. During that period, the company acquired Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, a point that’s celebrated in the Microsoft filing. However, the company also laid off 1,900 staff from its gaming workforce in early January. A few months later, it closed Redfall developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, and laid off others within Bethesda. And already this quarter, Microsoft has laid off another 650 gaming staff in a move which Xbox head Phil Spencer attributed directly to the acquisition.

Microsoft’s first quarter earnings call for fiscal 2025 will take place next week, providing an update on the company as a whole as well as the gaming division. Microsoft has been doing well on the strength of Azure, Cloud, Office, and its other divisions, and the Activision Blizzard acquisition has provided it with a significant boost to gaming revenue. However, hardware sales have been dipping over the last year (a problem also faced by Xbox’s rivals) and non-Activision Blizzard content sales have been relatively flat over the last year.

Photo by Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

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.

Silent Hill 2 Remake Hotfix Addresses Progress Breaking Bug

Bloober Team has released a patch for the Silent Hill 2 remake which brings the game to Version 1.05 and fixes a progress breaking bug.

The patch notes were released on Steam and focus predominantly on the issue introduced in Version 1.04, which stopped some players progressing past the Labyrinth section of the survival horror game.

“We are happy to announce a new update for Silent Hill 2 that addresses a critical issue in the Labyrinth level, after Patch 1.04 for both Steam and PlayStation 5 players, and introduces Steam Cloud save functionality for PC players on Steam,” Bloober Team said. The full patch notes are available below.

Bloober Team said it was aware of the issue on October 22 when the bug was discovered. Several Silent Hill 2 players shared their frustration online as the Labyrinth section began living up to its name a little too well, trapping players inside its walls forever.

This section is a giant puzzle, as players must manipulate a cube to shift the walls around and open new pathways to progress. But after Patch 1.04 was released, some pathways wouldn’t open at all. This has now been fixed, however.

Bloober Team and publisher Konami released the Silent Hill 2 remake on October 8 to glowing critical reception and strong sales, leaving many fans of the previously dormant horror franchise eager for more.

Bloober has said it’s open to making other Silent Hill games, though at the moment is focused on its sci-fi survival horror game Cronos: The New Dawn.

In our 8/10 review of the Silent Hill 2 remake, IGN said: “Silent Hill 2 is a great way to visit – or revisit – one of the most dread-inducing destinations in the history of survival horror.”

Silent Hill 2 Remake Version 1.05 Patch Notes

Fixes

  • Labyrinth Progression Blocker: Fixed an issue where players who saved their game in the Labyrinth, after Toluca Prison, on the previous version encountered a progression blocker if the save data was loaded after updating to Patch 1.04. We have implemented a fix by adding a safeguard that forces proper activation of the necessary triggers, ensuring smooth progression moving forward.
    Features
  • Steam Cloud Saves: We have enabled Steam Cloud support for PC players on Steam. Please note that the game will automatically sync with the latest cloud save data. If the cloud save is more recent than the local save, it will overwrite the local data without a warning pop-up. We recommend players back up their local saves if you wish to keep multiple versions.

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

Valve Finally Fixes BLU Scout’s Pants, 17 Years After Team Fortress 2 Came Out,

Valve has finally fixed a problem with Team Fortress 2 that’s been in the game since it launched 17 years ago.

Ever since the influential hero shooter came out on October 10, 2007, the Scout’s pants on the blue side were the wrong color. Now, among patch notes for a recently released Team Fortress 2 update, Valve buried the big news: Scout’s pants are now fixed.

Here’s the rather innocuous line from the patch notes:

  • Fixed BLU Scout using the incorrect team color pants

In typical Valve fashion, it made the change without explanation or fanfare. No explanation for why it’s taken 17 years to change the color of Scout’s pants, and no reason for why it’s done so only now. Ever mysterious, Valve is.

It’s fair to say the reaction from the Team Fortress 2 community has been a mix of shock and excitement. “They changed a character design 17 years later! What!” X/Twitter user @heavyfortres asked.

“Honestly I can’t believe they did it,” redditor KyleTheWalrus added. “BLU Scout had gray pants and blue belt loops for 17 years, and he has several cosmetics that require the gray pants color to work correctly.

“If they fixed anything, I was sure they would just make the belt loops gray because it’s easier. But those crazy bastards took the hard route.

“Now we wait another 17 years for the rest of Scout’s pants cosmetics to become the correct shade of blue. Hooray!”

Valve’s relationship with the Team Fortress 2 community has certainly had its ups and downs over the years. The game’s had an awful bot problem for some time, and exacerbated players often call for Valve to do more to clamp down. They’ve also asked for more support and content for Team Fortress 2 from Valve, which, some say, is more focused on its other, more popular games. Team Fortress 2 remains incredibly popular, though, and is among one of Steam’s most played games ahead of the likes of Warframe, Overwatch 2, and Destiny 2.

Last month, Team Fortress 2 players got creative in the fight against the shooter’s rampant bot problem by turning a 340,000 signature strong petition into an actual book and delivering it to Valve headquarters.

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.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Could Boost Game Pass by Up to 4 Million Subs — but at the Cost of 6 Million Lost Sales, Analysts Predict

Black Ops 6 comes out today, October 25, and it does something no other Call of duty game has done before: launch straight into Game Pass.

Following Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, the pressure is now on its gaming business to deliver. With that in mind, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has decided to take the plunge and release Black Ops 6 as a day one Game Pass game, albeit restricted to the Ultimate and PC Game Pass tiers.

This is a momentous moment not just for Call of Duty but for Game Pass, which has struggled for growth in recent years. Latest official figures put Game Pass subscriber numbers at 34 million. That’s 34 million paying subscribers across console, PC, and cloud. Indeed Microsoft removed its $1 introductory Game Pass trial just weeks before Black Ops 6’s launch, as it did with last year’s Starfield — further evidence, after recent price hikes and tier changes, that the pressure is now on for Game Pass to make the absolute most of the power of Call of Duty.

Will it pay off for Microsoft? In interviews with GamesIndustry.biz, analysts predicted Black Ops 6 could boost Game Pass subscriber numbers by between 2.5 million and 4 million. However, analysts also predicted a significant impact on sales of Black Ops 6. Call of Duty is usually the best-selling game of the year, but there is now a big question mark over whether it will achieve that record once again with Black Ops 6 given it’s available as part of Game Pass.

Wedbush boss Michael Pachter told GI that putting Black Ops 6 into Game Pass could result in up to six million lost sales, based on the idea that 25% of Game Pass subscribers might have bought the game anyway. Countering this, Pachter said Game Pass could swell by between three to four million subscribers.

This is a perhaps expected shift, but is it overall better for Microsoft and Activision? The theory is that getting more players through the door than ever before, even at the cost of sales of the game, will eventually pay out because of Call of Duty’s lucrative live service, which is fueled by premium battle passes and costly cosmetic packs. Microsoft may be playing the long game here, even though it risks negative headlines about Call of Duty sales being down compared to previous years.

Of course, now Microsoft has taken the plunge with Call of Duty little is off the table when it comes to Game Pass. The expectation now is that each year’s premium Call of Duty game will launch day one on Game Pass, and fans are still waiting for the back catalog to be added.

We’ve got plenty more on Black Ops 6 ahead of launch, including its strange arachnophobia mode, built-in support for better audio tech that costs $20, Activision’s new ambitious plans to beat cheaters, and confirmation it doesn’t include the dreaded Riot Shield.

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.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed Review

In 1991, I went to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. The Turtles were barely using their weapons now, Casey Jones was gone, and April O’Neil wasn’t Judith Hoag anymore – which was like coming back after holidays to find the classmate you had a crush on had changed schools. Put simply, it wasn’t what I’d expected, and I find myself in a similar position with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed. What I expected was a basic 3D beat ’em up that would be over in a few hours. What we got is actually a 14-hour light RPG, with a basic 3D beat ’em up tying together long sections of exposition and relationship building. Unfortunately, like with The Secret of the Ooze, moving in an unexpected direction doesn’t automatically make the end result good. Despite a clear effort on the part of developer aheartfulofgames to make Mutants Unleashed a juicy and authentic follow-up story to 2023’s Mutant Mayhem film, it quickly becomes tedious thanks to a significant lack of enemy variety and small selection of constantly reused levels. It’s not ninja crap, but the T.U.R.T.L.E. power is limited.

As far as I’m concerned, the original 1990 TMNT movie is untouchable, but I do feel Mutant Mayhem is the best TMNT movie since the first. Its deliberately imperfect, hand-drawn appearance is remarkable, its soundtrack is impeccable, and – as the father of a 16-year-old – it contains easily the most believably teenage Turtles ever.

[The graphics] ably ape the hastily sketched, asymmetrical look of Mutant Mayhem – from its crude, 2D scribbles for smoke and light sources, to Bebop’s distractingly droopy pierced nipples.

Mutants Unleashed comes impressively close to recreating two of those pillars itself. While the graphics don’t reach par with the exquisite, painterly appearance of the movie, they ably ape the hastily sketched, asymmetrical look of Mutant Mayhem – from its crude, 2D scribbles for smoke and light sources, to Bebop’s distractingly droopy pierced nipples. The four main Turtles themselves are also in sync with their movie counterparts, largely thanks to the fact the voice stars of the movie have returned here. If the budget could’ve stretched to include some of the film’s licensed music, they could’ve had the trifecta. It sadly didn’t but, unfortunately, Mutants Unleashed has several more pressing problems than a lack of iconic ’90s hip hop up in here (up in here).

Can I Kick It?

While a 14-hour TMNT RPG may sound like slam dunk value on paper, Mutants Unleashed is actually stretched to a breaking point over that surprisingly lengthy duration. The main story missions quickly become dreary once you notice it’s constantly rehashing the same stages.

Mutants Unleashed tries hard to obfuscate how many levels it actually has by having us run backwards through ones we’ve previously completed, or switching up the fixed camera to a different angle, but it’s very transparent. There’s also far too much loading required as we complete sections, which just feels like a cheat to shuffle the order of environments used for each mission without blending them together. Either way, clambering across the same construction site, running through the same pipe, riding up and down the same elevator, and scurrying over the same cargo ships gets old, quick.

Worse, very little exploration is possible. Yes, there are hidden objects – and pieces of street art to find for Mondo Gecko – but Mutants Unleashed generally only punishes us for trying to veer off the path. I lost track of the number of times I tried to jump to a spot that appeared fine to land on, only to plummet to the street off camera – or be met with an invisible wall. On one stage I completely trapped myself somewhere I clearly wasn’t meant to be. I’ve only ever found hidden art by accidentally going the way I thought I was supposed to go anyway.

Combat itself is totally serviceable, although enemies aren’t very smart, and they’re not always great at tracking you through the environments. The Turtles all have distinct fighting styles that can be upgraded with new moves as you progress specific relationships for each. There’s little need to get into the weeds with it, though, and it’s totally a button masher. This makes it accessible, but fairly mindless. I’d try out new moves, but mostly to get the tutorial boxes to leave the screen, where they sometimes cover up your Turtles thanks to the fixed camera.

That camera didn’t really bother me for the most part; I get that it’s ultimately a bit of a halfway house between an entirely third-person brawler and the 2D beat ’em ups of yesteryear, and Mutants Unleashed creatively replaces your character with a scratched silhouette when they’re hidden by pieces of the environment. However, I did have instances where the angle was a real burden. There’s not a ton of technical platforming in Mutants Unleashed, but lining up jumps and rail grinds from a 45-degree angle is like leaving your TV and trying to keep playing Tony Hawk from the toilet with the bathroom door ajar.

Most disappointingly, Mutants Unleashed seems built primarily as a single-player game. The Turtles you haven’t selected will simply dip out at the beginning of every level, so you never feel like you’re part of a fighting foursome – which is what TMNT is all about. Sure, it has two-player co-op, but it’s not four-player, so that still doesn’t feel right. You don’t even get AI Turtles raising shell in the background. The special assist moves make it seem like a second Turtle is going to get involved, but activating them doesn’t actually bring one of your brothers physically into the space. It’s just… implied that they dropped in and bugged out, perhaps while you were blinking.

It also doesn’t help that enemies are just the same handful of mutants for the entire game. Trash crabs. Zebra squids. Hippo luchadores. A couple more. But it’s over a dozen hours of these same few baddies. Yes, I understand a licensed tie-in game isn’t going to be able to introduce important opponents from the TMNT universe – like the Foot Clan or such – before the film’s inevitable sequel. Hell, I wouldn’t let it either. That’s how you get Emperor Palpatine returning to Star Wars in… Fortnite. At 6am Australian Eastern Daylight Time on a random Sunday morning. But Mutants Unleashed really needed more enemy variety.

There are a host of side missions, but unfortunately these only contribute to the repetition. Civilian missions involve beating up a bunch of the same mutants across a couple of levels you’ve almost certainly been to before. Contagion missions involve running through a level you’ve almost certainly been to before, beating up the same mutants again, although this time some of them will be highlighted as key targets. Pizza deliveries are just speed runs through the same levels once more, although the enemies have been removed, and the map is now full of giant inflatable bounce pads and boom gates for no discernible reason. And no one’s carrying a pizza.

Mutants Unleashed features a time progression system, where each mission or conversation encounter takes either a day or a night, and then the day moves on. This puts a limit on the amount of side activities you can tackle before needing to do a main mission, but there’s more than enough time to complete everything in a single playthrough. There’s about two months of tasks, but I had weeks up my sleeve before needing to do the final couple of story missions and I was already out of side missions, so the time component doesn’t really add a great deal.

No Diggity

The RPG-style conversational component of Mutants Unleashed does add a lot of unexpected exposition, although I think the story of a new wave of mutants descending on New York and finding themselves at odds with the existing human population is an effective and totally logical follow-up to the movie. It continues the themes that hatred and prejudice are repugnant from any side they’re projected and, while “do unto others” is admittedly a message that’s been embedded in kids’ cartoons for decades, that doesn’t make it any less authentic in this new TMNT world where mutants and humans have suddenly been thrown together.

Yes, not every conversation is particularly riveting, and not all of them are actually voiced, either. These sections are also entirely passive, so there are definitely times when they’re simply filler. Even moments that seem custom made for a minigame – like Donatello visiting an arcade to play a dancing game – ultimately aren’t interactive. An indirect dig at how rubbish Raph is in the original TMNT game is cute, but otherwise there’s a bit of a weird clash of approaches at times. I raised my eyebrow as the script worked quite hard to concoct an entire fantasy catalogue of parody John Hughes films to not mention him by name – but then, on other occasions, overtly references the likes of Clint Eastwood and Chuck Norris.

Cutscenes are totally hamstrung by the glacial cadence of conversations.

The biggest problem, however, is the pacing of the dialogue. Cutscenes are totally hamstrung by the glacial cadence of conversations, which waits line-by-line for huge dialogue boxes and canned reaction animations to pop up. This creates highly-unnatural pauses between sentences and very much kills the momentum of conversations.

These scenes can mostly be skipped, or slightly sped up by hammering a button, but they’re nonetheless necessary if you want to progress the Turtles’ relationships with their friends around the city and unlock new upgrades.

Where to Watch Every Friday the 13th Movie Online in 2024

After the success of Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th kicked off the 80’s by taking the slasher genre to gorey new heights. Jason Voorhees first appeared (sort of) to terrify teens at a Crystal Lake summer camp, and its safe to say the original Friday the 13th is essential viewing for any horror fan. 12 movies and 11 directors later, the hockey-mask wearing horror villain has become a zombie, gone to space, and battled a fellow slasher icon.

For those looking to watch or rewatch the films ahead of Halloween or the next Friday the 13th in December, here’s where you can stream all of the Friday the 13th movies right now.

Where to Watch the Friday the 13th Movies Online

Over the years, the Friday the 13th movies have been pretty hard to find online. This October, the first eight Friday the 13th movies (“the original series,” if you will) have finally found a home at Paramount+. The more recent films, including the 2009 reboot, are available to stream on Max. All of the Friday the 13th movies are available to rent or purchase from digital storefronts, which is unfortunately the only way to get your hands on Jason Goes to Hell (maybe that one’s for the best) and Jason X.

Friday the 13th Movies on Blu-ray

While the Friday the 13th movies may be all over the place online, Shout!Factory released a collected set of all 12 movies on Blu-ray back in 2020. The set also includes what can only be described as a ludicrous amount of bonus features. If you don’t need the Blu-ray or all those extras, you can also grab a DVD set of the first 8 movies for around $20.

What Order Should You Watch the Friday the 13th Movies

The Friday the 13th franchise, like most of the 80’s slashers, has a lot going on. We’re talking spin-offs, reboots, crossovers, and some good ol’ time travel. For those interested in the Jason timeline, we’ve also covered how to watch the Friday the 13th movies in chronological order.

Will There Be More Friday the 13th Movies?

While the 2009 reboot may have intended to bring back the series, complicated legal drama over franchise rights has stalled the production of any new Friday the 13th movies since. Instead, the biggest release the franchise has seen in the past 15 years was Friday the 13th: The Game, which, due to more legal drama, was delisted at the end of 2023.

Still, we may finally get that 13th Friday the 13th movie. Earlier this year, Horror, Inc announced they would be working with some of the original license holders to build up a multi-platform Jason Universe. Yes, of course that’s what they’re calling it. While the Jason-verse will seemingly kick off with a Crystal Lake TV show, hopefully we see Jason back on the big screen sooner rather than later.

Blythe (she/her) is an SEO Coordinator at IGN who is always looking for the next great horror story and turn-based RPG.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Adds Strange Arachnophobia Mode That Turns Zombie Spiders Into Floating Torsos

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is following a recent trend by adding an arachophobia setting to Zombies, but its solution somehow seems even worse.

As part of its blog detailing Black Ops 6’s various acccessibility features, Activision showed off its new arachnophobia mode, explaining, “For the first time in Black Ops 6 Zombies, a new arachnophobia toggle feature will be available. This setting will allow players to change the appearance of spider-like enemies in Zombies without affecting their game play.”

The description is accompanied by a screenshot that shows a spider beast crawling toward the player on one side, and what it looks like when the arachnophobia mode is turned on. It seems the toggle simply removes the spider creatures legs, turning it into a floating torso that resembles a flying leech with huge, spiky teeth. In a word, eww.

But hey, at least it’s not a spider, right?

The new feature is part of Black Ops 6’s version of Zombies, the latest in a long line of games dating back to Call of Duty: World at War. You can check out our full Zombies preview right here. Black Ops 6, meanwhile, releases October 25, but fans who use the New Zealand trick can gain access right now much earlier. Make sure to stay tuned for our full review.

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.