Category: IGN

The developer of Arc Raiders isn’t worried about coming out between Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, insisting: “we believe the game can launch there.”

Arc Raiders ended its recent ‘Server Slam’ playtest with big player numbers on Steam, suggesting a strong launch ahead of its October 30 release date. It hit a peak concurrent player count of 189,668, making it one of the most-played games on Valve’s platform the weekend it ran and the biggest extraction shooter ever on Steam. That said, with the full release slated for tomorrow, which happens to be between the launch dates of two of the world’s biggest FPS franchises, Embark Studios CEO Patrick Soderlund admitted some people may wonder “what the hell are they doing?”

“I know. The insanity,” Soderlund told The Game Business. “People may look at that [Arc Raiders’ release date] and say, ‘What the hell are they doing?’ We have spent a lot of time looking at this from multiple angles and you know, for right or wrong, we believe that the game can launch there. This is the start of a long journey. It needs to start somewhere.”

As for whether or not the game’s huge playtest was enough to retain players for a full release? “I think it comes down to not being complacent enough to believe that we can build something without making a meaningful impact or innovation,” Soderlund said. “We have to bring something so that people pay attention. And if we’ve done a good enough job, maybe they’ll stick around. But in order for them to break away from what they’re already playing, there needs to be an attraction.

“A couple of years ago, I was concerned about Arc Raiders and whether it would find its market. So, when we launched the technical test, which was earlier in the spring, we were just blown away by how many people played it. We obviously tried our best to market it, but it became one of those things that just spread virally. We were humbled by that. It’s testament to the work that the team has done building something that is complicated, yet accessible. Something that is easy to play, yet has a lot of gameplay depth.”

Arc Raiders’ design director has said it was fortuitous timing to have its extraction shooter launch a playtest around the same time as Bungie’s Marathon, calling it “a great A/B test for us.” In an interview last week, Virgil Watkins said: “It was very coincidental that they had their test around the time we did. To my knowledge, I don’t think any of us knew that was going to happen. It was a very great A/B test for us, because obviously, they made decisions that we didn’t, and vice versa. So we could kind of compare and contrast how some of those things shook out.”

Embark Studios’ previous game, free-to-download competitive shooter The Finals, is still going, although its concurrent player numbers on Steam are a far cry from those during its explosive launch back in December 2023.

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.

Amazon is walking away from making new content from its MMO, New World, amid huge layoffs affecting 14,000 roles at the company. Now, there is concern over the status of its The Lord of the Rings MMO.

Yesterday, October 28, Amazon confirmed cuts affecting an eye-watering 14,000 roles. It’s one of the biggest round of layoffs the tech giant has ever seen, and comes at a time when other companies in the tech sector, such as Microsoft and Meta, have made similarly huge cuts.

It also comes at a time when Amazon is performing well. So why are they happening? AI, basically. In a note to employees, Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology at Amazon, said:

Some may ask why we’re reducing roles when the company is performing well. Across our businesses, we’re delivering great customer experiences every day, innovating at a rapid rate, and producing strong business results. What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before (in existing market segments and altogether new ones). We’re convinced that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business.

What does this all mean for Amazon’s gaming business? According to a report by Bloomberg, nothing good. There are “significant” cuts coming to Amazon’s video game operation, which will reduce development work and layoff staff mainly in its Irvine and San Diego offices.

The New World changes are a part of that, and while the game will remain online during 2026, this is basically the beginning of the end for once hugely popular MMO. Let’s remember, New World was a rare hit for Amazon in the video game space, and followed multiple flops that resulted in game and studio closures. The MMO set in an alternate 1600s America saw huge player numbers on Steam, with a whopping 913,634 peak concurrents on Valve’s platform back in 2021. Player numbers have significantly declined since that peak, however.

Bloomberg said Amazon is cutting back especially on MMOs, but will continue to develop Amazon Games Montreal’s strategy March of Giants, its new Tomb Raider game in the works at Crystal Dynamics, and “casual and AI-focused games” for its cloud gaming service Luna. UK studio Maverick Games will continue to work on its racing game, too. Amazon Games also continues to publish externally developed games such as Lost Ark and Throne & Liberty in western markets.

Amazon is also working on an in-house The Lord of the Rings MMO, although we haven’t heard much about it since it was announced in 2023. In August last year, Amazon Games boss Christoph Hartmann told IGN the company had 10 games in development and was negotiating “a couple more.” These include Tomb Raider and The Lord of the Rings MMO, as well as the new driving game from the former developers behind Forza Horizon.

On The Lord of the Rings MMO, however, Hartmann insisted it was still early days. “We’re still trying to find the hook, find that idea of what it is because we don’t just want to go and do the same thing over,” Hartmann said at the time.

“While it’s tempting sometimes with an existing IP, that’s not the point of doing it. You’ve got to find a fresh twist, and we’re still, I think, in that period where we really want to find out what could be the hook, what could be the thing which is different to all the other games out there. So it’s a little bit early.”

IGN has asked Amazon for an update on The Lord of the Rings MMO.

There are also plenty of questions around Tomb Raider, which has been caught up in the mire around the Embracer Group. Hartmann mostly waved off those concerns, saying that developer Crystal Dynamics is “fairly sheltered from everything going on with Embracer.”

“People obviously look at what the parent company is doing, but it never impacted on resources, never led to any changes on management for them, so they’re fine. I mean, doing a new Tomb Raider, the bar is so high. The longer you go, the expectation goes higher, so it’s a huge, huge task, but things are progressing. I mean, there’s some really great ideas here,” Hartmann said.

“Obviously, we’re not going to share any with you even if we would love to, but things are going well, things are moving forward. And from what I could tell, Crystal was pretty sheltered, because also when you look before…they went through a couple of ownership changes anyway before, it’s not brand new for them.”

Crystal Dynamics recently laid off a number of workers following Microsoft’s cancelation of the Perfect Dark reboot. At the time, the studio insisted Tomb Raider was still in development and unaffected by the decision.

Crystal Dynamics was originally brought in to revitalize Perfect Dark after struggles getting the project moving with former co-developer, Certain Affinity. Crystal was later acquired by the Embracer Group in 2022, at which time the studio was revealed to have 273 employees across its Austin, Bellevue, and San Mateo offices. Crystal laid off 10 people in 2023, and laid off 17 more people earlier this year. It’s unclear how many remain now.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding developer Hideo Kojima says he was “surprised” to read that the creators of The Matrix wanted him to develop a game based on the franchise, insisting: “no one ever told me such a conversation had taken place.”

Yesterday, IGN reported that The Wachowskis, the writers and directors behind the Matrix movies, once asked Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima to design a Matrix video game, but publisher Konami reportedly turned it down. “The Wachowskis were big fans of Kojima,” Konami Digital Entertainment VP of licensing, Christopher Bergstresser, said. “So Kazumi Kitaue, Kojima, Aki Saito (who still works with Kojima), and I were at the Konami HQ, and we got a call from the Wachowskis, who wanted to come in and meet with Kojima. So they did!

It’s hard to imagine what first-person shooters would be like today, if they were to exist at all, without the original DOOM, released back on December 10, 1993, for MS-DOS. A lone super soldier, the legendary Doom Guy, fending off the hordes of demons from hell is one of the defining images of PC gaming, and the series continues to shock and amaze fans to this day with every new gory entry. Now, Modiphius Entertainment is bringing DOOM to the tabletop with the upcoming Doom Arena Board Game, now on Kickstarter, and I had a chance to get some time with a prototype to see just how well I could rip and tear in my dining room.

While Doom Arena isn’t the first cardboard adaptation of the series, this latest rendition is a bloodbath contest between one player controlling Doom Guy and the other controlling the demons. Taking place in – you guessed it, an arena – the two players maneuver their plastic forces around the hexagon grid-based warzone, competing to see who can dish out the most pain.

Each point of damage done to an opponent earns you blood, which serves as a victory point. The winner is whoever comes out ahead in two out of the three rounds by earning the most blood, with each round consisting of six turns each for both sides. Between rounds, both Doom Guy and the Demons can upgrade their arsenals. Doom Guy gets new weapons and armor, while the Demons swap out weaker enemies for hartier ones like Pinky, Cacodemons, or the mighty Cyberdemon.

Doom Arena is one of those games that fits great as a filler between some heavier ones during a game day, or when you just want to have some fun while sipping a cold one and munching on some snacks. The gameplay is a slick dice-chucker where the strategy takes a back seat to running in guns blazing and seeing how much pain you unleash, which is very reminiscent of its source material. The only real “strategy” I found myself thinking about is what upgrades I was going to spend my resources on between rounds.

I appreciate the simpler ruleset behind Doom Arena, because you can explain the rules to friends pretty quickly and be rolling dice shortly after. That being said, I wouldn’t complain if there were a smidgen more depth to be found. To be fair, the prototype I had access to and a work-in-progress ruleset included only two-player game modes, whereas the final game will be playable with 2-4 players, so it’s possible the additional depth I am hoping for will be found in the final rules and other game modes. On the topic of game modes, I will say that having official rules for starting with more upgrades is smart, and makes for a ton of chaotic fun, and I could see some great matches happen by adopting a pick/counter-pick approach.

The version of Doom Arena that I played featured miniatures showcasing the classic looks of Doom Guy and demons that players of the original game from the ’90s will recognize. But those who jumped on the chainsaw wagon in more recent decades will have a version for them, too. Modiphius is producing a mechanically identical version that instead has arenas, models, and weapons pulled from the most recent Doom: The Dark Ages, with Doom Guy replaced by the menacing Doom Slayer and demons including the Mancubus, Imps, Imp Stalkers, Hell and Battle Knights, Pinky Rider, Arachnotron, and Soldiers. And for folks who may be lacking in storage space, Modiphius will also offer a version that replaces the plastic miniatures with acrylic standees, shrinking the box size and lowering the cost.

When I first heard the announcement that Modiphius was designing a new Doom board game, my mind immediately went to images of playing as Doom Guy, exploring corridors, finding keys to unlock doors, that eventually would lead to a fight with a big scary demon. Something more akin to say a Betrayal at House on the Hill, Cthulu: Death May Die, or Zombicide. I still would love a Doom game like that, but I can’t deny that Doom Arena captures the spirit of these games splendidly.

This is a series about killing as many things as fast as possible, and Arena delivers on that premise in an exciting and digestible package. Even playing dice with this WIP build led to tense moments where I had to hold my breath as I rolled my dice, or giant sighs of relief as my demons avoided being brutally dismembered by a chainsaw. I eagerly look forward to seeing what sort of additional elements or add-ons will be available to play around with and what sort of other game modes will ship in the final release that use three and four players. With the Doom Arena Board Game, Modphius looks to deliver a box that fans of both the video games and board games in general can enjoy, and I am counting down the days until I can rev up my chainsaw again and take it to some demons again.

Doom the Arena Board Game’s campaign runs until November 21, 2025 with an expected delivery date of October 2026.

Scott White is a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with tabletop games and guide coverage. Follow him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.

The classic 1995 first-person shooter Star Wars: Dark Forces is finally getting its due, in action figure form. Kyle Katarn, the hero of the video game, is getting a Star Wars The Black Series action figure. It costs $27.99 and will be available on April 1. You can preorder it now at Amazon.

Preorder the Kyle Katarn Star Wars The Black Series Action Figure

Fallout Day has just recently concluded, and plenty of news was released for Bethesda’s online RPG. Fallout 76 continues to deliver new content each year, with the Burning Springs DLC set to release later this year. Next year, Bethesda is finally set to release native PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game. Similar to the rest of the franchise, nothing is more iconic in Fallout 76 than Vault Boy. Today, you can pre-order the Vault Boy 76 Nendoroid at IGN Store. If you’re a fan of the legendary RPG series, this is the perfect item to level up your collection.

Shop the Vault Boy 76 Nendoroid at IGN Store

IGN has once again teamed up with ID@Xbox for a brand-new showcase that arrives today, just a few days before Halloween. This show promises to be packed with exclusive trailers and new gameplay for games from such studios as Serenity Forge, Thunder Lotus, Raw Fury, Skybound, and many more.

To help ensure you don’t miss a thing, we will be gathering all the biggest announcements right here, as they happen. Be sure to refresh during the show to stay up to date with all the exciting reveals, and then let us know what your favorite moment was below!

How to Watch ID@Xbox on IGN and What to Expect

You can watch the ID@Xbox fall showcase on Tuesday, October 28 on the following platforms. The show kicks off at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST and will run for roughly 50 minutes.

• IGN.com
• IGN’s YouTube
• Facebook
• Twitter / X
• Twitch
• IGN mobile apps
• Eurogamer
• VG247
• GamesIndsutry.biz
• Rock Paper Shotgun

As for what to expect, you can check out a list of some of the studios that will be featured in this edition of the ID@Xbox Showcase;

• Thunder Lotus
• Serenity Forge
• PlaySide
• Don’t Nod
• Hooded Horse
• Thunderful
• Skybound
• Pathea
• poncle
• Raw Fury
• Cult Games
• Wired Productions
• and more!

In the teaser you can see above, we catch a glimpse of Invincible VS, MOUSE: P.I. For Hire, Vampire Survivors, Planet of Lana 2, Egging On, and more.

For more, be sure to check out everything that was revealed in February’s ID@Xbox Showcase that kicked off IGN Fan Fest, our ID@Xbox hub page, and the exciting Xbox (and PS5?!) news about Halo: Campaign Evolved.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.

The free-to-play Battlefield 6 battle royale game mode has officially arrived in the form of Battlefield REDSEC – but it’s probably not exactly what you think it is.

EA and Battlefield Studios surprise launched their Battlefield battle royale experience across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S just moments ago, bringing months of rumors and leaks to an end with a standalone offering that’s free for both those who do and do not own Battlefield 6. Its name, shorthand for “Redacted Sector,” teases an updated take on a popular multiplayer pastime that’s been bundled in with two additional modes: Gauntlet and Portal. There’s more to REDSEC than fans may have expected, and it’s all tied in with the Battlefield 6 experience under one unified umbrella.

Battlefield Battle Royale

Battle royale is no doubt the headline here, offering access to 100-player matches where classic battle royale gameplay is mixed with the Battlefield 6 formula. Infantry can be seen parachuting over and into explosive firefights in its first trailer, which reveals how BF Studios translated familiar elements into the Battlefield universe, all while 2Pac and Dr. Dre’s California Love plays in the background.

Finding rare loot, hoarding armor plates, mastering small and large points of interest, and completing missions with friends are core parts of many battle royale experiences, and each is necessary to survive in Battlefield, too. It’s more Warzone than Fortnite, but REDSEC has some features that help it stand apart.

Fort Lyndon, a Southern California location that EA and BF Studios call the “biggest Battlefield map ever,” serves as the backdrop for each match. As the trailer highlights crumbling buildings, REDSEC aims to convince players it can build on battle royale without sacrificing what so many love about the franchise: tactical destruction.

Map-altering vehicles are a mainstay for any true Battlefield experience, and that remains the case for Battlefield 6 battle royale, which features everything from tanks to attack boats to golf carts to find. As the ever-present, ever-shrinking ring of fire (fans may remember it from Battlefield V: Firestorm) forces teams out of the frying pan, discovering an M1 Abrams could mean the difference between victory and succumbing to the flames. There will be plenty of less-threatening vehicles to discover around the new battle royale map, but those looking to drive a heavily armored tank will first need to complete missions, nab a keycard reward, and then use it to unlock specific garages.

Battlefield 6 and REDSEC will coexist, so those who have already enjoyed the former can expect to find familiar vehicles, guns, and gadgets in the latter – save for a few tweaks. Class upgrades are just one element to consider and give Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon players upgrades to work toward. Earn enough XP as the Recon class, for example, and you’ll gain access to an enhancement that powers up drones with bomb-dropping capabilities. Custom loadouts can also be built and used, with players able to earn them by completing missions or by betting on the slightly riskier option of waiting for limited global drop events.

Content creators specializing in The Sims 4 content are leaving EA’s Creator Network in protest after EA confirmed it is to be acquired by an investor group composed of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners.

The transaction — announced at the end of last month and valued at approximately $55 billion — is the largest all-cash sponsor take-private investment in history.

Being part of a community that has always strived to be welcoming and inclusive, some The Sims creators now fear the documented conservative values of EA’s buyers — which include Donald Trump’s son-in-law and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud — will impact the game’s development, with insisting “the values represented by the people acquiring EA are fundamentally at odds” with that of The Sims’ community.

Streamer Kayla “LilSimsie” Sims, who has over 2 million subscribers and has worked with EA in the past to develop DLC, said news of the sale “devastated” her, and that “the situation is a nightmare for our community.”

“I have made the decision to remove myself from the EA Creator Network. It is my hope that pressure from creators and the community might encourage EA’s leadership to reconsider the long-term impact of this sale and to preserve the values that have made The Sims so beloved,” she wrote in a heartfelt message on YouTube (thanks, Polygon).

“This means that I will no longer receive early access to Sims packs, and I will not have a creator code. Under this new ownership, I feel I cannot maintain a direct association to the company. I also truly believe that they benefit more from my early access content than I do, and I think that stepping away is the strongest action I can take against the sale.”

She continued: “This situation is a nightmare for our community. Nobody supports this sale, and it is putting creators in a very difficult position. They have built their entire career and livelihood over a game that they have no control over. I ask that you please not harass other Sims creators over their decisions regarding the game and the creator network. I am very fortunate to be in a position where I can make a choice like this, but not everyone has that ability. I don’t truly don’t believe there is a ‘right’ answer here, and everyone is still trying to figure out their next steps.”

Sims closed on writing: “I’m really, really distraught over this sale, and I know that many of you are as well. It’s scary, and it’s breaking my heart. I really appreciate your support as I try to navigate this.”

Jesse “Plumbella” McNamara, DevonBumpkin, Vixella, and James Turner have all similarly quit EA’s Creator Network.

“Due to the recent sale, I have asked to leave the EA Creator Network, and I will not buy or make content around any future release,” McNamara wrote.

“I think taking this stand is the right choice for me personally, but I’m not going to judge anybody on their decision. I’m in a privileged position to be able to say I’m leaving so easily. I hope that the sale falls through, and if it doesn’t, I hope that those that stay put pressure on EA to maintain the level of inclusiveness that The Sims has always been about.”

EA has issued a statement on the matter via the official The Sims social media accounts. In it, the company insisted “we deeply respect that everyone experiences The Sims in their own way and will make choices that are right for them. However you choose to play, create, or share, we’re grateful to be part of your journey. Our mission, values, and commitment remain the same. The Sims will always be a space where you can express your authentic self.”

In 2022, PIF also became one of the largest Nintendo shareholders with 5.01% ownership. Pokémon Go developer Niantic also announced that it had sold its library of games to mobile games maker Scopely, which is controlled by Savvy Games Group and PIF, earlier this year.

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.

If you’ve been missing Jimmy and still long for a Bully sequel, we may have the next best thing. While Rockstar hasn’t delivered Bully 2 yet — and where there’s life, there’s hope — a dedicated team of modders has created an entire online mode to keep you occupied in the meantime.

“IT’S HAPPENING!” developer SWEGTA announced on YouTube. “We finally have an online mode for Bully that allows you and your friends to play minigames, roleplay, compete in racing, fend off against NPCs, and much more!”

“It’s a project me and my team have been working on for a very long time,” SWEGTA added, “and it’s finally at a point in development where we can announce it and show it to the public.

“Bully Online runs on the DSL script loader, which is a plugin for Bully that essentially allows for a more versatile approach to modding. A lot of the things we thought were impossible just a few years ago can now be done, including making an online mode. We do have an official server for Bully Online, and we plan on making that available to the public to enjoy in due time.”

Starting in December, the team will be making the server available to people who support the project on Ko-Fi, along with previews, videos, screenshots, and developer commentary. The server itself is described as a “bit of a mix” between minigames, free roaming, and role-playing, and has a “fully fleshed out” inventory system that permits players to earn money in-game and spend it on a “wide variety of different things like housing, weapons, vehicles, and items.”

As for if there’ll ever be an official follow up? Dan Houser, Rockstar Games co-founder and the writer behind the studio’s biggest games, including the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption series, recently sat down for an exclusive interview with IGN, revealing Bully 2 didn’t happen because of “bandwidth issues.”

Bully — also known as Canis Canem Edit in some parts of the world — was a humorous action game that put players in the role of high school outcast Jimmy while attending a pretentious private school. “Bully is a great, well-crafted action game that’s been made even stronger with one of the best senses of humor around,” IGN’s Bully review read. “Expect dozens and dozens of hours of fun.”

Fans have long called for a sequel, which was once in development at Rockstar’s New England studio in the late 2000s. While Bully 2 was obviously never released, some of its ideas made it into other Rockstar games like Red Dead Redemption 2.

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.