When I was a kid, The Game of Life was one of my favorite family board games. We had both the tabletop and digital versions and would regularly play together. There was something so intriguing about playing through an imaginary “Game of Life” and all of the challenges that came with it. Now that I’m an adult living through the game that is life, I find myself less entranced by the concept.
Which is probably why this collaboration with Jurassic Park exists in the first place. The Game of Life Jurassic Park Edition is less about living your best life and more about holding onto it. The overall theme of this board game is really quite interesting, and with the price reduced under $20 for Amazon’s Spring Deal Days Sale, it’s definitely worth considering adding to your collection.
The Game of Life Jurassic Park Edition Is On Sale Today
With the Amazon discount, the Jurassic Park edition of this game actually drops below the price of the original. At just under $20, it’s a great price for an officially licensed board game. While this isn’t the lowest price we’ve ever seen on this board game, it is the lowest price we’ve seen in 2025 so far. If you have $20 burning a hole in your pocket and are looking for a fun family game to play, this is a great option.
The general theme of this game is very different from the original Game of Life. The goal is to hop into your all-terrain vehicle and race your way around the island collecting dinosaur eggs and park rangers before the hurricane hits. Instead of normal life obstacles, you’ll be faced with hungry dinosaurs scattered across the board. The first one to make it all the way around the island and escape wins, and the rest are left to get eaten.
Similar to the original Hasbro board game, the Jurassic Park version is meant to be played with 2-4 players. It also has a suggested age rating of 8+, likely because of the whole getting eaten by dinosaurs aspect of the game. To see a full list of instructions, check out this online manual for details.
Five years ago, when Mike and Amy Morhaime founded Dreamhaven, I spoke with several of the founding members about their vision for the company. In our interview, they told me about wanting to build a sustainable publishing and support pillar for game studios, both the two they were founding at the time (Moonshot and Secret Door) and other partners they chose to work with.
At the end of our interview, Mike Morhaime shared a rather bold goal for the new company:
“We want, if I may be so bold as to say, to be a beacon to the industry,” he told me, referring back to the company’s lighthouse logo art. “There’s a better way of approaching the business of games and the operation of a game company that can produce great results, both in terms of products and financial reward and work environment, and that maybe can help elevate the entire industry.”
Around the time Dreamhaven was founded, studios spun up by former AAA leaders wanting to build something better and more sustainable were cropping up everywhere with bold promises for the future. But in the years since, the industry has weathered a global pandemic and economic instability, mass layoffs (still ongoing), studio closures, and project cancellations. Many of those visionary studios have shut down before they could release anything at all, or deferred their dreams years down the road.
Not Dreamhaven. Today, Dreamhaven partnered with The Game Awards for its first-ever showcase, in which it presented not just one or two games, but four. Two are internally developed: Sunderfolk, a turn-based tactical RPG with couch co-op is coming out on April 23, and newly-announced Wildgate is a crew-based first-person shooter about performing space heists (we previewed it, by the way!). The other two games are developed externally, but are being published and supported by Dreamhaven: one is Lynked: Banner of the Spark, an action-RPG from LA-based developer FuzzyBot that’s already out in early access and is getting its 1.0 launch in May. The other, Mechabellum, is a turn-based tactical auto-battler from Chinese studio Game River that looks exactly like the sort of thing a bunch of former StarCraft developers would be into. Mechabellum released last September, but with Dreamhaven’s assistance, Game River hopes to keep it updated and fresh long-term.
That’s a lot going on all at once for a fairly new games company! But that’s not all Dreamhaven’s up to. The company is supporting ten other external studios – several of which are similarly started and staffed by ex-AAA developers – in various ways, including investments, consultancy, and fundraising support. Sometimes it involves publishing support, but not always. Speaking to Mike Morhaime at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) last week, he tells me that from the start of Dreamhaven, its leaders have wanted to form a “net” of sorts to “capture some of this great talent that was dispersing” across the industry.
“We saw all these studios starting up and we have a lot of relationships,” he says. “We knew a lot of the folks starting up and we wanted to create a structure that allowed us to be helpful and root for these studios, and so we created a structure that allowed us to provide guidance and advice to some of these studios and be incentivized to want them to be successful.”
All week at GDC, I’ve been hearing discussions of the ongoing industry crisis, and the role in which prioritization of profits over all else has played in the wave of cancellations, shut-downs, and layoffs. I ask Morhaime how he feels about the tension between craft and business, but he doesn’t think the two are mutually exclusive. But he does believe you can’t make a good game if occasional failure isn’t an option.
“I think in order to create an environment that allows for innovation, you have to have a certain amount of safety and a certain amount of space to be able to experiment and try things,” he says. “We’re certainly not against these products being successful and making a lot of money. I think it’s about the focus. What are these teams focusing on? And they’re not focusing every day on how they maximize profitability at every step. They’re trying to make the best experience possible, which we think in the end it’s the right business strategy anyway and positions us better to be successful in the long run. There’s so much competition, you know this. There are so many games that are released every year. I think the really only way to be successful is to stand out with something special.”
With Dreamhaven and many of its partners largely staffed by AAA veterans, I ask him a two-sided question: what’s the biggest lesson he took away from his time at Blizzard, in AAA? Morhaime responds that while there were many, one of the more important was the necessity of an “iterative” game development process.
“It was never linear. It was never this straight line where you have this perfect plan and you execute the plan and everything goes according to plan and happiness and success follows. We always encountered obstacles and things that didn’t work the way we thought, and we had enough flexibility and adaptability to address those things along the way. So, I think just approaching everything with that kind of perspective where we want to be experimental, we want to try things. If things aren’t working, we want to be able to go back and fix them so that we end up with something that we’re very proud of.”
On the flip-side, then, what’s the biggest difference between how he used to work at Blizzard, and how he works now? In a word: agency.
“Probably the biggest difference, this is such an experienced team, and so we’re structured in a way that really gives a ton of agency to our leadership teams in the studios,” he says.
“And so, it’s I think just a very unique environment in terms of the relationship that our studios have with the central company. The central company or the central teams are really there to support the needs of the studio, and our studio heads and leadership, they’re also founding members of Dreamhaven. So, it’s really more of a partnership.”
Our discussions turn to new technologies, wherein lies another ongoing tension in the games industry: generative AI. Though the technology is unpopular among gamers and nerve-wracking to many developers, many AAA gaming companies are beginning to implement it behind the scenes…or even out in the open. Dreamhaven isn’t shying away from the idea, Morhaime says, but so far his company’s use has been quite cautious and limited to research on best practices or internal policy drafting. It’s not being used in Dreamhaven’s games.
“On the one hand, I think it’s super exciting, as a technologist, as someone who just loves what technology can do. This is starting to happen in our lifetime. I think we’re very privileged to get to see the birth of something so fascinating. Just a couple of years ago, I’d never imagined that generative AI would be able to do some of the things that it’s currently doing. There are a lot of complexities around it, legal, ethical, it’s also super hard to extrapolate out what this means to the way we live. I think it’s undeniable that it will impact all of us in all sorts of ways that we can just speculate on now. I think a lot of those ways are going to be very positive, and some of them are scary, but I also don’t think you can just shut it off and put it back in a box. And if you try to do that, it’s not going to slow down, it’s not going to stop. But I think the people who ignore it and pretend it’s not there will be at a huge disadvantage.”
Okay, what about a less controversial new technology, the Nintendo Switch 2? Sunderfolk and Lynked are both coming to Switch, and while Mechabellum can be forgiven for being Steam-exclusive given its genre, the Switch was notably absent from Wildgate’s otherwise multi-platform announcement. Morhaime isn’t saying any more about that, but he does offer commentary on the new console generally:
“I think console transitions can be very disruptive, but they can also be very invigorating and helpful for the games industry,” he says. “As a gaming startup, I think console transitions are a positive for us. If you already have games and you’re selling, then there’s some disruption maybe to worry about, but we don’t have that problem. And as a gamer, I think console transitions are exciting.”
As we wrap up I ask Morhaime if he feels Dreamhaven has succeeded in the mission he laid out for me five years ago? Is Dreamhaven a “beacon to the industry”? Morhaime doesn’t think so…yet. They still need to release some games, and see what the response is from players and the industry at large. “We have to put out some games that people love and we have to be financially successful, because if we aren’t either of those two things, nobody’s going to look at us as a beacon for anything,” he says.
“Really what I want to see happen is for Dreamhaven to build a reputation with gamers that the brand stands for something, a seal of quality, hopefully, that hopefully there’s some trust that we’ve built up where players know that if a game is coming from Dreamhaven, regardless of genre, that it’s going to be something very special and they’ll want to have the curiosity to check it out.”
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.
It’s a somewhat smaller delay following years of schedule changes that was tucked into a recent game update video uploaded by publisher Paradox Interactive and developer The Chinese Room. It’s a few months later than the previous plan to see the long-awaited sequel arrive in the first half of the year, but it at least comes with the promise that the game itself is finished.
“The status of the game right now is that the game is done,” Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodline 2 Executive Producer Marco Behrmann explained. “We are currently focusing on bug fixing, stability, and performance so that we can deliver the best experience to you guys once it releases.”
Although today’s schedule change is another disappointing moment in the long list of delays fans have endured through the years, the minute-and-a-half video does come with some positive updates. The Chinese Room says it’s added more content, narrative depth, and character development since its last major update while also promising that players can expect to see Fabien have an “evolved role” in the storyline when launch arrives. Unfortunately, while various dev diaries have helped keep players in the loop during development, a post from the official Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 X/Twitter page revealed that updates would be less frequent going forward.
Even those peripherally aware of Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 will know that the narrative-driven vampire game has suffered more than a few setbacks throughout the last decade. It was revealed all the way back in 2019 as the next game from developer Hardsuit Labs with a launch window of Q1 2020. It was hit with a delay to late 2020 later that same year, and although similar shifts are far from uncommon for games of this scale, this first delay was only the beginning.
At this rate, there’s no telling if the sequel to the 2004 cult-classic vidoe game will manage to sink its teeth into players this fall, but the team at The Chinese Room at least appears confident for now. In the meantime, Paradox has said that, if Bloodlines 2 manages to see a successful release, players can expect “someone else” to tackle the development of Bloodlines 3.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
The Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase for March 2025 aired earlier this morning, detailing news about the upcoming Title Update 1 and teasing a bit of what’s in store for Title Update 2. In that small sliver of footage, fans saw signs that the much-sought-after return of Lagiacrus could be happening.
Right at the end of the Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase, over the Title Update 2 text, we hear some aquatic sounds, followed by a telltale clawed foot and scales. The signs feel fairly obvious that this is going to be Lagiacrus, a monster that hunters have been eager to fight again for quite some time.
Introduced in Monster Hunter 3, a.k.a. Monster Hunter Tri, Lagi was the “flagship monster” for the game, which meant it appeared on the box art. Alongside being the posterboy for Tri, the monster was fairly unique for one key reason: it incorporated underwater fighting. Submerged bouts were a big thing for Monster Hunter Tri, and Lagi was the prime example of that. Later versions in Monster Hunter Generations moved the fight back onto land, and the monster has been largely unseen since.
Still, the time spent apart has not dulled players’ love for Lagiacrus. For some, Monster Hunter Tri was a big entrance into the series. And this fight, with its fairly unique look and mechanics, the possibilities for a Lagiacrus fight are simply exciting. As one user pointed out several years ago in a thread asking why people are so excited for Lagi, “People who wish for Lagiacrus to return generally mean for underwater combat to return also, it’s sort of a package deal.”
Unique mechanics aside, Lagiacrus has remained popular in its own right. The leviathan came in third in a popularity poll for Monster Hunter’s 20th anniversary, beaten out only by No. 2 Nergigante and No. 1 Zinogre. One of its variants, Abyssal Lagiacrus, also came in 12th, beating out Monter Hunter Wilds’ Title Update 1 addition Mizutsune at 14th.
In 2022, speaking to IGN, Monster Hunter producer explained why Lagiacrus wouldn’t see a return in the current game at the time, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. Though the producer acknowledged the “desire is definitely there,” the technical implementation is difficult.
“Unfortunately Lagiacrus is just a very technological…difficult monster to implement. It’s very snake-like, its parts are all kind of touching the ground at different moments,” Tsujimoto explained at the time. “So it’s very like a writhing sort of ground-based monster.”
Yet now, Capcom has elected to bring the writhing monster back. Whether this is a solely land affair, a new variant, or we see some sort of implementation of water mechanics all remains to be seen. Fans, however, are certainly enthused. Refrains of Lagiacrus being “peak” and patient fans celebrating their apparently successful manifestations litter the comments sections.
We’ll get more details as we move past Title Update 1 and on towards the summer window for Title Update 2. But yes, it looks like Lagiacrus is going to lead the summer festivities in Monster Hunter Wilds, and that’s some very exciting news for hunters new and old.
The Premium Edition of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle comes with some nice extras alongside the main game, including The Order of Giants Story DLC (which will be available once it’s released), a digital artbook, and Indy’s Temple of Doom Outfit alongside two day early access to the game.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Preorder Bonus
No matter which version of the game you decide to preorder, you’ll get some fun bonuses to enjoy. The preorder bonus is called ‘The Last Crusade Pack’, which comes with the Traveling Suit Outfit and Lion Tamer Whip that are featured in The Last Crusade. You can get a good look at those items below.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Trailer
What Is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle?
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is set between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, following Indy on a global adventure to uncover the mysteries of the Great Circle. Our review from IGN’s Luke Reilly had a lot of praise for it. He said, “With a host of gorgeous and lavishly detailed levels, satisfying combat hinged on jawbreaking haymakers, and a focus on slow-paced exploration, platforming, and puzzle solving (interspersed with a handful of high-voltage action scenes), The Great Circle is an irresistible and immersive global treasure hunt for Indy fans who’ve felt underserved by the likes of The Dial of Destiny and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”
More Preorder Guides
If you’re itching to preorder some more exciting games coming out this year, we’re here to help. Have a look through the preorder guides below to start building up your physical library, from Death Stranding 2 to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
Capcom hosted a Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase today, spotlighting everything coming to its latest entry in the Monster Hunter series. Alongside a look at Title Update 1, we also got news about more cosmetic DLC, some surprise additions, and the next Title Update on the way too.
Title Update 1 arrives on April 4, 2025, as a free update for all owners of Monster Hunter Wilds. In tandem with the launch, several pieces of free and paid DLC will be going live as well. A new hub will expand the hang-out potential for hunters, new armor and cosmetic pieces shake up the fashion game, and more fearsome monsters await on the horizon.
We’ve now got a date, details, and more for the next big update in Monster Hunter Wilds. What part of the update are you most looking forward to? Let us know down below!
A New Hub For Hunters
The showcase started with a look at the new endgame hub for hunting parties. Dubbed the Grand Hub, there are plenty of new things to do in the area. Feast together, arm wrestle, or listen to the Diva sing at night. There’s also a Barrel Bowling mini-game, which you can obtain vouchers for through various activities, and more rewards to be earned through it.
The Grand Hub can be unlocked once you’re Hunter Rank 16 by talking to Tetsuzan in Suja, the Peaks of Accord.
Mizutsune Arrives
As confirmed, the big addition for Title Update 1 is the bubbly monster Mizutsune. It’s got swift tail strikes, water jets, and many other moves ready to burst your bubble when it arrives in Title Update 1. Once you’ve reached HR 21 or above, head to the Scarlet Forest and talk to Kanya for the quest. And of course, there’s some new gear to make from the hunt.
Additional Hunts on the Way
A new Event Quest will bring Arch-tempered Rey Dau to Monster Hunter Wilds. Arch-tempered is a scale above the usual Tempered fight, making this a potentially challenging bout. You’ll have to be HR 50 or above to challenge it, and new armor awaits those who can clear.
Zoh Shia is also getting its own fight. Previously, you’d only fight Zoh Shia once, as part of the main story. With the new update, you’ll be able to re-fight Zoh Shia through new quests after reaching HR 50, and craft new armor from it.
Arena Quests
Speedrunners get their own challenge to tackle in Arena Quests, which will allow hunters to compete for the fastest clear times. Both Challenge Quests and Free Challenge Quests will be available, with pendants given out for participation and achievement alike. You can access them through the counter in the new Grand Hub.
Change Alma’s Outfit
One of the hardest-working handlers around is finally getting some cosmetic options. You’ll be able to change Alma’s attire through an appearance menu in camp, and one new outfit is being given out for free. After completing a certain side mission, you can also change out Alma’s glasses.
More DLC is on the way
A mix of free and paid DLC is arriving in tandem with Title Update 1. Some additions, like some classic gestures from Monster Hunters prior, will be made freely available for hunters in the store. Others, like those in the Cosmetic DLC Pack 1, are available through the store, or for those who picked up the Cosmetic DLC Pass or Premium Deluxe Edition. New stickers, looks for Alma, and even more are on the way.
More Event Quests and Seasonal Events
Even more Event Quests are on the way, alongside Seasonal Events. The latter are special windows of time where the Grand Hub will change appearance, and available meals will also change. LImited equipment, gestures, decorations, and more are available during these Seasonal Events.
The Seasonal Events kick off with the Festival of Accord: Blossomdance on April 23, adding pink cherry blossoms and some new decor to the game. Capcom confirmed that most previously available events and Event Quests should return in the future, too.
The Roadmap Ahead
Here’s how Title Update 1 and its related content will roll out over the coming months. Title Update 1 arrives on April 3 for U.S. players, with the Blossomdance starting on April 22. On April 29, the challenging new Arch-tempered Rey Dau arrives, and by end of May, some other features and a Capcom collaboration will debut.
Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 2
To end the show, we also got a tease of the upcoming Title Update 2, due to arrive this summer. No firm date has been announced just yet, but we did get a brief image that teases the possible return of a long-awaited monster: Lagiacrus, the underwater leviathan, who looks to be causing some chaos on the surface.
The latest in Capcom’s long-running monster-fighting series brought in some big numbers with its launch, and with Title Update 1, the company will be setting the cadence for how it moves forward.
Capcom has announced Monster Hunter Wilds’ title Update 1 comes out on Friday, April 4, 2025.
In a showcase video, Capcom confirmed the release date as well as what players can expect from Monster Hunter Wilds’ first major post-launch update.
The headline here is the Grand Hub, a new gathering place in which players can interact in new ways. Here you can play a new mini-game called Barrel Bowling and listen to the Diva perform at night.
Mizutsune hits Monster Hunter Wilds with Title Update 1, alongside a Zoh Shia quest. Arch-tempered Rey Dau launches later via an event quest.
Arena Quests, where players can compete for fastest completion times, launch with Title Update 1. Free content is coming to all players, including classic gestures from the series. Cosmetic DLC Pack 1 launches alongside this update, too.
A second title update for Wilds is set to release in the summer, and Capcom teased what to expect with an early glimpse at the arrival of a new monster.
Developing…
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.
Civilization 7 developer Firaxis has outlined the game’s crucial update 1.1.1, which hits at a time when the recently released strategy game has fewer players on Steam than Civilization 6 and even the 15-year-old Civilization 5.
On Valve’s platform, Civilization 7 has a 24-hour concurrent peak player count of 16,921, which isn’t enough to get into Steam’s top 100 most-played games. Civilization 5, released in 2010, had a 24-hour peak of 17,423. Clearly, most Civ fans are sticking with 2016’s Civilization 6, however, which had a 24-hour peak of 40,676 players.
In a post on Steam, Firaxis listed some of the “additions and refinements” coming with Update 1.1.1, including:
Quick Move Functionality
New Natural Wonder Mount Everest
Additional UI Updates & Polish
Settlement & Commander Renaming
And more!
In a more in-depth video, lead designer Ed Beach ran through the changes while pointing to the patch notes in full, which are imminent.
Civilization 7 update 1.1.1 patch notes:
Quick Move is now an optional setting you can toggle on in the game’s menu. It makes it so units move to their destination immediately so you can play through the game faster.
Another big update is the new start position option related to map generation. The new default for single-player games is Standard, which feels more like Civ 6, where the continents are more varied and less predictable. For multiplayer games, the Balanced setting is retained to put players on a level playing field on more consistent maps.
Settlements and commanders can now be renamed. (Historical accuracy be damned!) You can now restart the game with the click of a button to get that perfect first settlement. Just like in Civ 6 it recreates the map with new seeds but with your same leader and civ selections.
As for UI improvements, the city and town panel will stay open when you buy things, there’s a new notification that appears when one of your cities is under attack, there are new indicators for crises, and improved resource tool tips. There are significant pacing changes, too.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria is a new civ going live alongside Nepal and new leader Simón Bolívar today, March 25, as part of the paid Crossroads of the World Collection.
Civilization 7 has proved a controversial game among series veterans for some of its new mechanics, and clearly it’s struggled on Steam (the console makers do not make player numbers public). Civ 7 has a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Valve’s platform, and received a 7/10 from IGN’s review.
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.
On paper, Steel Hunters is a serious left turn for World of Tanks developer Wargaming. But just because the developer’s next project is rooted in a sci-fi, futuristic setting with larger-than-life mechs doesn’t mean they’re not tapping into their 27 years of multiplayer expertise for this mech hero shooter.
I spent about 45 minutes racing other mechs to an extraction point in Steel Hunters’ battle royale-lite extraction mode, trying out half of its seven-character launch roster. Although I hit a few snags as I got myself used to controlling a building-size robot shaped like a spider, I could see Wargaming’s multiplayer pedigree on full display.
Aside from a short tutorial, which introduced me to Steel Hunters’ movement and controls, I spent all of my time in one mode. This extraction-based mode was kind of like a scaled-down battle royale: a few squads of two are dropped onto a map and sent toward points of interest, picking up helpful stuff along the way. Each mech is fully loaded out with weapons and abilities, so instead of guns or armor like in Fortnite, you’ll pick up various upgrades for your mech’s stats, healing items, and experience points.
While you can find some loot in the wild, most of the upgrades and loot you’ll find in-match come from downing nearby NPC drones. These weaker enemies are scattered all over each map and put up just enough of a fight that they’re a pain to deal with if another squad is attacking you as well.
Different points of interest pop up during the match, giving you and your non-AI opponents something to race toward against each other, creating random chokepoints around helpful supply drops. Eventually, an extraction point gets marked on the map, beckoning all remaining squads towards the final objective. Once you get there, you’ll need to defend the extraction point (or attack it if someone beats you there) for a little while before the match ends.
Players descending on the chokepoint trying to outflank each other using their mechs’ various toolkits to their advantage was always the best part of the matches I played.
This was always the best part of the matches I played, as players descended on the chokepoint trying to outflank each other using their mechs’ various toolkits to their advantage. Maybe the agile Fenris uses their speed to flank an unsuspecting duo as they try to maintain control over the extraction point while the self-healing Razorside draws cover, ducking behind cover to patch themself up. Or maybe the sniper, Heartbreaker, might post up behind the defensive, map-controlling Weaver as they set up defensive barriers to protect their glass cannon teammate.
I played all four of those mechs in different matches, favoring Heartbreaker and Weaver the most. Weaver has this extremely satisfying Gatling gun that just melts enemy health and shields and their movement felt the best. Aiming down sights with Heartbreaker reveals weak points in every enemy, delivering extra reward for patient, precise play.
If there was any problem with the demo I played, it was the in-between stuff. While it was fun to pick off weaker enemies, grab their loot, and find other players, the maps all felt a little too big up until the end. I’m certain some of this came from the fact that I was playing against AI-controlled bots in an early build of the game, but that inconsistent pace felt at odds with the relatively quick match times.
To give the team at Wargaming the benefit of the doubt, the studio is a well-oiled multiplayer machine at this point. Just because Steel Hunters trades historical context for futuristic fiction doesn’t mean the studio’s throwing the baby out with the bath water. It’s clear that Wargaming has been through a few multiplayer game launches in the past based on its launch plans.
Starting out with a manageable scale for its upcoming early access launch on April 2nd, Steel Hunters is going to launch with 7 playable characters, one mode, and only a few maps to start out—and no monetization. This calculated approach to launch, with the promise of new content every 5-6 weeks, shows this team’s pedigree and tact when it comes to multiplayer games. This approach gives me a lot of faith in Wargaming’s ability to listen to its player base and take feedback as it moves toward an eventual 1.0 release. Wargaming even teased the first new character coming to Steel Hunters post-launch, reiterating its commitment to three-month seasons.
If you’re hoping to hop into Steel Hunters, you won’t have to wait long, as it launches into early access on April 2nd.
So, the video game world is watching Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ early performance closely for signs of its success — or failure. So far, Ubisoft has yet to announce a sales figure, but has said Assassin’s Creed Shadows hit 2 million players just two days after launch, surpassing the launches of both Origins and Odyssey.
There’s also a lot of attention on Shadows’ Steam concurrents, which are being compared to those of other triple-A single-player games that recently released, as well as previous Assassin’s Creed games on Valve’s platform.
Shadows became the most-played Assassin’s Creed game ever on Steam over the weekend with 64,825 peak concurrent players, although it’s worth noting that it was the first game in the series to launch day-one there. BioWare’s single-player RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard saw a peak of 89,418 players on Valve’s platform.
It’s hard to make a call on whether Shadows is below, meeting, or exceeding Ubisoft’s expectations without knowing what those expectations were. But a source from within Ubisoft, who revealed an internal email reviewed by IGN, has helped us better understand the game’s first weekend performance.
Here’s what we’ve found out: Shadows delivered the second-highest day-one sales revenue in the franchise’s history, behind only 2020’s Valhalla, which launched across the last and current generation of consoles and benefited from stay-at-home gaming fueled by the pandemic.
Shadows also marked Ubisoft’s best ever day-one launch on the PlayStation Store, suggesting particular success on PS5.
But what about PC, given Shadows launched on Steam as well as Ubisoft’s own digital store? According to Ubisoft’s internal communication, 27% of Shadows’ total “activations” were on PC. Ubisoft is telling employees that Steam “played a major role” in Shadows’ performance on PC, without revealing exact sell-through numbers. It says early results “are a strong validation of our decision to return to the platform.”
Generally, Ubisoft is talking up player engagement, which is at “record levels,” and “feedback across moderated, verified platforms — those less affected by review bombing — remains incredibly positive.” Shadows was also the most-wishlisted Ubisoft game of all time, and it’s doing better than any other Assassin’s Creed game on Twitch, even Valhalla.
It’s here that Ubisoft’s internal communication provides context on comparisons between Shadows’ launch and other games in the franchise. What’s clear is that Shadows is not doing as well as Valhalla did at launch, but Ubisoft is saying it’s not fair to compare the two, because Valhalla benefitted from the “perfect storm” of pandemic-fueled stay-at-home gaming and the launch of the Xbox Series X and S and PlayStation 5 in 2020.
“Valhalla launched under extraordinary conditions — in the middle of a global pandemic, with widespread lockdowns and brand-new console hardware,” the internal communication reads. “It was a perfect storm we may never see again. That’s why it’s more meaningful to compare Shadows to entries like Origins, Odyssey, and Mirage — games released in more typical cycles. And in that frame, Shadows is already setting a new bar as illustrated above.”
Ubisoft also pointed out that Shadows released in March. Historically, Assassin’s Creed games launch just ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving window, which typically boosts sales. Meanwhile, Ubisoft ditched the early access period it normally charges extra for with its games. It’s also worth noting that Ubisoft’s own subscription offering is now available directly on Xbox, which affects sales on Microsoft’s console and muddies sales comparisons.
Money talks, of course, and irrespective of player numbers and engagement, it will be revenue brought in by Assassin’s Creed Shadows that determines the fate of not just the game, but Ubisoft itself. We may not get a clear picture of that until Ubisoft’s next financial report in the coming months.
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.
