Category: Video Games

Game of Thrones is reportedly the basis of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game set from The Finals publisher Nexon.

Sources told Redanian Intelligence that the game will at least partially be set in the North with locations such as Winterfell and The Wall both featured. It will reportedly take place around Seasons 4 and 5 of the hit HBO show, when Roose Bolton is Warden of the North and Jon Snow and Sam Tarley are still posted at The Wall.

Players will allegedly explore Westeros through a story campaign threaded throughout the MMO, coming across the aforementioned characters and others as they do, according to Redanian Intelligence. The HBO show cast apparently will not return for the game, and players will create a brand new character for themselves, with male and female options.

The game was described as a package similar to The Elder Scrolls Online, though no release window for the alleged MMO was shared. IGN has asked Nexon for comment.

Nexon, as well as publishing Embark Studios’ hit shooter The Finals, has hundreds of millions of registered users across all its games, including Dungeon & Fighter, MapleStory, and KartRider.

Despite having a critically acclaimed TV show based on a critically acclaimed ongoing novel series, Game of Thrones hasn’t had as much of a presence in the video game space. Beyond a handful of strategy games, an RPG based on the TV show was released in 2012 to poor reviews, while Telltale Games created an episodic, story heavy game in 2014 that failed to get a second season. Interestingly, a Game of Thrones MMORPG for mobile was announced by Netmarble in 2022 but hasn’t been heard from since.

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

Escape From Tarkov developer Battlestate Games has been called “shameless” and “tone deaf” over its response to controversy caused by a $250 expansion, with fans and even its esports associate calling out the studio.

The community behind Escape From Tarkov — a hardcore and realistic online first-person shooter currently in beta — erupted on April 26 after Battlestate announced the $250 Unheard Edition upgrade, which added an exclusive player-versus-everyone mode amid other extras, and notably wasn’t deemed downloadable content by the developer. This meant those who’d bought the $150 Edge of Darkness edition of Escape From Tarkov, which came with a Season Pass and thus “free access to all subsequent DLCs”, wouldn’t obtain this new content without spending another $250.

Many players therefore deemed the Unheard Edition “pay-to-win”, “unacceptable”, “disrespectful”, and more, but immense backlash has now arisen in response to the developer’s official comment on the matter, which was seemingly intended to rectify the situation.

Nik Buyanov, Battlestate COO and studio head, posted on Reddit to announce owners of the Edge of Darkness edition would get access to the mode upon Escape From Tarkov’s full launch but couldn’t yet because of server capacity issues.

Players would “have the opportunity to test this mode by purchasing the Unheard edition of the game”, Buyanov said, announcing a 50% discount for owners of the Edge of Darkness edition. These players would therefore be paying $275 in total to access this part of the Escape From Tarkov beta.

Another Reddit post came from Buyanov after this one didn’t go well. “I would like to say that I am very sorry that fans and the game community in general are experiencing these feelings,” he said, the wording of which further upset many Escape From Tarkov players.

“Fake apology,” said redamid. “‘I’m sorry you feel this way’ does not equal ‘I’m sorry I betrayed you’.” ZeroPointZero_ chimed in too: “‘I’m sorry you feel this way’ is really not how an apology should sound,” they said. “I don’t really expect much better than this, however, considering all that has happened. The corrective actions are now on the right track, but hardly enough. Introducing pay-to-win features that are infinitely more potent than the ones in Edge of Darkness is just tone deaf.”

Buyanov said the reaction, “which he did not foresee”, will affect future decisions and announced a handful of other changes to these editions. PvE will be made available to those who own the Edge of Darkness edition but only “in waves” because of the server capacity issues, though it’s unclear how far apart these waves will come.

He also promised to balance the items and perks in this addition but provide more to those who already bought it for $250, and said Battlestate will continue to work on other patches and content for Escape From Tarkov, among other things. “Thank you for your time, love and hate, and thank you for your increased attention to the current situation,” Buyanov said.

These changes aren’t enough for many, however. “Saying you’re ‘sorry about the feeling we are experiencing’ is such as BS statement,” said broken-cactus. “Clearly you’re not sorry for what you did. While this is a good step, honestly you guys have shown your true colors with this whole fiasco. I’m just very disappointed, and I hope you guys will take some time to build back the trust you lost with this community.”

A comment from paulfunyan suggested Battlestate had made false promises in the past, and said the company is asking for too much money for a game currently in beta. “You’ve had the privilege of us testing your game for the past seven years, and this is the product you’re delivering. If you expect anyone to pay more money to test this then you’re bats**t insane,” they said. “Shameless.”

Escape From Tarkov’s Reddit is currently full of fans sharing similar thoughts, though Battlestate’s recent actions appear to be a step too far for many. A post from WebFirm4870 with a screenshot of them uninstalling the game has 3,500 upvotes. Mleeimlele’s post telling other players not to fall for the apology has 6,700 upvotes. A screenshot of the Wikipedia page for a “non-apology apology” has 5,100 upvotes.

But the backlash took a step further when Evasion GG, the first Escape From Tarkov esports team and a host of more than 200 tournaments for the game, posted on X/Twitter to claim Battlestate is a bad company to work with as a result of “control issues, blatant nepotism” and more.

“We have produced over 200 Tarkov shows but if you’ve wondered why we haven’t been as active as we once were it’s because we will not be railroaded into doing events that we don’t believe in,” Evasion said.

“What happened to the Tarkov community over the past week is what’s been happening to us for the last two years dealing with Battlestate. Promises not kept, gaslighting, event cancelations, control issues, blatant nepotism, [and] all while wasting our time, money, and efforts. This year we found out how terribly they have been treating the smaller event orgs as well. Now this treatment has spread to the player base.

“We’ve held back sharing this information but seeing how the community was treated as a whole recently was too much. We will not create Tarkov events until we see things truly change.”

IGN has asked Battlestate for comment regarding these allegations and the community backlash.

Escape From Tarkov was released in closed alpha in August 2016 before its closed beta was released in July 2017. It has stayed in this form ever since despite regular updates and paid add-ons, with no word on a proper launch date as of yet.

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

Manor Lords’ huge Steam wishlists have translated into a bumper launch that saw over one million copies sold in just a day.

Manor Lords launched on April 26 in Early Access form and soon rose through the player concurrents ranks on Valve’s platform. It hit a peak Steam concurrent player count of 173,178 — according to publisher Hooded Horse, that’s the highest ever for a city builder, and even other similar genres, such as GSG/4x/colony sims. That means Manor Lords has enjoyed a bigger Steam launch than the likes of Civilization and Cities: Skylines.

Manor Lords is a medieval strategy game featuring in-depth city building, large-scale tactical battles, and complex economic and social simulations. It was developed by Slavic Magic, a one-person studio founded by Greg Styczeń. IGN’s Manor Lords Early Access review returned a 7/10. We said: “Manor Lords is a gorgeous medieval city-builder that kept me occupied for hours building my perfect, cozy hamlets, but it definitely feels very early in its Early Access development.”

In a tweet, Styczeń outlined the main points for the planned next patch:

• Fix all the weird homeless bugs.
• Tune the archer damage.
• Tune the trade oversupply mechanics (it’s too harsh and punishes regional specialization).
• Slow down the rate of the AI claiming territories.
• Improve the sawpit efficiency / storage.

Manor Lords is the latest mid-priced game to see enormous success in early 2024 following the release of Pocket Pair’s Palworld and Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2. The trend comes at a time when some triple-A $70 games, such as Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones, have struggled.

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.