Category: Video Games

PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for January: Resident Evil 2, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Hardspace: Shipbreaker and more 

Following on from 2024’s inaugural PlayStation Plus Monthly Games lineup, today we can announce the first additions to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog*. Enjoy a survival horror masterclass in the shape of Resident Evil 2, fuse D&D with guns via Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, experience the daily life of a blue-collar spaceship salvager in Hardspace: Shipbreaker and get destructive in paradise with Just Cause 3. These and many more titles are playable from January 16. Let’s take a closer look at each game in turn. 

PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium | Game Catalog

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands – Next-Level Edition | PS4, PS5

Bullets, magic and broadswords collide across this chaotic fantasy world brought to life by the unpredictable Tiny Tina. Blast baddies with powerful guns and devastating spells in frenetic first-person battles and delve into dangerous dungeons for a shot at epic loot! Create the perfect hero with a multiclass system that lets you mix and match six unique character skill trees, all with their own awesome abilities. Level up, refine your build, expand your arsenal and become the ultimate adventurer. Enjoy the story solo or start a party with up to three friends in seamless online multiplayer or local split-screen. Share the spoils or rush to get the shiniest loot – how you play is up to you. 

The PS4 version of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands will also be available for streaming in participating countries. 

Resident Evil 2 | PS4, PS5

Originally released in 1998, Resident Evil 2, one of the most iconic games of all time, returns completely reimagined for PS4 & PS5.Play individual campaigns for both Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield using an all new 3rd person view as you explore the zombie infested areas of Raccoon City, now stunningly re-built using Capcom’s proprietary RE Engine. New puzzles, storylines and areas mean both new and seasoned fans will find horrifying new surprises await them!

Hardspace: Shipbreaker | PS5

Equipped with cutting-edge salvaging tech, carve and slice spaceships in zero-g to recover valuable materials in this sci-fi physics sim, exploring a variety of ship types then upgrade your tools and gear to take on more lucrative contracts in the form of bigger and harder craft. Salvage through a compelling campaign, relax in freeplay, or compete in timed challenges. 

LEGO City Undercover | PS4

In LEGO City Undercover, play as Chase McCain, a police officer who’s been tasked with going undercover to hunt down the notorious – and recently escaped – criminal Rex Fury and putting an end to his city-wide crime wave. With two-player co-op, friends can explore the sprawling open-world metropolis that is LEGO City, with more than 20 unique districts to investigate, car thieves to bust, hilarious movie references to discover, vehicles to drive, and hundreds of collectibles. LEGO City Undercover brings together witty, original storytelling with signature LEGO humor to create a fun-filled experience for players of all ages to enjoy.

Just Cause 3 | PS4

Rico Rodriguez returns to unleash chaos in the most creative and explosive ways imaginable across a Mediterranean island paradise. Arm yourself with a wide range of explosive weaponry, choose from a huge variety of different vehicles and get adventurous with dozens of challenge missions and collectibles to discover. Use your Grapple and Parachute to scale buildings, hijack vehicles, move quickly or tether objects together for creative new ways to cause Chaos, then glide through the air and swoop across mountains with your Wingsuit giving a new way to rain death from above.

Session: Skate Sim | PS4, PS5

Express yourself freely and master innovative controls in this realistic skating sim. Made by and for skaters, Session: Skate Sim is an ultra-realistic skateboard game that combines ’90s skate culture aesthetic with modern gameplay. 

Dual stick controls emulate the feeling of your feet on a skateboard for total board and skater control. Try out real-life iconic skate spots, customise your skater and equipment with items from top skate brands. 

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun | PS4

Shadow Tactics is a hardcore tactical stealth game set in Japan around the Edo period. Take control of a team of deadly specialists and sneak in the shadows between dozens of enemies. Choose your approach when infiltrating mighty castles, snowy mountain monasteries or hidden forest camps. Set traps, poison your opponents or completely avoid enemy contact. Carefully evaluate your options in order to master the challenging missions: how will the characters behave as a team? Which one is best equipped for each task? How can they best master the given missions? Come up with your own ingenious tactics to vanquish enemies and complete missions.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong | PS4, PS5

In this narrative RPG, play as three vampires, wield their powers wisely and strike the right balance between your human and animal side in a heart-pounding story in which your choices will decide the fate of Boston. Each character has their own vampiric abilities and disciplines that you can upgrade individually to suit your preferred approach. Will you choose intimidation, seduction or stealth? It’s your decision, as long as you can sate your Hunger for blood.

Surviving the Aftermath | PS4

Survive and thrive in a post-apocalyptic future — resources are scarce, but opportunity calls! Build the ultimate disaster proof colony, protect your colonists, and restore civilization to a devastated world.  Recruit over 80 unique specialists, each with their own skills and motivations, to manage your colony’s resources. Outfit your specialists with gear to defend the colony from attacking bandits and rampaging wildlife, then send them out into a procedurally generated world to gather resources, meet rival colonies, and uncover the world’s secrets.

PlayStation Premium | Classics

Rally Cross | PS4, PS5

Prove your driving superiority across desert, through the lush hills of Europe, and around gigantic stadiums in Rally Cross, originally released for PS1. Mud throwing, fishtailing, and forcing wrecks are all par for the course, as you do what you have to in the heat of battle. Try out 20 different rally vehicles as you race through a season or compete in a tournament. Beware though: the powerslides, rolling crashes, and head-on collisions might look cool, but they’ll damage your vehicle for good. 

Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace | PS4, PS5

Use the Force – and your wits – to overcome challenges at every turn in this adaptation of the movie, originally released on PS1. In a non-linear storyline that includes key moments from Episode I and additional side-quests, travel to the exotic locales of Episode I, battle hordes of enemies and solve dozens of challenging puzzles.

Street Fighter: 30th Anniversary Collection | PS4

Celebrate Street Fighter’s historic legacy with the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection. In this massive collection of 12 Street Fighter titles, which encompass the Street Fighter I, Street Fighter II, Street Fighter III and Street Fighter Alpha series, perfect arcade balance makes it to consoles for the first time ever. Hop online and relive the arcade experience through the online Arcade Mode or play with friends in the online lobby within four of the most definitive Street Fighter titles in the collection.

Legend of Mana | PS4

Meet a colorful cast of characters, square off against fearsome monsters, and explore the vast world of Fa’Diel in this action RPG. Set off on a journey to find the mystical Mana Tree seen in a dream, before discovering… the world map is empty! During your travels, you’ll acquire special artifacts; place these wherever you’d like on the map to bring towns and dungeons to life and advance the story. This PS4 HD Remaster of the PS1 original includes new features,  such as the ability to turn off enemy encounters or switch between the original soundtrack or a new rearranged version, and the never-before released mini-game “Ring Ring Land”. 

Secret of Mana | PS4

The adventure of Randi, Primm, and Popoi is reborn in the new Secret of Mana! This PS4 remaster of the classic action RPG sees you battle a perilous empire to reclaim the magical power of Mana and bring the world back to order. This version of the game includes three-player local co-op. 

Additionally, we’re pleased to share that select series from Crunchyroll will be available to PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe members via Sony Pictures Core in the following additional regions starting on January 15: Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe members have access to a curated catalog of 100 movies** to watch on demand from Sony Pictures Core and curated content from Crunchyroll will be included.

*PlayStation Plus Game Catalog lineup may differ in certain regions. Please check the PlayStation Store on launch day for your region’s lineup. 

**Access requires a Sony Pictures Core app account, subject to Sony Pictures Core Terms of Service. Must be age 18+. Availability of content varies over time, region/country, format and plan. PlayStation Plus is subject to a recurring subscription fee taken automatically until cancellation. Terms apply: https://www.playstation.com/legal/ps-plus-usage-terms/

Game of Thrones Show Creators on Lucasfilm Scrapping Their Star Wars Film: ‘We Weren’t the Droids They Were Looking For’

David Benioff and Dan Weiss, creators of the Game of Thrones HBO show, have explained more about their scrapped Star Wars film, saying “we weren’t the droids [Lucasfilm] were looking for”.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the pair also confirmed reports from 2019 that their film would essentially be “The First Jedi”, telling the story of how the Jedi Order, first lightsabers, and so on came to be.

Lucasfilm hired Benioff and Weiss to direct a series of films in 2018, with the first premiering in 2022, though this was scrapped in 2019 due to scheduling conflicts, the pair said at the time. The split appeared amicable, as Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy also said she hopes Benioff and Weiss would return to Star Wars one day.

We totally get it. It’s their company and their IP, but we weren’t the droids they were looking for.

The official story appears to have changed, however, as Benioff has now said “[Lucasfilm] ended up not wanting to do a First Jedi story. We had a very specific story idea in mind, and ultimately they decided they didn’t want to do that.

“We totally get it. It’s their company and their IP, but we weren’t the droids they were looking for.”

The scathing comments didn’t stop there though as Weiss also expressed frustration at Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed Star Wars: Episode 8 – The Last Jedi, for stepping on their toes.

“We wanted to do The First Jedi. Basically how the Jedi Order came to be, why it came to be, the first lightsaber,” Benioff said.

“And we were annoyed as hell when [Rian Johnson] called his movie The Last Jedi,” Weiss added. “He completely destroyed the obvious title for what we were working on.”

Concern over the state of Star Wars films isn’t anything new, with the Prequel Trilogy facing a harsh critical reception upon its premiere in 1999, but fans are growing increasingly concerned and confused at the number of films being announced without any actually releasing since 2019’s Star Wars: Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker.

Developing…

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

Twitch lay off 500 people as CEO concedes that staffing strategy has been “optimistic”

Amazon-owned Twitch have announced that they will lay off “just over 500” people – almost 35% of their workforce – in the course of on-going plans to “rightsize our company”, with CEO Dan Clancy conceding that the streaming service has been operating based on “where we optimistically expect our business to be in 3 or more years, not where we’re at today.”

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My Joy of Returning to PlayStation After a Decade

The PlayStation Access Controller is finally available to the public after months of teasing and development updates. IGN previewed the device several months ago, and I gave it a 7/10, noting its software is its biggest selling point. It’s another piece of accessible hardware in a barren landscape of choices for disabled players. It’s good but not perfect, and that’s ultimately okay.

This Access Designed isn’t another review of the controller, nor is it a list of grievances or wishes for a future iteration. Instead, I want to talk about my enjoyment of PlayStation games. I want to explore how the most accessible game of 2020 – which demonstrated the importance of accessibility journalism – wasn’t accessible to me, because of a lack of hardware. I want to discuss how the Access Controller, despite its flaws, finally let me experience a major aspect of the games industry.

PlayStation Throughout the Years

I’ve mentioned previously about my adoration for anything and everything Nintendo. Everyone who knows me understands my obsession with the Pokémon franchise. I grew up with Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. But that’s only a small portion of series that formed my love of gaming.

In the fourth grade, my parents surprised my brother and I with a PlayStation 2 for Christmas. We spent the entire break playing Star Wars Battlefront, Champions of Norrath, and a plethora of demo discs that GameStop used to throw at willing customers. Within a year, I was intimately familiar with Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, and even Kingdom Hearts, the latter becoming one of my favorite series to this date. But beyond my enjoyment of these iconic titles, the PlayStation 2 acted as my first experience with inaccessible hardware.

Long before the introduction of extensive accessibility menus, I heavily relied on a game being accessible solely from its design. Even though I played Jak and Daxter, I routinely struggled to shoot enemies. My atrophied hands prevented me from comfortably reaching R1, R2, L1, and L2, forcing me to use melee for most of the enemy encounters. And before my brother had the idea to customize my controllers, I would simply give up after reaching segments which required shoulder buttons. That was my reality, and for years I was comfortable with never finishing inaccessible games. As a child, all I cared about was seeing my favorite characters.

Continuous Inaccessibility

I spent my preteen years alternating between Nintendo and PlayStation. And when I purchased my Xbox 360, I admittedly abandoned some of my favorite games for new titles and more accessible devices. Despite owning a PlayStation 3, I rarely, if ever, played on the system, instead spending time with friends across varying Xbox Live parties. It wasn’t until the release of the PlayStation 4 that I decided to reunite with some of my favorite games.

By the time of the PlayStation 4’s release, my disability progressed to the point of me requiring accessible hardware. Years before the introduction of the Xbox Adaptive Controller, as well as the Access Controller, disabled players like me needed solutions from charities or organizations that designed accessible controllers. I often tell others being disabled costs significantly more than being able-bodied. A custom Dualshock 4 controller with bumpers on the side which mimicked shoulder buttons cost approximately $180. And if that device broke or was not conducive to my needs, I would be required to spend even more on another potential solution.

I couldn’t access a game with dozens of [accessibility] options because I could no longer hold my Dualshock 4

Thankfully, my adaptive Dualshock 4 from Evil Controllers served its purpose, allowing me to play Kingdom Hearts 3, Diablo 3, and even Child of Light. Yet, with a progressive disability, it was only a matter of time before I needed something else. In 2020, Naughty Dog released The Last of Us Part 2. The industry celebrated it as a win for the disabled community. With dozens of options, varying disabled players could find some form of a solution for any inaccessible barrier they encountered. At the time of its release, I was the Mobility Editor for Can I Play That, the largest publication dedicated solely to accessibility in gaming. My team and I produced numerous stories and videos surrounding the release, highlighting the necessity for coverage of accessibility written by disabled people. When it was my turn to write the mobility review, I was unable to even make it beyond the start menu. I couldn’t access a game with dozens of options because I could no longer hold my Dualshock 4. And rather than spend hundreds of dollars on another solution, I did what was necessary as a journalist – I wrote about my experience and need for accessible hardware.

Reclaiming Access

For several years I was unable to cover, let alone play any PlayStation game. Despite consistent accessibility efforts with dozens of options and design practices across several of their its party studios, my biggest barrier was always a lack of a controller that fit my needs. Now I finally have a device that lets me access some of the most accessible games in the industry.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not. The buttons are often difficult to press, the circular design prevents me from reaching five of the eight buttons, and it only includes four external 3.5mm ports. Yet, despite its imperfections, I’m still able to do something I thought I lost control of years ago. And with a progressive physical disability, reclaiming lost function is an indescribable feeling, one which I don’t want people to experience because of how traumatic it can be.

I’m still struggling to fully play and enjoy PS5 games. For example, I’m unable to collect all the puzzle pieces in Astro’s Playroom because of the lack of a microphone on the Access Controller. But it’s not a situation that deters me from playing. If anything, it’s reminiscent of my childhood struggles with PlayStation long before accessibility became mainstream. Do I wish the Access Controller met my needs? Absolutely. But for now, I’m just excited to finally play PlayStation again.

Grant Stoner is a disabled journalist covering accessibility and the disabled perspective in video games. When not writing, he is usually screaming about Pokémon or his cat, Goomba on Twitter.

Best Nintendo Switch Deals Today (January 2024)

Like many video games, ones from Nintendo don’t come cheap. This was especially true when The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was revealed to be $69.99 on release, a whole $10 more expensive than other Switch titles. However, this doesn’t mean there aren’t deals to be had for Nintendo fans. In fact, there are plenty of sales on games, Switch consoles, and various accessories that are worth checking out throughout the year, and we’ve made sure to gather the very best going on at the moment below.

TL;DR – Best Switch Deals

You can also follow @IGNDeals on Twitter or Threads for even more updates on the latest discounts, or check out all our handpicked Switch deals just below.

The Best Nintendo Switch Deals – Navigate to:

Amazon Sale: Save on Select Switch Games, Controllers, and Cases

Amazon is having a sale at the moment on a variety of Nintendo Switch games, controllers, and cases that are well worth picking up. Below you can find our favorite deals from the sale, but if you want to see the full list of available items, check out Amazon’s store page here.

Nintendo Switch Games on Sale at Amazon

Nintendo Switch Controllers on Sale at Amazon

Nintendo Switch Cases on Sale at Amazon

Tears of the Kingdom Is On Sale Right Now (Save $14) & More Game Deals

This is an excellent price for Tears of the Kingdom, saving you $14.04. It’s available at Walmart for $55.95. You can also save a few bucks on Super Mario RPG right now at Walmart, which is down about $12 to $47.75! To see even more Switch games on sale at the moment, click on the links below.

More Switch Video Game Deals

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Perfect Switch SD Card for $39.94 (and More Deals)

The best Switch SD card should be fast, reliable, and as future-proof as possible. That last one is important, as it’s quite likely we’ll be getting a Switch successor / the next Nintendo console within the next year or so (if rumors are to be believed). Therefore, you’re going to want to opt for the latest in SD card tech, which is a micro SDXC UHS-I U3 A2 V30 memory card. That’s a lot of random letters, so to save you a bit of time we’ve left our top suggestions and deals just below for your convenience.

More Switch Micro SD Card Deals

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Nintendo Switch: Budget to Best

While an outstanding deal might not always be available at the time of searching, there are still some incredibly affordable Switch-related products out there if you look hard enough. You can see our favorite budget to best items here, including deals on the best Switch micro SD Card, power banks, and an affordable Switch Pro controller alternative.

More Switch Budget to Best Picks

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Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Official Guide for $27 (Save $18)

With these, you’ll have a detailed overview of Hyrule, a helpful walkthrough to get you through the game, and much more. Not only that, but they have gorgeous covers as well, especially the Collector’s Edition. The Standard Edition has an MSRP of $29.99 but is on sale for $18.74, and the Collector’s Edition normally runs for $44.99, but you can get it for $26.85. Plus, if you want to complete the set, the Breath of the Wild guidebook is also down to $22.49 right now as well.

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When Should You Buy a Nintendo Switch?

The short answer is that you should buy a Nintendo Switch whenever there’s any kind of sale, regardless of the time of year. Amazon will likely offer the same console bundles on any other sale as it will on Black Friday, so there’s no real reason to wait if you’re in need of a Nintendo Switch.

That being said, there are sometimes some unique bundles and promotions during Black Friday that you won’t find any other time of the year. They usually includes additional games (like the infamous Mario Kart 8 bundle) or accessories for free, but quantities tend to be limited. As always, do your research into the seller before you make a purchase.

Where to Buy a Nintendo Switch in 2023

With how expensive gaming is getting in 2023, we’re trying to save you as much money as possible on the games and other tech you actually want to buy. We’ve got great deal roundups available for all major platforms such as PlayStation and Xbox, and keep these updated daily with brand-new offers. If you’re trying to keep costs down while maintaining your favorite hobby, stay tuned for more incredible discounts.

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Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

After falling down a new YouTube hole, someone should definitely make an MLM sim game

Earlier this week, I shared a Tweet, or X post or whatever, that was a Twitter Film Guy being like, “It’s a burden talking to people about my passion, movies, because I think about them on a fundamentally different level”. Like, okay, Scorsese, you can say you didn’t really like Murder Mystery 2, the normies won’t chase you out of town with pitchforks. You know what actually is a burden? Your passions being watching hours of anti-multi-level marketing (MLM) YouTube videos, which is the content hole I fell down over the Christmas break. Your weird uncles have at least seen a film before, but it’s not like I can turn to my mum and ask her if she thinks the weird Monat Christians are worse than the Seint make-up TikTok girlies without explaining almost every word in the sentence.

Anyway. My point is: someone should make an MLM simulation game.

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Random: Wait, Is Ocarina Of Time 3D Old Now?

“Like a river’s flow, it never ends”.

Here’s a little fact that made us choke on our Cornflakes this morning, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is old. Okay, maybe not old-old, but older than the original N64 release was back in 2011.

Yes, the time between today (10th January 2024) and the release of OOT 3D (16th June 2011) is now one day longer than the time between the N64 original (21st November 1998 in Japan) and the 3DS remake. Or, as @SapphireSenatrx nicely worded it on Twitter, “Ocarina of Time 3D is now as old as Ocarina of Time was when they made Ocarina of Time 3D”.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Forza Motorsport Players Frustrated With Lacklustre Developer Statement Addressing the Game’s Issues

Xbox racing fans were left questioning myriad elements of Forza Motorsport upon its launch in 2023 and, following a blog post from developer Turn 10 Studios designed to address these complaints, have only grown more frustrated.

A “message to the Motorsport community” was posted on Forza’s website by game director Andy Beaudoin, creative director Chris Esaki, and executive producer Trevor Laupmanis to “thank you for your support and feedback since launch, reflect on some of the things we have learned, and share what you can expect from us in the coming months.”

In what it said would be the first of quarterly updates on hot topics within the community (to go alongside various other forms of communication), the Forza team addressed the car progression system, race regulations, and AI racers.

Frustration comes at the lack of definitive statements, however. In addressing the car progression system, for example, Turn 10 said it’s “exploring changes to the system” but it will “take some time to properly evaluate options, make the necessary code changes, and thoroughly test those code changes.”

Similar sentiments came for the other two topics. “It’s important that we capture all the data that we can about a race when [race] rulings happen in error, so over the next few months, we will be working with some long-time competitive Motorsport players to gather direct telemetry from them while they’re playing,” Turn 10 said regarding race regulations.

“We understand how important it is to have fair and competitive AI in Motorsport and our top priorities in early 2024 are addressing overly aggressive AI, while also getting a cleaner race start into turn one where many of the issues above most severely manifest and impact players,” it said about AI drivers, meaning Turn 10 didn’t have any actual solutions for players currently despite Forza Motorsport launching more than three months prior in October 2023.

Players therefore took to the internet to express their frustration, saying Turn 10 essentially said nothing about these issues in the post and complaining about other problems not mentioned at all.

“No call to action, no roadmap, no progress update. This is a yap session,” said crasy8s on Reddit. “AI fixes could come in a month or in December but they are dreaming if they think players are gonna sit idly by waiting for drip feed content.”

No call to action, no roadmap, no progress update. This is a yap session.

“Three game directors and basically nothing has been said,” added Cantewakinyan. “Amazing. Do not praise them for this.” Physical-Result7378 chimed in too: “All they say is, ‘We released an untested, unfinished, and unpolished game a year too early. Thank you for your money. We will talk to some streamers if they think we should fix something’.”

A similar comment came from cooReey: “This kind of statement would be okay if it came a month after the release, not in freaking January. This is just a PR move to buy yourself more time.”

Another common sentiment came regarding the lack of comments on the single-player mode. “My biggest problem is still the awful career mode and there’s no mention of it,” said Zafir on ResetEra. “The lackluster career mode killed this game for me more than any other issue and this doesn’t mention it at all,” Cheesetriangles added. “I have no interest in racing online.”

Forza Motorsport arrived as a reboot of the long-running racing simulator franchise, essentially being Forza Motorsport 8 but dropping the numbered branding. Spin-off franchise Forza Horizon, which features arcade-style gameplay in an open world, has perhaps overtaken Motorsport in terms of critical reception, with IGN giving the latest a 10/10 in our review.

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

Turn 10 to substantially update Forza Motorsport after game spends three months getting arse kicked on Steam

We didn’t review Turn 10 and Microsoft’s latest Forza Motorsport and well, thank goodness, because I’ve just taken a look at the Steam page and it’s a regular six-mile pile-up in there. The game’s user reviews are Mostly Negative, three months after release, with complaints covering a wide gamut: the online being full of cheaters, the single player being boring, and the game being poorly optimised for PC.

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Daredevil, Punisher, and Entire Defenders Saga Added to Official MCU Timeline on Disney Plus

Marvel’s Daredevil, Punisher, Jessica Jones, and the entire Defenders Saga has been added to the official MCU Timeline on Disney+, essentially extending the canon by 161 hours.

Spotted by @CanWeGetToast on X/Twitter, all of the Marvel Netflix shows — which released adjacent to the MCU but have always been questioned when it comes to what’s technically considered canon — have for the first time been listed as part of the official MCU timeline.

These Netflix shows include Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher, and in total add around 161 hours of content to the MCU. Daredevil and Jessica Jones each had 39 hour-long episodes across three seasons, Luke Cage and The Punisher had 26 across two, Iron Fist had 23 across two, and The Defenders had eight across one.

The shows were generally considered separate from main MCU despite events from Avengers being referenced within them. But as Marvel itself never made the shows official, and the likes of Daredevil and Iron Fist didn’t show up in Avengers films or elsewhere in the regularly collaborating franchise, many fans following the MCU didn’t add the Netflix shows to their watch list. Until now, anyway.

Questions were raised a little earlier though, when Daredevil (played by Netflix actor Charlie Cox) appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk, and Kingpin (played by Netflix actor Vincent D’Onofrio) appeared in Hawkeye.

Things ramped up earlier in January 2024 when MCU executive producer Brad Winderbaum said he considers Daredevil to be MCU canon, and a trailer for Echo, which also features Daredevil and Kingpin, featured clips from the Netflix shows.

The addition of the Defenders Saga comes as the MCU is widely considered bloated, with even Bob Iger, CEO of Marvel owner Disney, saying the volume of TV shows has “diluted focus and attention”. This is evidenced by the recently completed Phase 4 lasting 54 hours and 40 minutes compared to Phase 1’s 12 hours and 24 minutes.

Marvel fans are already struggling to stay up to date too, as the latest film, The Marvels, had the worst box office numbers so far despite positive critical reception.

Cox will also star in his own, dedicated show Daredevil: Born Again, though he said in September 2022 that it won’t be a continuation of what’s come before. This was put on hold pending a creative reboot in October 2023, however, though Marvel found a new showrunner later that month.

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