After last month, we bet you thought July was cooling off a little, right? Well… a little, but not much.
The Switch 2 has been here for a month now, and we’re swimming in games old and new on the new platform. And look, we all know what’s top banana for many of you this month, and a new Switch 2 Edition is also on the agenda, but there’s 13 (ish… there’s a couple of bundles here!) other fabulous looking games coming out on both hybrids.
Black Bolt and White Flare are out in Japan, and prices are already settling on the most sought-after cards. I’ve been following the early market closely on TCGPlayer and eBay, and it’s clear which cards are leading the packs… get it?
Zekrom and Reshiram are pulling in the highest numbers, while full-art Trainers and EX cards are also climbing fast. For now, here’s a look at the most expensive cards from both sets right now, based on what I’ve found.
Black Bolt: Japan’s Most Expensive Cards
I’ve been tracking Black Bolt and White Flare since their Japanese launch, and the early market has already picked its favorites. No surprise, Zekrom ex 174/086 leads the Black Bolt pack at $343.12, and it’s not even close.
The alternate Secret Rare version, Zekrom ex 169/086, is holding strong too at $171.29. Both are big pulls with bold art and high early demand. But it’s not just dragons making waves.
N’s Plot 173/086 is already climbing to $97.51, making it the priciest Trainer card in either set. Mid-tier cards like Kyurem ex 168/086 and Serperior ex 167/086 sit in the $50 to $60 range, while Meloetta ex and Genesect ex are slightly lower but still fetching healthy prices for new EXs.
Even the cheaper cards, like Kyurem ex 160/086 at $10.93, or Snivy and Pansage, both hovering around $20, are drawing in early collectors looking to complete those secret rare numbers before the English release.
White Flare: Japan’s Most Expensive Cards
Over in White Flare, things look just as competitive. Reshiram ex 174/086 has taken the top spot here, priced at $347.76, basically mirroring Zekrom’s dominance.
The second Reshiram ex, 168/086, isn’t far behind, fluctuating between $159.95 and $181.85.
Then there’s Hilda 173/086, which is shaping up to be the Trainer pull from this set. It’s listed at $110, but already hitting $121.36 on eBay.
Beyond that, we’ve got Hydreigon ex at a solid $57.50, and a few mid-range hitters like Keldeo ex, Jellicent ex, and Whimsicott ex, all sitting around $25 to $30.
Even cards like Oshawott 102/086, Zoroark, and the alternate Hilda 166/086 are seeing interest around the $16 to $24 range.
These sets are just getting started, and the market’s already showing clear lines between casual rares and serious collector targets.
Where to Buy Sealed Boosters (JP)
Japanese Cards are more popular than ever. The challenge is getting hold of them, which is where TCGPlayer comes in. Instead of paying for importers and stores’ fees from getting this stuff for retail in Japan to get into your hands, you’re paying market value for sealed products.
There’s plenty of chase cards in a booster box for Black Bolt and White Flare, specifically one secret rare, full art, hyper rare or alt art alongside 3 art rares. I’m not saying you’ll get your money back in card values, but it’s fun ripping boosters open. It’s the next best option if you’re not just buying cards standalone for display.
Black Bolt White Flare Preorders
There’s been recent preorder restocks for big box retailers such as Walmart, so we’d recomend keeping an eye on these listings to secure your day one sealed product.
Black Bolt and White Flare sealed products are also on TCGPlayer, although they’re all over MSRP which is to be expected on the secondary collectors market right now. My advice? Wait until after release on July 18 to see where to market setles before making any big moves.
This Week’s Pokémon TCG Crashers and Climbers
With Black Bolt and White Flare wrapping up the Scarlet & Violet era, all eyes are now on what’s next —and Mega Evolution is officially back.
The Japanese Championships 2025 confirmed MEGA Symphonia and MEGA Brave as the first entries in the new Mega Expansion Packs, launching August 1 in Japan. These sets reintroduce Mega Evolution ex cards in a powerful new form, now Stage 2 Pokémon worth 3 Prize Cards when knocked out.
Cards like Mega Gardevoir ex, Mega Venusaur ex, and Mega Lucario ex are leading the charge, and collectors are already snapping up classic Mega cards in anticipation of their return to the spotlight.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
Today’s gaming deals are stacked, I’m so hyped. We’ve got premium laptops with decent discounts, curved OLED monitors, and high-refresh powerhouses, all with serious price cuts. A couple of these are big hitters from HP and ASUS with RTX 5080 GPUs inside, while the LG and Samsung monitors are flying under $800 thanks to that JULYFINDS coupon on eBay (don’t forget to apply it at checkout).
EA has announced it will shut down BioWare’s Anthem on January 12, 2026.
Because Anthem’s only content is online, this means the game will be unplayable after that date.
Premium in-game currency will stop being sold today, though existing balances will still be able to be used until the game shuts down. The game will be removed from EA’s storefront on August 15, 2025, but will still be available for download if it’s already in your library until it officially shuts down.
Anthem launched in February of 2019 to lukewarm reviews, including our own 6.5/10 which criticized the grindiness, lack of polish and variety, and a mismatched story. The game had sold 5 million copies as of December of 2023, which fell short of EA’s target of 6 million copies in the first few months. Though EA continued to update and improve Anthem in the months that followed its launch, in February of 2021, EA ceased active development on the game. The following month, its game director departed the company.
In an FAQ, EA stated that no layoffs occurred at the company as the result of Anthem’s sunset. This will come as a relief, given that EA has undergone a number of massive staffing cuts in the last few years that have left staff reeling.
As for BioWare, it’s currently fully focused on Mass Effect 5 after the sales failure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
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.
Hades 2‘s next patch could be its last before the game emerges from its early access cocoon.
As spotted by RPS, the roguelike action RPG’s latest patch — the Unseen Update — introduces a “number of adjustments to some of the latest additions,” but developer Supergiant did tease that this will “likely be [its] final patch before the v1.0 launch”… “whenever that will be.”
The team said it will continue to monitor your feedback in the meantime.
The full patch notes are included below, although please note we’ve removed any notes including spoiler tags, so you’ll have to head on over to Steam to read those. Anything in bold has been inspired directly “by community feedback.”
Hades 2 Unseen Update Patch 10 patch notes:
General Gameplay
Reduced further cases of successive attacks causing you to become ‘stun-locked’
Whenever you take damage to Armor, it will reduce any temporary Armor you have from sources such as Security System (Hephaestus), prior to reducing the more-permanent kind
Nocturnal Arms & Abilities
Sister Blades: Omega Attack can no longer be interrupted by foes
Umbral Flames: reduced orbit speed of Omega Special projectiles, but increased their damage
Argent Skull: Omega Special wave projectiles no longer stagger foes
Black Coat: increased speed of Attack sequence and damage of first strike; slightly increased Omega Attack channel speed, and it can block more types of incoming area-effect damage; increased Special accuracy
Aspects of the Nocturnal Arms
Witch’s Staff (Melinoë): reduced bonus to Magick and Power
Witch’s Staff (Momus): slightly increased how long it takes your serpents to fire successive Omega Moves
Oath of the Unseen
Vow of Frenzy: now also makes foes enter the battle faster; reduced effect on Vow of Rivals moves
Vow of Scars: fixed several cases where this was not reducing Life recovery as expected
Boons & Blessings
Steady Growth (Demeter): now will only Rarify itself if you have no other eligible Boons
Hestia: Scorch Curse can no longer deal Critical damage or similar, nor is affected by Air Quality (Zeus)
Success Rate (Hermes): no longer affects the passive effect of Raki
Incandescent Aura (Hera x Hestia): reworked — now deals damage to all Hitch-afflicted foes when you restore Magick
Natural Selection (Poseidon x Demeter): reworked — now distributes bonus Lv. to your primary Boons
Scalding Vapor (Poseidon x Hestia): no longer can activate the Froth Curse
Gigaros Dash (Hades): reduced damage; fixed Scorn amplifying damage other than Attack and Special
Unseen Ire (Hades): fixed an issue causing the effect duration to last longer than stated
Crimson Dress (Arachne): fixed an issue causing this to give a high damage bonus right away; increased bonus per Encounter
Daedalus Hammer Upgrades
Boosted Ignition (Skull): no longer offered while using
Looming Ignition (Skull): fixed an issue causing this to give its full damage bonus immediately rather than over the duration as described
Hexes & Path of Stars
📢 Adjusted Path of Stars layouts to make room especially for Godsent upgrades
Adjusted when Godsent upgrades are offered during the story for the first time, now later than before
Twilight Curse: this and other Morph effects now block any on-death attacks when afflicted foes are slain, with the exception of Inferno-Bombs
Prize of Poseidon (Moon Water): cut from game; replaced with…
Pride of Poseidon (Moon Water): new! Godsent upgrade gradually restores Life and Magick over time
Zenith (Sky Fall): cut from game; replaced with Ambition, which deals bonus damage to Guardians
Lineage: new! Your Hex can be Godsent one more time when used in Guardian Encounters
Keepsakes
Discordant Bell: effect now persists for the night even after you switch Keepsakes
Resources & Reagents
Reduced chance of never finding the resource type aligned with your Animal Familiar in shorter regions
Shrine of Hermes
Fresh Sustenance MAX: reduced Life recovery
Art & Visual FX
Added alternate textures when using upgraded Tools of the Unseen
Updated visual FX when Crescent Pick Outcroppings are depleted
Added visual indicator in Boon Info for when Arcana are disabled due to Barren (Chaos)
Miscellaneous
Melinoë now can greet Frinos while he is in the Training Grounds, as with the other Animal Familiars
Gameplay Timer now also pauses automatically when interacting with the Path of Stars
Heracles no longer sometimes ominously just stands around after his Encounters
Updated presentation for Icarus fly-by attacks
Improved feedback on Life and Magick gauges after swapping Keepsakes that modify your totals
Improved feedback spending resources in the Altar of Ashes, Silver Pool, and Music Maker screens
Improved contextual feedback on various Boons when affected by Vow of Scars
Damage from Specials and Omega Specials is now separated for some weapons on the Victory Screen
Reduced cluttered damage numbers using Argent Skull (Medea)
Added letterbox to the game intro in some aspect ratios
Updates and fixes to translations in some languages
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where Melinoë could suddenly take 500 damage using Eruption (Path of Stars) and Night Bloom (Selene) to raise a Tempus in the battle against Chronos…
Fixed a number of story events that were never playing
Fixed a number of contextual voice lines that were never playing
Fixed cases where you would sometimes Dash-Strike unexpectedly using the Moonstone Axe
Fixed some interactions between and Psychic Whirlwind (Daedalus)
Fixed Black Coat not interacting with some abilities that improved Channeling speed
Fixed visual issues where strikes with Hidden Aspects sometimes appeared to be interrupted by foes
Fixed Wounds from Ares sometimes causing on-hit slowdowns too frequently
Fixed Sea Star (Poseidon) sometimes doubling items created by Gold Gold Gold (Echo)
Fixed Personal Loan (Dionysus) giving you nothing back if it got Rarified
Fixed Heracles sometimes turning invisible while attacking
Fixed cases where Athena could unexpectedly appear more than once per night
Fixed cases where using Cast to interrupt Attacks or Specials would pause animations longer than expected
Fixed Past Deeds screen not showing more than 36 Boons if you had that many
Fixed Satyr Supplicant Life Bars persisting after they were slain
Fixed Ares Plasma UI indicator sometimes disappearing unexpectedly
Fixed several text errors
Other minor fixes
Hades 2 is the sequel to Supergiant’s hit game, mixing engaging storytelling and roguelite action elements for an engaging dungeon-crawling experience. We thought Hades 2 was ‘Amazing’ when it released in May 2024, slapping it with a 9 in our early access review, writing: “Even in its Early Access state, Hades 2 is just about everything one could ask for in a sequel to one of the best roguelites of all time. Featuring excellent refinements to its roguelite progression, a fantastic new main character in Melinoe, and two unique sets of levels that have you fighting foes on the surface and in the underworld.”
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.
With The Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, and SoulCalibur 2 joining the system’s launch lineup, Super Mario Strikers made it a foursome this week, and Nintendo has six other games announced for the service coming sometime in the future.
Everything You Need to Know About The Hatch, Roblox’s Biggest Egg Hunt Yet
Christofer Oberst, Copywriter, Roblox
Summary
The Hatch, a massive egg hunt across Roblox, is running from July 2-12, featuring 100 hidden eggs scattered across hundreds of participating experiences.
Explore an immersive event hub where you can merge eggs or trade with other players to complete your collection and portal into a variety of experiences.
Complete elemental sets of eggs to unlock exclusive rewards for your Roblox avatar.
A tradition since 2008, egg hunts hold a special place in Roblox history. Today, the highly anticipated event is making a comeback. The Hatch, our newest event, offers a fresh take on the classic egg hunting adventure, while continuing the tradition of encouraging exploration and discovery across the platform.
From July 2-12, players around the world will embark on a quest to find 100 uniquely themed eggs scattered across hundreds of participating experiences—the most ever in Roblox egg hunt history. There’s a whole lot to discover and, of course, plenty of exclusive virtual items to get your hands on, so read on to learn everything you need to know to get started.
Explore the Event Hub and Unlock Exclusive Rewards
Set within a vibrant coastal wonderland, the event hub is divided into different zones that aren’t only beautiful to explore but also home to portals that transport you to a variety of experiences on Roblox where hidden eggs are waiting to be found. Simply walk over them to pick them up, and an egg will be added to your collection. You can then view which eggs you’ve obtained—and which ones you’ll still need to find—when you return to the hub.
Each collectible egg belongs to one of ten elemental themes, like earth, fire, water, and air. And within each theme, you’ll find eggs of varying rarity including common, primal, and mythic. Collect all ten eggs in an elemental set, and you’ll unlock a special “hatchable” egg that rewards you with an exclusive virtual item to wear on your avatar.
Work Together to Collect Them All
Missing an egg or hoping to snag that elusive mythic? Head back to the hub, where you’ll be able to trade with other players or merge duplicate eggs. Trading is a great way to complete your sets, especially if you’ve got a few extra commons or primals in your collection, and it’s a fun way to team up with friends (or make some new ones) on your journey. And if luck’s on your side, merging duplicate eggs from the same elemental theme could even yield a rarer one. You never know what you’ll get until you try, so don’t be afraid to experiment as you work to complete your collection before the event ends on July 12.
Stay Tuned for More Surprises
That’s just the start — expect even more special surprises as The Hatch unfolds. Be sure to follow @Roblox on social media to be the first to know when those announcements drop.
Roblox is the ultimate virtual universe that lets you create, share experiences with friends, and be anything you can imagine. Join millions of people and discover an infinite variety of immersive experiences created by a global community!
Already have an account? Log in with your existing Roblox account and explore the infinite metaverse of Roblox.
MILLIONS OF EXPERIENCES
In the mood for an epic adventure? Want to compete against rivals worldwide? Or do you just want to hang out and chat with your friends online? A growing library of experiences created by the community means there’s always something new and exciting for you every day.
EXPLORE TOGETHER ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
Take the fun on the go. Roblox features full cross-platform support, meaning you can join your friends and millions of other people on their computers, mobile devices, Xbox One, or VR headsets.
BE ANYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE
Be creative and show off your unique style! Customize your avatar with tons of hats, shirts, faces, gear, and more. With an ever-expanding catalog of items, there’s no limit to the looks you can create.
CHAT WITH FRIENDS
Hang out with friends around the world using chat features, private messages, and groups!
CREATE YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES: https://www.roblox.com/develop
SUPPORT: https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/en-us
CONTACT: https://corp.roblox.com/contact/
PRIVACY POLICY: https://www.roblox.com/info/privacy
PARENT’S GUIDE: https://corp.roblox.com/parents/
PLEASE NOTE: A network connection is required to join. Roblox works best over Wi-Fi.
THE ROBLOX RATING APPLIES ONLY TO THE ROBLOX APP, NOT TO ANY USER GENERATED CONTENT INCLUDED WITHIN THE APP, WHICH IS UNRATED.
It’s time to see which PS5, PS4, PS VR2, and free-to-play games topped last month’s download charts. June saw PS5 players connecting the world in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and connecting on the pitch in Rematch. Skydance’s Behemoth topped the PS VR2 charts in both the US and EU, and Splitgate 2 debuted at number one in the US for free-to-play.
Check out the full listings below. What titles are you playing this month?
PS5 Games
US/Canada
EU
DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH
REMATCH
Grand Theft Auto V
EA SPORTS FC 25
ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN
Grand Theft Auto V
REMATCH
DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN
EA SPORTS FC 25
F1 25
Minecraft
Minecraft
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
MLB The Show 25
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic
Resident Evil Village
DELTARUNE
Cyberpunk 2077
Resident Evil Village
It Takes Two
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Mortal Kombat 1
Split Fiction
Phasmophobia
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
NBA 2K25
Lies of P
Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game
Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game
Cyberpunk 2077
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic
Mortal Kombat 11
Phasmophobia
*Naming of products may differ between regions *Upgrades not included
PS4 Games
US/Canada
EU
STAR WARS Battlefront II
STAR WARS Battlefront II
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2
Grand Theft Auto V
EA SPORTS FC 25
Gang Beasts
Grand Theft Auto V
Batman: Arkham Knight
The Forest
Minecraft
Minecraft
Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Batman: Arkham Knight
Stardew Valley
Gang Beasts
The Forest
Need for Speed Heat
Dying Light
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Resident Evil 6
Mafia: Trilogy
RESIDENT EVIL 5
Firewatch
Mortal Kombat X
God of War
EA SPORTS FC 25
Dying Light
God of War
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – Game of the Year Edition
Injustice 2
Mortal Kombat X
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – Game of the Year Edition
Resident Evil 6
Need for Speed Heat
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
RESIDENT EVIL 5
Mafia III: Definitive Edition
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered
*Naming of products may differ between regions
PS VR2 Games*
US/Canada
EU
Skydance’s BEHEMOTH
Skydance’s BEHEMOTH
Beat Saber
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Chapter 1
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Chapter 1
Beat Saber
Alien: Rogue Incursion VR
Alien: Rogue Incursion VR
Among Us 3D: VR
Metro Awakening
Ghosts of Tabor
Among Us 3D: VR
Metro Awakening
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution
Creed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition
Creed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition
Synth Riders
Horizon Call of the Mountain
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution
Arizona Sunshine 2
*PlayStation Store purchases only. Game upgrades or games bundled with hardware not included
Roblox brought in 1,000 developers to participate in The Hatch, an event the Lego-like game platform says will go down as its biggest Easter Egg hunt ever. While the official experience is propped up as an important moment, thousands of players have already voiced their support for a boycott by using the #BoycottTheHatch across social media.
The Hatch went live earlier today, cracking open its doors for players across the platform to enjoy the work put in by an army of Roblox developers. It’s entirely free-to-play and will no doubt attract millions of players who have been looking forward to the company’s latest Easter Egg hunt experience for the last month. What should be an exciting moment for the community has turned into a controversial stain as players and developers alike band together to opt out of The Hatch in favor of a movement that aims to make the platform safer for all ages forever.
Communication from Roblox Corporation has done little to ward off concerns that the gaming giant is failing to protect users from inappropriate content. Though much of the firestorm that’s taken hold of the conversation has subsided, many fear issues surrounding The Hatch are only a symptom of larger issues yet. Community organization opposed to The Hatch could be the start of what players hope will be meaningful change, but they’ve got a long way to go.
What Is The Hatch?
Prominently featured atop the Roblox home page, The Hatch is an Easter Egg hunt-themed umbrella event that runs from July 2–12 and incorporates a variety of Roblox experiences. Joining the event teleports players to an island realm, which itself serves as an in-between area to hang out in before traveling to a more fleshed-out hub world. In this vacation paradise, users can take in the sights across different colorful biomes while completing quests, challenging others for higher leaderboard spots, and purchasing cosmetic items. It all revolves around one goal: collect as many eggs as possible.
Each painted collectible isn’t found in The Hatch itself, though. Instead, players use the official Roblox hub world to transport themselves to other user-created Roblox experiences via portals placed around the map. Each portal features around 40 games that range from Squid Game obstacle courses to anime-inspired fighting simulators. These are where the eggs can be found, and while they’re often not particularly well hidden, The Hatch and Easter Egg hunts in general have proven to be enticing events that get Roblox players engaged with experiences they know and some they don’t.
Hundreds of Roblox games are included in The Hatch, cementing the event as a crucial limited-time mode with official backing from Roblox Corporation. The Hatch’s page had more than 46 million visits at the time of this piece’s publication. It also describes an experience that is “suitable for everyone.”
Roblox Players Take Action Against a Controversial Creator
Roblox pulled back the curtain on The Hatch June 12, marking a return to beloved Easter Egg hunting festivities with more to do and more polish than ever. It was an exciting moment marred by controversy when players caught wind that infamous (and verified) Roblox developer TheOfficiaITeddy had been invited to include his creations.
Roblox is a free-to-play platform that is no doubt used by countless children every day, yet, nearly 20 years into its lifespan, Roblox Corporation still finds itself facing accusations that it’s cultivated a dangerous environment for younger players. TheOfficiaITeddy is one developer at the center of the conversation surrounding these topics thanks to his involvement in what many call “condo” games. These social experiences allow players to mingle with one another, but it’s the allegations that Teddy’s condo experiences have featured romantic, dating, and even sex-themed content that have the community ready to take action.
This person has gained HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of visits on games that can only be described as s*x games.
“This person has gained HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of visits on games that can only be described as s*x games,” one popular post from X/Twitter user @RoCatchers said. “These games feature inappropriate animations disguised as innocent stuff, and people within the games use it for lewd acts. These games also feature private ‘motel rooms’ that you can lock allowing people to be 1 on 1. These games are often a target for predators.”
The creator, whose seemingly harmless light-blue teddy bear avatar has filled social media feeds, is responsible for publishing popular titles like Boys and Girls Club Hangout Roleplay and CNP and Slender Hangout, both of which have since been removed from Roblox’s list of publicly available experiences. Suggestive content is believed to be the cause behind previous bans and content takedowns from Roblox Corporation, but despite numerous reports of action taken against TheOfficiaITeddy in the past, players found that the creator has managed to find his way back to the Roblox spotlight on more than one occasion.
but for whatever reason, he was UNBANNED, and he directly claimed that he received an invite to RDC. Then, Roblox bans him again, and very very recently Roblox UNBANNED him- pic.twitter.com/OLbxDae3Xx
While most Roblox developers invited to participate in The Hatch include names behind popular obstacle courses and action-focused experiences, TheOfficiaITeddy stood out to many as a concerning outlier who has been repeatedly accused of harming the safety of users on the platform. Roblox’s confirmation that Teddy was, along with many others, invited to be officially involved in The Hatch only added fuel to the fire, with his official backing now sitting at the forefront of the issues the #BoycottTheHatch movement seeks to resolve.
What Is #BoycottTheHatch?
The #BoycottTheHatch movement’s sails first caught wind with posts from X users like @RoCatchers and @greenlegocats in mid-June. The goal was clear: spread awareness. Posts covering the topic quickly gained thousands of likes on X alone as users called not only for Teddy’s invitation to be rescinded but for the controversial creator to be banned altogether.
What was a simmer quickly evolved into a full-on boil as Roblox developers involved in The Hatch began to pull out from the event. Popular creations like DOORS, Pressure, Piggy, untitled tag game, LOCOfficial, and many more stepped away not only due to the issues surrounding TheOfficiaITeddy but because of issues regarding how The Hatch has been handled thus far. These include general quality concerns as well as other points of contention such as fears some The Hatch promotional images were generated by artificial intelligence and a concern regarding how developers were selected for participation.
“The safety and well-being of the Roblox community is our top priority,” Roblox said. “On top of our community standards, we have additional guidelines to qualify to participate in platform events. TheOfficiaITeddy should not have been invited; we have rescinded their invitation to The Hatch and have taken appropriate action in accordance with our policies. Our team is thoroughly re-examining the invitation list against our community standards and are re-evaluating these processes to ensure an additional level of vetting for our invitees going forward.”
We appreciate their removal from the event, but I please ask that the moderation team reviews their account accordingly. If their game doesn’t follow your guidelines, surely their account doesn’t either. I want this platform to be a safer place, I know you guys can do better
Piggy developer MiniToon was one of the first to respond to Roblox Corporation’s message, explaining that while the sentiment was appreciated, it remained worried that the moderation team would not thoroughly address the situation. It added in a post: “I don’t want to have to make these tweets, but it feels like we are just being seen and not heard, witnessed and not understood.”
As the #BoycottTheHatch hashtag continued to fill feeds in the weeks that followed, Roblox finally returned with a lengthy statement June 30, two days before The Hatch would begin. The company explained that, during its absence, it conducted an investigation into Teddy that involved an attempt to alter experiences that complied with its Community Standards. Although these standards were eventually met, Roblox said it was able to confirm “a separate outstanding policy violation that cannot be rectified.” Teddy and all of his creations have since been removed from the platform.
“At Roblox, safety is foundational to everything we do — that’s why we take reports of harmful content or behavior seriously, and we investigate them thoroughly,” Roblox said. “It can take time to investigate properly, and we’re always working to make this process more efficient while maintaining our high standards for fairness.”
Teddy may be banned but we still have a lot of work to do in the fight against online dating, degeneracy, and pedatory behavior on Roblox. This has been a big victory in an even bigger battle. Continue fighting the good fight to make Roblox a safer space for all.
There’s been no word regarding how the #BoycottTheHatch movement may pivott to address other common complains, but Teddy’s removal stands as a major moment for the movement. For now, the event is scheduled to run for another nine days.
Roblox The Hatch launched July 2 and, at the time of this piece’s publication, sports more than 40K likes and more than 97K dislikes. As players continue to shape their experiences in the coming days, you can read up on Grow a Garden, which has catapulted itself past multiple concurrent player records in its journey to become one of the most popular games of all time.
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).
Thigs continue to sound not very ok at MindsEye developers Build A Rocket Boy. Around the same time as an” an ongoing redundancy process has reportedly seen all 300 of the studio’s UK staff sent emails informing them they’re at risk of losing their jobs, game director Leslie Benzies has allegedly told them BARB will somehow relaunch the troubled game.
Yeah, exactly. You what, Leslie? That’s the same Leslie who also reportedly blamed the rocky time MindsEye’s had following its launch on what IGN calls “internal and external saboteurs” in its latest report.