Category: Video Games

What Board Game Deals to Expect During Black Friday 2025

It’s nearly here: Black Friday sales are kicking off this week. And if you’re a fan of board games, you’ll probably want to have an idea of what to expect deal-wise on popular tabletop titles. You’ve come to the right place. I’m the board game editor at IGN, and I’ve been following all the Black Friday board game deals for years. Let’s dive in.

Buy 1, Get 1 Half Off on Board Games Right Now

You don’t actually have to wait for Black Friday to save on board games. Right now, both Amazon and Target have sales that get you half off a board game when you buy one at regular price. This applies to a decent number of popular games for board games, including Catan, Splendor, and Horrified. But tons of classics and family board games are also eligible, like Scrabble and Mouse Trap.

What Games Will Get Discounts?

When it comes to Black Friday board game deals, such a wide swath of games go on sale each year that basically nothing is off the table (please excuse the pun). If this year is like years past, you’ll be able to save on just about every board game on the market.

The discounts we saw last year ranged from 20% off games all the way up to 65% off. You could save on popular standards like Azul and Pandemic. You could save on family-friendly games like Exploding Kittens and UNO. You could save on horror-themed board games like Alien: Fate of the Nostromo and Arkham Horror: The Card Game. Whatever games you’re interested in, you can likely find something on sale that you’ll want to pick up.

Additionally, for Cyber Monday last year, Amazon ran a “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” sale. Since many of the games were already discounted, that was like a deal on top of a deal. So keep an eye out during Black Friday 2025 for opportunities to stack discounts.

Which Retailers Will Have Board Game Sales?

As for the retailers where the deals can be found, the main ones to look at are Amazon, Walmart, and Target. If you want to branch out a bit, Barnes and Noble is usually a good place to look for discounts as well. With Amazon’s Black Friday sale kicking off on November 20 this year, that will likely be the first place you should start looking for deals.

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.

Inkle’s amazing Heaven’s Vault used to be a Dr Who pitch, but the BBC left them on read, and I’m kind of thankful

80 Days and A Highland Song developers Inkle once pitched a Doctor Who game to the BBC, narrative director and writer Jon Ingold has revealed in a Bluesky post. While the BBC never responded to their overtures, the pitch became the basis for Inkle’s very excellent and bodacious astral archaeology sim Heaven’s Vault. I consider this a cool thing to know, and so do our friends at Eurogamer. They’ve just published an interview with Ingold, which includes tantalising details of a forthcoming Heaven’s Vault reveal of some kind.

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Animated Tomb Raider Series Returns To Netflix For A Second Season Next Month

Check out the first trailer.

Netflix’s animated series, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, is returning to the streaming service next month, with season two kicking off on 11th December. And look, we even have a trailer!

This second and final season, which once again stars Hayley Atwell in the titular role, sees Lara and co. race across the globe to get their hands on some ancient masks that pack some mysterious powers. There’s an uber-rich “techno-visionary” trying to hunt the relics down too, so no prizes for guessing who the goodies and baddies are in this situation.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Be All-Madden in Madden NFL 26

We’re honoring Coach John Madden’s legacy with all-new content across game modes in the November 19 title update of Madden NFL 26. From leading your team the way Coach would, to celebrating the latest All-Madden team that represents his ideal player, there’s something for every player during All-Madden.

Throughout Madden NFL 26 we’re infusing Coach Madden from the booth to the turf with new commentary lines speaking everything from John Madden’s Thanksgiving to his impact on NFL players, franchises, and fans. We’ve also added Team Select SFX that include samples from John Madden.

All-Madden Legacy Game

Speaking of, check out the full All-Madden team reveal, then jump into the All-Madden Legacy Game in Kick Off to play with and against iconic legends and NFL superstars in the historic Oakland Coliseum. Not only will you hear the Madden NFL 06 theme song in the pregame flow, you’ll also get original John Madden commentary for some of the featured All-Madden Team players like LaDainian Tomlinson. And when the final whistle blows? Celebrate victory the way Coach would’ve wanted – with a postgame Turducken celebration!

All-Madden Team

Watch our social channels and website for the full reveal, but here are some of the Legends and current Superstars from this year’s All-Madden rosters.

Legends: Peyton Manning, Deion Sanders, Rob Gronkowski, Jason Kelce, JJ Watt, LaDainian Tomlinson
Superstars: TJ Watt, Justin Jefferson, Maxx Crosby, Baker Mayfield, Saquon Barkley, Quentin Nelson

Playbooks

Play football the way John Madden designed it with his legendary playbook on both sides of the ball, available to use across Madden NFL 26 game modes. Each is crafted around Coach Madden’s signature style, including several plays recreated from the original John Madden Football game.

Franchise

In Franchise, lead with Coach’s iconic style and philosophy with multiple options. Play as John Madden himself by choosing the Las Vegas Raiders, then select a unique Coach Tile and lead your team on a quest to bring another Super Bowl trophy home to the Silver and Black.

You can also take another direction and lead your Franchise with a new Coach Archetype: Master Motivator. Inspired by Coach’s unmatched passion and leadership, this archetype features 7 new abilities, 2 unique playsheets, and the 2 all-new playbooks. 

New abilities: 

  • Boom! Run It Right at ’Em 
  • Make ’Em Cover It All
  • Win With Four
  • Jam ’Em Up, 
  • Teach ’Em Up, 
  • All-Madden Effort
  • Find the Right Guy

New playsheets: 

  • Old-School Football 
  • Hit ’Em at the Line

Superstar

It’s time for your Superstar to step into Coach’s world with brand-new storylines, including a Quest line with an XP Boost reward and John Madden-themed Team Pass.

Ultimate Team

Finally, build a dream team worthy of Coach and chase greatness in Ultimate Team. Get a John Madden Champion player item for your offensive line, check out new player items for All-Madden Legends and current NFL superstars, and complete Challenges that relive key moments from Coach’s career.

This is dedicated to the man who helped define football for generations of players and fans. From his unmistakable voice to his unmatched football wisdom, our John Madden update is a tribute to the coach, the commentator, and the legend whose name lives on every Sunday. Be All-Madden and jump into Madden NFL 26 today and honor the legendary Coach that started it all.

Nier Creator Yoko Taro Is Still Working on Games, They Just Keep Getting Canceled

Yoko Taro, the creator of the Nier and Drakenguard games, has been awfully quiet lately. Though he’s worked on some smaller projects (writing scenarios for Voice of Cards, and a few mobile games), the lack of a proper Nier follow-up or other new major game from him has been getting under fans’ skin. But according to Taro, he has been working on projects. They just keep getting canceled.

This comes from his remarks at Korean gaming convention G-Con 2025, which were reported on by 4gamer and translated by Automaton. The panel, which featured Taro and Bayonetta and Okami director Hideki Kamiya, saw the pair asked for updates on recent projects. Kamiya mentioned the upcoming sequel to Okami, while Taro said he’d been very busy with new projects, they just keep getting canceled partway through.

“I often get told stuff like ‘Why aren’t you making a new sequel to NieR’ or ‘Yoko Taro isn’t doing anything,’ but that’s because recently, a lot of projects I was involved in got discontinued midway through development,” he said.

“I’ve actually been working on some stuff, it’s just that it never ended up seeing the light of day. I got paid for it, so I personally have no issues with that, but people seem to think that I haven’t been doing anything just because none of the work I’ve done is being released.”

However, Taro isn’t discouraged by this, apparently. He continued, saying he’d rather fail repeatedly and eventually create something good, rather than put out multiple mediocre works. “I believe that if I’m going to release something weird, I’d be better off not releasing anything at all.”

So, potentially not *great* news for Nier fans who were hoping another Nier game was right around the corner. Especially since Nier: Reincarnation, which was effectively a sequel to Nier: Automata, is still completely unplayable by virtue of being a mobile gacha game that’s since been taken offline with seemingly no plans to rerelease.

So good luck to Taro, hopefully we see a new project from him that makes it to release sooner rather than later.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images.

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.

EA and Codemasters are skipping a year with their F1 games, right as the sport gets some big rule changes

There’s a bit more excitement than usual, even among veteran car-watchers like me, for next year’s F1 season. You see, the series is bringing in some new rules governing what its cars will look like and how they’ll perform, meaning there’s more potential on paper for serious changes to the established pecking order. Given that, I’m a bit unsure how to feel about EA and Codemasters having announced they’re not making an F1 26, instead skipping ahead to 2027 with a DLC to fill the gap.

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Guild Wars Reforged, a free 20th anniversary revamp of the original Guild Wars, arrives this December

Guild Wars Reforged, a big update to 2005 MMORPG Guild Wars that’s designed to make it a lot more convenient to play on modern hardware, is set to hit Steam on December 3rd. Steam Deck verification, modern controller support, and an interface revamp are among the tweaks developers ArenaNet and 2weeks have made, with the possibility of further “improvements” down the road being teased.

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Dragon Quest HD-2D Remakes Are Discounted Ahead of Black Friday

Ahead of the Black Friday sale event next week, there have been some excellent video game deals already popping up across various retailers.

If you’re using this opportunity to stock up your library with some new picks to play over the holidays, we’ve come across plenty of discounts worth your time and money.

At the moment, Amazon is offering very nice deals on Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake for Nintendo Switch 2 (which has dropped to $49.99) and Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake for Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X (all down to $34.99).

If these games have been on your shopping list, now is a great time to grab them.

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake usually retails with a price tag of $59.99, but this discount has dropped it down 17% so you can save $10 on it. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, on the other hand, is down a whopping 42% from its $59.99 price, which is a very nice deal for those who have been wanting to pick it up.

Both of these received very high praise from us with glowing 9/10 scores in their respective reviews. IGN’s Logan Plant said Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake “is a shining example of how to remake a classic RPG and a brilliant reminder of why the original is an essential work,” while writer George Yang said of the Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake that it recaptures “the retro magic of the originals while giving them a modern facelift.”

If you’re wondering what video game deals are still to come as we get closer to Black Friday, check out our breakdowns of what deals we expect to see this year from PS5 and Xbox to see some of our predictions for the sale event. And for Switch users, Nintendo has already announced its Black Friday sale so you can see what deals the company has planned this year.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.

Feature: “It Wouldn’t Be A Game-Key” – Broken Sword Dev On Potential Switch 2 Cart Release & Lobbying Nintendo For Dev Kits

“They were very courteous”.

Earlier this week, we got the news that Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars was being ‘reforged’ once again, into a new Switch 2 Edition this time.

Huzzah, we thought, as we pondered who would be the best person to talk to about the 1996 point-and-click adventure making its way to Nintendo’s latest hybrid. The answer, of course, is Charles Cecil MBE, the co-founder of Revolution Software, and someone who has worked on the series from its very inception right up to the present day.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Go Big with The SpongeBob Movie Limited Edition Xbox Controllers

Go Big with The SpongeBob Movie Limited Edition Xbox Controllers

  • Jessica Domain & Ann Orlando FairesProduct Marketing, Xbox Accessories

SpongeBob controller hero image

Arrrrre you ready?! Dive into a bubble-blowin’ adventure with SpongeBob as he makes his biggest splash ever with ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’ Xbox controllers – and see the new movie, only in cinemas!

Introducing the all-new Xbox Wireless Controller – The SpongeBob Movie Limited Edition and Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 – The SpongeBob Movie Limited Edition.

Whether you’re exploring Bikini Bottom or Davy Jones’ locker, ready your gear for any adventure that comes your way. This collection celebrates the latest chapter in SpongeBob’s story, featuring his iconic smile adorning the official The SpongeBob Movie Limited Edition top case and side cap design. X marks the spot, so kick off the journey by pressing the Xbox button and go where no Sponge has gone before.

The Xbox Wireless Controller – The SpongeBob Movie Limited Edition is available now, for a limited time, at the Microsoft Store. Looking to create your own unique design with endless customization and upgrade options? Both The SpongeBob Movie Limited Edition Xbox Wireless Controller and Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 are available now with Xbox Design Lab.

Hold onto your SquarePants and play with ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’ Limited Edition controllers. Keep an eye out for marine mysteries with the ABXY buttons. Find your way with bright yellow thumbsticks and an orange D-pad. Take on the depths of the deep sea with metallic blue triggers.

Create your own unique design for this Xbox Wireless Controller with Xbox Design Lab – with near-endless customization options to help you play your way. Whether you want to showcase your inner goofy goober, or a vibrant ocean aesthetic, choose from a variety of button styles curated for your movie-themed color scheme. Add more of your style with upgrades like metallic triggers and D-pads, rubberized side and back grips, and even include an engraving for a personalized touch.

The Elite Series 2 version of this design comes with all the features you’ve come to love from our best-in-class controllers, including adjustable-tension thumbsticks, wrap-around rubberized grip, and shorter hair trigger lock for even more precise gameplay. For even greater customization, you can add back paddles for enhanced input control and near-limitless customization with exclusive button mapping options in the Xbox accessories app.

Bring your SpongeBob Movie aesthetic even deeperwith the 3.5mm jack, connect any compatible headset to experience sound that no Sponge has heard before. And just like SpongeBob bounces from one adventure to the next, the controller’s dynamic features ensure you’re always ready for whatever master plan an evil villain throws your way! Jam like a jellyfish and head over to Xbox Design Lab today to design yours.

These controllers are available today, exclusively here.

SpongeBob and his Bikini Bottom friends set sail in their biggest, all-new, can’t-miss cinematic event – ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’. Desperate to be a big guy, SpongeBob sets out to prove his bravery to Mr. Krabs by following The Flying Dutchman – a mysterious swashbuckling ghost pirate – on a seafaring comedy-adventure that takes him to the deepest depths of the deep sea, where no Sponge has gone before. Only in cinemas!

The post Go Big with The SpongeBob Movie Limited Edition Xbox Controllers appeared first on Xbox Wire.