Remember Marathon? It’s Destiny developer Bungie’s next game, and it looks like we’re about to finally see more of it.
Marathon is a PvP-focused extraction shooter set on the mysterious planet of Tau Ceti IV. Players inhabit the bodies of Runners, cybernetic mercenaries who have been designed to survive the planet’s harsh environments, exploring the lost colony that once inhabited Tau Ceti’s surface.
Now, though, half a year later, it looks like Bungie is finally ready to reveal what it’s been working on. A tweet from the official Marathon account, below, revealed a typically cryptic image and accompanying garbled signal noise. As fans have noticed, there’s ASCII art of footage from the debut Marathon trailer. Given this is Bungie we’re talking about, a developer known for its mysterious teasers, hidden clues, and Easter eggs, there’s probably much more here to discover, and fans are already working to find out what it all means.
Either way, it very much looks like it’s finally happening for Marathon after what has been a troubled development.
While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 was a breakout hit, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, Sony’s other live service games were either canceled or suffered disastrous launches.
Indeed, Sony’s Concord is one of the biggest video game disasters in PlayStation history, lasting just a couple of weeks before it was brought offline amid eye-wateringly low player numbers. Sony later decided to kill the game entirely and shut its developer.
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.
Bungie have broken a silence surrounding their upcoming extraction shooter Marathon to tweet a short video full of cryptic symbols. It’s proven hard for fans to decrypt so far, but the developers have since followed up with a few more teasey posts, including one that certainly reads like a notice to fans that more information on the game will be revealed soon. “The signal is coming. The truth is coming,” says a line of plain text in the marketing spritz. “Are you ready?”
The first big title update for Monster Hunter Wilds is upon us like a large, iridescent squirrel dragon covered in bubbles, and when I say a large, iridescent squirrel dragon covered in bubbles I am, of course, referring to the Mizutsune – a new Wilds monster last seen in Monster Hunter Rise.
It and a new, high rank version of the Zoh Shia are the title update’s headline additions. But it’s not all monster hunting. There’s also a new social area, the Grand Hub, wherein you can hang with your mates, bowl exploding barrels and do some arm-wrestling. With your mates, I assume. The changelog just says “Arm Wrestling Barrel”. I assume you won’t be arm-wrestling a barrel.
With Mario Kart World cruising its way onto store shelves at $80, Nintendo fans who were otherwise stoked about the promise of the Nintendo Switch 2 have spent the last 24 hours balking at the prospect of doling out that many coins, even for a game they feel is a must-have.
We wrote earlier today about why Mario Kart World, as well as the Nintendo Switch 2 itself and many of its accessories, are so dang expensive. But knowing the “why” of it doesn’t really ease the pain on the wallet. What’s more, we learned just this morning that a number of Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games, including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Kirby and the Forgotten Land, will also be $80. And with the AAA game price increase from $60 to $70 still firmly within recent memory, fans are now worried that more and more games, Nintendo or otherwise, are going to start getting more and more and more expensive.
So what does the future hold? Are $80 games the new Nintendo normal?
As usual, rather than speculate ourselves, we went and found some expert analysts to tell us what they think is going to happen.
A New Nintendo Normal
NYU Stern professor and author of SuperJoost Playlist, Joost van Dreunen, believes Nintendo is using Mario Kart World as a “test case for premium pricing,” and will evaluate consumer response before applying this more broadly. Spoilers: the response hasn’t been great so far! But sentiment is not the same as sales, and Nintendo will likely measure success by how well Mario Kart World actually sells.
“If the $80 price point succeeds, Nintendo will likely extend it selectively to their most valuable franchises rather than making it standard across their first-party lineup. Franchises that could potentially justify the premium pricing include:
The Legend of Zelda – the next mainline entry following Tears of the Kingdom could command $80 given the series’ prestige and the expansive scope these games typically offer.
New 3D Mario adventures – for major releases in the vein of Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo could position these as premium products.
Super Smash Bros. – the next installment of this franchise would be a strong candidate for premium pricing due to its extensive roster and competitive staying power.
“Games that likely wouldn’t justify the premium price include smaller-scale entries, remasters, and series with more niche appeal. Nintendo will probably maintain a tiered pricing strategy, with their tent-pole franchises at $80, mid-tier releases at $60-70, and smaller titles at traditional price points.”
Rhys Elliott, games analyst at Alinea Analytics, had a similar take, pointing to the top 10 best-selling Nintendo Switch games as a guide for what we might see get an $80 price tag in the future. “I could see Nintendo pricing mainline Pokémon games, mainline Zelda games, and the inevitably imminent 3D Mario and Animal Crossing games at $80 physical (but $70 digital still).”
And James McWhirter, analyst at Omdia, added a suggested hypothetical Splatoon 4 to the list of possibilities, along with another thought on future monetization:
“For titles that do not adopt the $80 base price, Nintendo could lean in more heavily in alternative forms of monetisation, including those it has so far refrained from using, such as tying paid early access to higher value editions of its games.”
Grand Theft, Grand Price?
That covers Nintendo, but what about other games? Earlier this year, we covered a flurry of speculation on one specifically: Grand Theft Auto 6. At the time, we were responding to rumors and discussion that Take-Two might price the sequel to the over 200 million selling blockbuster at $80, $90, or even $100. Analysts suggested that the high end of this was rather unlikely, but what about now? Will Grand Theft Auto 6 cost $80… or even more?
Tiago Reis, market analyst at Newzoo, certainly thinks so. “For sure. Big hits that are highly anticipated (e.g., GTA 6, new CODs) can get away with it due to franchise recognition. Most people are not going to stop buying these games because they are $10 more expensive. If consumers are willing to wait, they can get it at a discount a couple of months after release. But by then, these companies have already extracted max value/price from the people who are less price sensitive.”
Reis’ colleague Lauren Universe, client services manager at Newzoo, added: “Frankly, I expect base GTA to be at least $80, with multiple options of various increased prices (like Civ 7) that include expansions, DLCs, and ‘early access.’”
Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games, agreed, and even expanded on who might be interested in raising prices beyond just Take-Two. “I do believe there is a chance that companies like Microsoft or Sony could feel encouraged to raise their prices now. Would you be shocked if Take-Two now thought to themselves: ‘If Nintendo can charge $80 for a Mario Kart game, we can do the same for GTA 6 – a title thousands of people have been working on for 12 years?”
Nuno Domingues Marques, also a market analyst at Newzoo, similarly brought up Sony and Microsoft as possible candidates for price hikes. “I am unsure if Sony/Xbox will wait for their next generation to make the push or if they will adjust post-Switch launch, but certainly, it seems like the way forward. Third-party publishers will jump on it as soon as they feel it is justified, which is likely ASAP. Not all exclusive games will cost $80, in my opinion though. Games like Ratchet & Clank or other smaller niche experiences are likely to keep lower price points.”
But Elliott pushed back a bit on the idea that Mario Kart World could have opened a higher pricing floodgate. He pointed out that at least in the UK and Europe (U.S. price discrepancies are still unconfirmed), Nintendo is charging more for the physical edition of Mario Kart World than digital in an effort to push more consumers toward the digital edition. But he suspects that because the other two console platforms are far more digitally-oriented than Nintendo (something he discussed in more detail in our other piece on the Switch 2 pricing), this would be a tougher sell for other publishers.
While I believe Take Two could charge over $70 for GTA 6, I maintain that it is a bad idea.
“While I believe Take Two could charge over $70 for GTA 6, I maintain that it is a bad idea for three reasons. [One,] the real cash cow is GTA Online and its recurring revenues, so limiting the total addressable audience at launch wouldn’t be smart. There’s also a cost-of-living crisis happening globally and GTA appeals to everyone – rich and less fortunate.
“[Two,] Rockstar needs to move players from GTA 5, and a higher floor for the switching cost would limit the GTA 5-to-GTA 6 player acquisition. Players not budging from GTA 5 is probably one of GTA 6’s biggest threats, one GTA hasn’t really faced before. After all, live services are mostly zero-sum in today’s oversaturated attention economy. GTA 6 isn’t just competing against competitors’ games, it’s competing with TikTok, Netflix, and even its predecessor.
“[Three,] Rockstar can easily charge $100 or more for an edition of GTA 6 with a week of early access, maybe with a shark card thrown in. Players with disposable income will pay for it. This is the best of both worlds for Take-Two. This is pretty much the norm for AAA games these days.”
Elliott concluded that even with all that in mind, GTA 6 nonetheless stands a better chance than any other game at withstanding a price hike with its consumer base intact. So ultimately, the question of GTA 6’s pricing remains an impossible one to answer up to the point where Take-Two finally announces it.
Living in Interesting Times
I’ll end on a hopeful note, though, which I got from both Mat Piscatella, analyst at Circana, and a couple of analysts at Newzoo. These folks told me that while we’re likely to keep seeing games get more expensive (and, as Piscatella points out, have already been for a while via Collector’s Editions and similar), we may also see them get cheaper in certain ways.
“Other Nintendo games will certainly follow suit,” said Brett Hunt, market analyst at Newzoo. “It could, however, open the door for Nintendo to have an adjusted discounting strategy for the Switch 2.”
Marques agreed. “Maybe we will see a bigger window of pricing as well, as seen from the Donkey Kong game. Creation of space for multiple different-sized games; games that cost $49.99, $59.99, etc., having distinct content depth and breadth expectations. I agree that maybe a new discounting strategy is coming from Nintendo.”
And as Piscatella put it, Nintendo may not be the only company that sees the need to break with $70 convention in more than just one way. “We certainly could see other publishers try and establish even higher base prices for some of their new games. But we could also see more significant price promotion and discounting as well.
“With all of the uncertainty in the market, we’re at a point where both publishers and consumers will have to figure out where things go next. These are, after all, interesting times.”
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 set to be the biggest lineup in Mario Kart history.
Mario Kart World has now been officially revealed and it’s easily on track to becoming the biggest Mario Kart game ever. This includes what looks to be an absolutely huge roster of playable racers.
Nintendo’s technical specs chart for the Switch 2 officially confirms the system is powered by a “custom processor made by Nvidia”. Now, in an update, Team Green has shared some insight – claiming the new hybrid system has “10x the graphics performance” of the original Switch.
It elaborates on the power of Nintendo’s new hardware in a blog post – explaining how the custom processor features an Nvidia GPU with “dedicated RT cores and Tensor Cores” for “stunning visuals and AI-driven enhancements”.
We were completely amused at the reveal of the Switch 2 Camera. It felt like a very Nintendo thing to couple with the new GameChat button on the Switch 2 Joy-Con, but also something that’s 20 years too late. The EyeToy and Kinect have been and gone over the past two decades with mixed results. So what will make Nintendo’s camera worth it, aside from video calls? Super Mario Party Jamboree! Nintendo Switch Edition + Jamboree TV.
This enhanced release of what we think is already the best Mario Party game ever has leaned into the daftness and stupidity of Mario Party with its new Switch 2 peripheral and the new Mouse Mode in the Joy-Con. We’re back to the microphone of Mario Party 6 days, except things work a lot better here. It’s also surprisingly really fun.
LEGO and Minecraft fit together perfectly. The popular game is all about using your imagination to build just about anything out of digital blocks, and LEGO is the ideal medium to bring that into the real world. There are already a ton of LEGO Minecraft sets out there and more are on the way. Now that A Minecraft Movie is in theaters, Amazon is offering some pretty steep discounts on older sets that are actually really cool.
Although there were some newer Minecraft Movie LEGO sets released earlier this year, none of those have gone on sale. If you’re a fan of the game itself and not just interested because of the new movie, however, the sets that are on sale are worth a look.
The Best Minecraft LEGO Sets on Sale at Amazon Today
Although there are other LEGO Minecraft deals available on Amazon, the two options we’ve featured here are the best overall savings. First there’s The Sword Outpost set, which is recognizable by the massive sword backdrop, of course. At just over $30, this is the lowest price we’ve seen on this set all year and close to the lowest-ever price on Amazon. It also comes with quite a few minifigures, including Skeleton and Creeper mobs. With only 427 pieces, it’s fairly easy to put together in an afternoon and can be easily displayed or played with once you’re done.
The second discount we’ve highlighted here is The Deep Dark Battle Set. At $44.49, this is the lowest price we’ve ever seen on this LEGO Minecraft set. This particular set takes you to the Deep Dark and offers some cool functionality for kids. There’s a knob included in the build that lets you raise and lower the Warden. The tower can also “explode” with a built-in switch. You only get two minifigures with this set, but each one comes with armor and weapons you can equip them with.
See more popular LEGO Minecraft sets
What About the Minecraft Movie LEGO Sets?
There have only been two Minecraft Movie LEGO sets released so far: The Ghast Balloon Village Attack and Woodland Mansion Fighting Ring. Both of these sets reflect specific scenes from the movie and include minifigures of the characters, including Jack Black as Steve.
I know we’re all about PC games, but none of you will mind if I reminisce about how good PS2 games were, would you? Good, because they were! And Havenhold, the debut game from the Beijing based Wolfpack Games, looks like it could quite easily be one, even if it has some modern sensibilities in places. You play as a Taichu warrior monk, fighting against other players as you all vye for the top of a special mountain, with the catch being that the game’s world completely resets every 14 days.
