Category: Video Games

Rockstar owner Take-Two Interactive is suing online marketplace PlayerAuctions, alleging it contains “thousands of listings for unauthorized, infringing GTA V content – including heavily modified player accounts, in-game assets, and virtual currency – all gained by using hacking software, cheats, and technical exploits.”

The lawsuit was filed last week in the U.S. Central District Court of California against the Chinese company that owns the website, Paiao Network Technology. It accuses PlayerAuctions of operating “with full knowledge that its sellers are engaged in rampant infringement and other unauthorized conduct,” while it “reaps millions in revenue by taking a cut of every transaction on its marketplace.”

Specifically, Take-Two alleges that PlayerAuctions hosts listings of modded accounts that have been manipulated to give high game levels and in-game currency, or to unlock content normally unlocked through playing or purchases. Take-Two also claims PlayerAuctions sells money drop services that work using hacking software to give purchasing players large amounts of in-game money, and account boosting services where sellers use hacking software or glitches to inflate a purchasing player’s in-game level or currency total.

Take-Two further argues that PlayerAuctions goes out of its way to “lull its users into buying illegitimate GTA V content from its sellers” by offering refunds if the hacked accounts purchased are caught and banned post-purchase. According to the complaint, Take-Two has “repeatedly confronted PlayerAuctions with evidence of infringement” and has issued a cease and desist, but PlayerAuction has refused to shut down these listings.

The GTA publisher is claiming relief for multiple different types and levels of copyright infringement, as well as intentional interference with contract. Take-Two is seeking a permanent enjoinment on PlayerAuctions from continuing to directly or indirectly sell accounts, currency, or items in any Take-Two game, or participating in or assisting hacking efforts, or infringing the GTA trademarks. It’s also seeing damages for trademark infringement, costs and attorney fees, damages, and restitution.

Take-Two isn’t the only company going after PlayerAuctions. Early last month, Roblox filed a similar suit in the Northern District of California Court covering roughly the same accusations, attempts at a cease and desist, claims, and prayer for relief. Notably, PlayerAuctions offers similar sales and services across many other games, including World of Warcraft, Genshin Impact, Valorant, Path of Exile, Final Fantasy 14, Call of Duty, and Fortnite. In total, PlayerAuctions claims to sell various boosts, items, and benefits for over 200 games.

While the Take-Two suit is still early in the process, the Roblox case has its first hearing set for March 20 in Oakland, California, where Roblox is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop PlayerAuctions from selling Roblox-related products and services while the case proceeds.

The lawsuit comes ahead of the fall 2025 launch of GTA 6, which Take-Two recently reaffirmed. The hope is of course that any new version of GTA Online that launches alongside GTA 6 will be as free from cheaters as is possible, and the lawsuit may go some way to helping.

We’ve got plenty more on GTA 6, including Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick’s response to concern about the fate of GTA Online once GTA 6 comes out.

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.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach’s latest trailer revealed a bevy of new information, including one particular casting that’s caused quite a stir thanks to the character’s distinctly Solid Snake-esque vibes. As it turns out, casting this character went a bit further, as director Hideo Kojima tried to find someone who could surpass a standout from the first Death Stranding.

On X/Twitter, Kojima wrote a lengthy post about the process of casting Italian actor Luca Marinelli to play Neil in Death Stranding 2. “During the pandemic, I was casting for DS2,” Kojima said. “Neil would be an important role that replaces Cliff from DS1. The fans would not be satisfied unless the casting would surpass Mads.”

Kojima first learned of Marinelli through his role in the Italian film They Call Me Jeeg, and a correspondence sprung up around the Japanese distribution of the film Martin Eden. Marinelli sent an email to Kojima, which read: “I grew up with Metal Gear. I am a big fan of yours. I am very honored that you saw the film I starred in. I wanted to tell you this directly.”

After seeing Marinelli in The Old Guard, Kojima sent the actor an email offer and talked with him after the actor wrapped filming The Eight Mountains. Once pitched, Marinelli agreed and, after learning Kojima was looking for someone to play Lucy, introduced the game director to his wife Alissa Jung.

“We did their scan and pcap [performance capture] during the height of the pandemic, but their on-set performance was excellent,” Kojima said. “You can see that in the digitized results from even the small bits of the trailer. I can only thank Luca and Alissa for agreeing to perform when we didn’t even have a script yet.”

Marinelli’s character, Neil, has been one of the breakout reveals from the latest Death Stranding 2 trailer. At its conclusion, we see Neil don a bandanna in the same way Solid Snake would in Metal Gear Solid, before directing a squad of soldiers in the same manner as Cliff in the first Death Stranding.

The casting has clearly been on Kojima’s mind for some time, as has the imagery of Luca donning the bandana. Back in 2020, Kojima talked about how Marinelli had caught his attention, adding: “I think if he donned a bandanna, he’d be a spitting image of Solid Snake!”

While it’s unlikely Neil is some multiversal Snake, the imagery certainly brings to mind Kojima’s legacy with the Metal Gear franchise. Hopefully, he’s picked the right man for the job. For more, check out IGN’s feature, Who Is Kojima’s New ‘Solid Snake’ and Why Death Stranding 2 Looks Like the Closest We’ll Ever Get to Another Metal Gear Solid.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is set to launch on June 26, 2025 exclusively on PlayStation 5.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Monster Hunter Wilds has emerged as one of the most popular games of the year thus far, setting records for both the series and Capcom. The reason for its popularity, according to series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, comes down to story, immersion, and cross-play.

Tsujimoto spoke to The Nikkei (via Automaton) about Monster Hunter Wilds. According to the producer, the biggest factors that influenced the new Monster Hunter’s popularity are an emphasis on story, heightened immersion (citing Wilds being fully voiced), and cross-play.

It might sound a bit strange, but Monster Hunter Wilds does have a surprising interest in the story and “why” behind all of the monster hunting. Alongside the obvious points like cutscenes and a sizeable cast of characters, the low-rank section of the campaign moves along at quite a pace.

In IGN’s review of Monster Hunter Wilds, we noted as much. While the trek to the first credits roll is a little short than you might normally expect, the intent felt like a desire to have more players get through the campaign and see higher-end content.

It might be working, if player numbers are anything to go by. Capcom confirmed that Monster Hunter Wilds surpassed 8 million units sold in three days to become the fastest-selling Capcom game of all time. At launch, Monster Hunter Wilds was charting over 1 million concurrent players on Steam, and helped Valve’s storefront to crack the 40 million concurrent players mark.

Monster Hunter Wilds is due for its first big post-launch update in early April. Title Update 1 will add a monster of “formidable strength at a level above Temprered,” as well as an endgame area to gather. Though there have already been patches for Monster Hunter Wilds, they’ve mostly been addressing bugs and immediate issues.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Despite requiring players to sign NDAs to prevent details of EA’s upcoming untitled Battlefield game leaking online, it leaked online anyway, with dozens of video and screenshots popping up, showing off what players participating in the game’s closed playtesting have been up to.

As we reported when the leaks surfaced, the footage seems to confirm the “modern” setting previously teased by Vince Zampella, distinguishing it from other Battlefield games. A quick scroll through the Battlefield subreddit gives us plenty of firefights, as well as a taste of the game’s destructible environments and a handful of new mechanics, including the ability to hang off vehicles and dragging wounded teammates out of harm’s way.

Perhaps most surprising of all, however, is EA is seemingly doing very little to combat the leaks.

Most publishers are fiercely protective of leaked early footage as pre-release gameplay can feature incomplete animations, unfinished UI, and less-than-stellar graphics. This time, however — despite the fact players are breaking confidentiality agreements by uploading videos or screenshots — EA has yet to issue takedowns.

Perhaps that’s because, unlike Battlefield 2042’s lukewarm reception, fans seem pretty pleased with what they’ve seen so far.

“I am scared to say that but this game is shaping up very damn well. I hope there are no catches…” said one player, with another adding: “The animations of the weapons moving around while running / doing anything look better than 2042 to me.”

“Dude, even in a pre-alpha state, the explosions, bullets, and projectiles whizzing by, buildings crumbling down, dust kicking up. This has so much potential!” exclaimed another happy player.

“I can’t get over how good the sounds and the destruction look at alpha,” opined someone else.

EA expects its next Battlefield game to launch in the fiscal year 2026, which means we’ll see it released sometime between April 2025 and March 2026. From our first official unveiling just last month, we now know the new Battlefield will include the return of a traditional, single-player, linear campaign, which has been welcome news to players disappointed it was excluded in the multiplayer Battlefield 2042.

Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.