Category: Video Games

Astro Bot’s free post-launch speedrun levels kick off tomorrow, October 17, with a new one released every week.

Five new levels each with two new Special Bots to rescue begin rolling out from tomorrow with the release of the Building Speed level, Team Asobi studio director Nicolas Doucet said in a post on the PlayStation Blog.

“These levels will test your platforming skills and alongside an online leaderboard, will give you the chance to compete against all your PlayStation friends,” Doucet said.

EA has pulled Plants vs. Zombies 3 offline for what it called a “major overhaul” as it works to once again improve the game before a worldwide launch.

In a blog post, EA said in-app purchases are no longer available and the game is no longer available to download. November 15, 2024 is the final day to play. After that, the servers go offline and Plants vs. Zombies 3 will be inaccessible in all territories.

Any earned or purchased coin balances as of November 15, 2024 will be saved as long as you’ve connected your account through Google Play, Apple ID, or your EA Account. Boosts, game progress (including levels and unlocked units), and narrative will all be reset.

Plants vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia is a 2024 free-to-play tower defense mobile game developed by EA-owned PopCap Games and published by EA on iPhone and Android in January this year. That followed a soft launch in select regions in 2020, a re-work and subsequent re-launch in April 2022, then another soft-launch in October 2022. A worldwide launch was then planned for later in 2024, but clearly PopCap is still working to get to the root of the game’s issues.

EA said it’s now “excited to re-tool” the game and “bring you an even better PvZ3 experience soon.”

“We’ve been grateful for your enthusiasm and feedback during our soft launch,” EA said. “We’ve always had love for our plants, and yes, even our zombies, and it has been a joy bringing life to Dave, his niece, Patrice, Nate, and many more in PvZ3. It’s clear that we’re onto something great and following the recent releases of Choose Your Seeds and the manual activation of Grapes of Wrath, we want to go even further to make the game truly special.

“That’s why we’re taking the game offline for a major overhaul, and we can’t wait to share what’s taking root!”

The Plants vs. Zombies franchise has suffered a difficult time in recent years, with various spin-offs failing to replicate the phenomenal popularity of the first two games. Fans often call on EA to release a third game in the third-person shooter spin-off series Garden Warfare, which has been dormant since the release of Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville in 2019.

A canceled single-player Plants vs. Zombies game had been in the works within EA from about 2015 to 2017. Read all about what happened to that in a special IGN investigation.

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.

EA Sports has released a significant balance update for FC 25 addressing some of the key issues with the game.

Since FC 25 launched last month, players have complained about a number of gameplay issues that have made competitive play frustrating, including overpowered Trivelas (shots taken with the outside of the foot) and a much-maligned five at the back formation that was incredibly difficult to break down.

Title Update 3, which is rolling out now across all platforms, addresses those concerns with sweeping balance changes to many aspects of gameplay.

The accuracy of Trivelas, for example, is “greatly reduced,” and the width of the defensive line for five defender formations is “greatly increased,” which will hopefully open up space. Meanwhile, first-time lobbed through passes are nerfed, as are driven passes.

There’s a general boost to attacking play, too, with attacking runs for AI players in certain roles given a shot in the arm among other tweaks. This will hopefully make attacking more effective in-game. Those annoying offsides should hopefully calm down, too, with improved AI player recognition of offside situations.

Elsewhere, there are fixes for various bugs and improved referee decision making when calling for fouls and penalty kicks. FC 25’s refs had become the focus of ridicule for failing to give obvious penalties in-game.

Last week, EA Sports issued FC 25‘s first live tuning update, which patched out an exploit that was ruining competitive play. Live tuning lets EA Sports roll out some changes without requiring a full title update like today’s. The developer said it can make tuning changes “faster and with more frequency while working on the balance of the game.”

Wondering what’s changed in FC 25? Here’s a list of everything new – we’ve also got the Best EA FC 25 Tactics Codes to help you prepare your game plan, plus a breakdown of every Skill Move in FC 25 and how to perform them.

EA Sports FC 25 Title Update 3 patch notes:

Gameplay

Made the following changes:

• Reduced accuracy of First Time Lobbed Through Passes including when performed at extreme angles.
  • This change is most noticeable for players with high passing Attributes.
• Greatly reduced potential accuracy of Trivelas.
• Greatly increased width of the defensive line for 5 defender formations.
• Reduced potential accuracy of Driven Passes.
• Increased the frequency of attacking runs for AI players in the following roles: Shadow Striker, Inside Forward Attack, Inside Forward Roaming, Wide Playmaker Attack, and Wingbacks in scenarios with open space ahead of them.
• Improved AI player decision making when considering diagonal runs into open space, and when considering runs into nearby open space.
• Improved accuracy of shots taken in situations where the player is not being pressured and generally has a clear line of sight on goal, including 1 on 1 situations and open goals.
• Improved AI Center Back decision making when attempting to provide a safe option for a pass.
• Improved AI player recognition of offside situations.
• The CPU AI will look to further prioritize passing during build up play instead of dribbling.
• Reduced the speed of some slide tackling animations.
• Slightly increased clearance accuracy.
• Reduced Ground Pass and Through Pass ball velocity in wet weather.

Addressed the following issues:

• During some long distance shots and corners, goalkeepers faced away from the ball unintentionally.
• In some cases, defenders could have turned and faced away from the ball instead of trying to intercept a pass.
• Right Wing Inside Forward AI players did not always position themselves as intended.
• Improved referee decision making when calling for fouls and penalty kicks.
• During a match, Half Wingers could not have changed sides when swapped with their counterparts in Team Management.
• Players could have sometimes lost the ball too easily when making physical contact during a Skill Move.
• In some scenarios goalkeepers were attempting to punch or deflect the ball instead of catching it.
• Some passes could have resulted in the ball traveling faster than intended.
• The CPU AI incorrectly ignored certain Skill Moves and did not perform them.
• When remaining in control of the ball after a tackle attempt by the defender, a requested Lob Pass could have taken longer to execute than intended.
• Some passes could have been more accurate than intended.
• Improved animations that can occur when performing short passes.
• In rare scenarios, the user could have lost control of a player receiving a pass.
• During Set Pieces, an incorrect off the ball player animation could have occurred.
• Goalkeepers could have sometimes unintentionally dived the wrong way when attempting to make a save.
• In some dribbling situations, the CPU AI did not attempt to challenge for the ball against a user controller player.
• In rare cases, goalkeepers could have gotten stuck around their goal posts when attempting to make a save.
• Sometimes, automatic clearance animations were occurring outside of intended heading and goal line clearance situations.
• The CPU Slider for Skill Moves previously only applied to Legendary difficulty.
• Improved goalkeeper animations when dribbling with the ball.
• The ball could have passed through a goalkeeper in some rare scenarios.
• In some rare situations, players’ feet could have gotten stuck around goal posts instead of attempting to hit the ball.
• During Rush penalties, the goalkeeper could have sometimes moved off the line and gotten stuck.
• During Rush corners, players could have incorrectly positioned and continuously readjusted themselves until the corner was taken.
• In certain scenarios, the opposing goalkeeper could have been controlled during set pieces by all players in a match.
• During penalty kicks, players outside of the box did not always perform the correct idle animations.
• When a Free Kick timed out, sometimes the automatic action could have resulted in a pass instead of an inaccurate shot.
• Players could have run up directly to the set piece taker in some scenarios, ignoring the minimum distance they must keep.
• Sometimes, sliding or falling shot animations could have occurred unintentionally.
• In some cases, defenders going to ground could have applied more pressure to the ball carrier than intended.
• Addressed instances of player switching not functioning as intended.

Ultimate Team

Addressed the following issues:

• Attribute upgrades were not showing in the Player Bio when using an upgraded Evolution Item in another Evolution.
• A stability issue could have occurred when claiming Season Pass, Objective, and Milestone Rewards.
• After creating a Squad in Single Player Ultimate Draft, new tactics could not be created on the team management screen.
• Loan Player Items in Seasonal Objectives were showing as having 0 contracts, this was a visual issue only.
• Sometimes, the Objective notification would still be present even if all Objectives were claimed.
• A stability issue could have occurred after swapping players and then making tactical changes in Ultimate Draft.
• If a player forfeited a Rush match, they were not able to party up with their original group again with a new invite.
• In rare situations, a Player Bio can be displayed after returning after Pack Preview.
• After completing the onboarding in Ultimate Team, Learn and Upgrade was sending players to the FC Hub.
• Stadium Items set to active on the New Items screen were not applied.
• A Season Pass screen could have displayed when an Objective reward was claimed.
• Sometimes, the match result was displayed when waiting in the match lobby.
• In Evolutions, Role rewards did not display + or ++ symbols.
• Some Stadium Items were showing a placeholder image on the Item.
• In some circumstances, it was not possible to navigate to the SBC Storage.
• Addressed instances of players not being able to preview rewards in the Season Pass.
• Player profiles could overlap with Club Badges in the Rush lobby.
• Sometimes, a Custom Tactics share code could have disappeared.
• A player could have been assigned more than one Corner Kick Instruction.
• Sometimes, a Goalkeeper could have come up for a corner kick unintentionally.
• Addressed instances of stability issues when navigating SBCs.

Clubs

Addressed the following issues:

• In a rare scenario, an incorrect match result was shown when the opposing team left the match.
• Drop-in matches didn’t proceed to penalties if Golden Goal Extra Time ended in a draw.
• CAM Avatars could have been placed in incorrect positions when selecting the Any option in some cases.
• The Captain was not always able to interact with Quick Tactics.
• Highlights in Rush displayed an incorrect time format.
• After getting a Match Rating of 10 in Rush, it was not possible for it to decrease during the match.
• Addressed a stability issue when using the Reset Tactic option.
• In Rush, the pop-up message to join the team voice channel did not always display.
• In certain situations, a Waiting for Clubmates message would display at the end of a match.

Career Mode

Made the following changes:

• The Simulation gameplay preset is now the default for new Career Mode saves.
• Added multiple settings when creating a new Career Mode save, including the ability to disable Club Growth Board Objectives.

Addressed the following issues:

• Improved Growth Plan logic for secondary positions in Manager Career.
• Addressed instances of social media posts not displaying as intended.
• Youth Academy goalkeepers had lower Diving Attributes than intended.
• Addressed an instance of conversations interrupting Calendar time advancement.
• Youth Academy surnames could have repeated too often.
• Sometimes in Manager Career, the Player of the Month award was not present.
• In Player Career, created Players were not always displaying correctly.
• Addressed instances of incorrect camera angles.
• Addressed instances of Manager customization not displaying as intended.
• In some cases, the Transfer tab could have been inactive.
• Improved some UI transitions.
• A stability issue could have occurred when firing a Scout.
• Improved social media comment context.
• The audio for goal sounds could play at inconsistent volumes.
• Updated Youth Academy player body types.
• Addressed visual issues when customizing players.
• Addressed an instance of an incorrect task present in Women’s Player Career.
• Addressed instances of Team Sheets not functioning as intended.

General, Audio, and Visual

Made the following changes:

• Updated some art and UI elements, balls, badges, placeholder text, QR codes, kits, accessibility settings, stadia, audio and commentary, crowds, star heads, camera angles, and visual effects.

Addressed the following issues:

• Sideline players and staff did not always react to shots as intended.
• During Tournament matches, an NPC could have appeared standing in the middle of the pitch.
• Adjusted the timing window for Suggested Tactic pop ups in game.
• Addressed instances of incorrect lighting.
• Sometimes after using the Rewind functionality, the EA connect widget can appear during gameplay
• When connecting online in Kick Off, Main Menu settings could have overwritten Kick Off settings.
• Some Tactical Suggestions did not display the Substitutions option.
• In Kick Off some player roles were not highlighted when playing them in their preferred position.
• Addressed instances of UI not displaying or functioning as intended.
• In Learn To Play Rush, the game could have started on a full-size pitch.
• [Xbox Only] The Online Seasons Leaderboard did not update correctly.
• In Kick Off, the CDM role was not shown as an option in some formations.
• When switching the player role from Goalkeeper to an outfield position in the create Avatar screen, the option to change gloves was not available.
• The Lob Pass Skill Game did not always calculate scoring correctly.

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.

XDefiant, Ubisoft’s free-to-play Call of duty rival, has missed the publisher’s expectations since launching in May — that much CEO Yves Guillemot admitted during a recent financial call. But are there plans to shut the game down? Not so, its chief developer has insisted.

Rumors began circulating this week that support for XDefiant could come to an end after Season 4, which closes out XDefiant’s Year 1 roadmap, if its player count failed to improve. Ubisoft has yet to announce player numbers or revenue figures for XDefiant, with Guillemot promising to say more at the end of October.

Now, XDefiant executive producer Mark Rubin, who works at Ubisoft’s San Francisco development studio, has responded to those rumors, insisting the company does not plan to shut the game down after Season 4.

However, in-line with Guillemot’s comments, Rubin — who was an executive producer on Call of Duty before making the switch to Ubisoft — admitted player numbers are down. This, Rubin said, was because Ubisoft has done “very little marketing” as it works to improve the game. Once XDefiant is in “a better place”, the marketing push will begin, Rubin said.

“To be crystal clear there are NO plans to shut down after Season 4,” Rubin tweeted. “I’ve literally been in meetings as of last week to discuss our Year 2 plans. But, right now we are super focused on improving the technical experience (which includes netcode) and adding more content for Seasons 3 & 4.

“We have done very little marketing so yes our numbers are down but that is just to give the team the time to get the game in a better place before we do bigger spends on marketing to bring new players to the game and to bring back players that have left.”

XDefiant launched into the brutal live service shooter market at a time when it had already claimed a number of high-profile victims. Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League flopped to the tune of $200 million after Starbreeze’s Payday 3 suffered a disastrous launch last year. Since then, things have only got more difficult, with Sony’s Concord going down as one of the biggest PlayStation disasters of all time.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft has endured an awful year with the aforementioned disappointing return from XDefiant and, most recently, Star Wars Outlaws. It delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows into 2025 following poor sales of Outlaws, and its staff in France are currently on strike.

In its recent note to investors, Guillemot acknowledged that the company’s “second quarter fell short of expectations” and vowed to launch “a review aimed at further improving our execution.” He also addressed some of the cultural conversations happening around the company lately, which have intensified around Star Wars Outlaws and the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Things have got so bad at Ubisoft that its founding Guillemot family and shareholder Tencent are reportedly considering teaming up to take the company private following the collapse of its share price.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft has ditched Epic Games Store timed exclusivity for its PC games and gone back to day-one launches on Steam, a move clearly designed to boost flagging sales of its games. Ubisoft has yet to announce a Steam launch for XDefiant, but it feels like a certainty at this point.

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.

XDefiant, Ubisoft’s free-to-play Call of duty rival, has missed the publisher’s expectations since launching in May — that much CEO Yves Guillemot admitted during a recent financial call. But are there plans to shut the game down? Not so, its chief developer has insisted.

Rumors began circulating this week that support for XDefiant could come to an end after Season 4, which closes out XDefiant’s Year 1 roadmap, if its player count failed to improve. Ubisoft has yet to announce player numbers or revenue figures for XDefiant, with Guillemot promising to say more at the end of October.

Now, XDefiant executive producer Mark Rubin, who works at Ubisoft’s San Francisco development studio, has responded to those rumors, insisting the company does not plan to shut the game down after Season 4.

However, in-line with Guillemot’s comments, Rubin — who was an executive producer on Call of Duty before making the switch to Ubisoft — admitted player numbers are down. This, Rubin said, was because Ubisoft has done “very little marketing” as it works to improve the game. Once XDefiant is in “a better place”, the marketing push will begin, Rubin said.

“To be crystal clear there are NO plans to shut down after Season 4,” Rubin tweeted. “I’ve literally been in meetings as of last week to discuss our Year 2 plans. But, right now we are super focused on improving the technical experience (which includes netcode) and adding more content for Seasons 3 & 4.

“We have done very little marketing so yes our numbers are down but that is just to give the team the time to get the game in a better place before we do bigger spends on marketing to bring new players to the game and to bring back players that have left.”

XDefiant launched into the brutal live service shooter market at a time when it had already claimed a number of high-profile victims. Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League flopped to the tune of $200 million after Starbreeze’s Payday 3 suffered a disastrous launch last year. Since then, things have only got more difficult, with Sony’s Concord going down as one of the biggest PlayStation disasters of all time.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft has endured an awful year with the aforementioned disappointing return from XDefiant and, most recently, Star Wars Outlaws. It delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows into 2025 following poor sales of Outlaws, and its staff in France are currently on strike.

In its recent note to investors, Guillemot acknowledged that the company’s “second quarter fell short of expectations” and vowed to launch “a review aimed at further improving our execution.” He also addressed some of the cultural conversations happening around the company lately, which have intensified around Star Wars Outlaws and the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Things have got so bad at Ubisoft that its founding Guillemot family and shareholder Tencent are reportedly considering teaming up to take the company private following the collapse of its share price.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft has ditched Epic Games Store timed exclusivity for its PC games and gone back to day-one launches on Steam, a move clearly designed to boost flagging sales of its games. Ubisoft has yet to announce a Steam launch for XDefiant, but it feels like a certainty at this point.

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.