Nintendo kicked off today’s September 2025 Nintendo Direct with confirmation that Illumination is back working on a new Super Mario Bros. Movie titled The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
It’s confirmation that arrives after rumours swept the internet yesterday, revealing that Nintendo will indeed be partnering up with the Minions movie studio yet again to create a movie adaptation of the classic 2007 Wii platformer. It’s slated to arrive in the U.S. April 3, 2026, and in Japan April 24, 2026, with its first trailer revealing a small amount of footage before showing off its official title and logo.
Today’s announcement also revealed some of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s cast. You can read up on everything announced during the September 2025 Nintendo Direct here.
Developing…
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer 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).
Françoise Cadol, the long-time French voice actor for Lara Croft, has reportedly launched legal action against Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered publishers Aspyr over alleged use of generative AI to replicate her voice for lines in the game. Cadol claims Aspyr didn’t contact her to ask for permission, and it appears the voice of Croft in at least one other dub of the remasters may have been put in a similar position.
Gearbox has issued a statement in response to claims Borderlands 4 uses spyware, amid renewed concern over parent company Take-Two’s terms of service.
After a similar furore bubbled up in June, the company reiterated that while it understands there have been “some concerns” about Take-Two’s terms of service, it stressed that “maintaining transparency and confidence with the community here is always our goal, and we wanted to address some of these concerns.”
“Take-Two does not use spyware in its games,” the statement began. “Take-Two’s Privacy Policy applies to all labels, studios, games, and services across all media and platform types such as console, PC, mobile app, and website. The Privacy Policy identifies the data activities that may be collected, but this does not mean that every example is collected in each game or service.”
Take-Two provides this information to ensure “transparency to players,” as well as to “comply with its legal obligations,” Gearbox insisted.
“For example, player and device identifiers are collected in part to ensure the game is compatible with each player’s media, platform or website browser type,” it continued. “It allows us to better understand how players play games, and to personalize the user experience (like having usernames show up!). Account credentials are collected from users who choose to create accounts with Take-Two and its labels.”
The statement also touched upon “abusive mods,” which seems to be a catch-all term for hacks, cheats, or exploits. Consequently, Take-Two’s terms of service “prohibit mods that allow users to gain an unfair advantage, negatively impact the ability of other users to enjoy the game as intended, or allow users to gain access to content that the user is not entitled to. We do this to protect the integrity of the game experience for all users. Take-Two generally does not seek to take action against mods that are single-player only, non-commercial, and respect the intellectual property (IP) rights of its labels and third parties.”
Despite these concerns, Borderlands 4 got off to a big start on Steam, with a higher peak concurrent player number than any other Borderlands game on Valve’s platform. However, Borderlands 4 is currently on a ‘mixed’ Steam review rating, and while some negative reviews revolve around the Take-Two terms of service issue, most have to do with poor PC performance.
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.
Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will be the studio’s biggest and “maybe” most expensive game ever, with creator Neil Druckmann hailing the new project as the “most ambitious game we’ve ever made.”
“What can I say and not say? I can tell you we’re in the thick of it. We’re making it, we’re playing it. We’re firing on all cylinders,” Druckmann told Variety in a new interview. “I’ve said this before, but I really mean it, I’m really feeling it right now: It’s the most ambitious game we’ve ever made. It’s the most expansive game we’ve ever made, maybe the most expensive, by the time we finish it.”
“I’m sure if Intergalactic is successful, you will see it again,” he added. “Whether that will be our next game right after that, I can’t say, and I leave that door open.”
The cost of AAA video game development, including first-party Sony games, remains one of the hottest topics within the industry. Microsoft’s answer is to go multiplatform with its Xbox games, releasing them on rival consoles as well as PC. Sony is late to the party on this front, refusing, for the most part, to release its PlayStation games on PC at the same time. However, it has shown wriggle room on that front recently, with its live service games like Helldivers 2 coming out on PC at the same time as PS5. Helldivers 2 even ended up on Xbox in what was a first for Sony.
As former president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America Shawn Layden has previously said, when a video game’s costs exceed $200 million — as it sounds like Intergalactic will — “exclusivity is your Achilles’ heel.”
“It reduces your addressable market,” Layden said at the time, citing the success of Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2. “Particularly when you’re in the world of live service gaming or free-to-play. Another platform is just another way of opening the funnel, getting more people in. In a free-to-play world, as we know, 95% of those people will never spend a nickel. The business is all about conversion. You have to improve your odds by cracking the funnel open.”
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet features a star-studded cast that includes Tati Gabrielle from the Uncharted movie as protagonist Jordan A. Mun, and Kumail Nanjiani of Marvel’s Eternals as a man called Colin Graves. It is not expected to release until 2027 at the earliest.
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.
Skyrim modders have yet again managed to pull off something remarkable. You know how creating patches to ensure two mods work together smoothly’s long been something that requires firing up the likes of the creation kit or xEdit? Well, thanks to a new mod dubbed the in-game patcher, it’s possible to resolve issues like that simply by wandering up to the location as the Dragonborn and editing the very make-up of the world.
See a rock clipping through a house because you’ve downloaded a couple of works that give the same bit of Whiterun a makeover? Just mosey over, grab the misbehaving mineral, and either move it elsewhere or delete it. You’ll have make sure you’ve not messed up anything else in the process before you save your changes, but assuming all the NPCs still have their own heads, you’ve got your own patch.
“decades of prior art” may give developers the upper hand.
Nintendo’s recent legal activity has caused quite the commotion online. One patent application relating to the summoning of a so-called ‘sub character’ has proven particularly controversial following its swift approval, with the broad nature of its contents having potentially wide ramifications on the games industry.
Now, in speaking with Eurogamer, Don McGowan, former Chief Legal Officer for The Pokémon Company, believes that the patent will likely just be ignored. His belief is that because there are countless examples of existing games utilising a summoning mechanic, Nintendo’s patent simply won’t hold up in court should it choose to launch an infringement lawsuit.
Lace up your boots, EA Sports FC 26 is almost here. The franchise formerly known as FIFA will pack a ton of changes, and as has been the case for a few years now, you can jump in early depending on which edition you pick up.
Here’s everything included in the Standard Edition and Ultimate Editions of the game, including early access, Ultimate Team items, and just about anything else – and where you can buy each.
EA Sports FC 26 – Standard Edition
If you preorder the Standard Edition of EA FC, you’ll get the game (naturally), but if you buy the PS5 or Xbox Series X|S version, you’ll also get the PS4 or Xbox One version, respectively.
To be able to start playing on September 19, you’ll want the Ultimate Edition, which will give you a chance to start building your Ultimate Team lineup.
That’s made even easier with 6,000 FC Points doled out over 2 months and the Season 1 Premium Pass. You’ll also get the following:
3x Icons for Career
1x 93+ rated Ultimate Team Icon
1x 5-Star Coach in Manager Career
1x 5-Star Youth Scout in Manager Career
Manager Live Challenge Content
1x Archetype Unlock Consumable
2x Double Archetype XP for 10 matches
2x FUT Player Evolution Slots
Weirdly, Switch 2 players get 4,500 points, and you can only find it on the Switch 2 store. Similarly, the PS5 Ultimate Edition is also only available on Sony’s storefront.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
You’re gonna have to wait a bit longer to murder the steeple for a second time, with Slay The Spire II‘s early access release having just been delayed until March next year. Developers Mega Crit have at least cushioned the blow by revealing the day of the week it’ll arrive. A Thursday. Which Thursday? The cheeky folks won’t say.
With just hours to go until today’s major Nintendo Direct broadcast, fans have spotted domain name registrations that point to the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel — and potentially reveal its title.
Multiple registrations by NBC Universal have been made that reference Super Mario Galaxy, such as supermariogalaxy.movie, the French supermariogalaxy-lefilm.com and the Spanish supermariogalaxy-lapelicula.com. All three were registered on September 10.
The beloved Wii platformer originally launched on Wii and featured a storyline that introduced space princess Rosalina, and sparked questions over Princess Peach’s original heritage — something that is very briefly also nodded to in the original Super Mario Bros. Movie.
So, will the currently-untitled Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel also be named Super Mario Galaxy? While these domain names have convinced many fans, there’s still some uncertainty.
Still, the timing of these domain names being registered has raised eyebrows, with fans now feeling confident there will be some kind of announcement made during today’s Nintendo Direct.
The original Super Mario Bros. game is about to celebrate its 40th anniversary, and there is an expectation that Nintendo will mark the occaison with a flurry of announcements — as it did for the game’s 35th birthday five years ago.
so the Old Spice x Super Mario Galaxy Movie deodorants look to be legit. Procter & Gamble applied for trademarks on DESERT DETOUR and BROOKLYN BOUNCE back in July at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office
Oddly, if the movie is indeed titled Super Mario Galaxy, this won’t be the first time we’ve seen the title appear on the internet. Earlier this year, an image featuring “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie”-emblazoned cans of Old Spice deoderant appeared on the internet, sparking discussion over its authenticity. Several Mario-themed trademarks linked to the image were also purportedly found via the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, fans said, including “Space Mischief,” “Cosmic Quest,” and “Brooklyn Bounce,”
At the time, fans remarked on the fact that the cans appeared to include previously-unseen artwork of Luigi and Yoshi, though the leak could not be fully verified. Time will tell if it ends up matching with whatever Universal has decided will be the movie’s final name.
Nintendo and Universal’s Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel, whatever it’s called, will launch in theaters on April 3, 2026. Today’s Nintendo Direct, meanwhile, will air at 6am Pacific / 9am Eastern / 2pm UK time later today — and IGN will be reporting live.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Well it’s that time again, folks! Nintendo has announced via Nintendo Today! that yet another Direct presentation will be taking place on 12th September 2025 (yes, that’s tomorrow), hot on the heels of the Partner Showcase in July and the Indie World in August.
The showcase is set to kick off at 2pm BST / 3pm CEST / 9am ET / 6am PT and will provide 60 minutes’ worth of news and announcements on games heading to the Switch 2 and Switch.
