Kwalee has released a gameplay overview trailer for its upcoming cop game that looks like a classic GTA on a modern-day engine, The Precinct. In this trailer, we get to see what our in-game day might look like while playing as a fresh-out-the-academy cop. In The Precinct, players will clean up the city, uncover the … Continue reading The Precinct gets an official gameplay overview trailer→
Netflix has cast the remaining Endless family members in The Sandman Season 2.
The Sandman is Netflix’s well-received live-action adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s groundbreaking comic book of the same name that premiered on August 5, 2022. It follows Dream, a god-like personification who rules over people's dreams in a realm called the Dreaming. The first season consists of 10 episodes, based on stories directly from the comics. A special, two-part 11th episode was released two weeks after the first season premiered. In our review, IGN awarded The Sandman a 9, calling it an adaptation fans "could only conjure up in their deepest of sleeps."
Season 2 resumed production in November, and now Netflix has announced the cast behind Dream's previously unseen siblings. Esme Creed-Miles (The Doll Factory) plays Delirium, Adrian Lester (Primary Colors) plays Destiny, and Barry Sloane (Revenge, Passenger) plays The Prodigal, aka Destruction. The trio join Tom Sturridge as Dream, Kirby as Death, Mason Alexander Park as Desire, and Donna Preston as Despair, who all return from Season 1.
Barry Sloane will be familiar to Call of Duty fans — he’s the actor behind perhaps the most popular character in the first-person shooter franchise: Captain Price.
Get ready for one Hell of a family reunion. Meet the new faces of the Endless in the next season of THE SANDMAN. pic.twitter.com/EXdkQfRLf3
Other returning characters include Patton Oswalt as Matthew the Raven, Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne, Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer Morningstar, Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine, Ferdinand Kingsley as Hob Gadling, Stephen Fry as Gilbert, Asim Chaudhry as Abel, Sanjeev Bhaskar as Cain, Vanesu Samunyai as Rose Walker, and Razane Jammal as Lyta Hall.
Season 2 does not have a release date or even a release window yet, but given Netflix has started making announcements for it, and the "coming soon" line in the casting announcement teaser, perhaps we won't have long to wait.
Image credit: Raymond Liu/ABC via Getty Images
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.
Jeff Daniels has recalled his feelings over the infamous toilet scene in Dumb and Dumber, saying he didn't know whether it would ruin his acting career.
Nearly 30 years after the release of the screwball comedy, Daniels has admitted to USA Today he initially had concerns over the scene that saw his character Harry tussle with a non-flushing toilet after he had suffered a bad bout of tummy troubles. He feared the scene could "end" his career but decided to take the plunge.
This is either the beginning of my career or the end of it.
"It's one thing to read the toilet scene, but then the day comes, and we're actually going to do the toilet scene," Daniels said of his apprehension. "I told Jim [Carrey], 'This is either the beginning of my career or the end of it.' Jim, who is fearless, told me, 'It's going to be great. You've just got to go all the way with it.'"
He admitted it took "a couple hours of porcelain gymnastics" to get the scene right, explaining that the "close-up when they pop in tight" on his flushed red face was genuine because he "almost passed out" from filming the now-memorable scene in the lavatory while also heeding Carrey's advice to give it his all.
It was a risk, especially since he had agents warning him that the comedic route could be a wrong move, but one that ultimately paid off because the movie became a box office hit, grossing $247 million worldwide, with praise from fans and peers, including Clint Eastwood, who said he could relate to the scene.
"Clint says to me, 'I just saw Dumb and Dumber and you know, the toilet scene? That happened to me,'" Daniels recalled of his conversation with Eastwood at a celebrity golf tournament. "And then he tells a story about dating this woman that he really wanted to impress, but the shellfish hit him the wrong way from lunch."
Daniels said it made him realise that he had done his job and admitted the toilet scene "will probably outlive us," saying, "It will be funny 40 years from now."
Dumb and Dumber spawned a sequel in 2014, humorously titled Dumb and Dumber To, but people were not as potty about it. IGN's review of the movie said it was "innately enjoyable to see Harry and Lloyd again, but the movie itself never quite stands out" or offers up "enough to make it a truly satisfying film on its own."
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.
Dell's Memorial Day sale is on the horizon, but they have some excellent deals to check out in the meantime. Our favorite at the moment is on this Alienware Aurora R15 gaming PC that's been docked (after using the code '10AMD' at checkout) to $2,654.99. It's worth the price tag as well, with an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, 32GB RAM, and a 2TB SSD.
Score an Alienware Aurora R15 RTX 4090 Gaming PC for $2,654.99
Considering RTX 4090 GPUs have an MSRP close to $2,000 on their own, this is a stellar deal to get everything all bundled into one PC that's ready to go for a bit more cash. Not to mention, it offers improved cooling and a 1350W PSU, so it's ready to tackle all of your favorite games right away.
Looking to see even more Dell deals? Make sure to check out our roundup of the best Dell and Alienware deals, which we update regularly with the best discounts available on their site. If you want to look outside of the Dell ecosystem, you can also check out our general roundups of the best gaming PC deals and the best gaming laptop deals to see an overall look at what discounts are available right now.
As stated earlier, Memorial Day weekend sale events are coming up soon as well, and that means plenty more retailers will have a wide variety of deals available. Make sure to check out the roundups listed above for even more gaming PC and gaming laptop deals as they appear, but we'll also update our roundups of the best PlayStation deals, the best Xbox deals, the best Nintendo Switch deals, and the best PC video game deals if you want to see what gaming discounts pop up throughout the rest of the week and into the weekend.
Why Pick a Dell or Alienware Gaming PC?
Alienware is always one of our top picks for best prebuilt gaming PCs, but especially when they're on sale. Nowadays, prebuilt gaming PCs aren't that much more expensive than building one on your own. In fact, it can sometimes even be cheaper, depending on component demands. And when it comes to prebuilds, Alienware gaming laptops and desktops offer a staggering array of options, all built into a custom chassis that's both easy on the eyes and easy on the wallet. Consistent build quality, available inventory, frequent sales, and solid customer service are the main reasons why Dell is at the top of our buying list.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.
MultiVersus has a new cinematic launch trailer that has revealed two new playable characters: Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th and Agent Smith from The Matrix.
MultiVersus, which launches on May 28, is a free-to-play platform fighter similar in vein to Nintendo’s Smash Bros. series, but with characters from across Warner Bros.-owned properties.
Jason Voorhees and Agent Smith join the MultiVersus roster alongside DC Super-Villain The Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill) as part of Season 1: Puns & Villainy. Jason Voorhees will be available at launch, while Agent Smith will release later in the season.
Other characters we see in the trailer include Wonder Woman and The Joker (DC), Velma (Scooby-Doo), Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian (Looney Tunes), Iron Giant (The Iron Giant), Rick Sanchez (Rick and Morty), Stripe (Gremlins), and Finn the Human and Cake the Cat, a variant of Jake the Dog (Adventure Time).
Developed by Player First Games, MultiVersus will be available on May 28 as a free download for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 consoles, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, and PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), with full cross-play and cross-progression support.
Announced characters currently include Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Black Adam, and The Joker (DC); Shaggy and Velma (Scooby-Doo); Bugs Bunny, Tasmanian Devil a.k.a. Taz, and Marvin the Martian (Looney Tunes); Arya Stark (Game of Thrones); Tom & Jerry (Tom and Jerry); Finn the Human, Jake the Dog, and Banana Guard (Adventure Time); Steven Universe and Garnet (Steven Universe); Iron Giant (The Iron Giant), LeBron James (Space Jam: A New Legacy); Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith (Rick and Morty); Gizmo and Stripe (Gremlins); Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th); Agent Smith (The Matrix); and an “extraordinary original creature” named Reindog.
In March, Warner Bros. re-announced MultiVersus with a new release date after Player First Games rebuilt the game from the ground up to improve online play and, with a move to Unreal Engine 5, improve visuals. MultiVersus officially shut down in June last year after launching with a battle pass, microtransactions, and DLC characters. This release was considered an open beta, but some expressed frustration at MultiVersus going dark after spending real money on it.
In our 8/10 review of the open beta, IGN said: "MultiVersus may not be a must-play at social gatherings, but its refreshing team-based battles make it a great platform fighter online."
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.
Target has heavily discounted Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for a limited time on its online store. Those interested can currently save $15 on a 3-month code, bringing its price down from $49.99 to $34.99. 1-month codes are also discounted, and down to just $11.89. Target's price drop is a bigger discount than the previous best offer at Woot, and the lowest price Game Pass Ultimate has been for a while.
Game Pass has gotten some heat since Microsoft decided to close studios like Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin. Larger third-party developers, for instance, have also complained that Game Pass cannibalizes retail sales -- concerns that Microsoft admitted last year were founded. It's something to consider when purchasing even more time on the service. That being said, Game Pass is still one of the better deals in gaming, so if you use it often, this deal could be a good opportunity to stack up some membership time at a discount.
The max you can stack Game Pass is three years (36 months). Buying 12 of these 3-month codes totals $418.88--arguably a lot. However, when you compare it to the MSRP cost of Game Pass Ultimate (36 x $16.99/month) it amounts to $611.64. So you're saving $192.76 on your subscription for the next three years if you invest now, and potentially even more if that price hike comes to fruition.
"Microsoft plans a major shakeup of its video game sales strategy by releasing the coming installment of Call of Duty to its subscription service instead of the longtime, lucrative approach of only selling it a la carte,” WSJ reported. Microsoft declined to comment when contacted by the publication.
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has confirmed Clark Kent's parents will be played by Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell in 2025's Superman.
Revealed in a Threads post, Gunn celebrated the anniversary of his "favorite Kansas farmers" by announcing Jonathan and Martha Kent's castings for the rebooted DC film universe, the DCU.
"Happy anniversary to my favorite Kansas farmers Ma and Pa Kent, who will be played by Pruitt Taylor Vince (an actor I’ve wanted to work with since I saw him in James Mangold’s Heavy in 1995) and the delightful Neva Howell," Gunn said.
Pruitt Taylor Vince has appeared in myriad films such as Mississippi Burning, Jacob's Ladder, and Constantine, while his television roles include The Mentalist and The Walking Dead, in which he played Otis. Neva Howell has appeared in Ghosts of the Ozarks, The Resident, The Originals, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, and more.
Superman, previously Superman: Legacy, will be the first film in the DCU's Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters, but it's definitely not an origin story and also features a ton of other DC heroes and villains.
Speaking to ComicBook, Marvel's head of streaming, Brad Winderbaum, said season 2 is currently in the animatic stage.
"It's still an animatic phase. Animation takes so long to make as I'm sure you know,” Winderbaum said. “There was a great bit about this in Invincible Season 2. They just nailed it so hard, it is the greatest. And it takes a long time. Because the studio wants to see how successful the first season is before they greenlight the second season there's a lag. We were lucky enough to get the greenlight before we aired so there's maybe less of a lag. People are just going to have to be patient with us.”
"People are just going to have to be patient with us.
X-Men ‘97 Season 2 has no release window yet, but the hope is it will avoid a similar gap between Season 1 and 2 that Prime Video's Invincible suffered. Invincible Season 1 and 2 saw a gap of more than two years, fueled by the pandemic.
What we do know, however, is fired X-Men '97 creator Beau DeMayo’s involvement with Season 2. Responding to questions from fans following the Season 1 finale, DeMayo said that while he wrote “a lot” of Season 2, he will not be heavily involved in the production of it.
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.
Ghost of Tsushima’s PC release is a certified hit. According to official numbers provided by Valve, it became PlayStation’s biggest single-player game launch on Steam, hitting a peak concurrent player count of 77,154 on May 19. God of War’s all-time peak is 73,529, achieved when Sony Santa Monica’s action adventure hit Steam two years ago. If you want to jump into the game on PC, the best deal is $50.99 via Green Man Gaming, $9 off the MSRP.
This is a reasonable discount for a new PC release, and well worth considering if you're planning on picking up the action-adventure game anytime soon. It's also one of the best PC video game deals available right now, with our other top picks including discounts on Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Dragon's Dogma 2, and the latest Humble Choice bundle that includes Hi-Fi Rush, among other games, for just $11.99.
We have a few other deals roundups worth checking out right now as well, including the best Xbox deals, the best PlayStation deals, and the best Nintendo Switch deals. In each of those, you can find a wide variety of great discounts on physical media like games alongside deals on hardware, accessories, and sometimes even memberships. Another great spot to look for the latest sales is in our Daily Deals roundup, where we highlight the best deals available right now. Currently, we have some great video game deals listed alongside Nintendo Switch OLED and CRKD Nitro Deck discounts.
In 2021, Sony acquired Nixxes Software, a PC port specialist, that handled the highly praised PC version of Ghost of Tsushima. Sucker Punch, the game's developer, expressed gratitude to Nixxes on Twitter, praising their exceptional work on the port. "Your technical expertise has been invaluable in making our first-ever PC release a reality," they stated. "We couldn't have asked for a better partner."
With the success of Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, and Spider-Man on PC, there's growing speculation about which high-profile PlayStation exclusive will be ported next. A recent report suggests that God of War: Ragnarok will be the next PlayStation exclusive to debut on PC, while fans of Bloodborne remain hopeful.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
Whether you’re on the go or looking to add some magic to your home office, we’ve determined some of the best current PC video game deals available from Steam, Humble, Fanatical, and more. Plus, just because we're nice, we've also found some top discounts for laptops, accessories, PCs, and more that can help enhance your experience. We monitor this space with the best deals as they come in, so you’ll want to keep coming over to check for the newest installments.
TL;DR - Best Steam Deals
Best Ghost of Tsushima Deal on PC
Ghost of Tsushima’s PC release is a hit after it became PlayStation’s biggest single-player game launch on Steam. According to official numbers provided by Valve, Ghost of Tsushima hit a peak concurrent player count of 77,154 on Sunday, May 19. God of War’s all-time peak is 73,529, achieved when Sony Santa Monica’s action adventure hit Steam two years ago. If you're looking to jump into the game, the best deal right now is $50.99 via Green Man Gaming, $9 off the MSRP.
Humble Choice May Bundle for $11.99
Hi-Fi Rush is a part of the Humble Choice Bundle for May, alongside Yakuza Like A Dragon, Steel Rising, and more. You can join Humble Choice for $11.99/month, collecting all these PC games to keep permanently, and you can skip a month or cancel anytime. To top things off, each code included is for Steam.
Final Fantasy Games Get a Big Limited Sale on PC
There's a huge sale right now for a pretty huge chunk of Final Fantasy games on PC. These are all Steam codes, but the sale can be found at trusted retailer Green Man Gaming which has slashed the prices on its whole Final Fantasy catalog.
This includes the original Final Fantasy 7, its Remake (Intergrade), Crisis Core, X/X-2 Remaster, Stranger of Paradise, Lightning Returns, and so much more as well. We'll leave our favorites in the sale just below, but it's worth checking out everything available as it's a mighty impressive sale for fans of the franchise.
This is a huge deal after the brilliance of the Fallout TV Show on Amazon. There's a great deal on the Fallout Bundle at Fanatical. Down to just $25, this includes the Fallout Classic Collection (Fallout, Fallout Tactics, Fallout 2), Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76.
Best Steam Video Game Deals
With the current deals, old-school and new-school gamers are in for a treat. Our selections for the best PC games out right now feature superheroic tales, wizards doing mass pew-pew, and multiple fighting games to keep you entertained while the world falls apart. The games we selected allow you to play these things solo or paired with a friend -- so go nuts! If you're checking out any games at Fanatical, double check to see if the FANATICAL17 promo code works out as well.
Alienware Aurora Ryzen RTX 4090 Gaming PC $2899.99
Do you prefer to play on a dedicated tower? Navigating the options online can be a lengthy ordeal. Desk space (or lack of desk space), portability, and price point are often factors in the decision. Utility, function, and fun little extras like RGB capacities or sound-enhancing add-on devices to pair with your PC often make up the list of desired needs.
Starting this week, Dell has just dropped the price of this powerful Alienware Aurora R15 equipped with a GeForce RTX 4090 GPU for only $2899.99 shipped. This is the best Alienware deal on an RTX 4090 equipped gaming PC right now. RTX 4090 GPUs are currently difficult to find at MSRP; right now, a 4090 GPU on Amazon sells at a $300-$500 markup. If this is the GPU you really want, you might actually save money buying a prebuilt PC like this one instead of sourcing your own parts and going the DIY route.
Budget to Best: Gaming PC Laptop Deals
Gaming PC laptops are getting more powerful in smaller sizes, but they come at a price for their portability. A dedicated laptop will offer less customization than its stand-alone PC counterparts but will often be much more accessible, as you won’t have to search several places and wait for your parts to build your rig and get yourself on the go. While on the go, though, some considerations remain when picking up a gaming laptop. Portable computers equipped with the components to play the latest games are often substantially heavier than ones used for other purposes.
Budget to Best: PC Gaming Accessory Deals
For those staying at home, accessories that add to your home experience are everything. Speakers can be great accessories to add to your home PC, but if your monitor and devices can support it, soundbars can turn up your dedicated home gaming time.
You can score some soundbars separately or sometimes in packaged deal bundles with speakers, subwoofers, cables, mounting kits, and controllers to make those linked devices work with just a few clicks. If you’re on the go, though, you’ll want to find a headset that matches your personal brand. Like portable PC laptops vs. less portable PC home-based towers, headsets vary by price point and desired utility.
Jennifer Stavros is a contributing freelancer for IGN, covering everything from comics, games, technology, and nerd culture. She has over 15 years of experience in the gaming industry, including testing and writing for Wired, Inverse, and more. Follow her on Twitter or watch her on Twitch under the handle @scandalous
15 minutes into Prey, the 2017 sci-fi thriller crafted by Arkane Austin, protagonist Morgan Yu shatters their apartment window with a wrench. As hundreds of glass shards fall away, a newly revealed truth changes Morgan’s life forever. This genuinely shocking, perspective-pivoting opening is one of the most incredible introductions to a game world ever made.
Seven days into May 2024, Microsoft took up its own metaphorical wrench and shattered Arkane Austin. A veteran of immersive sims – those first-person, highly interactive games where RPG, simulation, and action systems interlock – it was one of the casualties of Xbox’s brutal dismemberment of Bethesda Softworks.
This is a heartbreaking situation. Staff laid off from Arkane Austin have been thrown into the toughest conditions the games industry has ever seen. But, if you’ll permit me to search for the light in this darkness, the soul of the studio has already proven itself incredibly resilient. This is not the first time that financials and parent companies have dictated the course of the immersive sim in Austin, Texas. Despite multiple hardships, the genre always finds a way to survive in this city.
First, let’s reflect on what has been taken. The messy and misguided co-op shooter Redfall may be Arkane Austin’s most recent release, but the studio is built on a rich history of single-player innovation. It crafted two timeless classics: the eldritch stealth sim Dishonored (built cooperatively with Arkane’s surviving Lyon studio) and Prey, a modern day reinterpretation of the brilliant System Shock. And according to Bloomberg, before Microsoft’s guillotine fell, Arkane Austin was already drawing up the blueprints for a new single-player game that drew on the team’s proven skills.
It’s impossible to know what that game would be, but if Dishonored and Prey are evidence of anything, then we’ve lost something with incredible potential. Dishonored demonstrates Arkane Austin’s talent for deeply interactive game worlds that respect and reflect player experimentation. Prey’s sprawling space station, meanwhile, is testament to the team’s vision when it comes to environment and campaign structure. Its roguelike DLC Mooncrash, with its overlapping stories of five protagonists, allows for inspired use of a single space depending on both who you play as and the order that you play their stories in. Both games also showcase Arkane’s unrivalled art design and fierce, anti-injustice narrative prowess – strengths even Redfall benefits from.
Arkane Austin's soul is a community; a growing collective of immersive sim designers that have endured success and hardship in the city of Austin for three decades.
Arkane Austin's approach to game design was genuinely beautiful – an elegance matched by few other studios. And, in a drive for soulless corporate number counting, Microsoft has destroyed it.
In Microsoft’s own multi-part documentary Power On: The Story of Xbox, a segment discussing the company’s woeful mistreatment of Lionhead Studios saw Phil Spencer say “You acquire a studio for what they’re great at now, and your job is to help them accelerate how they do what they do, not them accelerate what you do.”
You’d assume, then, that Xbox would want to foster Arkane Austin. To help it overcome the failure of Redfall and resume – to quote Xbox’s own Matt Booty – “making impactful and innovative games”. But if a highly profitable corporation worth over $3 trillion has no interest in absorbing one mistake and finding a way to shepherd its artists to success, then one thing is clear: that promise to help studios “accelerate” what they’re good at is empty.
Arkane Austin may be gone, but the people still remain. And that brings me back to the studio’s soul. That soul is a community; a growing collective of immersive sim designers that have endured success and hardship in the city of Austin for close to three decades.
The city’s link to immersive sims began in 1995. Looking Glass Studios, the East coast-based creator of the genre’s formative trio – Ultima Underworld, System Shock, and Thief – tasked System Shock producer Warren Spector with opening a new office in Austin, Texas. But while Looking Glass’ games proved critical hits, financial difficulties eventually saw the company collapse in 2000. The design language it established proved indestructible, though, and had already fled the nest.
Spector had been coaxed away by John Romero, the rockstar designer of Doom. Recently fired by id Software, Romero had set up his own studio, Ion Storm, and he wanted Spector to take charge of the Austin office to make, well, pretty much whatever he wanted. That project was the landmark immersive sim Deus Ex. Hired to help Spector craft this conspiracy thriller were designers Harvey Smith, Steve Powers, Monte Martinez, and Ricardo Bare.
This new Austin studio didn’t just keep the immersive sim recipe alive. When Looking Glass collapsed, Ion Storm’s parent company, Eidos Interactive, secured the rights to Thief and helped Spector relocate many former Looking Glass staff to his Austin studio to continue work on the franchise. But this second home for the immersive sim wasn’t to last. In 2005, financial struggles at Eidos doomed Ion Storm to the same fate as its spiritual predecessor.
Good art transcends board room statistics. And against all odds, the immersive sim has always found a way to bloom in Austin.
The demise of Ion Storm could have been the end of the road for the immersive sim community in Austin. Even worse, the genre was endangered. Few other studios were interested in making this style of game. One that was, however, was Arkane. A French studio founded by Raphaël Colantonio, its first title, Arx Fatalis, was a love letter to Ultima Underworld. And in 2006 Arkane expanded into the US. Austin was an obvious choice.
Arkane Austin became a rally point to reunite key members of the Ion Storm team. Colantonio hired Harvey Smith as co-creative director, and he was soon followed by Powers, Martinez, and Bare. Once again, the city of Austin had another studio in which to foster and grow the creativity and ingenuity that began at Looking Glass Studios.
Thanks to Arkane’s two-studio system, the immersive sim mindset that made its home in Austin now extends across continents. Over at the thankfully unscathed Arkane Lyon, visionaries such as Dinga Bakaba, Sébastien Mitton, and Dana Nightingale are keeping the genre’s values alive, despite many of them not having direct ties back to Ion Storm or Looking Glass. Meanwhile, Raphaël Colantonio’s new company, WolfEye Studios (set up in 2019 following his departure from Arkane after directing Prey) is staffed by a variety of immersive sim veterans, including Monte Martinez, as well as enthusiastic newcomers. And beyond these headline developers, a multitude of indie games inspired by Arkane’s lineage, such as Gloomwood and Ctrl Alt Ego, are adding new voices to the fold. The genre endures because good art transcends board room statistics.
— Raphael Colantonio (@rafcolantonio) May 19, 2024
But what of Austin and its long-surviving immersive sim community? Harvey Smith, Steve Powers, and Ricardo Bare, creatives who have seen the city’s studios live and die, were all at Arkane Austin the day that Microsoft’s destruction order came through. Things are, admittedly, different this time. Arkane Austin’s shuttering wasn’t because of the so-called “immersive sim curse” of the genre being doomed to commercial failure. When a $3 trillion corporation won’t even support a studio whose game is a success “in all key measurements and expectations”, then it’s not about money. It’s sadly just cultural vandalism by capitalism, which is something of a new hurdle for immersive sims to navigate.
But, as I said earlier, good art transcends board room statistics. And against all odds, the immersive sim has always found a way to bloom in Austin. In a thread of thoughts on X/Twitter, Harvey Smith wrote “part of me is also wondering about team size, the role of certain types of creative groups, the role of bigger companies, etc. Maybe there is a sweet spot for the types of games I am driven to make in terms of team size?” Finding that sweet spot might be the first step to whatever comes next.
We can’t ignore that 2024 is the worst time for video game creatives in history, and Arkane Austin’s former staff face an uphill battle that can’t be solved with simple faith in the genre’s resilience. Nonetheless, the soul of Arkane Austin has roots that have been proven to be seemingly indestructible. And history does have a knack of repeating itself.
Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor. Header art: Fred Augis, Arkane Studios / Bethesda
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