Eric Barone doesn't want to 'reveal much yet,' but Stardew Valley's 1.7 update is starting to sound like another big one
Game of Thrones star Kit Harington sounds like he's done playing Jon Snow for good, having spend a decade as the Northerner who knows nothing.
While Game of Thrones finished several years ago, George R. R. Martin's fantasy franchise is still going strong — with even more spin-offs on the way. But despite previous plans for a Jon Snow series, it now sounds like Harington has parted ways with the character for good.
"No, god no," Harington told Variety, when asked whether he'd reprise his old role again for an audiobook version. "I don't wanna go anywhere near it. I spent 10 years doing that. Thanks, I'm alright."
Harington recently recorded the role of Gilderoy Lockhart for Audible's Harry Potter audio drama adaptation, prompting the question of whether he would ever reprise his role for a similar audio version of Game of Thrones. Harington's response — that he doesn't want to go "anywhere near" the character he once played to do so — seems pretty definitive.
Following Game of Thrones' dramatic conclusion in 2019 — which saw Jon Snow survive but head back north, following his devastating decision to stop Daenerys — George R.R. Martin confirmed HBO was working on a Jon Snow spin-off with the working title "Snow." According to Martin, Harington was developing the series with his own team.
But despite lengthy conversations around the show's direction, Harington ultimately revealed that the project was no longer moving forward. "Currently, it's off the table, because we all couldn't find the right story to tell that we were all excited about enough," Harington said last year. "So, we decided to lay down tools with it for the time being. There may be a time in the future where we return to it, but at the moment, no. It's firmly on the shelf."
During a Game of Thrones fan convention in 2022, Harington hinted that his spin-off would focus on his character's struggle to overcome past traumas off the heels of season 8's finale. "He's gotta go back up to the place with all this history and live out his life thinking about how he killed Dany, and live out his life thinking about Ygritte dying in his arms, and live out his life thinking about how he hung Olly, and live out his life thinking about all of this trauma, and that, that's interesting," Harington said at the time. Cheerful.
In a separate interview last year, Harington also reflected on how sequels to popular shows were historically harder to develop, as they relied on existing cast returning. "You run into a lot of issues with a sequel," he said. "A lot of the cast are done with it by then. So, who are you bringing back? Are you bringing back the same people?
"With ours, it was just about not finding the right story and not finding something that was worth doing, to bring me back to it and to stay in it. It just made less sense, the longer we went on with it, so we recanted."
But while Harington isn't returning anytime soon, HBO has big plans to continue the Game of Thrones universe. Last month, it laid out a Marvel-style slate for the coming years, and confirmed it had already renewed upcoming spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for a second season in 2027, ahead of its first season debut on January 18, 2026. House of the Dragon Season 3, meanwhile, debuts in summer 2026, with Season 4 set for 2028.
Image credit: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Warner Bros. Discovery has told its shareholders they should reject Paramount Skydance's $108.4 billion takeover bid for the company, urging them to approve the Netflix deal instead.
A post on Warner Bros. financial website confirmed that its Board of Directors had decided that Paramount’s bid “is not in the best interests of WBD and its shareholders and does not meet the criteria of a ‘Superior Proposal’ under the terms of WBD's merger agreement with Netflix announced on December 5, 2025.”
Explaining why, Warner Bros. hit out at Paramount, accusing it of consistently misleading its shareholders by saying its bid had a "full backstop" from the Ellison family. "It does not, and never has," Warner Bros. said.
"PSKY's most recent proposal includes a $40.65 billion equity commitment, for which there is no Ellison family commitment of any kind," Warner Bros. continued. "Instead, they propose that you rely on an unknown and opaque revocable trust for the certainty of this crucial deal funding. Despite having been told repeatedly by WBD how important a full and unconditional financing commitment from the Ellison family was – and despite their own ample resources, as well as multiple assurances by PSKY during our strategic review process that such a commitment was forthcoming – the Ellison family has chosen not to backstop the PSKY offer.
"And a revocable trust is no replacement for a secured commitment by a controlling stockholder. The assets and liabilities of the trust are not publicly disclosed and are subject to change. As the name indicates, revocable trusts typically have provisions allowing for assets to be moved at any time. And the documents provided by PSKY for this conditional commitment contain gaps, loopholes and limitations that put you, our shareholders, and our company at risk."
Earlier this week, the private equity firm owned by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, pulled its backing for Paramount’s hostile takeover bid, leaving it with the backing of wealth funds run by three governments in the Persian Gulf, widely reported as Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar.
Netflix, as you’d expect, welcomed the decision. “The Warner Bros. Discovery Board reinforced that Netflix's merger agreement is superior and that our acquisition is in the best interest of stockholders," said Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO.
"This was a competitive process that delivered the best outcome for consumers, creators, stockholders and the broader entertainment industry. Netflix and Warner Bros. complement each other, and we're excited to combine our strengths with their theatrical film division, world-class television studio, and the iconic HBO brand, which will continue to focus on prestige television. We're also fully committed to releasing Warner Bros. films in theaters, with a traditional window, so audiences everywhere can enjoy them on the big screen."
Paramount launched its hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery soon after Netflix emerged as the winner of a lengthy bidding war with an $82.7 billion deal.
"WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company," Paramount boss David Ellison said in a statement announcing his company's hostile bid. "Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion.
"We believe the WBD Board of Directors is pursuing an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process. We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interests and maximize the value of their shares.”
The hostile takeover has now failed, however, leaving Netflix with a path towards completing the buyout. However, Netflix’s proposal has sparked a tough response from some members of Congress, and it is expected to face significant scrutiny under antitrust laws. Meanwhile, at least one HBO Max subscriber has already sued Netflix, claiming the deal threatens to reduce competition in the U.S. subscription video-on-demand market.
Warner Bros.-owned streaming platform HBO Max includes everything from Game of Thrones to Harry Potter, James Gunn's DC Universe to Barbie, and its content is expected to be added to Netflix if and when the deal goes through.
After its announcement, Netflix sent subscribers an email of reassurance amid concern over potential price rises. The email — reviewed by IGN — promised subscribers that nothing was changing “today,” and confirmed that HBO Max and Netflix would continue to operate separately until the deal closes. It did not rule out future price rises, but did promise that current membership plans would remain in place at least until the deal goes through. As for when that will be, Netflix said it expects to close the transaction in 12-18 months — so, at the earliest December 2026, but it could be as late as summer 2027.
In an investor call attended by IGN, Netflix chief Ted Sarandos struck a confident tone when asked about the deal’s chance of success. "We're highly confident in the regulatory process," he said. "This deal is pro-consumer, pro-innovation, pro-worker, it's pro-creator, it's pro-growth.”
As part of the same call, Sarandos said Netflix would continue to release Warner Bros. movies in theaters for now, though expected theatrical release windows to shorten over time to become "more user friendly."
One report has claimed Netflix is particularly keen to obtain Warner Bros.' vast content library as the streamer ramps up its potential to offer AI-generation tools and content in the future.
Photo by Anna Barclay/Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Now here is a pleasant surprise. Square Enix has just removed the Denuvo anti-tamper tech from Just Cause 3. Just Cause 3 came out in December 2015, which means that it took an entire decade for SE to remove it. But hey, better late than never, I guess. What’s funny here is that earlier this … Continue reading Square Enix has removed Denuvo from Just Cause 3 →
The post Square Enix has removed Denuvo from Just Cause 3 appeared first on DSOGaming.
GSC GameWorld has just released the Stories Untold Update for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl and shared its full patch notes. So, let’s see what this new update brings to the table. The Stories Untold Update adds new free content to the game. To be more precise, it adds 8 quests, offering over five hours … Continue reading STALKER 2 Stories Untold Update Released – Full Patch Notes →
The post STALKER 2 Stories Untold Update Released – Full Patch Notes appeared first on DSOGaming.
Palworld has just pushed out a significant new patch, bringing a collab with Ultrakill and a ton of improvements as developer Pocketpair continues work to prepare for the launch of Palworld 1.0, the game's eagerly-anticipated full release.
John “Bucky” Buckley, communications director and publishing manager, teased that this update, dubbed Home Sweet Home, "puts a lot of groundwork in as we work towards our MASSIVE 1.0 release in 2026, but we have lots of little surprises in this update so check it out!"
As part of the Ultrakill collaboration, you'll find several "iconic weapons and armor," as well as a V1’s infamous coin toss, while the Home Sweet Home update — as the name suggests — makes it a little more intuitive to put down roots and make your own cozy base.
Pocketpair said it had been "blown away by all the incredible builds that you guys have been sending us," and knows we've "been eagerly waiting for more freedom in how you design your base." That's why this update brings a number of new building parts, including the ability to change the color of building pieces and the "much-requested triangular pieces." The building menu UI has also been redesigned and reformatted into a list.
But that's not all. Melee combat has been improved to make it "more viable and fun," and now, when summoning a raid boss at the Summoning Altar, players can choose to either fight at their base as before, or take on the raid boss in a special Raid Area.
"These Raid Areas allow you to fight with all your might, without risking any damage to your base," the team explained. "You can build temporary structures and take items into these special Raid Areas." Which is just as well, as a new raid boss will also pop up after the update.
"2025 has been an incredible year for Palworld, and we’re excited to end the year with v0.7, Home Sweet Home!" Pocketpair exclaimed. "The purpose of this update is to begin improving existing features, and while this update may not be as content-rich as previous ones, we hope players understand that it’s necessary for us to begin laying the groundwork now as we work on the development of Palworld 1.0."
Last but definitely not least, PvP! Though the studio admits PvP has been a topic of discussion in the Palworld community for a "long time," and it’s "hard to fully integrate PvP into the game," it is trying to make the dream a reality, albeit with some careful parameters.
"We are releasing all the necessary tools for players to set up their own PvP rules on their own terms," Pocketpair said. "Show off your skills and compete with other Pal Tamers! Please note that PvP is experimental, and as such, there may be some balancing issues."
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.
The future of M3GAN spinoff Soulm8te and indeed the M3GAN cinematic universe is in doubt after Universal pulled the movie from its release calendar.
Variety reported that Soulm8te, which was due out January 9, 2026, will now be shopped to other Hollywood studios.
Soulm8te was announced in 2024 following the huge success of M3GAN and its production company Blumhouse. It was described as an "erotic thriller" spinoff of M3GAN that focuses on a man who tries to cope with the loss of his wife by using an AI android. “In an attempt to create a truly sentient partner, he inadvertently turns a harmless lovebot into a deadly soulmate,” reads the official blurb.
Soulm8te is directed by Kate Dolan, who described the movie as "an exploration of relationships and loneliness.” “Despite technological advances, there are enduring human truths we cannot escape, and I am looking forward to delving into those depths.”
But then M3GAN 2.0 happened. It saw $10.2 million domestically and just $6.958 million internationally during its launch weekend, suggesting the first M3GAN movie, released in December 2022, may have been a lightning in a bottle moment with its eventual $180 million global haul. M3GAN 2.0 ended its theatrical run making a paltry $39 million globally, according to Box Office Mojo. That's $24.1 million domestically and just $14.9 million internationally, and an enormous $141 million decline on its predecessor.
IGN’s M3GAN 2.0 review returned a 6/10. We said: “M3GAN 2.0 hotswaps horror for sci-fi/action to mixed results, but M3GAN’s absolutely heinous wit and killer moves leave her, and not the new genres, the star of the show.”
In July, Blumhouse boss Jason Blum opened up on the disastrous launch of M3GAN 2.0, admitting to a number of failings. Appearing on The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast to reveal his early thoughts, Blum said: “I’ve been in pain all weekend long and I’ve been thinking about all this stuff way too much.”
“We all thought M3GAN was like Superman,” he said. “We could do anything to her. We could change genres. We could put her into summer. We could make her look different. We could turn her from a bad guy into a good guy. And we classically overthought how powerful people’s engagement was really with her.
“We decided to genre swap. The audience was not ready to genre swap. People wanted more M3GAN just like she is.”
This is a reference to M3GAN 2.0 being less of a thriller horror, like the first film, and more of an action comedy. Clearly, this didn’t work.
Blumhouse, however, has recovered somewhat with the successful release of Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 ($175 million and counting) and Black Phone 2 ($132 million). The question now is, what next for M3GAN? A significant expansion with spinoffs seems unlikely, but will M3GAN get a third movie?
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Concerns over child safety are stopping Disney from collaborating with Roblox, a new report has revealed.
With 151 million daily active users, Roblox is one of the biggest games in the world — if not the biggest. And increasingly, access to this audience is seen as a lucrative and highly accessible method of marketing everything from big-name brands to Hollywood blockbusters.
Still, worries over how safe Roblox is for its enormous audience of players — many of whom are under the age of 18 — remain offputting to Disney, a new Variety report has highlighted.
While some had suspected Disney was avoiding Roblox due to its $1.5 billion investment in rival gaming platform Fortnite, sources told Variety that Disney was instead avoiding Roblox specifically because the company did not believe the larger platform was safe at this time.
Disney content is of course deeply embedded within Fortnite, which regularly hosts Star Wars and Marvel crossovers, recently featured a well-received The Simpsons mini-season, and now includes a small army of licensed skins for everyone from Maleficent to the Mandalorian. A specific Disney Fortnite mode is also in development.
For now at least, Roblox fans shouldn't expect anything similar, the report continues. That's despite Roblox's far larger audience (Fortnite averages between 30 and 40 million daily users) and the platform playing host to other large brands, such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Squid Game.
Following signficant, sustained criticism of its player safety protocols and amid multiple lawsuits, Roblox has added a series of stricter requirements designed to limit who its young audience can interact with. Most recently, the platform added facial age verification to limit communication features in select countries, with a U.S. rollout to follow. But this too has been criticized as something of a band-aid.
"The issue is basically the ability of younger players to cheat those systems — to pretend to be older, to use the older siblings, to use facial identity to get into those systems," Ron Kerb, CEO at child safety platform Kidas, told Variety. "And we know that it's happening on TikTok, we know that it's happening on gaming platforms, on Roblox. Platforms are trying to block kids, and kids are going to find ways to open it up."
In Roblox's most recent Safety Snapshot, the company said it "continued to innovate around safety," and revealed it had open-sourced a version of Roblox PII Classifier, which "has significantly enhanced" its ability to detect and block attempts to violate its policies around sharing personally identifiable information (PII).
Image credit: Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
FromSoftware has deployed a new patch across all platforms for Elden Ring: Nightreign that brings more Deep of the Night content for players of the The Forsaken Hollows DLC, as well as new features, balance changes, bug fixes, and more.
For those with the DLC (which FromSoftware recently announced has an impressive 2 million players), you'll now see new targets, landmarks, raid events, and Shifting Earth when playing the ultra-hard Deep of Night mode.
Patch 1.03.1 also updates some pre-order bonuses, such as the artwork and soundtrack, and addresses the security vulnerability announced by Unity Technologies on October 3 (although the developer insists the main game "is not impacted by the security vulnerability and the update").
The full patch notes are detailed below. Please note you won't be able to play online — which, for an online game, means you won't be able to play at all — until this update has been applied.
Players that own the DLC The Forsaken Hollows will now encounter new targets, Landmarks, raid events and Shifting Earth when playing The Deep of Night mode.
These additions will only appear when matched with players that also own the DLC content.
The version number of this update shown at the lower right corner of the Title Screen will be as follows:
App Ver. 1.03.1
Regulation Ver. 1.03.2
In PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions, Regulation files can be downloaded by logging in to the server.
If the Regulation Ver. listed in the lower right corner of the title screen is not 1.03.2, please select LOGIN and apply the latest regulation before enjoying the game.
Online play requires the player to apply this update. After downloading the update file, please restart the game and apply the update.
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.
The developer of Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus 2 has delayed the game to respond to feedback from its Steam Next Fest demo.
Kasedo Games and Bulwark Studios said the turn-based strategy sequel will now launch in spring 2026 across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S, so the developers can “further refine the experience.”
Chief among the complaints from fans was the Adeptus Mechanicus (the Tech-Priests of the Warhammer 40,000 universe) speaking English instead of the binaric machine language, a corrupted form of binary code (a weird digital warbling) we heard in the first game. While this may seem like an innocuous change, binaric really added to Mechanicus’ dark, foreboding atmosphere (this is the grim darkness of the far future after all!), and fans were disappointed to find it ditched in the Steam Next Fest demo.
Bulwark is now changing Mechanicus 2 to add an audio option to play with either “lingua-technis,” the official name for the binaric machine code language of the Adeptus Mechanicus, or with the traditional human voiceover as heard in the demo. Praise the Omnissiah!
Meanwhile, movement systems are also being “enhanced,” with an optional setting to allow the Move action to auto-select when cycling between units, creating “a smoother and more efficient tactical flow.”
“The team is equally committed to addressing performance concerns raised during the demo period,” the developer continued. “These optimisations, together with the continued refinement of new systems and campaign content, are central to delivering a sequel that meets the expectations set by both the community and the studio’s own ambitions.”
In Mechanicus 2, both the Necrons and the Adeptus Mechanicus are fully playable over multiple campaigns. You manage your territories’ garrisons and assemble forces for each mission, choosing from an expanded selection of fighters from each faction’s range. New environmental mechanics require players to maneuver their forces, taking cover behind terrain as the Mechanicus, or destroying it as the Necrons.
The story is penned by Black Library author Ben Counter, with music and audio design by composer Guillaume David. Narrative events will see the player choosing the course of the war and its outcome, with The Leagues of Votann (Warhammer 40,000's space dwarves) popping up as a non-playable threat.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.