This morning, we learned that November was a surprisingly bad month for video game spending across the board. Hardware dollar sales and physical software unit sales were both at the lowest we've seen since 1995, and all three major console makers were down year-on-year in what's traditionally the biggest month for retail. But one console in particular is really struggling, and that's the Xbox.

According to Circana senior director Mat Piscatella speaking to IGN, Xbox Series consoles dollar sales were down a whopping 70% year-over-year. That's... a huge drop. Other consoles were also down, with PS5 down 40% year-over-year, and the newly-released Nintendo Switch 2 combined with Switch 1 down 10% from sales of Switch 1 only last year, which is pretty shocking on its own.

But that Xbox number is rather astounding. In fact, it's an all-time low for Xbox console unit sales in a November month in the U.S., says Piscatella. Admittedly, Xbox has some factors working against it. As we've already laid out, it's a really bad month for hardware sales across the board. Also, the Xbox Series is now five years old, and with no new hardware refresh this year, there are fewer and fewer reasons to be getting one if you haven't already sprung for an Xbox. In fact, Xbox hardware sales have been in decline for a bit now in the U.S. at least in the busy retail month of November. From 2023 to 2024, Xbox Series sales in November dropped 29%, and from 2022 to 2023, there was a drop of over 20%. 2022 was the last November when unit sales were up, Piscatella tells me, specifically up 11% year-over-year from November 2021.

Critically, though, for 2025, the Xbox is expensive, especially in the US. Piscatella points out to us that its average price per unit rose by over 30% year-over-year. That's because of multiple price hikes in recent years, including some seriously massive ones in September that impacted all types of Xbox Series consoles, raising prices from as little as $20 for Series S to as much as $70 for the Series X 2TB Galaxy Special Edition. And that's after a price hike in May that raised consoles as little as $80 for the Series S and as much as a stunning $130 for the Galaxy Edition. An Xbox Series S, the cheapest of all modern Xbox hardware available now, released at $300 retail, and now costs $400.

And it only goes up from there. There are now rumors and concerns circulating that Xbox may soon raise prices yet again due to skyrocketing prices for RAM, driven by the growth of generative AI. The existing price hikes are happening at least in part due to U.S. tariffs imposed on countries where gaming hardware is manufactured, and while the confusion and uncertainty around what these tariffs would actually be has settled somewhat, the reality of the tariffs themselves has not. Nor is it impossible that those tariffs could shift again in the coming months. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy is just generally in rough shape according to basically everyone, with high consumer debt, high inflation, few new jobs, and an increasing unemployment rate. If everyone is worried they can't buy groceries, who's buying a console right now?

While both PlayStation and Nintendo Switch are seeing the impacts of a lot of these same problems, their price hikes have not been nearly as drastic in response. PS5s went up $50 earlier this year, and Nintendo opted to jack up prices on its original Switch and accessories while keeping its new console at the already admittedly higher-than-expected price it was originally set at, for now. Ultimately, this puts the Xbox Series S, and the PS5 All-Digital Edition at $400, and the Nintendo Switch 2 at $450 before sales and discounts. Is it any wonder that people are skipping buying consoles entirely or, if they're buying one at all, they're shelling out $50 more for the brand new one? Or, that if they're shopping for a kid, they're spending $200 on a NEX Playground, which outsold the Xbox Series console in November?

All this amounts to is that everyone is struggling, but the Xbox Series - a console that has largely given up on the idea of exclusives and keeps raising prices repeatedly - is struggling the most. Piscatella tells me that Xbox's hardware sales peak, at least for November, is far behind it, peaking in November 2011, with its second-highest November ever in 2014. If even big day one Game Pass games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 aren't moving the needle to help Xbox hardware regain its former glory, what will?

Xbox, at least, doesn't want to give up on hardware, or so it says. Just this past October, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was on record essentially hinting that there would indeed be another new Xbox console eventually, but that it would basically be a PC/console hybrid. At the same time, the company is actively hoping to leave behind big exclusives in favor of a multi-platform strategy. It's already there, in fact, releasing and announcing several major first-party games on PlayStation not too long after their Xbox debuts, and pondering even more. Xbox hardware sales may be floundering, but perhaps a better question to ask is whether or not that matters to Xbox anymore.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

I was so very delighted, and a little bit confused, when I saw the Hori Piranha Plant camera announced for the Nintendo Switch 2. Delighted because, well, just look at the thing – it’s adorable! And confused because… shouldn’t Nintendo have made this thing? Unfortunately, the camera has one big flaw: a 480p sensor. Even though I knew that going in, I’m still profoundly disappointed, because this is an otherwise brilliant little camera.

Before we get to why I’m so bummed out about this camera, there is actually a lot to like. First off, forgetting the webcam part, the Hori Piranha Plant Camera is a fine bauble, modeled after the piranha plants that have popped out of pipes to bite or spit fire at Mario for decades now, and would fit in seamlessly on a shelf of video game ephemera. The polka-dotted head holds the camera sensor, and you can close its mouth to cover the lens, which is just immediately and obviously a great idea. You can tilt the head on its stalk, which is bendy to let you aim the camera, and at the bottom is a USB-C plug you can either plug straight into a Switch or into its green pipe base. The whole kit and caboodle comes with a USB-C cable that’s long-ish, but no more than the one that comes with the first-party Nintendo Switch 2 Camera.

Hori did some clever things with the base. I love that it’s a separate piece, letting you use the camera without it, sticking out of the Switch 2 like a Game Boy Advance Worm Light. You have other options, though. When the camera is plugged into the base, it can stand upright on a table like Nintendo’s camera, although the included cable is so stiff and the Piranha Plant Camera so lightweight that I had to be really careful while placing it or the cable would move, dragging the camera and turning it or threatening to make it fall over. The other option is mounting it – the bottom of the base folds away from a lip on the front you can hook on the front of your TV, in much the same way you’d attach a webcam to a computer monitor.

Unfortunately, this is where things get rocky for the Hori’s cute Switch 2 camera. If you thought it was too good to be true when you saw Hori only charging $39.99, well, that was a good instinct. All of this is absolutely ruined by its 480p sensor and cramped 85-degree field-of-view (FOV). It’s out of touch and out of time, a camera that would have looked dated and cheap 20 years ago. If you’re sitting on a couch several feet away from your Switch 2 and this camera, it’ll look to your friends like you’ve FaceTimed them on a Nintendo DSi.

It’s a night and day difference when you compare it to Nintendo’s first-party camera. In every instance, the Piranha Plant camera produces muddy, dim pictures with so little detail that from my usual comfy gaming couch, my face is the smeary visage of a spooky ghost. The piled up blankets and pillows on my basement couch are unrecognizable white blobs, and the art over my shoulder is barely recognizable as Galactus. And thanks to its super-narrow FOV, it only captures a fragment of the scene that the first-party camera grabs. (Excuse the mess in that shot – my basement entertainment area doubles as my child’s play room.)

This isn’t just an aesthetic issue – the Switch 2 has a really hard time cutting me out properly when I use the background filtering features. Sitting on my couch, the Switch 2 couldn’t separate me from the background at all, leaving a question mark where my face should be. If I leaned way forward, it might show a cut out of that near-featureless horror show version of my face. To get it to consistently show me in the filtering modes, I had to sit in a chair about three feet in front of my TV and the camera, but that’s not practical for me.

Ultimately, it is handheld mode – with the Piranha Plant camera plugged directly into the USB-C port on top of the Switch 2 – that saves Hori’s camera from being simply a novelty, and not just because it’s delightful to have a toothy plant monster sprouting from the top of the Switch 2. It’s compact enough to fit into a slim Switch 2 carrying case, and 480p is totally fine when the camera is inches from your face, allowing the person on the other end of a GameChat session to tell they’re looking at a standard-issue human face and not that of, I don’t know, the Toxic Avenger. It really feels like Hori conceived of this as a handheld-only camera at first – a niche I think ought to be filled, so good on them! – and creating the pipe base as a might-as-well addition to the package.

Still, even if you only want this for handheld mode, it’s got issues. The bendy stalk isn’t bendy enough, and with such a narrow field of view, it’s hard to get it pointed at your face just right. Also, I wish it had a way to brace against the body of the Switch 2 when it’s plugged in, because when I’m making those bending adjustments, I end up feeling like I need to be careful to support the base of the stalk so I’m not adding strain to the USB-C port. Perhaps that’s me being overly cautious, but I’ve broken USB-C ports before by dropping a device that had something plugged into one, and that’s much harder to fix.

Even with these problems, the Hori Piranha Plant Camera might be the best and only viable option if you’re the sort of person who loves kitsch and has a strong desire for an on-the-go GameChat camera. Or if you, like me, have a kid who’s getting a Switch 2 for Christmas and you’re trying to save money and delight them at the same time. There’s the $59.99 Hori alternative, which is still 480p, pricier than even Nintendo’s $55 first-party camera, and isn’t cute. Or you can buy one of several cheaper Amazon options that all look nearly identical to one another and feature nonsense brand names like “TPGSING” and “Sioenl” and could look even worse than the Piranha Plant Camera.

Most people who don’t fall into these two camps shouldn’t buy any of those options, including the Hori Piranha Plant camera, for their Switch 2. The whole novelty Nintendo character aspect just isn’t enough to make up for its ancient-looking camera. That’s a shame, because at $39.99, this camera only needs to clear the low bar of looking about as good as Nintendo’s first-party Switch 2 camera to be worth buying. Oh well.

Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom's Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn't be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly.

In 2008, Suzanne Collins' unleashed The Hunger Games on the world, launching a bestselling book series that would become a globally beloved franchise. Continuing the legacy of satirical stories like Battle Royale and The Running Man, the series centers on PANEM, a North America country that pits its children against each other in grim battles for survival. Out of that brutality comes a figure of hope, Katniss Everdeen.

Three years after the book was released, the first Hunger Games film hit screens, becoming a worldwide blockbuster and setting the stage for four more movies. With a new prequel on the way, we're here to break down how to watch all of movies in order.

Jump to:

• How to watch in chronological order
• How to watch by release date

How Many Hunger Games Movies Are There?

There are now five full-length Hunger Games movies, with a sixth movie releasing in 2026. Unlike many other franchises, there haven't been any short films, TV shows, or extra content (other than plenty of fanfic) created to build out the world of the games, with just the six movies and five books that they're based on.

Where Can You Stream Them?

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is streaming on STARZ, while the other four Hunger Games films are on HBO Max. Otherwise, you can find plenty of different versions on DVD and Blu-ray.

How to Watch The Hunger Games in Chronological Order

1. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

Despite the fact that it's the newest addition to the franchise, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes actually takes place 64 years before the other Hunger Games films. Based on the recent prequel of the same name the film follows a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) — the villainous President of PANEM from the main franchise — and his romance with a talented tribute named Lucy Gray (Rachel Ziegler). Expanding the world of The Hunger Games and exploring the early days of the brutal contest and the origins of its most evil villain, this entry may have come over a decade after the first movie but is just as important as the original films.

Read our review of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

2. The Hunger Games (2012)

Adapting Suzanne Collins' best-selling YA novel this blockbuster smash stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, a young woman who volunteers to take her sister's place in the titular battle to the death. Introducing viewers to the exploitative world of PANEM where people watch children kill each other for entertainment, and ostensibly to punish the citizens for a decades previous failed attempt at revolution. This brutal adventure sows the seeds for the rebellion Katniss will eventually lead after teaming up with her fellow District 12 tribute Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) to try and survive the fatal events of the Hunger Games tournament.

Of course, this wouldn't be a YA adaptation without the obligatory love triangle which in this case comes from Katniss' closeness to Peeta and her love for her District 12 best friend Gale. Those relationships are key to the future politics and complexities of the Hunger Games, especially when in a shocking twist both Peeta and Katniss survive, leaving the nation of PANEM in uproar as the districts realize they may be able to fight back against their tyrannical government, inspired by Katniss and her rebellious turn in the games. This also sets the sights of President Snow (Donald Sutherland) directly on Katniss, setting up a massive conflict.

Read our review of The Hunger games.

3. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

Following their rebellion-inspiring survival at the Hunger Games, Peeta and Katniss are paraded around PANEM as star crossed lovers with the intention of quelling the potential uprisings. But when the Capitol declares a special anniversary Hunger Games that will see previous victors brought back to fight again, Peeta and Katniss are soon swept up in another fight for survival.

Centering on the human cost of the games, Catching Fire introduces fan favorite champions Finnick (Sam Claflin) and Johanna (Jena Malone) who must craft an uneasy alliance with Peeta and Katniss to survive the even more high-tech and deadly games. They are far from alone though as we learn more about the burgeoning rebellion in this entry, especially as the film ends with the massive reveal that the once thought to be destroyed District 13, is actually the base of the Rebellion and with Katniss as its figurehead they're ready to fight back against Snow.

Read our review of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One (2014)

Splitting the final book in the original Hunger Games trilogy into two, Mockingjay: Part One continues directly on from Catching Fire as Katniss is reunited with her family in District 13. The rebellion is growing exponentially, led by the cold but effective Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) She soon realizes that while Finnick and another champion Beetee (Jeffery Wright) were saved from the arena, Peeta was left behind to be taken by the Capitol. Unlike the first two films, Mockingjay: Part One doesn't feature a Hunger Games and instead focuses on the inner workings of the rebellion as they build up the image of Katniss as the titular Mockingjay.

While she takes part in rebellion actions, Katniss also encourages the rescue of Peeta, Johanna, and Finnick's betrothed Annie (Stef Dawson) from the Capitol. Their rescue is a success thanks to the help of the rebellion and Katniss' childhood best friend Gale — who survived the destruction of their home District 12 — but it's revealed that Peeta has been brainwashed to hate Katniss and the film ends as he tries to assassinate her.

Read our review of Mockingjay Part 1.

5. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two (2015)

After her heartbreaking attack at the hands of Peeta, Katniss is traumatized but has to go on the campaign trail as the rebellion try to get the final Capitol controlled District on their side. The final movie in the series reimagines the Hunger Games as President Snow turns an entire city into a gauntlet that our surviving champions have to battle through in order to take down the Capitol. There are brutal losses, heartbreaking betrayals, and a surprisingly realistic and often depressing take on the realities of war and the ongoing battle for peace that is highlighted when the Rebellion leader Alma Coin decides to continue the Hunger Games to punish the Capitol. Of course Katniss doesn't take well to that choice, killing the would-be new President, ending up on trial but ultimately acquitted — due to her mental health — for her role in the assassination.

One of the most interesting things about this entry into the series is how it proudly eschews the happy ending that many would expect instead leaning into the bleakness of war and how even those who survive it struggle to maintain a normal life when they return home. In that way it stands out from other YA adaptations that often end on a more positive and hopeful note.

Read our review of Mockingjay Part 2.

The Hunger Games Movies by Release Date

If you want to watch the films based on the order of their release, you'll want to start with the second movie on our chronological list.

• The Hunger Games (2012)
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One (2014)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two (2015)
• The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)
• The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (2026)

What's Next for The Hunger Games

Soon after author Suzanne Collins announced a new Hunger Games prequel, Lionsgate announced it was working on the film adaptation. Sunrise on the Reaping takes place 24 years before The Hunger Games, placing it second in the film's narrative chronology after The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. The book released on March 18, 2025, while the movie adaptation is scheduled to hit theaters on November 20, 2026. The cast includes Kieran Culkin, Jesse Plemons, and Ralph Fiennes, and Elle Fanning.

Rosie Knight is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything from anime to comic books to kaiju to kids movies to horror flicks. She has over half a decade of experience in entertainment journalism with bylines at Nerdist, Den of Geek, Polygon, and more. Rosie is a published comics author who has written titles including Godzilla Rivals vs. Battra and The Haunted High-Tops. She co-hosts the weekly Crooked Media pop-culture podcast X-Ray Vision. When she's not writing, you can find her playing Dragon Ball FighterZ or rewatching weird old horror and martial movies in her free time. She loves making comics and zines as well as collecting VHS and reading much manga as humanly possible. You can find her on social at @rosiemarx.

Fallout 5 will indeed take into account the canon events of the Fallout TV series, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard has confirmed.

While Fallout 5 is years away (Bethesda is still working on The Elder Scrolls 6, which doesn’t have a release window), Howard said that what we see in the Fallout series will impact the game.

"In short, yes," Howard told BBC Newsbeat. "Fallout 5 will be existing in a world where the stories and events of the show happened or are happening. We are taking that into account."

The Fallout TV show, which is set after all the existing Fallout video games, has sparked much debate within the fandom. Questions on how it fits into the overarching Fallout timeline and whether it makes particular video game endings canon have dominated discussion in the run up to each season’s release. Indeed, Fallout Season 2 had left fans wondering about the fate of New Vegas following the events of the video game, although the show’s creators have avoided making a clear call.

What Howard is confirming here is that TV show characters such as Lucy, Maximus, and The Ghoul and the events of the show must now be factored into Fallout 5, although we don’t know when or where the game will be set. Could either actually appear in Fallout 5? It sounds like it’s possible, but we’ll have to see what happens in the show itself.

It’s worth remembering that we’re guaranteed Fallout Season 3, and the hope is there will be more seasons after that. There’s a long way to go before the show wraps up, and there’s a long way to go before Fallout 5 comes out. In the meantime, could Bethesda follow The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and release a remaster of Fallout 3 or New Vegas, or perhaps even a Fallout: New Vegas 2 as a stop gap? In a recent interview with IGN, Howard remained coy on the possibility.

We’ve got plenty more on the Fallout TV show. Check out IGN's Fallout Season 2 Episodes 1-6 review to find out what we think of it, as well as our roundup of details and Easter eggs.

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.

It’s a term used to describe a huge amount of games released every year, but what does “action-adventure” even mean? It’s a good question. Here at IGN, we classify any game that fuses combat with a genuine sense of exploration as action-adventure. They often take place in open worlds, but that’s not a mandatory requirement (see the likes of Uncharted and God of War), and so this flexible format allows for a wide range of different projects to make the cut this year, from the tightly crafted co-op platforming action of Split Fiction and the vast, isolated, do-it-yourself atmosphere of Death Stranding 2, to the adventures of banana-hunting apes and revenge-seeking ronin. So let’s get on with it as swiftly as a Hornet and reveal the runners-up and ultimate winner of our award for the Best Action-Adventure Game of 2025.

Runner-Up - Split Fiction

Following on from the wonderful It Takes Two, developer Hazelight took things to the next level when it comes to scale in Split Fiction and continued to hone its craft as the modern-day masters of the co-op game. Much of its story is spent platforming and puzzle-solving, but a healthy amount is also reserved for combat against its many varied sci-fi and fantasy-laced foes, as well as exploration of its larger-scale levels. It never once stands still, constantly evolving and switching up its mechanical ideas to match each world’s colourful set dressing. That sense of exciting propulsion along an ever-changing journey, balanced with areas designed for you to slow down a little and hunt for secrets and surprising side missions, is what makes Split Fiction one of our top five action-adventure games of the year.

Runner-Up - Ghost of Yotei

Perhaps the most traditional “action-adventure” on our list, Ghost of Yotei follows in a long line of PlayStation Studio exclusives that firmly fit that mold. Telling the story of revenge-seeking wandering Ronin, Atsu, Yotei takes everything that made people fall in love with its predecessor, Ghost of Tsushima, and tweaks it for the better. Where action is concerned, its slick sword, spear, and kusarigama combat is a real star of the show, with new-age weaponry such as firearms also brought into the mix to expand this ghost’s arsenal. In terms of adventure, 17th-century Hokkaido plays stage to as beautiful a looking and sounding world as you could step into in 2025, with no shortage of collectibles, side stories, and show-stopping duels to engage with. Sucker Punch’s latest is the Seattle studio’s most accomplished effort to date, and one of this year’s very best action-adventures.

Runner-Up - Donkey Kong Bananza

Donkey Kong Bananza encourages you to explore its many sandbox levels, not through careful investigation, but by smashing every corner of them into tiny pieces to see what secrets lurk inside. Nintendo’s modern 3D reinvention of what its beloved ape could be in 2025 quickly became the Switch 2’s must-have game, and for good reason. Bananza is a feast for treasure hunters, with hundreds of glowing bananas begging to be uncovered through destruction courtesy of DK’s pounding fists and many special abilities. Those skills are at the heart of it all, with the titular Bananzas powering inventive new ways to adventure through each of its themed levels. From the rampaging Kong Bananza that allows you to unleash a monstrous fury capable of breaking the toughest of terrain, as well as any enemy’s soon-to-be dust skeleton, to the wing-flapping Ostrich Bananza that allows for new heights to be soared to. It’s far from conventional, even by Nintendo 3D platforming standards, but Donkey Kong Bananza is one of this year’s very best when it comes to action-adventure.

Runner-Up - Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Speaking of unconventional, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach certainly isn’t worried about obeying genre norms. An action-adventure that’s never afraid to show, tell, or have you engage with things you’ve never quite seen before, Kojima Productions’ latest is the fulfillment of a promise made in its predecessor. That’s not to say that there isn’t the familiar to be found here, with its increased focus on combat echoing memories of its creator’s Metal Gear Solid roots, thanks to an expanded range of options when it comes to approaching its stealth-action. It’s in its adventure, and the exploration of themes of grief and human connection at its centre, that make each of Sam Porter Bridges’ challenging steps through a post-apocalyptic Australia in Death Stranding 2 really sing, though, and one of this year’s very best action-adventures.

Winner - Hollow Knight: Silksong

Not only is it a huge relief that Hollow Knight: Silksong finally came out in 2025, but an even bigger one that it turned out to be so great. Placing an even greater emphasis on the action part of “action-adventure” than its predecessor, Team Cherry delivered a challenging, yet incredibly rewarding sequel via the tip of protagonist Hornet’s needle. That rapier-like blade will get plenty of use, too, with sprawling caverns laden with all manner of darting foes and patience-testing bosses possessing all manner of attack patterns, which once learned unlock the path to ultimate satisfaction.

Boss battles are only half of the, well, battle, when it comes to Silksong, though, with exploration still providing the meat of this Metroidvania/Soulslike soup. Breakable walls hide valuable materials behind them, and side quests encourage careful investigation into each of its many biomes, whether on the hunt for precious bounties or searching for missing fleas that need to be reunited with their traveling caravan companions. It’s this balance of both action and adventure that has turned the Hollow Knight series into such a phenomenon, and, in turn, Silksong into the winner of our award for best action-adventure game of 2025.

Is Silksong your pick for the best action-adventure game of the year, or would you have chosen differently? Vote for your favourite in the poll above, or let us know in the comments below.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

Superheroes, ronin, insect warriors, and postal service workers. Whatever your fantasy this year, PlayStation could deliver it. But which PS5 game was the best? We at IGN have voted and picked out what we think are the five most worthy of recognition from across 2025, naming one of them the very best PlayStation game of the year, as well as shouting out a few honourable mentions that were very close to making the cut.

In an era where console exclusives are a dying breed, as Sony’s competitor, Microsoft, has shown us more than ever over the past few months, we’ve made the decision this year to branch out and open up the criteria for what can win our platform-specific awards. These aren’t the top five Sony exclusives, but the top five games that were released on PS5 in 2025, full stop. So, without further ado, let’s get on with it and crown the best PlayStation game of 2025 before we all die of old age.

Honorable Mentions

One of the best games from early in the year was Hazelight’s Split Fiction, the endlessly inventive co-op action platformer that just narrowly missed out on a top-five spot. Also just missing out are a pair of 2025’s breakout indie hits, Blue Prince and Ball X Pit. These two couldn’t be more different from each other, though, with the former brain-bending mansion full of puzzles a much calmer affair than the brick-breaking chaos of the latter. And then there’s two big shooters that came along at the end of the year. Battlefield 6’s multiplayer has seen it return to the glorious, huge-scale carnage that fans wanted, and Arc Raiders has proven a massive success thanks to its “just one more extraction” nature. Rounding out on honourable mentions are a pair of games that like to do things a bit differently when it comes to narrative: Atomfall and Silent Hill f. Both create uneasy worlds in their own ways, and we admire them for their freeform and steadily revealing approaches to storytelling, respectively.

Runner-Up - Hollow Knight: Silksong

It finally happened. 2025 was the year that Hollow Knight: Silksong saw the light of day, and what a relief that we not only got to play it, but it was also extremely good. Team Cherry’s much-anticipated sequel may be a whole lot more punishing than the original, but it is still home to that same magic, which can be found all over its sprawling, bug-sized world full of secret nooks and crannies. The platforming pathways to get to those places are tight and challenging, with new lead, Hornet, showing off a fresh batch of skills stemming from her fundamentally game-changing diagonal dart. But it’s in combat where she really comes into her own, promoting a more aggressive style of play which lets you take the fight to Silksong’s bestiary of bosses. These tough creatures of all shapes and sizes with nasty tricks up their sleeves may have presented some of 2025’s biggest roadblocks, but persevere, and the glory waiting behind them leads to one of this year’s greatest games.

Runner-Up - Dispatch

Superhero drama Dispatch manages to recapture the magic of those Telltale-esque episodic visual novels that we all fell in love with a decade or so ago. Following the story of Robert Robertson, a hero who is nothing without his now-destroyed mech suit, it's a heartwarming tale of redemption that isn’t without its fair share of bite, too. Managing your many relationships, both personal and professional, as they intertangle at Robbie’s place of work, the Superhero Dispatch Network, is key, as is making sure your team of down-and-out supervillains successfully try their hand at crime-stopping.

This half of the game adds a real-time sim management wrinkle to each chapter, as you boost the skills of your squad and send them out on missions that match their skillset. From the hot-head Flambae, to the internet’s new favourite demon Mommy, Malevola, you’re in command of a vibrant and varied bunch that each offer a fun dynamic to each and every scene they’re in. But it's outside of the SDN office monitor that Dispatch really comes to life, as Robertson’s life crumbles around him, and your best attempts at rebuilding it are hidden behind dialogue choices. What comes of its cast of characters, headlined by Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul as Robbie, and with Laura Bailey’s Invisagal stealing most scenes, is up to you. One thing that is guaranteed, though, is a great time.

Runner-Up - Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

In many ways, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach finally fulfilled the promise of its flawed predecessor. Creator Hideo Kojima’s second slice of post-apocalypse delivery adventures dialled up the action, echoing his past Metal Gear Solid successes, whilst still maintaining that singular, lonely vision of a disconnected world. Taking Sam Porter Bridges to Australia, On the Beach hands you a much expanded range of combat options, from silenced sniper rifles to homing missile mechanical dogs, and permits you to go about completing its many, many postal orders however you’d like. This freedom is not just a combat feature, but is reflected in how you go about navigating each of these treacherous delivery routes, too, with new ways to travel over stormy deserts and raging rivers, including huge, looming monorail systems and bonkers coffin hoverboards.

But the weirdness is just one aspect of Death Stranding — and there’s no shortage of it this time around, thanks to Troy Baker’s excellent return as villain Higgs — as its themes of love and loss ultimately dominate, no matter how large the spectacle on screen. Lea Seydoux is subtly brilliant as Fragile, and drives the story from start to finish as the connections between herself, Sam, and baby Lou are steadily revealed. It’s a fantastic example of a vision come to life, and easily one of the best PlayStation games to have come out in 2025.

Runner-Up - Ghost of Yotei

Following up on 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima was always going to be a challenge, but developer Sucker Punch rose to it impressively well with Ghost of Yotei. This sword-slashing epic borrows everything that we loved from its predecessor, but improves on almost all of it in a multitude of fun little ways. The pulsating combat opens up further, with new weapons and skills introduced to deepen its familiar dodge, block, parry, and swing system. Among those additions is the highly satisfying disarming mechanic that has your protagonist, Atsu, send her enemies' blades flying from their grasp. But it's this wandering ronin’s story that drives Yotei’s momentum, turning a simple tale of revenge into something much more beautiful as you explore each corner of its historical Japanese map and soak in both the audio and visual majesty on show

Winner - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Surprise! Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has won another award. It really is that good, though, isn’t it? Sandfall Interactive’s ode to Final Fantasy of years gone by takes that age-old formula and thrusts it firmly into 2025 with lashings of style, soaring music, and a battle system that melds classic turn-based RPG mechanics with exciting real-time elements, making each and every encounter a thrill. All of that style would be nothing without substance, though, and while its combat excites from moment to moment, it’s Clair Obscur’s poignant story and layered cast of characters that make it live long in the memory. Jennifer English is pitch-perfect as Maelle at the heart of Expedition 33’s plot, with Ben Starr’s Verso a wonderful foil as its twisted themes of grief and what it is to love are untangled. All played out in front of a ticking backdrop of the Gommage — a yearly tolling doomsday clock for anyone of a certain age — it’s wonderfully cinematic, making it fit right in alongside many of Sony’s first-party blockbuster offerings.

Taking inspiration from the original PlayStation’s library of Japanese RPGs and bringing those ideas into the future, thanks to an all-timer video game story supported by a combat system as satisfying as it is nuanced, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the clear winner of our award for Best PlayStation Game of 2025.

What was your favourite PS5 game of 2025? Let us know in the comments! For more IGN awards, you can check them all out in one place here, including our picks for the best Xbox and Nintendo games of the year.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

While there were many titles to choose from (just look at all the honorable mentions!), these are IGN staff’s picks for the year’s very best in our combined Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie category.

The Predator franchise returned in a big way this year thanks to director Dan Trachtenberg, whose two Predator movies both made our top five. We count Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein as sci-fi because, well, Mary Shelley’s book is one of the very first sci-fi novels ever published.

While Predator movies and del Toro’s Netflix epic may have had greater visibility, we didn’t want to overlook quirkier fare like Companion or Mickey 17 when selecting our nominees for the year’s best offerings in the sci-fi and fantasy genres.

Honorable Mentions go to Superman, Bugonia, 28 Years Later, How to Train Your Dragon, KPop Demon Hunters, Elio, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, The Legend of Ochi, Arco, OBEX, and Thunderbolts*. (Editor’s note: Avatar: Fire and Ash did not screen for enough staff in time for IGN awards consideration.)

Read on to find out which film is IGN’s best sci-fi or fantasy movie of 2025.

Runner-Up: Predator: Badlands

Prey director Dan Trachtenberg returned to the Predator franchise twice this year, first with the animated anthology film Predator: Killer of Killers (more on that below) and again with Predator: Badlands, the first entry in the nearly 40-year-old franchise to make the titular alien its main protagonist instead of the villain.

The simplistic yet surprisingly emotional Predator: Badlands followed a similar rites of passage story as Prey did, this time following a young Yautja named Dek (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) who seeks to prove himself on a planet where even the trees are deadly.

Badlands is a fun, action-packed romp that also further developed the culture of the Yautja and even offered a healthy dose of humor thanks to teaming a Predator with an Alien franchise synthetic named Thea (Elle Fanning).

Runner-Up: Companion

Drew Hancock’s directorial debut is a sci-fi thriller that offers a mix of humor and bursts of violence to tell the story of a woman who discovers she’s a robot companion caught up in a larger scheme.

Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid are both great as Iris and her owner/boyfriend Josh, with both actors nicely subverting any audience expectations based on their personas from past projects such as Yellowjackets or The Boys, respectively.

This clever and occasionally vicious film ratches up the anticipation as Iris endures one stunning revelation after another.

Runner-Up: Predator: Killer of Killers

Directed by Prey and Predator: Badlands filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg, this Hulu release is the first entry in the franchise to be animated, but that doesn’t mean it pulled back on the graphic bloodshed the series is known for. It’s also the franchise’s first anthology film, telling four different stories of Yautja hunting humans (specifically Vikings, samurai, World War II fighter pilots, and then one other tale which we won’t spoil here).

“Its journey through several time periods is the perfect way to give us multiple Predator stories that each have their own distinct flavor and action highlights,” Eric Goldman said in his Predator: Killer of Killers review for IGN, praising Trachtenberg for “understanding how to provide both Predators and human characters who can kick ass and creatively prove their mettle, no matter which side of the hunt they begin on.”

Runner-Up: Mickey 17

Bong Joon Ho followed up his IGN Best Movie of 2019 winner Parasite (oh, yeah, and Oscar winner, too) with what our critic Siddhant Adlakha called “a jet-black, mean-as-hell sci-fi comedy about a near future in which life itself has been corporatized and reduced in value by a foppish upper class that hides its totalitarian aims behind supposed religious values.”

Robert Pattinson plays multiple incarnations of an “Expendable” worker who is repeatedly killed and re-cloned in order to perform dangerous jobs for an all-powerful corporation. Mickeys 17 and 18 are a pair of oddball sad sacks, and yet they still improbably become the resistance to Mark Ruffalo’s Trump-coded leader in this nihilistic, politically charged film that can often be, to paraphrase Adlakha’s Mickey 17 review, as depressing as it is farcical.

Winner: Frankenstein

Guillermo del Toro finally realized one of his lifelong dream projects with this sumptuously crafted adaptation of Mary Shelley’s pioneering sci-fi novel. As epic as his film is across the board, del Toro’s Frankenstein is, at its core, an intimate, thoughtful story about generational trauma and forgiveness.

While Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth both shine in their leading roles, it’s Jacob Elordi’s career-redefining performance as the Creature that stands out the most, giving the film a heart, soul and an elegance missing from so many past Frankenstein films. “This iteration of Frankenstein is, like its Creature, a beautiful, haunting thing through which classic themes are made to feel fresh and new,” IGN’s Scott Collura observed in his Frankenstein review.

With Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro has made a movie that stands (reanimated) head and (mismatched) shoulders above the rest in this year’s Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie category.

But what do you think? Was Frankenstein the greatest sci-fi/fantasy movie of 2025, or would you pick a different film? Let us know in the comments below, vote in our poll, and be sure to check out our various other best of awards for 2025 across film, TV, gaming, and comics. We’ll see you in 2026.

James Cameron has said Arnold Schwarzenegger’s time as the iconic Terminator is officially over. He instead wants a new generation of characters for the next film in the franchise.

The 78-year-old Schwarzenegger is the only actor to have appeared in all six Terminator films, although he only made it into 2009’s Terminator Salvation via a CGI rendering of his face (perhaps because of this, Schwarzenegger considers Salvation to be the worst film in the franchise).

Here are all the Terminator films released so far:

• The Terminator October 26, 1984
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day July 3, 1991
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines July 2, 2003
• Terminator Salvation May 21, 2009
• Terminator Genisys July 1, 2015
• Terminator: Dark Fate November 1, 2019

Terminator has for some time now been languishing in the doldrums, despite similar 80s and 90s sci-fi franchises such as Alien and Predator enjoying a resurgence. The last movie Cameron directed in the franchise was Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He had no involvement with the three sequels that followed but returned as a producer on Terminator: Dark Fate — a movie he said he was "reasonably happy" with, though he suggested it might have worked better without the original stars.

In 2022, Cameron said another Terminator reboot was "in discussion," but nothing was set in stone, and we’ve heard nothing since. He said at the time: "If I were to do another Terminator film and maybe try to launch that franchise again, which is in discussion, but nothing has been decided, I would make it much more about the AI side of it than bad robots gone crazy."

Now, on the eve of Avatar: Fire and Ash’s launch in theaters, Cameron has issued his strongest comment yet that a new Terminator film will finally get off the ground. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron said that after Avatar settles down in a few months, he’s going to turn his attention to Terminator.

“Once the dust clears on Avatar in a couple of months, I’m going to really plunge into that,” he said. “There are a lot of narrative problems to solve. The biggest is how do I stay enough ahead of what’s really happening to make it science fiction?”

THR suggested Cameron has indeed solved this narrative problem, although he did not say how. What he did say, however, is that Arnold Schwarzenegger will not be in this new Terminator movie.

“I can safely say he won’t be [in it],” Cameron confirmed. “It’s time for a new generation of characters. I insisted Arnold had to be involved in Terminator: Dark Fate, and it was a great finish to him playing the T-800. There needs to be a broader interpretation of Terminator and the idea of a time war and super intelligence. I want to do new stuff that people aren’t imagining.”

That's that, then, for Arnie as the Terminator, even in CGI or AI-powered de-aged form. The 72-year-old Cameron is keeping his cards close to his chest, but it does indeed sound like he wants Terminator to leave the past behind and deliver something truly new. He also insisted he won’t do fan-friendly callbacks, as TV show Alien: Earth has done. “I’m not criticizing it, but I was there for Aliens, what, 41 years ago?” he said. “Something like that wouldn’t be of interest to me.”

“The things that scare you the most are exactly the things you should be doing,” Cameron added. “Nobody should be operating artistically from a comfort zone.”

The question of how a new Terminator project might fit into Cameron’s well-documented hopes for more Avatar movies is an interesting one. Cameron recently admitted he was “absolutely” ready to walk away from Avatar if Fire and Ash flops, which would mean Avatar 4 and 5, which have release dates, wouldn’t get made.

“I’ve been in Avatar land for 20 years,” he said. “Actually 30 years because I wrote it in ‘95, but I wasn’t working continuously on it for those first 10 years. Yeah, absolutely, sure. If this is where it ends, cool.”

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.

With Blumhouse’s next Five Nights at Freddy's film now in theaters, there’s no better time to play through the Five Nights at Freddy’s games. Created by Scott Cawthon, the first Five Nights at Freddy's game launched back in 2014 and has since garnered an incredible fan base. The horror hit has been followed with a wide variety of sequels; from mainline games to plenty of spinoffs.

For those interested in taking on the night shift against these killer animatronics, we’ve detailed how to play each of the mainline FNAF games in both chronological and release date order below.

Jump to:

• How to play in chronological order
• How to play by release order

How Many Five Nights at Freddy’s Games Are There?

There are 12 main FNAF games in total, which we’ve covered below. As far as spin-offs and more challenge-based games go, though, there are 4 additional FNAF games that fall in this category. These are Five Nights at Freddy’s World, Freddy in Space 2, Security Breach: Fury’s Rage, and Ultimate Custom Night.

Which Five Nights at Freddy's Game Should You Play First?

We recommend starting with Five Nights at Freddy's, the series' first entry from 2014. It's the ideal way to familiarize yourself with the series' mechanics, as newer entries build on that original formula. It's also a safe way to begin from a narrative perspective given how convoluted the chronology has become over the last decade.

Five Nights at Freddy’s Games in Chronological Order

For those looking to play through the Five Nights at Freddy’s games in chronological order to get the full story, we’ve done our best to arrange them in story order. If you have different theories about this franchise’s order, though, share them in the comments!

1. Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic (2025)

Available on: PC, PS5

The newest FNAF game happens to be the earliest-set game in the series so far. Secret of the Mimic, from what we can gather from various hints in-game, takes place in 1979, several years before the official opening of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. The Mimic was originally introduced in the Ruin DLC for Security Breach, and plenty of theories have been thrown out there about who (or what) The Mimic really is.

Secret of the Mimic dives into these questions. The player takes on the role of a Fazbear technician named Arnold who's tasked with retrieving the Edwin Murray's inventions from a particularly unsettling Costume Manor. When power goes out at the manor, Arnold begins to notice signs he may not be alone. Secret of the Mimic uses first-person view, leaning into the survival horror genre with subtle hints about the killer animatronics (and their creators) we encounter later in the series.

2. Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 (2015)

Available on: Android/IOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 takes place in 1983. This is assumed because of an easter egg during one of the post-Night minigames that can be seen by interacting with a TV in the living room. After hitting it enough times, it’ll eventually bring up a still for a commercial for a show called Fredbear and Friends, which appears to have aired in 1983, given that’s the date beneath the title.

Compared to its predecessors, though, FNAF 4 has a different setting. This time, you play as a young child in their bedroom rather than as a security guard in an office. Throughout the night, you’ll need to run from your bedroom doors to your closet (and even check behind you on your bed) for a variety of terrifying enemies, but mainly nightmare variations of the original animatronics: Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy. Listen out for them and keep your flashlight close to scare them away.

3. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (2014)

Available on: Android/IOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is next in a chronological playthrough and brings players to the newly-opened Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza to work the night shifts as a security guard. FNAF 2 also introduces new animatronics in the mix alongside updated versions of its classics. These new additions are The Puppet and Balloon Boy, so you’ll have more to watch out for on the cameras.

This time around, you’re also given a Freddy Fazbear head to wear in case the animatronics happen to reach your office. With it on, most of the animatronics will have a harder time recognizing you and leave, which’ll buy you some more time before the crack of dawn. You also have a music box that you need to keep wound up to keep The Puppet away. This animatronic won’t be fooled by your sneaky little fake Freddy head, so make sure to keep the music box going.

We’ve placed this game as second in line for a chronological playthrough, as it’s set in 1987. This can be assumed from the paycheck you receive at the end of Night 5, which is dated for that year.

4. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (2016)

Available on: Android/IOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

In a departure from the previous game, and as its title may point to, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location takes place at a different spot called Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, which features its own animatronics as well. This time around, you play as a technician working night shifts with a series of tasks to complete alongside surviving the animatronics.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location is actually a bit trickier to place on the timeline, and many fans still debate when it could be set. The reason we’ve chosen this slot is because of a line HandUnit says at the beginning of the game: “Due to the massive success, and even more so, the unfortunate closing of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, it was clear that the stage was set, no pun intended, for another contender in children’s entertainment.” This line could be referencing when Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza closed down in ‘87 following FNAF 2, which is also brought up by Phone Guy in FNAF 1 during Night 1. So, for now, having Sister Location between the two seems like a good fit. Let us know your theories in the comments below, though!

5. Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014)

Available on: Android/IOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

The one that started it all. Five Nights at Freddy’s was the first game that had players taking on the security guard mantle to keep watch of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza for five night shifts. Mainly, you need to keep an eye on the animatronics there: Chica, Bonnie, Foxy, and of course, Freddy Fazbear. Their behavior has become a bit unpredictable lately, and they like to roam around freely at night… just make sure they don’t roam into your office.

Alongside the cameras that need to be checked, players can also close the security doors near them if the animatronics get too close during the night. Keep in mind, though, you only have limited amounts of power to use. Once it’s gone, goodbye doors and lights!

Five Nights at Freddy’s takes place a few years later than the previously mentioned games, likely sometime in the early ‘90s. This can be assumed from Phone Guy’s dialogue during Night 1 where he says that the animatronics used to be able to walk around during the day, “but then there was the bite of ‘87.” This helps place it after FNAF 2 and before FNAF3, which we’ll get to next.

6. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit (2024)

Available on: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC

Into the Pit, the latest game in the series, is a point-and-click adventure based on the Five Nights at Freddy's book of the same name. The story is split between two time periods: modern day and 1985.

It's uncertain where Into the Pit's modern storyline fits into the series' chronology, or if it exists within the ongoing narrative at all, though assuming it does, we're confident it takes place around the time of Five Nights at Freddy's 3. We've placed it ahead of FNaF3 given several items found in Jeff's Pizza, the setting of Into the Pit, can be found at FNaF3's Fazbear's Fright, which was said to be decorated with remains from the original restaurant, which later became Jeff's Pizza.

7. Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 (2015)

Available on: Android/IOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

According to Five Nights at Freddy’s 3’s Steam description, this game is set “Thirty years after Freddy Fazbear's Pizza closed its doors,” which would put it after the events of FNAF 1, given that’s when Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza closed for good, and, if we’re going with the early ‘90s, would set it sometime around the 2020s. It brings players into a brand new location as well… Fazbear’s Fright: The Horror Attraction. Yes, this new attraction is based on the terrifying events that happened in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and they even have old animatronics from it to really keep you on your toes!

Once again, you step into the shoes of a security guard keeping watch of the attraction and its “great new relics” that have been picked up. Like before, you’ll have security cameras to monitor, but this time you also have a maintenance panel to reboot systems that go offline and close off vents to prevent those creepy animatronics from crawling toward your office space.

8. Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator (2017)

Available on: Android/IOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

If you’re feeling tired of working security or maintenance, why not make the jump into running your own pizza place? In Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, you get to do just that. But don’t worry, this game isn’t without its frights. You’ll still need to keep the animatronics away from you when in your office, and there’s plenty to monitor when you’re in there as well.

Not only do you have a computer near you to keep tabs on everything and complete your tasks, but you’ll need to watch the vents on both sides of you for anything that could be crawling through. However, both your computer and the vents make quite a bit of noise, so you’ll have to take turns shutting them off to hear your surroundings.

Throughout the game, you’ll salvage animatronics as well. One of these is Springtrap, whose first appearance in the series was in FNAF 3, which places this game sometime after it in a chronological playthrough.

9. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted (2019)

Available on: Android/IOS, Nintendo Switch, Oculus Quest, PSVR, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted was the franchise’s first step into VR - and later came out on PC and consoles. Developed by Steel Wool Studios in collaboration with Scott Cawthon, in Help Wanted you can play through a variety of mini-games that feature familiar animatronics and experiences from earlier games in the series.

But where does this game fit into the timeline? During the opening ‘Welcome’ message for the game, HandUnit states that “Fazbear Entertainment has developed something of a bad reputation over the last few decades, [...] That's why we have recreated many of these completely fictitious scenarios (lies) that you've been fed over the last several years into a hilarious VR game.” And given that Help Wanted recreates situations from previous games in the timeline up to FNAF 3 on our list, it makes sense to place it after that game and near Pizzeria Simulator.

10. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Special Delivery (2019)

Available on: IOS/Android

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Special Delivery is an Augmented Reality game that was released on mobile devices just a few months after Help Wanted. Much like how Help Wanted immersed you into FNAF in VR, Special Delivery did the same by bringing the animatronics home to you. In this game, you have to keep an eye out for them on your mobile device as they stalk around the room, utilizing a flashlight and controlled shock to stop them.

Similar to Help Wanted, Special Delivery involves its own branch of Fazbear Entertainment. Here, the Fazbear Funtime Service is what’s sending the animatronics to your house and, when it comes to the franchise’s timeline, it would make sense that they’d create something like this around the time of The Freddy Fazbear Virtual Experience in Help Wanted. Given how HandUnit explains at the start of Help Wanted that, “Fazbear Entertainment is excited to join the digital age, and what better way to do that than with an edge-of-your-seat virtual reality experience,” it sounds like that was their first endeavor, and this would be their second outing into it.

11. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach (2021)

Available on: Google Stadia, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch

Security Breach is the second game in the franchise to be developed between both Scott and Steel Wool Studios, following Help Wanted. It’s a free-roam survival horror where you play as a young boy named Gregory who gets trapped at night in Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex. Throughout the night, he’ll need to survive the various animatronics, but with a surprising helpful hand along the way.

In a chronological playthrough, this game comes in last. This can largely be taken away from the fact that Freddy Fazbear’s has now grown into a Mega Pizzaplex, but there’s also a moment in one of the endings that helps confirm that it’s set after one of the previously mentioned games. However, so as to avoid spoilers, we’ll let you uncover that ending on your own!

The free Ruin DLC for Security Breach is also available to play now. Our Security Breach wiki guide has a walkthrough, collectibles guide, and information on how to start the Ruin DLC if you need it, too.

12. Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2 (2023)

Available on: PlayStation 5, PC, PSVR2, Steam VR, Meta Quest

Once again developed by Steel Wool Studios in collaboration with Scott Cawthon, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 is pretty similar to its predecessor, featuring a wide variety of minigames for you to dig into. But where does this game land on the Five Nights at Freddy’s timeline?

Help Wanted 2 takes place between Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach and its DLC, RUIN. That makes it the last full game in the lore’s current timeline, but not quite the very final event. This slightly complicated placement is due to one of Help Wanted 2’s endings, in which your character becomes the Maskbot that gives the V.A.N.N.I mask to Cassie, the protagonist from the RUIN DLC. This interaction with her happens towards the start of RUIN, meaning the events of Help Wanted 2 start sometime before that DLC.

In keeping with its older sibling, Help Wanted 2 is also a VR game! It’s available on PSVR 2, Steam VR, and Meta Quest. And for those who don’t want to be fully immersed as a Fazbear employee, a flat version of the game was also released on June 20 for PlayStation 5 and PC.

Five Nights at Freddy’s Games in Release Order

If you’re interested in playing through the main Five Nights at Freddy’s games in their release order, you can find them listed as such below:

• Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (2014)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 (2015)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 (2015)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (2016)
• Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator (2017)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted (2019)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s AR: Special Delivery (2019)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach (2021)
• Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2 (2023)
• Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit (2024)
• Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic (2025)

The Future of Five Nights at Freddy’s

There's no official word on new Five Night's at Freddy's games in development, though we're sure they exist. In the meantime, a sequel to the Five Nights at Freddy's movie starring Josh Hutcherson just hit theaters. If you're not afraid of spoilers, feel free to check out Matt Donato's review of the movie for IGN.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.

The holiday period is a great time to catch up on some of this year’s games that may have passed you by. If Ninja Gaiden 4 was on your list of games to play, Best Buy is offering a $15 discount on both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions right now as part of its Deal of the Day (see it here).

This offer brings its price down from $69.99 to $54.99, which is a nice little early holiday treat to jump on. Again, since it’s part of Best Buy's Deal of the Day selection, the timer on its sale page has already started counting down until the end of today. Now is the time to take advantage of this limited-time deal and add it to your library for a little less.

Save $15 on Ninja Gaiden 4 (PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X)

If Star Trek Discovery ever made you curious about "The Burn," that 31st Century disaster that crippled the Federation, then the comic series Star Trek: The Last Starship is for you. This series follows the last starship crew left standing after every warp core in the galaxy explodes. And most intriguingly of all, they count the resurrected Captain James T. Kirk as a crew member.

We've seen how exactly Kirk is resurrected centuries after his death, but many questions still remain. Those questions will have to wait, though, as Captain Sato and the crew of the USS Omega are dealing with a major Klingon attack. Star Trek: The Last Starship #3 not only chronicles a bloody battle between the Omega and the Klingon fleet, but it ends with arguably the greatest tragedy in the history of the Federation. Earth has declared independence, abandoning the high-minded ideals it represented for so long.

To break down that shocking twist and the other big developments in The Last Starship #3, IGN spoke with writers Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing. Read on to learn more and to see an exclusive preview of Star Trek: The Last Starship #4.

IGN: Issues #2 and #3 really highlight the contrast between Kirk and Captain Sato and how the latter is having to confront the necessity of war for the first time in his career. Do you see that as one of the core struggles of the series, where members of the Federation are having to face a new reality after an era of such unprecedented peace?

Collin Kelly: Absolutely. Captain Sato is a child of that peace; Starfleet’s best captain, the Picard of the age. There’s a reason this story began in his shining moment just as it burns. When a fully functioning system falls apart, the ensuing vacuum can give rise to anything …and sadly, just like in our own time, the first thing to rise is violence.

Jackson Lanzing: The dialectic between Sato’s experience and Kirk’s is the center of the entire series - and I think readers can really start to see how that will grow after the events of issue #3. Sato tried to solve the Klingon situation peacefully, but that left him with dead comrades and a hopeless stand. He sees Kirk’s methods as brutal, as ancient - it’s like if the Joint Chiefs gave the nuclear codes to Genghis Khan. But it works - at least, it keeps the Omega alive. But in the process, Sato not only loses something crucial - his innocence - but Kirk witnesses the true wages of that violence: a burning Earth, ready to turn its back on everything it stood for. This is an opening debate about methods and means. It won’t be the last. And it’ll only get more devastating from here.

IGN: We see from Kirk’s monologue in issue #2 that he has all his memories, up to and including his death in Star Trek: Generations. How much is he fueled by his lingering hatred and distrust of the Klingons? How much does he struggle with the question of whether he’s a facsimile of James T. Kirk or the real deal?

Lanzing: It’s his defining struggle. Is this man truly James Kirk? Is he a facsimile? Is he a man given new life or a ghost brought back to haunt his own burning legacy? And are those memories worth anything anymore? In issue #2 and 3, we see the value of his experience as a captain and a warrior against the Klingons - but it involves letting himself fall back into patterns of hatred that he thought he’d overcome. Will that shape a new man from this new Kirk? Or will he find his way back to the legend in this darkest of times?

Kelly: Then of course there’s the biggest question on his mind: why did the Borg bring him back in the first place? Is he a trap for his fellow crewmates? Forget the Burn - is Kirk the sword that will destroy the Federation once and for all?

Superhero workplace comedy game Dispatch has just popped up on the Nintendo eShop for Switch and Switch 2, and is already available to pre-order.

There's been no formal word yet by developer AdHoc Studio, but the Nintendo eShop listing is now live in Australia, where Switch owners can pre-order the game. There's even a release date, too: January 29, 2026.

For Nintendo Switch 2 owners, a free upgrade pack will be available to download separately, providing a version of the game with enhanced resolution and improved frame rates. As of yet, there's no sign of the game arriving on Xbox — though we'll update this article again when AdHoc makes any formal announcement.

Dispatch first launched back in October for PC and PlayStation 5, where it quickly won over a legion of fans for its quirky, episodic storytelling, and shifted 2 million copies over its first month on sale — something its team had projected the game would reach after two years.

The game features an ensemble cast of heroes voiced by some famous faces, including Aaron Paul, Laura Bailey, Jeffrey Wright, and Matthew Mercer, while its development team features key personel from Telltale Games' heyday, who previously worked on The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us and Tales from the Borderlands.

"Dispatch is a sharp-witted workplace comedy that charms with its smart dialogue choices, great writing, and lovably aggravating cast," IGN wrote in our Dispatch review, scoring the game with a super 9/10.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launched last month to become the best-selling game of November in the U.S. by dollar sales. It's both a huge sales feat and a common Call of Duty W, as the franchise has topped the charts in its launch month every year for 18 straight years. However, it looks like its rival Battlefield 6 will reign at the top of the U.S. sales charts at year's end.

This comes from Circana's monthly report, which has Black Ops 7 debuting as the best-selling game of November and the seventh best-selling game of the year-to-date, behind Battlefield 6 at No.1, NBA 2K26 at No.2, Monster Hunter Wilds at No.3, Borderlands 4 at No.4, EA Sports College Football 26 at No.5, and Madden NFL 26 at No.6.

All of those games have a few more months on the market on Call of Duty, but it's still a lot of ground to make up in a single month, and Call of Duty's at a bit of a disadvantage. The game launched into Game Pass, meaning its actual dollar sales on Xbox consoles are much lower than that of its rivals as people use the subscription service to access it instead, and there's no good recent data on how Call of Duty's presence on the service impacts subscriptions.

It is worth noting, though, that Black Ops 7 doesn't seem to be doing as well as Black Ops 6, a fact that's reflected in everything from the critical review scores to fan response to European sales figures to Activision's own admissions. Circana reports that the Call of Duty franchise saw a double-digit dollar sales decline compared to November 2024, and Circana senior director Mat Piscatella tells me that November full game dollar sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 finished below those of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 last November, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launching in the October 2024 tracking period.

It is Piscatella's projection that Battlefield 6 is "extremely likely" to finish as the best-selling game of 2025 in the U.S. This would not be the only time Call of Duty didn't top the annual charts in recent memory. In 2023, Hogwarts Legacy defeated Modern Warfare 3, and that was with Modern Warfare 3 not launching into Game Pass. However, Black Ops 6 still dominated in 2024, and prior to that only Rockstar's GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 had been able to dethrone Call of Duty going all the way back to 2008's Rockband.

Given all that, it's perhaps unsurprising that Activision is considering significant changes to how it plans and releases its Call of Duty franchises year after year. Then again, while Battlefield 6 had an incredible launch, it recently introduced an update that broke the game in pretty significant ways across PC and consoles.

It was a weird November for all, I guess. Game sales in general had a shockingly weak November in the U.S., as we covered in our larger roundup of Circana's numbers. You can see what's going on and why gaming hardware and physical software just had the worst November since 1995 right here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Spoilers follow for IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1.

One of the standout characters of HBO's IT prequel series Welcome to Derry has without a doubt been Dick Hallorann, as portrayed by actor Chris Chalk (Gotham, Perry Mason). Of course, the interesting thing about Dick is that Stephen King fans know he'll eventually become the head chef at the Overlook Hotel, where he'll have a fateful run-in with the Torrance family in The Shining.

But since Welcome to Derry Season 1 is set in 1962, and far from the Overlook, this Dick Hallorann is just a young Air Force Airman who is still struggling with his ability to "shine." It's a traumatic, debilitating power that he has, which makes this version of Dick quite different from the jolly, benevolent version Scatman Crothers played in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film.

"I think what Dick wants is just love, just like everybody else," Chalk told me when I asked about how the character will eventually evolve into the version of him in The Shining. "And I think he wonders if he can have love if he can read everybody's mind, and who would accept him if they knew who he really was? ... And then when we see him alone in The Shining. It didn't work."

For Chalk, Dick's shining powers are "a big-time curse" because "he's perpetually wanting love and cannot get it, because if I can read your mind, I'm going to cheat. You know what I mean? I'm going to figure out who you really are."

November 2025 was a shockingly terrible month for video game sales in the U.S. While we traditionally think of November as a huge sales month what with Black Friday and all, November 2025 was the worst November in video game hardware unit sales, and the worst in physical software dollar sales the U.S. has seen since 1995.

That's according to Circana's monthly report, which paints a pretty dismal picture of last month's commercial performance. The industry in the U.S. saw declines across the board in hardware, accessories, and console spending for an overall drop of 4% year-over-year, at $5.9 billion in total spending.

Hardware

More specifically, hardware spending was down a whopping 27% year-over-year to $695 million, the lowest hardware spending total for November since 2005's $455 million. Even worse, unit sales reached 1.6 million, which is the lowest November total since 1995's 1.4 million.

And that's representative of declines across the board. Xbox Series hardware sales were down 70% year-over-year. PS5 sales were down over 40%, and combined unit sales of Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 were down over 10% from Switch sales last year, despite this being a launch year for the Nintendo Switch 2.

What's going on? As pointed out by Circana senior director Mat Piscatella, video game hardware has never been more expensive, reaching an all-time November high of $439 per unit, up 11% year-over-year. The Xbox specifically saw its average price per unit increase by over 30%, perhaps confirming one reason why folks aren't so keen to buy Xboxes specifically.

With the Nintendo Switch 2, Piscatella says he's watching its sales "very closely," and offers this analysis of its current situation:

With six months in the market, it remains the fastest-selling video game hardware in U.S. history. However, part of what was driving that was its availability to be bought during its launch window. It's been extremely rare to have such a successful new device not suffer supply constraints going into its first holiday sales period. Unit sales of Switch 2 were lower than those of Switch 1 during each console's first November, but the price points are also quite different. The average price paid for a new Nintendo Switch in November 2017 was $309 (which, if adjusted for inflation, is approximately $405 in November 2025 dollars), compared to the $486 for Switch 2 in November 2025. Perhaps it is a case of demand having been pulled forward earlier in the year because people could find them. Or perhaps the mass market is not as quickly adopting Switch 2 as it did Switch. Or perhaps consumers are looking elsewhere for holiday gifting as the prices continue to rise in video game hardware. Tough to say at the moment.

There's one piece of hardware that's doing okay, and it's not what you'd expect: the NEX Playground. It was the third best-selling piece of video game hardware of November by unit sales, surpassing the Xbox Series, while the more expensive Xbox Series beat it in dollar sales (the PS5 was first in both categories, the Switch 2 was second). Piscatella calls the NEX Playground a "remarkable story," noting that while everyone else is having a bad time, it just had a superb November by comparison:

November 2025 tracked unit sales at U.S. retailers for NEX Playground were just 7% below its entire tracked lifetime sales at retail through October. With an average selling price of just over $200 in November, strong placement at retail, and some successful influencer and viral marketing efforts, the NEX Playground became one of the hottest video game products of the holiday season during the month. We'll have to see how well the pace can keep up, as there are reports that the NEX Playground is now largely sold out, with secondary market prices on sites like eBay soaring accordingly.

There could be a lesson here that more affordable, family friendly gaming devices carry appeal during holiday gifting season.

Software

Things aren't looking much better on the content side. While Circana reports that content spending was up 1% year-over-year to $4.8 billion, that's with subscription spending rising 16% and 2% growth in mobile. Physical software sales, meanwhile, dropped 14% year-over-year to the worst November since 1995, the year Circana began tracking them.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 put the Call of Duty franchise back on top for another debut month in November as the month's best-seller, marking the 18th year in a row a Call of Duty has launched to the top of the charts. That said, Circana reports that the franchise saw a double-digit percentage full game dollar sales decline when compared to November 2024.

It's a little tricky to make precise comparisons between Black Ops 7 and its predecessor, Black Ops 6, given both games launched into Xbox Game Pass, and Black Ops 6 released in October last year, not November. Still, Piscatella tells me that Black Ops 7's full game dollar sales finished below those of Black Ops 6's last November. Additionally, Black Ops 7 is currently the seventh best-selling game of the year-to-date, and Piscatella anticipates that its rival, Battlefield 6, will end the year as the best-selling game of 2025. This isn't the first time in recent memory it's been beaten, with Hogwarts Legacy coming out on top in 2023. Notably, that year, Hogwarts Legacy beat Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, which did not launch into Game Pass, while Black Ops 7 this year did, almost certainly making its actual dollar sales total lower as a result.

It's worth noting as well that accessories spending was down 13% year-over-year.

Red Flags

This is shaping up to be a pretty weird year. I asked Piscatella what he makes of all this, and what it means for the games industry. He pointed out that much of the story remains to be told in December, and that it's possible consumers are waiting for better deals closer to the holidays. Alternatively, it's possible that economic factors and price of consoles are pushing people to hold off on gaming purchases. Here's what Piscatella had to say:

Retail spending had been holding up relatively well until now, despite the pressure from higher prices we've been seeing in the market. More affluent consumers have kept on spending so far, which has made up for some of the declines in spending from the less affluent portions of the market. Perhaps this is a sign that those higher prices are beginning to impact purchases of pricier items, like consoles. Perhaps not.

However, if the crunch on RAM pricing continues, if we see rising prices on consoles and gaming PCs over the coming months it could, theoretically, be potentially devastating to the dedicated gaming device market. Which would, of course, have potential carryover effects on the content side.

I certainly see some of the relationships between hardware unit sales and pricing we're seeing in the November results as a red flag.

We won't get the December and full-year results in until January, which will tell us a lot more about whether the games industry is about to enter a lean period, or if this November was just a goofy one-off.

November 2025 U.S. Top 20 Best-Selling Games:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (NEW)
2. Battlefield 6
3. NBA 2K26
4. Madden NFL 26
5. EA Sports FC 26
6. Pokemon Legends: Z-A*
7. Ghost of Yotei
8. EA Sports College Football 26
9. Minecraft*
10. Kirby Air Riders (NEW)*
11. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (NEW)*
12. The Outer Worlds 2
13. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
14. Donkey Kong Bananza*
15. Marvel's Spider-Man 2
16. Red Dead Redemption II
17. Grand Theft Auto V
18. Borderlands 4
19. Forza Horizon 5
20. Digimon Story: Time Stranger

* Indicates that some or all digital sales are not included in Circana's data. Some publishers, including Nintendo, do not share certain digital data for this report.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Seán "Jacksepticeye" McLoughlin is executive producing a new horror movie called Godmother.

According to Collider, the independent thriller will star Paige Evans (Revival), Cameron Cuffe (Krypton), Riley Dandy (Christmas Bloody Christmas), 'scream queen' Dee Wallace (E.T.), and Bruce Davison (X-Men) and follows Theo (Evans) as she and her boyfriend Colby (Cuffe) head into the High Desert for a romantic weekend, only to have their plans "slowly encroached upon by a pair of unsettlingly friendly retirees (Wallace and Davison) with dark designs for her."

SURPRISE! I'm producing an independent horror film. pic.twitter.com/5eWbYrHcIc

— Jacksepticeye (@Jacksepticeye) December 16, 2025

Wallace is best known for playing Mary Taylor in Steven Spielberg's E.T., but she has starred in a number of horror hits, including The Stepford Wives (1975), The Hills Have Eyes (1977), The Howling (1981), Cujo (1983), Critters (1986), The Frighteners (1996), Halloween (2007), The House of the Devil (2009), and The Lords of Salem (2012).

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."

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.

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."

Palworld v0.7 patch notes:

ULTRAKILL Collab!

• Added V1 and V2 armor sets! Terrorize the Palpagos Islands as your favorite blood-fueled robot!
• Added a pair of iconic weapons from ULTRAKILL!
• Unique Mechanic - Coin Toss
  • Throw coins while using the Marksman Revolver to perform a Ricoshot! Bullets will ricochet off the thrown coin and deal devastating damage to nearby targets!

Base Building Improvements

• Added 48 new building parts, including triangular pieces!
• Added the ability to change the color of some buildings and foundations!
• Changed the building UI to a list-based system.

Raid Boss Improvements

• Added a new raid boss!
• Added a new battlefield for raid bosses. Players can now choose to challenge raid bosses in their base or in a new separate battlefield.

Melee Combat Improvements

• Improved the melee gameplay for swords, katanas and beam swords. Pressing left click (right trigger) will perform a new consecutive combo attack.
• Special attacks have been added to the katana and beam sword. Holding either left or right click (left or right trigger) will activate these abilities.

New Features

• Added PvP functionality (Experimental!).
• [PC - Steam Only] Added Steam Workshop, allowing players to download and use mods.

Mechanic Adjustments

• When placing a building, an arrow indicating the building's orientation will now be displayed.
• When placing a building, buildings with a set work location will now display a Cattiva icon indicating the work location.
• Adjusted the Palbox so it can be aligned with foundations and roofs.
• [Keyboard & Mouse Controls] Building controls have been made more intuitive, and continuous building has been changed to the default setting.

Balance Adjustments

• Added new implants to the surgery table:
  • Implant: Mine Foreman
  • Implant: Logging Foreman
  • Implant: Fine Furs
  • Implant: Sleek Stroke
  • Implant: Work Slave
• You can now get a Little Kinship Peach from a Pal when freeing them from an enemy camp.
• The last hit done to an enemy while using mercy will now display ""MERCY HIT"" to indicate that no damage was done.
• Changed specifications so that all Pals will no longer lose SAN when taking damage.
• Reduced the impact of bad status effects:
  • Hungry... Attack, Defense, Work Speed ​​-20% → -10%
  • Starving... Attack, Defense, Work Speed ​​-50% → -20%
  • Cold... Work Speed ​​-10% → -5%
  • Sprain... Movement Speed ​​-10% → -5%
  • Overfull... Increased hunger loss rate by 100% → +50%
  • Ulcer... Work Speed ​​-20%, Movement Speed ​​-10% → Work Speed ​​-10%, Movement Speed ​​-5%
  • Fracture... Work Speed ​​-10%, Movement Speed ​​-20% → Work Speed ​​-5%, Movement Speed ​​-10%
  • Weakened... Work Speed ​​-20%, Movement Speed ​​-30% → Work Speed ​​-10%, Movement Speed ​​-20%
  • Depressed... -30% Work Speed, -20% Movement Speed ​​→ -20% Work Speed, -10% Movement Speed
• Changed the attribute of the Broncherry's unique skill ""Body Smash"" from neutral to the grass.
• Changed the attribute of Rushoar's unique skill "Heavy Charge" from neutral to earth.
• Added "Item Decay Speed ​​Multiplier" to the Options Settings.
• ・[Dedicated Servers] Police NPCs targeting players who have committed crimes will now only deal damage to the target player and their guild.
• ・The appearance of the work aptitude icon has been changed.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Flopie would not collect dropped items in the field while her partner skill "Helper Bunny" was active.
• Improved Pal pathfinding AI ​​to make it easier to reach the target location within the base.
• Fixed an issue where summoned Pals would attack visitors when set to "attack aggressively."
• Fixed an issue where attacking visitors in your base would not result in the correct attacking state.
• Many other minor bug fixes.

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.

Elden Ring Nightreign Update 1.03.1 patch notes:

Additional content

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.

Balance Adjustments and Feature Updates

• Increased the Fire, Magic, Lightning, or Holy related curse effects applied to weapons and items that occur in the temples of the Great Hollow Shifting Earth.
• Adjusted the Continuous HP Loss & Continuou powers HP Recovery curse effects that occur in the temples of the Great Hollow Shifting Earth.
• Decreased the attack power of the wolves summoned that appear during the Tricephalos raid event.
• Added a stack count display to the damage negation reduction icon that appears when hitting enemies with level 3 Dart-type items thanks to Scholar’s Bagcraft Skill.
• Shcolar’s Ultimate Art Communion will no longer break when transforming using Executor's Ultimate Art Aspects of the Crucible: Beast.
• Added a near-death animation when reviving with the Power to Balance the World special effect.
• When swapping identical consumables in the Equipment Menu, they will now combine in accordance to their stack limit.
• Added icons and explanations to indicate active effects for some special effects in the status menu.
• When pinning an item, the item rarity color will now be displayed in the You indicated equipment message.
• When engulfed in the Night’s Tide in the Great Hollow Shifting Earth, your character’s feet will now appear to be burning.
• Expanded the range of clues discovered when using a map to reveal hidden clues in the Great Hollow Shifting Earth.
• Added additional types of attacks when fighting the Night Aspect if all Nightfarers present own The Forsaken Hollows DLC.
• You can now remap the Map Display key in the system menu's keyboard/mouse settings.
  • Note: remapping this key will also change the navigation key in some menus, such as "Open All Presets" in the Relic Rites Menu.

Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Fixed a bug in the Sentient Pest fight where the boss would not lose sight of the player when using Duchess's Ultimate Art Finale.
• Fixed a bug where the effect of Scholar's Skill Communion would continue to be applied to the player even if no other targets were affected.
• Fixed a bug where the damage to linked enemies and healing to allies would not propagate correctly in the event where a Scholar was put into a Near Death state during the activation of his Communion Ultimate Art.
• Fixed a bug in Scholar's Skill Analyze where the art gauge would not increase from the shockwave triggered on oneself at maximum charge.
• Fixed a bug where the number of targets analyzed by Scholar's Skill Analyse would reset if any player would perform the Open door action to transition to the boss fight within the Spirit Tree shelter.
• Fixed a bug in Scholar's ability Bagcraft where the damage negation reduction effect’s duration would not extend when hitting enemies with level 3 Dart items.
• Fixed a bug in Scholar's ability Bagcraft where the damage negation reduction effect would not be applied according to the number of hits when hitting enemies with level 3 Fan Daggers.
• Fixed a bug in Scholar's ability Bagcraft where the healing effect added to the level 3 Holy Water Pot would not cause damage to the Royal Revenant.
• Fixed a bug where the Crystal Tear count would not display correctly when obtaining a second one from Dormant Powers as Scholar.
• Fixed a bug with the Frozen Needle attack motions as Scholar.
• Fixed a bug where some enemies appearing in specific Scholar’s Remembrances would not behave as expected.
• Fixed an issue where the immortality granted by Revenant's Ultimate Art Immortal March was not being overwritten by other visual effects.
• Fixed a bug where the effect added by the skill Mists of Slumber to the Sword of St. Trina by the special would disappear upon taking enemy attacks.
• Fixed a bug where Bow attacks affected by the Black Flame Blade and Bloodflame Blade incantations would not remove the frostbite status effect from enemies.
• Fixed a bug where the Improved Rolling Attacks passive effect was not applied to Bows.
• Fixed a bug where the Partial HP Restoration upon Post-Damage Attacks effect would not trigger on critical hits performed with Bows.
• Fixed a bug where the player character would accumulate frostbite status ailment while standing on the area created by the Holy Ground skill while the weapon is imbued with frost by the Chilling Mist skill .
• Fixed a bug where the effect applied to the weapon by the Black Flame Blade incantation would not be applied to attacks made with the Frenzyflame Thrust skill.
• Fixed a bug where the effect applied to the weapon by the Black Flame Blade incantation would be applied in hitbox of the Wave of Gold and Thundercloud Form skills.
• Fixed a bug where the Golden Retaliation skill and the Carian Retaliation skill/sorcery would not rescue allies from a near-death state in some instances.
• Fixed a bug where attack power enhancing effects would be not applied to the Regal Beastclaw and Wave of Gold skills.
• Fixed a bug where charging a skill/spell by holding the cast button would not enhance the Ancient Death Rancor sorcery and the Beast Claw incantation.
• Fixed a bug where the post-cast delay of the Beast Claw incantation could not be canceled by chaining it with a sorcery or incantation.
• Fixed a bug where attribute marks created by Recluse’s Passive Skill Elemental Defense did not appear with attacks from a weapon imbued with an attribute by the Order's Blade incantation.
• Fixed a bug where the reduced HP recovery from the Black Flame's Protection incantation would also affect the shared healing from the Flask Also Heals Allies relic effect.
  • Allies that receive shared healing from this effect will have their HP recovery reduced if they are under the effect of the Black Flame's Protection incantation.
• Fixed a bug where the Creates Holy Ground at Low HP effects would overwrite each other when players with the same special effect stand near each other.
• Fixed a bug where the Critical Hits Inflict Blood Loss special effect did not display its physical attack power enhancement effect.
• When the "Communion Grants Anti-Dragon Effect" special effect adds an Anti-Dragon Effect to a weapon, additional physical damage will now be applied as well.
• Fixed a bug where the Cold Mirage special effect was not properly applied to Executor's Ultimate Art Aspects of the Crucible: Beast.
• Fixed a bug where the player would be defeated even after reviving from a near-death state through the Power to Balance the World special effect when playing a Solo Expedition.
• Fixed a bug where enemies directly defeated by Raider's Ultimate Art Totem Stela would not be counted by the Defeating enemies near Totem Stela restores HP relic effect.
• Fixed a bug where the attack power enhancement at the sixth stage of the Attack power increased for each Evergaol prisoner defeated relic effect would be differed than expected.
• Fixed a bug where the stacks granted by relics that grant accumulating effects while on an Expedition would disappear if the player died and revived during an Expedition after reaching a certain number of stacks.
• Fixed a bug where the Increased rune acquisition for self and allies Relic Effect would not share its effect to allies after dying and reviving once.
• Fixed a bug where the weapon Great Bow of the Erdtree would not appear as intended.
• Fixed a bug where the near-death gauge state from the second day's boss battle would carry over if any player would perform the Open door action to start the final fight in the Spirit Shelter.
• Fixed a bug where it would be not possible to lock on to a near-death ally in some cases.
• Improved the hit detection and effect position of ground-based attacks accuracy used by the boss during the fight against Gaping Jaw.
• Fixed a bug in the combat with Everdark Sovereign Equilibrious Beast where enemy Raiders would spawn if a Revenant in specific costumes was present during the Expedition.
• Fixed a bug where other players could not deal damage to the Dancer of the Boreal Valley while a critical hit was performed against her.
• Fixed a bug in the fight against the Dreglord where some spells or ghosts summoned by Revenant's skill Summon Spirit would sometimes aim incorrectly.
• Fixed a bug in the fight against the Dreglord where enemy attacks intended for specific players would sometimes target other players.
• Fixed a bug in the fight against the Dreglord where players could become stuck inside objects and be unable to move.
• Fixed a bug in the fight against the Dreglord where the timing of the music during multiplayer did not align with the intended sequence.
• Fixed a bug in the fight against the Balancers where the sound effect for enemy grab attacks would not play.
• Fixed a bug where the defeat animation would not occur when the Demon in Pain and Demon from Below bosses would be defeated simultaneously.
• Fixed a bug where arrows hitting the heads of the Demon in Pain and Demon from Below bosses did not deal increased damage.
• Fixed a bug where some Night bosses would die if a player who had previously left the session rejoined under some circumstances.
• Fixed a bug where the Curseblade Night boss version would sometimes perform specific attacks at unintended timings.
• Fixed a bug where enemies summoned by some bosses in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth would not disappear even after the boss was defeated.
• Fixed a bug in in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where the Tree Guard that appear in the temple would not die.
• Adjusted the behavior of some enemies in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth
• Fixed a bug in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where unintended enemies would appear in some areas.
• Fixed a bug where the Omenkillers located in the Blacksmith Village could not be hit under certain conditions.
• Fixed a bug where some enemies added in the DLC The Forsaken Hollows would not drop appropriate weapons upon defeat.
• Fixed a bug in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where HP was not fully restored when a player died with its maximum HP reduced by the Crystal Curse, and then respawned in an area unaffected by the Crystal Curse.
• Fixed a bug in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where site of graces and blacksmithing tables would appear even though the special merchant did not.
• Fixed a bug in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where players could become immune to the effects of the Crystal Curse when moving to the Eastern Underground Fort or the temple under certain conditions.
• Fixed a bug in the temple in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where it would be impossible to proceed under certain conditions.
• Fixed a bug in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where additional enemies that appear during the combat might already be present from the start if a player left and then returned to the temple during a boss fight.
• Fixed a bug in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where players could sometimes get stuck on some treasure chests and be unable to move.
• Fixed a bug in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where the players who remained in the session if a player left and rejoined a session would become unable to use the temple's Spiritstream.
• Fixed a bug in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where Raider's Ultimate Art Totem Stela would spawn underground on some platforms.
• Fixed a bug in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where runes might not be acquired when defeating the temple boss under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where some Spiritstreams would not be displayed on the map.
• Fixed a bug in the While on Expedition and Result menus where the Enemy felled message would not be displayed when defeating a boss in the temple of The Great Hollows Shifting Earth.
• Fixed a bug where Nightfarer enemies would not appear when Cataclysms occurred in the Blacksmith Village.
• Fixed a bug in the Blacksmith Village's Combat Art workbench where some weapons could be assigned unintended skills.
• Fixed a bug in the Augur Raid Event where the powerful water bomb would become invisible to players that left and rejoined a session during the event.
• Fixed a bug in the Tricephalos Raid Event where summoned wolves would not immediately disappear after the event was cleared.
• Fixed a bug in the Tricephalos Raid Event where the summoned wolves’ HP was higher than intended when on an Expedition with 2 or 3 players.
• Fixed a bug in the Tricephalos Raid Event where the damage reduction rate of some summoned wolves was different than intended.
• Fixed a bug in the Tricephalos Raid Event where the Raid Event would continue for longer than intended if the last remaining enemy appeared within the night boss spawn area.
• Fixed a bug in the Fissure in the Fog Raid Event where the blizzard effect, which precedes the hail, would not be displayed if the event occurred while all player characters were inside a mine.
• Fixed a bug in the Fissure in the Fog Raid Event where fog would also appear indoors at some strongholds.
• Fixed a bug in the Fissure in the Fog Raid Event where multiple bosses would appear on a rejoining player's screen if a player left and rejoined a session that was active or had previously experienced the event.
• Fixed a bug in the Fissure in the Fog Raid Event where runes could not be acquired upon clearing the event under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug in the Balancer Raid Event where the Balancer might not appear under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug where the attack from the Summon foe-chasing vengeful spirits field item effect could not rescue allies in a Near Death state.
• Fixed a bug where Dormant Powers would disappear immediately after obtaining them under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug in Sparring Grounds where some effects applied to the player would persist even after changing characters.
• Fixed a bug where Undertaker's Skill Loathsome Hex could be used to reach unintended locations.
• Fixed a bug where some effects in specific Remembrances for Scholar and Undertaker would be displayed in incorrect position upon launching the game.
• Fixed a bug where accumulated Newly found Sites of Grace would be reset when respawning from death, opening the Spirit Shelter door through the action button leading to the Day 3 boss fight, or leaving and rejoining a session, while under the special effect Traces of Grace-Given Lord.
• Fixed a bug where runes from some defeated bosses could sometimes be re-obtained upon leaving and rejoining a session.
• Fixed a bug where, if a player exited a session with a curse active while in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth and then respawned inside a Spirit Shelter, the curse would remain active.
• Fixed a bug where leaving and rejoining a session at a specific timing during the Balancers Raid Event, the UI emphasis effect for the remaining number of flasks would persist.
• Fixed a bug in the Status Menu where stats other than Level and HP for allied players did not reflect their decreased level state after death or other events.
• Fixed a bug in the Status Menu and Victor's Record menu where an empty popup would be displayed when hovering over an empty talisman equipment slot.
• Fixed a bug in the map menu where icons from a different depth would sometimes remain on the map when switching floor displays.
• Fixed a bug in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth where some Scarabs, Treasures, and Sites of Grace were displayed at incorrect locations on the map menu.
• Fixed a bug where the Enemy felled message would appear twice when a specific powerful enemy was defeated in The Great Hollows Shifting Earth.
• Fixed a bug in the Relic Rite Menu where the [Revenant] Power up while fighting alongside family effect was incorrectly displayed as active when changing Relics for Scholar and Undertaker.
• Fixed a bug in the Relic Rites Menu where the filter function displayed related effects regardless of additional content ownership or Deep of Night unlock status.
• Fixed a bug where the item help function could not be used in the Equipment section of the Visual Codex menu.
• Fixed several minor issues related to menu displays.
• Fixed a bug where, while The Great Hollows Shifting Earth was active, you would not be able to match with players who did not possess The Forsaken Hollows DLC when starting an Expedition other than Balancers or Dreglord.
• Fixed a bug where starting a Deep of Night Expedition with a pre-made team, the dialog warning indicating a decrease in the Deep of Night rating was not displayed when pressing the Return to Title Menu from the menu.
• Fixed a bug where, depending on the network environment during gameplay, the Deep of Night win/loss results might not be correctly reflected in the rating.
• Fixed a bug where the game would crash when transitioning to the Battle Results screen or the Title screen while targeting allies with the Scholar's Analyze skill.
• Fixed a bug in the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 where the game would sometimes crash when opening and closing the button configuration menu from the controller settings menu.
• Fixed a bug where the text for the next objective in the journal menu was displayed cut off in German.
• Fixed some graphics and effects rendering issues.
• Fixed a bug where some sound effects were not playing correctly.
• Revised some texts.
• Fixed other bugs and improved performances.

Steam Only Adjustments

• Updated the list of prohibited words.

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.

Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios has confirmed the end of new content development for the game, following layoffs at the company this summer.

Released in 2023, the latest and (for now) final entry in the Forza Motorsport series was launched as a reboot of Xbox's veteran sim racing franchise, with years of new content expected. But the game launched to a mixed response, and around half of Turn 10 Studios' staff were made redundant in July. (The studio remains open, with support for the more popular Forza Horizon brand now a key focus.)

Word that Forza Motorsport will not receive any further big updates is unsurprising, then, though a fresh statement in a blog post from the studio has now laid it out in black and white.

"As our team shifts its focus toward delivering the best possible experience with Forza Horizon 6 in 2026, we do not plan to introduce new cars, tracks, features, or regular bug fixes for Forza Motorsport," Turn 10 Studios wrote.

"However, we will continue supporting the game by keeping online servers active, hosting special events and competitions, and reintroducing previously released Featured Tours and reward cars on a monthly basis, until all content is available for you to enjoy anytime."

Turn 10 is now a co-development partner for Forza Horizon 6, which is primarily being made at British studio Playground Games. The latest entry in the series will be set in Japan, and launch at some point in 2026.

Microsoft has not officially detailed its cuts to Turn 10 Studios this summer, but one former employee stated at the time that around "120 people" were "gone from FM side" of the studio. "Turn 10 Studios has shuttered the Forza Motorsport space and the team is no more," wrote a second former employee amid the layoffs. "A very sad day for one of the best car racing video games. I loved my time there."

The first Forza Motorsport from Turn 10 Studios launched for the original Xbox in 2005, and established the racing franchise as one of Microsoft's key gaming brands, as well as a serious rival to PlayStation's Gran Turismo. Seven Forza Motorsport sequels launched since, across every Xbox console generation.

Is Forza Motorsport gone for good? In October, Xbox gaming boss Phil Spencer offered this comment to Famitsu on the franchise's status, which seems to suggest that while not fully scrapped, it's at least currently parked with the engine off.

"As for Forza Motorsport, we sometimes have to shift our focus to games that will be released earlier," Spencer said. "And I also understand that many people reacted when the scale of Turn 10 Studios was reduced. As far as we are concerned, there are many games that we would like to support carefully, and sometimes we give the development team a little more time so that they do not continue to be in a state of tension."

"Forza Motorsport is brimming with new features across the board, from its muscular new multiplayer to its much-improved handling, but its new RPG-inspired upgrade system feels like a step down," IGN wrote in our Forza Motorsport review, handing the game an 8/10.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social