Star Wars is forever bringing back elements of the prior Extended Universe and Andor Season 2 is doing its bit by featuring a ship from a 1994 video game.

Total Film spotted protagonist Cassian Andor stealing a TIE Avenger ship in the brief snippet of footage released in the Disney+ Coming in 2025 trailer. This is obviously part of the TIE Fighter family featured in myriad Star Wars projects, but specifically comes from the 30-year-old Star Wars: TIE Fighter PC game.

Those who've played Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance will also recognise the TIE Avenger, but the ship has otherwise been absent from Star Wars lore over the years. It was pushed into the "unofficial" Extended Universe when Disney bought Lucasfilm, of course, but will make this triumphant return to canon sometime during Andor Season 2's run when it debuts April 22.

Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2 helped propel Disney to what CEO Bob Iger described as “one of the best quarters in the history of our film studio.”

Disney has endured a number of tough years, with its Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar movies and TV shows struggling to break out. But Deadpool & Wolverine, the only MCU movie of 2024, and Pixar's Inside Out 2 helped change all that during the fourth quarter of its financial year (July to September 2024), contributing $316 million in operating income (profit). All told, Disney saw an incredible $4 billion globally from the box office this year.

Disney also saw solid profit from its streaming business, with Disney+ and Hulu bringing in $253 million for the quarter. Disney’s total streaming operating income, which includes money made from ESPN+, was $321 million. A year ago the streaming business suffered a $387 million loss. During the quarter, Disney+ saw 4.4 million additional Core subscribers. Disney+, now five years old, now has more than 120 million Core subscribers. All told, Disney now has 174 million Disney+ Core and Hulu subscriptions.

Disney pointed to the success of a number of its series during the report, including Shogun and The Bear. Shogun is getting a second season, and The Bear launches Season 4 in 2025. There was no mention of Star Wars show The Acolyte, which was canceled after just one season.

In total, Disney sales increased 6% for Q4 to $22.6 billion from $21.2 billion in the prior-year quarter, and 3% for the year to $91.4 billion from $88.9 billion in the prior year. And while income before taxes declined 6% to $0.9 billion in Q4 from $1.0 billion in the prior-year quarter, income for the full year increased 59% to $7.6 billion from $4.8 billion in the prior year.

Disney expects big things from its upcoming slate, which includes Moana 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King. It also pointed to Captain America: Brave New World, the live-action Lilo & Stitch, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Zootopia 2, and Avatar: Fire and Ash, all due out in 2025.

This week, a report claimed EA boss Andrew Wilson could be in the running to replace Bob Iger. Wilson is reportedly being considered for Disney's top job, with Iger's current contract running until 2026. Iger previously retired in 2020, but he returned in 2022 after his successor, Bob Chapek, was pushed out of the role.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Despite being the face of a Hollywood film franchise and the star of a three decade old video game franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog is still homeless.

As reported by Automaton, fans grew concerned recently after discovering what appeared to be a major change to an incredibly random piece of Sonic the Hedgehog lore. A comic featured in the 2025 Sonic the Hedgehog Annual claimed the blue blur lived in Green Hill Zone, the iconic opening level to the original Sonic the Hedgehog.

But Sonic lore has otherwise stated he's a drifter, roaming from place to place and never settling down, with even official channels like the TailsTube web series pointing to this fact.

Some fans were therefore relieved to hear Sonic had settled down, while others were in an uproar, forcing the hand of Chris Hernandez, Sega's associate manager of Sonic the Hedgehog lore, who clarified the annual's claim was just a misprint.

"Sorry to burst the bubble so late here," Hernandez said on X/Twitter. "This was something we caught early on but it looks like an older draft got through on accident. Sonic doesn't have a home; he's still a drifter. Will work on making sure this doesn't happen again. Thanks for catching this."

Sonic appears too busy to sit down and apply for a mortgage, with his third film debuting on December 20 and bringing Shadow the Hedgehog to the cinematic universe. An enhanced remake of Sonic Generations folded in the edgier hedgehog in the aptly titled Sonic x Shadow Generations.

In our 9/10 Sonic x Shadow Generations review, IGN said: "Sonic x Shadow Generations takes an already excellent game and spring jumps it to new heights with a creative Shadow campaign and an appreciable graphical upgrade.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Infinity Nikki, the open-world dress up role-playing game from former The Legend of Zelda director Kentaro Tominaga, launches on PlayStation 5, PC, and mobile on December 5.

Developer Infold Games revealed the date alongside a new trailer, below, which showed off a ton of the world alongside its characters, their companions, side activities, and clothes players can dress up in.

"Infinity Nikki breathes new life into the Nikki series by delivering an open world experience unlike any other," the synopsis reads.

Infinity Nikki Official Release Date Set for December 5!💫

Check out the Official Release Date Announcement Trailer for Infinity Nikki!
Stylists, are you ready to set foot in the enchanting Miraland?
Soar through the sky, relish each thrilling step, and capture all these… pic.twitter.com/05CMzti0in

— Infinity Nikki (@InfinityNikkiEN) November 14, 2024

"Players will discover and explore a charming, vibrant world through activities such as fishing, pet grooming, and fashion contests. Additionally, a diverse cast of characters will brighten the world through evocative and engaging story quests, while locations will challenge Nikki with platforming challenges to take advantage of her movement and exploration toolsets."

The game also has a staggering 30 million pre-registrations, meaning its launch next month could set some records of its own.

Our own preview of Infinity Nikki had positive things to say. "[We never knew dressing up could be so much fun. [Our] time with Infinity Nikki left [us] eager to try on the finished game when it eventually arrives."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Controversial games and entertainment company Embracer has provided a financial update and in it delivered a verdict on its recently released games.

Embracer, which bought the Tolkien IP in 2022 for $395 million, said The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria’s Steam and Xbox launch in August “performed slightly above management expectations,” which sounds like corporate speak for did well. Free Range Games’ survival and crafting game first launched on PC as an Epic Games Store exclusive in October last year, before coming out on PS5 in December.

While we’re on The Lord of the Rings, Embracer said Middle-earth Enterprises had a “slow quarter” year-on-year (the July to September Q2), with no notable new partner releases, but a higher film revenue than expected. Embracer said it’s seen encouraging fan reactions to the marketing it’s doing for the December release of anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

Embracer had a brutal Q2 for PC and console games, with tough comparisons from last year’s Remnant 2 and Payday 3. The most notable new release, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, late in the quarter, “was well received by players but initial digital sales were slower than expected.” That’s corporate speak for a flop. In contrast, Satisfactory’s 1.0 launch on PC “performed above management expectations,” which means it did great. Coffee Stain Studios’ first-person open-world factory building game had over 200,000 concurrent players in September.

Embracer has endured a tough time in recent years, laying off thousands of staff (the number of game developers working at the firm has decreased from 10,654 to 6,250) and selling a number of its studios, including Borderlands maker Gearbox and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive. Today, it announced the sale of subsidiary puzzle game mobile developer Easybrain to digital games company Miniclip for $1.2 billion, which should keep the lights on for the foreseeable future.

As for the rest of its financial year, Embracer is pinning its hopes on the hotly anticipated Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which it said was still on track for its February 11, 2025 release date. It still owns Metro developer 4A Games, which is working on a brand new game in the series. Asmodee, Embracer's tabletop games company, is still up for sale.

"Over the past 15 months, we have created a stronger foundation for long-term value creation, lowering our net debt and our capex," Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors said.

"We have many high-performing and efficient companies, several with industry leading margins. However, we acknowledge that parts of our PC/Console and Entertainment & Services segments are still underperforming due to delays and low ROI for primarily small and mid-sized releases. Combined with fixed operating costs this creates unacceptable margins which we are firmly addressing ahead of the spin-offs."

Other Embracer games in the works include Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core, Fellowship, Gothic 1 Remake, Hyper Light Breaker, Killing Floor 3, REANIMAL, Satisfactory (console), Titan Quest II, Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered, and Wreckfest 2.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Nintendo masterpiece The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time sees protagonist Link play beautiful melodies on an ocarina to cast magical effects and save the world. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii does the same, sort of, except protagonist Majima instead summons a giant glowing jellyfish that fights pirates.

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii developer Ryu Ga Gotoko Studio shared the combat abilities Majima can use in the game in a blog post translated by Gematsu. This included details on the Dark Instruments he can deploy and the sharks, apes, and jellyfish they summon to fight baddies.

Alongside the more traditional Mad Dog style Majima has used throughout the entire Yakuza / Like a Dragon series, players can also choose to use his Sea Dog style that's more fitting for Majima's new life as a pirate.

Primarily using cutlasses to take down enemies, the Sea Dog style also lets Majima use sidearms to activate triple finishers. Three sidearms are available throughout the game, including the Cutlass Boomerang, Pistol, and Chain Hook.

Things get particularly wild with the Dark Instruments, however. Majima will build up a Madness Gauge while fighting (separate to Heat Actions) that can be used to activate this new ability, with players able to choose between playing a violin, saxaphone, guitar, and the aforementioned ocarina.

"Blowing into Majima’s cursed ocarina beckons a terrifying jellyfish to emerge from the briny deep," reads the description, which officially dubs the jellyfish the Dark God of the Deep. "This creature will heal Majima and his allies, as well as shock and immobilize nearby enemies."

The violin summons giant sharks which deal heavy damage, the guitar summons a "ferocious" ape that inflicts massive damage with limited range, and the saxaphone summons an "avian ally" that blows enemies away.

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a spin-off sequel to Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the eighth mainline entry in the Yakuza / Like a Dragon series (or ninth including Yakuza 0). It follows Majima as he wakes up with amnesia and becomes a pirate, exploring the likes of Hawaii along the way.

A trailer released at the October Xbox Partner Showcase revealed a proper first look at ship combat akin to Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and the return of the beloved character Taiga Saejima, perhaps teasing more ties to the main series than previously thought.

It will also be a decent bit longer than previous Yakuza spin-off Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, with its story taking around 15 to 18 hours to complete. Fans can also dress up Majima as longtime series protagonist Kiryu Kazuma, but only if they sign up for email notifications.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Black Ops 6 Season 1 launches today, November 14, and with it comes a mammoth update that has become a Call of Duty trademark.

The Season 1 update, which brings Call of Duty up to version 1.061.000, is available to download now and weighs in at a gargantuan 40.422 GB on PS5 and 38.724 GB on PS4.

This is an enforced update for Call of Duty, the all-encompassing app that houses Black Ops 6, Warzone, and prior Call of Duty games. You need to download the 40 GB update for the base game even if you don’t have Black Ops 6.

Season 1, which goes live at 9am Pacific / 5pm UK time, makes a number of significant changes to Black Ops 6, adding new Multiplayer maps, skins, a battle pass, and big balance changes. Activision published the Season 1 patch notes overnight. New updates are also coming for the Black Ops 6 campaign and Modern Warfare 3, if you have those downloaded.

Call of Duty, with its various evolving modes like Multiplayer and Zombies alongside yearly releases on top of separate games like Warzone, is not only messy but takes up a big slice of your storage. For this year’s game, Activision made a number of changes designed to streamline the Call of Duty interface, offering more direct access to games and more control over downloads.

Taking on Zombies mode? We've got Essential Zombies Tips and Tricks to help you get started, plus a guide on How to Exfil. Both Zombies maps are full of easter eggs and secrets; here's everything we've found in both Terminus and Liberty Falls, including How to Pack-a-Punch in Liberty Falls and How to Get the Meteor Easter Egg in Terminus.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Mortal Kombat 1 developer NetherRealm fully unveiled Ghostface overnight, showing off the DLC guest character’s signature hunting knife, crawling skills, and ability to phone in a fellow Ghostface partner to help finish off victims.

But what the developers failed to reveal is which Mortal Kombat characters they’re quietly bringing back to the series via the Scream villain’s various versions that are available in-game.

During a Kombat Kast, NetherRealm confirmed there are actually three versions of Ghostface: the main Ghostface is the villain from the Scream films, as you’d expect, but the identities of the other two are secrets NetherRealm challenged players to work out for themselves.

As reported by EventHubs, NetherRealm confirmed that the other two Ghostface versions are Black Dragon characters called, at least for now, The Enforcer and The Assassin. Black Dragon is Mortal Kombat’s mercenary clan headed up at various points (the timeline is pretty complicated!) by fan-favorites Kabal and Kano. The lore justification here is Ghostface has been transported to Lui Kang's timeline without his partners from the movies, so recruits two members of the Black Dragon clan to help him out.

So, Ghostface is actually three characters in one. You can switch to temporarily playing as The Enforcer or The Assassin by holding a button during certain moves. You can tell them apart by their knives, if you look closely. You get 12 seconds to play as an alternative Ghostface before you revert back to the OG, or your opponent lands a hit and triggers the OG to come running back in.

Players have analyzed The Enforcer and The Assassin’s unique movesets for hints at the Black Dragon characters’ true identities. Already, there are two outstanding suggestions.

Warning! Spoilers for the identity of Ghostface in Mortal Kombat 1 follow.

Mortal Kombat fans have identified moves that are directly related to Kobra (Enforcer) and Kira (Assassin), two human Black Dragon members who each made their debut in 2004’s Mortal Kombat: Deception. We also see Assassin do Kano’s famous roll attack, but Kira does this move as well in both Deception and 2006’s Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. As you can see from the movesets, this one looks nailed on.

Reaction to this revelation has been positive, not only because it’s a clever way of bringing back two rather obscure Mortal Kombat characters that perhaps would never have seen the light of day otherwise, but also because it leaves the door open for other, perhaps more wanted characters to appear as Kameos or even fleshed out DLC characters with a potential, but so far unannounced Kombat Pack 3.

As for Ghostface, the OG version is voiced by Roger L. Jackson, who has voiced the character throughout the Scream franchise. Ghostface joins the Mortal Kombat 1 roster on November 19 as part of the early access period for Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns Expansion owners, followed by wide availability for purchase on November 26. Up next is Conan the Barbarian and T-1000 Terminator.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Amazon is already rolling out some impressive early Black Friday deals after announcing its official sale dates. The standout offer is the Fire TV Stick 4K, now at its lowest-ever price of $21.99 (according to camelcamelcamel) beating its previous best of $25 during Prime Day.

For those looking for an upgrade, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is also at a record-low price of $32.99. Both are excellent deals, but we recommend acting fast before stock runs out. Reminder: If you've got an Xbox Game Pass subscription, you can now use a Fire TV Stick to stream Xbox games at no extra cost.

How to Play Xbox Games on Your Fire TV Stick

It’s official: You can now play Xbox games on compatible Amazon Fire TV devices. Players with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and a Fire TV Stick 4K can connect a wireless controller and access the Xbox Cloud Gaming library, which includes games like Palworld and Forza Horizon 5.

Here’s How to Start Playing Xbox Games on Your Fire TV Stick:

1. Install the Xbox app through the Fire TV app store
2. Sign in with your Microsoft account
3. Pair a wireless Bluetooth controller to the TV through the “Controllers and Bluetooth” submenu in the Fire TV’s settings. Compatible controllers include the Xbox Wireless Controller, Xbox Adaptive Controller, PlayStation DualSense Wireless Controller, or DualShock 4 controller.

Unfortunately, only specific Fire TV devices support Xbox Cloud Gaming. Thankfully both the 4K and 4K Max sticks in the deal above work just fine! It’s also worth checking your TV model, as the Xbox app is also already available on certain Samsung TVs.

Once you’ve got your compatible Amazon Fire TV device, you can start setting up the Xbox app. Before jumping into instructions, it's important to note that you must have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to play Xbox games on your Fire TV Stick. At the time of writing, Fortnite is the only exception to this rule. It’s also important to note that because you’ll be streaming the game, the caliber of your internet will affect the experience, with a poor connection impacting visual quality and potentially creating input lag.

When Is Black Friday 2024?

The actual date of Black Friday in 2024 falls on November 29 this year, but the deals season will begin a lot sooner than that. Amazon’s Black Friday Week will extend well beyond the day itself, starting on November 21 and running through the end of Black Friday.

Whether you're shopping for tech, toys, or holiday gifts, Amazon’s Black Friday Week sale is promising plenty of opportunities to score discounts. Retailers will not reveal their biggest Black Friday deals until the big day, but most general deals will be available well in advance.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.