Ghost of Yotei sales are in-line with Ghost of Tsushima’s in Europe, data shows.
As reported by The Game Business, Ghost of Yotei debuted at No.2 in the GSD European charts behind EA’s FC 26.
Sony has yet to announce a sales figure for Ghost of Yotei, which launched exclusively on PlayStation 5 on October 2, 2025. But we now know that in Europe it’s doing about as well as its predecessor, which launched in 2020 exclusively on PlayStation 4. That is, for its first few days on sale, as the GSD European chart runs to October 5.
There are a number of things worth noting here. Not only did Ghost of Tsushima launch on a console with a bigger install base at that point than PS5 has now, it launched during the pandemic, which saw record video game sales and player numbers as people were forced to stay at home during lockdowns.
The Game Business noted that Ghost of Yotei is the biggest first-party PlayStation launch since Spider-Man 2 in October 2023. Helldivers 2, which launched February 2024, remains the fastest selling PlayStation Studios game of all time, with an incredible 12 million sold in 12 weeks.
The question is whether Ghost of Yotei will end up meeting Sony's sales expectations over time.
But it shines a light on just how few new games Sony’s first-party studios have released over the last few years. Since Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 came out in October 2023, we’ve had the aforementioned Helldivers 2, the disastrous Concord, Team Asobi’s wonderful Astro Bot, Lego Horizon Adventures, MLB The Show 25, and a bunch of remasters. Naughty Dog has seemingly skipped the PS5 generation entirely in terms of brand new games.
First-party Sony games we know to be in the works include Bungie’s Marathon, Housemarque’s Saros, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine, Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Haven’s Fairgames, and a multiplayer Horizon game from Guerrilla. A whole bunch of Sony first-party games were canceled as the company's live-service push faltered, including a multiplayer The Last of Us game, a live-service God of War game, and another live-service title from Bend Studio. Bend's last brand new game was 2019’s Days Gone on PlayStation 4, which launched on PC in 2021.
But how has Ghost of Yotei done in the U.S.? According to Mat Piscatella, senior director at Circana, Ghost of Yotei ranked 12th on its Top 15 Titles by Total Weekly Active Users chart for the week ending October 4, with 4.4% of active PlayStation players giving it a go. Coincidentally, Ghost of Tsushima also ranked 12th in its launch week back in 2020 with 4.4% of active PlayStation players engaging.
So it sounds like Ghost of Yotei has done about as well as Ghost of Tsushima did, at least at launch. It will be interesting to see if Sony says anything about its performance in upcoming financial reports, and how sales hold up in the coming weeks as we head into the crucial holiday season. Ghost of Tsushima ended up a hugely successful release, with over 13 million sold as of September 2024.
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.
The Matrix star Joe Pantoliano has said he was "lied" to by the Wachoskis about his character Cypher's fate.
Speaking at New York Comic Con, Pantoliano revealed that he had specifically requested the film's script be changed so his character survived the movie, in the hope that Cypher could return in the franchise's sequels.
As it is, the last audiences see of Cypher — in any The Matrix film — is the duplicitous character getting electrocuted by a lightning gun and blasted off screen, after he betrays Neo's crew.
"I said, 'Hey, you can't kill me, right? You're not gonna kill me?'" Pantoliano recalled of a phone conversation with the movie's directorial duo, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. "And Lilly said, 'Hey, Lana, he doesn't want us to kill him.' And I heard Lana off camera, knowing that I could hear this, and she said, 'Well, just lie to him and we'll kill him anyway.'"
While it's never definitive that Cypher is dead, the character is never seen again. Cypher is then referenced as being dead in The Matrix Online, the franchise's now-defunct MMO planned by the Wachowskis as a canon continuation of their story. Indeed, Cypher is the inspiration for the Cypherites, an in-game faction founded on the character's beliefs and a desire to return to The Matrix as they hate reality.
"Don't get me started, all right? They brought f***ing Agent Smith back," Pantoliano continued, referencing the fact that Hugo Weaving's character Agent Smith also died in the film, only to return in its sequels. "It's The Matrix!"
Last year, it was announced that prolific TV writer Drew Goddard — who penned some of the best episodes of Buffy, Alias, Lost, Daredevil, and The Good Place — would write and direct a new The Matrix movie, marking the first time the franchise would be helmed by someone other than one of the Wachowskis. Maybe there's still a chance for Pantoliano after all?
Image credit: Craig Barritt/Getty Images for ReedPop.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Fans across the world are paying tribute to "titan of soul" D'Angelo, who died yesterday aged 51 after an undisclosed battle with cancer.
D'Angelo was behind the hugely popular Red Dead Redemption 2 track, Unshaken, and fans of the game as well as developer Rockstar paid tribute following the news.
In a statement posted to social media, Rockstar Games called D'Angelo a "true titan of soul," writing: "We are eternally grateful for his track Unshaken which will forever be an enduring part of the legacy of Red Dead Redemption 2."
The Grammy-award winning musician released three albums over his career. 2014's Black Messiah was his last album, which makes the iconic track included on 2018 Red Dead Redemption 2's soundtrack one of his final pieces. The entire track can be heard in the mission Dear Uncle Tacitus, in an impactful segment when you're riding a horse back to camp. It boasts over 55 million streams on Spotify alone.
D'Angelo was a huge fan of video games and would visit Rockstar during Red Dead Redemption 2's development after reportedly reaching out to Ivan Pavlovich, director of music and audio at the studio, through an intermediary, to "just play the game."
"We weren’t even talking about doing music,” Pavlovich told RollingStone in 2018. "When D’Angelo comes through, he shows up at midnight, and he’s playing the game until four in the morning. Each time he was just like, ‘It’s incredible.’ It just blows his mind. He’s such a fan. I have never seen someone that excited. D’Angelo’s actually a massive, massive, massive fan of the game — more than I ever knew." It was because of this that Pavlovich asked if D'Angelo would be interested in contributing to the soundtrack, which is partly why there are some vocal tracks on an otherwise chiefly instrumental score.
Dozens of artists have paid tribute to the musician, including Flavor Fave, Beyoncé, Nile Rodgers, Lauren Hill, and Doja Cat, but so have hundreds of gamers, some of whom were introduced to D'Angelo's music through Red Dead Redemption 2. Others are learning for the first time that D'Angelo was behind the notable track.
"I can’t think about RDR2 without Unshaken and how that particular transitional scene changed the game to such a complete form of entertainment for me," wrote one affected player. "For anyone who says 'it’s just a game' - they need to experience how this song was used."
"If you haven't heard any more of his music, you need to know the man was one of the absolute best in his genre, an elusive legend," said another. "His album Brown Sugar is literally no skips, if you're interested in music at all, it's worth a listen."
"My favourite video game song of all time. RIP. That song will always be a part of me," wrote another fan.
Photo by Frans Schellekens/Redferns.
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.
Frankenstein star Mia Goth has said that Marvel's decision to delay its long-awaited Blade reboot and retool the movie's story was "for the best."
Speaking to Elle this week, Goth confirmed she was still set to star in the project despite the ongoing wait for it to actually materialise.
Marvel announced it was making Blade back in 2019, and confirmed that Mahershala Ali would feature as a new version of its infamous vampire hunter, previously seen on screen played by Wesley Snipes. But, more than six years later, the project is still nowhere near filming — despite plans getting close enough at one point that a wardrobe of clothes was made for the film's supporting artists, which were ultimately sold on.
"It's for the best that it's taken the time that it has," Goth said this week, in a brief update on her involvement. "They want to do it right."
It was reported last year that Goth would play Lilith in the film, the recurring Marvel character and daughter of Dracula. In an earlier version of the script, set in the 1920s, Lilith would have crossed paths with Blade while hunting the blood of the dhampir's daughter.
More recently, Marvel has said it now intends for its new take on Blade to be set in the present day, though the company remains keen to keep Goth attached.
"We've landed on modern day," Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige said in an interview this summer, acknowledging that Blade's script had so far gone through "three or four" different incarnations, two of which were period pieces.
"We didn't feel like, as we often do, you can have a good script and make it a great script through production," Feige continued, discussing why the project had been pushed back. "We didn't feel confident that we could do that on Blade, and we didn't want to do that to Mahershala and didn't want to do that to us."
Last month, Marvel TV boss Brad Winderbaum revealed to IGN that his team had pivoted on its plans for Blade in Marvel Zombies, the new animated Disney+ miniseries that now features an all-new alternate universe take on the character, rather than feature an established MCU version. Initially, Winderbaum said, the show had been developed "believing that there would be a Blade movie out well before."
So, when will Blade arrive? For now, Marvel remains busy with its upcoming two Avengers blockbusters, with Avengers: Doomsday due December next year, then Avengers: Secret Wars in December 2027. Following that, the company seems most keen to launch an X-Men reboot, with Thunderbolts*/New Avengers director Jake Schreier already attached.
Despite repeated assurances that Marvel will get back to Blade at some point, Marvel fans don't expect to actually see the film for years. Before then, Goth will appear next year in Christoper Nolan's The Odyssey, and then in 2027's Ryan Gosling-starring Star Wars: Starfighter.
Image credit: Kristy Sparow/Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
It is one of Matthew McConaughey’s most iconic scenes, one that has endured as both a prime example of his acting prowess and a meme. But Interstellar’s tape scene was not heavily rehearsed. Nor did McConaughey have to go through multiple takes to get the emotional reaction we see on-screen. McConaughey in fact nailed it on the first take, and he didn’t rehearse the scene at all.
For the uninitiated, the scene in question sees McConaughey, out on a time-warping deep space mission, watch 23 years of video messages sent from his children on Earth as they grow up and have kids of their own. Casey Affleck plays adult Tom Cooper, McConaughey’s son, who eventually takes charge of his father's farm (incidentally, a young Timothée Chalamet plays a 15-year-old Tom). Jessica Chastain plays adult Murphy "Murph" Cooper, Joseph's daughter.
As McConaughey watches the tapes he breaks down, sobbing at points. It is certainly one of the more memorable scenes in Christopher Nolan’s epic sci-fi flick, and McConaughey is often asked about it in interviews. Indeed he’s talked about nailing the scene in the first take before. But in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, McConaughey revealed more about his process, and how he asked Christopher Nolan to film the scene without rehearsing.
“I remember we shot it, it was a Monday morning, and it was the first scene up. And I'd gotten good rest that weekend, and I had had a pretty humble good weekend. I think it was with my family,” he said.
“I remember we got in, and Nolan was gonna set up some wides. They were about to play the tape. ‘Let's rehearse the tape.’” At this point, McConaughey hand-waved the crew away, insisting they roll cameras immediately.
“All of a sudden things came over, and cameras were there and we played the tape. And again, this is that first take. That's the one we use.”
McConaughey went on to talk about his process for this scene and why it worked so well. “I didn't have to go to a place,” he said. “When Casey Affleck and Chastain come on as older, and the way they're… The gap, the dread of having to miss that in my own life with my own kids, I just reacted, which is what I've learned I like to do if you’ve got scenes like that.
“Because everything after take one is acting for real. We can improve as actors, we can improve stuff in take two, I can too. But everything after take one — if you're fully relaxed, and just reacting — everything after take one is acting. I didn't wanna know what was coming. And that's just me relaxing, and then what happened... happened.”
McConaughey runs through many of his most famous roles in the Variety video, which is well worth a watch if you're a fan of his films. I especially enjoyed his memories of playing Rust Cohle in True Detective.
Interstellar, meanwhile, remains a talking point 11 years after it came out — and we're still debating THAT ending.
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.
Battlefield 6 players haven’t decided what their favorite weapons are yet, but they’ve already fallen in love with a new movement tech called “ladder launching.”
To catch you up to speed, the ladder is a gadget available to use with the Assault class in Battlefield Studios and EA’s latest Battlefield game. It’s a traversal tool that can be used to reach high-up places, opening up opportunities to gain new vantage points or even sneak up on unsuspecting enemies. The thing is that now, just days after Battlefield 6 launched for PC and consoles, the ladder is also being used for much, much more.
If you’ve even accidentally whipped out the ladder while playing Battlefield 6 multiplayer, you might have noticed that actually mounting it can be a hassle. The bottom of the gadget bumps players around if placed at a certain angle, triggering moments that balance frustration with slapstick humor.
While some Assault classes in Battlefield 6 have found practical uses for the tool, others are struggling to use it at all. However, it’s a secret, third segment of the community that has pushed things even further by using those wonky physics to catapult themselves around maps.
X/Twitter user @mokeysniper published a video detailing exactly how the ladder launch works, admitting that, while the move is far from a game-breaking exploit, it is quite fun to pull off. All it takes is maneuvering around the gadget at the right angle and speed, causing a chain reaction that sends players careening through the air.
Sadly, ladder launching is, mostly, practically useless in Battlefield 6. That said, some players are still finding ways to create entire montages centered around ladder launching.
Players probably should get too used to ladder launching in Battlefield 6, though, as David Sirland, lead producer at Battlefield studio DICE, has already confirmed the Battlefield Studios team has plans to deliver a patch in the future. Considering the average player will find its bumpy edges more annoying than useful, a patch is probably a good call.
We can likely expect even more ladder launching clips to show up online while the team fixes the Assault ladder. In the meantime, you can see how other players are at least trying to use the ladder, below. You can also read our Battlefield 6 multiplayer review.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
This seemingly provides Xbox users with what might be their last chance to stack up months of their membership, and avoid the new Game Pass price hikes... at least for now.
$54.99, down from $59.99, might not seem like much of a deal, but once you dig a little closer, you'll realise how significant such a price drop really is.
A few dollars off might not sound like much, but when you’re stacking codes like this, it adds up quickly, especially when compared to the new prices Microsoft is now enforcing. Under the new rate, three months of Game Pass Ultimate would cost $89.97. So just for starters, that's a $35 saving almost immediately.
To take things one step further, let's also discuss stacking. Stacking is where you buy up several codes and then repeatedly add them to your account to "stack" up your membership times. The max you can do this for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is 36 months.
So at the new rate ($29.99/mo), you'd be paying $1,079.64. Yikes! But, with the discount at Amazon, this total ends up at a more respectable, $659.88 for the full three years. In total, you can save up to $419.76, which is over an extra year of Game Pass covered.
Even just covering yourself for the next year, with four $54.99 codes (totalling $219.96), could be a great move. This is remarkably better compared to $359.88 on the new plan ($29.99/mo for 12-months).
Xbox Game Pass Wave 1 October 2025 Lineup
Microsoft has also recently made its first Xbox Game Pass lineup announcement since the controversial Ultimate price hike, revealing the first wave of games subscribers can expect over October 2025.
This icnludes Double Fine’s Keeper, and the Xbox Game Studios’ published Ninja Gaiden 4.
October 8:Supermarket Simulator (Cloud, Console, and PC) Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
October 15:Eternal Strands (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) Now with Game Pass Premium
October 15:He Is Coming (Game Preview) (PC) Now with Game Pass Premium
October 15:Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) Now with Game Pass Premium
October 16:Pax Dei (PC) Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
October 17:Keeper (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
October 21:Evil West (Cloud, Console, and PC) Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, PC Game Pass
October 21:Ninja Gaiden 4 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Here’s Where Game Pass Stands After October’s Pricing Update
The new pricing represents a 50% increase in the US, with Game Pass Ultimate jumping from $19.99 to $29.99 per month. That’s an extra $120 a year for what used to be gaming’s best deal.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: $29.99/month (up from $19.99)
Xbox Game Pass Premium: $14.99/month (replaces Standard)
Xbox Game Pass Essential: $9.99/month (replaces Core)
PC Game Pass: $16.49/month (up from $11.99)
As I've mentioned, if you want to dodge the higher prices, your best option is to stockpile up to 36 months of Ultimate before the new rates take full effect at retailers like Amazon. Or you could simply cancel your subscription entirely if you’ve had enough.
Meanwhile, GameStop says it won’t raise its Game Pass prices for now, and Best Buy, Target, and Walmart have also yet to match Microsoft’s latest hike. So if you’ve been planning to renew, now’s probably the moment to do it before everyone else catches up.
Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN's resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's price recently shot up a tremendous 50% in the US, up from $19.99 to $29.99 per month. That's an extra $120 per year, and a lot of extra cash you need to find in order to keep what used to be the best deal in gaming around. Yeesh!
If you want to beat the price hike, your best option is to stack your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership to its limit (36 months) while the change isn't yet enforced. Or... cancel your subscription altogether. I'm not your boss.
But you can also purchase three-month codes at an even better rate of $54.99 each, and a significant reduction versus the new $89.99 pricing.
The max you can fill out your account with is 12, which in the US currently costs $659.88 in total ($219.96 per year). Now that's a lot, and I'm never going to recommend you suddenly shell out almost $700 on a subscription service, certainly not in this economy. But it's still worth being honest about the numbers and how much it does cost to avoid a price hike by paying upfront while you can.
Comparatively, at the new $29.99/mo rate, three years of Game Pass Ultimate will now cost $1,079.64.
By buying in now (i.e. paying up to $659.88 to stack codes), you can save up to $419.76 (effectively over an extra year covered), yet it's unlikely any of us will want to pay so much for a service that's just wacked its prices up (again, and then again).
If anything, this is just good to know if you want to cover yourself for even just the next 12 months, paying $219.96 instead of $359.88.
Xbox Game Pass Tier and Price Changes, October 2025:
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: $29.99 a month, up from $19.99 a month
Xbox Game Pass Premium: $14.99 a month, the same as the old Standard subscription
Xbox Game Pass Essential: $9.99 a month, the same as the old Core subscription
PC Game Pass: $16.49 a month, up from $11.99
The updated pricing has already gone into effect for new subscribers, and will proceed on November 4 for current subscribers. As part of the announcement, Microsoft added more than 45 new games to Game Pass. Check out the full list here.
Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN's resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
My pile of games already stretches past the moon, but some discounts just hit that "add to cart" button for you. This week’s round of wallet tests includes some cinematic adventures, open-world chaos, and nostalgia bombs that deserve a permanent slot on your shelf or SSD. Get amongst them before they're gone.
In retro news, I've hired some Nathan Drake spooking clowns for the 16th Bday of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. To say this sequel blew my mind at launch is quite the understatement. U2 began and persisted with gobsmacking action setpieces, brilliantly balanced shootin' / punchin' / puzzlin' gameplay, and an Amy Hennig script that snap, crackled, and popped with a decent pool of Marco Polo jokes. To this day, it's not just the alpha Uncharted in ND's kennel of purebred pedigrees, but also one of the finest video games ever made, period. Re-experience or tick it off your bucket list with this.
On Switch, Super Mario RPG remains one of my all-time favourite reinventions. What started as a 1996 curiosity turned into a cult hit with turn-based combat that feels half JRPG, half slapstick theatre. And if you’re yet to play LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, it’s basically a massive playable meme. Every scene is packed with physical gags and sly nods to nine films’ worth of lore.
Over on Xbox Series X, Dragon Age: Veilguard Del. isn't a best-in-franchise but worth a reduced price bet. Meanwhile, The Crew Motorfest is a surprise gem, blending Forza-style open driving with a cheeky island holiday vibe that I didn’t expect to enjoy this much.
On PS5, Like a Dragon: Ishin! brings sword-swinging chaos to feudal Japan, and it’s fascinating to see the Yakuza DNA dressed up in samurai robes. And Far Cry 6 may be divisive, but I’ll admit its open-world anarchy, coupled with Giancarlo Esposito’s villainy, still feels worth the asking price.
On PC, Detroit: Become Human is Quantic Dream’s best work by a long shot, thanks to clever branching paths that react beautifully to failure. And Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus remains one of the most ridiculous, fist-pumping shooter campaigns ever made. If you want to dual-wield shotguns while ranting about fascism, this is your catharsis.
Adam Mathew is a passionate connoisseur, a lifelong game critic, and an Aussie deals wrangler who genuinely wants to hook you up with stuff that's worth playing (but also cheap). He plays practically everything, sometimes on YouTube.
Audible's holiday promotion for 2025 is now live. Through December 16, new and returning Audible subscribers can sign up for three months of Audible Premium Plus for just $0.99 per month. You will need to be logged into your Amazon Prime membershp to see this promotion. After the three months is up, your subscription will convert to the standard $14.95/mo, so make sure to cancel beforehand if you don't want to continue with the service. You also get a free audiobook of your choice for each of those three months that you get to keep indefinitely even after your subscription expires.
3 Free Months of Audible Premium Plus
Audible is a subscription service that gives you access to hundreds of thousands of the best audiobooks without ever having to purchase them. There are two paid membership plans: the lower tier Audible Plus ($7.95/mo) and the higher tier Audible Premium Plus ($14.95/mo). The biggest difference between the two is the size of the audiobook library. Whereas Audible Plus only lets you listen to a selection of about 10,000 audiobooks, the Audible Premium Plus plan gives you access to a whopping 500,000 audiobooks.
Premium Plus includes other perks as well. Every month Premium Plus members get to pick one audiobook to keep in their library indefinitely, even after the membership expires. Also, Premium Plus members can get 30% off any additional audiobooks they wish to purchase in addition to exclusive limited-time discounts.
If you were already planning to purchase a couple of audiobooks, then it makes more sense to pay less than $3 to get three audiobooks you get to keep indefinitely and enjoy all the benefits of Audible Premium Plus for three months. This deal only pops up a few times per year, so don't waste your "first-time subscriber" eligibility status on a short 30-day trial.
Catch up the the latest novel releases, audiobook style
Several best-selling new and recent releases are available in an audiobook format and part of Audible's Premium Plus subscription plan. Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest Hunger Games novel, is narrated by Jefferson White, who you may already know from Yellowstone where he played Jimmy Hudstrom. The audiobook has a listening time of about 12 hours and 48 minutes. Stephen King released his Never Flinch crime novel in May 27 and it's also available as a nearly 15-hour long audiobook narrated by veteran Jessie Mueller. If you're a fan of Brandon Sanderson, check out Wind and Truth, book five of the popular The Stormlight Archive series. It was released in December of 2024 and runs an epic 63 hours long.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
One of the more popular October Prime Day deals is still available. Amazon is offering a four-pack of Apple AirTags keyfinders for just $64.99 shipped. At just $12.99 per AirTag, this is the lowest price of the year. If you're willing to get your holiday shopping done in advance, the Apple Airtags would make a great gift idea for anyone who owns an iPhone and tends to lose small wearables like wallets, keys, or remotes.
4-Pack Apple AirTags for $65
The Apple Airtag is a small coin-shaped device that you can put in your wallet or attach to your phones, keys, remote, or anything small enough to be easily misplaced. It works as a little Wi-Fi keyfinder that helps locate your lost objects by pinging its general location to your iPhone using Bluetooth 5.0. However, if your iPhone model has a U1 chip with Ultra Wideband, then you can take advantage of the "Precision Finding" mode. This gives you numerical distance and direction guidance when your lost item is close by. It points you right to it.
The CR2032 coin battery is user-replaceable, so your AirTag won't end up in a landfill when the battery depletes, nor will you have to deal with battery degradation like you would with a non-replaceable lithium battery.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
The days of spending hundreds of dollars over MSRP for a new Nvidia Blackwell GPU are over. Amazon has currently dropped the price of the PNY Epic-X ARGB OC GeForce RTX 5080 16GB Graphics Card to $979.99 with free shipping. In comparison, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 Founder's Edition card normally retails for $999 (in reality it's actually much higher). The Epic-X ARGB OC is PNY's highest end RTX 5080 model, featuring a beefy triple fan cooler, a modest overclock out of the box, and flashy RGB illumination.
PNY Epic-X ARGB OC RTX 5080 Graphics Card for $979.99
The RTX 5080 is one of the fastest cards on the market, bested only by the $2,000 RTX 5090 and the discontinued $1,600 RTX 4090. This is a phenomenal card for playing the latest, most demanding games in 4K resolution at high settings and ray tracing enabled. The RTX 5080 supports DLSS 4 with multi-frame generation, which means you can push even more frames out of games that support the technology with minimal visual compromise. Recent games that support it include Doom: The Dark Ages, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Borderlands 4, and Battlefield 6.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Battlefield 6’s multiplayer action is all about layers. You have an infantry layer, where teams exchange gunfire on foot; there’s the land vehicle layer, where tanks and armored cars reshape the front lines with powerful weapons capable of decimating infantry and bringing entire buildings to the ground; and then there’s sky layer, where a small number of flyers hold dominion over the air, with the potential to flatten ground forces outright. What’s impressive is not only that each layer is so different, but also so well constructed, and somehow they all fit together seamlessly. A few of the maps have a bad habit of becoming sniper-infested hellscapes, and it takes a little too long to unlock the better equipment that makes your loadouts really interesting, but those are minor gripes with what is otherwise one of the best multiplayer shooters of the year.
Most of the fighting happens between general infantry, and great moment-to-moment gunplay is the anchor of the whole experience. Weapons look and sound awesome, especially if you have headphones or a good sound system to pick up the deep booms and subtle details like bullet casings falling to the ground. Guns are accurate, but account for bullet travel and drop just enough to reward skillful shooting – though the modest recoil and bullet spread in most weapons also means you don’t need to be a hardcore shooter veteran to be able to land shots.
There are four classes to choose from that are well balanced overall despite having very distinct identities. Running and gunning as the Assault Class is a lot of fun, but switching gears and focusing on keeping your allies alive as a Medic is rewarding in its own right. Using your defibrillator to keep your team’s collective stock of lives from draining while simultaneously getting one of your fighters back in the action can help turn a match of attrition, even if you choose to be less involved in the actual combat. It's great for ensuring that anyone can contribute by playing a role well.
That said, I have some mixed feelings about how the Loadouts are assembled. Any class can equip any gun, and while I appreciate the freedom, it’s hard not to want to just put my favorite assault rifle on every class and call it a day. Sure, there’s a bonus effect for using the weapons traditionally associated with each class, like how the sniping-focused Recon class has a faster rate of fire and better accuracy while using snipers, but the effects are modest enough that I quickly found myself ignoring them. That’s not to say that classes don’t matter – you still need to be an Engineer in order to repair tanks, for example – but the lines are a little too blurry for my taste.
Being a good tank commander can make or break a match.
The other issue is with how long it takes to unlock things between matches. Most equipment and weapon options require you to reach certain levels or complete multi-tiered challenges to access them. That’s all well and good, and a standard set of daily and weekly challenges help keep the level ups from being a painful slog, but the level requirements are too high. You can’t even start working on the class specific challenges, which are necessary for earning alternate sub-class-like training paths, until you hit level 20, which could take dozens of hours. Given that really powerful equipment options like the Deploy Beacon, which acts as remote spawn point for your squad, are locked behind that, it holds back the early experience an unfortunate amount before eventually hitting its stride.
The next layer up is when vehicles get involved – while relegated to the larger maps, all hell starts to break loose in the best way with their arrival. A tank rolling down the street creates equal parts control and chaos. They are a focal point of every fight, able to send the enemy scattering as its machine guns and cannon erupt. As buildings explode and debris rains down, they also become the most important target to clear. Whether that means calling in a tank of your own, switching to the Engineer class after getting taken out so you can fire rockets, or something else entirely is up to you, but the way vehicles flip strategic calculus is extremely effective for keeping matches interesting. I also appreciate that, while not necessarily hard to use, tanks do have a higher skill requirement than fighting on foot. Knowing when to use defensive countermeasures or when to push forward to seize territory rather than retreat and let friendly Engineers repair you means a good tank commander stands out, and they can make or break a match if handled correctly.
As a bit of an aviation nerd, I’m a sucker for the final layer: the skies. I love getting in a jet, winning dogfights, then strafing the other team, with some bombing runs mixed in for good measure. Airplanes and helicopters make it fun to be in the skies, terrifying to be underneath, and so satisfying to shoot someone down with a well-placed rocket while on foot. They have the highest skill requirement, asking you to learn a complex set of controls and have a more nuanced understanding of how aircraft operate in order to best utilize them. I’m ok with that in principle, but the lack of a good method to train or practice those skills also means it’s extremely difficult for newcomers to learn to fly. There’s a great firing range for trying out guns, and the lack of a similar option to practice flying means fewer players will be able to enjoy success in the skies.
The classic smattering of Battlefield modes returns, and they are just as fun as ever. Team Deathmatch is a good warmup, but the 64-player battles of Breakthrough and Conquest remain the standouts due to their stunningly massive scope – the former asks one team with limited lives to capture points and advance the frontline against limitless waves of defenders, while the latter has both teams fight for control of shared territory. They are as good as ever at funneling the action towards specific areas, leaving room for big battles in the streets and skies while up-close and personal skirmishes happen on the objectives.
The maps are generally strong, though some have been taken over by snipers.
Beyond that you have options like Rush, a Counterstrike-like mode focused on smaller groups that became another one of my favorites due to it’s instant action and short duration, making it a good alternative for quicker sessions where I don’t have time for a prolonged tug-of-war. The brand new Escalation mode has also impressed, having you fight for a large number of control points that decreases over time, forcing more and more intense battles as you near the end. I like that quite a bit, as the changing shape of the battlefield necessitates a fun shift in tactics throughout.
There are nine maps at launch that are generally strong, ranging from the crowded streets of Saints Quarter, which is perfect for close quarters action, to the enormous, vehicle-filled Operation Firestorm. Empire State is one of my favorites, with a great mix of open areas full of roads, buildings to duck into, and rooftops to snipe from. It’s a tactical advantage to learn the maps, and knowing that seizing the rooftop of a building opposite an objective point so you can wipe out an enemy squad from on high emphasizes the thoughtful nature of Battlefield 6’s combat.
Not every map is a winner right out of the gate, however. Liberation Peak has already become a well deserved meme in the community because of how one hill is always filled with snipers, which really takes away from the class balance that Battlefield thrives on. Mirak Valley is pretty similar, particularly in games of Breakthrough, where the attackers have too little cover in their push against a team of sharpshooters. And while I really like New Sobek City overall, with varied terrain and joyfully destructible structures that help it stand out, it can also become littered with anti-vehicle mines to the point of rendering tanks useless. That might be more of an issue with how the mines themselves are balanced, as they have a tendency to become far too numerous very quickly, but it takes away from what is otherwise a top tier place to fight.
It certainly helps that the maps all look great, especially once you factor in their excellent destructibility. Chunks of cement rain down as bullets collide with buildings. Cars and buses explode, and cover can be erased in an instant with a well placed shot from a grenade launcher. Bring a tank to bear and you can crumble entire buildings (which is terrifying to be on the wrong side of), changing the terrain in ways that are meaningful, and never quite the same from match to match.
But the most impressive part is how all of it – the combat, the levels, the destruction – comes together. There was one moment where I was in a pitched battle for control of a zone in the construction sites of New Sobek City. The enemy was entrenched until I rode my tank in, smashing through a wall and a few support columns in the process. Dust and debris covered everything, but I ignored it as I sprayed gunfire from my machine gun, and my teammates mopped up the rest. It was gorgeous, and something you simply won’t find at this scale in any other game.
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