McDonald's has pulled a new ad created entirely with generative AI following a major backlash online.

The 45-second clip was released on the McDonald's Netherlands’ YouTube channel on December 6 — with comments turned off — and was removed from the platform on December 9. It depicted "the most terrible time of the year," and showed increasingly disastrous Christmas fails before suggesting people hide out in McDonald's until January.

Viewers were quick to hit out at the tone and quality of the video, pointing out a number of telltale generative AI signs. One user on social media called the video "god-awful" and "cynical." Another social media user added: "the future is here, and it's not looking good." "If they were going for creepy, depressing, deeply unfunny, clumsily shot, poorly edited, and inauthentic — nailed it!" another said.

McDonald's unveiled what has to be the most god-awful ad I've seen this year – worse than Coca-Cola's.

Fully AI-generated, that's one. Looks repulsive, that's two. More cynical about Christmas than the Grinch, that's three.

I don't wanna be the only one suffering, take a look: pic.twitter.com/lRYODLkkBJ

— Theodore McKenzie (@realTedMcKenzie) December 6, 2025

The message of this ad is “the holidays suck” and it’s solution is to spend as much time in McDonald’s as possible. Forget your friends and family…have a Big Mac.

The song is poorly written, almost certainly written by AI because it doesn’t fit the original rhythm at all and at… https://t.co/MTR2i7XG6y

— The Art of SpongeBob (@ArtofSpongebob) December 8, 2025

The fast food resturant chain issued a statement to BBC News, saying the backlash served as "an important learning" as the company explored "the effective use of AI."

The ad was a collaboration between Dutch company TBWA\Neboko and American production company The Sweetshop. Melanie Bridge, CEO of The Sweetshop, went on to defend the ad after it was released publicly.

“For seven weeks, we hardly slept, with up to 10 of our in-house AI and post specialists at The Gardening Club [our in-house AI engine] working in lockstep with the directors,” Bridge said, as reported by Futurism. “We generated what felt like dailies — thousands of takes — then shaped them in the edit just as we would on any high-craft production. This wasn’t an AI trick. It was a film.”

She added: “I don’t see this spot as a novelty or a cute seasonal experiment. To me, it’s evidence of something much bigger: that when craft and technology meet with intention, they can create work that feels genuinely cinematic. So no — AI didn’t make this film. We did.”

The people who made the AI McDonald's ad want you to know they put more man hours into it than a traditional production.

Like Coca Cola, in their attempt to prove they worked hard, they've instead shown AI is hard to control, still expensive, and uglier. What's the point again? https://t.co/lXrdO8U8ok

— Reid Southen (@Rahll) December 9, 2025

The McDonald's backlash follows a similar response to Coca-Cola's entirely AI-generated Christmas ad and a similar justification. Jason Zada, founder and chief creative officer of AI studio Secret Level, defended his company’s work on Coke’s Christmas promo. “The haters on the Internet are the loudest. A lot of the people complaining last year were from the creative industry who were just afraid — afraid for their jobs, afraid for what it did. But I think the spot tested really well and average people really enjoyed it.”

Pratik Thakar, global vp and head of generative AI at Coca-Cola, added: “Last year we decided to go all in, and it worked out well for us… Yes, some parts of the industry were not pleased we were using a 100% generative AI film, but that’s part and parcel of doing something pioneering. We understand that concern. But we need to keep moving forward and pushing the envelope. The genie is out of the bottle, and you’re not going to put it back in.”

At the time of this article's publication, the Coca-Cola advert remains live.

The use of generative AI to create videos both commercial and non-commercial is one of the hottest topics in all entertainment. OpenAI’s Sora 2 app, for example, has caused significant controversy after it was used to flood social media with videos containing depictions of copyrighted characters including those from popular anime and game franchises such as One Piece, Demon Slayer, Pokémon, and Mario. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called Sora 2 videos using copyrighted characters "interactive fan fiction."

And in September, SAG-AFTRA issued a strongly worded statement in response to the emergence of Tilly Norwood, the AI-generated “actress” that has enraged Hollywood.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

If you hadn’t already heard, there’s a weird, spiky monolith in the Mojave Desert. Adorned with a massive eye-like orb and a legion of demonic creatures, it’s a hint at something due to be revealed as part of The Game Awards 2025. And, following the registration of a few new trademarks, it seems like we already have the answer as to what it is: a brand new game from Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios called “Divinity”.

If you are one of the millions of players who first learned of Larian through the gargantuan success of Baldur’s Gate 3, then the word Divinity may not mean much to you. Fans of the studio, however, will tell you that BG3’s success is rooted in Divinity, a series of six games that Larian worked on almost exclusively between 2002 and 2017. If this monolith and trademark leak really do point towards Divinity, then the Belgian studio is returning to its original fantasy universe… and likely bringing a whole new fanbase along with it.

If such a currently-very-much-hypothetical game would mark your first foray into the Divinity universe, then you may want a quick primer on what to expect. Let us be your guide to Divinity, and be the first to (very pre-emptively) say…

Welcome to Rivellon

Much like how Baldur’s Gate takes place in the Dungeons & Dragons setting of the Forgotten Realms, Divinity has its own rich, original setting: the world of Rivellon. There are broad similarities between the two; both are rooted in Tolkienesque fantasy tropes, with classically styled medieval landscapes and locations. There are multiple races; like in D&D, you can expect to meet humans, elves, dwarves, lizard-like beings, and the living dead. Magic is commonplace in Rivellon, although sorcery is considered more dangerous and is more heavily regulated there than it is on D&D’s Sword Coast.

Like Baldur’s Gate, Divinity also features a number of more esoteric elements, from steampunk to sci-fi and beyond, that make its world a little quirkier than the lands explored in more traditional fantasy like The Lord of the Rings. Rivellon can also often be a very silly place, and the influence of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels has frequently been felt in Divinity’s writing. In fact, Terry’s daughter, Rhianna Pratchett, even wrote a tie-in novella for the second game. But that’s not to say Rivellon is frivolous – there’s a deep vein of fascinating lore that has been mined over the series’ six installments.

In short, Rivellon is the stage for stories similar to those you enjoyed in Baldur’s Gate 3, but is beholden only to Larian’s rules, rather than those set by the owners of Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast.

What is Divinity?

Divinity is an RPG series, but its evolution has been far from usual. Take a quick look at each of the six games, and you’ll find at least four different approaches. Divine Divinity, the very first game in the series, and its sequel, Beyond Divinity, are Diablo-influenced action RPGs. Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, meanwhile, is a third-person RPG that feels a little closer to the likes of Dragon Age and The Witcher. Divinity: Dragon Commander is a slightly Total War-flavoured strategy game, and the Original Sin duology – the most recent games in the series – are classic-style RPGs that bear the most resemblance to Baldur’s Gate 3. Larian has experimented wildly over the years, and so there’s no clear indication as to what format the next game in the series will use (although considering the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, the sensible bet would be on something similar).

Another unusual element is its approach to the timeline. While Rivellon does have a coherent history and storylines that are threaded across the series, each game is set years (sometimes even centuries) apart, meaning each one is something of a standalone experience. Similar to how Baldur's Gate 3 demands no experience of the series but has plenty of nods to the two earlier games, you can play Divinity: Original Sin 2 without any experience of its predecessors. I suspect any future game in the series would continue this tradition, especially since Larian now has a legion of new fans who are unfamiliar with the studio’s previous work. If the leaked trademark is to be believed, this new project is simply called “Divinity” – a name that has likely been chosen since it comes with no suggestion that you need to have played multiple other games.

What Does “Divinity” Mean?

Even with Mike Mignola's Hellboy and BPRD saga having concluded in 2019, there are always new stories to tell in this sprawling horror universe. That's where the Miss Truesdale series comes in. These books reveal the early origins of the Hellboy-verse, and that process continues in the new sequel series Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man.

IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man #1. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:

Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man also has the distinction of being the latest project illustrated by Lonergan, whose recent graphic novel Drome is on our shortlist for the Best Comic Book or Original Graphic Novel of 2025 award.

Here's Dark Horse's official logline for the new series:

Fans first met unassuming Miss Truesdale in Victorian England when she discovered her shocking connection to the ancient gladiator, Anum Yassa. She is thrown into her past life to battle an ancient evil and protect the future. Now in Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man, Anum Yassa wanders the forest in search of answers about her past, present, and future lives - only to discover a dark entity on her trail and threatening all of mankind.

My ending the Hellboy world (sort of) in the B.P.R.D. series, I now find myself fascinated by the very beginnings of it,” said Mignola in a statement. “Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man is not a story I would even attempt to tell without the storytelling genius of Jesse Lonergan. For me, coming up with the story was a rollercoaster of strange surprises and Jesse has made it even stranger, more beautiful than I could have imagined. This is the deepest dive yet into the world and how it all works.”

“With Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea, we explored this past life relationship between a woman in Victorian England and the ancient gladiator she was in a past life,” said Lonergan. “Now, in Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man, those two characters are merged, a Victorian woman in this powerful gladiator body, exploring a new world and battling all manner of monsters and beasts. These travels and battles culminate in a confrontation that reveals deep truths about the Hellboy Universe.”

Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man #1 is available in comic shops now. You can find a copy at your local comic shop.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

IDW Publishing has just kicked off a new era for the flagship Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic. Issue #13 marks the debut of the series' new creative team, writer Gene Luen Yang and artist Freddie E. Williams II. It also serves as the first appearance of a major new villain known as Ujigami. And this villain is carrying a terrible secret.

Read on to find out what happens in this issue and learn the shocking truth of Ujigami's true identity, but beware of full spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13 ahead!

Who Is TMNT Villain Ujigami?

Easily one of the biggest plot twists in IDW's long-running TMNT universe came with issue #100 of Vol. 1, which featured the death of the Turtles' father and mentor, Splinter. That death has continued to cast a shadow over the franchise ever since. That is, until the previous creative team, writer Jason Aaron and artist Juan Ferreyra, ended their run by bringing Splinter back.

That's a pretty major development for Yang and Williams to build upon in their new story, and they waste no time in doing just that. Issue #13 opens with the mysterious, masked Ujigami interrupting a heated Triad meeting and murdering Xiang Fei Tong, the leader of the Ghost Boys gang. The Turtles begin investigating the murder and discover a connection between the Triads and Baxter Stockman, now the newly elected mayor of New York.

Meanwhile, Splinter is shown eking out a meager existence in the slums of New York. He may be alive, but he's far from well, as he struggles with amnesia and a pervasive sense of dread.

The Turtles fear it's only a matter of time before the Ghost Boys confront Mayor Stockman, and their fears are proven correct when the gang's new mutant leader attacks him. But once again, the battle is interrupted by the arrival of Ujigami, who seriously wounds Stockman and claims to be a true, faithful ally to the Hamato family. Ujigami then escapes into the night.

It's there that the big reveal happens. Ujigami is Splinter. In his addled condition, he seems to think he's helping his sons by assassinating their enemies. Check out the slideshow gallery above to see the big reveal play out.

As it stands, the Turtles aren't aware that their father is alive, and they certainly don't know that he's masquerading as Ujigami. But it probably won't be long until the terrible truth comes out.

What This Means for TMNT's Future

Both Yang and TMNT group editor Jake Thomas spoke to IGN about this big twist and how it'll shape the series going forward. For Yang, fatherhood really is one of the driving themes of his TMNT run, drawing on his own personal experiences.

“Splinter's return to IDW's TMNT universe is huge – what an incredible way for Jason Aaron and Juan Ferreyra to end their run! Freddie and I wanted to make sure it was meaningful," Yang tells IGN. "I thought a lot about my own experience of fatherhood. My wife and I have four kids, and I've been tempted again and again to do everything in my power to make their lives as easy as possible, to keep them safe. But then... that's not always what's best for the kids, is it? Especially after they become teenagers."

Yang continues, "Great Turtles stories have always been about family, so Freddie and I are leaning into that. Can't wait for fans to read what else we have in store! And it's not just Splinter. There's another character who will soon be making an appearance – their first in the IDW incarnation of TMNT!”

Thomas explains that the goal with bringing back Splinter wasn't simply to restore the traditional TMNT statuis quo, but to do something drastically different with the character and reexamine his relationship with his sons.

“There is something undeniably powerful about the loss of a parent. When the Turtles lost Splinter – their master, their teacher, their father – back in TMNT (2011) #100, it changed the brothers and their world forever," Thomas says. "When we discussed bringing Splinter back, we knew the family couldn't just return to business as usual. The far-reaching story Gene and Freddie are just starting here is not about resetting the status quo, it is about questioning and examining the nature of family, fear, loss, love, and sacrifice, all through the incredible action, hijinks, heart, and humor that give these Turtles their power. Buckle up, this is going to be a wild ride."

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13 is available in stores now, and issue #14 will be released on January 14, 2026. You can pick up both issues at your local comic shop.

For more, learn how you can start reading the TMNT comics in 2025.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

Netflix has released the debut trailer for Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 alongside first look photos, confirming a 2026 release window.

The teaser for the live-action series showcases fan-favorite Earthbender, Toph (Miya Cech), the newest member of Team Avatar that includes Aang (Gordon Cormier), Katara (Kiawentiio), and Sokka (Ian Ousley).

Welcome to the Earth Kingdom.

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER Season 2 is coming in 2026. pic.twitter.com/94av2BPOFF

— puɐlǝɹI ⅋ ʞꓵ xᴉlɟʇǝN (@NetflixUK) December 10, 2025

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a live-action reimagining of the beloved Nickelodeon animated series. It follows Aang, the young Avatar, as he learns to master the four elements (Water, Earth, Fire, Air) to restore balance to a world threatened by the Fire Nation. In Season 2, after a bittersweet victory saving the Northern Water Tribe from the invading Fire Nation, Avatar Aang, Katara, and Sokka regroup and set off on a mission to convince the elusive Earth King to aid in their battle against fearsome Fire Lord Ozai.

Christine Boylan (Poker Face, Once Upon a Time) serves as executive producer and writer. Jabbar Raisani (Lost in Space, Stranger Things) is executive producer and director, alongside directors Anu Menon, Amit Gupta and Hiromi Kamata.

Season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender made its Netflix debut on February 22, 2024 and, according to the streamer, was the number one English TV show with 41.1 million views in just the first 11 days. The series was number one in 76 countries and in the top 10 in 92. Just a month later, Netflix announced that Avatar: The Last Airbender had been renewed for Seasons 2 and 3, which will conclude the story.

“We’re looking forward to working with all of our actors again and digging into the deeper, more complicated relationships that develop as their journey continues in Season 2,” executive producers Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani said. “We are going to show the real-world versions of iconic scenes from the original, and explore some of the stories that the animation didn’t. Mainly, we’re looking forward to seeing our gang all together again.”

New cast members rounding out the Season 2 line-up include:

• Terry Chen (Lucky Star, Jessica Jones, House of Cards) as Jeong Jeong
• Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness, Between the Temples, Ghostlight) as Lo and Li
• Lily Gao (Blue Sun Palace, Twisted Metal, Slip) as Ursa
• Madison Hu (The Brothers Sun, The Boogeyman) as Fei
• Dichen Lachman (Severance, Jurassic World: Dominion, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) as Yangchen

Also announced are two new cast members joining in Season 3: Jon Jon Briones (Ratched, Hadestown, The Last Voyage of the Demeter) as Piandao, and Tantoo Cardinal (Dances with Wolves, Legends of the Fall, Killers of the Flower Moon) as Hama.

IGN’s Avatar: The Last Airbender review returned a 7/10. We said: “The live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series enriches the original story with meaningful new material, but its breakneck pacing, exposition-heavy dialogue, and hit-or-miss effects aren’t precisely in balance.”

For more, check out IGN’s recent feature, I Hope Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender Gets the Chance to Be Better, as well as Avatar: The Last Airbender's Biggest Changes From the Animated Series.

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.

Rockstar's controversial recent firing of 31 Grand Theft Auto 6 staff has now reached UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who has described the matter as "deeply concerning" and pledged that ministers would invesigate.

The layoffs, which took place at the end of October, were raised in the UK's Parliament during today's session of Prime Minister's Questions, by Rockstar North's local MP Chris Murray.

"The video games company Rockstar in my constituency last month fired 31 employees without providing evidence or union representation," Murray told the Prime Minister. "The [Independent Workers Union of Great Britain union] IWGB alleges union busting. Having met Rockstar they failed to reassure me they are following employment law and I share concerns about union busting.

"Given this government is responsible for the biggest increase in workers rights in a generation," Murray continued, "does the Prime Minister agree all companies regardless of profit size must follow UK employment law and all workers have the right to join a union?"

"It's a deeply concerning case," Starmer replied. "Every worker has the right to join a trade union and we're determined to strengthen workers rights and ensure they don't face unfair consequences for being part of a union. Our ministers will look into the particular case that he [Murray] raises and will keep him updated."

For its part, Rockstar's parent company Take-Two Interactive previously described the firings as due to "gross misconduct, and for no other reason" after employees were found to be "distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum" against company policy. IGN has contacted Take-Two again for further comment today.

Sometimes, the best thing you can do is pick a goal and move towards it. You might have no idea how to get where you wanna go; you might have no idea where you are when it comes to accomplishing it; and you might not have much outside help, but you’ll do it anyway. What other choice is there? Just keep moving forward, and maybe something good will happen. That philosophy guided me through my three hours with Outward 2, a video game that mostly wanted me dead and was very good about making it happen. Everybody needs goals, right?

After making a character in Outward 2’s fairly (at least right now) limited character creator and choosing different elements of my backstory, which altered my starting stats – the RPG standard Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, and Willpower – my journey started in the city of Haboob, which has been recently reclaimed from the Scourge. I don’t know what that means, exactly, but it sounded good. Anyway, my recently arrived character won the housing lottery when a guy named Sebastian decided to move. Here I was, less than five minutes into the game and already a homeowner. Talk about a fantasy. We chatted before he left, and he seemed nice enough, and then I headed out to explore the city.

Haboob is gorgeous – a multilayered city of stone, with these giant rotating fans (there’s one in my house, near the bed) and I enjoy walking around it for a bit, grabbing an “on the house” (pun intended) drink at the local tea shop, and enjoying the vibe. Outward 2 isn’t the most visually sophisticated game out there – the character models kinda look like they stepped out of an Xbox 360-era Bethesda RPG – but its environments are pretty grand. After wandering around for a bit and speaking to the local Chamberlord, who hands over the deed to my new house, I call it a night. There’s not much else to do.

I’m awoken when a guard breaks in and tries to rob me (rude!) and whacks me in the head with a mace. Sebastian shows up to kill him, takes whatever it is, and then places the pistol he used to take care of the guard in my hand. At least he looks sorry about it, but because all the evidence of the murder points to me, I’m exiled with little more than what’s in my possession. The Chamberlord suggests I find Sebastian to prove my innocence.

Back to Square One

Outward 2 is a survival game, which means I need to find, craft, or buy my supplies. Out in the world, there’s nothing to guide you. I had no map and no leads. The only thing around was a big, dead bird under what looked like some sort of mystical lamp post. I decided to head east. Always into the east. I got into a couple fights, one of which was against a dude that really didn’t seem to want to be there. Outward’s combat isn’t going to blow anyone away, but it’s weighty and generally pretty solid. I’m doing all right even though I only have an ice pick and a bow I picked up in the city until I fall into a small, rocky hole. I can’t walk or roll out of it and Outward 2 has no jump button. I end up starting a new run. I ran into a lot of bugs in my time with my preview build of Outward 2 – items would duplicate or not be usable, characters would float in mid-air, and so on – but that’s to be expected of something this early.

I tried to use it as an opportunity. This time, I spent more time in Haboob because I knew I was going to get kicked out, found some new people to talk to, and was generally better equipped when I was framed for murder. Again. I just bought a house in real life, so I was particularly upset about this. How dare this dude? Who does he think he is?

But I was lucky in other ways. Remember that dead bird from last time? In its place, I found a woman named Oliele who helped me out by offering me some supplies, including a tent and a map, and told me where I might find Sebastian. There were a couple possibilities. I opted to head northeast to the True Levantines. Even with my supplies, life wasn’t easier. Drinking river water made me sick to my stomach, and my ice pick wasn’t a force in combat. I scavenged enough wood to build a shield and mostly tried to avoid fights. Even the map wasn’t much help. Oh, yeah, it was nice to see what the region looked like, but the map doesn’t track where you are, so… you know, it works like a real map. Outward 2 is willing to let you get lost, and I appreciated that.

Second Chances

This time, I didn’t fall into a hole, but I did run into other problems. Combat was risky, and when I camped for the night because my character was exhausted, I got attacked and… I couldn’t fight back. I could move, but I couldn’t swing my weapons. I opted to die, thinking that would be the end of it. Instead, I got a special little sequence because I died near a river, and washed up on its banks, my gear close by. Minus my tent.

Soon after, I spotted a weird ghost and tried to pick a fight. That was a bad idea. Not only could I barely hurt him with my ice pick, he never stopped following me when I tried to run away, so I followed the path I was on, the spectre hot on my heels, until I just happened to run into the True Levantine settlement and the guards finished him off for me. No sign of Sebastian, but I had a lead: south. Okay.

Then I got back on the road and died a whole bunch. I died to a big bird. I died to a weird bat thing. I fell over once and died. I died because I bled out. Each time I was rescued. Sometimes by a nice guy named Gep who I never met but left me a drink at his campfire. Sometimes by the healers at the True Levantine camp. Eventually, I decided it was time to buy a sword. I sold what little I had, and from there, things got easier. I made progress south. I found a weird tower where everything wanted to kill me. I killed an exiled mercenary and stole *his* tent. Ha! I explored a weird little cave and did some mining.

At this point I was rolling, and I figured I’d keep going until I died. Then I ran into one of those weird bat things again, and that was that. Three hours had flown by. Outward 2 doesn’t hold your hand, and I admire that. Exploring its gorgeous world is a lot of fun. I wish it was a little less buggy, and I wish that there was a bit more to do in a world that can sometimes feel big and empty – gathering materials in the areas I explored was difficult, and I didn’t get to craft as much as I wanted; I really wanted some linen, and I could not find or buy any of me for the life of me – but I did enjoying just picking a direction, setting off into the world, and seeing what I could see. There’s something special in that, and if the full release of Outward 2 can capture it, it might just make you want to go for a stroll.

Another day, another Skyrim port — this time The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Anniversary Edition is out on Nintendo Switch 2 after a shadowdrop — and even Bethesda can see the funny side.

Skyrim’s release on Switch 2 has resurfaced jokes about Bethesda milking the life out of its open-world fantasy role-playing game by releasing it on all the platforms under the sun. Skyrim has been ported and remastered so many times that it’s become one of the internet’s most enduring memes.

"It's a bit of a joke at this point how often we release Skyrim, but it's a great game," Bethesda's Matt Carofano, creative director of the Switch 2 version, said while talking to Nintendo Life. "We want everyone to be able to play it in the best way possible."

And that, it seems, is at the crux of Skyrim's numerous ports. With each new hardware generation, Bethesda has an opportunity to reach a whole new generation of players who get to experience its RPG for the first time. This time, it's Switch 2, giving the development team the chance to "take advantage of the new hardware."

A few years after Skyrim's original release in 2011, Bethesda worked on a "remastering process," improving the lighting and graphics features. Now, on Switch 2, it can make use of things like volumetric lighting and improved weather conditions, fog, and clouds.

"We had previously done the version for the Switch, so this was going back to that and making improvements on it," Carofano said. "So it was really an easy development process and actually pretty quick in terms of our timelines. Making the game takes years and years and years, but bringing it to this new console was a much, much faster process.

"A lot of it was really just focusing on taking advantage of the new hardware. We can use DLSS now and get better resolution, better performance, and the game loads faster. Switch 2 has the Joy-Con 2 controllers that let you use mouse controls, so we added that. A lot of it is really just, 'How do we take advantage of the Switch 2? What can it do? And [how can we] give players the best version of Skyrim for that console?'"

Of everything, though, Carofano says it's the general performance that most impresses him, as the game "performs better, runs smoother, and loads faster. So it's just a better play experience on the Switch 2."

Reflecting on why so many people continue to play and enjoy Skyrim over a decade after its release, lead designer Bruce Nesmith recently said: "I think Skyrim did the open world in a way that nobody had ever done before and very few people have really tried to do since. By all rights, a year later, some other game should have eclipsed it. And then two years later, three years later, five, 10. It’s like ‘what the hell is going on here?’

"Todd [Howard, Bethesda boss] would even go to these meetings and show us information, which I can’t give you the details of, about how many people are playing it. It’s like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me?’ Seriously, still, 10 years later."

Bethesda is, of course, working on its hotly anticipated Skyrim follow-up, The Elder Scrolls VI, but it has said next to nothing about it. We do know it will include a character designed in memory of a much-missed fan, after a remarkable charity campaign that raised more than $85,000 for Make-A-Wish.

Interestingly, Todd Howard recently refused to rule out the possibility of an Elder Scrolls TV adaptation, but did suggest the post-apocalyptic sci-fi franchise Fallout — the second series of which debuts on December 17 — was better suited to an adaptation.

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.

A six-minute prologue for next year's Christopher Nolan epic The Odyssey will air in select IMAX theaters this weekend, and again next week before screenings of Avatar: Fire and Ash.

To be in with a chance to watch this special presentation, you'll need to be sitting down in an IMAX theater this Friday, December 12, for 70mm screenings of Ryan Coogler's Sinners or the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring One Battle After Another.

From next weekend, the prologue will also air ahead of IMAX screenings for Disney's new Avatar threequel.

As reported by Variety, Nolan has chosen to release this prologue now during the busy holiday season while attention is high, and in IMAX 70mm as it is his preferred format. The Odyssey was previously announced as being the first blockbuster to be fully shot using IMAX cameras.

Due for launch on July 17, 2026, The Odyssey features an all-star cast including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Mia Goth, Charlize Theron, and Jon Bernthal.

Damon recently recalled an incident during filming where Holland personally called the head of Sony Pictures to arrange for one of the company's pristine 70mm prints of the classic film Lawrence of Arabia to be shown to The Odyssey's cast. "Tom Holland, because he’s Spider-Man and he’s everybody’s favourite at that studio, called [Sony Pictures boss Tom] Rothman and he arranged for us to screen it on a Sunday, the full four hours," Damon said.

The Odyssey is Nolan's 13th film, after previously helming Following, Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, Oppenheimer, and The Dark Knight Trilogy. Such is the anticipation for the movie, that a limited number of The Odyssey tickets went on sale during the summer — a year in advance of the film opening.

While Nolan has long been celebrated as one of the great directors of modern cinema, The Odyssey is expected to perform particularly strongly following the breakout success of Oppenheimer, the Cillian Murphy-led biopic that fuelled one half of the Barbenheimer phenomenon, earned a staggering $975 million during its theatrical run, and walked away with Best Picture at the Oscars.

The Odyssey will adapt the epic Greek story of the same name, which follows heroic king Ithaca (Damon) on his way home from the Trojan War (which famously ended with Troy conquered after the use of the wooden horse). The tale is based on myth rather than historical fact, so expect witches, Sirens, and the Cyclops to appear — as soon as this weekend.

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