Scalpers are already reselling their LEGO Pokémon set pre-orders on eBay, with numerous instances of the limited edition Kanto Region Badge Collection having been sold on for hundreds of dollars in profit.

As with any hotly-anticipated product announcement, eBay listings have now flooded the online auction site. Just 24 hours on from yesterday's LEGO Pokémon reveal, all of the LEGO Pokémon range's toy sets are now available to buy for more money than they're worth.

There's no suggestion that the core range, which consists of three sets, will sell out. Still, scalpers seem to be preying on baseless fears that it might (or may at least be hard to find while LEGO produces more stock).

That said, there is particular interest around the Kanto Region Badge Collection set, which is a limited edition free gift. And here, offers are already being listed for upwards of $400.

The Kanto badge collectible is only available with the LEGO Pokémon range's expensive $600 Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise set, and like all LEGO Gifts with Purchase sets, likely won't be made available separately in large numbers.

IGN has seen numerous listings for the Kanto badge set on eBay at $400, or combined with the Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise set for $1,250, double that set's recommended retail price.

Warhammer maker Games Workshop has banned the use of AI in its content production and its design process, insisting that none of its senior managers are currently excited about the technology.

Delivering the UK company’s impressive financial results, CEO Kevin Rountree addressed the issue of AI and how Games Workshop is handling it. He said GW staff are barred from using it to actually produce anything, but admitted a “few” senior managers are experimenting with it.

Rountree said AI was “a very broad topic and to be honest I’m not an expert on it,” then went on to lay down the company line:

"We do have a few senior managers that are [experts on AI]: none are that excited about it yet. We have agreed an internal policy to guide us all, which is currently very cautious e.g. we do not allow AI generated content or AI to be used in our design processes or its unauthorised use outside of GW including in any of our competitions. We also have to monitor and protect ourselves from a data compliance, security and governance perspective, the AI or machine learning engines seem to be automatically included on our phones or laptops whether we like it or not.

“We are allowing those few senior managers to continue to be inquisitive about the technology. We have also agreed we will be maintaining a strong commitment to protect our intellectual property and respect our human creators. In the period reported, we continued to invest in our Warhammer Studio — hiring more creatives in multiple disciplines from concepting and art to writing and sculpting. Talented and passionate individuals that make Warhammer the rich, evocative IP that our hobbyists and we all love.”

Games Workshop owns and operates a number of hugely popular tabletop war games, including Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar. Its core business is selling miniatures and box sets that are used by fans to play these games, but there are a number of other creative aspects of the hobby that Games Workshop invests in, such as book selling, art sales, and animation production.

Last month, Displate was forced to deny that one of its pieces of official Warhammer 40,000 artwork was the product of generative AI, insisting “red flags” spotted by fans were the result of human error.

The Warhammer 40,000 setting is in many ways built upon the evocative and enduring art drawn by the likes of John Blanche, who shaped its "grimdark" aesthetic alongside other key Games Workshop staff. This official, human-made Warhammer 40,000 artwork is beloved by fans, most of whom take a dim view of the mere whiff of generative AI “art” sold or released in any official capacity by either Games Workshop itself, or its partners.

Indeed, Games Workshop sells expensive Warhammer 40,000 ‘codex’ rulebooks that are packed with stunning official art as well as lore. Any suggestion that this art was created either in part or entirely by generative AI tools would likely cause a community uproar.

Stellar Blade director and CEO of Shift Up Hyung-tae Kim has stated that without the use of AI, developers in smaller nations will struggle to keep up with studios in places like the U.S. and China.

As first reported by GameMeca, and picked up by Automaton, Kim addressed attendees at South Korea's 2026 Economic Growth Strategy event and said that countries like China have an overwhelming advantage due to the sheer number of staff it can throw at video game development.

"We devote around 150 people to a single game, but China puts in between 1,000 to 2,000. We lack the capacity to compete, both in terms of quality and volume of content," Kim said (via machine translation).

Using AI will not result in job losses, Kim insisted, but instead make employees more valuable, as "one person can perform the work of 100 people." This week, Shift Up gifted its 300 staff an Apple Watch, AirPods Max, and a $3,400 cash bonus. A sequel, Stellar Blade 2, is in development, as well as Project Spirits, to be published by Level Infinite.

AI is, of course, a huge topic in gaming right now, with numerous companies forced to issue statements confirming they have not used AI to create games or the marketing materials that promote them. Just yesterday, January 12, we reported that Nintendo denied allegations that it used AI-generated imagery to advertise its new My Mario children's toy range, while last month, a Fortnite artist was forced to defend their work after fans suggested numerous images found within the game's new season were AI-generated, including a suspicious-looking poster showing a character in a hammock with an odd number of toes.

In November 17, Assassin's Creed publisher Ubisoft had to remove an image found within Anno 117: Pax Romana that contained AI-generated elements after fans complained, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 players complained about suspected AI-generated images they had found across the game, following a trend of AI-Ghibli images from earlier this year. The Alters developer, 11 Bit Studios, and Jurassic World Evolution 3 developer, Frontier Developments, have similarly faced fan backlash.

More recently, Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian was embroiled in a genAI controversy of its own following the announcement of its next game, Divinity. It's since pullled back somewhat from using the tech.

Opinion on the use of AI in games continues to divide studios and their fans, with some vehemently against its use, while others claim it's an inevitable part of the future. Rockstar co-founder and former Grand Theft Auto writer Dan Houser recently likened AI to mad cow disease, but the CEO of Genvid — the company behind choose-your-own-adventure interactive series like Silent Hill Ascension — has claimed "consumers generally do not care" about generative AI in games, and stated that: "Gen Z loves AI slop."

EA CEO Andrew Wilson has said AI is "the very core of our business," and Square Enix recently implemented mass layoffs and reorganized, saying it needed to be "aggressive in applying AI." Dead Space creator Glen Schofield also recently detailed his plans to “fix” the industry in part via the use of generative AI in game development, and former God of War dev Meghan Morgan Juinio said: "... if we don’t embrace [AI], I think we’re selling ourselves short.”

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.

Xbox studio Ninja Theory is working on a third major Hellblade game, a new report has suggested — this time with more interactive elements.

Two Hellblade titles have released to date, featuring celtic warrier Senua in battles against monsters and her own mental health. Both have been widely praised for their visuals and story, though have also caught flak for prioritizing cinematography over gameplay.

A new, third Hellblade title in development at Ninja Theory will respond to that criticism by focusing on being more of a "game," according to Windows Central editor Jez Corden, speaking on the Xbox Two podcast. At the same time, Corden said that Ninja Theory was no longer working on Project Mara, an "experimental title" announced by Microsoft back in 2020.

"From what I understand, the next game [from Ninja Theory] is Hellblade 3," Corden said. "And it's going to be a bit more interactive than Hellblade 1 and 2.

"I don't know what the exact nature of Hellblade 3 is going to be like," he continued, "if it's even going to be Hellblade 3, but it does sound like it's going to be in the Hellblade universe, and it does sound like they want to make it more of a 'game', y'know, and broaden the appeal to some degree."

Project Mara was announced as one of several titles being worked on at Ninja Theory back in 2020, alongside Hellblade 2, Bleeding Edge, and a separate R&D project described as "an ambitious combination of technology, game design and clinical neuroscience." The years since have revealed that the studio has been working with Microsoft's generative AI model Muse as part of a project that's generate clips of simulated gameplay.

"You guys shouldn't expect Project Mara to be a thing," Corden claimed. "Project Mara was just a concept, it's not a game — and it's not a game they're currently working on. It might be something they work on eventually, but Project Mara is not a game that's currently being worked on at Ninja Theory."

Corden has since doubled down via social media on his claim that Project Mara was "only ever a concept" rather than a full game — so therefore "the game wasn't cancelled."

Back in 2020, Ninja Theory described Project Mara as "our new in-development experimental title that explores new ways of storytelling." To date, there's been no further word on what became of the concept or why it was seemingly been abandoned. Last year, it was publicly confirmed that Team Ninja's colourful co-founder Tameem Antoniades had quietly left the studio, something that Microsoft only acknowledged to Polygon after his absence was noted on a press visit.

IGN has contacted Microsoft for more.

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

A former veteran Bethesda developer has said the studio may end up with “hateful comments” even if The Elder Scrolls 6 ends up just being as good as Skyrim, which he considers to be one of the top 10 games of all time.

In an interview with Esports Insider, former Bethesda lead artist Nate Purkeypile, who worked at Bethesda Game Studios from 2007 before leaving in 2021, agreed with the assertion that the development teams behind The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout are in a “no-win situation” because of the expectation fans have placed upon both games.

“Yes, and that definitely factored into me leaving because Skyrim being one of the top 10 games of all-time, how do you beat that?” Purkeypile, who founded solo indie dev Just Purkey Games after leaving Bethesda, replied.

“If they do, great! And I hope it’s a great game, but even if it’s just as good as Skyrim was, you’ll still get so many people throwing out hateful comments. I’m sure there will be more death threats again. All of that stuff. It’s really unfortunate that that’s the way things have gone.”

In January last year, The Elder Scrolls 6 announcement became as old as predecessor Skyrim was when The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced. Skyrim was released on November 11, 2011, and The Elder Scrolls 6 was revealed on June 10, 2018 — 2,403 days afterwards. It is now seven-and-a-half years since the announcement, and we’re no closer, it seems, to the release of the game.

When the six-year anniversary of The Elder Scrolls 6 announcement arrived in June 2024, even Bethesda chief Todd Howard paused to say, "oh wow, that has been a while." The Elder Scrolls 6 is at least in production, with Bethesda confirming it had entered "early development" in August 2023 and "early builds" were available in March 2024.

Last year, amid increasing pressure from fans for some information on the game, Howard said The Elder Scrolls 6 wouldn’t be out for some time yet. In an interview with GQ magazine to celebrate the release of Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition, Howard said The Elder Scrolls 6 is “still a long way off,” adding: “I’m preaching patience. I don’t want fans to feel anxious.”

More recently, speaking to Game Informer, studio design director Emil Pagliarulo pointed to GTA 6’s high-profile delays as the “smartest thing they could do.”

“What do fans really want?” he asked. “Do they want a game that comes out before it should and doesn’t meet their expectations? Or do they want the turkey that is in the oven for long enough to be delicious when it finally comes out of the oven, you know? That’s what I think people are going to want. So, we’re going to take our time and as long as it needs to be great.”

Purkeypile said he assumed Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls 6 so early because the studio was announcing Starfield at a time when it had already been so long since Skyrim came out, so “we needed to make sure people were not just pissed at us.” He continued: “it’s a very expensive way to do that, though. Those trailers are not cheap.”

Purkeypile added that Bethesda’s experience with the divisive Starfield shows it’s happy to delay games.

“I would imagine that they will take a while to deliver it because there’s so much pressure behind that title, and I think it’s been proven with Starfield that they’re finally okay, actually delaying stuff,” he said. “That was not really the case early on. On Skyrim, it was like, ‘It’s coming out on 11/11/11’ and we were like, what?! Oh boy, no pressure.

“I think there is less economic pressure to just get Elder Scrolls 6 out on a date, but there is more economic pressure to actually make sure it’s good, and I think that’s a good thing. That’s healthy so long as they’re also honest with the team about that.”

In the GQ article, Howard once again admitted that it had taken too long to get The Elder Scrolls 6 out the door, but did tease a The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered-style shadowdrop — without confirming anything.

“I do like to have a break between them, where it isn’t like a ‘plus one’ sequel,” Howard said of making The Elder Scrolls games again. “I think it’s also good for an audience to have a break — The Elder Scrolls has been too long, let’s be clear. But we wanted to do something new with Starfield. We needed a creative reset.” Bethesda is currently playtesting The Elder Scrolls 6, Howard revealed.

“I like to just announce stuff and release it,” Howard continued. “My perfect version — and I’m not saying this is going to happen — is that it's going to be a while and then, one day, the game will just appear.” The Oblivion Remastered shadowdrop was “a test run,” Howard teased. “It worked out well.”

Earlier this year it was confirmed that The Elder Scrolls 6 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.

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.

Ubisoft has today announced that it expects 55 jobs to impacted as part of further cost-cutting, now at The Division studio Massive and fellow Swedish outfit Ubisoft Stockholm.

The likely job losses follow an earlier voluntary redundancy scheme that did not achieve as many leavers as necessary for Ubisoft's plans to reduce headcount, IGN understands.

"Earlier today, we informed all employees in our Swedish studios (Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft Stockholm) about a proposed organizational restructure that may affect approximately 55 roles across Malmö and Stockholm," Ubisoft said in a statement passed to IGN today.

"This restructure follows the completion of the Voluntary Leave Program launched during the fall of 2025, a finalized long-term roadmap, and a completed staffing and appointment process, which together have provided clearer visibility into the structure and capacity required to support the two studios’ work and sustainably over time.

"These proposed changes are forward-looking and structural, they are not related to individual performance, recent deliveries, or the quality of the work produced by the teams.

"The long-term direction for the studios remains unchanged, and we will continue to serve as the global home and lead for to The Division franchise, move forward with an unannounced innovative tech project with a refined team setup, and play a central role in the development of Snowdrop and Ubisoft Connect.

"The proposed restructuring will begin with a focus on individual agreements and impacted employees are being informed directly and supported with care and respect inline with local regulations."

IGN understands that development on The Division franchise will still continue as a matter of priority, with work underway on Tom Clancy's The Division 3, as well as continued updates for The Division 2 and under-wraps extraction project The Division 2: Survivors.

Massive is also home to the team behind The Division franchise's Snowdrop engine, also used in Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and is also conducting early work on a mysterious separate game project focused on innovation and technology.

Last week, Ubisoft announced the closure of its Canadian mobile game studio Ubisoft Halifax, with the loss of 71 jobs. Ubisoft said the decision was part of its wider two-year effort company-wide to "streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs," and was unrelated to the fact that 61 of its 71 workers had just successfully voted to unionize.

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

Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios has released update 1.11.0 along with its patch notes, below. It adds the Abyss cosmetic set along with some fixes and balancing changes to the Trigger ‘Nade and Kettle.

These key nerfs to the Kettle and Trigger ‘Nade address some of the biggest complaints from Arc Raiders players in recent weeks. On the Kettle, Embark said it had reduced fire rate from 600 to 450. “The previous fire rate was only realistically reachable by players using macros, which creates an unfair dynamic that favors using third-party software,” Embark said in a post on Steam.

And on the Trigger ‘Nade, Embark admitted it had come to dominate PvP encounters, and “players favour picking it over all our other grenades.”

This nerf aims to make it less usable as a “trigger-in-air” grenade, while keeping its usefulness as a sticky bomb. Damage falloff has been rebalanced to concentrate the damage closer to the center of the explosion, and deal less damage farther away. The delay between triggering the grenade and it detonating has been increased from 0.7s to 1.5s, giving players more time to react, and making it harder to time the detonation in air.

Meanwhile, the update fixes a key card exploit that allows players to keep room keys after using them, and lighting has been lowered in some areas on Stella Montis Night Raid, making flashlights and listening more relevant.

Extraction shooter Arc Raiders is one of the biggest games around, selling over 12 million copies since its launch at the end of October. Embark just announced a free gift to all players to celebrate.

Elsewhere, we’ve got ongoing coverage of its ‘aggression-based matchmaking,’ as well as the current debate about aim assist.

Arc Raiders update 1.11.0 patch notes:

• Kettle
  • Dev note: Reduced fire rate from 600 to 450. The previous fire rate was only realistically reachable by players using macros, which creates an unfair dynamic that favours using 3rd party software.
• Trigger ‘Nade
  • Dev note: Trigger ‘Nade currently dominates PVP encounters, and players favour picking it over all our other grenades. This nerf aims to make it less usable as a “trigger-in-air” grenade, whilst keeping its usefulness as a sticky bomb. Damage falloff has been rebalanced to concentrate the damage closer to the center of the explosion, and deal less damage further away. The delay between triggering the grenade and it detonating, has been increased from 0.7s to 1.5s, giving players more time to react, and making it harder to time the detonation in air.
• Fixed a key card exploit that allowed players to keep room keys after using them.
• Lighting has been lowered in some areas on Stella Montis Night Raid making flashlights and listening more relevant.

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.

Arc Raiders has sold an incredible 12.4 million copies in just 10 weeks, publisher Nexon has announced. And to celebrate, developer Embark Studios is giving all players a free in-game gift.

Embark Studios' enormously popular extraction shooter has seen impressive staying power, too, setting a new concurrent player peak of 960,000 in January 2026.

The publisher says success comes not just from holiday sales but also promotions across the major digital retailers, such as Steam, and numerous end-of-year awards, including IGN's Best Shooter Game of 2025 accolade. It also recognized Embark's "steady stream of content updates" as critical to sustaining player engagement, too.

To put Arc Raiders' success into context, the similarly priced Helldivers 2 set a record for the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time by selling 12 million in 12 weeks. Arc Raiders, which launched on Xbox as well as PC and PlayStation, hit the 12 million sales mark even faster.

To celebrate the milestone, Embark is offering a free in-game reward, the Gilded Pickaxe is available to all players for a limited time. Any player who has logged onto the game at least once since launch will receive the gift to their in-game inbox on January 13, at 11am CET. If you've not played yet, make sure you boot up before 23.59 CET on January 13 to get your Gilded Pickaxe Raider Tool.