And the time has finally come. Modder ‘rejuvenate’ has just released an online mod for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This mod lets you play the entire game with your friends, complete quests, and explore the world. Witcher Online is a mod that adds multiplayer to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. With this mod, players … Continue reading The Witcher 3 Just Got a Must-Have Online Multiplayer Mod→
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).
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."
"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.”
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.”
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.
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.
"Hitting 12.4 million units is a huge landmark — and it wouldn’t have happened without our players,” said Patrick Söderlund, founder and CEO of Embark Studios. “The community of raiders has been part of this journey from the start, and their ideas and enthusiasm continue to guide where the game goes next."
Nexon reckons part of Arc Raiders' success comes from Embark delivering "exactly what players worldwide have expected from the game," and hailed it a "fresh, highly differentiated experience in a massive global game genre."
If you've been finding it a little trickier just lately, that may be because you play a lot of PvP — Embark Studios recently confirmed one of the community’s biggest questions since the game came out: it does indeed feature ‘aggression-based matchmaking.’
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.
Capcom has announced a Resident Evil Showcase event that's set to stream online later this week, featuring "brand new gameplay and news" for Resident Evil Requiem.
The Showcase will stream this Thursday, January 15 at 2pm Pacific, 5pm Eastern or 10pm UK time. Following that, Capcom will host a "post-show" discussion stream via its YouTube channel, suggesting there will be plenty to chew over.
What could Capcom have left to reveal about Resident Evil Requiem, with just six weeks to go until its launch on February 27? Well, despite Leon S. Kennedy's presence now being out in the open, fans still have plenty of questions about the game to be answered — such as, is any of it open world?
Earlier this month, a teasing trailer published by Nvidia featured clips of a bustling city environment not yet seen in demos or other trailers. Featuring cars and pedestrians, the snippet looked more like an open world game than a Resident Evil title. Is this just a scripted gameplay sequence, or will there be more to explore? Fans are keen to find out.
Artwork for the Showcase predominantly features the gun also seen on Requiem's cover, alongside what looks to be red-colored bullets. Resident Evil Requiem's director Koshi Nakanishi has previously suggested this gun will be important — perhaps we'll soon learn more of its signficance, and why it seems to pass from Leon to Grace during the game's events.
The Arc Raiders community believes high framerates and aim assist may be to blame for some suspicious gameplay clips after players accused streamer Nick ‘Nickmercs’ Kolcheff of cheating.
Fans took a magnifying glass to the controversial controller accessibility feature after Reddit users took aim at a questionable gameplay video from the streamer last week. The post, which comes in at just 11 seconds long and accrued 2.4K comments on the social media platform, sees Nickmercs using a Renegade rifle (and an Xbox controller) to shoot down two Arc drones.
It’s the kind of clip many wouldn’t bat an eye at in passing, but a closer look reveals almost robotic precision.
“This is super sketchy,” one user commented shortly after the post was published, “controller does have aim assist on ARC but it’s not like this.”
“Yeah that’s not aim assist,” another user added at the time. “I mean that’s just blatantly a cheat engine. The way it locks onto a rotor and then he has to move it off the Arc entirely to get it to lock onto the back rotor instead is sus as f**k.”
The video’s showcase of inhuman, snappy aiming quickly convinced a crowd of users the streamer must be using cheats to boost his performance for his audience. Upon closer inspection, however, it looks like Nickmercs’ may only have Arc Raiders and developer Embark Studios’ built-in aim assist feature to thank.
While no one was able to exactly reproduce the streamer’s mechanical control on console without a cheat tool, PC players had a little more luck. Just hours after fans caught wind of the cheating allegations, Reddit user roartex89 published a video showcasing what seemed to be a drastic difference in aim assist sensitivity on PC vs. console.
Further investigation from users like Razukee, awhaling, and ttvimShinyatheninja seemed to find the culprit behind magnetic aiming wasn’t exactly platform choice but frames per second (FPS) values. PCs able to achieve higher framerates seem to be able to use aim assist to snap between targets with ease, while those on the lower end may see little to no benefit from the feature. So, for example, a popular streamer with a high-end PC reaching as much as 240fps would be able to use aim assist to snap to targets with more ease than a player on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X | S, where Arc Raiders is capped at 60fps.
“This basically [makes] aim assist pay to win,” ttvimShinyatheninja said in their post. “Whoever has the better PC wins. Everyone else is at a huge disadvantage and this [needs] to get fixed asap.”
Nickmercs, who went on to deny the cheating allegations during a January 12 livestream, seems to have been let off the hook, as the Arc Raiders community shifts its focus from one potential cheater to a wider discussion about aim assist. Embark is now being looked to for answers, with players taking to the company’s official channels across Reddit, X/Twitter, Discord, and more to ask for clarity or, ideally, a proper fix.
Without comment from the studio, a section of the community questioning whether it's fair for console players to be matched against PC players has emerged. From cheating allegations to general confusion about how and why aim assist works, these fans now want to spread the word that crossplay should be turned off for now.
"Until resolved console players should not be playing with PC players to preserve a fair environment if one side can do something another isn't capable of," one Reddit user commented.
"PC already have superior inputs with [mouse and keyboard] and now they also have better aim assist?" another replied. "Yeah not a chance I'm ticking that crossplay box on Xbox."
The streamer happened to find himself in the crosshairs of a gaming community that had just spent recent weeks pleading for Embark to crack down on what many felt was a cheating epidemic. As nefarious fans took advantage of exploits to illegitimately gain the upper hand on other Raiders, the studio finally stepped in, promising to clean up lobbies as January rolls on.
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).
Since launching last June, the Switch 2 has given players new games from Nintendo franchises (such as Mario Kart World and Kirby Air Riders), as well as ports of games from other consoles, such as Final Fantasy VII Remake, proving that the Switch 2 is capable of running more demanding games than its predecessor. However, the launch has also faced some issues, such as criticisms of the Game-Key Card medium and shortages of consoles (especially in Japan, where high demand meant Switch 2 sales being restricted to a lottery system for most of 2025). Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa recently dropped some hints at what is next for the Nintendo Switch 2 as it enters its second year.
As spotted by Nintendo Life, Japanese newspaper Kyoto Shimbun recently interviewed the Nintendo president about the future of the Switch 2. Nintendo Patents Watch gave a summary of the paywalled article, which is referenced here.
There have been concerns about possible price increases for the Switch 2, with the current economic situation and memory costs. Memory prices are on the rise because powerful AI chips have high requirements, with news outlets like CNBC reporting that there won’t be enough memory to meet worldwide demand in 2026.
According to Furukawa, current memory prices will have no immediate impact on Nintendo’s financial performance thanks to Nintendo’s inventory and contracts with suppliers. However, the Nintendo president noted that “we must monitor the situation closely.” As to whether or not consumers would have to deal with price increases, Furukawa said “I cannot comment on hypotheticals.”
According to CNBC, there won't be enough RAM to meet demand this year because companies like Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and Google need so much of it for their artificial intelligence chips, and those companies "are the first ones in line for the components." As a result, prices for memory are rising. In December, Micron - one of three primary memory vendors - said it would discontinue a part of its business that aimed to provide memory for consumer PC builders so the company could save supply for AI chips and servers.
As for what offerings we can expect to see on the Switch 2 in the future, Furukawa hinted that “we are developing popular series titles that many fans are waiting for, but also completely new software.” On that note, the Switch 2 has yet to receive a new mainline The Legend of Zelda game, although series producer Eiji Aonuma recently suggested that the next Zelda title might draw on elements from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. As for new first party titles on the horizon in 2026, Mario Tennis Fever is coming in February with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book due later in the year. Furukawa’s comment suggests that Nintendo will announce more games in the near future.
As well as visual, performance and storage-related improvements over the original Switch, the Switch 2 has already introduced some new features like GameChat, GameShare, and the new JoyCon’s ability to be used like a mouse. It will be interesting to see how upcoming Switch 2 exclusives make use of the new console’s features.
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
I have spent enough years covering games to know when a sale actually matters, and this one does. It's looking like a proper cross platform clearance out there, the kind where great games quietly slip to prices they have no right being at. I have played most of these, finished plenty of them, and a few still live rent free in my head years later.
In retro news, I'm celebrating the 21st birthday of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, a GBA classic. Though initially the concept of an RPG meshing (sometimes pantsless) anthropomorphic Disney animals with Final Fantasy favourites sounded goofier than, well... Goofy, gamers loved it. To keep that enthusiasm going, a direct sequel was commissioned for handheld to bridge the inaugural KH and its forthcoming numbered sequel. In terms of production values and content, it was one of the most features-packed cartridges for the system, with full-motion video (!!!), an engrossing storyline, addictive real-time card combat, and link-cable-enabled 2P battles to boot.
This Day in Gaming 🎂
Aussie birthdays for notable games.
- Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA) 2005.eBay
Nice Savings for Nintendo Switch
Borderlands 3 Ult. (-51%)A$44.10 A ridiculous amount of content packed into one bundle, with mountains of guns, loud humour, and DLC that easily justifies the price.
Sonic Frontiers (-51%)A$49.10 Sega finally cracked open zone Sonic, and the result is fast, flexible, and far more thoughtful than it first appears.
Dragon Ball FighterZ (-50%)A$44.90 Still one of the best looking fighters ever made, with speed, spectacle, and genuine competitive depth.
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.
Author of Heated Rivalry, Rachel Reid, has announced a 7th book in the Game Changers book series, titled Unrivaled, set to release on September 29, 2026.
Unrivaled will be a sequel to The Long Game, which followed after Heated Rivalry in the ever popular duo of Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, digging further into their relationship. Unrivaled will now let readers and fans find out what happens following the end of The Long Game, which ended with some massive changes in the lives of the two star hockey players and their relationship.
Rumors of the new book circulated over the weekend after Barnes & Noble posted listings available for preorder for the upcoming book – despite having no cover reveal at the time, the listings were detailed enough and considered legitimate because of it being Barnes & Noble.
Reid shared the news officially today on her Instagram, saying "It's really, really surreal to be sitting here writing the next Ilya and Shane book while watching jokes about Ilya and Shane happen live on my television from Hollywood at the Golden Globes."
Heated Rivalry has not slowed down since it's episode 1 and 2 release on November 28, 2025, with stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie having just presented at the 83rd Golden Globes last night, with a fun bit they shared on stage.
Dozens of videos circulated on social media sharing Storrie and Williams with well known actors coming up to them giving them praise for their roles in the gay hockey drama, including The Bear's Ayo Edebiri. (Because the show was produced by Bell Media, a Canadian company, Heated Rivalry was not eligible to be nominated for any Golden Globe Awards categories.)
Williams and Storrie previously shared they had signed contracts for three seasons of the series, with Season 2 already being greenlit. Heated Rivalry was originally produced by Crave in Canada, while premiering on HBO Max in the US, and the show is still getting more international streaming releases, having just premiered in the UK over the weekend through Sky.
With Williams and Storrie making other welcomed career movies, like their romantic fantasy audio for Quinn, called Ember & Ice, we only see the hype for both of them and the series to continue building – especially now with Reid having announced Unrivaled!
Jessie Wade is Associate Director of Editorial Programming at IGN. You can find her playing cozy games on her Switch or watching the latest fantasy and drama shows, as well as getting lost in way too many fantasy romance books.
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