Metacritic has been forced to remove a suspicious-sounding Resident Evil Requiem review published by a previously high-profile website, after claims that the outlet was now pumping out AI slop.

The popular review score aggregation source told Kotaku it had now delisted a 9/10 Resident Evil Requiem review from veteran UK website Videogamer.com after concerns were raised about its authorship following cuts to its human staff.

Videogamer's 543-word appraisal of Requiem, still live on its own website, is published under the byline of "experienced iGaming and sports betting analyst" Brian Merrygold. Alas, Merrygold does not appear to exist. His profile image includes a URL that suggests it was created by ChatGPT in October last year, the same month a social media profile for the author was created that's yet to be used.

Merrygold's persona, along with several others on the website, have been used to publish what appears to be AI-generated gambling slop on Videogamer over the past few months. Kotaku reports that Videogamer's new owners Clickout then began using these same personas for video game coverage this month, after human writers were made redundant.

"The RE Requiem review and a handful of other Videogamer reviews from 2026 have been removed," Metacritic co-founder Marc Doyle acknowledged.

"Metacritic has been a reputable review source for a quarter century and has maintained a rigorous vetting process when adding new publications to our slate of critics," he continued. "However, in certain instances such as a publication being sold or a writing staff having turned over, problems can arise such as plagiarism, theft, or other forms of fraud including AI-generated reviews.

"Metacritic's policy is to never include an AI-generated critic review on Metacritic and if we discover that one has been posted, we'll remove it immediately and sever ties with that publication indefinitely pending a thorough investigation."

Metacritic's warning comes at a time when all kinds of journalism face an existential crisis due to the rise of AI. From the ability to quickly conjur up regurgitated opinions scraped together from elsewhere, to the fact that search engine article discovery is quickly being replaced by AI summaries, the landscape is much changed. Metacritic's warning, meanwhile, suggests the company thinks it likely this won't be the only attempt to get AI slop past its filters.

"Like the result of an experiment conducted in an underground Umbrella Corporation lab, Resident Evil Requiem successfully splices two separate strains of survival horror together into the one highly infectious new mutation," IGN wrote in our human-authored Resident Evil Requiem review, awarding the game 9/10.

IGN's Resident Evil Requiem guide will help you every step of the way through RE9. Take note of these key tips and tricks before you get started, and focus on finding these important items early. Plus, our comprehensive walkthrough will make sure you don't miss a single Bobblehead or file as you try to survive from the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center all the way to Raccoon City.

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

Sony is reportedly pulling away from PC when it comes to single-player PlayStation games to focus more on console exclusivity.

Various comments from credible sources, including Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier and Digital Foundry’s John Linneman, indicate PC has become less important for Sony, and that single-player PlayStation exclusives may remain just that.

Speaking on the Triple Click Podcast, Schreier indicated that Sony will continue to release its live service games on PC as well as PlayStation, but “the sense I'm getting is that they're backing away from putting their exclusive console stuff like traditional single-player stuff on PC.”

Schreier pointed to Insomniac’s Wolverine, due out on PS5 exclusively this September, which he suggested may never come to PC.

Schreier then suggested Sony hasn’t seen significant commercial success putting its single-player games on PC. “It doesn't seem like it's going to be that big of a blow,” he added. First-party single-player PlayStation games that have made the jump to PC include Marvel's Spider-Man, God of War, The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, and Days Gone.

In a post on ResetEra, Schreier said his comments were “not speculation, but sometimes topics come up on the show before I'm quite ready to publish a story about them. More to come soon I'm sure.”

Digital Foundry’s John Linneman said something similar on Digital Foundry Direct. “I actually have an inkling that they’re pulling away from PC,” Linneman said. “Watch this space. I get the feeling that under the current leadership, PC has become less important.”

“One might argue that the Jim Ryan era, the one positive thing to come out of it is this shift to PC. But I’m not confident they have a huge vision for PC going forward. Not to say we won’t still see some PC games happening. But I think it’s not going to become more PC focused. I think if anything it’s going to become less. This is the reason I don’t think they would ever consider a PC launcher, like going bigger on PC at the expense of console. I think console is where they want to be.”

IGN has asked Sony for comment.

Sony has in recent years expanded PlayStation to PC, but refrained from going as far as console rival Microsoft, which releases all its games on PC at the same time as console. Sony, however, has employed a staggered approach, releasing its single-player PlayStation games on PC after a period of console exclusivity. When it comes to live service games like Helldivers 2 it’s a different story, with Sony publishing on PC day-one — and in the case of Arrowhead’s third-person action game, to record-breaking success. Indeed, Sony-owned Bungie is about to launch live service extraction shooter Marathon across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S at the same time. Guerrilla’s live-service multiplayer Horizon spinoff, Hunters Gathering, is set for PC and PS5, as is MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls.

The reports cast doubt on the likes of Wolverine ever coming out on PC. But there are more games to consider here. We had assumed Sucker Punch's Ghost of Yōtei would eventually hit PC having launched on PS5 last year, but will it? Will Housemarque's Saros?

It’s worth noting recent reports that Sony may have to delay the release of the PlayStation 6 to 2028 or even 2029 as a result of the AI-fueled chip crisis. In January, an analyst report suggested that Sony may push the launch of the PS6 beyond 2028 and lengthen the PS5 lifecycle. David Gibson, senior analyst at MST international who focuses on game and tech companies, predicted that “rising memory prices will not impact short-term performance thanks to Sony’s existing inventory.” However, he noted that increased memory costs could become an issue for Sony in the next fiscal year (ending in March 2027), saying “Sony might pass future cost increases onto consumers.”

With that in mind, doubling down on PS5 as the home of exclusive games may help reinforce the console’s value for PlayStation fans, and encourage sales.

This month Sony announced the shock closure of Bluepoint Games, the studio behind the remakes of both Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls. Sony still operates PC port specialist Nixxes Software, which it bought in 2021.

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.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise. With over 1,000 pocket monsters to collect, battle, and trade, dozens of mainline and spinoff games, a lucrative trading card game, various animated shows and movies, as well as a plethora of merchandise, Pokémon is one of the most profitable franchises in the world. It also happens to be my favorite.

I’ve spoken ad nausea about how much I love Pokémon. I’ve collected all but one of the mainline games, my room is adorned with statues, posters, and plushies of my favorite monsters, and my social media profiles are labeled with custom Pokémon artwork. This franchise means more to me than any other. And for this Access Designed, in honor of Pokémon’s 30th anniversary, I want to explore how its relatively consistent accessibility has shaped me, not only as a disabled player, but as a disabled reporter.

Catching Them All

My first introduction to the series wasn’t a video game. It was actually a single trading card: a Machop, effortlessly holding a massive boulder above its head. My older brother had been forced to reluctantly share it with me. And from that moment on, all I wanted was to collect more. I watched my brother trade with his friends, slowly developing my favorites from afar.

It wasn’t until the age of five, when my mother picked me up from kindergarten with a copy of Pokémon: Blue Version, that I experienced my first foray into the digital world of Pokémon. Back in 1999, my disability had yet to progress to where it is now. Yes, I was weak and required a wheelchair, but my hands had yet to atrophy into their current shape, and so it was far easier to use handheld consoles like the Game Boy. And because early Pokémon games had simplistic movement and play-at-your-own-speed turn-based combat, I could spend hours catching and battling without physical fatigue or strain.

For years, well into Pokémon’s third generation with games like Ruby, Sapphire, Fire Red and Leaf Green, that classic, accessible gameplay design remained the same. While the different iterations of Game Boys changed their shapes and sizes, Pokémon’s overall play style was the only accessibility constant in my gaming life. Whether relaxing after school or stuck in an ICU room with IVs and tubes coming from my body, I was always able to play Pokémon.

When Change Creates Conflict

Pokémon’s inclusive gameplay design is inherent to its overall accessibility. The games are meant to be played by everyone, with difficulty being exclusive to the individual. Do you want to breeze through the game with just your starter and a legendary? Go for it. Do you want to build an intricately competitive team with proper stat distribution and type matchups? Nothing is stopping you. There is a level of freedom offered by Pokémon games that, for me, is unmatched in terms of accessible design.

Even as Nintendo evolved, with new handhelds that chased new ambitions, Pokémon’s core gameplay loop remained the same. While the DS and 3DS games used the touchscreen for minigames, I was still able to play the entirety of each Pokémon entry released on those consoles. That streak was brought to an end, though, with the release of the first Pokémon game for the Nintendo Switch.

Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee were released in 2018. They are both remakes of the original generation’s Yellow Version, albeit with some notable differences. All Pokémon are visible on the overworld, making it easier to find your favorites and even hunt for elusive shinies. The overall difficulty is significantly easier, with an emphasis on attracting a new generation of Pokémon fans. Both of those changes were more than welcome. But the most controversial difference was the inclusion of forced motion controls.

Catching Pokémon meant flicking the Joycon, imitating throwing a Pokéball to activate the controller’s motion systems. There was no alternative to this mechanic, no ability to catch using traditional controls. For the first time ever in a mainline entry, Pokémon changed one of its core gameplay principles, and the result was a less accessible game. For the first time in my life, I was unable to play a Pokémon game due to its overall inaccessibility. And while I wasn’t disappointed to be missing another first-generation remake, I was fearful that this gimmick would set a precedent for future games.

In 2018, I wrote my first article exploring the negative accessibility impact of the Let’s Go games. In a uniquely beautiful, full circle moment, the series that was my accessibility constant helped launch my career as a disability and accessibility reporter. With gaming journalism in this field still within its infancy, it was refreshing to see a publication take a chance on a new writer to essentially call out one of the largest franchises in the world. My piece was deeply personal, but also spoke to the greater concerns of accessibility as a whole – can innovation be dangerous in the face of accessibility? Thankfully, Let’s Go were the only games to incorporate forced motion controls, but Pokémon continues to try to innovate.

An Uncertain Future

Pokémon’s recent Legends entries once again redefine what it means to capture and battle powerful monsters. While 2022’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus kept the series’ classic turn-based battle system, it implemented real-time catching without providing any accessible tools. And so while I was able to play Arceus to completion, I needed to use a specialized controller in combination with Nintendo’s native system accessibility settings, activated through the Switch itself rather than in-game. Fast forward to 2025’s Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and for the first time in a Pokémon entry everything was real-time. It meant that I found it a struggle to play for consecutive hours. So while I did complete both Legends games, I did so while grappling with a level of physical fatigue and strain that I’ve never experienced with Pokémon before. And even though I love these new interpretations of this 30 year-old classic series, I’m slightly apprehensive when thinking about the future of Pokémon. Will there be another Let’s Go-esque game I can’t play? I don’t know, and that quite frankly terrifies me.

I will always love Pokémon. I will always view it as my emotional comfort series. And as I’ve grown, I’ve learned to appreciate the nuances behind each game. Competitive battling, shiny hunting, and even Pokédex completion have historically been aspects of each game that I can comfortably engage with despite my physical disability. While I’ve become hesitant to let my accessibility guard down with new games and announcements, Pokémon’s vast library means I can always return to my comfort place. And for that reason alone, I’m excited to see where the next 30 years take us.

Grant Stoner is a disabled journalist covering accessibility and the disabled perspective in video games. When not writing, he is usually screaming about Pokémon or his cat, Goomba on Twitter.

Amazon is going through something of a massive restocking mission this week for Pokémon cards, and it comes at just the right time for Pokémon Day and the 30th anniversary celebrations.

There's a whole bunch of great deals already live (including discounts on cards, games, and toys), but I wanted to draw attention to one of the best deals out there right now as well.

That's on the Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet - Journey Together Booster Bundle, which is now back in stock at Amazon, and with a significant reduction to boot.

Magic: The Gathering has kicked off its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set prerelease weekend, but one product has been tougher to find than even Collector Boosters - the Pizza Bundle.

New for this set, it’s a bundle of packs and bonus goodies intended to look like, well, a pizza box, and it includes a Collector Booster - but is it worth picking up at Amazon right now?

The much-delayed Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse currently has a June 18, 2027 release date. If the animated movie does hit that date, it’ll arrive four years after 2023’s Across the Spider-Verse, and eight years after 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse came out. So, what’s taking so long?

In an interview with io9, Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller explained the hold-up. They said that a lot of the delay had to do with the pressure they put on themselves to outdo the previous two movies, which enjoyed critical and commercial acclaim, and the sheer amount of work required to come up with something that will do just that. Then there were issues that came with the decision to split the sequel in two, and subsequently having to piece it back together to create not just a coherent trilogy, but coherent individual movies.

“At one point it was one movie, but there was too much movie there, so it was separated into two,” Miller explained. “But then once you looked at that second half of a movie, you’re like, ‘Well, that’s like not just a story arc that has a beginning, middle, and end.”

“We know where it’s headed, but we need to understand better what’s happening in the middle,” Lord added. “And we came upon a really wonderful notion, which is when your family is broken apart by your calling, your talents, how do you put them back together? How do you have it all?”

“We put the most pressure on ourselves,” Miller went on to say. “There’s no one that puts more pressure on us than ourselves, wanting to outdo ourselves each time and see things that you haven’t seen before and make it feel like something you’ve never experienced before. And so, trying to get something that is as worthy as the previous two has been the driver.”

“Having to take it apart to put it back together again was really, really [the] real thing that made it take longer,” Miller said.

Then there was, as Lord put it, the “small detour” that was Project Hail Mary. That’s the upcoming Ryan Gosling adaptation of the 2021 hard sci-fi novel of the same name that Lord and Miller directed. That’s a pretty big detour, I’d say.

As it stands, Beyond the Spider-Verse is a little over a year away. So what can we expect? Daniel Kaluuya, who played Hobart "Hobie" Brown / Spider-Punk in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, is set to play the same character in Beyond the Spider-Verse (he’s also set to reprise the role in a Spider-Punk animated spinoff).

Marvin Jones III, who voices supervillain Tombstone in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, is also set to reprise his role for Beyond the Spider-Verse. (He’ll play a live-action version of the character in this year’s MCU movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day, too.)

Last year, Sony released the first photos of Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse during its CinemaCon presentation. Check them out in the gallery below.

Footage screened for attendees began with a voiceover from Miles: “You can’t ask me… not to save my father.” The footage then pulled back through trippy sky colors and images from the last movie with dialogue excerpts. Miles was seen fighting his evil self and walking into a dark tunnel with others behind him. Then his line from the last movie — “Imma do my own thing” — was heard before confirmation of what was then a June 4, 2027 release date.

Story wise, Lord said Beyond the Spider-Verse picks up right after the events of Across the Spider-Verse, and that Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales’ friends may or may not be enough to save everyone.

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.

Resident Evil Requiem has landed on Steam, and is now the series' biggest launch to date on Valve's PC platform.

At the time of writing, 230,210 people are playing Capcom's latest chapter of survival horror on Steam — though shortly after launch, a peak of 267,509 users were in-game concurrently.

That figure marks Resident Evil's best ever numbers on Steam, up from the 168,191 peak for Resident Evil 4 Remake in March 2023, and the 106,631 who turned up for Resident Evil 7 back in 2021. It also paints a pretty positive picture for the game's sales performance overall.

Of course, these numbers reflect just a fraction of the overall number of players now getting started in and around Raccoon City. Requiem is also available on PC via Epic Games Store, and of course has launched on consoles for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, where many more will be playing.

IGN has much, much more to help get you started with Resident Evil Requiem as smoothly as possible. After checking its global release times, we also have a guide to how long Resident Evil Requiem is, and there's been word today of a day 1 patch for Switch 2. Once you have got started, we also have a pointer to the game's most perplexing challenge that you can get started with early on.

"Like the result of an experiment conducted in an underground Umbrella Corporation lab, Resident Evil Requiem successfully splices two separate strains of survival horror together into the one highly infectious new mutation," IGN wrote in our Resident Evil Requiem review, awarding the game 9/10.

IGN's Resident Evil Requiem guide will help you every step of the way through RE9. Take note of these key tips and tricks before you get started, and focus on finding these important items early. Plus, our comprehensive walkthrough will make sure you don't miss a single Bobblehead or file as you try to survive from the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center all the way to Raccoon City.

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

There's a whole bunch of great Pokémon deals available right now online as part of Pokémon Day and the 30th Anniversary celebrations. That includes Pokémon TCG as well, with Amazon going through something of a massive restocking mission this week, and at just the right time.

The biggest highlights from Amazon's selection include the Journey Together Booster Bundle, now back in stock, and scoring a sizable reduction. It's now just $34.97 at Amazon, but I can see these selling out fast today, so snap one up ASAP.

Ascended Heroes - Elite Trainer Box, now available and in stock for trainers, matching market price at $119,99 as well, alongside the Pokémon Day 2026 Collection, which, considering the ongoing 30th anniversary celebration, should absolutely be at the top of your buy list right now.

This features a specially stamped foil Pikachu promo card, a metallic coin featuring the 30th anniversary logo, and a random variety of three booster packs from Phantasmal Flames and Mega Evolution.

While the stamped foil promo card of Pikachu isn’t a unique illustration, its status as the first official 30th-anniversary product might be worth something to completionists in a few years. I’d recommend picking up two if you’ve got the space - one to hold onto as an investment, one to rip.

You can also secure both of these at TCGplayer right now at slightly reduced prices (without considering delivery), but I'll leave it up to you to decide where you want to buy today.

Beyond the headliners, it’s also worth flagging last year’s Prismatic Evolution-themed Pokémon Day 2025 collection, which Amazon has quietly restocked at $40.64.

The set comes with two Prismatic boosters, a metallic Eevee coin, and a foil Eevee promo stamped with the Pokémon Day 2025 logo. It pairs nicely with the new 2026 collection if you’re looking to bulk out a themed pickup.

Stock has also resurfaced on a few other notable bits, including the Phantasmal Flames Three-Pack Blister at $32, the Mega Lucario ex Figure Collection, and several Scarlet & Violet Unova-era items like the Poster Box, assorted tins, and the Illustration Collection.

Robert Anderson is IGN's Senior Commerce Editor and resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Bluesky.

Nintendo has advised fans to ensure they have Resident Evil Requiem's day one patch installed before beginning the game on Switch 2.

The Resident Evil Requiem "Day 1 Patch" will bring the game up to Version 1.1.0, Nintendo said, in an update issued in the early hours of the game's launch day today, February 27.

In a note on its official website, Nintendo said Version 1.1.0 included "several fixes," though did not go into further detail. "Please be sure to apply the 'Day 1 Patch' before playing the game," it continued. It's likely the update will begin updating automatically — though be sure to connect online to receive it.

Resident Evil Requiem is the first new Resident Evil game to simultaneously debut on a Nintendo platform in many years — since Resident Evil: Revelations on 3DS back in 2012. In the meantime, Nintendo platforms have received cloud versions and various belated ports — and indeed, Resident Evil 7 and Village also both launch for Switch 2 today.

In a recent video interview published to Nintendo's YouTube channel, Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi admitted that the game's development team had been "skeptical" about Switch 2's ability to run the game — but quickly decided it would be able to run the full game "as-is" after seeing the hybrid console's horsepower in action.

"Like the result of an experiment conducted in an underground Umbrella Corporation lab, Resident Evil Requiem successfully splices two separate strains of survival horror together into the one highly infectious new mutation," IGN wrote in our Resident Evil Requiem review, awarding the game 9/10.

IGN's Resident Evil Requiem guide will help you every step of the way through RE9. Take note of these key tips and tricks before you get started, and focus on finding these important items early. Plus, our comprehensive walkthrough will make sure you don't miss a single Bobblehead or file as you try to survive from the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center all the way to Raccoon City.

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

The Marathon Server Slam is off to a quick start, with impressive player numbers on Steam.

As part of the Server Slam event, Bungie’s extraction shooter was made available to download for free across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S yesterday, February 26, allowing players to give it a shot over the weekend.

Marathon hit a peak of 143,621 concurrent players on Steam, although the true figure across all platforms will be higher (neither Microsoft nor Sony make player numbers public). And while the Server Slam is free and Marathon will cost $39.99 when it launches proper next week, the numbers do suggest significant interest.

Perhaps a useful comparison is to rival extraction shooter Arc Raiders, which went on to enjoy enormous success and huge sales after a similar server slam event ahead of launch and the same price point. Arc Raiders’ stress test hit a peak of 189,668 concurrent players on Valve’s platform. Marathon is behind that for now, but its peak number will surely grow as we head into the weekend and more people are available to play.

Already, Bungie has signalled it is gathering feedback from players, and said it will make updates during the Slam itself and “tie up any loose ends” ahead of launch on March 5. In a post on social media, Bungie outlined a number of bugs it’s working to fix, but perhaps of most interest is an acknowledgement of feedback on Marathon’s user interface.

If there’s one aspect of Marathon that has been roundly criticized, it’s the UI. Some players are saying they’re finding the icons of items unintuitive, and there’s too much visual clutter, which makes navigating the menus trickier than it should be.

“We've heard your thoughts and want to hear more!” Bungie said on the UI feedback, before pointing players to its Discord. It seems unlikely the developer will be able to make any meaningful change here before launch, but hopefully tweaks can be made sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, Bungie said it had received reports that PvP isn’t frequent enough overall. It offered some tips for players hoping to engage in PvP more often.

“Perimeter (Beginner) intentionally infils fewer Runners,” Bungie said. “Head to Perimeter and then Dire Marsh for a greater challenge. Additionally, the UESC are deadlier than you might think and will wipe you off the map (thus limiting the lobby's PvP opportunities) if you let them swarm.”

The Marathon Server Slam ends at 10am PT on March 2, with rewards available for testing the servers.

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.