Whatever you do, don’t call it Starfield 2.0: At a recent preview event for the big updates and content drops coming to Starfield, Bethesda seemed eager to downplay any comparison to the kinds of extensive overhauls enjoyed by the likes of Cyberpunk 2077, No Man’s Sky, or indeed, Fallout 76.

Personally, I think they’re selling themselves short: while the Free Lanes update isn’t a big ground-up remake of Starfield that magically transforms it into a different game, none of the other things we might be tempted to compare it to are that either. No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk 2077 are still, away from all the hype, largely the same minute-to-minute experiences that they were at launch. Whatever they clamp onto it, Starfield is and will remain Starfield – a space life sim and questing RPG that offers a scifi twist on the basic core gameplay that Bethesda have been peddling since Morrowind. The same framework, the same idiosyncrasies, and more or less the same engine. The latter being the big, underlying Starfield problem you cannot fix by throwing more stuff into it.

Overhaul or not, what’s coming on April 7th is a suite of crowd-pleasers: a bunch of free DLC, a not-free expansion, the much rumoured PS5 version, and an extension to the ever popular best-in-class ship builder. The Free Lanes update is the key thing: it vastly expands the space sim part of Starfield’s burgeoning package to include Cruise Mode, which essentially adds a new layer of game sandwiched between the on-planet and in-orbit stuff that’s already there.

Cruise Mode allows for manual travel between planets, something which was always technically possible, but pointless, arduous, and infamously broken. Now it’s a cool, fast way of getting around star systems that comes with its own unique challenges and radiant events. Free Lanes also adds a new major space port, Anchorpoint, sure to be a wretched hive of scum and low-tier freelance opportunities, like the average Games Journo discord.

Fans of Fallout’s vault boy bobbleheads (that’s all of us, right?) will enjoy the new Colony Wars action figures and associated playsets: a set of interactive toys that give stat boosts. This adorable addition feels like a concession to the idea that Starfield always felt a bit more po-faced than the other Bethesda games. It’s certainly the least intentionally goofy, and not in a good way.

Bringing back this beloved Fallout feature in this enhanced in-universe toy form brings a sense of sorely missed daftness, but also meaningfully connects Starfield to its much more beloved stablemates: a reminder of why Skyrim in Space was such a compelling pitch in the first place. For better or worse, Starfield is every bit a Bethesda game, and we used to love those warts n’ all.

So, while Free Lanes isn’t a ground-up redesign, it’s a pretty generous update for an almost 3-year old single player game that is considered something of a critical flop, a game that feels destined to fade in memory as Bethesda turns its limited attention back to its flagship series (although it must be said that Starfield was not, as is commonly believed, a commercial failure). But chucking more Stuff into Starfield emphatically fails to address the game’s most critical underlying issue: not a lack of stuff, but how it is organised across vast tracks of nothing.

Long-serving Bethesda producer Tim Lamb started the recent presser with an awkward, half-joking acknowledgement of the fact that Starfield is seen as, in his words, “irresponsibly big”. A game with a Skyrim’s amount of stuff spread thinly across hundreds of planets. Whereas most Bethesda adventures are stuffed precariously into a tiny continent like a suitcase full of octopuses, Starfield ekes its hand-crafted quests out like a disorganised dad scratching molecule-thin layers of the last of the margarine over some toast with a toothpick.

One might argue, as I have, that Starfield could have done with being a lot smaller. But you can’t make it smaller in updates: it’s already here, in all of its empty vastness. And so the only way forward is to put more stuff in, while neatly addressing the other big criticism of Starfield: that it’s a space sim which doesn’t bother to simulate space. Free Lanes certainly goes some way to addressing that, and I can’t wait to start a fresh game on PS5 Pro when the new version drops next month. But expectations must rightly be tempered, because this is a game operating right on the outer limits of what is possible with Bethesda’s tech.

The Creation Engine gets a lot of flak for always being a generation behind. You hear it constantly: “why don’t Bethesda change to a new engine?”, “why are they still using Gamebryo?”, “they own id Tech 8, why can’t they use that?”. Well, there’s a reason why Bethesda’s games are so distinctive: their tech is a cell based system that treats every space as a separate room, compartmentalising the entire game world into a hierarchy similar to a directory tree. You’ve got a vast overworld which is like your root directory, from there you can enter cities, then individual buildings. Every time you transition into a new room or cell, the game flushes your current environment out of memory and loads in a new one.

That’s why Bethesda’s games are characterised by the dreaded loading screens: it’s not an engine designed for the kind of seamless world streaming that allows for something like Crimson Desert, or Red Dead 2, where assets are loaded in and flushed out dynamically depending on where you are and where you’re looking. It’s why NPCs in Bethesda games fade to nothing when they go outside, instead of opening the front door and stepping through.

The advantage for Bethesda to stick with their tech when there are seemingly better alternatives is that it allows them to build huge worlds and fill them with intricately scripted quests, fully simulated towns and cities, and barrel-loads of interactive parsnips, very quickly and easily. And over the years they’ve gotten very good at streamlining the process: lots of incidental details and world interactions are automated. If an NPC’s patrol route takes them near a source of heat, they’ll stop and warm their hands. That’s a baked-in behaviour that’s triggered by context, which the quest designer doesn’t have to worry about. There’s also the advantage of being able to track thousands, even millions of fully simulated physics objects across the entire game which is much more difficult to do in streaming based engines, which is why in The Elder Scrolls you can leave a pie on the floor somewhere and it’ll very likely stay there until the end of time while GTA has cars and pedestrians that disappear forever if you happen to look away.

To be clear, this is a layman’s understanding: I’m not a game dev. And I’m certainly not saying there’s a right way or wrong way to make an open world game. Every different way of achieving something has pros and cons. Creation 3 would suck for building GTA and Rockstar’s RAGE engine would be horrendous for building an Elder Scrolls game.

There is an argument that perhaps Bethesda should ditch all the granular physics stuff that allows them to build all those lived in spaces full of interactive world clutter, and maybe reduce the scope of their games a bit so they could put out more games in a newer engine. Luckily, we have a case study for that: Obsidian’s Avowed is the closest thing we have to an Elder Scrolls game built in a modern engine, in this case Unreal 5. And everyone thought it sucked, in part because it wasn’t as interactive as Oblivion was twenty years earlier. There are things intrinsic to a Bethesda game that you just can’t remove.

But there are obviously hard limits to what you can do with a system designed to organise a vast world into tiny, distinct chunks, and it’s clear that Starfield is a massive square peg of an idea trying to fit into the round hole of Bethesda’s technical capabilities. You can practically see the bones of Morrowind creaking to accommodate its ambition, where entire planetary surfaces are separated into a vast grid of square cells. This is obviously a massive oversimplification, but essentially, a planet in Starfield is like an Oblivion mansion with millions of doors.

Cruise Mode looks like it’s more or less a giant “room” where you fly around a diorama of the solar system. Interdictions that take you back into Normal Space do so with a very obvious bokeh-dissolve that really doesn’t hide the join all that well. Making a space game with Bethesda’s tech is like building anything more substantial than a personal blog in WordPress: possible, with caveats. Cramming a space sim into a framework designed very specifically to make Elder Scrolls games was always going to be something of a bodge job. They’re doing the game design equivalent of building a car with nothing but garden tools, the fact that it gets anywhere at all is quite remarkable.

Though it’s Bethesda’s most forward thinking game in spirit, in practice it’s a massive regression, a throwback to the procedurally generated vastness of Daggerfall, a game so big it felt tiny: boasting a land mass twice the size of actual Great Britain but with nowhere near enough intrigue to fill a shed in Swindon, it could also have been described as irresponsibly big.

Its sequel, Morrowind, the game that put Bethesda on the map and provides the basic template for their games to this day, made a point of being entirely hand-crafted. Not even a single percentage point of the size of Daggerfall, it nonetheless felt enormous, because its map could barely contain all of the intricate adventures within. Back then, Bethesda learnt the lesson that less is more, but it seems to be a lesson it is eager to forget.

Starfield isn’t anyone’s favourite Bethesda game. It certainly isn’t mine (Morrowind, need you ask). But I admire it for how close it gets to an ideal that should be entirely out of the question. If nothing else, it’s a masterclass in making do. Free Lanes isn’t a do-over, or an overhaul, or even something that makes Starfield palatable for those who bounced off it before. But it does add a rich new set of features and intrigue to a game that many of us desperately want to love, because for all of its shortcomings, it is Skyrim in Space, and even after we’ve been presented with a gigantic neon sign that says “Skyrim in Space Doesn’t Work”, it remains a most enticing prospect.

Jim Trinca is a Video Producer at IGN, and when he isn't fawning over Assassin's Creed, he can be found watching Star Trek and eating stuff. Follow him on @jimtrinca.bsky.social

Dead by Daylight turns 10 this year.

Originally released in June 2016, the asymmetric horror game has had one hell of a — but not a hellish — decade. After what was initially a bit of a janky experience at launch, the support of millions of players over a decade has allowed Behaviour Interactive to transform DBD into a well-oiled generator. It's gotten dozens of crossovers over the years that have added Killers and Survivors and cosmetics to the game from popular properties such as Stranger Things, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Hellraiser, Alien, Chucky, Tomb Raider, Castlevania, Five Nights at Freddy's, The Walking Dead... I could go on and on. It's also seen multiple spin-offs, including a dating sim, an interactive choice-based story game, a board game, a comic series, and an upcoming film adaptation.

Yeah, I'd say it's both surviving, and killing it.

At the Game Developers Conference last month, I sat down with Behaviour's head of partnerships Mathieu Cote, and creative director Dave Richard to talk to them about the milestone. We covered topics such as an upcoming matchmaking rework, how to make a successful live service game, why there won't be a sequel, and what spinoff they still really want to do but haven't yet.

If you want to read shortened versions of all those bits of the interview, you can click on the links above to fast track yourself. But if you want the whole conversation, I've included it here, lightly edited for lengthy and clarity.

Happy 10th birthday, Dead by Daylight!

Mathieu Cote: I'm Mathieu Cote, head of partnerships at Behaviour.

Dave Richard: And I'm Dave Richard, I'm the creative director.

Cote: Senior creative director.

Richard: No, I don't say that. I don't care. It's just a term. It doesn't matter. Yeah, Behaviour on Dead by Daylight, and I'm the one on your right.

I don't think the person who's going to read this is going to know.

Cote: He's the one with the beard.

The beard. In the audio-only, written interview. Okay [laughs]. So Dead by Daylight is 10 years old this year.

Cote: That's insane. It's a little crazy.

Are you guys going to celebrate? What's the plan?

Cote: Oh, yeah. Big party in Montreal. For the first time, we're going to actually invite people to come and celebrate with us in our hometown in Montreal.

Like fans?

Cote: Yeah. Tickets will be on sale soon. We've already announced it. [This interview took place March 11. Tickets went on sale March 19.] It's June 14 in Montreal. It's going to be a gigantic party. And not only are we going to be putting together a big physical event, a big party for our fans, but there's going to be a broadcast as we do every year for our anniversary. And that's where we will be repeatedly dropping the mic with big surprises. Well, I've been told I'm not allowed to drop mics, but yeah.

Safe to assume you'll also be doing things in-game?

Cote: I mean, we haven't slowed down on that. If anything, we've increased the cadence and every time we've shoved in more collaborations, and collections, and new types of content, and limited time events, and whatnot. We are not—

Richard: By "shoving," he means working really hard with respect.

Cote: Yes. Respectfully shoving stuff in. And we're certainly not slowing down on that. We're not stopping. So this year is going to be, again, filled with these kinds of things. But on top of that, there's a comic book, there's maybe news about the movie. There's a lot of other things that we want to show people what Dead by Daylight is about. New ways to enjoy it.

Why do you think this game has managed to stick around? I mean, you guys are kind of the envy of everybody. Everybody right now wants a live service game that's going to stick around for more than five minutes, but 10 years! What do you think is special about Dead by Daylight?

Cote: It's really good.

Richard: Many, many, many things. Yeah, it's a good game, for sure, in its space. It would never have worked 10 years ago, or now, if it wasn't good. Today, being good is not enough. We were at the right time with the right game, with the right people internally, with the right people in our community. All of this came together. So we were extremely lucky that it happened like that.

Cote: Perfect storm.

Richard: Yeah, perfect storm, really. A tornado. A sharknado.

Cote: Yeah, we're missing a killer Dead by Daylight sharknado. We don't have that yet.

Richard: That's not a mic drop.

You guys scaled as well, I think.

Cote: Very much so.

You guys were very small 10 years ago, is that right?

Cote: Yeah, about 30 people. The company was about 275 people. And today, probably between 400 and 500 people work on Dead by Daylight, and Behaviour as a whole is now 1,300 people. We scaled up vigorously.

Richard: So that's it. So even if DBD is flagship and our first original game of that size and that success, the company at that point when we released was 20 years old. So, we do have experience and people that are ready to support that scale. That's also part of the success. It's not like in the studio that's like, "Oh, my God, we have a success. What do we do?" We knew mostly what to do at that point.

Cote: And we had the luxury at the time also of being able to work on a game, while not worrying about where the next paycheck was going to come from, because it was a small team of 30 people out of 275, and the rest of us were working on projects for other people like we do every day.

Do you feel that the landscape of live service games has changed significantly since you guys launched? Do you feel that you have to do different things to be competitive?

Richard: Yeah, got to keep moving, and reinventing ourselves, and listening to our community. We are in a niche, in a space of our own. That's part of the strategic choices that we made a long time ago, but also, again, part of that perfect storm. People now in the industry, players, are attached to a single game they always go back to. So, already having people in there is amazing. But we always need to continue to scale up and find new ways to get these people in, and keep them engaged. So it's all part of that, reinventing ourselves, but also offering new modes, offering new characters, new types of gameplay, lots [and] lots of things to give.

Cote: One thing that's very important, because you asked the question, "How do you create such a successful live game?" The tricky bit about it is that we didn't create a live game. We created a game, and then through the years, because people kept coming back to it, people kept interacting with it, we added more and more and more and we turned it, we gave it live game features. But that wasn't it when we launched, and that wasn't the objective. We weren't creating an eternal loop for people to be in and just sort of the hamster wheel, right? That was not the point.

We knew we wanted an infinite moment generator, like a game you could play and replay and replay, and still have fun, and still not exactly be sure what you were up against. But like I was saying, for instance, the in-game store didn't exist until year three. And the battle pass, or Rift Pass, didn't exist until year four. And so if it wasn't already a live game, we wouldn't have turned it into a live game. So, that's not a recipe you—

Richard: —can repeat.

Cote: You could, but you have to start by not making a live game. It's sort of counterintuitive.

Richard: Today in the industry, all of these features we've talked about need to be in day one. It's expected. So, it costs a lot. And if you need to cut features from the game to support a store, everybody loses.

Cote: The offering we had on day one for Dead by Daylight was far from what we had today. It was a clunky affair with lots of weird bugs and things. But the core—

Richard: With respect.

Cote: Yeah, yeah. But the core experience was there. The promise was there, and people could see what the idea behind it was, and they could dream the dream with us as we were playing it. And then we built more things as we were going along. But it was a really rough thing. And you're talking about the choices you have to make when you cut things to put in a battle pass, or an in-game store before you launch, which is difficult.

I remember we cut tutorials completely to put in an extra killer, because we thought three would be the bare minimum for it to feel not repetitive. And so we didn't have a tutorial. We're like, "Okay, well shoot a video on my phone, and just edit it like that and put it on YouTube, and you just go there to learn how to play. That's fine." Those were the choices we made.

Would there ever come a time when you wipe the slate clean and start over? Is there ever a sequel, or a remake? What has to happen in order for you to feel that that's necessary?

Richard: At this point, nothing. But in the first year, it happened a few times. It happens...

Cote: We did a big graphic update in 2018.

Richard: There's always a point where we say, "Okay, we could do a sequel now," and it would be far easier actually to do a sequel with a blank slate than try to fix these issues that we have, for example. But it never makes sense for the fans. Never ever. They've invested time and money on DBD, and—

Cote: That's the game they want to play.

Richard: So, we can continue to put [in] the effort so that they can have fun and still have value for the money.

Yeah. It's a scary prospect. Like Ubisoft with Rainbow Six, and Overwatch have been grappling with this.

Cote: And some people have been able to do that. Some have not. I think Payday is a good example. With Payday 2 and Payday 3, people still play Payday 2 and they're supporting both, and now it's two different games. It's a tricky one, but it can be done. It's also very possible to take your game and bring it kicking and screaming into the next decade, and that's more what we want to do. We're not going to do a DBD 2, that's for sure. They're not going to have to buy a DBD 2 and restart from scratch. But we understand that the game is 10 years old, and that's a long time in video game years. And we want people that start today, tomorrow, next year, to feel like they're playing a game that is current. It's not a nostalgia token, it's a real game that you can play today that makes sense.

We talked just a few seconds ago about how much you guys have grown to the studio in terms of people. Has the size of behavior impacted the way you guys work and the way you guys develop on Dead by Daylight specifically?

Cote: Of course, of course. A team of 30 people is not the same as a team of 500, right? We used to be able to meet every day the whole team together, and play together, and then have a little chat every morning about what we were going to do today. That doesn't scale at all. That's impossible. But the things we're able to do today with 500 people, we could not even have dreamed of it back then. So, there's a trade-off.

Richard: Yeah. Adaptation, for sure, and scaling up, where at some point there's too many things to do, so that you need to let go of some things, of course. You need to find people you trust to be able to get to that quality, and vibe, and branding that we've always done when we're small, but we surround ourselves with good people, and with pros. We also have new departments as part of this scale, like community, and branding, and marketing, and PI, which is getting all of our data, and is doing the scientific study of what's happening. All of this is helping us tremendously. That's part of the scale, too. It's a more specialized job.

If I recall correctly, you guys had to delay a chapter last year to respond to fan feedback. Am I remembering that right?

Cote: Well, not exactly to respond—

Richard: A little bit of that.

Cote: Yeah, there's a little bit of that, but there's a series of reasons and pressures that led to us delaying the chapter by two months, I think. In the end, it turned out to be a really good thing, because the delivery was much more solid.

There's always a fear on our side, I think on everybody — and it's probably also very present for content creators right now — if you don't do something every day, if you don't make a lot of noise, if you don't post a new video, or release a new chapter every day, then you're going to vanish from people's minds, right? You're going to stop existing because you don't do a thing. It's a very present fear for us too, right? If we don't continue to bring in new people, and do new things, and improve, and raise the bar every day, then we're going to vanish into forgetfulness.

This proved that that's not the case, but that was one thing. It's one point of data. So it's possible to take our time and to delay things, and people will scream, and shout, and then they will accept it, and they will appreciate what we have. But in the moment, it is very scary.

Well, the reason why I asked that was to that point. A lot of games will say, "Okay, we're delaying this in response to feedback," or, "We're delaying this for polishing," or whatever it is. People don't like to talk about what you're actually doing with that time, and what it actually means to have that extra time. So, I was curious how you felt that went, and what you were able to accomplish in that space.

Richard: It's great. In the 10 years, and all the lifetime of Behaviour, we're a company that ships all the time on budget, right? This is part of how we function. Delaying is not part of our DNA. The thing that players don't see is the things that we cut. We have a dream when we build a chapter, of course, and we cut a lot so that it fits into one. But when they don't see, they don't mind, right? And sometimes life happens.

We're also humans. And working with a collaborator that has a little bit more feedback, or a chapter is a little bit more complicated than we thought it was, or somebody's sick, or somebody's missing, whatever happens — sometimes it can affect the minimum quality that we need to have. So delaying, in that case, has many reasons it could happen, but that was a great thing to get to that point.

If you give us more room, we'll take more room. We could take a year to build a chapter. It would be amazing. But for other reasons, that doesn't make sense. Because if we delay two months, that means that we're putting pressure on another chapter, because they're scheduled like that.

I think around that same time, some of the conversations you were having, there was talk about reworking matchmaking. Is that still in the cards?

Richard: Yeah.

Cote: It is a constant.

Richard: We're changing it in a very significant way. People that have been with us for a long time, for 10 years, will recognize some of the past matchmaking that we have, the best parts of it, and the parts that are functioning now are still going to be there. It's going to be a re-imagination of how the game is played that is more aligned with our values as a game, where it's a game about scenarios, it's a game about, of course, being matched in a way that it feels balanced, but it's not about winning. It's about these experiences. And we want to allow every player to have the choice to play the game as they want, and to evolve in that style of play, rather than encouraging one that is really competitive.

From where you're sitting, what is the biggest issue with matchmaking as it is now?

Richard: It is that matchmaking that clearly identifies a very specific kind of play. And it's not necessarily bad, as a lot of players are having fun being in chases. They are fun. And killing as fast as possible, getting the generators repaired as fast as possible, and getting out and surviving. But it is really binary, and DBD has never been meant to be binary. It's about, if you are an altruistic player, as a survivor, and you save your old team and they escaped, and then you die, you're still a champion and you should be rewarded for this, which is something right now that matchmaking doesn't do.

Cote: But it's such a complex game to judge. I mean, even the scoring at the end of the game has always purposely been fake, right? Because that's not the point. Even the categories you're being judged on are not clearly labeled or explained, like Deviousness, this and that. It's an impression. It's much more in the feeling and the vibe.

That was a question we had when we were developing. Like, are we making a super clear-cut competitive sport, or are we making a mood, feeling game? Because we could have made it very, very clear-cut like some other games that are super competitive. It's, like, a hockey game or whatever, pick a sport, where the rules are very strict, they're very clear, and the setup is very, very inflexible, so that you know the conditions and you can then use your skill to have the best result. And that was never the point.

The point was to be thrown into chaos, make the best of it, live some really interesting moments and have things surprise you, things that had never happened before. But to have that, it means you have to have a world of possibilities that could happen so that some of them would [happen]. And that is not conducive to extremely calibrated, competitive game play. So that's sort of the call we made. And now, matchmaking needs to reflect that in some way. It's difficult.

I imagine if you guys start having a very specific meta that everybody is trying to pursue, that's maybe where something's gone wrong.

Cote: It's inevitable. And Dave is very careful in the way he talks about it, but there is no wrong way to play the game. That's the other thing — it's just a different way. And it might not be the most common, or the most portrayed, and the super intense competitive people, they're the top of that little... it's not even the bell curve, it's been just a spike, right? They're super important, but they're not necessarily representative of the vast majority of how people play. That's the important thing to keep in mind.

Do you have a sense of when we'll be hearing more about what this update's going to entail? To matchmaking, specifically.

Richard: I don't know when we're announcing everything about it.

This year?

Cote: I think so. Very likely.

Richard: It's in some of our top things we're working on.

Okay. So, you guys have done so many collaborations over the years. It's like your bread and butter at this point. Are there still any white whales for you? Is there anything that you really, really want to do that you haven't been able to do?

Cote: Yeah, and you probably know who they are.

Do I?

Cote: I mean, if you make a list of the top 10 horror IPs out there, there's a couple that stand out like a sore thumb that are missing in our game. So, yeah.

Is it a hangup on other people's part, or are you trying?

Cote: How do I answer this delicately? Anybody who most people would consider a legend of horror has a standing invitation to Dead by Daylight. We've made it very clear, we've been very public about it. We've talked to many people. We do have quite a few contacts in these spheres nowadays, and we've made it very clear that if they want to, they can. And it hasn't happened yet for one reason or another.

Is there anything outside of horror that you want to do?

Richard: What do you want to see?

Well, I'm asking because you see like Fortnite and everybody else is just getting increasingly silly with it. And that's their bag, they're not horror games.

Richard: I wouldn't want to be in their shoes. Honestly, sometimes I'm like, "Where are they going to go next? They've done everything, it seems."

Cote: But the thing is the integration, especially Fortnite. I can talk about Fortnite because they're gigantic, they don't care anyway. But a lot of the partners I talk to also talk to them, because obviously if you have a few IPs...

I'm thinking of a conversation that I was having with Disney. They own everything, many things. We've done Alien with them, and it was super fun, and we were talking about that and the difference between how we portray different properties and how Fortnite does. Fortnite is just a bucket of skins, right? We were talking about, let's say, having the Xenomorph in Fortnite with Nikes on and the rainbow wig. And that's fine for them. We would never do that because what we do is not just take a skin and put it in. We build a narrative, we have those characters folded in the way you fold a soufflé, right? It needs to come in and become part of the whole, and be a representation of the fantasy of finally being able to be, I don't know, Freddie Krueger. Be that character; not just wear the skin, but be that character.

Richard: It takes time and effort, and sometimes even we cannot work on a collaboration because our schedule is full, and the moment is passed. It takes all sort of star alignment to make something work.

What about spin-offs? You guys have done dozens of various kinds of spin-offs over the years. Similarly, is there any sort of white whale or any type of media that you have not gotten to do yet you'd really love to do?

Cote: Well, we've been working on a movie with Blumhouse and Atomic Monster for a little while now. I've never made movies, so I don't know if this is normal, these timelines and how things are progressing. But it's clearly something that I would absolutely love, being able to go to the movie theater and sit down and watch a Dead by Daylight movie.

Above and beyond that, I think we've had the opportunity to do a few really cool things. Hooked on You is still something that I'm incredibly proud of. It's so much fun. We have a comic book run that's really cool, a new one that's coming out. There's going to be more and more of these things, because it's super interesting. Even just as a huge nerd to see talented people who are very good at the medium you don't know, show you what you've inspired them to do, and that's pretty cool.

Richard: I want a DBD Souls game. That's all I want. I want, like, Elden Ring in the world of DBD. That would be cool.

Is there any thought from you guys to a dedicated Switch 2 release?

Richard: Oh, that we can't talk about. Sorry.

That's fair enough. What about revisiting a mobile version in the future?

Richard: That is also something we can't talk about.

Earlier this morning, Xbox was down the hall talking about Project Helix here. Is there any advantage that new and upcoming tech of any kind could afford you guys on Dead by Daylight? It's a 10-year-old game. What sorts of things would you be looking for out of new tech?

Richard: Obviously, a new SKU, a new console, let's say, a new piece of hardware that we can move on to must support Unreal, or there's a way to import it in some ways. It's super interesting if it allows us to get to a crowd that we couldn't get to before. So one thing that's interesting that we've talked about is the graphical rework and stuff like that's evolving over time. And one question that we always have to ask ourselves is, when we update up to a limit, and we can have better graphics, better effects, whatever it is...

Cote: Who do we leave behind?

Richard: Who do we leave behind? And is that something we're willing to do? Can these people update and follow us? It depends on the area of the world as well, right? Some people can't easily, especially today with AI taking all of our graphics cards away, it's so expensive to buy these new machines. So, it's interesting, but it's more of a challenge than it's interesting for us at this time.

Cote: Yeah. It's not the funnest one.

What does Day by Daylight look like 10 more years from now?

Richard: Well, in 10 years it's going really well, and we celebrate our 20th anniversary, and we say, "20 more!" "40 more!" We used to say seven more, before we were seven. Always seven, seven more, so now we have to say more. We say 10 more. But I really believe I'm proud of what we've built, and I believe in this universe we've built, and I think we're barely scratched the surface of who could be interesting in that universe.

We talked about all of the other side projects. There's not just the core game, right? There's been mobile for a little while, there is a specific market, but then there's other experiences, Elden Ring, Souls, DBD that we could do, or whatever it is, that can bring some people into our stories. I think that's how we scale up in time. We have 70 million people that play currently, and I mean, we want a billion eventually. Bare minimum.

Cote: The progression of how even we see the game internally has changed. I think five years ago I started talking about the Museum of Horror, right? And we were putting all those legends in there. Then a couple of years [later], it turned into the Hall of Fame of Horror, which is slightly different, but it's more open, it's bigger. Then last year, I was talking to someone who called it the New York of Horror. And I thought that was a really interesting way of looking at it because it's not even that sacred. It's just rich, and different, and weird, and scary.

There's a lot of people, and everybody's got their own version of it, which is also something that's become very dear to me in terms of the Dead by Daylight community. [We] talk about the Dead by Daylight community a lot of the time. There is no such thing as the Dead by Daylight community, but there are about a million different communities. It's like you and the hundred people that you interact with about Dead by Daylight, and the maybe hundred people that you watch and check. All of these are separate.

Depending on where you are in the world, depending on the language you speak, depending on who your friends are, depending on your leanings and all of this, means that your community is these couple of hundreds, maybe thousands of people that you interact with, that you share Dead by Daylight with. Then there's another group, and another group, and then another group. That means everybody's got a slightly different version of what Dead by Daylight is or what it means to them, and that's beautiful. But it's very difficult for us to say, "The community wants this." Well, some communities want this. But the fact that there's so many people, and it's so rich and vibrant, it's just good.

Editor's Note: The Last of Us was mistakenly included as one of the crossovers in the original version of this article. It was genuine confusion between rumors and truth and not, we assure you, a mistaken leak.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Naughty Dog creative director Shaun Escayg posted a picture of a cannon in Trinidad & Tobago alongside the tease, “Research,” and fans think it has to do with Uncharted 5.

The Uncharted series has been dormant ever since 2017’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, which Escayg himself co-directed. While Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection came out in 2022, fans of the action adventure franchise are keen to know whether Naughty Dog intends to make a new mainline Uncharted game.

Perhaps it does. As spotted by Kotaku, Escayg’s picture was taken at Fort George in Trinidad and Tobago. A cannon in a fort in Trinidad and Tobago certainly feels very Uncharted, but of course this could be for anything. Perhaps Escayg simply has a personal interest in historic British fortifications. Maybe he’s putting together a photo album.

Or maybe Naughty Dog is actually working on a new Uncharted game. Escayg is creative director of… something. And the Sony-owned studio is rumored to be working on multiple single-player games, including the announced Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. If a new Uncharted game is in the works, it begs all sorts of questions. Is it a sequel or a prequel? Will we see Nathan Drake return older and wiser? Or will we see a new protagonist take the stage, perhaps his daughter, Cassie? What about a Sam and Sully adventure? There are lots of ways Naughty Dog could take Uncharted, given the state of things at the end of Uncharted 4. But then, just this week we got a potential The Last of Us 3 tease from Naughty Dog chief Neil Druckmann. So, if all this lines up with reality, Naughty Dog has a lot on its plate.

Triple-A games are taking an increasingly long time to make, despite pressure from corporate overlords to cut costs and speed up development. So we may not find out what Naughty Dog’s post Intergalactic game is for some time to come, Uncharted or otherwise. Until then, though, fans are convinced the Drakes are on the way back.

“It has to be,” one fan said. “Palms and cannons = Uncharted. It works 99% of the time.” “Definitely Uncharted or I'm just hopelessly wishing,” another said. “This means it's super early,” said one fan, seemingly convinced.

In July last year, Druckmann announced he would not be creatively involved in the upcoming Season 3 of HBO's The Last of Us TV series, opting instead to focus entirely on game development of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. But just a couple of months beforehand, he revealed the studio had a secret, unannounced second game in the works.

In an interview with the Press X to Continue podcast, Druckmann discussed his ongoing roles at Naughty Dog. On Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Druckmann works with two game directors: Matthew Gallant and Kurt Margenau, and is co-writing the game with narrative director Claire Carré. Druckmann did not say which director is working on the second game, however.

“There’s another game that’s being worked on at Naughty Dog where I am more of a producer role and I get to mentor and watch this other team and give feedback and be like the executive in the room,” he said.

“I enjoy all those roles, and the fact I jump between one to the next, it makes my job very exciting and always feeling fresh. I’m never bored.”

Is this game Uncharted 5? Even if it is, or were, it could always end up canceled, as so many games are. Indeed, Naughty Dog has recent experience of this, canceling The Last of Us Online back in 2023 so it could focus on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet — something its director only found out about 24 hours before the public.

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.

If Dead by Daylight is known for something, it's probably for its incredible cross-media powers. Over the last decade, the asymmetrical multiplayer horror game has both welcomed dozens upon dozens of in-game crossovers, and Dead by Daylight itself has been taken in a number of fun new directions including a dating sim, a choice-focused story game, comics, a board game, and even an upcoming film. It's done it all!

Well, almost all. I had the pleasure of recently asking Dead by Daylight's creative director Dave Richard and Behaviour Interactive's head of partnerships Mathieu Cote if there were any stones left unturned for spinoffs that they wanted to see happen. And Richard has one specific idea in mind: a soulslike. Elden Ring, but Dead by Daylight.

This comes from an interview I conducted at the Game Developers Conference last month, where I spoke to Richard and Cote on a number of topics, including DBD's many crossovers and spinoffs. When I asked them about their spinoff white whales, Cote mentioned the already-announced movie with Blumhouse and Atomic Monster, though he said since he's never made a movie before, he doesn't know how long is a normal amount of time for one to take.

"I would absolutely love, being able to go to the movie theater and sit down and watch a Dead by Daylight movie."

He also referenced Hooked on You, the Dead by Daylight dating simulator spinoff, and an ongoing comic series. And the team isn't done. "There's going to be more and more of these things, because it's super interesting. Even just as a huge nerd to see talented people who are very good at the medium you don't know, show you what you've inspired them to do, and that's pretty cool."

But it was Richard who had the real wishing star: he wants Elden Ring, Dead by Daylight style.

"I want a DBD Souls game," he said. "That's all I want. I want like Elden Ring in the world of DBD. That would be cool."

And to demonstrate how much that idea seems to be on his mind, he brought it up again later when I asked the pair where they saw Dead by Daylight in ten more years. Richard began by saying he hoped they'd be celebrating an anniversary and planinng for 20 more years down the road. He continued:

"I'm proud of what we've built, and I believe in this universe we've built, and I think we're barely scratched the surface of who could be interesting in that universe. And we talked about all of the other side projects. There's not just the core game, right? There's been mobile for a little while, there is a specific market, but then there's other experiences, Elden Ring, Souls, DBD that we could do, or whatever it is, that can bring some people into our stories. And I think that's how we scale up in time. We have 70 million people that play currently, and I mean, we want a billion eventually. Bare minimum."

So, you heard the man. By 2036, a billion Dead by Daylight players, and some of them are playing Elden by Daylight or Dead Souls or something. It's not impossible to imagine. Dead by Daylight could certainly fit into a Soulslike gameplay genre with the right mix of ideas, and even the tone of the Souls series isn't that far away from Dead by Daylight's style of horror. You know what, sure! I'm into it.

I spoke to these two about other topics at GDC such as what makes a successful live service game, why there won't be a Dead by Daylight 2, and more. You can read the full Q&A right here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

The Dead by Daylight team at Behaviour Interactive has opened up about what they say are “significant” changes coming with their upcoming matchmaking rework.

Head of partnerships Mathieu Cote and creative director Dave Richard offered an update on their multiplayer rework plans during a conversation with IGN at the Game Developers Conference 2026 (GDC). After promising a "revamp" last summer, they tell players they can still expect to see a matchmaking rework, teasing adjustments that will be more than a few minor tweaks.

“We're changing it in a very significant way,” Richard said. “People that have been with us for a long time, for 10 years, will recognize some of the past matchmaking that we have, the best parts of it, and the parts that are functioning now about the matchmaking are still going to be there.”

He goes on, calling the upcoming tweaks a “re-imagination” that falls more in line with what makes Dead by Daylight special. That means emphasizing the stories that emerge from its asymmetrical horror formula while maintaining what already works.

“So it's going to be a re-imagination of how the game is played that is more aligned with our values as a game, where it's a game about scenarios, it's a game about, of course, being matched in a way that it feels balanced, but it's not about winning, it's about these experiences. And we want to allow every player to have the choice to play the game as they want, and to evolve in that style of play, rather than encouraging one that is really competitive.”

One of the areas Behaviour is looking to address with its Dead by Daylight matchmaking changes involves making matches feel less “binary.” Richard says the experience was never meant to be this way, explaining that the team wants to reward players who, for example, go out of their way to save fellow Survivors, even if it results in their demise at the hands of a Killer.

Cote clarifies that refining matchmaking to reflect an experience that rewards different experiences is “difficult,” saying that the “scoring at the end of the game has always purposely been fake” because “that’s not the point.”

“The point was to be thrown into chaos, make the best of it, live some really interesting moments and have things surprise you, things that had never happened before,” he continued. “But to have that, it means you have to have all of those, a world of possibilities that could happen, so that some of them would. And that is not conducive to extremely calibrated, competitive game play. So that's sort of the call we made. And now matchmaking needs to reflect that in some way.”

Behaviour is adamant that there is no wrong way to play Dead by Daylight, and the matchmaking rework is aimed to help make that clear for players. The original promise was to see it launch at an unspecified point after February 2026. Although no specific release date has been set, Cote says it is "very likely" that fans will at least hear more before the end of 2026.

“It's in some of our top things we're working on,” Richard added.

Dead by Daylight will celebrate its 10th anniversary this June. The long-running multiplayer game is currently in the midst of its latest chapter, All Kill: Comeback. For more, be sure to keep an eye out for our full interview with Richard and Cote. You can also read about Behaviour’s secret to making a live-service game and why fans shouldn’t expect to see Dead by Daylight 2 anytime soon.

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).

Jack Black has a clear idea who he would like to play in Red Dead Redemption 3, should Rockstar make the game: Jack Black.

While Rockstar is busy getting Grand Theft Auto 6 ready for launch this November, there is an expectation that the developer will eventually get round to making another Red Dead Redemption game, given Red Dead Redemption 2 is considered a masterpiece and has sold incredible well. And so, in lieu of a Red Dead Redemption movie, which he’d very much love to star in if the opportunity ever came his way, Bowser actor Jack Black would love to star in Red Dead Redemption 3. And it turns out there’s a character called Jack Black he’d love to play.

"Red Dead Redemption 2 takes place around the turn of the century, right?" Black told Polygon while promoting The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. "There was a character around that time named Jack Black, who wrote an autobiography called You Can't Win. I would kinda like to play Jack Black in Red Dead Redemption 3."

1926’s You Can't Win is the memoir of Jack Black, a professional burglar, safe-cracker, and hobo operating in the early 20th-century American West and Canada. It chronicles his life of crime, addiction, and prison — perfect fodder for a memorable Red Dead Redemption character.

But will the current Jack Black get the chance to play the 1920s Jack Black in Red Dead Redemption 3? People associated with the series seem convinced Rockstar will one day make the sequel. Indeed, late last year, Rockstar Games co-founder and former lead writer Dan Houser said Red Dead Redemption 3 “will probably happen.”

And in 2023, Roger Clark, who played Arthur Morgan, the protagonist of Red Dead Redemption 2, said he was “certain” fans will see Red Dead Redemption 3 “one day,” but qualified that statement by saying he had no idea when that would be.

In a subsequent interview with IGN, Clark expanded on his thoughts: “Yeah, that got really picked up! I would have thought that was obvious though. Wouldn’t you? And it’s not like I have any insider information whatsoever, but of course there’s going to be another Red Dead. It sold over 60 million copies!”

He continued: “Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two said it himself. He said GTA and Red Dead are prominent franchises for Rockstar Games and that they will be returning to them in the future. So there’s no doubt there will be another Red Dead. But if Arthur Morgan will be involved? I highly doubt it, to be honest. And I think it’s going to be quite some time before we even see a snifter of anything new Red Dead related. I have no idea how it would pan out, but I wouldn’t bet on Arthur being a part of it.”

Jack Black namechecked Red Dead Redemption 3 because he doubts a Red Dead Redemption film will ever get made, which he said was "a shame, because of all the video games out there, theirs are the most cinematic."

Photo by: Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images.

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.

If you need to get your crime kicks before Grand Theft Auto 6 launches in November, Cash Heist City — built entirely in Unreal Editor for Fortnite — might be just what you're looking for. It's the work of JOGO Studios, a company founded by streamers turned developers Andre Rebelo (Typical Gamer) and Chad Mustard (MustardPlays).

Cash Heist City is an open-world playground with heists, racing, PvP, bounties, missions and car chases. Clearly a homage to the GTA series, players can be a cop, a hacker, a driver or a bounty hunter to build up their cash reserves and then buy homes, businesses and luxury cars. Just like GTA Online, story drops change things up. Yesterday a Cash Heist City update saw mob boss Ramses take control of the game's black market.

"We were tired of waiting," said Rebelo. "Cash Heist City is exactly what UGC was made for, and it’s boldest expression yet. We moved quickly to deliver innovative game mechanics, deeply immersive worlds, and a familiar yet unique play loop, all without the constant delays of traditional development. We couldn’t be prouder to bring CHC to life in Fortnite alongside our amazing partners at KitBash3D. With GTA still a season or two away, this launch just might be gaming’s biggest heist yet!"

JOGO Studios is a developer focused on creating experiences in Fortnite, and previously created experiences like the Super Red vs Blue death match (that at last count had over 370,000,000 plays) and Only Up Time Travel (clocking in at over 29,000,000 plays.)

"In many ways, we were always meant to build Cash Heist City," said Mustard. "It’s the kind of map that pulls every thread we’ve been following: story-rich settings, meaningful systems, and gameplay that feels lived-in."

Find Cash Heist City with the Fortnite Island Code 2843-8555-7658.

Rachel Weber is the Head of Editorial Development at IGN and an elder millennial. She's been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, Red Dead Redemption 2, and her Love and Deepspace boyfriends.

We now have our hands on the Nintendo Switch 2, a new console from one of the biggest names in gaming. Alas, a new console is only as valuable as the library of games you can build on it.

Thankfully, Nintendo hasn't been shy about planned releases over the next year, which include a mix of Switch 2 exclusives, third-party releases, and the benefit of backward compatibility with any games still launching on the original Switch. Without further ado, here are all of the new Switch 2 games we can look forward to in 2026.

All Upcoming Switch 2 Games With Release Dates

Pokémon Champions (April 8, 2026)

This next Pokémon spin-off game will be entirely free-to-play. Well, unless you're interested in an upgrade pack. Pokémon Champions all about the battling, with a particular focus on Mega Evolutions. You’ll get your own Roster Ranch for taking care of your Pokémon while befriending new trainers to support you.

The game is the new standard for official Pokémon Video Game Championship events, though we already know the game won’t feature the full roster of Pocket Monsters.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream (April 16, 2026)

Tomodachi Life was a particularly unique game under the Nintendo umbrella, and I was pretty darn excited to see the series coming back on the Switch 2. The concept of creating Miis and watching them interact on a little island has more novelty than you can imagine, I promise, especially given the range of customization. Nintendo has also fulfilled their promise to introduce more inclusivity after criticisms of the original 3DS game.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream happened to get its own dedicated Nintendo Direct, where you'll find gameplay footage and plenty more information.

As Dead by Daylight rapidly approaches its 10th anniversary, the developers at Behaviour Interactive have shared their secret to a successful live-service game: “You have to start by not making a live game.”

Head of partnerships Mathieu Cote and creative director Dave Richard opened up about the studio’s game development strategy during a conversation with IGN at the Game Developers Conference 2026 (GDC). While the team is busy looking to the future of its asymmetrical horror hit, they’re also taking the opportunity to look at how they’ve made it to the 10-year milestone.

Through the highs and lows, Richard says Behaviour has managed to keep Dead by Daylight alive by “reinventing ourselves” and “listening to our community.” It’s meant adapting to player desires as the market has evolved, with more modes, Killers and Survivors, and gameplay tweaks added into the recipe as the years come and go.

The plan wasn’t to be a live-service game when launch arrived June 14, 2016, though. Instead, Richard and Cote feel Dead by Daylight has been able to stick around because Behaviour first sought out to create a game that was always fun to replay.

“We created a game, and then through the years, because people kept coming back to it, people kept interacting with it, we added more and more and more and we turned it, we gave it live game features,” Cote said. “But that wasn't it when we launched, and that wasn't the objective. We weren't creating an eternal loop for people to be in and just sort of the hamster wheel, right? That was not the point. We knew we wanted an infinite moment generator, like a game you could play and replay and replay, and still have fun, and still not exactly be sure what you were up against.”

Dead by Daylight launched without many of the components players associate with live-service titles until much later in its life. The Rift Pass, Behaviour’s take on a battle pass, wouldn’t arrive until late 2019, with an in-game store not added until summer 2018.

“Today in the industry, all of these features we've talked about need to be in day one,” Richard added. “It's expected. So, it costs a lot. And if you need to cut features from the game to support a store, everybody loses.”

Cote says their recipe could be repeated, but “you have to start by not making a live game.” He admits the idea might sound “counterintuitive,” but it allowed them to focus on ironing out early kinks while establishing the core experience. One example of shifted priorities even saw Behaviour cut an in-game tutorial to instead make sure Dead by Daylight got an extra Killer to play as.

“The promise was there, and people could see what the idea behind it was, and they could dream the dream with us as we were playing it,” Cote continued. “And then we built more things as we were going along. But it was a really rough thing. And you're talking about the choices you have to make when you cut things to put in a battle pass, or an in-game store before you launch, which is difficult.”

Dead by Daylight most recently launched its All Kill: Comeback chapter and will celebrate its 10th anniversary this June. Recent chapters have introduced more characters from Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Tokyo Ghoul, and more. Be sure to check out our full interview with Richard and Cote, and read about why Behaviour says it has no plans to make a sequel.

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).

The developers of Dead by Daylight tell me they're extremely committed to keeping the game going as long as possible with support, crossovers, and all sorts of updates. So committed, in fact, that a sequel to the game is off the table.

Speaking to me at the Game Developers Conference last month, head of partnerships at Behaviour Interactive Mathieu Cote and creative director Dave Richard chatted with me about the challenge of following up on a super successful live service game. They said that while they had thought about doing a sequel or a "remake" at different points in development, it "never makes sense for the fans" to do.

"There's always a point where we say, okay, we could do a sequel now, and it would be far easier actually to do a sequel with a blind slate than try to fix these issues that we have, for example," Richard said. "But it never makes sense for the fans. Never ever. They've invested time and money on DBD, and-

"That's the game they want to play," Cote said.

Richard concluded, "So, we can continue to put the effort so that they can have fun and still have value for the money."

I then brought up live service games such as Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Siege, and Blizzard's Overwatch, that have had various struggles with following up a successful original with a sequel and getting an audience to transition to the new thing. Cote brought up Payday 2 and 3 as examples as well, where both games are still being supported. However, he's not interested in juggling two Dead by Daylights at once.

"It's also very possible to take your game and bring it kicking and screaming into the next decade," he said. "And that's more what we want to do. We're not going to do a DBD 2, that's for sure. They're not going to have to buy a DBD 2 and restart from scratch. But we understand that the game is 10 years old, and that's a long time in video game years. And we want people that start today, tomorrow, next year, to feel like they're playing a game that is current. It's not a nostalgia token, it's a real game that you can play today and that makes sense."

Later in our interview, this topic came up again in a slightly different way when I referenced Xbox's Project Helix, which the company had spoken about in a talk at GDC just that morning. Though at the time, none of us were caught up on the details of what was said in that talk, both Richard and Cote were in lockstep about the biggest issue with moving to new technology – they don't want players getting left behind.

"So obviously, a new SKU, a new console, let's say, a new piece of hardware that we can move on to, must support Unreal, or there's a way to import it in some ways," Richard said. "It's super interesting if it allows us to get to a crowd that we couldn't get to before. So one thing that's interesting is that we've talked about the graphical rework and stuff like that, like evolving over time. And one question that we always have to ask ourselves is, when we update up to a limit, and we can have better graphics, better effects, whatever it is-

"Who do we leave behind?" Cote interjected.

Richard continued, "Who do we leave behind? Yeah. And is that something we're willing to do? Can these people update and follow us? And it depends on the area of the world as well, right? Some people can't easily, especially today with AI taking all of our graphics cards away, it's so expensive to buy these new machines. So, it's interesting, but it's more of a challenge than it's interesting for us at this time."

In both situations, Richard and Cote are hyper aware of the ways in which their choices of how to continue Dead by Daylight into the future could potentially leave some of their audience in the dust, and they clearly want to avoid that as long and as much as they possibly can. So, sorry if you wanted a Dead by Daylight 2 – it's not happening, but you can be content that Dead by Daylight itself will be around for a long time to come if Cote and Richard have anything to say about it.

I spoke to these two about other topics at GDC such as what makes a successful live service game, and what spinoff ideas they still really want to do. You can read the full Q&A with the devs right here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Our April IGN First "cover story" is underway with Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred! As we kick off our coverage today, get an exclusive first look at an in-game cutscene from Diablo 4's upcoming second expansion. Watch it above.

The cutscene, as described by Blizzard: "Walk the path of faith and fire as Queen Adreona stands beside Akarat, their alliance forged in defiance of encroaching darkness. But devotion is a fragile thing, and unseen forces twist the truth, lurking just beyond the light. Will you follow… or be led astray?"

Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred expansion arrives April 28, 2026, on Battle.net, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Steam. If you missed our review of Diablo 4 or its first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, take a look before you dive into Lord of Hatred, and stay tuned to IGN for more exclusive coverage all April long!

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Brian Raffel, who cofounded developer Raven Software in 1990 with his brother Steve and has been its co-studio head ever since, is retiring from the studio after 36 years, during which he worked on major pop culture franchises from Star Wars to Star Trek to Marvel and most recently Call of Duty. Steve retired in 2017.

"In 1990, inspired by a shared love of storytelling, Brian and his brother Steve set out to build something of their own," Raven said in a statement announcing Brian Raffel's retirement. "What began as a small creative pursuit known as Black Crypt grew into something far, far greater. Over the years, his leadership guided our studio through a wild and shifting industry, shaping it into what it is today.

"From dark, otherworldly realms to places that reached far across galaxies, Brian has crafted stories that have left a lasting mark on players around the world. His work spans titles like Hexen, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, X-Men Legends, Wolfenstein, and many more, each contributing to a legacy of iconic experiences. Those first decades of achievements earned Raven a place among the greats and the trust to shape and evolve Call of Duty over the years."

Raven Software is located in Madison, Wisconsin – a location that was not known as a hotbed of game development in 1990. That changed because of Raven, however, eventually spawning numerous other studios, including a new Respawn Entertainment satellite studio focused on Apex Legends development and the now-shuttered Prey (2006) developer Human Head Studios, along with a thriving up-and-coming development scene anchored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, from which Brian Raffel graduated and which Raven supports through a mentorship program.

Though Raven has spent the past decade-plus working on Call of Duty – including designing Warzone as well as the campaigns for Black Ops: Cold War, Black Ops 6, and Black Ops 7 – the studio's history before that is incredibly diverse. Raven launched to stardom by working in close partnership with id Software – which got its start in Madison as well before the team relocated to Texas just before Wolfenstein 3D shipped – on 1994's Heretic, a medieval-Doom-like first-person shooter built on the Doom engine. They followed that with a more roleplaying-influenced sequel called Hexen before doing a Hexen sequel on the Quake 1 engine and a formally numbered Heretic sequel on the Quake 2 engine.

When contacted by IGN, legendary Doom designer John Romero had this to say about his relationship with Brian Raffel and Raven Software: "Brian is the one who answered the phone in winter 1991 while id Software was newly-moved to Madison, Wisconsin. A classified ad in the local paper looking for programmers caught my eye, and the company name, Raven Software, sounded like a game company, so I called. I asked Brian if they were a game company, they were, and I explained that I’m at a small developer named id Software that makes PC games. Would you mind if we came over to say hi?

"The four of us, Tom Hall, John Carmack, Adrian Carmack and I hopped in our cars and drove over. It was night time, we were still working and thought it’d be a fun break. We met Ben Gokey, Steve Raffel, and Brian Raffel. For a brief moment we said Hi to Paul Radek, a friend of theirs who would a couple years later license us his 32-bit sound libraries for DOOM.

"We hung out and got to see Black Crypt, their latest game. We talked about computers and their passion for Amiga gaming, showing us Super Cars II (I was a huge Super Sprint fan). Their art quality really impressed me and when we got back to the office after dinner I talked about the possibility of licensing our Commander Keen 4 engine to them so they could enter the PC market. We got a deal worked out with us and Apogee to fund them, but the deal fell through. I told Brian I’ll contact him again in the future and see if they change their mind.

"After Wolfenstein 3D was released and we did some experiments with a Wolfenstein 3D++ engine, I asked Brian if they’d be interested in checking out our latest 3D engine with some improvements. This time they were very excited to make PC games so we licensed that engine to them for Shadowcaster. I told Brian I’d get back to him after our next game.

"Just after releasing DOOM, I contacted Brian again and asked if he’d be interested if making a game for us using the DOOM tech. YES, they were interested! I bought a bunch of NeXTSTEP computers, sent them to Raven, and flew up there to get all the computers setup and networked together. I showed Ben how development worked with our cross-development setup, I showed Michael Raymond-Judy and Eric Biessman how DoomEd worked to make levels, and got them started on my game idea, Heretic.

"Development went great, they were super smart and learned our tech quickly, getting Heretic done in one year. I uploaded the shareware version of Heretic on December 23, 1994 from my house. From there we kept working together, making Hexen, and starting on Hecatomb before I left id Software and the close relationship ended.

"Brian did a great job steering the company through those turbulent early days, transitioning from an Amiga-only studio to a PC studio that made great games. Their acquisition by Activision worked out well for Brian and Steve, and I was happy for them. It’s a rare team that can survive from 1990 to today — 36 years! I definitely give credit to Brian for making that happen."

And in a gaming world where for years licensed games equated to bad games, Raven went on to work on a string of excellent, critically renowned titles based on huge IPs like Star Wars (Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2 – Jedi Outcast and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Academy), Star Trek (the 2000 first-person shooter Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force), Marvel (X-Men Legends and its sequel, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and X-Men Legends: Wolverine).

Raven also came back around to work with id Software again directly, authoring Quake 4 and the 2009 reboot of Wolfenstein. And we can't forget the then-boundary-pushing, limb-severing violence of 2000's Soldier of Fortune and its sequel, both first-person shooters based on the magazine of the same name where you could target and destroy individual limbs when shooting at your enemies.

I talked to Brian Raffel about all of these projects and his career – he was a teacher and a track coach prior to getting into game development – on episode 54 of my long-form interview series IGN Unfiltered. You can listen to that interview or watch it.

Today, Raven Software employs over 300 developers. Co-studio head David Pellas, who has been with Raven for nearly 12 years, carries on as its lone studio head.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

PUBG is now so much more than the battle royale mode it once pioneered. As well as the classic 100-player battlegrounds, the Krafton-owned megahit has aspirations in the extraction shooter space with Black Budget, as well as the more console-friendly Project Valor, both in development. But soon, boot up Battlegrounds itself, and you’ll find the developer’s latest addition to that collection, the sci-fi co-op PvE roguelike Xeno Point. It’s perhaps the most extreme example of the now nine-year-old game transitioning into a platform – one clearly designed to rival the success of its battle royale competitor from the other side of the world, Fortnite. Epic’s globe-conquering shooter has long integrated different gameplay experiences into its last-player-standing fabric, including a collaboration with the playful Lego, the musical Festival, and thousands of player-created modes. And now, PUBG Studios is aiming to build the foundations of a similar ecosystem, kicking things off with Xeno Point, which I recently played when visiting the developer in Seoul.

From spending a few days in South Korea around the ninth anniversary of PUBG, it’s clear just how big a deal it is there. Whereas Fortnite may dominate the cultural mindshare in Europe and the US, Battlegrounds still remains the king in this part of Asia. A well-attended event at Korea University's Hwajeong Gymnasium played host to developer panels, extravagant magic shows, and K-Pop performances. In the trendy Seongsu district of the capital sits a dedicated cultural space designed for players to take a slice of the battle royale into the real world. A themed cafe and e-sports like arena to play the game in sit behind a skate park littered with PUBG iconography, such as guns from the game’s collab with K-Pop girl group Aespa, taking things to the next level. It’s clear from talking to the team at PUBG Studios that the shooter is much more than a game here, but a part of the culture. You’d struggle to find one single game celebrated to such a degree in any other country.

It’s something that they’d love to replicate on the Western side of the globe. Yes, PUBG Battlegrounds is no great underdog — it still sat inside the 12 most played games on Steam in 2025 — but the studio wants more. And to do so, it has to change significantly. There’s no denying that while Fortnite has evolved both visually and mechanically over the past decade or so, Battlegrounds has remained largely unchanged, hesitating to embrace event-driven seasons and pop-culture collaborations to quite the same extent. To some, it's still the purest battle royale, and one that comes with a delightful layer of jank to it, even if its current incarnation is refined compared to its 2017 beginnings. But rather than stick with these core ideas, or perhaps even offer a “classic” version of the game as it did temporarily a couple of years ago, the studio is going in a different direction.

From speaking with the developers in Seoul, it's clear that the Fortnite model is where they see the future of PUBG, with more experimental, timed modes being lined up. That’s not to say that refinements for Battlegrounds aren’t also on their way, with an overhaul of how it plays on consoles promised, including improved controller support and 120 fps, but there are much bigger, wider-scope things to come. During a presentation given by Taeseok Jang, Head of the PUBG IP Franchise Group, he admits that “PUBG is no longer viewed [internally] as a single game” and instead as a “long-term franchise with the goal of becoming a global cultural icon.” The first step towards doing this? “Including high-quality modes developed in collaboration with external studios, as well as ongoing experimentation with user-generated content.”

One of these collabs is the upcoming Payday mode, which, quite literally, appears to be placing Starbreeze’s heist-shooter action into PUBG with assistance from the Swedish studio. It’s set to arrive in May, but before that, on April 8, comes Xeno Point, a sci-fi roguelite made entirely inside of PUBG Studios’ walls. I got to try out this co-op PvE shooter mode when visiting, and, while it didn’t blow me away, it did provide an insight into where the future of the platform is headed.

Several missions exist inside of Xeno Point, all of which largely involve gunning down waves of alien invaders as you move from point to point through linear levels, each of which is drawn from a warped version of Battlegrounds' Miramar map. Before heading out on each expedition, you’ll get to load up with familiar PUBG weaponry and items, such as AUGs and pills, and then equip yourself with destructive ultimate abilities that operate on a cooldown. I particularly enjoyed sending a swarm of detonating insects towards enemies and watching them explode. You’ll get the chance to unlock permanent upgrades and stat boosts for your character after each run, too, giving a sense of progression through each of its ten or so levels.

It all culminates in a phase-based boss fight in which you’ll be tasked with hammering bullets into glowing weak points on a giant alien being while dodging all manner of red-tinged projectiles. This is where the co-op nature of Xeno Point comes to the fore as you coordinate with teammates to use your ultimate abilities in conjunction with one another. For example, summoning a giant protective shield that you and your three teammates can shelter under while you frantically scramble to revive a downed friend inside of it.

For this demonstration, we were dropped in with high-level gear and took on the mode’s toughest boss nearly instantly, so it was hard to get a real grasp of what the full experience will ultimately feel like, but from my time with Xeno Point, it seems a perfectly serviceable shooter mode that will act as a change of pace from Battleground’s core tension-filled action, even if I did find its damage sponge threats a little dull compared to the excitement found in its last-player-standing staple.

It’s that original battle royale drama that has kept fans coming back to PUBG for over nine years now, though, so I do question whether this foray into experimenting with more arcadey modes is the way forward. The goal may be to rebuild “connections in Western markets and younger audiences”, as the director of PUBG: Battlegrounds, Taehyun Kim, states, but I’m not sure if a routine feeling sci-fi roguelite and the introduction of Payday — a series whose third release recently fell way short of expectations — is the way to do that.

Instead, continuing to refine the 1vs99 magic that it led the way with could be the wiser play here, and certainly tweaking the console experience with the aforementioned improvements is a sign that this will be happening alongside these more experimental modes. But I can't help but feel that PUBG players come to the game for its signature moments of tension, and more ‘rough-and-ready’ feeling gunplay that it has provided since 2017. A full, permanent classic mode may well be the answer for those who yearn for those early days when an Irish modder took inspiration from a 2000 Japanese film to pioneer a shooter genre within Day Z.

Doubling down on what made millions of players fall in love with the original battle royale and emphasising those fundamentally exciting roots may be the smarter choice, rather than chasing the platform that Fortnite has become.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

Microsoft has confirmed the batch of games leaving Xbox Game Pass this month, and among them is Grand Theft Auto 5.

As revealed on the Xbox PC app, Rockstar’s GTA 5 Enhanced and GTA 5 Legacy leave Game Pass on April 15, 2026. The timing here makes sense; GTA 5’s removal comes a year after the game returned to Game Pass, on April 15, 2025, with GTA 5 Enhanced playable via PC Game Pass. So it looks like Microsoft snapped up GTA 5 for Game Pass in a 12-month deal. But GTA 5 isn’t the only game leaving Game Pass this month.

Games leaving Xbox Game Pass in April 2026:

• GTA 5
• Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
• Terra Invicta
• My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery
• Ashen

GTA 5 leaves Xbox Game Pass ahead of a ramp up in GTA 6 marketing, which Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has indicated kicks off this summer. GTA 6 currently has a November 19, 2026 release date for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S only — there’s still no PC version announced. The price of GTA 6 remains a mystery, with some expecting Rockstar to charge up to $100 for the game, although there's no evidence either way right now. One thing Zelnick has been clear on, however, is denying rumors that GTA 6 will be a digital-only release upon its initial launch. Recently, PlayStation gamers began fooling their friends by adding GTA 6 to their Recently Played list.

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.

Something isn’t adding up in the video game industry. In 2025, global video game sales hit $195.6 billion, growing 5% year-on-year. That’s great news - except when you look at the larger picture. In that same time, 10 major studios including Monolith Productions and The Initiative were shuttered in addition to over 25 studios slashing their staff numbers. These were studios working on huge AAA titles including the Perfect Dark remake, a brand-new entry in the Titanfall universe, and superhero titles like Wonder Woman and Black Panther. How is it possible that an industry beating its previous peak year-on-year is also one where one third of its workers were laid off in the last two years? The industry is deeply unwell, with no singular cause to identify but a myriad of symptoms creating a slow-spreading, but severe threat.

It used to be that if players had any free time, they were gaming. Now, the call of video games is being drowned out by many other, immediately accessible distractions. Installations of A.I. assistant apps like ChatGPT and Grok rose to 1 billion in Q4 2025, a statistic that initially seems unrelated to video games until you read industry analyst Matthew Ball’s latest report, which found that American men aged 18-35 – the classic video game demographic – were twice as likely than the average U.S. adult to use AI assistants... the same level of likelihood that they would play console video games.

In short, gamers are also probably using AI apps. So what? Well, further stats make it clear the smartphone is an increasing threat to traditional console gaming. Those same American men are also up to 3.6x as likely to subscribe to OnlyFans creators and use prediction markets. The gamification of prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi is set to increase with the integration of AI engines to provide live “culturally relevant” markets to “play” in. The playability of these sports betting markets, combined with on-the-go live access through your smart phone, scratches that same itch as gacha pulls or opening a pack in FIFA Ultimate Team to the nth degree. It’s something Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella touched on during an internal Q&A session at Microsoft: “The level of hijacking of our attention that’s going on … I want us to reverse that.”

The video game industry appears to be in the early stages of a slow-but-alarming bleed of players, with their attention – and consequently money – drawn to other avenues of entertainment that, unlike traditional gaming, can distract them wherever they are, whenever they want.

Price Hike

This bleed of consumers has become a compounding problem for those in the console business - especially if you’re Microsoft. Xbox’s content & services revenue is down 5% year on year, damaged by Black Ops 7 being the worst-selling Call of Duty since 2008’s World at War. Bloomberg reported Microsoft suffered up to $300 million in losses from its Day One Game Pass gamble with its predecessor, Black Ops 6, and the fact that 82% of all full-price, launch month sales of the shooter came from PlayStation added to the injury. The consequential Game Pass price hike (over 50% in the case of the Ultimate tier, from $19.99 to $29.99) was so badly received that traffic to Microsoft’s website caused it to temporarily buckle.

It was these factors, and most importantly, the 32% decline in hardware sales in the last quarter of 2025 that likely led to Phil Spencer’s retirement and the shock installation of Asha Sharma over Sarah Bond. This seems to be Microsoft’s first big play into restructuring Xbox as a software-first, hardware-second company. Project Helix’s recent unveiling and Sharma’s focus on its third-party-friendly capabilities, alongside Nadella openly questioning what gaming looks like “in its most expansive form going forward”, seems to support the rumors this new console will align more like a plug-and-play gaming PC than a traditional Xbox console. With Newzoo’s 2025 PC & Console Gaming Report predicting PC revenue to surpass console by 2028, it’s not hard to see why this change in direction has emerged.

PlayStation on the other hand is knocking it out of the park. Or is it? At the 2025 Tokyo Game Show, Sony announced the PS5 was its most successful generation yet with over $136b in sales-to-date. However, Sony’s Game & Network services reported a $400m loss between Q3 2024 and Q3 2025, likely from the same issue plaguing Xbox: the decline of hardware sales. The PS5 has yet to outsell the PS4 in pure console sales: 80.3m PS5s have been shipped as of June 2025 compared to 117.2m PS4 sales in totality. Sony’s shift away from PC ports of its first-party titles are a noticeable sign of a change in strategy, with PlayStation insiders citing a worry over diluting the PlayStation brand like Microsoft did with Xbox. When $50+ games make up 79% of your business model’s revenue distribution, console manufacturers can no longer afford to play nice with the PC market. This hardware crisis is casting an ever-increasing shadow that looms over every company. Sony is considering delaying the PS6’s debut to 2028 or even 2029, has already hiked the price of the PS5, and even Nintendo is mulling over a Switch 2 price increase thanks to investors worried about sustaining the console’s momentum due to potential DRAM shortages.

The Roblox Problem

This decline in hardware sales is also partially led by Xbox and PlayStation’s difficulty in recruiting younger generations to the console cause. In 2025, free-to-play MMORPG Roblox accounted for 40% of the industry’s total net growth outside of China. Its monthly hours of engagement surpass Steam, PlayStation and Fortnite combined at 10.2 billion, and are fast approaching Netflix’s global hours of engagement. Just 3% of that playerbase is on consoles. Roblox mega-hit sensation Grow a Garden broke concurrent user records in October last year at 25 million concurrent players, surpassing the likes of PUBG and Fortnite. Meanwhile, Highguard developer Wildlight Entertainment recently shuttered its debut game as the result of failing to build a sustainable player base. Newzoo’s 2026 PC & Console Gaming Report revealed that AAA games are of little interest to the sandbox crowd - its data suggests Roblox fans have almost zero interest in games like Borderlands and Battlefield. It’s not hard to see why 9-17 year olds love it - it’s the ultimate sandbox where your creations can literally get you paid; Roblox shelled out $1.5 billion to player developers in 2025. When players can recreate (admittedly often crude facsimiles of) the gameplay of everything from Half-Life 2, Grand Theft Auto and even Fortnite’s gargantuan celebratory events, why would young gamers want to play anything else - let alone buy an expensive new console?

This struggle to maintain players’ attention and cultivate younger generations is even affecting the mobile game industry - conglomerates like Embracer and ByteDance are selling off once-lucrative publishers to the likes of Miniclip and Savvy Games, U.S. mobile game installations sit at a 12-year low of 3.5 billion, and global mobile gaming spend has remained flat for the last five years.

So if hardware sales are down, player counts are declining, and publishers are considering prolonged generations - how has the industry hit that $195.6 billion number? Instead of capturing new players, publishers are squeezing those that are left. Microtransactions and subscriptions have eclipsed hardware sales to become the main revenue driver: in the U.S., in-game purchases account for 50% of PC revenue and 48% of consoles; in Europe, it’s even higher. Publishers now focus efforts on subtle-but-significant microtransaction and service hikes. Xbox’s eye-watering Game Pass hike is the most egregious example, but no publisher is exempt from subtly pushing up its prices. In 2023, 13,500 Fortnite V-Bucks cost $80, but now sit at $90 for a thousand less. Another increase could be on the horizon: Epic Games’ recent layoffs suggest that this band-aid may be slowly peeling off. Sony increased PlayStation Plus subscription revenue by $1 billion between 2022 and 2024 merely by adding a $120 ‘Premium’ tier, upping it to $160 just one year later, as well as raising the price of the ‘Extra’ tier by $35 and Essential by $20. Gamers have become the frog in the pot of water - and many haven’t noticed publishers have been turning up the heat.

RAMmageddon

Hardware sales have never been more important to Xbox and PlayStation than this generation - because the hardware has never been more expensive to manufacture. In the last year, the price of RAM has doubled, and in some cases, tripled. For new generation RAM like Corsair’s DDR5, the increases are jaw-dropping, jumping from $157 to $841 as of writing. This is in large part due to AI tech giants sucking up RAM - OpenAI now effectively controls 40% of the global RAM output as a result of its ‘Stargate’ US data centre project. This technological black hole isn’t isolated to RAM either - ADATA chairman Chen Libai has confirmed that supplies for solid state drives and even hard disk drives are beginning to reach a shortage for the first time in 30 years. In December 2025, gaming PC manufacturer CyberPowerPC released a statement warning of its price changes moving forward, as a result of SSD prices surging by 100%, and RAM prices by 500%. With financial markets wilfully overextending themselves to appease an ever-growing AI bubble, DDRAM quantities are beginning to dry up, thus skyrocketing prices. Many have speculated this is merely the beginning of ‘RAMmageddon’ - creating a worrying outlook for every console manufacturer out there.

Some would argue these issues are transient: the AI bubble will eventually pop, GTA 6 will be a significant hardware sales driver. They wouldn’t be wrong - but again, these are just symptoms. Gamers decry the lack of new, original titles - but is anyone actually playing them? In 2015, the UK’s best-selling games included single-player hits like Batman: Arkham Knight, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, Fallout 4 and more - in 2024, games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Star Wars: Outlaws barely cracked the top 30. Where players spend their attention, and use their spending power, matters more than ever. Games analyst Mat Piscatella reported 2025’s top PS5 games ranked by total US players was identical to 2024’s - all decade-old, live-service titles. At 2024’s Game Developer Collective, 70% of developers polled showed deep concerns over the long-term sustainability for the video game industry’s over-extension into live-service gaming.

19 of 2025’s biggest live-service games have lost over 70% of their player count since launch, but that’s unlikely to give the 33% of AAA developers that currently have live-service games in development any kind of reservation. Why detract from what appears to be the dominant model, when just 3.1-7.4% of global traditional gaming time goes to new, non-annual releases, with nearly half of U.S. gamers buying less than one game a year? Saying that, the news of Epic Games’s layoffs no doubt sends a distress flare to the wider industry over the viability of live-service titles. Speaking to Polygon, industry analyst Mat Piscatella encapsulated the anxiety succinctly: “if Fortnite can’t make it, what chance do other games have?”

The industry is suffering a feedback loop of publisher live-service over-extension and player idleness, merely resting on 10-year-old live-service titles or seduced by cloud gaming services whilst also decrying the lack of ambitious, original games. It's trapped in a chokehold - between the increasingly sparse supply of essential technology needed to fuel its fundamental hardware and a dense confusion over gamers’ demands in seeming direct contradiction to where they’re spending not just their money, but their attention. Never has it been more important for everyone in the video game industry - publishers and players alike - to take a risk. The only question is: who first?

Sab Astley is a freelance writer who has written for IGN, Polygon, TotalFilm, Rolling Stone, Radio Times, and Metro UK.
Editor's note: This article originally stated that Marvel Rivals features loot boxes. The error has been corrected.

It’s April Fools’ Day 2026, and that means it’s once again time to comb through another round of the best jokes and pranks the gaming industry has to offer.

Social media feeds have already been filled with high-quality, low-quality, and downright confusing gags from AAA and indie games alike. You won’t have to look too hard to see some fake – and even some very real – updates that have already made their way to projects like Peak, Hitman, Lords of the Fallen, Minecraft, and more, and if you act quickly, you can even snag some truly bizarre Sonic and Silent Hill merch.

More April 1 pranks will almost certainly sneak their way online in the hours ahead, but we’ve gone ahead and collected some of our favorite April Fools’ Day video game jokes for you to see, below. After that, be sure to check out highlights from 2023, 2024, and 2025, too.

It's Time for Bubsy Feet Pics

Everyone's favorite feline joined April Fools' Day 2026 with the launch of his OnlyPaws site. Yes, it does come with a gallery of paw pics (and the news that Bubsy 4D pre orders are open), but it also directs eager subscribers to instead send their money to The Wildcat Sanctuary, a Minnesota-based non-profit that provides sanctuary to wild cats in need.

Sega Is Feeling Extra Blue This April Fools’ Day

We’re excited to announce that we’re making our SEGA logo 3% more blue.

We hope you enjoy this upgrade.

Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with the new look. pic.twitter.com/6IrI7hdSIS

— SEGA (@SEGA) April 1, 2026

Sega felt its classic logo needed a facelift, so it injected it with approximately 3% more blue. As if the change wasn’t obvious enough, the before and after image provided should help clear things up.

Get Your Sanic Merch Right Here

OK, so maybe the bluer Sega logo won’t stick around, but it looks like the new merch available on the Sonic the Hedgehog publisher’s official store will. Introducing the Sanic Collection, a three-shirt drop that features Sanic & Shedew, Sanic Adventure, and Sanic & Knackle tees for $32 each.

CD Projekt Red Gives Roach the Spotlight in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Introducing, Project R.O.A.C.H. 🐴✨

A revolutionary gaming controller that puts you in the saddle, making your next adventure in the Continent more realistic and tactile than ever before!

Ride off into the sunset on R.O.A.C.H. today: https://t.co/v3JfZyYEGw pic.twitter.com/QSszL9Jnqh

— The Witcher (@thewitcher) April 1, 2026

Roach, Geralt’s trusty horse companion, has always been the secret star of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and now, CD Projekt Red is giving her time to shine. A video for the Ride on a Controller Horse (R.O.A.C.H.) highlights stunning new technology, with more information about the high-quality prank available here.

Crytek Adds Beetles With Hats to Hunt: Showdown 1896

Crytek warned players that “Hunters are NOT ready for this” in the latest video update for Hunt: Showdown 1896, revealing an update that was first thought to be “too bold” and “too dark”: beetles with hats. Now through April 15, players can input a code (UA2D-2N3M-87N4-98XY) to add cute little cowboy hats for the Stalker, Fire, and Choke beetles. As if it was any surprise, players are already beginning for this to be one prank that outlives the holiday.

PowerWash Simulator Does the Unthinkable With Date the Dirt Dating Sim

Introducing our next chapter💐💘

Ever wanted to learn more about the muck in Muckingham? Does Dust want to settle down? Is Grime clingy? Can you ever get over Stain?

Well, now you’ll get all the answers!

Date the Dirt – Coming soon✨ pic.twitter.com/RqjFatmaT0

— PowerWash Simulator (@PowerWashSim) April 1, 2026

Behold!

Screenshots of dialogue that didn't quite make the final cut✨

Maybe you'll get to see some of Grime's and Duckweed's dialogue, if you ask nicely👀💦 pic.twitter.com/DP9VZAMDuY

— PowerWash Simulator (@PowerWashSim) April 1, 2026

A PowerWash Simulator dating sim was inevitable, right? For this April Fools’ Day, the folks at FuturLab teased what it would be like if players got to know Dust, Grime, Eggy, and even Chuck the garden gnome.

dbrand has a Message for Gamers: It’s Time to Touch Grass

Gaming and tech skin maker dbrand has brought back its Touch Grass look for iPhone, Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PlayStation consoles, and more. However, its 2026 re-release comes with a bonus with every order: a Blue Sky skin.

Arma Turns Into Farma for April Fools’ Day

OUT NOW!

It's a peaceful life. Make Farma, not war. pic.twitter.com/RVIrrsK3io

— Arma Platform (@ArmaPlatform) April 1, 2026

Bohemia Interactive has laid down its weapons to instead get behind the wheel of a tractor. A trailer for its Arma Reforged farming rebrand, Farma Reforager, shows what it would be like if the mil sim went off in a fresh direction.

Bendy and the Ink Machine Summons the Avengers of Indie Horror

WATCH THE REVEAL TRAILER! They came from worlds apart… for an all new #BENDY game! 🦾🖤#BendyNS @mobgamesstudios @NeighborGamesHQ @MeTattletail @Euphoric_Bros @Basically_Games @FNAF_ScottGames pic.twitter.com/zhS8999OV0

— Bendy (@Bendy) April 1, 2026

One of the more impressive pranks of the day came in the form of a new (and unfortunately fake) extension of the Bendy and the Ink Machine Universe. The trailer for Bendy: Nightmare Syndicate shows what Five Nights at Freddy’s, Hello Neighbor, Baldi’s Basics, in Education and Learning, Poppy Playtime, and other iconic indie horror games would look like in that classic Bendy style.

Payday 3 Leaves the Life of Crime Behind

NEW ANNOUNCEMENT!

We’ve been listening to your feedback, and we’re now expanding PAYDAY 3 with a brand new game mode. We’re beyond excited to finally show what we’ve been cooking in the studio. pic.twitter.com/dssd3Aw0eK

— PAYDAY (@PAYDAYGame) April 1, 2026

Starbreeze Studios says it’s been listening to “feedback” and has unveiled its new be-a-regular-guy update. There’s actually very, very little Payday to be had in its video, but that’s kind of the point.

Hitman Killer Agent 47 Gets a Makeover With New H.A.I.R.

Introducing H.A.I.R.

H.ostile
A.rea
I.ntegration
R.esource

Every style, a choice. Every strand, a strategy. Every comb, calculated.#HITMAN #Agent47 pic.twitter.com/r1xwUSoWIk

— HITMAN (@Hitman) April 1, 2026

What would Agent 47 look like with a full head of hair? It’s a question we’ve all surely asked ourselves, so IO Interactive unveiled its new H.A.I.R. project to show exactly what everyone’s been missing out on. See one of the most iconic characters in games wearing hair from the Mario world, KPop Demon Hunters, Baldur’s Gate 3, Resident Evil, and more in the video above.

Konami Launches James Sunderland Body Pillow to Save You from Your Restless Dreams

5ft of James... need we say more? pic.twitter.com/2Uwl2nspvh

— Konami (@Konami) April 1, 2026

It's the five-foot merch every Silent Hill 2 fan has dreamed about. Available to pre-order now on the official Konami store for $69.99 is a body pillow featuring James Sunderland, but if you want one you'll need to act fast, as it's only available to order for seven days.

Konami offers further clarification on its store page: "Yes, this is real. Yes, you can pre-order it. No, we’re not going to explain ourselves."

10 Hours of Mega Starmie

The Pokémon Company is currently running a 10-hour livestream of nothing other than Mega Starmie. What more could you possibly ask for?

Peak Kicks Friendship to the Curb

we decided giving your friends a helping hand is lame af so its kick now pic.twitter.com/2RAHfruXYJ

— AGGRO CRAB 💥 (@AggroCrabGames) April 1, 2026

Peak is at its best when you’re climbing a steep mountain with your friends at your side – or is it? For April 1, Aggo Crab has traded the ability to lend pals a helping hand in favor of a full-on kick mechanic. There’s no telling how long it will stay in the game itself, but for now, players are having a blast.

Lords of the Fallen Brings Players Into the Action With Helmet Vision

Coming soon: HELMET VISION.

See less. Feel more. pic.twitter.com/qATVlUrDLY

— LORDS OF THE FALLEN (@lotfgame) April 1, 2026

Third-person gaming is great and all, but CI Games thinks the cutthroat combat might be better from a first-person perspective. For April Fools’ Day 2026, the developer showed off Helmet Vision, literally giving players a sliver of the action.

Ubisoft Goes Out on a Limb With Rayman Redesign

new redesign wdyt pic.twitter.com/8XB012zy5v

— Rayman (@RaymanGame) April 1, 2026

Gamers know Rayman as the video game mascot without arms and legs, but what if that changed? Well, whether you want to see what that would look like or not, here it is.

Minecraft Breaks the Mold With Herdcraft Update

THE HERDCRAFT UPDATE

Who needs an inventory when you can have the world? Herd blocks, command items, and live in the moment with the Herdcraft update! Say goodbye to dull inventory management and embrace a better, mindful way to build and craft. It just makes sense!

Read more… pic.twitter.com/PfbFVgLpqO

— Minecraft (@Minecraft) April 1, 2026

Mojang is doing away with all of that pesky inventory management this April Fools’ Day with the Herdcraft update. Exclusively available via Minecraft: Java Edition, players will now notice that blocks and items simply obey your commands instead of sitting idly in the menu.

“It’s technically mandatory to play it right now,” a blog post about the prank update says. “Didn’t read those terms and conditions, did you?”

Capcom Lets Leon and Grace Switch Places in Resident Evil Requiem

Sound ON. 🔊

Happy April Fool's Day from us and @Nik_apostolides and @asantalbano! pic.twitter.com/djmQxyThOu

— Resident Evil (@RE_Games) April 1, 2026

Capcom brought back Leon S. Kennedy and Grace Ashcroft actors Nick Apostolides and Angela Sant’Albano, not to reprise their roles, but to switch them instead. A clip shared on the franchise’s official account reveals each star swapping lines from some of Resident Evil Requiem’s most memorable moments.

The Annual Overwatch April Fools' Day Update Is Here

Rules? Where we’re going we don’t need rules! 😎

Hop into Underwatch with all its glory NOW for a limited time! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/t3rHBVTFDA

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) April 1, 2026

Blizzard Entertainment is back with another April 1 update for Overwatch, bringing remixed and OP abilities for the roster. Highlights for this year's changes include a GG shield for Domina, a Gracie-shooting shotgun for Junker Queen, a lock-on camera for Vendetta, and more googly eyes than ever before.

Get Ready With Me Joins Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 as the Smallest Map Ever

Let's get ready to start the day! 😉 pic.twitter.com/xkHBwxVugm

— Treyarch (@Treyarch) April 1, 2026

Treyarch added a map smaller than Shipment for April Fools 😂 pic.twitter.com/KkSzKOKQAb

— Zac - Immortal (@WhosImmortal) April 1, 2026

Treyarch took to social media to show a top-down image of a mysterious map that has made its way into Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Called GRWM (Get Ready With Me), this teeny tiny map is already available in-game, and its size makes Shipment look giant in comparison.

Meet the OwlBrick

The first-ever console built specifically for CRPGs.
Meet the Owlbrick. The best place to play your favorite games and a solid foundation for your RPG experience.

Claim your Owlbrick now: https://t.co/PlPFcwU0Xh pic.twitter.com/q1JMuqQLaT

— Owlcat Games (@OwlcatGames) April 1, 2026

Owlcat Games has designed the first-ever console for CRPGs: The OwlBrick. Featuring auto combat, romance assist, and a face scan tool, this not-fake-at-all hardware is looking to be the next big thing.

Invincible VS Roster Expands With Painfully Creative Joke Characters

ALL ABOARD! Next stop, emotional damage. pic.twitter.com/r8N3wp8o7f

— Invincible VS (@InvincibleVS) April 1, 2026

Just when players thought Conquest had rounded out the Invincible VS launch roster, Skybound Games and Quarter Up took to social media to pull more characters from every (and we really mean every) corner of the Invincible universe. The full lineup of 100% not-real characters includes Eve's dad, Rapidly Aging Flaxan, Allen's Cat, the Invincible Train, and last but not least, Thicc Omni-Man.

Slime Rancher Devs Channel Doom in Trailer for Tarrminator 5

Fill up your water tank Ranchers, Tarmageddeon is here. pic.twitter.com/2uTMcFSq6S

— Slime Rancher (@slimerancher) April 1, 2026

The Slime Rancher team at Monomi Park thought their colorful cozy game could use some Doom music, so they gave it just that. A trailer for Tarrminator 5, coming never, offers a peek into another universe where the Slime Slayer rules.

Risk of Rain Ditches the Risk – and Just About Everything Else

The future of the Risk of Rain franchise is now! 🌧️ pic.twitter.com/9aPLjaBa12

— Risk of Rain (@RiskofRain) April 1, 2026

For April Fools' Day 2026, the Risk of Rain 2 devs decided the risk may not actually be worth the reward. So, for the totally real next chapter of Risk of Rain, players can look forward to just Rain. No music, no enemies, no fun items. Just rain.

Pragmata Is Finally a Mega-Man Game (Sort Of)

PRAGMATA is a Mega Man Game? April Fools! 😜#PRAGMATAMoonBytes - Part 6 pic.twitter.com/W73dyOrmZL

— Capcom Europe (@CapcomEurope) April 1, 2026

Capcom has heard your theories, and while they may not be true, it's willing to entertain them for a little while longer.

Bungie Offers Relaxation from Marathon Matches With Algae Pond Bath Bomb

Sink in. Reset your vitals. Return mission-ready.

Inspired by the nutrient ponds of Tau Ceti IV, the Algae Pond Bath Bomb delivers a restorative soak engineered for post-deployment recovery.

Because even hardened Runners deserve regulated restoration. pic.twitter.com/I1bR4qFYP0

— Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) April 1, 2026

While other companies have pushed for real April Fools' Day merchandise to buy, Bungie seems content with its prank product being little more than a harmless (and gross) gag. The Algae Pond Bath Bomb is inspired by the planet of Tau Ceti IV in Marathon, and despite the studio's wishes, fans say they want to give the green disc a taste test.

Rebungered: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Bunger

A new game from the team that brought you Bugsnax and Octodad.

Out now on https://t.co/AAjUAL6FtP pic.twitter.com/I8JvYcvCRx

— Bugsnax (Young Horses) (@YoungHorses) April 1, 2026

Bugsnax social media showed up with prank that comes in two parts. The first is an anime-style opening for a project called Rebungered: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Bunger, and the second is that this project is real. Following the link in the Bugsnax post directs players to a playable text-based adventure game where – you guessed it – you play as a Bunger. It's a full-fledged story with six endings and seven achievements to unlock.

Satisfactory Unleashes Jason

Simply put: Men are underrepresented in games. We're changing that. pic.twitter.com/D2aVUxhYrW

— Satisfactory (@SatisfactoryAF) April 1, 2026

After waves of comments from players begging to play as a man Pioneer in Satisfactory, Coffee Stain Studios has come up with a solution: Jason. Backed by Linkin Park, Jason finally gives men some representation in video games.

The Division 2 Audio Update Puts Players Right Into the Action

We’ve taken immersion to the next level.
Hear The Division 2 like never before. Available now. pic.twitter.com/xp9VFbA0jP

— Tom Clancy's The Division (@TheDivisionGame) April 1, 2026

Ubisoft is tweaking audio in The Division 2 ever so slightly to make sure players feel as though they are right in the middle of the action. You can hear some of the subtle changes in the video above.

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).

Earlier in March this year, WeirdCo launched their Kickstarter for the brand new Cyberpunk Trading Card Game, one that has been officially blessed by CD Projekt RED themselves. In the span of mere minutes, the campaign passed a million dollars, and now, less than a few weeks later (at the time of publication), this game of cardboard rectangles sits comfortably at a record-breaking $15 million plus.

So much success has earned the game the medals for the “Most Funded Kickstarter TCG,” and the "Highest-Funded Game Campaign" ever, surpassing the previous record held by Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere Roleplaying Game, which raised $15.1 million on Kickstarter in 2024.

With a ton of big-name support behind it before it has even arrived in players’ hands, paired with solid and novel gameplay mechanics, it’s easy to see why. That being said, while everything may be turning up Eddies and neon right now, that doesn’t guarantee long-term success for the brand-new game. Let's discuss why.

Sony has announced the PlayStation Plus Monthly games lineup for April 2026, confirming earlier leaks that spilled some — but not all — of the games.

Three titles make up the entirety of Sony's offerings for next month, which will be available to claim from Tuesday, April 7 until Monday, May 4. As previously detailed, this trio will include enjoyable Soulslike Lords of the Fallen, as well as the MMORPG-like Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream.

Completing the lineup, however, is a nice surprise: Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, which offers Lara Croft's original three adventures with all expansions, secret levels, and a shiny lick of paint. You can also switch back to playing using the games' original graphics, polygons and all, should you so choose.

It's an interesting time for Lara Croft's original trilogy package to be given away free, following the controversial addition of new cosmetics to the game which fans said looked like AI slop, while developers at Saber Interactive who worked on the remaster said they were nothing to do with the new additions.

Publisher Aspyr subsequently denied using AI-generated assets, and insisted that the contentious outfits added via the most recent update "were created by our team of artists." It's a shame, as IGN's technical review of the game back in 2024 was otherwise complimentary. "The very small and largely independent team that built Tomb Raider I-III Remastered have clear passion and skills for the legacy of Lara Croft," we wrote.

While IGN has not reviewed Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream, we gave a positive write-up to Lords of the Fallen (which joins PlayStation Plus ahead of its sequel launching later this year). "Lords of the Fallen is a great Soulslike, and its killer new idea of swapping between two versions of the world to solve puzzles and slay enemies is an excellent twist to set it apart from the pack," IGN wrote in our Lords of the Fallen review, scoring it an 8/10.

PlayStation Plus April 2026 games lineup:

• Lords of the Fallen
• Tomb Raider I-III Remastered
• Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream

As ever, when Sony giveth, so it taketh away. You have until Monday, April 6 to add March's lineup of PGA Tour 2K25, Monster Hunter Rise, Slime Rancher 2 and The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road to your game library.

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

Fans of last year's gloriously painful literal walking sim game Baby Steps have a wild theory about its onesie-clad screw-up of a main character, Nate: they think he's the son of Uncharted's Nathan Drake, and they have a shocking amount of evidence to prove it.

Baby Steps follows the story of Nate, a grown man who wakes up barefoot in a onesie in a strange world occupied by donkey people. Unsure how he got there or where he's even going, you have to make Nate press onward anyway by using the control sticks and shoulder buttons on your controller to painstakingly lift one leg at a time, position it, and set it back down. The very act of walking forward is agony, and you'll be terrible at it for a good chunk of the game. Then, just when you start to get used to walking, Baby Steps throws mudslides and sand dunes and mountains and ice at you to make things even more difficult.

Baby Steps is fantastic - it's a meditation on masculinity and the expectations that come packaged with that, as well as an interrogation of what the player considers "character growth". Nate, to be frank, sucks. He's a middle-aged coward who mostly sits in his parents' basement and plays video games, has no redeeming qualities and contributes little to nothing to society. He spends most of Baby Steps stubbornly refusing to accept help from anyone, even favors that would make his journey exponentially easier, such as a map or a pair of shoes or, depending on how you play, a big staircase up a treacherous mountain. He moans and groans, falls down and constantly soils himself, and is generally just the most irritating person possible to embody for 20ish hours of slow, agonizing walking.

Given all that, it's pretty far-fetched to think he'd be the son of renowned adventurer Nathan Drake, a handsome, intelligent and fit protagonist known for going on a series of global adventures and successfully escaping countless dangerous situations. He and his wife, Elena, canonically have a daughter named Cassie - developer Naughty Dog never gave him a son. What's more, there's nothing to suggest that the devs and publisher Sony ever would give their blessings to the Baby Steps team to make any child of theirs a total disaster of a human. It's asinine.

And yet. Blessing or no, a number of fans think that the Baby Steps devs created Nate with the quiet but explicit intention of being a Drake. Much of these theories were posited way back in October 2025, shortly after the game's release, but I've only recently been made aware of them. In the "lore" channel of the official Baby Steps Discord, multiple players have found connections between the two characters that seem far too pointed to be nothing.

Nate doesn't speak much about his personal life throughout his journey, but throughout Baby Steps, Nate can acquire various silly hats to wear, some of which provide him with dreams reflecting on his real life if he makes it to camp with them at the end of a day. In one of these dreams, Nate is referred to as "Nate D" and Nate "Dumbass" - he also goes by "Nathan Bake" at one point when he flirts with being a DJ. Through other scenes, particularly optional phone calls with Nate's dad, we learn that he has a sister named Cassie, and that he's a "junior" - his dad is also named Nathan. And per the credits, his mom is named Elena. If that's not enough out the gate as proof, dataminers have found that Nate's model is just referred to as "Nathan Drake" in the game's files (as shared by Caleb (monkeylicker) in the official Discord.)

There are more subtle hints too, though once you know about them they feel about as subtle as a humanoid talking donkey with no pants. Compare this piece of official Baby Steps art with the cover art for Uncharted 4 (look at Baby Steps Nate's hand!), as spotted by Drencrom in the Discord:

Spotted by Kuromi_#1Fan in the Discord, there's a picture hanging on the wall in the New Game menu of Sir Francis Drake - the alleged ancestor of Nathan Drake. Also spotted by Drencrom, the "World's Best Dad" achievement image looks an awful lot like an older Nathan Drake. There's also a scene where Nathan wakes up on the beach that pretty closely mirrors a scene from Uncharted 4.

And there's this entire optional phone scene if you choose to climb an abandoned train, just like Nathan Drake Sr., where his dad on the phone significantly perks up when Nate mentions the abandoned train.

And finally, less proof and more just a fun little bonus, during the nearly half-hour-long cutscene that plays at the end of Baby Steps if you skip every other cutscene in the game, Gabe Cuzzillo and Bennett Foddy drop their characters and talk about, among other things, Uncharted, making it clear they're fans.

The preponderance of evidence that the Baby Steps devs made this with the creative intent of this protagonist being Nathan Uncharted Drake's failson was so overwhelming and so funny that I reached out to devs Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, and Bennett Foddy to see if they had any comment or confirmation, but they declined.

Of course, it's pretty obvious that neither Sony nor Naughty Dog is going to canonize this - for one, it seems like Nate Jr. is dead or at least isekaied, making his introduction into the Uncharted universe a bit of a moot point. For two, this is all very silly. Perhaps a touch too silly for Uncharted.

But whether you decide to read Baby Steps as a secret fan-made Uncharted 5 or not, it's very worth playing. We gave it a 9/10 in our review, calling it "an infuriating ordeal of intentionally awkward physics that’s brutal, unbelievably stupid, and downright awesome."

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.