Titanic and Terminator director James Cameron said he's "looking at some new technologies" to try and get Avatar 4 and 5 made "in half the time for two-thirds of the cost," but it's going to take a year just to figure it out.

The legendary filmmaker spoke about how he plans to continue his long-in-the-works sci-fi saga during an interview with The Empire Film Podcast. When asked what's next for Cameron following the premiere of Avatar: Fire and Ash and his Billie Eilish concert movie, he told The Empire Film Podcast he's hoping to alter his process to, hopefully "more efficiently," dive back into Pandora.

"You know, I'll be doing some writing. I've got a number of projects that I'm cooking," he said. "And Avatar 4 and 5 are still floating out there. We’re going to be looking at some new technologies to try to do them more efficiently. Because they're hideously expensive and take a long time. I want to do them in half the time for two-thirds of the cost. That’s my metric."

Cameron added that it's going to "take us a year or so" to even come up with a plan on how to more efficiently create Avatar movies going forward. In the meantime, he promised that he'll be "writing and doing a couple of other things."

Avatar first took audiences to Pandora with the launch of the original film in 2009, but its sequel, The Way of Water, wouldn't arrive until an incredible 13 years later in 2022. The three-year wait between Avatar 2 and its Fire and Ash follow-up was comparatively far less painful, but even that timeframe feels a bit on the long side for the 71-year-old director.

While it's true that all three Avatar movies have managed to cross the $1 billion mark at the box office, Fire and Ash only made $1.48 billion compared to The Way of Water's $2.4 billion, suggesting potentially declining interest amongst moviegoers. Adding to the sting is the last film's reported $400 million budget, which doesn't account for the hundreds of millions Disney would have spent on its marketing campaign.

Despite Cameron's hope to eventually bring the Sully family back to theaters, how exactly Avatar 4 and 5 will take shape is unclear, for now. We have yet to see what "new technologies" the Avatar director and writer plans to explore, but he's made it clear that he's hoping to produce the films for cheaper in the past. A report from last month suggested as much, too, though it appeared much was still moving behind the scenes at Disney.

Disney has currently scheduled tentative release dates of December 21, 2029, for Avatar 4 and December 19, 2031, for Avatar 5. A recent update from producer Rae Sanchini promised that scripts are in hand as the team continues to move "full speed ahead."

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).

Coming-of-age video game Mixtape is packed with licensed music from artists like Devo and The Smashing Pumpkins, but publisher Annapurna Interactive and developer Beethoven and Dinosaur have told fans not to worry about the game potentially being delisted down the road.

Creative director Johnny Galvatron kept concerns about the game's future from spinning out of control during a recent interview with Kotaku. Despite featuring a full playlist of tracks from recognizable groups throughout its foot-tapping story, he said that the team paid extra to maintain licenses for each track in perpetuity.

Annapurna followed up the interview with its own statement in an X/Twitter post. It said, "We heard some people say MIXTAPE would be delisted due to music licenses expiring. That was a lie."

We heard some people say MIXTAPE would be delisted due to music licenses expiring.

That was a lie.

Have a great weekend, everyone. https://t.co/C3VesfWPpz

— Annapurna Interactive (@A_i) May 16, 2026

Fears that Mixtape could, at some point, be pulled from digital shelves aren't exactly unfounded. Plenty of games have suffered similar fates due to expired licenses in the past, including Rock Band 4 late last year and the original Alan Wake in 2017. Even Grand Theft Auto 4 replaced a few tunes after some licenses expired in 2018.

It's clear Beethoven and Dinosaur wanted to put in the effort to make sure its story and the music woven throughout it remained intact for years to come. One example of a "boundary test" idea that was floated but didn't pan out involved asking Pink Floyd for a song, but the team's supervisor cautioned that the classic rock band wasn't likely to give them the track they were after. That said, when it came to getting the other tunes they wanted, Galvatron told Kotaku the team never ran into any real horror stories and got "pretty much everything [they] asked for."

"There's just so many points in the game where Stacy turns the screen and says 'This is the Smashing Pumpkins, and it's fucking sick,'" he added. "You send that to [Smashing Pumpkins frontman] Billy Corgan and he goes, 'This is the Smashing Pumpkins and it's fucking sick, yeah, they can do that. That’s fine.'"

Mixtape launched for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S May 7, 2026. IGN called it a "Masterpiece" in our 10/10 review.

"A musical delight from start to finish," we said at launch last month, "Mixtape sets a new standard for coming-of-age stories in video games and does so with a masterful sense of style."

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).

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save big on Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Super Mario RPG, Star Fox for Switch 2, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, and more. Check out our top picks for Sunday, May 10, below.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment for $49.99

Xbox seems to have rebranded…to "XBOX."

You'd be forgiven for not noticing the difference, but yes, newly appointed CEO Asha Sharma took to X/Twitter to confirm Microsoft's gaming branch has been given an all-caps makeover. The lack of an update on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube makes it a bit unclear how serious this supposed rebrand is, but the big change to XBOX can at least already be seen on its X account and even Sharma's LinkedIn profile.

The CEO shared the update following a social media poll, where she asked fans to choose between the standard Xbox and its larger version. After returning results that put XBOX in the lead with an almost shocking 64.8% of the votes, the change has officially been acted upon.

👀 pic.twitter.com/4MHzmLsXNm

— Asha (@asha_shar) May 15, 2026

Xbox has undergone a laundry list of changes, big and small, since Sharma replaced Phil Spencer as CEO in February of this year. Highlights include leadership switch-ups earlier this month, the end of the "This is an Xbox" marketing campaign in March, and a drop in price for Game Pass subscribers in April.

It's unclear how successful some of these changes have been for Microsoft as Sharma works to get Xbox into a better place. The all-caps makeover for the Xbox name, though, definitely seem to fall more in line with smaller adjustments we've recently seen, such as the new boot up sequence revealed a few weeks ago or the classic logo facelift from April.

For now, fans aren't sure exactly how to feel about an all-caps XBOX. As some have pointed out, the change is at least a fun nod to the early days of the console's logo and name. Considering the update seems to be inspired directly by fan input, some have even begun to call on Sharma to make more changes, such as reverting the name back to its classic, rough-edged font. Others aren't so willing to entertain the XBOX idea until they see if it will actually stick.

what’s the purpose of this rename bruh https://t.co/DUyRmevBlJ pic.twitter.com/nYUqFqOIp4

— nicki ☘️ (@s1nicki) May 16, 2026

"I was expecting something pointless and stupid, but gosh they have still managed to surprise me," one Reddit user said.

"HUGE IF TRUE," another joked.

We'll hopefully have a better idea about how committed Microsoft is to XBOX in the near future. Until then, you can see what Sharma had to say about her past gaming history. You can also see read about the recently leaked Xbox Cloud Gaming controller.

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).

Upcoming action movie prequel John Rambo has reportedly added James Franco to its cast.

Details on what is set up to be the controversial actor's first notable big-studio part in years came from Variety, which said that he has joined the film for a "small role." Production on the film in Thailand is said to have wrapped.

Franco was well-known for parts in movies like the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man trilogy, The Disaster Artist, 127 Hours, and Pineapple Express before being cast out of Hollywood after five women accused him of sexual misconduct in 2018. Of those women, four were students at his now-defunct Studio 4 acting school, while another described him as a mentor. Franco denied the allegations at the time.

A lawsuit regarding the allegations then emerged in 2019 before being settled for more than $2.2 million in 2021. Franco admitted to sleeping with students and said his actions were "wrong" later that same year. Outside of a few somewhat smaller films, the events were enough to keep him out of the public eye and even damage his working relationship with longtime collaborator Seth Rogen. Franco went on to tease his plans to do a "big studio movie" and respond to rumors that he had been hiding away during an interview with Deadline at Cannes Film Festival last week.

"It’s not true I’ve been hiding out," he said. "I've been here the last three or four years running, selling things and they treat me well and I get to go and see great movies."

Franco joins Noah Centineo (To All the Boys I've Loved Before), who has been picked to play a younger version of Sylvester Stallone's First Blood character, John Rambo, and David Harbour (Stranger Things), who recently boarded to take over the role of Commanding Officer Major Trautman. Yao (Sinners), Jason Tobin (Warrior), Quincy Isaiah (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), Jefferson White (Civil War), and Tayme Thapthimthong (The White Lotus) are all also attached to the movie. Sisu filmmaker Jalmari Helander is directing the project.

John Rambo has no release date, and no plot details outside of the promise to tell an origin story for the action icon have been released. For more, you can read about how Marvel Studios veterans Joe and Anthony Russo are involved.

Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images.

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).

In the Grey is now playing in theaters.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Henry Cavill met in Guy Ritchie’s trailer on the first day of filming their new thriller In the Grey, and cheered each other on throughout the improv-heavy production. Ritchie, who wrote and directed the movie, is known for his constant script changes and focus on discovery while filming. In an exclusive interview with IGN, Gyllenhaal says that process allowed him and Cavill to hone their characters in real time.

“With Guy, there's a lot of improvisation, a lot of discovery,” Gyllenhaal says. “Lines change in the moment, scenes shift on the day. We had a scene where we got the lines maybe a few minutes beforehand. All I did was root for Henry to remember his next line, and when he got through it, I was terrified I had to remember mine. That kind of thing keeps you incredibly present.”

In The Grey, which also stars Eiza González (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), Carlos Bardem (Assassin’s Creed), and Fisher Stevens (Succession), follows “a covert team of elite operatives who live in the global shadows. When a ruthless despot steals a billion-dollar fortune, the team is sent to steal it back on what would be for anyone else a suicide mission. What begins as an impossible heist gets much worse, spiraling into an all-out war of strategy, deception and survival.”

Although both Gyllenhaal and Cavill had previously worked with Ritchie, In the Grey marks their first joint on-screen appearance. According to Gyllenhaal, the two actors didn’t have much time together before being dropped right into the action.

“What's funny is that Henry and I hadn't met before day one,” Gyllenhaal says. “We encountered each other in Guy's trailer on the first morning of filming. So, there wasn't much time to workshop a shared reference point. Guy had a very clear sense of who these two (characters) were in relation to each other from the start, and that gave us a strong foundation to build from.”

After previously appearing in Ritchie’s 2023 film The Covenant, Gyllenhaal says teaming up with the director on another film was an easy decision.

“It feels like one big film in a way, because you're really in his world,” Gyllenhaal says. “He comes back and says, ‘You want to come dive in again?’ And you go, ‘Yeah, sure. I love it in there. The water's warm.’ What's also unique is that he's constantly editing as he goes. He's shaping the story, showing you cut scenes and then you're shaping the next scene together. It doesn't work the way normal movies do, which is why it's very hard to communicate what it's really like. Everyone's on their toes. And if you enjoy that, which I do, it's a hell of a time.’

In the film, Gyllenhaal plays Bronco, an ex-special forces agent who joins Gonzalez’s character on a mission after she previously broke him out of prison. From far-flung locales, to the intense action, Gyllenhaal says that the spectacle of In the Grey is what makes it special.

“You've got to go see this one in the cinema because it's meant for the cinema,” Gyllenhaal says. “It's a huge spectacle full of fun, the way we've loved movies for decades. Guy is making it for that. And what's remarkable is that it's also completely original. It's very hard to do something truly original now; to find a new way in, to do it differently, with a unique voice. That's pretty much an impossibility. And yet you know when you're going to see a Guy Ritchie movie that you're going to see something original.”

Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment at IGN, leading entertainment content and coverage of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He's spent 20 years working in the games and entertainment industry, and his adventures have taken him everywhere from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him on Bluesky @MichaelPeyton

The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke has said that the recent nods to the Vought Rising spinoff show in Season 5 were not the result of "craven commercialism."

Fans of the gory Prime Video superhero show seem to be split about where the story is heading ahead of next week's series finale, but one of the prevailing talking points surrounding recent episodes involves how it's handled side characters like Soldier Boy and Bombsight. While some viewers fear they only played a role in Season 5 to pique interest ahead of the upcoming Vought Rising prequel series, Kripke has said that this isn't the case.

The Boys showrunner opened up about his team's process during a recent interview with The Watch. While Vought Rising will turn back the clock to the 1950s to explore the origins of some of the show's most evil characters, Kripke said he was more focused on giving the characters from the main series a fitting sendoff when developing Season 5.

Warning! Spoilers for The Boys Season 5 follow.

"How do you do enough that you can touch on it, but not so much that you feel like it's homework or you feel like it's just a commercial?" he said when asked about balancing The Boys with Vought Rising. "Where it really came from, honestly, was we had this notion of this V-One McGuffin, and we knew Soldier Boy was going to be a character this season.

"Why is he immortal? Why is Stormfront immortal? What is it about whatever they had, right? Once you come up with V-One… we didn't start it like, 'We gotta get Bombsight in there, guys! We gotta set up our thing!'"

Vought Rising was announced in 2024 as a prequel show that would feature Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy and Aya Cash's Stormfront, two characters who have shown up for past seasons of the mainline series. Casting for additional supes, such as Mason Dye as Bombsight and Elizabeth Posey as Private Angel, was then revealed in August 2025. Some were happy to see Dye make his first on-screen appearance as his character in The Boys Season 5, Episode 6, but others felt Kripke and company were trying a little too hard to force Vought Rising into the conversation.

Kripke clarified that bringing in Bombsight, specifically, was a collaborative effort between The Boys team and Vought Rising showrunner Paul Grellong. When he heard what Grellong was doing with Bombsight, they found a way to bring both shows together in a way they felt made sense.

"So, when the question comes up in our room of like, 'Who ultimately has the V-One? Is it just some rando old hero that you never will see again, or should it be one of those characters, because those characters are so bad ass?'" he added. "That’s how it kind of evolved. It was pretty organic.

"There wasn't a lot of craven commercialism in there. It came from a spot of, it's a full universe, and we have these pieces, so if we're able to use them, why not?"

The Boys is currently in the midst of its fifth and final season and will come to an end with its finale next week, May 20. Vought Rising is expected to premiere in the first half of 2027.

While we wait for updates, you can read about the Marvel actor who snuck in for a quick cameo in Episode 7. You can also check out what Kripke had to say about some of the other recent criticisms the show has faced.

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).

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 director Jeff Fowler has published a first look at Metal Sonic as filming on the latest movie comes to an end.

The filmmaker took to social media to share a behind-the-scenes picture of a life-sized version of the iconic Sega villain today. It comes with the news that filming for the next chapter in Paramount Pictures and Sega's series of game-to-movie adaptations wrapped with a little less than one year to go before its March 19, 2027, theatrical release date.

This sneak peek at Metal Sonic mostly serves to further entice Sonic fans rather than offer any sort of big reveal. If the sleek antagonist's presence in the last film's mid-credits scene wasn't enough of a tease, fans already figured he'd play some sort of role in Sonic the Hedgehog 4 after bringing his menacing aura to the teaser trailer published in March.

"And that's a wrap on #SonicMovie4!!!" Fowler said. "On behalf of this amazing cast/crew, we have filmed the BEST Sonic Movie yet and can't wait to share."

Still, this first look at Metal Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog 4 shows that Fowler is on track to continue the Blue Blur's story next spring. Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which premiered in 2024, last saw Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (Idris Elba) team up to fight off Doctor Eggman (Jim Carrey) and live-action newcomer Shadow the Hedgehog (Keanu Reeves).

While that movie's mid-credits scene helped bring Metal Sonic into the mix, it also helped warm up viewers to the idea that pink hedgehog Amy Rose would soon join the Sonic team, too. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter in February, she'll be played by The Good Place and Frozen alum, Kristen Bell.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is scheduled to spin into theaters in March 2027. While we wait for an official trailer and more news about how Metal Sonic fits into the big picture, you can check out the image featuring Amy's Piko Piko hammer that Fowler posted earlier this year. You can also read about who fans think the upcoming spinoff movie will focus on.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Recently, in the span of three weeks, three entirely disparate TV shows on two different networks/streaming services had a surprising connection. One is a superhero series, the other a shocking (former) teen drama, the third a faux-reality comedy. Both in tone and execution, they couldn’t be more different. Yet when The Boys, Euphoria, and Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat needed a go-to sight gag to indicate their characters are absolute loser villains, only one car could do: the Tesla Cybertruck.

Does driving a Cybertruck make you an absolute loser villain? That’s up to [gestures] society to decide, as well as you, the reader of this article. But on TV at least, the trend is clear, with a relatively minor number of exceptions.

In fact, Tesla’s boxy monstrosity has been the subject of mockery on TV for a while now, including appearances on HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones, Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and kicking off this big, bad year for Elon Musk’s brainchild, Chad Powers on Hulu. It’s the latest in the long line of quick and easy jokes to pervade television, but the preponderance and specificity of this particular trend points to a larger shift in cultural conversation that you may be able to intuit yourself.

We’ll get to that in a second, but to lay out A Brief, Incomplete History of the Cybertruck on Television, let’s actually start with a little timeline about the Cybertruck itself. First introduced as a prototype in 2019, the truck hit the streets in 2023, but arguably didn’t become a flashpoint for cultural conversation until Musk became a prime booster of the Trump campaign in 2024.

TV production schedules, though, take time. For example, the first big salvo in TV’s War Against Cybertrucks wouldn’t air until March of 2025, in HBO’s Righteous Gemstones. The fourth and final season was filmed between May and October of 2024, so by the time the fourth episode, “He Goeth Before You Into Galilee,” aired, we were already well into both the Cybertruck era and the era of Trump 2.0 con Elon – making the appearance of the vehicle perhaps more pointed than it was meant to be back when production started.

The episode in question kicks off with a long tracking shot of all the characters unloading their various cars, ending with a kicker: the reveal of a Cybertruck parked on the water. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher until the very end of the episode, when we discover the truck belongs to Baby Billy (Walton Goggins), easily the worst and most huckstery of an entire clan of hucksters. He’s a character who constantly buys into (or sells) pyramid schemes and scams, so you can draw your own conclusion about what the show means to indicate, given he eschews the massive Escalades of most of the rest of the clan for the Cybertruck.

Soon after in July of 2025, FX aired the It’s Always Sunny episode "Thought Leadership: A Corporate Conversation." (The 17th season of the series was filmed from October through December of 2024). An extremely loose parody of HBO’s Succession, the episode found the Paddy’s Pub gang drinking water (probably for the first time) and, along with glimpses of a few corporate clips on YouTube, going all in on business speak and wearing fleeces. That included a total obsession with the Cybertruck, which found them spewing catchphrases like “I love that truck. I’m furious that all cars don’t look like that,” and in a backhanded compliment, “It’s like a rhombus on wheels.”

While the Cybertruck in It’s Always Sunny is more of a plot point than a throwaway gag, it’s clear that the show sees the vehicle (which Glenn Howerton’s Dennis effuses about the sexual aggression of) as the epitome of everything wrong with silicon valley/corporate culture. It also tracks that the unequivocally terrible Gang at the center of the show would become obsessed with it, while other characters like the much-lumped-upon Waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) would be less enthused. When she finds out they’re giving away a truck in exchange for winning a slap fighting championship, Charlie (Charlie Day) proudly clarifies “a Cybertruck” to which she replies with a withering “eh.”

The Fall of 2025 was a big moment for the electric crew cab, appearing on three different TV shows between September and October. On Hulu’s Chad Powers, the vapid former football star played by Glen Powell drives a Cybertruck, which the show tells us only adds to his general douche-osity. Still, the truck is more than a one-and-done, as it becomes not just a place for Chad to have some awkward backseat sex, but also ends up getting a character to the hospital after a health scare. Similarly, Paramount+’s Tulsa King straddled the line in a third season episode that found Tyson Mitchell’s gangster purchasing one and touting its bulletproof hull, as well as that it’s “how a gangster’s supposed to roll,” while Martin Starr’s marijuana dealer shoots back, “Yeah, in Blade Runner. Real life we don’t drive around in a refrigerator.” Later on, someone tries to shoot up the Cybertruck with a tommy gun, and indeed, the bullets can’t pierce the exterior of the car, saving lives.

The third series is Netflix’s Nobody Wants This Season 2, where one of the characters delightedly scratches a Cybertruck that almost ran over a baby in a stroller, while Adam Brody and Kristen Bell’s characters look on in horror. That’s not even to mention episodes of Apple TV’s Platonic, which found Seth Rogen’s character pairing the rise of Cybertrucks with the ruining of a Los Angeles neighborhood, or an episode of Apple’s Loot that depicts D’Arcy Carden’s con-man Ashlee rolling in a hot pink Cybertruck with the license plate “SPAGHET” while chugging energy drinks and singing (badly) to System of a Down. But let’s take a little step backwards to talk about the first two, since there’s more meat to dig into there.

While Chad Powers was filmed pre-election, Tulsa King was post; and the connection between both shows is that inasmuch as a TV series has political leanings, both series lean more right than the left-leaning series mentioned above. Chad Powers frequently throws around the r-word, is set in a conservative football town, and features broad gay stereotypes, among other characters. Tulsa King is part of the Taylor Sheridan Extended Universe (TSEU), and Sheridan has purposefully been obtuse about his politics, even leaving Paramount (reportedly) over being told to infuse his shows with more politics. Both series make jokes of Cybertrucks, then prove they’re actually pretty cool in retrospect.

Trucks, we might want to point out, do not have feelings; but owners of truck companies do, and Musk has proven time and again to be overly touchy about how people treat his vehicles, while telling others to have a sense of humor and stop being so sensitive. It’s hard not to view the disparity between how Tulsa King and Chad Powers treat the rhombus on wheels as bridging a political divide, or at least passing an olive branch over to the other side, while still getting some laughs about how silly the mode of transportation looks. It’s also not unimportant to note that both of these shows have characters who err toward being losers, but are not necessarily villains driving the Cybertruck… In a certain sense, the truck goes on a similarly redemptive arc in both cases as do the characters who drive it (with the lone exception being a wild, nihilistic swerve in the closing minutes of Chad Powers, but that’s another article entirely).

Digression for Cybertruck positivity over, that brings us to the impetus for talking about this at all: the past month or two of Cybertrucks on TV (tm). Prime Video’s Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat, the second season of the faux-reality show, introduced its corporate stooge villains from a private equity group called Triukas driving – what else – a Cybertruck. A little over two weeks later, HBO’s premiere of Euphoria Season 3 found Jacob Elordi’s Nate Jacobs – moving from a high school uber-male to an over-his-head and way-in-debt real estate developer with a doomed wedding on the horizon – driving, you guessed it, a Cybertruck. And to cap things off, three days later the third episode of the final season of The Boys featured an extended sequence with the biggest loser on the series, The Deep (Chace Crawford), driving a Cybertruck that, to add on the embarrassment, was blasting Limp Bizkit.

The short-winded explanation here is that the makers of TV think the Cybertruck looks dumb, and believe only dumb people drive the car. Is that actually true? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s an easy visual indicator that tells you everything you need to know about a TV character in a simple way, whether they’ve got hot pink paint or merely pilot the silver, basic model… The Cybertruck, as far as these shows are concerned, is an exemplar of crass taste and poor decisions, a modern car that looks like, to borrow a popular meme, it hasn’t finished rendering. There’s also clearly the post-election correlation of the Cybertruck with Elon’s connection to DOGE, government gutting, and the political divide between those who support MAGA and those who do not. Not to make broad, unsupportable statements, but for the mostly liberal-leaning Hollywood it seems likely that one could equate a character driving a Cybertruck with the word “bad.”

But perhaps more than that, it’s an easy punching bag because, like the DeLorean before it (which was made cool by Back to the Future, though arguably was used as a joke “future” car there, too), it’s not selling well. At all. A recent report from Bloomberg revealed that not only have Cybertruck registrations fallen over 50%, but 18% of sales both in the final quarter of 2025 and first quarter of 2026 have been to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Meaning Elon’s Tesla is essentially selling cars to itself.

This raises (and perhaps answers) another question: Why is Tesla allowing the Cybertruck to be constantly mocked on TV? It could go back to that old adage that all press is good press if these are media tie-in deals or product placement; in which case, Tesla has approved of the use of the Cybertruck. You could posit that the same people who miss the not-at-all-subtle idea that Homelander (Antony Starr) is the villain of The Boys might see The Deep driving a Cybertruck blasting “Rollin’” and think, “Cool, I gotta get me one of those.”

Far more likely, these shows have just gone ahead and purchased or rented Cybertrucks themselves, which they’re allowed to do under the umbrella of free speech. Per a report from the LA Times, generally car companies don’t like to do product placement deals when those driving the cars are villains, or the cars are wrecked in stunts. With the exception of Tulsa King, one would think Tesla would be hesitant about letting out the Cybertruck to be driven by, say, a homicidal, sexually abusive fish-man.

Ultimately, like the hucksters, con-men and villains who drive Cybertrucks on TV, there’s the underlying thread that perhaps the truck isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. As Dee admits late in the episode on It’s Always Sunny, “I gotta come clean… I think the truck is ugly.”

Whether you think it’s ugly, or the coolest thing on four wheels, for now, at least, it’s an easy way for writers to let the viewers know: This character sucks.

Tesla did not respond to repeated requests for comment on this article. Representatives for The Righteous Gemstones, It’s Always Sunny, and Jury Duty declined to comment, while nobody on Nobody Wants This wanted to do this.

You can chat with Alex Zalben on BlueSky @azalben.bsky.social, or find him regularly yapping on the Comic Book Club podcast.

There's a new flagship TV that's giving all other premium TVs a run for their money. Last year, Hisense pioneered the first RGB Mini-LED TV with its Hisense 116UX model. Granted it was only available as a massive 116" screen that retailed for about $20,000. But this was the first time an LED TV could actually compete - and in some ways surpass - OLED technology.

In April of 2026, Hisense released its second generation iteration of RB Mini-LED tech, the UR9. It's available in more mainstream sizes (65", 75", 83" and 100") and at prices that consumers can actually afford. Hisense couldn't have timed it better; just recently the company has partnered with Terry Crews to be the official sponsor of the World Cup and - short of being in the stadium - what better way to watch the games than hosting them with friends on a stunning big-screen TV.

The Hisense UR9 RGB Mini-LED TV Gives OLED a Run for Its Money

Lionsgate has tapped Sam Raimi to direct a new adaptation of the 1978 puppet horror movie, Magic, and some of the crew behind Send Help is coming with him.

Deadline reports that the Evil Dead and Spider-Man filmmaker has signed on to reanimate a twisted cult classic for modern audiences after previously being attached only as a producer. Magic, a modern adaptation of William Goldman’s novel of the same name, will reunite Raimi with writers Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, the scribes behind January's popular horror comedy, Send Help.

"Sam is the dream director for this project—in fact, his coming aboard represents one of the truly great matches of director and material," Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said in a statement. "The script is fantastic, and we could not be more excited to see Sam’s direction and creative vision take it to another level. We are absolutely thrilled he has chosen to direct the film."

The original Magic premiered in 1978 and starred Anthony Hopkins as both a ventriloquist named Corky and his lively puppet, Fats. Directed by Richard Attenborough and written by William Goldman, 20th Century Fox sold the original tale as a "terrifying love story" about a doll that becomes eager to flip the script and gain control of its master.

Weapons and It producer Roy Lee is on board Magic as a producer, too, as are Chris Hammond and Tim Sullivan. Raimi Productions' Zainab Azizi, who also previously produced Send Help, is back, as well.

Vertigo's Andrew Childs, Nathan Kahane, and Paul Fishkin are attached as executive producers. Lionsgate's Meredith Wieck and Pavan Kalidindi will oversee the movie. Magic's plot, cast, and release date remain a mystery for now.

"That's right... we are running the Send Help gang back for more," Shannon and Swift said in a joint statement posted to their X account. "MAGIC is happening and Sam is directing. Rejoice horror fans, this is gonna be insane."

While we wait for updates on Magic, you can read about what we thought of Send Help in our 9/10 review.

"Who wants to go to a deserted island and watch Sam Raimi put Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien through hell? Everybody? Great! Send Help is for you," we said upon the film's release earlier this year.

Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images.

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).

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is a Switch 2-exclusive that was released in November of last year. Up until now, the price has stayed fixed at $69.99. Even today, retailers like Amazon, Gamestop, and Nintendo eShop haven't budged. That's not the case for Best Buy, however. Best Buy has dropped the price of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment by 30%, down to $49.99, with free shipping for a physical copy. In fact, if you're a My Best Buy Plus member, you can get it for $39.99, saving up to 43%.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment on Sale at Best Buy

Forza Horizon 6 for PC and Xbox comes out next week (the PS5 edition comes later). This is the perfect excuse for you to finally upgrade from a controller to a bona fide racing wheel. For a limited time, Amazon Resale is offering a used "Like New" Logitech G923 Trueforce Racing Wheel and Pedal Set for PC and Xbox for just $184.79 with free shipping after an extra 20% discount that's automatically applied. It normally retails for $350 new, although it's currently on sale for $280.

Amazon Resale (formerly Warehouse) is Amazon's official account for used goods. The products are sorted by condition, with "Like New" being the best. All Resale items get the same 30-day return policy as buying new.

50% Off Logitech G923 Trueforce Racing Wheel and Pedals Set

In the Grey is in theaters now.

The old adage “the worst thing you can be is boring” is very much underlined with In the Grey, a deathly dull would-be action thriller that feels three times the length of its 97-minute run time.

Though Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal get top billing, the film’s true lead is Eiza González. She plays Rachel Wild, a lawyer whose opening voiceover explains the film’s title in explicit detail, as she talks about how she operates within both legal and illegal and moral and amoral parameters and, yep, outright says she works “in the grey” because that’s just the kind of movie it is.

The film’s paper- thin plot finds Rachel using her skills and the elite team - and bottomless resources and finances - at her disposal to target Salazar (Carlos Bardem), the crime lord who’s stolen a fortune Rachel is tasked with getting back by any means necessary. Her two best agents are Sid (Cavill) and Bronco (Gyllenhaal), who head up the aforementioned illegal side of her operation, using all sorts of tactics to trick, track and hunt those Rachel needs dealt with.

The opening scenes of In the Grey feel very cliche but also don’t stand out as notably bad or unwatchable, as they set the stage for the story, though it does stand out how much González’s voiceover is used to explain how both her job and her larger team works. But as the film continues, it becomes egregious how much the film stays in the same mode it opens in, as it tells, not shows, over and over and over again.

A classic part of a heist or espionage movie is a “this is how our plan will play out” sequence, where we hear how everything is supposed to go for the team’s big operation – often using VO alongside shots of the locations targeted – and get the lay of the land before, inevitably, something goes awry. And those sequences can be super fun and are an appreciated part of the genre. But writer-director Guy Ritchie seems to have the mistaken belief that it would be really fun if a movie was nearly entirely made up of those sorts of sequences, hammering home the technique into monotony.

It is truly maddening how much of this movie is composed of voiceovers from either González or Gyllenhaal explaining what’s going on right now and/or what’s supposed to happen next. It’s not just hand-holding to an extreme degree, it feels lazy and as though Ritchie just didn’t want to figure out any other way to include exposition and simply wasn’t interested in any sort of characterization or personal dynamics, so he skipped as much normal dialogue and character interaction as possible.

Rachel is fierce and shrewd and she’s a shark and… that’s it. There are no other nuances to what we learn about her after what is made quite clear the first few minutes. But that’s better than Sid and Bronco, who are simply there to be generically smart and badass, with zero other layers or reasons to care about them. There is almost nothing in these roles for Cavill and Gyllenhaal to do but glower and yell stock lines about sticking to the plan and getting to the rendezvous point. Given their dueling dullness, it’s curious why these two characters weren’t simply made into one, since there’s so little to make them feel different from one another except that one is British and one is American.

The same goes for their larger team, which includes dudes with names like Baker (Kojo Attah) and Gucci (Jason Wong). Everyone is stoic and super capable, but lacks anything that makes them distinct in personality or skillset. There’s no wit, no charm, and no cool touches for any of these guys.

A film like this usually gets mileage out of how a team of this sort has to improvise and pivot when things go wrong, but this group seem too good and too prepared to ever make things interesting because they really just seem prepared for literally anything. Most of the time, they don’t seem two steps ahead of their enemies, they seem 20 steps ahead, and coupled with them being blank slates, personality-wise, it makes watching them operate boring, no matter how many nameless thugs they shoot or get in car chases with.

Ritchie has had some big highs and lows in his career, and in recent years has been making a lot of movies very quickly that are mostly forgettable. But he’s never made one as dull as In the Grey. It especially stands out that he’s re-teaming with frequent collaborator Cavill here, given these guys have much much livelier – if uneven – films together, like The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

As mentioned, Cavill and Gyllenhaal truly have nothing to work with here, performance-wise, while the naturally likeable González is fine but feels miscast. Though in her mid-30s, she still reads fairly young onscreen in both looks and demeanor, and doesn’t feel like she quite embodies someone meant to be the experienced and dominant leader – her team uses the codename “Mom” for her – as Rachel is intended to be. This is underlined by the presence of Rosamund Pike in a few scenes as a rival of Rachel, given Pike effortlessly exudes the energy Rachel is meant to and feels like she’d be the better casting choice for the role.

Editor's Note: This article is sponsored by Men's Wearhouse.

It's not every day that you need to shop for formal wear, but when it's time, you will likely see incredibly high prices that are a bit hard to swallow. It's getting to be both wedding and spring cleaning season, so if you need a new fit, Men's Wearhouse is a good site to browse. Dress shirts, pants, and suits, especially, are quite expensive in 2026, but thankfully, you can find some great deals right now at retailers like Men's Wearhouse, including 20% off select pairs of items, $129.99 suits, and much more. Check out our picks for the best Men's Wearhouse deals right now, and prepare to be the best dressed this Spring.

Bundle & Save 20% on Shirts, Pants, Jeans, and More

One of the best deals you can get from Men's Wearhouse right now is the 20% bundle. When you purchase two of the same category of item, you can instantly save 20% off. This applies to select dress shirts, button-up shirts, polos, casual pants, jeans, and dress pants. There are some great brands included in this promotion, including Joseph Abboud, Kenneth Cole, Calvin Klein, and more.

If you're already shopping for one new pair of pants, grabbing a second and saving 20% is pretty nice. You can instantly have options for even more outfits, plus save a little cash, too.

Save Big on Casual Wear

Springtime is here, and casual wear is essential for social events and casual weekend get-togethers. There are some solid discounts on casual shirts and polos available, with some dropping as low as $19.99. Now is a great time to pick up a new shirt or two and freshen up the wardrobe before we head into May. Plus, there's also some great discounts on winter casual clothing.

Score A Two-Piece Suit for $129.99

In need of a suit in a hurry, but don't want to spend hundreds of dollars? The $129.99 suit deal is a steal for what you get. These two-piece suits come in a variety of colors, including black, tan, brown, grey, blue, and more. If you have a wedding upcoming or a formal event demanding some professional attire, it's hard to beat this deal.

Score a New Pair of Dress Shoes for $59.99

Dress shoes can sneakily be quite expensive, depending on the style, brand, and material. Thankfully, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a pair, you can score a pair for $59.99 right now. Men's Wearhouse has a variety of brown and black options available, so look no further to take home a solid pair of new shoes for your next formal occasion.

$24.99 Dress Shirts

Lastly, dress shirts are an essential piece of any business casual or formal oufit. In my experience, you can never have too many, as dry cleaning can get expensive fast. I've found some solid options available here for $24.99, so you can pick up a few dress shirts for even less than the price of one shirt, depending on the brand. There are solid and patterned shirts available in white, blue, purple, and more.

Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.

One of the better regarded 3D printers with multi material print capability is priced well under $300. AliExpress is offering the FlashForge AD5X 3D Printer with integrated multi material printing system for just $260.55 after you apply coupon code "JJY30K". Make sure you're signed into your account to see the shipping options (you may have to refresh the page). You're buying it from FlashForge's official store on AliExpress. It ships free locally from the United States and arrives within 1 to 2 weeks. The exact same printer currently sells for $339 on Amazon.

Note: Sign into your account and then refresh the page to see the shipping options.

Flashforge AD5X Multi Material / Multi-Color 3D Printer for $260

The Steam Deck has now been sold out for a few months, and it's not clear if or when Valve is going to get more stock in. While it's possible that at least some of the 'game console' shipments the company has been getting in could be handhelds, it's possible that Valve just waits until its eventual Steam Deck 2 to ship more handhelds, especially with the Steam Machine seemingly around the corner.

That doesn't change the fact that the Steam Deck, even four years after launch, is still one of the best handheld gaming PCs on the market. It's understanable if folks want to pick it up, especially because for a lot of people, 'Steam Deck' is synonymous with 'handheld PC'.

As the Steam Deck has been out of stock, however, the prices have only gone up. Right now, picking up a new Steam Deck on Amazon is going to set you back around $1,110 for the 512GB OLED model, which is exactly double that handheld's list price. You shouldn't pay that much for a Steam Deck, and even if you were willing to spend that much on a handheld, something like the Lenovo Legion Go S or the Xbox Ally X will cost about the same, but with a higher resolution display, better performance, and double the storage.

Even if you're just trying to find something resembling a Steam Deck for around the same price, the Xbox Ally will have about the same level of performance, but with a more comfortable grip. Although, you will have to use Windows 11, but it's at least better now with the Xbox Full Screen Experience. What's wild, is that when it came out, the Xbox Ally was compared unfavorably with the Steam Deck, because at the time, Valve's handheld just delivered a better value. That just goes to show you how much a product shortage can turn the tables.

Alienware prices have skyrocketed in 2026. If you head over to Dell's site to find a deal on an Alienware gaming laptop, you're going to be disappointed. Your best bet is to find one elsewhere. Fortunately, there's a rare opportunity to score a huge discount on Alienware's highest end gaming laptop. Thanks to a new coupon that just launched today, you can pick up a used "Like New" Aienware 18 Area-51 18" RTX 5080 gaming laptop for just $2,644.64 shipped after a 15% discount that's automatically applied during checkout. This nearly matches the best deals I saw back in 2025.

Alienware 18 Area-51 RTX 5080 Laptop for $2,645

While folks may picture a certain gentleman spy these days when they hear IO Interactive, fans of Agent 47 and board games may want to listen to this: Hitman: The Board Game is coming, and its campaign is now live on Gamefound.

IGN had a chance to go hands-on with a preview sample to see whether this cardboard adaptation could capture the thrill of the video games. Grabbing my best red tie and bald cap, I eagerly recruited some fellow assassins, and off we went to see who was the best among us. After the blood settled, it was easy to see that even with this small snippet of what's to come, it’s on the right track to succeed in that mission.

Published by Mood Publishing, the same publishers behind the tabletop adaptations of Deep Rock Galactic, Valheim, and Goat Simulator, Hitman: The Board Game, pits up to four players against one another in a race to see who can take out the target first. Along the way, you'll do your best to secure helpful loot around the map, avoid guards, and don disguises all in an effort to complete that task. Think of it like a sort of Anti-Clue (or Cluedo for my overseas friends) where instead of attempting to be the first to deduce the who, what, and where questions of a murder, you are instead racing to pull off said murder and deciding on those things yourself.

The gameplay itself I found to be pretty straightforward, and the friends I brought by to try it out got the gist of things within a turn or two. Turns are composed of drawing an event card that triggers things like moving the target, staff, and guards, or respawning loot resources on the map, followed by the player taking some actions from a pool of possible ones like moving, putting on a disguise, breaking some noses, or playing helpful Agent cards with their one-time effects, all before ending their turn and the cycle repeats with the next hired killer at the table. By the second go-round, the players at my table, consisting of both Hitman vets and not, had a good grasp on how things ran, and we could all just focus on how best to tackle our target.

The big twist, and a large factor when deciding on your next course, is that actions are categorized as either being legal or illegal. Navigating the common areas, scouting around, and drawing those helpful Agent cards, or even “accidentally” dropping that coin nearby to lure staff around, are all perfectly legal and harmless, raising zero suspicion from the attentive staff and guards nearby. However, the moment you move into someplace you aren’t supposed to be in (or at least aren’t dressed the part for) or perform other more incriminating actions like stripping a body for a disguise, hiding a body, breaking property, etc., then you will start drawing attention, with those being classified as “illegal.”

Weighing your options and picking the right moment to perform these actions, positioning yourself or other nearby NPCs so that you won’t be seen committing anything illegal, makes completing your missions far easier and more manageable. It pays to be a silent assassin, as being hidden and inconspicuous makes it easier to take care of enemies too, when you finally do strike.

Combat, much like the rest of the gameplay, is straightforward, coming down to who has the bigger number: you or the NPC. With the exception of the staff (they are just innocent hardworking folk after all), all the guards and enemies have an associated “Alertness” value that you will need to overcome, with each agent having a base attack value of 1. If you're able to sneak up and attack an enemy without their notice – such as being disguised or not found doing anything illegal – the only thing you have to factor in is this alert value. But if the guards attack you or you're found to be doing something illegal, the guards will draw a card from an equipment deck and add its value to their alertness, making them harder to deal with.

Agents aren’t without options of their own, however, thanks to being able to find weapons themselves or discarding certain Agent Cards to boost your own attack value. Other players can even help you out if they wish, but they can just as easily help out the guards instead. These moments reminded my group of playing Munchkin, but thankfully, these interactions here never felt as mean as they do in that dungeon crawler.

The sample I played only featured a small taste of what will be in the full game, with rules and components that are still all works-in-progress and subject to change, but there was still a surprising amount to check out. In the sample box, we could pick from two contracts and one location to mix-and-match, with the final base game promising eight targets and four locations to build out your contract from.

We had plenty of variety even with the smaller offering, thanks to the different perks and unique rooms that the targets Viktor Novikov and Dalia Margolis have. Taking out Dalia requires you to collect Secret Documents that spawn around the map that can be used to either weaken her or lower her ability to spot you (it’s almost like you’re blackmailing her!), which is good because most of your disguises won’t hide your identity from her gaze.

If you feel like reliving the first level from 2016’s Hitman: Showstopper, then take on Viktor during his gala in Paris. Once again, you'll be able to sneak around the luxurious mansion, but just be sure to avoid Viktor, who is always joined by his powerful bodyguard and will take off at the first sign of danger, meaning setting up traps or staying hidden is your best chance with him.

Mood seems to have a solid understanding of how to capture and adapt those qualities that fans of the video games associate with the Hitman series. Many of Agent 47’s classic tricks are here: knocking out enemies and stealing their outfit to disguise yourself, setting traps like poisoning a drink or dropping chandeliers, and even tossing your trusty coin to distract and lure guards out of the way.

Playing the board game gave me much of the same assassin-y goodness that I look for in the Hitman video games. Thought, preparation, and planning feel genuinely important, but much like the source games, things can turn on a dime, and you have to improvise. That twist might come from an unfortunate pull of the cards or a perfectly timed interrupt card held by another player.

Even if you have no idea who Agent 47 is, Hitman still just feels fun to play. Only one of you can be the series’ bald protagonist anyway. The core of this game is much more about the actual gameplay loop – the planning, preparation, and execution of the… execution (pun intended) – with the Hitman backdrop adding to the ambiance in spectacular fashion.

For all that I enjoy about this preview build, it's not it’s without a few areas I hope get tweaked before the final release. As I’ve mentioned, much of the Hitman experience has been adapted pretty solidly to this bio-degradable format, but I find there to be a disappointing lack of any sort of pre-assassination prep phase, as you get in the video games. I would love to have some sort of system that lets you buy some gear before you begin, to help you plan out your mission ahead of time, while keeping it hidden from the other players to keep things extra exciting.

Secondly, considering all of the assassins are masters of their craft, I would like to see some of that come through in their gameplay, as currently the only thing that sets them apart is the art on their standees. There is an optional rule module that you can add on, Opportunity cards, that can provide your character special boons like being able to use tools to improve the damage you deal. But these are randomly drawn at the start of the game, and the possible pool is similar to the event cards, either general or location-based options. Even giving each assassin a small set of unique cards to add into the mix could help.

I also wouldn’t mind more player interaction during the game. The interrupt cards are fun and all, but it feels a bit off that you can’t interact more directly with other players when you’re in a space with them. It would be neat to have the ability to steal an item, or try to knock them out to take their disguise. Or heck, let me get into a larger joint distraction to pull more guards' attention to help other players get away, should there be a co-operative or team game mode. There’s some potential there.

Hitman: The Board Game, even in this early state with its "work in progress" components and rules still in flux, has gotten me excited to see what the full breadth of content will look like when it starts delivering next year. Just the base game alone, with its four locations and eight targets, you would have over 1,500 variations, to say nothing of the randomized room locations.

Already, the success of the Gamefound campaign has unlocked additional cards, as well as a new optional mechanic in the form of Personal Restriction cards that both give you a benefit and a handicap, such as no longer being able to hide bodies, but certain units won’t be able to see through your disguises anymore. And for folks who want even more, expansions adding the Berlin location and three more targets to throw into the mix are on offer too, really kicking up the number of options you have to pick from when the game delivers next year. In the meantime, start brushing up on those sneaking skills, agent, you have people to kill.

Hitman: The Board Game’s campaign is currently live over on Gamefound with a planned delivery date of next year.

Scott White is a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with tabletop games and guide coverage. Follow him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.

Sony has seemingly started testing a new PlayStation 5 feature that allows users to see player counts for games like Call of Duty, Battlefield 6, Minecraft, and more.

Rumors that the company could soon roll out a new approach to player data began today after YouTuber Mystic shared footage of a new widget with two tracking options: one for trending titles and one for top 10 games. The former seems to track surges in gameplay hours for specific titles, while the latter shows how many players some games had in the last week.

Digital storefronts like Steam have been relatively transparent when it comes to player data — some games have even offered live player counts — but a concept like this would mark a significant change for PlayStation, specifically. As the feature is seemingly part of a beta test, it's unclear if it will materialize into an official feature for all PS5 users in the future or fizzle out, never to be heard from again.

It's the player count tracker that has fans stirring on social media, as these numbers could, theoretically, offer an idea of how popular some PS5 titles are each week. You can see games shared in the list, as well as the number of players they are said to have attracted in the last week, below:

• Apex Legends - 1.72 million
• Battlefield 6 - 1.51 million
• Arc Raiders - 972,000
• Fortnite - 14.6 million
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 – 4.95 million
• Grand Theft Auto 5 – 5.13 million
• Minecraft – 4.97 million
• Marvel Rivals – 1.58 million

There is, of course, much to consider before anyone should use these numbers to measure success. For starters, if Sony does intend to widely launch a PS5 player count widget, there's a decent chance the version of it we see here is nothing like the finished product. The exact source of the above numbers also remains unclear, so while it makes sense to see games like Minecraft and Fortnite charting high, it's hard to say just how accurate these player counts are.

Meanwhile, Sony doesn't seem to spell out exactly how the numbers are gathered, assuming they're even accurate. Details — such as how much time each of these players logged, when exactly they played, or when each week begins measuring engagement — are not currently available.

IGN has reached out to Sony for comment.

Should Sony move forward with bringing PS5 player counts to the public, it will do so nearly six years after its fifth home console originally launched. That said, it's hard to say just how late into the device's lifespan we currently are, as the PlayStation-maker recently stated that it still hasn't determined when the release date for PlayStation 6 will land.

For more Sony news, you can check out what the company had to say following rumors that it would soon enforce a new DRM policy.

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).