Paramount Pictures and Activision have confirmed the upcoming Call of Duty movie will take place in its long-running Modern Warfare universe.

The crew behind the upcoming video game-to-movie adaptation revealed the update as part of a Call of Duty in Culture Panel at Fanatics Fest in New York City today (via Variety). Call of Duty movie director and co-writer Peter Berg made an appearance at the event to share the news.

Berg and co-writer Taylor Sheridan's choice to set their Call of Duty movie in the Modern Warfare universe may come as much of a surprise for some fans, but it might finally give us some clues about its yet-to-be-detailed plot. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was the first in Activision's first-person shooter series to introduce players to a, well, more modern take on the franchise when it launched in 2007. As it left behind the mid-1900s battlefields established by previous games, it also brought along new characters, such as Soap, Ghost, Captain Price, and series villain Vladimir Makarov.

On the gaming side of things, Modern Warfare has spent the last two decades attempting to reinvent itself across six mainline entries, and even a few remasters. The first three games, which arrived throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s, primarily followed Task Force 141 as they embarked on globe-trotting missions, while gaining (and losing) teammates along the way.

Activision and developer Infinity Ward took a break from the somewhat more grounded settings of Modern Warfare through the mid-2010s before delivering a full-fledged reboot with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in 2019. It's expanded on this chapter with returning characters and new stories, with its next entry, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, set to launch for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S October 23, 2026.

Why Paramount and Activision opted to kick off its Call of Duty film ambitions with Modern Warfare instead of something like the Black Ops series, which recently celebrated the release of PlayStation ports for Black Ops 1 and 2, is unclear. Berg also neglected to mention whether his adaptation will retread events players may remember from the games or carve out its own corner of the universe.

The Call of Duty movie has a release date of June 30, 2028. Its plot and cast remain a mystery, for now. While we wait for udpates, you can see what Berg once said about people who play video games.

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).

Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM has announced layoffs affecting up to 32 staff just two months after launching Zero Parades: For Dead Spies.

The UK-based studio published a statement regarding the changes on its X/Twitter account. It says that, despite releasing its latest game in May to "critical acclaim, its commercial performance has not enabled us to sustain a studio of our current size."

"We have served redundancy or at-risk notices impacting up to 32 of our colleagues across all departments at ZA/UM Studio," the message said. "Their work has made a lasting difference and left its mark on Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, and the studio as a whole."

pic.twitter.com/h1JqIYywR5

— ZA/UM Studio (@studiozaum) July 17, 2026

ZA/UM said it will continue to "consult and work with" members of its Workers' Alliance union throughout the "difficult process." The message added that the layoffs will change "the shape of ZA/UM, but not its purpose."

"Our artistic standards remain unchanged: we will persist," it continued. "To anyone currently hiring, please consider the colleagues leaving ZA/UM.

The 2020s have been rough for ZA/UM. Trouble truly began in early October 2022, when multiple key developers – including writer and designer Robert Kurvitz, writer Helen Hindpere, and art and design lead Aleksander Rostov – were said to have left the studio involuntarily. Just weeks later, it was revealed that Kurvitz had launched a lawsuit against the company, with both he and Rostov alleging Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel of Tütreke OÜ had obtained control of ZA/UM "by fraud." ZA/UM denied these claims while launching their own accusations in a statement sent to Gamesindustry.biz.

As things unwound behind the scenes, a series of spinoff studios made up of former ZA/UM developers have emerged. Dark Math Games and Longdue Games announced their projects, XXX Nightshift and Hopetown, in October 2024, with Summer Eternal revealing itself shortly after.

With years of controversy under its belt, today's layoffs aren't ZA/UM's first. In 2024, it was reported that around 24 employees had been impacted by layoffs. The same update brought word that a standalone Disco Elysium expansion had been canceled.

Disco Elysium won ZA/UM multiple categories at The Game Awards 2019 and earned a 9.6/10 review from IGN at the time of its launch. While Zero Parades: For Dead Spies didn't seem to live up to the high bar set by its predecessor, it still boasts an 83 from critics on Metacritic following its May 21, 2026, launch for PC and PS5. For more on ZA/UM, you can read IGN's breakdown for the full wild story behind what's happened at the studio.

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).

UPDATE July 18, 2026, 1:36 p.m. PT: Jennifer English has issued a statement following the news that she is stepping away from her role as Gwendolyn in Eclipse Glow Games' Tides of Annihilation.

The actress shared her thoughts on the matter with a statement published on her personal Instagram story (and shared on X/Twitter by Genki). As previously announced by the developer, English says she stepped away from the game due to health concerns, calling the move a "difficult – yet personally necessary – decision."

ORIGINAL STORY: English actress Jennifer English is stepping away from her role as the protagonist in Eclipse Glow Games’ Tides of Annihilation due to health issues.

The developer announced the news on July 17, 2026, just over a year after the title was first revealed at Sony’s February 2025 State of Play.

As told in a statement on the game’s official X account, English will no longer voice its main character, Gwendolyn, due to “personal health reasons.” She will, however, continue to support the title in an advisory role.

English informed Eclipse Glow Games that she would not be able to continue in the role in early June.

“While we were, of course, saddened by her decision, we completely understood and respected Jennfier in prioritizing her well-being. We are also deeply grateful for the care and responsibility she showed throughout this process,” the studio wrote.

“During this transition, Jennifer remained incredibly supportive and, together with other members of our voice cast, helped us identify and connect with talented performers who could carry Gwendolyn forward while staying true to the character.”

Luckily, a new voice for Gwendolyn has been found, with English and other members of the game’s cast recommending this as-yet unannounced actor. Eclipse Glow Games says her recent work in the industry “left a strong impression on both Jennifer and our team—not only for the performance itself, but for the remarkable care and dedication she showed in understanding the character.”

We have some sad news to share, that Jennifer English will be stepping away from her role as the English voice of Gwendolyn, the main protagonist in Tides of Annihilation due to personal health reasons. She will continue to support the project in an advisory role.

Earlier in…

— Tides of Annihilation (@play_toa) July 18, 2026

Fans will get to hear the new actor for the first time in Tides of Annihilation’s playable demo this August at Gamescom 2026, a performance that she is now recording. Her voice will also be lent to “select official updates” shared on the game’s official channels around that same time.

“We'd also like to thank Jennifer for everything she brought to the character and to the project. Her performance brought depth, strength, vulnerability, and heart to the role. We have truly enjoyed this journey together, and wish Jennifer all the very best, and most importantly, good health and happiness in whatever comes next,” the studio wrote.

Tides of Annihilation is a narrative-driven, single-player action adventure game that combines “intense, breakneck combat, an immersive narrative, and an unforgettable setting.” That setting is a modern-day London plunged into chaos by magical forces inspired by Arthurian legends, which Gwendolyn must defeat with help from "spectral" versions of the Knights of the Round Table.

Eclipse Glow Games, based out of Chengdu, China, has pushed out several trailers for the game ahead of its playable demo at Gamescom 2026, showing off cinematics, boss fights, and even technical behind-the-scenes development footage. Its release date has yet to be revealed, but in the meantime, you can check out our guide for all the games you can expect to see at Gamescom 2026.

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.

LEGO's epic Dungeon & Dragons: Red Dragon's Tale set may not officially retire until July 31, but you'd be hard pressed to find in stock anywhere. All major retailers that carry LEGO sets, like Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy, are out of stock. Even If you wanted to buy directly through LEGO's site, you'd be met with the dreaded "sold out" text. Still, if stock does miraculously become available at any of these retailers (sticker price is $359.99) or you're lucky enough to find one secondhand, you're in for a real treat.

LEGO Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon's Tale Stock Update

Path of Titans players are going viral for their touching in-game tribute to Sam Neill after news of the actor’s death wracked the Jurassic Park community.

Sam Neill died on July 13, 2026 in Sydney, Australia. The prolific actor was 78, leaving behind a legacy that included a swath of beloved roles in films and series like Peaky Blinders, The Piano, and of course, Steven Spielberg's original Jurassic Park.

Neill famously portrayed Dr. Alan Grant in three Jurassic Park movies, including Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World Dominion. It was perhaps his most famous role, and one that left a glaring hole in the franchise’s fanbase.

A large group of these fans gathered together on Jurassic Park MMO Path of Titans to pay their respects to Neill, choosing to avoid battling other players in favor of a peaceful parade in his honor.

As spotted by Dexerto, TikTok user ‘DizzyBlues’ uploaded footage of the memorial on July 14, showing player-controlled dinos migrating across the landscape while a piano version of the Jurassic Park theme played in the background. The short clip has gone viral, racking up over 155,000 likes and over 744,000 views in just three days.

“Yesterday was a very sad day indeed for millions of us around the world in learning that Sam Neill had passed away,” DizzyBlues wrote in the video’s caption. “And so, the EchoedArk community came together for a peaceful migration in honor of The Dinosaur Man.”

Fans were quick to praise the players on the EchoedArk server for their sweet tribute to Neill, with one remarking: “Gaming communities can suck sometimes, but moments like this, Sam Neill and Lance Reddick, really prove how truly great they can be.”

As the commenter mentioned, this is far from the first time players have gathered together to pay their respects to entertainment legends; in March 2023, Destiny 2 players flocked to the Tower to see Commander Zavala following Reddick’s death a day prior.

And in August 2021, Final Fantasy 14 players honored Berserk creator Kentaro Miura by dressing in the MMO’s Dark Knight gear to better resemble Guts and his Dragon Slayer sword.

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.

Insomniac Games attempted to drum up excitement when it published a new cinematic trailer for Marvel's Wolverine yesterday, but it soon became flooded with negative comments from fans who haven't forgiven Sony after it announced plans to cease production of physical discs for PlayStation games.

The "Ain't No Hero" trailer has amassed more than 1 million views on YouTube and nearly 5,000 comments since its debut. Despite coming with a first look at Lady Deathstrike and a tease for a team-up between Logan and Sabretooth, viewers are mostly using the opportunity to take their frustrations out on just about anything the Sony gaming branch publishes.

As spotted by Eurogamer, many of the comments on its YouTube page both directly and indirectly reference the company's decision to do away with physical discs for games starting in 2028. The comment section of the video site has long served as a reliable place for fans to voice their frustrations, but in this case, it's been especially noticeable.

"At least I get to have a physical copy of this game," one popular comment said in reference to confirmation of a physical version for Marvel's Wolverine.

"Play has limits," another player responded, referencing the "Play Has No Limits" tagline for PS5.

"People are mad about our physical disc decision, quick, release the new Wolverine trailer!" someone else joked.

For comparison, revisiting the "Be Greater. Together." cinematic trailer for Marvel's Spider-Man 2 – as well as the cinematic trailer for the first Spider-Man game – shows that fans had an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the video. Wolverine hasn't been so lucky. Some fans have also started to give the game a hard time over on X/Twitter.

Cool trailer. But don't forget Sony pic.twitter.com/q85dkHrJNy

— Pigeon (@PigeonGoGaming) July 16, 2026

You aint no hero either. Unless you can convince your overlords to reverse decision on physical media. We know Wolverine is on disc but its gonna be one of the last of its kind. And your last game that will have any success if you stick with Sony if there is no change. pic.twitter.com/AYKEVjQMV5

— Krishius💿 (@Krishius87) July 16, 2026

Hopefully this won't be the last game I buy that you've made. I personally won't be supported an all digital PlayStation, not with the current state of things, lack of consumer rights / ownership and horrible PlayStation Store refund policies and security!

💿 NO DISC? NO MONEY! pic.twitter.com/rmnUNIsJIt

— 💿 Tech In Stock UK 🇬🇧 Restock + Deal Updates (@TechInStockUK) July 16, 2026

Marvel's Wolverine is slated to launch as a PS5 exclusive September 15, 2026. With disc production set to come to an end in January 2028, its release date means Insomniac's latest superhero game will be one of the last first-party titles to get a physical release.

At least some of the hype surrounding its release has been dampened in recent weeks as players look to any outlet where they can let Sony know they don't approve of its decision to leave physical game collectors behind. The trend has seen fans even waiting to go after the company when it took a brief social media break a few weeks ago.

For more, you can read about some of the other games that have wound up caught in the backlash. You can also learn why one retailer chose to speak out, even if Sony is unlikely to budge.

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 Red Bull athlete has broken a world record while recreating the iconic "Leap of Faith" from Assassin’s Creed.

Professional freerunner, stuntwoman, and Red Bull athlete Lilou Ruel jumped a feet-tingling 18.2 meters into a huge stack of hay, breaking the world record for highest haystack jump.

For reference, that’s about as tall as a six-story building, so we can understand why Ruel started screaming as she got close to the ground in Red Bull’s viral video capturing the moment.

Luckily, she landed in the hay unharmed, warranting an excited celebration from her friends for successfully completing the heart-stopping stunt.

"Thank you, Red Bull, for giving me wings for a few seconds," she joked on Instagram. "I do think we can go way higher, should we try?"

This isn’t the first time a Red Bull athlete has broken the world record for the highest Leap of Faith; in May 2026, Dominic Tommasso fell 18.1 meters into a haystack while dressed as Edward Kenway from Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resycned in celebration of the title’s release.

Black Flag Resynced has enjoyed a stellar launch, selling a jaw-dropping 2 million copies in just 24 hours. A week later, it has now surpassed 3 million copies sold, with Ubisoft announcing new game plus is on the way.

In fact, Black Flag managed to rake in $1 million from its day-one DLC on Steam alone, earning the series’ biggest playerstreak on the PC gaming platform in Assassin’s Creed history.

Despite this success, Black Flag’s release hasn’t come without controversy, as Ubisoft notably announced plans to lay off 380 staff members in June. This included 51 employees who contributed to the game’s diving sections at Ubisoft’s Barcelona office, who are now campaigning for fair severance pay, arguing that what they were given was "below any reasonable standard.”

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.

Ubisoft has confirmed plans to bring New Game Plus to Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced as its remake crosses 3 million copies sold.

The update puts the sales up 1 million copies one week after announcing it had managed to reach 2 million copies sold in just 24 hours. It's yet another sign that Ubisoft is happy with its July 9 launch for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S, even after laying off some members of the development team just days later.

As mentioned in IGN's previous coverage, Ubisoft has typically only shares player numbers – not sales – when new Assassin's Creed games arrive. That's suddenly changed for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, suggesting the publisher is pleased as punch by how things have gone thus far. Whether it will continue to be so forthcoming about these figures remains to be seen.

Yo Ho Ho! More than 3 million copies sold across the seas... 🏴‍☠️

Special thanks to all of you for playing and sharing tall tales about your Caribbean adventures.
Guess we'll have to keep the adventures going with New Game+ later on, mates. 👀#AssassinsCreed pic.twitter.com/xhlAhBojxP

— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) July 17, 2026

Meanwhile, Ubisoft celebrated the 3 million milestone by confirming a New Game Plus mode is on the way. It said the team's work on post-launch support, including things like quality-of-life updates and bug fixes, has helped it maintain a "Very Positive" rating from English reviews on Steam (note: reviews in all languages are currently "Mostly Positive"). Details about New Game Plus were not shared, but the mode is promised to "further enhance replayability."

Game director Richard Knight had also teased the mode was in development during a conversation with YouTuber JorRaptor earlier this week (via GamesRadar). Although he was unable to share specifically how Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced New Game Plus would operate, he explained that its existence in 2025's Assassin's Creed Shadows helped set the stage.

"Well, this is the one thing I can say: Yes, we're working on that right now," Knight said. "For sure. It's one of the first things. Partly because Shadows has already built their version, so it's considered a low-risk feature for us. We're still doing the work, so I can't promise exactly a day or anything, but we're definitely working on this one. It's just such a natural thing."

Regarding a potential release date, he said, "I really can't promise anything. It's at the top of the list of things. There's a lot of things – some are harder than others – but it's something we definitely want to get done."

IGN gave Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced a 9/10. In our review, we said, "More than just a shinier version of the same game you remember, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced brings what was already one of the best games in the series up to today’s standards."

For more, you can read about the backlash to its microtransactions, which still reportedly earned $1 million on Steam after a few days. You can also check out what Knight had to say regarding the lack of blade combat in the remake.

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 Disney store in London has nope’d out of selling the latest Lorcana drop after a massive swarm of fans lined up for blocks outside the building, with some even getting “aggressive” toward other players.

The newest Lorcana drop is kind of a big deal. The Curator’s Collection: Heroines Edition features some of the brand’s most famous faces, including Ariel, Anna, Elsa, Jasmine, Mulan, and more.

Understandably, this makes it one of the more popular card drops in the series — but a Disney store on Oxford Street, London was unprepared for exactly how popular the collection would be.

UK fans took to social media with photos of the scene, showing throngs of players lined up for at least four blocks outside the location nearly 12 hours before doors opened on July 17. And on launch day, things got even more hectic.

As told by user DazRollsDice on X, “scalpers and gangs” in attendance exhibited “violent, aggressive behavior,” saying they were “taking over the queue and pushing to the front” of the store.

As a result, the Disney Oxford store formally canceled the event, even deciding to keep the location closed “until further notice.”

Wow. I have no words! #Lorcana London Oxford St launch cancelled due to violent, aggressive behaviour with scalpers & gangs taking over the queue & pushing to the front of the Disney Store. Sad day for the hobby.

Things must change @RavensburgerUK @RavensburgerNA pic.twitter.com/9bl5JczLZz

— DazRollsDice (@dazrollsdice) July 17, 2026

In a statement posted to its official X account, the location promised to share more information on how guests can purchase the collection “as soon as possible,” thanking fans for their “patience and understanding.”

Oxford Street isn’t the only Disney store suffering from a massive influx of collectors hoping to get their hands on the card set; Downtown Disneyland in California is similarly drowning in lines of fans crowded throughout the theme park, as shown in footage shared online by fans.

Even Disneyland Paris isn’t exempt from the fervor, with videos showing scalpers sprinting through the park to snag a set.

#disney #lorcana #scalpers @DisneylandParis 🤬 pic.twitter.com/wxn4m1BHuO

— Shinto (@Farenti35845405) July 17, 2026

Thus far, Disney itself has not issued a statement addressing the issue, leaving players distraught. If it’s any comfort, Lorcana is far from the only TCG suffering from a scalper epidemic; One Piece fans and Pokemon players are also hard up dealing with scalpers tilting the market, with some even reselling Pokemon-themed Pop Tarts for upwards of $25 online.

Luckily, some companies are taking a stand against resellers, with Japanese company Bic Camera’s Tokyo branch knowledge-chacking would-be buyers with a quiz before they can purchase a Pokemon TCG card pack.

(Image credit: X.com: @dazrollsdice)

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.

UPDATE July 18, 2026, 8:07 a.m. PT: Bungie has issued a statement following the departure of now-former Marathon game director Joseph Ziegler.

The studio took to its development team X/Twitter account to share a few words about the project lead's departure and what it means for its sci-fi extraction shooter going forward. It began by thanking him for his work, while reassuring fans that Marathon will continue to grow.

"Trust comes from being consistent - both in how we communicate and in whether players can actually feel the improvements we’re talking about.

"We plan to maintain transparency through Marathon Dev Team accounts, and our goal is to keep the conversation flowing. Our next stop is the Mid-Season 2 update and Vault Breaker event early next week, but beyond that, we have a lot to talk about for Season 3 and the future of Marathon."

Bungie promised to share more updates soon. In the meantime, you can see its full statement below.

Hey all,

We can't thank Joe enough for his leadership and contributions over the years. We've seen some questions about how things will go during this transition, and we wanted to call back to a post we made earlier this week:
Trust comes from being consistent - both in how we…

— Marathon Development Team (@MarathonDevTeam) July 17, 2026

ORIGINAL STORY: Marathon game director Joseph Ziegler has announced he is leaving Bungie.

The project lead, who has been with the company since December 2022, published a statement regarding his departure on X/Twitter. Ziegler said that today, July 17, 2026, is his last day overseeing Sony's extraction shooter, with assistant game director Del Chafe III, who will "guide the game forward alongside creative director Julia Nardin," stepping in as his replacement.

"Both of them have been operating in a strong leadership capacity for the team and are ready to guide Marathon into the next chapter with an even better and brighter future," he said. "I'm proud of them and I'm excited to see them helm the future of this crazy little world we've created together."

Zielger did not explain the reasoning for his decision but promised he's heading "to something new, somewhere else," promising to reveal more "soon." It's unknown how this may affect Marathon development as it continues through Season 2 and closer to the launch of Season 3 this September.

"I just want to say a deeply heartfelt thank you to all of you for supporting me and Marathon in our windy mission to bring a dark and terrifying space survival frontier to your screen," Zielger added. "The mission will continue in new and surprising ways so stay tuned for what this team has in store for you! It's been a pleasure seeing all the stories you've created, all the clever ways you've found ways to murder robots and one another.

"Hopefully as I move onto new things, you'll join me for those adventures as well. Much love to the Marathon community and to all my friends and colleagues at Bungie. May we cross paths again. Keep it weird, keep it real <3."

Despite a group of dedicated fans sticking with Marathon since its March 2026 launch, it's been a rough few months for the game. In May, Sony reported a $765 million impairment loss tied to Bungie's underperformance. Even as the studio has teased big ideas for the future and plans for story content for "the next few years," many online were quick to write off the extraction shooter, partially due to its proximity to the announcement that Destiny 2 support had come to an end.

Sony announced "significant" layoffs for Bungie last month, saying at the time that the cuts impacted "most of the Destiny team and some Marathon team members." It was a move that reportedly affected nearly 300 staff at its Bellevue, Washington location alone. Last week, Sony settled a lawsuit with former Marathon game director Christopher Barrett, who was fired following accusations of sexual misconduct.

IGN called Marathon "Amazing" in our 9/10 review. For more while we wait to see what its future holds, you can see why one former Destiny community manager is pushing Bungie fans to support the sci-fi shooter.

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).

Stardew Valley is coming to Magic the Gathering, with three Secret Lair drops inbound later this month.

Announced at MagicCon: Amsterdam on July 17, this Superdrop includes three drops bringing the wolrd of the Ferngill Republic to the iconic trading card game.

Affectionately dubbed ‘The Superdrop of the Moonlight Jellies,’ this cozy collab arrives on July 27, 2026, at 9am PT on the Secret Lair website. Non-foil editions Secret Lair x Stardew Valley are set to drop at WPN game stores at a later date.

Wizards of the Coast featured two of these collaborative cards ahead of the drop in an official blog post. The first is ‘Stardew Valley,’ a land card boasting artwork from the game’s creator himself, ConcernedApe.

In keeping with the farm sim’s gameplay, this card allows you to tap a creature you control, create a food token, choose a target permanent under your control, and give another player control of that permanent. It’s a lovely tribute to Stardew’s gift-giving system and an excellent way to forge bonds across the table.

Additionally, select bundles will include ‘Puca's Mischief,’ a Lucky Purple Memento foil card that allows you to exchange a nonland permanent with another player, so long as it’s of equal or lesser mana value.

Wizards of the Coast included preview of all cards included in the Superdrop, as well as all available bundles:

Grandpa Would Be Proud Everything Bundle

• 1x Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: Welcome to Stardew Valley
• 1x Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: Life in Pelican Town
• 1x Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: A Flicker in the Deep
• 1x Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: Welcome to Stardew Valley Foil Edition
• 1x Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: Life in Pelican Town Foil Edition
• 1x Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: A Flicker in the Deep Foil Edition
• Price: $219.99 USD

Prismatic Shard Foil Bundle

• 1x Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: Welcome to Stardew Valley Foil Edition
• 1x Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: Life in Pelican Town Foil Edition
• 1x Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: A Flicker in the Deep Foil Edition
• Price: $129.97 USD

Traveling Cart Non-Foil Bundle

• 1x Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: Welcome to Stardew Valley
• 1x Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: Life in Pelican Town
• 1x Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: A Flicker in the Deep
• Price: $99.97 USD

Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: Welcome to Stardew Valley

• 1x Stardew Valley
• 1x Wedding Ring as "Mermaid's Pendant"
• 1x Dawn's Truce as "Pierre's Truce"
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Rites of Flourishing
• 1x Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis as "The Welcoming Committee"
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Food Token
  • Price:
    • Non-foil: $39.99 USD
    • Foil: $49.99 USD

Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: Life in Pelican Town

• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Fountainport as "Community Center"
• 1x Homeward Path as "Pelican Town"
• 1x Command Tower as "Tower of Rasmodius"
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth as "Valley Farmstead"
  • Price:
    • Non-foil: $29.99 USD
    • Foil: $39.99 USD

Secret Lair x Stardew Valley: A Flicker in the Deep

• 1x Atsushi, the Blazing Sky as "Royal Serpent"
• 1x Mitotic Slime as "Big Slime"
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Sword of Forge and Frontier as "Galaxy Sword"
• 1x Treasure Vault
• 1x Ooze Token
• 1x Treasure Token
  • Price:
    • Non-foil: $29.99 USD
    • Foil: $39.99 USD

This makes Stardew Valley the latest non-Magic property to join the franchise. For more, keep an eye on our hub of every Universe Beyond set as Magic's collaborations with other IPs and brands continues to grow.

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.

As if there was ever any doubt, Bethesda director Todd Howard has once again confirmed Fallout 5 is coming… eventually.

Following widespread layoffs at Xbox earlier this month, Bethesda Game Studios has published a studio roadmap featuring its plans for the near and far-off future. Part of its letter included confirmation that a fifth mainline entry in its massively popular post-apocalyptic RPG series has officially entered pre-production, but what that means for Vault Dwellers everywhere remains to be seen.

What is Fallout 5 about? Where does it take place? How will it connect to other games in the franchise? How much will it cost? Will it come to PlayStation? And when is its release date? These questions (and many more) have filled fans' minds since Fallout 4 launched in 2015. Do we really know the answer to any of them? No, but Howard has still spent the last decade promising that Bethesda has big plans in store for what's next.

Fallout 5 Is Officially Announced and Being Worked On

Howard first spoke about Fallout 5 back in 2021, meaning one of the first official mentions of the game arrived six years after Fallout 4 and three years after multiplayer spinoff Fallout 76. At the time, he told IGN that there was a very surface-level plan for the series' future.

"I don't see... Look, Fallout's really part of our DNA here," he said at the time. "We've worked with other people from time to time – I can't say what's gonna happen. You know, we have a one-pager on Fallout 5, what we want to do."

He added, "Again, if I could wave my hand and have [Fallout 5] out – you know, I'd like to find a way to accelerate what we do, but I can't really say today or commit to anything, [like] what's going to happen when."

Todd Howard Says Fallout 5 Will Arrive After The Elder Scrolls 6

Players had long believed a fifth Fallout game would eventually arrive, but a statement from Howard in June 2022 made it clear the wait would be longer than what was expected by some of Bethesda's most skeptical fans. He told IGN the plan was to see Fallout 5 arrive after The Elder Scrolls 6, which, at the time of this story's publication in July 2026, still seems to be years from launch.

"Yes, Elder Scrolls 6 is in pre-production and, you know, we’re going to be doing Fallout 5 after that, so our slate’s pretty full going forward for a while," he said at the time, still one year out from the launch of Starfield. "We have some other projects that we look at from time to time as well."

The Fallout Show Crew Knows 'All About' Fallout 5

One thing keeping Fallout fans happy in-between installments is the Fallout show on Prime Video. Ahead of the premiere of Season 1 in 2024, executive producer Jonathan Nolan went as far as to tell Den of Geek that the crew "know all about Fallout 5" and that they're "not telling anyone."

It's hard to say just how much of Fallout 5 had come together by this point, but Howard said he made sure the crew steered clear of any unwanted crossovers.

"Well, there were some things where I said, ‘Don’t do this because we are going to do that in Fallout 5,'" Howard said. "But I think the intent when you see that, it's how we approached it. I think it's one of the things that's unique about this sort of genre translation of something – whether it's a game or a comic or some other book – is that it wasn't a translation of an existing story; it was, 'What would the next thing be?' It just happens to be a TV show, and that was the approach to it."

Don't Expect Fallout 5 to Leave the U.S.

Fallout 3 brought Vault Dwellers to the Capital Wasteland of Washington, D.C., Fallout 4 traveled to Boston's Commonwealth, and Fallout 5 will (probably) take players somewhere else in the United States. That's according to Howard, who told Kinda Funny in April 2024 that Bethesda plans to "predominantly" keep the series from leaving too far outside of its comfort zone.

"My view is part of the Fallout schtick is on the Americana naivete and part of that," Howard said. "And so, for us right now, it’s OK to acknowledge some of those other areas. But our plan is to predominantly keep it in the U.S."

He continued: "I also like in any sort of world, I don’t feel the need to answer. It’s OK to leave mystery or questions: what is happening here? What is happening here? I think those are good things. In Elder Scrolls everybody wants to go to these other, mysterious lands. The worst thing you could do to mysterious lands is remove the mysteriousness. Keep mysterious lands mysterious!"

Todd Howard Doesn't Want to Rush Fallout 5

So, the Fallout show was a success – but now what? In June 2024, Howard told content creator MrMattyPlays that Bethesda isn't interested in "rushing" its games just because millions of fans showed up to watch the first season of the TV series.

"For other Fallout games in the future, you know, obviously I can’t talk about those right now, but I would say, sort of rushing through them, or we kind of need to get stuff out that is different than the work we’re doing in 76… we don’t feel like we need to rush any of that," he said. "The Fallout TV show fills a certain niche in terms of the franchise and storytelling."

He continued, saying that he totally gets "the desire for a new kind of mainline single-player game" in the franchise. The reality, according to him, however, is that "those things take time."

"I don’t think it’s bad for people to miss things," Howard added. "We just want to get it right and make sure that everything we’re doing in a franchise, whether it’s Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or now Starfield, that those become meaningful moments for everybody who loved these franchises as much as we do."

Todd Howard to Desperate Fallout Fans: 'Just Know We Are Working on Even More'

Fallout Day 2025 came and went without any Fallout 5 news last October, but Howard told disappointed fans that there is still plenty to look forward to. While what that means for Fallout 5 is hard to say, fans can at least rest easy knowing the Bethesda lead is reading all of your comments. Yes, those ones, too.

"Even though I am recording this — it’s not live — and I’m probably watching myself right now from my desk and I’m reading your chat and these… that thing you want and this other thing you want… Hey, we read it all," Howard said. "Just know we are working on even more. We are looking forward to the day when we can share that with everybody."

Will Characters from the Fallout Show be in Fallout 5? Maybe!

As Fallout Season 2 scavenged its way onto Prime Video late last year, Howard took the opportunity to remind fans that the show still very much exists within franchise canon. Speaking to BBC, he said that Bethesda is taking the events of the live-action project "into account" as it chips away on its next big entry.

"In short, yes," Howard said when asked if the Fallout show will impact the game. "Fallout 5 will be existing in a world where the stories and events of the show happened or are happening. We are taking that into account."

Fallout 5 Is Officially in Preproduction

Today's Fallout 5 news might have delivered the most substantial update we've seen so far. In Bethesda's letter, the team revealed that the next game is "currently in preproduction." When it actually entered this early stage is unclear, but the good news is that means development is moving steadily ahead, even if players will be waiting for a very, very long time to actually get their hands on it.

The message also reminded fans that The Elder Scrolls 6 remains Bethesda's "primary development focus," with the "majority" of the studio still focused on its wildly popular fantasy series. It also said Fallout 5 remains its "long-range destination," suggesting that, even five years after publicly teasing that "one-pager," Howard doesn't intend to share a release date – or even a window – any time soon.

The letter also confirmed Fallout 5 is being developed on its in-house Creation Engine 3. The note said it "allows our teams to support multiple projects simultaneously with new tools, rendering, and systems that define our games."

Things are still clearly in the early stages, however, with Howard recently telling Windows Central that it was too soon to comment on whether Fallout 5 would be Xbox exclusive or not. The same interview saw him dismiss the "fan chatter" regarding the rivalry between Bethesda and Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment.

It feels like we know both a lot about Fallout 5 and nothing at all. Hopefully that changes sooner rather than later. Just before Xbox slammed its teams with layoffs a few weeks back, a report stated that CEO Asha Sharma had called on its studios to speed up development on key franchises, such as The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Post-layoff messaging from Bethesda boss Jill Braff promised the studio would focus on its "strongest franchises," too.

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).

Monster tamer and open-world survival crafting game Palworld became a phenomenon when it released in early access in 2024. It introduced us to a world populated by creatures called Pals and has amassed more than 35 million players around the world. Now it’s releasing a new card game from Bushiroad on July 30, and its first Booster Pack, Dawn of Palpagos, has sold more than 3.5 million packs worldwide. Palworld seems primed to take the world by storm again, so we thought we’d get you up to speed on the card game as we build up to release.

It’s for two players, and you need to use a combination of Pals, gear, events, and structures to take down your opponent. To get started, you just need a main deck of 50 cards and a soul deck of 10 cards. There really isn’t much setup, you just shuffle your two decks, place them on the table, and begin. So it’s very easy to pick up and play at any time.

You rest soul cards in order to play your other cards, with Pals being your main characters. Pal cards feature new artwork that faithfully re-creates fan-favorite creatures, and they display numerical values that determine their soul card cost, their power when attacking Pals or structures, and their strike damage if they directly attack the opposing player. Gear cards power up your Pals or deal damage to opposing Pals, event cards have powerful effects that can only be used once, and structure cards allow you to assign Pals to them to activate unique abilities.

You draw two soul cards each round, meaning your options in early rounds might be fairly limited depending on what opening hand you drew. With each round, you’ll draw a new card from your deck and add two new soul cards. During your main phase, you can play however many cards you have the soul cards to support, and you can play them in whatever order you want. As you get to later rounds, you’ll have a full deck of soul cards to work with, allowing you to chain several moves together or play super powerful cards to take advantage of the groundwork you laid in earlier rounds.

Both players start each game with 10 Life Points, and your ultimate goal is to reduce that to zero. However, when you attack them, they can choose to have one of their standing Pals take the attack in their place. If the player does take direct damage, they flip over cards from their deck equal to the strike value of the card that attacked them. If one of the cards flipped this way has the Lucky icon, then the player completely nullifies the attack.

Each round requires careful strategy. Will you directly attack the other player, knowing they can use a Pal to block you? Or will you target a specific Pal to get them off the board? Or take out a structure to nullify its bonuses? When your opponent attacks you, will you sacrifice a Pal to block the attack? Or take the gamble that you’ll flip a Lucky card? You constantly need to weigh your options and assess the risk vs. the reward.

The recommended way to jump into playing is with a Trial Deck. There will be two available at launch: Red/Blue and Green/Purple variants of Dawn of Palpagos. These Trial Decks include a play guide, paper playmat, life counter, and all 60 cards you need to start a new game right out of the box.

They also include Trial Deck Super Parallel cards that are only available in Trial Decks, as well as a Booster Pack to upgrade your deck from the get go. Palworld cards come in different rarity tiers, from Common all the way up to Super Parallel. There are also Super Special Parallels, which are ultra-rare variants of Super Parallels with special alternate art.

While the basics of the Palworld card game are easy to understand, there are also additional layers of complexity for more hardcore or competitive players. You can get Booster Packs on their own to diversify your deck and be more strategic about your build. The Dawn of Palpagos Booster Pack will be available at launch, while the Legends Awaken Booster Pack will go on sale October 30.

Building your deck means taking into account how certain cards can affect each other. For example, some Gear is particularly effective when paired with specific Pals. Some Pals directly synergize with each other. Others can change the board from day to night or vice versa, which activates the abilities of other Pals.

Those additional layers of strategy only figure to expand as time goes on, with Bushiroad already announcing a future roadmap of new pack releases. Sleeve and Card Set Vol. 1 releases on October 2, two new Trial Decks are coming on December 18, and Booster Pack Vol. 3 will arrive on January 29.

There are also in-person events and tournaments on the horizon. A demo caravan will have live tutorial events in local card shops throughout July and August, while the Grand Release Tournament will take place in August and the Shop Tournament will run from August until October. If you attend any of these events, you can get exclusive items like promo packs, deck cases, and other rewards.

For the latest news and updates about events and releases, you can check out the card game’s official website or follow it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube. The YouTube channel also includes video tutorials with sample rounds to help you visualize game flow and different strategies.

Arguably the most exciting part about Vendetta, Riftbound’s fourth set, is the first-ever introduction of Champion Legends with opposing domains. This one debut allows brand-new deckbuilding opportunities we’ve yet to see in the League of Legends trading card game, mashing two colors of cards with core ideals that are, generally, at-odds.

Though I didn’t get to play with Akali, Kennen, or Jayce, I did get to talk about them with Riftbound senior designer Jon Moormann at Riot’s HQ back in June. Moormann explained a little bit about why the team chose who they did to be the first ambassadors of these new color combos, and a little about their mechanics and champion units.

Akali: Red (Fury) and Green (Calm)

The Akali, Rogue Assassin Legend card harnesses the power of both Fury and Calm. It allows you to move a friendly unit in a showdown to your base on your turn, with the extra ability to ready the unit if it’s Empowered. “Empowered” is a new keyword introduced in Vendetta, and it’s basically a state you can activate on your turn for a cost–either runes or a trigger, like banishing a card. In Akali’s case, that’s three energy and one power. In exchange, the now-Empowered card gains an extra ability or effect.

Moormann explained how Akali’s Champion Units synergize with her Legend, as they are very “focused on ability and attack triggers.”

“A lot of [Akali’s] kit revolves around her Legend, which lets you basically retreat an attacking character,” Moormann said. “So you kind of run in with Akali, get some attack triggers off her going in, and then pull her back out again.”

Both Akali’s Red and Green Champion Units get an extra effect when they move. Moormann equated the style to Akali’s classic play pattern in League of Legends, where you set down smoke, jump out to poke, then run back into the smoke to try attacking again. In the slideshow above, you can see her Legend, Champion Unit, Signature Spell, and two Spell cards with Akali art that enable the strategy well. Her low-cost Signature Spell, Shuriken Flip, is especially impressive.

“Akali is a well-beloved champion; we really wanted to try and find a way to get Akali into Riftbound, and felt like she was a very good fit for Fury and Calm, as someone who's kind of this twin disciplines master going back and forth between the sides of Shen and Zed specifically,” Moormann explained.

Jayce: Orange (Body) and Blue (Mind)

Jayce embodies brawn and brains–Body and Mind–with the Jayce, Defender of Tomorrow Legend card. For exhausting one rune, you can ready a gear. If it’s Empowered, you can ready two gear for the same cost.

The other new opposite domain Legends have an Empowered trigger, and Jayce is no different. “[Empowered] lets us be like, you have a two-stage Legend. Your Legend is a little weaker in the early game, but you can make an investment to make it better.”

“Jayce is one of our, I think, weirder Legends,” Moormann said. “He’s all about playing out gear and Units and readying them, so he feels kind of combo-y.”

You can see Jayce's Legend, Champion Unit, and Signature Spell in the slideshow above along with two Hextech Gears that already combo together, but combo even better with Jayce's Legend.

“Jayce as Body and Mind made a ton of sense. There's a lot of other champions we think work for this one,” Moormann said. “Weirdly, [Body and Mind] I think is the opposing domain that has the most space in it, but Jayce, again, very popular and once we kind of came up with the idea of what the Jayce deck was doing, I think that really led us to push more on it.”

Kennen: Yellow (Order) and Purple (Chaos)

Kennen, Heart of the Tempest Legend card, encompasses both Order and Chaos, maybe the most anticipated new color combo considering how some of the best cards belong to the Chaos domain.

“Kennen is all about moving fast, stunning people, and striking from unexpected angles. In Riftbound, we wanted him to showcase the Flow mechanic and really lean into its inherent card advantage and trickiness,” Moormann said.

Flow is a new Vendetta mechanic that, if it’s on the card, allows you to play the card from your trash for a cost before banishing it. “From there, we looked at what Purple and Yellow were doing across Riftbound and leaned into this idea of playing cards from outside of your hand, and gave him an aggressive payout for doing so,” Moormann explained.

While many of the cards we’ve seen from Vendetta so far stay Empowered once they’ve been triggered, Kennen’s Legend is Disempowered whenever you use his ability to grant Assault 2 to an Attacker, meaning you’ll have to Empower him again each time before it can be used. This is triggered by playing a card from anywhere else besides your hand, which sounds tricky, but is very enabled the new Flow mechanic, Kennen’s purple Champion Unit, and Signature Spell Lightning Rush; and more–like the pre-existing Nocturne Champion Unit. The new Burn mechanic, which sends cards from the top of a main deck to the trash, also ties into the idea (and Kennen’s Signature Spell) neatly.

While the other opposing domain Legends had clear options, Moormann said yellow (Order) and purple (Chaos) was the hardest to land.

“For Order and Chaos, that one has been much more challenging, partly just because the way the colors play together and things that they have overlapping mechanically don't always tie to the characters to make the most sense for the set,” Moormann said.

He believes Kennen works great as an Order and Chaos Legend considering his backstory as a member of the Kinkou Order who “still very much is independent and does his own thing.” Kennen is also, maybe coincidentally, the favorite Champion of senior game designer David Smith.

“But in terms of mechanically fitting into being both Yellow and Purple, that took a lot more work, and I really like where we landed,” Moormann said. “And there's also a lot more space in yellow [and] purple as a color combination that we're not exploring with Kennen–I don't think this is the end of what you can do with this domain pair. If players look at what those two colors do, they can draw some conclusions about where we might go in the future, but there's a lot of space to look into there.”

Because opposing domain Legends are a little tougher to land in a way that thematically makes sense, we won’t be seeing these combos on Legends as often as the others, but Moormann said we will certainly see them again.

Vendetta, the fourth Riftbound expansion set, releases on July 31, simultaneously worldwide for the first time. It’ll have more than 160 cards, 50 Showcase cards, and nine Champion Legends–setting a new standard for Champion Legends in the future.

For more on Riftbound, check out our hands-on preview of Vendetta’s Zed vs. Shen Showdown deck, complete with more insight from Moormann on the decks themselves and Vendetta’s new keywords: Burn, Flow, and Empower.

Casey DeFreitas is the deputy editor of guides at IGN. Catch her on socials @ShinyCaseyD.

Riftbound’s Vendetta is the League of Legends trading card game’s anticipated fourth set, and I got to go hands-on with the new Zed vs. Shen Showdown deck at Riot’s HQ before its release later this month. I played with Riftbound senior designer Jon Moormann, who spoke in depth about the new mechanics and keywords: Empower, Burn, and Flow.

Before getting into my actual (all-too-short) experience testing out the Zed vs. Shen Showdown deck, here’s some background about those new keywords and some insight about them from Moormann.

New Keywords: Empower, Burn, and Flow

A keyword in Riftbound is, to put it as simply as possible, a mechanic shared across cards. For example, Unleashed introduced the keywords Ambush and Hunt. So when a new one is introduced, we can expect new strategies to emerge. Here’s what you need to know about three new keywords introduced in Vendetta:

Empower is a state you can activate on your turn usually for a cost–either runes or a trigger, like banishing a card. In exchange, the now-Empowered card gains an extra ability or effect.

For example, the Legend Akali’s normal Action effect is, “If it’s your turn, move a friendly unit in a showdown to base.” If you Empower her by exhausting three runes and recycling one, that Action has this additional effect: “... and if I’m Empowered, ready it.”

“You can almost view [Empower] as a different way to draw cards in some ways,” Moormann explained. “It gives colors that maybe have less access to card flow more ways to develop their board over the course of the game.” Essentially, if you have Runes but no cards to play, you can instead spend the energy on Empowering units.

Moormann specifically called out orange (Body) cards as having a lot of Empower cards that do “really great things,” and that Ambessa, a new red (Fury) and yellow (Order) Legend, also has a lot of “cool Empowered stuff in her kit.”

The red (Fury) and purple (Chaos) Zed Legend also has an Empower mechanic, as do many of Vendetta’s new Legends.

“They have a base version of their ability, and at some point in the game, you get to upgrade it to the superpowered version,” Moormann said. “Which is one of our favorite things to do with Empowered–it lets us do cool stuff with Legends. You have a two-stage Legend–your Legend is a little weaker in the early game, but you can make an investment to make it better.”

Burn requires you to put a number of cards from the top of your deck into your trash–and some cards allow you to inflict this on your opponent. If your deck isn’t built specifically for Burn, you’ll probably want to stay away from it, but Burn combos hand-in-hand with Flow.

Flow allows you to play the card from your trash for its Flow cost, and then requires you to banish it.

“Flow works really well with anything that lets you Burn or Discard… because it's basically just free cards,” Moormann said.

Since spoilers have begun rolling out, we’ve seen a lot of Legends make use of all of these new mechanics–like Kennen’s. Zed’s deck in the two-player Showdown Deck I played with makes use of them all as well.

Moormann said one of the things the team playtested a lot with Zed was Jinx–they wanted to make sure it wasn't making Jinx superpowered. “I think we landed in a really cool spot where Zed is very strong, but also Jinx gets stronger, which, [I’m] not sad to see. She could use it,” Moormann said.

The purple Jinx, Rebel, is readied and gets +1 that turn when a card is discarded, and the red Jinx, Demolitionist, discards two when she’s played, so it’s not difficult to consider the combo potential.

As for other cards that benefit from Burn and Flow, Moormann cited red Rumble, Hotheaded, and a battlefield that’s sometimes run with him, Minefield.
“Rumble has some sub-themes where he already wants a little bit of Burn, where he probably plays Minefield in order to enable the red Rumble,” Moormann explained. “I think Minefield as a battlefield gets way better in this set because if I'm running a bunch of Flow cards, I'm very happy to get to take two shots at drawing them every time I go in.”

Zed vs. Shen Showdown Decks Hands-On

New to Riftbound in Vendetta are two-player Showdown Decks, the first of which is Zed vs. Shen. These boxes include “two complete 56-card preconstructed decks (40 cards + 12 runes, 1 Champion Legend, 3 battlefields per deck) and two Vendetta booster packs,” and retail for$34.99 USD.

Moormann summed up the playstyles succinctly: “Zed wants to go in and hit fast, Shen wants to sit back and protect the point with a friend.”

Where Legend Zed, Master of Shadows makes a lot of use of the new mechanics, the yellow (Order) and green (Calm) Legend Shen, Eye of Twilight is a bit more straightforward: Action - Exhaust: Give a friendly unit Tank this turn. (It must be assigned combat damage first.)

“Shen is a Hold deck, but with a twist,” Moormann explained. “Rather than piling as many units as you can, Shen asks you to get exactly two units into a battlefield, and then pays you off handsomely for the duo defense.”

Both of Shen’s Champion Units have extra effects when they hold with exactly one other unit. The yellow (Order) Shen, Leader of the Kinkou Order, scores an additional point. The green (Calm) Shen, Scourge of the Shadows, draws one card.

Hypothetically, I can see some buffoonery with extra tanks, the new yellow Shen; Ahri, Alluring, and Hidden Blade. Moormann also said Ahri improves with some of the Shen cards, which is great to hear, personally, as an Ahri fan.

“Zed is much more aggressive, burning through your deck to get Flow cards into the trash and turning them into the offense-focused Shadow Clones,” Moorman explained.

I very foolishly chose to play as Zed, coming in off a high of playing an undefeated, bastardized mostly red and purple Pyke deck made in a sealed deck challenge at the Regional Qualifier in Vancouver. My current constructed deck is Vex, Gloomist, so I’m actually very much used to… holding.

Moormann out-tempo’d me as Shen, and when my attempts to break his hold were thwarted, I couldn’t replace units fast enough to try again. I also experienced the devastation of putting cards in the trash that would have been clutch when I chose to Burn or Discard, but it was so cool when I did have stuff in the trash I could use. I’m sure there are failsafes for this, like Fizz, Heedless Resurrection, and some new cards I haven’t seen just yet.

I only got to play that one game, so Shen seemed like an easier deck to play without knowing your cards, but Zed absolutely has a lot of very cool combo potential that I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to unlock on my first go-around. Speaking of potential, I do think a unique Zed deck would have more potential than a Shen deck, but maybe I’ll be surprised with what pros come up with.

With all that being said, if left constructed the way they are, the preconstructed Shen vs. Zed Showdown decks feel like even match ups. Both do what they want to do very well–Shen is great at holding battlefields with two units, and Zed is great at fiercely attacking while taking advantage of discarding to draw and do other tricks.

They also explore a lot of Riftbound’s mechanics. Between the two decks, you’ll experiment with Tank, Shield, Assault, Ambush, even movement triggers; and the three new mechanics of Flow, Burn, and Empower, too. Overall, I think this new showdown deck set is a great entry-point into Riftbound, and I could see friends swapping decks back and forth to learn what strategies they vibe with the most.

Vendetta, the fourth Riftbound expansion set, releases on July 31 simultaneously worldwide for the first time. It’ll have more than 160 cards, 50 Showcase cards, and nine Champion Legends–setting a new standard for Champion Legends in the future.

You can get a chance to play with Vendetta early at prerelease events at local game stores starting on July 24, which I highly recommend. They’re incredibly fun and beginner-friendly, and it’s where I got my start with Unleashed.

For more on Vendetta, check out Why Riftbound’s Design Team Chose Kennen, Akali, and Jayce for the First Opposing Domain Legends.

Casey DeFreitas is the deputy editor of guides at IGN. Catch her on socials @ShinyCaseyD.

Todd Howard has dismissed what he described as “fan chatter” about a supposed rivalry between Fallout developers Bethesda Game Studios and Obsidian Entertainment.

The suggestion of animosity between the two studios revolves around the idea that Bethesda resents Obsidian for making the much-loved Fallout: New Vegas, which some consider to be the best Fallout game.

But Howard himself has never suggested this to be the reality of the studios' relationship, and indeed has outright dismissed it at times. For example, Howard told IGN back in 2019 — after Microsoft had bought Obsidian — that BGS has “always had a great relationship with them” and, on New Vegas, “there’s only one group that we really trust to do this, and it was awesome."

“For me, it was either this group or nobody," Howard said.

Fast forward to 2026, in the wake of Xbox’s latest round of layoffs and confirmation that Obsidian is once again working on a new Fallout game, Howard told Windows Central that BGS is “super excited” to be collaborating with the Avowed, The Outer Worlds, Grounded, and Pentiment developer.

"I appreciate some of the fan chatter, but behind the scenes, there's a huge amount of mutual respect [between Bethesda and Obsidian],” Howard said. “We're always kind of wondering if we could find a way to work together in the right way. And when those things come up, I think I definitely look at the franchise all up, as you see in the note, everything that's kind of happening with Fallout.

"You sort of say, is there a way or a window or a pocket where we could do something together that really, really made sense? And so we're super excited about the opportunity, working together.”

Howard's mention of "the note" is a reference to the roadmap BGS revealed today. It confirms Fallout 5 had entered pre-production and Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas remasters are in the works. While we now know Obsidian’s Fallout game is real, we don’t know what it is. Could it be Fallout: New Vegas 2? Or perhaps a different Fallout game entirely?

Obsidian was hit by the Xbox layoffs, too, and reportedly canceled Avowed 2 as part of new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s focus on the company’s biggest franchises. That of course includes The Elder Scrolls VI, which is BGS’s focus.

"Fallout is one of our biggest priorities today," Howard said in his message to fans. "Fallout 5 remains our long-range destination, and we have multiple Fallout projects in active development right now.

"Fallout 76 continues to be home to millions of players exploring Appalachia together. With nearly 70 free updates released to date, the journey is far from over. In fact, we have a major Fallout 76 expansion planned for next year: Raven Rock, a prequel story to Fallout 3.

"Fallout 4, the most award-winning game in the franchise, just celebrated its 10-year anniversary and recently passed over 35 million copies sold, continuing to attract a new audience every year.

"We also know many players want to revisit previous Fallout experiences. While we're not announcing any dates today, we have been working on remasters for both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.

"Fallout Shelter continues to be the most popular way to experience Fallout on the go, with more than 250 million players. There’s more ahead for Fallout Shelter, including new Seasons. An unscripted Fallout Shelter television project is also in the works with our partners at Amazon Studios and Kilter Films.

"We'd like to congratulate Kilter Films and Amazon Studios on the 10 Emmy nominations for Fallout Season 2. Production on Season 3 is already underway.

"And while we won't host a traditional Fallout Day broadcast this year, we're already planning something special for Fallout's 30th anniversary in 2027, when Fallout Day will be celebrated live in Washington, D.C."

Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety 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.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has officially crossed the 65 million units sold milestone, joining fellow fantasy role-playing game The Witcher 3 as one of the top 10 best-selling games of all time.

Confirmation comes from Bethesda Game Studios chief Todd Howard, who today outlined the company’s lineup of games following Xbox’s latest round of layoffs.

Skyrim launched in 2011 and sold over 3.5 million units in 48 hours. Over the past 15 years it’s been ported to pretty much every platform capable of running it, with years of mods helping to keep the game feeling fresh.

Xbox boss Asha Sharma added that with 65 million units sold, Skyrim has become one of the 10 best-selling games of all time. Fallout 4, meanwhile, has crossed 35 million units sold, joining the top 25. Starfield, BGS’ third game franchise, has had 17 million players, but we don’t have a sales figure. Instead, Sharma noted that Starfield was about to cross the 1 billion hours played mark.

BGS is currently focused on getting The Elder Scrolls VI out the door, although it is reportedly at least two years away despite being announced in 2018. Fallout 5, meanwhile, has entered pre-production.

“The Elder Scrolls VI is our primary development focus today, with the majority of our team currently working on the next chapter of the franchise,” Howard said. “With over 65 million copies sold, players are still exploring Skyrim 15 years later, but we know it’s been a very long wait for the sequel. The next chapter is on the way. We’re where we planned to be, loving how it looks, and playing it every day.”

CD Projekt announced The Witcher 3 had hit 65 million units sold in May in what has become a fun head-to-head for game sales watchers. The Witcher 3 is of course set for a new expansion next year, despite being released over a decade ago, in May 2015. And work continues on its own sequel, The Witcher IV. Could both The Elder Scrolls VI and The Witcher IV end up against each other in, let's say, 2028?

For a bit of video game sales context, Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time, with an astonishing 400 million units sold. GTA 6 is in a distant second place with an equally remarkable 230 million sold. Fellow Rockstar game Red Dead Redemption 2 is on 85 million.

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.

UPDATE 2:36 p.m. PT: EA and Battlefield Studios have revealed a full roadmap for Battlefield 6 Season 4, alongside additional details for its Top Gun crossover.

The previously-teased collaboration with Paramount Games Studio will officially come with the F-18 Super Hornet, F-14 Tomcat, and two new modes. Top Gun: Maverick characters Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), Lt. Robert "Bob" Floyd (Lewis Pullman), and Adm. Solomon "Warlock" Bates (Charles Parnell) will also be featured as character skins and cosmetics with full voice acting from each of their respective actors.

"It's a huge honor to appear in a long-running franchise like Battlefield with its millions of fans, and talented people working on it," Teller said in a statement. "And with Top Gun, it's like two titans meeting."

"I’ll actually be the one giving orders in-game, which I love," Parnell said. "If it’s my voice that pushes players on to clutch a win, that’s awesome."

"Battlefield is very intense, whether you're in the sky or on the ground or fighting in the sea," Pullman said. "In that way, it’s a perfect pairing with Top Gun."

Battlefield 6 Season 4 aims to bring more than just a need for speed when it launches July 21, 2026. As previously announced, this next content update will take players back to the sea with naval warfare. Phase 1: Pacific Front kicks things off with Tsuru Reef – the game's biggest map yet – with Phase 2: Top Gun set to introduce a Wake Island remake for Battlefield 6 and all of that juicy crossover content when it launches August 18. Phase 3: Tidal Strike will then round out Season 4 with the Deep Six: Collection Event come September 15.

"When Battlefield 6 launched, it had a strong core of content that we’ve grown over time, using feedback from the community to make the game even better,” Battlefield general manager says Byron Beede said. “With the addition of Naval Warfare, our Top Gun collaboration, our largest map, and so much more, Season 4 is our biggest update yet and is the perfect opportunity for players old and new to dive in."

Through the ups and downs, Season 4 represents a big moment for Battlefield 6. As EA and BF Studios continue to deliver updates to those who have stuck by the latest entry as it approaches its first anniversary this October, it's also told players that the upcoming season will feature Spectator Mode and the Portal Custom Lobby.

ORIGINAL STORY: Battlefield 6 is getting a Top Gun crossover next month.

In a press presentation, EA confirmed that Battlefield 6 will welcome a special Top Gun-themed event in August. The celebration will feature "vehicles, characters, and modes inspired by the franchise." It's unclear if that means we'll be getting skins for characters like Maverick, Goose, or Hangman, but don't hold your breath; Tom Cruise has famously avoided licensing his likeness for video games and merchandising. Cruise reportedly even struck down a Funko Pop based on his character from The Mummy ahead of its release.

That said, it's possible there will be skins that utilize the costumes and iconography of the Top Gun universe, such as Maverick's jacket, his helmet, or a fighter pilot suit, for instance. Nevertheless, there's more than cosmetics for this event: it will also usher in two naval/aerial-centric modes, with Season 4 introducing Carrier Strike, a spin on the classic Carrier Assault mode, which will encourage players to use aerial vehicles to attack and defend the aircraft carriers.

There will also be a new mode available through Gauntlet known as Fighter Sweep, which is a jets-only affair. A new two-person jet is being added in Season 4, allowing you to take a wingman with you to the sky in true Top Gun fashion to dogfight other pilots together.

The team will share more details on this crossover closer to its debut in August, but it's exciting news for anyone who enjoys Battlefield and Top Gun. Season 4 is scheduled to kick off next week and will center around naval combat. The season will feature two new maps, including a reimagining of Wake Island in August. It's expected to be the biggest map in Battlefield 6, which should please those who feel previous maps haven't had the scope and scale they desire from the franchise.

We recently sat down with Ariel Giovannetti, Seasonal and Competitive Creative Lead on Battlefield 6, for an exclusive interview about the state of the game and plans for the future. It's worth a read if you want an idea of how the team develops its seasonal content, implements feedback, and what they're planning for the future.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

Bethesda Game Studios has reassured fans that Starfield “remains an important part of our future,” teasing Starborn DLC in 2027.

Studio development chief Todd Howard issued a note to fans today following the huge layoffs at Xbox that saw 1,600 staff cut from Microsoft’s gaming business, and word that another 1,600 will follow during the current financial year.

BGS was affected by the layoffs, although Bethesda has insisted The Elder Scrolls 6, which is the studio’s current focus, is unaffected.

Following the announcement of the Xbox layoffs, fans were quick to point out that Starfield was absent from Bethesda's new priority list. Starfield largely failed to meet fan expectations upon its 2023 launch, and subsequent updates and expansions haven't really moved the needle either. Still, some of the game's more hardcore fans had hoped that Starfield would go on to at least get more expansions, and maybe even a sequel, establishing itself as Bethesda's third franchise.

Howard said today that Starfield has seen over 17 million players, which is a huge number for any game and, you would think, enough to justify further investment despite the mixed response.

“STARFIELD CONTINUES,” Howard’s message reads. “With over 17 million players logging almost a billion hours to date, Starfield remains an important part of our future. As we enter Year 3, we'll continue expanding the Settled Systems with new stories, targeted gameplay improvements, and additional updates, while preparing for the launch of new Starborn content next year. More than 40% of players already customize their experience through Creations, and we'll continue investing in creators and giving players new ways to make Starfield their own.”

Does “preparing for the launch of new Starborn content next year,” mean a new, full-on expansion is in the works for Starfield? Fans certainly hope so. There’s no mention of a Nintendo Switch 2 version of Starfield either, after it was reportedly said to be in the works. And there's no word of a Starfield sequel, which perhaps isn't surprising given The Elder Scrolls 6 is still reportedly at least two years away, and Bethesda Game Studios just confirmed Fallout 5 is in pre-production. Is Starfield 2 were to be made in any reasonable timeframe, perhaps it would have to come from another Xbox studio, rather than Bethesda itself.

Bethesda boss Jill Braff has told staff that the layoffs and change in strategy “reflect the realities of our industry and business – and our responsibility to ensure Bethesda is operating from a more stable foundation.”

"To be successful in the future, we need to change course,” Braff continued. “We must strengthen our business, return to sustainable growth, and ensure we can continue investing in our franchises and our players. I know that doesn't make a day like today any easier.”

Without naming games, Braff said “to best position Bethesda for future growth, we are shifting from a planning model primarily centered on what's next for each independent studio to one that focuses on our strongest franchises and determining the content roadmap that best serves our players and Bethesda as a whole.”

“From there, we’ll align the right talent, technology, and resources across the organization to deliver on those priorities,” Braff added.

Starfield was released on PS5 earlier this year but analysts believe the game sold poorly on Sony's console, something that may not have happened had the game had a day and date release on PlayStation back in 2023.

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.

The annual incremental tweaks to EA's behemoth FC series make it easy to forget this was once a genre that took generational leaps every few years.

Soccer sims were defined and redefined throughout the 90s, noughties and 2010s, and certain features were so groundbreaking that they transformed how we play – sometimes instantly, some only in retrospect. With a bit of help from Richard Moss, author of Tale of Two Halves: The History Of Football Video Games, I've picked nine of the most important features that changed football games forever.

CPU-assisted Passing - Soccer

Playing EA FC with fully manual controls, the ball travelling exactly in the direction you push the control stick, is humbling. You'll realise your aim is not as good as you think and even completing simple short passes is a challenge.

It shows we take AI assists for granted – but they weren't always there to help. The earliest football games took your input (usually in eight directions) as a direct instruction to pass the ball, so you could only really pass to teammates in specific spots relative to the ball.

In 1985, Konami's Soccer on the MSX personal computer and the NES game Soccer both included CPU-assisted passing, Moss explains, "whereby your vague directional input to, say, up-left, is taken as a request to pass the ball directly to the nearest player in that direction, rather than an exact instruction to do a kick angled 45 degrees from the player".

"It took a while to fully catch on, but by the mid-90s that became the standard passing mechanic," he explains. I'm glad: I go through the occasional phase where I turn assisted controls down or off entirely but always, feeling defeated and pathetic, revert to default settings.

3D Graphics - Virtua Striker

Some 2D football games were fantastic, World Cup Italia '90 and Sensible Soccer among them, but the 1994 arcade game Virtua Striker changed everything. It was the first football game with true 3D graphics: its polygonal players are slightly cursed in hindsight, their limbs long and misshapen, but their detailed animations felt like the future, pointing the way towards a true simulation of the sport.

Virtua Striker was perhaps underappreciated because it was only in arcades and the series wouldn't be ported to consoles until several years later. But within a year of its release Konami and EA were in on the 3D act, and they didn't look back.

Through Ball - Pro Evolution Soccer

In the early and mid-2000s FIFA was the more popular, flashier football sim but Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) was the purists' pick. It felt realistically messy and, I'd argue, more satisfying than FIFA when you scored a slick team goal. Its superiority was summed up in one button: triangle. It triggered a through pass, kicking the ball into space in front of a sprinting teammate.

Konami tried it in the 90s – International Superstar Soccer 64's through balls felt rigid and eerily magnetic – but perfected them in the PS2 era. They were incisive without feeling automatic. You still needed to get the timing and direction right, so you felt like a genius when it worked. Other developers were jealous.

"In the late 90s onwards, every other football game developer was looking at [Konami] and saying, these guys have killer through balls," says Moss. "And EA, in this PS2 era, every season, they're trying to figure out how to force a through ball mechanic into their game, when they had an engine that was not built for that."

FIFA eventually caught up, and in both series, lofted through balls over the top to your striker became the de facto way to score in multiplayer against your mates. They've remained a key part of football sims, now with even more variations – but I don't think they'll ever feel as good as they did in those golden days.

Skill Stick - FIFA 2003

FIFA's first iteration of the skill stick, the "Freestyle Control System" in FIFA 2003, was as clunky as its name. It felt slow and unimaginative, but over a decade of refinement it became an essential attacking tool.

Before then, skills in FIFA (and in Pro Evo) were mostly performed with button combos. Mapping them to the right stick enabled quicker tricks and more intuitive controls, and by FIFA 06 skill controls matched the natural shape of a trick. Flick forward and sweep to the side for a step-over, hold the stick left or right for a ball roll.

Today, high-level players rely on skill moves to fool defenders and create space for shots, with a move list long and complicated enough to rival a fighting game.

Finesse Shots - Pro Evolution Soccer 5

Pro Evolution Soccer 5's "controlled shot" was the original finesse. Earlier games let you modify your shots beyond aim and power (you could chip the keeper in International Superstar Soccer, for example) but the precise controlled shot created a whole new way of scoring: Thierry Henry cuts inside from the left, aims for the far top corner, and curls it, starting outside the post but swerving into the top corner, past a diving keeper.

The mechanics of finesse shots have been constantly remoulded – today's finesse shots have even more whip – but the fact you can score that exact goal in virtually every football game since PES5 highlights its importance.

Ultimate Team - FIFA 09

Ultimate Team is the behemoth that helped EA's FIFA series pull away from Pro Evo. EA trialled a similar mode in its 2007 UEFA Champions League tie-in game, but the first proper version of Ultimate Team arrived in March 2009, as paid DLC for FIFA 09.

The core concept was instantly appealing: buying and opening card packs, improving your team chemistry, and building a bank of coins. It combined the stakes and action of online multiplayer matches with the luck-based compulsion of loot boxes – for better and worse.

FIFA 12 was the first to include Ultimate Team for free at launch. Demolishing the walls between the mode and the rest of the game confirmed that EA saw this as integral to the series, and the gamble worked – nowadays, EA FC is Ultimate Team to many people, and it makes the company boatfulls of money. Any would-be rival to EA is contending not just with its on-pitch action but with an entire ecosystem of YouTubers, influencers and real-life players (we've no doubt all seen players react to their in-game cards).

The controversy around the mode will never disappear – EA still can't sell its in-game currency in Belgium because of gambling laws, for example – but Ultimate Team is here to stay.

360-degree Dribbling - FIFA 10

FIFA and Pro Evo still limited your inputs to eight directions as late as 2009 – a fact so unbelievable that I had to boot up PES 6 just to confirm it. Both series masked it with clever animations and by smoothing direction changes when you sprinted but we were, effectively, using D-pads for decades.

FIFA 10's 360-degree dribbling (Pro Evo tried it the same year, with less success) unlocked a new level of freedom and flexibility. You could slip through tight spaces and skip past defenders smoother than ever before, and you felt more connected to the players you controlled. I remember spending hours sprinting around the Practice Arena with Wayne Rooney, spamming tricks and testing every possible direction change. Returning to a D-pad now is unimaginable.

Tactical Defending - FIFA 12

I still remember playing FIFA 12 for the first time. The fiddly defending controls bamboozled me and my friends and we vowed to return to FIFA 11. With a few exceptions, one-on-one defending in football games before then had involved holding a single button to, first, pressure and, second, tackle an opponent. FIFA 12's tactical defending decoupled the two, with one button to "contain" the attacker, staying near them, and another to step in and attempt a tackle.

When I got over my initial frustration I realised that it was a more flexible system that let you choose a level of aggression that matched the situation, such as not diving in as the last defender. It rewarded patience and positioning, and made defending feel like a true skill.

EA FC 26's "advanced defending" is, you might argue, the next evolution, further splintering the tackle button into multiple tackle types. We're never going back to a one-button system.

Playstyles - EA FC 24

The one feature from recent years that feels truly foundational.

FIFA's "traits" – badges that showed star players' strengths and in some cases granted extra abilities – existed 15 years ago, but only for star players. When EA FC 24 changed them to "playstyles", however, they became vital. They boosted specific skills and granted bespoke animations: "Press Proven" players kept the ball closer while jogging, "Bruisers" bounced opponents away in tackles like bumper cars. They were no longer limited to star players, which sprinkled personality throughout every squad.

Until FC 24 you judged a player by their overall rating, or sometimes by specific attributes relevant to their position. But playstyles were so powerful that they became equally as important. Now, I'll pick a player with multiple playstyles even if their overall is underwhelming. In my EA FC 26 career I've just unearthed a young centre back with seven playstyles who'll dominate the league for years.