Drakong, a sub-brand of Hyperkin, today announced the PixelByte controller range, a new line of collectible controllers themed after Attack on Titan. These cute, keychain-sized controllers look a bit like a pixelated NES controller paired with one of several characters from Attack on Titan, and will be available via a somewhat unconventional manner: a blind box.

Despite their size, layout, and distribution method, the PixelByte controllers are fully functional, compatible with PC, Switch 1 and 2, iOS, Android, and other Bluetooth devices. They offer approximately 12 hours of wireless gameplay, and are rechargeable via USB-C.

Each PixelByte blind box contains one of seven possible variants, pairing a unique colorway with a chibi charm of Attack on Titan characters like Eren, Mikasa, Levi, and Hange. There's also one rare chase variant that's found at a lower rate than the rest.

I can't say that a blind box is the most idea way to buy a controller, so I doubt the PixelByte line will make our list of the best controllers for PC or Switch, but I could see the appeal from the collectible side of things. I'm personally not one for blind boxes, but my Pokémon card collection will attest that I'm very familiar with the concept of cracking open physical loot boxes at the prospect of scoring something rare and shiny.

The PixelByte controllers are available for pre-order now for $24.99 per box.

Bo Moore is IGN's Senior Manager of Tech. You can find him online @usebomswisely.

Sony held its planned Phantom Blade Zero State of Play livestream with — somewhat surprisingly — the comments turned on, and they went exactly how everyone thought they would.

The YouTube chat, for example, was dominated by “no disc no buy” comments, which drowned out comments about the promising looking action game itself. It was a similar situation on Twitch.

None of this should come as a surprise, given fans had called out this first State of Play since Sony’s announcement sent shockwaves through the video game industry as a likely battleground for the ongoing backlash to the impending end of PlayStation disc production from 2028.

“Will buy when it's available PHYSICALLY,” read one comment. “Wow! It may look great but it will look better on a disc! So make that happen and keep happening,” said another. “Does Donnie Yen come on disc?” joked one person.

Phantom Blade Zero is just the latest game to find itself drowned out by the no disc backlash, despite it and its developer, S-Game, having nothing to do with it. Gamers have continued to call on Sony to U-turn on its decision, signing online petitions and swarming over PlayStation social media posts to express concern about video game preservation and ownership. Complaints have also come from other groups. The UK’s Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA), for example, called Sony’s decision “a triumph of corporate convenience over consumer choice.”

Meanwhile, backers of physical media have called on gamers to boycott PlayStation for a week in August to send a message to Sony that its decision to kill discs is unacceptable. The Does it play? X / Twitter account, which is a fierce critic of Sony’s plan to do away with physical media, issued a call to arms that has been viewed on the social media platform over 2 million times.

“Sony wants to abandon fans? Let's give them a small taste of their own medicine!” the X / Twitter account said. “Together with other creators we call for a 1 week #PSBlackout in August. No logins, no play sessions, no purchases on any of Sony's platforms.”

Here’s the boycott statement in full:

But will this call to arms have any impact? Last month, Sony finally broke its silence on its decision to discontinue PlayStation discs to say it is not having any effect on its business now, and it doesn’t see any negative effect in the future. Sony executives insisted they will not change their minds, while acknowledging “strong views” from the video game community.

When Sony announced its decision it said it was simply following consumer trends. “In response to shifting trends in consumer preference, new games will be released on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only,” Sid Shuman, Senior Director, Sony Interactive Entertainment Content Communications, said in a post on PlayStation Blog.

Sony's latest financials show an 82% digital download ratio for full game software across PS4 and PS5. Reinforcing this trend, Mat Piscatella, Senior Director and Video Game Industry Advisor at Circana, recently said that just seven PlayStation video games had sold more than 100,000 physical units so far this year in the U.S.. Only two PlayStation video games sold more than 10,000 physical units in the U.S. during the week ending July 11.

Similarly, Strauss Zelnick, boss of Rockstar parent company Take-Two, recently defended the company’s decision not to release GTA 6 on a physical disc, insisting when it comes to big games, discs “don’t really make sense for the consumer.”

There are instances of companies reversing controversial decisions amid a backlash, but, as analysts have told IGN, it remains unlikely that Sony will U-turn on this. For Sony, going all-digital for new game releases will earn it more money from every sale at a time when console sales are expected to plummet due to their rising cost. For a first-party PlayStation game such as The Last of Us, Sony will only keep around 65% of the money from a physical copy, with around 30% going to the retailer and roughly another 5% on manufacturing costs. Meanwhile, for a physical copy of a third-party game such as the Activision-published Call of Duty, Sony will get a licensing fee, likely around 15%.

For downloads, however, the margins are much higher. For a first-party game sold via Sony's own PlayStation Store, the company obviously keeps 100% of the revenue. For third-party games such as Call of Duty, meanwhile, Sony keeps a 30% cut (so, roughly $21 for a $70 game).

So, with Sony unlikely to budget, games like Phantom Blade Zero will continue to get caught in the crossfire, at least in the short term.

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.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will include an RPG-like skill tree, herb brewing and a new chargeable focus meter in its reimagining of the series' first game.

The remake, which is in development at Trek to Yomi studio Flying Wild Hog, in collaboration with the series' lead studio Crystal Dynamics, updates the franchise's iconic original adventure with snazzy new visuals and gameplay more familiar to modern audiences.

A new video detailing Legacy of Atlantis' combat and progression has now gone into detail on this gameplay, which includes elements inspired by the more recent Tomb Raider reboot trilogy. For example, a skill tree has been revealed that shows how players will redeem in-game artifacts for skill points, which unlock a web of weapon upgrades and ability improvements. These include reduced damage and improved healing. You can also collect and brew herbs for various buffs.

"When I played the Survivor series and I could suddenly affect and increase Lara's power in the game, I felt much more engaged," design director Jason Epps said. Another new system, Focus, will allow players to pull off some of Lara Croft's more acrobatic manoeuvers and also go into a kind of bullet time, game director Raul Siqueira revealed.

"We're introducing a system called Focus," Siqueira said. "The idea behind it is that when you're doing actions in combat, when you're taking damage, dealing damage, dodging attacks, you're building your Focus meter. Focus allows you to slow down time around you and showcase some the things that Lara used to do in 1996. The acrobatic component of Lara Croft is really important for the character, so we wanted to make sure there was a way on the sticks for this to be celebrated."

While video game remakes take different approaches to modernizing their source material, these new systems have raised the eyebrows of some veteran Tomb Raider fans who had seen Legacy of Atlantis as a return to the franchise's more traditional routes, away from the more RPG-like reboot trilogy.

Exactly how it will all feel on the sticks remains to be seen, however. Following a recent delay, the game will now launch on February 12, 2027. Crystal Dynamics' all-new Tomb Raider: Catalyst will then follow in 2028.

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

The first Rockstar workers who are embroiled in a legal battle with the company have told fans they shouldn’t boycott GTA 6 to protest on their behalf.

With GTA 6 due out in November, and the final hearing of the workers’ proceedings against Rockstar set to begin in Glasgow next month, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) asked backers to buy T-shirts to help fund the legal battle instead.

Rockstar has insisted the employees it fired late last year were dismissed because they leaked game features for upcoming and unannounced titles in Discord, not because they were trying to unionize. 34 members of staff at Rockstar were dismissed — 31 in the UK and three in Canada — sparking protests outside the office of GTA 6 developer Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland, and outside parent company Take-Two’s office in London.

Rockstar believes the alleged leaked information to be significant and related to game features around GTA 6. This includes specific game features, comments on the overall progress of GTA 6 development, timelines to launch, and company IT security protocols. Rockstar believes that if the comments in question had leaked they would have been big gaming news and might even have affected Take-Two’s share price. When Rockstar officially announced that GTA 6 would be delayed by six months to November 19, 2026, the market value of Take-Two plummeted $3.75 billion in a single day.

Rockstar has also pointed to its well-established zero tolerance approach to leaks, highlighting that it dismissed a Rockstar employee in Lincoln, UK in April 2025, who it alleged disclosed confidential information about GTA 6 to a third party who published the information to social media, and dismissed an employee in the U.S. in November 2023 and another in India in November 2025 for two separate acts of information leaking.

Now, the fired workers have filmed a video in which they outline their case, and urge fans not to boycott GTA 6. They are pointing to a range of T-shirts launched to raise money towards their legal costs.

Jack Hoxby, IWGB Game Workers Branch member fired by Rockstar last year, said: “We poured years of our lives into helping build this game. We don't want you to boycott it. We want you to help us fight for justice.

“Since Rockstar fired us suddenly last year, we’ve seen an incredible outpouring of support from gamers and workers around the world.

“Some people have asked whether they should boycott GTA 6 to protest on our behalf. But there’s a better way to support us and hold Rockstar to account.

“Buy one of our T-shirts. You’ll be helping to win justice for us and to defend the right of workers everywhere to come together and unionise.

“That way, when GTA 6 comes out in November, you can enjoy it knowing that you had the backs of the people who made it.”

While this apparent boycott was never going to put a dent in GTA 6’s sales success (Take-Two chief has already hailed GTA 6 preorders as “unprecedented”), the IWGB is aiming to maintain a presence in the public eye as the crucial final hearing gets underway in September.

In June, Rockstar developers applied for voluntary recognition of the IWGB Game Workers Union in a bid to make the celebrated developer the second UK games studio with a recognized union.

If recognized, the union would give its members additional protections and rights via a formal structure for collective bargaining on issues including pay transparency, flexible working, and excessive overtime (crunch), the IWGB said in a statement. Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM is currently the only UK studio with formal union recognition.

The IWGB claims to represent a “significant portion” of the Rockstar workforce across its offices in Edinburgh, Dundee, Lincoln, Leeds, and London, and that its existence has contributed to “unprecedented” average pay rises and financial incentives for crunch for the first time ever.

A spokesperson from Rockstar Games issued IGN the following statement at the time: “We strive to make the best games possible by giving our talented teams world-class work environments and ongoing career opportunities. We have fostered a culture which is focused on teamwork, excellence, and kindness, and where we support and reward the team across all levels of the business through competitive compensation and benefits policies. We are proud that as a result, our employee retention is well above the industry standard.

"We have received a request from a union seeking to discuss voluntary recognition. We value an open and constructive dialogue with all stakeholders and will arrange to meet.”

Rockstar can refuse to acknowledge the union, which would then open the door to the IWGB submitting its application for statutory recognition from the Department for Business and Trade's Central Arbitration Committee (CAC). But could its members go on strike? The IWGB told IGN “members will decide on the organising strategy they use to secure” recognition.

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.

Toy Story 5 was once set to feature a flashback showing the first meeting between Jessie and Bullseye, before the sequence was cut.

A hand-drawn version of this deleted scene will be included in the home release of Toy Story 5, which will be available digitally on August 18, and via 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray and DVD from September 22.

While the scene apparently never made it as far as being 3D animated, it survives in the form of dialogue, rough 2D animation and sound effects that recreate the sequence for viewers to enjoy — and to find out more about Bullseye's past.

In a flashback to just before the events of Toy Story 2, Jessie would have been shown meeting Bullseye after he becomes part of Al's collection. (Al, the villain of Toy Story 2, wanted to collect all four cowboy dolls from Woody's Round-Up and sell them to a buyer in Japan.) It's here that Jessie would have learned of Bullseye's past owner while trying to calm him down.

Like Jessie's previous child owner Emily, Bullseye would have been shown wearing the name of his previous owner Charlie. Both toys eventually bond over now being alone, and Jessie promises to help Bullseye find his home one day.

Watch the sequence, originally shared by People, just below:

A new deleted scene from ‘Toy Story 5’ has been revealed.

It shows how Jessie and Bullseye met each other. pic.twitter.com/X3qvEhYJjW

— ToonHive (@ToonHive) August 17, 2026

"Why scrap it, it's so good," wrote one Toy Story fan on social media. "Oh we were robbed," said another. "Wish they kept this in the movie," said a third.

This isn't the first time we've learned of a cut Toy Story 5 sequence originally intended to be seen by audiences. An earlier version of the movie would have ended with Emily and Jessie finally being reunited — before the concept was rather controversially discarded for the version audiences ultimately saw in theaters.

Not that these changes seem to have hurt Pixar's latest blockbuster at the box office. Toy Story 5 ended up grossing over $1 billion globally, and currently sits as the third highest-grossing movie of 2026. "With a handful of new characters adding some fresh batteries to the mix, and sidelining the right legacy characters at the right time, the fifth installment of Pixar’s main event finds another good way to wrap up," we wrote in IGN's Toy Story 5 review. "At least until the inevitable Toy Story 6…"

Image credit: YouTube.

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

Video game developer legend Warren Spector has announced his retirement from video game development.

The 70-year-old founding father of the immersive sim genre announced his retirement in a post on LinkedIn, saying he felt he had done what he set out to do over the course of his glittering career. He now plans to write a book or two and do some lecturing or consulting.

Spector announced his retirement admitting there are still a few games he’d like to make, but said the video game business had changed and he doesn’t find it fun anymore. He also left the door open to a return to development at some point in the future.

Here’s Spector’s statement in full:

While Spector is perhaps best known for his work on Deus Ex and Thief at Ion Storm, he also founded Junction Point Studios, developer of Disney’s Epic Mickey games. Spector retires as chief creative officer of OtherSide Entertainment, developer of a spiritual successor to Looking Glass's Ultima Underworld series called Underworld Ascendant. Spector's latest game, Thick as Thieves, failed to find an audience, and OtherSide suffered a round of layoffs.

Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic.

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.

Marvel boss Kevin Feige has teased huge plans for X-Men, and said that "there can be 100 more" movies featuring the characters.

This weekend saw the upcoming X-Men reboot's core cast confirmed on stage at Disney's D23 fan extravaganza, with Sadie Sink's Jean Grey joined by Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Professor Xavier, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue and Maya Boyd as Storm.

Speaking at the event's subsequent Disney Worldbuilders panel (via Murphy's Multiverse), Feige said the cast's young age left room for "sagas upon sagas" of stories, with decades of comic book history still untapped. And it sounds like Marvel definitely wants to tap that history as much as possible, with big plans for its mutants in the MCU that extend well beyond 2028's movie.

"Having 85, almost 90 years of comic book history, there's so many stories yet to tell," Feige said. "We announced a very young, new cast for a property called X-Men the other day. And that's great, because there's been 10 great X-Men movies [but] there can be 100 more.

"There's sagas, upon sagas, with these comics that haven't been told yet," he continued. "And that's great because the stories that inspired me to want to make these kinds of movies haven't been told yet. I'm quite excited about doing them."

Marvel will bid farewell to members of Fox's legacy X-Men in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, which is set to see Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden and more reprise their iconic superhero roles (and, according to McKellen, also see Magneto destroy New Jersey). Whether any of them makes it out of Doomsday alive remains to be seen, however.

And in the meantime, Marvel has of course already begun introducing its new generation of X-Men with Jean Grey appearing in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. While initially introduced as a villain, the movie ends with Jean on a bus headed upstate, presumably ready to cross paths with other mutants (or pop up in Avengers: Secret Wars first).

Marvel has now mapped out its next few years of movies, with Avengers: Doomsday on December 18, then a year wait until Avengers: Secret Wars in December 2027. After that, X-Men leads a far busier 2028 for Marvel when it arrives on May 5. The Ryan Gosling-starring Ghost Rider follows next on July 28, before Black Panther 3 rounds out the year on December 15.

Ready for your Avengers: Doomsday homework? Marvel has released a watchlist of 15 movies and TV shows you should watch before this December rolls around.

Image credit: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney.

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

August is here, and that means gamescom is almost upon us. Once again, the biggest games event in the world is host to thrilling showcases, hands-on demos, a cosplay contest and more! As part of the programme, the gamescom awesome indies show returns with a 60⁠–75 minute show filled with a mix of world-exclusive trailers, gameplay reveals, and developer interviews.

Produced in partnership with IGN, gamescom’s official production partner, this year’s edition of the gamescom awesome indies show will feature in-depth game previews of select indie titles, bringing you closer to the most exciting games featured in the show.

How to Watch the gamescom awesome indies show

Watch the gamescom awesome indies show on Thursday, 27th August at 7PM BST / 8PM CEST / 2PM EST / 11AM PST via the following platforms:

gamescom global

gamescom Twitch

gamescom YouTube

gamescom TikTok

If you're a content creator or streamer that wants to co-stream the show, follow this link to apply to become an official co-streamer and get access to exclusive OBS assets.

What to Expect From the gamescom awesome indies show

Hosted by Jane Douglas and Daemon Hatfield, the gamescom awesome indies show will give viewers an early look at some of the most innovative, inspiring and eye-catching games coming from independent developers and publishers.

Last year’s gamescom awesome indies show featured fast-paced train car platformer Denshattack!, sprawling Disco-like RPG Esoteric Ebb, and Rebounder, a precision platformer set in a pulp-print world.

Whether you’re on the ground in Cologne, or watching from the comfort of your own home, be sure to catch the latest indie game reveals and announcements from the gamescom awesome indies show on Thursday, 27th August.

DC Studios co-CEO and Superman director James Gunn has stepped in to defend Lanterns and clarified why the DCU won't be "of one tone" going forward.

Warning! Light spoilers for Lanterns Season 1 Episode 1 follow.

Fans were surprised to hear Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) dropping F-bombs when DC and HBO premiered their new Green Lantern show last night. The True Detective-inspired buddy-cop drama is much darker and grittier than the projects it follows, and naturally, that's resulted in some pushback online.

We should note, generally speaking, audiences and critics seem to have walked away from the first Lanterns episode with glowing reviews (IGN gave it an 8/10). However, while Marvel built its movie empire on a cinematic universe that largely blends between movies, there is a conversation brewing about how the DCU will be able to balance generally family-friendly films like Superman and Supergirl with some of the more cutthroat moments we've seen in Lanterns.

"As an 'Elseworlds' story, this first episode of Lanterns is way better than the conceit of 'True Detective meets DCU,'" one fan said on Threads. "That said — and along with Supergirl, Creature Commandos, and the upcoming Clayface movie — I can’t comprehend this slate toward building a shared narrative universe."

Where Superman is a bright adventure about a man who saves the world, Clayface trailers have painted a picture of a brutal body-horror flick set on the streets of Gotham. Those movies, along with Lanterns, take place in the DCU, and as Gunn has said before, that means its superpowered shows and movies will sometimes feel pretty different from one another. As Hal shows John the ropes of being a Green Lantern, Gunn took the above post as an opportunity to explain his perspective on the DCU and its relationship to the comics it will be based on.

"In the same way DC comics have," he said, explaining how the shared universe will have a natural connection. "Certainly the DC works of Alan Moore, Darwyn Cooke, Grant Morrison, Jack Kirby, Paul Dini & Tom King can't be considered 'of one tone.'

It’s cool that he’s gonna be in Man of Tomorrow next year. The tonal shift is gonna feel so weird lol pic.twitter.com/zWXIT7L2z5

— Pｪssmaker (@PSSMKR) August 17, 2026

"For me and others raised on DC comics, a huge part of the fun was enjoying a variety of stories in various genres and seeing inventive ways these tones interacted & interwove. For some of the authors — notably Moore and Morrison (and Tom King in Strange Adventures and more), that tonal interweaving became a part of the stories themselves."

It does make sense that some fans would feel the tonal whiplash a little more than others. Supergirl delivered another planet-hopping PG-13 adventure when it premiered just less than two months ago in late June. Lanterns falls more into the Peacekeeper camp, and even then, it represents quite the leap in tone compared to what Marvel Cinematic Universe watchers might be used to (save for the odd Deadpool or Punisher installment).

Gunn has explained how the budding superhero movie universe will handle interweaving tones before, saying last year that it's important to him "that every project has its own stamp on it." Viewers might want to expect the DCU to keep them on their toes as it continues to unfold.

For more, you can check out every project DC currently has in the works. While watchers await more weekly Lanterns releases on HBO Max, you can also read about why Episode 1's big finale upset some die-hard Green Lantern fans, and why its showrunner said it was hard to commit to.

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 battalion in the United States Army is reportedly offering soldiers four days off to let them play Grand Theft Auto 6 when it releases this November if they reenlist.

As first spotted by the ‘US Army WTF! Moments’ Instagram page, a flyer from the 9th Engineer Battalion in Fort Stewart, Georgia is advertising some very specific vacation days around the launch date of Grand Theft Auto 6.

The flyer, supposedly signed by one commanding officer Lt. Col. Ryan D. Hodgson, announced a “special reenlistment incentive” — a four-day pass to play GTA 6.

As explained in the flyer, this incentive was created to “promote retention, boost morale, and reward the continued dedication of the Soldiers within the 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion.” Basically, it’s a perk designed to persuade soldiers to reenlist, hoping they’ll sign a new contract to extend their service.

According to the flyer, any eligible soldier who reenlists between August 1 and November 14 will get authorized for the pass, which is “specifically designated to coincide with the highly anticipated release of the video game Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6).”

While the exact dates of the pass must be hashed out between specific soldiers and their chain of command, they will align with GTA’s official release date from November 20 - 23, 2026.

Thus far, neither the specific battalion mentioned in the flyer nor the US Army itself has confirmed its authenticity, leaving both veterans and active-duty members split as to whether or not it’s legit.

However, commenters across social media are leaning toward it being real, with Kotaku confirming that the name of the commanding officer who signed the flyer belongs to a real Lieutenant Colonel who assumed command of the Fort Stewart Battalion in July 2026. Over on Reddit, army vets noted that the US Army has launched similar campaigns in an effort to drive up recruitment numbers in the past, though the formatting of the flyer itself caught major flak from those experienced with writing such memos.

The hype around GTA 6 is real; in fact, Rockstar Games even partnered with Netflix to showcase an exclusive preview of the game on its platform on Thursday, August 27 in one of the first streamer-exclusive game presentations in the industry.

In fact, the game is predicted to rake in $5.2 billion by the end of its launch week, having already secured an estimated $260 million in preorders alone. According to Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Rockstar's parent company Take-Two Interactive, more players have purchased GTA 6’s $100 Ultimate Edition than the standard edition, making it on track to be one of the most profitable titles in history.

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.

YouTube has revealed a new view count update that will see videos accumulate views the instant someone hits play.

The Google social media platform announced it would rework how it tracks data for individual uploads with posts across social media today. Starting August 24, 2026, views will be counted the very moment someone clicks on a video, or, as YouTube puts it, "from the very first frame."

This new view count strategy will be implemented across all formats across the globe. It falls in line with how the platform's short-form content branch, Shorts, works, which was taken into effect last year.

Starting 8/24, views will count the moment a video begins to play (w/ no minimum watch time) across all formats (VOD, Shorts, & Live). We’re standardizing views to reflect creators’ true exposure across YouTube, making it easier to show their value to brand partners.

This update…

— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) August 17, 2026

"Historically, we’ve used multiple view counting systems across different formats," YouTube explained. "However, we’ve heard that creators want to eliminate this metric confusion and accurately understand their true exposure, which is why we’re making this update!"

As noted by The Verge, Instagram and TikTok also tally views in a similar way. YouTube has toyed around with how it measures engagement in the past, but usually leaves a lot of guesswork for creators looking to keep track of who's watching their video and how long they're watching them. The change almost certainly exists to help amplify counts site-wide, but those who use the platform most may not notice much of a change under the hood.

Google's full message said original analytics and performance metrics will continue to exist within what it calls its Engaged views banner. From YouTubers with tens of millions of subscribers to the still-budding channels, YouTube says "this change will not impact creators’ earnings or how they become eligible for the YouTube Partner Program." That means creators will still earn based on "Engaged" content, and many have already taken to X/Twitter to voice their concerns about how the change could completely devalue views.

A partir do dia 24/08, as views do youtube vão contar ASSIM que o espectador der play num vídeo.

Isso significa que basicamente todos os vídeos que passarem na FY de um usuário de celular vão contar, por causa do auto play

Não consigo ver como isso vai ser bom pros criadores + https://t.co/J5HlJGbcUH

— WendyJr | Streamer e YT (@WendyJr_) August 17, 2026

I get why they’re doing it though. I had a brand decline working with me because “you only get 100,000 views, this other guy is half your price and gets 70,000 views”

The “other guy” was getting those views on X, where “views” count API responds with your post ID.

— Theo - t3.gg (@theo) August 17, 2026

Not sure I like this. How it was before is views didn’t count unless someone reached the first 5-15 seconds of a video. That helped combat clickbait getting rewarded.

It also inflates videos cause of auto play. Idk maybe it will end up not mattering at all. https://t.co/wRQYb9mPeq

— Mightykeef (@MightyKeef) August 17, 2026

"From 8/24 onwards, you’ll start to see the new view metric applied wherever views are shown on YouTube (which means creators will likely see their total view counts increase faster moving forward)," YouTube's message continued. "We hope that having metric parity across all formats gives creators a clearer picture of their overall exposure and makes it easier to confidently express their true scale and value to brand partners and sponsors!"

For more, you can read about a recent change to how the company handles AI-generated content. You can also learn about the price hikes that recently hit its YouTube Premium model.

Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via 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).

Some fans are expressing some confusion after seeing the latest gameplay footage from Eclipse Glow Games’ Tides of Annihilation, which features some distinct graphical changes that were made to its main character’s face.

Tides of Annihilation has experienced a few big changes over the last month. In mid-July, acclaimed voice actress Jennifer English announced she was abdicating the role of the game’s main character, Gwendolyn, citing concerns surrounding her mental and physical health.

And in mid-August, Eclipse Glow Games showed off 40 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay footage, giving us one of the most in-depth looks at the title we’ve seen thus far… but not everyone was happy with what they saw.

While impressions of the game’s combat, exploration, and overall art direction were extremely positive, the apparent changes to Gwendolyn’s facial design were met with equal parts confusion and frustration. Commenters across social media urged developers to revert these visual changes, which boasts noticeably different facial features and a softer graphical look.

“Why are they changing the character model? Seems stupid and a huge waste of money,” one wrote on X.

“Why does the newer one look so much worse? This isn't a great sign,” another said.

“She still looks really good but it did feel kinda different when I saw it... I thought they had downgraded graphics or something,” another questioned on YouTube.

Luckily, Eclipse Glow Games addressed these concerns in a Q&A, with lead game producer Fu Kun explaining why Gwendolyn looked so different in this most recent gameplay footage than in previous trailers.

“The most discussed topic among players right now is that the protagonist's face looks a bit off. Is it because they used CG before, but this time they used real-time rendering?” a reporter at Game Tea House asked.

“Actually, the previous PV also used real-time rendering. The female lead's face shape is consistent in the latest PV and the current demo. It's just that we wanted it to be smoother in terms of lighting optimization , so there are some differences and imperfections in the facial rendering. Of course, this version may have been a bit rushed, and we will further optimize the facial rendering under lighting later,” Fu Kun answered.

He also shed some light on the studio’s goals to combine elements of both Eastern and Western design in the game’s characters.

“First, for example, in terms of character design, we prioritized aesthetics that are acceptable to both Easterners and Westerners, and we made a comprehensive fusion of both. The rest might be things that the team feels particularly proud of about Chinese culture — such as the Martial Saint, a representative of Eastern chivalry, or a representative of our traditional Chinese culture. Such a character would definitely be presented to everyone as Gwen's master,” he said.

Tides of Annihilation does not yet have an official release date, though it promises to launch sometime “soon.” In the meantime, there’s been rampant speculation that the actress who has replaced Jennifer English — at her recommendation — is none other than Angela Sant'Albano, the voice of Grace Ashcroft in Resident Evil Requiem.

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.

A recent Star Citizen development stream went horribly wrong, resulting in some fans losing confidence in the long-awaited sci-fi game.

Earlier this month, the team at CIG decided to do a live stream showing off the current internal build of Star Citizen following player complaints over new content in the game. The developers heard players were having a bad time with this content and decided to do a stream of an internal build to paint a picture of the "intended" experience. Essentially, they were hoping it would show players that they're fixing issues and that this is a very temporary inconvenience... unfortunately, things went terribly wrong.

The developers kept running into bugs that showed the game is indeed broken. The developers had issues using their own weapons, swapping between their weapons, accessing their inventory, and much, much more. Eventually, the frustrations among the developers grew, and they started becoming passive-aggressive with each other before opting to just pull the plug on the stream altogether.

To add more fuel to the fire, one of the developers closed out the stream by saying they were proud of the work being done by the team and that they wanted to get this build out so players can have the "same experience" they had on stream... which just made fans feel like they lacked awareness of what happened during the broadcast. It's a brutal watch, and fans have been making fun of the entire experience and expressing amazement over the fact that the team didn't pull the VOD offline.

"Incredibly awkward, cringe, forced, slightly sinister feeling at times, and the local server gameplay was still terrible. No one was having fun here," said a comment under the stream. "Felt like a hostage video."

Overall, fan morale is quite low following this stream. Star Citizen has been in development has been in development for roughly 15 years and has raked in over $1 billion from fans to help fund the development. The game has been in early access since 2017, but there's no release date in sight. One would imagine the game would be done or very close to done with all of that time and money, but when major issues like this are popping up, it certainly feels like it's not close at all.

Will Star Citizen ever see a 1.0 release? Who's to say! The game is certainly ambitious, but some are starting to question if the team is capable of achieving its goals. In addition to Star Citizen, the team has also been developing a single-player standalone game known as Squadron 42. CIG CEO Chris Roberts stated last year that Squadron 42 is playable start to finish and is on track for a 2026 release, but with four months left in the year, there's no release date in sight.

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.

Avengers: Doomsday's pre-sale tickets are reportedly outpacing Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

According to a new report from The Wrap, Avengers: Doomsday is 65% ahead of Spider-Man: Brand New Day's first two days of pre-sale tickets, despite the fact that Doomsday won't release for four more months. Brand New Day's tickets went up about 45 days before the film's release, meaning there was more imminent demand for the movie.

Tickets for Doomsday went live last month for 1,000 "Infinity Vision" approved screens, but last week, Marvel opened up pre-sales for all theaters. The Wrap noted that although these sales reflect a certain level of demand, that demand is almost certainly coming from hardcore fans. It'll be interesting to see how things change as the film gets closer and more showtimes are added once the runtime is locked and theaters have a better idea of how to schedule the movie throughout the holiday season.

Given Brand New Day has gone on to make $2 billion and shattered all kinds of box office records, it's hard to tell if Doomsday's early momentum will result in it equaling or even surpassing Brand New Day. Much has been said over the last few years with regards to superhero fatigue and the overall declining state of the MCU. But a new Avengers film is hard to resist, especially when it features Doctor Doom and a bunch of iconic heroes from the past 26 years of Marvel's history.

Avengers: Doomsday also faces one other unique obstacle, which is that it will release the same day as Dune: Part 3. While it's unlikely Dune will cause Doomsday to fail, it will certainly weaken Doomsday's opening weekend numbers. However, similar to Spider-Man, Doomsday could benefit from a delayed IMAX release, which causes viewers to go back for repeat viewings in early 2027.

It'll be interesting to see how Doomsday fares, but it is definitely on track to make heaps of cash regardless.

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.

Thanks to AI data center demand, reasonably-priced GPUs are still hard to come by. Maybe not, though, if you find the right seller and don't ask too many questions. Like maybe the two men accused of harvesting Nvidia RTX 5080s from in-room gaming PCs of esports hotel rooms in China, replacing them with less-powerful RTX 3060s, then reselling the stolen ones for around half their market value, according to VideoCardz.

The two might've gotten away with the alleged caper, but on July 18, they lost power to their room and requested to be moved to a different unit. Later, an electrician investigating the issue found pry marks on the room's gaming PC case. Staff soon discovered the GPUs had been replaced in both rooms.

Local police arrested the two in the Guangbutun computer district on July 20 with two unsold, apparently stolen GPUs still in their possession, wrote Tom's Hardware in its own story about the heist. The outlet says police reported the suspects had admitted to carrying out the same crime four other times, and adds that "the total loss reported from their GPU-swapping spree was 80,000 Yuan, or almost $12,000."

According to Tom's, other victimized hotels didn't catch on because the PCs "ran just fine, and there were no complaints from later customers, so there was no reason to inspect them up close."

Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom's Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn't be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day almost introduced a very different identity-swapping villain to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) than the one it ended up going with.

Yes, it's true: Sadie Sink plays Jean Grey in the new Spidey movie. The fan-favorite X-Men telepath pops up in Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) life as Spider-Man: Brand New Day's mind-controlling villain, but according to words shared by screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers on The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith, the film came close to putting the spotlight on a different member of Spidey's rogues gallery: Dmitri Smerdyakov, a.k.a. Chameleon.

From moving on from his mind-wiped friends to coming to grips with changes in his arachnid DNA, Spider-Man: Brand New Day deals with the concept of metamorphosis. It's the backbone of the new MCU movie's story, and it's the first idea McKenna and Sommers homed in on. From there, the question was, 'Who's going to be the villain?' Jean Grey was eventually what made the most sense, but Chameleon stuck around long enough to be in the running as the movie's main bad guy, at least for a little while.

"We came up with metamorphosis, and everyone was very excited about that idea. Then, we were trying to come up with a villain," McKenna said. "I think [Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige] himself admitted that we had mind control, but we hadn't settled on what character that would be for the villain that had mind control. Early days, we were talking about Die Hard with a Vengeance. Like, 'Can we just do a Spider-Man story that was set in ground-level New York, where you had a mysterious bomber, a villain who was basically toying with Spider-Man?'

"Erik and I, right after we had the metamorphosis story idea that people were on board for, we were trying to think of a villain that would fit that bill, and we were thinking, 'Gosh, what's a Spider-Man classic villain that no one has really done yet in the films?' We were going, 'Chameleon?' But how do you do that?"

McKenna acknowledged that the MCU had already dived into shapeshifting Skrulls storylines a few times already, so Chameleon would need to be reworked without losing his identity as an impersonator. The Spider-Man: Brand New Day screenwriter added that, if he stuck, he may have been reworked to use mind-control powers.

Instead, the Chameleon idea was tossed aside because he wound up showing up in Sony's panned 2024 film starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kraven the Hunter. Dmitri shows up as Kraven's half-brother and is played by Fred Hechinger. Despite the opportunities to go in a different direction, it led to Chameleon being cut, though it's unclear who ultimately pulled the plug.

"It was like, ugh, you can't do Chameleon, but that got us on the path of mind control, and then mind control eventually led to us getting who was the perfect character for that role, who was Jean Grey," McKenna added. "That was a journey."

The X-Men superhero may have wound up being the unlikely villain of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but it certainly seems to have worked out in Marvel's favor. After breaking records in its opening weekend in theaters, the film's latest update has seen it reach $2 billion globally to become the highest-grossing Spider-Man movie of all time.

Reviews from audiences and critics have been favorable, too. IGN gave it a 7/10, saying it " effectively refocuses on the most reliable pillars of the webslinger: battling inner turmoil, swinging around NYC saving the day, and looking cool while doing so."

For more, you can check out why McKenna and Sommers say Jean Grey "technically" didn't kill anyone during the events of the movie. You can also read about the cut cameo from a fan-favorite Daredevil character.

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).

Researchers have named a newly discovered species of lizard after Syrax, the dragon ridden by Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen in the HBO series House of the Dragon.

Discover Magazine reports that eight, small mountain horned dragons were discovered at an elevation of 4,396 feet in Mae Wong National Park in western Thailand. This new species of lizard has been classified as Acanthosaura syrax, or as Syrax mountain horned dragon in English.

“Members of Acanthosaura carry a ridge of enlarged scales from the nape down the spine, earning them the name mountain horned dragons,” according to Discover (via ZooKeys).

“No known member of the genus has shorter spines along its nape and back than A. syrax. A diamond-shaped marking crosses its neck, while the area around its eyes remains free of the dark coloring found in several relatives.”

The species was named after Syrax because like that fictional dragon, the Syrax mountain horned dragon is relatively small and yellowish in color.

Researchers have so far only found A. syrax above 4,265 feet in Mae Wong National Park, although the broader Acanthosaura genus of lizards live across Southeast Asia.

Naming species after fictional characters is nothing new. A species of spider has been named after Tom Hardy’s Venom, there’s a beetle named after Chewbacca, a giant prehistoric turtle named after a universe-vomiting character in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, a dinosaur named after Ghostbusters villain Zuul, and a species of snake named after Harry Potter wizard Salazar Slytherin.

Scientists have named a few discoveries after Pokémon characters, including a “deceptively cute” ancient whale and three species of beetles named after birds. There’s even a type of snake named after the very real Harrison Ford.

HBO recently aired the House of the Dragon: Season 3 finale, which IGN critic Helen O’Hara awarded a score of 9/10, deeming it a gripping conclusion to “the Westeros prequel’s best season yet.”

By the end of the House of the Dragon Season 3 finale, Rhaenyra has fully gone over to the Dark Side. Featuring some major deaths and a whole lot of devastation, the Season 3 finale leaves fans with a lot to think about over the next few years before the show returns for its fourth and final season.

For more coverage on all things Westeros, find out the 9 things we learned in the new stage play Game of Thrones: The Mad King and discover which character showrunner Ryan Condal thinks is worthy to sit upon the Iron Throne.

It's a great day to be a fan of hot faerie folk, because A Court of Thorns and Roses author Sarah J. Maas has revealed the titles — A Court of Splintered Harmony and A Court of Forgotten Melody — and covers for books six and seven on her Instagram. She also teased the descriptions "What was broken will be remade" and "What was lost will be reclaimed," alongside the new covers.

Maas has already dropped the ACOTAR 6 and 7 release dates on the Call Her Daddy podcast, so we know that A Court of Splintered Harmony will hit shelves and Kindles on October 27, 2026, with A Court of Forgotten Melody following on January 12, 2027.

The series features three sisters who are thrust into a world of faerie intrigue, dangers, and romance and that spicy recipe has been a huge hit. Last year Bloomsbury revealed the author's books had sold more than 75 million copies and are published in 40 languages. It's no surprise that this time around the publisher is going big with the announcement, even paying for billboards in New York's Times Square to show off those new covers.

During her appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Maas also addressed the potential ACOTAR TV show that was reportedly scrapped at Hulu last year.

"Right now my focus is on books and it's been a little while since you guys have had something, so I'm focusing on that. But I look at any TV movie adaptation as kind of like another facet of the worlds that I've created and it's something that I want to be in charge of," Maas said.

"I want to be a part of that and I want to see everything adapted the way I envision it and the way I know fans want it, and I don't ever want to hear like, 'Oh, we need to change this to appeal to XYZ’s demographic.' I'm like, 'No, that's not how you make art. That's not how I create my stories.' So when I do it, it's gonna be me and I will dedicate everything that I have to making it right."

And if the new titles have only made you more excited for the series, both are available for preorder.

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

Kingdom Hearts is having a big moment on Steam, becoming the platform’s second best-selling game in the United States following the Kingdom Hearts IV gameplay trailer that was shown at D23 over the weekend.

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5+2.5 Remix, a hefty compilation of games in the series, is soaring on Steam’s Top Sellers list, reaching second place as the most-purchased title within the U.S. on August 17, 2026. Data from SteamsCharts shows it accrued a peak player count of 10,139 players over the last 24 hours, with just over 8,000 players actively playing the game as of two hours prior to writing this article.

It helps that Steam is currently having a massive sale for the franchise, with collections of the games listed at 70% off until Thursday, August 20.

While it’s since dropped down to third place on the charts, eclipsed by the recently-released and well-received Mortal Shell II, this is still a massive achievement for the series, which last found itself on Steam’s Top Sellers charts back when Square Enix first brought the games to the platform in summer 2024. At that time, it reached its historic all-time concurrent Steam player peak, drawing in 11,152 players simultaneously.

It’s not a massive surprise that Kingdom Hearts is seeing a surge in popularity right now; extended gameplay footage for Kingdom Hearts IV was shown at D23 over the weekend, snagging a spot in Disney’s Friday night showcase at the Honda Center and once again at the Deep Dive Into Kingdom Hearts panel on Saturday.

The Land of the Dead from Coco is an explorable world in KHIV, which will see Sora team up with Miguel and Hector to fight off the heartless. We also got a better look at Quadratum, the realistic metropolis seen in previous trailers, where we see Sora using a smartphone for the first time.

Perhaps the most exciting thing that was shown off in the trailer was a special gameplay segment where players take control of King Mickey in a Paper Mario, Link Between Worlds-esque mission. They will also be able to play as Goofy and Donald, who have seemingly lost track of Sora and are desperately searching for him.

That’s not all; in a rare public appearance, Tetsuya Nomura confirmed that Kingdom Hearts IV will release in late 2027, promising fans that this date would not get delayed.

"One last thing I wanted to share: we announced the game will come late 2027. Online, some people were saying the release date might get pushed back. I want to set the record straight: that is not happening," Nomura said.

With a firm release date in sight, fans are returning to Destiny Islands to refresh their memories and experience the series again before delving into the latest game. For a recap on the story so far, you can watch IGN’s video explaining the lore of Kingdom Hearts in five minutes, which is no small feat, considering how deep the iceberg goes.

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.

Marvel Studios has officially set a firm release date for its Ghost Rider film.

At San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios unveiled two new films: Ghost Rider and Black Panther 3. The latter was given a release date of December 15, 2028, but Ghost Rider was simply given a year-wide window of 2028 with no firm date. Now, Marvel Studios has updated its release calendar and confirmed that Ghost Rider will race into theaters on July 28, 2028. It will release just two months after the MCU's first X-Men film, which will hit theaters on May 5, 2028.

This is expected to be Marvel's entire theatrical slate for 2028. The three 2028 films are expected to help "reset" the MCU following Avengers: Secret Wars. Shuri and M'Baku are confirmed to be in Black Panther 3, so clearly there are plans to retain some of the current continuity in whatever comes next, but Marvel has suggested that it wants Secret Wars to create a new entry point into the MCU.

Ryan Gosling will play Ghost Rider after having personally campaigned for the role over the last few years. Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige noted that Gosling personally pitched the film himself and brought on Shawn Levy to direct after a successful collaboration on Star Wars: Starfighter. We don't know anything about the Ghost Rider film yet, but we will likely start to get some idea early next year when filming begins.

So far, the post-Avengers: Secret Wars slate is looking extremely promising. X-Men's cast is shaping up quite nicely, Ghost Rider is a project fans have wanted to see for years, and Black Panther is one of the most respected MCU characters. We'll have to wait and see if Marvel can keep the momentum going after 2028, but so far, the future looks bright.

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.