El Tigre and The Book of Life creator Jorge R. Gutierrez has sparked a significant backlash for signing up to make an AI animated series for Amazon.

Earlier this week, Amazon launched an AI creator fund to incentivize creators to use the tech to make new TV shows and films. One of those creators is Gutierrez, who recently likened animating with AI, from starting with a March pitch to green light today, to "having sex and then they hand you the baby."

The animator, who is also known for Netflix's Maya and the Three, is currently working on an AI-animated series known as Punky Duck for Amazon after having opposed AI in the past. In 2024, Gutierrez spoke out against AI, noting that it would hurt the ecosystem.

"The original animation creators of the future are learning skills by working up the ladder with experience and teamwork," he said at the time. "With all the AI short-term thinking, a whole generation of creators will not be able to grow to make original hit movies and series. The ecosystem is in peril."

Loyal fans have pushed back against Gutierrez's decision to embrace AI for his new show, expressing immense disappointment.

"We're incredibly disappointed in you. I've been a long time fan of your work," said one fan. "You opposed AI and denounced it for what it was. You have several amazing animated projects in the pipeline everyone wanted to back and support, and you still chose to chase the dollar and sell your morals to AI 'animation' and for what? What did you gain? Experimentation? There's nothing to experiment with, and you know what, you KNEW how many people, including your peers and colleagues, would feel with this sudden announcement, and it's been exactly that, widespread disappointment."

Unfortunately, this has also led to some fans apparently taking things way too far. Gutierrez noted on X that while he's welcoming and tolerating criticism, some have targeted his family and it has led to threats against them.

"I understand a lot of you are happy for me and a lot of you are really angry at me for experimenting with AI at Amazon," he said. "I’m going to leave the comments open so you can get it all out and hopefully feel better. Any death threats will be reported. Anyone threatening Sandra and my son Luka, I will report those too. Come at me all you want and need, just leave my family alone."

"With respect, people trusted and championed you because you saw what we saw, the theft and the damage to artists and the arts," one fan replied. "I think people are shocked and would just like to know why you've changed your mind, because you're one of the last people anyone expected to turn to AI."

"Going to be real with you man, you're really talented. Have admired your work for a long time. My heart breaks for all the creatives your work lifted up. Especially those in/from Mexico. You had a unique voice that you brought to the craft and it's just incredibly disappointing," another added.

Gutierrez's decision to use AI is upsetting to a lot of fans, as his work has always featured unique animation and art styles. The Book of Life was a beloved film directed by Gutierrez and was praised for its beautiful animation, for example. By embracing AI, some fear that his shows will lose the human touch that makes them so unique and devolve his creations into something less interesting or notable.

In a separate statement to Cartoon Brew, Gutierrez defended his usage of AI by stating that he hopes artists will drive the tech instead of the other way around.

"It’s a big experiment for me and I will be as cautious as possible with AI," he said. "Artists driving tech, and not the other way around, is my goal. I’ve been developing things at most legacy studios for years and Punky Duck, to my complete surprise, went to greenlight in two months from my first pitch. Cautiously optimistic of what we can accomplish with the support of Amazon MGM Studios. Taking a chance on an original feels like a miracle these days!"

Amazon itself has gotten backlash for leaning on AI in recent years. Last year, Amazon released an AI-generated recap of Fallout ahead of the show's second season, only for it to get key story details wrong. The recap was later pulled.

Image credit: Amazon MGM Studios.

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.

The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt has dropped its first story hints for the game's upcoming third expansion, Songs of the Past.

Officially confirmed yesterday, Songs of the Past will arrive for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2027 and once again allow players to take on the role of legendary monster slayer Geralt.

The expansion will launch 12 years after The Witcher 3's original debut in 2015, and 11 years after the game's second expansion, Blood and Wine, released in 2016. Fans expect its story to also act as something of a bridge to the upcoming The Witcher 4, which still lacks a release date.

"We won't give too much away right now because we want you to experience it as you play," senior community and social media manager Laura Beitzel teased today during a 10th anniversary livestream designed to celebrate Blood and Wine.

"But as a few eagle-eyed people have already seen over the past 24 hours, there are some hints waiting for you on a very important evening in Witcher lore, Belleteyn Night, in our Belleteyn celebration that we shared a few weeks ago. So... keep looking for clues."

Here, Beitzel is referencing a piece of artwork and a poem it sneakily posted on social media a month ago. It shows Geralt resting by a bonfire as Dandelion plays the lute while villagers dance. More importantly, though, it shows Geralt with a mysterious new sword — the same sword he's also holding in Songs of the Past's reveal artwork, which sports an unusual ornate curved crossguard.

Belleteyn has been referenced in The Witcher before, and is a fertility festival that takes place each spring. Here is the image's accompanying poem, in case you want to scour it for further clues:

"So yes, Geralt is holding a sword," CD Projekt's Amelia Korzycka continued, referencing Songs of the Past's key artwork. "It is a very important sword for the story and you will get to know it when the game comes out. So a few more streams before that when [we] reveal it."

Beitzel also discussed the size of the expansion — and as we heard previously, Songs of the Past is an expansion rather than a smaller DLC or add-on.

"Songs of the Past will be aligned with what you're familiar with in Blood and Wine, and what you've come to experience and expect from us when we do our expansions," Beitzel explained. "It's an expansion, let's make it clear."

Today's livestream also included confirmation that Songs of the Past will include more Gwent cards, and that CD Projekt was still working on cross-platform mod support for The Witcher 3, to launch at some point in the future.

Finally, CD Projekt's latest financial results have today confirmed a new overall sales total for The Witcher 3, which now stands at 65 million copies sold, up five million from its last count. That number seems likely to rise even further when Songs of the Past launches at some point in 2027.

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

Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty: Warzone will soon shut down on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as part of the upcoming Modern Warfare 4 leaving last-gen consoles behind.

Modern Warfare 4, due out in October, is set for release on PC, Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2 only. There is no version for PS4 or Xbox One. (For more on Modern Warfare 4, check out our roundup of all the information announced so far.)

Season 1 of Modern Warfare 4 kicks off shortly after the game itself launches on October 23. And with that, Warzone will integrate with Modern Warfare 4 content and seasonal progression.

But the big news here is that Warzone on PS4 and Xbox One will no longer be playable starting with Season 1. Even before then, from June 4, the battle royale will no longer be available for new downloads on those consoles, though existing players can continue to play until Season 1 launches. Some Call of Duty microtransactions won’t be available on those platforms either.

Meanwhile, on June 25, the in-game store for Call of Duty: Warzone on PS4 and Xbox One will be removed. Players can still progress through free Battle Pass tiers, including unlocking new weapons in remaining Black Ops 7 seasons, Activision said.

The PS4 and Xbox One are nearly 13 years old now, and with Call of Duty moving onto current-gen only with Modern Warfare 4, Warzone following suit was probably inevitable for Activision, given it's sharing content across both games. But it does feel like something of an end of an era, given Warzone's huge launch in early 2020, before the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S came out.

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.

Activision has finally revealed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, the next mainline entry in the first-person shooter franchise due out later in 2026.

Developed by Infinity Ward, the main studio behind the Modern Warfare sub-series, Modern Warfare 4 ditches the last generation of consoles to focus on the current-gen — and it’s also coming to Nintendo Switch 2 day one with crossplay.

Three main modes are included in the package: Campaign, Multiplayer, and DMZ, the latter of which is Modern Warfare’s extraction mode. The setting this time around is Korea amid a full-scale invasion of South Korea. Activision describes the campaign as returning to the series’ roots, with “dark, gritty storytelling, cinematic set pieces, and immersive gameplay moments.” Expect missions in Korea, New York, Paris, and an SAS night raid in Mumbai.

Here’s the official blurb:

Private Park, a young Korean grunt soldier, is thrust into combat for the first time, as he and his squad are forced to overcome impossible odds in a gripping zero to hero journey. Captain Price returns and forms a rogue alliance, operating outside the system and apart from the Task Force 141 team he once called his own.

As for Multiplayer, the headline change is that weapon bloom has been removed from hipfire, which means “every shot tells the truth.” Shots “feel more connected to where the weapon is pointed while delivering consistent, predictable, and fair gunplay.”

At launch, expect 12 all-new core 6v6 maps, dedicated Gunfight maps, multiple Big War maps built for vehicle and infantry combat, and Kill Block, a dynamic battleground with more than 500 configurations that reshape routes, sightlines, and cover to keep players adapting round after round.

"Taking place inside the Westbridge Training Facility, Kill Block introduces a dynamic new Multiplayer battleground where the combat space reconfigures between rounds, reshaping sightlines, routes, and cover to keep players adapting in real time," Activision said. "Shaped from a set of purpose-built modular sections capable of creating more than 500 distinct configurations, each match creates its own combat rhythm and tactical challenges. Expect more sections and even more configurations during Modern Warfare 4’s live seasons."

Kill Block supports expanded Gunfight formats, including 3v3 and 10v10 experiences, with future support planned for more core Multiplayer modes.

Meanwhile, movement is reworked, with expanded options for Mantling, Climbing, Hanging and Jumping. A redesigned Create-a-Class system unifies Operators, weapons, Equipment, and Killstreaks into a single loadout, giving players quicker access to specialized builds tailored to different tactics and playstyles.

There are two Prestige paths: Classic Prestige and Regular Prestige. Classic Prestige delivers the traditional reset experience, relocking Create-a-Class progression in exchange for increased XP earn rates and access to exclusive Prestige rewards. For players who prefer to maintain their unlocked Loadouts, Regular Prestige allows progression to restart from Level 1 without resetting Create-a-Class content, offering a more flexible path forward while still rewarding continued progression, with its own set of Prestige rewards and progression milestones. Check out IGN's impressions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Multiplayer right here.

Activision isn't saying much about the DMZ mode at the moment, although it has signalled that more will be revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase in June. But we do have a short blurb on the mode, and some screenshots, below:

DMZ is the definitive Call of Duty extraction experience, a living combat arena where every deployment is a new story. Deploy solo or with a squad into a volatile conflict zone as an off-the-books asset tasked with recovering advanced military technology left in the wake of war. The conditions in the exclusion zone are always shifting, with changing weather, dynamic military objectives, and hostile forces moving throughout the zone.

Loot, fight, negotiate, betray, and extract with whatever you can carry. The harder you push, the harder the world pushes back. Every run is a risk, every encounter is a choice, and no two deployments play out the same way.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 development is led by Infinity Ward, and will be available globally on Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Battle.net, Xbox on PC, Steam, and Nintendo Switch 2 on Friday, October 23, 2026. Crucially for Activision and Microsoft, that’s four weeks before the attention-sucking GTA 6 comes out.

The PC version is built with the help of Beenox, which has worked on PC versions of Call of Duty for some time now. The Nintendo Switch 2 version is developed in partnership with Digital Legends, the Barcelona-based Activision-owned studio which worked on the now shuttered Call of Duty Warzone Mobile.

It’s worth noting that this year's Call of Duty will not launch day one on Game Pass, Microsoft's subscription service. New Xbox boss Asha Sharma had decided to pull new Call of Duty launches out of Game Pass, instead adding them in a year later, while cutting the price of a sub as part of a wider effort to rebuild the brand in the eyes of hardcore fans.

Microsoft has decided to stick with $70 as the standard edition price point for Call of Duty this year, resisting the temptation to go to $80 or beyond. The Vault Edition costs $100.

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.

Ever since Intel Panther Lake launched back at CES 2026, we've known that Team Blue's latest mobile chips were coming to handhelds. And, ahead of Computex 2026, Intel has announced the G3 Extreme, which should be powering some of the best handheld gaming PCs this year.

The G3 Extreme is the star of the show, rocking 14 CPU cores and the same 12-core Arc B390 GPU found in the Asus ZenBook Duo I reviewed earlier this year. While these handheld chips will have lower clocks at 2.3GHz, compared to 2.5GHz, the G3 Extreme should be able to play most AAA games at low to medium settings while also being able to hit 60+ fps.

Intel is also taking a page out of AMD's playbook and releasing a less-powerful Arc G3. This chip will have the same CPU configuration as the G3 Extreme, but will have a much less powerful GPU, with a 10-core Arc B370 clocked at 2.2GHz. It's too early to know exactly how that will perform, but it should be about 10-20% slower than the G3 Extreme.

The G3 Extreme should start making their way to handheld gaming PCs over the next few months. For instance, the Acer Predator Atlas 8 will feature the G3 Extreme, along with 24GB of RAM, a 1200p display and a 1TB SSD. Acer hasn't shared the price for its handheld yet, but on the heels of the Steam Deck price increase, it's probably going to be quite pricey.

Another 'Next Generation'

Back at CES 2025, the Ryzen Z2 Extreme was promised to power the next generation of handheld gaming PCs. And while the Xbox Ally X and the Legion Go 2, both powered by that AMD chip, were fantastic, they didn't do much to move the needle on gaming performance. Hopefully these Panther Lake chips can shake things up a bit.

Intel actually has a decent shot at doing just that. Unlike the Z-series processors, which have all been using years-old graphics architectures, the G3 Extreme is using a modified Panther Lake chip. I won't know what that means for raw performance until I can benchmark it, but if anything, this new architecture will be huge for battery life.

After all, one of the biggest problems with handheld gaming PCs is starting up a game, only to have it die after an hour and a half. If the Panther Lake laptops I've used are any indication, these new handhelds should have much better battery life.

Intel has also put a ton of work into its software over the last couple years. Just like its laptops, these upcoming handhelds will support XeSS multi-frame generation. Frame generation still isn't a good substitute for base performance, but these handhelds keep coming out with fast displays – Acer's G3 handheld has a 120Hz refresh rate, after all. Multi-frame generation might actually let the G3 Extreme hit those high frame rates in games that aren't retro rogue-likes.

It's too early to tell just how well this new crop of handheld gaming PCs will perform, but I will be getting them in the lab soon. And I can't wait to see just what they're capable of. Hopefully we actually get that next generation bump we've been waiting for – that might mean the Steam Deck 2 is closer than we think.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

Frontier Developments has announced Planet Zoo 2, which will include flying and aquatic animals in aviaries and aquariums for the first time.

This zoo sim sequel will arrive for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on October 13, almost seven years after the park gates opened on Frontier's first Planet Zoo.

Announcing Planet Zoo 2 today, Frontier dubbed the game as a "generational leap forward in animation and animal behaviour", with improved visuals and a wider gameplay focus on conservation — restoring natural habitats and releasing animals into wildlife reserves.

New acquatic species include black-tipped reef sharks, hawksbill turtles, and colourful shoals of fish, while bird species will meanwhile feature the toco toucan and the secretary bird.

As ever, you'll also be having to balance the various needs of running a successful animal park — making sure your guests and staff are happy, as well as the animals, and also ensuring you're making enough cash to keep the lights on.

Speaking of money, Planet Zoo will launch at $49.99/£39.99/€49.99, and pre-orders are open now. There's a set of pre-order bonuses (you'll get the Toucan Eat Shop and Signage, three Unique Animal Donation Bins, and the Tiger Photo Stand-In Wall when the game launches) and also a Deluxe Edition option.

Planet Zoo 2's pricier version will cost $64.99/£54.99/€64.99 and feature six additional animal species — details of which are still to be announced. A Deluxe Edition upgrade pack will also be available, should you want to wait and see.

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

Valve recently raised the price on the Steam Deck, making the handheld gaming PC cost up to $949 for the 1TB OLED model. While that's a massive $300 increase over its original price, the Steam Deck is once again sold out.

It's not surprising that the Steam Deck went up in price; basically every type of gaming hardware is going through the same thing right now. Back in March, the PlayStation 5 had its price increased, and it's likely that further price increases will happen as the ongoing RAM crisis continues. There is probably a point where prices on gaming hardware go up by so much that nobody can afford it, but it doesn't look like we're at that point yet.

Even with the $300 price bump, the Steam Deck sold out after less than 24 hours back in stock. I don't know how many units Valve was able to stock into its store, but it does seem like Valve spent a couple weeks building up its stock before putting the handheld back on its store.

Over the last couple weeks, Valve has been receiving plenty of "game console" shipments from China. At first, I thought this was a sign that the company was getting ready to finally release the Steam Machine, but it looks like at least a portion of these shipments – if not all of them – were Steam Deck restocks. That's a lot of Steam Decks to sell through at these inflated prices, but it's also possible that Valve is just staggering its stock so that its delivery infrastructure isn't overwhelmed.

Now its just a question of when the Steam Deck will come back in stock. Before yesterday, the Deck was sold out for months. At the time, it was the most affordable way to get into PC gaming, especially in the face of the RAM crisis. That's no longer true, but it looks like the Steam Deck's popularity is enough to make it sell out regardless. Maybe the higher price will at least help Valve keep it in stock for people who still want to buy it, no matter the cost.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

Strauss Zelnick, boss of GTA 6 publisher Take-Two Interactive, has discussed the difficulties of developing a hit video game — and dropped what sounds like a obvious nod to MindsEye in the process.

MindsEye is, of course, the notorious first game from Build a Rocket Boy — the studio set up by former Rockstar veteran Leslie Benzies. After years in development and enormous metaverse ambitions, MindsEye ultimately arrived as a buggy and poorly-received flop, resulting in hundreds of layoffs.

"Making hits seems to get harder and harder and harder as entertainment industries mature," Zelnick said, speaking at the TD Cowen 54th Annual Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. "The folks at Rockstar seem to be able to make these massive hits, and lots of other people have tried. Lots and lots, including former Rockstar employees. And so far, they haven't been able to do it.

"Doesn't mean they can't in the future, by the way," Zelnick continued. "We're always running scared. But it won't be technology that changes the game. What'll change is that some extraordinarily creative individual or individuals will show up and do something astonishing. Our goal is to get those people to work within the Take-Two system. If we fail to do that, we fail."

Zelnick went on to discuss the long wait for GTA 6 — and painted the gap between releases in the series as something of a strength. Unlike other video game publishers, Zelnick said, he had ensured that Take-Two had never tried to annualize its franchises (outside of its sports games). In other words, he wasn't trying to replicate Activision's demands for an annual Call of Duty blockbuster, or Ubisoft's past push for annual Assassin's Creed adventures.

"Our plan might not be to have a specific cadence around our properties because we're not a cadence-driven company, we never have been," Zelnick said. "I didn't show up at Take-Two nearly 20 years ago and say, the way everyone else was, 'We're going to annualize our products like clockwork...' I was an outlier at the time.

"I'm not going to name the properties," he continued, "but we've seen that some very competitive properties have had good annual releases and bad annual releases because it's just so hard to do. GTA was not the number one property [when I joined in 2007]. It was a top five property, but it was not the number one property. And take a look at what happened to the properties that were higher up in the food chain that were annualized to see what happens."

Regardless, it has been a very, very long wait for GTA 6 — 13 years since GTA 5! — which sounds like something Zelnick had not intended either.

"Creating some anticipation on the part of the consumer is a good thing," he concluded, noting that GTA 5 had been ticking over just fine through constant updates to GTA Online and new versions of the game re-released on newer consoles. "What has driven the gap is the amount of time it takes to do something that is as good as it can possibly be for that intellectual property."

GTA 6 is finally set to arrive this November after numerous delays — and Zelnick recently assured IGN that its release date is expected to stick.

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

In the wake of the announcement of The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past, CD Projekt staff have taken to social media to insist it should be considered an expansion, rather than DLC — even using an IGN interview with Cyberpunk star Idris Elba to hammer home the point.

Yesterday, CD Projekt announced the third expansion to its hugely successful fantasy role-playing game The Witcher 3. It’s due out in 2027, 12 years after the 60 million-selling The Witcher 3 came out in 2015, and 11 years after the second expansion, Blood and Wine, came out in 2016. The Witcher 3's first expansion, Hearts of Stone, was released in October 2015.

We don’t have much to go on, save an official description that confirms Songs of the Past will return players to the role of legendary monster slayer Geralt of Rivia for a brand new adventure on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. That’s left a void for discussion around the size and scope of Songs of the Past, but everything CD Projekt staff have said following the announcement suggests fans can expect something pretty big.

“Let me remind you the definition of the Expansion,” Paweł Sasko, Associate Game Director on Cyberpunk 2 and former developer on Cyberpunk 2077, its expansion Phantom Liberty, and The Witcher 3 itself, tweeted alongside a clip of Idris Elba, who played Solomon Reed in the 2023 expansion. In the clip, which is taken from an IGN interview, Elba stresses that CD Projekt releases DLC for free, but expansions are a different proposition.

“Just to be clear, it’s not DLC. It’s an expansion. You know why? Because we do expansions — Big! Massive! Monster! We don’t do DLCs, and when we do, we give them away.”

If Songs of the Past is an expansion, then, we are safe to assume it will be, as Elba puts it, “big, massive, monster.” But other CD Projekt developers have also chimed in.

“For us at CDPR, DLCs are small pieces of content we release for free — like the additional outfits for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,” Marcin Łukaszewski, Community and Social Media Manager, tweeted in response to a fan question.

“Expansions, on the other hand, are major pieces of content providing lots of hours of gameplay, including new story, characters, etc.”

So while Songs of the Past is technically DLC because it’s content you download, it should be thought of differently. (One recent report pointed to the possibility of a 'Dune-style' location for the new expansion.) CD Projekt will host an official special anniversary stream for Blood and Wine today, May 28. Perhaps we’ll find out more there.

It’s a hugely busy time for CD Projekt. The Witcher 4 production continues, although CD Projekt has cautioned fans not to expect its launch until 2027 at the earliest. The company plans an ambitious six-year roadmap in which it will also launch The Witcher 5 and The Witcher 6.

While further DLC for The Witcher 3 is now confirmed to be in development, CD Projekt has ruled out more DLC for Cyberpunk, suggesting fans will indeed have to wait for Cyberpunk 2 to return to its much-loved dystopian universe. And the wait looks like it's going to be significant; Cyberpunk 2 is further behind The Witcher 4, and CD Projekt co-CEO Michał Nowakowski has suggested Cyberpunk 2 won’t be out until at least 2030.

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 development team behind The Sims-like Paralives has answered various community questions in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA), revealing more about its priority fixes, expanding the team, and why there will never be paid DLC.

Paralives released on May 25 as an early access title on Steam, and has seen an impressive response. concurrent player numbers peaked at 78,603, and it has over 5,200+ user reviews already, with 88% positive.

To celebrate the release, lead developer and founder, Alex Massé, sat down with the rest of the development team to answer questions. A few people asked about autonomy, suggesting it should be a priority "considering it's a life simulation game and the Paras just stand there doing nothing when not being talked to / interacted with." Massé agreed, responding: "Autonomy is definitely a big core feature of the game that needs more love, more balancing, and especially more content. The characters are on their phone a lot mainly because those interactions can be done without targeting any other character or item, so these are the 'easiest' and most common thing they can do. Adding more autonomous actions and more interactions in general during early access will help, it should make the characters do more various things!"

The team also directly responded to a question about adult content being modded into the game. Asked what the team's stance was, QA Charlotte replied: "so long as it follows Steam's guidelines on user-uploaded content and is properly tagged as adult content, it is OK! We also only moderate mods inside of the Steam Workshop, so anything out of there will be out of our jurisdiction so to speak."

But it's the commitment to no paid DLC that has a lot of fans excited. Unsurprisingly, they had a lot of questions, too.

"You said 'Paralives will never have paid DLCs,' and that's beyond amazing, but how do you intend to keep development active? It's a risk, I believe," said one fan. "Do you plan to offer merchandise, partnerships, or any paid content? (Not a DLC per se, but perhaps a special bundle?)"

"There will never be paid DLCs, only free updates!" said Massé. "Even after the Early Access. As life sim fans, we wanted to make a game we would like to play ourselves without the need to purchase a lot of extra content and we are happy to deliver that. Because the team is small (only 15 people) the sales we made so far will sustain us for many years, even if we increase the size of the team so we're safe and really grateful for that!"

"I was going to ask this as well," replied one Redditor. "It's a great gesture that's very appreciated but I don't see how it's feasible long-term. Sales will slow eventually and the scope of indefinitely supporting a game that costs as much as a single Sims expansion seems huge."

When others questioned this further, Massé added: "The sales we made from the game so far will sustain our small team of 15 for many years so we are happy to be able to offer free-only updates in the future because it's what we would like as life sim fans ourselves."

As for if the team could be expanded beyond 15 people to accommodate the growing wishlist? Massé said: "We would like to expand the team a bit without becoming too big because we like working as a small team! In any case, we will be working on fixing bugs and improving the live mode gameplay in the coming months and the following major updates!"

What we won't be getting any time soon is multitasking. Though the team answered the question about when Paras will be able to "eat while watching TV sat down," programmer Anna Thibert said: "That's not planned for now since it is quite challenging technically, but we are keeping it as a potential option for a future update!" The OP noted their disappointment: "Really surprised to hear this isn’t planned! To me, multitasking feels like a very crucial thing for a life sim to have!"

Programmer Jérémie Tessier also commented on feedback that the Together Cards "got very repetitive fast [...] and got in the way of choosing some basic socialization options." "At the moment we do not plan to have a parallel system to Together Cards, you currently can do certain interactions from the menu after you have performed them via Together Cards," Tessier said. "We certainly need more cards, just in general and for specific contexts, and we need more ways for parafolks to 'prime' themselves to be in some specific moods so you have more cards of a type you want, but we are happy with the Together Card system! Thanks!"

Masse also added an astonishingly complex but very real example of why designing life sim games is so complex:

For more, including questions on fireworks, collaborations, build mode grids, gardening, Steam achievements, the occult, and more, head on over to the (long!) Reddit thread.

We thought Paralives was 'Good,' writing in IGN's review: "Paralives is a rough-around-the-edges life simulator that makes up for its Early Access sins with a striking art style and some promising ideas." The review returned a 7.

If you’re starting a new life in Paralives, we’ve got a guide to character creation, and Tips and Things to Do First to help you get started - plus How to Move Households, How to Complete Requests, and an in-progress guide to all the Paralives Skills. Like any good life sim, there are also plenty of Cheats and Console Commands to give you a bit more control.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Amazon will begin pre-production on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 4 this fall — before the show's third season airs.

A production schedule for the mega-budget series laid out by The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Prime Video wants to begin Season 4 pre-production work this year, with shooting then set for early in 2027.

Currently, Prime Video has Rings of Power's upcoming third season set to begin streaming from this November, after a lengthy wait of more than two years from the release of Season 2. The Hollywood Reporter suggests that Amazon wants to keep this wait as short as possible for the series' next run of episodes, though it's still likely they'll arrive in 2028.

It's important to note that Prime Video has yet to formally greenlight the series' fourth season, though the show was originally pitched as featuring a five-season story and Amazon has reportedly assured the series' showrunners that it remains committed to staying the course.

Regardless of questions over the show's viewing figures and whether it is worth its enormous cost — reportedly $1 billion — the show was recently described as sitting "under [Jeff] Bezos' magical halo", with its future safe while other big budget Amazon shows (such as The Wheel of Time) have fallen by the wayside.

"Jumping forward several years from the events of season two, season three takes place at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron," reads an official synopsis for Rings of Power's upcoming third season, "as the Dark Lord seeks to craft the One Ring that will give him the edge he needs to win the war and conquer all Middle-earth at last."

In the meantime, a glimpse at what to expect has shown Elendil (once again played by Peter McKenzie) training for battle. We see the actor picking up the legendary blade Narsil, and readying himself while standing on a shoreline.

It's a busy time for Middle-earth, with two Lord of the Rings movie spinoffs also in the works. The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will see Andy Serkis, Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen return to their legendary roles as Smeagul, Frodo and Gandalf for a prequel story due out next year. The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past will then follow as a sequel story written by Stephen Colbert, with flashbacks to moments left out of Peter Jackson's original trilogy.

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

Activision has teased an imminent reveal of the next Call of Duty Modern Warfare game with a YouTube video that suggests Korea as a setting.

The official Call of Duty YouTube channel has gone live with a video feed from “Camera 04,” showing what may be a multiplayer map set in urban Korea. The banner on the left of the footage includes a set of numbers, including 26-06-07, which is the day of Microsoft's upcoming Xbox Games Showcase (June 7, 2026). The other set of numbers, 04-13-26, could relate to the numbers of the alphabet, as they spell out DMZ, the name of Call of Duty's extraction mode.

There’s not much else to go on, but this new video going live today, May 28, certainly suggests a reveal is imminent.

Developer Infinity Ward has already confirmed this year’s Call of Duty is a new Modern Warfare, which is rumored to be Modern Warfare 4. “Yes, we are making the definitive Modern Warfare,” Infinity Ward tweeted earlier this month.

It’s worth noting that Infinity Ward has said that this year’s entry will not release on last-gen consoles, confirming that the hugely popular first-person shooter franchise has finally, properly moved onto the current generation (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S).

What remains unknown at this time is whether the new game will be released on Nintendo Switch 2. A year ago, both Activision and Nintendo were said to be working on getting Call of Duty on Switch, but that never happened for 2025’s Black Ops 7. In February 2023, Microsoft signed a 10-year agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo gamers “the same day as Xbox, with full feature and content parity.” The agreement was part of Microsoft’s effort to get its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard over the line in the face of resistance from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other regulators across the globe. The concern was that Microsoft might have pulled Call of Duty from PlayStation, or made the game on rival platforms inferior in some way. Promising to release Call of Duty on Nintendo consoles was designed to show Microsoft’s commitment to making Call of Duty as accessible as possible to as many gamers as possible. Is now finally the time to make good on that promise?

It's also worth noting that this year's Call of Duty will not launch day one on Game Pass, Microsoft's subscription service. New Xbox boss Asha Sharma had decided to pull new Call of Duty launches out of Game Pass, instead adding them in a year later, while cutting the price of a sub as part of a wider effort to rebuild the brand in the eyes of hardcore fans.

Infinity Ward has new co-studio heads going into the launch of this year’s game. Jack O’Hara, who came up in production, has been at Infinity Ward since 2012, while Mark Grigsby made his name in animation starting back in 2005, though he left for a stint at Respawn Entertainment before returning in 2012. IGN spoke to both in a recent interview that’s worth checking out while you wait for today’s reveal.

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.

Several upcoming Pokémon LEGO sets have leaked online, each with Smart Play elements included.

Smart Play is LEGO's major new interactive element introduced earlier this year, which uses the Smart Brick (included in specific sets) to generate sound and light effects under certain conditions. To date, the technology has only rolled out in a handful of Star Wars playsets, though LEGO has big ambitions for its use in future.

Now, fans have gotten their first peek at how Smart Play will be used in several upcoming Pokémon sets, via leaked images posted by Brick Tap.

Cubone and Gengar's Spooky Showdown features blocky builds for each of the two Pokémon, with four Smart Tags — the NFC tiles that a Smart Brick can interact with. Both species have their own tile, and there are two further tiles that add further interaction within the set, allowing for feedback as the pair damage a set of targets.

Jigglypuff Concert features just one Smart Tag, for Jigglypuff itself. The set looks to be a simple one, with the pink puffball accompanied by two small speakers and a microphone setup. Next to be leaked is Charmander and Geodude's Cavern Clash, which features another two blocky builds and two Smart Tags, one for each creature.

A fourth set is titled Charizard vs Jolteon Ultimate Battle, and features two Smart Bricks and four Smart Tags. Again, the pair of creatures have a series of targets for their attacks to hit, with additional interactivity unclear at this stage.

The three sets have all been known about by leakers for some time, as part of a long list of LEGO Pokémon sets due to arrive this summer (which fans expect to begin rolling out from August 1 onwards).

Only some of these new sets will feature a Smart Brick — meaning fans will need to pick one of these up first to make use of the Smart Play elements in other sets (or make use of a Smart Brick from LEGO's pre-existing Star Wars sets which have Smart Bricks included). On the upside, however, the lack of a Smart Brick in many of the other sets will likely keep prices down. To date, the cheapest way to obtain a Smart Brick is to buy the $69.99 TIE-Fighter set, which has one included. In future, fans expect LEGO to begin selling Smart Bricks separately.

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

Subnautica 2 has sold so well that publisher Krafton has reportedly agreed to pay a $250 million earnout to the developers — a bonus that was at the heart of its high-profile legal dispute with the fired Unknown Worlds leadership.

The underwater adventure has sold a mammoth 4 million copies since its early access launch on May 14, achieving more than 467,000 peak concurrent players on Steam. But its development was turbulent, with Krafton firing Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill and other senior team members in the summer of last year. At the time, Krafton said the game's launch had also been delayed — something it blamed on Gill — even though its team had been working towards an early access release that would have seen them eligible for that $250 million bonus.

Gill and his former teammates immediately launched a lawsuit against Krafton, suggesting they were ousted to avoid that bonus being paid, while Krafton hit back and said the staff had "resorted to litigation to demand a multimillion-dollar payout they haven't earned." Krafton also accused the staff it fired of having stolen documents in anticipation of subsequent legal action, muddying the waters over their exit.

In March, Krafton was ordered to reinstate Gill and extend the proposed $250 million bonus to staff in one of the most dramatic legal rulings the video game industry has ever seen. And today, reports coming out of the South Korean business press indicate that Krafton has now agreed to pay the bonus.

According to estimates from Alinea Analytics, Subnautica 2 generated $100 million in just a week, and is is 2026’s fastest-selling Steam game so far. The Korean Economic Daily said Krafton now faces that $250 million bill after agreeing to pay $3.12 for every $1, or up to $250 million, to Unknown Worlds’ former shareholders every time the studio’s revenue topped $69.8 million a month since the Korean game developer acquired the U.S. firm in 2021. $250 million is equivalent to about 35% of Krafton’s operating profit last year.

IGN has asked Krafton for comment.

The legal battle between Krafton and the Unknown Worlds shareholders revealed a number of shocking revelations around the South Korean company’s internal actions in the run up to Subnautica 2’s release. For example, as internal projections showed Subnautica 2 looked on course to trigger the earnout, Krafton’s chief executive, Changhan Kim, believed it was a “bad deal” and felt “taken advantage of,” according to the ruling.

Kim was warned by his legal department that the earnout would still need to be paid even if there was a “dismissal with cause” of the Unknown Worlds’ leadership: co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire and chief executive Ted Gill. He was also warned it would expose Krafton to “lawsuit and reputation risk.”

Kim then turned to ChatGPT, the AI-powered chatbot built by OpenAI, for help, vice-chancellor Lori Will of the court of chancery in Delaware said in the ruling. ChatGPT initially responded that the earnout would be “difficult to cancel,” but later, at ChatGPT’s suggestion, Kim formed an internal taskforce, dubbed Project X. “The task force’s mandate was to either negotiate a ‘deal’ on the earnout or execute a ‘Take Over’ of Unknown Worlds,” Will stated. “They looked to buy time.”

“Over the next month, Krafton followed most of ChatGPT’s recommendations,” Will wrote.

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.

Donkey Kong 64 is coming to Nintendo Switch Online next week, Nintendo has confirmed.

The legendary N64 platformer will arrive on June 4, and like other N64 titles will be accessible to any Switch or Switch 2 owner with an active Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription.

Originally released in 1999 and developed by famed British studio Rare, Donkey Kong 64 is remembered for its many levels filled with collectibles, its use of the N64's Expansion Pak add-on, and as the birthplace of the iconic DK Rap.

While disliked at the time, the DK Rap has gone on to find cult status (and appear in numerous other things, such as the Super Mario Bros. Movie and various Smash Bros. soundtracks). Today, Nintendo's announcement for the game's Switch re-release also uses the DK Rap as its music.

Donkey Kong 64 will join around 40 other games from the Nintendo 64 era available via Nintendo Switch Online, including other classics such as Super Mario 64, Paper Mario and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. For the full catalog, IGN has a list of every Nintendo Switch Online game available to date.

Today's announcement follows last year's launch of excellent new DK platformer Donkey Kong Bananza for Nintendo Switch 2 (IGN's Donkey Kong Bananza review returned a rare 10/10), and comes amid growing fan speculation that Nintendo's mysterious upcoming Mario movie spinoff slated for launch in April 2028 is actually a Donkey Kong film.

In a bizarre twist, fans have noted that today's announcement has also arrived exactly on the 10th anniversary of legendary gorilla Harambe's untimely passing. Whether intentional or not, it's an apepropriate gesture.

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

007 First Light developer IO Interactive has teased what fans can expect from the game's first content update, and it should be a treat. After players complete the main story, they'll notice an ad in the game's main menu that teases new content coming to TacSim, the game's challenge mode. The ad confirms that a future update will add the Valhalla Protocol, a mission that features the souped-up Aston Martin that you briefly see in the main story.

While its role in the main story is small, it appears that the new TacSim update will add a larger course for players to drive through, blasting and blowing stuff up. This would be a pretty big departure from the other content in TacSim. Right now, there's only a handful of levels in the challenge mode, and all of them see James Bond completing objectives on foot. Although epic car chases are a big part of Bond's lineage, 007 First Light only has a few driving sequences, which are brief and very linear. As of right now, there's no release date for the Valhalla Protocol, but hopefully it'll be in the next few weeks.

The 007 main menu is teasing future Tac Sim missions pic.twitter.com/JM9e3nDdUO

— Farzam (@farzam_plays) May 26, 2026

IO Interactive is, of course, best known for the Hitman series, a franchise that has only grown in popularity because of the developer's extensive post-launch support. These games are supported for years after launch, giving fans new reasons to come back regularly. Whether 007 First Light will have the same level of support remains to be seen, but one can hope. It's great to see that there are already plans for a notable piece of new content, but only time will tell if this is something we can expect regularly.

007 First Light is already off to a strong start, with the game being showered in critical acclaim. In our review-in-progress, we called the game "the best Bond has been since GoldenEye." Other reviewers have offered similar praise. The jury is still out with regard to how well 007 First Light will sell but, hopefully, it'll be a success for IO Interactive so we can get more James Bond adventures. IO Interactive previously stated it hopes to make a trilogy of Bond games, but it's unclear what milestones First Light needs to hit to make that a reality.

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.

Bungie is opening the gates to Marathon next week and letting players jump in on the action, free of cost. As part of Marathon Season 2's launch, the full game will be getting a free trial from June 2nd to June 9th on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC. All of the progress you make during this time will carry over to the full game, so it's a great way to try before you buy. It's a clear move from Bungie to try to win over players, as Marathon has had soft sales and underwhelming player counts for a new game.

Marathon Season 2 also plans to add more PVE content to the game as a way to lure in more players who are turned off by core modes in the game. The extraction shooter genre has had some massive wins, like Arc Raiders, but the premise can be daunting for some, pushing away more casual shooter fans. As always, Bungie has incorporated strong gunplay into Marathon, but some wish it were in a more accessible game. It seems like Bungie is trying to cater to those would-be players with upcoming content.

Despite sales issues, Marathon has received pretty solid reviews. We gave the game a 9/10, noting: "Marathon is a ruthless and unforgiving extraction shooter that’s worth every ounce of hell it puts you through." It's at least a promising sign that Marathon has strong fundamentals, because it's all Bungie will have for the foreseeable future. Destiny 2 is ending live-service support in June, and the studio will be turning all of its attention to Marathon while figuring out what's next.

Reports indicate that Bungie is not actively working on Destiny 3, nor does it have any other titles in production. Bungie is also expected to suffer "significant" layoffs in the coming weeks and months, likely tied to the fact that the studio has more people than it needs with Destiny 2 winding down. Some are protesting against Marathon following the Destiny 2 news, but it remains to be seen if that will have any kind of meaningful impact.

Either way, it'll be interseting to see if Bungie can win people over with Marathon. If not, it may pose major danger for the beloved shooter studio. Sony is likely going to be picky about any future projects that Bungie pitches, given the high costs associated with developing games at the studio's normal scale. We also likely won't see whatever Bungie's next game is until the 2030s, so Marathon needs to become sustainable for the foreseeable 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.

There have been some rather odd claims stating that Backrooms director Kane Parsons didn't actually direct the film, prompting him to respond. The claims began circulating across social media, with some trying to discredit the 20-year-old director's efforts, likely due to his age. Backrooms is produced by acclaimed directors like James Wan (The Conjuring), Shawn Levy (Deadpool and Wolverine), and Osgood Perkins (Longlegs), which led some to believe that they may be running the show and "ghost directing" the project.

Actor Mark Duplass addressed the rumors on his social media pages by stating that it was totally false, even posting a video on Instagram stating that Parsons didn't need any help because he was "intensely prepared." The actor went on to praise Parson's thoughtfulness as a creator, including with his ability to work with actors, something that Parsons wouldn't have had much experience with before.

Parsons himself jokingly addressed the rumors as well in the comments section of a video from YouTuber Dolan Darkest.

"This is actually all true," joked Parsons. "They don’t tell you this, but 96% of all movies released in North America and Europe are actually directed by the same person. They call him 'The Older Gentleman.' He has had all of Hollywood in a chokehold for decades now. They make you sign over all of your intellectual property, life rights, and genetic information to him when you enter the industry. He loves movies."

Parsons gained prominence as a filmmaker in 2022 with the debut of his liminal short horror film, The Backrooms. The teenage creator had made some compelling videos prior to this, but the virality of The Backrooms attracted a lot of attention. By 2023, A24 had recruited Parsons to develop the idea into a feature film. Early reviews for Backrooms indicate it's a strong and promising debut for the young creator and, should the film be a financial success, Parsons will likely have the opportunity to direct more projects.

IGN gave Backrooms an 8/10, noting that it "blends superb visuals and excellent characterization with the lore of the Backrooms to create a terrifying and thrilling big-screen debut for the liminal horror classic."

Young YouTubers and content creators have been getting opportunities to direct feature films, resulting in a new generation of savvy directors that can turn a profit on small budgets. Earlier this month, Curry Barker's Obsession was released and has become one of the most successful films of 2026. Barker has also been tapped to direct a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou AKA RackaRacka made waves in 2023 with their film Talk to Me, after years of success on YouTube.

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.

Ferrari has revealed its new $640,000 electric car, known as the Luce, and it seems to have significantly harmed the legendary company's reputation. The Italian car company is known for making some of the most revered vehicles in history. The cars are almost art-like with the level of detail that goes into producing them, and those who own them treat them with a high degree of care. They're premium, prestigious, and high-value. So, everyone was eager to see what was in store for the company's new electric car only to be outraged.

The car was unveiled with a baby blue color, one that doesn't really scream Ferrari. Not only that, but it's a four-door with five seats, as opposed to a two-door. It's much more roomy, maybe akin to a fancier version of something you'd expect from Honda or Kia rather than a luxury car manufacturer like Ferrari. The car was designed by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, which may explain why it looks the way it does.

Former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo tried to mince words to avoid hurting Ferrari too much when speaking with media, but what he did say was still extremely damming.

“I cannot say what I really think," he said. "I would harm Ferrari. We risk the destruction of a legend. So sorry. Take the Prancing Horse off.”

One user on X was much more direct: "Ferrari just killed their brand just like Jaguar did. This is straight to the junkyard trash."

However, Ferrari is aware that this isn't the most appealing car for everyone. Ferrari chief design officer Flavio Manzoni noted to YouTuber Cleo Abram that the car is meant to be "polarizing" and that the company is trying to innovate, rather than lean on the past or nostalgia. Jony Ive also noted that he's familiar with backlash to innovation, but he welcomes challenge when trying to pave a path toward the future.

Still, the Ferrari Luce will move rather fast. The car can hit 60mph in 2.5 seconds, though there are far cheaper electric vehicles that can hit 60mph faster. The Tesla Model S Plaid can hit 60mph in 1.99 seconds for a fraction of the cost of Ferrari's new vehicle. Perhaps Ferrari really is just ahead of everyone else and the Luce will be what we expect from a car 10-15 years from now. Or maybe it'll be something it regrets and looks back on as a total mistake.

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.

The Wheel of Time is one of the best-selling fantasy book series of all time, but it's a franchise that has struggled to take hold as an adaptation. Most notably, Amazon's live-action Wheel of Time show was tragically cancelled just last year after what IGN called it's "best season yet". But a new kickstarter for the first-ever official board game is bringing some fresh hope to fans of Robert Jordan's fantasy world that there's still more to look forward to.

War of the Dragon is an upcoming strategy game for 2-4 players that according to the Kickstarter page, "combines tableau building, action selection, and area control mechanics in a thrilling struggle for conquest and survival". The game just launched on Kickstarter today with a funding goal of $50,000 that was pretty much immediately met. At the time of writing, almost $300K has already been pledged and those numbers continue to go up.

This isn't the first time The Wheel of Time has been adapted for the tabletop, but it is the first actual board game for the franchise. Wizards of the Coast made a Wheel of Time TTRPG all the way back in 2001, but it has been mostly forgotten over the years. War of the Dragon takes it a step further by bringing a full experience to the table with new illustrations, miniatures, and multiple game modes included.

The popularity of this game on Kickstarter isn't too surprising thanks to the publisher that is actually adapting the story into this format. Dire Wolf is known for publishing some incredible board games like Dune: Imperium and Clank! over the years. Dune: Imperium is a somewhat similar deck-building board game that has consistently been a favorite for IGN, with our reviewer giving it a glowing 9 out of 10 review. So while War of the Dragon is getting its start as a crowdfunding campaign here, it's backed by a trusted studio.

Outside of this Kickstarter, The Wheel of Time series has been seeing a bit of a revival in TV and games. It was announced fairly recently that a new Wheel of Time animated series and a video game are currently in the works. As of right now, there isn't any sort of release date attached to those projects, but there is an estimated June 2027 window for War of the Dragon. The Kickstarter campaign is set to run from now until June 23, 2026.

Jacob Kienlen is a Senior Audience Development Strategist and Writer for IGN. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he has considered the Northwest his home for his entire life. With a bachelor's degree in communication and 10 years of professional writing experience, his expertise is spread across a variety of different pop culture topics -- from TV series to books and the latest Pokémon games.