World of Warcraft‘s Midnight expansion finally has a full release date. It’ll arrive on March 2nd, 2026, setting in stone the new player housing that’s debuting in early access this December and bringing forth the bunch of other changes planned alongside its main invasion storyline.
That list of changes includes the introduction of a new premium currency call Hearthsteel, which you’ll need top use to buy a “small fraction” of the house-related bits and bobs being added in with Midnight. Why? Reasons, Blizzard have said.
The long in development sequel launched in October and was met with a ‘mixed’ Steam user review response, with fans saying it failed to meet the expectations they had for the sequel to Troika’s 2004 cult classic Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. IGN’s Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 review returned a 7/10. We said: “Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 takes another flawed but unique and remarkable bite at the jugular, with plenty to love and loathe alike, but I certainly enjoyed my time as an elder vampire at the very least.”
Now, after 30 days on sale, Paradox has issued a note to financial markets signalling a write-down valued at 355 million SEK (approx. $37 million) of capitalized development costs for Bloodlines 2. This write-down, Paradox said, was based on an updated sales forecast now it has had a month to look at Bloodlines’ commercial performance.
Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive, said the blame for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2’s failure lay at the publisher’s door, not that of The Chinese Room, which had been drafted in to save the project after years of development hell.
“Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a strong vampire fantasy and we are pleased with the developers’ work on the game,” Wester said.
“We’ve had high expectations for a long time, since we saw that it was a good game with a strong IP in a genre with a broad appeal. A month after release we can sadly see that sales do not match our projections, which necessitates the write-down. The responsibility lies fully with us as the publisher. The game is outside of our core areas, in hindsight it is clear that this has made it difficult for us to gauge sales. Going forward, we focus our capital to our core segments and, at the same time, we’ll evaluate how we best develop World of Darkness’ strong brand catalogue in the future.”
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has two expansions planned as part of the game’s Premium Edition, and Paradox said it remains committed to delivering them. “Our post-release plan remains firm; we will deliver updates and the promised expansions to the game in the coming year,” Wester added.
Swedish game company Paradox’s main focus is on grand strategy games, which have proven enormously successful over the years. Games such as Stellaris, Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings, and Cities: Skylines have all enjoyed big sales, and, in total, Paradox games have six million players each month.
In a recent interview with the Goth Boss podcast, former creative director Dan Pinchbeck said the development team tried to work out how to get Paradox to not call the game Bloodlines 2.
“The tricky question around it was Bloodlines 1,” Pinchbeck said. “Are you making a sequel to Bloodlines 1? We used to sit there and have these planning sessions of how do we get them to not call it Bloodlines 2? That feels like the most important thing we do here, to come at this and say this isn’t Bloodlines 2. We can’t make Bloodlines 2; there’s not enough time, there’s not enough money.”
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.
Back in September, Minecraft announced a new drop officially titled ‘Mounts of Mayhem‘. The development team has now confirmed the Bedrock Edition of the game will receive this “final game drop” of the year on 9th December 2025.
In case you missed the initial reveal, this new drop will come loaded with a new weapon (the spear), the Zombie Horse, and the Nautilus (a new mob you can tame, ride and equip with armour). There’ll also be a Zombie Nautilus.
Capcom lifted the lid on Mega Man Star Force: Legacy Collection in September, mentioning at the time how it would be arriving on the Switch at some point in 2026.
In an update, this new collection featuring multiple titles has now been rated E10+ by the ESRB, with the rating mentioning “Fantasy Violence” and “Users Interact”. Here’s the official ESRB summary in full:
Amazon has almost every Ultra Pro Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy playmat on sale during its early Black Friday sale. A small number of popular mats, like fan-favorite Vivi, Stray Black Mage are sold out, but there are many other mats with incredible art to pick from at new discounted prices.
Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy Playmats On Sale
If you’re new to TCGs, people use playmats as a way to show off their favorite art or accomplishments, and also for practical reasons: have you tried picking up cards off of a kitchen table? I assure you, it gets annoying fast.
With the Final Fantasy crossover set that launched this past June, TCG accessory maker Ultra Pro released tons of playmats featuring some of the most iconic characters and moments from throughout the game series’ long history, including Y’shtola from Final Fantasy XIV and Lightning from XIII. Mats for Final Fantasy VII characters Cloud and Tifa feature the new art from their cards, and some mats, like those for Clive or Sephiroth, are double-sided to represent mechanics of the cards they’re based on.
Whichever Final Fantasy character speaks to you the most, odds are there’s a playmat for you to bring to your game night or local game store for some cardboard slinging. These also make great mousepads if you’re in the market to spruce up your home office or gaming setup.
If you’ve been on the lookout for MTG Final Fantasy cards, Amazon has the Revival Trance Commander deck featuring Terra on sale for 53% off, and Final Fantasy play booster boxes (30 packs) are at their lowest price ever for Black Friday, down to $162.57 (22% off).
More Magic: The Gathering Gifts
Be sure to check out our detailed Magic: The Gathering gift guide for inspiration while shopping for that special Planeswalker in your life. Everything from recommended deck boxes and dice packs, to card binders and even apparel, this guide covers everthing they’ll need to protect their collection and give it some flare.
Earlier this week, Nintendo detailed its free update for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. This update for the Zelda-themed Musou is now officially available on the Switch 2.
Nintendo has shared the official patch notes on its website, and it highlights all the new features (including new quests, weapons, new Sync Strikes, battles) and also details various “improved features” and “fixed issues”, which should make the overall experience more enjoyable.
Animal Crossing… in space! That is what Young Suns, the latest game from Goodbye Volcano High, Depanneur Nocturne, and GNOG developer KO_OP Mode, appears to be when put reductively. But let’s not put it reductively, because while this is one of those cozy life-sims, it does sound like it has something going on for it, particularly for the more revolutionary of you out there.
It is not exactly a secret that, in recent years, Destiny 2 hasn’t been doing so hot. Frequenters of the pseudo-MMO have found certain expansions and updates to be disappointing, and for a live service game a few too many disappointments can be devastating. Now, in a new interview, the game’s director Tyson Green has acknowledged how the game is struggling to bring in a new audience, and discussed the difficulties that come with that.
If you’re a Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 owner, there is no better series of games to collect than Mario. The plumber has had some of his best adventures ever across the two systems, and this Black Friday, you can save on select Mario games for a limited time. Nintendo rarely puts its games on sale, so now is the time to pick these Mario games up before deals run out.
These Black Friday Nintendo deals have been very popular so far and have mostly sold out at Amazon. We’ve included the other retailers that still have the games in stock.
Every Mario Switch Game on Sale for Black Friday 2025
First up, it’s hard to beat Super Mario Odyssey for only $29.99. Mario’s quest to stop Bowser from forcibly marrying Princess Peach sees him traversing various Kingdoms with a new friend named Cappy, a sentient hat creature and this game’s central gimmick. Mario can throw Cappy to possess and take control of enemies, inanimate objects, and more. If there’s one game from this list I cannot recommend enough, it’s Super Mario Odyssey.
Another fantastic Nintendo Switch game on sale is Luigi’s Mansion 3, starring Mario’s ghost-hunting brother. This time, Luigi enters a giant hotel with Mario, Toad, and Princess Peach for vacation, but as always, things go horribly wrong. One of the great new features involves solving puzzles using a cloned Luigi, named Gooigi, who can walk on spikes and squeeze through bars to get to places Luigi otherwise can’t reach.
Paper-Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was one of the best Switch games of 2024, and this Black Friday, you can save 50% on the beloved remake. Originally released for GameCube, The Thousand-Year Door brings a fantastic story, great characters, and a satisfying turn-based RPG combat system. The Nintendo Switch remake added numerous quality-of-life features, like the Partner Ring to switch Partners on the fly, a fast travel system to cut down on backtracking, and more. And that’s not to mention the overhauled graphics.
Finally, Princess Peach: Showtime! is on sale for $39.99 for Black Friday. Princess Peach must defend the stage in multiple plays against threats from a new group of enemies in this action-packed adventure. Each play brings a different outfit and ability set for Peach, opening up a completely new gameplay style. This is unlike any other Mario adventure, so if this one went under your radar last year, it’s a great time and a worthy addition to your Nintendo Switch library.
More Great Nintendo Switch Black Friday Deals
While there aren’t any Nintendo Switch 2 console deals available, you can still get the bundles before Christmas if you buy now. The Mario Kart World bundle includes a copy of the latest Mario Kart game while shaving off some of the cost of buying it separately.
Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.
Game Boy and GB Color titles first arrived on Nintendo Switch Online in February 2023, pleasing many old-school gamers in the process. The various Game Boys — the OG, Pocket, and Color — have a vast library of excellent games, the best of which hold up very well, so seeing some of those gems on Switch is a real treat.
