Nintendo has signaled the end of production of the eye-catching Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle, six months after the console launched.
In April, when Nintendo confirmed that the Switch 2 would cost $449.99 and Mario Kart World would cost $80, it announced a bundle that combined the two for $499.99, effectively making the launch title $30 cheaper than its standalone price.
As you’d expect, this bundle proved a popular option among early adopters, and helped fuel not only very strong sales of Mario Kart World, but the Switch 2 itself.
Production of that bundle has now come to an end, however. Over the weekend, U.S. retailer giant Game Stop announced that the Mario Kart World Switch 2 bundle “will no longer be produced” in a social media post that followed the leak of an internal GameStop memo to staff signalling the change.
“This bundle SKU has now reached end of lifecycle, and additional units will no longer be produced,” the memo reads. “Future replenishment of Nintendo Switch 2 will be the base console.”
Today, December 22, Nintendo confirmed as much in a social media post of its own, saying: “Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle is available in limited quantities at participating retailers, while supplies last.”
While the bundle was always described as being available for a limited time, it’s interesting that Nintendo has decided now is the right time to cease production. However, given how many bundle units are available at retailers, it seems likely they will be available for some time to come, should you fancy dropping by the Switch 2 party.
Indeed, as IGN reported over the weekend, Best Buy has the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle on sale for $449.99, which means you’re getting Mario Kart World for free.
Nintendo has so-far resisted increasing the price of the Switch 2, at a time when its console rivals Microsoft and Sony have done so. Nintendo did raise original Switch prices in August 2025 and warned future price adjustments for Switch 2 accessories and games might occur.
Despite launching at $450, Nintendo Switch 2 sold an astonishing 10.36 million units between June 5 and September 30, a record-breaking amount that saw the platform continue its run as the biggest console launch ever. Nintendo even raised its hardware forecast for the year in response to the Switch 2’s spectacular performance, and now expects to shift 19 million units of its new console before the end of March 2026.
Mario Kart World, the Switch 2’s flagship launch game, has now sold 9.57 million copies, with 8.1 million units of that total from the console’s bundle. (So yes, more than a million people paid $80 to buy it separately.)
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.
Don’t panic, but it’s Christmas Day on Thursday. Zero pressure, but if your loved ones really love you, they won’t mind a late Christmas gift. If they do mind, they need to stop being silly sausages (who do all these kids think they are?). Joking aside, I’m still manning the Daily Deals desk, finding some bangers, and it’s literally the best excuse to avoid doing IRL shopping. If you need to distract your family from late Christmas presents, buy a Fire TV or Fire Stick at a massive discount and stick on some Christmas films. Amazon has some cracking discounts on their range right now, which also includes a code for one month of Xbox Game Pass. Happy days!
TL;DR: Deals for Today
Purly because I love Pokémon so much, I’ve taken the liberty of seeing what’s available now on Amazon, then telling you where you can buy it from cheaper elsewhere (because I’m a Pokémon Master, as no one has enough badges to train me).
Need an ear buds upgrade? Apple AirPods Pro 3 are currently down to $199 from $249, shaving off a good chunk of brand tax. Side note: If you’re not bothered about turning your Apple setup into some kind of Wizarding World mudblood setup, the best earbuds I’ve tried this year are:
Status Pro X: Down to $269.10 with an on-site coupon from $299
Sony INZONE: Down to $198 from $239.99 (Includes a USB-C 2.4Ghz dongle for PC and PS5 gaming too)
Speaking of Sony INZONE, their big beefy H9 headset is also on offer right now for $169.29, a massive 49% off $329. And if you’re sick of eye strain or dry eyes whilst gaming or watching Fallout Season 2, Gunnar have saved the day with their limited edition Vault 33-themed gaming glasses. They’re also 30% off at the moment, down to $69.33 from $99.
Let’s get into today’s deals:
Pokémon TCG Price Check
To be fair to Amazon, some of their pricing isn’t far off market price, but then again they’re being undercut by independent businesses and sellers that will likely have worse rates from distribution than Amazon. Read between the lines there.
So Phantasmal Flames ETB is $79.94 at Amazon, just shy of $4 more than TCGPlayers $76. Mega Evolutions Three Booster Blister is in a similar spot on Amazon right now too, $29.54 compared to $28.93 on TCGPlayer. But if you’re after Mega Evolutions Boosters, i’d suggest going on TCGPlayer and buying single sleeved ones for $8.70 each instead.
1 Month Free Xbox GamePass for New Fire TV/Fire Stick Discounted Tech
This deal stretches across the whole 4K line of Fire TV Sticks, the Fire TV Cube, Amazon Fire TV 43-inch, and Amazon Fire TV 55-inch. The link above will take you to the offer page with all the products available, with the cheapest Fire Stick coming in at $19.99 for the 4K Select.
Apple AirPods Pro 3
So AirPods 3 have loads of bells and whistles on, including:
Active Noise Cancellation
Live Translation
Heart Rate Sensing
Hearing Aid Functionality
Spatial Audio
USB-C Charging
Apple have also overhauled the acoustic architecture inside the earbud to make sure you’re getting some cracking definition. Not a bad bundle of features when taking the discount into consideration.
Gunnar Fallout Vault 33 Gaming Glasses
I’ve been using Gunnar glasses for years, mostly for getting deals in front of all of your stunning eyes. I’ve noticed fewer strain headaches from looking at a screen all day and vastly reduced dry-eye symptoms (like having dry eyes). They can also do prescription lenses should you need them, but the main three styles they offer are yellow tint (best blue-light reduction), clear, and sunglasses.
Sony INZONE H9 Gaming Headset
If the INZONE earbuds are anything to go off, the H9 gaming headset should be a banger. The mic features a 360 spatial sound feature alongside solid noise cancelling backed up by a dual sensor and full customization via the INZONE Hub software. At nearly half off and with a 2.4GHz adaptor included, this is a great deal.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
2025 has given us plenty of entertainment worth celebrating, but it’s also gone and brought us consoles that cost more now than when they were first released, a Tron movie featuring Jared Leto, and an even bigger hole in our lives where Grand Theft Auto 6 was supposed to be.
From price hikes to lowlights, and missed expectations to cruel cancellations, these are the biggest disappointments of 2025.
Box Office Blunders
Marvel may have kicked off 2025 by sending a brand new Cap into a Brave New World, but audiences clearly had more than a few gripes with Anthony Mackie’s turn in the Stars and Stripes. Despite what pre-release trailers had suggested, Captain America: Brave New World held back Harrison Ford’s transformation from President Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross into a scarlet shade of Hulk until the final few minutes of the film, which certainly had fans seeing red – just not in the way the filmmakers had intended. All told, Captain America: Brave New World suffered a 68% drop-off at the box office in its second weekend and is yet to break even on its estimated $425 million budget, making it closer to a Hulk shrug than a Hulk smash.
Meanwhile Tron: Ares turned out to be yet another lacklustre system reboot for a franchise that should have probably been shut down, boxed up, and sent to an e-waste disposal center by now. The latest instalment in Disney’s videogame-inspired sci-fi series may have featured a certifiably banging soundtrack from Nine Inch Nails, but audiences weren’t exactly burning doing the new Tron dance. Not since Jared Leto’s Morbius had a Jared Leto-led movie performed so poorly at the box office, with Tron: Ares’ mustering up just $60.5 million worldwide in its opening weekend. Despite its disastrous reception, Tron: Ares features a mid-credits scene that seemingly sets up a potential fourth film. Just don’t expect it for at least another 15 or so years, which appears to be the typical Tron cycle. (Not to be confused with one of those bitchin’ motorbikes.)
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off live-action Disney remakes that audiences seem to have gone, or at least that’s how it appeared after the middling performance of 2025’s Snow White. To be fair, a tick over $200 million in global box office revenue is nothing for Sneezy to, well, sneeze at. However, there was clearly only one live-action adaptation about short people carrying pickaxes and singing catchy songs that most families wanted to see this year, and that was A Minecraft Movie, which hit theaters just two weeks after Snow White and completely dwarfed its performance at the box office. Disney would live to live-action again, though, since its Lilo & Stitch reboot would crack a billion dollars just a couple of months later, possibly due to the fact it was actually a good film. So who’s the fairest of them all? Moviegoers, it would seem.
The bombs weren’t confined to the big screen, though, and there was certainly no shortage of disappointment conveniently streamed directly to our televisions, tablets, and toilet televisions (that’s what we call our phones). Anyone who made the mistake of watching Star Trek: Section 31 must have been begging Scotty to beam that stream back up to Paramount+’s servers, because this intergalactic block of generic sci-fi schlock was so surprisingly awful it left audience faces set to stunned. IGN handed it a rare 2/10, stating that “Section 31 will infuriate Star Trek fans and bore everyone else.” Star Michelle Yeoh, coming off an Oscar win in 2023 for Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, was forced to concede that “it’s very hard to please all of your audience all of the time.” We’d argue that Section 31 didn’t even manage to please some of its audience any of the time, and that this particular Star Trek would have been better off lost in space.
Unfortunately, Star Trek wasn’t the only legendary sci-fi property to be completely mishandled in 2025. In July, Prime Video went back to the well – or specifically, H.G. Wells – to produce a modern-day adaptation of The War of the Worlds. The century-old classic novel has previously inspired radio plays, feature films, comic books, and video games, but in the hands of director Rich Lee, The War of the Worlds was reimagined as… a 90-minute-long Ice Cube reaction GIF. To be fair, we can’t say that this braindead disaster didn’t deliver on its promise – at least if you took the “It’s much worse than you think” tagline from its trailer as an honest appraisal of the movie’s quality rather than a reference to the alien invasion in its plot. War of the Worlds debuted with a rare 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, although has since skyrocketed to a whopping 4%. Meanwhile its producer insisted that there wasn’t any product placement in the film, despite the fact that it’s a movie on Amazon’s streaming service that makes a hero out of an Amazon delivery driver and hinges its climax upon the daring piloting of an Amazon drone. You couldn’t get product placement more intentional than that if it was a package left on your doorstep.
Dropping a US president into Die Hard-style scenarios is nothing new, see Harrison Ford in Air Force One or Morgan Freeman in the Has Fallen films, but despite its lack of originality, Amazon’s G20 still had a couple of big positives going for it – namely Viola Davis as the arse-kicking commander-in-chief, and The Boys’ Antony Starr as Homelander turned hammy Hans Gruber. Sadly neither had an approval rating high enough to elevate the dopey dialogue and choppy action sequences of this formulaic action flick. IGN awarded the film a 3/10, stating that “G20 isn’t just another streaming movie that feels designed to be half-watched; at times, it only feels half-made, too.”
The Electric State could also be accused of being half-made, at least by human hands, given that it was seemingly a co-production between the Russo Brothers and Netflix’s machine-learning algorithm along with help from some AI-based post-production tweaks. The controversial practice of using AI in film is widely assumed to be a way to keep production costs down, yet despite that the budget for this thoroughly disposable hodgepodge of superior sci-fi stories still spiralled to a reported $320 million, making it the most expensive film Netflix has ever made. IGN handed it a 4/10, stating that The Electric State “feels calculated to remind you of something you’ve already enjoyed.” For all that money and in spite of the star power of Chris Pratt and Millie Bobbie Brown, The Electric State failed to really spark.
Game and Shame
Any year in video games is invariably going to be a bit like a Guns N’ Roses album. That is, chock full of absolute bangers but, shortly after you’ve worn out your neck headbanging to You Could Be Mine, My World arrives and promptly ruins the good times. Like the infamously terrible final track on Use Your Illusion II, 2025 has had us leaping for the eject button faster than a flaming fighter jet pilot on more than one occasion.
With a pile of performance issues and a complete lack of freedom, substance, and… an ending, MindsEye was far and away one of 2025’s most disappointing games. Unfortunately, its June launch went so badly that more than 90 staff at its developer Build a Rocket Boy later referred to it as “one of the worst video game launches this decade” in an open letter to company management. The letter called for change at the studio, apologies for not listening to staff concerns about the game, and “proper compensation for laid-off employees.”
Of course, just because a game is free, doesn’t mean it’s good. For evidence of that, look no further than EA’s reboot of the much-loved Skate series. 2025’s early access, free-to-play Skate is just like the old Skate games, only without the style, the atmosphere, the pros, the customisation, the campaign, the music, the varied maps, the humour, or the intro movies. It did, however, have a cardboard costume inspired by the Isaac Clarke’s Dead Space exosuit that cost around $35 to secure.
Call of Duty went back-to-back Black Ops in 2024 and 2025, but the only thing to come out of the decision is backlash. Containing what’s quickly becoming regarded as the worst Call of Duty campaign in the long history of the series, Black Ops 7 has been widely shredded to pieces following its November release for its unwelcome reinvention of campaign mode. Now always-online and co-op focused, Black Ops 7’s campaign mode has none of the rollercoaster-like pacing of a cinematic Call of Duty story, and opts instead for multiplayer-inspired maps and progression, with no checkpoints, and no ability to pause (even when you’re playing alone). The result is quite baffling, which is some result considering the fact Black Ops 7 is intended to be a direct sequel to Black Ops 2 despite releasing immediately after Black Ops 6 is already confusing enough. In the weeks that have followed, the Call of Duty team has promised no more back-to-back releases of sub-series like Modern Warfare or Black Ops, but this guarantee feels unlikely to help Black Ops 7 at this stage. Sales figures or player counts are still yet to be discussed, which strongly suggests Black Ops 7 is deep in the red.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the games that disappointed in 2025, and we haven’t even touched on FBC Firebreak, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, Football Manager 26, Project Motor Racing, or the grammatically abhorrent Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game. Have we missed any? Let us know in the comments.
Meanwhile, Microsoft made the call to hold back its Fable reboot for another year. The fantasy RPG series that hasn’t been seen since the Xbox 360 era is currently being reimagined by the talented team at Playground Games, best known for its Forza Horizon open-world racing series. We’re keen to find out how the developer makes the adjustment from speed racers to chicken chasers, but for now Fable is a tale that won’t be told until sometime in 2026.
At least Fable was only delayed just once, though, unlike Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra. In May, the planned release of the narrative-driven adventure featuring Captain America, Azzuri, and the Black Panther of the 1940s, was pushed out of 2025 and into early 2026. Then in November, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra was delayed again, this time to the somewhat vague sounding window of “beyond early 2026.” Considering we haven’t seen anything new from the single-player superhero story since an Unreal Engine 5.4 tech demo way back in early 2024, we’re inclined to assume that this one is still a ways off. Will it be worth the wait? Well, the fact that it’s being directed by the creator of the Uncharted series fills us with more optimism than a pep talk from Steve Rogers.
Of course, the most devastating delay – and arguably the most predictable – was that of Grand Theft Auto 6. Rockstar Games proved with Red Dead Redemption 2 that it was prepared to take its time in order to produce the best game possible, and that steadfast approach clearly paid off. Still, given that we’ve been waiting for a new GTA game since Ben Affleck was Batman, Game of Thrones didn’t yet suck, and everyone was still doing the Harlem Shake, it certainly left a lot of fans crying in their Pißwassers when the series’ long awaited return to Vice City was pushed back from Fall 2025 to May 26, 2026.
While game delays are frustrating, they’re typically a considerably more tolerable option to the alternative: cancellation. That is, being postponed is better than never arriving at all. One is steaming into New York a day or two late, the other is hitting an iceberg and becoming James Cameron’s favourite holiday destination, two-and-a-half miles below the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Legendary UK studio Rare’s Everwild was also cancelled by Microsoft during this same period. Everwild was announced way back in November 2019 during Xbox’s X019 presentation, but little concrete information about how the end product was going to play was ultimately revealed over the nearly six years that followed. These cancellations were associated with mass layoffs at Rare and elsewhere around Microsoft as the company grappled with… record financial performance levels in 2025 and a 15% increase in revenue, at $281.7 billion. These layoffs also hit Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10, with some reports claiming that the Forza Motorsport team was essentially “no more.” It’s since been clarified that Forza Motorsport will apparently continue to see support in spite of the staff cuts, but whether the racing series will have any future after 2025 remains to be seen.
Sadly, one racing game with no future is EA Sports WRC, with Codemasters confirming in May that there will be no follow-up to its official WRC game and that the team has “reached the end of the road” working on the series after just one game. Unfortunately, alongside this news came the additional confirmation that the EA-owned studio is also “pausing development plans on future rally titles,” which is a big dose of dirt to cop in the face from a team that’s been at the forefront of rallying video games for almost three decades, dating back to 1998’s iconic Colin McRae Rally.
WRC wasn’t the only victim at EA, either; the company was swinging the axe quite liberally in 2025. In March it was reported that EA had quietly cancelled an unannounced, multiplayer first-person shooter from Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment, although the game in question was apparently only in extremely early development. It’s not at all uncommon for things like this to happen, however, and if you poured one out for every unannounced, unnamed project that didn’t make it out of incubation you’d die of thirst. That said, a month later it came to light that EA had also reportedly cancelled an unannounced Titanfall game, which does hurt slightly more than usual considering Titanfall 2 contains what’s widely considered to be one of the very best FPS campaigns in the history of the genre. We’re officially living in a world where Bubsy 3D can have a sequel announced in 2025, while Titanfall 2 has one cancelled. Nothing makes sense anymore. This unknown Titanfall game appears to have been a victim of EA layoffs that hit 300 workers, around 100 of which came from Respawn Entertainment. No other details regarding what this Titanfall project was are known.
But wait, because EA wasn’t done: in May it cancelled its Black Panther game and shuttered Cliffhanger Games, which was producing Black Panther as its debut project. Black Panther, which was announced back in July 2023, was set to be a single-player open-world game. EA claimed at the time that the decision to ditch the project was made in order to “sharpen” the company’s focus and put its “creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.” We’re guessing EA’s spreadsheet squad were unenthused by this single-player game’s lack of a Wakanda Ultimate Team mode.
Black Panther isn’t the only superhero to have the rug pulled out from beneath them in 2025, either. In February 2025 it was confirmed that Warner Bros.’ Wonder Woman game was cancelled and developer Monolith would be shut down. In a horrible twist, Wonder Woman would have been Monolith’s follow-up to its much-loved Middle-earth series and was expected to feature Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War’s excellent and patented Nemesis system.
First announced at the 2021 Game Awards, Wonder Woman was a victim of a Warner Bros. decision to restructure its operations around “building the best games possible” with its “key franchises.” Of course, despite an overt focus on more Warner Bros. franchises than you could poke a carrot at, this restructure also didn’t involve the survival of WB brawler MultiVersus, either. The free-to-play fighting game was taken offline permanently and delisted in May.
A Price To Play
Rising prices are impacting plenty more than just video games. Hell, if supermarkets get any more expensive, groceries better start coming gold-plated. In the context of video games, however, 2025 has been like Quentin Tarantino sitting down and watching back-to-back Paul Dano movies: it’s just one massive disappointment after another.
Not to be outtrumped, Nintendo also announced a range of price increases in August – for the eight-year-old original Switch and its proceeding Lite and OLED models. Pricing for the Switch 2 was left alone, but Nintendo’s move did come with a warning that price adjustments to things like the Switch 2, physical and digital Switch and Switch 2 games, and Nintendo Switch Online memberships “may be necessary in the future.” Nintendo is likely trying to prepare us for the worst here, but there’s no escaping the fact it sounds like the kind of ultimatum you typically get from two heavyset guys carrying baseball bats, driving a 1979 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.
That said, Nintendo president Shuntaru Furukawa recently indicated Switch 2 pricing should stay put for now, saying Nintendo believes it can “maintain the current level of profitability for hardware for the time being unless there are significant changes in external factors, such as a shift in tariff assumptions, or other unexpected events.”
It’s already been widely discussed how US tariffs have resulted in significant adjustments to how companies balance the books, with increased costs unsurprisingly being passed onto consumers. Inflation pressure is also a contributing factor; after a long period of stability since the global financial crisis in 2008, global inflation surged dramatically in the wake of the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The frustrating part, however, is that this remains all quite unprecedented. That is, this generation Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft have completely flipped the script on console pricing trends that date all the way back to the ’70s and ’80s. Over many decades, consoles have reliably and traditionally dropped in price over their lifespans – first via slow but natural erosion in value caused by the effects of standard inflation, and then by overt price cuts that bring the price of entry right down. This current crop of consoles, however, is not dropping in price – in fact, they’re going the complete opposite way.
Unfortunately, if people keep buying them at these prices, console price drops may go the way of old-timey bicycles and the funniest two-digit number between 60 and 70 being 69: a thing of the past.
Tristan Ogilvie is a senior video editor at IGN’s Sydney office. Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team.
Battlefield 6 fans have accused EA of selling an AI-generated image after spotting a sticker of what looks like an M4A1 with two barrels in the in-game store.
Following a similar generative AI controversy for rival shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Battlefield 6 has come under fire for selling what some fans have called “low quality AI generated garbage.”
The sticker in question comes as part of the Windchill cosmetic pack for Battlefield 6, which costs 900 Battlefield Coins. It includes six items, one of which is a player card sticker called Winter Warning. The red flag here are two barrels on the M4A1, but the hand position of the soldier as well as the scope do not look properly aligned.
“Remove this AI s**t from the store,” said redditor Willcario in a thread upvoted 4,600 times. “Two barrels on the M4A1, sure. I would literally prefer to have no sticker than some low quality AI generated garbage. You can look at BO7 and see how many favors AI generated rewards won with them.”
While EA has yet to issue a statement on the Battlefield 6 allegations, fans are digging up past comments from Rebecka Coutaz, general manager of original series developer DICE in Sweden, and Criterion, the UK studio now also a part of what’s collectively called Battlefield Studios, who in October said players wouldn’t see anything made by generative AI in Battlefield 6.
Coutaz said that while generative AI “is very seducing,” currently there is no way to work it into the developers’ daily work. However, Coutaz clarified that generative AI is used in preparatory stages “to allow more time and more space to be creative.”
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.
Displate has denied that one of its pieces of official Warhammer 40,000 artwork was the product of generative AI, insisting “red flags” spotted by fans were the result of human error.
The online marketplace for collectible metal posters, which features a range of licensed art from major brands such as Marvel and Star Wars, came under fire last week after fans spotted what looked like signs of generative AI use in a $149 3D-printed Fulgrim Limited Edition artwork.
Fulgrim is one of the most prominent characters in the Warhammer 40,000 setting. As one of the Emperor’s 20 genetically-engineered ‘Primarchs,’ Fulgrim played a key role in The Horus Heresy (the civil war that acts as the foundation of the current setting), and recently returned to the Warhammer 40,000 narrative with a new model and lore as the Daemon Primarch of Chaos god Slaanesh.
The issue was raised after popular Warhammer 40,000 YouTuber Luetin pulled a promotional post for Displate’s limited run Fulgrim art over concerns that part of the image “looked AI generated.” A circled part of the artwork appeared to contain misaligned geometry.
“I have no way of confirming this, so I must underline this remains entirely speculative,” Luetin continued. “But based on just the potential for this, I have removed that post – and until I can get a clear answer one way or the other – I do not currently intend to work with them again in the future.
“Its very disappointing, as their production of official 40K artwork that I own, and still look excellent on my office wall I would absolutely recommend.
“If anyone did purchase that image yesterday, I would recommend you to personally evaluate its detail for yourself – and if you felt it necessary cancel or refund.”
That post ended up doing the rounds within Warhammer 40,000 online communities, where the artwork was analyzed for signs of gen AI use. Now, Displate itself has addressed the concerns, insisting “no AI was used in the creation of this piece.”
In a post on the Displate subreddit, company representative WallOverthePlace said the artwork was digitally painted by “one of our top in-house artists as part of our licensed Warhammer project.” The part of the image that had become the focus of the gen AI debate is “a human error that slipped through during the final stages of production.”
Displate continued: “the piece went through multiple revisions – including repaints, composition changes, and moving elements around – and a small cut-off edge from an earlier adjustment wasn’t fully repainted before final delivery. That’s on us. Designing a Limited Edition is a long and complex process, but this mistake should have been caught during QC.
“We understand why this raised red flags, especially given how strongly fan communities feel about AI, and we take that seriously. Limited Editions are our highest-tier releases and we treat them accordingly. To be completely clear: none of our licensed artworks have been or will be AI-generated. Every Limited Edition we release is created entirely by real artists, either by our internal art team or trusted external collaborators, and held to the highest standards we apply as a company.”
As a result, Displate called on customers who already have their order of the artwork to get in touch to get a replacement. “You will receive a separate product with the same Limited Edition print run number and the same certificate,” Displate said. ”If you choose to keep the original piece, we completely understand and respect that choice of appreciating this unique variant.”
Those who have an order yet to ship will get a corrected version, but it will be sent after the New Year.
“We appreciate the community holding creators to high standards – that same standard is exactly what we expect of ourselves, and we’re sorry for the confusion this caused,” Displate said.
Indeed, Games Workshop sells expensive Warhammer 40,000 ‘codex’ rulebooks that are packed with stunning official art as well as lore. Any suggestion that this art was created either in part or entirely by generative AI tools would likely cause a community uproar.
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.
Fresh from receiving the Game of the Year award at The Game Awards 2025, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been stripped of two awards from the Indie Game Awards after its use of generative AI hit the headlines.
Sandfall Interactive’s record-breaking role-playing game launched with some placeholder textures built with generative AI. The developer patched them out five days after release, insisting they made the cut by mistake. This went under the radar until recently, when comments from Sandfall co-founder and producer François Meurisse reemerged.
Speaking to El País for an article published in July, Meurisse said: “We use some AI, but not much. The key is that we were very clear about what we wanted to do and what to invest in. And, of course, technology has allowed us to do things that were unthinkable a short time ago. Unreal Engine 5’s tools and assets have been very important in improving the graphics, gameplay, and cinematics.”
Vincke later addressed the backlash, and has promised an AMA to answer questions from fans. All the while, a light has been shone on Clair Obscur, which leads us to the Indie Game Awards.
Clair Obscur had won Game of the Year and Debut Game from the Indie Game Awards, but both awards are now retracted. Explaining the decision, the Indie Game Awards said:
The Indie Game Awards have a hard stance on the use of gen AI throughout the nomination process and during the ceremony itself. When it was submitted for consideration, a representative of Sandfall Interactive agreed that no gen AI was used in the development of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. In light of Sandfall Interactive confirming the use of gen AI art in production on the day of the Indie Game Awards 2025 premiere, this does disqualify Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from its nomination. While the assets in question were patched out and it is a wonderful game, it does go against the regulations we have in place. As a result, the IGAs nomination committee has agreed to officially retract both the Debut Game and Game of the Year awards.
Each award went to the next highest-ranked game in its respective category; Sorry We’re Closed now has Debut Game, and Blue Prince now has Game of the Year.
Meanwhile, El País has updated its original article to include a statement from Sandfall clarifying its use of generative AI in the making of Clair Obscur:
The studio states that it was in contact with El País on April 25 — three months prior to this publication. During these exchanges, Sandfall Interactive indicated that it had used a limited number of pre-existing assets, notably 3D assets sourced from the Unreal Engine Marketplace. None of these assets were created using artificial intelligence.
Sandfall Interactive further clarifies that there are no generative Al-created assets in the game. When the first Al tools became available in 2022, some members of the team briefly experimented with them to generate temporary placeholder textures. Upon release, instances of a placeholder texture were removed within five days to be replaced with the correct textures that had always been intended for release, but were missed during the Quality Assurance process.
And here’s Vincke’s latest statement in full:
It’s been a week since we announced Divinity, our next RPG, and a lot has become lost in translation.
Larian’s DNA is agency. Everything we work towards is to the benefit of our teams, games, and players. A better work day, and a better game. Our successes come from empowering people to work in their own way and bring the best out of their skill & craft, so that we can make the best RPGs we can possibly make.
In that context, it would be irresponsible for us not to evaluate new technologies. However, our processes are always evolving, and where they are not efficient or fail to align with who we are, we will make changes.
To give you more insight, we’ll do an AMA featuring our different departments after the holiday break, in which you’ll get the opportunity to ask us any questions you have about Divinity and our dev process directly.
We’ll announce the date in the new year. In the meantime, I wish you all happy holidays!
Excellent, the AI generated textures in Clair Obscur were indeed placeholders and were replaced with custom assets. The other AI generated poster that was present in the starting area (don’t have a screenshot of it now) was also removed. https://t.co/UQbfLuyj8epic.twitter.com/5xgqsCmZpC
Valve’s rules mean developers must disclose their use of AI-generated content on a game’s Steam store page. For example, the Steam page for Embark Studios’ Arc Raiders includes a note from the developer on how the game uses AI-generated content: “during the development process, we may use procedural- and AI-based tools to assist with content creation. In all such cases, the final product reflects the creativity and expression of our own development team.”
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 holidays are almost here, and we’ve rounded up the best deals for Sunday, December 21, below. Don’t miss your chance to save on these last-minute gifts!
Save on Assassin’s Creed Shadows for Nintendo Switch 2
Launched earlier this month, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is finally available on Nintendo Switch. Right now, you can save $10 off the physical copy at Amazon. This edition packs in all the game’s DLC, updates, and more into one package for Switch 2 owners.
Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle for $449
The best deal of the weekend is the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle, which is on sale for $449. That’s the price of a standard Nintendo Switch 2, which means you’re essentially scoring Mario Kart World for free. This model is said to have ended production, so we likely won’t see this bundle available much longer. If you’re planning on picking up a Switch 2 for yourself or as a gift this holiday season, today is the best time to buy one.
Save $20 Off Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake
One of the most anticipated RPGs of 2025, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, is down to $39.99 this weekend. This remake transforms the original two Dragon Quest games into gorgeous experiences with numerous updates and tweaks to modernize the experience.
PS5 Pro for $649
PS5 Pro is on sale this weekend for $649, saving you just over $100 off Sony’s most powerful console. Even if you already own a PS5, the PS5 Pro can still be a solid upgrade, providing enhanced performance and frame rates for numerous games. Newcomers to the PlayStation ecosystem can expect the best PS5 has to offer with this one.
Samsung P9 Express microSD Express Card for $32.99
If you’re a Nintendo Switch 2 owner or expecting to become one this holiday season, a microSD Express Card is an absolutely essential purchase. The internal 256GB of storage is nowhere near enough for most players, especially with huge games like Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade set to take up over a third of that space next year. You can save $20 off this 256GB microSD Express Card at Amazon and instantly double your Switch 2 storage.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 for $35
Black Ops 7 is the latest Call of Duty, with the game releasing just a few weeks ago. Despite this, it’s already on sale at Amazon for $40, which makes this a perfect last-minute Christmas gift.
Save on The Art of DOOM: The Dark Ages
Art books are a great way to gain greater insight into the development of your favorite games. This DOOM: The Dark Ages art book was released a few weeks ago, and it’s already on sale for just under $31. Featuring over 200 pages, you can dive into behind-the-scenes art of the Doom Slayer, his weapons, and even enemies or locations.
Astro Bot for $39.99
Astro Bot is a must-own game for any PlayStation 5 owner for many reasons. The fun platforming adventure is a trip across PlayStation’s iconic history of games, with cameos from many of the beloved characters that shaped each console generation. Today, you can score Astro Bot for $39.99 at Amazon, which is the lowest we’ve seen it so far.
Star Wars Outlaws for $30
The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Star Wars Outlaws is on sale this weekend for $29.99, which is a steal for one of the hybrid system’s best third-party games. This version of Star Wars Outlaws is the Gold Edition, packing in all the DLC and updates that released.
Battlefield 6 for $39.99
Best Buy has Battlefield 6 for $39.99 today, with both PS5 and Xbox Series X copies discounted. Out of all multiplayer games released this year, Battlefield 6 might just be the most popular. This is a great gift to give alongside a new console.
ASUS ROG Xbox Ally for $489.99
Amazon has the Asus ROG Xbox Ally on sale for $489.99, which is even lower than Black Friday! You can save $110 on this portable PC equipped with everything you need to play or stream your Xbox games. This deal is almost gone, so don’t miss your chance to score!
God of War Ragnarök for $19.97
Finally, Walmart has God of War Ragnarök on sale for $19.97 today. This is one of the best PS5 games available, as it builds off its predecessor in many ways to deliver an action-packed, unforgettable experience. It’s hard to beat this price, especially if you’re on the hunt for a holiday gift.
The holidays are almost here, and we’ve rounded up the best deals for Saturday, December 20, below. Don’t miss your chance to save on these last-minute gifts!
Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle for $449
The best deal of the weekend is the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle, which is on sale for $449. That’s the price of a standard Nintendo Switch 2, which means you’re essentially scoring Mario Kart World for free. If you’re planning on picking up a Switch 2 for yourself or as a gift this holiday season, today is the best time to buy one.
PS5 Pro for $649
PS5 Pro is on sale this weekend for $649, saving you just over $100 off Sony’s most powerful console. Even if you already own a PS5, the PS5 Pro can still be a solid upgrade, providing enhanced performance and frame rates for numerous games. Newcomers to the PlayStation ecosystem can expect the best PS5 has to offer with this one.
Samsung P9 Express microSD Express Card for $32.99
If you’re a Nintendo Switch 2 owner or expecting to become one this holiday season, a microSD Express Card is an absolutely essential purchase. The internal 256GB of storage is nowhere near enough for most players, especially with huge games like Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade set to take up over a third of that space next year. You can save $20 off this 256GB microSD Express Card at Amazon and instantly double your Switch 2 storage.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 for $35
Black Ops 7 is the latest Call of Duty, with the game releasing just a few weeks ago. Despite this, it’s already on sale at Amazon for $40, which makes this a perfect last-minute Christmas gift.
Save on The Art of DOOM: The Dark Ages
Art books are a great way to gain greater insight into the development of your favorite games. This DOOM: The Dark Ages art book was released a few weeks ago, and it’s already on sale for just under $31. Featuring over 200 pages, you can dive into behind-the-scenes art of the Doom Slayer, his weapons, and even enemies or locations.
Star Wars Outlaws for $30
The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Star Wars Outlaws is on sale this weekend for $29.99, which is a steal for one of the hybrid system’s best third-party games. This version of Star Wars Outlaws is the Gold Edition, packing in all the DLC and updates that released.
Battlefield 6 for $39.99
Best Buy has Battlefield 6 for $39.99 today, with both PS5 and Xbox Series X copies discounted. Out of all multiplayer games released this year, Battlefield 6 might just be the most popular. This is a great gift to give alongside a new console.
ASUS ROG Xbox Ally for $489.99
Amazon has the Asus ROG Xbox Ally on sale for $489.99, which is even lower than Black Friday! You can save $110 on this portable PC equipped with everything you need to play or stream your Xbox games. This deal is almost gone, so don’t miss your chance to score!
Save $10 Off Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake
Finally, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is down to $49.99 this weekend. This is actually a bit higher than it was last weekend, but I still think it’s a fantastic price for two games that any RPG fan will appreciate. If you’re on the hunt for a last-minute gift to give, this is an excellent choice.
It’s December, meaning it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Yes, I’m cliché and enjoy the holidays for the warmth and celebrations they bring, but today I’m more interested in reflecting on the evolution of accessibility throughout 2025. And thankfully, this year brought improvements to long-standing franchises, as well as surprise additions to the triple-A and indie scenes.
From my perspective, there were no accessibility moments that revolutionized the industry in 2025. Instead, the year demonstrated a continuous evolution of what disabled players have rightfully come to expect when purchasing a new release. In my opinion, no one game has been better than another, especially in terms of innovation, but that’s not to say this year didn’t surprise me in unexpected ways. So, for this Access Designed, let’s explore some of my favorite examples of accessibility during 2025.
Runner-Up: and Roger
This section contains mild spoilers for and Roger.
The inclusion of TearyHand Studio’s and Roger on my list may surprise some. This roughly hour-long visual novel features numerous quick-time events that guide you through the loving memories of Sofia and her husband, Roger, as Sofia succumbs to dementia. Each minigame puts you directly in control of Sofia as she completes everyday tasks like brushing her teeth, making soup, or looking through old photographs. While these may seem mundane activities, Sofia’s dementia makes each simple event feel like a monumental task. And for disabled players, the intensity of the QTEs is exacerbated by the game’s notable lack of accessibility features.
And Roger features no accessibility tools to help you complete the game. There are no alternatives to finishing QTEs, options to skip them, or settings that have the game natively complete them for you like in this year’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows. You are forced to continuously mash or perfectly drag a white button for every single QTE, something that was immensely exhausting with my physical disabilities. Yet, after completing an event within the first chapter that had Sofia push Roger’s hand away by rapidly mashing a button on the screen, I realized its inaccessibility made the experience much more powerful.
And Roger, through its lack of accessibility, made me reevaluate how I critique games, something I’ve been professionally doing for six years. Sofia’s struggles with dementia were far more pronounced when I was struggling with her. And in an industry where proper disability representation is still relatively lacking, and Roger masterfully captures the truest expression of disability. There are moments of love, grief, pain, joy, and suffering – all emotions I’ve personally felt or witnessed disabled friends and family experience. I have never played a game so dedicated to having, and occasionally forcing, the disabled experience on the players, thus making and Roger one of my favorite games of not only 2025, but of all time.
Runner-Up: EA Sports FC 26
I will be the first to admit I don’t like sports games. The genre just doesn’t appeal to me, which is admittedly ironic considering I live in a very sports-centric city. Yet, EA Sports FC 26 made me appreciate soccer games (football for non-Americans) because of its incredible attention to accessibility detail.
FC 26, like most games with accessibility offerings, provides customizable controls, subtitles, and colorblindness settings. However, I appreciated the features for varying gameplay assists. Shooting, passing, defending, switching, and dribbling all have their own settings to provide relief during extended play sessions. When I was too fatigued to properly shoot, I would activate Auto Shots, which would trigger as I came close to the goal. If passing becomes too much, I can simply increase the sensitivity, making the game natively pass the ball without the need for immense precision. Even as the goalkeeper, I can use assists to help with saves. And for longer sessions, I can activate one or two button control schemes, significantly reducing the number of inputs needed to play (unfortunately, one and two button use cannot be used in competitive play).
Yet, FC 26’s greatest accessibility achievement doesn’t impact my disability. For the first time in the series, as well as in a competitive multiplayer setting, players can activate High Contrast Mode. Everything from the home team, away team, referees, to even ball color can be customized to increase their contrast. This provides blind players with crucial visual information when playing frantic matches. It’s easy to lose control of player and ball position when matches become intense, especially with online PvP, but FC 26 redefines what accessibility can be in the competitive scene. The potential to challenge industry perspectives for competitive games is why FC 26 deserves a spot among the most accessible games of 2025.
Winner: Doom: The Dark Ages
Doom: The Dark Ages, id Software’s latest in the iconic FPS series, is by far my favorite entry, as well as its most accessible. While the newest game includes relatively common accessibility options like customizable controls, adjustable subtitles, and varying difficulty modes, The Dark Ages adds new tools that redefine accessibility in this fast-paced game.
Shooters like Doom rely on immense speed and precision to slaughter enemies and complete levels. You are constantly dodging enemy fire, sprinting through levels, jumping over obstacles, and switching weapons within your extensive arsenal to play the game. And if you don’t have the strength or stamina to perform any of the above, the gameplay formula becomes abysmally inaccessible, even with lowered difficulty settings. But The Dark Ages has a solution: it introduces modifiers that adjust game speed, enemy projectile speed, enemy aggression, player damage, and even enemy damage. Further, The Dark Ages includes options to change the parry windows for melee encounters. Every piece of the combat system is customizable.
With accessibility, there’s often this incorrect notion within Internet spaces that options and inclusive designs ruin the intended gaming experience. The Dark Ages completely nullifies this argument with its customizable settings, which indicate that the “artistic intent” is the experience that you as a player want to have. There’s no punishment for modifying the experience. Whether you have a disability or not, you control how you play. Are you a masochist that enjoys frantically throwing yourself against an onslaught of demons? Simply adjust every setting listed above to maximize their values. In my case, I would customize parry windows and game speed if I was particularly tired, but would find myself increasing enemy aggression for more of a challenge. I’ve never played a game that allows me to fine-tune every aspect of combat, and that is why Doom: The Dark Ages is my game of the year for 2025.
These three games represent only a fraction of the excellent accessible titles throughout 2025. Assassin’s Creed Shadows, South of Midnight, Split Fiction, and even Kirby Air Riders all deserve credit for their accessible tools and designs. And while the three games listed above are my personal favorite, 2025 has arguably been my favorite year as a critic, not for the innovations, but for the continued dedication to disabled players.
Grant Stoner is a disabled journalist covering accessibility and the disabled perspective in video games. When not writing, he is usually screaming about Pokémon or his cat, Goomba on Twitter.
“For those who come after.” It’s a simple but effective phrase from this year’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, one that was stuck in the minds of many for nearly an entire year. But although Expedition 33 won the hearts of many, it was far from alone. 2025 saw the release of the hotly anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong, and with the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 we got a new Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, and the sequel to IGN’s 2020 Game of the Year, Hades 2. Over in the world of entertainment we got plenty of great movies like Superman, Sinners, Weapons, and possibly the best Predator movie ever in Predator: Badlands.
Every year, across all forms of media, there are situations where critics and audiences either agree or disagree. That’s never going to change, we’re talking about opinions, after all, although this year we definitely saw more alignment than normal. Every year, we ask you all to vote on each of our award categories, and many of our awards have gone to the games, shows, and movies that you chose, too. That’s a great sign that our thoughts and opinions are aligned with our community’s.
But what did you vote for? Here are the complete results for each Community Award, voted on by you, the IGN community (Results finalized at 12/20 12AM ET).
Best Sci-Fi or Fantasy Movie 2025
Winner: Predator: Badlands (33.1% of the votes)
Best Comic Book or Graphic Novel
Winner: Batman: Dark Patterns (40.4% of votes)
Best Anime of 2025
Winner: Dan Da Dan (49.4% of votes)
Best Action-Adventure Game of 2025
Winner: Ghost of Yotei (29.6% of the votes)
Best Horror Movie of 2025
Winner: Sinners (41.5% of votes)
Best Playstation Game of 2025
Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (43.6% of votes)
Best RPG of 2025
Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (66.8% of votes)
Best Nintendo Game of 2025
Winner: Donkey Kong Bananza (49.9% of votes)
Best Xbox Game of 2025
Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (60.2% of votes)
Best PC Game of 2025
Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (51.2% of votes)
Best Strategy Game of 2025
Winner: Anno 117: Pax Romana (25.5% of votes)
Best Puzzle Game of 2025
Winner: Blue Prince (72.9% of votes)
Best Roguelike Game of 2025
Winner: Hades 2 (57.2% of votes)
Best Action Game of 2025
Winner: Hades 2 (58.8% of votes)
Best Shooter Game of 2025
Winner: Arc Raiders (28.3% of votes)
Best Superhero Movie of 2025
Winner: Superman (57.3% of votes)
Best TV Show of 2025
Winner: Andor (38.0% of votes)
Best TV Episode of 2025
Winner:Andor Season 2, Episode 8 – “Who Are You?” (46.9% of votes)
Best Ensemble Cast in a TV Show or Movie of 2025
Winner: Andor Season 2 (39.9%)
Best Performer in a TV show or Movie
Winner:Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma, Andor) (29.2% of votes)
Best Performer in a Movie of 2025
Winner: Michael B. Jordan (Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore, Sinners) (36.8% of votes)
Best Ensemble Cast in a Video Game of 2025
Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (65.2% of votes)
Best Performance in a Video Game of 2025
Winner: Jennifer English (Maelle, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33) (36.5% of votes)
Best Video Game Music/Score of 2025
Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (67.5% of votes)
Best Art Direction in a Video Game of 2025
Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (58.5% of votes)
Best Remake or Remastered Game of 2025
Winner: The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered (34.6% of votes)
Best Movie of 2025
Winner: Sinners (24.7% of votes)
Best Game of 2025
Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (50.8% of votes)
Thank you to everyone who participated in our community-voted awards categories this year. In 17 of the 23 categories, the winner garnered over 40% of the total votes, showing a sense of unity on what you found to be your favorites in 2025. Clair Obscur, as expected by many, ran the gauntlet to win all nine of the categories it was nominated in. Meanwhile, Andor was a huge audience favorite, sweeping all four of the categories around TV. The win by the most narrow margin goes to Predator: Badlands, which took home the win for Best Sci-fi or Fantasy Movie over Frankenstein by only 1.1%, while Blue Prince won by the biggest margin, taking home over 72% of votes in the Best Puzzle Game category. Thank you again to everyone who voted. And now, with big games like GTA 6, Marvel’s Wolverine, and other major releases on the horizon, we look forward to seeing how 2026 turns out and learning your favorites this time next year.
Keepin’ It Clean
Throughout the year, we have been monitoring those who do not foster a positive experience here at IGN. We remove the most problematic users regularly to improve everyone’s overall experience. But we also use this time, before the end of the year, as an opportunity to remove those who were given more time to see if their infractions throughout the year was part of a pattern, or if they were potentially just someone having a bad day or week. So, in addition to recognizing the users who uplifted our community, we have also removed several users who have consistently violated our community guidelines. These banned accounts are those who have engaged in hate speech, harassment, or other toxic behaviors. We know these actions are not always popular, but they are necessary in our commitment to creating a safe and welcoming space for everyone at IGN.
As we continue to build upon our community, we will continue to monitor and address any problematic behavior to ensure that our community remains a positive and inclusive place for everyone. We can create a respectful, supportive, and enjoyable community by working together.
We appreciate our readers who regularly make us their home for gaming, entertainment, and more. We are excited to continue building and improving together in the coming months and years. Once again, thank you to all of you who regularly do your best to create a positive experience on IGN.
Jada Griffin is IGN’s Community Lead. If she’s not engaging with users here, chances are she’s developing her own games, maxing the Luck stat in her favorite games, or challenging her D&D players with Intense combat or masterful puzzles. You can follow her on Bluesky @Jadarina.bsky.social
