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Microsoft’s Xbox Game Release Windows for Rest of 2024 Reportedly Revealed

A new report has revealed launch timings for Xbox games throughout the rest of 2024, spilling the beans on when to expect everything from the next Call of Duty to Indiana Jones.

The Verge reported that Bethesda is currently targeting a September release for the Starfield expansion Shattered Space. In a recent interview, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard announced a fall release window for the expansion.

Elsewhere, Activision plans to release the next Call of Duty, which some fans believe is called Black Ops V, in late October, according to The Verge. The same report claims Obsidian’s Avowed and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 follow in November, leaving MachineGames’ hotly anticipated Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to launch in December.

If true, that’s a jam-packed second half of 2024 for Xbox, which is now boosted by Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard and all the games it owns. It’s worth remembering that Microsoft now owns Blizzard and MMO World of Warcraft, which is set to receive the The War Within expansion before the end of this year.

Microsoft is heavily rumored to be planning to announce the next Gears of War game during its showcase, although there’s no indication it’s a 2024 title. Expect plenty of release dates for all the games coming out this year, and some set for 2025. Other announced Microsoft games include The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics’ Perfect Dark reboot, Rare’s Everwild, Playground’s Fable reboot, InXile’s Clockwork Revolution, Undead Labs’ State of Decay 3, and Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight.

Fans don’t have long to wait before hearing all this straight from the horse’s mouth; Microsoft’s Xbox showcase event is set for June 9.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Call of Duty Fans Are Squinting at Microsoft’s Direct Showcase Tease, Believe It Hides Black Ops V

This week, Microsoft announced the timing of its Xbox showcase event in June as well as a follow-up Direct for a mystery game that looks like a clear tease for the next Call of Duty.

This year’s mainline Call of Duty is reportedly a Treyarch-developed Black Ops game set in the Gulf War. Some had even thought it might be called Call of Duty Black Ops Gulf War, following the naming convention set out by the previous Black Ops game, Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War.

However, following Microsoft’s tease, eagle-eyed Call of Duty fans are giving the image included the zoom and enhance treatment, and believe the redacted section conceals the words Call of Duty Black Ops V.

As many fans have pointed out, you can almost make out the ‘OPS’ from Black Ops in the redacted section in the bottom of the image. The suggestion is the spacing only makes sense if the words are ‘Black Ops V’, not ‘Gulf War.’

Why the V, specifically? It’s all in the pixels, fans believe. Actually, the single pixel to the right of the blacked out part of the image. Would it be more of a bar if it concealed a ‘5’ than a ‘V’? Some fans believe so.

If the game is called Black Ops V, that would track with the roman numeral system used for previous Black Ops games (bizarrely, Activision went with Black Ops IIII for the fourth game in the series, as opposed to IV). Black Ops V would also be a somewhat puzzling choice given it wouldn’t actually be the fifth mainline Black Ops game, but the sixth. Perhaps Activision wants to lean more on the idea of this new Black Ops being a fully-fledged sequel after veering into potential sub-sub-brand territory with Cold War. Perhaps the game spans more than the Gulf War, so using the name in the title wouldn’t properly reflect its content. Or perhaps Activision feels like having Gulf War in the title of the game is a step too far, even for Call of Duty.

Whatever the case, fans don’t have long to wait to find out, given the Xbox Showcase and the Call of Duty Direct are a little over a month away.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Helldivers 2 Dev to Patch the Eruptor After Community Investigation Reveals Ricochet and Shrapnel Issue

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has issued a statement on recent changes to the way ricochet works in the game after members of the community pointed out one weapon in particular was killing players more than it should.

After this week’s release of patch 01.000.300, which tweaked a long list of weapons, stratagems, and enemies, a debate emerged about the state of ricochet. According to the initial patch notes: “Shots that ricochet from heavy armored enemies will now properly hit the Helldiver who fired them. Trigger discipline is highly recommended.”

Players then reported getting killed more often by shots that ricochet, but there was confusion about what exactly was happening. Clips shared on social media appeared to show players suffering embarrassing deaths at the hands of their own ricocheting projectiles, even from rockets and explosives, but redditor Zenbast investigated the issue and blamed it on the Eruptor.

The Erupter is an explosive weapon that causes shrapnel, and, Zenbast found, it was this shrapnel that was killing players, not necessarily ricocheting bullets. Zenbast suggested other weapons that have the shrapnel effect might have had a similar issue, but it was the Eruptor that was causing the most chaos.

Now, Arrowhead has issued a follow-up acknowledging the issue with the Eruptor and announcing planned changes to fix it. The developer said it will completely remove the shrapnel effect from the Eruptor but increase its hit damage as a result. “This should make it less lethal to the operator but just as powerful against enemies,” Arrowhead said. “It should maintain its destructive power, and as it is still classed as explosive, it will not lose the ability to break objects, close holes, destroy fabricators, etc. This will, overall, be a buff to the weapon as shrapnel played an almost negligible part in the damage and power it dealt. Its AOE will be unaffected.”

Arrowhead ended its statement by thanking the Helldivers community for working out what was happening. Here’s the statement in full:

The teams have been hard at work testing a number of community issues today, mainly focused on the changes to ricochets and shrapnel. In response to a previous front page post we looked into the possibility of rockets and other explosives being affected by ricochets. This has since been debunked by the community, but nonetheless, our Ministry of Defense team also ran a number of tests today and confirmed that rockets and explosives are not ricocheting backwards.

However, we have noticed another issue through these posts and community feedback that has identified the possibility for shots from the R-36 Eruptor to explode and rebound shrapnel at the shooter, which has a high enough damage value to instantly kill the player. To prevent this, we’re looking to completely remove the shrapnel effect from the Eruptor but will be increasing its hit damage as a result. This should make it less lethal to the operator but just as powerful against enemies. It should maintain its destructive power, and as it is still classed as explosive, it will not lose the ability to break objects, close holes, destroy fabricators, etc. This will, overall, be a buff to the weapon as shrapnel played an almost negligible part in the damage and power it dealt. Its AOE will be unaffected.

Currently, with the systems in place, only small arms should be able to ricochet on armor. If you see an explosive VFX at the point of impact, the projectile is not causing a ricochet, as explosion effects are not triggered when a ricochet occurs. Shrapnel, however, can still explode outwards from the point of impact and kill the player.

We apologize for this misunderstanding and thank you all for investigating these new changes so diligently, and for passing on your feedback to us. Hopefully this makes sense and these changes should help everyone survive better!

If you’re looking for more on Helldivers 2, check out IGN’s feature on the Let Me Solo Her of Helldivers 2, a player who has answered over 100 SOS Beacons as part of a mission to help others.

Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it’s still growing. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 review to find out why it’s going down so well.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Rise of the Ronin Sales Pacing Ahead of Nioh and Its Sequel, Koei Tecmo Says

Rise of the Ronin may be a little shy over a month out from its release on PlayStation 5, but that isn’t stopping the action RPG’s sales from outpacing its spiritual predecessors, Nioh and Nioh 2.

News of Rise of the Ronin’s sales comes from Koei Tecmo’s recent financial report. In the report, Koei Tecmo noted that Rise of the Ronin’s sales are surpassing the Nioh series and that it might usher in a “significant step toward mid to long-term growth” for the holdings company despite being a new triple-A game.

No specific sales figures, however, were mentioned. Back in 2022, Team Ninja had announced that the Nioh series collectively had shipped 7 million units worldwide.

In tandem with Koei Tecmo’s internal findings of Rise of the Ronin, the financial report also underscored the acclaim the game has received from both critics and players. More specifically, Koei Tecmo cited Rise of the Ronin’s “very high” user and “generally favorable” Metacritic score, which praised the game for its combat, story, and graphics.

Rise of the Ronin, by Nioh developer Team Ninja, is an open-world action RPG where players control a nameless ronin in a perilous adventure set in the mid-19th century era of Japan.

In our review, in which we gave Rise of the Ronin a 7, we said it “marries a cool setting, Team Ninja’s mastery of tough-but-fair combat, and smart RPG design, even when map clutter and junk loot can get in its way.”

Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh.

A Surprising Manor Lords VR Mod Is Even Impressing the Game’s Developer

Manor Lords, the medieval-themed strategy game released in early access last week, recently got a mod that allows it to be played with a VR headset, and it’s even caught the attention of the game’s developer.

Flat2VR, a community of modders and developers aiming to port “flat” games into virtual reality, announced on X/Twitter that there is now a VR mod for PC players looking to play Manor Lords on a virtual reality headset. Flat2VR notes that the mod currently uses mouse and keyboard controls and that “it works perfectly” in six-degree-of-freedom VR (6DOF VR). It’s made possible thanks to UEVR, a mod that allows developers and modders to make VR mods for games powered by Unreal Engine.

A video shared by the modding group caught the eye of Manor Lords developer Slavic Magic, who responded with awe that modders managed to get a VR mode running.

“Wow I have no idea how it’s done but I’m impressed it works,” they replied.

Manor Lords has been out for less than a week and it already has becomer a big hit on PC. A few days after its early access release, publisher Hooded Horse revealed that Manor Lords not only sold over a million copies in a day, buy it also hit a peak Steam player concurrent out of 173,178. Manor Lords is the latest indie of 2024 to break out in the industry, joining the likes of Pocket Pair’s open-world survival game Palworld and Arrowhead’s shooter Helldivers 2 in finding success outside of AAA development.

In our early access review of Manor Lords, IGN wrote: “Manor Lords is a gorgeous medieval city-builder that kept me occupied for hours building my perfect, cozy hamlets, but it definitely feels very early in its Early Access development.”

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Star Wars: Hunters Gets June Release Date for Mobile and Nintendo Switch

Star Wars: Hunters, the free-to-play team-based battle arena shooter from Zynga and Lucasfilm Games, is set to be released on June 4, 2024, on Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

At launch, Star Wars: Hunters will feature 13 characters who are all very unique, including one named Utooni who is actually two Jawas stacked on top of each other wearing a trench coat. There is also a droid who thinks it is a Jedi and is aptly named J-3DI, an Ugnaught named Slingshot who fights inside a Droideka, and much more.

You can find the full list of characters below and check them out in the image below that, from left to right;

  • Sprocket (Mon Calamari Prodigy)
  • Utooni (Jawa Scavengers)
  • Zaina (Rebel War Hero)
  • Grozz (Wookie Juggernaught)
  • Skora (Rodian Sawbones)
  • J-3DI (Jedi Droid)
  • Aran Tal (Mandalorian Vanguard)
  • Rieve (Dark Side Assassin)
  • Sentinel (Imperial Heavy Gunner)
  • Diago (Miraluka Sharpshooter)
  • Imara Vex (Unrelenting Bounty Hunter)
  • Slingshot (Droideka Speedster)
  • Charr (Trandoshan Trapper)

A lot of these characters may sound ridiculous, but that’s kind of the point! In that galaxy far, far away, these characters are competing in a form of “fight-entertainment” that has taken a huge influence from pro wrestling.

“They’re larger-than-life personalities, similar to pro wrestling,” Zyngy art director Dominic Estephane said in an interview with StarWars.com. “Using Grozz as an example, he’s our super heavyweight and he’s a showman, but in reality he’s a former Huttball pro. He brings that persona to the arena, but he dials it up for the fans and the crowd, the audience watching at home.

“It’s in the presentation, as well. It’s a live show broadcast. We have our version of a jumbotron. If you’re familiar with pro wrestling, where they have the big-screen jumbotrons, each Hunter has their own graphics package that you see on the screen within our roster screen in the game. Each Hunter has their own music theme, which is really, really awesome. We have what we call, internally, ‘Hunter’s spectacle.’ That is, how would the Hunters walk out on stage and present themselves? And once they walk out, their music is playing, as well. So we think our best-in-class visuals on mobile really help deliver and showcase that progress and influence.”

Alongside the release date, the two hosts of Star Wars: Hunters was revealed. It was shared that they are the hosts of the in-universe show called ‘Hunters of the Outer Rim,” which broadcasts “live on ORSN across the holonet.”

Boz Vega is one of the hosts and he is a former hunter who has the Hall of Fame rings to prove it. Joining Boz is LX-1, a droid who was programmed for this role and has an extensive knowledge of the competition and can compute stats instantly. She also comes with a bit of snark as well.

Star Wars: Hunters has had a long history as it was first announced in 2020 and was aiming to launch by the end of 2021. This obviously didn’t happen, but now the game is nearly here and looks to welcome players into a new way to enjoy Star Wars.

For more, check out all the biggest reveals in the latest trailer for Star Wars Outlaws.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.

A Tekken 8 Streamer Is Rapidly Rising Through Ranked Mode With a Script That Mashes Only One Button

Longtime Tekken character Eddy Gordo has always been a little polarizing, particularly in Tekken 8, and one streamer has found a way to make him even more of a pain to fight, rising through ranked mode using a script that spams one button.

Over on Twitch, jimmashima is currently streaming ranked mode matches of Tekken 8 using Eddy Gordo as his fighter. The streamer is using a script that keeps spamming “3,” or the Left Kick move, to attack their opponent. Aside from the obvious repeated kick show on stream, jimmashima also provided a little UI for the controller, showing the button inputs and the repeated pressing of the “X” button to attack.

The jimmashima “3ddy” bot has caught the attention of the community outside of Twitch, too. Users on Reddit and X/Twitter point out that the creator is using a script for spamming the same button input for every match (and even between matches). As X/Twitter user JakubDi notes, most viewers watching Tekken 8 streams on Twitch are watching jimmashima.

Jimmashima is not the only person with a 3ddy bot, however. Twitch streamer 3ddySmurfy is also live streaming themselves, playing ranked matches against other players using a script that spams the Left Kick button. 3ddySmurfy calls themselves “3ddy: North America.”

While some are interested in seeing how high jimmashima can get in ranked matches, others are annoyed by the button-mashing, so much so that players are canceling their matches to avoid fighting a 3ddy bot. User Leon3226 took to the Tekken subreddit to rant about how some online players would rather cancel their match than fight a 3ddy bot to “learn against a literal one-button clicker.”

Though, as some have pointed out, anyone who’s played a fighting game can likely recall a time when they or someone they played against (online or offline) just kept spamming the same attack over and over again. Jimmashima’s just using a script this time.

Regardless of how you feel about the 3ddy bot, many in the Tekken community note that it’s a wild time for the franchise. Between the 3ddy bots becoming a hot topic of conversation, Bandai Namco recently unveiling its roadmap plan for post-launch content for the rest of the year, and Evo Japan underway, it’s an exciting time to be a fan of Tekken.

For more on Tekken 8, check out our review. If you are playing Tekken 8 and trying your best to prepare for the impending 3ddy bot and everything else, check out our guide, where we explain Tekken 8’s new Heat System and go in-depth for every playable character.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage for iPhone 15 Pro and iPad Gets June Release Date

Assassin’s Creed fans embedded into the Apple hardware ecosystem can rejoice, as Ubisoft announced today that Assassin’s Creed Mirage for iOS and iPadOS will arrive in early June.

In a press release, Ubisoft revealed that Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be released on June 6 for the iPhone 15 Pro series and iPad Air and Pro tablets powered by the M1 chip or newer. This will be the most recent port of Ubisoft’s open-world game since its initial release on October 5. This will be the first time an Assassin’s Creed game that was originally released on consoles and PC will be available natively on iOS and iPad.

Although pre-ordering is now available on the App Store, Ubisoft has not publicly shared how much this port will cost. However, it did reveal on the game’s App Store listing what in-app purchases would be available and how much they would cost, as shown in the screenshot below.

The iOS and iPadOS version of Assassin’s Creed Mirage was developed by Ubisoft Sofia, with Ubisoft noting that this port would include optimized touch controllers in addition to controller support, so players that own a Backbone One, for example, can use the peripheral to play this game on the go. This port will also include cross-save and cross-ownership, meaning iOS owners can access the game on iPad without double dipping and transfer their saves between those two devices.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage was one of four games announced for the iPhone 15 Pro series during Apple’s Wonderlust event, where the company unveiled the iPhone 15 series. Most interestingly, that particular Apple event revealed that the iPhone 15 Pro series would be powerful enough to deliver console-quality video games, thanks to its A17 Pro chip.

In our review of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, IGN wrote: “Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s back-to-basics approach is a successful first step in returning to the stealthy style that launched this series.”

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Escape From Tarkov Rival Gray Zone Warfare Shoots to Top of Steam Sales But Reviews are ‘Mixed’

Realistic first-person shooter Gray Zone Warfare is currently Steam’s best-selling game as extraction rival Escape From Tarkov endures a community revolt, though its also being panned with “mixed” user reviews.

Gray Zone Warfare’s Early Access began today, April 30, 2024, timed just as Escape From Tarkov players are sharing their frustration at “shameless” and “tone deaf” developer Battlestate Games. But while Gray Zone Warfare, which promises similar tactical FPS gameplay, is currently the best-selling Steam game above Manor Lords, Helldivers 2, and Fallout 76, players are having significant issues, including poor performance, frustrating design choices, unsatisfying gunplay, and connectivity issues.

“Can barely manage 60 frames per second with specs higher than the recommended,” wrote one Steam user. “AI is weird. [It] either shoots you from way too far away with no warning or runs out in the open and stands there like a mannequin.”

Another complained about lack of simple quality of life features. “Chose the wrong faction. Now I can’t play with my friends because there is no way of recreating your character or changing,” they said.

DemonicSquid posted an extensive review detailing the above issues alongside others such as “extremely annoying” loud music during the character creation scene, clunky movement, random slowdowns, unusual NPC health bars (enemies can be bullet sponges or they can go down in one hit), and “very shady” practices where upgrading the game makes the entire product non-refundable.

“Can barely manage 60 frames per second with specs higher than the recommended.

The connection to Escape From Tarkov’s isn’t lost in the reviews either, with many referencing the recent controversies. “At least it doesn’t cost $250,” wrote one positive review. This comes after Battlestate announced the $250 Unheard Edition upgrade to the Escape From Tarkov beta, which added an exclusive player-versus-everyone mode amid other extras, and notably wasn’t deemed downloadable content by the developer. This meant those who’d bought the $150 Edge of Darkness edition of Escape From Tarkov, which came with a Season Pass and thus “free access to all subsequent DLCs”, wouldn’t obtain this new content without spending another $250.

While Battlestate has already reversed some of these decisions following a backlash, fans arguably grew more upset at comments made by COO and studio head Nik Buyanov. “I would like to say that I am very sorry that fans and the game community in general are experiencing these feelings,” he said, which was dubbed a “fake apology” by many.

For its part, Gray Zone Warfare developer Madfinger Games has said it’s working to iron out the problems players are facing.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Epic Confirms Fortnite Will Return to iPads, but Only in the EU

Epic Games has announced plans to bring back the iPad version of Fortnite, but it will only be available for countries in the European Union (EU).

In a post on X/Twitter, the Epic Games newsroom announced that EU Fortnite players who miss playing the free-to-play battle royale natively on Apple’s tablet will soon be able to play it again. The statement follows a recent announcement by the European Commission that it now requires Apple to have iPadOS comply with the same rules iOS must abide by as part of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Epic had already said it planned to bring the iOS version of Fortnite back to the EU App Store thanks to the DMA. This comes as part of a wider effort to launch the Epic Games Store on Android and iOS in the EU, with Epic boss Tim Sweeney previously stating the company’s ultimate goal is to become the “number one multi-platform software store, on the foundation of payment competition, 0%-12% fees, and exclusive games like Fortnite.”

At the State of Unreal event last month, Epic shared some new details on the mobile version of the Epic Games Store, revealing that mobile developers that use its third-party storefront would benefit “from the same fair terms” found on the main Epic Games Store. This includes an 88/12 revenue share, and developers can keep 100% of the revenue it earns by using its own payment system for in-app purchases.

Fortnite was removed from all mobile devices nearly four years ago after Epic rolled out a direct-pay system in-game. The outcome resulted in cheaper V-Bucks for players; however, it violated Apple and Google’s app store policies, with both companies removing the app from their respective digital storefronts. Shortly after Fortnite was banned from both app stores, Epic announced it was suing both companies, with varying outcomes.

Since the removal, those who wanted to play Fortnite on the go but did not have a Nintendo Switch or a portable gaming PC like the Steam Deck were required to stream Fortnite on either Xbox Cloud Gaming or Nvidia GeForce Now. Epic has yet to announce a fresh release date for Fortnite on mobile.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.