The moment we’ve all been waiting for has arrived: the verdict is in for Microsoft vs. FTC, and Team Xbox has won! We spend the entire show discussing the massive implications of the ruling, which seems to have set the stage for Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard to finally go through. We talk about the games we might see out of it – particularly from Raven Software – the very serious matter of how Xbox boss Phil Spencer must take steps to clean up the toxic workplace culture at ABK, whether or not Microsoft (and Sony) are done making big acquisitions, and more!
Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out my recent interview with Todd Howard, who discussed the realization of his vision for Starfield after eight years, how Red Dead Redemption 2 was something of an inspiration, what his future holds, and more!
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
Gex Trilogy – a collection of Gex, Gex: Enter the Gecko, and Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko – is officially coming to modern consoles, Limited Run Games announced during a livestream today.
The snarky lil gecko will be hitting the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. The stream didn’t announce a release date or show off any gameplay, but it did note that it’s being remastered with the Carbon Engine.
Gex was first released all the way back in 1995 for the EDO and later ported onto the original PlayStation, the Sega Saturn, and PC. It spawned sequels in 1998 and 1999, but publisher Square Enix hasn’t released any new entries since.
Fans have long hoped for a return, though. The games were heavily inspired by American television, and the wise-cracking character nabbed some solid names for voicework. Comedian Dana Gould voiced Gex in the North American edition, actors Leslie Phillips and Danny John-Jules were in the UK edition, and Mitsuo Senda voiced him for the Japanese release of the second game.
IGN gave Gex a 6/10, and praised Gould’s voicework in particular, writing “usually, wise-cracking voice overs suck, but here it really does work.”
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
Survival horror fans, rejoice! The Super Famicom classic, Clock Tower, is getting remastered for modern consoles.
Scissorman stalks again. The seminal survival horror title Clock Tower will be reborn via the Carbon Engine next year and receive premium physical releases from Limited Run. #LRG3pic.twitter.com/slD6HNVOBA
— Limited Run Games (@LimitedRunGames) July 12, 2023
In an LRG3 presentation event held by Limited Run Games today, the company confirmed that a remaster was in the works and development is a collaboration effort between Capcom, Sunsoft, WayForward, and Limited Run. This remaster also marks the first time the original Clock Tower game will see an official release outside of Japan, which up until this point only had fan translations.
“Starting with River City Girls Zero, we’ve been bringing these Japanese-only releases to a Western audience,” WayForward CEO and Founder Voldi Way said in the announcement video.
Clock Tower was originally released in 1995 and is not to be confused with the PlayStation 1 game Clock Tower released in 1996. The franchise only spawned four games, with the most recent release, Clock Tower 3, launching over two decades ago on the PlayStation 2, with the series remaining dormant until today’s announcement.
Clock Tower remastered will launch on PC (via Steam), PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch early next year.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Skyrim’s prevalent modding scene is notorious in the video game industry for extending the life of one of Bethesda’s greatest games. But right now, the modding landscape is surrounded by controversy because of the rise of AI-generated voice clips in mods based on real Skyrim voice actors. If that doesn’t raise enough ethical questions already, some of the mods feature pornographic AI voice performances, causing backlash and outcry in the voice actor community.
This issue was first reported on by GamesRadar, which called attention to Nexus Mods, a mod distributor that hosts a number of the pornographic Skyrim mods in question. When IGN reached out to Nexus Mods for comment on this story, a spokesperson simply linked to the site’s current policy on AI content, which says in part, “AI-generated mod content is not against our rules, but may be removed if we receive a credible complaint from an affected creator/rights holder.”
Twitter user @Robbie92_ pointed out the practice of AI voice cloning in the Skyrim modding scene late last month, tagging a number of impacted voice actors. Robbie said the actors’ voice performances were mostly fed into an AI cloning tool called ElevenLabs, which generated the AI voices that were used in the explicit content.
With the rise of AI voice cloning, voice actors are being abused by the modding communities. As a member of the Skyrim modding scene, I am deeply concerned at the practice of using AI voice cloning to create and distribute non-consensual deepfake pornographic content. pic.twitter.com/ySUFqrtjH0
“I am a long-standing and deeply concerned member of the mod community for The Elder Scrolls series of games,” Robbie wrote. “I believe that the creation and distribution of deepfake pornography is unabashedly evil, and that we as a community have a responsibility to act.”
The replies to Robbie’s original Tweet are filled with some of the impacted voice actors reacting to learning that their voices have been used for pornographic AI content without their consent. Many voice actors were shocked as they were learning about this issue for the first time, with voice actor Richard Epcar writing, “What the s**t?!”
Robbie also shared a Google Doc that contains a list of names and links of various mods that use AI voice cloning. Robbie wrote that the links are only accessible with an active Nexus Mods account since they are tagged as NSFW.
This list — while not exhaustive — has around 100 links to NSFW mods listed on Nexus Mods. As of this writing, many of the mods have already been hidden by the creators, with the message: “The mod has (possible) permission issues that the author is working to address.” However, many of the links are still fully accessible.
The “possible permission issues” become obvious when digging into ElevenLabs’ terms of service, as anyone that used the voice generator to create NSFW Skyrim mods violated part of the user agreement.
“By Uploading Files to our Services, you confirm that you are either the owner of these Files or that you have the necessary rights and permissions to use these Files. You can only Upload files if you tick a checkbox confirming this,” ElevenLabs’ website reads in part. “For example, if you upload somebody’s voice recording to our Services, you confirm that you have permission from the voice owner to clone and synthesize their voice. Only you are responsible for securing these rights and permissions.”
IGN has reached out to ElevenLabs for comment.
How Skyrim’s Deepfake Porn Mods Impact Voice Actors
When a modder uses AI-generated lines from a real voice actor, it can have a significant impact on the actor’s career security and mental health. IGN spoke to a pair of voice actors who have worked on The Elder Scrolls Online about how deepfakes (especially those of explicit nature) are affecting their colleagues. While neither voice actor we spoke to was specifically listed in the document of impacted voice actors, they both hold valuable insight into what this situation means for the industry.
Abbey Veffer did voice work for ESO’s recent Necrom expansion, and she’s been very outspoken on social media regarding the Skyrim modding controversy. In an email to IGN, Veffer shared her stance on the mods.
“I believe the use of AI synthesis for non-consensual voice cloning and NSFW mods/deepfakes should be seen as the violation that it is,” Veffer wrote. “In my opinion, this should be treated as similar to revenge porn. It’s a weighted issue rooted in perpetrators playing with power dynamics and wanting a semblance of control at someone else’s expense — namely, actors they may claim to be fans of.”
Veffer expressed frustration that the people who are making the mods don’t see it as harmful and don’t understand the implications. She was quick to point out that fans might not see that creating content like this is at a real person’s expense, and that voice actors aren’t as affluent or untouchable fans may think.
I believe the use of AI synthesis for non-consensual voice cloning and NSFW mods/deepfakes should be seen as the violation that it is
“Due to common misconceptions around actors’ wages, many uneducated observers may think we’re all equipped with expensive lawyers who can save us at the drop of a hat. They also assume that these AI impersonations won’t jeopardize our jobs — but that’s entirely untrue. Most voice actors are not rich, and job stability doesn’t really exist in this industry. We’re all in the same boat, and we all deserve protection from AI abuse.”
IGN also spoke with Kyle McCarley, another ESO voice actor that stands against the misuse of voice actors in AI-generated projects. In a statement to IGN, McCarley said, “the implications of this technology being left unchecked are frankly horrifying,” and he went on to explain the harm to voice actors.
“If fans are creating memes where our voices are saying things we didn’t say, that can absolutely hurt our employment opportunities if those fakes are good enough to convince our employers,” McCarley said. “We don’t own the rights to the characters we portray, our employers do. So many of them, quite understandably, don’t want us ‘using’ those characters to say things without their clearance, any more than we want people using our voices to say those things… Our public image could be tarnished by one troll forcing us to say heinous things, and that kind of thing can be nearly impossible to recover from, not just financially, but mentally and emotionally, as well.”
As for what can be done, McCarley and Veffer agree that legislation is the only true path forward to protect actors from AI deepfakes, and that independent actors won’t be able to stop this on their own in the long run.
McCarley also pointed to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood studios negotiations, where the entertainment union is pushing for protections against employers using AI technology without permission and/or additional payment.
“This is why we desperately need legislation at a federal level, to establish oversight of the companies developing this technology and rules on how it can be used by both the private companies in question and the public at large. And then enforcing those rules with strong punitive measures for those who violate them… All an individual actor can do right now is try to contact the person using the model and ask them politely to stop, which is obviously going to net mixed results.”
Microsoft is rolling out a new safety feature on Xbox consoles, allowing players an easier way to report inappropriate voice chats.
In a new blog post, Xbox Player Services Dave McCarthy wrote that this new feature will allow players to “capture and report inappropriate voice activity on any multiplayer game with in-game voice chat on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.” McCarthy also confirmed that the feature would support thousands of games that offer multiplayer voice chat; this includes Xbox 360 games that are backward compatible.
The new feature will allow Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One players the option to capture a one-minute video clip of in-game audio that they deem is both inappropriate and violates Xbox’s Community Standards. The clip will then be submitted as evidence to the Xbox Safety Team, which will review the evidence, and the player will be notified about whether or not Xbox took action.
“With reactive voice reporting, Xbox continues to help players feel protected. Empowering players with easy-to-use tools helps foster togetherness”
“With reactive voice reporting, Xbox continues to help players feel protected. Empowering players with easy-to-use tools helps foster togetherness, while improving the greater health of the gaming community on Xbox,” Family Online Safety Institute CEO Stephen Balkam said in the blog post.
More interestingly, the blog post notes that you do not have to immediately submit the clip after recording it. It states that the clip will live on your console for 24 hours before it is deleted. This allows users a day to decide whether to file a report, with Xbox sending a notification to remind them to submit a report before the clip is erased.
In recent years, companies like Riot Games and PlayStation have implemented similar voice moderation policies that try to crack down on inappropriate voice chat behavior in multiplayer games.
Microsoft says its new safety features will roll out first to Xbox Insiders with the Alpha and Alpha skip rings before it is made available to all users.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
As reported by Eurogamer, Access The Animus shared a screenshot of a Linked post on Twitter from a Ubisoft marketing employee seeking sponsoring partners for Assassin’s Creed Codename Red, in which the game was described as “the biggest blockbuster for 2024”. The post also alluded to the creation of a tie-in manga series and podcasts that will be involved in an upcoming marketing push.
The Linkedin post, which was initially made over four months ago but only spotted recently, has since been edited to remove the reference to 2024.
It looks like a few months ago the Business Development and Brand Partnership teams at Ubisoft were looking for sponsorship partners for #AssassinsCreed Codename Red in 2024, which could act as a partial confirmation of the game actually being planned for 2024 at the moment! pic.twitter.com/m7mq2z3Gp5
— Access The Animus (@AccessTheAnimus) July 11, 2023
Assassin’s Creed: Codename Red will be set in feudal Japan and is being developed by Ubisoft Quebec under the leadership of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Immortals: Fenyx Rising director Jonathan Dumont. It’s also promised to be the “next premium flagship title” in the series and “the future of [Ubisoft’s] open-world RPG games”.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
Prime Day has entered its second and final day, which means this is your very last chance to secure these amazing deals. Prime Day has brought about a whole lot of great Prime Day video game deals, but if you’re a PS5 owner, you have plenty of deals at the ready right now as well. Our favorite deal from Prime Day so far (Samsung 980 Pro 2TB) has expired at Amazon but it’s still available at Best Buy for its sale price of $99.99 as well. Otherwise, the Crucial P5 Plus 2TB is a better deal at $95, or you can pick up the 1TB for just $49.99 – an insane price, and an amazing deal.
TL;DR – Best PS5 Prime Day Deals
For most of these deals, you’ll need a Prime membership to take advantage (you can grab one here).
PlayStation Game Deals
What good would Prime Day be without discounts on PlayStation 5 games? Thankfully, we don’t have to find out this year, because plenty of PS5 and PS4 games are on sale. You can get big discounts on games like Dying Light 2, Elden Ring, No Man’s Sky, and many more. Stock up while they’re cheap.
Best PS5-Compatible SSD Deals
If there’s one thing pretty much every PS5 owner could use, it’s more storage space. Games are huge this generation, and even games on disc require massive installs on your SSD. The baseline SSD that comes in the PS5 has less than a terabyte on it. Play a few meaty AAA games, and you’ll fill that up pretty fast. Thankfully, upgrading PS5 storage is fast and easy. And, during Prime Day, it’s cheaper than ever.
PS5 Headset Deals
If you’re in the market for a headset for your PS5, you’ll find plenty of options across an array of price points in the Prime Day sale. Heavy hitter brands like SteelSeries are dropping prices on headsets both wired and wireless. Find the one that fits your needs and budget and pick it up before Prime Day ends.
Other PS5 Accessory Deals
A few PS5 accessories are on sale for Prime Day, including a quick charging stand that comes in basically all the colors the DualSense is available in. That way, you can match your stand with your controller. Or you can mix and match if you’re feeling creative. You do you.
Grab Even More Prime Day Deals Right Now
Where to Buy a PS5 in 2023
It’s a wonderful time to be alive in 2023, as PS5 consoles are reguarly available to buy! It was a long time coming, but we’re all incredibly thankful to finally turn off those stock trackers! For now, here’s where you can pick up a PS5 console or bundle. But, keep an eye out for offers in the near future, as Sony has already started experimenting with discounts on the console bundles (such as the recent God of War bundle).
And with a new console, you’ll also want to find games to play on it. Alongside physical games like the ones listed above, it’s worth checking out PlayStation Plus for access to a big library of titles. We’ve also got a guide on everything you need to know about it before buying!
With how expensive gaming is getting in 2023, we’re trying to save you as much money as possible on the games and other tech you actually want to buy. We’ve got great deal roundups available for all major platforms such as Switch and Xbox, and keep these updated daily with brand new offers. If you’re trying to keep costs down while maintaining your favorite hobby, stay tuned for more incredible discounts.
As with a lot of sequels, Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals sticks with what works. The first Oxenfree became an instant favorite because it’s a horror game about being on the edge, both literally and metaphorically. It centers on teens on the cusp of adulthood battling terrifying ghosts trapped on the boundary of reality between space and time. Those were two edges that worked extremely well together, especially with time-travel elements that make possible futures and outcomes feel more real. In some ways, Lost Signals feels familiar to the point of being somewhat repetitive, but it still goes just a bit further. You have a similar array of secrets to uncover, dialogue to engage in, and choices to make that can drastically impact the ending and the relationships you might build. The watercolor-inspired art style does a lot to make it feel like a dream, and the audio design continues to be hard-hitting. It doesn’t outdo the impact of the original, nor is it as scary, but it still finds its own way thanks to some subtle but impactful changes that come together for an emotional and surprising ride rather than a lackluster rehash.
It’s eye-opening how characters’ experiences can change so drastically just by aging them up to adults. Instead of basing a second story around teenagers, the developers at Night School created Riley and Jacob, two 30-somethings who have to figure out how to move forward into the next stage of life while battling those same stranded ghosts (and also some rebellious teens). Between that reoccurring idea, a lot of the gameplay carrying over, and the fact that Lost Signals takes place in a town that neighbors the original setting, it doesn’t take any large swings. But that doesn’t stop the core story from being any more impactful.
Riley and Jacob are working overnight for an environmental research group that wants to place transmitters across Camena, the coastal town where they grew up that, coincidentally, is near Edwards Island, the old military and tourist location where the first game takes place. People who played the first game already know that there’s nothing good over there, and thankfully, Lost Signals doesn’t devote too much time to re-explaining it. There are recaps, but they’re spread out over the course of the first act to get you caught up or remind you if you’ve forgotten the details since Oxenfree came out in 2016, and it’s just enough to get the characters up to speed, too.
Riley and Jacob are, understandably, out of their depth.
The duo quickly comes up against the antagonists — if they can be called that: a group of teens from a mysterious religious group who are trying to reopen the portals from the first game and unleash whatever’s beyond them. Their leader is a boisterous girl named Olivia, who has readily apparent motives, and it’s frustrating at first because Riley and Jacob take way too long to realize what’s happening, but thankfully, the developers have a few tricks. What is really going on with Olivia and her friends is the big reveal, not why they’re doing it in the first place. I’m still not sure how I feel about this revelation, which simultaneously works with and against the events of the first game, but it’s enough to really change things up before the final act.
Riley and Jacob are, understandably, out of their depth, and not just in regard to the ghosts. They are your typical aimless millennials with generational baggage. Riley, who is our point-of-view character, is clearly holding back a lot of intense emotions when we meet her for the first time sleeping at a quiet bus stop. She pairs neatly with Jacob, a meek but generally optimistic guy who can best be described as an airhead. A lot of the story hinges on the conversations these two have as they hike around Camena’s winding trails, and just like in the first game, you can satisfyingly control the vibes and direction of those talks. You can choose to be emotionally distant or open with Jacob; engage with his weird tangents or cut him off. They’re different takes on Riley as a character, but they all still manage to feel like things Riley would do or say, and that’s even before you learn about why she is the way she is.
The same range of conversation options goes for the teens as well, who you can befriend and get on your side if you play your cards right. And their interactions are largely interesting because Riley is someone who hasn’t done the best job taking care of herself, so there’s little chance she can change the lives of some aimless kids with a few pep talks. All of this creates a dynamic that sometimes feels like it’s adults vs. teens, which can become grating during times when it’s not handled fairly or realistically. For example, while Olivia’s motivations are understandable, she came off as one-dimensional during my playthrough because she seemed to have absolutely no redeeming characteristics that would explain why people choose to follow her or support her. But I’m left wondering about her because I didn’t do a lot to make her feel heard, so maybe that could be altered in a different playthrough.
While Olivia’s motivations are understandable, she came off as one-dimensional.
However, it was obvious who I was going to relate to the most from the start. I’m around the same age as Riley and Jacob, and watching them (sometimes literally) face their baggage and potential futures hit a little too close to home. Like them – and a whole lot of other people in this part of their lives – I’m also sitting on a bit of a precipice between a present that’s not emotionally fulfilling and a potential future that I could work toward. And as somebody who also had some rough teen years, I definitely projected quite a bit on these characters.
Riley is an especially relatable figure. She’s clearly closed off and always on the edge of a nervous breakdown, but it isn’t her entire personality. If you allow her, she can reveal a lot of dimension, especially as Lost Signals opens up to reveal what she’ll be experiencing in the years ahead. Just like in the first game, introducing time travel into a personal story is a great way to have characters literally face their future and have them reckon with it, and it still works well here as a way to understand what everybody is dealing with.
Naturally that’s all based on personal experience; your mileage will vary with how much you relate to the characters, but their conversations feel real enough that I think most people who would consider picking up a game like Oxenfree in the first place will find something relatable. I particularly enjoyed one section where Jacob leads Riley through one-word story time (where you create a story one word at a time) as a way to distract himself from a particularly traumatic portal event. You can brush him off, but this is just one of the many moments of downtime that allow the characters to really show off who they are. The voice acting is exceptional across the board, but Elizabeth Saydah and Joe Bianco (Riley and Jacob, respectively), also imbue their characters with a lot of personality, which certainly helps with making them seem like actual people. They’re subdued, with the proper amount of “ums” and pauses to make their conversations feel real.
Choices aren’t “good” or “bad,” in the traditional video game sense.
Just like in the last one, the crux of Lost Signals is these conversations, where you can respond in one of three ways. I don’t know how many different combinations there are in Lost Signals or how many endings they amount to (there are three major ones I can spot, but it’s possible there are dozens of variations). But there are so many ways to take interactions, which you use to build relationships, which in turn have a big impact on much larger events. If you don’t forge bonds with Olivia’s followers, for example, it can lead to negative consequences when confronting her. Although depending on what kind of Riley you want to play, you might want to keep them at a distance – choices aren’t “good” or “bad,” in the traditional video game sense, so you aren’t compelled to do either except if you want to do multiple playthroughs. One where I sought out secrets and did sidequests took around eight hours, but subsequent runs will likely be shorter. And depending on your ending, you might want to immediately jump into another. After my extremely bittersweet ending, I definitely will be.
Beyond a whole new set of characters, the developers made other changes to Oxenfree’s template, including a larger setting. This brings more places to explore, but it also creates more empty space that you have to fill. There are quite a few places where you’ll be walking through them and nothing will happen, or you have to backtrack over trails you’ve been across a few times already with nothing new to refresh them. But thankfully, there’s enough that happens throughout the runtime that these moments don’t bog you down too much.
The developers do manage to fill Lost Signals out with some new and clever ideas.
The developers do manage to fill Lost Signals out with some new and clever ideas, the biggest being the walkie-talkie. In the first game there was only the radio, but here, there are nine channels where you can talk with other characters. Most of them are optional, but if you choose, you can reach out to a park ranger on channel 1, a fisherman on channel 5, and a high schooler running an advice radio show on channel 8 (make sure to check in on her when you get the chance). It also provides another outlet for some strange transmissions that deepen the weirdness, which is always welcome. These are all characters that feel properly fleshed out, which is impressive considering you never see any of them.
Around Camena you can also find letters from Maggie Adler, a tertiary character from the last game, and complete tasks for some of your walkie-talkie friends. Most of them don’t have a huge impact on the story, but they give you more chances to engage in decision-making, and they explain what’s happening in the wider world as the portals start to wreak more havoc. The same goes for the main story quest as well. You have to visit a few different peaks to plant the transmitters, and you can technically do them in any order. This means you’ll hit certain encounters out of what must’ve been the expected order, which in my playthrough meant a location was ransacked before I got there. It gives way more weight to your choices when even the smallest ones have immediate effects.
Hiking around the island also isn’t too easy, which also helps to break up the monotony when quests send you back and forth. Camena is more mountainous than Edwards Island, so there’s a new mountain climbing mechanic. This cuts off specific areas until you get certain equipment (in classic adventure game style), which makes completing the task of placing transmitters at the highest peaks more difficult. It doesn’t do a ton to change it up, but it’s enough to make Camena feel distinct from Edwards Island, and it does more to fill in the emptiness of the map. It also gives Lost Signals reason to open up new areas like caves and beaches that are off the beaten path and contain secrets and important storylines.
If an area is particularly inaccessible, there’s a chance you might get to take advantage of some portals through time. These dump you out in the past and allow you to cross a bridge that might not be there anymore or use a lift that’s since collapsed. However, this isn’t used nearly enough considering how much much time the developers dedicate to teaching you how they work. These barely tapped puzzle ideas are a missed opportunity to add more to Lost Signals and separate it from its predecessor just a bit more.
This deal will not last! Dell is offering the Xbox Series X gaming console for only $449.99. That’s 10% off the normal $500 cost. For most people, this will be the best deal you’ll find on an Xbox Series X on Prime Day, although technically this deal is part of Dell’s Black Friday in July Sale (aka the Black Friday Counter Sale).
10% Off Xbox Series X
The Xbox Series X is a current generation system able to drive 4K games at up to a glorious 120fps. It is technically a more powerful system than the PS5 and games that are compatible with both consoles usually perform better on the Xbox console. Compared to the $300 Xbox Series S, the X features more powerful hardware to enable it to run games in 4K (the Xbox Series S runs games at 1440p). The Xbox Series X also has a disc drive that can play 4K Blu-ray movies and physical game media. The Series S doesn’t.
There is one other deal out there. Dell also has an Xbox Series X Diablo 4 console bundle for $499.99. This will be the better deal if you plan on picking up Diablo 4 anyways, since Diablo 4 by itself costs $60.
Eventually inflation comes for us all, and Xbox gamers are not immune. With Starfield coming out September 6, Microsoft recently raised the price of Game Pass Ultimate to $16.99 per month. Thankfully, during the Prime Day 2023 sale, Amazon is leaning the other direction. Right now you can get three months of Game Pass Ultimate for $39.99. That’s $11 less than you’d have to pay if you got it directly from Microsoft. It’s not even technically a Prime Day deal, so it’s available to everyone.
Game Pass Ultimate Deal
Yes, Starfield is coming to Game Pass Ultimate at launch. Forza Motorsport is another big first-party game coming to the service in October. And there are already well over 100 games on the service you can download and play to your heart’s content right now. Even at full price, Game Pass Ultimate is pretty much the best deal in all of gaming. And with this deal, it’s an even better value.
Prime Day Deals Available Now
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed or on Mastodon @chrislreed.
