Star Wars Outlaws developer Massive Entertainment has revealed why it set its open world, galaxy-spanning adventure between the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

Speaking to IGN, Massive Entertainment creative director Julian Gerighty explained that, while this time period was chosen in part because his colleagues are all huge fans of the original trilogy, there’s a very specific reason relating to its scoundrel-led story.

The time between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi is a lull for the Rebellion, meaning not just the Empire is running rampant, but the Outer Rim’s festering crime organisations are too.

“When we were starting off the discussions with Lucasfilm, it was very clear that the one year period between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, that’s where the Rebels aren’t part of the picture,” Gerighty said.

“The Empire’s taking more and more control, but the syndicates, they’re taking more power, they’re exploiting all of these weaknesses. So it really is a moment where the underworld is thriving and there’s no better situation for an established or a rookie scoundrel to cut their teeth than this particular moment.”

Ubisoft’s open world Star Wars game was finally revealed as Star Wars Outlaws at the Xbox Games Showcase on June 11, with a gameplay reveal following soon after at Ubisoft Forward.

Star Wars Outlaws follows Kay Vess as she embarks on a scrappy adventure around the galaxy, using her wits (and a blaster bolt or two) to navigate the fearsome underbelly of the Outer Rim.

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

Sandwiched between Nexus and Mirage at today’s Ubisoft Forward event, we got a longer look at the upcoming mobile Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, which is preparing to enter a public testing phase ahead of launch.

Codename Jade is being made in partnership with Tencent’s Level Infinite publishing division, and is a mobile-first Assassin’s Creed game that takes place in China. It’s set during the Qin Dynasty, just after the Warring States period, and between the events of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Origins.

One notable feature shown off was the character customization. In a series first, players can fully customize the look and style of their assassin character, including gender, clothing, and other features.

During the presentation, we learned that Codename Jade is “making great progress” since it was first revealed almost a year ago, and has just wrapped up a technical alpha on iOS. Ubisoft is opening up pre-registration today for a public testing phase before the game releases on iOS and Android at a later date.

In the same presentation, we also got a look at Assassin’s Creed: Nexus for VR and Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which is out this October. For this and all things Summer of Gaming, keep an eye on IGN for the latest trailers, news, and interviews.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

If you watched the Xbox Games Showcase event yesterday, you might have noticed the t-shirt Phil Spencer was wearing was a print of the box art for Hexen: Beyond Heretic, a 90s fantasy FPS shooter. While many wondered if Spencer was teasing an impending announcement, sadly, those suspicions are not true.

Well, so he says.

In an interview with Polygon, Spencer insisted he was not teasing a revival for the game. “That wasn’t me trying to pre-announce it,” Spencer said. “But it was me recognizing the importance of some of the games in our portfolio.”

Spencer went on to explain a bit more about how Hexen was a game he “loved”, noting how the shirt was more for nostalgia with no hidden underlying meaning beyond that.

“So for me, wearing the [Hexen] shirt wasn’t as much about a tease forward as it was just about nostalgia,” Spencer explained. “I recognize that as our portfolio grows, we’ve got important [games] that we have to kind of protect and nurture and maybe bring back at some point.”

Hexen: Beyond Heretic, developed by Raven Software and published by Doom creator Id Software, was released back in 1995.

With Microsoft buying Id Software and the rest of the ZeniMax Media properties back in 2020, Xbox now owns the rights and could make another Heretic or Hexen game.

And if Xbox manages to acquire Activision-Blizzard, perhaps the company could tap Raven Software to develop it (again). We can only dream.

In case you missed it, here’s our Xbox showcase roundup, and here’s everything shown during the Starfield Direct. Check out our Summer of Gaming 2023 schedule to find out what’s coming next.

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

Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, Star Wars, Cyberpunk 2077, and other major subreddits are going dark in protest against Reddit’s API price changes affecting third-party apps.

While visiting these subreddits previously would allow users to peruse all the usual conversations surrounding new reveals, highly contested topics, and so on, the Xbox, Nintendo, and PS5 pages are now blank.

Some of these subreddits are going private, meaning only invited members can access them (but no new members will be accepted), while others are closed off altogether. Some, like the Star Wars and Cyberpunk subreddits, are currently still available but won’t be soon, either temporarily or indefinitely.

The wave of subreddits going dark comes as a result of a new pricing strategy that raised the cost of Reddit’s API, the interface used by third-party developers to access and use Reddit data.

Though announced a few months ago, the severity of the changes only came to light earlier in June when the developer of Apollo, an app used by millions to browse and read Reddit posts, said it would now cost upwards of $20 million a year to run.

Apollo announced it would shut down as of June 30, 2023, prompting the Reddit community to take action. “This subreddit is temporarily private as part of a joint protest to Reddit’s recent API changes, which breaks third-party apps and moderation tools, effectively forcing users to use the official Reddit app,” reads a message on the PS5 subreddit.

“In solidarity with the rest of Reddit, we will be participating in the API protests indefinitely, at your request,” said the Cyberpunk 2077 subreddit. “We were going to open up in private but many people expressed their concerns of that undermining the protest.”

It’s unclear if or when these protests will end, but Reddit CEO Steve Huffman showed no sign of changing the policy when asked about it on June 9.

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

Capcom has launched the Capcom Town website to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

It features playable retro games, development documents, and countless callbacks to the company’s rich history.

Since its founding on June 11 1983, Capcom has gone on to create some of the most beloved, iconic, and formative franchises in video game history, including the Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, and Street Fighter series.

The newly-created website lets you click around a delightfully-animated metropolis made up of a colourful range of districts highlighting famous locations and scenes from Capcom’s history. Jill Valentine can be seen chased through the streets by Nemesis, while characters from Capcom’s SonSon series can be seen drifting above the cityscape on a magical cloud.

Users can click on locations marked by a pin to visit key attractions, including Merch Factory where visitors can download digital items such as Twitter icons. The newfound digital city also features a virtual museum containing a development history of the company, along with original artwork, development documents, videos, and music from classic and modern games alike.

Happy Monday everyone! We’ve just launched Capcom Town, our 40th anniversary website!

Come visit and discover lots of cool content, including free retro games and game development documents from past titles! ?✨ #Capcom40th #Capcomtown

? https://t.co/mGuXXJuj4Q pic.twitter.com/YNnxwc8gQB

— Capcom Europe (@CapcomEurope) June 12, 2023

Visitors can also jump into the Retro Games section to play a number of classic titles, including a version of the first 1987 NES Mega Man game, Street Fighter 2 (SNES 1992), Mega Man 2 (NES 1988), Final Fight (SNES 1991), and Mega Man X (SNES 1994).

Meanwhile, the towering skyscrapers at the heart of Capcom Town let fans find out more about the company’s leadership by reading bios and interview snippets with company CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto, and COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto.

Capcom will hold a 36-minute showcase at 3pm PT June 12. It’s set to feature news and updates on a range of games including Exoprimal, Ghost Trick Phantom Detective, and Dragon’s Dogma 2.

Check out all 380+ games announced over the course of Summer of Gaming. Beyond that, don’t forget to stick with IGN for comprehensive coverage of June 12’s Ubisoft Forward (10am PT), and the Capcom showcase later today.

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

Image Credit: Capcom

CD Projekt Red has added a key part of the Edgerunners anime to Cyberpunk 2077 with the Phantom Liberty update.

As reported by VGC, an overhaul to the capacity system forces players to consider the risk of cyberpsychosis when installing new cyberware.

Featured as a key plot point in Netflix’s Cyberpunk: Edgeunners, cyberpsychosis affects people who install too much tech onto their feeble human bodies, potentially turning them into mindless killing machines.

Signs of this can perhaps be seen early on in the Phantom Liberty trailer released during the Xbox Games Showcase, where protagonist V seemingly loses control of her actions.

It’s unclear exactly how the feature will work in Cyberpunk 2077, however, though a mod released last year added the ability to turn cyberpsycho in the PC version. It’s perhaps unlikely an exact copy of this mod will be used, though CD Projekt Red isn’t against the idea of using community mods in its releases, having previously done so with The Witcher 3.

A September 26 release date for Phantom Liberty was also announced, though unlike the base game the expansion is set for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC only. It’s also worth noting this cyberpsychosis feature is seemingly a part of the general update 1.7 and won’t necessarily require the purchasing of Phantom Liberty to access.

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

Mortal Kombat 1’s Ed Boon has confirmed the door is not closed on Injustice 3.

IGN had the chance to speak with Boon and ask him about NetherRealm’s decision to go with another Mortal Kombat game after Mortal Kombat 11, given the studio has alternated between Mortal Kombat and Injustice since the 2013 release of Injustice: Gods Among Us.

“There were a number of factors, some of which I can talk about, some of which I probably shouldn’t,” Boon said.

Two reasons Boon was willing to discuss were the unfortunate onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the team’s choice to switch to a newer version of the Unreal game engine (Mortal Kombat 11 runs on Unreal Engine 3, whereas Mortal Kombat 1 runs on Unreal Engine 4).

“But we did go to a new graphics engine, Unreal,” Boon said. “We really wanted to be careful with COVID and all that stuff and everybody staying safe. So there were a bunch of variables involved that eventually we realised, ‘Okay, let’s do another Mortal Kombat game and hopefully we’ll get back to the Injustice games.’ ”

Just to be sure, we wanted to confirm with him directly that the door was not closed on the Injustice franchise.

“Not at all,” Boon answered.

Injustice: Gods Among Us was released in 2013 and its sequel, Injustice 2, arrived in 2017. In our Injustice 2 review, we said: “Faster, deeper action, and a wealth of content make this DC heroes fighting game feel super.”

As for Mortal Kombat 1, which is set to launch on September 19, 2023, we got a brutal new look at the game in action and the new Kameo system at Summer Game Fest. We also got a chance to get hands-on with Mortal Kombat 1, and we thought there were some exciting differences from Mortal Kombat 11 even though the gameplay felt pretty familiar.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Microsoft has insisted any similarities between inXile’s Clockwork Revolution and BioShock Infinite are “unintentional”.

Microsoft unveiled Clockwork Revolution during the Xbox Games Showcase with a reveal trailer some said looked remarkably similar to Irrational Games’ 2013 shooter adventure BioShock Infinite.

As a reminder, here’s the Clockwork Revolution reveal trailer:

And here’s a BioShock Infinite trailer:

While both games share a similar steampunk aesthetic, Twitter user Butmac hammered home the point in a series of posts that included side-by-side images lifted from both games. The shots show similar perspectives of statues, sky rails, characters, enemies, and posters.

The Daisy Fitzroy character replete with scarf really cracked me up. pic.twitter.com/t9LNxEMNQa

— Butmac (@Butmac) June 11, 2023

pic.twitter.com/YcrGXUZFfa

— Butmac (@Butmac) June 11, 2023

Clockwork Revolution is described as a “time-bending steampunk first-person RPG”.

“After stumbling across an incredible invention that allows you to travel into the past, you discover the city you call home — the vibrant steam-powered metropolis of Avalon — has been carefully crafted through the alteration of historical events,” reads the description.

“By traveling back to key moments, your interactions and choices will have a butterfly effect on the deep, narrative-driven world and characters of Avalon, causing them to change and react in unprecedented ways.”

The similarity with BioShock Infinite has become the top talking point for Clockwork Revolution in the wake of its reveal at the Xbox Games Showcase. In response, a Microsoft spokesperson told IGN:

“Any similarities are unintentional. Players will be able to fully customize their own main character in the game.”

Character customisation was one feature highlighted by inXile boss Brian Fargo in a series of tweets that stressed the RPG-ness of Clockwork Revolution.

Fargo called Clockwork Revolution a “deep RPG” with “full character creation”, a “branching dialogue system”, “awesome” steampunk weapons and “dark humour”.

Important to know that Clockwork Revolution is a true RPG with all of the stats, crunchy details and deep reactivity that we’re known for.

— Brian Fargo (@BrianFargo) June 11, 2023

These features are points of difference between Clockwork Revolution and BioShock Infinite, the latter of which is less a role-playing game, more a linear, story-based first-person shooter adventure that features lite-RPG elements.

These features are also in-keeping with the types of games inXile has made in the past, including Wasteland 3, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and The Bard’s Tale 4.

Clockwork Revolution is due out “in due time”. There is of course a new BioShock game in development from 2K’s Cloud Chamber Studios, although it has yet to be revealed.

Here’s everything Microsoft announced during its Xbox Games Showcase. And here’s the full Summer of Gaming schedule.

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.

Think of Avowed like The Outer Worlds rather than Skyrim in terms of size and scope, developer Obsidian has said.

Obsidian boss Feargus Urquhart told PC Gamer the studio’s initial pitch was for Avowed to be a bigger, sprawling open-world fantasy role-playing game like Bethesda’s Skyrim, but it ended up being smaller scale, similar to its previous sci-fi role-playing game The Outer Worlds.

After announcing Avowed three years ago during a livestream, Microsoft finally revealed gameplay during its Xbox Games Showcase event alongside a 2024 release window. It’s a first-person fantasy RPG set in Eora, the world of Pillars of Eternity, with fantastical monsters and lots of magical combat.

So, expect typical Obsidian first-person melee and magic battles, all cast in the brightly coloured and vibrant environments in a section of Eora called The Living Lands. The trailer was narrated by a character named Kai, a former soldier and one of the companions who joins the player in Avowed.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about Avowed, but it seems story and companions are very important to the game. According to PC Gamer, when Obsidian started focusing on this, Avowed’s smaller scale “came naturally”.

It’s busy times at Obsidian. It’s working on The Outer Worlds 2, continues to support Grounded and Pentiment, and of course has Avowed in development.

In case you missed it, here’s everything announced during the Xbox Games Showcase. When you’re done with that, check out our Summer of Gaming schedule to find out what’s next.

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.

The Xbox Games Showcase was full of announcements and surprises. From a full reveal of Fable to release windows for Avowed and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, there’s plenty to be excited about if you’re an Xbox gamer.

But there are several Xbox Game Studios games announced previously over the last several years that have been MIA ever since. Here’s a list of Xbox Game Studios we know exist but were a no-show today.

MachineGames’ Indiana Jones

In early 2021, we learned Wolfeinstein: The New Order and The New Colossus developer MachineGames and Bethesda were working on an Indiana Jones game. Outside of the announcement, we have not heard much about the project.

We do know Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard will serve as Executive Producer and that he pitched the game. Last year Howard went on Lex Fridman’s podcast and mentioned this untitled Indiana Jones game would be a “unique” mash-up of different genres.

State of Decay 3

Three years ago, an Xbox showcase previewed a list of games that would be available on the Xbox Series X/S consoles. State of Decay 3 was one of those games announced during that July 2020 showcase that has yet to be released.

State of Decay 3 has no release window and we have yet to see any gameplay of the third installment from Undead Labs’ third-person survival horror zombie game. The most recent news came from Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty, who confirmed State of Decay 3 was being made in Unreal Engine 5 and that The Coalition would be involved in development.

The Outer Worlds 2

At the 2021 Xbox Games Showcase, Obsidian announced it was developing a a sequel to its 2019 hit The Outer Worlds. Not much is know about it, which is not entirely surprising when you consider Obsidian has been busy with multiple projects.

From Grounded leaving early access last year, to its critically-acclaimed adventure game Pentiment launching last year, and Avowed currently slated to release next year, Obsidian has been keeping busy.

Perfect Dark

At the 2020 Game Awards, Microsoft revealed a new Perfect Dark game. It’s being developed by The Iniative a new studio formed by Microsoft back in 2018. A blog post published during its unveiling noted that this project is “aiming to deliver a secret agent thriller set in a near-future world”.

Everwild

At X019, Rare announced Everwild, a new IP that was in early development. While back in 2021, it was reported that Everwild was being completely rebooted, Matt Booty would go on to say in an interview with Kinda Funny that the report was “more definite and a little more extreme” than the truth.

With Rare working on this plus Sea of Thieves, which announced a new Monkey Island crossover at today’s Xbox Games Showcase, hopefully the legendary British studio will have more to share on Everwild soon.

Contraband

In 2021, Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios announced a brand new game called Contraband. It’s an open-world co-op game that will be an Xbox console exclusive (and its coming to PC, too). Xbox Game Studios is publishing the title, but outside of its reveal two years ago, we have not heard much about the game and no gameplay has been shown as of yet. We do know that the game will be using the latest iteration of Avalanche’s Apex Engine.

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.