Category: IGN

Editor’s Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl developer GSC Game World has revealed it was hacked by a group on a Russian social network.

On Twitter, the GSC Game World team posted a statement about the hack, explaining what happened and revealing that the studio has faced cyberattacks since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“Recently, our employee’s account for a collective work-with-images application was hacked,” GSC Game World wrote. “The responsibility for this was claimed by a community from a Russian social network. They are threatening to use the data obtained for blackmail and intimidation.

A message from GSC Game World team pic.twitter.com/rqRM0tFZmO

— S.T.A.L.K.E.R. OFFICIAL (@stalker_thegame) March 12, 2023

“This is not the first attempt to hack and leak our data, including personal information. We have been enduring constant cyberattacks for more than a year now. We have faced blackmail, acts of aggression, hacks, attempts to hurt players and fans, and efforts to damage the development process or the reputation of our company.”

GSC Game World is asking fans to “refrain from watching or distributing information” about STALKER 2 in the event of any leaks. The studio said that outdated and work-in-progress materials are not representative of the final product.

Elsewhere in the statement, GSC Game World also reiterated its “unwavering commitment to supporting” Ukraine, adding that “attempt to blackmail or intimidate us are completely futile.” Finally, the team expressed its appreciation for the STALKER 2 community, ending by saying, “Your support is our inspiration.”

The Ukrainian studio has been very vocal about the ongoing war in its home country. When development was sidelined due to the conflict, GSC Game World said work on the game would continue “after the victory.”

In the months following, the studio shared a look at GSC Game World’s Kiev office and workers before and after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, work on the game has continued, with reports that some of the developers have relocated. There’s no release date for STALKER 2 yet, but last we heard the game was targeted for release sometime in 2023.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

During a panel at the Monaco Anime Game International Conferences 2023 (MAGIC 2023), two legends of the Japanese videogame industry looked back on 30 years of history they helped shape. Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night creator Koji Igarashi gave their opinions on how Japanese video games became a worldwide phenomenon, how things went wrong in the early 2000s, and how Japan made a comeback over the last decade.

Sakaguchi said that the release of Dragon Quest in 1986 greatly inspired him. Before Yuji Horii’s domestic hit, Sakaguchi believed that developing RPGs for the NES (or Famicom in Japan) would not be possible. The Legend of Zelda, which was released in that same year, was a game he greatly enjoyed as a player, but did not directly inspire him.

“Nintendo and (Shigeru) Miyamoto’s games were on another level,” Sakaguchi said.

“Mario already kind of had a story,” he added. “I think that the story in Zelda was an extension of that. In these games, the story is not the most important component. I personally wanted to make a game in which the story comes first, which is why Dragon Quest felt closer to what I wanted to achieve. The music and systems are of great importance as well, but it is the scenario and story by Yuji Horii that made Dragon Quest special.”

For Igarashi, it was quite the opposite. He has previously stated that he was influenced by The Legend of Zelda when creating Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

“In my games, action is the most important component,” said Igarashi. “I think that action games can be compared to boot camp training, as you have to jump and dodge at the exact right moment. Without a purpose it simply becomes a penance, which is why we need to have a story to keep the player motivated. In that regard, the story is definitely important, but it doesn’t come first.”

If Dragon Quest made RPGs popular in Japan, it was Sakaguchi’s Final Fantasy series that made Japanese RPGs popular around the world. Sakaguchi says that while he was happy to see his games gain popularity on the NES and SNES in Japan, he was frustrated to see the games weren’t picked up in the Western market.

“At the time, people in the West saw pixel art and three-heads-high characters as something for children,” Sakaguchi said. “It was frustrating that our games were struggling there, as we wanted to find a way to expand our business. That finally happened when we were able to incorporate CG for Final Fantasy VII.”

Final Fantasy became one of the most iconic and popular series on the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2. However, by the time the PlayStation 3 came around, Japanese games started to fade to the background, with the exception of Nintendo.

“I think that one of the main reasons for that is the fact that consoles like the NES and PlayStation were very specific hardware,” suggested Sakaguchi. “This made it easier for Japanese developers to master the hardware, as we could ask Nintendo or Sony directly in Japanese. This is why – I realize it might be impolite to say this – Japanese games were of a higher quality at the time. As a result, Japanese games were regarded as more fun, but when hardware became easier to develop for, things quickly changed.”

“Japanese developers had been developing skills specifically for console games, but in North America and Europe, there was a long history of PC culture,” Igarashi said.

“By the time there was no longer a big difference between developing for console and for PC, Japanese developers could no longer rely on their specialty as console developers, and had to master PC development,” said Igarashi, positing that this was the major reason Japanese games started falling behind.

Sakaguchi added: “Many Western gamers grew up playing Japanese games. When games by Western studios started to improve, they felt new and fresh when compared with the Japanese games those players were more familiar with. I believe that in entertainment, freshness is extremely important.”

After Sakaguchi left Square and created his own studio, Mistwalker, in 2004, Western RPGs started to overshadow their Japanese counterparts. Series like The Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age and Mass Effect gained massive followings, while Japanese RPGs like Final Fantasy XIII and Sakaguchi’s own Blue Dragon failed to attract mainstream audiences in the way they once did. However, Sakaguchi says he never felt it was necessary to derive inspiration from Western RPGs.

“In the West, children often get their own room from a very young age, whilst in Japan the whole family sleeps together in the same room,” said Sakaguchi. “I think that such small cultural differences can be felt through the games we make today. Even when Western games became mainstream, I didn’t feel the need to be inspired by them. I believe that cherishing my Japanese cultural background is what attracts people towards my games in the first place.”

For Igarashi, things are a bit different. Today, the Metroidvania genre he helped create is one of the most popular genres among indie developers, and there are dozens of recent games directly inspired by Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

“I would like to start by telling everyone to please leave my field!” Igarashi said, jokingly.

“In all seriousness though, I think that it is only natural for works to be inspired by each other. As for games within the genre, I try to play the good ones. More so than me, the director (of Bloodstained) researches these games to see what they do well and learn from their mistakes at the same time. In that regard, I guess I should call [other Metroidvania developers] our friends. We all learn from each other in the hope of creating better games.”

Sakaguchi and Igarashi are not the only legendary Japanese developers who left a major development company to become independent. Hideo Kojima, Yu Suzuki and Hidetoshi Nagoshi are only a few examples of the many Japanese talents who have set up their own studios.

“In my case, (at Konami) I wasn’t able to make the type of game that I knew fans were waiting for anymore,” Igarashi said.

“Mobile games were gaining popularity in Japan,” he recalled. “As a company, I think it was the right decision to shift focus. However, as a result it was no longer possible for me to make the same type of games. That’s when I heard the voice of a devil inside me telling me to quit. I think that to a greater or lesser extent, the direction of companies and what developers wanted to make started to diverge.”

With titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Metal Gear Solid V, Elden Ring and Final Fantasy XIV, it is safe to say that Japanese developers are at the forefront of the game industry once again today. That being said, the climate is fundamentally different from the 1980s and ’90s. Free engines like Unreal and Unity offer more documentation in English than in Japanese, putting Japanese developers at a disadvantage; and while Nintendo remains a very Japanese company, SIE (Sony’s videogame division) moved its headquarters from Tokyo, Japan to San Mateo, California in 2016.

“Nintendo is a very creative company,” said Sakaguchi. “They want to create games they believe are fun, and Shigeru Miyamoto is still central to that, which in turn is reflected in their marketing. That’s why their headquarters need to remain in Japan. Sony (PlayStation), on the other hand, is a much broader company that does business in many different genres. The biggest market is the West, and with their strength in marketing it is natural for them to make that market central.”

“The way I see it is that Sony is approaching videogames as a more cinematic type of entertainment,” said Igarashi. “Of course, they are aiming at the biggest market, but I think they need to be located where the best cinematic entertainment is made. Nintendo, on the other hand, is closer in spirit to a toy manufacturer.”

Igarashi said that while he is impressed by the success of modern Japanese titles like Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring, he wants to stay focused on the type of game he does best.

Sakaguchi has been playing so much Final Fantasy XIV that he has found no time to play such titles. Final Fantasy XIV is one of the most noteworthy successes among modern Japanese videog ames. The MMORPG genre has traditionally been a territory largely dominated by Western developers, but FFXIV has held its own alongside titles such as World Of Warcraft, EVE Online and Everquest.

“As the director (Naoki) Yoshida says himself, FFXIV is like a Final Fantasy theme park,” noted Sakaguchi, explaining the reason he thinks Final Fantasy XIV became such a big success. “It seems like an MMORPG on the surface, but in reality it’s a bit different. It’s a game that celebrates 35 years of characters and worlds from Final Fantasy, similar to something like Disneyland. In that regard, you might even call it a new genre.”

IGN interviewed Sakaguchi about his love for Final Fantasy XIV in 2022. At MAGIC 2023, Sakaguchi also looked back at the development of Chrono Trigger.

Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was released in 2019. It was well received by critics and sales topped 1 million units in 2020. Igarashi is currently working on a sequel, although details are still sparse. Sakaguchi’s studio Mistwalker released the classical RPG Fantasian on Apple Arcade in 2021. As he said at MAGIC 2023 that he hopes to make a sequel and bring the original to PC.

Esra Krabbe is an editor at IGN Japan. He thinks 2023 will be another big year for Japanese videogames.

Much like its bloodsucking antagonist, Castlevania has lain dormant for many years, but Konami’s classic vampire-slaying franchise is finally beginning to awaken thanks to projects like Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania.

Released earlier this week, the heralded DLC stars Richter Belmont and Alucard in what Konami Return to Castlevania supervisor Tsutomu Taniguchi half-jokingly refers to as an isekai — slang for anime about characters suddenly being transported into a new and unfamiliar world.

“Is ‘isekai’ a buzzword ? Because this is how I would define this storyline,” Taniguchi told IGN in a new interview. “Let’s just say that Dracula’s Castle teleported on the Beheaded’s Island and what happened on the island stays on the island.”

No, Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania isn’t canon, but it is a fun reimagining of the old-school platformer, which got its start on the Famicom way back in 1986. The DLC has been heralded by fans and critics alike, with IGN’s review calling it a “shining blueprint of how to do a crossover right.”

‘Respectfully stolen’

According to Evil Empire chief operating officer Benjamin Laulan, it got its start at 2019’s BitSummit festival in Kyoto, which the studio attended in the hope of making a deal to sell Dead Cells in the Japanese market. A meeting with Konami convinced Laulan to shoot his shot and pitch a crossover, and was surprised to find a receptive audience.

“Back in France, we started working on it and well, since Dead Cells had ‘respectfully stolen’ so many elements from the series already, such as: the whip, the key art with the castle, the food hidden in walls… the ‘rogue-vania’ punchline… (oops!) It just made sense to continue this way, so we got lost into excitement and went all-in, the pitch quickly turned into a full DLC proposition,” Laulan said.

Laulan called Empire’s collaboration “really, really smooth,” saying Konami readily agreed to everything from Richter Mode to the Konami Code.

Taniguchi, for his part, said that Konami is “proud” that Castlevania had such an impact on Dead Cells.

“Seriously, knowing that Dead Cells, which is among the greatest indie games of the past ten years, was inspired by Castlevania is a huge source of pride for us,” he said. “When Evil Empire and Motion Twin came back with their full-DLC proposition instead of just this short featuring we weren’t really surprised and we were hoping for that to be honest. And we just thought we had to let them go full circle, because we knew they would use every ounce of their talent to honor the franchise. And also, I personally admit I just really wanted to see what a fight against Dracula in Dead Cells would look like!”

‘We know that our fans always want more’

Taniguchi wouldn’t say what the Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania means for the broader franchise, which hasn’t seen a proper release since 2014’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (the successful Netflix series aside), but did acknowledge the “excitement and enthusiasm of the fans online,” which is “really motivating for [Konami].”

“We tried to bring back the games that people loved and cherished with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection and the Castlevania Advance Collection, we also brought back Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night for our PlayStation fans and on mobile, and launched Grimoire of Souls on Apple Arcade to celebrate the lore of the franchise,” Taniguchi said. “But we know that our fans always want more, and we do too, so this opportunity to have this amazing crossover with Dead Cells was impossible to pass up on. “

Konami is a long way from its glory days, when franchises like Metal Gear Solid and Castlevania towered over the games industry, but there are signs of a comeback. Konami is currently working on multiple Silent Hill projects, including a full-blown remake of Silent Hill 2, and rumors of a Metal Gear Solid remake persist. Even Suikoden is getting a little love with a remaster set for later this year.

Will Castlevania follow suit? We’ll just have to see. But in the short-term, Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is a tantalizing reminder of what could be for one of Konami’s most beloved franchises.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Only two and a half hours after going live, Destiny 2’s latest raid, Root of Nightmares, was first conquered by a relatively unknown team of underdogs called Team Hard in the Paint.

Raids are Destiny’s ultimate endgame challenge, which involve six players working together to figure out complicated mechanics and execute them to perfection, all while avoiding being killed by hordes of enemies and powerful bosses alike. For many years, Bungie has observed the launch of their raids by hosting official “World First Races,” which document the first team to beat these dastardly gauntlets.

Bungie confirmed the world first victory, writing, “Guardians from around the world fought against an ancient threat in the Root of Nightmares raid this weekend during the World First raid race. A massive congratulations to Team Hard in the Paint for emerging victorious. As the first team to both beat the raid and the additional challenges, all six members will receive World First title belts and will forever be known as the World First Champions of Root of Nightmares.”

Super Mario Odyssey came to Nintendo Switch on October 27, 2017. It’s kind of hard to believe but because time is an immutable constant, that date was almost five and a half years ago. In spite of that half-decade gap, we haven’t had a proper follow-up and Nintendo hasn’t really needed to rush into a sequel or successor because Mario is such a powerful property. It operates like a massive steam boiler: Mario is well into a red-hot operating temperature and only needs a steady stream of fuel to remain fantastically efficient. Mario is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Nintendo’s most important character, and I would argue nothing even comes close. No, not even Link, in spite of how excited we all are for Tears of the Kingdom.

What’s interesting about Mario’s importance to Nintendo is that originally, Mario was created because Nintendo couldn’t get the license for Popeye. Think about that for a second: In the infinite possibilities of the universe, there exists a dimension where we’re all anxiously waiting for the release of the Super Popeye Movie this year. Popeye’s foil Bluto was replaced with an angry ape called Donkey Kong. Olive Oyl, the object of Popeye’s affection and rivalry with Bluto, became “Lady,” and Popeye was replaced with a mustachioed everyman named… Jumpman. Mario was never intended to be anything more than a recognizable side-character, someone who would pop into future Nintendo games as a thread of commonality for the company’s works. And he did show up a lot in Nintendo’s NES games: calling the fights in Punch-Out!! or hitting the links in Golf, among others.

While Mario’s design is a result of the limitations of the hardware at the time, the mustache, red dungarees and cap that came about from those limitations now define Nintendo as a whole. Take any one part of that original design and show its modern equivalent to anyone with even a passing interest in gaming and they could put the pieces together. Mario’s hat alone became a supporting character in Odyssey (will the next game focus on a sentient mustache? We can only hope).

No Nintendo character has as much merch as Mario. Yes, Pokemon is a massive brand with literal tons of merchandise, but there’s no one single Pokemon that has the reach of Super Mario. It helps that Mario has such incredible range. Whether it’s 2D or 3D, RPG or sports, kart racing or brother smashing, Mario fits in everywhere Nintendo puts him. Part of this is no doubt because, not in spite of, his humble roots as a replacement sprite for a licensing deal gone sour. Since Mario’s character had so little in the way of backstory, it opened the character up for almost limitless possibilities. We have a “fiction” around Mario and his adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom, but because there was no real reason for Mario to jump over barrels and flames to reach his goal, his only motivation in games was to achieve a goal.

Contrast that open endedness to another one of Ninteno’s biggest characters, Link. Obviously we have Link in Super Smash and Mario Kart, but in all the Zelda games, Link is and remains a variation on the “Hero of Time.” His is an incredible character with a level of openness allowing players to use him as a proxy for themselves, but he’s bound by certain rules and tropes that make him less of an obvious fit for wildly experimental uses.

I would also argue the Super Mario series as a whole, with its easy to understand gameplay loop, gives Mario an edge over the rest of the Nintendo stable of characters. You know almost everything you need to know about the entire Super Mario Bros. game within the first 10 seconds, whereas the first Legend of Zelda game on the NES sets our hero into a world where the objectives aren’t nearly as clear. You don’t even have a weapon when you start, something we take for granted now, but to a first-time player who’s not versed in the game’s vocabulary, it seems like an impossibility to explore the world of Hyrule when you can’t even defend yourself.

There’s a reason Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios is Mario themed right now, and it’s the same reason we’re getting a Super Mario movie: no other character comes close to Mario’s universal appeal and recognition, something Nintendo is acutely and shrewdly aware of. It’s an interesting quirk of the English language and our date system that gives us “MAR10” Day, but now it’s a whole event every year, with Nintendo offering discounts on the many available Mario games, as well as reflecting on the character. It’s “May the Fourth” for video gamers, but less punny.

If you still don’t believe Mario is Nintendo’s most important character, I ask you this: Is there any other character in popular culture with so much appeal that Nintendo would end a Direct by telling you they’ve made a replica of his boots to show off? I don’t think so.

The walking, talking black mold, Xûr, is now live in Destiny 2 for the weekend until next week’s reset. If you’re looking to get your some shiny new Exotic armor or weapons for your Guardian, look no further.

Each week, Xûr has a random assortment of Exotic armor, one for each Guardian class, as well as a random Exotic Weapon and an Exotic Engram available for purchase. In addition to his Exotic wares, he’s got a random collection of Legendary weapons and armor to deck out your Guardians.

We’ve rounded up all the info on Xûr for the week including where to find Xûr, which Exotic weapons and armor are available, as well as which Legendary weapons you should pick up, either for PvE or PvP.

Where Is Xûr Today?

Xûr’s location can be found at The Tower on March 10 through March 14. To reach him, travel to the landing point at The Courtyard and make your way to the Hangar. Hang a left when entering the hangar and you’ll come face-to-face with space Amazon.com.

Xbox has confirmed that it will not be on the E3 2023 showfloor, but signaled support for E3’s digital week by confirming that it will be co-streaming the event when it kicks off on June 11.

In a new statement, an Xbox spokesperson told IGN, “We can’t wait to host our Xbox Games Showcase on June 11 and will share more details later. We also look forward to co-streaming our event as part of E3 Digital and will not be on the E3 showfloor.”

IGN first reported that Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo would not be formally taking part in E3 2023. Nintendo has since confirmed that it will be missing E3, while Xbox previously announced in January that it would be “returning to Los Angeles” for its own event. We have reached out to ReedPop for comment on Xbox’s statement.

Xbox’s confirmation was in response to a list of questions sent by IGN on whether it would be taking part in E3’s week of digital events, which was announced yesterday, while asking for more clarity on the nature of its physical event, which did not receive a response from Xbox. E3’s digital week will roughly align with Xbox’s showcase, and will feature streams by Guerilla Collective and other graoups.

Beyond that, participation from AAA exhibitors remains unclear. Yesterday’s announcement simply said, “Exhibitors from AAA companies to indie darlings and tech companies will be announced leading up to the expo.”

Behind the scenes, IGN is hearing that participation continues to be unsettled, and that many publishers are unclear on who will be taking part in the event. Ubisoft has been the clearest in expressing interest in participating in E3, saying that, “If E3 happens, we will be there and we will have a lot of things to show.”

Xbox, for its part, has continued to express support for E3, with CEO Phil Spencer calling it “one of the seminal moments of gaming.”

“Xbox is on the board of the ESA, and I think a successful and healthy ESA is critical to what we’re trying to go do. So we place our showcase, like we always have done, at a time where hopefully it’s convenient for press and even consumers that are going to the E3 event, and that’s what we’re trying to do now,” We will continue to work with ESA in terms of their plans. As I said, we’re on the board, and we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to help make the E3 successful.”

Xbox recently announced that Starfield will release September 6 on Xbox Series X|S and PC, and that it will be hosting a deep dive “Starfield Direct” will more info on June 11.

E3 2023’s physical event, its first since 2019, will be split between business days for professionals and “Gamer Days” for fans. It will take place from June 13 to June 16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Disclosure: Kat Bailey is a former ReedPop employee, having previously worked at USgamer from 2014 to 2020.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Sony is claiming it’s not happy with Microsoft’s latest Call of Duty offer, as the company said it would “irreparably” harm competition and innovation.

Earlier this week, reports filed from Sony and Microsoft to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority went public. From these documents, we learned that Microsoft is confident it can get Call of Duty running on Switch, and that Sony is worried Xbox will find ways to sabotage Call of Duty on PlayStation.

Also in these documents, however, were redacted details about Microsoft’s proposal to Sony to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for the next decade. In a new statement regarding these documents, Sony claimed that the 10-year deal in its current state would be bad for competition.

“Redacted versions of the observations filed by SIE and Microsoft on the CMA’s remedies notice were made public this week,” Sony wrote in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz. “Information regarding the terms of an offer made by Microsoft to provide future Call of Duty releases on PlayStation was redacted at the request of Microsoft. We believe their current offer will irreparably harm competition and innovation in the industry.”

In Sony’s filing to the UK CMA, the company wrote that it is “extremely sceptical that an agreement with Microsoft could be reached, much less monitored and enforced effectively.”

Some of Sony’s listed concerns included Microsoft raising the price of Call of Duty on PlayStation, lowering the quality of the PlayStation version, not investing in the multiplayer experience on PlayStation, or making Call of Duty available only on Game Pass.

This new statement from Sony is the latest entry in PlayStation’s ongoing opposition of Microsoft’s attempts to push its acquisition of Activision Blizzard through. The year-long battle has included Microsoft calling PlayStation too big to fail and comparing Sony to Blockbuster. Meanwhile, Sony has said Battlefield can’t keep up with Call of Duty and claimed that “Game Pass leads PlayStation Plus significantly.”

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

The console versions of Ingame Studios’s Crime Boss: Rockay City will launch in June 2023. The PC version is still releasing on March 28.

In a recent financial report, Digital Bros said, “The personal computer version of Crime Boss will be exclusive on Epic Store only until June 2024, at least. The launch of the console version will follow in June 2023. Crime Boss was first showcased last December during The Game Awards.”

Since the game is a timed Epic Games Store exclusive, it won’t land on any other PC storefronts like Steam for at least a full year.

Digital Bros also explains that Crime Boss: Rockay City is one of the largest investments made by the company through an internal studio and is set up to receive additional content over the next few years to generate recurring revenue.

Crime Boss: Rockay City was first revealed at The Game Awards 2022 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The game also features big stars in its cast of characters such as Chuck Norris, Danny Trejo, and Vanilla Ice.

In IGN’s Crime Boss: Rockay City preview, we said, “Unfortunately, the wacky, over-the-top presentation seems completely at odds with its gameplay systems, which appear to be playing it a bit more straight, and potentially biting off more than they can chew.”

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.

When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey