Category: Video Games

Perhaps somewhat in thanks to its turbulent launch period, Cyberpunk 2077 has been given the Labor of Love award at the Steam Awards 2022.

Steam published the winners of its player-voted awards, and while Elden Ring took the overall Game of the Year position, Cyberpunk 2077 also made an appearance in what’s essentially the most improved game category.

Up against No Man’s Sky, Deep Rock: Galactic, Dota 2, and Project Zomboid, Cyberpunk 2077’s stream of post-launch updates and fixes was seemingly enough to push it over the top.

The game has undergone somewhat of a resurgence since its incredibly rocky launch (that did mostly affect consoles) thanks to these improvements and further excitement brought on by Netflix’s Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime series.

“This game has been out for a while. The team is well past the debut of their creative baby, but being the good parents they are, these devs continue to nurture and support their creation,” reads the award synopsis. “This game, to this day, is still getting new content after all these years.”

The leaps forward for Cyberpunk 2077 arguably began in February with the launch of the Next-Gen Update, or Version 1.5 for PC players, which saw several bug fixes and even free DLC added to the game.

This theme continued in September when developer CD Projekt Released the Edgerunners update to go alongside the launch of the anime series (which itself was praised by fans and critics alike). It also announced the Phantom Liberty expansion which is due to launch this year, and continued to build excitement by revealing that its sequel, codenamed Orion, is also on the way.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Wizards of the Coast is canceling at least five unannounced games as it seeks to focus on games “strategically aligned with developing our existing brands,” according to a new report by Bloomberg.

While it’s unclear which games have been canceled, Wizards of the Coast claims that fewer than 15 people at the company have been impacted by the changes. The company told IGN in a statement:

We remain committed to using digital games as a cornerstone of our strategy for bringing our games to players around the world. We have made some changes to our long-term portfolio to focus on games which are strategically aligned with developing our existing brands and those which show promise in expanding or engaging our audience in new ways.

Hidden Path Entertainment and OtherSide Entertainment, both of which were working on games for Wizards of the Coast, are among the studios potentially affected by the cancellations.

The cancellations come in the wake of an ambitious 2022 expansion that saw the company open multiple new studios. They included Skeleton Key, an Austin-based studio led by former BioWare developer Christian Dailey, and Invoke Games, a Montreal-based studio organized by the developers of 2021’s Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance.

In addition to opening Invoke Games and Skeleton Key, Wizards of the Coast is publishing Baldur’s Gate 3 by Larian Studios. It also had several other games in the works, including a sci-fi role-playing game by former BioWare developer James Ohlen and a game by Atomic Arcade starring G.I. Joe’s Snake Eyes.

In pushing into the digital space, Wizards of the Coast has found success with Magic: The Gathering Arena, but its Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance revival by Tuque Games was panned by fans and critics alike. Hasbro likewise saw its stock plummet late last year over its handling of Magic: The Gathering, including its pricey 30th anniversary edition that sparked furor among fans.

Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast will hope for a better reception for Baldur’s Gate 3, which is slated to enter full release in August.

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.