Square Enix Cafes Set to Open in Los Angeles and Shinjuku

Los Angeles, California and Shinjuku, Japan will be the first recipients of Square Enix's officially licensed cafes. The veteran game publisher announced today that it would open locations on both sides of the Pacific, with both locations set to open this spring.

"The cafe spaces will offer menu items inspired by multiple Square Enix IPs, while the adjoining shop spaces will carry a wide selection of official merchandise," the company said in a press release. No further details have been announced just yet, such as what Square Enix game-inspired menu items would be available to eat and drink or what unique merch will be exclusive to each location.

The Los Angeles location will be operated by J-Pop Culture Cafe Inc. at 316 E. 1st St. in Little Tokyo, in the former Mitsuru Sushi & Grill space. The Shinjuku location, at Paselabo Tower 1F / 2F / 3F, 3-36-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, will be operated by the Newton Corporation.

Food has long been a staple of Square Enix's biggest franchise, Final Fantasy, appearing as healing or stat-boosting items, which means we could see any number of Final Fantasy-inspired food or drinks at the cafes. Dragon Quest's Slimes, meanwhile, seem ripe for inclusion – perhaps in candy form. Kingdom Hearts also comes to mind, though tying that one into these cafes might be trickier given the Disney licensing factor.

Square Enix recently announced that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S this year, and Square Enix game director Tetsuya Nomura says that "development is progressing smoothly" on Kingdom Hearts 4 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3.

What Square Enix game-inpsired food and beverages would you like to see on the menu at the Square Enix Cafe? Let us know in the Comments below!

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired 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.

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Next Final Fantasy XIV Expansion Revealed, FFXIV Evercold Coming January 2027

The next expansion for the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV has been revealed; it's called FFXIV Evercold and it's coming January 2027.

The teaser trailer dropped during the FFIXV Fan Fest keynote and showed the Warrior of Light and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn crossing into a new realm that appears to be freezing over. If you've been keeping up with the FFXIV Dawntrail 7.x patch series, you'll recognize the new character Halmarut and her role in bringing the characters of FFXIV between worlds. This marks the beginning of a new story arc for the MMORPG that's being called "The Godless Realms Saga."

For FFXIV players, what you need to know is that we're going to the Fourth, a new reflection separate from anywhere we've been so far. It's a realm that's on the verge of freezing over, reminiscent of how The First was taken over by light in Shadowbringers.

With FFXIV Patch 7.5 going live on April 28, its story content will act as the bridge that leads into what's happening in Evercold (catch up on everything coming to FFXIV 7.5).

The keynote continued with showcasing the concept art and environmental design for the new zones in FFXIV Evercold. This includes imposing architecture and a wide range of biomes, which you can see below.

Along with Evercold and FFXIV 8.0, Square Enix is making fundamental changes to how the core game works and how it's focusing on "fighting off fatigue." It's also looking to modernize itself and teased a new UI; they showed an early mock-up that is subject to change (and it's very reminiscent of Final Fantasy XVI, which the FFXIV team worked on).

We will be providing updates as the FFXIV Fan Fest keynote goes on.

This story is developing.

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Crimson Desert Community Hits Out at 'Gatekeepers' Who Are Looking Down Their Noses at Easy Mode Players

Crimson Desert got a huge update this week, and among the many changes it brought, it added new difficulty settings. Now, Pearl Abyss’ single-player open world action adventure has easy, normal, and hard difficulties for players to work through.

Hard difficulty makes it so food item effects won’t be applied immediately, and will only take effect after the consumption animation is complete. This makes it impossible to recover health by spamming food, as so many players had been doing, especially in boss fights. In hard difficulty you also take more damage, and the maximum health, aggressiveness, and overall speed of opponents is increased. You also get a reduced timing window for parry and dodge, reduced invincibility duration for roll, and increased frequency of bosses attempting to counterattack or escape when hit.

Easy difficulty, on the other hand, reduces the damage taken by the player, reduces the maximum health, aggressiveness, and overall speed of opponents, and extends the timing windows for parry and dodge. Normal is the difficulty we’ve all been playing so far.

After the patch went live, players began to express their delight at being able to drop Crimson Desert down to easy mode. “Honestly, easy mode is great!” said one player. “As someone who doesn’t have hours to play and so wants to breeze through seamlessly I just beat a boss without having to have any food. Some might not like the ‘less of a challenge’ but I think it’s great for us that wanna get through the bosses and just explore more.”

Another player, primemn, said that with easy mode, Crimson Desert “finally feels good for lesser abled folks like me.” primemn explained that he suffers from carpal tunnel, trigger finger, an elbow injury and a shoulder injury “that all impact gaming for me,” and had struggled with the game up to this point. But now, “the easy mode is perfect for someone like myself.”

“The parry timing is much more forgiving, which is huge for me as my reflexes aren’t what they were,” primemn continued. “While still challenging, the reduced damage greatly helped for someone like me to have an easier time to heal with food, which has to be a quick reaction while dodging, attacking. That’s not always easy for someone whose hands don’t work as great as they’d like.

“One of the many reasons I’d struggle to keep going in the game was the feeling that as I progressed, I was never going to have the reflexes or skill to keep fighting escalating levels of bosses and enemies. I don’t feel that way anymore. For the first time, I feel like I am able be relaxed about being able to move forward, because the game can now be so much more forgiving. This is a fantastic feeling, and I’m so grateful for this change, and to see the game become more accessible, while also introducing higher levels of challenge for those who enjoy that type of play.”

Unfortunately, there are some within the Crimson Desert community who take issue with those who are enjoying easy mode, and it became enough of a problem for the wider community to step in. “It's 2026 and we're still doing the superiority complex bulls**t about what other players want to do with their single-player games?” asked one player. “Really? People playing on easy has no bearing on your gameplay. They even added hard mode for y'all, go play that and let people play on easy if they want to. So many of y'all treating single-player games like a pissing contest. Why do you care what difficulty someone else plays on when it has zero effect on you? Trying to gatekeep people like "no! You must play your game how I want you to play.” Asinine nonsense by childish people. Y'all must have sad lives if you need to gatekeep game difficulty to lord it over people to feed your ego and false sense of superiority.

“It's utterly pathetic. Some of y'all treat games like they're your entire existence or something. Grow up. Get some help. Touch some grass. Worry about your damn self.

“This is not a fromsoft game/soulslike.”

“I saw what seemed to be an older women talk about how she really enjoyed just exploring and farming in the game and was avoiding fighting and people were ragging on her hard,” another player said. “I love myself a challenging experience but she paid the same $70 we all did and can enjoy the game however she wants and luckily for her the devs are giving her the mode she needs to enjoy the game how she wants and that should be celebrated.”

“The only people who talk s**t about playing easy mode are people who have nothing else to do than play video games,” another fan added. “If you have limited time to game and you just want to relax and have fun, easy mode is so much better and lets you play the game and keep up with it. Personally I'm playing hard, but I have a lot of free time at the moment and I'm practically done everything in the game. Everyone deserves to play in a way that's fun.”

This isn’t the first time a video game community has rallied against gatekeeping, of course. The communities for FromSoftware’s infamously hard action games often deal with gatekeeping around how the likes of Dark Souls and Elden Ring are “meant to be played.” Even Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has its own community rally against gatekeepers over a virtual helmet.

We’ve got plenty more on Crimson Desert, including praise from the director of The Witcher 3, a hidden food consequence system that a modder has restored, and an impressive character creator mod. We recommend you take a look at our guide to Things to Do First in Crimson Desert, plus Things Crimson Desert Doesn’t Tell You (we’ve got 28 and counting!). We’ve also got a guide to the Best Early Weapons we recommend picking up, the Best Skills to Get First (including a handy explainer of the skills system), and 34 Essential Tips and Tricks to help you succeed in Pywel.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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Saros Review

Sometimes, against our better judgment, we do the same thing over and over again hoping for a different outcome. Developer Housemarque's new third-person bullet-hell shooter Saros explores this idea in many ways – the roguelite level structure, the repeated combat encounters, and the internal conflicts of its main character, Arjun. It has a familiar gameplay foundation to its predecessor Returnal, too, with fluid gunplay and deft movement. But in trying to be more thematically ambitious, Saros opens itself up to pitfalls Returnal didn't have to manage, leaving some of its more interesting threads unsatisfyingly hanging. Still, its tough-as-nails combat is worth getting good for, even when its repetition can wear you down.

Arjun Devraj is an expeditioner for the space corp Soltari; he sports the voice and likeness of actor Rahul Kohli, who absolutely nails the leading role. His crew is sent out to investigate the disappearance of previous expeditions on Carcosa, a planet riddled with biomechanical imagery and the gothic architecture of a lost alien civilization; the science-fantasy and Giger influence is definitely used effectively here. It's also reminiscent of the modern Doom games, especially when its chaotic combat encounters and pounding soundtrack evoke a similar feeling.

You quickly realize that something is extremely off, with each solar eclipse turning the planet into a hellscape and inducing a deep psychosis that chips away at everyone's well-being as tensions grow increasingly hostile. There are parallels to works like Heart of Darkness or Apocalypse Now here, but Saros is more of an adaptation of the 19th century anthology "The King In Yellow" by Robert Chambers. It pulls names and themes directly from the book itself while brushing up against a little cosmic horror. You see Arjun battling with his own sanity and past decisions as you get further and have to ponder: What is Soltari's real purpose? Does that matter? Why does Arjun keep respawning as few even bat an eye? Is any of this real? Those are all interesting questions as you unpack what Saros is really about.

You do so primarily by blasting through multiple run-based levels that make up Carcosa. The more you familiarize yourself with the unrelenting attack patterns of enemies and learn how to be effectively aggressive with weapons you vibe with, the closer you get to a flow state that speedy shooters like this uniquely tap into. It's strongly rooted in Returnal's design philosophies with a few edges sanded off, and while I don't think Saros is necessarily an evolution, I came away with a sated appetite for Housemarque's house style.

Each failed run is a training ground for what you ultimately need to do.

Carcosa's various biomes are broken up into distinct levels, which themselves must be completed in a single run to make progress. It's a different way of packaging a similar idea; levels shift ever so slightly with each run, pulling from a defined set of rooms to generate the path forward. Some rooms emphasize platforming challenges, most throw hordes of biomechanical amalgamations at you, and some are a tough mix of both. Runs do begin to blend together as the cadence doesn't really change that much since the parameters are fairly tight. But in a game like this, death is part of the process, and each failed run is a training ground for what you ultimately need to do – get through the level as healthy as possible and defeat its boss in one fell swoop.

This largely works because, like it has done historically, Housemarque makes damn good shooters – from 2D and top-down shmups such as Resogun and Nex Machina to the third-person bullet-hell of Returnal. Speed and agility are priorities and that's balanced with a generous tracking system for aiming, which makes Saros play a little closer to an arcade shooter. I often relied on the Onslaught Rifle that disables auto-aim altogether for powerful shots, or the Smart Rifle that homes in on targets to let me focus on mobility. Most guns come with a satisfying impact, including pistols that remain relevant throughout and the late-game ripsaws that tear through enemies with damage-over-time, all of which come with different perks and in several variations that drop randomly during runs. Saros makes brilliant use of the DualSense controller's haptic feedback here, mapping its alternate fire modes to a half-trigger pull that you physically feel and the wind-up of your Power ability to a full-trigger pull, both of which are crucial to execute at a moment's notice.

Firepower is only half the battle because the most challenging part of Saros is reacting to the colorful beams that hound you on the battlefield. Enemies fire off a rapid mix of blue shots that can be absorbed to fuel your shield and Power ability, red shots that can be parried but not blocked, and yellow shots that build Corruption to limit your max health (but empower certain weapons). Knowing when to evade and when to take those hits head-on is something you'll constantly have to process, and learn to love. Where fighting through hordes of aliens in combat arenas is about managing the chaos of everything they throw at you, boss fights are more about attention to detail, where swift visual and audio cues tip you off to what's coming, asking you to be quick enough to position yourself and react while still finding windows of opportunity to get your own shots in. This dynamic tapped into a little bit of my rhythm game skills and it's this test of your reflexes that I enjoyed most; even in moments of frustration, I knew coming out the other end of it would be a moment of triumph.

Saros eases the friction of Returnal a bit by putting a bigger focus on permanent resources and upgrades (even giving you a second-chance revive early on). Back at the home base hub area, you'll work through a skill tree that improves your health, shield and power potency, and rate of resource gathering. Certain branches can boost weapon leveling to help pick up better versions in runs or make your clutch ultimate ability stronger. But progress isn't necessarily about deepening your skillset or fundamentally changing your playstyle, rather it's about making its challenges a little more manageable for future runs and, of course, playing smarter. Nodes in the skill tree are incremental upgrades that are important to obtain because things do get very difficult.

Instead of thinking creatively about combat, more weight is put on surviving a war of attrition.

This is why Saros can get pretty monotonous at times. Instead of challenging you to think creatively about combat, more weight is put on your ability to survive in a war of attrition. I respect that approach, but when you have to spend 20 to 30 minutes going through the motions in a level just to get another shot at the boss, the repetition begins to settle in. I suppose it comes with the territory for a roguelite shooter of this style, where buildcrafting isn't really a thing outside of the Artifacts that temporarily boost your stats (and come with debuffs to consider) and hopefully plucking out your preferred weapons/powers with a good set of perks. It’s an approach that has its merits, demanding that you stay locked in during a run, but that doesn't stop it from feeling tedious in spots.

As a PlayStation 5 exclusive, Saros seems like it’s trying to align itself more closely with Sony’s other “prestige” single-player games by having a more deliberate, high-concept story. Themes of trying to break harmful cycles, coming to terms with grave mistakes, and even struggles with sexual identity work their way into what initially seemed like something primarily inspired by Hollywood sci-fi. I commend that direction because these are intriguing threads to pull on, but the ways the storytelling comes up short really stick out when there’s a bigger emphasis on it this time around. Saros gets halfway there, but unfortunately leaves many of its stronger plotlines underdeveloped.

Arjun is a compelling lead because while he's deadset on chasing someone important to him on Carcosa, something deeper continually brews inside him. His stubbornness manifests in various ways as he simultaneously tries to make sense of the loop he's stuck in and the vision that haunt him as he wakes up for another run. There are moments when Saros built toward revelations that felt like breakthroughs in the story, which had me engaged – but sometimes those moments would be tee'd up without the follow-through required for them to fully payoff. Flawed, even irredeemable characters can be really interesting, and feeling conflicted about these kinds of stories is a fascinating mental exercise to work through, but you need a deft hand to truly pull that off.

Most supporting characters have arcs that boil down to their descent into madness told in voice notes. And aside from a select few crewmates back at base (and a bossy Soltari computer that has a bit of an identity crisis), there isn't much added depth. Brief conversations in the hub area with the crew feel oddly stilted, but at least serve to feed into the unnerving setting. However, Saros does have some of the strongest use of readable data logs I’ve seen in a while. Beyond just being flavor text, there's some great writing that provides insights in the form of Soltari reports, employee data, or diary-like entries which create a kind of thematic texture that's genuinely effective; and I wish some of this found its way into the main story.

It doesn't help that the storytelling is so abstracted that it obscures your understanding of what is actually happening. I'm not asking for its message to be spoonfed to me or its twisting sequence of events to be laid out in broad daylight, but I do expect a story to create throughlines that lead to something we can define with only the pieces we're given. Some of my favorite stories in games leave things up to interpretation, because there's real power in connecting the threads for yourself, but they still had to lay the groundwork to let us piece it together and form our own perspectives. Saros has flashes of this that'll provoke interesting spoiler discussions, but I get the sense that it relied a little too heavily on its literary inspiration to fill the gaps.

Returnal was impactful because it solely focused on Selene and her time loop fighting through Atropos; it used that format to reflect her personal struggles that were subtle in the early hours then gave you the means to paint a clearer picture the deeper you got. Roguelite as a metaphor worked so well there, and its parallels hit hard when you reached a point where it all started falling into place. Saros bites off more than it can chew, which I can admire, but the actual execution struggles to send the message it thinks it's sending.

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Best TCG Storage Boxes and Binders: Top Picks for MTG and Pokémon Collectors

Not all cards are meant to be played with. If you’re into collectibles already or just starting to collect trading cards, you may have a big enough collection that warrants some extra care or bulk storage. Some of your cards may even have significant value or will continue to grow in value, depending on what cards you collect and how you store them. As an investment, many serious collectors go to significant lengths to protect their cards such as sleeving or even double-sleeving them. However, even if your cards aren’t worth much monetarily, they are still nostalgic and special to you; whether it be Pokémon TCG, Yu-Gi-Oh, sports cards, MTG cards (shoutout the new Final Fantasy collection), X-Men cards, or others. That said, you should consider the right dedicated storage option for your type of collection and your budget.

Jump to:

• Quiver Time Quiver Card Case - Best All-Around Pick
• GameGenic Dungeon 1100 - Best for Bulk Collections
• Quiver Time Bolt Card Case - Best Case for Portability
• VaultX Exo-Tec Zip Binder - Best Binder
• Casematix Graded Card Storage Box - Best Protection
• VaultX Exo-Tec Side Loading Deck Box - Best Deck Box
• Fageverld Trading Card Storage Box - Best Budget Option

Fortunately, just like with video game storage, there are all sorts of carefully crafted containers you can use to protect your trading cards these days. If you’re just getting into collecting now, starting to collect more, or you simply want to upgrade your storage option from the old ring binder you’ve been using since the 1990s, this (unranked) list is for you.

While some focus on security above all else, many others are stylish and portable too, making it easy and fun to tote your cards out and about. For all of you card collectors, see our picks below of the best trading card storage options for every situation, collection size and budget. Happy collecting!

1. Quiver Time Quiver Card Case

Best All-Around Pick

Quiver Time Quiver Card Case

Quiver cases are almost universally adored in the card gaming community, and it’s easy to see why. Whatever your storage needs, it’s quite possible a single quiver case will fit the bill. It’s big enough to hold over a thousand unsleeved cards, yet it’s also sturdy and portable, coming with wrist and shoulder carrying straps, a tough shell with a water-resistant faux-leather finish and a secure zip closure. So it’s just as useful whether you’re storing cards in the home or carrying them out to play.

Perhaps the best thing about Quiver Time, though, is the stylish design and attention to detail. They come in a variety of colors to suit your preference and have all sorts of thoughtful little extras. There’s a sheath to keep the zip tabs closed, fully adjustable straps, some card sleeves and removable acrylic dividers and corner cushions to help keep your cards organized. And perhaps most thoughtful of all, 1% of the asking price goes to charity.

More TCG Accessories From Quiver Time:

Best for Bulk Collections

GameGenic Dungeon 1100

If you’ve got a bigger collection of cards and want a solid and well-designed stackable box to keep them in, then look no further. Each GameGenic Dungeon can hold a thousand double-sleeved cards, or a few more if you’re happy to box them up “naked”. There’s a middle divider to keep them better organized and make it easier to search through your collection when you need to.

The lid goes on via a convenient magnetic mechanism which makes it simple to pop on and off but holds strongly and securely when not in use. It also allows for complete removal, making it simple to access all your cards. There’s room above the cards to keep a game board, rules or accessories, and it’s a stylish solution with a smooth exterior and a soft microfibre lining to cushion your cards.

Best Case for Portability

Quiver Time Bolt Card Case

While Quivers are fantastic all-round cases, they’re a little on the bulky side if you carry your cards around a lot. If you’re just after a case to take out to clubs and tournaments then they make a smaller option, the Bolt, for that very purpose. It holds a little more than half the capacity of its bigger sibling, but that also means it has half the weight and size.

In all other respects, it offers the same high quality build and styling of the Quiver, meaning your cards are just as well-packed and protected, only on a smaller scale. And you still get a free pack of card sleeves and 1% of the price to a children's orphan-based charity as well.

Best Binder

VaultX Exo-Tech Zip Binder

Boxes are not always the best option for storing your cards, not least because it’s difficult to flip through your collection and find the cards you need. Binders make a great alternative: although they hold fewer cards, they fit nicely onto shelves or cupboards and most options contain transparent pages with pockets into which to tuck your cards.

This binder from VaultX not only contains 20 such pages that hold 9 cards each, but boasts a protective padded cover and heavy-duty zip to keep your cards safe and secure. The standard version is standard black, but it comes in a variety of colors, sizes, and closures, so you can be sure to find one that fits your needs.

Best Protection

Casematix Graded Card Storage Box

Depending on how valuable your cards are and where you take them, you might feel the need to have a super-secure option to keep them safe. And they don’t come much safer than this Casematix case, with extra-durable hard shell exterior and customisable foam inserts that you can tear to ensure a perfect fit for your most prized cards.

The case closes with a secure mechanism that also ensures its waterproof and airtight for maximum protection. And if that’s not enough for you, it’s designed to take cards in their own protective plastic slabs and there’s also a padlock ring so you can lock things down even tighter with added layers of your own security. These types of cases are great for those really expensive cards in your collection.

Best Deck Box

VaultX Exo-Tech Side Loading Deck Box

Often, it’s fine to keep your cards in whatever container or case you can rustle up at home, but what you really want is a small, sturdy, premium-build box that you can use when taking a single deck of your precious cards out and about to play. Many brands have starter packs that come with suitable deck boxes for free, but they’re often flimsy cardboard affairs, so it’s better to invest in something a bit more durable.

Enter this excellent option from VaultX. It’s available in a variety of stylish single-color finished, made of water-resistant microfibre. The lid doesn’t clip or slide on and off, as is common, but is held in place with strong magnets, making opening and closing super convenient. And the lid also flips round and magnetizes to the bottom of the box, tidying it out of the way and offering a stable platform to access your cards. You can also mix and match lids and boxes of different colors if so desired.

Bonus: Retro Style for Nintendo Fans

If you're looking for a deck box with a bit more character, this retro Game Boy-themed option is a great way to go. It's especially great for Pokemon Cards for any fans who played the original games on the Nintendo handheld console.

Best Budget Option

Fageverld Trading Card Storage Box

For all the fancy protective cases you can buy for trading cards, fundamentally all you actually need for them is a box of some kind. And a box can be as basic as a piece of packaging that came with some other order: four sides and a lid will keep your cards in order just as well as a golden chest. There’s no need to spend a fortune if you don’t want the style and features offered by premium brands.

But that doesn’t mean there’s not something to be gained by spending at least a little on a storage option. Rather than a discarded cardboard box, you could get a specialized option like this. It’s sized just right to protect trading cards, comes with some dividers to keep things organized and has a top-loading lid so it’s easy to peruse your cards. Multiples will also stack neatly on your shelves to keep your cards together.

How to Pick the Right Storage Option for You

Anyone who has been a collector over the years knows binders may be the easiest and most convenient way to store cards, but can harm the cards over time. So, if you have any high-value cards or potentially high-value cards, it’s recommended to store them in sleeves or penny sleeves and put them in top loaders or boxes versus binders.

Depending on your budget, size of your collection, and value of your cards, you can start with a convenient option like a D-Ring binder, and work your way up from there. Based on the categories listed in the product options above, we're confident you'll find something affordable to get you started. What you choose will be based on many factors. For example, you may collect or play with Pokémon TCG cards and you just want to turn a stack of cards into an organized storage solution like using a cute, simple Pokémon card binder.

Tip: look for 'Acid-Free' and 'Soft-Backed' in the descriptions while shopping around. Also, consider your preference on matte versus glossy pocket pages. According to a recent Reddit poll on the subject, the majority of votes landed on glossy sleeves based on pros and cons of visibility, shuffling, quality and texture.

What is the Rarest Trading Card in History?

According to Guinness World Records, the title of 'world's rarest trading card' is tied between the 1996 World Champion and MTG's Shichifukujin Dragon cards, in which only one specimen of each card exists.

DID YOU KNOW?

• The Shichifukujin Dragon is one of only two unique Magic cards in existence.
• The most expensive Pokémon card is the 1998 Pikachu Illustrator with an approximate worth of $5.275 million!

More Storage Recommendations

If you’re a collector or gamer in organization mode currently (it seems like you might be!), you may want to browse our other storage and display guides. We'd recommended checking out top video game storage ideas, top board game storage options, best cases to display LEGOs, and the best display cases for action figures. Keep an eye out on IGN for even more collectible and trading card news and guides including new MTG pre-orders like the AC Cards or LOTR Cards from the nerdiest corners of IGN.

Matt Thrower is a contributing freelance board game and video game writer for IGN. (Board, video, all sorts of games!)

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IGN Live 2026 Lineup to Include Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, The Legend of Vox Machina, and More

IGN's multi-day in-person fan event is set to showcase the biggest names in games and entertainment. The all ages event will take place June 6th and 7th at the Magic Box in downtown LA and streams globally across IGN platforms. Tickets are on sale now.

In the lead-up to the show, we’ll be revealing all of the cool guests, games, shows, movies, and merch that will be on hand to celebrate.

Bookmark this page and keep checking back between now and June for a complete list of everything that’s at store for IGN Live.

Games, Movies, Shows, and Celebrities Coming to IGN Live (Updating)

• Newly-Announced Partners
  • Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced from Ubisoft
  • The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4 from Critical Role, Titmouse, and Prime Video
  • PowerWash Simulator 2 from from FuturLab
  • Cape Fear from Apple TV
  • Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Calamity from Fathom and Viz Media
  • The Terror: Devil in Silver from AMC+ and Shudder
  • Sung Kang will be on hand to talk about his new movie Drifter
  • Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh from Hulu’s Deli Boys will stop by to talk about the show.
  • ID@Xbox will be on hand with multiple playable games.

• Previously Announced Partners
  • Roger Craig Smith (Sonic the Hedgehog, Batman, and more) and Patricia Summersett (Princess Zelda, Zyssyk from Star Wars Outlaws, and others)
  • Gothic Remake from THQ Nordic

IGN Live is a celebration of everything fans love in games, movies, TV, comics, collectibles, and more. The show will feature thousands of giveaways, exclusive trailers, live celebrity interviews, playable games, and more.

IGN Live 2025 featured tons of cool reveals, including the cast of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 premiering the first 10 minutes of their documentary, The Last of Us creative team discussing how they crafted Season 2’s most crucial episodes, Ewan McGregor talking about how the Long Way Docuseries literally changed his life, Invincible VS creators on the inspirations behind the game and so much more.

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These Retro Deck Boxes Are a Throwback to the Golden Age of Pokémon

I am a child of the '90s, and thus got hit with the trifecta of Pokémon when I was still a kid. The original Game Boy games, the trading card game, and the original anime series all came out within the span of few years, and I loved every bit of it. Playing Pokémon on the Game Boy was my first true gaming experience, and the fact that everyone at school also happened to be playing or trading at the same time as me only solidified the franchise's place in my heart forever.

Fast forward to Pokémon's 30th anniversary celebrations, and it would seem many other millennials are luxuriously situated in the same nostalgia loop that I am. So if you have a love for the Game Boy era of Pokémon and a stack of trading cards sitting around waiting to be organized, the folks at IGN Finds have located the perfect item for you.

Retro Game Boy-Style Deck Boxes on Sale Today

Nintendo re-released Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green for the Switch 2 earlier this year, and I've been absolutely glued to the game since I started playing again. The nostalgia of it all has even pushed me to resurrect my old pencil box full of Pokémon cards to see if there's anything worthwhile in there. Some guy just funded his whole wedding thanks to some Charizard cards after all.

Regardless of whether my cards are worth anything or not, I've been wanting to find a better organizer for them. There are plenty of great TCG sleeves and boxes that work well for organization and preservation, but being able to quietly display them seems like a lot more fun. This Game Boy-themed commander box can do just that with an awesome display screen. The box itself can still fit 210 sleeveless (or 120 single-sleeved) cards and you can switch out the front card with your favorite to update the display.

These Venssu commander deck boxes are all currently on sale for 15% off at Amazon for a limited time. The classic grey one I've included here is on the more expensive side due to its popularity, but you can get a pink or orange one for about $1.70 less if you want to save a bit extra.

New Pokémon Cards Are Still Releasing

If you don't already have a Pokémon TCG collection, the good news is that it's never too late to start! It's just as big as it ever was and there's been a steady stream of new releases all year long alongside the franchise's 30th anniversary.

Jacob Kienlen is a Senior Audience Development Strategist and Writer for IGN. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he has considered the Northwest his home for his entire life. With a bachelor's degree in communication and 10 years of professional writing experience, his expertise is spread across a variety of different pop culture topics -- from TV series to books and the latest Pokémon games.

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