Monday, July 20, 2026

'Please Play Us When GTA 6 Comes Out': Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Developer Teases Post-Game Support

The director of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has told fans to keep playing — even when GTA 6 launches.

Of course, the hugely-anticipated GTA 6 arrives on November 19, and is expected to gobble up gaming time and attention away from pretty much every major release — so much so that many other developers are steering well clear and launching their games en masse in September and early October.

But what about post-launch support for games that have already released, such as Resynced? Asked about the contents of future updates for the newly-launched remake, game director Richard Knight played coy, though mentioned the upcoming New Game Plus mode that publisher Ubisoft previously confirmed.

What might follow that remains to be seen. Still, the suggestion that support will continue through GTA 6's November release date is interesting to consider.

"I mean, I can't say anything officially, but you know, it doesn't feel like a crazy bet," Knight said, speaking to Assassin's Creed fan YouTuber JorRaptor.

"I mean, we definitely need to support the game... We need to, you know, fix bugs. Sorry for anyone running into bugs. They hurt. They're painful for us, too. And we do want to add some quality-of-life stuff. So, I mean, it's a pretty reasonable guess. Also, please play us when GTA 6 comes out.”

Ubisoft confirmed last week that a New Game Plus option was coming to Resynced, alongside a celebration of the game hitting 3 million copies sold. "Guess we'll have to keep the adventures going with New Game Plus later on, mates," Ubisoft wrote.

"We're working on that right now," Knight said of New Game Plus. "For sure. It's one of the first things. Partly because [Assassin's Creed] Shadows has already built their version, so it's considered a low-risk feature for us. We're still doing the work, so I can't promise exactly a day or anything, but we're definitely working on this one. It's just such a natural thing."

What else might follow? Perhaps a challenge mode, similar to the option recently added to Assassin's Creed Mirage? This lets fans replay story missions with new, additional objectives, racking up points to unlock additional in-game items and cosmetic options.

One key request from fans would likely be the original Black Flag's well-received DLC, Freedom Cry, that features a fresh story for first mate Adewale. But this would likely be a major undertaking for Ubisoft, and to date there's been no suggestion this will happen.

Until then, there's plenty to keep fans happy in the base game, which IGN gave a 9/10 in our Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced review. "More than just a shinier version of the same game you remember," we wrote, "Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced brings what was already one of the best games in the series up to today’s standards."

Before you dive into the Golden Age of Piracy, check out our guides on things to do first and tips and tricks to help Edward Kenway's journey be a smooth one. As you explore the Caribbean, make sure you don't miss a single collectible, especially the shanties to keep you and your crew entertained on the high seas. Blow other ships to smithereens with our naval combat guide and save Reales for your next Jackdaw upgrade to be the mightiest pirate you can be.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social



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Sunday, July 19, 2026

Call of Duty Ambience Website Lets You Fall Asleep to Nostalgic Black Ops and MW2 Lobbies

Have you ever wanted to fall asleep to the sound of Call of Duty players screaming through a $5 mic and into your ear? No? Well, Call of Duty Ambience is here anyway.

Erected by app-maker Mike Wing, Call of Duty Ambience is a new website that, for some reason, allows you to tap back into multiplayer lobbies like it's 2010 all over again. Fit with an Xbox 360 theme, cringy gamertags, and other classic visuals, the site allows anyone to log in and get some shuteye while strangers argue in the background.

Three Call of Duty games are supported at the moment: Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops, and Black Ops 2. If you ever played a few games of team deathmatch for any of these first-person shooter classics, you should immediately feel right at home.

"Most people fall asleep to white noise," Wing said in an X/Twitter post. "I fall asleep to grown men arguing in CoD lobbies. So I made a website that plays Call of Duty voice chat 24/7."

Most old-school Call of Duty fans might remember "CoD lobbies" more than the games themselves. In the early days of multiplayer for the Infinity Ward and Treyarch titles, players would stick around between matches to chat amongst themselves. These almost always devolved into trash-talking shouting matches that would go on without any real rhyme or reason. It was terrible – but for some, it was peaceful in its own way, too.

CoD lobbies added a social element to the games that's largely been done away with in recent installments. The recently released Black Ops 1 and 2 ports for PS4 and PS5 helped bring back the glory days in their own way, but Call of Duty Ambience feels like an especially nostalgic – and loud – nod, too.

For more, you can read about how Activision is combating exploits in its new ports. You can also learn about how crossplay works here.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).



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World of Warcraft and RuneScape Fans Want Official Jimothy Support After Game Devs Show Love for Viral Raccoon

The internet has fallen in love with a viral raccoon named Jimothy, and so has the gaming industry.

In case you've somehow dodged this adorable little friend on social media, Jimothy is a small raccoon in Seattle who has scurried his way through X/Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and just about every other online platform you can think of. His unique size, seemingly caused by what many believe is a rare condition called Short Spine Syndrome, has made him hard to miss, and almost impossible to forget.

Locals seem to have taken notice of this specific masked critter before, but it wasn't until Instagram user Kiana Hall captured a video that he became the latest internet-famous animal. She told The Seattle Times that she came up with his name because he simply "looked like a Jimothy." The millions of social media impressions, hundreds of fan edits, and countless stories he's racked up since came naturally.

The internet embraced Jimothy the raccoon so quickly that he's become inescapable in less than a week since Hall's original post. Most recently, some game developers have started to show the love with more than just a simple post or two.

For example, you probably shouldn't be surprised to hear Dee Dee Creations, the studio behind 2024's Squirrel With a Gun, put together a Jimothy skin tribute for their game. This is a miraculous 43-second video that arms the viral raccoon, making him more powerful than ever before.

Perhaps the most popular take on Jimothy in the gaming world comes from Blizzard Entertainment, which created a render for what the stout creature would look like in World of Warcraft. Old School RuneScape then followed suit with a rough (but still very cute) upload.

Despite being relatively high-effort posts, it doesn't look like Jimothy is actually available to download in any of the aforementioned games. Dee Dee, for example, admitted in a follow-up post that this was a quick mod for a pre-existing raccoon skin and not actually something available to all players.

Do players still want Jimothy in their games? Of course.

"Make him a battle pet, and a big Jim for a mount," one World of Warcraft player suggested.

"The people want a Jimothy Rocky transmog," a RuneScape player proclaimed.

"If they add him I hope they make him unattackable," another said with a sad face.

For now, Jimothy will just have to live on as another addition in the history book of viral memes. For more, you can read about how Tekken 8 tapped into a viral video of a man punching a kangaroo with its own crossover.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).



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Xbox Says More Exclusives Are Coming But Tells Players Not to 'Overly Fixate on Single-Player' Games

Executives at Xbox have once again attempted to clarify the company's approach to exclusives, promising that "Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are not the only titles" it's planning.

Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball and chief content officer Matt Booty tried to further explain how Microsoft is handling exclusives during a conversation with GamesRadar. Their clarification arrived amid the company's renewed interest in the strategy, which kicked off just last month with confirmation that two of its biggest first-party games would not come to PlayStation consoles.

"I can assure you, Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are not the only titles we're planning," Ball promised. "To grow a platform like ours, you have to have exclusive games and services. These are not going to be the only two titles."

Microsoft shocked the industry at its Xbox Games Showcase last month when it declared The Coalition's Gears of War: E-Day would not be releasing on PS5 as many had expected. The announcement that inXile Entertainment's Clockwork Revolution would also be console exclusive arrived sooner after. Both were also confirmed to be pure console exclusives with no timed-exclusivity deals in place.

What's emerged in the weeks since is muddy messaging that's led to some confusion amongst fans. Just as rumors that Xbox had hastily decided to make the Gears prequel exclusive began to dissipate, theories were reignited when the company leaked an image for the game featuring a PS5 logo. Meanwhile, as games like Gears of War: Reloaded, Halo: Campaign Evolved, and Fable come to PS5, players have been left uncertain about how Microsoft will determine what is an exclusive and what isn't.

So, what does the future of Xbox exclusive games look like? For the most die-hard fans – and maybe even Microsoft itself – it's hard to say, for now. In June, Booty said the company will choose which titles get the exclusive treatment on a "case-by-case basis." Today, he's being a tad more direct, promising that, while "large live-service titles" will be multiplatform going forward, players shouldn't expect all single-player titles to be Xbox exclusive.

"I wouldn't overly fixate on single-player," he clarified. "I think that's a good rule of thumb, but it certainly isn't something that's carved in stone."

He continued: "We are the stewards of over 20 game franchises that have made a billion dollars in their lifetime. There are a lot of different games in our portfolio, and we have to think about how different games serve different purposes within it."

Ball said Microsoft does "have a framework for these selections, including how we evaluate them." He noted that it's a strategy that may not be "obvious to all of our players," saying the Xbox team is "committed to making this clearer."

As Xbox CEO Asha Sharma brings "energy" to the team, Booty said he's hoping they strike "the right balance between the work that the teams have invested and a strategy pivot." The new gaming boss said in June that exclusives are needed to build a platform. Ball echoed that thought in the new interview.

"There is scant evidence of any platform ever being built, let alone sustained, without having exclusive content," he said. "It doesn't matter whether we're talking about cable networks, streaming video channels, broadcast, terrestrial radio, a Hollywood studio, a music label – you need it."

We're still in the early days of Xbox's new strategy, so it's tough to say how it will change its troubled ecosystem in the months and years ahead. As the company attempts to clear the air when it comes to its new exclusive strategy, it's still trudging through the aftermath of layoffs that arrived alongside what Sharma called the "most significant restructure" in its history. The resustructure in question, which resulted in 1,600 laid off staff with another 1,600 arriving through the rest of the financial year, happened earlier this month.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).



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Saturday, July 18, 2026

Call of Duty Movie to Take Place in the Modern Warfare Universe, Director Confirms

Paramount Pictures and Activision have confirmed the upcoming Call of Duty movie will take place in its long-running Modern Warfare universe.

The crew behind the upcoming video game-to-movie adaptation revealed the update as part of a Call of Duty in Culture Panel at Fanatics Fest in New York City today (via Variety). Call of Duty movie director and co-writer Peter Berg made an appearance at the event to share the news.

Berg and co-writer Taylor Sheridan's choice to set their Call of Duty movie in the Modern Warfare universe may come as much of a surprise for some fans, but it might finally give us some clues about its yet-to-be-detailed plot. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was the first in Activision's first-person shooter series to introduce players to a, well, more modern take on the franchise when it launched in 2007. As it left behind the mid-1900s battlefields established by previous games, it also brought along new characters, such as Soap, Ghost, Captain Price, and series villain Vladimir Makarov.

On the gaming side of things, Modern Warfare has spent the last two decades attempting to reinvent itself across six mainline entries, and even a few remasters. The first three games, which arrived throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s, primarily followed Task Force 141 as they embarked on globe-trotting missions, while gaining (and losing) teammates along the way.

Activision and developer Infinity Ward took a break from the somewhat more grounded settings of Modern Warfare through the mid-2010s before delivering a full-fledged reboot with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019. It's expanded on this chapter with returning characters and new stories, with its next entry, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, set to launch for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S October 23, 2026.

Why Paramount and Activision opted to kick off its Call of Duty film ambitions with Modern Warfare instead of something like the Black Ops series, which recently celebrated the release of PlayStation ports for Black Ops 1 and 2, is unclear. Berg also neglected to mention whether his adaptation will retread events players may remember from the games or carve out its own corner of the universe.

The Call of Duty movie has a release date of June 30, 2028. Its plot and cast remain a mystery, for now.

Developing…

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).



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Disco Elysium Dev ZA/UM Announces Layoffs Affecting Up to 32 Staff

Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM has announced layoffs affecting up to 32 staff just two months after launching Zero Parades: For Dead Spies.

The UK-based studio published a statement regarding the changes on its X/Twitter account. It says that, despite releasing its latest game in May to "critical acclaim, its commercial performance has not enabled us to sustain a studio of our current size."

"We have served redundancy or at-risk notices impacting up to 32 of our colleagues across all departments at ZA/UM Studio," the message said. "Their work has made a lasting difference and left its mark on Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, and the studio as a whole."

ZA/UM said it will continue to "consult and work with" members of its Workers' Alliance union throughout the "difficult process." The message added that the layoffs will change "the shape of ZA/UM, but not its purpose."

"Our artistic standards remain unchanged: we will persist," it continued. "To anyone currently hiring, please consider the colleagues leaving ZA/UM.

The 2020s have been rough for ZA/UM. Trouble truly began in early October 2022, when multiple key developers – including writer and designer Robert Kurvitz, writer Helen Hindpere, and art and design lead Aleksander Rostov – were said to have left the studio involuntarily. Just weeks later, it was revealed that Kurvitz had launched a lawsuit against the company, with both he and Rostov alleging Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel of Tütreke OÜ had obtained control of ZA/UM "by fraud." ZA/UM denied these claims while launching their own accusations in a statement sent to Gamesindustry.biz.

As things unwound behind the scenes, a series of spinoff studios made up of former ZA/UM developers have emerged. Dark Math Games and Longdue Games announced their projects, XXX Nightshift and Hopetown, in October 2024, with Summer Eternal revealing itself shortly after.

With years of controversy under its belt, today's layoffs aren't ZA/UM's first. In 2024, it was reported that around 24 employees had been impacted by layoffs. The same update brought word that a standalone Disco Elysium expansion had been canceled.

Disco Elysium won ZA/UM multiple categories at The Game Awards 2019 and earned a 9.6/10 review from IGN at the time of its launch. While Zero Parades: For Dead Spies didn't seem to live up to the high bar set by its predecessor, it still boasts an 83 from critics on Metacritic following its May 21, 2026, launch for PC and PS5. For more on ZA/UM, you can read IGN's breakdown for the full wild story behind what's happened at the studio.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).



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Friday, July 17, 2026

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced New Game Plus Confirmed as Ubisoft Marks 3 Million Copies Sold

Ubisoft has confirmed plans to bring New Game Plus to Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced as its remake crosses 3 million copies sold.

The update puts the sales up 1 million copies one week after announcing it had managed to reach 2 million copies sold in just 24 hours. It's yet another sign that Ubisoft is happy with its July 9 launch for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S, even after laying off some members of the development team just days later.

As mentioned in IGN's previous coverage, Ubisoft has typically only shares player numbers – not sales – when new Assassin's Creed games arrive. That's suddenly changed for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, suggesting the publisher is pleased as punch by how things have gone thus far. Whether it will continue to be so forthcoming about these figures remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft celebrated the 3 million milestone by confirming a New Game Plus mode is on the way. It said the team's work on post-launch support, including things like quality-of-life updates and bug fixes, has helped it maintain a "Very Positive" rating from English reviews on Steam (note: reviews in all languages are currently "Mostly Positive"). Details about New Game Plus were not shared, but the mode is promised to "further enhance replayability."

Game director Richard Knight had also teased the mode was in development during a conversation with YouTuber JorRaptor earlier this week (via GamesRadar). Although he was unable to share specifically how Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced New Game Plus would operate, he explained that its existence in 2025's Assassin's Creed Shadows helped set the stage.

"Well, this is the one thing I can say: Yes, we're working on that right now," Knight said. "For sure. It's one of the first things. Partly because Shadows has already built their version, so it's considered a low-risk feature for us. We're still doing the work, so I can't promise exactly a day or anything, but we're definitely working on this one. It's just such a natural thing."

Regarding a potential release date, he said, "I really can't promise anything. It's at the top of the list of things. There's a lot of things – some are harder than others – but it's something we definitely want to get done."

IGN gave Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced a 9/10. In our review, we said, "More than just a shinier version of the same game you remember, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced brings what was already one of the best games in the series up to today’s standards."

For more, you can read about the backlash to its microtransactions, which still reportedly earned $1 million on Steam after a few days. You can also check out what Knight had to say regarding the lack of blade combat in the remake.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).



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'Please Play Us When GTA 6 Comes Out': Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Developer Teases Post-Game Support

The director of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has told fans to keep playing — even when GTA 6 launches. Of course, the hugely-an...