IGN

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is estimated to have made a staggering half a billion dollars in less than three months, the same amount popular culture hit Pokémon Go made in just 22 days fewer.

PocketGamer.biz cited figures from AppMagic that estimated the digital card game hit $500 million on February 4, meaning just 97 days after it launched. It’s now just the second Pokémon mobile game to hit that number, behind only the aforementioned Pokémon Go.

The release of the Space Time Smackdown expansion saw daily sales skyrocket to more than $10 million for the first time, with the two days it was available in January accounting for 22% of the entire month’s revenue.

Space Time Smackdown, at 207 cards, was the first full expansion for Pokémon TCG Pocket, which launched with its debut, 286 card Genetic Apex set in October before releasing a smaller, 86 card set called Mythical Island in December. Developer Creatures Inc. plans to continue releasing sets in this manner, with a large one and a small one in interchanging months.

The game follows the standard mobile and free to play game model, flooding players with rewards in the opening few days before soon drying up, with spending real world money the only real way to re-experience that early thrill.

Completing Genetic Apex will takes players not spending money around two years according to one estimate, while those looking to make it rain can wrap up the collection after dropping around $1,500.

It’s not all been Sunfloras and Walrein-bows for Creatures Inc., however, as the developer has been called “predatory” and “downright greedy” over the past week as fans rallied against a poorly received trading feature.

Creatures Inc. today gifted players 1,000 Trade Tokens — enough for just two significant trades — as it continues to investigate ways to fix the controversial mechanic, though fans are still frustrated at the lack of communication and false promises.

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

Microsoft is continuing its string of PlayStation ports by bringing Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition and Age of Mythology: Retold to PS5 players in only a few months.

Series developer World’s Edge revealed PlayStation versions of its strategy hits in a blog post on its website, laying out plans to enter new territory with release date information. It means console ports for the classic Xbox Game Studios titles, which will feature content parity and crossplay across all platforms, are just around the corner.

“Playing across all platforms is a game-changer for our franchise, and it’s all about bringing our community together,” World’s Edge explained in its post. “This isn’t just about convenience — it’s about growing and strengthening the Age community. With crossplay, we’re creating one global battlefield where every strategy, every empire, and every player matters.”

Age of Mythology: Retold kicks things off for PS5 players on March 4, 2025. Launching alongside the Immortal Pillars expansion, fans on PlayStation will also have the option to purchase the Premium Edition for five-day early access starting February 27. Those who pre-order their copy will also enjoy two exclusive Blessings for the Arena of the Gods mode.

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is slated to follow at an unspecified point in the spring. Its release will also coincide with a new expansion, and although World’s Edge is keeping its lips sealed about what exactly it has in store, it teases that players can look forward to new civilizations for Ranked play. It also shared two screenshots related to its upcoming content plans which you can see below.

Developer Noodle Cat Games has announced Cloudheim, a new multiplayer action-adventure/survival/crafting game due out next year in 2026 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. It boasts a Zelda-like art style and a powerful physics-based combat system.

Noodle Cat hopes that the crafting mixes with the multiplayer and the physics-driven team-based combat and gameplay and lead to memorable gameplay sessions. You can take a look at the announcement trailer above and a bunch of first screenshots in the gallery below.

IGN will have more on Cloudheim as development progresses.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) 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.

The Switch 2 Nintendo Direct now has a time as well as a date: 6am PT on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. That’s 9am ET and 2pm UK time.

Nintendo has said it will use this Nintendo Direct to share a “closer look” at Switch 2, following its drive-by reveal of the console last month.

That reveal offered a look at the Switch 2 form factor, a glimpse at what looks like Mario Kart 9, and teased a potential ‘mouse’ mode for the new Joy-Con.

But there are still a number of unanswered questions about Switch 2, including what the mysterious new Joy-Con button does, how powerful the console is, and what its new ports might be used for.

The Nintendo Direct will also, hopefully, give us the full Switch 2 launch lineup of games as well as a release date, which is expected to be at some point between June and September 2025. Fingers crossed Nintendo announces the Switch 2 price, which analysts predict will be $400.

We are starting to build a picture of what to expect on Switch 2 in terms of games. There is a long list of rumored third-party titles coming to the console, and in an interview with IGN, Civilization 7 developer Firaxis called Switch 2’s apparent Joy-Con mouse mode “definitely intriguing.” French video game and accessories maker Nacon, publisher of the likes of Greedfall 2, Test Drive Unlimited, and RoboCop: Rogue City, has said it has Switch 2 games ready to go. The long-awaited Hollow Knight: Silksong is also rumored to be set for Switch 2. And just this week, EA said Madden, FC, and The Sims would all be a great fit for Switch 2.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Universal has released the debut trailer for Jurassic World Rebirth, offering a good look at what to expect from the hotly anticipated action movie when it comes out in July.

The trailer, below, sets up the Scarlett Johansson-led team, which heads to a remote island that’s home to dinosaurs deemed too dangerous for the original park and, it turns out, is the research facility for the original Jurassic Park.

It doesn’t sound like the best of ideas, but apparently DNA from the eggs of the world’s three most massive dinosaurs will help create a drug that could save countless lives. As you’d expect, things do not go according to plan.

A new era is born. Watch the trailer for #JurassicWorldRebirth now. Exclusively in cinemas July 2. pic.twitter.com/BflkN6BQX1

— Universal Pictures UK (@universaluk) February 5, 2025

Here’s the official blurb:

Anchored by iconic action superstar Scarlett Johansson, breakthrough talent Jonathan Bailey and two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, this action-packed new chapter sees an intrepid team racing to secure DNA samples from the three most colossal creatures across land, sea and air. Also starring acclaimed international stars Rupert Friend and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, the film is directed by dynamic visualist Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) from a script by original Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp.

Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures within that tropical biosphere hold the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.

Academy Award nominee Johansson plays skilled covert operations expert Zora Bennett, contracted to lead a skilled team on a top-secret mission to secure genetic material from the world’s three most massive dinosaurs. When Zora’s operation intersects with a civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized by marauding aquatic dinos, they all find themselves stranded on an island where they come face-to-face with a sinister, shocking discovery that’s been hidden from the world for decades.

Ali is Duncan Kincaid, Zora’s most trusted team leader; Emmy nominee and Olivier Award winner Jonathan Bailey (Wicked, Bridgerton) plays paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis; Emmy nominee Rupert Friend (Homeland, Obi-Wan Kenobi) appears as Big Pharma representative Martin Krebs and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer, Murder on the Orient Express) plays Reuben Delgado, the father of the shipwrecked civilian family.

The cast includes Luna Blaise (Manifest), David Iacono (The Summer I Turned Pretty) and Audrina Miranda (Lopez vs. Lopez) as Reuben’s family. The film also features, as members of Zora and Krebs’ crews, Philippine Velge (Station Eleven), Bechir Sylvain (BMF) and Ed Skrein (Deadpool).

Last month, Jurassic World Rebirth’s writer confirmed it has a sequence from the first Jurassic Park novel that didn’t make it into 1993’s seminal Jurassic Park movie, sparking speculation online. This is a sequence in which Dr. Grant and the two children (who are not characters in this new movie) attempt to drift through a lagoon in a rubber raft without waking a slumbering Tyrannosaurus rex. They don’t succeed, and end up paddling for their lives, Vanity Fair confirmed.

Image credit: Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Marvel has denied using AI to create posters for The Fantastic Four: First Steps after fans spotted one image that includes what appears to be a man with just four fingers.

Marketing for The Fantastic Four: First Steps kicked off this week with a teaser for its debut trailer, as well as a series of posters published to social media.

One of these posters, below, raised eyebrows after fans noticed the man holding the largest Fantastic Four flag on the left appears to be missing a finger.

MultiVersus will shut down when Season 5 ends in May, but the sweeping changes to combat speed that were introduced in a new update have fans enjoying its gameplay now more than ever — and even sparked a #SaveMultiVersus trend on social media.

The community for the Warner Bros. platform fighting game woke up ready to dive into its fifth and final season when it launched yesterday, February 4, at 9am PT. Developer Player First Games had spelled out plans to shutter the project last week, teasing that the update would include DC’s Aquaman and Looney Toons’ Lola Bunny as its last playable characters. What was poised to be a somber sendoff for MultiVersus actually brought on extensive movement changes across the board, resulting in a much faster-paced experience overall. It’s a fundamental adjustment that players have begged Player First to implement for years, and it arrives just as things are coming to an end.

“#SaveMultiversus” https://t.co/xZAfif5XAe pic.twitter.com/CfDAJ13erF

— Mlick (@Mlickles) February 5, 2025

Players first took notice that combat in Multiversus had been sped up after Player First published a Season 5 Combat Changes Preview video on X/Twitter. For those who have played the free-to-play Warner Bros. fighting game in the past, the differences are impossible to ignore, as characters can be seen chaining together combos and moving across the screen faster than ever before. It’s a substantial shift away from the floaty gameplay fans criticized during the MultiVersus beta test in 2022, and it’s even faster than what was seen when it relaunched in May of last year.

Season 5 update patch notes reveal that the increase in combat speed comes as a result of a reduction to hitpause “across most attacks in the game.” It means stringing together combos will be faster than you remember regardless of who your main is, with a handful of specific characters receiving additional adjustments to their speed, too. Morty, LeBron, Iron Giant, Bugs Bunny, Black Adam, and many more feel especially quick thanks to changes that allow them to fast fall when using certain aerial attacks. Garnet, meanwhile, now has stronger ringout potential on the ground and weaker ringout potential in the air to help level out her impact as an already fast character.

>game dies

>they finally start doing clever marketing

>they actually improve the gameplay

Yeah sounds about right https://t.co/2375drzNCU

— Bring Back Banjo (@BringBackBanjoK) February 3, 2025

MultiVersus Season 5 turns the nearly one-year-old fighting game into something almost completely different, and those diving in already are finding far more to enjoy than just two new characters. The problem is that this… is it. Just as Player First finds its footing with an update that delivers long-awaited gameplay changes, MultiVersus will completely shut down come May 30. Its demise will bring the end of seasonal content drops as well as its removal from digital storefronts as Warner Bros. Games guts online play from the experience entirely, leaving only offline modes for fans to experiment with.

Now, fans are left feeling shocked and powerless as MultiVersus becomes the experience they’ve always dreamed of just in time for it to completely shut down. X user @PJiggles_ commented on the changes, calling MultiVersus “the most interesting bad game in existence,” referring to its beta rollout, 2024 relaunch, and sudden combat speed increase. Professional Super Smash Bros. player and content creator Jason Zimmerman (a.k.a. Mew2King) replied to a Player First post to ask why movement speed was increased now and not earlier.

“I know everybody’s been playing the blame game when there likely isn’t a single individual or even group who deserves the entirety of the blame,” one Reddit user said, “but man, if this was how the relaunch started off we could’ve really had something. (Apex Legends) is probably one of the worst monetization schemes out there but it lasted so long because it nailed the fundamentals at the start.”

It’s painful, especially as players gather not only to mourn the game’s demise but to celebrate such a drastic leap in quality. Reddit user Desperate_Method4032 said the Season 5 update fixed “every issue I had with the game,” explaining that things like touched-up shield animations helped turn MultiVersus into an experience that looks and feels far more polished. Although the gameplay shakeup follows confirmation of shutdown plans, they said the “potential” has them hoping Warner Bros. could reverse course.

“I’m not naïve,” Desperate_Method4032 said. “Just a fan with tons of love for the characters showcased in this game. But is it so wrong to have just LITTLE bit of hope that the game will make a comeback? There’s just far too much potential to let things end like this. Not when the game finally feels like it found its footing.”

Sooooo

You announced the game was shutting down but then fixed the thing that made players quit

What https://t.co/YfvGsOiEv5

— Colin (@IntroSpecktive) February 4, 2025

Unfortunately, while some are expecting the worst and hoping for the best, Player First and Warner Bros. show no sign of backing down from their plan to cease service this summer. MultiVersus game director Tony Huynh took to X earlier this week to share a few closing thoughts while addressing long-unanswered player questions and concerns. Warner Bros. also disabled real-money transactions as of January 31, leaving players unable to purchase content without using previously earned in-game currency. The Season 5 premium battle pass has been made free for all players as one final gift.

MultiVersus will go dark, for good this time, at 9 am PT on May 30. While Warner Bros. has already initiated its shutdown plans, players are finding some joy by creating and sharing memes. It’s a bittersweet moment for the fighting game community as they relish a game that finally lives up to their expectations just before it meets its end.

This is what it feels like seeing everyone playing S5 #MultiVersus #SaveMultiVersus pic.twitter.com/7DS03efXCg

— Spider-Man For MultiVersus #SaveMultiVersus (@SpiderManForMVS) February 4, 2025

Multiversus dropping good gameplay while on its death bed https://t.co/gnxRAegeeO pic.twitter.com/r2QGcE6W6x

— Sho (@Shoyoumomo_) February 4, 2025

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor 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).

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket developer Creatures Inc. has gifted players 1,000 Trade Tokens — enough for just two significant trades — as it continues to investigate ways to fix the controversial mechanic.

Players logging in today will find the Trade Tokens in their Gift menu with no message, but Creatures Inc. posted on X/Twitter to thank fans for their feedback and patience. The developer was last week called “hilariously toxic,” “predatory,” and “downright greedy” after finally introducing trading to the trading card game.

Alongside the standard Pokémon TCG Pocket mechanic that restricts players from opening packs or Wonder Picking or, now, trading too much without spending real world money, the feature was also introduced with these Trade Tokens as an extra restriction. Players criticized the high cost of obtaining these, as they essentially had to delete from their collections five cards before trading one of the same rarity.

It’s now been eight days since Creatures Inc. released trading to the incredible backlash, but it did have a heads up that fans weren’t impressed when it outlined the feature almost three weeks ago. “Your concerns are seen,” it said at the time. “Once this feature becomes available, I’d like to invite everyone to try it and provide feedback.”

This made many players believe things would be better than expected, but this wasn’t certainly the case. Creatures Inc. eventually responded by admitting “some of the restrictions put in place are preventing players from being able to casually enjoy” trading.

It also promised to alleviate complaints by introducing required items as rewards in upcoming events but has already failed to do so as the Cresselia ex Drop Event released February 3, includes none.

Fans complained trading is fairly clearly being implemented as a means of increasing revenue for Pokémon TCG Pocket, which is estimated to have made $200 million in its first month, before trading was possible.

This is also evidenced by the inability to trade cards of 2 Star rarity or higher, as if players could immediately trade for their missing cards, they wouldn’t need to spend $10 or $100 or more for a random chance of getting them. It cost one player around $1,500 just to complete the first set, for example, and the third in three months arrived last week.

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

As you’d expect, EA is eyeing the Nintendo Switch 2 as a platform for its games. In a recent financial call, CEO Andrew Wilson was asked directly about Nintendo’s next-gen console, and he replied to suggest the company has plans to release many of its games there.

Wilson singled out EA’s money-spinning sports franchises, Madden and FC, as potentially finding “real energy” on Nintendo Switch 2, and also pointed to The Sims as a game that could do well on the console.

“Anytime a new console comes into the marketplace that’s of a benefit to us, it gives us the ability to access and acquire new players,” Wilson said. “Typically, we’ve had franchises perform very well on Nintendo platforms. Certainly our expectation is that products like FC and Madden and others might find real energy on the platform as they have done in the past.

“When you think about something like The Sims and the My Sims cozy bundle, which performed well ahead of our expectations, 50% of all players were new to EA. That represents a great opportunity for us.

“So again, nothing in our models at this juncture, but our expectation is that anytime a great new console comes in the marketplace that gives us access to new players and new communities, that we have the IP that will benefit from that.”

While it comes as little surprise to hear the likes of Madden and FC will be released on Nintendo Switch 2, fans will be wondering what version of those games they can expect on the console. Historically, EA has released what it calls “legacy” versions of FIFA on Nintendo Switch, but in recent years it has aimed for feature parity for the rebranded FC franchise. Given the Switch 2 will be a more powerful console than its predecessor, perhaps FC 26, say, will be closer to the FC 26 on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

Now Nintendo has announced the Switch 2, we’re starting to build a picture of what to expect on it in terms of games. There is a long list of rumored third-party titles coming to the console, and in an interview with IGN, Civilization 7 developer Firaxis called Switch 2’s apparent Joy-Con mouse mode “definitely intriguing.” French video game and accessories maker Nacon, publisher of the likes of Greedfall 2, Test Drive Unlimited, and RoboCop: Rogue City, has said it has Switch 2 games ready to go. The long-awaited Hollow Knight: Silksong is also rumored to be set for Switch 2.

As for Nintendo, we know it’s working on a new Mario Kart. Expect to find out more at a Nintendo Direct in April.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson has commented on the financial failure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, saying it failed to “resonate with a broad enough audience.”

Last week, EA restructured Dragon Age developer BioWare to focus on Mass Effect 5 only, meaning some who worked on The Veilguard were moved to projects at other EA studios.

The decision followed EA’s announcement that Dragon Age: The Veilguard had underperformed on its expectations for the long-awaited action RPG. EA said Dragon Age “engaged” 1.5 million players during its recent financial quarter, which was down nearly 50% from the company’s projections.

IGN has chronicled some of Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s development challenges, including layoffs and the departure of several project leads at different stages.

According to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, BioWare staff believe it was a miracle Dragon Age: The Veilguard released a complete game “after EA forced live-service into it, then reversed course.”

Now, speaking in an investor-focused financial call, Wilson suggested its role-playing games need to have “shared-world features and deeper engagement alongside high-quality narratives.”

“In order to break out beyond the core audience, games need to directly connect to the evolving demands of players who increasingly seek shared-world features and deeper engagement alongside high-quality narratives in this beloved category,” Wilson said in prepared remarks.

“Dragon Age had a high-quality launch and was well-reviewed by critics and those who played. However, it did not resonate with a broad enough audience in this highly competitive market.”

Reading between the lines, Wilson is suggesting that if Dragon Age: The Veilguard had “shared-world features” and “deeper engagement,” it might have sold more copies. But it’s hard to understand that position when you consider EA backed BioWare’s major reset of Dragon Age. As IGN has reported, this reboot saw Dragon Age shift from the skeleton of a multiplayer game with repeatable quests, a tech base, and the outline of a story, to a full-blown single-player RPG.

Fans are already saying EA has learnt the wrong lessons from Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and are pointing to the enormous success of single-player only RPGs that have been released recently, including Larian’s all-conquering Baldur’s Gate 3. Either way, it seems Dragon Age is now dead, at least for the foreseeable future. But what does this all mean for Mass Effect 5?

EA CFO Stuart Canfield touched on EA’s decision to restructure BioWare to focus on the next Mass Effect, which has reportedly involved cutting the 200-person studio down to less than 100 people.

“Historically, blockbuster storytelling has been the primary way our industry bought beloved IP to players,” Canfield said. “The game’s financial performance highlights the evolving industry landscape and reinforces the importance of our actions to reallocate resources towards our most significant and highest potential opportunities.”

It’s worth noting that single-player only games make up a tiny portion of EA’s overall revenue. The bulk of the company’s cash comes from live service (74% in the last 12 months). Ultimate Team is doing the heavy lifting here, but there are live service contributions from everything from Apex Legends to The Sims. The upcoming Skate is a live service, and the next Battlefield will inevitably be treated as such, too.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.