Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski has railed against the addition of AI tools into creative processes, as he prepares to launch a new sci-fi comedy featuring a rogue artificial intelligence as its villain.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die arrives in theaters this Friday, February 13 as Verbinski's first movie in eight years. Sam Rockwell stars as a time traveller who seeks help in the present day from a group of quirky diner customers, in order to stop an AI threat in the future.

Discussing the movie's AI villain character with The Hollywood Reporter, Verbinski said he wanted to create an adversary that wasn't "HAL 9000 or Skynet" but an AI that was worse because "it wants you to like it" — similar to the wave of seemingly-helpful AI bots and tools being injected into everyday apps and software today.

"So much of what AI has initially been focused on is how to keep us engaged. What do we buy? What do we consume? More importantly, what do we hate?" Verbinski said. "We're writing our worst attributes into its source code, and it's generating so much stuff back into the internet that it's starting to drink its own piss."

Verbinski said he'd been in meetings with movie executives where he's been told the future of film-making is using AI to make movies for cheaper, and as a "tool" he should use. "They're very fast," he said of discussions where this topic has come up.

"Why is AI helping me write a song or tell a story?" he continued. "I don't want it to breathe or f*** for me; I want it to solve cancer. Send some shit through a black hole; do something that we can't do. Or dig a ditch; do the shit we don't want to do. Why is it coming after the stuff that we essentially need to do to be human beings?"

Verbinski's comments echo the similar — if rather more succint — verdict on generative AI from Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives Out director Rian Johnson. "F*** AI," Johnson said recently. "It's something that's making everything worse in every single way."

In September 2025, the SAG-AFTRA actors' union issued a strongly worded statement in response to the emergence of Tilly Norwood, the AI-generated "actress" that has enraged Hollywood. In December last year, Disney invested $1 billion in OpenAI and agreed to let the algorithm legally create content using 200 of its most beloved characters. Meanwhile, in the background, the $82.7 billion sale of Warner Bros. to Netflix rumbles on, as one recent report suggested that Netflix valued Warner Bros. so highly because it wanted to use the century-old company's intellectual properties within its own generative AI content in future.

Image credit: Eric Charbonneau/Briarcliff Entertainment via Getty Images

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

Mummy fans, you’ve got a lot going for you right now. Lee Cronin’s take is dropping trailers and visuals left and right, and the film is set to be released in just over two months. On top of that, Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are returning for a sequel to the beloved 1999 adventure film — and we now have a release date for that project.

According to the official release calendar for Universal Pictures, the fourth installment in The Mummy franchise — which currently has no official title just yet — will hit theaters on May 19, 2028. It’s a ways away, for sure, but at least there’s a date on the books!

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, two of the members of the directorial collective and production company Radio Silence, will serve as directors on the project. By now, you know these guys well; they’ve directed two of the three most recent Scream sequels, both 5 and 6, and both Ready or Not and its sequel film, which is hitting theaters at the end of next month. They also made one of the best V/H/S segments to date, the finale segment of the original film titled “10/31/98.”

David Coggeshall, the writer behind Orphan: First Kill, will write the script for the upcoming Mummy sequel film — and it seems as though the plot of the next movie will be fulfilling a dream for Fraser himself.

"The one I wanted to make is forthcoming," he explained to The Associated Press back in November. "And I've been waiting 20 years for this call. Sometimes it was loud, sometimes it was a faint telegraph. Now? It's time to give the fans what they want."

"The one I wanted to make was never made," he also noted, revealing of the third installment, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: "the third one was a model of… how can I say this to the AP reporter? NBC had the rights to broadcast the Olympics that year. So they put two together and we went to China."

After The Mummy was released in 1999, the first sequel titled The Mummy Returns debuted two years later in 2001. The third film premiered in 2008, though Weisz did not return for it and was replaced by Maria Bello. Thankfully, though, she’s back and it's hoped she and Fraser will bring the heart and charm of the original right back to this beloved franchise… in 2028, that is.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

February 27 is Pokémon's big 30th anniversary of its original launch in Japan, and while details are slowly trickling in on how Nintendo and Game Freak plan to celebrate, TIME Magazine is already getting into the spirit.

The 96-page special edition issue of the magazine is coming out with three different covers, each featuring iconic pocket monsters from over the year - one cover depicts Mega Charizard X, one has Lugia and Ho-Oh, while the third shows off Rayquaza. You can purchase any of the three covers for $14.99 each on Amazon now.

Oscar-nominated racing blockbuster F1 is getting a sequel, producer Jerry Bruckheimer has now confirmed.

Speaking to BBC News today, Bruckheimer confirmed he was "working on a sequel," though did not share further detail on a filming schedule or plans for a release. It's unknown, too, whether F1 star Brad Pitt will return for the second film.

The quick confirmation comes as something of a surprise, just days after executives from both F1 and Apple TV hinted at the possibility of a F1 follow-up while simultaneously suggesting that any public confirmation was still a year away.

"Stay tuned," said Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali at an Apple TV press event last week. "We're going to tell you something more in the future. Never say never. But we need to digest more the success of this movie because it was something unique. And if you want to think of a new one, it has to be really, very, very good. Therefore, if this will happen, it will not be for next year. But maybe next year we're going to be here, and hopefully we have something more to announce."

Bruckheimer, who apparently didn't get that memo, today said he planned to be involved again — including in casting decisions. "I never worked with Brad Pitt before and it's really a thrill to work with Brad," he added, without confirming whether the Fight Club, Ocean's 11 and Troy star had yet been tempted back on board for the sequel.

Work on F1 2, or whatever it gets called, seems to still be in its early stages — and that's not surprising, considering the fact that the first F1 is still to see out its award season. Released last summer, the movie earned $630 million at the global box office and garnered four Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects.

"F1: The Movie follows the sports movie playbook almost perfectly," IGN wrote in its F1 movie review, "finding ways to be just that much better at nearly every stage of its 156-minute runtime – creating a super fun racecar flick in the process that eventually finds its way to victory lane."

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

Playground Games gave us a first look at gameplay from its Fable reboot earlier this year in January’s Xbox Developer Direct, and among its viewers was the series’ original creator, Peter Molyneux.

IGN recently spoke to the former Lionhead Studios developer in anticipation of his new God game, Masters of Albion, and took the opportunity to ask for his thoughts on what he saw from this new incarnation of Fable.

“When I was watching the Fable trailer, I just felt myself tearing up”, reveals Molyneux. “I know that I could probably be slaughtered for saying that, but I am someone who cries frequently, and I felt incredibly emotional, and the reason I felt emotional was: F*** me. This thing that we created, it's going to live, it’s going to carry on. This world, which we loved creating so much, and other people loved, has a life.”

“And for me, the saddest thing would be to see it diminish, which is one of the reasons I'm really going back to God games. So that was the overall emotion. I thought it was really smart of them to retell Fable 1 rather than have the burden of continuing the Fable story. I loved seeing some of those references. I thought it was super smart to have the kid’s family turn to stone. I thought that was really smart. And so those were all the plus points.”

But… there’s always a but. Although there was plenty that the series’ original creator enjoyed in Playground’s grand unveiling, it didn’t completely hit the nail on the head for Molyneux — with the game's tone and visual design not quite to his tastes.

“I mean, if I was critical, which I think you want me to be, there was a slight antiseptic feel about it," Molyneux states. “But I mean, they've got months and months to build in that character and almost that dirtiness that you want in the world. I never thought Fable as being clean and all the angles being sharp and defined. It's more chaotic. It's more what Old England probably used to be, which was not straight lines, the place, it's more crinkling, and all the buckle belts on people are ridiculously large, and the boots and the hands ridiculously large because that is part of the character. So there’s a little bit more of that character, which I would probably foolishly and ridiculously ask for.”

But these minor quibbles with the current aesthetic certainly aren’t getting in the way of Peter looking forward to getting his hands on it when it arrives later this year. When asked if he plans to play Fable, he replied: “Absolutely. For sure. Not as someone looking for the flaws and faults, but as someone who truly loves and adores that universe.”

I, too, cannot wait to jump back into the fairy tale world of Fable. You can check out all of the latest updates on Playground’s upcoming fantasy RPG here, including how it plans to utlilise a surprising storytelling technique from The Office, and how you’ll be able to marry each and every one of its 1,000 NPCs.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

Masters of Albion, the new God game from 22cans, may well be “the culmination” of legendary developer Peter Molyneux’s career to date, but we may not see its end for many years to come — due to it being the first part of a planned trilogy.

“So this is an epic,” Molyneux tells IGN. “We are thinking about three epic chapters, I suppose you'd call them. Then what we'll be releasing into early access will be chapter one, and it's going to take us quite a few years to get to chapter three.”

“But this chapter one, it has a story. It starts as a classic story of a hero coming and finding his power. There was an adversary who was doing something awful. There was a confrontation. It's a classic. This first chapter is a classic beat of that narrative story. There's going to be love, loss, hate, and betrayal in that first episode of the story. So it is a complete game. We are just thinking bigger rather than, right, this is the game. That's it. We've always been thinking about this bigger story.”

It’s ambitious, a word that has followed Molyneux around for much of his career, whether that be the technologically driven Project Milo, or the experimental Curiosity – What's Inside the Cube? While some of these projects may not have fulfilled their initial promise, many of the British developer’s games have become favourites over the decades. Not least, Fable, of which Molyneux compares in narrative structure to Masters of Albion.

“If you think of Fable, there was Fable 1,” says Molyneux. “We were always thinking when we were thinking of Fable; right, we want time to move on a lot, and so the next issue of Fable is hundreds of years in the future. We thought of that before we even finished Fable 1.

“Whereas something like Black & White, we didn't really think beyond Black & White 2. So when we came to Black and White 2, that felt a little bit clumsy because there wasn't a continuation. So Masters of Albion will finish on a huge… well, I can't say anything. There is a hint in the gameplay trailer at the very end.”

The best laid plans are all well and good, but Molyneux is also fully aware that for two more chapters of the Masters of Albion series to be made, there needs to be both hunger from its audience, and the financial heft to do so.

“My overall desire is that Masters of Albion just brings joy to people,” Molyneux continues. “And if it brings joy to people and there are enough people, we'll definitely be going forward with Master Albion 2 and 3. But you need money to do this.”

Masters of Albion will be released on Steam on April 22, 2026. Do you plan on playing it? Let us know in the comments below. For more, you can check out more details on the god game, or read about what made watching the new Fable’s gameplay reveal so emotional for Peter Molyneux.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

HBO's Game of Thrones prequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, has quickly become one of this year's best shows. Thanks to its heavier focus on levity and wholesome moments (it's not without its predecessor's violent moments, though), interest in the show's source material has skyrocketed since it premiered in January.

The Hedge Knight graphic novel adaptation, the first of George R.R. Martin's three Dunk and Egg short stories, is currently sitting at #3 on Amazon's Comics and Graphic Novels charts, even outselling Absolute Batman Vol. 1. The second book, The Sworn Sword, is at #7, while The Mystery Knight has yet to break the top 100.

Marvel's Spider-Man developer Insomniac Games has set expectations ahead of tomorrow's big State of Play broadcast from PlayStation, as anticipation mounts for a fresh look at its upcoming Wolverine game.

Sony's State of Play show is due to air tomorrow, February 12 at 2pm Pacific / 5pm Eastern / 10pm UK time, and run for at least 60 minutes — suggesting PlayStation has plenty up its sleeves.

But will we get a new flash of adamantium during the showcase? Perhaps not. Overnight, Insomniac Games has posted on social media to lay out when we'll next see more of Marvel's Wolverine — seemingly ruling out any big reveal this week.

When asked "when more info" by a fan, Insomniac Games' official account has now responded: "spring 2026."

With spring not due to start for another month, that answer seems decisive. Still the news is perhaps surprising, considering the fact that Insomniac appeared to drop a pretty obvious hint at Daredevil being in the game only last week, and the fact that this month's leaked PlayStation Plus games apparently will include Insomniac's Spider-Man 2 (which would have been a nice chaser to a new Wolverine trailer). But perhaps Sony is instead planning a dedicated Marvel's Wolverine State of Play to show the game in the months to come?

Sony's last major State of Play broadcast, held back in September 2025, finally treated fans to a proper reveal of Wolverine gameplay, at least. The game is likely PlayStation's biggest first-party launch of the year — and, of course, we're already tracking all of its Marvel Easter eggs. As a reminder, Wolverine currently sits with a vague-ish launch window for the second half of 2026 — though when this will be narrowed down further, we'll just have to wait and see.

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

It’s pretty safe to say that generative artificial intelligence has become a divisive issue within the games industry and wider player community. As the technology becomes more prevalent, companies and studios are being pushed to offer clarity on their use of it. Within the past few months alone, Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian has faced significant backlash against its use of generative AI, and RuneScape studio Jagex has promised no AI will be used for any assets a player can “touch, hear or feel.”

ZA/UM, the developer behind Disco Elysium and the upcoming Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, has offered its view on the issue, and it’s a pretty simple one: “No AI.”

Talking to IGN, ZA/UM’s head of studio, Allen Murray, offered his perspective on the situation: “I think about the world right now, where everybody's dealing with AI in a creative space, and what I see is there'll be a hunger for this singer-songwriter in a cafe. I want a really human experience, right? I don't want a computer-driven creation.”

“I think we'll see more of that,” he continued. “There's always this desire for storytelling and something created by humans that has meaning, that you can relate to. And so I think there'll be a resurgence in that.”

When pushed to clarify the studio’s stance on the technology, Murray gave a simple statement. “No AI,” he said. “As a stance, we don't use it.”

Jim Ashilevi, writer and VO director at ZA/UM, added, “It's all just us being messy and human all the way through. And if it's embarrassing, and if it's not as polished as it would be if you went and used AI or whatever, that's fine. Because all we really care about is just being ourselves, basically.”

“You can feel it when you play our games,” continued Ashilevi. “You can see and feel the fingerprints of real human beings when you exist in those worlds and when you read the stories that we like to tell. I think there's a certain rugged and kind of unpolished quality to the kinds of stories and worlds we like to create.”

Artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) were not particularly prevalent during the development of Disco Elysium, but during the creation of Zero Parades they have risen to become a major force in the world of tech. Google’s new “Project Genie” AI tech has demonstrated a (very limited) ability to create playable worlds based on simple prompts, while Sony has patented AI systems that create podcasts hosted by PlayStation characters and an assist function that can help players overcome challenges in video games. Not every creative is convinced though, with Rockstar’s co-founder Dan Houser suggesting that AI is akin to “when we fed cows with cows and got mad cow disease.”

ZA/UM’s vision for its new RPG is rooted in traditional development processes, through which it hopes to create a story about “what it means to lose everything and then keep going regardless.”

Matt Purslow is IGN's Executive Editor of Features.

No Man's Sky's next big update, Remnant, is here, introducing something developer Hello Games has "been wanting to give players since the very beginning": a gravity gun.

Called the Gravitino Coil, the powerful anti-gravity module for your multi-tool will turn the sci-fi game into "a physics playground," allowing you to "grab large objects and fling, toss, or carefully carry them around the world." It can also be used as a ballistic weapon, allowing you to grab sentinels or heavy objects, turning them into projectiles.

We'll now also be able to collect and recycle the salvage and debris found on planets, turning them into "highly prized" resources, and construct new trucks, tipping flatbeds, and haulers to transport resources back. By carefully sorting and depositing the materials you find — being careful not to accidentally blow yourself up with the "highly volatile" stuff, of course — you'll reap "great rewards."

"You can work alone or join a salvage crew with friends," Hello Games explained. "It creates this really fun and tactile new loop of searching for wrecks, loading trucks full of cargo and hauling across the alien landscape to industrial yards to gain new loot and rewards."

There's also other rewards up for grabs, as well as vehicle parts, a steampunk armor set, and vehicle customization to "create bespoke tracks and haulers for your needs."

Last but not least, there's a new limited-time community expedition on the way, where players can band together to clean up and salvage materials like a space-age trash collection crew.

"Last year was a big year for No Man’s Sky. Even we struggle to know how we pulled off so many large updates last year — Worlds Part II, a Switch 2 release, and Voyagers in the same year, interspersed with smaller but significant updates in Relics, Beacon and Breach," said Hello Games boss, Sean Murray. "As we head into our 10th year post release, our small team is excited for our first update of the year.

"2026 represents 10 years since we launched, and I couldn’t be prouder. For any game to reach such a milestone is a privilege. It wouldn’t be possible without your continued support and we genuinely appreciate it."

Despite being almost a decade on from launch, however, No Man's Sky recently celebrated its best-ever player numbers, following the launch of its Breach and Voyagers updates last year. The Breach update lets players salvage wrecks, unlocking new ship-building parts along the way, while Voyagers added multiplayer ship crew capabilities and skydiving, among many other features.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Pokémon's upcoming Dragon Quest Builders-like sandbox, Pokopia, isn't just a Pokémon-themed block-building playground. It has a main story that some are suggesting has some post-apocalyptic vibes to it, and according to the game's director, it can take anywhere from 20 to 40 hours to finish... with more to do after the credits.

This comes from our own interview with Takuto Edagawa, the chief director of Pokémon Pokopia. We asked about the approximate length of the game, and this was the response:

So for this game, the main motivation for this game is typically not to go to the end roll [credits]. The whole concept is to create the world with Pokemon and live with the Pokemon. However, as an average, it'll be about 20 to 40 hours, but it would really depend on how the players play the game.

There's more things to experience after the end roll [credits]. So it depends on what you mean by contents, but I believe that players are encouraged to and will be motivated to continue to play the game.

This fairly open-ended response isn't a surprise given what we know of Pokopia. It's a sandboxy sim where you, a Ditto transformed into a human shape, hang out on an initially deserted island and get to work building habitats to convince more Pokemon friends to come live with you. It's very similar to Dragon Quest Builders, which makes sense as the developer, Omega Force, also helped out on Dragon Quest Builders 2. In addition to the story component, we can imagine this will have some fairly open-ended gameplay as to what you build, where, and how, and its multiplayer components will likely give the game some longevity too. As a result, it makes sense that players would have a wide range of completion times based on how much they dig into the building mechanics both during and after the campaign.

We also got a chance to go hands-on with Pokopia, including its four-player multiplayer offering, and experience its cozy, mysterious world for ourselves. The game is planned for release on Nintendo Switch 2 on March 5, 2026.

Netflix will release a recorded version of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the franchise's live stage show which includes important backstory for Henry Creel.

As reported by Collider, Netflix is expected to film the show this week with its original Broadway cast. A release date for the filmed version has not yet been announced.

Fans have recognized Stranger Things: The First Shadow as an important chapter of lore within the franchise, as it answers questions about Henry Creel, AKA the series' key villain Vecna, that some had expected from its divisive finale — and then from within the series' phantom extra episode that some fans incorrectly believed would follow.

A prequel to the main Stranger Things TV series, set during Henry Creel's teenage years, The First Shadow shows the growth of Creel's psychokinetic powers and finally reveals their true origin. Audiences also get to see the proto-villain at school with some other familiar faces, Jim Hopper and Joyce Byers (then Maldonado).

For fans, The First Shadow is a key part of the main series' story, so it makes sense that Netflix is now filming it for a wider audience who can't easily get to its Broadway or West End productions. Will its lore also help calm those who still feel the TV series' final episode (and wider final season) didn't do everything they wanted? Well, that remains to be seen.

The First Shadow originally launched in London in 2023, several years before Stranger Things ended, but was always planned to tell a story that dovetailed into the main show. Its script was written by series writer Kate Trefrey, who worked on the plot with Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer, as well as Adolescence and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child writer Jack Thorne.

The play also features the character of Dr. Martin "Papa" Brenner, whose TV actor Matthew Modine recently said he disliked the series' finale and hoped "for the fans" that the conspiracy theory around a secret final-final episode was actually true. (It is not.)

"Stranger Things was a generational event that barreled into a series finale with almost impossible expectations surrounding it," IGN wrote in our review of the Stranger Things series finale. "The Duffers certainly evolved into the successful blockbuster directors they so admired in their childhoods, but their enduring legacy will be mostly doing right by a cast of characters who beguiled the globe."

While the main series may have ended, there's still plenty more Stranger Things to come as well as The First Shadow. The Duffer Brothers are now working on a new live-action TV spin-off with fresh characters, and we've already got our first look at Stranger Things '85, an animated series showing further adventures with the original gang while they were younger.

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

We already knew that Overwatch fans were returning in their thousands with the advent of its new name and "story-driven era," but Overwatch hasn't just matched its original Steam release-day fervor, it has smashed it, more than doubling the platform's concurrent peak set back in 2023.

You'll remember that Blizzard's sequel unfortunately stumbled out of the gate, and while it saw a massive surge of players at the start, those numbers dropped in the following year. As time went on, user reviews complained about a number of issues such as monetization and controversies around the cancellation of the game's long-awaited PvE Hero mode.

Now, however, with the launch of yesterday's (February 10) first year-long storyline, The Reign of Talon, Overwatch — the game formerly known as Overwatch 2 — smashed its original concurrent Steam peak of 75,608. And while we'd already seen a spike in players over the weekend, Sunday's peak of 69,135 simultaneous gamers has been almost tripled, with SteamDB recording 165,651 concurrent Steam players overnight, marking an excellent start for the rebooted hero shooter.

The Reign of Talon focuses on the antagonistic faction Talon as it takes over around the world, while Overwatch continues to fight back. In-game events, hero trailers, animated comics, short stories, and map updates will tell a story across six seasons rolled out throughout the entire year, beginning with the launch of five new heroes as the new season kicked off yesterday.

New heroes include Domina (tank), Emre (damage), Mizuki (support), Anran (damage) — who some of us met over the weekend — and Jetpack Cat (support). More heroes will join in the future, with a new hero added in each of Season 2-6 to come. A new story arc is planned to begin with another Season 1 in 2027.

We're also getting a Hello Kitty-themed in-game event from February 10-23, a new Meta Event called Conquest, where players choose to align with either Overwatch or Talon over five weeks to compete for rewards including lootboxes, skins, and titles. There's also a major UI and UX overhaul with a new hero lobby and a promise of faster navigation on the way.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Xbox has acknowledged widespread issues with the rollout of its enforced age verification process in the UK, leaving many users unable to fully access games and online features.

Overnight, a flood of complaints has arisen on reddit and social media from users who say they have been booted out of games to perform the console's age verification check — which in some cases is taking hours to complete, and for others is not completing at all.

In the meantime, users say they are unable to use apps such as Discord, or use Xbox voice chat in games with non-friends. An Xbox support page for the process now lists an error message, with a note from Microsoft saying it is "aware of the issue and working to fix it."

Microsoft first announced plans to implement mandatory age verification on Xbox in the UK last year, in compliance with the company's UK Online Safety Act. The legislation must be followed by all companies that facilitate online communication — and prompted the early rollout of Discord's similar age verification requirement that's soon to be made global.

UK Xbox users have been able to opt-in to age verification over the past few monhts to get ahead of the moment it is fully enforced, with warning messages on consoles flagging the fact that it will soon become mandatory. Now, a large wave of UK accounts appear to have had age verification made a requirement, with numerous reports appearing online since yesterday evening of users struggling to get the process working.

"This has to be one of the worst implemented things of all time," wrote SymbioticAxehead in a lengthy thread of complaints on reddit. "In the middle of a Helldivers 2 game I get booted right back to the sign-in screen, to be told upon signing in that communication outside of Xbox is now restricted."

@xbox @xboxuk @XboxSupport how are we meant to verify age when every method doesn't work. How can you be a tech company but can't even run shit properly fucking pathetic!!! #xbox #xboxverifyage #xboxdown pic.twitter.com/zyUeOpIWC9

— TylerGames590 (@TylerGames590) February 10, 2026

The user said they then attempted multiple methods for proving their age, including providing a mobile number, ID and then an age estimation via live video to continued errors.

Various users have flagged the fact that their Xbox accounts are more than 18 years old, but still have been caught up in the verification process. Others, meanwhile, say they made it through the process but still remain locked out of various bits of online functionality, with no suggestion of what to do next other than contact Xbox support.

"The amount of times I've tried to do any method of the verification tonight is stupid," wrote PdoubleEB. "Can't change privacy settings on my Xbox to allow me to see mods on games too. Can't chat on Discord. Utterly broken."

"Been trying to verify my ID for the past few hours," added ColossalNova. "It finally worked but I can't access anything still. No Discord access at all."

"Kicked out of Overwatch game, signed out of Xbox, forced to verify my age or else I can't socialize with people, now got an hour ban on Overwatch," wrote Warlock_Worm of their experience.

While Xbox is the first of the major console platform holders to discuss its plans to comply with the UK's Online Safety Act, it seems only a matter of time before PlayStation, Nintendo and other gaming companies publish similar requirements. IGN has contacted Xbox today for more on the current issues.

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

Konami is finally ready to share more about the last of the five Silent Hill projects announced back in 2022, Silent Hill: Townfall.

Coming hot on the heels of tomorrow's PlayStation State of Play broadcast at 2pm PT (5pm ET, 10pm UK), Konami will be revealing the latest updates from its horror series from 4pm PT, including "the latest news on Silent Hill: Townfall."

Konami similarly hosted a Transmission shortly after a State of Play last year, too. In that presentation, the publisher showed off a little of Silent Hill f in Sony's showcase, then went into more detail in its bespoke presentation afterwards, so it's plausible we'll see the same happen tomorrow (February 12), too.

Without doubt the most mysterious of the five projects announced at the Silent Hill Transmission in 2022, the one-minute teaser that announced Screen Burn's (formerly known as No Code) Silent Hill: Townfall spawned more questions than answers, complete with a secret message embedded in the spectrogram that ominously read "whatever heart this town had has now stopped." Four years later, we still know very little about the secretive project, and the silence has been so disconcerting to some that in late 2024, publisher Annapurna was compelled to publicly confirm the game was still in development.

With its abstruse messaging, secrets, and references to Silent Hill 1's Alessa, some fans hope that, unlike the two most recent projects, Silent Hill: The Short Message and Silent Hill f, Townfall will take us back to the mysterious town itself.

"Whelp, I think this puts to rest all the speculation that Townfall's been having a troubled development cycle lol," posited one happy fan. "Konami does this every year, they only focus on one SH project at a time and don't reveal anything about other projects until a few months after the most recent one has released. Expect to not hear anything else about the Silent Hill 1 Remake until 2027 for this very same reason."

We are excited to reveal the latest updates from the SILENT HILL series in a new SILENT HILL Transmission on February 12 at 4:00 PM PT. 🌫️

We’ll share the latest news on SILENT HILL: Townfall. The streaming link is coming soon so stay tuned! 👀

#SILENTHILL #Townfall pic.twitter.com/Se0uJDhUqJ

— Silent Hill Official (@SilentHill) February 11, 2026

"I still remember time when all this sub could talk about is old releases, now look at us, there is something new coming up almost every quarter of the year," joked another. "Say what you want but I am convinced Silent Hill fans are living major these days!"

"Yeah, I'm expecting the SOP into Transmission," another fan wrote on Discord. "Doubt we will see much of SH1R, but they might mention it in the Transmission. With Townfall we will have officially gotten everything from the original Transmission."

"We are absolutely getting SH Townfall gameplay finally!" added someone else. "Also a small chance of a[n] actual trailer for SH 1 Remake. Don't get your hopes up for that SH2 Remake DLC."

That latter note refers to the dozens of comments from fans desperately wanting the Born from a Wish DLC for Silent Hill 2: Remake. Right across Discord, subreddit, and X/Twitter threads — including the Townfall Transmission tweet — you'll find loads of fans asking for the Maria-centric story DLC, with others clamoring for some kind of Silent Hill Master Collection.

Silent Hill series producer Motoi Okamoto recently opened up on why Konami revealed three new Silent Hill games at once after a full decade of silence, saying the publisher was keen to stress to old fans and new that it was "serious" about resurrecting the flailing horror series.

Reflecting on how the series has performed since Konami's inaugural Silent Hill Transmission back in October 2022, Okamoto explained how the impressive Silent Hill 2 Remake was designed with "half new, half old customers in mind" to ensure it could attract new fans to the franchise.

Of all the projects revealed since that 2022 showcase — Silent Hill: The Short Message, Silent Hill 2 Remake, Silent Hill f, Silent Hill: Townfall, and media projects Silent Hill: Ascension and the movie, Return to Silent Hill — the majority have been received well by critics, fans, and new players alike, suggesting it was a gamble worth taking for the Japanese publisher.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Discord has issued a lengthy response to concerns over its impending update that will require some users to verify their age in order to access servers, settings and content deemed unsuitable for teens.

Earlier this week, Discord announced plans to roll out age restrictions globally, after previously applying them within the UK and Australia. Reaction to that announcement was swift and negative, with claims from some users they would abandon the service, and posts from others showing them canceling their Discord Nitro subscriptions.

Now, Discord has posted a very long response on social media that seeks to reassure users by repeatedly saying that, for the "vast majority", no age confirmation will be necessary — as most users do not access age-restricted servers or want to modify safety settings, which will by default blur explicit images, and restrict direct messages from users you may not know.

I've been a subscriber of @discord @discord_support Nitro since it launched.

I've been on the platform since 2016.

Under no circumstances will I be scanning my face for dubious use, nor will I be uploading my government ID on a platform that has had IDs leaked. pic.twitter.com/gSp1hcJpiD

— 🌸 Linxie 🌸 (@Falinxie_) February 9, 2026

"We've seen some questions about our age assurance update and we want to share more clarity. We know how important these changes are to our community," the company wrote. "Here's what we want you to know: Discord is not requiring everyone to complete a face scan or upload an ID to use Discord. The vast majority of people can continue using Discord exactlyas they do today, wthout ever being asked to confirm their age.

"You must be a confirmed adult to access age-restricted content and experiences such as age-restricted servers and channels or to modify certain safety settings," Discord continued. "The majority of Discord users don’t access age restricted content and will never go through a facial age estimation flow or ID verification. In the minority of cases where we cannot confirm you as an adult and you need to access age-restricted areas and settings, then you will be asked to go through additional steps."

The company goes on to provide more detail on how it then handles the age verification process, should it be necessary, saying that it only receives your age when users provide an ID, or an estimated age range if you provide a video selfie. In the latter case, the selfie itself is processed locally, and not uploaded to Discord or an age verification partner.

And again, Discord stated, in some cases Discord is able to infer users are likely to be adults from its existing "advanced machine learning model" which detects specific user behavior, such as play history.

Regardless, the explanation has been subject to a further Community Note on Twitter / X, pointing out the fact that government ID information was stolen one from one of Discord's former age verification vendors last year, and further disquiet from users on the idea that Discord was tracking usage to the extent that it could anonymously estimate their age.

One post that's gone viral on social media appears to show a user circumventing Discord's video selfie age verification flow by manipulating a character in gmod. It's unclear if this has been recorded recently, though last year Discord said it had improved its technology after people similarly used the camera mode in Death Stranding to successfully claim they were over 18.

you can use gmod to verify your age by the way https://t.co/mmYPGVUGc0 pic.twitter.com/0f2rJ66vSS

— mitsu 𓃦 (@mitsufoppie) February 9, 2026

Discord previously said that new and existing users will encounter the age verification process beginning in early March. Whether it now alters its plans or continues to push forward remains to be seen.

Image credit: Silas Stein/picture alliance via Getty Images

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

Blizzard Entertainment is just one day away from unveiling the future of Diablo with its 30th Anniversary Spotlight.

Just like last week’s gargantuan Overwatch Spotlight, the February 11 presentation is said to show an extended look at new announcements and updates for the classic dungeon-crawling franchise. That means reveals for Diablo 4, Diablo 2: Resurrected, and Diablo Immortal, as all three games seek to keep players scrounging for loot in 2026.

Unlike the presentation for its hero shooter, Blizzard has given fans a taste of what to expect. Diablo 4, which launched in June of 2023 and received its Vessel of Hatred expansion in October 2024, is barreling toward the launch of its next expansion, Lord of Hatred, this April. We already know one of its two new classes will be the Paladin, but Blizzard says the Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight will come with a look at the yet-to-be-revealed class, too. The World of Warcraft company also teased that fans should expect a deep dive into “major updates to skill trees” as well as its new endgame systems.

Diablo 2: Resurrected is an unexpected but welcome addition to the Spotlight. Blizzard has been coy when it comes to what it will show for its Diablo 2 remake, only teasing that “there’s a lot we want to share with you,” as it prepares for the launch of Ladder Season 13 February 20. Some are hoping for quality-of-life changes while others speculate about a potential Steam release, but with the 2021 remake largely remaining faithful to the original 2000 experience, it’s hard to say what its future holds.

Finally, there’s Diablo Immortal, Blizzard’s 2022 mobile spinoff. A closer look at the 2026 roadmap is locked in, as the company has told players its ongoing story will carry them “deeper into a world shaped by corruption, conflict, and consequences.” Its blog post on the matter promises more information about a new class, a new region, and “the return of a malevolent force.”

The Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight premieres tomorrow, February 11, at 2pm PT/5pm ET, and can be streamed on Twitch and YouTube. Keep an eye on IGN for a breakdown of all of the biggest announcements and reveals but, in the meantime, you can check out our reviews for Diablo 4, Diablo 2: Resurrected, and Diablo Immortal.

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).

Horror director Mike Flanagan is once again linking up with iconic author Stephen King for a new movie adaptation of The Mist, reports Deadline.

Based on King’s 1980 sci fi horror novella, first published in a Viking Press horror anthology in 1980, The Mist is the story of a group of survivors stuck in small-town Maine by a thick fog that’s enveloped the whole area, which conceals deadly creatures. The Mist was nominated for a number of literary awards at the time and is typically considered amongst King’s most well-regarded works. Flanagan is on deck to direct, and will write the screenplay.

The Mist was previously adapted into a movie back in 2007, starring Thomas Jane and directed by Frank Darabont, who had previously directed 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption and 1999’s The Green Mile (which were also based on Stephen King stories). It was also adapted into a short-lived, 10-episode TV series in 2017, though it was cancelled the same year it aired.

This new adaptation will join a lengthy list of existing King collaborations for Flanagan, including 2017’s Gerald’s Game, 2019’s Doctor Sleep (the sequel to The Shining), and 2024’s The Life of Chuck. Flanagan is also working on an eight-episode TV adaptation of Carrie for Prime Video. King’s first published novel, Carrie has previously been adapted into film on three separate occasions.

Flanagan is also currently leading a new Exorcist movie project, which Scarlett Johansson joined late last year.

Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.

Samsung announced its annual Unpacked event will take place on Wednesday, February 25 in San Francisco, where the company will be unveiling its next-generation S-series phones.

Now, Samsung hasn't come out and said exactly which phones will be announced, but it didn't leave much to the imagination. The company said the "new Galaxy S Series is coming," which sure makes it seem like it will be the usual affair of the Galaxy S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra.

There will likely be one or two extra devices making their way to the stage in San Francisco, so if you want to find out what reveals to expect and how to watch the event live, you can find out the details below.

How to Watch Samsung Galaxy Unpacked

If you want to watch along, Samsung will be streaming Unpacked live on Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 10AM PT / 1PM ET on Samsung's website. IGN will also be covering the event from San Francisco, so be sure to stay tuned for our coverage.

What to Expect From Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026

While this year's Unpacked event is happening a little later than it usually would be, it's still the one we would expect at the start of the year. So, you can expect the full lineup of non-foldable flagship phones: the Samsung Galaxy S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra.

It's possible that Samsung also follows up on the Galaxy S25 Edge that came out in the middle of 2025, but leaks obtained by 9to5Google suggest that phone was a failure and will be quietly killed off. Still, it's always possible that Samsung comes out with another... experimental smartphone this year.

What is likely, though, is that Samsung will release new earbuds. After all, the Galaxy Buds 3 came out in 2024, and there were some design leaks that came out late last year via Android Authority. However, it's important to note that the Galaxy Buds 3 were revealed at Samsung's summer event, along with the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 – so we might have to wait a few months for the new earbuds.

Either way, it's only a few weeks before Unpacked 2026, so we don't have to wait long to see what the company has in store.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

Magic: The Gathering just had its most financially successful year yet, Hasbro has announced. And it's largely thanks to its collaborations with other brands, via its Universes Beyond and Secret Lair releases.

In its earnings call today, Hasbro revealed that MTG revenue was up 59% year-over-year, in no small part thanks to the Avatar: The Last Airbender set last year, which is now the third highest-selling set in Magic history after Final Fantasy and Lord of the Rings. Other Universes Beyond sets, as well as Secret Lair, also had a hand in the success.

That 59% is a huge increase, and one that is responsible for Hasbro's overall numbers looking good. The company overall was up 14% year-over-year, almost entirely driven by 45% growth in the Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment (Monopoly Go! also helped a little). Its other segments, Consumer Products and Entertainment, both saw declines of 4% each.

The revenue-raising capabilities of Universes Beyond and Secret Lair are a helpful look for Hasbro's C-suite, which has found itself the target of a shareholder lawsuit on the very subject recently. The lawsuit alleges that Hasbro has mismanaged Magic: The Gathering by overprinting sets of cards, specifically Universes Beyond and Secret Lair, thereby devaluing existing cards. The complaint itself contains some pretty sharp accusations that the company's top brass have been holding such sets in reserve to deploy whenever the rest of the company is struggling.

In response, Hasbro has stated that such claims have "no merit," and has recently moved to dismiss a similar lawsuit with very similar accusations filed in 2024 by the West Palm Beach Firefighters' Pension Fund and City of Miami General Employees & Sanitation Employees' Retirement Trust, on the basis that the complaint has been amended so significantly since it was originally filed that it is no longer related to the original issue.

Hasbro reached out to share the following updated statement on these lawsuits as pertains to its earnings today:

As we shared when you covered the matter in January, these claims have no merit. Our strategic plan for Magic was implemented, and the results underscore the strength of that strategy. As further reflected in our earnings results released this morning, Magic: The Gathering just completed its most successful year ever.

Magic: The Gathering's next set will be a Universes Beyond set for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, complete with commander deck, and will release on March 6.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.