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Celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, The Elder Scrolls Online has steadily grown into an experience that many fans of Bethesda’s RPG franchise wanted back when it debuted back in 2014. As an open world MMO, players can freely explore the many regions of Tamriel embarking quests, exploring dungeons, and acquiring rare loot. With the releases of previous expansions set in familiar areas, including Morrowind and Summerset, the scale and content of the online world has steadily seen improvement. During a livestream hosted by Twitch, the developers of ESO revealed the next major expansion set in the land of Elsweyr, along with an ambitious set of DLCs and updates releasing this year.

Set for launch on June 4, the Elsweyr expansion takes place in the homeland of the Khajit. Not only will new quests and events open up for veteran players in the region, but it will also be a new starting point for newcomers. As a part of their annual event for the Season of the Dragon, the developers plan to launch four unique DLCs throughout 2019. In the reveal trailer for Elsweyr, dragons have once again found their way to Tamriel, prompting the many adventurers in the land to face off against the new threat. In addition to being tied into the all new story quests, these dragons will also be a part of major world events.

Prior to the reveal, GameSpot spoke with ESO creative director Rich Lambert about their plans for the game in 2019, and how the community has expanded in big way in recent years.

“Elsweyr been one of the most requested places from our fans; it’s the homeland of the Khajit,” said the creative director. “There’s bits and pieces of the land in other DLCs, such as Reaper’s March and Khenarthi’s Roost, but those are really on the outer edges of the province. So we’re really going into the heartland, showing what Khajit culture is, and how they’ve evolved over the ages.”

With the Season of the Dragon annual event, the developers plan to update many of the core pillars of the MMO with four key updates. Beginning in Q1 with Wrathstone, the first DLC will add in new dungeon content for experienced players. In the second DLC–releasing on June 4–the region of Elsweyr will open up for all players, focusing on new quests and storylines within the desert land of the Khajit. The final two DLCs releasing in the back half of 2019 will also place a heavy emphasis on on additional story and dungeon content as well.

The highlight of Season of the Dragon will no doubt be Elsweyr, which adds in a massive new zone to explore. However, there will also be numerous other updates and quality-of-life additions that will switch things up. The year-long event will also see a new class thrown into the mix, which is the Necromancer. Using their dark magic, they’ll be able to summon spirits and manipulate the dead to fight in battle. However, their dark arts will arouse all kinds of attention from NPCs throughout the land. Using the Necromancer’s abilities in towns will prompt citizens and guards to confront the player–similarly to when players used shouts in the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. These interactions also tied into the game’s Justice system, which judges your character based on in-game choices.

Furthermore, there will also be new world events. In addition to in-world battles against the massive dragons, some regions will also catch the attention of Daedric deities, who’ve become bored of the state of the world. In order to spice things up, they’ll introduce a little chaos by spawning powerful artifacts in the world. Those who can find them can wield the ancient weapons, transforming them into a demi-god. With drastically amplified stats and unique spells and skills, you’ll need to unleash carnage on other players, or else succumb to the artifact’s insatiable hunger for chaos.

The Elder Scrolls Online is in for a big year, and the new forms of content look to bring some interesting opportunities for players to explore more of the world. In the years since ESO’s debut, the developers spent a lot of time listening to what the fans wanted, which they they credit the game’s current success.

“We spent a lot of time reflecting on what the fans wanted, in trying to bring that Elder Scrolls feel into the game,” said Lambert. “That’s where One Tamriel came from, Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood, and that’s where the Justice System came out as well. It really changed the feel of ESO, and players have enjoyed it since. The game has never been stronger, which is awesome.”

For more info on Elder Scrolls Online, including what’s to come with Elsweyr and the Season of the Dragon, be sure to check back with GameSpot.

A new Ghostbusters movie is coming. Entertainment Weekly reports that Jason Reitman, the son of original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, will co-write and direct the new film that is not connected to the 2016 edition featuring an all-female cast of ghost hunters. Specific plot points for Jason Reitman’s new movie are being kept under wraps for now, but he did confirm that it’s set in the present day. It is not a reboot, but it’s a continuation of the original series.

“This is the next chapter in the original franchise. It is not a reboot,” he told EW. “What happened in the ’80s happened in the ’80s, and this is set in the present day.”

The new Ghostbusters movie will start shooting later this year, and it’s expected to hit theatres in summer 2020. The other writer is Gil Kenan, who earned an Oscar nomination for Monster House.

“This is very early, and I want the film to unwrap like a present,” Jason Reitman told EW. “We have a lot of wonderful surprises and new characters for the audience to meet.”

Regarding the new characters, Justin Kroll of the website Variety said Jason Reitman may be looking to cast four teenagers in the lead roles. In the original films, the main characters were played by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, and Rick Moranis. Ramis passed away in 2014.

Reitman has four Oscar nominations, and some of his best-known films include Juno, Up in the Air, and Thank You For Smoking.

Ivan Reitman will produce the new Ghostbusters movie, and he told EW, “It will be a passing of the torch both inside and out.” He said his son Jason came to him with the idea for the new film, and it left him in awe. “

“I was quite surprised when he came to me with Gil and said, ‘I know I’ve been saying for 10 years I’m the last person who should make a Ghostbusters movie, but…I have this idea.’ Literally, I was crying by the end of it, it was so emotional and funny,” he said.

Go to Entertainment Weekly to read the full story on the new Ghostbusters movie.

The open-world Star Wars game in development at EA Vancouver has been canceled. That’s according to a new report from Kotaku that credits the information to three sources who reportedly have inside knowledge of the matter.

According to the report, EA Vancouver’s Star Wars title was a “reboot” of the Star Wars project that Visceral Games was working on until EA closed that studio in 2017. EA Vancouver continued to use some of the assets from Visceral’s game, but transitioned the title to become an open-world experience, Kotaku reported.

Executive Patrick Soderlund, who has since left EA, previously confirmed that Visceral’s Star Wars game was a “story-based, linear adventure game.” However, responding to market trends and player feedback, EA decided to “pivot” the design to make it a title that players could “come back to and enjoy for a long time to come,” which suggested it was becoming more multiplayer-focused. At the same time, Soderlund announced that EA Vancouver would lead development on this title and that it was also delayed. Now, it is canceled outright, apparently.

The Star Wars game Visceral had in development was being headed up by Uncharted veteran Amy Hennig. She said it may be “spiritually similar” to Uncharted but that it will also be its own thing. Hennig has since left EA altogether.

EA did not respond to GameSpot’s request for comment at press time, but keep checking back with us for the latest.

While EA Vancouver’s Star Wars game may be canceled, the publisher continues its work on a third-person Star Wars action game, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, from Titanfall studio Respawn Entertainment.

Kotaku also reported that EA Vancouver’s Star Wars game was very early in development and that no jobs were lost as a result of the reported cancellation. The game was said to put you in the shoes of a “scoundrel or bounty hunter” who hopped around different open-world planets. As for why the game was supposedly canceled, sources said EA management wanted to launch something on the more immediate horizon. As a result, EA is now reportedly working on a smaller-scale Star Wars game to launch in late 2020.

In 2013, EA signed a multi-year, multi-title deal with Disney for Star Wars video games. That licensing contract was said to run for 10 years, so it may expire in 2023 unless the terms were adjusted without being discussed publicly.

EA previously found itself embroiled in Star Wars controversy when Star Wars: Battlefront II‘s microtransactions made headlines and led to wider discussions from governments around the world about loot boxes in video games.

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Treyarch has rolled out a new update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. As the developer previously detailed, all three of the game’s modes have gotten some attention with this week’s patch, but the most was saved for Zombies, which has received a new in-game event and other content.

Beginning January 15, Treyarch is holding a 115 Day Celebration in Zombies–a reference to the element used to create the undead monsters in Black Ops lore. During the event, players will receive twice the normal amount of XP, weapon XP, and Nebulium Plasma. The 115 Day Celebration is live on all platforms and is scheduled to end at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM GMT on January 18.

Additionally, PS4 players can now take on Gauntlets in Zombies mode. Treyarch describes these as “30-round challenges with unique rules governing gameplay in each round.” Players will earn medals and rewards depending on how many rounds they’re able to complete, as well as a “unique reward” for their Emblem if they manage to clear round 30 without failing.

Finally, Treyarch has introduced three new Elixirs that players can craft in Zombies. These are currently available on PS4; they are all Epic rarity and confer the following buffs on players according to Treyarch’s blog:

• Perk Up: Gain 4 additional random Perks that are not in your loadout.
• Refresh Mint: Refreshes the cooldowns for Equipment, Perks, and Special Weapons for your entire team.
• Conflagration Liquidation: Spawn a Bonfire Sale power-up.

Treyarch has more content on the way for Zombies mode, including a new Perk, Mastery Camos, and classic weapons. These are slated to arrive in the “coming weeks.” The developer also has other new Zombies features and updates planned for this year, such as new Gauntlets and Faction Callings, which are “designed to feature a full season of 12 unique challenge events across all Zombies maps and game modes that reward players with never-before-seen character customization loot.”