Author: Trafficblast

As part of a CD Projekt Red press conference following Cyberpunk 2077’s five-month delay, the Polish developer confirmed that it will be asking its employees to work extra long hours to finish the much-anticipated role-playing game ahead of its scheduled release in September.

During a Q&A session, CD Projekt Red was asked if the development team would need to “crunch” to finish Cyberpunk 2077. Adam Kicinski, who is CD Projekt Red’s joint CEO, confirmed that he expects the team to need to work long hours to finish the game, though he said there is a plan in place to attempt to lessen the periods of crunch.

“To some degree, yes–to be honest,” Kicinski said. “We try to limit crunch as much as possible, but it is the final stage. We try to be reasonable in this regard, but yes. Unfortunately.”

“Crunch” is the video game industry term for working for an unreasonable and unhealthy amount of time on a project. Typically, but not always, periods of crunch happen near the end of development.

CD Projekt Red is developing Cyberpunk 2077 across its studios in Krakow and Warsaw offices. At PAX Aus in October 2019, CDPR Krakow boss John Mamais told GameSpot everyone at his studio was working “really hard,” and that while the staffers can feel rejuvenated by showing the game at tradeshows, this also puts the team “in a vice, in a way.”

Mamais also spoke about how CDPR’s culture of hard work is not a good fit for everyone. He said CDPR does what it can to limit crunch, but this isn’t always possible.

“You sacrifice some things to do that and be part of that. There are a lot of people who come into the industry that are fresh; they don’t really understand what it takes to do it,” he said. “So we get a lot of new guys coming in, and they go, ‘Oh god, this is like too much.’ But then we have other guys come in from Rockstar Games, and they’re like, ‘This is not even crunch!’ We’re doing the best we can to keep the work under control. But sometimes when you’re doing some big-ass game like this, it’s not always possible to do that. It takes really hard work to make it really awesome.”

It was also confirmed during the Q&A that the Cyberpunk 2077 delay has shifted other projects back as well, as the Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer game will now release in 2022 at the soonest. Additionally, although Cyberpunk 2077’s new September 17 release date is closer to the releases of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, CDPR still has no plans to support those systems.

CDPR also confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 has been playable from start to finish for months, but “there’s still work to done,” which is why the company’s board of directors unanimously voted for the delay.

“Night City is massive–full of stories, content and places to visit, but due to the sheer scale and complexity of it all, we need more time to finish playtesting, fixing, and polishing,” the company said. “We want Cyberpunk 2077 to be our crowning achievement for this generation and postponing launch will give us the precious months we need to make the game perfect.”

Kicinski clarified during the Q&A that some parts of Cyberpunk 2077 were on schedule while others were not. He added that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the game, only that the studio needs more time for polishing and other efforts related to the size and complexity of the project.

The executive also confirmed during the Q&A that the Cyberpunk 2077 development team was only informed of the delay “minutes” before the official announcement came through.

This is not the first time that CDPR may be crunching on one of its big releases. In 2014, the company was aaccused of crunching for more than one year to finish The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Find out how to pre-order Cyberpunk 2077 and more in our guide to everything Cyberpunk 2077.

Read next: Cyberpunk 2077, Avengers, And Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Developers Talk Crunch Culture

Funko’s latest addition to its Marvel’s Avengers Assemble collection of Pops has been dubbed “I Am Iron Man” and will pay tribute to Tony Stark’s noble sacrifice at the end of Avengers Endgame. The Pop will be released in April and is currently available for pre-order at Entertainment Earth.

The new Iron Man Funko Pop will cost $15 and is currently marked as a Previews Exclusive, which means it will only be available in a limited quantity at select retailers. Unfortunately, Funko hasn’t announced when the Pop will be hitting stores, so if you want to pick one up, it’d be best to grab one via the pre-order link above, while supplies last.

Funko’s Avengers Assemble collection will include a total of six Pops (at the time of writing) over the course of 2020, all of which can be linked together to form an “Avengers assemble” style set. The first of the six will be released later this month, with a new one coming around every other month, according to ComicBook.com.

To complete the Avengers Assemble collection, players will need to keep an eye out for the Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye, Hulk, and now the “I Am Iron Man” release date announcements.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=every-dead-mcu-character&captions=true”]

Robert Downey Jr. recently made some comments about whether he’d return to the MCU in some capacity, but it’s unclear if or when that might actually ever happen.

Endgame was one of the biggest box office winners in 2019, officially passing Avatar as the highest-grossing box office film of all time. However, James Cameron says that Avatar will end up beating Endgame when it’s all said and done. Additionally, be sure to check out IGN’s official Avengers: Endgame review.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/04/23/avengers-endgame-review”]

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Andrew Smith is a freelance contributor with IGN and an avid Funko Pop collector. Follow him on Twitter @_andrewtsmith.

In its nearly six years of activity, Elder Scrolls Online has grown from another online game that struggled to find its footing, to a satisfying, content-rich MMO that offers an unusual amount of freedom to explore. With more updates opening up the familiar locales of the land of Tamriel, such as Morrowind and Elsweyr, developer ZeniMax Online Studios is preparing the next major expansion that seeks to rekindle a sense of nostalgia for a certain northern region from Elder Scrolls lore.

Revealed during Bethesda’s ESO 2020 livestream, Bethesda VP of Marketing Pete Hines and creative director Rich Lambert detailed the upcoming season of content known as the Dark Heart of Skyrim. Launching on May 18 for PC (consoles will get the update on June 2), the land of Skyrim, quests, and loot will be open for players to uncover. Like last year’s Season of the Dragon, new events will be added throughout 2020, expanding the new region and its lore. During the livestream, the creative director stated this about the resivit to Skyrim: “We felt it was important to offer something familiar, but we very much wanted to forge our own path with Skyrim.”

Set 900 years before the events of Elder Scrolls V, the Skyrim of ESO isn’t exactly the same as it was in the previous game. While familiar places like Solitude, Dragon Bridge, and Morthal are back, the entire region has been corrupted by the influence of vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural forces, which gives it more of a gothic and macabre aesthetic. Closing out the cinematic trailer was a brief glimpse of a massive underground fortress home to the coven of vampires–the dark heart of Skyrim. Starting off the season will be a special prologue quest that’s available to all players, setting the stage for the new adventures in Skyrim.

Encompassing the Dark Heart of Skyrim season are four substantial updates. The first two, Harrowstorm and Greymoor, will be available at launch. Harrowstorm focuses on new dungeons and world events to take part in, tasking you and your party to face off against hordes of vampires other monsters. The Greymoor questline is the most substantial form of content to take part in, which is the main questline in Skyrim. According to Bethesda, the narrative in Greymoor will be the darkest one of the series, revealing the grimmer aspects of the land of Skyrim, why it attracts such supernatural forces. Later in 2020, two more updates focusing on additional story and dungeons will close out the Dark Heart of Skyrim season.

A returning location that players will be able to explore is Blackreach, the massive underground cavern from The Elder Scrolls V. According to the developers, the subterranean networks makes up over 40% of Skyrim’s size in ESO. In addition to the new land to explore and quests to follow, the Dark Heart of Skyrim season will also introduce a suite of new quality-of-life updates, activities, and new features. For instance, one new side-activity is the Antiquities system, allowing players to hunt for lost relics from around the world to buff their characters and party with new mythic items that have unique properties. While exploring Skyrim, you can also take part in Harrowstorm world events, which has you and your group battle waves of foes.

No doubt, the big standout with this upcoming season is the prospect of returning to Skyrim. Released almost nine years ago, the Elder Scrolls V still remains one of Bethesda’s most well-loved games, so getting to explore the region in an MMO presents an interesting way to re-experience the lore and iconography of the region. In the years following ESO’s initial release, the MMO was updated to allow for more open-ended exploration of the world that will scale to your level and party-size. For players looking to jump into ESO for the first time, you can even start a new character in the region of Skyrim, letting you explore the land right from the outset.

For more info on what’s new with Elder Scrolls Online, including what to expect in Skyrim and the larger season of content in Dark Heart of Skyrim, be sure to check back with GameSpot.

Bungie has released a new patch for Destiny 2 that addresses a number of the troubles that have faced the Season of Dawn since its launch a few weeks ago. The new patch, Hotfix 2.7.0.2, is now live in the game and fixes a few key troubles, like players’ inability to interact with the EDZ Sundial obelisk.

Patch notes for the hotfix are live on Bungie’s website, which detail a short list of changes to the game that mostly remove bugs and make minor but meaningful adjustments. The EDZ bug is probably the biggest one–previously, Guardians had to repeatedly enter the area that includes the obelisk in an attempt to get the prompt to appear that allowed them to interact with it. The patch also fixes a weekly Gunsmith calibration bounty, which hasn’t been available since the start of the season.

Hotfix 2.7.0.2 also makes some fixes to things that were actually working out in players’ favor. Bungie has reduced the amount of damage the Exotic bow Wish-Ender does with its Broadhead perk. Throughout the Season of Dawn, Wish-Ender has been doing a ton of extra damage, which has made it a go-to weapon for killing primevals in Gambit matches. The hotfix also fixes Telesto, which would dish out additional Special ammo when paired with the Heavy Handed seasonal mod.

Check out the full list of changes and fixes below. You might also want to check out our Corridors of Time guide, following the work of the Destiny 2 community to solve a new secret quest that was added to the game this week.

Hotfix 2.7.0.2 Patch Notes:

COMBAT SYSTEMS

• Fixed an issue where Wish-Ender’s Broadhead perk was dealing more damage than intended
• Equipping both a Fusion Rifle Scavenger mod and a Linear Fusion Scavenger mod will no longer cause Heavy ammo to be gained from Special ammo boxes
• Using Telesto with the Heavy Handed obelisk mod will no longer generate unintentional extra Special ammo

ACTIVITIES

• Fixed an issue that would cause the EDZ Obelisk interact component to despawn

REWARDS

• Fixed an issue that could cause the Sundial reward currency to be issued to players twice

EVERVERSE

• Eververse waypoint notification has been disabled
• The Season 9 Seasonal Starter Bundle will no longer appear as owned for players who bought the Season 8 Seasonal Starter Bundle

BOUNTIES

• Gunsmith weekly destination bounty will be re-enabled and properly rotate weekly (instead of daily)
• Crucible daily bounties will now rotate daily

AMC has announced that The Walking Dead: World Beyond will premiere on Sunday, April 12 at 10 PM ET right after the Season 10 finale of The Walking Dead. Further, new episodes will be airing the following Sunday at 9 PM ET.

This series will be the third installment in AMC’s The Walking Dead franchise and will be the second spinoff series, with Fear the Walking Dead being the first. World Beyond will be “delving into a new mythology and story that follows the first generation raised in a surviving civilization of the post-apocalyptic world,” says AMC.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=the-walking-dead-world-beyond-season-1-gallery&captions=true”]

World Beyond will follow two sisters and two friends as they leave a place of comfort and begin to explore the post-apocalyptic world around them. The show will be “a tale of growing up and transformation” for the group of friends as they learn more about themselves, each other, and the world around them.

You can check out the first official trailer below.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/25/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-trailer”]

The series was first announced in April 2019 and in the following months, AMC shared that Alexa Mansour, Nicolas Cantu, and Hal Cumpston would be joining the cast. In late 2019, AMC gave the show its official title and shared the first poster of the new series.

Co-created by Scott Gimple, The Walking Dead’s Matt Negrete will serve as the Showrunner for the series, along with Executive Producers Gimple, Negrete, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert and Brian Bockrath.

In the meantime, be sure to check out IGN’s midseason review of The Walking Dead and a hidden holiday Easter Egg found in one of the latest episodes.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Andrew Smith is a freelance contributor with IGN. Follow him on Twitter @_andrewtsmith.

HBO is unlikely to move ahead with the second season of their critically acclaimed comic book show Watchmen unless series creator Damon Lindelof is involved — something Lindelof has repeatedly stressed he’s not interested in doing.

“It would be hard to imagine doing it without Damon involved in some way,” HBO programming president Casey Bloys conceded in an interview Wednesday with USA Today.

Lindelof said in December, “I’ve consistently believed and still believe that these nine episodes are a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end. I have to acknowledge that not everyone’s going to see it that way, and I definitely don’t dispute any opinion that’s sort of like there should be more. I just don’t feel compelled to continue the story without a reason to do so. That reason should be a creative reason, idea-driven, and I don’t have any ideas for subsequent seasons of Watchmen currently.”

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=watchmen-all-the-comic-book-references-in-the-hbo-series&captions=true”]

Still, Lindelof left the door open at the time to a possible second season, saying that if the right idea struck him then “I would definitely be inclined to pursue it. There is no guarantee of if and when that’ll happen.”

Bloys left the ball in Lindelof’s court, telling USA Today: “It’s really in Damon’s thinking about what he wants to do. If there’s an idea that excited him about another season, another installment, maybe like a Fargo, True Detective (anthology) take on it, or if he wants to do something different altogether. We’re very proud of Watchmen, but what I’m most interested in [is] what Damon wants to do.”

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/17/damon-lindelof-reacts-to-watchmen-being-named-igns-tv-series-of-the-year”]

IGN named Watchmen the best TV show of 2019, an accolade Damon Lindelof called “an incredible gift.” We also cited Watchmen as one of the best TV shows of the decade.

For more on Watchmen, check out Regina King’s emotional explanation of the ending, our spoiler-free review of Season 1, and get the answers to 10 burning questions we had about the show.

Pokemon Go‘s January Community Day is coming up this weekend, but that’s not the only event to look forward to soon. Niantic has announced the Legendary Pokemon Latios and Latias will return for a limited time next weekend for a special Raid event.

Beginning at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on Friday, January 24, the two Legendaries will appear around the world in five-star Raids, giving you another opportunity to catch them. Latios and Latias will leave the game again at the same time on Monday, January 27. You can read more about the event on the Pokemon Go website.

Latios and Latias are both Dragon/Psychic types, meaning they’re each weak to Ice, Dark, Fairy, Ghost, and Bug Pokemon, so you’ll want to bring along monsters like Mamoswine, Tyranitar, and Togekiss when challenging them. Other Dragon types also have an advantage, particularly Dragon Legendaries like Rayquaza.

In the meantime, Pokemon Go’s January Community Day takes place this Sunday, January 19. The featured Pokemon this month is Piplup, the Water starter from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, and if you can evolve it all the way into Empoleon up to two hours after the event ends, it’ll learn the powerful Water attack Hydro Cannon.

The Legendary Pokemon Heatran is also back in Raids until February 4, and some new Gen 5 Pokemon are now appearing around the world. You can catch up on other recent Pokemon Go news below.