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Former PlayStation boss, Shawn Layden, has finally revealed why he left the company, almost two years after his departure.

PlayStation abruptly announced on September 30, 2019, that Layden had left the company after 32 years with Sony. The company didn’t reveal why Layden had departed — PlayStation simply said he was leaving and that he’ll be greatly missed — and Layden himself has remained quiet on the subject.

Now, almost two years after his departure, Layden has revealed in an interview with Bloomberg that he left PlayStation to avoid burnout and to put a good pin in his legacy at the company.

“It’s a young person’s activity,” Layden said. “I felt: This is a good time to put the pin in my legacy.”

Layden explained that in the years leading up to his departure, he had helped the company release some of the highest-rated games of the entire PS4 generation — he noted Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War to Bloomberg. He said that leaving PlayStation when he did, which happened to be the year before the start of the PlayStation 5 generation, came down to good timing.

“That seemed like a good time to step off on top and allow another generation to take the PlayStation 5 to market,” Layden said.

Bloomberg asked Layden if his departure had anything to do with current PlayStation boss, Jim Ryan, in light of rumors that the two didn’t gel. The publication writes that Layden “wouldn’t get into specifics there,” but that Layden simply answered, “I think I took my time at the moment I saw best to take it [and] I couldn’t be happier.”

Elsewhere in Bloomberg’s interview, the publication touches on an hour-long conversation between Layden, who now serves on the advisory board at Streamline Media Group, and Streamline CEO Alexander Fernandez. In that conversation, Layden explained his concern with the rising costs of AAA game development.

Layden said game development costs seem to double with each generation, citing that the PlayStation 4 titles he helped get out the door each cost at least $100 million.

“If we can’t stop the cost curve from going up, all we can do is try to de-risk it,” Layden said. “That puts you in a place where you’re incentivized toward sequels.” He then went on to predict that PS5 games will end up costing $200 million to make and that prices will only go up from there.

For more about PlayStation, read what PlayStation had to say when Layden left the company and then read about how the current chip shortage affecting the production of PlayStation 5s “will remain very tight” until at least next September. Check out this story about PlayStation’s upcoming 40-minute “future of PS5” showcase after that.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

A new Ghost of Tsushima update has made the already-adorable foxes in the game even cuter.

Throughout Ghost of Tsushima’s map, there are fox dens to find. Upon completing a given fox den, Jin Sakai pets his new furry buddy goodbye (ok, you don’t have to pet the fox but come on — who’s not going to pet them?). The foxes love it, of course, but a new update makes them even more excited for incoming pets.

fox belly rubs are secretly our best new feature 🦊 https://t.co/7Utz5Qe6EX

— Andrew Goldfarb (@garfep) September 3, 2021

Famed Twitter account, CanYouPetTheDog, which tracks whether or not you can pet dogs and other animals in games, tweeted about this new update and the new animations foxes in Ghost of Tsushima have, as reported by GameSpot. Sucker Punch Productions’ communications person, Andrew Goldfarb, confirmed the new fox-related features on Twitter as well.

As you can see in the video above, foxes will now yap in excitement for the pets they’re hoping Jin will give them. They’ll also tap on the ground excitedly before rolling over onto their backs to prepare for some belly rubs.

Foxes are just one of the types of animals in Ghost of Tsushima that Jin can pet — the 1.1 update released last October allowed players to befriend and pet dogs.

GameSpot notes that the Director’s Cut of Ghost of Tsushima also adds kittens and monkeys that can be pet by Jin as well.

More games should follow in the footsteps of Ghost of Tsushima, really — are bug squashes and balance fixes important when updating a game? Sure, but let’s not forget about updating games to make it so that players can pet more animals, too.

If you’re looking for all of the fox den locations in Ghost of Tsushima, head to IGN’s Ghost of Tsushima Wiki Guide. You’ll also find tips and tricks, walkthroughs, and more there. Check out our thoughts on the game’s recent expansion in IGN’s Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island DLC review after that.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

Games with Ghibli vibes are becoming more prevalent these days, but so far, the closest I’ve gotten to feeling like a Ghibli protagonist floating in a summery field of grass has been with Hoa, a new platforming game from Vietnamese studio Skrollcat.

Hoa’s inspirations are clear the moment the game starts, with a tiny protagonist floating dreamily to an island upon a single leaf before wordlessly beginning to explore. Without exposition, the titular Hoa begins to explore a world of sunlight filtered through green, gentle bug friends, hanging flowers and vines, sparkling cave systems, and soft, natural beauty. It’s all done in a hand-painted style clearly nodding to its animated inspirations, and underscored by a tender, fully orchestrated soundtrack that, yes, directly hearkens to the musical vibes of Joe Hisaishi.

Creators Son Tung Cao and Son Tra Le tell me how Hoa was inspired by their own personal experiences together. The two met in 2017 at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, where Son Tung was working in the university’s game lab and Son Tra was finishing up her animation studies.

At the time, Son Tung was already passionate about beautiful platforming games. Inspired by the likes of Trine and Limbo, he approached Son Tra with a simple idea: a girl, and a close tie with nature. Son Tra began sketching.

After a number of concepts of girls with little leaves on their heads, they eventually came to the design of the character Hoa, and began expanding their exploration to the world she might live in and the creatures that might inhabit it. Fortunately, inspiration was not far off — the two were surrounded at all times by nature.

“Hoa and her journey reflects the experience and life we’ve been living, especially during our time in Singapore,” says Son Tung. “The university we studied and worked in is in the middle of a forest, so we had trees and nature everywhere. Every morning when we went to school, you could see a lot of animals running around. We spent a lot of time in nature there…taking our sketchbook outside and looking at the trees, doing sketches, and breathing the fresh air. The game is about taking a stroll in the forest, enjoying the mood, being very carefree, relaxed, and playful.”

And just as Hoa’s environment and world was inspired by their own, Son Tung and Son Tra tell me that her character and the themes of the game were inspired by the each other’s kind and caring nature.

As we speak, Son Tra is complimentary of her colleague: “Tung is very caring, he’s always positive and easygoing and he makes others feel good.”

But Son Tung has a specific story he likes to tell that he believes ultimately influenced Hoa’s tone, one he says he thinks he’ll remember for the rest of his life.

“Not long after I met [Son Tra] for the first time, we were walking around the school,” he says. “And at our school there are a lot of snails crawling on the pathway, and people will just step on the snails, because they don’t pay attention. So Tra, when we were walking, she saw a snail, she tried to pick him up and put him in the grass on the roadside so he would not get stepped on. And this didn’t just happen once, but every time she saw a snail she did that. And it just struck me that she’s a very caring person. When we created the characters [in Hoa], all those memories we just poured into it unconsciously.”

Son Tra adds, “That’s why Hoa is a lot about the little things as well. Appreciating the little things, being observant, and being caring.”

For Son Tra and Son Tung, Hoa has been a challenge — a pleasant one, but a challenge all the same. It’s their first game together as Skrollcat, and as Son Tung points out, the animation studios that inspired the game are staffed with auteurs who have 20, 30 years of experience. The two weren’t just trying to recreate the themes of films like My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke, they wanted the feelings those worlds conveyed visually as well. But to do that, they had to learn to recreate the art style in just a few months of careful study and practice. It was difficult, Son Tung says, but he feels they’ve achieved a look they can be proud of.

“Hoa is our first adventure,” he continues. “Like Hoa, we decided to go into something we didn’t really know very clearly about. But it’s because we didn’t know a lot of things about it we had the courage to go in, do it, and find a solution along the way. We’ve been very lucky to have a lot of friends — careful, kind, and gentle friends — who will support us and guide us along the way.”

Hoa is a very brief journey, not much longer than the movies that inspired it, with a message of harmony with nature and, as Son Trung emphasizes, the “joy of pure discovery.” The two want to evoke the feeling of being a child again, experiencing the world with curiosity and fresh eyes. Floating on the back of a ladybug or tip-toeing my way along a spider web with the protagonist’s tiny, cute feet, they’ve at least succeeded for me (and, it seems, for our reviewer.)

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Halo Infinite will bring back the old motion tracker-style radar seen in Halo games before Halo 5 in light of feedback following the game’s recent technical preview.

This news comes by way of a recent Halo Waypoint blog posted by 343 Industries breaking down all of the feedback the studio received during and following its recent technical preview, as reported by PC Gamer.

According to 343, most players missed the old properties of Halo radars, which differ from the game’s current Combat Sensor that only displays enemy locations when they’re sprinting or shooting a weapon.

“The Combat Sensor, or radar, that sits in the bottom left of your HUD follows a different set of rules than previous Halo titles,” the blog post reads. “We knew this implementation was going to feel different, maybe even a little contentious, and that’s why we wanted to get feedback on it as soon as possible in the Tech Preview.”

343 continues in the blog post and says that some players appreciated the new radar approach, but that it found most players missed the old style of radar.

“We’ve updated the Combat Sensor to feel more like the ‘Motion Tracker’ of old, which shows all movement besides crouch-walking, and should have that ready for folks to test in the next flight,” the blog reads. “Be sure to keep an eye on it and let us know how it plays.”

The radar section of the blog post is only one small snippet of the lengthy post-technical preview brief. It touches on multiple other facets of Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, citing what people liked about it and what constructive feedback 343 Industries received.

For example, players want the Needler weapon’s audio to sound more “crystalized” and they want more granular control of each in-game voice such as the Personal AI, Spartan Chatter, and even the multiplayer announcer.

343 Industries also received feedback regarding its bots. Players felt that in the technical preview, bots were too accurate when shooting weapons and throwing grenades, for example, and the jump from ODST bots to Spartan bots wasn’t great enough.

For more details about this feedback and a detailed breakdown of said feedback, head to 343 Industries’ Halo Waypoint blog post. Read about why Halo Infinite fans are worried about 343’s approach to multiplayer progression after that and then check out why 343 didn’t show Halo Infinite’s campaign during its recent Gamescom 2021 appearance.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

Do you like saving money? How about when you’re saving money on gaming PCs, Pop Tarts and Exercise Equipment all at the same time? Sure, it might be a weird mix, but that’s what we’ve got on offer today! Neewer lighting products are discounted across the board at Amazon. Gaming PCs and Laptops are on sale at Amazon and Lenovo, while tons of various products including treadmills, stair climbers and various tech gadgets can be found at Best Buy.

Intel Gamer Days Deal: CyberpowerPC Intel Core i7 RTX 3080 Gaming PC for $2199

If you play games at 1440p or less, you can get away with an RTX 3060 or 3070, but if you want to game in 4K, then you’re going to want to splurge for the RTX 3080 video card. It’s the first card that really lets you play games at 3840×2160 without worrying about your framerate. This CyberpowerPC is equipped with an RTX 3080 video card, an unlocked Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and both SSD and HDD storage.

Daily Deals for September 4th 2021

Intel Gamer Days Deal: Dell XPS Intel Core i7 RTX 3060 Ti Gaming PC for $1499

True high end gaming on a budget. There is one of the best deals we’ve seen for an RTX 3060 Ti equipped PC. The RTX 3060 Ti is a very powerful video card; it’s better than the previous generation’s RTX 2080! It’s a big upgrade from the 3060 non-Ti model and the one to get if you’re going to play games at resolutions of 1440p or higher. This is the best Intel Gamer Days deal that Dell is offering so far, but there are a couple of other good deals as well.

Amazon Prime Student Members Get 3 Months of Free Audible Premium Plus

If you’re an Amazon Prime Student member, you get a lot of pretty amazing perks like 6 months of free Amazon Prime membership followed by 50% off your Prime membership for up to 4 years, Amazon Music Unlimited for $0.99/mo, and more. Now, there’s yet another perk exclusive to Amazon Prime Student members; get 3 free months of Audible Premium Plus (normally $14.95/mo). If you’re a current student or faculty, you’re eligible for an Amazon Prime Student membership.

Android-only play tests for Battlefield Mobile will begin this Fall in two countries: Indonesia and the Philippines.

EA announced this news on its Battlefield mobile play test FAQ page, adding that as EA continues with testing, more regions will be added to the play tests. EA didn’t mention which regions, however.

“We’ll be steadily rolling out Battlefield Mobile starting with a series of smaller play tests in Indonesia and the Philippines,” the blog post reads. “The first of these begins Autumn 2021, and will only be available on Android devices. As we continue testing, we’ll expand the size of these tests [and] add new regions.”

EA says that when the play tests grow broader in scope and size, it will launch a page that allows would-be players to pre-register for the game and sign-up for future play tests. According to the FAQ page, players will need to have a device running on Android 7.0 or a later version of Android.

At the start of the play tests, only the Grand Bazaar map will be available and players will only be able to play in the classic Battlefield game mode, Conquest.

A Google Play Store page is up alongside this news as well and it reveals more details about this upcoming mobile Battlefield game. For the most part, it sounds like a standard Battlefield experience except it’s on mobile devices: there’s ATVs, parachuting, destructible buildings, tanks, classes, custom loadouts, customizable soldiers, Battlefield game modes, and more.

“Make no mistake, this is a standalone game,” EA DICE general manager, Oskar Gabrielson, said earlier this year when Battlefield Mobile was announced. “A completely different game from the one we’re making for console and PC, designed specifically for the mobile platform.” He added that Battlefield Mobile will be a “fully-fledged, skill-based” game as well.

Battlefield Mobile does not yet have an official release date, but the game is due out in 2022. It will be a free-to-play title with cosmetic-only items available for purchase in-game.

While waiting for your chance to get into a Battlefield Mobile play test, read more about what EA hopes to accomplish with this game and then read about the rumored Battlefield 2042 Hazard Zone game mode detailed in a recent datamine. Check out this story about how Battlefield 2042 includes a returning character from Battlefield 4 after that.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.