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Netflix has apparently hired veteran Hollywood writer Jeb Stuart–who penned the screenplays for Die Hard and The Fugitive–to write the upcoming Assassin’s Creed TV series. This is according to a report from Variety, which credited the information to its sources.

Spokespeople for Netflix and Stuart did not respond to a request for comment by Variety.

Stuart most recently wrote and created the show Vikings: Valhalla, which is coming to Netflix, so he already has an in at the streaming network. Assassin’s Creed will be Stuart’s first video game project. He wrote the 1995 movie Just Cause, though the Sean Connery/Laurence Fishburne film has nothing to do with the games.

In addition to this new live-action series, Netflix is producing an animated series based on Assassin’s Creed. A 2016 Assassin’s Creed movie starring Michael Fassbender was set during the Spanish inquisition, but it was a critical flop.

Outside of Assassin’s Creed, Netflix is also making multiple Far Cry series, a Splinter Cell anime series from John Wick’s Derek Kolstad, and a Division movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, meanwhile, is still getting new updates and DLC. The next expansion is called The Siege of Paris, and we learned more about it at E3 2021.

Jade Raymond has seen the future, and the future is user-generated content. The former Stadia VP, who helped create hit franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs, argues in a recent blog post hosted by a venture capital firm that the biggest game franchises will rely just as much (if not more) on fans to create content and context than the game developers themselves.

“The goal of a game is no longer to be the most buzzworthy topic of conversation at launch; it’s to become the context for buzzworthy conversations,” she writes. “In other words: if the original Assassin’s Creed was gearing up to be the opening night of Hamilton, we want future IPs to be a neighborhood bar where people talk about whatever the latest Hamilton is: the place that is perennially cool, comfortable, and welcoming–because the patrons are driving the conversation and, in fact, are the stars of the show.”

Raymond cites Star Wars as an example of a franchise that is essentially owned by fans, despite George Lucas’s well-known resistance to fanfiction. She says that her work on The Sims is what first made her realize the power of user-generated content, because tens of millions of players have used the game to act out their own original stories. She also argues that the ongoing shift towards a games as a service (GAAS) model will likely continue, because it facilitates “lightweight” game interactions that can act as a substitute for real-life social interaction.

“When it’s not possible to have people over for a barbecue in the real world, you can fire up a cooking station in Valheim,” she writes. “…Whether it’s in Valheim, Animal Crossing, Fortnight Creative, or Minecraft, the past year of quarantine has shown us that shared creative gameplay is the glue that binds communities.”

The full blog post touches on a wide variety of topics besides those mention above, so if you’re interested in Raymond’s perspective, check out the link above. Raymond recently founded a new game studio in Montreal called Haven, which is working on an original IP for PlayStation platforms. This new studio follows the high-profile collapse of Stadia Games and Entertainment, and Haven recently hired other ex-Stadia developers in the wake of those layoffs.

EA’s multiplayer dodgeball-battler Knockout City is getting a batch of Juneteenth related player icons later this week in its in-game shop. The icons will be free for all players.

Juneteenth is celebrated on June 19 every year, and is the date used to mark the emancipation of those who had been enslaved before and during the American Civil War. Originally starting in Texas, it has since become a country-wide celebration for many Americans.

Developer Velan Studios says the free icons were created to honor and support the game’s Black community. Knockout City also added 21 free LGBTQA+ player icons in June to celebrate Pride Month, which Velan Studio says will continue to be available for free even after Pride 2021 is over.

Knockout City, which features cross-play across Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC, reached more than 5 million players following its free trial period, after which Velan Studios made the game entirely free up until players reach level 25. EA says Knockout City’s initial “Block Party” event, which kicked off the game’s launch, exceeded expectations (though EA didn’t specify what those expectations were).

Knockout City has received two major patches so far since its release, including a matchmaking quality balance update that related specifically to high ping in the game’s ranked League Play mode. Prior to the update, Knockout City prioritized speedy matchmaking, regardless of connection quality. Now, players may have to wait a little longer for a match, but the chances of playing against an opponent with high ping will be greatly reduced.

Welcome to IGN Unfiltered, our regularly occurring interview series where we sit down with the best, brightest, and most fascinating minds in the video game industry. (Catch up on the other 50-plus episodes here.) My guest this episode is ZeniMax Online Studios boss Matt Firor, who discusses his long career in MMORPGs, bringing The Elder Scrolls online, what the studio is up to next after the Microsoft acquisition, and more!

Check out the full episode in the video above, but if you’d prefer to listen to the 75-minute interview, here’s an audio-only podcast download link. One way or the other I hope you’ll check out the interview! Below is a clip, in which Firor discusses the possibility of an ESO sequel:

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And if you missed it, here’s the previous episode of Unfiltered, in which Shadow Warrior 3 game director Kuba Opon discusses how he rose from programmer to game director and what it has been like to reboot a ’90s first-person shooter for the modern era:

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Catch up on every episode of IGN Unfiltered here, including conversations with Bethesda game director Todd Howard, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, former PlayStation boss Jack Tretton, Journey creator Jenova Chen, Halo boss Bonnie Ross, and many more!

Disney World in Orlando, Florida is dropping its masking requirement starting today. Visitors who are fully vaccinated are free to go without masks, CBS News reports, though the staff won’t require proof of vaccination from guests prior to entry.

Those who are not vaccinated (under the honor system) and children under 12 will still need to wear masks. And all visitors will still have to wear masks on buses, monorails, and the Skyliner gondola.

Disney eased its mask requirement for outdoor attractions last month, but this new change applies across more attractions. The company does note that “some experiences and entertainment may still be operating with limited capacity or may remain temporarily unavailable.” It says it plans to ease other physical restrictions sometime soon, and that it “look[s] forward to to the day when Disney pals and princesses are able to hug once again.”

Disneyland in Anaheim, California is also easing its requirements for vaccinated visitors, and like in Florida, proof of vaccination is not required. There guests will still need to wear masks for bus transportation to and from the parking structure.

Disney parks shut down in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, then reopened with strict requirements for visiting. Those have been progressively eased as time goes on, and this latest change is the next step toward turning the experience back to normal. Disney has also had to close loopholes regarding its safety guidelines in the past.

With today’s Direct comes a level of (possibly unwarranted) hype, but if you want to at least feel satisfied with the opportunity to save, Nintendo’s E3 2021-adjacent sales event is starting to go live now. My personal favorites are the Nintendo Online subscription deal and the Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch.

Various things retailers are already rolling out sale prices, and the official sale at the Nintendo eShop kicks off today at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET. We’ll keep updating this article as deals go live.

Buy Nintendo Online, Get a Free 128GB microSD Card

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Nintendo Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. Edition Deal

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Nintendo Switch Game Deals

Nintendo Switch Deals at Amazon

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Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Deals

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Be sure to check out our full E3 2021 schedule to make sure you don’t miss any of the Nintendo announcements happening later today. And for more discounts, be sure to check out early Prime Day sale items, and what to expect in terms of Prime Day video game deals.

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Seth Macy is IGN’s Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can follow him on Twitter.

After a more than 15-year wait, Raz and his talented pals will return to action in Psychonauts 2 on August 25, Microsoft announced during its E3 2021 showcase. Psychonauts 2 had suffered multiple delays since its reveal in 2015, but now we’re only about two months away from its release. If you know you want to jump into the zany platforming world crafted by Double Fine, you can preorder Psychonauts 2 now for Xbox One/Xbox Series X and PC (PS4/PS5 preorders should go live soon).

Those planning to play on Xbox or PC can play Psychonauts 2 for free on day one with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Most of the games shown during Microsoft’s E3 show will launch on Game Pass, so unless you prefer physical editions, you may want to grab Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. You can get your first three months for only $1 right now via the Xbox Store.

$60

Psychonauts 2 digital preorders are available on the Xbox Store and PC. No preorder bonuses have been announced at this time. We expect physical edition preorders to go live soon at major retailers.

Disney Games executive Sean Shoptaw has shed some more light on Ubisoft’s upcoming open-world Star Wars game that’s being made by The Division developers at Massive. Speaking to IGN, Shoptaw said Disney intentionally didn’t rush into making a big, open-world Star Wars game–despite there being demand for it–because it wanted to wait for the right opportunity to come along.

“We’ve wanted to do it with the right partner at the right time,” Shoptaw said. “I think it’s easy for us to want to jump quickly, especially when we know there’s demand, but we need to be disciplined as well on when we do these things and who we do them with.”

According to a report, EA’s Visceral Games was developing an open-world Star Wars game, but it was canceled. Shoptaw said in the interview that Disney was willing to wait for the right opportunity to come along because getting it wrong could spell trouble.

“As much as there’s been an ambition internally as much as externally to have an experience like this made, we really wanted it to come at the right time with the right partner,” Shoptaw said. “The worst thing we could do is do it wrong, and do it our way that doesn’t resonate with fans or doesn’t meet that bar. And so we certainly feel like the wait will be worth it. We’re super, super excited about where this game is going. I was just on a call actually this morning with the Massive team about it, and could not be more excited about where they’re taking this game and the opportunity we have with this experience.”

The new Star Wars game at Massive is just one big open-world project that the team is making for Disney, the other being Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which was recently dated for 2022.

EA no longer has the exclusive license for PC and console games set in the Star Wars universe, but the company is continuing to make more games. After Star Wars: Battlefront and its sequel sold more than 33 million copies combined, it’s likely another game in that series is coming, while a Jedi Fallen Order sequel seems like an easy business decision too, after the first game sold more than 10 million copies.

EA also runs the mobile game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, which made more than $900 million by the end of 2019, a figure that has only grown higher since. Additionally, EA and BioWare continue to operate the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, which has generated $1 billion in revenue.

It is still very early days for Massive’s Star Wars game, so you shouldn’t expect the game to release any time soon.

Disney+ has announced that it’s giving the green light to a Beauty and the Beast prequel series. Production will get going in spring 2022, and the announcement of this new show was made to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1991 original film.

The live-action musical series will star Luke Evans (The Alienist) and Josh Gad (Frozen 2), who will respectively reprise their roles of Gaston and LeFou from the 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast film. Briana Middleton (The Fallout Shelter) will join the cast as Tilly, Louie’s stepsister.

The show, which will span eight episodes, doesn’t yet have an official name–Beauty and the Beast is, for now, to be considered a working title. A synopsis in part reads: “The series will follow Gaston and LeFou as they set off with LeFou’s step-sister, Tilly, after a surprising revelation from her past comes to light, sending the unlikely trio off on an unexpected journey filled with romance, comedy, and adventure. While the mysteries of the past are uncovered and the dangers of the present grow, old friends and new enemies reveal that this familiar kingdom harbors many secrets.”

Beauty and the Beast is executive produced by Gad, Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, Alan Menken and Liesl Tommy and produced by Evans. Gad, Kitsis and Horowitz are co-showrunners and writers for the limited series.

Said Gary Marsh, president of chief creative officer of Disney Branded Television, “For anyone who’s ever wondered how a brute like Gaston and a goof like LeFou could have ever become friends and partners, or how a mystical enchantress came to cast that fateful spell on the prince-turned-beast, this series will finally provide those answers… and provoke a whole new set of questions.”

If you’re looking for something to watch on Disney+ in the meantime, check out our list of 17 shows on the streaming service to check out now.

Disney was convinced to let Ubisoft Massive make an open world Star Wars game after its first meeting with the developer – a meeting which was actually to discuss the Avatar game, Frontiers of Pandora.

In an interview with IGN, SVP of Disney Games Sean Shoptaw revealed that he and his team had met with Massive after Disney’s acquisition of Fox, which included the already in-development Avatar video game project. That discussion clearly had a major effect.

“That first meeting we had with Massive around the Avatar game after we acquired Fox was really the jumping off point for the Star Wars game. There was such alignment and such creative passion around the Star Wars IP from that team that it just was a natural evolution to the relationship, and really led to the Star Wars game we announced not too long ago.”

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Announced early this year, Massive’s next project after Avatar answers years of requests from fans for an open world Star Wars game. I asked Shoptaw whose idea it was to try and satisfy those asking for an open structure for a Star Wars game, and it seems both sides mutually agreed that it was the way to go from the very beginning:

“We certainly had aspirations about an open world Star Wars game. It didn’t come exclusively from Massive. They certainly had a passion for it too, to the point that made it a lot easier for those conversations to advance. But we’re aware of the things you outlined, right? We’re aware of what fans have have asked for and have wanted for long periods of time.”

So why has it taken so long to answer those requests? After all, EA has held an exclusive license to make Star Wars games for many years, but no true open world game had ever emerged.

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“We’ve wanted to do it with the right partner at the right time,” Shoptaw continued. “I think it’s easy for us to want to jump quickly, especially when we know there’s demand, but we need to be disciplined as well on when we do these things and who we do them with.

“So as much as there’s been an ambition internally as much as externally to have an experience like this made, we really wanted it to come at the right time with the right partner. The worst thing we could do is do it wrong, and do it our way that doesn’t resonate with fans or doesn’t meet that bar. And so we certainly feel like the wait will be worth it. We’re super, super excited about where this game is going. I was just on a call actually this morning with the Massive team about it, and could not be more excited about where they’re taking this game and the opportunity we have with this experience.”

While there’s no reason to believe one project will directly influence the other, it will be interested to see Massive’s take on a truly open world structure in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. The upcoming game, which will arrive in 2022, is described as a first-person open world action-adventure game – and could potentially offer the Swedish developer some lessons about making a game in that style, ahead of kicking into high gear on the still-untitled Star Wars project.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].