The ongoing tug of war between retail investors and hedge funds over GameStop stock has seen many highs and lows, with the latter resulting in a massive loss for one of the early investors in the short-sold market.
Keith Gill, better known as DFV on Reddit, has lost $13 million after GameStop’s stock plummeted throughout the week, settling in at just $100 per share at the time of writing. Gill, who is widely credited with noticing the massive short sells on GameStop stock and instigating the short squeeze that took place this month, hasn’t sold any of his shares and is still holding for more profits in the future.
Gill reportedly owns 50,000 shares in GameStop, with over 500 open call positions in the company. This had led to a valuation of over $33 million earlier in January, according to multiple posts on Reddit. This was at the current height of the squeeze, where GameStop stock soared past $400 before coming down in the days and weeks after.
Since his positions aren’t closed, Gill hasn’t made or lost any money yet, and his insistence to hold onto the shares and not take profits at such a high price might speak to his confidence for it to soar once again. But this week has been tough on GameStop investors, with the share price dropping over 70%.
A jury has voted unanimously against Valve in a trial over a patent infringement case focused on the Steam Controller. The verdict awarded $4 million in damages to SCUF and Ironburg Inventions, four years after the original complaint was filed in a Washington court.
Both SCUF and Ironburg Inventions are subsidiaries of Corsair, which is known for its specialization in computer and gaming accessories and customized gear. According to its website, SCUF holds 105 patents for its designs, most of which pertain to its unique trigger and back paddle mechanisms. This is what the case was actually about, with opening arguments in the trial citing “rear-side control surfaces” as the source of the tension. From SCUF’s point of view, Valve wrongfully replicated its controller body back paddles.
Companies licensing these back paddle designs for their own controllers isn’t a new thing. Both Microsoft and Sony have partnered with SCUF in the past to create controllers with the signature back paddles and trigger extenders. But that’s the problem: According to SCUF’s lawyers, Valve didn’t go through the proper channels to use SCUF paddles and triggers on their controllers, and willfully disregarded both the patents and SCUF’s warnings about the infringing Steam Controller.
“Valve did know that its conduct involved an unreasonable risk of infringement, but it simply proceeded to infringe anyway,” SCUF lawyer Robert Becker stated during the trial, which was held via Zoom as reported by Law360. “The classic David and Goliath story — Goliath does what Goliath wants to do.”
But like in the story Becker is referencing, David managed to come out on top during this trial. Tuesday, Corsair announced that it had won the lawsuit after a unanimous decision from the jury that Valve’s infringement was “willful.” This means that Corsair may actually be owed more than the original $4 million fine. This is all coming on top of Valve being hit with a potential class action lawsuit over the company’s alleged violation of antitrust laws, and a €7.8 million fine issued to Valve and five game publishers by the European Commission also related to antitrust laws and “geo-blocking.”
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition compiles almost everything from the Mass Effect trilogy into one enhanced package, with just a few notable exceptions. The multiplayer mode from Mass Effect 3 won’t be included, but the lone piece missing from the single-player components is the Pinnacle Station DLC from the original.
The Pinnacle Station was famously missing from the PS3 version of Mass Effect as well, and Mac Walters told GameSpot that in both cases, it’s because the data was corrupted sometime after the original Mass Effect shipped. Even so, he said, the studio tried its best to retrieve the data for this compilation.
“We got so close. It was probably more than half-way past development, halfway through development. And we got in touch with someone from Demiurge and they said, ‘We might have a backup, we might have a backup.’ They carefully did the backup. They sent it to us on a thumb drive. We got it.
“We could open a map, sort of, but the data was, unfortunately, so corrupted. We were looking at it and was like, okay, well this is going to take us so much time to rebuild it from scratch. And when you think of what it’s like rebuilding versus remastering, it’s a different set of skills, different set of people required, everything like that. And ultimately we just said, ‘No, we might as well just rebuild it from scratch at that point.'”
The Legendary Edition does include every other piece of DLC across all three games in the trilogy, along with visual enhancements. It’s releasing on May 14 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It will be playable on the new generation PS5 and Xbox Series X|S as well, which will likely improve load times. For more details, check out everything we know about Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.
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Following the strong debut of the Apple Arcade in 2019, Apple’s core mobile platform has exponentially increased its suite of high-profile games for users to play. With titles like the first-person surrealist adventure game Manifold Garden, and the AR-focused puzzle game Spek that leans heavily on the modern iPhone’s advanced camera and rendering features, numerous games that have launched on iPhone and iPad go beyond just the standard mobile games releases. While 2020 saw Apple adjust the scope of the Apple Arcade, the hardware and software publisher still aims to keep the momentum going with new games for iOS, and a key part of the company’s plans is to leverage big brands for its mobile audience.
GameSpot recently had the chance to check out an early look at the latest games coming to iOS and the modern iPhone; League of Legends: Wild Rift, Crash Bandicoot: On The Run, and the new update for Marvel: Realm of Champions. In preparation for their respective North American launches this year, we had the chance to hear from the devs behind each title, and they explained what the games will offer iPhone and iPad users. The demos showcased were played on the iPhone 12, which possesses the proprietary A14 Bionic chip. However, all these games will still be playable on current Apple devices. Below, you can check out our rundown of each game and when you’ll be able to play them.
League of Legends: Wild Rift
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Since its debut in 2009, Riot Games’ League of Legends quickly cemented itself as the quintessential MOBA experience, and in 2021, the competitive area brawler remains one of the most popular games in the world. While the core game and its spin-offs have stayed on the PC, Riot Games’ will be launching the mobile spin-off, Wild Rift, in North America this March. First revealed in 2019, Wild Rift brings LoL’s style of team-focused MOBA gameplay on-the-go, offering quick matches and a more accessible way to play League.
Wild Rift isn’t a port of the standard League of Legends, but rather a standalone game built from the ground up for mobile. In addition to a more streamlined experience, using a twin-stick style control scheme, it also runs on a new graphics engine that renders much of the action and its unique roster of 40 champions (mixing new and old characters) in more detail. According to executive producer Michael Chow, he stated that “Wild Rift is the most high fidelity [League of Legends] experience you can get on any platform–including the PC.” While it is a spin-off, Chow also stated that Wild Rift is a core pillar for the League of Legends franchise, offering a solid entry point into the series’ infamously challenging community.
Crash Bandicoot: On The Run
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The Crash Bandicoot series has been one of the most recognizable and iconic platformers in gaming, and the iPhone will see its own take on the zany and challenging gameplay with Crash Bandicoot: On The Run. Reimagining the core Crash platforming gameplay as a runner-style game, On The Run has you maneuver the character around obstacles as he makes a mad dash to get as far as possible in the stage. The main story for On The Run is something of a showcase for all things Crash Bandicoot, bringing back characters from across the entire series–even from the forgotten Game Boy Advance releases. In addition to playing as Crash, you can also play as his sister Coco who has her own set of unlockables to acquire. Along with clearing through stages, you can also help Coco build her base of operations, which can be upgraded throughout the game.
As you play, you can collect resources to spend on new costumes for both Crash and Coco. Most of these are original outfits for On The Run, but others also reference the series’ classic games. During the presentation, producer Robert Woodburn revealed that the game will have a microtransaction system at launch–which wasn’t specified during the demonstration–he explained that the game’s content can be unlocked without spending real money. While Crash Bandicoot: One The Run is out in other territories, the runner game will make its North American debut on March 25, 2021.
Marvel: Realm of Champions
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Released in late 2020, Marvel: Realm of Champions is another game in the long line of Marvel mobile games. Realm of Champions places a deep focus on MOBA-style competitive battles, where you’ll take your squad of customizable superheroes to face off against AI minions and capture territory across the battlefield. You take control of champions with a similar archetype to characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther, or the Hulk, each of whom represent different houses vying for control of the game’s Battleworld. You can customize each hero’s look and character builds, and then take your squad out for online battles against other players.
While the game has already had some time out in the wild, 2021 will mark its next phase with the new 2.0 event. This new update will add Thor to the roster, new gear, and a revised story that adds in comic-book style cutscenes. Moreover, the 2.0 update will also introduce world events and team-focused activities that will expand the competitive elements. Marvel: Realm of Champions is out now Apple devices, and its new 2.0 update will launch sometime this year.
There’s much more in store for games coming to Apple’s iPhone and iPad. For more on what’s to come with the iPhone and with the Apple Arcade, be sure to check back in with GameSpot.
Electronic Arts has stressed that it has no worries about the future of BioWare, despite recent high-level staff turnover and a few “blips” in the company’s development history over the years.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson said during an earnings briefing (via GI.biz) that that BioWare is an “incredible studio filled with incredible people who do incredible work.” He acknowledged that BioWare has had “some blips in their delivery” in recent years (a presumed reference to Anthem), but Wilson suggested that such shortcomings are actually a good thing. He’s proud that BioWare pushed “deeply into innovation and creativity,” even if it didn’t work out completely the way the studio might have wanted.
Wilson went on to say that EA feels “very confident” about BioWare’s future with the new Dragon Age and Mass Effect games it’s working on. In addition to those projects, BioWare just announced the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, which launches in May and is expected to be a hit.
Regarding the news that BioWare veterans Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah left the company, Wilson said this kind of turnover is only natural in a creative field like game development. Wilson remarked that EA has confidence in the current leadership at BioWare.
For more on BioWare, check out a special episode of GameSpot’s Audio Logs where we speak with BioWare’s Mac Walters about characters who were cut from Mass Effect 2 and more.
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Destruction AllStars is Sony’s first PS5 exclusive of 2021, and having just been released online as a free game with a valid PS Plus subscription, the experience has been smooth sailing, except for one aggravating detail: the game’s decision to enable teamspeak by default through the PS5 DualSense controller.
Without a headset, that turns the peripheral into an input device that regularly shrieks at you from a variety of sources. These range from gung-ho drivers to screaming children, users who don’t realize that nobody wants to listen to their Spotify soundtrack in the background and people whose junk food habits make for some of the grossest sound effects ever transmitted through a microphone.
Destruction AllStars: How to mute random chatter
While Destruction AllStars has no option for turning this online chatter off in its own menus, you can save your eardrums from distress with two other methods on your PS5. The quickest route towards a handy mute is to wait for voice chat to start in the game lobby, then press the PS Home Button, and finally on the Activity card press Square to mute the voice chat.
Of course, this goes both ways as you don’t want to be an audio irritation yourself. You can temporarily mute your own microphone by pressing the button beneath the PlayStation icon, at which point the PS5 will inform you that you have toggled the option.
For a more permanent option, navigate to the Settings menu, make your way down to the “Sound” menu, and then select the “Microphone” option. Select the option “Microphone status when logged in” and you’ll be able to make your microphone mute on default whenever you switch your PS5 console on.
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The PS5 is nearly three months out from launch, and with 2021 in full swing, the PlayStation Store is starting to ramp up its digital deals and offers. The Critics’ Choice Sale is the latest promotion on the PlayStation Store, adding over 100 more deals on games, bundles, and DLC, and there are some great options available. This is a nice opportunity for PS5 owners to snag deals on both current-gen and last-gen games to play on their new console, but of course, there’s plenty here for PS4 owners as well. The Critics’ Choice Sale runs until February 18, so be sure to check it out and grab anything on your wishlist before then.
One hidden gem in this sale: Annapurna Interactive’s The Pathless, which launched alongside the PS5 last November. Though it’s also available on PS4, the open-world action-adventure game looks stunning on PS5 and makes full use of the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. The Pathless is down to $32 (from $40) in this sale, the first discount we can recall seeing on its digital edition.
Best Critics’ Choice Sale Game Deals
Some of the best game of the past console generation are also seeing major markdowns this week, including our 2019 Game of the Year, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The latest game from Dark Souls developer From Software has dropped to $39 this week, and you’ll get its Game of the Year Edition with bonus DLC. Resident Evil 7 is down to 10 bucks and is an excellent pick-up for those who missed it and want to play Resident Evil Village. You can also snag Red Dead Redemption II for $30, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 for $30, and both Doom Eternal and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order for just under $20 each.
There’s more than what we’ve mentioned here, so you can check out the full Critics’ Choice Sale on the PlayStation Store below. There are other sales happening right now on PS5 and PS4 as well. For those on a tight budget, the Games Under $20 sale is still running until this Thursday, February 4, while the Remasters and Retros sale is available until February 11, offering steep discounts on games like Devil May Cry HD Collection and Gravity Rush Remastered.
As part of Sony’s latest earnings report, the company announced that it is losing money on every PlayStation 5 that it sells–but this is not unusual for Sony or the wider gaming industry.
In its statement, Sony said it is incurring a loss of every PS5 due to its decision to set a “strategic” price point for the next-generation system. The consumer price of the disc version of the console, $500 USD in the US, is less than what it costs to manufacture it, thus leading to an overall loss.
Sony did not provide a specific dollar amount for how much money it’s losing on every PS5, but the company said its results during the October-December period were also negatively impacted due to higher general and administrative costs associated with launching the PS5.
The report does not provide a breakdown between the disc version of the PS5 and the digital-only edition, which costs $400 USD, but presumably the losses apply to both.
Although Sony sustained losses on PS5 hardware, the gains in revenue that the company posted for software and network services–which were booming–were enough to offset the losses, according to industry analyst Daniel Ahmad.
Ahmad also reminded people that the PS4, too, was sold at a loss when it originally launched back in 2013. It took “a few months” before Sony was able to make it a profit-driving machine.
The PS4 now makes money, and Sony said in the report that PlayStation division’s revenue was positively impacted by “higher profit margins” on PS4 hardware. Sony sold 1.4 million PS4 consoles in the October-December period, and each of them made money.
Selling a lot of consoles is good, of course, for bragging rights and revenue, but the real money in games comes from software and services. Phil Spencer laid this out in a 2019 interview with The Verge:
“The business isn’t how many consoles you sell. The business is how many players are playing the games that they buy, how they play. I think it’s easy from the outside to judge the health of our business around how many consoles any company sells. In the end, how many subscribers you have to something like Game Pass, how many games people are buying, those are much better metrics on the health of the business.”
Nintendo, however, has bucked the trend in recent years. In 2016, prior to the release of the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo said it would make money on every Switch it sold right away, according to VentureBeat.
Sony sold 4.5. million PS5 consoles in the October-December period, and it could have moved even more were it not for the supply constraints.
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Save the date(s): IGN is excited to bring you a whole new way to celebrate all of your favorite games, movies and TV series: IGN Fan Fest. On February 26 and 27, the free, two-day digital event will feature exciting first looks, exclusive gameplay, cast reunions, new details, and interviews from around the world, spotlighting some of the biggest and most anticipated entertainment and games of the year.
The virtual event will be streamed across IGN’s website, social and video platforms, apps and even on your Samsung TV (here’s a full list of how and where to watch IGN Fan Fest). And it’s not just about the news, exclusives, and sneak peeks – IGN Fan Fest is all about the fans. See which titles will be spotlighted and how you can submit fan questions for IGN Fan Fest below.
IGN Fan Fest 2021: Full Lineup and Schedule
IGN Fan Fest will bring you panels for some of the biggest upcoming games, movies, and TV series. Each panel will boast exclusive interviews with cast members and creative teams, as well as exciting new footage debuts and behind-the-scenes first looks.
Check out the full list of headliners below, and stay tuned for more exciting updates and schedule announcements about the IGN Fan Fest lineup in the coming weeks!
Batman Beyond – Cast Reunion and Table Read
Bethesda’s DEATHLOOP
Amazon Prime Video’s Invincible
Netflix’s Jupiter’s Legacy
Netflix’s Shadow and Bone
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
& more surprises!
Keep reading for more information on each panel:
Batman Beyond: Cast Reunion and Table Read
Relive the beloved animated series in a whole new way with the cast reunion of Batman Beyond. Join stars Kevin Conroy and Will Friedle, casting and voice director Andrea Romano and more special guests as they perform a table read of a fan-favorite Batman Beyond episode.
About Batman Beyond: Batman Beyond recently celebrated its 20th anniversary with the release of Batman Beyond: The Complete Animated Series Limited Edition, a six-disc Blu-ray special edition featuring approximately 1,500 minutes of entertainment, including two new inside looks at the beloved television series, led by Nostalgic Tomorrow, a gathering of Batman Beyond production talent and cast led by executive producer Bruce Timm and actors Kevin Conroy and Will Friedle, the voices of Batman and Terry McGinnis, respectively. Batman Beyond made its anticipated debut on the WarnerMedia streaming series HBO Max in January 2020, where it is available to stream in its entirety.
An Inside Look at Bethesda’s DEATHLOOP
The developers behind DEATHLOOP, Game Director Dinga Bakaba and Art Director Sebastien Mitton, will take you deeper inside the innovative first-person shooter with an exclusive inside look at the new title from Arkane Lyon, the award-winning studio behind the critically acclaimed Dishonored franchise. DEATHLOOP will continue Arkane’s signature gameplay design, challenging gamers to play their own way.
About DEATHLOOP: As Colt, players are trapped in a time loop on the enigmatic island of Blackreef, doomed to repeat the same day for eternity. The only chance for escape is to break the loop by assassinating eight key targets before the day resets. However, lurking in the shadows is rival assassin Julianna, equipped with her own equally powerful abilities and weapons, on a mission to protect the loop by assassinating Colt, and restarting the cycle. DEATHLOOP is launching exclusively for PlayStation 5 and PC on May 21, 2021.
Amazon Prime Video’s Invincible: Extended Sneak Peek
Join creator Robert Kirkman and the stars of this superpowered lineup for a preview of Amazon Prime Video’s new, action-packed adult animation series, Invincible — plus, get an exclusive extended look at the first episode!
About Invincible: From The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, and based on the Skybound/Image comic of the same name by Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley, Invincible is an adult animated superhero show that revolves around seventeen-year-old Mark Grayson (Yeun), who’s just like every other guy his age — except that his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet, Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons). But as Mark develops powers of his own, he discovers that his father’s legacy may not be as heroic as it seems.
Introducing Netflix’s Jupiter’s Legacy
Ahead of the upcoming epic new superhero series Jupiter’s Legacy, comic creator Mark Millar and series star Josh Duhamel come together for the exclusive first interview about the highly anticipated project. In this exclusive conversation, we’ll get new details from Millar and Duhamel on how the expansive graphic novels jumped from page to screen in Netflix’s new series. New character details, new plot details and an Easter egg from Frank Quitely, we’re delivering answers on this superhero saga that has been years in the making.
About Jupiter’s Legacy: After nearly a century of keeping mankind safe, the world’s first generation of superheroes must look to their children to continue the legacy. But tensions rise as the young superheroes, hungry to prove their worth, struggle to live up to their parents’ legendary public reputations — and exacting personal standards. Based on the graphic novels by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, Jupiter’s Legacy is an epic superhero drama that spans decades and navigates the complex dynamics of family, power, and loyalty. From executive producers Mark Millar, Frank Quitely, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Dan McDermott, Steven S. DeKnight, James Middleton, Sang Kyu Kim, Jupiter’s Legacy stars Josh Duhamel, Leslie Bibb, Ben Daniels, Elena Kampouris, Andrew Horton, Mike Wade, Matt Lanter and Tenika Davis.
Netflix’s Shadow and Bone: Exclusive Cast Q&A and Sneak Peek
Prepare to enter the Grishaverse. We’re bringing the cast and creators of Netflix’s Shadow and Bone together for their first group appearance to offer an exclusive sneak peek at the epic fantasy series, discover how the show will adapt Leigh Bardugo’s ambitious novels for the screen, and will peel back the curtain on some of your most burning questions.
About Shadow and Bone: Based on Bardugo’s worldwide bestselling Grishaverse novels, Shadow and Bone finds us in a war-torn world where lowly soldier and orphan Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) has just unleashed an extraordinary power that could be the key to setting her country free. With the monstrous threat of the Shadow Fold looming, Alina is torn from everything she knows to train as part of an elite army of magical soldiers known as Grisha. But as she struggles to hone her power, she finds that allies and enemies can be one and the same and that nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. There are dangerous forces at play, including a crew of charismatic criminals, and it will take more than magic to survive.
Justice League: Inside the Snyder Cut with Zack Snyder
Zack Snyder will offer fans an inside look into the making of the Snyder Cut, answering all of our questions — and yours! — about the HBO Max release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
About Zack Snyder’s Justice League: In Zack Snyder’s Justice League, determined to ensure Superman’s (Henry Cavill) ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) aligns forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The task proves more difficult than Bruce imagined, as each of the recruits must face the demons of their own pasts to transcend that which has held them back, allowing them to come together, finally forming an unprecedented league of heroes. Now united, Batman (Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) may be too late to save the planet from Steppenwolf, DeSaad and Darkseid and their dreadful intentions.
IGN Fan Fest is a virtual event where fans from all over the world can come together and celebrate their most anticipated games, movies, and TV shows. From Zack Snyder’s Justice league to Arkane’s Deathloop, we’re super excited to bring you exclusive content like interviews with cast members of upcoming shows, new gameplay from unreleased games, and first looks at some exciting projects coming later this year. If you don’t want to miss it, here’s everything you need to know to join in on the fun.
IGN Fan Fest 2021 Dates and Start Time
IGN Fan Fest 2021 will take place over the course of two days and will start on February 26 and run through February 27. We’re still locking in the details of our schedule, but we’ll add all the information here once the times are set.
We previously announced the lineup of IGN Fan Fest panels and teased there will be more surprises coming soon. Below, we’ve included a list of panels already confirmed for the event and we’ll continue to update this list as we learn more:
Panels confirmed for IGN Fan Fest:
An Inside Look at Bethesda’s Deathloop
Invincible: Extended Sneak Peek
Introducing Netflix’s Jupiter’s Legacy
Netflix’s Shadow and Bone: Exclusive Cast Q&A and Sneak Peek
The Snyder Cut: In Conversation with Zack Snyder
Batman Beyond Cast Reunion and Table Read
How to Watch IGN Fan Fest 2021
As a free and live virtual event, IGN Fan Fest will be streamed across IGN.com and all of our social channels. We’ll also be embedding the stream in this article, so feel free to bookmark this page for easy access. Here’s the full list of places we’ll be streaming IGN Fan Fest so you can watch it on your preferred platform:
