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Nintendo is reportedly retreating from the mobile gaming market, and currently has no new mobile games in development.

A Bloomberg report indicates that Nintendo has been underwhelmed by its mobile games’ financial performance, and is now preferring to concentrate on making games for its own Switch console following the huge success of games like Animal Crossing (which contributed to a 12-year high in share price).

Analyst Serkan Toto told Bloomberg that “since the release of Mario Kart Tour in fall 2019, Nintendo’s mobile pipeline is empty”. The analyst added that the huge success of Switch has “reduced the need and the pressure” to create mobile game successes at the company.

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Nintendo has previously said that it will now concentrate on its current mobile games, such as Mario Kart Tour and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. The company’s mobile development partner, DeNA, has reportedly also said not to expect new games until the end of the Japanese fiscal year (31st March 2021), implying there’s no Nintendo mobile games coming anytime soon.

While reports have suggested that Nintendo’s mobile output has grossed over $1 billion, Nintendo has apparently not been primarily motivated to make money directly from its mobile games, reportedly even asking developers to adjust their games so that they allowed players to spend less.

Nintendo’s move out of the mobile arena to concentrate on Switch isl ikelyt to be a popular decision among players. We’ve written previously about how the company’s mobile output hasn’t amounted to much, and how it doesn’t stand up to the legacy of Satoru Iwata.

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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].

Update: A new report claims that Batman: Arkham studio Rocksteady is indeed the developer behind the Suicide Squad game mentioned in the domain name registrations.

According to Eurogamer, the London studio has been working on the project for years, and the “Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League” domain is potentially the game’s full title, as well as a summation of it’s content.

Eurogamer also says that the domains were registered by WB Interactive, that Gotham Knights does refer to WB Montreal’s long rumoured Batman: Court of Owls game, and that both games will be shown in some respect at the DC Fandome event.

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Original Story: Domain registrations for a game seemingly titled Gotham Knights, and a potential Suicide Squad game have been found online.

ResetEra user DriftingOrbit posted their findings, which include domain registrations for “suicidesquadgame.com”, “suicidesquadkillthejusticeleague.com” and “gothamknightsgame.com.”

The source of the domain registrations isn’t immediately clear but, as pointed out by user JaseC in the same thread, the company listed as the domain registrar is MarkMonitor Inc, which also registered the wbgames.com domain. This lends some credibility to the existence of these games, but it’s nothing concrete.

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Previous rumours have alluded to a Suicide Squad game being cancelled at WB Montreal, with recent teases from the studio pointing to a game based on Batman: Court of Owls. Some have taken these domain registrations to mean that WB Montreal’s project is Gotham Knights, and the long-silent Rocksteady (creator of the Batman: Arkham series) have a Suicide Squad game lined up.

DC is holding a digital event called DC FanDome on August 22, where WB Games will be making announcements. Many are already speculating that these games will be revealed or announced at the event.

We learned earlier in June that AT&T, WB Interactive’s owner, may be looking to sell its gaming division, which includes studios like NetherRealm and Batman Arkham developers Rocksteady. In other WB Games news, check out this article running through everything we know so far about the alleged Harry Potter RPG that leaked back in 2018.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

The Last of Us Part 2 is Sony’s fastest-selling boxed PS4 game in the UK, and the biggest UK boxed launch of 2020.

According to GamesIndustry.Biz, Naughty Dog’s gritty sequel has beaten the previous record-holder Uncharted 4 by 1%, making it the fastest-selling PS4 game of the current generation in the UK. The UK sales charts do not include digital sales and, given the growth in digital sales in recent years, potentially means it’s broken Sony’s overall UK records too.

The Last of Us Part 2’s boxed launch sales are also “76% higher” than 2013’s The Last of Us. Lots of Naughty Dog records broken by… Naughty Dog.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons previously held the title for the biggest UK boxed launch this year, but this was also toppled by The Last Of Us Part 2 by a 40% margin.

For more on The Last of Us Part 2, check out IGN’s review of the game, where we called it a “masterpiece that evolves the gameplay, cinematic storytelling, and rich world design of the original.” If you’ve already went hands-on, check out our piece running through 14 brilliant little details that you might have missed!

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

It’s been over two decades, but the iconic PlayStation character will soon be back in action: Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time was announced today and will launch on PS4 and Xbox One this fall. The fourth Crash game will release October 2, 2020, and it’s available to pre-order now in both physical and digital formats.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time picks up after the end of the third game, Crash Bandicoot: Warped–villains Neo Cortex, Dr. N. Tropy, and Uka Uka are back and planning an all-out assault on the entire multiverse. Crash and his younger sister Coco must reunite four quantum masks and “bend the rules of reality” to save the day. The masks will help you through tricky areas, including a Time Mask that can slow down time and a Gravity Mask that lets you move upside down. Crash Bandicoot 4 will have the same platforming mechanics but with modern additions like wall-running and rail-grinding. You’ll also be able to play as Neo Cortex in addition to Crash and Coco.

Whether you’re a longtime Crash fan or new to the series (it did come out 20 years ago, after all), you can go ahead and secure your copy now so it’s ready to go on day one. Below, you can check out the pre-order bonuses for Crash Bandicoot 4 and place your pre-order.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time pre-order bonuses

If you pre-order Crash Bandicoot 4 digitally, you’ll get the Totally Tubular skins for Crash and Coco.

Pre-order Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time | $60

Crash Bandicoot 4 is available to pre-order digitally on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live, and physical versions are up for pre-order at Best Buy. We expect more editions will be announced at a later date, but if you’re just interested in the base game, you can go ahead and pre-order below. You’ll get the aforementioned pre-order bonuses as well.

Pre-order on PS4:

Pre-order on Xbox One:

If you want to go back and experience the first three Crash Bandicoot games, the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is available on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch and bundles remastered versions of the original trilogy. You can buy it now for $40 at Best Buy.

The Fallout series has never been well-represented on Nintendo systems, but that isn’t stopping a crossover from happening with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The series’ signature Vault Boy mascot is on the way–but not as a full playable character.

Five new Mii Fighter costumes will be joining Smash Ultimate on June 29, including Fallout’s Vault Boy. That’s notable because the only Fallout game to release on a Nintendo system to date is the spin-off Fallout Shelter for Switch. The Vault Boy reveal didn’t coincide with any news about additional Fallout games coming to Switch, but you can nonetheless look forward to playing as Vault Boy in Smash. He functions as a Gunner-type character and looks quite good.

The other new Mii fighters come from Arms, Tekken, and Splatoon. All five release on June 29 for $0.75 each and are separate from the Fighters Pass that includes standard characters. Here’s the full lineup of new Mii Fighter costumes:

• Vault Boy (Fallout)
• Ninjara (Arms)
• Heihachi (Tekken)
• Callie (Splatoon)
• Marie (Splatoon)

The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate livestream delivered the promised news about the new DLC fighter from Arms, Min Min. And while the bulk of the broadcast was dedicated to showcasing her unique fighting style and accompanying arena, Nintendo had more changes to share, including news of the new Mii fighters, Amiibo figures, and new Spirits features.

Min Min from Arms is the next DLC fighter joining the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster. Game director Masahiro Sakurai gave us an in-depth look at the new character in Monday’s reveal presentation, but that wasn’t all that he discussed during the broadcast; Sakurai also confirmed that more Smash Amiibo figures are on the way.

Specifically, Amiibo figures of Smash Bros. Ultimate’s first two DLC fighters, Joker from Persona 5 and Hero from Dragon Quest, are coming this fall. No pricing details were announced during the presentation, but other Smash Amiibo retail for $16 USD apiece, so they’ll presumably be the same price.

As for further figures, Sakurai said Nintendo plans to develop Amiibo based on other Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC fighters. However, he noted that “we don’t know how many of them will actually be produced,” so fans will need to stay tuned for future announcements.

As for Min Min, she’s the first character to arrive as part of Smash Bros. Ultimate’s second season of DLC. Her fighter pack will release on Monday, June 29. Like other DLC characters, she’ll come alongside a brand-new stage: Spring Stadium. Nintendo is also adding 18 music tracks from Arms to the game.

Min Min is available as part of the Fighters Pass Vol. 2, which costs $30 USD and grants holders access to all six upcoming DLC fighters as they’re released. You also have the option to purchase her fighter pack individually for $6 USD.

Releasing alongside Min Min on June 29 is a handful of new Mii Fighter costumes. There will be five new costumes in total: Ninjara (Arms), Heihachi (Tekken), Callie and Marie (Splatoon), and Vault Boy (Fallout). The Mii Fighter costumes retail for 75 cents apiece.

GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.

Activision has announced Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, a brand new, canonical sequel to Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. Spyro Reignited Trilogy developer Toys for Bob is behind the brand new adventure, which is set to be released on October 2, 2020 for PS4 and Xbox One for $59.99.

It’s About Time is built from the ground-up as a new experience in the spirit of the original three Crash games developed by Naughty Dog for the original PlayStation. Players can play either as Crash or Coco Bandicoot for the full adventure, with other playable characters thrown into the mix like Neo Cortex. Featuring a brand new art style, marking a departure from what Vicarious Visions created for the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, It’s About Time will feature new platforming moves, new masks with special abilities, two major control schemes, and plenty more. To get all the major first details, IGN spoke with Toys for Bob Design Producer Lou Studdert to learn about Crash’s brand new adventure.

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Why Crash 4?

Naming the next Crash game Crash Bandicoot 4 comes with a lot of expectations — in the ensuing years since Crash Bandicoot: Warped ended the beloved trilogy of Crash games developed by Naughty Dog, the marsupial’s subsequent adventures often received less favorable reception.

Studdert explained how Toys for Bob understood the expectations that came with this naming convention, describing how it also allows the team to convey both the story and, importantly, the gameplay players can expect.

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“It’s not just Crash 4 because narratively we’re continuing off of where Crash 3 ended, where, Uka Uka, N. Tropy, and Neo Cortex are trapped in time and space. But we’re also continuing off of the gameplay of the original trilogy,” Studdert said. “It’s actually going back and looking at what worked so well about the original games. It’s bringing back that authentic, wholly unique to Crash gameplay, which is the unique perspective shifts of going into camera, being chased by things running out of camera switching to side scrolling.”

Crash Bandicoot 4 Gameplay

Crash Bandicoot 4 is built from the ground up, not based on existing or recovered code, but it will attempt to of course emulate the platforming gameplay fans of the original trilogy are familiar with. And that means Crash 4 is sticking to the traditional camera setup of those games, rather than becoming something more open world.

“Our intent was to give folks the sequel they never got,” Student continued, noting that the developer’s focus was on “tense, precise execution that is so ingrained in the DNA of Crash and bringing that to today’s standards.”

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But Crash won’t just be running, jumping, spinning, and ground slamming. It’s About Time’s various locations have also facilitated the introduction of several new platforming moves. Crash can now wallrun, grind on and below rails, and rope swing to allow for various new challenges.

“It’s been this fun balancing act of us taking what we love about those original games and the feeling of those linear pathways, but then at the same time layering in new challenging asks for the players, new ways of finding all of the boxes, crates, finding hidden gems, finding all this different content throughout the level,” Studdert explained, noting the new levels and challenges have been built with a focus on elevating “the replayability of the game.”

“A True Sequel” to the Original Crash Trilogy, But a New Look

Through and through, Toys for Bob wants to emphasize that this is “a true sequel” to the original Crash trilogy. But, as is apparent from the first trailer and gameplay, this sequel incorporates a new, more animated look reminiscent of the cartoony, detailed characters of Toys for Bob’s Spyro Reignited Trilogy, which we praised in our review of those remakes. Studdert explained how this colorful, zany art style aimed to capture the spirit of the character and allowed for a more ambitious world design.

“While we are retaining the old-school gameplay of those unique perspectives, we wanted to open up the worlds from a visual standpoint,” Studdert said. “So that means larger vistas, huge scale, huge places that you’re going to get to go that couldn’t have happened on the original consoles and games. It’s taking that animated personality amplifying that fun, and then also giving you these amazing unique times and dimensions to explore.”

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That aim to capture the old and blend it with the new is true of Toys for Bob’s work on the actual gameplay as well, which is built in a “completely different engine, built from the ground up” for Crash 4, rather than reusing work from the N. Sane Trilogy. But Studdert explained that Toys for Bob’s experience working in part on the Crash remake trilogy and the Crash Team Racing did come into play when designing Crash 4.

“Having our hands in those games really allowed us to kind of analyze the foundational elements of what truly makes a Crash level feel like a Crash level, from how enemies are incorporated to the pace of a level, to the amount of encounters to the way they fold in on each other,” he said.

How Difficult Is Crash Bandicoot 4?

The original Crash trilogy has some notoriously tough levels. Just say the phrase “Road to Nowhere” to any self-respecting Crash fan and they’ll understand. Thankfully, Crash 4 is aiming to outdo the challenge of past Crash games while providing a smoother ramp in difficulty.

“We want to have less difficulty spikes,” Studdert said when asked about the difficulty compared to the original three games. “We want to onboard the players and get them into the story, but at the same time we wanted to see if we can actually exceed the difficulty of the original games. We wanted to see if we could add in extra modes, extra challenges, extra things that we’ll be talking about later to really bring the pain. A true Crash fan wants that level of difficulty, and I think we’ve met and exceeded.”

Crash’s New Mask Power-ups, Modern vs. Retro Modes

Core to the story of Crash 4 will be the, well, four Quantum Masks that Crash and Coco will encounter. Each of these guardians of space and time offers a different ability, and will be findable throughout the game at specific locations, like you would with an Aku Aku mask.

“Crash and Coco need to seek out the four quantum masks…[which] will help to re-fix the timeline,” Studdert explained of the duo’s objective this time around in their battle against Dr. Neo Cortex.

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The first two masks Toys for Bob is discussing are Kipuna-Wa, which offer the powers of time manipulation, and the other is Eka-Eka, the gravity mask. Like Aku Aku, they’ll both appear available at certain points in levels for players to activate to overcome certain obstacles.

“At certain points in the levels, they’ll come to your aid and they actually become suits on Crash and Coco,” Studdert said as he explained their powers, with the time mask allowing players to slow down time, while the gravity mask will let players alter Crash or Coco’s gravity as they navigate through a level.

And as the original trilogy is known for its many secret paths and levels, I asked Studdert about whether Crash 4 would include a similar level of discoverable content, and he had as best of an answer as I could hope for.

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But being true to that original trilogy also means the gameflow — players can switch between two modes, Modern and Retro, which changes how lives and Wumpa fruit collection is catalogued. Wumpa will now actually go toward end-of-level goals, and can be used as another currency in both modes. But in Retro mode, players can still have a set number of lives, collect 100 Wumpa fruit to gain a new life, and succeed or fail by those parameters.

“If you die, you’re going to restart at a checkpoint [in Modern mode], as simple as that,” Studdert said. “That means, ‘Okay, what do we then do with Wumpa?’ So what we’ve done is we’ve changed wumpa collection to be part of that collection currency of collectibles, end-of-level rewards. Retro is actually retaining the lives and game over system from the original game.

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Stay tuned to IGN for more on Crash Bandicoot 4, but be sure to watch the first gameplay and debut trailer above. And for more on Toys for Bob’s most recent work, check out our review of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy below.

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Jonathon Dornbush is IGN’s Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and virtual bandicoot expert. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated marks the return of one of the most iconic licensed characters to enter the 3D platforming fray. Sadly, this flashy remake feels more like a skin-deep remaster in practice, doing little to fix the issues that plagued the original adventure. Its graphical update is accompanied by some imaginative improvements, but those few bright spots aren’t enough to bring Battle for Bikini Bottom’s passable but simplistic and collectathon-heavy gameplay up to the standard you’d expect from a platformer released in 2020 – especially with remakes like the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy showing how a revival like this should be done.

In our October 2003 review of the original Battle for Bikini Bottom, reviewer Mary Jane Irwin said: “The love for the SpongeBob franchise really shines through in Battle for Bikini Bottom — and if it weren’t there this would be a very dreary title.” As I replay it nearly 17 years later, that feels extremely accurate – and what’s dreariest about Rehydrated’s 10-ish hour campaign is all the missed opportunities to truly modernize this adventure for first-timers and those of us who look back on it fondly alike.

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To its credit, Rehydrated runs cleanly on PlayStation 4 Pro, its remastered soundtrack’s cheery tunes have earwormed their way into my mind, and the actual feel of running, jumping, and bubble-blowing as SpongeBob is precise and responsive. But it’s largely the adventure around those mechanics which, while admittedly fun and enjoyable for how it took advantage of the SpongeBob license just a few years after its debut, remains as limited in its scope, design, and overall thoughtfulness so many years later as it did back on the original Xbox. Worse, it now comes with the added context of having been so thoroughly surpassed by almost two decades worth of amazing 3D platformers.

F Is for Faded Memories

Playing a nostalgic platformer remake is something I’ve done quite a few times at IGN. Crash felt fresh again when the N. Sane Trilogy revamped it, while Spyro’s Reignited Trilogy became the fiery new standard for what I thought these remakes could do. But in playing with beloved source material that has long outlived the original game’s era, Rehydrated is in a strange place. Its jokes and episode references remain kid-friendly and largely based on the earlier seasons of the show, leaving the majority of the series’ rich comedy deposits untapped. There’s very little, in fact, aside from a few SpongeBob meme references here and there, that offer something new for returning players like myself.

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It’s been years since I’ve watched SpongeBob, and the pleasantness of returning to Bikini Bottom for a few hours was occasionally fun. But even though it’s called a remake, in every conceivable way it feels like a disappointing remaster, with its PS2-era hang-ups often getting in the way. A remake should do its best to modernize and improve aspects that haven’t aged well, but Rehydrated rarely does that. Every entrance to a new area is saddled with a few seconds of load time, even when going into a small building like Patrick or Squidward’s one-room homes (PlayStation 5, you can’t get here soon enough!). All three playable characters – SpongeBob, Sandy, and Patrick – have the same repetitive line or two of dialogue they bleat out after finding collectibles, grabbing health, or hitting enemies. The first couple of times it’s amusing enough to hear Patrick’s uncertainty about wearing SpongeBob’s underwear, but by the 10th it’s grating. And by the 30th, I wanted to stop playing.

Battle for Bikini Bottom still hits that sweet spot of absurdist mayhem that SpongeBob episodes so often nailed, but it doesn’t really work as a cohesive SpongeBob “episode” (or even movie) because the individual stories of its already disjointed levels are barely present. Mrs. Puff and Barnacle Boy deliver some great, cutting lines that go over SpongeBob’s head, and SpongeBob interpreting paragraphs out of Gary the Snail’s Meows is still a joy. But, even as someone who hasn’t watched the show in ages, it’s absolutely jarring when one of the original voice actors doesn’t voice their own iconic character, like Mr. Krabs’ Clancy Brown who was absent in the original and is still not voicing the role in Rehydrated since very little new dialogue was seemingly recorded.

U Is for Unimaginative Gameplay

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Playing Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated in 2020 is a strange roller coaster ride of platforming love and hate. Overall, it’s an incredibly easy platformer, with only a few truly challenging section thrown in. The welcome challenge in levels like SpongeBob’s Dream is often fun, but they’re such whiplash from the rest of the adventure, which then reverts to being simple for its final levels.

Like in the original, you can intermittently swap between SpongeBob, Sandy and Patrick, often to solve character-specific puzzles, but it’s rare that Battle for Bikini Bottom makes interesting use of this. Also, why do I have to keep trudging back to a specific location to switch characters instead of just quick-swapping with a button? That adds nothing but busywork, standing as an easy example of something a proper remake could have addressed.

As an obsessive collector in platformers, Battle for Bikini Bottom passably makes the process of nabbing golden spatulas and Patrick’s socks engaging, if not challenging. Every level is upfront about how many of each item it holds, and are perhaps overly clear in explaining how to reach every collectible, occasionally robbing me of the joy of discovering something through my own ingenuity. Shiny objects, meanwhile, are infinite. So, if you’re in need of a few thousand more to hand over to Mr. Krabs, just keep intentionally dying and respawning at convenient spots and you can grind for shinies to no end without consequence.

N Is for Not Much Notably New

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If you’re just looking to replay the original Battle for Bikini Bottom adventure to revisit its sporadic bright spots, some amusing character interactions, and a romp around Bikini Bottom, then you’ll find that intact.

Battle for Bikini Bottom still feels a generation behind, but its graphical update is largely appreciated. The bright, cheery, almost neon-drenched world feels a lot closer to the energy of the show and its title character than the original’s look. Characters animate well in cutscenes, with the most care clearly put into the principal cast and locations as opposed to the lifeless denizens of Bikini Bottom, who walk around serving no purpose other than set dressing. Some of the most iconic locations and buildings’ shift into three-dimensions much more cohesively than their chunkier forms did two console generations ago. But because the entire world has been made more vibrant, there’s occasionally little distinction between platforms you can actually jump on and set decoration ledges that fooled me into thinking I had found a new secret path.

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It’s still nice to see the different neighborhoods of Bikini Bottom brought to life, from the dingy Rock Bottom to the Mermalair to Bikini Bottom itself. And SpongeBob’s Dream gets to play with wacky, surrealist level design buoyed by the graphical update that made me wish for an entirely new game inspired by it rather than a remake. Unfortunately, the hollowness of some of the world feels stuck in its earlier incarnation and despite plenty of Bikini Bottom residents walking around each area, interacting with them does nothing. No silly quips, no angered screams when hit, no shout of “My leg!” Just… silence, which is as loud a reminder as any of what could have been.

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Battle for Bikini Bottom adds a new wave-based horde mode that lets you and one other person, either locally or online, battle against wave after wave after wave of the robotic enemies you fight in the campaign. And it is…a waste of your time. The mode is so simplistic, so monotonous, and so unrewarding that it would have been a poor addition when the original Battle for Bikini Bottom debuted in 2003 and is even worse now. Including playable characters you don’t control in the campaign is a nice touch, but they all largely play the same with only visually different melee or ranged attacks. So, sure, it’s funny to hear Squidward use his clarinet to attack the first time, but, like the repeated dialogue of the base game, it becomes grating after hearing it 10, 20, 50 more times.

And the waves devolve into very little strategy other than mashing attack and corralling swarms of enemies to easily dispatch them with a ground pound. The various attacks for each character really made essentially no difference. The biggest obstacle moreso than enemies is that every few waves takes place on a different island, and plenty of enemy attacks can knock you into the surrounding water there pretty easily. But so long as one player survives a round, you both move on, and both of you dying just resets that wave. There’s little risk in being overly aggressive with enemies, and there’s little other option because the mode itself is so limited. Completing all 27 islands with a friend, each with three waves, took about 30-40 minutes. And it’s 30-40 minutes I wish I could have back.