Ashraf Ismail, creative director at Ubisoft has announced that he is stepping down from his role on Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla following allegations of engaging in extramarital affairs. In a statement published on Twitter Ismail announced, “I am stepping down from my beloved project to properly deal with the personal issues in my life. The lives of my family and my own are shattered. I am deeply sorry to everyone hurt in this.” In a follow-up, Ismail added, “There are hundreds of talented, passionate people striving to build an experience for you that do not deserve to be associated with this. I wish them all the best.” IGN has reached out to Ubisoft to inquire how this may impact Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’s development and whether a replacement creative director will be announced. Ubisoft provided the following statement: “Ashraf Ismail is stepping down from the project to take a leave of absence. The development team is committed to delivering a great game in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.” Over the weekend, multiple allegations of sexual impropriety surfaced within the game industry against a variety of figures, including game developers and streamers. This included Ismail who was accused of engaging in extramarital affairs and not revealing, or actively hiding, his marital status to the people he dated. One Twitter user provided text messages that claim to be text exchanges with Ismail where he appears to hide his marital status. The games industry was rocked by several different allegations, not just against Ismail. Other prominent figures accused of sexual misconduct include writer Chris Avellone, who has since parted ways with developer Techland on Dying Light 2 following multiple sexual harassment allegations. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Crystal Dynamics has confirmed that MODOK will be Marvel's Avengers' main villain. Revealed as part of today's Marvel's Avengers War Table broadcast, a story trailer has MODOK (formerly known as George Tarleton) explaining that he's attempting to fix the damage blamed on the Avengers after the game's A-Day catastrophe, and aiming to rid the Earth of superpowers altogether. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/24/marvels-avengers-new-story-trailer-modok-reveal"] In Crystal Dynamics' version of the Marvel universe, Tarleton was himself a victim of Terrigen infection on A-Day, which turned many of those who inhaled the mist into Inhumans. He uses the power of tech corporation Advanced Idea Mechanics to capture and experiment on Inhumans - until Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) reuinites the Avengers to take him down. It looks as though, over the course of the story, Tarleton will transform into MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing), although we only got a glimpse at what the legendarily huge-faced supervillain will look like in his final form for this take on the character. We originally heard that MODOK would be the game's key villain after an achievement list leaked, but this marks his official unveiling. The trailer also shows us Abomination, and a variety of A.I.M.-created threats to Hulk Smash along your way. Marvel's Avengers is headed to PS4, Xbox One, PC and Stadia on September 4. The War Table stream is a part of our Summer of Gaming showcase - and if you've come straight here from the show, you should stay tuned, because we're following it up with another day of exclusive announcements. All month, we're supporting some incredibly important causes – the World Health Organisation and The Bail Project – if you are able, help us support them too at donate.ign.com. [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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 newstips@ign.com.  

Echtra Games' Max Schaefer and Matt Uelmen, two prominent members of the development team responsible for Diablo II, have shared their thoughts on the impact their games have had on the ARPG genre, and gaming as a whole. In this episode of IGN Unfiltered, Ryan McCaffrey spoke with Schaefer and Uelmen about Diablo 2, the upcoming release of Torchlight 3, and much more. Since Diablo II took the world by storm in 2000, it has had many imitators. From Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance to Champions of Norrath and so many more, its influence on the ARPG genre (and others) can't be overstated. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/11/03/history-of-awesome-diablo-ii"] When asked what he thought of the far-reaching impact of Diablo II, and the games that took cues from it, Max Schaefer, one of the directors and designers of Diablo II, said, "I actually like to see it. First of all, it's a tribute to Diablo when anything comes out that has those elements in it, and is evocative of that. So it's a flattering thing to see. "I think that anyone who makes a successful ARPG has done something significant because it is a uniquely difficult genre to make games in and I think that that's maybe not appreciated across the board very much. It's just... there's a lot of fiddly parts to an ARPG and it's very easy for them to go wrong. So when someone comes out with one that's a commercial success and is a fun time, you just have to respect what they've done. "I like to see competitors... First of all, we're still at the beginning of scratching the surface of what the ARPG genre can be. I think it's going to be with us... Even now, today... 2020, this is a genre that's going to be with us until we're all long gone, so it's cool for me to see what other people are doing and their take on it and what twist they have. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="legacyId=20088065&captions=true"] "There's always a twist, whether it's turning it into a giant MMO like Path of Exile or, in the case of a guy who became one of the founders of the Torchlight franchise, Travis Baldree, made a little, tiny, super low-budget one-man version called Fate, that was just a kick-in-the-pants to play and really fun and cool. So, you know, the breadth of what can be done is great and we never look at it as... competitors, but building and expanding on the genre." Matt Uelmen, who composed Diablo's highly influential, atmospheric soundtracks, also shared his thoughts. "There are so many design elements that [World of Warcraft] took from Diablo II. So many design fundamentals, approaches to gear... I mean there's so much weird crossover in gaming... The fact that the Destiny formula was more or less developed by the team that Max was with... and that the formula behind [Hellgate: London], more or less... became Destiny." "There's a lot of... kind of mushy barriers in terms of... even though we kind of fleshed out the randomized loot mechanic with [Diablo II], and pioneered it with Diablo, it found its way into the formula of a lot of different games..." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/02/21/diablo-creator-says-bringing-diablo-2-to-modern-pcs-would-be-extremely-difficult-ign-unfiltered"] For more on the best, brightest, most interesting minds in the games industry, be sure to check out every episode of Unfiltered, which includes interviews with Master Chief co-creator Marcus Lehto, 343's Bonnie Ross, Valve's Robin Walker & Chris Remo, Respawn's Stig Asmussen, and many, many more.

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Brian Barnett writes wiki guides, deals posts, features, and much more for IGN. You can get your fix of Brian's antics on Twitter and Instagram (@Ribnax).

With the cancellation of San Diego Comic-Con and many other comic book conventions in 2020, publishers are finding new ways to promote new projects and bring fans together. Skybound Entertainment has announced Skybound Xpo, a new digital-only event aimed at filling the void left by SDCC. Taking place on July 18 and 19, Skybound Xpo will feature a series of panels, creator interviews and footage of upcoming Skybound games, all of which will be livestreamed on Skybound Entertainment’s YouTube channel and the company's official Facebook page. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=art-preview-fire-power-1&captions=true"] Among the panels featured at Skybound Xpo is "Fire (Power) Side Chat," as Skybound co-founder and The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman sheds more light on Fire Power, his new collaboration with Daredevil artist Chris Samnee. You can check out IGN's exclusive reveal of Fire Power to learn more about the martial arts fantasy series. Other major panels will include a Skybound retrospective that celebrates the company's first ten years and hints at what's to come, and a new episode of Kristan Harloff's trivia competition series Movie Trivia Schmoedown. “Like the rest of our community, we miss the comic-cons we go to every year,” said Skybound CEO David Alpert in a statement. “In this off year, we wanted to make sure we could still connect with fans in some way. We’re excited to share the awesome content from our new wave of creators as Skybound turns ten.” The announcement of Skybound Xpo comes shortly after DC's reveal of DC FanDome, another all-digital, Comic-Con-esque event taking place in August. Not to be outdone, SDCC itself will be hosting a digital event called Comic-Con@Home, one which will take place on July 22-26, the same days the regular Comic-Con event was meant to be held. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/07/02/walking-dead-creator-on-comics-surprise-ending-ign-now"] In other recent Skybound news, Kirkman and artist Charlie Adlard are reuniting for a new Walking Dead special called Negan Lives. That standalone comic will reveal the fate of the titular villain and will be offered entirely free of charge to comic book retailers. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Depending on your country, Fortnite will be showing one of three different Christopher Nolan films - Inception, Batman Begins, or The Prestige, for Movie Nite at Party Royale's Big Screen. Movie Nite at Party Royale's Big Screen will begin on June 26, and Fortnite will air these films at different times, once again, depending on your country. [caption id="attachment_2371203" align="aligncenter" width="720"] The location of Movie Nite @ Party Royale's Big Screen[/caption] For example, those in the United States will be able to watch Inception on June 26 at 5am PT/8am ET, 5pm PT/8pm ET, and 8pm PT/11pm ET. In the UK, The Prestige will air on June 26 at 5pm BST. For a full schedule for your country, you can visit the Party Royale website. The showtimes and which films will be shown are all different because of distribution rights and languages for the various countries. This is the "first test" and it will hopefully expand to more countries in the future. There will also be subtitle support for these screenings. There will be no broadcasting or recording of these films during the showings, and Epic Games warns that "any streams or videos of these films will be subject to anti-piracy and DCMA regulations." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/24/full-fortnite-x-travis-scott-astronomical-concert"] This isn't the first time Christopher Nolan's work will be featured in Fortnite, as he debuted a brand-new trailer of his upcoming film Tenent last month. Fortnite has been home to many trailers and even a performance by Travis Scott. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who considers Inception one of his favorite movies of all time. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

A new tease for Halo Infinite has confirmed that The Banished will be part of the long-awaited next game in the series. The short teaser video, which sees a communication device decipher a signal, features a gravelly voice delivering a message to humanity. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/24/halo-infinite-teaser-trailer"] “The hour approaches. Forces occupy the ring. Within hours, it will be under our control. Humanity will burn. The brazen defiance will be all but a memory. No more Prophets. No more lies. We stand together, brothers to the end. We are his will, we are his legacy, we are The Banished.” The Banished are a mercenary organization set up after a rebellion in the Covenant Empire, the alien antagonists in the Halo series. They are largely made up of Jiralhanae - better known as Brutes to humanity - but also count many of the Covenant races among their ranks, including the Grunts, Elites, and Hunters. The Banished featured as one of the two main playable races in Halo Wars 2, alongside the human UNSC, and so the plot of Halo Wars 2 may have impact or be referenced by Halo Infinite. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=halo-infinite-october-2019-screenshots&captions=true"] The audio references the Prophets, a leadership race of the Covenant, as well as mention that “we are his will” and “we are his legacy”. Who the ‘his’ is in this is unclear, but may potentially refer to Atriox, the leader of the Banished in Halo Wars 2. Brutes were not seen as enemies in Halo 4 or 5, so this signals a welcome return for the fan favorites. Now, where's my Gravity Hammer? We’ll likely find much more about The Banished’s role in Halo Infinite at the next Xbox Series X event, which has promised to show first-party games running on the upcoming console. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Bruce Campbell has revealed that the new official title for Evil Dead 4 is Evil Dead Rise. In an interview with Diabolique, Campbell confirmed that, along with getting a new draft of the script, the next installment of the venerable horror franchise had changed its title from Evil Dead Now to Evil Dead Rise, just a couple of weeks after the original title was announced. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2016/11/01/bruce-campbell-takes-igns-evil-dead-quiz"] Although Campbell shared very few other details about the project, he did suggest that the upcoming movie will shake up the tried-and-tested franchise formula by deviating away from some key narrative staples, such as the classic "cabin in the woods" setting. "The official name is Evil Dead Rise," he confirmed in the interview. "We're getting a new draft in. I don't think anything will happen until 2021. Full bore ahead, we're very excited about it. A whole, new ballgame. No more cabin in the woods." Campbell previously stated that the upcoming sequel would not see the return of his character, Ash Williams, as the team wanted to create a "more dynamic" entry, focused on a female protagonist to seemingly follow in the blood-splattered footsteps of Jane Levy's Mia Allen in the 2013 reboot. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-15-best-horror-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years&captions=true"] To coincide with these changes, Sam Raimi, the original trilogy's director, will not return to direct the fourth flick. Instead, Lee Cronin is writing and directing the forthcoming Evil Dead movie, with Raimi and Campbell both apparently involved in some sort of producing capacity. Campbell last played the role in the now-cancelled Starz series Ash vs Evil Dead. He and Raimi collaborated on Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, and Army of Darkness, which metamorphosed over the years, from an extremely low budget, bleak terror-fest to a pair of gory, "splatstick" genre-bending classics. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Mafia: Definitive Edition, the remake of the 2002 game that follows the rise and fall of mobster Tommy Angelo in the 1930s, is taking lessons from its two sequels and implementing some of their best aspects. Speaking to USgamer, Mafia: Definitive Edition developer Hanger 13's president and chief creative office Haden Blackman described how it's updating so many parts of Mafia, from gameplay improvements to expanding out story bits, like with Tommy's girlfriend Sarah. "For example, Sarah, the love interest in the original, she doesn't get very much screen time, but she's the heart of why Tommy Angelo is doing what he's doing," says Blackman. "At the beginning of the game you learn that he's trying to arrange a way out of the life and he's doing it all for his family, so we wanted to make sure that as a player you knew what it was that he was trying to protect. We wanted to make sure that Sarah got more screen time; she's in the game more, has an understandable kind of role in the lowercase family and uppercase Family." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/13/mafia-1-definitive-edition-story-trailer"] Another focus in this remake is addressing the "valid criticisms" in regards to the repetitive nature of Mafia 3's side missions. The team wants to add new, meaningful missions without that repetition. Blackman even stated that "almost all of our emphasis was on the missions for Mafia: Definitive Edition." Mafia: Definitive Edition will also give players a wide range of options. A big part of the original game was following traffic laws and being extra cautious around police, as Tommy is more of an everyday citizen than a hardened criminal. In this upcoming version, there are settings for police presence and how strict they are to players who break these laws, like riding through a red light. The original settings can be preserved, but this sliders are put in place to give players more choice in how they want to experience this story. Gunplay will also a big change from the original, as it pulls a lot from Mafia 3 and its more cover-based gunplay mechanics. Whereas Clay was a former soldier and Tommy was just a cab driver, Hanger 13 wanted that difference to be felt in the gameplay. Combat is a "little bit more lethal" for Tommy and "every bullet matters." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=mafia-definitive-edition-screenshots&captions=true"] Mafia: Definitive Edition will be released on August 28, 2020, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam. Mafia II: Definitive Edition and Mafia III: Definitive Edition are available now, and players who purchase the Mafia: Trilogy will get all three games, and the first Mafia will unlock when it is released. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Night City Wire, June 25's Cyberpunk 2077 broadcast, will include a new trailer, new gameplay footage, and a developer walkthrough of a new feature, braindance. Developer CD Projekt Red has also implied that there will be more Night City Wire episodes in future. The developer broke down the upcoming showcase on Twitter, which will be aired at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern / 5pm UK tomorrow, June 25 (that's June 26 at 2am AEST).

Join us tomorrow, June 25 at 6PM CEST, at https://t.co/cBU8yS6pfc for the first, 25 minute episode of #NightCityWire, where we are going to show you a brand new trailer, present fresh gameplay footage and chat with the devs in detail about one of the game features, braindance. pic.twitter.com/2RReyCMkce

— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) June 24, 2020

Night City Wire is a part of IGN's Summer of Gaming, and you can watch it live with us tomorrow, along with full pre- and post-show discussions. We'll also have a full hands-on preview with the game going live directly after the show, as announced when Cyberpunk 2077 was delayed to November 17 to allow for more bugfixing and game balance work. If that's not enough new Cyberpunk for you, you can check out the upcoming new tie-in comic book series, Trauma Team. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/14/cyberpunk-2077-designing-the-cyberpunk-2077-limited-edition-xbox-video"] The delay will likely place Cyberpunk 2077 near the launch of Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. Even though CD Projekt Red has confirmed owners of the Xbox One and PS4 versions will be freely upgraded to 'robust' next-gen editions, it has not committed to when these new versions will be available. [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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 newstips@ign.com.

According to EA CEO Andrew Wilson, Apex Legends is scheduled to soft launch on mobile devices by the end of 2020. As recorded by @ApexLatest on Twitter, Wilson was speaking about mobile business growth on an EA Fireside Chat on June 22, 2020, and said "we have PvZ3 in soft launch, we've talked about having Apex Legends in soft launch by the end of this year. You've heard me talk about 6 or 7 other games in various stages of incubation or production or in finaling phase. We feel very good about our mobile business." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/19/apex-legends-season-5-lost-treasures-collection-event-trailer-ea-play-2020"] If Apex Legends does indeed soft launch on mobile, which would most likely be a Beta of sorts, it will be the third storefront that Apex Legends arrives on in 2020 alongside Nintendo Switch and Steam. Apex Legends will be released on Switch and Steam this Fall, and cross-play between those platforms and all other current versions of Apex Legends will also be enabled. There is no word if cross-play will be available in the mobile version of Apex Legends. During EA Play Live, Apex Legends' Lost Treasures limited time event was revealed and brings with it the return of the Armed and Dangerous mode and a new storyline involving Crypto. The Lost Treasures event began yesterday, June 23. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=apex-legends-lost-treasures-collection-screenshots&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.