Apex Legends season 8 starts on February 2, and will feature the battle royale’s 16th Legend: Fuse, developer Respawn Entertainment announced Monday.

With a theme of “Mayhem,” it appears Respawn is hoping to ramp up Apex’s action. On the official Apex Legends site, Respawn is teasing that Fuse’s arrival to the tournament has dramatically reshaped Kings Canyon. There’s no new screenshots to look at, though, but Respawn says it will show off more soon.

New Legend Fuse is a brash demolitions enthusiast and thief. You can watch his origin story trailer below. When Fuse and his friend discover a golden grenade in the hands of a dead soldier on their home planet, Salvo, it sparks a rivalry between the two that lasts throughout the years. With each friend continually stealing the golden grenade from the other, while Fuse builds up a career as a ring fighter, tensions eventually boil over as Salvo joins the Syndicate planets.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/18/apex-legends-stories-from-the-outlands-good-as-gold-trailer"]

Fuse ends up telling his friend that he’s leaving Salvo to join the Apex Games, and offers her a truce, giving her the grenade. Obviously not a fan of kind gestures, this sends her off the deep end. She grabs the grenade, pulls its pin out, and surprises Fuse by tossing it at him, blowing his entire arm off. Fuse can be seen in a picture on the Apex Legends site sporting a metal arm that’s bound to be jam-packed full of weaponry.

Data miners have already found out a few details about Fuse’s abilities. “Airburst Grenade” lets him launch, what else, a grenade from his arm. His ultimate ability is believed to be “The Motherlode,” which lets him launch a missile off his back and burn anything in its path.

 [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/17/the-biggest-games-coming-in-2021"]

Apex players who still prefer other legends won’t be left in the cold. A new weapon named the 30-30 Repeater, a futurized lever-action rifle, will become available at the start of season 8.

Apex Legends season 8 will include all the other usual stuff you’d expect: a 100-tier battle pass offering skins and other cosmetics, a ranked competitive mode, and more.

Apex Legends is also coming to Nintedo Switch sometime in 2021 after a previous delay. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/pathfinder for IGN.

Apex Legends season 8 starts on February 2, and will feature the battle royale’s 16th Legend: Fuse, developer Respawn Entertainment announced Monday.

With a theme of “Mayhem,” it appears Respawn is hoping to ramp up Apex’s action. On the official Apex Legends site, Respawn is teasing that Fuse’s arrival to the tournament has dramatically reshaped Kings Canyon. There’s no new screenshots to look at, though, but Respawn says it will show off more soon.

New Legend Fuse is a brash demolitions enthusiast and thief. You can watch his origin story trailer below. When Fuse and his friend discover a golden grenade in the hands of a dead soldier on their home planet, Salvo, it sparks a rivalry between the two that lasts throughout the years. With each friend continually stealing the golden grenade from the other, while Fuse builds up a career as a ring fighter, tensions eventually boil over as Salvo joins the Syndicate planets.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/18/apex-legends-stories-from-the-outlands-good-as-gold-trailer"]

Fuse ends up telling his friend that he’s leaving Salvo to join the Apex Games, and offers her a truce, giving her the grenade. Obviously not a fan of kind gestures, this sends her off the deep end. She grabs the grenade, pulls its pin out, and surprises Fuse by tossing it at him, blowing his entire arm off. Fuse can be seen in a picture on the Apex Legends site sporting a metal arm that’s bound to be jam-packed full of weaponry.

Data miners have already found out a few details about Fuse’s abilities. “Airburst Grenade” lets him launch, what else, a grenade from his arm. His ultimate ability is believed to be “The Motherlode,” which lets him launch a missile off his back and burn anything in its path.

 [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/17/the-biggest-games-coming-in-2021"]

Apex players who still prefer other legends won’t be left in the cold. A new weapon named the 30-30 Repeater, a futurized lever-action rifle, will become available at the start of season 8.

Apex Legends season 8 will include all the other usual stuff you’d expect: a 100-tier battle pass offering skins and other cosmetics, a ranked competitive mode, and more.

Apex Legends is also coming to Nintedo Switch sometime in 2021 after a previous delay. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/pathfinder for IGN.

Over 10 years ago, Ubisoft had a dream to bring its players together and allow their saves, progress, rewards, and more to seamlessly travel with them no matter where they chose to play. While the journey to get there had its ups and down, Ubisoft Connect is now paving the way for how cross-save and cross-progression should be handled in this new generation of gaming. Even amid haptic feedback, SSDs and other console innovations, overcoming console barriers almost entirely (and quietly) feels like a true next-gen feature and a vision of more to come.

Ubisoft Connect launched alongside Watch Dogs: Legion in October and, in addition to allowing players to keep their progression with them on all their supported devices, it also tracks player’s stats, offers a new loyalty program with a ton of free rewards, and includes a Smart Intel feature that has similarities to the new game help functionality in the PS5 UI. However, the “magic” of Ubisoft Connect is perhaps best explained by an experience had by IGN’s Editor-In-Chief Tina Amini when she began her Viking journey in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Tina began playing Valhalla on PS4 and was planning on restarting when she received her Xbox Series X – after all, that was not only a cross-platform move, but a cross-generational one. While she did of course have to obtain the game itself a second time, her save was simply waiting for her when she started the latest Assassin’s Creed on her brand new console. She hadn’t had to do anything to make that transition happen, besides already having her platform accounts linked to her Ubisoft account at some point in the past.

While the big-ticket items dominating conversation and marketing around this PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S era have been the teraflops of power, games with support of up to 4K/120FPS, and minimal load times, quality-of-life improvements provided by services like Ubisoft Connect – and the barriers they are knocking down – are worthy of just as much praise. Just like those next-gen consoles, however, this cross-generation, cross-save, cross-play world we are living in did not come about overnight.

The Road to Cross-Everything Began With Microsoft and Sony

Ubisoft Connect may be the poster child for cross-platform progression in this new generation, but the service would not even have been a possibility had both Microsoft and Sony not worked on perfecting their own versions of cross-progression and backward compatibility for many years before.

While the story is a bit different today, Sony was leading the charge into the next generation - as far as backward compatibility was concerned - with the PlayStation 2. Before its launch in 2000, previous consoles required adapters or peripherals to play older games, but the PS2 simply let you play every original PlayStation game out of the box.

The Xbox 360, on the other hand, was a bit more complicated. While it did support backward compatibility, those wishing to play games like Halo: Combat Evolved or NFL Fever 2004 would need an official Microsoft HDD, as it would be needed to store an emulator that was required to run these Xbox games, albeit without the ability to transfer saves or DLC.

As the generations came and went, backward compatibility was moved out of focus, so much so that the Xbox One and PS4 both launched without any native support for older titles. However, Xbox head Phil Spencer and Microsoft VP Kareem Choudhry had been devising a plan behind-the-scenes that would bring it back to the forefront, all culminating with the exciting reveal at E3 2015 that over 100 select Xbox 360 games would be playable on Xbox One by that year’s holiday season.

[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=Ubisoft%20Connect%20wouldn't%20have%20been%20possible%20had%20both%20Microsoft%20and%20Sony%20not%20worked%20on%20perfecting%20their%20own%20versions%20of%20cross-progression%20and%20backward%20compatibility%20for%20many%20years%20before."]

In addition to all of this, Microsoft built its own version of a Netflix-style subscription service called Xbox Game Pass and began offering not only a great selection of third-party titles, but its own first-party exclusives on the day they are released. This, alongside its Xbox Play Anywhere initiative that lets you purchase a game once and have access to it and your saves seamlessly on Xbox consoles and PC, allowed Microsoft to have every Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox game playable on Xbox One – except for a handful that require Kinect – available at the launch of the Xbox Series X/S, saves and all.

Sony’s story was a bit different. While it was able to ensure that 99% of all PS4 games would be playable on PS5, saves are not automatically transferred and it currently does not offer a native solution to play PS1, PS2, and PS3 games. Some PS2 and PS3 games are available on PS Now - PlayStation’s streaming service - but it is not as simple of a solution as the one provided by Xbox.

All these steps - both good and bad - show the differing approaches that Sony and Microsoft have taken in regards to backward compatibility. But it doesn’t end there, as cross-play was another big piece of the puzzle that was missing in this quest for cross-everything. Those moves have further exemplified the divide between these two companies.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/24/ps5-and-xbox-series-x-are-both-backward-compatible-and-thats-a-big-deal"]

Breaking Down the Console Barriers with Cross-Play

For the longest time, if you wanted to play a game online with your friends, you would all have to be on the same system. However, games like Rocket League, Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Minecraft took some of the first and most important leaps into a world where you could play with your friends, no matter what platform you were playing on.

The road to cross-play wasn’t an easy one, however, and Sony was perhaps most hesitant on the way to a more shared gaming world. In 2016, Rocket League developer Psyonix revealed that PS4 and Xbox One cross-play was ready, could be turned on in “less than a business day,” and that it just needed Sony’s approval. Unfortunately, it took more than just that business day, as full cross-platform play in Rocket League did not become available until early 2019.

Sony’s decision to allow cross-play in Rocket League was in part a result of a controversy that occurred during E3 2018 when Fortnite was made available for Nintendo Switch. Players quickly found out that if they played even one game of Fortnite on PS4, they could not carry over their existing Epic Games account to the Switch, let alone play with others on opposing consoles.

[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=As%20they%20say%2C%20competition%20breeds%20excellence%2C%20and%20Microsoft%E2%80%99s%20decisions%20made%20while%20behind%20helped%20push%20us%20to%20a%20more%20inclusive%20video%20game%20world%20that%20Sony%20could%20no%20longer%20ignore."]

After months of backlash, which also included a Minecraft trailer that highlighted Nintendo and Xbox cross-play, further showing how PlayStation was the odd one out, Sony announced that it had “identified a path toward supporting cross-platform features for select third party content,” and revealed Fortnite would be the first game that would allow for cross-platform gameplay, progression, and commerce across PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Mac operating systems.

This helped show that, even though PlayStation 4 was outselling Xbox One by a wide margin and was by all accounts the market leader, it wasn’t above criticism. As they say, competition breeds excellence, and Microsoft’s decisions made while behind helped push us to a more inclusive video game world that Sony could no longer ignore.

These moves and the ever-impressive popularity of Fortnite helping influence the change in PlayStation’s stance on cross-play and cross-progression are only a few instances of the battles won and lost by both Microsoft and Sony that are paving the way for others. Ubisoft is the prime example of that – it wouldn’t have been able to complete its 10-plus-year journey to Ubisoft Connect had events transpired differently. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=ubisoft-connect-screenshots&captions=true"]

The 10-Year Journey From Uplay to Ubisoft Connect

Speaking to IGN, Ubisoft Creative Director Charles Huteau explains how the idea of Ubisoft Connect was percolating long before it had a name, and that the successes of this new service are thanks to the work that began with Uplay back at the launch of Assassin’s Creed 2 in 2009.

“We’ve always had this transverse idea in our DNA – no matter which platform you play on, no matter which Ubisoft game you play, everything is linked to your account on Ubisoft.com, so Ubisoft Connect is really a completion of this vision and a new standard for the next-gen systems,” Huteau says.

When Uplay launched, it was more of a reward system that aimed to bring players together and celebrate their accomplishments in Ubisoft’s games. While these services continued to evolve and were useful for many, Ubisoft itself was split between PC and console, with separate teams dedicated to these different platforms, each of which had different variations of Uplay. With the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on the horizon, Ubisoft knew it was time to consolidate and bring its teams together, as it wished to do with its players.

[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=Ubisoft%20Connect%20is%20really%20a%20completion%20of%20our%20vision%20and%20a%20new%20standard%20for%20the%20next-gen%20systems%20-%20Charles%20Huteau"]

This was one of the biggest challenges in creating Ubisoft Connect, according to Huteau, but it proved to be one of the most important decisions. Whereas Ubisoft previously had experts in the PC world and console world working on separate projects and initiatives, this shift would bring the best of both worlds under one roof and allow them to work together towards a shared goal. That goal, while a major step closer now, is not yet complete.

All of this and more bring us to where we are today with Ubisoft Connect, but it doesn’t come without its limitations. For example, some paid content will not travel with you if you wish to make the jump to one platform outside your "console family.," i.e. PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. So, if you purchase Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Season Pass on PlayStation 4 and wish to continue on PlayStation 5, it will travel with you. However, if you jump from PS4 to Xbox Series X, you would need to purchase the Season Pass again.

PlayStation Trophies were also a point of contention, as player’s progress or earned Trophies in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla didn’t transfer when moving from PS4 to PS5. Luckily, a recent patch solved that issue, and will hopefully be a sign that many of these frustrations can and will be fixed in future updates.

Additionally, it's important to note that while cross-save is a wonderful thing, it does require you to purchase and own multiple copies of the same game to fully take advantage of it, as Tina had to. With Xbox Play Anywhere already offering multiple platforms for the price of a single game, it feels a little out-of-step.

However, as with many things technological, any online service is ever-evolving and many issues we face today could be but a distant memory in the future. For Ubisoft, some of these solutions may lie with Ubisoft+ and streaming platforms.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/ubisoft-new-releases-trailer"]

Ubisoft+, Amazon Luna, Google Stadia, and a Connected World

A big milestone on the path to Ubisoft Connect was the 2019 launch of Uplay+ (now known as Ubisoft+), a subscription service for PC, Amazon Luna, and Google Stadia that gives subscribers access to all of Ubisoft’s games for a monthly fee. With the expansion of 5G and improvements of streaming technology, Ubisoft+ gives a glimpse of a future where you don’t have to solely play games like Far Cry 6 on your Xbox Series X, but can effortlessly switch and play it on your phone, iPad, PC, and, who knows, maybe one day on an Amazon Alexa like Skyrim. (Never say never!)

While she would not confirm that Ubisoft+ would make its way to traditional consoles, Ubisoft’s Vice President of Online Services Stéphanie Perotti did talk to IGN about how Ubisoft wants you to seamlessly be able to “start your game on PC and continue on a streaming platform and vice-versa.”

[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=This%20reality%20wasn%E2%80%99t%20made%20possible%20by%20the%20kindness%20of%20mega-corporations%2C%20but%20it%20was%20done%20in%20reaction%20to%20a%20changing%20landscape%20and%20tentpole%20moments%20that%20shook%20the%20very%20foundation%20of%20this%20industry."]

Furthermore, she envisions a one-click future that will allow players to carry their progress over into games with their friends, or even Twitch streamers, as was shown off in Hyper Scape earlier this year. Ubisoft’s goal, according to Perotti, is to make sure players can “get into the game or activity, wherever they are coming from.”

While this all sounds great in theory, a big current limitation for Ubisoft is its track record with cross-play, because even though Brawlhalla supports it, games like Rainbow Six Siege and For Honor only support cross-play between console families (i.e. PS4-PS5). Ubisoft Connect is aiming to make cross-play a standard, however, and Ubisoft wants you to be able to “play with your friends regardless of which device they are playing on.”

As of this writing, Ubisoft has yet to announce any concrete plans for cross-platform cross-play for its current or upcoming games, but it promises that it has laid out the “foundation that will enable Ubisoft's games and services to live across platforms and make cross-platform features a standard moving forward.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/21/ubisoft-connect-launch-trailer"]

A Hopeful Look Forward to a Cross-Everything Future

A future filled with cross-play, cross-save, and cross-progression is one that many wish to see. While that hopeful dream may still be years away, the steps being made toward that goal have been both substantial and promising. If you were to look at the games industry just a few years ago, you would have never believed that we are where we are today - living in a world where both Kratos and Master Chief are playable in Fortnite on Nintendo Switch, a platform that can cross-play with competing consoles, PC, and/or mobile devices.

This reality wasn’t made possible by the kindness of mega-corporations, but it was done in reaction to a changing landscape and tentpole moments that shook the very foundation of this industry. From Call of Duty, a franchise that has earned over $3 billion in the last 12 months alone, allowing cross-play for the first time to Microsoft’s shift from solely focusing on a traditional console to building an Xbox ecosystem that includes PC, mobile devices, and soon possibly even TVs, these forward-looking decisions are made, sometimes begrudgingly, in an attempt to adapt to a more promising, profitable future. And it’s a future that gamers will benefit from.

One day, it hopefully won’t matter if you start out playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7564 Remastered on your PlayStation 9, or Assassin’s Creed Moonwalker on your Apple Watch. Your virtual world will travel with you, seamlessly, and you’ll be able to play with whoever you want, wherever you want.

We live in such a connected world, and it only makes sense to break down any barriers that prevent us all from playing our favorite games together. Sure, this next generation is about leaps and bounds in technology, but it is also just as much about leaps and bounds in accessibility and creating a better experience for all, no matter which platform you choose.

[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.

Over 10 years ago, Ubisoft had a dream to bring its players together and allow their saves, progress, rewards, and more to seamlessly travel with them no matter where they chose to play. While the journey to get there had its ups and down, Ubisoft Connect is now paving the way for how cross-save and cross-progression should be handled in this new generation of gaming. Even amid haptic feedback, SSDs and other console innovations, overcoming console barriers almost entirely (and quietly) feels like a true next-gen feature and a vision of more to come.

Ubisoft Connect launched alongside Watch Dogs: Legion in October and, in addition to allowing players to keep their progression with them on all their supported devices, it also tracks player’s stats, offers a new loyalty program with a ton of free rewards, and includes a Smart Intel feature that has similarities to the new game help functionality in the PS5 UI. However, the “magic” of Ubisoft Connect is perhaps best explained by an experience had by IGN’s Editor-In-Chief Tina Amini when she began her Viking journey in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Tina began playing Valhalla on PS4 and was planning on restarting when she received her Xbox Series X – after all, that was not only a cross-platform move, but a cross-generational one. While she did of course have to obtain the game itself a second time, her save was simply waiting for her when she started the latest Assassin’s Creed on her brand new console. She hadn’t had to do anything to make that transition happen, besides already having her platform accounts linked to her Ubisoft account at some point in the past.

While the big-ticket items dominating conversation and marketing around this PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S era have been the teraflops of power, games with support of up to 4K/120FPS, and minimal load times, quality-of-life improvements provided by services like Ubisoft Connect – and the barriers they are knocking down – are worthy of just as much praise. Just like those next-gen consoles, however, this cross-generation, cross-save, cross-play world we are living in did not come about overnight.

The Road to Cross-Everything Began With Microsoft and Sony

Ubisoft Connect may be the poster child for cross-platform progression in this new generation, but the service would not even have been a possibility had both Microsoft and Sony not worked on perfecting their own versions of cross-progression and backward compatibility for many years before.

While the story is a bit different today, Sony was leading the charge into the next generation - as far as backward compatibility was concerned - with the PlayStation 2. Before its launch in 2000, previous consoles required adapters or peripherals to play older games, but the PS2 simply let you play every original PlayStation game out of the box.

The Xbox 360, on the other hand, was a bit more complicated. While it did support backward compatibility, those wishing to play games like Halo: Combat Evolved or NFL Fever 2004 would need an official Microsoft HDD, as it would be needed to store an emulator that was required to run these Xbox games, albeit without the ability to transfer saves or DLC.

As the generations came and went, backward compatibility was moved out of focus, so much so that the Xbox One and PS4 both launched without any native support for older titles. However, Xbox head Phil Spencer and Microsoft VP Kareem Choudhry had been devising a plan behind-the-scenes that would bring it back to the forefront, all culminating with the exciting reveal at E3 2015 that over 100 select Xbox 360 games would be playable on Xbox One by that year’s holiday season.

[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=Ubisoft%20Connect%20wouldn't%20have%20been%20possible%20had%20both%20Microsoft%20and%20Sony%20not%20worked%20on%20perfecting%20their%20own%20versions%20of%20cross-progression%20and%20backward%20compatibility%20for%20many%20years%20before."]

In addition to all of this, Microsoft built its own version of a Netflix-style subscription service called Xbox Game Pass and began offering not only a great selection of third-party titles, but its own first-party exclusives on the day they are released. This, alongside its Xbox Play Anywhere initiative that lets you purchase a game once and have access to it and your saves seamlessly on Xbox consoles and PC, allowed Microsoft to have every Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox game playable on Xbox One – except for a handful that require Kinect – available at the launch of the Xbox Series X/S, saves and all.

Sony’s story was a bit different. While it was able to ensure that 99% of all PS4 games would be playable on PS5, saves are not automatically transferred and it currently does not offer a native solution to play PS1, PS2, and PS3 games. Some PS2 and PS3 games are available on PS Now - PlayStation’s streaming service - but it is not as simple of a solution as the one provided by Xbox.

All these steps - both good and bad - show the differing approaches that Sony and Microsoft have taken in regards to backward compatibility. But it doesn’t end there, as cross-play was another big piece of the puzzle that was missing in this quest for cross-everything. Those moves have further exemplified the divide between these two companies.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/24/ps5-and-xbox-series-x-are-both-backward-compatible-and-thats-a-big-deal"]

Breaking Down the Console Barriers with Cross-Play

For the longest time, if you wanted to play a game online with your friends, you would all have to be on the same system. However, games like Rocket League, Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Minecraft took some of the first and most important leaps into a world where you could play with your friends, no matter what platform you were playing on.

The road to cross-play wasn’t an easy one, however, and Sony was perhaps most hesitant on the way to a more shared gaming world. In 2016, Rocket League developer Psyonix revealed that PS4 and Xbox One cross-play was ready, could be turned on in “less than a business day,” and that it just needed Sony’s approval. Unfortunately, it took more than just that business day, as full cross-platform play in Rocket League did not become available until early 2019.

Sony’s decision to allow cross-play in Rocket League was in part a result of a controversy that occurred during E3 2018 when Fortnite was made available for Nintendo Switch. Players quickly found out that if they played even one game of Fortnite on PS4, they could not carry over their existing Epic Games account to the Switch, let alone play with others on opposing consoles.

[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=As%20they%20say%2C%20competition%20breeds%20excellence%2C%20and%20Microsoft%E2%80%99s%20decisions%20made%20while%20behind%20helped%20push%20us%20to%20a%20more%20inclusive%20video%20game%20world%20that%20Sony%20could%20no%20longer%20ignore."]

After months of backlash, which also included a Minecraft trailer that highlighted Nintendo and Xbox cross-play, further showing how PlayStation was the odd one out, Sony announced that it had “identified a path toward supporting cross-platform features for select third party content,” and revealed Fortnite would be the first game that would allow for cross-platform gameplay, progression, and commerce across PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Mac operating systems.

This helped show that, even though PlayStation 4 was outselling Xbox One by a wide margin and was by all accounts the market leader, it wasn’t above criticism. As they say, competition breeds excellence, and Microsoft’s decisions made while behind helped push us to a more inclusive video game world that Sony could no longer ignore.

These moves and the ever-impressive popularity of Fortnite helping influence the change in PlayStation’s stance on cross-play and cross-progression are only a few instances of the battles won and lost by both Microsoft and Sony that are paving the way for others. Ubisoft is the prime example of that – it wouldn’t have been able to complete its 10-plus-year journey to Ubisoft Connect had events transpired differently. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=ubisoft-connect-screenshots&captions=true"]

The 10-Year Journey From Uplay to Ubisoft Connect

Speaking to IGN, Ubisoft Creative Director Charles Huteau explains how the idea of Ubisoft Connect was percolating long before it had a name, and that the successes of this new service are thanks to the work that began with Uplay back at the launch of Assassin’s Creed 2 in 2009.

“We’ve always had this transverse idea in our DNA – no matter which platform you play on, no matter which Ubisoft game you play, everything is linked to your account on Ubisoft.com, so Ubisoft Connect is really a completion of this vision and a new standard for the next-gen systems,” Huteau says.

When Uplay launched, it was more of a reward system that aimed to bring players together and celebrate their accomplishments in Ubisoft’s games. While these services continued to evolve and were useful for many, Ubisoft itself was split between PC and console, with separate teams dedicated to these different platforms, each of which had different variations of Uplay. With the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on the horizon, Ubisoft knew it was time to consolidate and bring its teams together, as it wished to do with its players.

[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=Ubisoft%20Connect%20is%20really%20a%20completion%20of%20our%20vision%20and%20a%20new%20standard%20for%20the%20next-gen%20systems%20-%20Charles%20Huteau"]

This was one of the biggest challenges in creating Ubisoft Connect, according to Huteau, but it proved to be one of the most important decisions. Whereas Ubisoft previously had experts in the PC world and console world working on separate projects and initiatives, this shift would bring the best of both worlds under one roof and allow them to work together towards a shared goal. That goal, while a major step closer now, is not yet complete.

All of this and more bring us to where we are today with Ubisoft Connect, but it doesn’t come without its limitations. For example, some paid content will not travel with you if you wish to make the jump to one platform outside your "console family.," i.e. PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. So, if you purchase Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Season Pass on PlayStation 4 and wish to continue on PlayStation 5, it will travel with you. However, if you jump from PS4 to Xbox Series X, you would need to purchase the Season Pass again.

PlayStation Trophies were also a point of contention, as player’s progress or earned Trophies in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla didn’t transfer when moving from PS4 to PS5. Luckily, a recent patch solved that issue, and will hopefully be a sign that many of these frustrations can and will be fixed in future updates.

Additionally, it's important to note that while cross-save is a wonderful thing, it does require you to purchase and own multiple copies of the same game to fully take advantage of it, as Tina had to. With Xbox Play Anywhere already offering multiple platforms for the price of a single game, it feels a little out-of-step.

However, as with many things technological, any online service is ever-evolving and many issues we face today could be but a distant memory in the future. For Ubisoft, some of these solutions may lie with Ubisoft+ and streaming platforms.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/ubisoft-new-releases-trailer"]

Ubisoft+, Amazon Luna, Google Stadia, and a Connected World

A big milestone on the path to Ubisoft Connect was the 2019 launch of Uplay+ (now known as Ubisoft+), a subscription service for PC, Amazon Luna, and Google Stadia that gives subscribers access to all of Ubisoft’s games for a monthly fee. With the expansion of 5G and improvements of streaming technology, Ubisoft+ gives a glimpse of a future where you don’t have to solely play games like Far Cry 6 on your Xbox Series X, but can effortlessly switch and play it on your phone, iPad, PC, and, who knows, maybe one day on an Amazon Alexa like Skyrim. (Never say never!)

While she would not confirm that Ubisoft+ would make its way to traditional consoles, Ubisoft’s Vice President of Online Services Stéphanie Perotti did talk to IGN about how Ubisoft wants you to seamlessly be able to “start your game on PC and continue on a streaming platform and vice-versa.”

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Furthermore, she envisions a one-click future that will allow players to carry their progress over into games with their friends, or even Twitch streamers, as was shown off in Hyper Scape earlier this year. Ubisoft’s goal, according to Perotti, is to make sure players can “get into the game or activity, wherever they are coming from.”

While this all sounds great in theory, a big current limitation for Ubisoft is its track record with cross-play, because even though Brawlhalla supports it, games like Rainbow Six Siege and For Honor only support cross-play between console families (i.e. PS4-PS5). Ubisoft Connect is aiming to make cross-play a standard, however, and Ubisoft wants you to be able to “play with your friends regardless of which device they are playing on.”

As of this writing, Ubisoft has yet to announce any concrete plans for cross-platform cross-play for its current or upcoming games, but it promises that it has laid out the “foundation that will enable Ubisoft's games and services to live across platforms and make cross-platform features a standard moving forward.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/21/ubisoft-connect-launch-trailer"]

A Hopeful Look Forward to a Cross-Everything Future

A future filled with cross-play, cross-save, and cross-progression is one that many wish to see. While that hopeful dream may still be years away, the steps being made toward that goal have been both substantial and promising. If you were to look at the games industry just a few years ago, you would have never believed that we are where we are today - living in a world where both Kratos and Master Chief are playable in Fortnite on Nintendo Switch, a platform that can cross-play with competing consoles, PC, and/or mobile devices.

This reality wasn’t made possible by the kindness of mega-corporations, but it was done in reaction to a changing landscape and tentpole moments that shook the very foundation of this industry. From Call of Duty, a franchise that has earned over $3 billion in the last 12 months alone, allowing cross-play for the first time to Microsoft’s shift from solely focusing on a traditional console to building an Xbox ecosystem that includes PC, mobile devices, and soon possibly even TVs, these forward-looking decisions are made, sometimes begrudgingly, in an attempt to adapt to a more promising, profitable future. And it’s a future that gamers will benefit from.

One day, it hopefully won’t matter if you start out playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7564 Remastered on your PlayStation 9, or Assassin’s Creed Moonwalker on your Apple Watch. Your virtual world will travel with you, seamlessly, and you’ll be able to play with whoever you want, wherever you want.

We live in such a connected world, and it only makes sense to break down any barriers that prevent us all from playing our favorite games together. Sure, this next generation is about leaps and bounds in technology, but it is also just as much about leaps and bounds in accessibility and creating a better experience for all, no matter which platform you choose.

[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.

Zack Snyder has implied that his version of Justice League will be released as a four-hour movie instead of the four-part miniseries announced previously. What's On HBO Max screenshotted an exchange between Snyder and a fan, which occurred during a Q&A session on Snyder's Vero account, where the director appeared to confirm that his Justice League cut would be released as a "one-shot" movie when it premieres on HBO Max in March, as opposed to the limited multi-part series that was announced at DC FanDome last summer. While many have interpreted this to mean that the four-part miniseries has been scrapped in favour of a four-hour movie, it's possible Snyder is indicating that all four hour-long episodes will drop simultaneously, giving viewers the option to watch the Snyder Cut in one continuous block rather than splitting it up and releasing the "episodes" one-by-one as part of a schedule. We've contacted Warner Bros. for clarification. Whether Snyder's Justice League ends up being released as one movie or four installments that can be watched separately or as one continuous feature, it will include around two-and-a-half hours of never-before-seen footage, comprised of "four or five minutes of additional photography", original footage from the theatrical release, and elements that ended up on the cutting room floor. Snyder also previously confirmed that he hasn't used a "single frame" from Joss Whedon's Justice League reshoots for his version of the movie (which is being widely dubbed as the "director's cut"). So there will be plenty of new footage to watch, including an additional photography scene with Jared Leto's "road-weary" Joker, who will be sporting a different look compared to 2016's Suicide Squad. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/11/snyder-cut-suicide-squad-gotham-knights-what-to-expect-from-dc-in-2021"] Leto reprising his Joker role is just one of the many confirmed differences that the Snyder Cut will offer, check out our slideshow below for more or read our individual stories about the new design for Darkseid's herald Steppenwolf, the cut dialogue from Superman and Batman's confrontation, and Joe Manganiello's role as Deathstroke in the Justice League reshoots, which reportedly cost $70 Million. The movie will also include the official in-universe reveal that Harry Lennix's Lt. General Calvin Swanwick is secretly Martian Manhunter. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=justice-league-snyder-cut-all-the-known-differences-from-the-theatrical-version&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Zack Snyder has implied that his version of Justice League will be released as a four-hour movie instead of the four-part miniseries announced previously. What's On HBO Max screenshotted an exchange between Snyder and a fan, which occurred during a Q&A session on Snyder's Vero account, where the director appeared to confirm that his Justice League cut would be released as a "one-shot" movie when it premieres on HBO Max in March, as opposed to the limited multi-part series that was announced at DC FanDome last summer. While many have interpreted this to mean that the four-part miniseries has been scrapped in favour of a four-hour movie, it's possible Snyder is indicating that all four hour-long episodes will drop simultaneously, giving viewers the option to watch the Snyder Cut in one continuous block rather than splitting it up and releasing the "episodes" one-by-one as part of a schedule. We've contacted Warner Bros. for clarification. Whether Snyder's Justice League ends up being released as one movie or four installments that can be watched separately or as one continuous feature, it will include around two-and-a-half hours of never-before-seen footage, comprised of "four or five minutes of additional photography", original footage from the theatrical release, and elements that ended up on the cutting room floor. Snyder also previously confirmed that he hasn't used a "single frame" from Joss Whedon's Justice League reshoots for his version of the movie (which is being widely dubbed as the "director's cut"). So there will be plenty of new footage to watch, including an additional photography scene with Jared Leto's "road-weary" Joker, who will be sporting a different look compared to 2016's Suicide Squad. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/11/snyder-cut-suicide-squad-gotham-knights-what-to-expect-from-dc-in-2021"] Leto reprising his Joker role is just one of the many confirmed differences that the Snyder Cut will offer, check out our slideshow below for more or read our individual stories about the new design for Darkseid's herald Steppenwolf, the cut dialogue from Superman and Batman's confrontation, and Joe Manganiello's role as Deathstroke in the Justice League reshoots, which reportedly cost $70 Million. The movie will also include the official in-universe reveal that Harry Lennix's Lt. General Calvin Swanwick is secretly Martian Manhunter. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=justice-league-snyder-cut-all-the-known-differences-from-the-theatrical-version&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Quarantine will not be released on March 21, despite Ubisoft's own Connect service listing that release date. Fans noticed that the Ubisoft Connect website had begun listing the game for PS4, Xbox One and PC release on March 21, 2021 (screenshot below). However, an Ubisoft spokesperson confirmed to IGN that this date is incorrect. It's not clear what has caused the error. Rainbow Six Quarantine is currently slated only for a release in Ubisoft's 2021-22 financial year (from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022), after being formally delayed, along with Far Cry 6, in October last year. Some had taken the Ubisoft Connect date to mean that the game's release had been quietly pushed forward but, sadly, it's not to be. First announced at E3 2019, Quarantine is a spin-off from Rainbow Six Siege, and particularly its popular Outbreak limited-time event. The 3-player PvE game will see squads of operators taking on the creations of a deadly new parasite, using FPS reflexes and tactics to survive. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/11/rainbow-six-quarantine-full-presentation-e3-2019"]

The game was initially scheduled for Early 2020, but has seen two delays, one in late 2019, and another in 2020. The most recent delay was tied directly to the workflow issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The name, and its associations, probably aren't a huge help at this moment, either.

Along with Quarantine and Far Cry 6, Ubisoft now also has a Star Wars game in development at Ubisoft Massive, which will be the beginning of a "long-term collaboration" between the French developer-publisher and Disney.

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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 newstips@ign.com.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Quarantine will not be released on March 21, despite Ubisoft's own Connect service listing that release date. Fans noticed that the Ubisoft Connect website had begun listing the game for PS4, Xbox One and PC release on March 21, 2021 (screenshot below). However, an Ubisoft spokesperson confirmed to IGN that this date is incorrect. It's not clear what has caused the error. Rainbow Six Quarantine is currently slated only for a release in Ubisoft's 2021-22 financial year (from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022), after being formally delayed, along with Far Cry 6, in October last year. Some had taken the Ubisoft Connect date to mean that the game's release had been quietly pushed forward but, sadly, it's not to be. First announced at E3 2019, Quarantine is a spin-off from Rainbow Six Siege, and particularly its popular Outbreak limited-time event. The 3-player PvE game will see squads of operators taking on the creations of a deadly new parasite, using FPS reflexes and tactics to survive. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/11/rainbow-six-quarantine-full-presentation-e3-2019"]

The game was initially scheduled for Early 2020, but has seen two delays, one in late 2019, and another in 2020. The most recent delay was tied directly to the workflow issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The name, and its associations, probably aren't a huge help at this moment, either.

Along with Quarantine and Far Cry 6, Ubisoft now also has a Star Wars game in development at Ubisoft Massive, which will be the beginning of a "long-term collaboration" between the French developer-publisher and Disney.

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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 newstips@ign.com.

A patent filed by Take-Two Interactive details a new Rockstar-developed system for managing NPC navigation, with details explicitly referring to vehicle road routes and behaviour. The patent application, entitled ‘System And Method For Virtual Navigation In A Gaming Environment’, was filed by Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two, in October 2020, and was recently discovered by Reddit users. The system described within it was developed by Rockstar’s lead AI programmer, Simon Parr, and David Hynd, Rockstar’s associate director of technology. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-ign-rockstar-game-review-ever&captions=true"] This new system is designed to create “a realistic virtual world that is not limited by hardware and software limitations,” which is a response to conventional systems that are unable to produce the kind of NPC behaviours players expect within the limits of current processor and memory bandwidth. This is specifically in relation to traffic behaviour; the patent details boats, cars, and drivers throughout. The system outlined would result in a more realistic and immersive simulation of traffic. Of particular note is that the system means “each NPC can define its own specific characteristics for traversing the road nodes.” These characteristics include understanding acceleration, breaking time and distances, top speeds, and cornering speeds. NPCs and AI systems would be able to use these characteristics to generate more life-like drivers on the roads of a video game world. Without jumping to concrete conclusions, it is possible that a system designed by Rockstar programmers for a vehicular traffic system could be for Grand Theft Auto 6. The project is not mentioned by the patent, but IGN understands that GTA 6 is currently in development at Rockstar, and so it’s not unreasonable to assume new technology will be produced for the game. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/09/gta-online-the-cayo-perico-heist-trailer"] Of particular note is a line of the patent that explains the system is for “virtual navigation and management of objects in a multiplayer network gaming community.” If the system has been designed for a multiplayer game, it raises the question of if Grand Theft Auto 6 will be an online experience. Alternatively, perhaps this system has been built to be implemented into GTA Online; the details refer to Xbox One and PS4 consoles rather than the next-gen machines that GTA 6 would presumably be released on. Additionally, the system is described to work via a cloud network communicating with player consoles. If the system is for GTA 6, even if the game is not multiplayer-only it may well be that the game demands an always-on internet connection to provide the processing for NPC behaviour. For context, the patent includes an evaluation of the current deficiencies with NPC navigation systems, noting that limited resources mean that the simulation is reduced in complexity. Current processing power and memory restrictions mean some NPCs “fade out of existence as the player approaches the NPC,” the patent explains. It notes that current NPC systems only allow only for a predetermined number of NPC controlled cars, and that “players of a video game would expect to see more than a predetermined number of NPC controlled cars in a video game for a realistic experience.” Additionally, the patent also describes that current conventional systems rely on behaviour that has “no high level knowledge” of traffic, which can lead to vehicles being unable to plan accordingly for blocked roads. The new system is designed to prevent situations like this. While Rockstar has been quiet about the development of the next Grand Theft Auto, it recently released The Cayo Perico Heist for GTA Online, which was the result of seven years of game evolution and finally allows a solo-player approach for GTA Online content. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

A patent filed by Take-Two Interactive details a new Rockstar-developed system for managing NPC navigation, with details explicitly referring to vehicle road routes and behaviour. The patent application, entitled ‘System And Method For Virtual Navigation In A Gaming Environment’, was filed by Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two, in October 2020, and was recently discovered by Reddit users. The system described within it was developed by Rockstar’s lead AI programmer, Simon Parr, and David Hynd, Rockstar’s associate director of technology. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-ign-rockstar-game-review-ever&captions=true"] This new system is designed to create “a realistic virtual world that is not limited by hardware and software limitations,” which is a response to conventional systems that are unable to produce the kind of NPC behaviours players expect within the limits of current processor and memory bandwidth. This is specifically in relation to traffic behaviour; the patent details boats, cars, and drivers throughout. The system outlined would result in a more realistic and immersive simulation of traffic. Of particular note is that the system means “each NPC can define its own specific characteristics for traversing the road nodes.” These characteristics include understanding acceleration, breaking time and distances, top speeds, and cornering speeds. NPCs and AI systems would be able to use these characteristics to generate more life-like drivers on the roads of a video game world. Without jumping to concrete conclusions, it is possible that a system designed by Rockstar programmers for a vehicular traffic system could be for Grand Theft Auto 6. The project is not mentioned by the patent, but IGN understands that GTA 6 is currently in development at Rockstar, and so it’s not unreasonable to assume new technology will be produced for the game. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/09/gta-online-the-cayo-perico-heist-trailer"] Of particular note is a line of the patent that explains the system is for “virtual navigation and management of objects in a multiplayer network gaming community.” If the system has been designed for a multiplayer game, it raises the question of if Grand Theft Auto 6 will be an online experience. Alternatively, perhaps this system has been built to be implemented into GTA Online; the details refer to Xbox One and PS4 consoles rather than the next-gen machines that GTA 6 would presumably be released on. Additionally, the system is described to work via a cloud network communicating with player consoles. If the system is for GTA 6, even if the game is not multiplayer-only it may well be that the game demands an always-on internet connection to provide the processing for NPC behaviour. For context, the patent includes an evaluation of the current deficiencies with NPC navigation systems, noting that limited resources mean that the simulation is reduced in complexity. Current processing power and memory restrictions mean some NPCs “fade out of existence as the player approaches the NPC,” the patent explains. It notes that current NPC systems only allow only for a predetermined number of NPC controlled cars, and that “players of a video game would expect to see more than a predetermined number of NPC controlled cars in a video game for a realistic experience.” Additionally, the patent also describes that current conventional systems rely on behaviour that has “no high level knowledge” of traffic, which can lead to vehicles being unable to plan accordingly for blocked roads. The new system is designed to prevent situations like this. While Rockstar has been quiet about the development of the next Grand Theft Auto, it recently released The Cayo Perico Heist for GTA Online, which was the result of seven years of game evolution and finally allows a solo-player approach for GTA Online content. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.