Resident Evil Village could have skipped last-gen platforms entirely, with the developers waiting to make sure it ran well enough before committing to making a PS4 and Xbox one version.

Resident Evil Village is gorgeous on next-gen platforms and PC, but recent demos and IGN’s own hands-on time have indicated that the game also looks great and runs smoothly on last-gen platforms, the PS4 and Xbox One. However, according to producer Tsuyoshi Kanda, Capcom did not decide to release the game on last-gen platforms until after Village was announced in June last year.

“We developed Village as a game for next-gen hardware, but in order to make it accessible to more players, we went through a lot of trial and error to somehow provide a comparable experience on last-gen hardware,” Kanda told IGN. “In the end, we were able to deliver a high-quality product for last-gen hardware as well. That being said, if the quality hadn’t been sufficient, I don’t think we would have released it.”

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“If there was a big difference in graphical quality or framerate, it would not have been something we could deliver to players, so we did our best to make sure it would be satisfying on any platform,” added director Morimasa Sato.

Fans were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the PS4 Pro footage IGN exclusively revealed earlier this month, which was captured by us from a preview build of the full game. With the recent demos, players have been able to directly test a cut-down version of the game on their platform of preference.

If you’re not sure whether to get Village on last-gen or next-gen consoles, don’t worry, as Kanda emphasizes that the last-gen versions can be upgraded to next-gen free of charge, if you buy a next-gen machine later.

Resident Evil Village will be released on May 7. Learn how the game was inspired by both Resi 7 and Resi 4 in our interview with the developers, and be sure to check out our in-depth preview of the first five hours as well as our impressions of extra mode The Mercenaries. If you can’t wait to get your blood drained by Lady Dimitrescu, don’t miss our feature on the towering villain and her daughters, and also be sure to check out our reveal of the game’s other main villains. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Esra Krabbe is an editor at IGN Japan.

The CEOs and other board members at CD Projekt are set to receive big, multi-million dollar bonuses this year, despite the difficult and problem-filled launch of Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt co-CEOs, Marcin Iwiński and Adam Kiciński, are each set to get an end-of-year bonus of 24 million zloty (approx. $6.3 million), according to the company’s annual report. Meanwhile CD Projekt board member and director of Cyberpunk 2077, Adam Badowski, is to be awarded $4.2 million in bonuses. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/07/cyberpunk-2077-review"] As explained in a new Bloomberg report, these bonuses come via CD Projekt’s profit share system, in which 20% of the company’s annual earnings is split up and awarded to staff members. 10% of profit is shared among the board of directors, while the other 10% goes to employees. In a statement to Bloomberg, CD Projekt explained that 865 employees were part of this profit share system, with $29.8 million shared among them. Meanwhile, five board members will share $28 million. Talking to Bloomberg, some employees revealed that they were expected to receive between $5,000 and $9,000 in bonuses. More senior staff could get closer to $20,000. These do, naturally, pale in comparison to the multi-million dollar figures assigned to the board. These kinds of figures are to be expected from a corporation, but they are called into question in the wake of CD Projekt’s disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077. The game, in development for years and eagerly awaited by fans, launched in a buggy state that was considered near unplayable on PlayStation 4. That led to a reported 30,000 refunds and Cyberpunk 2077 being removed from sale on the PlayStation Store. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/11/cyberpunk-2077-graphics-comparison-ps5-vs-ps4-base-model"] By releasing Cyberpunk 2077 in its difficult state rather than waiting for it to be ‘complete’, CD Projekt suffered a steep stock price fall. Considering their disastrous decision, the board was asked during a recent investor call if it were “appropriate” that such large bonuses were awarded. “We earned this money and the company earned this money, of course, but more net profits, more bonuses,” Kiciński said. “So well, we have results, we get bonuses, and that’s the contract we have.” At the CD Projekt financial briefing earlier this month, the company said that Cyberpunk’s launch “has been a huge lesson for us that we shall never forget.” Despite this, 2020 was the company’s best year. Going forward, the company plans to change the way it markets its games to help avoid another Cyberpunk-style situation. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Hitman developer IO Interactive is reportedly working on a dragon-themed fantasy game, potentially as an Xbox exclusive. First reported by Windows Central, the rumour suggests that IO is partnering with Xbox Game Studios on a brand new fantasy-themed game that involves dragons in some capacity. Subsequently, Eurogamer said its sources have corroborated that information, adding that the game will be AAA in scope. Both reports mention that the game is in early development, and years away from release. IO's unannounced third project has been mentioned before, with CEO Hakan Abrak telling IGN, " I should mention we're working on something else, as well. Something completely new... a new IP." The company subsequently opened a new Barcelona studio, in part to work on the unannounced game. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/io-interactive-is-working-on-a-new-ip-in-addition-to-hitman-and-james-bond-ign-unfiltered"] Reports suggest that the new game will be developed by an entirely separate team, while other IO teams continue to update Hitman 3, and work on Project 007, the new James Bond game. It's a sea change from just a few years ago, when IO broke off from Square Enix to go fully indie. The odd, extra detail here is that Microsoft famously already worked with an external developer on a dragon-focused fantasy IP – one which never saw release. Scalebound was announced as a collaboration with PlatinumGames in 2014, but ran into trouble and was cancelled in 2017. Platinum producer Atsushi Inaba has previously said the studio would love to return to the project, but confirmed Microsoft holds the rights to it. Of course, fantasy games with dragons aren't exaxctly uncommon, and the publisher seemingly abandoned the Scalebound trademark several years ago, so this may be more of an odd coincidence than anything else. [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.

The FIFA and Football Manager teams have joined a social media boycott being held across huge swathes of the footballing world in protest against racist abuse and other hate speech, and the lack of action being taken by platforms it's hosted on. From Friday, April 30 until Monday May 3, the entire English Football League will halt any posts on social media. The boycott is in protest against abuse, and social media companies' inaction on preventing that abuse. Both EA Sports and Sports Interactive have today joined the boycott. EA Sports wrote: "We stand strong with English football in the fight against racism, online hate, and any form of discrimination."

Football is for everyone. Our social channels will be silent from 15:00 (UK) on Fri. April 30 until 23:59 (UK) on Mon. May 3.

No #TopBinsLive Community stream this week. pic.twitter.com/KN0i0T3XMD — EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) April 30, 2021

Sports Interactive wrote, "Today, we join the EFL and English football in a united stand against online abuse. Social media companies must do more to #StopOnlineAbuse. Join us and switch off too, as we collectively demand change." The boycott follows repeated racist and discriminatory hate speech used towards football players, and the boycott aims to put pressure on social media platforms to do more to clamp down on abuse.

Today, we join the EFL and English football in a united stand against online abuse.

Social media companies must do more to #StopOnlineAbuse. Join us and switch off too, as we collectively demand change.#StopOnlineAbuse pic.twitter.com/sNFCKI6Yp6 — Football Manager (@FootballManager) April 30, 2021

To learn more about the boycott, the Premier League has put together a piece on why it's taking place, and what the movement hopes to achieve. [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.

Amazon has announced more than 175 million Prime Video members have streamed movies and TV shows in the past year. The company offered a rare look into Prime Video's viewership success in its Q1 2021 earnings report, spotlighting the latest figures and financial results, including those generated from Amazon's movie and TV assets. One of the biggest takeaways from the report was that there are now more than 200 million Amazon Prime customers worldwide, meaning around 87.5% have watched Prime Video at least once. Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who is expected to step down and become the company's executive chair in Q3, noted that Prime Video streaming hours have risen by more than 70% year over year, and Amazon Studios has received a record 12 Academy Award nominations and two wins, with more originals on the way, including Tom Clancy's Without Remorse, The Tomorrow War, and The Underground Railroad. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=amazon-prime-video-spotlight-may-2021&captions=true"] Bezos also acknowledged the rise of Amazon Web Services. "In just 15 years, AWS has become a $54 billion annual sales run rate business competing against the world's largest technology companies, and its growth is accelerating — up 32% year over year," he said in a statement. "We love Prime Video and AWS, and we're proud to have them in the family." These kinds of results enforce that the ecosystem is working, with more and more people choosing to venture down Amazon's avenue to explore its broader services. The company has continued to build out its e-commerce business whilst also branching out into various other areas that support it, creating more ways to keep customers within the Amazon family for longer. And while Amazon Prime Video may not have launched with the wealth of original content that Netflix brings to bear, it has continued to expand its well-rounded library to include both critically acclaimed original series and movies as well as mainstream hits. The ability to bolster that library through Prime Channels and a la carte purchases has also been one of the additional perks. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/24/amazons-the-boys-season-2-review"] Shows such as The Boys found success on Amazon Prime Video in a short space of time. The satirical superhero series was released back in 2019, and quickly became one of the platform's most binge-watched series of the year, not to mention one of Prime Video's most-watched series ever. Fortunately, Amazon renewed The Boys for a second season before the first season had even premiered. Since then, Amazon has ordered a third season, and a spinoff series has also been announced. The spinoff series will be executive produced by Eric Kripke, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg, who developed The Boys for Amazon, as well as Craig Rosenberg, who will write the pilot and also serve as the spinoff's showrunner and executive producer. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Toys for Bob, the developer of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, has been assigned to support development on Call of Duty: Warzone – and seems to have suffered lay-offs as a result. The studio, which was acquired by Activision in 2005, announced the news on Twitter, saying, "Toys for Bob is proud to support development for Season 3 of Call of Duty #Warzone, and look forward to more to come." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/01/crash-bandicoot-4-its-about-time-review"] It's a somewhat surprising move for a studio traditionally focused on games for younger audiences and, as Eurogamer points out, appears to have come with a number of staff exits, both voluntary and involuntary. Character designer Nicholas Kole explained that he's left the studio, adding that "everyone I interfaced with and worked along was let go". Crash 4 art director Josh Nadelberg and game designer Blake Maloof have also left the company. Toys For Bob is seemingly the fourth studio to have worked on Warzone, with Infinity Ward leading the project at launch, before passing the baton onto Treyarch and Raven Software. Warzone has become a huge priority for Activision in the last year, which goes some way to explaining throwing major resources at it. We've contacted Activision for comment on what Toys For Bob's role is on the project, and the scale of the lay-offs. Activision recently merged fellow Crash studio Vicarious Visions into Blizzard. The two studios' moves throw into doubt the future of the Crash and Spyro series, which had been revived or returned to in recent years. [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.

Toys for Bob, the developer of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, has been assigned to support development on Call of Duty: Warzone – and seems to have suffered lay-offs as a result. The studio, which was acquired by Activision in 2005, announced the news on Twitter, saying, "Toys for Bob is proud to support development for Season 3 of Call of Duty #Warzone, and look forward to more to come." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/01/crash-bandicoot-4-its-about-time-review"] It's a somewhat surprising move for a studio traditionally focused on games for younger audiences and, as Eurogamer points out, appears to have come with a number of staff exits, both voluntary and involuntary. Character designer Nicholas Kole explained that he's left the studio, adding that "everyone I interfaced with and worked along was let go". Crash 4 art director Josh Nadelberg and game designer Blake Maloof have also left the company. Toys For Bob is seemingly the third studio to have worked on Warzone, with Infinity Ward leading the project at launch, before passing the baton onto Raven Software. Warzone has become a huge priority for Activision in the last year, which goes some way to explaining throwing major resources at it. We've contacted Activision for comment on what Toys For Bob's role is on the project, and the scale of the lay-offs. Activision recently merged fellow Crash studio Vicarious Visions into Blizzard. The two studios' moves throw into doubt the future of the Crash and Spyro series, which had been revived or returned to in recent years. [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.

Zack Snyder has unleashed new character posters for his upcoming Netflix movie Army of the Dead. Snyder tweeted out almost a quarter-deck of neon-splashed posters featuring Army of the Dead's killer cast ensemble, headlined by Dave Bautista's character Scott Ward and Ana de la Reguera's Maria Cruz. The remaining one-sheets served to unveil the rest of the "Las Vengeance" crew, ravaged by one unwanted lurker in the form of Zeus the zombie king. Feast your eyes on them below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=zack-snyders-army-of-the-dead-meet-the-las-vengeance-crew&captions=true"] As spotlighted in the posters, Army of the Dead stars Dave Bautista as Scott Ward, Ana de la Reguera as Maria Cruz, Omari Hardwick as Vanderohe, Matthias Schweighöfer as Dieter, Tig Notaro as Marianne Peters, Nora Arnezeder as Lilly, Ella Purnell as Kate, Huma S. Qureshi as Geeta, Raul Castillo as Mikey Guzman, Samantha Win as Chambers, Theo Rossi as Burt Cummings, and Rich Cetrone as Zeus. Zeus is the leader of a smarter, faster horde of Alpha zombies and zombie tigers prowling around the Las Vegas quarantine zone that Ward and his ragtag team of experts must enter in order to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted: retrieving $200 million from a casino vault situated beneath the corpse-ridden strip before the entire city is nuked by the government, with only 32 hours on the clock. Snyder previously assured fans that the Army of the Dead movie releasing on Netflix and in select theaters on May 21 is the definitive director's cut, meaning there are no other cuts of the movie — unlike Justice League, which made its way onto HBO Max after a legion of fans coalesced into an online collective that, ultimately, a major motion picture studio could not ignore. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=netflix-spotlight-may-2021&captions=true"] Although there aren't any other cuts of the movie, there will be a prequel film and an anime series at Netflix, with Shay Hatten onboard to write both scripts. Schweighöfer is attached to helm and star in the international prequel movie, which is said to follow his Army of the Dead safe-cracking character, while the anime series, Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, will chronicle the origins of Bautista's Scott Ward. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Zack Snyder has unleashed new character posters for his upcoming Netflix movie Army of the Dead. Snyder tweeted out almost a quarter-deck of neon-splashed posters featuring Army of the Dead's killer cast ensemble, headlined by Dave Bautista's character Scott Ward and Ana de la Reguera's Maria Cruz. The remaining one-sheets served to unveil the rest of the "Las Vengeance" crew, ravaged by one unwanted lurker in the form of Zeus the zombie king. Feast your eyes on them below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=zack-snyders-army-of-the-dead-meet-the-las-vengeance-crew&captions=true"] As spotlighted in the posters, Army of the Dead stars Dave Bautista as Scott Ward, Ana de la Reguera as Maria Cruz, Omari Hardwick as Vanderohe, Matthias Schweighöfer as Dieter, Tig Notaro as Marianne Peters, Nora Arnezeder as Lilly, Ella Purnell as Kate, Huma S. Qureshi as Geeta, Raul Castillo as Mikey Guzman, Samantha Win as Chambers, Theo Rossi as Burt Cummings, and Rich Cetrone as Zeus. Zeus is the leader of a smarter, faster horde of Alpha zombies and zombie tigers prowling around the Las Vegas quarantine zone that Ward and his ragtag team of experts must enter in order to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted: retrieving $200 million from a casino vault situated beneath the corpse-ridden strip before the entire city is nuked by the government, with only 32 hours on the clock. Snyder previously assured fans that the Army of the Dead movie releasing on Netflix and in select theaters on May 21 is the definitive director's cut, meaning there are no other cuts of the movie — unlike Justice League, which made its way onto HBO Max after a legion of fans coalesced into an online collective that, ultimately, a major motion picture studio could not ignore. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=netflix-spotlight-may-2021&captions=true"] Although there aren't any other cuts of the movie, there will be a prequel film and an anime series at Netflix, with Shay Hatten onboard to write both scripts. Schweighöfer is attached to helm and star in the international prequel movie, which is said to follow his Army of the Dead safe-cracking character, while the anime series, Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, will chronicle the origins of Bautista's Scott Ward. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

New Pokémon Snap is out today, and while we've gotten some good looks at most of the game's main characters and a number of its Pokémon, The Pokémon Company has remained rather precious about a major cameo that happens early in the game.

It's in the first couple of hours, but if you don't want to be spoiled at all, don't read on.

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It's the appearance of Todd Snap.

If you're not familiar with Mr. Snap, he's the main protagonist from the original Pokémon Snap, who also makes a few appearances in the Pokémon anime and manga. Back in the original Pokémon Snap days, Todd was a goofy kid with a big camera who Professor Oak hired to take photos of wild Pokémon. Over the course of the game, he discovered mysterious "Pokémon Signs" that Professor Oak somehow connected to constellations in the night sky, leading him to send Todd to space (???) to take photos of Mew.

In New Pokémon Snap, those Mew photos have launched a promising career for Todd, and now he's a world-famous photographer. He's also an adult now, with marginally better hair and far better fashion sense than he had as a kid in those giant cargo shorts.

Yes, I know it sounds like Todd's appearance should be a major spoiler, but I promise it's not. Todd Snap shows up within the first hour or so of New Pokémon Snap and hangs out with you and your photography friends the rest of the game. He mostly shows up in cutscenes alongside Professor Mirror and research assistants Rita and Phil to give you direction and photography tips.

Unfortunately, he doesn't get much of a plot role despite his apparent success as a photographer. Phil initially seems to treat you as a photography rival vying for Todd's attention, but this never really plays out in a way that matters. The only other role Todd has during New Pokémon Snap is to offer "Todd's Tips" on the loading screens to help you take better photos. Oh, and a bit of lore suggests he had a critical role in helping Professor Mirror develop and name the Neo-One vehicle you take photos out of, which makes sense given that it's just a nicer version of the Zero-One from Pokémon Snap.

Still, it's genuinely cool that good old Todd Snap is lurking around the Pokémon photography scene and helping uplift the next generation of young photographers. Glad to have you back, Todd. You're looking good.

New Pokémon Snap is out now on Nintendo Switch, with our review finding it to be a delightful photography adventure that adores the creatures on the other side of the lens, even if some of its progression systems could be a bit clunky at times.

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Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine. This article was amended after publication to hide the early game spoiler a bit better.