After almost two years on the market, Meta is officially increasing the price of its Quest 2 VR headset by $100.

Beginning August 1, the 128GB storage configuration for the Meta Quest 2 will cost $399.99 (previously $299), while the 256GB model will now retail for $499.99. Meta also confirmed that starting August 1 until December 31, those that purchase a Quest 2 will receive a free digital copy of Beat Saber.

For the time being, the Meta Quest 2 is still available at its current price at numerous retailers (see it at Amazon / Best Buy).

Meta cites inflation as one of the reasons for the price increase writing, "[T]he costs to make and ship our products have been on the rise," Meta said in a recent blog post. "By adjusting the price of Quest 2, we can continue to grow our investment in groundbreaking research and new product development that pushes the VR industry to new heights."

Meta also teased its "ambitious VR hardware roadmap," mentioning once again that it plans to launch Project Cambria later this year and noting that the company plans to release "new generations of Meta Quest" in the future.

Nevertheless, Meta pointed out that despite the $100 price increase, the Quest 2 "continues to be the most affordable VR headset" on the market. Further touting that highly anticipated titles are coming to Quest 2, such as Ghostbusters VR, Among Us VR, and NFL Pro Era. Important to mention, however, that these titles are also coming to other VR headsets, such as the highly-anticipated PSVR2.

Though Meta does have an advantage being a VR gaming headset that does not require a gaming PC or a console to function, and it does have a few games exclusive to its platform, most notably Resident Evil 4 VR.

Next month, Meta will also begin rolling out a new account system that will finally stop requiring Quest 2 owners to use a Facebook account to use the headset.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

After almost two years on the market, Meta is officially increasing the price of its Quest 2 VR headset by $100.

Beginning August 1, the 128GB storage configuration for the Meta Quest 2 will cost $399.99 (previously $299), while the 256GB model will now retail for $499.99. Meta also confirmed that starting August 1 until December 31, those that purchase a Quest 2 will receive a free digital copy of Beat Saber.

For the time being, the Meta Quest 2 is still available at its current price at numerous retailers (see it at Amazon / Best Buy).

Meta cites inflation as one of the reasons for the price increase writing, "[T]he costs to make and ship our products have been on the rise," Meta said in a recent blog post. "By adjusting the price of Quest 2, we can continue to grow our investment in groundbreaking research and new product development that pushes the VR industry to new heights."

Meta also teased its "ambitious VR hardware roadmap," mentioning once again that it plans to launch Project Cambria later this year and noting that the company plans to release "new generations of Meta Quest" in the future.

Nevertheless, Meta pointed out that despite the $100 price increase, the Quest 2 "continues to be the most affordable VR headset" on the market. Further touting that highly anticipated titles are coming to Quest 2, such as Ghostbusters VR, Among Us VR, and NFL Pro Era. Important to mention, however, that these titles are also coming to other VR headsets, such as the highly-anticipated PSVR2.

Though Meta does have an advantage being a VR gaming headset that does not require a gaming PC or a console to function, and it does have a few games exclusive to its platform, most notably Resident Evil 4 VR.

Next month, Meta will also begin rolling out a new account system that will finally stop requiring Quest 2 owners to use a Facebook account to use the headset.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Diablo: Immortal players have reportedly lost millions of XP through a Battle Pass bug that's persisted despite developer Blizzard issuing a hotfix for the issue.

As reported by PCGamesN, players earlier in July said they weren't receiving XP rewards for progressing the game's Battle Pass, which accumulated into millions of experience points being lost.

Reddit user mdkubit posted that, "after today's reset, I completed bounties and finished a Battle Pass rank. The XP animation played but the XP bar did not increase at all." Another user, Revorne-Rev, said they'd ranked up twice "on the Battle Pass and neither gave XP".

These are two of myriad reports, with players discussing varying degrees of the issue. The Battle Pass appears to be working fine for some, while others it works some of the time, but not at all for some.

A community lead for Diablo: Immortal posted on Reddit on July 23 to say that Blizzard was aware of the problem and had issued an update to resolve it. The developer also promised that the amount of lost XP for each player would be calculated and rewarded back.

Reports of the bug persisted following the update, however, with The-Crawling-Chaos saying that "I just levelled my Battle Pass up after the weekly reset and I did not receive any XP for doing so" on July 25, two days after the hotfix. Other users confirmed the same was happening to them, while some said the bug was fixed but they had not been refunded the lost XP.

Diablo: Immortal has faced quite severe criticism from players and critics for its microtransactions that essentially lock the best upgrades behind very expensive lootboxes. Blizzard CEO Mike Ybarra defended the system though, and it certainly made financial sense as the free game made $24 million in its first two weeks.

The issue also appeared in our 6/10 review, as IGN said: "Diablo: Immortal's monster slaying action is visceral and satisfying, and the game offers up a huge amount of gameplay for free. That said, its monetisation model and numerous restrictions sour the end game experience, and leave plenty of room for improvement."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Diablo: Immortal players have reportedly lost millions of XP through a Battle Pass bug that's persisted despite developer Blizzard issuing a hotfix for the issue.

As reported by PCGamesN, players earlier in July said they weren't receiving XP rewards for progressing the game's Battle Pass, which accumulated into millions of experience points being lost.

Reddit user mdkubit posted that, "after today's reset, I completed bounties and finished a Battle Pass rank. The XP animation played but the XP bar did not increase at all." Another user, Revorne-Rev, said they'd ranked up twice "on the Battle Pass and neither gave XP".

These are two of myriad reports, with players discussing varying degrees of the issue. The Battle Pass appears to be working fine for some, while others it works some of the time, but not at all for some.

A community lead for Diablo: Immortal posted on Reddit on July 23 to say that Blizzard was aware of the problem and had issued an update to resolve it. The developer also promised that the amount of lost XP for each player would be calculated and rewarded back.

Reports of the bug persisted following the update, however, with The-Crawling-Chaos saying that "I just levelled my Battle Pass up after the weekly reset and I did not receive any XP for doing so" on July 25, two days after the hotfix. Other users confirmed the same was happening to them, while some said the bug was fixed but they had not been refunded the lost XP.

Diablo: Immortal has faced quite severe criticism from players and critics for its microtransactions that essentially lock the best upgrades behind very expensive lootboxes. Blizzard CEO Mike Ybarra defended the system though, and it certainly made financial sense as the free game made $24 million in its first two weeks.

The issue also appeared in our 6/10 review, as IGN said: "Diablo: Immortal's monster slaying action is visceral and satisfying, and the game offers up a huge amount of gameplay for free. That said, its monetisation model and numerous restrictions sour the end game experience, and leave plenty of room for improvement."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast has established a video game studio led by Dragon Age's fromer executive producer.

Christian Dailey, who announced his departure from Bioware in February, will serve as vice president and head of studio at Skeleton Key - a new Austin, Texas based game development studio working on a AAA project.

"I am excited to be starting this new adventure with the company that has created so many of my favorite toys and games growing up," Dailey said. "Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast have been a huge influence on me. Their brands have inspired my pursuit of a lifelong career in video games. We are looking forward to growing our studio team with more talented creators who share our passion."

President of Wizards of the Coast and digital gaming Cynthia Williams added that the team is "thrilled to continue to build our roster of exceptionally talented digital gaming leaders. We will greatly benefit from the experience that this team and new video game studio bring to Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro."

Skeleton Key is one of several studios Wizards of the Coast has established in recent years, joining Archetype Entertainment, Atomic Arcade, Tuque Games, and more. The studio didn't reveal any more details about what it's working on, but it will likely be years before anything is announced as it's only just been formed.

While Wizards has established a number of studios, its most recent high-profile game - Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance - was not well recieved. Our review noted that Tuque Games had created a "bland, boring trek through repetitive encounters." Lets hope Skeleton Key makes something more impressive.

Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast has established a video game studio led by Dragon Age's fromer executive producer.

Christian Dailey, who announced his departure from Bioware in February, will serve as vice president and head of studio at Skeleton Key - a new Austin, Texas based game development studio working on a AAA project.

"I am excited to be starting this new adventure with the company that has created so many of my favorite toys and games growing up," Dailey said. "Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast have been a huge influence on me. Their brands have inspired my pursuit of a lifelong career in video games. We are looking forward to growing our studio team with more talented creators who share our passion."

President of Wizards of the Coast and digital gaming Cynthia Williams added that the team is "thrilled to continue to build our roster of exceptionally talented digital gaming leaders. We will greatly benefit from the experience that this team and new video game studio bring to Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro."

Skeleton Key is one of several studios Wizards of the Coast has established in recent years, joining Archetype Entertainment, Atomic Arcade, Tuque Games, and more. The studio didn't reveal any more details about what it's working on, but it will likely be years before anything is announced as it's only just been formed.

While Wizards has established a number of studios, its most recent high-profile game - Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance - was not well recieved. Our review noted that Tuque Games had created a "bland, boring trek through repetitive encounters." Lets hope Skeleton Key makes something more impressive.

Pitching a movie as 'Ryan Gosling vs. Chris Evans' has seemingly been a major success for Netflix, because The Gray Man is already getting a sequel and a spin-off – less than two weeks after release.

Netflix announced that a sequel will see Gosling return alongside directors Joe and Anthony Russo. Stephen McFeely (co-writer on The Gray Man and Avengers: Endgame) will handle the screenplay.

Alongside that sequel, we'll get a spin-off that will "explore a different element of The Gray Man universe" - although those details are being kept secret for now. What we do know is that the spin-off will be written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, best known for their work on Deadpool and Zombieland.

Understandably, there's not much more information on either movie, but we did get a celebratory picture of Gosling looking moody:

In a press release, the Russo brothers wrote, “The audience reaction to The Gray Man has been nothing short of phenomenal. We are so appreciative of the enthusiasm that fans across the world have had for this film. With so many amazing characters in the movie, we had always intended for the Gray Man to be part of an expanded universe, and we are thrilled that Netflix is announcing a sequel with Ryan, as well as a second script that we’re excited to talk about soon.”

While it's clearly been a hit for Netflix, we weren't quite as sold on The Gray Man. In a 5/10 review, we said that the movie "wastes its all-star cast by giving them little to work with beyond quips. While it eventually becomes watchable, it spends most of its runtime being visually and emotionally indecipherable."

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.

Pitching a movie as 'Ryan Gosling vs. Chris Evans' has seemingly been a major success for Netflix, because The Gray Man is already getting a sequel and a spin-off – less than two weeks after release.

Netflix announced that a sequel will see Gosling return alongside directors Joe and Anthony Russo. Stephen McFeely (co-writer on The Gray Man and Avengers: Endgame) will handle the screenplay.

Alongside that sequel, we'll get a spin-off that will "explore a different element of The Gray Man universe" - although those details are being kept secret for now. What we do know is that the spin-off will be written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, best known for their work on Deadpool and Zombieland.

Understandably, there's not much more information on either movie, but we did get a celebratory picture of Gosling looking moody:

In a press release, the Russo brothers wrote, “The audience reaction to The Gray Man has been nothing short of phenomenal. We are so appreciative of the enthusiasm that fans across the world have had for this film. With so many amazing characters in the movie, we had always intended for the Gray Man to be part of an expanded universe, and we are thrilled that Netflix is announcing a sequel with Ryan, as well as a second script that we’re excited to talk about soon.”

While it's clearly been a hit for Netflix, we weren't quite as sold on The Gray Man. In a 5/10 review, we said that the movie "wastes its all-star cast by giving them little to work with beyond quips. While it eventually becomes watchable, it spends most of its runtime being visually and emotionally indecipherable."

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.

Stone Blade Entertainment has announced that SolForge: Fusion, a new physical/digital hybrid trading card game from the creators of Magic: The Gathering and Ascension, will be released on September 22 this year.

SolForge: Fusion is the sequel to SolForge, a digital-only trading card game released in 2016 and eventually shuttered in 2019. Designed by Richard Garfield (Magic: The Gathering) and Justin Gary (Ascension Deckbuilding Game), this sequel combines both physical cards and a digital game to create a card game that can be played both in-person and remotely online.

Originally funded by Kickstarter, the game is now almost ready to go and will be available in stores from September 22. The core premise of SolForge: Fusion is that players ‘fuse’ together two half-decks to create a full deck of cards. Those cards are also "algorithmically generated", with the intention of ensuring that “no two SolForge: Fusion decks are the same”. Stone Blade hopes this will prevent the classic card game issue of players copying decks with high win rates.

Half decks and booster packs will be available in physical form, and those cards can then be scanned into the SolForge online database to be used in online battles. The digital side of SolForge, while having an official website and leaderboards, will actually be conducted via Tabletop Simulator.

“SolForge Fusion represents the culmination of over a decade of development from Richard [Garfield] and I to create a great game unlike any other,” said Justin Gary in a press release. “Players can customize truly one of a kind decks to create a unique and compelling experience every time they play, whether in person or online.”

"Combining two procedurally generated half-decks gives an easy way to customize your deck, and wildly expands the possibilities of a collection." said Richard Garfield. "And creating cards by fusing two halves together gives over 15K possible cards in the first set alone, more than were created in the first 20+ years of Magic: The Gathering!"

SolForge: Fusion will be available to play at GenCon 2022 from August 4-7, where learn to play tutorials and tournaments will be held. Further events are being planned for PAX Unplugged and other conventions.

For more from the world of card games, check out Magic's crossover with Fortnite, and how it is hiding rare vintage cards in upcoming booster packs.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Stone Blade Entertainment has announced that SolForge: Fusion, a new physical/digital hybrid trading card game from the creators of Magic: The Gathering and Ascension, will be released on September 22 this year.

SolForge: Fusion is the sequel to SolForge, a digital-only trading card game released in 2016 and eventually shuttered in 2019. Designed by Richard Garfield (Magic: The Gathering) and Justin Gary (Ascension Deckbuilding Game), this sequel combines both physical cards and a digital game to create a card game that can be played both in-person and remotely online.

Originally funded by Kickstarter, the game is now almost ready to go and will be available in stores from September 22. The core premise of SolForge: Fusion is that players ‘fuse’ together two half-decks to create a full deck of cards. Those cards are also "algorithmically generated", with the intention of ensuring that “no two SolForge: Fusion decks are the same”. Stone Blade hopes this will prevent the classic card game issue of players copying decks with high win rates.

Half decks and booster packs will be available in physical form, and those cards can then be scanned into the SolForge online database to be used in online battles. The digital side of SolForge, while having an official website and leaderboards, will actually be conducted via Tabletop Simulator.

“SolForge Fusion represents the culmination of over a decade of development from Richard [Garfield] and I to create a great game unlike any other,” said Justin Gary in a press release. “Players can customize truly one of a kind decks to create a unique and compelling experience every time they play, whether in person or online.”

"Combining two procedurally generated half-decks gives an easy way to customize your deck, and wildly expands the possibilities of a collection." said Richard Garfield. "And creating cards by fusing two halves together gives over 15K possible cards in the first set alone, more than were created in the first 20+ years of Magic: The Gathering!"

SolForge: Fusion will be available to play at GenCon 2022 from August 4-7, where learn to play tutorials and tournaments will be held. Further events are being planned for PAX Unplugged and other conventions.

For more from the world of card games, check out Magic's crossover with Fortnite, and how it is hiding rare vintage cards in upcoming booster packs.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.