Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for Marvel's Moon Knight!

This week the last episode of Moon Knight aired, bringing the supposed end to one hero and kicking of the exploits of another. Marc Spector and Steven Great were able to bargain for freedom away from the service of Khonshu, not knowing that there was a catch. At the same time, Layla El-Faouly stepped up as the new avatar of the Hippo-faced goddess Tawaret.

Layla's heroic identity is the Scarlet Scarab, an Egyptian hero from Marvel Comics who only shares slight similarities with the MCU counterpart. In the comics, the first Scarlet Scarab is Dr. Abdul Faoul, who uses the powers of a scarab amulet to gain a crimson costume and the powers of super-strength, flight, and energy projection. The amulet and mantle were then passed on to his son, Mehemet Faoul. The MCU version has only tangential connections, like the Scarab of Ammit being unearthed by archaeologist Dr. Abdallah El-Faouly. Otherwise, this new iteration blazes its own trail, with Layla's powers coming from a different source and featuring an entirely unique look.

While Marc Spector's outfit as Moon Knight is clearly inspired by Khonshu himself, Layla's new guise as the Scarlet Scarab sports hand-held blades and metal wings. How do wings tie into service to Tawaret? Is Layla supposed to be like the Oxpecker birds that sit on the backs of hippos?

The answer is that Layla's superheroic identity was originally tied to a different goddess entirely.

"She wasn't at the beginning, tied to Tawaret. She was an avatar of Isis," director Mohamed Diab tells IGN.

Looking up Isis, you can definitely see where Scarlet Scarab's inspiration came from. The goddess is frequently depicted with outstretched wings, very similar to the ones on Layla's costume. It also makes more sense in the narrative that Isis would take over Osiris duties in his absence; she was a deity involved in funeral rites, who helped the dead reach the afterlife. She also happened to be married to Osiris and was the one who brought him back to life in the first place.

So why the change? According to Diab, it's because they ultimately decided that Isis wasn't the right character to pair with Layla.

"[Isis] was serious and there wasn't much fun. I love the idea of tying people who are at the opposite ends together, that creates drama," said Diab. "But I love her relationship, what could happen between her and Tawaret? She's so serious and Tawaret could annoy the hell out of her. She's funny, but she could be a handful. So I love having her."

We'll have to see where the partnership takes the pair in the future, if Moon Knight has a future. Currently, there's no word from Marvel whether the show will get a second season or other follow-ups. Diab said that it'd be "a waste" if that didn't happen in some fashion and he'd be excited to return to the character.

While we're waiting for more Moon Knight and Scarlet Scarab, Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness is in theaters right now. Marvel Studios will also be releasing the new Ms. Marvel series, which will hit Disney+ on June 8.

'Mike Williams is a freelance writer at IGN.

Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi has heaped praise on Christian Bale for his portrayal of Gorr the God Butcher in the upcoming Thor movie.

During an interview with Associated Press, the 46-year-old filmmaker called out Bale’s performance.

“In my humble opinion, we have probably the best villain that Marvel’s ever had in Christian Bale,” he said.

The upcoming Thor sequel depicts the legendary Norse god’s search for inner peace.

Unfortunately, his spiritual gap year is short-lived as the villainous Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) turns up looking for vengeance. But is Thor a match for the infamous cosmic villain after the events of Avengers: Endgame

“Thor is just trying to figure out his purpose, trying to figure out exactly who he is and why he’s a hero or whether he should be a hero,” said Waititi. “I guess you could call it a midlife crisis.”

“It’s a great, really fun, weird little group of heroes, a new team for Thor with Korg, Valkyrie, and The Mighty Thor.”

Of course, his search for identity leads Thor on a journey of self-discovery where he even gets a rather striking new look at one point. Worse still, he runs into his old girlfriend, Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) who seemed to be doing a lot better than him.

In fact, she’s suited up as Thor, and wielding his legendary hammer. Bummer.

“The film finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace,” reads the official synopsis. “But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods.”

Marvel recently revealed a cool new poster depicting Jane Foster as the mighty Thor, while another separate image gave us our first glimpse of Russell Crowe as Zeus, the legendary Greek god.

How Thor will take on Gorr the God Butcher remains to be seen… but Jane Foster’s stint as Thor will follow the comic books even closer than we thought.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi has heaped praise on Christian Bale for his portrayal of Gorr the God Butcher in the upcoming Thor movie.

During an interview with Associated Press, the 46-year-old filmmaker called out Bale’s performance.

“In my humble opinion, we have probably the best villain that Marvel’s ever had in Christian Bale,” he said.

The upcoming Thor sequel depicts the legendary Norse god’s search for inner peace.

Unfortunately, his spiritual gap year is short-lived as the villainous Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) turns up looking for vengeance. But is Thor a match for the infamous cosmic villain after the events of Avengers: Endgame

“Thor is just trying to figure out his purpose, trying to figure out exactly who he is and why he’s a hero or whether he should be a hero,” said Waititi. “I guess you could call it a midlife crisis.”

“It’s a great, really fun, weird little group of heroes, a new team for Thor with Korg, Valkyrie, and The Mighty Thor.”

Of course, his search for identity leads Thor on a journey of self-discovery where he even gets a rather striking new look at one point. Worse still, he runs into his old girlfriend, Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) who seemed to be doing a lot better than him.

In fact, she’s suited up as Thor, and wielding his legendary hammer. Bummer.

“The film finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace,” reads the official synopsis. “But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods.”

Marvel recently revealed a cool new poster depicting Jane Foster as the mighty Thor, while another separate image gave us our first glimpse of Russell Crowe as Zeus, the legendary Greek god.

How Thor will take on Gorr the God Butcher remains to be seen… but Jane Foster’s stint as Thor will follow the comic books even closer than we thought.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Nvidia has announced new incentives for those who are subscribed to the RTX 3080-tier of its cloud gaming service, GeForce Now. This includes the option to stream games in 4K on the native apps for PC and Mac.

As announced in the latest blog post, Nvidia confirmed that RTX 3080 subscribers can now stream games in 4K resolution and 60FPS when playing games on the native GeForce Now apps on both PC and Mac. Previously, these subscribers with the membership tier could only stream games on the PC and Mac clients at a resolution of 1440p, while the 4K resolution was exclusive to those who owned an Nvidia Shield TV.

Nvidia also announced that six new Android-based smartphones now support high refresh rate cloud gaming, at 1080p and 120Hz; this includes Samsung's Galaxy S22 series, such as the S22 Ultra, the Galaxy Z Fold 3, and Z Flip 3, in addition to the OnePlus 9 Pro. Smartphones that already support this feature include the Samsung's Galaxy S21 series and the Google Pixel 6 Pro.

The announcement comes less than a year after Nvidia announced the RTX 3080-tier membership, which allowed those struggling, to buy a card in Nvidia's RTX 30 series – allowing subscribers to play games with an RTX 3080 PC gaming rig without physically buying the GPU.

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

Nvidia has announced new incentives for those who are subscribed to the RTX 3080-tier of its cloud gaming service, GeForce Now. This includes the option to stream games in 4K on the native apps for PC and Mac.

As announced in the latest blog post, Nvidia confirmed that RTX 3080 subscribers can now stream games in 4K resolution and 60FPS when playing games on the native GeForce Now apps on both PC and Mac. Previously, these subscribers with the membership tier could only stream games on the PC and Mac clients at a resolution of 1440p, while the 4K resolution was exclusive to those who owned an Nvidia Shield TV.

Nvidia also announced that six new Android-based smartphones now support high refresh rate cloud gaming, at 1080p and 120Hz; this includes Samsung's Galaxy S22 series, such as the S22 Ultra, the Galaxy Z Fold 3, and Z Flip 3, in addition to the OnePlus 9 Pro. Smartphones that already support this feature include the Samsung's Galaxy S21 series and the Google Pixel 6 Pro.

The announcement comes less than a year after Nvidia announced the RTX 3080-tier membership, which allowed those struggling, to buy a card in Nvidia's RTX 30 series – allowing subscribers to play games with an RTX 3080 PC gaming rig without physically buying the GPU.

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

Netflix's shareholders are suing the company over subscriber losses.

According to Variety, the online streaming giant has been hit with a lawsuit by its shareholders who claim that Netflix misled them about the extent of its recent subscriber losses.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, in a federal district court in San Francisco, alleges that Netflix violated U.S. security laws by making “materially false and/or misleading statements” to its shareholders. It’s also claimed that Netflix “failed to disclose material adverse facts about the company’s business, operations and prospects.”

Netflix lost a staggering 200,000 subscribers in the first three months of 2020 and according to reports, it has since responded to these massive drops with targeted cuts to its animation department as well as canning its TUDUM media outlet – an online editorial website that only operated for several months.

It also began to crack down on password sharing, hoping to increase the number of subscribers by limiting the ability to share Netflix accounts.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, seeks unspecified monetary damages on behalf of investors who owned Netflix shares between October 19, 2021, and April 19, 2022.

Damages claimed include “compensatory damages in favor of Plaintiff and the other Class members against all defendants, jointly and severally, for all damages sustained as a result of Defendants’ wrongdoing, in an amount to be proven at trial, including interest thereon.”

Netflix shares plummeted 35.1 percent overnight after reports of subscriber losses, losing $54.3 billion overnight. That’s the single biggest one-day drop in Netflix history.

Meanwhile, the lawsuit alleges that Netflix and its top executives “employed devices, schemes and artifices to defraud [investors], while in possession of material adverse non-public information”.

The lawsuit also claims that Netflix made “untrue statements of material facts and/or omitting to state material facts necessary in order to make the statements made about Netflix and its business operations and future prospects in light of the circumstances under which they were made not misleading.”

Allegations that Netflix has been covering up its losses go back to the company’s Q3 earnings report in October 2021. Shareholders claim they were not told about Netflix’s declining subscriptions.

“Netflix was exhibiting slower [customer] acquisition growth due to, among other things, account sharing by customers and increased competition from other streaming services,” reads the lawsuit.

They claim to have suffered “significant losses and damages” in the wake of Netflix’s “wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Company’s securities.”

Netflix’s stock price dropped a staggering 67% during the period covered in the lawsuit – from $691.69/share on November 17, 2021, to just $226.19/share on April 20, 2022.

The case of Pirani v. Netflix Inc et al. was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lead plaintiff in the suit is listed as Fiyyaz Pirani, a trustee of Imperium Irrevocable Trust, which is a Netflix shareholder. The lawsuit names Netflix as well as co-CEOs Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos and CFO Spencer Neumann as defendants.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Netflix's shareholders are suing the company over subscriber losses.

According to Variety, the online streaming giant has been hit with a lawsuit by its shareholders who claim that Netflix misled them about the extent of its recent subscriber losses.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, in a federal district court in San Francisco, alleges that Netflix violated U.S. security laws by making “materially false and/or misleading statements” to its shareholders. It’s also claimed that Netflix “failed to disclose material adverse facts about the company’s business, operations and prospects.”

Netflix lost a staggering 200,000 subscribers in the first three months of 2020 and according to reports, it has since responded to these massive drops with targeted cuts to its animation department as well as canning its TUDUM media outlet – an online editorial website that only operated for several months.

It also began to crack down on password sharing, hoping to increase the number of subscribers by limiting the ability to share Netflix accounts.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, seeks unspecified monetary damages on behalf of investors who owned Netflix shares between October 19, 2021, and April 19, 2022.

Damages claimed include “compensatory damages in favor of Plaintiff and the other Class members against all defendants, jointly and severally, for all damages sustained as a result of Defendants’ wrongdoing, in an amount to be proven at trial, including interest thereon.”

Netflix shares plummeted 35.1 percent overnight after reports of subscriber losses, losing $54.3 billion overnight. That’s the single biggest one-day drop in Netflix history.

Meanwhile, the lawsuit alleges that Netflix and its top executives “employed devices, schemes and artifices to defraud [investors], while in possession of material adverse non-public information”.

The lawsuit also claims that Netflix made “untrue statements of material facts and/or omitting to state material facts necessary in order to make the statements made about Netflix and its business operations and future prospects in light of the circumstances under which they were made not misleading.”

Allegations that Netflix has been covering up its losses go back to the company’s Q3 earnings report in October 2021. Shareholders claim they were not told about Netflix’s declining subscriptions.

“Netflix was exhibiting slower [customer] acquisition growth due to, among other things, account sharing by customers and increased competition from other streaming services,” reads the lawsuit.

They claim to have suffered “significant losses and damages” in the wake of Netflix’s “wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Company’s securities.”

Netflix’s stock price dropped a staggering 67% during the period covered in the lawsuit – from $691.69/share on November 17, 2021, to just $226.19/share on April 20, 2022.

The case of Pirani v. Netflix Inc et al. was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lead plaintiff in the suit is listed as Fiyyaz Pirani, a trustee of Imperium Irrevocable Trust, which is a Netflix shareholder. The lawsuit names Netflix as well as co-CEOs Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos and CFO Spencer Neumann as defendants.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Yesterday, a new trailer for the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi dropped. In anticipation of its upcoming release, Ewan McGregor is in full press mode supporting the six-part series and stopped by virtually on the Jimmy Kimmel show.

Over the course of the interview, McGregor dove right into a number of topics ranging from action figures of himself to fans who know more about the series than he does. But it is one specific side comment that made us pause.

In the interview, he praises director Deborah Chow who “really knows [her stuff]” regarding the various media the Star Wars universe inhabits. McGregor says that “all of the storylines have to … match up” and you “can't have some fact in a video game that doesn't match up to the movie.”

It’s a known fact that Star Wars Jedi: Fall Order is situated around the same time as the events of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. It isn’t that big of a hyperspace jump to think we could see a cameo from Cal Kestis or another Fallen Order character.

In Jedi Fallen Order, Cal is hunted down by the Jedi hunting Inquisitors. In fact, both Fallen Order and the Obi-Wan series feature The Inquisitors as the main villains. Check out our Jedi: Fallen Order review to see just what we thought of Cal's adventure. Could he be in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Luckily, we won’t have to wait too long to find out. Obi-Wan Kenobi drops its first two episodes on Disney Plus May 27, 2022. In the mean time, check out our coverage on the heartfelt reunion between Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen for Obi-Wan Kenobi and be sure to check out the first trailer for the series.

Casey David Muir-Taylor is a freelance writer at IGN.

Yesterday, a new trailer for the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi dropped. In anticipation of its upcoming release, Ewan McGregor is in full press mode supporting the six-part series and stopped by virtually on the Jimmy Kimmel show.

Over the course of the interview, McGregor dove right into a number of topics ranging from action figures of himself to fans who know more about the series than he does. But it is one specific side comment that made us pause.

In the interview, he praises director Deborah Chow who “really knows [her stuff]” regarding the various media the Star Wars universe inhabits. McGregor says that “all of the storylines have to … match up” and you “can't have some fact in a video game that doesn't match up to the movie.”

It’s a known fact that Star Wars Jedi: Fall Order is situated around the same time as the events of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. It isn’t that big of a hyperspace jump to think we could see a cameo from Cal Kestis or another Fallen Order character.

In Jedi Fallen Order, Cal is hunted down by the Jedi hunting Inquisitors. In fact, both Fallen Order and the Obi-Wan series feature The Inquisitors as the main villains. Check out our Jedi: Fallen Order review to see just what we thought of Cal's adventure. Could he be in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Luckily, we won’t have to wait too long to find out. Obi-Wan Kenobi drops its first two episodes on Disney Plus May 27, 2022. In the mean time, check out our coverage on the heartfelt reunion between Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen for Obi-Wan Kenobi and be sure to check out the first trailer for the series.

Casey David Muir-Taylor is a freelance writer at IGN.

Buying a house in Final Fantasy XIV sometimes feels as insurmountable a task as buying a house in real life.

Housing has been a hot commodity in FFXIV for years, as owning a house gives players a space to decorate and make their own. But with demand far outpacing supply, housing is one of the luxury items in Final Fantasy XIV.

But if you're lucky to get a house, you'll be glad to check out HGXIV, a fan podcast, and community that shines a spotlight on designers and provides essential resources like design guides, housing directories, designer portfolios, and more.

There are two big hurdles to purchasing a house in FFXIV. The first is the high cost, as the most basic plot of land starts at 3 million gil (the in-game currency), and larger plots can cost up to 50 million gil. What makes buying a house even more difficult is that it has practically become a game of chance, as players need to comb through residential wards and wait for plots to go on sale, then hope they can snatch it before someone else. A certain level of commitment to FFXIV is needed to even consider owning a house.

Square Enix has constantly tried to introduce new ways to get houses to more players, but even its most recent attempt with a lottery system was met with a crippling glitch that messed up the way winners were drawn.

Despite all the roadblocks, however, a vibrant community has popped up around the housing market, filled with dozens of virtual interior designers.

“When I first started to learn how to decorate, there weren’t many guides or resources online on how to do things. I would look on the FFXIV subreddit and sometimes people would post their houses, but where could I find more? I luckily was able to find a website called Housingsnap. It’s Japanese based (the Japanese housing community is HUGE) and users can post pictures, and it really changed how I looked at decorating,” says Ashen Bride, the founder of HGXIV, who adds that the podcast was created “from a desire to not only discuss housing and aspects that go into a design, like lighting, and themes, but to also offer transparency on how to make furniture.”

Countless housing portfolios can be found on Twitter and forums, and from a glance, everything might seem incredibly overwhelming. It’s hard to even know where to start, but that’s the entire reason HGXIV exists. “People joke that ‘Housing Savage’ is buying a plot in the first place but I would say decorating is truly where the suffering begins!” says Bride, who also offers a few tips to anyone looking to get their start.

“I would say if you’re brand new, the best thing to do is work within your limits, just set things down and sit and enjoy your space. Don’t rush yourself, or compare yourself to someone else, because everyone has their own skill sets and ways to make things. The space you’re making is for you and your friends to enjoy!”

HGXIV’s Discord has a robust set of options to help anyone of all skill levels, from a massive directory of designers that work for gil commissions to stop-motion “Break it Down” videos that go step-by-step through designs. Of course, if you’d simply like to hire a professional designer you can also do just that with HGXIV’s directory.

It’s a wide and vibrant community that’s welcoming to newcomers, and Bride herself doesn’t have any real-world interior design experience. They’ve been playing FFXIV since 2013 but didn’t get invested in the housing community until they had the chance to purchase a house after moving to the Famfrit server. This is when things finally started to make sense.

As Bride says, “I enjoy problem and puzzle-solving and sometimes the limitations of the furniture system can breed a lot of creativity from designers. Something about FFXIV and lego-ing furniture together just clicks in my brain.”

While HGXIV creates a fantastic resource for prospective designers, Square Enix still has some work to do to make housing more accessible to more players. Up until recently getting a house in XIV required a lot of time and patience, effectively requiring players to camp out at housing wards to try and find plots that would go up for sale.

The lottery system was supposed to make the whole process a bit more fair and, hopefully, a crackdown on the bots abusing the system. During the entry period of the lottery, players could pursue the housing wards and find a plot that they like. At that point, they can pay the requisite gil to enter the lottery, which randomly chooses a winner from all players that have entered.

This would, supposedly, make getting houses a fairer process across the board, and cut down on a single-player purchasing multiple housing lots. Anyone who doesn’t win will get their gil back. Glitches have put a damper on the whole lottery system, but Square Enix has been incredibly diligent about providing new housing wards and servers to open up more options.

There’s no easy answer to the problem, as Bride notes that a lot of the community has suggested “Instancing” housing, which would essentially give each player self-contained housing that only they and their friends could enter. However, Bride explains how this could also kill the illusion of permanence that housing wards have. “I also feel they want to keep the immersion of wandering a housing ward and standing around with friends,” they add.

On top of the core problem of getting a house, there are a lot of smaller improvements that could be made to the overall system to streamline design. “I love to decorate but the Housing Menu system is so outdated and clunky to work with.” In many cases, players have to break and “glitch” the game to get custom designs, like wanting to use a lamp for a floating light or putting a book on a bed. HGXIV has an entire section on its website that walks players through the various means of “glitching” and creating custom designs.

It’s amazing to see how XIV’s housing community has exploded over the last few years, and Bride thinks a large part of that is how the game targets a more casual demographic. “I’m not ashamed to say I keep a subscription at this point to log in, talk to my friends, and decorate a house. It creates a social aspect while also letting players show their creative side. I really enjoy going into someone’s house and being able to see parts of their personality and the things that they like,” says Bride.

FFXIV has helped create an important social space for so many players that feel isolated, whether that’s from their own life or the pandemic. It’s clear there’s an overwhelming amount of passion that goes into housing designs and the community, and if HGXIV can help even one other person find their passion, then it’s succeeded.

“Sometimes I think back about how I started out, and how I wanted to learn new designs and make friends with similar interests, but I was a bit lonely without a community. I’m happy if anything I put out there has made it easier for people in their housing journey to feel accepted and make friends.”

Check out IGN's Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker review for more coverage of Square Enix's hit MMO.

Hayes Madsen is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on Inverse, Fanbyte, PCGamesN, and more. Hayes loves anything related to JRPGs and cats, especially if they're together. You can reach him @Solfleet on Twitter.