Xbox is hiring a new employee to help manage its merger and acquisitions programme – suggesting that there may well be more studio acquisitions in its future.

As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Microsoft is seeking a Manager of Gaming Strategy and Development whose responsibilities will include, "Developing and evaluating the business case for content & technology acquisitions." It seems to indicate the company has no plans to slow down its purchasing of developers and other gaming companies.

Referencing the acquisition of Bethesda in 2020 and the intended purchase of Activision Blizzard announced earlier this year, the post states the new manager will seek to "identify and evaluate transformative growth opportunities."

Xbox and PlayStation have been locked in somewhat of an acquisitions race in recent years as both publishers have pushed to expand their range of first-party studios.

Xbox's purchase of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion will be one of the biggest in entertainment history when the deal goes through, putting it on par with Disney's purchase of 21st Century Fox for $71.3 billion and just shy of AT&T's purchase of Time Warner for $85.4 billion.

Sony, on the other hand, purchased Bungie in February for $3.6 billion and in the last year has also acquired several other studios including Bluepoint and Housemarque.

It also has no intentions of slowing down, as Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan said earlier this month that it already has more purchases planned.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Xbox is hiring a new employee to help manage its merger and acquisitions programme – suggesting that there may well be more studio acquisitions in its future.

As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Microsoft is seeking a Manager of Gaming Strategy and Development whose responsibilities will include, "Developing and evaluating the business case for content & technology acquisitions." It seems to indicate the company has no plans to slow down its purchasing of developers and other gaming companies.

Referencing the acquisition of Bethesda in 2020 and the intended purchase of Activision Blizzard announced earlier this year, the post states the new manager will seek to "identify and evaluate transformative growth opportunities."

Xbox and PlayStation have been locked in somewhat of an acquisitions race in recent years as both publishers have pushed to expand their range of first-party studios.

Xbox's purchase of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion will be one of the biggest in entertainment history when the deal goes through, putting it on par with Disney's purchase of 21st Century Fox for $71.3 billion and just shy of AT&T's purchase of Time Warner for $85.4 billion.

Sony, on the other hand, purchased Bungie in February for $3.6 billion and in the last year has also acquired several other studios including Bluepoint and Housemarque.

It also has no intentions of slowing down, as Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan said earlier this month that it already has more purchases planned.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

An Elden Ring dataminer has managed to get the game's inaccessible colosseum content actually working.

Back in March, Souls game hacker Lance McDonald managed to look around the game's locked colosseum locations, speculating that they'd be used for DLC. Now, YouTuber Sekiro Dubi has uploaded a video that seemingly reveals the colosseum's hidden Sites of Grace, location names, and even battling NPCs.

Sekiro Dubi used a map editor called DSMapStudio to effectively break into the colosseum in the Leyndell area, see what was cut, and then piece it all back together, revealing that developer FromSoftware seemingly intended it to be used for actual gladiator fights.

So remember the Elden Ring "possible DLC" Colosseum I made a tiny video about a while ago? Sekiro Dubi got it 'working', it doesn't seem to be DLC, it's some weird cut content where there were big enemies inside fighting each-other? He made a whole video https://t.co/BynoC8SRsu

— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) April 23, 2022

The video shows a giant lion fighting a knight in the colosseum, whose placeholder names were simply listed as "Old Lion of Arena" and "Gladiator Large" respectively.

Sekiro Dubi also uncovers a nameless Site of Grace inside the area, and digging through Elden Ring's Network Test files reveals a Stormveil Colosseum, meaning this one would likely just be Leyndell Colosseum.

A second, unfinished Site of Grace can be found further inside the area that was named internally (and therefore unofficially) as "Return point Bonfire Reception desk", with Bonfires being the Dark Souls equivalent of a Site of Grace.

Despite the new information, it's still unclear if the colosseums spread across Elden Ring's world are an abandoned portion of the game that simply didn't make the final cut or if they're early versions of a potential DLC.

The Limgrave Colosseum is guarded by an NPC invader and another NPC sitting outside asks why they can't get in. The Ritual Shield Talisman available outside the Leyndell Colosseum states the arenas are remains of a bygone era, showing that FromSoftware definitely had a story for them in mind.

DLC that takes the player back in time is also a completely common part of FromSoftware games. The original Dark Souls does exactly that in the Artorias of the Abyss DLC, Bloodborne follows suit with The Old Hunters, and though not DLC, Sekiro also features extensive sections that are set in the past.

It will likely be a while before FromSoftware comments on DLC but given Elden Ring's success and the developer's history, an expansion could be likely.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path."

To make those choices with the best available information, check out our guide that features everything you could ever hope to know about Elden Ring, including collectible locations, boss strategies, and more.

An Elden Ring dataminer has managed to get the game's inaccessible colosseum content actually working.

Back in March, Souls game hacker Lance McDonald managed to look around the game's locked colosseum locations, speculating that they'd be used for DLC. Now, YouTuber Sekiro Dubi has uploaded a video that seemingly reveals the colosseum's hidden Sites of Grace, location names, and even battling NPCs.

Sekiro Dubi used a map editor called DSMapStudio to effectively break into the colosseum in the Leyndell area, see what was cut, and then piece it all back together, revealing that developer FromSoftware seemingly intended it to be used for actual gladiator fights.

So remember the Elden Ring "possible DLC" Colosseum I made a tiny video about a while ago? Sekiro Dubi got it 'working', it doesn't seem to be DLC, it's some weird cut content where there were big enemies inside fighting each-other? He made a whole video https://t.co/BynoC8SRsu

— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) April 23, 2022

The video shows a giant lion fighting a knight in the colosseum, whose placeholder names were simply listed as "Old Lion of Arena" and "Gladiator Large" respectively.

Sekiro Dubi also uncovers a nameless Site of Grace inside the area, and digging through Elden Ring's Network Test files reveals a Stormveil Colosseum, meaning this one would likely just be Leyndell Colosseum.

A second, unfinished Site of Grace can be found further inside the area that was named internally (and therefore unofficially) as "Return point Bonfire Reception desk", with Bonfires being the Dark Souls equivalent of a Site of Grace.

Despite the new information, it's still unclear if the colosseums spread across Elden Ring's world are an abandoned portion of the game that simply didn't make the final cut or if they're early versions of a potential DLC.

The Limgrave Colosseum is guarded by an NPC invader and another NPC sitting outside asks why they can't get in. The Ritual Shield Talisman available outside the Leyndell Colosseum states the arenas are remains of a bygone era, showing that FromSoftware definitely had a story for them in mind.

DLC that takes the player back in time is also a completely common part of FromSoftware games. The original Dark Souls does exactly that in the Artorias of the Abyss DLC, Bloodborne follows suit with The Old Hunters, and though not DLC, Sekiro also features extensive sections that are set in the past.

It will likely be a while before FromSoftware comments on DLC but given Elden Ring's success and the developer's history, an expansion could be likely.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path."

To make those choices with the best available information, check out our guide that features everything you could ever hope to know about Elden Ring, including collectible locations, boss strategies, and more.

The much-anticipated fourth season of Stranger Things is set to be the biggest yet for the series, and the cost to make it so is allegedly just as big as this new season is said to have a per-episode cost of $30 million.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, this news comes via a longer article about Netflix's shift to being more cost-conscious after years of "prioritizing growth over cost-efficiency." Stranger Things was used as an example of a show that needs "under-the-radar, relatively low-cost hits" to balance out its massive price tag.

"Under-the-radar, relatively low-cost hits are necessary to balance out the costs for big-ticket programming such as the special-effects-filled show Stranger Things, whose new season has a per-episode cost of $30 million, according to people close to the show," WSJ writes.

This would make Stranger Things fourth season one of the most expensive seasons in history, and it would put it above the Halo TV series' budget of $10 million per episode, Game of Thrones' final season budget of $15 million per episode, The Mandalorian's $15 million per episode price tag, and the $25 million per episode budget said to accompany Disney+'s Marvel shows. While it may not be quite as expensive as the reported $465 production budget of Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings series, it is still one of the biggest.

This "holy grail" for Netflix is shows like Squid Game and Virgin River that do not cost nearly as much as a Stranger Things would but still become bonafide hits. Virgin River, for example, cost roughly $3 million per episode. Bridgerton, on the other hand, costs "more than three times as much" and is not as efficient as Netflix desires.

This particular focus on success without breaking the bank also comes with the danger of quickly cancelling shows that are not "resonating," even if they are very expensive like Jupiter's Legacy and Hit and Run. Those two projects were cancelled after only about a month on Netflix.

Stranger Things is obviously a huge moneymaker for Netflix, and one of the biggest reasons is that it draws people back in who may not be regular subscribers. Netflix values shows like these that appeal to "less-frequent users of the service, who are the most in danger of canceling their subscription, compared with heavy users, company executives said."

For more, check out our Stranger Things season 4 trailer breakdown with the Duffer brothers, our look at who the new villain is, and how Netflix is slashing animation amid subscriber drops.

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.

The much-anticipated fourth season of Stranger Things is set to be the biggest yet for the series, and the cost to make it so is allegedly just as big as this new season is said to have a per-episode cost of $30 million.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, this news comes via a longer article about Netflix's shift to being more cost-conscious after years of "prioritizing growth over cost-efficiency." Stranger Things was used as an example of a show that needs "under-the-radar, relatively low-cost hits" to balance out its massive price tag.

"Under-the-radar, relatively low-cost hits are necessary to balance out the costs for big-ticket programming such as the special-effects-filled show Stranger Things, whose new season has a per-episode cost of $30 million, according to people close to the show," WSJ writes.

This would make Stranger Things fourth season one of the most expensive seasons in history, and it would put it above the Halo TV series' budget of $10 million per episode, Game of Thrones' final season budget of $15 million per episode, The Mandalorian's $15 million per episode price tag, and the $25 million per episode budget said to accompany Disney+'s Marvel shows. While it may not be quite as expensive as the reported $465 production budget of Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings series, it is still one of the biggest.

This "holy grail" for Netflix is shows like Squid Game and Virgin River that do not cost nearly as much as a Stranger Things would but still become bonafide hits. Virgin River, for example, cost roughly $3 million per episode. Bridgerton, on the other hand, costs "more than three times as much" and is not as efficient as Netflix desires.

This particular focus on success without breaking the bank also comes with the danger of quickly cancelling shows that are not "resonating," even if they are very expensive like Jupiter's Legacy and Hit and Run. Those two projects were cancelled after only about a month on Netflix.

Stranger Things is obviously a huge moneymaker for Netflix, and one of the biggest reasons is that it draws people back in who may not be regular subscribers. Netflix values shows like these that appeal to "less-frequent users of the service, who are the most in danger of canceling their subscription, compared with heavy users, company executives said."

For more, check out our Stranger Things season 4 trailer breakdown with the Duffer brothers, our look at who the new villain is, and how Netflix is slashing animation amid subscriber drops.

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.

The Wachowski Sisters are auctioning off items from their personal collection - including props from the sets of The Matrix, Cloud Atlas, Sense8, and Jupiter Ascending - to raise money for trans youth.

Lilly Wachowski shared the news on Twitter, saying that Lana and her were doing some "spring cleaning" and thought it was the perfect time to auction off some pretty wonderful items for a good cause.

From a Lightning Rifle Prop from The Matrix to the Nebuchadnezzar Designation Plate Concept Maquette to original concept art and blueprints to a Chip n' Dale figurine that was gifted to the sisters by Susan Sarandon, there is a wide range of available items to bid on in the 170 lots. You can even win a trio of awards IGN gave the Wachowskis for The Matrix in 2000!

You can see a few of the many items in the slideshow below and click here to see the full collection!

"hi youse," Lilly Wachowski wrote on Twitter. "So me and Lana have been doing some spring cleaning at our Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse and have happily decided to pass on some of the best treasures we've been collecting over the years!! no ark of the covenants but some pretty major and magical artifacts!

"Also many very reasonable items for a variety of budgets! Everything must go!!!!!! and the best part is, ALL proceeds go to -- Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund - buy some cool sh*t and stand the f*ck up for trans lives!

"Like who doesn't need these [Caine Wise Screen-Worn Latex Ears from Jupiter Ascending]? worn by superhunk @channingtatum!"

The Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund provides "critical funds to organizations providing direct services to trans youth and advocating for the rights of trans youth in states currently targeted by anti-trans policies. For more information and ways to take action, head to trans-week.com."

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.

The Wachowski Sisters are auctioning off items from their personal collection - including props from the sets of The Matrix, Cloud Atlas, Sense8, and Jupiter Ascending - to raise money for trans youth.

Lilly Wachowski shared the news on Twitter, saying that Lana and her were doing some "spring cleaning" and thought it was the perfect time to auction off some pretty wonderful items for a good cause.

From a Lightning Rifle Prop from The Matrix to the Nebuchadnezzar Designation Plate Concept Maquette to original concept art and blueprints to a Chip n' Dale figurine that was gifted to the sisters by Susan Sarandon, there is a wide range of available items to bid on in the 170 lots. You can even win a trio of awards IGN gave the Wachowskis for The Matrix in 2000!

You can see a few of the many items in the slideshow below and click here to see the full collection!

"hi youse," Lilly Wachowski wrote on Twitter. "So me and Lana have been doing some spring cleaning at our Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse and have happily decided to pass on some of the best treasures we've been collecting over the years!! no ark of the covenants but some pretty major and magical artifacts!

"Also many very reasonable items for a variety of budgets! Everything must go!!!!!! and the best part is, ALL proceeds go to -- Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund - buy some cool sh*t and stand the f*ck up for trans lives!

"Like who doesn't need these [Caine Wise Screen-Worn Latex Ears from Jupiter Ascending]? worn by superhunk @channingtatum!"

The Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund provides "critical funds to organizations providing direct services to trans youth and advocating for the rights of trans youth in states currently targeted by anti-trans policies. For more information and ways to take action, head to trans-week.com."

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.

The Bad Guys has passed Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore to win the domestic weekend box office with ticket sales of $24 million.

As reported by Variety, the latest animated film from Dreamworks ended Fantastic Beasts 3's one-week run atop the box office. The third Fantastic Beasts film placed third and saw its ticket sales drop 67% to $14 million. Domestically, Fantastic Beasts 3 has earned $67 million.

The Bad Guys cost $70 million to produce, so it still has some ground to make up. Its international run is doing its part as the film has grossed $63 million, bringing its global total to $87.1 million.

In our The Bad Guys review, we said that it is "a slick, hilarious heist movie with buckets of laughs and a lot of heart. It’s Ocean’s Eleven meets Little Red Riding Hood with Sam Rockwell’s Wolf going on a charm offensive to stay out of jail… and he might just win you over in the process."

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 placed second with $15.2 million in ticket sales and its $145.8 million domestic total is only $3 million away from surpassing the original's North American total.

The Northman placed fourth in its opening weekend by bringing in $12 million. Initial estimates said The Northman cost $90 million to produce, but tax incentives may have brought that total closer to $70 million. The Northman added another $5 million internationally.

In our The Northman review, we said it "is a dreamlike viking revenge saga that shies away from bloodshed, but is still enjoyable."

Rounding out the top five was Nicolas Cage's The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent with ticket sales of $7.1 million. The film will Cage stars as himself is said to have cost $30 million.

In our The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent review, we said, "having a deep and abiding love for the vast filmography of Nicolas Cage is not an outright requirement for enjoying The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, but it would certainly help."

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.

The Bad Guys has passed Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore to win the domestic weekend box office with ticket sales of $24 million.

As reported by Variety, the latest animated film from Dreamworks ended Fantastic Beasts 3's one-week run atop the box office. The third Fantastic Beasts film placed third and saw its ticket sales drop 67% to $14 million. Domestically, Fantastic Beasts 3 has earned $67 million.

The Bad Guys cost $70 million to produce, so it still has some ground to make up. Its international run is doing its part as the film has grossed $63 million, bringing its global total to $87.1 million.

In our The Bad Guys review, we said that it is "a slick, hilarious heist movie with buckets of laughs and a lot of heart. It’s Ocean’s Eleven meets Little Red Riding Hood with Sam Rockwell’s Wolf going on a charm offensive to stay out of jail… and he might just win you over in the process."

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 placed second with $15.2 million in ticket sales and its $145.8 million domestic total is only $3 million away from surpassing the original's North American total.

The Northman placed fourth in its opening weekend by bringing in $12 million. Initial estimates said The Northman cost $90 million to produce, but tax incentives may have brought that total closer to $70 million. The Northman added another $5 million internationally.

In our The Northman review, we said it "is a dreamlike viking revenge saga that shies away from bloodshed, but is still enjoyable."

Rounding out the top five was Nicolas Cage's The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent with ticket sales of $7.1 million. The film will Cage stars as himself is said to have cost $30 million.

In our The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent review, we said, "having a deep and abiding love for the vast filmography of Nicolas Cage is not an outright requirement for enjoying The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, but it would certainly help."

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.