Amazon is raising the price of a Prime membership for the first time in four years, the company announced during its quarterly earnings report on Thursday. Amazon cited its new NFL deal to stream Thursday Night Football and expanded entertainment offerings, THR reports.

An annual Amazon Prime membership will go from $119 to $139, while monthly will go from $12.99 to $14.99. Price changes go into effect on February 18 for new subscribers, while current subscribers will see their first renewal period after March 25 reflect the change.

In addition to paying the NFL $1 billion for the rights to stream Thursday Night Football, Amazon has also significantly expanded its streaming library with exclusives like The Boys, Wheel of Time, and the upcoming Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power series. Buying the rights to Lord of the Rings in 2017 cost Amazon more than $200 million, and a first season that reportedly cost more than $465 million to produce, making it one of the most expensive television series ever made.

Amazon also said that more than 200 million Prime members had streamed its library of shows and movies, and cited same-day delivery, pharmacy delivery, and Amazon Music as factors in its decision to raise Prime costs.

Amazon reported other Q4 results, including $137.4 billion in net sales and $14.3 billion in net income. For 2021, it generated $470 billion in total net sales and $33.4 billion in net income. Amazon says it expects to have net sales in 2022 totaling somewhere between $112 billion and $117 billion.

Image credit: Daniela Vasquez/Getty Images.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

Ghostwire: Tokyo has been something of a mystery since Bethesda unveiled the game in 2019, but a new gameplay deep-dive has finally shed light on how the game actually works, including its open world and combat mechanics.

Tango Gameworks, developers of The Evil Within, revealed the game is an open world set in a haunted Tokyo following "the Vanishing", a paranormal occurance where 99% of the population vanished.

The city has become overrun with spirits from Japanese mythology and the player must use a combined arsenal of supernatural powers and traditional weaponry to save it.

Open World

Ghostwire: Tokyo's open world, despite its fairly unique setting, appears to take on more traditional elements of the genre

A standard menu map allows the navigation of a Tokyo packed with main missions, side quests, and points of interest that involve defeating enemies within a certain location to clear surrounding fog.

These areas are marked by corrupted torii gates that players must cleanse in order to clear the fog, and there are several – big and small – scattered throughout Tokyo.

Another open world activity is the inclusion of strange spaces throughout the map that lean back into Tango Gameworks' horror past. The player must walk through corridors "where time and space cannot be trusted" which look to be something like a toned-down version of P.T. "The only way to complete your mission is to power through," the deep-dive narrator explains.

Traversal around the city is also "an essential part" of Ghostwire: Tokyo and the player has access to what is essentially a grapple-hook, known here as the Tengu Ability. The player can latch onto flying Tengu monsters to leap onto and across rooftops, and appears to have a glide ability as well.

There's also a "Spectral Vision" pulse , essentially a detective mode, that reveals enemies and points of interest in the vicinity.

Combat

At the centre of Ghostwire: Tokyo's combat is a skill called "Ethereal Weaving" that's used to fight the monsters that appeared after the Vanishing.

It fuses spiritual energy with fire, air, or water to launch close or long-range attacks at the variety of enemies that require different playstyles to defeat.

Incoming attacks can also be parried and the player's supernatural powers can be charged up to enter "Wire-In" mode and unleash more powerful attacks.

The player will also unlock more "traditional" weapons such as a bow and arrow (the gameplay showed regular and explosive arrows) and talismans that explode with lightning.

Ghostwire: Tokyo also features stealth gameplay and has dedicated stealth sections where the player's supernatural abilities are stripped away, forcing a reliance on "wits and traditional weapons".

Typical RPG mechanics are also present, with earned skill points used to unlock different "abilities" and "Ethereal Weaving" power-ups.

Story

Ghostwire: Tokyo opens as main character Akito wakes up after the Vanishing. 99% of the population is gone, the city is flooded with supernatural creatures, and there's a demon called K.K. in your head. What a morning.

Akito must master his new abilities to fight ghouls and figure out what happened to Tokyo, not to mention save it. From there, it's anyone's guess where we'll go next.

The game will finally arrive on March 25, and will likely be the last PlayStation console-exclusive Bethesda game. We know that Tango Gameworks is already hard at work on the next game after Ghostwire too.

Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.

A new year means a new Call of Duty and this year’s entry will be developed by Infinity Ward.

To maintain Call of Duty’s annual release cycle, Activision rotates development across three developers, Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer, with other studios lending support.

Infinity Ward is once again up to bad having previously developed 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, as well as the ongoing Call of Duty: Warzone. Infinity Ward’s official Twitter account confirmed the news by tweeting that a “new generation of Call of Duty is coming soon,” along with the words, “Stay frosty.”

A new generation of Call of Duty is coming soon.

Stay frosty.

— Infinity Ward (@InfinityWard) February 3, 2022

This could mean that Infinity Ward is working on a sequel in the Modern Warfare series given the 2019 reboot was met with positive reviews and commercial success. Leaks previously suggested that the next Call of Duty is indeed a Modern Warfare sequel and that 11 studios are hard at work on it.

As far as features and storylines, Activision is keeping those under wraps. In the latest financials, Acitivison simply says that Infinity Ward is “working on the most ambitious plan in franchise history, with industry-leading innovation and a broadly appealing franchise setting.”

Last year Activision released Call of Duty: Vanguard developed by Sledgehammer. The World War 2 setting had “lower premium sales” versus the release before that, 2020’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Similarly, engagement for Call of Duty: Warzone declined over the quarter as well.

While the future of the Call of Duty franchise has been put into question following the news Xbox plans to acquire Activision Blizzard, reports state that for now, at least, Call of Duty will remain an annual, multiplatform franchise.

Check out IGN’s review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare here for our impressions of Infinity Ward’s last Call of Duty title.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Rumors of a Warcraft mobile game have swirled since way back in 2017, and it looks like 2022 will finally deliver. Blizzard has just confirmed that a new Warcraft mobile game will be releasing this year.

In its quarterly earnings report, Blizzard said that it is "planning substantial new content for the Warcraft franchise in 2022, including new experiences in World of Warcraft and Hearthstone, and getting all-new mobile Warcraft content into players’ hands for the first time."

Previously, Blizzard has revealed it was in fact working on multiple Warcraft mobile experiences that were in "advanced development" as of August 2021. Further official details haven't been shared, including genre or exactly what element of the Warcraft universe this will cover, though it's possible one of the games on deck is a rumored Pokemon GO-styled AR game.

If a Warcraft mobile game makes it out this year, it won't be the only mobile game from Blizzard, as Diablo: Immortal is currently planned for release as well in the first half of 2022.

As for what the rest of the "substantial new content" might be, keep your hopes tempered. It's possible this is just referring to new expansions or major patches, though it's also possible the company is planning to make another attempt at expanding Warcraft beyond the MMORPG after its attempt at a remake of Warcraft 3 fell flat for many. There's no telling what changes to regular business might be in store down the line following the announcement that Microsoft would acquire Activision-Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal finalizing in 2023.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Kabam announced that the servers for the mobile MOBA Marvel Realm of Champions will shut down on March 31, with the game having already been removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Additionally, players are no longer be able to make in-app purchases. Existing players, however, will receive quite the send-off package before the game shuts down for good.

"When we started to develop Marvel Realm of Champions, we set out to create a fast-paced action RPG with competitive PVP battles, and the ability to customize your own Marvel Champions in the way that you want," Kabam said in a statement. "Despite making multiple adjustments and changes along the way, we have not been able to meet the vision that we had initially set."

Kabam is making the following adjustments to the game before March 31 to give existing players one last memorable experience:

• Unreleased Gear Sets and Weapons will be made available
• The number of Units given away will substantially increase
• Gear Crates and Crafting Crystals will cost fewer units
• Arena Conquest, Daily Missions, Solo Conquest, War Thor’s Crucible and Deathmatch game modes will be available until March 31

The plot of Marvel Realm of Champions revolved around who killed the Maestro, an evil version of the Hulk. The conclusion of the story will be revealed before the game shuts down. Additionally, new and existing players of another Kabam game, Marvel Contest of Champions, will receive an adjustment package based on their progress and investment in Realm of Champions.

Marvel Realm of Champions launched in December 2020 and featured new versions of existing characters such as Kali who is the Sorcerer Supreme from the Temple of Vishanti and Anathi from Wakanda, a female Black Panther.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

Scream 6 has officially been announced by Paramount and Spyglass with the team behind Scream (2022) returning after an incredibly successful release.

Production is expected to begin this summer with James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick writing the script, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, a member of the directing trio Radio Silence, and Tyler Gillett will return to direct.

Venderbilt, a member of the Project X Entertainment production company, will produce Scream 6 alongside colleagues Paul Neinstein and William Sherak.

Executive producing will be series creator Kevin Williamson alongside Spyglass's Gary Barber and Peter Oillataguerre, plus Radio Silence member Chad Villella.

Spyglass and Paramount said in a statement: "We are tremendously grateful to the fans around the world who enthusiastically received our film.

"We can’t wait for audiences to see what Radio Silence, writers Jamie and Guy, and Project X have in store for our Woodsboro family."

IGN called the latest Scream "amazing". We said: "The 5th entry into the Scream franchise sets up a future for the franchise that some may not have thought possible with a tight story, great performances, and stellar new directions."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

The Battlefield 2042 features that DICE delayed its first season pass for have now also been delayed until March.

The much-requested scoreboard update was due to release in February but a Twitter post from the Battlefield Direct Communication page (below) announced it would be delayed until March.

Our next Update after todays Hotfix will now roll out in early March. This is a change from our last messaging to you all on it's intended release.

The extra time will help to ensure we improve the quality of our Updates, and include additional changes.https://t.co/WoeHvOludK

— Battlefield Direct Communication (@BattlefieldComm) February 3, 2022

Two days ago on February 1 DICE announced it would be delaying Battlefield 2042's Season One to early summer to instead focus on fixing current issues in the game. It said that implementing a refreshed in-round scoreboard that separates the player's and enemy's teams into two tables would be coming "as soon as possible", meaning mid to late February according to the studio's Twitter post.

But today DICE tweeted again to announce it had pushed out a hotfix to address instability issues caused by the previous update, and in a reply to that post revealed that the scoreboard update would now be delayed.

It said: "Our next update after today's hotfix will roll out in early March. This is a change from our last message to you all on its intended release.

"The extra time will help to ensure we improve the quality of our updates and include additional changes."

Battlefield 2042 was released in November last year with several issues including server connectivity and UI problems, but DICE has said it's committed to bringing "the game up to the highest standards".

IGN said Battlefield 2042 was "good", with its highpoint being the "powerful Portal mode, which lets you relive the series' past glories".

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced that Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming and head of Xbox, will receive the AIAS Lifetime Achievement Award at the 25th Annual DICE Awards.

The annual awards show will be held on February 24 in Las Vegas, Nevada where Bethesda Game Studios game director Todd Howard will present Spencer with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Spencer has been in the video game industry for over 30 years. He joined Microsoft in 1988 as an intern and has been with the company ever since. Spencer began to oversee Xbox starting with the launch of the Xbox One S and has overseen the growth of several key products including the Xbox Series X|S and Xbox Game Pass.

Under his tenure, the Xbox Game Studios division has grown tremendously as Spencer oversaw key acquisitions including Mojang, ZeniMax Media, and most recently the news that Xbox plans to acquire Activision Blizzard.

“Phil Spencer has demonstrated both passion and leadership throughout his entire career at Microsoft. He’s responsible for countless impactful and pivotal initiatives that have reverberated throughout the entire gaming industry,” says AIAS president Meggan Scavio. “On behalf of the Academy’s Board of Directors, we are looking forward to celebrating Spencer’s important impact on video game history by presenting him with our Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Previous winners of the AIAS Lifetime Achievement award include former Nintendo of America bosses Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln, PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi, ESA founder Doug Lowenstein, former EA CCO Bing Gordon, former Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, and Nintendo corporate advisor Genyo Takeda.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is joining Fortnite as a character skin. The man behind the mask of long-term character The Foundation will finally be playable for the first time.

Epic Games partner Shiina also revealed on Twitter that Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars will be playable in Fortnite on February 10, but winners of the Silk Sonic Cup on February 7 will get early access to the skins.

The Foundation skin is unlockable through the Chapter 3, Season 1 battle pass alongside his outfit, styles, emote, and other accessories. A full list of the quests required to unlock the items can be found below.

While a statue of The Foundation can be found on the Fortnite island the character hasn't really been featured in the game's story since the end of season two.

The Rock is on a roll in making gaming headlines as last week he revealed he was working on another video game movie. He claims it's "one of the biggest, most badass games", and the internet has been wildly speculating what it could be.

How to unlock The Rock in Fortnite

Page one of The Foundation quests, completable in any order:

• Maintain the Perimeter: Visit Might Monument, a Seven Outpost, and Sanctuary to unlock The Foundation outfit.
• Demonstrate the element of surprise: Snipe an opponent with a Sniper Rifle while crouching to unlock The Foundation’s Mantle Back Bling.
• Keep your enemies close: Deal 100 melee damage to opponents to unlock The Foundation’s Plasma Spike Pickaxe.
• Raid the IO armory: Search three chests or ammo boxes at Covert Cavern to unlock The Foundation’s Fortune Emoticon.
• Always be prepared: Use four shield potions in a single match to unlock the True Foundation Spray.
• Never be too proud to recruit help: Hire a character and travel 1000 meters with them to unlock the Foundational Wrap.

Page two of The Foundation quests, completable in any order:

• Give the new IO officer a warm welcome: Assist in eliminating Gunnar to unlock the Tactical Visor Toggle Emote The Foundation Outfit’s Unmasked Style.
• Make the most of what you have: Deal 500 headshot damage to players with Common or Uncommon weapons to unlock the Combat Elite Foundation visor.
• Gain the high ground: Deal 1000 damage to opponents from above with Shotguns or SMGs to unlock the Tactical Foundation visor.
• Stock up at an Outpost and get ready: Land at a Seven Outpost and then finish Top 10 to unlock The Rocket Wing Glider.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

A new report claims that Sony is developing a Madame Web movie, and that Dakota Johnson is in talks to star.

The news comes from Deadline, who say sources that Sony is looking to expand on its Marvel success post-Spider-Man: No Way Home. S.J. Clarkson is apparently attached to direct. She has previously directed episodes of Heroes, Dexter, The Defenders, Jessica Jones, and Succession.

A screenplay has already been written, according to the sources, by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless.

First appearing Marvel's The Amazing Spider-Man comics, Madame Web (also known as Cassandra Webb) is an elderly woman with myasthenia gravis. She uses a life support system that looks like a spider-web, but her power comes from the fact that she is a precognitive mutant. However, events see her killed and her powers - and blindness - are passed onto Julia Carpenter, a younger woman initially known as the first Spider-Woman. These events see Carpenter take up the mantle and become the second Madame Web.

Sources have stressed to Deadline that the project could turn into something else since the first incarnation of Madame Web never actively fought villains due to her age and condition. However, the film may well be focussed on Julia Carpenter, which would make more sense in the current superhero landscape.

The same sources say that Sony executives have spent a period of time meeting with a number of actors as part of a hunt for a female leading role. Within the last two months, Johnson has become the front-runner and is now apparently in talks to star. The report does not clarify who Johnson is in talks to play, but chances are it could well be Julia Carpenter.

It's no surprise to learn that Sony wants to double down on its Marvel and Spider-Man efforts; No Way Home has topped the domestic box office for six weeks almost uninterrupted. Apparently big characters were cut from the movie, and so further films in the series could further explore characters that were merely potential beforehand.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.