Quantic Dream is hard at work on Star Wars Eclipse, a new adventure game set in the High Republic era of Star Wars – a golden age of Jedi hundreds of years before the birth of Anakin Skywalker. While a lavish teaser trailer paints a thrilling picture of the game’s setting, details are still scarce.

During a recent interview at G-Star in South Korea, director, writer and Quantic Dream founder David Cage told IGN Japan that Star Wars Eclipse is "the most ambitious project of our studio." While he did not go into detail about the game, he gave us some new insights to what we can expect.

Among other things, Cage reiterates that Star Wars Eclipse will be markedly different from Detroit: Become Human, which released on PlayStation 4 back in 2018 and PC the year after. In particular, Detroit: Become Human was more about "anticipation" than sci-fi, imagining a near future in which androids become sentient.

"We spent a lot of time trying to imagine our world 10, 15, 20 years from now – what would the technology be like? Do we believe that androids would be part of our societies?" Cage explains. "I think Star Wars is a very different setting – it's far, far away, as you know. So it's something different."

Cage says that Quantic Dream learned a lot from Detroit: Become Human, calling it the studio's "most accomplished game overall" and the "best implementation we could make of the vision we had 25 years ago about how to tell a story where the player is the hero." But that doesn't mean that Quantic Dream will run it all back for Star Wars Eclipse.

"Star Wars is not going to be a skin of Detroit. The two games will be very different, very different, although we will also of course use what we learned. But it's not going to be a copycat by any means; it's going to be a very different experience," Cage says.

First announced back in 2021, Star Wars: Eclipse has remained largely a mystery since its striking first reveal. Earlier this year, Quantic Dream quashed rumors that it had been delayed and was suffering development trouble, noting that it had yet to announce a release date. In a subsequent interview, Quantic Dream CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere said that Eclipse would retain Quantic Dream's fundamentals despite being an action-adventure game at heart.

'A mutual respect'

Quantic Dream, for its part, has been in the news quite a bit since 2018 due to toxic workplace allegations — allegations that Cage has strongly denied. In August, NetEase announced that it was acquiring Quantic Dream, and the studio has since revealed Parallel Studio's Under The Waves in a bid to expand its publishing label.

Cage says that NetEase alleviates the "struggle for resources" faced by many studios, and that the publisher provides access to "tons of technologies" that are of interest to Quantic Dream, including machine learning and advanced AI.

Quantic Dream joins a number of Japanese studios under the NetEase umbrella, including Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi's new studio. Talking about what it's like to work with these new students, Cage describes feelings of "mutual respect" and cultural connections between France and Japan.

"I think in Japan, also, there's this very strong interest for storytelling in games. And Detroit has been a big success in Japan, with a lot of support from the fans and very high sales figures for a non-Japanese game. So we're really, really proud of this," Cage says.

Talking about the ongoing work on Star Wars: Eclipse, Cage says that the original opporunity came together "very, very quickly," and that the studio didn't have a specific story in mind ahead of time. Cage himself is a fan of the franchise, being about 10-years-old when the original movie was released.

"They became part of our culture, and part of our consciousness somehow, and the creative ideas that we had were also inspired by this film, along with some others," Cage says. "And when we had the opportunity to potentially contribute to such a monument of pop culture, it's like a dream come true. So we didn't hesitate for a second, and we just jumped in. It's just a very exciting project. And it is the most ambitious project of our studio, for sure."

In the meantime, Quantic Dream continues to keep specific details about the project under wraps, saying "there is a schedule" and that the studio is waiting for the right moment to announce something new.

"It's the first time we've worked on a franchise, but we are approaching it with the same passion as if it was our own franchise – there is no difference for us. Same passion, same creative ambition, same everything," Cage says.

Star Wars: Eclipse has not revealed a release date or platforms and is not expected to release until 2024 at the earliest. While you wait, check out every other upcoming Star Wars game currently in development.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Interview by Daniel Robson of IGN Japan.

If you’re expecting any of Quantic Dream’s cinematic games to jump to the big screen, don’t. Company president David Cage says the studio isn’t actively pursuing selling the rights to its games for movie adaptations.

But that doesn’t mean Quantic Dream is ignoring movies and TV altogether. Cage says he’s actively following the rise of interactive TV, similar to what Netflix did with Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch.

“[I]f it’s about selling the rights to one of our games to a movie company so they make a movie, it’s not necessarily something we’re actively pursuing,” says Cage in an interview with IGN Japan.

However, Cage says whether Quantic Dream is interested in the TV medium is a separate question entirely. “It’s also interesting to see what Netflix is doing and what other people are doing, experimenting with interactive TV shows. Because it’s really mainstream, it’s about talking to non-gamers, to anyone, and giving them access to the possibility to change the course of the story based on their choices.”

Cage calls this a “simplified version” of the games Quantic Dream already makes but the appeal lies in the chance of reaching a new audience on a new platform with a different interface. But while the interest is there, Cage says “there’s no concrete plan right now with all these things, it’s more like things we keep looking at.”

Still, Cage says Netflix’s attempts at interactive TV are exciting and that “there is a future for interactive storytelling in television.”

Quantic Dream is likely not focusing on movies and TV given it is currently developing the Star Wars game, Star Wars Eclipse, a branching action-adventure game set in the High Republic era. Focusing on multiple protagonists, players will make meaningful choices that affect the storyline.

Star Wars Eclipse was announced at the 2021 Game Awards but has yet to receive an official release date.

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

Interview by Daniel Robson of IGN Japan.

Hollywood's favorite martial arts legend Bruce Lee is getting the big screen treatment at Sony. Ang Lee, renowned for his work on movies like Life of Pi and Brokeback Mountain, is directing the biopic, and his son, Mason Lee, is attached to star in the film as the Chinese American star.

According to Deadline, the film is currently in development at Sony's 3000 Pictures with Dan Futterman adapting the script from Jean Castelli, Alex Law and Mabel Cheung and Wells Tower's earlier screenplays. Futterman's previous writing credits include hits like Capote and Foxcatcher.

“Accepted as neither fully American nor Fully Chinese, Bruce Lee was a bridge between East and West who introduced Chinese Gung Fu to the world, a scientist of combat and an iconic performing artist who revolutionized both the martial arts and action cinema,” Ang Lee said in a statement. “I feel compelled to tell the story of this brilliant, unique human being who yearned for belonging, possessed tremendous power in a 135-pound-frame, and who, through tireless hard work, made impossible dreams into reality.”

Bruce Lee made a name for himself in Hollywood during the 1960's and early 70's before his untimely death in 1973. The star popularized martial arts across the globe with hits like Fists of Fury, Enter the Dragon and The Way of the Dragon. Now, the story behind the legend is coming to the silver screen under the tutilage of an Oscar-winning director.

Ang Lee, whose film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of the greatest martial arts film ever made, is a life-long fan of Bruce Lee. According to Elizabeth Gabler, who is overseeing the project for Sony, the upcoming biopic is a "passion project" for Ang.

“’Bruce Lee’ is a longtime passion project for Ang and a deeply emotional story depicting the triumphs and conflicts of one of the foremost real life action heroes of our time,” Gabler said. “All of us at Sony and 3000 Pictures are proud to help Ang and his filmmaking team create what we believe will be an extraordinary theatrical event.”

Mason Lee has appeared in a few film roles including The Hangover Part II and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. Most recently, he starred in the Taiwanese romantic comedy “Stand By Me,” Hong Kong drama “Limbo” and “Who Killed Cock Robin.”

Carson Burton is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @carsonsburton.

Organizers of the Smash World Tour have announced its 2022 championship tournament and its 2023 series of events have been canceled following a notice from Nintendo telling them they could no longer operate their tournament.

"It is with an unbelievably heavy heart that we must announce that both the upcoming Smash World Tour Championships, as well as the 2023 Smash World Tour must be canceled,” organizers wrote in a Medium post.

“Without any warning, we received notice the night before Thanksgiving from Nintendo that we could no longer operate. This was especially shocking given our discourse with Nintendo the past twelve months. Since then, we have been working around the clock to take the proper steps logistically, as well as to prepare this statement with proper legal guidance.”

The upcoming Smash World Tour Championships and the entirety of the 2023 Smash World Tour must be cancelled.

Full Story: https://t.co/3ro3q7rr4h pic.twitter.com/Gcgcgakdvp

— Smash World Tour 2022 (@SmashWorldTour) November 29, 2022

The Smash World Tour boasted over 6,400 live events worldwide according to organizers with an attendance of over 325,000. This year’s championship was also set to have the largest prize pool in competitive Smash Bros. history at $250,000.

Nintendo has a known history of butting heads with third-party Super Smash Bros. events and tournaments. Nintendo shut down a Super Smash Bros. tournament in 2020 for using online mods, and famously, Nintendo tried to shut down Super Smash Bros. Melee from taking place at Evo 2013. This was following a community-driven donation drive where the winner could pick a game to enter in Evo which was Super Smash Bros. After online outcry, the tournament was allowed to proceed.

Last year, Nintendo seemed to be making inroads into the competitive Smash Bros. competitive scene by announcing an officially-licensed tournament with Panda Global called the Panda Cup. However, the organizers of the Smash World Tour allege this very relationship may have impacted the tournament’s closure.

The statement accuses Panda CEO Alan Bunney of sabotaging Smash World Tour’s organization efforts despite an ongoing discussion between Smash World Tour and Nintendo about a potential license for themselves and where the company “made it clear that Panda’s partnership was not exclusive[.]”

“However, we quickly found that many organizers were concerned about joining up [with Smash World Tour] in 2022. They told us that they had been told by Alan, the CEO, and co-founder of Panda, that we were going to get shut down and were not coming back in 2022.”

In a statement to IGN, Nintendo says, “Unfortunately after continuous conversations with Smash World Tour, and after giving the same deep consideration we apply to any potential partner, we were unable to come to an agreement with SWT for a full circuit in 2023. Nintendo did not request any changes to or cancellation of remaining events in 2022, including the 2022 Championship event, considering the negative impact on the players who were already planning to participate.”

The organizers dispute this in their blog saying, “Our Nintendo rep opened by letting us know that they are being asked to deliver the news that going forward, Nintendo expects us to only operate with a commercial license, and that we would not be granted one for the upcoming Championships or any activity in 2023.” The organizers say they received this notice in writing as well.

In an interview with IGN earlier this year about the Panda Cup, the company says the decision to officially license a tournament “was really an important kind of step for us.” However, the company also hinted at the internal decision-making processes which have frustrated the grassroots community for so long.

“We love the grassroots community, we want to see it thrive, we want to see it be strong, but there’s also — we as Nintendo have our own internal challenges,” Nintendo’s Bill Trinnen said at the time.

Regardless, organizers of the Smash World. Tour says they'll lose "hundreds of thousands of dollars due to Nintendo's actions," but is promising full refunds for all attendees.

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

With less than two months to go until the premiere of HBO's The Last of Us adaptation, we're getting a closer look at most of the show's prominent characters.

HBO released posters for 11 of the show's characters, including Joel, Ellie, Marlene, Tommy, Tess, Bill, Sam, Frank, Henry, Riley, and Sarah. You can take a look at all of the new posters in the slideshow below.

The handful of characters featured in the posters are all from the 2013 video game to some extent, although characters like Bill's partner Frank never actually appear onscreen. We also know the show will include two brand new characters named Marlon and Florence.

The Last of Us will premiere on HBO on January 15, 2023. Season One consists of 10 episodes and will cover the events of Joel and Ellie's cross-country journey from the first game. However, the show will "deviate greatly" from the original game's story in some episodes.

Another clue that tells us the show will feel different from the game is the fact that both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey both stayed away from finishing The Last of Us game to avoid copying Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson's performances of Joel and Ellie.

The first trailer for The Last of Us gave us a look at live-action Clickers, the post-apocalyptic United States Joel and Ellie will trek across, and the opening scene from the game. For more, you can check out our side-by-side comparison of the first teaser trailer and the game.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

For the first time in nearly three decades, video game composer and designer Yuzo Koshiro is working on a new game for the Sega Genesis.

Koshiro is best known for contributing music to classic game series like Streets of Rage, The Revenge of Shinobi, Actraiser, Ys, and more. Now, the developer is working on a brand new shoot 'em up game designed for the original Genesis/Mega Drive hardware.

As revealed on Twitter, Koshiro posted a couple of images of the game that depict a spaceship flying through what appears to be an alien planet.

It looks like an old shoot 'em up but is a new game we're developing, harkening back to famous franchises in the 80s. We will release it for MD/Genesis. I'm making the soundtrack and have been back also as a game designer since Beyond Oasis. pic.twitter.com/nFPEDoYj1B

— Yuzo Koshiro (@yuzokoshiro) November 30, 2022

Koshiro wrote, "It looks like an old shoot 'em up but is a new game we're developing, harkening back to famous franchises in the 80s. We will release it for MD/Genesis. I'm making the soundtrack and have been back also as a game designer since Beyond Oasis."

The composer added that the soundtrack and sound effects will run off the authentic hardware, as well.

The game is under development at Ancient, which has been Koshiro's studio since the 1990s. This new title will be the first Genesis game from Koshiro since 1994's Beyond Oasis.

In various replies on Twitter, Koshiro said the studio is considering multiple ways to release the game, including physical carts. The developer also wrote that progress on the game just started and that the release date, price, and platforms are all up in the air right now.

Koshiro has remained active in the video game scene over the last number of years. The composer is credited on several recent games, including Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Streets of Rage 4, the upcoming Mina the Hollower, and more.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Shakeups are continuing over at Warner Bros. in regards to DC-branded content. According to Channing Dungey, a high-level executive at Warner Bros TV group, Warner Bros. Television Studios is in the process of closing a major animation deal with Amazon for DC content, possibly introducing some animated DC content onto Prime Video.

According to Deadline, Dungey revealed the news at Content London, saying the studio is "exploring animated IP on different platforms." This includes HBO Max, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.

“With animation we used to be about staying in-house but now we are doing it on different platforms,” Dungey said. “HBO Max is the first stop but we are in the process of closing a big deal with Amazon featuring DC branded content in animation.”

Dungey didn't elaborate further on the deal between the two mega companies.

Warner Bros. Discovery has made it clear that they are looking to merge HBO Max and Discovery Plus into one streaming service, so it is possible the new deal with Amazon is in search of a new home for DC animated projects.

The news comes at a time of drastic change at DC. Ever since Warner Bros was acquired by Discovery back in April, the company has implemented significant changes to the DC Extended Universe. From axing Batgirl to naming James Gunn and Peter Safran as heads of DC Studios, a new era of DC is surely upon us.

One of Gunn and Safran's main responsibilities is in animated DC properties, so the Amazon-WBD deal would likely have large implications for the duo's future plans. As Gunn and Safran continue to formulate their 8-10 year plan for DC, the future of animation seems to have just gotten a bit more complicated.

What the move would mean for current DC TV shows on various networks is yet to be seen, but hopefully things will become clearer once the deal is finalized.

Carson Burton is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @carsonsburton.

Sega has revealed the 2023 content roadmap for Sonic Frontiers. The game will receive 3 updates throughout the year, including a new playable character and story.

In a roadmap, Sega revealed the first update will include a Juke Box feature which could potentially allow players to choose the music they hear in the game. There will also be a Photo Mode and new Challenge Modes for players to tackle.

New modes, new Koco, new...playable characters!? More Sonic Frontiers content coming your way next year! pic.twitter.com/MoZ8Gtj4Ro

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) November 30, 2022

The second update will celebrate Sonic’s birthday in some sort of fashion. The franchise's birthday is in June, so that could be a hint as to when the update could potentially arrive. It’ll add more Open Zone Challenges to play and Koko to collect.

The third and final update is the biggest one, which will include more playable characters and a new story expansion. The details of the additional story are currently unknown, but the roadmap depicts Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and Sage, so it may revolve around them.

We'll have to wait for additional details, especially on the new character and story. But for more you can check out IGN’s Sonic Frontier’s review, where we said, "Sonic Frontiers is a delightfully weird and experimental evolution of the Sonic games so many of us grew up with."

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He's been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.

When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey

Sony has announced that the PlayStation Plus games for December 2022 are Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (PS4), Biomutant (PS4 and PS5), and Divine Knockout: Founder's Edition (PS4 and PS5).

As revealed on the PlayStation Blog, all three games will be made available at no extra cost to all PlayStation Plus subscribers on December 6.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition turns the three-game line-up into a heftier five as it contains remastered versions of all three original Mass Effect games. Widely considered some of the best RPGs of all time, these modern sci-fi classics follow the story of Commander Shepard as they embark on several galaxy ending missions.

In our 9/10 review of what we called the best of the bunch, IGN said: "Mass Effect 2's Legendary Edition upgrades the graphics to near-modern standards and lets us immerse ourselves in the best game in BioWare's epic RPG trilogy all over again."

Biomutant is another RPG, this time set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world full of kung-fu. Players can blend together melee combat with shooting and mutant abilities as they seek to save (or destroy) their complex planet.

IGN said it was "okay" in our review, adding that: "Biomutant has a lot of the building blocks of a top-drawer action RPG but its cookie-cutter approach to objectives and puzzles starts feeling very repetitive very early on."

Finally, Divine Knockout: Founder’s Edition launches directly on PlayStation Plus. This colourful third-person arena fighter has players adopt godly powers playing as the likes of Hercules, Thor, and more. Various modes are available including one on one, two on two, and three on three, with multiplayer featuring too.

All three games will be available at no extra cost until January 2, with last month's games - Nioh 2, LEGO Harry Potter Collection, and Heavenly Bodies - leaving the service on December 5.

Sony didn't announce the new games coming to its more expensive services but you can check out our updated lists of all PS Plus Premium Catalogue Games and PlayStation Plus Classic Games Catalogue on IGN Playlist. You can use these lists to plan what to play next, create custom-ranked lists of your favourites, and track your backlog.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Blizzard Entertainment has revealed what we can expect from Season 2 of Overwatch 2, including balancing updates, limited-time events, skins, and more ahead of its December 6 launch date.

Alongside the introduction of the new Omnic revolutionary tank hero Ramattra and the winding Shambali Monastery Escort map, Season 2 is also bringing some important balancing changes, according to Blizzard Entertainment’s official blog post.

Most significantly, Blizzard Entertainment has moved to nerf the damage hero Sojourn, who according to a blog post on the company’s website has been dominating the high-skill competitive scene in recent weeks, while “remaining a challenge for players without the same mechanical skills”.

To address the issue, the developers announced that they would be “focussing on the lethality of her Rail Gun at distance for Season 2”. This has been done to encourage players of all skills to use Sojurn’s mobility and her power slide to “close the distance for more devastating right-clicks”.

Doomfist — another tank — will also receive significant balancing tweaks to better reflect “his role as the team’s front line”. Ana, Bastion, Junker Queen, Kiriko, Mercy, and Symmetra will also be tweaked when the new season goes live on December 6, though Blizzard Entertainment has yet to reveal exactly how.

Next month's launch will also bring a new map pool to Overwatch 2. Rialto and Blizzard World will be entering rotation alongside the new map Shambali Monastery. Oasis and Nepal will also be appearing “at different times of day”, while Hollywood and Watchpoint: Gibraltar will be rotated out.

Blizzard revealed details for the Greek mythology themed Season 2 Battle Pass. Progression rewards for the premium pass will include a Poseidon skin for Ramattra and a Hades costume for Pharah. The “pinnacle reward” for the pass is a Mythic Zeus skin for Junker Queen, which comes with “new customizations, weapon models, voice lines, and special effects".

Season 2 is also set to bring three special events to the game. Winter Wonderland will run from December 13 - January 4, while the Lunar New Year event will start on January 17 and end on February 1.

Special skins will be up for grabs during each event, including “Epic Ice Queen Brigitte, Legendary Winged Victory Mercy, and Legendary Kkachi Echo.”

Sandwiched between these seasonal celebrations is the Battle for Olympus event, which will be around for a limited time from January 5 - 19. During this period players will be able to earn skins as they engage in a new game mode which will see certain heroes “imbued with awesome god-like powers”.

Finally, Season 2 will feature catch up challenges that will allow players to unlock heroes, including Kiriko from Season 1. To stay up to date and find out how to get the most out of your hero, be sure to check out more of IGN’s coverage of Overwatch 2.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer