Switch players will have to wait just a little bit longer to get their hands on Dying Light 2, as Techland has announced the Switch cloud version will not launch alongside the other versions on February 4. Instead, the developer is aiming to release the Switch version "within six months" of the original date, meaning it should be out by early August.

The studio delayed the game to provide Switch players, "with the gaming experience at the level they deserve." Dying Light 2 is still scheduled for February 4 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Dying Light 2 is the sequel to 2015's Dying Light, an open world zombie game with a dynamic day-night cycle. No matter what platform you plan to play on, Dying Light 2 is set to be a big experience. In addition to taking 500 hours to complete absolutely every ounce of content the game has to offer, Dying Light 2 will also receive five years of post-launch support. We've gone hands-on with Dying Light 2, where we thought it felt like, "the natural next step for the franchise."

Techland's sequel has endured numerous delays. The game was originally supposed to launch in Spring 2020, before the studio delayed it indefinitely. Then, the game was slated for December of last year, before getting pushed just a few months back to February.

Dying Light 2 is one of many multiplatform games that Switch players can only access through cloud streaming. Others include Hitman 3, Control, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Kingdom Hearts.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Switch players will have to wait just a little bit longer to get their hands on Dying Light 2, as Techland has announced the Switch cloud version will not launch alongside the other versions on February 4. Instead, the developer is aiming to release the Switch version "within six months" of the original date, meaning it should be out by early August.

The studio delayed the game to provide Switch players, "with the gaming experience at the level they deserve." Dying Light 2 is still scheduled for February 4 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Dying Light 2 is the sequel to 2015's Dying Light, an open world zombie game with a dynamic day-night cycle. No matter what platform you plan to play on, Dying Light 2 is set to be a big experience. In addition to taking 500 hours to complete absolutely every ounce of content the game has to offer, Dying Light 2 will also receive five years of post-launch support. We've gone hands-on with Dying Light 2, where we thought it felt like, "the natural next step for the franchise."

Techland's sequel has endured numerous delays. The game was originally supposed to launch in Spring 2020, before the studio delayed it indefinitely. Then, the game was slated for December of last year, before getting pushed just a few months back to February.

Dying Light 2 is one of many multiplatform games that Switch players can only access through cloud streaming. Others include Hitman 3, Control, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Kingdom Hearts.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

TSMC is reportedly increasing the prices for its silicon, which means that CPU and GPU prices are likely to go up this year.

As reported by DigiTimes, the Taiwanese-based semiconductor manufacturer has informed its largest customers, including tech giants such as Apple, AMD, and Nvidia, that it plans to raise pricing quotes of its nodes by up to 20%.

This increase in manufacturing will also impact the consumers as companies may increase the price of their products.

Outside of an ongoing chip shortage, which is expected to drag well into next year, TSMC has also noted other reasons for increasing the prices of its chips. This includes material costs, freight, and logistics. As Tom's Hardware points out the price hike will significantly impact AMD as the company uses TSMC to manufacture its CPUs and GPUs.

AMD CPUs start with processors that use the Zen 2 architecture and its forthcoming Zen 4 architecture, which is slated to arrive in a new line of desktop CPUs sometime this year.

Despite the report omitting any references to graphics cards, Nvidia and especially AMD will likely increase MSRPs for its graphics cards. Though DigiTimes reported that Nvidia has already made prepayments to TSMC for long-term orders of the 5nm silicon.

The news comes at an interesting time in particular for the GPU market as both AMD and Nvidia have announced new desktop graphics cards this month, including the RTX 3090 Ti, which was announced at CES 2022. While Nvidia promised to share more information in February, reports suggest the release date for the upcoming Nvidia RTX 30 flagship might have been pushed back.

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

TSMC is reportedly increasing the prices for its silicon, which means that CPU and GPU prices are likely to go up this year.

As reported by DigiTimes, the Taiwanese-based semiconductor manufacturer has informed its largest customers, including tech giants such as Apple, AMD, and Nvidia, that it plans to raise pricing quotes of its nodes by up to 20%.

This increase in manufacturing will also impact the consumers as companies may increase the price of their products.

Outside of an ongoing chip shortage, which is expected to drag well into next year, TSMC has also noted other reasons for increasing the prices of its chips. This includes material costs, freight, and logistics. As Tom's Hardware points out the price hike will significantly impact AMD as the company uses TSMC to manufacture its CPUs and GPUs.

AMD CPUs start with processors that use the Zen 2 architecture and its forthcoming Zen 4 architecture, which is slated to arrive in a new line of desktop CPUs sometime this year.

Despite the report omitting any references to graphics cards, Nvidia and especially AMD will likely increase MSRPs for its graphics cards. Though DigiTimes reported that Nvidia has already made prepayments to TSMC for long-term orders of the 5nm silicon.

The news comes at an interesting time in particular for the GPU market as both AMD and Nvidia have announced new desktop graphics cards this month, including the RTX 3090 Ti, which was announced at CES 2022. While Nvidia promised to share more information in February, reports suggest the release date for the upcoming Nvidia RTX 30 flagship might have been pushed back.

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

One-man development studio Drop of Pixel and publisher Skystone Games have announced Underworld Dreams: The False King, a new first-person horror game that is "built from the ground up" for Nintendo Switch (though it will also be released on PC via both Steam and the Epic Games Store). It is due out this Spring.

Underworld Dreams is based on the work of Lovecraft and set in the 1980s (as the trailer below will give you a clear indication of from its VHS-style presentation), and its goal is to be the first in an Underworld Dreams series of games. In The False King, you play a man who has located his lost brother in a house that is creepier and more dangerous than you could've ever imagined.

Publisher Skystone says you'll "dig into the mysteries of the occult and solve puzzles while constantly looking over your shoulder" as you play. Resources are also promised to be scarce, and a playable demo is promised closer to release.

For more Nintendo Switch horror game coverage, don't miss our coverage of House of the Dead: Remake.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

One-man development studio Drop of Pixel and publisher Skystone Games have announced Underworld Dreams: The False King, a new first-person horror game that is "built from the ground up" for Nintendo Switch (though it will also be released on PC via both Steam and the Epic Games Store). It is due out this Spring.

Underworld Dreams is based on the work of Lovecraft and set in the 1980s (as the trailer below will give you a clear indication of from its VHS-style presentation), and its goal is to be the first in an Underworld Dreams series of games. In The False King, you play a man who has located his lost brother in a house that is creepier and more dangerous than you could've ever imagined.

Publisher Skystone says you'll "dig into the mysteries of the occult and solve puzzles while constantly looking over your shoulder" as you play. Resources are also promised to be scarce, and a playable demo is promised closer to release.

For more Nintendo Switch horror game coverage, don't miss our coverage of House of the Dead: Remake.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Sony's stock reportedly took a $20 billion dollar hit after Xbox announced that it is set to acquire Activision Blizzard.

As detailed in a report by Bloomberg, Sony Group Corp. shares reportedly fell by 13% in Tokyo on Wednesday - just a day after Microsoft announced its $68.7 billion deal with Activision Blizzard. As per the report, the drop itself is the largest single fall in Sony stock since October 2008.

The acquisition will bring a wide range of new franchises into Xbox's domain including the likes of Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Warcraft, and much more. In comparison, last year Xbox announced that it had acquired ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda, for a deal worth $7.5 Billion. With the company's latest takeover offering a ludicrous number of high-profile IPs, it's no surprise that the price on the deal dwarves its earlier acquisitions by a vast margin and has seemingly resulted in Sony's stock taking a hit.

Over recent years, Sony and Xbox have both taken different approaches to encourage players to purchase their latest consoles. While PlayStation has seen great success by offering a number of exclusive IPs and titles such as Insomniac's Spider-Man, Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, and Guerrilla's Horizon Zero Dawn, Xbox has instead opted down its subscription service, Game Pass, as a way to bring additional players into the fold.

While last year Game Pass subscriptions were reported to have slowed down, a recent statement from Xbox Boss Phil Spencer explained that the service has now reached over 25 million subscribers. The announcement came paired with the news that Microsoft would offer "as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass" once the acquisition had been complete - a move that's sure to increase its subscriber count by even more.

At present, it's unclear exactly which Activision Blizzard games Xbox plans to make exclusive to its consoles and which will still be available for PlayStation customers. However, given that Bethesda's upcoming release of Starfield is set to launch as an Xbox first-party exclusive, it feels likely that PlayStation fans could be set to lose out on at least some releases in the future.

For more news surrounding Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, make sure to check out this article detailing how the latter once reportedly considered buying video game media outlets Kotaku and PC Gamer in a bid to change public opinion of the company.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Sony's stock reportedly took a $20 billion dollar hit after Xbox announced that it is set to acquire Activision Blizzard.

As detailed in a report by Bloomberg, Sony Group Corp. shares reportedly fell by 13% in Tokyo on Wednesday - just a day after Microsoft announced its $68.7 billion deal with Activision Blizzard. As per the report, the drop itself is the largest single fall in Sony stock since October 2008.

The acquisition will bring a wide range of new franchises into Xbox's domain including the likes of Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Warcraft, and much more. In comparison, last year Xbox announced that it had acquired ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda, for a deal worth $7.5 Billion. With the company's latest takeover offering a ludicrous number of high-profile IPs, it's no surprise that the price on the deal dwarves its earlier acquisitions by a vast margin and has seemingly resulted in Sony's stock taking a hit.

Over recent years, Sony and Xbox have both taken different approaches to encourage players to purchase their latest consoles. While PlayStation has seen great success by offering a number of exclusive IPs and titles such as Insomniac's Spider-Man, Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, and Guerrilla's Horizon Zero Dawn, Xbox has instead opted down its subscription service, Game Pass, as a way to bring additional players into the fold.

While last year Game Pass subscriptions were reported to have slowed down, a recent statement from Xbox Boss Phil Spencer explained that the service has now reached over 25 million subscribers. The announcement came paired with the news that Microsoft would offer "as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass" once the acquisition had been complete - a move that's sure to increase its subscriber count by even more.

At present, it's unclear exactly which Activision Blizzard games Xbox plans to make exclusive to its consoles and which will still be available for PlayStation customers. However, given that Bethesda's upcoming release of Starfield is set to launch as an Xbox first-party exclusive, it feels likely that PlayStation fans could be set to lose out on at least some releases in the future.

For more news surrounding Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, make sure to check out this article detailing how the latter once reportedly considered buying video game media outlets Kotaku and PC Gamer in a bid to change public opinion of the company.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Many of us may have, at some point, felt a deep longing (probably spurred by a certain young adult fiction book series) to be swept away to a magical school of spells, potions, and general sorcery. Various games and other media have given us various ways to explore that fantasy over the years, but today, Eastshade Studios has announced a new, musical take on the idea with its upcoming RPG, Songs of Glimmerwick.

Songs of Glimmerwick is a story-driven RPG where magic is cast through music. Players will attend magic classes, learn to play different songs to cast spells, grow a magical garden, make potions, and take on quests to get to know the various denizens of Glimmerwick. There are moth races, forest expeditions, and festivals to attend, mixing plenty of optional mini-games and side quests alongside a main storyline. Characters are customizable, NPCs both major and minor will be voice acted, and the game's music will be composed by Eastshade composer Phoenix Glendinning.

Eastshade, naturally, was the previous game that Eastshade Studios worked on, with the same trio — Glendinning, and developers Danny Weinbaum and Jaclyn Ciezadlo returning for Glimmerwick. Put their screenshots side by side, and Eastshade (a first-person exploration game about painting) looks absolutely nothing like Songs of Glimmerwick (a top-down RPG about attending a magical university). And yet, the two are more alike than they appear.

Weinbaum and Ciezadlo tell IGN that just as with Eastshade, they wanted to create a world with an extremely strong sense of place. At its core, they say, Songs of Glimmerwick is about exploring a new location and getting to know its citizens. Players should feel that Glimmerwick is a character in its own right.

"A lot of developers will say they want their games to feel like real places, but then they’ll have all these other goals too, and truthfully, a sense of place is just gravy to them," Weinbaum says. "It’s not just gravy to us. We literally sacrifice every other design goal at the altar of sense of place. We really mean it. So when players step into Glimmerwick for the first time, if they don’t get the overwhelming feeling that they’ve arrived somewhere, we’ve failed."

How are Weinbaum and Ciezadlo accomplishing this "sense of place"? One key way is through design. Ciezadlo says that in both Eastshade and Glimmerwick, they stuck to a hard-and-fast rule of asking themselves, "Why would this be here?" every time they placed something in the world, be it as small as a footstool or as big as a cave.

"Having even a quick narrative about why something is in a specific place, how it got that way, or who put it there, etcetera, lends a stability that helps so much with world-building," she continues. "For example, say I (as the designer) want to place a tent out on a beach — so I ask myself, 'Who is staying here, why are they out on the beach?' Let's say it's someone fishing — so maybe I'll put some baskets of fish and fishing poles. 'Okay, are they here alone or did they bring their kids, how long are they staying, did they bring anything to pass the evenings?' They're almost silly questions, especially if the NPC has no dialogue and this is stuff that the player doesn't need to know about, or is even introduced to, but I think it does translate and make the world feel more alive to consider these things."

Weinbaum says that this very thing — designing worlds with a "strong sense of place, explored through non-combat mechanics" — is the core goal of Eastshade Studios.

While Eastshade's primary mechanic was painting, Glimmerwick delves into music. Players will learn different spells as three-to-four note melodies they can play to interact with the world, whether that's speaking with trees or causing clouds to make it rain on their magical garden. Longer versions of these melodies can be practiced in class as minute-long rhythm games to improve spell efficacy and power.

"I've always loved games that use music as a gameplay verb and I also love any and all media about witches and magic schools," Ciezadlo says. "I really wanted to combine the two and see a world where magic and music are intertwined. So often in games, magic is a click that we have no hand in performing. I wanted to explore learning and casting spells in a way that felt a little more personal and hands-on."

Though officially called an RPG, Songs of Glimmerwick doesn't feature combat. It does include a skill tree allowing for customization, and potentially different ways to solve various problems the player might run into as they explore. And players can also express themselves through different dialogue options and quest decisions as they interact with the various citizens of Glimmerwick, get to know them, and help them with their problems. It's another way in which Glimmerwick shares roots with Eastshade, which didn't have a skill tree, but did encourage creative, alternative solutions to various problems.

In that regard, Weinbaum reflects, Glimmerwick and Eastshade both are almost adventure games, too.

"That word [adventure] is starting to lose meaning with regards to genre, but in principle, an adventure game contrives impasses for the player, and they need to figure out what item or person is needed to surmount it," he says. "We’ve noticed a lot of great games fundamentally have these adventure game bones, even if nobody thinks of them as adventure games. We think we’ve gotten pretty good at making adventure game bones, pacing it well, and tying auxiliary loops into the impasses we create as goals for the player. We feel if the impasses align with the story well, and the solutions are kept fresh, when we layer other game loops on top of that, and tie them in natural ways, we’re confident we’ll have a great game."

Alongside the magic, music, and questing, players will also have charge of a magical garden where they can cultivate different plants using the spells they've learned at school. Weinbaum says that there are some farming sim mechanics involved here, but the team aims to "design away a lot of the tedium that is common in the genre."

"Stylistically the farming sim genre is fairly grind-heavy, which I think is a conscious choice for a lot of titles, both because some find relaxation in the repetition, and to extend playtime," he continues. "We want Glimmerwick to feel denser, like you come across something fresh every play session, whether that be interesting story beats, a new area, or a plant that surprises you when it gets to full growth."

With elements of RPG, farming sim, adventure, and even rhythm game, it can be a bit tricky to pin down exactly what genre Songs of Glimmerwick belongs in — a question Weinbaum says the team struggled with, too.

"I did a whole research dive on the history of the term RPG, and read a lot of reddit posts from people arguing over 'Is X game an RPG or not' to try to understand what the word means to most people nowadays," he says. "Some people think an RPG is a game that offers multiple 'roles' to you and you pick a playstyle, and others have a looser definition where you simply pretend to be a particular character. At the end of the day we felt like RPG was closest."

Songs of Glimmerwick is currently planned for PC and consoles sometime in 2023. When it does arrive, Ciezadlo hopes that the magical university at Glimmerwick and its surrounding areas comes across to players as a "real living and breathing place" that offers "a sense of peace and calm to players as well as offering interesting stories."

"After Eastshade we got a lot of messages from people who picked up painting after playing the game," she concludes. "I thought that was amazing. If anyone got inspired to take up an instrument after playing Glimmerwick I think I'd just be over the moon!"

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

Many of us may have, at some point, felt a deep longing (probably spurred by a certain young adult fiction book series) to be swept away to a magical school of spells, potions, and general sorcery. Various games and other media have given us various ways to explore that fantasy over the years, but today, Eastshade Studios has announced a new, musical take on the idea with its upcoming RPG, Songs of Glimmerwick.

Songs of Glimmerwick is a story-driven RPG where magic is cast through music. Players will attend magic classes, learn to play different songs to cast spells, grow a magical garden, make potions, and take on quests to get to know the various denizens of Glimmerwick. There are moth races, forest expeditions, and festivals to attend, mixing plenty of optional mini-games and side quests alongside a main storyline. Characters are customizable, NPCs both major and minor will be voice acted, and the game's music will be composed by Eastshade composer Phoenix Glendinning.

Eastshade, naturally, was the previous game that Eastshade Studios worked on, with the same trio — Glendinning, and developers Danny Weinbaum and Jaclyn Ciezadlo returning for Glimmerwick. Put their screenshots side by side, and Eastshade (a first-person exploration game about painting) looks absolutely nothing like Songs of Glimmerwick (a top-down RPG about attending a magical university). And yet, the two are more alike than they appear.

Weinbaum and Ciezadlo tell IGN that just as with Eastshade, they wanted to create a world with an extremely strong sense of place. At its core, they say, Songs of Glimmerwick is about exploring a new location and getting to know its citizens. Players should feel that Glimmerwick is a character in its own right.

"A lot of developers will say they want their games to feel like real places, but then they’ll have all these other goals too, and truthfully, a sense of place is just gravy to them," Weinbaum says. "It’s not just gravy to us. We literally sacrifice every other design goal at the altar of sense of place. We really mean it. So when players step into Glimmerwick for the first time, if they don’t get the overwhelming feeling that they’ve arrived somewhere, we’ve failed."

How are Weinbaum and Ciezadlo accomplishing this "sense of place"? One key way is through design. Ciezadlo says that in both Eastshade and Glimmerwick, they stuck to a hard-and-fast rule of asking themselves, "Why would this be here?" every time they placed something in the world, be it as small as a footstool or as big as a cave.

"Having even a quick narrative about why something is in a specific place, how it got that way, or who put it there, etcetera, lends a stability that helps so much with world-building," she continues. "For example, say I (as the designer) want to place a tent out on a beach — so I ask myself, 'Who is staying here, why are they out on the beach?' Let's say it's someone fishing — so maybe I'll put some baskets of fish and fishing poles. 'Okay, are they here alone or did they bring their kids, how long are they staying, did they bring anything to pass the evenings?' They're almost silly questions, especially if the NPC has no dialogue and this is stuff that the player doesn't need to know about, or is even introduced to, but I think it does translate and make the world feel more alive to consider these things."

Weinbaum says that this very thing — designing worlds with a "strong sense of place, explored through non-combat mechanics" — is the core goal of Eastshade Studios.

While Eastshade's primary mechanic was painting, Glimmerwick delves into music. Players will learn different spells as three-to-four note melodies they can play to interact with the world, whether that's speaking with trees or causing clouds to make it rain on their magical garden. Longer versions of these melodies can be practiced in class as minute-long rhythm games to improve spell efficacy and power.

"I've always loved games that use music as a gameplay verb and I also love any and all media about witches and magic schools," Ciezadlo says. "I really wanted to combine the two and see a world where magic and music are intertwined. So often in games, magic is a click that we have no hand in performing. I wanted to explore learning and casting spells in a way that felt a little more personal and hands-on."

Though officially called an RPG, Songs of Glimmerwick doesn't feature combat. It does include a skill tree allowing for customization, and potentially different ways to solve various problems the player might run into as they explore. And players can also express themselves through different dialogue options and quest decisions as they interact with the various citizens of Glimmerwick, get to know them, and help them with their problems. It's another way in which Glimmerwick shares roots with Eastshade, which didn't have a skill tree, but did encourage creative, alternative solutions to various problems.

In that regard, Weinbaum reflects, Glimmerwick and Eastshade both are almost adventure games, too.

"That word [adventure] is starting to lose meaning with regards to genre, but in principle, an adventure game contrives impasses for the player, and they need to figure out what item or person is needed to surmount it," he says. "We’ve noticed a lot of great games fundamentally have these adventure game bones, even if nobody thinks of them as adventure games. We think we’ve gotten pretty good at making adventure game bones, pacing it well, and tying auxiliary loops into the impasses we create as goals for the player. We feel if the impasses align with the story well, and the solutions are kept fresh, when we layer other game loops on top of that, and tie them in natural ways, we’re confident we’ll have a great game."

Alongside the magic, music, and questing, players will also have charge of a magical garden where they can cultivate different plants using the spells they've learned at school. Weinbaum says that there are some farming sim mechanics involved here, but the team aims to "design away a lot of the tedium that is common in the genre."

"Stylistically the farming sim genre is fairly grind-heavy, which I think is a conscious choice for a lot of titles, both because some find relaxation in the repetition, and to extend playtime," he continues. "We want Glimmerwick to feel denser, like you come across something fresh every play session, whether that be interesting story beats, a new area, or a plant that surprises you when it gets to full growth."

With elements of RPG, farming sim, adventure, and even rhythm game, it can be a bit tricky to pin down exactly what genre Songs of Glimmerwick belongs in — a question Weinbaum says the team struggled with, too.

"I did a whole research dive on the history of the term RPG, and read a lot of reddit posts from people arguing over 'Is X game an RPG or not' to try to understand what the word means to most people nowadays," he says. "Some people think an RPG is a game that offers multiple 'roles' to you and you pick a playstyle, and others have a looser definition where you simply pretend to be a particular character. At the end of the day we felt like RPG was closest."

Songs of Glimmerwick is currently planned for PC and consoles sometime in 2023. When it does arrive, Ciezadlo hopes that the magical university at Glimmerwick and its surrounding areas comes across to players as a "real living and breathing place" that offers "a sense of peace and calm to players as well as offering interesting stories."

"After Eastshade we got a lot of messages from people who picked up painting after playing the game," she concludes. "I thought that was amazing. If anyone got inspired to take up an instrument after playing Glimmerwick I think I'd just be over the moon!"

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