Monthly Archives: January 2020

CD Projekt Red Confirms Cyberpunk 2077 for Current Gen Consoles, But Next-Gen Is Likely

Cyberpunk 2077 will be out in just a few months for current-gen consoles. But that doesn’t mean CD Projekt Red has completely written off next-gen hardware. In an alleged DM to a fan, the developer confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t limited to current-gen hardware, although it is the primary focus. Reddit user Astro4545 posted a screenshot of a private message correspondence they had with CD Projekt Red over Twitter. In it, they asked the developer that since new consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are expected sometime this year whether Cyberpunk 2077 might be a cross-gen game. The studio responded, “Possibly, however current generation is our main focus [at the moment].” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/08/27/cyberpunk-2077-gameplay-demo"] IGN reached out to CD Projekt Red but was told by the developers that they “do not have any comments regarding the topic.” It should be noted that speculation regarding Cyberpunk 2077 being a cross-gen game has been floating around since last year. And it’s not like Cyberpunk 2077 won’t support next-gen features. Nvidia announced that the company partnered with CD Projekt Red to bring ray tracing technology into the PC version of Cyberpunk 2077. And ray tracing is supposedly a big feature for next-gen consoles like the PS5 and Series X. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=updated-62-cyberpunk-2077-gameplay-details&captions=true"] Ultimately, Cyberpunk 2077 is just a few months away from launch on current-gen consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. CD Projekt has also stated that focus is on the immediate launch and current-gen hardware. Check out our many Cyberpunk 2077 previews and guides for more coverage on the upcoming sci-fi RPG. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.

Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2020 Nominees Announced

The nominees for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2020 were announced on Friday to kick off voting for the annual event, as revealed in a press release. This will be the fourth year of the annual awards from Crunchyroll – a popular streaming service for anime fans. Fans around the world can cast their vote every day from now up until January 17 on the official website for the awards. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=top-25-best-anime-series-of-all-time&captions=true"] The award ceremony, coming in February, will be hosted by WWE Superstar Xavier Woods. Six contenders compete for the top honor of Anime of the Year for 2020: Carole & Tuesday, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Mob Psycho 100 II, O Maidens in Your Savage Season, The Promised Neverland, and Vinland Saga. Several shows have been nominated for multiple awards. Fruits Basket is up for Best Drama, and its main character Tohru Honda is up for Best Protagonist as well as a nomination for Tohru's English voice actor, Laura Bailey. Attack on Titan also scored multiple nods, including nominations for Best Score, Best Fight Scene, Best Fantasy, and Best Animation. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/25/top-10-best-anime-series-of-all-time"]   Additionally, Tetsuro Araki was nominated for Best Director for his work on season three of the show. Finally, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has a whopping nine nominations, including Best Animation and Best Score. IGN's own Executive Editor Miranda Sanchez is a judge for this year's Crunchyroll awards and will also be a presenter at the show. Other presenters will include well-known personalities and streamers, including Dominique “SonicFox” McLean and SungWon Cho, among others. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-live-action-anime-remake-currently-in-development&captions=true"] Judges will vote in the event a tiebreaker is needed. The Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2020 is coming February 15, 2020, at 5:00 pm PST / 1:00 pm GMT / Noon AET and will be available to watch via a live stream. You can check out the full list of nominations and vote on the official website for the awards. [poilib element="accentDivider"]

Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2020 Nominees Announced

The nominees for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2020 were announced on Friday to kick off voting for the annual event, as revealed in a press release. This will be the fourth year of the annual awards from Crunchyroll – a popular streaming service for anime fans. Fans around the world can cast their vote every day from now up until January 17 on the official website for the awards. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=top-25-best-anime-series-of-all-time&captions=true"] The award ceremony, coming in February, will be hosted by WWE Superstar Xavier Woods. Six contenders compete for the top honor of Anime of the Year for 2020: Carole & Tuesday, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Mob Psycho 100 II, O Maidens in Your Savage Season, The Promised Neverland, and Vinland Saga. Several shows have been nominated for multiple awards. Fruits Basket is up for Best Drama, and its main character Tohru Honda is up for Best Protagonist as well as a nomination for Tohru's English voice actor, Laura Bailey. Attack on Titan also scored multiple nods, including nominations for Best Score, Best Fight Scene, Best Fantasy, and Best Animation. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/25/top-10-best-anime-series-of-all-time"]   Additionally, Tetsuro Araki was nominated for Best Director for his work on season three of the show. Finally, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has a whopping nine nominations, including Best Animation and Best Score. IGN's own Executive Editor Miranda Sanchez is a judge for this year's Crunchyroll awards and will also be a presenter at the show. Other presenters will include well-known personalities and streamers, including Dominique “SonicFox” McLean and SungWon Cho, among others. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-live-action-anime-remake-currently-in-development&captions=true"] Judges will vote in the event a tiebreaker is needed. The Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2020 is coming February 15, 2020, at 5:00 pm PST / 1:00 pm GMT / Noon AET and will be available to watch via a live stream. You can check out the full list of nominations and vote on the official website for the awards. [poilib element="accentDivider"]

First Harry Potter Flagship Store Opening in NYC

The first-ever Harry Potter franchise flagship store is coming to New York City this summer, according to a tweet as originally spotted by the New York Daily News on Friday. The flagship store will be three stories high and will be located on Broadway, next to the Flatiron Building. The store will be the largest dedicated to the massive magical franchise, which started with a series of novels and spawned both a film series and theme park, as well as over a dozen video games – including an AR game from Niantic last year. [caption id="attachment_228415" align="alignnone" width="720"]hp1 Concept art of the Harry Potter Flagship store in NYC.[/caption] “The store will house the largest collection of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts products in the world under one roof,” Warner Bros. stated, according to the New York Daily News. Visitors to the store can purchase items inspired by the Harry Potter franchise that are already available in other retail stores, including the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/11/24/best-25-harry-potter-characters"] The new store will also have special offerings, such as personalized wands and robes. Interactive experiences and photo opportunities will also be available but were not detailed further. The opening date for the store is forthcoming. While we wait for the first-ever Harry Potter Flagship store, read all the details on Fantastic Beasts 3, which will take place in a different country than has been visited thus far, and will release in 2021. [poilib element="accentDivider"]

First Harry Potter Flagship Store Opening in NYC

The first-ever Harry Potter franchise flagship store is coming to New York City this summer, according to a tweet as originally spotted by the New York Daily News on Friday. The flagship store will be three stories high and will be located on Broadway, next to the Flatiron Building. The store will be the largest dedicated to the massive magical franchise, which started with a series of novels and spawned both a film series and theme park, as well as over a dozen video games – including an AR game from Niantic last year. [caption id="attachment_228415" align="alignnone" width="720"]hp1 Concept art of the Harry Potter Flagship store in NYC.[/caption] “The store will house the largest collection of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts products in the world under one roof,” Warner Bros. stated, according to the New York Daily News. Visitors to the store can purchase items inspired by the Harry Potter franchise that are already available in other retail stores, including the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/11/24/best-25-harry-potter-characters"] The new store will also have special offerings, such as personalized wands and robes. Interactive experiences and photo opportunities will also be available but were not detailed further. The opening date for the store is forthcoming. While we wait for the first-ever Harry Potter Flagship store, read all the details on Fantastic Beasts 3, which will take place in a different country than has been visited thus far, and will release in 2021. [poilib element="accentDivider"]

Every Video Game Movie and TV Series in Development Right Now

With Fallout getting a TV series on Amazon and Netflix developing a Cyberpunk 2077 anime and a Tomb Raider anime, we thought it would be a good time to revisit the list of all the other video game movies and TV projects that have been announced, planned, or are currently in production right now. Only a handful of them will probably ever happen and only a fraction of those have actual release dates. We decided to round them all up anyway. For the purposes of this list, we classify a “video game movie” as an actual film adaptation of an existing video game, so something like Wreck-It Ralph (which is just a movie about video games) wouldn’t qualify. They don’t have to be faithful adaptations – they just have to be based on a real game. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-video-game-movie-in-development-almost&captions=true"] This gallery was compiled with the help of a number of resources, including IGN’s own news coverage, IMDB, and Den of Geek. See something incorrect, missing, or in need of an update? Let us know in the comments! [poilib element="articleSubHeader" parameters="label=Movies%20With%20Confirmed%20Release%20Dates"] [poilib element="accentDivider"]

Mortal Kombat

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=meet-the-cast-of-the-mortal-kombat-reboot-movie&captions=true"] Release Date: April 16, 2021 At one point New Line had a second sequel to 1995's Mortal Kombat in the works, but now the studio is rebooting the series with The Conjuring's James Wan as producer and Simon McQuoid directing. The cast includes Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jackson "Jax" Briggs, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero and Lewis Tan as a new character named Cole Young. The movie was originally slated for a January 2021 release, but due to the pandemic will now debut in theaters and on HBO Max on April 16.

Without Remorse

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/09/20/michael-b-jordan-to-star-in-rainbow-six-movies-"] Release Date: TBA 2021 Michael B. Jordan will star as John Clark in two of Paramount’s planned Rainbow Six Siege movies, based on the Tom Clancy books Rainbow Six and Without Remorse. Without Remorse was scheduled for release in September 2020, but due to the pandemic it looks to be headed to Amazon Prime Video instead. An ensemble-driven Rainbow Six sequel is also currently planned.

Uncharted

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/14/tom-holland-says-uncharted-has-a-solution-to-the-video-game-movie-problem"] Release Date: February 11, 2022 Sony's Uncharted movie has gained and lost six directors since being announced in 2009. The good news is that production has finally wrapped on this perpetually troubled project. The movie is directed by Venom's Ruben Fleischer and stars Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and former Drake frontrunner Mark Wahlberg as the hero's mentor Sully. Holland says the movie will draw inspiration from Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. The release date has been pushed back numerous times due to the pandemic and other factors, with the current release scheduled for February 2022.

Minecraft: The Movie

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/04/16/minecraft-movie-gets-2022-release-date"] Release Date: March 4, 2022 Peter Sollett (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) will direct the Minecraft movie, which will tell the story of a teenage girl trying to save the Overworld from an Ender Dragon.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/25/cyberpunk-edgerunners-anime-official-announcement"] Release Date: 2022 Netflix is moving forward with an anime series tie-in to Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt Red will act as producer on the series, with Studio Trigger working as the animation studio, and Hiroyuki Imaishi (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, Promare) directing. Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka will compose the score.

Tomb Raider 2

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/03/16/tomb-raider-7-biggest-differences-between-the-games-and-new-movie"] Release Date: TBA (Previously March 19, 2021) Despite mediocre reviews for 2018's Tomb Raider, MGM and Warner Bros. seem happy enough with the film's box office performance to move forward with a sequel, with Alicia Vikander returning as Lara Croft. At one point the sequel had a March 2021 release date, but with Lovecraft Country showrunner Misha Green coming aboard as writer and director in January 2021, it's become clear Tomb Raider 2 won't be releasing before 2022 at the earliest. Separately, Netflix is developing a Tomb Raider anime series set within the universe of the reboot games (specifically, after the events of 2018's Shadow of the Tomb Raider). It's unknown whether Camilla Luddington will reprise her role as Lara. [poilib element="articleSubHeader" parameters="label=Movies%20Without%20Confirmed%20Release%20Dates"] [poilib element="accentDivider"]

Assassin’s Creed 2

A sequel to the first Assassin’s Creed movie was already in the works during the production of the first, but information about the follow-up is minimal.

Borderlands

The Borderlands movie was announced back in 2016, to be produced by Avi and Ari Arad and written by Aaron Berg. While news was slow for several years after, Lionsgate surprised fans in February 2020 by announcing Hostel's Eli Roth will direct the movie, with Chernobyl's Craig Mazin penning a new screenplay draft. Cate Blanchett has been confirmed to star as Lilith, and Kevin Hart will also star as Roland.

Brothers in Arms

Gearbox is developing a live-action series based on the Brothers in Arms games, one that will explore both the Allied and Axis sides of the WWII conflict. The series is overseen by showrunner Scott Rosenbaum, with Randy Pitchford executive producing.

Call of Duty

There isn’t just one Call of Duty movie in development – its sequel is already being planned too. Sicario 2 director Stefano Solima is set to direct the first one.

Carmen Sandiego

Jane the Virgin-star Gina Rodriguez is set to play Carmen Sandiego in both a live-action film she is also producing, and an animated TV series produced by Netflix.

Centipede

MoviePass Films has partnered with Atari to produce films based on both Centipede and Missile Command. MoviePass' shutdown in 2019 casts the future of this project in doubt.

Contra

Arcade run and gun classic Contra is getting a live-action film in China, produced by Beijing Starlit Movie and TV Culture.

The Division

Deadpool 2 director David Leitch is set to helm this adaptation of the Ubisoft game, which will star Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal in leading roles.

Duke Nukem

Gearbox Software has reportedly teamed up with the Assassin’s Creed movie producer Jean-Julien Baronnet to adapt Duke Nukem into a movie. John Cena is rumored to star.

Fallout

Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy are producing a Fallout series for Amazon. It's unknown whether the series will be an adaptation of one of the games or tell an original story in this post-apocalyptic universe.

Fatal Frame

The popular survival horror series built around ghost photography is reportedly being adapted by Silent Hill director Christophe Gans.

Firewatch

In 2016 it was announced that Campo Santo’s Firewatch was going to be adapted into a movie, but we’ve heard nothing since.

Five Nights at Freddy’s

A Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is currently in the works from Blumhouse, but production recently hit a snag after the greenlit screenplay was rejected by Five Nights creator Scott Cawthon. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/10/05/jason-blum-five-nights-at-freddys-movie-coming-pretty-soon"]

Fruit Ninja

In 2016 it was reported that a ‘live-action family comedy’ based around Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja is in the works, but we’ve heard nothing since.

Gears of War

A Gears of War film under Universal was first announced back in 2016, and new screenwriter F. Scott Frazier (Collide, xXx: Return of Xander Cage) was more recently tapped to write the movie. Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista admitted he considered playing Marcus Fenix in a Gears of War movie a "dream role. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/12/07/we-cast-the-gears-of-war-movie-unlocked-highlight"]

Half-Life

A movie based on Half Life was meant to be in the works from JJ Abrams, but it seems to be subject to the Half Life 3 curse.

Halo

While a planned movie adaptation of the original Halo never materialized, the franchise is now being adapted as a series at Showtime. Pablo Schreiber has been cast as Master Chief, while Otto Bathurst (Peaky Blinders) will direct and produce the series. Last we heard, Halo was planned for a spring 2021 debut, though it remains to be seen if that timetable will hold.

Heavy Rain

First announced in 2006, the rights to a Heavy Rain were bought by two former New Line executives. It’s safe to say this one will probably never see the light of day, though it was never announced it was officially canceled.

Just Cause

Derek Kolstad (the creator of the John Wick franchise) scripted this big screen adaptation of the Square Enix/Avalanche video game franchise. Constantin Film (the Resident Evil films) and Prime Universe (the Hitman films) are producing this action flick, which aims to kick-off a new film franchise around the game series' iconic protagonist Rico Rodriguez.

Just Dance

Just Dance is going to be a video game. In January 2019 it was announced that Screen Gems will develop a film version of Ubisoft’s annual video game, somehow.

Kane & Lynch

This one was first announced in 2007, and was originally set to star Jamie Foxx and Bruce Willis. The last we heard anything around this movie was in 2013 when THR reported Gerard Butler and Vin Diesel were in talks for the two leads.

The Last of Us

The Last of Us movie is in “development hell”, according to the game’s director Neil Druckmann, who wrote the original script for Screen Gems. In 2018 Druckmann said that if it ever went ahead, he hopes that the studio doesn’t use his script. Instead, HBO is adapting The Last of Us as a series, with Chernobyl's Craig Mazin overseeing the project and Druckmann both writing and producing. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/05/the-last-of-us-tv-show-in-the-works-at-hbo-ign-now"]

Mass Effect

In 2010, it was announced that former Marvel Studios head Avi Arad would be adapting Mass Effect for the big screen for Warner Bros. Legendary Pictures picked up the deal in 2011, but divorced from Warner Bros. in 2013. The last we heard about this was when BioWare head Casey Hudson said it was still in the works in March of that year.

Mega Man

In late 2013, it was announced that Capcom and 20th Century Fox would be making a movie based on the Mega Man franchise. It will be written and directed by Catfish’s Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.

Metal Gear Solid

Jordan Vogt-Roberts will direct this adaptation of Konami's long-running action game franchise as rooted in Hideo Kojima's lore, but not a straight-up adaptation of the story from the games. A script was already completed, but the movie doesn't yet have a date.

Metro 2033

The movie adaptation of Metro 2033 is currently on hold, after screenwriter F.Scott Frazier butted heads with Metro creator Dmitry Glukhovsky over the film’s setting. Who knows where it will go from here.

Missile Command

The last we heard about a Missile Command movie was 2016, after it was announced Atari was teaming up with Emmett/Furla/Oasis films to spin the 1980 arcade game into a big screen spectacle.

Monument Valley

Paramount Pictures has a Monument Valley adaptation in the works, and animator Patrick Osborne (Big Hero 6) is due to direct the live-action/CGI hybrid.

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu 2

Legendary Pictures announced a sequel to Detective Pikachu in January 2019, two months before the original hit theaters. While there's been little news since, the strong performance of the first movie gives us no reason to assume the sequel isn't still a top priority. 22 Jump Street's Oren Uziel is penning the screenplay.

Portal

Like Half-Life, a movie based on Portal was meant to be in the works from JJ Abrams. The status of this is anyone’s guess.

Rabbids

A movie based on Ubisoft’s Rabbids franchise was first announced in 2015, as a collaboration between Ubisoft and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Robot Chicken’s Matthew Senreich, Tom Sheppard and Zeb Wells were set to write the script.

Resident Evil

The Resident Evil film franchise is due to be rebooted by director Johannes Roberts (47 Meters down). The Conjuring's James Wan will produce the first of a planned six (!) movie series. That first movie was slated to begin production in 2019, though there's been little news since Roberts signed on.

RollerCoaster Tycoon

We haven’t heard anything about the RollerCoaster Tycoon movie since 2010, when it was reported that Harald Zwart (the Karate Kid remake) would be heading up the film for Sony Pictures Animation.

Shinobi

Scott Pilgrim producer Marc Platt was poised to adapt Shinobi to the big screen back in 2016. “With Shinobi, we hope to make a film that honors the essence of the games,” Platt said at the time.

Silent Hill Sequel

Silent Hill director Christophe Gans is reportedly interested in returning to the franchise, though whether it'll serve as a direct sequel to the previous movies or a standalone project remains to be seen.

The Sims

It was back in 2007 that we heard a Sims movie was in the works with 20th Century Fox. We’ve heard nothing since, so it’s possible that the project is long dead.

Sleeping Dogs

A Sleeping Dogs adaptation was confirmed to be in development in 2017, with radio silence since, Donnie Yen confirmed it was still happening on his Instagram account in 2018.

Super Mario: The Movie

Nintendo and animation studio Illumination teamed up, with Shigeru Miyamoto and Chris Meledandri co-producing a CG-animated take on Nintendo's most popular character due out in 2022. Universal Studios, Nintendo's partner for Mushroom Kingdom theme park attractions, will distribute the film.

Tetris

In 2016, Tetris producer Larry Kasanoff confirmed he was planning a sci-fi trilogy around the iconic puzzle game. How that will actually work is still up for debate.

Watch Dogs

A Watch Dogs movie was announced in 2013, but it has since lingered in development hell, despite a brief announcement in 2016 that it was “still happening.”

Werewolves Within

Ubisoft’s social VR deception game Werewolves Within is getting a big-screen adaptation, with Mishna Wolff writing the script.

Assassin's Creed TV Series

Netflix has announced that it will produce a live-action Assassin's Creed series, executive produced by Ubisoft's Jason Altman and Danielle Kreinik, which will be the first of multiple new projects. The live-action series will be an "epic, genre-bending live action adaptation." The collaboration will "tap into the iconic video game’s trove of dynamic stories" to create live-action, animated and anime series.

IGN Is Hiring News Writers: Come Work With Us!

IGN is hiring for freelance news writers to join our team in covering the biggest announcements throughout the year in both games and entertainment! Specific categories we are looking for coverage on include:
  • Games
  • Movies
  • TV
  • Comics
  • Anime
This is a remote position with IGN's editorial team and does not involve relocation to any of our offices. Experience in news writing and a passion for games or entertainment is a must. If you are interested, please fill out the form to apply! [caption id="attachment_228388" align="alignnone" width="720"]BabyYodaHiring_blogroll Pictured: Yes, you get to work with Baby Yoda at IGN. (Okay, not really)[/caption] While working on the news team at IGN, you will cover announcements such as every game revealed at Sony's PlayStation State of Play; a Reddit AMA session with Netflix's The Witcher showrunner on Season 2 of the show; and the Pokemon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass DLC announcement. If you have any questions about other jobs at IGN, we encourage you to contact the people working in those positions – Twitter is a good place for that. Here's the list of what everyone does at IGN. See you there! [poilib element="accentDivider"]

IGN Is Hiring News Writers: Come Work With Us!

IGN is hiring for freelance news writers to join our team in covering the biggest announcements throughout the year in both games and entertainment! Specific categories we are looking for coverage on include:
  • Games
  • Movies
  • TV
  • Comics
  • Anime
This is a remote position with IGN's editorial team and does not involve relocation to any of our offices. Experience in news writing and a passion for games or entertainment is a must. If you are interested, please fill out the form to apply! [caption id="attachment_228388" align="alignnone" width="720"]BabyYodaHiring_blogroll Pictured: Yes, you get to work with Baby Yoda at IGN. (Okay, not really)[/caption] While working on the news team at IGN, you will cover announcements such as every game revealed at Sony's PlayStation State of Play; a Reddit AMA session with Netflix's The Witcher showrunner on Season 2 of the show; and the Pokemon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass DLC announcement. If you have any questions about other jobs at IGN, we encourage you to contact the people working in those positions – Twitter is a good place for that. Here's the list of what everyone does at IGN. See you there! [poilib element="accentDivider"]