A Disney internal meeting has revealed that its efforts to increase its diversity internally and externally are also key in the company's plans to grow and sustain the number of Black subscribers to streaming platforms like Disney+ and Hulu.

Specifically, Disney is trying to “close the gaps in streaming to create value” for a bigger subscriber base, according to internal documents shown at a town hall meeting for employees and obtained by IGN. One slide specifically touted “retaining Black subs at the same rate of white subs” for Hulu, while the main priority for Disney+ is “increasing Black subs to 13%, similar to competitive platforms,” according to the documents. The slides were brought up as part of a presentation on how Disney’s Media and Entertainment Division (everything from streaming to studio releases and Disney’s TV and cable businesses) can better reach Black communities in the United States. The goal is to seemingly create more content that appeals to a wider demographic, and ensure that needs from across its consumer base are met by the shows and films the company produces. Disney declined to comment when reached by IGN. Currently Disney+ has more than 100 million subscribers worldwide. Hulu has 39.4 million subscribers (combined streaming only and streaming with its live, virtual TV package), while ESPN+ has 12.1 million customers. On the ESPN+ front, Disney’s goal is to “match Black subs to ESPN linear (cable) viewership at 18%," according to documents. Executives did not suggest specific new initiatives during the town hall to increase subscriber acquisition (the number of people who sign up for a streaming service like Disney+, ESPN+, or Hulu) and increase retention (the number of people who keep an active subscription every month or year). It’s an ambitious goal, and one that speaks to the company’s overall effort of increasing its focus on bettering diversity. Disney has outlined new priorities to increase diversity both on and behind the camera for its series and films over the past year. For Disney, that also means starting at the very top. In late 2019, then Disney CEO Bob Iger “vowed” to increase diversity in the company’s executive ranks. Iger told the New York Times that diversity in his C-suite (top executive ranks) was “lacking” at the time. New slides shown during Monday’s town hall show that 38% of its executives globally are female, while people of color make up 23% of the executive ranking in the United States. Employees have asked for a more detailed breakdown of Disney’s employee rankings (including executives, managers, and below manager positions) “for a long time” as one employee told IGN. Earlier this year, Iger (now executive chairman) and CEO Bob Chapek announced they will spearhead two new councils centered on increasing diversity within the company and within Disney’s actual content. The move follows the company’s announcement that it was launching a specific hub for its diversity and inclusion initiatives called Reimagine Tomorrow, scheduled to go live this spring. Part of the website’s goal is to “celebrate the diversity of the human experience,” according to internal memos viewed. “The goal of all of our endeavors is to ensure that our workforce and our creative content reflect the rich diversity of our audiences, storytellers and the world that we live in,” Chapek reiterated at the company’s annual shareholder meeting this year. “As Bob [Iger] said earlier, 'While we have made progress, there is still much more to be done.'" There is plenty of opportunity in the months ahead for Disney to increase the diversity of its talent both on and off-screen. The company is currently developing a Lando Calrissian series spearheaded by Dear White People creator Justin Simien. Ms. Marvel, which stars Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan is set to debut later this year on the streaming platform, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which stars Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan in the titular roles, is currently airing. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Julia Alexander is IGN's top streaming editor. Have a story tip? DM her on Twitter @loudmouthjulia or request her Signal number by emailing julia_alexander@ziffdavis.com. 

Fortnite on Nintendo Switch is getting a significant upgrade that will improve the battle royale game’s overall graphical performance, Epic announced Tuesday.

As of today, a new update to Fortnite on Switch is upgrading the resolution and framerate on both docked and handheld mode. Handheld mode is moving from 1000x560 to 1170x660, while docked mode’s resolution is moving from 1390x780 to 1560x880.

If those numbers mean nothing to you, Epic has provided an image to illustrate the upgrade’s effects. You can obviously see a decent upgrade to the foliage of the tree in the foreground, allowing for sharper looking leaves and other details.

[caption id="attachment_2493771" align="alignnone" width="418"] Before[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2493770" align="alignnone" width="419"] After[/caption]

As for framerate, Epic promises “fewer hitches, resulting in a smoother experience overall.” Fortnite on Switch features dynamic resolution to help ensure a consistent framerate, but Epic says this will be less necessary with the new update.

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One final change is that the new update frees up about 140MB of storage. That’s not a lot by any stretch, but every byte counts on the Switch’s smaller internal storage.

Don’t forget to check out our Fortnite hub for more quest walkthroughs and skin guides. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN, and he's gonna chug jug with you.

Cyberpunk 2077 was supposed to get a multiplayer mode, at some point, though at most recent check-in likely not until 2022 or beyond. But now, it's possible we may not see this mode at all -- or at least, CD Projekt is being a bit cagey about how or when it might be implemented in the future. In a strategy update from CD Projekt today, president Adam Kiciński said the studio was adjusting its strategy around online experiences in its games, saying it was focusing on bringing online into all its franchises one day and working on an online technology that can be integrated into all its games. But, he continued, that means a change of some sort to how Cyberpunk 2077's planned multiplayer mode might be implemented. As Kiciński put it: "Previously we hinted that our next AAA would be a multiplayer Cyberpunk game, but we have decided to reconsider this plan given our new more systemic and agile approach instead of primarily focusing on one big online experience or game we are focusing on bringing online into all of our franchises one day." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/02/what-will-cyberpunk-2077-multiplayer-be-like-unlocked-472"] This doesn't exactly clarify the nature of what's going on with Cyberpunk multiplayer, though. Earlier this year, Michał Nowakowski confirmed that this mode was the "triple-A" title CD Projekt Red was developing previously in parallel to Cyberpunk 2077. But now, it's not clear if multiplayer has been delayed even further, or if it simply will not be implemented at all. We do know that CD Projekt is setting up to start developing games in two AAA franchises -- The Witcher and Cyberpunk -- simultaneously, beginning in 2022, and is staffing up and working on technology and support systems to enable that. It's also going to be far more cautious about its marketing going forward, including how early it announces new games. In response to IGN's request for comment or clarity, CD Projekt Red PR manager Radek Grabowki said that the statements in the video were "all we have to say." He did hone in on one additional quote from the presentation that he said gave some context to the company's plans for its online approach: "We are building an online technology that can be seamlessly integrated into development of our future games. This technology will power online components we choose to introduce in our games, and will ensure we can do so without any great technological debt," said Kiciński in the presentation. "With this technology in place, we can start to grow an online community — powered by our own GOG GALAXY platform — which connects gamers both inside and outside of our games." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

CD Projekt Red says The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's next-gen update will arrive in the second half of 2021.

CD Projekt is taking the lessons from Cyberpunk 2077’s long marketing campaign to heart. In a new strategy presentation, CD Projekt is promising multiple changes to the way it markets future games, including focusing on shorter marketing campaigns and better manage expectations for what the game will look like at launch. Much of these changes feel like a direct response to the criticisms of Cyberpunk 2077’s marketing campaign, which spanned nearly 8 years and built up considerable hype that critics say couldn’t be met. In fact, one of CD Projekt’s goals for marketing in the future is to “properly manage expectations across all platforms.” CD Projekt’s senior vice president of business development Michal Nowakowski appeared during the pre-recorded strategy video today to share how CD Projekt can avoid the mistakes with regards to marketing it had with Cyberpunk 2077. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/11/cyberpunk-2077-graphics-comparison-ps5-vs-ps4-base-model"] Aside from the long marketing campaign, Cyberpunk 2077 sent mixed messaging regarding gameplay elements, like full life-paths and 24-day NPC cycles that ultimately didn’t make the final release version. Perhaps most glaringly, CD Projekt didn’t share what Cyberpunk 2077 looked like on non-PC hardware such as the PS4 and Xbox One until closer to launch, and even then many say PS4 gameplay videos didn’t prepare them for the actual state of the game on last-gen consoles. All this will change, according to CD Projekt. Marketing campaigns will be much shorter and the company says it will wait until its games are closer to launch “before showing things like trailers, demos, or going in-depth about mechanics.” CD Projekt also says “when campaigns do start we aim to properly manage expectations across all platforms. This means focusing communication on polished game footage, not concepts,” and showcase game footage on all platforms they will be released on. The company says it will still release teasers early in a game’s development “if it makes sense,” but the actual marketing campaign won’t kick-off until much closer to launch. Compare this strategy to something like what Bethesda did with Fallout 4 which was announced in June 2015 and released later that year. A major shift will be how CD Projekt maps out its plans for the public. In the past, the company released five-year plans but going forward CD Projekt will shift to annual roadmaps to be more “agile.” For 2021 for example, CD Projekt’s roadmap includes next-gen update, free DLC, and patches and updates for Cyberpunk 2077. On the Witcher side of things, there are plans for a next-gen update, more Gwent development, and The Witcher: Monster Slayer AR game. In 2022 CD Projekt will begin parallel AAA game development. All this is to say CD Projekt felt the marketing for Cyberpunk 2077 backfired and many of its changes announced today are direct responses to that campaign. Shorter marketing cycles versus long ones, and more focus on confirmed, polished gameplay across all platforms verse concepts and ideas that could ultimately be cut. Cyberpunk 2077 meanwhile continues to receive patches with the latest 1.2 patch fixing hundreds of bugs. But Cyberpunk 2077 still isn’t in the PlayStation store. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor.

Microsoft has announced that April 2021's Xbox Games with Gold are Vikings: Wolves of Midgard, Truck Racing Championship, Dark Void, and Hard Corps: Uprising. Announced on Xbox Wire, Vikings: Wolves of Midgard and Dark Void will be available on April 1, while Truck Racing Championship and Hard Corps: Uprising will arrive on April 16. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/30/xbox-april-2021-games-with-gold-trailer"] Vikings: Wolves of Midgard, which will be available until April 30, was released in 2017 and takes players to a world based on "mythology with a fantasy twist." You will join a band of Viking warriors and take up the fight against Jotan and the beasts of Ragnarok. Truck Racing Championship, which will be available until May 15, was released in 2019 and let's you take the wheel behind 45 giant 5-ton, 1,000 horsepower semi-trucks in 14 worldwide circuits. Dark Void, which will be available until April 15, was released in 2010 and takes you to a sinister parallel world that is full of hostile aliens and deep mystery. In our Dark Void review, we said that it "is all over the place. The story’s never explained adequately, the combat’s pretty much always a chore, and flying isn’t nearly as fun as it should be. I don’t hate Dark Void, but I don’t care for it, either." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2011/02/16/hard-corps-uprising-video-review"] Hard Corps: Uprising, which will be available until April 30, is a retro run-and-gun action title that lets you "write your own legend in the grueling trenches of Arcade mode or upgrade and build your soldier in Rising mode." In our Hard Corps: Uprising review, we said, "It's definitely classic Contra, but at the same time feels new and exciting... If you've ever been into Contra or Metal Slug or action movies, Hard Corps: Uprising is for you." If you've missed out on the Games with Gold for March 2021, there is still time to download Warface: Breakout, Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse, and Port Royale 3. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

George R.R. Martin is developing a stage show adaptation of Game of Thrones that takes place during the Great Tourney at Harrenhal. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Martin is writing a stage version of Game of Thrones for Broadway, the West End, and Australia, with the first show expected to open in 2023. Playwright Duncan MacMillan and director Dominic Cooke are reportedly joining Martin on the project, which is being produced by Simon Painter and Tim Lawson in partnership with Kilburn Live. The untitled production will reportedly bring back several fan-favorite characters, which may include the likes of Ned Stark and Jaime Lannister, for a prequel story that takes audiences deeper behind the scenes of "a pivotal moment in Westeros history, The Great Tourney at Harrenhal, a contest that took place just 16 years before the events in Game of Thrones." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-ign-game-of-thrones-review-so-far&captions=true"] Although no characters have been officially confirmed yet, the play's description notes that "many of the most iconic and well-known characters from the series" will feature in the new production, dramatizing a story "centered around love, vengeance, madness, and the dangers of dealing in prophecy, in the process revealing secrets and lies that have only been hinted at until now." "The seeds of war are often planted in times of peace," Martin said in a statement to THR. "Few in Westeros knew the carnage to come when highborn and smallfolk alike gathered at Harrenhal to watch the finest knights of the realm compete in a great tourney, during the Year of the False Spring. It is a tourney oft referred during HBO's Game of Thrones, and in my novels, A Song of Ice & Fire... and now, at last, we can tell the whole story... on the stage." "One of George's inspirations for the original books was Shakespeare's history plays so the material lends itself naturally to the theatre," added Cooke. "Duncan MacMillan and I are having a great time digging into the dynastic power struggles at the heart of George's extraordinary imaginative world and he has been hugely generous and supportive towards both of us." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/23/george-r-r-martin-gives-an-update-on-the-winds-of-winter"] The announcement of the Game of Thrones stage show comes right after Martin signed a five-year deal with HBO to develop original programming for the network and its streaming service HBO Max. One of the shows currently in the works is the GoT prequel series, House of Dragon, which is moving forward with a 10-episode first season, scheduled to debut sometime in 2022. A prequel series adaptation of Martin's novel 'Tales of Dunk and Egg' is also in the works, alongside an animated Game of Thrones series at HBO Max. In addition to these projects, Martin is said to be making "steady progress" with The Winds of Winter, the elusive sixth novel in his bestselling Song of Ice and Fire fantasy saga, which he hopes to have completed by the end of this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

After a long, drawn-out development for Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt is preparing to shift gears for future AAA projects, and work on games in both The Witcher and Cyberpunk franchises simultaneously beginning in 2022. During a Strategy Update presentation today, CD Projekt outlined how it's going to achieve its goals to develop two AAA games in two different franchises simultaneously, saying it intends to staff up over the next year and have development teams working on both projects at once, including leads. It's also planning to adjust the capabilities of its internal game engine to allow features like NPC routines and player character control to be adapted in multiple games at once. "We want to be sure that we can work with two global brands at the same time while ensuring top quality of our products," said CTO Paweł Zawodny. "We emphasize technological advancements and we want to set up versatile teams which combine various specializations and competencies. These teams will be further assisted by a cross-projects group of experts, who – owing to their expertise – can contribute to key aspects of development. All these changes aim to enable us to work on multiple AAA games and expansions in parallel, starting in 2022." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/07/cyberpunk-2077-review"] Though the presentation did not specify what either of these games would be, as CD Projekt made a point to say it was going to be more careful with how early it made announcements in the future given criticism of Cyberpunk's transformations from its original announcement, it did say it wants to continue adding onto the traditional RPG. The Witcher, for instance, began as a traditional RPG, added action elements, and Cyberpunk took those genres and added shooter elements as well. It also addressed (albeit indirectly) criticisms of massive crunch at the studio ahead of Cyberpunk 2077 despite reassurances from studio leadership that they would do no such thing, saying that it was putting in place new support systems to "minimize stress" and "prevent burnout," including more mental health support -- though CD Projekt did not go into specifics. It also outlined its plans for 2021, saying Cyberpunk 2077 would receive patches and updates, free DLC, and a next-gen update, while the Witcher franchise would see The Witcher: Monster Slayer, next-gen updates for The Witcher 3, and further development for Gwent. CD Projekt also announced today it has acquired Digital Scapes, and gave an update as to how it will do its marketing going forward. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Jordan Fisher has been cast as Bart Allen/Impulse in The CW's The Flash as a recurring guest star. Fisher, who has starred on Broadway as Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen and in Netflix's To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You and Work It, will be portraying the future son of Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen in the show's seventh season. [caption id="attachment_249358" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Image Credit: David Becker/Getty Images[/caption] Bart Allen, who is also known as Impulse, is "the fastest teenager on the planet! But due to Bart’s penchant for wildly impulsive behavior, stunned parents Barry and Iris will have their hands full trying to teach their new son patience. But it’s a task they’ll have to accomplish, in order for their family to work together and stop Team Flash’s biggest threat yet!" Fisher will debut during The Flash's special 150th episode, which will air later this season. The Flash's seventh season premiered earlier this month, and in our review, we said it "continues to make the best of a bad situation where the pandemic is concerned. If not the ideal point at which to kick off a new season, "All's Well That Ends Wells" is nonetheless a stirring tribute to one of the show's longest-running characters." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/27/the-flash-season-7-premiere-exclusive-clip-ign-fan-fest-2021"] Fisher, who also starred as John Laurens/Philip Hamilton in Hamilton from 2016-2017 and has become a successful Twitch streamer, will be appearing in the feature film Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between, a movie he will also serve as executive producer on. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

CD Projekt has announced that it has signed contracts to acquire Canadian studio Digital Scapes. Digital Scapes Studios, based in Vancouver, has been working with CD Projekt for three years during the production of Cyberpunk 2077. The studio will become CD Projekt Red Vancouver, and join the developer’s portfolio of teams that includes the three existing ones based in Warsaw, Krakow, and Wroclaw. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/07/cyberpunk-2077-review"] “We believe that the hugely talented Digital Scapes crew is the perfect foundation upon which to build a wider CD Projekt Red Vancouver team,” said Paweł Zawodny, Head of Production and CTO at CDPR in a statement announcing the acquisition move. “This is a great opportunity for Canadian developers to get involved with CD Projekt Red's incredible IP and for CD Projekt Red to tap into Canada's deep talent pool and game-making craft,” added Marcin Chady, the head of Vancouver studio. Large video game developers often work with studios outside of their native country in order to have access to worldwide talent and allow for development to continue beyond the timezone of the headquarters. A base in Vancouver will certainly offer this to CDPR, and already the studio is looking to recruit. For more from CDPR, check out the hugely detailed notes for Cyberpunk 2077 patch 1.2, which contains hundreds of changes. It’s available now. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.