Warner Bros. Close to Bringing DC Animated Shows to Amazon Prime Video

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.

Sonic Frontiers 2023 Roadmap Revealed, Adds New Playable Characters and Story

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.

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

PlayStation Plus Games for December 2022 Announced

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.

Overwatch 2: Sojourn the Main Target of Nerfs in Season 2 Update

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

Fallout TV Show Has a Fresh Story Separate From the Games

Amazon's Fallout TV show will tell a fresh story completely separate from the games, though still in the same world.

Speaking to Lex Fridman on the latest episode of his podcast, Bethesda director and executive producer of the Fallout TV series Todd Howard said he'd been turned off by previous adaptation offers that only wanted to transfer the story of Fallout 3 or 4 into a film. When the idea was proposed to tell a new story adjacent to the events of the games, however, Howard got on board.

"When people wanted to make a movie they wanted to tell the story of Fallout 3 or tell the story of Fallout 4, and it was meh," he said. "For this it was, 'hey let's do something that exists within the world of Fallout.'

"It's not retelling a game story. It's basically an area of the map. Let's tell a story here that fits in the world that we have built, doesn't break any of the rules, can reference things in the games, but isn't a retelling of the games," he continued. "[It] exists in the same world but is its own unique thing, so it adds to it. While also, people who haven't played the games, who can't experience how crazy cool Fallout is, can watch the series."

Amazon has otherwise been tight-lipped about the plot of the Fallout show, not making clear (until now) if it would be a partial or full adaptation of the games. A brief teaser trailer released in October 2022 suggests the story will revolve around Vault 33, but details beyond that are still hazy.

The Fallout show was announced in July 2020 with Westworld co-creator Jonathan Nolan directing at least a few episodes. Walton Goggins will play the lead role alongside Ella Purnell and Kyle MacLachlan.

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

Todd Howard’s Indiana Jones Game Is a ‘Unique’ Mash-Up of Different Genres

The upcoming Indiana Jones game executive produced by Bethesda's Todd Howard will be a "unique" mash-up of different genres.

Speaking to Lex Fridman on the latest episode of his podcast, Howard denied to comment on which one genre Machine Games' Indiana Jones would be, instead saying it was a blend of different things.

When asked if it will be an action-adventure game, Howard said: "I will just say it's a mash-up. It's unique. It isn't one thing, intentionally, so it does a lot of different things that myself and the folks at Machine Games have wanted to do in a game. So it's a unique thing."

Very little has been said about Indiana Jones since Bethesda announced it in January 2021. It is confirmed to have an original story, at least some of which is set in 1937 and probably in Vatican City, meaning it's somewhere between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

A very brief teaser trailer released alongside the announcement (above) also alludes that Indy will visit Egypt, Peru, and Mesopotamia.

Indiana Jones was thought to be in early development around that time, meaning it'll likely still be a couple of years before it's released. Given that Xbox now owns Bethesda, it will probably follow Starfield's lead of being an Xbox exclusive, though no hard details regarding a release date or platform have been given so far.

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

Bethesda Is Working On Another Mobile Game

Starfield developer Bethesda is currently working on a new mobile game, though it's unclear which of its famous franchises it's based on.

Speaking to Lex Fridman on the latest episode of his podcast, Bethesda executive producer and Starfield director Todd Howard revealed that the Elder Scrolls and Fallout developer has another mobile game in the works.

Talking about the conceptual differences between designing a console game versus one for mobile, Howard said plainly: "Well we've done a few things, and we have a new mobile game that we're working on that we haven't announced yet that I am in love with."

He didn't give anything else away regarding its genre, release date, and so on, but did allude that it would be a more in depth experience rather than a game intended to be played in short bursts.

"We have found with our games, particularly Fallout shelter, people will sit there for an hour or two. They will just sit there and play it. Large numbers of people will play it for hours a day."

Fallout Shelter was released in 2015 as a construction and management simulation game where players take over a Vault and expand it over time, but the developer hasn't done much else in the mobile arena since.

It'll likely be a while before we hear more about this new game as it hasn't been officially announced by Bethesda. Fallout Shelter was released around the same time as Fallout 4, however, so if it's a tie-in to Bethesda's space RPG Starfield, it'll perhaps be released around the same time next year.

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

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR Is a PlayStation VR2 Launch Title

Supermassive Games has revealed that The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR will launch as a day one title for the PlayStation VR2 on February 22, 2023.

As reported by Eurogamer, developer Supermassive Games has announced the release date and pre-order bonuses for Switchback VR, its upcoming action-horror shooter set in the same unsettling universe as The Man of Medan and other Dark Pictures titles.

According to its PlayStation Store page, customers who purchase the title early for $39.99 will be rewarded with a number of cosmetic items including the Demon Handgun, a premium skull and bones cart, a skull bobblehead, and a special edition gold gun.

Switchback VR will see players subjected to a horror-themed on-rails shooter steeped in content from The Dark Pictures games. Generally speaking, Switchback looks to offer a similar experience to the developer’s 2016 rollercoaster spin-off Until Dawn: Rush of Blood. This time around the developers have made use of the PSVR2’s eye-tracking features and haptic feedback capabilities intending to draw players deeper into the experience.

This latest VR horror-shooter is just one of several new games from Supermassive Games that will be released in the coming years. Other titles trademarked by the developer include The Craven Man, Intercession, and O Death, and we already know that Directive 8020 is the next mainline Dark Pictures title in development.

Back in November, PlayStation revealed that its next generation of VR console would come with a price tag of $549.99. This includes Sony’s new VR2 headset, a pair of PS VR2 controllers, and a set of stereo headphones. Needless to say, you’ll also need to own a PS5 console as well.

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

Walking Dead Network AMC is Having Some Major Problems

AMC Networks staff face huge layoffs as American viewers head to online streaming.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the network, which brought The Walking Dead to TV, has sent a memo to staff warning them of impending layoffs.

“We of course realize that this will cause significant concern and anxiety for our employees and those who rely on AMC Networks for their livelihood,” said AMC Chairman James Dolan. “We do not take this lightly. We will take every step possible to minimize the impact of these actions on our community.”

It’s thought that recent losses come from the cord-cutting movement as American abandon traditional paid TV services in favor of online streaming.

AMC Networks owns and operates a number of platforms including the AMC cable TV channel, IFC, WE tv, and Sundance TV as well as running the popular horror streaming platform Shudder alongside AMC+.

However, the company’s adoption of online streaming wasn’t enough.

“It was our belief that cord-cutting losses would be offset by gains in streaming,” said Dolan in the staff memo. “This has not been the case.”

AMC’s layoffs come hot on the heels of CEO Christina Spade stepping down earlier today. Spade was in the role for less than three months when she parted ways with AMC. Spade previously held senior roles at ViacomCBS, CBS, and Showtime, but joined AMC back in 2021 as chief financial officer, taking on the role of CEO last year.

“We thank Christina for her contributions to the company in her CEO role and her earlier CFO role, and we wish her well in her future endeavors,” said Dolan.

AMC is well known for shows such as The Walking Dead, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad, but despite bringing numerous hits to TV screens across America, the network has suffered a 40% dip in stock prices this year, with a 4.6% drop reported earlier today.

Want to read more about AMC shows? Check out Norman Reedus’ grim idea for the end of The Walking Dead as well as Vince Gilligan’s thoughts on Walter White.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Major Marvel Snap Update Fixes the Pool 3 Climb, Adds Multiple New Cards

A new Marvel Snap update has added a bunch of new cards plus a new way to earn them.

The update, called The Power Cosmic, will add a number of new cards including Thanos, She-Hulk, and Galactus… and perhaps most importantly, introduces Collector’s Tokens.

“We're planning to patch at 3 PM Pacific today!” said Marvel Snap creator Ben Brode. “Once you log into the new patch the game will look at your Collection Level and grant your Collector's Tokens. Have fun! Can't wait to see what new decks everyone will build!”

Collector’s Tokens are a brand-new mechanic which should make acquiring those last finishing touches to your latest deck a little bit easier.

The idea is simple – players are awarded Collector’s Tokens by increasing their Collector’s Level, and these can be spent in the Store to purchase new cards. Essentially, it’s a new kind of currency that’s a neat way of picking up one or two cards to finish off your latest deck.

The number of Collector’s Tokens you get is based on your Collector Level:

  • 500-999: 3000 Tokens
  • 1000-2999: 6000 Tokens
  • Over 3000: 12,000 Tokens

You can then spend those tokens on any cards that appear in the new Token shop. Pool 3 cards will cost 1000 tokens, Pool 4 cards cost 3000 tokens, and Pool 5 cards cost 6000 tokens.

The best part? It should make the Pool 3 climb that little bit easier.

Marvel Snap sees players rise through several pools of available cards with Pool 3 being by far the most varied, consisting of 74 cards in total. The combinations are almost endless… but it can be an altogether daunting prospect for those players, like myself, who have just clawed their way out of Pool 2.

And with the addition of a huge number of cards in Pool 4, that’s only going to get worse.

New additions include Luke Cage, Absorbing Man, She-Hulk, Titania, Maria Hill, Agent Coulson, HeliCarrier, M’Baku, Attuma, Orka, Bast, Shuri, Thanos, Galactus, Valkyrie, Super Skrull, and Silver Surfer.

Unfortunately, the patch brings some nerfs, too. Angela is now a 2/0 instead of a 2/1 while Mysterio is now a 2/4 instead of 2/5. Sera is now a 5/4 instead of a 5/5 and Onslaught’s impressive ability is now stacking additively instead of exponentially.

A bad day for Kazoo decks, maybe. But Collector’s Tokens sure take the bad luck out of leveling.

Want to read more about Marvel Snap? Check out our 5 best Marvel Snap Pool 1 decks for beginners as well as the possibility of a single-player mode.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.