Streamer Rachel “Valkyrae” Hofstetter has become a co-owner of the esports gaming organization 100 Thieves, alongside fellow new co-owner Jack “CouRage” Dunlop, the group announced Wednesday.

“Looking back, I just feel like it’s been such a long journey,” Hofstetter said in a video put out by 100 Thieves.

“And now being, not just a co-owner, but a female co-owner, like how did this even happen! It just feels like everything just played out so unbelievably well. I feel very lucky and very fortunate to be in this position. I’m also very grateful because I feel I can be a very good role model, not just to our community but to females as well.”

Happy to announce that I am officially a co-owner of 100 Thieves!

Its been almost 3 years since I joined the team and I would have never expected this path to lead to this.. I’m proud to be one of the first women co-owners in esports and beyond excited for our future together! pic.twitter.com/hb5uxI8rea — rae (@Valkyrae) April 7, 2021

Hofstetter joined 100 Thieves as its first female content creator in 2018, following her rising popularity as a YouTube and Twitch creator. Valkyrae was also the recipient of the 2020 Gamer Awards “Content Creator of the Year” award. Just this week, she also streamed Among Us with The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon and other popular streamers. She was crowned the most viewed female streamer in 2020, according to TalkeSports. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/17/100-thieves-asuna-pops-off-in-this-round-of-pro-level-valorant-jbl-quantum-cup"]

100 Thieves was founded in 2017 by Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, a former OpTic Gaming Call of Duty captain and X Games gold medalist. After Haag retired from professional play, he founded the 100 Thieves business, which employs several professional esports teams across various games. Teams under the 100 Thieves banner quickly went on to win multiple esports championships in games like Call of Duty, Fortnite, and League of Legends.

The brand now boasts sponsorships and partnerships with the likes of hip-hop artist Drake, CashApp, Red Bull, and others.

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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

A professional Overwatch player shared their experiences with anti-Asian racism on a Twitch stream earlier this week, describing living in America as an Asian person right now as “terrifying.” Eui-Sok Lee, also known as Fearless, is currently a pro signed with the Dallas Fuel Overwatch League team. Although he is from South Korea, Lee is currently residing in Dallas, Texas at the Fuel’s training center. Professional esports players like Lee occasionally hosts streams on Twitch, which is where Lee shared with his audience his experience in the United States during the pandemic. During the stream, Lee talked about what it’s like living in Texas during this time. The state recently eased Covid restrictions, opening up the city while simultaneously rolling back mask mandates. “It’s pretty scary; people don’t even wear masks around here so it worries me,” Lee says during his stream.

i dont know if i'm "stepping out of line" for translating something about what another team's player is experiencing

but here's the full translation of that Fearless clip. please see some of what OWL players and staff are facing as Asians in America. pic.twitter.com/LZWvnRkuAx — swingchip (@swingchip930) April 6, 2021

This segued to Lee talking about his encounters with racism while in Texas. “Being Asian here is terrifying,” Lee says who described incidents where people would come up to him, remove their masks, and cough on him Lee says he sometimes wears his team jersey when he goes out as a form of a deterrent from harassment. “If I have my jersey on I think they realize we’re part of some kind of team, so they don’t bother us as much, but if I have my everyday clothes on, they run up to us, harass us, then run away.” There has been an increase in attention to anti-Asian racism, especially in the past year where rhetoric around the Covid-19 pandemic such as when former president Donald Trump referred to it as the “Chinese Virus.” “They call us Chinese, then harass us. The racism here is unspeakable,” Lee says at one point during his stream. Incidents of anti-Asian racism have escalated in the United States ranging from attacks on the elderly to a shooting in Georgia that killed 8 people, six of whom were women of Asian descent.

I am deeply saddened by the situations some of our @DallasFuel players have been put in while walking the streets here in Dallas, TX. This is a great city in a proud state. This isn't something we should be proud of at all and should all pitch in to change it. pic.twitter.com/Sq7MGlco50

— Mike Rufail (@hastr0) April 6, 2021

Team Envy CEO Mike Rufail took to his personal Twitter account to decry the harassment his players faced while in Dallas. “This is a great city in a proud state. This isn’t something we should be proud of at all and should all pitch in to change it,” Rufail writes. Rufail says measures are being taken to ensure the players’ safety when they go out, but no specific details were provided during Rufail’s video. In a statement to IGN, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson also denounced the harassment. “At Activision Blizzard, we condemn racism in the strongest possible terms. We stand with the Asian community, our employees, and our players and are working across our organization, including esports, to do our part to combat hate and ignorance.” [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. Photo by Robert Paul via Blizzard Entertainment

Amazon has closed a deal to debut Chris Pratt's sci-fi thriller The Tomorrow War on Prime Video. The film is set for a July 2 release. The Tomorrow War was originally set to be distributed by Paramount Pictures with a theatrical run over the 2020 holiday season but was one of many films delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Amazon reportedly paid $200 million for rights to The Tomorrow War, which was developed and produced by Skydance Media. The company has been aggressive in its acquisitions in recent months, shelling out large sums for films like Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and the upcoming Michael B. Jordan vehicle Without Remorse. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/02/tom-holland-and-chris-pratt-share-their-road-trip-essentials"] Last October, Paramount Pictures sold Coming 2 America to Amazon for a price tag of roughly $125 million. The long-awaited Eddie Murphy comedy sequel drew the largest weekend debut viewership of any streaming movie during the pandemic when it premiered on Prime Video in March. Paramount has also sold films off to other streamers during the pandemic. Last June, Netflix purchased the rights to Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7 from the studio. The film went on to a fruitful awards season, earning 5 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=2021-movies-preview&captions=true"] The Tomorrow War follows a group of time travelers from the year 2051 who visit the present day to recruit soldiers for a war against an alien species. Pratt plays a high school teacher who joins up to ensure a future for his daughter. The LEGO Batman Movie director Chris McKay is helming the film. [poilib element="accentDivider"] J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images)

Today, Sony and developer Blue Box Game Studios showed off a new, cinematic, first-person horror survival shooter with a realistic, eerie vibe. It's called Abandoned, and it's being made exclusively for the PS5. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/04/07/abandoned-announcement-teaser-trailer"] In a blog post, game director Hasan Kahraman showed off the above first look at Abandoned, noting that it's still in early development and subject to change. Abandoned follows the story of Jason Longfield, who wakes up in a forest alone with no clue how he got there. As he attempts to find his way out, he uncovers a sinister purpose behind his being brought to the forest, and must fight his way to safety. Blue Box promises that Abandoned will focus on realism, and not just the visuals. If Jason runs out of breath from sprinting, it will be harder to shoot accurately. And firing weapons will be "realistically slow," using the DualShock's technology to add a level of realistic feel to pulling a gun trigger or being hit by a bullet. It uses 3D audio, too, which it says will help players accurately know when and where to fire their gun. Abandoned is planned for the end of this year, and Blue Box says it's already running at 60 fps and 4K resolution. A full gameplay video is planned for release soon. Blue Box has made a few attempts at haunting realism in the past. In 2015 it had a title on Steam Greenlight called Rewind: Voices of the Past about a young woman who could see and communicate with dead people, though it never left Greenlight. It is also the studio behind The Haunting: Blood Water Curse, which is now in early access on Steam -- though the game has since been acquired by a different studio, Createq Interactive. Abandoned joins a number of other upcoming titles planned for the PS5's 2021 roster of exclusives, including Returnal later this month, Ratchet and Clank: A Rift Apart in June, Horizon Forbidden West, and Destruction AllStars out now, which we found fun in small bursts but otherwise shallow. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Scientists in Illinois' Fermilab are studying the physics of a muon particle in their Muon g-2 experiment that seems to break our current models of physics, or at least extend physics beyond the standard model followed in virtually everything here on Earth. This news comes by way of a BBC News report that explains the current model of physics forces felt on earth, which are "gravity, electromagnetism, the strong force, and the weak force," are not necessarily being followed in an experiment on a special muon particle. This "provides strong evidence for the existence of an undiscovered sub-atomic particle or new force," the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council said, according to the BBC News report. [caption id="attachment_2497047" align="alignnone" width="720"] Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, Photo Credit: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory[/caption] "We have found the interaction of muons are not in agreement with the Standard Model (the current widely accepted theory to explain how the building blocks of the Universe behave)," lead scientist on the muon experiment, Mark Lancaster, told BBC News. According to The New York Times, physicists are saying the muon not following Earth's standard laws of physics might be influence from, "forms of matter and energy that are not yet known to science, but which may nevertheless affect the nature and evolution of the universe." Physicists aren't yet sure if the evidence is definitive enough, though. The statistical level of confidence for the experiment is at a 4.1 sigma, with sigmas being the measures of confidence scientists use to determine if something is a fluke or not, and a 5 simga is needed to call this evidence definitive, or in other words, "claim a discovery," according to BBC News. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/02/scientists-theoretically-develop-physical-warp-drives"] Just outside of Chicago, in Batavia, Illinois, scientists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, are subjecting muon particles, which are like electrons but 207 times bigger, to "an intense magnetic field," according to the New York Times, and the result is surprising: the muons are wobbling like spinning tops in such a way that the laws of physics known to Earth cannot explain the phenomenon. The BBC reports that the muons should wobble at a certain rate when subjected to the magnetic field inside the Fermilab's particle accelerator. That rate is determined by the laws of physics as Earth knows them. However, the muons didn't wobble at that rate at all — they wobbled faster, and physicists say this increased rate could be caused by a force of nature currently unknown and undiscovered. Did science just unintentionally solve Christopher Nolan's ambiguous ending to Inception? [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-sci-fi-movies&captions=true"] This potential new force of nature might explain some of the universe's biggest mysteries, such as the mystery of why the expansion of the universe is speeding up. It's been previously attributed to something known as "dark energy," according to BBC News, but perhaps it's not dark energy at all and instead, an unknown force of nature at play. "It is quite mind boggling," BBC's Sky at Night co-presenter, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, told BBC News. "It has the potential to turn physics on its head. We have a number of mysteries that remain unsolved, and this could give us the key answers to solve these mysteries." For more law-bending physics, read this story about a physics students who proved paradox-free time travel is possible and then read this story about scientists who claim evidence of a parallel universe where time runs backward. If this Muon g-2 experiment has you looking for some great sci-fi movies, check out IGN's list of the 25 best sci-fi movies. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Twitch has announced an updated set of guidelines it plans to use to address hateful conduct and harassment aimed at community members that happens off of its own platform.

The update is an expansion of Twitch’s previous guidelines for off-platform harassment, which are now split into two categories.

“Category one: Someone is harassed on Twitch, as well as off Twitch. When this happens, we will take into account verifiable, off-service behaviors or statements that relate to an incident that took place on Twitch. For example: if we’re reviewing a harassment report about an incident that happened live on stream, related or continued harassment on Twitter could be taken into account when reported to us. This is how our current off-service policy works in the vast majority of cases, and will not change.

“Category two: We will now enforce against serious offenses that pose a substantial safety risk to the Twitch community, even if these actions occur entirely off Twitch."

Twitch states that category two violations include threats of mass violence or acts of violence, membership in a hate group, sexual exploitation of children/child grooming, and more. You can read Twitch’s blog post for the full list. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/20/the-twitch-streamer-whos-reinventing-the-platform"]

“These behaviors represent some of the most egregious types of physical and psychological harm, but we understand that this list is not inclusive of all types of harassment and abuse,” Twitch stated. “Taking action against misconduct that occurs entirely off our service is a novel approach for both Twitch and the industry at large, but it’s one we believe—and hear from you—is crucial to get right. Part of that means being clear with you about the limitations of our policy. At this time, we’re not able to investigate behaviors that occur entirely off Twitch that fall outside these categories. This is an iterative, ongoing process, and as always, our end goal is to build a safer Twitch for everyone. “

Twitch stated that it is bringing on an unnamed third-party investigative partner, an investigations law firm, to assist the company’s internal team, including Twitch’s internal law enforcement response team, which Twitch adds is also being expanded. Though unnamed, Twitch describes the law firm as a group with experience conducting independent workplace and campus investigations, including investigations related to sexual assault and discrimination.

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Twitch has also created a confidential email address (OSIT@twitch.tv.) where anyone can submit reports of misconduct that happens off of the streaming platform.

Twitch has made other recent moves to curb harassment on its platform, including banning the words “simp,” “incel,” or “virgin” when used in a derogatory context. Twitch also included additional language regarding sexual harassment, including messaging a user with unwanted compliments about their appearance, or comments about a user’s sexual proclivity.

Twitch also removed streamer Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez, known previously as the face of the “PogChamp” emote, after he tweeted a statement that appeared to call for further violence during the January 6 United States Capitol riot. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN. Image Credit: Getty Images

Since the passing of Alex Trebek, many have wondered who the next host of Jeopardy! will be. While many fans have already been campaigning for Star Trek and Reading Rainbow's LeVar Burton to take up the legendary role, Burton himself has now officially shared his interest to do so. A fan of this idea started a petition on Change.org to make LeVar Burton the next host of Jeopardy! and, as of this writing, over 170,000 people have signed on to support this dream. [caption id="attachment_2497063" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Image Credit: Ian Tuttle/Getty Images[/caption] One of the biggest supporters of this idea has become Burton himself, who Tweeted out a link to the petition alongside saying, "leaving this here in the event the powers that be are listening..." This has caused many other celebrities to rally around Burton, including Dick Van Dyke, who shared the petition in hopes that this comes true. The Late Show's Stephen Colbert also showed his support in humorous way, saying, "I think LeVar Burton should host Jeopardy! As Geordi La Forge. And the buzzers should be phasers. And Data should be the judge. And it should be in space. And just be Star Trek." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2012/10/04/star-trek-the-next-generation-clip-all-good-things"] Since the death of the beloved Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, there have been many interim hosts, including Ken Jennings, Mike Richards, Katie Couric, Bill Whitaker, Savannah Guthrie, Sanjay Gupa, Anderson Cooper, Mehmet Oz, Mayim Bialik, and Aaron Rodgers. LeVar Burton made his acting debut in 1976 with Almos' a Man, and has since had a successful career that includes his roles as Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots and Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and hosting Reading Rainbow for 23 years. [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.

Warning: Full SPOILERS follow for Godzilla vs. Kong. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard has explained how Transformers became a surprising source of inspiration for his monster movie mashup. Directed by Wingard from a screenplay by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein, Godzilla vs. Kong pits the two titular Titans against one another alongside a plethora of other monsters — including Mechagodzilla, a character that has cycled through several different iterations, having initially debuted as an alien weapon constructed of "space titanium" in 1974's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. In an interview with Inverse, Wingard discussed Mechagodzilla's inclusion in Godzilla vs. Kong and addressed his decision to redesign the classic character for the MonsterVerse. He recalled an early encounter with the 1986 animated Transformers movie and cited the simple design of the original robots in disguise as one of the influences behind his CGI vision of the mechanized daikaiju. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=monsterverse-every-major-monster&captions=true"] "I just always loved the simplicity of the [classic] Transformers designs, so I tried to create a look to the character that was punchy and just had a bit more simplicity. There's an immediacy to his shape and outline," Wingard explained, adding, "The Transformers animated movie from the '80s with Orson Welles was one of the best movie experiences for me as a kid growing up. Period." While Wingard credited those early designs as a source of inspiration, he made clear that he wanted to avoid replicating the Transformers designs from the Michael Bay movie series, saying, "They just looked like metal. They looked like a plane crash... They were too complex. There are too many moving parts, and I couldn't latch on to anything. Nothing felt iconic with that Transformers design." The infamous robotic version of Godzilla known as Mechagodzilla turned out to be the true villain of Godzilla vs. Kong. Originally the creation of aliens, when it debuted in 1974's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, the crazed colossal mech was brought about this time by Apex Industries' Walter Simmons, using the functioning neural pathways from Monster Zero's skull. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/29/godzilla-vs-kong-review"] Intended to be a mechanized monster with a human operator at the telepathic helm, Mechagodzilla becomes so powerful that it breaks free of the human pilot and goes on a self-aware rampage, attacking Hong Kong. Ultimately, Mechagodzilla is defeated by the joint efforts of Kong and Godzilla after the gruesome twosome team up to take down their metallic foe, leaving the battle as shared victors. In our review of Godzilla vs. Kong, we noted that "somewhat understandably, the humans are overshadowed by their enormous co-stars" in the movie, as the story serves as "a glorious love letter to these iconic characters' collective histories" and provides "a satisfying culmination of the arc leading up to it" to hopefully become "a jumping-off point for more stories set in this universe." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

The third and final season of the Netflix Transformers: War for Cybertron trilogy premieres in July, and sees Predacons and Maximals joining the battle. Leading up to the new season, and in front of Hasbro's Fan Fest on April 9, Hasbro revealed three new Transformers: WFC figures available for preorder this week. Take a look at the gallery below to see high-resolution images of Galvatron, the Autobot Ark, and Scorponk: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=transformers-wfc-fan-fest-figure-reveals&captions=true"] The 7.5-inch Galvatron is inspired by the figure's G1 Transformers design and includes 4 accessories: "a Particle Beam cannon, 2 side cannon accessories that attach in both modes, and a Matrix of Leadership accessory." The Matrix of Leadership hangs from Galvatron's neck, "as it did in the 1986 film, The Transformers: The Movie." It's a really cool bridge between die-hard old-school and the new age of Transformer figures. Scorponok measures 5.5-inches and comes with "a Mega Missile and Cyberbee drone accessory," as well as "claw and tail articulation." The Autobot Ark is the largest of the three newly announced figures, coming it at an astonishing 19-inches tall and includes an Optimus Prime microfigure that fits inside. The Autobot Ark has a "G1-inspired Sky Spy accessory," and its chest piece is removable and converts into the "Autobot computer, TELETRAAN-1." All three figures will be available starting July 1, but can be preordered beginning April 9. Galvatron's MSRP is $49.99, Scorponok retails for $22.99, and the Autobot Ark has a suggested retail price of $149.99. All three figures will be available for preorder directly from Hasbro Pulse.

Turn 10 has announced that players will soon be able to get hands-on with the next Forza Motorsport game, provided they are part of the Forza Feedback Panel. “We will soon be able to share to our people in our Forza panel, they will actually be able to get their hands on a part of our new Forza Motorsport game,” said Chris Esaki, creative director of Forza Motorsport, in an update on Twitter.

.@LoungeToy dropped by Forza Monthly to deliver an update on Forza Motorsport. Participants in the Forza Feedback Panel are starting to get their hands on part of the game for playtesting! pic.twitter.com/bXzhuI7PKa

— Forza Motorsport (@ForzaMotorsport) April 6, 2021

“The only way to get your hands on this part of the new Forza Motorsport title is to be part of that panel,” he revealed. The Forza Feedback Panel is a community which developer Turn 10 works with to gather important data on what players are looking for in a new game. This panel is sent surveys to complete and are asked to join in on discussions around the development of the next Forza. By allowing people on the panel to play part of the next Forza, Turn 10 will be able to gather further feedback. You can apply to join the Forza Feedback Panel by completing a survey. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/23/forza-motorsport-xbox-one-series-x-announcement-trailer"] Esaki notes that Turn 10 plans to continue this format of testing in the months ahead, and so hopes that more people from the community will be able to try out the game. Essentially, if you’ve any wish to play Forza Motorsport ahead of its currently unscheduled release, then you should apply to be part of the Forza Feedback Panel. There have been no mainline Forza games for a while now as Turn 10 decided to take time to innovate. That journey has brought it as far as revealing Forza Motorsport for Xbox Series X, which is seen as a reimagining of the series. Quite how long the game will remain in development remains to be seen, but clearly Turn 10 is taking player opinion into serious consideration as part of its plans for the series. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.