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. 

This week in Red Dead Online, claim triple rewards for selling black-tailed jackrabbit samples, a free care package, and more.

Adult Swim has announced that Rick and Morty Season 5 will begin airing on June 20. The first episode will premiere at 11pm ET/PT. Adult Swim have also announced that June 20 will also be Rick and Morty Day, a day-long celebration of the show that will offer behind-the-scenes footage, look aheads for the rest of the season, and “special surprises” across TV, digital, and social media platforms. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/30/rick-and-morty-season-5-official-trailer"] While Adult Swim will be the place to watch the new episodes, seasons 1-4 are all available now on HBO Max, should you need to catch up before June. To see where the show is going, check out our first look at Rick and Morty Season 5. Dan Harmon, the creator of the show, is also working on a new comedy set in Ancient Greece. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Star Wars: The Bad Batch will open with a 70-minute premiere episode – and we got a new poster and trailer today too, including some familiar faces. In the description of a new trailer for the Disney+ animated series, it's explained that the show "makes its debut on Tuesday, May 4, with a special 70-minute premiere, followed by new episodes every Friday starting on May 7." The new trailer (below) showed off Hunter, Echo, Tech, Wrecker, and Crosshair in action – showing them performing for an unimpressed Grand Moff Tarkin before what seems to be an escape from their Kamino home. We also see characters who'll appear alongside the clones, including an unnamed Kamino child that seems be along for the ride, the young Saw Gerrera (playbe by Andrew Kishino, reprising his role from The Clone Wars series), and The Mandalorian's Fennec Shand (played by Ming-Na Wen). [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/30/star-wars-the-bad-batch-official-trailer-2"] The Bad Batch focuses on a group of five clones created to serve the nascent Empire, officially known as Clone Force 99. Each clone has been created with a specific skill in mind, but they also come with a rebellious streak, leading to them being branded enemies of the state and going rogue. All five clones will be played by Dee Bradley Baker. The trailer was accompanied by a new poster, below: [caption id="attachment_2493618" align="alignnone" width="960"] Star Wars: The Bad Batch poster (Source: Disney)[/caption] The Bad Batch will premiere on Star Wars Day, and will act as a continuation of sorts the now-concluded Clone Wars series. It's one of a number of Star ars projects in production, including a Rogue One prequel series focused on Diego Luna's Cassian Andor, an Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring Ewan McGregor and a mysterious female-led series from Russian Doll's Leslye Headland. The Kenobi series yesterday announced an all-star cast including Hayden Christensen, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, and many more. It will begin shooting in April. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Last week, Nintendo and Niantic revealed that they had partnered once again to release a Pikmin Augmented Reality game similar to Pokémon Go, with the goal being "to make walking more delightful." Niantic has begun testing its Nintendo-partnered Pikmin Augmented Reality app in Singapore and, via an anonymous source, IGN has seen the early version of the game, currently simply titled 'Pikmin App', and read through its help centre section for a rundown of the game. As a result, we can reveal some details about how it will work when it launches worldwide. Of course, with the game in testing, some features could change before the final version). Two features that will almost certainly change from this version are a lack of any microtransactions, and Points of Interest (similar to Pokémon Go's Pokestops) being currently non-interactable. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/28/pikmin-3-deluxe-review"]

Gameplay

Pikmin are first seen as dormant seedlings that you must find, pluck and grow by walking around the real world with your smartphone. Walking accumulates energy which you can use to pluck and collect the Pikmin, adding them to your squad (and you can manually rename Pikmin too). Places of Interest in the Pikmin App may well be based on Ingress' Portals and not Pokémon Go's Pokestops. Once Pikmin have grown, they can be added to a Squad (not unlike Pokémon Go's parties). Once you've got a Pikmin squad, if you walk with them they will accumulate fruits that can be turned into Nectar. Just like the mainline Pikmin games, Pikmin who partake in the nectar will bloom leaves, buds, and flowers, and when the flowers glow, players can collect petals by tapping the bloomed Pikmin. Petals are used for the Flower Planting mode, described below. Different Pikmin offer different coloured petals, and petals have a recovery period before you can collect them again. Collected Pikmin also have life meters, represented by small hearts. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/29/harry-potter-wizards-unite-review"]

Modes

There are a number of modes in the Pikmin app. Expedition mode allows players to send their collected Pikmin to locations that they have previously visited in the app to collect seedlings, fruit and postcards. Postcards will depict Pikmin on their adventures framed against a picture of a real-world location submitted by Pokémon Go and Ingress users. Players will be able to report and remove inappropriate postcards. A Flower Planting mode is also available, which will leave a trail of flowers behind the player as they walk. Players will need Flower Petals from their Nectar-bloomed Pikmin to partake in this mode, which will make Seedlings easier to find and improve Pikmin growth speed. Players can plant flowers solo or with other users, and co-operative flower planting will let you share your data and your Pikmin squad with other players. If you are planting flowers, your flower trail will be visible to other players and will widen depending on how big your Pikmin squad is. Lifelog is a seciton of the app used to catalog your journeys in the game. Players will be able to see their stats and record activities, photos and thoughts in a journal reflecting on their adventures. Your Lifelog entries will include steps walked, flowers planted, places visited, photos captured, and any written entries you add. You'll also be able to see an animated summary of your progress in the app over the past day, with chances to earn more items in this mode if you've gone on some long walks. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2016/07/12/pokemon-go-review"]

Pikmin Types

The game's help centre reveals the species of Pikmin in the game, each of which will have different characteristics (although those differences aren't described in detail here). The Pikmin species will include:

• Red Pikmin
• Blue Pikmin
• Yellow Pikmin
• Purple Pikmin
• White Pikmin
• Rock Pikmin
• Winged Pikmin

There's also a sub-category, Decor Pikmin. Decor Pikmin can be found in Big Seedlings, and regular Pikmin can transform into them after being interacted with. Decor Pikmin will wear special clothing reflective of the place in which you found them. It's not clear if they offer other benefits, or if they act as the Pikmin app's take on Shiny Pokémon. The Pikmin app is due to launch globally later this year, and we'd expect it to soft launch in more regions before the full launch. Niantic has also been teasing what seem to be AR glasses. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.