Steam has once again broken its own concurrent players record, with over 26 million people logged in at once. As reported by PC Gamer, Valve's digital distribution service hit an all-time high over the weekend, managing 26.4 million users logged in at once on Sunday. It only set the previous record last month, with 25.4 million people online at one time. The rise is no doubt propelled by ongoing lockdown measures across the world pushing more people into gaming at home. Stalwart Steam games like Counter-Strike, Dota and PUBG are consistently driving the platform's numbers forward, but this recent push has been no doubt aided by the Chinese RPG Tale of Immortal which launched in late January and is sat in fourth position in the service's top 10. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-modern-pc-games-summer-2020-update&captions=true"] Contemporary success stories like Rust, Valheim, Among Us and Phasmophobia have also certainly had a part to play in boosting Steam's numbers. Valheim in particular was last week's top seller, cracking 130 thousand concurrent players in less than a week. The growth has been pretty phenomenal since March of 2020, when Steam's concurrent record was hovering around the 20 million mark. Compare that to December 2020, when it smashed through to 24 million concurrent users with the launch of Cyberpunk 2077. At the same time, Steam broke a separate record as more than 1 million players flooded onto Cyberpunk within hours of its launch, doubling Fallout 4's 2015 record of nearly 500 thousand users. Our news article from 2013 as Steam broke 7 million concurrent users makes for quite the humble comparison now. It bodes well for Valve that Steam has finally officially launched in China – although that's not been the smoothest process, and may continue to be tough for Chinese players after concerns about lost games arose. In other Steam news, the service was recently fined by the European Union for alleged Geo-blocking. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Update 2/19/2021: Coffee Stain Publishing and Iron Gate Studio have announced Valheim has hit more than three million copies sold during only 16 days on Steam Early Access. And its peak concurrent player count also surpassed its last record, with the game having reached over 390,000 concurrent players. The developers recently revealed Valheim's Early Access roadmap, and IGN's Valheim Early Access review called it "definitely a traditional survival game at heart, which means the further in you get, the more you have to put up with some tedious grinding before you can get back to the good parts. But even at its early access launch, those good parts are already very good, especially when you get to take to the seas or test your skill against its imposing bosses." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Update 02/15/2021: Developer Iron Gate has confirmed that, in just 13 days, Valheim has been purchased by over two million players. Iron Gate announced the news on Steam, also confirming that the game reached a new peak concurrent player milestone of 360,000. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Update 02/10/2021: Valheim's successful launch continues unabated, with the survival game passing 1 million copies sold in just 8 days. The game has continued to sit at the top of Steam's Top Seller list, and passed 160,000 concurrent players, making it the fourth most-played game on Steam at the time. Developer Iron Gate also says the game passed a peak of 127,000 viewers on Twitch, and has seen over 11,000 overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam. With the game only in Early Access, there's a long way still to go, and potentially more success to be had. Iron Gate has published a Roadmap, promising Hearth & Home Improvements, Saga-Worthy Seas & Even More Ships, a Voyage to the Mistlands, and more. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Iron Gate AB's Viking survival game Valheim has taken over Steam and Twitch after launching into Early Access just last week. Valheim drops players into a procedurally generated world inspired by Norse mythology where they must craft, build, sail and fight to survive, with PvE co-op available for up to 10 players. It's only available on PC via Steam at present. The game is currently sitting at the top of Steam's Top Seller list (measured on total revenue, rather than number of sales), where it rose throughout last week, beating out games like Nioh 2 and Football Manager 2021. With an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam, it's clearly going down well with those who've bought it too, and the player stats only further confirm its popularity. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/13/valheim-guerrilla-collective-trailer"] Recording over 130,000 concurrent players at its peak, Valheim is also quickly rising up the Steam player count rankings. At time of writing, the game is sitting comfortably in the Top 10 games on Steam, just below Rust and Rainbow Six: Siege, and currently has more players than some Steam stalwarts such as Rocket League, Path of Exile, Civilization VI and Warframe. Over on Twitch, the game is also seeing a lot of mainstream success with streamers, appearing in the top categories. Esports Charts lists the game at around 31,000 average viewers since release, with a peak at 81,392 – you can likely expect that to keep growing at the current momentum. For more on Valheim, check out our Valheim Wiki guide that covers plenty you need to know, including some tips and tricks for getting started. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Update 3/3/2021: It shouldn't feel inevitable that an Early Access survival game will pass another million copies sold within the space of a week but, in the case of Valheim, it just does now. The game has now sold 5 million copies in four weeks on sale. Coffee Stain added that it's now been played for a combined 15,000 years, is the 39th best-reviewed game on Steam, and has been watched for 35 million hours on Steam. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Update 2/24/2021: The incredible rise of Valheim continues, with the game now having passed 4 million copies sold through Steam Early Access after just 21 days on sale. It follows the game becoming Steam's 5th most-played game ever by peak player count, attracting over 500,000 concurrent players. Coffee Stain Publishing added that the game is now Steam's 57th best-reviewed game, and has been played for a combined total of 10,000 years in the time since launch. On Twitch, the game has been watched by 188,000 concurrent viewers ate its peak, with 28 million hours watched in total. “I don't think I have really had time to contemplate it," said developer Iron Gate's CEO, Richard Svensson. "I know that players like the game a lot, but at the same time I think that I can make something even better in the future. I'm looking forward to adding more content to the game, especially working on the remaining biomes. Our current roadmap only reaches the next biome and we hope to have it done by the end of the year, but it might very well take longer depending on how smooth the development will be. I really don't want to stress the development, that never ends well." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Update 2/19/2021: Coffee Stain Publishing and Iron Gate Studio have announced Valheim has hit more than three million copies sold during only 16 days on Steam Early Access. And its peak concurrent player count also surpassed its last record, with the game having reached over 390,000 concurrent players. The developers recently revealed Valheim's Early Access roadmap, and IGN's Valheim Early Access review called it "definitely a traditional survival game at heart, which means the further in you get, the more you have to put up with some tedious grinding before you can get back to the good parts. But even at its early access launch, those good parts are already very good, especially when you get to take to the seas or test your skill against its imposing bosses." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Update 02/15/2021: Developer Iron Gate has confirmed that, in just 13 days, Valheim has been purchased by over two million players. Iron Gate announced the news on Steam, also confirming that the game reached a new peak concurrent player milestone of 360,000. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Update 02/10/2021: Valheim's successful launch continues unabated, with the survival game passing 1 million copies sold in just 8 days. The game has continued to sit at the top of Steam's Top Seller list, and passed 160,000 concurrent players, making it the fourth most-played game on Steam at the time. Developer Iron Gate also says the game passed a peak of 127,000 viewers on Twitch, and has seen over 11,000 overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam. With the game only in Early Access, there's a long way still to go, and potentially more success to be had. Iron Gate has published a Roadmap, promising Hearth & Home Improvements, Saga-Worthy Seas & Even More Ships, a Voyage to the Mistlands, and more. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Iron Gate AB's Viking survival game Valheim has taken over Steam and Twitch after launching into Early Access just last week. Valheim drops players into a procedurally generated world inspired by Norse mythology where they must craft, build, sail and fight to survive, with PvE co-op available for up to 10 players. It's only available on PC via Steam at present. The game is currently sitting at the top of Steam's Top Seller list (measured on total revenue, rather than number of sales), where it rose throughout last week, beating out games like Nioh 2 and Football Manager 2021. With an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam, it's clearly going down well with those who've bought it too, and the player stats only further confirm its popularity. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/13/valheim-guerrilla-collective-trailer"] Recording over 130,000 concurrent players at its peak, Valheim is also quickly rising up the Steam player count rankings. At time of writing, the game is sitting comfortably in the Top 10 games on Steam, just below Rust and Rainbow Six: Siege, and currently has more players than some Steam stalwarts such as Rocket League, Path of Exile, Civilization VI and Warframe. Over on Twitch, the game is also seeing a lot of mainstream success with streamers, appearing in the top categories. Esports Charts lists the game at around 31,000 average viewers since release, with a peak at 81,392 – you can likely expect that to keep growing at the current momentum. For more on Valheim, check out our Valheim Wiki guide that covers plenty you need to know, including some tips and tricks for getting started. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Politicians are stepping up plans to ask the UK government to consider a console scalping ban (or introducing other protective legislation) to prevent the high levels of reselling seen for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. In late 2020, a group of UK MPs tabled an Early Day Motion to discuss the banning of scalping, and the use of automated bots for "gaming consoles and computer components". The motion, led by Douglas Chapman MP, has now garnered 32 signatures from MPs across multiple parties. In a statement to IGN, Chapman indicated that he now intends to take the issue further: "Given that experts in the cyber industry now predict the issue of scalping to grow across other important goods and services this year, we are looking at presenting a Bill in Parliament so that we can further explore legislative options to protect consumers from this unfair practice." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/ps5-scalpers-used-a-loophole-to-buy-stock-before-it-was-live-in-the-uk-ign-news"] Early Day Motions are regularly used to highlight current issues, but rarely reach a true House of Commons debate. Presenting a Bill, as Chapman is now considering, would be considered an escalation of the process, and an attempt to put pressure on the government to consider formal legislation. Asked why Chapman began this process, he explained that the impetus to begin the debate in parliament came directly from his constituents in Dunfermline and West Fife: “The issue of scalping first came up with constituents contacting me to explain their frustration about being unable to get hold of certain games consoles or computer components pre-Christmas. On investigation we uncovered more details of the unscrupulous practice of ‘scalping’ by automated bots to bulk buy these goods and sell them on at inflated prices." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/14/opinion-scalpers-selling-2000-ps5-consoles-suck"] The issue of scalping has reached new levels of recognition after the release of PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, as well as new graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD. In the US, at least 10% of PS5s are estimated to have been resold, averaging around double the recommended retailer price on eBay. Part-and-parcel of that phenomenon has been the use of bots to secure units before regular consumers can do so, a tactic popularised by sneaker culture. The UK has seen huge demand for new-gen consoles, and scalping has become a recurring story amid that demand. Scalping chains have been claiming large numbers of consoles, even using loopholes to buy stock before it's officially available. Alongside supply shortages, it's a trend that's led to repeated disappointment for normal consumers, and even potentially spurred criminal activity. [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.

Update 02/09/2021: Douglas Chapman MP has now formally brought forward a Bill to ban gaming hardware scalping in the UK. Titled the Gaming Hardware (Automated Purchase and Resale) Bill 2019-21, (as reported by Sky News), it aims to apply similar restrictions on console reselling to those insituted for ticket touting in the UK. Speaking to Sky News about the Bill's similarity to the previous ticket touting law, Chapman said, "We've proposed that a similar legislative process be brought forward to ensure that consumers can purchase gaming consoles and computer components at no more than the manufacturers' recommended price, and that resale of goods purchased by automated bots be made illegal." Chapman acknowledged that the Bill is unlikely to pass – MPs outside the ruling government party rarely see their Bills become law – but was using it as an action to force the government to "take responsibility" for the ongoing issue. Private Members' Bills such as this have previously affected legislation indirectly, which will be Chapman's hope. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Politicians are stepping up plans to ask the UK government to consider a console scalping ban (or introducing other protective legislation) to prevent the high levels of reselling seen for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. In late 2020, a group of UK MPs tabled an Early Day Motion to discuss the banning of scalping, and the use of automated bots for "gaming consoles and computer components". The motion, led by Douglas Chapman MP, has now garnered 32 signatures from MPs across multiple parties. In a statement to IGN, Chapman indicated that he now intends to take the issue further: "Given that experts in the cyber industry now predict the issue of scalping to grow across other important goods and services this year, we are looking at presenting a Bill in Parliament so that we can further explore legislative options to protect consumers from this unfair practice." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/ps5-scalpers-used-a-loophole-to-buy-stock-before-it-was-live-in-the-uk-ign-news"] Early Day Motions are regularly used to highlight current issues, but rarely reach a true House of Commons debate. Presenting a Bill, as Chapman is now considering, would be considered an escalation of the process, and an attempt to put pressure on the government to consider formal legislation. Asked why Chapman began this process, he explained that the impetus to begin the debate in parliament came directly from his constituents in Dunfermline and West Fife: “The issue of scalping first came up with constituents contacting me to explain their frustration about being unable to get hold of certain games consoles or computer components pre-Christmas. On investigation we uncovered more details of the unscrupulous practice of ‘scalping’ by automated bots to bulk buy these goods and sell them on at inflated prices." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/14/opinion-scalpers-selling-2000-ps5-consoles-suck"] The issue of scalping has reached new levels of recognition after the release of PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, as well as new graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD. In the US, at least 10% of PS5s are estimated to have been resold, averaging around double the recommended retailer price on eBay. Part-and-parcel of that phenomenon has been the use of bots to secure units before regular consumers can do so, a tactic popularised by sneaker culture. The UK has seen huge demand for new-gen consoles, and scalping has become a recurring story amid that demand. Scalping chains have been claiming large numbers of consoles, even using loopholes to buy stock before it's officially available. Alongside supply shortages, it's a trend that's led to repeated disappointment for normal consumers, and even potentially spurred criminal activity. [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.

A new Halo game is seemingly in the works, if a recent Microsoft job listing is anything to go by. The producer job posting, which has been advertised on the Microsoft careers website since February 6, reveals that Halo series developer 343 Industries is working on a new entry in the Halo franchise. The listing states that 343i is looking to hire a producer "to help develop a new project in the Halo universe", which presumably signals that the new employee would not be working on Halo Infinite. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/23/halo-infinite-9-minutes-of-campaign-gameplay"] The job listing specifically asks for experience in shipping AAA games for the current generation, which all but rules out the idea that this Halo project would come in any form other than a game. However, the listing offers no clues about the content of the game, or when it might arrive. While there's no confirmed information on the new project, a recent rumour could point to a potential direction. Per a VG24/7 article in November 2020, a now-deleted post on Twitter suggested that two other games – Halo Wars 3, and a spin-off following Halo 5's Fireteam Osiris – were being planned by 343i. Whatever project 343i's new producer will be working on, it's hoped that the unannounced title will have a smoother development process than the next entry in the series. Halo Infinite has suffered numerous setbacks since its initial July 2020 reveal, with criticism of its graphics causing 343i to postpone its launch until fall 2021. and director Chris Lee departing the project in October 2020. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="legacyId=20068184&captions=true"] In more recent Halo Infinite news, 343i promised to provide in-depth monthly updates on its development, with the first instalment explaining how Halo Infinite will have a restructured, fully customizable control scheme and how the FPS title is being optimized for PC, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Tom Power is a freelance journalist who can't wait for Halo Infinite to drop. Follow him on Twitter.

A new Halo game is seemingly in the works, if a recent Microsoft job listing is anything to go by. The producer job posting, which has been advertised on the Microsoft careers website since February 6, reveals that Halo series developer 343 Industries is working on a new entry in the Halo franchise. The listing states that 343i is looking to hire a producer "to help develop a new project in the Halo universe", which presumably signals that the new employee would not be working on Halo Infinite. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/23/halo-infinite-9-minutes-of-campaign-gameplay"] The job listing specifically asks for experience in shipping AAA games for the current generation, which all but rules out the idea that this Halo project would come in any form other than a game. However, the listing offers no clues about the content of the game, or when it might arrive. While there's no confirmed information on the new project, a recent rumour could point to a potential direction. Per a VG24/7 article in November 2020, a now-deleted post on Twitter suggested that two other games – Halo Wars 3, and a spin-off following Halo 5's Fireteam Osiris – were being planned by 343i. Whatever project 343i's new producer will be working on, it's hoped that the unannounced title will have a smoother development process than the next entry in the series. Halo Infinite has suffered numerous setbacks since its initial July 2020 reveal, with criticism of its graphics causing 343i to postpone its launch until fall 2021. and director Chris Lee departing the project in October 2020. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="legacyId=20068184&captions=true"] In more recent Halo Infinite news, 343i promised to provide in-depth monthly updates on its development, with the first instalment explaining how Halo Infinite will have a restructured, fully customizable control scheme and how the FPS title is being optimized for PC, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Tom Power is a freelance journalist who can't wait for Halo Infinite to drop. Follow him on Twitter.

Update 03/01/2021: Terraria will be coming to Stadia after all, after the game's co-creator had access to their Google accounts restored. In an update on the Terraria forum, Terraria admin Loki wrote:

"As you may have noticed, we had a ton of issues to kick off the year stemming from the locking-down of [co-creator Andrew Spinks'] entire Google account in early January. After a month of pushing (and with the immense support of our fans), Google finally reached out and was able to provide a lot of transparency around the situation and to restore access to all of our accounts.

Due to the hard work the Stadia team has put in - as well as our partners at 505 Games - we have decided that we will allow the upcoming launch Terraria on Google Stadia to proceed. The Terraria Stadia build is based on the DR Studios 1.4.0.5 (latest) build, and is currently at Google for certification review."

We've contacted developer Re-Logic for comment on its plans for future games' release on Stadia. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Update: The developers of Terraria, Re-Logic, have shared more details about what their severed ties with Google mean. Including how the boycott will include future versions of Terraria and future games from the studio. But existing versions of Terraria on Android and Google Play will not be impacted by the co-creator's decisions today. In a statement to IGN, Re-Logic says “Punishing existing customers who paid for our game on these platforms is not what we are about. To be clear: there should be no impact whatsoever to Terraria on Google platforms, both existing/purchased games as well as ongoing store availability.” The studio also provided a more in-depth timeline on how its issues with Google came about. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Original Story: The co-creator of Terraria has canceled the upcoming Google Stadia version of the game after his Google accounts were locked. Andrew Spinks, or Demilogic on Twitter, explained that he has lost access to all of his Google accounts, including Google Play, Google Drive, YouTube and Gmail. Spinks has been trying to recover them for over three weeks, but his attempts have been unsuccessful, as he claims he has been "given the runaround" by Google. "I absolutely have not done anything to violate your terms of service, so I can take this no other way than you deciding to burn this bridge," Spinks adds. "Consider it burned. Terraria for Google Stadia is cancelled. My company will no longer support any of your platforms moving forward."

I absolutely have not done anything to violate your terms of service, so I can take this no other way than you deciding to burn this bridge. Consider it burned. #Terraria for @GoogleStadia is canceled. My company will no longer support any of your platforms moving forward.

— Andrew Spinks (@Demilogic) February 8, 2021

"I will not be involved with a corporation that values their customers and partners so little," Spinks continues. "Doing business with you is a liability." Just a few days ago, fans had spotted that Terraria had been rated for Google Stadia on the Pan European Game Information website. It now looks like that version of the game won't see the light of day. Spinks' Google difficulties appear to have started in late January when Terraria's official YouTube account was disabled. The Terraria Official Twitter account posted about it last week in a (unfortunately fruitless) effort to grab Google's attention. Explaining the scale of the issue, Spinks wrote: "My phone has lost access to thousands of dollars of apps on @GooglePlay. I had just bought LOTR 4K and can't finish it. My @googledrive data is completely gone. I can't access my @YouTube channel. The worst of all is losing access to my @gmail address of over 15 years." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/terraria-first-two-nights-in-terraria-tutorial-video"] Back in 2011, we awarded Terraria on PC a 9/10 review, saying, "This devious little indie sandbox title borrows so many ideas from Notch's game that it essentially is Minecraft in 2D, but it also beefs up the familiar gameplay in exciting ways." The game has since come to a dozen more platforms, but it seems Stadia won't join that list. In other Google Stadia news, Google recently shut down all of its internal games studios, affecting approximately 150 employees. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Update 03/01/2021: Terraria will be coming to Stadia after all, after the game's co-creator had access to their Google accounts restored. In an update on the Terraria forum, Terraria admin Loki wrote:

"As you may have noticed, we had a ton of issues to kick off the year stemming from the locking-down of [co-creator Andrew Spinks'] entire Google account in early January. After a month of pushing (and with the immense support of our fans), Google finally reached out and was able to provide a lot of transparency around the situation and to restore access to all of our accounts.

Due to the hard work the Stadia team has put in - as well as our partners at 505 Games - we have decided that we will allow the upcoming launch Terraria on Google Stadia to proceed. The Terraria Stadia build is based on the DR Studios 1.4.0.5 (latest) build, and is currently at Google for certification review."

We've contacted developer Re-Logic for comment on its plans for future games' release on Stadia. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Update: The developers of Terraria, Re-Logic, have shared more details about what their severed ties with Google mean. Including how the boycott will include future versions of Terraria and future games from the studio. But existing versions of Terraria on Android and Google Play will not be impacted by the co-creator's decisions today. In a statement to IGN, Re-Logic says “Punishing existing customers who paid for our game on these platforms is not what we are about. To be clear: there should be no impact whatsoever to Terraria on Google platforms, both existing/purchased games as well as ongoing store availability.” The studio also provided a more in-depth timeline on how its issues with Google came about. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Original Story: The co-creator of Terraria has canceled the upcoming Google Stadia version of the game after his Google accounts were locked. Andrew Spinks, or Demilogic on Twitter, explained that he has lost access to all of his Google accounts, including Google Play, Google Drive, YouTube and Gmail. Spinks has been trying to recover them for over three weeks, but his attempts have been unsuccessful, as he claims he has been "given the runaround" by Google. "I absolutely have not done anything to violate your terms of service, so I can take this no other way than you deciding to burn this bridge," Spinks adds. "Consider it burned. Terraria for Google Stadia is cancelled. My company will no longer support any of your platforms moving forward."

I absolutely have not done anything to violate your terms of service, so I can take this no other way than you deciding to burn this bridge. Consider it burned. #Terraria for @GoogleStadia is canceled. My company will no longer support any of your platforms moving forward.

— Andrew Spinks (@Demilogic) February 8, 2021

"I will not be involved with a corporation that values their customers and partners so little," Spinks continues. "Doing business with you is a liability." Just a few days ago, fans had spotted that Terraria had been rated for Google Stadia on the Pan European Game Information website. It now looks like that version of the game won't see the light of day. Spinks' Google difficulties appear to have started in late January when Terraria's official YouTube account was disabled. The Terraria Official Twitter account posted about it last week in a (unfortunately fruitless) effort to grab Google's attention. Explaining the scale of the issue, Spinks wrote: "My phone has lost access to thousands of dollars of apps on @GooglePlay. I had just bought LOTR 4K and can't finish it. My @googledrive data is completely gone. I can't access my @YouTube channel. The worst of all is losing access to my @gmail address of over 15 years." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/terraria-first-two-nights-in-terraria-tutorial-video"] Back in 2011, we awarded Terraria on PC a 9/10 review, saying, "This devious little indie sandbox title borrows so many ideas from Notch's game that it essentially is Minecraft in 2D, but it also beefs up the familiar gameplay in exciting ways." The game has since come to a dozen more platforms, but it seems Stadia won't join that list. In other Google Stadia news, Google recently shut down all of its internal games studios, affecting approximately 150 employees. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Marshall, a 15-week old Boston Terrier playing in his rookie year in the prestigious Puppy Bowl, has been officially named the Puppy Bowl XVII MVP. Hailing from Salem, VA, Marshall dug deep and pulled hard for his team as part of the 2021 Starting Line-Up at this year's Puppy Bowl. Snoop Dogg and Jailbird Martha Stewart were there to kick off the 17th annual Puppy Bowl, which once again pitted champion against chomp'ion in a battle for the Lombarky Trophy. While the world outside of Geico Stadium has been forced to take a time-out all year long, no quarantine could keep these canine competitors from doing their doody on the field. Team Ruff in their "Fido-range" bandannas were looking for something missing after the "Blue Bones" of the Fluff team neutered their chances of a threepeat in 2020's startling upset, but the Ruffs aren't the type to turn tail and flee from a challenge. The two greatest to ever play the game were unleashed in a battle to see who would come out as top dog, making this one Bowl game not to miss! Puppy Bowl XVII MVP (Most Valuable Puppy) award winner Marshall may be hearing-impaired, but there's no mistaking the woof of this warrior -- on the field and off. Playing for Team Fluff, Marshall scored a rare spinning-double-touchdown in the first quarter to give his team an early lead. When not scoring touchdowns at the Puppy Bowl, Marshall trains with Puppy Bowl XVI veteran Killian at Green Dogs Unleashed to become a therapy dog for those in need. [caption id="attachment_2470629" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Little Marshall may be completely deaf, but he is also definitely eager to compete. Photo Credit: Elias Weiss Friedman, Animal Planet[/caption] This was the sweet 17th annual Puppy Bowl, but for the fans of the underdog Ruff team, they saw their their team spending much of the game with the same view as a musher in the Iditarod: nothing but the lead dog hinder. With big touchdown scores from the MVP "Mad Dog" Marshall, Milky Way the "Terrible Bruiser" Terrier/Boxer, and Beliveau the Beautiful, the Fluffs were top dogs going into the half, and they continued to rub Ruff's nose into their mess by taking a two touchdown lead in the third. Still, these young dogs on the Ruffs were ready to learn some new tricks to keep the tug-of-war going. "Multiple" Muffin heated things up with twin touchdowns, and Tank the "Rotten" Rottweiler also took it to the doghouse twice. In the final few seconds of the game, it was "Wiseguy" Paulie up against a mob of Terriers and Coonhounds as he battled Milky Way and Aaron Pawgers for the big score that would end it all. Final score: 69 to 73 for the Ruffs, and the big dogs are back on top. [youtube clip_id="t3-XNma1QE8"] Each and every one of these canine competitors left it all on the field in this year's big game. And in the end, no pup was left out in the cold, as Animal Planet found adoptive parents for the stars of the event. Puppy Bowl XVII was one for the Hound Hall of Fame. Stay tuned to IGN for more information on Fluff as it becomes apparent.