Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has stated that the Nintendo Switch will not be getting a price increase "at this point," despite the higher costs to produce the hardware, as the company wishes to "avoid pricing people out."

Speaking to Nikkei Asia, Furukawa said Nintendo has no plans to adjust the price of the Switch to "offset rising production and shipping costs," and these comments follow Meta's decision to raise the price of the Meta Quest 2 by $100 as "the costs to make and ship [Meta's] products have been on the rise."

"We're not considering [a price increase] at this point, for two reasons," Furukawa said. "In order to offer unique entertainment to a wide range of customers, we want to avoid pricing people out. Our competition is the variety of entertainment in the world, and we always think about pricing in terms of the value of the fun we offer.

"Our products also include software. Nintendo has sold more than 100 million Switch units so far, and it's important to maintain the momentum of our overall business. Generally speaking, a weak yen makes domestic Switch sales less profitable."

Furukawa also shared that the OLED model of the Switch will continue to be the least profitable Switch, and it doesn't help that costs have "increased for shipping not only by air, but also by sea."

"We're thinking about what we can do," Furukawa said. "The weak yen may be seen as a benefit for Nintendo, since such a large share of our sales comes from abroad, but our overseas promotional and staff costs also go up. We're making more inventory purchases in foreign currencies to counter that."

The statements also come after Switch sales dropped "23% on the year by volume in the April-June quarter amid shortages of semiconductors and other parts." Nintendo is expecting a 29% drop in annual net profit in the fiscal year ending March 2023, even though it is planning on selling 21 million Switch consoles.

In regards to the ongoing semiconductor shortage, Furukawa believes that the situation will get better in the "latter half of this summer," but the future is still unclear and Nintendo isn't able to give a definite outlook for Switch sales beyond this fiscal year.

For those hoping for any word on the unconfirmed but much-desired Switch Pro, Furukawa has doubled down on Nintendo's commitment to focusing on just three models of the Switch - the standard model, Switch Lite, and the OLED Model. Obviously, things can change at any moment, but Nintendo is staying the course for the moment.

"I can't say specifically what is in short supply," Furukawa said. "Nintendo will continue to sell three [Switch] models: the standard model; the Switch Lite with reduced price, size and features; and the OLED model. We'll work out the best strategy as we go along. We're doing our best to procure high-quality products at an appropriate price with an eye toward the next few years."

In closing, Furukawa said that keeping prices down isn't impacting Nintendo's ability to procure parts, it's simply that demand is exceeding supply. Furthermore, he believes Nintendo's strong software lineup for 2022, including Splatoon 3 and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, will help the company reach its goals and overcome some of the challenges caused by shortages.

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.

Following PUBG: Battlegrounds officially going free-to-play on January 12, 2022, parent company Krafton has revealed that it has consistently seen a "steady inflow of more than 80,000 new users per day."

The figures were detailed in Krafton's preliminary earnings announcement for the first half of 2022, where it also shared that "average revenue per user (ARPU) across all platforms increased more than 20% QoQ." It also noted that international markets outside of South Korea accounted for 94% of PUBG's revenue during Q2 2022.

PUBG Mobile has also been performing well for Krafton, as it currently ranks "second in sales among global mobile games" and helped drive the company's mobile business revenue to $550.7 million.

The earnings announcement also discussed some of Krafton's upcoming games, including Unknown World's new IP that is set in a "sci-fi world that features imaginative turn-based gameplay," Striking Distance Studios' The Callisto Protocol, and a currently untitled game project based on the Korean fantasy novel, The Bird That Drinks Tears.

In our review of the free-to-play version of PUBG: Battlegrounds, we said that its "unique focus on massive zones and realistic simulation remain a lot of fun, even if its novelty wore off years ago."

Are you ready to work in the Dark to serve the Light? We are the Assassins in the Battlegrounds @assassinscreed pic.twitter.com/DCX1B0L0XH

— PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS (@PUBG) August 8, 2022

For more on PUBG: Battlegrounds, check out the latest additions that arrived in Patch 19.1, incluing the MP9, Pillar Security Car, Blue Chip Detector, Folded Shield, Ranked Season 19, and more. You can also check out the crossover with Assassin's Creed.

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.

Following PUBG: Battlegrounds officially going free-to-play on January 12, 2022, parent company Krafton has revealed that it has consistently seen a "steady inflow of more than 80,000 new users per day."

The figures were detailed in Krafton's preliminary earnings announcement for the first half of 2022, where it also shared that "average revenue per user (ARPU) across all platforms increased more than 20% QoQ." It also noted that international markets outside of South Korea accounted for 94% of PUBG's revenue during Q2 2022.

PUBG Mobile has also been performing well for Krafton, as it currently ranks "second in sales among global mobile games" and helped drive the company's mobile business revenue to $550.7 million.

The earnings announcement also discussed some of Krafton's upcoming games, including Unknown World's new IP that is set in a "sci-fi world that features imaginative turn-based gameplay," Striking Distance Studios' The Callisto Protocol, and a currently untitled game project based on the Korean fantasy novel, The Bird That Drinks Tears.

In our review of the free-to-play version of PUBG: Battlegrounds, we said that its "unique focus on massive zones and realistic simulation remain a lot of fun, even if its novelty wore off years ago."

Are you ready to work in the Dark to serve the Light? We are the Assassins in the Battlegrounds @assassinscreed pic.twitter.com/DCX1B0L0XH

— PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS (@PUBG) August 8, 2022

For more on PUBG: Battlegrounds, check out the latest additions that arrived in Patch 19.1, incluing the MP9, Pillar Security Car, Blue Chip Detector, Folded Shield, Ranked Season 19, and more. You can also check out the crossover with Assassin's Creed.

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.

The creature spawned from a pile of rotting caviar, Xur, is now live in Destiny 2 for the weekend until next week's reset. If you're looking to get your some shiny new Exotic armor or weapons for your Guardian, look no further.

Each week, Xûr has a random assortment of Exotic armor, one for each Guardian class, as well as a random Exotic Weapon and an Exotic Engram available for purchase. In addition to his Exotic wares, he's got a random collection of Legendary weapons and armor to deck out your Guardians.

We've rounded up all the info on Xûr for the week including where to find Xûr, which Exotic weapons and armor are available, as well as which Legendary weapons you should pick up, either for PvE or PvP.

Where Is Xûr Today?

Xûr's location can be found at The Tower on August 12 through August 16. To reach him, travel to the landing point at The Courtyard and make your way to the Hangar. You'll find ol' snake-face chilling near the stairs at the back of the Hangar area.

What's Xûr Selling Today?

Exotic Engram

Monte Carlo - Exotic Auto Rifle

Mechaneer's Tricksleeves - Exotic Hunter Gauntlets

• 18 Mobility
• 2 Resilience
• 9 Recovery
• 12 Discipline
• 16 Intellect
• 2 Strength
• Total: 59

Antaeus Wards - Exotic Titan Leg Armor

• 13 Mobility
• 2 Resilience
• 13 Recovery
• 18 Discipline
• 9 Intellect
• 2 Strength
• Total: 57

Crown of Tempests - Exotic Warlock Helmet

• 24 Mobility
• 2 Resilience
• 3 Recovery
• 2 Discipline
• 16 Intellect
• 16 Strength
• Total: 63

Exotic rolls this week are pretty underwhelming, especially for Hunters and Titans. Warlocks have a so-so Crown of Tempests, but with so many stats going into Mobility, you're likely to find better rolls for this armor elsewhere. Bad Xur!

Exotic Weapons

Hawkmoon - Exotic Hand Cannon

• Paracausal Shot
• Fluted Barrel
• Alloy Magazine
• Snapshot Sights
• Textured Grip

Dead Man's Tale - Exotic Scout Rifle

• Cranial Spike
• Full Bore
• Flared Magwell
• Fourth Time's The Charm
• Short-Action Stock

The Hawkmoon roll this week isn't half bad, but certainly not the best roll we've seen in recent weeks. Dead Man's Tale's roll, on the other hand, is not only underwhelming, but just got a nerf announcement from Bungie, so you should definitely skip it!

Legendary Weapons

Toil and Trouble - Shotgun

• Smoothbore/Corkscrew Rifling
• Assault Mag/Accurized Rounds
• Threat Detector
• Outlaw
• Reload Speed Masterwork

Lonesome - Sidearm

• Arrowhead Brake/Fluted Barrel
• Armor-Piercing Rounds/High-Caliber Rounds
• Outlaw
• Opening Shot
• Range Masterwork

Seventh Seraph Carbine - Auto Rifle

• Arrowhead Brake/Hammer-Forged Rifling
• Armor-Piercing Rounds/High-Caliber Rounds
• Hip-Fire Grip
• Rangefinder
• Stability Masterwork

Interference VI - Grenade Launcher

• Volatile Launch/Countermass
• Thermoplastic Grenades/Augmented Drum
• Clown Cartridge
• Swashbuckler
• Velocity Masterwork

Truthteller - Grenade Launcher

• Hard Launch/Linear Compensator
• Blinding Grenades/Spike Grenades
• Grave Robber
• Disruption Break
• Handling Masterwork

Star's in Shadow - Pulse Rifle

• Polygonal Rifling/Smallbore
• Extended Mag/Alloy Magazine
• Quickdraw
• Elemental Capcacitor
• One Quiet Moment
• Stability Masterwork

Gridskipper - Pulse Rifle

• Arrowhead Brake/Polygonal Rifling
• Ricochet Rounds/Flared Magwell
• Heating Up
• Snapshot Sights
• Range Masterwork

The highlights this week are the Truthteller roll, which comes so close to being a God roll, the Lonesome sidearm and Seventh Seraph auto rifle rolls which are great rolls that could work well with next season's meta. The heavy grenade launcher Interference VI could also prove useful next season as grenade launchers are receiving a buff.

Warlock Legendary Armor

For Warlocks, Xûr is selling the Lost Pacific set which includes:

Lost Pacific Gauntlets

• 12 Mobility
• 16 Resilience
• 2 Recovery
• 19 Discipline
• 2 Intellect
• 9 Strength
• Total: 60

Lost Pacific Chest Armor

• 19 Mobility
• 9 Resilience
• 2 Recovery
• 11 Discipline
• 10 Intellect
• 10 Strength
• Total: 61

Lost Pacific Helmet

• 7 Mobility
• 17 Resilience
• 7 Recovery
• 2 Discipline
• 8 Intellect
• 19 Strength
• Total: 60

Lost Pacific Leg Armor

• 7 Mobility
• 17 Resilience
• 7 Recovery
• 12 Discipline
• 10 Intellect
• 9 Strength
• Total: 62

Lost Pacific Bond

Sadly, Warlocks have received some pretty rubbish armor this week with low overall stats and no spikiness that's particularly interesting. Boo!

Titan Legendary Armor

For Titans, Xûr is selling the Lost Pacific set which includes:

Lost Pacific Gauntlets

• 6 Mobility
• 9 Resilience
• 12 Recovery
• 10 Discipline
• 14 Intellect
• 6 Strength
• Total: 57

Lost Pacific Chest Armor

• 15 Mobility
• 2 Resilience
• 15 Recovery
• 16 Discipline
• 2 Intellect
• 10 Strength
• Total: 60

Lost Pacific Helmet

• 10 Mobility
• 7 Resilience
• 12 Recovery
• 2 Discipline
• 23 Intellect
• 7 Strength
• Total: 61

Lost Pacific Leg Armor

• 18 Mobility
• 10 Resilience
• 2 Recovery
• 9 Discipline
• 18 Intellect
• 2 Strength
• Total: 59

Lost Pacific Mark

Titans somehow managed to do even worse than Warlocks with zero rolls worth your consideration this week. Yikes!

Hunter Legendary Armor

For Hunters, Xûr is selling the Lost Pacific set which includes:

Lost Pacific Gauntlets

• 6 Mobility
• 13 Resilience
• 10 Recovery
• 10 Discipline
• 18 Intellect
• 2 Strength
• Total: 59

Lost Pacific Chest Armor

• 2 Mobility
• 30 Resilience
• 2 Recovery
• 13 Discipline
• 14 Intellect
• 2 Strength
• Total: 63

Lost Pacific Helmet

• 2 Mobility
• 7 Resilience
• 21 Recovery
• 10 Discipline
• 9 Intellect
• 11 Strength
• Total: 60

Lost Pacific Leg Armor

• 2 Mobility
• 2 Resilience
• 30 Recovery
• 9 Discipline
• 18 Intellect
• 2 Strength
• Total: 63

Lost Pacific Cloak

Hunters are the only class with any interesting rolls this week, but even theirs aren't anything to write home about. The chest piece and the legs are both 63 overall stat rolls with some interesting spikiness, but aside from that there isn't much to see here.

That's a wrap on Xûr for this week, Guardians! Are you getting excited for the Lightfall reveal happening later this month? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! For more on Destiny, check out some of the new weapons and gear you can find in The Witch Queen and read about how Sony's purchase of Bungie fits into its larger plans.

Travis Northup is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and read his games coverage here.

Mark Ruffalo doesn't think there are too many Marvel shows or movies, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe actor wasn't as kind to Disney's other mega franchise, Star Wars. Speaking to Metro, Ruffalo was asked if he thinks there's too much Marvel content out there. In his response, the actor defended the MCU, saying each project has its own flavor.

"It’s not something I worry about," Ruffalo said. "I understand that these things run their course and then something else comes along. But the thing Marvel has done well is that, inside the MCU, just as they do with comic books, they let a director or an actor sort of recreate each piece to their own style, their likeness. Marvel generally lets them bring that to the material."

However, Ruffalo then went on to compare the MCU to that galaxy far, far away, speaking of Star Wars in a way some fans might not be happy about.

"If you watch a Star Wars, you’re pretty much going to get the same version of Star Wars each time. It might have a little bit of humour. It might have a little bit of different animation. But you’re always, really, in that same kind of world. But with Marvel you can have a whole different feeling even within the Marvel Universe."

These comments from Ruffalo come after Lost creator Damon Lindelof said fewer Marvel movies would make each one more special. Ruffalo has been a part of the MCU since Phase 1, appearing as Bruce Banner/The Hulk in all four Avengers movies and a handful of other projects. The actor has never appeared in any Star Wars media.

From a pure volume standpoint, it's not even a contest. Marvel has around 30 currently announced upcoming projects, compared to around 15 for Star Wars. To be fair, the MCU has been in the swing of things for a while, while Star Wars is still pivoting its strategy after the mixed reception to the sequel trilogy.

Mark Ruffalo is set to appear next in Marvel's She-Hulk Disney+ series later this month, where he's set to pass "the Banner" to Tatiana Maslany. In the most recent clip shown for the series, Ruffalo's Banner and Maslany's Jennifer Walters are shown discussing Captain America's sex life before a giant spaceship forces them off the road.

She-Hulk is set to debut on August 18. To get yourself ready for the premiere, you can check out a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming Marvel show and a look at She-Hulk’s history and how she got her powers.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Splatoon 2 players eagerly awaiting the release of Splatoon 3 on Nintendo Switch will be rewarded with a ton of bonuses to speed up their gameplay progression.

A blog post on Nintendo's website revealed that players who have save data for Splatoon 2 stored on their Nintendo Switch will be given somewhat of a head start in the new game.

Three main weapons can be unlocked immediately instead of having to wait until a certain level has been reached, meaning players can keep battling with their favourites from Splatoon 2 without having to rank up a ton first.

Anarchy Battles - Splatoon 3's new ranked mode - will also be available from the start, and players will be matched in all modes with players who shared a similar skill level in Splatoon 2. Nintendo also states that these players will start the game with a higher rank depending on their rank in the second game, but didn't specify if the level would be matched exactly, if players would be granted a few bonus ranks, or whatever else.

"Five out of five Squid Research Lab scientists recommend transferring data from Splatoon 2 if you have it," the post said.

While all of these features will eventually be available to brand new Splatoon players, it appears Nintendo's intention is to allow veteran players to get straight back into the competitive action they experienced in the five year old Splatoon 2.

This system also stops these veteran players from matchmaking with new ones, meaning there should be a more even playing field for everyone involved when Splatoon 3 is released on September 9.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Portkey Games has announced that Hogwarts Legacy will be released on February 10, 2023.

The newly announced date, posted to Twitter, means that Hogwarts Legacy has been pushed back by several weeks; while we were never given a concrete release date, the original plan was to release Holiday 2022.

Hogwarts Legacy will launch on February 10, 2023 for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. The Nintendo Switch launch date will be revealed soon. The team is excited for you to play, but we need a little more time to deliver the best possible game experience. pic.twitter.com/zh0EsOvDb7

— Hogwarts Legacy (@HogwartsLegacy) August 12, 2022

The delay affects the PlayStation, Xbox, and PC versions. The Nintendo Switch version launch date "will be revealed soon", the official Twitter account promises.

"The team is excited for you to play, but we need a little more time to deliver the best possible game experience," the tweet says.

While we've seen a few gameplay trailers for Hogwarts Legacy, there still have been no hands-on preview sessions or extended looks at the game. We have seen its PS5 features, though, as well as character customization. We've also had a glimpse at the villains of the story.

This delay won't be the only talking point around Hogwarts Legacy. The game has stirred up discussion over its connection to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who has become notable in recent years for her transphobic comments. Warner Bros. has said the author is not directly involved with the game, but leadership has said "she's entitled to express her personal opinion". Reports have since suggested that the game will allow for transgender characters to be created.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

D-Pad Studio, creators of the 2016 gem Owlboy, have annnounced their next project: Vikings on Trampolines. It's in development for both PC and consoles, and it's a pixel-art, 1-4 player co-op side-scrolling adventure whose primary traversal mechanic is, as the name implies, trampolines. Check out the reveal trailer above and the first screenshots in the gallery below.

The story mode puts you on a quest to stop the villain Balloonie and rescue King VI (with numerous boss fights along the way, D-Pad Studio promises), while the party-game-esque competitive Versus modes will pit up to four friends against each other.

“Vikings on Trampolines began life as one of our small experimental projects, which won the first Nordic Games Indie Sensation Award back in 2011,” said D-Pad Studio’s Jo-Remi Madsen. “After releasing Owlboy, we’ve since returned to the idea and developed it into a fun, fully-fledged, co-op adventure!”

IGN will have more on Vikings on Trampolines at Gamescom 2022.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

EA has defended its use of lootboxes in FIFA 23 by calling the option to spend money on Ultimate Team packs "fair" and "a part of FIFA that players love".

Speaking to Eurogamer, EA said that its FIFA Ultimate Team mode - in which players can earn packs that may or may not contain good players through gameplay, or buy them using real money - is an integral part of the game that fans of the long-running football franchise want to play.

"We wholeheartedly believe that Ultimate Team and FUT Packs, which have been part of the game for more than a decade, are a part of FIFA that players love," EA said. "Fans love that the game reflects the real-world excitement and strategy of building and managing a squad. Giving players the choice to spend if they want to is fair."

It added: "It's worth saying that spending is entirely optional in our game, and we do not encourage spending over earning rewards through gameplay. FUT Packs work in just the same way whether they are paid for or earned, and most players don't spend in game at all. For example, nine out of 10 FUT Packs opened in FIFA 22 were earned."

Lootboxes have proved more and more controversial in recent years however, with EA often finding itself at the centre of debate. Leaked documents from October last year revealed that the publisher seeks to "funnel" players towards Ultimate Team despite denying that this was the case publicly.

Countries including the Netherlands and Belgium have both banned lootboxes, with the former doing so following an investigation that looked specifically at FIFA 18 amongst other games. Lootboxes are deemed to be gambling in these countries, given that a player can spend pennies and receive a top-rated player or hundreds and receive very little of value, and as a result have seen other controversial games such as Diablo: Immortal passed over completely.

An investigation from the Norwegian Consumer Council in June (that was backed by 18 European countries) also found lootboxes to be manipulative and exploitative, but just last month the UK opted not to introduce lootbox laws.

Blizzard has announced that it will no longer be selling lootboxes in Overwatch, with these coming to an end completely as of August 30. The same seemingly isn't happening for FIFA anytime soon, however, or at least EA's new football franchise, as an executive commented last year that they can't see the monetisation model being changed.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

It looks as though Google has begun integrating Cloud Gaming services into its search results.

The Nerf Report's Bryant Chappel noted in a series of Tweets (below) that the new feature appears to be rolling out across the search giant’s results pages. It gives users the ability to directly launch a cloud game from the search results using Google Stadia, as well as other cloud services.

The addition of a “Play” button to select search results allows you to launch the game you searched for directly from Stadia – provided it exists on the platform. And that’s a neat step forward when it comes to integrating cloud gaming across the Google platform.

It looks like the Google search engine has a new update for cloud gaming platforms!!!

When searching for a game players can now launch a game directly from the search results utilizing @GoogleStadia. pic.twitter.com/xblOsBpF6O

— Bryant Chappel (@BryantChappel) August 11, 2022

It certainly feels like a natural progression for cloud gaming – reducing the time taken to go from looking up a game to actually playing it.

Considering we’re talking about Google here, integrating cloud gaming features across its other services is a neat move, but it’s not just Google products being integrated here. It turns out, that this also works for Xbox Cloud Gaming, and some other services, too.

Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) games can also now be launched directly via the Google search results page. pic.twitter.com/LeYbBk7SFH

— Bryant Chappel (@BryantChappel) August 11, 2022

Other cloud gaming services that appear in this manner include Amazon Luna and Nvidia’s GeForce Now.

However, when IGN attempted to replicate these results, we didn’t find the impressive new feature. Whether or not this is geo-locked or simply being rolled out across select users for testing is unclear. A likely scenario is that Google is A/B testing across its services, and that means that this new feature may (or may not) eventually be rolled out more comprehensively.

Nevertheless, it’s an interesting new feature that really taps into the potential of cloud gaming. After all, going from search result to playing a game instantly is an impressive leap.

Of course, it’s not quite that simple. You’ll need to be logged in on the service you’re trying to access, so there’s still some friction if you’re accidentally logged out. Otherwise, you’ll be sent to the service’s sign-up page, and that could be a little frustrating.

It also doesn’t appear to work with all games on the cloud gaming services. But since this is a very new feature, it could be that it’s still being rolled out – or is only appearing on select titles currently for testing purposes.

Either way, it’s a neat addition that makes cloud gaming feel even more impressive. Just make sure you’ve got a good internet connection.

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