Chinese gaming giant Tencent Holdings wants to buy more of Ubisoft, and even become its biggest single shareholder.

A new report from Reuters reveals that Tencent, the largest social network and gaming company in China, revealed the news. “Tencent Holdings Ltd plans to raise its stake in French video game group Ubisoft Entertainment SA as the Chinese gaming giant pivots to the global gaming market,” revealed independent sources.

Tencent acquired a 5% stake in Ubisoft back in 2018 after tensions between Ubisoft and investor Vivendi bubbled over, resulting in Vivendi selling all of its shares and agreeing not to purchase a stake in the company for at least five years.

Now, Tencent is looking to expand its reach and has reportedly reached out to the family of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot to express interest in increasing its stake in the company. At the moment, it’s unclear how much of Ubisoft that Tencent intends to purchase.

However, recent reports that Ubisoft was being targeted for acquisition could mean that the Chinese company intends to go big. Quite how big remains to be seen, but Ubisoft is currently valued at $5.3 billion while the Guillemot family owns a 15% stake in the business. That puts the Guillemot stake at around $795 million.

It’s said that Tencent could offer up to 100 euros per share to acquire its additional stake – a big step up from its previous purchase, in which it paid 66 euros per share. Additionally, sources confirmed that Tencent intends to acquire shares from public shareholders in order to become the largest stakeholder in the company. Ubisoft's share price surged 15% after the news was announced by Reuters.

Speaking on a recent earnings call, CEO Yves Guillemot said that Ubisoft was open to reviewing offers to buy the company, and neither confirmed nor denied it had been approached by potential buyers.

Acquiring developers has been a major strategy for expansion over the last few years, with the likes of PlayStation and Xbox adding developers to their portfolios.

Xbox’s purchase of Activision Blizzard set them back $68.7 billion and is set to be one of the biggest deals in the games industry. And with Sony’s purchase of Bungie, it’s easy to see why Chinese giants such as Tencent want to get in on the action.

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

Apex Legends Season 14, Hunted, brings in some things old and some things new. Slated to drop August 9th next week, there’s a lot of anticipation building around the new content. The newest Legend, Vantage, is a sniper-focused character who enters the games on the newly altered Kings Canyon map. There are a lot of new changes coming to leveling, weapons, Legends, and more so here’s everything you need to know about Apex Season 14.

New Legend - Vantage

Season 14 introduces the youngest Legend Vantage who enters the Apex games as an 18 year old. She’s Cuban American and is a sniper-based Legend who is going to make all the sharpshooter players very happy.

• Passive: Spotter’s Lens
  • Vantage can identify targets on the ground for herself and zoom in while unarmed and with no scopes
• Tactical: Echo Relocation
  • Vantage throws out her bat friend in any direction she likes and can launch to where Echo is and double jump once she gets to where Echo is.
  • The cooldown for her tactical is the actual jump itself, Echo can be thrown out in any direction at any time but Vantage cannot jump until the cooldown is reset.
  • Echo can be canceled, or recalled, at any time.
• Ultimate: Sniper’s Mark
  • Vantage has her own Sniper Rifle (like Rampart’s LMG Sheila) that will mark targets she hits
  • Her Sniper Rifle will dish 50 damage but marked targets will take 100 damage from her rifle and Vantage’s teammates can deal additional damage when the target is marked as well.
  • The mark on a target will only last 10 seconds and will not extend through walls or cover, it is strictly a line of sight mark.
  • Vantage’s ultimate does not have to be fully charged for her to use it, unlike Rampart’s Sheila. Vantage’s sniper rifle can be used at any time as long as the ultimate charge has loaded enough bullets. The fully loaded Sniper Rifle will have five total bullets.
  • Ultimate Accelerants will charge her ultimate 35% (which is about two bullets)

Vantage has movement abilities as well as long range sniper abilities so she is going to be an absolute menace with players who excel with snipers. She’s able to stay at distance and deal good amounts of damage while also being able to provide recon support for her team, but she can also get herself out of some sticky situations with Echo or push with her team using her movement abilities. It’ll be interesting to see how Vantage plays in ranked and competitive.

Kings Canyon is getting a major facelift in the Southwest corner where the infamous Skull Town used to exist. Between Salvage and Octane’s gauntlet now lives the new Skull Town replacement called Relic. It adds a mass where the map used to just be a giant gap between the two POIs, adding for more loot and rotations. The POI Cage has been reworked to be less of a high point for teams to bunker down in as its floors have been lowered and the outer caging has been taken away.

Broken Relay has added more buildings to its location and has been renamed Basin and the unnamed landmark between Containment leading to Capacitor has been opened up as well. Kings Canyon also implemented a new skybox to add vibrancy and clarity to the overall map. A few changes have been made to the map to increase the flow of the central rotation points as well. Kings Canyon’s loot pool has been adjusted to improve loot findings all across the map.

Season 14 will feature the map rotations Kings Canyon, World’s Edge, and Stormpoint with Ranked focusing on Kings Canyon for the first split and Stormpoint for the second.

And, speaking of loot, here are some major equipment changes in Season 14:

• The Gold Backpack will carry 6 more items and will feature a Deep Pockets bonus where you can carry stacks of three Shield Batteries and Medkits instead of two. Gold Backpack will no longer revive teammates with extra health or shields.
• The Gold Knockdown Shield will no longer include self-revive but will instead take the place of the previous Gold Backpack Guardian Angel bonus where you can revive squadmates with bonus shields and health.

Here are Season 14’s biggest Weapon changes as well:

• SMGS and Pistols will take a new Laser Sight barrel attachment that reduces hipfire spread. (Additionally, Assault Rifles will have a slight increase in hipfire spread)
• The Double Tap hop up is back and can be used on the EVA-8 and G7 Scout
• The Skullpiercer is back in rotation and can now be used on the 30-30 Repeater along with the Wingman and Longbow.
• The Wingman will now take Sniper Ammo and use Sniper Attachments and even with a gold mag, the ammo will only stack to 20.
• The Spitfire will now take Light Ammo and Light Attachments and with the gold mag, it will only hold stacks of 60.
• The Eva-8 has a slight buff to its fire rate and will be adding stocks to its attachment list.
• The 30-30 Repeater will automatically come with Dual Loader now and reload two shots at a time.

In addition to these weapon changes, the Volt SMG and G7 Scout are back on ground loot and the Bow and Rampage have been added to the Care Package weapon rotations.

New Level Cap

After years of players being capped out at level 500, there’s a new leveling system that allows players to level up to 2,000 times in Season 14. Think of this new system as a prestige system. Once you hit level 500, your level badge will alter with a gilded lining and your level will roll back to 1, indicating you’ve prestiged one round. You can do this up to four times and earn more free loot boxes with leveling further.

How do you feel about the new Kings Canyon map changes? Will you be unlocking Vantage to play her in the new season? Let us know! Apex Legends Season 14 is due to drop August 9th on Tuesday. For more Apex Legends updates, be sure to stay right here at IGN.

Stella is a Video Producer, Host, and Editor at IGN. Her gameplay focus is on competitive FPS games and she's previously reviewed Apex Legends, Hyper Scape, Halo Infinite Multiplayer, and Battlefield 2042. She regularly hosts and shoutcasts competitive Apex Legends and Halo Infinite tournaments when she isn't streaming on her Twitch channel after work outs. You can follow her on Twitter @ParallaxStella.

Gwendoline Christie has expressed enthusiasm for returning to play Captain Phasma in the Star Wars universe, saying she "would absolutely love" her chrome-covered character to make a comeback.

Speaking to Empire, Christie acknowledged there could be more to explore with the character outside of her live-action appearances in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, where she fell in battle against Finn. Phasma has made a couple of appearances elsewhere in the galaxy far, far away and has even had her own comic run, but that has only left Christie feeling like there may be some untapped potential there.

"I haven't read the comics but, I mean, it's Star Wars! I would absolutely love that," Christie said of any future opportunities to bring her character back, including adapting her comic run for the screen. "There was a template for a character that people got really excited about. It would be smashing if they felt that it was worthwhile to explore, along with some fabulous action."

Phasma getting knocked into a fiery pit in The Last Jedi certainly left a lot more room for interpretation than say, cutting a character in half, or watching them evaporate. If there's no body, the character can still be alive. At least, that was the logic that allowed Boba Fett to survive in the Expanded Universe and pop up again in the Disney+ series The Book of Boba Fett.

Even though it seems almost intentional that we haven't seen Phasma die, there has been no mention of bringing the tough veteran commander back for a Star Wars project that would allow Christie to don the helmet again. Phasma hasn't entirely left our screens, though. She appeared in 2018's Star Wars: Resistance series and this year's LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga video game.

"This is the next step for me," Christie joked about her character's inclusion in the LEGO Star Wars game, "because as a teenager I was quite obsessed with computer games, and I was quite good at them. I think it's time to revisit them because they could be everything I had initially wanted them to be. There are entire worlds out there [where] we can investigate our megalomania!"

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga had the best LEGO game launch in history, selling through 3.2 million copies in the first two weeks and surpassing sales records worldwide. The game features missions from all nine mainline Star Wars films with additional DLC packs from The Mandalorian, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and more.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Life is Strange: True Colors was the first game in the series to be released as a full package – sidestepping the episodic release that the franchise was built on. Now, the developers can’t imagine going back.

During an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, senior narrative designer Philip Lawrence explained why the team wanted to try something new with the Life is Strange sequel, which was still separated into distinct chapters, but released as a single package.

“I can't imagine we'd go back to the episodic model,” said Lawrence. “The reaction has been very positive. I think we were careful to keep that episodic structure, because that does seem to appeal to players. That's all part of the DNA of Life is Strange. As you can imagine, it was a decision that was talked about and agonised over quite a bit, but I think on reflection it was the right decision.”

Life is Strange: True Colors was released in 2021, telling the story of Alex Chen – a girl who develops a supernatural ability for empathy. It was the first full Life Is Strange game from developer Deck Nine, who took on development duties from series creator Dontnod (after creating spin-off Life Is Strange: Before the Storm).

Although the game stepped away from episodic releases, it nevertheless retains the nature of TV storytelling, unveiling the plot in a structured way:

“It’s partly about player choice,” said Lawrence. “We were careful to structure a story around the five chapters, so that structurally it feels very in line with earlier Life Is Strange titles.”

Structured more like a limited series than a video game, Life is Strange: True Colors gives players the opportunity to binge the entire game or take it at their own pace. “So, if players want to step back, reflect and have those watercooler moments with the community, they can,” Lawrence added. “But for those who would be frustrated by the episodic release pattern, we save them from those frustrations.”

Think of it this way – Life is Strange: True Colors is more like a box set than a weekly episodic. Making it this way was apparently a freeing experience, with the structure of the story becoming secondary to the story itself. And that meant developers Deck Nine could concentrate on getting the plot right.

“I think from a creative point of view, it allowed us to concentrate on developing the story, getting the scripts into a great position, and then producing a game,” he explained. “So, we didn’t have that awkwardness of the episodic model where you’re rushing to production on the scripted content for the first episode and then moving on to the next one. Approaching it this way is a lot more coherent and organic, I think.”

Whether or not we find another Life is Strange game on its way remains to be seen. But even if there is, it looks as though it’s unlikely to return to the old episodic format.

Want to read more about Life is Strange? Check out our Life is Strange: True Colors walkthrough if you’re stuck and find out the locations of all the game’s collectibles.

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

New footage from the Hogwarts Legacy, the prequel game set in the wizarding world of Harry Potter has been unveiled.

Revealed during a tech talk at the Autodesk Vision Series, the footage shows off a new section of cutscene work, as well as a glimpse at the game’s character customization. The new cutscene footage sees two Hogwarts students secretly watching while a trio of dark wizards attack and restrain a hippogriff:

New cinematic from #HogwartsLegacy pic.twitter.com/gKGaIYkXEm

— Hogwarts Legacy News (@HogLegNews) August 3, 2022

The scene ends with the students splitting up, presumably to tackle the dark wizards while they’re occupied, with the player character tasked with reaching higher ground. An aerial attack, perhaps? It’s an extended version of a scene we saw during the recent State of Play back in March, which sees the player-character and friend, Natsai running through a huge gate.

Alongside this impressive cutscene, the Autodesk talk also included a look at the game’s character customization options. While we haven't seen full footage from the menus, images show off dozens of clothing, face shape, and hairstyle options, suggesting there will be a lot of space for you to make your witch or wizard as you'd like them.

Although details of the upcoming Harry Potter game are scarce, we do know who the villains of Hogwarts Legacy will be – a dark wizard by the name of Victor Rookwood as well as a Goblin called Ranrok who is leading some kind of goblin rebellion.

Hogwarts Legacy is set in the late 1800s – long before the events of Harry Potter. Exploring a time before the popular book series, or even the Fantastic Beasts movies, this new timeline gives game developers Avalanche Software a lot more leeway to experiment. After all, the 1800s wizarding world has been largely unexplored in the books or films.

Hogwarts Legacy still doesn’t have a release date, but it’s expected to debut by the end of the year. Want to read more about Hogwarts Legacy? Check out all the story details we know so far, as well as where to preorder the upcoming game.

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.

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

Tactics Ogre: Reborn is real, and it’s coming to PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch on November 11.

A recent leak unexpectedly revealed the existence of the Tactics Ogre remake – a reimagining of the classic RPG, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together.

Originally released for the Super Famicom in 1996, the tactical RPG is getting a full rework with HD visuals, recreated sound effects, and re-recorded soundtrack from the game’s original composer, Hitoshi Sakimoto. There’s even a new trailer to give you a glimpse of the upcoming remake:

Tactics Ogre: Reborn is set in The Valerian Isles following the death of Dorgalua Oberyth – the “Dynast-King” who brought years of peace to the region. But when a civil war erupts in his absence, a bloody power struggle emerges between three warring factions. Players will follow the story of Denam Pavel – a young man caught in the middle of the civil war as he seeks a path to freedom and justice.

A tactical turn-based RPG, Tactics Ogre: Reborn puts players in command of a team of units, taking control of the battlefield in glorious, pixelated combat.

Per Square Enix, the games improvements include:

• Beautifully remastered graphics
• Fully voiced cutscenes in English & Japanese
• Full orchestral re-recording of the game’s soundtrack
• Redesigned battle system
• Adjusted level management system
• Reworked AI
• Simplified and improved UI

If you’ve ever fancied jumping into the Tactics Ogre series, it seems that now would be a good time, with pre-orders for the upcoming remake already available.

Here’s what the game’s official synopsis has to say: “Based on the 2010 release, the game features improved graphics and sound, as well as updated game design, bringing to life a new Tactics Ogre that remains true to its roots. Tactics Ogre veterans will experience a game that surpasses their fondest memories, while players new to Tactics Ogre will discover a game unlike any they've ever played.”

IGN’s review of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together on PSP said: “It's definitely a testament to the quality of the original game design that it remains so playable and engaging more than 15 years on.”

“It's not perfect, however. There are definitely times when the menus and sheer complexity will get to you. Even so, the numerous improvements and refinements are much appreciated, and for gamers with the patience, few other games come close to the sum-total quality of strategy RPGing that Tactics Ogre provides.”

A new reimagining of the classic RPG gives us a lot to be excited about, with Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together recently coming in third in our top 10 tactical RPGs.

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

Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo have revealed that Kevin Feige originally suggested killing off three huge MCU characters to take all of "the OGs off the board."

During an appearance on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Russo brothers reflected on Endgame's climactic showdown with Thanos and those who lost their lives in the battle. They revealed that the ending could have resulted in even more character deaths because MCU architect Kevin Feige originally toyed with the idea of wiping out three main superheroes from the original Avengers team.

In this clip from A SECOND LOOK, we dive into the climactic showdown with Thanos from ENDGAME and the @Russo_Brothers reveal at one point Kevin Feige contemplated killing off the big 3, Iron Man, Thor, AND Cap!

Full episode at https://t.co/e84WokCDhq pic.twitter.com/MsNCgVMObi

— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) August 3, 2022

"Kevin did actually pitch at one point taking all the OGs off the board," Joe explained. "We thought it was way too aggressive and that the audience wouldn't be able to process it, and that in fact picking one or two characters to make sacrifices throughout the movie might give you moments throughout the film where the action could stop and you could have emotional catharsis and then continue with the narrative and then have more emotional catharsis."

Anthony said they discussed the fates of the main characters in the "early days" and that Feige's pitch never actually made it into any scripts, even though they were "acutely aware" that after Avengers: Infinity War, the audience "felt like nobody was safe." They had to make careful decisions about which characters they should sacrifice for the sake of the storytelling.

"Kevin early on had pitched this idea that it was like 'Toy Story 3' where they should all actually jump into the fire in order to save the universe," Joe said of the idea, which was discussed on a conceptual level. "We thought you have to step out storytelling on something of this scale, so we weren't quite sure how the math would add up to get to that."

The next Avengers film, The Kang Dynasty, is slated for release in 2025, six years after Endgame hit theaters. Feige recently explained that the larger gap between Avengers films is partly due to the fact that big superhero team-up movies are now scattered throughout each MCU phase, changing the way that Avengers films are positioned in release schedules.

Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and will close out Phase 6 alongside Avengers: Secret Wars. The Kang Dynasty will hit the big screen on May 2, 2025, and Secret Wars will be released six months later on November 7, 2025. Phase 6 will also officially conclude the MCU's second saga, which is now known as The Multiverse Saga.

Secret Wars may well be Marvel's biggest superhero movie yet, one that can dwarf even Avengers: Endgame in scope and the sheer number of characters involved. If you're not familiar with this huge cosmic epic, then you might want to check out IGN's breakdown of everything you need to know about Secret Wars and why Phase 6 will be the biggest ever.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

This story contains spoilers for Marvel's Eternals.

Despite not being a part of Marvel's Comic-Con announcements, Eternals 2 may be on the cards, after actor Patton Oswalt teased the upcoming sequel.

During an interview with The Today Show, the 53-year-old actor and comedian suggested that an Eternals sequel is already on the cards, with the first movie's director.

“They have announced there is going to be an Eternals sequel and Chloe Zhao is going to direct it,” he revealed. “So, hopefully, there will be more adventures of Starfox and Pip.”

While the first movie ended with a card that said "Eternals will return," it hasn't been clear whether this would be a full sequel or as part of a team-up movie.

In fact, Marvel producer Nate Moore even claimed that Eternals 2 was not a “must-have” for the studio.

“It's not something that is a must-have,” he said. “Obviously, we have ideas of where we could go, but there isn't a hard and fast rule where we have to have three of these things and this is the first. If you just watch Eternals, you can enjoy Eternals, you can understand Eternals and you're good to go.”

Marvel’s Eternals featured an ensemble cast including Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, and Barry Keoghan who bring the comic book superheroes to the big screen for the first time. Additionally, Patton Oswalt voiced Pip the Troll in a post-credits scene alongside Harry Styles.

That post-credits scene seemingly sets up further adventures with Pip and Starfox, and Eternals did leave some loose ends, plot-wise.

For one thing, the Eternals were left fractured by the end of the movie, with Sprite becoming human, while Sersi, Phastos, and Kingo are seemingly taken by the Celestial Arishem to face judgment. The inclusion of another post-credits scene also hints at an appearance of the Black Knight as Dane faces his family history. There’s certainly enough to pick up in a sequel if Marvel wants to.

Whether or not Patton Oswalt is right, remains to be seen. While there’s been no official announcement just yet, it could be that Oswalt has let the cat out of the bag.

Want to read more about Marvel’s Eternals? Check out our explanation of the Eternals ending and check out the deleted scene that explains how The Eternals influenced human development.

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

After the surprise cancelation of Batgirl, all eyes are on Supergirl… and it’s apparently not looking good.

According to Rolling Stone, the shake-up at Warner Bros. Discovery goes further than just DC’s upcoming Batgirl film – it’s likely to affect other superpowered projects, too.

“Supergirl, which is in development, is not likely to move forward,” said insiders familiar with the project.

A Supergirl movie has been in the works at Warner Bros. since it was announced in 2018. Since then, 26-year-old Sasha Calle was cast in the title role as Kara Danvers, aka Supergirl. While fans went wild recently after seeing her in the Supergirl suit, it looks as though the upcoming movie is also in danger of being canned.

The new Supergirl was set to make her big screen debut in the upcoming Flash solo film starring Ezra Miller, with her own solo movie to follow later. But now it’s unlikely that this movie is going to happen, it seemingly casts serious doubt over her appearance in The Flash, too.

It seems that the cancelation of Batgirl has far-reaching implications for the troubled studio, which has also begun ditching HBO Max Originals from its online streaming service.

Of course, Supergirl isn’t the only superhero that’s nervously eyeing the chopping block – DC also made earlier commitments for a Blue Beetle movie starring Cobra Kai’s Xolo Maridueña, and the planned Black Canary movie starring Jurnee Smollett.

You have to wonder whether these projects will go ahead, and which other DC projects are in the firing line. Either way, it looks as though Warner Bros. Discovery is undergoing a big shake-up, with beloved DC properties unclear where they stand.

Despite the cancelations and uncertainty, Joker 2 is still going ahead with Joaquin Phoenix returning to the role of Arthur Fleck. But that’s to be expected – after all, with 11 Academy Award nominations and a box office haul of over $1 billion, a sequel was inevitable.

What will happen to the rest of the DCEU remains to be seen. Want to find out more about the Warner Bros. Discovery shake-up? We break down exactly what happened to Batgirl and take a look at which other DC heroes are facing the axe.

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

Following yesterday’s cancellation of Batgirl, the film’s star, Leslie Grace, took to Instagram to speak publicly about the film being shelved.

In the post, Grace expresses how proud she is of the “incredible cast and tireless crew” who worked on the film for seven months in Scotland. Despite the film’s abrupt and disappointing cancellation, her post radiates positivity.

“I feel blessed to have worked among absolute greats and forged relationships for a lifetime in the process! To every Batgirl fan - THANK YOU for the love and belief, allowing me to take on the cape and become, as Babs said best, ‘my own damn hero!’”

She ends the post with “#Batgirl for life!” The Instagram post also gives some behind the scenes glimpses of personal footage and photos from the actress.

The film, which won’t be released in any way, shape, or form, was meant to showcase Michael Keaton’s return as Batman alongside Grace’s debut as Batgirl. Previously, the film had seen some trouble after Joss Whedon left the project in 2018 after not being able to come up with a story.

In May of last year, it was announced the film was headed to HBO Max with Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah attached as directors. In just the last few days following the cancellation, HBO Max has seen several of its “Originals” films removed from its streaming service.

There’s a lot more to the story, so be sure to check out our write up on the film’s cancellation, why it happened, and how everyone reacted on social media to it. Not everyone was as positive as Grace.

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.