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Logan Paul Denies Faking Reaction To $3.5 Million Pokemon Card Scam

Logan Paul has denied faking his reaction to the $3.5 million dollar Pokémon card scandal that the YouTuber became caught up in earlier this month.

After having spent over $3 million on what he believed to be boxes of first-edition Pokémon cards last month, only to find out that he'd instead purchased a set of G.I Joe collectible cards, Paul faced criticism from fans on social media who claimed that the YouTuber might have faked the entire scandal.

Speaking on a recent episode of his Impaulsive Podcast, Paul delved further into the scandal and spoke about how he felt when he realised the cards were not authentic. "Three and a half million dollars on f**king G.I. Joe. I cannot believe it. It was a sad day. That was a very sad day. You can't just scam someone out of millions of dollars like that without legal consequences."

While in the video it appeared that Paul was unclear on what legal ramifications the group of scammers might face, at one point suggesting the actions could be fraudulent, he did adamantly deny that he'd faked the experience for views. "I see comments," he said. "They think I was acting. They think it's fake. But it's not. It's not fake at all, no. Being in that room that night was incredibly sad. The energy and the tragic feeling in the room was so palpable."

Despite spending a ludicrous amount of money on the cards in the first place, Paul has since received a full refund for the $3.5 million dollars he spent - a factor that the YouTuber pointed to when first opening the cards in his original unboxing video.

When originally purchasing the cards, Paul brought with him a card collector named Matt Allen who purchased the case for $2.7 million, before selling them to Paul for $3.5 million. Despite having received a refund on his original purchase from Allen, Paul says he's currently helping the card collector recover the $2.7 million that he initially spent on the cards prior to selling them to the YouTuber.

For more from the world of buying and selling rare Pokémon cards, make sure to check out this article detailing how you might be able to tell if your (real) cards are worth any money.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Thumbnail image credit: Logan Paul

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Sony Speaks Up on the State of Activision Blizzard Games After Xbox Acquisition

Sony says that it expects Microsoft to honor contracts it has with Activision and "continue to ensure" that Activision games are released on its platforms – but there's some room for interpretation about what exactly the PlayStation manufacturer means.

Naturally, after Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard for almost $70 billion, many began speculating about whether the company would turn traditionally multiplatform releases into Xbox exclusives. Sony has now weighed in on that idea:

“We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform,” said a Sony spokesperson to The Wall Street Journal.

It's no surprise that Sony would expect Microsoft to honor any current contracts it has with Activision – as it did during the Bethesda takeover, leaving Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo as PS5 console exclusives. It's not clear what contracts Sony currently has with Activision, nor how long they're set to last.

It's also unclear from the wording of the statement whether the spokesperson is referring to specific contracts that ensure Activision games are multiplatform, or if the company more generally expects Microsoft to allow games to be released for PS5 post-acquisition. We've contacted Sony for clarity on that point.

The issue of exclusives will be a divisive one in the run-up to the acquisition and beyond. Sources have previously suggested that Microsoft plans to keep selling "some" Activision games on PlayStation, but it's not yet clear which ones. IGN readers are almost perfectly split on whether they want Activision Blizzard games to become Xbox exclusives, and some investors have clearly been spooked by the move, with almost $20 billion wiped off of Sony's stock value following the announcement.

In our opinion, gaining the opportunity to release exclusives exclusives isn't about winning a console war for Xbox – it's about winning a content war.

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.

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IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction – Maelstrom Protocol: How to Watch and What to Expect

In celebration of the launch of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction, IGN is proud to partner with Ubisoft to give fans a look at the end-game mode known as Maelstrom Protocol. Join IGN’s Stella Chung, Get Flanked, and Velly as they work their way through the Containment Zone as an elite REACT squad.

IGN will be carrying the stream and, as usual, this watch guide will provide you with everything you need to know to watch the let's play, including when it starts, a list of places you join us, and what you can expect to see.

IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction - Maelstrom Protocol Start Time

The IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction livestream will take place on Thursday, January 20, 2022, at 2:45pm PT/5:45pm ET/10:45pm GMT. If you are tuning in from Australia, that translates to Friday, January 21, at 8:45am AEST.

Where to Watch IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction - Maelstrom Protocol

If you’re interested in watching the IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction livestream, we’ll be hosting the stream here and across our many channels on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Here’s the full list of places you can watch the show with us:

What to Expect at IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction - Maelstrom Protocol

IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction will give players an early look at the end-game mode known as Maelstrom Protocol. Completing this mode the changes weekly will require you and your team to be at their best, as it challenges players to complete nine difficult objectives that each have mutations that make them different than they would be normally.

If that wasn’t enough, the difficulty ramps up after completing three objectives alongside the time limit being shortened and ammo and health stations becoming scarcer and scarcer. While this mode does offer greater rewards, it also only lets you choose from six Operators at any given week.

To help get players ready for the dangers that await, IGN’s Stella Chung, Youtuber GetFlanked, and host and analyst Velly will be trying out Rainbow Six Extraction’s Maelstrom Protocol in a Let’s Play that will give you some tips and strategies to take on the mode yourself.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction will be released on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, and Amazon Luna on January 20, 2022. It will also be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Posted in Uncategorized

IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction – Maelstrom Protocol: How to Watch and What to Expect

In celebration of the launch of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction, IGN is proud to partner with Ubisoft to give fans a look at the end-game mode known as Maelstrom Protocol. Join IGN’s Stella Chung, Get Flanked, and Velly as they work their way through the Containment Zone as an elite REACT squad.

IGN will be carrying the stream and, as usual, this watch guide will provide you with everything you need to know to watch the let's play, including when it starts, a list of places you join us, and what you can expect to see.

IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction - Maelstrom Protocol Start Time

The IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction livestream will take place on Thursday, January 20, 2022, at 2:45pm PT/5:45pm ET/10:45pm GMT. If you are tuning in from Australia, that translates to Friday, January 21, at 8:45am AEST.

Where to Watch IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction - Maelstrom Protocol

If you’re interested in watching the IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction livestream, we’ll be hosting the stream here and across our many channels on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Here’s the full list of places you can watch the show with us:

What to Expect at IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction - Maelstrom Protocol

IGN Plays Rainbow Six Extraction will give players an early look at the end-game mode known as Maelstrom Protocol. Completing this mode the changes weekly will require you and your team to be at their best, as it challenges players to complete nine difficult objectives that each have mutations that make them different than they would be normally.

If that wasn’t enough, the difficulty ramps up after completing three objectives alongside the time limit being shortened and ammo and health stations becoming scarcer and scarcer. While this mode does offer greater rewards, it also only lets you choose from six Operators at any given week.

To help get players ready for the dangers that await, IGN’s Stella Chung, Youtuber GetFlanked, and host and analyst Velly will be trying out Rainbow Six Extraction’s Maelstrom Protocol in a Let’s Play that will give you some tips and strategies to take on the mode yourself.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction will be released on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, and Amazon Luna on January 20, 2022. It will also be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

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Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific Season 2 Delayed

Activision has announced it is delaying the start of Season Two for Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific and Vanguard. The new multiplayer season will now begin two weeks later on February 14 instead of February 2.

In a blog post, Activision says that the additional time before the next season will allow the developers time to keep adding fixes to the different Call of Duty online games currently up and running, including 2021’s Vanguard and the ongoing Warzone battle royale.

“To date, we’ve deployed a number of updates, but more needs to be done,” Activision writes in its blog. “For this reason, we have decided to reschedule the start of Season Two across Warzone Pacific and Vanguard to February 14.”

The studio says that developers will use this time to “deliver updates, including optimizations to gameplay, game balancing (including weapon and equipment balancing), to fix game stability and bugs, and to ensure an overall level of polish to improve the experience for players across Vanguard, Warzone Pacific, Black Ops Cold War, and Modern Warfare.”

In particular, a focus will be made to improve the core gameplay loop and balance for Call of Duty across both consoles and PC.

Furthermore, the Call of Duty team says that going forwards there will be more updates regarding the state of Call of Duty online. Even with the blockbuster news of the Microsoft acquisition, “Studios remain focused on continuously improving” the Call of Duty experience.

Maintaining an online game, let alone four within the same series, is no small task. Other developers working on ongoing online multiplayer games like 343 are having difficulties as well, such as Halo Infinite’s issues with Big Team Battle.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.