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This year's regularly scheduled Call of Duty entry — Call of Duty: Vanguard — doesn't appear to be doing as hot as previous Call of Duty games in terms of sales. One big reason why may be that everyone's just too busy playing other games.

GamesIndustry.biz, in collaboration with PAX and EGX, conducted a survey of 671 gaming convention attendees in recent months about their Call of Duty purchasing habits. Of those, 284 individuals said they had purchased a Call of Duty game in the last five years — but only 59 (21%) of that group said they had bought Vanguard.

Of the remaining group that had recently purchased a Call of Duty game but did not buy Vanguard, more than half of respondents (55%) said that they were too busy playing other games already.

In fact, a lot of respondents seemed to have other games on their minds. Thirty-four percent said they had played too much Call of Duty lately, and 14% said they were already happy with Call of Duty: Warzone. Another 11% said they were specifically waiting for another game to play, with some offering Battlefield 2042 and Halo: Infinite as examples.

Still others said they were put off by reviews (20%) or price (4%), not interested in WWII games (24%), did not want to support Activision Blizzard due to 'business practices' or 'treatment of employees' (6%), felt the community was full of cheaters (3%), thought the single-player mode wasn't good enough (2%), or thought the download size was too big (2%).

While this is a small sample of game enthusiasts, a seeming apathy toward Vanguard does seem to be reflected in early sales numbers. Vanguard sold fewer units at launch than last year's entry, Black Ops Cold War, in the UK and Europe, both in physical units (down 26%) and digital (down 44%). That said, in the same regions it remains the second-biggest game launch of 2021 (behind FIFA, as usual).

It's not getting the best review scores, either. While we thought Vanguard had a highly-polished campaign, said campaign is also very short and has a lack of variety, and its multiplayer didn't really distinguish itself from prior Call of Duties. And the critical consensus on Vanguard seems to be that it's just not quite as good as its Call of Duty brethren.

Meanwhile, fellow war shooter Battlefield 2042 is reviewing even worse, but last week was one of Steam's most-played games. Fortunately, the folks surveyed who were holding out for Halo Infinite look like they're in for something special.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Company of Heroes 3's multiplayer pre-alpha kicks off tomorrow, November 30, allowing players to get their hands on the next installment of Relic's acclaimed World War II real-time strategy game ahead of its 2022 release.

According to Relic, the pre-alpha includes two factions — US Forces and Wehrmacht (Germany) — and will be playable from November 30 at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. GMT through December 6 at 8 p.m. PT / 11 p.m. ET / 4 a.m. GMT.

Players will be able to experience early builds of two game modes — Victory Points and Annihilation — on four different maps: Twin Beaches (1v1), Pachino Farmlands (2v2), Torrente (2v2), and Aere Perennius (2v2). In addition to PvP, the pre-alpha includes solo and co-op modes versus AI opponents. CoH 3's new tactical pause feature will be available exclusively in the solo vs. AI mode.

Coming to PC sometime in 2022, Company of Heroes 3 is Relic's first new entry in the franchise since 2013. It's shaping up to be a solid return, according to our Company of Heroes 3 hands-on preview, which praised the RTS's "spectacular, layered warscape."

Jordan is a freelance writer for IGN.

Company of Heroes 3's multiplayer pre-alpha kicks off tomorrow, November 30, allowing players to get their hands on the next installment of Relic's acclaimed World War II real-time strategy game ahead of its 2022 release.

According to Relic, the pre-alpha includes two factions — US Forces and Wehrmacht (Germany) — and will be playable from November 30 at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. GMT through December 6 at 8 p.m. PT / 11 p.m. ET / 4 a.m. GMT.

Players will be able to experience early builds of two game modes — Victory Points and Annihilation — on four different maps: Twin Beaches (1v1), Pachino Farmlands (2v2), Torrente (2v2), and Aere Perennius (2v2). In addition to PvP, the pre-alpha includes solo and co-op modes versus AI opponents. CoH 3's new tactical pause feature will be available exclusively in the solo vs. AI mode.

Coming to PC sometime in 2022, Company of Heroes 3 is Relic's first new entry in the franchise since 2013. It's shaping up to be a solid return, according to our Company of Heroes 3 hands-on preview, which praised the RTS's "spectacular, layered warscape."

Jordan is a freelance writer for IGN.

If you've ever wondered what happened to the glory days of Will Ferrell comedies like Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Stepbrothers, director Adam McKay has an answer: "I f*cked up."

In a lengthy and acerbic profile piece from Vanity Fair, succinctly titled "Who the F*ck Cares About Adam McKay?" the longtime director, producer, and writer opened up about his career ahead of the release of his latest dark comedy "Don't Look Up."

McKay and Ferrell found themselves recruited to the set of SNL on the same week in the mid-90's, and the two later became close business partners, working together on the script for Anchorman. McKay and Ferrell's partnership would result in some of the 2000's most popular comedy films, including the aforementioned Talladega Nights, Stepbrothers, and The Other Guys. McKay and Ferrell similarly co-founded Funny or Die, the web-based comedy production house in 2007.

After producing the Broadway show "You're Welcome, America," Ferrell and McKay's relationship began to fray due to diverging professional interests. As Vanity Fair describes it, McKay began pursuing more roles producing film and TV projects, often with Ferrell. Meanwhile, Ferrell was singularly interested in creating more Will Ferrell-style comedies, and didn't have the "bandwidth" that producing required.

“The whole time we were doing [production studio] Gary Sanchez,” says McKay, referring to the film production company the two co-founded, “I was saying, ‘I don’t care what happens so long as this company doesn’t fuck with our friendship.’”

Alas, McKay went on to direct and co-write The Big Short, a much more political comedy based on the 2007-2008 financial crisis. It received four Oscar nominations and one win for best adapted screenplay. Despite this clear growth away from Ferrell comedy vehicles, McKay's agent Jimmy Miller kept pushing McKay to work again with Ferrell, who he also represented.

“Everything kept steering back towards, ‘Well, when are you going to work with Will?’” he says. “And then finally I was like, ‘Jimmy, come on. Clearly I’m going in a different direction. Hopefully, it’s no hard feelings.' I’ve learned some lessons,” McKay adds. “It’s always hard feelings.”

McKay dropped his agent and went on to produce 2018's Vice, the Oscar-nominated, critical bio of former United States Vice President Dick Cheney. Meanwhile, Ferrell released the critical and commercial failure Holmes & Watson, appearing alongside longtime co-star John C. Reilly. McKay was brought on in the latter stages of production to help with Holmes & Watson's theatrical edit, but described it as being "in rough shape" by the time he got there.

After multiple flirtations with shutting down Gary Sanchez Productions, the deciding blow to Ferrell and McKay's relationship came down to a casting decision in the upcoming HBO series about the 1980's Los Angeles Lakers. Ferrell, a huge Lakers fan, was replaced to play Lakers' owner Jerry Buss, by none other than John C. Reilly, who McKay wanted for the role and failed to inform Ferrell out of fear of hurting the actor's feelings.

McKay and Ferrell issued a joint statement in 2019 announcing their split as business partners, and the last time the pair reportedly spoke was a brief phone conversation to confirm the split.

"I’m like, ‘F*ck, Ferrell’s never going to talk to me again,'" McKay said. "So it ended not well.”

McKay says he's emailed Ferrell in an attempt to reconcile since then, but has never heard back.

“I f*cked up on how I handled that,” McKay laments. “It’s the old thing of keep your side of the street clean. I should have just done everything by the book.”

McKay's latest film, Don't Look Up, stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as astronomers who've discovered a giant meteor heading for Earth, but meet darkly satirical opposition from the media and even the President, played by Meryl Streep. The film is pitched as a darkly comedic riff on the climate crisis, and hits theaters on December 10 and Netflix on December 24.

Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/other guy for IGN.

If you've ever wondered what happened to the glory days of Will Ferrell comedies like Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Stepbrothers, director Adam McKay has an answer: "I f*cked up."

In a lengthy and acerbic profile piece from Vanity Fair, succinctly titled "Who the F*ck Cares About Adam McKay?" the longtime director, producer, and writer opened up about his career ahead of the release of his latest dark comedy "Don't Look Up."

McKay and Ferrell found themselves recruited to the set of SNL on the same week in the mid-90's, and the two later became close business partners, working together on the script for Anchorman. McKay and Ferrell's partnership would result in some of the 2000's most popular comedy films, including the aforementioned Talladega Nights, Stepbrothers, and The Other Guys. McKay and Ferrell similarly co-founded Funny or Die, the web-based comedy production house in 2007.

After producing the Broadway show "You're Welcome, America," Ferrell and McKay's relationship began to fray due to diverging professional interests. As Vanity Fair describes it, McKay began pursuing more roles producing film and TV projects, often with Ferrell. Meanwhile, Ferrell was singularly interested in creating more Will Ferrell-style comedies, and didn't have the "bandwidth" that producing required.

“The whole time we were doing [production studio] Gary Sanchez,” says McKay, referring to the film production company the two co-founded, “I was saying, ‘I don’t care what happens so long as this company doesn’t fuck with our friendship.’”

Alas, McKay went on to direct and co-write The Big Short, a much more political comedy based on the 2007-2008 financial crisis. It received four Oscar nominations and one win for best adapted screenplay. Despite this clear growth away from Ferrell comedy vehicles, McKay's agent Jimmy Miller kept pushing McKay to work again with Ferrell, who he also represented.

“Everything kept steering back towards, ‘Well, when are you going to work with Will?’” he says. “And then finally I was like, ‘Jimmy, come on. Clearly I’m going in a different direction. Hopefully, it’s no hard feelings.' I’ve learned some lessons,” McKay adds. “It’s always hard feelings.”

McKay dropped his agent and went on to produce 2018's Vice, the Oscar-nominated, critical bio of former United States Vice President Dick Cheney. Meanwhile, Ferrell released the critical and commercial failure Holmes & Watson, appearing alongside longtime co-star John C. Reilly. McKay was brought on in the latter stages of production to help with Holmes & Watson's theatrical edit, but described it as being "in rough shape" by the time he got there.

After multiple flirtations with shutting down Gary Sanchez Productions, the deciding blow to Ferrell and McKay's relationship came down to a casting decision in the upcoming HBO series about the 1980's Los Angeles Lakers. Ferrell, a huge Lakers fan, was replaced to play Lakers' owner Jerry Buss, by none other than John C. Reilly, who McKay wanted for the role and failed to inform Ferrell out of fear of hurting the actor's feelings.

McKay and Ferrell issued a joint statement in 2019 announcing their split as business partners, and the last time the pair reportedly spoke was a brief phone conversation to confirm the split.

"I’m like, ‘F*ck, Ferrell’s never going to talk to me again,'" McKay said. "So it ended not well.”

McKay says he's emailed Ferrell in an attempt to reconcile since then, but has never heard back.

“I f*cked up on how I handled that,” McKay laments. “It’s the old thing of keep your side of the street clean. I should have just done everything by the book.”

McKay's latest film, Don't Look Up, stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as astronomers who've discovered a giant meteor heading for Earth, but meet darkly satirical opposition from the media and even the President, played by Meryl Streep. The film is pitched as a darkly comedic riff on the climate crisis, and hits theaters on December 10 and Netflix on December 24.

Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/other guy for IGN.

A recently discovered glitch in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is allowing players to clone rare Pokémon at a rapid rate.

As reported by Kotaku, PanFro Games explained how the latest duplication glitch works. According to the video, you can clone entire boxes of Pokémon as well as the items they are holding with this exploit. Since a box can hold up to 30 Pokémon at a time, this is a pretty valuable glitch.

For the glitch to work, you have to have multiple PC boxes empty that would normally be filled with Pokémon. The glitch is paired with a previously discovered exploit known as the Menu Screen Glitch, which involves hitting specific buttons on a Pokémon's summary screen.

Then, upon entering the PC box you want to clone, pressing a specific sequence of buttons will allow you to clone the entire box, items and all. If you want to try this maneuver for yourself, PanFro Games walks through the entire process on YouTube. Unlike other recent exploits, there's no risk of losing any of your items during the process.

Nintendo put out a sizeable 3GB patch that addressed issues that were highlighted before launch when the games leaked. So, assuming a fix is in the works, we'll have to wait and see how long this exploit remains possible in the game.

We called the set of games great in our Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl review, saying, "If a good remake is defined by its loyalty to the original, then Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are very good remakes indeed."

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

A recently discovered glitch in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is allowing players to clone rare Pokémon at a rapid rate.

As reported by Kotaku, PanFro Games explained how the latest duplication glitch works. According to the video, you can clone entire boxes of Pokémon as well as the items they are holding with this exploit. Since a box can hold up to 30 Pokémon at a time, this is a pretty valuable glitch.

For the glitch to work, you have to have multiple PC boxes empty that would normally be filled with Pokémon. The glitch is paired with a previously discovered exploit known as the Menu Screen Glitch, which involves hitting specific buttons on a Pokémon's summary screen.

Then, upon entering the PC box you want to clone, pressing a specific sequence of buttons will allow you to clone the entire box, items and all. If you want to try this maneuver for yourself, PanFro Games walks through the entire process on YouTube. Unlike other recent exploits, there's no risk of losing any of your items during the process.

Nintendo put out a sizeable 3GB patch that addressed issues that were highlighted before launch when the games leaked. So, assuming a fix is in the works, we'll have to wait and see how long this exploit remains possible in the game.

We called the set of games great in our Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl review, saying, "If a good remake is defined by its loyalty to the original, then Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are very good remakes indeed."

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

Tickets for Spider-Man: No Way Home went up Monday morning and quickly broke the internet. But as with any hot, uh, ticket item this year, scalpers were quick to offer solutions at insane markups.

With movie ticket sites crashing under demand, some folks turned to resellers to get opening night tickets for the upcoming Spider-Man movie. But the convenience doesn’t come cheap as scalpers are selling Spider-Man: No Way Home tickets for thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars.

According to eBay’s Sold listings, some tickets were put up for sale for as much as $25,000, though a sold listing merely indicates someone has agreed to purchase a Spider-Man: No Way Home ticket for that much.

Other listings have sold for up to $100 per ticket. While movie theater tickets are certainly more expensive than they were years ago, paying hundreds of dollars for a $20 movie ticket still seems excessive even for opening night tickets.

Spider-Man: No Way Home tickets are just the latest items scalpers are putting up for sale at huge markups alongside still hard-to-find consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is the third movie in the Tom Holland “Home” trilogy, though producer Amy Pascal revealed that Sony and Marvel are conceiving a new Spider-Man trilogy with Holland set to return.

Hype for No Way Home is at a fever pitch, especially since it’s set to bring in characters from other Spider-Man movies like Doc Ock, Electro, Green Goblin, and more. Speculation has it that other Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are also returning, though everyone involved has avoided answering whether or not this is true.

That hasn’t stopped the internet from asking Andrew Garfield constantly if he’s returning as Spider-Man. While Garfield keeps dodging the question, he did reveal that Tobey Maguire is his favorite Spider-Man (along with everyone else who wore the suit).

Check out IGN’s breakdown of the newest Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer for more on the upcoming multiverse picture.

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

Tickets for Spider-Man: No Way Home went up Monday morning and quickly broke the internet. But as with any hot, uh, ticket item this year, scalpers were quick to offer solutions at insane markups.

With movie ticket sites crashing under demand, some folks turned to resellers to get opening night tickets for the upcoming Spider-Man movie. But the convenience doesn’t come cheap as scalpers are selling Spider-Man: No Way Home tickets for thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars.

According to eBay’s Sold listings, some tickets were put up for sale for as much as $25,000, though a sold listing merely indicates someone has agreed to purchase a Spider-Man: No Way Home ticket for that much.

Other listings have sold for up to $100 per ticket. While movie theater tickets are certainly more expensive than they were years ago, paying hundreds of dollars for a $20 movie ticket still seems excessive even for opening night tickets.

Spider-Man: No Way Home tickets are just the latest items scalpers are putting up for sale at huge markups alongside still hard-to-find consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is the third movie in the Tom Holland “Home” trilogy, though producer Amy Pascal revealed that Sony and Marvel are conceiving a new Spider-Man trilogy with Holland set to return.

Hype for No Way Home is at a fever pitch, especially since it’s set to bring in characters from other Spider-Man movies like Doc Ock, Electro, Green Goblin, and more. Speculation has it that other Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are also returning, though everyone involved has avoided answering whether or not this is true.

That hasn’t stopped the internet from asking Andrew Garfield constantly if he’s returning as Spider-Man. While Garfield keeps dodging the question, he did reveal that Tobey Maguire is his favorite Spider-Man (along with everyone else who wore the suit).

Check out IGN’s breakdown of the newest Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer for more on the upcoming multiverse picture.

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

Skyrim speedrunner Nucular has beaten his own world record for running through Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, finishing the story in just one hour and 12 minutes. All the more impressive, this speedrun was completed without relying on glitches.

As reported by PCGamer, you can check out Nucular's full speedrun on YouTube. Nucular also detailed his speedrunning strategies in the comment section of his video. For example, he plays as a High Elf because they have the highest movement speed.

According to IGN's sister site How Long to Beat, it takes 33 and a half hours to complete the main story. So Nucular's new record is significantly faster.

Skyrim is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month, and speedrunning has been a part of the game's community since the very beginning. Before its launch in November 2011, Bethesda employees held an internal competition to see who could finish the game the fastest. The winner completed the game in 2 hours, 16 minutes, and 10 seconds. So, after 10 years, Nucular was able to cut that original time almost in half with his new world record.

Speaking of the game's tenth anniversary, Bethesda recently released The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition, which includes new and existing Creation Club content.

For more, check out our chat with Bethesda boss Todd Howard, where he dives into Skyrim's legacy, and what's coming next with Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield.

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