Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have surged in prominence online. There's a whole community of NFT enthusiasts out on the internet, but some are cautious about the new technology. Xbox's Phil Spencer feels that they are currently more exploitative than creative.

In an interview with Axios, Spencer says that he is cautious about how NFTs are currently being considered in gaming. "What I'd say today on NFT, all up, is I think there's a lot of speculation and experimentation that's happening, and that some of the creative that I see today feels more exploitive than about entertainment," explained Spencer.

Spencer went on to clarify that he doesn't think every single NFT game is exploitative, but that the space is still new and people are on a journey trying to figure it out. He also understands the early controversy surrounding NFTs in gaming isn't necessarily an aspect you want to have in the Xbox Store.

“I think anything that we looked at in our storefront that we said is exploitive would be something that we would, you know, take action on,” Spencer added. “We don't want that kind of content.”

NFTs have taken the world by storm, and have already crept their way into the gaming ecosystem. Last month, Steam put forth a policy that banned any games utilizing blockchain technology that allows for NFTs and cryptocurrencies, while Epic Games embraced them, given that they follow relevant laws.

Big publishers such as EA and Ubisoft have decided to welcome NFTs as well. EA believes that NFT technology will play an important part in the future of gaming, while Ubisoft plans to create blockchain games.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

With Daniel Craig relinquishing the role of James Bond after a 15 year run as the British superspy, many other stars are throwing in their hat for the role. The latest is Dwayne Johnson, who brings some unique credentials to the table.

Speaking with Esquire, Johnson discussed his unique connection to the Bond universe. As it turns out, Johnson's grandfather, Peter Maiva, was a Bond villain in You Only Live Twice, where he played a henchman who tries to kill Bond with a mix of wrestling moves and a katana (it doesn't work, obviously).

"Yes, my grandfather was a Bond villain in You Only Live Twice with Sean Connery," Johnson said. "[It] was very, very cool. And I would like to follow in his footsteps and be the next Bond."

It would be a bit of stretch given that Johnson isn't British, and British fans are very protective of the iconic spy, but he certainly has the action chops for the role. One thing is certain: Johnson doesn't want to be a villain.

"I don't want to be a villain. Got to be Bond," Johnson says.

In the meantime, Tom Hardy is reportedly the betting favorite to be the next Bond, with Henry Cavill and Idris Elba also touted for the role. Even Edgar Wright says he has some ideas on where Bond can go next.

As for Johnson, his next big role is Black Adam, where he will play the titular antihero. It's scheduled to release July 29, 2022.

A new report claims that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick knew about alleged sexual assault and harassment allegations within company-owned studios, but did not disclose the information to the company's board. The same report states that Jen Oneal – who was recently made co-head of the company before announcing her departure just three months later – has previously experienced harassment at the company, was paid less than her male counterpart Mike Ybarra, and had said she was "tokenized" by the company.

A new Wall Street Journal report continues the long-running scandal within Activision Blizzard, which came to light when the state of California filed a lawsuit against the company. The report centres on Kotick, and says that internal documents and sources familiar with the company show that the CEO was aware of many of the reported abuses within the company – including accusations of rape that were emailed directly to Kotick – but did not inform the board of everything he knew.

An Activision spokesperson told the WSJ that "Mr. Kotick would not have been informed of every report of misconduct at every Activision Blizzard company, nor would he reasonably be expected to have been updated on all personnel issues.”

Kotick himself told the WSJ that 'he and the board now expect to be kept better informed than in the past about workplace issues,' and that examples raised in its reporting are exceptions to the company's normal behaviour.

The report also includes a number of new accusations against current and former employees. Dan Bunting, co-head of Treyarch, is alleged to have sexually harassed a female employee in 2017 but, despite HR recommendations that he be fired, was kept on after counseling because of his contribution to the Call of Duty series. Bunting has reportedly left Treyarch after the WSJ asked to discuss the alleged incident.

A Sledgehammer Games supervisor, Javier Panameno was reportedly accused of rape by a female employee, as well as harassment of a second woman. Panameno was ultimately fired. Another Sledgehammer employee, Eduard Roerich, was also accused of sexual harassment. Roerich was given two weeks of paid leave and moved position within Activision, before being let go from the company after a separate incident in which he argued with a manager.

The report also includes a section on the departure of Jen Oneal, who was appointed co-head of Activision Blizzard in August – the company's first female leader – but resigned after three just months. Oneal reportedly emailed Activision leadership after a month in the role, saying that “it was clear that the company would never prioritize our people the right way.” The report says she was paid less than her male co-leader, Mike Ybarra and had told leadership that she had been "tokenized, marginalized, and discriminated against." Oneal also alleges that she was sexually harassed at Activision prior to her time as co-head of the company.

After July's lawsuit, Activision Blizzard has seen multiple high profile departures, walkouts, scandal-related game changes, SEC subpoenas, and the cancellation of BlizzCon 2022. You can read our timeline of events to see the entire story in one place.

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.

Prime Video has released a new trailer and poster for Season 6 of The Expanse, which will debut its first episode on Friday, December 10, 2021.

The action-packed new trailer for the sixth and final season of The Expanse sees Holden and the crew of the Rocinante fight alongside the Combined Fleet of Earth and Mars to protect the Inner Planets from the devastating asteroid attacks launched by Marco Inaros and his Free Navy in their campaign of death and destruction. Check it out below:

Brace yourselves for a hard burn. #TheExpanse final season is almost here! pic.twitter.com/P6yS4mCN9H

— The Expanse (@ExpanseOnPrime) November 16, 2021

The poster for the new season circles several series regulars, with Steven Strait, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Cara Gee, Frankie Adams, Keon Alexander, Nadine Nicole, and Jasai Chase Owens all returning for the new episodes, which will air weekly on Prime Video, culminating with the show's series finale on January 14, 2022.

The fan-favorite sci-fi series is developed by Iron Man's Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby from a series of novels by James S. A. Corey. Showrunner Naren Shankar is an executive producer on the series alongside Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Laura Lancaster, Sharon Hall, Sean Daniel, Jason Brown, Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, and Dan Nowak.

There are currently eight published novels in the original book series, with Leviathan Falls, the ninth and final book of the main series, set to hit shelves on November 30. The TV adaptation has reached Book 6 of The Expanse saga, meaning there are three more books yet to make it to the small screen, but Alcon's deal with Amazon is over after the sixth season.

Cover image credit: Shane Mahood/Amazon Studios.

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

Forget the Dragon Ball fantasies of being Goku and blasting Cell out of the sky. Bandai Namco just announced Dragon Ball: The Breakers, an upcoming asymmetrical online multiplayer game where you can either be Cell, or be one of seven people trying to run the heck away from his particular brand of chaos.

You can check out an announcement trailer below:

Dragon Ball: The Breakers puts you in the oversized boots of either a Raider -- Cell, Buu, or Frieza -- or one of seven "survivors" who must cooperate to try and escape the temporal anomaly they're stuck in before the raider blasts them into oblivion.

Aside from just running around and hiding, survivors can work on customizable skill trees, use items like weapons and grappling hooks, and hop in vehicles to eventually escape via a Super Time machine. The trailer shows off a number of examples of gameplay, including rocket launchers and other gun-like weapons, and Oolong shapeshifting into a potted plant to hide from Cell.

The Breakers is a part of the Dragon Ball Xenoverse universe, and will include some sort of tie-in to save data from Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 for those who have it.

It's currently planned for release on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC in 2022, and will of course also be playable on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. A closed beta test is planned for PC, with more details coming at a later date.

Dragon Ball: The Breakers doesn't look quite like anything we've seen before from the Dragon Ball universe, as a co-op survival game rather than the numerous fighting games. But we liked Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2's authenticity and depth when we reviewed it back in 2016, so hopefully The Breakers is able to tap into the best of those elements as well.

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

Crystal Dynamics has shown off some of the costumes that will be available for Spider-Man when he's added to the PlayStation version of the game later this month. Among the final line-up are suits based on his look from Secret War and Spider-Man Noir.

In the comics, Peter’s attempts to live a normal life are often thwarted by the need to be Spider-Man. The Bugle Boy Outfit celebrates his constant call to action with a sweater vest, jeans, and trademark-mask. It makes taking picture of Spider-Man that much easier, you know? pic.twitter.com/IRY9Rjn5e6

— Marvel's Avengers (@PlayAvengers) November 13, 2021

The Bugle Boy suit dresses Spider-Man in jeans, a shirt, and a sweater, with an SLR camera slung over his shoulder. It's a nod to Peter Parker's civilian identity as a photographer for the Daily Bugle paper. If that's a little too pedestrian for you, a more heroic sci-fi look can be found in his Secret War suit, inspired by Gabriele Dell'Otto's work from the Secret War comics.

There are two Spider-Armor suits - the Mk I and Mk III - which show the evolution of the armoured spider design. The first, based on art from Web of Spider-Man issue 100, has an almost hockey armour look to it, and a motorcycle-inspired helmet. The Mk III, meanwhile, is inspired by the Ends of the Earth suit from Amazing Spider-Man #682, and features much sleeker, heavier duty armour panels painted with red metallic.

As Peter matured in the Marvel’s Avengers world, so did his abilities at creating specialty Spider-Man armors.

The Spider-Armor Mark III Outfit is inspired by the "Ends of the Earth” suit that was originally designed by Stefano Caselli for Amazing Spider-Man #682. pic.twitter.com/4LYpE06fnl

— Marvel's Avengers (@PlayAvengers) November 15, 2021

The final suit shown in the news update is the trench coat-clad Noir suit, inspired by the Spider-Man: Noir comic series. Based on Carmine Di Giandomenico’s art, it has an aviation-like face mask with goggle lenses, and a sweater embroidered with the spider logo.

Crystal Dynamics notes that these suits are just "some" of the final designs, and more will be revealed on the Avengers' social channels in the time before Spider-Man is added to the game.

The first look at Avenger's Spider-Man was recently revealed, which promised his arrival in the PlayStation versions of Avengers on November 30. He'll arrive as part of the With Great Power hero event. That will be the next major change for Avengers, following the removal of paid XP boosters.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

Skate 2 was recently announced to be making a return to Xbox consoles as part of a long list of games that Microsoft announced would be coming back via backwards compatibility. The bad news? EA is still turning off the game's online servers next month.

In tweets from the Skate Twitter account (below), the team at EA celebrated with fans after Skate 2 was announced to be one of over seventy titles that would be making its way to Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles via backwards compatibility. The studio shortly followed this up, however, with a short but disappointing reminder that the game's servers wouldn't be sticking around for too much longer.

"We’re providing a heads up that on December 10, 2021, we will be turning off the Skate 2 online servers for PlayStation and Xbox," confirmed the tweet. "It’s not an easy decision and not something we take lightly," the studio continued before providing links to further information.

Additionally, we’re providing a heads up that on December 10, 2021, we will be turning off the Skate 2 online servers for PlayStation and Xbox. It’s not an easy decision and not something we take lightly. For more info check: https://t.co/98V9WH3W8C

— skate. (@skateEA) November 15, 2021

The decision by EA comes after Skate 2 has seemingly become another in a long list of games that has seen its online fanbase dwindle to a point of near extinction. While the game's inclusion in Xbox's backwards compatibility list may have helped to remedy this situation, it seems that's not enough to convince EA to stick with the game.

Thankfully, Skate 2's classic single player experience will remain intact, which will hopefully still provide that much needed hit of nostalgia for the community. If you're really hoping to get in some multiplayer, you only have a few weeks left to do so.

Skate's last entry into the series came with Skate 3 in 2010. However, last year, EA announced that it was reviving the series with a new Skate sequel that the publisher said was in early development at the time. Following the announcement, the company later confirmed that the upcoming project is being developed by a new Vancouver-based EA studio called Full Circle.

Microsoft's decision to make the wide array of original Xbox and Xbox 360 games backwards compatible comes as part of a number of celebrations surrounding Xbox's 20th anniversary. For more from the world of Xbox, make sure to check out this piece detailing how Game Pass was originally going to be a rental service before the success of streaming platforms such as Netflix.

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

Epic Games has officially given up in its pursuit to fully bring Fortnite to audiences in China as the studio calls time on its servers in the country without having made a cent.

As reported by Bloomberg, Epic Games shut down Fortnite's serves in the country yesterday (November 15) following a three-year trial of the game which seemingly didn't earn the company any money despite what must be significant investment.

As per Bloomberg, the game started off quite positively in its attempts to tap into the Chinese market, with 10 million players pre-registering to play the game in the Summer of 2018. However, due to laws in the country, which require new video games to gain approval in order to sell copies of virtual items in the region, the game was never properly launched.

Epic's decision to close the servers comes at a time when those in Beijing are more closely monitoring the impact that video games have on children. In September, the government sought to limit children's playing time to as little as three hours a week in many cases, while instead, encouraging them to partake in alternate outdoor recreational activities.

While a trial version of Fortnite has been running in China over the last three years, it has seen a number of differences from its global counterpart. Due to government constraints, those playing the game wouldn't be able to purchase digital items and cosmetics to customize their avatars with.

As reported by GameRant, the version played in the region also allowed for multiple winners during a match, tweaks seemingly made to better suit Chinese values. This meant that players who survived longer than twenty minutes would automatically be crowned victorious regardless of how many players were left standing.

In other Fortnite news, the game recently announced that Star Wars bounty hunter Boba Fett would be joining the game in December. The announcement via a poster tweeted out during last week's Disney+ Day, and also hinted at the possible arrival of Fennec Shand.

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

Halo Infinite's multiplayer was released early yesterday and Xbox Game Studios' decision to launch it on Steam alongside the Xbox PC App seems to have worked out very well already.

As per SteamDB, the game has seen a huge influx of players within the first day since its release. Across the period, Halo Infinite's peak number of concurrent players eclipsed the quarter of a million mark at 272,856 - instantly ranking it at 22nd in the platform's all-time peak player count rankings.

This places the game above the likes of Payday 2 and Rust, and just below Skyrim and Destiny 2. Given the game reached this peak on a Monday, it's entirely possible it will climb those charts this week.

Although statistics surrounding the Steam version of Halo Infinite are impressive enough on their own, the game's release on the platform was made all the more significant as a number of other platforms running the game experienced launch issues in the hour after announcement.

Many of the players attempting to access the game on the Xbox PC App yesterday experienced problems where the game wouldn't appear to launch properly. This seemed to be down to an issue with an update not appearing for download. While the Xbox PC App had a preinstall size of 200MB, the Steam version instead had a file size of around 26GB and was allowing players to run the game as intended.

Issues with the Xbox PC App version of the game have since been resolved, though whether or not the problems caused a further influx of players to opt to jump into the Steam version of the game is still unclear.

While Halo Infinite's multiplayer seems to be experiencing a hugely successful launch, there are a number of factors that have likely contributed to this. First and foremost, Halo Infinite's multiplayer is free, meaning that fans have nothing to lose by joining the action.

Even before yesterday's release though, anticipation was high. Many players have been waiting to play Halo Infinite for months following the game's delay last year. While delays can sometimes indicate bad omens for a game at launch, many fans were excited to jump into Infinite's multiplayer following positive reports from previously ran technical previews of the game.

With Infinite already amassing a huge number of players since its release, it will be interesting to see how the game performs across the weekend. This is usually a time where games experience higher volumes of players and Microsoft will surely be hoping that Infinite continues to push higher in charts across a number of platforms.

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

Halo Infinite's head of creative, Joseph Staten has clarified why the early release of the game's multiplayer mode is being treated as a beta until the full game's official release date on December 8. 343 has also extended the multiplayer mode's first season Battle Pass until May 2, 2022.

On the Halo Waypoint blog Staten explained that the surprise launch of the game was being treated as a beta – meaning you could potentially run into bugs, see changes, and more – because the team expects an even larger influx of players next month and wants to be able to prepare.

"Our previous Multiplayer Technical Previews went a long way to battle-testing our services and infrastructure," wrote Staten. "But as we prepare for a significant increase in the number of players jumping into Halo Infinite on launch day, December 8th, we want to ensure all our systems are good-to-go. While you may experience some bumps and bugs during this beta period, it does mark the official start of Halo Infinite Season 1, with all day-one maps and modes enabled as well as the full Season 1 Battle Pass."

While those past Technical Previews didn't allow participants to keep their progression, Staten made clear that that was not the case for the beta: "All the Battle Pass and customization items you earn or purchase during the beta will stay with you after December 8th."

Staten also pointed out that multiplayer's Season 1 content, including its Battle Pass, has been extended until May 2, 2022 – much longer than the three month lifespan 343 originally announced.

"We made the decision to extend Season 1 to give ourselves more time to ensure Season 2 meets our high quality bar and so we can finish development for Season 2 in a healthy and sustainable way for our team," wrote Staten.

Staten says that Season 1 will see more content added as a result, including events, cosmetics, and more. The game is currently giving all players who start the game before November 23 a set of free items (see gallery above), after which the game's first event, Fracture: Tenrai will begin. After the game's launch on December 8, 343 will announce more Season 1 events.

That Battle Pass extension will make it a little easier to reach the higher-level rewards, but it won't solve the community's biggest concern right now, which is that progressing up that Pass is something of a grind at the moment.

Looking further ahead, Season 2, campaign co-op, and Forge mode will all be discussed in January.

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.