You'd be forgiven if, glancing through Ubisoft's earnings announcements today, you didn't immediately catch onto yet another game delay stealthily snuck in: it's Tom Clancy's The Division Heartland.

When free-to-play Heartland was first announced back in May of this year, it was given a broad release window of sometime either this year or next year. Just a few days later, Ubisoft clarified that a bit to fiscal 2021 - 2022, meaning the period from April 2021 running up to March 2022.

Heartland skipped E3 earlier this year, and Ubisoft seemed quiet on it during its last quarterly earnings, leaving some wondering if it wasn't about time to start showing the game off a bit more if it was indeed coming this fiscal year. Turns out, it is not. Ubisoft's latest quarterly earnings report stated that Heartland would join Prince of Persia and Rocksmith+ in the following fiscal year running from April 2022 to March of 2023.

Notably, both Prince of Persia and Rocksmith have, at last report, been scheduled for sometime in calendar 2022. We haven't heard specific word on whether these will edge back further into 2023, but Ubisoft does appear to be giving itself some wiggle room there.

Ubisoft does this kind of thing a lot. Rainbow Six Extraction, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, and Watch Dogs: Legion were all delayed back in 2019, and then Extraction was delayed again. Riders Republic, out today, underwent multiple delays, Far Cry 6 was pushed back, as was Avatar, Skull & Bones' has been delayed again and again since it was revealed in 2017, and when Ghost Recon Frontline was announced earlier this month, its beta was promptly delayed a week later.

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

You'd be forgiven if, glancing through Ubisoft's earnings announcements today, you didn't immediately catch onto yet another game delay stealthily snuck in: it's Tom Clancy's The Division Heartland.

When free-to-play Heartland was first announced back in May of this year, it was given a broad release window of sometime either this year or next year. Just a few days later, Ubisoft clarified that a bit to fiscal 2021 - 2022, meaning the period from April 2021 running up to March 2022.

Heartland skipped E3 earlier this year, and Ubisoft seemed quiet on it during its last quarterly earnings, leaving some wondering if it wasn't about time to start showing the game off a bit more if it was indeed coming this fiscal year. Turns out, it is not. Ubisoft's latest quarterly earnings report stated that Heartland would join Prince of Persia and Rocksmith+ in the following fiscal year running from April 2022 to March of 2023.

Notably, both Prince of Persia and Rocksmith have, at last report, been scheduled for sometime in calendar 2022. We haven't heard specific word on whether these will edge back further into 2023, but Ubisoft does appear to be giving itself some wiggle room there.

Ubisoft does this kind of thing a lot. Rainbow Six Extraction, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, and Watch Dogs: Legion were all delayed back in 2019, and then Extraction was delayed again. Riders Republic, out today, underwent multiple delays, Far Cry 6 was pushed back, as was Avatar, Skull & Bones' has been delayed again and again since it was revealed in 2017, and when Ghost Recon Frontline was announced earlier this month, its beta was promptly delayed a week later.

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

The upcoming National Treasure series in development for Disney Plus has cast Lisette Alexis in its lead role. Alexis recently acted in the horror film We Need to Do Something, and the drama series Total Eclipse.

Deadline reports Alexis will play Jess Morales, the main character in search of answers about her family, as well as a lost Pan-American treasure. Production on the show will start early next year.

Earlier this year, Disney ordered 10 episodes of the National Treasure show. Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the National Treasure movie series, and original writers Marianne and Cormac Wibberley are working on the show. Bruckheimer has previously explained the TV series as, "the same concept but a young cast."

Previous reports on the show said it, "explores the timely issues of identity, community, historical authorship and patriotism, told from the point of view of Jess Morales," who we now know will be played by Alexis.

As for the original cast from National Treasure and its sequel, Book of Secrets, Nicolas Cage and other familiar faces have a chance to return in the long-awaited National Treasure 3. The threequel has been rumored since way back in 2008, and was confirmed to be in development last year.

Blogroll credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images

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

The upcoming National Treasure series in development for Disney Plus has cast Lisette Alexis in its lead role. Alexis recently acted in the horror film We Need to Do Something, and the drama series Total Eclipse.

Deadline reports Alexis will play Jess Morales, the main character in search of answers about her family, as well as a lost Pan-American treasure. Production on the show will start early next year.

Earlier this year, Disney ordered 10 episodes of the National Treasure show. Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the National Treasure movie series, and original writers Marianne and Cormac Wibberley are working on the show. Bruckheimer has previously explained the TV series as, "the same concept but a young cast."

Previous reports on the show said it, "explores the timely issues of identity, community, historical authorship and patriotism, told from the point of view of Jess Morales," who we now know will be played by Alexis.

As for the original cast from National Treasure and its sequel, Book of Secrets, Nicolas Cage and other familiar faces have a chance to return in the long-awaited National Treasure 3. The threequel has been rumored since way back in 2008, and was confirmed to be in development last year.

Blogroll credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images

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

Universal Pictures and Epic Games are partnering up together to create an original short-form miniseries called "We Will Be Monsters." The first episode will drop on October 28 inside Fortnite as part of the game's Shortnitemares Festival. It will reimagine the Bride of Frankenstein and Dracula.

"We Will Be Monsters" takes Universal's iconic characters from works like the Bride of Frankenstein and The Mummy and adapts them to modern times. The original Universal monster movies were focused on European origins, but now this new miniseries will go global and feature locations such as Hong Kong, Morocco, Los Angeles, and Lagos.

“This is another manifestation of our monsters, and they have never been depicted this diverse,” says Abhijay Parkash, the president of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group.

Furthermore, Rick Famuyiwa will direct the Universal Monsters x Fortnite miniseries. Famuyiwa has directed several episodes of The Mandalorian and was chosen because of his involvement with working within high-tech, virtual sets as well as his own unique interpretations of the Universal Monsters characters.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, after the drop of the initial episode, Fortnite players will be able to buy the skins of these characters and use them in the game. The first skin available will be the Bride of Frankenstein one, with episodes two through four planned to be released sometime early in 2022.

Other horror-themed skins released as part of this year's Fortnitemares include Jill and Chris from Resident Evil and Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead.

Universal Pictures and Epic Games are partnering up together to create an original short-form miniseries called "We Will Be Monsters." The first episode will drop on October 28 inside Fortnite as part of the game's Shortnitemares Festival. It will reimagine the Bride of Frankenstein and Dracula.

"We Will Be Monsters" takes Universal's iconic characters from works like the Bride of Frankenstein and The Mummy and adapts them to modern times. The original Universal monster movies were focused on European origins, but now this new miniseries will go global and feature locations such as Hong Kong, Morocco, Los Angeles, and Lagos.

“This is another manifestation of our monsters, and they have never been depicted this diverse,” says Abhijay Parkash, the president of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group.

Furthermore, Rick Famuyiwa will direct the Universal Monsters x Fortnite miniseries. Famuyiwa has directed several episodes of The Mandalorian and was chosen because of his involvement with working within high-tech, virtual sets as well as his own unique interpretations of the Universal Monsters characters.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, after the drop of the initial episode, Fortnite players will be able to buy the skins of these characters and use them in the game. The first skin available will be the Bride of Frankenstein one, with episodes two through four planned to be released sometime early in 2022.

Other horror-themed skins released as part of this year's Fortnitemares include Jill and Chris from Resident Evil and Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead.

Age of Empires 4 was released to strong critical praise today and it's led to a strong player count on Steam which is certainly off to a great start.

Age of Empires 4 reached a concurrent player count of 54,239 people on Steam as of 10:36 AM PT on Thursday, according to SteamDB. That places it comfortably above Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition's all-time peak player count of 38,725 people.

That of course doesn't count the number of players playing it on Game Pass for PC or through the Microsoft Store, which Microsoft hasn't released info on as of yet.

Compared to other popular Steam titles and Age of Empire 4's 54,000 players are still pretty impressive. Relic's new strategy game is currently beating Rainbow Six Siege's current player count of 46,000 and Rocket League's 45,000. Next highest on SteamDB's player count chart is Korean MMO MIR4, Rust, Dead by Daylight, and Grand Theft Auto 5.

As of 10:45 AM PT, Age of Empires 4 is the 12th most-played game on Steam. Not bad for one of the best RTS franchises on PC, and one that only just released today. Microsoft certainly laid the groundwork by releasing "Definitive Edition" HD remasters of all three Age of Empires games over the past three years.

IGN reviewer Leana Hafer called Age of Empires 4 "an enjoyable RTS throwback that often plays it too safe, but excels when it doesn't," noting its expansive campaign and unique factions like the Mongols and Rus.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/map-clearing scrub for IGN.

Age of Empires 4 was released to strong critical praise today and it's led to a strong player count on Steam which is certainly off to a great start.

Age of Empires 4 reached a concurrent player count of 54,239 people on Steam as of 10:36 AM PT on Thursday, according to SteamDB. That places it comfortably above Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition's all-time peak player count of 38,725 people.

That of course doesn't count the number of players playing it on Game Pass for PC or through the Microsoft Store, which Microsoft hasn't released info on as of yet.

Compared to other popular Steam titles and Age of Empire 4's 54,000 players are still pretty impressive. Relic's new strategy game is currently beating Rainbow Six Siege's current player count of 46,000 and Rocket League's 45,000. Next highest on SteamDB's player count chart is Korean MMO MIR4, Rust, Dead by Daylight, and Grand Theft Auto 5.

As of 10:45 AM PT, Age of Empires 4 is the 12th most-played game on Steam. Not bad for one of the best RTS franchises on PC, and one that only just released today. Microsoft certainly laid the groundwork by releasing "Definitive Edition" HD remasters of all three Age of Empires games over the past three years.

IGN reviewer Leana Hafer called Age of Empires 4 "an enjoyable RTS throwback that often plays it too safe, but excels when it doesn't," noting its expansive campaign and unique factions like the Mongols and Rus.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/map-clearing scrub for IGN.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Spider-Man star Tom Holland provided a glimpse at what was going on behind the scenes during the 2019 negotiations between Sony Pictures and Disney over the rights to the web-slinger

In a recent interview with Empire spotted by Screenrant and Comic Book, Feige shared how tenuous Marvel's hold on Spider-Man was. "I was mentally preparing to emotionally separate from it," Feige told Empire. "I didn't love it, but it is what it is. And then, thankfully, it came back together."

The two film giants had struck a deal to allow Spider-Man to join the MCU starting with Captain America: Civil War, but after Holland's version of the character appeared in two Avengers movies and two standalone films, the partnership almost broke down due to a disagreement about the profit split. While furious fans pushed for a resolution, Feige said he started to imagine an MCU without Spider-Man.

Holland told Empire that he had little input in the negotiations, but did lobby to remain in the MCU.

"People seem to think I suddenly went to law school and singlehandedly struck up a deal between Sony and Disney," Holland said. "Essentially, all I did was show both parties how passionate I was about this character. I basically said, 'Look, if there's a world where you can fix this, it will be so much better for the character, and for me, and for the fans. So if you can fix it, fix it.'"

During the negotiations, Holland talked with producer Amy Pascal about how he could keep playing the character outside of the MCU.

"I just drove over to Amy Pascal's house and sat with her by her pool, and we sat there for hours, just chatting, and pitching movies," Holland told Empire. "How would we do a film without Marvel? Does Peter Parker fall through a portal, and then he's in the Venom world? Or do we do a Kraven the Hunter film? It was a nice distraction... because as a young kid I was so in love with Marvel, and I was so lucky to be a part of it that when they took the rug from under my feet, I was not ready to say goodbye yet."

Spider-Man could still meet those characters in future films, but Feige told Empire it's unlikely he'd need to do it outside of the MCU.

"I don't anticipate us going through that emotional rollercoaster, or putting fans through that emotional rollercoaster, again."

Tom Holland will play Spider-Man again in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which releases Dec. 17.

Samantha Nelson is an IGN freelance writer. Find her on Twitter at samanthanelson1.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Spider-Man star Tom Holland provided a glimpse at what was going on behind the scenes during the 2019 negotiations between Sony Pictures and Disney over the rights to the web-slinger

In a recent interview with Empire spotted by Screenrant and Comic Book, Feige shared how tenuous Marvel's hold on Spider-Man was. "I was mentally preparing to emotionally separate from it," Feige told Empire. "I didn't love it, but it is what it is. And then, thankfully, it came back together."

The two film giants had struck a deal to allow Spider-Man to join the MCU starting with Captain America: Civil War, but after Holland's version of the character appeared in two Avengers movies and two standalone films, the partnership almost broke down due to a disagreement about the profit split. While furious fans pushed for a resolution, Feige said he started to imagine an MCU without Spider-Man.

Holland told Empire that he had little input in the negotiations, but did lobby to remain in the MCU.

"People seem to think I suddenly went to law school and singlehandedly struck up a deal between Sony and Disney," Holland said. "Essentially, all I did was show both parties how passionate I was about this character. I basically said, 'Look, if there's a world where you can fix this, it will be so much better for the character, and for me, and for the fans. So if you can fix it, fix it.'"

During the negotiations, Holland talked with producer Amy Pascal about how he could keep playing the character outside of the MCU.

"I just drove over to Amy Pascal's house and sat with her by her pool, and we sat there for hours, just chatting, and pitching movies," Holland told Empire. "How would we do a film without Marvel? Does Peter Parker fall through a portal, and then he's in the Venom world? Or do we do a Kraven the Hunter film? It was a nice distraction... because as a young kid I was so in love with Marvel, and I was so lucky to be a part of it that when they took the rug from under my feet, I was not ready to say goodbye yet."

Spider-Man could still meet those characters in future films, but Feige told Empire it's unlikely he'd need to do it outside of the MCU.

"I don't anticipate us going through that emotional rollercoaster, or putting fans through that emotional rollercoaster, again."

Tom Holland will play Spider-Man again in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which releases Dec. 17.

Samantha Nelson is an IGN freelance writer. Find her on Twitter at samanthanelson1.