The inclusion of early microtransactions in video games seemed, at first, to teach players to regret spending money, according to Valve's Robin Walker. But it doesn't need to be that way. In this month's episode of IGN Unfiltered, Ryan McCaffrey sat down with Chris Remo and Robin Walker from Valve to talk about microtransactions, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life: Alyx, the mystique of Valve, and much more. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/07/17/igns-top-10-free-to-play-games-on-steam"] Since it first released, Team Fortress 2 has undergone massive changes, especially from a monetization standpoint. When asked about Team Fortress 2, the current state of microtransactions in the video game industry, and where things are headed, Walker said, "Team Fortress [was], in a lot of ways, our learning tool... It seemed like microtransactions should be a customer-positive thing... if we're saying, 'How about, instead of you giving us the money up-front, before you know [if] the game's any good, how about you play it and, if you like it, you can give us some money?' "We were also hitting a point in Team Fortress where, bizarrely, we would get emails from fans saying, 'I've been playing this game for four years... Do you have a donation tip-jar or something?' At the point where fans are mailing our corporation asking if we have a donation tip-jar because they want to give us extra money... it's a strange thing." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=half-life-alyx-first-screenshots-4k&captions=true"] These sorts of letters seemingly run counter to the perception of customers, Walker says. "I think people have this really, weirdly adversarial relationship with customers, where they think customers fundamentally don't want to give, don't want to spend money, they just want everything for free, whereas we always think of it as; people want to spend their money on the things they like... "I, personally, really enjoy spending money on the bands, and the artists, and the movie-makers and so-on, who build things that I love. I wish I could give them more if it meant that they'd make more. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2016/06/27/igns-top-10-fps-games-of-all-time"] "So, to us, Team Fortress was the place where we tried to figure out how to do that. We know we've got a bunch of people who are enjoying this, and they're mailing us and telling us that they're enjoying it... it seems like they would prefer spending their money on this than another game and so we were trying to figure out, 'What is it that they like? What would they want?'" As for the industry at large, Walker was surprised opinions solidified on microtransactions so quickly. "I think it took us years, and we're still learning an enormous amount... I think that was the other thing that was... shocking to us at the time: the industry seemed to have already decided it understood how microtransactions worked. "This was... 2011 or something. There was microtransaction stuff going on in web games and stuff like that. There was all this stuff written about how you've got to add friction to your game, and then people can pay to take it away... there was all this sort of stuff and it seemed really unlikely to us, given how young microtransactions were at that time, or even just service games in general... that the industry had already figured out the 'optimal' way. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/04/half-life-alyx-13-minutes-of-valve-commentary-ign-first"] "We felt like everything that was being done then was, basically, teaching players to regret every bit of a dollar they spent. You would play a game and just regret it. So... we thought, 'There's got to be a way to do this. We've got to be able to figure out a way to do this where this is an addition that people enjoy and want. That came with a set of things around... making sure that... there was an enormous amount of the game that you still got for free or... with Dota... it's entirely cosmetic, none of it affects the core game, itself." Walker wrapped up the topic by saying that the progress Valve has made in making microtransactions something people want to engage in, instead of something they feel they are forced to engage in, has allowed the company to make games like Counter-Strike and Dota 2 completely free. Catch up on every single episode of IGN Unfiltered here so you can hear from the best and brightest minds in the video game industry, such as Hugo Martin and Marty Stratton (id), Stig Asmussen (Respawn), Sam Lake (Remedy), Bonnie Ross (343 Industries), Ted Price (Insomniac), and a whole lot more.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Brian Barnett writes news, features, wiki guides, deals posts, and much more for IGN. You can get your fix of Brian's antics on Twitter and Instagram (@Ribnax).

The Fortnite Week 6 Deadpool challenges will require players to deface three Shadow or Ghost recruitment posters. We've assembled a quick guide that will take you to all the poster locations.

Jumping back into Borderlands 3 to play the Guns, Love, and Tentacles DLC? Grab this Shift Code and claim 10 Golden Keys to give yourself an edge.

Who shot first, Han or Greedo? This simple question is the basis of a Star Wars fan debate that has raged for decades, but now a new perspective squashes the whole argument. For those who (somehow) haven’t heard of it already, the quandary is thus: In the original version of A New Hope when bounty hunter Greedo approaches Han Solo at gunpoint and sits him down for a little talk, Solo cuts the conversation short by shooting Greedo dead. However, George Lucas changed the encounter for the Special Edition re-release to make it look like Greedo shot first, and the most recent version that debuted on Disney+ even added a threat in Greedo’s alien tongue (“Malunkey!” roughly translates to “This’ll be the end of you!”). Lucas’ reasoning behind the change was to make Solo appear to be more of a John Wayne-esque cowboy where he'd give the other guy the first shot, as opposed to shooting first and coming off as a cold-blooded killer. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/12/star-wars-breaking-down-the-new-hangreedo-scene-on-disney-ign-now"] Lucas’ change has divided the Star Wars fandom. There are those who prefer that Han shot first because it establishes him as a morally grey character, which makes for a richer payoff when he decides to be a good person and do the right thing by helping Luke and the Rebel Alliance in the final act. And on the other side are those who like the change because it makes Solo seem more noble from the start. But the way reddit user The_Last_Boy_Scout sees it, there shouldn’t even be an argument in the first place. “If you remove all the context and Western tropes from the Han and Greedo scene in Episode IV, you're left with a scene where a guy shoots someone who's pointing a gun and announcing their intent to murder him,” they explained. “Textbook self-defense. There was never any moral ambiguity to alter.” And that is certainly a valid point. Obviously the scene was meant to evoke Western tropes where the smooth-talking gunslinger is cornered by a mercenary looking to collect the price on his head, but if you look at it through a more practical, real-world lens, then Solo’s got the law on his side. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-17-ways-the-rise-of-skywalker-novelization-adds-to-the-movie&captions=true"] When you consider that Greedo approached Solo with obvious intent to do him harm with that blaster of his, Solo was well within his rights to defend his life. Don’t let Solo’s casual demeanor fool you. It may not have looked like he was taking Greedo seriously, but he understood that the bounty hunter was putting him in a life-or-death situation, and by killing Greedo he was only doing what he needed to do to survive. If Greedo wasn’t armed when he approached Solo, then that would be a whole different story worthy of debate. But when looking at the situation from this particular point of view, it’s hard to say that Solo was in the wrong to take the first shot at Greedo, from a perspective of morality and arguably legality (even though it doesn’t seem like Mos Eisley has much in the way of laws). And lest we forget, mere moments before this altercation, Obi-Wan Kenobi had killed Dr. Cornelius Evazan and sliced off Ponda Baba’s arm for good measure. And what did they do? They pulled a gun! Yet no one ever gives Kenobi a bad rap. What do you think of this take on the age-old Star Wars debate? Let us know in the comments. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

Developer Digital Extremes' Warframe is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X, according to an annual results announcement from parent company Leyou. Hong Kong-based digital holdings company Leyou has a number of video game developer subsidiaries, with one of them being Digital Extremes. Leyou recently released its annual results for last year and in it, detailed all kinds of information including revenue, gross profit, and more. It also subtly revealed that Warframe will be coming to next-generation consoles. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=warframe-empyrean-now-available-screenshots&captions=true"] "On the other hand, the Group was preparing to expand Warframe to more platforms, such as the next-generation consoles and other devices, to hedge the risk of contracting new users on consoles," the results announcement read. "The Group is confident that Warframe will enter into a new stage of development, after overcoming these temporary setbacks." These "temporary setbacks" Leyou is referring to are likely the game's 12.2% year-on-year decline in revenue. Leyou contributes this decline to three things. The first is attention diverted away from Warframe after other "reputable game studios and publishing companies" launched "large-scale AAA games with themes and gameplay" similar to that of Warframe, according to the results announcement. Leyou said the second reason is the decline in current-generation consoles as the next generation of consoles near closer to release. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/11/ps5-next-gen-buzzwords-explained"] "With the next-generation consoles to be released by the end of 2020, sales of current models have been declining, which contributed to a reduced number of new console players." The final reason for a decline in revenue, according to Leyou, is the size and scale of development work on Warframe's Empyrean milestone content update. Leyou said "update cadence" was temporarily affected as less new game content was released while Digital Extremes focused on the Empyrean update. Leyou believes Warframe will overcome these setbacks with the release of next-generation consoles like PS5 and Xbox Series X. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/19/xbox-series-x-price-how-much-could-the-next-xbox-cost"] We know some things about these next-generation consoles – you can check out a comparison chart between the PS5 and Xbox Series X specs here – but we don't know other things like price or exact release dates. One thing we do know now is that Warframe will be available at some point on these consoles. When, though, is unknown at this time as Leyou did not mention a timeframe for the game's next-generation release. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

A Sony spokesperson has said the COVID-19 outbreak should cause no impact on the launch date of PlayStation 5. Speaking to Bloomberg, the spokesperson said the company 'doesn’t see any notable impact' on the unspecified holiday 2020 release date set for PS5. We had already heard a Sony-retained PR agency make a similar statement, but this is the first time someone at Sony itself has made a comment. That sentiment has been echoed by GameStop CEO George Sherman, who earlier said that there has been 'no indication' of delays to either PS5 or Xbox Series X at this point. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/ps5-xbox-series-x-no-delay-concerns-yet-next-gen-console-watch"] IGN's Jonathon Dornbush recently spoke to six video game industry analysts who, despite caveats that we are dealing with unprecedented circumstances, came to a consensus that it's unlikely that next-gen consoles will be delayed. However, production shutdowns could still lead to reduced numbers of consoles being produced in time for launch, meaning shortages in the months after release. Sony has apparently been hurt in other ways by the outbreak, however. Coronavirus-related shutdowns of production facilities in China, Malaysia, and the UK has meant that Sony has had to revise earlier profit estimates, potentially even forcing it to delay an April earnings report. We'll likely hear a little more information when that earnings report does arrive, but we've already learned a lot more about PS5 in the last few weeks. We've seen the full PS5 specs, found out it will indeed run almost all 4,000 PS4 games in backwards compatibility mode, and learned that its install times should be much shorter than PS4. You can see how the two consoles stack up so far in our PS5 vs Xbox Series X comparison chart. For a list of recommendations on how best to help, and stay safe, during the Coronavirus pandemic, please read our resource guide. [poilib element="accentDivider"]

Half-Life: Alyx's first modding meme has arrived, with players swapping out the game's opening scene with absurd videos (and it's pretty easy to do yourself). Multiple users have been posting the results to Reddit, with the r/HalfLife subreddit increasingly covered in altered versions of a conference call between Alyx Vance and her father Eli. Users are able to replace the in-game video files to display a different video on the TV screens in Alyx's greenhouse, swapping the file out for a range of videos from the internet's past and present. Here's one featuring a viral video from comedian Casey Frey, and another utilising the endless font of memes that is the Super Mario Brothers Super Show. [caption id="attachment_2326893" align="alignnone" width="1280"] An opening call replacement video in Half-Life: Alyx.[/caption] If you want to experiment with this yourself, you need to head to a specific folder in Half-Life: Alyx's files. Consider this a warning: this folder contains all of the cutscenes from Half-Life: Alyx, and at least one video title could be considered a spoiler. Probably best to finish the game first, before you begin messing with it. If you're still interested, head to SteamApps/Common/Half-Life Alyx/Game/HLVR/Panorama/Videos and find the file 'intro_world_heist.webm'. Now make a copy of that file so you don't lose it and drag a WebM video file of your choosing into the folder. Then all you have to do is rename the file to intro_world_heist.webm and you're good to go. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/23/the-first-17-minutes-of-half-life-alyx"] The game has been inspiring lots of creativity under quarantine, with one teacher delivering a maths lesson using in-game markers and window panes. For more on Half-Life: Alyx, check out our 10/10 review of the game, which we think "sets a new bar for VR." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

GameStop CEO George Sherman says there is currently "no indication of any impact on the product launch or delivery date" of either PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. In an earnings conference call, Sherman discussed the current effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on the games retailer. While explaining that the "situation remains fluid", he specifically brought up the potential effects on next-gen consoles: "As for the impact on the new supply chain and manufacturing for the new consoles," Sherman explained, "we will continue to work with the console makers as the launch approaches, but as of now, we have no indication of any impact on the product launch or delivery date, which is expected in time for holiday 2020." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=developers-share-what-most-excites-them-about-next-gen-tech&captions=true"] In fact, Sherman says the impact of the virus on its stock in general has been relatively low: "In the near term, we continue to monitor inventory levels for specific categories that might be impacted by shipping or delivery delays, but as of now, any impact has been minimal." It's not clear exactly how much insider information that Sherman is working with here, but it's likely the CEO is in close contact with the console manufacturers. Before previous console launches, GameStop executives have explained that they "know more than we can share", and were privy to unannounced information such as the Nintendo Switch (then codenamed NX) using physical media, despite widespread rumours that it would be digital-only. It must also be pointed out that it's beneficial for Sherman and GameStop to reassure investors that next-gen consoles - likely to be among their best-selling items this year - will arrive on schedule. Sherman's statement tallies somewhat with a Sony-retained PR agency, which explained that PS5 had not yet been delayed. However, with the effects of the coronavirus outbreak changing daily, these kinds of statements can't be taken as guarantees that no delays will be implemented. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=next-gen-buzzwords-explained&captions=true"] It's been a troubling few weeks for GameStop, but despite closing European stores and converting US stores into curbside pickup-only locations, Sherman says there has been, "an increase in store and online traffic over the past few weeks." While that's good news in the short term, Sherman also announced that it would permanently close 300 more GameStop outlets in the next fiscal year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he finds it wild looking back at old NX pieces he wrote. Follow him on Twitter.

Fantastic Beasts 3 actor Dan Fogler has given the latest scoop on the upcoming third instalment of the Harry Potter spin-off franchise amid recent filming delays, saying fans should expect to see some "epic battle scenes." In an interview with Syfy Wire, Fogler, who plays No-Maj Jacob Kowalski in the film series, praised the character development in the forthcoming chapter, which he says is building towards a "massive war" in the wizarding world. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/04/29/fantastic-beasts-3-will-release-in-2021"] "I can say I read the script and the character development is really lovely and it's very similar to the feel of the first movie, which I think is great," Fogler revealed to the outlet. "It's leading toward this massive war with the backdrop of World War II, so you can just imagine epic battle scenes are coming." Interestingly, the first film in the series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, takes place in 1926, while the second entry, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, is set in 1927, which means there could be a significant time-jump at some point in the planned five-film series to eventually cover the 1939-1945 period of World War II. For now, though, Fogler said that the cast and crew are waiting for the right moment to resume production. "I guess when everybody else starts back up," he said. "When the mechanism starts to move again and everybody starts to get back to work, that's when we'll get back to work. Hopefully, sooner than later." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-delayed-movie-due-to-coronavirus-so-far&captions=true"] Fantastic Beasts 3 joins a growing list of movie and TV productions affected by COVID-19, including Universal's Fast 9, which will now be released in April 2021, almost a year later than originally planned, MGM's No Time to Die, which will now be released in November 2020, and Paramount's A Quiet Place: Part II, which currently does not have a new release date set. For a list of recommendations on how best to help, and stay safe, during the Coronavirus pandemic, please read our resource guide. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Doom Eternal, unlike its 2016 predecessor, does not have a pistol. At least, not in the final version of the game. Id Software did create a fully-functioning handgun for Doom Eternal, and it’s actually buried in the game’s files. If you’re on PC, you can even access it and add it to your arsenal.

You've probably heard by now that DOOM Eternal originally had a pistol and YES it's still in the game and accessible via console commands (with Cheat Engine)

I've heard it was scrapped because it didn't really fit the combat flow. Still pretty sweet looking. pic.twitter.com/FZFmrhQwCB — Dave Eternal (@DaveOshry) March 26, 2020

As highlighted on Twitter by Dave Oshry, a senior director at developer RocketWerkz, by using the Cheat Engine software, you can access Doom Eternal’s developer console and use a command to enable the cut pistol. It’s a snazzy looking weapon, too, with a cool equip animation and either single-shot or burst-fire modes. If you want to try the weapon for yourself, you’ll need to download and install Cheat Engine, and also grab the associated file for Doom Eternal. Then boot up Doom Eternal, TAB out to your desktop and load up Doom Eternal file, which will automatically open Cheat Engine. Then click the ‘Select Process to Open’ button below the ‘File’ menu, find and select Doom Eternal, and accept the next pop-up window. Now, if you look in the bottom pane of Cheat Engine you’ll see a line of text written in purple, ending ‘release-pc-hotfix2’. Click the box to the left of it to open the sub-menu, and click to cross the boxes next to both the console command and noclip commands entries below. You can then TAB back into your game. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/24/doom-eternal-why-gore-makes-combat-smarter"] When in-game, tap the Tilde button (the one below Esc and above TAB on your keyboard) to open the developer console. Type into the console 'give weapon/player/pistol' and tap Enter. This will spawn the pistol in the hand of the Doom Slayer. For more Doom Eternal, check out our final glowing review of both the campaign and multiplayer mode, our guide to killing the hardest enemy, and why speed is vital for combating the denizens of Hell. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.