Monster Hunter Wilds launched in February and sold more than 8 million copies over its first three days, becoming Capcom's fastest-selling game ever. But how is it selling in the US? Also very well, it seems.

Circana's Mat Piscatella confirmed that sales of the the RPG in terms of dollar sales in the first month in the US were more than 40% higher than those of Monster Hunter: World in January 2018. With more than 21 million copies sold, Monster Hunter World is Capcom's best-selling game of all time globally.

Wilds is now the No. 1 best-selling game of 2025 so far in the US. Another key fact is that launch-month dollar sales of Wilds in the US more than doubled the total of Monster Hunter: Rise for its March 2021 debut. Of note, Rise was initially only available on Switch before coming to PC and console.

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Dungeons & Dragons has spawned numerous fictional settings for players to explore, but one of the biggest and most detailed is Dragonlance. The high-fantasy world, known as Krynn, was crafted by authors Laura and Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis, but rather than just serving as a campaign setting for dungeon masters and players to explore, Weis and Tracy Hickman further developed the universe into a sprawling series of novels, expanding Dragonlance's popularity beyond just D&D players, and cementing it as one of the more prolific fantasy settings ever conceived. If you've ever wanted to get into the series, Humble's new The World Of Dragonlance Book Bundle includes up to 26 Dragonlance novels for $18.

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Like all Humble Bundles, this is a pay-what-you-want deal where the more you pay, the more books you get. A portion of revenue is donated to charity--in this case, Room to Read, which helps children in low income communities learn reading, literacy, and life skills. You can also increase your pledge if you want to contribute more to charity, and the bundle's store page includes a slider so you can adjust the revenue split between Humble, Wizards of the Coast, and Room to Read.

As for the books you get, the base $1 tier includes three books: Dragons of a Fallen Sun, Dragons of Lost Star, and Dragons of a Vanished Moon. These novels were written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the co-authors of the original Dragonlance series, and comprise the War of Souls trilogy. Like other Dragonlance arcs, the War of Souls Trilogy can be read as a standalone series, making this $1 bundle a great introduction to the fantasy setting.

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Game Informer, the games journalism institution that began in 1991 and ran for 33 years before being shut down by parent company GameStop in August 2024, may be making a comeback.

The previously silent social channels for the magazine and website sparked to life on March 19, all sharing a video that shows something happening to what was once Game Informer's "The Final Level: Farewell" letter before teasing a March 25, 2025 date.

Many former Game Informer editors who worked at the magazine when it was shuttered, including Marcus Stewart, Kyle Hilliard, Brian Shea, Alex Van Aken and others, all shared "Continue? Yes or No" images on social media that prominently feature Game Informer magazines in the background.

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There's a strong case to be made that Futurama is one of the best animated TV shows of all time. The long-running series has been a constant delight since it first began airing in 1999, and late last year, a deluxe art book arrived to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show. In case you missed it, it's still in stock at Amazon, and it has been discounted from $35 to $20.67.

The Art of Futurama $20.67 (was $35)

This coffee table art book features 176 pages of never-before-seen concept art, sketches, developmental work, and a complete episode guide. The book covers all nine seasons of the show that have aired up until now, making it a great way to prep for the upcoming tenth season that's in development.

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If you've never seen Futurama, then you've missed out on an all-time classic. The show follows Phillip J. Fry, who is accidentally cryo-frozen on New Year's Eve 1999. Waking up 1,000 years in the future, Fry quickly adjusts to his new life and resumes his job making deliveries for his distant relative Hubert Farnsworth, through the Planet Express company, alongside his new friends Leela and Bender the robor. The show quickly became a cult hit thanks to its witty humor and a few surprisingly powerful emotional moments. Just ask anyone who has watched the episode "Jurassic Bark," and they'll probably tear up on the spot.

The Art of Futurama is a great way to go behind the scenes on the series, but if you're looking for more Futurama reading material, you can pair it with Bender's Guide to Life, which was released in September 2024. It's ghost-written by Futurama and Simpsons creator Matt Groening in the style of fan-favorite character Bender, and it serves as a guide on how to live life, according to the chain-smoking robot. Normally $22.50, it's on sale for $19 right now.

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Even though inZoi, the new life sim from Krafton that aims to be the first real competitor to The Sims, won't officially release until March 27, you can get a head start on the creation aspect of the anticipated new game with the free inZoi Creative Studio starting March 20. The Creative Studio won't let you do any of the simulation part of the game, but it will let you dabble with inZoi's character creation and build mode.

There's a little bit of a catch, though. For the first few days--March 20-23--you'll need to unlock access via streaming drop on Twitch or Chzzk, which will require you to link your Krafton account and watch an inZoi stream for 15 minutes, or on Steam itself. Steam will be the easiest option--you just have to watch a livestream from inZoi's product page for 30 minutes, and a key for the Creative Studio will be granted without remembering any additional logins.

There are only a limited number of keys that can be obtained from drops, but if they run out you won't have to wait too long. Starting March 23, the inZoi Creative Studio will become available for anyone on Steam to download for free. And you'll probably appreciate having the chance to go wild on character creation ahead of the release of the rest of the game, since inZoi features a rather intense level of customization built in--you can literally design your own clothing items from scratch, for one thing. It's a lot to absorb even without thinking about the simulation part.

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World of Warcraft Classic's Season of Discovery servers may have exhausted all of vanilla WoW's original content, but that doesn't mean the season is over. Blizzard is instead progressing past vanilla WoW's normal endpoint and introducing new endgame content in the form of a new raid, as well as giving players the chance to wield one of WoW's most legendary weapons--the Ashbringer.

Phase 8 of WoW Classic Season of Discovery will begin on April 8, Blizzard has announced. That will be when players will be able to explore new quest content centered around the Scarlet Crusade stronghold of New Avalon. Then, on April 10, players can venture into the new Scarlet Enclave raid, where a splinter faction of the Scarlet Crusade is seeking help to overthrow an "insidious evil" that has taken control of the stronghold.

The Scarlet Enclave is where Paladin, Warrior, and, yes, even Hunter players can embark on a new legendary questline to reforge one of WoW's most iconic weapons, the holy two-handed sword Ashbringer. It will be the first time WoW Classic players will be able to get their hands on a non-corrupted version of the weapon, despite players back in the vanilla WoW days tirelessly trying to discover a way to no avail. However, players of the modern "retail" version of WoW were able to use Ashbringer as part of the game's 2016 Legion expansion.

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For the newest episode of GameSpot Insider, we dig into the tumultuous development of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. While the game is now considered a success, both critically and commercially (it just passed 6 million players), the game was canceled all the way back in 2012. It got off the ground again years later, but Ukraine-based developer GSC Game World had another challenge to contend with: developing the game in the midst of Russia's hostile invasion of the country.

GameSpot traveled to visit GSC Game World's new office in Prague, where we spoke to the developers directly about the rocky road to bring Stalker 2 to market. In the 40-minute documentary, the developers share harrowing stories about the game's development, including how a fire threw another wrench in the game's plans. As you'll learn in the documentary, around 200 GSC workers evacuated Ukraine due to the conflict, establishing a new office in Prague, but more than 200 stayed in Kyiv.

Check out the 40-minute documentary below.

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The Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl developers at GSC Game World have been through a lot, to put it mildly. Following the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, roughly 200 developers opted to relocate to Prague in the Czech Republic, continuing to collaborate with their colleagues in Kyiv. This, in theory, should have led to a more peaceful development process for this group, but a large fire in the Prague office threw another unexpected wrench in its plans.

The fire, which broke out in late 2023 in the Prague office's server room, partially wiped out one of the floors. No one was hurt, but post-accident images of the damage show scorch marks and ash covering the ground. GSC Game World CEO Ievgen Grygorovych seems to view the situation as a sort of blessing in disguise, as he explained to us in the latest GameSpot Insider documentary.

"It actually made us stronger because we got to experience what can happen, how it may look--what we have to do to not let it happen again," he said.

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GSC Game World went through far more harrowing events than most game developers--or people--ever will, during the development of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. What began as a long-awaited revival of a classic FPS series soon took on new meaning as a show of defiance against a malicious invader in 2022. On February 24, Russia--under false pretenses--launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, threatening the lives of hundreds of game developers and their families. Around 200 employees evacuated, setting up a new office in Prague, but a remarkable number chose to stay in Kyiv: roughly 230.

Though the city hasn't been subjected to large-scale battles since the early days of the war, it has been the frequent target of deadly drone attacks, missiles, and airstrikes. Reasons for staying vary among the GSC Game World team, but their perseverance mirrors that of Ukraine itself--Russia's strategy to charge toward the capital was thwarted near the start of the invasion, and Ukraine continues to fight back more than three years later.

"I don't want to leave. I won't forgive myself," narrative designer Maksym Hnatkov told us as part of our GameSpot Insider documentary on Stalker 2's development. "I don't know--I was pissed. I was angry. At that point in time, leaving was not an option and staying wasn't that scary."

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Novocaine 4K Steelbook (Amazon Exclusive)

$45 | Release date TBD

Preorder at Amazon

Novocaine 4K Blu-ray

$36

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Novocaine premiered in theaters on March 14, and it quickly garnered impressive reviews from both critics and audiences. If you're interested in bringing it to your home theater, preorders for the upcoming Novocaine Blu-ray release are now open. Multiple versions are available, including a $45 premium 4K Steelbook Edition sold exclusively at Amazon. Preorders for the $36 standard Blu-ray edition are also available at Amazon and Walmart. Neither version has confirmed release dates, but expect to hear more as its theatrical run comes to an end.

Novocaine 4K Steelbook (Amazon Exclusive) $45 | Release date TBD

This version of Novocaine gets you a stylish steelbook to protect and display your 4K Blu-ray. Along with the 4K format, it features both standard Blu-ray and digital formats. It's unclear exactly what bonus features are included, but right now it's advertising "over 35 minutes" of extra content.

The action-comedy film follows Nate (Jack Quaid) as he attempts to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend (Amber Midthunder). He's a fairly normal guy, but there's one thing working in his favor: he doesn't feel pain. What follows is a wild action-comedy that managed to top the box office during its first week in theaters

Note that Amazon won't charge you until your order has shipped, and preordering makes you eligible for any price cuts between now and launch. And since this is an Amazon exclusive, there's a possibility it'll sell out.

Preorder at Amazon Novocaine 4K Blu-ray $36

This more affordable version of Novocaine gets you 4K Blu-ray, standard Blu-ray, and digital formats. Bonus features for this version have not yet been announced, though they'll likely offer many of the same ones found on the 4K steelbook. Expect to see the usual assortment of behind-the-scenes content, deleted scenes, cast interviews, and more.

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Looking for additional Blu-rays to add to your collection? Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is available for preorder, and this includes a few cool steelbooks (one of which is an Amazon exclusive like Novocaine). The Blu-ray releases on April 15, though Blu-rays are already available for the first two films.

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The Xbox Adaptive Joystick has officially launched, giving users a new accessibility option for playing games. Bearing a striking resemblance to the Nintendo Wii's nunchuck controller, the Xbox Adaptive Joystick is priced at $30, and can be purchased from the Microsoft Store. It's compatible with PC and Xbox consoles.

Xbox Adaptive Joystick controller $30

Microsoft says that this wired controller was designed in collaboration with the Gaming and Disability community so that users with limited mobility have access to a device that can meet their needs. The company added that its versatility allows for it to be seamlessly incorporated into existing gaming setups, and it can also be connected to the Xbox Adaptive Controller. All of the buttons can be remapped by using the Xbox Accessories app.

See at the Microsoft Store

For even more fine-tuning, Microsoft is offering several thumbstick topper designs through its Xbox Design lab, and these can all be 3D-printed through the store.

If you're looking to get the Xbox Adaptive Controller, these are currently available through Best Buy and Target. Priced at $100, the controller is equipped with large programmable buttons and the ability to connect to external switches, buttons, mounts, and joysticks. The plug-and-play design makes it a customizable hub for other pieces of gaming hardware and it's compatible with PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One.

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The Witcher: Classic Collection (Paperback)

$30

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Over 30 years after its initial debut, the original comic book series based on The Witcher is finally available in English. Dark Horse has compiled all six issues in one paperback volume dubbed The Witcher: Classic Collection. It's available in paperback for $30 and Kindle ebook for $18.

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A massive new update has arrived to Palworld. Update v0.5.0 adds the long-awaited cross-play functionality, photo mode, new storage options, blueprint upgrading, and additional features. Smaller bug fixes are also included in the update.

Palworld's cross-play is available across all platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC, and Mac. Additionally, the update adds dedicated servers for Mac. Developer Pocketpair confirmed that dedicated servers are still currently unavailable on the PS5 version of the game, but says it's working on adding support for them.

Players can now transfer Pals between worlds. The update's addition of the Global Palbox lets players store Pal data and transfer Pals between worlds. Pal storage has also increased with the new Dimensional Pal Storage, which offers a new storage system with 10x the capacity of the regular Palbox.

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One of the largest labor unions in North America is creating a new United Videogame Workers union, which aims to allow anyone in the business to join. Communications Workers of America has teamed up with the American Federation of Musicians to launch this new gaming-specific organization to coincide with the start of the Game Developers Conference.

According to the group's FAQ, this new gaming union will offer basically anyone in the industry--in the United States and Canada--the opportunity to sign up and then eventually pay dues. This is also open to the thousands of people who have lost their jobs over the past couple of years. The United Videogame Workers mission statement mentions taking "back our lives, our labor, and our passion from those who treat us like replaceable cogs; to empower our fellow workers; to link up arms with the laid off, with the freelancer, with the disillusioned contractor, with the disenfranchised and the marginalized, with the workers laboring invisibly to keep this industry afloat." The new organization also advocates for creating studio-specific unions, too, like ZeniMax Workers United.

"The creation of this union was not done in isolation; it's a cumulative effort by the thousands of video game workers who have been fighting for years to redefine what it means to stand together and reclaim power in one of the largest and highest-grossing industries on the globe," said CWA's senior director of organizing Tom Smith in a press release.

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Ubisoft's next big release is Assassin's Creed Shadows, which debuts on March 20. According to analyst Joost Van Dreunen, the game's release is a "bit of an existential moment" for Ubisoft.

Van Dreunen told Reuters this against the backdrop of Ubisoft's recent financial struggles, as the company's stock price reached a 10-year low in 2024 following disappointing sales of Star Wars Outlaws. The analyst believes if Shadows can do "really well" in terms of sales, that could "go a long way toward repairing [Ubisoft's] financial position."

Ubisoft is said to be negotiating with potential business partners to help the company turn things around, including Tencent. It recently came to light that Ubisoft might be looking at selling off individual game franchises, with Microsoft and EA said to be in the mix. Ubisoft has not commented on any of this.

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Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe changed the face of the movie industry with its series of interconnected films, a video game version of this concept was once pitched to Disney, according to Bungie co-founder Alexander Seropian.

On an episode of The Fourth Curtain podcast, Seropian and his guest Alex Irvine revealed (via IGN) how they'd come up with a plan to create a connected universe for future Marvel games, but Disney higher-ups decided to pass on the idea. Seropian--who was VP of game development for Disney's game division until 2012--and Irvine--who has writing credits on several Marvel games--added that funding for the idea never materialized, killing the idea early on in its development.

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Roger Craig Smith has voiced loads of iconic video game characters, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Arkham Origins' Batman, and Apex Legends fan-favorite Mirage. He's perhaps best known for his performance as the ledge-climbing, leap-of-faith-taking Ezio Auditore da Firenze in Assassin's Creed II (and several other games in the franchise), but fans of Assassin's Creed will likely be surprised to learn that Smith is absolutely terrified of ledges.

In a recent interview with Forbes, Smith--who is a big fan of gaming--was asked if there's a specific gaming memory in his life that "stands out." For Assassin's Creed fans, his answer was a bit unexpected.

"Climbing to the top of a tower in Assassin's Creed II and synchronising so the map unlocks for you; that iconic and sweeping entrance [to the game] always gets me," Smith said. "I have a fear of ledges, and this game would give me the heebie jeebies moving around up there. I'd get butterflies in my stomach, but it's such a beautiful moment. Getting to be a part of it and seeing what everyone had worked so hard to create was just such a 'Wow,' moment for me."

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You sometimes don't realize how much of game design is centered around expectations until they get messed with. For those of a certain age, there's nothing more expected than the basics of how a 2D platformer and its level design work. Level Devil knows this, and it's happy to give you and your expectations a giant middle finger with each and every level.

That might sound like a recipe for frustration, but instead my time with the game has been nothing if not consistently hilarious and delightful. Despite being someone who often finds the potential for lost progress in souls-likes to be off-putting, failing a level in Level Devil and incurring a similar level of setback elicits a hearty chuckle from me rather than an exasperated sigh.

Level Devil is a game that is deliberately trying to mess with you, and it's going to succeed more often than not. The creativity of the ways in which it does so makes for a consistent joy throughout--it's nothing if not spiteful.

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Another month and GSC Game World has delivered another massive update to Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Patch 1.3 for the open-world survival shooter introduces more than 1,200 changes, touching on almost every aspect of the game--including smoother monster movements, additional death screens, and fixing NPCs blocking player movement.

On the Stalker subreddit, Stalker 2 players seemed especially excited to discover that the Saiga D-12 shotgun's drum magazine can now be discovered outside the endgame. Another point of emphasis for GSC Game World was addressing main storyline bugs, which hopefully will stop people from getting stuck in the game.

How Long Is Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl?See More

Stalker 2's massive 1.2 patch focused on game-breaking bugs last month, too. So in back-to-back months, the studio has introduced 2,900 changes for the survival shooter. That's not all, either. In December, Stalker 2's first major patch featured over 1,800 bug fixes.

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Earlier this month, Saudi Arabian-owned mobile developer Scopely confirmed that it's buying the gaming division of Niantic, the developer behind Pokemon Go and other hit mobile games. It was a $3.5 billion deal, and one of the largest gaming buyouts in history. But for any fans who are worried about Scopely imposing certain unwanted changes on Pokemon Go, the game's senior director, Michael Steranka, wants to assure them that won't be the case.

While speaking with Polygon, Steranka indicated that he's spent months talking with Scopely's team, and he related that they don't want to rock the boat of Pokemon Go's success. For example, he indicated that Steranka won't shift the game from a free-to-play model, or force intrusive ads into the experience.

"[Intrusive ads are] not happening in Pokemon Go--not now, not ever," said Steranka. "Again, Scopely really recognizes how unique this game is, and they've told us themselves that they would be foolish to try to change the recipe of what's made this such a huge hit and a success. So yeah, absolutely not. We will not be building into our games any type of obtrusive ads or anything like that. I just really want to reiterate Scopely as a company, the way that they operate is they give all of their teams the agency to make the decisions that’s right for their games. And that is not something that we feel would ever be right for Pokemon Go."

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