From the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption franchises to the 2K sports titles, Take-Two Interactive has some of the most-desirable games in the industry. However, the company has largely kept its marquee titles away from Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus. Now, Take-Two President Karl Slatoff has explained why the company hasn't embraced lending more of its games to subscription services.

"We do put our titles occasionally into some of the subscription services," Slatoff said earlier this month during a Take-Two investor call (via The Motley Fool). "They're great partners for us. And in many cases, they're great ... We wouldn't do it unless it was a good economic deal. The platforms wouldn't do it either. So we do take advantage of that, and it's been compelling much from an economic standpoint. As it relates to NBA, we have done it in the past. We don't really talk about whether we're gonna do anything in the future. But when you do put something into a channel like that, it generates obviously, engagement. It generates income for us. And it's something that we consider, and we do it if the time is right, if the math makes sense."

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has previously weighed in on the subject by stating that it doesn't make sense to put any of the company's new titles on Game Pass or PS Plus. He also said that high-profile day-one games like Call of Duty will only drive up Game Pass subscriptions for a short period of time.

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The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand

$26.74 (was $35)

Preorder at Amazon Preorder at Walmart

Stephen King fans can save on preorders for the intriguing new companion anthology to The Stand, the horror author's masterful post-apocalyptic novel. The hardcover edition of The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand is available for $26.74 (was $35) ahead of its August 19 release. The short story anthology is fully authorized by Stephen King and features an introduction by the horror legend himself.

The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand $26.74 (was $35)

The 800-page anthology is edited by Bram Stoker Award-winning horror writers Christopher Golden and Brian Keene.

The Stand is widely regarded as one of King's best novels, and there are many constant readers who view the gargantuan tome as King's magnum opus. A sweeping masterpiece of post-apocalyptic fiction, The Stand has such a large cast of characters and stories to tell that King feasibly could have turned it into a series of novels instead. And that's perhaps why this anthology exists.

The End of the World As We Know It is pitched as "an essential companion to the classic, bestselling novel." It features short stories by dozens of authors working in horror, thriller, dark fantasy genres today. Some of the stories take place during the events of the book, while others will take place after and probably before. Gallery Books has kept relatively quiet on the characters in these stories, but it seems likely that the anthology will feature existing and brand-new characters.

We do know the full list of contributors. Some of the standout names who wrote stories for the anthology include S. A. Cosby, Richard Chizmar, Caroline Kepnes, Catriona Ward, Josh Malerman, Ronald Malfi, Paul Tremblay, and Gabino Iglesias. Assuming all of the contributors wrote one story, you're looking at 35 new short stories, plus the introduction, foreword, and afterword.

Here's the full list of contributors:

• Stephen King - Introduction
• Christopher Golden - Foreword, Editor
• Brian Keene - Afterword, Editor
• Wayne Brady
• Maurice Broaddus
• Poppy Z. Brite
• Somer Canon
• C. Robert Cargill
• Nat Cassidy
• V. Castro
• Richard Chizmar
• S. A. Cosby
• Tananarive Due & Steven Barnes
• Meg Gardiner
• Gabino Iglesias
• Jonathan Janz
• Alma Katsu
• Caroline Kepnes
• Michael Koryta
• Sarah Langan
• Joe R. Lansdale
• Tim Lebbon
• Josh Malerman
• Ronald Malfi
• Usman T. Malik
• Premee Mohamed
• Cynthia Pelayo
• Hailey Piper
• David J. Schow
• Alex Segura
• Bryan Smith
• Paul Tremblay
• Catherynne M. Valente
• Bev Vincent
• Catriona Ward
• Chuck Wendig
• Wrath James White
• Rio Youers

Many of the contributors likely grew up reading Stephen King novels. Perhaps he's part of the reason why they wanted to become writers in the first place. For dozens of professional fiction writers to create new stories inside the world of The Stand demonstrates how influential the novel continues to be nearly 50 years after its original publication.

Preorder at Amazon Preorder at Walmart The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition

At 800 pages, New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand is roughly the same length as the original 1978 hardcover edition of the novel. At the time, King was forced to remove roughly 400 pages from his manuscript due to printing costs. In 1990, Scribner published The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition with the unabridged text. Today, this definitive version of The Stand is 1,152 pages in hardcover.

We'd highly recommend reading The Complete and Uncut Edition before diving into the upcoming anthology. You have multiple different formats and editions to choose from.

The Stand by Stephen King:

• Hardcover -- $32.69 ($55)
  • Sold by Amazon -- $51.15 ($55)
• Trade Paperback -- $14.40 ($22)
• Trade Paperback (International) -- $24
• Mass Market Paperback -- $12 | August 26
• Mass Market (TV series Tie-in) -- $8 ($11)
• Kindle -- $10
• Audible Audiobook
• Deluxe Special Edition -- $400

For paper book enthusiasts, we'd generally suggest the hardcover edition for a novel of this size. Unfortunately, Amazon is no longer offering a great discount on the $55 book. For the past months, Amazon had been selling The Stand for around $25 in hardcover, but now it's $51.55. That said, you can purchase it for around $32 from a reputable reseller, and your book will still ship from Amazon.

The trade paperback edition, which is 1,200 pages, would be our second choice. The pages aren't quite as spacious. as the hardcover, but it's still easier to read than the mass market paperback editions. There is a pretty darn cool mass market paperback edition releasing later this month for $12. Just keep in mind this is 1,328 pages with small typeface. The cheapest mass market paperback edition has promo art from the 2020 miniseries. Like most film and TV tie-in editions, it's pretty ugly and has a CBS All Access (now Paramount+) advertisement at the top. Unfortunately, even the Kindle and excellent audiobook versions have this cover.

For existing fans of The Stand who want to splurge, check out the beautiful--and very expensive--new Deluxe Special Edition below.

See at Amazon The Stand: Deluxe Special Edition - Gift Edition $400 | Limited to 4,000 copies

This stunning edition of The Stand is printed on thicker, higher-quality paper stock, so this would be the heaviest 1,300-page hardcover you own. The pages measure 7 x 10 inches, making it about a half-inch taller and wider than the regular hardcover edition. It has a fine binding and foil-stamped cover with brand-new artwork on the dust jacket. The jacket is protected by plastic, much like a library book. Artist Glenn Chadbourne created original illustrations as well as new endpapers and a black-and-white limitation page.

You can protect and display the Deluxe Special Edition with the custom-designed slipcase. The hardshell slipcase has a leather-like texture and features the author and title on the front.

The Stand: Deluxe Special Edition is part of Cemetery Dance's series of highly limited, lavish printings of King's classic novels. Cemetery Dance is a nearly 40-year-old publisher of horror founded by Richard Chizmar--the same Richard Chizmar who co-wrote (and published) the Gwendy Trilogy with Stephen King and is contributing to The End of the World As We Know It.

The Deluxe Special Edition of The Stand has been in the works for a long time. Cemetery Dance announced three different versions of this edition back in 2019: Lettered (52 copies), Limited (1,250 copies), and Gift Edition (4,000 copies). Those who preordered the Gift Edition just recently began receiving their copies. It was initially limited to 3,000 copies, but that number jumped to 4,000. Back in 2019, the price was $150, but as you can imagine, a lot of things can change in six years.

I recently purchased a copy on eBay for roughly $225. Just keep that in mind before you buy one from Amazon for $400. The $400 listing is official and is sold/shipped by Amazon, but it's possible to find a copy for considerably less (at least for now). Collectible editions of King's work almost always become more valuable over time.

Like other King limited editions from Cemetery Dance, The Stand: Deluxe Special Edition will never be printed again. Amazon lists two different dates on its store page, August 12 and August 19. The retailer doesn't offer an estimated delivery date, so we suspect it won't have copies available to ship until next week.

See at Amazon See eBay listings Adaptations of Stephen King's The Stand

In June, Paramount Pictures announced a film adaptation of The Stand with Doug Liman tapped to direct. Liman is an industry veteran with decades of experience directing action films, including The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow, and American Made. The adaptation is still a long ways off, as there isn't even a script yet. It will be interesting to see how Paramount approaches The Stand due to the novel's length.

The Stand has twice been adapted for TV, first by ABC in 1994 and again in 2020 by Paramount. The 1994 adaptation had four lengthy episodes totally just over six hours. Paramount split the 2020 miniseries into nine episodes with a total runtime of 8.5 hours. Even with those runtimes, the miniseries adaptations felt like small chunks of the story, so adapting it successfully to film is a tall task. Let's just hope The Stand's film adaptation is better than The Dark Tower movie.

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Warhammer 40: Dawn of War's original opening cinematic has been remastered a second time in order to restore a "beloved" Space Marine scream that, to the dismay of fans, had been removed the first time around.

When developer Relic Entertainment first announced the August 14 release date for Dawn of War - Definitive Edition--an updated version of the RTS classic that includes features like upscaled unit textures, lighting upgrades, and 4K resolution support--it did so by releasing a new, remastered version of the original's iconic opening cinematic. The CGI trailer shows the Space Marines of the Blood Ravens battling against an Orkish horde in a desperate last stand against all odds.

It's a well-loved cinematic, largely because at the time it was released in 2004, it was one of the first great looks at the Warhammer 40K universe in action. The remastered cinematic (the first time it was put out) was nearly identical to the original aside from the higher-definition visuals, except for one notable exception--the scream of a Space Marine charging into battle had been removed and replaced with voice over from a different character entirely, that of Blood Ravens Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos.

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Writer-director Zach Cregger has two majorly successful movies under his belt with Barbarian and Weapons, and his next project is an adaptation of Capcom's Resident Evil series. Not a whole lot is known about Cregger's take on the series, but he's now shared some more details, including how the movie has a "way bigger budget than Weapons" and what his vision is for it.

Speaking to his fellow Whitest Kids U'Know castmate Sam Brown, Cregger said he's in prep for the Resident Evil movie now and, despite the bigger budget than Weapons, he's in the midst of racing to find solutions to how to get things done. He said that despite Resident Evil having a massively larger budget than any of the comedy sketches that he and Brown made together in the past, some of the vibes are the same.

"We're in prep, and we're already like, 'How are we going to do anything? We're drowning!'" he said.

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Paper Mario was released in Japan 25 years ago today, August 11, 2025. Below, we look back at how the dynamic battle system and an unusual approach to Mario lore influenced the series for years to come.

I would wager that when GameSpot posted its first preview of the original Paper Mario--then known as "Super Mario Adventure" in the US and "Super Mario RPG 2" in Japan--two and a half decades ago, no one expected it would become a beloved sub-series that people would still hold in high regard a quarter-century later.

Yet, here we are, exactly 25 years ago to the day that Paper Mario first hit store shelves in Japan. While the majority of Paper Mario fans dote on Thousand-Year Door as the best game in the long-running series, I've always held a special fondness for the original that started it all.

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In 2021, Mass Effect fans were rewarded with a modern remaster of the first three games in Mass Effect Legendary Edition. However, fans hoping for a similar remaster of the original Dragon Age trilogy may be disappointed to hear that it was already "softly" pitched to EA and rejected.

Mark Darrah--an executive producer on the first three Dragon Age games before leaving BioWare--shared that revelation during an interview with MrMattyPlays on YouTube (via Eurogamer).

"One of the things that we pitched at one point pretty softly--so pitch is a massive overstatement--was to kind of retroactively rebrand the first three games as if they were a trilogy [and] call it the Champions trilogy," said Darrah. "EA's historically been--and I don't really know why--but they've even said this publicly. They're kind of against remasters ... It's strange for a publicly traded company to basically seem to be against free money, but they seem to be against it."

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With inflation on the rise and recent US jobs reports coming in lower than some economists predicted, there are fears of an economic slowdown. Some believe people may spend more conservatively on all range of products, including entertainment like games, which could negatively impact the video game industry overall.

Now, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has commented on this economic backdrop, saying the US economy is neither booming nor busting, going on to predict that consumers will be more choosy when it comes to the games they buy. Zelnick said Take-Two is well-positioned here because, in his belief, the company makes must-have games.

"It is true that people still consume entertainment even in tough times. They're just gonna be much more selective. So where are they gonna go? They're gonna go with quality," he said during Take-Two's latest earnings call. "And that's a trend that's already been occurring in our business because our business is maturing."

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Peak has turned up the heat with a new area to explore called Mesa, a sandy biome with the sizzling sun beating down on climbers. Thankfully, the patch notes state that shade can be found as well as sunscreen and parasols as part of the Mesa update, which is available now for the co-op game.

Developers Aggro Crab and Landfall broke down the major update for Peak on Steam. For the next week, Mesa will actually replace the Alpine biome in runs, and then afterward, they "will rotate randomly." Sunscreen and parasols aren't the only new items in the update. Other additions include aloe vera, scout cannon, and dynamite. There are also a couple of mysteries that aren't detailed.

Along with the Mesa biome, the update introduces the Bug Phobia Mode for people who don't want to see spiders and other multi-legged insects on their climbing runs. You can also now navigate Peak's settings with a controller, and the developers are promising better performance in the game.

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Madden NFL 26 features dozens of different celebrations that your players can perform after making a big play on the field. From scoring a touchdown to recording an interception to just making a first down, you'll be able to celebrate quite often during a game. However, you first have to know what buttons to press to be able to celebrate and which celebrations you have access to, depending on what kind of play you made.

Below, we'll go over all of the available celebrations in Madden 26, how to perform them, and when you can perform each one.

How to perform celebrations in Madden 26

Before we get into each celebration offered in Madden 26, how do you perform one after you make a big play? Fortunately, it's fairly simple.

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Summer in Mara is free for the next two days on GameSpot sister site Fanatical. The relaxing farming game with a tropical setting is part of Fanatical's Summer Sale 2025, featuring titles that are up to 96% off.

Fantatical notes that there are 100,000 Steam keys for Summer in Mara, which originally launched in 2020. The cozy title focuses on a girl named Koa as she farms on an island and even fishes the high seas. In addition, Summer in Mara offers 25 other characters to interact with and over 300 quests to tackle.

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Crafting also plays a major part in Summer in Mara, and new islands will become accessible as players upgrade their boat. Of course, there are cute animals in the game, too. Along with PC, the title is also available on PS4, Xbox One, and Switch.

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Many of the experiences in Roblox don’t cost a dime to play, but may have shortcuts or exclusive items available for a few Robux. This is the platform’s currency, and it's highly valued among its humongous community. However, there's always the question of whether or not there are ways to get in-game currency for the low price of nothing.

While you’ll only see this happen in a few of the best Roblox games, more often than not, you’ll find that you need to spend Robux for shortcuts, premium units, or whatever else the developer wishes to sell you. There are also a handful of experiences where you can obtain free items without Robux if you enter a few words into a special menu, such as typing these Dress to Impress codes, for example. That said, if you do need Robux, here are some commonly asked questions and a handful of legitimate ways to earn this premium currency.

Table of Contents [hide]

• Can you get free Robux?

Can you get free Robux?

In short, no. You can’t get Robux for free. Instead, you can buy Robux directly from the website or redeem gift cards that you can buy from plenty of retail and online stores. If anyone is feeling particularly generous, you may receive a gift card, but this is the only way Robux can be given away for “free”. You can find out more about Roblox gift cards in our Roblox beginner’s guide.

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With Saquon Barkley being the cover athlete for Madden NFL 26, it should come as no surprise that his famous reverse hurdle mechanic has made it into the game. The mechanic was originally added in Madden 25, shortly after he pulled off the move in a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

As Madden 25 players know, though, the reverse hurdle is one of the toughest moves to pull off in a game of Madden. We'll be breaking down everything you need to know about the move and how to do one yourself in Madden 26 in the guide below.

How to pull off a reverse hurdle in Madden 26

First off, the reverse hurdle is a mechanic that's specific to Saquon Barkley. Any other player can't make use of this mechanic, so don't bother trying to set it up with another running back or offensive player.

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Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto VI is coming in May 2026, and it's expected to be a gigantic success. But Strauss Zelnick, the head of Rockstar parent company Take-Two, isn't willing to bank on it being a success ahead of launch. Speaking to GI.biz, Zelnick said, "We run scared around here."

"We're looking over our shoulders. We take nothing for granted and we don't claim success until it occurs. So while I couldn't be more optimistic than I am, all of us have to do the work. We have to deliver something great to consumers and then the consumers are going to tell us just how great it is," he said.

GTA is one of the biggest, most commercially successful gaming franchises and the pent-up demand for GTA 6 is surely going to make it an enormous success when it releases. One firm is predicting 40 million sales and billions in revenue in the first year alone. For its part, Take-Two has not shared any sales or revenue projections for GTA 6, but it's expected to be a juggernaut.

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Amplitude Studios has released a time-limited demo for Endless Legend 2, the long-awaited follow-up to its 4X fantasy strategy game.

The demo's release on Steam follows the developer's decision to delay the game's early access launch from August 7 to September 22. The demo is only available until August 18 while the Amplitude team notes that "this is a limited version of the game."

The Endless Legend 2 demo will offer the following playable content:

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Donkey Kong might be getting all the Nintendo spotlight recently thanks to his excellent new game, Donkey Kong Bananza, but August is shaping up to be all about Kirby. Not only does Kirby and the Forgotten Land Switch 2 Edition launch on August 28, but the hilarious Kirby Zoom Pull-Back Car--which is based on Kirby's hilarious "Mouthful Mode" from the game--is also on sale for just $26 (was $34). That matches its lowest price ever, and it's a fun way to gear up for the enhanced version of Kirby's latest adventure dropping later this month.

Kirby Zoom Pull-Back Car $26 (was $34)

This adorable toy is a functional pull-back toy car that winds up and then speeds forward when released--though it should also work great as a display piece in your game room. Reviews from buyers are overwhelmingly positive, saying the toy is high quality and looks great. Amazon isn't advertising an end date for the deal, so be sure to swing by and check out the price cut while you can.

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If you're looking for another fun Kirby accessory, the Little Buddy Kirby's Car Mouth Plush is pretty affordable at $17.64. It once again depicts Kirby attempting to swallow a car whole--but this time it's in the form of a soft plush. A bunch of other cool Kirby toys and display pieces are up for grabs, and you'll find a list of our favorites below. This includes the funky Kirby Otamatone, which serves as both a fun collectible and a legitimate musical instrument. Club Mocchi Mocchi Plushies are up for grabs too, and since they're crafted with ultra-soft materials, they're a premium addition to any stuffed animal collection. Check the list below for even more Kirby toys, plushes, and collectibles.

More Kirby Plushes and Collectibles

• Kirby Otamatone -- $45
• Kirby Mini Otamatone Melody -- $25
• Kirby Chocolate 4-inch Plush -- $17
• Kirby Chocolate Mint 4-inch Plush -- $13.49
• Kirby Hovering Club Mocchi Mocchi 15-inch Plush -- $35
• Kirby Warp Star Club Mocchi Mocchi 15-inch Plush -- $16
• Waddle Dee Club Mocchi Mocchi 6-inch Plush -- $16 ($18)

If you're looking to jump into Kirby's latest adventure, Kirby and the Forgotten Land + Star-Crossed World Switch 2 Edition preorders are now live ahead of its launch on August 28. This new version of the game is enhanced for the Switch 2, featuring upgraded visuals and better performance thanks to Nintendo's new system. It also includes exclsuive, brand-new expansion called Star-Crossed World, which adds new story, levels, and powers to explore, making it worth checking out even if you already played the original Switch version.

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The Battlefield 6 beta got off to a flying start on the weekend--over 520,000 concurrent players on Steam alone--but one of the major complaints amongst PC players has been the influx of cheaters into the game. EA and developer Battlefield Studios are well aware of this problem, with one of the measures taken being the implementation of Secure Boot technology for the PC version of the game. While this can help in a fight, EA's anti-cheat team has admitted that it's not a "silver bullet" that can stop all cheaters.

"On Secure Boot, I want to be clear that Secure Boot is not, and was not intended to be a silver bullet," a representative from EA's SPEAR Anti-Cheat Team wrote on the EA forums. "Secure Boot is how you're helping us build up our arsenal. It’s another barrier that helps us make it harder for cheat developers to create cheat programs, and makes it easier for us to detect it when they do."

While SecureBoot isn't foolproof, EA claims it has used it alongside other measures to crack down on cheating significantly. According to EA, 330,000 attempts to cheat or tamper with anti-cheat controls were prevented with Javelin anti-cheat alone--as of August 8--thousands of cheaters were reported each day, and its Battlefield teams are coordinating efforts to improve the integrity of the game.

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Battlefield 6's very popular open beta just wrapped up its first weekend, and with many people playing the game, players have made a number of discoveries about how the game plays and feels. In particular, people are sharing their thoughts on the game's aim-assist and destruction elements, and now some developers from Battlefield Studios have weighed in.

On the subject of Battlefield's trademark destruction elements, some people noticed that players who are inside a building as it comes crashing down don't sustain health damage immediately. As it turns out, that's by design. Producer David Sirland said situations like this one highlighted on social media absolutely does damage to the player, but "not instantly."

Sirland said it would be simply "not fun" and "too random" for players to take damage or die immediately when a room crumbles around them. Instead, the game was intentionally designed to give players a window to escape a busted-out room. "Stay under rubble falling and you'll see. Most for bigger parts," he said.

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The Battlefield 6 open beta recently concluded its first weekend, and wrestler and actor Samoa Joe is among those who tried it out. What's he think of it?

In a post on social media, he said he enjoyed what he's played so far, but, like many others, wonders if Battlefield 6 coming after the poorly received Battlefield 2042 might be shaping his impressions.

"Is the new Battlefield kinda hitting for anyone else, or was the bar so low I'm just grateful? I'm really rooting for the former over the latter," he said.

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Barbarian director Zach Cregger's latest film, Weapons, is currently No. 1 at the box office and his next movie is likely to be the upcoming Resident Evil reboot. Cregger hasn't revealed too much about his take on RE, but he recently described it as a "weird" original story.

"[Resident Evil is] an original screenplay," Cregger told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's a weird story. I wrote it and I love the story. It has nothing to do with any of the other Resident Evil movies. If I do my job, it will feel fresh and edgy and weird."

During a separate interview with Inverse, Cregger noted that his film won't feature the main characters of the games, including fan-favorite Leon S. Kennedy.

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It looks like Far Cry will be the next high-profile video game series getting a TV adaptation, as Ubisoft confirmed the news on its official site before quickly deleting the post. This being the internet, nothing is ever truly deleted, no matter how briefly it's online for, and the original announcement has been preserved.

Over on Reddit, those people who did manage to see the original announcement say that the show will star Rob Mac--the Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor who recently changed his name from Rob McElhenney--and he'll also produce the series alongside Noah Hawley (Alien: Earth), Jackie Cohn, Michael Garcia, and Nick Frenkel. On the Ubisoft side, Gerard Guillemot, Margaret Boykin, and Austin Dill are also attached in various roles, and the series is reportedly in development at FX.

"This collaboration is really an embarrassment of riches," Boykin reportedly said in the removed post. "Far Cry is a psychological tailspin that doesn't shy away from the darkest and most absurd parts of humanity, which aligns perfectly with FX's bold and fearless storytelling style."

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