The anime crossover fighting game, Jump Force, will be delisted from digital storefronts in American territories on February 7, 2022. The game's online servers will also go offline several months later on August 24, 2022.

Bandai Namco has announced that all content related to Jump Force will be made unavailable for purchase next year, including all DLC, including the Jump Force Character Pack 1-14, Jump Force Character Pass 1-2, and its in-game currency JF Medals.

When the servers shut down on August 24, various features will go down with it. Players will not be able to log into the multiplayer lobby, participate in online events and ranked matches, access clan functions, view the notice board or leaderboards, and accept rewards from the reward counter. Additionally, the in-game store will no longer function. The Premium Shop will go offline a little earlier, on August 1, 2022.

Our sincere thanks goes out to all Jump Force players and fans for their support; but with all good things, they must come to an end.

Jump Force’s availability through digital purchase in the Americas will end on 2/7/2022 at 5 PM PST. pic.twitter.com/upzmWbqmcP

— Bandai Namco US (@BandaiNamcoUS) November 10, 2021

Jump Force's offline content will still be playable after August, including its campaign mode. Interestingly, players will be able to continue playing in online PvP battles, just not ranked ones. Any DLC purchased before it gets delisted in February is also playable when the game eventually finishes sunsetting.

Jump Force launched on February 15, 2019, for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The Nintendo Switch version was released on August 28, 2020. In IGN's Jump Force review, Mitchell Saltzman wrote, "If you’ve got like-minded anime fans who are down to smash some buttons and watch the sparks fly, Jump Force’s fighting system allows for at least a few hours of shallow fun before it gets stale and repetitive."

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

Despite the fact that Battlefield 2042 doesn't enter early access for another two days, EA has quietly released the web app for the game's new create-your-own-Battlefield-multiplayer-experience mode, Battlefield Portal.

As spotted by The Loadout, players looking forward to the upcoming release of Battlefield 2042 can begin creating their own Battlefield Portal experiences using the web application today.

Once logged in, the builder is easy to use. Taking a step-by-step approach, players are first able to set the different game modes they would like to include in their portal experience, followed by a choice of maps, game mode details, modifiers, and restrictions.

As previously understood, the portal web app (within reason) pretty much allows you to do whatever you want when it comes to tailoring your Battlefield experience. While setting your preferred game modes and maps lays out the foundations for your experience, it's really the options after that which allow you to have the most fun.

Tweaking the game mode details allows you to change factors such as team allocation – meaning that should you wish, you can now take part in a 1v63 Team Deathmatch with your weapons of choice. Meanwhile, the apps modifiers section allows you to set different gameplay mechanics, soldier and vehicle options, interface preferences, and more. The options here are pretty wide and varied -there's even a setting to stop players from exiting vehicles – meaning that once you've climbed inside your tank, plane, or car you're not leaving without a respawn.

As previously reported, a range of additional settings in the editor allow you to further refine the gameplay experience. From dictating choices in weapons, attachments, and gadgets to character preferences and more, there's certainly plenty for players to work through.

With all that in mind, perhaps it's not too surprising that EA has decided to launch the web app a couple of days early – knowing that this will give players the chance to get to grips with it before the game enters early access and beyond over the coming weeks.

For more from the world of first-person shooters, make sure to check out this piece delving into the decades-long rivalry that has grown between Battlefield and Activision's Call of Duty series.

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

Aimed at the increasingly popular esports market, “Pro”-grade controllers have exploded in the past few years, featuring customizable parts and the promise of giving you a competitive advantage over your opponents. Victrix’s Gambit Dual Core Tournament controller makes a compelling case, as it claims to be the “world’s fastest licensed Xbox controller.” While it’s definitely snappy, its overly sensitive triggers and subpar build quality keep it from achieving greatness.

Victrix Gambit – Design and Features

The first thing you’ll notice upon unboxing the Victrix Gambit is the sheer number of customizable options available. In total, you can swap between 14 different components ranging from faceplate covers to thumbsticks – all designed to provide a comfortable gaming experience and give you the edge over your opponents.

Inside the zippered carrying case, you’ll find two faceplates: a hard plastic shell with textured plastic grips on the front, as well as a silicone faceplate intended to provide a quieter experience while playing. There are two additional thumbsticks that you can swap out the standard sticks for, including a tall stick designed to be more precise, and a short, rounded stick for quick movement. The standard 4-way D-Pad can also be swapped out for a hybrid-style D-Pad that provides more circular movement and is ideal for fighting games. On the rear is the option to swap out the back paddle for either a two-button or four-button layout, depending on your preference. Additionally, there are both circular and octagonal gates for use with the thumbsticks to help with directional control. Lastly, you’ll find a detachable 10-foot-long USB-C cable that’s required to utilize the controller with either Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, or PC.

Victrix claims the Gambit controller has the “fastest thumbsticks, triggers, and buttons on Xbox” thanks to a dual-core processor which dedicates half of its processing power to input recognition, allowing it to achieve just over 2ms of latency for both digital and analog inputs. While it’s nearly impossible to test these claims outside of optimal lab conditions, I can say the Gambit feels snappy. Unfortunately, it also feels like it cuts a lot of corners on build quality.

My biggest gripe with the Victrix Gambit is the overall feel of the controller. Its exterior is built entirely out of plastic and doesn’t feel like a premium product at all, despite its price tag. It weighs in at 243 grams, making it a very lightweight controller when compared to the standard Xbox controller, but has an almost hollow sensation when held. If you prioritize weight over everything, then this is a totally serviceable controller. However, if you’re used to the build quality and heft of Microsoft’s first-party offering, then this is a noticeable step down.

On the face of the controller, you’ll find the traditional Xbox controller layout, complete with offset thumbsticks and A, B, X, Y buttons on the right side. Aside from the standard Menu and View buttons, the Gambit also includes the new Share button, although its massive size and positioning is a bit odd. Instead of placing the more frequently used Menu and View buttons in the center of the controller, they have been relegated to the top of the controller on opposite sides of the Xbox button, while the Share button occupies the entire center of the controller and takes up a good chunk of real estate thanks to its large triangular shape. It’s an odd decision, but could be great if you prefer sharing game clips frequently, I guess. At the bottom of the controller, you’ll find a Program button, which can be used to quickly remap buttons on the fly.

As previously mentioned, much of the controller is customizable – from various thumbsticks to an entirely different faceplate. All of the thumbsticks are made from a soft rubber and plastic hybrid material with little-to-no texture on them. The actual thumbsticks are snappy and responsive, gliding effortlessly in a circular pattern, while snapping back to the center instantaneously.

The D-Pad is the standout on this controller for me, however. Whether you prefer a traditional 4-way D-Pad for platformers and retro games or opt for the hybrid D-Pad, you won’t be disappointed. The hybrid D-Pad is actually one solid piece of plastic laid out in a diamond shape with a slight indent to allow your finger to rest comfortably in the center and slide around the edges easily.

The rear triggers are larger than what you’re probably used to on standard Xbox controllers – both wider and deeper – with a fin that flares upwards. Both are light as a feather and easy to press down with a textured plastic grip adorning the area where your finger rests. The shoulder buttons are light and clicky and also feature the same plastic grip to keep your finger put in the heat of the battle.

Both triggers also have five adjustable stop points, which can be adjusted using the clutch button on the rear of the controller. By default, they will be locked in a “hair-trigger” mode, which provides the fastest response time. However, if you are playing a racing game or something that needs more analog control, you can slide and hold either button while squeezing the trigger to your desired position. When you let go of the toggle, it will place a stop point as close to where the trigger’s current position is. While this system is great in concept, it’s not super precise and a bit awkward to pull off – especially mid-game.

Victrix Gambit – Software

As with most “Pro” level controllers these days, the Victrix Gambit has plenty of detailed customization options through the optional Victrix Control Hub app, available on Xbox or PC. Here, you can tinker with your controller by remapping buttons and rear paddles, adjusting analog stick dead zones, creating custom audio EQ profiles, and dialing in your preferred vibration levels. Additionally, you can run diagnostics on the controller to ensure everything is in tip-top shape, as well as update the firmware when required.

Thankfully, some customization can also be done outside the app using the controller’s Program button, located below the D-Pad and right thumbstick. By holding this button for a moment, you can rebind up to four rear paddle buttons, depending on which paddle configuration you’re using. You can also adjust game and chat audio on the fly or cycle through preconfigured audio presets using the shoulder buttons.

Victrix Gambit – Gaming

During my testing, I found the lightweight nature of the Gambit to be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it didn’t cause much fatigue while playing for extended periods, which is important for tournament play. However, the hollow-feeling nature made every button press, flick of the thumbstick, and trigger pull reverberate throughout the controller in a way that was distracting and downright annoying after just a few minutes in hand.

The Gambit’s main selling point, being the “fastest” performance on Xbox, is also a double-edged sword. When locked in hair-trigger mode, even the slightest movement of the shoulder buttons registered input in-game. It was so fast, in fact, it felt as though the controller was almost predicting my input before I even pressed a button. The glaring issue lies in just how sensitive the triggers are, though. I found even lightly resting my fingers on the rear triggers would occasionally register input, causing me to misfire more often than I’d like to admit. In order to avoid any accidental input, you’d have to learn to play with your fingers hovering slightly above the triggers. But, that almost negates any advantage you’d have over any other controller with the added distance your finger would need to travel before even making contact with the trigger in the first place. If you can get used to the overly sensitive triggers, you’ll no doubt have some sort of an advantage over your opponents, but it requires holding the controller in a way I didn’t find natural.

Ergonomically, the Gambit feels like a cross between a standard Xbox controller and a DualSense. The layout is undoubtedly Xbox, but the grips are set a bit wider than you may be used to. Unlike most controllers, though, the Gambit doesn’t feature any grip on the rear – save for the back paddles – making it very slippery during prolonged use. Oddly enough, the only “grip” is a small bit of raised textured plastic on the front of both handles that serves almost no purpose. Truthfully, the best grip is achieved when swapping out for the silicone faceplate, which I found to be a more comfortable experience overall. I would have still preferred something on the rear of the controller, though.

Similar to the non-grip on the rear of the controller, the thumbsticks share an equally minimal amount of traction to keep your thumbs put while playing. Each one is made from a hard rubber and plastic hybrid that isn’t particularly comfortable to use for long periods of play. The standard concave thumbsticks feature a small circular patch of texture in the center, but it doesn’t have enough surface area to keep your thumb on it when any movement is introduced. As a result, I often found my fingers would slowly slide off when holding the thumbstick in one direction for long periods. The short convex thumbstick has no grip at all, and I frequently found quick movement to be difficult as my thumb would slide off too easily without any friction. The only stick with any semblance of “grip” is the tall precision thumbstick. That one features a small crosshair icon in the center and multiple rings around the curved edges, although a true grip pattern would’ve been more preferable.

IGN got its first hands-on playtime with FromSoftware’s upcoming Elden Ring. While you can read our full hands-on preview, we also got a new clip featuring a boss from the RPG, Margit the Fell.

Margit the Fell is an Elden Ring boss who’s quite easy. No, I’m kidding, he’s tough and you can see why in the video clip below.

While Margit’s full lore and backstory won’t be revealed until Elden Ring is released in February 2022, the boss fight should be enticing for fans. Despite his size, he has moves that can be parried, leaving him open to heavy damage. But as our previewer Mitchell Saltzman notes, sometimes he’ll follow up his attacks with more moves and punish you for trying to hit him.

Midway through the fight, Margit will summon a lightning hammer which deals massive AOE damage and gives him a spinning attack. The spin move is both difficult to dodge and will eat your entire stamina bar if you try to block it, so good luck.

Check out IGN’s full hands-on preview for our impressions of the massive open-world, unique Breath of the Wild-style dungeons, and new weapon upgrades.

Ahead of the upcoming closed network test, FromSoftware confirmed that Elden Ring will run “up to” 60 FPS on new-gen consoles and PC and that five classes will be playable for the test.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Over the last six months, we’ve seen a lot of Elden Ring, we’ve heard a lot about Elden Ring, but very few people, if any outside of From Software, have played Elden Ring. That’s no longer the case because over the last weekend I found myself completely absorbed in the world of The Lands Between. Just like many others will be as well once the Closed Network Test opens for all who are chosen to participate from November 12 to the 14th.

For those who want an early look at what’s in store though, here are my impressions of the Elden Ring Closed Network Test.

Before we get into what’s new in Elden Ring, let’s cover what’s familiar. This is, after all, the next game in FromSoft’s series of action RPG that has long outgrown any sort of convenient, all-encompassing label, unless you’d prefer to call the series the “Elden-Seki-Souls-Borne” series.

Slow and Steady

Elden Ring very much represents a return to the Souls style, which is most evident in its dark fantasy setting but also rings true in its gameplay and mechanics as well. It brings back the split Estus Flask system from Dark Souls 3, allowing you to choose to prioritize either health restoratives or mana restoratives by distributing your flasks as you see fit.

Combat is slower and much more methodical than Sekiro and Bloodborne, with often fairly lengthy start-up and recovery times on most of your attacks and heals, forcing you to pick your spots and choose the right moments to attack, defend, and take a sip of a flask.

There are a couple of new tools this time around as well. A new technique called a guard counter lets you perform a crushing counter-attack after blocking a strike with your shield. And on the offensive side, you can execute a super satisfying helm-splitting jump attack that can crash through shields and leave weaker enemies defenseless.

The biggest change though in terms of the actual mechanics is how Elden Ring handles weapon arts (or skills) and upgrade paths.

Previously, weapon arts were special skills that were unique to a weapon or class of weapons, like for example, the battoujutsu stance with katana class weapons in Dark Souls 3. Upgrade paths on the other hand refer to your ability to transform a weapon into a different type, taking it down a path that either gives it more base damage, an elemental affinity, or increased scaling with a particular stat.

These two mechanics have essentially been combined in Elden Ring in the form of Ashes of War. As you play, you’ll find new Ashes of War that can be equipped with your weapons at sites of Grace – Elden Ring’s version of a bonfire. Equipping a new Ash of War to a weapon will not only change that weapon’s stats and scaling, but also overwrite the weapon’s innate skill with a new one, unique to that Ash of War.

As an example, let’s say my intelligence-focused character finds a Twinblade. Typically not a weapon I’d want to use on a magic-focused character, but it’s the best thing I’ve got and hey, it’s got a cool move-set. Later on, I find an Ash of War: Glintsword Arch, which not only gives the Twinblade intelligence scaling, making it viable as a melee weapon for my build. But it also grants me the Glintsword Arch skill which summons four magic swords that automatically fly towards enemies that get close. Now the twinblade not only works as a great melee weapon for my build, but it also comes with a powerful spell that doesn’t take up one of my actual spell slots.

The best part though is that Ashes of War are transferable and don’t get consumed upon use, so if I find a weapon later on that I enjoy more than the Twinblade, I can place the Glintstone Arch Ash of War onto it and easily transition to a new weapon, which has always been kind of difficult and costly to do in other Souls games once you’ve taken a weapon down a specific upgrade path.

If it isn’t already abundantly clear, I love this. It encourages experimentation with different weapons, opens up a ton of variety in build options, gives me another type of reward to get excited about finding in the world, and the skills themselves are just super cool to mess around with.

A Truly Open World

As cool as the Ashes of War are though the big departure for Elden Ring is the move to a completely open-world structure. Right from when you step out of the tutorial cave, you’re free to go in any direction you choose. You can follow the recommended path, illuminated by the light of grace; you could take a look to your right and decide to explore the ominous-looking lake and ruins, or you could turn around and spot a lone island off in the distance and think to yourself ‘I wonder how I can get over there…”

The areas weren’t gated by having tougher enemies in one location versus another either. You’d find equally challenging fights in all directions, and you could tackle them in any order you choose. That said, the area in the Closed Test is walled off by invisible barriers, so it’s hard to say how this will play out in the full game.

What’s especially impressive about this Closed Network Test is despite how I was walled into a relatively small zone, there was still so much to explore and discover. From hidden NPCs to bosses just roaming out in the field, to a pack of extremely tough enemies that you could attempt to farm for weapon upgrade shards, to a plot of land where lighting continuously strikes leaving electrically charged rocks that you can scrounge up. It felt like every five minutes I would encounter something that made me go “what the heck is that?!”

And then there are the dungeons and catacombs that are hidden throughout the world, much like shrines in Breath of the Wild. These dungeons varied wildly in their design, with some including just two to three rooms, a handful of enemies, and a boss fight at the end. Others required a torch to see the enemies and hazards within; and others still were decently large, multi-leveled caverns, with some surprises for long-time veterans that I don’t want to spoil.

The bosses within these dungeons aren’t anywhere near as difficult as the mainline bosses found out in the world, but they’re still well worth seeking out as the rewards within have always been worth the effort in my experience.

Elden Ring is also surprisingly forgiving when it comes to its open-world exploration. Your character doesn’t expend any stamina when outside of combat so you can sprint, jump, and roll endlessly. There are automatically activated respawn points in key tough-to-beat areas, so you rarely ever have to make the long walk of shame back to your dropped currency if you die. And enemies will even retain their damage if you run away, so you can play hit and run on your horse all you want.

What is a Legacy [Dungeon]?

While I loved every bit of the open-world exploration, it did feel like something was missing from the overall package that wasn’t quite filled by the relatively straightforward dungeons hidden around the world. Fortunately, that's where the Legacy Dungeons come in. These are lengthy, linear levels along the lines of something like Anor Londo in Dark Souls.

I only got a small taste of Stormveil Castle, the first of the Legacy Dungeons in Elden Ring, but that little bit was more than enough to whet my appetite for more. Stormveil Castle is massive, with multiple paths right at the start that each come with their own challenges. Take the side path and you’ll be met with treacherous terrain and the classic From Software trope of having a bunch of guys with firebombs overseeing a path with a bunch of explosive barrels. Take the main path and you’ll be met with a small army and a handful of ballistae all trained to fire on sight.

Despite being presented with a choice to do either one or the other, I still found myself going down both paths. And while they both eventually get blocked off for the sake of the network test, I can’t wait to see how they connect back with each other in the full version.

I didn’t get much of a chance to test out multiplayer due to there being a relatively small number of players in the Closed Network Test right now, but everything seems like fairly standard fare. You can leave summon signs both for cooperative and competitive play, you can invade other people’s worlds, you can wear rings that will summon you into worlds that are being invaded so you can attempt to defend the innocent, and you can wear rings that will call out for help when you get invaded yourself.

There are a couple of things to note though: It seems you’re only open to PVP invasions if you’ve summoned a player to play cooperatively with you. Otherwise, you use an item called the Taunter’s Tongue, which beckons invaders to come into your world even without you having a coop buddy to help you. There’s also an item called Finger Phantoms which can only be used during invasion multiplayer, but I haven’t been able to find any in my playtime.

I’ve put almost 15 hours into just this Closed Test alone, going through each of the five starting classes and putting them through their paces, and I’m still having a blast. If the full version of Elden Ring continues to match the quality of open-world design found within just this first area, then we’re in for a very special game come February of next year.

Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You can find him on Twitter @JurassicRabbit