PC specifications for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy seemed to suggest that the game would require a huge 150GB of space to install – but Square Enix has now made clear that this isn't the final size, with approximately 80GB being the new target.

As spotted by PC Gamer, the minimum and recommended system requirements for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy were recently uploaded to its Steam Store page. While many of the necessary PC specifications needed to run the game don't seem too taxing, players were told they'd need to have 150GB of free storage space on their systems just to be able to install the game.

Many were confused by the huge size – by comparison, the imposingly massive Microsoft Flight Simulator takes up 127GB – leading Square Enix to release a statement saying this isn't the final file size:

Hey everyone! We wanted to give you an update on the final size of the PC version of the game, which will not be 150 GB. The team is in the last stages of optimizing the final game and we can confirm the file size will be approximately 80 GB at launch.

— Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (@GOTGTheGame) October 19, 2021

While not confirmed, it may well be that you do need 150GB to start the installation process, but thankfully the final game is a slimmer 80GB or so. In a follow-up, the publisher made clear that PS4 and PS5 verisons should take up around 50GB.

Increasing file sizes have become a bugbear for players in recent years, with visually impressive games increasing in hard drive impact at a rate quicker than hard drives themselves are getting bigger, particularly on console. Call of Duty is a familiar offender, with Activision Blizzard making clear that players may need to make room just to install new versions of the game. Thankfully, recent patches have reduced the impact somewhat.

The Guardians of the Galaxy game arrives next week, and our hands-on preview, saying that its "combat is highly enjoyable and a lot more complex than I first gave it credit for."

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Today's the day if you own a PlayStation and have a hankering for post-apocalyptic guinea pigs who are packing heat. Yep, Biomutant is now at its lowest recorded price ever. I've also spotted some great Xbox deals on the Assassin's Creed series—from the back-compat OG (that is enhanced) all the way up to Valhalla. I say hoodie up, then watch history come alive again (with death).

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Adam's an Aussie deals-aholic who preordered four N64 controllers for Switch. Watch him ruin himself financially in real-time @Grizwords.

More than 20 Activision Blizzard employees have been fired since harassment allegations first came to light, according to Frances Townsend, Activision Blizzard's executive vice president for corporate affairs. In addition, more than 20 others have faced "other types of disciplinary action."

Activision Blizzard's announcements came as part of a larger update in which Townsend outlined the publisher's response to the various allegations that have dogged the company since the summer. They include adding three more positions to the company's Ethics and Compliance team, with 19 more planned for the future. Activision Blizzard also says its will "triple" its investment into training resources.

It is not clear if Activision Blizzard's list includes prominent Blizzard veterans Luis Barriga, Jesse McCree, and Jonathan LeCraft, who were dismissed from the company in August.

Townsend's message was emailed to employees and also posted on Activision Blizzard's corporate website. It was released on the same day that Activision Blizzard asked courts to briefly halt proceedings around the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing [DFEH]'s lawsuit following allegations that the agency had violated ethics rules. Activision Blizzard is also seeking to have the case moved to a court that specializes in complex litigation, potentially stalling or even killing the case. Activision Blizzard previously announced a settlement with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission for $18 million.

Townsend herself hasn't been immune to criticism over the course of the case. In August, she stepped down as the sponsor of the ABK Women's Network after issuing a statement saying the allegations surrounding the company were "distorted" and "false."

Allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination, and abuse of women and other marginalized groups have surrounded the company since the lawsuit first made headlines back in July. The ensuing walkout forced Activision Blizzard to reckon with a pattern of bad behavior spanning more than a decade, with former president J. Allen Brack among those forced to step down as a result.

Activision Blizzard has since promised to address its toxic internal culture while providing payouts for affected employees. In the meantime, Blizzard in particular continues to suffer a notable talent drain. You can read our full timeline of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit here.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

Game Pass subscriptions have slowed in the fiscal year 2021 according to new documents released by Microsoft.

In a new financial statement, Microsoft revealed that Xbox Game Pass subscriptions rose by 37.5% falling short of its internal target of 47.8%. In contrast, last year Microsoft over-performed on its targets to grow Xbox Game Pass, increasing subscriptions by nearly 86% over a goal of 71%.

What this means is that Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscriptions have slowed this past year, and it’s likely a combination of factors. One of the key promises of Xbox Game Pass is that first-party titles will be available on the service day and date. So far in 2021, first-party titles have been relegated mostly to Age of Empires remasters, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Psychonauts 2.

New first-party titles like Age of Empires 4 and Halo Infinite are still months away and will deliver on Game Pass’ promise of major first-party day and date releases.

And Xbox Game Pass remains a key focus for Microsoft overall. Growing the service is a key performance metric for Microsoft executives, meaning hitting desired growth goals will result in bonuses for members of Microsoft’s leadership team. As Axios reports, Game Pass growth is the only pure gaming metric in the executive payment plan, highlighting its importance.

As Microsoft’s first-party offerings ramp up, it will likely affect Xbox Game Pass’ subscription numbers.

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

Pieces of NHL 22 feel like a callback to NHL 95, which introduced the spin-o-rama. That innovation was a quick piece of showy stick play that made dodging a defender easier, at the expense of realism. Decades later, such skills now turned into X-Factors, giving certain star players special moves. Now universal across NHL, Madden NFL, and FIFA, these shatter the simulation aspects these respective sports brands were previously known for. And thus, NHL 22 finds itself conflicted. It recalls the series’ growing pains in the early ‘00s where the slapstick, arcade-style play ruled before giving way to a fealty to the real sport. Given the near-total lack of penalty calls except for the most severe infractions (even with the penalty slider cranked high), NHL 22 takes steps toward this fantastical style and yet doesn’t fully embrace it.

It should be noted that this is the first NHL game to run on the Frostbite engine – important to say because you probably wouldn’t know it otherwise. The change is almost invisible, which is something of a triumph when you consider that Madden NFL still hasn’t fully recovered technically after it made the switch four years ago. On the other hand, it doesn’t look dramatically better than NHL 21, as you’d expect for the first game designed to impress on a new generation of consoles. So in that respect, no news is good news.

Instead, the changes are mostly those X-Factors, which do make rational sense in context. Some star players gain speed boosts, others better shot accuracy after a deke, or shot power while skating. The idea being that these videogamey skill boosts represent a player’s specific skillset. The impact of those abilities is kept in check by the fact that each team only has a handful of such stars, so it’s not as if every player on the ice has a special ability. Those X-Factors seamlessly blend into the NHL’s modern playstyle and NHL 22’s still-exquisite right analog stick puck handling control scheme; the latter’s precision gets better with each annual game. For all the integration, however, their effectiveness feels awfully insignificant in execution, and in some cases, invisible all together. Being able to deke without a speed penalty is a nice bonus to have here and there, but nowhere near the superpower that NHL 22 makes it out to be.

The bigger issue with NHL 22 is mostly superficial. Supposedly a rink-side reporter, Carrlyn Bathe is relegated to hyping X-Factor abilities as if speaking on a promo reel that runs incessantly at GameStop. During a faceoff between the Blackhawks and Penguins, she states, “Patrick Kane’s puck on a string zone ability is how he manufactures offense. Crosby’s beautiful backhand ability is that wicked shot he uses to score.” That’s jarring next to James Cybulski and Ray Ferraro’s commentary, since they’re calling the game straight (if stiffly).

Compound that with hyperactive screen overlays before face-offs, icon identifiers, and other visual noise (which, mercifully, are customizable to a degree), and NHL 22 looks less like a broadcast than it does an arcade game trying to call your attention. EA is selling this as augmented reality, and nothing here is completely out of bounds when you consider how networks now use ever-increasing computing power to mark up hockey rinks with lines and graphical stat displays that aren’t really there. Yet, the focus of NHL 22 isn’t on real-world stats, but rather these game-ified skills.

It’s strange, too – NHL 22 visually looks wildly uneven, as if wrestling with its style. A quirk like a fan’s hair sprouting noisy polygons during an intermission is a minor glitch. The ice surface that looks like a treacherous, war-torn road filled with streaky potholes rather than scrapes isn’t so attractive. Weirder, brighter jerseys appear almost cel-shaded at a distance, a lighting oddity unnoticeable when you’re in close.

Entering into the solo career Be A Pro mode, strangeness continues. Maybe it’s perspective, but the agents and team managers seen between game events seem to have bizarrely oversized hands. If this reads like a nitpick, so be it; a new console generation brings upgraded expectations, and NHL 22 makes some glaring mistakes despite gains in player likenesses and texture fidelity.

Once on the ice itself, Be A Pro is fine, if stunted. Other sports games mimic movies with characters and spoken dialog, but here, it’s all silent other than Cybulski’s fictional podcast narrating the events while text boxes determine the created star’s personality and team synergy. That certainly feels like a step down in quality compared to what other sports games have done. And yes, progression is designed to push them toward gaining their X-Factor for what it’s worth, although the earned experience points have greater impact.

Franchise mode hides X-Factor players in the free agent/scouting pool, making the hunt for them secondary to winning the Stanley Cup. Having a successful scouting run means gaining those abilities for your team, although it matters more when those players are rated higher in general. This season also brings the expansion, the Seattle Kraken, into the mix, and the resulting expansion draft – which is nice because it’s the only addition to a mode that’s effectively identical to last year’s.

Of course, the eSports-focused CHEL league involves X-Factor abilities, too. In Ones, Threes, or general team play, HUT’s elements push their way in allowing individualized in-game avatars to wear unlockable gear for visual kick, and yes, X-Factors when found. For the hyper-competitive types it’s fine, but general online play against others in one-off matches doesn’t have the bloat of CHEL.

Promotional chatter aside, it’s worth noting the greater gains in NHL 22 are those from leveling the playing field between pros and newcomers. NHL 22’s sublime puck and skating physics retain true simulation qualities as the puck bounces off boards or trickles into the net unseen, but unlike the growing separation between casual and hardcore players in say, NBA 2K, there’s a reasonable middle ground now in NHL. It’s easier to find a realistic play style that results in authentic stats and scoring without needing to understand hockey’s intricacies or fiddling with difficulty sliders. If anything, that seems more worthy of celebration than skills that are tweaked to suit a handful of players.

If there’s a fair comparison to EA’s recent NHL struggles, it’s MLB: The Show. Both found a workable, near-flawless formula to replicate their core on-field/on-ice play some five or six years ago; now the challenge comes from finding the “new” in what was hard to improve upon. In NHL’s case, that’s led to the brash Threes, filled with fireworks, goofy stadiums, and open three-on-three play. There’s still the three-way free-for-all mode Ones too, pitting trios of players against each other and a single goalie in a half-rink contest. At this point, it feels like reaching even if those modes offer competitive charm for small online groups.

It’s also worth pointing out that there’s a repeated pop-up about community inclusiveness when you’re first browsing the menu, and while on the surface that feels like a corporation trying to please activists for brownie points, we also have to keep in mind that hockey in general suffers from a racial divide. For instance, HC Donbass player Jalen Smereck was hit with a racist taunt just last month, so NHL 22 propping up tolerance in the moment is timely.