Squid Game is a bonafide global hit, and Netflix is releasing the numbers to prove it.

On Twitter, Netflix said the South Korean survival drama has officially reached 111 million people, making it the biggest launch ever for the streaming service.

Squid Game has officially reached 111 million fans — making it our biggest series launch ever! pic.twitter.com/SW3FJ42Qsn

— Netflix (@netflix) October 12, 2021

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said last month that Squid Game was already on track to become Netflix's biggest show ever, and these latest figures seem to support his claims. Just know, however, that Netflix historically counts its views as any Netflix account that watches at least 2 minutes of a series within the first 28 days after release.

The last time Netflix reported data, Bridgerton: Season 1 took the top spot with 82 million accounts tuning in. Squid Game's 111 million has smashed that total. Other shows in the top 10 that Squid Game has surpassed include The Witcher, Tiger King, Stranger Things, and more.

Squid Game's journey from script to screen was a long one, so hopefully, its creators are enjoying the success. The script for Squid Game was rejected for a decade before Netflix gave it the green light. Once it entered production, Director Hwang Dong-hyuk says he lost multiple teeth due to stress.

For more, check out our Squid Game review, where we called the show, "one of the most exciting series to hit Netflix in some time." Or, read up on Squid Game season 2, which might not focus on the contestants.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Like everyone else, Ed Boon appears to be feeling nostalgic for Mortal Kombat. Boon, who helped create the franchise nearly 30 years ago, recently posted a series of tweets filled with info about Scorpion's legendary hook attack, complete with motion capture footage that dates all the way back to 1992.

Boon published the video on his Twitter on Tuesday. He says that, even though Mortal Kombat will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2022, Boon says developing the game began 30 years ago in 1991. Boon shared the video to celebrate and commented on how spontaneous the video shoots were.

"We certainly did a ton of prep for our video shoots, but some ideas came to us while filming," Boon said. "With Scorpion’s spear, it started with 'You know what would be a cool ass move?' From there you can be a fly on the wall and see us working through the details."

Mortal Kombat will be 30 years old in 2022. But 2021 marks 30 years since we actually BEGAN working on the game. To celebrate, it seemed like a fun idea to share some behind-the-scenes stuff. This clip shows how we created Scorpion’s iconic (GET OVER HERE!) spear move. (1 of 9) pic.twitter.com/3f1tdvjG9R

— Ed Boon (@noobde) October 12, 2021

Boon kept replying to his tweets and talked about the difficulties of saving memory so the game can fit on what chips they had available in the '90s.

"We were so tight on memory, that we didn’t even capture any motions for the victim reactions," Boon wrote. "Instead we borrowed from their existing animation frames. You can hear us talk about reusing one of the victim’s 'knockdown' animations when they initially get hit by the spear."

Boon said in his final tweet in the thread that he wants to share more videos in anticipation of Mortal Kombat's anniversary.

Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm Studios announced in July that they have stopped developing DLC for the most recent game in the series, 2019's Mortal Kombat 11, and will develop a new game. Boon is set to talk at DC FanDome on Saturday, which could possibly be that new game announcement.

Mortal Kombat 11 is the best-selling game in the franchise with 12 million units sold. The franchise has exceeded 73 million copies sold on consoles and over 138 million downloads of 2015's Mortal Kombat Mobile.

IGN's Mortal Kombat 11 review praised everything about the game except for its "grindy" way to unlock new content: "Everything from its methodical and deep combat to its fantastically absurd story mode and its rock-solid netcode, right down to its extraordinarily comprehensive tutorial is absolutely exceptional. It’s only when you get into its drawn-out progression that it trips up."

Mortal Kombat 11 was to be played at the in-person Evo Showcase 2021, but the event was recently canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.

Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN.

Below is a spoiler free review of the series premiere of Chucky, titled "Death by Misadventure," which airs on Syfy on Oct. 12.

For all the franchises that come and go, the Child’s Play series has been a steady presence in the horror world since the first film came out in 1988. Aside from an ill-fated reboot, Chucky films have all been written by Don Mancini, who has been consistently fleshing out his world’s mythology with each new entry. Mancini continues the serial killer-possessed doll’s killing streak onto television with Syfy’s Chucky, which promises to reunite multiple stars from Child’s Play history as Chucky resurfaces in Hackensack, New Jersey. But the premiere smartly focuses on its new characters, giving Mancini (who also directs this episode) a chance to adapt some classic elements of the Child’s Play movies for the small screen, as this new crop of slasher bait learns the hard way what happens when you take your eye off that damned doll.

Chucky’s (Brad Dourif) latest “friend ‘til the end” is 14-year-old Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur), an introspective old soul struggling with bullies, his sexuality, and alcoholic father Luke (Devon Sawa) at home. Jake’s sensitive manner and his wry sense of humor make him an easy hero to root for, especially in the face of the outsized amount of crap dumped on him in this first hour. It’s impressive that he’s as likeable as he is, considering he’s got a destroyed-doll art collection in his room that would make Sid from Toy Story blush, but Mancini’s always had a knack for making weird things likeable and Arthur helps sell it with his thoughtful performance.

It’s Jake’s strange artistic vision that leads him to purchase the Chucky doll at a yard sale, and the premiere delights in drawing out the reveal of Charles Lee Ray, the murdererer whose soul is bound to the Chucky doll. Most of the premiere sticks with the Child’s Play first act ethos of showing what Chucky has done rather than seeing him do it, and tying these deeds to Jake’s in ways that don’t reflect well on a kid who’s already a social pariah. This episode is devoid of scares, but close-ups of Chucky’s pupils dilating or eyes slowly drifting towards a closed door do a great job building tension. Of course, Chucky isn’t the kind of guy that stays quiet for long, and comes to Jake’s defense with a very creative (and quintessentially Chucky) ventriloquism act during a school talent show.

Still, Chucky is as crass and entertaining a slasher as he’s ever been, and brought to life with a mix of practical and visual effects that feel invisible when he’s not doing anything too elaborate. The first episode even paints him in somewhat of a heroic light, as Chucky’s attacks are provoked by cruelty inflicted on Jake by others. The Child’s Play series has gone back and forth on just how sympathetic with the doll it wants us to be, and the series premiere doesn’t offer a definitive stance on that yet, but the flashback to Chucky/Charles Lee Ray’s childhood, which bookends the episode, promises that we’ll at least learn more about the killer’s origins. That dive into Ray family history is surely what will draw Child’s Play franchise vets like Alex Vincent, Jennifer Tilly, and Fiona Dourif into the fray, but the premiere doesn’t get ahead of itself in introducing them just yet. Chucky (so far) manages to walk a fine line between old and modern mythology in a way that leaves the show accessible for returning and new fans alike.

While Jake’s a complex, interesting character, most of the other Hackensackians we meet are practically begging for Chucky’s knife. Aside from the grieving Luke and his crush, true-crime podcaster Devon (Bjorgvin Arnarson), most everyone else Jake encounters is a thinly drawn bully just waiting for retribution. Slasher movies are able to get away with leaning on archetypes for their supporting characters because hey, why waste time on a co-ed about to be run through with a machete? But if we’re going to be spending week after week with these characters, there are only so many cartoonishly awful popular girl shenanigans I’ll be able to take from Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind). There’s no tried-and-true recipe for adapting a slasher series to TV — we’re in barely charted waters here — but if the Chucky series wants to surprise as it continues along, it’s going to have to flesh out some of the secondary characters so they’re slightly less-obvious targets.

A little more than a year since its original announcement, we still know comparatively little about Avowed — the new first-person RPG from Obsidian based in the Pillars of Eternity universe. However, a new report by Windows Central appears to shed light on the project, revealing that it's well into pre-production and that it will "feature many elements Pillars of Eternity fans are familiar with."

They reportedly include familiar spells such as Jolting Touch and Fetid Caress, as well as creatures like the Xaurips. The report repeatedly compares Avowed to Skyrim and Oblivion, describing it as "undoubtedly Obsidian's take on The Elder Scrolls." It may go as far as to include destructible environments, with fire spells leaving areas "coated in flames."

Avowed is reportedly still in pre-alpha and is not yet playable, but Obsidian is said to be making steady progress. The report speculates that Avowed could be in a playable state by E3 2022, but that date is currently unconfirmed.

Assuming it's all correct, it sounds like Avowed will be the sort of deep open world RPG that has been characteristic of Obsidian's efforts over the years. A direct descendant of Black Isle Studios, Obsidian is best-known for its work on Fallout: New Vegas and Knights of the Old Republic 2, both which has become beloved classics over the years.

Avowed was first announced back in July 2020, where it was presented as evidence of Microsoft's growing first-party muscle in the run-up to the launch of the Xbox Series X|S. Little has been revealed since, suggesting that Avowed is indeed still quite early in its development process.

However it turns out, both Avowed and The Outer Wilds represent Obsidian's renewed push into the AAA RPG space after a prolonged absence. Prior to being acquired by Microsoft, Obsidian had been focusing on smaller projects such as Pillars of Eternity and Tyranny.

Apart from Avowed, Obsidian is currently working on The Outer Worlds 2, which was announced during E3 2021. Both games are set to be released on PC and Xbox Series X|S, and neither have a release date as of yet.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

Ridley Scott says the Alien TV series that he's working on won't overshadow the original movie he directed in 1979. Scott discussed the upcoming Alien series in an interview with The Independent that was published on Monday.

Disney announced the Alien TV series in December 2020 with the news that the show's creator, Fargo and Legion's Noah Hawley, is working with Scott on the series. Scott has now shared his thoughts on what will be the first Alien TV series and how it compares to his original, iconic movie.

"It’ll never be as good as the first one," Scott said grinning, according to The Independent. "That’s what I’ll say."

Scott directed the original Alien movie, which was released in movie theaters in 1979. Alien would go on to have three sequels and two spin-off crossover movies with Predator without Scott's involvement. Scott would return to the franchise as a director and producer with Prometheus in 2012 and Alien: Covenant in 2017.

Scott said the movie studio had a negative reaction to Prometheus and its box office results.

"I never showed an alien in it and the studio…said, ‘See, it didn’t do so well!’ Really?" Scott said.

As The Independent points out, Prometheus made over $400 million at the box office. The Numbers reports it among the top 20 biggest movies of 2012 and one of the biggest R-rated movies of all time.

The movie studio then told Scott to "put the aliens back in there." Alien: Covenant would only go on to make about $240 million at the box office, according to The Numbers.

"When you’ve got a marvelous beast, it does wear out and you have to actually think again," Scott said.

Scott already has plans for another Alien movie. In January 2020, Scott said the idea for the new Alien movie is to detail the origins of the ship filled with eggs from the first movie. But a lot has changed since then. The Alien TV series was announced and Scott signed up to direct two movies.

The Independent says the 83-year-old director plans to film the Napoleon Bonaparte movie Kitbag starring Joaquin Phoenix in January 2022 and will begin filming a sequel to Gladiator by the end of 2022. The Alien TV series is also set to film in 2022.

Scott's next movie to be released as a director is The Last Duel, which is set to hit movie theaters on Friday. He has already completed another movie, House of Gucci, which is releasing in movie theaters on November 24.

In IGN's The Last Duel review, we said the movie has, "brilliant performances, brutal fights, and impactful social commentary."

Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN.