The director of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has told fans to keep playing — even when GTA 6 launches.

Of course, the hugely-anticipated GTA 6 arrives on November 19, and is expected to gobble up gaming time and attention away from pretty much every major release — so much so that many other developers are steering well clear and launching their games en masse in September and early October.

But what about post-launch support for games that have already released, such as Resynced? Asked about the contents of future updates for the newly-launched remake, game director Richard Knight played coy, though mentioned the upcoming New Game Plus mode that publisher Ubisoft previously confirmed.

What might follow that remains to be seen. Still, the suggestion that support will continue through GTA 6's November release date is interesting to consider.

"I mean, I can't say anything officially, but you know, it doesn't feel like a crazy bet," Knight said, speaking to Assassin's Creed fan YouTuber JorRaptor.

"I mean, we definitely need to support the game... We need to, you know, fix bugs. Sorry for anyone running into bugs. They hurt. They're painful for us, too. And we do want to add some quality-of-life stuff. So, I mean, it's a pretty reasonable guess. Also, please play us when GTA 6 comes out.”

Ubisoft confirmed last week that a New Game Plus option was coming to Resynced, alongside a celebration of the game hitting 3 million copies sold. "Guess we'll have to keep the adventures going with New Game Plus later on, mates," Ubisoft wrote.

"We're working on that right now," Knight said of New Game Plus. "For sure. It's one of the first things. Partly because [Assassin's Creed] Shadows has already built their version, so it's considered a low-risk feature for us. We're still doing the work, so I can't promise exactly a day or anything, but we're definitely working on this one. It's just such a natural thing."

What else might follow? Perhaps a challenge mode, similar to the option recently added to Assassin's Creed Mirage? This lets fans replay story missions with new, additional objectives, racking up points to unlock additional in-game items and cosmetic options.

One key request from fans would likely be the original Black Flag's well-received DLC, Freedom Cry, that features a fresh story for first mate Adewale. But this would likely be a major undertaking for Ubisoft, and to date there's been no suggestion this will happen.

Until then, there's plenty to keep fans happy in the base game, which IGN gave a 9/10 in our Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced review. "More than just a shinier version of the same game you remember," we wrote, "Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced brings what was already one of the best games in the series up to today’s standards."

Before you dive into the Golden Age of Piracy, check out our guides on things to do first and tips and tricks to help Edward Kenway's journey be a smooth one. As you explore the Caribbean, make sure you don't miss a single collectible, especially the shanties to keep you and your crew entertained on the high seas. Blow other ships to smithereens with our naval combat guide and save Reales for your next Jackdaw upgrade to be the mightiest pirate you can be.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Have you ever wanted to fall asleep to the sound of Call of Duty players screaming through a $5 mic and into your ear? No? Well, Call of Duty Ambience is here anyway.

Erected by app-maker Mike Wing, Call of Duty Ambience is a new website that, for some reason, allows you to tap back into multiplayer lobbies like it's 2010 all over again. Fit with an Xbox 360 theme, cringy gamertags, and other classic visuals, the site allows anyone to log in and get some shuteye while strangers argue in the background.

Three Call of Duty games are supported at the moment: Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops, and Black Ops 2. If you ever played a few games of team deathmatch for any of these first-person shooter classics, you should immediately feel right at home.

most people fall asleep to white noise

i fall asleep to grown men arguing in cod lobbies

so i made a website that plays Call of Duty voice chat 24/7 pic.twitter.com/tu0q1rxtFO

"Most people fall asleep to white noise," Wing said in an X/Twitter post. "I fall asleep to grown men arguing in CoD lobbies. So I made a website that plays Call of Duty voice chat 24/7."

Most old-school Call of Duty fans might remember "CoD lobbies" more than the games themselves. In the early days of multiplayer for the Infinity Ward and Treyarch titles, players would stick around between matches to chat amongst themselves. These almost always devolved into trash-talking shouting matches that would go on without any real rhyme or reason. It was terrible – but for some, it was peaceful in its own way, too.

CoD lobbies added a social element to the games that's largely been done away with in recent installments. The recently released Black Ops 1 and 2 ports for PS4 and PS5 helped bring back the glory days in their own way, but Call of Duty Ambience feels like an especially nostalgic – and loud – nod, too.

For more, you can read about how Activision is combating exploits in its new ports. You can also learn about how crossplay works here.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Executives at Xbox have once again attempted to clarify the company's approach to exclusives, promising that "Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are not the only titles" it's planning.

Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball and chief content officer Matt Booty tried to further explain how Microsoft is handling exclusives during a conversation with GamesRadar. Their clarification arrived amid the company's renewed interest in the strategy, which kicked off just last month with confirmation that two of its biggest first-party games would not come to PlayStation consoles.

"I can assure you, Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are not the only titles we're planning," Ball promised. "To grow a platform like ours, you have to have exclusive games and services. These are not going to be the only two titles."

Microsoft shocked the industry at its Xbox Games Showcase last month when it declared The Coalition's Gears of War: E-Day would not be releasing on PS5 as many had expected. The announcement that inXile Entertainment's Clockwork Revolution would also be console exclusive arrived sooner after. Both were also confirmed to be pure console exclusives with no timed-exclusivity deals in place.

What's emerged in the weeks since is muddy messaging that's led to some confusion amongst fans. Just as rumors that Xbox had hastily decided to make the Gears prequel exclusive began to dissipate, theories were reignited when the company leaked an image for the game featuring a PS5 logo. Meanwhile, as games like Gears of War: Reloaded, Halo: Campaign Evolved, and Fable come to PS5, players have been left uncertain about how Microsoft will determine what is an exclusive and what isn't.

So, what does the future of Xbox exclusive games look like? For the most die-hard fans – and maybe even Microsoft itself – it's hard to say, for now. In June, Booty said the company will choose which titles get the exclusive treatment on a "case-by-case basis." Today, he's being a tad more direct, promising that, while "large live-service titles" will be multiplatform going forward, players shouldn't expect all single-player titles to be Xbox exclusive.

"I wouldn't overly fixate on single-player," he clarified. "I think that's a good rule of thumb, but it certainly isn't something that's carved in stone."

He continued: "We are the stewards of over 20 game franchises that have made a billion dollars in their lifetime. There are a lot of different games in our portfolio, and we have to think about how different games serve different purposes within it."

Ball said Microsoft does "have a framework for these selections, including how we evaluate them." He noted that it's a strategy that may not be "obvious to all of our players," saying the Xbox team is "committed to making this clearer."

As Xbox CEO Asha Sharma brings "energy" to the team, Booty said he's hoping they strike "the right balance between the work that the teams have invested and a strategy pivot." The new gaming boss said in June that exclusives are needed to build a platform. Ball echoed that thought in the new interview.

"There is scant evidence of any platform ever being built, let alone sustained, without having exclusive content," he said. "It doesn't matter whether we're talking about cable networks, streaming video channels, broadcast, terrestrial radio, a Hollywood studio, a music label – you need it."

We're still in the early days of Xbox's new strategy, so it's tough to say how it will change its troubled ecosystem in the months and years ahead. As the company attempts to clear the air when it comes to its new exclusive strategy, it's still trudging through the aftermath of layoffs that arrived alongside what Sharma called the "most significant restructure" in its history. The resustructure in question, which resulted in 1,600 laid off staff with another 1,600 arriving through the rest of the financial year, happened earlier this month.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).