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IGN.com - News Edit Unfollow Disney Reportedly Developing Amazon Prime Competitor With Exclusive Deals and Merch by Adele Ankers-Range Sep 1, 2022 The Walt Disney Company is reportedly looking at establishing a new Amazon Prime-style membership program that would offer customers discounts and special perks. According to The Wall Street Journal, Disney is in the "early stages" of discussing the program and has not yet established a potential launch date for the scheme or outlined its membership costs. Instead, the company has been studying Amazon Prime, which offers advantages such as free shipping, and Apple One, which bundles premium services into tiered packages, to consider various options for its own plan. Insiders claim that Disney's primary goal is to create a program that encourages members to spend more on its streaming services, theme parks, resorts and merchandise while also collecting valuable intel on customers purchasing habits by reviewing "data about which shows they watched, trips they took and merchandise they purchased" to better understand the preferences of each individual subscriber. Disney's new membership program would reportedly target more casual Disney fans and customers, separating it out from the company's D23 Official Fan Club, which currently costs $99.99-$129.99 a year. Some executives have allegedly dubbed the company's next initiative "Disney Prime," though the WSJ asserts that title is only being used internally and won't be the name of the service. "Technology is giving us new ways to customize and personalize the consumer experience so that we are delivering entertainment, experiences and products that are most relevant to each of our guests," said Kristina Schake, senior executive vice president and chief communications officer at Disney, in a statement. "A membership program is just one of the exciting ideas that is being explored." Plans are still in the process of being formulated so all of the details are not yet ironed out. However, people familiar with the discussions have claimed that the Amazon-like membership program could include perks from third parties, such as discounted tickets for Disney shows on Broadway, in addition to cross-selling across its various platforms to forge a better link between its products and services. As a first step, the company expects to introduce a retail feature to Disney+ sometime this year, which will enable subscribers to buy merchandise associated with the platform's various streaming titles by scanning a QR code that redirects customers to the ShopDisney website. Some merchandise tie-ins may even be exclusive to Disney+ users as an additional perk for those with a subscription. D23 is right around the corner, and it is going to be bigger than ever this year. The Expo is running from September 9 to September 11, and for the very first time, it will feature a Disney and Marvel Games showcase, with brand new video game announcements from the likes of Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel, and more. Stay tuned to IGN for all of the latest news and reveals from the event. Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter. Continue Reading Prey Director Says Arkane Was Forced to Use that Title: 'It's Gross... Not What I Wanted to Do' by Ryan Dinsdale Sep 1, 2022 Prey director Raphaël Colantonio has said developer Arkane Studios was forced to use the Prey name by Bethesda, despite his disagreement and feeling "gross" by using it. Speaking on AIAS Game Maker's Notebook podcast (and spotted by Kotaku), Colantonio said that using this name was disrespectful to 2006's Prey - which was a completely different game made by a completely different team and company. "Calling Prey Prey, that was very very hurtful to me. I did not want to call this game Prey, and I had to say I wanted to anyway in front of journalists," Colantonio said. "There is a bit of the artistic, the creative side that is insulted when you tell this artist: 'You know your game? It's going to be called Prey.' And you go like, 'I don't think it should. I think it's a mistake'." Calling it Prey was also detrimental to the game's sales, Colantonio said, because fans of 2006's Prey - a first-person shooter about an ex-soldier being abducted by aliens - would protest Arkane's game and those who disliked the original wouldn't look twice at it. "It was also a kick in the face to the original makers of Prey," he continued. "I wanted to apologize to them many, many times. I didn't really have a chance because I don't really know those people. It was never our intention to steal their IP and make it ours. It's gross and that's not what I wanted to do." Colantonio left Arkane not long after Prey was released in 2017, citing the name debacle and overall disagreements with management as one of the reasons for doing so. While Prey was received well by critics and players - IGN said it was great - Colantonio commented that its sales were poor and the franchise has been dormant since some DLC was released in 2018. Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day. Continue Reading First Dwarf Is a New Open World Survival RPG With a Visual Touch of Breath of the Wild by Joe Skrebels Sep 1, 2022 First Dwarf is a new open world action-RPG that includes base building and survival elements - and seems to be taking its visual cues from Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game sees you play as the titular First Dwarf, a scout in a mana-powered mech, sent to find a new home for his people. As you can see in the exclusive trailer below, you'll be exploring a pastoral open world set across floating islands, looting, crafting, building a colony, fighting off threats, and seemingly uncovering a more personal story along the way. First Dwarf will come to PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and Switch in 2023. "Planet Driftland is no more," reads a plot synopsis from developer Star Drifters, "a war between mages of four races has shattered the globe into floating islands and the inhabitants turned into barbaric tribes. Amongst the desolation the dwarves prevailed, but not for long - resources are running short and the once great civilization is catching its last breath. In a desperate attempt to secure the future, mighty airships are sent to the celestial islands in search of materials to save the dwarven kingdom." Star Drifters promises that, along the way, you'll be able io upgrade your mech armour, allowing you to visit more far-flung floating islands, uncover the hidden past of your character's father, and even unlock the use of a miniature dragon called Ragna. Although built in Unreal Engine 5, the game is adopting a more stylized look than a lot of its peers on the new engine. Its painterly textures and naturalistic colors definitely seem to be drawing on Breath of the Wild - not a bad comparison, all things considered. 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 newstips@ign.com. Continue Reading

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