Apple has announced that Pluribus, a new science fiction drama from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, will premiere on Apple TV+ on November 7. Gilligan was confirmed to be working on the project back in 2022, when Better Call Saul's Rhea Seehorn was also announced as its primary star.

Alongside the premiere date, Apple also released a short (somewhat ominous) teaser for the series that shows a hospital employee mindlessly licking donuts. Pluribus is supposed to follow "the most miserable person on Earth" (presumably Seehorn) as they "save the world from happiness," but your guess is as good as mine as to how the two tie together.

Apple's penchant for backing science fiction shows has been well-documented at this point. The company is currently producing a television adaptation of William Gibson's Neuromancer, and has made three seasons and counting of Foundation, based on the novel series by Isaac Asimov. Toss in things like Severance, Murderbot, Silo and For All Mankind and you've got a pretty varied catalog of sci-fi media to choose from.

Just how "science fiction" Pluribus will actually be remains up in the air. When reports went out in 2022 that Apple was ordering two seasons of the show, it was described as "a blended, grounded genre drama." Apple's premiere date announcement pitches the show as "a genre-bending original."

Pluribus' nine-episode first season will premiere on November 7 with two episodes. New episodes will stream weekly after that, all the way through December 26.

Following the success of Fallout, Amazon is turning its attention to another video game adaptation. The company is reportedly developing a series based on the Wolfenstein franchise with the help of some of the creative team behind Fallout, according to Variety.

The details of how the Wolfenstein show will adapt the alternate history action of the games are still under wraps, but the subject matter remains unfortunately timely. The show's logline is "The story of killing Nazis is evergreen," according to Variety, which seems like a direct acknowledgement of that fact.

Patrick Somerville, the writer and showrunner of Station Eleven, will reportedly serve as the writer of the Wolfenstein adaptation, with Lisa Joy, Athena Wickham and Jonathan Nolan producing the show through their company Kilter Films. The production company also made the adaptation of the William Gibson's The Peripheral for Amazon, and currently produces Fallout.

While it might make sense to pair a new show with a brand new Wolfenstein game, the series has effectively been on hold since 2019. MachineGames, the Microsoft-owned developer of the last five Wolfenstein games, hasn't produced a new entry since 2019's Wolfenstein: Youngblood and Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot. The studio released Indiana Jones and the Great Circle in December 2024.

Given the tumultuous state of Microsoft's Xbox division, the series could be your best bet for getting more Wolfenstein, assuming Amazon decides to move forward.

The Brave web browser and the ad-blocker AdGuard have both announced that they are blocking Microsoft Recall by default. For the uninitiated, Recall is an AI-powered tool that accompanies Windows 11 and it records everything on a PC's screen. It's pretty obvious why a privacy-minded web browser like Brave and an ad-blocker would make this move.

AdGuard said the decision was made due to a "privacy concern," going on to say that "the very idea of background screen captures is unsettling." A blog post on the matter suggested that the tool could "snap a screenshot of a private chat window, an online form where you’re entering your credit card or simply something personal you didn’t want saved."

Brave also cited privacy concerns, suggesting that a user's "entire browsing history" could be captured by the tool. "We think it’s vital that your browsing activity on Brave does not accidentally end up in a persistent database, which is especially ripe for abuse in highly-privacy-sensitive cases," the company wrote in a blog post.

The chat app Signal made a similar move back in May, urging "AI teams building systems like Recall" to think "through these implications more carefully in the future." Brave says it was "partly inspired" by Signal.

AdGuard and Brave both offer toggles to bring Recall back into the mix. Microsoft's controversial tool lets people jump to whatever was previously on a screen. This includes web pages, images, documents, emails, chat threads or whatever else. It actually sounds like a pretty nifty productivity tool, despite the privacy concerns. It's available with some Copilot+ PCs.

“Alexa, I need to write a review about you.”

“Oh, a review? I’m intrigued! What’s the occasion? I’d love to hear what you think.”

“There’s no occasion, this is just my work.”

“Ah, I see. Writing a professional review, got it. I’m here to help if you need any specific information.”

“Yeah, what should I consider when reviewing you?”

“Consider my natural voice, emotional intelligence and my ability to handle complex tasks. How about my personality and humor? Those are key parts of the new me.”

The above is a recent exchange I had with Alexa+. Access to the next-generation assistant has been slowly trickling out to users since Amazon first announced availability at an event in February. But work on the smarter, more natural-sounding Alexa has been going on for years, and it still isn’t ready for a widespread release. The version currently rolling out is more like an intriguing preview of what a truly intelligent Alexa could be.

I’m having a hard time figuring out how I feel about the upgraded Alexa. On the one hand, I cannot deny it is now capable of tackling some fairly complex requests it couldn’t before. On the other, it doesn’t have good memory, can’t really see all tasks to completion and is just incompetent enough to be annoying.

I want to first caveat all of this by pointing out that when it does become broadly available, Alexa+ will be a free upgrade for Amazon Prime subscribers. Non-Prime members will have to pay $20 a month for the privilege, but they’ll still get the existing Alexa experience on their compatible devices should they choose not to upgrade. That means there will likely be no extra cost to most, and you probably won’t need to spend too much time thinking about whether you want to use it. As long as it’s not a worse experience, it is very easy to say yes to.

I’ve been tempted to get philosophical when thinking about a digital assistant that’s more fluent in human. Do I really want to think of the new Alexa as basically a flesh-and-blood assistant with emotional intelligence, personality and humor? No. If it performs poorly, I'll be let down; if it performs well and can essentially pass a mini Turing test, the ickier I'll feel at keeping something like an indentured servant in my kitchen.

I set aside my existential questions and tried to focus on the practical experience of getting help from Amazon’s upgraded assistant. Is it better than the previous version? Is it reliable and easy to use? Finally, does it deliver what Amazon promised? And as a bonus, is the experience enjoyable (or at least painless)?

The answer to all those questions is a half-hearted shrug. In some ways, Alexa+ delivers. But in many ways it is an excellent showcase of the limitations of generative AI, and demonstrates that the true problem with the current cohort of AI tools is a mismatch between expectations and reality.

Amazon

What’s new with Alexa+?

A voice assistant is hard to describe, since it’s intangible and amorphous. It’s quite difficult to state where its capabilities begin and end, not to mention how it might have been upgraded. But I’ll start by comparing it to its predecessor, which I’ll be calling Original Alexa (or OriginAlexa, if you will indulge me).

OriginAlexa taught us how to use very specific commands to do things like turn our living room lights on or off. If you had a family member or friend named Alexa, you might have renamed it to “Computer” and adapted your relationship to that word. Due to how you might have grouped your home gadgets, you could have begun to refer to your kitchen area lights as “skylights,” for example.

“Alexa speak,” as some call it, differs across households. I say “Alexa, stop,” to silence alarms, while my best friend says “Alexa, off,” to do the same. But regardless of the specific word choices, Alexa-speak largely revolved around using stilted phrases and careful enunciation to avoid having to repeat yourself to get something done. Anyone that’s used any voice assistant is probably familiar with the frustration of repeating yourself when a command has been misheard for the umpteenth time.

That’s (supposed to be) a thing of the past with Alexa+. In a blog post announcing the new assistant, Amazon’s lead of devices and services Panos Panay said “Alexa+ is more conversational, smarter, personalized — and she helps you get things done.” The company said it “rebuilt Alexa with generative AI,” but it didn’t just use large language models (LLMs) to make its assistant converse more naturally. It also created new architecture to enable API integration “at scale.” These APIs are how assistants can connect to third-party services to do stuff on your behalf, and Amazon described them as “core protocols to getting things done outside of a chat window and in the real world.”

In a separate blog post, Amazon said “This architecture is what will let customers quickly and seamlessly connect with services they already use in their daily life: GrubHub, OpenTable, Ticketmaster, Yelp, Thumbtack, Vagaro, Fodor’s, Tripadvisor, Amazon, Whole Foods Market, Uber, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Max, smart home devices from companies like Philips Hue and Roborock, and so much more.”

Basically, Alexa can communicate with you more naturally, meaning you can talk to it more like you would with another human being, so you can forget about Alexa-speak. It will also retain information about your preferences and is capable of handling more tasks on your behalf.

But enough about the promises. What was living with Alexa+ for weeks actually like?

The setup

Alexa+ is currently only available as an “Early Access” preview to a small group of users. Though, other people in my non-tech circles did start gaining access recently, which means you might be able to check it out yourself soon.

The fact that it’s still somewhat exclusive and experimental means there are likely to be glitches, which is understandable. Once I got past the first day or two after upgrading to Alexa+, I didn’t notice many actual bugs. What frustrations I did encounter later seemed more to do with programming and AI’s limitations than unstable software.

The updated Assistant currently requires at least one compatible device with a screen on your network, so those of you who only have Echo speakers will have to wait a lot longer or try it on your phone. I spent most of my time testing Alexa+ via an Echo Show 15 as well as the Alexa app on my iPhone.

There were small variations in the answers I would get on either device, but by and large the experience was similar. The most meaningful difference really was in how I perceived Alexa. Initially, when I was interacting with it on the smart display, it felt more like an upgraded smart home and personal assistant, and I predominantly asked it to check on the weather, Uber prices or to help me do things like set timers, reminders and play music.

Amazon (Screenshots from the Alexa app)

On my phone, though, I talked to Alexa+ more like I would with ChatGPT. I asked deeper, more philosophical questions that required more research and thought. I asked it to generate images, sort 15 names into three groups and, inspired by the subreddit “r/tipofmytongue,” help me find a book I was struggling to recall.

Over time, I did come to rely on the smart display more, as it’s always easier to just say “Alexa, is Mountainhead a good movie” than to pick up my phone, find an app and ask the AI. Of course, I could ask the same question of Siri or my Google speakers, and I did. All three assistants answered similarly, each citing different sources. Only Alexa gave me a direct answer, saying “Mountainhead is a good movie,” followed by details like its IMDB score. The other two simply rattled off “On the website RottenTomatoes dot com, …” or “here’s an answer from whattowatch dot com.”

Alexa has improved in some small ways

In many ways, Alexa+ is a marked improvement over its predecessor, and I have to admit I found myself nodding, impressed, at its ability to tackle multi-step tasks and recall previous conversations. Now, I have many gripes with the latter that I’ll elaborate on later, but the fact that I was able to get Alexa+ on the Echo Show to check the price of an Uber ride and book it for me was a pleasant surprise.

Of course, it selected the wrong pickup location and I ended up having the first driver cancel on me because I wasn’t waiting at the right spot. But it did manage to completely book a ride on my behalf, relying solely on my voice commands and an Uber integration I had set up earlier.

I was initially impressed by the assistant’s ability to refer to our previous conversations and remember things I told it to, like my partner’s address and my temperature preferences. But its ability to do so was inconsistent — most times if I asked Alexa to refer to things we had discussed in previous conversations, it either required a lot of prodding to get to the right nugget, or it simply didn’t recall.

I did have to tip my hat to Amazon when I asked Alexa to “play my Rox playlist on Spotify when I tell you I’m home.” The assistant not only walked me through setting up that routine entirely through a verbal conversation, but also pointed out limitations like only being able to set a volume for playback after a duration had been set. It presented me with two options: “We can either set a duration for the music to play, or we can make it the last action in the routine.” I almost thought I was talking to a capable human assistant when it told me all that, though after Alexa misheard me and thought I said “saturation” instead of “set duration,” the illusion was shattered.

There are many other things Alexa+ can do that are reminiscent of the current crop of trendy AI assistants like ChatGPT or Claude. Ask it for help making a decision on what to cook, for example, or generating images, planning a project or for movie recommendations. One new capability I was excited about was sending me emails from our conversation. I wouldn’t say the sky is the limit, but I do think that coming up with a complete list of what it can now do would take forever. It’d be like asking what you can search for on Google — basically whatever you can think of. Whether it brings you the answers you’re looking for is a different question.

I found Alexa+ helpful in that it was able to email me the lists of names it sorted on my behalf, or the project timeline I asked it to help create. But the limits to what it would send me were frustrating. Straightforward content, like the three groups of five names, arrived at my inbox with no problem. Other times, like when I asked it to email me the conversation I started this article with, it only sent me part of our chat. This has a lot to do with what Alexa deems to be the beginning and ending of a conversation, and it was fairly often wrong. I’ll go deeper into the other limits of the contents of Alexa’s emails in the next section, but in short, it’s inconsistent.

Inconsistent and imperfect

That’s a pattern of behavior that you’ll see here. Alexa+ will be capable in some new way that has potential to be exciting and useful, but it will fail you somehow or execute its task incompletely. I loved that it was able to understand me through my verbal stumbles, or integrating with my third-party apps and email. But I kept hitting walls or being let down. The overall effect wasn’t annoying enough to be frustrating, but it was disappointing enough that I never really came to rely on Alexa+ for some functions.

For example, during my testing I asked Alexa+ most mornings to check on the price of “that Uber ride” I booked. Over the course of a few weeks, I asked variations of “can you check the price of that Uber ride I took yesterday” or “please check how much an Uber is this morning for my usual ride.”

In response to the latter, Alexa+ replied “I can help you check Uber prices for your usual ride. I have two saved pickup locations for you. Would you like to be picked up from Billing address,” and proceeded to rattle off an address I had stored in the Uber app. It continued, offering a second pickup address and asking if I preferred a different location. After I selected one, it asked where I would like to be dropped off. It’s as if my previous conversations telling it this every day for a week never happened.

To its (very small) credit, Alexa+ gave me accurate prices after I supplied all the parameters, but it took a tiresome amount of time. That’s largely due to how verbose the responses are. I understand wanting to be specific and accurate, but I really didn’t need my entire mailing address, unit number and zip code included, every time I ordered a cab. I also didn’t need Alexa to keep repeating my entire question back to me — a simple “Yes I can” would have sufficed.

Amazon (Screenshots from Alexa app)

Alexa+ also came off a bit needy, which would be humanizing if it wasn’t so robotic about it. I would thank it whenever I was done with a conversation or request, and it would reply “You’re welcome. Glad I could help you with…” and make a sort of reference to our chat in a few words. Or it would say “you’re welcome, have a nice day.” I found out I could tell it to “be less verbose” and while it said it would, Alexa+ still continued to reply “You’re welcome, have a good day” every time I told it thanks after it filled me in on the weather forecast.

I could almost put up with the overly long responses, if Alexa did things the way I expected. But like I already mentioned, it’s inconsistent. Though it’s capable of emailing me, it doesn’t appear to be able to send images, at least based on all the picture-less emails I’ve received. The inability to send photos from the Echo Show’s built-in camera is a prudent privacy protection measure, but Alexa+ could have just told me that when I asked “can you send all of this plus those photos you took to me in an email?”

Instead, it replied “Certainly, I can help you with that. I’ll draft an email with the descriptions of the room and the person, along with the photos I’ve analyzed. Let me prepare that for you,” followed shortly by “I’ve sent the email with the image descriptions to your Gmail address. You should receive it shortly.”

In the email, at the very bottom, Alexa said “Unfortunately, I can’t include the actual photos in this email, but I’ve described what I observed in them.” Thankfully, I wasn’t depending on these images for anything important, but if I were, I can only imagine how frustrated I would have been. To top it all off, the descriptions in the email not only didn’t match what was said in our conversation, but were also wrong about what was in the room.

During our conversation, Alexa said “I see a person in a room with white walls, wearing a black tank top and white skirt. There’s furniture including a cabinet, bookshelf, desk and coffee table.” That’s a fairly accurate description of my living room.

The email I got had three sections with bullet points. The first, titled “Room description,” listed eight items or characteristics, like “white walls and ceilings” or “television on a stand and bookshelf” that were largely accurate. Here, it said I had a “white cabinet with drawers,” which is wrong. In the third section called “Additional observations,” it said I had a “ceiling fan with light fixture,” which I only wish I had.

Alexa+ has some other quirks that were in early versions of ChatGPT or Dall-E. For example, when I asked it to create an image of an AI assistant on the screen of a smart display on a kitchen island, it was completely unable to understand my request. Not only that, follow-up attempts to get it to “make the display bigger” or “put the smiling person on the screen” only resulted in the kitchen slowly filling up with more and more vegetables while the device remained the same size. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Amazon (Screenshots from Alexa app)

Is the goal of generative AI to be human?

I could continue to list examples of where Alexa+ failed to completely do what I asked it to, but I think you get the point. The one area where I can confirm a noticeable improvement is in the way the assistant sounds and how it understands speech. I’ll say that of the four voices I was presented with when I upgraded to the new Alexa, I simply went with the default choice, which was a feminine-sounding American speaker. I didn’t mind it, but I know some other people who dislike it. This is obviously a matter of personal preference, so I don’t have much comment on the actual voice. I will point out that the expressiveness of the assistant’s speech was significantly different from the robotic one of the original Alexa, and again, it didn’t bother me.

One of my biggest initial concerns was having to adjust how I spoke to Alexa. I considered myself fluent in Alexa-speak. Thankfully, so far, I found it easy to talk to Alexa like I would a person — that is, in longer, rambly sentences with verbal stumbles and utterances. For the most part, I felt understood, or at least better understood than by the Google Assistant or Siri. Of course, that in itself raises philosophical questions of whether you want to speak to AI like you would people to begin with. But from my weeks with Alexa+, that feels like the least pressing concern.

Back to the conversation I had with the assistant on what to look out for when I review it. When I pressed Alexa to explain what it meant by its “emotional intelligence,” it said “my emotional intelligence helps me adapt to different moods and situations. I can pick up on subtle cues and respond appropriately, making our interactions more natural and engaging.”

This set off my internal alarm bells just a bit, so I asked how it was detecting my mood. Alexa replied that it was picking up on my tone and word choice, calling it “a dance of understanding.” So I pushed it further:

"Tell me about your emotional intelligence."

"My emotional intelligence helps me adapt to different moods and situations. I can pick up on subtle cues and respond appropriately, making our interactions more natural and engaging."

"Well how are you detecting my moods"

"I pick up on your tone and word choice. Your emotions color our conversation, and I adapt to match. It's like a dance of understanding."

"How do you think I am feeling right now?"

"Based on our chat, I'd say you're feeling analytical and focused. You're in work mode, evaluating my capabilities for your review."

"What about when I, you know, asked you about the weather this morning?"

"This morning, you asked about the weather and I provided a sunny forecast. How did that information help you start your day?"

"No, I was asking about my mood back then, do you know how I felt then?"

"Ah, I see. Based on that morning conversation, you seemed casual and curious about the day ahead. Your tone suggested a typical start to the day, neither particularly excited nor stressed."

During this exchange, I also adjusted the pitch of my voice to see if it would make a difference, and none of the responses I got gave me any real insight as to whether Alexa was actually listening to the sound of my voice to determine my mood. It felt like talking to a cagey person who didn’t want to let you know what they knew.

Neediness, inconsistency and gaslighting. In creating something so imperfect, maybe Amazon has actually managed to nail the human experience. I’ll be clear, though. The company never said it set out to make something human. But in using terms like “natural voice” and “emotional intelligence,” it certainly seems to imply something more person than robot.

It’s not a problem unique to Amazon. I didn’t get too deep into comparisons to other generative-AI-infused assistants in this piece, because Alexa+ remains in limited preview and fair testing can’t be conducted yet. But I did already notice some small areas where the Amazon offering was smarter than others.

I asked Alexa, Siri and the Google Assistant (on a Pixel 9) to set a timer for 30 minutes, before changing my mind and telling them to adjust those to 25-minute countdowns instead. Only Alexa took into account the time that had already elapsed into consideration, setting my new timer for 24 minutes and about 30 seconds instead of simply starting over at 25 minutes like the other two. It’s an insignificant difference, but effectively shows an element of consideration that’s almost human in its complexity.

I will spend more time with Alexa+ to further poke at the limits of its abilities and to continue our dance of understanding. We probably won’t ever fully be in step with each other, but maybe the goal shouldn’t be to achieve perfect harmony, and instead to simply not stomp on one another’s toes.

Itch.io has deindexed and hidden all adult games and other content from its browse and search pages to make sure it doesn't lose the ability to sell with the payment processors it uses. The gaming marketplace, which mainly hosts titles from indie developers, has admitted in an announcement that it wasn't able to give creators advance notice. It "had to act urgently to protect the platform’s core payment infrastructure," it said, because the "situation developed rapidly." 

The website explained that it recently came under the scrutiny of its payment processors after an organization called Collective Shout launched a campaign against Steam and itch.io. Collective Shout, which describes itself as an Australian grassroots campaigning movement, directed its concerns to the gaming marketplaces' payment processors. It originally focused its campaign around the game No Mercy that revolves around a character engaging in rape and sexual violence. Both itch.io and Steam removed the game back in April. In its open letter to payment processors published earlier this month, however, the group said it "discovered hundreds of other games featuring rape, incest and child sexual abuse" on Steam and itch.io since then. 

Steam already banned "content that may violate the rules and standards set forth" by its payment processors, which mostly affected adult games. Now, itch.io is also clearly heading that way. At the moment, the website is doing a comprehensive audit of its content and will keep adult games delisted until it's done. After it's finished, it will introduce new compliance measures and will require creators of adult games to confirm that their titles are allowed under the rules of the payment processors linked to their account.

Itch.io admitted that some games will be permanently removed from its marketplace as part of its review and the new policy it will put in place, but it said its "ability to process payments is critical for every creator" on its platform. "To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance," the website said in its announcement. 

Although No Mercy's removal from gaming websites is understandably celebrated by a lot of people, users are concerned about the potential effects of marketplaces adopting anti-porn rules. Queer content, for instance, is disproportionately affected by censorship measures and could be tagged as "adult" or "NSFW" even when it doesn't contain anything sexual. 

Streaming has become a tangled web of subscriptions, and now Comcast says it can help by putting all your services into one hub. Comcast is launching a new hub on its set-top boxes, called the StreamStore, where you can buy and manage subscriptions for more than 450 streaming apps and channels.

The StreamStore lives within Xfinity’s Xumo Stream Box and on X1 devices. It’s also available on the web, and features a collection of more than 200,000 movies and TV shows to rent or purchase. Xfinity will let you add or drop channels through the store, while tacking on new subscriptions to your monthly internet or TV bill, further positioning the company as a sort of streaming broker. 

Other cable / telecom companies like Verizon have tried to step in as a digital subscription service middleman, though Comcast is taking things a step further by putting this hub on your TV. But is streaming really messy enough that you need Comcast to manage it?

Some services included in the StreamStore include Netflix, Peacock, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Hulu, Apple TV Plus, HBO Max, and over 100 “niche” streaming subscriptions, according to LightReading. Xfinity already offers its own StreamSaver bundle, which includes a subscription to Apple TV Plus, Netflix with ads, and Peacock’s ad-supported plan for $15 per month.

The bundle is, of course, available through the StreamStore, and Xfinity says it plans on bringing new streaming bundles, apps, and “enhanced subscription management and activation capabilities” to the hub in the future.

(Disclosure: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.)

As promised, Apple has finally revealed Pluribus, a new show from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan that’s coming to Apple TV Plus. In addition to a very brief teaser involving some gross donut behavior, the streamer also confirmed that the show will premiere on November 7th.

The show has been in the works for a while, as Apple first announced that it had picked up a Gilligan project back in 2022. It stars Rhea Seehorn, who previously worked with Gilligan on Better Call Saul. But there aren’t a lot of details other than that. According to Apple, the show — which is already confirmed for a second season –is about “the most miserable person on Earth” who “must save the world from happiness.” The rest of the cast includes Karolina Wydra, Carlos Manuel Vesga, Miriam Shor, and Samba Schutte.

While details are slim, we do at least have one single image of Seehorn in the show:

Pluribus also adds to an ever-growing lineup of science fiction series on Apple TV Plus, including recent shows like Murderbot and new seasons of Foundation and Invasion, along with upcoming projects like an adaptation of Neuromancer.

Perhaps we've been thinking the same thing, you and I. That there won't be a long-standing drought of Nintendo Switch 2 availability after all. The console has been easy to buy online from several retailers this week, including Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. Amazon, which didn't sell the Switch 2 at launch, is currently selling it by invitation only.

The console's messy preorder process and spotty launch availability made it feel a little like late 2020 all over again, when the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Nvidia RTX 30-series GPUs launched in extremely limited quantities due to component shortages. However, Nintendo appears to have ad …

Read the full story at The Verge.

James Gunn knows that most people are familiar with Superman's origin story, which is why DC Studios' new feature about the Man of Steel opens at a point when he has already become a world famous superhero. Instead of rehashing the tragic beats of Krypton's destruction, the movie is punctuated with moments that show you how deeply Superman cherishes the few remaining pieces of his homeworld. He loves his Kryptonian family crest and his out-of-control superdog. But the most impressive and alien keepsake that Clark Kent holds close to his heart is a massive stronghold buried deep beneath the ice in Antarctica.

The Fortress of Solitude (which …

Read the full story at The Verge.

• Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "The Fantastic Four: First Steps."
• Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) is part of a thrilling ending to the movie.
• The movie also teases how The Fantastic Four will be part of "Avengers: Doomsday."

"The Fantastic Four: First Steps" follows superheroes Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), his wife Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), her brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and their friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they take on their biggest adversary yet, Galactus (voiced by Ralph Ineson).

With several versions of "The Fantastic Four" told over the decades, director Matt Shakman skips the origins of how the foursome gained their superpowers and dives right into the action, which is heightened by the fact that Sue Storm is also pregnant.

That news complicates things by the middle of the movie, when The Fantastic Four learn that Galactus wants to destroy Earth after a visit from his herald the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). The heroes travel lightyears to bargain with Galactus, but the villainous devourer of worlds learns of the child and its powers, which are still unknown to Sue and Reed. Galactus tells The Fantastic Four that if they give him the child, he will spare Earth.

They refuse, escape Galactus and Silver Surfer to return to Earth (the baby Franklin is born during all the madness), and race against the clock to figure out a way to save Earth before Galactus travels there.

Sue Storm risks it all to save her child

After Richards' plan to teleport the entire planet somewhere else in space fails, the movie ends with The Fantastic Four using Franklin as bait in Times Square. All Galactus has to do is get near a portal Richards has created, and he will be sucked to another part of the universe.

Everything goes according to plan until right when Galactus gets near the portal and figures out The Fantastic Four moved Franklin. After the heroes battle Galactus but aren't able to stop him, he looks to have finally won, as he has the baby.

But Sue Storm uses all of her powers to force Galactus into the portal, with a final push from The Silver Surfer, who turns out to only be working with Galactus so she could spare her own planet from being destroyed by him. Earth is saved, but Sue looks to be dead.

Richards tries to revive her but is unsuccessful. Franklin is crying and is reaching out to his mother. Richards lays Franklin on her chest. Suddenly, Franklin revives Sue by putting his hands on her. Sue's eyes glow, and then she begins to breathe. She later tells Richards that their child is much more powerful than they are.

The movie's mid-credits scene reveals how The Fantastic Four could be involved in 'Avengers: Doomsday'

It's clear that Franklin will be a major focus in future "Fantastic Four" movies and the MCU as a whole.

The movie's mid-credits scene jumps to four years later, when Franklin is now a toddler and Sue is reading him a book. She walks away from him to get another book to read, and when she returns, she sees a person in a green cloak holding a mask while leaning over Franklin. The boy is touching his face, which is blocked by the hood he has on.

It's clear that this is Doctor Doom. The screen then cuts to black, and text appears that says, "'The Fantastic Four' will return in 'Avengers: Doomsday,'" which hits theaters in December 2026.

The biggest jump Marvel Studios will have to make is getting The Fantastic Four, who are living in 1960s Earth-828, to where all the "Avengers" action takes place, which is Earth-616.

This tease may be a clue as to how that's done.

It seems, just like Galactus, Doctor Doom (who will be played by Robert Downey Jr. in "Doomsday"), can sense Franklin's powers. It's possible he may trick The Fantastic Four into building something that will transport him to Earth-616. We'll have to wait until "Avengers: Doomsday" to find out for sure.

• Disney has been steadily adding to the "Alien" and "Predator" franchises since 2022.
• This year, it will release the "Alien: Earth" TV series and the "Predator: Badlands" movie.
• Here are clues that suggest the company is setting up an "Alien vs Predator" reboot.

The two "Alien vs. Predator" movies were widely panned — but it looks like Disney could be setting up a rematch between the iconic monsters.

The studio, which has owned both the "Alien" and "Predator" franchises since it bought 20th Century Studios in 2019, hasn't announced a new crossover but has seemingly set the stage for the Xenomorphs and the Yautja to battle once again.

Audiences still have plenty of love for both characters: 2024's "Alien: Romulus" earned $350 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, and the "Predator: Badlands" trailer was watched 15 million times on YouTube in the three days following its release on July 22.

Here are three clues that fans think suggest Disney is planning a new cosmic beatdown.

One of the main characters in 'Predator: Badlands' is a Weyland-Yutani android

The biggest clue comes from the trailer of the upcoming "Predator: Badlands" movie, which shows that an android called Thia (Elle Fanning) has the logo of Weyland-Yutani, the nefarious corporation in the "Alien" franchise, printed on the back of her eyes.

The film is set in the future on a distant planet, where a young Yautja hunter named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), an outcast from his clan, has to kill something bigger than himself to reclaim his honor.

Weyland-Yutani will be a key player in the "Alien: Earth" TV series, which will stream weekly on Hulu and Disney+ from August 12.

20th Century Studios is contemplating what a new 'Alien vs. Predator' could look like

Obviously, it's one thing to include a fun Easter egg to the wider universe, but it's another to explore those connections in a crossover movie. (Representatives from 20th Century Studios did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.)

However, in October 2024, the 20th Century Studios executive Steve Asbell revealed that the company has discussed an "Alien vs. Predator" project.

"It wouldn't be in the way you think. That's the thing. Not in the way that it will just be called 'Alien vs. Predator' or anything like the original movies," he told The Hollywood Reporter.

"If we do this, they'll be organically created out of these two franchises that we've continued with characters that we fall in love with, and those characters will combine…perhaps. But we haven't gotten to that point. And we're not just going to bang it out."

The 'Alien: Romulus' director Fede Alvarez has a unique idea for a new 'Alien vs. Predator' movie

The plot of a potential crossover is unknown, but the "Alien: Romulus" director Fede Alvarez explained how he would approach such a film when speaking to Deadline.

"Maybe it's something I have to co-direct with my buddy Dan," he said in August 2024, referring to the "Predator: Badlands" director. "Maybe we should do like Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez did with 'Dusk Till Dawn.' I'll direct a half, and he'll direct another half."

The concept of having two directors helm each half of a film sounds like a recipe for disaster. But considering both Alvarez and Trachtenberg appear too have a good handle on depicting their respective monsters, it could make for an interesting experiment.

For now, fans will have to wait and see whether there are any more crossovers between the two when "Alien: Earth" starts streaming on August 12 and "Predator: Badlands" releases on November 7.

• "KPop Demon Hunters" is topping Netflix's global movie rankings and breaking records.
• The family animation film about a K-pop group has also produced chart-topping songs.
• This hit shows a path for Netflix to compete with Disney in animation, analysts said.

K-pop is taking charts of all types by storm — and Hollywood should take note.

Netflix's "KPop Demon Hunters" has ranked in the top two of the streamer's global movie charts in each of the five weeks since its mid-June debut, including back-to-back weeks in the top spot.

The animated film about demon-fighting Korean pop singers is, notably, gaining steam instead of slowing down. "KPop Demon Hunters" just had its best week with 25.8 million views, and Netflix said that's the first time one of its original movies has hit a new peak in its fifth week.

The movie's popularity propelled one of its original songs, "Golden," to the top of the Billboard Global 200 last week, though it's since slipped to second — replaced by another K-pop hit.

"KPop Demon Hunters" is now set to become Netflix's biggest animated original film ever, according to entertainment data provider Greenlight Analytics.

"Netflix should absolutely continue pushing forward in the medium," Brandon Katz, the insights and content strategy director at Greenlight Analytics, said of K-pop and family animation.

A Netflix spokesperson pointed to the streamer's top-10 list and an accompanying blog post.

How K-pop can make Netflix more like Disney

Korean shows like "Squid Game" have made waves for Netflix, which responded with a multibillion-dollar investment in the country's content.

K-pop is a natural extension of that strategy. It's wildly popular around the world, as the Billboard charts show, making it an ideal fit for a global streamer like Netflix. Disney+ has taken note with a concert and documentary about BTS, one of the biggest K-pop boy bands.

"The cultural interest and excitement surrounding K-pop continues to intensify," said Paul Dergarabedian, a media analyst at Comscore. He added: "The undeniable appeal of K-pop should have everyone's attention in the world of entertainment, studios, theaters, and content creators alike."

Katz went a step further, venturing that "KPop Demon Hunters" could become the backbone of franchises for Netflix, which "doesn't boast a century-long library of intellectual property like its legacy media rivals," specifically those that are family-friendly.

Sing-along franchises, especially those with K-pop, may be the icing on the cake. Netflix could create condensed sing-along versions of the hit songs from "KPop Demon Hunters" to keep its momentum going.

"It's the perfect modernization of Disney's long-running emphasis on family-friendly musicals," Katz said.

Family matters

"KPop Demon Hunters" isn't just a welcome win for Netflix's original film business — it also may be a blueprint for competing with rival Disney in family and animation.

Netflix set out to "beat Disney in family animation," cofounder and former CEO Reed Hastings told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021. But despite its best attempts, the streamer hasn't achieved that goal.

Although Netflix has had many family animation hits on its platform, they've mostly come from elsewhere. Popular kids series CoComelon generated huge viewership, but the cartoon is going to Disney+ when its Netflix deal ends in 2027. And while theatrical hits like "Minions" and "Despicable Me 4" topped the charts on Netflix, they were licensed from Universal's Illumination.

By contrast, "KPop Demon Hunters " is a Netflix original, though it was produced by Sony Animation and not the streamer's in-house team. The streaming giant could keep using these production partnerships while its own team masters the craft.

Netflix should make cracking original family films a priority, Dergarabedian said. PG-rated films have outgrossed their PG-13 peers at the box office in 2023, 2024, and 2025, he said, citing Comscore data. That includes blockbusters like Universal's "Super Mario Bros. Movie" and the live-action "How to Train Your Dragon," plus Disney's "Lilo & Stitch."

Katz said that "theatrical animation is arguably the best bang for your buck genre in Hollywood" since the pandemic. He said Netflix must nail the family genre, which already accounts for 15% of its global viewership, to keep Gen Alpha kids from going to YouTube.

"Establishing an emotional connection with young audiences provides Netflix with a direct path to the next generation of disposable income spenders," Katz said.

Hulk Hogan, a mustachioed, headscarf-wearing icon in professional wrestling who turned the sport into a massive business and cultural touchstone, died Thursday at age 71, Florida police said.

In Clearwater, Florida, authorities responded to a morning call about a cardiac arrest. Hogan was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said in a statement on Facebook.

Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, was perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s long history. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even company chairman Vince McMahon.

He won at least six WWE championships and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.

“One of pop culture’s most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan’s family, friends, and fans,” WWE said.

“Hulkamania,” as the energy he created was called, started running wild in the mid-1980s and pushed professional wrestling into the mainstream. He was a flag-waving American hero with the horseshoe mustache, red and yellow gear and massive arms he called his “24-inch pythons.”

In recent years, Hogan has waded further into politics.

At the 2024 Republican National Convention, Hogan merged classic WWE maneuvers with President Donald Trump’s rhetoric to vociferously endorse his longtime acquaintance.

“Let Trumpamania run wild! Let Trumpamania rule again! Let Trumpamania make America Great Again!” Hogan shouted into the crowd.

He ripped off a T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of himself on a motorcycle to reveal a bright red Trump-Vance campaign shirt underneath. Then-presidential candidate Trump stood to applaud the move.

In 2016, a Florida jury awarded Hogan $115 million in his sex tape lawsuit against Gawker Media and then added $25 million in punitive damages. Hogan sued after Gawker in 2012 posted a video of him having sex with his former best friend’s wife. He contended the post violated his privacy.

Hogan smiled and wore black throughout the three-week trial.

“Everywhere I show up, people treat me like I’m still the champ,” he said of the support from fans.

Hogan first became champion in what was then the World Wrestling Federation in 1984, and pro wrestling took off from there. His popularity helped lead to the creation of the annual WrestleMania event in 1985, when he teamed up with Mr. T to beat “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff in the main event.

He slammed and beat Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III in 1987, and the WWF gained momentum. His feud with the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage – perhaps his greatest rival — carried pro wrestling even further.

Hogan was a central figure in what is known as the Monday Night Wars. The WWE and World Championship Wrestling were battling for ratings supremacy in 1996. Hogan tilted things in WCW’s favor with the birth of the Hollywood Hogan character and the formation of the New World Order, a villainous stable that put WCW ahead in the ratings.

He returned to the WWE in 2002 and became a champion again. His match with The Rock at WrestleMania X8, a loss during which fans cheered for his “bad guy” character, was seen as a passing of the torch.

He was perhaps as known for his larger-than-life personality as he was his in-ring exploits. He was beloved for his “promos,” hype sessions he used to draw fans into matches. He often would play off his interviewer, “Mean” Gene Okerlund, starting his interviews off with, “Well, lemme tell ya something, Mean Gene!”

He crossed over into movies and television as well. He was Thunderlips in the movie Rocky III in 1982.

—-

White reported from Detroit. AP writer Safiyah Riddle contributed from Montgomery, Alabama.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Terry Bollea, better known to the world as professional wrestling icon Hulk Hogan, died Thursday at his home in Clearwater, Florida, at the age of 71, TMZ reported, a development that was soon confirmed by WWE. The cause of death was reported as cardiac arrest, with emergency services responding early in the morning after a call from his residence. Hogan is survived by his wife, Sky Daily, and two children, Brooke and Nick, from prior marriages.

Although he was one of professional wrestling’s iconic figures, Hogan may be remembered more for the chill he sent through journalism with an eventful lawsuit in the 2010s backed by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel.

Hogan’s passing closes the chapter on a larger-than-life figure whose impact on the industry and popular culture spanned more than four decades. After making his wrestling debut in 1979, Hogan quickly rose through regional territories before ascending to major wrestling stardom in the mid-1980s. His charisma and signature catchphrases—most notably, “Whatcha gonna do, brother, when Hulkamania runs wild on you?”—made him professional wrestling’s first true global superstar, and a notable crossover star into mainstream entertainment.

With his iconic red-and-yellow ring gear, his habit of shredding his shirt, and his trademark entrance to the song “Real American,” Hulk Hogan became synonymous with WWE’s transformation from a niche pastime into a billion-dollar entertainment juggernaut. He headlined the very first WrestleMania in 1985, helping WWE’s then-chairman Vince McMahon realize his vision of a nationwide phenomenon.

Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Hogan was the face of the WWE, when he captured a run of world championships and led storylines in era-defining fashion. His character inspired generations of children—“Hulkamaniacs”—but his appeal reached far beyond wrestling. Hogan became a fixture of pop culture, making appearances in movies including Rocky III, Suburban Commando, Mr. Nanny, and TV shows such as Thunder in Paradise. After several years in Hollywood, Hogan returned to wrestling in the late 1990s, reinventing himself as a “heel,” named Hollywood Hogan, in WCW’s New World Order.

He was a two-time WWE Hall of Famer, first inducted individually in 2005 and then as a member of the nWo faction in 2020.

Despite the superhero persona, Hogan’s life was not without controversy and hardship. He endured high-profile personal and legal battles and shifts in public perception. He also played a major role in a lawsuit that changed digital journalism and signaled a new era in right-wing politics.

in 2012, Gawker Media published a brief excerpt from a sex tape featuring Hogan and Heather Clem, the wife of Hogan’s friend, a Floridian radio host with the stage name Bubba the Love Sponge. The video had been filmed secretly and then leaked to Gawker by an anonymous source. Hogan, shocked and outraged by the publication, filed a lawsuit charging Gawker with invasion of privacy, infringement of personality rights, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The trial took place in Florida in early 2016 and drew widespread attention to the rising tensions between individual privacy rights and freedom of the press in America. After only a few hours of deliberation, the jury ruled in Hogan’s favor, awarding him $115 million in compensatory damages and an additional $25 million in punitive damages, for a total of $140 million. A month after the verdict, Gawker founder Nick Denton told Fortune that he wished he’d “known how litigious Hulk Hogan was.”

The colossal judgment forced Gawker Media to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, even though the parties settled for $31 million. The aftermath included an unprecedented revelation: The lawsuit was financially backed by Peter Thiel, who had personal grievances against Gawker after being outed by the site in a previous article. Up to that point, Thiel was best known as a member of what Fortune dubbed the “PayPal Mafia,” but the Gawker lawsuit was part of his emergence as one of the faces of Silicon Valley’s rightward turn. Both Hogan and Thiel had supported Donald Trump in the recent 2016 presidential election.

Gawker’s bankruptcy marked the end of a prominent, controversial digital outlet known for unfiltered reporting, and Hulk Hogan v. Gawker Media remains one of the most consequential legal battles in recent American media history, fundamentally reshaping ideas around privacy, journalism, and power.

For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Now that the Switch 2 is finally here, you may be equally as excited to kit out your new console with the right accessories as you are to dive into Mario Kart World. Not only can the right accessories make it easier and more fun to play all of the games you love, but they can also make your gaming experience better in different environments, be it on the couch, in an airplane or in the car. We're excited to get our hands on some of the newest Switch 2 accessories (more on those below), but plenty of our favorite classics are compatible with the Switch 2 as well as older versions of the console. These are our current favorite Nintendo Switch 2 accessories, and we'll add to this list over time as we test out new gear.

Best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories

More Nintendo Switch 2 accessories

Nintendo announced a bunch of new accessories when it revealed the Switch 2 earlier this year. Key among them are a new Switch 2 Pro controller, Switch 2 camera, an all-in-one carrying case and more. Our staff will be testing out a bunch of these accessories, and we'll keep our favorites list up to date as we do so. If you're interested in picking any of those new Switch 2 accessories up, you can find them at a variety of retailers:

Joy-Con 2 bundle

• Nintendo

• Walmart

• GameStop

• Best Buy

• Target

• Amazon

Switch 2 Camera

• Nintendo

• Walmart

• GameStop

• Best Buy

• Target

• Amazon

Hori Nintendo Switch 2 Piranha Plant Camera

• Best Buy

• Target

• Amazon

Joy-Con 2 Charging Grip

• Nintendo

• Walmart

• GameStop

• Best Buy

• Target

• Amazon

Joy-Con 2 Wheels (set of 2)

• Nintendo

• Walmart

• GameStop

• Best Buy

• Target

• Amazon

Switch 2 All-in-One Carrying Case

• Nintendo

• Walmart

• GameStop

• Best Buy

• Target

• Amazon

Switch 2 Carrying Case and Screen Protector

• Nintendo

• Walmart

• GameStop

• Best Buy

• Target

• Amazon

Welcome to Video Games Weekly on Engadget. Expect a new story every Monday or Tuesday, broken into two parts. The first is a space for short essays and ramblings about video game trends and related topics from me, Jess Conditt, a reporter who's covered the industry for more than 13 years. The second contains the video game stories from the past week that you need to know about, including some headlines from outside of Engadget.

Please enjoy — and I'll see you next week.

This week, I’m fried. Maybe it’s the plodding and ever-present crumbling of society and human decency, or maybe it’s because Love Island USA just ended so I’m feeling extra listless. It’s a familiar summer sensation, but this year everything is exaggerated and extra tense, the stakes of every action seem higher, and instead of melting into the warmth of the season with a popsicle and a smile, I often find myself frozen and numb. I am the popsicle, coo coo ca choo.

I’m not sure exactly what I’m trying to convey here, but I think it’s clear that I shouldn’t be writing anything too serious at the moment. I’m working on a few reports and trying to keep my composure amid the chaos, and all the while, the video game headlines keep rolling on. I’ve included a few more than usual this week, as penance for my popsicle state.

The news

The Chinese Room escapes from Tencent

UK studio The Chinese Room, creator of Still Wakes the Deep and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, is independent once again. The Chinese Room leaders completed a management buyout with help from VC firm Hiro Capital to fully split the studio from Tencent subsidiary Sumo Digital, which acquired it in 2018. A number of people were laid off as part of the transition and the studio is left with a total of 55 employees. The Chinese Room is still working on Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 for Paradox Interactive, and it also has original projects in development.

Still Wakes the Deep was one of my absolute favorite games of 2024. Whether you’re a fan of beautiful paranormal horror or you're just really into oil rigs, give it a go.

Read these stories that Vice censored

Vice’s owner, Savage Ventures, doesn’t want you to read this story. Or this one.

Vice removed two articles about Steam’s new ban on certain “adult-only” content and the organization that pushed for the change, Collective Shout, which has the support of prominent anti-pornography groups with conservative religious foundations. The stories were written by contributor Ana Valens, who said the removals were “due to concerns about the controversial subject matter — not journalistic complaints.” Valens has vowed to never write for Vice again and a handful of reporters there have resigned in solidarity.

Censoring stories about censorship is certainly a choice, Vice.

Supermassive delays Directive 8020 and shrinks its team

The home of Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology, Supermassive Games, is laying off 36 people, restructuring its team and delaying one of its projects into 2026. A statement from the studio says the decisions were in response to the video game industry’s “challenging and ever-evolving environment.” It’s estimated that Supermassive had more than 300 employees before the layoffs.

Directive 8020, the fifth installment in the Dark Pictures Anthology, is now due to come out in the first half of 2026, rather than this fall. Honestly, I’m not surprised to hear Supermassive needs more time to work on Directive 8020. I watched Engadget UK bureau chief Mat Smith play the demo at Summer Game Fest in June, and while it looked great, we were both surprised by how short and non-interactive the segment was. He summed up this feeling in his preview with the line, “Finally, I got to play (but only for a few minutes).”

Supermassive is also working on Little Nightmares III, a series that it took over from Tarsier Studios. Tarsier created Little Nightmares and its sequel, but lost the rights to the IP when the team was acquired by a subsidiary of Embracer Group in 2019. Series publisher Bandai Namco kept the Little Nightmares brand and commissioned Supermassive to build the third game, while Tarsier is working on its own project, Reanimal.

It makes sense that Supermassive would prioritize Little Nightmares III in order to fulfill its obligations with Bandai. The game has already been delayed once, and it’s set to hit PC and consoles on October 10.

FBC: Firebreak is getting less busted

I still have high hopes for FBC: Firebreak to be the Left 4 Dead revival we’ve always wanted, but fact is, it’s not quite there yet. Remedy Entertainment is aware of this hard truth and has a plan to fix it. The studio laid out its pipeline for making FBC: Firebreak easier to jump into, more fun to play and less confusing overall, with most major changes coming in an update this winter.

Valve is still the best retirement community in game development

PCGamesN published an interview with Counter-Strike co-creator Minh Le, who left Valve years ago to try out independent development. One sentiment stuck out to me.

“They didn't force me out or anything,” Le told PCGamesN. “But a part of me kind of regrets it. Looking back, my decision to leave Valve was, financially, kind of a poor decision. If I had stayed with Valve, I would have been able to retire by now.”

It’s not presented as an indictment of Valve, but I find it notable that Le describes the studio as a place to retire, rather than a space to innovate and create the next generation of video games. At this rate, Valve will never outrun its reputation as the studio where talented game developers go to die (professionally speaking). 

But, hey, at least they're not getting laid off en masse. Which, unfortunately, brings us to the next headline.

Your favorite studio’s favorite studio faces layoffs

Cyberpunk 2077, Sea of Thieves and Dune: Awakening support studio Virtuos is laying off 270 developers, which is about seven percent of its staff. Virtuos is currently best known as the studio behind The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered alongside Bethesda, and it has more than 4,000 employees across Asia, Europe and North America. The cuts affect developers in Asia and Europe, with “fewer than 10” in France, where work on Oblivion Remastered was headquartered.

Heck yeah, there’s gonna be a Hellraiser game

Make sure to pin this one on your calendar. Saber Interactive is making Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival, a first-person, action-survival horror game that features actor Doug Bradley as Pinhead for the first time in nearly 20 years. Barker himself provided input on the story, too. It’s coming to PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox Series X/S, with no release date yet.

"The Hellraiser universe is defined by its unflinching exploration of pain, pleasure, and the thin and terrifying line that separates the two," a description from Saber Interactive reads. "That essence is at the heart of our game."

An inside look at the fallout of the Zenimax layoffs

Game Developer reporter Chris Kerr spoke with a number of employees at Zenimax who are still reeling from the layoffs that Microsoft enacted in early July. The vibes there sound pretty terrible.

“This carcass of workers that remains is somehow supposed to keep shipping award-winning games," one senior QA tester told Kerr. The developer continued, “Microsoft just took everything that could have been great about the culture and collaboration and decimated it. Morale is terrible. It's grotesque. People are stressed. They're crying.”

Xbox cloud play anywhere

When Xbox isn’t firing thousands of employees in one blow, it’s quietly laying the groundwork for the future of video game distribution. An update for Xbox Insiders this week introduces cross-platform cloud support, bringing your cloud library and play history to the Xbox PC app. This means you can access cloud activity on an Xbox console, PC or Windows handheld, and seamlessly play cloud games across devices. This is just how video games are going to work in the coming decades, and it’s interesting to watch our future slowly roll out in blog posts and software updates.

Subnautica 2 scandal catch-up

Did you miss all of the mess around Subnautica 2 last week? Or, more accurately, this past month? To quickly summarize, Subnautica publisher Krafton is being sued by the series creators after it fired them and then delayed their game, allegedly sabotaging a $250 million bonus payout due to developers. To not-quickly summarize, see my complete breakdown of the drama.

My Melody & Kuromi hits Netflix this week

I don’t know who else needs a little levity in their life right now, but I certainly do. Thankfully, the stop-motion show My Melody & Kuromi is coming to Netflix on July 24, and there’s already an adorable tie-in music video by LE SSERAFIM to enjoy. Zen out, watch all of the Sanrio sweetness and finally settle the debate: Are you more of a Kuromi or a My Melody?

Additional reading

• Kris Holt's weekly indie game roundup

Have a tip for Jessica? You can reach her by email, Bluesky or send a message to @jesscon.96 to chat confidentially on Signal.

The Chinese Room, maker of Still Wakes the Deep, has bought back its independence. The studio will continue developing new franchises after splitting from the Sumo Group. The latter said earlier this year that it's pivoting away from original games and toward co-development work. Tencent bought the British studio Sumo for $1.27 billion in 2021.

Game Developer reported that VC firm Hiro Capital facilitated the Chinese Room's independence deal. Studio head Ed Daly told the publication on Monday that the company is open to partnering with other developers moving forward.

Unfortunately, the studio's good news is tainted with an all-too-familiar story. The studio confirmed to Game Developer that it will lay off an undisclosed number of employees as part of the split. "Following the divestment process, a number of roles were regrettably made redundant," a company spokesperson said. "The specifics are confidential, but the studio is currently 55 developers. This was a very difficult process as we sought a future for the studio outside of Sumo. No more layoffs are planned as the studio moves forward."

The Chinese Room / Secret Mode

The "modern horror classic" Still Wakes the Deep isn't all the studio is known for. The Chinese Room also made Little Orpheus, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and the OG walking simulator, Dear Esther. The UK-based developer is also working on Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 with Paradox Interactive. The long-delayed title is scheduled to launch in October. The Chinese Room is also developing two other unannounced titles.

"This management buyout allows us to scratch the creative itch of continuing to work on new, original intellectual property but also to partner with other studios on other projects when they fit in with our vision," Daly told Game Developer. "This is what we are doing and we want to carry on doing it, so we're happy to carry on in this vein."