In a downtown Manhattan courtroom on Monday, lawyers for the US Justice Department and 40 state and district attorneys general warned a jury that the concert industry was being squeezed by a monopolist: Live Nation-Tickemaster. After amassing dominance over ticketing and artists’ use of large amphitheaters, lead DOJ counsel David Dahlquist alleged, Live Nation constructed […]
Another high-profile live-service game is shutting down soon after launch: this time it’s the free-to-play squad shooter Highguard. Developer Wildlight Entertainment says that, even though Highguard reached 2 million players, the game will be shut down permanently on March 12th. That’s less than two months after the game debuted on January 26th. “Despite the passion […]
EA is adding some big changes to The Sims 4: Later this month, it’s introducing an in-game marketplace where users can buy creator-made items using a new in-game currency called “Moola.” The announcements mark another big shift for the game, which went free to play back in 2022. Creators who want to sell in-game items […]
It’s been a busy few years for Scott Pilgrim. Following a live-action film and the conclusion of the comics in 2010, the series has slowly been coming back to life. First, in 2021 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game was rereleased on modern consoles after years of being inaccessible. Two years later came an […]
Pokémon’s 30th anniversary is here and Nintendo (and The Pokémon Company, Game Freak, and Omega Force) are kicking things off with a surprisingly excellent life simulation spinoff game. Pokémon Pokopia arrives on March 5th, and it’s one of the first Pokémon titles that will debut exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2. Equal parts Animal Crossing, […]
Following a Direct in February and a Pokémon-focused event last week, Nintendo returned today with a showcase focused on indie games. And it ended with a big one: the absorbing, room-shifting puzzle game Blue Prince is launching on the Switch 2. Even better, it’ll be available later today. The rest of the titles revealed during […]
Now that Paramount Skydance has become the frontrunner to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, CEO David Ellison wants the two studios’ streaming services to become one. During a call with investors on Monday, Paramount Skydance head David Ellison insisted that, if his deal to acquire the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery for about $110 billion receives […]
Nintendo has a history of fleshing out the larger Pokémon world through spinoffs. What games from the Pokémon Snap and Detective Pikachu series lacked in terms of action, they made up for in the way they made pokémon feel like creatures with rich lives outside of their relationships with trainers. And as the mainline series […]
Lego’s new Smart Brick is a pretty big deal. It packs a miniature computer, a microphone, and NFC tech into a classic 2×4 Lego brick, which can power all sorts of new experiences with select sets. It has so much promise that we awarded it “best in show” at CES 2026, and now, eight Star […]
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the contemporary attention economy, follow Mia Sato. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started “KING BASEBALL, monarch of the American sport world, is sick,” […]