Optimus Prime and Bumblebee will soon be zooming around on a street near you. “Transformers: Heavy Metal” is an augmented-reality mobile game due out later in 2021 that will use the AR platform from Niantic, the company behind breakthrough title “Pokémon Go.” The game promises to let fans use their smartphones to team up with
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Xbox’s highly anticipated E3 showcase, the first since Microsoft’s $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda, took place on Sunday, showering fans with a torrent of gaming announcements. Specifically, the showcase shared details on 30 titles, 27 of which will be available on Xbox Game Pass. From the announcement of new Bethesda franchise “Starfield” to more details
Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones are finally coming to “Sea of Thieves.” On Sunday, during Microsoft’s E3 showcase, developer Rare announced that it had officially partnered with Disney for a “Pirates of the Caribbean”-themed expansion, “A Pirate’s Life,” a free update hitting the multiplayer game on June 22. It is, as Rare executive producer Joe
After launching their first volley at SXSW this past spring, U.K.-based outfit Fat Red Bird are set to expand its “(Hi)Story of a Painting” franchise, partnering with the National Gallery in London for the series’ four subsequent installments. Directed by Gaëlle Mourre and Quentin Darras, and produced by Charlotte Mikkelborg (who also runs the U.K.-based
When producer Chloé Jarry launched the Paris-based XR studio Lucid Realities, she wanted to open an immersive experience production company structured with a distribution component as well. “If we want to continue producing, we have to be able to distribute,” Jarry tells Variety. “Festivals are obviously extremely important, but they attract a limited and often
Boasting 41 projects and 81 decision makers, NewImages’ XR market took on a more expansive scope this year as organizers looked to welcome new actors and project types into the fold. “We’ve seen a much wider profile of projects this year,” NewImages market head Elie Levasseur tells Variety. “Because NewImages is very linked to the
Cinétévé Experience, the interactive branch of production outfit Cinétévé, used this year’s NewImages Festival to launch a prototype of its unconventional AI project “Eliza.” Created by Léa Ducré, the immersive installation will put participants in an enclosed space and ask them to engage in conversation with an inquisitive and incisive AI interlocutor with only one
Following the launch of startups in Kenya and South Africa in 2015, and the victory of Nigerian filmmaker Joel Kachi Benson’s “Daughters of Chibok” at Venice’s VR competition in 2019, industry eyes have looked to the African XR ecosystem with ever-growing interest. Some of that interest, however, has been a little short-sighted, so speakers at
Filmmakers Michelle and Uri Kranot’s multi-user experience “We Are at Home” won the Grand Prize at Paris’ NewImages festival on Friday evening, furthering a blockbuster festival run. Known as the Masque d’Or (the Golden Mask), the award comes with a €6,000 ($7,264) grant. Adapted from Carl Sandburg’s 1922 poem, the project has taken shape in
Spotify is on the hunt for another big-name podcaster: The company is in advanced talks with Alexandra Cooper to bring raunchy talk show “Call Her Daddy” — currently produced and distributed by Barstool Sports — exclusively to its platform, Variety has confirmed. The pact could be worth $20 million or more. The perennially popular “Call
Amazon has snapped up the bulk of French soccer rights for the league’s two top divisions for 2021-24, prompting pandemonium with French pay TV group Canal Plus backing out of its deal for a smaller package of League 1 matches in protest. Canal Plus backing out is a big deal because the paybox is believed
Over its nearly five-decade history, HBO has never run commercials. Now WarnerMedia, in a bid to maximize its streaming base, has rolled out a cheaper version of HBO Max with ads — $9.99 monthly, 33% less than the regular $14.99 no-ads plan. The company promises that it will feel as deluxe as any advertising can
On March 11, 2020, just as COVID-19 lockdown orders were starting to trickle out across the U.S., E3, the annual trade event for the video game industry, was canceled for the first time in its 25-year history. The decision rocked the gaming community — at least for a couple of days, before every other major
Artists, Writers and Artisans (AWA) has appointed Zach Studin as the president of the newly-formed AWA Studios, which will take the company’s expanding library of comic book stories and adapt them into new film and TV projects. In his new role, Studin will oversee entertainment industry partnerships for AWA Studios. He previously fostered deep industry
Lisa Sugar, more than 16 years after launching PopSugar as an entertainment blog, has stepped away from day-to-day management of the brand. Leadership of PopSugar, which was acquired in the fall of 2019 by Discovery-backed Group Nine Media, will be assumed by Angelica Marden — herself a 15-year PopSugar veteran — who has been named
Netflix has been selling its subscription products direct-to-consumer since it was founded more than two decades ago. Now the streaming giant has launched Netflix.shop — the company’s first owned-and-operated retail outlet to sell products directly. Of course, Netflix already has licensing deals for hundreds of products based on its original programming, sold by Target, Walmart,
Ahead of Sunday’s highly anticipated Microsoft/Bethesda Games Showcase at E3, Microsoft held a virtual press briefing about the future of Xbox and the company’s approach to gaming. And, unsurprisingly, much of it came back to Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft has been gradually building on the service, which grants users access to a library of hundreds
“Luther” actor Idris Elba and Sabrina Elba have launched Audible original podcast “Coupledom with Idris and Sabrina Elba.” The six-part podcast created by actor, producer and DJ Idris Elba, and model and co-founder of S’able Labs, Sabrina Elba, sees them dig into what makes successful relationships thrive with some of the world’s most renowned duos.
The National Music Publishers’ Association filed a lawsuit against Roblox, accusing the massively multiplayer online game company of illegally using songs from numerous artists — and seeking a minimum of $200 million in damages. Songs that are being used in Roblox’s online game without the company compensating writers or copyright holders include those recorded by
When Amazon’s $8.45 billion deal was announced, outgoing honcho Jeff Bezos assured shareholders that the company was committed to “reimagining and developing the deep catalog of MGM.” Never mind that the library his company is purchasing is highly exploited, with a good many of its vintage titles, and even some new movies, already licensed to
Carolyn Everson, who led Facebook’s advertising teams as VP of the social giant’s Global Business Group, is leaving the company after a little more than a decade. Everson announced that she had resigned from the company in a Facebook post Wednesday. Her exit comes after Facebook chief revenue officer David Fischer, to whom she reported,
Brett Hawn had never really in vested in the stock market until his teenage sons tipped him off to GameStop earlier in the year. On Reddit, investors were talking up the distressed retailer and the AMC theater chain. Hawn, a 50-year-old network engineer from Phoenix, bought 50 shares of AMC, seeing it as a chance
Jojo Siwa’s bow is a signature of her brand, so when Instagram head Adam Mosseri saw the teen star on video without the accessory, he was understandably shocked. “It was right around my birthday that I realized, I kind of want to do my hair different,” Siwa said during a Q&A as part of Instagram
Last June, YouTube launched a $100 million #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund in an effort to help equip Black musicians with the resources and support to enable them to “thrive and invest in work that amplifies the voices, perspectives and stories of all Black artists around the world,” according to the announcement. The company has provided periodic
On Wednesday, EA Dice unveiled the first details for the sixth game in the “Battlefield” franchise, including its name: “Battlefield 2042.” The multi-player first-person shooter will be released for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC on Oct. 22. The new installment will widen the map for “Battlefield’s” largest matches ever,
Gigi Gorgeous is getting into the podcast game. Next week, the social-media star, TV personality and transgender activist is launching “Queerified,” a weekly podcast cohosted with her longtime best friend Marc Lamentac, also known as Mimi, in a premiere timed for Pride Month. Gigi (above left) and Mimi will discuss topics including what it was
WarnerMedia appears to have fixed major bugs with the HBO Max app for Apple TV devices that had left the service a frustrating, barely usable mess for several days — with problems that included pause, rewind and fast-forward controls not working correctly. In a message late Tuesday night, HBO Max’s customer help account wrote, “We
After winning top honors at last year’s Venice VR competition, directors Michelle and Uri Kranot haven’t exactly rested on their laurels. The filmmaking duo behind “The Hangman at Home VR” has further expanded the project into three new iterations, while simultaneously developing a separate animated feature. In June alone, the Kranots will launch three new
Mark Zuckerberg wants Instagram and Facebook to be “the best platform” for creators to make money, the Facebook CEO said in unveiling new monetization tools and programs — including a way for Instagram influencers to earn commissions from online sales they facilitate. Zuckerberg announced the news at the inaugural Facebook/Instagram Creator Week event on Tuesday.
Upon learning of “Marco & Polo Go Round” and the film’s surrealist premise, execs at VR distributor Diversion Cinema jumped at the chance to distribute, even if the project’s delivery date was still several years away. “It was such a strong idea,” says Paul Bouchard, Diversion head of acquisitions and sales. “Today there are so