Tech

“Sonic Frontiers” was supposed to release in 2021, but it was delayed to 2022 in order to improve its quality. After the two “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie adaptations did well at the box office and received generally positive feedback, it makes sense that SEGA would like the next big “Sonic” game to exceed commercial and

Twitter has delayed plans to introduce changes to its verification system, which would allow users to obtain verification check marks as part of a $7.99 per month subscription, until after the midterm elections Tuesday. According to the New York Times, the company made the decision the day after its official announcement of the monthly fee

Elon Musk said the massive job cuts he ordered Friday at Twitter — axing roughly 50% of the social network’s employees — were unavoidable. “Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day,” the billionaire tweeted. He said every Twitter staffer who was fired was offered three

After Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter became official this week, many users found themselves flocking to different social media platforms. Musk’s new position as CEO of the company resulted in mass layoffs on Friday in an effort to cut costs, with Bloomberg reporting that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was planning to axe around 50%

Tembi Locke is launching a new podcast titled “Lifted,” Variety has learned exclusively. The first season, consisting of eight episodes, debuts on Nov. 10. “Lifted” is described as focusing on “the behind-the-scenes events, human stumbling blocks and eventual tools that lead to resilience, pulling back the curtain on the ‘extraordinary moment when everything changed.’” Each

Variety has been nominated for 121 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism awards, surpassing the publication’s previous record of 99 nods in 2021. Variety was nominated for best entertainment publication for its “Leaving the Kingdom” issue, released on Dec. 21, 2021, with outgoing Disney CEO Bob Iger. Senior music writer and chief music critic Chris Willman and

Several current and former Twitter employees filed a lawsuit against the social network that’s now owned by Elon Musk over a huge wave of layoffs expected to come down Friday. The legal action comes as Twitter notified employees on Thursday (Nov. 3) that they would find out via email on Friday whether or not they

The price of HBO Max could be going up soon — even as Warner Bros. Discovery accelerates plans to smush HBO Max and Discovery+ together next year. HBO Max has not raised the $14.99/month price on its ad-free tier since the May 2020 launch, JB Perrette, president and CEO of global streaming and games at

In a major cost-cutting move by new owner Elon Musk, Twitter has notified employees that there will be a wave of layoffs on Friday, Nov. 4 — and that they’ll be notified by email about whether they will continue to have a job at the company. The companywide email did not indicate how big the

The world of podcasting is always expanding, but it’s not always easy to find out what’s new in your preferred genre. Sometimes it takes months for a new series to gather steam and become a word of mouth hit, and meanwhile, you’re sitting on the freeway with nothing new to listen to. But “The System,”

Netflix is now selling a lower-cost version of its streaming service with ads in the U.S. and other countries — but for now, it doesn’t work with Apple TV or Apple TV 4K devices. A Netflix rep confirmed to Variety that “Basic with ads plan support on tvOS is not available at launch but coming

Amazon’s Twitch livestreaming service hired Laura Lee, a veteran media exec who has worked at YouTube, NBCUniversal and Viacom, as chief content officer. Lee takes over the role from Mike Aragon, Twitch’s former chief content officer, who left the company in January 2022 to join Lululemon as CEO of Mirror and Lululemon’s Digital Fitness line.

Creator+, a creator-focused startup studio and digital distribution platform, has made its first acquisition: LGBTQ romantic short film “Reply” from YouTuber Elle Mills. “Reply” will premiere Nov. 10 exclusively on Creator+, priced at $2.99 for a three-day rental. Buyers will be prompted to donate an optional $1 to the Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on

AMC Networks is bringing 11 new free, ad-supported TV (FAST) channels to the Roku Channel — including a selection of episodes from hit series like “The Walking Dead” and “Mad Men” — under a multiyear expansion of the companies’ content pact. The 11 FAST channels on the Roku Channel, created and programmed by AMC Networks,

Film distribution company Kino Lorber has acquired media company MHz Networks, parent of streamer MHz Choice, a North American subscription VOD service specializing in international TV series. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The newly combined company, Kino Lorber Media Group, now has more than 5,000 titles comprising more than 10,000 hours of programming

OnlyFans has made billions as a haven for sex workers and models to monetize content. Can the subscription site for creators also become a place for outré, NSFW comedy? Comedian, actor and podcaster Whitney Cummings is joining OnlyFans and, under a pact with the company, she’s producing a new original show: the “Unfiltered Original Roast

Elon Musk, one week into his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, is gearing up to massively slash the company’s workforce to cut costs, according to a new report. The mega-billionaire is planning to lay of 3,700 Twitter employees, or about half of the current workforce of approximately 7,500, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing anonymous sources. Reps

Roku handily topped Wall Street estimates for the third quarter of 2022, as the streaming platform and media company packed on 2.3 million streaming accounts to reach 65.4 million. However, facing inflationary pressure and an ad-spending slowdown, Roku warned of a weak Q4 — telling investors that it expects total net revenue of roughly $800

When Amazon announced earlier this week its plans to make significant additions to the audio content that comes free with Amazon Prime membership, it was no surprise that podcasts were part of the expanded offering. The company beefed up its podcast capabilities at the end of 2020 with its acquisition of Wondery, producers of notable

Think the hype over NFTs has burned out? You know nothing. This winter, HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery will fire up a new way to engage “Game of Thrones” fans — and generate incremental revenue — with the launch of digital-collectible NFTs based on the epic fantasy franchise. Warner Bros. Discovery’s consumer products group announced

My mother died on Sept. 29. I don’t know how to grieve. I cried when she took her last breath. I cried a couple of days later when I eulogized Arlene Malkin from the pulpit of a Long Island funeral home in front of about 75 friends and family members. The crying actually began about

Mercurial mega-billionaire Elon Musk finally closed his $44 billion takeover of Twitter Oct. 27, following a messy six months of wrangling. Musk did so begrudgingly, only after he was backed into a legal corner, complaining that he was “obviously overpaying” for the social network. But he hit the ground running, firing top execs and promising

Elon Musk, less than a week into his ownership of Twitter, announced that the price of Twitter Blue will increase to $8 per month — and will be the only way to achieve verification on the platform. “Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit,” Musk

Elon Musk got an earful from Twitter power users about the prospect that the company would begin charging verified accounts $20 per month in order to retain their blue check-mark badges — and the world’s richest individual wondered out loud if maybe $8 per month was a more palatable option. Musk had planned to jack

“Don’t Worry Darling” is coming to HBO Max a little over six weeks after the film hit theaters. The psychological thriller, directed by Olivia Wilde, will make its streaming debut exclusively on HBO Max on Monday, Nov. 7. “Don’t Worry Darling,” from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures, stars Wilde alongside Florence Pugh, Harry

Meta is kicking off its second annual Creator Week with a new program celebrating emerging digital influencers. Their inaugural class of Creators of Tomorrow highlights 25 up-and-coming creatives across five categories: Redefining Community, #NoFilter Empowerment, Creative Excellence, On The Rise and Future Ready.  “Creators of Tomorrow is a new program that celebrates emerging talents who are inspiring

Paramount Global, flexing its corporate synergy muscles, is pulling a massive batch of TV shows out of the CBS vault and putting them on its free, ad-supported Pluto TV service. Popular CBS classic series coming to Pluto’s linear streaming service through the end of 2022 include “Frasier” and “Cheers” (in the Sitcom Legends channel); “Star

Elon Musk, the new “Chief Twit” of Twitter, is moving fast to squeeze more juice from his new acquisition, according to a new report. Musk has instructed Twitter employees to quadruple the price of the Twitter Blue subscription plan from $4.99 to $19.99 — which will become the only way to retain verified-user status, the

Tim Burton made the trek to Italy for the European fan screening of his first TV series, “Wednesday,” at the Lucca Comics & Games conference, where the famed gothic fantasy and horror director made one thing very clear: feature filmmaking remains close to his dark heart. “I enjoyed doing this TV series, just because it

Racist trolls are exulting in Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter — and an “organized” cadre of them are flouting the social network’s policies that ban hate speech, according to the company. Instances of the N-word on Twitter increased by almost 500% in a 12-hour period over the previous average following Musk’s closing on the $44