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An upcoming game about taking planet-wrecking corporations to court hopes to go beyond its onscreen battles by raising money for real-life environmental aid. Behind All Rise is a team including both climate experts and top-notch games talent with credits spanning Horizon Forbidden West, Thirsty Suitors, League of Legends and Paradise Killer.

Today, the US Federal Trade Commission criticized Microsoft for its plans to lay off 1,900 employees in the wake of its Activision Blizzard acquisition. Now, Microsoft has issued a response, saying that these layoffs "cannot be attributed fully to the merger," especially because Activision Blizzard already planned on eliminating a lot of jobs before the deal went through.

Microsoft has defended claims made by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that its plans to lay off around 1,900 members of its gaming staff contradict “representations it made” during the fight to acquire Activision, and stated that Activision was already planning “significant” staff cuts.

Microsoft’s decision to lay off over 1,900 employees across Xbox and Activision Blizzard only three months after acquiring the latter has been cause for plenty of debate, and it seems U.S. government officials were definitely keeping an eye on the situation. While the Activision Blizzard acquisition has officially gone through, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has not given up their fight against it, filing appeals to block and reverse the deal as recently as this past December, and now they’ve filed a complaint about the recent Activision Blizzard layoffs. According to the FTC, the layoffs directly contradict statements that Microsoft made to them that Acti-Blizz would be operated independently at arm’s length, with no redundancies between the two companies.

The US Federal Trade Commission sure isn't happy about Microsoft's decision to lay off 1,900 staff from its games business.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a complaint against Microsoft to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit following the news of the company planning to lay off around 1,900 members of staff from across its Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and ZeniMax teams.

Microsoft reneged on promises it made in court during its Federal Trade Commission (FTC) antitrust trial in 2023 by laying off 1,900 employees in late January, according to the FTC. FTC lawyer Imad Abyad filed a letter with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday, effectively telling on Microsoft. “This newly-revealed information contradicts Microsoft’s representations in this proceeding,” the FTC lawyer wrote.

While a recent report shows a second year of declining tabletop revenues at Kickstarter, consumer appetite for crowdfunded tabletop games may actually be increasing. Data shared with Polygon shows that Poland-based upstart Gamefound had a record year in 2023, with revenues from crowdfunding soaring by nearly 98% to $56 million last year. Taken alongside Kickstarter’s own haul of a reported $226.2 million, that could make 2023 the biggest year ever for tabletop crowdfunding.

Microsoft Corp.'s plans to cut 1,900 jobs from its video game division contradict statements the company made to a US  court that it would operate the newly acquired Activision Blizzard Inc. independently, the US Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday.

Crusader Kings III’s 2024 plans have been unveiled by Paradox Interactive, kicking off with the announcement of Legends of the Dead. This is a new expansion pack that will be releasing on March 4th. This pack will add Court Chroniclers who will be able to produce propaganda that can strengthen the power of your bloodline. However, that very bloodline will be under threat from the spread of the Black Death, which will spread through the world.

A former Krafton employee is suing the PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds maker for wrongful termination after she reported an alleged sexual assault by former Krafton head of strategy and business Kevin Kimball.

Following Apple's announcement of enabling third-party app stores for iOS users in the European Union, Epic Games confirms that it'll be bringing Fortnite back to the iPhone and iPad in Europe later this year — by way of a new Epic mobile games store. This will mark the title's official return to Apple's platform since it was yanked back in August 2020, after Epic offered discounts to payments made directly to its own store, instead of Apple's App Store and Google Play which would take a 30-percent cut. iOS users have had to rely on Xbox Cloud Gaming or GeForce Now to play Fortnite, but this will soon be a thing of the past for those based in Europe.

Fortnite is coming back to iOS this year, at least in Europe, Epic Games announced today. It will do so by taking advantage of the Digital Markets Act law passed by the European Union, which will let the Epic Games Store on iOS.

In light of new regulations in the EU and Apple's new policies to comply with them, Fortnite is finally coming back to iOS in 2024 - at least in Europe. But Epic and Apple aren't done fighting with each other.

The dream continues for independent Japanese developer Pocketpair as Palworld has now sold over seven million units in just five days since its early access launch. The open world survival crafting game with monster collection mechanics had sold one million in eight hours, two in twenty-four, three in forty, five million in three days, and six in four days. What's even more impressive is that, according to Geoff Keighley, these sales are for the Steam version alone. They do not account for sales on the Microsoft Store via PC/Xbox, nor do they account for Game Pass player numbers.

Game developers aren't buying that several Pokemon and Palworld creatures look alike by mere coincidence. 

These days, a “water cooler” conversation can flare up and burn out in days. It’s rare to see any movie or TV show still spark any kind of unifying online discussion more than a week after its debut on a new platform, or after the final episode airs. For every Barbie or Oppenheimer or Barbenheimer, where critics, fans, reactors, streamers, podcasters, and others keep talking about the project for months after its debut, there are dozens of Netflix shows where the conversation stops after release weekend, or would-be blockbusters that make some money at the box office, but that viewers seem to have forgotten before the final credit rolls.

We've had almost a year now to assess whether Microsoft Corp.'s plan to add ChatGPT to its Bing search engine made any difference in the great battle against Google. It will come as no surprise to learn that it didn't — Bing's market share in online search has barely moved.

Atari has announced that qomp2, the follow-up to the 2021 Pong continuation, will be released on February 20 on PC and console.

Masimo CEO Joe Kiani, waging a legal fight with Apple Inc. over a blood oxygen feature on Apple Watch, said that consumers are better off without the iPhone maker's version of the technology. The remarks followed Apple's decision to cease sales of smartwatches Thursday that had the tool — a gauge of blood oxygen saturation known as a pulse oximeter — which had been a heavily marketed health feature on the devices. The move stemmed from a ruling by the US International Trade Commission that found the technology violated Masimo patents.

A growing number of video game developers are now quietly working on projects for Nintendo's unannounced Switch 2.

With big, expressive eyes, elfin ears and adorable cooing, Miroka and Miroki could be an apparition from your favorite cartoon.

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked: Samsung on Wednesday released its latest Galaxy smartphone with new artificial intelligence features as the South Korean giant seeks to regain its spot as the world's biggest phone seller from Apple. The premium Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra -- unveiled at an event in San Jose, California -- was said to have the capability to translate foreign language phone calls and texts simultaneously. Available in 13 languages, the on-device function is powered by Samsung's own AI technology.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday ordered Apple to halt the US sale of its latest smartwatch models in a feud over patents with health company Masimo.

Samsung Galaxy S24 live: Samsung has launched its latest flagship smartphones at the Galaxy Unpacked 2024 event in San Jose, California. The new lineup includes the Samsung Galaxy S24, Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus, and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, along with the highly anticipated Galaxy AI. Whether you're thinking of switching from an iPhone to the Samsung Galaxy S24 or considering an upgrade from your old Android phone, let's dive into the specifications, camera features, price and more of these latest flagship phones to better understand what they offer so that you can make an informed decision. Notably, Samsung Galaxy S24 and Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus will be facing fierce rivalry from Apple's iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus across global markets.

We have the solution to Wordle on January 17, as well as some helpful hints to help you figure out the answer yourself, right here. We’ve placed the answer at the bottom of the page, so we don’t ruin the surprise before you’ve had a chance to work through the clues. So let’s dive in, starting with a reminder of yesterday’s answer.

The new Apple Bengaluru office is located at Minsk Square in the center of the city, near iconic buildings including high court, central library, Chinnaswamy cricket stadium, and one of the largest green parks within the city. In fact, what will surely appeal to employees and visitors, it is quite close to Cubbon Park metro station and that means public transit is easily accessible.

Samsung Galaxy S24 launch: The Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event takes place later today, January 17 and the tech giant will unveil its flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S24 series. For months now, leaks and rumours have given us more than just a glimpse of what the smartphone could have in store for us, and it is almost time for the official unveiling. As part of the Galaxy S24 series, three smartphones are likely to be unveiled - Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S24. While the first one is the top-end smartphone offering all the bells and whistles, the Galaxy S24 is the vanilla variant. But that doesn't mean it will not get any major new features. From display, and camera to processor, know all the rumours about the Samsung Galaxy S24.

Governments and businesses are not prepared for the havoc quantum computers will sow in cybersecurity by the end of the decade, according to an International Business Machines Corp. executive.  “Is quantum going to really create a cybersecurity Armageddon?” Ana Paula Assis, IBM's general manager of Europe, Middle East and Africa, said on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. “It's going to.” 

Build a Rocket Boy, a Scotland-headquartered game development company founded by one of the former lead developers behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise, today announced it has raised $110 million in a Series D round of funding.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI has outlined a plan to prevent its AI tools from being used to spread election misinformation as voters in more than 50 countries prepare to cast their ballots in national elections this year. The safeguards spelled out by the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup in a blog post this week include a mix of preexisting policies and newer initiatives to prevent the misuse of its wildly popular generative AI tools. They can create novel text and images in seconds but also be weaponized to concoct misleading messages or convincing fake photographs.

Google layoffs: The Alphabet-owned company on Tuesday confirmed it is eliminating "a few hundred" positions from its global ad team, amid a push to use artificial intelligence for efficiency and creativity. The job cuts to its "large customer" sales team are intended to result in better support for small and medium size businesses advertising on Google's platform, according to the internet giant.

Apple iPhone dethroned Samsung Electronics Co. devices to become the best-selling smartphone series over the course of 2023, the first time South Korea's largest company has lost the top spot since 2010. The iPhone accounted for a fifth of the global market with close to 235 million shipments last year, research firm IDC estimates. Samsung, whose shipments slumped double-digits to 226.6 million, came in second, ahead of Chinese device makers like Xiaomi Corp. While Apple has dominated the holiday quarter in recent years, its surge ahead of Samsung over a full year is unprecedented and suggests Apple is weathering an industrywide slump better than rivals.

In a fast-paced and multi-tasking work environment, it is not easy to keep up with projects and tasks, resulting in poor time management and decreased productivity. If you are going through the same problem, then worry not because we have found the right tool that will help you manage time smartly. Timely app is an automated time tracker which is powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The tool helps users to understand how they spend their time and it helps teams to stay on the same page with project tracking. Here are 5 easy ways to manage your time effectively via theTimely app.

The newest word is available to solve and today's answer shouldn't cause too much trouble for most fans of the game. It is always an enjoyable day when you can wake up to the morning and be able to solve it with only a little bit of work but for those that do prefer something more challenging, there is always the Wordle Hard Mode.

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked: Samsung is gearing up for the big unveil of its latest flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S24 series later today, January 17. The Galaxy Unpacked event is being held in San Jose, California, and will be streamed live online for the world to witness Samsung's latest tech innovations. As part of its flagship smartphone lineup, three models are expected to launch - Samsung Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus, and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. While the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus are likely to get upgrades over their predecessors, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is expected to be the highlight of the show, with major upgrades coming its way. Ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked, here's everything we know about the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra specs so far.

Samsung Galaxy S24 launch live is today. Phones coming include Samsung Galaxy S24, Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Know when and where to watch Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024. Yes, today is finally the day when we will experience the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S24 series at the Galaxy Unpacked 2024. This year it is expected that Samsung will announce three variants of the series.Additionally, the company will unveil its new initiative called Galaxy AI which will make the smartphone more advanced just like the Google Pixel 8 series. The smartphone will also likely pack an extraordinary camera. If you also watch to catch the launch event live then check where and how you can watch the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024.

The World Economic Forum (WEF 2024) at Davos has been going on with full force with various tech CEOs attending the event including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. On Tuesday Altman discussed about the future of AI and said it was an energy guzzler and that its future would be secure only if we get an energy breakthrough. Additionally, Microsofit's Satya Nadella also talked about the impact of AI in science. Know what the two tech giants said about Artificial intelligence (AI).

The CEO of Fortnite-maker Epic Games said Tuesday the company's court battle to open up Apple's iPhone to alternative app stores was lost after theteThe high court announced it would not hear appeals by either Apple or Epic in the long-running case, effectively putting an end to the legal saga.

The United States Supreme Court has denied a request to hear Epic Games v. Apple, the antitrust lawsuit regarding Apple's practices in its app store.

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear appeals by both Epic Games and Apple in their enormously costly and long-running legal battle over Apple’s App Store fees — a move that’s likely to frustrate both companies, but that does leave Epic with a partial victory.

Frostpunk 2 looks like it's even more stressful than the original city-builder. 

With advancements in technology and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), various time-consuming tasks can now be done with the help of AI tools. There are endless tools and apps that provide AI-integrated help enabling users to stay on top of their tasks and complete the repetitive tasks in seconds. With that being said, and if you are looking for an AI productivity app, we have found one called ClickUp AI, which works as a virtual assistant to complete tasks effectively. Know more about the ClickUp AI productivity app and how it can benefit you.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

Epic Games founder and majority stakeholder Tim Sweeney took to Twitter to congratulate Microsoft for overtaking Apple as the world's most valuable company by market value. He also criticized Apple and Google in the same tweet.

Xbox’s first-party studio lineup in 2017 consisted of five studios and a publishing arm: Rare, Turn 10, 343 Industries, The Coalition, Mojang Studios, and Xbox Game Studios Publishing. Today, six years later, Microsoft owns more than 50 studios, thanks to various acquisitions over the years.

By Phil Owen on

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) following years of opposition—though not without stern warnings about the «myriad risks» of investing in cryptocurrency. The news was greeted with enthusiasm by crypto-lovers and has led to a minor spike in Bitcoin's value, with one Bitcoin being worth around $44,000 on 8 January and at the time of writing just over $47,000.

In 2021, the International Trade Commission put out a recommendation, asking for an Apple Watch sales ban in the U.S. as the company had allegedly infringed Masimo’s patents. Now, the same agency has formally opposed lifting the ban, which was a decision made previously by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Even though Apple Watch sales have yet to be halted in the region, the Cupertino firm only has a little breathing room before a final verdict is passed.

Wordle 936 hints for January 11: To start with, know that today's Wordle word is a very commonly used word and is frankly known to everyone. In order to make it easier for you, you should figure out the letters included in the 5 letter word first and then arrange it later to form the exact answer. Once you know the letters, guessing the right word can become easier. You can check the below-mentioned Wordle 936 clues to get to the answer in no time.

Google is in the news again. This time it has announced yet another round of layoffs that is happening and this time it is all about those working on the voice-activated Google Assistant software and other departments. The number of lay offs is quite large and runs into hundreds. 

While these space rocks are millions or even billions of kilometers away from Earth, located in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, their orbits bring them close to Earth on some occasions. Spacecraft such as Dawn, OSIRIS-REx, and Hayabusa2 have helped in discovering and studying asteroids, unlocking their secrets. Moreover, NASA has several space telescopes and ground-based observatories in place such as the NEOWISE telescope, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), Pans-STARRS1, Catalina Sky Survey, the Hubble Space Telescope and the new $1 billion James Webb Space Telescope.

A barrage of high-profile lawsuits in a New York federal court will test the future of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence products that wouldn't be so eloquent had they not ingested huge troves of copyrighted human works.

A former Activision Blizzard executive is suing the company for age discrimination, according to lawsuit filed on Jan. 2. James Reid Venable, a 57-year-old former senior director of business operations, said Activision Blizzard “retaliated and discriminated” against him after he made a discrimination complaint to the company’s human resources department — specifically, Venable believes he was laid off for being old and white.

Judges in England and Wales have been given a cautious approval to embrace AI for legal opinions; Big Tech's AI leaves businesses exposed to copyright claims; Layered Reality's AI hologram of Elvis offers time-travel-like experience; Deloitte implements AI chatbot 'PairD' to boost employee productivity- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

 Telegram Messenger said it does not know why fines against it and other major technology companies were dropped in Russia, but said it has no assets, offices, or employees there.

Civil liberties advocates are mounting a new challenge to the use by police of Google search data for help solving criminal cases, as the practice draws greater scrutiny nationwide. After a Pennsylvania woman was raped in 2016, police submitted a search warrant to Alphabet's Google for information about users who had typed the victim's name or address into the search engine in the week leading up to the attack, according to court papers. Google responded with the IP address of a user who had searched for the victim's address twice shortly before the incident, court papers show. That breakthrough prompted police to begin monitoring a corrections officer, who was ultimately arrested and convicted.

Alphabet Inc. has illegally refused to negotiate with a group of YouTube Music contract workers who voted to unionize, the US labor board ruled. The decision, issued by a panel of three members of the National Labor Relations Board, tees up a federal court battle over whether the internet company is legally the boss of subcontracted staff it claims are not its employees. The YouTube workers, who voted 41-to-0 last April to join the Alphabet Workers Union, are hired via the staffing agency Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. Alphabet's Google, which owns YouTube, has consistently denied being their boss, even after NLRB officials last year deemed it a “joint employer” of the workers – a company with enough control over them to be liable for their treatment and obligated to negotiate with them if they unionize.

A former Activision executive has sued the publisher in California state court accusing the company of age discrimination and violating the state's whistleblower protection law, as reported by Law360.

 SpaceX was accused by the US labor board of illegally firing eight employees over an internal letter sharply critical of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk.

Vaults in Fortnite have always been a great way to get access to copious amounts of weapons, ammo, and loot. Now, if only they were out in the open.

A lawsuit filed in the Manhattan federal court last week by the New York Times claims that the defendants—Microsoft and OpenAI—have used millions of its articles to train and create its large language models (LLMs) and other products. The Times is seeking damages in realms of billions of dollars, though it doesn't give a specific number.

Ukrainian developer Frogwares is now the sole publisher of horror title The Sinking City.

Wolverine and Colossus first performed their signature 'Fastball Special' move - in which Colossus hurls Wolverine at a target with his claws unsheathed - all the way back in 1976's Uncanny X-Men #100. Now, almost 50 years later in January 3's Fall of the House of X #1, they've innovated a brutal new twist on their classic combo maneuver. 

Chief Justice John Roberts on Sunday turned his focus to the promise, and shortcomings, of artificial intelligence in the federal courts, in an annual report that made no mention of Supreme Court ethics or legal controversies involving Donald Trump.

Vampire: The Masquerade publisher Renegade Games shared a single two-page spread late last week that caught some in the tabletop role-playing game’s community by surprise. In it, Paradox Interactive’s World of Darkness studio invoked a sensitive role-playing concept called “bleed,” sparking commentary and, in some cases, outrage. On Wednesday, World of Darkness clarified that material with the release of more pages of content — and, once again, the promise of more thorough safety materials to be published at a later time.

AI Roundup: Google is integrating its generative AI chatbot, Google Bard, into its suite of apps including Gmail, YouTube, Docs, and Maps through Bard Extensions; China has been invited to the UK's Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit in November, as the country aims to become a global leader in AI regulations; the Consumer Affairs Ministry in India is leveraging AI to reduce pending cases in consumer courts.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.