Saudi Arabia is rapidly assuming a significant financial stake in the video game industry.
Driving the news: The government-funded Savvy Gaming Group announced a $1 billion investment in the Embracer Group, the gaming corporation that most recently acquired the rights for Tomb Raider and the main studio behind that series.
Twitter has agreed to provide a set of user data to Elon Musk, who claims he can bail on his $44 billion takeover of the social media company if it misrepresented how many of its accounts are bots, The Washington Post first reported and Axios confirmed.
Yes, but: This isn't the data Musk needs to prove or disprove his hunch.
A decade after Early Access shook up how video games get released, many developers say that it has been a boon to the industry, despite potentially limiting creativity.
Why it matters: Along with digital distribution, Early Access (EA) has been instrumental in democratizing the modern games industry.
Israeli officials are pushing the Biden administration to remove Israeli cyber spying company NSO from the Department of Commerce blacklist, two Israeli officials and one U.S. official told Axios.
Why it matters: Removing NSO from the U.S. blacklist would be a dramatic reversal by the Biden administration and would likely be criticized by progressives in the Democratic Party and Congress, as well as many in the cybersecurity community.
Two U.S. senators introduced their first stabs at legislation to catch U.S. law up to a blockchain world on Tuesday. The first thing to keep in mind about legislation is this: the first draft is always just a starting point (if it's even that).
Driving the news: Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) co-sponsored the legislation, though Lummis is widely understood as having been the driving force to get something moved.
Apple-watchers viewing the company's Monday developer's conference keynote were disappointed that the company failed, once again, to unveil a world-changing new headset device, or even acknowledge that one was on the way.
They forgot a key principle Apple operates by: It never makes the first move in a new product category. Instead, it waits for just the right moment to bring that new product to a broad consumer market.
The central bank of Jamaica is one step closer to issuing digital currency backed by the state to be used as local legal tender.
Why it matters: Governments are pressing forward on so-called central-bank digital currencies, eager to provide faster more efficient payment options while preserving monetary and financial stability.
The European Union on Tuesday agreed to provisional legislation that will require phone manufacturers to use the same charging port in devices in an effort to reduce electronic waste and increase convenience for consumers.
Why it matters: Once the legislation is fully approved, all mobile phones, tablets and cameras sold in the EU will be required to have USB-C charging ports by fall 2024.
The number of Americans who play video games has declined slightly in 2022, likely due to the phasing out of pandemic-oriented lockdowns, according to a new report from the Entertainment Software Association.
Driving the news: The ESA’s new data, released this morning, shows the U.S. gaming population at 216 million, compared to 227 million for 2021.
Sarah Guo is stepping down as a general partner at venture capital firm Greylock to start her own fund, Axios has learned from multiple sources.
Why it matters: Guo is among a small number of general partners at major VC firms who are women, and she's just the second ever in Greylock's five-decade history.
There's a major new way for regular people to move between normal money and cryptocurrency, and it's via an app that many have likely been using for years: PayPal.
Why it matters: In a long-awaited announcement, PayPal, which claims over 400 million users, is giving them the option to take full control of crypto that they buy on the app. Now that withdrawals are enabled, the company becomes a piece of the infrastructure of the crypto economy.
Crowds in London waved at a hologram of Queen Elizabeth II in a golden carriage Sunday — not to Britain's actual queen. To Matthew Ball, leading expert of that theoretical parallel Internet world (or worlds), the gesture appeared to affirm the potential of what is not real.
Driving the news: "The Monarchy is in the Metaverse? Monarchyverse," Ball quipped via tweet. And the latest way to invest in its development comes from a partnership between Ball, investment firm Multicoin Capital and crypto index specialist Bitwise Asset Management.
Euler, a money market, has sold $32 million of its governance token at a $375 million valuation to a group of investors led by Haun Ventures, providing the project's treasury with stablecoins to build a reliable pool of resources as the crypto market becomes more sedate.
Why it matters: Decentralized finance promises to lower financial friction for everyone, and Euler's focused on making it easy for people to borrow all kinds of tokens.
Autonomous trucks developed by Gatik will soon be delivering paper plates and toilet tissue to Sam's Club stores throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Why it matters: It's a new frontier for self-driving truck technology, which has been primarily focused on long-haul semi-truck highway pilots.
Gatik instead is targeting the so-called "middle mile" between distribution warehouses and stores or fulfillment centers.
Tech giants, led by Google, are opening up a new front in D.C.'s immigration battles by urging the Biden administration to allow children of high-skilled immigrant workers to remain in the U.S. legally beyond their 21st birthdays.
Why it matters: Major companies say they need the administration to act to help them retain high-skilled parents who fear their children will be deported, amid a tight labor market and ongoing green card headaches.
There is a clear and growing link between Russian propaganda and online far-right extremism globally, according to a new study from researchers at the George Washington University.
Why it matters: The findings suggest the influence of Russian media on these communities is organic, which makes it harder to stop.
With little progress on gun control measures in Congress, some envision next-generation weapons detection technologies as a potential deterrent to mass shootings.
Why it matters: In theory, if authorities could use artificial intelligence to spot guns or identify potential shooters earlier, they might be able to head off gun violence like the school massacres in Uvalde, Texas, Oxford, Mich., and Parkland, Fla.
