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Why Microsoft is switching up its Xbox strategy

Feb 16, 2024
Microsoft sees the change in strategy as a revenue opportunity, explains Tom Warren, senior editor at The Verge.
Why might Xbox want to bring Xbox-exclusive games to rival consoles? For "the revenue opportunity," said The Verge's Tom Warren.
Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The video game business is hoping streaming games from the cloud will attract new players

Oct 13, 2023
A $15-a-month subscription may be more attractive than dropping $500 on a console.
Cloud gaming sales hit about $5 billion last year, compared to about $35 billion for console games.
Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images

Wizards, druids and open game licenses: The fight over the unique Dungeons & Dragons economy

Mar 3, 2023
When Hasbro wanted to change D&D's open game license to get a cut of third-party company profits, the game's fans went to battle.
Fantasy game enthusiast Mark Warren poses next to a life-size replica of a Dungeons & Dragons character.
Matt Levin/Marketplace

Are computers ruining chess?

Oct 5, 2022
A controversy involving one of the game's rising stars has sparked debate about creativity.
Magnus Carlsen during a chess tournament in 2021. Carlsen recently accused another grandmaster, Hans Niemann, of cheating.
Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

Netflix is looking into video games to keep subscriptions growing

Jun 3, 2021
The company has plenty of original material and experience licensing other content it could mine for games.
One expert says Netflix could offer a rotating mix of video games from other creators and even have its own gaming console.
Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images

Video game workers speak out about treatment amid industry's record sales

Aug 4, 2020
There have been charges of pay disparities, discrimination and harassment.
Gamers at the BlizzCon 2017 gathering in Anaheim, California. Some workers in the industry have complained about the conditions they face.
Joe Scarnici/Getty Images

Gaming sales top a record $120 billion in 2019

Jan 3, 2020
The industry is growing its audience and finding new ways to monetize games.
Adam Berry/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Apple wants users to add its "Arcade" to subscriptions

Sep 20, 2019
It remains to be seen whether gamers are willing to pay for the kind of games they're used to getting for free.
"Some of the games in Apple's new video game subscription service, Apple Arcade."
Apple

Google's new cloud-based gaming platform will meet gamers where they are

Mar 20, 2019
Yesterday at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Google unveiled a new gaming platform called “Stadia.” Instead of focusing on a local console, the platform will be cloud-based and offer instant access to play from sites like YouTube, meeting both casual gamers and aficionados where they are. The company plans to launch Stadia in […]
Google Vice President Majd Bakar speaks on-stage during the annual Game Developers Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California on March 19, 2019. - Google set out to disrupt the world of video games with a Stadia platform aimed at putting its massive data center power in game maker's hands and letting people play blockbuster titles from any device they wish.
JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images

The gaming industry's rise to the top

Nov 9, 2017
A listener (kind of) stumped Molly with this question on Make Me Smart's Explainathon.
Gamers test 'Destiny 2' at the Sony PlayStation exhibit during the Electronic Entertainment Expo E3 at the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 13, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
Christian Petersen/Getty Images