This Origami Stool Has No Legs, No Bolts, and Opens With One Press

Furniture storage is one of those problems that design has mostly surrendered to square footage. You either have room for a stool, or you don’t, and folding alternatives have historically resolved that with compromise: wobbly joints, hard edges, the kind of utilitarian resignation that makes it obvious the piece exists to disappear rather than be used. The Press Stool starts from a different premise, borrowing its structural logic not from joinery or hardware but from the physics of folded paper.

The concept begins with a simple observation: a flat sheet of paper has no load-bearing strength on its own, but folding it generates rigidity. Crease a sheet, and the forces redistribute across the form. Press the folds, and the geometry resists compression. This is the same principle behind accordion-style bellows folding in classic cameras, where pressing the structure generates mechanical force. Here, that same force is redirected toward something you can sit on.

Designer: Jaehyun Bae

In its flat state, the stool collapses into a wide, deflated oval roughly 610 mm wide and 520 mm deep, with gently curved sides and pinched, gathered ends where the material compresses to a narrow tip. The metallic silver material has a pronounced crinkled texture that lands somewhere between industrial foil and fabric. It ships flat. It weighs little.

Pressing the form open deploys it into a three-dimensional stool standing 530 mm tall, with two flanking vertical panels and a concave seat formed by the inward curve at the top. No latches, no assembly. The structural resistance comes entirely from the geometry of the fold itself, the way a creased sheet can bear more than expected when compressed along its axis. The fold-generated tension does the structural work that legs and frames usually handle.

That argument holds up as a concept, though the prototype leaves practical questions open. Material identity isn’t explicitly documented, load capacity is unspecified, and the crinkle finish that gives the piece its visual identity is also the surface most exposed to wear. A stool takes more daily abuse than most objects that look like they belong in a gallery, and the long-term resilience of the material composite is untested in any published form.

What’s clear is the conceptual economy. Form follows mechanism follows idea, without detour. Flat objects that become structural through pressing rather than assembly represent a genuinely interesting class of design problem, and the Press Stool makes that problem visible and tangible. How far the logic scales beyond a prototype is the question that follows it out of the studio.

The post This Origami Stool Has No Legs, No Bolts, and Opens With One Press first appeared on Yanko Design.

Project Hail Mary could teach humanity a thing or two

It's hard not to find the premise of Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary instantly compelling: Something is slowly killing the sun and threatening life on Earth. That same mysterious force, dubbed the Astrophage, also destroyed every nearby star — except one. Our only hope is to visit that solar system and figure out what helped it survive. And there's just one middle school science teacher who can do it. 

At its core is Weir's love of technical problem solving, along with a tremendous performance by Ryan Gosling in full nerd hero mode as the aforementioned science teacher (and former molecular biologist). It's the sort of sweeping sci-fi epic that will make a whole generation of kids ready to science the shit out of humanity's future problems. And maybe it'll remind clueless adults that we gain much more by working together to solve global issues, instead of being purely self-interested.

The film starts with Gosling's character, Ryland Grace, waking up from an induced coma with no memory. He's shocked to find that he's light years away from Earth, and that the other two members of his crew are already dead. As he gets his bearings, he recalls that he was sent on a last-ditch mission, Project Hail Mary, to save the sun and everyone on Earth. No pressure! These early moments make it clear that screenwriter Drew Goddard (who also adapted The Martian), as well as directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, can deftly juggle comedy alongside the inherent drama in the story.  

There's something genuinely moving about the mission. With about 30 years before the planet is faced with a global cooling event likely ending in mass starvation, Earth's major political powers put aside their differences and deliver their finest scientific minds to come up with a solution. You can really take your pick with real-world parallels, like the impending climate crisis, or the increasing threat of nuclear war. Simply seeing the world work together feels meaningful in these bleak times. And unlike other space disaster films like Armageddon and Interstellar, cooperation, rather than NASA alone, is the only way forward.

Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary.
Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary.
Jonathan Olley for Amazon

Sure, humanity's hope for survival ultimately falls on the shoulders of one of the most attractive white men on (or in this case, off) the planet, but you know, movies. It's also not a spoiler to say that Grace isn't entirely alone on his journey. As already revealed by the film's trailers and a ton of social media clips, he's also joined by a crab-like being made of rock, which he simply calls Rocky. They eventually learn to communicate, and it's revealed that Rocky is also on a mission to save their own home planet. 

While we get brief glimpses of life on Earth, and the planning of Project Hail Mary, for the vast majority of the film we're just left with Grace figuring things together with a rock alien. And yet, the film never drags. It's a testament to Gosling's inherent charm, but he also demonstrates an incredible ability to shift from joy and goofiness, to sheer terror, to leading-man heroics on a dime. It's also hard to take your eyes off of Rocky, who is rendered with a loving mixture of practical puppetry and CG. We've never seen a creature like them before – one that, despite having no eyes or mouth, manages to connect with viewers mostly through their very expressive arms.

Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary.
Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary.
Jonathan Olley for Amazon

Project Hail Mary is ultimately a work of pulp sci-fi as told by an author who loves deeply nerdy technical solutions, as well as a writer and directors who know precisely what makes a great blockbuster tick. But the notion that humanity can collectively come together to do the impossible always tugs at my heartstrings a bit. And yes, there’s the power of friendship, too. In this moment, when things seem particularly bleak, these ideas seem especially meaningful.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/project-hail-mary-could-teach-humanity-a-thing-or-two-154327806.html?src=rss

Casio’s special edition calculator handcrafted using traditional Japanese lacquering technique

For the unpressumable, the good old calculator is a gadget of yesteryears, as the smartphone does all the multitasking. However, for someone who works with numbers, this device is a no-brainer. Retail personnel, accountants, and professionals handling a high volume of calculations always reach for a calculator. The rugged device with its analog input doesn’t have the shenanigans of a touchscreen that misbehaves when touched with wet hands or with gloves on.

Casio pioneered the design of an all-electronic calculator dubbed 14-A (designed by the Kashio brothers) way back in the 1950s. The computing machine turned into a household name when the Casio Mini arrived in the early 1970s. The handheld device was a holy grail when it came to churning out numbers in professional circles as well as homes. Come 2026, the Japanese company has decided to give the trusted calculator a unique, handmade twist that carries a lot of substance.

Designer: Casio

Based on Casio’s flagship S100 calculator, the S100X Urushi Edition, a.k.a. The Special One, is a limited edition desktop calculator designed using century-old Japanese Urushi lacquer technique. To handcraft the body of the device, Casio looked up to none other than Yamakyu Shitsuki, a lacquerware workshop expertising in the craft since 1930. Mater crafter Ryuji Umeda himself handcrafted the design involving a technique called tamenuri, which took a month of perfecting. The craft involves layering laquer tree’s filtered sap on the milled aluminum housing and achieving a sense of depth with repeated applications over a period of a week. Finally, the calculator is polished for that mirror-like shine and luxury feel.

Each of the 625 limited edition calculator’s is handcrafted carefully at the workshop, rendering each one of them unique in their look depending on the viewing angle. To carry the premium feel, the machined aluminum body housing the buttons on top and the LCD screen ensures a satisfying presence. This display comes with a dual-sided AR coating for reduced reflections and the navy blue text color mimics the fountain pen ink. For enhanced tactile sensation of pressing the isolation-type keys, they come with the pantograph mechanism and an ergonomic shape nestling the fingers. The 3-key rollover tech ensures rapid typing as the keystroke is accurately recognized for up to 3 keystrokes.

This 12-digit calculator adapts all the functions vital for professionals, including four-law calculation, tax calculation, unit conversion, memory (x2), and grand total. It is powered via solar panels on the front or a CR2025 coin battery, which can last for around seven years. The decimal point selector lever has a spin finish design for a premium shine, and on the back side, there is a geometric pattern molded stopper for assuring stability. Each one of the S100X Urushi Edition calculators has a laser-engraved serial number and comes packaged in a themed black presentation box complete with gold foil stamping.

The S100X Urushi Edition  Special One calculator is priced at ¥99,000, which coincidentally equates to around $625. Owning this one is going to be special for collectors.

The post Casio’s special edition calculator handcrafted using traditional Japanese lacquering technique first appeared on Yanko Design.

Belkin Charging Case Pro for Switch 2 review: A more elegant solution

Last year, Belkin released a couple of cases for the Nintendo Switch 2 just in time for launch, including one that came with a handy battery pack. That one was simple and effective, but it felt a bit crude because it wasn't much more than a basic travel pouch with a generic power cell tossed inside. Now, Belkin is back with a Pro version of its Charging Case for the Nintendo Switch 2, featuring a more sophisticated battery pack along with a higher price tag ($100 vs. $70). So here’s the question for any Switch 2 owners still looking for a way to protect their console while keeping it topped off: Is a more elegant charging solution really worth the extra money?

At 11.7 x 6.1 x 2.5 inches and weighing 1 pound 12 ounces, the Pro Charging Case is a touch larger and heavier than its non-pro sibling. It also features a very similar design with the same color options and materials, including a tough polyester outer shell that’s balanced by a softer, velvet-like material and cutouts for your Switch 2 on the inside. 

The Pro Charging Case (bottom) is a touch bigger and heavier than the previous model, but aside from that its sports a nearly identical design.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Once again, Belkin has done a good job of providing a snug cabin to store your console while still making it easy to take it in and out. That said, if your system also has an extra-thick protector or hardshell case like the Killswitch from Dbrand, it may not fit. There's also a padded flap that swings down to protect your Switch 2's screen that also pulls double duty as a place to stash up to 12 game cartridges, which is a very thoughtful touch. 

However, the biggest change to the Pro Charging Case's exterior design is a new cutout on the front edge, which allows you to top off other gadgets (or a Switch) by plugging a USB-C cable into Belkin's included battery pack. Unfortunately, the case doesn't come with a cord, which seems a bit odd until you take a closer look at the power pack's layout. That’s because once you open up the case, you’ll see a second port designed to fit right into the bottom power jack on the Switch 2 without the need for a cable.

The inside of the Pro Charging Case features a handy mesh pocket, 12 slots for game carts and a hidden AirTag pouch.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Other small touches on Belkin's Pro Charging Case include a mesh pocket for storing things like cables, Joy-Con straps or cleaning cloths, which is very handy. However, my favorite thing might be the AirTag pouch that's also hidden inside that pocket, which could give you a fighting chance of recovering your system if it's ever lost or stolen (though I wouldn't count on it). 

The arrangement of the included 10,000mAh battery pack and the placement of its internal USB-C port makes it a cinch to recharge your Switch 2 every time you put it in the case.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Despite the increased size of the Pro Charging Case's included battery, it has the same 10,000mAh capacity as what you get from its less expensive sibling. That means you'll typically have enough juice for a little more than 1.5 recharges for your Switch 2 and its onboard 5,220mAh cell. Instead of relying on a simple external power pack like before, Belkin's bundled battery comes with a second USB-C port and a kickstand. This makes it super easy to plug in your Switch 2 every time you put it in the case. This way, you know the next time you turn it on, it'll be at 100 percent. 

Here's what the battery pack looks like when you take it out of the case. As you can see, its size and shape means it's not a great standalone external power pack any more.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Alternatively, you can raise the kickstand to prop up the Switch 2 and game on it while it stays nestled inside the case. This might seem a bit redundant as Nintendo's console already has its own kickstand, but Belkin’s allows you to continue charging the system while you're playing without needing a cord. There's even a handy display on the side of the battery, so it's super easy to see how much juice is left, even when the case is closed. Furthermore, when you need to recharge the power pack, you can do so without removing it from the case or disconnecting your Switch thanks to that bonus USB-C port on the outside. Compared to the previous model, this is certainly a more elegant solution that provides some subtle quality of life improvements. The one downside is that the battery pack is somewhat awkwardly shaped, so you won't really want to use it on its own.

There's no doubt the Pro Charging Case's new battery pack is a more premium solution that's easier to use and manage. When you need to recharge it, you can do so from the outside without opening the pouch. It also lets you charge a Switch 2 without ever needing a cable. The built-in kickstand is another bonus that helps elevate the whole kit from a simple case to something closer to a tiny all-in-one gaming booth. 

One of the neat things about giving the battery a kickstand is that it turns the case into a mini all-in-one. This makes me wish Belkin gave the included power pack some sort of docking functionality for connecting the Switch 2 to an external display.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

That said, after using it for a couple of weeks, I'm still not sure the added convenience is worth an extra $30 over the original. Due to the battery packs' new shape, it's less useful as a standalone power cell, and the rest of the case's design is largely unchanged. Of course, it's always nice to have options, and if you're the kind of person who doesn't mind spending a little extra for a more streamlined and convenient kit, Belkin's Pro Charging Case for the Switch 2 is still very much worth consideration.


This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/belkin-charging-case-pro-for-switch-2-review-a-more-elegant-solution-144820809.html?src=rss

Amazon is reportedly working on a new phone built around Alexa

Amazon is reportedly planning to re-enter the smartphone market more than 10 years after its last attempt. According to a Reuters report, the mysterious phone is internally codenamed "Transformer" and is being developed by the company’s devices and services unit.

There isn’t a whole lot to go on right now, but it probably won’t surprise many to learn that the phone will likely lean heavily on AI. According to Reuters’ sources, Alexa functionality would be a core part of the experience, but Amazon wouldn’t necessarily build a custom OS around its voice assistant. The phone would make buying products on Amazon and using services like Prime Music and Prime Video "easier than ever," and may bypass traditional app stores.

Reuters reports that the Transformer project is being led by the recently established ZeroOne, an Amazon devices unit headed up by ex-Microsoft executive and Xbox co-founder J Allard, who was also one of the creators of Zune. Allard joined Amazon last year to lead a "a special projects team dedicated to inventing breakthrough consumer product categories."

The development team has reportedly considered launching both a traditional smartphone and a so-called "dumbphone," which would presumably strip away anything that needlessly distracted you from the Amazon empire. Reuters’ anonymous sources suggest the latter could help combat screen addiction by offering fewer features.

ZeroOne is apparently inspired by the ultra-minimalist Light Phone, suggesting that Amazon might be reluctant to take on the flagship devices of Apple and Samsung. The report adds that the Transformer phone could even be positioned as a secondary handset.

This, of course, would not be Amazon’s first crack at the smartphone business. The company launched the Fire Phone in 2014, an ambitious and interesting device that ultimately failed to tempt people away from the more established smartphone ecosystems. It’s widely remembered as perhaps the company’s biggest hardware misstep.

With analysts forecasting an unprecedented decline in the smartphone market in 2026, now seems like a risky time for Amazon to try again, and Reuters was unable to determine exactly how much the company has committed to the Transformer project. Sources also wouldn’t rule out it being scrapped altogether if the company’s priorities suddenly shifted.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/amazon-is-reportedly-working-on-a-new-phone-built-around-alexa-142244500.html?src=rss

A $500 Cat Scratcher That Looks Like a Floating Shelf

Most cat owners have made peace with a certain kind of compromise. You get the cat, the cat gets the furniture, and whatever mass-produced scratching post comes in the box gets wedged into a corner where you try not to look at it. It wobbles. It sheds sisal like it’s molting. And after three months, it leans at a fifteen-degree angle that tells you something about both your cat’s enthusiasm and the product’s build quality. We accepted this because we assumed pet furniture just couldn’t do better.

The RELEX wall panel by stylecats is a direct challenge to that assumption, and it makes a pretty convincing case. Designed by the stylecats Design-Team and a winner of the 2025 European Product Design Award, the RELEX is a wall-mounted cat scratching and lounging system that, at first glance, reads more like a floating shelf unit than pet furniture. That’s entirely intentional. The panels are made from birch plywood with an HPL coating, the hardware mounts are completely hidden behind the panel, and the whole structure sits flush against the wall like it was always supposed to be there. If you swapped the sisal for a few hardcover books, guests might not even ask. That’s a sentence I never thought I’d write about a cat scratcher.

Designer: stylecats Design-Team

The three-platform version, the RELEX 3, measures 70 x 37.5 x 120 cm and offers three staggered lounging surfaces, each rated to hold up to 15 kilograms. That’s enough for even a particularly confident Maine Coon. The platforms themselves are cushioned with a microfiber sandwich construction: a durable top layer, a middle foam layer for actual comfort, and a velor base that retains body heat. The covers are washable at 40 degrees on a gentle cycle, which, if you’ve ever owned a cat, you know is not a minor detail. The integrated sisal scratching surface is also replaceable when it wears out, which extends the lifespan of the whole unit considerably.

What the design gets right, beyond the aesthetics, is understanding what a cat actually needs from its environment. Cats want height. They want varied vantage points. They want to scratch something that isn’t your sofa. The RELEX gives them all three in a format that takes up wall space rather than floor space, which is, for anyone living in a flat or a smaller home, a genuinely meaningful distinction.

I’ll admit I have a bias here. I’ve long been irritated by how the pet industry has historically treated design as an afterthought. Function got the priority, and style was whatever was left over. That’s slowly changing, and the RELEX feels like part of that shift rather than just a single clever product. The European Product Design Award jury, which drew from more than 30 design leaders across the globe, clearly saw the same thing. Awards don’t automatically validate a product, but they do confirm that people who think seriously about design paid attention.

The price reflects the seriousness of the build. The three-surface version starts at €499.99, and the four-surface configuration goes up to €599.99. That’s not impulse-purchase territory. It’s the kind of number that makes you pause, think about how much you’ve already spent replacing sofa corners, and then proceed anyway.

Stylecats is a brand under HUNTER International GmbH, a German manufacturer, and the “Made in Germany” label isn’t just marketing on this one. The material choices and construction quality back it up. Birch plywood, 100% sisal, proper load ratings per shelf, and concealed hardware are not the specs of something designed to be cheap.

The RELEX line is available in two, three, or four lounging surface configurations. It’s currently offered with a white coating and works particularly well positioned near a window, where a cat’s need to observe the world and your need to look at something decent can finally, peacefully, coexist.

The post A $500 Cat Scratcher That Looks Like a Floating Shelf first appeared on Yanko Design.

A $500 Cat Scratcher That Looks Like a Floating Shelf

Most cat owners have made peace with a certain kind of compromise. You get the cat, the cat gets the furniture, and whatever mass-produced scratching post comes in the box gets wedged into a corner where you try not to look at it. It wobbles. It sheds sisal like it’s molting. And after three months, it leans at a fifteen-degree angle that tells you something about both your cat’s enthusiasm and the product’s build quality. We accepted this because we assumed pet furniture just couldn’t do better.

The RELEX wall panel by stylecats is a direct challenge to that assumption, and it makes a pretty convincing case. Designed by the stylecats Design-Team and a winner of the 2025 European Product Design Award, the RELEX is a wall-mounted cat scratching and lounging system that, at first glance, reads more like a floating shelf unit than pet furniture. That’s entirely intentional. The panels are made from birch plywood with an HPL coating, the hardware mounts are completely hidden behind the panel, and the whole structure sits flush against the wall like it was always supposed to be there. If you swapped the sisal for a few hardcover books, guests might not even ask. That’s a sentence I never thought I’d write about a cat scratcher.

Designer: stylecats Design-Team

The three-platform version, the RELEX 3, measures 70 x 37.5 x 120 cm and offers three staggered lounging surfaces, each rated to hold up to 15 kilograms. That’s enough for even a particularly confident Maine Coon. The platforms themselves are cushioned with a microfiber sandwich construction: a durable top layer, a middle foam layer for actual comfort, and a velor base that retains body heat. The covers are washable at 40 degrees on a gentle cycle, which, if you’ve ever owned a cat, you know is not a minor detail. The integrated sisal scratching surface is also replaceable when it wears out, which extends the lifespan of the whole unit considerably.

What the design gets right, beyond the aesthetics, is understanding what a cat actually needs from its environment. Cats want height. They want varied vantage points. They want to scratch something that isn’t your sofa. The RELEX gives them all three in a format that takes up wall space rather than floor space, which is, for anyone living in a flat or a smaller home, a genuinely meaningful distinction.

I’ll admit I have a bias here. I’ve long been irritated by how the pet industry has historically treated design as an afterthought. Function got the priority, and style was whatever was left over. That’s slowly changing, and the RELEX feels like part of that shift rather than just a single clever product. The European Product Design Award jury, which drew from more than 30 design leaders across the globe, clearly saw the same thing. Awards don’t automatically validate a product, but they do confirm that people who think seriously about design paid attention.

The price reflects the seriousness of the build. The three-surface version starts at €499.99, and the four-surface configuration goes up to €599.99. That’s not impulse-purchase territory. It’s the kind of number that makes you pause, think about how much you’ve already spent replacing sofa corners, and then proceed anyway.

Stylecats is a brand under HUNTER International GmbH, a German manufacturer, and the “Made in Germany” label isn’t just marketing on this one. The material choices and construction quality back it up. Birch plywood, 100% sisal, proper load ratings per shelf, and concealed hardware are not the specs of something designed to be cheap.

The RELEX line is available in two, three, or four lounging surface configurations. It’s currently offered with a white coating and works particularly well positioned near a window, where a cat’s need to observe the world and your need to look at something decent can finally, peacefully, coexist.

The post A $500 Cat Scratcher That Looks Like a Floating Shelf first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Macaron Collection That’s Actually Built to Last

Furniture rarely makes me stop scrolling. Most of what cycles through my feed either looks too clinical to feel livable or too trendy to last past next season. But when I came across Macarons, a modular furniture system by Taiwanese designers HanYi Huang and Fong-Yi Liou, I actually paused. Not because it was trying too hard, but because it wasn’t.

The name gives it away, and that’s the point. Macarons draws its visual language directly from the French confection, right down to the rounded forms, the layered silhouette, and that quietly playful quality that makes you smile before you even understand why. The design came from 03 Design Ltd. in Taiwan and was created for longtime furniture manufacturer Shiang Ye Industrial Co. It picked up a double win at the 2025 European Product Design Award, taking home recognition in both Home Furniture and Eco Design, which tells you this isn’t just a pretty concept piece.

Designers: HanYi Huang

What actually makes Macarons interesting as a furniture system is the modularity. You get a configurable set of stools, chairs, and side tables built around a simple logic: swap the legs, change the seat, add on what you need. The components connect through a rotational seat mechanism that makes assembly genuinely easy and, more importantly, makes repair possible. That second part tends to get glossed over in product launches, but it matters a lot. A piece of furniture you can actually fix is one you’ll keep for a decade. That’s the quiet kind of sustainability nobody puts in the headline.

The structural engineering behind the legs is where things get clever. Huang and Liou designed an off-centered, cloverleaf knot leg structure that improves both strength and comfort simultaneously. That’s a harder problem to solve than it sounds. Most furniture designers pick one or the other and call it a day. The fact that the leg geometry does both while also contributing to the visual identity of the product is the kind of decision that separates designers who think holistically from those who think in silos.

The material choice is equally deliberate. The entire system is made from post-consumer recycled polypropylene, which cuts down on waste and makes the pieces lighter to ship. Shipping weight is one of those sustainability factors that rarely gets talked about in design discourse, but it compounds fast. Lighter furniture means lower emissions per unit moved, and when you’re thinking about a modular system that’s meant to scale, that math matters.

I’ll be upfront about what I find genuinely compelling here: this isn’t sustainability as aesthetic, which is a trend I find exhausting. You know the type, raw edges, reclaimed wood, a beige palette that wants you to feel virtuous for just looking at it. Macarons doesn’t do that. It leans into color, playfulness, and modularity first, and builds the sustainability into the structure and material rather than the surface. That’s the right order of operations.

HanYi Huang brings a sharp design background to this. Her postgraduate work in Italy earned her a Red Dot Design award, and she’s been leading the design team at Shiang Ye as Creative Director, steering a traditional B2B furniture manufacturer toward work that competes internationally. That kind of trajectory, from a classic manufacturing context to award-winning modular systems with a global footprint, is worth paying attention to.

What Macarons ultimately argues is that modular, repairable, and recyclable furniture doesn’t have to feel like a compromise or a lecture. It can feel light, joyful, and considered. It can look like something you’d actually want in your home rather than something you bought to feel better about your carbon footprint. That’s a harder balance to strike than most people realize, and Huang and Liou struck it. Design that makes you feel good and does good at the same time is still the rarest kind. Macarons comes close.

The post The Macaron Collection That’s Actually Built to Last first appeared on Yanko Design.

ByteDance is selling its Moonton game unit to Savvy Games for a cool $6 billion

Following discussions first reported on earlier this year, ByteDance has agreed to sell its games unit Moonton to Savvy Games Group for $6 billion. Moonton is known for mobile titles popular in Asia like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which has been downloaded 1.5 billion times. The transaction is set to be finalized in the "near future," according to an internal memo from Moonton's CEO seen by Bloomberg

ByteDance has been winding down its gaming arm and shopping Moonton since 2023, just two years after it first acquired the developer. Around that same period, the TikTok parent was shuttering its Nuverse gaming arm, which published notable titles like Marvel Snap and Ragnarok X: Next Generation. The company has since shifted its focus to AI, competing with Chinese rivals to develop chatbots and foundational models. 

Savvy Games, which is owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), has been going in the opposite direction. Last year the company (via its subsidiary Scopely) acquired Pokémon Go developer Niantic for $3.5 billion. PIF was also among the key investors that purchased Electronic Arts in a blockbuster $55 billion deal last year. The Saudi fund holds a 7.5 percent stake in Nintendo as well.  

The sale is the latest chapter in the recent gaming industry consolidation that saw around 45,000 jobs lost in a brutal three-year period between 2022 and 2025. According to a recent GDC study, one-third of US video game industry workers were laid off over the last two years. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/bytedance-is-selling-its-moonton-game-unit-to-savvy-games-for-a-cool-6-billion-124131595.html?src=rss

Engadget Podcast: Why does everyone hate NVIDIA’s DLSS 5 AI upscaling?

NVIDIA started an online firestorm this week when it announced DLSS 5 at its GTC conference. The company claims it's meant to deliver "photorealistic" lighting and materials in games by using neural processing. But it differs considerably from previous versions of DLSS, which were focused on using machine learning to upscale lower resolutions and generate additional frames, and gamers online aren’t too happy. To help us break this down, Anshel Sag, VP and principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy joins us to discuss his experience with NVIDIA's DLSS 5 demos. Also, we dive into what's next for Xbox with Project Helix.

  • NVIDIA announced DLSS 5, the disgust was immediate (with Anshel Sag from Moor Insights & Strategy) – 0:51

  • Arizona attorney general sues Kalshi for operating an illegal gambling business – 36:22

  • Polymarket users threaten the life of a reporter at The Times of Israel over accurate reporting – 36:59

  • Apple announces AirPods Max 2 with improved noise cancellation – 44:33

  • Elon Musk’s xAI faces class action suit over facilitating CSAM dsitribution – 47:38

  • Samsung stops selling Galaxy Z TriFold after 3 months because components got too expensive – 51:22

  • Around Engadget: Apple Studio XDR review, Dell XPS 16 review – 53:49.346

  • Listener Mail: Stick with iPhone on Linux? And are there any good Android tablets? – 55:41

  • Pop culture picks – 58:46

Hosts: Devindra Hardawar
Guest: Anshel Sag
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/engadget-podcast-why-does-everyone-hate-nvidias-dlss-5-ai-upscaling-121335918.html?src=rss