If you want to surprise your favorite gamer with a gift but aren't sure exactly what to get, why not let them decide themselves? Amazon is offering Xbox Gift Cards at 10 percent off, giving you some nice savings on $50, $25 and $15 denominations. letting you grab them for $45, $22.50 and $13.50 respectively — some nice savings for the holidays.
The discounted $50 Xbox Gift Card nearly covers three months of access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which now costs $17 per month. Alternatively, that's enough to pay for four months of Xbox Game Pass access (at $11 per month) or five months of PC Game Pass ($10 per month). Should your recipient choose to pay for Game Pass with their gift card, they'll have access to a library of hundreds of games. They could always just buy games outright, of course.
Alternatively, your gift recipient could purchase movies or TV shows or use it for in-game currency to get skins, battle passes and more. It's an option that's sure to please, but it's best to act fast, as they don't normally stay on sale for long.
Warner Bros Discover (WBD) has scored a coup by inking a "Pay-1" deal with indie darling A24 for priority streaming rights, the company announced. That means new releases from A24 like Iron Claw (above) will appear first on HBO, Max and Cinemax before streaming on any other platform. The deal also extends WBD's licensing for A24's film catalog, giving it access to titles like Uncut Gems, Everything Everywhere All At Once and others.
"Movies included in the pay-1 output agreement include Dicks: The Musical, Priscilla, Dream Scenario, The Zone of Interest, Stop Making Sense(2023),The Iron Claw, Love Lies Bleeding, Civil War, and more," Warner Bros Discovery wrote in a press release. "Between the existing and new library of A24 films, subscribers will have access to more than one hundred A24 titles over the term of the agreement."
Typically films start in theaters, then go to digital purchase/rental before heading to streaming or OTA broadcast. Pay-1 gives streaming companies exclusive access to titles for a period of 12-18 months before they had to Pay-2 for general licensing and syndication.
Paramount's Showtime has held the Pay-1 deal with A24 since 2019, but it expired in November 2022 (and was then extended a year), according to IndieWire. WBD only mentions having Pay-1 access to A24 movies released after the new deal, so anything released before that (Talk to Me, The Inspection and others) will likely remain Pay-1 on Showtime.
In any case, the deal will be a boon for A24 and viewers in general. WBD's Max and Discovery+ have a combined 95.1 million subscribers, while Paramount+ has 63 million subs, and not all of those have the ad-free "with Showtime" tier. Around the end of 2022, HBO and HBO Max gained access to some of A24's older films, but they'll now have many more, over 100 in total.
Just ahead of the A24 deal, WBD was touting the improved tech and a updated UI of the Max streaming app. Other upcoming A24 films include Tuesday (2024, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Problemista (2024, Julio Torres, Tilda Swinton and RZA).
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a24-movies-will-stream-first-on-hbo-and-max-as-part-of-a-new-multiyear-deal-104550565.html?src=rss
Half of London's black cab fleet is now made up of zero-emission vehicles, manufacturer LEVC and Transport for London (TfL) announced. Of the 14,690 licensed taxis in the capital, 7,972 are battery electric vehicles (BEVs), with most manufactured by Geely's LEVC, according to the latest figures. The number of those models grew a fairly dramatic 10 percent in the last month alone.
"Reaching this milestone is a great reflection of how London is working hard to be a greener, more sustainable, environmentally friendly city," said TfL's Helen Chapman. "London's black taxis are recognized worldwide and we are proud to see that so many drivers are helping clean up the air."
New drivers haven't had a choice in the matter, though, as since 2018, TfL has required that all new cabs licensed in the city be zero emissions cable (the rule was extended to private minicabs last year). Cabbies with existing licenses have been motivated to change, too, as any still using less efficient vehicles have been required since 2020 to pay a daily rate (now £12.50) to operate in central London's Ultra Low Emission Zone.
Many of London's larger taxi and minicab operators have committed to fully-electric fleets by 2025. That includes the city's largest operator, Addison Lee (which uses VW ID 4s) saying it would reach that goal by 2023. London's Black Cabs are generally independently owned and licensed under strict rules by TfL. Uber recently announced that London's black taxis would be listed on its app and while some drivers have signed up, many decried the plan.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/half-of-londons-famed-black-cab-taxi-fleet-are-now-evs-134015907.html?src=rss
Everyone's favorite hooved menace is back on mobile with the launch of Goat Simulator 3 for iOS and Android, Swedish developer Coffee Stain Studios announced. As before, you play in an open world as a mayhem-loving goat in order to cause maximum chaos and ruin the day of as many NPC's as possible. The latest version dials up the destruction with accessories like jetpacks, rocket launchers and supercharged headbutts, while letting you kit out your goats with dubious fashion accessories.
The mobile versions offers much the same feature set found on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, particularly the co-op multiplayer support. Other mobile features include multiple goat options (tall, fishy, with hats), an "OK amount" of quests in the open world, mini-games, "ragdoll physics that slap Newton in the face" and more, according to the Play Store listing.
Goat Simulator famously started as a jokey demo for Global Game Jam 2014, replete with bugs, bizarre physics and just a weird, weird concept. Herds of players loved the alpha version, though, so Coffee Stain elected to release it as a full game, leaving in the floppy necks, intersecting meshes and ability to use your goat's tongue to walk up construction cranes somehow.
Goat Simulator 3 is actually the second game in the series (the developer famously skipped over 2), appearing last year a full eight years after the original. The original version appeared shortly after the alpha, and basically left most of the bugs in — part of the charm, or terribleness of the game, depending on your point of view.
It turns out that "buggy and stupid" is hard to do on purpose though, as GS3's creative director put it, hence the long delay. In any case, it's now available on Android and iOS for $13 — not that cheap for a mobile game.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/goat-simulator-3s-headbutting-mayhem-finally-arrives-to-mobile-111553057.html?src=rss
Logitech has introduced the Astro A50 X gaming headset that does more (and costs more) than most rival products we've ever seen. It not only offers audiophile sound features, but comes with a dock that can switch your entire setup, including sound and video, between PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and PC at the touch of a button.
The headphones themselves come with 40mm graphene audio drivers (the same we saw in the Logitech G Pro X 2), a 16-bit 48 kHz "broadcast quality" microphone, Dolby Atmos support and Logitech's Lightspeed wireless system. You can tune the EQ and levels through the Logitech G Hub, so it's the company's first Astro headset to support that function. Bluetooth is on tap for mixing in phone audio or connecting a Nintendo Switch, and it runs for up to 24 hours between charges. They can be wirelessly charged on the hub or via a USB-C port.
Logitech
The hub adds a very nerdy element that will test your cable management skills. It offers what Logitech calls PlaySync tech that uses HDMI passthrough, allowing it to be used as a switch for your game and home AV setup. It comes with two HDMI 2.1 input ports that support 4K at 120Hz (for Xbox and PS), a USB-C DisplayPort for PC and one HDMI 2.1 output. With all that, it can switch between devices and pass through a single HDMI output to your TV or monitor, without interfering with variable refresh rate (VRR) or auto low latency mode (ALLM) gaming features.
To hook it up, you connect the HDMI output from your console(s) to the HDMI input on the Astro A50 X's hub. You also need to make a USB-C connection between each device. Your PC, meanwhile, will connect to the hub via a USB-C DisplayPort connection, rather than HDMI. Then, the hub connects to your TV or monitor via HDMI 2.1.
Logitech
To use it, you don the headset and hit the PlaySync button to select the sources (PS5, Xbox or PC) to display on the screen. The corresponding sound is wirelessly sent from each source to the headset, of course. Once set up, you can be anywhere in the room with your headset and controller in hand, and quickly switch between devices. You can also output sound to external speakers by placing the headset in the dock, which stops audio to the headset but still allows switching via the PlaySync button.
Logitech didn't say so, but I can't see any reason why you couldn't connect, say, a Blu-ray player to one of the HDMI inputs if you only have one console (I've asked the company to confirm that). Also bear in mind the length limitations on HDMI 2.1 cables.
If all of that sounds insanely complicated, then you're probably not the target market for this product. Once set up, though, it looks like a way for serious gamers to quickly switch between devices from any location. Yes, $379 is high for a gaming headset, but if you consider that it's also a 3-in-1 HDMI 2.1 switcher with wireless audio output and Bluetooth input, it's a relatively good deal.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/logitechs-astro-a50-x-headset-can-switch-between-ps5-xbox-and-pc-with-a-button-press-123508695.html?src=rss
Can a super tiny electric car still work in the US? We'll soon find out! Fiat will soon start selling the 500e hatchback EV stateside in 2024 for $32,500 ($34,095 including the destination fee), the company announced. It hasn't been available in the US since 2019, but the latest model is a big update with more range, a nicer interior, better tech and more.
The 500e is tiny by EV standards, particularly in the weight department. It puts just 3,000 pounds onto the pavement, making it what Stellantis calls "the lightest passenger BEV in the segment." It's a refreshing change from larger electric SUVs and pickups that can weigh double that, though potential buyers may find its tiny size a detriment, safety-wise.
Fiat
A big reason for that lack of heft is the relatively small 42 kWh battery pack that allows for a maximum 149 mile range. Considering the relatively slow maximum DC charging rate of 85 kW (giving you 80 percent range in 35 minutes), that means it's likely to be used mainly as a city runabout. On the plus side, the price of the Fiat 500e includes a Level 2 home charger from Fiat's Free2Move subsidiary (Fiat is part of Stellantis group which also owns Jeep, Chrysler, Citroen, etc.).
With 117 horsepower and 162 pound feet of torque on tap, it goes from 0 to 60 MPH in 8.5 seconds — leisurely, but fine for a city runner. Users will no doubt focus more on preserving charge, so it offers three increasingly aggressive modes: Normal, Range and Sherpa.
Fiat
The interior is nicer than the plasticky one from the 500e sold back in 2019. So far, Fiat has only shown some concept interiors with crossover designs from Armani, Bulgari and Kartell, though it's not clear if those will actually be sold in the US. In any case, it does come with a 10.3-inch infotainment touchscreen with support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, along with a wireless smartphone charging pad, 7-inch digital gauge display and more. One fun touch is that the low-speed exterior audio alert (required on all EVs), is custom classical music created by Italian composers.
My first thought when I saw the $34,095 price tag was "hey that's the same price as the Volvo EX30!" which has 275 miles of range and a lot more room. It's also a lot more than Tesla's Model 3, which is $28,490 after US federal tax credits (it's not clear if the 500e will qualify for those credits, but it doesn't seem likely).
However, Fiat is no doubt hoping to attract young or urban buyers with the adorable design and high-tech features. And instead of mass-marketing the car, it's using a strategy of "dropping" special versions at regular intervals and making them available for a limited time, according to Car and Driver. It's set to hit dealerships starting early next year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-tiny-fiat-500e-is-coming-to-the-us-in-early-2024-094754049.html?src=rss
Can a super tiny electric car still work in the US? We'll soon find out! Fiat will soon start selling the 500e hatchback EV stateside in 2024 for $32,500 ($34,095 including the destination fee), the company announced. It hasn't been available in the US since 2019, but the latest model is a big update with more range, a nicer interior, better tech and more.
The 500e is tiny by EV standards, particularly in the weight department. It puts just 3,000 pounds onto the pavement, making it what Stellantis calls "the lightest passenger BEV in the segment." It's a refreshing change from larger electric SUVs and pickups that can weigh double that, though potential buyers may find its tiny size a detriment, safety-wise.
Fiat
A big reason for that lack of heft is the relatively small 42 kWh battery pack that allows for a maximum 149 mile range. Considering the relatively slow maximum DC charging rate of 85 kW (giving you 80 percent range in 35 minutes), that means it's likely to be used mainly as a city runabout. On the plus side, the price of the Fiat 500e includes a Level 2 home charger from Fiat's Free2Move subsidiary (Fiat is part of Stellantis group which also owns Jeep, Chrysler, Citroen, etc.).
With 117 horsepower and 162 pound feet of torque on tap, it goes from 0 to 60 MPH in 8.5 seconds — leisurely, but fine for a city runner. Users will no doubt focus more on preserving charge, so it offers three increasingly aggressive modes: Normal, Range and Sherpa.
Fiat
The interior is nicer than the plasticky one from the 500e sold back in 2019. So far, Fiat has only shown some concept interiors with crossover designs from Armani, Bulgari and Kartell, though it's not clear if those will actually be sold in the US. In any case, it does come with a 10.3-inch infotainment touchscreen with support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, along with a wireless smartphone charging pad, 7-inch digital gauge display and more. One fun touch is that the low-speed exterior audio alert (required on all EVs), is custom classical music created by Italian composers.
My first thought when I saw the $34,095 price tag was "hey that's the same price as the Volvo EX30!" which has 275 miles of range and a lot more room. It's also a lot more than Tesla's Model 3, which is $28,490 after US federal tax credits (it's not clear if the 500e will qualify for those credits, but it doesn't seem likely).
However, Fiat is no doubt hoping to attract young or urban buyers with the adorable design and high-tech features. And instead of mass-marketing the car, it's using a strategy of "dropping" special versions at regular intervals and making them available for a limited time, according to Car and Driver. It's set to hit dealerships starting early next year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-tiny-fiat-500e-is-coming-to-the-us-in-early-2024-094754049.html?src=rss
As one of the few standalone gimbal cameras out there, DJI’s Osmo Pocket line has always been something of a niche product family. But it certainly had its fans, offering things like portability, fluid video and decent image quality. Now, three years after the Pocket 2, DJI has introduced the Osmo Pocket 3 with some big improvements. Those include a large 1-inch sensor that improves image quality significantly, especially in low light. Another key change is a bigger screen that flips sideways, plus advanced subject tracking. Other features include 4K 120p shooting, 10-bit D-LogM for improved dynamic range, quicker autofocus and more.
With all those extra talents, the Pocket 3 could serve as a standalone vlogging camera – but it’s also considerably more expensive than its predecessor. To find out if it’s worth the extra money, I did some extensive testing to see what it could — and couldn’t — do.
DJI’s Osmo Pocket 3 is a portable camera that’s relatively simple to use, small enough to carry with you and easy to maneuver in tight spaces. It’s stabilized by a 3-axis gimbal to make shots smooth and fluid. It can pan, tilt and roll across a wide range of 303, 278 and 283 degrees, respectively.
At 5.5 inches long and 179 grams, it’s a bit heavier but nearly as compact as the Pocket 2 (117 grams and 4.9 inches long). It resembles its predecessor at first glance, but a closer look reveals some big changes.
The first thing that jumps out is the 16:9 2-inch screen that has nearly five times the area of the Pocket 2’s 1-inch display. Better still, it flips sideways and automatically rotates the camera to match, so you can shoot either in landscape or portrait modes with no need to dive into settings. However, note that going into vertical video mode doesn’t flip the camera like it does on DJI’s Mini 4 Pro drone. Rather, it just crops the video, reducing the resolution from 4K to 3K.
I wouldn’t call the menu system on the Pocket 3’s touchscreen intuitive, as it involves either swiping from the sides or touching icons to access functions. Without a lot of visual clues for guidance, you need to memorize all the functions.
The other noticeable feature is a larger camera head that houses a 1-inch 9.4MP sensor with a true 16mm diagonal size. That’s nearly three times that of the Pocket 2's 1/1.7-inch sensor. Knowing DJI, we might see the same sensor on upcoming products like the Mini drones and Osmo action cams.
The fixed 20mm equivalent lens has a relatively fast F/2.0 aperture. The wide focal length means it’s not ideal for portraits or product shots. It does have a two times digital zoom to double that, at a cost of some resolution.
There are now only two physical buttons, record and gimbal control. The microSD card is still on the left side, with USB-C port on the button as before. Should the position of the latter be inconvenient, the included handle moves it to the side.
Battery life is outstanding for such a small device, with 135 minutes available with the built-in 1,300mAh battery, rising to 240 minutes with the optional ($99) 950mAh battery handle. On top of that, the Pocket 3 can be recharged from 20 to 80 percent in just 16 minutes, so DJI is finally embracing fast charging on its devices – something that’d be nice to see with its drones, too.
Steve Dent for Engadget
What about the Mimo app? While its use was required previously for some functions on the Pocket 2, most things can now be done straight from the camera screen, apart from Glamor and a few other settings. It’s still handy for monitoring and controlling the camera remotely, of course.
The Pocket 3 is available by itself or in a Creator Combo that gives you a battery handle, mini tripod, 0.75x lens adapter and carry bag. You also get the DJI Mic 2 Transmitter that pairs automatically with the Pocket 3, giving you a high-quality wireless mic and providing an audio backup. DJI should be announcing the Mic 2 as a separate product in the near future. If you already own the original DJI Mic, the Osmo Pocket 3 is compatible with that model as well.
Performance
Above all, the Osmo Pocket 3 is a gimbal designed to provide smooth and stable video. Operation is very much point and shoot to keep the subject in frame, as the gimbal and autofocus do the rest. As before, it offers three modes: follow, tilt lock and FPV mode.
Follow aims the camera where you point it while locking off roll to keep the camera level. Tilt mode also locks the tilt function to keep the horizon level, while FPV keeps all three unlocked so that the camera tilts, pans and rolls as you move the camera.
It’s not just the larger sensor that helps the Pocket 3 create cinematic video. The optical stabilization allows for slower shutter speeds that create natural looking motion blur — something that’s impossible on action cameras, as electronic stabilization isn’t compatible with motion blur.
Steve Dent for Engadget
The gimbal generally does a good job of smoothing video, in scenarios ranging from cars, to running to rapid panning. Without electronic stabilization, Z-axis (up and down) motion is still present, so you’ll need to walk smoothly to avoid it.
The Pocket 3 and DJI Mic 2 is a practical combination, allowing you to vlog easily with smooth, high-quality video and excellent audio quality. It’s also discreet, as the Pocket 3 is small and the Mic 2 allows you to speak quietly, even in a crowd.
As with DJI’s original Mic, the Mic 2 offers consistent sound quality and levels while keeping outside noise to a minimum. It has decent range with the Pocket 3, though DJI has yet to specify that exactly (again, we’ll learn more when the standalone Mic 2 is released). Given the wide angle lens, you’ll probably never get too far from the Pocket 3 – but it worked fine for me with a camera mounted on a car and me inside, for example.
Like DJI’s drones, the Pocket 3 has ActiveTrack subject tracking. You enable that by double tapping a subject or selecting it from the Mimo app. From there, the head will tilt and pan to follow the subject and keep it in focus.
Steve Dent for Engadget
This function works automatically when selfie mode is activated either by touching the icon or triple-pressing the joystick. In this case, it goes into face-tracking mode and keeps your face centered screen no matter where you move the camera.
Another function called dynamic framing also tracks faces, but lets you change the framing at the touch of a button. DJI also introduced a new mode called spin shot that rotates the camera 90 or 180 degrees to create a stylized scene.
Video and image quality
The Pocket 3 can shoot 4K at up to 60 fps in normal mode, and now includes both a 10-bit D-LogM mode and HLG mode for HDR shooting. It has a 9.
DJI also added 4K 120p shooting via a special slow-mo mode. This is handy for high-speed scenarios, particularly when combined with camera moves. At launch, this mode didn’t support 10-bit and D-LogM/HLG modes, but via a recent firmware update, those modes now work at 4K 120p as well.
Another new function is low-light video mode, designed to improve performance in dim scenes. In this setting, it’s limited to 30 fps max and ISO is boosted up to 16,000, compared to 3,200 in regular video mode.
The Hyperlapse and time lapse settings work the same as on DJI drones, giving you a time lapse option that’s great for showing the quick passage of time. The other two modes are Panorama for wide shots and, of course, photos.
Image quality is outstanding for a device this tiny, with the large sensor beating any smartphone except for maybe Sony’s Xperia Pro-I. In normal mode, video is sharp and colors are vibrant. In photo mode, JPEGs look good straight out of the camera, but you can also shoot RAW for more flexibility in post.
As mentioned, the Osmo Pocket 3 isn’t ideal for things like portraits or product beauty shots due to the relatively wide-angle 20mm equivalent lens. Yes, you can do a digital zoom to double that, but resolution dips well below 4K when you do that, due to the relatively low 9.4-megapixel (MP) sensor resolution.
Such a field of view doesn’t tend to flatter subjects (you generally want about 35-100mm), and moving the camera close can even cause distortion. So if you produce content around those things, the Pocket 3 isn’t ideal as a standalone camera.
The D-LogM function boosts dynamic range significantly, particularly in high-contrast or on sunny days. It also helps with creative color correction and to match scenes with other cameras, particularly DJI’s own drones and action cams. It’s easier to adjust than most log modes, so I leave it on all the time.
The larger sensor also makes the Pocket 3 much better in low light than before. Normal video mode goes up to ISO 3200, while low light mode ramps that up to ISO 16,000, letting you film in very dim rooms. It also appears to crank up noise reduction at upper ISOs though, so expect some loss of detail.
Steve Dent for Engadget
While low-light capability is improved, the sensor resolution drops significantly from 64MP on the Pocket 2 to 9.4MP on the new model. That’s not bad per se, as we’ve seen low-resolution sensors on high-end cameras like the Sony A7S III. However, it means that any digital zooming for video results in a loss of resolution (4K is 8.4MP), and photos aren’t nearly as sharp on the Pocket 3.
Autofocus can be an issue with larger sensor cameras, but the Pocket 3’s phase detect AI system is generally reliable. That applies whether you’re shooting multiple subjects in FPV mode or using Active Track or Face Tracking.
Rolling shutter is really pretty minimal, with just a light amount of skew on fast moving subjects like trains. That’s aided considerably by the gimbal, of course, which eliminates any strong jolts that could cause jello-like video.
One big issue is focus breathing, though, as the frame changes substantially when you focus from a far to a near object. If possible, it would be good for DJI to add a breathing compensation feature as we’ve seen on Sony and other cameras.
Wrap-up
Steve Dent for Engadget
With improvements in image quality, tracking and other areas, DJI’s Osmo Pocket 3 is more versatile than ever. The image quality puts it in the category of high-end compact cameras and you get incredible optical stabilization equivalent to a handheld gimbal with none of the hassle.
It has no major flaws, except for the $520 price for the gimbal alone, or $699 in the aforementioned kit. For that, you could get Sony’s ZV-1F vlogging camera, or for $150 more, Sony’s ZV-10 mirrorless camera with a much larger sensor. Neither of those can do exactly what the Pocket 3 can do, but then again the Pocket 3 isn’t ideal for portraits, product shots and other types of content either.
The Pocket 2 was embraced mainly as a second camera for grabbing some stabilized shots. The Pocket 3 costs $170 more, though, so it’s not something you’d pick up on a whim. DJI is no doubt hoping folks will be willing to pay the extra money if they embrace it as a standalone vlogging camera. It can certainly serve that purpose, but only if your focus is on creating cinematic shots — and not on people or product-focused content creation.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dji-osmo-pocket-3-review-maybe-the-only-vlogging-camera-you-need-163028145.html?src=rss
Google's Pixel Watch 2 just came out in October but we're already seeing the first substantial discount. You can pick up the WiFi model at Amazon for just $300, for a discount of 14 percent ($50) over the list price. And if you don't want to be encumbered by your smartphone, the LTE model is also on sale for $350, a 13 percent discount off the regular price.
The Pixel Watch 2 has a longer-lasting battery, with a full 24 hours between charges even with the always-on display enabled, while the original model struggled to go a full day. Google has also doubled down on the Fitbit integration, with a new multi-path heart rate sensor that uses both photodiodes and LEDs to get better estimates of your pulse. Fitbit stress management features use various sensors to potentially identify tense moments in your day and suggests actions such as mood logging or guided breathing and walking sessions.
New safety features include Safety Check which can alert friends, family or even emergency services if needed and Emergency Sharing lets your circle of people see your real-time whereabouts. Fall detection and Emergency SOS were already released earlier this year for the Pixel Watch but will come standard on the Pixel Watch 2. The housing is made from 100 percent recycled aluminum and the AMOLED screen is covered in 3D Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Many fitness features like workouts and Daily Readiness Score live behind Fitbit's paywall, but the watch comes with six months of the subscription for free.
The main downside is the crown that sticks out a bit too far and may pinch your wrist during certain activities. All told, though, it's a solid update over the original thanks to the extra features, lighter weight and improved design. $300 is a great price for an all-new smartwatch and would be a great compliment to a Pixel or other Android smartphone.
Spotify is cutting jobs for the third time this year. In a pre-holiday shocker, Spotify is laying off 1,500 workers, or 17 percent of its workforce, CEO Daniel Ek announced in a press release on Monday. The cuts are being made due to what Ek called "the challenges ahead" and he elected to make them immediately instead of doing smaller reductions over time. Affected employees will be notified later today, he added.
"I realize that for many, a reduction of this size will feel surprisingly large given the recent positive earnings report and our performance," Ek wrote. "We debated making smaller reductions throughout 2024 and 2025. Yet, considering the gap between our financial goal state and our current operational costs, I decided that a substantial action to right-size our costs was the best option to accomplish our objectives. While I am convinced this is the right action for our company, I also understand it will be incredibly painful for our team."
Ek went on to note that the company expanded considerably in 2020 and 2021 due to the lower cost of capital. "These investments generally worked, contributing to Spotify’s increased output and the platform’s robust growth this past year," he said. And despite reductions made last year — the company laid off 6 percent of its workforce early in 2023 and another 2 percent in May — "our cost structure for where we need to be is still too big," Ek said.
Follow those rounds of layoffs, Spotify had around 9,000 employees, so the latest cuts will see around 1,500 employees losing their jobs (4,300 of those jobs were in the US as of 2022). To soften the blow, Ek said Spotify will pay an average of five months severance, cover healthcare during that time and provide immigration/career support.
Ek said that for the company's next phase, "being lean is not just an option but a necessity." Last month, Spotify announced a revamped royalty model, which is supposed to give "working artists" a bigger cut, while reducing fraudulent streams.
Spotify has seen consistent growth since it launch and now counts 574 million monthly active users, up 26 percent over the same period last year. The company has always struggled to make a profit, though with its last quarter being a rare exception. Ek promised more information about what the changes will mean "in the days and weeks ahead" — but all that will be cold comfort to employees suddenly finding themselves unemployed just before the holidays.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spotify-is-laying-off-1500-employees-081521615.html?src=rss