Last week, Netflix surprised us all when it announced plans for an $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros., a move that would fundamentally reshape the world of streaming video and Hollywood. But Paramount isn't giving up on WB — this week it launched a $108 billion hostile takeover effort. In this episode, we discuss why everyone is fighting for WB, and why Netflix may be the best worst option for the storied movie studio.
What the Netflix bid for Warner Bros. means for at-home streamers and moviegoers – 1:55
Disney characters are coming to Sora after OpenAI struck a deal – 32:59
Meta may be giving up on open source for Llama – 43:53
Google CEO says we’re just going to have to grin and bear societal disruption via AI – 46:46
Around Engadget: The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is good, but is it $630 good? – 49:06
The best trailers and announcements from The Game Awards’ Day of the Devs stream – 51:28
Here’s why projectors won in 2025 – 54:31
Working on – 56:15
Pop culture picks – 57:33
Credits
Host: Devindra Hardawar Guest: Nathan Ingraham Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/engadget-podcast-why-netflix-is-the-best-worst-option-for-warner-bros-132156232.html?src=rss
Honestly, compiling the biggest losers for Engadget is more fun than talking up the winners. While we reviewed nothing as atrocious as those ill-fated AI assistant gadgets from 2024, AI companies and services straddled both the winner and loser podiums.
The losers might be you, the American consumer. (Sorry.) In the US, anyone wanting a drone will have to find something that isn’t made by DJI. The company has been targeted by regulators since 2017 over concerns its products could spy on sensitive US infrastructure on behalf of China.
The problem is DJI has such a high market share (over 75 percent) that its absence will effectively upend the industry. Oh, and its drones are consistently the best too. The US government hasn’t yet attempted to work with DJI to assess whether its products pose a risk. DJI recently made a final plea for a security review, sending letters to five US agencies that could assess its products. If that fails, US drone options will shrink massively.
In the same 12 months, EV sales across the globe are up around 25 percent this year. Germany set a record in the first half of 2025, with electric cars accounting for nearly one in five new registrations. In China, EV sales are growing so fast (over 50 percent market share) that the country is flooding the global market with gas-powered cars it can’t sell at home. However — remember this is about losers — in the US, the Trump administration ended the EV tax credit. And shock! Sales of EVs in the US slumped, with some automakers, such as Ford, seeing a 60 percent year-over-year decline.
As Sam Rutherford puts it, this policy change puts more roadblocks (his inadvertent pun, not mine) in the way of making cheaper battery-powered cars. It also affects EV investment and could mean US automakers fall even further behind their rivals elsewhere.
We also point and shake our heads at Xbox, Grok and TV streaming. Check it all out right here.
If you missed The Game Awards 2025, you missed a historic sweep by Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The Belle Epoque saga, which was expected to win several categories, even bagged Game of the Year and eventually picked up more wins than any title in the show’s 12-year history.
Naturally, there were trailers and game reveals too, which were pleasantly notable. We got a first look at the Control sequel, Resonant, Star Wars: Fate of The Old Republic is coming, headed by Mass Effect veterans, while Larian Studios is returning to the Divinity series following the success of Baldur’s Gate 3. Heck, if you want a good chance of winning at The Game Awards, hire Jennifer English to voice one of your main characters — she was in both BG3 and Clair Obscur.
Disney announced a three-year licensing agreement with OpenAI to bring more than 200 of its characters, including those from Star Wars and Pixar, to the Sora app and ChatGPT. With the deal in place, OpenAI users will be able to prompt ChatGPT to generate images that tap into Disney’s intellectual property, with costumes, props, vehicles and environments covered. Additionally, Disney will invest $1 billion in OpenAI, with the option to purchase additional equity down the road.
Learn about tennis from Serena Williams or music from John Legend.
If you’re struggling to find a good present for the holidays, MasterClass has discounted its subscriptions by up to 40 percent. I secured a similar deal for myself and was pleasantly surprised by the solid interface and the number of courses. I also forgot to update my subscription, whoops. Maybe this offer will get me back on board.
It’s already getting the details wrong on its own shows.
Amazon’s plan to offer AI-generated recaps of Prime Video shows isn’t off to a great start. The company’s recap of the first season of Fallout has multiple errors. First, the AI-generated recap incorrectly identifies the era of the show’s Los Angeles-set flashbacks as being the 1950s — they’re actually 2077. Perhaps more egregiously for a recap, it misunderstands the ending of the first season, which sets up season two’s partnership between vault dweller Lucy and The Ghoul.
This year at The Game Awards, if your game wasn’t melodramatic, mechanically innovative, beautifully presented and aggressively French, it didn’t stand a chance. The Game Awards 2025 wrapped up on the evening of Thursday, December 11 with a record-breaking showing by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive. The game received the most nominations and wins in the show’s 12-year history.
But, we know that’s not really why you’re here. Between the award presentations and musical numbers, there were heaps of new game trailers, announcements and updates, and we’ve collected them all for you right here. The award winners are also there.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/everything-announced-and-all-the-winners-at-the-game-awards-2025-044101761.html?src=rss
PlayStation had said on X that it would have news about Saros at The Game Awards, and unfortunately, fans excited for the new Housemarque project will need to wait a little longer to get their hands on it. The game has been delayed from its planned March release. But there's only a short time until the new date of April 30, and pre-orders are open now. Star Rahul Kohli appeared at The Game Awards to introduce the newest trailer for the game.
I'm glad we won't be waiting too much longer, because Saros looks very cool. Housemarque made its name on titles like Resogun and Returnal, and Saros seems like a great addition to their library. The latest trailer shows off all the golden and solar vibes in Carcosa. It also has more glimpses of the characters and story as well as the dangerous and deadly beings that will be trying very hard to kill you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/housemarques-saros-is-delayed-to-april-30-041813989.html?src=rss
The next game from Left 4 Dead designer Mike Booth is putting a sci-fi spin on his last game's co-op action, based on a trailer Booth and producer JJ Abrams shared at The Game Awards 2025. The new game is called 4:LOOP, and it's the first project entirely developed by Bad Robot Games, film production company Bad Robot's game studio.
4:LOOP combines the four-player co-op action of Left 4 Dead, with roguelike elements enabled by what seems like a time loop mechanic. Based on the trailer, players fight a mixture of aliens and robots in each mission, all in the hopes of eventually drawing the attention of an alien mothership and destroying it.
"Each time the four-player team succeeds in a mission, they make choices to improve their equipment, building out a unique kit to survive the epic boss battle at the end of the Act," Booth said in an interview with PlayStation Blog. "If the team completes all three Acts, they defeat the Mothership and save the world. All of this is, of course, easier said than done."
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that it would be publishing 4:LOOP earlier in December, so naturally the game will be available on PS5 and PC when it launches. Players interested in trying 4:LOOP can sign up on the game's website.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/4loop-is-a-co-op-shooter-from-the-creator-of-left-4-dead-and-jj-abrams-bad-robot-035835461.html?src=rss
Why have one Star Wars game announcement at an edition of The Game Awards when you can have two? Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a podracing (and speeder racing) game from Fuse Games, a studio established in 2023 by former Burnout and Need for Speed developers. It's scheduled to hit PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC in 2026.
The action here is set after the fall of the Empire. With the galaxy in rebuild mode after dealing with that whole mess, an unsanctioned, underground racing circuit called the Galactic League comes into being in the Outer Rim. Here, according to the game's Steam page, "syndicates bankroll chaos and champions are forged."
Star Wars: Galactic Racer is run-based, so if your podracer blows up, it might be game over. The action takes place across well-known Star Wars planets in addition to some new ones. The races have branching routes and you'll unlock new abilities on each run.
There's a story-driven, single-player campaign, as well as PvP modes. The vehicles are customizable too. Dig it. Where do I sign up, Watto?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/star-wars-galactic-racer-is-a-podracing-game-set-for-2026-035508891.html?src=rss
So there's good news and bad news about the highly anticipated Exodus coming out of The Game Awards this year. The good news is that there's a fresh trailer showcasing more of the game. The bad news is that the game won't be out until early 2027. The game was originally announced two years ago (also at The Game Awards) and had been pegged for release in 2026.
We may be waiting longer to get our hands on Exodus, but the substantial new trailer shows more of what the final product will entail, offering some backstory on main character Jun Aslan. He's the only human who can use the technology developed by Celestials, which are humans that have evolved 40,000 years into the future. The trailer also showcases the character C.C. Orlev, voiced by Matthew McConaughey. (Insert obligatory "alright alright alright" here.) Developer Archetype Entertainment includes some notable names from BioWare, 343 Industries and Naughty Dog, and the BioWare lineage seems particularly strong with this character- and choice-driven science fiction story.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/exodus-is-delayed-to-early-2027-032610665.html?src=rss
The last mainline Tomb Raider game was 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and after spending a few years in video game purgatory, Lara Croft is coming back in two new games. At The Game Awards 2025, Amazon Game Studios announced that Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantiswillreimagine of one of the hero’s early adventures in 2026, and Tomb Raider: Catalystwill continue the series in 2027.
Catalyst is developed by Crystal Dynamicsand follows Lara through Northern India “in the wake of a mythical cataclysm,” as she comes into competition with other treasure hunters. Legacy of Atlantis, developed by Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog, reimagines the very first Tomb Raider game in Unreal Engine 5. And yes, it seems like dinosaurs will be in the mix.
A new Tomb Raider game has been in the works officially since at least 2022, when Amazon announced that it would be publishing the next game in the series. Amazon shared that Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge would be developing a television adaptation of Tomb Raider in May 2024. Sophie Turner, best known for playing Sansa Stark on HBO’s Game of Thrones, was cast as Lara Croft in September 2025. With both a show and a game in the works, Amazon clearly seems interested in making Tomb Raider its next big crossover hit after the success of Fallout.
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will be released in 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. The platforms Tomb Raider: Catalyst will be released on weren’t shared, but the game is scheduled to be released in 2027.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/lara-croft-will-return-in-tomb-raider-catalyst-and-a-new-remake-025859998.html?src=rss
It didn't take too long for a game that a whole bunch of people are excited about to swoop into Grand Theft Auto VI's old release week. Or maybe Rockstar had an idea of was what was coming and delayed its blockbuster by six months to get out of the way of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.
Either way, TT Games and Warner Bros. Games brought a new trailer to The Game Awards and revealed that the Caped Crusader's next adventure will hit PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Steam and the Epic Games Store on May 29. The base game will cost $70 and pre-orders are open as of 11PM ET on December 11.
Lego games often have a massive cast of characters and, as the trailer revealed, this one will be no different. It will feature the likes of Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl and Catwoman, as well as a murderer's row of super-villains, such as The Joker, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, The Penguin and Bane.
Warner Bros. Games is announcing the release date at a bit of an awkward time. Netflix recently had an $82.7 billion bid accepted for a chunk of Warner Bros. Discovery that includes the gaming division. However, Netflix co-CEO Gregory Peters said the company didn't factor Warner Bros. Games into its valuation.
"While they definitely have been doing some great work in the game space, we actually didn’t attribute any value to that from the get-go because they’re relatively minor compared to the grand scheme of things," Peters said, according to PC Gamer. "Now we are super excited because some of those properties that they’ve built, Hogwarts [Legacy] is a great example of that, have been done quite well, and we think that we can incorporate that into what we’re offering. They’ve got great studios and great folks working there. So we think that there’s definitely an opportunity there. But just to be clear, we haven’t built that into our deal model."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/lego-batman-legacy-of-the-dark-knight-swoops-onto-pc-and-consoles-on-may-29-024729940.html?src=rss
South of Midnightis heading to PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 in Spring 2026, developer Compulsion Games announcedon X. The third-person action-adventure game launched as an Xbox and PC exclusive, but like plenty of Microsoft's other first-party games, it's heading to competitors' consoles.
Mixing platforming with magic-infused combat in a unique setting inspired by the folklore of the South, Compulsion Games' South of Midnight was generally well-received when it was released in April 2025. The game likely reached sizable audience by launching on Game Pass and PC, but coming to PlayStation and Switch will open it up to an even bigger audience.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/south-of-midnight-is-coming-to-ps5-and-switch-2-next-spring-022725892.html?src=rss