The Verge

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Google's Android app store is an illegal monopoly - and now it will have to change.Today, Judge James Donato issued his final ruling in Epic v. Google, ordering Google to effectively open up the Google Play app store to competition for three whole years. Google will have to distribute rival third-party app stores within Google Play, and it must give rival third-party app stores access to the full catalog of Google Play apps, unless developers opt out individually.These were Epic's biggest asks, and they might change the Android app marketplace forever - if they aren't immediately paused or blocked on appeal.And they're not all that Epic has won today.Starting November 1st, 2024, and ending November 1st, 2027, Google must also:

Star Wars Outlaws sold fewer copies than expected. | Image: Ubisoft Ubisoft is addressing rumors that Tencent is exploring a buyout of the French game publisher - though it isn't saying much right now. In a statement on Monday, Ubisoft said it regularly reviews all its strategic options in the interest of its stakeholders and will inform the market if and when appropriate."The statement follows an earlier report from Bloomberg, which says the Chinese gaming giant Tencent and the Guillemot family, who founded Ubisoft, are looking into ways to stabilize Ubisoft and bolster its value." Ubisoft shares plunged 19 percent last month following news that it's delaying the launch of Assasins's Creed Shadows and reported lower-than-expected Star Wars Outlaws sales.One of the options Ubisoft is considering is... Continue reading...

Image: Atlus Persona is one of the rare video game series where people actually talk about the menus. They're functional, sure, but they're also so incredibly stylish that you almost don't mind constantly pausing to equip gear or heal your party. So when I had the chance to talk to longtime Persona director Katsura Hashino about his new game, Metaphor: ReFantazio, which continues this tradition of beautiful menus, I had to ask how they do it.The answer, as Hashino explains it, is simply a lot of work:

Metaphor: ReFantazio. | Image: Atlus Persona 5 helped the roleplaying franchise break out with mainstream audiences, and it's also a game that was in the works for a long time. Early work began in 2008, just after Persona 4 came out, with full development kicking off three years later. So, just ahead of the game's launch in 2016, director Katsura Hashino - steward of the franchise since Persona 3 - asked the team what they wanted to do next. Everyone said fantasy," he tells The Verge.That game would turn out to be Metaphor: ReFantazio, an epic RPG that launches on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on October 11th. In a lot of ways, it's reminiscent of Persona, with slick menus, turn-based combat, and gameplay systems forged through making meaningful connections with characters.... Continue reading...

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge For several years now, it's been possible to personalize your iPhone screen by creating your own icons, mostly by using Apple's built-in Shortcuts app (and we have instructions for doing just that). But if you want to do a little customization in a short amount of time, a new feature in iOS 18 lets you tweak the color of your app icons in a matter of moments. Here's how.On your iPhone homescreen:

Willem Dafoe in Nosferatu. | Screenshot: YouTube Can you feel it? There's a slight chill in the air, the Sun is retiring earlier, and the leaves are beginning to change (at least in my Midwestern city). We're wading right into the time of year when everyone starts posting the vampire Kermit the Frog meme to show how ready they are for Halloween. I'm even starting to eye that Shudder re-subscribe button.October has its own vibe at the cinema, and theatrical releases this month include Operation Blood Hunt, a movie about 1944 special forces fighting werewolves in the Pacific theater, and Seven Cemeteries, a Danny Trejo-starring film about a guy who hires a witch to resurrect his posse to save a woman's ranch. And let's not forget Rumours, which I'm very excited for.So I've got a... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge The iPhone 16, despite its marketing so far, still doesn't have Apple Intelligence. That's set to change on October 28th with the release of iOS 18.1, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in today's Power On newsletter.The update will bring with it AI-powered notification summaries, Gurman writes. Though he only lists that example, the iOS 18.1 beta has also included some Siri improvements (like understanding you better when you stumble over your words), along with writing tools and a new rainbow-colored glowing edge graphic when you summon Siri on a phone or iPad.Apple Intelligence only runs on the iPhone 15 Pro and up, but it's also been available in beta for Macs and iPads with Apple silicon chips (M1 and and up), so even if you... Continue reading...

The Pixel Watch 2 can still serve you well in 2024 if you don't need a bigger or brighter screen. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Pixel Watch 3 may be the shining refinement Google's wearable lineup needed, but the last-gen Pixel Watch 2 is still a great buy. That's especially true when you can get it for as low as $224 ($26 off) - which is the watch's current starting price at both Amazon and Best Buy.Although the Pixel Watch 3 introduces a host of solid improvements - including a bigger and brighter display, a new 44mm size, AI-generated workout suggestions, and offline Google Maps - the second-gen Pixel Watch is still a looker. It only comes in one size (41mm), and the usable display area is only about 10 percent smaller than the third-gen model. It also uses the same Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear W5 Gen 1 chip, though it lacks the ultra wideband chip that lets... Continue reading...

Image: Bethesda It's been a long time coming for Starfield players. Bethesda's sci-fi take on Skyrim originally launched last summer, and while there have been some updates and improvements since then, it's taken more than a year for the game to get its first major expansion. This lead-up means there's a lot riding on Shattered Space - which is a perfectly fine addition to the game that also feels incredibly underwhelming. After a promising setup, it ends up mostly being more of the same.Things start, as they so often do in expansions, with a distress call. This one leads you to a derelict space station that is brimming with ghostly apparitions and which eventually whisks you away to the home planet of the House Va'ruun, a religious sect that worships... Continue reading...

Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge Just over a year ago, Epic Games laid off around 16 percent of its employees. The problem, Epic said, was its own big ideas for the future and just how expensive they were to build. For a while now, we've been spending way more money than we earn," Epic CEO Tim Sweeney wrote in an email to staff.On Tuesday, onstage at the Unreal Fest conference in Seattle, Sweeney declared that the company is now financially sound." The announcement kicked off a packed two-hour keynote with updates on Unreal Engine, the Unreal Editor for Fortnite, the Epic Games Store, and more.In an interview with The Verge, Sweeney says that reining in Epic's spending was part of what brought the company to this point. Last year, before Unreal Fest, we were... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge This week, DirecTV announced it intends to buy Dish, Sling TV, and the rest of EchoStar's television business for a dollar (while also taking on all of Dish's debt), combining almost 20 million satellite TV subscribers from two companies that have been circling one another for decades.But it's not just DirecTV and Dish. AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, General Electric, GM, News Corp, Tumblr, and the various incarnations of Time Warner have also gotten mixed up or split up while trying to bridge the gap between communications and media over the years.Here's a partial timeline of the events that might end with these two companies joining together at last.AOL, meet Time Warner At the turn of the 21st century, it was obvious that the internet... Continue reading...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Facebook is announcing a host of updates to its platform today, many of which focus on pushing users outside of their social bubble of friends and family.Among the updates are new tabs being added to Facebook that are meant to surface more content for users, including recommendations based on a person's location. A new Local" tab will collect content from other Facebook surfaces like the resale platform Marketplace, local groups, and events - essentially what sounds like Facebook's version of Nextdoor. The Local tab is being tested in 10 US cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Austin, Texas.Facebook will also begin testing an Explore" tab, which sounds similar to the Instagram feature of the same name: a personalized... Continue reading...

Image: Warner Bros. Todd Phillips' new Joker sequel is a pitchy mess that wants to explore what happens when villains become folk heroes. Continue reading...