Netflix has canceled, or ended, a number of TV shows over the years, and co-CEO Ted Sarandos has commented on this in a new interview with Bloomberg. He told the publication that Netflix has never canceled a "successful" show. The company cuts programming when budgets don't match the resulting viewership, Sarandos said.

"We have never canceled a successful show," Sarandos said. "A lot of these shows were well-intended but talk to a very small audience on a very big budget. The key to it is you have to be able to talk to a small audience on a small budget and a large audience at a large budget. If you do that well, you can do that forever."

Netflix announced the cancellation of 20 shows in 2022, including Stranger Things, Space Force, The Umbrella Academy, Resident Evil, and Blockbuster. See the gallery below to see more of the shows Netflix's canceled in 2022.

More details have surfaced on EA's monetization plans for its Skate reboot, which has reportedly seen some changes since last year's datamining revealed a loot box system for the game. As a free-to-play game, Skate will generate revenue from "Swag Bags", and each one of these loot boxes will contain up to five items.

According to playtesters that spoke to Insider Gaming, loot boxes can be unlocked with Stars that are earned by completing challenges, and the harder the task, the more of these you'll unlock. The other in-game currency, that playtesters believe can be purchased with real money, will be Taps. These can be exchanged for Stars and are generally earned by performing tricks, increasing your reputation level, and general play.

Loot boxes generally cost between two and three Stars, with the higher-priced boxes having a higher chance of awarding premium items such as skateboarding, clothing, and house furniture. Each loot box will have five unique items inside of them, and any duplicate items from previous loot box unlocks will be converted into Hype, another form of currency.

Skybound Entertainment is a private company but now anyone can invest in the entertainment giant best known for The Walking Dead. The Los Angeles-based company announced its first Regulation A+ campaign, which means anyone can invest in the company. Bear in mind, though, that investing of any type carries substantial risk and should be thoughtfully considered.

Skybound is working with the Republic platform on this Regulation A+ campaign, and so far has raised more than $11 million from more than 4,600 people in an early "quiet" period of investing. The platform is now open to everyone and the numbers are expected to grow.

Skybound CEO David Alpert said opening the company up for public investment invites "superfans" to hold a stake in the company and it allows Skybound's workers to connect with fans on another level. "It's a win-win for everyone," Alpert said.

The Persona 3 old couple Social Link is one of the first you can take on in Atlus’ RPG, and it has the fewest barriers to complete. Unlike the core cast Social Links, this one also stays the same whether you play as a male or female protagonist. Since it’s the Hierophant Social Link, just make sure you have a Hierophant Persona with you when you complete an event. That way, you get an extra point toward your relationship with each correct answer.

Bunkichi and Mitsuko are available to chat every day during the day, except Sunday, at the bookstore in Iwatodai mall. You can start the Social Link any time after April 25. Maxing out the link lets you fuse Kohryu, the most powerful Hierophant Persona.

The easiest way to get a Hierophant Persona and earn bonus points is by fusing Omoikane. You can get one by fusing Jack Frost and Orpheus together or Orpheus and Nekomata. Since Omoikane is a low-level Persona, you can summon it again cheaply from the register in the Velvet Room.

One of the most celebrated games of all time, GoldenEye 007, finally has a release date on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack and Xbox Game Pass. The James Bond FPS will launch this Friday, January 27, for both platforms.

GoldenEye 007 originally came out on Nintendo 64 in 1997 and was based on the 1995 movie starring Pierce Brosnan. This updated version of the game will feature online multiplayer on Nintendo Switch, but not Xbox. Instead, the James Bond title will have achievements, split-screen multiplayer, and a 4K resolution on Xbox.

Nintendo and Rare announced GoldenEye 007 was returning in September, teasing the launch would be soon. It's possible the game was delayed a bit because of the War in Ukraine, though that was only rumored. Last year was GoldenEye's 25th anniversary and James Bond's 60th.

The post-apocalyptic zombie game The Day Before, which has been criticized for its reported use of unpaid workers, has been delayed to November 2023 due in part to a trademark issue, it seems. The game has been pushed from March 2023 to November 2023.

Developer Fntastic and publisher Mytona said in a statement that Steam blocked The Day Before from getting a page on the store due to a request from a private individual over the game's name. The studio said when it announced The Day Before in January 2021, the name "The Day Before" was available to trademark as a video game. After this, a person registered that name with the US Patent and Trademark Office, beating Fntastic to the punch.

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Fntastic went on to say that it found out about the trademark issue on January 19, 2023, when the person owning The Day Before's video game trademark reached out with a request to talk. "Now we find out all the circumstances of the incident and we will definitely solve everything," Fntastic said.

Squanch Games has announced the resignation of co-founder Justin Roiland after domestic violence charges against the Rick and Morty co-creator were revealed last week.

The studio announced Roiland's departure from the company in a tweeted statement, which confirmed that Roiland submitted his resignation on January 16. Four days earlier, on January 12, he was charged in Orange County, California on felony domestic violence charges as reported by NBC News.

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Squanch Games's statement also confirms that the studio will continue on without Roiland, saying, "The passionate team at Squanch will keep developing games we know our fans will love," with continued support for the game's recent release High On Life specifically mentioned.

Microsoft has released its latest earnings report for the quarter ending December 31, less than a week after it announced it would be laying off 10,000 people. The tech giant reported an overall drop in income, as well as a 13% decrease in gaming revenue.

Xbox hit a new MAU (monthly active users) record of 120 million for the latest period and Xbox Game Pass continued to grow, but that was the extent of the bright spots for Xbox during the quarter.

We did get something very valuable though: New MAU data.
Nadella says Xbox MAUs were at 120 million, which is a new all-time high.
Before now, Microsoft hadn't reported Xbox monthly active user numbers for quite some time. pic.twitter.com/ilSzsnAJvj

Both hardware and content sales lagged for Xbox compared to the same period the previous year, with console revenue down 13% and content and services down 12%. Microsoft points out that this comparison is with a "strong prior year," pointing to "declines in first-party content and lower monetization in third-party content" for the drop. This was partially offset by Xbox Game Pass's continued growth, Microsoft adds.

It might be the middle of the week, but there's still no slowing down this Wordle train. We've returned to offer more help to people in need when it comes to getting the Wordle correct. This time, we're helping out with the answer on January 25. Like last Wednesday's word, this answer has to do with food. It's a common word, but some people might not have heard of it due to the word describing a specific food that has a much more traditional name. If you haven't started the Wordle just yet, then you can check out our list of recommended starting words. However, if you're already past the starting point, then you're likely looking for some hints.

Luckily, we provide just that further down in this article. We also spell out the full answer even further down, so if you don't want to be spoiled, don't read below the hints.

We'll begin with two hints that directly relate to today's Wordle answer, but don't give it away immediately.

When we imagine what Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige's workday is like, we picture dozens of spinning plates about to crash to the ground yet somehow keep spinning into infinity. Occasionally, though, one of those needs some help to keep going--such is the case with a recently-fixed continuity error found in the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel.

A continuity error with the Statue of Liberty in the #MsMarvel finale has been digitally altered on Disney+ recently
The statue is shown in the opening shot and end credits of Episode 6
It is now the same copper colour as seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home! pic.twitter.com/EBqoMtokJb

The alteration was first spotted by fan account MsMarvelUK on Twitter, which noted that the depiction of the Statue of Liberty has been updated. When the New York City icon appeared surrounded by scaffolding during the climactic battle of Spider-Man No Way Home, the statue has a copper appearance (the pale green is a result of the statue's copper finish oxidizing). The statue had been under renovation to add Captain America's shield to the statue, though Spidey's battle knocked the shield off.

Prior to the VFX team working up their Disney magic, the statue appeared with its traditional, oxidized look in the opening credits to Ms. Marvel. However, a look at the credits now shows the copper-colored statue.

The Adult Swim television network has announced that it has cut ties with Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland. Allegations of domestic violence against Roiland surfaced earlier this month. Despite Roiland's departure, Rick and Morty will continue, Adult Swim says.

"Adult Swim has ended its association with Justin Roiland," the network said in a tweet from the official Rick and Morty Twitter account. "Rick and Morty will continue. The talented and dedicated crew are hard at work on Season 7."

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The Xbox Series X|S version of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has been delayed, as has the upcoming seasonal content rollout for the game. On Twitter, developer Fatshark released a statement announcing the delay, citing feedback from the community as the reason for the delay.

"Over the next few months, our sole focus is to address the feedback that many of you have," Fatshark CEO and co-founder Martin Wahlund wrote in the statement. "In particular, we will focus on delivering a complete crafting system, a more rewarding progression loop, and continue to work on game stability and performance optimization."

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Wahlund thanked the community for playing and providing feedback on Darktide's issues, saying the team is committed to creating a game that will reward players for weeks, not hours.

Before the release of HBO’s The Last of Us, a TV adaptation of one of the most acclaimed games of all time, many on the internet were ready to deride the show before having seen an episode--partly because the history of live action video game adaptations has been a mixed bag at best, but mostly because a lot of commenters online enjoy being grade A haters.

Following positive press reactions to the show’s first season, the first two episodes that have aired since have changed a lot of people online’s tunes. There seems to be a general consensus that the show not only faithfully adapts the story of the game, but expands on the world, characters, and plot beats in meaningful ways. In a few short weeks, the conversation around HBO’s The Last of US has gone from, “This is going to be bad,” to, “Is it actually better than the game?”

Opinions like these are subjective, but I saw a post on Twitter that made a good point about comparing the two: You can’t call one better than the other because one is a TV show and the other is a video game. The playable version of The Last of Us has game mechanics that you can interact with and critically weigh when determining if it is good or not, whereas the TV show has the flexibility to jump around in the story and follow the perspectives of numerous different characters. It’s a solid argument to make.

Fans of Blizzard games like World of Warcraft and Overwatch in China are in mourning following the shutdown of the majority of Blizzard game services in the country, after Activision Blizzard and China's NetEase Games failed to renew their licensing agreement.

The two companies had been partners for 14 years, with Blizzard's MMORPG having operated in the country for a few years under a separate company prior to Blizzard and NetEase's partnership. The handoff between WoW's former operator in China and NetEase in 2009 was the first time WoW shut down in the region, though it was for only a few months.

So it begins.
It's funny that here we call this file 'electronic urn', and the process of generating this file 'cremation'.
Sadly, players won't be able to gather in the city and wait for that final moment together like last time, b/c this service will go down with the servers. pic.twitter.com/k04HqDfiMF

Activision Blizzard announced late last year that it would not be renewing its contract with NetEase, with game services set to end on January 23. That time has now come to pass, as WoW players in China have been forced to download nearly two decades worth of character data in the hope that the game's servers will one day return and their characters can be restored.

After almost a full day offline, Destiny 2's servers are coming back online with the release of a new hotfix update, 6.3.0.6. As part of this rollout, progress on all accounts is being rolled back to the state they were in at 8:20 AM PT / 11:30 AM ET on January 24.

Due to that rollback, which Bungie warned overnight would be happening, you'll need to redo any quests or other progress you made between 8:20 AM PT and 11 AM on Tuesday. Additionally, you'll need to re-buy anything you may have purchased on the Eververse store. Silver for those purchases will be refunded, and any Silver you may have paid for will also be added back, according to Bungie.

Also of note is that blue engrams, which were to be removed as part of this week's patch for players who have reached the soft cap, may continue to drop. Bungie said, "This will be resolved in a future update."

Destiny 2 is parting ways with rare engrams as of today. Announced by developer Bungie in hotfix 6.3.0.5, players who have reached the soft gear cap in the game--currently 1530 power level--will no longer receive blue engrams. Instead, they'll receive the "equivalent Glimmer amount" as a drop.

If you jumped into Destiny 2 right after the patch and you're still seeing blue engrams, don't fret. The developer tweeted that this particular update is rolling out later in the day, and to keep an eye on the @BungieHelp account for updates. At the time of publication, the background maintenance for the game has been extended by four hours, and is expected to end later today, January 24, at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET.

This change is one of many ahead of the release of Lightfall next month. The Gunsmith reputation gains are being bumped by 25% to compensate for the lack of blue engrams. In addition, Bungie has recently shared that the team is planning on nerfing Resilience, as part of a major overhaul to Destiny 2's mod system, as well as the introduction of loadouts.

Microsoft has subpoenaed Sony for legal information to bolster its attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard.

According to VGC, as well as the court document itself, Sony filed an extension to the subpoena, which reads, "negotiations between SIE and Microsoft as to the scope of SIE's production and a discovery schedule are ongoing." The original subpoena was served on January 17, with a response deadline of January 20. Sony moved to extend the deadline by a week. Microsoft agreed to the extension. The document states Sony has until January 27 "to move, to limit or quash, or otherwise respond to the subpeona."

As reporter Tom Warren pointed out on Twitter, the phrase "production and a discovery schedule" does not refer to PlayStation game production, rather to the Sony legal team's work. Therefore, it is likely that Microsoft is looking for legal information to help build its case for acquiring Activision Blizzard.

After a tumultuous week which included layoffs and a "social engineering attack" in its development environment, Riot Games has provided an update on the latter, including a ransom threat and assurance that player data was not affected.

In a lengthy Twitter thread, Riot Games confirmed that source code for three of its programs--League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and a "legacy anticheat platform"--was stolen by the hackers. Riot received a ransom threat soon after the breach, but Riot has responded by saying "we won't pay."

As promised, we wanted to update you on the status of last week’s cyber attack. Over the weekend, our analysis confirmed source code for League, TFT, and a legacy anticheat platform were exfiltrated by the attackers.

1/7 https://t.co/IogE05HaD1

The thread also gave some insight into what was contained in the stolen source code, including "a number of experimental features" that are "in prototype," meaning they may or may not officially release to the public. Riot also stressed that leaks in source code like this may lead to new in-game cheats, but they are working to resolve them as quickly as possible.

The Last of Us became a modern-day classic when it was released 10 years ago, telling a love story of a man and his surrogate daughter that faced horrors and the hope for survival. In Episode 2 of the live-action adaptation from HBO, we're introduced to the Clickers, a breed of Infected monsters that were once normal people. Prolonged exposure to the fungal brain infection has caused callused fungus to cover their eyes, rendering them blind and reliant on echolocation to know their surroundings and find their prey.

"Even though we were creating new, refreshed versions on the same brief, we kept going back to the original designs that Neil and his team created for the game," prosthetics master Barrie Gower stated in the behind-the-scenes look from Episode 2.

However, translating their looks was only half the problem of what the team at HBO had to solve. In the game, players are introduced to Clickers via a cut scene that's also one of the game's first real jumpscares. It also presented one of the navigation puzzles players have to solve with being as quiet as possible. So how do they balance the action and still be truthful to the moments of the game?

Microsoft's next big gaming event is coming up extremely soon, with the first-ever Developer Direct showcase scheduled for Wednesday, January 25. Here in this post we're rounding up how to watch the show and what to expect from Xbox's first big event of 2023.

The Developer Direct takes place Wednesday, January 25, beginning at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET / 8 PM GMT. You can watch the showcase live on the official Xbox and Bethesda channels, as well as via Steam, and Bilibili in China. You can also watch right here at GameSpot.

Watch via the links below.