Sales of top full-sized pickups — the Ford F-150, Dodge Ram and Chevy Silverado — slumped, falling 10%, 15%, and 10% respectively — in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the last quarter of 2023. High prices and costly interest rates on auto loans appear to be taking a toll.
The decline prompts a question: Has the relentless American appetite for large trucks finally hit a wall? Bloomberg notes that smaller and mid-sized pickups appear to be taking market share.
Microsoft’s gaming division underwent a major shake-up on Friday, as the tech giant announced the departure of gaming CEO Phil Spencer, who led the division for 12 years and championed its Game Pass subscription service.
Xbox President Sarah Bond is also out, according to Spencer’s memo to employees.
Xbox has fallen significantly behind rivals Sony and Nintendo in recent years. Microsoft raised Xbox console prices twice last year and bumped subscription fees up 50%. In November, the console was even outsold (in unit sales) by the motion-controlled Nex Playground console.
The pair have overseen a shift at Xbox from standard consoles to an array of consoles, handhelds, and various devices and screens accessed via cloud gaming.
Spencer’s replacement as the head of gaming is Microsoft’s president of CoreAI product, Asha Sharma. In a memo to staff, Sharma made three commitments: great games, the “return of Xbox,” and to “invent new business models and new ways to play.”
Xbox has fallen significantly behind rivals Sony and Nintendo in recent years. Microsoft raised Xbox console prices twice last year and bumped subscription fees up 50%. In November, the console was even outsold (in unit sales) by the motion-controlled Nex Playground console.
The pair have overseen a shift at Xbox from standard consoles to an array of consoles, handhelds, and various devices and screens accessed via cloud gaming.
Spencer’s replacement as the head of gaming is Microsoft’s president of CoreAI product, Asha Sharma. In a memo to staff, Sharma made three commitments: great games, the “return of Xbox,” and to “invent new business models and new ways to play.”
Tesla’s effort to appeal a $243 million jury verdict related to a fatal 2019 crash that occurred when a Tesla vehicle was in self-driving mode was rejected by a federal judge in a ruling made public on Friday.
Tesla is expected to appeal the decision to a higher court.
The case was the first federal lawsuit surrounding an autopilot death to go to a jury trial for Tesla. In August, a jury found the automaker 33% responsible for the 2019 crash. The jury determined that Tesla was partly to blame for enabling the driver to take his eyes off the road, and the company was ordered to pay an additional $200 million in punitive damages.
Tesla reportedly turned down a $60 million settlement offer prior to the trial. According to Electrek, dozens of similar cases involving the EV maker are working through the court system.
This month, Tesla stopped using the term “autopilot” in its marketing in order to avoid a sales ban in California. Tesla appears to have replaced the term with “Traffic Aware Cruise Control” and added “supervised” to its mentions of Full Self-Driving tech.
The case was the first federal lawsuit surrounding an autopilot death to go to a jury trial for Tesla. In August, a jury found the automaker 33% responsible for the 2019 crash. The jury determined that Tesla was partly to blame for enabling the driver to take his eyes off the road, and the company was ordered to pay an additional $200 million in punitive damages.
Tesla reportedly turned down a $60 million settlement offer prior to the trial. According to Electrek, dozens of similar cases involving the EV maker are working through the court system.
This month, Tesla stopped using the term “autopilot” in its marketing in order to avoid a sales ban in California. Tesla appears to have replaced the term with “Traffic Aware Cruise Control” and added “supervised” to its mentions of Full Self-Driving tech.
AI’s ongoing need for more memory chips, which some are referring to as “RAMmageddon,” is reportedly shifting Sony’s plans for its next PlayStation console.
According to reporting by Bloomberg, the company is weighing a delay of the PS6 to 2028 or 2029 — a pivot from the company’s typical six- to seven-year console life cycle.
Memory costs could also result in Nintendo hiking the price of the Switch 2, per the report.
The report is part of a larger trend of AI demand impacting consumer electronics, including gaming equipment. Earlier this month, reports said that Nvidia will not release a new gaming graphics chip this year — a first. Steam owner Valve delayed its forthcoming Steam Machine console, and its popular Steam Deck handheld is currently unavailable for purchase in the US. Per Valve’s website: “Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages.”
Amid the AI memory squeeze, gaming stocks have also experienced major recent sell-offs following the release of Google’s AI interactive world-generation tool, Project Genie.
Memory costs could also result in Nintendo hiking the price of the Switch 2, per the report.
The report is part of a larger trend of AI demand impacting consumer electronics, including gaming equipment. Earlier this month, reports said that Nvidia will not release a new gaming graphics chip this year — a first. Steam owner Valve delayed its forthcoming Steam Machine console, and its popular Steam Deck handheld is currently unavailable for purchase in the US. Per Valve’s website: “Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages.”
Amid the AI memory squeeze, gaming stocks have also experienced major recent sell-offs following the release of Google’s AI interactive world-generation tool, Project Genie.
