culture

2/25/25

Warner Bros. already spent $100 million on the Wonder Woman game it just canceled

Warner Bros. Discovery is shuttering three studios in its video games division in an apparent effort to fix the flailing business.

The 31-year-old studio Monolith Productions (“Middle-earth: Shadow of War”), Player First Games (“MultiVersus”), and Warner Bros. Games San Diego are all being closed, per reporting from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier.

The company also said it’s canceling one of its biggest projects, a Wonder Woman game (by Monolith) that had gone through a turbulent development. Warner Bros. reportedly spent more than $100 million on the title, which will now never see the light of day.

Warner Bros. holds the rights to massively popular gaming-friendly IP like Batman, “The Lord of the Rings,” “Game of Thrones,” and Harry Potter, but it has struggled to find a hit since 2023’s “Hogwarts Legacy.”

The studio had an abysmal 2024, including a $200 million loss on its “Suicide Squad” title. That game likely would’ve been the industry’s biggest disappointment of the year, were it not for the historically bad performance of Sony’s “Concord.”

Warner Bros. Shuts Three Video-Game Studios in Restructuring

Warner Bros. Shuts Three Video-Game Studios in Restructuring

The company also said it’s canceling one of its biggest projects, a Wonder Woman game (by Monolith) that had gone through a turbulent development. Warner Bros. reportedly spent more than $100 million on the title, which will now never see the light of day.

Warner Bros. holds the rights to massively popular gaming-friendly IP like Batman, “The Lord of the Rings,” “Game of Thrones,” and Harry Potter, but it has struggled to find a hit since 2023’s “Hogwarts Legacy.”

The studio had an abysmal 2024, including a $200 million loss on its “Suicide Squad” title. That game likely would’ve been the industry’s biggest disappointment of the year, were it not for the historically bad performance of Sony’s “Concord.”

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US Powerball jackpot climbs to $1.7 Billion

Your upcoming Powerball loss is DraftKings’ gain

As the Powerball jackpot has stretched to $1.8 billion, users are flooding into DraftKing’s Jackpocket lottery app.

Max Knoblauch9/5/25

Americans that live in colder states are more likely to sleep longer

But most US adults still aren’t getting enough shut-eye.

American flag design pillow. USA Flag Throw Pillow. Patriotic concept

culture

9/2/25

Paramount and Microsoft’s Activision agree to partner on a “Call of Duty” movie

Less than a month after forming, Paramount Skydance has landed another major piece of intellectual property. The studio said it’s signed a deal with Microsoft’s Activision to create a live-action “Call of Duty” film.

The competitive shooter is one of the most popular gaming franchises in the world and has been the US’s bestselling series for the past 16 years. The next title in the 22-year-old franchise, “Black Ops 7,” will debut in November.

Paramount, which closed its merger with Skydance in August, has had a summer of big deals. It acquired UFC broadcast rights in a $7.7 billion deal with TKO last month, following a $1.5 billion deal for “South Park” rights in July. The company also lured “Stranger Things” creators away from Netflix last month for a four-year film and TV development deal.

Paramount & Activision Team For ‘Call Of Duty’ Movie

Paramount & Activision Team For ‘Call Of Duty’ Movie

The competitive shooter is one of the most popular gaming franchises in the world and has been the US’s bestselling series for the past 16 years. The next title in the 22-year-old franchise, “Black Ops 7,” will debut in November.

Paramount, which closed its merger with Skydance in August, has had a summer of big deals. It acquired UFC broadcast rights in a $7.7 billion deal with TKO last month, following a $1.5 billion deal for “South Park” rights in July. The company also lured “Stranger Things” creators away from Netflix last month for a four-year film and TV development deal.

culture

9/1/25

“Blinding Lights” just officially hit 5 billion streams on Spotify

Over the weekend, The Weeknd’s biggest hit crossed over the impressive threshold, with Spotify marking the feat with an Instagram post that the artist shared to his story.

According to Spotify data collated by Kworb, the song now has a staggering 5,000,010,581 streams on the platform, and is racking up nearly 1.5 million streams each day at the time of writing.

Blinding Lights crosses 5 billion chart — Sherwood News

While Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You,” released about two years before “Blinding Lights,” looks like it’ll be the next song to hit the 5 billion boundary, “Starboy,” another song from The Weeknd, might not be too far behind.

Besides those two megahits, The Weeknd has 26 other songs that have been streamed more than 1 billion times on Spotify — more than any other artist on the platform.

The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” is about to hit 5 billion streams on Spotify

The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” is about to hit 5 billion streams on Spotify

Blinding Lights crosses 5 billion chart — Sherwood News

While Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You,” released about two years before “Blinding Lights,” looks like it’ll be the next song to hit the 5 billion boundary, “Starboy,” another song from The Weeknd, might not be too far behind.

Besides those two megahits, The Weeknd has 26 other songs that have been streamed more than 1 billion times on Spotify — more than any other artist on the platform.

8/29/25

Americans are set to gamble a record $30 billion on the NFL this season, according to estimates from the American Gaming Association.

For context, that’s the same price tag as all US sports broadcasting rights combined. Leading sportsbooks like DraftKings, Flutter Entertainment’s FanDuel, Caesars Entertainment, and MGM’s BetMGM are positioned to cash in, with each battling for market share through promos, partnerships, and increasingly sticky mobile apps.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are ramping up efforts to crack down on illegal sportsbooks: this month, 50 attorneys general urged the Justice Department to take action against unlicensed gambling, warning that states are losing roughly $4 billion in tax revenue.

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