Gaming · Friday, 30 October 2026

01 Briefing what happened

Roblox's daily players fall 9% to 138 million, below forecasts, after its child-safety checks, while its sales of $1.7bn beat them

Roblox lost 9% of its daily players in a year as tougher child-safety measures cut play time, though money spent beat forecasts; fan site AO3 went dark, cartoon voice actors won a raise, and Celeste left Xbox.

138 million

people playing Roblox each day, 9% fewer than a year before

analysts had expected 145.8 million [2]

$1.7bn

in bookings, a measure of what players spent, in three months

above the $1.63bn Wall Street expected [2]

34 billion

hours spent playing, down 15%

time spent fell faster than the number of players [3]

The lead story — what happened

Roblox, a platform where players make and share games, reported its July-to-September figures on Thursday. [1] About 138 million people played each day, 9% fewer than a year earlier. [2] Analysts had expected 145.8 million daily players. [2] Its bookings, a measure of what players spent, reached $1.7bn, above the $1.63bn expected. [2]
Time spent playing fell faster, by 15% to 34 billion hours. [3]
Bloomberg says the slowdown in play followed Roblox's stronger child-safety measures. [2] Roblox stepped up moderation, checking what players post and say, all through 2026. [4] Bleecker Street Research, an investment research firm, judged that this hurt Roblox's user growth. [4]
Roblox is being sued by government bodies and by parents of exploited children. [4] The suits say Roblox enabled sexual harassment and exploitation of its users. [4] Roblox has repeatedly denied the claims. [4] Its chief executive, David Baszucki, has been criticised for his answers on child safety. [4]
Roblox published the figures at 20:05 UK time and took investors' questions at 1:30pm Pacific. [1]

Who is involved

Roblox Corporation

the California company that runs Roblox, where players make and share games; it reported fewer players
David Baszucki

Roblox's chief executive, criticised for how he answers questions on child safety
Bleecker Street Research

an investment research firm; it judged Roblox's safety work hurt its growth

How it unfolded

Through 2026 Roblox steps up moderation of what players post and say [4]
Thu, 20:05 UK July-to-September figures published [1]
Thu, 1:30pm Pacific Roblox takes investors' questions [1]

Where this points

The next test is whether a new hit game on Roblox can turn the slowdown around. [2]

Signals on this beat

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing, and the arrow is where it is heading.

Game worlds sold to screens Building↑

Netflix is making a live-action series of PUBG, a battle game owned by Krafton of South Korea. [5] Sony bought the film rights to Mouthwashing, an indie horror game. [6] Disney+ will stream Death Stranding Isolations, an anime set in Hideo Kojima's game world, in 2027. [7]

Workers want a say on AI Building↑

Voice actors in US TV cartoons approved new contracts with AI protections by 94.95%. [8] Four US unions asked a judge not to treat AI training on their work as fair use. [9] EA staff told a news site that managers push AI tools on them. [10]

Xbox losing ground High↓

Gears of War: E-Day has sold about 400,000 copies, a source told The Verge. [11] Celeste and TowerFall were pulled from the Xbox store over a boycott of Microsoft. [12] In Japan, 581 Xbox consoles sold in a week, against 21,792 Switch 2s. [13]

Big deals, then cuts High→

Skydance, formed by a $110 billion merger, named its streaming bosses as senior executives left. [14] EA carries $20bn of debt from its $55bn sale and cut 400 jobs. [15]

The rest of the day

37 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
Fan fiction site AO3 goes dark

Archive of Our Own, or AO3, a free website for fan fiction, went offline on Thursday. [16] Fan fiction is stories fans write using characters from books, films and TV shows. [17] In September it held over 18.4 million works from more than 82,900 fandoms. [18] A nonprofit, the Organization for Transformative Works, runs it on volunteers and donations. [19] At first it expected 12 hours of maintenance, then said 2 to 4 weeks. [16] Later it said it had found evidence of a security incident on the site. [19] It cannot rule out that usernames, emails and scrambled passwords were taken. [19]

Why it matters — Writers lose the kudos, AO3's likes, and comments their stories would earn meanwhile. [16] Readers can still open stories they saved to their own devices. [16]
03
Cartoon voice actors approve a new deal

Voice actors in US TV cartoons voted on Thursday to approve new four-year contracts. [8] They belong to SAG-AFTRA, the US actors' union, and 94.95% of voters said yes. [8] The other side is the AMPTP, the alliance that bargains for film and TV producers. [8] Pay rises 12.6% over the four years. [8] The contracts add protections around how AI may be used. [8] They also raise payments into health, pension and retirement plans. [8] The deals run from 1 July 2026, backdated, to 30 June 2030. [8]

Why it matters — Fewer acting jobs have left many members struggling to qualify for the union's health plan. [20]
04
Unions ask a judge to limit AI's free use

Four US unions asked a judge on Thursday not to treat AI training as fair use. [9] They are SAG-AFTRA for actors, a musicians' union and the two Writers Guilds of America. [9] Under US law, fair use lets some copying happen without permission, judged case by case. [9] The case pits OpenAI, a big AI company, against the New York Times and other papers. [9] Authors in it include George R.R. Martin, John Grisham and Jodi Picoult. [9] The unions' brief, a 34-page argument from outsiders to the case, warns of harm to workers. [9] It warns of a "potentially enormous transfer of value" from creators to companies. [9]

Why it matters — If training is fair use, AI firms can learn from creative work without paying for it. [9] The unions say that cost lands on the actors, musicians and writers behind the work. [9]
05
Skydance names its streaming bosses

Skydance named the leaders of its streaming arm, which runs HBO Max and Paramount+. [14] Skydance was formed this month by merging Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount for $110 billion. [14] JB Perrette, who helped launch Hulu, set out the team in a memo. [14] 7 senior executives from HBO Max, Paramount+ and Warner Bros. Discovery are leaving. [21] Pluto TV, its free streaming service, still has no leader. [14] Rivals Tubi and the Roku Channel have overtaken Pluto, Deadline reports. [14] About 20 Warner TV production companies abroad now sit under Skydance's TV studios. [22]

Why it matters — Perrette called saying goodbye to many talented leaders the painful part of the merger. [21]
06
Starz beats forecasts as an investor sells out

Starz beat Wall Street's forecasts for July to September, its results showed on Thursday. [23] Starz runs a streaming service and a TV channel, and split from Lionsgate in 2025. [24] Revenue was $322.4 million, against $319.5 million expected. [23] Its loss narrowed to $34.8 million, from $52.6 million a year earlier. [23] Streaming revenue rose 1.7% to $226.6 million. [23] It followed a price rise in April and renewals at higher prices. [25] Its first owned series, Fightland, also earned money from other distributors. [23] Investor Byron Allen sold all his Starz shares for about $45 million, a filing showed. [24] He had paid about $25 million for them in March. [24]

Why it matters — Its boss says Starz is "just beginning" to profit from owning more of its shows. [26]
07
Celeste leaves Xbox over a boycott

Celeste and TowerFall, two well-known indie games, were pulled from the Xbox store on Thursday. [27] Their maker Maddy Thorson wrote: "We did this to support the BDS boycott." [28] BDS is a Palestinian-led movement urging boycotts of companies tied to Israel's government. [12] It named Microsoft, which owns Xbox, a priority boycott target. [12] Its reason is software Microsoft supplies to Israel's military, Rock Paper Shotgun reports. [29] Celeste, a hard jumping game, came out in 2018. [27] It won best indie game at The Game Awards that year. [27] Earlier this month House House kept its game Big Walk off Xbox for the same reason. [29]

Why it matters — Xbox players can no longer buy either game, while PlayStation, PC and Switch still sell both. [12]
08
Call of Duty uses film of a real disaster

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 opens with real news film of a 2022 crowd crush. [30] The crush happened in Seoul's Itaewon district during Halloween celebrations. [30] 160 people died and 196 were injured, Eurogamer reports. [31] The game shows about 3 seconds of rescuers giving CPR to someone who had collapsed. [30] Bereaved families asked Activision, the game's publisher, to remove the footage. [31] Activision said it was "not intended to reference or trivialise" the disaster. [30] The game's story is a North Korean invasion of South Korea. [30] Thursday was the fourth anniversary of the crush. [31]

Why it matters — A Korean game consumers' group asked for an apology and a fix, not a ban. [31]
09
Xbox aims to out-earn Sony and Nintendo

Xbox's boss Asha Sharma wants it more profitable than Sony's and Nintendo's games arms by 2030. [32] She set the goal in a memo to staff seen by CNBC, a US business channel. [33] Xbox keeps about $3 as profit from every $100 it takes in. [33] That is a 3% margin, against 9.9% for PlayStation and 16% for Nintendo, CNBC says. [33] She wants every studio growing by June 2027, and margins ahead of rivals by mid-2030. [33] Circana, which tracks US game sales, says US Xbox console sales fell 27% in September. [32] Its analyst Mat Piscatella says none of her moves has helped Xbox yet. [33]

Why it matters — Sharma also plans films, TV and toys based on Xbox's biggest games. [32]
10
Gears of War sells 400,000 copies

Gears of War: E-Day has sold over 400,000 copies, a source told The Verge. [11] It is Xbox's big new shooter, released this month to high review scores. [11] It was on Game Pass, Xbox's subscription, from its first day. [11] Analysts at Alinea estimate 1.7 million played it through Game Pass instead of buying it. [11] About 722,000 paid $30 for an upgrade to play early, Alinea estimated. [11] It was planned for PlayStation 5 too, but Xbox kept it for itself. [33]

Why it matters — Piscatella says keeping it on Xbox has not sold more Xbox consoles. [33]
11
EA staff describe low morale

Current and former EA staff told the news site Vertical Slice that morale is very low. [15] EA announced 400 job cuts last week and closed its BioWare studio. [15] One worker said colleagues learned of her layoff only through LinkedIn. [15] Staff say they are told on Zoom calls with the chat switched off. [15] EA owes $20bn after its $55bn sale to investors led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. [15] Some say managers push AI tools hard, though they are not formally required. [10] EA's boss was paid about 305 times a typical studio worker in 2025, PC Gamer says. [10]

Why it matters — Staff who stay take on the work of those who left, often without a clear plan. [15]
12
Gaming graphics cards now cost double

Nvidia's RTX 5080, a graphics card for PC games, now costs about $2,000 in US shops. [34] It launched at $999, Tom's Hardware notes. [34] $2,000 was the launch price of the faster RTX 5090, now up to $12,000. [34] Few cards are in stock, and many listings come from little-known third-party sellers. [34] Memory makers have moved production to chips for AI data centres, Tom's Hardware says. [34] Desktop memory costs more too: 32GB sells for upwards of $500 at Newegg, PC Gamer says. [35]

Why it matters — Building or upgrading a gaming PC now costs far more than when these cards launched. [34]
13
Elder Scrolls 6 may get its name soon

The Verge reports that Bethesda will soon name its next game The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel. [36] Bethesda makes the Elder Scrolls fantasy role-playing games and is owned by Xbox. [36] The last main game, Skyrim, came out on 11 November 2011. [37] Bethesda announced the sequel in 2018 and has said little since. [36] The name could come next month, around Skyrim's 15th birthday. [37] The game is reportedly set in Hammerfell, a region that has never had its own game. [36]

Why it matters — In July, Bethesda staff warned that Xbox layoffs could slow the game's development. [36]
14
FromSoftware delays The Duskbloods to 2027

FromSoftware delayed The Duskbloods, made only for Nintendo's Switch 2, from 2026 to 2027. [38] Eurogamer calls it Bloodborne meets Sekiro meets Dark Souls, three of the studio's older games. [38] The studio said the game is at its "final adjustment stage". [38] It wants more time to tune the rules and balance of the game. [39] More people applied to its test than to Elden Ring Nightreign's. [38] Nintendo, which publishes the game, gave no date in 2027. [38]

Why it matters — The delay also keeps it clear of GTA 6's launch, GameSpot notes. [40]
15
Netflix plans a PUBG series

Netflix is developing a live-action series of PUBG, a battle game. [5] In PUBG, up to 100 players land on an island and fight until one is left. [5] Donald Glover, the actor and musician behind Atlanta, will write, direct and star. [5] PUBG belongs to Krafton, a South Korean games company. [5] Krafton's entertainment arm, LV3H, helps produce it, to grow PUBG beyond games. [41] PUBG sold over 75 million copies before it became free to play. [42] No release date was given. [42]

Why it matters — It joins Netflix's other game adaptations, including Assassin's Creed and a Gears of War film. [5]
16
Sony buys the film rights to Mouthwashing

Sony Pictures' Screen Gems will make a film of Mouthwashing, a 2024 indie horror game. [43] Wrong Organ made the game, set on a cargo spaceship with 5 crew. [43] Sony has bought the film rights, The Hollywood Reporter says. [6] Karyn Kusama, who directed Jennifer's Body, will direct it. [43] The game also reached consoles and Xbox Game Pass on 29 October. [44]

Why it matters — IGN counts it as the latest game picked for the screen, after PUBG. [43]
17
Phantom Blade Zero passes 700,000 players

Phantom Blade Zero peaked at 723,876 players at once on Steam, its first day. [45] It is an action game from S-Game, a studio in China. [46] S-Game had only made phone games before. [46] That is the 15th-biggest launch crowd ever on Steam, Kotaku says. [46] Black Myth: Wukong, an earlier Chinese hit, peaked at 2,415,714. [46] Analyst Rhys Elliott says 62.5% of its early sales came from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. [45] He estimated its early sales brought in $43 million. [45]

Why it matters — It follows earlier hits from Chinese studios, such as Black Myth: Wukong. [46]
18
TelevisaUnivision's US ad money falls 24%

TelevisaUnivision's US advertising revenue fell 24% from July to September. [47] It is a Spanish-language TV company that also runs ViX, a streaming service. [47] Its rival Telemundo showed this summer's football World Cup in the US. [47] In Mexico, where it had the World Cup, its revenue rose 51% to $665 million. [47] Its streaming arm, led by ViX, had record revenue, the company said. [47] A $372 million write-down of its TV licences turned a profit into a $119 million loss. [47]

Why it matters — It blamed the US fall mainly on a rival's sports, as the World Cup aired elsewhere. [47]
19
California weighs unlimited TV tax breaks

California lawmakers began discussing lifting the cap on the state's film and TV tax credit. [48] The credit, a tax break for filming in the state, is capped at $750 million. [48] It was doubled last year, but unions say filming jobs are still leaving. [48] Shows apply in set windows and compete on how many jobs they create. [48] A Grey's Anatomy spinoff lost out and is now filming in Albuquerque, New Mexico. [48] Georgia's credit has no limit, and New York's works almost the same way. [48]

Why it matters — FilmLA, which issues filming permits, says production in Los Angeles keeps falling. [48]
20
Chiikawa film climbs back to second in Japan

Chiikawa the Movie rose to second at Japan's box office in its 14th weekend. [49] It is the first anime film of Nagano's Chiikawa manga. [49] It has sold 12.65 million tickets, more than any film in Japan this year. [49] It now ranks 12th in Japan's all-time box office, with about $117 million. [49] Chiikawa earned about $1.77 million that weekend alone. [49] Made in Abyss: Awakening Mystery opened sixth, earning about $922,900 in 3 days. [49] Made in Abyss is a fantasy manga with over 22 million copies in print. [50] Kadokawa Animation says a second film is already being made. [50]

Why it matters — Toho, which distributes Chiikawa, is still selling tickets months after it opened in July. [49]
21
Death Stranding anime shows its first look

Kojima Productions showed the first trailer for Death Stranding Isolations, an anime series. [7] It is set in the world of Hideo Kojima's game Death Stranding, a broken North America. [51] It tells a new story with new characters, not the game's. [51] Announced in 2025, it will stream only on Disney+ in 2027, with no exact date. [51] E&H production is animating it by hand in 2D, under director Takayuki Sano. [51] Sano was animation director on Attack on Titan's final season. [7]

Why it matters — Disney+ gets a show built on a game world that players already know. [51]
22
Ubisoft stops making Assassin's Creed remakes

Ubisoft said it has no other Assassin's Creed remake in development. [52] Ubisoft makes the Assassin's Creed action games. [52] Its latest game, Black Flag Resynced, remade a 2013 pirate adventure. [52] The remake sold very well, GameSpot says. [53] In 2024 its boss Yves Guillemot said "Players can be excited about some remakes". [52] Teams now work on new games, including the darker Hexe, with news due in 2027. [53] Assassin's Creed Valhalla, its Viking game, gets a New Game Plus mode on 5 November. [53]

Why it matters — Ubisoft says it may still bring older games back later. [52]
23
Netflix renews The Diplomat after a big debut

Netflix renewed The Diplomat, a political drama, for a fifth season on Thursday. [54] Season 4 began on 15 October, two weeks before the renewal. [54] It drew 983 million minutes of viewing in its first week, the week's biggest debut. [55] Nielsen, which measures TV audiences, counts only viewing on TV sets in the US. [55] In its second week it reached the top 10 in 63 countries. [54]

Why it matters — Five seasons is a long run for a streaming show, The Hollywood Reporter notes. [54]
24
Final Fantasy Resonance leads Japan's new games

Final Fantasy Resonance sold 133,191 boxed copies in Japan in its first week. [13] The figures are weekly shop-sales estimates from Famitsu, published in Japan. [13] It sold 52,268 on Switch 2, 50,452 on PlayStation 5 and 30,471 on Switch. [13] Nintendo Switch Sports Resort was the best-selling single version, at 64,632. [13] Among consoles, 21,792 Switch 2s sold, against 16,008 PS5s and 581 Xboxes. [13]

Why it matters — Most copies of Resonance sold for Nintendo's two consoles, not for PlayStation 5. [13]
25
Pokemon card auction passes $28 million

Goldin's auction for Pokemon's 30th anniversary raised over $28 million on 25 October. [56] A 2015 Mudkip card given a perfect 10 grade by PSA sold for $4.88 million. [56] A 1997 Trophy Pikachu card from Japan's first tournament sold for over $3 million. [56] Two more 2015 cards sold for $976,000 each. [56] The sale set 18 records in all. [56]

Why it matters — A card made in 2015 sold for more than a 1997 original. [56]
26
Card grader PSA reopens its Value tier

PSA, which grades collectors' cards, reopened its Value tier services on 29 October. [57] It closed them in May after 10 million cards piled up waiting. [57] The backlog reached 14 million cards in June, then began to fall. [57] PSA says the pause let it simplify its services and add faster options. [57]

Why it matters — Cards graded by PSA sold for millions at Goldin's Pokemon auction the same week. [56]
27
Rascal anime film sets North American dates

Crunchyroll will put the anime film Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend in cinemas. [58] It plays in the US and Canada on 3 days only: 21, 23 and 24 February. [58] Crunchyroll shares the release with Sony Pictures. [59] It is the fourth film and the end of the Rascal Does Not Dream series. [59] The series began as novels by Hajime Kamoshida. [58] In Japan it left the top 10 in its second weekend. [49]

Why it matters — Fans can watch it in Japanese with subtitles or dubbed in English. [59]
28
A manga moves to a new publisher

Rin Suzukawa moved her manga Outsider Paradise from Futabasha to Kadokawa, another Japanese publisher. [60] It leaves the magazine Manga Action for Kadokawa's KadoComi website. [60] It had paused since 2024 because of her poor health. [60] From chapter 19 it will be drawn in full colour. [60] Kadokawa will sell digital copies of its two books in early 2027. [60] Suzukawa also made Asobi Asobase, which became an anime in 2018. [60]

Why it matters — Readers get the story back after two years, now online instead of in a magazine. [60]
29
Webtoon adds stories before its Disney+ show

The Remarried Empress, a webtoon or online comic, began new side stories on 29 October. [61] Naver WEBTOON, the Korean comics service, publishes it. [61] The main story ran for seven years and ended in January. [61] It has over 2.97 billion views and is translated into 10 languages. [61] A live-action Disney+ series of it starts on 4 November. [61] An anime version is due in 2027. [61]

Why it matters — The new stories bring readers back days before the TV show begins. [61]
30
Mad Men's creator leaves an Eddie Murphy series

Matthew Weiner, who created Mad Men, has left Peacock's planned series The Chairman. [62] Peacock is NBCUniversal's streaming service. [63] Eddie Murphy is set to star, in his first scripted series. [62] The studios decided to part after reading his first script, Deadline reports. [62] He had been asked to write an idea already pitched to Murphy, and wrote something different. [62] Its writers have paused for 2 weeks while a new lead writer joins. [62]

Why it matters — A new team will be named within days, Variety says. [63]
31
Destiny's removed stories to return by 2028

Bungie says Destiny 2's removed story campaigns should return in early 2028. [64] Over the years Bungie took, or vaulted, older campaigns out of Destiny 2. [65] In September Bungie reversed its plan to stop big Destiny 2 updates. [64] Planning runs to January or February 2027, then about 12 months of work. [64] First back will be the Red War, Forsaken, Curse of Osiris and Warmind campaigns. [65] The original Destiny, never released on PC, may come there too, PC Gamer says. [64]

Why it matters — Bungie says the returned campaigns will be open to all players. [65]
32
Walmart blocks Zelda Switch 2 sales

Walmart cancelled some pre-orders of a Zelda-themed Switch 2 a day before delivery. [66] Some stores told staff the consoles were held up in the supply chain. [66] Consoles that did arrive cannot be sold: tills block them until at least 6 November. [66] That is a week after the console's launch date of 29 October. [66] The console marks Nintendo's remake of Ocarina of Time, out next week. [66]

Why it matters — Buyers who pre-ordered may get the console after the game itself. [66]
33
Korea holds an AI comics contest for children

South Korea's science ministry held its first AI contest final for children on 24 October. [67] Young children made stories, songs and webtoons, or online comics, using AI tools. [67] About 1,700 took part in early rounds across 10 regions. [67] About 300 finalists and family members came to the final at Kakao AI Campus. [67] First they were taught AI ethics and how to use 4 Korean-made tools. [67] Primary school teachers helped as mentors. [67]

Why it matters — The same week, US unions asked a judge to limit AI's free use of creative work. [9]
34
Czech film wins Europe's top animation prize

Living Large won best feature at the Emile Awards, Europe's animation prizes, on 28 October. [68] It is a Czech, Slovak and French film about a 12-year-old bullied over his weight. [68] It mixes stop-motion puppets with hand-drawn scenes. [68] It beat Arco and Little Amélie, both nominated for Oscars. [68] Dog Alone, from Portugal's BAP Animation Studio, won best short film. [68] The fifth ceremony took place in Krakow, Poland. [69]

Why it matters — Its director said she made it for an age group animated films rarely serve. [68]
35
A fourth PAW Patrol film is coming

Spin Master, the company behind PAW Patrol, announced a fourth film on Wednesday. [70] PAW Patrol is a cartoon about rescue pups, made for preschool children. [70] The first 3 films earned about half a billion dollars together. [70] Paramount Pictures will release it in 2029. [70] Cal Brunker, who directed the first three, returns. [70]

Why it matters — Spin Master plans to grow the brand through films, series, short videos and toys. [70]
36
World of Warcraft sells decor it said it would not

Blizzard is selling Halloween home decor in World of Warcraft that players say breaks a promise. [71] World of Warcraft is Blizzard's online fantasy game, where players can now furnish homes. [71] In 2025 Blizzard promised not to sell decor tied to a player's race in its shop. [71] The new Grimtide packs look like furniture of the Kul Tiran people from an older expansion. [71] Some argue the Halloween touches make the items different enough. [71]

Why it matters — It is not the first row over things Blizzard sells inside the game, Eurogamer notes. [71]
37
Backstreet Boys buy into a gaming league

The Backstreet Boys, a pop group, now own a team in the Global Gaming League. [72] GGL is a league of celebrity-owned teams that compete across several video games. [72] Its founder Clinton Sparks started it with the Grammy-winning singer T-Pain. [72] The band will search for players for its Backstreet Gamers team. [72] GGL also runs an online competition, open all day, that can lead to a pro team. [72]

Why it matters — Sparks says famous owners bring a ready-made crowd of fans to cheer the team. [72]
38
Eric Bauza's death halts a Powerpuff show

A Powerpuff Girls cast show set for 7 November in Glendale, California, has been postponed. [73] Its organiser, Saturday Morning Cartoons United, was co-founded by voice actor Eric Bauza. [73] Bauza, the voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, died this week. [73] Ticket holders can get a refund or let the money go to the group's charity work. [73] MeTV Toons, a classic-cartoon channel, will air a Bugs Bunny special with Bauza on Saturday. [74]

Why it matters — No new date has been set for the show. [73]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why a fan can share a story about someone else's characters, but a studio must buy the right to film them

A story's owner decides who may film it, but a judge can call another use fair, chiefly when it takes no sales from the owner.

The twist

A film of a game is something the game's owner could sell, so Sony had to buy Mouthwashing. A free fan story sells nothing the owner sells, and that is the case fan sites rest on.

The picture

Mouthwashing filmrights bought

AO3 fan storiesfree, no licence

Both build on someone else's story. The film is something the owner could sell, so Sony paid; the fan stories are given away.

How it works

Copyright gives a story's owner the only right to copy it or build new works on it
A film, a series or a sequel is such a new work, so others must buy a licence
Fair use is the exception: a judge may allow a use without permission
The judge weighs four questions: why it was used, what was used, how much, and the harm to sales
A use that takes sales the owner could make is rarely fair

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

Sony buys the film rights to Mouthwashing

A film is a new work built on the game, so the studio paid the game's makers for the right to make it.
Netflix plans a PUBG series

Krafton owns PUBG, so the series is made with its permission and its own film arm helps produce it.
Unions ask a judge to limit AI's free use

The unions argue the fourth question: AI trained free on their work would take value that should come back to them.
Fan fiction site AO3 goes dark

Its 18.4 million fan stories are given away free and change the original, the kind of use the first and fourth questions favour.

Where you've seen this

School book reviews

Quoting a few lines to discuss a book takes little and replaces no sales, so it is usually fair.

Parody songs

A song that mocks another can be fair, because nobody buys a joke instead of the original.

Photocopying a textbook

Copying a whole book for a class takes the sale the publisher would make, so it is rarely fair.

The catch

Fair use is decided case by case, after the fact, so nobody knows for sure until a judge rules. It is a US rule, and countries such as the UK allow far less copying without permission.

And the whole of it

The fan writing on AO3, the voice actor under a new contract, the author suing OpenAI and the studio buying Mouthwashing all live under the same four questions. Each of them sees the part that pays or costs them, and a judge sees only the one case in front of the court.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

Roblox lost 9% of its daily players in a year after tightening child-safety measures, Bloomberg reports, though what players spent still beat forecasts. [2] Elsewhere on Thursday, the people who make stories fought over who controls their work: cartoon voice actors won AI protections, and four unions asked a judge to stop AI firms using creative work for free. [8][9]

Who gains

Roblox's paying business — Spending of $1.7bn beat the $1.63bn forecast even with fewer daily players. [2]
US voice actors in TV cartoons — Their new contracts raise pay 12.6% over four years and add AI protections. [8]
Krafton, PUBG's South Korean owner — Netflix's series grows the PUBG name beyond games, with Krafton's own LV3H helping to produce it. [41]
Byron Allen, a media investor — He sold all his Starz shares for about $45 million after paying about $25 million. [24]
PlayStation, PC and Switch stores — They still sell Celeste and TowerFall after the games were pulled from Xbox. [12]

Who pays

AO3's writers and readers — Over 18.4 million fan works are offline for weeks, and writers lose the likes and comments they would earn. [18][16]
Families of the Itaewon dead — Real film of the disaster opens Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, and they had to ask for its removal. [31]
EA staff — 400 jobs were cut while EA carries $20bn of debt from its sale, and staff say some found out about layoffs through LinkedIn. [15]
Senior streaming executives at HBO Max and Paramount+ — Seven are leaving as Skydance merges the two companies' teams. [21]
Xbox players — They can no longer buy Celeste or TowerFall on Xbox. [12]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

Whether Roblox lost players because of its safety checks or because interest is fading.

Bloomberg ties the slowdown to the safety measures, but Roblox's own explanation is in a shareholder letter we could not read. [2][1]
02

Whether AO3's user records were stolen.

Its owners say they found a security incident and cannot rule out that usernames, emails and scrambled passwords were taken. [19]
03

When AO3 will be fully back.

Its estimate moved from 12 hours to 2 to 4 weeks in one day, and it has not said what failed. [16]
04

How many copies of Gears of War: E-Day have really sold.

The 400,000 figure comes from one unnamed source, and the Game Pass numbers are an analyst's estimate; Microsoft has given none. [11]
05

What the new AI protections for cartoon voice actors actually say.

The union has published the vote and the pay rise, but not the wording of the AI terms. [8]
06

Whether Activision will remove the Itaewon footage.

Bereaved families asked for it to go, and Activision's statement did not say it would. [31][30]
07

Whether The Elder Scrolls 6 is really called Sentinel.

The name comes from a report citing sources, and Bethesda has not confirmed it. [36]
08

When in 2027 The Duskbloods will come out.

FromSoftware gave only the year. [75]
09

Whether any court will rule that training AI is fair use.

The unions' brief argues it must be judged case by case, and the case against OpenAI has not been decided. [9]

04 Hope carry this

Voice actors in US TV cartoons voted 94.95% to approve new contracts that raise their pay 12.6% over four years and add money for health and pensions.

Also true today

Living Large, a Czech, Slovak and French film about a 12-year-old bullied over his weight, won Europe's top animation prize over two Oscar-nominated films.
Phantom Blade Zero, made by a Chinese studio that had only made phone games before, had 723,876 people playing at once on its first day.
Bungie will bring back four Destiny 2 story campaigns it had removed, and every player will be able to play them.