7's casino game online DALLAS — After a heated debate, the Dallas City Council officially approved cutting $248,435 in funding from Dallas Black Dance Theatre for 2024-2025 and redistributing the funding to other arts and culture organizations. The decision came after the dance company reached an agreement with recently fired dancers in which the company must pay the dancers more than $560,000 in back pay, front pay and damages. Dallas Black Dance Theatre will also be required to issue letters of apology to the fired dancers and train managers. The tumult started after a group of former DBDT dancers posted to social media that they had been terminated after forming a union in late May and joining the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). The dance company had previously said the dancers were fired over a social media post. After that, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Dallas Black Dance Theatre and the Dallas City Council paused the $248,000-plus previously earmarked for the dance company. The Dallas City Council voted 11-4 Wednesday to cut the dance company’s funding for the coming year. Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam Bazaldua also called on the dance company to consider making additional changes. “We will always be a city that stands with workers, with workers’ rights, with labor,” said Bazaldua. “Union busting is absolutely unacceptable anywhere just as mentioned. It’s definitely not something that’s going to happen in this city.” Dallas Black Dance Theatre board president Georgia Scaife said they intend to follow the terms of the settlement agreement and will “listen and take appropriate action.” “In addition to us making the former dancers whole for loss of earnings and other expenses, we will have the NLRB conduct training for all of our employees and revise policies. We will work with AGMA to revise policies applicable to the main company dancers,” Scaife said.NEW YORK (AP) — Daniel Penny chose not to testify and defense lawyers rested their case Friday at his trial in the death of an agitated man he choked on a subway train. Closing arguments are expected after Thanksgiving in the closely watched manslaughter case about the death of Jordan Neely , 30. The encounter between Penny, a white Marine veteran, and Neely, a homeless Black man with mental health and drug problems, has been drawn into U.S. political divides over race, public safety and cities’ ability to handle mental illness and social ills. Penny, 26, has pleaded not guilty. Many criminal defendants don't take the stand, and juries are routinely instructed that they cannot hold defendants' silence — a constitutional right — against them. One of Penny’s lawyers, Daniel Kenniff, noted after court that jurors did hear from Penny, in the form of his recorded statements to police minutes and hours after he put Neely in a chokehold. “Virtually everything he said then is consistent with credible testimony of his fellow passengers," Kenniff said. Penny told police that he wrapped his arm around Neely's neck, took him to the floor and “put him out” because he was angrily throwing things and making threatening comments. Penny said on police video that he hadn't wanted to injure Neely but rather to keep him from hurting anyone else. A number of other passengers testified that they were scared of Neely and relieved that Penny grabbed hold of him. A man who later stepped in and held down Neely's arms, however, told jurors that he urged Penny to let go but that the veteran kept choking Neely for a time. Prosecutors say Penny meant to protect people but recklessly used too much force, overlooking Neely's humanity and making no effort to spare his life. City medical examiners ruled that the chokehold killed Neely. A pathologist hired by Penny's defense disputed that finding . Prosecutors, defense lawyers and the judge are set to meet Monday to hash out jury instructions.

Federal Education Act soon: Minister BhattaraiSome tech industry leaders are pushing the incoming Trump administration to increase visas for highly skilled workers from other nations. Related Articles National Politics | Trump threat to immigrant health care tempered by economic hopes National Politics | In states that ban abortion, social safety net programs often fail families National Politics | Court rules Georgia lawmakers can subpoena Fani Willis for information related to her Trump case National Politics | New 2025 laws hit hot topics from AI in movies to rapid-fire guns National Politics | Trump has pressed for voting changes. GOP majorities in Congress will try to make that happen The heart of the argument is, for America to remain competitive, the country needs to expand the number of skilled visas it gives out. The previous Trump administration did not increase the skilled visa program, instead clamping down on visas for students and educated workers, increasing denial rates. Not everyone in corporate America thinks the skilled worker program is great. Former workers at IT company Cognizant recently won a federal class-action lawsuit that said the company favored Indian employees over Americans from 2013 to 2022. A Bloomberg investigation found Cognizant, and other similar outsourcing companies, mainly used its skilled work visas for lower-level positions. Workers alleged Cognizant preferred Indian workers because they could be paid less and were more willing to accept inconvenient or less-favorable assignments. Question: Should the U.S. increase immigration levels for highly skilled workers? Economists Caroline Freund, UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy YES: Innovation is our superpower and it relies on people. Sourcing talent from 8 billion people in the world instead of 330 million here makes sense. Nearly half our Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children. Growing them also relies on expanding our skilled workforce. The cap on skilled-worker visas has hardly changed since the computer age started. With AI on the horizon, attracting and building talent is more important than ever. Kelly Cunningham, San Diego Institute for Economic Research YES: After years of openly allowing millions of undocumented entrants into the country, why is there controversy over legally increasing somewhat the number having desirable skills? Undocumented immigration significantly impacts lower skill level jobs and wages competing with domestic workers at every skill level. Why should special cases be made against those having higher skills? Could they just not walk across the border anyway, why make it more inconvenient to those with desirable skills? James Hamilton, UC San Diego YES: Knowledge and technology are key drivers of the U.S. economy. Students come from all over the world to learn at U.S. universities, and their spending contributed $50 billion to U.S. exports last year. Technological advantage is what keeps us ahead of the rest of the world. Highly skilled immigrants contribute much more in taxes than they receive in public benefits. The skills immigrants bring to America can make us all better off. Norm Miller, University of San Diego YES: According to Forbes, the majority of billion-dollar startups were founded by foreigners. I’ve interviewed dozens of data analysts and programmers from Berkeley, UCSD, USD and a few other schools and 75% of them are foreign. There simply are not enough American graduates to fill the AI and data mining related jobs now exploding in the U.S. If we wish to remain a competitive economy, we need highly skilled and bright immigrants to come here and stay. David Ely, San Diego State University YES: Being able to employ highly skilled workers from a larger pool of candidates would strengthen the competitiveness of U.S. companies by increasing their capacity to perform research and innovate. This would boost the country’s economic output. Skilled workers from other nations that cannot remain in the U.S. will find jobs working for foreign rivals. The demand for H-1B visas far exceeds the current cap of 85,000, demonstrating a need to modify this program. Executives Phil Blair, Manpower YES: Every country needs skilled workers, at all levels, to grow its economy. We should take advantage of the opportunity these workers provide our employers who need these skills. It should be blended into our immigration policies allowing for both short and long term visas. Gary London, London Moeder Advisors YES: San Diego is a premiere example of how highly skilled workers from around the globe enrich a community and its regional economy. Of course Visa levels need to be increased. But let’s go further. Tie visas and immigration with a provision that those who are admitted and educated at a U.S. university be incentivized, or even required, to be employed in the U.S. in exchange for their admittance. Bob Rauch, R.A. Rauch & Associates NO: While attracting high-skilled immigrants can fill critical gaps in sectors like technology, health care and advanced manufacturing, increasing high-skilled immigration could displace American workers and drive down wages in certain industries. There are already many qualified American workers available for some of these jobs. We should balance the need for specialized skills with the impact on the domestic workforce. I believe we can begin to increase the number of visas after a careful review of abuse. Austin Neudecker, Weave Growth YES: We should expand skilled visas to drive innovation and economic growth. Individuals who perform high-skilled work in labor-restricted industries or graduate from respected colleges with relevant degrees should be prioritized for naturalization. We depend on immigration for GDP growth, tax revenue, research, and so much more. Despite the abhorrent rhetoric and curtailing of visas in the first term, I hope the incoming administration can be persuaded to enact positive changes to a clearly flawed system. Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health YES: But it should be based upon need, not politics. There are several industries that have or could have skilled workforce shortages, especially if the next administration tightens immigration as promised and expected. Over the years, there have been nursing shortages that have been met partially by trained and skilled nurses from other countries. The physician shortage is expected to get worse in the years to come. So, this visa program may very well be needed. Jamie Moraga, Franklin Revere NO: While skilled immigration could boost our economy and competitiveness, the U.S. should prioritize developing our domestic workforce. Hiring foreign nationals in sensitive industries or government-related work, especially in advanced technology or defense, raises security concerns. A balanced approach could involve targeted increases in non-sensitive high-demand fields coupled with investment in domestic STEM education and training programs. This could address immediate needs while strengthening the long-term STEM capabilities of the American workforce. Not participating this week: Alan Gin, University of San DiegoHaney Hong, San Diego County Taxpayers AssociationRay Major, economist Have an idea for an Econometer question? Email me at phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com . Follow me on Threads: @phillip020

Missing dog returned to family home and rang the doorbell WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Athena, a 4-year-old German Shepherd and Husky mix, escaped her home in Green Cove Springs, Florida, on Dec. 15, prompting a search among the community and nearby towns for her. Yet on Christmas Eve, Athena appeared at the family's front door ringing on their doorbell — ending a search after more than a week. Her owner, Brooke Comer, said Athena's escape brought multiple communities in her town and neighboring towns to search for her dog, and that Athena's escape was about a 20-mile roundtrip near the train tracks. Sinkhole in New Jersey keeps I-80 closed after a section collapses into an abandoned mine WHARTON, N.J. (AP) — Road crews are repairing Interstate 80 in northern New Jersey after a sinkhole from an abandoned mine shut down the eastbound lanes. The state’s transportation department says it remains unknown when those lanes will reopen. The hole opened up along the highway’s right shoulder Thursday morning, and the guardrail was still hanging suspended across the gaping 40-foot-wide hole on Friday. Drivers are currently having to detour near Wharton, about 40 miles west of New York City. The New Jersey Department of Transportation said crews will work around the clock to the repair the roadway. Customs agents seize 22,000 fake Pennsylvania vehicle inspection stickers shipped from Israel HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency says it seized more than 20,000 counterfeit Pennsylvania vehicle inspection stickers that were shipped from Israel to an address in Philadelphia. The agency said that customs officers found the stickers in two different shipments that arrived on different days, Nov. 26 and Dec. 9. The agency didn't say in a Thursday statement who sent the stickers, who was to receive them and what purpose the stickers were going to serve. The agency said it made no arrests. Pennsylvania requires that motor vehicles be inspected annually to ensure they meet minimum mechanical, safety and emissions standards. One owl rescued by a Minnesota woman is euthanized; efforts to save the other continue ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — One of the two owls rescued by a Minnesota woman in a story that went viral this week has died, but the other is still getting medical care. Wildwoods Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Duluth said in a Facebook post Thursday that the snowy owl rescued by Annabell Whelan had internal injuries, a broken wing and a broken leg, and had to be euthanized. The great gray owl also rescued by Whelan suffered broken bones and large soft tissue wounds. Wildwoods says the injuries are severe and veterinarians are doing everything they can to “give the bird a chance at recovery.” Whelan happened to find both injured owls at different places Monday. 2 Florida tourist spots halt drones in shows following a separate accident that injured a boy ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A theme park resort and a huge hotel in central Florida either have stopped using drones or canceled their drone-based shows after several drones collided and fell from the sky during a separate holiday celebration in downtown Orlando. The accident last weekend injured a boy who required surgery. Universal Orlando said this week that it was pausing the drone component of its “CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular” show, while Orlando World Center Marriott posted that it was canceling its scheduled drone shows during the holiday week. The halt in using drones follows last Saturday’s accident at a holiday show at Lake Eola Park in downtown Orlando. NASA's Parker Solar Probe survives close brush with the sun's scorching surface NEW YORK (AP) — NASA has confirmed that a spacecraft has made the closest approach to the sun. Earlier this week, the Parker Solar Probe passed within a mere 3.8 million miles of the sun. Space agency officials received an all-clear message Thursday night confirming Parker survived the journey. The spacecraft was launched in 2018 to get a close-up look at the sun. It'll continue circling the sun at this distance until at least September. Scientists hope to better understand what drives the solar wind and why the sun's outer atmosphere iis so much hotter than its surface. 'Morrison Hotel' made famous by The Doors goes up in flames in LA The former Morrison Hotel, which was famously on the cover of a 1970 album by The Doors, has been significantly damaged by a fire in downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Fire Department says the four-story building burned for nearly two hours Thursday. More than 100 firefighters helped bring the fire under control. The building had been vacant for more than a decade but several people who were inside at the time escaped without injuries. The Morrison Hotel was featured on the album’s cover that showed legendary frontman Jim Morrison in the middle. That album was viewed as a comeback for The Doors. Another jackpot surpasses $1 billion. Is this the new normal? Remember this moment because it probably won’t last: A U.S. lottery jackpot is projected to soar above $1 billion, and that's still a big deal. Friday’s Mega Millions drawing is worth an estimated $1.15 billion. The prize has evoked headlines across the country, despite the nation's top 10 jackpots already having boasted billion-dollar payouts. Jonathan Cohen is the author of the book “For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America.” He says he expects jackpots to continue to grow in size. Larger payouts attract more media attention, increase ticket sales and bring in new players. Suzuki Motor former boss Osamu Suzuki, who turned the minicar maker into a global player, dies at 94 TOKYO (AP) — Osamu Suzuki, the charismatic former boss of Japanese mini-vehicle maker Suzuki Motor Corp., has died. He was 94. Suzuki was known for his candid remarks and friendliness, calling himself an "old guy from a small to mid-size company.” He became CEO of Suzuki in 1978 and helped turn the company into a global brand name. It was the first Japanese automaker to start local production in India and has had tie-ups with industry leaders like General Motors and Volkswagen. It is working with Toyota on developing self-driving vehicles. The company said Suzuki died Wednesday of malignant lymphoma. Cowboys shutting down CeeDee Lamb with 2 games to go over receiver's shoulder issue FRISCO, Texas (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys are shutting down CeeDee Lamb with two games remaining after their 2023 All-Pro receiver spent the second half of the season dealing with a sprained right shoulder. The team says additional exams revealed enough damage to keep Lamb off the field Sunday at Philadelphia and in the final game at home against Washington. The team says surgery isn't expected to be required. Dallas was eliminated from playoff contention a few hours before last weekend’s 26-24 victory over Tampa Bay.

Redefining motion capture with innovative flying action cameras and the award-winning HOVERAir Beacon LAS VEGAS , Dec. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, Zero Zero Robotics , a pioneering tech company in intelligent devices, announced their participation at CES 2025, where the company will showcase its HOVERAir X1 series of self-flying cameras at booth # 56045 , Venetian, Level 2, Halls A-D. Designed to simplify aerial cinematography, the HOVERAir lineup includes the pocket-sized HOVERAir X1, the action-focused HOVERAir X1 PRO, and the Professional grade HOVERAir X1 PROMAX. Zero Zero will also celebrate its 2025 CES Innovation Awards Honoree title in Audio/Video Components & Accessories for the HOVERAir Beacon, an intelligent modular controller that redefines precision tracking and control. The introductory model in the HOVERAir lineup, HOVERAir X1 , weighs just 125g and delivers an effortless aerial photography experience with no controller or app required. With over five pre-programmed flight paths, including Hover, Follow, Zoom Out, Orbit, and Bird's Eye, it's perfect for capturing cinematic moments in everyday life. Its 2.7K video resolution, palm launch capabilities, and robust computer vision algorithms make it the ultimate everyday and travel companion. Building on the success of the X1, Zero Zero introduced the HOVERAir X1 PRO and HOVERAir X1 PROMAX in August 2024 to meet the demands of action enthusiasts and professional creators. The X1 PRO offers 4K/60fps video with a 104° field of view for versatile shooting conditions. The X1 PROMAX delivers stunning 8K /30fps video with 4K /120fps slow-motion capabilities, a 1/1.3" CMOS sensor, and 14 stops of dynamic range for cinematic footage. Both models feature advanced AI tracking, Level 5 wind resistance, and a lightweight, durable HEMTM frame. "Our vision has always been to create flying cameras that are effortless, intelligent, and fun to use," said MQ Wang, Founder & CEO of Zero Zero Robotics. "The HOVERAir series puts professional-grade aerial cinematography in the palm of your hand, whether you're capturing casual moments or pushing creative boundaries." Adding to these innovations, the HOVERAir Beacon enhances control and precision for the series. The Beacon features a patented Tri-state modular design with two detachable joysticks, enabling one-handed and full-featured two-handed controls. It activates HoverLinkTM for precise tracking with up to a 1 km transmission range, while the 1.78" OLED display allows real-time footage monitoring. Equipped with AI-powered noise cancellation, the Beacon sets a new standard for audio and video recording during aerial shoots. "We're excited to bring the HOVERAir X1 series and Beacon to CES 2025, where we're redefining how motion is captured, tracked, and controlled," continued Wang. "These tools empower creators and adventurers to document their journeys with breathtaking precision and ease." Zero Zero Robotics invites attendees to stop by Booth #56045 to experience the HOVERAir X1 series in action and witness its unparalleled performance. Media wishing to interview Zero Zero Robotics personnel should contact Borjana Slipicevic. About Zero Zero Robotics Zero Zero Robotics was co-founded in 2014 by Stanford PhDs MQ Wang and Tony Zhang , specializing in embedded AI technology for intelligent devices. Known for its innovative machine vision and high-precision control systems, ZeroZero has team members who are dreamers, engineers, inventors, and builders hailing from top universities and research institutions around the world. Zero Zero Robotics holds more than 140 core patents and has pioneered technologies like fully enclosed portable propeller designs and bi-copter designs, cementing its place as a leader in intelligent device development. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2587719/20241225_CES.jpgRussian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov makes his first visit to the EU since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. His appearance at a meeting of the OSCE in Malta is a story of controversy. He arrived late for the plenary session, strolling towards the convention center in Ta' Qali in Malta , where the annual ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was taking place. At that point, Sergey Lavrov's first visit to an EU country since the beginning of Russia's war on Ukraine in February 2022 was already cause for controversy. "Mr. Lavrov is coming here to lie about [the] Russian invasion and what Russia is doing in Ukraine ," Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski told reporters just minutes before the arrival of the Russian foreign minister. This sentiment was shared by some other ministers. "I will not be in one room with Mr. Lavrov. I will walk out," Baiba Braze, the Latvian foreign minister, told DW. "I cannot be in the same room as an aggressor state." Lavrov is not under a travel ban The EU designated Lavrov a sanctioned individual in February 2022 "due to his active support to actions undermining the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine," according to the EU Commission. As a consequence, he is subject to asset freezes, but still allowed to travel across the bloc to "keep avenues for dialogue open." In the assembly room in Malta, Lavrov took a seat at a big table, only ten chairs away from Ukraine's top diplomat, Andrii Sybiha. While Sybiha seemed serious and focused, Lavrov appeared to be trying to look relaxed, sucking a candy and waving at somebody. Lavrov ― 'the war criminal at this table' "When Russians say they want peace they lie," Sybiha said in his opening speech. He went on by addressing Lavrov directly: "Ukraine continues to fight for its right to exist. And the Russian war criminal at this table must know: Ukraine will win this fight and justice will prevail." Many at the gathering supported that view. When it was Lavrov's turn to address the meeting, diplomats from Poland, Latvia and the Czech Republic walked out in protest. Annalena Baerbock , the German foreign minister, and Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, stayed in the room, but made it clear they did so for a specific reason. Baerbock told DW that "lies and fakes news to destabilize societies in Europe are part of Russia's war." She indicated she was expecting Lavrov to spread lies in Malta and said she was attending the meeting "to oppose this war propaganda and to stand up to fake news." The Russian top diplomat did indeed use his speech to blast the West and spread well-known Kremlin propaganda. He accused the EU of coercion by imposing sanctions against Russia for what he called pursuing "legitimate national interests." Lavrov claimed the US were to blame for the escalation of the conflict, because they needed "a new enemy” to return NATO to "the political spotlight." He went on to say that the West was behind a "reincarnation of the Cold War, only now with a much greater risk of a transition to a hot one." And as he had done before , Russia's long-serving foreign minister decried the OSCE as an organization serving solely the interests of the Unites States. He made clear Russia does not see any advantage in engaging in the forum at all. Russian diplomat Lavrov's presence overshadows OSCE meeting To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video OSCE, a forum for dialogue The OSCE was founded in 1975 to offer a platform for increased dialogue between East and West during the Cold War. The body now counts 57 members from Ireland to Turkey to Mongolia, plus the United States and Canada. It helps its members coordinate issues such as human rights and arms control, and sends observers to conflicts as well as elections around the world. But the organization has been paralyzed since the start of Russia's war on Ukraine, as the Kremlin has been continuing to veto several major decisions. While Lavrov has repeatedly chosen to participate in OSCE summits like the one in Malta, he usually leaves the plenary session almost immediately after his own speech. Blinken rebukes Lavrov's 'misinformation' That is exactly what happened in Malta. "I regret that our colleague, Mr. Lavrov, has left the room, not giving me the courtesy to listen to us as we listen to him," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the gathering a few minutes later. "Our Russian colleague is very adept in drowning listeners with a tsunami of misinformation." Blinken pushed back strongly against Lavrov's claims. "Let's not fool ourselves and let's not allow him or anyone else to fool us," he said. "This is not about and has never been about Russia's security. This is about Mr. Putin's imperial project to erase Ukraine from the map." The outgoing US Secretary of State cited North Korean troops' involvement in Russia as another evidence of Russia escalating the conflict. There were no plans for a face-to-face meeting between Lavrov and Blinken in Malta. Blinken's appearance was probably his last visit to an OSCE assembly. Next January, Republican president-elect Donald Trump and his new administration will take office. Edited by: Carla Bleiker

Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president, has died at 100

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman warns against Elon Musk’s ‘conflict of interest’ in setting AI policies

Global Optical Anti-Sniper Detection System Market: Industry Analysis, Growth Trends, and Forecast (2019-2027) 12-27-2024 05:21 PM CET | Advertising, Media Consulting, Marketing Research Press release from: Transparency Market Research Optical Anti-Sniper Detection System Market The Global Optical Anti-sniper Detection System Market is witnessing significant growth due to the increasing demand for advanced security solutions in both homeland security and defense sectors. Optical anti-sniper detection systems integrate cutting-edge technologies, such as laser range gating, thermal imaging, and advanced optics, to detect and neutralize enemy threats effectively. These systems are pivotal in enhancing situational awareness and operational efficiency. Explore pivotal insights and conclusions from our Report in this sample - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=73624 An optical anti-sniper detection system utilizes laser-range-gated cameras, thermal sensors, and advanced signal processing to identify sniper threats. These systems offer unparalleled accuracy by detecting fire flashes and muzzle blasts, which result from the discharge of sniper rifles. They can be deployed on buildings, vehicles, tripods, or integrated into portable units, providing flexibility across various operational scenarios. Key Players: Raytheon Company, Thales Group, Battelle Memorial Institute, Rafael, SST, Safran Electronics & Defense, Rheinmetall AG, ELTA Systems Ltd, Acoem Group, Databuoy Corporation, CILAS, Qinetiq North America, Microflown Avisa B.V., Shooter Detection Systems LLC, Textron System Key Player Strategies Major players in the market are adopting strategies such as: Product Innovation: Introducing advanced technologies like electro-optical systems for UAVs and fixed-wing aircraft. Collaborations and Partnerships: Collaborating with defense agencies and private organizations to expand their reach. Regional Expansion: Focusing on emerging markets in Asia Pacific and the Middle East & Africa to capitalize on growing security concerns. Growth Drivers •Homeland Security & Defense: Increasing demand for precise threat detection in the defense and security sectors is a key growth driver. •Technological Advancements: Manufacturers are developing innovative features, such as 360-degree scanning, weather-resistant designs, and high-resolution video capabilities, to enhance system performance. •Operational Efficiency: These systems allow users to detect enemy snipers, pinpoint their locations, and respond effectively, boosting demand in critical security operations. •Government Investments: Rising government funding in defense infrastructure and homeland security bolsters market growth. Access detailed insights by visiting our full report - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/optical-anti-sniper-detection-system-market.html Market Demand The demand for optical anti-sniper detection systems is driven by their ability to provide: Enhanced Security: Essential for VIP protection, border security, and critical infrastructure safety. Rapid Response: Automatic alerts and synchronized triggers for real-time threat mitigation. Versatility: Usable across diverse environments, including urban and battlefield settings. Short Segmentations •By Technology: Hardware, Software •By Product Type: Infrared, Laser •By System: Fixed, Portable, Vehicle-mounted •By End-use Industry: Homeland, Defense •By Region: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa Regional Insights •North America: Dominates the market due to heavy investments in defense and technological advancements. •Europe: Focuses on innovation in portable and fixed systems. •Asia Pacific: Emerging as a lucrative market with increasing defense budgets. •Middle East & Africa: Growing adoption of advanced security technologies to combat regional threats. Why Buy This Report? 1.Comprehensive analysis of the market, including drivers, challenges, and opportunities. 2.Insights into key player strategies and competitive landscape. 3.Detailed segmentation and regional analysis. 4.Technological advancements and emerging trends. 5.Informed decision-making support for stakeholders, investors, and industry participants. Explore pivotal insights and conclusions from our Report in this sample - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=73624 More Trending Reports: SQUID Sensors Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/squid-sensor-market.html Power Inductor Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/power-inductor-market.html About Us Transparency Market Research Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. The firm scrutinizes factors shaping the dynamics of demand in various markets. The insights and perspectives on the markets evaluate opportunities in various segments. The opportunities in the segments based on source, application, demographics, sales channel, and end-use are analysed, which will determine growth in the markets over the next decade. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision-makers, made possible by experienced teams of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants. The proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques we use always reflect the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in all of its business reports. Contact Us: Transparency Market Research Inc. CORPORATE HEADQUARTER DOWNTOWN, 1000 N. West Street, Suite 1200, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 USA Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com This release was published on openPR.Tulane QB Mensah transfers to DukePreview: Gil Vicente vs. Nacional - prediction, team news, lineups

Investing in assets can put you in a better position by the time you’re ready to retire. While stocks and real estate have received plenty of attention over the years, gold remains a reliable investment that has been around for thousands of years. It’s an essential resource for many industries, is a medium of exchange and serves as a safe-haven asset during geopolitical unrest or periods of market volatility. Gold is a hedge against inflation and can thrive during economic uncertainty. That last advantage is a key distinction that separates it from stocks and real estate. However, physical gold doesn’t produce yield like dividend stocks or cash flow like investment properties. Fortunately, it’s still possible to use precious metals to generate retirement income. This guide will explain several ways to use gold for retirement income. Open a gold IRA A gold individual retirement account — or gold IRA — allows you to accumulate physical precious metals in a tax-advantaged account. You won’t have to worry about gold storage, as the IRA’s custodian will handle it. You can then cash out on your gold holdings when you need to cover living expenses. The IRS sets limits for how much you can contribute to an IRA, whether it’s a conventional or gold IRA. If you make the maximum contribution to a gold IRA, you can’t contribute to another IRA. The maximum contribution for traditional and Roth IRAs is currently capped at $7,000 per year for those age 49 and younger. The IRS raises this limit periodically, but you can make catch-up contributions if you are 50 years or older. Catch-up contributions allow you to invest an additional $1,000 into your IRA each year. Anyone can open a Roth IRA, but your modified adjusted gross income must be below $146,000 to contribute the full amount. Investors who earn too much for a Roth IRA can use the backdoor method to fund it. This involves moving funds from a traditional IRA — which doesn’t have income restrictions — to a Roth IRA. Some gold IRA providers give you the flexibility to set up traditional and Roth IRAs. Learn more by reading our guide to the best gold IRA companies . Invest in gold stocks and gold ETFs Gold stocks are easier to buy and manage than physical gold. You also wouldn’t need a separate IRA just for gold investments. However, gold stocks can underperform the precious metal due to several factors. For instance, Newmont Corp. — the world’s largest gold mining company — has only seen its stock gain 13% over the past five years, failing to keep pace with gold prices , which have gained more than 70% during the same period. Varying financial performances and opportunities result in gold stocks having different results than physical gold. Investors have to trust that a company will make good business decisions instead of leaning exclusively on the long-term reliability of gold. However, gold stocks have an edge with liquidity, especially if you want to receive dividends. For example, Newmont has a dividend yield above 2%, and it’s not the only gold stock that offers a good dividend. Some people prefer to avoid the complexities of converting physical gold into cash and opt for dividends and stocks instead. Some gold exchange-traded funds also produce yield, which help generate income in retirement. These gold ETFs hold baskets of gold mining companies, whereas some gold ETFs are backed by physical gold and do not pay dividends. Similar to gold stocks, gold ETFs have also lagged the gains of physical gold. For example, while the VanEck Gold Miners ETF has a dividend that yields around 1.34%, it gained 41.55% over the past five years compared to the 70% return for physical gold. Buy physical gold and exchange it when necessary It takes more time to buy physical gold than buying a stock, including finding a reputable and trustworthy gold dealer . Physical gold isn’t as liquid, and you are responsible for storage (and optional gold insurance , as well). However, a key advantage of physical gold is that you claim full ownership of the asset. While gold ETFs and IRAs give you exposure to gold and better liquidity, buying the physical asset gives you the most control. Some people value having control over the asset instead of trusting a custodian, gold miner or fund manager. Luckily, physical gold commands a lot of value without taking up much space. A kilogram of gold is smaller than most iPhones, and an ounce of gold is about half the size of an iPhone. It’s easy to hide and move gold around if needed, but it’s still good to find professional storage and get it insured in case something happens. Physical gold should continue to gain value due to inflation. Then, you can sell your gold bars and coins when you need extra retirement funds. Should gold be a part of your retirement strategy? Putting all of your eggs in one basket is very risky, and that’s why many experts recommend diversifying your portfolio. Gold can be a valuable part of the mix, as its returns aren’t correlated to the stock market. The prices of precious metals can hold steady or gain value when stocks and real estate enter corrections. And while expert opinions on gold vary, many agree that investors shouldn’t allocate more than 5-10% of their portfolio to the precious metal. This amount of exposure provides a good buffer against inflation while allowing you to allocate funds to other asset classes. IRAs are attractive options for gold investors who want to capitalize on tax benefits while growing their portfolios. Conventional IRAs reduce your present taxable income, while Roth IRAs shield you from taxes on your distributions and capital gains. While those types of accounts can hold gold-backed equities like stocks and ETFs, only gold IRAs can hold precious metals. Investors should assess their long-term goals and financial situations before accumulating gold.First dog-friendly cruise scheduled for 2025. Organizers hope it turns into a recurring event.NEW YORK , Dec. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Why: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of common stock of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) between February 8, 2024 and October 29, 2024 , both dates inclusive (the "Class Period") and those who purchased Chipotle call options or sold put options during the Class Period, of the important January 10, 2025 lead plaintiff deadline in the securities class action first filed by the Firm. So what: If you purchased Chipotle securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. What to do next: To join the Chipotle class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=30587 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than January 10, 2025 . A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Why Rosen Law: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company at the time. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers. Details of the case: According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Chipotle's portion sizes were inconsistent and left many customers dissatisfied with the Company's offerings; (2) in order to address the issue and retain customer loyalty, Chipotle would have to ensure more generous portion sizes, which would increase cost of sales; and (3) as a result, defendants' statements about its business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. To join the Chipotle class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=30587 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm . Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Contact Information: Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40 th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@rosenlegal.com www.rosenlegal.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cmg-deadline-alert-cmg-investors-with-losses-in-excess-of-100k-have-opportunity-to-lead-chipotle-mexican-grill-inc-securities-fraud-lawsuit-filed-by-the-rosen-law-firm-302339657.html SOURCE THE ROSEN LAW FIRM, P. A.From crisis to comfort: Why we’re going hygge this holiday

While many consider Fortnite to be the pinnacle of the battle royale genre, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, developed by Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene, was the first to bring mainstream attention to the format. Since then, Greene has formed his own studio, PlayerUnknown Productions, and today the team has announced a three-game plan for the future, which begins with Prologue: Go Wayback. Prologue is described as a "single-player open-world emergent game within the survival genre," which will incorporate a new "machine-learning-driven terrain-generation technology" developed by the team. This new tech will allow the game to create "millions" of maps at once, though the specifics of how the tech works were not disclosed. Prologue: Go Wayback is set to launch in Steam Early Access in Q2 2025. The end goal of the three-game plan is Project Artemis, though little is known about what Greene and his team have planned. "My vision for Artemis is challenging, but we plan to take it one step at a time," Greene says, "and the three games aim to give us a solid tech foundation on which to scale up." Along with Prologue and Project Artemis's announcement comes Preface: Undiscovered World, which is a tech demo intended to showcase Melba, PlayerUnknown Productions' new in-game development engine. Preface is in addition to the main three-game plan, and Greene says that the demo will generate an "Earth-sized planet" in real time, with players able to give feedback while exploring. Preface: Undiscovered World is available now for free on Steam. As for Greene's previous project, PlayerUnknown's Battleground is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, and mobile devices.Some quotations from Jimmy Carter: We have a tendency to exalt ourselves and to dwell on the weaknesses and mistakes of others. I have come to realize that in every person there is something fine and pure and noble, along with a desire for self-fulfillment. Political and religious leaders must attempt to provide a society within which these human attributes can be nurtured and enhanced. — from 1975 book “Why Not the Best?” Our government can express the highest common ideals of human beings — if we demand of government true standards of excellence. At this Bicentennial time of introspection and concern, we must demand such standards. — “Why Not the Best?” I am a Southerner and an American, I am a farmer, an engineer, a father and husband, a Christian, a politician and former governor, a planner, a businessman, a nuclear physicist, a naval officer, a canoeist, and among other things a lover of Bob Dylan’s songs and Dylan Thomas’s poetry. — “Why Not the Best?” Christ said, “I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust has in his heart already committed adultery.” I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do — and I have done it — and God forgives me for it. But that doesn’t mean that I condemn someone who not only looks on a woman with lust but who leaves his wife and shacks up with somebody out of wedlock. — Interview, November 1976 Playboy. This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication within our Government, and a new spirit among us all. A President may sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can provide it. — Inaugural address, January 1977. It’s clear that the true problems of our nation are much deeper — deeper than gasoline lines or energy shortages, deeper even than inflation and recession. ... All the legislation in the world can’t fix what’s wrong with America. ... It is a crisis of confidence. — So-called “malaise” speech, July 1979. But we know that democracy is always an unfinished creation. Each generation must renew its foundations. Each generation must rediscover the meaning of this hallowed vision in the light of its own modern challenges. For this generation, ours, life is nuclear survival; liberty is human rights; the pursuit of happiness is a planet whose resources are devoted to the physical and spiritual nourishment of its inhabitants. — Farewell Address, January 1981. We appreciate the past. We are grateful for the present and we’re looking forward to the future with great anticipation and commitment. — October 1986, at the dedication of the Carter Presidential Library and Museum. War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other’s children. — December 2002, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. Fundamentalists have become increasingly influential in both religion and government, and have managed to change the nuances and subtleties of historic debate into black-and-white rigidities and the personal derogation of those who dare to disagree. ... The influence of these various trends poses a threat to many of our nation’s historic customs and moral commitments, both in government and in houses of worship. — From 2005 book “Our Endangered Values.” I think that this breakthrough by Barack Obama has been remarkable. When he made his speech (on race) a few months ago in Philadelphia, I wept. I sat in front of the television and cried, because I saw that as the most enlightening and transforming analysis of racism and a potential end of it that I ever saw in my life. — August 2008, commenting on then-Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy. I think it’s based on racism. There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president. ... No matter who he is or how much we disagree with his policies, the president should be treated with respect. — September 2009, reacting to Rep. Joe Wilson’s shout of “You lie!” during a speech to Congress by President Barack Obama. I’m still determined to outlive the last guinea worm. — 2010, on The Carter Center’s work to eradicate guinea worm disease. You know how much I raised to run against Gerald Ford? Zero. You know how much I raised to run against Ronald Reagan? Zero. You know how much will be raised this year by all presidential, Senate and House campaigns? $6 billion. That’s 6,000 millions. — September 2012, reacting to the 2010 “Citizens United” U.S. Supreme Court decision permitting unlimited third-party political spending. I have become convinced that the most serious and unaddressed worldwide challenge is the deprivation and abuse of women and girls, largely caused by a false interpretation of carefully selected religious texts and a growing tolerance of violence and warfare, unfortunately following the example set during my lifetime by the United States. — From 2014 book “A Call to Action.” I don’t think there’s any doubt now that the NSA or other agencies monitor or record almost every telephone call made in the United States, including cellphones, and I presume email as well. We’ve gone a long way down the road of violating Americans’ basic civil rights, as far as privacy is concerned. — March 2014, commenting on U.S. intelligence monitoring after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks We accept self-congratulations about the wonderful 50th anniversary – which is wonderful – but we feel like Lyndon Johnson did it and we don’t have to do anything anymore. — April 2014, commenting on racial inequality during a celebration of the Civil Rights Act’s 40th anniversary. I had a very challenging question at Emory (University) the other night: “How would you describe the United States of America today in one word?” And I didn’t know what to say for a few moments, but I finally said, “Searching.” I think the country in which we live is still searching for what it ought to be, and what it can be, and I’m not sure we’re making much progress right at this moment. — October 2014 during a celebration of his 90th birthday. The life we have now is the best of all. We have an expanding and harmonious family, a rich life in our church and the Plains community, and a diversity of projects at The Carter Center that is adventurous and exciting. Rosalynn and I have visited more than 145 countries, and both of us are as active as we have ever been. We are blessed with good health and look to the future with eagerness and confidence, but are prepared for inevitable adversity when it comes. — From 2015 book, “A Full Life.”AI a productivity boost to banks but making money from it is a challenge

Tulane QB Mensah transfers to DukeHopes of a trillion-dollar climate finance fund appear to be slipping out of reach after a draft text at the Cop29 climate summit proposed a deal worth only a fifth of that. The interim agreement – released late on Friday, hours before the summit’s scheduled end – sets a $250bn (£199bn) annual target for the “new collective quantified goal” (NCQG), the sum developed nations must hand over to support mitigation in developing countries. The compromise sum was dismissed as an insult to the world’s most vulnerable populations as talks extended into the night at the summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. “We started Cop29 with alarm that the outcome of the US presidential elections would deter global climate action ... apparently, the halls of Cop29 are already flooded with many Trumps,” said Gerry Arances, executive director of Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development. His country, the Philippines, has suffered six typhoons recently and the proposed sum won’t even be enough to support the victims of those disasters, he said. Developed nations are “gambling with the lives of people in developing nations and small states”, Mr Arances said. A key demand from developing countries has been to make climate finance accessible, which means more money as grants and not private finance or loans. But the amount proposed in the current draft does not stress this. Experts say without mentioning how much amount will be delivered as grants, the treaty leaves vulnerable countries at the mercy of loans. “Not only is $250bn far too low a target for climate finance to developing nations, but core aid funding should be coming only from public sources,” Tom Mitchell, executive director of the International Institute for Environment and Development, said. “Private investors should be topping up the contributions from national governments and multilateral banks, not being drafted in to distract from political miserliness. Campaigners highlighted that the $250bn figure totals a mere 8 per cent of the $2.97 trillion in profits made by the world’s biggest companies in the last financial year. “We cannot be expected to agree to a text which shows such contempt for our vulnerable people,” the Alliance of Small Island States said in a statement. In a statement the Azerbaijani presidency says the new climate finance text is the result of a consultation that stretched into the early hours of the morning – and offers a “balanced and streamlined” way forward. Many campaigners say it’s better to go back without a deal than $250bn in climate finance. “We find ourselves in a far worse position than we were before the NCQG process began,” said Lidy Nacpil from the Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development. “I strongly echo the call for our developing country governments to reject this text.” The negotiations will now be running overnight, but a likely outcome may still be a figure of less than one trillion dollars. “To land a meaningful outcome here, wealthy nations must step up with a bold offer to the global South. Our eyes are now on the European Union and UK in particular to step up their game,” Andreas Seiber, associate director of policy and campaigns at 350.org told The Independent . “Cop29 cannot close on a deal this weak,” he warned.

The US State and Treasury departments said they hit Georgian Dream party founder and honorary chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili with penalties “for undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia for the benefit of the Russian Federation”, according to a statement. The designation of Mr Ivanishvili is the latest in a series of sanctions the US has placed on Georgian politicians and others this year. Those sanctions include freezes on assets and properties those targeted may have in US jurisdictions or that might enter US jurisdictions as well as travel bans on the targets and members of their families. “We strongly condemn Georgian Dream’s actions under Ivanishvili’s leadership, including its ongoing and violent repression of Georgian citizens, protesters, members of the media, human rights activists, and opposition figures,” the State Department said in a statement. “The United States is committed to promoting accountability for those undermining democracy and human rights in Georgia.” Mr Ivanishvili is a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia and served briefly as Georgia’s prime minister. In 2012, he founded Georgian Dream, Georgia’s longtime ruling party. Critics have accused Georgian Dream of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted towards Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBT+ rights, prompting the European Union to suspend Georgia’s membership application process indefinitely. In October, Georgian Dream won another term in a divisive parliamentary election that has led to more mass protests. Last month, the country’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, announced a four-year suspension of talks on Georgia’s bid to join the European Union, fuelling further public outrage.Donald Trump says he urged Gretzky to run for prime minister in Christmas visit

NSW Police have released a CCTV image after "several explosions" were reported at a regional office before a fire broke out at another. or signup to continue reading Emergency services were called to Legal Aid on Donnison Street at Gosford just before 2.30pm on Thursday, December 5, after reports of multiple explosions. "The building was evacuated, and no injuries have been reported as a result of the explosions," a NSW Police spokesperson said. Shortly after, officers were called to a separate building housing Conditsis Lawyers on the same street after reports of a fire. "At the scene, police were told that a man entered the office before allegedly lighting a fire and fleeing the scene," the spokesman said. A 54-year-old employee was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics for smoke inhalation but no other injuries were reported. Dozens of firefighters worked on extinguishing the blaze as the major emergency operation unfolded across the two locations. Brisbane Water police officers, backed by specialist resources, remained at the scenes investigating the incidents on Thursday night. A Legal Aid NSW spokesperson confirmed the Gosford office had been "temporarily shut and all staff have been evacuated following an explosion that caused a small fire in the reception area" on December 5. "NSW Fire and Rescue extinguished the fire. No members of our staff or clients have been injured. Enquiries are continuing about this incident and police are investigating," the spokesperson said. Conditsis Lawyers said they were relieved that all their staff were safe and extended their thoughts to the staff at Legal Aid. "We understand that the fire was contained at both offices once staff had been evacuated and that Legal Aid's staff are also accounted for and unharmed," they said in a Facebook post. We commend the swift response of emergency services and hope the police apprehend the culprit responsible for this disturbing incident soon. for a man seen in the area at the time they wished to speak to, described as being aged in his 60s, of short stature and chubby build, wearing a black face covering, black shirt, and dark pants, shoes and a cap. The Gosford CBD was in gridlock on Thursday afternoon as Donnison Street remained closed in several areas near Dane Drive, Mann Street and Baker Street. The Central Coast Highway and all surrounding streets were affected, according to Live Traffic NSW. Motorists and members of the community have been urged to avoid the area. Police said more information would be released once it was available. Anyone with information is urged to contact on 1800 333 000. Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. TWICE WEEKLY Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. WEEKLY Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. TWICE WEEKLY Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. AS IT HAPPENS Be the first to know when news breaks. DAILY Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! DAILY Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily! Advertisement AdvertisementGlobal Optical Anti-Sniper Detection System Market: Industry Analysis, Growth Trends, and Forecast (2019-2027)5 Best Cryptos to Buy Now: This Hidden Gem Promises 60x Returns in Presale!

German politicians decry Elon Musk’s AfD support as ‘intrusive’ election influence

How to Use Gold for Retirement IncomeThis year’s best prediction for the game industry in 2025 already came from Swen Vincke , CEO of Larian Studios, maker of Baldur’s Gate 3, the Game of the year in 2023. At The Game Awards this year, Vincke got to announce the new Game of the Year (Astro Bot), and he made a prediction. “The oracle told me that the Game of the Year 2025 is going to be made by a studio who found the formula to make it up here on stage,” Vincke said. “It’s stupidly simple, but somehow it keeps on getting lost. A studio makes a game because they want to make a game they want to play themselves. They created it because it hadn’t been created before. They didn’t make it to increase market share. They didn’t make it to serve the brand. They didn’t have to meet arbitrary sales targets, or fear being laid off if they didn’t meet those targets.” The audience erupted into applause at his words, and he was not drummed off the stage for taking too much time. He added, “Furthermore, the people in charge forbade them from cramming the game with anything whose only purpose was to increase revenue and didn’t serve the game design. They didn’t treat their developers like numbers on a spreadsheet. They didn’t treat their players as users to exploit. And they didn’t make decisions they knew were short-sighted in function of a bonus or politics. They knew that if you put the game and the team first, the revenue will follow.” He closed with, “They were driven by idealism, and wanted players to have fun, and they realized that if the developers don’t have fun, nobody was going to have any fun. They understood the value of respect, that if they treated their developers and players well, the same developers and players would forgive them when things didn’t go as planned. But above all they cared about their games, because they love games. It’s really that simple.” Back to my own comments here. I wish the industry would follow that logic. My predictions are foolish Predictions are foolish to make and yet the temptation to rush back into the breach is always a pull for me. The future is terrifying the more unknown it is, and so I and many other prognosticators try to see a pattern in the darkness ahead. All I can say once again is that I hope you are well and that we’ll all have a better year in 2025 than we had in 2024. I am not optimistic. This year was marked by 14,000 layoffs, bringing the total laid off in the past 2.5 years to 34,000. I was hoping that would not happen, and I hope the bleeding stops in 2025. Let’s review what we’ve seen in recent years that threw off our predictions. The pandemic created a whipsaw, where we saw a huge growth in online demand for games as people couldn’t go out. Then it contracted again as people were able to travel and do other things again. Game venture capitalists poured money into game startups in hyped areas such as blockchain, metaverse and AI. Geopolitical tensions also changed many markets like Russia, China and Israel, and new funding sources emerged in the Middle East in places like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Many game startups that couldn’t raise secondary funding rounds went belly up. There were too many games arriving on platforms such as Steam, and only a handful came out as winners. So the winners and losers concept is alive and well in the game industry. Now we’ll see if there is a chance for a broader recovery. The structure of the industry will likely further change thanks to the closing of the $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard and its first full year of operation under Microsoft. We’ll see if the addition of Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will move the needle on the subscription business model. And we’ll see if only the massive game companies, with their massive marketing muscle, will get all of the attention from players. I’ll continue to wager we can expect games to continue to outgrow other forms of entertainment. I expect that trends such as Hollywood transmedia, the metaverse, Web3, cloud gaming, esports, mixed reality, user-generated content and other trends will come along to reinvigorate the game industry — as well as great new games in the core areas of the PC, console and mobile game industries. I’m so glad that we have one beacon ahead: Grand Theft Auto VI is likely coming in the fall of 2025. For the usual comparison and embarrassment, here are my predictions for 2024 , 2023 , 2022 , 2021 2020 , 2019 , 2018 , 2017 , 2016 , 2015 , 2014 , 2013 , and 2012 . At the bottom of the story, I’ve also given myself grades for the predictions I made a year ago for 2023. This year, I got nine “A” grades and two “C” grades. I got a lot of help from friends on social media for these predictions and there were a lot more than I could write about. Among those I left out? Larry Pacey’s suggestions on “fewer new live-service launches” and “the rise of double-A games”; and Chris Heatherly’s whether game revenues will stagnate or grow. I appreciate the suggestions and regret I can’t credit everyone here. My predictions for 2025 (1) Grand Theft Auto VI will be the game of the year Rockstar Games has superb mindshare among gamers, and it has done a great job building buzz for Grand Theft Auto VI. The first trailer generated more than 228 million views on YouTube when it came out a year ago. There is so much pent-up demand for this title, as the previous game Grand Theft Auto V debuted in 2013. After 11 years, that title has sold more than 205 million copies to date, generating perhaps $12 billion at retail. Thousands of developers are working on the latest version. And while superstar developers on Grand Theft Auto V — Leslie Benzies and Dan Houser — have left Rockstar, Houser’s brother Sam Houser is still running Rockstar and so you can expect a lot of continuity in the game’s production values. The game trailer showed the title will take place on familiar ground in a fictional setting in Miami, it features strong characters from the criminal underworld, and it is loaded with realistic 3D graphics and pop culture. That’s a formula that Rockstar created years ago and it will likely work again, given the power of franchises in today’s gaming business. I think the only thing that could derail this from being Game of the Year would be if it were delayed into 2026. That is possible, but the forecasts from parent company Take-Two Interactive have been getting more and more specific. We don’t know the launch date yet (other than the fall of 2025), but you can bet every other game will avoid coming out at the same time as Rockstar’s latest title. And I expect that Rockstar will continue with its games-as-a-service strategy, where it would likely launch a new version of Grand Theft Auto Online once GTA 6 comes out. (2) Game layoffs will continue, but the game job market will get better We have a wide and diverse gaming economy now where there will be both improvements and setbacks at the same time. This mean game layoffs will continue, but it’s still possible to have an improvement in the overall job market for game companies as revenues recover. Amir Satvat, the game job champion (who was honored as a Game Changer award winner at The Game Awards) has provided the most transparent information on supply and demand for game jobs, and he has been predicting for a while that job hires and losses will hit an equilibrium on a 60-day trailing basis in December 2024, though he has now moved that to January. If that’s true, there will be more hiring than firing in January, for the first time in about 31 months. We’ll see if that holds true for 2025. How this really goes depends on a lot of things, like the health of the global economy and whether AI will create or eliminate jobs. There are too many companies working on too many games. Many of them won’t be winners and they will likely lay off staff. But I believe that demand will pick up as we near the launch of new devices (like Nintendo’s Switch 2) and games on my most-anticipated games list of 2025 get released. If anything, I believe in the law of gravity. We’ve had such a long down cycle that it feels like things can only get better. The demographics favoring games — especially titles like Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft and mobile games — are only going to get stronger and the pie will get bigger. Such tidal change that comes with that generational force is hard to spot, but I am still optimistic that game developers of all types will surprise and delight us with their creativity when it comes to making outstanding games. (3) AI games will come on strong All game companies are working on this technology in some way. For the longest time, AI has made a big difference in making games more fun. Just look at Left 4 Dead and No Man’s Sky, which have used AI to create adaptive and procedurally generated content. But the onset of generative is spurring more AI in gaming. Electronic Arts recently demoed a variety of AI tools in the works at the company, such as a large language model consisting of only EA’s copyrighted content going back decades. To make its EA Sports College Football on time, EA used machine learning to help its artists create more than 11,000 college football athlete likenesses in just three months. That’s a lot more efficient than what used to happen. Based on all of the pronouncements from big companies and statements from game startups, you can bet that game companies are kicking the tires on AI tools from game startups aimed at making game development faster, cheaper and easier. They may, like EA, be making their own or they may be betting on startups like Inworld AI that have talent from both AI and games in-house. AI can make our worlds more dynamic and personalized to exactly what we want. The game startups are using generative AI to make non-player characters (NPCs) smarter in their games. They could be working on AI art generation, with tools like those from Didimo designed to make it easier to create a thousand variations of NPCs to fill out a crowd in a game. And they could be trying to come up with new types of gameplay where they can give players smart AI companions to help them finish games in a more satisfying way. I think there will be vast ramifications from the use of AI in games. We already see that in the ongoing strike by SAG-AFTRA’s voice actors, who want control over and fair payment for the use of their voices when it comes to AI generation of voice in games. But the genie is coming out of this bottle, and a brave new world awaits. AI is already getting used a lot in gaming, but I really have no clue what’s going to happen with its myriad consequences down the road. (4) Blockchain gaming will face its biggest test in the market There are arguments on both sides about whether blockchain games will fail or take off in 2025. Many seasoned game devs like Josef Fares have gone on the record saying that blockchain games are fad with too many scams that will fade because there just isn’t enough utility for Web3 gaming. Chainplay found in an analysis that 93% of Web3 gaming projects are dead. On average, 316 new Web3 gaming projects launch each year, but 262 projects disappear, indicating that a significant number struggle to stay afloat for more than a few months. About 95% have see their token prices drop after hitting their trading peaks. Altogether, 3,200 such projects have been announced. But Chainplay noted that some venture funds like Alameda Research have navigated this environment well, earning a 713% return on invested capital. Such firms can plow their proceeds back into Web3 game startups to keep trying for the big score. The market capitalization for blockchain games sits at $25 billion today, acccording to Coin Gecko . That means not everyone has given up. Again, that’s plenty of money to experiment with. Meanwhile, blockchain games like Hamster Kombat have generated hundreds of millions of downloads on Telegram, which is an unfettered and crypto-friendly messaging service favored by the crypto crowd. That demand can go poof in an instant as soon as tokens related to those games launch and fall short. But Telegram and new chains like Base are providing a lifeline to some companies as they experiment with new models and creativity. Hardcore games like Off the Grid are also arriving on the blockchain, and casual fare like Pixels and Pirate Nation continue to pick up where Axie Infinity left off. The big-budget games take years to gestate, and some of them are finally coming out of a long development pipeline, said Yat Siu, executive chairman of Animoca Brands, which has invested in 540 Web3 gaming companies. Many of these companies that have raised money have big war chests, as blockchain games have commanded as much as half of all game fundings in any given year during the past three years. And crypto is likely to get a pass from the incoming Trump administration. Depending on your point of view, for good or bad, 2025 is likely one of the years that will make or break this much-castigated trend. If you’re wondering which titles could take off, check out the Gam3 awards list. (5) Other regions will continue to emerge with triple-A games Black Myth: Wukong sold more than 25 million copies since August, according to Niko Partners . It was a rare triple-A game that succeeded on the global stage, even though it was made with local Chinese content by local Chinese game developers. It turns out this resonated far better on the global stage than many predicted, and it’s a sign that games are following in the footsteps of the global film and TV industry, where we’ve long seen huge international audiences for fresh content like South Korea’s Squid Game. While China has been huge in free-to-play games like Genshin Impact, it has lagged the West and Japan in making triple-A titles, Niko said. But Black Myth: Wukong is now the most-played single-player game in Steam history, with more than 37 million people logged into it on August 25. For more on this subject, check out a fireside chat I had with Matthew Ball, author of the bestselling book The Metaverse, CEO of Epyllion and a seer of the game industry. We spoke at our recent GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood & Games event on December 12 in Los Angeles. Ball also wrote a great essay on the trend of how he expects games will follow Hollywood with more international content. We’ve seen growth of game development in unexpected regions as those regions come online and participate in the global economy. For instance, India game VC firm Lumikai predicts the Indian game market will grow from $3.8 billion in 2024 to $9 billion by 2029. Gaming is already 30% of India’s entertainment market, and it’s on the verge of becoming bigger than Bollywood. With growing revenues will come bigger budgets, more talent and more creativity. (6) Switch 2 will breathe new life into hardware sales Last year, I was right that Nintendo would announce that it would unveil the Switch 2 hybrid home/portable game console in 2024 and launch it in 2025. Nintendo updated its forecast saying it plans to launch the system in 2025 and it will be backward compatible with the original Switch, which debuted back in 2017. This means it will be eight years since Nintendo launched a game console, and that period of time is really pushing the limit in terms of technological obsolescence and gamer patients for new gear. Hopefully, the conditions will be right as well. Assuming there won’t be a China-U.S. tariff war, and that’s a very big if given the statements of incoming President Donald Trump, the conditions should be good for launching a new machine. The supply chain should be ready to produce such a device in large numbers, and gamers are likely to be more amenable to a Nintendo console, which typically carries a lower price compared to its rivals Sony and Xbox. Nintendo has big games like a new Metroid 4 game in the works, and you can guess that it’s probably got big Mario and Zelda games coming for the console transition too. (7) Game and TV movies will widen demand for games Years ago, Hollywood moguls were skeptical that game adaptations would ever suceed. But Dmitri M. Johnson, cofounder of Story Kitchen (an instigator of the Sega movies including holiday hit Sonic the Hedgehog 3) and a speaker at our Hollywood and Games event, noted that we have so many proof points now that great game adaptations can be done . On top of that, the movies and shows have been increasing game sales. Executives at Microsoft said that the Fallout streaming series on increased sales of Fallout games, even though Bethesda didn’t have a show-related game ready at the same time. Older games saw sales improve. Nintendo said the same about the Super Mario Bros. Movie, which generated $1.3 billion in box office revenues and increased interest in Mario games. And Sony said that The Last of Us streaming show on HBO also had the same effect. This means that execs in Hollywood no longer have to be persuaded that transmedia adaptations can be a great idea, especially if the focus is on what fans want. Borderlands didn’t take off as expected. But game leaders also no longer need to be completely skeptical that a movie or TV show about their games will ruin the properties. Game developer Richard Dansky (franchise narrative director at Crytek) did a Facebook post on this subject that conveyed the point well. “Narrative works on an emotional level,” he wrote. “It takes time and resources to come to fruition, and skill to do it effectively. Its purpose is to drive four things: attachment, anticipation, identification and investment.” He added, “Get those four things going and you build an audience that likes your stuff, shares their takes on your stuff with the world, wants more of your stuff, sticks around because they’re looking forward to the next bit of your stuff, and thus continues to spend money on your stuff.” OK, the word “stuff” isn’t so eloquent here, but this is a great argument on behalf of narrative’s power for persuading bean counters of the value of great stories. (8) Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft will keep gaining share on traditional games At its recent Roblox Developer Conference, Roblox executives said more than 400 brands had moved into making games on the platform, which skews toward younger Generation Z and Generation Alpha audiences. Fortnite has also gotten traction with brands, and Minecraft has its own unique appeal too. Magid reported that the youngest audiences are now encountering gaming for the first time on smartphones, not on Nintendo game devices. If you want to reach them, you have to find them in gaming where they are, not on traditional media. Tim Sweeney , CEO of Epic Games, says there are more than 600 million players who have joined these games with user-generated content at their core, essentially making the metaverse destination that so many of these brands want. Companies that cater to the brands, making games for the brands which work on the platforms, are generating a lot of hits. Gamefam has five of 15 top brand-related games on Roblox, with the No. 1 game Sonic Speedrun getting more than a billion plays. Halo co-creator Alex Seropian’s Look North World launched a game for Twitch on top of Fortnite. And Disney’s CEO Bob Iger said that Disney was making a universe on top of Fortnite with Epic Games because Disney isn’t reaching the youngest players and audiences anymore because it doesn’t have a huge presence in such games. As Joe Ferencz, CEO of Gamefam, told me in our interview from the story above, the brands that aren’t on these platforms are going to be dying brands. (9) Disney and big media companies will buy big game companies Speaking of Disney, Iger has reportedly begun the succession process as he plans to retire once again from the top job at the kingdom of Mickey Mouse. Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts, was mentioned as a candidate to replace Iger in a Wall Street Journal story. We don’t know if it’s true. But why not? The big media companies have made runs at game companies like EA, Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft in the past. We should expect more of the same to happen. We don’t know when and where it’s going to happen. There aren’t many healthy entertainment companies that could buy the likes of EA. Tencent is reportedly talking with Ubisoft about taking the French game publisher private. Disney could also bring its Disney Universe project in-house by buying Epic Games. And Pitchbook said there is a 93% chance that Discord, the game communications company, will go public in 2025. Someone else could stop that from happening by acquiring Discord, but I don’t think that is likely. Eventually, the game companies will become so big that they may be the ones doing the acquiring. This is all speculation, but it’s not so crazy when you think about the chess game of the game industry. (10) Politics in games will become a bigger trend Video games have evolved from simple entertainment to complex narratives that can rival the depth of literature and film. As interactive media, they offer unique opportunities to explore and engage with political issues in ways that other forms of storytelling cannot. They can make you feel what it’s like to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, like in games like The Last of Us Part II, which depicts a relationship among lesbian lead characters and captures the pointlessness of the cycle of violence. Or games can generate narratives for more aggressively partisan political games like This War of Mine, Bury Me My Love and Papers, Please. Critics found fault with Detroit: Become Human, but it did a great job exploring how humans will interact with AI beings. Games play with our emotions and immerse us in believable worlds. Why not immerse us in political realities? Commercial-focused games that simply want to monetize everyone don’t run the risk of injecting politics into games because they’re afraid they might alienate half the player base if they take a side on a political issue. But they also risk becoming irrelevant to the things that concern us. Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs: Legion and Far Cry 5 skated close to the political edge, but they also stopped short. I am hoping this will change as politics has become more important than ever in our lives. Anima Interactive , started by a daughter of immigrants Karla Reyes, wants to push the political discussion about the reality of immigration into the mainstream with a game about the journey of migrants, dubbed Take Us North. This is an excellent idea for a video game, even though some may find it shocking to make a game about a journey in which some migrants don’t survive. News flash. Games can tackle difficult subjects and tell narratives in a more sensitive way than you hear on mainstream news shows. And if we want to educate our younger populations about politics, there’s no better way to reach them than through games. One of my usual favorites is The Political Machine series from Stardock Entertainment, which tries to educate us about how the electoral process works through a political game. Serious Games used to be a big deal, and we should make sure that it becomes a mainstay of our gaming appetite. Games can be a serious medium to tell political stories, and to get facts and the narratives right. (11) Gaming’s edge will survive but face a long road Our GamesBeat Next conference surfaced a lot of hot trends at the edge of the game industry, as opposed to the core industry of mobile, PC and console gaming. We all know about efforts to take game technology and expand it into things like blockchain, metaverse and AI. They will succeed if they put gamers and fun first, and find a true utility to make things easier, better and more enjoyable. But there are a lot of other edges to the frontier of games, including user-generated content, movies and film, cloud gaming, subscriptions, and platforms like Roblox and more. Mobile has by far eclipsed console and PC games, but we aren’t sure which trends at the edge will become explosive in the coming years. That’s the fun about the game industry. It’s always changing, and there are lots of landmines that derail plans for quick growth. In Europe, we’re seeing the emergence of regulator-sanctioned alternative app stores that will enable developers to avoid big fees from Apple and Google. Subscription game platforms like GeForce Now, Netflix, Xbox Game Pass and Apple Arcade are freeing individual game makers from being slaves to monetization. They also get gamers to try out a lot more games than they ordinarily might play. UGC is making game platforms more viable and turn into huge entities. Ad and reward models are taking off. Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite could be forerunners of the metaverse. As these technologies mature and become part of mainstream gaming, they could redefine how games are developed, distributed, and experienced. Just as PCs, consoles, and mobile devices have become central to gaming today, these emerging technologies will shape the future, offering new possibilities and transforming the industry in profound ways. Change is good. We don’t have to reject these ideas before they get their true tests in the market. Sure, there will be failures. But once in a while, something can succeed and take the market by storm. Just look at the Nintendo Wii, with its Wiimote, or the Nintendo Switch, which made hybrid portable and console gaming a thing. I love writing about the intersections of games with tech, science fiction and entertainment. The edge is always more fun. And one day, the edge will become the core. (12) Alternative app stores will start to get traction Apple and Google have operated a duopoly on mobile app stores for years. They take a 30% cut of every transaction and that has made game developers like Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney really mad. He sued both companies and brought down the antitrust heat on them. In the U.S., he mostly lost an antitrust trial against Apple but won one against Google. Among the rights he won: the ability to advertise the existence of an alternative app store from within your game on the Google or App stores. In Europe, the victory was more pronounced as European Union regulators approved the Digital Markets Act to force “gatekeeper” companies to allow developers to create their alternative app stores. On top of that, as HTML5 web games become more capable, it’s easier than ever for some game developers to directly distribute their games via web links. Blockchain game companies are also trying to make an end run around the major platforms through decentralized technologies. These efforts are gaining momentum and market share, and it’s not unreasonable to expect that one day the whole world will be like China, where Google stayed out of the market and, as a result, tons of app stores sprouted to take its place. The result can be more diversity of content, better discovery and lower fees charged to developers. Matthew Ball, who we mentioned above, wrote in his book, The Metaverse, that the metaverse will never get built so long as platforms can charge game devs 30% fees. ( Ernesto Pagano of BCG and Matt Tubergen of Digital Turbine suggested this as a major trend for 2025). Grading my predictions for 2024 1) Gaming layoffs will continue It’s sad but very likely that layoffs will continue in gaming in 2024. The top 20 economies of the world are expected to grow at a range from minus 1.3% (Argentina) to 6.1% (India) while the U.S. is expected to stay out of a recession but produce weak growth of just 1.5%. In this environment, consumers’ pocketbooks will likely be under pressure again. That will likely weaken demand for games. I can foresee that we still have too many good games coming in a packed calendar for 2024, if the first two months of the year’s release schedule are an indication of what’s to come. Amir Satvat’s estimates are the best we have to go by for now. With 11,000 layoffs in 2023 out of a total population of 300,000 game developers (just 3 percent cut so far), you could still argue that more drastic layoffs are possible. Given the layoffs, it is inspiring that Satvat was able to find jobs for more than 1,000 gaming people via his employment resources. Given the uncertainties around demand, gamer tastes and the effects of AI on the workforce, I think companies will be in a cautious mode until either really good news materializes, or the companies realize that they don’t have enough people to get their games done. Sean Kauppinen foresees this lasting into the second quarter, when leaders will realize they don’t have enough of a pipeline of games coming. And Satvat himself thinks it may be August 2024 before we see an uptick in hiring. That all makes sense to me, though I can’t say I would be any good at predicting what quarter things will turn around. Meanwhile, look for the entry-level jobs in gaming to switch more to user-generated content (UGC) for platforms such as Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite. Letter grade: A. I didn’t want to be right with this prediction, but as noted, the 14,000 layoffs in 2024 exceeded the 11,000 that happened in 2023. We’ll hope for better again. Sadly, I was right there would be more layoffs in 2024. There were 14,000 layoffs in 2024 in the gaming industry, and 2) AI will surge It was just a year ago that OpenAI launched ChatGPT-3 and made the benefits of conversational AI and large language models (LLMs) obvious for all of us. Generative AI applications came out enabling ordinary folks to create imaginative concept art, and that took an immediate toll on the jobs for concept artists in gaming. It also enabled more non-artist developers to create their own concept art. And that’s the nature of the creative destruction of AI, taking away opportunities for some and creating new chances for others. We can expect more adoption of AI to help rein in the budgets of triple-A games — something that Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney sees as a positive change, as no game developer wants to be one of thousands of people working in a content factory. Yet AI could very well be a force that puts more professional game developers out on the street even as it enables more UGC to prosper. We see early tools enabling neophytes to create videos and 3D animations from a text prompt. We can expect more dynamic conversations from non-player characters thanks to generative AI, based on work being done by Inworld AI . And we can expect to see AI characters become the star of Westworld-style games — rather than human players — as envisioned by companies such as The Simulation by Fable . With such games, we will discover if it’s still fun to play games when you’re managing a simulation, rather than moving around in the game world as a player. On the industry level, we can expect that game startups innovating with AI tools will be the ones that get investment from venture capital firms, much like the metaverse and blockchain and VR rode the hype curves in the past. Our own Game Changers list, put together with Lightspeed Venture Partners, highlights the quality startups being funded in the modern VC funding environment. I do expect that issues like copyright concerns — which prompted the New York Times to sue Microsoft — and labor issues could disrupt the whole AI party. Let’s hope the outcome will be good for games, and good for humanity. Letter grade: A. Given the powerful changes that AI is bringing to every industry, it wasn’t hard to make the forecast that it would impact games. The fact that EA used AI to help create 11,000 likenesses for college football game characters in three months is a case in point of that impact. 3) Great games will still emerge Out of the mess of layoffs, economic doldrums, and technological change, we’ll still get amazing games that set a new bar for quality entertainment. Don’t forget that we saw billions of dollars invested into games by game-focused venture funds that didn’t exist before. We saw investors of all kinds come into games a few years ago as a kind of shelter from the pandemic. That money went to work and it is still being used by game developers to iterate on great ideas and eventually bring some of them to market. Good games take time to make, and great teams continue their work even if the economy turns weak for a couple of years. Remedy Entertainment weathered 13 years before it brought the outstanding Alan Wake 2 ( my favorite game of 2023 ) to the market. Starfield was in the works for a decade at Bethesda, and by the time Grand Theft Auto VI lands in 2025 it will have been in the works for around 13 years. Great games find a way to get to the market and gamers discover them. That part of the industry isn’t broken. Letter grade: A. I was so glad to play titles like Alan Wake 2 in 2023 and see awesome new franchises like Starfield emerge at the same time. This year, I loved titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops VI and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. It’s an industry of winners and losers. I expect the winners will win bigger and the losers can lose bigger too. But I never expect a year with only losers. 4) Franchise games will dominate In the meantime, it will still be tough for brand new intellectual properties to pierce through the noise and become popular with gamers on their own. That’s why big companies from Warner Bros. to Playtika are all focused on franchise games, or those that come from well-known gaming properties like God of War or hit entertainment properties like Spider-Man. It takes so many game developers to create these games on a regular cycle that there aren’t enough talented teams to spare for untested brand new properties — or so the conventional thinking goes. Since we’re in a downturn, you can bet that leaders of game companies will think in a safe and conservative way to preserve their own jobs, rather than take huge risks on something new. Even when we get a brand new idea for a game, like Hogwarts Legacy or the upcoming Suicide Squad, you’ll see that its attached to an existing IP like Harry Potter or DC. Activision Blizzard has a large chunk of its workforce — 3,000 or so people out of perhaps 13,000 — across 10 studios focused on Call of Duty. That’s how it ensures Call of Duty comes out every year as a premium game and it gets steady content for Warzone and Call of Duty: Mobile. That means there aren’t a lot of people left for secondary games like Skylanders or brand new IP. And this is reflected in what gamers want to play. Players want the franchises, and the game companies are serving it up to them. Sequels and remasters are filling the calendar for next year. I don’t expect too much of this to change in 2024, and you’ll see below that indies are the solution. Letter grade: C. I foresaw big hits like the new Call of Duty and the Indiana Jones hit. But I didn’t expect to see such a hole in the triple-A launch schedule for companies like Sony in 2024. The failure of games like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Concord left openings for surprise hits like Palworld, Helldivers 2, Black Myth: Wukong, Balatro and more. That meant I was only half right. 5) User-generated content will continue to grow User-generated content used to signal poor quality. But in the age of AI, automated tools can help take a user’s idea and make something good out of it. That’s why I expect UGC to continue to take off. It already has amazing platforms in Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft. Dave Baszucki, CEO of Roblox, said at the recent Roblox Developers Conference that he predicts a Roblox developer will be valued at $1 billion in the next five years. There are big Roblox dev studios with 200 people — like Marcus Holmström’s The Gang — with professional game developers. There are also home-grown Roblox studios run by CEOs who are 23 years old and have 10 years of Roblox experience. Some of the games, like Maximillian Games’ Frontlines, feature graphics like triple-A games. On top of that, Overwolf has enabled modding to scale on the PC, with more than $201 million in payments to modders during 2023 alone. Letter grade: A. Roblox hit an astounding 89 million daily active users in its most recent quarter, up nearly 27% from a year ago. We’ve also seen great growth for Fortnite, Minecraft and modding on platforms such as Overwolf. It’s a UGC world. Ignore it at your peril. 6) Switch 2 will be announced Nintendo launched its Switch hybrid console in March 2017, nearly seven years ago. By any measure, it’s due for an update soon, as in the good old days consoles showed their age by their fifth year. Of course, things are different now and consoles may last for 10 years. But there are plenty of things that Nintendo could add to its capabilities to capture new sales in the market, like getting a Call of Duty game to run on the Switch 2 hardware. Of course, I don’t have inside information here and I don’t even know if Nintendo plans to launch the console during 2024. Nintendo has been pretty good about keeping secrets and figuring out ways to surprise and delight its customers. But just like Apple, Nintendo needs to start telling developers how to make games for its new platform if it wants those games to show up in a timely manner. So I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it signals the Switch 2 is coming in 2024 and then ships it after that. Letter grade: A. In November, Nintendo’s president announced the Switch 2 is coming in 2025 and it would be backward compatible with games for the original Switch. Of course, we don’t know the name of the machine yet. 7) The Apple Vision Pro debuts to good reviews but poor sales The word is that Apple will start shipping its initial mixed reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro, as early as February. You can expect good quality from Apple in terms of an experience that delights users. The Vision Pro will likely be focused on the high end of the market, with target customers including enterprises that might normally buy a Magic Leap 2 headset for training purposes. There will be some consumer apps, but I wouldn’t expect any miracles in terms of outstanding games at the outset. Like AR and VR, I expect a slow burn in this market in 2024, and then it will turn into something more interesting over time as costs come down and technology advances. I can’t imagine that many people beyond the core will want to buy the headset at its initial price of $3,500. Apple has priced it that high to see what the market of enthusiasts will bear, but it mainly expects developers to buy those headsets at the outset and deliver great apps and games. Once those start to appear, Apple will hone the manufacturing, lower the costs and start to bring the price down. It will also count on deals with wireless carriers to bring the costs down via subscriptions. Letter grade: A. This prediction was on the money. The core technology of the Apple Vision Pro wowed those who were big enthusiasts. But the $3,500 sticker price shocked everyone and Apple is reportedly scaling back its ambitious plans on a successor. 8) More consolidation will happen With the $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard King by Microsoft now approved, we can expect more of the same to happen. Rivals will likely need to bulk up with more game studios in order to stay competitive with Microsoft, which may have more than 20,000 people working in games. Microsoft will likely push its subscription business even harder, hoping to gain an advantage over rivals like Sony and Nintendo that aren’t trying as hard to push that business model. Game companies will also have other reason to get bigger, like acquiring AI talent or new technologies in the ever-changing industry. I would expect a drive for openness to rise as well in tandem with this consolidation. You can expect to see efforts to create a fully open source game engine , AI tech, or metaverse to emerge as a counter to the walled gardens that the biggest companies and the tech giants can create. The good thing is that this won’t be just an investment in acquisitions. If the game industry continues to be financially attractive, it will attract funding not only for mergers and acquisitions, it will also draw money for startups. And so the never-ending battle between small game startups and big corporations will continue and that will give a chance for the best ideas to emerge from either type of company. Letter grade: A. In November 2024, Drake Star Partners reported that game M&A grew for the fourth quarter in a row. We didn’t see another mega-merger like Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, but there was still plenty of deals like Playtika’s acquisition of SuperPlay for $700 million at close ($1.95 billion including the full earn-out over time). Other notable acquirers included Tencent (Aojue Digital), Warner Bros. Discovery (Player First), Krafton (Tango Gameworks), Capcom (Minimum Studios), Keywords (Wushu Studios), Nazara (Fusebox, Deltias Gaming) and Infinite Reality (LandVault). 9) Weakness in China China’s government will likely continue to reign in the gaming business that has otherwise had stellar growth to date. The government has already restricted the number of hours that young people can play in a week. Last week, China also cracked down on monetization, sending the market value of Tencent, NetEase, Krafton and others downward. The new rules limit spending by players on online games and institute a ban on daily login rewards, first-time purchase bonuses and any incentives game developers create for repeat spenders. Loot boxes are also going to be restrained and games in China must now store their data on servers in side the borders of China. The drop in the market value is ominous as both Tencent and NetEase have been heavy investors in the games industry, particularly as they expanded beyond Asia into the West. If that source of funding dries up, then game startups around the globe could feel the impact. On the plus side, China says it will take less time for the approval of new games coming to the market. Letter grade: C. Black Myth: Wukong surprised me and it was one reason why China had a good year. Overall, China’s game revenues were up 7.5% to $44.8 billion in 2024. 10) Hardware companies will get a competitive advantage with user acquisition for games When Apple cracked down on privacy violations with the deprecation of the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), it hurt the ability for game companies to target advertising for specific users. That sent mobile game sales into a decline and made the business of acquiring users much harder. But we’ve seen some new kinds of loyalty programs emerge. Consider the playable ads enabled by cloud gaming at Samsung. Samsung is of course a rival to Apple in a variety of ways. But ads were broken on its smartphones, as 90% of people who clicked on a game ad didn’t wind up playing the game due to the friction of having to register and download the game. So Samsung came up with cloud-enabled playable ads, which, with the Samsung Game Launcher , take you directly into a game to try it out. This will likely be more successful when it comes to friction. And since Samsung sold you the smartphone, it already knows who you are. If you have games in the Samsung store, it knows what you like. And so this will give it a leg up in acquiring new users via its alternative store, which is more viable given the legal victory that Epic Games just score against Google. Of course, Apple could do something like this too, as can other hardware vendors. Letter grade: C. Samsung launched the launcher and it gave a new alternative for mobile games to reach the market, but I wouldn’t say this set the gaming world on fire. 11) Indies will be the source of original gaming hits Now that game powerhouses are focused on franchise games and even innovation-minded triple-A firms like Ubisoft can take a long time to launch a new IP (think Skull & Bones), the indies are going to be the saviors of gaming originality. Every year, I thank the indies for producing games like this year’s Dave the Diver from Mintrocket. Other 2023 indie hits included Sea of Stars, Cocoon, Gorilla Tag, Jusant, The Last Faith, Pizza Tower and Bramble: The Mountain King. Established indie teams that move on to original work after original work can take the risk out of that kind of game and might attract more investment. For 2024, I look forward to titles like Light No Fire, which was announced by No Man’s Sky studio Hello Games at The Game Awards. I was amazed that this procedural graphics game was created by a team of six over the past five years. We’re not sure when it will ship, but it looks beautiful already. Letter grade: A. This prediction was so vague that I had to get it right. Among the indie hits this year were great titles like Balatro (Playstack), UFO 50 (Mossmouth), Animal Well (Bigmode), Another Crab’s Treasure (Aggro Crab), I Am Your Beast (Strange Scaffold), Nine Sols (Red Candle Games), Dungeons of Hinterberg (Curve Games) and Thank Goodness You’re Here (Panic). See more here . 12) Transmedia hits will continue The success of The Last of Us and The Super Mario Bros. Movie will inspire more games to get the Hollywood treatment. There are many such films already in the works like BioShock and Borderlands, but it takes a while for such works to land. We know that Arcane’s second season will be coming to Netflix. Fallout is coming as a streaming TV series, as is the second season of Halo. Tomb Raider is coming. We may expect new seasons for The Last of Us and Twisted Metal. And possibly even hints of a Zelda film. But I’m pretty sure that not every one of these is going to succeed. The ratio of duds and hits will probably start to even out, as gaming fans have no patience for work that is rushed to the market. Letter grade: A. Again, this wasn’t a hard prediction to make. I was surprised to see the Borderlands movie fail, but we had a lot of hits like Arcane Season 2, Fallout, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and surprise documentaries like The Secret Life of Ibelin on Netflix. If you want to impress your boss, VB Daily has you covered. We give you the inside scoop on what companies are doing with generative AI, from regulatory shifts to practical deployments, so you can share insights for maximum ROI. Read our Privacy Policy Thanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here . An error occured.