Entertainment | The VergeThe Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts.2026-05-15T14:52:06+00:00https://www.theverge.com/rss/entertainment/index.xmlhttps://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/verge-rss-large_80b47e.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1Charles Pulliam-Moore<![CDATA[The funniest thing about the Trump arcade game is how good it is]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9306052026-05-15T10:16:20-04:002026-05-15T10:01:11-04:00
This week, a trio of video game cabinets emblazoned with pixel art of Donald Trump and a number of other government officials' faces suddenly appeared at the DC War Memorial. Looking at the cabinets from a distance, it's easy to get the sense that Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell(which you can also play on the web) is just another monumental joke erected by DC-based art collective, The Secret Handshake. But when I got up close and actually spent some time playing the new game, it became obvious that Operation Epic Furious is a scathing commentary that also happens to be a loving tribute to classic RPGs.
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Jay Peters<![CDATA[Subnautica 2 is having a huge launch on Steam]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9305622026-05-15T10:52:06-04:002026-05-14T12:22:49-04:00
Subnautica 2, the new underwater survival game from Unknown Worlds, took less than an hour to rocket up Steam's charts. The game has already sold 2 million copies in its first 12 hours of availability, and it also reached a peak of 467,000 concurrent players on Steam. Unknown Worlds says that across all platforms - Steam, Xbox, and the Epic Games Store - Subnautica 2 reached a peak concurrent player count of 651,000.
The huge launch isn't a total surprise. Before release, Subnautica 2 got five million wishlists and was the most-wishlisted game on Steam. It's a follow-up to the well-received Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero. And it was …
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Janko Roettgers<![CDATA[Netflix is building an AI animation studio]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9301182026-05-14T11:40:04-04:002026-05-14T11:30:00-04:00
Netflix’s job listings indicate an generative AI-heavy animation studio is coming. | Image: The Verge
This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week.
Netflix has been building a new internal studio called INKubator that aims to use AI to produce short-form animated content: The streamer is hiring for a wide variety of roles, including producers, software engineers, and CG artists to staff INKubator, according to a number of recently published job listings.
Netflix has yet to publicly announce its plans for INKubator, which job listings also sometimes refer to as INK. The company did not immediately respond to a request for c …
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Emma Roth<![CDATA[AMD’s FSR 4.1 upscaling tech is coming to older graphics cards]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9303762026-05-14T10:07:33-04:002026-05-14T10:06:48-04:00
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is just one of the games that supports FSR 4.1. | Image: Ubisoft
AMD is bringing its FSR 4.1 upscaling tech to older graphics cards. In an announcement on X, Jack Huynh, AMD's head of computing and graphics, says FSR 4.1 will roll out to RDNA 3 GPUs in July, followed by a launch on RDNA 2 chips in early 2027.
This summer's update will allow Radeon RX 7000-series chip owners to access AMD's upscaling tech across more than 300 supported games, including Cyberpunk 2077, Battlefield 6, and Assassin's Creed Shadows. FSR 4.1's broader expansion next year will allow the tech to expand to more devices running RDNA 2 architecture, like the Steam Deck.
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Andrew Webster<![CDATA[I’m obsessed with Forza Horizon 6, and I’ve barely even raced]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9298162026-05-14T17:29:26-04:002026-05-14T08:00:00-04:00
For the last week, I've spent every evening unwinding by speeding through the Japanese countryside, blaring Babymetal as I take in the sights. Forza Horizon 6 is ostensibly a racing game, one in which you play an up-and-coming driver intent on making a name for themselves. But, like the rest of the series, it's also an open world, one in which you can spend as much - or, in my case, substantially more - time exploring as you do racing. And it's that element that's substantially improved in Horizon 6. It's a combination of structure and setting: The fictional take on Japan isn't just the largest map in a Horizon game, but it's also incredibly …
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Charles Pulliam-Moore<![CDATA[Fighting Trump will make or break Disney’s new CEO]]>https://www.theverge.com/930009/fighting-trump-will-make-or-break-disneys-new-ceo2026-05-13T15:15:24-04:002026-05-13T15:15:21-04:00
A week ago, newly appointed Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro was busy regaling investors with plans to turn Disney Plus into the company's "digital centerpiece." By last Friday, though, his attention had presumably shifted to a fight with the Trump administration over free speech.
Disney-owned ABC has now accused the administration of violating its First Amendment rights with an ongoing investigation into The View. D'Amaro - the former head of Disney's parks division - might have wanted his legacy to be defined by corporate synergy and a souped-up version of Disney Plus. But this fight with Donald Trump and the Federal Communications Commission is l …
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Emma Roth<![CDATA[Netflix’s ad ambitions just keep growing]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9296272026-05-13T14:45:32-04:002026-05-13T14:45:32-04:00
For the second year in a row, Netflix's ad-supported tier more than doubled its monthly viewerbase. During its 2026 upfront presentation, Netflix revealed that its $8.99-per-month plan reaches more than 250 million people around the globe, a significant leap from 94 million users reported last year.
The streaming service reported earning $1.5 billion from ads in 2025, and now it's finding more areas to stick them across its service. Starting next year, Netflix will start showing ads in the vertical video feed it just launched on its mobile app, and in the lineup of podcasts it began adding to the platform late last year.
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Sheena Vasani<![CDATA[Everything at The Criterion Collection is 30 percent off right now]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9297602026-05-13T14:41:49-04:002026-05-13T14:41:49-04:00
Classics as well as newer films like Anora are on sale. | Image: Neon
If you’ve been meaning to grow your physical movie collection, now’s a good time to do it. Through May 25th, The Criterion Collection is taking 30 percent off every disc on its site, including standard Blu-rays, 4K releases, box sets, and even films that are currently only available to preorder. The sale spans every category Criterion is known for, from Hollywood classics and international cinema to indie favorites, documentaries, concert films, and arthouse movies.
In total, more than 1,000 titles from over 600 directors are discounted. You can browse the full sale here, but below, we’ve highlighted some of our favorites, including newer award winners like Anora, box sets like The Wes Anderson Archive, cult classics like The Breakfast Club, and international films like High and Low.
Isle of Dogs
Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated film which follows a group of Japanese pet dogs that have been isolated on an island.
The Wes Anderson Archive collects all of his films from Bottle Rocket through The French Dispatch in a single box set. The 20-disc trove includes every film on Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray, plus over 25 hours of special features and 10 illustrated booklets containing essays and interviews.
Martin Scorsese’s gripping historical crime drama follows the Osage murders of 1920s Oklahoma, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone.
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Andrew Webster<![CDATA[Nintendo says it has more Switch 2 games in store for 2026]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9295272026-05-13T09:25:02-04:002026-05-13T09:25:02-04:00
With the Switch 2 getting a price hike in September, this holiday season will be pivotal for Nintendo. That increased cost means that the company will rely heavily on new games to sell its current console - but as of right now the lineup for the second half of the year is sparse. However, without getting into specifics, president Shuntaro Furukawa has made it clear the company still has a number of titles in the works for 2026.
Nintendo just released the translated English Q&A from its most recent financial results, and in it Furukawa notes the importance of big games for selling hardware. "The way that Pokémon Pokopia has contributed to ha …
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Emma Roth<![CDATA[George Clooney, Tom Hanks, and Meryl Streep back new ‘Human Consent Standard’ for AI licensing]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=9285342026-05-12T12:06:19-04:002026-05-12T12:00:00-04:00
Hollywood actors and producers are standing behind a new AI licensing standard that will tell AI systems whether they'll need to pay to use a person's likeness, creative work, characters, and designs. With the Human Consent Standard, people can set terms for the use of their work or likeness, including giving AI systems full permission to use their content, allowing access with certain requirements, or restricting access entirely.
The Human Consent Standard builds upon the Really Simple Licensing (RSL) Standard, which launched last year as a way for websites to signal how AI systems use their work. RSL Media, a nonprofit cofounded by Cate B …
