News
- Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick defends Grand Theft Auto 6's $80 base price
- He says, "Our goal is to deliver way more value to consumers than what we charge them"
- The CEO says GTA 6 will be "an incredible bargain"
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has defended Grand Theft Auto 6's $80 base price, saying Rockstar Games will "overdeliver" on the experience.
Speaking during a Q&A session after the publisher's Q1 FY27 financial report, Zelnick explained that the game's cost has everything to do with maximizing price by delivering on an experience that will last for consumers.
"Our goal is to deliver way more value to consumers than what we charge them," Zelnick said when asked why it decided to leave NBA 2K27's base pricing at $70 compared to GTA 6, which is priced at $80, and how Take-Two will go forward with pricing other "premium" AAA titles. "And the truth is that the real cost of a AAA video game is a whole lot lower today than it was 20 years ago.
"Pricing has not kept pace with inflation. And our goal is to continue to overdeliver for our consumers because how you feel about any experience is the intersection of the experience itself and what you paid for it."
He continued, "So, to say that we expect that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be an incredible bargain as experiences go is a gross understatement, because Rockstar Games is known for overdelivering."
Zelnick also pointed to GTA Online, which is now 13 years old but continues to draw in millions of players every year, suggesting that a premium experience will keep players engaged, no matter the cost.
"Remember, we're 13 years after GTA Online was launched and people are still highly engaged," he said. "We have record-setting engagement at times. So, that's our goal.
"Our goal is not to maximize price. So, in this case, I think what we've decided to do makes a whole lot of sense in the context of what we're delivering. And that's the lens through which we're going forward as well."
GTA 6 will launch on November 19 with two editions: the Standard and Ultimate Edition. While the former costs $79.99 / £69.99, the more expensive $99.99 / £89.99 Ultimate Edition will offer additional content. While initially criticized by fans, Zelnick told analysts during the Q&A that it's selling more than the Standard Edition.
Take-Two also reported earnings of $1.39 billion during GTA 6's pre-order period, which Zelnick called an "exceptional start to pre-orders," but couldn't share specific sales numbers.
- Facial recognition systems are expanding to the London Underground
- British Transport Police say images will be checked against a watchlist
- Privacy groups are calling the technology intrusive
The debate over public surveillance and privacy is only getting more intense, with the British Transport Police (BTP) the latest organization to stoke the fires: it's expanding a trial of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology across several London Underground stations from today.
As per the BTP's official statement, this will start at Victoria and then rotate around other stations until November. "Our deployments are intelligence-led and focused on identifying people wanted by the police or courts, including those suspected of serious offences and those who may be breaching bail conditions or court orders," says the BTP.
The cameras work by comparing scanned faces to a watchlist of suspects and criminals wanted by the police. If there's a match, it's reviewed by a police officer — if not, the image is "immediately and permanently" deleted. The tech is already in use at other transport hubs in London, but is now being expanded to the Tube.
As for opting out of being surveilled, the police say the cameras will come with clear signage, and that "alternative routes" will be available too — which presumably the criminals can also sneak through. It's not clear if sunglasses and a hood would help you avoid being scanned, but you might be politely asked to remove them.
A 'dystopian' expansionA map of Victoria Tube station showing the alternative routes (Image credit: British Transport Police)According to the BBC, the BTP are looking out for people wanted in connection with serious offences, including sexual assault, robbery, and knife crime. Police intelligence data will be used to select the stations covered by the cameras, with the aim of reducing violence and harassment.
However, as the BBC points out, scans of some 530,000 faces across UK railway stations since February have resulted in zero matches, zero arrests, and one false identification. That's based on the BTP's own deployment logs, suggesting that to date the technology isn't helping much.
Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo suggests that the tech "treats the public like suspects" and is a "disturbing and dystopian expansion" of facial recognition systems. The privacy rights group has long been campaigning against the use of these cameras, arguing that they're intrusive and unnecessary.
The reaction online has been mostly negative too: comments in one Reddit thread question the effectiveness of this type of facial recognition, and air concerns about more nefarious uses of the tech further down the line. However, others also point out that public transport stations are already extensively covered by camera monitoring.
- Spotify is introducing AI Persona tags in mid-September
- The platform aims to improve user transparency by differentiating real artists from AI-generated ones
- Spotify only reviews an artist's profile and images, and not the music itself
Spotify has fallen short on the AI transparency front compared to some of the other best music streaming services, with users pining for a fix — and now the platform is taking its biggest step yet towards combatting AI slop.
The streaming giant announced today (August 11) the arrival of new AI Persona tags, which are designed to differentiate human artists from ones that are AI-generated. Spotify says these tags will roll out to mobile in mid-September, and will appear in an artist’s profile banner, ‘About’ section, in Search, and in song rows in playlists.
Once they become available, users can be safe in the knowledge that the artists they’re listening to haven’t been generated by AI. Spotify added that artists with AI Persona tags will be excluded from all personalized recommendations by default, ensuring that your music-discovery regime remains uninfected by slop.
(Image credit: Spotify)Though AI Persona tags won’t roll out for another month or so, Spotify says artists can already disclose if their profile is AI-generated. If an artist declares this, a tag reading ‘AI Persona’ will appear next to their name. ‘We hope artists will be transparent, so we are giving them the opportunity to disclose,’ the service shared in its announcement — but it’s not putting all its trust into self-disclosure.
Instead, Spotify says it will take matters into its own hands if need be, and will conduct reviews of profiles where it thinks an artist’s images have been created using generative AI to imitate a lifelike persona. If Spotify detects that an artist profile might be AI-generated, it will display a tag that reads ‘Likely AI Persona’, and the artist will be notified and given the option to self-disclose or appeal.
It’s taken Spotify a long time to catch up to the likes of Deezer when it comes to improving its transparency on AI-generated music. Deezer was the first major audio streaming service to roll out tags that explicitly say if a track has been AI-generated, and recently its Head of Research told us why we need AI filters more than ever.
Spotify’s own AI Persona tags mark a big shift for the platform, and will certainly improve the user experience by giving listeners more peace of mind. However, Spotify’s feature comes with an important caveat.
It reviews the profile only, not the music (Image credit: Spotify)AI Persona tags are just one of the ways Spotify has been working towards improving transparency for users. Verified by Spotify was launched a few months back — this is a certification feature that shows if an artist is legitimate, but it’s not as watertight as we’d hoped it would be.
Additionally, Spotify’s SongDNA gives listeners a comprehensive overview of the creatives behind their favorite songs, while AI Credits give artists the opportunity to share where and how they’ve used AI in their music production. It’s not as upfront as Deezer’s methods, but the measures are in place nonetheless, and AI Persona tags are the cherry on top.
That said, AI Persona tags target an artist’s public image, not how the music was made, which could present some issues, as it still leaves room for AI-generated music to slip its way onto the platform.
If Spotify detects that an artist is human-presenting, how are we to know that artist won’t upload AI-generated music to their profile? There’s nothing stopping that artist from publishing slop, because Spotify reviews their name, imagery, and public identity, not the music they upload.
It’s a tricky one, because while Spotify has measures in place that evaluate music and artist image respectively, it doesn’t have a comprehensive tool that reviews both components simultaneously, which again isn’t as upfront as Deezer.
As far as AI-generated content in Spotify goes, I’ve been one of the lucky ones who hasn’t encountered this issue. Because my love for physical media and radio impacts what I listen to on Spotify, I suspect that my algorithm has been trained enough to push AI slop out of my recommendations.
I do think that on top of my streaming habits, Spotify’s anti-AI music measures have helped to keep the fence up and block out unwanted songs to a certain extent — I just wish its approach to tagging was a bit more robust.
The Shards is now streaming on Hulu for US viewers and Disney+ internationally, as it adapts Bret Easton Ellis' novel of the same name.
In my The Shards review, I was pleased to note that it was a welcome return to form for Ryan Murphy. I was also impressed by how well he adapts the source material into a sexy, glamorous yet dangerous TV series.
If you're here, you're wondering when the next episodes will stream. Much like the two episode premiere, we also get two episodes this week.
Here's what you need to know about the release of The Shards episodes 3 and 4.
What time can I watch The Shards episodes 3 and 4 on Hulu?For US viewers, both The Shards episodes 3 and 4 will drop on Wednesday, August 12 at 6pm PT/ 9pm ET.
Here's when you can stream the new episodes in other countries.
- US – Thursday, August 13 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
- Canada – Thursday, August 13 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
- UK – Friday, August 14 at 2am BST
- India – Friday, August 14 at 6:30am IST
- Singapore – Friday, August 14 at 9am SGT
- Australia – Friday, August 14 at 11am AEDT
- New Zealand – Friday, August 14 at 12pm NZDT
After this week's double bill, episodes of The Shards will premiere on a weekly basis until the finale on Wednesday, September 9. We do have another double bill coming up too, which is good news for those who don't like to wait.
For dates as well as the episode titles for the upcoming The Shards releases, take a look below.
- The Shards Episode 1 “Pilot”: Out now
- The Shards Episode 2 “Don’t You Want Me”: Out now
- The Shards Episode 3 “Help Me! Rhonda!”: Wednesday, August 12
- The Shards Episode 4 “Robert’s Party”: Wednesday, August 12
- The Shards Episode 5 “Murder on the Dancefloor”: Wednesday, August 19
- The Shards Episode 6 “Homecoming Part One”: Wednesday, August 26
- The Shards Episode 7 “Homecoming Part Two”: Wednesday, August 26
- The Shards Episode 8 “Hamlet”: Wednesday, September 2
- The Shards Episode 9 “Stairway to Heaven”: Wednesday, September 9