Reddit enjoyed a jump in the price of its shares on Tuesday (26 March) in the continuation of a strong launch of options on the stock.

An 11% increase and a current price of $67.5 looks set to add more than $1 billion to the market value of the social media platform, whilst it is also on track to double the $34 IPO price.

Reddit is a San Francisco-based site that combines elements of social media, message boards, and news aggregation. It was founded in June 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, who sold the platform to Condé Nast the following year. Huffman left the company in 2009 before returning as CEO in 2015.

The company is seeking a valuation of up to $6.4 billion in its flotation on the New York Stock Exchange.

Reaction to the Reddit stock price boom

Jeremy Goldman, a senior director of client briefings at Emarketer, formerly Insider Intelligence, spoke on the early trading and returns on the new stock.

“More bullish investors have bought options in Reddit, which is part of its early stock market success in its first full week of trading,” he said. 

Goldman added, “From my estimates, about 90,000 options have changed hands, possibly more.”

The options launch enticed significant bets on the stock on Monday, closing up around 30% and crowning Reddit as the top percentage gainer on the NYSE. 

If the current trajectory remains, the company is well-poised to smash through its $6.4b target and also the $10 billion valuation Reddit received in a 2021 private fundraising round. 

Lo Toney, founding managing partner of Plexo Capital and Reddit shareholder told CNBC that Reddit’s debut was “a positive sign not only for the company, but I think also the tech industry and what it might mean for future IPOs.”

“One thing we know with certainty is that there (was) a lot of investor appetite during the roadshow for Reddit, and we see that it’s continuing to hold up well.”

Toney added, “Clearly the market is signaling there’s an appetite for more companies to come to the public markets.”

Featured image: Generated by Ideogram

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The wait is almost over for Honkai Star Rail 2.1 “Into the Yawning Chasm”, and with it comes new characters and evolution of the story. Players will be able to take on new missions and embrace new adventures with the arrival of Acheron and Gallagher in the latest edition of the role-playing gacha title.

Image credit: HSR/X

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The Georgia House continues to deliberate over proposed legislation which could lead to the introduction of online sports betting in the Peach State.

On Monday, the House Committee members debated how sports gambling revenues should be spent, specifically  on education, if the changes come to fruition. Further dialogue will occur tomorrow (27 March) with Senate Bill 386 and Senate Resolution 579 on the agenda.

The former relates to setting up a structure for sports gambling in Georgia, whilst the latter would be the introduction of a constitutional amendment referendum to give voters their say on the matter.

If the laws progress to a plebiscite, the electorate could sanction sports gambling in Georgia at the upcoming elections in November.

How has the gambling legislation progressed in Georgia

Senate Bill 386 also permits the Georgia lottery body to offer up to 16 betting licenses, in a much-changed form compared to when it was first brought to the table earlier this year, right up to the committee sitting this week.

One such amendment was the instruction for betting operators to pay a tax rate of 20% on their revenues which was increased to 25% after the committee meeting. The main driver of this change was to maximize profits for Georgians to see the returns in vital services.

Democratic lawmakers have urged their colleagues to commit a share of the profits from sports gambling revenues to free school lunches, historically Black colleges and universities as well as other educational interests. Democrats on the committee also confirmed their support for re-establishing language to prioritize fully funded pre-K classes.

Athens Republican Senator Bill Cowsert, the sponsor of SR 579, stated his disagreement with no longer prioritizing pre-K classes and the requirement for 80% of Georgia’s gambling tax proceeds to go to lottery-funded educational programs.

He also dismissed allocating 15% for gambling prevention measures and 5% of the share to go toward the promotion of sporting events in the state. Those changes would mean the General Assembly would need to agree and set out exactly how much is to be spent on the issue of problem gambling, per year.

Image credit: Brad Huchteman / Unsplash

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill into law to effectively ban young children from social media.

The restrictive measure for minors has been introduced as a response to the growing concerns over the negative influence of various apps on young people in the United States.

Under the new legislation to be introduced on 1 January 2025, Florida will prohibit children aged 13 and under from having access to social media, whilst 14 and 15-year-olds will require parental consent to be online.

Speaking on Monday (25 March), Governor DeSantis explained his administration is merely “trying to help parents navigate this very difficult terrain that we have now with raising kids.” 

Governor Ron DeSantis Signs HB3 to Protect Children from the Harms of Social Media https://t.co/9nylhaOIXI

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 25, 2024

Republican Speaker Paul Renner viewed this issue as a top legislative priority and he was delighted with the outcome, stating “A child in their brain development doesn’t have the ability to know that they’re being sucked into these addictive technologies and to see the harm and step away from it, and because of that we have to step in for them,” 

The bill comes at a time when another social media battle is capturing many headlines with the proposed ban on Chinese-owned TikTok in the United States after federal lawmakers gave their approval. 

There is a significant push underway to resist moves to curb the crackdown on TikTok and similar moves are in the offing to introduce a challenge in Florida.

Expected challenge against the social media legislation

Democratic Representative Anna Eskamani believes the new law “goes too far in taking away parents’ rights”, adding “Instead of banning social media access, it would be better to ensure improved parental oversight tools and improved access to data to stop bad actors — alongside major investments in Florida’s mental health systems and programs.”

Claims have also been made about restricting freedoms and preventing Americans from accessing information online. 

Khara Boender, a state policy director for the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said in a press release that she understands some of the rationale for online safety but expressed doubts on how effective the legislation will “meaningfully achieve those goals without infringing on the First Amendment rights of younger users,” with the anticipation of a robust legal challenge to follow.

Image credit: Photo by Ashley Satanosky on Unsplash

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A San Francisco district judge has delivered a scathing response to Elon Musk’s X Corp, throwing out their lawsuit against a campaign group targeting hate speech online.

The case was dismissed in accordance with the state’s anti-Slapp laws which negate legal action taken for the primary concern of censuring free speech.

Slaap is an abbreviation for Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation.

US District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted the dismissal request by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which had compiled an extensive report on the rapid proliferation of racist, antisemitic and extremist content on X, formerly known as Twitter, since Musk’s takeover of the social media platform.

The ruling does not come as a surprise following a preliminary hearing last month when Breyer called out aspects of Musk’s case as one of the “most vapid extensions of law that I’ve ever heard”.

That was followed up with an emphatic decision, today.

“Sometimes it is unclear what is driving a litigation, and only by reading between the lines of a complaint can one attempt to surmise a plaintiff’s true purpose,” said the US district judge.

“Other times, a complaint is so unabashedly and vociferously about one thing that there can be no mistaking that purpose. This case represents the latter circumstance. This case is about punishing the defendants for their speech.”

Embarrassing rebuke for Musk and X

Given how Musk sets out his X platform as a bastion of truth and a bulwark against the interests of legacy media, the judges findings will be viewed by some as an embarrassing rebuke for the Tesla, Neuralink billionaire.

He had instigated legal action against CCDH last year, alleging the group had “intentionally and unlawfully accessed data” by scraping the platform’s posts to form its reports. The anti-hate lobby defended its methods as public data gathering and insisted the allegations were “riddled with legal deficiencies”, setting out the argument the true purpose of the lawsuit was to shut down speech which was critical of Musk and his interests.

Image credit: Ideogram

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Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) witnessed their stock price fall more than 2% on Monday (Mar.25) following reports China would restrict the use of their chips and servers in government devices.

The latest salvo in the ongoing chip trade war between the USA and China poses a threat to billions of dollars in sales for the tech giants and could be an intriguing sequel to the story after China warned the proposed TikTok ban would “come back to bite” America.

In recent days, the Beijing administration has set out fresh guidelines to effectively phase out US chips from Intel and AMD with further plans to jettison Microsoft as part of a protectionist ploy to favor and support domestic providers.

China has been pouring significant resources into its semiconductor industry in recent times as it contends with moves from Washington to restrict and stifle the export of the highly sought-after chips, especially those on the cutting edge of development.

As part of these measures, the country’s leading chipmaker SMIC has established new production lines in Shanghai to manufacture next-generation 5-nanometer (5nm) mobile processors. The chips are designed by technology giant Huawei as part of its homegrown Kirin line of smartphone processors.

How will Intel and AMD revenues be impacted by the Chinese restrictions

The importance of the headline curbs is instantly reflected in the figures as China was Intel’s largest market in 2023 with a 27% share of its revenue. It was less than one-fifth for AMD with 15% of its revenue coming from the sprawling Asian state but still of considerable importance.

Stacy Rasgon, a senior figure at Wall Street research firm Bernstein commented on developments with the following analysis:

“A total cessation of China governmental purchases of Intel and AMD CPUs might impact revenue by low-single digits,” he said, with a prediction of a maximum $1.5 billion hit for Intel and a few hundred million dollars for AMD.

Image credit: Ideogram

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Analysts have indicated the number of daily users on X is falling, more than a year after Elon Musk acquired the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Since the rebranding, there have been a lot of changes in the social network. In a move geared toward an ambition of delivering an app for everything, Musk has been instrumental in the arrival of a subscription service, including a change to the verification system. Audio calls have been introduced, whilst the Tesla billionaire’s Grok AI tool has also been made available to premium users.

NBC News outlined the findings of two research firms, as well as reports from X, on user numbers. The former presents a detailed breakdown of falling figures but the social media giant has responded in a bullish manner, suggesting that its performance stacks up.

As of February this year, X had 27 million daily active users of its mobile app in the United States, a reduction of 18% from the previous 12 months, found research from Sensor Tower, a San Francisco-based market intelligence company.

It has indicated US user numbers have been flat or falling every month since November 2022, which was also the first full month of Musk’s ownership. Over the full period of his custodianship up until February, Sensor Towers presented a drop in user levels of 23%.

Globally, the bigger picture is almost as bad with daily active users on the mobile app reducing to 174 million in February, down 15% on the year before, said Sensor Tower.

X responds to reports of falling daily user numbers

Abe Yousef, a senior insights analyst at the firm provided further insight on the research report.

Conversely, rival social media platforms reported modest gains in their worldwide user bases over the same period, with Snapchat enjoying an increase of 8.8%, Instagram up 5.3%, Facebook increasing their share by 1.5% and TikTok seeing a nominal gain of 0.5%.

All of the above apps experienced drops in their US user numbers but none to the extent of the steep decline of X.

Yousef stated it had “the most material decline in active users compared to its peers,” adding “this decline in X mobile app active users may have been driven by user frustration over flagrant content, general platform technical issues, and the growing threat of short-form video platforms.”

In defense of its credentials, X published a defiant post on Monday casting doubt on the figures presented by Sensor Tower. It claimed the worldwide user base is higher than what was indicated with 250 million individuals using the service daily, across the world.

You’re absolutely right @XNews. 250 million people use X every day. 550 million people visit the global town square every month.

On average, users spend 30 minutes a day on X. https://t.co/RoEX4RzIxL pic.twitter.com/L9mkoWll44

— Data (@XData) March 18, 2024

Elon Musk had indicated in 2022 around the time of his takeover, Twitter had around 258 million “monetizable daily active users,” reflecting the company’s metric at the time.

Another important finding from Sensor Tower was that 75 of the top 100 US advertisers had departed X since October 2022, taking their spending elsewhere. Late last year, Musk told advertisers at a conference in New York to “Go f*** yourself,” amid claims of blackmail after he was caught up in a furor around antisemitism.

Image credit: Ideogram

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How to access Spotify video-based learning content

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Microsoft has announced the rollout of its Copilot artificial intelligence (AI) assistant across Windows 10 and 11 devices, but the new service does not appear to be operating with full efficiency at present.

An official update last week confirmed Microsoft Copilot was in operation, with the icon visible on the Windows taskbar but all isn’t quite as it seems.

The official blurb describes Copiot for Windows as “an AI-powered assistant that helps you get answers and inspirations from across the web, supports creativity and collaboration, and helps you focus on the task at hand.”

Although the AI assistant is embedded into Windows 11 version 23H2 devices by default, it is disabled on Windows 11 version 22H2 devices.

Further to that, Deskmodder users have uncovered additional access on other Windows 11 devices but crucially, the app is not powering the actual Copilot functionality and range of attributes as it stands.

How to check if Microsoft Copilot is available on my device?

The app may not appear at first glance but once Microsoft Edge is updated to the latest version, it will appear.

To check if the Microsoft Copilot tool is in use on your system, use the following path.

Go to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps.
Change the sort order to “Date installed” or type Copilot into the search field.
If you see Microsoft Copilot listed, it is installed.

You may also want to remove the app from your device with the uninstall option. Navigating to “advanced options” will reveal further details.

More information will be expected, but the findings from Deskmodder appear to indicate the Copilot app as a placeholder in its current form.

Users may also have a different experience, depending on their region, but the overall offering is unclear. Microsoft could later introduce a fully developed app to all devices with an update at some point, whilst there are also murmurs of work on Windows 12 which could be related.

Microsoft has been known to introduce new apps onto devices without a full launch or extensive information so we will have to watch this space.

Image credit: Microsoft

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Monzo co-founder Jonas Templestein has commenced a new journey with a fresh startup seeking to put software developers out of business.

With fundraising efforts underway and drawing support from OpenAI and Index Ventures amongst others, Nustom wants to take full advantage of artificial intelligence (AI), in return for low or no-code web development. The company has launched its website, is recruiting and has set out its vision, stating within the next decade “the majority of software will be made by people with no technical background, collaborating with an AI.”

It is presenting an end-to-end SaaS offering for “those who want software made, but don’t have experience building or running it.”

The new direction for Templestein, comes at a time when Monzo is thriving. He is joined by co-founder Oliver Beattie, formerly Monzo’s VP of architecture.

Founded in 2015, the digital bank now boasts more than nine million customers and has reached a stage where it is profitable.

The company is said to be on the cusp of selling an additional stake to one of Singapore’s sovereign wealth funds, on the back of securing a £4 billion valuation last month. The top-up to the recent funding round is expected to bring in an additional $50 million from the Singaporean entity, in exchange for the issue of new shares.

Does this mean Nustom won’t be working with software developers?

Not quite, not yet anyway.

Despite the lofty ambitions of the startup, the company will “have human engineers guarantee the quality of the software until our AI agents are reliable enough to do it without assistance.”

Maria Campbell has become the third executive at Nustom, taking up the position of COO. She joins her former colleagues and Monzo alumni, having also worked at GoCardless and banking-as-a-service fintech Griffin.

The founding team at Nustom is completed with two engineers.

Fred Jonsson is another with a background at Monzo, whilst Eugenio Marchiori is the only individual not to have such a link. He is a PhD computer scientist with over ten years of experience at Google.

Image credit: Monzo

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DraftKings has confirmed executive changes at the company with Jason Park taking up the newly created position of Chief Transformation Officer to lead strategic initiatives for additional growth, including a targeted acquisition of Jackpocket.

Park’s existing role as Chief Financial Officer will be filled by Alan Ellingson, who is elevated from his current position as Senior Vice President of Finance and Analytics. 

The changes will take place as of 1 May 2024, with the rationale explained by Jason Robins, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of DraftKings.

“I have asked Jason Park to take on a new role at DraftKings to address and capture large efficiency opportunities that I expect will generate significant incremental profitability over the coming years,” he said.

“Jason’s unique skill set, based on his accomplishments over the last five years as our Chief Financial Officer and 11 years as a private equity Operating Partner, will allow us to further improve how we operate. In addition, I’m confident he will unlock the benefits of our proposed acquisition of Jackpocket following its closing to strengthen DraftKings’ position in U.S. online gaming.”

Robins indicated the company is set to move with the times to exploit transformational artificial intelligence (AI) applications which have the potential to deliver a long-term advantage for betting platforms.

He continued, “I am very excited to elevate Alan Ellingson to Chief Financial Officer and have him continue to lead the Company on the very clear path that we have laid out. Alan has been with DraftKings for more than four years, has extensive experience across our finance and analytics teams, and most importantly, deeply understands our core value drivers and focus on maximizing shareholder value.”

Further expansion for DraftKings

Last week, DraftKings announced the launch of its online sportsbook in North Carolina, the 27th US state in which it now operates.

The company detailed the latest expansion for the gambling platform, as the arrival of online and mobile DraftKings betting in North Carolina follows on from an agreement earlier this year with NASCAR, which opened up its initial foray into digital sports entertainment and gaming in the state. 

Image credit: DraftKings

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Xbox Game Pass has added another title with the arrival of Lightyear Frontier in early access mode, today, 19 March.

The indie game combines a farming sim with mech elements as players roam to discover the landscape on a solo run, or together with up to three additional users.

To get started on the game developed by Frame Break, players are urged to choose a flat area in The Meadows to set up camp. This allows space for building, farming and proximity to water for efficient resource management.

This step will be required once you have located and repaired the damaged Mech you fell from the sky in.

One of several tasks to be completed in the gameplay is to restore Pine Heights, a multi-step process, including using the map to locate the area, collecting tools with your Mech, and utilizing specific tools.

Jump inside and wander around the map until you have collected all the tools it tells you to. You can spot them on the terrain because they will be issuing colored smoke from the wreckage.

How does Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass work?

Xbox Game Pass gives gamers a diverse game library accessible across Xbox consoles, PCs, and compatible devices.

Subscribers enjoy a constantly refreshed selection of AAA and indie titles, making it a versatile gaming solution. This subscription model has revolutionized the gaming industry, offering a cost-effective and flexible way for players to access a wide range of gaming experiences without needing to buy individual titles.

It’s not without drawbacks, however. The rotating library, which sees games removed or added sporadically, is not for everyone, and this lack of ownership may be a concern for those who prefer to have a permanent collection.

Other games coming to Xbox Game Pass in March 2024

Final Fantasy 14 Online – Starter Edition (Xbox Game Pass Perk (21 March)

The Last Case of Benedict Fox: Definitive Edition (26 March)

Diablo 4 (28 March)

Open Roads (28 March)

Image credit: Lightyear Frontier/X

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A US safety body for artificial intelligence (AI) experts has admitted a researcher from China-owned ByteDance was mistakenly added to an online discussion channel.

The worker, employed by the parent company of TikTok, was granted access to a Slack group chat used by members of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

It is an embarrassing incident for the organization given that TikTok is currently embroiled in a high-profile national debate in the States on whether or not the popular video-hosting app is an asset for the Chinese government to spy on, or influence a significant number of American citizens.

TikTok is said to have almost 150 million users in the US, its most important market, with the company ready to strongly defend its status after the House of Representatives passed a bill that could result in the social media platform being banned in the US within six months unless the company divests from its Chinese ownership.

The proposed legislation will now proceed to the Senate, where the outcome is less predictable.

A spokesman for the Beijing government implored the US has “never found evidence that TikTok threatens national security,” and the prohibitive action “will inevitably come back to bite the United States itself.”

How has NIST responded to the news?

The researcher, supposedly based in California, was added to a Slack conversation between members of NIST’s US Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium, which is said to be made up of around 850 users.

An email from the safety body has set out how it has reacted to the mishap.

“Once NIST became aware that the individual was an employee of ByteDance, they were swiftly removed for violating the consortium’s code of conduct on misrepresentation,” it read.

The specific working group on AI safety developments is a multi-agency collaboration, set up to address concerns and measure risks of the evolving technology. The Institute comprises involvement from various American big tech firms, researchers, startups, NGOs, and others.

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reiterated his disdain for Elon Musk as he commented on a gesture the Tesla billionaire made toward Amazon chief Jeff Bezos in 2021.

When Musk surpassed Bezos as the richest person in the world, he sent him an emoji of a silver medal to outline his own new-found status in a manner typical of the controversial South African-born entrepreneur.

Altman’s comments, during an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, extended to complaints over a lack of collaboration on artificial intelligence (AI). His comments mark another chapter in the ongoing dispute between the influential pair, on the back of recent legal action taken by Musk to sue Altman and OpenAI for supposedly reneging on its original mission of developing responsible AI technology.

As expected, the Microsoft-backed company made a court filing to counter the lawsuit.

What did Sam Altman say about Elon Musk?

In a conversation on the Lez Fridman podcast, the host put to Altman that all of the AI heavyweights should be working together on matters of interest and toward the goal of artificial general intelligence (AGI) but the boss of the ChatGPT maker said this wasn’t “really the thing [Musk is] most known for.”

He continued, “I was thinking, someone just reminded me the other day about how the day that he surpassed Jeff Bezos for richest person in the world, he tweeted a silver medal at Jeff Bezos.”

“I hope we have less stuff like that as people start to work towards AGI,” said Altman.

Bezos would later retake the number one spot, after a surge in the price of Amazon shares, but the oneupmanship witnessed in this incident is a theme that extends to Musk’s business dealings and relationships, just like he wants to have the upper hand on OpenAI, the company he co-founded with Altman before a parting of the ways led to the creation of his own xAI startup.

This week, it confirmed the open release of its Grok artificial intelligence (AI) model, detailing the weights and architecture of the system.

Image credit: Canva

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Irdeto has confirmed the launch of a new technology designed as a “watermarking solution” to act as a bulwark against gaming leaks.

TraceMark for Games comes from the same company responsible for the contentious Denuvo digital rights management system, with the new release able to add markers to video game content to act as invisible identifiers.

These tags allow content to be traced back to the source, as already utilized across media output such as sports broadcasts, TV shows, and movies.

Irdeto, the digital platform cybersecurity firm, has placed faith in the qualities of TraceMark, taking the view it will act as a deterrent to dissuade individuals from leaking game content when accessing early play tests, beta, or reviews.

Its features include flexible watermark generation to match specific requirements, with quick and easy deployment to the user’s consumer base and a wide range of devices and platforms.

Irdeto positions TraceMark for Gaming as the solution for clients to “enjoy peace of mind throughout the content lifecycle, from development to distribution.”

What’s the problem with hacks and leaking?

The video game industry has been beset with hacks and leaks in recent times, with even non-disclosure agreements being broken as was the case with Skate when early content surfaced. Grand Theft Auto VI is another prominent title to be impacted, with hacks resulting in leaks of the long-awaited release, undermining the official release more than a year later.

TraceMark isn’t being presented as a cure for all ills on leaks, nor does it claim to be. It most likely won’t have a significant impact on the unwanted, unauthorized flow of content from headline gaming titles but for the early stages and development of many new releases, it could prove to be a useful tool.

TraceMark for Gaming will be supported by Windows, Xbox, iOS, and Switch.

Image credit: Ideogram AI

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Hackers have targeted the esports final of online shooter game Apex Legends, causing significant disruption to the closing stages of the North American tournament.

The competition was thrown into disarray after unwanted cheats were deployed in-game with clips shared by pro players, showing their consternation toward the outside interference.

Apex Legends is a free-to-play, team-based battle royale shooter developed by EA-owned Respawn Entertainment, the studio synonymous with Star Wars: Jedi Survivor.

As the action was unfolding, Apex pro player Noyan “Genburten” Ozkose announced his game was being hacked with cheats used on his profile. A video clip from the player’s Twitch livestream showed a cheat program’s settings menu appear, resulting in a frantic Genburten outburst, “I’m getting hacked, I’m getting hacked!”

The malicious actors were witnessed repeatedly typing into the chat box from his account, “by Destroyer2009 & R4ndom” and “Apex hacking global series.”

Another high-profile player, ImperialHal, shared a similar response to the experience of the cyber attack.

Official reaction to the hack on Apex Legends

A comment was made on the X account of Apex Legends, late on Sunday night.

“Due to the competitive integrity of this series being compromised, we have made the decision to postpone the NA finals at this time. We will share more information soon.”

At present, the origin of the hack is unknown, whether Apex Legends’ servers or game may have been exploited, or if the incident has stemmed from its Easy Anti-Cheat software, with online suspicion of a possible remote code execution (RSE) attack.

We have investigated recent reports of a potential RCE issue within Easy Anti-Cheat. At this time – we are confident that there is no RCE vulnerability within EAC being exploited. We will continue to work closely with our partners for any follow up support needed

— Easy Anti-Cheat (@TeddyEAC) March 18, 2024

This attack appears to have come from an outside source, but players have previously broken protocol to insert cheat modes into the game. Due to concerns around this issue, Apex streamer Lindsey “LuluLuvely” has implored developers at Respawn to urgently fix an “out of control” cheating situation, suggesting the kernel-level anti-cheat system doesn’t go far enough.

This hacking controversy surfaced just days after EA disposed of around 23 staff working on Apex Legends, as part of a cut to the workforce also impacting an estimated 200 QA testers on the game.

Image Credit: Apex Legends/EA

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Playstack and LocalThunk have confirmed their highly popular roguelike deckbuilder Balatro has exceeded one million sales, less than a month after its release.

The poker-inspired title launched for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on 20 February, proving to be an instant smash hit after it grossed $1 million in just eight hours.

A press release from Playstack, via its parent company Tru Fin, confirmed Balatro has been its “fastest selling game to date” with Harvey Elliott, company CEO stating, “We’re incredibly grateful for the support and enthusiasm from players worldwide.”

“The game’s success is a testament to the quality and creativity that the indie sector can deliver, proving that even in uncertain times, innovative games can thrive. We extend our deepest thanks to every player who has joined us on this adventure.”

Developer LocalThunk posted on Steam to express gratitude for the landmark achievement.

“I’m so grateful to all the players and people that have made this happen. I still can’t grasp the response to this game, and I am overjoyed that so many people have been able to have fun with my silly creation. I’m so fortunate that I can continue working on my passion as a career. Thank you!”

This morning Balatro hit a momentous milestone…

ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD!

We still have some fun things planned for the future, but for now… pic.twitter.com/S7PEb0qjeG

— Balatro (@BalatroGame) March 18, 2024

What recognition had Balatro received?

Balatro has gained a sought-after “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating on gaming marketplace Steam, achieved thanks to more than 17,000 positive reviews in addition to a commendable rating of 90 on Metacritic, the reputable critic aggregator.

The game also enjoys a rank of 10th in peak CCU (concurrent users) among all Steam games with the ‘roguelike’ tag, listed in between Warm Snow (44.7k CCU) and Hades (37.7k CCU).

On the ‘roguelike deckbuilder” tag, Balatro is second to the free-to-play roguelike battle royale title Gene Shift Auto, which is not necessarily considered to be a deck-building game, and listed above games such as Slay the Spire (33k CCU) and Backback Battles (36.5k CCU).

Image credit: Balatro/X

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Image credit: Ideogram

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