The video game industry went on a shopping spree in 2021. Throughout the year, a handful of larger companies consistently bought up a boatload of smaller ones, at a rate where it seemed a new acquisition was announced every few weeks.Read more…
LA Lakers Release Strange Little Halo Bundle
For one day only this weekend, at one place only, the Los Angeles Lakers and Microsoft were selling a bizarre Halo Infinite bundle that was, this being 2021, snapped up by fans/resellers almost immediately.Read more…
PS5 Owners Don’t Play Sony’s First-Party Games
It’s hard to believe, but a year ago to the date, Sony officially released the PlayStation 5 (well, in the States; globally it came out on November 19). Despite serious supply issues, an estimated 13 million players have been able to get their hands on…
The Limits Of Dave Chappelle And Kyrie Irving’s Free-Thinking
The Limits Of Dave Chappelle And Kyrie Irving’s Free-Thinking (Defector, alternate link from archive.org)
Until his Instagram Live appearance, the self-proclaimed voice for the voiceless had refused to explain himself before eventually communicating …
Does the NFT craze actually matter?
Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review! Last week, we talked about Apple’s subscription addiction. This week, I’m diving deep into whether there’s actually any meaning to pull out of the NFT mania of 2021. If you’re reading this on the TechCrunch site, you can get this in your inbox from the newsletter […]
The Unexpected Cost of “First”
When NBA News Breakers Start Breaking Teams “There’s been a heightening in an epic battle of NBA reporting titans, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Shams Charania of The Athletic, and it’s spilling over into tangible consequences.”
NFT startup Dapper Labs acquires virtual influencer startup Brud
Dapper Labs, the NFT startup behind NBA Top Shot which was recently valued above $7.5 billion, made an interesting acquisition this morning, telling Decrypt that they have purchased virtual influencer startup Brud and will be bringing the entire 32-person team aboard. Brud is best known for its digitally rendered social media influencer characters, specifically one […]
NBA Top Shot creator on the NFT craze and why Ethereum still isn’t consumer friendly
We caught up with the Dapper Labs CEO at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 last week to discuss the challenges facing the crypto space, the future of Ethereum, and how quickly NFTs blew up this year.
Mark Cuban and Coinbase back Eternal, an NFT marketplace for trading Twitch streamer clips
The NFT world collectively seems to be trying to turn internet memories into one big game — with a lot of cash involved of course. The original “Doge” image sold for $4 million back in June, the original “Pepe” comic image sold for $1 million in April, in short, people are becoming meme millionaires. Buying […]
Printify bags $45M, led by Index, to ride the custom printing boom
The creator economy loves merch which is great news for on-demand custom printing startups such as Latvia-based Printify — today it’s announcing a $45 million Series A round, led by Index Ventures, off the back of rising demand for its services. The mission: To keep growing its global marketplace of print shops to meet rising […]