Movie Fans Repeated ‘Candyman.’ But Not the Name of Its Director. – Original 1992 Candyman director Bernard Rose is hoping that the new Candyman, produced by Peele and directed by Nia DaCosta, will goose his fortunes, even though he wasn’t involved in the project at all. [NY Times]
Uber’s New Ad GM – Uber hired adtech and agency veteran Mark Grether to lead its advertising business, showing further evidence of its growing ad ambitions, Business Insider reports. Mr. Grether was previously a director within Amazon’s advertising division. [Wall Street Journal]
USA TODAY ‘Fact Checker’ Trends on Twitter – “The fact-checker behind USA Today’s botched report on President Biden’s watch blunder is facing an intense backlash as critics accuse him of playing “the victim.” [Fox News]
YouTube Premium will accrue 23.6 million US subscribers by year-end 2021 – The forecast: There will be 23.6 million YouTube Premium subscribers by the end of the year, which is up a healthy 18% over 2020. Even though growth will slow, YouTube Premium’s US subscribers will surpass the 25 million mark in 2022. [eMarketer]
Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene, the creator of PUBG, wants to create the biggest sandbox-style open-world game ever with his new studio –
Former PlayStation Chief Muses on the Future of Gaming – On Sept. 30, 2019, Sony Group Corp. abruptly announced on the PlayStation Twitter account that longtime boss Shawn Layden was stepping down. The company didn’t say why he was leaving, and Layden has mostly stayed quiet about his departure — until now.
Layden’s next big job — his “third act,” as he calls it — is a position on the advisory board at Streamline Media Group, a game services company where he will advise the company on its global strategy for video games and enterprise.
During an hourlong conversation, Layden and Streamline CEO Alexander Fernandez talked about how the company is aiming to promote diversity by recruiting talent remotely across the world. The pair discussed their attempts to chase the elusive “metaverse,” a buzzword referring to the intersection of video games and other media. And Layden sounded an alarm about the video game industry heading down an unsustainable path. [Bloomberg]
Fortnite Sky Fire event will end Season 7’s alien invasion – Fortnite Operation: Sky Fire starts on September 12 at 4 pm ET. The event playlist will be available 30 minutes before the event so you can make sure you get into a match. You’ll also be able to join with a full lobby of 16 friends.
