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World of Warcraft subscription numbers have long been shrouded in mystery, but thanks to a recent Blizzard GDC talk and some clever number-crunching by a WoW content creator, fans of Blizzard's MMO now have some hard data on exactly how many players are paying a monthly subscription fee for the privilege of exploring Azeroth. Blizzard stopped giving out exact subscription numbers prior to the release of the game's 2016 Legion expansion. Since then, fans have wondered how well (or how...

The mechanical keyboard might sell out faster than its light-based optical switches can read your keystrokes. | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge Amazon’s Big Spring Sale ends today, March 25th, but you can find even more savings elsewhere. For example, Woot is discounting one of Razer’s most popular mechanical keyboards, the Razer Huntsman V2, until April 3rd (or while supplies last). The version with analog optical switches is down to $99.99 ($50 off), which is $10 lower than we’ve seen it...

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images In a decision filed Monday, federal Judge Charles Breyer dismissed a lawsuit from Elon Musk’s X against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), saying the company’s case is “about punishing the Defendants [CCDH] for their speech.” Judge Breyer writes that X’s “motivation in bringing this case is evident,” stating that the company’s goal is to “punish CCDH for CCDH publications that criticized X Corp. — and perhaps in order to dissuade...

A coalition of tech companies, including Intel, Google, Arm, and Qualcomm, hopes to loosen Nvidia’s grip on the AI market. | Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Major tech companies are attempting to eliminate software advantages that have helped Nvidia dominate the artificial intelligence market. According to Reuters, a group formed by Intel, Google, Arm, Qualcomm, Samsung, and other tech companies is developing an open-source software suite that prevents AI developers from being...

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) just signed into law HB 3, a bill that will give parents of teens under 16 more control over their kids’ access to social media and require age verification for many websites. The bill requires social media platforms to prevent kids under 14 from creating accounts, and delete existing ones. It also requires parent or guardian consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to create or maintain social media accounts and mandates that...

GameSpot parent company Fandom has released the results of its latest "Inside Entertainment" study that digs into the statistics and trends of people who love video games and entertainment in general. In particular, this newest study shines a light on "switchers," which are those who are shifting away from watching movies and binging TV shows to play games. The study found the No. 1 activity that entertainment fans are "switching" to is gaming, at 59%. Beyond gaming, the "switchers" are...

They might not see the light of day, but Microsoft is reportedly tinkering away on Xbox handheld prototypes behind closed doors. They're thought to be constructed with Steam Deck as the competition in mind--instead of something similar to PlayStation Portal. At least, that's what Windows Central managing editor Jez Corden shared on the Xbox Two Podcast, as spotted by Insider-Gaming. "I know that they’ve [Xbox] have got handheld prototypes right now," Corden said on the show. If this...

Did Final Fantasy VII Rebirth fill up your PS5 storage? Or do you need a bit of extra space to install Dragon's Dogma 2? If you are really serious about future-proofing your PS5 storage capacity, check out the WD Black 4TB SN850X Internal SSD, which is on sale for just $237. The SSD is regularly discounted to around $300--it has an (unrealistic) list price of $700--but we've rarely seen it hit a price this low. See deal at Amazon The biggest caveat to this impressive deal is that you need...

Square Enix has announced that the next Final Fantasy XIV expansion, Dawntrail, will launch on July 2. Those who preorder it will be given early access on June 28. Preorders for the expansion cost $40 and will open up on March 26. Preorder bonuses also include a Wind-Up Zidane minion, which is just a vanity pet, and a pair of Azeyma's Earrings, which grants a 30% EXP boost for players level 1-90. They are only equippable for Disciples of War or Magic classes and jobs. The Square Enix...

A former gaming executive has been sentenced to death in China for poisoning the founder of Chinese gaming company Yoozoo Games. This story also connects to the recently released Netflix series 3 Body Problem from the creators of Game of Thrones. CBS News reports that Xu Yao poisoned Yoozoo founder Lin Qi in December 2020 over a business dispute. Lin's tea was poisoned, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and he died 10 days later at the age of 39. Xu was taken into custody not long after...