Apple has been trying to reduce its dependency on China for the manufacturing of its products. The pandemic made the company understand how it is important to diversify its production to different countries. Moreover, the recent Covid-19-related disruption at the world’s biggest iPhone assembly plant in China also nearly cost the company billion dollars per week. Currently, India has been established as Apple’s second-largest iPhone production centre in the world. Last year, the company was planning to hit an important milestone by starting iPhone 14 assembly in both China and India, simultaneously. However, that didn’t happen in 2022 and Apple started producing iPhone 14 in India in September last year. The company is expected to start producing the iPhone 15 models (which will be released in 2023) in both countries at the same time. A previous report claimed that Apple may produce a quarter of all iPhones in India by 2025. Now, a new report claims that the company may assemble half of all iPhones in India by 2027. According to a report by the South China Morning Post, India may produce one in two of the world’s iPhones by 2027. The report also claims that local suppliers are already feeling the effects of Apple’s efforts to move production out of the country. Moreover, Vietnam has also been benefiting from the company’s plan to reduce its dependency on China.
iPhone production in India A Bloomberg research reports that currently, just 2.27% of Apple’s supplier facilities are located in India. This puts the country in the 8th position after the US, China, Japan, Germany, the UK, Taiwan, France and South Korea. However, that is changing at a rapid pace. The report claims that iPhone shipments from India have doubled from April to December 2022 (compared to the same period in 2021). Apart from this, contractors, including Chinese ones, have also rushed there to set up plants in Vietnam which indicate that Vietnam’s share of making Apple’s MacBooks and AirPods is also expected to rise. Also Watch:
– Will be released on HBO Max, Sky Atlantic and Now between March and June 2023 – Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Matthew MacFadyen, Nicholas Braun and Alexander Skarsgård are all confirmed to return – Story will chart the fallout of season 3’s dramatic finale – Will be made up of 10 episodes – Plans to end the show with season 5 – First trailer released in October 2022
Succession season 4 is only a few months away, and judging by early footage, the return of television’s most dysfunctional family will be more explosive than a Japanese rocket launch organized by Roman Roy.
Showrunner Jesse Armstrong’s fictionalized take on the Murdoch media empire is dark, dramatic and often hilarious, combining tension and comedy in ways rarely seen on screen. The series’ third season, released in October 2021, continued to prove why Succession is one of the best HBO Max shows around.
Succession season 4 was given the go-ahead by HBO even before the credits had rolled on season 3, and we’re excited to see how the series’ upcoming episodes tie up the loose ends left by the latter’s shocking cliffhanger.
Below, you’ll find everything we know about Succession season 4 so far, from details on the show’s returning cast members to its release window, confirmed plot threads and various teaser trailers.
Naturally, spoilers for Succession seasons 1-3 follow, so proceed with caution.
Release date: HBO has confirmed that Succession season 4 will begin streaming on HBO Max and Sky Atlantic in Spring 2023 (i.e. between March and June).
Cast: Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun and J. Smith-Cameron are all confirmed to return for season 4, while fringe characters like Willa, Stewy and Ewan will also feature again. Alexander Skarsgård is reprising his role as Lukas Matsson, though Adrien Brody’s future as Josh Aaronson is less clear.
Story: After Logan’s shocking decision to consider Matsson’s offer of buying Waystar Royco, we expect Kendall, Shiv and Roman to band together in an effort to relieve power from their father in season 4. Shiv and Tom’s marriage is also likely to come under the microscope, following the latter’s presumed betrayal.
Succession season 4 release date
HBO has confirmed that Succession season 4 will begin streaming in Spring 2023(that’s between March and June this year, for our Australian readers). The release date window was announced alongside the season’s first full-length trailer, which you can watch below.
The rebel alliance.#Succession returns Spring 2023 on HBO Max. pic.twitter.com/tqzlYpvSeYOctober 24, 2022
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Judging by the time it takes to shoot each season, the earliest we expect Succession season 4 to arrive is March 2023. The latest we expect to see the show return is May 2023, after HBO executive Casey Bloys told Deadline (opens in new tab) – prior to the aforementioned release window announcement – that the complete season will have aired in time for next year’s Emmy eligibility deadline (May 2023).
As usual, Succession season 4 will be available to stream on HBO Max (or whatever Warner Bros. Discovery’s streamer is called at the time) in the US, while Sky Atlantic and NOW will pick up the mantle in the UK. Depending on its release date, European viewers may be able to enjoy Succession, too, thanks to the continued rollout of Warner Bros. Discovery platforms across the continent.
Succession season 4 cast
As for which cast members are returning for Succession season 4, HBO has officially confirmed that Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun and J. Smith-Cameron will all be reprising their roles.
Their involvement in new episodes was made public in June 2022, though it didn’t come as much of a surprise. After all, Succession’s drama is wholly reliant on examining the twisted relationships between those in its central Roy family (the clue is in the show’s name), and future episodes would struggle to maintain the series’ compelling tensions should even one member exit the fray.
(Image credit: HBO)
We also know that fringe characters like Willa (Justine Lupe) and Stewy (Arian Moayed) will return for Succession season 4, while Ewan actor James Cromwell is expected to reprise his role, too.
Although many of these characters don’t play a direct role in influencing the question at the heart of the show – who will inherit Logan Roy’s media empire? – almost all maintain very particular relationships with certain Roy family members that reveal more about the motivations of the show’s main players; they’re therefore important pieces of Succession’s puzzle.
The same goes for Alexander Skarsgård’s tech entrepreneur Lukas Matsson. At the end of season 3, Logan Roy – in a move that shocked his children – appeared to strike a deal with Matsson to relinquish power of Waystar Royco in exchange for a payout. Given that this decision is likely to form the crux of season 4’s plot, it’s no surprise that Skarsgård’s involvement in Succession’s future episodes has been confirmed (via GQ (opens in new tab)).
(Image credit: HBO)
Less clear is whether Adrien Brody, who briefly starred in season 3 as billionaire investor Josh Aaronson, will reprise his role. Aaronson was used as a vessel through which Succession’s showrunners sought to question Logan’s competence as an elderly CEO. Having fulfilled that purpose, it’s hard to see where Brody could take the character next.
Still, even if Brody doesn’t return as Aaronson, we wouldn’t be surprised to see more A-listers step into Succession’s boardrooms as new characters in season 4. HBO has confirmed that “additional cast [members are set] to be announced” soon.
Succession season 4 story
Following the fallout of Kendall’s betrayal and Logan’s gung-ho quest for revenge in Succession season 2, last year’s episodes placed the spotlight on each Roy sibling equally, giving actors Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin room to flex their (at times cringe-inducing) muscles. Season 4 seems primed to continue in that vein, after Logan’s dramatic decision to consider Matsson’s offer left the trio of siblings more united (against their father, that is) than ever.
Naturally, Kendall, Shiv and Roman deem Logan’s desire to relinquish family control of Waystar Royco an act of betrayal. For three seasons, viewers have watched the siblings trade insults over which of them is best placed to inherit their father’s company – it follows, then, that none of them want to see it fall into outsider hands.
The smile of a winner. Check out a behind the scenes look at Season 4 of #Succession, coming soon to @hbomax. #HBO50 pic.twitter.com/xhcND1Oe19November 8, 2022
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This conflict is likely to drive the plot of Succession season 4. Other narrative threads are harder to pin down, though we expect Shiv’s unconventional marriage to Tom to come under the spotlight once again, after the latter betrayed his wife in exchange for Logan’s favor (so much betrayal in this family!).
At least, that’s what season 3’s cliffhanger finale wants us to believe – we don’t yet know the full extent of Tom’s role in the switcheroo, nor how much Greg played a part in alerting Logan to his children’s plans of sabotaging the deal with Matsson.
Sarah Snook, for one, is excited to learn more. She told SiriusXM (opens in new tab): “I’ve got no idea [where the show is going with that incident]. I can’t wait for us to start shooting again, because I want to know what happens.”
(Image credit: HBO)
In reference to season 3’s final shot – which suggests Shiv knows what Tom has done – Snook added: “I feel like it’s a really powerful position for Shiv to be in, because she knows information, and then can choose whether to reveal that information. She could choose not to tell her siblings, and she could also choose not to tell Tom that she knows […] But it’s got to light a fire [within her].”
Right now, though – and for the first time in the show’s history – it looks like season 4 will begin with Kendall, Shiv and Roman versus everyone else.
As for Connor’s role in Succession’s upcoming episodes, a wedding to Justine Lupe’s Willa could to be on the cards. In the below set image, a large “Willa Ferreyra & Connor Roy” banner can be seen strewn across a harbor building, which logic suggests will play host to either an establishing shot, the pair’s rehearsal dinner or their wedding proper.
(Image credit: Splash News)
Connor’s pursuit of the presidency is also likely to form its own narrative offshoot, which may pave the way for the return of Justin Kirk’s far-right congressman Jeryd Mencken, among other politically-inclined characters.
But the crux of Succession season 4 will, of course, revolve around Matsson’s proposed acquisition of the Roy family business. Indeed, HBO’s official synopsis for the season reads as follows: “In the ten-episode season 4, the sale of media conglomerate Waystar Royco to tech visionary Lukas Matsson moves ever closer. The prospect of this seismic sale provokes existential angst and familial division among the Roys as they anticipate what their lives will look like once the deal is completed. A power struggle ensues as the family weighs up a future where their cultural and political weight is severely curtailed.”
In any case, given that HBO executive Francesca Orsi declared, in her official renewal announcement, that “Jesse Armstrong [continues] to surpass our wildest expectations” with each new season of Succession, we’re expecting to be surprised by the inevitable twists and turns that Succession season 4 has in store.
Succession season 4 trailer
HBO released the first official trailer for Succession season 4 – which features fleeting appearances from all of the show’s major players – in October 2022. Check it out below.
Prior to the release of Succession season 4’s first full-length trailer, HBO gave fans a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpse into the show’s new episodes during a sizzle reel for HBO Max’s 2023 content slate.
Take a look at the sneak preview below (between the 1:30 and 1:40 mark), which contains a few clips not featured in the new season’s main trailer.
The future of the show
As for whether Succession season 4 will be the show’s last, we’re confident that it won’t be. Although HBO didn’t allude to further seasons in its press release announcing the series’ renewal, interviews with cast and crew members in the months since have put our minds at (relative) ease.
Series mainstay Brian Cox, for instance – who plays family boss Logan Roy – told GQ (opens in new tab) that he expects “possibly two more series, and then I think we’re done.”
The show’s executive producer, Georgia Pritchett, echoed that sentiment, revealing to The Times (opens in new tab) in 2021 that she believes Succession is unlikely to go beyond five seasons: “I think the maximum would be five seasons […] at this point [Jesse Armstrong] is saying only one more.”
Brian Cox as Logan Roy in Succession season 4 (Image credit: HBO)
Indeed, series creator Armstrong has admitted that he wants the show to come to a definitive end. “There’s going to be a very definite moment when that story is over, and it can’t go on too long,“ he told The New Statesman (opens in new tab).
Armstrong repeated that line at the 2022 BAFTA TV awards. When asked how long he intends to keep the show running, he told reporters: “I won’t answer that one precisely. I don’t think it should go on forever. But we’re still having fun at the moment.”
Even HBO executive Casey Bloys remains in the dark on Succession’s future. “For those conversations, we really tend to leave it with the showrunners,” he told Deadline (opens in new tab) in July. “Jesse is obviously figuring out what he wants the fourth season to be and he will decide whether he sees it going beyond that or not. We’ll really leave it to him and let him have his process and figure out what he wants to do.”
There’s definitely a chance, then, that we’ll be treated to a fifth season of Succession after season 4 – which gives plenty of time for Logan to (finally!) appoint a successor to his vast media empire.
– No official release date – Rumors of March 2023 launch – Filming has been completed – Season being edited as of January 2023 – Main cast members all set to return – Show will return at the beginning of a new soccer season – Counter claims about whether season 3 will be the series’ final entry
Finally, there’s a light at the end of the Ted Lasso season 3-shaped tunnel. Apple’s hugely popular soccer comedy series will be back with us very soon – and we feel confident saying that.
Why? Because, according to executive producer Bill Lawrence, principal photography has wrapped. Additionally, one of the best Apple TV Plus shows‘ final season is being edited as we speak, so we’re sure it’ll be with us sooner rather than later.
While we wait for Ted Lasso season 3, there’s plenty of reading to do on it. Below, you’ll find lots of information on its cast, plot, potential launch date, the series’ future on Apple TV Plus, and more. Believe us: you’ll want to learn more.
Full spoilers follow for Ted Lasso’s first two seasons. Turn back now if you’re not caught up.
Ted Lasso season 3 release date: what we know
Will Rebecca and Sam reunite in Ted Lasso season 3? (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)
Ted Lasso season 3 doesn’t have a release date, but there are murmurings of a March 2023 launch.
Firstly, Creative Harmony Media (opens in new tab) – the company that edits Ted Lasso’s score – seemingly confirmed season 3 would arrive in just two months’ time. The article has been altered, but Reddit (opens in new tab) picked up on the possible faux pas before it was changed.
Meanwhile, co-creator/executive producer Bill Lawrence recently revealed that co-creator/lead star Jason Sudeikis was “cutting it [season 3] now and I’d expect to see the show soon” (per USA Today (opens in new tab)). Lawrence’s comments confirm that filming has finally wrapped, too.
A Ted Lasso season 3 launch date announcement would be welcomed with open arms at this point. It’s been hit by multiple issues, including script rewrites, the cast and crew having to take time off, and other filming delays (per Puck News (opens in new tab)). Thankfully, it won’t be much longer before the show kicks off for the final time.
Ted Lasso season 3 cast
The Diamond Dogs will be missing a member in Ted Lasso season 3. (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)
Here’s who we expect to see in Ted Lasso season 3:
Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso
Hannah Waddingham as Rebecca Welton
Brendan Hunt as Coach Beard
Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent
Juno Temple as Keeley Jones
Nick Mohammed as Nate Shelley
Jeremy Swift as Leslie Higgins
Phil Dunster as Jamie Tartt
Toheeb Jimoh as Sam Obisanya
Cristo Fernandez as Dani Rojas
Prominent members of the supporting cast are also likely to return, including Kola Bokinni as Isaac McAdoo, David Elsendoorn as Jan Maas, Annette Badland as pub landlord Mae, and Anthony Head as West Ham United’s new owner Rupert Mannion.
Bill Lawrence has revealed James Lance’s Trent Crimm and Sarah Niles’ sports psychologist Sharon will feature (per Deadline (opens in new tab)), too. Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook seems likely to cameo, given he’s seen celebrating a Richmond goal on his Twitter account (opens in new tab). According to two Reddit (opens in new tab)posts (opens in new tab), Match of the Day host Gary Lineker, soccer pundit Thierry Henry, and commentator Arlo White will return in cameo capacities.
We also know the identity of two actors who have joined Ted Lasso’s ranks. Per Deadline (opens in new tab), Jodi Balfour (For All Mankind) has signed on in a major recurring role. Balfour will play a charming venture capitalist called Jack, so expect AFC Richmond to be the subject of a takeover bid. Per Above the Line (opens in new tab), Becky Ann Baker (Freaks and Geeks) has been cast as Ted’s mom. We’ll wait for Apple to confirm these additions, though, before adding them to the official cast list.
Ted Lasso season 3 story
Nate ‘the Great’ has turned to the dark side in Ted Lasso season 3. (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)
Major spoilers for Ted Lasso season 2 follow.
There are two major storylines Ted Lasso season 3 needs to deliver a fitting ending to.
The first concerns AFC Richmond’s Premier League return. After securing promotion on the final day of last season, Richmond are back in the big time, but it won’t be easy for them to try and secure an unprecedented Leicester City-level title triumph.
19 other clubs stand in their way, including Manchester City, who relegated Richmond in their final top-flight match in season 1 and thrashed them 5-0 in season 2’s FA Cup semi-final. So we’re hoping that Richmond will finally get one over one of their biggest rivals next time around.
City won’t be the only rival Richmond has to contend with. In the season 2 finale, Nate, Ted’s former prodigy, joined West Ham as their new manager. His appointment comes after Rebecca’s former husband, aka Rupert Mannion, bought the Premier League outfit.
So Ted Lasso season 3 is gearing up to pit the master versus his apprentice. Taking to Twitter after season 2’s last episode, actor Nick Mohammed posted an intriguing 12-point document that reveals why Nate departed Richmond for their London rivals:
Me again! CONTAINS SPOILERS so maybe don’t read until you’ve watched the season finale, but here are a few thoughts on Nate and responses to your tweets! X #TedLasso PS Also, huge shoutout to the magnificent @joekellyjk47 who cowrote this episode with Jason ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Z1Rvuok422October 8, 2021
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Hopefully, one or two of Ted Lasso season 3’s episodes will deliver a titanic clash between Richmond and West Ham, which will put Ted and Nate at odds on the pitch. As much as we can’t wait to see if Richmond will beat Manchester City, we’re also eager to see Ted and Nate clash, from a tactical standpoint, from the dugout. Co-writer Brendan Hunt has teased that we’ll “see a bit of what’s going on at West Ham” in the next season, too (per The Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab) (THR)).
Speaking to the BBC (opens in new tab), Mohammed added: “I’m effectively the villain in it now, which is a funny place to find myself. The thing with Ted Lasso is the audience are possibly expecting a redemption arc for Nate, and I’d like to see one I think because that would be nice. But equally I could well imagine the writers thinking: ‘no, we’re going to turn it on its head’, because that’s what they did in season 2, playing against everyone’s expectations, so he might be the one character they don’t redeem.”
Whatever happens, Mohammed thinks a verbal showdown is on the way between Ted and Nate. “There has to be some kind of reckoning, right?” he told US Weekly (opens in new tab). “Whether it’s a positive or negative outcome [we’ll have to see].” Speaking the Fatherly magazine (opens in new tab), Mohammed also teased “Nate will change again”, before telling People magazine (opens in new tab) that “season 3 is certainly as much of a roller coaster for Nate”.
Look who came crawling back! Maybe. Thanks to brilliant makeup designer @NickyAustin20. #TedLasso ❤️🤐 pic.twitter.com/HBqu69Iqf1January 27, 2022
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Away from the pitch, Ted Lasso season 3 also needs to wrap up smaller storylines, such as Rebecca and Sam’s on-off relationship. The pair were no longer dating by the season 2 finale, but we imagine this isn’t the end of their romantic dalliance. Hannah Waddingham, who plays Rebecca, seems to hint that there may be more to mine, plot wise, here when speaking to Deadline (opens in new tab).
In a separate Deadline (opens in new tab) article, Waddingham revealed how Rebecca’s personal and professional lives will be at two vastly different points when season 3 begins.
“When we see Rebecca again, she’s a boss ass b**ch,” she said. “She’s 100 percent boss ass b**ch and then some. She’s fully there because she wants to be and there’s a change in her that I think was much needed. She’s leading that group of players and wants the best for them. As far as her personal life is concerned, it’s delicious chaos as usual. That’s life, right? You never have everything sorted.”
Asked if Sam and Rebecca would rekindle their romance, Toheeb Jimoh added: “I can’t tell you anything about that! What I can say is that we do get into Sam’s love life a little bit this season and it will be very interesting for people to see how that all unfolds and where it goes. You’ll see what his relationship with Rebecca is like and what it turns into. It will be really interesting no matter what side of the fence you’re on, whether you’re a TedBecca fan or SamBecca fan. There’s going to be a really interesting resolution for all the characters.”
Speaking of relationship issues, Roy and Keeley might have hit a rough patch. Keeley rejected Roy’s efforts to take her on a much-needed vacation in season 2’s last episode, electing to stay in the UK and work on her newly-formed PR firm. It’s unclear what the future holds for them but, given that they haven’t officially broken up, we imagine that they’ll make amends and maybe tie the knot.
From Ted’s perspective, it’ll be interesting to see if his panic attacks return. Sports psychologist Sharon had helped him to get to grips with them by the end of season 2, but we suspect that they’ll continue to plague him. Could she offer more counselling sessions to Ted?
We wouldn’t be surprised if Ted offers Trent Crimm a role at Richmond, either. In the season 2 finale, Trent revealed The Independent had fired him for revealing who leaked Ted’s panic attacks (i.e. Nate). Ted could use Trent’s expertise in a media capacity, so why not hire him? It would mean that all of the series’ main characters are under one roof (Nate aside), which would be a fitting way to bring the curtain down on the show.
Will we get closure on the above? Who knows, but Lawrence promises viewers could’ve worked out many of the series’ surprises from the beginning.
“There will be lots of surprises,” he told Deadline (opens in new tab). “But anyone who says, oh, where Nate ends up in the finale is a big surprise…we felt like we were setting that up from the very first episode of last year. The clues are there. Jason and I are huge non-spoiler people, but yeah, I think some of the writing is already on the wall, hopefully.”
Lawrence’s comments have been backed up by Declan Lowney, Ted Lasso director and producer, who told Deadline (opens in new tab) that we should expect “a bunch of surprises, things you didn’t see coming, some curveballs in there”. Let’s hope that’s not hyperbole.
Elsewhere, The Athletic reported Apple has agreed a £500,000 (around $682,000) deal with English top flight executives to use of kits, club badges and even the Premier League trophy. Could we see AFC Richmond lift the title in a fairy tale-style series ending?
Meanwhile, AFC Richmond’s first team might take a trip to Europe as part of a team bonding session. Ted Lasso fan Kelly Melissa took to Twitter (opens in new tab) to post an image of herself with Sudeikis and Waddingham in Amsterdam, so maybe the Richmond boys are going on a European tour. According to Phil Dunster, who plays Jamie, we can expect to see a lot more soccer played in Ted Lasso season 3, too (via The Los Angeles Times (opens in new tab)). For a show based around the hugely popular sport, you can never have enough soccer-based action.
Finally, speaking to TVLine, Brendan Hunt suggested that season 3 will kick off (see what we did there?) at the beginning of a new season, rather than beginning with one already underway. “We don’t like to do the same thing twice,” Hunt explained. “In season 1, we joined the [Premier League] season in January. In season 2, we joined the season in late September. We’ve never gone from the start of a season, so perhaps that’s something we want to get to.”
Ted Lasso season 3 trailer
The AFC Richmond squad will hopefully be gunning for glory in Ted Lasso season 3. (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)
There’s no trailer yet. Once one is released, we’ll update this page.
Ted Lasso season 3: is this the final season?
It may be time to say goodbye to Ted and Coach Beard. (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)
It depends who you ask. Sudeikis and Lawrence have said Ted Lasso is a trilogy, so we should prepare ourselves that this is the final season. Waddingham has also told E! Online (opens in new tab) Sudeikis believes this will be the final installment, while Mohammed isn’t sure (per Discussing Film (opens in new tab)) if a fourth season will be greenlit.
Co-writer Brett Goldstein added further weight those claims with Mr. Porter (opens in new tab), saying: “We had a three-season arc planned. We are writing the end of that story. Whether there’ll be more after that, we’ll see, I genuinely don’t know. But I do know that the story that we were telling over three years will be complete.”
Curiously, Lawrence has teased the prospect of returning for more, telling Deadline (opens in new tab) there are ways of stretching the show out for another two seasons. However, actor Phil Dunster told THR (opens in new tab) that “nobody knows about season four”.
What about new tales told in the Ted Lasso universe? Speaking to THR (opens in new tab), Lawrence said: “When we started, we plotted out everybody’s beginning, middle and end of a three-season arc. This story is going to be over next year, regardless, even if the show finds another story to tell and goes on.” Elaborating on the prospect of spin-offs, Hunt told THR: “It’s just a matter of whether or not we pick this up in some other way”. Chalk that up as a possibility, then.
Additionally, Waddingham jokingly told Entertainment Tonight (opens in new tab) that she wants Apple to force Sudeikis to continue making more seasons: “If I were Apple and Warner Bros, I’d be leaning on him [Sudeikis] like a lunatic and putting him in a corner in a little cage and giving him a notebook and a pen. It’s too beautiful.”
“will season 3 of ted lasso be the last?” emmy’s version pic.twitter.com/t0gOGrcSzQSeptember 13, 2022
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Warner Bros. are open to continuing the series in some guise. The studio’s Head of Television Channing Dungey told THR (opens in new tab): “The way they pitched out the season, it would work very well should [season three] be the end. Audiences will be satisfied with how they resolve the end of the season. But there is still an opportunity and path for us to do more. We will see how everything comes together; there are a lot of moving pieces here and there’s a continued enthusiasm to keep telling these stories.”
Hopefully, we’ll get a fourth season or even a couple of one-off specials. We’re not ready to say goodbye to any of Ted Lasso’s characters yet, even if the show goes out on a high.
If it does stick around for longer, we could certainly use more of the show’s wonderful positivity. In the vein of the show’s iconic single-word phrase – “Believe” – we’re keeping faith that Ted Lasso will continue after season 3. Still, if this is the end of the line, at least we can see (and play as) Ted and Richmond in FIFA 23.
While gaming service Stadia shuts down on January 18, Google has announced plans to keep its controller alive. It may not seem like much in light of a whole catalog of cloud streaming games becoming inaccessible, but the controller really was the quiet highlight of Google’s first major step into gaming.
While it’s not revealed the full details yet, Google said on Twitter that it will “be releasing a self-serve tool to enable Bluetooth connections on your Stadia Controller.” Google has promised to share the specifics in time for the shutdown.
Currently, the Stadia gamepad can only connect to Google’s platform. Until these recently announced plans, when the service shuts down on January 18, the controller would have become a useless hunk of plastic, nickel, and silicon destined for landfill. Now it appears you will be able to use the controller with other Bluetooth-enabled devices – PC and Android, most likely; maybe Apple devices and even the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
We’ve also got Bluetooth news: next week we’ll be releasing a self-serve tool to enable Bluetooth connections on your Stadia Controller. We’ll share details here on release. pic.twitter.com/6vYomngfmAJanuary 13, 2023
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Beginning of the end
(Image credit: Google)
In a post (opens in new tab), last September, Stadia’s general manager Phil Harrison announced that: “while Stadia‘s approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn’t gained the traction with users that we expected so we’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service.”.
Google appeared to have the money to ride out its stumbling infant years
The news came out of the blue, not because Stadia had been a roaring success but because Google appeared to have the money to ride out its stumbling infant years. Perhaps Google could have made Stadia a success just through sheer bullheadedness, as Epic has done with the Epic Games Store. Instead, in the face of competition such as Microsoft Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now, Google chose to shut up shop.
Harrison also confirmed in the post that Google would refund “all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store, and all game and add-on content purchases made through the Stadia store.”
Other good news for players was that games like Orcs Must Die 3, which had originally launched as a Google Stadia exclusive, had ventured onto other platforms, so we weren’t going to lose access to everything Stadia had brought.
Best of a bad situation
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Yasin Hasan)
The device will become a strange ergonomic relic of the dangers of launching a cloud gaming service
While it was good news Google wasn’t going to leave Stadia’s early adopters out of pocket, buyers would be stuck with perfectly good hardware that wouldn’t be usable anymore. As our own Rhys Wood put it at the time, “Google clearly poured a lot of resources into researching and developing a controller for Stadia. It’s all effort that now, sadly, may have been wasted.
“At a glance, the Google Stadia controller doesn’t look special. It has a similar silhouette to the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, or a slightly slimmer Xbox 360 pad. But, in my hands, the Stadia controller just feels… right.
“It’s a wonderfully comfy controller to hold. Its buttons and sticks are high quality to the touch. And I love the robust collection of shortcut buttons at the center of the pad that let you easily capture screenshots, access Google Assistant for voice-based navigation, and more.”
It’s excellent news, then, that the controller will get a new lease on life. However, I doubt Google will start restocking the gamepad to simply sell it as a third-party controller. The device will become a strange ergonomic relic of the dangers of launching a cloud gaming service in competition with Microsoft and Sony.
Into thin air
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
It’s great that Google could refund everything it had earned through Stadia’s early adopters, but it was under no obligation to make good
The slight rise and rapid fall of Google Stadia is a stark reminder that we have less control over the games we buy, as the videogame market shifts to digital-first. It’s great that Google could refund everything it had earned through Stadia’s early adopters, but it was under no obligation to make good.
Google could just have easily switched off the servers and walked away, doing none of the work to make its controller usable on other services, or failing to work with developers to let players transfer their game save files from Stadia to Steam – as it has done with Gearbox’s Borderlands 3.
Steam, the Xbox Marketplace, PlayStation Store, Nintendo’s eShop, and Epic Games Store all look too big to close down, but there is no guarantee that one day those digital store owners won’t hit financial straits and switch off the servers. On that day, you could lose access to every game you’ve bought over the years, with none of the security that owning a physical copy of a game affords. Although, admittedly, as games rely more on online features, even a physical disc doesn’t guarantee long-term ownership of a game.
Well, this good news about the Stadia controller has really led me down a dark and dreary path. What can I say other than hug your loved ones and back up your save files?
Despite the rumors, it seems that optical media is not dead – at least not yet.
Streaming might have pushed physical media (DVD and Blu-ray) out of the limelight, into dollar shops and bargain buckets but Folio Photonics, a startup we coveredextensively in 2022, wants to buck the trend and open up a new market for optical media: the enterprise.
The CEO of Folio Photonics, Steve Santamaria, revealed in an email exchange with TechRadar Pro that the initial capacity of the company’s first disc will be “upwards of a 1TB capacity per disc” with 10TB+ being targeted by the end of the decade.
The startup has already disclosed on its side that media will cost around $3 (around £2.40 / AU$4.30) per TB, which puts the price of a single disc at $3. Travis Johnston, Director, Market Strategy at Folio Photonics added, “While the actual specs have not yet been published, we believe this capacity and suggested price point to be highly achievable due to our materials/manufacturing innovations.”
In comparison, a single blank 25GB BD-R blu-ray recordable media costs less than $0.40 when purchased in a 50 pack cakebox. That’s $16 per TB (around £13 / AU$23), or more than 5X what Folio Photonics is projecting for its first generation of products.
Folio Photonics optical disc drive (ODD) will unfortunately command a steep premium in the range of $3,000 to $5,000 at least initially. Like CD, then DVD and Blu-ray writers, cost efficiencies through economies of scale – as Folio’s technology gains adoption – and reusing existing supply chains are likely to slash that by at least one order of magnitude if things go to plan.
(Image credit: Phil Hearing — Unsplash)
The long road to success
30 years ago, Philips introduced a desktop CD recorder system, the CDD521GN, that commanded a price of $8,495, four years later, HP introduced its Surestore CD writer for a tenth of the price and by the dawn of this century, you could get a CD-writer for under $100.
Folio Photonics wants 10TB media for less than $1 per TB by 2030, a symbolic floor that neither LTO nor HDD can achieve in the same timeframe. We’re still not there yet though as the commercial disc and drive availability is only expected by 2026 with data center and hyperscale market being the likely customers for what Folio Photonics calls, the “first-ever enterprise-scale optical data storage solution”, which unlike the consumer market, is far more lucrative.
Cartridges, disc carousel and disc trays will allow for low-cost, low-footprint, high-capacity footprint. Sony, one of the leaders in the market, launched a 5.5TB cartridge – the ODC5500R – consisting of eleven 500GB WORM (write once, read many) discs back in 2019 and is the standard in the long-term archival/cold storage market.
These retail for around $275 or about $50 per TB with the price of CD recorders far higher than what Folio Photonics is suggesting. In our interview, Mr. Santamaria confirmed that he is comfortable pointing to the SONY ODA (Optical Disc Archive) metrics as comparable which – for the ODC5500R – reach 375 MB/s read and 187.5 MB/s write speeds.
Russian media has claimed that Intel and Microsoft have started up their business in Russia and Belarus once again following an inital stop as a result of the former’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions imposed on the country.
Intel had reportedly suspended all shipments to Russia in February 2022, two months before it halted all business operations there, leaving Russian customers without access to software updates and other downloads.
It has also been reported that Microsoft has since allowed Windows 11 updates in Russia, however customers in the country are still unable to download and install the company’s latest operating system.
Intel and Microsoft in Russia
As a result, Russian media reported that the blocks were preventing companies like Intel from fulfilling warranty obligations, while some customers turned to VPNs, torrents, and other sources to find copies.
According to Intel (via Tom’s Hardware (opens in new tab)): “access to resources that meet driver update needs, such as the Intel Download Center and Intel Download Support Assistant, are part of Intel’s warranty obligations”, suggesting that it may have reinstated access to certain products purely on the basis of warranty compliance.
Another source is reported to have told Tom’s Hardware that, while Intel had blocked downloads in Russia earlier in 2022, access was restored later that year.
Some Russian media sources claim that it is possible, once more, to access the Intel download portal without having to use tools like a VPN, however the portal had to be found by a search engine as the main portion of Intel’s site is still said to be inaccessible in Russia.
TechRadar Pro reached out to both companies with regards to the resumption of operations in Russia. Intel told us:
“In February and March 2022, Intel suspended (opens in new tab) all shipments to customers in Russia and Belarus respectively. In April 2022 Intel announced that it was suspending (opens in new tab) its business operations in Russia.
There have been no recent changes to our operations; Intel continues to comply with all applicable export regulations and sanctions in the countries in which it operates. This includes compliance with the sanctions and export controls against Russia and Belarus issued by the US and allied nations. Access to resources that meet driver update needs, such as the Intel Download Center (opens in new tab) and Intel Download Support Assistant (IDSA) (opens in new tab), are part of Intel’s warranty obligations.”
Microsoft did not immediately respond to our request.
Through the medium of a Wes Anderson-esque stop-motion trailer, publisher Game Science has announced the release window for its upcoming action-RPG Black Myth: Wukong. A game that looks a little like Elden Ring if it was set in Chinese mythology.
We can expect Black Myth: Wukong to launch around mid-2024. It may seem like a while to go for those who still have their 2022 hats on, but in reality, it’s only 18 months. Which isn’t all that long, unless you’re a rabbit.
That’s the spin Game Science is putting on things with the Black Myth: Wukong release window trailer. The animated video shows a rabbit spend its entire life waiting for the game. Look, it kind of defies explanation, and you should just watch it to see what I’m going on about.
While it’s clear from the trailer that Black Myth: Wukong is coming to PC, Game Science still hasn’t confirmed what consoles the title is coming to. Hopefully, we’ll see Black Myth on PS5 or Xbox Series X|S as the game will be coming to “other major main-stream consoles” according to Game Science’s website (opens in new tab).
The bigger picture
(Image credit: Game Science)
Black Myth: Wukong takes place in an Eastern-inspired fantasy world, where you will play the legendary character Wukong as you travel around the desolate and unforgiving landscape, defeating fantastical enemies. Inspired by the 16th Century Chinese novel Journey to the West, Wukong will meet many strange and mythical characters along his path.
There’s a giant fleshy spider somewhere in there, and, honestly, it’s already creeping me out
While the new trailer only has a snippet of gameplay, back in 2020, Game Science announced Black Myth with 13 minutes of in-game footage (opens in new tab). The new clip resembles Elden Ring in its weary and grayscale landscape; we can see Wukong fighting what looks to be a massive tiger that wields a menacing long sword. In this short fight, it seems like the best way to take this tiger down is by striking it and then getting the hell out of there before it lands a hit. In this sense, the attacks also mimic Elden Ring in the hit-and-evade fighting style.
Inspired by Chinese myth and recreating the world of Journey to the West, which is a fantasy epic in the vein of Homer’s Iliad and The Odyssey, we can expect a humongous landscape filled with strange monsters. Exploring these stories in an RPG will let us get up close and personal with those monsters, for good and ill: there’s a giant fleshy spider somewhere in there, and, honestly, it’s already creeping me out.
Long time coming
(Image credit: Game Science)
While to me, it seems like 2024 isn’t too long to wait, that may be because I’ve only just learned about Black Myth. The project has been in development since 2011; it has taken Game Science 12 years of painstaking work to get this far.
Game Science talks about the struggles of completing this monumental task on Black Myth: Wukong’s information page (opens in new tab); it questions whether it’s done enough work or even if it was all worth it. “On countless nights of working overtime, exhaustedly, we asked ourselves half-jokingly – how much did it matter?” says Game Science.
Luckily Game Science has faith in its long-awaited RPG and is pushing full steam ahead to hit the targeted release window in 2024. In the meantime, we can sit back and wait for more news about Wukong and where he will head next.
Great news for Elder Scrolls fans: Skyblivion, an ambitious fan-made recreation of Oblivion within Skyrim’s engine, has finally been given a release window after years of development updates. Skyblivion is an attempt to rebuild the entirety of Skyrim’s predecessor in a modern engine.
Skyblivion’s latest trailer reveals that the project, that’s been in development since 2017, is now due for release in 2025. Though still some way away, it’s reassuring that the mod has a confirmed release window. At this rate, Skyblivion may well be out before Elder Scrolls 6.
The sunny horizons of the RPG’s setting, Cyrodiil, make for a welcome change from Skyrim’s harsh, wintery vistas. The trailer also treats us to all sorts of goodies, such as footage of the neo-classical imperial capital, the dominating palace tower that sits in its center, and glimpses of the sinister assassin’s guild, the Dark Brotherhood. In the video’s closing moments, we even get a look at the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon, Oblivion’s final boss. As terrifying as he might be, this demonic colossus should really consider putting on a shirt.
Beyond the gate
As you might expect, recreating the entirety of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion within Skyrim is no mean feat. As the mod’s official website (opens in new tab) puts it: “making games takes time, [and] this goes double for a volunteer project the size of a AAA game that took a team of fulltime devs years to make.”
Skyblivion’s development diaries confirm the astronomical work these dedicated fans-turned-developers have put into the project. All of Oblivion’s original 3D assets had to be remade, along with every single environment in what is a huge map. Though released in 2006, Oblivion is a game of tremendous scope, bursting with content.
Skyblivion is part of a group of volunteer projects entitled: The Elder Scrolls Renewal (opens in new tab). A group that aims to recreate all of the major, recent Elder Scrolls games with Bethesda’s modern tools. As well as Skyblivion, TES Renewal hosts the Morroblivion and Skywind projects, mods that bring Morrowind into the Oblivion engine and Morrowind into the Skyrim engine, respectively. Clearly, The Elder Scrolls Renewal projects participants have a lot on their plates.
Oblivion holds a special place in my heart. The game dropped around my 13th birthday, I’d just started at a new school and life was pretty scary. Enter: Bethesda’s brand new open-world RPG. The tutorial’s opening dungeon crawl hooked me deep. I played the game relentlessly, spending hundreds of hours in Cyrodiil. I joined the Fighter’s Guild, explored long-lost ruins, and, eventually, saved the world.
Oblivion was far from perfect. The voice acting was notoriously hit and miss, and the overlapping systems that made up the RPG’s open world often led to goofy shenanigans. Still, I feel there’s a certain charm to Cyrodiil that’s worth immortalizing.
Oblivion was a magical game that set the bar for modern open-world experiences and welcomed a whole new generation of players to RPGs. The prospect of seeing Oblivion’s world realized with modern graphics has me counting down the days on my Elder Scrolls-themed almanac until 2025.
Norton LifeLock has announced that a large number customer accounts have been affected by a breach.
A customer notice from Gen Digital, Norton’s parent company, claimed that the breach was likely the result of a credential stuffing attack, where threat actors use lists of previously exposed passwords to hack into numerous accounts used by victims, on the presumption that they will have used the same password for multiple services.
On December 12 2022, Gen Digital said that it received a large number of failed login attempts, tipping it off to the attack. It believes that compromised accounts dated back to December 1.
Passwords at risk
Given the fact that many admit to reusing the same passwords for various accounts, these attacks can be quite effective.
The notices were sent to over 6,000 customers whose accounts had been hacked. Gen Digital stated that hackers may have ascertained personal information from hacking into customer accounts, such as names, phone numbers and addresses. Passwords stored using the password manager feature may also have been accessed, with Gen Digital cautioning this could not be ruled out.
LifeLock is an identify theft protection platform by Norton, the company best known for its once market leading antivirus software. It also comes bundled with the company’s security suite Norton 360.
As Gen Digital itself recommends, multi-factor authentication is essential for keeping safe, by making sure it is actually you who is trying to access your account. It works by sending a verification prompt or code to another one of your devices, such as your smartphone, via SMS or a dedicated authenticator app, when a login is attempted on your account.
LifeLock’s password manager isn’t alone in suffering a potential breach. LastPass has been having a torrid time since its customer’s password vaults were stolen last year, despite assuring customers that the passwords remained encrypted.
For optimum security, you should consider using the best firewall
Google Stadia may be shutting down in just a couple of days, but that hasn’t stopped Google from releasing one last game for the ill-fated streaming device.
Worm Game, available to play now on Google Stadia, will be very familiar to anyone who owned a phone in the early 2000s. It’s essentially Snake, albeit with some modern flourishes thrown in, like colorful visuals and multiple game modes.
If you’ve kept hold of your Google Stadia subscription right until the bitter end, you can give Worm Game a go by heading over to its Stadia page (opens in new tab). You can even try it out for free, for a whopping three hours, with the Google Stadia trial.
You might have seen one last game arrive on Stadia today. It’s a humble 🧡 thanks 💜 for playing from our team. Find it here: https://t.co/PyAUH181v1January 13, 2023
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Don’t be too quick to think Google released a Snake clone as a joke, though. Worm Game’s store page explains that the game was used to test many of Google Stadia’s features, from its 2019 launch up until its imminent demise.
And as Snake-likes go, Worm Game is certainly a mite more involved than what you’d boot up on your Nokia 3310 during those long car journeys to Wales. It’s not much to write home about, but at least an important footnote in Google Stadia’s short history.
A fitting end?
(Image credit: Future)
Google Stadia’s shutdown on January 18 is unsurprising. An oddball subscription model paired with inconsistent streaming quality led to the device sitting lukewarmly with all but its staunchest proponents.
Stadia wasn’t entirely without wins, though. I’m a big fan of Google Stadia’s excellent controller, and now that Google has finally confirmed Bluetooth support, the pad has at least been granted a new lease on life. At least for players who want to continue using it wirelessly on PC and, hopefully, devices and consoles beyond.
Unfortunately for Google, a handful of other streaming services like GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming have offered more attractive game libraries, with better quality streaming. Stadia, as a result, was never able to find a sizable and dedicated audience across PC, mobile, and console.
The streaming service itself isn’t exactly going out with a bang, but I’d argue certainly not a whimper, as evidenced by the release of Worm Game. It’s a game that’s clearly important to the development of Google Stadia, however primitive and basic.
Whether Google decides to eventually throw its hat back into the game streaming ring remains to be seen. But if it does, the tech giant would do well to learn the lessons of its first experiment’s shortcomings.
