The Daily Populous

Wednesday February 14th, 2024 night edition

image for EA flop Immortals of Aveum reportedly cost around $125 million, former dev says "a AAA single-player shooter in today's market was a truly awful idea"

A new report sheds some light on just how much EA invested in its single-player FPS Immortals of Aveum, which received mixed reviews and was deemed a financial flop.

Immortals of Aveum launched in August 2023 amidst one of the busiest years of game releases in history, bookended by behemoths like Diablo 4, Starfield, and Baldur's Gate 3.

"At a high level, Immortals was massively overscoped for a studio's debut project," the former employee said.

"The development cost was around $85 million, and I think EA kicked in $40 million for marketing and distribution.

Another anonymous employee, still at Ascendant, told IGN that there was potential in Immortals' old-school approach, but admitted it failed to find an audience regardless.

"It's not a sequel or a remake, it doesn't take 400 hours to beat, has zero microtransactions, no pointless open world grinding.

Although not everyone loved it, it reviewed pretty well, currently sitting at a 74 on OpenCritic and a Mostly Positive on Steam. »

Ron Johnson Says 'Putin Will Not Lose the War,' Votes Against Ukraine Aid

Authored by newsweek.com

On Monday night, a bipartisan coalition of senators approved motions to push forward a package of further aid to countries including Ukraine and Israel.

"Our policy should be focused on how do we bring Vladimir Putin to the table," Johnson said.

Ron Johnson during a Senate Committee On Homeland Security And Governmental Affairs hearing at the US Capitol on December 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. »

Instagram will stop recommending political content

Authored by nbcnews.com

In a blog post Friday, Instagram, the popular photo and video app owned by Meta, said it will no longer “proactively recommend” political content from accounts that users do not already follow.

By default, going forward Instagram and Threads will not promote political content (unless it’s from accounts users already are following).

Such users flagged for political content also can “stop posting this type of content for a period of time, in order to be eligible to be recommended again,” Instagram said. »

France uncovers a vast Russian disinformation campaign in Europe

Authored by economist.com
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But French authorities think they are ready to be activated aggressively as part of what one official calls a “massive” wave of Russian disinformation.

For France, the detection of this latest Russian destabilisation effort comes after a series of campaigns that it has attributed to Moscow.

As the campaign for the European Parliament elections draws near, France is thought to be a particular target for Moscow. »

'Insanity plea': Lawyer for pitchfork-wielding Jan. 6 rioter says blinded by MAGA 'cult'

Authored by rawstory.com
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“Trump’s supporters ‘consistently shifted their attitudes to more closely match ostensible opinions and the real-life interests of Trump,'" Moss writes.

"A cult can ‘catalyze the formation of shared psychotic disorder’ because it involves a dominant, charismatic leader who dictates the beliefs, actions, and behaviors of followers.".

“Trump warned his supporters, ‘If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,’” Moss reminds the court. »