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Every investigation, analysis, and news report in one place.36 articles

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News

Leslie Benzies on "Temporary Leave" from Build a Rocket Boy

Co-CEO takes break after Epstein allegations surface. Other co-CEO now just signs as "CEO."

Mercer/2026-02-10
Leslie Benzies on "Temporary Leave" from Build a Rocket Boy
Analysis

EU Opens €2.5B Semiconductor Pilot Line: Does It Matter?

NanoIC launched at IMEC Leuven with €700M EU funding. Europe wants 20% of global chip production by 2030. Currently has 10%. The gap between ambition and reality is... significant.

Mercer/2026-02-09
EU Opens €2.5B Semiconductor Pilot Line: Does It Matter?
News

Nvidia Says "Just Talking" to Pirate Library Doesn't Prove Anything — But Court Filing Shows Different Story

Nvidia filed a motion to dismiss copyright claims, arguing that discussing pirate libraries doesn't equal infringement. But emails show contact with Anna's Archive, a 500TB shadow library of illegal books, with management approval. April 2 hearing will determine if authors survive the motion.

Mercer/2026-02-08
Nvidia Says "Just Talking" to Pirate Library Doesn't Prove Anything — But Court Filing Shows Different Story
Analysis

Nvidia's 2026 GPU Drought: No New Gaming GPUs, RTX 60 Series Delayed to 2028

No new gaming GPUs this year, RTX 60 series pushed to 2028. The official reason is memory shortages. The revenue split tells a different story.

Mercer/2026-02-07
Nvidia's 2026 GPU Drought: No New Gaming GPUs, RTX 60 Series Delayed to 2028
News

Rocket Boy Claims €1M Sabotage Conspiracy: The Latest Chapter in MindsEye's Collapse

Co-CEO Mark Gerhard alleges they've caught the people behind an alleged €1M campaign to destroy MindsEye. No arrests yet, no public evidence, no lawsuits filed.

Mercer/2026-02-06
Rocket Boy Claims €1M Sabotage Conspiracy: The Latest Chapter in MindsEye's Collapse
News

Ubisoft Unions Demand CEO Yves Guillemot's Resignation as Strike Looms

Ubisoft faces escalating internal unrest as multiple French labor unions publicly demanded the resignation of CEO Yves Guillemot amid falling stock value, layoffs, and a planned international strike for February 10-12, 2026.

Mercer/February 4, 2026
Ubisoft Unions Demand CEO Yves Guillemot's Resignation as Strike Looms
Investigation

Google's Project Genie Crashed Gaming Stocks. Here's What the Data Shows.

Unity's stock dropped 24% after Google launched Project Genie, an experimental AI that generates 3D game environments. The selloff happened amid 45,000 gaming layoffs (2022-2025) and developer sentiment turning sharply negative on AI (52% now think it's harmful vs. 18% in 2024). Whether AI adoption caused the layoffs, and whether Project Genie threatens Unity's business, remains unclear from available data.

Mercer/2026-01-31
Google's Project Genie Crashed Gaming Stocks. Here's What the Data Shows.
Investigation

Samsung Denies 80% Price Hike While Charging 60% More: A Timeline

Samsung denied an 80% price hike. They didn't deny the 60% increase they already charged, the 100%+ contract price surge, or the NCNR contracts locking customers into inflated prices during a shortage Samsung engineered.

Mercer/2026-01-25
Samsung Denies 80% Price Hike While Charging 60% More: A Timeline
Investigation

How Intel Lost the CPU War: The Collapse of a Chipmaking Empire

In 2019, Intel had 97% server market share. Today? 61%. A deep dive into the 10nm disaster, the manufacturing arrogance, and the €10 billion cost-cutting plan that's dismantling the company.

Mercer/2026-01-24
How Intel Lost the CPU War: The Collapse of a Chipmaking Empire
Investigation

The €10.4 Billion Wipeout: How Ubisoft Destroyed Itself in One Day

On January 22, 2026, Ubisoft opened trading and immediately collapsed 33%. Market cap fell to €616 million—down from €11 billion in 2018. €10.4 billion in shareholder value, destroyed in eight years. This is the full investigation into what happened, how we got here, and who's responsible.

Mercer/2026-01-22
The €10.4 Billion Wipeout: How Ubisoft Destroyed Itself in One Day
Investigation

The Covenant Breach Ubisoft Didn't Want You to Notice

January 21: Ubisoft canceled six games, closed two studios, and announced more layoffs. Everyone focused on Prince of Persia. The actual story was buried on page 19 of their November earnings: they breached debt covenants in September, erased €314 million from the books, and Tencent's billion euros saved them from insolvency.

Mercer/2026-01-22
The Covenant Breach Ubisoft Didn't Want You to Notice
News

Microsoft's January Update Broke Shutdown Again—Because Of Course It Did

KB5073455 released January 13th. Two days later Microsoft confirmed it breaks shutdown and hibernation on Windows 11 enterprise PCs with Secure Launch enabled. Your computer won't shut down. It just restarts. Over and over.

Mercer/2026-01-17
Microsoft's January Update Broke Shutdown Again—Because Of Course It Did
Investigation

Ubisoft's 2026 Layoff Spree Continues: 55 More Jobs Gone at Massive Entertainment

Ubisoft's layoff wave continues into 2026, cutting 55 roles at Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft Stockholm. As AI spreads across studios and financial pressure mounts, developers are left wondering who's next.

Mercer/2026-01-13
Ubisoft's 2026 Layoff Spree Continues: 55 More Jobs Gone at Massive Entertainment
Investigation

Ubisoft Closes Halifax Studio 20 Days After Unionization: The Timeline They Won't Provide

On December 18, 2025, Ubisoft Halifax became the company's first North American union. Twenty days later, Ubisoft announced the studio's closure. When asked to prove the decision wasn't retaliation, Ubisoft refused to provide a timeline.

Mercer/2026-01-07
Ubisoft Closes Halifax Studio 20 Days After Unionization: The Timeline They Won't Provide
Investigation

Samsung's 'No One Can Escape' Memory Shortage: The Manufactured Crisis Making Billions

On January 5, 2026, Samsung's co-CEO told Reuters 'no one can escape' the memory shortage. He didn't mention Samsung is making $14 billion this quarter while deliberately cutting consumer production 20%+. This isn't a crisis—it's engineered scarcity.

Mercer/2026-01-05
Samsung's 'No One Can Escape' Memory Shortage: The Manufactured Crisis Making Billions
News

Intel Arc B770 Surfaces in Repository Listings Ahead of Expected CES 2026 Announcement

Intel's Arc B770 appeared in an official GitHub repository on January 4, 2026—one day before Intel's CES keynote. Here's what the leak tells us about Big Battlemage specs, pricing, and where it fits in the current GPU market.

Mercer/2026-01-04
Intel Arc B770 Surfaces in Repository Listings Ahead of Expected CES 2026 Announcement
Investigation

How Nvidia Built an AI-Fueled Monopoly — and Why GPU Prices Are Exploding

Reports suggest the RTX 5090 could hit $5,000 by end of 2026. Your first instinct is to blame supply chains. That's what Nvidia wants you to think. I spent three weeks tracking congressional trading disclosures, federal contracts, and memory manufacturer earnings. What I found: taxpayer money built the infrastructure, politicians traded on it, and Nvidia became the toll collector.

Mercer/2026-01-05
How Nvidia Built an AI-Fueled Monopoly — and Why GPU Prices Are Exploding
Investigation

The Quiet Downgrade: How Dell, Lenovo, and HP Warned Investors While Ghosting Customers

On November 25, 2025, Dell's Vice Chairman told investors the company was "unable to eliminate customer cost impacts." Two months earlier, Dell's board handed him a $132 million stock option grant. He makes $25 million a year. He didn't tell you your laptop was about to get worse. None of them did.

Mercer/2026-01-03
The Quiet Downgrade: How Dell, Lenovo, and HP Warned Investors While Ghosting Customers
News

Stop Killing Games in 2026: The Fight That Refused to Die

On March 31, 2024, Ubisoft killed The Crew. By July 2025, 1.4 million people signed a petition demanding publishers stop destroying games they sold. The EU Commission must respond by mid-2026. This is the story of the largest consumer rights campaign in gaming history—and whether it changes anything.

Mercer/2026-01-01
Stop Killing Games in 2026: The Fight That Refused to Die
Analysis

2026 Gaming Preview: What to Expect (and What to Worry About) in the Year Ahead

As we roll into 2026, PC gaming stands at a crossroads: groundbreaking AI-powered frame generation that can multiply framerates by 8x, alongside memory shortages threatening to drive GPU prices up 10-40%. Here's what I'm expecting—and where I think the industry gets it right and wrong.

Mercer/2025-12-30
2026 Gaming Preview: What to Expect (and What to Worry About) in the Year Ahead
Analysis

Battlefield 6 Is Losing Players on Steam — What the Data Actually Shows

New data shows Battlefield 6 has lost over 80% of its Steam player base in three months, while ARC Raiders has retained 85% of its audience. We analyze why players are shifting to the new extraction shooter.

Mercer/2025-12-30
Battlefield 6 Is Losing Players on Steam — What the Data Actually Shows
Analysis

Windows 11 Gaming: A Year-End Reality Check

More than half of Steam users are on Windows 11 now. But is it actually better for gaming? We dig through a year's worth of updates, bugs, and benchmarks to find out what's real and what's Reddit rage.

Mercer/2025-12-31
Windows 11 Gaming: A Year-End Reality Check
News

AMD's Dual-Cache Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Appears in Benchmark Leaks Ahead of CES 2026

AMD's rumored flagship gaming CPU, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 with 192MB of L3 cache, has surfaced in Geekbench and PassMark benchmarks ahead of CES 2026. The dual 3D V-Cache design could solve thread scheduling issues that plague current 16-core X3D processors.

Mercer/2025-12-29
AMD's Dual-Cache Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Appears in Benchmark Leaks Ahead of CES 2026
News

Asus Denies Memory Manufacturing Plans Amid Global DRAM Shortage

Asus officially denies rumors of entering DRAM manufacturing, confirming it has 'no plans to invest in a memory wafer fab' despite the ongoing global memory crisis. The company will instead pass rising costs to customers through higher PC prices.

Mercer/2025-12-29
Asus Denies Memory Manufacturing Plans Amid Global DRAM Shortage
News

Ubisoft Confirms Security Breach After Rainbow Six Siege Hackers Give Players Billions in Credits

Ubisoft has confirmed a security breach forced Rainbow Six Siege servers offline after hackers flooded player accounts with billions in premium currency, unlocked rare developer-only cosmetics, and hijacked the game's ban system. The company says no players will be punished, but a full rollback is underway—and questions about how this happened remain unanswered.

Mercer/2025-12-28
Ubisoft Confirms Security Breach After Rainbow Six Siege Hackers Give Players Billions in Credits
Investigation

Inside Ubisoft's Decline: Workplace Culture, Failed Games, and the Fight Over Digital Ownership

On December 27, 2025, hackers breached Rainbow Six Siege and gave players $13 million in premium currency. It was the perfect end to a year that saw Ubisoft lose 85% of its market value. This is the full story of the workplace scandals, failed launches, and strategic missteps that led to the collapse.

Mercer/2025-12-29
Inside Ubisoft's Decline: Workplace Culture, Failed Games, and the Fight Over Digital Ownership
News

LG Unveils UltraGear evo 2026: 39-Inch 5K2K OLED & 52-Inch Ultrawide

LG has unveiled its new UltraGear evo gaming monitor brand ahead of CES 2026, featuring three flagship models that push into 5K territory. If you've been waiting for higher-resolution ultrawide OLEDs, this might finally be it.

Mercer/2025-12-27
LG Unveils UltraGear evo 2026: 39-Inch 5K2K OLED & 52-Inch Ultrawide
Analysis

CES 2026 Preview: What's Confirmed, What's Rumored, and What to Expect in Las Vegas

CES 2026 kicks off in just over a week, and the usual mix of confirmed announcements, credible leaks, and hopeful speculation is swirling. Here's what we actually know, what's still rumor, and what to watch for when the show opens January 6-9 in Las Vegas.

Mercer/2025-12-27
CES 2026 Preview: What's Confirmed, What's Rumored, and What to Expect in Las Vegas
Investigation

MindsEye: Anatomy of 2025's Biggest Gaming Disaster

How £233 million, a Grand Theft Auto legend, and eight years of development produced the worst-reviewed game of 2025—and what internal documents and employee testimony reveal about what went wrong.

Mercer/2025-12-21
MindsEye: Anatomy of 2025's Biggest Gaming Disaster
Analysis

How a Solo Developer's $15 Game Outsold AAA Blockbusters—And Exposed the Industry's Weakness

In March 2025, a single Australian developer released a drug-dealing simulator with zero marketing budget. Within weeks, it peaked at 459,000 concurrent players—beating Grand Theft Auto V and Monster Hunter Wilds. By May, it had sold 8 million copies and generated $125 million.

Mercer/2025-12-24
How a Solo Developer's $15 Game Outsold AAA Blockbusters—And Exposed the Industry's Weakness
Investigation

The Fall of Xbox: How Microsoft's Gaming Division Went From Industry Leader to Crisis Mode

In 2025, Xbox sold 1.7 million consoles globally—less than the original Nintendo Switch, which launched in 2017. Microsoft laid off over 15,000 gaming employees, shut down beloved studios mid-development, and watched its flagship subscription service stagnate.

Mercer/2025-12-18
The Fall of Xbox: How Microsoft's Gaming Division Went From Industry Leader to Crisis Mode
Analysis

ASUS May Manufacture Its Own DDR5 Memory by 2026—But Can They Actually Pull It Off?

The memory crisis has reached a critical inflection point. With DDR5 prices increasing by triple digits year-over-year and major manufacturers abandoning consumer markets, ASUS is reportedly considering an unprecedented move: manufacturing its own DRAM by Q2 2026.

Mercer/2025-12-26
ASUS May Manufacture Its Own DDR5 Memory by 2026—But Can They Actually Pull It Off?
News

RAM Prices Jump 30-50% as Memory Makers Pivot to AI Chips

Computer memory prices have climbed significantly over the past six months, and market analysts expect the trend to continue. If you're planning a PC build or laptop purchase, here's what's happening and why.

Mercer/2025-12-25
RAM Prices Jump 30-50% as Memory Makers Pivot to AI Chips
Analysis

Memory Prices Surge as AI Infrastructure Reshapes Supply Chain

Computer memory prices have climbed sharply over the past six months, and if you've been watching the market, you've probably noticed your upgrade plans getting more expensive. Here's what the data shows, what's driving the changes, and what industry forecasts suggest about the months ahead.

Mercer/2025-12-26
Memory Prices Surge as AI Infrastructure Reshapes Supply Chain
News

Nvidia to Cut Consumer GPU Production 40%: 2026 Price & Supply Forecast

Reports from Board Channels and DigiTimes suggest Nvidia is planning to reduce GeForce production by 30-40% in early 2026. If accurate, this represents a significant shift in the graphics card market.

Mercer/2025-12-25
Nvidia to Cut Consumer GPU Production 40%: 2026 Price & Supply Forecast
Analysis

EA's $55 Billion Buyout: What the Debt Load Means for Your Favorite Studios

Electronic Arts shareholders approved a historic transaction on December 22, 2025. With $20 billion in new debt, what does this mean for BioWare, Respawn, and the games you love? Here's the deep dive into the deal structure.

Mercer/2025-12-28
EA's $55 Billion Buyout: What the Debt Load Means for Your Favorite Studios