After revealing its next Doom game last summer, id Software is almost ready to release it: the studio announced that Doom: The Dark Ages is launching on May 15th.

The news came as part of Xbox’s most recent Developer Direct livestream, which provided the best look yet at the prequel. As the name implies, The Dark Ages is set in a medieval fantasy realm and takes place long before the events of Doom Eternal and the franchise’s 2016 reboot. The developers say that the new game features a much bigger world with a larger emphasis on story — including plenty of cutscenes — but the most important changes appear to be with how The Dark Ages will play.

A big focus this time around is on melee combat. Since this is a Doom set in medieval times, that means players will get access to brutal new melee weapons like a spiked mace and iron flail. The scale of battles also seems to have ramped up. We already knew that players would get a mount in the form of a cybernetic dragon, but today’s reveal also showed off a skyscraper-sized mech suit so that the Doomslayer can fight enemies the size of kaiju.

Another big change is a greater emphasis on accessibility through a series of gameplay sliders. These let you adjust things like the game speed or parry timing, either ramping them up or down. Essentially, these options should give players the ability to really customize the experience, either making it more approachable or a whole lot harder. There are standard difficulty options as well.

Doom: The Dark Ages is coming to the PS5, Xbox, and PC when it launches in May.

Social network X has grown its in-app revenue over the past year, despite a decline in active users, new data shows. Global consumer spending in the X mobile app across both iOS and Android has climbed by 76.3% year-over-year, when comparing two similar periods in January, according to data from app intelligence firm Appfigures. However, other data indicates X’s daily active users have declined, as usage of rivals like Bluesky and Threads has increased.

In an analysis performed by Appfigures, X’s global consumer spending on iOS and Android reached $7.6 million for the period of January 1-20, 2024. During the same time in January 2025, X saw $13.4 million in consumer spending, the firm said. This figure includes in-app purchases made through X’s mobile apps — not revenue from advertising or subscriptions bought on the web, where X users receive a discount on their purchases.

In other words, this is not a number that represents X’s total revenue. X continues to be a largely advertising-driven business, so this is only a window into consumer spending trends.

The addition of xAI’s Grok AI chatbot to X’s app may be helping to fuel the increase in consumer spending, at least in part. There were obvious spikes in net revenue shortly after X began testing a free version of Grok in X in November. This was just ahead of X’s addition of a faster model and a new Grok button to the X app in mid-December 2024 and the launch of a new image generation model on December 9.

X also added an NFL portal in late November to increase sports engagement on its app. This could have boosted X adoption given that sports is one of the most-discussed topics on X.

In the U.S., X saw 61.4% growth in year-over-year consumer spending on iOS and Android, growing from $4.4 million from January 1-20, 2024, to $7.1 million during the same period in 2025.

While global mobile consumer spending is up year-over-year, the monthly totals haven’t always been on a steady climb. In some months, the spending dropped, and in other months it climbed. During 2025, the lowest month was February, with spending of $9.6 million across iOS and Android. December saw the highest total with $25.6 million, after increases that started in October leading up to the U.S. elections.

The top in-app purchases on the X iOS app in January 2025 are as follows: at No. 1 is the X Premium Monthly subscription ($11/mo.), followed by the X Premium Plus Monthly subscription ($30/mo.), X Premium Basic Monthly ($4/mo.), a subscription to Elon Musk’s account directly ($4/mo.), and X Premium’s Annual Subscription ($114.99/yr.).

Despite the jump in consumer spending towards year-end, further data suggests that X may be losing active users.

Both X’s U.S. and worldwide daily active users decreased in January 2025, with each figure down by roughly 13% compared with the same time last year, according to estimates from app intelligence provider Sensor Tower, shared in response to a data request from TechCrunch. Year-over-year growth in monthly active users on X has also dipped slightly, Sensor Tower found.

The firm’s principal market insights manager, Jonathan Briskma, told TechCrunch that X had more than 313 million worldwide mobile app MAUs (monthly active users) in the fourth quarter of 2024 and more than 300 million worldwide mobile app MAUs through January 2025 month-to-date.

As X’s active usage dipped when comparing the same period in January 2024 with January 2025, daily active users on competing apps Instagram Threads and Bluesky jumped up more than 170% and 495%, respectively. This growth has been driven by a number of factors, including international expansions and the addition of several new features and functionality across both platforms.

We asked X if it could share its own internal MAUs figure, but the company did not respond.

• Wix has announced a new integration with YouTube Shopping
• YouTube Shopping allows people to purchase products directly through YouTube videos
• The feature is available to creators in specific countries

Wix, one of the best website builders on the market, has announced a new integration with YouTube Shopping, giving store owners a new and popular avenue to sell their products, while also expanding YouTube’s social shopping features.

YouTube Shopping is a relatively new service (first announced in 2021) that allows YouTube creators to tag products within their videos. That way, viewers can easily purchase the items directly from the platform.

Microsoft promised a new game announcement at its Xbox Developer Direct event, and that game turned out to be Ninja Gaiden 4. The new entry in the long-running franchise is being co-developed by Team Ninja along with Platinum Games, the team behind action games like Bayonetta and Nier: Automata. Though no release date was announced, the game will be coming to Xbox, and will be available via Game Pass.

While the Ninja Gaiden franchise has been around since the late ‘80s, it entered into a new era on the Xbox with the bloody, and tough-as-nails Ninja Gaiden on Xbox in 2004. That version, developed by Team Ninja, was ported to a handful of other consoles and also received a number of sequels. Based on the debut trailer, the new game looks to continue the dark action started with the 2004 release, but with even faster gameplay.

Roli on Thursday announced its latest educational product at the NAAM audio show in Anaheim. The simply named Roli Piano builds on products like the Roli Airwave and Piano M, more than doubling the latter’s key count to 49.

The Piano is much like its predecessor in most ways, with MIDI keys that light up and sync with an instructional app played back on a phone or tablet. The Airwave, meanwhile, adds hand tracking into the mix, creating gesture-based sounds.

The new instrument is pricey, at $599, well over double the Piano M’s current $249 price point. The London-based music tech startup is offering up the larger model at $399 for a limited time “super early bird special.”

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a 2025 product launch without some mention of generative AI. That arrives by way of the newly announced Piano AI Assistitant, which the company refers to as, “the first step in using generative AI to make learning to play easier, more intuitive and more fun than ever before.”

The Assistant, which is rolling out as part of the Piano launch, aims to further instruction, while adding music theory into the mix.

Over the past year, the Piano line has become Roli’s primary focus. The pivot toward educational products makes sense for the company, which filed for bankruptcy back in 2021. Products like the Seaboard and Blocks were always cool and clever, but remained niche in the music world.

Music education, on the other hand, offers massive market potential for a smaller hardware maker.

“The only way to stop data from ending up in the wrong hands is by not collecting it in the first place.” This is the claim included in an ad from one of the best VPN providers around that ran on Monday, January 20, 2025, in the New York Times.

Through a cartoon-style FBI agent, the Swiss company Mullvad seeks to shed light on the tensions between technologists and law enforcement around encryption.

“Pocketpair Publishing provides comprehensive support for game development through funding, development assistance, and publishing for indie game developers and small studios,” Pocketpair wrote in its press release.

We don’t even have to wait long for the company’s first game. Pocketpair Publishing has teamed up with Tales of Kenzera: Zau developer Surgent Studios to produce its next title, a horror game slated for release later this year. Surgent Studios was founded by video game voice performer and on-screen actor Abubakar Salim. After launching Tales of Kenzera, an afro-futuristic metroidvania, the company was forced to furlough its games division due to lack of funding — a common occurrence that’s become endemic over the last two years.

The indie game space has not been insulated from the effects of the layoff crisis that’s plagued the game industry. The big publishers, from which smaller indie outfits typically receive funding, are tightening their belts, choosing to either keep their cash or only dole it out to projects they believe are sure to make money. And even the publishers known for supporting quality indie games, like Annapurna Games, are having a hard time staying in operation.

However, Pocketpair Publishing joins a group of new companies that have entered the indie games space via non-traditional means. In 2022, YouTube video game critic and content creator videogamedunkey, created his own publishing company Bigmode which published its first game, Animal Well, to critical acclaim last year. Also last year, Innersloth, developers of the wildly-popular murder mystery multiplayer game Among Us, established Outersloth, which is an indie game fund rather than a traditional publisher. Like Outersloth and Bigmode, Pocketpair Publishing is seeking to parlay its commercial success into an avenue for more indie games like Palworld to get made.

“Game development comes with many challenges,” said Pocketpair Publishing head John Buckley. “But we want to ease that process as much as possible and provide an environment where creators can pursue their dreams.”

Voyager Technologies has filed its confidential paperwork to go public, according to multiple media reports. The defense and space company has raised over $215 million from investors like Afterburner Capital and Balerion Space Ventures, according to PitchBook. The Denver-based company will likely be valued between $2 billion and $3 billion, and Morgan Stanley and Latham & Watkins are expected to lead the IPO, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

The company, founded in 2019, has a wide set of offerings, from propulsion technologies for defense purposes to building in-space infrastructure. Voyager has also forged powerful partnerships in the industry, linking up with Palantir to integrate Palantir’s AI into Voyager’s offerings. 

Our Samsung Galaxy Unpacked live coverage may have wrapped up, but we’re still feeling the excitement of seeing the new Samsung Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, S25 Ultra, and all-new S25 Edge revealed unto the world.

The new flagship Galaxy lineup brings with it a handful of upgrades for each of the three models, with increased RAM, new AI tools, and the blazing-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.

Though they mobilized in a few instances in support of Trump ahead of the 2024 election, it was, overall, fairly lackluster, especially compared to 2020. This drove speculation that the gang was on its last legs.

Then, on Monday, as Trump was taking the oath of office, more than 100 uniformed Proud Boys marched through the streets of Washington, DC, led by their south-Florida chapter.

It was a striking scene—one that seemed intended to send a clear message: “We’re back.”

Ever since January 6, 2021, DC has been perceived by the far right as a no-go zone for Trump supporters of all stripes. But on Monday the Proud Boys chanted “Whose streets—our streets.” They received a hero’s welcome by other Trump supporters in the crowd, as seen on video recorded by freelance journalist Ford Fischer.

On Tuesday, as bureaucratic snafus delayed the release of about a dozen January 6-ers from the DC jail, protesters gathered outside. Among them were at least four uniformed Proud Boys. Though three of them had their faces covered, they milled around with what appeared to be zero concern about stigma from others present. Oath Keeper founder Stewart Rhodes, whose 18-year sentence for seditious conspiracy was commuted by Trump, also appeared outside the jail—having walked free from a federal prison in Maryland the previous night.

One of the Proud Boys present spoke at the impromptu rally outside of the jail, identifying himself as “Harry Fox.” (This was the same name that other Proud Boys had given to reporters on Inauguration Day.)

“Donald Trump is back, baby. He is back, and he is stronger than ever,” he said over the microphone. “I’m so proud of what the American citizens did that day,” he added, referring to January 6, “for standing up finally after decades of being abused and oppressed by an authoritarian regime.”

He ended his speech with the Proud Boys slogan: “I am a Western chauvinist, and I will not apologize for creating the modern world.” The crowd cheered.

Tarrio, in his phone call to Jones on Tuesday, made it clear that he views the role of the Proud Boys as being no different to what it was four years ago—he sees them as the foot soldiers and the muscle of the GOP. “I think the future of the club will be what it’s always been,” said Tarrio. “A group of men that love America, get around and drink beer, and protect Trump supporters from being assaulted … We will defend ourselves and Trump supporters from being assaulted for their political views.”

He suggested that he feels vindicated by Trump’s election victory and decision to pardon almost everyone involved in the January 6 riot. “We went through hell, and I’m gonna tell you: It was worth it,” Tarrio told Jones. “What we stood for and what those guys stood for is what we’ve been fighting for, is what we saw yesterday on the inauguration stage … I can’t tell you it’s been easy. But I will tell you it’s been worth it.”