Wordle got so popular by early January that it spawned copycats on the iPhone App Store, one of which even used the name "Wordle" directly.

"You bought a Big Mac in McDonald's, but you can't just go over to Burger King and be like, 'Now make me a Big Mac,'" one developer told Insider.

The mobile gaming giant that owns "Words with Friends" and "Farmville" is being purchased in cash and stock deal worth $12.7 billion.

Silicon Valley is buying into the hype for "the metaverse" Zuckerberg ushered in when he announced Facebook's name change to Meta.

"It was a uniquely perfect setup. There won't be another like it. Much like #thebigshort," Burry tweeted.

Women at Riot Games in California won a $100 million settlement after outing the company's "bro culture."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into why Tesla lets owners of its cars play such games while driving.

The US auto safety regulator said playing video games on Tesla touch-screens while driving "may distract the driver and increase the risk of a crash."

With a huge new "Halo" game and a $300 Xbox that you can actually find in stores, Microsoft is outselling Sony's wildly popular PlayStation 5.

Vintage tech is making a comeback as people push back on virtual life: "It takes you away from having to use a computer for everything in your life."

In less than a week, makers of the upcoming game "Legacy" pulled in over $55 million in sales of virtual land tied to NFTs.

Nintendo's Switch was the big winner and Xbox took second place as the best-selling game consoles of the 2021 holiday season.

Even though Microsoft's Xbox group was willing to bend to Apple's demands, it appears as though Apple wouldn't budge.

"We are aware of driver concerns and are discussing the feature with the manufacturer," the NHTSA told Bloomberg following a New York Times report.

Ubisoft announced the release of NFTs and a new platform, Ubisoft Quartz. The digital items will be playable in video games, starting with "Ghost Recon: Breakpoint."

"The thoughts won't stop. Help me," was written alongside a drawing of a handgun and a person with gunshot wounds, prosecutors said.

In Texas, a 19-year-old was shot while attempting to sell his PlayStation 5 console. The suspected shooter was the buyer he was meeting.

"I'm going to be as loud as I can and let people know this is still happening and lives are in danger," said drag queen Elix, who was swatted this month.

A feature for Nintendo's "Animal Crossing" reportedly includes strobe lighting that could trigger seizures in people with epilepsy, a charity said.

The $300 Xbox Series S is outselling the competition on Black Friday 2021, likely because it's the only one that's actually available to buy.

In 1999, when Microsoft execs approached Nintendo about buying the company, Nintendo reportedly "just laughed their asses off" before saying no.

"Arcane," Netflix's new "League of Legends" series, is a hit with audiences around the world, as well as critics.

More than 1,000 Activision Blizzard employees have signed a petition calling for CEO Bobby Kotick to resign.

Netflix's "Arcane," a "League of Legends" animated series, was the streamer's second biggest TV show last week.

With a Nintendo Switch Online membership you can play online multiplayer games on your Switch, along with a selection of classic games.

In 2006, Kotick threatened to have his assistant killed in a voicemail, the WSJ reported. The dispute is said to have been settled out of court.

A blockbuster report details how Activision CEO Bobby Kotick knew for years about reports of sexual harassment and rape at the gaming giant.

"Fortnite" maker Epic Games launched a campaign to take on Google and Apple's app stores. Google's response was swift, and unique to "Fortnite."

Morgan Stanley named companies that can benefit from the metaverse, adding that shares of Roblox are already moving on the trend.

The video-game company reported sharp increases in daily active users, engagement, and purchases of virtual currency.

As the Nintendo Switch continues to dominate, the Japanese gaming powerhouse is already working on its next major console.

If you haven't already bought Nintendo's wildly popular Switch console, it could get much more difficult to find one in the coming months.

Netflix announced on Tuesday that five mobile games were available to all subscribers, but only on Android devices.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg just announced that a version of gaming classic "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" is coming to the Oculus Quest.

Instead of cancelling BlizzCon due to COVID, Activision is cancelling next year's event amid ongoing sexual misconduct allegations.

The US state's revenue arm sold about 29,000 GameStop shares for around $5 million, thanks to the meme stock's outperformance this year.

Critical Role is among a group of 100 popular Twitch streaming channels whose revenue data appears to have been part of a massive Twitch hack.

The head of game studio Eidos-Montreal said the company's 500-odd staff won't work Fridays, and meetings will be limited to 30 minutes.

Twitch said "a malicious third party" broke into its systems following a "server configuration change," leading to a huge leak of company data.

The highest paid streaming channel on Twitch earned nearly $10 million in two years from Amazon alone, according to data leaked by alleged hackers.

"Jeff Bezos paid $970 million for this," the apparent hackers said in a post on 4chan. "We're giving it away FOR FREE."

Amazon's last big game was so poorly received that it was pulled from digital storefronts. "New World" may be its first major gaming hit.

Netflix announced on Tuesday it bought the gaming studio Night School Studio, best known for the game "Oxenfree."

Games like "Grand Theft Auto V" are unicorns in the video game business. Amazon wants to make several.

Sorry "Fortnite" fans: It's starting to sound like the world's biggest game may never return to Apple's iPhones.

Thanks to "Can you pet the dog?," chances are that - yes - you can pet the dog in your favorite video game.

A fanmade NSFW animation of Ankha from the Animal Crossing series has become a fixation on TikTok, with links and memes spreading on the platform.

PlayStation 5 owners must pay $10 per game to upgrade from the PlayStation 4 version. Xbox owners pay nothing to play games on newer consoles.

The verdict in Apple and Epic's months-long legal fight is a major win for app makers, a big blow to Apple's App Store, and a partial loss for Epic.

The retro video game market has exploded, with multi-million dollar sales of classic Mario games - and it may be a carefully orchestrated bubble.

John Gibson stepped down as Tripwire Interactive CEO after tweeting that he was "proud" of the Supreme Court, the gaming studio announced Monday.

Gaming companies are leading the way in creating virtual worlds that bring together myriad technologies, Ball said.

Sorry, kids: China's government is cutting down on game time for kids to just three hours per week, and only on Friday through Sunday.

The investment bank looked at Activision Blizzard's pipeline as the company faces as sexual harassment lawsuit in California.

The lawsuit alleges that female Activision employees faced "constant sexual harassment," and the company's HR shredded evidence of those claims.

The Chewy cofounder spent $76 million on a GameStop stake worth nearly $2 billion today, thanks to the meme stock's surging price.

A new PlayStation 5 model quietly launched in the last few weeks, but the difference is so small you may not notice.

The state of California is suing Activision after a 2-year investigation found that female employees faced "constant sexual harassment."

It's shockingly easy and inexpensive to buy dozens of pirated Nintendo games on Amazon, and they even come on a console that looks like a Game Boy.

"Our values as employees are not accurately reflected in the words and actions of our leadership," the letter from Activision employees to execs said.

California's employment agency said Activision Blizzard's female staff were subjected to "constant sexual harassment" and paid less for their work.

These are Insider's biggest healthcare stories for July 22.

Amazon's big new PC game, "New World," is killing expensive NVIDIA graphics cards like the RTX 3090, according to some players.

Netflix reportedly wants to have games on its service as soon as next year, but you shouldn't expect anything like "Super Mario" or "Call of Duty."

A near-perfect, unopened copy of "Super Mario 64" just sold for over $1.5 million dollars - nearly double the next most-expensive game of all time, a rare copy of "The Legend of Zelda."

GameStop shares have now tumbled more than 20% since the start of July.

Companies reportedly remove exposed bone, realistic blood, and politics from games in exchange for access the world's biggest video game market.

The two-time WNBA MVP and six-time All-Star joins Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Luka Dončić as an NBA 2K22 cover athlete.

The sealed copy of the 1987 video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System sold for $870,000 at auction.

If you've been yelling "hodl" at people for months, this GameStop Lego set is exactly how you'll want to spend those tendies.

The system, called "Midnight Patrol," aims to prevent under-18s from posing as adults to circumvent a Chinese ban on late-night gaming.

If you're one of the 85 million Nintendo Switch owners out there, you almost certainly don't need the newly announced $350 Switch OLED model.

After months of rumors, Nintendo finally unveiled its latest version of the Nintendo Switch on Monday: It costs $350 and arrives in October.

Microsoft just made a not-so-thinly veiled jab at Apple's App Store policy of taking a 30% cut of all transactions.

Mac Walters, the project director for "Mass Effect: Legendary Edition," thinks TV is the best fit for games adaptations.

The rich environments and ultra-detailed vehicles in "Microsoft Flight Simulator "and "Forza Horizon 5" showcase how powerful new game consoles are.

The sound team behind 2021's "Mortal Kombat" went above and beyond to create the franchise's famously gruesome sound effects.

Five Nights at Freddy's creator Scott Cawthon announced his retirement about a week after outrage erupted over his donations to Republican lawmakers.

Whether you have an Xbox, a gaming PC, or both, Microsoft just made a very strong argument for its "Netflix for gaming" subscription service.

"We know some people want us to lay out a whole detailed plan today, but that's not going to happen," GameStop chairman Ryan Cohen told investors.

GameStop continues a major "transformation" from ailing video game retailer to the "Amazon of gaming" with the hire of its latest CEO.

From Amazon to Google to Disney, major tech and entertainment companies have tried - and failed - to break into gaming. Netflix might be the latest.

Sonic the Hedgehog went through big changes during the making of Paramount's 2020 film. But from 1991 to 2020, he went through many more.

Nintendo is expected to reveal the new console in the near future, ahead of the video-game industry's annual trade show in June.

The Gerald A. Lawson Endowment fund also seeks to increase minority representation in the gaming and tech industry.

If Apple loses the case, it could be forced to allow competing App Stores on iPhones and iPads - and that could cost Apple billions of dollars.

A push into the lucrative gaming market could help save Netflix from slowing subscriber growth numbers.

Ensign Peak Advisors' GameStop shares ballooned in value from under $900,000 to $8.7 million in the first quarter.

The PlayStation 5 is going to be hard to find until at least next year, Sony executives reportedly said recently in an analyst briefing.

Xbox consoles have never been profitable, a Microsoft representative said in a court testimony on Wednesday.

A major court battle between Apple and "Fortnite" maker Epic Games is about to start where both Tim Cook and Tim Sweeney are scheduled to appear.

In an email to Apple leadership, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney laid out plans to intentionally violate Apple's App Store terms of service.

The video-game provider said it purchased 1,717 bitcoins at an average price of $58,226 per coin, including fees and expenses.

In 2020, Chewy cofounder Ryan Cohen invested millions in GameStop. In 2021, he's enacting an elaborate plan to "transform" the company.

PlayStation fans were furious that Sony had plans to close the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita digital storefronts. Now, Sony's reversing course.

GMO owned 37,700 shares in the video-games retailer, but cashed them in a few years ago. They would be worth a lot more today.

GameStop's merchandising boss also forfeited around $20 million of stock because he missed his targets.

"I think it's going to get a second kick at life," O'Leary said about the video-games retailer, which boasts a passionate online following.

The North Carolina gaming powerhouse behind "Fortnite" is worth just shy of $30 billion, according to Epic Games' latest valuation.

Six months after the PlayStation 5 launched, Sony is giving the console its first major software update.