Assassin's Creed Shadows adding the ability to go prone has prompted a rethink of the series' usual controlsNot all surfaces are now climbable, either.Image credit: Ubisoft News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief Published on Jan. 7, 2025 Assassin's Creed Shadows features a rejig of the series' usual controls due to the addition of being able to go prone.In a blog published today that goes into detail on Shadows' parkour system, developer Ubisoft noted that the Assassin's Creed franchise's typical crouch and dodge buttons have been swapped. This change is due to the mapping of the prone ability to the same button as crouch, which now sits on the X button on a standard Xbox controller. Tapping X now makes your character crouch, while holding X will make you go prone. The ability to dodge, roll, and drop down while parkouring is now mapped to the B button instead."In Shadows, dodge has been merged with parkour down mechanics, which unlocks a whole bunch of new parkour moves," Shadows' associate game director Simon Lemay-Comtois said. "This new mapping also disconnects stance-switch (eg. standing, crouching, prone) from parkour, ensuring you can use any stances without accidentally going down a rooftop when you don't want to."Many traditional Assassin's Creed parkour moves return as expected, including the ability to perform a recovery roll to reduce impact and noise when landing from height. The ability to climb down has been augmented by another, flashier, option to perform a directional dodge over a ledge, meanwhile:Watch on YouTubeIf you're high enough to take fall damage, an additional prompt when parkouring downwards will be required. Of course, the franchise's handy hay bales are still present to cushion your fall in certain spots.Watch on YouTubeFinally, here's a look at Shadows protagonist Naoe demonstrating the new prone position. You can, of course, assassinate enemies while prone. Thus:Watch on YouTubeOne other big change within Shadows is that only some surfaces will be climbable. This is a change to how various recent Assassin's Creed entries have let you scamper all over cliffs and up sheer rock faces, influenced in part by the Shadows' addition of a grappling hook. In short, it means you'll need to look more carefully for surfaces that have physical handholds."This is a pretty big deal for us," Lemay-Comtois says. "This means we had to be more thoughtful about creating interesting parkour highways and afforded us more control about where Naoe can go, and where Yasuke can't, making our two playstyles even more contrasted."Assassin's Creed Shadows will finally arrive on 14th February after last year's high-profile delay. We recently learnt that Naoe has a "Naruto run" and that the game will have a "canon" story option for players who don't like making narrative choices.

Former Annapurna Interactive staff reportedly taking over Private Division portfolio following Take-Two saleIncluding Kerbal Space Program.Image credit: Squad/Private Division News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on Jan. 7, 2025 Former Annapurna Interactive staff - who departed the acclaimed video game publisher last September as part of a "mass exodus" - have reportedly established a new company and will be taking over indie label Private Division's portfolio, which was sold by Take-Two last year.Annapurna's entire video game division - responsible for publishing the celebrated likes of Cocoon, Outer Wilds, and Sayonara Wild Hearts - departed the company late last year, reportedly following a dispute with owner Megan Ellison. At the time, there was suggestion all 25 former employees might reunite under a new name, Verset, which was originally intended to be an Annapurna Interactive spin-off before negotiations broke down.And now, Bloomberg reports former Annapurna Interactive staff are indeed working together again, as part of a still-unnamed new company, which is said to have inherited the games and franchises of Private Division - the indie-focused label behind the likes of Kerbal Space Program 2 that was sold by Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive in November.At the time, Take-Two said it had made the decision to sell the label so it could focus its resources on "growing our core and mobile businesses for the long-term", and that the unnamed buyer had purchased the rights to "substantially all" of Private Division's live and unreleased titles - with the exception of Moon Studios' No Rest for the Wicked.According to Bloomberg's latest report - which cites "people familiar" with the matter - Private Division's buyer was Texas-based private equity firm Haveli Investments. Haveli reportedly then struck a deal with ex-Annapurna employees to fund their new company and place them in charge of distributing the former Private Division titles. These are include the Kerbal Space Program series, upcoming Lord of the Rings farming game Tales of the Shire, and Pokmon developer Game Freak's new action-adventure IP.Bloomberg adds the new arrangement will likely result in a number of layoffs among the approximately 20 Private Division employees Haveli inherited as part of its purchase, although specifics are reportedly still to be finalised.As for what remains of Annapurna Interactive, the publisher previously said it was hiring to fill vacancies left following last year's mass exodus, and that it was "focused on moving forward". Annapurna's future projects - which all appear to be unaffected despite last September's events - include the likes of Mixtape from Beethoven and Dinosaur, Wanderstop from The Stanley Parable creator Davey Wreden, and No Code's Silent Hill: Townfall.Annapurna Interactive's first in-house title, Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth, seemingly faces more significant challenges, however. Game director Chelsea Hash and all other full-time members of the development team reportedly left amid last year's departures, but the company said work would continue despite these setbacks.

Horrific abuse of workers at Indonesian external development studio revealed in new report"No viral, no justice."Image credit: Brandoville News by Ed Nightingale Deputy News Editor Published on Jan. 7, 2025 A new report from People Make Games has detailed disturbing allegations of abuse towards employees at Indonesian studio Brandoville, a company used for art and animation support in games such as Age of Empires 4 and Assassin's Creed Shadows.In 2021, People Make Games reported on crunch culture and the industry's reliance on outsourcing to external developers in order to meet deadlines. Brandoville Studios was one such developer. Little has changed in the industry since that report, but Brandoville's closure a few months ago has lead its employees to now share further stories of their experiences at the studio.At the centre of this report is Christa Sydney, who worked at the company from 2019 until 2024 and says she was subjected to mental and physical abuse by commissioner Kwan Cherry Lai, wife of Brandoville CEO Ken Lai, who ran day-to-day operations.The full report can be watched in the below video, though please note it contains some incredibly harrowing content and footage.100 Slaps: The Breaking News The Games Industry Ignored in 2024Watch on YouTubeSydney describes how Cherry Lai took her under her wing following a dispute early in her career, but how this led to toxic abuse. Initially, Lai imposed a strict working schedule on employees and would purposefully divide employees through gossip and demeaning words, Sydney said.Sydney was actually part of People Make Games' previous report, but says she was later forced by Lai to film a statement in support of Brandoville against her will. Other employees felt she was being brainwashed, it's reported.Sydney now says she was then continuously abused by Lai, including during a work trip to the XDS '22 conference where Lai micromanaged her time and only allowed her to sleep for a few minutes over the course of four days leading up to the event. Further abuse included imposing daily Christian worship, forcing Sydney to write lines like a schoolchild, daily check-ins over WhatsApp of her outfits as part of "quality control", and humiliating her in front of colleagues.Eventually Lai's abuse became physical, forcing Sydney to film herself slapping her face 100 times as punishment, or hitting her head against a door frame until she was concussed before forcing an apology.Another employee, Caesarion Balthazar, had an arrangement with Lai where she would take part of his salary to assist with his spending habits. This led to her, in Balthazar's words, stealing an amount of money equivalent to a month's salary. Additionally, Balthazar says he was told he owed money for expensive training programmes he hadn't yet taken when he tried to leave the company.A third employee, Syifana Afiati, also says she was abused by Lai during her time at Brandoville from 2019 to 2024. Afiati fell pregnant, but was repeatedly overworked by Lai. At one point during the pregnancy Afiati says she was taken to hospital due to an issue, but was still asked to come into the office and work - to which she declined. Afiati's son was born two months prematurely and sadly died four months later in intensive care, however Lai still expected her to work and provided no sympathy or support from the company.In August 2024, Brandoville Studios went into liquidation, though Cherry and Ken Lai convinced a handful of employees to stay and begin a new company: LaiLai Studios. Sydney was one such employee, but says she was subsequently subjected to direct physical violence from Cherry Lai on multiple occasions.Sydney eventually escaped and compiled evidence against Lai. Media reports in Indonesia went viral, which finally lead to police investigations. This was required due to the local phrase "no viral, no justice", stemming from mistrust in the police and justice system.In response to the allegations, Cherry Lai issued a statement to People Make Games, bizarrely stating: "To me my part of the story is not important, as long as my team are good and safe now." However, further discussion was declined.Other employees claimed Ken Lai was Cherry's "biggest enabler" and should've done more to stop this abuse. Sydney and others however say they believe Ken is yet another victim of Cherry's abuse and his silence comes from a place of fear.The report concludes by noting how the treatment of outsourced workers goes largely unnoticed and unremarked upon by the video games industry due to its discomfort discussing outsourced work, despite it being a crucial part of game development. Eurogamer has contacted Microsoft and Ubisoft for comment on their connections to Brandoville.

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Contents hide Every year, the Call of Duty franchise manages to set new records by generating huge revenue as millions get their hands on the latest release, often bolstered by expensive battle passes microtransactions after release. While Activision often flexes the billions generated through sales and microtransactions, Call of Dutys publisher rarely shares the intel on the budgets required to create a blockbuster first-person shooter.It takes several years and a huge budget to create a triple-A release year after year. Sometimes, a huge budget doesnt mean a successful release. A recent court filing has revealed the most expensive Call of Duty, on record, ended up selling the least number of copies compared to previous games. Black Ops Cold War didnt sell despite huge budgetA report from GameFile reveals Activision spent a total of $700 million on the development of 2020s Black Ops Cold War throughout development, including the six seasons of post-launch content. The number appeared from a document filed by Patrick Kelly, Activisions head of creative overseeing Call of Duty.Although Black Ops Cold War had the most budget, the game sold 30 million copies. A respectable total but far lower than other entries in the franchise. The filing also revealed 2015s Black Ops 3 cost $450 million, selling 43 million copies while 2019s Modern Warfare reboot cost $640 million and recorded 41 million sales.Developed by Black Ops 6 developer Treyarch and Raven Software, Black Ops Cold War launched at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when studios had to adapt to new working methods to create games for a world in lockdown.Was the pandemic to blame?Theres a high chance the pandemic played a role in Black Ops Cold War recording significantly lower sales than its predecessors showing a large budget doesnt necessarily mean a well-received product.At its core, Black Ops Cold War isnt the worst Call of Duty game ever made. But, considering it launched with one of the largest budgets ever seen, its likely Activision saw the Black Ops 4 sequel as a flop after struggling to meet the high bar set by Modern Warfare and older Black Ops games.For more CoD, check out the best C9 loadout along with the best keyboard and mouse settings to keep you shooting straight. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarPlatform(s):PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Shooter7VideoGamerRelated TopicsCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Story TimeIt might only be Week One, but I think Ive already played one of 2025s best gamesAs first impressions go, its difficult to get better than this - and I genuinely think it could end up being one of the most exciting games of 2025.Image credit: Hazelight/VG247 Article by Alex Donaldson Assistant Editor Published on Jan. 7, 2025 I love it when a video game makes me say wow out loud. Its even better when it can happen often - and such was the case in an one-hour hands-on session with Split Fiction, the new game from Hazelight Studios thats set to once again be published by EA.As a co-op game, my play partner for the session is Hazelight founder Josef Fares. In Britain, wed call him a pretty flash dude. In the modern vernacular that sort-of gives me a headache, youd say he has rizz. Hes dressed so well that I almost want to apologize that Im coming to him from some nasty video game website and not to do a GQ profile. As a luxury watch nerd, my eyes flick to his wrist the second we shake hands. Im sufficiently impressed.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Another fun way to summarize Fares is this: I often use my phone as my dictaphone. Once a recording is complete, Googles AI whizzes into action and does a rough (but often woefully inaccurate) transcription of the conversation; based on that text it gives it a name. Chatting to the boss behind Flight Simulator, the AI calls the conversation Flight. Chatting to Capcoms hunting honcho Ryozo Tsujimoto, it unsurprisingly picks the word Monster. Makes sense. My chat with Fares? That gets named Shitload. This tracks - not just because of the refreshingly colorful way the studio boss speaks, but also because of what this game is.A shitload of stuff is very much the design philosophy behind Split Fiction. This isnt in an overwhelming open world icon vomit way, though. Following on from the award-winning It Takes Two, Split Fiction is a linear adventure with the odd bit of side content that instead aims to just throw something all new at you practically every few minutes. The result is pretty breathtaking: like I say, it made me say wow, or some other more colorful variation of that, more than once.Watch on YouTubeIn many ways, the killer philosophy here is the same one thats driven Hazelights last two, or three, games. That means there is, to some extent, a risk of any new game feeling like more of the same - and that was the fear that crept into my mind when I was first briefed, before the announcement, on the nature of what Split Fiction is. But the games clever design, interesting setting concept, and constant search for new ideas means that this feels nothing like It Takes Two, even if at very first blush they share much in common.The concept is essentially all about a clash of opposites. We have two protagonists (named after Fares young daughters, Zoe and Mio) that are strangers with very different personalities. The pair have one thing in common: they are both authors. But their tastes in fiction diverge greatly: Mio is a sci-fi writer, while Zoe is about the wistful sword and sandals of fantasy.The pair happen to visit the headquarters of some company that has shades of Assassins Creeds evil Abstergo - they can put people into some brain-scanning machine that can then extract the stories in their mind and make them a virtual reality experience of sorts. Only one person is meant to end up in this machine at a time, but somehow Zoe and Mio end up in there together - and so their worlds, both corporeal and imagined, collide.From here, the actual video game bit of Split Fiction is always - if you excuse the phrase - split between the two fictions. Get it? Youll play one level where Mio and Zoe battle their way through some Blade Runner-y sci-fi cityscape, then in the very next theyll tumble into a delightful fantasy forest of Zoes creation. Dios Mio! | Image credit: Hazelight Studios / Electronic ArtsHow this framework is used is utterly delightful, and plays on video game concepts and tropes in a manner that thrills. So, yes, some of the science fiction levels briefly resemble the puzzles of Metroid. But another is a more contemporary concept, dropping you into an alarmingly good recreation of a snowboarding game like SSX, complete with tricks, grinding, and scoring mechanics - it just happens to be taking place within a sci-fi level.Fares knows Hazelight is onto something here. He grins as I sort of reel in my chair in disbelief as he keeps repeatedly opening Split Fictions debug menus to teleport me from one level to another, then another. Take a look at this mechanic. Now this. Now this. Games are art, right? Theyre not just content. I believe that with all my heart. But this is a game with a whole lot of content - and by that I dont mean the same thing stuffed to bursting, I mean loads of truly different content. Shitloads, if you will.Sometimes stuff is just in here because its cool. Sometimes you look at it and go, well, somebody on the team clearly likes Contra, or somebody thought this was a funny gag, which is the thing that likely most often applies to optional segments that toss out new gameplay mechanics for ten or fifteen minutes, never to be seen again. Some of the more consequential design is of course driven by the co-op nature of the game, which like Hazelights other titles, is compulsory.Minute-to-minute between the stuff that wildly changes for each level, you can obviously expect tight platforming, some lovely cinematic moments, pitch-perfect split screen framing, and clever little puzzles thatll require player communication to progress. This is arguably the first hurdle for a game such as this, not all the crazy inventive stuff: but of course, Hazelight has all that down pat. This is something the developer has been practicing for some time, which is likely why theyve been able to deliver something with such impressive depth and polish.I think we're getting better and better at it, because we know we have done co-op for such a long time, Fares says, clearly happy with my response.We're almost the best in the world at what we're doing because nobody else is doing what we're doing - the idea of , like the written design from the beginning as a co-op. You have your single-player that does split screens and that, but none that does this from the beginning. Wood if you could. | Image credit: Hazelight StudiosAll of this has led to challenges, of course. Take the snowboarding I mentioned earlier, for instance - theres a bar of quality that Fares insists the team hits, because players are sensitive to quality of even something they only play for a few minutes.As a player, when you play on a snowboard, you expect it to play like a snowboard. And thats acceptable - cos a player shouldnt be thinking - the player doesnt know that, oh, if I play a combat game like Devil May Cry, they worked on polishing that combat for the whole time. But in this game, we cant do that. Yet as a player, you expect it to play like a combat game, Fares explains.In a sense, were not doing ourselves any favors. But we need to release something thats polished and tight, and thats the biggest challenge, but thats also the thing that we have become very, very good at within Hazelight. We can identify what mechanics we can really polish or not. Sometimes early, sometimes late, but we can kind of see better and better.Almost as if to demonstrate, were back in the demo. Theres a great trailer for the game that was shown shortly after my hands-on at The Game Awards, narrated by Fares. Its a pretty great and explainer for a game that I actually think isnt so easy to explain. But now Fares is going into spoiler territory, clicking through the dev toolbox like a mad-man, showing me bonkers mechanics and systems from later in the game; even from the very last level. Its nothing I can talk about, but once again Im rocking back in my chair, like, my god, these guys are insane. In a good way! Wall-to-wall fun. | Image credit: Hazelight StudiosThere are two other things Id say about Split Fiction. Its just about stuff the games approach to development and design reminds me of. The first is just - this is a game with a very Nintendo-like energy, but for the fact its led by a man who cusses like a salty sailor. The second is a more specifically British comparison: it reminds me a little bit of Doctor Who.Bear with me, yeah? But the thing about Doctor Who thats wonderful, which makes it difficult to make but also incredible, is that nothing is really predictable. Think about Star Trek. Any given episode of The Next Generation, or Discovery, or whatever, is set mostly on the ship. Theres a bunch of lovely, expensive standing sets that get used week-in, week-out. Then they beam down to a planet, a couple of scenes in front of a matte painting or green screen, a redshirt dies, beam back to the ship, more ship scenes, done. Point is, those expensive ship sets end up as the very center of the show.By comparison, Doctor Who is bonkers. Its a silly concept. Through a sixtyplus year history, for the most part the shows only standing set is a single room. After that, every week is something different, something new. They build a whole planet, spend the full 45 minutes there, then rip it to pieces and never return. Months of work gets used for ten minutes and then never used again. In Doctor Who, the ship is just a tool - in a sort of chaotic way, the show has no center.Anyway, you can probably see what Im needling at. The Trek manner of doing things is a lot like traditional game development - while what Hazelight is doing on Split Fiction is more Doctor Who-esque - a bold, slightly mad willingness to just build stuff up, knock it down, and throw it out in minutes. The player should be left reeling by the speed at which theyre encountering new stuff - and that is by design.In the end, this is a bit of a non-traditional hands-on. Rather than playing full levels in a natural way, it was a hands-on guided tour, hopping through tiny slices of the entire game while its charismatic director enthusiastically explained the vision. Because of that, it can be truly difficult to know exactly how the final game will stand up. But as first impressions go, its difficult to get better than this - and I genuinely think it could end up being one of the most exciting games of 2025.We wont have long to wait, anyway - Split Fiction releases on March 5. I cant wait to try it out in full.

Hard PassGame Pass's wave one January line-up disappointingly offers just one new game for Game Pass Ultimate console usersWhile PC or Game Pass Standard players are getting something fresh, those paying the most aren't getting much.Image credit: EA News by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on Jan. 7, 2025 Microsoft has announced the first wave of January Game Pass line-up, kicking off the new year with a selection of new titles for subscribers to check out. Though, if you're a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber playing on Xbox, you're only getting one new game.That game, EA Sports UFC 5 (Cloud, Xbox Series X/S), is coming on January 14 to the Xbox Series X|S. So is Road 96 (Cloud, Console, and PC), but that's been on the service before and is making a return. Lightyear Frontier (Xbox Series X/S), My Time at Sandrock (Console), Rolling Hills - Sherwood Builders (Xbox Series X/S), and Rolling Hills (Console) are all now playable by Game Pass Standard players. Meanwhile Diablo is just coming to the PC Game Pass. This means those paying the most for the sub are getting one new game on consoles.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Now, obviously, that doesn't seem great. It's worth mentioning that this is just the first wave of games this month, more will be coming in the coming weeks. But as far as value-for-money goes, it's not exactly a great selection for those forking out the big bucks. Especially if they aren't a fan of sports games! Now, games like My Time at Sandrock might be cool, but it's entirely possible that Ultimate subscribers have played it before.As a reminder, Microsoft increased the price of Game Pass Ultimate a little while ago to $19.99 from $16.99. This didn't go down especially well as you can imagine, but even so Game Pass has proven a good value for money on months when some absolute scorchers pop up on the monthly game line-up. This month, judging from this first wave, isn't looking like one of those.If you're a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, what do you think about this? Let us know below!

Crushed DreamsThe Until Dawn movie will have one familiar face, but if you were hoping to see your faves whacked off in live-action, you can probably forget about it"It completely honours the spirit of the game."Image credit: Supermassive Games News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Jan. 7, 2025 Sorry, Until Dawn fans, but the characters you know and love seemingly won't be in the upcoming live-action film adaptation.We're coming up to the anniversary of the live-action movie adaptation of Until Dawn being announced, and while there's still no trailer (even though it's due out this coming April), Sony did at least offer up an update on the film. During its CES 2025 presentation this week, Sony had some big announcements, like a Helldivers 2 movie, a Horizon Zero Dawn movie, a Ghost of Tsushima anime, and a new manga app from Crunchyroll. On top of all that, Screen Gems president Ashley Bucks spoke of the Until Dawn movie, sharing that it isn't a direct adaptation of the game, but that director David F. Sandberg "took the essence of what makes the game great and selected elements we think are the most important to the fans and paid homage to it in the right way."To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Bucks continued, "We then built out Until Dawn's universe using the core premise of a group of friends who encounter a variety of terrifying threats to tell a new story that is truly visceral and horrifying." Essentially, you can probably place a safe bet on none of the main characters from the original game making a return, other than maybe in cameo form. We do know that Peter Stormare is back as his character from the game, Dr. Hill, and the actor appeared in video form to say that he's "so excited to be part of this film, because the whole thing is a love letter to horror and it completely honours the spirit of the game."Watch on YouTubeHe also noted that the movie will be filled with "fresh characters and victims in a brand new story loaded with twists." I don't think this is a bad move, honestly - straight up adaptations don't generally work, and last year's Fallout excelled in particular thanks to its completely original premise, so even if you're disappointed, you're probably better off.

The leash you could do.Cast your mind back to when you first opened your shiny new Nintendo Switch.After removing the individually wrapped controllers and clipping them onto the console itself, you delved into the box's second layer of goodies to find the dock, the power cable... and a couple of plastic stick things.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Tencent claims there's been a "misunderstanding".The US Department of Defense has officially added Chinese megacorp Tencent to the federal register of companies deemed to have ties to the Chinese military (thanks, Bloomberg).The addition to the list does not come with any specific sanctions for Tencent, though it may affect the company's ability to do business in the United States in the future, with US companies being discouraged from dealing with any of those mentioned on the 'blacklist'.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Uber will use Nvidias new generative world model simulation tool, Cosmos, and cloud-based AI supercomputing platform, DGX Cloud, to support the development of autonomous vehicle technology, the companies announced at CES 2025.Cosmos is being marketed to robotics and autonomy companies as a tool that generates physics-based videos from a variety of inputs, including 9,000 trillion tokens generated from 20 million hours of (likely copyrighted) video, which can be used to simulate realistic industrial and driving environments. Nvidia DGX Cloud would provide Uber and other companies with access to high-performance AI infrastructure to train, fine-tune, and deploy AI self-driving models.Uber shared few details about how it plans to use these Nvidia tools. The ride-hail and delivery giant has spent the last year racking up 14 partnerships with AV companies across verticals, from Waymo in robotaxis to Aurora Innovation in trucking to Serve Robotics in sidewalk robotic delivery.Perhaps Uber will hand over its vast data on how and where people use ride-hail and delivery, working in tandem with such partners. The company doesnt develop its own AV technology, preferring instead the asset-light approach of partnering with others. Thats not for lack of trying; Ubers history with AV development is troubled.Uber launched its self-driving unit, Uber ATG, in 2015 through a partnership with Carnegie Mellon Universitys National Robotics Center. A year later, the company acquired self-driving truck startup Otto, which was founded by one of Googles star engineers, Anthony Levandowski. Uber latershuttered its trucking tech unit to focus on self-driving cars. But some damage had been done by bringing Levandowski on board. Waymo accused him of stealing trade secrets, which they alleged were then used by Uber. The case ended in a settlement in 2018, and Levandowski was later sentenced to 18 months in prison before he was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump.Also in 2018, an Uber self-driving vehicle testing in autonomous mode in Arizona struck a pedestrian, who later died as a result of her injuries. The next year, Uber spun out Uber ATG after closing $1 billion in funding from Toyota, but then in 2020, sold it off to autonomous vehicle startup Aurora Innovation.Today, Uber seems committed to being the bridge between rider and driver, whether thats a human or robot driver. But that doesnt mean Uber is comfortable moving slowly.During the companys third-quarter earnings report, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi explained that the company is launching with Waymo in only two cities this year Austin and Atlanta due to the investment that goes into launch.What you want to get is the proper liquidity in a city anytime that you launch, Khosrowshahi said in response to an analyst question. You want to go into a city with the proper investment in your depots, in your infrastructure, in your mapping, etc., so that you can start getting a return on capital.It takes time to lay the groundwork for AV deployment in a new city, but it looks like Uber thinks that with Nvidias world models and cloud platform, it can get to scale quicker.By working with Nvidia, we are confident that we can help supercharge the timeline for safe and scalable autonomous driving solutions for the industry, Khosrowshahi said in a statement.Uber would not share any additional details with TechCrunch.