Ballerina: From the World of John Wick's filmmaker disagrees with people who have labeled it a spin-off project.

Stranger Things‘ fifth and final season finally has a premiere date. During its live Tudum event, Netflix announced that Stranger Things‘ fifth season will actually be split into three parts. Volume 1 is set to debut on November 26th, Volume 2 premieres on December 25th, and The Finale drops on New Years Eve. Along with the premiere dates, Netflix also shared a teaser showing off some of what Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin, (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Will (Noah Schnapp), and Max (Sadie Sink) are going to be up against when the show returns. Initially, Netflix suggested that Stranger Things’ final chapter would be split into two pieces rather than three, but the new release plans seem like the company’s way of making sure that viewers stick around rather than inhaling the show in a couple of sittings. Though this is the end of the core Stranger Things series, Netflix still has live-action and animated spin-offs in the works. The streamer still hasn’t revealed any more concrete details about the spinoffs, but it probably won’t be long before that changes.

There’s a 104 days of summer vacation, but for some folks, school never really ends. At CCXP Mexico on Saturday, Prime Video unveiled its first look for season two of Gen V, the college-focused spinoff for The Boys, and the kids at Godolkin University have their work cut out for them. Set after The Boys’ fourth season amid Homelander effectively ruling the United States, complete with Godolkin students leaving campus through specific checkpoints and forced to wear ID badges, Marie (Jaz Sinclair) and her friends are released from a rehabilitation center and allowed back at school. There, the new dean Cipher (Hamish Linklater) is looking to get students battle ready for a potential Supes/Human war. While the regular Supe kids are content to prepare and party, there’s division among Marie and her friends: some want to run and never look back, others want to stay and tear things apart from the inside. Too bad for them, those plans are interrupted by the discovery of a secret program from the school’s early days which may somehow link to Marie. Shortly before production on the new season began in spring 2024, Chance Perdromo (who played Andre, one of the kids imprisoned with Marie) died in a motorcycle crash. The Gen V team later stated they wouldn’t recast Andre and instead tweaked the season around his passing, and his father Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas) will be mourning (and later investigating) Andre’s passing. Also starring Derek Luh, Lizzie Broadway, London Thor, and Asa Germann, season two of Gen V kicks off September 17 with a three-episode premiere, followed by a single episode every week through October 22. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 85, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, sorry in advance that this week is a tiny bit politics-y, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about Sean Evans and music fraud and ayahuasca, playing with the new Obsidian Bases feature, obsessing over every Cliche” more times than I’m proud of, installing some Elgato Key Lights to improve my WFH camera look, digging the latest beta of Artifacts, and downloading every podcast I can find because I have 20 hours of driving to do this weekend.I also have for you a very funny new movie about tech CEOs, a new place to WhatsApp, a great new accessory for your phone, a helpful crypto politics explainer, and much more. Short week this week, but still lots going on. Let’s do it.(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you reading / playing / watching / listening to / shopping for / doing with a Raspberry Pi this week? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, tell them to subscribe here. And if you haven’t subscribed, you should! You’ll get every issue for free, a day early, in your inbox.)The DropMountainhead. I mean, is there a more me-coded pitch than “Succession vibes, but about tech bros?” It’s about a bunch of (pretty recognizable) billionaires who more or less run the world and are also more or less ruining it. You’ll either find this hilarious, way too close to home, or both. WhatsApp for iPad. I will never, ever understand why Meta hates building iPad apps. But it finally launched the most important one! The app itself is extremely fine and exactly what you’d think it would be, but whatever. It exists! DO INSTAGRAM NEXT.Post Games.Polygon, all about video games. It’s only a couple episodes deep, but so far I love the format: it’s really smart and extremely thoughtful, but it’s also very silly in spots. Big fan.The Popsockets Kick-Out Grip. I am a longtime, die-hard Popsockets user and evangelist, and the new model fixes my one gripe with the thing by working as both a landscape and portrait kickstand. $40 is highway robbery for a phone holder, but this is exactly the thing I wanted.“Dance with Sabrina.” A new, real-time competitive rhythm game inside of Fortnite, in which you try to do well enough to earn the right to actually help create the show itself. Super fun concept, though all these games are better with pads, guitars, or really anything but a normal controller.Lazy 2.0. Lazy is a stealthy but fascinating note-taking tool, and it does an unusually good job of integrating with files and apps. The new version is very AI-forward, basically bringing a personalized chatbot and all your notes to your whole computer. Neat!Elden Ring Nightreign. A multiplayer-heavy spinoff of the game that I cannot get my gamer friends to shut up about, even years after it came out. I’ve seen a few people call the game a bit small and repetitive, but next to Elden Ring I suppose most things are.The Tapo DL100 Smart Deadbolt Door Lock. A $70 door lock with, as far as I can tell, every feature I want in a smart lock: a keypad, physical keys, super long battery life, and lots of assistant integrations. It does look… huge? But it’s pretty bland-looking, which is a good thing.Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster. One of a few Titan-related documentaries coming this summer, meant to try and explain what led to the awful events of a couple years ago. I haven’t seen this one yet, but the reviews are solid — and the story seems even sadder and more infuriating than we thought.“The growing scandal of $TRUMP.” I love a good Zeke Faux take on crypto, whether it’s a book or a Search Engine episode. This interview with Ezra Klein is a great explainer of how the Trump family got so into crypto and how it’s being used to move money in deeply confusing and clearly corrupt ways. Cameron Faulkner isn’t technically new to The Verge, he’s just newly back at The Verge. In addition to being a commerce editor on our team, he also wrote one of the deepest dives into webcams you’ll ever find, plays a lot of games, has more thoughts about monitors than any reasonable person should, and is extremely my kind of person. Since he’s now so very back, I asked Cam to share his homescreen with us, as I always try to do with new people here. Here it is, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:The phone: Pixel 9 Pro.The wallpaper: It’s an “Emoji Workshop” creation, which is a feature that’s built into Android 14 and more recent updates. It mashes together emoji into the patterns and colors of your choosing. I picked this one because I like sushi, and I love melon / coral color tones.The apps: Google Keep, Settings, Clock, Phone, Chrome, Pocket Casts, Messages, Spotify.I haven’t downloaded a new app in ages. What’s shown on my homescreen has been there, unmoved, for longer than I can remember. I have digital light switches, a to-do list with the great (but paid) Stuff widget, a simple Google Fit widget to show me how much I moved today, and a couple Google Photos widgets of my lovely wife and son. I could probably function just fine if every app shuffled its location on my homescreen, except for the bottom row. That’s set in stone, never to be fiddled with.I also asked Cameron to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he sent back:Righteous Gemstones on HBO Max. It’s a much smarter comedy than I had assumed (but it’s still dumb in the best ways), and I’m delighted to have four seasons to catch up on. I’m really digging Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which achieves the feat of breakneck pacing (the game equivalent of a page-turner) and a style that rivals Persona 5, which is high praise. I have accrued well over a dozen Switch 2 accessories, and I’m excited to put them to the test once I get a console on launch day.CrowdsourcedHere’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now, as well! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on Threads and this post on Bluesky.“The Devil’s Plan. This Netflix original South Korean reality show locks 14 contestants in a windowless living space that’s part mansion, part prison, part room escape, and challenges them to eliminate each other in a series of complicated tabletop games. (If this sounds familiar, it’s a spiritual successor to the beloved series The Genius from the mid-2010s.)” — Travis“If you’re a fan of Drive to Survive, I’m happy to report that the latest season of Netflix’s series on NASCAR is finally good, and a reasonable substitute for that show once you’ve finished it.” — Christopher“I switched to a Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel Watch 3 from an iPhone and Apple Watch about 6 months ago and found Open Bubbles, an open source alternative to BlueBubbles that does need a Mac but doesn’t need that Mac to remain on, You just need a one-time hardware identifier from it, then it gives you full iMessage, Find My, FaceTime, and iCloud shared albums on Android and Windows using an email address. So long as you can get your contacts to iMessage your email instead of your number, it works great.” — Tim“Playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the last time before Mario Kart World arrives next week and takes over my life!” — Ravi“With Pocket being killed off I’ve started using my RSS reader — which is Inoreader — instead as a suitable replacement. I only switched over to Pocket after Omnivore shut down.” — James“I just got a Boox Go 10.3 for my birthday and love it. The lack of front lighting is the biggest downfall. It is also only on Android 12 so I cannot load a corporate profile. It feels good to write on just, almost as good as my cheaper fountain pen and paper. It is helping me organize multiple notebooks and scraps of paper.” — Sean“Giving Tweek a bit of a go, and for a lightweight weekly planner it’s beautiful. I also currently use Motion for project management of personal tasks and when I was doing my Master’s. I really like the Gantt view to map out long term personal and study projects. (I also got a student discount for Motion, but it’s still expensive.)” — Astrid“Might I suggest Elle Griffin’s work at The Elysian? How she’s thinking through speculative futures and a cooperative media system is fascinating.” — Zach“GeForce Now on Steam Deck!” — SteveSigning offOne of the reasons I like making this newsletter with all of you is that it’s a weekly reminder that, hey, actually, there’s a lot of awesome people doing awesome stuff out there on the internet. I spend a lot of my time talking to people who say AI is going to change everything, and we’re all going to just AI ourselves into oblivion and be thrilled about it — a theory I increasingly think is both wrong and horrifying.And then this week I read a blog post from the great Dan Sinker, who called this moment “the Who Cares Era, where completely disposable things are shoddily produced for people to mostly ignore.” You should read the whole thing, but here’s a bit I really loved:“Using extraordinary amounts of resources, it has the ability to create something good enough, a squint-and-it-looks-right simulacrum of normality. If you don’t care, it’s miraculous. If you do, the illusion falls apart pretty quickly. The fact that the userbase for AI chatbots has exploded exponentially demonstrates that good enough is, in fact, good enough for most people. Because most people don’t care.”I don’t think this describes everything and everyone, and neither does Sinker, but I do think it’s more true than it should be. And I increasingly think our job, maybe our method of rebellion, is to be people who care, who have taste, who like and share and look for good things, who read and watch and look at those things on purpose instead of just staring slackjawed at whatever slop is placed between the ads they hope we won’t really notice. I think there are a lot of fascinating ways that AI can be useful, but we can’t let it train us to accept slop just because it’s there. Sorry, this got more existential than I anticipated. But I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I’m going to try and point Installer even more at the stuff that matters, made by people who care. I hope you’ll hold me to that.See you next week!See More:

Another great streaming deal has hit the internet: one year of Peacock Premium is only $25 right now. Just use the code SPRINGSAVINGS at checkout to get $55 off the standard annual price of the Premium plan. Just note that this tier does include ads, and the deal only runs through May 30. Peacock is a decent platform and made our list of the best streaming services. It doesn't get the attention of Netflix or Disney+, but it's home to several nifty original shows. There's the AI-adjacent tomfoolery of Mrs. Davis and the Rian Johnson-made whodunnit Poker Face. It also airs several video game adaptations, like Knuckles and the surprisingly-decent Twisted Metal. The big draw here, however, is likely the long-awaited spinoff of The Office, which is called The Paper. That one premieres in September and is a Peacock exclusive. The platform also signed an 11-year agreement with the NBA and that goes into effect this fall. The mobile app could be getting minigames and short-form vertical videos (like TikTok) in the near future. There's one caveat. This subscription will automatically renew for $80 after the year runs out. Stay on top of scheduling if you want to cancel before then. The Scranton documentary crew is heading to Toledo. #ThePaper arrives this September on Peacock. pic.twitter.com/Mzmbw7TBzF— Peacock (@peacock) May 12, 2025 Check out our coverage of the best streaming deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/this-peacock-premium-deal-ends-soon-get-one-year-for-only-25-163231984.html?src=rss

After a universe-shaking season 4 finale on The Boys, it’s once again time for the kids of Godolkin University to step up to the plate. While Gen V’s second season won’t premiere until September, Amazon took to CCXP Mexico to give fans a look at the new season — and a little of how The Boys season 4 impacted the college-set spinoff. Here’s the official synopsis: As the rest of America adjusts to Homelander’s iron fist, back at Godolkin University, the mysterious new Dean preaches a curriculum that promises to make students more powerful than ever. Cate and Sam are celebrated heroes, while Marie, Jordan, and Emma reluctantly return to college, burdened by months of trauma and loss. But parties and classes are hard to care about with war brewing between Humans and Supes, both on and off campus. The gang learns of a secret program that goes back to the founding of Godolkin University that may have larger implications than they realize. And, somehow, Marie is a part of it. Most of the cast is back for season 2, including Jaz Sinclair as Marie Moreau, Lizze Broadway as Emma, Maddie Phillips as Cate Dunlap, London Thor and Derek Luh as Jordan Li, Asa Germann as Sam Riordan, and Sean Patrick Thomas as Polarity. Tragically, Gen V season 1 star Chance Perdomo, who played the Magneto-like Andre, died in 2023 on his way to Toronto to film season 2. The production team had previously announced that they would not recast Perdomo’s role for season 2, and it seems the writers have incorporated his departure into Polarity’s arc. New to season 2: Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass) as Dean Ciphe, a new villain who looks… absolutely punchable. Gen V season 2 will kick off with a three-episode premiere on Sep. 17.

Elden Ring and its DLC Shadow of the Erdtree have been phenomenal successes for FromSoftware, which enabled the studio to grow beyond its devoted but niche following to explode into the mainstream. Its spinoff, Elden Ring Nightreign, takes a different approach with a co-op multiplayer focus and repeatable run-based gameplay.Nightreign is a bold direction for the studio, which had found success with dark fantasy single-player adventures like Bloodborne and the Dark Souls series of games. Most of its hits were directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, the creator of the Souls formula of tough third-person combat games. The new multiplayer game, Nightreign, builds on Elden Ring's success by remixing its elements into a new gameplay format of fast-paced action. Fitting this new direction, Nightreign is the directing debut of Junya Ishizaki, who had worked on many earlier FromSoftware titles and been the combat director on Elden Ring. Over video chat, CNET got to talk with Ishizaki about his thoughts on Nightreign and many other topics. In part one of our interview, we discussed how things changed over the course of the game's development, from dropping fall damage to collapsing multiple maps into the final one we see today. And, yes, how he solo'd every boss in the game.In part two below, we chat about Ishizaki's favorite Nightfarer class to play and least favorite boss, as well as DLC info and what FromSoftware learned that it'll carry into future games (like, potentially, the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive The Duskbloods coming next year). Of course, we also had to ask the poison swamp question. Woods infested with scarlet rot are the closest you'll get to a poison swamp in Nightreign. Screenshot by David Lumb/CNETDavid Lumb: I feel like I need to ask about the absence of another element that's been present in many other FromSoftware games: Where's Nightreign's poison swamp?Junya Ishizaki: I think the main reason is that this is not a Miyazaki title so that could be one explanation. Jokes aside, I think it's just a serendipitous factor of game development and what goes into the idea process and what comes out. So who knows what could happen in the future with Nightreign?DL: Considering Elden Ring, Bloodborne and two of the three Dark Souls titles are Miyazaki games, what makes Nightreign an Ishizaki game?JI: I think one of the aspects that not necessarily sets me apart from Miyazaki, but that I like to think of as my specialty, is that I like to prioritize the "game feel" more than a lot of things -- these detailed and fine-tuned things, like what happens when a player falls from a height and hits the ground? How is this supposed to feel? And how does this translate into good-feeling gameplay and into player comfort?So as you know, Nightreign doesn't feature any fall damage but there are ways the characters behave when they hit the floor from various heights and what you can do to counteract that. So these are areas that I like to look at -- the relationship between player and controls and how that translates to game feel.  Hidetaka Miyazaki, director of Elden Ring and other FromSoftware games, at CNET's 2024 interview alongside the release of the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. David Lumb/CNETDL: This is a question I asked Miyazaki-san last year when the Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, came out: Of all the FromSoftware games you've worked on, which is your favorite child? JI: That's a tough question. I've worked on Dark Souls 1, 3, Bloodborne and Elden Ring, of course. I think I'd say the project I have the most memories with is the original Dark Souls. This is the first project I was involved in at FromSoftware and it was my first foray i

It’s no secret that the film industry is dominated by series and franchises and shared universes, to the degree that every time a studio releases a successful movie, it’s only a matter of a couple years before that movie is the start of a new cinematic universe.Turning a simple series — first movie, sequel, sequel to the sequel, and so on — into a franchise only requires one thing: spinoffs that are just as well received as the original project. These could be based on pre-existing side characters who finally get their moment to shine, or based on related IP that exists in the same world but hasn’t gotten a feature yet, or an entirely new story with a couple Easter eggs thrown in to emphasize a connection.A lot of the time, this works. Every major studio is still chasing the highs of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — the Avengers saga plus all of its additions over the years. Other times, it doesn’t, and the exciting spinoff that was meant to be the start of an entirely new series of films turns out to be a dud, a literal non-starter, and whatever was planned to come after it is scrapped until everyone forgets how bad it was. Today, we’re celebrating these movies, the poorly planned, the poorly executed, and the just plain all-around terrible attempts to juice more story from a pre-existing world. Some of these even have fans, but even they will admit that the original is always better.The Worst Spinoffs of Beloved Movie FranchisesNot every movies series deserves its own cinematic universe of spinoffs. Gallery Credit: Emma StefanskyREAD MORE: 10 TV Spinoffs That Became Bigger Than the OriginalGet our free mobile appThe 10 Worst Sequels of the Last 10 Years (2015-2024)Audiences always push for sequels to their favorite movies. Sometimes, that backfires big time.

The shooter genre sometimes feels oversaturated with games that, like Battlefield and Call of Duty, only recognize serious campaign scenarios and lean far into gritty realism. This makes titles like the Borderlands franchise, which doesn’t take itself too seriously and is simply meant to be fun escapism, all the more refreshing. Even more refreshing than the Borderlands games? Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, a 2022 spin-off that swapped out the familiar sci-fi planets and repetitive missions with a creative fantasy setting. Here you don’t fight against the usual Borderlands opponents but against goblins, skeletons, dragons, and other fantastical monstrosities. The ingenious thing about Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is that it wrapped itself up in a Dungeons and Dragons-esque plot in which the crazy Tiny Tina is in charge as she completely changes the rules of the game (or the surrounding levels). If you want to try it out, you can grab it from the Epic Games Store for free and keep it forever. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands normally costs $59.99, but it’s been three years since its release and you may not want to pay full price anymore. It’s still worth playing, though, especially if you can snag it for free like you can right now. This offer is good for about a week. Don’t miss your chance to get it for free At the time of its release, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands received very good ratings and was particularly impressive for its colorful setting, which feels like a good round of D&D with friends. The levels and missions are imaginatively designed and provide plenty of variety. The humor is completely over the top and not for everyone, but the popular loot shooter mechanics of the Borderlands series is carried over and keeps you motivated to play just a bit longer, collect just a few more weapons, and kill just a few more enemies. If you fancy Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, all you have to do is log in to the Epic Games Store and grab the game by June 5th. Once added to your library, you can keep it forever.

Google's reckoning Google and DOJ tussle over how AI will remake the web in antitrust closing arguments Google and the DOJ get one last chance to make their cases. Ryan Whitwam – May 30, 2025 5:40 pm | 15 Credit: Ryan Whitwam Credit: Ryan Whitwam Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more From its humble beginnings in the late 20th century, Google has come to dominate online searches, putting it squarely in the US government's antitrust crosshairs. The ongoing search antitrust case threatens to upend Google's dominance, giving smaller players a chance to thrive and possibly wiping others out. After wrapping up testimony in the case earlier this month, lawyers for Google and the Department of Justice have now made their closing arguments. The DOJ won the initial trial, securing a ruling that Google used anticompetitive practices to maintain its monopoly in general search. During the time this case has taken to meander its way through the legal system, the online landscape has been radically altered, making it harder than ever to envision a post-Google Internet. To address Google's monopoly, the DOJ is asking United States District Judge Amit Mehta to impose limits on Google's business dealings and order a divestment of the Chrome browser. Forcing the sale of Chrome would be a major penalty and a coup for the DOJ lawyers, but this issue has been overshadowed somewhat as the case drags on. During closing arguments, the two sides dueled over how Google's search deals and the rise of AI could change the Internet as we know it. Collateral damage This case has examined the myriad ways Google used its influence and money to suppress competition. One of the DOJ's main targets is the placement deals Google signs with companies like Apple and Mozilla to be the default search provider. Google has contended that people can change the defaults anytime they wish, but the DOJ produced evidence at trial that almost no one does, and Google knows that. During closing arguments,  Mehta asked both sides about testimony from a Mozilla executive alleging that losing the Google search deal could destroy the company. Similarly, Apple's Eddie Cue said he loses sleep over the possibility of losing the Google revenue—unsurprising as the arrangement is believed to net the company $20 billion per year. Should Firefox die to teach Google a lesson? Credit: Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle Should Firefox die to teach Google a lesson? Credit: Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle The DOJ's David Dahlquist admitted that there could be some "private impact" but contended Apple and Mozilla are overestimating the risk. Mehta didn't seem totally satisfied with the government's position, noting that he didn't want to damage other markets in an effort to fix search. Google's counsel also went after the government on the privacy front. One of the DOJ's proposed remedies would require Google to license its search index and algorithm, which CEO Sundar Pichai claimed was no better than a spinoff of Google's core product. Google also claims that forcing it to license search would put everyone's privacy at risk because it has a vast amount of user data that fuels search. Google attorney John Schmidtlein said the DOJ's treatment of user privacy in the remedies was a "complete failure." Mehta questioned the government lawyers pointedly on the issue of privacy, which he noted was barely addressed in the remedy filings. The DOJ's Adam Severt suggested an independent committee would have to be empaneled to decide how to handle Google's user data, but he was vague on how long such a process could take. Google's team didn't like this idea at all. Case may hinge on AI During testimony in early May, Mehta commented that the role AI plays in the trial had evolved very quickly. In 2023, everyone in his courtroom agreed that the impact of AI on search was still years away, and that's definitely not the case now. That same thread is present in closing arguments. Mehta asked the DOJ's Dahlquist if someone new was just going to "come off the sidelines" and build a new link-based search product, given  the developments with AI. Dahlquist didn't answer directly, noting that although generative AI products didn't exist at the time covered by the antitrust action, they would be key to search going forward. Google certainly believes the AI future is already here—it has gone all-in with AI search over the past year. At the same time, Google is seeking to set itself apart from AI upstarts. "Generative AI companies are not trying to out-Google Google," said Schmidtlein. Google's team contends that its actions have not harmed any AI products like ChatGPT or Perplexity, and at any rate, they are not in the search market as defined by the court. Mehta mused about the future of search, suggesting we may have to rethink what a general search engine is in 2025. "Maybe people don’t want 10 blue links anymore," he said. The Chromium problem and an elegant solution At times during the case, Mehta has expressed skepticism about the divestment of Chrome. During closing arguments, Dahlquist reiterated the close relationship between search and browsers, reminding the court that 35 percent of Google's search volume comes from Chrome. Mehta now seems more receptive to a Chrome split than before, perhaps in part because the effects of the other remedies are becoming so murky. He called the Chrome divestment "less speculative" and "more elegant" than the data and placement remedies. Google again claimed, as it has throughout the remedy phase, that forcing it to give up Chrome is unsupported in the law and that Chrome's dominance is a result of innovation. Even if Mehta leans toward ordering this remedy, Chromium may be a sticking point. The judge seems unconvinced that the supposed buyers—a group which apparently includes almost every major tech firm—have the scale and expertise needed to maintain Chromium. This open source project forms the foundation of many other browsers, making its continued smooth operation critical to the web. If Google gives up Chrome, Chromium goes with it, but what about the people who maintain it? The DOJ contends that it's common for employees to come along with an acquisition, but that's far from certain. There was some discussion of ensuring a buyer could commit to hiring staff to maintain Chromium. The DOJ suggests Google could be ordered to provide financial incentives to ensure critical roles are filled, but that sounds potentially messy. A Chrome sale seems more likely now than it did earlier, but nothing is assured yet. Following the final arguments from each side, it's up to Mehta to mull over the facts before deciding Google's fate. That's expected to happen in August, but nothing will change for Google right away. The company has already confirmed it will appeal the case, hoping to have the original ruling overturned. It could still be years before this case reaches its ultimate conclusion. Ryan Whitwam Senior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam Senior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering the ways Google, AI, and mobile technology continue to change the world. Over his 20-year career, he's written for Android Police, ExtremeTech, Wirecutter, NY Times, and more. He has reviewed more phones than most people will ever own. You can follow him on Bluesky, where you will see photos of his dozens of mechanical keyboards. 15 Comments